You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by curioso98
War Minus The Shooting: A journey through South Asia during the 1996 Cricket World Cup by Mike Marqusee
5.0
Firstly, I need to thank Sid and the team at "81 all-out"(https://www.81allout.com/) for re-publishing this book after 25 years and talking about it in all their podcasts in the last six months. After hearing about it constantly, I ordered it when I was visiting India. Turns out, that was a great decision since this is one of the best books I've read in the last two years.
The book itself is a first-person account of the 1996 Cricket world cup held in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka by a journalist name "Mike Marqusee". Mike does not have any of the cultural derisions that we have come to expect of British/American journalists when visiting the Indian sub-continent, especially considering that this account was from 1995-96 when the level of facilities in India was nothing close to what is available now. He comes across as a genuine fan of cricket and connects with journalists and fans from all the different host countries in this case. He equally points out the hypocrisies of the English-speaking countries (Aus and Windies boycotting the games in SL) and the others (Ind and Pak with their nationalistic jingoisms). He covers the entire world cup really well while providing a special focus on the important games (Quarters, Semis, and finals).
There are many themes that Mike sticks to in this book -- the increase in nationalism, ill-effects of money pouring into the one-day game, multi-national companies using the world cup to their advertising gains, politicians in all the countries scooping up the majority of the tickets, the inefficiency of the organizing stadiums, etc. They all seem extremely familiar even to this day although they seem to be applicable to the T20 games that are organized now (IPL etc) along with the international games.
To me, the 1996 WC just evoked extreme nostalgia given the way Sachin dominated that tournament and how India beat Pakistan in my home ground (Prasad v/s Sohail still gives me goosebumps) but Mike goes beyond the on the field incidents and describes how it was to actually get into the stadium(it was really hard) and then observer how different parts of the crowd behaved(some rowdy elements constantly shouted 'Pakistan hai hai!' even if they weren't playing the game).
Some of the changes that the ODI game underwent in the 90s are what the T20 game is now undergoing. Private companies pour a lot of money into the game causing players to associate themselves with these entities (t20 leagues) rather than their national teams. It almost seems like Mike predicted this 25 years ago!
This book is a treasure for any cricket fan but would particularly be enjoyed by 90s kids who loved and followed cricket growing up.
The book itself is a first-person account of the 1996 Cricket world cup held in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka by a journalist name "Mike Marqusee". Mike does not have any of the cultural derisions that we have come to expect of British/American journalists when visiting the Indian sub-continent, especially considering that this account was from 1995-96 when the level of facilities in India was nothing close to what is available now. He comes across as a genuine fan of cricket and connects with journalists and fans from all the different host countries in this case. He equally points out the hypocrisies of the English-speaking countries (Aus and Windies boycotting the games in SL) and the others (Ind and Pak with their nationalistic jingoisms). He covers the entire world cup really well while providing a special focus on the important games (Quarters, Semis, and finals).
There are many themes that Mike sticks to in this book -- the increase in nationalism, ill-effects of money pouring into the one-day game, multi-national companies using the world cup to their advertising gains, politicians in all the countries scooping up the majority of the tickets, the inefficiency of the organizing stadiums, etc. They all seem extremely familiar even to this day although they seem to be applicable to the T20 games that are organized now (IPL etc) along with the international games.
To me, the 1996 WC just evoked extreme nostalgia given the way Sachin dominated that tournament and how India beat Pakistan in my home ground (Prasad v/s Sohail still gives me goosebumps) but Mike goes beyond the on the field incidents and describes how it was to actually get into the stadium(it was really hard) and then observer how different parts of the crowd behaved(some rowdy elements constantly shouted 'Pakistan hai hai!' even if they weren't playing the game).
Some of the changes that the ODI game underwent in the 90s are what the T20 game is now undergoing. Private companies pour a lot of money into the game causing players to associate themselves with these entities (t20 leagues) rather than their national teams. It almost seems like Mike predicted this 25 years ago!
This book is a treasure for any cricket fan but would particularly be enjoyed by 90s kids who loved and followed cricket growing up.