A cricket bat manufacturer in the Sangam area here was in for a pleasant surprise when Sachin Tendulkar and his family visited his manufacturing unit on Saturday.

Tendulkar, accompanied by wife Anjali and daughter Sara, stopped by at a unit in Charsoo on the Srinagar-Jammu highway and interacted with the workers there.

"We were busy making bats when a vehicle stopped at our gate. We were pleasantly surprised to find the Little Master and his family," Mohammad Shaheen Parray, owner of MJ Sports, told PTI over phone.

Parray said Tendulkar checked the quality of the bats made of Kashmir willow.

"He stroked a few bats and was quite pleased with the quality. Tendulkar said he had come to compare the Kashmir willow bats with those made of English willow.

"We requested him to lend his voice in support of the local bats," Parray said, adding the batting maestro promised to support the Kashmir willow bats.

Parray said Tendulkar spent an hour at the manufacturing unit and interacted with a small bunch of fans.

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