'Of course we'll come, Uncle Srini': How West Indies played in Sachin Tendulkar's final Test
Former Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Dave Cameron recently revealed the circumstances behind the West Indies participating in Sachin Tendulkar's historic 200th and final Test match. The Windies were initially not slated to be a part of the match, but were called in as a replacement by then-BCCI President N Srinivasan.
In an exclusive interview with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda Cricket's Facebook page, Dave Cameron spoke about various topics, one of them being Sachin Tendulkar's final Test match in 2013.
When asked about the 2013 Sachin Tendulkar farewell series and the role of Srinivasan in helping West Indies cricket, Cameron said -
"He (N Srinivasan) invited us to play in Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test match. He even donated 500,000 USD to CWI to establish a retired players foundation. We are very thankful for the support. We may not have agreed on all things, but we had a respectful and healthy relationship."
"We were a replacement team. We were asked to come to India and I thought that was really an honour to play in Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test match, so we grabbed it and we said 'Of course we'll come, Uncle Srini'."
Dave Cameron further elaborated about the extent of his relationship with the controversial Srinivasan, saying -
"Well, he is affectionately known to me as Uncle Srini, and we (CWI) had a very good relationship with him. He and Shashank (Manohar) really took care of the West Indies. In their tenure and my own six years, we hosted India more times in the Caribbean more than any other time in history, and played in India as well."
Sachin Tendulkar's 200th and final Test match
The West Indies toured India for a 2-Test series in 2013, a series that is remembered for being the great Sachin Tendulkar's final international assignment.
The Master Blaster scored a fluent 74 in his last Test at his home ground Wankhede Stadium, with the Caribbean side even giving the great man a guard of honour. India won the match by an innings and 126 runs, not giving the leading run-getter in international cricket another innings in his last game.
The home side also won the series 2-0, with the first Test at Kolkata also having ended in an innings win.