Sachin Tendulkar in no hurry to reach 200 Tests

Zee Media Bureau/Suyash Srivastava

New Delhi: Batting stalwart Sachin Tendulkar, who is close to becoming the only player to have played 200 Tests in international cricket, said he wasn’t in a hurry to reach the historic feat and was taking one step at a time. Speaking exclusively to Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary, the Little Master said his priority at the moment was the upcoming Champions League tournament and not his unique feat. “I have always believed in not jumping too much forward. Let’s take one step at a time and that’s how I have approached my career. Right now we have the Champions League for which the preparations are in process, after that we will talk about the next thing,” he said on the sidelines of a car launch event. When asked whether he has decided to script his future, Tendulkar said he didn’t feel any need of doing so, and as far as his decision about his future in cricket was concerned, he would inform his fans when the time was appropriate. Tendulkar has kept himself away from controversies in a career that goes over two decades. When asked the secret behind it, the 40-year-old credited his family members for keeping things simple at home. “Since my school days, whenever I did well in cricket, we had simple celebrations. It has been always like that. My brother had an unwritten law which was to let others talk about my previous inning while we moved on and planned for the next one. It became a habit. Our lifestyle was simple, the upbringing was simple. My father had set several examples which I followed. We all maintained a balanced lifestyle at home,” he said. Tendulkar, who is extremely passionate about cars also compared cricket with driving. “It (driving) is equal to batting. Sometimes you go to bat at 10/2, sometimes you go to bat at 80/2. Sometimes the ball is swinging and sometimes there is no movement at all, so you bat accordingly. You attack when the bowlers aren’t doing well and when your team has an upper hand. Likewise, while driving, you accelerate only after considering several factors like the weather, traffic and the time,” said Tendulkar. The batting legend also confessed about touching the 200 mark while driving on racing tracks. At the same time, Tendulkar said that with driving, comes responsibility and the driver shouldn’t misuse the power of a car.