Pressure builds on Sachin Tendulkar to quit India

Sachin Tendulkar has faced calls for him to be dropped (AP)

India's selectors responded to widespread derision of their team yesterday by declining to make changes. All members of the side that lost the second Test to England by 10 wickets have been retained for the third, which starts in Kolkata next Wednesday.

If there was a concession to the critics it was the decision to pick this squad only for the third Test and not also for the fourth, as was originally intended. The Indian media yesterday reflected the shock in the country at large at the scale of the defeat in Mumbai.

Particular attention was focused on the captain, M S Dhoni, and the iconic veteran batsman, Sachin Tendulkar. Although the Mumbai Test was only Dhoni's second defeat as captain at home, it was India's ninth in 15 matches.

Even the financial daily Mint, which normally avoids sport, could not resist. In a leading article, it concluded of Tendulkar: "The man loves the game and after all these years his delight in playing it remains unchanged. Sadly, it is time that people who are paid to do so, do their jobs and tell him it is time to go."

A year ago that would have been heretical, now it is considered to be part of the commonwealth.