mobile app bar

“These were the men I adored”: How Sunil Gavaskar helped Sachin Tendulkar meet Indian cricketers from 1987 World Cup

Gurpreet Singh
Published

"These were the men I adored": How Sunil Gavaskar helped Sachin Tendulkar meet Indian cricketers from 1987 World Cup

At the age of 10, when the legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar began his cricketing journey under his Mumbai coach Ramakant Achrekar, a supposedly underdog Indian team under Kapil Dev gave millions of young Indians the courage to dream – by lifting the 1983 World Cup.

One such player who was deeply influenced with the unprecedented triumph, and consequently started taking deep interest in the sport was Tendulkar as well.

ALSO READSachin Tendulkar once revealed that his favourite sportsperson has never been a cricketer

A child prodigy to say the least, it took Tendulkar only a couple of years to become a big hit in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, where he used to play for around a dozen teams, and practiced around 12 hours a day as well fine tuning his batting skills.

In the year 1987, a 14-year-old Tendulkar averaged a jaw-dropping 1,034 in the Bombay Schools tournament, which also included his record 664 runs partnership for the third wicket alongside Vinod Kambli. What followed was popularity and the enviable media attention, which could not even escape his cricketing idol during the time – the ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar.

Sunil Gavaskar helped Sachin Tendulkar meet Indian cricketers from 1987 World Cup

It didn’t take long for Sachin to have his ‘dream come true’ moment, which arrived during the 1987 World Cup hosted by India and Pakistan.

During the tournament, he was a ball boy at the Wankhede Stadium, fortunate to have a close glimpse at his favourite Cricketing stars in action. However, what made his experience even more special was when the great Sunil Gavaskar took him to the Indian team dressing room, and introduced him to the players from the squad.

ALSO READ: Sunil Gavaskar, in 1995, had stated he’d strangle Sachin Tendulkar if he fails to score 15,000 runs and 40 Test centuries

Furthermore, Gavaskar even spoke highly of him before the Indian team stars, which not only made his day but also inspired him to dream of earning a place for himself in that dressing room as well one day.

“What made it even more special was when Gavaskar called me to the Indian dressing room and introduced me to the then superstars of the Indian team. I had just entered my teens and just couldn’t believe my eyes. These were the men that I adored, and here I was, shaking hands with them. What’s more, he then spoke highly of me and my cricketing ability to his teammates. For me, it was a big moment, a huge inspiration. After all, how many cricketers get the opportunity to enter the Indian dressing room before making it to the national team?,” remarked Tendulkar in the year 2009, on the occasion of Sunil Gavaskar’s 60th birthday.

About the author

Gurpreet Singh

Gurpreet Singh

x-iconinstagram-iconlinkedin-icon

Gurpreet Singh is a Cricket writer at The Sportsrush. His platonic relationship with sports had always been there since childhood, but Cricket managed to strike a special, intimate nerve of his heart. Although his initial dream of playing the sport at the highest level couldn't come to fruition, Gurpreet did represent the state of Jharkhand at the under-14 level. However, almost like taking a pledge to never let the undying passion for Cricket fade away even a tad, he made sure to continue the love relationship by assigning the field of journalism as an indirect Cupid. He thus, first finished his bachelor's in journalism and then pursued the PG Diploma course in English journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Soon after and since 2019, he has been working at The Sportsrush. Apart from sports, he takes keen interest in politics, and in understanding women and gender-related issues.

Share this article