Ex-India and Mumbai cricketer Chandrakant Pandit has recounted an interesting story from 1986 about Sachin Tendulkar’s enthusiasm for batting in the nets as a young player. Pandit revealed that a 13-year-old Tendulkar kept asking him every 20 minutes if he was finished practicing.
Tendulkar made his first-class debut in the 1988-89 season before turning 16. After some outstanding domestic performances, he was quickly promoted to the Indian team and made his Test debut during the 1989 tour of Pakistan.
On April 24th, Tendulkar turned 50. To celebrate, the book Sachin@50 is being released as a tribute. In the book, Pandit wrote about his amusing interaction with Tendulkar at the Shivaji Park nets in Mumbai:
“This was 1986, and I had just made my India debut. During the off-season, I was at Shivaji Park to practice at Sir’s nets. So now, whenever I would go out to bat, I would find Sachin padding up and standing right behind the nets.
“After every 20 minutes, he would ask, ‘Tera ho gaya kya (Are you done?)? Main jaaon (Should I go?)?’ I would look at him and wonder, ‘Yeh kya cheez hai (Who is this guy?)?’ I would say curtly, ‘Be quiet and let me bat.’ But after 10 more minutes, again, the same query, ‘Are you done?’”
Now a respected coach, Pandit said that Tendulkar just wanted to bat and didn’t care if a senior player was in the nets. The 61-year-old praised Tendulkar for his dedication at such a young age.
When seniors tried to run out Tendulkar
In the book Sachin@50, Pandit shared another interesting story about when he and some senior teammates tried to run out a 12-year-old Tendulkar.
The team coach, Ramakant Achrekar, had instructed Pandit to ensure Tendulkar batted in the top five during a 50-over club game. However, Pandit and the seniors were skeptical and planned to run out Tendulkar deliberately. The plan failed.
Pandit wrote about the intriguing incident:
“It was 1985, and I had already played for Mumbai and was about to come into the national reckoning. It was just after India’s Benson & Hedges triumph in 1985, and the 50-over game was catching up fast. I was the Kamat Club’s captain, which was run by our Sir (Achrekar). We had a full-fledged match against New Hind Club at the Matunga Gymkhana ground.
“Now, sir came in the morning and instructed me, ‘Chandu, you need to play Sachin, and he should get to bat in the top five. No way you are going to bench him.’ Well, I wasn’t convinced that someone that young, just about 12 years old, could field for 50 overs. Also, it was a senior team’s match, and a few seniors and I were convinced that Sachin’s shots won’t have that power.
“And trust me, even Achrekar sir knew that he needed to generate more power. Since we failed to convince sir, three to four of us decided that whoever gets the first opportunity should run him out as we would need quick runs. Accordingly, when Sachin batted, on my instructions, one of our senior guys tried at least twice to deliberately run him out by calling him for non-existent singles.”
What happened next was even more interesting as Pandit continued:
“Somehow, the little one managed to avoid getting out and returned to the crease. But Sachin realised that we were trying to run him out, and what he did next was unimaginable. There was a straightforward single, and he called the other guy and ran him out.”