Sachin Tendulkar
At 29, the Indian batting genius is a veteran of 100 Test matches . His late father would have been proud at this moment, says Tendulkar. Tendulkar has scored 30 Test hundreds, made 8,352 Test runs for a great average of 57.99 since making his debut against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989. Add to this 33 one-day hundreds and 11,505 runs, and his awesome impact on the game is obvious.

You approach your 100th Test in your 13th year in international cricket, whereas your contemporaries Shane Warne and Mark Waugh have long crossed the milestone. Do you regret having missed out on 20-25 games or 3-4 years of Test cricket only because India doesn't play that many games?
I feel in recent past we have played a decent number of Test matches. During 1993, 1994 and 1995 though I missed out on a lot of cricket. I could have played 25 more Tests. But now we are getting that opportunity. I just want to forget what has happened. The number of games have also changed now. Normally it takes a player quite some time to play 100 one-day internationals. Nowadays, people play for three years and they reach that milestone. So it is changing now.

You have been at the centre of Indian cricket for 13 years now, truly a Tendulkar era. What are the areas where Indian cricket must improve if it wants to have more Tendulkars?
It is important to play on good lively tracks. The second important thing is to play with Kookaburra balls. Ninety per cent of the countries play with it. The bowlers and batsmen get a different feel. These two changes will improve the standard of cricket in our country. If a batsman scores a hundred, it should be a proper hundred. Not that he scores 80 runs off spin bowling and 20 runs off seamers. The pitches should aid both seamers and spinners and only if a batsman scores a century on such a track, should he be a satisfied person.

What about conditions of cricketers in terms of payments in Indian cricket?
I think it's important. I feel sorry for the first class players who don't make enough money to look after their families. If a first class cricketer tries for years and somehow can't play for the country, there should be, not exactly compensation, but something which he deserves. If he is good enough to play first class cricket, he should be in a position to look after his family.In international sport there have been moments when people have transcended their sport. Men like Mohammad Ali, Don Bradman and Pele. Do you think you can play a larger role in Indian cricket than just batting and scoring runs. Whatever I have felt about changes needed in Indian cricket, I have said so. In 1996 when I became the captain I said we need to change the tracks in India, not only for international cricket, but also the domestic circuit. If we want our second string to be strong, the tracks have to change.

There have been times when people have tried to curb you. Ashley Giles has bowled outside the leg stump and so has Andrew Flintoff. How do you view it?
I have to go out there and fight it out. Even if they continue to do it in future, I will still go out there and fight. But it is boring cricket and fewer people are coming to watch. That's what one doesn't want.

The media's focus has been too intense. Can it be annoying at times?
There are times when things said are irrelevant and is not constructive criticism. People sometimes fail to realise that having played international cricket for 13 years, even I know what is happening around me. There have been instances when I have tried my best but have not succeeded. I feel when criticism takes place, one must confirm facts before writing. Speculation and rumours are unfortunate.

How do you look back at your captaincy days?
The day I stepped down from captaincy, I just closed that chapter. It is upsetting when you don't win. As captain I was thinking too much. At no stage could I switch off from the game. That was putting too much pressure on me off the field too.

How were your days in domestic cricket?
I remember my first season. We had all the big names in the team like Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Raju Kulkarni, Lalchand Rajput and Chandrakant Pandit, It was a great opportunity for me to play in that team. I ended up being the highest scorer for Bombay. The Irani Trophy stands out clear as that was when I was selected to play for India. I still remember Gursharan Singh came at number eleven with a fractured hand. He came out because I was at 92. He played three-four balls and allowed me to score my hundred. It was something very special.
Gursharan was asked to come out by Raj Singh, (Dungarpur) who supported me, right from my school days. Raj Singh made the Cricket Club of India (CCI) committee change the rule for me because players under 18 were not allowed to come into the dressing room. I was only 14 when I played for the CCI. He also made me play for the CCI which is 'A' division club cricket. I remember it was he and Madhav Apte who were instrumental in making me play against all the top clubs in Mumbai.

How did you react at being exposed to the rude world of international cricket where everyone is trying to take his pound of flesh and a boy must become a man overnight?
I have enjoyed every bit of it. Thirteen years have just flown by quickly. I feel if you are nice to people, they are nice to you. That's what my father taught me. It would have been good if he was around today. He would have been a proud man at this approaching moment.

But do you have time for yourself?
To a certain extent no, but I surely wouldn't tell any youngster to be careful. You don't worry about some other guys problem. You worry about yourself and concentrate on what you have to do. The kind of itinerary we have had for quite some time now, it doesn't allow us time for ourselves, but that is how cricket is changing now and one has got to learn to deal with it. It is not easy and that's the reason my family travels with me. The family has been very understanding. They know once I stop playing international cricket, I am going be there all the time. Whatever time I get now, I make it a point to spend with them and not do anything else.

Has your grip gone up on the bat?
It has gone up a little bit. May be it is a gradual change but I feel when I got into the side I was a bit shorter. The bat was heavier too.

Who you have admired?
I have really admired Vivian Richards. That's how I always wanted to play. I like to play my shots and he played his shots throughout the life. I did not play much with him apart from some county games, but I really liked the way he played his shots -- truly remarkable. The consistency of Sunil Gavaskar was admirable. These two are my batting heroes. And as for behaviour, I admired my father, obviously.

Have you ever sledged on the field?
I have tried to disturb a batsman's concentration off and on. But I have never abused a player as such. It is just that for those five minutes you are making a batsman think something else. After the game I am a very normal guy. We cricketers know that whatever we do is only on the field.

Any comments on match-fixing?
No. I just want to leave it aside. It is something I would not like to talk about. I feel this is a good period for Indian cricket and we discuss only positive points.