Tendulkar has been without a century for about 25 Test innings now, but it looks like the BCCI will give him an infinitely long rope. He looks tired and jaded and it will be a disaster if he runs out of steam just before the South Africa tour.

Then some youngster will be thrown in the deep end in that particular tour. It would be a better idea to pick someone now itself and prepare him for that all-important tour. But even the talk of retiring Tendulkar is sacrilege in this country.