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Not Just Cricket
'A wonderful memoir . . . richly insightful, and deeply moving' - Ramachandra Guha
Eminent journalist Pradeep Magazine's memoir is a story of lived, real experiences, of joy, sorrow, fear, loss and hope, and about how an uprooted identity shapes one's attitude towards society and the nation. From the Kashmir of the 1950s to terror-stricken Punjab, from the Mandir-Masjid divide and the impact of Mandal politics to the tragic consequences of the Kashmir situation-Magazine paints a fascinating portrait of modern India. At the core of the book are accounts of some of the most epochal events in India's cricketing history, woven around personal encounters with several well-known cricketers. The author lays bare the vicious machinations that are a staple diet of sports governance and reveals hitherto unknown facts about the frictions and ego clashes that are inevitable in a game that dominates India's sporting discourse. Whether it is cricket that you're keen on, or India's troubled history, Not Just Cricket is a must-read.
Eminent journalist Pradeep Magazine's memoir is a story of lived, real experiences, of joy, sorrow, fear, loss and hope, and about how an uprooted identity shapes one's attitude towards society and the nation. From the Kashmir of the 1950s to terror-stricken Punjab, from the Mandir-Masjid divide and the impact of Mandal politics to the tragic consequences of the Kashmir situation-Magazine paints a fascinating portrait of modern India. At the core of the book are accounts of some of the most epochal events in India's cricketing history, woven around personal encounters with several well-known cricketers. The author lays bare the vicious machinations that are a staple diet of sports governance and reveals hitherto unknown facts about the frictions and ego clashes that are inevitable in a game that dominates India's sporting discourse. Whether it is cricket that you're keen on, or India's troubled history, Not Just Cricket is a must-read.
384 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 20, 2023
Not just cricket, but more. Politics, business, journalism. Ambition, greed. Sportsmanship, fair play.
Pradeep Magazine begins his book about modern Indian cricket with an insight into his growing years, from when he, born into a Kashmiri Pandit family, lived in Srinagar surrounded by a loving family. There was a definite distinction made between Hindus and Muslims but that distinction never affected the mutual respect between the two communities.
He ends the book with a return to Kashmir: to the town of Bijbehara, home to bowler Parvez Rasool. Magazine wanders through Kashmir, trying to recapture his childhood, trying to understand, too, the dynamics between Kashmiri Muslims on the one hand, and on the other, Kashmiri Pandits, the Indian government, and Pakistan.
In between these two bookends is an interesting and deeply personal insight into Indian cricket from when Magazine first became interested in the game in the 60s, to the present. Magazine traces a rough chronology, but builds this with an emphasis on changes in thought and technique, how captains came and went, how their approaches changed, how the game went into murky waters, how reputations were made and ruined. There are few scores mentioned here, few matches described in great detail; what is there instead is an insight into how Tiger Pataudi's fortunes changed, how the selectors played ping-pong with Kapil and Gavaskar as captain. BCCI and Azhar, Modi and the money-spinning idea that is the IPL. All that surrounds Indian cricket.
I used to be interested in cricket till some years back. Not fanatical, but keen enough to follow the game. I rarely watch cricket now, but that didn't come in the way of my appreciating this book. Magazine, who was an eminent cricket journalist for several decades, is very readable, mixing as he does hard fact with his own thoughts and his own personality. The book isn't just a good look at modern Indian cricket, but also modern India in other ways, other arenas: a sometimes unsettling reminder that we condone too much that is unethical, too much that's selfish and greedy and generally not cricket.
Very readable, thought-provoking, sobering.
Pradeep Magazine begins his book about modern Indian cricket with an insight into his growing years, from when he, born into a Kashmiri Pandit family, lived in Srinagar surrounded by a loving family. There was a definite distinction made between Hindus and Muslims but that distinction never affected the mutual respect between the two communities.
He ends the book with a return to Kashmir: to the town of Bijbehara, home to bowler Parvez Rasool. Magazine wanders through Kashmir, trying to recapture his childhood, trying to understand, too, the dynamics between Kashmiri Muslims on the one hand, and on the other, Kashmiri Pandits, the Indian government, and Pakistan.
