New Delhi: Former captain Rahul
Dravid feels the Indian team`s young cricketers would miss inspiration in the
dressing room when Sachin Tendulkar calls it quits after his 200th Test even
though his legacy would linger for a long time to come.
“A young cricketer will lose the
inspiration. He loses the opportunity to share a dressing room with Tendulkar,
a living legend. It was for me, I was seven years junior to him as a player and
just getting into the dressing room and putting your kit bag next to Sachin
meant something. It was an inspiration in some level,” Dravid said.
“The next generation of players will
miss him, not having SRT in the dressing room. He has been an inspiration for
long to so many young kids. It`s been a big loss. He might not be present there
in the dressing room but his legacy would be there for a long time to come. It
would be carried by next generation of players,” he told ESPN Cricinfo.
Dravid, one of India`s greatest
batsmen himself, said Tendulkar, as a teammate, was always approachable and
remained grounded despite being a superstar.
“Sachin was always approachable. He
would make you feel extremely comfortable. If he would have carried on as a
superstar, no one would have been able to stop him in the Indian dressing
room,” he said.
“He is a superstar, no doubt about
it. The way he presented himself shows that Indian cricket could achieve a lot,
grow around him. He helped Indian cricket have a successful period for the last
decade and a half or so,” he added.
Dravid said he knew that the time
for Tendulkar to draw curtains on his long and illustrious career was quite
close but he had no inkling that the veteran would decide to bid adieu with the
home series against the West Indies next month.
“You knew that it was going to
happen sooner rather than later. There were indications that he would finish it
but he would finish that with the West Indies tour, I did not get that inkling,”
said Dravid.
Tendulkar, regarded the greatest
batsman in contemporary cricket, yesterday called it quits from Test cricket,
announcing that he would retire after his 200th match which would come against
the West Indies, bringing the curtains down on an extraordinary career spanning
a marathon 24 years.
Struggling with form for the last
two years, the 40-year-old Tendulkar, who has scored a monumental 15,837 runs
in 198 Tests at an average of 53.86, informed the BCCI about his decision to
retire from Test cricket, putting an end to the intense speculation about his
future.
Dravid said Tendulkar chose the
perfect time to bid adieu to the game given that his last Test will be his
200th overall.
“It`s been a great career, a great
opportunity for him and for the whole of India…These two matches to recognize
what he has done. I think it`s a great time for him to go, in a sense the 200th
Test match. It`s a great occasion for him playing in his 200th Test, probably
in Mumbai and in front of his home crowd. It`s fantastic for him,” Dravid said.
Dravid, who retired from the
international cricket last year after amassing 13,288 runs in 164 Tests and
another 10,889 in 344 one-day internationals, said it`s very hard to arrive at
a decision like this and Tendulkar must have known from his heart.
“It wouldn`t have been easy for him.
He must have known from his heart. He had gone by what his heart told him. You
take a lot of advice from family, people who are close to you. But in the
end, it`s your call and it`s been Sachin`s call. I was just speaking to him and
he seemed comfortable with the decision he made. It`s hard to explain these
things like how you arrived at such decisions.”
“It`s just that you
feel like that the time is right for you. Sometimes you take a little bit
longer to confirm your feelings deep down. Ensure that it`s not an emotional
decision which you have made. Once you know, then it becomes easier for you.
You know you don`t have that same energy and drive to keep going. Someone, who
has played with the passion that he has, the energy that he has, he would have
known that he can`t carry on,” Dravid said.
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