Sachin Tendulkar Interview, “I dont listen to critics”

I really don’t know at what stage of my career I am in. I just know that I still love the game, that I am still doing the job for the country. So, Sachin Tendulkar tells Bobilli Vijay Kumar, there’s…

Another big series, a very important season ahead. How are you looking at it?

I am looking forward to it. It’s obviously a big series, against Pakistan. The whole team is up for it. We’ve had this little break but I am sure everyone has been preparing for it. It’s going to be competitive, no doubt about that. I am sure people will enjoy it.

How are you preparing for it?

I am just doing basic practice, started about 10 days ago. Only when the team gets together and we have a couple of meetings we will plan our strategy. Otherwise, it’s just normal preparation. Going to the nets, getting a feel of the ball, the rhythm and all that. Just trying to get those things back after the break.

How do you rate India’s chances against Pakistan without Inzy and Asif? Will we start favourites?

In a home series, you obviously have a few things in your favour. The crowd support, for example. So yes, we have a good chance. But then, in a One-day series everything depends on how things pan out on that particular day. How you play those 100 overs. I think we are confident, but not over-confident.

What about against Australia, when we go there? After all they don’t have McGrath and Warne either.

Australia will be the next step. For the time being, I want to focus on this series as it is an extremely important one. But yes, when somebody like Warne or McGrath — both world class bowlers — is not there, a team would surely miss them. But Australia have the bench strength. It’s not that if they are not there things are going to be easier. It’s still going to be very tough.

What is it about Australia that makes them so formidable?

They are very skillful players, to begin with. Their standard of domestic cricket is very high too. I was watching a few games on TV and you can see they play it hard. So we know whoever scores runs or gets wickets will be good. It’s not easy for somebody to get into the Australian team either. It doesn’t happen overnight there; it’s not about three-four good games and suddenly you are in the team. It’s a slow process but when they are brought in, they get a fair chance, a long enough run.

So given their strengths and their record, was the 4-2 result in the just-concluded series fine?

Ideally, we would have liked to win the series. But I thought the games in Baroda and Nagpur were disappointing. We made only 145 in Baroda and messed up the second part in Nagpur. But they were close matches. If we had played a little better, it could have been a different story. We are obviously not happy with the result although it was good we managed to win the last one in Mumbai.

Do you think not having a fixed batting order, especially against a team like Australia, hurts the team?

I think not losing early wickets is more important. It’s very important against a team like Australia to go through the initial overs without too much damage. Whenever we have not lost early wickets, we have piled up good totals and done well against them.

Yet, India managed to easily beat them not once but twice in Twenty20. How was that possible?

Twenty20 is a kind of game where everything happens so fast. If you do well in those three hours, you can beat anybody, win against anyone. But if you are caught on the wrong foot, by the time you realise it the game is over. Don’t forget, we played very well too. You have to give credit for that.

Personally, do you like the format? Do you enjoy it?

Oh, I enjoy it. When I played in Ahmedabad, I got runs and I really enjoyed it. I played my first Twenty20 game in 2002 in New Zealand, and I scored 77. It was fun. I played another game in South Africa. I had fun there too. It’s nice and enjoyable. You have to think of two or three shots for every ball.

Your game was made for a Twenty20 game. You would have been a huge hit at it too…

Oh yes, I would have liked to play it a little more. But then you have to take certain decisions and this was one of them. I felt I could probably step aside this time and let the youngsters play. Nobody asked me to step aside, not the BCCI, not the selectors. Nobody told me to pull out of it. It was my decision entirely.

But you were in good form, and you can’t really be called old either?

Well yeah, I am 34 but I have played over 400 One-dayers and 140 Test matches. That is a fair amount of cricket. I just felt this was the right decision. And no, I am not regretting that I missed out on the opportunity to win a world title. It has always been a dream to be part of a world champion team. But as an Indian I am very happy that the Cup is with us. I am very proud of it.

What do you like about the team that played the Twenty20 World Cup? Is it the attitude? Better fitness? More skill?

It’s a very good team. We had the ammunition, the firepower to go out and deliver. It has always been there. It’s not that we suddenly found it in Twenty20. It’s just that everything happens much, much faster here. Our players also have the natural ability to hit the ball and that’s very important in this format.

Would you say the team won because it had so many younger players?

It’s not really a totally young team as such. Don’t forget the same players are playing in ODIs too. There is Gambhir and Sehwag; both have been around for some time. Then there are others like Yuvraj, Harbhajan; they have been around for a little longer. Dhoni and Irfan have been playing for three-four years too. Uthappa is the only one who has been at it for just over a year. They all have played a fair deal of cricket. So the experience was important too.

Is it possible to incorporate some of these things in One-dayers or even Test cricket, basically play with the same spirit?

