Book review of biography of sachin tendulkar
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Vaibhav Purandare gets underway with a brief and interesting account on the Indian batting legend's early days as a budding cricketer. Not surprisingly, Sachin Tendulkar scored centuries on debut in both the tournaments. There's definitely a story there!
The subject couldn't have been more interesting, to put it mildly.
However, it is to be noted that Sachin has either totally avoided or mentioned minimally about various controversies during 1989 to 2013. I had seen a boy evolve into a man, a batsman become a legend, a shy man with fewer words than shots deliver an extraordinarily moving retirement speech. Everything and everyone, including their own teammates, is but a 'support' system, carrying on from when everyone had tried to nurture their prodigious talents when a child.
Not only injuries, Sachin has time and again mentioned about food of various countries as well as the food prepared by his mother and wife, in this book. This was crying out for Walter Isaacson, not Boria Majumdar.
This could have been a contemporary analysis of modern cricket. Or a masterclass on run-making and batting techniques and adjustments.
Book review: Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography is an engaging portrait of the Little Master
And so I focussed on what was there. We are simply astonished by his single-minded affection and dedication to the game of cricket. He had already been rejected, been told to come back when a little older.
The book is written in strict chronological order. This, though, fails on both counts, especially so in the writing which is just lazy and simplistic from Boris Majumdar. He holds the international records of maximum runs, maximum centuries in both formats of the game (Test and One-day). It would be interesting to research on the self-centredness of the top achievers; beyond the Viv swagger and the Pietersen brashness, most seem to cater to W.G.
Grace's "They came to see me bat, not you bowl". Undoubtedly he is the most celebrated Indian cricketer of all time. Once Ramakant Achrekar accepted Tendulkar, he took over his cricketing life picking him out of colony games, plonking him on his scooter and taking him to play cricket. He knew that freed of the pressure of being watched, Sachin would play the shots he could.
Sachin Tendulkar: A Definitive Biography
Next up in the book is depiction of Tendulkar's prowess as a genius batsman against genuine, intimidating pace attack on some of the world's most bouncy wickets of those times - Melbourne, Perth; during India's tour Down Under followed by his appointment as vice-captain of the Indian team, a row on the standard, label, and quality of his willow, his influence on Indian cricket as the era's master batsman, the not so successful first stint as captain, the batting masterpieces during the golden year of his career, the troubled times with captaincy paying a revisit, the devastating test and one day international defeats which left an everlasting scar on Tendulkar's psyche, the debacle of match fixing and ball tampering allegations in Indian cricket, the emergence of an evolved Tendulkar - more calculative in taking risks and containing his aggression; which I presume are known to most admirers of Sachin Tendulkar.
The concluding part of the book includes the Indian batting legend's days as a senior statesman in the Indian cricket team, which unfolds with instances of him revelling as a senior player and a consistently blooming batsman under the captaincy of long time team mates Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, and later MS Dhoni (Dhoni's captaincy does not find a mention in this book for obvious reasons).
Achrekar took the option of being reluctant away. If the decade of 1990-2000 saw Sachin Tendulkar the batting genius produce some of his most memorable knocks in Test and One day International cricket, the second half of maestro's career witnessed Indian team conquering new height both team wise and by virtue of Tendulkar's master batsmanship.