ISBN: 0-415-35692-X
Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd (2006)
RRP: £22.99

First published in 1986 as A Maidan View — the Magic of Indian Cricket, the book was republished in 2006.

In the last 20 years, Indian cricket — like India itself — has been transformed. With the arrival of global television networks, mass-media coverage and multinational sponsors, cricket has become big business and India has become the economic driving force in the world game. For the first time, a developing country has become a major player in the international sports arena.

This fully updated and revised edition of Mihir Bose's classic study of Indian cricket is a unique and involving account of the Indian cricket phenomenon. Drawing on a combination of extensive research and personal experience, Bose traces the development of the Indian game from its beginnings as a colonial pastime to its coming of age as a national passion, and now a global powerhouse.

Review:

Simon Barnes, chief sportswriter, The Times:
‘Mihir Bose is India's C.L.R. James.’

ISBN: 0-14-303217-8
RRP: Rupees 295
(For sale in the Indian Subcontinent only)
Revised edition first published by Penguin Books India 2006

An updated and revised edition of the classic study of Indian cricket.

It has been said that, whether one loves India or hates it, it is a country with an infinite capacity for surprise. The same can be said of the sport that permeates the very fabric of the country, dominating the public mind and causing euphoria and heartbreak in equal measure.

In A Maidan View: The Magic of Indian Cricket, Mihir Bose examines cricket's influence on India, from its unorganised beginnings to the widespread growth that has led to India becoming the commercial backbone of the sport worldwide. He explores the social factors that led to the game's development, from the early adoption by the princes and the Parsi community to the growth of the office teams that featured Test stars. The game was further fostered in the country by the nouveau riche taking to the sport as a symbol of their wealth, gully cricket with an assortment of 'rules' and 'fielders' and, more recently, the television-rights revolution of the 1990s.

Reviews:

Times Literary Supplement:
‘This is a book which puts the remarkable phenomenon of Indian cricket into a clearer perspective.’

Sport in the Global Society:
‘[A Maidan View] is a singular contribution, not only to an understanding of Indian cricket, but also the wider acceptance of work on sport as mainstream historical literature.’

ISBN: 0-233-05040-X
Andre Deutsch Ltd (2002)
RRP: £19.99
First published in 1990

Winner of the 1990 Cricket Society Literary Award

On 24 August 1971 — 'The Day the Elephant came to the Oval' — India, under the captaincy of A.L. Wadekar, won their first Test match against England in England. From this dramatic starting point, Mihir Bose focuses on the rollercoaster nature of India's cricket history, from its early days in the time of the British Raj to the present-day period that has been characterised by both the sublime (the batting mastery of Sachin Tendulkar) and the ridiculous (the match-fixing scandals associated with the nefarious activities of certain Indian bookmakers). Mihir Bose's lively, informed and always entertaining text is supported by a full statistical appendix, including the scorecards of all India's most famous Test matches and a table of averages of all India's Test players.

Reviews:

Matthew Engel, The Guardian:
‘Indian cricket often proves as unpredictable as the society from which it emerged. This book provides the fullest account yet of its colourful history.’

New Statesman & Society:
‘Mihir Bose has produced an excellent study of both the sport and the culture.’

India – Home and Abroad:
‘If you are a cricket fan, then you must read this book.’

ISBN: 0-413-65340-4 paperback (1991)
0-434-98182-6 hardback (1990)
Kingswood Press, an imprint  of Methuen Press
RRP:  No longer in print (available second-hand)

This unique collection of 42 interviews makes absorbing and
instructive reading, opening new windows on the game today.

Ted Dexter, Raman Subba Row, Wilf Wooller, David Graveney,
David Shepherd, Don Wilson, Keith Boyce (head groundsman at Headingley) and Nancy Doyle (cook in the committee room at Lord's) are among the men and women from whom Mihir Bose has extracted sharp, often humorous, but always caring observations on contemporary cricket.

Reviews:

Frank Keating in the Guardian:
‘One of the year's best stocking-fillers.'

Wisden Cricket Monthly:
`What a rich diversity of views and insights is here. For a picture of cricket today, at Test, county, junior, administrative, umpiring, coaching, groundsmanship, catering and journalistic levels, one could hardly ask for more.’

Times Literary Supplement — July 19, 1991:
‘If someone were to bury a time capsule in the hope of providing future generations with a portrait of English life in the late 1980s, Mihir Bose’s consistently engrossing collection of interviews Cricket Voices would be the ideal book to represent cricket.’

ISBN: 0-86072-066-7
Robin Clark Ltd (1983) Hardback
RRP: No longer in print (available second-hand)

Despite the reservations of the supporters of the traditional five-and three-day cricket match, one-day cricket is now immensely popular, attracting huge crowds and providing the sort of excitement more usually associated with football. Yet there has been no comprehensive survey of the phenomenon — its genesis, development and future. 

Mihir Bose, cricket correspondent with the Sunday Times, has written a meticulously researched yet amusing and provocative account of the one-day game, from its cavalier beginnings through the thrills provided by Lancastrian supremacy in the early seventies, to the Packer–influenced international games of today.  All the statistical information about this type of cricket is provided here for the first time, and the text is splendidly complemented by many dramatic and historic pictures of the sort of incidents, characters and crowds which has made one-day cricket such an intense and exhilarating spectacle.

ISBN: 0-04-920062-3
George Allen & Unwin (1980)
RRP: No longer in print (available second-hand)

His lifestyle as much as his cricketing style won Keith Miller a
special and enduring following among a public wider than just cricket enthusiasts. Into the austere Forties and Fifties he brought excitement, glamour and a generosity which not even the pressures of Test cricket could extinguish. Miller was compared by C.B. Fry to Victor Trumper: and how many cricketers now in their thirties and forties can trace their enthusiasm for the game back to the hero-worship which they as youngsters felt for K.R. Miller (NSW)?

The book is a full and meticulous account of Miller's cricketing exploits from school days, through his dramatic arrival on the international scene in the Victory Matches of 1945, to his retirement after Laker's summer in 1956. It also provides information about his years as a journalist and his continuing role as a significant cricket personality. There is a statistical appendix, a bibliography and an index. For those who saw him play, the book will bring back vivid memories; for those who did not, it will provide not only all the relevant facts and figures but also an insight into the special appeal of one of cricket's original cavaliers.