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Wednesday, August 11, 1999

It's hard to tell what's missing... I have tried everything

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA  
NEW DELHI, AUG 10: Even legends suffer from butterflies in the stomach. Sachin Tendulkar is no exception.

In an interview with Karan Thapar in BBC's Face To Face programme slated for telecast on Wednesday night, Tendulkar talks at length about his nervous Test baptism. He became the youngest Indian and fourth youngest in the world to play a Test when he made his debut against Pakistan at Karachi in 1989.Tendulkar recalled: ``I was terribly nervous. I didn't know what was happening around me. I thought, okay, fine, I am just going to go and hit the ball. I got beaten. I can't count them on my fingers. So many times. I told myself I cannot deal with this. This will be the first and last Test match you will be playing. Don't think you are capable of handling this.''

Tendulkar says he began motivating himself. ``You can't run away from this. When you get another opportunity, you are going to go there and hang around. Spend as much time as possible. Fortunately, I got another chance in the next match, which Iwas not expecting,'' Tendulkar says.

But long before he became the scourge of world's top fast bowlers, Tendulkar had dreams of becoming a fast bowler, but was rejected because he was ``too small''. Tendulkar, then 14, is five feet four inches.

Tendulkar took part in the trials at the MRF Pace Foundation to be trained under Aussie pace guru Dennis Lillee. ``I always liked pace bowling. I like watching fast bowlers. Wanting to become a fast bowler, I had gone to Chennai for selection by Lillee. But I had also packed by bat and pads. So I batted there, enjoyed and came back,'' says a grinning Tendulkar.

Asked about his disappointment at not having scored a Test double century, Tendulkar, who has made 19 hundreds and crossed the 150-mark six times with 179 as the highest, says he himself has no clue.

``I think it is very hard to find what is missing because I have tried everything. I've tried to slow down my game, I've tried to accelerate, I've tried to bat normal.''

But he is not unduly worried aboutit. ``A 200 is not as important as winning Test matches for India,'' he says.

Asked about his idol, Tendulkar recalls how, as a young boy, he used to back American tennis great John McEnroe while rest of his friends in his colony supported Swede Bjorn Borg.

``McEnroe has always been my hero, and he still is. I used to roam around with a headband, sweatband and tennis racquet imitating him,'' he adds.Asked how his family members reacted when he was batting, Tendulkar says his wife Anjali becomes nervous while his brother had become so superstitious that family members are allowed to watch only the match recordings.

On how he reacts to early and premature dismissals, he says, ``I like to take out my anger somewhere. I prefer to sit alone till I cool down. It all depends on how I get out. ...If it is a good ball, fair enough,'' he adds.Tendulkar says the most disappointing aspect of his first tenure as skipper was inability to pull off victories after being on the driver's seat. ``We came so close towinning the games. Somehow we couldn't. I mean the ones we don't play well, upto our standard, that's fine...

``When things happen the way you want it, it is time to win the game, those games we were losing, so I was very upset. That's where I thought we went wrong,'' he says assessing his 17-month first stint as captain.

India were on the verge of beating South Africa in the third and final Test at Johannesburg when rain on the final day afternoon forced a draw while India capitulated chasing 121 for victory against the West Indies in Barbados, both in 1997.

Tendulkar admits fame and popularity he has achieved was indeed at the cost of his privacy.

``Sometimes, it is very upsetting. It's so difficult. On the other side, I find it very interesting. It's not happening because people like me, they love me. (It is because) they like my game. They surely want me to perform well and do good for the country. So I appreciate that,'' he adds.

Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.


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