Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Straight drive
|
Gulu Ezekiel’s new book is a must-have for cricket lovers
|
On a trivia trail Gulu Ezekiel
Cricket is a sport with such a long history in which people with fascinating lives have taken part. Gulu Ezekiel wanted to put down some of these aspects in a book.
The result is “The Penguin Book Of Cricket Lists”.
Which Pakistani spin wizard was a vegetable vendor by profession? Which Indian pace bowler attending the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai fractured his finger when his hand got stuck in a postbox?
The answers to these fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia can be found in the Gulu’s book.
The author’s favourite is chapter titled: The Human Element. “I have tried to bring to light aspects of the lives of some cricketers which give them a different dimension rather than just runs scored/wickets taken.”
According to Gulu, the project began during his school days about 35 years back.
“For years I have been collecting trivia on players but never in a formal manner. Since I had so much information collated over the years, the actual part of putting it down in a book took just eight months. I did a lot of research from my own vast library of books and magazines.”
The tallest one
Gulu took lot of effort over sourcing photos for his book – This is his 12th. Why? “I feel the visual appeal is very important.”’
For this particular book Gulu wanted photographs that had not been published before. He contacted players like Ashok Mankad and Paul Dunkels (tallest cricketer) for their personal photos.
“It took many months to get in touch with Dunkels. I finally traced his e-mail through a lawyer friend of mine in London after finding out that Dunkels is a QC (Queen’s Counsel) in the UK.”
The photo of Rahul Sanghvi was taken in a bookshop in Delhi during the release of one of Gulu’s books in 1999. “I was lucky the photographer snapped him while he was browsing the Wisden in which it was first printed.” It remains a world record after 10 years.
The record that Sanghvi boasts of is eight wickets for 15 runs (against Himachal Pradesh), the best in a domestic one-day match.
On his latest venture, Gulu says, “I leave it to the readers to make their judgment on that. But I feel the unique photos and the way the trivia has been categorised chapter by chapter makes it different from other books of such a genre.”
The book is a must-have for all cricket lovers.
VIJAY LOKAPALLY
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
