Mumbai: Ramakant Achrekar, who coached Sachin Tendulkar in his formative years, died in Mumbai Wednesday. He was 86.
Achrekar, born in 1932, played a key role in shaping up Tendulkar’s career over the years. He was a respected coach who trained young cricketers at Shivaji Park in Dadar. His most famous pupil, Sachin, went on to become the greatest batsman in the history of the game.
Tendulkar who debuted in 1989, became the first man to score 100 international hundreds and an ODI double hundred. He is also the only cricketer to play 200 Test matches.
Tendulkar owed his cricketing success to Achrekar, who he considered to be his guru. Every year during Teacher’s Day, Tendulkar would go to meet his old coach and pay his respects.
In 1990, Achrekar was honoured with the Dronacharya Award for Outstanding coaches in Sports and Games. He was honoured with one of the country’s highest civilian award, the Padma Shri in 2010.
In the same year, he was honoured the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award by the Sports Illustrated by Gary Kirsten. Last year on Teacher’s Day, Tendulkar revealed how he was disciplined by Achrekar and that moment put his career on the right track. Young Sachin Tendulkar was a prankster and he needed constant monitoring.
He recalled an incident where his revered coach scolded him in front of a whole lot of people for enjoying a match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai instead of playing a match elsewhere.
Achrekar would take Sachin to different matches across Mumbai on his scooter. The coach’s dedication and foresight helped India unearch a gem who went on to serve the country for a quarter of a century.