If Sachin Tendulkar is called the 'God of Cricket', there was a man who made the God. It was his cricketing coach – Ramakant Achrekar. Dronacharya to the Master Blaster, Achrekar breathed his last at his Mumbai residence at 6.30 PM on Tuesday, 2nd January 2019. He was 87 years old.
Born in 1932, Achrekar was a colossal figure in the Mumbai cricketing circuit with several of his proteges playing for the country.
Along with the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, a few others like Chandrakant Pandit, Sanjay Bangar, Pravin Amre, Ramesh Powar and Ajit Agarkar have gone on to achieve success at higher levels.
Achrekar was conferred the Dronacharya Award in 2010. He was also awarded the Padma Shri – the fourth highest civilian honour in India.
The Indian cricketing team playing the 4th Test match at Sydney in Australia have paid tribute to coach Ramakant Achrekar by wearing black armbands.
Cricketers have expressed their deepest condolences to the veteran coach. Vinod Kambli, Wriddhiman Saha, Mohammad Kaif, RP Singh, Rohit Sharma and VVS Laxman were amongst who expressed their grief.