The SoBo doctor who clean bowled Sachin

One afternoon in 1991 I was at home in my flat in the family bungalow on Warden Road when the phone rang lsquoCan I speak to Anjali Mehtarsquo said a young woman lsquoShersquos not here Tell mersquo I replied lsquoIrsquom ringing from suchandsuch hotel in Bangalorersquo said the voice lsquoMr Tendulkar wants to talk to herrsquo When Anjali got back from JJ Hospital that evening I told her I had been mildly amused that a Mr Tendulkarrsquos secretary had rung hoping to find her lsquoOh Mummyrsquo groaned Anjali lsquoit must have been Muffi playing a prankrsquo MuffimdashMuffazal Lakdawalamdashwas a fellow medical student mad about cricket I laughed and didnrsquot give it another thoughtAnjali was not telling the exact truth She and Sachin had been seeing one another for over a year a secret shared with just a handful of close friendsBut not her parentsSachin and Anjalirsquos engagement at the Mehta house in Breach Candy on April 24 1994mdashthe day the cricketer turned 21Romance had sparked in September 1990 at the airport in Bombay Anjali and her best friend Aparna also a medical student had come to fetch me from my annual visit to my elderly mother still bicycling in her nineties in England They were in the viewing gallery at Arrivals when Aparna squealed lsquoThatrsquos the Indian cricket team coming out Anjalirsquo lsquoWhorsquos thatrsquo asked Anjali She was pointing to an enchanting boy with chubby cheeks and a shock of dark curls coming through from the Heathrow flight before mine As Anjali looked at him their eyes met or so she claims because the next minute she grabbed Aparna and they ran down the stairs in chase the fact of my impending arrival forgotten Sachin was seventeen Anjali was twentyone And Cupid must have been hiding behind a columnJust weeks before on August 14 Sachin already a superstar in India had scored his maiden Test century at Old Trafford in Manchester dragging India from defeat Anand had watched the match in London on my brother Richardrsquos blackandwhite television However every keen Indian cricket fan would have heard Sachinrsquos name less than a year earlier when aged sixteen and barely fivefootsix he played for India against Pakistan in Sialkot The brilliant Waqar Younis himself only a year older and making his Test match debut had bowled a bouncer that smashed into his nose Sachin had famously carried on playing with blood streaming down his cute little babyface It was a baptism of sorts From that moment Sachin was christened Master BlasterNeedless to say Anand a cricket anorak had known about Sachin even earlier One afternoon in October 1988 he had been playing in a bridge tournament at the Cricket Club of India in the card room on the pavilion side of the club A match was going on and during a break someone suggested that Anand should come out and watch a young batsman who appeared to be a bit of a star When Anand got free the batsman in question one Sachin Tendulkar was still in and continuing to stun spectators with his style The club had had to amend its rules so that a fifteenyearold could enter the dressing roomAnjali and Sachin at their wedding reception in May 1995The next time Anand watched Sachin was at his debut innings in the Ranji Trophy tournament at the Wankhede Stadium against Gujarat where he made a century becoming the youngest to do so and therefore a household name in Bombay But I can guarantee that Anjali had never heard of Sachinmdashor any other cricketer for that mattermdashuntil that moment two years later at the airport The day after Sachinrsquos return to Bombay I read the story in the paper about a gang of giggly girls who had mobbed him on his arrival at the airport and clambered on to the bonnet of his taxi It never crossed my mind that one of them was my medicalstudent daughterAnjali had had one or two boyfriends not remotely serious and possibly only there to keep others at a distance She was tall and pretty and had dozens of admirers My motherinlaw was particularly keen on a gorgeous Gujarati chap who sent Anjali flowers every single day We nicknamed him Phoolwallah The son of a celebrity I dare not name was also buzzing around I had created for Anjali a lovely room at the top of the house with windows at either end and a view of the mango tree where she and her friends used to lounge about on mattresses and fat bolsters We had more space than most people and a garden and there were always heaps of young ones coming and goingAs a devoted mother I think I might be permitted to say that my daughter was quite a catch From the moment she began studying medicine I imagined she would fall madly in love with a dishy doctor she met fluttering ebonyblack lashes above his surgical mask during a complicated medical procedure Or maybe an Oxford graduate who had come back to Bombay to work in some Indian pharma company Or an IT graduate with a good corporate job I would never in a million years have predicted that she would fall for a cricketerAnnabel with her grandchildren Arjun and Sara Tendulkar in GoaHowmdashand whymdashAnjali kept Sachin a secret from us for so long I donrsquot know Perhaps she was waiting until she felt absolutely sure about him Even as a small girl she was measured sensible and organised in pronounced contrast to her little sister Tara who was a dreamer scatty and forgetful Anjali forgets nothing She used to get home from school go straight to her room and do her homework She was always prepared punctual and private That is her nature I suppose I didnrsquot share my private life with my mother either I later discovered that when Anjali met Sachin she wrote to her aunt Helen my brother Richardrsquos wife and said she had developed an interest in cricket and asked if she could send her a copy of the Idiotrsquos Guide to Cricket which was only available in England Anjali has a doctorrsquos brain She learns quickly and has a brilliant memory She read the book in a day and then invited a surprised Sachin to test her lsquoWhatrsquos cow cornerrsquo he asked hoping to catch her out But Anjali knew it was a particular place on the cricket field in the deep on the batsmanrsquos leg side Clean bowledAnjali says it was love at first sight that day at the airport For her at least The second she got home she phoned her friend Muffi he who was accused of the lsquoprankrsquo phone call and asked him for Sachinrsquos phone number Muffi had a cousin who played club cricket in Bombay so he knew people and the job was done Sachin rarely at home happened to pick up the phone that day Anjali introduced herself as the girl from the airport and said she wanted to see him again Sachin claimed to remember her lsquoSo what was the colour of my teeshirtrsquo bowled a flirty Anjali lsquoOrangersquo said Sachin A six for Sachin The rest is history I wouldnrsquot be surprised if Anjali has kept the teeshirtExcerpted with permission from My Passage to India by Annabel Mehta and Georgina Brown Westland Books