Playing it my way Sachin Tendulkar & Hodder & stoughton; Pice: Rs.899; Pages: 486 Arguably the greatest test cricket batsman in the history of the game which has replaced hockey as the nation™s favourite field sport ” although his test average of 53.98 runs per innings pales in comparison with that of Australian legend Sir Donald Bradman (99.94) ” it™s indisputable that Sachin Tendulkar, who retired from the game last year, has (together with another Bombay test cricket star Sunil Gavaskar ” average 51.12) played a stellar role in elevating India into a top-ranked cricketing nation, and indeed the epicentre of world cricket. The flowering of his genius began at age 16 when he took on a fearsome Pakistan pace attack comprising Imran Khan, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram ” who gave him a baptism by fire (and a bloody nose). Since then Tendulkar has broken every test and one-day international (ODI) record. He has played 200 international test matches, scored 100 centuries and played 486 ODIs ” feats unmatched by any other test/international cricketer. It could be argued that the first little master (Sunil Gavaskar) raised Indian batsmanship to world-class level, but in the Tendulkar era Indian batsmen inspired by him began to thrash and dominate the world™s fastest and wiliest bowlers. The impressive on-field feats of Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Vengsarkar, Sehwag, Srikkanth and other batsmen of the past three decades forever banished memories of an early 1950s test match in England, when an Indian scoreboard read 0-4. The opening chapters detail the author™s childhood, but don™t dwell upon the difficulties that middle class children experience in learning to play and develop their sporting skills. Unlike children in elite boarding schools who have access to excellent practice and match play facilities, the less privileged have to struggle hard against an education system which grudgingly encourages sports education. The early chapters contain several anecdotes of how the young Sachin ” who was fortunate to attract the attention of legendary coach Ramakant Achrekar ” had to contend with huge logistics and financial problems to develop his kinesthetic intelligence. Surprisingly, Tendulkar has little to say about the crowded maidans (maintained by the Bombay Municipal Corporation) in which children and youth are obliged ” while in danger of being hit by flying balls from all sides ” to develop batting, bowling and fielding skills. Perhaps, this is a good time for Tendulkar to speak up on this issue. From here on, Tendulkar faithfully and with engaging modesty describes his ascent into the record books as the greatest cricketer in Indian history. He candidly admits that in his test cricket debut against Pakistan in 1989 when he scored a mere 15 after playing and missing as many times, he discovered the huge gap between Indian and international cricket. Nevertheless, in the four tests series (all matches drawn), the teenager scored two half centuries despite suffering a bloody nose from a Waqar Younis bouncer. œDenying Pakistan a win on home turf was a big achievement for…
