• Tendulkar’s boyhood coach dies

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    Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s childhood coach, Ramakant Achrekar, has passed away.

    Paralysed since the late 1990s and the victim of a stroke in 2013, Achrekar died on Wednesday. He was 86 years old.

    Achrekar also oversaw the cricketing upbringing of several other Indian cricketers such as Sanjay Bangar, Pravin Amre, Ramesh Powar, Vinod Kambli and Ajit Agarkar.

    He was conferred with the esteemed Dronacharya award in 1990 and two decades later the Padma Shri – India’s fourth-highest civilian honour.

    ‘My actual cricket started when I was 11. My brother spotted the spark in me and then he took me to Ramakant Achrekar sir. Those three to four years under him were really important for my development,’ said Tendulkar – international cricket’s leading run-scorer.

    ‘He would hide behind trees to see our games, and then point out the errors later on. We would have fun, but it was guarded.

    ‘He introduced me to the concept of match temperament. The reason my brother took me to him was solely because he made all his students play as many practice matches as possible.’

    Photo: Getty

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