full
Cricket and the Media: A Discourse on Coverage and Responsibility
The current landscape of cricket journalism and television coverage is characterized by a significant decline in quality and depth, as discussed in our latest podcast episode. We explore how the monopolistic tendencies of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have led to a homogenization of narratives, focusing excessively on celebrity players while neglecting broader analytical discourse. Our dialogue also delves into the implications of rising jingoism in sports media, which appears to cater more to sensationalism than substantive cricketing insights. Furthermore, we address the emergence of fan culture that prioritizes tribalism over appreciation for the sport itself, reflecting a troubling shift in societal attitudes. Join us as we dissect these pressing issues and consider the future of cricket coverage in an increasingly polarized media environment.
Link
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Last Wicket.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Benny.
Speaker A:Thank you for joining us folks.
Speaker A:We have some special guests on the pod today.
Speaker A:First of all, joining me is my co host, Mike.
Speaker A:Hey, Mike.
Speaker B:Hey everyone.
Speaker A:And we have two hosts from the PCCI podcast, Aditya and mv.
Speaker A:Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker C:Hello.
Speaker D:Thanks for having us.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:We're so glad that you joined us for our listeners.
Speaker A:Can you guys share a little bit, One of you share a little bit about your podcast and why they should listen to both you guys and us as well.
Speaker C: ing episodes, sometime around: Speaker C:You know, we used to do a lot of these nostalgia episodes looking back at players like Ame Khurasiya and Noel David and like all those forgotten legends of Indian cricket.
Speaker C:But then I think progressively, I think you, if you continue listening to us, we are also like a very political bunch in that sense.
Speaker C:We believe in this idea that you can't keep sport away from politics as people keep pushing like popularly like keep sport away from politics.
Speaker C: o with how progressively post: Speaker C:And then a lot of that monopoly also then has to do with how the ruling party in India now uses the BCCI as a, as a tool, you know, to push majoritarian narratives and, and then all of that, you know, like these, all of this looks like individual threads.
Speaker C:But then if you to zoom out and look at it, the way star sports and Indian media pushes cricket and the way it analyzes cricket, like the increase in jingoism in all cricketing coverage and all of that, I think a lot of what we speak about is progressively became about that and a lot less about the actual sport.
Speaker C:You know, may not be to most people's liking, which I can understand that if you listen to a cricket podcast, you might want to listen to, you know, analyzing control percentages and more about how.
Speaker C:How many degrees the wall swung in Old Trafford last year.
Speaker C:But we are less about that and more about how narratives around the sport get pushed and how subconsciously they play with identity and all of this.
Speaker A:Yeah, and I think that's important because as we will probably talk about, there is.
Speaker A:There are all types of content in cricket.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:We don't have to be confined to one specific thing, like just the points that you mentioned.
Speaker A:I feel like Mayank is, like, very strong in those areas, if you want to talk technique.
Speaker A:But then there are other parts of cricket, like, just the parts that you mentioned, like, things that are not very obvious when you just follow the game and then you switch off.
Speaker A:There are things happening behind the scenes and.
Speaker A:And I think all of that shapes the game, how it is played on the field as well.
Speaker A:We just don't know if we're not following it.
Speaker A:So I think that's where the quality of journalism, the quality of cricket writing in general, I think those are all important.
Speaker A:But before we get into that, I am curious as a fellow.
Speaker A:Yeah, sorry, go ahead.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Just one little thing to follow up.
Speaker C:If you listen to a lot of our episodes and the stuff that we speak about, we might come across it with a very bitter bunch.
Speaker C:But we promise you, like, a lot of this comes from a place of love for this sport, you know, and how cricket as a sport has so much to give, and it's given us so much in terms of the people we are.
Speaker C:But then the way it's run and the.
Speaker C:The kind of monopolization of this sport stops it from becoming this.
Speaker C:A much bigger game than it is right now.
Speaker C:So I think a lot of it comes from the frustration of that.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Coming from that space.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And it's good to be passionate.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You're passionate about the game, and that's why you feel that way.
Speaker A:The worst thing that you can have is apathy and not, like, care at all.
Speaker A:I think that's worse than not having any strong feelings.
Speaker A:But, mv, I'm very curious, as you know, as a fellow cricket podcast host, when you, you know, when you have these discussions, when you have these conversations, do you do it?
Speaker A:Do you have these because you have some sort of hope that through these conversations, change will take place?
Speaker A:Or does it just feel sort of cathartic to just talk about it, even if you're just frustrated about how things are going on?
Speaker D:I think the joke on our podcast is that nobody listens to us.
Speaker D:So I think we're not that hopeful about change, but I think it's about being on the right side of history in any way or form.
Speaker D:I mean, yeah, 20 years down the line, probably, I can tell my kid that, yeah, we didn't like what was happening in cricket back then.
Speaker D:I mean, because.
Speaker D:I mean, we.
Speaker D:Because by.
Speaker D:By design, kids in India are going to be obsessed about cricket, and by design, at some stage of their life.
Speaker D:They are going to be like, what were you doing when this was happening in the bcci?
Speaker D:And and so on, so forth.
Speaker D:So I think I'm keeping myself accountable to that, at least from some point of view.
Speaker D:I think you had asked us why we should listen to the last wicket.
Speaker D:I think one of the things that I like is that there is so much nostalgia, value and longevity attached to a lot of your episodes.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker D:Simple stuff like something that can be brushed off.
Speaker D:But I had enjoyed that conversation quite a lot was the one with Arun Lal where he had explained that there are different types of commentaries, one for newbies and one for people who already know the game.
Speaker D:Stuff like that was great.
Speaker D:And I mean, nobody's done a podcast with.
Speaker D:I think very few people will have even read the book Different Class by Duncan Stone.
Speaker D:So stuff like that has been really, really interesting to sometimes just go back and listen to them again and again.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I appreciate the shout out.
Speaker A:Personally.
Speaker A:The episode with Arun Lal was probably one of our top three, I would say it was a completely unexpected person for me at least from whatever I watched him on air talking about cricket and to the person that he was when we spoke with him.
Speaker A:Very insight and very, very genuine.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So if people haven't listened to that, please do check it out.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:All right, let's get into the discussion.
Speaker A:I'll let mine take over from here.
Speaker A:But we are talking about quality of cricket coverage, quality of cricket journalism.
Speaker A:Obviously, you guys, Aditya NV have probably done a lot of have.
