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In an emotional story about his final Test, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar said he asked the Indian cricket board to move it to Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium so his mother could watch him play. Tendulkar recalled the poignant last day of the Test match against the West Indies and declared that he will always remember the iconic "Sachin, Sachin" chants while speaking at a ceremony to commemorate the venue's 50th anniversary.
Sachin's request to BCCI
Sachin Tendulkar revealed he personally asked N. Srinivasan, the BCCI president at the time, and he granted him the chance to watch his mother watch him play international cricket for the first time. Prior to his farewell Test, Tendulkar had stated on several occasions that his mother had never seen him play live from the stadium. Wankhede Stadium hosted Tendulkar's final Test match from November 14–16. In the Test, India won by an innings and 126 runs over the West Indies. Following centuries from Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara, Tendulkar scored 74 in his farewell innings for India, and helped it post 495 runs.
"Before the series was announced, I got in touch with the BCCI and made one request. I asked that I wanted my last match to be held in Mumbai for one reason: I played cricket for so many years—24 years for India, and nearly 30 years overall. But my mother had never seen me play. At that time (during the farewell Test), my mother's health was not good. She could not travel anywhere other than Wankhede to watch me play. I wanted her to see why I have been moving to different places for 24 years. The BCCI very graciously accepted that request," Tendulkar said.
The God of Cricket also recounted poignant moments from the final day of his Test career, stating that he was not sure if the broadcast's producer was trying to hurt him by displaying images of his mother and other members of his emotional family when he was batting in the middle.
"When I went in to bat on the first day, it was towards the end of play. When I walked out to bat, the West Indies players gave me a lot of respect. The crowd gave me a very good reception. I was a bit emotional. My eyes were tearing up, but I had to focus. I had to bat. But, just before the last over, I saw the big screen at the stadium. There was a close-up frame of my mother. She didn’t realise that she was being shown on the big screen. I was thinking if all these shots were necessary because it was the last six balls of the day. I doubted the director of the broadcast had a West Indies passport because I thought he was acting in favour of the West Indies. He was playing with my emotions," Tendulkar added.
With 15,921 runs in 200 Test matches for India, Tendulkar holds the record for most runs in a career in the conventional format. Tendulkar had 68 fifties and 51 hundred by the end.
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