What makes Tendulkar tick?

It's almost 20 years since Sachin Tendulkar made his international debut, but he his passion for cricket and hunger for runs remains undimmed. In a wide-ranging interview with CNN-IBN he talks about staying motivated, his sporting idols outside of cricket, the massive book called the Sachin Tendulkar Opus, and not tinkering with Tests.

It was not difficult to stay motivated. It was difficult to keep scoring runs because every day is a different day, every bowling attack is different and every surface is different. Sometimes your footwork is good, sometimes your hands are going correctly towards the ball, sometimes you are thinking right but that's not how you will feel every day. But every day, you are motivated to do well for India. And that is why I care about cricket. If you care about cricket, the rest will follow.

At home, there is an unwritten law that if I do well and records are broken, we just distribute sweets at home and keep a box of sweets in front of God and move on. Let the others talk about what I have achieved and we focus on the next game. Right from my school days, we have followed that and that works even today.

I have always been able to keep things simple because my family has played a huge role. My wife, my brother Ajit, my mother, my other brother Nitin, his wife, my uncle and aunt whom I stayed with, my coach and everybody; it's a huge army that goes with me. I represent them in the middle but it is a huge team that works together. And last but not the least, my father who played a huge role in this.