Tag: R Kaushik

Authors, Book Reviews

“The Rise of the Hitman- The Rohit Sharma Story” by R Kaushik

Being an avid cricket fan for six and a half decades, I love books on cricket and cricketers! I was delighted to read, R Kaushik’s “The Rise of the Hitman- The Rohit Sharma Story“. This was published recently by Rupa Publications.

For those readers of this blog, who don’t follow cricket as much as we do in India, let me say that Rohit G. Sharma is one of India’s superstar cricketers. He has successfully captained India to the T20 World Championship in 2024 and the Champions Trophy in 2025. These after that huge disappointment of losing to the Aussies in the finals of the 2023 ODI Championships. Rohit announced his retirement from Test cricket a couple of weeks ago.

In the world of franchisee cricket, he has had the distinction of leading Mumbai Indians to 5 victories in the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL). Years ago, in 2009, he was a member of the victorious Deccan Challengers team- which gives him bragging rights to 6 IPL titles.

Rohit scored over 4300 runs in 67 Tests with an average of 40.58 and 12 centuries with a highest score of 212. He played 275 ODIs scoring over 11100 runs for India, with an average of 48.77 and a strike rate of 92. He hit 32 centuries including 3 double centuries. His highest score of 264 made in 2014 still remains the world record. In the more modern and currently everyone’s favourite format – the T 20, he has played 159 matches for India scoring 4231 runs averaging 32.05 with a strike rate of 140.89. He has scored 5 T20I centuries as well.

With this in context, let’s get back to the book. I found the book to be largely made up of impressions of Rohit, as a player, as a captain, and as a friend and human being from many eminent cricketers. The author has gleaned their thoughts and impressions over the years as they saw Rohit in different capacities. They include the likes of Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Anil Kumble, and W V Raman, who need no introduction to the cricket fan. Dinesh Lad, Rohit’s first coach recalls his childhood days and how he saw the latent talent in the boy from Borivali, a suburb of Mumbai.

“The Hitman” as Rohit is affectionately called by his world wide legion of Tests fans, went through many ups and downs. There were several deep disappointments, especially in the early years. His missing his first Test in 2010 due to an unfortunate injury on the morning of the Test readily comes to mind. Such was the competition for places in the Indian Test team that he had to wait for 3 years before he finally made his Test debut. Another big disappointment was his missing out on the T20 Team for the 2011 Championship which India won.

We read about his journey as a cricketer from the young days when he was seen as a boy with great talent till he became the icon he now is. The book highlights his skills as a player and more importantly as a skipper. It describes his memorable performances and what he brought to the table as he led from the front. As a captain of India, he won 12/ 24 Tests, 45/56 ODIs and 49/62 T20I. A very commendable record, indeed!

Ritika Sajdeh, his wife, has contributed immensely to Rohit’s successes. She deserves every credit for standing by him through thick and thin. I wish we had heard more from Rohit’s parents- their perspectives and challenges.

Books on crickets are devoured by cricket lovers. We just love our statistics! So, to set The Hitman’s cricketing achievements in context, I wish the book had a page on his career statistics, to make it more complete.

Thank you, Kaushik, for yet another well-written cricketing book! Your simple and elegant language makes for easy reading. We look forward to many more.

Authors, Book Reviews

“281 And Beyond” by V V S Laxman, with R Kaushik.


For thousands of cricket fans in India, V V S Laxman has to be one of the classiest batsmen to have donned the India colours. His batting was characterized by grace, elegance, and a certain style which most cannot emulate. He was a worthy successor to other elegant Hyderabadi batsmen before him, like M L Jaisimha and Mohammad Azharuddin.

In his recent book, “281 And Beyond” , we get to know Laxman the person more than just Laxman the stylish batsman. Written in collaboration with R Kaushik, the Hyderabad -based cricket writer, this book gives the reader insight into Laxman’s travails and triumphs playing cricket for India at the highest level.

There were many triumphs, to be sure. On top of the list has to be his 281 in the Kolkatta test of 2001 against the Australians. How he and Rahul Dravid put together a 376 run partnership versus the mighty Australians is a legend in modern day cricket. India won the match despite having followed on! Laxman’s 281 was, at that time, the highest ever individual score by an Indian Test batsman.

This apart, there have many more occasions when Laxman has saved the day for India. After all in a career over 15 years, he scored over 8500 runs in 134 Tests with 17 centuries and an average of 45.97

Laxman’s travails came from his not being a sure shot member of the playing XI of the Indian cricket team of his time, unlike say a Tendulkar, a Dravid, a Sehwag , or a Ganguly. He was shuffled in the batting order many times, and was pushed into opening the batting which was not something he particularly enjoyed.

As Laxman’s career developed, another phenomenon came up which made his place in the Indian cricket team more insecure. This was the advent of 50 over cricket and later T20 cricket via the Indian Premier League (IPL). In both cases, Laxman had the disadvantage of being branded a “Test batsman. ” In addition, not being electric in the field, he lost out to others who were considered more adept in these newer and far more popular versions of the game.

In my view, what shines all through the book is Laxman’s description of his upbringing, values and work ethic which is so typical of the hard working middle class/professional stock he came from. He describes in detail how he had to make an important decision: whether to pursue his studies in medicine ( both his parents being doctors) or to be a professional cricketer.

Laxman’s career statistics are far more impressive than many would imagine. A short summary of his career figures in the book even as a end-of-the-book book summary, would, I believe, have publicized his cricketing achievements and enhanced the value of his accomplishments.

Highly recommended for all cricket lovers as Laxman was one of the finest players of his generation.