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India's 'God of Cricket' Sachin Tendulkar Now Has Spider Namesake

© AP Photo / Kirsty WigglesworthIndian former cricket player Sachin Tendulkar smiles as he walks around the pitch at the Oval cricket ground to promote his upcoming film, in London, Saturday, May 6, 2017
Indian former cricket player Sachin Tendulkar smiles as he walks around the pitch at the Oval cricket ground to promote his upcoming film, in London, Saturday, May 6, 2017 - Sputnik International
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New Delhi (Sputnik): Although cricket is not India’s national game, it makes Indians happy, excited, and proud. The degree to which cricket has consumed its Indian fans becomes apparent when people go out of their way to pay tribute to the game or their favourite players.

In a move expressing India’s love for cricket and as a gesture of a fan's love for his favourite cricketer, a newly-discovered species of Spider has been named “Marengo Sachin Tendulkar” after India’s Master Blaster cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

Dhruv Prajapati, a junior researcher with the Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation, pursuing a PhD in Spider Taxonomy (the branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms), discovered two new species of arthropods.

He named one of them Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, after an Indian Catholic priest and social reformer who worked on raising education awareness in India’s coastal state of Kerala.

 “I named (one spider) Marengo Sachin Tendulkar because Sachin happens to be my favourite cricketer," Prajapati was quoted as saying by the Indian Daily, Times of India.

"Another name was inspired by Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara who was a crusader in creating awareness about education in Kerala," he added.

The reactions on Twitter were heart-warming.

The 46-year-old Tendulkar, who has retired from cricket, is India’s master batsman. The cricketer is the first player to score 10,000 runs in One Day International (ODI) cricket, and the highest run-scorer in ODI cricket. He is also the laureate of the highest civilian award in India, the Bharat Ratna, local reports say.

This is not the first incident where animals or insects have been named after cricketers. In July 2019, two rescued sloth bears were named after former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and former Captain of the Indian Women’s cricket team Mithali Raj.

Interestingly, both Mahi and Mithali (sloth bears) respond to their names when called by animal keepers, according to media reports.

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