Being a step ahead of the opposition - Excerpts from an interview with Sachin

Here are some of the interesting excerpts from an interview with Sachin.

Beginning of a Career:

Unable to manage his naughtiness at home Sachin’s brother and his family members decided to divert him to Cricket as he enjoyed the game. Little they knew he would make history in India and get into Crickets history as one of the finest players.

Even as an 11 year old boy then his aspirations have always been to win the world cup, though he didn’t understand its significance. But had a dream to play for India.

While he started enjoying and realizing the challenges of Cricket his couch and his elder brother made him realize the importance of leading a disciplined and focused life. They made him push harder even when he performed well in his previous game.

We don’t talk about the last game but the next game. However runs I may have scored I go out and score more than that

Neither his brother nor his couch appreciated ‘Well done’ after a good match. That kept him giving his best all the time.

Best Innings:

While he called his best innings as the one in 1992 Berth with Australia after which he was ready to challenge any attack in the world, but the most meaningful innings has to be the one in Chennai against English in 2008 after India was stuck with a terrorist attack.

To see the entire nation celebrating the victory, even for a second meant a lot to all of us. This had a different meaning.

On how he overcame his toughest times:

Speaking to seniors and respecting opponents. Above all hanging around there and giving yourselves some time.

When asked how does one get up when things aren’t going well?

He narrates a funny yet interesting story of how he and Rahul Dravid managed Chris cairns in one of their match.

When the ball was reverse swinging and Chris cairns beating them every over Sachin had an idea to face the situation. While Rahul was facing the ball Sachin asked him to pay attention to which side he is holding the bat. Sachin would do so observing the bowler’s hand and identifying the ball’s shinny side. Chris lost his momentum but did figure out something was happening between the batsmen. He held the bowl cross seam but didn’t know that Sachin would hold the bat in the middle informing Rahul of that situation too.

Being a step ahead of the opposition.

On winning the World Cup on his 6th appearance and handling stress:

Massive and priceless!
The best way to get rid of our pressure is to start thinking that the country is with us, behind us and not sitting on top of us.

On playing against Pakistan:

Sachin says that their match against Pakistan is different and it does not matter how they play but results do matter. And he is proud of his victories.

To conclude with some of his ideologies:

I have not taken anything for granted. Everything that has happened faced number of challenges.
My family has been my biggest strength. They have been with me during difficult moments.
Because of their balance I have learnt to deal with success. Work the hardest.

Push myself harder, continue to reinvent myself, continue getting better.