‘I don’t like losing’

Sometimes it does. You are in certain zones when you bat. Sometimes, you feel, ‘I am going to be patient today because the bowler’s bowling well, or I am not getting my rhythm. I just got to wait till I get back my rhythm. Sometimes, you feel fine, everything’s going well, but you want to do something more. You have just hit a beautiful cover drive, but you want to do something else. You want to slice it, play a flick from there.

Is there pressure? For example, someone like Sehwag, say, Dhoni now, in a partnership… and you are a dominating batsman, you find the other guy is scoring very fast, and they can afford to take more chances than you…Does it cause a little issue … in a partnership of 80, this guy’s got 55, so I should catch up.

Not really, no. I think each player has a different role to play and you play accordingly. It really doesn’t matter whether it is Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni or Dravid. Eventually, what we both contribute as a pair is important. And each player at different stages of life is going to play different roles. Earlier, when I used to bat with Shastri or Azhar or Sidhu, whatever, I used to play a different role at that time and the senior cricketers used to play a different role. Now that I am the seniormost cricketer here in the team, I need to play a different role.

There was a time when you always wanted to dominate.

I have never tried to dominate, I have always played my natural game.

Which was to dominate… I remember your first series, I think your debut series and Waqar Younis’ debut series, he hit you on the nose and you came back and hit him for four fours.

I hit a couple of boundaries after that.

One could see that defiance, I remember what Imran Khan said after that. He said, ‘Yeh ladka aisa waisa nahin hai, isko dekhna’. You hit Abdul Qadir for a couple of sixes in the one-day match after that (Peshawar).

Yeah, I scored 50 in 17 balls there. And I think we needed something like 43 or 42 runs in the last two overs.

I have memories of that series, I was visiting Pakistan in 1989… And I dropped by to be with the team one evening and I still have pictures of you with a false mooch (mustache) and false dadi (beard).

Moustache and lipstick to be precise…I picked it (false moustache) from someone. It was a Sunday Club party and it was wonderful where we shared a lot of jokes.

Is there something special about playing Pakistan? It somehow seems to bring out greater competitiveness in you. You once said before the World Cup that it is important to beat Pakistan.

I think it’s a different ballgame, to be honest. Because there are so many emotions attached to it. I remember in 2003 when we played the World Cup game… literally, from 2002 January, people had started talking about that game, ‘Remember 23rd of March you are playing Pakistan, Centurion, we have to beat them’. So you know such is the excitement and involvement when India plays Pakistan. So it slowly becomes a different game, it’s just like the Ashes, England |and Australia. You may have the best of games like Australia and South Africa, 1999 semi-finals, that was a superb game, but people talk more about Ashes because the rivalry has been there for a long time.

So Pakistan, I believe when we won that match, you called home immediately after that.

Yes, it was a huge moment. We beat them in 1992, 1996, 1999, and 2003. Four  times in a row was big, by any standards.

Another match against Pakistan, Sachin. I know you will be asked this question always. The declaration at 194, what exactly happened?

Yeah, I got a message from the dressing room that try and get to your double hundred as quickly as possible. I said ‘yeah, ok’ and we decided on a particular target, and then we declared. We kind of declared before the target. So I went back to the dressing room, I just sat down, got my pads off and all that. I just sat there. When I was asked in the evening, were you surprised, were you not happy, it was natural to say that yes I was surprised, because we had decided something else. But I said that the team comes first…it was just blown out of proportion.

No arguments?

Both me and Rahul, we sat together, and we said ‘we are not going to take this beyond this evening’. I mean the matter is over, and we are in the middle of a Test match. We can’t let this affect the Test match. And I said, ‘As far as from my side, the commitment and involvement is concerned, you will not find even 0.1 per cent where I am lacking’. And it was over.

Your career has spanned three generations of Indian cricketers, maybe two. If you look at some of the other great batsmen who played in your team, Dravid, Sehwag, Laxman, Ganguly, tell me one stroke that you would pick from each one.

Sehwag cut, Ganguly coverdrive, and Rahul’s defence. I think Rahul’s defence is solid, Sehwag has probably the best cut that you can get, and Ganguly’s coverdrive, I think it’s…

And Laxman?

His off-the-hip flick. I think Laxman’s got tremendous wrists. I think he is a wristy player.

The other thing is about captaincy. What’s fascinating is how you so easily slipped out of it, as if in your mind, the challenge of managing Sachin was good enough … no need to manage Sachin plus 10.

(Laughs) I was quite comfortable doing that. I just felt I was too demanding on myself at times. I was not willing to spare myself at any stage. I wanted to win each and every game. And I wanted positive results in each and every game. Which is not possible, because you are bound to lose some games because the opposition…have also made plans. But I thought I was not sparing myself at all. At times, you need to give yourself a little room, just sit back and look at it differently. It was a little tough.

What drives you? Is it the flag, or is it sheer competitiveness?

It’s playing for India and the competitiveness. The only person I don’t mind losing to is my son… and daughter. I mean, daughter also occasionally I beat her because she is maturing now and she understands that sometimes you have to lose in life. But the son finds it a little difficult to accept that. So I have no option but to lose. But I like to be competitive, the fun of challenges.

There was this statement that Tiger Woods once made. When a reporter asked him what drives you, he said ‘To be competitive’. He said ‘if I was playing a game of cards with you I would like to kick your butt’. Are you like that?

I am very much like that. I like competition, and I hate losing. I don’t like losing, it may be a game of cards, table tennis, go-karting whatever. I don’t like losing. I like to compete.

That seems to be a strong sentiment in this Indian team as well.

