Tendulkar again quashes retirement talks

Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar once again quashed speculations about his retirement, saying his job was to play cricket and he will carry on doing that.

Tendulkar, who for long has been asked about his retirement, once again reiterated that he would continue playing till the time he wanted to.

“I think people have been asking me this question for long. The first time it was asked was in 2005. Your job is to ask questions and mine is to keep playing,” Tendulkar said on the sidelines of a promotional event here Thursday.

Tendulkar’s comments came on a day when legendary South African cricketer Graeme Pollock said he was sad at not seeing Tendulkar and Australian Ricky Ponting score big in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“I am watching the IPL with interest, just a little bit sad that the great players Tendulkar and Ponting haven’t really hit it off. It is always a hard decision to know when to get out,” Pollock said on his Facebook account Thursday.

Tendulkar, when asked about the opinions of former cricketers, opined that he will carry on doing what he “practises everyday”.

“There are some people who have played cricket giving their opinions and there are also some who have never played the game also giving their opinions. I am not worried about too many opinions. You have to balance it out. But at the end of the day, you have to do what you practise everyday,” said Tendulkar.

The batting maestro added that the media never focussed on his much awaited 100th hundred during the 2011 World Cup. But post-World Cup it suddenly became the talk of the town.

“During the 2011 World Cup the media forgot that I was on 99 hundreds because there were too many things to focus on. But suddenly after the World Cup, my 100th century was the talk of the town.”

Tendulkar also said that he took to social networking site Twitter to connect with his fans, who were being misguided by a fake account in his name, but now Twitter has become a part of his charity in the aid of cancer patients.

“I took to Twitter because someone else was making comments on my behalf. But now it it has become a part of a cause. We are trying to raise some funds for cancer patients and it feels great to see that some children are benefiting out of it,” he said.
File Photo  : AFP