Click to play videoMumbai: Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar on Monday unveiled his wax figure which will be housed at the famous Madame Tussauds museum in London.
"My reaction was something special," Tendulkar said after looking at his wax double. "I've never reacted like that to anything in my life. My family is here with me, we all didn't know how to react. I honestly find it a little difficult to express what I feel."
The life-like figure will be on show from April 24 onwards, which happens to be Tendulkar's birthday. The figure cost over Rs 1 crore to make.
"To have something which is identical; I'm glad he doesn't breathe. But it's that close," Tendulkar said. "(My son) Arjun wanted to take the bat (off the statue) and start playing. But I had to tell them not to get too close to it. It's so real that not only my children, but even me, I don't react to something so easily. The least I can say is that it's fantastic. Fabulous."
Tendulkar said his statue would be both an appreciation and reflection of his contribution to Indian cricket.
"It is a great honour to be there at Tussauds. I know I am the first sportsperson of the country to be there. I think it is an appreciation and a reflection of my contribution to Indian cricket," he said.
Asked next to whom he would want his wax statue to be placed at the Tussauds, Tendulkar said, "I don't mind to be next to anybody. The fact that it will be there itself was a great honour. There are so many great personalities there including Indians," he said.
Asked if he felt authorities at Tussauds should have done it earlier, Tendulkar said, "I am not the person to decide whether my statue should have been one or two years before or this year. I am not concerned about that. I am happy that I will be there now. It is a happy moment."
Tendulkar said he will go to London after the Indian Premier League season two in South Africa and see his wax statue for himself at Tussauds.
"Right from 15 years of age I have thought of going to the Tussauds and even during my stay in England to play cricket I did not have time to go there because of my schedule. This time I will be there to know how these wax statues are made," he said.
Tendulkar has achieved almost everything as a cricketer could dreamt of except for one - to win the World Cup for the country. "Every cricketer has a dream. For me I want to win the World Cup for the country that is my dream."
Tendulkar is the first Indian cricketer whose figure will be on display at Madame Tussauds. Other cricketers at the museum include Brian Lara, Shane Warne and Sir Ian Botham.
Among other Indians who are at Madame Tussauds include Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan and other Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai.
(With inputs from PTI)
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