On this pod, Richa and MV are joined by Eddie Fitzgibbon.

Eddie is a former ICC Development Manager; he was the director of operations for Cricket All Stars and now runs a sports management consultancy.

Eddie's pieces on his Substack provide a window into the immense potential of Cricket as a global sport, offering a plethora of suggestions for improving the game through minor tweaks or by borrowing from other sports. It's not just about the players but keeping the fan at the centre of a lot of these conversations.

We discuss the importance of World Cups, the need for Cabo Verde in a football WC, a Grey's Anatomy reference, journey of Associate teams and lack of clarity, Caitlyn Clark, GenZ (where have we heard that before?) and the burning question: What would Elon Musk do if he bought Cricket?

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✍️ We write not so regularly on Substack. You can read our work here.

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On this week’s PCCI pod, Richa, Sarthak, Nishant, Aditya, and MV discuss Rahane’s retirement and our best memories of his career, Gabba comes up once or thrice. We also discuss the ‘kesariya’ Indian Hockey Jersey, FIFA-UEFA jugalbandi, and Clicky Ponting type cricket ‘bodmosi’, the one off Women’s Lords Test between India and England, as well as the appointment of Fleming as the new Red Ball Manager successor to Baz.

We also deep dive into the PCCI staff piece on Substack ‘Your cricketing heroes, they don’t really care about us’ and why Sachin and Kohli toe the party line.

If you have some feedback for us, do write in to us on [email protected]

Before we start this epsiode, we would like to extend our deepest condolences on the passing of a member of our PCCI and BJPod community, Sourabh. Sourabh ji was always a huge supporter of our content since the early days and eager to share his thoughts on Indian and world cricket. Rest in Peace.

In this episode, we discuss the recent developments from the ICC board meeting at Edinburgh and the last minute shrinking of the ICC ODI World Cup to be held in SA in 2027. We have with us Bertus de Jong, who first broke this story. Follow Bertus's substack - https://substack.com/@outsidethecircle/posts

and twitter - https://x.com/BdJcricket?lang=en

We review the dual whitewashes and come up with solutions to ease GG's woes. Also, some tangential football WC chat, and uncle suggestions.

We discuss how FIFA has learned some of its tricks from Jay Shah and ask if cricket was always ahead of its time. The discussion moves to how gatekept cricket is, and how it fails to even get the basics of organizing a sporting event wrong, again and again. The discussion moves onto the idea of expanding the sport, and what holds it back.

In this episode, we have Sarthak, Nishant, Raj, Richa, and MV to discuss the burning topics of the day - Trishul on live telly, Homeopathy, how the average fan is thought as a noob by the broadcaster and above all the Joy of Watching Sport in different timezones and what it does to us being a fan and our growth as fans.

We talk about how difficult this IPL has been to watch, KKR's misfortunes, GT's bowling, the return of Bhuvi, bouncers from Krunal, a possible Klaasen Orange Cap(?), a lot about Mumbai Indians, what are bowlers?, who is Vaibhav Suryavanshi, how will Punjab be remembered?

Sarthak wrote a piece earlier today talking about how IPL became inert. Read it here.

29 games in.

We review the teams based on their current position on the points table.

Joining Richa and MV are Aravint and Karan

We deep-dive into the conspiracy theories surrounding Mumbai Indians, briefly wonder if the Indian Premier League is basically the male version of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, and spend more time dissecting Kolkata Knight Riders than they probably have themselves, before getting stuck in mid-table traffic.

We also take a few (okay, many) digs at Lucknow Super Giants, debate Rajasthan Royals’ inevitable late-season fade despite one panelist backing them to win it all, break down Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s newfound efficiency, and make the case for Punjab Kings as the team to beat this year.

In this episode we have Richa, MV, Nishant, Vatsal and Asad to preview the teams.

Highlights from the discussion include:

• Gujarat Titans get the Dr. Watson treatment from Asad capable, dependable, but forever in someone else's shadow
• MV finds yet another excuse to crowbar Succession characters into a cricket conversation, to no one's particular surprise
• Vatsal braces KKR fans for what looks like another season of frustrating mediocrity
• Nishant isn't buying what the Punjab Kings are selling this year
• Sarthak, Nishant, and MV talk about the absurdity of Ryan Rickleton's age and QdK's selection chances. Not to miss their chat about Rohit and the short-haired man.
• Richa & MV discuss the madness behind the trade of Sanju Samson and what lies ahead

Listen in!

In this episode, we dive into detailed previews of RCB, CSK, DC, LSG, and SRH as we gear up for the season.

Richa kicks things off with a deep dive into Royal Challengers Bangalore.

For the Delhi Capitals segment, we’re joined by Arvint and Karan from Capitals Blood, alongside Raghav, as they break down the squad, key storylines, and what to expect this year.

Vatsal takes the lead on Lucknow Super Giants, analysing their balance and potential combinations, while Sarthak covers both Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, looking at how these teams are shaping up.