Vaibhav Purandare - Sachin Tendulkar: A Definitive Biography

Sachin Tendulkar

Vaibhav Purandare grew up playing cricket at Shivaji Park, Mumbai, at the same time as the school-going Sachin Tendulkar was amassing loads of runs on the field. He watched helplessly as Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli walked away with a world-record partnership against his school. Purandare was taught in college by Tendulkars father, Professor Ramesh Tendulkar, and was coached as a right-hand batsman and off-spin bowler by Tendulkars coach, Ramakant Acharekar.

He began his journalistic career in 1993 with the political newsmagazine Blitz and has since worked with Indias leading newspapers like The Indian Express, The Asian Age, and Mid Day, apart from writing for a host of other publications. His first book, The Sena Story , a history of the Hindu militant political party Shiv Sena, was published in 1999, when he was only twenty-three. He is currently senior Associate Editor with the Hindustan Times, Mumbai.

a definitive biography

vaibhav purandare

Sachin Tendulkar

foreword by
Ramachandra Guha

Lotus Collection

Text: Vaibhav Purandare, 2005
Photographs: Pradeep Mandhani, 2005

All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, without the prior permission
of the publisher.

First published in 2005
Fifth revised edition 2011
The Lotus Collection
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~

In memory of my
grandparents Suryakant Chemburkar
and Lilawati Chemburkar

~

contents

acknowledgements

S ee how he bats, and see how you bat my father once told me when I was in Class IX. He was talking about Sachin Tendulkar, then a student of Shardashram High School in Mumbai.

Tendulkar was scoring tons of runs in schools cricket; I, playing the same Harris Shield Tournament in the same city, was struggling to find form. Yet my dad mentioned my name in the same breath as Sachins. I must first thank him for that.

He didnt stop at that. He went on to analyse Tendulkars game for me. My father, Jagdish Purandare, knows his cricket. Hes technically a flawless batsman and played for the top division in Mumbai in the Seventies and Eighties, the glorious days of the citys cricket. His analyses, to this day, have enriched my own study of the game and of Tendulkar in particular.

My brother Kunal, the greatest admirer of Sachins partner-in-runs Vinod Kambli on this and other planets, read some of the chapters carefully and made many corrections. I cant thank him and my mother, Jyotsna, enough for their solid support.

My debt to Kiran Nagarkar, one of the worlds finest fiction writers in English, is really incalculable. He went out of his way to ensure the successful completion of this project, contacting people, offering suggestions and despite being a confirmed recluse, taking my persistent calls which were actually fervent appeals for help. Without his encouragement, this book would not have seen the light of day.

Eminent historian Ramachandra Guha, whose book on the social history of Indian cricket has been acknowledged the world over as a seminal work comparable to C.L.R. James Beyond a Boundary, not only agreed to write the foreword but did it days ahead of the deadline, a practice relatively unknown amongst accomplished authors.

Tulsi Vatsal made the all-important call to Sachin; Clayton Murzello, the unassuming sports editor of Mid Day, set up a meeting with him; and Ramakant Acharekar, Tendulkars coach and also my own during my college days, recollected for me his fondest memories of his most illustrious disciple.

Former India Test cricketer and now a successful television commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar gave me fascinating insights into Sachins game. Former India captain Ajit Wadekar, former India wicket-keeper and Sunil Gavaskars uncle Madhav Mantri and former Test cricketer Praveen Amre granted extensive interviews as well.

A rich fund of anecdotes was provided by Sachins closest friend Atul Ranade, his Shardashram mate and Mumbai Ranji player Amol Muzumdar and former first-class cricketer Ashok Gadkari a brilliant left-hand batsman who in the Seventies used to open the innings in club cricket with Sunil Gavaskar.