Sunday, January 27, 2013

Rahul Dravid, Sharmila Tagore launch Tiger Pataudi’s biography

Pakistan News & Features Services

Rahul Dravid, one of the greatest-ever batsmen, alongwith Sharmila Tagore, an iconic Bollywood actress, launched ‘Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket’, a book on former Indian cricket captain, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, on the third day of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2013 in Jaipur on January 26. The book has been authored by Suresh Menon.

“I am glad to be here for this unforgettable occasion and deeply indebted to Mr Menon for this book. I read each word of this wonderful book and it made me emotional. I hope readers will like it also,” Sharmila Tagore, wife of the late ‘Tiger’ Pataudi, observed while acknowledging the warm applause from a huge crowd present at the Diggi Palace. 

Rahul Dravid, himself a former Indian captain, also lavished praised the book and the author, stressing for more books on legendary cricketers of the past.

“I am very happy to see a book on legendary cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and this book will surely encourage readers to know more about cricket and cricketers. We are thankful to Mr. Menon and I wish we will see more books on this sport and life of cricketers,” the Rajasthan Royals skipper remarked.

“Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was a great batsman, fielder, captain and above all, he was a great cricketer. Moreover, he was a great team player and knew how to bring all players together to play as a team. Because of his team building, India registered their first Test series win overseas against New Zealand in 1968,” Suresh Menon recalled. 

The book launch was followed by a session presented by Rajasthan Royals, Corner of a Distant Playing Field, in which Rahul Dravid was joined by Ian Buruma, a Dutch writer and academician, and moderated by Rajdeep Sardesai, son of legendary cricketer Dilip Sardesai and Editor-in-Chief of CNN-IBN.

“The Indian Premier League (IPL) brought many changes in Indian cricket along with tough challenges to adapt quickly to the shorter format of the game, changes in game plan and quick solutions. It changes the environment of the dressing room as we meet players from different countries. It has been changing relationships among cricketers for the last five years and we understand them better,” Rahul Dravid opined. 

“For example, I was never close to Jacques Kallis (South African cricketer). We just met during the series and said a hi-hello to each other. He also talks less and we both never get enough time to talk. Now, due the IPL, we got enough opportunities to talk and shared our views on cricket during our stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore. We are in touch with each other now,” he added.

No comments:

Post a Comment