‘Sachin asked ‘Mere ko yeh bat dega kya?’ He went on to hit 5 centuries with it’ | Cricket

India batting legend Sachin Tendulkar turned 50 on Monday and it was obvious to see social media flooded with birthday messages wishing the Master Blaster. Both fans and his former colleagues extended their heartfelt messages to the batting maestro, with some even recalling episodes they shared with the legendary cricketer.

Delhi Capitals (DC) assistant coach Pravin Amre, who represented India in 11 Tests and 37 ODIs, also recalled an interesting story involving the two. In a video shared on DC’s social media channels, Amre narrated a three-decade old tale, which perfectly sums up Tendulkar’s vision towards batting and the art of identifying a good bat among the lot.

“There was a player named Prasad Pradhan in 93 and we went to play a benefit match for him in Pune. Local cricketers too had come for it so plenty of bats were kept there. There Sachin had this instinct, and he picked a bat and started tapping it on the ground. The bat had no brand sticker, it was a plain one and he asked the person, whom the bat belonged ‘mereko yeh bat dega kya’ (will you give me this bat)?

“The guy was very happy when Sachin asked for his bat and happily obliged to Tendulkar’s request. Sachin then gave him five bats that were kept in his kit in return. Since I was his room partner, I noticed Sachin took the bat and pasted his contract sticker and I vividly remember he went to hit five international tons with it.

“All I want to say is that Sachin had the eye to identify good bats from a very early age,” said Amre.

In a video shared by Yuvraj Singh earlier in the day, India’s World Cup hero also spoke about Tendulkar’s ability to fix a broken bat. “My bat was completely broken during the 2011 World Cup. We were playing South Africa in Nagpur and my bat was totally broken from the bottom. He puts in a couple of nails and I don’t know he fixed it,” said Yuvraj.

It has been a decade since Tendulkar bid farewell to international cricket, but his cricketing memories still remains evergreen.