Secret Of Sachin Ton: A Mean Jumbo Prawn Curry Before Final At Eden Gardens

Sachin Tendulkar's love for experimenting with various cuisines is well known but when he is in City of Joy, there is one dish he devours and that is Bengali's favourite Golda Chingrir Malaikari -- a sweet and sour Jumbo Prawn Curry prepared with coconut milk. The Shyambazar house of former Cricket Association of Bengal joint secretary Samar Paul was a favourite address for the maestro whenever he played at Eden Gardens, much before he played in India jersey at the iconic venue.

And before the tri-series final against Kenya in 1998, Tendulkar gorged on his favourite dish prepared by Paul's wife Shukla, whose culinary skills has been lauded by a lot of Indian cricketers.

In the summer of 1998, Eden Gardens hosted the India-Kenya Triangular Series final, a Day/Night affair.

And, on the day of the match Tendulkar insisted that he would like to have lunch at Paul's house before turning up for the final. At that time, Pauls had moved to their CF Block residence in Salt Lake.

"It made me very tense," Paul, fondly recalls in an interaction with PTI.

"I told him that he has a match tomorrow, so it's better if he could come the next day after the match gets over." "He (Sachin) disagreed, 'I would catch an early flight the next morning, so I would like to come today for lunch before the match'." "I was really tense about his health and how his body would cope after having a wholesome meal... If he doesn't perform well, and something goes wrong, fingers would be pointed at me." But Tendulkar kept his words and ate a hearty wholesome lunch that included his favourite chingri malai curry (jumbo tiger prawn cooked in coconut milk) and mutton do pyaaza.

And, as it turned out, Tendulkar came up with an unbeaten 100 to steer India's