Had no money for cab ride then, walked with two big bags: Sachin Tendulkar

Having just celebrated his 43^rd birthday, Sachin Tendulkar took a trip down memory lane, enumerating stories from his time at the Mumbai maidans and especially at the Shivaji Park. He began with a story from the U15s, where he had gone to Pune to play a match. However, things went from bad to worse as the youngster had no money for cab fare in the sweltering and unforgiving Pune rain. This was perhaps the lesson that taught the young Tendulkar the value of money.

“I was only 12 years old and was selected to play for Mumbai U-15 team. I was excited, carried some money and we went to Pune to play three matches and it started raining there. So I was hoping that the rain stopped and we got some cricket to play.

“When I got my turn I was out on 4, run out, I was only 12 and I could barely run at a decent pace. I was disappointed and came back to the dressing room crying and after that I did not get another chance to bat,” Tendulkar said here.

“Because it had rained we had nothing to do the whole day, go out watch a movie, eat and without knowing how to spend money and how to equally pace me and save money.

“I finished everything and when I came back to Mumbai by train there was not a penny in my pocket. I was carrying two big bags, we got off at Dadar station and from Dadar station I had to walk to Shivaji Park because I had no money in my pocket,” the 43-year-old added.

“Can you imagine if I had a phone in my hand, one SMS and my father or my mother would have transferred the money to my account and I could have travelled by cab.”

Tendulkar, who played 200 Test matches, also remembered how he was the first player to be declared run out by a third umpire.

“When it comes to technology, I was given run out by the third umpire in 1992. Sometimes technology can’t go your way. While fielding you need right decisions from the third umpire but not while batting.”

He also recalled a time when technology and the computer came into the Indian dressing room for the first time in 2002.

“A lot of changes have taken place. When I started playing cricket that was ages ago, 1989, we did not have a proper sponsor so guys who had been around for a while they had t-shirts and trousers and all that. We on our first tour had limited resources of getting top clothing, so from there it all started, we suddenly were told that there is going to be a computer in the dressing room which was 2002-03,” he said.

“What is a computer doing in the dressing room, the computer is not going to teach you how to bat, but over a period of time, we realised that planning and executing those plans it was not left up to the imagination.”

“We could actually set up a projector and have all those data displayed on the screen. And if we spoke about, do not bowl to this batsman in this area — it was not us 15 players imagining, it was actually there in front of us and that kind of things helped us in planning them and to be able to execute those plans, the thought process was clear,” Tendulkar concluded.

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