It seemed so apt that Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag were paid handsome tributes at the Cricket Club of India on Saturday by someone who was close to their actions as it were.

That personality was ex-India captain Dilip Vengsarkar, who was chief selector while the five greats were empowering India with big runs. Vengsarkar provided good insights into the greatness of India’s erstwhile batting guns while releasing the book, Fab Five—The Pandavas of India’s Batting by Aditya Bhushan. Vengsarkar had watched Tendulkar belting the opposition in schools cricket, but was convinced of his calibre when he tackled Venkatapathy Raju and Arshad Ayub on a turning track at Hyderabad during Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy clash there in February 1989.