Tendulkar is not just a cricket role model for me, but a life coach: Yuvraj
Sachin Tendulkar is not just a cricketing role model for Yuvraj Singh, but a “mentor” who provided incredible solutions and lessons on and off the field in times of crisis. One of India’s greatest players in limited-overs cricket and the hero of two World Cup victories, Yuvraj has been one of Tendulkar’s closest friends in the Indian dressing room and a life coach to him.
Tendulkar will turn 50 on Monday and Yuvraj, who is currently holidaying in England, said in an interview to ‘PTI-Bhasha’, “When I used to play international cricket, we had coaches but if I find any improvement in my batting If there was a technical problem, I used to consult him only. He always provided solution to the problem but he was not just my cricketing role model.”Whenever I face any personal crisis or dilemma in life, paaji (Tendulkar) is the first person I turn to for advice. He always had the best lessons and advice for me. ,
Yuvraj also recalled the incident during the 2011 World Cup when he used to cough and vomit continuously and could not even sleep properly because of it. During this, Tendulkar gave him full support. Even in such a situation, he single-handedly scored more than 350 runs in the tournament and took 15 wickets. His performance made India the world champion. Yuvraj said, “At that time even I did not know that it was cancer. Sachin used to keep in touch with me regularly. Even during my treatment in America, he was always concerned about my recovery. Yuvraj recalled a very ‘special Test match’ when asked about his favorite fielding partnership with Tendulkar.
He said, “If you see, Sachin used to open the innings and I used to bat at number six, so in limited overs cricket, we did not get much chance to bat together. He said, “However, in Test cricket, we had a 150 plus partnership against England in Chennai in December 2008 to win India. We were chasing 387 and won the match later in the afternoon. Sachin scored a century and I scored around 80 (85). But that Test is also special because it was the first match after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. The country was reeling from the tragedy and we all were very emotional. Sachin comes from Mumbai, so he was more emotional.
