The Taliban Cricket Club

The Taliban Cricket Club is a novel by Indian author filmmaker and playwright Timeri N Murari which is based in the Afghanistan set in 2000. This is when the Taliban regime had briefly permitted the formation of a national cricket team. The protagonist of this tale is Rukshana a 24-year-old journalist who wrote secret articles critiquing the Taliban regime. She was selected to be the new wife of the slimy politician Wahidi. The narrative follows her as she disguises herself as a man and uses the cricketing skills she learnt during her university days in India. She trains a group of young boys who will form a cricket team that will compete at the national level. This becomes the only means for Rukshana to escape her impending marriage to Wahidi as the winners of the tournament are promised that they will be sent abroad for further coaching in cricket.This is a tale of ardent struggles against various forms of oppression and extreme violence in the hope of freedom and happiness. This is the kind of happiness that comes not from being in one’s homeland and living by the diktats of misogynist autocrats but being at home in one’s skin personality and choice of profession even in a foreign land. The Taliban Cricket Club was published by Aleph Book Company in 2013 and is available in paperback. Key Features: This book is about a girl’s courageous attempt to use sports as a means to free herself from the dangers of the oppressive Taliban regime.