Customer Reviews

Wickets in the East: An Anecdotal History (Oxford India Paperbacks)

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Dr Guha's approach is novel and effective. Each chapter in his book deals with a major geographical region in Indian cricket. The aim is to arrive at an all-time eleven for each region. In the process, he recalls the unique characteristics of that region's cricket and, of course, most of the players. The recollection is mainly through anecdotes, most of them humourous, all of them charming. Some of the diversions, like the story about a temple elephant in Madras, are as enjoyable as the main theme, cricket. Unlike most other books on cricket, this book contains no photographs - only caricatures of some of the personalities. Reading this book is like chatting with a rather perceptive fellow cricket-lover, during a match, alternately in the grandstand and in the pavilion. Being a historian, Dr Guha is also adept at drawing one's attention to the fact that Indian cricket resembles India itself in its diversity and regional peculiarities. The author has evidently gained hours of pleasure from watching and thinking about cricket, and he has been able to communicate that joy to the reader. Indeed, I have read no better history of Indian cricket.