Sachin Tendulkar, stop selling your book by cheap tricks

Calling former India coach Greg Chappell a "dictator" just makes us wonder why Sachin Tendulkar didn’t speak up when the time was right. And whoever gave the title for Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography Playing It My Way deserves all my praise for being cunning and captivating. Well before the book has hit the stands, Tendulkar has ensured it will be a hit if the nuggets he has shared are anything to go by. What a game!

There is nothing wrong in being sensational while writing a tell-all, and of course since the author was a sensational cricketer, the readers should expect hot stuff. But where Tendulkar seems to have taken the beaten path is in coming up with something as sensational as rubbishing former India coach Greg Chappell. Greg, as he is famously known, had his own way of doing things which never really went down well with the Indian cricketers. But we expected better.

For Tendulkar to suggest that Chappell was a "dictator" in 2007 is hard to comprehend. On Monday, had it been a ragtag cricketer writing such sensational stuff, nobody would have minded. Given Tendulkar’s track record over the last 24 years, when he hardly spoke, for him to slam Chappell now and say he wanted to get rid of seniors is shocking.

At the same time, where Tendulkar has already "caught" the attention of prospective readers of his autobiography is in writing that Chappell wanted the Mumbai Master Blaster to lead India in the 2007 World Cup and not Rahul Dravid.

Even if it was a mere suggestion from Chappell, to rake it up at this point of time serves no purpose. Two years ago when Shoaib Akhtar wrote a book and declared that Sachin Tendulkar was running away from the wicket, we laughed. I do hope Tendulkar will remember that each word he speaks even today is heard and absorded like the gospel truth. And for millions of passionate cricket followers who worship Tendulkar the deity, his comments are going to raise hackles. One hopes Tendulkar, did not fail for the bait offered by men behind the scenes associated with his book. If he did, he should be ashamed.