Ramakant Vithal Achrekar, renowned as the coach of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar is much more than that. He is one of the few coaches who are widely renowned and respected across the country but his demise on Wednesday has left a huge void in the Indian cricketing community.
Achrekar sir produced many cricketers at the Kamath Memorial Cricket Club in Shivaji Park, which was founded by him. While Tendulkar was his most precious gift to Indian cricket, the names of Praveen Amre, Chandrakant Pandit, Vinod Kambli, Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar quickly comes to mind when one tries to list his disciples who went to win the Indian cap. Even today, these former Internationals cannot stop speaking about his role in building their career.
He was not a man who would rush to take credit when his disciples shined instead he preferred to stand in the background and applaud. Instead of building a reputation for his own club, which was then playing in the lower leagues, he would ask the top clubs to field his players in their teams to get more exposure.
Achrekar didn't have a stellar career as a player, which he had as a coach. In 1945, he played for New Hind Sports Club in the Inter-Bhandari Community Cricket Tournament. It was this tournament through which he started his cricketing career. Though he never represented Mumbai, he did manage to play for the State Bank of India, in Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup, which was the only first-class match he played. The burning desire to help others achieve what he couldn't drove Achrekar.
Achrekar coaching career started with Dayanand Balak Vidyalaya in Matunga where he produced cricketers like Shyam Pandya, Padam Shastri, and Suresh Shastri, who went on to captain Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy and then became a renowned umpire. He then took over the coaching duties at Shardashram High School, which changed his life. He came into national recognition when Tendulkar and Kambli registered the record partnership of 664 in 1988. The Union Sports Ministry awarded him with the Dronacharya Award in 1990. The 2010 Padma Shri winner Ramakant Achrekar contribution to Mumbai cricket goes beyond the players he produced. It was the coaching philosophy of pushing his disciples to the limits to produce results that is being imbibed in the likes of Amre and Pandit, who coached Mumbai to the Ranji Trophy titles and are giving results with other teams as well.
Tendulkar is his greatest achievement. It was he who transformed Tendulkar's dream of becoming a fast bowler to a batsman. He suggested a change in his school from Bandra New English School to Shardashram High School. Both of these decisions proved a masterstroke for the Little Master. He completely invested himself in Tendulkar's development, whom he considered the one with potential, right from the beginning. He would seldom praise the prodigious batsman but a trip to bhel puri or vada pav shop would tell him that he had played well that day. He believed in keeping the players grounded so that they can concentrate on their game.
