In his sixth attempt, Sachin Tendulkar finally got the trophy he so badly wanted. On Monday, the master talked about, among others things, the captain, the coach, the victory lap and how the players pinched each other to make sure it was for real. Excerpts.
Your team mates have said that they wanted to do it for you. How do you feel?
This gesture was really, really touching and moving. And then to take a victory lap like that (being carried on their shoulders) was an extremely emotional moment. I was not expecting all that, I was taken by surprise. What a way to end the World Cup! We were playing for each other and for the nation. We wanted to do this for the Indian team and also for the fans.
And you lifted the World Cup trophy at the same ground where you used to be a ball boy in the 1987 edition.
I still remember that time. I was a ball boy and Sunil Gavaskar took me inside the dressing room. He introduced me to many players then. It was a big day for me. And now that I have lifted the trophy at the Wankhede, it’s is a really big moment in my life. We had to pinch each other to believe it was for real.
Going into the World Cup, was there a lot of responsibility and pressure on you? How did you cope with that?
I don’t think only senior cricketers have responsibility or pressure. Once the 15-member squad is picked, everybody shares the load. And you saw that different matches saw different match winners.
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