Ramakant Achrekar, Sachin Tendulkar's coach, passes away

Mumbai, Jan 2: Sachin Tendulkar's coach and Dronaacharya awardee, Ramakant Achrekar (87) passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Born in 1932, Achrekar played a key role in shaping up Tendulkar's career over the years. In 1945, he played club cricket for New Hind Sports Club. He also played for Young Maharashtra XI, Gul Mohar Mills and Mumbai Port. He played in only one first-class cricket match for all-India State Bank against Hyderabad in the Moin-ud-Dowla tournament in 1963-64.

He founded Kamath Memorial Cricket Club at Shivaji Park. He had coached and nurtured numerous cricketers, which includes the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ajit Agarkar, Chandrakant Pandit, Vinod Kambli and Pravin Amre. He had devoted himself in coaching, to uplift the Indian cricket standards. The club is currently run by his daughter Kalpana Murkar and son-in-law Deepak Murkar.

Achrekar's famous student, Sachin Tendulkar, who debuted in 1989, became the first man to score 100 international hundreds and an ODI double hundred. He is also the only cricketer to play 200 Test matches.