BENGALURU: Over the last 30 years, Indian cricket has undergone monumental changes, whose outsized impact has affected the game across the world. From the introduction of DRS (Decision review system) in 1992 to the Indian Premier League in 2008. Cricket administrator Amrit Mathur was in the thick of things throughout these changes in various capacities.
In a new book titled Pitchside: My life in Indian Cricket (Westland Books, Rs 470), which was launched in the city earlier this month, Mathur documents his experiences at the forefront of Indian cricket during the transformational period, offering an intimate perspective.
“Initially, I was doubtful whether people would be interested in knowing what I have to say. But I realised that because of the unique opportunities I’ve had – being present at so many iconic moments of Indian cricket – I had a lot of information that could offer a different perspective. So I decided to write it. It’s a first-hand account, and it’s authentic because I was not only an observer but also a participant,” says Mathur, adding that much of the book is based upon the extensive notes he kept throughout his career. “It’s the reason I was able to accurately write about minute things from all those tours I was in. If I’m saying that the team went out to dinner at a particular restaurant during a particular tour, it’s because I kept a record of it,” he adds.
As someone who witnessed cricket’s transformation from just another sport to a commercial juggernaut that has become the de facto national sport of India, Mathur says it was inevitable. “The commercialisation is not limited to cricket. You can look at tennis, basketball or other sports, and they’ve all gone in a similar direction. But the level of commercialisation that cricket triggered is just amazing, largely because of the IPL,” he says.
With Pitchside, Mathur provides a rare glimpse into the inner functioning of the Indian cricket team, relating interesting conversations between some of the biggest names in the sport at the time. From the 1992 Friendship Tour of South Africa to the inception of the IPL in 2008, Mathur reveals iconic and lesser-known moments in this sport. While he stresses that the book covers almost every important aspect of his experiences, for the sake of brevity, he admits that a lot of things were left out.
“My editor jokingly said that we are publishing a book, not a telephone directory. So we had to ultimately drop a lot of things that one might consider important. There are many profiles of some of the most well-known figures of Indian cricket in the book – Sachin [Tendulkar], [Rahul] Dravid, Sourav [Ganguly], Tiger (Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi) – each of them are special in their own way and I’m writing it from my personal experiences,” Mathur adds.
Given his wealth of experience in Indian cricket as well as the integral role he played in Delhi Capitals, Mathur says there is no magic potion for Royal Challengers Bangalore in order to win the coveted IPL trophy. “Nobody has a formula, unfortunately. I was with Delhi Capitals for a long time. But neither have they won the trophy. I don’t think anybody has the right answer,” Mathur laughs.