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Showing posts with label cricket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cricket. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

The classic cricket book even non-fans will enjoy reading

‘What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?’

Since I first read this quote many, many years ago, I have entertained thoughts about reading the book in which it appears. But it was only last month that, serendipitously, I happened to think about it — the exploits of Dhoni & Co. in England may have had something to do with it — leading me to order the book from Amazon pronto.


And, then, some days after the book was delivered, I came across this reference to it in an interview in Books & More magazine (edited by Commitscion Padmini Nandy Mazumder; the interviewer is good friend Pratibha Rao).

Q Which was the one book that inspired you?

Boria Majumdar It is undoubtedly Beyond a Boundary by C.L.R. James. The first time I read it, I understood nothing of it. I read it because people said it was the best book on cricket. Only when I read it the fourth or fifth time, I understood what the book wanted to say. I’ve now read it 47 times. I’ve been to the C.L.R. James Research Library in the West Indies and stayed for a long time in Barbados where James is buried — that’s the impact the book has had on me. For what I want to do — understand society through the lens of sport — there is no better book than Beyond a Boundary. 

Enough said.
  • For the uninitiated, Rhodes scholar Boria Majumdar is one of India's foremost young cricket litterateurs. He is also an op-ed columnist for The Times of India, a sports expert with Times Now, and author of books such as Twenty-two Yards to Freedom: A Social History of Indian Cricket and The Illustrated History of Indian Cricket.

Friday, September 10, 2010

"YouTube is a miracle for cricket fanatics"

Rahul Bhattacharya, author of the cricket tour book Pundits From Pakistan, writes a monthly cricket column for Mint Lounge. He has a felicity with words that makes his articles a delight to read, even if you're not a cricket fan. On August 28, he wrote the cover story for Lounge, "Time travel cricket". The opening line says it all:

Cricket in the age of YouTube... is cricket in another age. 

Bhattacharya goes on from there to describe "the sheer athleticism of Garry Sobers, Majid Khan’s disdain for footwork, Bedi’s silken flight" and explains why YouTube is a miracle for cricket fanatics, "encouraging us to revisit the game’s greatest and often changing our idea of them".

Cricket fans are already tweeting and blogging and emailing links to this article.

BACK TO THE PAVILION: GREG CHAPPELL BOWLED FOR A DUCK BY KARSAN GHAVRI WITH AUSTRALIA CHASING 143 FOR VICTORY IN THE THIRD TEST IN MELBOURNE (1981). THIS WAS ONE OF INDIA'S MOST MEMORABLE WINS. ENJOY IT ALL OVER AGAIN ON YOUTUBE.

I'm sure they are also going to YouTube and checking out the videos recommended in a sidebar in Lounge. For those keen on watching four "memorable encounters on YouTube from the time before live telecasts", here's the list:
  • West Indies in Australia, 1960-61
Search for "Green and gold greats"
  • Lillee vs Sobers, 1971-72
Search for "Lillee Sobers"
  • Holding vs Boycott, 1980-81
Search for "Holding Boycott"
  • India vs Australia, Melbourne, 1981-82
Search for "Aus Ind Melbourne 81"
  • Arpan Bhattacharyya (Class of 2010) tells me Rahul Bhattacharya's piece is available on Cricinfo, too: "Video thrills the history fan". Thanks, Arpan.