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Sachin Tendulkar, one of the greatest batters in cricket history, says he shares every special moment of his life with his late father first.
Sachin Tendulkar was honoured with BCCI’s lifetime award in Mumbai. (AFP/PTI)
At the BCCI Naman Awards held in Mumbai on Saturday evening, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar was honoured with a lifetime award. During his acceptance speech, Tendulkar, arguably the greatest batter of his generation, revealed the emotional story behind his ritual of looking up in the sky every time he scored a century during his playing days.
Tendulkar remains international cricket’s most prolific run-getter and century maker – the only batter in history to have scored 100 centuries.
During the 1999 ODI World Cup, Tendulkar had to return midway through India’s campaign to attend to his father’s funeral. The batting maestro returned to hit an emotional century against Kenya and celebrated the milestone by looking upwards in the sky remembering his late father.
“It started in 1999. During the World Cup, I lost my father. I came back to India for a couple of days for his funeral and that suddenly changed me overnight,” Tendulkar said. “I went back to play the World Cup to join the team. Life changed after that. I wanted my father to be around and to see a number of things that were to happen in my life.”
“From that moment on, I started showing my bat to my father. So anything good that happened in my life, I would show that to my father first and celebrate with everyone,” he added.
During his storied career, Tendulkar set a number of records and a majority of them have stood the test of time. He retired from international cricket in 2013.
“Always value your game and take care of your game. I realised on that final day (2013) that I will never walk onto the field as a current India cricketer. Similarly, once you retire then you will realise where you were a few years ago,” Tendulkar said.
“So enjoy your game as you have a lot of cricket left in you as current India cricketers and stay away from distractions,” he added.
