India’s batting legend Sachin Tendulkar Sunday said it would be tough to predict when and who will break his record of 100 international centuries but hoped to see an Indian surpassing it. During an hour-long media interaction here, Tendulkar spoke on a wide range of issues and also said that no one should tell him when to retire.

"My critics haven't taught me my cricket," Sachin Tendulkar has said in a rebuttal to those who were calling for him to retire.

The day he feels "a little less passion" when walking out to bat for India, "I will give up the game", the master batsman said, adding, "critics didn't need to tell me to do so."

Tendulkar said he had played cricket because he loved to do and there was nothing better than playing for India.

"I still get goosebumps as I stand with my team-mates when the national anthem is on. I still feel the same passion when I pick up my bat and go out," he said

Asked if his record of 100 international centuries will ever be broken, Tendulkar said: “I don’t know. I don’t think you can predict that (whether it will be surpassed). I guess all the records are meant to be broken but I hope it’s an Indian.”

Tendulkar said after getting his 100th international century against Bangladesh he looked up at the sky and asked God why he had to wait for 370 days to achieve the milestone.

“When I reached my 100th 100, I looked at my bat and looked at the sky and asked God what wrong did I do, why did it take so long,” said Tendulkar during a felicitation programme here to commemorate his 100th international ton that he achieved during the recently held Asia Cup.

Tendulkar, however, said that there were no celebrations after scoring the 100th century since India lost the match against Bangladesh. “I don’t think that we are celebrating that one match. Where I am right now took 23 years and not one match. I feel the result was very important. It was very disappointing. The day I got the hundred there was no celebration,” he said.

The 38-year-old Tendulkar also said that no one should tell him when to retire. “I will play till I have the desire. I feel that when I retire is something that I would decide because when I started was not decided by someone else. Those who are advising me about retirement did not bring me in the team,” he said.

Tendulkar also said that it would be selfish on his part to retire on top. “When I feel I don’t have that, on that day, I will think of retirement. I feel those who say you should retire at the top are selfish because when you are at the top, you should serve the country instead of retiring. I play for the team, not for my personal records”, said Tendulkar.

“At the time of the World Cup when I got to 99 hundreds, no one was discussing about my 100th hundred because the focus was on the World Cup. But after the World Cup, the media built on it and started asking. I was only focused on playing cricket like always. I just wanted to score runs. I felt cricket should be the focus and that is what I kept telling myself,” Tendulkar said.

Tendulkar was confident that India will again get back its No.1 spot in Test cricket that it lost last year during the disastrous tour of England. “When you lose the number one ranking, it means someone is playing better cricket than you, you need to perform better and win. It is a rough patch but we can overcome that obstacle, we require hard work and we will do that. When we became number one, it was a process and we will have to repeat that,” he added. On his own form also, Tendulkar said that sometimes the luck factor was missing.

“I can say that there were patches when I didn’t bat well, there were patches when I felt that I batted my best. I felt that sometimes you need luck to be on your side. Sometimes that luck factor was missing because as far as preparations were concerned, my commitment and passion was in place. I did not lose hope. Here I only waited for a year but for the World Cup I waited for 22 years and it happened,” he said.

When asked to compare the situation he faced after scoring his debut hundred and the 100th hundred, Tendulkar said: “I think in 1994 when I did a press conference, even half of the journalists present right now were not there. There were few expectations. Today the expectations are a lot more. Even if I score 70-80, it is a disappointment like in Delhi last year against the West Indies,” he said. Tendulkar said Test cricket should remain the priority. “There has to be more importance to Test cricket. This format is very challenging for which you need planning. You need to play at a different pace at different times,” he said. (IANS)
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