Sachin Tendulkar reveals Sir Viv Richards made him abandon thoughts of retirement post 2007 world cup debacle
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India had suffered a premature exit in the 2007 world cup on this day and Sachin Tendulkar has revealed that how he thought of quitting the game after the debacle, until his batting heroes Vivian Richards and Sunil Gavaskar, and his own brother Ajith convinced him to continue playing the game.
On this day in 2007, India had suffered a shock exit from the 2007 world cup in the West Indies. Despite being touted as one of the favorites for the tournament, India crashed out following losses to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The losses disturbed the players so much that, even Sachin Tendulkar contemplated to quit the game in the aftermath.
Speaking to the Mid-Day Tendulkar said that he was so perturbed by loss, that he shut himself in his hotel room and considered whether to continue playing the game or not. "We were in the West Indies for two days after we lost, but I didn't leave my hotel room after we lost. I was in no mood to do anything. It was such a massive disappointment that I didn't feel like doing anything in those two days. It was tough to get that out of your mind and move on to the next tournament."
"We were in the West Indies for two days after we lost, but I didn't leave my hotel room after we lost. I was in no mood to do anything. It was such a massive disappointment that I didn't feel like doing anything in those two days. It was tough to get that out of your mind and move on to the next tournament."
India first suffered a shock loss to Bangladesh before trouncing minnows BermudaĀ but the team
"I would call it (March 23, 2007) one of my worst days in cricket," Tendulkar said. "When you feel you win and end up losing, you are bound to feel terrible. Like the Johannesburg Test (in 1997) when we had to get South Africa out but it rained, the Barbados Test (in 1997) when I was captain and the 1996 World Cup semi-final loss to Sri Lanka. There are such instances when you feel really terrible. The 2007 World Cup was obviously not good for us. The first blow was the loss to Bangladesh and then we lost to Sri Lanka. I never thought we would lose to Bangladesh. We were not over-confident, but you do feel confident about India beating Bangladesh. It was one of those uncertainties of the game."
In fact, it was only a call from Tendulkarās batting heroes that reassured him that such defeats are part and parcel of the game, and convinced him that he still had a lot of cricket left to play. "I was away when I got a call from Sir Viv Richards. He spoke to me for around 45 minutes ā about the ups and downs in cricket. He stressed that I have plenty of cricket left in me and said, 'You are not going to retire now.' He had heard from a friend of ours that I was really depressed to a point that I was literally thinking of retiring. He told me that it's only a matter of time that I get back so don't take any decision now."
Another of Sachinās heroes, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachinās own brother Ajith also reassured him of his future in the game. "It makes a huge difference when your batting hero calls you. I always looked up to him and Sunil Gavaskar. Sir Viv's call to me was made at the right time and I got convinced. I then said to myself, 'Okay, I'm going to abandon these thoughts and start
And all their words paid off when India lifted the following world cup in 2011 in their own backyard, beating Sri Lanka in a thumping style at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, to become the champions of One-day cricket for the
