The Ashes or BGT - What makes a rivalry

In the latest episode host Saqib Ali is joined by familiar panelists of the podcast Vijay Arumugam, Deepak Rao and Kevin Framp to talk about the biggest test rivalry in men's cricket. On one hand is the Ashes with all its cultural and historical significance vs the BGT where the on field contest has featured the two best teams in the last few editions. The panel dissects both set of rivalries through the lens of competition, history, commercial contracts and fandom. It is a typical long format conversation the podcast has to offer! Brew your flat white and get ready for the conversation.

Nasser Hussain has been a very prominent cricket personality for the last twenty years or more. He was born in Madras and moved to England at a young age with his parents. Since becoming an Essex man he has been in the public eye for almost thirty eight years.He went on to captain England for 45 test matches and remains one of the most feisty characters the game has seen. Sachin Tendulkar has hailed Huissin as the greatest captain he had played against. For a young fan Hussain is the face of the SKy cricket commentary and podcasts. We dedicate this episode to the man who has made a seamless transition from the pitch to the booth - where assured aggression has been gradually replaced by self deprecating humor. And his autobiography is easily one of the better cricket books - we highly recommend it. https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Fire-Autobiography-Nasser-Hussain/dp/0141003669     Joining host Saqib Ali is podcast resident guest Vijay Arumugam and podcast debutant Amit Sharma from Mumbai. Sharma has been a loyal supporter of the podcast and is a self acclaimed Hussain fan. We tried to offer a balanced conversation with praise and criticism through the lens of watching Hussain and also reading his autobiography. Its a long one so get comfortable and dive in!

Two lifelong fans join the podcast to relive their Ashes nostalgia. Kevin Framp and Deepak Rao join host Saqib Ali to exchange their recollections of the storied rivalry, unsung heroes and favorite captains. The conversation also has a personal touch as both men have lived a significant amount of time in both England and Australia.    It's a timeless trip down the nostalgic lane - a cricket romantic’s Ashes primer!

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