No. I don’t think so. It’s just not going to work. It’s a different game altogether. You need a different mental setup, different technique. The approach, the preparation is also different. Everything is different. Comparing Test cricket to Twenty20 is like comparing the North Pole to the South Pole, with the One-dayers somewhere in between.

Coming to you, at what stage of your career are you at the moment?

I don’t know really (laughs). I wish I knew. But I have never looked at it that way. Not when I was 20, not 25, nor 30. Maybe when I was 16, things were different. Then, I just wanted to go out there and do lot of things. I still want to do those things. I have always believed that whenever I go out to play, I should give my best, deliver and do my job for the country. Everything else is secondary.

You have achieved almost everything there is in cricket, virtually all the batting records. What more do you want to achieve?

I just want to continue to do the same things. I didn’t start playing cricket so that I could achieve something, or break records. I started playing because I LOVE this game. And even today, I LOVE going out there. It’s not about records; but you walk out there to do well. I do not want to play to break records; I want to play because I love playing cricket. The enthusiasm, passion is still there. The day I feel I am slacking or something like that, I would think about my options. There is no reason for me to think about it at the moment. Absolutely not.

But there might be days when you wake up and feel, ‘My god, another day of waking up at 6, and being in the field for a full day.’ Isn’t it?

Maybe, the bowlers feel that way…

You mean, the opposition bowlers…

(Laughs) No, I mean… more than the batsmen, the bowlers might feel that ‘it’s going to be a long, hard day.’ You know when the wicket is flat, and you have two well set batsmen, and you know you really have to work hard to get them out. That’s when probably the bowlers feel that way. It happens.

What is it that really turns you on even after a 17-year grind?

I think I still like to do a lot of things on the cricket field. When I am bowling, I would want to do something more, surprise the batsman, beat him with a little bit of extra seam or some spin or whatever I am doing. That excitement is something else. Even today when I do that all that I feel happy. When you hit a cover-drive, a straight-drive or a cut, whatever, the feeling touches your soul. The sound of bat hitting the ball, even hitting it exactly where you want to do it, those feelings are special. I enjoy that feeling, I live for it. The moment I feel I am losing it, then I can start thinking in the other direction. Right now I don’t want to think like that.

But recently you spoke about your body and the rigours of One-day cricket that triggered speculation about your future. What exactly did you mean?

I was asked a question ‘is your body the same since you started playing cricket at the age of 16′ and I simply said ‘no, it is obviously not the same, that it takes a little longer to recover after all these years, and matches’. That is all. You know, so many times we carry niggles; it’s not only me, everybody does but you go out there and push yourself. That is a common thing. As long as I can get up in the morning and go out and give my best I won’t even look in that direction.

So it wasn’t a hint about your future at all? No revelation about what you were planning?

Not at all. I wasn’t thinking of any such thing. I just made a simple statement in response to a question. As far as I am concerned there was nothing complicated about what I said. It all came straight from my heart. If somebody wants to read between the lines, I can’t help it. But from my side I wasn’t trying to say anything.

What role do you see yourself play in One-dayers?

I just go out there and try and read the surface and play accordingly. You know we do that all the time, have a look at the pitch and say we should get so many runs on this track, that so many will be a fighting total, and so many a winning one. Then as the match progresses, we keep revising our targets. I just play my part in it, the way I feel is the best thing for the team. I have been doing that for some time now and that’s what I want to do in the future too.

Do you see yourself play fewer games or only one version of the game some time in the future?

I have honestly not thought about that. That I only need to play one version of the game to play the other longer. As I said earlier I am enjoying whatever I am doing at the moment. The moment I feel I am not enjoying myself, I will start thinking about it. Right now I am very happy with myself and my game.

To put it bluntly, you have neither thought of retiring from One-dayers nor are you thinking about it right now.

Absolutely. At this point of time I just want to keep things like they are. I have no reason to think of my future.

Two years ago, you told me you were 16, 16 years ago. How much has life changed since then? How much has your batting changed since then, if at all?

A lot. My batting has changed for the good, I would like to believe. You know, there is no person in this world who doesn’t want to get better. Similarly, I want to continue to get better. The way I look at things if I find one positive thing every year that I play I will be happy. I won’t be able to pinpoint but I know that when I got out in the middle now I do things a little differently. Things that I was not able to do earlier. You continue to raise that bar, to get better. I definitely feel there have been a lot of changes; my shot-selection has improved. I can say out there in the middle I have more options now. If somebody is bowling a particular ball, maybe earlier I had only one or two options; now I may have four or even five options. And I am able to pick the best option for that particular moment and I go for it. ”

To put it more simply, are there any strokes that you play a little less or a little more?