Speaker A:If you've not recorded episodes on these, you probably talked about a lot about these.
Speaker A:So I think it's a good time to get into it because as you guys hinted, there's been a change in the landscape of cricket coverage.
Speaker A:You know, how it is covered either like be it television, be it social media or other forms of media.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, Mike.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, just looking at the quality of coverage and, you know, even in the last 15 years, I feel like that has changed substantially.
Speaker B:There are now all these shows which are, you know, fairly mainstream.
Speaker B:The Sports Yari show, there's Vikrant Gupta, there's Rev Sports with Borya Majumdar leading that, which have become more and more popular.
Speaker B:And the way they discuss topics and the way, you know, they have access to players is almost unprecedented because I feel like, you know, we've had Vijay Lokapelli on our podcast who's, you know, an old school journalist, and he talked about how there would be some access to all players when they were touring with teams.
Speaker B:But now clearly it's at another level.
Speaker B:So I guess maybe I want to start with that topic.
Speaker B:And what have you guys noticed with, you know, just the way coverage happens with, you know, shows like these individuals like these, and especially the access that they have to specific players or admin administrators.
Speaker C:I think maybe if I can go first, the general.
Speaker C:So I'm pretty sure that a lot of the sports here, sports, the kind of audience always existed somewhere in the ecosystem.
Speaker C:You know, like there is always space for that.
Speaker C:But I think the problem has been like, even before I get to that, a lot of the problem has to be the mainstreamization of a sports CR sp, the kind of narrative and analysis.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker C:Like how, how do you differentiate the Star Sports coverage of today from any of these?
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:There's a very thin line that separates them, if there is a line at all anymore.
Speaker C:Because you had Wase and Ify on Star Sports for the Champions Trophy as panelists, like remote panelists.
Speaker C:So that's how bad they are and that's what they think their audiences are.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker C:You no longer have space for, say, an Ian Chapel, Tony Cozier kind of a panel on Star Sports because I think Star Sports themselves, like in the name of very local, hyper localized content, they have gone for this assumption.
Speaker C:That large set of Indian cricketing audience doesn't really care about the sport.
Speaker C:What they want is jingoism.
Speaker C:What they want is idol worshiping of a select few players who they identify as the marketable brands and so on.
Speaker C:And Sports Theory and sportstuck kind of all more like an extreme variant of the same.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So, and, and I'm pretty sure like the way things are going right now.
Speaker C:So people who have tasted sports ARI and SportsTech as everyday analysis shows, why would they even stick with Star Sports anymore?
Speaker C:Because you aren't getting anything better.
Speaker C:Like you aren't getting cricketing analysis anyway.
Speaker C:So you don't get depth there.
Speaker C:So you would rather go for the, you know, the, the pulpy nonsense that Sushant Mehta and serve you every couple of hours.
Speaker C:So, so that's what we call, like when we talk about this, we call, we refer to SportsTech as the Gateway drug and then Sports Theory is the premium extreme version of it, basically.
Speaker B:I really find it interesting about the Star Sports ads.
Speaker B:And admittedly having watched cricket on Willow and US coverage, I've seen fewer of those than you guys probably have.
Speaker B:But they've definitely gone to another extreme in terms of.
Speaker B:Well, ads is one thing.
Speaker B:You know, every series comes up and they come up with some ridiculous ad.
Speaker B:But I think the other aspect is just, just the focus on the megastars.
Speaker B:As you were mentioning, how has, I mean, I don't think growing up in India I ever saw that happen.
Speaker B:Like, it was always about the team or the performer on the day.
Speaker B:As ordinary as commentary was.
Speaker B:And it's, it's been ordinary for a while.
Speaker B:Like, I remember Ravi Shastri starter pack being a thing on Twitter because he used to use the same 12 lines but now it's gone to an extreme where it's not just that same 12 lines that he uses, but it's also very much focused on the Virat Kohlis and the Rohit Sharmas of the world mvl.
Speaker B:I'll bring you in here on thoughts on that.
Speaker B:Like, how has, I guess, have you seen the Indian journalists have.
Speaker B:Obviously, you know, somebody like Ravi Shastri has started talking a lot more about these things.
Speaker B:But I feel like I've started seeing a trend where these commentary panels are pushing and these coverage, these companies are pushing the coverage to be so much more, you know, focused on them that you're seeing more and more foreign commentators also kind of fall in line.
Speaker D: t switched in this country in: Speaker D:I mean, if you guys can put your finger to it, that's great.
Speaker D:But, but think about it from the lens that there is a hero worship happening all across this country.
Speaker D:So it's only natural that that would shift to cricket as well, which is the gateway drug for everybody.
Speaker D:I mean, sports is the opium of the masses, all of that put here.
Speaker D:The other thing is that the broadcasters have become very, very smart.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So broadcasters know exactly what sells and if the broad, because not less.
Speaker D:Like I think about two years ago we, we started having hero cams as well in India now.
Speaker D:So you could have, you could watch 90 overs the entire day just watching Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli.
Speaker D:Just, just that, stuff like that.
Speaker D:We've had cartoons on Virat Kohli, I think maybe five years ago, Super V or something.
Speaker D:So I think all of this is just going to increase.
Speaker D:It's not going to decrease to touch upon, let's say a senior commentator like Ravi Shastri.
Speaker D:I think one point that completely gets ignored by everybody is that he is managing Virat Kohli.
Speaker D:I mean, how is that not an open conflict of interest?
Speaker D:Whenever he talks anything about Virat Kohli, like in the Australia tour, he was telling he at least has two or years in him.
Speaker D:In the England tour, he's telling I Think he took the right call, he realized what his body wanted or something like that.
Speaker D:I mean you know how, how he'll justify it.
Speaker D:Like I mean Shastri is so smart, he's justifying.
Speaker D:He, he said that nobody 1 lakh people will not turn up for a WTC final in Ahmedabad on Sky Sports because that's what the mass wanted to hear.
Speaker D:But that week he went on the Wisden podcast and said why not have it in Ahmedabad?
Speaker D:So I mean what do you, what do you say to that?
Speaker D:This is, this is, this is how this country is.
Speaker D:I mean we are a country with daddy issues.
Speaker D:So now we continuously need stars to, to look up to.
Speaker D:And, and you see that all across society.
Speaker D:Not just cricket, I'm saying all across society.
Speaker C:It's also about how I think there's also a.
