Cricket Cauldron - Hardcover

Shaharyar M. Khan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9350295008 ISBN 13: 9789350295007

Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2013

Synopsis

Pakistan is a country beset with politicized instabilities, economic problems, ethnic conflicts, religious fervor and crises of identity. It is also a country in which the game of cricket has become a nationwide obsession. How has that happened? How does a Muslim country, jealous of its independence and determined to forge a Pakistani identity, so passionately embrace the alien gentleman's game imported by the distant and departed former colonial masters? What do we learn of Pakistan from its attitudes and responses to cricket? This book sees Pakistan its history, politics and society, not to mention its fractured relations with India through the prism of cricket. Shaharyar Khan examines how this very Western sport came to embed itself into the psyche of Pakistanis old and young, and how understanding the state of cricket in the region is the key to understanding Pakistan itself. Demonstrating how the turbulence around cricket has much wider political implications, Khan provides an unusual and highly original perspective on Pakistan. This book will fascinate general readers and cricket enthusiasts, at the same time proving essential reading for observers of Pakistan, India and the South Asia region.

About this title

About the Author:

Shaharyar M Khan is a distinguished international diplomat who served as High Commissioner in Great Britain, as Ambassador to France and Jordan, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary and UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Rwanda. His cricket pedigree is impeccable. He distinguished himself at Cambridge University, played first class cricket in Britain and Pakistan and was a playing member of the MCC. His family link him to the all-time 'greats' of cricket on the sub-continent including the Nawab of Pataudi who played for England and captained India and Mansur Ali Khan, a distinguished 'Blue' and Pakistani captain. He was Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, 2003-2006.

Ali Khan is Associate Professor at LUMS, a professional social anthropologist and cricket-playing student of the game. Shaharyar Khan's previous publications include The Begums of Bhopal: A Dynasty of Women Rulers in the Raj, The Shallow Graves of Rwanda (both I.B.Tauris) and Memoirs of a Rebel Princess

Review:

"Cricket Cauldron answers an intriguing question: how did Pakistan, created for the Muslims of the subcontinent, take to the very English game of cricket? Khan combines his knowledge of cricket with his vast experience as a diplomat to tell a compelling story of cricket, society, nation and culture." Mihir Bose, award winning journalist and author --Mihir Bose, award winning journalist and author

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins India
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 9350295008
• ISBN 13: 9789350295007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 350