Clr james

The famous line, “What do they know of cricket that only cricket know” in CLR James book, Beyond the Boundary, has become relevant to Indian cricket as well. Although, James may have referred to the days of colonization, class, national culture during the Colonial rule in the West Indies, it does seem to presently resonate a fair bit in Indian cricket too.

Cricket, as one popularly defines it, is a religion in India and followed as a ritual by more than a billion people. One was glad that the Mumbai Cricket Association recognized the “God of cricket”, Sachin Tendulkar, through a life size statue at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. One gathers there were barely a handful of cricketers present during the unveiling ceremony. An occasion like this should have been flooded with cricketers of all ages and especially ones who had played and been involved with him.