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Legendary India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar gave a heartfelt and insightful speech at the Naman Awards on Saturday, February 1. Sachin, who was at the ceremony in Mumbai, was conferred the Col. CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award. Speaking at the event, Sachin imparted some valuable advice to the young players present at the ceremony.
With Indian cricket going through a transition phase, Sachin called upon the youngsters and said that he knows there are distractions around cricket, but they should not let those distractions deter them from their careers.
Sachin wanted the players to remember that before being successful, they had nothing and were humble in life. The legendary former cricketer reminded them that it was their responsibility to remain humble now that they had achieved success and money in their careers.
“I would say, without cricket, all of us wouldn’t be sitting in this room. For me, it has been the ultimate gift of my life. We have bat and ball, and if there is no solid grip over that, or you start losing grip over the bat and ball, you kind of slowly start losing grip over your career also,” Sachin Tendulkar said at the BCCI Naman Awards event.
“I should not be giving you advice and saying ‘stay focused’ or whatever, but there’ll be distractions. Don’t let them disrupt your career. Value everything that we have and look after your game. We all have managed; we did not have anything. It is important to value when we have everything and behave in the appropriate manner to take the game forward and the country’s name (forward). Like I said, you all are current cricketers; there is plenty of cricket left in you. Just go out, give your best, and make the most of this opportunity, because you only realise once you’ve stopped playing cricket, where you were a few years ago. So, all the very best to you,” he added.
Sachin’s comments come at a time when Indian cricket has been going through a turbulent phase. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 saw multiple dramas emerge out of the dressing room. Midway through the series, Ravichandran Ashwin retired, and there were reports of camps in the Indian dressing room as well.
Media outlets reporting from Australia alleged that there was one player who had even projected himself as the interim leader after seeing Rohit Sharma struggling for form. The said player branded himself as the ‘Mr. Fixit’ in the Indian team.
On the night, however, everything seemed well as the India cricketers sat side by side at the award ceremony. Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma shared the stage and had some fun conversations with Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues.
A total of 26 awards were given out at the ceremony. Apart from Sachin, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin won the top honours of International Men’s Cricketer of the Year and Special Honour Award, respectively.
