Picking the best from your favourites can be a tall order. For Kapil Pathare, a cricket buff, it was a challenge when he decided to pick his best 10. He calls his book “A Tall Order”. But given the awesome talent to choose from it turned out to be an enjoyable exercise.
The Mumbai-based Pathare confesses, “While picking these 10 cricketers I did not have to think much because each of these gentlemen has made an impact on our lives in the last 25 years.”
The 10 to feature in his tribute to some fascinating cricket are Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. “I have met quite a few of them. I am in awe of their abilities and their personalities. I think they deserve to be celebrated as demi-gods.”
Why these 10? Pathare says, “I felt that these ten were the best of a generation that India produced. When I started writing the book, Virat (Kohli) was on the cusp of joining the pantheon of greats. Virat would be the 11th player in this list when I update the book.”
The book, published by Popular Prakashan, has a foreword by the great Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya. “I had battled them on the field for close to two decades. Even then, some of the insights in the book have been an eye-opener,” writes Jayasuriya.
Volumes have been penned on these stalwarts of Indian cricket but Pathare manages to offer a readable account of each.
