Nine Waves

Mihir Bose

Description

The Nine Waves is a tour de force. The most entertaining and up-to-date history of Indian cricket ever published, it tells the story of the nine great waves of the game from 1932 to the present day. Each wave in Indian cricket was chock-full of mesmerising stars, thrilling moments, great victories, heartbreaking losses and significant turning points. The first wave of Indian cricket rolled in against the backdrop of momentous changes in the country and the world: Gandhi's civil disobedience campaign, World War Two and Indian independence. Through each of the waves, India strengthened its position in the cricketing firmament. By the end of the 20th century, it was the most powerful nation in world cricket. Award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author Mihir Bose brings together his first-hand experience of some of the most seminal moments in Indian cricket, his encyclopaedic knowledge of the game and his unrivalled ability as a chronicler of the sport to create a magisterial history of Indian cricket.

Sujets

• Críquet
• Cricket

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 04 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781801502672
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2021
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Mihir Bose, 2022
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Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781801501040
eBook ISBN 9781801502672
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Preface
1. The Miracle of Johannesburg
2. White South Africa s Unexpected Gift
3. An Alien People Take to Cricket
4. The First Indian Fab Four
5. English Cast-Offs, the Undiscovered Indian Diaspora
6. India s Fergie
7. A Prince to the Rescue
8. The Unknown Indian Dazzles
9. Still Not at the Top Table
10. The Many Cricketing Sides of Gavaskar
11. Kapil, the Cricket Revolutionary
12. Gavaskar versus Kapil Dev
13. God Is Reborn as a Cricketer
14. Eyeballs Not Cricket Balls
15. New Indian Faces at Lord s
16. Great Players may not be Great Captains
17. Tendulkar versus Warne
18. Pakistan Find Apple Crumble Indigestible
19. Still Searching for the 1983 Magic
20. A Remarkable India-New Zealand Partnership
21. Tendulkar is India
22. Changing the Indian Mindset
23. The Two Indias
24. Making History in Pakistan
25. India Win Cricket s Six-Day War
26. Cricket Tamasha and India s Donald Trump
27. Mahi Takes Charge
28. The Man Who Made Pagla Ghar Into Cricket Ghar
29. The Rock Stars of Cricket
30. Ending the 28-Year Hurt
31. Dhoni: Cricket s Teflon Man
32. King Kohli
33. Officers and Workers
34. Get Dirty, Look Ugly
35. Pussy Cats and Tigers
36. Forty-Five Minutes of Bad Cricket
37. The Indian Ingenu and Australia
38. Kohli s Midas Test
39. The King Abdicates
Statistics
Bibliography
Other Books by Mihir Bose
Photos
In memory of Baba for first taking me to cricket and also to Naynesh, friend and counsellor, who I have played cricket with and spent long hours watching and talking to about this great game .
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I AM indebted to Jane Camillin, one of our most enterprising sports publishers, and her staff, in particular Bruce Talbot, for publishing the book with such care. Arunabha Sengupta, another one of Pitch s authors, kindly made the introduction. He also put me in touch with Abhishek Mukherjee, whose research and insights have proved very valuable in helping me bring this story right up to the end of India s tour of South Africa in January 2022.
I have been writing about Indian cricket since the 1970s and written many books on this subject and the original idea of writing this book came during a conversation David Davidar of Aleph. David and Aienla Ozukum of Aleph were marvellous to work with.
When I first started writing about Indian cricket in the 1970s books on the Indian game would barely have filled a shelf. Now more than 50 years later there is a considerable collection and while writing this book I have consulted many of them, a selection of which is listed in the bibliography. Many of the authors of these books have been kind enough to say they found my earlier writings useful, even at times a spur, and I have also learnt much from talking to them. I would particularly like to thank Boria Majumdar, Chetan Narula and Sumit Ghosh. I am indebted to Rajinder Amarnath for letting me quote from his book, The Making of a Legend: Lala Amarnath. Tim Arlott has very generously given me permission to use passages from his father s wonderful book, Indian Summer, a hidden treasure of Indian cricket literature. I had the pleasure of interviewing Rajdeep Sardesai about his book Democracy s XI , a very interesting insight into cricket s role in modern Indian society. Karan Thapar kindly directed me to his book, Devil s Advocate: The Untold Story , which has fascinating material on Kapil Dev.