In between these two bookends is an interesting and deeply personal insight into Indian cricket from when Magazine first became interested in the game in the 60s, to the present. Magazine traces a rough chronology, but builds this with an emphasis on changes in thought and technique, how captains came and went, how their approaches changed, how the game went into murky waters, how reputations were made and ruined. There are few scores mentioned here, few matches described in great detail; what is there instead is an insight into how Tiger Pataudi's fortunes changed, how the selectors played ping-pong with Kapil and Gavaskar as captain. BCCI and Azhar, Modi and the money-spinning idea that is the IPL. All that surrounds Indian cricket.
I used to be interested in cricket till some years back. Not fanatical, but keen enough to follow the game. I rarely watch cricket now, but that didn't come in the way of my appreciating this book. Magazine, who was an eminent cricket journalist for several decades, is very readable, mixing as he does hard fact with his own thoughts and his own personality. The book isn't just a good look at modern Indian cricket, but also modern India in other ways, other arenas: a sometimes unsettling reminder that we condone too much that is unethical, too much that's selfish and greedy and generally not cricket.
Very readable, thought-provoking, sobering.
April 10, 2022
The author has had a ringside view of the happenings in Indian cricket for more than four decades and in a country which breathes cricket, the memoir of such a journalist wil naturally make for engaging reading. Invoking the CLR James maxim "What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?", the author covers the upheavals in Indian society and politics, in parallel. The biggest takeaways from the book in these turbulent times are that being a Kashmiri Pandit, the author underlines the tense yet peaceful co-existence between the Hindu and Muslim communities in the 90s and how neighbor Muslims strived to help Pandit families in distress. Bliss is Cricket and Indian society through the lens of an old-fashioned Nehruvian.
March 5, 2023
Not Just Cricket is a lovely trip down the memory lane for fans of Indian cricket. Pradeep Magazine's memoirs feel like sitting down with an old uncle in the late afternoon, with the evening stretching in front of you, no shortage of good food and drink, and no rush to head anywhere the next morning.
There is a chronological structure to the book - from his childhood in Srinagar, growing up in Amritsar, early career in Chandigarh and then of course, New Delhi. But much like old memories - this structure never intrudes when a good digression is waiting to be made. And therefore in the very first few chapters itself we lurch from a Kashmiri Pandit returning to his childhood home, the memories of Tiger Pataudi himself on his career and his reticence towards captaincy, to the Gavaskar vs Kapil Dev cold-war and musical chairs which dominated their era.
For a 90s kid like me, the first half was educational since we know about various incidents from the early history of Indian cricket from the 60s and 70s, but probably rarely understand the connections between each of these. This is documented well in the book (if not exhaustively) and I admired how Magazine can call out 'issues' without calling out 'individuals' (despite his closeness to many of them), how relationships with players and journalists evolved over time, the travails of domestic cricket, how the player-board structures changed, key 'players' behind the scenes, how corruption & hints of match fixing wafted in, travelling abroad in those days and more. There are a fair bit of non-cricket reminiscences as well in these parts.
It was when it got to this century post the year 2000, that I felt the quality drop in my eyes (the reason for this is probably now me comparing the author's narrative against my own memories). The Ganguly-Chappell saga gets a large chunk of the book with the aforementioned lack of bias completely dissipating. Magazine himself is now no longer just a viewer or narrator, but very much a part of the story - arranging meetings and making phone calls with key protagonists and one tends to wonder is there a bit of an hero effect at play here? The story also becomes a lot more chronological going from incident to incident, there is some reverse rationalization and hindsight bias at play (surely Pakistan couldn't have changed so much from the 2004 to the 2006 tours) and the non cricket bits are a bit lost until the last chapter where he returns to the Kashmir valley...
Nonetheless, Pradeep Magazine has his heart in the right place, the narration has a tone of empathy and kindness about it and the tales we hear are insightful if not provocative. Not a masaaledaar tell-all book, but it is one which is an educational history lesson for the ardent cricket fan.
There is a chronological structure to the book - from his childhood in Srinagar, growing up in Amritsar, early career in Chandigarh and then of course, New Delhi. But much like old memories - this structure never intrudes when a good digression is waiting to be made. And therefore in the very first few chapters itself we lurch from a Kashmiri Pandit returning to his childhood home, the memories of Tiger Pataudi himself on his career and his reticence towards captaincy, to the Gavaskar vs Kapil Dev cold-war and musical chairs which dominated their era.
