PCCI Podcast

In this episode, we have long time listeners Saurabh, Shay & Fahad to discuss their memories of the IPL.It's 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. It gives us an insight into how the IPL has evolved and how the evolution affects the people watching it. 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.

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. 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.RecommendationsSharda Temples, Tombs, & Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt by Barbara Mertz Acquired Podcast on IPL (It's only 4.5 hours long)Sky Sports Podcast with Nasser & Athers Zeteo Podcast founded by Mehdi HasanSwaroopThe Business of Sport Podcast - Listen here.Indian Summers by Sharda Ugra & John Wright, which he used as reference material for his Master's thesisAditya - The Book of Awesome by Neil PasrichaRicha - Mystery novels by Tana French

In this episode, we have Richa and MV joined by Tarutr Malhotra from Best of Cricket.---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.--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- We'll talk about scheduling and what should change next year- moving away from this to the home and away concept? - ⁠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 - Moment of the SeasonBest Young Gun ⁠Best Redemption Arc Who won the Ashes? Did Australian players do better or English players? 1 Retention and 1 Discard for each team 

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/BettingJohn Oliver on Daily Fantasy Sports (Youtube Link)Guardian's flagship Football podcast - Football Weekly spoke to a Gambling Addict and reporters covering Gambling. First person account of a Gambling Addict by James Grimes in The GuardianUseful Links for help for Gambling AddictionThere 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/INDIAWe 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 The Gardener Show at GG, they are at the bottom of the table but are things looking up?UPW are the first and only team to successfully defend a total and win a Super Over game, are they too dependent on individual performances? Can they just have one great day and win the whole thing?RCB collapse at home, 4 consecutive losses including 1 from a winning position against UP-W, is their bowling to blame?Mumbai Indians seem to be cruising for the most part, almost inevitably so, but can they win without NSB?DC have a formula, keep the batting team to under par scores and then get there with some Shafali Verma bashing. Do they have what it takes to wrestle out a win when Plan A doesn't work?Young Indian players like Kashvee Gautam, Kranti Goud, Tanuja Kanwar and Minnu Mani's bowling performances and all rounders Amanjot Kaur and Kanika Ahuja. From the batters it's been Shweta SehrawatCheck in on the redemption arcs: Shafali Verma, Arundhati Reddy, Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey & of course Jess JonassenWe 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.

In this episode, Richa and MV sit down to discuss the goings on in the first week of the WPL where all games were won by the side chasing and how the teams have fared. We look at the exceptional performances by Nat Sciver-Brunt, Elysse Perry, swoon over the action of VJ Joshitha and wonder if RCB have enough in the tank to stay top of the table

We first talk about the new Netflix documentary on Ind-Pak cricket. Then the discussion moves onto previewing the CT (what exactly is the CT meant to be?) and then the (d)evolution of cricket anthems and advertising.

Richa & MV sit down to discuss the 5 teams in the WPL, the absurdity of Indian selectors which is the reason that we discuss so many redemption arcs, Jon Lewis' luck (finally?), why are MI so good, can DC finally win the WPL, why spinners might not rule the roost, 4 venues means new fans and why RCB women are the toast of Bengaluru town & last year's win matters so much more.We reviewed the teams in the following order -Gujarat GiantsMumbai IndiansUP WarriorzDelhi CapitalsRoyal Challengers BengaluruThis is one of those painfully researched episodes because we really want to make the WPL interesting for us to watch.

In this episode we discuss the new guidelines for pupils of the BCCI Residential Hostel under the aegis of Principal Shri Gautam Gambhir.

