Gary Kirsten talks about sparking Tendulkar's career post 2007

Mumbai: Popularly known as God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar bid goodbye to his international cricket career in 2013. Very few people know that Tendulkar wasn't going through a good phase post India's unfortunate exit from WC 2007. He wasn't finding the suitable 'environment' where he could polish his skills and perform better. Gary Kirsten then played a vital role in pulling out Tendulkar from that sour phase.

Kirsten opened on TalkSport's podcast where he recalled, how Tendulkar was inching towards retirement in 2007. Tendulkar mentioned about the retirement in his biography ‘Playing It My Way’ but great Viv Richards pulled him out of that phase. India lifted the 2011 WC under the able guidance of Gary Kirsten and in between he sparked Tendulkar's career too.

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Garry Kirsten on Sachin Tendulkar

"If I think of Sachin at that time, Where he was when I arrived in India... he wanted to give up the game. According to him he was batting out of position, he wasn’t enjoying his cricket at all. Three years later, he scores 18 international hundreds in three years, goes back to batting where he wants to bat, and we win the World Cup.”

“For me, all I did was facilitate an environment for him to thrive. I didn’t tell him anything. He knew the game, but what he did need was an environment – not only him, all of them – an environment set up where they could be the best version of themselves.”

Kirsten spoke how his focus was not on making big changes but he tried making the right 'atmosphere' for Tendulkar. All of this led to betterment in Sachin's batting during the final leg of his career. After Kirsten was appointed as India's coach in 2008, Sachin's batting touched new highs. He scored total of 2149 runs between 2008-11 along with 7 centuries. In 2010, he also clinched the title of Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

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