Tendulkar dismisses retirement speculations after smashing 100th international ton

New Delhi, Mar 25(ANI): Indian master blaster Sachin Tendulkar has said he is not ready to call it a day amid growing speculation about his future after smashing his hundredth international ton.

"I still get goose bumps as I stand with my team-mates when the national anthem is on. I still feel the same passion when I pick up my bat and go out," Tendulkar was quoted, as saying.

Tendulkar said he would quit cricket only when he felt "a little less passion" for the game.

"Critics haven't taught me my cricket and they don't know what my body and mind are up to. I can tell you that the day I feel a little less passion when I walk out to bat for India, I'll give up the game," he added.

His statement came after former Indian captain Kapil Dev had talked about Tendulkar's retirement from one-dayers to prolong his Test career, Sport 24 reports.Maybe his time has come.Every player has his time. Age is not on his side as it was earlier," Dev had said.

On whether he thought of quitting one-day cricket after India's World Cup win in 2011, Tendulkar said "such the thought had never occurred" to him.

"A number of my friends have also asked me why I didn't retire from one-day cricket after winning the World Cup, they may well be right. It would indeed have been a grand exit. But...my retirement was a non-issue, really. The World Cup was about India and I had no right to make it an event of my own," he said.

"Had I announced my retirement soon after winning the trophy, the focus would have shifted from the Cup triumph to my retirement," he added. (ANI)