The much-awaited biopic made on the life and career of the great Sachin Tendulkar hit the theaters on May 26, and quite expectedly lived up to all the hype that it had created. Circling around the cricketing life as well as the personal life of the legend, the movie brought to the fore several facets from the champion’s life that were erstwhile unknown to us.
For example, before the movie was released, a special screening to which Sportskeeda was invited revealed what Sachin told to Virat Kohli when they crossed paths after the former was dismissed during the ICC Cricket World Cup final in 2011.
After the release, there were more of such facts revealed throughout the course of the movie which, barring the religiously ardent followers of the master, not many would have known.
Here are five such facts.
#5 Sachin’s sister gifting him his first bat
It might have been not known to many that it was Sachin’s sister Savita Tendulkar who had gifted him his first bat. The movie showed that first bat that a teenager Sachin used to play the game he was to later master was a Kashmiri willow that his sister had bought.
“A cricketer’s first bat is always extremely precious and special, as it marks the beginning of a journey. Sachin till date remembers that his first bat was gifted to him by his sister, Savita,” the producer of the film, Ravi Bhagchandka said.
While the leading rubber manufacturing company, the Madras Rubber Factory (MRF), was famous for having the company's logo printed on Sachin's bat, it wasn't, quite understandably, the only fabled bat that the master used during his playing days.
#4 Anjali first met Sachin at an airport in 1990
Upon the then 17-year-old’s return from his first Test series in England, Anjali Mehta, a doctor by profession, who was later going to be the batsman’s wife was enamoured by Sachin’s cuteness when she first saw him at an airport.
Anjali was there to receive his mother and was accompanied by her friend but when she saw Tendulkar she was amazed at the child’s looks even though he didn’t recognize who he actually was.
It was her friend Aparna who revealed to Anjali that he was Sachin Tendulkar, the then youngest batsman to score a Test hundred and the one who was being hailed as the poster boy of Indian cricket.
Having had that information, Anjali couldn’t control her excitement and momentarily forgot about her mother while chasing the cricketer yelling ‘Sachin... Sachin’ even as his brothers, Ajit and Nitin accompanied him.
Sachin, being the shy person that he was, didn’t respond to the calls and quietly got inside the car. It was only later when Anjali called Sachin on the phone that he revealed that he had noticed her and remembered that she was wearing an orange shirt.
This was how the partners-to-be had their first interaction. Later in the movie, Anjali also revealed how they used to write letters, as there wasn’t any internet connectivity during those days and how she had to inform Sachin’s parents about their intentions of getting engaged.
#3 Sachin refused captaincy the second time
For all his accomplishments with the bat, Sachin could not be as good a captain of the team. The first time that he was made the captain of the national team was in 1996.
However, including the World Cup that was held that year, wherein India crashed out unceremoniously after the crowd created a ruckus during the semi-final at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, that had resulted in the game being awarded to Sri Lanka, India suffered several losses under his captaincy.
Speculations were also rife that the added responsibility had taken a toll on the batsman’s form with the bat as well and as a cumulative effect of all that Tendulkar gave up the captaincy of the team in 1998.
However, post the disappointments of the 1999 World Cup wherein Mohammad Azharuddin led the Indian side, Sachin was offered captaincy for the second time. It was revealed in the movie that Tendulkar had categorically refused to accept the responsibility and had asked the selectors to choose a better man for the job.
Surprisingly, on the very next day, Sachin was named the captain of the team once again, much to the bewilderment of the man even as he didn’t know that the match-fixing allegations that were to follow in 1999-2000 were to change Indian cricket forever.
#2 Sachin complained to BCCI against Greg Chappell
The era under the tutelage of Greg Chappell has been remarked as one of the darkest eras of Indian cricket. The Australian’s feud with Sourav Ganguly kept aside, there were several senior players who weren’t in awe of the newly-appointed coach.
Sachin was one of those senior players, as in the movie it was revealed that he had discussions pertaining to Chappell’s attitude and he felt that it wasn’t the right one for Indian cricket. He was also of the opinion that the Australian should tone down his attitude and align his thinking according to that of the players.
Chappell, for one, wasn’t a figure to be toned down for sure. In the movie, a short video clip reveals a glimpse of Chappell’s dictatorial regime wherein he is heard saying, “If I find one more batsman wasting his time in the nets, I will yell at him.”
Harsh words and harsher tactics were never a matter of concern for Chappell, and the policy of ‘divide and rule’ as Sachin himself revealed to be Chappell’s mantra clearly wasn’t in the best interest of Indian cricket.
Tendulkar had complained to one of the board officials before the team’s departure for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies that Chappell isn’t good for Indian cricket and that under his guidance the team won’t go too far in the tournament.
#1 The team wasn’t united during 2007 World Cup
The most startling revelation made during the movie was that of the team’s unity during the 2007 World Cup. Sachin was heard as saying that there were two factions in the squad, clearly indicating that Chappell’s policy of ‘divide and rule’ was working.
Sachin revealed that the team was playing as one for the namesake but wasn’t present on the field as a unit. Quite understandably, the team was knocked out of the tournament from the league stages and lost to Bangladesh, something that the master hadn’t expected, as he later revealed.
The aftermath of the loss and the ouster saw Rahul Dravid, the then captain, relinquishing captaincy and Greg Chappell being sacked as the coach. However, that was not all.
The pain and the stigma of the elimination were so much that several members of the squad cried for hours in the bathroom, Sachin revealed, and he also termed it as one of the worst moments of his career.
Back home, the criticism was so much that Tendulkar locked himself inside his room for a week and didn’t see anyone. He was also contemplating retirement from international cricket but his childhood hero Vivian Richards came to his rescue.
Richards called Sachin over the phone and asked him to continue by reminding him of whatever he had achieved in his career till date and urged him not to retire. These words of encouragement from the West Indies legend helped Sachin revive his career and play for six more years and eventually fulfill his dream of lifting the World Cup in 2011.
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