Mumbai, january 31:Sachin Tendulkar hopes India will draw on their achievement of becoming the No.1 Test nation as they try to capture the ICC World Cup.
Tendulkar, who has struck more than 32,000 runs and 97 centuries in one-day and Test cricket, is widely regarded as the best batsman of his generation and is set to be considered one of cricket’s all-time greats upon his eventual retirement from the sport.
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World Cup glory has eluded the 37-year-old, but he has a chance to add that last accolade to his list of honours when India, together with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, host the competition between February and April.
“I still want to achieve something and everyone knows that,” Tendulkar said, referring to the competition he reached the final of with India in 2003.
Tendulkar believes winning the tournament would be comparable to India’s hard-fought ascension to the number one ranking in Test cricket.
“To get there was not easy; we had to work very hard,” he said.
“There were lots of challenges but we stood together, backing each other, trusting each other and achieved various things as a team.
“When we got there [in 2009] many people thought that it was may be a matter of 30-40 days as the South Africa series was coming up and no one expected us to do well to be honest.
“After losing the first test in Nagpur, we got to hear that soon we will lose the No.1 spot. But here I am standing today after almost a year and we are still No.1.
“To get there is wonderful but to stay there for a year in this competitive era is just fantastic,” he said.
–Agencies