Cricket world cup odyssey
By Shoaib Ahmed

Usually, Cricket writers in Pakistan stay Cricket writers for life, but statistician-turned-editor Shoaib Ahmed has dared to take the giant leap of faith and become an author. He launched his book Cricket World Cup Odyssey during the Cricket World Cup 2019, and now that the mega event is over, you can get your hands on his book and know about the previous events for fun, and knowledge. Loads of information is available in this book that makes it a must-have for your collection. Cricket World Cup Odyssey is laced with information that you don't usually find on the internet until you specifically search for them. It explains the reason why eight teams were included in the first World Cup when there were just six Test-playing nations in 1975, which players supposedly boycotted' the fourth World Cup because it was held outside England, which match was the most attended one, and which player was chosen for the 1983 World Cup despite announcing his retirement from the game. These bits of information are found on the interesting fact section that is there on every other page and makes you keep turning to the next page. This book is different from other World Cup collections because of many things. First, it covers all the World Cups, backward and second because it has many unseen pictures accompanying the text. The reason why we read about the 2015 edition before the 1975 one has been described by the author as a new trend, as he wants readers to move from latest to being nostalgic. It is a good strategy because, by the time you are in the 1980s, you will be reliving the events as if you were there. At a time when you want to know about the past World Cups especially the ones in which England lost in the finals, this book gives you the reason to read, explore and discover at the same time. IN fact, it wouldn't be incorrect to say that this book has something for everyone be it the young readers or the old as the concise match reports, behind the scene happenings and pre-event hype is discussed here in detail. Why would one get a book about the World Cup tournament when all the information is available on the internet, you may ask? The reason to have a World Cup book is that you can check all abbreviated scores of previous matches without going online. The statistics are complete till the end of the last World Cup and you can add the ones from this year for fun with your friends. So the next time you want to know what happened the last time two specific teams played each other, or what was the result of the last match between the two sides, in any of the last World Cups, don't go online but offline to find out the answers.