When Sachin Tendulkar showcased his football skills!

Tendulkar chats with Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt at a charity football game

If you thought Sachin Tendulkar’s skills in sports are restricted only to cricket, you are terribly mistaken. Most of us have heard tales about tennis being his first love and John McEnroe his childhood hero. Many of his former teammates and friends will also swear by his exceptional skills in table-tennis.

But football is a game you might possibly not associate with the Master Blaster apart from when he played it as a part of India’s training sessions at the fag end of his career.

However, do you know that Tendulkar once led his team to victory in a competitive charity football match? Here’s how it all transpired:

Following India’s victory in the Kargil War against Pakistan in the year 1999, a charity football match was organised at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi to raise funds for the families of the martyrs. Pitted against each other were two sides, one comprising of Team India cricketers and the other consisting of top Bollywood stars.

The Cricketers XI boasted of stars such as Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Venkatesh Prasad. On the other hand, the Bollywood XI had its own set of stars in Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar among others.

Tendulkar excelled with the ball at his feet

The match was played in front of a capacity crowd, which was pretty unusual considering the lack of interest among the Indian public in football back in the 90s and especially in a city like New Delhi. The two obvious reasons for this were the cause for which it was happening and involvement of popular celebrities in the game.

As many had expected, the match was an absolutely one-sided affair in favour of the cricketers as they pummelled in 6 goals within the first half and a quarter. By the time the Bollywood XI managed to pull back two courtesy of superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Akshaye Khanna, the final whistle went off.

Although bowler Venkatesh Prasad did send two goals past the Bollywood XI, the real star of the night was the man everyone had come to see, Sachin Tendulkar. The star batsman also scored a brace to ensure that the Cricketers XI stayed in the driver’s seat throughout the game. His football skills were in full display as he toyed with the opposition defence and found the net with the precision of a striker.

While the result of this match between a bunch of non-footballers did not hold much significance due to the noble cause attached to it, the legendary Indian batsman did manage to garner some fan following for his exceptional football prowess.