Blood, sport and great gamblers

The Big Fix (Westland) remains a work of fiction. With his vast experience in reporting and a ring side view of it all, Vikas Singh has captured the drama and the excitement of the contemporary T20 cricket game. Vikas gets the atmosphere of the dugout right to come up with a book that is as riveting and as exciting as a cricket match where the decision is reached only after the last ball.

Set in the background of the IPL fiasco, the odds are against an out-of-form captain, Shaurya, to win the championship for his team, Capital Cavaliers, as his coach gets murdered. It has all the on field drama captured very vividly in cricketing terms. The book also shows the other side of big money and sleaze, spot fixing, match fixing, and the damage that  big bucks inflict on sports. It gets one to wonder why the game has gone from sportsmanship to just money making, aboard the gravy train of mega bucks.

The book is easy to read, with 28 chapters full of action-packed sequences. There is the usual rivalry amongst players which gets accentuated in cricket because the difference between selection and rejection is not another chance to play but humongous amount of money. Singh portrays an attitude that has moved beyond the valve system of the captain’s decision, but is also suggestive (through superb one-liners) of a very promiscuous culture that the sportsmen are increasingly exposed to now.    The honey traps,  for dubious reasons, are captured well! A must read for cricket lovers.