Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is not just a name in Indian cricket; he is one of the pillars of its rich history. His contributions to the game are unmatched, and his legacy continues to inspire generations.
Recently, he was seen in action once again, leading India Masters to the IML T20 title after defeating West Indies in the final in Raipur. Even years after retiring from international cricket, his presence on the field continues to captivate fans.
In the second episode of the sixth season of Backstage with Boria (BWB), RevSportz’s editor-in-chief, Boria Majumdar, had an exclusive chat with the Indian cricket legend. During the conversation, Tendulkar opened up about the success in the recent tournament, bonding with different players, the Holi plan, celebrations and much more.
60,000 fans on a Sunday evening in Raipur, celebrating a 51-year-old, a fully packed house, every ball being cheered. What is going on?
No, incredible feeling. I consider this a blessing. I have always maintained that God gave me this opportunity to represent the nation for 24 years. And now, beyond that, playing in the IML is again an extension of that beautiful journey. I have really enjoyed every bit of it. And a big thank you to all the fans for turning up. And to whoever has messaged me or wished me well, and to those who have supported the Indian cricket team, we really appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.
How were those uppercuts, cover drives, and straight drives working? How is that happening?
One has to practice a little bit. Things do not happen on their own. And after 50, even more so. But it was fun to be out there. The sound of the bat is something that we long to hear. And that is what I call confidence—the difference between striking the ball well and not finding the centre of the bat. You know that if you are not striking the ball the way it is meant to be, you have to work hard for it. Nothing comes easily. But when it happened in the middle, it was satisfying.
What does this ‘Sachin, Sachin’ chant, which still goes on in the same manner, mean to you?
Like I have always maintained, it is a blessing. Whenever people say that, it feels nice, and it is always nice to be loved. No complaints at all. People sometimes ask me: ‘Do you lose patience? Do you get angry?’ No, I do not get angry.
I consider this a very, very special thing to happen in my life. And I value it. I treasure it. It does feel special. I am out of words here. When it comes to that, I really do not know how to express myself. It feels nice to be out there in the middle when the whole stadium is taking over.
This was the third consecutive victory leading a team of legends. Thoughts on that?
I think, as a team, we have played well. The previous two tournaments, which we won, and now this one—the IML—winning three times in a row does feel nice, a hat-trick of championships.
So it is good. I know an individual goes out and tries his best, but what we have been able to do is bring 15 individuals together. And that collective effort has been magnificent. We have shown good consistency. As a team, we have spent a lot of time with each other.
We have planned. Obviously, things do not happen on their own. We have planned various things. Sometimes those plans have worked, sometimes they have not. But more often than not, they have worked for us, and that is the reason we have been able to win three times.
It is a collective effort. Individuals have stepped up. They have raised their hands and performed well in difficult situations and challenging moments. But all in all, if you look at all three tournaments, there were crucial catches taken.
There were important run-outs that we did not miss. If all these players did not come together and play well, things would not have happened. So we have been able to do that.
I also want to talk to you a little bit in detail about leadership. Tell me about this. T20 leadership is about thinking ahead—about reading the game five overs ahead of the opposition, in your words “peripheral vision”. Promoting Stuart Binny in the first match, using Pawan Negi in the second, bringing back Shahbaz Nadeem in the semi-final and using Dhawal Kulkarni in the final with unconventional field sets, it was a leadership masterclass. Tell me about this.
As a leader, you plan certain things. You had Stuart Binny batting at No. 4. We had done that earlier as well in the last tournament, where Stuart went ahead of Yuvraj and delivered.
So, it is about catching the opposition off guard. Whatever they are planning, one needs to be a step ahead. And it is about those small, small surprises here and there, which kind of disrupt their plan.
And sometimes, the opposition does that too. Stuart batted magnificently in the first match and played a crucial innings. In the second match, we introduced Pawan Negi because, in the first match, we realised that there was a lot of dew on the surface.
And one could say that Shahbaz [Nadeem] had an acid test, playing against Sri Lanka and someone of the calibre of [Kumar] Sangakkara, who was batting really well. As a left-hander, sometimes when you are not able to grip the ball well, bowlers find it difficult. And against a world-class player like Sangakkara, it is never easy in the middle.
So, we thought of introducing Pawan Negi at that stage to strengthen our batting because the first match itself was a very, very high-scoring game. We felt that we needed to strengthen the batting. We brought in Pawan Negi, and he did well.
He coincidentally became the Man of the Match there. And then, when we moved to the third match at the second venue in Baroda against South Africa, Rahul Sharma bowled really well. He picked up a hat-trick.
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And all three batters—Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, and [Jacques] Rudolph—are incredible players. So, all three were key batters. And he ended up becoming the Man of the Match there. Then later on, in the semis and finals, we had to bring back Nadeem, who bowled unbelievably well. He is a shrewd bowler, and he understands what the batters are trying to do, responding beautifully to those situations.
And he did that in both the semis and the finals. Coming to Dhawal Kulkarni, and not to forget Vinay Kumar from the other end, both bowled well. The 20th over was as important. Dhawal bowled the 17th and 19th overs, while Vinay bowled the 20th. There was a different kind of feel, I think. I had five fielders on the on-side for a fast bowler, which is not usually done in T20.
Normally, one would settle for a deep point, but we had a short third man, short point, and short cover. Long-off, long-on, deep mid-wicket, short square leg, deep backward square leg, and deep fine leg. An unconventional field in the T20 format.
And Dhawal actually bowled well in the 17th over, conceding, if I am not mistaken, five runs, and in the 19th, giving away just four runs. The same was the case with Vinay Kumar, who also conceded very few runs. And that made the difference because there were two proper batters at the crease.
