Myth-Busting: Indian Cricket Behind the Headlines

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Cricket around the world is built on myths and Indian cricket is no different. These myths have been repeated ad nauseam over the years till they have come to be accepted as fact and in the modern age get extra traction through social media.

Gulu Ezekiel, one of India's leading cricket journalists and authors with 40 years of experience and over a dozen cricket books to his credit, demolishes these myths. Using multiple historical sources and eye-witness accounts, Gulu exposes the real story behind these tales in a fascinating, controversial and unique book which is sure to rock the cricket world. Complete with unique and rare photos, Myth-Busting is a cricket connoisseur's delight.

Gulu Ezekiel is one of India's most prolific sports journalists and authors. He began his career with The Indian Express, Chennai, in 1982, before moving to New Delhi in 1991. His career has spanned dailies, periodicals, TV, radio and the net. Since 2001, he has been freelancing. This is his 14th sports book and the first for Rupa Publications India. He has also contributed to numerous books and annuals, as well as to over 100 publications across the world. Gulu is the author of bestselling biographies of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Listening to stories and passing them down over generations is an integral part of Indian culture. Stories are brewed as much as cups of coffee in most households; and especially when they are about cricket and cricketers, these storytelling sessions often take on a life of their own-there is emotion, drama, curiosity, laughter...but also a fair dose of exaggeration! Recounted over and over again, and moulded and remoulded by enthusiastic, but not always accurate, storytellers, a lot of these distorted stories end up being treated as gospel truth.

Gulu's attempt to demystify some of these myths of Indian cricket through this book is unique and commendable. He brings together his vast journalistic experience and deep desire to sift fact from fiction, to put together a noteworthy piece of work, which while shedding much-needed light on some of Indian cricket's myths, is thoroughly engaging and entertaining. As with all of Gulu's previous works, the painstaking research that has clearly gone into the process is evident, and is the true hero of the book.

Why a book on Indian cricket myths? The reasons are many. Ever since I got hooked on cricket, in India's famous summer of 1971, I have heard and read many tales surrounding the beautiful game, especially centred on Indian cricket.

It was only as I grew older and became a fulltime sports journalist, that I was able to sift fact from fiction after much reading, writing and research, and after meeting those directly involved in the tales.

For years, I have been befuddled and dismayed by these stories, but it was only with the advent of the Internet and particularly social media, that they took on a life of their own. Repeated over and over again, these stories-often painting Indian cricket and cricketers in a negative light-became accepted as fact.

Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, have all been carriers of fake news which spread like wildfire, and attempting to set the record straight has been a thankless task, often attracting ire and even threats, even for something as relatively innocuous as sporting history.