“Took me back to R K Narayan’s Swami and friends” —Ruskin Bond. The testimony of a great author is enough to draw the reader to The Game that Matters This story with cricket as a metaphor for life narrates a small-town story of the perpetually-losing underdog winning in the end. There is, however, a word of caution, too: to not be lulled into forecasting how the climactic moments of this tale would play out.

As in R K Narayan’s fictitious town Malgudi, the author here creates a town Devgarh located somewhere in Haryana or thereabouts. The boys of Holy Mission School, talented and passionate about cricket, also have a fancy name for their cricket team: All Star Eleven, with dreams of making cricket their profession. All this, despite parental opposition, some cruel and indifferent teachers, whose only mission it seems is to force the children not to follow their heart.

But the story is more than the narration of cricket matches, score sheets and the team’s moments of frustration and agony. Through the various twists and turns in the plot, the team realises the rewards for honesty, integrity and hard work, along with the dangers of taking the easy way out by cheating, lying and stealing. There are also the usual teenager boys’ pangs: girls, jealousy, envy, examination blues, report cards and so on.

Towards the end, the reader may also recall Paulo Coelho’s quote in The Alchemist: “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”