Even after scoring close to 30,000 international runs, Sachin Tendulkar feels he hasn't done enough as a batsman and is now aiming to touch the 15,000-run mark in Tests.
"I am not pleased yet with what I have done," said Tendulkar, who has scored a record 12,773 from 159 Tests at an average of 54.58 and 16,684 runs from 425 ODIs.
The 36-year-old Tendulkar, in an interview to Wisden Cricketer magazine, also disclosed that he is inspired by legendary Sunil Gavaskar to set the goal.
"Sunil Gavaskar has told me that I have to get to 15,000 runs. He said he would be angry with me and would come and catch me if I didn't. I admire him so much and to score that many would be a terrific achievement, but that is not the only aim," he said, adding that "to win the World Cup in 2011" is another ambition.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting, 34, is close to Tendulkar's Test mark with 11,193 Test runs so far.
Tendulkar, earlier described as second-best cricketer after Don Bradman in the history of the game by Wisden, said that if anyone comes close to his style of batting it is his teammate Virender Sehwag.
"I would say Virender Sehwag comes closest to my style," he said.
Australia great Bradman saw himself in Tendulkar and the Indian batting legend is also the only modern player to figure in his all-time eleven.
Tendulkar admitted that thinking of life without cricket after retirement scares him.
"It's a scary thought. It has been there for my whole adult life, it will be difficult, I have been around for a long time, I can imagine when I finish I will long to face just 10 more balls but you have to move."
He, however, said time has not come yet to hang his bat.
"I will know when it is the right time. I won't have to be dragged away. I am the person who will make the decision and I will know whether I still belong."
Tendulkar also revealed how he endured pain while batting in the recent past.
"I always play in pain, all the time. I played with a broken finger for the last three months, but you know when pain is manageable or not, and most of the time I can do it.
"I can still do what I did when I was 25 but the body is changing, so your thought process has to change too. I have had to change how I think, which is about taking less risk," he said.
Photograph: Reuters
