Mumbai, Oct 27: Get hold of a ticket (or a complimentary pass!) to Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th and final Test at the Wankhede next month, and you will receive a free copy of The Journey of Tendulkar to Centurykar, a 125-page compilation of the batting legend’s 100 international hundreds.
Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president Sharad Pawar recently announced that a Nagpur-based publishing was keen on printing and distributing 40,000 copies of the book during the second Test between India and the West Indies from November 14-18. A few days ago, the association requested Kiran Mahadeokar, the proprietor of Kavita Enterprises and the brains behind the book, to go ahead with the project.
Mahadeokar, a 60-year-old cricket fanatic from the Orange City, is not charging the MCA a single penny. “I am doing this for Sachin,” Mahadeokar, 60, says. “A few corporate houses have agreed to help. If all goes well, I will supply the MCA with 40,000 copies a few days before the start of the Test.”
“I want the cricket-loving public to read about Tendulkar’s achievements. In the book, I have provided a detailed account of each of his 100 centuries for India. The book is also peppered with quotes and comments from several legendary cricketers like Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Graeme Pollock and Tendulkar himself.
So what inspired Mahadeokar? Here’s the story. The year was 1998 and Tendulkar was at the peak of his powers. The maestro’s haul 2,541 international runs and 12 centuries in a calendar year convinced Mahadeokar that the little man would set some “unbreakable records”.
And soon after Tendulkar’s twin hundreds in Sharjah, he started collecting newspaper and magazine cuttings.
That hundred in the final against Australia was Tendulkar’s 31st. But Mahadeokar was sure Tendulkar would scale the Mount Everest of cricket. “Once he scored his 99th hundred in the 2011 World Cup, I decided it was time. The 100th hundred was a given,” he says.
Tendulkar took a little more than a year to scored the landmark ton. “Three months later, I released my book in Nagpur. I distributed nearly 25,000 copies for free. Recently, I met Mr Sharad Pawar and he was delighted to see the book. And I am glad he has allowed me to distribute the book to the Wankhede crowd,” Mahadeokar adds.
Have you ‘booked’ your ticket?
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