Playing It My Way: My Autobiography

by Sachin Tendulkar

  England started well, with captain Andrew Strauss becoming the first England player to make a century in both innings on the subcontinent and Paul Collingwood also making a century. Unless we managed to pull things back on the morning of day four, it was going to be difficult to save the match. Zaheer and Ishant bowled very well in the English second innings but it was Zaheer’s spell of three wickets in five overs, including the centurion Collingwood, that brought us back into the game. For the first time we sensed we had the opposition on the back foot and it was now up to the batsmen to chase down the target of 387. It would not be easy – in fact it would be the highest ever run chase on Indian soil – but under Gary we had started to believe that anything was possible.

  Sehwag set up the match wonderfully by scoring a brilliant counter-attacking 83 on the fourth evening. It was an innings of outstanding ability. I went in to bat on the morning of the final day and for the first hour or so just tried to soak up the pressure. Once we had weathered the early storm we started to look for runs. Every positive stroke put the pressure back on England and slowly but steadily the balance started to tilt in our favour.

  Laxman and I had a good partnership and once Laxman fell, Yuvraj joined me in the middle. I was determined to bat till the end of the match. Indians love cricket and if, for just a minute or two, a victory in Chennai could lift their mood after everything that had happened, I would feel humbled.

  Yuvraj batted well under pressure, making 85. There was a time in his innings when he attempted to play the reverse sweep to Monty Panesar and I walked up to him to tell him that all he needed to do was remain not out and finish the game. I reminded him of the Pakistan game at Chennai in 1999 and said I had been in a similar position before and remembered well how painful it was to lose from a winning position. Yuvraj reined himself in and we finally reached our target in the last hour of the fifth day. I had scored an unbeaten hundred for the team, but it was the extra significance of the game that made it particularly gratifying. In a first in Indian cricket, even the groundswomen, who hardly ever came to the foreground, celebrated the victory with great vigour. As we were walking back to the changing rooms, I was asked who I planned to dedicate the hundred to. I had not thought about it and was still very much in the moment, but on behalf of the team I dedicated the victory to the victims of the terrorist attack.

  India in New Zealand, one-day series, March 2009

  We followed up the victory at Chennai with a well-played draw at Mohali and won the series 1–0. Back-to-back series wins at home was an excellent way to cap off the year and we were all looking forward to our next away series in New Zealand.

  Beating the Black Caps in New Zealand can be a tricky task, but we knew we had a great opportunity. We were in good form and seemed to have developed the useful ability to pull ourselves out of difficult situations; if one person failed, the second would step up.

  In the five-match one-day series, we easily won the rain-affected first match, thanks largely to the batting of Sehwag and Dhoni. The second match was a washout, but in the third match at Christchurch, one of the smaller grounds, I had reached 163 when I was forced to retire hurt with a strained stomach muscle in the forty-fifth over.

  It was frustrating to have to go off in that kind of form. I like to think I was in with a chance of scoring a double hundred had I been able to bat on, and I wasn’t alone in thinking that. As soon as I entered the dressing room, Sehwag walked up to me, saying, ‘Paaji yeh apne kya kar diya. Double hundred ka chance tha.’ (What have you done, brother? You had a realistic chance of scoring a double hundred.) I laughed and said to him, ‘Arre main mar hi nahi pa raha hoon, double hundred kaise banaunga. Pitch achha hain aur hame abhi runs chaiye. Double hundred kabhi na kabhi ho jayga.’ (I can’t even hit the ball, so how can I score a double hundred? It is a good pitch to bat on and we need big runs at the moment. I will score a double hundred at some point in the future.’) Sehwag, however, wouldn’t let up and said, ‘Arre woh toh doosra double hundred hoga, aaj ka to aaj karna chaihiye tha!’ (When you score a double hundred again it might be the second double hundred. Today you should have scored the first ever ODI double ton!)

