It Wasn't a Waste of Time

by Nikhil D. Samant

It's the year 2000. In the month of April, the Delhi Police charge South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje with match fixing, implicating the Indian team with him. The two devastating words shatter the love, respect and the trust Indian fans have in the beautiful game and its players. Cricket becomes the subject of ridicule and mockery.

Four great men - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman and Anil Kumble - led by the enigmatic Sourav Ganguly, accept the challenge to repair the tarnished image of Indian cricket. Will India's new captain bring back the charm and respect to India's first love? Who will take up Ganguly's mantle?

It Wasn't a Waste of Time - The Story of the Most Important Decade in Indian Cricket is the story of an emotional journey Indian fans underwent in the first decade of the new millennium. It outlines the most important events, matches and series India participated in, and their impact on Indian cricket itself.

293 pages, Paperback

Published October 19, 2021

Reviews

[Anjali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book talks about the nostalgic decade of indian cricket and it's rise from ash to the elusive world cup. The author has covered various topics like ICC champions trophy 2000, Australia's tour of india, India's tour of England 2002 and such other topics.

The author talks further about our legendary cricketers, history of cricket, cup of disaster and the battles and struggles of it. Being a cricket fan himself the author has written everything in a well detailed manner. Each chapter is interesting enough to keep you hooked till the last page.

The language is pretty simple amd the narration is well paced. It was a different read for me and I got to know more interesting things about cricket through this amazing book. You should definitely pick this book if you're a cricket lover.

[The Bookish Elf · Rating 5 out of 5]

In It Wasn't A Waste of Time, Nikhil Samant delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled for Indian Cricket. As a huge fan of '90s and '00s cricket players, I can say that this book did not disappoint. This tell-all book follows the dream team of the cricket-India led by such cricket superstars as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman, and Anil Kumble among other hall-of-famers. Here in the book, Nikhil Samant presents his unique insight into the off-the-field shenanigans of some of the greatest cricket stars to ever grace the sport.

The book opens with a match fixing scandal in April 2000, when Delhi police charge South African captain Hansie Cronje with the crime and implicated team India's involvement in it as well. Indian fans' love, respect, and trust in their beloved Indian cricket team and its players is shattered by this devastating news. This turns the gentlemen's game into a laughingstock. Under the captainship of the enigmatic Sourav Ganguly, the greatest cricketers in history - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, and Anil Kumble accept the mission to restore the image of Indian cricket. The book discusses India's most significant matches, series and events, as well as their implications for Indian cricket. It's a memoir of Indian Cricket's most important decade charting an emotional journey for Indian cricket fans during the first decade of the new millennium.

It Wasn't A Waste of Time by Nikhil Samant is quick-paced history of a group of players that join, stay, then leave to make room for the next generation, but everyone deals with the same burden to succeed and fight for Indian national cricket team. Nikhil Samant's work with piecing together information and perspectives has allowed for amazing insight into the one of the greatest cricket team. As the book progresses, you dive deeper into all the details of the relationships, the battles, and the experiences of the Indian cricket team.

Though any seasoned fan of cricket and team India might already know most of these anecdotes and stories, It Wasn't A Waste of Time is, nonetheless, a great choice of read that will give a much broader account of the legendary cricket team ensembled. In the book, Nikhil Samant recounts many entertaining behind-the-scenes stories of the cricket. Being a Sachin-era cricket fan, I found this book quite interesting. If you love cricket, It Wasn't A Waste of Time likely will be one of the best sports book you've ever read.

[Ismailandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the story of the most important and nostalgic decade in Indian Cricket starting from around 2000.

