As regards following cricket in India, Diptakirti Chaudhuri believes it is either a level of worship where millions line the roads as our heroes do a victory procession in open-top buses or we stone our captain's home and put his family to grievous harm while he is stil in transit after a bad tournament.

The writer says that some of the Indian cricketers' best performances have come as underdogs, when nobody expected them to win - 1983 Prudential World Cup and the ICC World Twenty20 in 2007. He has mentioned India's ten games at the World Cup in a separate chapter, which blew our minds. All of them have contributed to the passion that characterizes Indian Cricket.

Apart from world cup chapters, namely, India at the World Cup, The Teams and The Cup of Joy, cricket enthusiasts would find separate chapters on Test Cricket, One Day Internationals, Twenty20, Gods of Cricket, Cricketing Rivalries, Changing Records, Neighbourhood Cricket, Armchair Cricket, Fantasy Cricket, Cricket Books and films, Cricket on a Different Screen and Cricketers Online, there are quite a few on Sachin Tendulkar.

The book tells us about the only person who witnessed two ten-wicket hauls forty-three years apart. "In 1956, ten-year-old Richard Stokes was taken to the Old Trafford cricket ground to watch an Ashes match. Richard's memories of that match are vague as he only remembers that there were an awful lot of spectators for a cold, wet day. He also remembers that the crowd was very excited because a right-arm off-spinner was running through the Aussies. This was no exaggeration because the off-spinner, Jim Laker, took each of the ten wickets that fell in that innings (and nine of the other innings as well).

Forty-three years later, Mr. Stokes was in Delhi on work and he heard about India playing Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla. Since he was now based out of Germany, he did not want to miss out on watching some live cricket and managed to get a ticket. Mr. Stokes reached the ground after lunch (on the last day of the match) and saw yet another bowler running through the opposition. As Anil Kumble took ten wickets - the only time a bowler has done this after Laker - Richard Stokes became a part of the magnificent record held by two bowlers half a century apart. He was there at both places, the only person on the planet to have seen a single bowler take ten wickets in an innings."

The book has interesting quotes on Sachin Tendulkar. 'In the next 100 years, you will not witness another Tendulkar. He is a once-in-a-century player" by Muttiah Muralitharan. World's leading wicket-taker knows what his batting counterpart is all about. And refuses to believe gushing media reports which often discover 'the next Tendulkar'. 'I never saw myself play. But I feel this player is playing much the same way I used to play' - Sir Donald Bradman. The world's greatest batsman actually asked his wife to see Sachin play when the youngster's batting style seemed familiar to him. Mrs. Bradman confirmed that the player indeed played the same way.

The book is beautifully produced and is well worth the asking price.