We did a snake-style draft between the 3 of us (MV, Nishant & friend of the pod – Saurabh) to find out the Top 15 Most Memorable (largely painful) ODI knocks played against India. Order of Picks – Nishant (N) Saurabh (S) MV (M) Here are the 15 – 1. Douglas Marillier's 56* at Faridabad (N) 2. Chris Cairns' 102* in the ICC Knockout final 2000 at Nairobi (S) 3. Aravinda De Silva's 66 off 47 in 1996 WC Semi final in Calcutta (M) 4. Travis Head's 137(120) in the Khada Hoon Aaj Bhi Wahin 2023 Finals at Modium (M) 5. Fakhar Zaman's 117 in the Champions Trophy final in 2017 (S) 6. Shakib Al-Hasan's 49 off 31 in Sachin's 100th 100 game (N) 7. Shahid Afridi's 102 (46) at Green Park. Casual. (N) 8. 17 Y.O Tamim Iqbal's 51 off 53 at Port of Spain to change ODI WC's forever (S) 9. Sanath Jayasuriya's 79 off 76 at Delhi in the 1996 WC to signify ‘dehshat' & ‘khauff' for a generation (M) 10. Ricardo Powell's 124(93) in the Coca Cola Singapore Challenge Finals (M) 11. Marlon Samuels 108* (75) in the series decider in 2002 of a 7 match ODI series (S) 12. Saeed Anwar's 194. ‘Nuff Said.(N) 13. Mark Waugh's 126(135) at Wankhede in the 1996 WC (N) 14. Gibbs' 116 (retd hurt) in the Champions Trophy Semi Finals (S) 15. Ijaz Ahmed's 139* (84) at Lahore in 1997 (M) Honourable Mentions - Ponting's 140 in 2003 WC final - Strauss' 158 in 2011 WC - Sanath's 189 - Smith's hundred in the 2015 WC semi - Dilshan's 160 in the 415 chase at Rajkot - Mahela's 103 in the 2011 WC final - Inzi's 122(102) at Karachi in the Pundits of Pakistan series Stuff you can go back to – OG Pace is Pace Yaar gang (Ahmer, Osman, Hasan Cheema, Shoaib Naveed, Imran, Assad etc) celebrating the 2017 CT finals win - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WJ2zKwuvgA

Our rant, as usual.

We review the MCG test, confused tactics and preview the SCG test.

We review the Gabba test and the sudden Ash Anna retirement.

We review the Adelaide test, the noise around it and also some Mahatma Cote analysis.

We review the teams after the mega-auction and the food that they are analogous to.

We review the first test of the India-Australia series. Also, who is Anil Sir?

We talk of the buzz around the BGT and the chest-thumping and bullying around the CT.

We review 46 a.o, the women's WC and Pak-Eng.

We discuss the reactions to the early exit from the T20 WC by the Indian Women's T20 side. Also some discussion on the chaos that is Pakistan cricket.

In this random conversation we (MV, Raj, Nishant and Vatsal) attempted to create a playing XI from the roster of "morally grey cricketers". Our picks: Vatsal - Salman Butt Nishant - Azhar Raj - Gibbs MV - Muhammad Asif MV - Shane Warne Raj - Cronje Nishant - Amir Vatsal - MSD Vatsal - Sreesanth Nishant - Shakib Raj - Chris Cairns MV - Marlon Samuels

We do our best attempt at previewing the Women's World Cup. Srivastav Ranganathan 22:43 (0 minutes ago)to meIn this episode we go ahead and preview the Women's T20 World Cup.It's evident we are doing this for the first time and mostly for ourselves to make this World Cup a lot more easy to follow. We found a lot of useful links that helped in our research. They are as follows -Erika Morris' wonderful twitter thread - https://x.com/ErikaMorris79/status/1840344771832787311 WC Previews on CI and CB go without saying along with some on the ICC website.Special Mention to absolutely in-depth coverage by Cricket.com/tvCheck out their videos here -https://www.youtube.com/live/TehVdB7VotY?si=Q1HIpuGE5593H1tWhttps://www.youtube.com/live/B7sNiRcc9a4?si=YMdmH3v88Z9rojn0 https://www.youtube.com/live/9v-pnDlwYec?si=1yX3XbROmYDyee3N

In this pod, we discuss the most memorable Men's ODI WC games. We have Raj, Nishant and MV on the pod for this one. Lots of things were discussed and some recommendations - 1. War Minus The Shooting - https://bit.ly/3MZHeGW 2. Master of Mombasa (On Asif Karim by Jarrod Kimber) - https://bit.ly/4dvYIFW Our Picks 1. R - Aus v India 1992 Brisbane 2. N - NZ v Aus 2015 (Group Game) Auckland 3. M - Aus v Afg 2023 Wankhede 4. M - Ken v WI 1996 Pune 5. N - Ire v Eng 2011 Bangalore 6. R - Aus v WI 1996 Mohali 7. R - Ind v Ban 2007 Port of Spain 8. N - NZ v SA 2015 Auckland 9. M - NZ v WI 2019 Manchester 10.M - Kenya v SL 2003 Nairobi Gymkhana 11.N - Ind v Aus 2023 Ahmedabad

Trigger Warning: Strong Language has been used in this conversation. Listener discretion is advised. In this episode, Raj, Aditya and MV are joined by Behram Qazi to discuss the life of a Pakistani journalist covering world cricket.Behram has been the subject of constant online hate from across the border for his national identity and this does take an effect on his mental health.It will be clear to those who listen that Behram is well travelled, well read and is constantly asserting inclusiveness in his conversations even if online hate is now part of his daily life and work.

