The Blog of Small Things

  Name : Ashes 2023 - A cricket classic Authors : Gideon Haigh     Year of Publication : 2023     Genre : Non - Fiction, Cricket     Rating : ***  ( 3 stars out of 5) The book's format is a tough one - bringing together match reports written for a newspaper every day of a cricket series. It could easily feel dated and pointless. Gideon Haigh's gift is to eke magic out of the mundane through his turn of phrase. While the book does not reach the stratospheric standards of his book on the 2005 Ashes, it remains a worthwhile companion to a classic cricket series.

Name :If cricket is a religion, Sachin is God Authors : Vijay Santhanam , Shyam Balasubramanian     Year of Publication : 2009     Genre : Non - Fiction, Cricket     Rating : *** 1/2 ( 3 and a half stars out of 5) The book's title is misleading : It sounds like the title of a mindless eulogy. Rather, the authors have concocted a heady mix of statistics, excerpts from classics, comparison with a legend from another sport, persuasive arguments and nostalgia to cement Sachin's place as the chief deity in the cricketing world of demigods and mortals. When a passionate heart meets an analytical brain, a product like this book is born.

Name : Miracle Makers Authors : Bharat Sundaresan , Gaurav Joshi     Year of Publication : 2023      Genre : Non - Fiction, Cricket     Rating : **  1/2 ( 2 and a half stars out of 5) The authors help the readers relive the historic Indian tour of Australia in 2020-21 with their non-linear style of narration. The COVID wave adds to the challenge of covering the tour as the authors rush from one state to another before the midnight hour leads to closure of the borders. A classic tour definitely needed such a well-paced account but some historical context would have added to the heft. Without such context, the book is content to remain a mere tour diary.

  Name : Coaching Beyond Authors : R.Sridhar     Year of Publication : 2023      Genre : Non - Fiction, Cricket     Rating : **  1/2 ( 2 and a half stars out of 5) The author pens a guide on coaching cricketers based on his experiences with the Indian cricket team from 2014 to 2021. While the coaching manual part is adequately engaging, the anecdotes pertaining to superstars remain the USP of the book. The dressing room secrets of how Ravi Shastri reacted to a poor run chase by Dhoni and how the author confronted new stars unwilling to take up challenging fielding positions are interesting. Overall, the book provides a readable ring-side view of how the the Indian team coped with cricketing and Covid related challenges.

  Name : Of Spins, Sixes and Surprises Authors : Shom Biswas, Titash Banerjea     Year of Publication : 2024      Genre : Non - Fiction, Cricket     Rating : ** ( 2 stars out of 5) The authors have come up with an entertaining book which lists 50 defining moments in Indian Cricket. While most of the moments are quite familiar to even a casual cricket fan, there are some good additions from Women's cricket as well as the Domestic game. This book can be a simple introduction to our cricketing history for the adolescents while the seasoned cricket fan will be provoked to come up with his/her own lists of such moments.

  Name : Sachin : The Story of the World's Greatest Batsman Author :  Gulu Ezekiel     Year of Publication : 2002 (Revised edition in 2023)     Genre : Non - Fiction, Cricket     Rating : ** ( 2 stars out of 5) The author's passion and research shine through in the original edition as he meticulously documents the career of Sachin Tendulkar match-by-match. The additions made to the book after 2002 are hastily done with the single aim of capitalising on the subject's brand value as passion leaves way to purse. Since cricket is not a mere game to Indians, it logically follows that Sachin is not a mere cricketer as he remained the hope of an otherwise suffering populace for years. Thus, the definitive Sachin biography will have to go beyond statistics and account for his impact on the Indian psyche. Sadly, such a biographer is yet to arrive.