List About Books A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport

Title	:	A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport
Author	:	Ramachandra Guha
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Anniversary Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 496 pages
Published	:	May 2nd 2003 by Macmillan
Categories	:	History. Nonfiction. Sports. Cultural. India

A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport Paperback | Pages: 496 pages

Narrative Supposing Books A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport

C. K. Nayudu and Sachin Tendulkar naturally figure in this captivating history of cricket in India, but so too—in arresting and unexpected ways—do Mahatma Gandhi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The Indian careers of those great English cricketers Lord Harris and D. R. Jardine provide a window into the operations of Empire, while the extraordinary life of India's first great slow bowler, Palwankar Baloo, introduces the still-unfinished struggle against caste discrimination. Later chapters explore the competition between Hindu and Muslim cricketers in colonial India and the extraordinary passions now provoked when India plays Pakistan. An important, pioneering work, this is also a beautifully-written meditation on the ramifications of sport in society at large, and on how sport can influence both social and political history.

Specify Books As A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport

Original Title:	A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport
ISBN:	0330491172 (ISBN13: 9780330491174)
Edition Language:	English
Literary Awards:	Cricket Society/MCC Book of the Year (2002)

Rating About Books A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport

Ratings: 4.24 From 676 Users | 73 Reviews

Write Up About Books A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport

A highly recommended history of Indian cricket. It provides readers not just with insight into the rise of the sport in India, but also of the course of religious relations in colonial and post-colonial times. However, the book repeats sections about the campaigns to end communal Quadrangular/Pentangular tournaments far too many times, making it a tad more detailed than it needed to be.

'Dr Ram Manohar Lohia's pet hates were Jawaharlal Nehru, the English language, and the game of cricket, generally in that order. As Lohia put it in a press conference during the first week of December 1960 (while a test match going on between India and Pakistan), "Throw out Nehru, and we can all happily start playing Kabaddi because the game of cricket symbolized our continuous colonialism."After the conference Lohia walked to a paanwallah, and asked for paan, and while chewing it he asked: "Kya

This book is good. It is very well researched and contains details of India's earliest cricketing tournaments and heroes. I thought I used to be a cricket lover, but I didn't have any idea of the game's history in India. Did you know, for example, that an 'Untouchable' named Palwankar Baloo was India's star cricketer in the 1920s? Or that cricket's popularity originally grew in a tournament with teams divided along communal lines? I got to know such a lot from this book and would definitely

The book definitely lives up to its hype. The amount of background research that Guha has done for this book is staggering! Any lover of cricket and history cannot put this book down. A classic social history of this wonderful game. The focus and thrust seems to be a lot on Bombay, caste, religion and the politics that shaped up the development of the game in India. It cannot be called a comprehensive history of the game simply because it barely touches other geographical parts of the country.



A typical Guha novel!The book never goes dry in any of the parts. A smooth flow, with the tiniest intricacies and attention to detail about every event described. After reading this, you start appreciating all the people and the factors that have contributed to the popularity of cricket in India. The book wonderfully potrays all the characters, including heroes like CK Nayudu and Sachin Tendulkar and unsung heroes like the Palwankar brothers!A must read for a sports history enthusiast!

This book was on my To Read list for a long time! Guha talks about the advent of Cricket in Mumbai and traces its growth in the politically fraught times of pre-independence India. Guha's love for the game and his love for History are both evident in the book and it is a surreal read for those who want to understand why the game become so popular in India. The book also pays rich tribute to some of the forgotten greats of Indian Cricket. What made me give only three stars to the book was because