I have been privileged to have interacted with Sachin Tendulkar many times during the course of his career and beyond. But this is one interview that I will never forget. Done within hours of Sachin completing the 100th international 100, at 2am in the morning, it is perhaps time to reproduce it for our readers on the eve of his 50th birthday.
Sher-e-Bangla stadium, Mirpur. Sachin Tendulkar had just scored his hundredth 100, and finished the post-match media interaction. There was chaos all around, with everyone from the media, ground security, production crew and Bangladeshi administrators jostling to speak to the man. I knew it would be impossible to speak to him in that frenzy. Past 11 pm, there were still thousands waiting on the road to catch a glimpse of the players leaving for the hotel. The Indian team was not able to leave the stadium for another hour or so, and I wondered if I would get my opportunity to greet Sachin at all that night.
Then, at the stroke of midnight, I got a call from the man. We agreed to meet in the lobby of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka, the hotel where he was staying, and then go up to his room (No. 723). Disruption again. With hundreds waiting for the players in the lobby, the team had to make a backdoor entry. Hotel security wouldn’t let me go up. They finally relented only after Sachin made a personal request. The room, with all those balloons the hotel authorities had left for him as a surprise, looked dressed for a party Sachin must have wanted over—he looked exhausted. But game nevertheless for one last chat before he hit the sack. Excerpts from the interview:
Boria: So finally…
Sachin: Yes, finally. Thank God.
Boria: What did you say to yourself when you finally got that run?
Sachin: You know I thanked God to start with, and said to myself that the wait was finally over. Without a doubt, it has been the most difficult hundred to get. I was feeling the pressure every day of my life, and was getting frustrated with myself at not being able to get to the landmark. For a few seconds, my mind was blank and I just felt relieved that I had finally achieved the three-figure mark after more than a year.
Boria: How difficult was the wait? You have been saying to me in our many conversations that it had become more difficult with each passing day?
Sachin: Indeed it was. There wasn’t a day in my life when I wasn’t reminded of the 100. It appeared on occasions that everything I had achieved in the past had turned irrelevant, and I’d only be judged by my ability to get the 100th hundred. I was doing everything to not succumb to the pressure, but it was hard and I have no issues in accepting that the pressure was indeed getting to me. I am human, and it is difficult to stay insulated from all the talk around you. I am glad it is done finally.
Boria: Was there ever a doubt that you’d not get there? It is not as if you weren’t batting well in the period between March 2011 and March 2012? In fact, the innings at Melbourne [Boxing Day Test, 2011] is the best I have seen you bat in years.
Sachin: Absolutely right. I was batting near my best, if not at my best, in Melbourne. I was playing and moving the best I have done in years. If you go back and see the footage of the innings, you’d see I had a good few seconds to play each ball. For example, I was totally in control when I played Peter Siddle over slips for six in the first over after tea at the MCG. I was able to see the ball, and had a lot of time to play the shot. That is the best feeling you can get as a batsman and I was very much in control. Again in Sydney, I was batting well for my 80 and should have just gone on to get the hundred and save the match for India. If you ask our masseur he’d tell you that I was looking to bat a full two days and I knew it was possible. The hundred was just not in my mind. I knew if I batted for two days, the hundred would surely come but more importantly I’d be able to save the game for India. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Michael Clarke’s delivery just turned and bounced, and I got an edge. In fact, I had given myself just that over before I attacked Clarke. There was a very strong wind from the other end and I was just waiting for it to die down before I stepped out to Clarke, but as I said, it wasn’t to be. I am telling you all this because I never had a period of self-doubt while batting, but was just not able to convert the starts into a century.
Sania Mirza on Sachin Tendulkar
Boria: For a man who has reached the landmark figure 99 times, how is it that the final hurdle was more difficult than any of the rest?
Sachin: Firstly, there’s no doubt it was. The 100th hundred was the most difficult to get. I really don’t know why, but it was. Maybe because it had turned into a national obsession. Maybe because I wasn’t able to escape the talk of the 100th hundred and it was affecting me at a subconscious level. May be God was actually trying me harder than the rest.
Boria: And the period in the middle wasn’t easy for you either. For the first time in your career since the 2007 World Cup, critics were actually saying you were perhaps stretching things a bit too far, and that you were playing on past glories. There were calls for you to give up. Your thoughts?
Sachin: Boria, I have played the game because I love to play it, and there’s nothing better than playing for India. I still get goosebumps when the national anthem plays. I still feel the same passion when I pick up my bat. No one has been in my predicament, and it is impossible for them to understand what I have been thinking or feeling. I can tell you that the day I feel a little less passion when I walk out to bat for India, I’ll give up the game. Also, I feel when I am batting well, it is important that I continue to serve the country and not give up. It is extremely selfish to suggest that I should give up when I am doing well. That’s the time to serve the country. And when I am not doing well and am unable to serve India, I will stand down and give it all up.