Sardesai picks up significant political events and happenings in the country and weave them effortlessly into the cricketing story thus giving an overall scenario of that period of time. This really enhanced reading experience and increased connectivity. And of course you can’t stop wondering whether politics and cricket run in his flesh and blood.

We are well aware about the union of cricket and bollywood but junior Sardesai has gone one step further and has drawn parallels not only between politics and cricket but also between politicians and cricketers.

For example, in the year 1971, Indian team tasted it’s real oversea victory in England, Indian soldiers, in the same year routed the Pakistani army.

Liberalization of the economy in 1991 saw the rise of India economy and cricket didn’t remain untouched by it. In fact, cricket finally became a crorepati sport after 1991 and Sachin Tendulkar was its first beneficiary.

Another interesting remark by the author was that Rahul Dravid stepped down from the captaincy in its prime. Like him, Manmohan Singh should have declined the second term of Prime Ministership and retained his image intact.

He has compared crickters with their contemporary politicians like Pataudi with Nehru, Sunil Gavaskar with Indira Gandhi, Bishan Singh Bedi with The Golden Temple of Amritsar and Virat Kohli with Narendra Modi.

Such observation of the author actually made the book an enriching experience to read. His vivid writing would transport you to the place of action. The best thing I liked about the book is that none of the chapters were written in a fixed format. It seems like he wrote as thoughts flow.

My interest in cricket grew tenfold after the arrival of Dada (Well, I am from Kolkata, West Bengal). Naturally, like any fan, even I closely followed every news related to Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and to some extend MS Dhoni as well. They were the shining stars of Indian Cricket during that time. So I knew most of the things written in the book about them.

But it was really great to read about the legendary cricketers who came before Sachin Tendulkar like Dilip Sardesai, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin.

I have an observation about the cricketers selected by Rajdeep Sardesai for his book. Out of eleven cricketers there are only two ballers – Bishan Singh Bedi and Kapil Dev, rest were all batsmen. So is it the fact that Indian soil has produced more batters and Indian cricket is more dominated by batters.