Novy Kapadia

By Khalid A-H Ansari and Clayton Murzello

Rs 450

Ironically, in the twilight of his glorious cricket career, Sachin Tendulkar, who always shunned the spotlight, is suddenly in the throes of controversy, for events not of his choosing. First there was his nomination to the Rajya Sabha, which caused a mild furore, with many saying that an active sportsman should not be a nominated member.

Earlier this week, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, on a visit to India, announced that the master blaster will be conferred the membership of the Order of Australia. Many Australian fans chastised their government for announcing such an award citing Sachin’s role in the monkeygate scandal involving the countries’ cricket teams.
On the playing front, there is a clamour for his retirement, now that he has achieved the distinction of getting his 100th hundred, as his reflexes are slowing down. There is constant speculation in the media of his impending retirement and so the book, Sachin Born to Bat, has been released at an appropriate time. The editors of this 199-page book, Khalid A-H Ansari and Clayton Murzello, have chosen 39 exclusive texts and innumerable pictures from the archives of Mid Day Infomedia to trace Sachin’s meteoric career from childhood to his 100-century feat, which he achieved in March 2012 at Dhaka.
Besides the book also has a section titled Perceptions, which has 32 comments, both anecdotal and adulatory, on Sachin by cricket legends like Brian Lara, Kapil Dev, Bishen S. Bedi, Ian Chappell, Richie Benaud, famous writers Peter Coward (Australia) and Christopher Martin Jenkins (England), school friends and TV personalities like Rajdeep Sardesai. There are also some delightful interviews in which Sachin expresses his feelings after he became the first batsman to score a double hundred in one-day international cricket, his dream that India would win the 2011 World Cup in Mumbai, favourite songs and his 20 greatest moments on a cricket field.
The book is not a panegyric about Sachin’s skills as a cricketer, but also provides rare insights about his personality and habits, through articles written by friends, coaches, teammates and newspersons who knew him well. Reflections and anecdotal essays are the highlight of this book. Sachin’s wife Anjali reveals that he is a doting father, plays with the kids, likes cooking and wearing designer T-shirts, jeans and watches, sends surprise presents on Valentine’s Day but can be stubborn. Candid as always, Dennis Lillee states that he would have bowled to Sachin with a helmet on. Lillee rates Sachin on par with Vivian Richards, Gary Sobers and Rohan Kanhai. There are also fine anecdotal accounts of when Sachin met the late Sir Don Bradman. In a nostalgic mood, Sourav Ganguly recalls Sachin’s impish pranks when they were together in the national U-15 camp.
Cricket fans will relish reading essays about his memorable knocks. Harsha Bhogle vividly recalls Sachin’s maiden Test hundred at Old Trafford, which saved the Test match against England. Ayaz Memon’s morning dispatch from Perth in the 1991-92 series highlights Sachin’s genius. “He scored 81 of the 98 runs made by India in the session, most of them with drives, off the front foot and back, in front of the wicket.” Sachin rates his century on a fast-paced Perth wicket against a four-pronged Aussie attack as his best knock. Ayaz also recalls another gem of a knock — Sachin’s 122 against England in 1996. Sachin came in to bat when India were 12 for two and then 36 for four but helped his side avert an innings defeat. The next best score after his 100 was injury-hit Sanjay Manjrekar’s patient 18. The desert storm, Sachin’s unblemished 134 off 131 balls against Australia at Sharjah, was a gift to his wife on his 25th birthday. It left the Aussies hapless and vanquished skipper Steve Waugh acknowledged, “There is nothing much you can do when he is in this form.”
Creditably the book avoids becoming a mere eulogy by bringing to the forefront Sachin’s alleged weakness in the face of pressure, not winning enough matches for India, his low average in third and fourth innings in matches India has won and comments when he struggled as captain. The book reproduces the signed article, Look into that Mirror, Sachin by Ian Chappell calling upon the maestro to retire after scores of seven vs Bangladesh, 57 vs Bermuda and zero against Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup. It also hints at controversies like request for import duty exemption for the Ferrari F360 Modena car presented to him by Michael Schumacher and the ball-tampering incident on the South African tour of 2001.
The book starts chronologically with excellent essays by journalists Sunil Warrier and Sharda Ugra on Sachin’s formative years as a player but then moves on to several reports and interviews about his international career from 1989 to 2012.
Overall, this is neither a detailed biography nor an analytical book on Sachin’s remarkable career, self-effacing personality, contribution to Indian cricket or changing face of cricket. Instead, it is a compilation of crisply written essays (both analytical and just-match reports) at different stages of his career. All the memorable knocks and events of his career are recalled, so for cricket fans it can provide riveting reading.