The No Balls Cricket Podcast

The one thing about BazBall is that it does not do boring. Even in a run-fest that turned into only the 2nd draw of Ben Stokes's captaincy, the man found a way to make the Test memorable.The handshake that wasn't stole all the headlines, with England pleading to go off on Day 5 after failing to take any wickets for 2 sessions, and Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar on the cusp of centuries. And thus BegBall was born, and a light was shone on the petulance lurking underneath the bombast of the McCullum-Stokes era. Yes, this is an episode full of ranting. We did also discuss the cricket.

Where did it all go wrong? After an unexpected win at Edgbaston, where Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill and the rest of the Team India showed they've got the heart of a star to level the series at 1-1, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul forgot the importance of being idle and promptly handed England the opening they needed to get ahead at Lords. England did not let that opportunity slide away, and here we are, with India 2-1 down despite having been the better side for most of the first three Tests. One win, one loss in the past two Tests to review since the last episodes. Siddhant and Aditya aren't looking back in anger, however, because the way India have played, there might just be enough to keep the dream alive of a series win.

We went away for a short while, and an entire era changed. South Africa won a trophy, Australia LOST A FINAL, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired, Shubman Gill became Test captain, all in the time since we last recorded. Unfortunately, BazBollocks is still here. And still tripping up India occasionally. True to form we are back as soon as India's Test team is back in action, though not in time for the actual start of the England tour. Instead we review the topsy-turvy first Test and look ahead to the rest of the series...which we are not hopeful about. Join us in our cheery doom and gloom!

India's decade-long stranglehold on the most fiercely-contested trophy in Test cricket has finally come crashing down. And at the end of this long reign, we come to bury everyone, not to praise them. Apart from Jasprit Bumrah. And maybe Rishabh Pant. The last two Tests of the tour of Australia occasionally raised hope that India might still pull off an unlikely win, but reality hit harder than Rohit Sharma hit a ball all series. Rohit Sharma's mid-Test interview after dropping himself hit harder than he hit a ball all series. And, quite frankly, that interview didn't hit that hard. At the very least, nowhere near as hard as the edge of Virat Kohli's bat hit the ball outside off-stump time and again this series. The jokes write themselves, and we get through a few of them while recapping the Melbourne and Sydney Tests. Plus, we finally have an ending to the entertaining saga of the Champions Trophy, and even more reason for Sid to hate on Bangladesh. Here's Episode 55!

There was no repeat of the last miracle at the Gabba, but India not losing that Test might be its own version of a miracle, helped by the rain gods and a rollicking innings from "bowling all-rounder" Akash Deep. Given the state of India's batting, he might get a promotion to bat in the top 7 at this rate. The Test ended up being more notable for what happened off the pitch, with one of India's greatest-ever cricketers bidding farewell to international cricket. We pay tribute to Ashwin, and look ahead to the rest of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

India had another nightmare pink-ball Test, but it included a moment that is our podcast's raison d'être: a wicket off a no ball. The past week was a banner week for those, which made for an awards section we were eager to get to...but not before we asked the real, tough question, the kind that we've become famous for: does KL Rahul have a Jay Shah sex tape in his possession? That, somehow, wasn't the only sex tape mentioned in this episode. Who knew cricket was such a...fertile breeding ground?

Just how powerful are the BCCI and Jay Shah? That question was important enough to ask even when we had a magnificent India win to review. Would you put it past the new ICC president to engage in some destabilizing of Pakistan that had nothing to do with cricket just to come up with a less controversial reason to move the Champions Trophy out of the PCB's home base? Oh, and there was that Test win. We talked a bit about that, but it can really be boiled down to this: Jasprit Bumrah is a genius. Also, this entire episode features a silent but pretty cool guest: a dental assistant robot, dubbed TOOTH-E, fresh off of helping Sid do wild stuff in Aditya's mouth. No, it doesn't do cricket analysis, but it's part of the NBC family now.

We're BACK (again)! We could make some overwrought metaphor about how we gritted it out to get to 50 and then retired hurt, but are now back to complete the innings. We *could*. But we won't. Instead we'll just say we're here to laugh at everyone, as always, from our favorite targets like England, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, to new punching bags like Gautam Gambhir. All that, just in time for what could be a shocking BGT. Here's Episode 51!

Our esteemed podcast has managed to do something Jonny Bairstow wasn't able to do during England's tour of India: get to 50. In a series full of milestones – including a 100th Test for Jonny himself, along with Stokes and Ashwin – we've brought up this special one of our own. So we paid homage (to ourselves) in a few different ways: taking a trip down memory lane, and even bringing out an OG pod member from before our video days. And as a bonus, the cricket gave us enough reason to celebrate, and engage in one of our favorite pasttimes yet again, twisting the knife into England as BazBollocks was sent home packing.

England nearly had it. Everything they wanted. A vindication that their stupid marketing gimmick is actually good cricket (even though they only got to this point by dropping the gimmick to play actual good cricket). And then the real England, the one we all know and love and love to make fun of, turned up. And if you think England's cricket is mad, wait until you hear what happens in the Ranji Trophy.