When was the last time you smiled while reading a book about Cricket? Or felt embarrassed about not knowing a simple detail about the game we all love? If the answer is never, think again because What Is A Googly? The Mysteries Of Cricket Explained by Rob Eastaway will make you do both - smile and feel embarrassed at the same time.

Described as ‘The ideal gift book for cricket lovers to bestow upon the uninitiated’ by The Times, this book takes you back in time and analyses why cricket is cricket; why the wicket falls when the wicket is broken and the bowler ends up with a wicket? Or why the fielder closest to the batsman is called silly. Intriguing, isn’t it? Wait till you complete the review.

First of all, to read this book you have to set some ground rules - start it alone when you have nothing else to do, read it in a room where there is no one to disturb you (or be disturbed) and end it before making a comment to others. Because people will find it awkward for a guy reading a cricket book and breaking into laughter or smiling uncontrollably. Such is the book’s power. It breaks cricket into different parts and then tries to make sense of everything about the game. It may be targeted at those who have no idea about the game but it also hits those who think they know all about the game. From the origin of the sport to the films featuring it, from the names of players that feature in Shakespeare’s plays to the reason why bowlers shout Howzat instead of something more polite, this book has it all.

And then there are many questions that not even many cricket fanatics have answers to - why is a batsman dismissed on a duck, why do bowlers rub the ball on their trousers, why do batsmen tap the ground with their bats to? So if you didn’t know what the captain does in cricket, or what the signals given by the umpire mean or why walking past the white screen is considered unethical, this book will educate you.

The author must be commended for writing the text in high spirits. Otherwise, this book would have come out as one of those that no one thinks of reading, even if it was the only book available.

To make the book more interesting, there are illustrations that one shouldn’t describe. It should be left to the readers to decode what the illustrator wants them to think. All I can say is that every illustration will light up your face. The box items featuring unusual texts such as Unusual Cricket Matches, Lords of Cricket, etc. will keep you distracted, in a good way.

Reading this book is as much fun as watching a comedy TV serial, a Hollywood comedy flick or a comedy book laced with jokes that you haven’t heard. And lastly, every information in this book is authentic. It is only the way it is described that is hilarious! Happy reading…