Throwback: Here’s why Sachin Tendulkar introduced wife Anjali as a ‘journalist’!

Sachin Tendulkar was 17 then and returning from the tour of England and Anjali was at the airport to receive her mother when the two met for the first time. As per Anjali’s admission, she did not even know what does Sachin Tendulkar did then.

Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar with wife Anjali. (Source: Twitter)

Monday, the 24th of May, was a special day in the lives of Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali – who completed 26 years of marriage. Anjali, who is a doctor by profession, prefers to stay away from the limelight.

Sachin Tendulkar was 17 then and returning from the tour of England and Anjali was at the airport to receive her mother when the two met for the first time. As per Anjali’s admission, she did not even know what does Sachin did then.

Once they met, things clicked straightaway and sometime later they got to know each other in a better way through a common friend. It is no secret that Tendulkar has been a shy person and was extremely nervous when he invited Anjali to his house for the first time to meet his parents. During the launch of Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’ in 2015, Anjali recalled how they had come up with a plan to hide her real identity from his parents.  The plan was – Tendulkar introduced Anjali as a journalist to his parents. Anjali recalls wearing a salwar kameez.

“The first time Sachin wanted me to come to his house, he was a little hesitant.  So he came up with this plan that he will tell people at his home that I was a journalist. He said you pretend to be a journalist. I said, fine, whatever you say. I went to his house nicely dressed in salwar kameez,” Anjali had recalled during the launch ceremony of Sachin’s autobiography.

Sachin Tendulkar had tested COVID-19 positive just last month and was even admitted for treatment in hospital for a brief while. The Indian cricket legend seems to have recovered well from the coronavirus setback.

With no mobile phones back in 1990, Anjali recalls writing letters to him when he was in Sydney to save telephone bills. “When I met him in 1990, there were no mobile phones so I had to cross my 48-acre college campus to a telephone booth to call him. I then decided to write letters to him when he was in Sydney to save on telephone bills,” Anjali said.