Sachin - 'I spent 12 sleepless nights before the Pakistan match'

Everybody remembers Sachin Tendulkar's spectacular assault on Pakistan's pace bowlers at the last World Cup, but not many are aware what went on behind it. In an interview published in the latest issue of Wisden Asia Cricket, Tendulkar reveals how his anxiety about the match kept him awake for nights.

"Frankly, everyone was talking about the India-Pakistan game, literally 10 to 12 months before the World Cup started," says Tendulkar. "The build-up had reached such a level that when we got to South Africa, we kept getting phone calls telling us that, come what may, we had to win that game. All of us were very keyed up for it as a result. I spent sleepless nights before that - a sign of the pressure, and also a way of getting ready for the game.

"I do like it, because it's part of my preparation for a game. For 12 to 13 nights, I just kept tossing and turning in my bed, thinking of the match. As it got closer, it became worse, and I just wanted to go to the middle and bat."

Tendulkar scored a sizzling 98 in that World Cup Pool A match at Centurion Park, helping India overhaul Pakistan's sizeable total of 272. His counterattack on Shoaib Akhtar was particularly breathtaking. In one sensational over, the second of the Indian innings, Akhtar went for 18 runs, including a fierce slash that sailed over the backward-point fence.

Tendulkar, however, was categorical that he had no score to settle with Akhtar who had bowled him for a first-ball duck in their previous encounter in a Test match in Kolkata in 1999. "I remember journalists coming up to me and saying `Shoaib has said this' or `Caddick has said that'. I have never reacted to that. It¹s not my nature - I've always maintained that I should just get to the middle and do my job, rather than playing all those psychological games."

He remembers the impact that the Australian tour of 1991-92 had on his career. "That first tour of Australia was the turning point in my international career - scoring a century at Sydney and then another in the fifth Test at Perth. Those two innings changed me as a player, especially from a confidence aspect."

For a player of such natural greatness, many often take the blood and sweat of practice for granted. "I practice differently before every series, looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. But there are times when you can sit in the room, and work on your game. That's an important aspect of preparation, something I've learnt in recent years. But if I felt I needed to spend time in the nets, I'd do that too."

He then talks about his private life, or lack of it. "Obviously, I can't roam around like everyone else, and given a choice, I'd love to do normal things. It's hard to tell you because I've not seen the other side." Yet he immediately turns around and says, "I could say that I didn't get to do all those things that a normal teenager would do, but then again, not many people get the opportunity to do what I do [smiles]."

He ends by speaking about his efforts at charity. "I'd like to mention Apnalaya, an organisation that works with underprivileged children. It helps them to cope with modern-day life, sending them to school, teaching them how important education is when it comes to becoming respectable citizens."

He mentions a particularly poignant moment "when a handicapped, spastic child came on stage as Sachin Tendulkar, and tried to imitate me. It was a very emotional moment, and I cried, which is not something I usually do."

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