Sachin Tendulkar – Playing It My Way
Perhaps the only autobiography which raised the controversy before its official launch.
Tendulkar has claimed that the former Indian coach Greg Chappell visited his house and tried to convince him to take over the captaincy from Dravid.
He said, “Just months before the World Cup in 2007, Chappell had come to see me at home and, to my dismay, suggested that I should take over the captaincy from Rahul Dravid. Anjali, who was sitting with me, was equally shocked to hear him say that ‘together, we could control Indian cricket for years,' and that he would help me in taking over the reins of the side,”
Reacting to this, Chappell said he was stunned by the claims. He said he enjoyed a pleasant afternoon at Tendulkar's home and the captaincy issue never came up for discussion.
Tendulkar, in the book, said that he was shocked by Chappell's suggestion and the lack of respect shown to Dravid.
Tendulkar is scathing in his criticism of Chappell, who was the national coach from 2005 to 2007, describing him as a “ringmaster who imposed his ideas on the players without showing any signs of being concerned about whether they felt comfortable or not”.
However, Zaheer and Harbhajan supported Tendulkar's version of the events, stating that they too had been victims of Chappell's dictatorial style of functioning.
The autobiography was officially released on November 5.
