Sachin Tendulkar

As the wait for that elusive 100th International century grows agonisingly longer, with India pretty much being hammered Down Under, Sachin Tendulkar has found support from another legend, Steve Waugh.

Sachin Tendulkar’s aura as a batsman will not diminish even if he does not score the much-awaited hundred, Waugh was quoted as saying by The Australian.

“I think it’s a huge statistic and India are obsessed by stats… The whole country wants him to get his 100th hundred, so, maybe, that’s where the real pressure is coming from.

“It will be nice if he could get it down the road, but if he doesn’t get it I certainly won’t think any less of him as a player,” Waugh said.

Waugh said Tendulkar’s failure to score his 100th hundred so far this summer might have a parallel with Don Bradman, who retired with an average of 99.94.

“He’s a great player… You know Bradman wasn’t meant to average 100, maybe Tendulkar is not meant to get a hundredth century. But I think he’ll get it pretty shortly,” Waugh was quoted as saying by ‘.

On the Australian front, Waugh felt that Ricky Ponting’s imperious form over the summer has left the selectors in a “tricky situation”, but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee a spot in the 2013 Ashes squad.

Ponting scored a mammoth 544 runs, at an average of 108.8, to revive his career and buy himself more time in the baggy green.

Waugh, who retired at 38 years and six months, said plans for 37-year-old Ponting’s eventual departure had to be put in place. ‘‘It’s up to Ricky and the selectors (when he goes), but at some stage players have to move on,’’ Waugh said.

‘‘It’s a tricky situation, but (head selector) John Inverarity and the selectors probably have to make some tough decisions.’’

He also said veterans like Ponting and Mike Hussey must keep performing to earn a spot in the ’13 Ashes tour.


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