Cricket Field Chronicles Turns 5
From One Fan’s Notebook to a Hundred Stories and Counting.
Dear CFC Family,
It has been five years since I kicked off my journey with Cricket Field Chronicles. It was a cold January morning of 2021. At that point, I had already been writing on cricket for six years, seeing my pieces appear on platforms like Sportskeeda. I had also interned with them twice, only because I was so invested in this space where I can engage with the game in a more personal manner.
From playing in the streets and playgrounds of Delhi to representing my school and University, I have a spiritual connect with cricket. It has come to become the best form of expression for me. While playing cricket has been immensely satisfying, reading and writing cricket became equally fascinating for me over the years.
But here’s what gnawed at me: cricket deserved better. It deserved to be remembered not just in statistics, scorecards and scandals, but in the forgotten spells of bowlers, in the unsung performances of batters who changed games but rarely headlines and in the literary legacy of authors who’d spent decades unpacking why this game matters so deeply.
I decided to build something different. I wanted it to be that cozy corner of the internet where you could slow down, revisit a half-forgotten bowling spell or stumble upon a book that changes the way you see the game. I wanted fans to relive their own golden, nostalgic memories and find new ones along the way.
So, on 8 January 2021, I finally took the plunge. CFC was born with a simple Instagram carousel titled “Pioneers of Indian Cricket”, a post that will forever remain special because it felt like the moment this dream stopped living only in my head. I was clueless, had no definitive plan, and no “content strategy”. Just a stubborn idea that cricket deserved to be chronicled differently.
What do I write about on Cricket Field Chronicles?
If you are new here, or have been silently reading for a while, here is what Cricket Field Chronicles really tries to do.
1. Forgotten & Lesser-Known Tales: I chronicle the forgotten. You’ll find stories here that rarely make it to the highlight reels - like the unsung spinner whose spell once changed a Ranji final, or the tale of a batter catching fire while batting. Cricket is filled with such fascinating stories and CFC is their home.
2. Cricket Literature - A World to Explore: No other sport inspires such a wealth of books, essays, and poetry. I review and recommend classic cricket books - like “A Corner of a Foreign Field” by Ramachandra Guha and contemporary ones like“Chinaman” by Shehan Karunatilaka. Our collection includes interviews with celebrated authors and fresh releases from India’s top publishing houses, ensuring you’ll never run out of great cricket reads.
3. Honest Reflections & Reviews: From documentary deep-dives to candid movie reviews, expect unbiased takes on how cricket is depicted beyond the pitch.
4. Travel essays and Stadium Guides: Travel essays and Stadium Guides are a cornerstone of Cricket Field Chronicles’ unique storytelling. I’ve stood in Dharamshala with Himalayan peaks as witnesses. I’ve walked through Galle International Stadium where sea breeze and cricket belong to a different, more poetic world. These pieces take you beyond the scorecards, inviting you to explore the vibrant world of cricket through journeys to legendary stadiums and historic venues.
5. Off-the-field Stories: We delve into the intriguing world of cricket’s economics, management, and cultural impact. Such stories provide readers with a rare glimpse into the operations, challenges, and innovations that shape the game outside the playing field - spotlighting the administrators, entrepreneurs, marketers.
I take pride in the fact that CFC has been able to offer such diverse content and expose cricket enthusiasts to the magnificent world of cricket literature. In such a short span of time, I have managed to write close to 100 write-ups. In case you haven’t checked them out yet, please do it here.
It has been my attempt to find and curate the best cricket content for you. And not just that. I have been consciously making attempts to enhance my narration and storytelling skills to make the content more engaging and entertaining.
Milestones Along The Way
Crossing the 1,000-follower mark on Instagram in 2023, a small but meaningful sign that there were people out there who cared about slow, story-driven cricket content.
Watching a Men’s ODI World Cup match live in October 2023, feeling the roar, the collective intake of breath, and that strange, shared heartbreak and joy that only a packed stadium can create.
