I have known Sachin at many levels. First, I played with him and against him while growing up in Mumbai and while aspiring to play for the state and the country. Second, we became friends over a period of time, and finally, Sachin is the brand ambassador of the company I work for as Chief Executive Officer. So it has been a relationship that goes back nearly 40 years.
The first time I heard of Sachin was when he was 10–11. In fact, that was the first time I had seen him. It was before his exploits for Saradrashram with Vinod Kambli and before he had set the school cricket scene on fire. We were playing a B-division Kanga league game and the wicket was a minefield. Batting was near impossible, and we were all out for 65 against Sassanians, the club for which Sachin had turned up. However, the wicket was such that 65 was considered competitive, and we had a decent chance of making a match of it. And in fact, we had reduced Sassanians to 30/5 when Sachin walked in. He carried an oversized bat and wasn’t much taller than the wicket. Scrawny and small, we felt we could have this little boy for breakfast. Soon we were mistaken, and Sachin scored 28 or so and carried his team to victory. At the end of the game, our entire team got together and discussed this tiny little boy. Each of us was in awe and agreed that someone extraordinary had arrived on the scene.
Vishwanathan Anand on Sachin Tendulkar
We have all been proved right. Within months Sachin had taken over the school cricket scene, and his exploits as a batsman were being spoken about by everyone in Mumbai. At times it was impossible to get him out. A few years later, when we travelled to play an age group tournament for Mumbai, we realised how good he was. Sachin scored a double hundred in each of the games and got out stumped to a spinner after his double ton and after he had set up the win for us. He got out just because he was bored. No one could actually get him out.
After that, we would meet off and on and become friends. We would meet at parties and social events, and I never thought we would work closely together soon enough. At the time, I was still trying to find my way through age- group cricket while Sachin was already an Indian cricketer and doing things the world had never seen.