Playing It My Way: My Autobiography

by Sachin Tendulkar

  Viv was my hero when I was growing up and he will always be a hero, no matter what success I’ve achieved myself. We have got to know each other well over the years and whenever we meet, he treats me like his younger brother and I treat him like my older brother. I’ve always respected him and his views, so when he chose to call me and spend all that time convincing me to carry on, it meant a great deal to me. When I finally got back into some good form and put together a very satisfying century in Sydney at the beginning of 2008, I made a point of calling Viv to thank him for his crucial support.

  * * *

  India in the 2007 World Cup

  8th match, Group B. Bangladesh v India at Port-of-Spain. 17 March 2007

  India 191 (49.3/50 ov); Bangladesh 192–5 (48.3/50 ov)

  Bangladesh won by 5 wickets (with 9 balls remaining)

  12th match, Group B. Bermuda v India at Port-of-Spain. 19 March 2007

  India 413–5 (50/50 ov); Bermuda 156 (43.1/50 ov)

  India won by 257 runs

  20th match, Group B. India v Sri Lanka at Port-of-Spain. 23 March 2007

  Sri Lanka 254–6 (50/50 ov); India 185 (43.3/50 ov)

  Sri Lanka won by 69 runs

  Final. Australia v Sri Lanka at Bridgetown. 28 April 2007

  Australia 281–4 (38/38 ov); Sri Lanka 215–8 (36/36 ov, target: 269)

  Australia won by 53 runs (D/L method)

  18

  BAD LANGUAGE

  The process of getting Indian cricket back on track after the World Cup started with a two-Test series in Bangladesh in May 2007, which we won 1–0. Ravi Shastri, who was interim coach, played a key role in helping us put the disappointment of the Caribbean behind us. Personally, it was a welcome change, because Ravi and I have always been very good friends. Not only did we play together in the early years of my career, but even after Ravi’s retirement we spent a reasonable amount of time together on tours when he was commentating. He has an astute cricket brain, and, with his straightforward and transparent attitude, we felt that we finally had a coach we could confide in.

  In June we went to Ireland for a limited-overs series against South Africa. I was particularly excited about visiting Ireland because my favourite rock band, U2, come from there. The series posed an unusual challenge for us because it was freezing cold and it took us a while to get used to the conditions. Despite the weather, I had a good outing and twice got out in the nineties in the three-match contest, which we won 2–1.

  I also remember the series for an incident with Yuvraj during dinner in Belfast. I suggested to some of my team-mates, including Yuvraj and Zaheer, that we should have some Japanese food one evening and we found a restaurant that served Thai, Chinese and Japanese cuisines. We ordered a number of entrées, including some sushi and sashimi. They served wasabi with the sushi and also gave us some bread rolls to go with the other starters.

  I asked Yuvi if he liked wasabi and he swore that he did. To our amazement, he then proceeded to spread the hot wasabi on a roll as if it was butter and was just about to pop it in his mouth when I stopped him. Zaheer was kicking me under the table, telling me to let him eat it, just to see what happened. The wasabi was very strong, though, and there is no doubt that if he had eaten that roll he would have been in serious trouble!

  We forced Yuvi to admit that he had never tried wasabi before and we ribbed him mercilessly, though he tried to put on a brave face.

  India in England, July–August 2007

  After the Ireland tour we went to England for a series of Tests and ODIs. The first Test started on 19 July 2007 and I have to say we were fortunate to avoid defeat after Michael Vaughan’s England had put themselves in a good position. Anderson and Sidebottom had taken nine wickets between them as we were dismissed for 201 in our first innings, and Kevin Pietersen’s spectacular 134 had helped to set us a target of 380 in our second innings. On the last day of the match we were nine wickets down and struggling when Steve Bucknor ruled Sreesanth not out, even though it appeared that he had been hit right in front of middle stump. The match was stopped shortly afterwards because of rain and it was a lucky escape.

