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Q&A Sachin Tendulkar

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I wanted to bea mixture of SunilGavaskar andViv Richards. I

thought being apackage of thosetwo would be the

ultimate thing

W

HEN THE dening moment

o his career arrived earlier

this year, Sachin Tendulkar

wasnt in the middle o the

eld wielding his bat, nor

was he even on the balcony

watching his team-mates.

Instead he was on his owninside the dressing room, his hands clasped together and his

eyes closed as he prayed in silence.

He only knew India had won the World Cup when he

heard that cathartic roar reverberate around the Wankhede

Stadium as his captain MS Dhoni hit the winning runs

against Sri Lanka.

Tendulkar made his way to the balcony where he was

immediately lost in the embrace o his team-mates. He was

the ocus o the national outpouring o joy, they had won it

or him, and his ace was wet with tears, as each member o

the side hugged him.

Tendulkar describes the experience as a dierent kind

o eeling, a high, like living on a dierent planet, it elt as

though I was fying.

He had waited 22 years or this moment. For all his

personal records, and he boasts the complete set o the

most Test runs and Test centuries, and the most ODI

runs and ODI centuries, he wanted something tangible, a

trophy to lit, a medal to wear around his neck, and to win

something as part o an Indian team.Tendulkar had played in the previous ve World Cups,

but allen short each time. He had got close in 2003 beore

losing the nal to Australia, but the last time in 2007 India

had been bundled out early at the rst stage, leaving him

shattered beyond words.

Eighteen months beore Indias World Cup triumph,

Tendulkar had told me he couldnt bear the thought o

retiring rom international cricket without having won the

tournament. Yet having nally achieved his ambition, he

is showing no interest in winding down his career, and is

relishing touring Australia this summer and attempting to win

a Test series here or the rst time.

36 JANUARY 2011

Sam Pilger was privileged to talk with Sachin Tendulkar, who talked

o beginnings, all things batting and being the best since Bradman


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When one gets compared to TheDon, its a big thing. All players

rom that era have to be respected orwhat they achieved. He told us that on themorning o a Test he would go into work,then play in the Test and then sometimesin the evening, go back to work

Tendulkar with Sunil

Gavaskar, a batsman he

idolised as a youngster

and passed as Indias

leading run scorer and

Test century maker

This will be Tendulkars th tour here,

and overall his 11th series against Australia.

Throughout the last two decades, the Little

Master has always saved his best or Australia,

rom the raw 18-year-old talent who took on

Merv Hughes and Craig McDermott to score two

Test centuries on his rst tour way back in 1991-

92, to the peerless veteran who scored 214 and

an unbeaten 53 in his most recent Test againstAustralia in Bangalore as India successully

retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Tendulkar has scored more international

runs against Australia than any other batsman

in the history o the game, a staggering 6,209,

including 20 centuries.

It is worth noting he amassed the vast

majority o these runs taking on the might o

Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath when Australia

were the best side in the world, possibly the best

side ever. His averages in both Tests (60.59)

and ODIs (46.33) versus Australia are superior

to his overall career averages.

At the time o writing, ahead o the ODI series

against West Indies that he was not expected

to play in, Tendulkar was still stranded on 99

international centuries, needing just one more to

create cricketing history, having also become the

rst player to pass 15,000 Test runs.

To place this in perspective, the nearest

batsman to him is Ricky Ponting with 69

international centuries. Tendulkars great rivalMuttiah Muralitharan has said he believes his

current total, whether he reaches a century or

not, will not be beaten or 100 years.

He might be the greatest batsman o modern

times, eted as a God in India by over a billion

people, but when you meet him in person he

is beret o any ego or even the smallest hint o

arrogance.

This year I have been helping Tendulkar

produce his Ocial Opus, and in conversation

he remains an unerringly polite and humble

character, who always speaks quietly and

thoughtully.

Rahul Dravid recently said the reason

you have played so long is that you have

retained a child-like love o cricket?

Would you agree with that?

Yes, and I think it is really important to keep

that. This love is what drives me every mornin

to go out and do it. I love the game as much

as I did when I started. I still get just as excited

rom practising as when I was a kid. As long athat re is still there, it makes sense to continu

There are times when I end up batting or a lo

time, but I never eel like I have had enough a

need to stop.

What is it about cricket that you love so

much?

Obviously it has to be batting, and the

satisaction you get rom just a practice sessio

These practice sessions are where your cricke

starts, and rom there everything else comes.

