Dronacharya award-winning cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar is well known for his contribution to the game, having trained some top players like the legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar and stalwarts like Vinod Kambli, Pravin Amre, Chandrakant Pandit and Sameer Dighe besides a host of first-class cricketers, who represent Mumbai and other state teams.

Today, on the occasion on Guru Purnima, Krishna Havaldar, the first Ranji Trophy cricketer to be coached by Achrekar, offered his salutations to the great coach. Havaldar, now 76, began playing cricket under Achrekar at the age of 13, for Balmohan Vidyamandir (Dadar). He went on to represent Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964 under the captaincy of PG 'Nana' Joshi and then Chandu Borde.