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| Sachin Tendulkar, during the launch of his autobiography in Mumbai, on Wednesday |
Mumbai: Absolutely dapper in a pin-striped suit, Sachin Tendulkar played the perfect host to journalists from the Tour of 1989 and other seniors, at the ITC Grand Maratha, on Tuesday evening.
Sachin took questions related to his autobiography (Playing It My Way) for around 45 minutes and, then, mingled with the guests for the next hour.
Before leaving, Sachin, a member of the Rajya Sabha, took a couple of questions exclusively from The Telegraph.
For the general excerpts and the one on one, do read on...
Toughest part in writing the autobiography...
Not the Greg Chappell-Rahul Dravid bit, but talking about (wife) Anjali and our relationship. Even my family members don’t know everything about this relationship.
Time it took to put everything together...
Three years. I come from a literary family and so many books have been written about me... I thought I should now write one myself. I’ve written about things the way I saw them and I haven’t been a loose cannon. I’ve written about happenings which can be substantiated, which can be backed up.
No.1 strength...
My family, always.
Having steered clear of controversies during 24 years as an India cricketer...
I believed I had a job to do and that I had to stay focused... I didn’t want other things to take up my energy. Yes, it was a conscious effort to stay focused on cricket and to allow my bat to do the talking... I have done my bit now.
Whether it was easy staying quiet...
It was difficult.
Greg denying having suggested that he take over the captaincy from Dravid, in the lead-up to the 2007 World Cup...
Anjali was in the room with me... Do I need to say more?
Not informing Dravid of the game being played by Greg...
I didn’t want the dressing room to be affected. That’s why I didn’t tell Rahul about that conversation at my residence. I didn’t want animosity.
[Sachin, one understands, spoke to Dravid at some point on Tuesday, the day after the headline-making extract was released.]
The Greg phase, from May 2005 to April 2007...
Initially, I’d backed Greg... I remember driving (to New Delhi) from Mohali with Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and, possibly, Harbhajan Singh... That was after the 2005-06 Challenger Trophy... I heard the players saying they didn’t feel comfortable with Greg... I told them that we had to be accommodative and we should give Greg the chance to settle down. So, at that point, I’d actually sided with him.
Whether he’s given a thought to why Greg behaved the way he did...
Wish I could understand his mind.
Moving down to No.4 in the months before and during the 2007 World Cup...
It was Greg’s idea... I don’t know why, for I was most comfortable opening.
Thoughts on Ian, the elder Chappell, who would often be critical of him in the media...
Don’t think much about him... Ian has nothing to do with Indian cricket and only has an opinion... By God’s grace, I could get my bat to do the talking... We bumped into each other in Durban, on the 2010-11 tour of South Africa, and I told him that he conveniently changed sides. That was in response to Ian saying that my working out in the gym was the secret of my success.
The Port Elizabeth incident, on the 2001-02 tour of South Africa...
That five of us had been called for a hearing left me shocked... I was only trying to clean the seam, not alter the shape of the ball. In fact, I asked the umpires (Ian Howell, Russell Tiffin) if the condition had changed and they said ‘no’... That’s what I told Match Referee Mike Denness at the hearing. I learnt a lesson: Never to clean the ball without informing the umpires.
Not scoring highly on the captaincy front...
I’m not one to criticise players, but if you look at the scoresheets, you’ll get an explanation... There were games which should have been won, but they went out of the pocket... You have to always finish it off.
Whether some players deliberately underperformed...
No, I won’t be able to say that... Failures can happen.
Allegations of fixing...
Disappointing... I played by giving it my all and I’d expect that from my players as well.
Defeat in the Barbados Test, on the 1996-97 tour of the West Indies...
I cried, not in the dressing room, but privately. I had sleepless nights after we were bowled out for 81, chasing 120.
Giving up the India captaincy, in early 2000...
Because it was beginning to affect me as a person... I couldn’t switch off from the captaincy.
Acting as a mentor in the later years of his India career...
I told the boys that I’m available at all times... That they could knock on my door even at 12 at night... It’s important to have a good atmosphere in the dressing room, like when John Wright and Gary Kirsten were there.
Not retiring from ODIs immediately after India won the 2011 World Cup...
There was no dilemma... I’d got runs and I felt I deserved to play more.
[Eventually, Sachin quit ODIs in December 2012.]
Massive expectations of him...
I would have been worried if people didn’t have expectations. I wouldn’t have liked to be in that space... I’d say the expectations were fair.
Definition of success...
Success is linked to satisfaction. It’s about getting satisfaction and giving satisfaction to others. You have to live up to expectations.
One year after retiring from all formats...
Actually, nowadays, I have less time on my hands. Where’s the time?
Having played at Lord’s, in the bicentenary match, in July...
The body stood up well that day, not so the next morning. I’m glad I was through with all formats and at all levels.
Five years from now...
Oh, I haven’t thought of what all I’ll be doing and where I could be.
Name appearing in print for the first time...
I’d scored 24, but was told that to make the newspapers, I needed to have 30 against my name... I allowed the person who gave the scores to the newspapers to add those six runs, but got caught by my coach (Ramakant Achrekar) the next morning. I learnt a big lesson.
Lesson...
It was what Sir said... ‘If you wish to see your name in the newspapers, then you better score runs’.
Whether he’d maintained a diary...
Early on, yes... I’d note down my scores, where I got the runs... Don’t know how, but I lost the diary.
On who decided that he should make a career out of batting at No.4...
Achrekar Sir... In school, I began at No.6, before moving up to No. 4.
Message to youngsters...
Every cricketer should worship the game and look to improve.
Finally, the already high expectations from son Arjun...
Please, just let him be. Allow Arjun to fall in love with cricket... Allow him to go forward the way he wants to. Please don’t put pressure.
