Sachin Tendulkar could have been forgiven for being slightly miffed by the first question thrown at him, by an enthusiastic youngster at an interaction he attended in his capacity of global brand ambassador for an international bank.

“When are you retiring?” shot a voice from the crowd, as soon as the floor was opened for questions. To his credit, Tendulkar seemed least affected. “This is not the stage for a question like that. Some other time,” he said.

The question of how much cricket India’s seniors have left in them has been doing the rounds in cricketing circles, and the spotlight will be on the likes of Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman when India take on Australia in a four-Test home series early next month.

And the challenge isn’t being taken lightly. To reach the venue for the function, Tendulkar had taken a flight from Bangalore, where he had spent the last four days in the company of Dravid and Kumble at the National Cricket Academy. Level III coaches who attended the training sessions said the trio worked on fitness and skills, sprinkled with a lot of discussions.

Tendulkar admits that the upcoming series is big, bigger even than India’s encounters against Pakistan or Australia’s against England.

“They love challenges and are extremely competitive,” said Tendulkar. “It’s a rivalry that, over the last 15 years, has managed to overshadow even the Ashes and Indo-Pak clashes.”

Tackling Australia has been one of his passions, and he, and India as well, have seemed to get better at it over the years.

... contd.