Tag: Sports

In Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution, Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde take us on a whirlwind tour of the cricket format that has taken the world by storm. From its inception, when T20 was accepted by a narrow vote of the Marylebone Cricket Club, to its current global popularity, from its original superstar Chris Gayle to newcomers like Rashid Khan and Sandeep Lamichhane, T20 has become a phenomenon that has resurrected the game of cricket.

What inspired them to write this book? Read an interview with Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde below to find out:

What inspired you to write this book?

T20 has changed cricket so profoundly since it was created in 2003, and we wanted to read an account bringing this all together, explaining what had changed on and off the field, bringing the characters together and looking at what would come next. No one had written this book, so we wrote the book that we wanted to read.

When did you start writing it?

I [Tim] first suggested the concept to Freddie early in 2017. We then spent the next year or so with the idea on the backburner, only having done a few chapters, before then taking about another year to finish it off after we got a UK publishing contract in 2018.

Were there any challenges?

The biggest challenge was the lack of recording of T20 games – there has been almost no literature published on the game, so we had to do lots of primary research ourselves, rather than lean upon what had come before.

How did you carry out the research for this book?

This book is defined by the contributions of our interviewees, both on and off the field, who we are hugely grateful to for speaking so honestly and thoughtfully about the game. And of course we looked over scorecards old games, rewatched footage of crucial moments and talked lots between ourselves about how to develop the project.

While writing, did you discover a fact that surprised you?

The level of strategising and planning – both for the IPL auction and matches themselves – was fascinating, and some of the secrets of the IPL auction – like teams bidding for players they don’t really want to drive up the prices so other teams have less cash. Unlearning – the idea that batting is more important than bowling in T20. The more we looked at it the more it became clear that you absolutely need five strong bowlers to be a good T20 team. This is probably the biggest difference between CSK and RCB in the IPL – CSK have recognised the essential importance of bowling, while RCB have been more focused on batting all-stars. And as we know that hasn’t worked.

What do you think the future of cricket will be?

We have a chapter at the end with predictions for the future based on our research so I don’t want to give away too much! But two obvious ones – the continued rise of short-format cricket; and the growing importance of club-based cricket. Ultimately I envisage the structure of cricket becoming more like football – with the calendar dominated by domestic leagues, and international cricket being more about tournaments, and less about bilateral fixtures.

5 reasons why people should check out this book

• Until now, much of the most interesting aspects of T20 have been hidden from the public. We hope our book helps change that.
• We’ve talked to over 80 leading players and coaches, including Brendon McCullum, Rahul Dravid, Eoin Morgan, Ricky Ponting, R Ashwin, Kieron Pollard, Jos Buttler and Rashid Khan.

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• No sport has changed as much as cricket this century – read our book to understand how, why and what’s next, whether you’re already a T20 fan or are new to the format.
• We’ve won the Wisden Book of the Year award for 2020 – no book on T20 has ever won that before.
• We explain how the IPL is really won and lost – Chennai fans will enjoy this more than Bangalore ones!

Any writing advice for people who wish to write on sports?

The best advice I could give would be to try and find interesting areas that you think are undercovered and you want to read more about them. If you want to read more, others probably do too. Find new areas and topics – don’t reproduce what you already read.

Intrigued? Check out the e-book of Cricket 2.0 to know more!

From Anju Bobby George’s unexpected gold medal at the World Athletics Final in Monaco to Abhinav Bindra’s Olympic gold in Beijing, India’s sportspersons have constantly proved that they stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best.

However, as easy as they might make it look, their success is the result of years of struggle, focused training and relentless hard work to overcome several challenges.

The ‘Dear Me’ series of letters first appeared in Hindustan Times in 2017. These columns, penned by India’s top sporting icons, were published with the intent to inspire a young generation of struggling sportspersons, to serve as the light at the end of the tunnel for them.

Dubbed as the ‘Sikkimese Sniper’ of India, footballer Bhaichung Bhutia writes to his younger self in Dear Me, which brings all these letters under one cover.

