Sachin opens India Room at The Oval

Sachin Tendulkar was the cynosure of all eyes as he opened a magnificent ‘India Room’ at the newly-built 25-million pound stand at...

Sachin Tendulkar was the cynosure of all eyes as he opened a magnificent ‘India Room’ at the newly-built 25-million pound stand at the Oval cricket stadium here last evening.

A visibly thrilled Tendulkar, who was here to support the Twenty20 tsunami fund raiser between an Asia XI and an International XI, said: “It is a great honour. Surrey is my favourite place where I played my hundredth Test. It was a special moment for me.”

Present on the occasion were Sir John Major, former British Prime Minister who played a key role in raising funds for the new stand, Kamalesh Sharma, Indian High Commissioner to the UK, and some of the leading NRI industrialists, who among them raised 500,000 pounds (approx. Rs. 4 crore) for the India room. Others present included former India wicket-keeper batsman Farooq Engineer.

Describing Tendulkar as “the greatest batsman I have ever seen,” Paul Sheldon, chief executive, Surrey county cricket club, said the Indian maestro had always extended his support for raising funds for relief of the tsunami victims.