Sara Tendulkar on Nerves, New Roles, and the Highs of Team Ownership

For Sara Tendulkar, the past few weeks have been a crash course in pressure, unpredictability — and the emotional weight of watching a team you care about go the distance.

As the owner of Mumbai Grizzlies in the Global E-cricket Premier League, she entered this season with no prior experience in team management or esports. “Honestly, this was a very new role for me,” she said after the final match. “I had more questions than answers.”

The team made it all the way to the final — a high-intensity, down-to-the-wire match that ended in a loss, but left behind a different kind of win. “We’ve always looked at this as a journey,” Sara said. “It wasn’t just about the trophy. It was about how we grew as a team.”

Despite her calm exterior, the finale was anything but detached. “I didn’t expect to feel the same butterflies I do when I’m in a stadium watching a match live — but I did. I had my heart in my mouth,” she said. Sitting beside her that day was her mother, Anjali Tendulkar, equally tense. “We were both sitting there, plucking at our fingernails.”

This was Sara’s first public foray into sport not as a spectator, but as someone actively shaping what happens behind the scenes — from team strategy and morale to dealing with setbacks and big moments under pressure. “You realise quickly that ownership isn’t about calling the shots — it’s about trusting the people you’ve put your faith in. And letting them play.”

The experience, she says, was eye-opening — not just for what it demanded, but for how it made her feel. Her reflections, shared in a quiet Instagram post after the match, were less about results and more about resilience: “We didn’t win the title, but we won in every way that mattered — belief, trust, fight.”

It’s a measured take from someone who has grown up adjacent to the game, but is only now beginning to experience its emotional extremes firsthand. One tournament in, and Sara Tendulkar has already learned what many in sport take years to understand: it’s not just the outcome that stays with you. It’s everything in between.

Check out Sara’s reflections on the season, see her post here.