A galaxy of cricketers was present at the launch of Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography on Wednesday evening. While a host of cricket legends who played before his time, like Sunil Gavaskar, introduced Sachin as it were to Mumbai’s swish set and cricket enthusiasts, the presence of the golden batting quartet of the author himself, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman made the day for lovers of cricket as they chatted about their careers. Tendulkar’s family his wife Anjali and brother Ajit and his first coach, Ramakant Achrekar, were present and so was his daughter Sara to whom he presented a copy of the book Playing It My Way. It was an evening of great anecdotes that had the audience either in stitches or applauding the sentiments expressed. While the recurring theme of the 1,50,000 word book of 486 pages was the story of the greatest run-getter, the greatness of Indian cricket also receives its due. A fair deal of controversy has been whipped up so far in strategic release of excerpts and it did not stop there as Tendulkar and all his mates dug it into Greg Chappell while Sachin also brought up the subject of Ian Chappell. Before the evening was out, Sachin may have said his final word on the Chappell brothers but the controversy has perhaps not ended yet. A day before too he had dismissed both of them as dissemblers in a private media party he hosted for scribes. He gave short shrift to Greg Chappell’s excuses on the captaincy issues before, during and after the World Cup of 2007. He took a swipe at the elder Chappell, saying that if Ian looked at himself in the mirror he would see multiple personalities. He demolished Greg questioning his version of events by saying his wife Anjali was there when the Aussie coach of the Indian cricket team spoke to him offering him the captaincy by snatching it from Rahul Dravid. He ridiculed Ian’s fetish of calling a spade a spade. “When he complimented me once in 2010 in
Durban, I told him you have changed sides. He changes sides easily and conveniently,” Sachin said while digging into the Chappell brothers of Adelaide who wore many hats after retiring from cricket. The Chappells are likely to have more to say on the subject, but Sachin emphasised that all Indian players believed Greg was bad for Team India and for Indian cricket. He recalled travelling with Harbhajan, Laxman and others who all said they were not comfortable with Greg at the helm. Asked why he did not tell Rahul about the incident, Sachin said he was not like Chappell to play politics in the team. Sachin blamed Greg for asking him to bat at No. 4 in the 2007 World Cup and not at his favourite ODI slot at No. 2. He said the coach spoiled his mental preparation for the event by dictating the batting order. He recalled how when he was batting at No. 4 even in local games like against the Natal province India lost matches and how John Wright as coach had once asked him to tell him frankly where he wished to bat in ODIs. “I could control the innings if I batted at the top,” Sachin said. Team India players are standing by Sachin in his demolition of Greg. Whoever could make it to the venue of the book release on Wednesday evening was there at the Grand Maratha to show their solidarity with Sachin. His book is bound to cause more than a few ripples as arguably the world’s greatest batsman in cricket history says he has made an honest and sincere effort in sharing his thoughts. “I have spoken the truth,” he emphasised. It is, perhaps, up to Greg Chappell now to reflect on the issue of how he is said to have destroyed team spirit. Source: The Asian Age, Image: flickr.com
