I picked up My Summer of Cricket by Nikhil Kulkarni — a kind of personal diary, recounting a fan’s experience of watching a Test series in the stadiums — with a sense of intrigue. For the book is about watching India’s doleful series that we lost 3-1 to Australia in 2024-25. Now, that takes courage, for who would want to write about a series where India were outplayed in every other Test?

It is a slim book and covers the author’s travels and experiences of the last three Tests of the series at Brisbane, Melbourne, and his home-town Sydney. This is a cricket lover’s diary; his awe, wonderment, and happiness at watching the games from the ground; it is an account of a person who savours what the cities have to offer outside his cricket viewing time. For those who might think of Bharat Sundaresan’s book on India’s fairytale series win in 2020-21 (The MiracleMakers: India’s Greatest Epic) or Rahul Bhattacharya’s book on India’s first ever win in Pakistan (Pundits from Pakistan: On Tour with India 2003-04), please know this one is different. Those books, we read, to enjoy the first-hand analysis and experiences, available only to journalists who travel with the team. In The Summer of Cricket, Nikhil Kulkarni, feels, thinks, and expresses himself as a spectator in the stands. It’s written like a personal diary, sharing from his life as much as from the cricket he is watching.

It is an endearing memoir. Though initially, there are places where Kulkarni, in his eagerness to share everything, loses the reader’s attention. But to his credit he quickly pulls back the reader with a fun fact, a droll anecdote or a deft turn of phrase. The confidence and assurance in the writing rise with every chapter. Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney are sandwiched between a warm-up chapter called ‘The Run-Up’ about the author’s early memories (from the times of Sachin as a 16-year-old prodigy) and the concluding chapters, titled ‘The Game Continues’ and ‘Postscript’. In the concluding chapters (in fact from Melbourne) he is a batter in form and full flow.

Lovely account

His account of the MCG and Melbourne city is lovely. His description of the ground, its facilities, the uniquely wonderful experience of watching a game here are written as though he is whistling a joyful tune while typing. Be it a day among the boisterous Bay12 or a day in the P20 stand, with a spectacular view behind the bowler’s arm, our man lives every moment of the dream. The Boxing Day Test at MCG came after Gabba, so Kulkarni must write about Gabba and Brisbane before serenading us through Melbourne. While he is gentle on Gabba and Brisbane, the ground could clearly do with some improvement. It also did not help, that much of the game at the Gabba was washed out. That he had the same dinner (a dish called Laksa) on all five days of the Test tells us he found Brisbane boring. When he writes about MCG and Gabba, it is with the wonderment of a person watching his first Test. Naughty man, for when he comes to Sydney, his home-town, for the final Test, we realise, he is actually a seasoned spectator, having been many times to the SCG.

His love of the game and test cricket shines through. And the game loves him dearly. Which is why I detest that phrase ‘cricket tragic’ used to describe him in the author bio. As though, love for the game is one-sided. Nonsense. This game loves the gully cricketer as much as it does the great Test cricketers. Or even the fan who never held a bat in hand. Read this book and you will see how much joy, the game has bestowed upon Kulkarni.

Bringing food alive

Among his enjoyable segues are the evening dinners. Kulkarni can well try his hand as food critic. He makes the humble soup as interesting as a fancy dinner while his gift of observation and expression makes him bring food alive, be it at a fancy restaurant in Melbourne or at his home-town Dharwad in Karnataka.

Through the book, one sees, how much he packs into each day. He seems to effortlessly run into writers, cricketers, journalists and even the CEO of Cricket Australia. Now, it is Kulkarni’s style to make it appear that these happy things just happened. Perish the thought. Our author is alert, agile, extremely nimble on social media; he is an active and valuable member of the Australia India Youth Dialogue and such forums. He loves meeting people and it is all these attributes that enable him to work up such a whirlwind of connections and interactions around and beyond the game.

In the final chapter as he joins his wife and daughters in India (they had gone there a month ahead while he stayed back to watch the Test series) one sees how he has brought thoughtful cricket souvenirs for a number of friends, even those he had only met on WA or LinkedIn. We see how he has supported the development of a promising girl cricketer and of course he brought her a bat as a gift. I have a feeling he will find time to write some more.

The reviewer, one of the earliest members of Azim Premji Foundation, is the co-author of ‘Mid-wicket Tales: A Century and More of Cricket’ and ‘From Mumbai to Durban: India’s Greatest Tests.’

Title: My Summer of Cricket: Three Tests, One Fan and Decades of Stories

Author: Nikhil Kulkarni

Publisher: Notion Press

Price: ₹269

Published on May 22, 2026