I am a huge fan of Gavaskar, Sachin: Pichai

Describing himself as a huge fan of cricket, technology giant Google’s chief Sundar Pichai on Thursday said he wanted to be a cricketer in his childhood, revering legends like Sunil Gavaskar in his growing years.

Talking to students at Shri Ram College, the India-born CEO reminisced his childhood days in Chennai.

“I did dream of being a cricketer like so many Indians. I used to be a huge fan of (Sunil) Gavaskar when he was playing and later, Sachin (Tendulkar) when he played. I always had a dream,” he said.

The 43-year old IIT-Kharagpur alumni said he enjoys watching test and one-day cricket matches, but not the faster format of T20 matches.

The executive, who is on his maiden visit to India after taking over as the CEO of Google in August, also took out time to play cricket at India Gate with a few local residents.

Pichai is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee later on Thursday.

Addressing an 1,800-people strong audience comprising school and college students and teachers, Pichai said: “I always thought test cricket was amazing. I had the time to watch it too...but T20 is not something I grew up with, so I don’t enjoy it as much as I do test cricket or one-day matches,” 

Pichai also said he was a fan of football and Barcelona FC star, Lionel Messi. “I am huge football fan as well. I remember when I was young, I would drive my mom crazy. I would wake up in the middle of the night to watch World Cup soccer to watch the Brazilian team in those days. Cricket and Football are two sports that I follow. I am a big Barcelona and Messi fan”.