Sachin Tendulkar confident of India retaining World Cup next year

First it was special edition of 10g gold coin in Sachin Tendulkar's honour. On Friday, the legendary batsman and Bharat Ratna unveiled collector's edition of 200g silver coins with his face, name and signature embossed on them.

Speaking on the occasion, Tendulkar, who said he used to get five paise as pocket money in his younger days, was confident of India successfully defending the 50-over World Cup next year in Australia-New Zealand. "I have no hesitation in saying we are a talented side and there are some special players in the team. I know that they have not been able to produce the kind of results or rather live up to the expectation of the people, but things can change," the 40-year-old said. "This is the time the team requires support. When you are winning, you are in a good frame of mind but when you are not winning and when you know a billion people are behind you, with you, the mindset changes immediately. I have full confidence in our team. I am sure we will have a good time."

Tendulkar also said that while he admired West Indies great Viv Richards, he made it a point not to imitate him. "I did watch a video of Richards's technique the evening before going in to bat. I was trying to pull everything and hook everything. That is when I decided I am just going to watch, but not try and emulate, and that in the next innings, I needed to play the way I know. They will always be your heroes, whatever stage of life. It is always nice to watch their innings, but one thing I knew was that I should not try to play like them."