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Dear eight-year-old Bhaichung,

It is nice to see you going back to your village for the winter vacations from the boarding school. I know you will again complain about the 10-km walk home. But know that sooner or later there will be a road to your house and electricity in your village.

This holiday though will be different for you since Dad has bought a football for the first time! Knowing you, I am sure you will be impatient to reach home and play with older brother Chewang, who is also returning with you and Dad.

Young man, the one thing you need to realize is that you won’t win all the time. So stop fighting and crying every time you lose a match. In other words, stop being a bad loser. Your oldest brother, Rapden, is very good at football and thinks you are very talented, but he finds it difficult to deal with your tantrums when you lose. Winning and losing are part of the game, and you will have to take them in your stride. The sooner you accept this, the further you will go.

I also know how much you are dying to find someone who could teach you lots of tricks about dribbling the ball and, yes, that someone who would show you how to execute a banana kick! When you return to school, everyone will talk about your talent. Except the games teacher. He will not select you, but don’t worry, you have a wonderful principal in Father George. So when you are not picked, you will tell him and he will help you get into the junior school team. Guess who will be chosen as the best player? You. I know your father keeps telling you to study

well and pass your examinations. I love him for the fact that he does not pressure you to top the class or get a high percentage. He just wants you to pass. Be glad that you don’t have a pushy parent because that will mean you have so much freedom to play and think of football. That is because he loves football and has taken you many times to watch him and Rapden play in the village tournament.

An uplifting reminder that dreams do come true, Dear Me allows you to be inspired by their extraordinary stories.

Jai is fourteen and dreams of owning a café in Delhi. Inaya is fifteen and dreams of playing cricket for Pakistan.

In 2008, their worlds collide. What unfolds is a story that started way back in 1947 – with the drawing of a line.

Inaya lives with her father in Rawalpindi. Her cricket ambitions don’t always go down well with her family.

Find a glimpse of her story in the excerpt below. 

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Rawalpindi, Pakistan

A loud crash announced Inaya’s misjudged attempt at hitting a sixer in the tape-ball cricket tournament taking place in the street adjoining Haider Mansion. It startled Mudassar, the Haiders’ elderly help, almost causing him to drop the figurine of the ballerina that he was dusting. A tennis ball covered in insulation tape had shot through the open French windows in the drawing room, bouncing off a painting over the mantelpiece and knocking over a crystal photo frame. The ball deftly made its way through the shards of glass that now covered the floor to finally disappear beneath the large leather sofa. Moments later, a breathless fifteen-year-old burst into the room.

‘Sorry, sorry, Mudassar Chacha,’ Inaya panted, pushing away the mop of unruly curls from her eyes. Impenitently, she crouched down and retrieved the ball. ‘Please blame this on Zain. Please!’

There was the sound of footsteps and Inaya spun around.

‘What are we blaming on Zain, Inaya?’ asked her father, Irfan, as he strode in, followed at a more sedate pace by her grandparents. Inaya gulped and looked at them sheepishly. The trio surveyed the scene in silence. Inaya clutched the ball behind her back, hoping they wouldn’t notice the smashed photo frame.

Inaya’s grandmother straightened the painting that had tilted leftwards with the ball’s impact. ‘If you don’t like your grandfather’s paintings, you should just tell him so, Inaya. As I do,’ said Humaira. ‘Why go to all the trouble of taking potshots at them through windows?’

‘But I do like Daada’s paintings—that was an accident,’ muttered Inaya.

Inaya’s father retrieved the photograph that was on the floor. He carefully removed the fragments of glass and propped the photograph against the ballerina on the mantelpiece.

‘Inaya, look at your great-grandmother—she was . . . the epitome of grace. She would be appalled by all this,’ he said, gesturing at the destruction that lay before him. ‘There’s more to life than cricket, you know.’

