Couch Talk

In this episode, the Chief Executive of New Zealand Cricket Player Association (NZCPA), Heath Mills, gives his thoughts on the controversy surrounding the election of Laxman Sivaramakrishnan as player representative on the ICC Cricket Committee, and the need for better governance of cricket from the ICC. He also discusses the hoopla around the removal of Ross Taylor as NZ captain, professional contracts awarded to NZ Women cricketers and also the Jesse Ryder situation.

In this episode, Kartikeya Date of “A Cricketing View” blog explains why he doesn’t think T20 is not actually cricket but is a different sport altogether. He answers some of the common queries that gets posed to him as a critic of the T20 game. He talks about the corrosive influence of IPL and the T20 game which has turned cricket in to a moneymaking product rather than a sport, and the lack of clear merits in evaluating the goings on during a T20 match. He also suggests some of the ways T20/IPL could be redeemed through certain innovations that bring the balance between the bat and ball in the game, and could then provide an even contest.

In this episode, Australian cricket journalist Peter Lalor talks about the reasons for decline in the standards of Australia’s shield cricket including Aussie Rules Football attraction for the young Aussie athletes as the preferred sport, the impact of Big Bash League (BBL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL), Australia’s recent tour of India, the squad selection for Ashes, Brad Haddin’s role as vice captain etc.

In this episode, Hassan Cheema who covered the recently concluded Pakistan’s tour to South Africa for Dawn.com, talks about his maiden experience as a journalist on tour, his good and bad experiences of covering cricket and traveling in a country as diverse and troubled as South Africa, the supposed Misbah Ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez rift during the tour amongst other things.

In this episode, former Aussie legspinner Stuart MacGill talks about bowling with Shane Warne, compares his style of legspin with Warne’s, reasons for Australia’s problems with finding Test quality spinners and the influence of coaching methods, and his recent endeavor in providing an alternative to cricket commentary with the Google Hangout show “Cricket Club“.

In this episode, Yuvraj Singh’s manager Nishant Jeet Arora talks about his responsibilities as the manager of a high profile Indian cricketer, how he came to be a player manager from being a journalist, the evolution of player agent in the Indian cricket scene, how negotiations are done, the changing landscape of commercial endorsements in the time of IPL, and also about Yuvraj’s book “The Test of my life” which he co-authored.

In this episode, Indian Cricketer R. Ashwin talks about his Indian career so far, his approach to the game, his potential as a batsman, domestic cricket, M. S. Dhoni, among other things.

In this episode, Peter Chismon from the U.K. talks about his travels around the world following cricket. Peter has watched First Class cricket in 56 Test venues since he started this pilgrimage in 1994. He talks about how he got hooked on to this, various experiences, the dos and don’ts of global travel, and how long he intends to continue with his passion.

In this episode, former Sri Lankan cricketer and current TV commentator Russel Arnold talks about his playing career, and his current profession, the contract issue stand off between the Sri Lankan players and their board recently, the political interferences in the running of SLC, the future of Sri Lankan cricket, amongst other things.

In this episode, the founder and editor of Alternative Cricket Almanack, Nishant Joshi, talks about the site, its growth in popularity, the charitable causes that AltCricket embraces including “Cricket Without Boundaries” and managing medical education with the running of a popular cricket website.