9th of November 2013 stroked a memorable moment for the cricket lovers all across India when the two legends of cricket, that changed the history of Indian cricket, were seen embracing each other. Referred as ‘The prince of Kolkata’ ‘Saurav Ganguly’ hugged ‘The God of cricket’ ‘ Sachin Tendulkar’ during the felicitation ceremony after India defeated West Indies by an innings and 51 runs in the first test match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. It was Sachin Tendulkar’s 199th cricket match.
As Sachin is now just one match away from his retirement, the whole stadium flashed up to catch a glimpse of the golden moment in their phones and cameras. The legend’s farewell in Kolkata became the favorite moment of the match to see for all the spectators throughout the match.
Twitter was set abuzz by the fans with the pictures and tweets of the two.
"What a moment!!! The two gr8s, Ganguly & Sachin hugging each #Goosebumps #ThankYouSachin @SouravGanguly @sachin_rt Treat to watch d scene," tweeted one.
To bid farewell to the player in Kolkata, chief minister ‘Mamta Baneejee’ also made her presence at the stadium. She presented a ‘Shawl’, mementos, her paintings and ‘pagri’ (turban) to Tendulkar. But the honor of awarding the prestigious ‘Pagri’ was given to former Indian cricket team captain, Saurav Ganguly, where running out of emotions both hugged each other and added a golden moment in the history book of cricket.
He was also presented a ‘golden banyan tree’ with 199 golden leaves stating his 199th match in Kolkata as mark of remembrance.
Indian cricket history has seen so many farewells before but such an amazing farewell has not been witnessed earlier before. The love of the fans for their favorite cricketer is impossible to describe in words. His fans have already begun to register for Tendulkar’s 200th match that is going to be his final retirement match. People are very excited and looking forward to cheer their superstar one last time in Mumbai on 14th November.