The Fake IPL Player (FIP) is back and that too with a bang. For the uninitiated, the FIP may or may not be an IPL player but his blog has become more famous than IPL. Be it his internal gossip about the different teams in IPL particularly Punjab, Kolkata and Bangalore or his different nicknames for the different celebrities involved with this hugely prestigious tournament, his popularity has touch sky high levels even in centers where people don’t watch IPL. He had promised to reveal himself at the end of IPL 3 but in the end just posted a video on his blog with his shadow saying that he is just a person who loves cricket and nothing more. And now he has come up with a book on the controversies he has generated over the years. I must say, its an amazing way to keep his popularity sky high.

The “Gamechangers” is about IBL (Indian Bollywood League) which happens at Lords, England in 2009 over 35 days. Some of the different teams taking part include Haryana Hurricanes, Rajput Rifles, Bangalore Bombers, Calcutta Cavalry etc. Each and everyone from Vijay Mallya (Raj Singhania) to Shane Warne (Sheik of Tweak) and even Sachin Tendulkar (God) is a part of this book.

The Fake IPL Player has paced this spoof on the IPL world amazingly. It is witty and humorous at the same time. No one has been spared. Appam Chutiya (Sreesanth), Abhimanyu Singh (Yuvraj Singh), Raj Singhania (Vijay Mallya), Lalu Parekh (Lalit Modi), Dildo / Sigwald Raees Khan (Sharukh Khan), Bhookha Naan / Jeff Bucaneer (John Buchanan) and many other nicknames manage to make one roll with laughter. But the most special treatment is reserved for Sreesanth. One of the lines which goes like “Attitude toh dosa ka deta hai par bowling appam jaisi karta hai” captures the true essence of his personality. The FIP doesn’t seem to like Sharukh too much. The way he goes around taking his case makes for quite an interesting read.

The money flowing, the girls everyone looks out for (a line from the book – Sheik of Tweak diving into three mammary glands), Raj Singhania’s opulent lifestyle, Srk’s messages, Sreesanth and Yuvi’s personalities, the internal politics in Calcutta (one of the lines goes like “Bhookha Nan will one day send his laptop out to bat instead of us players) – all seems so true to what actually happens in the real world. The way FIP has intermingled the fictional part of how PMS (Parminder Mahipal Singh) is assigned to search who FIP is with what is reality is awesome.

I am sure that FIP didn’t reveal his identity for a reason. Because he knows that the day he does reveal, the interest and curiosity factor in him will be gone forever. So its better to be anyonymous isnt it?

All in all a really interesting and funny read!

Rating – 3.5/5