For a 90s kid like me, the first half was educational since we know about various incidents from the early history of Indian cricket from the 60s and 70s, but probably rarely understand the connections between each of these. This is documented well in the book (if not exhaustively) and I admired how Magazine can call out 'issues' without calling out 'individuals' (despite his closeness to many of them), how relationships with players and journalists evolved over time, the travails of domestic cricket, how the player-board structures changed, key 'players' behind the scenes, how corruption & hints of match fixing wafted in, travelling abroad in those days and more. There are a fair bit of non-cricket reminiscences as well in these parts.
It was when it got to this century post the year 2000, that I felt the quality drop in my eyes (the reason for this is probably now me comparing the author's narrative against my own memories). The Ganguly-Chappell saga gets a large chunk of the book with the aforementioned lack of bias completely dissipating. Magazine himself is now no longer just a viewer or narrator, but very much a part of the story - arranging meetings and making phone calls with key protagonists and one tends to wonder is there a bit of an hero effect at play here? The story also becomes a lot more chronological going from incident to incident, there is some reverse rationalization and hindsight bias at play (surely Pakistan couldn't have changed so much from the 2004 to the 2006 tours) and the non cricket bits are a bit lost until the last chapter where he returns to the Kashmir valley...
Nonetheless, Pradeep Magazine has his heart in the right place, the narration has a tone of empathy and kindness about it and the tales we hear are insightful if not provocative. Not a masaaledaar tell-all book, but it is one which is an educational history lesson for the ardent cricket fan.
July 23, 2025
The book is part memoir - covering politics, journalism, business and part cricket history. From the early rise of cricketing legends like Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev to the turbulent match-fixing scandals, and the emergence of the iconic batting trio—Tendulkar, Dravid, and Ganguly—the narrative captures the evolution of Indian cricket across decades. The author is a Kashmiri Pandit Brahmin so his personal reflections on the Kashmir and the tours to Pakistan make for fascinating reeding.
The book vividly recounts the highs and lows of major tours and World Cups, weaving in the emotional aftermath of each. What stands out most is the insider view of cricket board politics and dressing room dynamics, offering rare glimpses into the personalities and power plays behind the scenes.
More than just a sports chronicle, the book reflects on how cricket mirrors the changing soul of India—its aspirations, struggles, and growing global presence. A must-read for anyone interested in the game and its deeper cultural significance.
The book vividly recounts the highs and lows of major tours and World Cups, weaving in the emotional aftermath of each. What stands out most is the insider view of cricket board politics and dressing room dynamics, offering rare glimpses into the personalities and power plays behind the scenes.
More than just a sports chronicle, the book reflects on how cricket mirrors the changing soul of India—its aspirations, struggles, and growing global presence. A must-read for anyone interested in the game and its deeper cultural significance.
August 27, 2025
In the 90s there was an English cricketer named Mark Ramprakash who played for 50+ tests as a specialist batsman with an average in the 20s. The author's mediocrity coupled with the mediocre writing reminded me of him for some reason. People having a long career somehow despite being ordinary/mediocre. For the cricket writing 2.5/5
And even worse, his politics is typical Nehruvian delusional fool. I have read quite a few authors with a Leftist bias and enjoyed reading them. But Mr Magazine's delusions and stupidity were something else !
And further, the weaving in of politics in the beginning and the end was totally unnecessary and unlike many other skillful authors, he lacked the know-how of how to weave them together to make an engaging read.
Finally, I would recommend Mike Marqusee and Rahul Bhattacharya as examples of skillful sports-writing cum travelogues. And for someone seeking to read more on the lines of Rama Guha I would recommend the "hidden gem" Mihir Bose.
And even worse, his politics is typical Nehruvian delusional fool. I have read quite a few authors with a Leftist bias and enjoyed reading them. But Mr Magazine's delusions and stupidity were something else !
And further, the weaving in of politics in the beginning and the end was totally unnecessary and unlike many other skillful authors, he lacked the know-how of how to weave them together to make an engaging read.
Finally, I would recommend Mike Marqusee and Rahul Bhattacharya as examples of skillful sports-writing cum travelogues. And for someone seeking to read more on the lines of Rama Guha I would recommend the "hidden gem" Mihir Bose.
March 23, 2022
This was a fun book around Indian cricket history with names being named and scandals (of times past) unpeeled. The Kashmir angle was interesting in that it shed light on the traumatic recent past of the State but seemed supplementary to a book about cricketing politics.
June 21, 2022
Pradeep Magazine has done a wonderful job in depicting the cricket events of four decades across the globe along with the political developments in India. He’s thrown light on the fixing saga, the IPL, and a few other controversies that shook Indian cricket, at the turn of the century. If you’re a cricket aficionado, this book will definitely enthral you.
