Sachin Tendulkar - A Definitive Biography

by Vaibhav Purandare

One of the greatest cricketing talents ever to emerge from India, Sachin Tendulkar has been one of the world's leading batsmen for many years. This biography looks at a man often unseen by cricket fans, exploring his development on the way to becoming a Test Match legend.

Genres: Sports, Biography

426 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2002

Reviews

[Rohit Nair · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like a chronological telling of Sachin's cricket history, starting from school. Lots of theories added to the mix, but I fail to see how they enhance the book in any manner. A dry read, for the most part. The best part of the book is that as you read it, you relive Sachin's boundaries, wickets and centuries in your mind!

[Roshan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sachin Tendulkar: a definitive biography, the first book on cricketing life of Indian batting maestro that I picked for a read. I must confess, this one was a pleasant experience. The biography is a narrative authored by Vaibhav Purandare with a foreword from Ramachandra Guha. A definitive biography is different from several other works on life of Sachin Tendulkar. Vaibhav Purandare gets underway with a brief and interesting account on the Indian batting legend's early days as a budding cricketer. The Bandra boy's interest in cricket was triggered by Indian Cricket team's 1983 World Cup final victory against the mighty West Indies. The ten year old boy took notice of the proceedings during the enthralling finals and dreamed about taking guard at the batting crease one day. As we know it, the dream did come true for him. The little fella considered Sir Vivian Richards as his batting idol during the initial years of his childhood and the West Indian great's aggressive batting style did have a measurable influence on Sachin Tendulkar's batting persona. This reflected in the modes of attack adopted by him to tackle world class pace and spin bowling on all kinds of batting tracks. When Sachin Tendulkar started, he had that aura surrounding him depicting a - 'I will show you, who the king in charge here is', the kind of arrogance coupled with dominance personified by Sir Vivian Richards himself, at the batting crease during his heydays. The author has left no stone unturned while mentioning the minutest of details on Tendulkar's career, starting with his batting exploits as a teenaged wonder boy for his school's cricket team in the company of Vinod Kambli, which would later on see them hold a long standing record partnership at an inter school cricket tournament. The detailed matter following the description of his experience at Shivaji park is an account on Maharashtra and Mumbai's cricketing culture and the ever enticing insight on Tendulkar's appearances for Mumbai in the prestigious Ranji and Duleep Trophy matches. Not surprisingly, Sachin Tendulkar scored centuries on debut in both the tournaments. The city of cricket also holds a brief description of various high voltage matches played during the era of the Vengsarkars, Gavaskars, Vishwanaths at the two most outstanding international venues in terms of facilities namely, Wankhede and Brabourne. Vaibhav also shares views and facts about India's own MCC -Mumbai Cricket Club. All these for a period ranging from 1830 - 1989. There's a special mention of galli cricket (street cricket in English) too, which most young kids from India of those days can readily relate to, primarily for their own exploits in the gully position in galli cricket matches. The next few chapters explore further, deep down into the analysis of his performances, the obstacles in the path he came across as a school cricketer, the friendship with Vinod Kambli, his improvement on terms of consistency which bought him tons of runs, leading into a chapter with whole new exciting interpretation of the challenges and adversities that beckoned him at the prospect of an illustrious, long, satisfying cricket career, which I call Gauging the Swing Test of his career - The Tour of Pakistan, 1989-1990.

Not very often do we see a sixteen year old blooded against the fire power of a formidable Pakistan team's bowling attack boasting of deadly pace bowlers, the likes of Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, and a world class leg spinner in Abdul Qadir; in international cricket. The Gauging the Swing Test is about this particular episode and more. After failing to take the flight to West Indies, considered a very daunting tour in those days; Sachin Tendulkar first up, set foot on the Karachi stadium to take guard against Pakistan debutant, the fiery paced Waqar Younis. The little master was hit by a Waqar Younis bouncer leaving him with a bloodied nose and the rest is history. This intimidating tour of Pakistan saw Tendulkar announcing his arrival in world cricket. Albeit, he did not have the scores to show at the end of the tour, a few established Indian and foreign cricketers took notice of the young lad's talent, identifying him as a potential player who could make it big in the game of cricket. After a pretty decent start, the wonder boy's progress took a considerable leap towards the pinnacle of greatness, which the world was bound to acknowledge and cherish in the many years to come. The 1990 tour of England experienced the emergence of the real test batsman in Tendulkar. He stamped his authority on the English bowlers like Angus Fraser, Chris Lewis, and Devon Malcolm in the seaming English conditions to score a majestic maiden test ton, a match saving innings. The scintillating century pushed Tendulkar's critics on the back foot and they were forced to think twice before publishing inappropriate feedback on his batting. This particular test innings made an impact not only in cricketing circles but on England in entirety. 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). It would be a understatement to term this phase of Indian Cricket during Sachin Tendulkar's playing days as the best. 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. Lastly, the biography includes the author's inputs on what he thinks Tendulkar has achieved and yet to achieve at the time of publishing the biography, the year 2005, as a well compiled concluding chapter.

