India’s hottest sport, cricket, has a historical past that’s intricately tied to the social and political development of the nation. There have been quite a few ups and downs in Indian cricket.

The staff has achieved success in Take a look at and ODI cricket, and it has received the Cricket World Cup twice, in 1983 and 2011. Nonetheless, incidents involving match-fixing and corruption have additionally plagued Indian cricket.

There are quite a few excellent books which have been printed about Indian cricket, which is a giant and sophisticated topic. These books cowl a variety of topics, together with the sport’s historical past and the lives of well-known cricket gamers.

1. A Historical past of Indian Cricket (2002) | Mihir Bose

Most cricket-playing international locations have a definitive guide about their sport that it is best to personal, reward, or advocate. For India, it’s this large quantity of effort that begins at first and spans a long time. In case you have heard of a narrative about Indian cricket, chances are high it’s right here or has been quoted right here.

2. Runs ’n’ Ruins (1984) | Sunil Gavaskar

4 of Gavaskar’s books have bought properly. Whereas Sunny Days is his best-known guide, his third is probably the finest-written and most relatable, documenting the various highs and lows of a season within the lifetime of Indian cricket’s first world celebrity.

The guide describes the winter of 1983, when world champions India hosted Pakistan earlier than dropping to the West Indies in a one-match-per-chapter format. Within the midst of the rubble, Gavaskar equalled after which surpassed Don Bradman’s report of 29 Take a look at lots of whereas experiencing a variety of feelings.

Additionally Learn | 5 Astonishing Sunil Gavaskar Data in Take a look at Cricket

3. Autobiography of an Unknown Indian Cricketer (1996) | Sujit Mukherjee

Mukherjee represented Bihar 5 instances. Thank God he did, since top-of-the-line books on this checklist may by no means have been printed if he hadn’t.

That is the typical Indian cricketer who, regardless of his enthusiasm, is aware of at a younger age that his cricketing profession won’t ever transcend a sure level. He would fairly watch, observe, and write. The eye to element, the prose — all the pieces makes it an pleasant learn.

Mukherjee has written a number of glorious books about Indian cricket, however Autobiography stands out for its private contact.

4. Past the Blues: A Cricket Season Like None Different (2009) | Aakash Chopra

Chopra transports readers past the glittering worlds of worldwide cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL) to the now-forgotten Ranji Trophy, which is contested at modest venues in entrance of small spectators. The guide is about Rajasthan’s first victory within the match’s historical past, but it surely’s additionally about Indian home cricket and the disparity between the 2 cultures.

5. The Hearth Burns Blue: A Historical past of Ladies’s Cricket in India (2017) | Karunya Keshav and Sidhanta Patnaik

The final word go-to guide on the principally undocumented historical past of girls’s cricket in India, up to date till the 2017 World Cup, took two of India’s most interesting authors to pen. That is probably the most important guide on Indian cricket, and it’s meticulously researched and elegantly written.

Additionally Learn | The 5 Finest Ladies Cricketers India Has Produced

6. Patrons, Gamers and the Crowd: The Phenomenon of Indian Cricket (1980) | Richard Cashman

Cashman, the one non-Indian on our checklist, was an Australian researcher who got here to India for his PhD, grew to become fascinated by Indian cricket, and printed the basic guide on the social historical past of Indian cricket.

Because the title suggests, the guide is in regards to the sponsors, cricketers, and supporters of Indian cricket. Some authors have coated a few of them in depth, however not often has anybody delved so deeply into all three topics with an educational’s analysis zeal.

Additionally Learn | The Position of Sponsorship in Cricket (and the Industries Sponsoring Cricket)

7. L.P. Jai: Reminiscences of a Nice Batsman (1976) | Vasant Raiji

Given its measurement, this biography might be thought of a pamphlet, though it incorporates extra data than most books ten instances its measurement. Jai, the primary skipper to win the Ranji Trophy and a man Vijay Service provider known as his “guru,” was a big cricketer about whom little was recognized. The amount of the research demonstrates why Raiji continues to be famend as an writer and researcher immediately.

8. Cricket Pleasant: Mushtaq Ali’s Personal Story (1967) | Mushtaq Ali

Mushtaq was recognized for his aggressive batting method throughout his enjoying days, and his autobiography isn’t any completely different. His path from ‘commoner’ to probably the most common cricketers of the period is properly value studying about.

The humour can be contagious. Few memoirs have been as vibrant and, because the title suggests, as nice.

9. Stray Ideas on Indian Cricket (1905) | J.M. Framjee Patel

Whereas Framjee Patel was not the primary to jot down a guide about Indian cricket, his predecessors concentrated totally on the Parsees, the nation’s first to take up the game. Stray Ideas was the primary guide that, whereas specializing in the Parsees, additionally checked out all-India cricket.

Maybe it helped that the writer was an ardent supporter of a unified nationwide staff. The ultimate chapter, Cricket as an Imperial Issue, could appear misplaced in 2023, however as a historic useful resource, the whole guide has few analogues.

10. A Nook of a Overseas Subject: The Indian Historical past of a British Sport (2003) | Ramachandra Guha

Guha used this guide to remind India and the world of the long-forgotten Palwankar Baloo, a Dalit cricketer who broke down caste boundaries to play for an All-India XI over a century in the past. Nonetheless, there may be far more to the guide than Baloo. Guha presents a social historical past of pre-independence Indian cricket with the rigour that has turn out to be his trademark.

Last Ideas

The ten books listed above are just some of the various glorious books written about Indian cricket. These books present a variety of views on the sport, from its inception to the current day. We advocate studying considered one of these books if you’re a fan of the sport or just need to perceive extra about it.

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