Batta Fast

By Ahmer Naqvi

"What do they know of cricket, who only cricket know?"

Ahmer Naqvi (and occasionally) Osman Samiuddin look at cricket from beyond the runs and wickets to the larger sociocultural conte

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FAQs about Batta Fast:

How many episodes does Batta Fast have?

The podcast currently has 82 episodes available.

Batta Fast episodes:

November 27, 2025 Are Test Matches Only for the Rich? Episode 89
On how watching the Ashes makes me feel like a second class citizen.
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24min
November 17, 2025 The Boy Who Never Got Out - Episode 88
Aik bacha tha jo out nahi hota tha.

Link to Haroon Khalid's works: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/7247507.Haroon_Khalid
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28min
November 07, 2025 How Much Winning Is Too Much? Episode 87
An extremely #RichPeopleProblems issue leads to a deeper understanding of why we watch our favourite teams.
My essay on fandom and forgetting: https://karachikhatmal.com/the-i-who-becomes-a-we-the-importance-of-forgetting-to-fandom
F1 creator on why NBA content > other sports: https://ideefixe.co/p/the-creator-paradox-why-f1-and-tennis
Game of Zones: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoqDIJHlyN3NIPW9D37rQEceGNZEiRmMX
Essay criticising Uncut Gems 'facile cruelty': https://www.theringer.com/2025/10/31/movies/uncut-gems-review-best-movies-21st-century
Essay on why Uncut Gems is a great movie about watching sports: https://unnamedtemporarysportsblog.com/uncut-gems-is-the-first-great-movie-about-watching-sports/
Essay on why Adam Sandler's character is like our favourite sports team: https://www.sbnation.com/2019/12/24/21028750/uncut-gems-review-sports-movie-adam-sandler
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38min
October 30, 2025 Why Tapeball is Decolonized Cricket - Episode 86
An invention from Karachi in the 80s, Tapeball cricket took the colonial history of the sport and ripped it apart.

Biryani article featuring Malang: https://fiftytwo.in/story/rice-fat-meat-streets/

Abid Hussain's Tapeball Longform: https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/929545/tape-ball-tales

Tapeball image credit: Ali Akbar Naqvi, originally made for PaceisPaceYaar.
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48min
October 21, 2025 When Does A Rivalry End? Episode 85
"I don't know what the stats are. But this is not a rivalry anymore" - Suryakumar Yadav's claim that India-Pakistan is not a rivalry anymore made me want to explore what rivalries are, and when - if at all - do they end?
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31min
October 15, 2025 Noman Ali and the Aesthetics of Pakistan Cricket - Episode 84
"Pakistan is a country of SLAs pretending to be pacers" - this throwaway text from Osman on PiPY led to this podcast: a discussion on the aesthetics of Pakistani bowling, how they changed irrevocably with Imran Khan, and how the continued presence of guys like Noman in the chaos since is what makes sports so beautiful.
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38min
October 07, 2025 The Ship of Theseus or why Pakistan cricket never really changes - Episode 83
In this lecture Ahmer argues that almost every time you watch a Pakistan cricket team play - men's, women's, u19, whatever - you end up seeing the same match. No matter how many times you repair and replace its parts, the ship remains the same.

Link to Jarrod's video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPWYKyjCP_j/
Link to Danyal's article: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/asia-cup-2025-ind-vs-pak-what-pakistan-say-what-pakistan-do-and-the-gap-between-them-1504056
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32min
March 15, 2025 Debating the Legacy of 90s Pakistan Cricket with Osman Samiuddin - Episode 81
00:00 Hafeez, Rashid and Legacy of 90s Cricket Players
03:57 The Impact of 90s Cricket on Modern Perceptions
10:36 Cultural Significance of 90s Cricket
14:44 Corruption and Instability
21:37 Why the 90s were an era of decline
30:04 The Lost Tournaments of the 90s
39:14 The Impact of County Cricket on Pakistani cricket
43:47 13 Captaincy changes in 3 years!
52:01 Late-Era Wasim Captaincy
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1h 1min
March 11, 2025 Ranking the Greatest ICC Event Performances by Pakistani players - @sportingmyths - Episode 80
Back with the @sportingmyths crew, we debate the GOAT ICC event performances. Before anyone gets too senti, the nominations and seedings were done kafi arbitrarily, because the intention was to just discuss some great performances.

Fakhar Zaman vs India 2017
Mohammad Amir vs India 2017
Shahid Afridi vs South Africa, 2009
Inzamam ul Haq vs New Zealand, 1992
Wasim Akram vs England, 1992
Babar Azam vs New Zealand, 2019
Rambo vs New Zealand, 1992
Misbah ul Haq vs India, 2007
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1h 8min
February 28, 2025 The Osman Retirement Episode - Episode 78
Just in time for the incredible disappointment of a winless home tournament, Osman Samiuddin announces his totally final (unless need of nation arises) absolutely complete retirement from the show.

00:00 Introduction and Context of the Podcast
01:49 Osman's Departure
05:18 Pakistan Cricket - can it really die?
10:27 That hockey wala trauma
15:15 How Pakistan has stumbled into every major win
22:00 Was the Misbah era worse?
30:59 The issues in this era
35:46 Has the PCB almost always sucked?
40:10 How does Pak cricket survive the scary future?
49:52 Why ex-cricketers need self-awareness
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1h 3min

FAQs about Batta Fast:

How many episodes does Batta Fast have?

The podcast currently has 82 episodes available.