  We played much better in the second Test at Nottingham a week later, and on the first day, which was also curtailed because of rain, we took control. We dismissed England for under 200, thanks to excellent bowling from Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble, with good support from RP Singh and Sreesanth, and followed up with a total of 481. Five out of our top six batsmen passed 50 without going on to make a century. I contributed 91 before being given out lbw by Simon Taufel. He later came to see me to admit that it had been a mistake on his part and that he had seen from replays that the ball was clearly missing the stumps. It added to my respect for Simon and we are still good friends today.

  Our innings was tinged with controversy when Zaheer Khan had an unusual welcome to the middle. When he reached the wicket, Zaheer saw several jelly beans sprinkled on the crease. Clearly it was a prank by one of the England players. Zaheer removed the jelly beans but they reappeared as soon as he was back on strike. Zaheer directed a few words at Kevin Pietersen at gully – though it was never clear who was actually involved – and when he came back to the pavilion he was furious. He shouted to the team that we needed to play aggressive cricket and finish England off in the second innings. Zaheer is normally a cool guy and he very rarely gets angry. It was a blessing in disguise for us, as Zaheer backed up his words with one of his best ever spells in Test cricket, taking five wickets and leading us to a famous victory. We went on to win the Test series 1–0 and the recovery that had started in Bangladesh was complete.

  We celebrated heartily, in which we were greatly helped by Rajiv Shukla, our manager for this tour. Rajiv was a positive presence throughout the tour, and had been part of the team in some of our most crucial away victories, including the NatWest tri-series win in 2002. On that occasion he took the entire team out to dinner at the Four Seasons to celebrate the victory and also organized a special performance of the musical Bombay Dreams, something we very much enjoyed.

  We were playing some very good cricket by now and were looking forward to taking on Australia in October 2007 in a series of ODIs in India before heading Down Under for a full tour a couple of months later. Before that ODI series, however, Indian cricket received a huge fillip when we won the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in September under MS Dhoni. I was not part of the Twenty20 team, of course, but I watched the team’s progress with great interest. The Twenty20 win helped restore the nation’s passion for cricket and the players received a hero’s welcome on their return to India.

  India in Australia, December 2007–January 2008

  India’s tour to Australia in 2007–08 was perhaps the most eventful series of my career. While we had come close to beating Australia in 2003–04, drawing the series one apiece and dominating the last Test in Sydney, we played even better in 2007–08. Even though the Test series is still talked about because of an incident involving Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh in Sydney, a lot of other issues combined to make it an extremely intense couple of months.

  We were full of confidence by the time we set off for Australia. After the series of ODIs in India in October, which Australia won 4–2, we had played Pakistan at home in November and early December 2007 and won the three-Test series 1–0. Most of the batsmen were in good form and we were hopeful of achieving our first ever series win Down Under. Unfortunately, before the first Test at the MCG there was only one warm-up game, as is often the case with scheduling these days, and even that was a near washout because of a storm, which meant we had very little chance to adjust to Australian conditions.

  First Test, Melbourne, 26–29 December 2007

  We had a reasonable first day at the MCG, picking up nine Australian wickets, and we quickly finished off their innings the next morning for 343. Anil and Zaheer had bowled well and now it was down to the batsmen. I came in with the sc
ore at 31–2.

  I had thought carefully about the way I would approach my innings and had a plan for each Australian bowler. In fact, a glance at my scoring chart for the series will show up where I played the big shots: I really went after the bowling in the area between long on and midwicket. This was based on my experience of playing the Australian attack in the one-dayers in India a couple of months before, when the left-arm chinaman bowler Brad Hogg had caused us problems. I was determined to attack him because I knew it would force the Australians to rethink their plans. If they couldn’t rely on Hogg, the fast bowlers would have to bowl longer spells than expected and we could attack them when they got tired in the hot and testing conditions. I went into the Melbourne Test with a set plan against Hogg. However, once in the middle, I realized that I needed to play differently and changed my plan on the ground itself. Looking at his field placements, I started taking the aerial route and hit him in the area between deep midwicket and long on, forcing him to change his game plan and remove the close-catching fielders. This strategy paid off and I could subsequently milk singles, with no men close on the leg side. For other bowlers, however, I stuck to the same game plan that I had originally decided.

