Sachin, Born to Bat

Book excerpt: SECOND EDITION The Journey of Cricket’s Ultimate Centurion INTRODUCTION BY SACHIN TENDULKAR Includes four colour rare photos. Sachin: Born to Bat by veteran journalist Khalid A-H Ansari and edited by Clayton Murzello is a unique ode to contemporary cricket’s finest batsman. Despatches to MiD DAY, one of Asia’s leading newspapers, from some of the world’s most famous names in cricket writing – Ayaz Memon, Harsha Bhogle, Ian Chappell, Mike Coward, Peter Roebuck and other luminaries – grace the pages of this book. Tributes from cricket’s most famous personalities including Tendulkar’s Team India teammates and coaches make this publication invaluable in helping cricket enthusiasts understand what makes Sachin the peerless champion he is. The book also captures critical moments of Tendulkar’s wondrous cricketing career from photographers who have followed him throughout his distinguished career. Until his recent retirement, Padma Shri Khalid A-H Ansari was the guiding force of MiD DAY Infomedia Ltd which publishes the newspaper (in two languages from Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Pune), the Inquilab Daily and other publications. He was publisher of the magazine Sportsweek, which he started in 1968 to champion the cause of Indian sport and sportsmen until 1989, when he took up an assignment abroad. The author of three earlier books, he covered the Kargil war in 1999, the NAM conference in Harare and the CHOGM summit in the Bahamas. He was also a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 and published the Earth Times, the official paper for the 1994 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. He has the distinction of having covered nine Olympic Games going back to Munich ’72 and is a recipient of several honours and awards. Clayton Murzello is MiD DAY’s Group Sports Editor and has been a journalist since 1988. He is a recipient of two Sports Journalists Federation of India (SJFI) awards for excellence in journalism. He has co-authored a book on cricket anecdotes with former Test cricketer Sandeep Patil.