Sachin Tendulkar's autobiography, "Playing It My Way" has released on Thursday.
Over the last few days, a controversy has broken out after Tendulkar slammed ex-coach Greg Chappell, claiming he wanted to replace Rahul Dravid with Sachin as captain.
From VVS Laxman to Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and even Zaheer Khan have offered their opinions on the subject, all supporting Tendulkar in one or the other way. Rahul Dravid, meanwhile, has chosen to stay quiet.
In the autobiography, the chapter 'Endulkar' focuses on the clash between Chappell and the seniors, the doomed 2007 World Cup campaign, and the statements of Greg's brother Ian which seemingly angered Tendulkar.
Ian Chappell had said after the World Cup that Sachin Tendulkar should take a 'good long look in the mirror' and think about retiring. In the book, Tendulkar reveals that he was dismayed by this opinion. In his view, 'the outrage in India was not helped by armchair experts sitting thousands of miles away but still passing judgment on Indian cricket and suggesting I should retire'.
Tendulkar says he never understood why Indian publications should publish an Australian's opinion on Indian cricket. He questions whether Australian publications would allow an Indian player to get headlines in their newspapers.
Tendulkar goes on to claim that he met Ian Chappell in Durban in 2010 and had an acrimonious conversation with him. Tendulkar claims Chappell tried to take credit for the former's renewed phase of good form, implying that Tendulkar had followed Chappell's advice. Apparently, Sachin told Chappell in no uncertain terms that he had 'not changed a thing' since his low phase in the mid-2000s. Sachin also admonished Chappell for commenting without 'knowing what is going through a player's body or mind'.
Sachin also told Ian Chappell 'bluntly' that he would never like to share a dressing room with Greg Chappell again. Ian Chappell apparently tried to defend his brother, which was brushed away by Tendulkar.
Curiously, the chapter is titled 'Endulkar'. This is with reference to an article which appeared in a prominent English news daily at the time, heavily criticising Tendulkar and calling for him to quit. Clearly, Sachin Tendulkar did not take kindly to the article, to Greg Chappell or to Ian Chappell's comments. It seems that however silent he may have been in public, there was a fire simmering inside him.
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