Sachin Tendulkar’s much-awaited autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’ was today launched in the presence of some of his former teammates, celebrities and family members at an engrossing ceremony here. The book, the first copy of which he gave to his mother Rajni earlier in the day, was unveiled by Tendulkar himself amid thundering applause by the gathering.
At the launch, Tendulkar presented a copy to his mentor and childhood coach Ramakant Achrekar in the presence of his daughter Sara. “I would like to present the first copy after launch to somebody very special in my life, Tendulkar said before handing over a copy of the book to a wheelchair-bound Achrekar. Before the launch of the book, cricket analyst and host for the evening Harsha Bhogle had three panel discussion sessions with Tendulkar’s former teammates and family, who significantly feature in the book.
The first panel discussion was attended by former India captains Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri and former Mumbai cricketer Vasu Paranjape, who played a crucial role in shaping Tendulkar’s career.
Gavaskar remembered how he met Tendulkar for the first time and was impressed by his talent at the first look. “Hemant Waingankar and Anil Joshi introduced me to Sachin and asked me to see him bat. Probably, I have finished my cricket at that stage. He was batting at the Wankhede nets against Raju Kulkarni, who was a very slippery customer. In the nets you don’t really think about no balls and Raju was doing the same. But the manner in which Sachin was punching the ball off the backfoot towards mid-off and mid-on that impressed me,” Gavaskar recollected. Asked what if he would got the chance to bat alongside Tendulkar, Gavaskar said: “I think as far as running between the wicket we would have been very good.”
