While Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his 40th birthday in Kolkata due to his Indian Premier League commitments, the legendary batsman's former Mumbai and India teammates shared memories about him at his home ground - the Wankhede Stadium yesterday
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Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar related a story of Tendulkar’s confidence at a young age that left him amazed. The Mumbai stalwart described an incident of Mumbai’s encounter against Hyderabad in a Ranji Trophy match in 1989. “Towards the end of the day’s play I asked nightwatchman Kiran Mokashi to be ready. When the wicket fell, I sent him instead of Sachin, but unfortunately he got out and the day ended. Sachin went up to the coach and said that there was no need for the nightwatchman as he would have batted till the end of day’s play. He had amazing confidence even at that age. Next day we stitched an important partnership of 120 with both of us getting half centuries,” Vengsarkar said during a promotional event of a book written on Tendulkar by New Delhi-based sports journalist Vimal Kumar.
Vengsarkar recalled how his Mumbai teammate Vasu Paranjpe insisted on watching Tendulkar bat. “It was in 1988 when I was the captain of Mumbai and India. One day Vasu picked me up from Parsee Gymkhana and we went to CCI as Sachin was playing a match there. Unfortunately, he was fielding so we were not able to watch him bat. So, I called him to bat in the nets with the Indian team. I told all our top bowlers to bowl at him, but they were not keen to bowl at a 14-year-old. They eventually did and after watching him, I said he should be straightaway picked for Mumbai,” said Vengsarkar.
Amol Muzumdar, Tendulkar’s childhood friend and Mumbai stalwart, shared an anecdote describing the razor-sharp memory of the Little Master. “In 1999, we were having dinner when my father recalled a match in 1987 at Cross Maidan in which Sachin participated. To everyone’s astonishment, Sachin remembered the plot on which the match was played, the exact number of runs he scored and the way he got out. Our jaws dropped. After playing so much of international cricket, he remembered all the details of the match which was played 12 years ago. That’s his specialty — he never forgets,” said Muzumdar.u00a0
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