3rd most admired sportsperson in the world rarely talks about who he admires the most— but when he does, it’s life changing
This happened in the 1990s. Three guys were seated in a player’s locker room. The location was in one of the large stadiums in India.
The sport was cricket — estimated global fan base of 2.5 billion (next only to soccer/football).
One of the players in that locker room is an icon of the sport — Sachin Tendulkar, the world’s most admired cricketer.
One of the other players in the room, Venkatesh Prasad, needled the most loved cricketer, “So, who do you admire the most, Sachin bhai?
Side note: Sachin is often affectionately called paaji by his next generation teammates — it means the revered one. Bhai — means brother for his contemporaries. And for most folks outside the locker rooms, growing up in the India of the 1990s, Sachin Tendulkar is actually an emotion more than an icon. More about that in part 2 of this blog.
The third guy in the room was very quiet.
Sachin looked-up at the third guy and said, “If you don’t smile and show your teeth, I’ll say you are my favorite player.”
You see, the always smiling VVS Laxman thought the Master Blaster (Sachin is often called by journalist and…
