Out of the Blue

In these air-time obsessed days of cricket where events like the IPL are discussed in greater details than any other format could there be hope for cricket to survive in its pristine form? Chances are that you’d say ‘no’ in the blink of an eye but if you happen to read Out of the Blue, Aakash Chorpa’s book on Rajasthan’s road to the Ranji Trophy, you’d take a moment or two before answering. Better still after living the journey along with Chopra and the others who scripted Rajasthan’s maiden Ranji triumph, you’d think there’s hope for cricket’s purest form.

A Delhi lad, who donned the Indian colors for just ten tests, Chopra’s writing much like his cricket is the classical mould. Reportage has been the mainstay of sports writing in India and unlike, say, the United States there haven’t been many tales that celebrates the underdog. For most the best sports stories are the imagined ones such as Iqbal and Chak De India. It’s in this context that Chopra’s book truly shines. He wistfully brings together his personal story of a talented cricket who never got a real chance to prove his mettle and the tale of fourteen others like him for whom playing cricket meant everything.

Out of The Blue- Rajasthan’s Road To The Ranji Final is not just the story of an unlikely team that came together and witnessed the aligning of stars where dreams came true. It’s the story of millions of young Indian boys from small towns and villages whose favorite color isn’t blue but the white that lasts for five days. Chopra writes about gifted sportsmen who might not have made it to the Indian test side but spent every moment of their lives dreaming about that. This is the story of people like Madhur Khatri who as a 12-year old took undertook a bus ride from Jaipur to Bikaner and stayed in a dharamshala for Rs. 20 a night just to play a match; Vineet Saxena who was jobless as he tried to make it to a team and saw his father and his premature daughter die within a gap of months; Deepak Chahar, who’s father requested his employer, The Indian Air Force, to make a pitch for him within the cantonment so that he didn’t have to endure a 15-hour long day as he traveled across cities to practice. 

Many in the current generation might not even know the value of Ranji Trophy or other domestic tournaments like Buchi Babu Tournament that provide the platform for players to the Men in Blue. Chopra, who himself, took bus rides during the turbulent Mandal Commission days to continue his cricket knows the hard work and dedication that goes into the making of a cricketer. This is where the book scores majorly. It’s honest, direct and lucid in its bid to bring forth the stories of sportsmen who never really bothered about anything else but playing for India. Chopra might have played just ten tests for India but he was blessed with a technique and more importantly a temperament to occupy the cease long enough to see the shine off the new ball. Many believe that had it not been for Chopra, the one-half of a formidable opening combination with Virender Sehwag, India’s Australian campaign of 2003-04 wouldn’t have been as successful.

Before the arrival of IPL, which is today not only a viable career option for a professional cricketer but also an accepted path to make the cut, the robust Ranji circuit gave us many greats. There are hundreds of players who spent all of their cricketing lives playing Ranji and this book also celebrates them with interesting trivia about the tournament peppered on every alternate page. Like his blog Chopra’s style is simple and straight. It’s the story of the underdog, a team made of players who saw all doors close in on them before getting together and playing for a team that was at the bottom on the table that creates the drama. Rajasthan took on the teams like Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and 38 years to win its first Ranji. The journey becomes more fascinating when you know that just a few weeks ago the same team retained the trophy for the second year in running.

If you grew up in the India of the late 1970s or the 1980s you knew that it was almost impossible to take professional sports as a serious career option. Even if you did the people around you constantly reminded that there were just a handful that were lucky enough to do that and you, well…you just weren’t the fortunate one. Some who continued to live the dream managed to make it to the national side while many just played domestic cricket and Chopra brings out these dreams and nightmares. Many of the stories may sound the same and you might find it hard to stop yourself from skipping a few pages once in a while but Out of The Blue, nevertheless, is worth reading.

This review was originally written for The Asian Age