People have different tastes in books. It is hard to entice someone into reading sports books. Unless you like the concept or the author, you might not want to read a book at all. But, we’ll share some sports book recommendations that cannot go wrong.
When people read sports books, generally, they are trying to relive an era that has been. This is the most candid format of reading, in particular, if a popular sportsperson has written the book.
If the reader is a sports fanatic, he is likely to have a fair bit of an idea about the matters that the sportsperson will discuss in his book. Further, reading the book will give him additional insights that add a new dimension to the matters and act as food for thought. With the right sports book recommendations, making a pick simplifies.
Even when we consider the case of music, the mention of sports in the lyrics provides a rush of energy. In Air Supply’s song, Out Of Nothing At All, there are passing references to baseball that listeners have adored for decades and continue to do so to date.
Sports book recommendations are more likely to work than. In this article, we share a curated list of sports books that you are sure to like.
1. Playing It My Way – Sachin Tendulkar
You should try reading Sachin’s autobiography – Playing It My Way. There are two versions to it, the longer one and the shorter one. Reading the shorter one satisfied me. I might never read the longer version.
The autobiography traces Sachin’s story right from his childhood days. It has typical stories.
Once on an England tour, one of Sachin’s friends suggested to him that when he takes a bowl for buffet salads, place cauliflower leaves towards the corners. This will let him fill up the bowl.
While we are at it, let me suggest two more autobiographies as sports book recommendations.
2. Test of My Life – Yuvraj Singh
One is Yuvraj Singh’s autobiography – Test of My Life. Here, Yuvraj describes how his dad had tough schedules in place for his training, and how he used to enjoy playing Punjab vs. Haryana Ranji trophy matches.
3. Believe – What Life and Cricket Taught Me – Suresh Raina
Then, there’s Suresh Raina’s autobiography – Believe – What Life and Cricket Taught Me.
4. Miracle Men: The Greatest Underdog Story in Cricket by Nikhil Naz
Now moving on to my fourth-ranked favorite sports book, it is a fictional representation of factual events. This factual event is close to all Indian’s hearts – winning the 1983 Cricket World Cup (CWC). This book is Miracle Men: The Greatest Underdog Story in Cricket by Nikhil Naz.
A reader might consider that they already know that India won the CWC in 1983. What’s the point of reading the book?
Well, the book glorifies the incident. Not that it is not glorious enough already.
One does not have to be an ardent cricket fan or follower to enjoy the book. This one’s just about enjoying the presentation. The author shares a rich dose of humor at every opportunity he finds.
Come to think of it, winning the 83′ World Cup was a glorious achievement because India used to be underdogs in this tournament. Two CWCs had taken place before 1983. In those two, India had managed to salvage one win in the league games. This was probably against Sri Lanka, another minnow at the time.
The West Indies had won both prior world cups. They used to be a ferocious team. Their fast bowlers used to breathe fire and the batting lineup consisted of Viv Richards, known as King, Desmond Haynes, and Gordon Greenidge. Not to forget their captain, Clive Lloyd.
Before the World Cup, few statisticians would have given India any odds of winning the World Cup. So, India winning the World Cup was nothing short of a miracle.
Catchy ancedotes from the book
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In the book, the author discusses several interesting stories, like Kapil hitting 175 in the league game against Zimbabwe. Surprisingly, there is no footage of Kapil’s 175* knock. They could not immortalize the immortal innings in its entirety.
- India beating West Indies, the prior champions in the final. When Doordarshan, the only TV channel in India at the time, broadcast the final match live, they telecasted a two-hour-long National Integration program in the midst of the match.
- Malcolm Marshall striking down one of India’s batsmen in a league game.
- Humor is there in all aspects. A toss scenario with Kapil is described as
heads is the call. Tails it is.
- Several stories of Indian cricket fans run in parallel, some facing racial hatred. An Indian restaurant owner settled in England commutes by his car all over England to watch India’s matches. His son is busy booing the Indian cricket team with his white friends.
- In the aftermath of the win, the West Indies visited India for a 5-match test series and beat India 5–0.
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The story of how the selectors designated Kapil Dev as the captain of the Indian team for CWC 83′.
- Kapil advised some players to limit partying while the World Cup was on. This would let them focus on the matches.
- Roger Binny, one of India’s all-rounders is the great-grandson of a Scotsman. An event in the book, describing the league game against England says
the great-grandson of a Scotsman clean bowls the great-grandson of an Englishman.
- Rajdeep Sardesai, who is a noted Indian journalist and son of a veteran Indian cricketer, Dilip Sardesai was in England during those days, playing club cricket. He would take pains to reach the grounds on time for India’s scheduled match.