  Brett Lee bowled at his best in this series. Back in 1999 Lee had been fast but raw; in 2008 he was the complete package. He had real pace, a vicious bouncer, a yorker, a fast swinging delivery and also a slower ball. He was consistently clocking 145 kph and I relished my contests with him. Among the other bowlers, Mitchell Johnson bowled some incisive spells, while the accurate Stuart Clark had the job of trying to keep things tight. To his credit, he also picked up some key wickets.

  I went after the bowling from the start of my innings. I was feeling good and was set to kick on for a big score. However, you don’t always get a hundred just because you’re feeling good and I got out after scoring 62. We were all out for 196, which was nowhere near enough. Australia soon managed to establish a stranglehold over us, eventually winning the Test in four days. It was not the start we had hoped for.

  Red faces all round

  Something unexpected that I had to deal with at the time of the Melbourne Test was a severe allergic reaction. On our way to Australia, Harbhajan Singh and I had bought a newly launched moisturizing cream at Singapore airport and for the first few days I had no problems using the cream. It was during the first Test that I started feeling a serious burning sensation on my face. Harbhajan did not have any such problem, so at first I attributed my reaction to a massage. I had had to lie down with my face on a towel and I thought it must have been something to do with the detergent used on the towel.

  The problem started to bother me on the third day and I remember putting more cream on my face before going to bed, thinking it would help. The next morning I awoke in agony. My face was on fire and it was as if someone had pushed it into a barbecue. It was even worse by the evening with my face all red and swollen. So much so that I was too embarrassed to go out in public and had to hide behind large sunglasses.

  Anjali was arriving in Sydney the next day. With the Melbourne Test over on the fourth day, I got permission to fly to Sydney a little earlier than planned and met up with her and the children at the airport. They were horrified by my face and asked what on earth I had done to it. I was not in the best of moods and wanted to get to the hotel as quickly as possible. When we finally arrived, after a forty-five-minute drive because of the traffic, I was really irritable. The hotel staff then took a long time to give us our rooms and I ended up shouting at the hotel manager. By the time we got to the room I had started to feel worse and told Anjali to ask the kids to sit in the adjoining room and leave me alone. The poor kids were wondering what was wrong with me to behave like this. By then, my face was troubling me even more. We called Reception and asked for a doctor to come to my room but were told that there wasn’t one available at that hour. I asked where the nearest hospital was and went there immediately. After a brief examination, I was given a lotion for the night and was asked to come back the following morning.

  We got a taxi from the hospital and after a few minutes the driver said to me in Hindi, ‘Aap wohi ho jo main samaj raha hoon.’ (I think you are the person I think you are.) I admitted that I was and he offered to show us around Sydney, which I was in no mood to do. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind taking us to a fast-food place instead and Anjali got out to get some burgers for dinner while I waited in the cab. The driver accompanied her and when they returned she told me that he had insisted on paying for the food. He also refused to take any money from us after dropping us off at the hotel and left his number in case we needed to go anywhere else in Sydney during our stay. I was very touched by the gesture and told him that I would leave match tickets for him at Reception. Later I got one of my Test shirts signed by the team and left it with the tickets.

  I returned to the hospital the following morning and asked the doctor to do whatever he thought necessary to give me some quick relief, as I had a Test match to play the following morning. The doctor was a little taken aback, considering my condition, but I was absolutely determined to play. That afternoon we were supposed to be practising but I was in no state to stay out in the sun. I ended up batting against my dear friend Subroto Banerjee, the former India medium-fast bowler, who was then a resident of Sydney, in the indoor nets for a good forty-five minutes. I managed to take the field the next day, however, and that was the first time I wore a floppy white hat, which from then on became my trademark on the field. I applied a lot of ice to my face and then plastered it with zinc cream. It looked ridiculous but that didn’t bother me.