  The match was a high-scoring one and, despite setting a target of 392, with Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni both making half-centuries, we were not safe. New Zealand played well to get to 334, thanks in no small part to an opening partnership of 166 between Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder, and the aggregate score of 726 in the two innings was the second highest in the history of ODI cricket.

  I missed the next match at Hamilton, which we also won thanks to an onslaught from Sehwag that brought him 125. To celebrate taking a 3–0 lead in the series, Bhajji, Zaheer, Yuvi and I met up in Bhajji’s room for dinner, which was next to the health club in the hotel. There was a wonderful outdoor Jacuzzi and it had started drizzling outside, making it a beautiful setting. While my team-mates wanted to get into the Jacuzzi, I said I was content to stay where I was. Seeing my reluctance, the three of them hatched a plot.

  We had ordered food in the room and were chatting while we waited for it when they grabbed me from behind and hurled me into the water. I was screaming at them, saying my watch would get spoilt, but it made no difference, as they were determined to have fun at my expense. They all followed me into the Jacuzzi and we started messing around in the water. By now the food had arrived and within minutes the French fries, sandwiches and ketchup had found their way into the Jacuzzi. It was certainly an unusual way to celebrate!

  India in New Zealand, Test series, March–April 2009

  In the first Test at Hamilton, which started on 18 March, New Zealand batted first and made 279, with Daniel Vettori scoring a hundred. I still jokingly tell our bowlers whenever I see them, ‘Arre usko kaise hundred marne diya tha yaar tumlog?’ (How could you allow him to score a hundred?) He did play well, though, and took some calculated risks that paid off.

  When I went in to bat in the afternoon of day two, I couldn’t time the ball to save my life. I just didn’t feel comfortable, so I decided to change my stance. This was something I used to try from time to time and it often did the trick. Normally I bat with a side-on stance, but in Hamilton I opened myself up slightly and also increased the gap between my feet a little. The umpire Simon Taufel noticed the difference and mentioned to me that I looked a completely different batsman after the drinks break and asked what I had done to myself. Sometimes such tiny adjustments can make a big difference.

  Towards the end of the first day, the light dropped appreciably and Iain O’Brien, New Zealand’s best bowler in the series, was bowling from one end. The umpires were reluctant to stop the game, which I thought was unfair because it was a crucial time in the match and there was no chance of the light improving. I somehow managed to survive, though, and was unbeaten on 70 at the end of the second day. The next morning I got off to an aggressive start. My knock of 160 contributed to a sizeable first-innings lead, alongside fifties from Gambhir, Dravid and Zaheer Khan. Our bowlers, led by Bhajji with six wickets, delivered once again to set up a very satisfying win.

  Unfortunately, I missed the latter parts of the match because I was injured in the very first over of the New Zealand second innings when I dived forward to take a catch at slip off Zaheer’s bowling. The edge from Tim McIntosh had come low and as I tried to get my fingers under the ball I damaged the index finger of my left hand. I had to be taken to hospital to have the injury checked and X-rays revealed I had a fracture.

  There wasn’t much time before the second Test at Napier but the early end of the first one at least gave me an extra day to recover. To protect the finger, I tried putting three finger caps one on top of the other and also applied a fibre plaster, which I moulded by putting it in hot water, topped off with a lot of padding. With all that protection, I had little sense of where my finger actually was, but in the end I decided I could last a Test as long as I stood in a relatively quiet fielding position. />
  This time it worked out well and I managed to score runs in both innings of the second Test at Napier. New Zealand scored 619 in their first innings, with Jesse Ryder following up his 102 in the first Test with a double century, supported by hundreds from Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum. We had to bat out a little more than two days to save the match. We had a brief team meeting ahead of the second innings and there was a strong belief that we could do it. Gary had a big role to play in this and exuded a kind of quiet confidence, which in turn had a positive impact on the team.

  Gautam Gambhir batted superbly in the second innings and thanks to his magnificent 137 we saved the match comfortably in the end. He batted for ten and a half hours and played 436 balls in an exemplary display of patience and character. Laxman also scored a hundred and the draw was a true reflection of the team’s mind-set at the time: we were relishing the challenges set before us.

