"Imperfect by Sanjay Manjrekar

"Imperfect" by Sanjay Manjrekar - A candid account. 

This book is published by  Harper Sport in 2017 and has 210 pages. This book was recommended and gifted by Ravi.

The book starts with an explosive statement in author's note "For those who think I under achieved as a cricketer, I say this: For a guy who was basically not really that into sport, playing more than 100 international matches was not such a bad effort, was it?".

He says his father, the legendary Vijay Manjrekar, was a disturbed, frustrated, angry man and troubled soul post retirement. He was not able to cope up with life after cricket. 

He  profusely praises the spirit of Mumbai school of batting. The tradition of Mumbai to promote, criticise and mentor talent and the way Mumbai system worked to provide clear roadmap for the deserving candidates is  amazing. He however, candidly admits that this system didn't give importance to fitness. He sights this lack of fitness as the reason for his multiple run outs.  

Author praises the West Indian cricketers for having no need to sledge and for encouraging the talent in opposition. He also praises Imran Khan for his leadership qualities and for controlling and guiding the feisty Pakistani  team.  

He analyses in detail how he went from being best player of fast bowling and bouncers to  one who was vulnerable to bouncers towards the end of his career. He candidly admits that he was happy and proud of his defensive batting and did not actively look to score runs. He also rues that he did not look for singles while batting defensively, had he done that his career would have turned out quite differently. Surprised?

He thinks that obsession for perfection and making things unnecessarily complicated were his greatest flaws. He also thinks if he had a personal coach to who he could bare his soul, it would have helped. 

He says there was team spirit at Ranji level. Mumbai players in that era had each other's back. That was lacking in national team. He also talks about North - West divide within Indian team and how star players enjoyed star status even within the team. He has a lot of praise for Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar. He also says Prabhakar failed the most important test, that of integrity, because of his attempted Tahalka sting on author. Azhar, for him, is a lucky person with limited imagination and tact but big heart.

In the section about his career as commentator he narrates the Dean Jones' "Terrorist" episode. He also talks about some of his fellow commentators. 

There are some notable and obvious things absent in this book. There is hardly any mention of match fixing scandal or Prabhakar naming Kapil. There is no mention of Gavaskar and Harsha Bhogle in the commentary section. There is no mention of his family (wife and kids), his relationship with them and their role in his life and career. 

We all know that Sanjay Manjrekar was a perfectionist. So it was a surprise when I saw that the book is titled Imperfect. I suppose his obsession with perfecting has lead to his extreme self criticism. He over emphasized perfection and lost the big picture leading him to under achieve.

All in all its a candid account of Sanjay Manjrekar about his rise to fame, days in fame and fall from fame, his demons and the torture of being dropped,  his decision to retire early and his second inning at commentary.

I am not that into auto biographies and biographies, but decided to read this one on Ravikiran's strong recommendation. I enjoyed it too. 

Why did I read this book? Ravi's recommendation. 

What I didn't like? Lack of chronology. 

What did I like? Candid account.   

If you like biographies and autobiographies, this book is for you. If you don't, read it nevertheless.