Sachin Tendulkar is perhaps the greatest cricketer India has ever produced. The little master has every possible batting record to his name. He played international cricket for 24 years in which he scored more than 34000 runs. Former India player and selector Vengsarkar recalled his first-ever meeting with Tendulkar. Vengsarkar was at that time was the Indian captain who was on the verge of playing his 100th Test match.
Tendulkar was only 15, who was breaking batting records in Mumbai and quickly earning a reputation. Dilip Vengsarkar saw Sachin Tendulkar bat in the nets and then itself he knew he was something special. He asked the likes of Kapil Dev, Maninder Singh, Chetan Sharma to bowl at him. Sachin even at the age of 15 was able to play bowlers of the Indian team with ease.
Dilip Vengsarkar recalls his first meeting with Sachin Tendulkar
Vengsarkar said, “Actually, I had heard about Sachin because he was scoring heavily inter-school matches. These tournaments are 100 years old have given a lot of cricketers for Mumbai and India”.
“At the time I was India’s captain, and I was about to play my 100th Test match against New Zealand in Mumbai. We were practising there. Our coach Vasudev Paranjpe was very impressed with Sachin, and he said, ‘look at this boy, he’s an exceptional talent’. I told him ‘I can look at him later, not now’. But he insisted.”
“So he got him on the ground, so I had to see him bat at the nets. I requested Kapil Dev, Arshad Ayub, Maninder Singh, Chetan Sharma to bowl to him. They were like ‘what is this thing like. Why should we bowl to a U-15 kid”, Vengsarkar recalled and said during a live video interaction with Sportskeeda.
“So I told them he has been scoring runs in school tournaments, so we have to see him how we bats. So he batted. Hats off to those bowlers, they were established cricketers, but still, they said they will bowl for a while. But Sachin was so impressive, he played so well.”
Vengsarkar further added, “The same evening, we had a selection meeting to pick the Bombay team. I attended the meeting. I told them about Sachin. ‘I just saw him bat, he’s very good. So, pick him in the 15-member squad.”
