I was like a Formula One car: Sachin Tendulkar

Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar reminisced his incredible cricket journey, in which he overcame several injuries, and compared himself to a Formula One car, requiring a great deal of maintenance to be able to perform the spectacle.

“I was like a Formula One car,” Sachin said while receiving the Col. C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award at the BCCI’s Naman Awards ceremony on Saturday. "You only see a car on a track, but there is a big team working behind it," Sachin said.

“For me to go on a cricket field, there was a big team, doctors, physios, masseurs, support staff...trying to contribute in the best possible manner to get me on the field,” said the retired cricket great. He recollected the time he hurt his back playing against Pakistan in 1998-99, when he so nearly got operated. “Somehow, at the last moment, the surgeon said let’s not touch your back right now, we will wait for a moment and then see. From there on, the tennis elbow injury, shoulder and bicep injuries and number of injuries happened.”

The 51-year-old was thankful to the many support staff that helped him perform at his best, especially his personal doctor, his wife – Anjali. “I was told to have an apple to keep the doctor away. But I thought the other option was better.

"To have a doctor at home helped because there were a number of moments where I thought ‘this is the end of my career’. You need a strong force next to you and to guide you, to speak positively, to make you think in that direction that it is only a bend, not the end,” Sachin talked about his wife, who is a medical doctor.

“I was blessed to have all these people around, who gave the strength to continue to fight back and play for India, which I cherished the most. That was the only thing I wanted the most in my life,” said the man of many records, including the only one with 100 international centuries.