Pakistan's 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan said yesterday that maestro Sachin Tendulkar should have called it quits after winning the World Cup in April last year.


Imran Khan

"We all want to go with a big bang, but you always don't get it right. For Sachin, the ultimate time to go was after that World Cup win. He had such a great World Cup. He is a great player and there is no replacement for him," Imran told CNN-IBN.

The former Pakistan skipper felt that it was Tendulkar's personal decision, but it would have been an ultimate high for him had he retired after the World Cup. "He has to decide for himself and he must time it right. You don't want to go having lost to Australia 0-4. If he had gone after that World Cup that would have been the ultimate high," Imran said.

But Imran wasn't sure whether India have replacements for the ageing players. "For Indian cricket, it's not one player now, but three or four would have to take a decision (retirement)," he added.

Imran, however, gave little importance to Tendulkar's 100th international ton. "Records must be broken within the team winning. You should not be playing to break records.

"Records should be part of the win. Sachin is a great player. Would I think of Sachin whether he is on 99 hundreds or 100 hundreds! No," Imran remarked.