No. Not really. But more or less I play whatever strokes I feel more comfortable playing at that particular moment. Everyday your body or your mind doesn’t feel the same. There are times when you feel you are not connecting the ball as well you’d like to, or there are times when you are not picking the ball off the wicket nicely or you are not moving well enough. Those are the times when you can’t be adamant and say ‘no, no I will still go and play the same strokes.’ With experience you learn to curb yourself occasionally and that helps. You know it’s all about experience, as you look at things differently. It’s part of growing up.

But does it upset you when people say you have slowed down? You are not the same anymore?

To be honest, I don’t listen to them much. I do my own things. I feel if somebody wants to tell me something, if he wants to really help me, he will contact me and tell me personally instead of doing it through newspapers or television. I would appreciate that. I don’t worry about what is being said or being written about me as long as I know I am giving my best, that I am doing the right things for the team.

So does this raging debate over young vs old hurt you? Do you think you can ever choose between youth and experience?

No, it doesn’t bother me. But I don’t think it should be like that. If somebody is performing, he should be in the team. As simple as that.

So age should not really matter

Yes, I believe that. I believe in that very strongly. As long as you are playing well, as long as you are delivering and you are fit, nothing else should matter.

You had a couple of interesting battles in England recently, one with Sidebottom when he bowled a long and brilliant spell at TrentBridge, and then with Anderson who attacked you with short-pitched bowling. What do you remember about them?

I thought on both the occasions I went into bat at the most crucial moments in the Test matchec. In the second Test (against Sidebottom), if I had lost my wicket at that stage, we would have been on the back foot. Even the result might have been different. I am not saying the batsmen behind me would not have done the job. I am just saying we would have been under more pressure. At that particular stage it was important that we didn’t lose any wicket. Just play out that spell and gradually start building our innings again. In the third Test as well, that evening spell (by Anderson) was very crucial. I thought if I could just hang in there it would put us in a better position. I knew he won’t be able to go on and on with that line and length. And that’s exactly how it worked out. Later on when the other batters came on, the pressure had eased out.

So basically it’s a question of slogging it out? Doing some hard work

Yes, there are times in a Test match, when some players have to do the hard work. They have to work harder than the other guys. That is when you do well as a team. It’s all about strategy and team work. But yes, the top players in the team, basically the main batters, if they can take more pressure, the later players can go out and play their strokes, even swing their bats. It then becomes difficult for the fielding side to get control over the game. That is what happened in England, during those crucial phases of the series.

You took so many blows on your body against Anderson. That was a different Tendulkar that we saw…

It was all intentional. I took them on my body because I though that was the best way of playing at that point. He was trying to intimidate me and I said fine, ‘try it as long as you want.’ I had basically used a different technique, a different approach to overcome it. I don’t know how to express this but I was like ‘if you are gonna do this I will handle it like this.’

Didn’t you feel the urge to hit the ball, to hit him?

Not at all. They had fielders there for that specific shot and if I mistimed even one shot they would have been successful in their plan. And I wasn’t going to let that happen. Here it is not a battle between Anderson and me; it is about the team. About England and India and you can’t afford to bring ego into it. I was looking at the big picture all the time.

Ten years ago, you would have hit him? Taken it differently…

(Laughs) That’s what I said. The thinking changes. I have more options now and I take whatever I feel is the right one now. It may not always be the correct one but I never think twice about it; I just go by instinct. Probably 10 years ago I would have played my strokes, tried to dominate. I didn’t mind not doing it that time.

They were not typical Tendulkar-knocks but were those two extra special because they helped the team win the series?

No doubt about it. I was extremely, extremely happy at the end of the series as we had actually won in England after 21 years. We all were very excited because we fought very hard and we played tough cricket. There were some difficult times on the field, some big challenges but as a unit we were able to overcome them and cross those hurdles. It was all very satisfying.

Just before those two knocks, you might recall former English cricketers particularly were saying that you had slowed down, that you are not the same batsmen anymore. You silenced them, didn’t you?

It’s not the first time somebody has criticised me. It won’t be the last time either. Everyone will have his own opinion. But it might not be the right one. I can’t anyway go by all their opinions. I have my own opinion, at least for my own batting. And as long as I know what I am doing and what I am trying to achieve, it’s fine.

Everything seemed to be all right with Indian cricket but then suddenly Rahul decided to give up captaincy. Were you surprised?

Frankly, it won’t be right for me to comment on that.

But you were offered the captaincy again. You didn’t take it up…

Well yes, there were feelers towards that end, nothing official really. But I felt I probably wasn’t up to it. My feelings about captaincy were still the same. I am happy to be performing as one of the players…

What about Test captaincy? Are you ready for it?

It won’t be appropriate for me to say anything at the moment.