When he was young, Tendulkar would practice for hours in the nets. If he was exhausted Achrekar would put a one rupee coin on top of the stumps and the bowler who dismissed Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar passed the whole session without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Tendulkar now considers the 13 coins he won then as some of their most valuable assets. While at school he developed a reputation as a prodigy. He had become a common conversation point in Mumbai circles, where there were suggestions already that he would become one of the greats. His season in 1988 was extraordinary, with Tendulkar scoring a century in every innings he played. He was involved in an unbroken 664-run partnership in a Lord Harris Shield school games in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli, who will also go on to represent India. The destructive pair reduced one bowler to tears and made the rest of the opposition are willing to continue the game. Tendulkar scored 326 * in this innings and scored over a thousand runs in the tournament. This was a record partnership in any form of cricket until 2006 when it was broken by two under-13 batsmen in a match held in Hyderabad in India.
