Steve Waugh's
autobiography provides a rich insight into his remarkable cricketing career, nuances of
leadership in
Team Australia and his very private
life. The foreword is
written by Indian captain Rahul Dravid .The
book dwells on his breaking into national side, playing with his twin brother and his ascend to captaincy of the team, which he turned into world-beaters. More importantly the book is about leadership and motivation that requires single-minded determination and vision for future. Moulding a bunch of 15 into world beaters, keeping in mind their egos and temperament is no men task and require courage, leading by example and ruthlessness in order to achieve the bigger goal of supremacy in the chosen field.
Steve Waugh has done all that with his reputation kept intact. Dravid has described Waugh as being "an interesting man who has lived an interesting life: a man of
cricket but not just of cricket". And exactly for the same reason it is not the ordinary memoir of a famous man written for the sole purpose of cashing in on the fame.
There are nuggets on team bonding, role of coach and captain –very important from Indian perspective, pay scales, his reasons to explore and experience the visiting country esp. India and his continued association with India through charity work, reactions to match fixing scandal and related maligning of Marl Waugh and Shane Warne and the most important Ashes Tour.The book also has numerous anecdotes and inside information on foreign tours, team selection, opponent players like Shoaib Akhtar, Dravid, Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly, constant media glare and the challenges of balancing a normal family life with regular traveling.
Waugh has admitted that Australian cricket borders on the fine line between gamesmanship and sledging.There is a difference between a champion and runner up. Time honors only champions no matter how much better or talented was the runner up. Essentially this is the moral of the book .It is a great tomb for serious followers of game. It is written in simple style with good choice of words and laced with dry humor. And this makes it truly engrossing.
More reviews about the Out Of My Comfort Zone