MANGALURU: Fans of South African cricket legend
AB de Villiers' lapped up his much awaited memoir '
AB - The Autobiography
' on Thursday. Fans thronged to Sapna bookshop to pick their copy on the very first day of the launch. 'AB - The Autobiography' is amongst biggest non-fiction book releases of the season. It was launched in South Africa last week and September 8 was fixed as the launch date for the Indian edition.
"We have been receiving enquiries for the book from last few days.
Pan Macmillan
is the publisher of this book. We received our stocks only this morning due to the publisher's security protocols," said Pritesh, manager of the Sapna's Mangaluru outlet. Sapna has arranged an attractive display for the book. Sapna is offering special 30% discount on the cover prize of Rs 599. The 288 page book is available at Sapna for Rs. 419 for a limited period.
The first to pick a copy of the book was Vignesh Rao and his two friends Vikyath Shenoy Basty and Chirag K, who are all fresh out of college. His cousin
Abhinav Rao
, a 6th standard student, who had also tagged along, got a copy gifted to him. "I've been a fan of ABD from the time of RCB,' said Vikyath, adding he had been looking forward to this launch date. Vignesh had expressed his impatience to lay his hands on the book three days back with Facebook post.
"I am expecting to learn the secret of being a multitalented sportsman with superhuman abilities," said Vignesh. "AB is a good human being. He has fans from all over the world. He is the only reason for RCB's success, apart from
Virat Kohli of course," added Chirag. For Abhinav getting a copy of the book for himself was a surprise. "AB is a master blaster. I cannot wait to go home and read this book," he said, visibly thrilled.
The book had become one of the most eagerly awaited celebrity titles in recent times, thanks to the cricketer's universal popularity. It rose to Number 35 on the Amazon India charts last week based on pre-publication orders ahead of its launch in the country today. During the books launch in his home country, AB de Villiers in fact had said he was "incredibly humbled" by the huge response his autobiography has been getting in India even before its launch.
Pan Macmillan describes the book as AB's story, in his own words. The story of the youngest of three talented, sports-mad brothers growing up in Warmbaths, of a boy who excelled at tennis, rugby and cricket, of a youngster who made his international debut at the age of twenty and was then selected in every single Test played by South Africa for the next eleven seasons, of a batsman who has started to redefine the art, being ranked among the world's very best in test, ODI and T20.