you're in you know 12th grade taking yeah and exam cops are
outside the exam room guarding it for you what was it like having fame at that young of an age
when you were a kid and then became a teenager how much time would you spend playing and practicing
when i started playing serious cricket i would start my session around about 7 30 and then at 9
30 when when the match started i had to play a practice match it would go on till
almost 4 30 or so and there were a number of occasions when i used to bunk practice
and just to spend time with my friends and my coach he would come on a scooter from shivaji park
to bandra pick me up said okay you're not wasting your time here get your kid back get changed
into whites let's go and practice i did not get a chance to be like a normal 12 year old 13 year old
kid and at the end of the day my coach would tell me okay i'm gonna give you 12 minutes to survive
you cannot get out they were almost 2 300 fielders around you know so because anyone could catch
it helped me when i went to when i went to proper stadium where only nine fielders were
there on the field i could not see anything else become much much easier to find gaps how did
seeing yourself in the newspaper at age 12 impact your interest in cricket becoming your profession
i always call it my passion my life you know a number of number of guys
spoke to me about it and uh and asked me that how how did you manage all this and i felt you know
i was in a different zone my my own world you know i had created that world for myself where
i was so engrossed in that that the outside world did not disturb me i started cricket my brother
ajit was the reason for that the knowledgeable guy who had first-hand experience of going out
on the field and playing those number of matches was hajjit and with him the understanding was
we think about the next game while rest of the world is talking about the last game
and when india won the 1983 world cup that had a big impact on your interest too as well right yeah
because i saw that happening on television i felt that yes one day even i want to hold the trophy i
want to do the same thing for india so at the age of 10 you're not matured enough to understand what
it takes to get there and that i only realized in the following years when i started playing serious
cricket i would ask my brother so what next so we kept climb climbing up that ladder till the time i
got to the national squad and it was only a few years later i think by 16 that people
started asking for your autograph and you became famous to the point of it being a challenge to
go out i think you're in you know 12th grade taking an exam cops or outside the exam room
guarding it for you what was it like having fame at that young of an age i still remember
after my first store and i caught up with my friends and we went out for a burger
and at that time a couple of guys came and they asked for my autograph so
i felt happy but i didn't know where life was going to take me but when i got my first 100
in england then i came back and then went to australia got runs there in south africa
after that everything started changing 1993 was the first time i played a proper
full series in india till then i kept playing abroad so so people hadn't seen me play live
and that was kind of a turning point in my career there are so many stories of people that gain
that fame early on in life and struggle immensely with it was not the case with you how do you think
fame impacted your development that wasn't the case with me because of my family i had the right
people the right team around me to maintain that balance between success and failure because it's
so easy to be on top of the world one day and then the next day you feel drowned in sorrow you know
but there was that stability in life so whether i did well or i didn't perform that well
when i got back home i was the normal sachin when i had attended my first summer camp
my coach ramakanthacharikar so sir called him my father and told him that you know
sachin i see that spark in him would he be interested in pursuing this as his career
which was a massive decision for my father because where i lived the whole colony is
with filled with scholars you know poets and writers and professors so for them
sachin is going to play cricket he's going to be a professional cricketer
what else is he going to do in life was the question which my father faced on regular basis
especially because back then it had no financial upside either absolutely absolutely and
that in those days even the mindset was different today we we know there are so many leagues been
played across the globe and in india but nothing like that existed in 1989 of course everyone was
happy that i was already at the age of 16 i was playing for india and my
father clearly told me that what you are doing at the age of 16 not many children
in the world do that so my father said okay he devaney dilli gifted so this is a god's gift
which is hold this with both your hands don't that means don't take things for granted that would be
my message to anyone and everyone it need not be just cricket any field that you are in don't
take things for granted if you are gifted with something special hold it with both your hands and
value what you've got and work on it i want to read a quote to you from a columnist but
he said referring to you he was india's first modern sports star a combination of babe ruth
muhammad ali and michael jordan he forever changed sports celebrity and marketing in india
what do you think is responsible for your success i think self-belief i always believed that i
i would play for india the question was when there was no plan b in my life there was just one plan
playing for india when archway sir spotted that spark in me he made me practice with i was 12
13 and i was practicing with people who were like 28 30 year olds and they were allowed to
go full steam and he would tell me that okay if you have to play international cricket you have
to learn to deal with this you may get hit it's fine it's equally important to know how to get it
and how to bounce back till the age of 15 or so i was not allowed to wear a helmet
why he said you have to continue watching the ball if you watch the ball
you will dodge it you'll find a way to defend yourself sometimes i used to throw a season
ball up on the ceiling literally and take it on my body so that i get used to that pain
nothing stopped us from playing unless i was not able to hold the bat at all or i was not able
to run at all but i would suggest you know although all the kids please wear a helmet