“Finish is not far away for Sachin Tendulkar” – Steve Waugh

Steve Waugh interacting with young cricketers

Bangalore: Steve Waugh, captain of the nearly invincible Australian Team of the the late 1990s and early noughties, was in the city today to promote his venture, Sporting Edge Communities, in collaboration with Brigade Orchards. Currently, Sporting Edge academies have been planned in the following domains – cricket, tennis, athletics, and swimming.

Waugh then went on to interact with some young players from various cricket academies in Bangalore. He autographed cricket balls, and copies of his autobiography “Out of My Comfort Zone”. He patiently listened to his fans, and was particularly amused when a lady revealed that she had met her husband on a Steve Waugh fan club website.

Over the next half hour, Waugh answered questions on a wide variety of topics. Here are his views about some of them:

On Sourav Ganguly making him wait at the toss in the 2001 Border-Gavaskar series

Personally, it didn’t really bother me much. However, I feel it was a lack of respect for the game itself. The match referee had told us what time the toss is scheduled at, and he should have been there on time.

Steve Waugh signing a ball for a fan

On the state of the current Australian team

Well, you have to realize that every team cannot just keep winning all the time; there are bound to be highs and lows. But I know that they can play much better cricket than they did at Lord’s. India had a similar situation of team transition recently with Dravid and Laxman going, but they’ve bounced back. We need to give the young players some time; you can’t come in and perform immediately. I know they’ll come through. I think it’s important that we go out there and support the team no matter what.

On Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement

Sachin is an iconic player. But we all have to finish at some stage. And the finish is not far away for him. One thing we do know is that Indian cricket will survive anyway. It survived when Dravid and Laxman retired, and it will survive when Sachin hangs his boots too. New players will come in and do well.

On the future of Test Cricket due to the advent of T20

I really hope Test Cricket does not fade away. It is the real test – mentally, emotionally, and physically. You can find out how good you are playing Test Cricket. You can find out how much money you can make by playing T20 Cricket. My advice would be to always want to play Test cricket, and not think of the money T20 gives you. The honour of representing your country is something out of the world.

Waugh listed the 1987 World Cup final, his innings of 152 at Lord’s in the 1989 Ashes, his 231 run partnership with his twin Mark against West Indies in 1995, and the nail-biting World Cup semi-final in 1999 against South Africa as some of the most memorable moments of his illustrious career.