SACHIN Tendulkar said yesterday he was focused on helping India fight their way back to the top of cricket rather than on personal records after recently achieving his 100th international century.
The 38-year-old brushed aside speculation about his retirement and said the Indian team had work to do if they were to regain the number one spot in the Test rankings that they lost to England last year.
“If you lose that then someone is playing better than you,” Tendulkar told a press conference in Mumbai. “There’s no doubt that yes, we have to perform better as a team and win because that is what we go out for.”
With an extraordinary two-decade career behind him, Tendulkar said it was important during this “rough patch” for his side not to lose hope. “We can overcome this obstacle and for that it’s going to require hard work.”
He insisted that he just wanted to “enjoy the game” after setting a new record during the recent Asia Cup by completing an unprecedented century of centuries.
“I don’t think I need to prove anything right now,” said the world’s leading scorer in Test and one-day cricket, when asked about his next milestone.
“The dream was to play for India and win the World Cup, and I’ve achieved them both.”
Tendulkar admitted to testing times as the hype built over his 100th century, which took more than a year to achieve and finally came on March 16 against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
His 99th international ton came against South Africa in the World Cup at Nagpur on March 12 last year.
“I asked God what wrong did I do, why did it take so long?” he said.
Tendulkar, a god-like figure himself to Indian cricket fans, told a young man in the audience to “chase your dreams” when asked for a few tips.
“Don’t find shortcuts, there will be difficult phases also, don’t worry about that. Just enjoy the game, have a big heart and look at life positively.”