You have to enjoy them, otherwise it is hard to

progress. It is here that I have a lot o un, tryi

38 JANUARY 2011 facebook.com/InsideCricke


4/9

Losing his wicket to the

unlikely source of Michael

Vaughan, who details the

experience in this feature

witter.com/InsideCricketOz


5/9

to correct things in my game. When you have got

it right, there is great satisaction there, it speaks

to your heart.

Have you ever allen out o love with

cricket?

No, but there are tough times along the way.

There have been many tough periods, probably

the toughest was when I had my tennis elbow

injury [2004]. I was worried, I thought my career

was over, because I couldnt pick up a cricket

bat. When I did manage to bat, and I thought Iwas hitting the ball hard, 12-year-old boys could

stop the ball ater 10 metres. I just couldnt hit

the ball. That was scary, I thought I would never

be able to bat again.

Over your career, have you noticed that

Indias work ethic and proessionalism has

signicantly improved?

The game and the demands were dierent

when I started, and with time everything has

changed. There is more planning, and it is more

precise, there is nothing random about it. The

work-out sessions are tailored to how you eel. I

am a batsman, so my sessions are dierent to abowler, but when I joined the team in 1989 that

wasnt there. Even the clothing was dierent,

each player wore what they liked, but now with

the sponsors and the BCCI logo on our clothes

the entire set-up has changed.

Do the players have a harder mental

approach now?

I wouldnt say the players are tougher now than

when I started. It is exactly the same. But I

denitely eel that in the recent past we have

produced more match winners.

It is oten said you are completely sel-sucient in your game, but do you seek

advice rom others as well?

I speak a lot with my brother and in my schoo

days Id speak a lot with my coach. Ater that

time, whenever senior cricketers Sunil Gavask

and Ravi Shastri travelled with us Id discuss m

game with them. Over the last 22 years, weve

had many coaches with India and Ive discuss

my game with them, too. Generally I like to do

that. Im not someone who is chasing to be 10

per cent technically correct. There are certain

basics that are extremely important, but beyo

that its up to an individual how to adjust to

Top, above and right:

Tendulkar says a love of

practice is a key to his success


The Australian camp always had

a pretty simple game plan or

dealing with Sachin: bowl a linejust outside o stump, which

we elt was our best opportunity

to get him caught behind.

The thing you had to avoid is

bowling too straight, because he is

so good down the leg side, thats where he

could cause real damage.

He loved playing straight with a short

back lit, and just punching it right back

down the ground. However, i you bowled

it too wide on the o-stump he could really

put the ball away, especially with the ast

outelds in India.

You had tobe patient,

but above all,

you had to be

accurate. He

really tested

your ability to

put the ball

where you

wanted it. When

he got going he

was pretty hard

to stop. Your margin or error was very, very

small. It was hard work, because you knew

i you werent on your game, you were goingto get punished.

Sometimes when you were bowling to him

it honestly elt as though his bat was about

three eet bloody wide.

His great strength was that he had a

simple game plan and stuck to it. He knew

what he wanted to do, and knew every part

o his game so well, all his strengths and

weaknesses.

Even when he wasnt in the best orm,

scoring runs reely and seeing the ball well,

he ound a way to survive and stay there.

No matter how rustrated you got, you

never sledged Sachin. Quite simply, you justran the risk o annoying him, and giving him

greater motivation, and that would be plain

stupid, because it was hard enough bowling

to him to begin with.

There were guys you could rile, but

Sachin had this mask o coolness you

simply couldnt get past. I never saw him

rattled; anything bowlers said to him

was just shrugged o, he didnt react to

anything, he just stayed in his bubble, his

own zone, and blocked everything else out.

No matterhow rustrated

you got, younever sledged

Sachin. Youran the risko annoying

him and thatwould be plain

stupid

Bowling toSachin

1pArt

JAson Gillespie


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DECEMBER 2010 InsideCricketwitter.com/InsideCricketOz


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o either end! Ive gone a little way in both

directions. I can deend when I have to deend

. . . but heroes are always heroes and I dont

think one can get better than that. I always

wanted to get somewhere close. So when itcomes to being solid, i you can get anywhere

near as solid as Gavaskar then thats good.

And i you can get anywhere close to being as

destructive as Viv Richards, then you would b

very dangerous player.

And now do you eel you have personally

infuenced todays generation o Indian

batsmen?

