‘Dada bas thoda sa zyaada khaya’ – Former CAB official describes Sachin Tendulkar’s love for chingri malai curry, recalls his meal before India-Kenya 1998 Tri-series final

Ahead of India’s tri-series final against Kenya in 1998 at Eden Gardens, Sachin Tendulkar called the former Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint secretary Samar Paul with the request of having lunch at latter’s place. Paul later revealed that he was hesitant to invite Sachin initially, as the final was supposed to take place the very next day and a wholesome meal could have complicated Sachin’s health as well.

However, after having chingri malai curry and mutton do pyaaza a day before, the Master Blaster, as he is popularly known, went on smack a brilliant century and courtesy of which, India won the game by nine wickets. Meanwhile, recalling this incident, Paul recalled Sachin’s love for Bengali cuisine and how worried he was regarding the cricketer’s health ahead of the final.

“I told him (Sachin) that he has a match tomorrow, so it’s better if he could come the next day after the match gets over. He disagreed, ‘I would catch an early flight the next morning, so I would like to come today for lunch before the match’. I was really tense about his health and how his body would cope after having a wholesome meal.

“If he doesn’t perform well, and something goes wrong, fingers would be pointed at me.” But Tendulkar kept his words and ate a hearty wholesome lunch that included his favourite chingri malai curry (jumbo tiger prawn cooked in coconut milk) and mutton do pyaaza,” Paul was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Paul said that Sachin was delighted after helping India win the final against Kenya. He also mentioned that after the match Sachin told him that even though he overate, it didn’t make much of an impact in the final.

“It was business as usual for Sachin and he played a gem of an innings to steer India home. He smiled at me after the match and said: ‘Dada bas thoda sa zyaada khaya, usme kya farak padhta hai (I just overate a bit, but it didn’t make much of a difference),” he added.