Solapur waiter took a loan to watch Tendulkar bat

Hailing from a small village in the district of Solapur in Maharashtra, Yashwant Patil had just one dream: to watch Sachin Tendulkar bat one last time.

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After all, the batting icon is “like God” for him.

Patil has hand written and maintained Tendulkar’s career records just like any cricket statistician does.

"I met Sachin during the India-England match. I waited outside his house. He came and saw my diary and was really impressed," he told rediff.com, adding the batting ace was impressed with his work.

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Patil works as a waiter in a small restaurant in his village and earns measly Rs 5000 a month. He started collecting money for the batting icon’s farewell 200th Test last month, but it was not enough for him to buy a ticket and meet the expenses for the trip to Mumbai.

Thus, he took a loan of Rs 5000 and came to Mumbai on Wednesday only to learn that tickets for the match were sold out.

But to his good luck, looking at the fan diary he maintains a person gifted him a ticket just an hour before the match started on Thursday.

Patil has also published some articles in a local newspaper in Solapur and plans to meet Tendulkar at the team hotel after the end of the first day’s play in the Test.