Former BCCI official and cricketer Raj Singh Dungarpur is the person who introduced Sachin Tendulkar to world cricket. Raj Singh Dungarpur was born in a royal family on December 19, 1935 in Rajasthan and he passed away on September 12, 2009. Dungarpur played first class cricket for 16 years and was associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for 20 years. He was the selector of Team India twice and it was Dungarpur who first selected Sachin Tendulkar in Team India squad.

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Raj Singh Dungarpur, popularly known as Rajbhai in the world of cricket, was the selector of Team India in 1989-90 and during this time he gave Sachin Tendulkar a chance to play in the national team at the age of just 16. Dungarpur even changed the rules to get Sachin an entry in the Cricket Club of India. Sachin Tendulkar had once said that Dungarpur changed the rules to get him entry in the dressing room of CCI at the age of 14. Not only this, Dungarpur also arranged sponsors for his training in England.

According to Sachin Tendulkar, his first Ranji season was very successful. At that time, the discussions were going on over Sachin Tendulkar’s selection for West Indies tour. During that time Dungarpur was the chief selector and he went to Sachin and told him that you are not going on the West Indies tour.

“Dungarpur came to me and asked me to focus on the semi-finals and final of Ranji Trophy. He said that after scoring runs in these matches, you concentrate on the 10th examination. If you keep playing like this then the day is not far when you will play for India. After this, I was included in Team India in November of the same year,” Tendulkar once said.

Raj Singh Dungarpur was a right arm fast bowler. He took 206 wickets in 86 first class matches for Rajasthan. He also claimed 21 wickets in three seasons of Ranji Trophy.