Download - Sachin Tendulkar Fan Club

Tendulkar is at pains to make clear that the launch of his Opus
does not signal the end of his career and, while at 36 it is
inevitably approaching, he has set no retirement date, even
privately.
“I have given it no thought at all,” he says, “I am good at cricket,
so I will play a while longer. I still love the game as much as ever,
it is my job but it remains my passion too. This is fun. Cricket
remains in my heart.”
As the scorer of both the most Test and one-day runs, as well as
the most Test and one-day centuries Tendulkar’s standing as one
of the modern game’s greatest players is secure, and the 2002
Wisden argued that only Sir Donald Bradman can claim to be
better in the entire history of the sport. Even so he is far from
sated. He wants more. Tendulkar once said being satisfied is like
pulling up the handbrake on a car and expecting it to keep
moving forward.
“I am not pleased yet with what I have done,” he says shaking his
head. “Sunil Gavaskar has told me that I have to get to 15,000
runs, he said he would be angry with me, he would come and
catch me if I didn’t. I admire him so much and to score that many
would be a terrific achievement but that is not the only aim.”
What else? “Winning the World Cup in 2011.”
To prolong his Test and one-day career Tendulkar has decided not
to play Twenty20 internationals. “I felt as though I would have
been a loose link in the team, I couldn’t do that to them,” he
says. “I was not sure I would last, there was something missing.
If my body wasn’t strong enough to last through the tournament
then I couldn’t play.”
At 36, does he feel his body is letting him down? He pauses to
think. “No, it still does what I want it to but I am older so it is
different, you just have to work harder. There are moments when
I try something and it doesn’t happen but it isn’t because of my
age.”
In recent years Tendulkar has tightened his style, becoming
increasingly cautious, but he remains as prolific as ever with an
average of 52.11 over the last 18 months. The last year also
contained what he considers to be his greatest innings, the
unbeaten 103 he made against England in Chennai, for the
performance but also for its defiant symbolism coming weeks
after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
After two decades playing international cricket, how has he so
ruthlessly accumulated these runs? “The secret to batting is to
stay still and just react to what the bowler has done,” he says,
making it all sound simple. “You have to be still both in your mind
and physically. It is so important that your mind is not full of a lot
of thoughts because your reaction time is not going to be good.
You have to keep your mind blank.
“The toughest thing is to clear your mind. The mind always wants
to be in the past or the future, it rarely wants to be in the
present. My best batting comes when my mind is in the present
but it doesn’t happen naturally, you have to take yourself there. I
am not able to get in that zone as often as I would like but, when
you are there, you don’t see anything except the bowler and the
ball.
SACHINISM INSIDE OUT- E MAGAZINE - AUGUST EDITION
August 15,
2009
You have to allow your instincts to take over, trust me, your
instincts are 99% right but, you know, the older I get the more I
realise how important your breathing is to good batting. By that I
mean, if you focus on breathing and relaxing, you can force
yourself into a comfortable place to bat.”
And when the end does finally come Tendulkar says he will not
resist it: “I will know when it is the right time, I won’t have to be
dragged away … I am the person who will make the decision and I
will know whether I still belong.” And what will he do afterwards?
“I would like to do something with the game.”
How will he adjust to life without playing cricket? “It is a scary
thought,” he says candidly. “It has been there for my whole adult
life, it will be difficult, I have been around for a long time, I can
imagine when I finish I will long to face just 10 more balls but you
have to move away.”
Who will surpass Tendulkar’s record haul of runs? Bradman
anointed Tendulkar the player who most reminded him of himself
and picked him as the only modern player in his all-time XI.
Would Tendulkar extend the same compliment to anyone? “I
would say Virender Sehwag comes closest to my style.”
What state will Tendulkar leave the game in when he does
eventually retire? He made his name in Test cricket but he has
significantly added to his fortune with the emergence of Twenty20
as captain of the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
“There is no way Test cricket is dying,” he says. “Twenty20 cricket
is the dessert and you can’t survive on that. Who wants to eat
only desserts? Test cricket is my main course, with all the meat
and vegetables, and then it is nice to have Twenty20 as a
dessert.”
But does he have any fears about the growing influence of
Twenty20 cricket? “I started playing cricket at six with a tennis
ball not because I wanted to be a millionaire but because I loved
cricket,” he replies. “Maybe in 10 years or even now people will
pick up cricket bats thinking only about the huge money in
Twenty20 cricket. Money should just be coincidental. The passion
and the desire are the most important thing. I worry about runs,
not contracts.”
Following the attacks on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore and those
attacks in Mumbai, which prompted the IPL to relocate
temporarily to South Africa, Tendulkar has seen terrorism pose an
increasing threat to cricket.
“It was a horrible surprise … I was shocked about what happened
to the Sri Lankans. I always thought that sportsmen would be left
alone and we wouldn’t be targeted.”
Would he ever feel safe touring Pakistan again? “It is not up to
me to judge whether it was safe, it is up to the government to
make those decisions once they have done their homework.” And
that would be enough? “Probably, yes.”
A couple of hours after his arrival, a small band of mostly Indian
students are now milling around the front of the store and
attempting to take pictures of Tendulkar through the windows.
Sir Garfield Sobers on Sachin - I have watched a lot of Tendulkar and we have spoken to each
other a lot. He has it in him to be among the very best.
SACHINISM : More Than A Religion
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