One for the hockey lover

Vikrant Parmar

In a cricket-crazy nation, there are only a handful who are attached to our national game — hockey. Leading the pack is journalist-author Sundeep Misra, who in his collection of articles written over the past three decades for various publications, titled The Mohammed of Benares And Other Stories, delves deep into the world of hockey and comes out with pearls that will forever be prized by the ones who love the game.

Starting from India’s thrashing at the hands of Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games, to the gradual resurgence and eventual triumph at the Junior World Cup in 2016, the author has covered hockey from various perspectives — be it ace players, coaches, support staff or the political angles involved. So while there are interesting stories related to stars like Mohammed Shahid, ‘whose wrists worked like a windmill’, Dhanraj Pillai, Dilip Tirkey, Rajiv Mishra, Sardar Singh and more, also in focus are able coaches like Cedric D’Souza.

The author’s love for hockey comes out in each word he chisels, while his passion for the sport is imbued in each line. This one is sure for the hockey-lover out there.