Book review 'Wisden India almanac 2016': Indian almanac edition is purists' delight
For today’s cricket generation brought up on a diet of garrulous commentators, pink balls, day night Test matches, T-20 matches, this edition is a must read to enhance their knowledge of the game and know more of the glorious past. The Wisden India 2016 edition is a purist’s delight; like 5 days of an exciting Test match on a sporting wicket, the compilers offer the reader a variety blending tradition with modernity, the orthodox with the unorthodox.
The traditional Wisden India Honours are there as is the Notes by the Editor in the Part-1 Comment — one of my favourite sections along with contributions from Simon Barnes, Rahul Bhattacharya, Sambit Bal, Sir Richard Hadlee — The Good guys who win, Pace of change by Michael Holding, the poignant tribute to Philip Hughes by Mike Coward — A Family Wept, which shall not fail to moisten the eyes of even the most stone-hearted reader, Gideon Haigh, Samir Chopra’s unusually different yet interesting The philosopher’s calling, David Papineau with Code of the cheaters brings to light how sporting behaviour is not tolerated by teams today with the objective of winning at any cost, Naseeruddin Shah the actor chips in with a delightful Collector’s edition making this varied, colourful yet relative to the game.
Wisden Hall of Fame has Vijay Merchant, BS Chandrasekhar and Richie Benaud being honoured. Madhav Apte writes on Merchant whose candour is shocking with his revelation “During my entire career, I was never able to make out the inswing from the outswing, the googly from the legbreak.” Bishan Bedi, Chandra’s friend and bowling partner details eloquently on the simple, nice person and the incomparable bowler Chandra was. R Mohan pays tribute to the inimitable commentator whose pause & silence spoke more than his words, the late Rchie Benaud - a great all-rounder who set the standards for television commentary.
With the addition of a new section, tradition gives way to the Section- Beyond the Boundary; the Editor Suresh Menon with his tribute to Justice Mudgal not only with the sweeping changes he recommended to cleanse Indian cricket but also vividly captures the person Mukul Mudgal is. Dileep Premachandran is at his best with The unorthodox and the unusual, Paddy Upton the coach in Maverick Solutions explaining that technological advancements in cricket shall be followed by the next advancement -mastering the art of man-management, The IPL copycats by Karunya Keshav “But as the IPL has learnt, with big money comes big responsibility.” And how other sports like badminton, kabaddi etc have copied the IPL mode successfully to rejuvenate the game, bring in the club loyalty and the crowds at times far better than the IPL. “After all, if there’s anything that IPL has taught sport, it’s that it takes only one enthusiast to turn promising drama into farce.” Tom Alter the actor, teacher and journalist recalls his delight on realising his childhood dream of playing with Sunil Gavaskar in Little Master, Disco Dancer and Saheb.
The Farewell Section is enriching with features on Zaheer Khan, Virender Shewag, Kumar Sangakara and Mahela Jayawardene, Ryan Harris, Brad Haddin, and Michael Clarke and Daniel Vettori, umpire S Ravi and a cricket administrator - Jagmohan Dalmiya as also Sign of a Good Book.
Part2- Recorded History
Is a treasure chest of fine cricket literature. The painstaking efforts of the editorial team have to be commended. Where else would a reader get to savour Accidents in Cricket by KV Gopala Ratnam, My most memorable innings by Musthaq Ali, Jamsu - the forgotten cricketer by Vasant Raiji, Havoc in the Caribbean by the doyen of Indian cricket writing KN Prabhu, The grounds I know by NS Ramaswami - the Master of cricket writing. Vish fulfilment by Sunil Gavaskar - one Little Master on the other Little Master and Cliques and caucuses by DB Deodhar.
Vijay Merchant delights more with the pen as he did with the bat in Vijay Merchant on the Greats making for insightful reading as he from his viewpoint dwells on how ‘Gavaskar differs from me’ and Bedi vis-a-vis Mankad.
Part 3 to Part 4- Good old world style of reporting is evident in Domestic Review of Indian Cricket, Women’s Cricket, International Series, One Day Internationals and cricket matches across the globe complete with features, match reports, score sheets, player profiles and other details presenting an overview of the season that went by packaged very nicely. Part5- Book Reviews and Records round off the edition as is the practice.
