Prose
Learning the Game
By Sachin Tendulkar
From a very early age, I played tennis-ball
cricket with my colony friends. I loved watching cricket on television and in
our games, I often tried to emulate the
mannerisms of my favourite players, Sunil Gavaskar and the West Indian legend
Viv Richards. But it wasn’t just the batsmen that I studied. I also loved bowling.
Throughout my career, I have actually bowled a lot in the nets.
I was then studying in the New English School,
Mumbai. But my brother Ajit knew that compared to other schools in Mumbai,
Shardashram Vidhyamandir where Ramakant Achrekar Sir was the cricket coach,
gave due importance to the game of cricket. He ran summer camps too. Ajit, one
day, took me to the camp to get trained under Sir. Anyone could come for a
trial at the camp; but then, it was up to Sir to decide who to accept. I was
eleven years old then. Achrekar Sir, as I refer to him, started playing cricket
at the age of eleven in 1943, which is the age I was when I went to him for the
first time.
* Who were Sachin’s favourite players?
Sunil
Gavaskar and Viv Richards were Sachin's favourite players.
* What was special about
Shardashram Vidyamandir in Mumbai?
Ramakant
Achrekar Sir was the cricket coach in Shardashram Vidyamandir in Mumbai. This
was the special about it.
I had never batted in the nets before and felt
somewhat overawed with so many people
around. When I was asked to bat, I was not at all comfortable. With Sir
watching me so closely, I failed to make an impact. Sir called Ajit aside and
informed him that I was perhaps too young to make the camp and suggested that
he should bring me back when I was a little older. My induction
into the Mumbai cricket circuit could have ended in failure – but for Ajit’s
insistence. Having seen me play in the colony, Ajit knew I was capable of
performing far better than I had done in front of Achrekar Sir. He explained
that I was nervous and asked Sir to give me one more opportunity. However, he
suggested that while doing so, Sir should pretend to go away and then watch from
a distance. Sir agreed. Before long, I was asked to bat again and, without
Sir’s trained eyes scrutinizing me – or so I thought, I felt more at ease and
soon started to hit the ball well. This time, Sir agreed to let me join the
camp. I was delighted and I must say it was an opportunity that transformed my
life.
The camp involved a session every morning and
evening at Shivaji Park. I would practice between 7.30 am and 10.30 am in the
morning. Then I’d come back in the afternoon and practice till late evening.
The schedule was rigorous and I would be
exhausted by the end of the day. Travelling to Shivaji Park took forty minutes
from my house in Bandra and I had to catch an early morning bus to make it on
time. For the first few days, Ajit accompanied me, to get me used to the
routine. During the bus journeys, he would talk to me about the nuances of batting, and
I always enjoyed these conversations a lot. In fact, the one thing that I
have kept with me all my career is a note that Ajit gave me containing some
thoughts about batting. It served as a very personal coaching manual.
* What was the opportunity that transformed the life of
Sachin?
Sir
agreed to let Sachin join the camp. This was the opportunity that transformed
his life.
* What sort of conversations did
Ajit and Sachin have while travelling?
were
about the nuances of batting.
As a child, I had only one set of cricket clothes and the routine was to
wash them as soon as I’d returned from the morning session. While I had my lunch,
the clothes would dry out in the sun and I would wear them again in the afternoon.
The pattern was repeated in the evening so that I could use the same set of clothes
the following morning. The system worked well – apart
from my pockets. There was never quite enough time for the pockets to
dry out completely, and for the entire duration of the camp I played with wet
pockets. By the middle of the summer camp, Sir had started taking an active
interest in my batting and at the end of the two months, informed Ajit that I
had the potential to be a good cricketer if I practiced all year round.
However, my school – the New English School in Bandra
– did not have cricket facilities and Sir was keen for me to change
schools if I wanted to pursue cricket
seriously.
* What routine did Sachin follow
in washing his clothes?
Sachin
had only one set of cricket clothes. He washed them as soon as he returned from
the morning session. He would wear them for evening session. He followed this
routine.
* What did Achrekar inform Ajit?
Sachin
had the potential to be a good cricketer, if he practised all year round.
One evening, Sir called my father and put
forward his suggestion. Ajit was in the room with my father at the time and
they both accepted that it was necessary if cricket was to be my priority. My
father sat me down and explained that while he did not have any objections to
my changing schools, I should do so only if I was really serious about playing
cricket.I assured him I was, and so it was agreed that I should move to
Shardashram Vidhyamandir, where Achrekar Sir was the cricket coach. All my
excess energies were getting channelled into cricket, which acted as a kind of
safety valve. My father always said that all he wanted me to do was give it my
best effort without worrying about the results.
* What was the suggestion given
by Achrekar to Sachin’s father?
Sir
suggested to join Sachin in Shardashram Vidyamandir School, where sir was
coach.
* What acted as a safety valve?
