Mumbai: Playing the role of a protective father, senior India batsman Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday asked the media to leave his "cricket mad" son Arjun alone and allow him to play the game without any pressure. Tendulkar, who was felicitated by the Sports Journalists' Association of Mumbai here for scoring 100 international centuries, said that he wanted his 14-year-old son to have his own identity and not be compared with him.

"My son has played a match today. First club match, an official match. He is passionate, he is madly in love with cricket. But the other things that go around the cricketer and not just the on-field activity but whatever he gets to hear or gets to read or the way it gets projected, I would appreciate if everyone allows him to be himself and to have his own identity and enjoy his cricket above all," Tendulkar said.

"Since I am here and the entire sports journalists' fraternity is sitting over here, I am going to be a protective father. When I started playing cricket, though my father was a professor and was in literary field, at no stage I had this pressure from anyone who said you are playing cricket but how about following your father's footsteps," he said.

"At no stage of my life, there were comparisons. He (Arjun) started his career, so it is a humble request if he can live his life like a normal 14-year-old, without thinking about anything else except falling in love with this sport," he added. Tendulkar, who became the first player to score 100 tons in international cricket, was conferred with a special award.