Life as a Tendulkar

The Independent's Brian Viner meets Sachin Tendulkar at a store in Covent Garden outside which fans have packed to get a glimpse of the star just as they would in Mumbai. He asks Tendulkar about coaching plans, the price of fame, the most memorable century and who he fancies in the Ashes.

Perhaps, I venture provocatively, coaching won't come naturally. He wouldn't be the first sporting colossus to struggle to refine in others what to himself has always come instinctively. How easy, for example, does he find it to instruct his young son in the batting arts? He smiles. "He is only nine and he just wants to smash the ball. I encourage him to do that, because above all he should love the sport. If he loves it, the rest will follow. I have not forced him into it. We hardly discussed cricket for the first four or five years of his life, but it seems to be in his heart. It is hard to judge how good he will be. Cricket is not just about physical ability, it is also about mental ability, adapting to different conditions and situations. It is hard to judge the mentality of a boy of nine."