‘The man who discovered Sachin Tendulkar’, Ramakant Achrekar passed away at the age of 87 at his residence in Dadar on January 2. Accordingly, on January 3, Thursday, the coach’s last rites were performed at Dadar’s Hindu Crematorium Ground and he was bid farewell by several cricketers as well as politicians. The Dronacharya Award-winner and Padma Shri was born in 1932 who went on to shape the country’s greatest cricketer — Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar.
However, amidst the grief of his departure, it was expressed by several people as well as leaders that the state government failed to honour the cricketing legend as they failed to provide him with a state funeral. Achrekar lived at Trimurti Building situated at Shivaji Park and on Wednesday, at 6:30 pm, he breathed his last after he suffered a heart attack.
On Thursday, his mortal body was kept near his residence for the ‘last darshan’ which was attended by various dignitaries who paid their homage to the legend. His students, Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli paid a teary-eyed farewell to their guru.
On the other hand, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, cricketer Pravin Amre, bowler Chandrakant Pandit, Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, BJP Mumbai President Ashish Shelar along with Achrekar’s numerous students paid their tribute.
After which, his body was cremated at Dadar Hindu Crematorium in presence of a heavy-hearted Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Chandrakant Pandit and his several students. However, the people who attended his funeral were disappointed with the state government’s attitude towards Achrekar as they stated that the coach and his deeds were forgotten by the government because the Dronacharya-award winner and Padma Shri deserves a state funeral.