September 22, 2022
The veteran sports journalist delivers a memoir that is interwoven with his commentary on Indian cricket, as he reported it, through his long career. The chapters on match fixing, and conflict of interest are important, and should be read by cricket fans, to educate them on the pernicious rot that has set upon the current system in India.
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October 22, 2022A mix of narratives about the author's journeys as a cricket journalist, a Kashmiri Pandit and a modern Indian.
India's fortunes as a cricketing power are interspersed with events from contemporary history, the narration being faithful more than insightful.
India's fortunes as a cricketing power are interspersed with events from contemporary history, the narration being faithful more than insightful.
July 6, 2025
It's an enthralling read for cricket fans who want to get insights into the broader fabric of the game and its politics.
January 6, 2026
Part memoir, part a look at the the changes in Indian cricket, society, and politics from the writer's perspective as a journalist covering the sport since the 70s.
Many journalist books often suffer from "should've been an article"-ism: wherein they center on a few key sensational facts that must be padded to book length, while holding said facts from their contemporaneous reporting in a dubious dereliction of journalistic duty. See, for example, Jake Tapper's Biden book, Maggie Haberman during the Trump years, et al. One gets the suspicion that Pradeep Magazine's previous book - Not Quiet Cricket - written during the late 1990s match fixing scandals engulfing cricket, might have been a casualty of this phenomenon. Writing this from the comfort of retirement, and using it to trace multiple emergent strands in Indian society and sport, he avoids that here.
As a hardcore cricket fan, the pieces that stood out to me were the ones I knew least about, specially the rivalries, faction politics, and egos driving Indian cricket in the 60s and 70s. One would think that the advent of professionalism, incentive structures and heightened media scrutiny would have changed that, but the tussles for leadership of the BCCI, the creation of ICL and IPL, and the Chappell-Ganguly are good reminders that would be a mistake. In some of these, Magazine is not the neutral journalist reporting facts, but actively involved in the story - speaking to Ganguly about his discontent within his team after learning about it from the vice captain Dravid. That he was willing to reveal his source here, and interfere with the story at all seemed somewhat questionable to me, but I also think that viewing the job of covering cricket in India from a pure journalism lens is a bit naive. The match-fixing scandal coverage in the 90s was a good blow-by-blow of events, but like with other discussions, doesn't provide many satisfying conclusions. The same is true of the coverage of the IPL scandal that lead to a ban on Chennai Super Kings: though to his credit the author provides some interesting details about how the investigation was carried out. It was also a good reminder of how little it seems to have mattered for almost anyone involved, both on the cricketing side, where little was ever uncovered, and the administration, which did little to address the structural issues plaguing cricket governance in India.
The other parts of the book cover events of social upheaval during the 80s-2000s that Pradeep Magazine has a vantage point for: the expulsion of Kashmiri Pandits (of which the author is one), the violence in Punjab in the 1980s (where he lived), the Babri Masjid demolition and the early rise of the BJP, and the expansion of reservation as per the Mandal commission's recommendations. One senses that he has very old-school, almost Nehruvian politics that harken back to a pluralistic, unity-in-diversity vision of India that sadly seems very much like wishful thinking today. Perhaps the most moving part was when he visits Kashmir to cover the selection of Pervez Rasool - the first cricketer from the valley to be selected for India - and tries to understand what it means for a town with a strong history of separatist movements and retaliatory violence from the Indian state. Things that specially stood out were his empathetic reporting of and conversations about insurgency in the Kashmir valley - despite his own community (the Kashmiri Pandits) suffering and migrating as a result of it, and his visit to the house, town and help he grew up with.
Picked this up from a bookstore in College Street while visiting Kolkata. The owner took one look at me and seemingly instantly sized me up to be an urban, anglophone, armchair progressive, mildly pretentious literary type and provided reasonably accurate recommendations.
Many journalist books often suffer from "should've been an article"-ism: wherein they center on a few key sensational facts that must be padded to book length, while holding said facts from their contemporaneous reporting in a dubious dereliction of journalistic duty. See, for example, Jake Tapper's Biden book, Maggie Haberman during the Trump years, et al. One gets the suspicion that Pradeep Magazine's previous book - Not Quiet Cricket - written during the late 1990s match fixing scandals engulfing cricket, might have been a casualty of this phenomenon. Writing this from the comfort of retirement, and using it to trace multiple emergent strands in Indian society and sport, he avoids that here.
