Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar’s “Playing It My Way - My Autobiography” will be released on November 6, the publishers announced yesterday. “I knew that agreeing to write my story would need me to be completely honest, as that is the way I have always played the game. It would require talking about a number of aspects I have not shared in public before.
“So here I am, at the end of my final innings, having taken that last walk back to the pavilion, ready to recount as many incidents as I can remember since first picking up a cricket bat as a child in Mumbai 35 years ago,” Tendulkar said about his book.
The autobiography is being published by Hodder & Stoughton and will be simultaneously released globally through Hachette India. The darling of millions of cricket lovers worldwide, Tendulkar retired from the game in 2013 after playing for 24 years. The most celebrated Indian cricketer and the highest run-scorer in the history of international cricket, Tendulkar was honoured with Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, on the last day of his cricket career.
His autobiography details his remarkable story, from playing in the by-lanes of sub-urban Mumbai to his first Test cap at 16, to his 100th international century capped by the emotional final farewell that brought India to a standstill.
Kabir Khan resigns as Afghanistan coach
Afghanistan’s cricket coach resigned yesterday, saying the job was putting too much strain on his family, dealing the side a major blow in its preparations for next year’s World Cup. Kabir Khan, who played four Tests and 10 one-day internationals for Pakistan, led minnows Afghanistan to qualification for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. In his first stint as coach, starting in 2007, Khan took Afghanistan from international division five to one and helped them gain full one-day status from the International Cricket Council.
“I have resigned from coach’s post,” the 40-year-old told AFP from the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. “The simple reason is that my family was suffering from my being away on tours and I was not enjoying coaching.”
Most of the Afghan players learnt the game in refugee camps in neighbouring Pakistan during the occupation by the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Under Khan, Afghanistan qualified for three World Twenty20 events in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif replaced him in 2010 and helped Afghanistan win silver medal in the Asian Games in China that same year. Former New Zealand coach Andy Moles is likely to replace Khan. Moles was earlier this year appointed batting coach of the Afghanistan team.
McGrath to train India’s fast bowlers at MRF academy
Australian great Glenn McGrath said he had signed up to guide India’s current and future fast bowlers for the next five years, giving a boost to the country’s young talent.
McGrath will train the likes of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron alongside promising youngsters at the MRF Pace Foundation in the southern city of Chennai, which he has headed since 2012 after replacing countryman Dennis Lillee.
“It has been a wonderful couple of years for me at the MRF Pace Foundation,” said McGrath, 44, who retired in 2007 with 563 Test and 381 one-day wickets. “I now eagerly look forward to working with India’s best at the Foundation. Our facilities compare favourably with the best in the world and I am eagerly looking forward to this challenge,” the Australian said in a statement.
Among former Indian fast bowlers who trained under Lillee at the MRF Foundation over the years were Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan. The Foundation, which started in 1987 and is open to bowlers from all countries, has also attracted the likes of Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson of Australia, Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas and Shane Bond of New Zealand.