Cricket
acted as a safety valve.
In my first year at Shardashram, I played fifty
five practice matches during the summer break of sixty days. My summer sessions
used to start at 7.30 am and end at 4.30 pm. My evening session would start at
5 pm after only a thirty-minute break. During the break, Sir would often give
me some money to go and have a vadapav
(a popular Mumbai fast food).
Between 5 pm and 7 pm I’d have five more net
sessions. Towards the last 15 minutes, Sir would place a one rupee coin on top
of the stumps and if I managed to avoid getting out, the coin was mine. In this
session every bowler in the camp would come and bowl to me, with some sixty to
seventy boys fielding. It meant I had to hit every ball along the ground to
survive those intense fifteen minutes. Winning the one–rupee coin used to give
me immense satisfaction and taught me how to concentrate even when physically drained.
At the end of it all., Sir would tell me to run two full circuits of Shivaji
Park with my pads and gloves on.
That was the last part of my training and I’d
be completely exhausted by the end of it all. It was a routine I would repeat
right through my summer holidays and it helped me to build up physical and
mental stamina.
* What did Sachin
do during the thirty minute break?
He
would go and have a vadapav.
* What is the intense ‘fifteen
minutes’ mentioned ?
The
intense fifteen minutes is the last part of his session. Every bowler in the
camp would come and bowl to Sachin. Sachin had to hit every ball to survive the
intense 15 minutes.
Occasionally, my father came to take me home
and I would always ask him to treat me to a special fruit cocktail at a juice centre near the club. While
this regular demand was a little unreasonable, because at the time I did not
realize that my parents also had to take care of the needs of my brothers and
sister, my father would invariably end up giving me what I wanted, just to see
me happy. On other days, when I made my way home from Shivaji Park on my own,
I’d often fall asleep on the bus – if I managed to sit down. Anyone who has
been on a Mumbai bus at peak hours will know just how difficult it is to get a
seat. On days when I wasn’t so lucky, it was still a challenge just to stand
with the kitbag,
because the bus conductors would inevitably complain about me taking up the space of another
passenger. It could be embarrassing because the conductors were often rude and
would sometimes ask me to buy two tickets. I didn’t have the money for a second
ticket and I had to learn to take these remarks in my stride. Dirty clothes
often added to the embarrassment. With time, I evolved a way of wrapping the kitbag around
me. Just as the helmet and pads became a part of me while batting, so
the kitbag became an extension of me on the bus. I’d often take the bus or
train from Bandra to Church gate, and it was all a great learning experience.
* What did Sachin’s father do
just to make Sachin happy?
Sachin's
father bought a special fruit cocktail for Sachin to make him happy.
* What did embarrass Sachin in
the bus?
The
conductors were often rude and would sometime ask Sachin to buy two tickets.
The conductors constant complaints brought him embarrassment.
Even though I loved cricket, there were still
occasional days when playing with my friends at home was such fun that I would
conveniently forget I was supposed to go to the nets. If I didn’t turn up,
Achrekar Sir would jump on to his scooter and come to find me. Sir would spot
me in the melee and virtually drag me out. I
would come up with excuses but he would have none of it. He would get me to
change and head off to Shivaji Park.
On the drive he would tell me, “Don’t waste
your time playing insane games with these kids. Cricket is waiting for you at
the nets. Practice hard and see what magic can transpire."
* What made Sachin forget, to go
to the nets?
The
fun of playing with friends at home made Sachin forget, to go to the nets.
* What did Achrekar advise Sachin?
Achrekar
advised Sachin not to waste his time playing silly games.
"We need to have proper career
orientation. Your personality plays an important role in choosing the type of
career you want. Choose something you enjoy and really want to do and you will
be successful."
At that time, I hated being dragged off, but as
I look back, I feel sheepish about my actions and can only admire Achrekar
Sir’s farsightedness.
Sir also punished me on one occasion when
trying to teach me a very important lesson. Once, I bunked
my daily evening practice to watch an inter-school cricket match not
anticipating that Sir would be there. He was angry and he said it wasn’t for me
to come and watch other people play for, if I practiced hard enough, one day
people from across the world would come and watch me play. Had it not been for
Sir, I would not be the cricketer I turned out to be. He was a strict
disciplinarian and did everything he could for me. I owe myself to him.
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was born
on 24th April 1973 in Mumbai, Maharastra. He was a former Indian cricketer and
captain widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He made
an impact in cricket from a very early age, displaying a prodigious talent. The
world famous cricketer has set many records in his career and is considered as
one of the greatest Batsman of all times. He is the only player to have scored
one hundred international centuries, the first to score double century in a One
Day International , and the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in
international cricket. He played 664 international cricket matches in total,
scoring 34,357 runs. In 2012, Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. He
retired from cricket on 16th November 2013. ‘Learning the Game’ is an extract
from his autobiography Playing it My Way.
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