  After a couple of days, it finally started to settle down and I looked almost human again.

  Second Test, Sydney, 2–6 January 2008

  We suffered a blow on the eve of the Sydney Test when Zaheer was forced to return to India with a heel injury. Someone’s loss is always another person’s gain, however, and Zaheer’s return meant young Ishant Sharma would get an opportunity to play in Australia for the first time.

  On the first day, we started well and soon had the Australians on the ropes, with six wickets gone for only 134, four of which were taken by RP Singh. Just when we seemed to be in control and were trying to press home the advantage, what seemed to us to be an error by umpire Steve Bucknor caused a shift in momentum. Andrew Symonds was ruled not out after he had very clearly edged the ball to Dhoni off Ishant – the sound was heard not just by the players but also by the spectators. My son heard the sound of the edge sitting in the stands and reminds me whenever we discuss the Sydney Test match. Symonds stood his ground and, riding his luck, got a very important century for Australia. His 162 changed the course of the game and Australia managed to put together a total of 463 after being in a lot of trouble. That wasn’t their only piece of luck, though. Even before Symonds had been given this reprieve, Ricky Ponting had been adjudged not out by umpire Mark Benson after he seemed to edge a ball down the leg side.

  The best response was to go out and make some runs. I was glad to make amends for missing out in Melbourne by making 154, and it was a delight to watch Laxman score a hundred at the other end, with Rahul and Sourav also chipping in with half-centuries. But just when the momentum seemed to be swinging our way, Andrew Symonds started swearing at Harbhajan, who was batting with me and playing really well.

  Bhajji had gone past 50 when it all started. For a number of overs he had been telling me that Andrew Symonds was trying to get him riled. I asked Bhajji not to rise to it but to continue batting the way he was. I knew only too well that by retaliating he would just play into the Australians’ hands. The best thing to do is to ignore such provocation. That’s easy enough to say, but of course it’s not always so easy to keep your cool at moments of intense pressure.

  Bhajji was doing his best and was actually trying to be civil with some of the Australian players, including Brett Lee, when all hell broke loose. Bhajji had playfully tapped Lee on the
back after completing a run and Symonds at mid off took exception to this. He apparently did not want an opposition player meddling with Lee and once again hurled abuse at Bhajji. Bhajji is an impulsive and passionate individual and it was only a matter of time before he would retaliate, which he soon did. That was the start of the controversy that almost caused the tour to be called off.

  I want to state very clearly that the incident arose because Andrew Symonds had been continually trying to provoke Bhajji and it was inevitable that the two would have an altercation at some point. While walking up to Bhajji to try to calm things down, I heard him say ‘Teri maa ki’ (Your mother …) to Symonds. It is an expression we often use in north India to vent our anger and to me it was all part of the game. In fact, I was surprised to see umpire Mark Benson go up to Bhajji and speak to him. While the umpire was talking to Bhajji, some of the Australian players started to warn him of the dire consequences of his words, presumably to rattle him and disturb his concentration. The ploy paid off when a few overs later Bhajji was out for 63.

  I thought the matter had ended with Bhajji’s dismissal and later I was surprised when I was told that the Australians had lodged a formal complaint at the end of that day’s play, apparently alleging that Bhajji had called Symonds a ‘monkey’, which was being treated as a racial insult. What surprised me most was the haste with which the Australians had lodged their complaint. I was later informed that it had apparently been agreed between the Australian and Indian boards during their tour of India in October 2007, following an incident in Mumbai, that the respective captains were to report to the match referee any incident with a racial element. Even so, I still believe that the matter would not have been blown so out of proportion if Ponting had discussed it with the captain Anil Kumble, Harbhajan and the Indian team management before reporting the incident to Mike Procter, the match referee. In turn, Mike Procter could also have handled the matter with a little more sensitivity.