Sachin: I’ll continue to play as long as I'm enjoying

Sachin Tendulkar will play his 170th Test at Mohali on Friday, 01 Oct 2010 but even after over 20 years in international cricket the senior India batsman says he never takes anything for granted and his success is a reflection of his constant hard work.

“There are ups and downs when you complete a circle of life, its not always about being on the top and in life there are ups and downs but it’s important to complete that circle and that’s what has happened in my career,” Sachin said.

Tendulkar said there are no short cuts to success.

“I don’t want to take anything for granted. I have worked hard over the years to be part of the Indian team. The key thing is to continue to work hard and try and get better each day of the life and make sure that you enjoy every moment and that’s what I try to do,” he said.

Asked how old was he when he started playing cricket, Tendulkar said, “I don’t want to talk about that, but as long as I am enjoying, it’s wonderful to be here (I will continue to play).”

Asked about the five-Test match series that used to be played earlier, Tendulkar said, “I think given the current schedule, it’s going to be difficult to accommodate that… it will take a mega effort to organise it (such a series).”

“It requires a different temperament altogether. Sometimes you start the series brilliantly, but don’t end up that well. Sometimes, you start badly, but end up becoming man of the series. It’s a great learning curve,” he said.

Tendulkar holds most batting records under his belt and is on the verge of reaching 14,000 runs in Test cricket. Closely following him is Australian skipper Ricky Ponting with 12,026 runs but Tendulkar said he doesn’t want to talk about records.

“I don’t like to talk about records, let others talk about it. I will keep scoring runs.”

Ponting should look to Tendulkar - Taylor

Ricky Ponting should seek inspiration from Sachin Tendulkar's batting renaissance, according to the former captain of Australia, Mark Taylor. Tendulkar and Ponting are the two leading run scorers in Test history and they will be key men in the upcoming two-Test series in India.

But whereas Tendulkar, 37, has shone over the past year with six Test hundreds and an average of 81.84, it hasn't been as easy for Ponting, 35, who has scored one century and averaged 40.05. Taylor, who endured a memorable lean period during his final years of Test cricket, said life would not get any easier for Ponting.

"He is not getting any better," Taylor told DNA. "He may no longer be the batsman he was in his late 20s but he is still a very good batsman. Honestly, Ponting's best is behind him but he is still capable of scoring big hundreds."

Ponting's form is not unlike that of Tendulkar during 2006 and 2007; during those years Tendulkar averaged 41.72 with two centuries in 17 Tests. Taylor said he was impressed by Tendulkar's return to form, which has also included the first double-century in one-day internationals.

"I think Sachin has had a rebirth," Taylor said. "He is really batting at his best and that can be a sort of inspiration for Ponting. It might be difficult for him to overhaul Sachin's number of centuries because the Indian master is lengthening the gap between them.

"But Ponting has this job of rebuilding the Australian side. The current Australian side is very much his. Seniors like Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden have all gone. It is a much younger side.

"I think Ponting's focus has moved a little bit away from his personal milestones. In that sense, Sachin is fortunate. He does not have to worry about captaincy. That is probably the reason why he is making hundreds."

"Ponting's is a young Australian side which plays very good cricket but is not consistent," he said. "I'm sure Ponting would be working on this area to reduce the number of bad sessions. They tend to lose five or six wickets in a session when they could do well by losing just two or three."

Sachin's bat to go under auctioneer's hammer

Memorabilia belonging to 25 top sports persons from India and overseas, including tennis star Roger Federer, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and chess ace Viswanathan Anand, will go under the auctioneer's hammer in Mumbai on October 29.

Six of the precious memorabilia, including the gold medal won by Anand after beating Vladimir Kramnik in a World Championship match in Bonn in 2008, the bat used by Tendulkar when he scored an unbeaten 163 against New Zealand in a one-day international in Christchurch 2009, Federer signed tennis shoes (donated by Globosports), were unveiled at a function in Mumbai on Thursday.

Tennis racquets used by Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to win the mixed doubles Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon (2010) and Australia (2009) respectively are also a part of 'Equation 2010 - An Auction for Equality', conducted by actor Rahul Bose's NGO 'The Foundation'.

Eleven sportspersons have confirmed their presence for the auction and Bose added that the event was likely to have representation from Bollywood as well.

The other donors are: Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Virender Sehwag, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (all Cricket); Vijay Amritraj, Sania Mirza (both Tennis), Prakash Padukone and Saina Nehwal (both Badminton), Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi (Billiards), Baichung Bhutia (Football), Viren Rasquinha and Ajit Pal Singh (both Hockey).

ICC awards don't matter if you are Tendulkar: Yuvraj

Sachin Tendulkar's greatness cannot be measured by the number of awards he has won in his career, feels Yuvraj Singh.

Despite scaling almost every cricketing records, Tendulkar has never won any ICC award, but Yuvraj said, "It doesn't make any difference because he is Sachin Tendulkar".

"Whether he has won any ICC award or not it doesn't matter, because Sachin Tendulkar is Sachin Tendulkar, and there is no comparison," the dashing left-hander said.

The iconic batsman from Mumbai has been short-listed for the ICC Cricketer of the Year award and will be hoping to break the jinx on October 6 at the ICC awards night in Bangalore. Tendulkar is also in running for both the Test and ODI Player of the Year awards.

Asked about the series against the Aussies, Yuvraj said "like any India-Australia series it will be competitive again".

" India is the No. 1 Test team in the world and Australia is also not far behind. Both teams have players who have played a lot of competitive cricket, so it should be very competitive," Yuvraj said.

While the selection committee blamed Yuvraj's fitness and form for failing to find a berth in the Test squad, the Punjab batsman reiterated that he is "totally fit but there have been lots of issues over my fitness".

Sachin Tendulkar congratulates boxer Mary Kom

Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has praised boxer Mary Kom after the Manipuri won the gold medal at the World Boxing Championships in Bridgetown.

"Got 2 knw abt Mary Kom's stupendous achievement when I got back frm South Africa. Simply amazing!All the more remarkable aft taking break n havin 2 kids"

Sachin said on micro-blogging site Twitter on Wednesday, 22 Sep 2010.

Mary Kom won her fifth successive World Championship title, after beating Steluta Duta of Romania 16-6 in the final of the 48kg category. The 27-year old, a mother-of-two has won a medal in each edition of the World Boxing Championship. Her first medal at the AIBA World Boxing Championships came in 2001. Then 18, Mary had to settle for silver after she was beaten in the final by Hullya Sahin of Turkey.

Nicknamed 'Magnificent Mary', the pint-sized pugilist has been winning laurels consistently for the country. She was given the Arjuna Award in 2004, and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2009. Mary Kom was also given the Padma Shri for excellence in Sports in 2006. She is now supported by the Olympic Gold Quest and her aim now is to win a medal at the London Olympics in 2012.