Cricket with an Accent Podcast

Kartik Jayaraman is a cricket enthusiast and a true student of the game who also loves connecting statistical dots on cricket trivia. In this episode he makes his podcast debut for our series. Kartik is @elitecynic on twitter. The conversation revolves heavily around the Adelaide debacle from two days ago. Kartik looks back at what will possibly go down as an all time great Aussie pace attack of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc and how they dismantled a decent Indian batting line up. Was it the Pink ball, or was there extra bounce on day three, or was there lack of technical application by Indian batters? Listen to Kartik on what transpired as we combine facts and some narratives on this topic.

We also look forward to Ajinkya Rahane the batsman and captain. How different will he be than the leadership of Virat Kohli in terms of team selection and on field decisions. Why has Ravi Ashwin's batting numbers taken a nosedive and the importance of Pujara;s role in the remainder of this series also get worthy mentions.

A lot of nuance and opinion packed in this episode.

Malcolm Knox is a senior cricket writer for the Sydney Morning Herald. In this episode Knox joins the show to talk about the upcoming Adelaide test match between India and Australia. He also talks about the sudden decline of cricket in the Australian ecosystem of sports.

Given that the Australian opening pair for the first test match is now an uncertainty with the concussion suffered by young hopeful Will Pucovski. Knox wrote an article in the SMH where he wants the game to move away from the bouncer - https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/cricket/cricket-has-endorsed-head-hunting-for-too-long-it-s-time-for-the-bouncer-to-go-20201211-p56mo3.html?ref=rss

He admits the captaincy talk surrounding Steve Smith is a distraction before the series and  ponders at the idea whether Australia will see a fast bowler captaining their team one day with a certain Pat Cummins waiting in the wings as a vice captain.

Last but not the least he weighs in on the love hate relationship of the Aussie fans with Virat Kohli.

Sidharth Monga is the assistant editor of Espn Cricinfo. For cricket readers he is one of the most prolific writers in this modern age of cricket. He does it all - be it a match report, short article or the carefully crafted detailed piece on the Cricket monthly. An all format writer!

He joins the podcast as a guest to discuss the burning storylines of the India Australia series from the communication breakdown on Rohit Sharma's injury and why India will dearly miss the other Sharma on this tour. We make Sidharth address some narrative questions as well - why we cannot have split captaincy in India? Is it cultural? 

Last but not the least we talk about his detailed masterpieces on Saha and Pujara and the process behind these write ups.

This episode of Cricket with an Accent we welcome former fast bowler Winston Davis of the West Indies. Winston Davis owned the best bowling figures in ODI cricket for more than eight years. He was the answer to the 7/51 trivia question. More than that he broke into the packed West Indies fast bowling unit, which was no easy feat considering the line up.

In this episode Davis elaborates on the art of fast bowling and more importantly the mindset needed to operate as a genuine quick! In a nostalgia driven conversation Davis also talks about the WC 1983 final loss to India and the tour of India that followed the WC. 

Former England player Roland Butcher is the podcast guest this week. He has now taken a new role as the manager of the Barbados challenger Football club. Butcher had a long and successful stint with the Middlesex County Club. In this episode he talks about his formative years in England as a teenager. He looks back at the move from Barbados to UK when he was not sure if he will continue playing cricket. 

He made his Middlesex debut under the astute leadership of Mike Brearley - whom he considers a very instrumental figure in his career on and off the field. The episode has Butcher compare the captainship styles of Brearley with his successor Mike Gatting. He reflects on the experience as the first black man to have played test cricket for England. Butcher says he has no regrets for his short test career for England. He believes it was some sort of destiny that he made his test debut at Barbados.

Andrew Fidel Fernando is the podcast guest this week. He has been a prolific writer for Espn Cricinfo and Cricket Monthly over the last decade. Fernando has this rare ability to connect with the reader and this clearly carries over when he speaks about the glorious past of Sri Lankan cricket. In this episode we take a look back at Sri Lanka's rise in world cricket. And there is no better period to analyse this than the Arjuna Ranatunga years. Fernando shares a detailed account of Ranatunga the man and the player. Ranatunga was a complex figure if viewed from an international lens and the podcast helps understand the dynamics of his leadership and his unique approach to cricket.

