The Great Tamasha: Cricket, Corruption, and the Turbulent Rise of Modern IndiaTo understand modern India, one must look at the business of cricket within the country. When Lalit Modi--an Indian businessman with a criminal record, a history of failed business ventures, and a reputation for audacious deal making--created a Twenty20 cricket league in India in 2008, the odds were stacked against him. International cricket was still controlled from London, where they played the long, slow game of Test cricket by the old rules. Indians had traditionally underperformed in the sport but the game remained a national passion. Adopting the highly commercial American model of sporting tournaments, and throwing scantily clad western cheerleaders into the mix, Modi gave himself three months to succeed. And succeed he did--dazzlingly--before he and his league crashed to earth amid astonishing scandal and corruption. The emergence of the IPL is a remarkable tale. Cricket is at the heart of the miracle that is modern India. As a business, it represents everything that is most dynamic and entrepreneurial about the country's economic boom, including the industrious and aspiring middle-class consumers who are driving it. The IPL also reveals, perhaps to an unprecedented degree, the corrupt, back-scratching, and nepotistic way in which India is run. A truly original work by a brilliant journalist, The Great Tamasha* makes the complexity of modern India--its aspiration and optimism straining against tradition and corruption--accessible like no other book has. *Tamasha: a Hindi world meaning "a spectacle." |
Contents
In the Land of the Blind | 32 |
The Cricket Box | 58 |
The Pawar and the Glory | 87 |
BoundariesofBelief | 120 |
Cricket Caste and the Countryside | 163 |
Cricket à la Modi | 184 |
With the Daredevils | 224 |
Twenty20 Vision | 253 |
Acknowledgements | 269 |
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The Great Tamasha: Cricket, Corruption and the Turbulent Rise of Modern India James Astill No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
Arvind Asghar asked Australian ball Baloo batsman batting BCCI biggest Bihar Bollywood Bombay Bombay’s bowling boys Brahmin British captain celebrity century Chandra Chennai Chintu club corruption cricket association cricket board cricket fans crowd Dalit Dalmiya Daredevils decades Delhi Dharavi England English fast bowler film franchise Gandhi Gavaskar Gujarat Gymkhana Hindi Hindu Indian cricket international cricket IPL season IPL’s Irfan Kambli Kapil Kapil Dev Kolkata League looked Maidan Mallya million minister Modi Modi’s Mumbai Muslim Nayudu one-day one-day cricket one-day internationals Pakistani Parsi Pataudi Pawar pitch play cricket players political politicians poor popular princely Punjab Punjabi Rajasthan Ranji Sachin Salim Saurashtra scored Sehwag Shah Shahrukh Shane Warne Shoaib side Singh stadium stars Sunil Gavaskar tamasha television Tendulkar Test cricket Test match there’s Tiger told tour tournament Twenty20 victory village wanted watch wickets World Cup