When 'little Osama' stumped Sachin Tendulkar

There's a popular saying that what's there in a name but Sachin Tendulkar certainly feels there's something about it.

In his illustrious career spanning over 23 years, Tendulkar has handled the scorching pace of Shoaib Akhtar as well as the guile of Shane Warne with aplomb but it was a 'doosra' from a young Pakistani fan that stumped the senior batsman during India's tour of 2003-04.

During that particular tour, Tendulkar once visited the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre when he decided to stand by the bed of a kid who was told to be his ardent fan.

"What's your name?" the maestro asked the little boy but his sister answered on behalf of the reticent kid.

"He would scare you by his name," the sister stated.

Sheer curiousity made Tendulkar ask her as to why so, the kid said,"I'm Osama."

It was one of the off-the-field moments, Tendulkar still cherishes as he relived his glorious past during a pictorial book launch 'The PEAK' by Bengali photojournalist Suman Chattopadhyay.

Describing the book, Tendulkar said, "There has some incredible moments of my life. It will also raise money for charity."

"My father used to tell me that "Nothing is permanent in life but one thing remains forever: your nature and the kind of person you are... Everybody remembers you for that," Tendulkar said while addressing the gathering.

Marathi sports journalist Sunandan Lele has written the caption stories for each of the photographs.

"Tendulkar is always up for charity. If one industrialist asks him for an appointment, he may delay it but he always has time for the underprivileged," Lele said.

India's World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh, who also one of the guests said,"We all looked up to him. He is my hero, the nation's hero. But the most important thing is he is also a great man."

... contd.

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