Dilip Vengsarkar talks about how he urged Mumbai selectors to pick a young Sachin Tendulkar

One of the greatest ever Indian Test batsmen, Dilip Vengsarkar, has disclosed how he pushed the Bombay selectors to include Sachin Tendulkar in the team.

The state team selectors had shown reluctance to add the teenager in the final 15. However, Vengsarkar urged them to give him a place in the squad, after seeing him in the training nets.

In a live chat with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda Cricket's Facebook page, Dilip Vengsarkar narrated the story of Sachin Tendulkar's debut. He talked about the importance of the school level cricket tourneys that occur in Mumbai regularly.

The Rajapur-based legend highlighted that these competitions have given a lot of new talents to the Mumbai team, as well as the Indian cricket team.

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Vasu Paranjpe was very impressed by Sachin Tendulkar: Dilip Vengsarkar

Sachin Tendulkar had scored heavily in inter-school tournaments before his FC debut

Narrating the entire incident, Dilip Vengsarkar mentioned that the Indian team was in Mumbai to play a Test match against New Zealand. Coincidentally, it was Vengsarkar's 100th Test appearance for the nation.

He described how the team's coach Vasu Paranjpe was fond of Sachin Tendulkar's batting, and said:

"Vasu Paranjpe was very impressed by Sachin Tendulkar. He said we must have a look at this kid as he had exceptional talent. He insisted me so much that I had to see him bat in the nets."

Vengsarkar, the team's captain, asked Kapil Dev, Maninder Singh, and Chetan Sharma to bowl to Sachin Tendulkar in the training nets.

"I requested Kapil Dev, Maninder, Chetan Sharma to bowl to him, but they asked what's the thing here? He is a U-14, U-15 kid," he laughed. "Then I told them he has been scoring lots of runs in school matches and we need to see how he bats. Hats off to them, they're great cricketers, they said okay to bowl for a while."

Vengsarkar then mentioned that Sachin was impressive against them in the nets. He continued:

"So, on the same day, we had a selection committee meeting for the Bombay team. I attended the meeting, and Ajit Wadekar, Ramakant Desai, and Sudhir Naik, the selectors were present. I told them about Sachin as I saw him playing. I asked them to pick in the 15, but they said, 'It is too early for him, what if he gets hurt, then we will be blamed.'"

The then-Indian skipper urged them to take him in the squad, but not include him in the playing XI. Vengsarkar wanted to give Sachin Tendulkar an idea about the atmosphere on the national level.

Ultimately, the young kid seized every opportunity that he received and became the greatest batsman of all time.