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Review of 'Two Nations, One Obsession'

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  Harsha Bhogle has a knack for putting things in a way everyone would wish they could. In the first part of the documentary ‘Two Nations, One Obsession’, Bhogle elucidates what makes the Indo-Australian rivalry in cricket different from the one that India has had with Pakistan over the years. The history of wars with the arch-rivals, according to Bhogle, means that cricket against them is never just cricket for Team India. With Australia, however, it’s different. The intensity of the competition remains the same minus the baggage of history and that produces some of the finest cricketing action. Bhogle is one of the several people trying to decode the obsession that both the countries have with the game and how that has clashed over the years in ‘Two Nations, One obsession’ which is now streaming on Discovery+ app. The task at the hand of the director Peter Dickson was not an easy one considering the rich history of this cricketing rivalry. However, by getting the duo of Harsha ...
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Review of Capturing Cricket: Steve Waugh in India

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  Two decades ago, Steve Waugh brought his all-conquering team to the Indian shores with the hopes of capturing the ‘Final Frontier’ as he called it. The mission proved unsuccessful and one of cricket’s most successful leaders had to end his career without winning a Test series in India. The Waugh that we encounter on our screens in 2021 has grey hair to go with a bit of a paunch, has a small team of three, and doesn’t look half as tough as the man under the Baggy Green looked when he came out to toss in Mumbai, the venue of the first Test match two decades ago. His ambition this time though was in no way smaller than his ambition from two decades ago.   In Capturing Cricket: Steve Waugh in India, the veteran of 168 Tests takes on the challenge of capturing the country’s unparalleled obsession with the game through the lens of his camera. He has the company and the guidance of photographer Trent Parke as well his friend Jason Brooks who provides the flavor of humor in the do...
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The story of the only time I played cricket in 2020

 As much as I love cricket, I have to admit I suck at playing it. I always have. This bit of information is important for the story that I am about to tell. A story of a friend. A story of a friendship. This short story began a long time ago in my life. I was probably twelve years old when I began playing cricket with the kids from my colony. After years of dominating my drawing room cricket where the opposition primarily consisted of the wall and the furniture, I found the going more than just tough initially despite finding a group of kids who were extremely supportive and never nasty. However, when you are young, being shy and introverted with terrible skills means that you’re often ‘hidden’ in a team sport i.e you are batting lower down the order and are the last bowler whose services the captain will ask for. You neither are good enough to participate more actively nor are you vocal enough to ask the more established players to give you a go. For much of my growing up years, t...
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For the sake of truth, let cricket archivists breathe!

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The image of Brett Lee and Andrew Flintoff taken at the end of the 2005 Edgbaston is iconic in so many ways. So much that I don’t even need to post it for you to tell which image I am talking about. And why not? It came at the end of a nail-biting Ashes contest in one of the greatest Test series of all marking a moment of great empathy and compassion between two champions of the game. And you all know the story behind the photograph too.  But you haven’t seen this image. And you most probably don’t know the story of this image. Here’s what happened. Michael Holding while bowling a 1987 ODI to Ian Botham pulled his hamstring after delivering the ball. Interestingly, while he clutched his thigh he also realized that the ball has popped in the air and he went on to catch that ball with his outstretched hand. What followed is something very interesting. Botham who had just gotten out realized that the bowler is in terrible pain and while on his way to the pavilion, he gave Holding’s te...
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Names On a Scorecard

Indian cricket took a quantum leap with the advent of the Indian Premier League in 2008 which transformed almost every dimension of an Indian cricket fan’s relationship with the game. Among the many well-documented changes that resulted from its arrival on the scene, one of the most positive was the elevation of fringe cricketers to the mainstream. The likes of Swapnil Asnodkar, Rajat Bhatia, Manoj Tiwary who were toiling away in domestic cricket for years were as visible as a Zaheer Khan or Sourav Ganguly for those two months of the Indian Premier League, and in some cases, as well paid. Although domestic cricket continues to be played across the country in front of empty stands even now, lives of a lot of domestic cricketers did change courtesy the Lalit Modi brainchild.  Another fairly unimportant fallout of the league was to affect me personally. In this piece, I want to talk about that - the change in the relationship I shared with the stars of domestic cricket before the IPL ...
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Random Cricket Photos Post 129

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# RandomCricketPhotosThatMakeMeHappy One thing that most people seem to remember from Monty Panesar's brief but eventful career is his inimitable style of super exuberant celebrations. In his book 'Monty's Turn', Panesar takes us to the origins of those celebrations. Such a massive fan he was of Sachin Tendulkar while growing up that he had a poster of the Indian batsman on his bedroom wall. In fact, in 1996, when Indian team played a tour game against Northamptonshire, he to ok his bat to get it signed by the little master. He recounts how he and his friends jumped and danced in joy in the stands when Sachin raised his bat in their direction upon reaching his 50. 5 years later when he toured India with England U-19s, he went back home with a massive collection of Sachin posters to adorn his bedroom walls with. 10 years later, making his Test debut against the man he grew up admiring, he managed to conjure up a delivery that beat Sachin's bat ...
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Random Cricket Photos Post 128

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# RandomCricketPhotosThatMakeMeHappy Seems like a fairly harmless photograph, right? Well, some English fans did get 'harmed' as a result of this moment in the photograph. This is a photograph from the West Indies vs England Test at Lord's in 1966. It shows a cricketer who has just completed his ton in the second innings being lifted by an over enthusiastic fan who has found his way to the middle, as fans so often used to back in the day. The batsman was none other than the gr eat Sir Gary Sobers whose 274 run partnership with his cousin David Holford had rescued West Indies from a precarious 96-5 in the match. In England's second innings and the fourth innings of the match, several English fan inspired by the West Indies fan decided to fete their hero of the innings the same way. The only problem this time around was that the man who scored a century for England - Colin Milburn - weighed 112 kilograms. So, once he completed his ton, out came several ...
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