Dedication
To my mom and dad from whom I inherited my humour and cricket gene
Author’s Note
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be writing a book, so please don’t judge me on my writing abilities. I would like to emphasize that many of the references are meant purely in good humour and I do not mean to hurt sentiments of any individual, community, religion referred to in this book.
I am just one of those MBA types from the 90s who got lucky and accidentally became a stand-up comedian and cricket humourist and got to live the fan boy dream of being up close with the Indian cricket team for more than a decade.
As an outsider one has always wondered what the cricketers must be eating, what they were chatting about and one loved to hear their stories all the time. I never thought one day I would get to hear all of this from the players themselves and get to explore this wonderful world of cricket from the inside. What dawned on me in this journey was the fact that international sport is not only about entertainment but also the best education one can ever get in one’s life .
I think as one of the few cricket crazy Indians who was granted this wish of living the cricket dream by the Almighty, it is my duty to share some of these anecdotes, insights and fun moments that I got to experience with my fellow cricket lovers. I know how much this sport means to the fans so I do hope I have done some justice to your expectations and my objectives.
The fact that Ajinkya Rahane calls me “SIR” is the added benefit of living this dream.
Vikram Sathaye
23rd September 2014
Acknowledgements
This book represents the sum of the observations and experiences gathered over a decade as a cricket fan and a humourist travelling with the Indian team. This would not have been possible without the help and input of many people.
My love for humour came from my mother and her family and my love for cricket from my dad. I fondly remember how when I was a child, he used to make cricket pads for me out of cardboard boxes and ensured I had all the required material to imitate Zaheer Abbas or Kapil Dev. There has been endless support from my sister Manasi, brother-in-law Nachiket and my 6-year-old nephew Dimitri who has now taken over the mantle of being the humourist in the family. A very chilled out, no pressure family helped immensely in pursuing a career like mine, especially after being an MBA type.
I decided to start writing this book about two years ago, fully knowing that discipline was not my forte. I would like to thank my dear friend and colleague Suhail Bagdadi who has been instrumental in putting this book together. Without him there was no chance this book would have seen the light of day. He ensured the transformation of my disorganised thoughts onto paper.
One of my closest friends and cricket tour companions is the multi-faceted journalist Sunandan Lele who I can’t thank enough for teaching me all the skills required to survive on a cricket tour and how to develop long lasting relationships with the cricketing fraternity. Thanks to him, I remembered a few things from past tours which are sprinkled throughout the book.
Special thanks to another dear friend Amit Varma, who gave me some of the most valuable inputs on what a good book should be.
My friends Roshan Abbas, Gaurav Kapur, Ankur Tewari, Nilesh Kulkarni and Sameer Joshi for putting pressure on me to get this book out, as they knew that if left unsupervised, I wouldn’t even write the first page.
Hemant Kenkre and Sameer Dighe for re-introducing me to the world of cricket after my MBA. Special thanks to Sunil Phatak for helping me get through my MBA in the first place. Thank you Ashish Patil, Jiggy George and the marketing team at MTV for discovering my humour.
A special thanks to Sneha and Parshu for giving me my first TV break on Sony Extra Innings, the members of the ESPN team who made me a part of the commentary team in 2006 and to all the 1000 plus event agencies and corporate clients who trusted me to perform at their events at a time when English stand-up comedy did not even exist in India.
I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the protagonist Sachin Tendulkar for not only being the inspiration of this book but also sharing thoughts on so many aspects of the game. Trust me, every session was a satsang.
The cricketing fraternity has always been there to answer my silly questions and share with me, stories and insights on the game. I would like to thank them for their contribution in no particular order: Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Karthik, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Wasim Akram, Paras Mhambrey, Nilesh Kulkarni, Angad Bedi, Ajit Tendulkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Kapil Dev, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Ian Chappell, Harsha Bhogle, Mandira Bedi, Clayton Murzello, Harini Rana, Devendra Pandey, Ayaz Memon, Akshay Sawai, Mane kaka, Mohandas Menon, Vinod Naidu, Amit Bhangar and many other cricketers from across the world, administrators, support staff and people associated with the game. Kudos to Karthikeyan Ramachandran for the funky cover design. Thanks to Harsha Bhatkal, Swapna Shinde and the team at Popular Prakashan for publishing this book.
Finally, thank you to all my friends, family and well-wishers who were there with me on this remarkable journey.
How Sachin Destroyed My Life: but gave me an All Access Pass to the world of Cricket Page 18
