MSSA burns Sachin - Kambli 664-run stand score sheet

File Photo: Indian batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli leave the field at the end of the 1st Test match between India and England at Eden Gardens in Calcutta, February 2nd 1993.

The Mumbai School Sports Association is facing the heat after they burnt the score sheet of the match in which Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli shared a 664 run partnership for Shardashram Mandir against St. Xaviers Fort, setting a world record on 24th February, 1988.

The only manuscript that recorded Sachin and Kambli’s entry into the Mumbai team, a document worthy of being framed, has been destroyed with the feeble excuse of making more storage space. MSSA cricket secretary HS Bhor told Hindustan Times:

“The score sheet was kept along with all the other records of games and has since been incinerated as we could not store them all. You cannot expect us to store files that are 25 years old.”

Digging his own grave, he added, “The score sheet was like a sheet from any other match.”

On the other hand, Father Jude, President of the Mumbai School Sports Association, said -

“I will be looking into the matter seriously and see what documents are missing. I will discuss this with the staff. It is a very serious matter.”

Fans remain flabbergasted, and one can imagine Sachin’s own disappointment. The possible solutions that the inconsiderate MSSA could have thought of, in contrast, was scanning what they couldn’t keep and saving what they couldn’t lose, especially in the digital age that we now live in. Another option would be to make an effort to frame the document and present it to Sachin himself, respecting the men and their great achievement. They could have even made money out of it by selling the document in an auction.

The question remains as to why the MSSA didn’t think of alternatives to save a piece of valuable history that records such a tremendous achievement by the greatest batsman of all time. Although, such a memory can never be forgotten – with or without the document.