The fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy began today at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Australia. With India leading the series 2-1, Virat Kohli and his boys are looking to seal a maiden series victory on Australian soil while Tim Paine will try and do whatever he and his team can do to stop the former from achieving this. But when the players took the field today at the SCG, players from both teams were seen wearing black armbands.
Curiously, both teams had their own reasons for doing so. The Indian players were sporting the band in order to honour the memory of Ramakant Achrekar - Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar's childhood coach - who died in Mumbai yesterday evening.
On the other hand, the Aussies were paying tributes to former Australian and New South Wales' batsman Bill Watson who passed away recently aged 87. What was striking was the fact that both Achrekar and Watson breathed their last at the same ripe age of 87.
"Like many of his students, I learnt my ABCD of cricket under Sir's guidance," said the Dronacharya awardee's most famous ward, in a statement.
"His contribution to my life cannot be captured in words. He built the foundation that I stand on," he added.
Tendulkar, unarguably the greatest batsman in modern cricket, was coached by Achrekar at the Shivaji Park in Mumbai's Dadar as a child.
(With PTI inputs)
