Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah and Monty Panesar form this fan club and all of them have openly acknowledged their admiration for the Little Master.
SOUTHAMPTON: As a cricket idol, Sachin Tendulkar is pretty much accustomed to having countless fans across the world. Yet, a shy person that he is, he might be pleasantly surprised to know that there's a 'Tendulkar fan club' within the England team.
Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah and Monty Panesar, all cricketers with a definite Asian link, form this fan club and all of them have openly acknowledged their admiration for the Little Master.
Bopara, the 22-year-old Essex all-rounder who is returning to the England side for the first time after the World Cup following a thigh injury, is excited at the prospect to squaring up against Tendulkar in a big game.
"I'm very excited about facing him in an international for the first time," said Bopara.
"It's something I've always wanted to do. Playing against your hero is something you remember for the rest of your life, so I can't wait."
Owais Shah who plays for Middlesex has been equally charmed by the man who has already scored over 25,000 international runs and has a collective tally of 78 hundreds.
"It's a great privilege to be playing against him. Watching him is an education in itself," said Shah.
Incidentally, both Bopara and Shah - along with Joe Denly - sought out Tendulkar for a few words of wisdom during India's warm up game against England Lions at Chelmsford ahead of the Test series.
What they got instead was a full 45-minute absorbing pep talk by the Master Blaster.
"They wanted to know a few things and I was too happy to speak to them," said Tendulkar about the session as he shared the finer points of his craft with the young guns.
Much like Bopara and Shah, the 25-year old Monty Panesar - who has caught the imagination of the English fans with his stunning exploits - was a proud man after he got the wicket of his hero as his first Test dismissal in Nagpur.
As he requested the little champion to autograph the ball, Tendulkar wrote, "Once in a blue moon, never again!"
Of course, Tendulkar acknowledged that he wrote that in a lighter vein saying, "I just wanted to write something funny".
Then again, when Panesar repeated his act in the first Test at Lord's, he "lost his mind", "didn't know what was happening" and "felt like flying somewhere" as he jumped in the air and ran around the park in an outrageous celebration.
Panesar, explaining his reaction, said he was overwhelmed with joy after removing a great bat like Sachin.
"I was just savouring the moment and the reason I reacted like that was because he is such a great player. That is the impact he has on people. I wouldn't have run so far and jumped around like that if he wasn't so good," he said.
Indeed for all these young England players to be seeking some inspiration from their hero can only add to their self-belief and confidence.
As for the man himself, Tendulkar, now in the evening of his career, is only too happy to share his wealth of experience with people willing to learn.
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