I have the Streets (A Kutti Cricket Story)

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Ravichandran Ashwin is arguably the greatest match-winner for India in Test cricket. The fastest man to take 300 Test wickets, he was a part of the team that won the 2011 World Cup in the One Day International format. In T20 cricket, he has won two Indian Premier League titles and a Champions League T20. He is a feisty offspinner and more than a handy batter. But that's only half the tale.

This nuanced portrait delves deep to paint a candid picture of a cricketer's life before cricket. It recounts his struggles with health issues as a child, a middle-class family's relentless fight and determination to give him the resources he needed for a professional cricketing career, and the little joys of growing up in a gully mad for cricket.

How does a champion sportsman view the world? What drives him on and off the field? In this book, R. Ashwin, one of the more articulate and thoughtful cricketers, tells his story with Sidharth Monga.

R. ASHWIN is an Indian international cricketer. He plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

In his fantasy world,

SIDHARTH MONGA is a sitcom screenplay writer, a wrestling booker and a chef, but his attempts translate poorly in reality. Well, except for his desi cooking. Otherwise he is a cricket writer based in Goa. He writes for ESPNcricinfo, better known to cricket fans as just Cricinfo.

I have played league cricket with Ash in Chennai and Test cricket with him in Australia. He's been my captain in a league team, and I've been his coach in the Indian team. Suffice to say, we've seen each other from close quarters. I've seen the young, talented bowler who made heads turn, the combative teammate just about to hit his prime, and now a seasoned veteran who has constantly reinvented himself during his illustrious career.

I Have the Streets is a vivid and natural extension of the person and cricketer I have known. But it is much more. It is equal parts a cricket book and a children's book. It reminded me of my childhood and not just because I am a professional cricketer and thus find it easier to relate to the stories, the places and the systems a kid goes through to make it as an international cricketer.

This book will have wider appeal because anyone who has ever bowled in a dusty lane will relate to it. So will anyone who has ever dreamed of hitting a match-winning six for their national team; anyone who has juggled studies and sport and spent the last few days before exams in a boot camp of sorts with their friends; and anyone who has looked at their hometown as a living ng being and not just roads and buildings.

I Have the Streets offers fine insight into why Ash has been so successful. He loves not just the game itself but everything associated with it.