As a hardcore cricket fan, the pieces that stood out to me were the ones I knew least about, specially the rivalries, faction politics, and egos driving Indian cricket in the 60s and 70s. One would think that the advent of professionalism, incentive structures and heightened media scrutiny would have changed that, but the tussles for leadership of the BCCI, the creation of ICL and IPL, and the Chappell-Ganguly are good reminders that would be a mistake. In some of these, Magazine is not the neutral journalist reporting facts, but actively involved in the story - speaking to Ganguly about his discontent within his team after learning about it from the vice captain Dravid. That he was willing to reveal his source here, and interfere with the story at all seemed somewhat questionable to me, but I also think that viewing the job of covering cricket in India from a pure journalism lens is a bit naive. The match-fixing scandal coverage in the 90s was a good blow-by-blow of events, but like with other discussions, doesn't provide many satisfying conclusions. The same is true of the coverage of the IPL scandal that lead to a ban on Chennai Super Kings: though to his credit the author provides some interesting details about how the investigation was carried out. It was also a good reminder of how little it seems to have mattered for almost anyone involved, both on the cricketing side, where little was ever uncovered, and the administration, which did little to address the structural issues plaguing cricket governance in India.
The other parts of the book cover events of social upheaval during the 80s-2000s that Pradeep Magazine has a vantage point for: the expulsion of Kashmiri Pandits (of which the author is one), the violence in Punjab in the 1980s (where he lived), the Babri Masjid demolition and the early rise of the BJP, and the expansion of reservation as per the Mandal commission's recommendations. One senses that he has very old-school, almost Nehruvian politics that harken back to a pluralistic, unity-in-diversity vision of India that sadly seems very much like wishful thinking today. Perhaps the most moving part was when he visits Kashmir to cover the selection of Pervez Rasool - the first cricketer from the valley to be selected for India - and tries to understand what it means for a town with a strong history of separatist movements and retaliatory violence from the Indian state. Things that specially stood out were his empathetic reporting of and conversations about insurgency in the Kashmir valley - despite his own community (the Kashmiri Pandits) suffering and migrating as a result of it, and his visit to the house, town and help he grew up with.
Picked this up from a bookstore in College Street while visiting Kolkata. The owner took one look at me and seemingly instantly sized me up to be an urban, anglophone, armchair progressive, mildly pretentious literary type and provided reasonably accurate recommendations.
June 12, 2022
Excellent book. The author is a journalist of some repute, which, combined with the amount of research and interviewing he has done, resulted in one of the finest books I've read on cricket. This book covers Indian cricket since post independence till the modern day – from the days of Tiger Pataudi, to Gavaskar and the 70s, to Kapil and the 80s, to the scandals in the 90s, to the Ganguly era and its successes and controversies, to the modern days of IPL, Dhoni and Kohli. It goes behind-the-scenes into details that I – a person who used to avidly follow cricket growing up (and still do, albeit not so avidly) – found very interesting, informative and revealing. What I especially like about the book is that it does not pass judgement and remains objective, while talking about stuff in depth – quite a lot of which is sensitive, controversial, and involves egos and rivalries. It is also worth noting that the author hails from Kashmir, so there is some description about sentiments in that part of the world and the dynamics of India playing Pakistan. Through all this, the book succeeds in holding up a mirror to Indian society and how it has evolved over the last several decades. Overall, an excellent read and highly recommended for anyone who has or had an interest in Indian cricket.
August 29, 2023
I completed the book within a day and a half, simply unputdownable. For someone who has keenly followed sports/cricket for the last 42 years, this book not just brings back all those memories (actually it starts a decade earlier in the 60s) of the game we all love but also provides deep insight into events, the protagonists, the motivations, the rivalries (both between individuals & countries), the heroes (including the fallen ones, forgotten ones), the villains, the politics/intrigues, the controversies, the technicalities/legalities ... the good, the bad and the ugly. While the author paints a comprehensive picture of Indian cricket over half a century .. interlaced with great anecdotes & insider accounts, interviews, quotes ... he does it all with the backdrop of a changing complex diverse country, impacted by major political events, assasinations, wars, upheavals. The Kashmiri elements of the account are particularly interesting & I also enjoyed passages around the journalistic dilemmas /choices he had to make when his integrity was on line, under extreme pressures. The match fixing phases were most illuminating. The book is a tour de force in sports writing. The best cricket book I have read after CLR Jame's Beyond A Boundary.