- Ayaz Menon, a noted sports journalist from India was just starting his career then. He had traveled all the way from India to cover the tournament. If two matches were on simultaneously, he would watch one match and cover the other listening to the radio. At times, if one of the matches was turning out to be a blunder, he would leave it in between and rush to the other ground to cover the other match.
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Sachin Tendulkar was 9 when they played the final match. The novel discusses what Tendulkar was doing at the time.
And so on. In a nutshell, the book is an interesting read and a premium selection among sports book recommendations.
5. Mission Domination: An Unfinished Quest – Boria Majumdar
This one’s the story of how India beat Australia for the second time in a row in a test series played in Australia. India-Australia bilateral test series are known as Border-Gavaskar trophy.
It is noteworthy that it took India 76 years to beat Australia in Australia in a test series. This is ever since they started playing test cricket with Australia.
Pitches in India and Australia are different. India produces spin-friendly tracks. In Australia, they produce pace-friendly wickets. For decades, India was known as the home tiger. They won test matches in India and at a decent rate, for that matter. But abroad, people never expected them to perform.
In particular, no one expected India to win a test series in Australia. I haven’t come across too many people who knew how it was going to happen.
However, the latest update is that India has won two consecutive test series against Australia in Australia. The team finished the latter of the two in January 2022, and that’s what this book is all about.
Then they lost the first test after the opposing team bowled them out for 36 in the last innings. The newspapers reported that this one was one of the all-time lows for Indian cricket.
P.S. India lost the ODI series to Australia before the test series began. Michael Clark, the most successful Australian captain had stated that if India is unable to perform in the ODIs, they’ll be smoked in the test series.
However, it was not to be.
The 2021–22 Border Gavaskar trophy was one of the greatest test series ever played. Many players from India stepped in when needed the most to make the grand victory happen.
The book by Majumdar, a noted sports writer traces India’s journey right from the word go in the series. It’s a nicely written book and one of the sports book recommendations worth investing in.
6. Coaching Beyond: My Days With Indian Cricket Team – R Sridhar
I am reading a sports book currently. R Sridhar, who was India’s fielding coach wrote this book. It’s Coaching Beyond: My Days With Indian Cricket Team.
R.Sridhar was India’s fielding coach from 2014–20. The team prospered in this era and Virat Kohli came to the helm as the all-format captain, as MS Dhoni retired from test cricket.
I found the inspiration to read the book because each day following its release, a few of the news items in Google News spoke of the book and shared excerpts. I am a bit choosy in selecting books to read, but I found the excerpts to my taste.
During those days, Amazon would not share a free sample of the book. It is now available. I bought the book finally and started reading it.
One could not possibly finish the book in a single sitting. It is intense. However, I am sure I’ll finish it one day because I don’t read much. I can confidently tell you that the book is to my taste.
Any cricket fan who follows the journey of the Indian cricket team will find a lot to relate to in the book. It’s written well and is reasonably insightful. I’ll personally recommend it.
7. Stargazing: The Players in My Life by Ravi Shastri
In this book, Shastri has dedicated different chapters to different players he came across in his life. The book is divided into three sections.
- Players Shastri watched growing up
- Players he played with, and
- The players he coached or saw from the commentary box
Shastri was a brilliant all-rounder and is the most successful coach for Indian men’s senior cricket team ever. He once hit Tilak Raj for six sixes in an over and was then only the second cricketer to do so ever.
This book is written nicely. It’s an unbiased account of Ravi Shastri’s perception. Shastri is one of the best commentators the game has ever had.
8. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
Playing for Pizza has one of the greatest opening chapters ever. A football player is grievously injured in a club game in the US. His manager recommends that he demote himself to start playing club football (or rugby) in Italy. It will be safer and more productive for him. The player accepts the suggestion and a hilarious set of events follows. This one’s a fictional account.
The book’s prologue demonstrated a horrifying concept, right at the start.
A footballer is badly injured playing American football, which is NFL or National Football League. He was tackled while he was looking to catch the ball and run towards the goal.
He was probably taken off the field on a stretcher, after losing consciousness.
Now, at the hospital general ward where he is placed to recover, there is a TV set that is iteratively showing his story. Each time he watches it, he gets creeps and more. He doesn’t have a choice, the TV set is right before him.
The media guys are iteratively showing the footage of him being tackled by a member of the opposing team. With each replay, the player goes deeper into a shock.
Alongside, he has to see the statements that his team members and coaches make, and what those from the opposing team have to say.
I hope everyone sees the element of humor here and takes the story with a pinch of salt.