  In the third Test in Wellington, we scored a reasonable 379, batting first, but then Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh combined to bowl out New Zealand for 197, giving us a 182-run lead. In our second innings, a magnificent 167 from Gambhir helped set New Zealand a target of 717.

  We picked up four wickets on day four and had the whole of the fifth day to take the remaining six wickets to wrap up the series 2–0. Zaheer, Ishant and Munaf Patel were bowling extremely well for us, as they had right through the series. The plan was to bowl short and attack the shoulder/ribcage area in an attempt to rattle the opposition. It seemed to work and I could sense the discomfort in some of the New Zealand batsmen.

  With the wind behind him, Ishant was unplayable at times. Munaf took on the challenging job of bowling into the wind and for those who are not aware of the difficulties involved, the wind at Wellington can reduce your pace by at least 10 kph. Batsmen have to be able to make subtle adjustments to adapt to conditions like these. One problem with looking into strong winds is that you can’t keep your eyes open for too long at a stretch. Also, when facing someone bowling with the wind, your bat speed has to be slightly faster than normal because the ball hurries on quicker than expected. On the other hand, a batsman can put pressure on someone bowling into the wind because the bat swing is naturally faster with the wind behind you.

  On this occasion, our bowlers made sure the New Zealand batsmen were never at ease and despite another century from Ross Taylor in the second innings, we were always in control. Jesse Ryder, who had been their most successful batsman in the series, failed in both innings at Wellington, which definitely helped our chances. I was given the ball a little before lunch on day five and was pleased to get the crucial wicket of Brendon McCullum, caught at slip for 6. Then I could tell that James Franklin, the last recognized batsman, wasn’t picking my googlies and was trying to sweep every ball to negate the overspin. I asked Dhoni to take the fielder away from point and place two fielders at short square leg. This would stop Franklin from playing the sweep shot and would force him to cut. The plan worked and I had Franklin lbw soon after making the field change.

  We would have won the match if Ishant had held on to a chance from Iain O’Brien in the deep. The spilled catch allowed New Zealand a lifeline before the heavens opened after lunch, bringing a premature end to the match. Close to two sessions of play were lost to rain and we missed out on a golden opportunity.

  An incident from this New Zealand series gives an idea of how much difference local conditions can make to a team’s chances. It happened at Christchurch during the ODI series when Zaheer was bowling. He had bowled a good-length ball and the batsman’s attempted front-foot slog over midwicket turned into a top edge. Zaheer screamed out ‘MINE!’ and carefully positioned himself for the catch. To his dismay, the wind got hold of the ball and it landed at least fifteen feet away. Later we all joked with him, saying, ‘So the catch was yours, was it, Zak?’

  Aiming for the top

  Our rise up the ICC Test rankings had started in England back in 2007. Now, after the successful series in New Zealand, we had the opportunity to take the number-one position if we beat Sri Lanka at home in November–December 2009.

  The series against Sri Lanka was also special for personal reasons, because I notched up twenty years in international cricket in November 2009. I celebrated the occasion by speaking to the media for more than seven hours, giving close to fifty one-on-one interviews. So much for people saying I did not talk to the media enough! Looking back at how uncomfortable I was at my first press conference in 1990, I had indeed come a long way.

  I remember being confronted with a camera for the first time as an awkward teenager. In my early TV advertisements, I was not what you might call camera-friendly. I was self-conscious about using make-up and insisted on being natural, with nothing on my face and nothing done to my hair. It was only later that I realized that it was just a normal part of working with cameras. Later in my career, I really enjoyed shooting commercials and there were some incidents that I can never forget.

