Dilip Vengsarkar recalls how 15-year-old Sachin Tendulkar impressed him with his batting technique in the first meeting

New Delhi, June 12: Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar is amongst those who have traced the rise of Sachin Tendulkar from a rookie to one of the greats of the game. In fact, Vengsarkar was one of those who not just was impressed with the talent of the new Mumbai kid on the block but also facilitated for his gradual rise.

Recalling his first meeting with a 15-year-old child prodigy, Vengsarkar said he was highly impressed with Tendulkar's technique. While interacting during a Facebook live with Sportskeeda, the Colonel recalled an incident from 1988 during a Test match against New Zealand in Mumbai.

Vengsarkar - who was the then captain of the Indian side - urged senior India bowlers like Kapil Dev, Arshad Ayub, Maninder Singh, Chetan Sharma to bowl to him in the nets and was left highly impressed.

Vengsarkar - who went on becoming India's chief selector in the years to come - said, "Actually, I had heard about Sachin because he was scoring heavily inter-school matches. These tournaments are 100 years old have given a lot of cricketers for Mumbai and for India."

"At the time I was India's captain, and I was about to play my 100th Test match against New Zealand in Mumbai. We were practising there. Our coach Vasudev Paranjpe was very impressed with Sachin, and he said, 'look at this boy, he's an exceptional talent'. I told him 'I can look at him later, not now'. But he insisted," he recalled.

"So he got him on the ground, so I had to see him bat at the nets. I requested Kapil Dev, Arshad Ayub, Maninder Singh, Chetan Sharma to bowl to him. They were like 'what is this thing like. Why should we bowl to a U-15 kid'," Vengsarkar said with a laugh.

"So I told them he has been scoring runs in school tournaments, so we have to see him how we bats. So he batted. Hats off to those bowlers, they were established cricketers, but still, they said they will bowl for a while. But Sachin was so impressive, he played so well," he recalled.

The former batsman said he immediately asked the Bombay team selection committee to pick him in the 15-member squad and urged them to keep him with the team so that he gets a feel of the dressing room and rest as they say is history. Tendulkar went on scoring heavily in the domestic circuit the next year and got his maiden India call-up in 1989.

"In Duleep Trophy, he got a hundred. In Irani Trophy, he got a hundred. Then we went to Pakistan in 1989, and there came Sachin Tendulkar, and the rest is history," he said.