The respected cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar, who died due to age-related ailments, was cremated in Mumbai on Thursday with his most famous student Sachin Tendulkar in attendance for a tearful adieu. Achrekar, the childhood coach of Tendulkar, passed away at 87 on Wednesday at his Shivaji Park residence in Mumbai.

Achrekar’s body was kept at Shivaji Park, where he coached aspiring cricketers and then taken to a nearby crematorium. When the body was taken outside the ground, young boys, who practice there, gave a guard of honour amid chants of ‘Amar Rahe’.

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Tendulkar, along with Achrekar’s other former students like Vinod Kambli, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, and Chandrakant Pandit, took part in the procession to the crematorium, where his body was consigned to flames.

Earlier, the body was kept at the veteran coach’s residence for people to pay their last respects. He was the receiver of the coveted awards like Dronacharya and Padma Shri award. He was popularly known for guiding aspiring cricketers and Tendulkar was his most popular ward.

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Mumbai cricketers such as Atul Ranade, Amol Muzumdar Ramesh Powar, Paras Mhambrey, Ranji coach Vinayak Samant, Nilesh Kulkarni, Vinod Raghavan, were also there along with fans. Former Rajasthan coach Pradeep Sundaram, office-bearers of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), veteran cricket administrator Prof Ratnakar Shetty also paid their last respects.

Among politicians, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, MLA and BJP leader Ashish Shelar, Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar also paid tributes to the decorated coach.