Controversially Yours by Shoaib Akhtar

[Saqs]

Im at page 50 something ish. This auto biography so far is way better than Sachin's. Shoaib clearly had much more interested life before cricket. Only Shoaib could have made it this far. His life before cricket is worth making a movie.

Some highlights so far
- Getting caned at home
- Getting caned at school
- Getting caned by everyone and everywhere
- Driving a motorcycle through principal's office
- Bullets flying over his head, people being blown up by RPG in front his eyes
- Walking over dead bodies, walking for 4 hours to club matches, only to be benched and abused
- Walking to PIA headquarters and challenging the organization
- Depression

This guy is a legend, clearly Shoaib is a different character and he achieved so much because of his character more than anything else.

True, but part of his larger than life character is that it probably is a bit too much larger than life ie he probably made a lot of this up.

 

[pacesensation]

great book
admire him for saying truth about sachin regarding his inability to play quality pace attack

 

[Thivagar]

True, but part of his larger than life character is that it probably is a bit too much larger than life ie he probably made a lot of this up.

I learnt more about Sachin's childhood childhood from Gulu Ezekiel's biography than his own book

I think he was just an honest weirdo. That went and did his own thing. Can't believe he could have been played the 96 world cup if he wasn't dropped for "disciplinary reason".

Sachin might have lost some part for his childhood after starting FC career, he must have spent most of his time with grown men. Akhtar's book is actually pretty good so far. There is more than I thought. It is a poor kid's fantasy, except that it isn't a fantasy.

 

[Saqs]

I think he was just an honest weirdo. That went and did his own thing. Can't believe he could have been played the 96 world cup if he wasn't dropped for "disciplinary reason".

Sachin might have lost some part for his childhood after starting FC career, he must have spent most of his time with grown men. Akhtar's book is actually pretty good so far. There is more than I thought. It is a poor kid's fantasy, except that it isn't a fantasy.

96 world cup?

 

[Thivagar]

True, but part of his larger than life character is that it probably is a bit too much larger than life ie he probably made a lot of this up.

I learnt more about Sachin's childhood childhood from Gulu Ezekiel's biography than his own book

96 world cup?

Oops, ignore that, i thought the Ind Vs Pak tour took place in early 96 so i thought he had a chance

 

[Belawal2014]

Oops, ignore that, i thought the Ind Vs Pak tour took place in early 96 so i thought he had a chance

Where do I get my hands on it in Canada?

 

[Saj]

Finally got a chance to read this.

Read the first few pages and so far so good from Shoaiby.

 

[ExpressPacer]

Read this thing years ago. One of the best autobiographies out there by a cricketer. The one by SRT was a complete joke. The Warnie one was good but Akhtar's was the best

 

[Savak]

I predict Afridi's autobiography will be the best. Totally no holds barred

 

[Slog]

Read this thing years ago. One of the best autobiographies out there by a cricketer. The one by SRT was a complete joke. The Warnie one was good but Akhtar's was the best

Hmm dunno.

I haven't read many cricketing autobiographies but compared to footballers this one was pretty mediocre effort

There was little discussion about the dressing room atmosphere or reminiscing about playing with the great 90s teams and incidents with them

The 2011 World Cup is just glossed over. It's shocking that barely a few pages are given to the whole event. Even 99 World Cup doesn't have as much detail as you would expect considering it was his zenith

Totally blanks over the drug test episode and 2009 t20 dropping. Same with spor fixing

Interesting parts were his early life and struggles in Karachi and wanting to make a name for himself. That was enjoyable to read

Overall if you take out the first several chapters, the book is a bit of a whine fest

 

[Saj]

I've read the first few chapters and to me it's a mixture of reality and fantasy from Akhtar which he believes are facts.

Some of the major incidents and controversies have been just passed over and hardly spoken about.