cover image The Great Tamasha: Cricket, Corruption, and the Turbulent Rise of Modern India

The Great Tamasha: Cricket, Corruption, and the Turbulent Rise of Modern India

James Astill. Bloomsbury, $27 (288p) ISBN 978-1-60819-917-4

In this pensive work—at turns historical, sociological, and journalistic—the Economist’s South Asia bureau chief, British journalist Astill, examines the beloved game of cricket in India. Cricket was introduced there by British soldiers and sailors in the 18th century, and it was taken up by the growing Indian middle class as the very “caricature of Englishness,” especially by the Parsis of Gujarat, who made their fortunes in Bombay. Cricket clubs sprang up in the Victorian era, and tournaments were played with the British and also with incipient Muslim clubs. Astill looks at some of the legendary players, such as the late-Victorian batsman Ranji (the first great Indian cricketer to play for England), and he studies how the makeup of Indian teams began to reflect a changing India with the inclusion of Dalit and Muslim players. The World Cup victory in 1983 put Indian cricket in the spotlight, and the 1990s were an era of commercial explosion: players got rich and rivaled Bollywood stars, games were being fixed, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was challenged by the inventive upstart Indian Premier League (IPL). Yet in the end, as Astill graciously describes, cricket inspires in the poorest of India’s poor “a dream of advancement and leisure”—not to mention the marvelous entertainment it provides. (July)