Tendulkar's childhood Coach Ramakant Achrekar passes away at 87

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar's childhood coach Ramakant Achrekar passed away at the age of 87 here on Wednesday.

The Dronacharya awardee, who has blessed the Indian cricket with the likes of Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli, used to train cricketers at Shivaji Park in Dadar.

BCCI, the national governing body for cricket in India, paid its tributes to Achrekar.

"The BCCI expresses its deepest sympathy on the passing of Dronacharya award-winning guru Shri Ramakant Achrekar. Not only did he produce great cricketers, but also trained them to be fine human beings. His contribution to Indian Cricket has been immense," tweeted BCCI.

Regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Tendulkar holds the record of being the highest run scorer of all time in the international cricket, having notched up 18,426 runs in ODI and 15,921 runs in Test matches.

Last year on Guru Purnima, the master blaster along with Atul Ranade went to meet and pay their respects to their guru, Achrekar.

"Today, #GuruPurnima, is the day we remember those who have taught us to be better versions of ourselves. Achrekar Sir, I couldn't have done all this without you. Don't forget to thank your gurus and take their blessings. #AtulRanade and I just did," Tendulkar had said.

In the same year, the master blaster posted a video on Twitter as a tribute to his Coach on Teacher's Day.

"Back in my school days, I used to play only for the junior team and our senior team was playing the Harris Shield finals at the Wankhede Stadium," Tendulkar said.

"And our coach Ramakant Achrekar Sir had organised a practice match for me. He had told me to go there after school and bat at number four. He said he had spoken to the captain and you would not need to field. That used to be my training. That was important because you needed to figure out your game there and figure out how to score runs in the middle," he had added.