Speaker C:So if you go back say 15 years ago like pre IPL cricket broadcasting in India.
Speaker C:So like say even late 90s was all about like you ESPN star had set up shop and then all the overseas broadcasts would just simply be their native feeds.
Speaker C:And then when the match goes on you get the native feed.
Speaker C: ,: Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C: : Speaker C:So you used to get the native channel 9 feed.
Speaker C: And by around: Speaker C:But then you would still see the commentary panels were like well represented.
Speaker C:You know, ESPN had its own what they used to call the League of Good Men or something of that sort.
Speaker C:So they had the commentary.
Speaker C:The touring commentary team for overseas tours, Test series would be boycott Alan Wilkins, Bhogli, Ian Chappel and then Gavaskar and Ravishastri would make it to all commentary teams across.
Speaker C:For some reason they were never contracted to one team or the other.
Speaker C:But that was a large bunch.
Speaker C:And then Sidhu would move in and out.
Speaker C:Sidhu was there for a large part.
Speaker C:Siddhu was the one outlier cringe element in that commentary box.
Speaker C:You know, he would give you what sports theory gives you.
Speaker C:But, but then I think that the problem now is that the mean and the mean has shifted more towards the Siddhu and your Ian Chapel is now the tail of the distribution.
Speaker C:So that's the problem, right?
Speaker C:You, you, that Ian Chapel kind of space is now occupied by a Ian Bishop, for example in today's commentary box.
Speaker C:And which is why we notice Ian Bishop so much, you know, because everyone else is a Sidhu now in the government.
Speaker C:Everyone wants to be a Siddhu.
Speaker C: ,: Speaker C: I think in the late: Speaker C:I think one Star Sports took over IPL broadcast is when they have completely like switched.
Speaker C:Star Sports doesn't care about opposition sides anymore because they are a casualty of a lot of what MV mentioned right now is the fact that there is an invisibilization of the opposition.
Speaker C:Opposition sides.
Speaker C:Now outside of say an AB deviliers or a couple of big names that you would have seen in the ipl, their commentary has no idea of say what a not so fancy name in South Africa or New Zealand would offer.
Speaker C:Like if a Jameson takes wickets against you because their memory of a Kyle Jameson or Dwayne Olivier would be of what someone was when they played a couple of games in the IPL.
Speaker C:You know, and when someone takes a 64 against you in a test match, they're like this is what sports theory does.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker C:They hype up.
Speaker C:That is what it has become.
Speaker C:Because none of them have any idea what cricket is outside of when India plays in it.
Speaker C:So I think that's a huge casualty of a lot of ignorant fans basically.
Speaker C:And I blame it on the broadcasters.
Speaker D:Yeah, and, and, and let's not forget, I mean why do we say Sportstuck is this gateway drug?
Speaker D:Sportstuck has 7.7 million subscribers on YouTube.
Speaker D:It's not a ordinary channel if you think.
Speaker D:I think sportstruck has led what, what I can like very easily call the, the realization or Instagramization of cricket coverage because they are there doing a live show before the last ball of that game is over.
Speaker D:They are there during lunch, dinner, whatever time you want.
Speaker D:I mean there is a sport.
Speaker D:There's somebody at sportstuck sharing some story.
Speaker D:Like you wake up at seven in the morning in India, there is one guy who's there at 6:30 and doing a 10 minute thing on what happened last night.
Speaker D:So it's crazy.
Speaker D:And, and the, and the Hindi belt largely, they love it.
Speaker D:They love it.
Speaker B:Benny, I'll bring you in.
Speaker B:I guess one of the things that comes to mind and I'm glad that we mentioned about, you know, commentary and the Ian Bishops of the world is but one of the things I'VE been curious about is from a broadcasting standpoint.
Speaker B:And I remember we had Hemant Butch on the podcast once and he talked about broadcasting and just how everything is managed.
Speaker B:Did we have a chance to ask him, because I'm trying to recall the episode and did we have a chance to ask him about fan cams and just the focus on Kohli and the Rohits of the world?
Speaker B:Because I do remember that being a topic, but I wasn't able to join the podcast.
Speaker B:Curious what a broadcaster, how a broadcaster justifies that.
Speaker B:Apart from, of course, you know, more clicks, more views, like, apart from that, what is, what possibly could be the justification for it?
Speaker A:I think we did.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:And if I'm correct, he did mention something that, you know, all of you have alluded to in one form or the other in the last few minutes.
Speaker A:They, the broadcasters are trying to give, or at least they're trying to rationalize that they're giving what the people want or what the people are asking for.
Speaker A:I don't think the majority, I mean, this is very honest opinion.
Speaker A:I don't think the majority of cricket watchers, let's say now, I'm not saying cricket fans, cricket watchers, I don't think the majority want detailed analysis anymore, like detailed breakdowns of the game or like, want to expand their understanding of the game.
Speaker A:There are sections, you know, of the watchers who are true fans of the game.
Speaker A:They can appreciate the game from both sides.
Speaker A:It's not always about my team winning or my team losing and every other game that does not involve my team, I don't really care.
Speaker A:So there are fans like that who genuinely want to understand more about the game.
Speaker A:So they will follow the writings of their favorite, you know, journalists or writers.
Speaker A:They are looking for those searching for those analytical videos on YouTube or in, like, live coverage.
Speaker A:But the majority of people, when they're watching the game, guess what?
Speaker A:They want to see their favorite players.
Speaker A:And I think the way the broadcasters are justifying it is, well, nobody really wants the serious stuff anyway.
Speaker A:So let's give them what they want.
Speaker A:Everybody's obsessed with Kohli.
Speaker A:Let's put one camera on K, give them that shot, even when it's nothing related to him.
Speaker A:Let's just cut to K's reaction.
Speaker A:And K gives that too, right?
Speaker A:Like he's the kind of person who reacts and he has emotion always all over his face.
Speaker A:He's perfect for this type of.
Speaker A:In this age of media consumption and what people want to see.
Speaker A:Also, it's perfect for the outrage generation.
Speaker A:That we have, I mean, you know, Envy mentioned, you know, like the reels or the, you know, like the TikTok generation that we have right now.
Speaker A:People want these short clips where they don't need any context, they just need something to get really upset about or outrage about.
Speaker A:And guess what?
Speaker A:Like, I think in every country probably to some extent they, they do this.
Speaker A:But I feel like India takes it to another level with the music, the visuals, you know, the blinking visuals, the Chirons.
