Mumbai, July 7
The decision of the Big Three of Indian cricket — Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly — to opt out of September's Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa is a clear indication that the era of the 'Team of the 90s' is coming to an end.

The trio of stalwarts, one the current Test and ODI captain and the other two his predecessors, have carried the burden of shoring up the Indian batting for several years and have had ups and down in their illustrious careers.

It was former chairman of selectors, Raj Singh Dungarpur, who had famously coined the phrase 'Team of the 90s' when he unseated Krishnamachari Srikkanth at the end of the tour to Pakistan in 1989 and elevated Mohd Azharuddin to the throne.

Azhar has not only led the famed trio but also Anil Kumble, the veteran leggie who's now playing only Tests, as well as another leading member of the batsmen's club - V. V. S. Laxman.

And when India play the Twenty20 lung opener in Kingsmead Durban, on September 13, none of these five champion performers - with a combined experience of a staggering 534 Tests and 1359 ODIs - would not be part of an Indian team for the first time since Tendulkar's debut against Pakistan in 1989.

In the aftermath of the World Cup debacle, Kumble retired from the one-day game while Tendulkar and Ganguly were 'rested' for the trip to Bangladesh for ODIs but were included in the Test squad before regaining their ODI spots.

While Tendulkar and Ganguly were part of the Dravid-led one-day team that beat South Africa 2-1 in Ireland in the recent off-shore rubber, Kumble and Laxman have joined them now for what's certainly going to be a Test swansong for the star quintet in England.

None of them are expected to make another trip to 'Old Blighty' when India's turn comes up four years from now and will be eager to make a huge mark in the three-Test rubber commencing at Lord's on July 19.

But what's slowly but surely happening in Indian cricket is the imminent end of a glorious era that started with Tendulkar's stunning entry in 1989 in Pakistan.

During this period, India reached the World Cup final (2003), became one of the few teams to have bested world champions Australia (2-1 at home in 2001), won a Test in Australia after many years before squaring the series (2002), won a Test for the first time in South Africa (2006) after beating the West Indies in the Caribbean in a Test series for the first time in 35 years.

True, India could never show the sort of consistency and top form, especially overseas, but this should not detract from the contributions made by the star quintet. — PTI