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Mumbai, April 25
During a Cricket Club of India function, yesterday, Wadekar recalled how Tendulkar had pulled a fast one on him during that particular tour. “There was this incident in New Zealand. It was on my birthday which is April 1. We had a lovely net session day before and I retired to bed early as I used to fool others on All Fools’ Day. I was half asleep when at the stroke of midnight, Sachin was at my door with a serious look on his face,” Wadekar recalled during his keynote address at the Legends’ Summit on the occasion of Tendulkar’s 42nd birthday.
“I asked Sachin as to why he was knocking at my door at such an odd hour and he said that something was wrong with Kapil Dev. I wore my pyjamas and went to Kapil’s room two floors away. When we entered the room, I saw the entire team with a cake and champagne bottles. I was shocked and surprised,” the septuagenarian fondly recollected.
What he said after that had the audience in splits. “Suddenly, from the connecting room, belly dancers, six of them, walked in and started dancing. I wondered this must have been Sachin’s idea as Sunny (Sunil Gavaskar), though a commentator on that tour, was not to be seen. Sunny is famous for his pranks but this must have been Sachin’s idea,” Wadekar said bringing peals of laughter from those present.
“I really enjoyed belly dancing and had two glasses of champagne, before I realized that everyone had started leaving. I was suddenly left with one belly dancer. Being the manager of the team, I had to observe the code of conduct and retire to my room,” he added. — PTI
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