Speaker A:And then they, they always want a hero and a villain element, right?
Speaker A:To every angle.
Speaker A:And so at the end of the day, this is what people consume, this is what people want, this is what people share on social media.
Speaker A:And we'll talk more about rather than why a certain player does well in like one continent compared to another.
Speaker A:And I think that's where broadcast is just like shifting to.
Speaker A:They are trying to give the people what they want.
Speaker A:And I don't think that's a good thing.
Speaker A:I mean, I think the responsibility of the broadcasters and media in general, you have the power to shape the narrative, right?
Speaker A:Yes, they.
Speaker A:The thing is, if people want all of this, they can find it themselves, like they can find it on social media.
Speaker A:But I think more mainstream journalists, mainstream writers and you know, the official broadcasters and I think we'll probably talk about that.
Speaker A:But like, I feel like Sky Sports does it decent job of that, where they try to blend in like technical analysis with discussions with players, like outside of the game, you know, where they're just like talking to them about like their life, but how that bleeds into how they view the game, how they work on their game and all of that.
Speaker A:So I think there's a good in between medium.
Speaker A:And for most part, cricket still hasn't found that sweet spot where it doesn't feel dumb to watch cricket anymore.
Speaker C:But again, just to add to that, I don't think, I think to an extent audiences might want that, but the onus of like educating the audiences and cultivating an audience also to an extent, it lies with the broadcasters, right?
Speaker C:So Sky Sports often does these packages around the tour.
Speaker C: cumentary of sorts around the: Speaker C:They have footage.
Speaker C:Why can't say, Star Sports do something which is not cringy around, say, whenever an India Australia series happens Walk you through an older tour, for example, during your tee time analysis or something.
Speaker C:It has nostalgia.
Speaker C: en they were touring India in: Speaker C:I don't think all of this would rank as really niche and like inaccessible kind of cricket packages which wouldn't.
Speaker C:This wouldn't have been out of place say 15 years ago.
Speaker C:That's what I'm saying.
Speaker C:Like it's not, it's not even like I'm not expecting cricketing view kind of hardcore analytics or numbers.
Speaker C:I, I feel that might be inaccessible for a lot of audiences, but this is just narrative driven, right?
Speaker C:Storytelling.
Speaker C:Even the anecdotal part of cricket coverage is not really of high quality like the Instagramization.
Speaker C:So the anecdotal side of this, what they've done is they've basically caricaturized everything, right?
Speaker C:So you see when Australia tours India, you would have a Matthew Hayden or a Scott Styris in a lungi playing cupboardi in Chennai and the gullies.
Speaker C:It's funny, maybe 20 years ago, when you are not so used to seeing white people in India or doing cricket commentary in India, how many times can you do it before it stops being funny?
Speaker C:So that's become the average of your cricket coverage in India, right?
Speaker C:It's every second thing that you see is basically some sort of a fringe fist and, and people genuinely do not have any appreciation as a result of the history of the game.
Speaker C:Everything that has gone before their time.
Speaker C:I haven't grown up watching a Malcolm Marshall or a Michael holding bully.
Speaker C:Like I, I'm not of that vintage.
Speaker C:But then you listen to these stories and you know a bit of.
Speaker C:Because cricket commentary would fall back on a lot of, a lot of previous stores and so on, right?
Speaker C:You don't see that happening anymore because Murlikarthik doesn't know, doesn't have memory of what happened on a previous tour.
Speaker C:Very commonly it was like this year when India won the first Test in Perth.
Speaker C: y untrue because Even like in: Speaker C:But again, because no one thinks there was a word before their time.
Speaker C:So cricket commentary is trying to serve to that audience.
Speaker C:I don't think Murlikartik or Deep Dasgupta can offer that, to be very honest, because they don't have that in them.
Speaker B:I, I think on that note, like you were talking about, you know, Nasir Hussain being in the Maidans of, of Bombay and, or the masterminds that ECB often holds.
Speaker B:The one thing common to that is there is some sort of preparation.
Speaker B:Like maybe Nasser Hussain doesn't need that much preparation to walk the Maidhans of Bombay.
Speaker B:But masterminds, for example, they need three, four people.
Speaker B:They'll say, okay, we'll talk about your flipper, your googly or leg spin, something like that.
Speaker B:There's a little bit of prep to it.
Speaker B:And sure, for cricketers, that may not feel like prep, that may feel pretty natural.
Speaker B:One of the things that I found really shocking was we.
Speaker B:I had Murali Karthik on the podcast a long time back, and one of the things I asked him was, what is the prep you do going into a game?
Speaker B:And he basically said, oh, I don't do any prep.
Speaker B:I just show up.
Speaker B:And, you know, it just shows, unfortunately, just shows, like now that I'm trying to shit on somebody who gave us some time.
Speaker B:But yeah, commentary standards just shows.
Speaker B:And on the other spectrum, you have somebody like Ian Bishop who's sitting with the analyst and making notes about every small Indian player coming through the IPL and has a knowledge about their background.
Speaker B:So I don't think, like, even with the broadcasters moving a certain direction, and I absolutely agree that they need to be held accountable to drive the right narrative.
Speaker B:Even then, there is space.
Speaker B:If you wanted to do it.
Speaker B:There is the.
Speaker B:There is a reason why everybody appreciates Ian Bishop.
Speaker B:And yeah, that, that, that still is, you know, a little bit of shock to me.
Speaker B:What I was also thinking about, as I was thinking about this podcast, is the mastermind, the ECB thing, where they have the, you know, screen on the field between the, in the breaks and they discuss something, you know, strategic or maybe sometimes they'll show field placement, things like that.
Speaker B:Is ECB the only one?
Speaker B:I was really trying to scratch my hand and think if super sport does a better job at South Africa or I, I don't, I think Australia, I don't see that same level of analysis either.
Speaker B:Have you guys noticed it Elsewhere or do you think like that Fox is terrible?
Speaker C:I think, I think Fox is really bad.
Speaker C:But Channel 7 does a really good job.
Speaker C:I think they're free to air.
Speaker C:So I think Australia has two flavors.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So one is the free to air version with Channel 7 during their home summer and they have really good analysis and it's very professionally done and almost like spiritual successors to Channel nine in some sense.
Speaker C:But Fox Sports is really bad.
Speaker C:They're like, they could all be people wearing MAGA hats in another universe basically.
