Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar is perhaps the most looked up to among the budding cricketers in India due to his humility and the values that he stood up for on the field. Despite being surrounded by larger-than-life figures during his tenure as an India cricketer, Tendulkar never did anything flashy or over the top which would show him in bad light.
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Instead, Tendulkar enjoyed talking with the bat and became even more popular being called as the god by the next generation of cricketers like Yuvraj Singh. Moreover, he made sure he never do anything stupid on TV and remained wary so that his image of being a boy next door gets desecrated. He had once said that he was very particular about the brand he endorsed.
Speaking to Gaurav Kapoor in a free wheeling chat at an Infosys event, he revealed he was offered an advertisement just after his knock against Australia in Sharjah which took his popularity level to another stage. Known as the Desert Storm, Tendulkar received several brand endorsements in its aftermath, adding how he asked one such advertisers to change their script as it was ‘disrespectful.’
“It happened in 1998 after the desert storm tour in Sharjah. We came back and one of the sponsors wanted to shoot an ad where cricket balls were coming at me and with a fly swatter, I’m hitting them outside the stadium. So, I turned down the ad, I said you have to change the script because this is disrespecting my sport and I worship my sport. I will not be shooting for this ad,” Tendulkar revealed during a chat in an event organised by Infosys.
“Fortunately, they did (change the script). I don’t think that after shooting that ad, I would have been able to go back home or even go back to my coach. That wasn’t something they had taught me. They had inculcated right values and I stand by those values,” Tendulkar further said.
In a 24-year-long career, Tendulkar represented India in 200 Tests and 463 ODIs, as well as a single T20I. He retired from all forms of the game in 2013 but continues to take part in unofficial matches from time to time; his last cricketing appearance came in October 2022 in the Road Safety World Series, where he led the India Legends side to victory in the final against Sri Lanka Legends.
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