During team India’s first Test match of the series against hosts Bangladesh in the year 2004, the legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar had become only the second batter in the world to have smashed 34 Test match centuries, equalling the overall tally of his idol growing up – the ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar.
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There couldn’t have been a prouder moment for the ‘Master Blaster’, as he stood adjacent to to the man who had identified his talent during his teenage years itself, and had also exclusively introduced him to the then squad members of the Indian Cricket team who were part of the 1987 World Cup squad.
Also, as the story goes, not only did Gavaskar greet him at the boundary cushion after his 34th century, but the ‘Little Master’ had also gifted him as many as 34 champagne bottles – a gesture Sachin would claim to never forger in his life ever.
Sachin Tendulkar could only rest after receiving a call from Sunil Gavaskar post hitting the 35th Test ton
It was only natural for Tendulkar to expect some words of praises from Gavaskar when the following year he went past the latter to smash his 35th Test ton, and become the lone player in the world to have that many centuries under his belt in the format.
However, when the day he had reached the landmark moment in his career at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla versus Sri Lanka, Gavaskar was not there in India to congratulate him.
An anxious Tendulkar would wait the entire day to have a word or two with his Cricketing idol on achieving such an important feat in his career, and the ‘Little Master’ made sure he did not disappoint him.
Before having his dinner that night, he called him from Nepal much to the relief for Tendulkar, and thus further strengthening the lovely bond they had shared for quite long.
“When I got my 35th hundred at Feroze Shah Kotla against Sri Lanka , he was not in India. But just before dinner that night, he called me up from Nepal to congratulate me. I had really been waiting for that particular call, and it thrilled me no end when the call came through. People say he does not miss a special occasion and I can vouch that it is true,” remarked Sachin on the occasion of Gavaskar’s 60th birthday in the year 2009.
