Abhinav Bindra stopped watching cricket after Sachin Tendulkar's retirement
The cricketing world needs no introduction to the maestro Sachin Tendulkar. The Mumbaikar is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the history of cricket, if not the best. The ‘Little Master’ had a great impact in Indian cricket and in fact, such was his aura that people that did not follow the game, found it pretty exciting whenever he went out to bat.
The latest one to admit his admiration of Sachin Tendulkar is Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra.
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Abhinav Bindra, the first Indian to win an individual gold in Olympics has claimed that he is a huge Sachin fan. The ace Indian shooter, who won the gold medal in the 10 meter air rifle event in Beijing Olympics in 2008, said in a recent interview with The Telegraph that he was also one among those inspired by the heroics of Sachin.
Bindra said that he started watching cricket only because of the ‘Master Blaster’. On being asked if he was following the India-New Zealand clash that was going on in Mohali, the shooter replied that he had lost interest in cricket after Sachin's retirement.
"I'd follow Team India's performances, but have stopped doing so after Sachin called it a day... He was different, definitely, a cut above the rest," Bindra was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
When asked about his views regarding the growth of cricket across the globe, he said, “For cricket to grow, the number of countries playing at a truly competitive level should be over 100. Right now, collectively, that's about the number of countries where some cricket is played.”
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Bindra's comments don’t come as a surprise as many fans in India followed the game only for Tendulkar and would turn off their TVs once the ‘Little Master’ got out.
The ace shooter isn't the first and will surely not be the last sports person who has gone on to express his admiration towards Sachin.
The stalwart has a huge fan following across the globe with several cricketers idolise him and took up the sport because of him.
Bindra, the former shooting hero, missed out on a medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics and decided to call it quits after the event.