Left overwhelmed after the emotional farewell of Sachin Tendulkar, Indian batsman Rohit Sharma on Saturday said the team will miss the sage advice of the iconic batsman in difficult situations but will eventually have to come to terms with the void.
“Now that he (Tendulkar) won’t be there with him anymore, I don’t know how the team members will react when confronted with different situations. We need to get over this feeling (not having Tendulkar around) quickly or but we don’t know how we would do it. His presence will be missed in the dressing room,” an emotional Rohit told the media persons at the end of the Test series.
A teary-eyed Tendulkar gave a sterling farewell speech after India won the second and final Test against the West Indies by an innings and Rohit said the entire team became emotional during the speech.
“That was an emotional speech given by him. He thanked each and everyone and that’s a quality. Just watching what was happening around, I really did not know how to react. I was simply looking at him. We wanted to do something special for this very special man as we knew that this is the last time that we are seeing him in ‘Whites’ When I go home today, probably, it will be something that I will be thinking about,” said Rohit.
Asked how the Indian players will get technical advice from Tendulkar now that he has retired, Rohit showed his witty side, saying “His house is just five minutes from my place. If he is free, I will just go and take his advice.”
On a serious note, Rohit said, “Tendulkar brought so many things to the table. He taught us not only about importance of good performance but also the importance of good on-field conduct. He taught us about what sort of mindset you need to have when you play abroad.
“Someone like me learnt a lot from Tendulkar on my first tour to South Africa in 2010 (he went on a short tour of World T20 in 2007 and IPL II in 2009 before that) and also during the CB series in Australia before that.”
