|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dhoni THERE have been several biographies of Indian cricketers, but there is a glaring similarity to all of them. They hover around performances, sequence of matches and strong points of the player. But not many of them are able to touch on other aspects or bring out anecdotes not heard of before.
The book gives a good idea of Dhoni’s early years and his introduction to first-class cricket. Inputs from those who saw and helped him then, including his first coach, chief of his fan club and Ranji Trophy teammates add meaning to the whole exercise of penning a book on the Indian skipper. For example, the description of the hair-cutting salon Dhoni used to visit when he was a teenager: "Walk past a couple of goats into the part thatched shop that has ‘Saloon’ written boldly in blue and you get the whiff of an era gone by, of barbers whose expertise did not always make up for the fading mugs and worn out sprayers, and of the time when foam could only be made with brushes that lost hair faster than anyone visiting the salon. "Motu is not close to the barbers of yore in that he does not talk as much, his face deprived of a shave and mouth reeking of a smell that can be presumed to be the result of alcohol he had imbibed the previous night. He goes about his job regularly, not bothering to improve the chairs, which creak at the slightest weight, and mirrors, which have stood the test of time and now only reflect a shadowy image, partly because of the lack of light inside the salon." There is a certain freshness in the way the author has tackled various facets of the champion cricketer, not bothering to delve deeply into chronology or statistical achievements, which can be at times a big put off. It offers a good read and with inputs from former selectors like Kiran More and Ashok Malhotra, certain facts are revealed to the reader. Not many would know that Greg Chappell was the first one to suggest Dhoni’s name for captaincy. But the book quotes More as conceding that the seeds of the idea of elevating Dhoni came from the much-maligned Australian coach almost a year before the Ranchi player was named to lead India in the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa. Rao’s experience as a cricket writer comes out very clearly in the way he pushes in his own thoughts on domestic cricket without being too intrusive, giving the readers space to develop his own thoughts and opinions. With a foreword by Kapil Dev, statistics by Rajneesh Gupta and photographs from a number of sources, it is amply supplemented in other aspects too.
|
||
|
|
||
That is where C.
Rajshekhar Rao’s book Dhoni is different. The author’s
effort of going to Ranchi in a bid to glean facts and incidents is
reflected clearly in the crisply written book, which is not
over-analytical and is appealing to both the discerning and the
exuberant fan.