The day before his 31st birthday, Sachin Tendulkar spoke on how the years have contributed to his well-documented change in batting style. ‘‘I think as you grow old, things change. Similarly with cricket. It’s a gradual change for the better. I am also trying to be as compact as possible.’’ Does that mean he has grown old? ‘‘I still feel very young. Though I sometimes I feel like I am caught in between’’, he says with a mischievous smile. Batting the world over has changed, even improved, he says. ‘‘You see today more batsmen play the reverse sweep, which was not the case earlier. Twenty years down the line there could be more innovations in both batting and bowling. All this only makes the game exciting.’’ He also said the bar has been raised in the one-day game because of the batsmen. ‘‘Earlier 235 was a good score in ODIs. That is not the case now. The game has changed, it has become more commercialised, plenty of runs are being scored. But it is all for the good of the game.’’ All this means only more pressure on the man but Tendulkar says he is ready to take more on himself. ‘‘It feels great that everyone expects something from you. All this makes you feel good. There is fair amount of pressure, but you just can’t wake up, go and score runs. It is a process.’’ Yet what’s needed are more breaks in the scheduling. ‘‘You need enough breaks to recharge your batteries. This way we will reduce the possibility of injuries. You also need time to recover and that is not happening nowadays.’’ That is precisely the reason said the master batsman he is also not able to come out with his autobiography. ‘‘I had decided earlier that I would write a book. But again I am neither here nor there. I am still too busy playing. You need time for all the thoughts to be channelised.’’
