I interacted with Sachin a few years ago in Bangalore. I was invited by the Indian cricket board to give a talk to the Indian team during their camp there, just before they were to leave for a tour of Australia.

I talked about concentration and focus and about techniques to build concentration. I remember him as being most earnest, genuinely interested in the talk.

In fact, he was the only one who came to me later and wanted to talk more about the subject and sharing a situation similar to what I had referred to during the talk.

His intensity, willingness to listen and, most importantly, his calm impressed me tremendously. Here was a guy at the pinnacle of his profession, which had made him unarguably the most famous person in India. Yet, he was completely grounded, completely at ease with himself and so very earnest and enthusiastic.

(Geet Sethi is a former six-time world professional billiards champion)