Papu Sanzgiri has as ever allowed me to dip into his treasure trove of knowledge of Indian cricket. I cannot thank Clayton Murzello enough for his help and it is through Clayton that I met Rajneesh Gupta, who must rank as the best cricket statistician in India and whose statistics form such an important feature of this book. Clayton also introduced me to Bipin Patel who combines being a pharmacist with a wonderful ability to take breathtaking cricket pictures, many of which adorn this book. His pictures, if collected in book form, would be a prize possession.
Nigel Dudley and Richard Heller are two of my oldest friends who have brought their considerable cricketing knowledge to my book. Richard, the author of the excellent White on Green, detailing little known aspects of Pakistan s cricket, also provided insight on India s greatest rival. As did another old friend, Peter Oborne, author of the prize-winning book Wounded Tiger. I have also relied on the editorial skills and sporting knowledge of Brian Oliver, my old editor at the Daily Telegraph . Luke Adams and Graham Coster were diligent researchers. Jeremy Butterfield, editor of Fowler s Dictionary of Modern English Usage , provided invaluable proof-reading help.
Rose Chisholm as ever was a tower of strength both helping me with the manuscript and with her excellent photographic skills.
The book would not have been possible without the patience and forbearance of my wife, Caroline, who put up with the enormous disruption it caused. Despite that, and the fact that her sporting interests are equestrianism and tennis, she rescued me every time I faltered. In the end the errors and omissions that remain are my responsibility.
Mihir Bose, London, March 2022
PREFACE
ON 15 December 1951, I was taken by my parents to the flat of a close friend of my mother, Ella mashi , or aunty Ella, which overlooked Mumbai s Brabourne Stadium. It was the second day of the second Test match between India and England. As I recall, we were meant to watch Vijay Hazare, the Indian captain, grind England to dust. But, in trying to hook a short-pitched ball from the England fast bowler Fred Ridgway, he played it on to his forehead, cutting it badly. I was five years old and can still recall the surprise and anguish we all felt on the balcony as Hazare, soon after his injury, got out.
Since then I have been privileged to witness some of Indian cricket s great moments, from Subhash Gupte mesmerising batsmen to Tiger Pataudi making us Indians believe that the game was thrilling. I have seen all of India s nine Test triumphs in England starting with the historic one at the Oval in 1971, India s first Test and first series win in England.
My first journalistic assignment as LBC s cricket correspondent was the 1974 Indian tour of England and my first match, India versus Hampshire at Southampton. I was in the Lord s press box when Kapil Dev lifted the 1983 World Cup and when he hit the winning run to seal India s first Test win at Lord s in 1986. But I also watched as India were bowled out for 42 in 1974. In 1979, I reported from the Oval with India coming to within ten runs of scoring a record 438 to win and, in 1990, from Old Trafford when Sachin Tendulkar scored his first Test century. I was at Chennai in December 1983 when Sunil Gavaskar scored his 30th Test century, going past Donald Bradman s record of 29, and in Kolkata for Mohammad Azharuddin s magical debut in the 1984/85 series. And I was there for India s first ever tour of South Africa which was also the first non-white cricket tour of that country.
I have covered several World Cups including the 2003 edition in South Africa and the 2011 World Cup tournament in India where M. S. Dhoni emulated Kapil Dev. Lalit Modi gave me the first and only interview after he lost his baby, the IPL, and I have witnessed the impact Dhoni and Kohli have made on Indian cricket. In 1991, I played a part in making sure Gavaskar met Nelson Mandela and I accompanied him to the great man s house in Soweto for a historic visit where over coffee on a Sunday morning Mandela explained how he would use sport to bring about a rainbow nation. As he did. Over the years, I have provided advice to Indian board members, including introducing them to Naynesh Desai, a London lawyer, who was very helpful in getting Jagmohan Dalmiya elected as the first Indian chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
I have been chronicling Indian cricket and Indian society for nearly 50 years. During that time, I have met many cricketers, both from India and other countries, as well as officials and fans. Indian cricket has also given me much journalistic joy and my book, A History of Indian Cricket , published in 1990, was the first book on an Indian theme to win the Cricket Society Literary Award. In the years since I first started writing on Indian cricket in the 1970s the literature on it has grown enormously. This book is a distillation of what has been a lifetime s obsession and is based on many hours of interviews and studies of material on what is now, along with Bollywood which is also a great interest of mine, one of India s most potent weapons of soft power.
Indian cricket has given me much joy but also heartbreak. As a child I would often come back to our flat at Flora Fountain in the centre of Mumbai having seen my heroes fail and I would practise in front of my father s wardrobe hoping I could avenge the defeats. I was neve