Sachin's ODI retirement not far off: Nadkarni

The time when Sachin Tendulkar quits one-day cricket is "not far off" as he has "indirectly" hinted at that, says Bapu Nadkarni, even though the legendary left-arm spinner backed him to play international cricket for two more years.

"He has actually come out with a statement, saying that 'my body is not the same' and that 'I am still trying to pull out (of that situation) as far as possible'. But the time (of his retirement) is not far off. He has already given it to you indirectly," Nadkarni told IANS here.

Nadkarni, 74, was referring to one of Tendulkar's television interviews in which he had admitted that he was feeling that it was difficult to recover for one-day internationals when compared to five-day Test matches.

Talking about the "big three" of Indian cricket - Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly - Nadkarni said that they still had steam to play international cricket.

"We have to keep them for some time, as long as they are fit enough to play. They should play for at least two more years. Obviously, they have to perform. One odd (unsatisfactory) performance here and there you have to concede. Even (Don) Bradman failed... everybody fails. People in the press should understand this," he said.

"They forget overnight all the performance put in by these gentlemen over the years. So if one series they fail, what's so bad? It's a game of cricket... unless, of course, you find them absolutely dull on the field, which is not accepted in present day cricket."

He particularly defended Rahul Dravid, who had a poor ODI series against Australia, a series that India lost 4-2 last week.

"A question in front of us is Dravid's. He is failing... it's okay, nothing wrong in it. I won't bother about it, as it's a small thing. What about the others? Are they playing consistently? They are not, and that's the problem and that has let us down in the series. This is the point for us to ponder," said the cricketer,who holds the world-record for bowling 23 successive maiden overs in Test cricket.