Sachin Tendulkar's retirement announcement came suddenly: Sadiq Mohammad

Former Pakistan opener Sadiq
Mohammad on Tuesday questioned the
timing of Sachin Tendulkar's ODI
retirement, saying the Indian could have
called it quits in a more organised
manner, which would have given his team
a chance to give him a "grand farewell".
"His retirement announcement came
suddenly. Normally, a big player
announces it early so that the team gives
a grand farewell on his last match... like
we had during Asif Iqbal's last Test here
with about 90,000 people giving a
standing ovation," Sadiq said.
One of the game's all-time greats,
Tendulkar had recently announced his
retirement from one-day cricket, bringing
to an end a glorious 23-year-old career in
the format during which he rewrote
numerous batting records.
"When he used to turn up on the field,
from his walk only you would make out
that he's a grade above the rest," Sadiq
said of Tendulkar.
Talking about Virener Sehwag, Sadiq said
that the India opener can be destructive
on his day.
"Please pardon my language and the
choice of words but Sehwag can be a
terrorist (while batting) on his day... He
can be really, really dangerous when he
gets going," the 67-year-old said.
The left-hander, though, rated 23-year-
old Nasir Jamshed as a technically sound
batsman.
Asked to rate Jamshed alongside the
Indian duo of Sehwag and Gautam
Gambhir and Pakistan's Mohammad
Hafeez, Sadiq said, "Nasir Jamshed is
technically very sound. To me, he's a
better batsman.
"He has the tendency to play long innings
and carry his bat throughout, a great
quality of an opener," he said of Jamshed,
who has scored 101 not out to guide
Pakistan to a six-wicket win over India in
the Ahmedabad one-dayer.
Sadiq rated former English batsman
Geoffrey Boycott as the best Test opener
ever.
"He used to smell the leather -- he would
watch the ball very closely. Even when he
left the ball he would follow till it lands in
the wicketkeeper's gloves.
"Even I had moulded myself in that style
and would tell my boys to follow the ball
very closely."
Sadiq is here as one of the dignitaries for
the India-Pakistan second one-dayer,
scheduled to be held on January 3.
"Batsmen have to play with extra-
ordinary confidence to face a bowler at
the Eden Gardens as there would be
pressure of expectation from 80,000-odd
crowd. An India-Pakistan match would
just add to the pressure."
He hoped that the Pakistani side, leading
1-0 in the three-match, would seal the
series in Kolkata.
"India are no pushovers... they would try
to come back very hard. So it's better for
Pakistan to seal the series on Thursday,"
he said.