Today, we have the best cricket writer of our times - Gideon Haigh to discuss the life and times of the greatest cricketer that ever lived - Shane Keith Warne. 13th September 2024 would have been his 55th birthday. Gideon has of course, written extensively on Warne, chiefly his 2012 book - On Warne, and keenly followed his career and after. We discuss tough art of leg spin, the legacy of Warne as a spinner, and beyond, Gideon's fondness of Warne and the ensuing sympathy while being critical of Warne's misgivings like match-fixing & the use of banned substances, how Warne was as a captain, Jarrod Kimber, writing on cricketers you're close to & ‘the sheer indomitable will of Shane Warne' amongst other things. Gideon Haigh's work can now be followed on https://www.cricketetal.com/ He has written 50 books which you can find here - https:// www.gideonhaigh.com/bibliography/ You can buy his book On Warne - https://bit.ly/4gb45Nk Book Recommendations No Spin by Shane Warne - https://bit.ly/4dJS5k9 Warne in Wisden - https://bit.ly/47abQ1K

We talk about the recent Pak-Ban series, what it means for the two sides and the reactions to the result in India. Also, talk of the importance of stories in sport.

Nostalgia Pod: The Best Test Innings vs India In another trip down nostalgia's lane, we do a snake-style draft to discuss the Best Test Innings vs India. Joining today on the pod are the 2 Adityas, Raj, Nishant & MV. 15 innings/ performances which captured our imagination. Jayasuriya 340 - AdityaP KP 186 - RSS Akmal 113 - Nishant Baz McCullum 302 - Aditya1 Steve Smith 109 - MV Ollie Pope 196 - MV Dinesh Chandimal 162 & 59 - Aditya1 Afridi 141 - Nishant Younis Khan 267 - RSS Clarke 329 - AdityaP Andy Flower -232 AdityaP Jimmy Adams 174* & 78* - RSS Hayden 203 Nishant Travis Head 162 - Aditya1 Saeed Anwar 188 - MV

We rant about the Indian Olympic coverage, and a lot of sports tak.

We do a draft India-Pak squad purely on nostalgia and vibes. Discuss fond memories of the players along the way.

Michael Sanders is a professor of Public Policy at King's College, London and the director of the experimental Government team & on this pod we discuss his latest paper - Built it and they will search - The impact of using double-header fixtures to boost the profile of women's cricket Paper Link - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/double-header-matches-boost- interest-in-womens-cricket-study-finds King's College Profile - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/michael-sanders Twitter Profile - https://x.com/mike_t_sanders Best of Cricket Substack by Tarutr Malhotra - https:// bestofcricket.substack.com/

In this episode, we discuss cricket analytics, growing the game, quantifying pressure/clutch in sport with one of the pre-eminent analysts in our game, Tim Wigmore. Tim Wigmore is a sports writer for The Daily Telegraph, and has also written for The Economist, The New York Times, ESPNCricinfo and The New Statesman amongst others. He has written many books and we will be discussing his books and cricket writing in this episode. He has a unique lens on Cricket having covered the Associates extensively and thereon written about them and the global game. His books provide us a worldview into the past and the future with topics as diverse as the history of Afghanistan Cricket to deep dives into the process England followed to become double WC champions. We discussed T20 cricket, data v narrative, Afghanistan and the future of world cricket with respect to the short sightedness of those who run the game before rounding up with book recommendations from Tim Crickonomics: The Anatomy of Modern Cricket: Amazon US - https://bit.ly/3WuDTW0 Amazon UK – https://bit.ly/4fbFW8I Amazon India - https://bit.ly/4de3yrB Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution Amazon US - https://bit.ly/46moTgg Amazon UK - https://bit.ly/4feeLKw Amazon India – https://bit.ly/4faNRTI          The Best: How Elite Athletes are Made Amazon US - https://bit.ly/3Y8hKhq Amazon UK – https://bit.ly/4fbFJ5q Amazon India - https://bit.ly/3zSdFE0 White Hot: The Inside Story of England Cricket's Double World Champions Amazon US - https://bit.ly/3Wz7pKl Amazon UK - https://bit.ly/3WcF8rw Amazon India – https://bit.ly/4cVIDda Second XI: Cricket In Its Outposts Amazon US - https://bit.ly/3SgN5eb Amazon UK – https://bit.ly/4fcqVmW Amazon India - https://bit.ly/4bT8ErS Pre-Order his next book on Amazon UK – Test Cricket: A History - https://bit.ly/3yic7Tb Recommendations from Tim Wigmore Pundits from Pakistan by Rahul Bhattacharya - https://bit.ly/3LJwETG Beyond a Boundary by CLR James - https://bit.ly/3A0e9Ik The Unquiet Ones by Osman Samiuddin - https://bit.ly/4bTKM7G Different Class Duncan Stone - https://bit.ly/4fcYq8V

A fantasy draft episode of men's cricketers who deserved an ODI WC but didn't win one. Also, lot of nostalgia detour along the way.

