Former Australia captain Ian Chappell, brother of current India coach Greg, says legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar should retire.
Chappell called for him to quit in his column for Mumbai's Mid Day newspaper.
"At the moment he (Tendulkar) looks like a player trying to eke out a career built on a glittering array of statistics," said Chappell.
"If he really is playing for that reason then he is wasting his time and should retire immediately."
Pressure is growing on Tendulkar, 33, after India crashed out of the World Cup at the group stages and Chappell said he should go before someone else makes the call for him.
"Before anybody else makes a decision on what will happen to Tendulkar, the player himself has to have a good long look in the mirror and decide what he's trying to achieve in the game," said Chappell.
India lost to Bangladesh in their opening match in the West Indies and when that was followed by defeat against Sri Lanka they were on their way home.
"For whatever reason Tendulkar hasn't been able to maintain his extremely high standards for the last few years"
Tendulkar is the highest scorer in the history of one-day international cricket with 14,847 runs from 384 ODI matches and also holds the record for the most centuries with 41.
In addition he holds the record for the most World Cup runs - more than 1,700 in 33 matches - but he had a poor tournament this year in his fifth World Cup.
Tendulkar scored just seven against Bangladesh and was then bowled for a third-ball duck as India lost their must-win game against Sri Lanka by 69 runs.
In the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, where India lost to Australia in the final, Tendulkar was the player of the tournament and won the man of the match award three times.
However, he has been plagued by injuries over the past two years, and many observers feel he no longer has the powers of the man who vied with Brian Lara for the title of the best batsman in the world for more than a decade.
Chappell said that, while Lara had managed to retain his form, Tendulkar was now a shadow of his former self.
"For whatever reason, Tendulkar hasn't been able to maintain his extremely high standards for the last few years," insisted Chappell.
"Unless he can find a way to recapture this mental approach he's not doing his team or himself any favours.
"If Tendulkar had found an honest mirror three years ago and asked the question: 'Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the best batsman of all?' It would've answered: 'Brian Charles Lara'.
"If he asked that same mirror right now 'mirror, mirror on the wall should I retire?' The answer would be 'yes'."