After a long day at work, my Facebook timeline gave me a pleasant surprise.Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is publishing his autobiography, to be released on November 6th, exactly 355 days after his retirement. Titled "Playing it my way", I hope the book is more than a glorious celebration of the career that this great man has had. For once , we would like to hear from Tendulkar, the human being and not Tendulkar, the stoic diplomat who has preferred to keep silent and always let his bat do the talking. In order to spice up the book, I would love him to tell the whole truth about these 10 things, even though he might be criticized for being silent all these years.
1. Match Fixing It doesn't seem possible that with so much going on around him, he did not have a clue of all that happened in Indian cricket in the late 90's. It is unlikely that he was ever approached directly by a bookie or a player, no one would dare do that. However, these are stories that need to be told. and coming from a source as credible as Tendulkar would really help in unravelling this great mystery.
2. The Chappell Saga : The rarest of rare times that he has actually spoken about something in public was against Greg Chappell. But we would like to know more. His reluctance to bat at No. 4, Dravid being undermined as captain by a high-handed coach and all that happened before, during and after the 2007 World Cup
3. Ball Tampering in South Africa : He famously declined to speak about it in an interview with CNN in Feb.2010. The world would like to know what had happened behind the scenes in that tour, and how he felt after that allegation by Match Referee Mike Denness.
4. Monkey Gate : I doubt this will feature in the book, but a detailed account of what happened on the pitch between Bhajji and Andrew Symonds,and Tendulkar's own impressions about the elaborate and hostile hearing,is something that the nation deserves to know.
5. The Fab 5 : Tendulkar's friendship with Sourav Ganguly is well chronicled. But how did he get along with the other custodians of Indian cricket, under whom they went from strength to strength. Sourav Ganguly,Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag : I would love to read some interesting anecdotes about Tendulkar's times with these immensely respected players.
5. The World Cups : From 1996 to 2011, He had always shone at all the World Cups. It would be interesting to know his views about Eden 1996 vs Sri Lanka, Bristol 1999 vs. Kenya, 2003's incredible journey to the finals ending in sadness and of course 2007's disaster.
6. The Lone Ranger and his lost battles : How did he feel when he couldn't take India over the line, after giving it his all. How did he feel being part of a one man army, and the feelings behind those so near yet so far losses at Chennai 1999 or at Hyderabad 2009 vs. Australia. What would go through his mind during those knocks. If I lose my wicket, we are doomed and yet it is me who has to score the runs. Double Jeopardy.
7. His failed Tryst with captaincy : The only blemish on an otherwise impeccable CV is his record as captain for India. Will he analyze why he failed as captain?What prompted him to take MS Dhoni's name for the captain post England 2007, and why did he not take it up himself?
8. His abrupt ODI retirement : I have been watching too much Crime Patrol and Adaalat lately, and hence I sense a conspiracy regarding his ODI retirement being forced by the BCCI and the Indian captain. Sach kya hai, Sachin
9. Friendship gone sour with Vinod Kambli : The best of budddies are not on talking terms at all anymore. Though at first glance, Vinod does come across as a temperamental wreck who would go on "Sach Ka Saamna" and chose to malign his friend, but one still can't help asking what did go wrong between the two of them.
Having already pre-ordered the book, I am waiting eagerly to get my hands on this one. Hope it's not typical Tendulkar- Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice.
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