Sachin Tendulkar reveals his only request to BCCI for his last Test during his farewell series

Tendulkar retired from international cricket on November 16, 2013 after playing his final Test in Mumbai.

One of the greatest all-time batters the game of cricket has seen, Sachin Tendulkar drew curtains on his illustrious 24-year-old career on November 16, 2013 after completing 200 Test matches. He also played 463 ODIs and one T20I for India, having made his debut as a 16-year-old in 1989.

Tendulkar is the record holder for the most number of runs in both Tests (15921) and ODIs (18426) and for being the only batter to score 100 centuries in international cricket.

The Mumbai-born batter played his last Test match in his hometown, scoring 74 in his final innings and once Mohammad Shami picked up the last wicket, the entire stadium and millions on their TV sets got up to give their beloved son a fitting farewell.

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As an emotional Tendulkar struggled to hold back tears, he paid a last visit to the pitch and paid his respects. He gave an emotional and tear-filled speech and the match was a special one for Sachin, as apart from his wife Anjali, son Arjun and daughter Sara, his mother was also present to watch him play, for the first time in his career.

Tendulkar recently revealed that ahead of his farewell series, he had spoken to the BCCI and urged the board to agree to his ‘only request’.  

“When I was about to play my last match, I told the board… the BCCI, that these two games are going to be my last but my only request and my wish is that I play my last game in Mumbai so that my mother could come to the stadium and watch. So they graciously agreed to host the last game in Mumbai and that’s the only time she has seen me play live in 24 years,” Tendulkar told Graham Bensinger.

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“It was unbelievable. I was batting. They showed her on that mega-screen and she wasn’t aware of it. And the whole stadium is watching her reaction. I was anyway emotional, and in those emotions, you need to stay focused. That was an important over, the last six balls but what I saw on the mega-screen was equally important,” he added.

The ace batter revealed that no one from his family, apart from his brother Ajit, watched him play live before his last match.

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“It started from my school days. I kind of hated anyone watching me live. So my brother would hide somewhere behind a tree and watch me the whole day. So my brother has seen every match of my life. So he would watch me and prepare his notes and we would be discussing that. Also, my brother kind of told all the family members that nobody is going to go and watch him. He has to perform… he has to score runs and if he is going to be distracted with family members that is not going to work” revealed Tendulkar.