Jeffrey Archer was what the Australians view cricket nuts as, ‘a cricket tragic.’ Well-travelled Archer had cricket friends all over the world, including this part of the globe. Probably, the first famous ‘cricket Indian’ he encountered was the late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who he met at Oxford. I was a touch surprised to discover that Archer knew India cricketer-turned-television commentator Ravi Shastri well. “We knew each other for 10-15 years and would meet every summer in England,” Shastri told mid-day on Tuesday.

The signed title page of Adam & Eve, the book that Archer sent to Ravi Shastri