  On one occasion I was at a shoot with one of India’s greatest cinema icons, Amitabh Bachchan, in the Rajasthan city of Jodhpur. While we were taking a break, I suddenly realized that Arjun, who was only a toddler then, had finished his meal and was happily wiping his hands on Amitabh Bachchan’s churidar (the lower garment we wear in India with a kurta). Anjali and I were both mortified, but he kindly kept telling us that it was perfectly all right and that a child of Arjun’s age hardly knew what he was doing. While Mr Bachchan was looking at the funnier side of the incident, as parents we were extremely embarrassed by it. I even said to him that ‘Arjun jabh bada ho jayega to es incident ko yaad karke sharmaega.’ (When Arjun grows up he will remember what he did and feel seriously embarrassed.) His conduct during this episode only added to my respect for the great man.

  Another commercial I have fond memories of involved another Bollywood legend, Shahrukh Khan. Shahrukh and I were shooting for Pepsi at Lord’s on the eve of the 1999 World Cup and the plan was for Shahrukh to pose as me and open the refrigerator in the dressing room to take out a chilled Pepsi. That’s when I was supposed to confront him for impersonating me. I ended up adding my own ideas to the commercial and said we should not stop there, but I should take the Pepsi bottle from him and force him to go out and bat in my place as well. The director loved the idea and the script was changed on the day.

  Sri Lanka don’t make it easy

  Before the first Test of the three-match series started in Ahmedabad on 16 November, Anjali had planned something special for me, to mark my twenty years in international cricket. As a surprise, she and a few of my closest friends hired a private jet and flew into Ahmedabad on the morning of the game. I was having breakfast with MS Dhoni and had my back to the restaurant door when I saw in Dhoni’s eyes that something was going on behind me. Even before I could turn to see what was happening, Anjali and the gang had reached me. It was totally unexpected and I was deeply touched by the gesture.

  Halfway through the Test, we found ourselves in a spot of bother. Centuries from Dravid and Dhoni had helped us to a decent first-innings total of 426, but Sri Lanka had scored 760 runs in response, thanks to hundreds from Dilshan and Prasanna Jayawardene and a double hundred from Mahela Jayawardene. We now needed to bat for a day and a half to save the game. But our never-say-die spirit came to the fore again and we batted exceptionally well to draw the match, with the opener Gambhir setting the foundation with 114.

  I also scored a hundred on the last day and it was not a century free of incidents. Once it was evident to the Sri Lankans that they could no longer win, they set ultra-defensive fields. At one point Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan skipper, asked if I really wanted to carry on because there was no longer a possibility of a result in the match. I said to him bluntly that a Test hundred was a Test hundred and I would have got there long before if he had set sporting fields. While I had no problem with him trying to make things difficult for me, there was no reason for me to call it off when th
ere was time left in the game.

  At this, Sangakkara set a 7–2 off-side field and must have asked his left-arm fast bowler Welegedara to bowl to me a couple of feet outside my off stump with the ball going further away. I felt the need to improvise and on one occasion moved almost two feet outside the off stump and flicked Welegedara to square leg for four to get into the nineties. When I eventually reached my century, I asked Sangakkara if he wanted to continue the game. I was happy to carry on batting, but then we both decided to call off the game.

  There was a similar situation in the same series during the third ODI in Cuttack on 21 December 2009. Chasing the Sri Lankan total of 239, I was in the nineties and Dinesh Karthik was giving me very good support at the other end. With only a few runs needed to win, Sangakkara decided to place most of his fielders on the boundary when I was facing, while for Dinesh he would bring the field right in. To counter the ploy, Dinesh played a number of dot-balls before I intervened and asked him just to finish the match. The win, I said, was far more important than my hundred. In the end, I remained unbeaten on 96 as Dinesh hit the winning runs.

  I’m also reminded of what the Sri Lankans did against Virender Sehwag on 16 August 2010 during a one-day international in Dambulla. With Viru on 99 and only one run needed, the off-spinner Suraj Randiv bowled a big no-ball and even though Viru hit him for six, the runs did not count because technically the match was over the moment the no-ball was bowled. Viru fell short of the hundred by one run and the incident created quite a storm in the media at the time.