Ho, ho, ho! Sachin Tendulkar turns Santa Claus for kids at childcare home, see video

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar always had surprises in store for his fans whenever he came out to bat. But on Christmas Eve, the Master Blaster donned a new avatar of Santa Claus to surprise some kids at the Ashray Child Care Centre.

Children were overwhelmed the moment they watched the iconic batsman enter the door. Sachin not only spent time with them but also distributed different sports equipments as gifts on the occasion.

“Ho..Ho..Ho... Merry Christmas to all of you! Just amazing to be with these young ones at Ashray Child Care Centre. The joy on their innocent faces was just priceless! #BecomingSanta #MerryChristmas,” he wrote on Twitter.

Tendulkar earlier on Sunday joined a host of former players in slamming average rating given to the Perth stadium pitch, saying only such tracks can revive Test cricket.

The ICC had rated as an average pitch at the Optus stadium, which hosted the second Test between India and Australia.

"Pitches play a crucial role, especially in Test cricket. In order to revive Test cricket and generate excitement, we need to provide more pitches like the one at Perth, where the skills of batsmen and bowlers are truly TESTed," he wrote on his official Twitter handle.

"This pitch was by no means "Average"," said the 45-year-old former master batsman who retired in 2013 after playing 200 Tests with 15921 runs and 51 centuries in his kitty.

Match referee Ranjan Madugalle had rated the pitch at Perth Stadium as 'average', the lowest pass mark provided by the ICC when they assess the pitch and outfield of Test grounds.

Other Test greats like Shane Warne, Mitchell Johnson and Michael Vaughan have also criticised the ICC's decision.