Having stayed on the high of their recreation for greater than 20 years, each Sachin Tendulkar and Mithali Raj are epitome of excellence and longevity in world cricket. While Tendulkar made folks fall in love with the sport, Mithali grew to become the primary celebrity of girls’s cricket in India. However, self doubt can creep even within the minds of greats like Tendulkar and Mithali. Ahead of Tendulkar’s fiftieth birthday, Mithali spoke to PTI about her first interplay with him, the affect he had on her batting and on how a chat with the grasp blaster earlier than the 2017 ladies’s World Cup helped reinvent her recreation.

“I still remember our conversation before the 2017 World Cup in England. After a group conversation, I had a one-on-one chat with him. I wanted to ask him how he was able to have such a long career and how he had to reinvent himself to face new bowlers of the younger generation,” Mithali mentioned.

“When you have such a long career, every generation has stand out bowlers, I wanted to know how he kept up with that. As you age, people start talking about your footwork getting slower, you are picking the line and length late and you are not quick on the ball.

“I wished to know the way he managed to beat all that and be on high of his recreation. He did give options and I attempted to place that into coaching,” said Mithali, who ended up amassing 409 runs in the 2017 World Cup and captained India to the final.

Though India came up short in the final, it was a path breaking result as it revolutionised women’s cricket in the country.

Mithali recollected that she and Tendulkar did not talk a lot about technique as the conversation was mainly about the mental side of the game.

“We didn’t speak in depth about approach as everybody has completely different methods. As a senior professional after taking part in for therefore lengthy, all you possibly can assistance is with the preparation recommendation to a different participant and he helped me with that.

“Around that time, expectations were high for me to deliver with the bat and as captain.

“When you hear folks discuss ‘oh she is nearing her retirement’ and you might be eager to do rather well in that stage and present age just isn’t affecting your talent, that’s the place I believed he was one of the best individual to achieve out as he has gone via all of that,” she said.

This was 2017 but Mithali’s first meeting with Sachin happened 15 years earlier after she broke the record of the highest individual score in women’s Test cricket.

Women’s cricket did not get the due attention and facilities back then and Mithali and her teammates were star struck in their first interaction with the batting maestro.

“In 2002, I used to be recognised on the Castrol awards which was once for male cricketers. I used to be invited there. He (Tendulkar) got here throughout as somebody who was very interested in how we educated, what sort of amenities we had.

“We were under WCAI back then, not BCCI. He wanted to know if I was playing a lot on matting wickets or turf wickets.

“We have been taking part in totally on matting wickets. He mentioned taking part in on matting wickets has its benefits and it’s good on your backfoot play. He got here throughout as a really constructive individual,” recalled Mithali who used to watch a lot of videos of Tendulkar in her early days as a cricketer.

Mithali’s off-side play was a work of art but talking about Tendukar, what she found amazing was how consistently he played with the full face of the bat.

“I used to be by no means capable of watch cricket like a a loopy fan as I used to be busy taking part in. I’d watch the highlights if I needed to watch a specific shot of his or how he performed Shane Warne as taking part in a leggie is so powerful for a proper hand batter.

“Something which really hit me that he how he plays every shot with the full face of the bat, whether it is his cover drive or straight drive. I especially like the one he plays on the up through the point region.

“On so many situations his teammates spoke extremely about his psychological preparation. Not solely expertise, he gave psychological preparedness due significance and that’s the reason he was capable of keep on high for therefore lengthy.” Tendulkar and Mithali spent 24 and 23 years respectively in international cricket and such longevity drew comparisons. Mithali said she nowhere stands close to Tendulkar’s staggering achievements.

“The comparisons have been solely due to the longevity that each of us had. He was somebody I idolised rising up, the best way he has carried himself on and off the sector.

“To be compared to him is huge. I don’t think anyone would stand anywhere close to Sachin and his accomplishments and how he transformed a sport in India to be liked by everybody.” What makes Tendulkar completely different from different greats of the sport? “There are two aspects to it. He is still so involved when he talks about the sport. You see a child-like emotion on his face. He loves the sport so much.

“Second is after we retire we are likely to take a again seat. We do not make investments a lot in preparation. I do not assume he ever does that. Once we have been in a camp in Mumbai and he was going to play some retired gamers competitors and he got here for coaching.

“That shows that when he gets on to the field, he doesn’t want to take anything for granted. We are similar in that sense,” added Mithali.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)