Politics and Cricket - Pakistan and the Champions Trophy

Senior cricket journalist Pradeep Magazine is the podcast guest this week. He joins host Saqib Ali to explore the complexities of Indian captainship and its relationship with media and administration. The conversation uses the captaincy era of Sourav Ganguly - Rahul Dravid as the perfect backdrop to relive some of the age old topics. Brew a cup of coffee or chai and dive right in!   https://www.amazon.in/NOT-JUST-CRICKET-Pradeep-Magazine/dp/9354892116  

In the new episode of the podcast host Saqib Ali is joined by resident guest Vijay Arumugam to talk about the cricketing journey of one Ravi Shastri. Shastri has been a fixture of the cricket imagination for Indian fans since he won the player of the series in the World Championship Cricket 1985. In this episode of the show the participants discuss the full evolution of Shastri in the public eye of fandom - this discussion ranges from his playing days to his days as a commentator and his successful stint as man manager of the Indian team. 

Those who watched Indian team's masterclass at Perth last week will reminisce with great pride in the future or in other words will have a rich nostalgia to look back. This was not always the case if you grew up idolizing the fortunes of the Indian cricket team in the early 90's. At the heels of this historic win three older fans relive the nostalgic significance of India's 1991-92 tour to Australia. The conversation includes many anecdotal recollections of a very impressionable tour for three fans. Deepak Rao makes his podcast debut as he joins resident guest Vijay Arumugam and host Saqib Ali in a special trip down memory lane.

Champions Trophy scheduling saga is the talking point as we drop our first episode in almost six months. Resident guest Vijay Arumugam joins host Saqib Ali to talk about sports, Politics and its many double standards. True to form Vijay brings a lot of cross sport and political reference points to address a larger point surrounding the India Pakistan Scheduling issue in discussion.  BCCI's decision to not send the team to Pakistan was an expected one and consistent to their stand in recent years. Then why the outrage and disappointment from Pakistan side? Was there a quid pro quo in place? Listeners guess is good as ours! But never-the less Vijay explores some possible scenarios.  Brew a cup of your choice of caffeine and tune in! 

Commentary is an integral part of watching live sport on tv or following it on radio. We all owe some part of our acquired sporting knowledge through the commentary booth. However in this age of information some commentators fail to connect with a larger audience. Could thier views be outdated? Has commentarty changed over the years? Is there a clear interference from cricket governing bodies on free speech in the booth? In the latest episode of the podcast we exchange notes on our favorite commentators and try to tackle the above questions. Joining host Saqib Ali are podcast regulars Kevin Framp and Vijay Arumugam. The conversation centres on cricket but stretches to football, hockey and tennis reference points. Tune in and share your list of favorite commentators along with any agreement/disagreement on what was recorded on this show.

This week's episode is a departure from what we cover on the podcast. We have two father's joining the show to talk about the sporting journey of their respective kids - who are honing their skills in other sports. Deepak Rao from UK and Ahmed Hussain from US join host Saqib Ali to talk about a parents role in this journey with Squash and Baseball as the disciplines of practice. Deepak's daughter Aditi is a ranked junior in the UK Squash system and competes in junior events across Europe. Ahmed's son Farzad has been pitching and playing little league games for more than 5 years now. This is probably a similar exercise of a cricket family anywhere in the world. It is an enjoyable conversation given how much we all treasure the behind the scenes process in sports. Deepak and Ahmed are candid enough to let us in their private bubbles, where both families have prioritized and centred their routines around the chosen sports their kids fell in love with.  Deepak Rao on twitter - https://twitter.com/RaoDpk Saqib Ali on twitter - https://twitter.com/saqiba Cricket with an accent on twitter - https://twitter.com/Cric_pod  

Vishal Misra is the podcast guest this week. Misra and the late Travis Basevi are considered the founding fathers of stats and cricket data. In this episode we revisit Misra's famous contributions while working at Cricinfo - which eventually changed and shaped the cricketing discourse forever. Misra and Basevi were the architects of live scoring, archived scorecards and Statsguru. In spite of being a stats Guru, Misra is a man of multitudes especially when it comes to viewing the game as a whole. He believes the stats do not tell the complete picture and context matters. He also gives his views on Cricinfo, democratization of data and continuous evolution of stats. Tune in for the complete conversation. Vishal Misra on twitter - https://twitter.com/vishalmisra https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/vishal-misra-the-birth-of-proper-ball-by-ball-commentary-on-cricinfo-637331    

In the opening act of the new year we discuss many layers of sports stardom. To narrow it down as a group we were fascinated by the notion when does an athlete becomes a Demigod. What does that even mean in the sporting universe? Does this happen in some societies more than others? Does this happen more in team sports compared to individual sports? Is glamour part of the demigod status equation? What happens to a fallen Demigod? Host Saqib Ali is joined by Kandarp Mehta and Andrew Burton to discuss this topic at length. Kandarp is a return guest who is an avid cricket fan. Andrew is a regular voice on the Tennis with an accent podcast. It was an interesting discussion without any concrete conclusion given the vast nature of the topic. Both Kandarp and Andrew came prepared with examples spanning across different sports and cultures. Please tune in! Andrew on twitter -https://twitter.com/burtonad Kandarp on twitter - https://twitter.com/kmacts  Kandarp's work can be found here -https://kandarpmehta.wordpress.com/ Saqib on twitter - https://twitter.com/saqiba

Indian cricket team is visiting South Africa for the ninth time since the readmission of South Africa to international competition. I am joined by a special guest in Neil Manthorp along with podcast's regular voice Vijay Arumugam to look back at some of the memorable chapters and incidents that have shaped the rivalry. Manthorp has covered all things South African cricket since he started his career as a cricket writer and broadcaster in 1988. His work can be found here - https://manners-on-cricket.com/ The podcast touched upon rich but uncomfortable topics like The Mike Denness affair to Sachin Tendulkar's farewell test which came at the expense of a boxing Day test match in South Africa. Of course we also discuss some on field brilliance of Tendulkar and other Indian batters who have scored impressive knocks in South Africa. Neil Manthorp on twitter - https://twitter.com/neilmanthorp Vijay on twitter - https://twitter.com/VAAChandran Saqib on twitter - https://twitter.com/saqiba

South African legend Mike Procter returns to the podcast for a candid conversation on all things Monkeygate, Kerry Packer and the South African readmission to cricket. He joins host Saqib Ali and resident podcast guest Vijay Arumugam. The conversation is a rich account on many phases of Procter's cricketing life where he was a player, coach, commentator and a match referee. Enough reading ....start listening please! https://www.amazon.com/Caught-Middle-Monkeygate-Politics-Autobiography/dp/1785312162 https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/mike-procter-46793 Vijay on twitter - https://twitter.com/VAAChandran Saqib on twitter - https://twitter.com/saqiba