Democracy's XI- The Great Indian Cricket Story

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Nothing unites India like cricket. The Indian team is a glorious mix of people from big cities and small, from different religions, classes, castes, regions and languages; where the son of a pump manager from Ranchi can dare to dream; where a child prodigy from Mumbai can play beside a Muslim from the back alleys of Hyderabad. And while dynasts can rule the roost in politics and Bollywood, cricket presents a level playing field that mirrors the spirit of our constitution. The sport, then, reflects the best of India.

In this remarkable book, bestselling author and journalist Rajdeep Sardesai narrates the story of post-Independence cricket through the lives of eleven extraordinary Indian cricketers - from Dilip Sardesai and Tiger Pataudi in the 1960s to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli today. This is not a book about an all-time best Indian cricket eleven but one that shows us glimpses of a changing India through personal and anecdotal portraits. From the days that Indian cricketers travelled by train and earned a few hundred rupees for Test matches to the bright lights of the multimillion-dollar IPL, this book puts the spotlight on the evolution of both Indian cricket and society.

Unlike politics, cricket doesn't run in the blood: I am a living example of this truism. Right from childhood, I was desperate to follow in my father Dilip Sardesai's footsteps and play cricket at the highest level. I was provided the best equipment, first-rate coaching and top-class facilities. While I captained Mumbai schools and played first-class cricket at Oxford (which may be more a reflection on the quality of university cricket in England at the time), I never even came close to being an India cricketer. Once while playing for Combined British Universities against the Imran Khan-led Pakistan team in 1987, I was bowled by the magical leg-spinner Abdul Qadir for 2. On the way back to the pavilion, a Pakistani player said with a smirk, 'Arre, you come from India, and can't even play spin!' He was right: I didn't know how to pick a googly from a top-spinner. That day I decided to 'retire' to the less strenuous world of journalism, after a brief flirtation as a lawyer, my dreams of a professional career in the game shattered once and for all.

Often at a public gathering I am asked the question: why didn't you play cricket like your father? My answer is simple - a politician's son or daughter has a fair chance of getting elected and becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly or Parliament or even a prime minister, a business house may actively promote hereditary succession, but a Test cricketer's son cannot wear the India cap without being one of the eleven most talented players in the country. Even the children of film stars can aspire and succeed in joining their parents' profession even if they may not quite make it to the A-list. But a cricketer's child may not even be chosen in his school side, leave aside a Ranji Trophy or Test team, simply on the strength of a famous surname. There are no cricketing dynasties in India quite like our political or even film universe dynasties: nothing remotely like the Gandhi-Nehrus of the Congress and their regional party clones or the Kapoors of Hindi cinema. The closest we have to a 'House of Cricket' in India are the Amarnaths: the father, Lala, was the first Indian Test centurion, his sons Mohinder and Surinder played for the country, while a third, Rajinder, played first-class cricket.