‘Attitude’ is the word haunted his life and career all along. While,
in a relative term, it is good and bad in his own view, the attitude
has made Shoaib Akhtar one of the most controversial figures of the cricket
realm. He is never scared of controversy, but on the other hand
seems to have fascination in introducing himself as ‘Controversially Yours’, so the self-description aptly fits into title of his autobiography.
He says: “Controversies have hovered around me since the day I was
born. Take my name, Shoaib, for instance. In Arabic, it means the one
who brings people together, but it can also mean one who separates.”
He never tried to separate people, as we know from
his life story chronicled in the book of 271 pages. Contrary to his
wish to be a binding factor, he used to be banned from his band.
Suspensions he was punished with -be it from
his classroom when he was a student or be it from the Pakistan national team when he was a star cricketer-were not justified but inevitable in the given situation. The culprit
was his mistaken-attitude of inwardly respecting people without toadying to them.
But, if you really want to pick it up for its title, disappointment is
in store for you for nothing is there in the book
that you don’t know, especially, if you are a cricket follower. The
details about his drug abuse, admission of ball tampering, the way he
came out of the ‘chucker’ stigma and a rape charge, are all much read
about and talked about subjects and the book doesn’t offer anything extra.
His remarks on the Indian greats Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid had
certainly raised some dust as his terming them ‘not the match winners’
had been taken as blasphemy because one of the targets is none other
than the god of cricket, while the other is the great wall that the
greatest demolishers struggled to find a breach in it. His observation
that Tendulkar was scared of his bowling had definitely incited rage
among the Indian cricket fans, but the controversy element stops at
that and his adulations for the little master shown in the book did
not get the publicity to the extent that the negative coverage the
pitfall could have attracted even before its launch. Perhaps, this
disappointment factor has played the downer and the autobiography of
the supposedly fastest bowler of the world is not a hot cake on the
stands.
Although he is candid in recording his tumbles and fumbles, the hot
hunk disappoints you even on the most important count; he talks about
girls and even mentions Bollywood glam dolls, while spilling beans on love lives of his own and of his team mates, but he never names them.
His rational face gets unveiled when he castigates the hypocrisy of
the Pakistan team management insisting upon the team members doing
namaz in the dressing room. He has not spared Inzamam-Ul- Hak, as the
captain, from ridiculing for his clownish insistence on nammaz that
forced them doing it even on board of flight. But, he does this with
an authority as he is also well-versed in the Islamiath, the essence
of Islam, and he is a great believer. The beginning of his talimaat,
learning, of the Islamiat from a murshid, which continued for fifteen
years, is itself is a poignant episode in the biography. He is so
scholarly that he could interpret the real meaning of namaaz, which is
a far cry for any Pakistan cricketer. You can add this to the duality
of his persona that has otherwise given him a bad boy image.
What really moves you is his response to a few in Pakistan- an
insignificant minority as he puts it- dancing in the streets after
26/11 Mumbai attack. He vents out his angst: “I recall thinking in
horror, people die in Mumbai and you celebrate! Are you human? Don’t
the people of Mumbai have red blood like yours?” His heartburn
over Pakistan players (losing) IPL participation, after the ghastly act, is just an added pain.
While reading an autobiography of a flamboyant cricketer like Shoaib
Akhtar, it is unfair to look for literary value in the book.
But, the narration of Anshu Dogra has done justice with her prose being
a mix of lucidity and banality in patches.
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