The headline makes for a riveting story for the Sachin Tendulkar fans. Tracing back ten years to 2007, when India could not even make it to the play-offs, even getting thrashed by minnows Bangladesh. Sachin was 33 then when this happened and he then was also going through injuries like the tennis elbow and shoulder also his back. To rub salt to the would he was not in form. The media were already talking about his retirement from the game and that his reflexes have diminished and he should call it quits. In fact after India lost in 2007 Sachin did not leave his hotel room in West Indies for two days as he had made up his mind.
But champions do the unexpected, he continued playing and torment attacks from around the world to finally lift the World Cup crown in front of his home crowd in Mumbai, so in that way he has really fought odds to up his game. But he did consider throwing in the towel and quitting, but that did not happen do you know the reason why.
Well, ‘chewing swagger’ Vivian Richards called the great Sachin Tendulkar. In a recent interview Sachin Tendulkar said, “I was away when I got a call from Sir Viv Richards. He spoke to me for around 45 minutes — about the ups and downs in cricket. He stressed that I have plenty of cricket left in me and said, ‘You are not going to retire now.’ He had heard from a friend of ours that I was really depressed to a point that I was literally thinking of retiring. He told me that it’s only a matter of time that I get back so don’t take any decision now.”
“It makes a huge difference when your batting hero calls you. I always looked up to him and Sunil Gavaskar. Sir Viv’s call to me was made at the right time and I got convinced. I then said to myself, ‘Okay, I’m going to abandon these thoughts and start practising again as soon as I return to Mumbai. My brother Ajit spoke to me about the 2011 World Cup, telling me that this trophy can be in my hands. That was the motivating factor and I started chasing my World Cup dream. I trained at 5:30 am and practised in the afternoons,” he recalled.
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