Speaker C:So like Mark 4 and Shane 1 even as a commentator wasn't a really good analysis.
Speaker C:Like Chane one might have been a good analyst, but Chenone the commentator was, wasn't really good for the longest time.
Speaker C:I think super sport actually was really good for the longest period.
Speaker C:I don't think they have the money any anymore or something of that something has fallen there.
Speaker C: the super sports coverage of: Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:And I'm, I think pound for pound, for all the money that they have, no one does a worse job of broadcasting than, than the BCCI does because nowhere else does the board produce critic cricketing content.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker C:BCCI is an outlier and maybe PCB does it, I'm not sure.
Speaker C:But nowhere else does the board produce the content.
Speaker C:It's always the channels doing it.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So the channels have their broadcasting rights and they do the production.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker C:It's the same in South Africa, Australia, wherever, like even Ireland and West Indies.
Speaker C:The West Indies cricket board is in producing the content for them.
Speaker C:So I think that's something unique to bcc.
Speaker C:Then they get to, they get to police everything that's said, they get to police everything that can go out and all of that.
Speaker C:I think that's a huge difference between the BCCI and the rest.
Speaker B:That's, that's a great point.
Speaker B:I'd not thought about it that way.
Speaker B:But yeah, you're right.
Speaker B:And, and that is kind of why like all these commentators are always on their toes with regards to, you know, criticizing the BCCI or even a stadium for that matter, you know, criticizing.
Speaker C:Because they are on BCCI's payroll.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Blazers.
Speaker D:They wear BCCI blazers.
Speaker C:Blazers.
Speaker C:As opposed to say a Hussain or a Atherton.
Speaker C:They work for Sky Sports, the ecb.
Speaker C:It's a huge difference.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And again Sky Sports and ECB might have a long tie up and all of that but it's still a big difference.
Speaker B:And, and I think that is what is the reason why, you know, somebody like Ravi Shastri can say, oh yeah, we should hold it at the Motera or the World Test Championship should be at Narendra Modi Stadium.
Speaker B:That's the reason they can say that despite knowing that.
Speaker B:Forget the fact that we won't fill it out.
Speaker B:Also the fact that just the people who get in or get out have to go through, you know, so many steps and it's not a pleasant experience at all.
Speaker B:But they'll never talk about it.
Speaker B:They'll never be able to talk about, hey, even if they know about it, you know, we've had a test match.
Speaker B:Was it last year, I think in Pune where they didn't have water for the first day, they just forgot to arrange water for the spectators.
Speaker B:But obviously mainstream media will never be able to cover it.
Speaker C:They can't as much tweet about it.
Speaker C:Like forget talking about it on commentary.
Speaker C:They can't even do it on in an unofficial capacity because they know that that will have ramifications.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B: I was thinking of is back in: Speaker B:And the day before, as I was traveling, I was driving to Southampton and listening to Testmat Sofa and the commentary was just amazing.
Speaker B:Like that commentary, like very descriptive.
Speaker B:I felt like even though my eyes were on the road, I knew exactly what Chhateshwar Pujara was doing at the crease.
Speaker B:You know, it was very descriptive, really well paced and, and just also describing the narrative of the situation.
Speaker B:It was like I was in the stadium, I understood the tension of the moment and I obviously growing up, I've heard that.
Speaker B:And while I wouldn't or say the commentary standard and radio commentary standard in India was always good, there were definitely some really good commentators back in the day.
Speaker B:Have you guys seen that go away completely or do you still see that being present?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I used to listen to a lot of radio commentary till until say 25th, 13th, 14ish, maybe till it FM was still a big deal.
Speaker C:Everyone used to have those plasticky thing.
Speaker C:But I think last decade, most of the last decade I have not been in India so I think MV might have more to add there.
Speaker D:No, even I haven't heard anything in the.
Speaker D:I think, I think there is, there is this thing and we must recognize at least our privilege of the upward mobility we've had that we've not had to listen to radio.
Speaker D:In fact, the only radio that I listen to, probably two that I, that I definitely listen to is one is the guerrilla cricket for all the English games.
Speaker D:And, and now Jared and Alex Tudor and bunch of them, they do a very good job at Talksport trying to explain the game.
Speaker D:I think India has a rich history.
Speaker D:If we have to talk about in terms of radio, radio alone.
Speaker D:I mean, the biggest name in cricket radio at one point in time was AFS Taliar Khan.
Speaker D:So there is very little to look back since he has passed away, I guess so.
Speaker D:And that was probably 35 years ago.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:Yeah, but again, all of us.
Speaker A:Sorry, I was just going to add very quickly that my dad used to talk about like listening to cricket on the radio, right?
Speaker A:Like before tv, watching cricket on TV was like even a thing because only the select few, like once cricket was started to broadcast like live tv, except for, you know, the very privileged few, not everybody had access to that.
Speaker A:And so for a country that was slowly starting to get obsessed with cricket, like radio was the medium, which meant you needed people who could describe the game not just eloquently, but give you like a picture of what's going on on the pitch, what's going on in the stands, give context about the players and all of that.
Speaker A:So it was a very rich, you know, audio experience.
Speaker A: use I think TILL between like: Speaker A:So I have like good memories of that in today's time, I think.
Speaker A:I'm sure it's still there and it probably still has like a loyal following, but now we have mediums that have replaced it.
Speaker A:Now there are like live streams where like fans like will just do like a watch along, right?
Speaker A:Like they watch the game in real time and share their thoughts.
Speaker A:There's like a live YouTube stream which people can like join in and watch as well.
Speaker A:So I'm talking about like in India, obviously you mentioned Gorilla Cricket, Testmaster, for all those things.
Speaker A:That's like in England, I don't know if they have, I'm assuming they have some version of that like in Australia and South Africa, all that.
Speaker A:But for India, what I've noticed is that more than radio, at least people want video content.
Speaker A:And so there's a lot of people who want to like, do these watch alongs where they're watching the game, but also like listening to just like regular fans talk about the game in real time.
Speaker A:So again, I think it's just a reflection of the times we live in.
Speaker A:We, I mean, when we think of radio, it seems almost like antiquated now.
Speaker A:You know, it's almost like a reflection of how old we are when we talk about radio and cricket.
Speaker A:And I don't know if that's necessarily for the better or worse.
Speaker A:It's, I guess it's a matter of preference as far as, you know, whether you love TV versus radio commentary.
