Was Shilpa Shirodkar dating Sachin Tendulkar before he got married to Anjali? Here’s how the legendary cricketer and actress had reacted to their affair rumours

While cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has been happily married to Anjali Tendulkar for nearly three decades since their 1995 wedding, fathering Sara and Arjun Tendulkar, a lesser-known chapter of his personal life once sparked widespread rumors. Before his marriage, speculation ran rife that the "Master Blaster" was involved with Bollywood actress Shilpa Shirodkar. The actress, renowned for her roles in films like 'Gopi Kishan' and 'Aankhen', was linked to Sachin after a single meeting. In a throwback interview, Shilpa Shirodkar herself addressed these persistent affair rumors and clarifying the nature of their acquaintance.

She had said in an old interview with Red FM, "When I was doing Hum, I met Sachin for the first time, because Sachin jaha pe rehte the mere cousin brother waha par rehte the. Sachin and my cousin brother used to play cricket together in Bandra East. So, that’s how I met Sachin. And Sachin was already seeing Anjali at that time, which was not told to anybody. We all knew because we were friends. Because an actor is meeting a cricketer and he was Sachin Tendulkar, it became easy for people to say, aree and I met him once."

‘Hum’ starred Shilpa along with Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Govinda and others. Meanwhile, Sachin also had addressed it. In an interview with India Today, when the cricketer was asked about the most stupid thing he’s heard about himself, he had said, “That Shilpa Shirodkar and I were having an affair. Because we don't even know each other at all.”

Shilpa later got married to a UK-based banker Aparesh Ranjit in 2000 and left the movies. She has recently made her comeback with ‘Bigg Boss’ and will be seen in ‘Jatadhara’. The actress spoke about leaving Mumbai after her marriage, in a recent interview with Pinkvilla and said, “I never wanted to leave Mumbai as I was very close to my parents, but then I met my husband and within one and a half day, I said yes to him knowing that he is not going to be in India, he is going to go abroad to study. So the bottom line was that I would also be leaving India. I just liked his honesty so much that I didn’t even think what am I doing."