MASTER STROKE
When I persuaded Wadekar Sir to let me open
SACHIN TENDULKAR 17.08.2018
It’s really shocking, very troubling to hear that Wadekar Sir is no more. Our relationship went back a long way. It was in 1992 when he joined the team as manager. We’d grown up hearing stories about the brand of cricket he brought into the Mumbai camp — the khadoos way of playing the game.
We first went to Zimbabwe and from there to South Africa with him, and during that trip, grew familiar with him. It took us time, around six months, to break the ice, but over a period of time, I got to know him really well.
The three of us —Vinod (Kambli), Wadekar Sir and I spent a lot of time together. Post practice, we would go to his room, or he would come to ours and chat a lot. With us, he was like a friend. We were really close to him. The age difference between us was never a factor. I could tell him anything and so could he.
On the morning of our ODI against New Zealand at Auckland in 1994, our opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, woke up with a stiff neck. By then, we (me and Wadekar) had built a good rapport, so I could walk up to him and tell him anything. I went to him and said: ‘Sir, give me one chance to open the innings. I know I can go out there and hit the bowlers. And if I fail, I’ll never come to you.’ I told him to discuss this with Azhar (Mohammad Azharuddin, the then India skipper), and since I was the vice-captain, the three of us could meet.
That’s where good coaches come in. They understand all these things. Deep within, he must’ve somewhere had that confidence that I could go out there and do it. It worked beautifully (I scored 82 off 49 balls), also because of the relationship we shared — we had trust and confidence in each other. For the first two years of my ODI career, I used to bat at No. 6, and then for another yearand-a-half, I batted at No. 4. But after that game, things changed. I could actually go out and control the game, rather than terms being set for me.
We had complete confidence in him. He brought the best out of us. In that period, we really stretched and focused hard and he played a huge role in that. He was at the forefront of putting together a formidable team in place — one that would be unbeatable at home. To play three spinners here was his brainchild. He was very shrewd. He knew how to stay a step ahead of the game. He had a great cricketing mind.
We kept bumping into each other after he quit as the India manager in 1996. I last met him during the launch of the Mumbai T20 league. Vinod (Kambli) and I went to his house to offer our condolences, and we’ll go today for the funeral too. (AS TOLD TO GAURAV GUPTA)
When I persuaded Wadekar Sir to let me open
SACHIN TENDULKAR 17.08.2018
It’s really shocking, very troubling to hear that Wadekar Sir is no more. Our relationship went back a long way. It was in 1992 when he joined the team as manager. We’d grown up hearing stories about the brand of cricket he brought into the Mumbai camp — the khadoos way of playing the game.
We first went to Zimbabwe and from there to South Africa with him, and during that trip, grew familiar with him. It took us time, around six months, to break the ice, but over a period of time, I got to know him really well.
The three of us —Vinod (Kambli), Wadekar Sir and I spent a lot of time together. Post practice, we would go to his room, or he would come to ours and chat a lot. With us, he was like a friend. We were really close to him. The age difference between us was never a factor. I could tell him anything and so could he.
On the morning of our ODI against New Zealand at Auckland in 1994, our opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, woke up with a stiff neck. By then, we (me and Wadekar) had built a good rapport, so I could walk up to him and tell him anything. I went to him and said: ‘Sir, give me one chance to open the innings. I know I can go out there and hit the bowlers. And if I fail, I’ll never come to you.’ I told him to discuss this with Azhar (Mohammad Azharuddin, the then India skipper), and since I was the vice-captain, the three of us could meet.
That’s where good coaches come in. They understand all these things. Deep within, he must’ve somewhere had that confidence that I could go out there and do it. It worked beautifully (I scored 82 off 49 balls), also because of the relationship we shared — we had trust and confidence in each other. For the first two years of my ODI career, I used to bat at No. 6, and then for another yearand-a-half, I batted at No. 4. But after that game, things changed. I could actually go out and control the game, rather than terms being set for me.
We had complete confidence in him. He brought the best out of us. In that period, we really stretched and focused hard and he played a huge role in that. He was at the forefront of putting together a formidable team in place — one that would be unbeatable at home. To play three spinners here was his brainchild. He was very shrewd. He knew how to stay a step ahead of the game. He had a great cricketing mind.
We kept bumping into each other after he quit as the India manager in 1996. I last met him during the launch of the Mumbai T20 league. Vinod (Kambli) and I went to his house to offer our condolences, and we’ll go today for the funeral too. (AS TOLD TO GAURAV GUPTA)
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