“Inside Indian T20 – An All-out for No Loss!!!”

Greg Thomas was bowling to Viv Richards in a county game. The latter missed a superb out-swinger and Thomas said, “It’s red, round, and weighs about 5 ounces.” Next ball, Viv Richards hits Greg Thomas out of the ground and replies, “Greg, you know what it looks like. Go ahead and find it.”

My brother must have narrated this to me at least a zillion times. And every time he has, it has been with the same zeal and enthusiasm of a cricket enthusiast. Sometimes, I was quite sure, that through the narration he would channel Viv Richards!!! The point being that, cricket in our country, brings with it, a fervor unparralled… and my brother in more ways than one is an embodiment of that commitment!!!!

When I think of cricket, I think of my brother, Viv Richards, Krish Srikanth, and for some strange reason Alvin Kalicharan – and all of them in the same breath. Very different individuals with free flowing spirits, personalities who have lived life on their own terms, loved the game (a game I have tried to understand) with a passion that many a times is tough to explain. Cricket is not a game that I love. I tolerate it for varied reasons.  Some of the reasons are the people I have mentioned above and add to the list Sachin Tendulkar! The T20 has caught my attention indeed and I must confess, has enhanced my understanding of the game.  My years in corporate life have also taught me to look for the underlying plan / strategy (as many corporate honchos would term it) in the game. I recognize it at times, and many a times, I don’t.

 ‘Inside Indian T20’ written by a friend and an ex-colleague Ravi Ramu, came my way. Listening to my brother discourse about cricket is great (I love my brother). Watching it on TV makes it tolerable (I revere my companion, my TV); but, reading about it, and what more as a BOOK, was a clear no no!  Love is NOT for all seasons!!! Nonetheless, I embarked on reading it with the mindset of a skeptic, out to explore for some possible magic in a game of cricket. I guess, at that very moment, when I picked up "Inside Indian T20", I knew exactly what Greg Thomas must have felt. I had to go looking for something that I was sure would take me ages to find!!!! I had decided to play through the book, and so, pulled out a nice big wad of chewing gum and with the blithe intent as flatters Viv Richards settled down to play my innings with as many ‘agricultural shots*’ as possible! (*Agricultural shot: this is a swing across the line of the ball (resembling a scything motion) played without much technique)

“Inside IndianT20” explains how Ravi bought, managed, and guided a professional T20 cricket team…. And well, took it to championship glory!  The narrative through the book details every bit that goes to procuring a team, the format of the game, the challenges faced thereof, and the emotional labyrinths of the players, spectators, and that of everyone and anyone associated with the action involved. The account moves swiftly through the pre-game and then onto the matches. There are moments when as a reader, you would go for that highlighter to make note of some of the most obvious (yes very obvious) and common sense filled stretches; events and memories (like ‘Mexico City, 1968’, Pg 76,) etched out, that appeal  not just to the cricket buff, but to anyone who would agree that metaphors exist for a purpose. I have christened it the ‘1968’ speech – that reflects the idiom ‘a pride in oneself is what it is all about’.  The book in its main plot talks of the journey of a T20 Cricket team to its victory. However, inextricably woven into it are the author’s reflections on various aspects that are touched upon by many of our management gurus, showered with heaps of common-sense.  There are brief moments in the book that could qualify for ‘Wooster-Jeeves moments’. One can almost, at the background, hear Jeeves murmur “I endeavor to give satisfaction sir” during the ‘Fred Astaire’ reference (page 123). I steered through ‘The Start-up’, gained speed with “The Team” and picked up my own version of The Ashes with “The Game”!!

Ravi gives an interesting insight into why teams and their franchisees succeed or fail. The book plays out as a critique not only on  the modern day version of cricket, but also on policies and procedures in the corporate world. He displays the ability to see the funny side in the most bizarre and perhaps even petrifying of all moments. The language is simple. There is the easy to relate vocabulary. The analogies marked out appeal, not only to the believers, but also the non-believers of this religion called Cricket! The book has the ability to capture a wide audience.  It’s a book that one would pick up, to quickly read through a flight, perhaps while in transit, or over a relaxing weekend only to realize that there is the need to revisit it. The author makes references to people who he has interacted with in the course of guiding the team; people, one could perhaps easily relate to. The ease and the immediacy with which the characters are referred to lend it a fair amount of credibility. There are moments when one would wonder on the reasons for a touch and go with a few. But, well, this is not a work of fiction! The characters in a novel are made out of sentences; but those in a book like ‘Inside Indian T20’ are fleshed out from the author’s experiences. It takes a moment for the reader to grapple with that though.

I liked the book! The ease with which I could navigate through it had the essence of a Viv Richards or a Srikanth innings. Bat in hand, sans helmet, chickle in mouth, both had the uncanny ability to make the game look like a cake walk. Reading “Inside Indian T20” is to experience the fun of traditional first class cricket with the speed of a T20,…. a poetic fervidness elucidated in prose…. Viv Richards playing a T20! You will see me in the VIP stands, for sure!

Well, not bad at all! I am not too sure if I would venture to read another book on Cricket; but well, can now look at my brother in his eye and say “Ok, lets watch “some” cricket!”