Author: Mihir Bose
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 372
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143032178
Description
An updated and revised edition of the classic study of Indian cricket.
It has been said that whether one loves India or hates it, it is a country with an infinite capacity for surprise. The same can be said of the sport that permeates the very fabric of the country, dominating the public mind and causing euphoria and heartbreak in equal measure.
In A Maidan View: The Magic of Indian Cricket, Mihir Bose examines cricket's influence on India, from the unorganized beginnings to the widespread growth that has led to India becoming the commercial backbone of the sport worldwide. He explores the social factors that led to the game's development, from the early adoption by the princes and the Parsee community to the growth of the office teams that featured Test stars. According to Bose, the critical decision by Nehru to be a part of the Commonwealth after Independence ensured that cricket remained in India. The game was further fostered in the country by the nouveau riche taking to the sport as a symbol of their wealth, gully cricket with an assortment of rules and fielders, and, more recently, the television-rights revolution of the 1990s.
Bose's socio-historical look at cricket in India has personal reflections and memories of great cricket matches, and carries some wonderful anecdotes and forgotten stories amidst thought-provoking commentary.
REVIEWS
Mihir Bose is India's CLR James.
-The Times
This is a book which puts the remarkable phenomenon of Indian cricket into a clearer perspective.
-Times Literary Supplement
A Maidan View is a singular contribution, not only to an understanding of Indian cricket, but also to the wider acceptance of work on sport as mainstream historical literature.
-Sport in the Global Society
Contents
FOREWORD
India-Whose India?
Khel-Kood as Cricket
Middle India and the Cricket Raj
The Gali, The Maidan and The Mali
An English Sporting Eden in India
Ranji’s Burden
The Besieged Hero
The Nawabi Legend
Cricket with the Neighbours
Vegetarians, Fast Bowlers and Violence
Shining India or Poverty of Ambition?
Gods and Boys
INDEX