Winning the World Cup is everything to me’

“I asked him (Sir Don) how he usually prepared for a big game?” Tendulkar said, wanting to know how the best ever batsman in the history of the game coped with pressure.

“He (Sir Don) spoke a lot about modern-day cricket. He felt the standard of play has really gone up and the game has changed a lot and become more aggressive since his days. He feels the standard of fielding today is very high, but pace bowling has lost its lethal edge. He watches most of the matches on television.”

Tendulkar later told Star News in an interview to be telecast tomorrow that he has set his sights on spurring India to triumph in next year’s cricket World Cup in England and to provide “more consistency” to his batting exploits.

“Winning the World Cup would mean everything to me, the Indian team and the entire country. That’s what we’re all focussed on at the moment.”

He said his idea of perfect batsmen were West Indian Viv Richards and Sunil Gavaskar. “For aggressive batting, there was always Richards. When it comes to defensive technique there is none better than Gavaskar,” he said.

Tendulkar said he asked Sir Don, who amassed 6996 runs in 52 Tests with 29 hundreds and 13 fifties, to explain his hunger for runs and the explanation was simple. “I did whatever was requred by the team. The team needed my runs,” he quoted the game’s finest-ever batsman as saying. But Tendulkar was against any comparisons and did not see himself as the Indian Don. “I am Tendulkar, he is Sir Don Bradman, let it remain that way,” he said in all modesty.

But he was delighted when Sir Don said Tendulkar’s style was similar to his own. “It’s a great thrill. I saw the video some time ago of Sir Don and me on either side. There are some similarities I guess in those flick shots shown,” he said.

Asked whether he aspired to break any of Sir Don’s records, Tendulkar said: “Records mattered, but team performance was more important.”