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TWO decades ago, an Indian teenager, with his curly mop, on his first trip to England, was transfixed as soon as he saw the wax models at Madame Tussauds museum in London.
Little did Sachin Tendulkar know that one day people would be gawking at his own model at the world-famous museum in London. Tendulkar's model will be unveiled this evening in what would surely be a surreal moment even by his standards.
He first visited Madame Tussauds in 1988 while on a Star Cricket Club tour conducted by Kailash Gattani. The former Rajasthan and Central Zone player recollected the master batsman staring at the wax models way back then with a purpose even as Tendulkar's pal Vinod Kambli preferred to jokingly ask his manager whether the personalities as wax models were alive. "I remember that day of the tour very well.
"It was the first time Sachin visited Madame Tussauds and he just gazed at the models, totally inspired," Gattani told MiD DAY.
"When I read about Sachin's wax model, my mind raced back to London, 1988. I'm delighted that such an honour has been bestowed on him. One of the objectives of my cricket tours is to ensure young players get inspired.
"I remember when Sachin saw Lord's Cricket Ground for the first time, he kept gazing at everything and I told him in Marathi not to stare at the turf too much because he will play there soon," said Gattani, whose contribution through his Star CC tours should never be underestimated.
Apart from Tendulkar and Kambli, the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Ajay Jadeja, Rahul Dravid, Ajit Agarkar, Murali Kartik, Wasim Jaffer, Hemang Badani, Rohan Gavaskar and Yuvraj Singh have made trips to England with Star Cricket Club. He is hoping this year's trip comes to fruition. | 
