Mumbai, Oct. 11 -- In terms of cricket gear, the current players are spoilt for choice. Even local cricketers get to wear the best footwear. But when Sachin Tendulkar began his cricketing journey, he sported ordinary canvas shoes. His first quality pair of cricket shoes was gifted to him by Pravin Amre, a senior player at late coach Ramakant Achrekar's nets. "The first day I went to Achrekar Sir's nets, I was wearing the canvas shoes, which we wore to school for Physical Training (PT) lectures with a green flat sole. The day we decided to play serious cricket, sir told my brother, 'we must get the hard spikes (shoes) for him.' Those shoes used to have thick nails hammered into the sole," said Tendulkar, going down memory lane at a grand event to launch his sports shoes and apparel brand, Ten X You, on Friday. "We used to practice in the school nets and Pravin Amre was in the India U-19 team and had returned from Australia. Sir used to tell us to watch his batting. We used to watch him very closely, which kit he was wearing, which bat he was using and the shoes he was wearing. In his kit there were some really fancy cricket shoes, which we used to admire, 'kya shoes hai.' Pravin said, 'you score a hundred and take them,' recollected Tendulkar. "When I got my hundred, I didn't have the guts to go and tell him to give me the shoes. Pravin himself came to me and the first quality pair of cricket shoes of my life were given by him. I can't forget that," Tendulkar added. "Even after I played for India, I continued wearing those shoes. I remember going to England, which was my third tour, (there) some fancy shoes came to us, that is when I experienced how wearing quality shoes on a good ground made a huge difference. I didn't stop running (during the game)." Using his vast experience and knowledge of cricket, the batting legend has now launched his own shoe brand, Ten X You. The cricket shoes are part of Tendulkar's new sports athleisure brand under the company SRT10 Athleisure Pvt Ltd. Unlike typical celebrity endorsements, Tendulkar's involvement goes beyond being a mere face, offering the product teams feedback to refine designs and functionality. "I felt why not use all my experience and put everything together and that is what (the product) is. To do this, it has taken 18 months," said Tendulkar, explaining the need for fixing a spike at the rear of the shoe, an extra spike at the front, and the greater width of shoes since Indians have a broader feet. "Today, there are line calls, literally centimetres is the difference between winning and losing. Normally when you are taking off, I felt the thrust that we need was not there so I asked them to move a spike up (rear side) as far as possible. "All our data has shown Indians have broader feet, we have given a little more space. Data shows a lot of Indians are flat-footed so we have designed the insole accordingly. There are higher ankles for extra stability during lateral movement and an extra 9 mm spike in the front, which will only come into play when you land badly, or slip while running on the grass outside the pitch area," said Tendulkar, adding that he is in the process of launching a shoe designed for fast bowling. "There is no such thing as right now - either you can have it right or you can have it now. We have spoken to a lot of fast bowlers, who have played Ranji and the India team."...