Just ahead of his team's encounter with the Chennai Super Kings, the Little Master of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar met one of his most loyal, and perhaps his oldest surviving fan - Saraswathi Vaidyanathan. For her, it was undoubtedly the most memorable moment of her life.
A modest Sachin Tendulkar was overwhelmed at Saraswathi's loyalty. "Even at this age, she has followed my career right from day one. I have always enjoyed playing in Chennai so keep supporting us and keep supporting cricket more than anything else.", he said.
But what is it that makes this Sachin fan stand out? Here's a look.
She's 13 short of a century in the game of life. At 87, Saraswathi Vaidyanathan looks poised to continue batting on as long as her favourite cricketer is at the crease. Arguably one of the oldest fans of Sachin Tendulkar, Saraswathi has a phenomenal memory. She remembers every fact and figure there is to know about the master blaster.
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Ask her about how many runs Tendlya has scored in the ongoing IPL and pat comes the reply - '314'. Blessed with an eidetic memory, this walking talking sachin-opedia doesn't even take a second to tell you the exact number of runs scored by the master blaster in Test and ODI cricket either.
Saraswathi watches cricket in every avataar - Test, ODI, 20:20, and like a doting parent, has been observing Sachin's meteroic rise from when he started wielding the bat at 16. Sceptical about Internet statistics, Saraswathi has her own way of keeping track of Sachin's career. She writes down his scores on tiny scraps of paper.
She might be his oldest fan, but her memory is as sharp as the knitting needles she never touches. Why? Because there's no greater love in her life than Sachin Tendulkar and she would rather watch IPL than knit a pair of socks.
Saraswathi is a Chennaiite at heart, but for the past 3 IPL seasons, she's never really rooted for the Chennai Super Kings. After all, her favourite cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is captaining the Mumbai Indians.
When Sachin met his oldest fan
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