Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to pay tribute to his childhood coach Ramakant Achrekar on Guru Purnima. The veteran coach passed away at the age of 87 in 2019.
Tendulkar uploaded a small clip on social media and captioned it as: “Visited Achrekar Sir’s home today to pay my respects to him on #GuruPurnima. All memories came rushing back. Can’t thank him enough for his contribution in my life.”
Visited Achrekar Sir’s home today to pay my respects to him on #GuruPurnima. All memories came rushing back. Can’t thank him enough for his contribution in my life. pic.twitter.com/FuHyNCA3aA
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 23, 2021
Tendulkar, unarguably the greatest batsman in modern-day cricket, was coached by Achrekar at the Shivaji Park in Mumbai’s Dadar as a child.
The iconic cricketer, who bid farewell to international cricket in November 2013, has been quite vocal about “Achrekar Sir’s” contribution in shaping him.
Achrekar featured in just one first-class match as a player but was instrumental in molding Tendulkar as a child. He often used to drive Sachin to the stadium on his scooter.
At the release of his autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’, Tendulkar also revealed how Achrekar Sir never said well played to him. Instead, he treated the Mumbaikar with paani-puri or bhelpuri.
“Coaches, gurus are like our parents, because we end up spending so much time with them, we learn so many things from them. (Achrekar) Sir was strict at times, extremely strict and also caring and loving. Sir did not say well-played to me ever, (but) I knew (when) Sir has taken me to have bhelpuri or paani-puri, Sir is happy, I have done something nice on the field,” Tendulkar had said.
