If Cricket is said to be religion in India then he is the God of Indian Cricket. Yes, you rightly guessed ‘he’ – SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR.
He retired from his International Cricket Career on 16 November 2013. He termed it as a completion of first innings. In his second innings of life he debuted with his autobiography that too within a year of his retirement.
Book start with his father’s words that became his life’s philosophy. Father told him that as a parent he would be happier to hearing people say that “Sachin is a good human being” than “Sachin is a great cricketer”any day. Sachin followed the father’s words throughout his career. We never witnessed a arrogant, selfish, angry man rather he behaved as a gentleman, friend to his juniors. Even a debutant like Virat Kohali who was a few years old in his life when Sachin debuted in Cricket, never felt awkward in dealing with him. There are many such players who experienced same thing.
He written in detail of his childhood. It is interesting to know how a naughty boy he was. His elder brother Ajit, found a instinct talent in him for cricket and sent him to Ramakant Acharekar sir for coaching. Since then a Guru – Shishya relation started which is still continued.
He thoroughly mentioned about his early years of making him as a cricketer, how his foundation of becoming a great batsman in cricket is nurtured by his Guru by strict discipline and rigorous practice.
As we progress in reading we come to know about his debut in international cricket career, in Pakistan – traditional rival of India. After that his first hundred in international cricket in England which saved a match for India.
In between this he has also written on his life partner. From how they met for first time to their marriage he written everything in detail.
As every player has ups and down in their career Sachin too was not an exception. Also he was suffered from various injuries like Tennis elbow and others during his whole career. How he faced these situations and overcame on it gives immense inspiration for all of us.
Though he had established himself as a one of the great player in Cricket but he was still missing the one greatest trophy in cricket that every cricketer wants to possess i.e. World Cup. He has written a separate chapter about how India won it on 2011. His teammates determined to fulfil his dream and in the end they stand by their commitment.
The last chapter is tour of West Indies in India which is supposed to be end of his career. During the last match how the preparation was done by BCCI to honour their one of the most revered player shows that how a Sachin is Great not only as a player but also as a human being.
The book ends with his speech that he gave after the end of his career. It is one of the best farewell speech that a retired player has given. It includes not only the names of his teammates, coach, but also a media, fans, BCCI personnels etc. He thanked his fans for that the memories of sound of ‘Sachin, Sachin’. He said that this will reverberate in his ears untill he stops breathing.
Book also gives the statistical data of his major tours at the end of every such chapter. Also at the end of book there is thorough analysis of his Test and ODI career with the help of statistical data.
The book serves as a treat for his fans from all over the world to know their favourite player’s life in his own words. It too serves an inspiration for youngsters who have big dream in their life.
We are proud of him, and it further makes us proud when we come to know that the proceeds from this book will be used to support two charitable causes – the alleviation of malnutrition in children and the provision of clean water to the underprivileged. Hats off to him.
mahendrahs 