I feel that my willow speaks to me: Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar’s bat will no long bear the MRF logo, signalling the end of a 13-year association. The Mumbai maestro is now excited to sport a whole range of cricketing apparel manufactured by Adidas, the sports company brand he endorses.
“I am very particular about my cricketing gear, to a certain extent even fussy. I have a particular shape of bat that I use with a particular weight,†he said, about creating a new range of cricket gear with inputs from stalwarts Ricky Ponting and Virendar Sehwag.
Tendulkar feels that his bat “speaks†to him. Recollecting an incident while playing for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, he said, “My teammate Dwayne Bravo tried to fool me with an array of bats. But I had no problem identifying my bat.â€
Tendulkar used heavier bats early in his career and gradually the weight of his bats lightened. “If I compare the weight of the first bat that I used to the current one, which is around 2.12lb, is much lighter. There was a lot of talk and advice to me about using lighter bats (when he suffered a tennis elbow injury some years ago). I talked to specialists and they said the heavier the bat is the less the impact (on the elbow). As long as the bat is to my liking, I’m comfortable,†the Mumbai maestro said.
Tendulkar added that he had more than lived up to a challenge thrown at him by legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev in 1989.
“It was a dream to play for India. On my first tour to Pakistan, Kapil said if you play for 10 years in international cricket you would have achieved something. I took it as a challenge and have nearly doubled it,†the little champion said. “It’s a great feeling (to be in international cricket for two decades),†he added. On a parting note, he proudly said that he still had every bat with which he has a scored a century.
We only wish that this batting legend continues to entertain us for many more years to come……Amen!
Keep on wrniitg and chugging away!