The writer is a lover of cricket, but is saddened by the commercialization of cricket; how it has become craver of money and how the sport has become a scripted drama. Although some former players gave their best, unfortunately the match was to be lost in the hands of fixing. They strived hard in the battle to win back it's respect.
It also beautifully outlines the important events that India had participated at that time to regain its charm back . It has glimpses of ICC champions Trophy 2000, India's tour of England and Newzealand in 2002, ICC World Cup 2003, ICC World Cup 2007 and others, presented as 'long story short'.
It brings all the bittersweet memories of the decade . The book describes how the India's guarding wall, India's God of the sport, India's magic man, India's calm head/ calmest monk, India's rich brat and India's angry young man and others started their journey of Cricket and maintain their status and the world witnessed a new dawn in Indian Cricket. There were times when untested and novice players took the nation by surprise.
Each chapter of the book is descriptive enough, and brings no flaws along.
The book is surely recommended to all Cricket lovers and those who love to read about the sport. The language used is subtle, well drafted and rich. It depicts how the legends of Indian Cricket opened all the doors of love that were almost shut upon them .I would recommend the book to book-lovers in their post-teenage stage, since the teens of today may feel it difficult to grasp the 'so much of going' in the book, without the idea of the unforgettable decade.

[Neha · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5/5)

It wasn't a waste of Time by Nikhil D. Samant is talking about a decade of Indian Cricket and its rise from Ash to the elusive World Cup. Cricket is more than just a sport in India, it has always been treated like a religion here and players have been given status like God of Cricket too.

The book talks about a new era of Indian Cricket, a decade that not only sow the seed for the upcoming generation, it also helped to soothe the pain of fans and players found into the trenches of fixing and betting. Whether it was Ganguly captaincy, his sacking from captaincy, the darkest tour in WC history for India to the rise of a new captain, and the formation of a world-beating team who went on to win the WC in India.

The book talks about the Indian Cricket of the 2000s to 2010s from the author's perspective. Being a cricket fan himself the author has been able to articulate his thoughts about how the events unfolded along with match facts well. The author's ability to narrate the matches and facts with storylike telling makes the reading experience rich.

The language is pretty lucid and the narration is well-paced. If you are a fan of cricket, you will enjoy the recollection of those days. Whether we agree or not with the author's POV is a debate for another day as everyone has something to say about this beautiful sport. All in all a nice nostalgic read for all the cricket lovers and as the title says it maybe not be the best of time but it wasn't a waste of time.

[Bibliophillic1997 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The year was 2000, And South African tour of India was on a role. Then a shocking news came out of match fixing. Captain of South African team Hansie Cronje was charged by Delhi police for match fixing. This started the wildfire of defaming the only culture that unites the whole nation "cricket". It became a mocking stock for the world. India was struggling in world cricket and trying to make its name while such allegations under Saurav Ganguly was shameful.

The book discusses the fall and rise of Indian cricket around the world in the decade of 2000. The title tells it all, it was the most important year for all the cricketing lovers around the world. Indian cricket progressed to the new heights by the end of it. Players like Sachin, sehwag, VVS Laxman, Rahul dravid and Anil kumble under the captaincy of Ganguly took the things in their hands and tried cleaning up the mess by winning some crucial matches in coming time.

This book is like a documentary on Indian cricket. The year of 2000 wasn't easy for us fans. This book tells the story from a fan's perspective which is important when it comes to sports. The language of the book is subtle while the cover tells it all. This book opened up the closed doors for Indian cricket fans.

[Harshita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, "It wasn't a waste of Time" By Nikhil D. Samant is an emotional journey of Indian fans which they underwent in the first decade of new Millennium. I picked this book up to read because of Cricket. I personally am a big fan of cricket and hence this topic attracted me to read this book.
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The book, in the starting talks about the ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2000 along with others like India's tour to Australia, Pakistan and England 2002 etc. It's a book which actually talks about History of Indian Cricket. There is a lot to know from this book. I on my personal level, loved and enjoyed reading this book a lot. 
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The book talks about legendary Cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguli, Anil Kumble etc and how they took a challenge to repair the tarnished image. Of Indian Cricket. It's setting is at the time when I was a kid and knew nothing about it. Hence, reading about such topic was interesting for me.
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The book is gripping. Every Cricket fan is going to enjoy this book. Apart from everything, the book actually seems like a Fan's point of view. I really thank the author for writing such an amazing book which is hearttouching. Recommended to everyone.  

