Kolkata: What is common between Sachin Tendulkar and Sandeep Patil? Too many things, one would answer. Both are former cricketers hailing from Mumbai. But wait, there is something more to it. Both the Mumbaikars have now found new pastures post retirement. If Tendulkar has turned a singer, Patil is a TV host of a cookery show.
The God of Cricket aka Master Blaster made his debut as a singer with Sonu Nigam. The noted playback singer and Tendulkar have teamed up for the song Cricket Waali Beat that premiered at the Grand Finale of the reality show Indian Idol 9 on Sunday. However, Tendulkar is not the first cricketer to try his hand at singing. His fellow Mumbaikar Sanjay Manjrekar is an accomplished singer having also sung a Rabindra Sangeet number. And now, Tendulkar follows in his footsteps. Former footballer Sukumar Samajpati also found his bearings in the music world after hanging up his boots.
Talking about Tendulkar’s prowess over the art, Sonu was quoted by News18 as saying, “He is a very good singer. We did not use pitch corrector on his voice as he was singing in the right sur (tone) and (despite being) the shy person that he is, he got extremely comfortable the moment I kind of increased the masti (fun) quotient while we were shooting the video. It was wonderful and I am very happy that people are loving the song.”
Coming to Patil, whose heroics with the bat are well-known, we were totally oblivious to his hidden talent and that of a cook. The braveheart who came back from injury to score a hundred against Australia in the 1981 Test series Down Under, is a foodie and has a penchant for cooking. He makes his debut as a TV host on a show called the Taste Match that trailer of which has already garnered a very good response on YouTube. Cricketers, former and current like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya have appeared on different episodes of the show.
Patil also a former Chairman of Selectors developed an interest in cooking while he was in charge of the Kenyan team as a coach. “I started going there in 1987 and I continued going there for 17-18 years. My liking for cooking started from there itself. They have a tradition in their parties, where only men cook. I always had this love for cooking but never got a chance. To avoid junk food every day, I started cooking different dishes from there itself,” Patil told InsideSport.
Well sports persons dabbling in different professions is not a new phenomenon though. In the past tennis ace Leander Paes did a Bollywood film titled Rajdhani Express. Patil himself starred in a Hindi film Kabhi Ajnabi The in 1985 which also had his then teammate Syed Kirmani playing a cameo. Sunil Gavaskar, Ajay Jadeja and Vinod Kambli too have done films. Navjot Singh Sidhu is a popular TV personality. Sania Mirza and her hubby, Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik have appeared on a dance reality show, so has football legend Bhaichung Bhutia. The list of examples just goes on and on. And over the years we have had sports persons making guest appearances in films like Kapil Dev in Iqbal and Mujhse Shaadi Karogi.
With Tendulkar and Patil now charting a new course, it remains to be seen how successful they are in a new territory. Fingers crossed!