Fernando also talks about the Duleep Mendis influence on the fortunes of this team that rose to the pinnacle in Lahore in 1996. No conversation about that run would be complete without mentioning Aravinda De Silva's role in the knockout games of that World cup. Fernando bridged the gap in this episode for any younger fan who wants to learn more about the Ranatunga years and at the same time it is a treat for any fan who watched it unfold in their time.

MS Dhoni's rise as a top cricketer has been a fascinating case study. It has defied the logical course in terms of captaincy, batting and even his route to the Indian team. Who better than Siddhartha Vaidaynathan(@sidvee on Twitter) to unpack the legend. 

Dhoni took over the reigns of the Indian team after the Chappell Ganguly era where the team was somewhat divided. His self assurance and leadership qualities paved the way for many an Indian success in the years to come. Vaidyanathan was able to do two exlcusive in-depth interviews with Dhoni during the later's tenure as captain and feels he was able to get a lot out of the Indian caprtain during this old exclusive chat - https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22894218/if-there-commitment-victory-me . 

Besides being very popular Dhoni has also been an immensely polarizing figure due to the treatment of some of the senior members of the team during his watch as captain. In typical Dhoni manner he held most of his cards very close to his chest and did not let many people in - which made him a very different subject for the media community to work on. Vaidyanathan addresses the impact of Dhoni the cricketer and how the culture of the team changed on and off the field. This conversation is an attempt at a deeper dive on Dhoni the cricketer. 

Mike Brearley OBE is one of the most decorated cricketers of all time and arguably the best captain England ever had. His work transcends beyond cricket to psychoanalysis and book writing. In this episode of the podcast he talks about leadership, captaincy and his upcoming book - Spirit of Cricket. In typical Brealey fashion he decomposes some of the complex topics that separate the laws from the spirit itself. The podcast covers some of those topics like leadership, walking, cheating, sledging and preparation of pitches when viewed from the spirit of the game context. A must listen for any cricket student!

Under Clive Lloyd the West Indies became one of the most dominant teams of all time. This transformation came at the heels of a 5-1 series loss against Australia in 1975-76. This loss changed the approach of West Indies team forever and it drove Lloyd to create his own pace battery of world class fast bowlers. And the rest is history.

Simon Lister joins Saqib Ali on this episode to talk about the legend of Clive Lloyd and his legacy as one of the most influential cricket captains of all time. Lister is the author of "Super Cat" and "Fire in Babylon". 

The conversation explores the leadership traits of Lloyd and his successor Viv Richards in depth. Under their collective watch the West Indies team reached unparalleled heights. Lister explands on the different journeys and background of both men and how that shaped their leadership and cricket in general. While their approach and on-field demeanor was quite different the results remained the same for West Indies in that glorious period of dominance.

In this episode of the podcast host Saqib Ali is joined by longtime English fan Kevin Framp(@bigKev67 on twitter) and freelance cricket writer Edd Oliver(@Eddoliver1 on twitter). In an informal chat the trio talks about the recently concluded Wisden trophy. Jason Holder's decision to bowl first in the last two tests gets magnified in this episode. Framp and Oliver both agree that for the West Indies to be a force again in test cricket their batting has to improve in terms of consolidating starts into big innings. They give Holder his due respect as he has made the West Indies into a respectable outfit during his leadership.

According to Oliver things are looking good at the top for England with the new opening combination of Burns and Sibley. Framp explains why Buttler's ODI record gets in the way of the fans and critics to continue to expect more from him in the longer format of the game. 

Last but the not the least the podcast focuses on Stokes and Broad on their big series. Stokes cannot seem to put a foot wrong and he is already according to some a better all rounder than Sir Ian Botham. Tune in to hear what Framp and Oliver had to say about Stokes!