Ramakant Vitthal Achrekar (1932 – 2 January 2019) was an Indian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

coach from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. He was most famous for coaching young cricketers at

Shivaji Park Shivaji Park, officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park, is a public park situated in Dadar, Mumbai. It is the largest park in the island city. Similar but bigger in size to Azad Maidan and August Kranti Maidan (formerly Gowalia Tank Ground ...

Dadar Dadar (Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪aːd̪əɾ is a densely populated residential and shopping neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is also a prominent railway and bus service hub with local and national connectivity. Dadar holds the distinction of being Mum ...

, Mumbai, most notably

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...

. He had also been a selector for the Mumbai cricket team. He also won the

Dronacharya Award The Dronacharya Award, officially known as Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, is sports coaching honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Drona, often referred as "Dronacharya" or "Guru Drona", a ...

in 1990 and

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

in 2010

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 First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

match, for State Bank of India against Hyderabad in the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament in 1963. His life and his inspiring career have been documented by journalist Kunal Purandare in the biography, ''Ramakant Achrekar: Master Blaster's Master''. The book has garnered critical praise from various publications, including the Wisden India Almanack.

Coaching career

He founded Kamath Memorial Cricket Club at

. He coached and nurtured numerous cricketers, including the

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

players

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Chandrakant Pandit Chandrakant Sitaram Pandit (born 30 September 1961) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 5 Tests and 36 ODIs from 1986 to 1992. He was a Wicket Keeper Batsman for Indian national cricket team. He made his test debut against E ...

Vinod Kambli Vinod Kambli (; born 18 January 1972) is a former Indian international Cricketer, who played for India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. Kambli became the first cricketer in cricket history ...

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and

Pravin Amre Pravin Kalyan Amre (; born 14 August 1968) is an Indian cricketer who represented the Indian cricket team between 1991 and 1999. He played 11 Test matches and 37 One Day Internationals (ODIs). Domestic career At the domestic level, Amre played ...

. 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

were present for the funeral.

Awards and recognition

* In 1990, he was honoured with

for his services to cricket coaching. * In 2010, he was conferred with

, one of the country's highest civilian awards in sports category at the

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

in New Delhi on 7 April 2010 by the then Indian President

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

. * In 2010, on 12 February, he was awarded the 'Lifetime Achievement' award by Gary Kirsten, the then coach of the Indian Cricket Team. This award was part of the awards given away for various categories in sports by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

''.

References

External links