Teachers’ Day 2020: Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli express gratitude towards their childhood coaches

A captain is as good as his team, we often hear these words but we often don’t realise that the pupil is also as good as his teacher, mentor or coach. Cricket, the game of gentlemen’s, has seen hundreds of star who have went on to achieve the pinnacle of success and make their nations proud. Nail-biting matches have been won by a margin of whiskers, plans have been executed with utmost perfection but were they done without any proper training and guidance? The answer is a big no.

On the occasion of Teacher’s Day today, two of the biggest stars in the history of Indian cricket have remembered their childhood coaches and expressed their gratitude towards them for their massive contributions in their stellar careers. While, Virat Kohli said that he was forever grateful for the valuable lesson by his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar paid tribute to his late coach Ramakant Achrekar.

The master blaster, the batsman with most number of international centuries and runs, also remembered two other ‘special teachers’ – his late father Ramesh Tendulkar and his brother Ajit on the occasion.

The legendary Indian batsman hailed the teachers for inspiring the nation by going online and teaching the students during the times of coronavirus pandemic.

A teacher gives you many valuable lessons in your journey. Forever grateful for the ones I got from my coach Mr. Rajkumar Sharma . Happy Teacher’s Day to all the teachers who’ve guided their students in their journeys. pic.twitter.com/LPnUXsIzhp

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 5, 2020

COVID19 has shut schools, yet teachers have gone online to continue teaching. Always inspiring!

Forever grateful to them for shaping us into better human beings and helping us progress.#HappyTeachersDay to all & my 3 special teachers, my father, Achrekar sir & my brother Ajit. pic.twitter.com/qh0RshaAy2

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) September 5, 2020

Sachin Tendulkar has often talked about the contribution of his late coach Ramakant Achrekar in his life. He once revealed an incident where his revered coach scolded him in front of a whole lot of people for enjoying a match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai instead of playing a match elsewhere.

“On one such day, instead of playing in the match, I along with a friend, went to the Wankhede stadium to watch the Shardashram English-medium boys take on the Shardashram Marathi-medium boys in the Harris Shield final and cheer our team, Tendulkar fondly recollected.

“There, we spotted sir and went to greet him. He knew that I had missed the match, but still asked me how did I perform in it. I told him that, I thought that I would skip the match in order to cheer for our team. I got a late-cut (tight slap) on my face as well. The tiffin box in my hand flew and all its contents spread across, he said.

“At that time, sir told me You don t have to be here to cheer for others. Play in such a way that others cheer for you . Since that day, I began practising very hard and put in a lot of hours. If not for that day, I might have been cheering others from the stands,” Sachin Tendulkar has once said.