Sachin Tendulkar's childhood friend, Vinod Kambli, and coach, Ramakant Achrekar, are hoping that the 'master batsman' overtakes Brian Lara's record of most runs in Test cricket during the first outing in Sri Lanka
"Knowing Sachin's penchant for runs, I will not be surprised if he gets those 172 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC), the venue for the first Test itself. Moreover, the SSC ground is one of his happy hunting grounds as he averages over 110 runs per innings with three hundreds and one fifty from three Tests. I sincerely hope he gets those runs," former Indian batsman Kambli told Cricketnext on Tuesday.
"Another reason, I can think of for him (Sachin) to get those 172 runs at the SSC is, his current form and his hunger for runs when in good form. He top-scored for the Indians with a 60 plus runs in the only practice match on a difficult pitch and the SSC is relatively a batsmen-friendly wicket. My hunch is that he (Tendulkar) will go for it sooner than later," Kambli, who has been in many partnerships with Tendulkar since their school days, added.
"Another reason, I can think of for him (Sachin) to get those 172 runs at the SSC is, his current form and his hunger for runs when in good form. He top-scored for the Indians with a 60 plus runs in the only practice match on a difficult pitch and the SSC is relatively a batsmen-friendly wicket. My hunch is that he (Tendulkar) will go for it sooner than later," Kambli, who has been in many partnerships with Tendulkar since their school days, added.
"Sachin loves to play without any pressure whatsoever. He also knows that the sooner he gets those (172) runs the better it will be for him as well as for his team
"If he manages to get those runs in the first Test itself, then there will be no stopping him for the rest of the series. Mendis (Ajantha) or even Murali (Muralitharan) will have no effect on him and that will be a very good sign for the whole team," the former southpaw observed.
Dronacharya award winner and the man who continues to shape many a Mumbai cricketer's career, Achrekar, was not very sure of his former ward getting to the world record in the very first Test but hoped he would do so.
"Whether Sachin gets to the record in the forthcoming series or not is difficult to say even though everyone would be praying for him to do so. I wish he plays an important role for his team on this wicket, which has seen him score heavily," Achrekar observed
"When he called me up last week, like he does during foreign tours, he sounded very positive even though I did not ask him about the record. Thankfully, he has started the tour on the right note, top-scoring for his team in the three-day match and I am sure we can expect many more runs from his blade," the coach added.
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