‘Got many offers but never accepted any' - Sachin Tendulkar opens up on his father’s advice regarding tobacco ads

Former India international Sachin Tendulkar revealed that he got multiple offers to feature in tobacco commercials but he never accepted any. The 50-year-old added that during the early stage of his career, his father, Ramesh Tendulkar advised him not to promote the use of tobacco.

Sachin also revealed that his father told him that the cricketer is a role model for millions and thus, he should never endorse tobacco or alcohol products. Notably, during 1990s when the majority of the top cricketers were endorsing tobacco brands, Sachin refused and was also one of the cricketers with no sticker on his bat.

“When I started playing for India, I had just come out of school. I started getting many advertisement offers but my father told me never to promote tobacco products. I got many such offers but never accepted any of them," The Statesman quoted Tendulkar as saying.

“This was a promise I made to my father. He told me I am a role model and a lot of people will follow what I do. That is why I have never endorsed tobacco products or alcohol. In the 1990s my bat didn’t have a sticker on it, I didn’t have a contract. But everybody else in the team was endorsing two brands in particular – Wills and Four Square," he added.

Sachin played 664 international matches and retired with 34,357 runs to his name. The cricketer has multiple records to his name, including the most number of runs and centuries in Tests (15,921) and ODIs (18,426) as well as the record for playing most number of Tests (200) and ODIs (463) among many others. In domestic cricket, the former cricketer scored over 50000 runs and won multiple titles for his domestic team Mumbai. Currently, he mentors Mumbai Indians in IPL.