January 31, 2025
A fun way to explore Indian culture. The cricket-focused newspaper journalist Mr. Magazine (lol) grew up in Kashmir and lived through the maturing of cricket as a sport in India and India as a country with all the Hindu v. Muslim (and sometimes Sikh) drama. You get a healthy dose of both, with an obvious bias toward cricket. The extent of my knowledge about cricket before this book was a single test match I watched with an Indian roommate years ago, but it was critical to understand what was going on. I'd recommend watching an explainer about the sport before starting if you're not familiar with the rules and structure of the sport, but you definitely don't need to be an expert or aficionado to appreciate this.
September 15, 2022
A journalists' walk down memory lane alternating between growing up with cricket and growing up without access to his own land as a Kashmiri Pandit. Manages to touch on some sensitive topics without ever bringing in any rancour. However, the narrative could have been more consistent - cricket buffs can probably read the history of Indian cricket better compiled elsewhere.
February 27, 2024
Incredibly insightful and unputdownable.
The author has beautifully crafted the stories of cricket with the socio-political events of the time. The episodes on Kashmir, Tiger Pataudi, Sourav Ganguly, the fixing scandals and IPL were particularly gripping and rich in content. A birthday gift became a fond book that I didn't want to finish.
The author has beautifully crafted the stories of cricket with the socio-political events of the time. The episodes on Kashmir, Tiger Pataudi, Sourav Ganguly, the fixing scandals and IPL were particularly gripping and rich in content. A birthday gift became a fond book that I didn't want to finish.
April 13, 2022
For a cricket aficionado, this is gold
April 24, 2022
A good read about the ins and outs of Indian cricket and it’s politics along with author’s own life story and kashmiri struggle.
August 16, 2025
Thoroughly entertaining....
July 3, 2022
As a fan of the game of cricket and especially a follower of Indian cricket, this book provides a fresh perspective on all the major events in the world of Indian cricket, a perspective of a journalist who is following the game closely from the outside but also a perspective of somebody who also had intimate knowledge from the inside through his source of network and connections. From the elevation of Tiger Pataudi as India Captain apparently against the wishes of the Mumbai Lobby, the alleged Kapil-Gavaskar fued, Sachin’s tryst with captaincy, Azhars and his controversies both on and off the field, to Sourav Ganguly - Greg Chappell clash, this book really does provide a ringside view of all of the same.
Written in a autobiographical manner linking these events in Indian cricket with the authors career and its development, Not Just Cricket is a fun, easy to read novel that givens insight in to the not just the lives of famous cricketers, but also the inner working of the BCCI.
Really found the authors intricate knowledge of the functioning of the BCCI very enlightening, especially the chapter on the power struggle to control the organisation and what goes in behind it.
Written in a autobiographical manner linking these events in Indian cricket with the authors career and its development, Not Just Cricket is a fun, easy to read novel that givens insight in to the not just the lives of famous cricketers, but also the inner working of the BCCI.
Really found the authors intricate knowledge of the functioning of the BCCI very enlightening, especially the chapter on the power struggle to control the organisation and what goes in behind it.
December 2, 2022
Well written book about the times and travails of a young correspondent writing about Cricket in the India of the seventees to the new millennium. That the author happens to be a Kashmiri pandit whose family left home after the violence adds to the interesting tale. Pradeep has presented the human side of the story; has tried to be factual and avoided attempting any historical perspective that he would have been unqualified to provide.
The book provides an insight into the happenings behind the scenes in the Indian Cricket team across the decades; the personalities, politicking, scheming and back-stabbing make interesting, at times comical, reading. The book provides details of incidents and personal likes and dislikes of players, captains, selectors and administrators - a rare view seldom provided by autobiographies of this nature. This has de-mystified what appeared at the time to be completely illogical choices and happenings on the field.
A must-read for all followers of Cricket and India of the past few decades.
The book provides an insight into the happenings behind the scenes in the Indian Cricket team across the decades; the personalities, politicking, scheming and back-stabbing make interesting, at times comical, reading. The book provides details of incidents and personal likes and dislikes of players, captains, selectors and administrators - a rare view seldom provided by autobiographies of this nature. This has de-mystified what appeared at the time to be completely illogical choices and happenings on the field.
A must-read for all followers of Cricket and India of the past few decades.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews