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Catch Sachin in exclusive interview
"What matters to me the most is the team’s victory," says the master blaster in a no-holds-barred interview to Harsha Bhogle.
Sachin Tendulkar might be a doubtful starter for the third Test against Pakistan, but otherwise is in the form of his life. The master bat spoke to Harsha Bhogle and said he isn't retiring any time soon. That's definitely good news for India. Excerpts:
One thing that stood out for me on the tour of England was the little child that came out again. To be honest, you have won a lot of matches, though the odd games have gone the other way. I didn't think you would celebrate the way you did.
I think it is important. When you celebrate victories, you want to celebrate more. It was something that we all — myself, Anil, Rahul and Sourav — had waited for, for a long time and when it happened, we wanted to go out and celebrate. I told the youngsters in the team that it was a special moment, so they should enjoy this moment.
Earlier I spent a lot of time in the nets, even now I do that, but in a different style. It has a lot to do with how you feel. Sometimes I know I am in a good frame of mind and I don't need as much practice, just to get that feel going. When you hear that sound (of the ball hitting the middle of the bat), you know things are going well.
Towards the end of his career Sunil Gavaskar did not bat much in the nets. Before the 1987 World Cup, he never did. Is there something that happens that you don't want to bat in the nets any more?
It's your feel. It's probably a coincidence but even in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, I didn't bat in the nets at all. On the entire tour, I batted only once in the nets, in Zimbabwe. We had an Indian guy named 'Veg' with us. Everyday for an hour or so, he use to keep chucking balls from a short distance and by the end of the tour he had a sore shoulder. But he gave me brilliant practice and I was happy with that.
What is with this 90s thing? I think it has become a new obsession. I don't know if you feel tense but the whole country gets tense.
Harsha, when you score hundreds, people say he is playing for hundreds. When you score nineties, people say, "Why isn't he scoring centuries?" The way I look at it, it’s better than scoring twenties.
Eventually, what matters to me the most is the victory of my team. If you score a hundred and the team does not win, you are not a happy person. What I want is the smiles in the dressing room and that's what I play for. We play as a team and as a team something that is most important to us is victory.
I think you were giving too much respect to some bowlers in England. I wonder if it was just a phase you were trying to get by. Is it happening more and more in your life?
I think it happened on a couple of occasions in England and it was intentional because I think it was the crunch moment in that Test. On both occasions we had very important partnerships going.
The first one was with Sourav and the other one with Laxman in the third Test. I thought the bowlers had bowled good spells on those two occasions. I discussed with Sourav and Laxman in those situations and we thought if we see through those spells, it's going to get easy for us.
Do you sometimes think that ‘I have been in the side for 18 years and my role is different now’?
Role depends on what kind of players you have in the team. If you have more attacking players in the team, then obviously the role changes. It also depends on the strategy. If the planning involves that I should stay there till the 40th or the 45th over, then I play differently. If I am supposed to go out and play my natural game, then I would do that.