Mumbai: Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar was coached by legendary coach Ramakant Achrekar at the iconic Shivaji Park in central Mumbai.
Apart from Tendulkar, the late Ramakant Achrekar also produced several players who represented India. Among them were Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Vinod Kambli, Praveen Amre, Sanjay Bangar, Sameer Dighe and Chandrakant Pandit.
On Tuesday evening, it was an occasion for all the players to pay a befitting tribute to their 'Achrekar Sir'. The players and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray inaugurated a memorial for the legendary coach, who gave everything for the game.
Tendulkar, who has numerous records to his name, walked down memory lane and recalled that his coach never said, "Well Played."
"Sir's style of praising someone was different, without saying anything he would say a lot. His one look was enough to gauge his mood, whether he was angry or a little disappointed. We could understand from his body language.
"Sir never said well played to me and I mentioned it in my retirement speech. In my retirement speech, I said, " Sir, you can say well played today, as I won't be playing after this. But Sir had an understanding that if he said well played, he would boast about it and he would think he has achieved something," added Tendulkar.
"After the game, many times, Sir used to give money and say go and eat Vada Pav, so I knew I had done something good. When there used to be a match at Azad Maidan (in south Mumbai), he used to stop his scooter at (Girgaon) Chowpatty (and I used to eat) Bhel, it was enough for me to understand that today Sir's mood was good and I had done something good," recalled Tendulkar, who played for Shardashram in school cricket and made his Test debut against Pakistan.
Tendulkar, a veteran of 200 Tests, also recalled that his brother Ajit decided to enrol him with Achrekar Sir.
"Sir used to do Level 1 and Level 2 coaching in the 1970s and there was no tag to it. Sir taught us how to respect cricket. Sir always trained us to respect the cricket kit. We can promise that we will carry forward Sir's message to the next generation," quipped Tendulkar, who used to initially commute from Sahitya Sahawas in Bandra to Shivaji Park before shifting to his uncle's house which was near the ground in central Mumbai.
Tendulkar also recalled that when Sir was upset many people got stumps, square cuts and straight drives, as he referred to the hammering received from his coach.
"It was acceptable to us, at that moment I used to get angry, but then upon thinking I realized that Sir wanted us to rectify the mistakes so that we could achieve something," recalled Tendulkar, who played for Mumbai in the domestic circuit.
He also recalled that when Sir used to invite the players to his house, a dish which would be prepared was Mutton Curry. It was thus an evening dedicated to the famed late coach even as all his wards spoke their heart out. Achrekar Sir will always remain alive for his students.