Witnessing Test cricket in Dharamshala in March 2024, with the mountains as silent, majestic spectators in the background.
Being in the stands for the Men’s ODI World Cup Final on 19 November 2023 – an evening that will stay etched in memory regardless of the result.
Visiting Galle International Stadium in 2025, where sea breeze, fort walls, and cricket come together in an almost surreal frame.
Launching the dedicated Cricket Field Chronicles website with a custom domain in 2024–25, turning a social-media-first project into a proper home for long-form writing.
Hosting a masterclass on sports storytelling in 2023, sharing with others the craft that this platform has quietly taught over the years.
Attending the book launch of Mohinder Amarnath’s autobiography in 2024, in the august company of Virender Sehwag, Kapil Dev and Kirti Azad. An ordinary writer. In a room with legends.
None of this was on the vision board in 2021. Each opportunity came because this community kept showing up, reading, sharing, and nudging CFC forward.
How can you become a part of CFC Family?
I’m not going to oversell this. The journey till now has been experiential and rewarding. We are a small but dedicated community of 1000+ cricket enthusiasts on Instagram. The carousal style storytelling has gained immense popularity among the readers.
Last year, the website added another layer to this ecosystem, giving all the essays, reviews, and guides a more organized and accessible home.
While everything on CFC is free to read, we have been a reader-supported platform since the beginning Your support helps me sustain this dream and to keep researching, writing, and traveling to cricket grounds to bring you stories that matter.
Maybe consider buying me a cup of coffee? ☕😃
I am also active on Twitter where I regularly tweet my opinions, analysis and reflections on the latest happenings in the game.
I value the support each one of you has provided me over these past years. I have had the pleasure of getting to know some amazing people and dedicated cricket lovers through this platform. My interactions with many of you over Email/Instagram/WhatsApp have not only enhanced my knowledge of the game but also allowed me to make the platform more content-rich and useful.
However, I still feel that I haven’t been able to take my work to the desired number of enthusiasts. So here is a small, sincere request. If a piece speaks to you, share it with that one friend, sibling, colleague, or teammate who geeks out about cricket the way you do.
What’s Next?
Research is an important part of what I do at Cricket Field Chronicles. For the next few months, I will be focusing on strengthening the content repository by bringing interesting write-ups. You will get to read a lot more cricket fiction and cricket book related content as compared to last year. The quiet target is to hit 200 write-ups by the time CFC turns six.
The website currently has four main sections - history, forgotten gems, stadium diaries, and book reviews. Each of these will be expanded thoughtfully, with collaborations and new categories on the horizon.
The long-term dream is to shape CFC into a genuinely interactive community: a safe, nerdy, welcoming space where serious cricket buffs can share their stories, swap recommendations, and feel seen. Some ideas are already in motion; more will unfold as the year progresses.
My vision with CFC is to be the largest and most authentic platform for cricket books. I look forward to catalogue cricket book based on their genres and build a database where you can discover books easily, read reviews and buy directly from the website if you wish so. By the end of next year, CFC will have more than 200 books in its database and will strengthen its position as a one-stop platform for cricket books.
A note from one fan to another
If you are reading this, whether you discovered CFC yesterday or have been around since that very first “Pioneers of Indian Cricket” post, thank you. This platform exists because you chose to spend a part of your day here, indulging in long reads and niche stories in an era that constantly pushes for shorter, faster, louder content.
2026 is already shaping up to be a year of experiments, surprises, and new stories waiting to be told, and it feels exciting (and a little scary, in the best way) to take you along for the ride. If you enjoy letters like this and want more frequent behind-the-scenes notes, do let that be known with a like, a comment, or even a short reply telling what CFC means to you as a reader.
You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter . Subscribe here to receive posts directly in your inbox. Buy Me A Coffee if you if you wish to nudge this dream forward.
Cheers,
Lakshit
P.S. There’s a new piece coming later this month about the must-read cricket books. It’ll make you want to rush to a bookstore. Trust me.