PCCI Podcast 🏏

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.