Indian cricketing legend Sachin
Tendulkar has revealed how and when he came to his decision of retiring from
international cricket. Having recently joined professional networking site
Linkedin as an ‘influencer’, Tendulkar posted a write-up titled ‘My Second
Innings’ from his account.
The former India captain wrote
about his experiences in the game and his time after retirement. He also
revealed that the thoughts of retirement came to his mind during a Champions
League T20 match in New Delhi in October 2013. “It was October 2013 during one
of the Champions League games in Delhi. My mornings would start with a gym
workout, a routine I had been following for 24 years. But that morning in
October, something had changed,” he wrote. “I realized that I had to force
myself to wake up and go about my day. I knew that the gym training was a
critical part of my cricket — something that had been my life for 24 years.
Yet, there was reluctance. Why? “Were these signs…signs that I should stop?
Signs that the game that has been so dear to me, would no longer be a part of
my daily routine?”
The legendary cricketer, who is
also a Rajya Sabha MP, said. Tendulkar was part of the 2013 CLT20-winning
Mumbai Indians side and played in three matches in Delhi – on October 2,
October 5 and October 6 (against Rajasthan Royals in the final). After that, he
played in his last two Test matches in Kolkata and Mumbai in November against
the West Indies in a hurriedly arranged series before walking into the sunset.
Writing about the process of making the retirement decision, he wrote, “Sunil
Gavaskar, one of my heroes and a former cricketer, once said that he made up
his mind to quit the game when he found himself checking the clock, to see how
much time there was left for the lunch and tea intervals. Suddenly I knew
exactly what he meant.
My mind and my body were telling
me the same thing. Maybe, it’s time to hang up my boots. “I also remembered the
words of Billie Jean King, at Wimbledon a few years ago – you will know for
sure when to go, it will come from inside you, don’t let the world decide when
you have to retire. “But what will a sportsman do if he’s not a sportsman
anymore? How do you prepare for a day when something that consumed each day of
the 24 years of your life, isn’t the focus anymore? “The energising chant of
‘Sachin, Sachin’ that the crowds cheered each time I walked onto the field, was
an indescribable feeling and rush. This probably won’t be heard anymore. Was I
ready for that? These thoughts and a discussion with my family and closest
friends helped make up my mind. My innings was indeed coming to an end,” he
wrote. “The years flashed before my eyes. The victories, the losses, the
celebrations, the challenges and the silences … the journey.
India’s win at the World Cup in
2011 was a dream come true as was the team’s generous gesture of dedicating the
cup to me. But, that chapter of my life was ending. What now, I wondered.” He
said his “first innings was about chasing my dreams, the second one is about
satisfaction”.
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