This is not a team of good losers. We Indians always had the reputation of being great losers, even if we’ve lost a match, we look sporting, we are smiling. I think Indian people by nature are probably as aggressive as the other teams. The other nations, I should say. But the competitiveness was always there, it was portrayed differently. Today the game has changed, you have people from the Australian cricket academy moving here, you have junior players tour on India A team, they travel abroad. You get to rub shoulders with guys, who are from a totally different culture. One may feel that now the aggression is there and all that. Earlier also, probably the aggression was there but it was displayed differently…

Sehwag, Harbhajan, Dhoni, Irfan, different culture…

The players are quite dashing, I would say. They are very aggressive… they want to go out and win which is what matters. Because when you go out, you have to make sure that you win, you are not going to win always but at least when you cross the rope, you think you are going to win every day and that is what matters.

Some people say Sachin’s talent is a gift from God. But people also know that you work very hard at it. How do you see your talent?

I think it is also the hard work. I mean I have spent a lot of hours on this ground practising and then different grounds. Wankhede Stadium, MIG, CCI, a lot of grounds. And the practice sessions have been long sessions. Not just one or two hours… I used to start at 7.30 in the morning. And from 7.30 to 9.30, I used to bat in five nets. Then play practice match which would go on till almost 5 ‘o’ clock. Then again 5.30 to 6.30-6.45, I used to bat in five nets again. Like this I did for 55 days in a row, I mean, 55 matches in a row. Every day, play a match, practice before the match and after the match and eventually my body gave up. It was a bit too harsh on the body and…

The body complained.

Complained, yeah. It was too much. I was enjoying each and every moment. But I have worked hard for it. It is also the talent. Also, something which is extremely important is the family’s backing, the support. Because if you are talented but if your family is not with you, does not support you, wants you to do something else in life, your mind, your focus, your energy is always divided. In my case, the energy was never divided in various directions. It was only on cricket. And that positive energy, that positive force is with you.

And you have also built yourself

The Family.

Yeah, I met my wife in 1990. She’s known me for a long, long time.

And if I could make a story, a child prodigy wanted a mature pair of hands to control him.

Yeah, I would say that she is far more mature than me. Wiser than me, for sure. Because some times I lose my cool, and she is the one who says ‘No, no no, you don’t need to react, you just keep quiet and play, and don’t focus on other things. You got to go out there are score runs and that is what you love to do. And you know, you don’t have time to react to this and all that’. Such things help because I am a normal person and I feel happy, I feel upset, I feel excited, I feel sad…

You feel insecure sometimes?

No, I have never thought like that. From the day I started playing cricket, I had such a strong desire to play for India that I always knew that some day I am going to play for India.

But what makes you feel insecure, personal life, public life…

I don’t (feel insecure). I think the family support is so strong…

Do injuries make you insecure? You have a high pain threshold.

Injuries, to a certain extent. Injuries do create certain obstacles. But I have always managed to forget about my injuries once I started playing. And because the pressure levels are so high, you focus so much, you forget about your injuries. You want to leave them behind and go out and compete.

The moment in Wankhede? Didn’t it leave a bad taste when somebody booed?

No, it was blown out of proportion. It’s not the first time you have had one of the guys saying ‘Awww or hai, hai’ or whatever. Because people come there to enjoy, they have their views, they have their opinions…such things happen, but just because you have the one-odd guy passing a stupid comment, you can’t ignore the other 25,000 in the stadium who are wishing well for you, hoping that you would do well. I value that a lot, their support and good wishes.

Not just 25,000 in a stadium, we are a country of 100 crore cricket coaches. (But) we are all thrilled to hear that you are not just brilliant but also forgiving. And all they are waiting for now is to flourish on your return.

Yeah, after the injury, the next two weeks were quite bad. I found it a little bit difficult to deal with those times, to be honest. Because I was prepared for a shoulder surgery but the moment I went to England and got on the operation bed, that’s when in the middle of my surgery, the doctor told me, ‘You have kind of ruptured your bicep tendon as well, we need to operate on that right now’. Everything was planned, I said I wanted to go to West Indies because I wanted to play Test cricket. If I didn’t throw I could stand in slips and manage. But in one-day cricket you need to throw. So one-day cricket was out of the question.

And even as far as my batting was concerned, because of my bicep surgery, it was a little difficult to hit off the back foot and also the front foot because you need strength. I play a little differently, I use my bottom hand as well, so it was tough and I was the only one at that stage saying I am going to make it to West Indies. And the surgeons and other physios there were saying there was no way you are going to make it. And I started preparing myself mentally and it worked. I really pushed myself more than I was advised to and… But that was only because I wanted to go there.

You can do pretty much what you were doing. Can you bowl?

Yeah, I have been bowling. I have been asked to build it up gradually. There have been mistakes in the past where I have kind of rushed in…But obviously, the surgeons know hundred times more than I do… This time also, I rushed in so I was quite upset and I realised that yes, I need to respect what they are saying and give my body enough time to get better so that I can compete at an international level… Nobody’s going to spare me if I say my arm is hurting. Nobody is going to say ‘ok, I am going to bowl 10 km slower’.

In fact, they will figure out how to bowl at you, exploit that weakness.

I just didn’t want to let the team down because of my personal interests. And you know, be a burden there.

As you said, you have lasted 17 years, 55 per cent of your life, you have the largest fan club of any sportsman in the world. And all of us want you to be known as not only as the youngest to play for India but the oldest to continue playing for India…

Thank you, it was a pleasure.

For more on Sachin Tendulkar follow Anant Goenka on Twitter: @anantgoenka