Bharat Ratna awardee Sachin Tendulkar’s childhood coach Ramakant Achrekar, who was a Dronacharya Awardee himself, passed away in Mumbai on January 2, 2019.

Achrekar was paralysed since the 1990s and after suffering from a stroke in 2013, was under medical supervision.

Achrekar’s academy produced cricketers like Vinod Kambli, Praveen Amre, Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar, who played for India.

As a player, Achrekar featured in a solitary first-class game for State Bank of India against a Hyderabad Cricket Association XI in 1960. He also briefly served as a Mumbai selector.

“My actual cricket started when I was 11. My brother spotted the spark in me and then he took me to [Ramakant] Achrekar sir. Those three to four years under him were really important for my development," Tendulkar once said of his mentor. 

"He would hide behind trees to see our games, and then point out the errors later on. We would have fun but it was guarded.”

Achrekar was also conferred with Padma Shri in 2010.