Sachin Tendulkar's final ODI XI in 2012 - Where are they now?

It was on March 18, 2012, when Sachin Tendulkar played the final ODI of his illustrious career. It was a league stage encounter against Pakistan in the Asia Cup and it was a must-win game for India after they had lost their previous game against Bangladesh – the game in which the master blaster scored his 100th international ton.

Pakistan scored 329 batting first in Dhaka. Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed had smashed tons and had taken Pakistan to a mammoth total. However, India chased it down really well. Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma stroked half-centuries and a magnificent ton by Virat Kohli drove India home with 13 balls to spare.

Tendulkar made an announcement of his ODI retirement in December 2012 but he hadn’t played a single 50-over game for India since then. Hence, it’s been eight years since the legendary cricketer last donned the India jersey.

Thus, here we look back at that Indian playing XI and see where they are now:

1. Gautam Gambhir

That particular Asia Cup game against Pakistan wasn’t a memorable one for Gautam Gambhir. He registered a two-ball duck as he was out LBW to Mohammad Hafeez. Post this game, Gambhir himself didn’t last too long in the Indian team across formats. He was already on the decline and was eventually dropped in 2013.

There were a couple of times that the Delhi southpaw made a comeback as well. He was the reserve opener in two different phases – in 2014 and 2016. In 2014, he played a couple of Test matches in England where he failed miserably, just like most of the other Indian batsmen and was subsequently dropped again. In 2016, he made a comeback to the Test side and played a handful of games as the frontline openers were all injured.

His last international game came in November 2016 and in 2018, he hung up his boots as well. Gambhir is now a political leader and is associated with the BJP.