Even after grabbing virtually every batting record in his illustrious 20-year career, Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar says he still feels ‘nervous’ when he walks down to bat.
“I believe feeling nervous enables one to give his best. You can get nervous only when you care about something and I care about cricket,” Tendulkar said while speaking at a felicitation function for batting legends Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath.
It was an evening of nostalgia and a walk down memory lane as four legends — Gavaskar, Viswanath, Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan — shared the dais.
The four celebrities enthralled the audience with interesting anecdotes as hordes of photographers captured the rare moment of these four legends being together on stage.
Tendulkar spoke about how his idol Gavaskar personally came to greet him after he broke his record of 34 centuries and said it was indeed a touching moment to see Gavaskar waiting for him.
“There is not a bigger thing than getting recognised from the person you adore. He advised me not to stop and carry on. I am trying to follow his advise,” Sachin.
Tendulkar also spoke about how Gavaskar wrote a letter to him in his school days in 1987 after he had failed to win the best junior cricketer of the year award.
“I was very disappointed not to win the award. That’s when I got a letter from him. That letter was more valuable to me than the award itself.”
“During the 1987 World Cup when I was a ball boy at the Wankhede Stadium, I remember him (Gavaskar) calling me to the dressing room and introducing me to the entire team. I was too stunned and hardly spoke during the entire day,” he added.
Gavaskar said that if he was reborn, he would like to be a fast bowler and give it back to all those who had hurled bouncers at him.
Viswanath also kept the audience spellbound with his witty and humorous stories about his playing days and how he had struck a friendship with Gavaskar, which is still going strong.
“We have had some wonderful partnership on the cricket field but our partnership in life has been going strong and I hope it will continue to remain so,” Viswanath said.
