We discuss the noises about a boycott, the profiteering around the boycott, the lack of nuance and professional decency in Ind-Pak cricket coverage.
In this episode Richa, Aditya and MV are joined by Sarthak Dev to discuss the career of Cheteshwar Pujara.
We dive into our earliest memories of Cheteshwar Pujara, tracing his evolution as a batter and how he cemented his place at No. 3. Along the way, we relive some of his finest and most underrated innings, admire his mastery against spin, and explore the unique challenges faced by modern Test batters in the era of the WTC, tricky pitches, and the pace bowling pandemic.
Pujara's career, like many in the middle order, feels incomplete. We end by asking: Will we ever see another one like him in Tests?
And, of course, we close with our personal favourite Pujara innings.
Sarthak wrote a fantastic piece on Pujara, which can be read here.
If youâd like to write to us, send us an email on podforcricket@gmail.com or just reply to us on Twitter.
We just quickly got together to record some initial reactions after the stunning game at the Oval. We will come back with a more detailed analysis of what has been a fantastic test series.
This episode is a chat with the folks on The Last Wicket Podcast. Do listen to their previous podcasts which have tremendous nostalgia value and a lot of depth in variety of the topics discussed.
The current landscape of cricket journalism and television coverage is characterized by a significant decline in quality and depth, as discussed in our latest podcast episode.
We explore how the monopolistic tendencies of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have led to a homogenization of narratives, focusing excessively on celebrity players while neglecting broader analytical discourse. Our dialogue also delves into the implications of rising jingoism in sports media, which appears to cater more to sensationalism than substantive cricketing insights. Furthermore, we address the emergence of fan culture that prioritizes tribalism over appreciation for the sport itself, reflecting a troubling shift in societal attitudes. Join us as we dissect these pressing issues and consider the future of cricket coverage in an increasingly polarized media environment.
We sat down to discuss England's win at Lord's.
We discussed why Jadeja should have attacked more, why is this team so defensive?, what is the secret of Ben Stokes' energy? (No we didn't) but definitely marvelled at Archer's return and the dangers of Siraj being overbowled before looking ahead to the Manchester Test where we think Kuldeep is a must (heck, we thought he was a must in all tests).
There is sadly no media review but an observation that the Indian fan and YT creators ended up defending this selection as the game went on.
2nd Test Review of the Anderson Tendulkar Trophy
Media Roundups (multiple times, as one must)
Mulder Brainfade?
The wives of cricketers are to blame for everything
Predictions for the Lord's Test
Pradeep Magazine is a cricket writer, columnist, and former sports editor of The Pioneer, the India Today e-paper, and the Hindustan Times. He began his journalistic career in 1979 with the Chandigarh edition of The Indian Express and served as its cricket editor in 1999â2000. He writes on cricket regularly in The Tribune. He has written 2 wonderful cricket books - Not Just Cricket & Not Quite Cricket
In this episode we chat about -
Books by Pradeep Magazine
Article that prompted the episode -
When Quota is fair game - The Tribune
In this episode, we discuss the changing nature of Bazball, Gill in his first test as captain, Yashasvi's drops affecting the game, the joy of Rishabh Pant, the finesse of KL Rahul, the vitriol against Siraj and Prasidh, the uselessness of Ravindra Jadeja and of course a media review of our favourite Youtube channels.
Tim Wigmore is a sports writer for The Daily Telegraph and has also written for The Economist, The New York Times, ESPN Cricinfo, and The New Statesman, among others.
We sat down to discuss his latest book - Test Cricket - A History, which is his most fascinating book yet. There is a unique mix of history, context, aesthetics, race & class which another writer could have easily papered over. Tim excels in his ability to weave stories across centuries with this one and making the history of the game we love not as overwhelming.
We discuss the following -
1. Legitimacy of Test Matches early on
2. Fast Bowling Quartet
3. Decline in Spin bowling
4. Overperformance of Captains while they are Captains
5. Resilience of Test Playing Nations to play after long gaps
6. Role of Amateurs and Professionals in Cricket's long history
7. Moral Victories
8. Lovely references on Aesthetics of batting in the book
9. Non-development of the women's game
10. 4 Day tests and restructuring of the WTC
You can buy Test Cricket - A History from pretty much every good bookstore across Cricket playing nations along with Amazon as well.