The tournament’s second-highest scorer, Lendl Simmons, was batting unbelievably well. And Dinesh Ramdin had scored an important 50 in the semifinals off 22 balls. Two batters who could have taken the total to almost 175 or so, but we managed to restrict them to 148.
That, I thought, was a game-changing moment for us as a team. Those three critical overs bowled by our fast bowlers made all the difference.
Yuvraj Singh at the boundary, absolutely brilliant.
Yeah, I mean, in that first match, Yuvraj took a brilliant catch at long-on. Unbelievable catch. I mean, Yuvraj has always been supremely athletic and a naturally gifted fielder. And, you know, a gifted fielder—once a good fielder, always a good fielder. When the time comes, he delivers.
I will refer to a tweet by my friend Irfan Pathan. He says, “Sachin Tendulkar is the University of Cricket, and we are his students.” And then he posted a photograph of the team. Thoughts about it?
After the finals, we got together, and Irfan said the same thing there as well. I told him, Do not say it like that—we are all students of the game. Every game is an institution; we go there and learn. Whatever stage of life, whatever stage of our career, we continue to learn.
All of these fellows and the team talk—what was it like?
My first meeting at DY Patil Stadium, just before our practice session, I said, If we did not have cricket in our lives, we would not be here. Cricket has given us everything. So whatever we can give back to the game, we should consider ourselves lucky because these opportunities do not come every weekend.
It does not happen all the time. So, whenever it does, and wherever India is known, we have to go out and give our best. I will never question failure, but I will question your approach, your attitude, and your preparation.
So long as we are giving our best, it is fine. If we fail as a team, I will accept that. It is okay. But if we do not try, I will not accept that. So, we will go out and give our best. And later, off the field, we will enjoy ourselves.
After so many years, playing like this, sharing the dressing room—it is special. So, we should have fun. And we did have fun. We worked hard, but we also had lots and lots of fun.
Sachin, that shot—I have watched it 100 times. That cut takes me back again. How is it possible?
There is not much time to plan all those things. Yes, sometimes you expect the bowler to bowl in certain areas because the previous deliveries have followed a particular pattern. So, you get ready for that. But it is instinctive. You see the ball, and you just react.
Sachin, one question I need to ask you is about your friend Yuvraj Singh. A word on Yuvraj, please.
Yuvi is simply magnificent. You spoke about our relationship—he is like my younger brother.
We have known each other for a long time—25 years. The relationship is very, very strong and deep.
I value that relationship. Talking about Yuvi’s game, I remember just before the semifinals, he was batting in the nets. We were about to play Australia, and I told Yuvi: Your bat swing is amazing.
The clean swing that was coming through—it was fun to watch. And then he goes out and plays a blinder. He is such a gifted player. Whatever his age, I do not think he will ever stop hitting those massive sixes.
Even when he is 65, he will still be hitting 100-metre sixes. A normal on-drive would keep the ball along the ground, but he just extends his arms, and the ball goes miles. That is a gift. He is such a natural striker of the ball. It is a joy to watch.
Words on Yusuf Pathan—he had an important role.
Especially in the first match. At a critical stage, he went out to bat and hit 3-4 sixes with ease. Again, like Yuvi, he has this special gift of clearing the field at will.
Raw strength, and along with that, good timing. A gifted player once again, but he likes to hit the ball really hard—makes that statement from ball one.
And that is exactly what you expect from someone batting at number 5 or 6. As a captain and as a colleague, that is exactly what you look for.
Words on Gurkeerat and Rayudu.
Gurkeerat and Rayudu both played impactful innings on a number of occasions. And coming to Rayudu—again, a gifted player. In the finals, he started off brilliantly and scored a fabulous 50.
Gurkeerat also did that on a couple of occasions. Again, he is a player who is not as massively built as Yuvi or Yusuf Pathan, but he still gets the distance.
His timing is good. He is not someone who relies on brute power, but his timing and placement are really nice. It is pleasant on the eyes.
Another one we are missing out on is Irfan Pathan. Irfan invariably comes in, does something special, and gives us those important breakthroughs.
What was the plan for Holi? You must tell me how it was planned.
You would not believe it—I was asleep when a couple of my teammates knocked on my door. The moment I opened it, they put colour on my face. They did not put too much, just a little bit. I said, This is not how Holi is supposed to be. You should put a lot more!
So I told them, I will change and come out, and that is how it started. When I went out, they put colour all over my face—everywhere. There were water jets too. They filled them with water and sprayed it everywhere.
Then I said, Let’s catch one team player at a time. Let’s start with Yuvraj. Because no one was ready to go to Yuvraj’s room. They said, We were waiting for you. If you stay there, Yuvraj would not say anything. And that is how we started.
Holi fun with my @imlt20official teammates, from blue jerseys to colourful moments, this is how we say, “Happy Holi!” 💙 pic.twitter.com/uhYBZvptVT
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 14, 2025
It was not planned. It just happened spontaneously. A couple of our teammates captured it well. It was really nice. And from there, it took off. Yusuf joined Rayudu, Irfan—everyone.
The whole team celebrated. But it was never planned. It just happened spontaneously.
I knew he was not expecting that at all. And we even got his wife to knock on the door. His kids were there and everything. And that is how we got the door open.
What was the celebration like? I mean, did you eat, or were no cheat days allowed? What was going on?
We were enjoying ourselves. Like I said, we go out on the field and give our best. Once we were away from the ground, we should all get together and have fun. So, we had fun. We stayed awake, cracking lots and lots of jokes.
There was a lot of… Rahul Sharma, I have to say, is a character. Everyone’s acting was going on—mimicking each other. Yuvraj’s batting—how does he do it? If I go to bat, what do I do? Rayudu…Everyone gets angry sometimes—Rayudu! And all those sorts of things happened. It was fun. It was great to be out there.
Also Read: Cricket remains Tendulkar’s temple