Few unknown facts about Sachin Tendulkar
->Grew his hair and tied a band
around it to copy his idol John McEnroe.was called McEnroe by his
friends. Admires Pete Sampras,Boris Becker and Diego Maradona.
-->Wanted to be a tearing fast
bowler and even went to the MRF Pace academy but head coach Dennis Lilee
told him to concentrate on his batting.
-->Has scored big runs on Indian festivals like Gokulastmi,Holi,Raksha Bandhan and Diwali.
-->Loved to have i-can-eat-more-vada-pavs-than-you competitions with cricket buddies Vinod Kambli and Salil Ankola.
-->Loves sea food. co-owns a restaurant called ‘Tendulkar’s’ near ‘Gateway of India’ in Mumbai.
-->Sydney cricket ground is his favorite ground.
-->Loves Kishore Kumar and rock group Dire Straits.Fusses over his personal stereo.
-->A ganesh devotee, he visits Siddhi Vinayak temple in the early hours of morning
-->Wears his left pad first, has the tricolor pasted inside his kit bag.
-->Remembers every test dismissals especially the bowler who dismissed him.Likes to dunk his glucose biscuit into his tea.
-->Ambidextrous: bats with his right hand and eats and autographs with his left hand.
-->Used to sleep with his cricket gear during his junior days.
-->Refused to shoot for a soft
drink ad of him smashing cricket balls with a fly swatter.he reportedly
told film-maker Prahlad Kakkar "that would make me greater than the
game." the ad was modified: he hit the balls with a stump.
-->A fast car friend who likes to tear down Mumbai's road at 4 am.
-->Fell from a tree on a Sunday
evening during the summer vacation, when Guide was showing on national
TV. His infuriated brother (and mentor) Ajit packed him off to cricket
coaching class as punishment.
-->Came back from 4 month tour
of Australia after the 92 world cup and turned up to play for his
college,Kirti college in April 1992.
-->Was without a bat contract
during the 1996 world cup where he emerged as the highest run-getter. A
famous tyre company promptly signed him up after that.
-->His coach at Shardashram,
Ramakant Achrekar used to offer a 1 rupee coin as a prize to anyone who
dismissed him. If he remained not out the coin belonged to Sachin. That
he still has a good bunch of those coins tells the story.
-->Fielded for Pakistan as substitute during a one-day practice match against India in Brabourne stadium in 1988.
-->Was a ball boy during the 1987 world cup semi final match between India and England at Wankhede.
-->The first ad he shot was for a sticking plaster.
-->In school he was once mistaken for a girl by his good friend Atul Ranade because of his long curls.
-->Amitabh Bachchan became his favorite hero after watching Deewar and Zanjeer..
-->Played tennis ball cricket and darts during rainbreaks.
-->Sang and whistled with Vinod
Kambli during their 664 run stand in Harris shield in 1988 to avoid eye
contact with coach's assistant, who wanted to declare while the duo
wanted to bat on.
-->Teammate Praveen Amre bought him his first pair of international quality cricket shoes.
-->Was a bully at school but
was kind to cats and dogs. His first captain Sunil Harshe said that he
loved to pick a fight. Every time he was introduced to someone, his 1st
reaction was "will I be able to beat him?"
-->Used to go fishing for
tadpoles and guppy fishes in the stream that ran through the compound of
Sahitya Sahwas at Bandra East.
-->Made his mother once look for a frog bhaji recipe.
-->The nanny who looked after him is now universally called Sachuchi bai.
-->Colony watchman's son Ramesh
Pardhe who was his playmate, said Sachin would ask him to dip a rubber
ball in water and hurl it at him. He wanted to see the wet marks left on
his bat to find out whether he middle the ball correctly.
-->A prankster, he once put a
hose pipe into Saurav Ganguly's room and turned the tap on. Ganguly
awoke to find his gear floating. Calls Ganguly babu mashai,Saurav calls
him chhota babu.
