Aim to win Ranji Trophy, Sachin Tendulkar tells J&K players

The wish of Jammu & Kashmir cricketers to meet Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar finally came true.

A day after J&K players registered a historical win over 40-time Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai at the Wankhede, the living legend paid the team a visit on Thursday and gave them a pep talk, before they embarked to Tamil Nadu for their next game.

On Thursday at 7.30am, paid a visit to the victorious outfit and spent more than an hour with the team.

The J&K players were ecstatic that Tendulkar also posed for photographs with the team in the Wankhede Stadium dressing room. Many players even took his autographs on their bats.

Tendulkar then told them that after humbling the domestic giants, their sole aim should be to win the Ranji Trophy.

"It was like a celebration. He congratulated everybody and told them they had done a wonderful job," said J&K media manager Shahana Fatima Zargar.

"He told the players to not stop there and should have a goal to win the Ranji Trophy since the beginning has been so good. He talked to them about they can overcome the pressure and how to absorb it considering what they had gone through during the floods. He even answered the questiones posed by the excited boys and he too asked a few questions," she added.

"The boys were really happy to meet him. We got the message through our coach Sunil Joshi that Tendulkar will be meeting the team before they leave for their next venue and their joy knew no bounds," she added.

The team later departed to Chennai to play their second Group A Ranji game against Tamil Nadu at a new venue — Dindigul, 65 kms from the temple town of Madurai.

On Wednesday after the match, Tendulkar visited the Mumbai dressing room to give a pep talk for close to 20 minutes but was unable to meet the victorious J&K team.