Recently, in an interview with India Today, Sachin Tendulkar went on to reveal that he also had his tough moments as when he was out with the tennis elbow had him praying to God every day for one opportunity to get back on the cricket pitch.
Tendulkar explained, “Tennis elbow was really bad and a number of my friends have had tennis elbow after that. When they didn’t have it, they used to say how painful can it get; it can’t be that bad that you can’t hold a cricket bat. I said you need to experience it once, then you’ll know. If you are locked inside a room, you’ll not be able to open the door, it was that bad. Mine was really bad, I tried everything that I could: taking an injection, numbing this in the morning before the Test match. But nothing worked and the only option was to get operated. All my physio friends and doctors tried but then certain things need to be done to get back on the field.”
Tendulkar also expressed the support his wife and his friends gave at a point when everything seemed to be going downhill.
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The legendary batsman said, “I realized after my surgery I wasn’t able to pick up a cricket bat, I was really depressed. I would call my friends at 2 a.m., 4 a.m. in the morning saying c’mon let’s go for a drive I can’t sleep. And they would join me and without their support, my family’s support, Anjali’s parents. Of course, at home, Anjali was there who’d be constantly be telling me you know the good things that have happened in my life to focus on those things.
He further elaborated, “Just the other day I was playing with some kids who were playing with a plastic ball and plastic bat and it reminded me of my tennis elbow because I was starting to again play with a plastic bat and with that, I could barely hit a ball. And my first outing after 3.5 months there were 12-year-old kids stopping full-blooded cover drives that I was looking to hit at literally 10-15 years.”
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Sachin also spoke about how he thought his career was ending with the injury and he might never step onto the cricket pitch again. He said he used to pray to god for getting him back on the field. He still remembers the feeling when he played the ODI against Sri Lanka in Nagpur after a gap of 4-5 months as he can never forget that feeling and always be thankful to the almighty for letting his play again.
