MIG Club to name pavilion after retiring Tendulkar

The MIG Cricket Club in suburban Bandra will pay a tribute to retiring batting great Sachin Tendulkar by naming the pavilion, including the dressing room, after him.
"We have decided to name the pavilion as Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar Pavilion. We spoke to him around six to eight months back and he acknowledged it," MIG Cricket Club secretary Ashish Patankar told reporters here today.
Tendulkar, who is set to retire after the November 14-18 India-West Indies second Test at the Wankhede Stadium which would also mark his 200th game, had practiced often at this ground during his formative years.
Patankar said the pavilion would be inaugurated by the batting great after the conclusion of the Test series against the West Indies and the event will be open to the public.

The club would paint its front wall with the senior cricketer's 24-foot tall and 12-foot portrait.
"We are expecting the painting to be completed by November 10. I will request him to come and see the painting before the Mumbai Test," Patankar said.

Tendulkar and MIG had a continuous association since the late 1980s, and he recalled the batting legend's regular practice stints there before a major international series.
"I remember there was a series against Australia and none of the grounds in Mumbai were available as they had some matches being played. It was a Sunday and he wanted to practice only on that day. We had a match scheduled at the ground that day and Sachin asked me if he could practice at lunch time. He got a bowling machine and batted for an hour at lunch time," the MIG secretary said.

"He used to prepare differently for different opponents. For the harsh tour of England, he asked us to bowl to him with wet tennis balls from half pitch," he added.
He also recollected that when the doctor had advised Tendulkar, who developed a back problem in 2000, to run on a green top, the batting maestro used to run at MIG ground at 4:30 or 5 in the morning, to avoid people crowding the place.