Dec 21, 2001
The Guardian, December 21, 2001 If any of the England cricketers currently struggling with the spin bowlers in Bangalore have had a chance to see Lagaan, the Bollywood crossover hit about a Raj-era grudge match between heroic Gujerati villagers and dastardly Anglo-imperialists, they’ll know that they are merely bit players in a long-running national psychodrama…. Read more
Oct 1, 2001
Indian Express, 1 October 2001 The fearful events of recent weeks have brought to mind an extraordinary cricket match I was once privileged to witness in a rural hamlet some miles outside Quetta in Pakistan. A wicket had been marked out on a dry, pebbly flat, and a boundary demarcated with little red and yellow… Read more
Jun 3, 1999
Daily Telegraph, 3 June 1999 In south Asia, the significance of the departure of the host country from the World Cup is that it clears the way for a renewal of the India-Pakistan rivalry at Old Trafford on June 8. The cricket contest between the subcontinental neighbours must be the fiercest derby in world sport…. Read more
May 27, 1999
Daily Telegraph, 27 May 1999 Pakistan may have come to the boil at just the right time. After a poor run in 1998, they have looked invincible since Wasim Akram was reinstated as captain in January. Anyone who has watched their three wins in the World Cup must have been impressed by their depth of… Read more
Jul 2, 1998
The Henderson affair and the British media Extracted from Anyone but England: Cricket, Race and Class, 1998. The Saturday of the Lord’s Test against West Indies, 1995. I was sitting high up in the Mound Stand with my friend, Suresh Grover, perusing the July issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly, which had just hit the news-stands…. Read more