Buy the Book - Test Cricket - A History
Crickonomics: The Anatomy of Modern Cricket:
Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution
The Best: How Elite Athletes are Made
White Hot: The Inside Story of England Cricketâs Double World Champions
Second XI: Cricket In Its Outposts
In our previous chat with Tim, we had asked him for Book Recommendations. Those are below.
Pundits from Pakistan by Rahul Bhattacharya
Beyond a Boundary by CLR James
The only way to honour the memories of those who lost their lives in the stampede at Chinnaswamy on 4th of June is to continue talking about it.
We speak to Sarthak Dev, who wrote an excellent piece for News Laundry.
You can read The story of a disaster: An IPL win, a cityâs joy, and a tragedy that was waiting to happen here.
Tarutr runs BestofCricket Substack where he publishes a Daily Newsletter with the best cricket stories (text, audio & video). You can read & subscribe here.
Trigger Warning
Mentions of the Tragedy at Chinnaswamy are discussed at multiple points in the episode. There is an outline and trigger warning at the start of the episode.
We are joined by Dave, Shay, Richa, Aditya, Tarutr & MV in this episode and there are 5 RCB fans who sent in voice notes on how they felt about winning the first league title.
What is covered in this episode?
1. RCB Fans from across the world share what it felt to win the first IPL title. (1:48 to 9:42)
2. We speak to Tarutr Malhotra from BestofCricket about the tragedy at Chinnaswamy, the commotion, lack of communication and why he decided to exit the celebrations. (9:42 to 36:13)
He has also written a piece. Read it here.
3. We start the IPL review with introduction of the guests (36:38 to 38:07), speak about the tragedy at Chinnaswamy (38:07 to 45:07) & Move to the IPL review which continues right till the end!
In this episode, we have long time listeners Saurabh, Shay & Fahad to discuss their memories of the IPL.
Itâs a great mix of folks from varying age groups and their association with the league. While Saurabh is largely neutral despite having a soft corner for SRH & RR, Fahad loves CSK & Shay is an RCB fan from North India.Â
It gives us an insight into how the IPL has evolved and how the evolution affects the people watching it.Â
Are they still as chuffed at watching the IPL from their first viewing of the league? Listen in.
We sat down to record the Origin Story of our love with the game.â¨â¨We discussed -
- Our first playgrounds (societies, mohalla etc)
- How our teams were decided?
- What were the various toss instruments?
- Specific rules for batting (1D, 2D) and bowling (fast, knee height no balls etc)
All of the above across the country since the panel was diverse and we wrapped up with our favourite story of playing Cricket.
In our series of episodes dealing with the lack of cricket in Indian cricket coverage and the rise of jingoism and demi-god worship in cricket media, we have with us accomplished cricket analyst and writer, Gurkirat S Gill.
Sarthak is a writer and music composer. He writes a Substack called Lines on The Grass, and you can find some of his other written work at IndianExpress and EuroSport. He uploads his music on Instagram and YouTube, but only when his morning coffee hits the right spot.
Read Lines on the Grass
Listen to Sarthak's music here & you can follow him on Twitter as well.
In this episode, we have both the Adityas, Raj & MV.
We discuss -
- The Hero Worshipping of Dhoni, Kohli & Rohit
- Twitter Fanwars as an extension of how Cricket is packaged
- Inceldom and the violent nature of Cricket discourse
- The Loss of Tenderness in sport
- No room for the stories of 7/10 cricketers (The Hanuma Viharis & Mayank Agarwals)
- Sexualisation of Women in & associated with Sport with Cameramen & how society reacts to 5 second clips of Women in stadia
- Lack of Narrative & History in Cricket Commentary
- BCCI's lack of interest in Women's Cricket
Today, we have with us Sharda Ugra, a sports journalist for over 30 years who now writes what she wants, when she wants and where she wants. You can read her work in the Hindustan Times and her coverage of the BCCI in The Wire and The Caravan, amongst other publications.
