Book Project Update

As I announced on this blog in October 2010, I have been working on a book on the changing face of modern cricket (contracted to Harper-Collins). Last year, in September, I sent the draft manuscript for editorial comments. I've received those comments now, and have started revisions. The comments are, I'm happy to say, quite positive: VK Karthika , my editor, quite likes the book's analysis but (almost inevitably) wants me to revisit my (in her words) "academic" language in Chapter 1. This is a hard one to take on board, especially as I had worked pretty hard to make sure I didn't sound too academic. But I'm happy that that remark wasn't directed at the rest of the book. A greater challenge for me, quite honestly, is keeping the book's analysis up to date. I feel like a great deal has changed just since September (India's continued decline in test cricket, the termination of an IPL franchise, poor crowds at Indian venues etc), that has the potential to affect my analysis, and I'd like to do justice to all of it. I also have comments to work through from Russell Degnan, Rohan Mascarenhas, John Sutton, Satadru Sen and Sankara Krishna - thanks again guys!

In any case, revisions are underway, and I expect to send the draft back in four weeks or so. If all goes well, the book will be scheduled for a June/July release.

Introducing a new blogger

Folks, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Satadru Sen as a blogger to Eye on Cricket. Some of you might know Satadru Sen because of his academic work on South Asian history, including a wonderful book on Ranjitsinhji, which I reviewed over at Different Strokes. Others might recognize that name because he frequently pens thoughtful comments on Cricinfo blogs (those stand out, don't they?). Satadru is a friend, neighbor and colleague (he teaches at Queens College of the City University of New York) of mine, and I'm looking forward to his contributions here. (Oh, and yes, I'm hoping Satadru will post links to some of his other academic writings on cricket, all of which make for a good read).

Announcing a book project

As some of my remaining readers on this blog and over at Different Strokes will have noticed, my posting frequency has fallen off. I have a very good excuse for this. I have started a book project and have signed a contract with Harper Collins (the book is due with the publishers next year - I expect it to be released in early 2012). My editor in this enterprise is VK Karthika, a smart and perceptive editor who is, luckily for me, a cricket fan (after working for Penguin for many years, she moved to Harper a couple of years ago; I was pointed to her by both Mukul Kesavan and Ramachandra Guha as being the right editor to work with on my book). Needless to say I'm delighted on many counts: to be able to develop some thoughts on this great game at some length, and to be working with a sympathetic editor and a good publishing house.

The book's agenda is ostensibly straightforward but in reality, quite complicated. To be glib about it, the book will be my take on where cricket is going in this day and age. I'm planning to write a brief history of recent changes and try and extrapolate/project/prognosticate - all of it. The problem is that cricket is changing so fast, I'll be, to use Gideon Haigh's words, "chasing it down the street with a pen and notebook in hand."

As of now, I've started putting together some notes and have a rough idea of the chapter-wise breakdown: the impact and continuing role of technology in cricket, the change from nation-based cricket to professional franchises, the evolution of the game's formats (including speculation about world cups and test championships), the new nationalism online, and lastly the game's new masters, the BCCI and Indian cricket. I like writing on cricket, of course, but first and foremost, I'm a fan, and I hope that will come through.

I'll post part of the book's current synopsis to the blog tomorrow. Thoughts and comments welcome.

Cricket and its great books

A new post on the pleasure of cricket books is up at Different Strokes.

The Many Lives of Ranji

A review of Satadru Sen's Migrant Races: Empire, Identity, and K.S. Ranjitsinhji is up at Different Strokes.

Great book; "academic, yet accessible" is how I've described it. While it's not a cricket book, it certainly helps one understand the world of cricket a little better.

Netherland and the cricketing novel

A quick review of Joseph O'Neill's Netherland is up at Faster Times.

Books at hand

The last few days have been good ones for scoring cricket books. A friend of mine loaned me her copy of Joseph O'Neill's Netherland; Satadru Sen loaned me his personal copy of Migrant Races Empire, Identity and K.S. Ranjitsinhji; and finally, the University of Chicago Press sent me a review copy of The Original Laws of Cricket.

I hope to write reviews and post them here, on Different Strokes and over at Faster Times.