Sachin Tendulkar Unplugged

By John Cheeran
Sachin Tendulkar is not the best of speakers. But when he prefers to speak, he speaks with a straight bat.
That was evident during his Seedhi Bath with India Today Group Editor Prabhu Chawla.
Also evident was Prabhu Chawla’s lack of understanding of cricket as a game.
Tendulkar has played 125 Test matches, has hit maximum number of Test centuries (35) though this interview was recorded before the New Delhi Test.
Knowing this, I did not expect PC to ask whether Tendulkar prefers one-dayers to Tests.
Few cricketers say they prefer one-dayers to Tests. Not even Sourav Ganguly, whose one-day aggregate is twice that of his Test runs tally.
The best part of the interview was the true or false type questions that was thrown at Tendulkar.
Sample this.
Q: Which is your best innings?
The Test hundred against Aussies in 1992 at Perth.
I would have liked PC to ask him why it has turned out special. After all, India did not win that Test!
So in what context that knock attained the special status in the record book of the maker of maximum Test centuries would have been interesting to know. At least to me.
That would have been a question Tendulkar also would have liked to answer in detail. The quality of Aussie fast bowling and stuff like that.
Instead PC spent himself asking how Tendulkar was balancing his life between ad films and cricket.
Tendulkar needs to be quoted on this. “Just because you are watching an advertisement for six months, doesn’t mean one is acting all the time. We immediately come back after the shooting.”
Thank you.
Some of the other Q&A.
Who has been your best captain?
Ravi Shastri..
(Shastri enjoys 100 per cent winning record as Indian captain. He led India only once; against West Indies at Madras when Narendra Hirwani made a dream debut.)
But …?
Sandeep Patil.
Not about domestic cricket….in international cricket..
Nasser Hussain. He always planned one step ahead of the game.
Well said.
What Tendulkar did not say was as much important.
That shows Tendulkar does not think very highly of Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy. He said captaincy is not the ultimate thing in cricket, but making an effective contribution to team’s cause is.
A word of solace for the deposed captains.
I consider the interview was remarkable for the things that Tendulkar did not talk about.