Xi Masters of the game

In Democracy's XI The Great Indian Cricket Story noted TV journalist Rajdeep Sardesai presents his own, very personal selection of an all-time greatest India Test XI — his choice of the 11 who, shaped Indian cricket and made it the country's number one sport. Ten of these are former captains — Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli. The last is his father Dilip Sardesai.

The book has mini-biographies of each of these, told in a lively manner with interesting anecdotes and interviews with, not only the players but their team-mates, coaches and relatives. In the process, the narrative runs through important passages of Indian cricket history and uncovers many little known facts about the players.

For instance, how many know that Dilip Sardesai, India's only Test cricketer from Goa, who played an important role in India's first ever Test series in the West Indies in 1970-71, was first introduced to the game by a tailor in his Margao neighbourhood, who also gave him his first bat.

Dhoni, in a rare admission, speaks of his admiration and respect for former BCCI president N Srinivasan, so much so that when he latter was in Ranchi, he ensured there was masala dosa on the menu. "I really don't care what people say, I found Srinivasan as someone who was always there to help cricketers", Dhoni tells Sardesai.

Anecdotes like these make the book interesting. Though some of them may have come out before in the media, Sardesai writes in a style that is engaging.

As a journalist, more so than as the son of a reputed former India Test cricketer, Sardesai may have had access to the cricketers. Dhoni and Kohli, for instance, who don't give exclusive interviews — the former, especially, has an aversion to the media. So one would have expected a lot more than the regular stuff.

However, Sardesai, who has interacted with the cricketers over the years, compensates by bringing mood and perspective into the narrative. Take the case of Azharuddin, who went from telling Sardesai angrily, 'What kind of question is this, please don't ask me questions like this,' when quizzed on match-fixing, to ending a recent interview at his Hyderabad home with, 'Thank you for coming, kuch achha likhna' (write something nice).

Sardesai also connects the political and economic scenarios of the eras the cricketers grew up and played in with larger events in economy and politics. The chapter on Kapil Dev, for instance, describes how when the "Green Revolution changed the face of Indian politics, one man with his stirring deeds would trigger Indian cricket's biggest revolution."

But for two errors, the book is a must on the bookshelves of ardent cricket lovers. Sardesai mentions VVS Laxman's 281 in the 2001 Kolkata Test against Australia, perhaps the most defining Test knock by an Indian, as 287 (though he gets it right in a second mention elsewhere). He also writes that Sachin Tendulkar never played a Twenty20 International, when he was a part of India's first ever T20 International, his only T20 game against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2006.