Published: Nov 05, 2013, 11:36 AM (IST)
Edited: Nov 05, 2013, 11:36 AM (IST)
The author remembers Sachin Tendulkar getting a hundred on debut for Bombay © PTI
By Pradeep Kasliwal
I first watched Sachin Tendulkar bat a year before his Ranji Trophy debut, when he first entered the Mumbai dressing room. At the time Sandeep Patil was our coach-cum-captain and Sachin only travelled with the team; he did not play. Initially, we were not allowed to bowl to him in the nets, but a few months down the line, we didn’t want to do that as he was smashing us all over.
During Sachin’s stint at the Cricket Club of India (CCI), I was his teammate. He was the youngest member of the side, but he fit in remarkably well. I remember we were playing a game against the Shivaji Park Youngsters and he batted as if he had years of experience behind him. At that young age, he was playing good bowlers from the ‘A’ division incredibly well. We could make out that he was a special talent.
I was a part of the Bombay (As Mumbai was known then) side when Sachin made his Ranji Trophy debut against Gujarat in 1988. When he received his cap, I remember hoping for him to get his first boundary.
Being such a young boy, I wanted him to get that confidence of playing the initial deliveries well. As things turned out, he was dropped twice during his innings. “God was with the God that day!” He went on to get a hundred on debut for Bombay and we all know what happened then. We felt that this was the start of a new era , following the greats Mumbai had produced in the past.
Later, we were playing Saurashtra at Rajkot and the wicket was a slow turner. Ashok Patel, the former India cricketer, was playing that game and was Saurashtra’s main bowler with his fastish off-spin. Sachin played him well and at the end of day’s play, a senior Mumbai player told him that he should change his pads. That was because he felt that the pads were such that an inside edge on to it would easily balloon to silly-point or short-leg. But Sachin’s answer was, “I haven’t been dismissed in that fashion for three years.” That was his confidence and we were amazed by his response.
When I was in the Mumbai team, I don’t remember him getting out in the nets except once. I was bowling outswingers to him at the nets on a green and bouncy track at Aurangabad. He was hitting me, but then he edged one ball. Thereafter, he put his head down and batted for another half-an-hour and quite magnificently at that. At the end of the practice session, he asked me, “Tell me what happened on that delivery.” I said, “You have to be careful as I was moving the ball well.” He said, “But, I was seeing the ball well.” I replied, “But, one ball can get through. I can be given credit for that.” Sachin still maintained, “I will play my shots as I can see it well.”
Five years later, I bowled to him in a Times Shield game on a typically green RCF track in Mumbai. Those days, the SG Test ball was used and I was playing after recovering from an injury. I kept bowling outswingers with an off-side field, yet he kept hitting me through mid-on and mid-wicket. Although the ball was outside the off and moving away from him, he kept doing it. I instantly remembered our conversation and felt that once he knows a bowler, his strengths and weaknesses etc., he would never make the same mistake again. Remember, what he told Brad Hogg? “Never again, mate!”
No one can take Sachin’s place in Indian cricket. My personal wish is that he should remain a part of the cricketing circles in some way. His presence anywhere on the cricket field is a huge boost.
— As told to Nishad Pai Vaidya
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(Pradeep Kasliwal is a former Mumbai fast-bowler who played 15 First-Class games and seven List A matches. He also played for the India under25s against the West Indians in 1987. Kasliwal has also been a Match Referee in the Indian domestic circuit)
