It's all about passion

John Wisden, a small-built English fast bowler who once clean-bowled all 10 batsmen in an innings, wouldn't have foreseen it when he launched a small book called Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1864, but this is an alliance foreordained by destiny. It was inevitable that Wisden, cricket's foremost publication, would someday come to India, cricket's spiritual capital.

Those who are familiar with Wisden wouldn't be surprised that it has taken so long. It took more than a century after the Almanack was launched for the Wisden title to appear on a magazine masthead. 19 years after the first issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly, the Wisden family extended itself to Australia and the baggy-green variation of the yellow book was born. That Wisden Asia Cricket has arrived a mere three years since can be considered real progress.

Wisden and India are naturally bound together by a burning passion for cricket. For 138 years the Wisden name has stood for values which matter to cricket - authority, integrity, independence and editorial excellence are not just buzzwords, they are the core of a cherished legacy. But the most critical of these is an abiding love for the game. And Asia has more people who share that love than any other part of the world.

At the press conference to announce the launch of Wisden Asia Cricket, we were bombarded with questions about the editorial content and slant of the magazine. Would it be a mirror image of Wisden Cricket Monthly? Would it carry an English bias and reflect English positions on global issues? We stated our objectives in the best manner possible: that while the magazine was committed to the enshrined brand values of Wisden, it would present an independent view and reflect the aspirations and the spirit of Asian cricket. That it would showcase the best cricket prose, provide insight, crisp analysis, and trenchant editorial comment, cover global cricket with an unique Asian perspective and be fearless, objective and unbiased without ever resorting to jingoism. But the real answer is in your hands now. We have been tried to be true to our objectives and we hope it meets your expectations. Drop us a line if you like it, or if you don't.

It's a crisis no one saw coming. But perhaps they should have. Cricketing relations between Asian countries and the Anglo-Australian axis have for long been steeped in mutual distrust. The Mike Denness controversy pushed things past boiling point and the bizarre fallout of the whole imbroglio poses the greatest threat and challenge to the game since Bodyline. But it also has the potential to bring about some seminal changes in the way the game is run. At the time of going to press, it is not clear which way the game will go. Officially, it is an impasse. Jagmohan Dalmiya, belligerence personified, is holding cricket to ransom to "uphold the honour of the nation". The ICC is in no mood to budge from its "principled" stand. But there is a growing acknowledgment in India that Dalmiya might have gone too far and whispers of a back-room compromise are gaining currency. Let's hope that a game will be on at Mohali between India and England on December 3 and that it will not be an unofficial Test. Sometimes there is honour in retreat: perhaps it isn't too late for Dalmiya to realise the truth in that adage.