Speaker B:I'll move on to the next bit that, you know, definitely needs to be covered.
Speaker B:So we've talked about the coverage from traditional media, you know, the, the star sports and all of those of the world.
Speaker B:We've talked about shows like Sportsyard which have now become mainstream.
Speaker B:But the other aspect which is becoming more and more common with social media and the power that it holds is the fan bases.
Speaker B:So firstly we have, you know, a couple of people such as Johns and Mufa who are, you know, who are obviously covering every second of every game happening in every corner of the world and they're tweeting things from players, Instagrams and all of that kind of stuff and building a base for them so that people can essentially use them as news source.
Speaker B:Like you could just follow one of them and you know, know everything about cricket.
Speaker B:But then that starts evolving into this toxic fan bases where we'll have a Shreya Sayer fan base versus a Kohli fan base and Rohit fan base and whoever else I know.
Speaker B:I think MVU touched on it a little bit in the beginning.
Speaker B:But what I was trying to think is, I know obviously before social media there were.
Speaker B:Things were different.
Speaker B:Like, I'm sure we all had our biases.
Speaker B:I know for sure.
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker B:And I was always very vocal about who I liked or who I disliked and why.
Speaker B:But it's gone to a different level.
Speaker B:And do you think it's the, you know, the, it's a reflection on the society as, as in general as well.
Speaker B:Because I don't see this level of, I don't see this level of, you know, this level of divide in other, other countries.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:So I think this is a question that a lot of people ask us, I think, and even Raj, who's.
Speaker D:Who started the pod, has asked us that.
Speaker D:Is it really true that there will be a guy who will be tweeting against kl Rahul While Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul are both in the same team.
Speaker D:And I was like, yeah, this has become very, very normal now because these are fan armies who have developed identities online which they've taken to their real identities, I think.
Speaker D:And this is clearly a reflection of society.
Speaker D:There is no other answer to that.
Speaker D:Because how can somebody's identity be Melbourne 82?
Speaker D:I mean, Melbourne 82 is not an.
Speaker D:I mean, to quote Sharda Ugra, it was a league game of a World cup you did not even win.
Speaker A:Like, I mean.
Speaker D:I mean, so stuff like that really amazes me.
Speaker D:But it has stopped to, like, like, amuse me anymore because now I'm like, yeah, this is what it is.
Speaker D:Because, I mean, just today, I think I was.
Speaker D:Somebody had tweeted about a very, very difficult catch that KL Raul had missed.
Speaker D:And all I had to do was look at the handle of that guy.
Speaker D:The handle of that guy was 100 Cape Town.
Speaker D:So I knew this is a Rishabh Pant fan.
Speaker D:That's how easy the deduction has become for me because I'm like, these are just fan armies and this is their identity in real life as well.
Speaker D:Because it all.
Speaker D:It all unfolds in front of you at stadiums and at gatherings.
Speaker C:We have been on some of these Twitter spaces, which involves a lot of these guys, right?
Speaker C:So around the Champions Trophy, we were just like, anonymously listening to one which was about Rohit Sharma.
Speaker C:Fans had a online Twitter gathering and these people genuinely do speak like this.
Speaker C:So for them, it's Rohit Sharma, who is this fallen hero fighting against the rest of the world, who is out there to get him and, like, destroy his career.
Speaker C:And so the day they win the Champions Trophy, it's all about, like, they really do buy into this narrative and they speak this way and it's scary.
Speaker D:They say these words that Virat was actually at Rohit's feet and this is why Virat has a career and all of this.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker D:So these are not like online entities.
Speaker D:These are real people.
Speaker C:These are real people at midnight, just spending.
Speaker C:So they're not celebrating a win, right?
Speaker C:So there is a slight difference to it.
Speaker C:Like, we have all been through a phase where we associate with the sport or a team in a very parochial sense.
Speaker C:We've all done it at some stage of life, like being you'll be a fan of a player to an extent, which you'll switch on the TV to watch that guy do well or something.
Speaker C:But I think the distinction here is that now it's always Become about.
Speaker C:It's my player versus everyone else.
Speaker C:Because in isolation celebrating a good inning is not good enough.
Speaker C:And inning can be a great test match hundred.
Speaker C:But then you can't end your entire commentary with that.
Speaker C:You will have to say that only then does this get elevated.
Speaker C:A 45 run knock in a meaningless cycle, pure agarbatti game has to be elevated to the level of greatness because yes, Sara conditions difficult and then everyone is against him.
Speaker C:You forgot the sinning.
Speaker C:So it's become Nothing is to be enjoyed in isolation.
Speaker C:Nothing is to be celebrated in isolation.
Speaker C:Always has to be.
Speaker C:In the landscape of how Shreyas performed versus how Ruthraj.
Speaker D:I think as a society we've stopped enjoying things.
Speaker D:There is no deliberation on anything.
Speaker C:That is anger.
Speaker D:Simplest thing.
Speaker D:Yeah, there is anger.
Speaker D:That is the other thing.
Speaker D:Like the simplest thing.
Speaker D:In this whatever ping pong tournament that's going on, wcl, which is the world champions League of legends or whatever, there was a bowl out.
Speaker D: ter full of the bowl out from: Speaker D:Like this bowl out cannot be forgotten.
Speaker D:Of course it can't be forgotten.
Speaker D:It is the only bowl out that we remember.
Speaker D:It can't be forgotten.
Speaker D:But I don't need that to be invoked.
Speaker D:Ideally I would have ignored it in terms of like yeah, it's natural that you think of that bowl out.
Speaker D:But now I know the psyche.
Speaker D:Why is that being shared?
Speaker D:That is being shared a out of anger that there is this bowl out that might take public I at this point in time and two retweets that I will get the retweets if I post that.
Speaker D:Whatever Robin Uttapa hat hat doffer and all of that.
Speaker D:So just.
Speaker A:Well I was, I was just thinking, you know, when I first started following cricket and I started following cricket because of Sachin.
Speaker A: es before on the podcast, but: Speaker A:Like somehow that really registered with a 10 year old me.
Speaker A:And since then I was like, Sachin is, you know, like now what people say, like Sachin is God.
Speaker A:Like he was literally like that for me.
Speaker A:But that lasted really short amount of time thankfully.
Speaker A:And I was like, okay, he's a good player, he's a great player, but obviously not God.
