Newskarnataka – Mumbai

Mumbai: “I have overcome various challenges in the past 24 years due to my overpowering desire to play for India”, said Sachin Tendulkar at a press meet a day after he retired on Sunday November 17.

Addressing to the media personals he said, “Playing international cricket for 24 years was the most important thing of my life. Cricket has been my life, it was oxygen, I have played for 30 years. 75 per cent of my life has been cricket.”

“I still have not got the realization that I’ll not play cricket anymore although I’ll be playing somewhere. No regrets in leaving the game, just felt it was the right time to quit. It was a very enjoyable journey”, he added.

He also said, “There were loads of thoughts about retirement in my career. I made it a point that whenever I decide, I would let the media know about it.”

Furthermore he confirmed that he had requested the BCCI to keep his farewell match in Mumbai so that his mother can see him playing. I wanted it to be a surprise for my mother but she came to know it from the media.”

“In my heart, I will always be playing and praying for India, but somewhere your body sends you a message enough of this physical load. It was becoming very difficult to go through all the training sessions”, he said.

Concluding the meet he said, “After playing for 24 years, you have to appreciate that there were many injuries and these were not easy to overcome.”