Trigger Warning: Strong Language has been used in this conversation. Listener discretion is advised.

In this episode, Raj, Aditya and MV are joined by Behram Qazi to discuss the life of a Pakistani journalist covering world cricket.Behram has been the subject of constant online hate from across the border for his national identity and this does take an effect on his mental health.It will be clear to those who listen that Behram is well travelled, well read and is constantly asserting inclusiveness in his conversations even if online hate is now part of his daily life and work.

Today, we have the best cricket writer of our times - Gideon Haigh to discuss

the life and times of the greatest cricketer that ever lived - Shane Keith Warne.

13th September 2024 would have been his 55th birthday.

Gideon has of course, written extensively on Warne, chiefly his 2012 book - On Warne, and keenly followed his career and after.

We discuss tough art of leg spin, the legacy of Warne as a spinner, and beyond,

Gideon’s fondness of Warne and the ensuing sympathy while being critical of

Warne’s misgivings like match-fixing & the use of banned substances, how

Warne was as a captain, Jarrod Kimber, writing on cricketers you’re close to &

‘the sheer indomitable will of Shane Warne’ amongst other things.

Gideon Haigh’s work can now be followed on https://www.cricketetal.com/

He has written 50 books which you can find here - https://

www.gideonhaigh.com/bibliography/

You can buy his book On Warne - https://bit.ly/4gb45Nk

Book Recommendations

No Spin by Shane Warne - https://bit.ly/4dJS5k9

Warne in Wisden - https://bit.ly/47abQ1K

Nostalgia Pod: The Best Test Innings vs India

In another trip down nostalgia’s lane, we do a snake-style draft to discuss the Best Test Innings vs India.

Joining today on the pod are the 2 Adityas, Raj, Nishant & MV.

15 innings/

performances which captured our imagination.

Jayasuriya 340 - AdityaP

KP 186 - RSS

Akmal 113 - Nishant

Baz McCullum 302 - Aditya1

Steve Smith 109 - MV

Ollie Pope 196 - MV

Dinesh Chandimal 162 & 59 - Aditya1

Afridi 141 - Nishant

Younis Khan 267 - RSS

Clarke 329 - AdityaP

Andy Flower -232 AdityaP

Jimmy Adams 174* & 78* - RSS

Hayden 203 Nishant

Travis Head 162 - Aditya1

Saeed Anwar 188 - MV

We rant about the Indian Olympic coverage, and a lot of sports tak.

We do a draft India-Pak squad purely on nostalgia and vibes. Discuss fond memories of the players along the way.

Michael Sanders is a professor of Public Policy at King’s

College, London and the director of the experimental

Government team & on this pod we discuss his latest

paper - Built it and they will search - The impact of

using double-header fixtures to boost the profile of

women’s cricket

Paper Link - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/double-header-matches-boost-

interest-in-womens-cricket-study-finds

King’s College Profile - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/michael-sanders

Twitter Profile - https://x.com/mike_t_sanders

Best of Cricket Substack by Tarutr Malhotra - https://

bestofcricket.substack.com/

In this episode, we discuss cricket analytics, growing the game, quantifying pressure/clutch in sport with one of the pre-eminent analysts in our game, Tim Wigmore.

Tim Wigmore is a sports writer for The Daily Telegraph, and has also written for The Economist, The New York Times, ESPNCricinfo and The New Statesman amongst others. He has written many books and we will be discussing his books and cricket writing in this episode. He has a unique lens on Cricket having covered the Associates extensively and thereon written about them and the global game. His books provide us a worldview into the past and the future with topics as diverse as the history of Afghanistan Cricket to deep dives into the process England followed to become double WC champions. We discussed T20 cricket, data v narrative, Afghanistan and the future of world cricket with respect to the short sightedness of those who run the game before rounding up with book recommendations from Tim Crickonomics: The Anatomy of Modern Cricket: Amazon US - https://bit.ly/3WuDTW0 Amazon UK – https://bit.ly/4fbFW8I Amazon India - https://bit.ly/4de3yrB Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution Amazon US - https://bit.ly/46moTgg Amazon UK - https://bit.ly/4feeLKw Amazon India – https://bit.ly/4faNRTI The Best: How Elite Athletes are Made Amazon US - https://bit.ly/3Y8hKhq Amazon UK – https://bit.ly/4fbFJ5q Amazon India - https://bit.ly/3zSdFE0 White Hot: The Inside Story of England Cricket’s Double World Champions Amazon US - https://bit.ly/3Wz7pKl Amazon UK - https://bit.ly/3WcF8rw Amazon India – https://bit.ly/4cVIDda Second XI: Cricket In Its Outposts Amazon US - https://bit.ly/3SgN5eb Amazon UK – https://bit.ly/4fcqVmW Amazon India - https://bit.ly/4bT8ErS Pre-Order his next book on Amazon UK – Test Cricket: A History - https://bit.ly/3yic7Tb Recommendations from Tim Wigmore Pundits from Pakistan by Rahul Bhattacharya - https://bit.ly/3LJwETG Beyond a Boundary by CLR James - https://bit.ly/3A0e9Ik The Unquiet Ones by Osman Samiuddin - https://bit.ly/4bTKM7G Different Class Duncan Stone - https://bit.ly/4fcYq8V