Fresh questions were today raisedon Sachin Tendulkar's retirement with the legendary SunilGavaskar saying that the selectors should have a word with himabout his future plans.
"Tendulkar has been playing for so long and he has beenso consistent. This little period of lack of runs or lack ofhalf centuries will give the critics chance to ask questions,"Gavaskar said.
"At the end of the day, it is the selectors who will takethe call. I think the selectors will probably have a word withTendulkar about what his future plans are and then take acall," he said.
"Ideally, whatever decision is taken about Tendulkar'sretirement, I believe he will make his own decision," Gavaskartold NDTV.
Tendulkar has scored just 29 runs in three innings in theongoing Test series against England and Gavaskar said thesenior batsman has been having a "long bad patch" though hewas trying hard to come out of this.
"Yes, he is struggling and he is having a long bad patchif one can call that way. With so may runs and so manycenturies at his hands, the moment he is through a lean patch,everybody will start talking about that but I feel he willovercome this.
Gavaskar felt that Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni'sdemand for turning wickets backfired on his own team and Indiawere in an unusual position which they normally did not faceon slow home pitches.
"I have been saying that the demand for turning pitchescould backfire on you if your batsmen fail to capitalise onthis. That has been happening in this Test. India are in anunusual situation. This kind of thing normally happens onvisiting teams but now the home side is facing this," he said.
"But all is not lost for India. If they can set a targetof 170 plus, it will not be easy for England to knock thoseruns in the fourth innings."
India are a mere 31 runs ahead of England with just threesecond innings wickets at hand.
He credited England spinners rather than blaming Indianbatsmen for lack of application, saying the visiting bowlershave done better than their home side counterparts.
"No batsman goes to a Test match without application. Iwould rather give credit to England bowlers, they have bowledbetter than their Indian counterparts.
"Panesar bowled really well. He was mixing turning andstraighter deliveries. That created doubts in the mind ofIndian batsmen whether the ball would turn or straighten.
Graeme Swann was his ideal foil. The length of the deliverieswas important. He was drawing the Indian batsmen forward."
In contrast, Gavaskar said, the Indian bowlers werebowling good length deliveries which gave opposition batsmenmore time to adjust.
"The Indians were bowling at good length and that givesfraction of time more to adjust. The application of captainAlastair Cook and belligerence of Kevin Pietersen createdproblems for the Indian bowlers," he said.
He also refused to blame Indian batsmen whose top fivebatsmen after opener Gautam Gambhir (53) could score just 38runs in the second innings total of 117 for seven at stumps.
"They have been used to playing on slow and low pitches.
So whenever they play in Australia, England or South Africawhere wickets have bounce, they will flounder. They will alsostruggle on turning pitches which have bounce."