New Zealand legend Richard Hadlee believes India need the services of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman despite their age and form.
"You can't be talking about Tendulkar, Laxman and Dravid's retirement. You can't afford to lose all these players in one go. You need to see the young players go through," PTI quoted Hadlee as ssaying.
Hadlee, however, conceded that the selectors would be pushed into making a decision on the issue in the wake of the debacles in England and Australia.
The former all-rounder, once the highest wicket-taker in Tests, also said Tendulkar still had a few years left in him but he seems to be weighed down by the pressure of scoring the 100th international 100.
"When you are in search of a major milestone, like I was trying to beat Ian Botham's world record of maximum Test wickets, it creates a lot of pressure. I am sure Tendulkar might be feeling the same way," he said.
"As far as Indian team is concerned, all they want is he gets to that hundred and they can all relax and get on with the game," he added.
"I remember people talking about Tendulkar's retirement during 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, but he went on to amass runs for the next five years.
"It may be a year since Tendulkar hasn't scored a hundred, but he has still batted pretty well and scored some good sixties, seventies and eighties and held the Indian innings together," Hadlee said.
Speaking about the batsmen's poor run in England and Australia, Hadlee said it was mainly due to the swing and bounce.
"The Indian batsmen traditionally perform well in home conditions, but struggle to cope with bouncing and swinging balls on foreign soils," Hadlee said.
"Technically they have been exposed and that is the common denominator. English and Australian conditions may differ, but there were similarities with the way the ball moved and bounced around," he added.