Suru Nayak recalls Sachin Tendulkar as shy, fidgety and restless

Everyone associated with Sachin Tendulkar over the years has a story or two to tell about the legend who is in the final week of his international career. Former India speedster Suru Nayak is no different. He was Tendulkar’s first room-mate in 1987-88 and it so happened that it was the senior player’s penultimate first-class season.

Nayak recalled the days when he shared a room during a Ranji Trophy match in Baroda with the “shy and restless” Tendulkar. Now, the cricket operations manager with the BCCI, Nayak said: “Sachin was the youngest member of the Mumbai team when he was first selected. Chandu (Chandrakant Pandit, captain) thought that since I was the senior most member of the team, I share the room with the 14-year-old.

“He was very fidgety in the room, used to always take his stance in the room and bat, imitating his shots. He was very restless at nights. Even today, he is the same, thinking what he has to do the next day, etc,” Nayak said.

Tendulkar, though, had to wait for the next season to make his first-class debut. “Against Baroda, we played on the lively Moti Baug pitch. He was very tiny and it was decided not to make him play as Baroda had a very good attack,” Nayak said.

Nayak called Tendulkar a class act even as a teenager. “He batted so well in the nets, the way he handled Raju Kulkarni and Anup Sabnis, our pacers, was superb.”

Nayak said that though Tendulkar did not ask him to bowl in the room, he was very observant. “He used to look at people and observe things. He was very shy to even sign autographs. He is still shy. Unless you approach him, he will not say things or comment. “

Nayak also remembers the sincerity with which Tendulkar turned out for Sungrace Mafatlal in tournaments. “He was absorbed as a 14-year-old by Sungrace and when he turned 18, he was taken in the rolls,” Nayak said, recalling how Tendulkar travelled all the way from the interiors of West Bengal in the early 1990s when he had already broken into the Indian team.

The 59-year-old Nayak who played two Tests for India in 1982, said: “Sachin promised that if Sungrace entered the final, he’d definitely come and play. He flew from Kolkata to Delhi and drove to Agra to reach the hotel around 2 at night. Sheesh Mahal tournament at Agra used to begin at 7am. Sachin was there at the ground before the team had reached and played that game and we won. Despite all the travelling and playing, he dragged all of us to the swimming pool that evening.”

Nayak said Tendulkar was not a prankster. “Vinod (Kambli) was the prankster. He had a good sense of humour, though. He’d respect the senior players and elders.

Nayak credited the Tendulkar family for the cricketer’s upbringing. “The Tendulkars, especially his brother Ajit, have maintained a high standard of behaviour throughout his 25 years of international cricket.”