The spotlight cannot stop being on Sachin Tendulkar after his wondrous one-day international double century against South Africa last week.
The spotlight cannot stop being on Sachin Tendulkar after his wondrous one-day international double century against South Africa last week.
On-stage activities at the function to felicitate the triumphant 1971 teams came to a halt when the batting genius walked in alongwith Zaheer Khan at the Nehru Centre auditorium yesterday evening.
Three words (You are great) which Sir Garfield Sobers, the chief guest of the evening, uttered to him probably meant the world to him. Sobers also revealed how Tendulkar had come up to him and asked how he could fare better in the second innings of a Test match. The great West Indian assured him that there was nothing wrong and success would come.
He was delighted that Tendulkar improved on his record.
Dressed magnificently for the occasion, Tendulkar was presented a bat with the autographs of the 1971 heroes. He couldn't stay for the entire function though.
Later in the evening, Chandu Borde, Tendulkar's manager on his debut tour to Pakistan in 1989-90 told
MiD DAY how he should be awarded the Bharat Ratna immediately.
"If Lata Mangeshkar can get the award while she is still singing, why not Sachin? They should present it to him while he is playing," said the Pune-based Borde, who was also felicitated yesterday alongwith Bapu Nadkarni for services rendered to Indian cricket.
Borde, the first
"A signature campaign in support of Sachin's Bharat Ratna was organised in Pune recently and I was the first to sign," said the former India captain.
Asked about a quality which has stayed with Tendulkar ever since he first interacted with him in 1989, Borde said, "his hunger for the game." He illustrated it with an example. "I was manager of the Indian team after the 2007 World Cup. We went to Ireland for a one-day series which involved South Africa. Sachin got out cheaply in the first match and spoke to me about his disappointment.u00a0 Next morning, we were down at the nets and Sachin worked on hitting the ball straighter. He never looked back from there on. It showed the kind of desire he has to get it right," said Borde.
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