Sachin Tendulkar shares a less-heard tale that says, “That One Run Changed My Mood”
Invited to attend the "first match of his life" of Sachin Tendulkar by the player himself, his friends returned home disappointed as the batsman they had gone to cheer for was out for a golden duck. The "colony's main batsman" made some excuses to his group of supporters and convinced them that the dismissal was not Tendulkar's fault. The same audience thronged the ground for his second match, but, to their horror, he let them down one more time with another first-ball zero.
For the third match, Tendulkar avoided calling his friends to the ground, hoping for a change in fortunes. But the move did not bring him any luck, and all he could do was open his account.
Tendulkar, nonetheless, was relieved with that "one run" and went back from the ground feeling happy, heralding the beginning of a journey that would change the face of cricket forever.
On Wednesday, Tendulkar said, "In the first match of my life, I called all my friends from the SahityaSahwas. I was the main batsman for the colony, and I called them to watch. All my friends came, and I got out on the first ball, which was quite disappointing.”
"I made some excuses that were usually acceptable in gully cricket. I said, 'Actually, the ball was low' and they all agreed. In the next match, I called them again, and I got out on the first ball.
Tendulkar said that was when he understood the importance of scoring one run.
"I went and scored one run. I remember that I played 5–6 balls and got out on one run. But somewhere I was happy—I scored one run. I went back to Bandra from Shivaji Park, and that bus journey was pleasan because I had scored one run," he said.
"I realized the importance of a single run that is scored because later everyone used to tell us that one run can cost you, that either you can win or you can lose.
Tendulkar, who is the only batter in history to have scored 100 international centuries across formats, said, "But it was such a big transformation. In the first two matches, I had two zeros and then scored one run and went home—that one run changed my mood."