[Manisha G · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚 Rating: 4.4/5️⃣

| BOOK REVIEW | - 🍁 The Book, It Wasn't a Waste of Time by Nikhil D. Samant, Is a Non Fiction Read.
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🍁 The Book Is Divided in to Three Parts.
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🍁 The Author Has Written About Icc Champions Trophy 2000, Australia's Tour of India, India's Tour of England 2002, India's Tour of Australia, India's Tour of Pakistan and Such Other Topics in the First Part of the Book.
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🍁 The Author Has Written About the Downfall, Battle for Control, Cup of Disaster and Such Topics in the Second Part of the Book.
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🍁 The Author Has Written About a New Beginning, Resurgence to Top Tests, Resurgence to Top Odis and Such Topics in the Third Part of the Book.
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🍁 The Language of the Book Is Rich. The Writing Style of the Book Is an Absolutely Appropriate. the Cover of The Book Is Fantastic. The Title of the Book Is Well - Chosen.
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🍁 The Book Is a Good Pick for Someone Who Likes to Read About Indian Cricket.
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| PERSONAL INSIGHT | - 🌸 I Enjoyed Reading the Book as the Book Is an Informative and an Insightful Read on Indian Cricket. If Someone Likes to Read About Indian Cricket, Then Only the Book Is a Good Read for Him/her.

[Periwinkle Wisteria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cricket isn't really my area of interest, but the blurb seemed so interesting that I decided to pick this book up. This isn't your ordinary read, rather it's something that'll provide an entirely different perspective about the history of Indian cricket.
This book captures the nostalgia and sentiments of a fan associated with the game of cricket. The writing throws light on Champions' Trophy 2000 and also other tours of Indian Cricket Team. Two decades ago, incidents such as match fixing had tarnished the reputation of the entire Indian cricket. The blame game, misconceptions, misinterpretations had clouded the actual happenings. This book discusses about how the team took the challenge to regain the trust of fans once again. The book also talks about the stalwarts in the field and I loved reading about them.

This book has a unique theme and I've never read something like this before. This is a fast paced read and the narration is absolutely engaging. I loved it how the book has captured a fan's PoV so well. The language is simple and lucid. The cover is beautifully designed and the title is really interesting.

Overall I'd recommend this to all cricket fans!

[SCULPTOR Of EMOTIONS · Rating 4 out of 5]

How would you explain a tale or talk on an incident, which passed years back yet lies around in the present, a few particles of doubts. A book on cricket although it's not based on the game completely as it describes the journey of blame game where the dignified players had their goodwill and name on stake.
A tale unheard to me as I never knew about this particular act in detail ever, until now where I got to get to know about it, in detail. The book will directly make the reader get indulged with the story and the journey how the team members team up to keep the country's trust intact. It's the concept which the author chose to narrate wisely and I've thoroughly found the read worthy to be acknowledged. The book comes up with different chapters where all of them are descriptive enough and brings no flaws along. While the book's quite a little lengthy than the expected limit, it manages to keep the engagement level consistent. A section named Cup of Disaster from part 2 in the book is what I liked the most in actual. A selective read.

[Twinkle Arora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title - It wasn't a waste of time
Author - Nikhil D. Samant
Genre - non fiction

'It wasn't a waste of time' by Nikhil D. Samant is a non fiction read based on cricket which is written from fan's point of view. It talks about Icc Champions Trophy 2000, India's tour to Australia, Pakistan, England etc. It also talks about Indian cricket history, hurdles, struggles and how legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurabh Ganguly took a challenge to repair the tarnished image of Indian cricket team.

The author has explained each and everything in detail. Hats off to him for all the research work done and providing us with the facts and interviews. Language used is simple and lucid. His writing style is smooth and flowing. Emotions portrayed in the book which a cricket fan must have felt are very much relatable. The cover and the title of the book is totally relevant to the content. The flow of the book is well paced which makes it an engaging read. I recommend this book to all cricket fans out there.

