Sealed with a Six: The Story of the 2011 World Cup

by ESPN Cricinfo

Was 2011 the best World Cup of all time? You wouldn’t find too many arguing against it. Claims that the tournament served to revive the one-day international format aren’t far off the mark. It had close, engaging matches, a reasonable balance between bat and ball (and this in a World Cup that was written off as a series of run-fests in the offing before it began), and kept a subcontinent in thrall for most of its duration. The favourites weren’t overwhelmingly favoured, unlike in previous years, and though they did make it to the title, they didn’t coast to it. The tournament also provided the cherry on the career cake of possibly the best-loved cricketer of all time. This book attempts to recapture the magic of the tenth edition of cricket’s premier event through the eyes of ESPNcricinfo's global pool of writers and columnists.

Genres: Sports

345 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Karthik J]

I pre ordered this book one month before its release. The release of this book happened to coincide with the disastrous tour of England , in which India won no match. Technically I have not read this book. I just got it, sealed it in a cover and put it away. This is one book I know I am going to cherish in a couple of decades from now.

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relived the world cup, accompanied each chapter with a video clip of that match pulled from internet.
Nice collection of stories. And, this book again proves to me that the game of cricket is not that simple. It's not just about bat hitting the ball or ball hitting the stumps.

"And Dhoni finishes in style"

[Sahil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Name: Sealed With A Six: The Story Of The 2011 World Cup
Author: ESPN Cricinfo
Genre: Non-Fiction, Sports

This book is all about cricket giving ball to ball and match to match information throughout the book. It contains analyses about the matches, the pressure the players go through and behind the scenes action. This book talks about every match played in the 2011 cricket world cup, giving different view points.

This book is like a bible for a cricket lover, it brings in a lot of pressure giving you the feeling of actually being in the stadium. I found the become exhilarating at some points as there was so much pressure building up and it was so tense. I would recommend this book to people who love cricket or sports in general.

[Amit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes I had read the articles before. Yes I've read them again and again on the cricinfo website. But holding a book is just another thing. And its a collectors edition! So it goes with all my newspaper cuttings of this past world cup. Great articles, relived the world cup again today! India won! Yay!

[Praneet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Cricket fans will enjoy it as every moment of the World Cup 2011 is relived through the pages of this book. The title also is amazing. One book which i will probably never get bored of reading.

[Kaustubh Dudhane · Rating 4 out of 5]

"India's World Cup began on Dhoni's terms; how could the end be different?"

ICC Cricket World is almost here in India. What is a better time than read about the last World Cup which India won than now?

Although the iconic image of Mahendra Singh Dhoni hitting a six features on the front cover and the Indian players carrying the God - Sachin Tendulkar on the back cover, for me, the most important memory was -



of this final before the final.

This book brought all the memories of getting a job for the first time, breaking one's heart, trying the first whiskey and making lifelong friends right from the warm hearth of the Summer of 2011 to the humidity of today. More importantly, the book reminded me about how my friends and I had danced on the road with a thousand more random people when India won the World Cup.

The book is a collection of articles written during the Cricket World Cup 2011. The general pattern of the book is a match report followed by a few articles based on the analysis. This is followed for the more important and entertaining matches. Rest of the matches are ignored which means that doesn't make it humdrum.

I remember England cricket team playing like Pakistan entertaining cricket where they almost came close to lose against Netherlands, tied a match from a winning position against India, defeated South Africa and West Indies by defending almost undefendable totals and lost to Ireland and Bangladesh. However, I have loved the way the articles capture England's matches where they were the most exciting team of the World Cup. Yes, there are a lot of funny articles from Andy Zaltzman but the top articles which I loved are -

1) The day Bangladesh made Greenidge cry for joy by Sidharth Monga
2) Hiral Patel's timeless moment by Sriram Veera
3) Ireland's excellent adventure by Gerard Siggins
4) These pictures are brought to you by by Nagraj Gollapudi

However, my favourite article is Victory in Basel by Sidin Vadukut. The narration, the innocent humor, and the format is absolutely stunning and I feel that it is one of the best cricket articles I have ever read. What makes it special is the point of view of the hardcore cricket fan when it becomes almost impossible to watch or follow a cricket match when one is outside for work or any other reason.

And then there is one line in an article by Sambit Bal when Ross Taylor smashed Pakistani bowling in a league game -
"For four manic overs against Pakistan, Ross Taylor became Sehwag, Viv Richards and Shahid Afridi bundled into one."

A nostalgic read for the right time!

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book last year in June and was reading it occasionally as the format is perfect for that. But now that the Cricket World Cup is again in India and we are playing so well I decided to finally finish the book. It was nice to revisit the memories of the World Cup win from 12 years ago and let's hope that the amazing Indian team achieves this once again. It was nice to read all the reports again though it dragged a bit for me in the middle just because of other matches. It might have been better if the whole scoresheets were given for each important match but that would have increased the book by 50-70 pages so I understand. The Cover has Dhoni hitting the six and at the back, you have a great picture of the champion team. There are also a few color images in the middle of the book and B&W images for each important match as well.

People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading. Simply put, I absolutely love reading, so I have made it my motto to Forever Keep on Reading. I love reading everything except for self-help books, even occasionally. I read almost all the genres but YA, Fantasy, and Biographies are the most read. My favorite series is Harry Potter, but then there are many more books I adore. I have bookcases filled with books that are waiting to be read so I can't stay and spend more time on this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.