"Are your earnings in excess of Rs 300,000?" - Farokh Engineer shares an amusing anecdote about Sachin Tendulkar
Former India cricketer Farokh Engineer is a master of storytelling. The octogenarian chronicled a funny story involving Sachin Tendulkar and his first credit card.
Talking exclusively to Sportskeeda's Indranil Basu on SK Live, Farokh Engineer told us about Sachin Tendulkar's reaction to a bank looking to collect his details for a credit card.
"There's a lovely story about Sachin Tendulkar. With all the wealth he has amassed, the bank club tries to get him to open a credit card. So he is asking routine questions like 'Mr. Tendulkar are your earnings in excess of Rs 300,000?' or something like that. And Sachin shrugged his shoulders and said some days yes and some days no!", said Engineer.
"We used to earn Rs 50 a day in a Test match" - Farokh Engineer
Farokh Engineer also talked about how officials in cricket used to earn more than the players. According to him, former captain Sunil Gavaskar led the charge in demanding better pay for the athletes.
"We used to oil our bats in my time. Now no one oils the bats. These guys get about 20-30 bats. We had one bat that too bought with our own money. We used to get Rs 50 a day to play Test cricket. Now you will think it's a joke. Its great for cricket now. I think people like Sunil Gavaskar advocated players should earn more money. It was just the officials earning more money those days and players used to lose out," said Engineer.
A wicketkeeper-batsman, Farokh Engineer was one of the pioneers of flamboyant batting. Playing in the 60s and 70s, Engineer also had a knack of grabbing difficult catches behind the stumps.
Engineer averaged 31 in Test cricket from 46 Test matches. He is famously remembered for his role in India's famous 1971 victory in England.
His knock of 59 in the third Test in challenging conditions set the tone for India's victory in the Test, and eventually, the series. Some fans will also remember Engineer for his spectacular catch to dismiss John Edrich on the same tour.