Has Sachin Tendulkar's retirement become a national debate?

When he's playing on the field his records make news and even when he's not playing you can't keep Sachin away from the headlines. After the BCCI scheduled a Test series against the West Indies later this year, it was learnt that in all probability Sachin Tendulkar will play his record 200th Test in his hometown Mumbai, which lead to speculations that the Mumbai Test could end up being his swansong. The Master Blaster himself has played down any talk of retirement, but what do the fans and the experts feel about it? Is it time for Sachin to hang up his boots? (Also read: Kolkata, not Mumbai, could host 200th Test)

21 year old Puja Ratra feels, "Sachin should give youngsters a chance. Unless he steps aside how will we discover another Sachin". 23 year old Mukul though disagrees "Players like Sachin are rare, almost like one in a million. Till the time he remains with the team, nothing bad can happen to Team India".

Anyways, for Sachin, retirement cannot be a personal decision. Anything he says or decides effects a billion plus cricket crazy Indians. Jacques Kallis, summed it up best when he was recently asked about his impending retirement. The 37-year-old said "It's different with Sachin. His status in India is a bit different to mine in South Africa. I'm not sure he's allowed to retire, is he? That's probably more of a government decision than his"

In a exclusive interview to NDTV, former India Coach Gary Kirsten refused to be drawn into the argument as to whether Sachin should retire. He did add though that "Sachin deserves a celebrated exit from the game and while no one can guarantee a fairy tale end but he should be given a celebration that he deserves." (Full Interview)

Interestingly, the most celebrated Indian cricketer ever, has already quit two formats of the game, the T20s and the ODIs.