Sachin Tendulkar is trying to ensure that his mother has no difficulty getting to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president box from where she is expected to watch her son play his 200th and final Test match, says a report in The Indian Express.
As he arrived for the Mumbai Ranji team's practice session on Monday, Tendulkar spoke at length with MCA officials about providing a ramp at the entrance to the box. Tendulkar, who had ascertained that the lift to the box wasn't big enough to accommodate his mother's wheel-chair, was not happy with the temporary metal ramp that the MCA showed him.
The batsman's mother, Rajni, has never seen him play at a stadium, and has made an exception for his farewell Test. India will play the West Indies at Tendulkar's home ground from November 14 to 18.
MCA joint secretary Nitin Dalal told The Indian Express that all arrangements would be made in the coming days. "We will make sure that everything is taken care of and every assistance is provided to Tendulkar's family. His mother is in a wheelchair and we will prepare the ramp so that she can enter the president box without any problem," he said. The entire Tendulkar clan is expected to be at the Wankhede for the Test.
According to a report in The Times Of India, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) will be seeking permission of the Indian Cricket Board so that they can have a photograph of Sachin Tendulkar on match ticket that will be printed on the occasion of penultimate Test of the legendary batsman's illustrious career.
CAB joint secretary Subir Ganguly and treasurer Biswarup Dey said that the state association has thought about such a move as Tendulkar plays his 199th at the historic Eden Gardens from November 6-10.
Meanwhile former captain Dilip Vengsarkar writes in the DNA that Sachin is extremely passionate about the game and simply cannot live without cricket.
“For him, cricket is everything. I am sure his decision to retire must have been the toughest decision for him simply because he has been playing the game non-stop for 30 years. Right from his school days to now, he has been going to the gym, training hard and spending quality time in the nets. Even today, he is as motivated and as committed as he was when he started playing the game. That’s his level of passion. That he won’t be playing the game at the competitive level after the Mumbai Test (against the West Indies) would surely hurt him big time,” says Vengsarkar.
“Sachin has achieved what nobody in the history of cricket has achieved. I cannot think of anyone even coming close to achieving what Sachin has. It’s tough for a great player to hang up his boots simply because he has spent all his life, or say the best years of his life, doing what he knows best besides, of course, working hard to keep up the standards he has set for himself. Suddenly, he won’t have to wake up and go to the ground or play in a match. It will be tough, but I guess as time goes by, he will get used to it,” he adds.
