Vijay Merchant put it succinctly. Retire when people ask why and not when is what he advocated. He himself led by example. He made 154 against England at New Delhi in November 1951 and called it a day. Thirty six years later, another batsman cast in the same mould, Sunil Gavaskar also faced no problem when it came to making a decision to retire. He retired at the peak of his powers, a superb 96 on a minefield of a pitch in the fifth Test against Pakistan at Bangalore in March 1987 being his swang song.

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi also left the stage at the correct time. One bad series with the bat against West Indies in 1974-75 convinced Pataudi that it was time to go. He did not wait for the selectors to throw him out. Polly Umrigar was another Indian great to retire at the right time, having made a brilliant unbeaten 172 against West Indies in in his penultimate Test in 1962 followed by 32 and 60 in his final appearance.

Retirement. The timing of this very important decision is almost as important as the timing of the strokes on the field. Some know when to leave, others overstay their welcome and still others wait till they are dropped by the selectors. The ideal time to leave the stage is of course at the peak of your career. The leading cricketer should never wait for the selectors to drop him. But it is a pity that some of the top Indian cricketers have not displayed the same sense of timing shown by the players listed above.

Dilip Vengsarkar for one clearly overstayed his welcome. It was obvious even by 1990 in England that he was not the same commanding batsman he had been for most of his career. Age had caught up with him. Yet he stayed around till the tour of Australia in 1991-92. In his 36th year, he just did not have the reflexes or the timing of old to successfully negotiate the pace of McDermott, Whitney, Reid and Hughes and scored only 158 runs at an average of 17.55. At last bowing to the inevitable, Vengsarkar announced his retirement on returning to India.

Kapil Dev was another who played on for a bit too long. Towards the end he had only the magic figure of 432 to spur him on. Having crossed that, he played in only one more Test and a handful of ODI's before realizing that after 16 years of top level cricket, age had finally caught up with him. He however endured one last humiliation at the hands of young West Indian openers Simmons and Williams. He was mauled for 37 runs in five overs in what turned out to be his final international appearance at Faridabad in his home state of Haryana. It was something he could have avoided by timing the announcement of his retirement a little earlier.

Kris Srikkanth and Ravi Shastri too overstayed their welcome in the hope of being recalled. After a miserable tour `Down Under' in 1991-92 (135 runs in four Tests at 16.87), Srikkanth was overlooked for the tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe the following season. Failing to earn a recall for the series against England and the Test against Zimbabwe at home in early 1993, Srikkanth suffered the final humiliation of not being considered for the South Zone team. Taking the hint rather belatedly, he announced his retirement. Shastri, after a none too impressive run on the 1992-93 tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe, was overlooked for the matches against England, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Facing the truth squarely, if a little late, Shastri announced his retirement in Colombo in 1994, though he was only 32.

The latest retirement decision concerns Md Azharuddin. He has been out of the Indian side for some time now but determined to make a comeback, he has shrugged of hints and pointed suggestions from various quarters to call it a day. At the moment, it does look like Azharuddin too has overstayed his welcome. Or has he?

© CricInfo