In this episode, we talk about the reactions, celebrations and the ramifications of this T20 WC win. Also, in the second half we discuss the state of the woman's game and the structural challenges to it. Also, more VikNik, Noman Niaz discussion.

Mohammad Isam is Bangladesh cricket's leading voice and has been writing on cricket for over 15 years, first with The Daily Star and what will be 12 years very soon for ESPN Cricinfo. Isam bhai has a bird's eye view of Bangladesh Cricket and looks at the game not just as a journalist but also as someone who played the game with many of the players who have or are currently playing in the national setup. In this freewheeling chat, we discuss at length what happened in the Afghanistan Bangladesh game in the 2024 T20 WC, the larger context around Bangladesh cricket, influence of social media on the team and it's management, eerie similarities to the Indian Cricket team in the 1990's, the burden of being Bangladesh with the shadow of India and Pakistan, anecdotes on many cricketers known and unknown, remembered and forgotten, fast bowling arsenal for the future, business ideas for Asian nations barring India, chances of Bangladesh being overdogs by playing more with Associate nations, the vagaries of the first class structure which ends up governing the Bangladesh Cricket Board and book recommendations. Articles Mentioned on the Podcast: Javed Omar, no, yes, sorry in The Cricket Monthly - https://t.ly/7zAHp Left-arm revolutionaries in The Cricket Monthly - https://shorturl.at/aXvLA Books Mentioned on the Podcast: Pundits from Pakistan by Rahul Bhattacharya: https://shorturl.at/IL1O0 Sly Company of People Who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya - https://shorturl.at/b2N7n Mashrafe by Debabrata Mukhopadhyay (Book is in Bangla) https://shorturl.at/13564 Basil D'oliveira: Cricket and Controversy by Peter Oborne - https://shorturl.at/Hibgo Book by Mohammad Isam: On the Tigers' Trail - https://t.ly/QuNnP

In this episode, we review the Super 8 stage and share our thoughts on the 8 teams and a special focus on Afghanistan Cricket & the importance of the asian nation's qualification to the Semi finals of an ICC tournament. Books & Documentary mentioned on the podcast - Out of The Ashes Documentary by Timothy Albone - https://youtu.be/4H23kHiE_KQ?si=J7DGhzptalkEmQas Second XI: Cricket in its Outposts by Tim Wigmore https://amzn.in/d/0ewwq4ED (We mention the Afghanistan chapter but the book is a great read on Associate outposts of Cricket) Out of the Ashes: The Remarkable Rise and Rise of the Afghanistan cricket team by Timothy Albone https://amzn.in/d/03Tv1dtb — Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message

Join us for a different perspective on the sport we all love. Featuring Andrew from the Great White North --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message

At the end of the group stage of the 20-team WC, we discuss the signs and trends from the Associate sides and the joy around watching unknown names and contests on the biggest stage. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message

In a very special episode, we spoke to two of cricket's most accomplished storytellers, Sharda Ugra and Gideon Haigh. We talk about the state of the global game, the expanded T20 WC, nationalism in sports, and, cricket writing, among many things. Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day License code: 2TYHRU4ICFTOEUXT --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message

A special episode where we chat with an American cricket (and Marcus Stoinis) superfan on the day of the remarkable result in the 2024 T20 WC where the USA beat Pakistan at Dallas. We talk to Dave about how he discovered the sport, and his association with it. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message

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We discuss the Indian squad for the 2024 T20 WC and the general lack of conviction around Indian cricket in this episode. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message

The team returns with a full roster and a lot of ranting in what is the podcast equivalent of a net session -- all over the place. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message

We discuss a wide range of topics, including the politics of cricket, with Behram. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message

We discuss the P word, high stakes contests, what the loss means to Indian cricket. Also, the most bizarre post-match presentation for a global event ever. Humne socha milte chalein... --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message

We discuss the jingoistic narratives around the WC, our relationship with the sport and how the current jingoism influences our association with the sport and the Indian team. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepccipod/message