Speaking on his retirement issue, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar said that his critics haven’t taught him his cricket and he won’t retire just because the critics feel so.
“The day I feel a little less passionate when walking out to bat for India, I will give up the game,” the master batsman said according to a report in The Times Of India, adding, “Critics didn’t need to tell me to do so.”
Tendulkar said he had played cricket because he loved to do and there was nothing better than playing for India. “I still get goosebumps as I stand with my teammates when the national anthem is on. I still feel the same passion when I pick up my bat and go out,” he said in an interview to a magazine, according to the report.
Asked whether the thought of retiring from ODI cricket had crossed his mind after India won the World Cup last year, Tendulkar said such a thought had never occurred to him. “A number of my friends have also asked me why I didn’t retire from ODI cricket after winning the World Cup, they may well be right. It would indeed have been a grand exit, emotions were running high and the timing could not have been better but to be honest such a thought never occurred to me,” he said.
Meanwhile India’s chief selector Kris Srikkanth said it was for batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar to decide when he should end his international career. Srikkanth, while praising Tendulkar for the landmark century, said whether to retire or not should be the batting maestro's personal decision. “Let Sachin only decide about it,"said Srikkanth, who has come under flak for the team's poor run since winning the World Cup last year.
For Rahul Dravid, who retired a fortnight ago, it's slowly sinking in. “Like I said on the day of my PC, it's a big relief in some ways. I don't have to worry about getting bowled again,” said Dravid, reads a report in The Hindu.
Thankfully, with IPL commitments still on his plate, he hadn't yet been forced into going grocery shopping, Dravid joked. “Anyway, the idea is to make such a mess of it the first few times that you aren't asked again.”
On Wednesday at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, with a star-cast of other celebrated sons in attendance, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) honoured Dravid. Admitting that he felt “emotional” at the venue, the 39-year-old recalled his joyous times in Karnataka cricket and his long association with the KSCA over the course of the evening, expressing gratitude at the rich tributes that had been paid to him on retirement, writes The Hindu.
“I have been touched and humbled by everything that has been written about me,” Dravid said. “Without sounding arrogant, I'll say that I expected the tributes — because I've seen them when cricketers before me have retired. But what touched me was that people had taken the trouble to think about it. They were not casual, but instead took the time and effort and wrote some really nice things about me.”
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Thursday said that it will stand by its cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan over media stories involving a Bollywood actress.
A story has appeared in a local newspaper, 'Daily Mirror', which claimed that the little known Bollywood actress, Nupur Mehta, whose name surfaced in match-fixing allegations, has claimed to have been dating Sri Lankan batsman Dilshan. According to the daily, the starlet had admitted to have met some international cricketers in a casino during Twenty20 World Cup in England in 2009.
