'Playing cricket is the ultimate thing'

Sachin Tendulkar, laid low by an elbow injury, recently admitted that his style of batting had changed. "When you play for a long time, it is natural," Tendulkar told Sambit Bal in a freewheeling interview from the October issue of Wisden Asia Cricket. "Changes are going to take place and you always try and make changes to become a better player. The basic idea is to cut down on the risky shots and try and be as consistent as possible."

But Tendulkar has not taken lightly to criticism about the way he has batted in recent times. During the Asia Cup he came out strongly against suggestions that he was not enjoying batting any more: "I thought too much was being said about it and unfortunately guys who have played cricket themselves were making too many rude statements. Someone who has played should definitely understand that there are things like team meetings and team plans. It's not all about what my natural game is, but about executing a team plan. I should be doing what the team wants me to, and not what someone sitting 85 yards away in the commentators' box feels. You can't be talking about what the country should be doing and then focus on an individual. There is no question that it is a team game, and it is the responsibility of all 11 individuals to execute a team plan on any given day."

Tendulkar also disagreed with the suggestion that he was batting too cautiously at the moment. "I really don't know how to put it across, because I can never make everyone happy. If I play a big shot and get out, some people will say, what's the need to do that when there are so many strokeplayers around, can't he just try to play 50 overs? I feel I should play the way I think I should play and not according to how XYZ feels. There might be a day when we need 100 runs in the first 15, and I will bat differently."

Whatever way Tendulkar bats, there will be some disgruntled fans about. "It's very easy to say that you should go out and play your natural game, but sometimes you end up taking plenty of risks, and if you get out doing that, people start talking one way. And when you try to do what the team has planned, they think differently. So it is difficult for any player to keep outsiders happy. We have to think about what the team has planned. As long as I know I am doing the right thing, I don't need to worry about what people are saying.

"People keep saying, ah, he is not playing the same number of shots as before, but if you look at the strike rate you'll see I'm scoring at the same pace, just scoring in a different way. As you spend more and more time in the team, your role changes. It cannot be what it was 15 years ago or seven years ago. I don't think there is any player in the world who has played in the same gear throughout his career."

Tendulkar also looked back at his captaincy days with some regret. "The day I gave in my resignation [from captaincy], I have never thought of it after that. I felt we were not all heading in the right direction and it was affecting me as a person. I couldn't switch off at all. Even ten days after a match I would still be thinking about why this happened and why that happened, and it started affecting me as a person. Not as a player, as some people pointed out, because I scored over 1000 runs in both forms of the game that last year. Also, I felt there was lack of support from every direction."

Tendulkar now admits that he did not see eye-to-eye with the selectors. "Yes. I was not happy with the selectors at all. It just didn't work out. They had different ideas, I had different ideas. The only thing is, I had to go in there and play with their ideas."

And, while it might be the ultimate ambition for many players, captaincy isn't that a big a deal with Tendulkar. "Captaining India was obviously a great honour for me, but it wasn't the ultimate thing for me. The ultimate thing was to play cricket for India and at that time, when I was removed from captaincy, I said in my statement that you can stop me from leading India, but no-one can stop me from playing cricket. Playing cricket is the ultimate thing in my life."