It was on March 23, 1996 that Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar played a cameo of an innings at the Nehru Stadium here.
The Little Master, on his maiden visit to this part of the region, cut, drove and, at times, pulled at will.
And, his fans roared in delight. Sachin top scored with 68 and, with it, steered his team Tendulkar XI (LMW XI) to a 20-run win over Kumble XI (Elgi XI).
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The one-day match was organised by the Lions Club of Aval Poondurai (Erode) to collect funds for the construction of a school block.
The ‘God of Cricket’, as he is called in India, obliged every autograph hunter on that day.
He even posed for a rare photograph or two.
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There were other celebrated cricketers such as V.V.S. Laxman, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Jadeja, Anil Kumble, Robin Singh, W.V. Raman, Nayan Mongia, Srinath and a few others also who were present on that occasion.
Interestingly, the one-day match also saw former State cricketer S.D. Kannan from Coimbatore figure in Sachin’s squad. The call to play alongside Sachin came as a huge surprise for him.
“I was planning to buy tickets for the one-day match and couldn’t believe my luck that I was playing alongside Sachin,” said Kannan, a fast bowler from SNR Sons College.
“I was privileged to play alongside a star like Sachin. He gave me six overs to bowl as well,” he added.
The following day, Sachin enthralled a huge crowd in Erode with a blistering unbeaten century.
He scored an unbeaten 181. His knock contained 17 hits to the fence and 15 over the ropes and it was enough for his team to score a ten-wicket win over Kumble XI. It has been a little close to two decades since Sachin last visited the city, but for his fans here he is still a super star.