Couch Talk

In this episode, former England cricketer and The Guardian newspaper’s cricket correspondent Mike Selvey talks about the pseudo-posturing and aggression that was on display during the recent Ashes down under, England’s dismal performance, the Andy Flower-Kevin Pietersen saga, and also about his own cricketing career.

In this episode, former West Indian cricketer and captain Alvin Kallicharran talks about his humble beginnings, playing alongside WI legends, rebel tour to South Africa, his controversial run out by Tony Greig, lack of “maroon cap” pride in current WI players, taking Dennis Lille apart in the 1975 World Cup etc.

In this episode, former India cricketer Ajit Agarkar talks about his accidental origins as a fast bowler, the early comparisons to Kapil Dev, the infamous series of ducks, Adelaide Test of 2003 where his 6-41 led India to an improbable Test win, his controversial withdrawal from Mumbai’s Ranji team in 2011 etc.

In this episode, the sports editor of Mumbai’s MiD DAY newspaper, Clayton Murzello, talks about the transformation in the Indian cricket media over the last two decades, the downside of a TV centric cricket media, BCCI-Media relations, the state of Mumbai cricket, the lack of mentoring of young Mumbai cricketers, and his 20 year long professional relationship with Sachin Tendulkar.

In this episode, Author Mike Jakeman talks about his new book “Saving the Test”, the various challenges to the continued survival of Test cricket, the new avenue of cricket digital rights, the way forward, the need for increased cooperation between the various national boards for improving the health of Test cricket and cricket as a whole.

In this episode, Hemant Buch, VP of Production at TEN Sports talks about his career directing and producing cricket broadcasts, the expertise needed to be able to direct cricket telecast, the back and forth he has with on-air commentators and other things.

In this episode, Catherine McGregor who is a cricket writer and a speech writer for the Australian Army chief, talks about her book, “An Indian Summer of Cricket’, and her struggles in coming to terms with her gender transition from being Malcolm McGregor, her fascination with Rahul Dravid, changes in the Australian game etc., amongst other things.

In this episode, Tamil Nadu all rounder Baba Aparajith talks about the experience of winning the U-19 world cup last year, making a double hundred in his Duleep trophy debut, interacting with the major international stars during the IPL, playing alongside Rahul Dravid in a club match, amongst other things.

In this episode, former Australian batsman Michael Hussey talks about his playing career, the self-doubts that constantly plagued him, his relationships with Mickey Arthur and Cricket Australia, the controversy surrounding Gurunath Meiyappan of Chennai Super Kings as mentioned in his autobiography “Underneath the Southern Cross”, amongst other things.

In this episode, Pakistan’s captain Misbah ul-Haq talks about the late start to his cricketing career, what it’s like to be captain of Pakistan and leading a wide variety of personalities, the World T20 final vs India in 2007, impact of no international cricket in Pakistan since 2009, his future, amongst other things.