Given the fact that Tendulkar has contributed a lot to the Indian cricket during last 23 years, it would certainly be a difficult call for the selectors to make. But Gaekwad, who has worked closely with Tendulkar maintains that selectors need not worry. "He will take a call himself because he has set high standards in international cricket. He will make sure that he walks with his head held high after such a brilliant career. He will walk away from the game with dignity.”

Lalchand Rajput doesn't trust the source-based story of the Hindustan Times, but when asked what would Sachin's retirement mean to India and the rest of the world, he said, “People will miss him. He is the god of Indian cricket. When Sachin bats, the stands are full and when he is not playing, it is almost empty, they primarily come to see him play. His absence will create a vacuum in the Indian dressing room as well.”

The media has really been attacking Sachin for his string of inconsistent performances of late. But, his record in the past matches only supports media's cause, as he has only scored 153 runs in his last 5 Test matches, which is way below par for a player of his stature, who has batting records to the galore.

At a time when Tendulkar fans are perturbed at the performance of their batting hero, Rajput has some positive message. "Have faith in Sachin Tendulkar, he will come back strong."

Given his inconsistency and delay in announcing retirement, many cricket fans have started doubting that Tendulkar is just playing for the sake of records. And the reason: he is just eight test matches short of becoming the first cricketer to play 200 test matches. Even though Gaekwad disagrees: "All those who say that he plays for record are the ones who only watch T20 matches.”

Gaekwad also blames dismal performance of youngsters behind Tendulkar's delay in retiring from the game. "Had youngsters such as Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli been doing well in Test matches, he would have said 'thank you very much' and retired from the game, but these cricketers are not performing in Test matches. If they were performing, Sachin could have well retired some years ago only.”