PCCI Podcast 🏏

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 you’d 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 TrophyMedia Roundups (multiple times, as one must)Mulder Brainfade?The wives of cricketers are to blame for everythingPredictions 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 1999–2000. He writes on cricket regularly in The Tribune. He has written 2 wonderful cricket books - Not Just Cricket & Not Quite CricketIn this episode we chat about -SA’s remarkable WTC win with a black captain in Temba Bavuma at the helmThe lack of representation & invisibilisation of Dalits and OBCs in CricketThe dim view of administration of Women’s CricketThe star power creates disparities in the Indian teamIs Match fixing still possible due to the economic disparities and mushrooming of smaller leagues?Pradeep refers to Ex-Commissioner of Police & Head of BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit - Neeraj Kumar’s book - A Cop in Cricket where his work and findings are ignored by the BCCIClassist humour in India against cricketers His evolving relationship with the game after being in such close proximityBooks by Pradeep MagazineNot Just CricketNot Quite CricketArticle 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 on2. Fast Bowling Quartet3. Decline in Spin bowling4. Overperformance of Captains while they are Captains5. Resilience of Test Playing Nations to play after long gaps6. Role of Amateurs and Professionals in Cricket's long history7. Moral Victories8. Lovely references on Aesthetics of batting in the book9. Non-development of the women's game10. 4 Day tests and restructuring of the WTCYou 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 HistoryAmazon USAmazon UKAmazon IndiaCrickonomics: The Anatomy of Modern Cricket:Amazon USAmazon UKAmazon IndiaCricket 2.0: Inside the T20 RevolutionAmazon USAmazon UK Amazon IndiaThe Best: How Elite Athletes are MadeAmazon USAmazon UKAmazon IndiaWhite Hot: The Inside Story of England Cricket’s Double World ChampionsAmazon USAmazon UK Amazon India Second XI: Cricket In Its OutpostsAmazon US Amazon UK Amazon India In our previous chat with Tim, we had asked him for Book Recommendations. Those are below.Pundits from Pakistan by Rahul BhattacharyaBeyond a Boundary by CLR JamesThe Unquiet Ones by Osman SamiuddinDifferent Class Duncan Stone

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 city’s 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 WarningMentions 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!