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Lives of great sportspersons can sometimes be quite enlightening and some of the lessons can be beyond their obvious mastery over their respective sports. In that regard, Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar is definitely an example and his career, that stretched over a period of almost a quarter of a century, certainly had some great lessons for most who might have followed the course of his cricketing journey.
Tendulkar has been in the public eye right from the time he was a teenager and hence, the lessons from his life are manifold. However, for the purposes of this exercise, we are only going to look at 5 of the most important life lessons that the life and times of Sachin Tendulkar have for everyone.
#5 Courage amidst adversity
A cricketer might have all the talent in the world but courage, particularly in times of adversity, is an important ingredient for anyone who wants to reach the very pinnacle of his trade and Tendulkar showed that attribute during his very first international tour. Debuting on a tour of Pakistan can be the most difficult initiation to international cricket for any cricketer but it is even more so when the cricketer in question is only 16 years old.
However, Tendulkar marked the start of his remarkable career with a show of steely courage that is rarely seen. After being totally out of sorts against the combined might of Pakistan's pace arsenal, he seemed to lose hope. However, worst was yet to come as he was hit on the nose by a Waqar Younis thunderbolt when India were trying to save the 4th Test. Instead of going off, he wiped his nose and carried on batting to help India draw the game.
That sort of courage in the face of such adversity showed what Tendulkar was made of very early on in his career.
#4 Sacrifice
The sportsperson that one sees lighting up the television screen has to put in hours of hard yards in training and a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make things work. It is not all about the natural gifts one is born with and sportspersons often make sacrifices that people might be completely unaware of.
Tendulkar's skills as a batsman were apparent right from the time when he was a child but when he moved to Sardashram School in order to take advantage of the higher quality cricket team that the school had to offer, he had to leave home and stay with his aunt. It is quite incredible to fathom that, as a child, he could not live with his parents and instead stayed with relatives in order to realise his dreams of becoming a cricketer. Needless to say, his parents must also get credit for allowing him to chase his dreams.
#3 Preparation is paramount
All over the world, there are people who might be an expert in their respective trades but a lack of preparation often sees them slip up and that is probably what separates the greats from those who might be merely good. Despite being one of the best batsmen in the world for so many years, Tendulkar never displayed any arrogance when it came to preparing for a series and he was famous for setting up unorthodox methods to create the perfect conditions for his practice.
For instance, ahead of the series against Australia, he roughed up the practice pitch and asked former Indian leg-spinner L. Sivaramakrishnan to pitch in that area. He did it to ensure that he was in complete control when he faced Australia's ace leg-spinner Shane Warne on the turning pitches in India. When he did face him, he dominated him in the series and it was perhaps his preparation before that series that was one of the big factors.
#2 Evolve with time
When a style of play is successful for more than a decade, it is highly unlikely for sportspersons to change it and start playing in a different way altogether. For instance, many companies go out of business for precisely this failure to evolve according to the changing market conditions. However, Tendulkar did change his style of batting after having been an ultra-attacking stroke player for close to 12 years and the change was brought about by a back injury that threatened to end his career, back in 1999.
Tendulkar used to bat with a very heavy bat but he was asked to bat with a lighter one by a specialist. He did so and what evolved was a player, who was probably not as much of a stroke maker but became a far more difficult batsman to dislodge and perhaps, this also helped in injecting a new lease of life to his career.
The wherewithal to take expert views into consideration and changing ones approach to certain things is a quality that everyone should possess.
#1 Ability to bounce back stronger
A sportsman, who plays for such a long time, has had to bounce back post a failure time and again. However, it is a far bigger ask when that needs to be done towards the end of one's career. That is why, Tendulkar's remarkable fightback after the low points of the period between 2006 and 2007, is one of the great life lessons from his career.
After suffering from tennis elbow, his career was on the line but after fighting back from it and getting back into the Indian team, his form suffered. There were disparaging news stories doing the rounds, headlined 'Endulkar', but eventually he fought back and scored numerous centuries from 2007 till the end of his career in 2013. In addition to that, he scored two centuries in India's triumphant 2011 World Cup campaign and was a vital member of the team that went on to become World Number 1 in Tests under Dhoni.
His comeback was simply fabulous and the fact that he did not give in to despair at the lowest point of his career if a lesson in itself.
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