For any cricketer whos played or a reasonabl

period and then had that impact on the next

generation, then that is your contribution to

cricket. When [Virender] Sehwag came into

the side in 2002 and he said, I used to watchyou bat on TV and try and replicate all the

movements that elt wonderul to know that I

had an impact on the next generation and tha

would continue. So thats pleasing to me.

Since then Sehwag has developed into on

o the great batsmen in modern cricket.

How would you compare your game to his

I think hes brilliant. His thought process is

completely dierent to any other person. Whe

he made his debut I was batting with him at

that stage and when he scored a hundred I wa

there. So we had a long partnership. Ive enjoy

various situations. Its about awareness and i

youre aware o what the opposition is trying to

do that helps more than just being technically

correct.

So youre open to advice?

Always, because I think you can only learn i

youre open to discussion but i you shut all the

doors then I dont think things work out. Its up

to you how much you want to implement whats

been said in the discussion and how much you

want to go and practice whats been suggested.

Do you watch DVDs o your own bat ting?

I do. I I eel there is a need, I do it. But not all

the time. Earlier in my career, when I started

playing, I did it all the time. Maybe the rst six or

seven years o my career. But ater that I didnt

want to complicate things too much.

Do you think you and your generation have

changed the Indian style o batting?

Yeah. I always wanted to be a mixture o Sunil

Gavaskar and Viv Richards. I elt I should be

able to deend when I wanted to deend, and

attack when I wanted to attack. The opposition

should not decide whether I was going to attack

or deend. I thought being a package o those

two would be the ultimate thing.

Have you achieved that?

No, I dont think Ive gone to the extreme

There were several things that struck me

through Sachins career. The rst was a

basic thing. As a bowler, you watch wherethe batsman moves, especially

when youre quick and you

bounce him. Is the batsman

willing to stay in line and

take a hit?

I he is ready to be hit,

then other technical issues

resolve themselves. I youre

not willing to be hit then everything else

becomes a problem. Sachin never finched,

on any track, against any bowler.

Obviously he is excellent technically,

the best technician in the world. But it

is his hunger that is rightening. Over 20years and he still wants to score runs. Most

cricketers go ater 13 or 14 years, batsmen

a little longer and these days that might

not happen anymore. But over 20? And still

scoring runs? It is incredible.

Over the last

our years alone,

since so many

wrote him o,

hes scored

more runs and

hundreds than

some do in their

entire career.O the eld

I know what

others know,

his humility,

and his shyness

in public. Once, during a Test in India I

saw him head back to the hotel ater play

with his bat. Most players leave their kit

overnight in the dressing room during a

Test, but he went back with his bats.

I asked him why and he just said he

wanted to keep them with him. Maybe it

was superstition, maybe devotion.

Hes obviously one o the best batsmenI bowled to. Hes very dierent to a Brian

Lara or example, another great, who would

be at you rom the start and be fashy. Once

he got going it was dicult to stop him but

with Lara, you always elt there might be a

chance.

Sachin takes time to settle in, is less

risky and early on, more balanced at the

crease. Once he gets in, though, you know

he is there to stay.

Sachin neverfinched, on

any track,against

any bowler.Obviously he

is excellenttechnically,but it is his

hunger that isrightening

Bowling toSachin

2pArt

WAQAr Younis



8/9

DECEMBER 2010 InsideCricketwitter.com/InsideCricketOz

it; I enjoy his skill. Hes really, really talented and

he likes to take the opposition on and he backs

himsel in various conditions. There have been

times where hes ailed but also times when he

destroyed the opposition, but hes not changed

his approach much. Hes pretty much in the

same gear whenever he goes to play. I think the

best Ive seen him bat was in Australia on our

last tour. In Adelaide, he scored 150-something

[151 o 236 balls] but that was an inningswhere we had to kill time and one could actually

see Sehwags solid deence there: blocking

and leaving and basically killing time. It was a

magnicent innings.

Once Sir Donald Bradman was deemed to

be untouchable, but in recent years it has

been argued with your longevity and sheer

number o runs you are his equal or have

even surpassed him. How do you eel about

that?

I dont know how to react to that. Ive never

liked those comparisons. But when one gets

compared to The Don, its a big thing. ButI think all players rom that era have to be

respected or what they achieved in their

era. The comparisons? I dont know. The way

he has played his cricket was so dierent:

when we met, he told us that on the morning

o a Test match he would go into work, then

go o and play in the Test match and then

sometimes in the evening, go back to work. So

it was completely dierent. Now the game has

changed. And maybe in 40 years time players

will be doing completely dierent things to what

we are doing now.

