Anindya Dutta

In 1948 as England was recovering from the effects of World War Two, for the last time in his career Don Bradman led a strong Australian cricket team to the British Isles. His intent was not only to retain the Ashes, but to do so by remaining undefeated on the tour across all matches, a feat never achieved by any of his predecessors. Every character on that tour was special in his own way. Don Bradman - in his last series as player and captain of Australia, obsessed with coming back undefeated, something no Australian captain had ever achieved. Keith Miller - war pilot, flamboyant personality, ladies' man, fearsome fast bowler and a powerful batsman. Neil Harvey - youngest member of the squad, fated to be the successor of the Don. Len Hutton - one of the greatest batsmen of all time, dropped inexplicably for a Test from an English side weakened by the effects of a long war. And of course the story of how Bradman's average remained at 99.94, the most famous number in the history of cricket. This book is the author's tribute to Bradman's Invincibles. It is a story that has been told before, but what this book does is weave the story around the tour of the characters who played such an important part, the post-war England that hosted the tour not long after the most devastating conflict in the history of mankind had ended, and tells the fascinating story of how through it all the single thread that kept it all together was one man's determination to make history in a manner that would never again be possible. Kersi-Meher Homji, Cricket Historian and author of 15 bestselling books including his newest - 'From Bradman to Kohli', writes a fascinating not-to-be-missed chapter detailing his personal encounters with the Invincibles. Anindya Dutta is an author and columnist who writes widely on cricket and other sports. His columns appear in the Hindustan Times, Sportstar, ESPN Cricinfo, The Cricket Monthly, Cricket Soccer, The Roar and many other websites and journals. This is his third book. The first two, 'A Gentleman's Game' and 'Spell-binding Spells' have been widely acclaimed and continue to remain at the top of Amazon Bestseller lists.

Spell-binding Spells is a book for everyone who loves cricket. It is about stunning spells--those few overs that occur rarely in cricket, when bowlers weave magic and batsmen are mesmerized. What did the stunning bowling spells of Anil Kumble, Narendra Hirwani, Ravichandran Ashwin, Padmakar Shivalkar, and Yuzvendra Chahal achieve that Kapil Dev's career best spell could not? Curtly Ambrose and Sarfraz Nawaz, 14-years apart, bowled identical deadly spells against the same opposition taking 7 wickets for 1 run. Who were the hapless victims? Why did Gary Gilmour of Australia with an ODI bowling average of 10.31 and Clarrie Grimmett of Australia after taking 13 wickets in a Test in two magnificent spells, never play for their respective countries again? Spell-binding Spells looks at 50 of the most magnificent bowling spells in the history of cricket and answers some of these questions. VVS Laxman says: "This book is a tribute to bowlers, a breed that has never profited from the benefit of the doubt in a sport whose rules have historically always favoured batsmen. This nice little treatise is a reminder that we must ensure that the history of this game continues to get passed on from one generation to the next."

Spell-binding Spells is a book for everyone who loves cricket. It is about stunning spells-those few overs that occur rarely in cricket, when bowlers weave magic and batsmen are mesmerized. What did the stunning bowling spells of Anil Kumble, Narendra Hirwani, Ravichandran Ashwin, Padmakar Shivalkar, and Yuzvendra Chahal achieve that Kapil Dev's career best spell could not? Curtly Ambrose and Sarfraz Nawaz, 14-years apart, bowled identical deadly spells against the same opposition taking 7 wickets for 1 run. Who were the hapless victims? Why did Gary Gilmour of Australia with an ODI bowling average of 10.31 and Clarrie Grimmett of Australia after taking 13 wickets in a Test in two magnificent spells, never play for their respective countries again? Spell-binding Spells looks at 50 of the most magnificent bowling spells in the history of cricket and answers some of these questions. VVS Laxman says: "This book is a tribute to bowlers, a breed that has never profited from the benefit of the doubt in a sport whose rules have historically always favoured batsmen. This nice little treatise is a reminder that we must ensure that the history of this game continues to get passed on from one generation to the next."