✍️ Aayush Puthran traces the “fairytale” of J&K’s first ever Ranji Trophy victory, and what happens next.
“Since we have no professional training in turf wicket, when you get selected in Under-19, we suddenly realise that everyone else is so technically sound, while we are so raw and naive. That’s the first shock we receive. It disappoints players to the level that many give up cricket at that very stage because they believe they have been left too far behind and won’t be able to catch up with the others. Under-19 and Under-23 level in every way – batting, bowling, wicketkeeping.”
✍️ Pratyush Sinha has a lovely interview with Ramesh Abeywickrama, a KPMG consultant who takes every March off to organise the longest running cricket rivalry in Sri Lankan cricket.
“A year ago, his cardiologist told him to slow down. The job at KPMG, with its late nights and perpetual urgency, had to go. He took a couple of months off before returning to work, this time at a tech firm in Malabe, something steadier, more forgiving. But before he signed the offer letter, he made one request. Mid-February to mid-March would be different. He would need time off. Half days, at least. There were commitments he could not miss.
He was not negotiating for rest or family time. He was negotiating for the Royal-Thomian Cricket Encounter, a cricket tradition older than the republic.”
✍️ Tom McCluskey on how rapidly Women’s cricket has grown since he accidentally discovered it on the back of a Shane Warne poster in 1998 – and how Healy has played a big role in that growth.
“ It was a junior cricketer’s dream: stickers, collector cards, and a double-sided wall poster that forced a choice upon a bedroom wall. On one side was Shane Warne. On the other, Belinda Clark.
…I remember it clearly for two reasons: the sheer, anatomical impossibility of Warne’s grip, and the quiet realisation that until I unrolled that paper, I hadn’t known women played the game at all.”
-
“Fining Pakistan’s players is weird”
✍️ Osman Samiuddin writes about the inanity of the PCB fining PAK players, -
“So long and no thanks for all the fizz”
✍️ Nagraj Gollapudi has a tour diary from the Sri Lanka leg of the World Cup. -
“Google’s longest game”
✍️ Venkat Ananth reports on Google’s 15-year strategy of embedding itself into cricket’s ecosystem; and what that could mean with the two biggest media rights auctions on the horizon in 2027.
-
“Revenge of the Nerds”
📊 Karan Jain, Ben Brettell & Tarutr Malhotra on NZ’s pitch perfect plans for every top order SA batter; including Markram, QdK, Rickleton & Miller. -
“How Dube’s promotion broke ENG’s bowling strategy”
📊 Raunak Thakur on how Shivam Dube’s promotion to No. 4 threw ENG’s middle order plans into disarray and led to a record WC knockout total. -
“India’s batters finally come to the party”
📊 Tarutr Malhotra breaks down the numbers behind IND’s near-perfect and completely peerless top 7 batting order.
-
“Realising the Dream”
📽️ RCB have put out a video with CEO Rajesh Menon, head coach Andy Flower, & director Mo Bobat on how they finally broke their IPL drought. [YouTube] -
“The Rise, The Storm, The Legend”
📽️ PakPassion have a full length documentary on Shahid Afridi’s career. It’s kind of an incredible random find for a Wednesday morning. [YouTube] -
“The MS Dhoni Aura”
📽️ AB de Villiers talks to Bharat Sundaresan about his journey from Mumbai to Australia as a ground-breaking cricket reporter. [YouTube] -
“The types of T20 batters”
📽️ Jarrod Kimber tries to define all the vague terms we use for batter identities. [YouTube]