Indian Cricket (annual)
Encyclopedia
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
from 1946–47 to 2004. There was no 2003 issue and so there are 57 editions in all. During most of its run it was the principal annual of its kind in India. The editions were originally dated by the season covered (e.g., 1946–47) but, since the 1962 edition, the date is the calendar year of publication.
Indian Cricket was founded in 1946–47 under the editorship of S. K. Gurunathan
S. K. Gurunathan
S. K. Gurunathan, , was a sports journalist and one of the pioneers of cricket statistics in India.Gurunathan started his journalistic career in the advertisement section of the Hindu in 1928. He became a reporter in 1938 and from 1958 till his death, was the sports editor...
who continued in that role until his death in 1966. He was succeeded by P. N. Sundaresan, sports editor of The Hindu and Indian cricket correspondent of Wisden Cricketer's Almanack. Sundaresan edited the annual until his retirement in 1972 and G. Viswanath edited the most recent issues.
The first edition was only 104 pages long whereas the 2004 edition had 1240 pages. The early issues were paperbacked and then a hardbacked standard edition was issued from 1972.
Indian Cricket was largely inspired by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
. It had the same page size as Wisden and replicated many of Wisden's usual features. It included domestic cricket matches in India and matches played by Indian teams abroad. Match details included brief reports and full scores. There was a detailed statistics section on domestic cricket, India in Test cricket, a small section on Test cricket abroad and obituaries. From its inception, Indian Cricket had a "Five Cricketers of the Year" award, based on Wisden. From 1952, there was a special portrait section that profiled a notable ex-cricketer.
From 1957–58 to 1964–65 there was a rival publication called The Indian Cricket Field Annual edited by Dicky Rutnagur
Dicky Rutnagur
D.J. Rutnagur is a semi-retired Indian sports journalist. He was cricket correspondent for the Hindustan Times from 1958 to 1966, when he became a freelance based in the UK...
. This also contained full scores of all first-class matches in India and a biographical section on current players. Anandji Dossa
Anandji Dossa
Anandji Jamnadas Dossa is an Indian cricket statistician.He represented his school and college in inter-school and inter-collegiate cricket while growing up in Bombay. In 1941, he was the 12th man for Hindus in the Bombay Pentangular and Bombay in the Ranji Trophy.Dossa was associated with the All...
was the statistical editor of this publication.