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Captains File: India: From Nayudu to Kohli, India's Test Cricket Captains
* Updated April 2018 From Nayudu to Kohli, India’s 32 Test cricket captains. From the days of the Maharajas and Nawabs when one had to be royalty to lead India into battle, a position no commoner was fit to fill, to the modern day of helmets and television, stump cams and DRS, India’s 32 finest are here together for the first time. The Colonel CK Nayudu reportedly disallowed his players from drinking water at the drinks break. The Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram “did not understand field placings or bowling changes and never maintained any regular batting order.” Mansoor Ali Khan lost the vision in his right eye in a car accident and six months later made his debut for India. Three Tests later and he was the captain. The man he replaced, Nari Contractor, nearly died after receiving a blow on head while batting in the West Indies. Allegations of ball tampering, match fixing, too aggressive, too defensive, a few tears, a Tied Test match and a team all out even though only five wickets were down. And some missing teeth. This and so much more in Captains File India, From Nayudu to Kohli, India’s 32 Test Cricket Captains.
284 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 26, 2016
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August 3, 2018
This one is a beginner's guide to get some insight into India's test captains.
At 260 pages, Rob does make sure that he explains the pre-independence era in depth, especially the tussle for becoming the first captain of India between the princes. His decision of not playing to the gallery & to call a spade a spade, makes first few chapters an interesting read. It also acts as a brief journey of Indian test history that has panned close to 80 years now. Having carefully stayed away from any bias towards a specific cricketer, this book is filled with many interesting anecdotes and definitely a fun ride.
On the negative side, a few series were completely ignored while a few series were just mentioned for the sake of scores, leaving holes in the timeline carpet. It looked exhuasted by the time it reached Kapil Dev's chapter & rushed through last 2 decades, not doing enough justice to the golden era of Indian cricket. The stats offered in the book are very basic, that they didn't demand any space at all. A few nasty grammatical errors & typos ruin the fun as well.
Overall, an interesting topic, great study especially of the faded time, unbiased detailing made this book a fun read for 6 hours (entire length of Sri Lankan innings :) ).
At 260 pages, Rob does make sure that he explains the pre-independence era in depth, especially the tussle for becoming the first captain of India between the princes. His decision of not playing to the gallery & to call a spade a spade, makes first few chapters an interesting read. It also acts as a brief journey of Indian test history that has panned close to 80 years now. Having carefully stayed away from any bias towards a specific cricketer, this book is filled with many interesting anecdotes and definitely a fun ride.
On the negative side, a few series were completely ignored while a few series were just mentioned for the sake of scores, leaving holes in the timeline carpet. It looked exhuasted by the time it reached Kapil Dev's chapter & rushed through last 2 decades, not doing enough justice to the golden era of Indian cricket. The stats offered in the book are very basic, that they didn't demand any space at all. A few nasty grammatical errors & typos ruin the fun as well.
Overall, an interesting topic, great study especially of the faded time, unbiased detailing made this book a fun read for 6 hours (entire length of Sri Lankan innings :) ).
Displaying 1 of 1 review