In nutshell, an insightful read.

Rating - 4/5

Recommendation - yes

[Sushmitha Udayakumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't a waste of time by Nikhil is the story of an emotional journey Indian fans underwent in the first decade of the new millennium. It outlines the most important events, matches and series India participated in, and their impact on Indian cricket itself.

The plot is about as transparent as a plot can be. It was a difficult book to set aside. This plot keeps the stories tied together, but the escapades are as intriguing and could be just as easily read on their own. Well written, heart breaking, engaging,humour and tears. It says it all that I picked it up on a whim and have sat and read the whole thing in a matter of hours

I fell in love with it while reading it this time, it's such a charming story.  A self-contained book with appealing characters you root for, amusing escapades, a unique and distinct setting that you grow to know and understand, and an overarching plot that keeps you hooked. Amazing book- absolutely loved it.

A beautifully composed book, deftly laced with humour and light, in which love, hope and genuine honour triumph in the darkest of places.

[Shruthi Inkit writings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book review📚✨
⭐My Rating - 4.5/5⭐
The book "It wasn't a waste of Time" is a non fictional sports book By Author Nikhil D. Samant.

Anybody who loves sports especially cricket, must try this book. This book is quite a fascinating one as it talks a lot about Indian cricket in 2000's period.

Author begins the book with the topic the ICC Champion's Trophy 2000 along and adds about others Indian tour matches like Australia, Pakistan and England etc. The latter part of the book is the spice element of this book which talks about the Indian cricket in detail. Its history, the battles, struggles and the way players brought a rise in cricket after that.

Author shares a lot about the legendary cricketers of that period and takes us to that period. It is indeed an emotionally connecting book as one can get along with the concept so easily. It wasn't a waste if time reading this book, overall it was an interesting pick.

[Ishita Rai · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It wasn't a waste of time" is a non fictional read which talks about many incidents and memorable moments about our indian cricket history,like Icc Champions Trophy 2000, Australia's Tour of India, India's Tour of England 2002, India's Tour of Pakistan etc.
It made everything quite nostalgic,you know.

But what I liked most about the book that it presented the unspoken incidents too,like few downfalls and battles which our team still faced bravely.
Just the title says, it wasn't a waste a time after all.
The more pros to it,is that the narration has been done from a fan's perspective,which makes the whole thing more relatable.

All,I can say is,the author has done commendable job with all the research and analysis thing,and this surely deserves much love, because the concept to come up with something like this is rare.

So,go and check this out everyone,if you are a fan of cricket,this will surely keep you captivated.

[Anjali Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a book for all die - hard cricket fans, fans who love cricket and admire it as one of the finest sports and get inspired from great cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and V.V.S Laxman : It wasn't a waste of time by Nikhil D. Samant.

Although this book is a non - fiction, relying heavily on true facts and statistics, interviews and reports, it still has an element of storytelling and a beautiful coherence that fascinated me. What also fascinated me is the amount of research and true love for the sport that is behind writing this book.

It was a different and refreshing read for me and I am sure every cricket lover would feel the same. It is said that there are many religions in India but all Indians have two religions : Bollywood and Cricket and this book is a treat for all cricket lovers.

[Ayushi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has given complete information about cricket in his book. I don't like cricket much, but after reading this book, I am getting a little interest in cricket.

Because of some people who bet on games, even a good match becomes a joke. It's all a disgrace to players who want to play with all their honesty. The author also discussed this topic in his book.

The author has described all the pages of cricket from 2000 to 2010 about which a cricket lover needs to know. If you are a cricket fan and you want to know more about cricket then you must read this book.

The book cover page refers to the material inside the book and is designed with the story in mind. The title of the book is awesome. The language used by the author is beautiful and easy for beginners. I advise all cricket lovers to read this book.

Happy Reading 🏏