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Pitch Perfect
Playing and Managing Cricket in India
Speakers
In 1992, when BCCI President Madhavrao Scindia handpicked Amrit Mathur as manager of the Indian team on the historic tour of South Africa, he became one of the youngest to hold that position. In the three decades that followed, Mathur transformed into a seasoned cricket administrator working closely with BCCI presidents and state cricket associations. He was involved with shaping the initial plans for the IPL and held a key position with the Delhi Daredevils.
On the many tours and cricket seasons in India and abroad, Mathur kept a diary and detailed notes on the day’s play, as well as of conversations and events off the pitch. He builds on these to show us what happened behind the scenes, allowing us to experience the excitement of play on the ground, as well as dressing-room conversations, team meetings and discussions.
An intimate, insightful, authentic account of some of Indian cricket’s most memorable moments, his new book Pitchside is replete with compelling storytelling and delightful trivia. It evokes nostalgia and laughter, and curiosity about all that has been and all that may be. In this session, he is in conversation with Anil Kumble and Sharda Ugra.
A Q&A with the audience will follow.
Speakers
Amrit Mathur
Amrit Mathur was Secretary, Sports Authority of India and Advisor, Ministry of Sports. He was instrumental in conceptualising and executing TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme), India’s flagship programme for supporting elite athletes. He was also part of the core team of the IPL, Chief Operating Officer, Delhi Daredevils, General Manager, BCCI, and held administrative positions in the state associations of Railways, UP, MP, Delhi and Uttarakhand.
Currently, he is Advisor, Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports. His column, ‘Straight Drive’, appears in the Hindustan Times.
Anil Kumble
In a career spanning 18 long and glorious years, Anil Kumble played 132 Tests and 271 ODIs, picking 619 wickets in the former, while claiming 337 in the latter. The veteran bowler retired as the third highest wicket-taker in Tests, behind legends Muttiah Muralidaran and Shane Warne. His retirement from international cricket, however, didn’t stop him from participating in the Indian Premier League in 2008 where he led the Bangalore franchise in 2009 and afterwards took on the mentoring role. In 2013, Kumble shifted allegiance to Mumbai as chief mentor.
After those management stints in the Indian T20 League, he joined the International Cricket Council’s Cricket Committee in 2012. In the year of 2016, he was made the Indian coach and within months of his joining, the team achieved the number one status in the ICC Test rankings. Under his one year tenure, the Indian team also went on to win the most number of Test matches in a calendar year.
Sharda Ugra
Sharda Ugra spent more than three decades in sports journalism, working with Mumbai tabloid Mid-Day, national daily The Hindu, India Today magazine and ESPNcricinfo and ESPN India.
During this time, she has written and spoken about issues around Indian sport at home and abroad in popular and academic publications.
She worked with former New Zealand captain John Wright on John Wright’s Indian Summers, his memoirs of his years coaching India and with Yuvraj Singh on The Test of My Life, an account of his diagnosis and recovery from cancer. She was a fellow of the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne in 2013. Having finally left the formal workforce, she believes she is just getting started.
