35 Things you may not know about Sachin !

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1. Named after legendary music director Sachin Dev Burman by his father.

2. Grew his hair and tied a band around it to copy his idol John Mc Enroe. Was called McEnroe by his friends. Admires Boris Becker, Pete Sampras and Diego Maradona.

3. Wanted to be a tearing fast bowler and even went to the MRF Pace Academy but head coach Dennis Lillee asked him to concentrate on his batting.

4. Has scored big runs on Indian festivals like Gokulashtmi, Raksha Bandhan, Holi and Diwali.

5. Loved to have i-can-eat-more-vada-pavas-than-you competitions with cricket buddies Vinod Kambli and Salil Ankola.

6. A foodie who loves sea food. Co-owns a restaurant.

7. Sydney Cricket ground is his favourite ground.

8. Loves Kishore Kumar and rock group Dire Straits. Fusses over his personal stereo.

9. A Ganesh devotee, he visits Siddhi Vinayak temple in the early hours of the morning.

10. Wears his left pad first, has the tri-color pasted inside his kit bag.

11. Remembers every Test dismissal – especially the bowler who dismissed him.

12. Likes to dunk his glucose biscuits into his tea.

13. Ambidextrous: bats with his right hand, autographs and eats with his left

14. Used to sleep with his cricket gear during his junior days

15. 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 that the game.” The ad was modified: he hit the balls with a stump

16. A fast car fiend who likes to tear down Mumbais roads at 4 am

17. Fell from a tree on Sunday evening during the summer vacation, when Guide was showing on national TV. His infuriated his brother ( and mentor ) Ajit packed him off to cricket coaching class as punishment

18. Came back from the four month tour of Australia after the 1992 World Cup and turned up to play from his college, Kirti College, in April 1992

19. Was without a bat contract during the 1996 world cup where he emerged as the highest run – getter. A famous tire company signed up after that.

20. His coach at Shardashram Ramakant Acherkar used to offer a one rupee coin as price to any bowler 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.

21. Fielded for Pakistan as a substitute during a one day practice match against India at Brabourne Stadiumin 1988

22. Was a ball boy during the 1987 world cup semi-finals between India and England at Wankhende

23. The first ad he shot was for sticking plaster

24. In school he was once mistaken for a girl by good friend Atul Ranade because of his long curls

25. Amitabh Bachan became his biggest heor after watching Deewar and Zanjeer

26. Played tennis – ball cricket and darts during rain breaks

27. Sang and whistled with Vinod Kambli during their 664 run record stand in the Harris shield in 1988 to avoid eye contact with the coach’s assistant, who wanted to declare while the duo wanted to bat on.

28. Teammate Praveen Amre brought him his first pair of international quality circket shoes

29. 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 first reaction was, “ Will I be able to beat him? “

30. Used to go fishing for tadpoles and guppy fishes in the stream that ran throught the compound of Sahitya Sahwas, his building in Bandra East

31. Made his mother once look for a frog bhaji recipe

32. The nanny who looked after him is now universally called Sachuchi bai

33. Colony watchman’s son Ramesh Pradhe, 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 the bat to know whether he had middled the ball correctly

34. A prankster, he once put a hose pipe into Sourav Ganguly’s room and turned on the tap. Ganguly awoke to find his gear floating. Calls Ganguly Babu Moshai. Sourav cals him Chhota Babu.

35. Great spinner of yarns. If he had a cut on his finger it was because it had been chopped by a helicopter flying low.
 
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