Sachin Tendulkar gets guard of honour as Wankhede erupts

mangaloretoday.com

Mumbai, 14 November 2013: The giant screen welcomed Sachin Tendulkar with a "Don’t even blink" while Sakshi Dhoni and Nita Ambani gave Tendulkar a standing ovation.

Murali Vijay’s dismissal by Shane Shillingford led to the biggest ever cheer after the fall of an Indian wicket on a home ground. India lost their second wicket for 77, but nobody minded that as Sachin Tendulkar quickly walked down the stairs of the Wankhede Stadium, possibly for the last time as the stadium erupted in joy to see the God of cricket walk in to bat. Tendulkar looked up at the sky in his customary fashion as Darren Sammy and his West Indian side gave the retiring legend a guard of honour. The umpires too joined in to show their respect to the retiring legend.

 

 

The giant screen welcomed the Little Master with a "Don’t even blink" while Sakshi Dhoni and Nita Ambani gave Tendulkar a standing ovation from the president’s box at Wankhede Stadium. Tendulkar, using a batting grip with the Indian tricolor on it, got off the mark with a sweep as the crowd cheered "Sachiiin, Sachiiin". Tendulkar is playing his 200th and final Test. Interestingly, a few hundred crores were bet on Tendulkar scoring a zero, a la Don Bradman who scored a duck in his last Test innings.

Tendulkar, who scored 10 in his 199th Test at Eden, looked in good touch scoring three boundaries in his first 20 runs. Every run was cheered by the fans as Tendulkar and Cheteshwar Pujara went about stitching a partnership.

Thursday clearly belonged to the Tendulkar family. His mother, Rajni, turned up at a cricket stadium for the first time in her life while a specially minted gold coin was used for toss. The Indian team presented Tendulkar with a special cap with the landmark No. 200 Test embroidered on it.