Our Many Plays And Misses

The book바카라�s chief appeal lies in the beg­innings of European sports in India, inc­l­uding early glimmers of a great cricketing nation. 바카라�The Laws of Cricket, as rev­ised by the Marylebone Club바카라� follows a match report between the Dum Dum and Barackpore Cricket Clubs (바카라�Barrackpore went in and Fortune at first seemed disposed to frown upon them.바카라�), both from 1840. Cricket gathers pace thereafter: 바카라�Parsee바카라� cricket flouris­hes, the Bombay Triangular is set up, and English teams start visiting, culminating in Art­hur Gilligan바카라�s MCC team in 1926 and  Jar­dine바카라�s team of 1933. The grand march of Indian cricket from that first Test in June 1932 is, of course, faithfully chronicled.

Other celebrated events from colonial days include Mohun Bagan바카라�s IFA Shield win in 1911, the 1930 British Empire Games (the inaugural Commonwealth Games, to which India, the so-called 바카라�Jewel in the crown바카라�, wasn바카라�t invited) and the growth of the Indian Olympic movement. Also present is 바카라�the Ranji of chess바카라� Sultan Khan바카라�s three British chess championship titles in 1929, 바카라�32 and 바카라�33. The glories of Indian hockey take pride of place after cricket, but so do other suc­cesses바카라�K.D. Jadhav바카라�s 1948 Oly­mpic medal in wrestling (and India바카라�s later Oly­mpic stars), Tenzing and Hil­ary바카라�s con­­quest of Everest, India바카라�s 1956 semi-final appearance in Olympic soccer, the first Asiad in 1950 (바카라�The imposing marchpast was the best part of the ceremony바카라�), and Ramanathan Krishnan and Vijay Amritraj바카라�s brilliance at Wimbledon. Num­erous reverses in hoc­key and cric­ket aside, one disappointm­ent rankles still바카라�India바카라�s inability to participate in the 1950 football World Cup due to lack of funds.

One of the main pleasures of Sporting Times is the restrained, classical prose of earlier times, its elastic finesse rich in exp­ression, but no less colourful for it: 바카라�Another maiden from Verity to Amarnath was full of interest. Three played gently, a good smack to the cover easily fielded by Walters, a cocked-up ball that caused thousands to gasp and one ign­ored바카라� (Dec 19, 1933, MCC vs India). The finest Indian exponent of the style in the Times was K.N. Prabhu: 바카라�As I type this dispatch with the mists settling over the northern range, I can still see in my mind바카라�s eye his (Gavaskar바카라�s) slashing cover drive off Holder and a hook to a bumper from Shillingford. They were as clean a Cossack바카라�s saber stroke바카라� (March 10, 1971). It바카라�s a pity that the aerodyna­mic possibilities of the prose of modern repo­rtage hasn바카라�t quite penetrated the Times바카라�s portals. As colour splashes pages cluttered with stats, the writing degenerates into a drab, cliche-ridden mumble.

Majumdar바카라�s selection and context-setting is impeccable, with a playful eye pic­king out the unusual along with the una­voidable. An example is advertisem­ents featuring cricketers: Polly Umrigar sells Sloan바카라�s liniment, while Man­kad and Ramchand recommend Brylcreem.

Sporting Times is handsomely produ­ced, bright and pale yellows being the dom­inating colour motif, both framing and giving a sprightly counterpoint to pages of black-and-white columns, some older ones charmingly smudged. Added attraction: a flip-book shows a batsman playing a cross-batted heave that, if successful, would fetch him a six over midwicket. Wish it were a late cut.