'Let Sachin play on as long as he can'

Mumbai :  Ajit Wadekar claims he is very fortunate.

India won in West Indies in 1971 for the first time under his captaincy while the same year, India got the taste of victory on British soil under the same captain.

He saw the blossoming of Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath and wonder kid Sachin Tendulkar during his time either as a captain or as manager.

An elated Wadekar spoke to Gulf News on completion of the Wonder Kid's 20 years and 30,000 runs in international cricket.

 GULF NEWS: What was your first impression when you heard about Sachin Tendulkar's debut as a 16-year-old boy?

AJIT WADEKAR: Sachin was discussed at length even before making his debut in 1989 in Pakistan when he was 16 years old. Both he and Vinod Kambli had been scoring runs for their school in those days.

So we were also very curious to know how much success would he get in his first tour.

 And what did you find?

He had to fight against fire. Later on I came to know that everything was against him, like the weather, the pitch and the attack.

It was a chilly weather then and Sachin could not wear a jumper because he did not feel comfortable.

Second reason was also very simple.

He's not used to wear a jumper and bat in those days. So he had to take the cold wind in cooler atmosphere.

The wicket was seamer-friendly and Pakistan attack had real fire in Imran, Wasim and Waqar. And there was a magician called Qadir, the leg spinner.

So please imagine he had to tackle such real problems in his debut tour.

 Do you believe that opening the innings in New Zealand in 1993 is the turning point in his career?

Sort of. Because he had been batting in the middle order before that.

The way he handled McDermott and co in Australia in 1992, we were all surprised. He was a complete batsman from the very first tour.

But I think, he matured as a batsman, from the time he started opening the innings.

 You were the manager for the Indian team in 1993, when he started to open the innings in one day internationals. Can you recall the incident?

Of course I can. Sidhu was not playing. So one fine morning Sachin came up to me and our captain Mohd Azharuddin and expressed his desire to open the innings.

We said OK. Then Sachin also said that, if he failed he would not come back again to us with the same request.

He was an instant success in his very first match as an opener in ODIs. He never looked back.

 What changes did you notice then?

Sachin is all through an attacking batsman. While opening the innngs in ODI he had to concentrate on two things. One, to face the pace attack from the first ball and secondly, to concentrate to score at a faster rate against the new ball attack. While doing it successfully since then, he became a very matured batsman.

Did you expect then that he would play 20 years in the international cricket?

No. I think nobody could think that. He is not only fit but scoring runs heavily in all forms of the game. I would like him to continue till he enjoys the game, till his body can take the toll. He is a great lover of cricket who has tremendous enthusiasm and appetite to score runs. I think he should continue.

 Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath made their debut under your captaincy...

Yes, I remember. I consider myself very lucky to witness the blossoming of three genuine icons of Indian cricket in almost four decades. I am really fortunate.