Vengsarkar watched Tendulkar, easily negotiate India's best fast bowler at the time, Kapil Dev, in the Wankhede Stadium nets.
Former Mumbai and India skipper, Dilip Vengsarkar, said he 'handpicked' Sachin Tendulkar to play for the team, after watching him easily negotiate Kapil Dev, in the Wankhede Stadium nets, during India's series against New Zealand.
"I was the captain (of Mumbai) that time and I heard a lot about him. Vasu (Paranjape) brought him and introduced him to me. Vasu said you should go and watch Sachin play. I said not now but Vasu said no no you should go," Vengsarkar said.
"I was playing my 100th Test and we were practicing at the CCI. I asked Kapil, Maninder to bowl at him and at such a tender age he played them with ease. Then I told (Mumbai) selectors we should pick him at least in the 15 but in the next three days he didn't come for practice. I was a bit livid with him. I told Vasu to ask him the reason and he said I had an exam."
Ravi Shastri, who watched Tendulkar from close quarters, during the master batsman's classic 148 not out at Sydney in 1992, said that innings was the best of his career.
"In the tour of Pakistan in 1989, Sachin made his debut but got out early. I was lying down in the dressing room and was livid with my dismissal. He took his time and walked upto me after an hour. By the time I calmed down and and he said to me 'I was in a hurry'.
"(During that innings) the time he was at the crease he looked like a fish out of water, but a month later he looked a big shark in the water and continued to be so for the next 25 years," he said.
Talking about Tendulkar's epic 148, Shastri, who was batting along side the master blaster said: "I was just 22 yards away and it was the best place to witness such a wonderful innings. I was witnessing someone just 18 was over to become the first overseas player to score a 100 in Australia. Tendulkar's Sydney innings was strokeplay of the highest order."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}