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In Across the Line, Nayanika Mahtani presents a powerful story of borders and beliefs, shaped by the games people play. Lauded by Vidya Balan as a story that “lingers long after the last page is turned”, Jai and Inaya’s story brings together unlikely worlds across time and borders.

As we stand today, Indian sport is a fount of possibility— fast growing in opportunity, slow moving in delivering results, promising in its chaos. Sports management is a legitimate field of study that imparts knowledge on the business of all levels of sport, and is helping bright-eyed youngsters ‘follow their passion’ and channel it into specific directions of interest.

Go! India’s Sporting Transformation features never-before-seen collection of essays by leading athletes, sports writers and professionals, who together tell a compelling story of India’s ongoing sporting transformation.

Here are 7 challenges India faces that if addressed will help us reach new heights in sports:

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Sport in India has been viewed as a form of leakage of capacity and intent. The time spent on sporting activity was time spent not doing something more meaningful. Devoting time and energy to sport was in effect drainage of potential; time and attention paid elsewhere would be deemed to pay richer dividends.

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Sports as a career was a very high-risk choice, one in which being successful was no guarantee of being able to make a half-decent living.

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The idea of engaging in sweaty physical activity was seen to be a lower-order pursuit. What was valorised were the preoccupations that involved the upper body. The mind and its exertions were exalted, and there was a strong class connotation attached to things physical.

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The game of hockey had changed in character, and post the arrival of the astro-turf, the Indian lack of athleticism caught up with the team.

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Sporting federations across different sports displayed the same craven need for power, combined with a callous disregard for the sportsperson. The people charged with the responsibility of promoting sports have traditionally been the single-most important reason for the state that sport has languished in.

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We had a passive relationship with our bodies…..We increasingly think of our bodies as malleable and within our control. We can shape them, mould them as per our need, protect them, and use them to extract more life.

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Apologies… do not come easily to sports federations in India. That would mean the admission of an error and accountability to someone other than themselves. That doesn’t happen enough—neither the governors of an Indian sport admitting errors, nor feeling the need to be accountable.

Go! India’s Sporting Transformation is available now!

On the morning of 6 May 1911, a large crowd gathered at Bombay’s Ballard Pier. They were there to bid farewell to a motley group of sixteen Indian men who were about to undertake a historic voyage to London. The persons whom the crowd cheered that sultry Saturday morning were members of the first All-India cricket team.

Conceived by an unlikely coalition of imperial and Indian elites, it took twelve years and three failed attempts before an ‘Indian’ cricket team made its debut on the playing fields of imperial Britain in the blazing coronation summer of 1911.

Prashant Kidambi, an associate professor of colonial history at the University of Leicester, introduces us to the first ever cricket team of India, in his book, Cricket Country.

Get to meet the team!

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala :The First Captain of the Indian Cricket Team

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh was not the organizers’ initial choice to lead the first Indian Cricket Team. In fact, Framjee Patel wanted H.H. Jam Saheb to become the skipper of the team. The Maharaja was known to use cricket to serve his own political interests. In 1931, he shared strained relations with the Viceroy Willingdon and used cricket to regain influence on imperial affairs.

Major K.M. Mistry

“Said to be in a ‘class by himself’, Mistry had first made his mark as a bowler for the long- established John Bright CC in Bombay… But it was while playing for the famous Patiala team in the late 1890s that Mistry developed into a truly great batsman. This left-handed Parsi was adept at playing strokes all around the wicket, ’attaining the maximum of power with the minimum of power.’

Maneck Chand

“The Bombay Gazzete described the Punjabi as a ‘fast right hand bowler’ who could prove   ‘very deadly’ if the conditions were favourable. Some even considered him the quickest bowler in the entire country.”

Dr. H.D. Kanga

“..Homi was said to possess ‘nerves of steel’ and play ‘a scientific game’…. ‘He is one of those    brilliant cricketers who can bat against all kinds of bowling as calmly as possible and make runs freely.’ wrote one contemporary on the eve of the Parsis’ encounter with the Presidency in September 1905.”

