Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was conferred with the prestigious Col. CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award winner as BCCI honoured him at its Naman Award 2025 in Mumbai on Saturday.

While Sachin was honoured for his unmatched contribution to the game not only in India but at the global level as well throughout his stellar career, the batting great came up with key advice for budding cricketers.

Tendulkar came up with a major suggestion to the young cricketers to avoid 'distractions' to loosen their grip on their careers. He asked them to 'behave in the appropriate manner' in good times to take India's name forward.

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"I would say, without cricket, all of us wouldn't be sitting in this room. For me, it has been the ultimate gift of my life. We have bat and ball, and if there is no solid grip over that, or you start losing grip over the bat and ball, you kind of slowly start losing grip over your career also," Tendulkar said at the ceremony.

"I should not be giving you advice and saying 'stay focused' or whatever, but there'll be distractions. Don't let them disrupt your career. Value everything that we have and look after your game. We all have managed; we did not have anything. It is important to value when we have everything and behave in the appropriate manner to take the game forward and the country's name (forward). Like I said, you all are current cricketers; there is plenty of cricket left in you. Just go out, give your best, and make the most of this opportunity, because you only realise once you've stopped playing cricket, where you were a few years ago. So, all the very best to you," he added.

Having made his debut for India way back in 1989 at the age of 16, Sachin went on to achieve enormous success both at both the individual and team level before retiring in 2013.

Tendulkar received a deserving standing ovation during the BCCI awards by members of the men's and women's teams as well as former players before Jay Shah handed him the lifetime achievement award.

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Tendulkar played 664 international games for India, holding the record for the highest number of Test (15921) and ODI runs (18426) in the history of the game. His 200 Test and 463 ODI appearances are also the highest by any player in the history of the game.