It’s not time Sachin.

It never will be. Cricket will cease before it’s time. If that’s not possible, the world will.

Just as there is an Archaeological Survey of India, there is the BCCI. One runs cricket, the other is run by cricket.

Both will make sure you are never run into the ground. While one will ensure you play when it pleases you, the other will work to please you – at times in a roundabout warped way, could also mean criticism. So what, you will always be in the news. What, you will be the news.

Like the other day when you became an abstract number, 15,000 runs, another goal, hope we live to see that day.

And if there’s a rumour of your retirement, I hope it is just that. Like it was, last year or the year before that – can’t really tell, the years blur into each other.

Also, last few years there’s always been talk of your retirement; that in itself is a job profile – you are the transitional cricketer, yet there’s a permanence to you.

You are a series I hope never ends. And at the same time there’s nothing new to see.

But even if there isn’t, who cares, because it’s not time Sachin.

It never will be. You will play, even when you don’t. You are not a player, sir, you are the playmaker.

National treasures are held on to, not retired, ever.

It’s just that they’re not always fun.