“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.

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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.

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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.