Retiring cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest sportsperson that India has ever produced and his "super human" mental strength is "god-like", feels two-time PGA Tour winner golfer Daniel Chopra, who is currently playing in the Indian Open.
"I watch cricket live every day India plays. There is a website which I subscribe to. I have never met Sachin. The only cricketer I met was Sourav Ganguly and I have known Kapil Dev through golf," said the 39-year-old Chopra, who spent a lot of his childhood days in Delhi.
"Sachin is the greatest sportsman India has ever produced and there is not even a close second. He will take the gold, silver and bronze medal in that category and it is incredible.
"His cricketing skills are tremendous but you also have to admire his strength of his mind. I mean to be able to live with the pressures of the whole country and we all know how emotional Indian fans can be, if India loses badly in a test series, houses gets burnt and it is horrible. So it is difficult to play abroad worrying about what is happening back home. To live with that kind of pressure for so many years is incredible."
Chopra further added: "Even though there was Rahul Dravid and Ganguly, it is his responsibility to play well because he is the guy, the anchor and that mental strength, that one aspect is god-like.
Everybody calls him god and I think that is ridiculous but that type of mental strength is super human."
Tendulkar is currently playing his 199th Test in Eden Gardens, Kolkata and will be retiring after his landmark 200th match in Mumbai against the West Indies, bringing to an end a glorious 24-year stint in international cricket.
"I watch cricket live every day India plays. There is a website which I subscribe to. I have never met Sachin. The only cricketer I met was Sourav Ganguly and I have known Kapil Dev through golf," said the 39-year-old Chopra, who spent a lot of his childhood days in Delhi.
"Sachin is the greatest sportsman India has ever produced and there is not even a close second. He will take the gold, silver and bronze medal in that category and it is incredible.
"His cricketing skills are tremendous but you also have to admire his strength of his mind. I mean to be able to live with the pressures of the whole country and we all know how emotional Indian fans can be, if India loses badly in a test series, houses gets burnt and it is horrible. So it is difficult to play abroad worrying about what is happening back home. To live with that kind of pressure for so many years is incredible."
Chopra further added: "Even though there was Rahul Dravid and Ganguly, it is his responsibility to play well because he is the guy, the anchor and that mental strength, that one aspect is god-like.
Everybody calls him god and I think that is ridiculous but that type of mental strength is super human."
Tendulkar is currently playing his 199th Test in Eden Gardens, Kolkata and will be retiring after his landmark 200th match in Mumbai against the West Indies, bringing to an end a glorious 24-year stint in international cricket.
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