Cricket with an Accent Podcast

Senior cricket writer Ayaz Memon returns to the show to talk about the 4th test between India and England.  While breaking down India's series win Memon highlights the contributions of Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Rishabh Pant. In depth talking points include Sundar's potential as top order batsman and whether Pant should play the situation. 

Memon also weighs in on the upcoming WTC finals between India and New Zealand. Last segment of the conversation is a look back at Sunil Gavaskar and his large imprint on Indian cricket, especially on the eve of the 50th anniversary of his test debut.

Aftab Khanna and Vijay Arumugam join the show this week to look back at the playing surface from the Ahmedabad test. Khanna and Arumugam are true students of the game who offered lot of statistical nuance and historical references to support their points on the rank turners vs green tops debate. The observations further touched upon the history of Indian test pitches over the last two decades. There was a deeper dive in comparing this generation of Indian batsmen to their predecessors in terms of the spin playing ability. Devil is in the detail and this duo released a lot of detail in abundance on rich topics that covered Ishant Sharma's 100th test appearance to Ravi Ashwin's 400 test scalp. 

Cricket analyst Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill on twitter) joins the show to talk about the midpoint of  India England series. Gill breaks down some of the narrative based notions on what a good test match pitch is and how to succeed on those pitches. He further elaborates on the importance of toss and team compositions. 

This episode's in depth feature is the return to batting form of Ravi Ashwin. The conversation covers Virat Kohli the test captain and how his decision making skills are slowly coming in harmony with his selection skills. Gill also emphasized the importance of Rohit Sharma's hundred in terms of the latter's career arc. Last but not the least we spoke about the IPL auction. A lot of astute observations packed in this episode.

Espn cricinfo senior writer George Dobell joins the show as the guest analyst this week. In this episode Dobell looks back at the impressive win by Root and team in Chennai. We rank this win in terms of relevant context of English overseas performances of the last decade.  The conversation is inclusive of the new demand of covid cricket - player rotation. Dobell emphasizes how demanding the covid bubbles can be on the psyches of the players and this can be seen as a needed development given the busy cricket cycle ahead.

Team compositions are also discussed ahead of the second test with focus on a certain Ben Foakes and Stuart Broad. From the Indian lens of things we try to address the position of Rohit sharma as the incumbent opener over a longer term. Last but not the least Dobell talks about the IPL and English cricket's white ball roadmap. Could this be at the cost of the red ball fortunes? Tune in to find out.

Related articles by George Dobell -

https://www.msn.com/en-in/sports/cricket/england-s-attitude-towards-the-ipl-won-t-please-everyone-but-what-is-the-alternative/ar-BB1d8CT5?li=AAggjDC&srcref=rss

https://www.msn.com/en-in/sports/cricket/chris-silverwood-not-worried-about-dom-bess/ar-BB1dzHg2?li=AAggjDC&srcref=rss

Bharat Sundaresan of Cricbuzz and Nakul Pande of Guerilla cricket join Saqib Ali to preview the India England series. This is Bharat's second appearance on the pod while Nakul makes his debut on cricket with an accent. The duo breaks down some of the burning topics from both sides of the rivalry. The conversation covers the playing surfaces, the matchups, rotation policy, covid calendar and the team compositions. The episode serves as a good transition point from the epic India Australia series to the next contest.

Noted cricket writer Prem Panicker returns to the show to help break down some of the emerging topics and narratives from the recently concluded Border Gavaskar trophy. Panicker expresses his in-depth views on the Ajinkya Rahane captaincy through the prism of different leadership variables and how differently players may respond to a certain style. He also looks at the importance of Ravi Ashwin's social collaboration with fans by providing rare behind the scenes details which Indian cricket fans crave for.

The conversation also looks at the tags of white ball player vs a red ball player and why this Aussie attack should not be devalued because of their fourth innings in Sydney and Brisbane.

On the latest episode of the podcast Himanish Ganjoo makes his debut as the guest analyst. Ganjoo has written for Espn cricinfo and some of his recent written pieces are listed below in the show notes. Like many writers of this generation Ganjoo relies on the stats to tell the actual story of the cricket rather than holding on to the cliched usage of adjectives that have been used to describe the game. 

Through the prism of stats he talks about the readiness of Indian bench which displayed its depth on a weekly basis on this Australian tour. We also take a deeper dive into the batting methods of Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara. Last but not the least we compare this Indian batting lineup to its predecessors from the previous generation. 

Some of Himanish's published work is listed here -

https://deeppoint.substack.com/p/pujara-the-occupier

https://imgur.com/a/ES3jpyA

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/how-good-are-kohli-smith-williamson-and-root-at-occupying-the-crease-1201134

In this episode we look back at the recently concluded Sydney test match. Cricket writer, historian and author Abhishek Mukherjee is the guest analyst, who helps break down the contest. Mukherjee addresses the many facets of the drawn test match from Rishabh Pant's batting to the defensive masterclass of Ravi Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari, and why this will go down as one of the match for the ages. The conversation tries to address the unprecedented injury list of this Indian squad. Has it ever happened before to any travelling test team? What playing eleven options India have left to tinker with for the last test.

Second half of the show shifts focus on the Gabba venue - as how it has been one of Australia's winningest venues. Mukherjee like a true historian recalls some of the interesting contests between the two team on this venue. Steven Smith, Cheteshwar Pujara and the Indian top order get a deserved mention in this episode as well.

In this episode we review the Boxing day test between Australia and India. Sanket Singbal and Abhu Tyagi join host Saqib Ali to breakdown the happenings from MCG. The conversation focuses on Ajinkya Rahane's batting and captaincy. Was it his best knock as a test batsman? Md Siraj and Shubman Gill's remarkable readiness for international test cricket also gets discussed in the pod. Other topics covered include the possible return of Rohit Sharma for the SCG test, Pat Cummins vs Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravi Ashwin vs Steve Smith.

We wrap the show by comparing the current Aussie bowling unit to one of the all time best bowling unit of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee. The episode is full of nuanced observations and detailed analysis on the MCG test.

Growing up in an adopted land is always a new experience for anyone and it has an additional layer if there is a sport that is common in one's country of birth and their new homeland. Kamran Abbasi one of the most prolific and poignant writers of all things Pakistan cricket is the guest on the podcast this week. Abbasi was born in Pakistan but was raised in Margaret Thatcher's Britain. His new book called Englistan takes a deeper dive into a lifetime journal of a fan and how he viewed the cricket and societal climate of Britain in the 1980's. The book has a comprehensive analysis of all things Pakistan cricket during Abbasi's watch as a fan and writer. 

In this episode he talks about the book and some of the relevant topics that have surrounded Pakistan cricket since his days as teenaged Yorkshire cricket hopeful.