🚨 If you’re an RCB fan, I’d love if you could fill out this survey on how you feel about the franchise this year. I plan to create a graphic story of your answers soon! 🚨
✍️ Nagraj Gollapudi talks to Riyan Parag about his cricketing philosophy, and how that bleeds into his captaincy style.
“What we try to do is: Vaibhav and Jaiswal go really hard at the top. Then Jurel comes in and steadies the ship a little bit but keeps maintaining that 150-160 strike rate. I come in at four and really assess and anchor the whole innings. If someone’s going really well at 200-220, I make sure I’m at 140-130, making sure we don’t lose a lot of wickets as long as we get 10-12 runs an over. And as soon as that partnership breaks, Heti [Shimron Hetmyer] decides if he wants to go at 200 or wants to take five balls, bat at 120, and then wait for those last five overs where, if someone from the top continues or Don [Donovan Ferreira] comes in, they both go at 250 or 300 as much as possible.”
📊 Himanish Ganjoo brilliantly decodes a seemingly simple question; which T20 batters have the most versatility, and which ones can you plan your field for?
“Batter profiling is mostly done by line/length outcomes, but field access is extremely important in T20s, and I hope this kind of analysis can enter the broader discussion. We do not possess field set data, which I think is a crucial component of T20 analysis going forward. While we wait for that, I think cricket analytics should start building the machinery to profile batters via their shots. After all, batter intent is the dominant determinant of a ball’s outcome in T20s (~65%).”
✍️ Giles Wilcock on the king of the leg glance, the Indian prince that made the English team, & the man who was angry that he’d been passed over for the throne.
“At that stage, Ranjitsinhji was viewed as the greatest batter to have played the game, and his scoring feats were unprecedented. Perhaps only Don Bradman ever had the same aura of inevitability as Ranjitsinhji at the turn of the century.
Not everyone appreciated it. There were grumbles when he played for England, and some of the cricket establishment, including rarefied circles within the MCC, sneered at his achievements. Such attitudes were explicitly racist. But Ranjitsinhji was enormously popular with the general public.”
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“Dry Dopamine”
✍️ Sarthak Dev on the disillusion of the modern IPL. -
“Leagues over bilaterals, real life over reels”
✍️ Akshay Ramesh talks to IPL chairman Arun Dhamal about the IPL calendar, broadcaster needs, social media vices, and how cricket should emulate football. -
“IPL MVP”
✍️ 📊 Rishikeshwaran CA on Sunil Narine’s ageless IPL excellence. -
“Right now might be worst of all”
✍️ Osman Samiuddin on PAK’s worst ever decade; the 2020s.
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“The solution to RCB’s middle order problem”
📊 Tarutr Malhotra on Venkatesh Iyer as the solution RCB’s problems with wicket preservation and run acceleration in the middle overs. -
“Iyer’s persistent, easy-to-target weakness”
📊 Tarun Pratap on Shreyas Iyer’s consistent problems with good length swing in the powerplay that’s been holding him back since 2023 (at least). -
“RCB conceded 90 (24) v SRH”
📊 Aarush Adil Khan on how RCB’s middle overs collapse versus SRH, where they conceded 90 runs in 24 balls.
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“The Final Word with Charlotte Edwards”
📽️ Adam Collins & Geoff Lemon talk to Charlotte Edwards on rebuilding the ENG-W side, and challenging cricket’s stereotypes. [YouTube] -
“Her final World Cup”
📽️ Katya Witney talks to NZ’s Sophie Devine about her career, and her impending retirement. [YouTube] -
“Hilarious Tour Stories You’ve Never Heard”
📽️ Beard Before Wicket host Saqib Mahmood to talk about his career, and the impact Eoin Morgan had on him as a youngster. [YouTube] -
“From Earning £7k to £1.5m”
📽️ Charlie Stebbings talks to Tymal Mills about the business of being a cricket player. [YouTube] -
“Is DRS Saving Umpires?”
📽️ AB de Villiers talks to Simon Taufel about the state of umpiring. [YouTube]