I agree with Loote. Both Sachin and Lara are great batsmen. People always love to compare them. And nothing wrong with that. But the reason given by Chappel for Sachin's retirement is not fair enough. If Sachin is not playing as good as Lara (according to Chappel), that does not mean Lara should retire. Chris Gayle, Sangakara are not as good as Lara. That does not mean they should retire. But having said that Sachin should retire now because of other reasons. It will be good for him coz great players retire when they are still playing good. Its not good to retire becuase of poor performance. When it comes to comapring Lara and Sachin, I always felt that both are great. But there is one attitude of Lara that stands ahead of Sachin. Lara is a slefless player but Sachin.. I dont know.. I sometimes doubt that. We have seen on numerous occasions that Sachin plays at a snail's pace once he reaches 90s. Sometimes you get the feeling that he puts himslef ahead of team, he sometimes plays for the record. Look at the way Dravid had to once declare the inning when Sachin was on 194 (not out) . He wanted to give Sachin a chance to get the double hundred but Sachin was playing so slowly that the team was putting its chance to win in danger. Then dravid had to declare. These are the kinds of situations when you feel if Sachin is a commited team player. Otherwise I think both are great batsmen. But I find more elegance in Lara's batting.