NEW DELHI, Feb 2: Dismayed Indian fans launched a rare attack on their favourite player Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday.

“Tendulkar is over the hill. He should quit and other youngsters should take over,” lawyer Sandeep George said.

“Tendulkar should go because he has lost his touch,” engineer Vijay Ramaiah said. “The more he plays, he will become a liability to the country and himself.”

The collapse only added to concerns that India’s middle-order batsmen Tendulkar, captain Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and Vangipurappu Laxman were all past 30.

Before the series, it was Ganguly who faced criticism over his form and fitness, but the spotlight has turned to Tendulkar.

The Times of India ran a front-page article questioning whether the all-time great batsman was nearing the end of his illustrious career.

“Endulkar?” blared a caption on a photograph of Tendulkar doubled over with his off-stump sent flying by Asif.

Tendulkar made 23 and 26 in a disappointing return to Karachi where he made his Test debut as a curly-haired 16-year-old in 1989.

Although he hit a world record 35th Test hundred in December, Tendulkar has looked way below his attacking best since he underwent elbow surgery last year.

Tendulkar appeared tentative in Pakistan, hit on his helmet by a Shoaib Akhtar delivery in Karachi.

His dismissal in Faisalabad also raised eye-brows. He walked after gloving Shoaib behind the stumps, though television replays suggested he was not out because his hand was off the bat.

—Reuters