Sachin Tendulkar: Sir Viv Richards and brother Ajit stopped me from retiring after 2007 World Cup exit

Team India’s exit from the 2007 World Cup was a warning sign of the things to come. It was almost confident that the Indian team needed to start a fresh and the senior players started contemplating their future with the country. The fabulous five of Indian cricket were on the verge of either being dropped or retirement.

Sachin Tendulkar aka the Master Blaster of Indian cricket has revealed that he had almost retired from the game if not for the phone call from the West Indian legendary batsman Vivian Richards, at the end of the World Cup.

His brother Ajith Tendulkar was also an influential figure who convinced him not to call it a day from the game and instead told him to focus on the World Cup 2011, which was conducted in India. Ajith further motivated the master blaster about winning the next edition of the World Cup, which made him train harder and practise in the afternoons.

“I was away when I got a call from Sir Viv Richards. He spoke to me for around 45 minutes — about the ups and downs in cricket. He stressed that I have plenty of cricket left in me and said, ‘You are not going to retire now.’ He had heard from a friend of ours that I was really depressed to a point that I was literally thinking of retiring.

“He told me that it’s only a matter of time that I get back so don’t take any decision now. Sir Viv’s call to me was made at the right time and I got convinced. I then said to myself, ‘Okay, I’m going to abandon these thoughts and start practising again as soon as I return to Mumbai’.

“My brother Ajit spoke to me about the 2011 World Cup, telling me that this trophy can be in my hands. That was the motivating factor and I started chasing my World Cup dream. I trained at 5:30 am and practised in the afternoons,” Sachin said.

Sachin’s form had slumped drastically from his tremendous performance in the previous edition of the World Cup where he ended up as the leading run-scorer of the Tournament. The master blaster only managed to aggregate 64 runs from three innings, with the help of a knock of 57 against the minnows Bermuda.

Sachin blamed the then Indian coach Greg Chappel for the imbalance in the team for the loss against the likes of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to get knocked out of the tournament.

Had Sachin retired at the end of the 2007 World Cup, he would not have been part of the world cup winning Indian squad for the 2011 World Cup led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Further, Sachin would not have reached hundred International centuries which he brought up against the same opposition which knocked India out of the 2007 World Cup- Bangladesh.

Sachin’s iconic innings of 200* would not have made the headlines if the master blaster had decided to call it a day from the game he loved.