P. Baloo

Palwankar Baloo belonged to the class of ‘untouchables’, “However, it was precisely his tireless toil on the cricket pitch in the face of deep-seated caste prejudice that defined Baloo’s long cricket career.”  In fact, Baloo was considered to be one of the finest bowlers of the twentieth century and gave stellar performances in matches.

J.S. Warden

“The Bombay- born Warden, described by his captain Pavri as ‘a magnificent fellow’ was a relatively new find for the Parsis. This talented twenty-six-year old slow bowler – reputedly ‘one of the best in India’- was said to send down ‘balls which would beat the most wary of batsmen’.” He was a left handed bowler.

M.D. Pai

Mukund Damodar Pai was born in Bombay on 29th July 1883. His early cricket career was marked by consecutive success in playing cricket at schools and clubs. “The Bombay Gazette described Pai as a ‘fast run-getting bat, though. . . not quite of the hurricane type’; besides, he was said to be ‘a brilliant fielder’.”

H.F. Mulla

“Born in Bombay on 4 May 188, Mulla had first burst onto the cricketing scene as an undergraduate at Elphinstone College…. Even half a century later, one observer nostalgically recalled the ‘fabulous Homi Mulla. . . whose very turn to go in was the signal for us small boys to rush out of the tent or shamiana so as to be able to follow the ball as it became a tiny speck in the very clouds’.” He was considered to be a fine wicket keeper too.

K. Seshachari

Seshachari was one of the finest stumpers India has ever had.  He was trained by Charles Studd, one of the most well- known cricket players of his time. In 1906, the Cricket noted that Seshachari’s “… wicket-keeping is quite first-class and brilliant enough for any country…”

Salamuddin Khan

Born as a Pathan, in the Basti Sheikh Darwesh  district of Jullender, Salamuddin Khan was an all-rounder cricketer .It is said that he“ ‘ favourably impressed the Committee with his batting and bowling during the Bombay tour of the Aligarh team’.”

Shafqat Hussain

According the Bombay Gazette, Hussain had “ ‘been a revelation to local cricketers’ and commended his ability to bowl at varying speeds and lengths. ‘He scarcely bowls two balls alike in an over and we have seen no fast bowler in India who more admirable works with his head,’ the paper added.”

Syed Hasan

Syed Hasan was born in Moradabad and belonged to the North Indian Service Gentry. He was considered to be a reliable batsman- wicket keeper. Due to his cricketing abilities, he had also been a part of the Aligarh elite.

M.D. Bulsara

Maniksha Dadabhai bulsara was born in Daman on 2 September 1877. He was considered to be “‘a fast round- arm bowler of exceptional merit’, he was said to be ‘the only man in India who can make the ball “swerve” ‘“. It was said that he “could deliver a vicious leg break ‘that would beat the most wary of batsmen’. ”

R.P. Meherhomji

Meherhomji was a right handed batsman who,  “possessed the ability to time his strokes ‘to a nicety’, and therefore make them look effortless.” In 1905, Framjee Patel wrote that, “ ‘One finds it difficult whether to award the palm to him or Mistry as the most graceful batsman of the present time,’”

B. Jayaram

Jayaram had to face many obstacles in order to learn how to play cricket. However, when he scored his first century against the Yorkshire Regiment, he attracted ‘ widespread attention’  throughout the country. Cricketer Edward Sewel, even commented ,“… cutting is his forte and he is always dashing a bat, never scoring slowly.”

Noor Elahi

Noor Elahi was considered to be a ” ….fine batsman and a useful bowler”. I t was when he was playing in Kashmir, that he was invited to take part in the Indian Cricket Team tour of Britain. However, in the end Noor Elahi along with Maneck Chand withdrew from the tour. It is assumed that their employer, the Maharaja of Kashmir withdrew his decision of letting them travel abroad with the Indian Cricket team.

Drawing on an unparalleled range of original archival sources, Cricket Country is the untold story of how the idea of India was fashioned on the cricket pitch in the high noon of empire.