Chennai: A day after batting icon Sachin Tendulkar called up the netizens to identify a hotel waiter on whose advise he had redesigned his elbow guard during his playing days, the person was traced as Guruprasad, a native of Perambur in this city.
Guruprsad said he gave that suggestion to the batting legend and described that moment as an unforgettable moment in his life.
He also said he was happy that Sachin was wishing to meet him.
It was during the India-Australia test in 2001 that the waiter, who had come to serve him a coffee in his room at the Taj Coromandel Hotel, had suggested about redesigning the arm guard.
Yesterday, Sachin tweeted in English and Tamil and posted a video in the social media in which he was seen enquiring about the identity of the staffer at Taj Coromandel hotel who had ‘helped’ him during a Test series.
The waiter told him about a change in his bat swing when he batted with an elbow guard. “I noticed that whenever you wear an arm-guard, your bat swing changes.
He also told the batting maestro that he was a huge fan and used to watch every ball rewinding the action 5-7 times.”
“I had met a staffer at Taj Coromandel, Chennai during a Test series with whom I had a discussion about my elbow guard, after which I redesigned it”, Sachin said.
“I said, yes! You are the only person in the world who figured that out. You won’t believe that I actually came back to my room from the ground and carried my elbow guard and redesigned it: the correct size, the right amount of padding, where the straps should be and all that”, Sachin said.
“I wonder where he is now & wish to catch up with him...Hey netizens, can you help me find him?”, Sachin said, adding, “sometimes a chance encounter can be memorable!”.
In that historic test held from March 18 to 22, 2001, Sachin’s superb century (126) in the first innings was the cornerstone in India’s big first innings total of 501 and helped the team win the match by two wickets and clinch the series 2-1, with Harbhajan Singh claiming 15 wickets in the match. (UNI)