Shadows across the Playing Field tells the story of the turbulent cricketing relations between India and Pakistan through the eyes of two men – Shashi Tharoor and Shaharyar Khan – who bring to the task not only great love of the game but also deep knowledge of subcontinental politics and diplomacy. Shashi Tharoor, a former UN Under-Secretary-General and man of letters, is a passionate outsider, whose comprehensive, entertaining and hard-hitting analysis of sixty years of cricketing history displays a Nehruvian commitment to secular values, which rejects sectarianism in sport in either country. Shaharyar Khan, a former Pakistan foreign secretary, is very much the insider, who writes compellingly of his pivotal role as team manager and then chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Control Board at a time when cricket was in the forefront of détente between the two countries. By the time the book was published Shashi Tharoor had won the election from the Thiruvanathapuram Constituency and is now a member of Parliament and Minister of State for External Affairs.
In their essays, the two authors trace the growing popularisation of cricket from the days of the Bombay Pentangular to the Indian Premier League. They show how politics and cricket became intertwined and assess the impact it has had on the game. But above all the book is a celebration of the talent of the many great cricketers who have captivated audiences on both sides of the border. If politics and terrorism can at times stop play, the authors believe that cricket is also a force for peace and they look forward to more normal times and more healthy competition.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shaharyar Khan
Shaharyar Khan had a long and distinguished career as a diplomat, retiring as Pakistan's Foreign Secretary in 1994. He had earlier served as ambassador to Jordan and France as well as High Commissioner to London. Immediately after retirement, he was appointed the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Rwanda. He was born in Bhopal and educated at Cambridge University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston. He has had a lifelong interest in cricket and over the past ten years has played a pivotal role in cricketing relations between India and Pakistan. He was manager of the Pakistan cricket team that toured India in 1999 and served as Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board from December 2003 to October 2006. He is the author of 3 books -- The Begums of Bhopal (1999), The Shallow Graves of Rwanda (2000) and Cricket: A Bridge of Peace (2001).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor After taking his doctorate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, Shashi Tharoor worked for the United Nations in various humanitarian, peace-keeping and management roles for nearly thirty years. He was Under- Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information during the tenure of Kofi Annan and was the runner up in the election to replace him in 2006. He is an acclaimed novelist, author and newspaper columnist. He has 11 books and hundreds of articles to his name. His non-fiction titles include Nehru, the Invention of India (2003) and India: from Midnight to the Millennium (1997). His novels include The Great Indian Novel (1989) and Riot (2001). He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Indian cricket, which he has followed avidly from afar, and has played in such cricketing hotbeds as Singapore and Geneva.
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