He can barely talk and walk due to health issues but Ramakant Achrekar wants to be in the spectators’ gallery when his celebrated ward, Sachin Tendulkar, takes guard for one last time next month.
Tendulkar has announced that he will bid adieu to the game after playing his 200th Test, which will be against the West Indies next month.
Achrekar, who nurtured Tendulkar’s game in his childhood days, has expressed interest in watching Tendulkar’s swan song.
“It will be an emotional moment for him and he wants to witness it on the ground. He always says there will be no other Sachin,” Achrekar’s daughter Kalpana Murkar told PTI over phone.
When asked about Achrekar’s reaction to Tendulkar’s announcement, she said he was sad.
Sad
“We knew it would happen in the near future, but he is sad. He wanted him to play more but said it was his decision and everyone should respect it,” she said.
Kalpana said Achrekar’s interest in watching cricket on TV would be reduced after Tendulkar’s retirement.
“He does not speak much but it is evident from his body language how involved he is when Sachin is playing. I guess he will not watch cricket that religiously once Sachin retires,” she said.
She also said Tendulkar had met him twice last month and called him on Thursday as well.
“The best thing about Sachin is that he has not changed a bit. He still comes to take his blessings before and after every tournament. He came to meet him twice last month. He called him on Thursday and said he would come to meet him soon,” Kalpana said.
When asked about what they spoke about at the last two meetings, she said it was cricket. “He was here for almost two hours and talked about many things, mainly cricket. We asked him about his son Arjun, who also plays cricket, but we did not talk about the issue of retirement,” she said.
