My first distinct memory of Sachin Tendulkar is of him smashing those 'Sandstorm’ tons against Australia at Sharjah in 1998. The 143 helped India qualify for the final and then in the big game, he answered calls with an innings of 134 to help India lift the trophy.
As a cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar is God. Everyone in the hockey fraternity has the utmost respect and love for him.
Sachin Tendulkar will certainly go down as one of the all-time greats. It is remarkable to have achieved what he has as a batsman. It is a marvel to be able to keep going for such a long period, play so many Test matches and One-Day Internationals and to keep being successful as he did. He has a wonderful technique, a little genius of a player. I suppose we can say he is in the Don Bradman mould.
I first met Sachin Tendulkar in Secunderabad, when he was playing for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy against Hyderabad in 1989. During his innings, he played quite a few glorious inside-out shots over the covers off left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju. He showed that he could dominate any kind of bowling — be it spin, fast or swing. His greatness and potential was recognised at a very young age by legends such as Sunil Gavaskar.
Prahlad Kakkar, the famous ad film maker talks about his experiences with Sachin Tendulkar while shooting for various ad films.
Sachin Tendulkar is an iconic name in the world of sports, but there are so many other things that are staggering about him. For such a mega achiever, he is an inspiringly humble human being, a perfect role model in life. And he has been like this since his early days, going by what one has read about him. He has amazingly kept his personal and professional life apart and yet maintained all his relationships well.
In my opinion, Sachin and Brian Lara are fantastic cricketers with their own unique style of play. Brian was flamboyant and stylish whereas Sachin is complete, compact and more textbook-like in his approach. Both batsmen were successful and consistent in their own way, which led to most people like me having a great appreciation for them. Ultimately, I think that young people all over the world could appreciate Sachin's diligence, work ethic, consistency and the positive demeanor he displayed overall.
In the 1980s, I was playing for Tatas and against Cricket Club of India (CCI) at the Islam Gymkhana. A baby-faced teenager walked out to bat for the CCI and impressed all of us with his performance that day. The way he played told us that he was special and that he had a bright future in store.
The first time I met Sachin Tendulkar was when my troupe and I performed at the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) club in Bandra. He liked our performance and invited us to perform at his residence on the occasion of his mother’s birthday.
In 1999-2000, the Indian team travelled to Australia for a Test series and that was the first time I watched Sachin Tendulkar bat. It was during the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) that I had the opportunity to watch him bat live for the first time. I remember it was Brett Lee’s Test debut and Sachin had smashed 116 in the first innings and 52 in the second. Although he was up against some of the fastest bowlers in the world, the time he had to play his shots was simply amazing. That is something I remember from that game.