Love for cricket translates into book on World Cup trivia

At a time when the entire country is praying to ensure India’s victory in the World Cup,three fans have come up with a book on World Cup trivia. The youths,in their twenties,say they only recollect watching World Cup matches played after 1996,however,that didn’t stop them from digging out facts about tournaments played before.

After four months of fact-finding,Swaraj Bhat,Aamod Desai and Nachiket Joshi have come up with World Cup Memorabilia-Smaran Eka Jalloshache. The book in Marathi offers interesting trivia on World Cup matches. Facts like Gilchrist being the only batsman to score a fifty in three consecutive finals; the record for the most ducks held by Ijaz Ahmed and Nathan Astle (5); David Shepherd having officiated in most World Cup games (46); Steve Bucknor having officiated in most finals (5); McGrath being the only bowler to bowl three maidens in a final are among the interesting trivia that the book records. Along with scorecards of all finals and memorable games,the book also gives information about the venues and the cricket culture that prevailed at the places. “We witnessed the World Cups from 1996 onwards. For the first few tournaments,we did a lot of digging and spoke to some of our old relatives,their friends and cricket purists,” said Aamod,who is pursuing electrical engineering. The idea of a book came from their love for the sport. “We would use holidays and every spare minute to compile information,” said Swaraj Bhat,pursuing Chartered Accountancy. Nachiket Joshi,co-author,is pursuing a Bachelors in Industrial Chemistry

The first copy of the book was published on March 15. The trio now wants to come out with an English version of the book and include trivia from this year’s World Cup. “We will do this only if India wins the World Cup,” said Swaraj. The book is priced at Rs 99.