Indian Cricket (annual)

Indian Cricket was a cricket yearbook published by "The Hindu." 57 editions were published from 1946-47 to 2004. During most of this period it was the principal Indian cricket yearbook. The editions were originally dated by the season covered (eg 1946-47) but since the 1962 edition the year is the date of publication. No edition was published in 2003 and currently 2004 is the latest edition.

Indian Cricket was founded in 1946-47 under the editorship of S. K. Gurunathan [K. N. Prabhu, Indian Cricket 1996, p.81 : "Indian Cricket's first issue was edited by Gurunathan who was a friend, philosopher and guide to this writer..."] who continued in that role until his death twenty years later [Obituary of P. N. Sundaresan in Indian Cricket records than Sundaresan served as the editor from Gurunathan's death in 1966 until his own retirement in 1972] . G. Viswanath served as the editor for the most recent issues. [See the cover of the Indian Cricket 2004]

Roughly modelled after the "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack" it also had the same page size as Wisden. Indian Cricket covered India's domestic cricket matches and matches played by India abroad. Match details included brief reports and full scores. It also contained a detailed statistics section on domestic cricket, India in Test cricket, a small section on Test cricket abroad and obituaries. [ See Indian Cricket 2004. Wisden_Cricketers%27_Almanack#Typical_contents contains the listing of the typical contents of Wisden.] From the inception, it carried a section on five "cricketers of the year". [ [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/Overall/Indian_Cricket_Cricketers_of_the_Year.html The complete list of Cricketers of the year] ] From 1952, there has also been a "special portrait" section which profiles an ex-cricketer. [Indian Cricket 2004, p.17, contains the complete list of cricketers who got a special portrait]

The first edition was 104 pages long. [Prabhu, p. 75] The 2004 edition ran into 1240 pages. The first years were paper backed but the standard edition was hard backed from 1972.

From 1957/58 to 1964/65 there was a rival publication called 'The Indian Cricket Field Annual' edited by Dicky Rutnagur. This also contained full scores of all first-class matches in India and a biographical section on current players. Anandji Dossa was the statisitical editor of this publication.

Notes

References

* K. N. Prabhu, "50 notout ... marches on" (article on the 50 years of "Indian Cricket"), Indian Cricket 1996, pp. 75-81.
* Various volumes of Indian Cricket, particularly the 2004 edition.
* [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/Overall/Indian_Cricket_Cricketers_of_the_Year.html Cricketers of the year]
* The Cricket Statistician, no. 63, pages 24 and 25 "The Statistician's Library - India" by Peter Wynne-Thomas