Nineteen years of international cricket may have taken a toll on his body but Sachin Tendulkar made it clear that he has no immediate plans of quitting the game.
NEW DELHI: Nineteen years of international cricket may have taken a toll on his body but Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday made it clear that he has no immediate plans of quitting the game, saying he definitely has cricket left in him.
"There's definitely cricket left in me", the 35-year-old champion batsman, who has been plagued by a spate of injuries in recent times, said in CNN's 'Talk Asia' programme.
Tendulkar's niggling injuries and periodic form slumps had prompted a few former cricketers, including former Australian captain Ian Chappell to call for his retirement a couple of years back but the ace batsman says he was still enjoying the game and was hungry for runs.
In the free-wheeling interview, the batting great bares his soul and talks at length about his life and career. As he delves into the highs and lows, Tendulkar recalls the disappointment after India's first round exit from the 2007 World Cup.
He admits the 2007 World Cup debacle was particularly disappointing but he managed to retain his hunger.
"It was a disappointing moment...a huge disappointing moment. But I came back and I started working on my game. I trained harder and I wanted to perform better," said Tendulkar, regarded as one of the grestest batsmen in world cricket with a record 39 Test centuries.
Over the years, Tendulkar achieved what remained dreams for lesser mortals and the best compliment probably came from Don Bradman who saw his own shadow in the Mumbaikar.
Asked about his personal choice, Tendulkar reveals the special place he has in his heart for a certain West Indian.
"I think that someone that I would like to watch is Brian Lara. I think he's special," Tendulkar said.
Asked about on-field skirmishes, like the Sydney racism row involving teammate Harbhajan Singh, and whether cricket remains anymore a gentleman's game, Tendulkar said, "Now that there's a lot of media attention on the players, and everything is put under a microscope so sometimes it's blown out of proportion, sometimes the player is at fault."
Tendulkar has seen many an innovation since his 1989 debut and the ongoing Indian Premier League is perhaps the most radical of them. Tendulkar reckons IPL is not just cricket, but the Twenty20 extravaganza has probably evolved into a social phenomenon.
"It's a lot to do with the families, you know the outings in the evenings. It used to be the cinema, watching a movie or a play...but now it's the evenings...in the form of a cricket match where the whole family goes out together," he explained.
On personal front, Tendulkar tries to play the role of a responsible father who helps his children stay grounded.
Recalling an interesting incident, the cricketer said once his daughter's teacher was telling the class about the restaurant named after him. And his daughter, ignorant about his father's star status, raised her hand and told the class, "Even my father's name is Sachin Tendulkar."
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