Picture Credit: Twitter/@PramodBhagat83
Paralympics gold medalist Pramod Bhagat, who has gone on record several times praising his idol Sachin Tendulkar, received a gift from the cricketing legend. While Pramod had attributed his calmness on the badminton court to the inspiration he took from the behaviour shown by Tendulkar, the two even met and spent some time together earlier this month.
The reigning world champion, Bhagat, clinched India's first Paralympic gold in badminton with a straight-game win over Great Britain's Daniel Bethell in the SL3 class final in Tokyo recently.
And now Tendulkar has gifted Bhagat the jersey he wore in his landmark 200th Test match. The fixture played against West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai was also the last Test match of Tendulkar's international career spanning over two decades. Pramod even wrote a heartfelt message on receiving the gift. He explained how his adrenaline was running high while opening this gift before revealing how he "stole his heart" by this gesture.
"My adrenaline was running high while opening this gift sent to me by my idol @sachin_rt, he stole my heart yet again by gifting me Jersey worn by him in his 200th Test match for India Flag of India, words are falling short. Thank you Sir Sachin Tendulkar for this wonderful gift," he captioned a picture of himself along with the autographed jersey.
Check out the tweet here:
Earlier, Bhagat had termed his meeting with Sachin as a childhood dream come true. He said that the words Tendulkar spoke to him will remain with him throughout his life and will continue to inspire him all his life. He was so elated on meeting his inspiration that he said he would be sleepless that night. He took to social media to express his feelings.
"CHILDHOOD DREAM COMES TRUE! I can't believe how happy I am today as a kid I took inspiration from Sir @sachin_rt The words you spoke to me today will stay with me forever & will keep inspiring me for life. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will be sleepless tonight," he had posted on Twitter.
The 33-year-old shuttler had contracted polio when he was 4 years old but showed great mental resolve and strength to recover from an eight-point deficit in the second game of the 2020 Paralympic final and go on to beat his opponent.
