BBD Bag: Sanjay Manjrekar had his audience in splits when he recounted how Sachin Tendulkar had given him the scare of his life late one night and how Sourav Ganguly never encouraged him with his Bengali singing.

The former cricketer was speaking at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where he made his debut as a singer before a live audience on Monday, belting out Kishore Kumar's Hindi film numbers as well as a few of Tagore's songs.

Highlights of what Manjrekar said:

On Sachin Tendulkar's sleepwalking

Sachin used to sleepwalk and we knew that since he made his debut in Pakistan in 1989. But still you can't be prepared enough.... In 1989, he had walked into the room of (Indian team mates) Raman Lamba and W.V. Raman at night and was staring at them with a blank expression. Lamba, the typical north Indian, gave him a scolding, "Oye, ja ke so ja (Hey, go off to bed)", and he went away.

In New Zealand, I was sharing a room with Sachin. I had this uncanny feeling one night and opened my eyes - Sachin was sitting on the edge of his bed and staring at my face. That still gives me the creeps.... I had got the scare of my life.

On Bengali songs and Sourav Ganguly

It's basically the love for Kishore Kumar's songs. When I ran out of his Hindi songs, I turned to Bengali, specifically Rabindrasangeet. As Sourav was the only Bengali around, I used to start singing when he was around, may be on the bus or somewhere else. But he always used to look the other way... not very encouraging, I must say. Later, he told me he was scared because he had heard of lot of bad singers among his friends.

On T20 skills

I don't think there is a problem if a coach is teaching a youngster to just hit big shots or to contain the runs as bowler rather than taking wickets. You have to develop specific skills.

On Bombay gharana batting

We were taught to give the first two sessions - that is four hours, mind you - to the bowlers and then start dominating. But the likes of Virender Sehwag have changed all that. The new thought process is to get as many as possible before that ball which has your name on it comes along.

On India producing best batsmen in the world

It's something in the water here and also perhaps the flat pitches. In 1987, Sunil Gavaskar retires and in 1989 you have Sachin. Just before he retires you have Virat Kohli. We are just very lucky.

On parents' dilemma

It's a difficult choice to balance between cricket and studies. Not every international cricketer would be an engineer like (Erapalli) Prasanna, (Javagal) Srinath and (Anil) Kumble. Sometime back, I was seated next to Hardik Pandya on a flight. He told me that he gave up studies in Class IX to concentrate on cricket. But I wouldn't want my son to do so, as wouldn't many others.

On his 218 in Lahore in 1989

(Pakistan skipper) Imran Khan had ensured green wickets everywhere. But in Lahore, Javed Miandad had his way and got a flat pitch for his 100th Test so he could get a 100 in it. He did actually but I, too, benefited and got my double.

On his early retirement (at 31)

Look, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly had already made their debut. I would have been kicked out if I didn't retire.

On his stage debut in Calcutta.

In Mumbai, to earn respect you have to play fast bowlers well. That's why Sourav also played club cricket there. That's why I am singing for the first time before an audience in this city ( winks).