'Performance should be criterion for selection' - Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar, who will play his 400th ODI when he walks out against Australia in Vadodara, has reacted to comments by Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, that nobody could take their place in the side for granted by saying performance should be the criterion for selection.

"Performance, not age should be the criterion... I don't wish to join in any debate, but what I've said is what I believe in," Tendulkar told the Kolkata-based Telegraph.

Vengsarkar had sent out a warning to the senior players to raise their game when he said youngsters like Suresh Raina and Subramaniam Badrinath were waiting for a chance. Unhappy with Vengsarkar for talking to the media about players, the Indian board cautioned him not to speak openly about players and to restrict his remarks to concerned individuals.

In the first four ODIs, Tendulkar made 138 runs at 34.50, including top-scoring for India in their eight-run win in Chandigarh. In the same number of matches, Rahul Dravid scored 44 at 14.66, while Sourav Ganguly only batted in the fourth ODI where he scored 41.