Sujit Mukherjee (1930–2003) was publisher, author, translator, literary critic as well as cricketer and cricket commentor. He was educated in Patna and the University of Pennsylvania from which he earned his PhD. On his return to India, Dr Mukherjee taught at Patna College, the National Defence Academy, and, as it was then known, the University of Poona. In 1970 he joined Orient Longman (now Orient BlackSwan) as Chief Publisher and was later a director on the board of the company. Dr Mukherjee was known as much for his prolific and elegant writing as for his wry wit.

Ramachandra Guha, well-known author and public intellectual, was educated at Delhi University and the Indian Institute of Management at Kolkata. His writings and research interests are wide and varied. He has written extensively on cricket history, and on social, historical and environmental history. Guha’s book, A Corner of a Foreign Field won the Daily Telegraph Cricket Society Book of the Year prize in 2003. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2009 and the Sahitya Akademi award in 2011.