The Nice Guy Who Finished First

A Biography of Rahul Dravid: The Nice Guy Who Finished First by Devendra Prabhudesai 

Once when I had to fill out an overall career goal, I wrote “To Be The Nice Guy Who Finished First”, borrowing the byline of this book. Sailed through that presentation and interview, reaffirming my belief that one can’t go wrong with an apt sports analogy. However, I hadn’t yet read the book. An aberration which has been corrected! 

The Nice Guy Who Finished First is not a conventional biography. It barely tells us anything about the persona of its subject. All we get is a collection of match reports. For the Dravid fans, it’s a good way to re-live the roller-coaster ride that the 90s and the early 2000s were for Indian cricket. But hardly anything else. There are some comments about Dravid from his contemporaries but hardly anything from the man himself. Only the very last chapter which lists the different “schools” of India batsmanship shows some insight. Otherwise it’s like reading a highlights reel of Dravid’s first decade in international cricket with barely a mention of what happened around him. 

Funny thing, the writer chose 2005 as the stopping point of his work. After all the entry of Greg Chappell into the Indian dressing room has to be one of the more interesting phases in Indian cricket history.

281 And Beyond

281 And Beyond by VVS Laxman & R. Kaushik

The book narrates VVS Laxman’s cricketing journey, in his own words, from his early days in Hyderabad to becoming one of India’s all-time great batsmen. However, it was not all smooth sailing and the journey is full of ups and downs.

The book gives us a glimpse into the goings on within the Indian dressing room as well as the struggles of cricketers in India. This is also a story of the change that has been brought from the semi-professional 1990s to now, how various aspects of the game have evolved – from fitness, money, communication aspects etc.

The book is a joy to read for the Indian fan, especially someone like yours truly. Flipping through the pages, you relive your cricket-following career. Every tour is discussed. The book goes chronologically from the haphazard mid-90s, match-fixing saga, John Wright’s arrival, new lows under Greg Chappell and the troubles he caused, the away victories, the Monkeygate series, the heights under Kirsten all unfold as a highlights reel. Have to say this, the Indian team was quite inconsistent throughout the era. Only now do we have a relatively consistent winning record!

I liked how VVS doesn’t mince words about his relationships within the team and how he reacted to different situations. Also, he has been quite honest about the disappointments of never getting a fixed spot, being dropped from Tests on and off and never really getting a chance in the white ball format. He also touches upon the mental issues of the game as well. The book particularly highlights the lack of communication in the setup where individual players are often left to fend for themselves.

I loved the bit where he talks about getting admitted to an MBBS course post-retirement and becoming a doctor. Imagine being motivated to study for 5 years after having lived a superstar life! However, he was talked out of this dream by his family and had to concentrate on cricket related activities only!

The book is titled aptly. Begins with THAT innings and then goes about telling the rest of the story!

In summary, a good read for the India cricket fan!

The Fire Burns Blue

The Fire Burns Blue: A History of Women’s Cricket in India by Karunya Keshav & Sidhanta Patnaik

The Fire Burns Blue – presents the story of the journey of Indian Women’s cricket in India from its difficult initial days in the 1970s to the highs of 2017 and its aftermath. When women’s cricket became cricket in India!

‘She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history’ – a line which is apt for the average Indian cricket fan for whom women’s cricket barely registered even less than Cooch Behar trophy at times. And why blame fans, the game barely registered even with cricket statisticians. Just check cricinfo, which has a massive stats section. While random Men’s games dating back to mid-19th century have first-class status and are well documented in records, the women stats cover only internationals! So somebody like Ashleigh Barty has a profile on cricinfo but no stats to tell us about her on-field achievements!

Well I digress. Coming back to the book which is a treasure trove for the fans. The book begins with Haarmanpreet Kaur’s 171 in the 2017 World Cup Semi-Finals which finally captured the imagination of the cricket lovers in India for good. And then commences the journey from the very beginning.

The game had humble beginnings with small clubs in Bombay and other places sprouting in the 70s. This was followed by the founding of the Women’s Cricket Association of India and the first national championships. The book goes on to tell the stories of the first international touring teams and the first official matches. How Railways played a big part by first becoming the employer of choice of women cricketers and using that player base to maintain its hegemony on the Indian domestic circuit. And there were the long arduous train journeys and its accompanying travails. 

The journey is also a series of missed opportunities. There were times when the game could have taken off in India but for a variety of reasons did not. In fact there have been major controversies immediately after a high! Sometimes due to administrative apathy, sometimes cash crunch, sometimes infighting and player revolt, some personnel changes, and sometimes just not getting the results on field. India even missed playing a World Cup also. But always the game found a new benefactor somewhere!

The book does a good job in narrating the stories of individual cricketers while merging them with the specific issues facing women’s cricket and even women's sport in general.

A couple of passages from the book which stand out and also gives us a peek at how the journey has evolved.

"The Indian women’s team—skilfull, stylish, solid, shy, eager, kind, hungry, hard-working, driven, very good on so many days and frustrating on others—is yet to sort through everything it is and really define what kind of cricket it wants to play on the global stage."

And the second one on the leading lights of the game

"Shantha’s stature, Diana’s grit, Shubhangi’s steadiness, Sandhya’s skill, Purnima’s cheek, Neetu’s genius, Anjum’s fire, Mithali’s class, Rumeli’s promise, Jhulan’s warmth, Harman’s spark—these are the pillars of Indian women’s cricket that have held up the edifice so far. Now, as the journey gets ready to take another turn, add to it Smriti’s fearlessness."

Fun Facts

1. Shireen Kiash represented India in cricket, hockey and basketball - a triple international!
2. The choice of attire was something the Women’s Cricket Association in England spent considerable time on, specifying that the skirts ‘should be no shorter than four inches from the ground when kneeling’.
3. India win their first Test against the West Indies in Patna in 1976 (a game which is often narrated to me by my father who was actually present aat the stadium)

Interestingly, I began this book around the time of the 2020 World T20 tournament where the Indian team reached another peak in its journey. While cornovirus may have stopped play, hopefully we will see the team go onward and upward.

Timeless Steel

An absolutely apt name for a book on a legend.

And I got my copy (This blog post is meant for showing off only)

Even more impressively, my copy was delivered on July 3rd, a whole day before the official release on July 4th. All this, thanks to the efficient folks at Flipkart (see free endorsement done, where is my royalty now :P)

P.S. Review coming soon.