Speaker A:A lot of people don't come out of that right now looking back, you know, in those days we were lucky as Indian cricket fans to have Tendulkar Dravid Ganguly Lakshman, Kumble Srinath, all these guys.
Speaker A:And you always felt when they're playing, they're playing for, you know, team India.
Speaker A:It's not like their agendas or if there was, I didn't get to see it or read about it or hear about it.
Speaker A:Now I feel like if they played in this era, we would have such an army versus Dravid army.
Speaker A:I think to some extent that debate.
Speaker C:Still is there, you know, people retrospectively, there still are.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker D:I'll tell you what kind of armies are going to win this.
Speaker D:Vvs Lakshman army is going to win this because they are going to invoke 281 at every random Sachin innings that is placed.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker D:But let's not forget that the first set of vicious, rabid, toxic cricket fans on the Internet were Sachin Tendulkar fans.
Speaker D:And a bunch of them continue to be there out there on the Internet.
Speaker D:And they're probably 45, 50, some even more aged than the numbers that I've just spoken about.
Speaker D:And they still tweet like it's their college days or their school days.
Speaker D:I think nostalgia has a place, but sometimes you just have to grow up, graduate, get out of these things.
Speaker D:I mean, it becomes tiring.
Speaker D:I mean.
Speaker A:Yeah, this is my theory.
Speaker A:Sorry, this is my theory.
Speaker A:I think IPL is like a major reason for how this has devolved into these toxic fan bases.
Speaker A:Because you don't have just these toxic fan bases for players, you have toxic fan bases for the franchises.
Speaker A:Like I've seen like handles like CSKN with like RCB and like these franchises just started.
Speaker A:Like how do you put your own identity on this place?
Speaker D:Leave that.
Speaker D:There are toxic fan bases.
Speaker D:I mean amalgamation of all of this is there are, there are people who will sit there and defend Jaisha on.
Speaker A:Regular basis that I've not seen yet.
Speaker C:Okay, there are BCCI super fans.
Speaker C:Yeah, there are BCCI super fans.
Speaker C:And it's also not even just about sport anymore.
Speaker C:I think it's a.
Speaker C:It's two things.
Speaker C:It's the IPL and the whole fan base culture has been taken to an industrial level now.
Speaker C:It's an industrial revolution of toxic fan culture across disciplines.
Speaker C:Like it's not even sport, it's even in pop culture.
Speaker C:For example, you'll see a lot of these things cropping up.
Speaker C:Like it will be there in anything.
Speaker C:You just slice open and then you'll see like Karthik Aryan Fans vs Ranbir Kapuri vs that also happens.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:So it's somehow the whole thing has become like there is this huge appetite, like this hunger to be.
Speaker C:Because everyone wants to be at some level like I am the flag bearer of something pure.
Speaker C:Everyone wants to be a center of a story where I am the underdog.
Speaker C:Ending punching up.
Speaker A:We see that in every aspect of society.
Speaker A:You see that in politics around the world, not just like in India, especially in the US right now.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's like it's become like teams, you know, politics has become like a team sport.
Speaker A:And because you mentioned it, I just remembered it.
Speaker A:Like films, right?
Speaker A:Like Indian films for what decades has been about one person versus the other person.
Speaker A:Fan bases against each other.
Speaker A:So that was always.
Speaker A:I feel like that's always been there in the Indian psyche.
Speaker A:And then IPL came along and just kind of pushed that.
Speaker C:And then social media lets people find someone else who is like them.
Speaker C:So now, now you can find a co Virat superfan online voicing the same opinion in exactly the same language that you like.
Speaker C:And then you can all gather towards earlier that there was some kind of an upper limit to how many people can gather at a point of pri at the end of a day's play and discuss all these hoaxes.
Speaker C:Now it's very easy to do it online.
Speaker C:And then you have this shared sense of victimhood.
Speaker C:Like if Virat outside edge was incorrectly given, like yeah.
Speaker C:Or LVW's umpire call got given and then Drs paid got shown as just clipping and then.
Speaker A:Abuse the opposition players.
Speaker C:Opposition players and all of that.
Speaker C:I think all of that not just.
Speaker D:There, not just the players, the players.
Speaker C:The families, children, everything.
Speaker C:So it's.
Speaker C:It's like the strength in numbers, basically.
Speaker C:So it's like an online mob that finds each other and I think that makes it more visible to us.
Speaker C:And I think these people were already there all around us, even before.
Speaker C:I think the Internet has made them more visible.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:I think just before Mayank comes in again, sorry.
Speaker D:I know we started this point about discussing about John's MUFA and what they have done.
Speaker D:I think it's important to share and I don't think we've discussed this as much on our part as well.
Speaker D:But the fact that both these handles together now have, I think millions of followers and they have spawned, I think at least 20 other clones who also keep tweeting these news.
Speaker D:And there are a bunch of these now cricket influencers that are there in the last two.
Speaker D:In the last five years, let's say since COVID we've seen a predominantly online Indian generation and that generation has been fed cricket news by these guys by design.
Speaker D:Now, good or bad is also not up for debate because it's bad.
Speaker D:Because in the last five years they have fed their gullible fans who are in millions, betting websites, crypto websites and now crypto trading and a ton of misinformation.
Speaker D:I think misinformation might be the lowest of their crimes at this point in time.
Speaker D:I mean a gullible population where 80 crore, probably 90 crore people are getting rationed on a day to day basis, if that is being fed via free Internet that you can earn, let's say 1 crore, 2 crore betting, crypto, all of this is an unforgivable crime.
Speaker D:But I guess this is where we are.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a really interesting angle.
Speaker B:I remember listening to your podcast around it and, and yeah, the betting websites, like how the legality of it, how they have, or I don't know if I can call it legality of it, but how they're, you know, the shadiness of them and the fact that one of them, which may not be directly a betting website but is literally the lead sponsor of the Indian cricket team like Dream11.
Speaker D:So it's called a game of skill.
Speaker B:Exactly like they, that's, you know, classic marketing where they'll say this is a game of skill so it's not, you know, betting or illegal.
Speaker B:And so that really just blows my mind.
Speaker B:And I do think that that itself is a topic for one full podcast.
Speaker B:But I will, I guess I'll let you like walk us through a little bit of that because I know there's Dream11, there's Sourav Ganguly while he's, you know, BCCI board president promoting another one of these brands.
Speaker B:I think even Gautam Gambir at one point had one of these or might.
Speaker D:Still promotes betting on a regular basis.
