Beyond the Boundary Rope

After two years of hard work, sweat and effort, only two teams are left standing. India and New Zealand fight it out for the title of the 'Best Team Team' as they face off each other in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship Final. 

The two most well-rounded and consistent test teams face off each other in the battle to become test champions. Who will come out on top in this titanic battle? 

Check out the preview of this enthralling clash

Along with India, New Zealand have been the most consistent test team over the past couple of years and have rightfully made it to the World Test Championship final. Having suffered a gut-wrenching loss in the World Cup final against England in 2019, they will want to go that one step further and lift their first ICC trophy since they won the ICC Knockout Trophy way back in 2000. 

In this episode, I analyze New Zealand's chances in the World Test Championship final, their journey over the last couple of years and how this team has become a force under Kane Williamson. With a largely solid and settled line-up, I analyze what New Zealand's strengths and threats are and how they come up against the Indian team. I ended my episode by putting out my thoughts on what the eleven against India will be. 

Tune in for a comprehensive analysis on the New Zealand test team that will face India in a few days time in the title decider. 

The IPL 2021 had to be suspended due to rising COVID cases in India and also due to the outbreak of cases in the bio-secure bubbles themselves. We saw the completion of the first half of the season with each team having played 7 games at least when the tournament had to be suspended. 

Despite that, we did see some riveting cricket being played. This season also saw the emergence of many new faces as they went on to perform to the best of their abilities for their respective teams. 

So as the tournament remain suspended at the moment and with the future still uncertain, we decided to pick the Team of IPL 2021 based on the first half of the season. Joining me in picking the team is, Sibi, all the way from Montreal. 

Tune in to find out which players made it into the final eleven.    

Every IPL produces a bunch of exciting young stars who take the tournament by storm as they go on to impress the fans. This IPL was no different as we saw a few exciting young talents shine for their respective teams. 

Though the IPL got suspended with just half the season played, these talented blokes impressed one and all. We'd definitely have loved to see a lot more of them in the second half of the season. These guys definitely impressed and we'd all hope to see a lot more of them in the coming IPL seasons and also in domestic cricket. 

The list features the likes of Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, and Ravi Bishnoi. Tune in to find out which other players had breakthrough tournaments. 

Welcome back to the sixth edition of the Frenemies Cricket Quiz- When Friends become Rivals. In this episode, four of my cricket buddies, Siddharth and Rahul go up against Vignesh and Akshay go up against each other and test their cricket knowledge and memories in this exciting quiz.

Tune in to find which of the two teams emerged victorious.

After a six month delay due to the COVID-19, IPL 2020 is all set to kick off in UAE in less than a week. A vast majority of the players will be coming into the tournament and this could mean that they could be scratchy and could take time to find their bearings. 

Defending champions Mumbai Indians will start as favourites yet again. But will the slow, turning UAE pitches hinder their performance as their squad isn't ideally suited to those sluggish wickets? Or will their experience and togetherness help them land a fifth title?

What makes Mumbai Indians such a force? What are the worries going into the tournament? What could their playing XI look like?

To get all these answers and a lot more, listen to this episode to find out. 

Also stay tuned to this podcast channel for the team previews of the remaining sides as well. 

Test match cricket is considered the hardest format of the game, and rightly so. It's a game that requires a lot of skill, patience, concentration, determination, and numerous other challenges are to be tackled over 5 days. Some of the brightest talents in the game have shown glimpses but failed to showcase their true potential in this format due to various reasons. 

Some of the categories of players include- 

In this episode, my guest speaker, Venkatesh and I, discuss some of the most talented cricketers who couldn't quite fulfill their potential in test cricket.  

Listen in to find out who are the players who join the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Eoin Morgan, Suresh Raina, Shane Bond, Shoaib Akhtar, Ryan Harris, Shahid Afridi, Lasith Malinga and Brad Hodge in this list. 

Cricket, despite being in existence for over 130 years now has remained a game that is played majorly by 10-12 top international teams. Cricket has remained popular in the countries that play the sport but has struggled for relevance and popularity in other countries. 

However, most ardent cricket fans want the game to expand globally with it reaching and being played by more countries. What are the reasons hindering this global expansion? Is it ideal for more countries to be brought into mainstream cricket?

In this episode, I am joined by Ajith Kidami, as we discuss and dissect whether the introduction of more countries is better for the game. 

Some of the points discussed include-

Listen to our discussion to find out- 

Being a fast bowler with the current playing conditions is no easy task. A fast bowler needs to develop so many skills to ensure that he is able to survive. Few bowlers are gifted with certain skills while they lack in certain departments. Very few bowlers are supremely skilled in all aspects.

The presence of Dhoni in the Indian team for the past 15 years since his entry into international cricket meant that the wicket-keeping slot was the last of our worries. However, since Dhoni's retirement in tests in 2015 and since his departure post the 2019 World Cup, this has become a position that has become a major cause for concern for the team management and fans.