The Acting High Commissioner of India to Australia, Manika Jain launched Ashis Ray’s CRICKET WORLD CUP: THE INDIAN CHALLENGE in Melbourne recently.
Jain congratulated Ray on writing the book and Bloomsbury for publishing the work. “I have great pleasure in launching this book in Australia,”.

Kate Cubitt, Managing Director of Bloomsbury Australia said,“Bloomsbury is very proud to publish the work of such a highly regarded cricket broadcaster and journalist,Ashis Ray. The Cricket World Cup: The Indian Challenge is a thoroughly accomplished and timely book for both Australian and Indian cricket fans.”

“It is a significant honour to launch a cricket book on the soil of the greatest cricketing nation in the world. The book has been coined as much for reading pleasure as for reference. I hope people find it to be as enjoyable and useful as I have relished writing it,” added Ray.

Bloomsbury Publishing hosted the launch in conjunction with Pitcher Partners and with support from Air India.

This book is the most comprehensive offering on the subject; as eminently readable as essential reference. It covers all the 10 previous held World Cups in detail from an Indian perspective, highlighting the 1983 and 2011 competitions, which India won.The writing is anecdotal and narrates behind-the-scene stories about Indian cricketers not commonly known.

Included within the book is a guide chapter to the current World Cup, whichcommenced on 14 February 2015. Later this year a revised edition of this book will be published and the guide chapter will be replaced with a review of the 2015 World Cup. Thereafter,a new edition of this work will be published to coincide with the next World Cup in four years’ time.

Ashis Ray made his debut as a test match commentator in 1975. He was the only Asian ball-by-ball commentator on the 1983 World Cup. He has commentated on cricket for the BBC, ABC of Australia, SKY SPORTS UK and SONY. He has reported or commented on cricket for every major British and Indian newspaper.

His home entertainment video, Great Moments of Indian Cricket 1932-86, released by HMV and Virgin in 1987, became an international bestseller. His TV documentary, 1983: India’s World Cup, screened in various countries, narrowly missed being short-listed for a BAFTA Award. His book, One-Day Cricket: The Indian Challenge, published by HarperCollins in 2007, became a bestseller in India.

London-based, Ray is the longest serving Indian foreign correspondent, having worked in this capacity since 1977 for BBC, CNN, the AnandaBazar Group and The Times of India. He is presently editor-director of a soon-to-be-launched text and TV news agency.

Ashis Ray presents copies of his book to Manika Jain, Acting High Commissioner of India in Australia

Manika Jain, Acting High Commissioner of India in Australia with Ashis Ray

MadanLal (right), one of the heroes of the Indian side that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, formally presenting a copy of the book Cricket World Cup: The Indian Challenge (a history of the World Cup) by Ashis Ray (middle) to PranabMukherjee, the President of India, at RashtrapatiBhavan (President’s House) on 14 February 2015.