'For the first 12 years of my career, I couldn't sleep properly on the eve of the game' - Sachin Tendulkar opens up on his anxiety issues

Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the greatest batsman to have ever played the game of cricket. In a career that spanned almost two and half decades, the master batsman achieved unprecedented feats with the willow, and many of them might never be replicated.

Sachin Tendulkar scored a colossal 34357 runs in international cricket and is also the only batsman in history to have plundered 100 international centuries. But then, even a batsman of Tendulkar’s stature faced a lot of anxiety issues.

Tendulkar revealed that for the first twelve years of his career, he could not properly sleep before a match as he was constantly thinking about the bowlers that he would face in the match. The batting icon added that he learnt to deal with this feeling later in his career and he would be awake at night watching TV or listening to music.

“If you care about something, there will certainly be some restlessness. That’s only because I cared about my cricket and I wanted to do well every time I walked out. I would say, for the first 12 years of my career, I couldn’t sleep properly on the eve of the game. I would constantly think about how I will face the bowlers. What will they bowl, what options do I have? I would keep thinking and would fight my sleep. Later, I could deal with it.

I started accepting; this is how my body and mind is getting geared up for the game. It is ok, I don’t need to fight this feeling, I embraced that. I said ‘it’s okay even if I am awake at 12:30 or 1:00 at night watching TV, listening to music or whatever it is, it doesn’t matter,” said Tendulkar in a chat with The Indian Express.

The more I started to understand myself, things became okay: Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar further added that acceptance is crucial for a sportsman when he is dealing with anxiety and restlessness. The 48-year-old further revealed that he learnt to make peace with his restlessness.

“The reason I am like this is because I am getting ready for the game. And it’s okay as it is only part of my preparation. The acceptance was important. The more I started to understand myself, things became okay. (Laughs) I will not say okay completely, but I knew this was normal. I made peace with it,” added Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar also stated that he experienced restlessness throughout his career, especially after he was dismissed, and it continued till his last Test match for India. The batting colossus concluded by stating that he used to discuss this topic with his brother Ajit Tendulkar.

“Yes, it happened all through my career and post dismissals, I used to discuss it with my brother. And that even happened till my last Test. A few habits continued all the way. After I was dismissed in my last Test, we had a discussion in the evening. After that I was thinking, I don’t know why we discussed it because if we bowl well, we might not be batting a second time!” concluded Tendulkar.