The Blog of Small Things

  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.

Name : The Lords of Wankhede Authors : W.V.Raman and R.Kaushik     Year of Publication : 2023     Genre : Non - Fiction, Cricket     Rating : ** 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 5) A former cricketer and a gifted scribe come together to revisit the highs and lows of Indian cricket between the two ODI World Cup triumphs of 1983 and 2011. While the writing is engaging, the authors do not have much new to offer as they march down the path analysed threadbare in multiple fora before. Nonetheless, the book is a worthy addition to cricket literature for it's brevity and page-turning quality.