Along with Sharda, we have Swaroop who has been with The New Indian Express for over a decade and a Red Ink Award winner. He has covered multiple Hockey World cups, Asian Games, Cricket World Cups and, very recently covered the World Chess Championships.Â
Richa, Aditya & MV join them to discuss -
- BCCI Central Contracts for Women , CA's plan for women's cricket and grassroots investment
- Why are Ranji Cricketers are paid so little, and why does the BCCI want Int'l cricketers to prioritise domestic over IPL
- Saudi Money & Golf - How will they move forward with Cricket
- IPL salaries vs the World's best leagues (Swaroop's piece is linked here)
- Indian Cricketers Association - The Late Anshuman Gaekwad and current President V Chamundeswarnath, a sexual harassment accused and also an IPL Governing Council Member.
Recommendations
Sharda
Swaroop
Aditya - The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha
Richa - Mystery novels by Tana French
In this episode, we have Richa and MV joined by Tarutr Malhotra from Best of Cricket.
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Best of Cricket scours the internet for the best cricket stories and brings them to you straight to your Whatsapp. If that's not enough, they also publish original stories themselves and deepdives into the cricket media landscape and how the game is covered since they're looking at everything from a Bird's eye view and up close, daily. You should subscribe if you haven't already.
During the WPL, they covered all the games with reporters from all over the world talking about stories beyond the scorecard. You can find their WPL coverage here.
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On to the episode -
- MI are WPL 2025 Champions!
- We start with the final. What went right for MI & what went wrong for DC?
- Gujarat's last minute run to the playoff spot
- Weâll talk about scheduling and what should change next year- moving away from this to the home and away concept?
- â Revisit the teams at the bottom of the table what went badly for them
- We discuss Retentions for each team
We finally end with Awards for the Season -
Trigger Warning & Disclaimer: Gambling, Betting, and Fantasy sports involve risk. A lot of information shared here might be triggering for those who gamble or in recovery. We recorded this to bring forth the issues involved with Gambling, Betting, and Fantasy Sports. Same goes for all the links in the shownotes.
In this episode, we have MV and Aditya who are joined by Swaroop Swaminathan from The New Indian Express.
Swaroop has been with the daily for a decade and has covered two Asian Games, two Hockey WCs, the recently concluded Chess World Championship, the 2016 T20 World Cup, 2023 ODI World Cup & was there for the WTC Finals in 2023. He won the Red Ink Award on Mariappan Thagavelu who won a Gold Medal for India at the Rio Paralympics.
We go down memory lane to the origins of Fantasy Cricket with Super Selector to season long IPL fantasy to Dream 11 and now the plethora of Betting Websites openly out and about the Indian internet and all around us.
Some Notes about Fantasy Sports in India -
In FY23, 18 Crore (180 million) users were playing fantasy sports. By FY27 - it will be 50 Crore (half a billion)
40% users are between ages 25-34 - the so-called demographic dividend of India (Statista)
India fantasy sports market is projected to witness a CAGR of 20.88% during the forecast period FY2024-FY2031, growing from USD 751 million in FY2023 to USD 3423.54 million in FY2031. (Markets and Data)
Links to Swaroop's pieces
- Swaroop's piece on Fantasy Cricket from 2023 - State of Play
- Swaroop's piece on Surrogate Advertising in Cricket
- On Ban Cloud over BCCI's partners - here.
- On Illegality of betting but rampant tips on Instagram reels - here.
Other Links on Gambling/Betting
John Oliver on Daily Fantasy Sports (Youtube Link)
First person account of a Gambling Addict by James Grimes in The Guardian
Useful Links for help for Gambling Addiction
There are numerous resources on the internet to go through and understand responsible gambling. We strongly suggest you take a look.
https://www.responsiblegambling.org/
https://www.ncpgambling.org/help-treatment/
INDIA
We found that HOPE TRUST helps with Gambling addiction in India.
In this episode, we have Dave from USA who has been following the WPL along with Richa and MV.
We speak about
We found time to discuss the Best Smile, Captain of the Halloween XI, Socks Recommendations & somehow not on the record, but this is a great place to put it - Richa uses Cricinfo in Incognito mode.
We cover the unhealthy Ind-Pak obsession among Indian TV coverage and fans, the jingoism and absurdity, unfairness around the CT. Also, why exactly did Vikrant Gupta travel to Lahore? And more discussion about DP World Dressing Room.
