Ramakant Achrekar Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ramakant Achrekar

• Ramakant Achrekar was born into a modest Marathi Family in a village called Malvan, about 500 km from Mumbai, near Goa.

• At the age of 11, Achrekar moved to Bombay (now, Mumbai) with his parents.

• His father and Vijay Manjrekar’s father had both played for the New Hind Club.
  

  New Hind Club

• In 1943, he got enrolled in Chabildas High School in Dadar West, Bombay. It was there that he started playing Cricket for the first time.
  

  Ramakant Achrekar’s School Chabildas High School In Dadar

• In 1945, Achrekar started playing for club cricket for New Hind Sports Club and for Young Maharashtra XI.

• Earlier, he lived at Wadala before moving to Dadar’s Shivaji Park suburb.
  

  Ramakant Achrekar Sitting Outside His House

• After coming to Bombay, soon, Achrekar took a job in the State Bank.’ There he met and played with Ajit Wadekar, his fellow bank employee.
  

  Ajit Wadekar Batting

• Achrekar had inherited his love for the game from his father.

• Ramakant Achrekar was a batsman-wicketkeeper who played only one first-class match – ‘for All-India State Bank, against Hyderabad, in 1964; where he scored 30 runs.

• It was around 1967-68 that a schoolboy approached him for advice, and he began coaching. That schoolboy was Ramnath Parkar, an opening batsman who played twice for India in the 1980s. He also became the first Achrekar product to win a Test Cap.
  

  Ramnath Parkar

• One day, when he was purchasing some equipment at the India Sports House, a young boy named Suresh Shastri entered the shop. The shop owner told Achrekar that Shastri was a talented cricketer, and asked him to coach him. Later, Suresh Shastri went on to become a Cricket Umpire.
  

• Later on, the president of Arya Samaj, Mithailal Singh, asked Achrekar to coach his son as well. Achrekar took the only ₹50/month, and he soon became coach of Dayanand Balak Vidyalaya. Later, he went on holding regular sessions at Sassanian Cricket Club on Azad Maidan.
  

  Azad Maidan In Mumbai

• Sachin Tendulkar was brought to Achrekar by Tendulkar’s older brother Ajit Tendulkar. Achrekar remembered-
  

  The first time I saw Sachin, he seemed to be just like the other boys, nothing special. But then I watched him in the nets, and he was middling the ball all the time, hitting it hard, never playing defence. He had good wrist work, and wonderful reflexes.”

  

  Ramakant Achrekar With Ajit Tendulkar

• At the age of 13, on Achrekar’s recommendation, Sachin made his debut at Brabourne Stadium for CCI, and a legend was born.
  

  Young Sachin Tendulkar

• Later on, he went on to produce many international players including Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Chandrakant Pandit, Lalchand Rajput, Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Pravin Amre, Sameer Dighe, Ajit Agarkar, Paras Mhambrey, Ramesh Powar who represented India in Tests and many others succeeded in First-Class Cricket.
  

  Ramakant Achrekar With Sachin Tendulkar And Other Players

• Besides overseeing the nets at New Hind and another club, Sassanian, Achrekar had also founded another club, Kamat Memorial, based at Shivaji Park, which he managed till his last days.
  

  Young Cricketers At The Kamat Memorial

• Under Achrekar’s strict guidance, the young Sachin would practise each day from 7 to 9 am and 3.30 to 6 pm. In between, he would play matches.

• Achrekar’s bonding with his students was remarkable. It is said that he used to give treats to his students when they performed well – Pani Puri and Kulfi and Sunday lunch.

• His bonding with Tendulkar was so unique that when he noticed about Tendulkar’s exaggerated bottom-hand grip, he told him to avoid it. However, due to Tendulkar’s insistence, Achrekar eventually agreed that he could keep the grip.
  

  Ramakant Achrekar Giving Batting Tips To Sachin Tendulkar

• Another famous tale of Sachin-Achrekar bonding is that during the net-sessions, Achrekar used to put a coin on top of the stumps and asked bowlers to get bowled Sachin and get the coin. Sachin claims those coins his most prized possession so far.

• Once, Tendulkar had received a tight-slap from Achrekar for missing a match in order to watch the senior school team play a final match. Achrekar said-
  

  People should come to watch you rather you clapping from the stands.”

• In the late 1990s, Achrekar suffered a paralysis attack, and thereafter, he became less actively involved as a coach.
  

  Ramakant Achrekar Sitting On Wheelchair

• Even after being at the zenith of success, Sachin never forgot to pay his respect towards his Guru and often used to pay a visit to Achrekar’s home. Remembering his coach, a teary-eyed Tendulkar, after his 200th Test match, had said in his farewell speech in Mumbai in 2013-
  

  Sir has never ever said ‘well played’ to me because he thought I would get complacent…Maybe he can push his luck and wish me now, well done on my career because there are no more matches, sir, in my life.”

• Achrekar is so popular as a Cricket Coach that people often say to other coaches-
  

  Apne Aap Ko Achrekar Samajhta Hai (that coach thinks he is Achrekar).”

• In popular media, it’s said that there were cricket coaches and then there was a Ramakant Achrekar, whose contribution was way more than gifting the world “The God of Cricket” called Sachin Tendulkar.

• On 2nd January 2019, he died of age-related ailments. On his demise, Tendulkar said, while paying his respect-
  

  Cricket in heaven will be enriched with the presence of Achrekar sir. Like many of his students, I learnt my ABCD of cricket under Sir’s guidance. His contribution to my life cannot be captured in words. He built the foundation that I stand on.”

  

  Sachin Tendulkar Paying His Last Tributes To Ramakant Achrekar