Sachin Tendulkar: a definitive biography scores a very healthy four on five in my review. This manuscript definitely ranks higher among the various elaborated, detailed depiction on Sachin Tendulkar's elite cricketing exploits, that have successfully seen the light of the day, over the years. I give it to the author for the level of patience and efforts evident in jotting down the minutest details on any aspect, be it the cricket venues, the history of cricket, or the description of various Tests and One Day International contests in the book. This work of a genius on the work of a genius cricketer is not worth a miss for Indian cricket fans and the cricket fans world over. An excellent read which is nothing short of a page-turner. Enjoy the reading journey as the thoughts sync with Sachin Tendulkar's line and length reading prowess with every flipped page. Strictly for cricket fans. Cheers.

[SIPAR AREFIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Nishant Bhagat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic book about one of the best players in the world to have ever graced a cricket ground. what helps the author of course is his proximity to this legend. it's a very well written book. Though the timeline is only till 2005 and they re-released this book when India lifted the world cup in 2011, it is an immensely enjoyable read especially if you are very passionate about this game and this legend.

I am sure the author will soon come out with a more comprehensive book on Sachin or maybe sachin himself will write his own autobiography.

A must read for a sachin fan. You can also read my blog about Sachin. I had written it immediately after hearing his soulful farewell speech. http://wp.me/p2Q15t-Z

[Nikhil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book provides a good trip down memory lane especially if you are one of those early 80's kid who literally grew up alongside Sachin Tendulkar's career. But it offers only few things which you already didn't know about Sachin. That maybe because Sachin has always been in the public eye so much, that we already know a lot about him. The chapters on his early life are interesting in that aspect as they provide us insights into moulding of Sachin as a cricketer.

The book was written in 2005 with a epilogue in 2007. The author talks about Sachin retiring at the right time. That elusive search for the right time is on even today after 6 years ;)

[Hitesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chapters on his early life are a treat to read. There is so much in those that was not known to me and is pretty interesting and important to really upgrade the status of the GOD.
However soon after the initial years of his cricketing life were over, everything was known already. Perhaps because Sachin is such a public figure that nothing of his life could remain unknown. It was certainly a treat to relive all the innings and those special contests.
I will certainly read this again someday and recommend to every fan and critique.

[Prajot Joshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book I read was mainly covering the period till 2005. Although the author has added the happenings after that in his epilogue and extended it to 2010, it is a much shorter description of the period. Obviously, the book misses the world cup triumph of 2011 and the never before celebrated retirement of any sporting legend of 2013. I would love if the book is updated now to cover these crucial events. But overall, a fantastic read.

[Aoi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography written towards the later stages of Tendulkar's career. Some of the pivotal moments of his career including the 100th century, 200 ODI unbeaten runs, and World Cup win come later.
Could say, it is the hors d'oeuvre before the main course- if Tendulkar is of the mind to pen down his thoughts in another 5 years.

[Amrit Datta · Rating 3 out of 5]

the book served as good refresher of the memory of both Indian cricket and Sachins career covering almost 2 and a half decades including the key off field incidents. However found the author to be too partisan in his writing and the book seemed to be more of a lengthy eulogy rather than the complete picture that a biography is expected to be

[Sundarraj Kaushik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the facts and stories about Sachin in the book would already be known to his fans, but reading the book refreshes the memory and lets one relive those moments of joy and torment. Somebody who has not watched cricket during the 90s and early 2000s or is not a fan of Sachin, is unlikely to find the book interesting.

So read the book if you fall into either of the above categories.

[Praveen Garlapati · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a good read but I doubt if it is a definitive biography.

It definitely touches on the important moments in Sachin's knocks but I feel disappointed in it not having the trivia or personalised details of his life.

Nevertheless a book which a Sachin fan can enjoy.

[Venu Menon]

Good book.....especially if you are a die-hard fan of Sachin !

[Amarendra Bandla · Rating 2 out of 5]

extremely boring and too much of blabber.

[Sanjiv · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little more coverage of his contemporaries and team mates would have made this a better read.

[Pardeep Mittal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Note bad, but exactly not what I expected from this book. It doesn't touch upon unknown facts about Tendulkar much, it presents whatever is there in media already.

[Sanjay Rao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gets tiresome after 50 pages.

But, I did read it through. And like it.

[Ajit Oke · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a tribute to the Master, read and enjoyed the defining moments of Indian Cricket (and also memories of growing up with Sachin :))

[Kabir Grewal]

Excellent :)

[Kushal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written and well told story of India's finest cricketer ever. Exciting read.

[Ashwini Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the usual biography of God of cricket, will appeal to Sachin fans. Needed more new content.

[Subramanian · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like this book

[manoj+us14....&]

super !

[Shashank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book