Plain tales from Indian cricket

T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan talks about a new book called 1971: The Beginnings of India's Cricketing Greatness. It is by two well-known cricket journalists, Boria Majumdar and Gautam Bhattacharya

People sometimes ask me why I am so dismissive of all games other than cricket. For example, if a golf addict asks me, I tell him: “It’s not such a big deal to hit a stationary ball, try hitting a ball coming at you at 140 kmph”.

As to football or hockey, I say, “There isn’t enough of the gladiatorial aspect in them. It’s more like a medieval battle but without weapons”. Ditto for basketball, volleyball and so on.

Tennis has the requisite David-Goliath features. But it is not only very safe — a soft ball can’t kill anyone — compared to