Friday, May 24th 07:18 AM IST

Don’t think I will play the next world cup: Sachin

by Oct 7, 2012

Even though questions about his retirement abound, Sachin Tendulkar has been fiercely guarded on the issue. The maestro has time and again made it clear that it was his call alone to decide when and where.

However, for the first time the maestro opened up on the issue saying that at 39, he knows there isn’t much cricket left in him.

In an exclusive interview to Times Now, the former India captain even hinted that when he takes the field in November, he will reassess things.

On former cricketers saying that his reflexes have slowed down, Tendulkar said “it is natural for any person to slow down as he grows older.” Reuters

Tendulkar however said “the moment of retirement is going to be hard because I haven’t experienced anything close to what I might go through when I retire.”

The master batsman told the channel his decision on whether he would retire from all formats of the game at one go would depend on what his heart tells him at the time, and that he need not take a call right now.

However he added that he strongly felt that he would not play the next world cup tournament.

Commenting on being bowled three times in the series against New Zealand, Tendulkar said “the reaction was blown out of proportion and pin-pointed conveniently.”

He added that if the same thing had happened when he was 25, it wouldn’t have been scrutinised so much.

On former cricketers saying that his reflexes have slowed down, Tendulkar said “it is natural for any person to slow down as he grows older.”

Read the full Times Now interview with Sachin Tendulkar here.

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