The Commonwealth of Cricket : A Lifelong Love Affair with the Most Subtle and Sophisticated Game Known to Humankind

Ramachandra Guha''s book, The Commonwealth of Cricket, traces India''s journey to cricket dominance in 50 years. It delves into the sport''s impact at various levels in India, combining personal stories, journalism, and political analysis to offer a comprehensive view of cricket''s importance in the nation''s social and historical fabric.

When Ramachandra Guha began following the game in the early 1960s, India was utterly marginal to the world of cricket: the country still hadn''t won a Test match overseas; by the time he joined the Board of Control for Cricket in India, fifty years later, India had become world cricket''s sole superpower. The Commonwealth of Cricket is a first-person account of this astonishing transformation. The book traces the entire arc of cricket in India, across all levels at which the game is played: school, college, club, state, country. It presents vivid portraits of local heroes, provincial icons, and international stars. Cast as a work of literature, The Commonwealth of Cricket is keenly informed by the author''s scholarly training, the stories and sketches narrated against a wider canvas of social and historical change. The book blends memoir, anecdote, reportage and political critique, providing a rich, insightful and rivetingly readable account of this greatest of games as played in the country that has most energetically made this sport its own.