New Delhi: Sharing his anger and pain after being stripped of the captaincy in 1997, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has revealed that the "unceremonious" sacking was very "embarrassing" and "humiliating".
Writing in his autobiography 'Playing It My Way', published by Hachette India, Tendulkar recalled the drawn three-match series against Sri Lanka, which preceded his sacking.
"At the end of the series, I was unceremoniously sacked as skipper. No one from the BCCI managed to call me or inform me of my removal as captain before someone from the media called to say I was no longer captain," Tendulkar has written.
Tendulkar, 41, said the being removed from the position made him more determined to play better cricket.
"I was actually with my friends in Sahitya Sahawas. I felt extremely humiliated to hear this, but the manner in which the whole thing was handled strengthened my resolve to be a better cricketer in the years to come.
"I told myself that the BCCI mandarins might be able to take the captaincy away from me, but no one could do the same as far as my own cricket was concerned," he wrote.
Even as he vowed to do better, Tendulkar said the "sense of ignominy and the pain were still there".
"During my tenure as captain some of the players used to call me 'skip', so when one of the players shouted out 'skipper' in our next engagement in Dhaka, I automatically turned around to answer the call. That's when it really hit me that I was no longer the captain of the Indian cricket team.
"Now I simply had to focus on my batting and win some matches for the team. So that's what I did," he writes.
Tendulkar also revealed that he was "so focused on doing well" that after losing his wicket in one of the matches in Bangladesh due to distraction caused by movement around the sight-screen, he yelled at the then Bangladesh Cricket Board President Ashraful Haq on his way back to pavilion.
"I ended up shouting at someone who has since become a good friend. This incident, which has caused us both much embarrassment, took place in the second of the three finals of the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup in Dhaka in 1998.
"There was a lot of movement in front of and around the sight-screen and, despite my repeated complaints, things did not improve. I was distracted and lost my wicket soon after.
"On my way back to the pavilion I was livid and, when someone came across to apologise, I just screamed at him, saying Bangladesh did not deserve to host international cricket if the basic fundamentals were not in place.
"Only later did I realise that the man I had yelled at was Ashraful Haq, then president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board and currently chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council. Ever since, whenever we meet, we start by saying sorry to each other for what happened!," he said.
Kapil Dev was a disappointment
One of the finest Indian all-rounders of all time, Kapil Dev was a "disappointment" when it came to coaching, reveals batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar in his just-released autobiography 'Playing It My Way'.
Tendulkar has claimed that he was left disappointed by Kapil during one of the Australia tours since the coach never involved himself in strategic discussions.
In the chapter, Tumultuous Times: India in Australia, November 1999-January 2000, Tendulkar has written that he had high expectations from Kapil.
"During my second stint as captain, we had Kapil Dev as our coach. He is one of the finest cricketers to have played for India and one of the best all-rounders of all time, and I had great expectations of him in Australia.
"I have always maintained that the coach's job is an important one, for he is in a position to play a key role in formulating team strategy. Who better than Kapil to come up with options for me during a tough tour of Australia?
"However, his method of involvement and his thought process was limited to leaving the running of the team to the captain, and hence he did not involve himself in strategic discussions that would help us on the field," Tendulkar writes.
The Indian batting great also shared his frustration on how some of his moves as captain did not pay off but the same strategy clicked when other captains employed it.
Tendulkar talked about the 1997 Sharjah series where he promoted Robin Singh to bat at number three but the southpaw failed and he had to cop heavy criticism from the media.
"The match against Pakistan on 14 December highlights how things were just not going my way. I was batting at number four in this competition, at the selectors' request. Sourav and Navjot Sidhu had given us a good start against Pakistan, and when Sidhu got out at 143-2, I sent in Robin Singh, the all-rounder, to accelerate the innings. It was a strategy I had given considerable thought to.
"Manzoor Akhtar, the leg-spinner, was at one end bowling around the wicket to the right-handed batsmen. The theory was that Robin, a left-hander, would be able to negotiate his leg-spin better and also hit some big shots. However, Robin got out without scoring after just three balls from Azhar Mahmood, the medium-pacer, and the experiment proved a disaster. In the press I was criticised for sending in Robin ahead of me and the move was blamed for our defeat," Tendulkar recalled.
"A month later, however, in January 1998, Azhar, back as captain, repeated the very same move in the final of the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup in Dhaka against Pakistan. Robin was sent in at three to keep up the momentum after Sourav and I had got off to a flier and this time Robin played a terrific hand, scoring 82 and setting up the run chase.
"This was arguably a bigger gamble, because he was pitted against the off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and it is no secret that left-handers find it more difficult against off-spinners.
"The same experiment was now hailed as a master stroke. Not without reason is it said that success has many fathers while defeat is an orphan," he wrote.
