Early life and career
Ramakant Vitthal Achrekar was born in 1932. His playing career was not as distinguished as his coaching career. He started playing cricket in 1943. In 1945, he played club cricket for New Hind Sports Club. He also played for Young Maharashtra XI, Gul Mohar Mills and Mumbai Port. He played in only one first-class cricket match, forCoaching career
He founded Kamath Memorial Cricket Club at Shivaji Park. He coached and nurtured numerous cricketers, including the Test players Sachin Tendulkar, Ajit Agarkar, Chandrakant Pandit, Vinod Kambli, Ramesh Powar and Pravin Amre. He devoted himself in coaching to raising the standard of Indian cricket. The club is currently run by his daughter Vishakha Dalvi and Kalpana Murkar, grandson Soham Dalvi and Pradosh Mayekar, he was also a legend in 1945 cricket. It was Ajit Tendulkar ( Sachin Tendulkar's elder brother) who took Sachin Tendulkar to Ramakant Achrekar's Cricket Summer camp to improve his batting skills.Anyone could come for a trial at the camp and then, it was Sir's discretion to admit or reject the candidate. Sachin Tendulkar had never batted at the nets before and felt somewhat overawed with so many people around. And when Sir asked him to bat, he was not at all comfortable. With Sir looking at him closely, he failed to make an impact and was a disappointment.Soon after he had finished batting, Sir called Ajit aside and informed him that he(Sachin) was perhaps too young to make to the camp and he should bring Sachin back when he was a little older. Ajit mentioned to Sir that Sachin was nervous and that Sir should give him one more opportunity in 30 minutes time. However, while doing so, Sir should pretend to go away and look at his batting from a distance. He agreed and things changed. Sachin was asked to bat again in some time and without Sir's trained eyes scrutinizing him, he was at ease. He soon started to hit the ball well and Sir immediately agreed to let him join the camp.Illness and death
Ramakant Achrekar died on January 2, 2019, due to the old-age ailments. Numerous famous cricket personalities including Sachin Tendulkar were present for the funeral.Awards and recognition
* In 1990, he was honoured with Dronacharya Award for his services to cricket coaching. * In 2010, he was conferred with Padma Shri, one of the country's highest civilian awards in sports category at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on 7 April 2010 by the then Indian President Pratibha Patil. * In 2010, on 12 February, he was awarded the 'Lifetime Achievement' award byFurther reading
*References
External links
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Achrekar, Ramakant 1932 births 2019 deaths Indian sports coaches Recipients of the Dronacharya Award Cricketers from Mumbai Indian cricket coaches Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar State Bank of India cricketers