Speaker B:There we go.
Speaker B:Yeah, so we have all these obviously influential people who are either in the team or around the team promoting it.
Speaker B:BCCI themselves have Dream11, as I was saying, as their key sponsors for, I don't know, next three or five years.
Speaker B:While all of this is clearly like gambling itself or gambling online at least is illegal.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:In India.
Speaker B:And, and they found this loophole and found a lobby to work around it, which is clearly a dangerous path because to your point, like cricket is a sport that is consumed by the masses and if they continuously see this promoted by cricket influencers, there's a lot of scope of damage and addiction and things like that over a longer period of time.
Speaker B:So MV I guess just open to, just, you know, wanted to understand your thoughts around, around all of this and how this is happened over the last few years.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So I think Dream11 is basically a copy of DraftKings in some way or the other.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So essentially you can make a team of 11 players of the two or three, two teams that are playing that match and then you get points out of it.
Speaker D:So I think the cheapest entry Into a dream 11 game is 25 rupees.
Speaker D:But the trouble is people don't stop at 25.
Speaker D:They make 20 teams of 25 rupees each game because the overall prize to win that day alone is over a crore, a crore and an Audi sometimes and stuff like that.
Speaker D:However, all of this is legal in India because Dream11 is classified as a game of skill because they say that moment you have to choose players and all of these things.
Speaker D:This is now classified as a game of scale and there is a lobbying body for this.
Speaker D:It's called the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports and it's led by Joy Bhattacharya who well known quiz master and also comes on Clickbus.
Speaker D:So all of this is legal.
Speaker D:So I'm not going to delve into the legality of it anymore.
Speaker D:But that's just the tip of the iceberg because if there is Dream11 like there is MUFA and Johns, there are 30 clones.
Speaker D:So there are, there are at least 100 clones of Dream11 which are operating outside, let's say the App store so to speak as well, where you can, where you are offered 5x bonus as soon as you put in 100 bucks or 5x returns or more returns than Dream11 and so on, so forth.
Speaker D:So now there is an industry of people on YouTube who give tips on how to make teams for Dream11 as well.
Speaker D:So that is one side and it's a dangerous side because these people go on YouTube streams and talk about all 22 players and as soon as the game is over they'll tell you, see, we told you.
Speaker D:Sunil Narayan is going to take wickets today.
Speaker D:And it's crazy because they've already caught people's attention.
Speaker D:These are all like 400k, 500k subscriber base sort of people.
Speaker D:It's not like some random guy with 10,000 followers or something.
Speaker D:So this is all an industry.
Speaker D:There are telegram channels where you get specialized tips for Dream11 as well.
Speaker D:But I'll leave Dream11 aside.
Speaker D:We have stuff like Real11 where you can trade.
Speaker D:Now that's the other term that they've started pushing is that you can trade on the fact whether India will win or not.
Speaker D:Can you trade on the fact whether India will win or it's a bet.
Speaker D:And who is the brand ambassador for Real11?
Speaker D:The coach of the Indian cricket team.
Speaker D:Then this trade is also done on another popular website called Stake.
Speaker D:Who's the brand ambassador for Stake?
Speaker D:Ravishastri.
Speaker D:So this is how easily it is all permeated in front of us and it, it's only going to get more and more dangerous because very little has been done by the government in India to stop let's say a stake or a, or let's say real 11 or any of these things that are, that are very clearly betting websites.
Speaker D:So they don't call themselves betting websites, they just call themselves like trading websites or something or the other.
Speaker D:So, so yeah that, that's, that's a very, very gray area that, that we are getting into to give you numbers.
Speaker D: By: Speaker D:That is half of, at least nearly half of India's population will have played Dream 11.
Speaker D:And just to go back on Dream 11 and why all of this is so smart and so, so meticulously done is that it follows everything that was done in the betting industry previous to this.
Speaker D:Dream11 has their own streaming platform called FanCode.
Speaker D:FanCode is the one that took John's I think to the, to the West Indies I think three years ago.
Speaker D:And that's when I think you guys had done an interview with John's at that point in time.
Speaker D:They, they also have I think live following of the game just like bet365 has via characters and stuff, bunch of these things.
Speaker D:But most importantly, let's not forget the tech.
Speaker D:The tech is super because they I think have concurrency up to 3 or 4 crore users.
Speaker D:So that's how good the tech is because in India between 7 to 7:30, because 7:30 is the start of the IPL match, pretty much every random person you will see is on the phone making a team.
Speaker D:If it's your building guard, your building manager guy randomly on the road, your cab driver, your cab driver is on calls with three people asking what's, what's going to happen.
Speaker D:So yeah, that's the, that's, that's that side of it.
Speaker D:I mean I'm sure we can talk more.
Speaker A:I feel like this whole episode has been like a bummer where we've only talked about all the stuff that's been disappointing in the evolution of cricket coverage and how people consume Cricket, to be honest, since we're out of time, we have to wrap it up.
Speaker A:But I really feel we should do a part two where we talk about something.
Speaker A:What are we actually enjoying about cricket coverage?
Speaker A:I mean, the two things we didn't really touch upon because we didn't have time is like.
Speaker A:One is podcasts, like, what we do the evolution of cricket podcasts over the last, what, five years?
Speaker A:Maybe five to eight years, maybe.
Speaker D:Jared is going to say he's been doing it for, like, the last 20 years.
Speaker A:So he does feel like that a little bit.
Speaker A:I mean, he has done all sorts of media, right?
Speaker A:So there's the evolution of cricket podcasts, where people, like players do it now, active players do it, and then you have journalists and then you have regular fans like us.
Speaker A:So that's one.
Speaker A:And then there's writing, like blogging, like now Substack.
Speaker A:I. I really enjoy Substack now because I feel I'm exposed to more enjoyable writing than traditional media, honestly, ranging from fans to journalists, like the way they understand the game, the way they express it.
Speaker A:So I think we need to talk all about that, like in a part two.
Speaker A:But MV and Aditya, thank you so much for, you know, sparing some time for us.
Speaker A:This was great fun.
Speaker A:Always good to chat with fellow cricket podcasters and.
Speaker A:Yeah, let's.
Speaker A:Let's do another episode soon.
Speaker C:Sure, sure, sure, sure.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:To our listeners, do check out the PCCI podcast, will include the link to their show in our podcast notes, but for now, we'll take leave and we'll talk to you soon.
