I was scared when I got into a jet: Sachin Tendulkar

“The closest I’ve come to being an air warrior is wearing aviator glasses like fighter pilots… I was scared when I got into a fighter jet in South Africa in 1996, because there was not much room inside it,” said Group Captain Sachin Tendulkar, who was conferred the honorary rank by the chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal PV Naik, in the presence of the marshal of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Arjan Singh.

Tendulkar, who became the first sportsperson to be conferred an honorary rank by the IAF, said, “I would like to bat twice, once from both sides”, when asked whether he would like to captain the armed forces team or Team India, if there was a match between the two.

The cricketing icon will take a Sukhoi-30 fighter jet sortie in November in Pune, after which he will receive his wings.

The batsman, who was fascinated by movies like Top Gun as a teenager, is the first national with no aviation background to be conferred with an honorary IAF rank, under the government’s policy of 1977 of granting honorary rank by the Indian armed forces to eminent personalities as recognition of their contribution towards the nation or the armed forces. The proposal was put up in January by the IAF, which was approved by president Pratibha Patil on June 23.

A CD was sent to Tendulkar a month prior to the function with images and a video of the IAF salute so that he could learn it for the felicitation ceremony.