Of Course We'll Come, Uncle Srini: Dave Cameron Reveals CWI Initial Reaction To BCCI's Request To Play Sachin Tendulkar's Farewell Series

Sachin Tendulkar, the legendary Indian batsman, brought an end to his illustrious 24-year-old career in front of his home fans during the two-match Test series against the West Indies in November 2013.

West Indies was initially not supposed to visit India during the latters 2013 home season but with India not having any team to host in their season, the men from the Caribbean were called to fill in the vacant space.

The series was built around the retirement of the ‘God of Cricket’ Sachin Tendulkar, who had announced to call it a day when India was hosting Australia in a limited-overs series in the early part of the season.

Recalling the offer to play the series, Dave Cameron, the then head of Cricket West Indies, reminisced about the boards’ initial reaction.

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David Cameron recalls Cricket West Indies reaction on BCCI’s invitation to play Sachin Tendulkar farewell series

David Cameron said that they confirmed their availability to Shrini uncle (N. Srinivasan), who had donated CWI 50,000 USD to set-up a retired cricketers fund.

“He (N Srinivasan) invited us to play in Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th Test match. He even donated 500,000 USD to CWI to establish a retired players foundation. We are very thankful for the support. We may not have agreed on all things, but we had a respectful and healthy relationship,” Dave Cameron told Sportskeeda

“We were a replacement team. We were asked to come to India and I thought that was really an honor to play in Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th Test match, so we grabbed it and we said ‘Of course we’ll come, Uncle Srini’,” he added.

As it turned out, Sachin called time on his career in a fairytale manner at his home ground in Mumbai as India thrashed the West Indies 2-0. The Test series was followed by a three-match ODI series which too was won by India 2-1.

Since the 2013 rubber, India and West Indies have toured each other on a consistent basis. While West Indies have traveled to India in 2014, 2018, and 2019, India went to the Caribbean islands for a Test and T20I series in 2016, limited-fixtures in 2017, and a full-fledged tour in 2019.

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