But do you have a sense o pride that you

are compared to someone hailed as the

greatest batsman ever?

The dream was to be one o the top players. And

i I got there then I am quite happy.

This will be your 11th series against

Australia. What are your memories o your

rst one back in 1991-92?

I remember when we landed in Australia I was

very excited because I wanted to prove a point

and establish mysel. I learned in Australia, I

required a dierent approach to anything else I

had used beore. The cricket here was dierent,

and they had a very strong bowling attack. It was

a big, big challenge.

What was it like acing Bruce Reid, Craig

McDermott, Merv Hughes and MikeWhitney in that series?

I was condent about taking them on, and about

my ability. I didnt want them to go sot on me,

I was prepared or hard and tough cricket. The

experience made me even tougher. It was a

tough side, and I remember in Perth I played

a backward deensive shot and I leant down to

pick up the ball, and Allan Border rom gully said


9/9

I can tell you rom experience he is

very vulnerable to part-time o-spin! At

Trent Bridge in 2002 I claimed SachinTendulkars wicket, and will happily

dine o it orever.

My spell o bowling didnt

start well. To be honest, he just

took the piss, and was hitting

boundaries whenever he wanted.

He is smart, because he subtly

milks average part-time spinners like

me to keep them on, and then attacks good

spinners to get them hauled o.

He had driven me or our with my

previous ball, so I thought with the next

one I would toss it a bit higher and wider.

He went or it again, but it just caught theedge o the rough and spun right back in to

the stumps. Oh, what a wonderul eeling.

I seem to recall I embarked on quite a

celebration. Come on, it isnt every day you

take the wicket o arguably the greatest

cricketer ever.

I still have the ball and the stump, Sachin

kindly signed both or me, which I have

proudly on display at home in my snooker

room.

Later in that series, we had no joy as

he made 193 at Headingley. There wasnt

much we could do, he got in and then just

took the piss, hitting it all over the ground.Nothing we tried worked. But even though

we couldnt get him out, I enjoyed the

exhibition, watching a master at work doing

his thing.

In 2007 I captained England in a Test

series against India, and over the course o

the summer you could tell he wasnt at his

absolute best. We elt we bowled well to

him in that series.

Chris Tremlett bowled really well to him,

and used his height to get some steep

bounce, which he didnt like. Freddie

Flinto troubled him quite a lot, getting the

ball to angle in, and Ryan Sidebottom madehim play and miss at a lot o balls.

It was hard to draw up plans or him,

but my approach was to be aggressive, try

to unsettle him with raw pace. We looked

to put the ball around o stump early on,

tempt him orward and gain a snick.

At the time he was struggling a bit with

the short ball, but since then, I think he

looked at that series, and has once again

started to deal with it with his usual

composure and calmness.

Dont touch the ball. I thought, OK, ne, I wont

touch the ball. They were tough characters. It

gave me a dierent taste o cricket.

What do you remember about your two

centuries that summer?In the third Test in Sydney I got a hundred, and

I elt like I was batting well. It was a wicket or

spinners, so I enjoyed making runs. Then again

that track in Perth was really ast and had a lot

o bounce, and big cracks. I elt because o that

the kind o shots I played in that innings has to

make it one o my best, in my personal top 10

o innings. At that stage o my career or me to

make that century was extremely important, and

ater it my cricket went to a new level. It boosted

me. I played with a great sense o reedom.

Later on what do you remember about acing

Australia when they were the best team in

the world, acing Glenn McGrath rom one

end and Shane Warne rom the other?

It was good I mean, they played aggressive

cricket; they had aggressive elds. And I was

playing attacking cricket, so . . . it worked. Thewere times when I was able to push them on t

back oot. And there were times when I orced

them to set deensive elds or me. And there

were times when I got out early. But generally

I would say that, on the whole, I had the uppe

hand . . . It was a good challenge. You knew th

runs werent going to come easy.

Sam Pilger is the Executive Editor o

The Ofcial Sachin Tendulkar Opus, the

defnitive story o Tendulkars lie and

career due to be published in 2012. For

more inormation go to tendulkaropus.co

I remember in Perth I played a backward

deensive shot and I leant down to pickup the ball, and Allan Border rom gully saidDont touch the ball. I thought, OK, ne, I wontouch the ball. They were tough characters. Itgave me a dierent taste o cricket

Bowling toSachin

3pArt

MichAel VAuGhAn

Tendulkar as

16-year-old i

October 198


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