Mumbai: Vice-captain of the Indian Test team Ajinkya Rahane said he had met batting great Sachin Tendulkar when he was 14. He uploaded a video Thursday on Instagram. In it he spoke about how he met Tendulkar, who turned 47 Friday.
“I was 14 and on my birthday I requested my coach that I want to meet Sachin,” Rahane says in the video. “He took permission from Sachin and said ‘yes’. Sachin told my coach that you can ask Ajinkya to come around 4.30pm in the evening.”
Rahane said that in his excitement, he ended up reaching his coach’s home at 9.30am the day he was to meet Tendulkar.
See video:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_UuqLshd8g/
“I was so excited and nervous as well. We used to live in Dombivali at the time so from there I went to Dadar where my coach lived. It was 9.30 in the morning and I was there at his house. And remember Sachin had called me at 4.30pm,” said Rahane.
Explanation to coach
“So my coach asked why I had arrived so early. I told him what if the train got delayed or there was no train. Told the coach I don’t want to miss the chance of meeting Sachin. Fon’t remember exactly what I was doing for all that time but I was roaming around outside Dadar station. I was so excited that I did not even understand how time flew. And then I met him for the first time at his home, took his autograph and discussed a little bit about cricket,” Rahane added.
Sharing the same dressing room
Rahane however, after he grew up spent a considerable amount of time with the batting icon. Rahane was later selected to play for Mumbai and then he had the opportunity of spending quality time with Sachin. Then when Rahane played for India in his initial years, Sachin was an integral part of the team. He has described the experience as a ‘huge learning’ one.
Agencies
