By Rajiv Azad
He is one of those men who has been shouldering the responsibility of bringing laurels to the country and keeping Indian flag waving across the world, using his cricket bat since two decades with unmatched gusto. Whenever he goes on to bat millions of Indians’ heart beat starts beating speedily as if they are batting on the field but Sachin. When he gets out, most of the cricket lovers feel crestfallen, as if they have lost something precious.

Sachin’s colossal contribution and achievements on and off the filed are a challenge for a writer, it's like what to write and what to omit, whatever he has done in the world of cricket till date is scintillating and makes him true icon.

Sachin’s elder brother Ajit who also had immense love and flair for cricket first saw cricketing talent in Sachin and decided to guide him to become a cricketer. Sachin began playing cricket at an early age but surprisingly he tried his hand in bowling as well before focussing on batting. He gave trial in MRF Pace Foundation to become a pace bowler but seeing his short stature, he was asked by then head of the foundation-Dennis Lilee to concentrate on batting. Sachin had great admiration for tennis great John McEnroe, he sported hair like him and used head-band similar to John’s during his early days. Among his friends he was fondly called as Mac.

Ajit took Sachin to famous cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar who asked him to admit Sachin in Shradashram Vidya Mandir in Dadar. Under the tutelage of Ramakant Achrekar he inculcated cricketing skills. His dedication for the game and practice was amazing; he would reach the ground by 6 am with his kit bag larger than his height and practice for hours in the net. There he met his best pal Vinod Kambli, who too went on to represent India at the international level.

On practice Sachin has said, “I use to bat in four nets at one strech. Whenever, I use to get tired, Achrekar use to keep a one rupee coin on top of the stumps and say, anyone who gets him out will take this coin. If no-one gets him, Sachin takes it." Sachin still cherishes that sort of training and has 13 coins earned during practice.
Source: Merinews.com