Sachin Tendulkar was speaking to Harsha Bhogle at the launch of “Democracy”s XI- The Great Indian cricket story” a book written by journalist Rajdeep Sardesai at the Royal Opera House.
Former India players Ajit Wadekar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Madhav Apte, Nari Contractor, Vinod Kambli and Praveen Amre were among those who were present on the occasion.
Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar has said he noticed the spark in Virat Kohli the moment he made his debut. Kohli scored 31st ODI ton on Sunday and is now behind only Sachin. Kohli went past Ricky Ponting who has 30 ODI hundreds to his name.
“His (Kohli”s) attitude hasn”t changed since he got into the team. I noticed that spark in him which many guys were not fond of and there were many guys who were criticising him for that,” Tendulkar said.
“And today that has become the strength of the Indian team. He hasn”t changed much but people around him have changed. His attitude has changed only because of his performances and it is extremely crucial for a player to have that freedom to express himself,” the legendary batsman added.
Talking about current Indian team, Tendulkar said, “I feel today we have got the great balance on the team with a lot of spinners that can bat, a lot of seamers that can bat. We saw what Bhuvneshwar (Kumar) did yesterday, people like him (Bhuvneshwar) and Hardik Pandya are going to change the balance when we start traveling,”
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Sachin Tendulkar has scored 18426 runs from 463 ODI at an average of 44 in a career spanning 24 years.
– by Atharva Apte
