Beyond the Boundary Rope

After two years of hard work, sweat and effort, only two teams are left standing. India and New Zealand fight it out for the title of the 'Best Team Team' as they face off each other in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship Final. 

The two most well-rounded and consistent test teams face off each other in the battle to become test champions. Who will come out on top in this titanic battle? 

Check out the preview of this enthralling clash

Along with India, New Zealand have been the most consistent test team over the past couple of years and have rightfully made it to the World Test Championship final. Having suffered a gut-wrenching loss in the World Cup final against England in 2019, they will want to go that one step further and lift their first ICC trophy since they won the ICC Knockout Trophy way back in 2000. 

In this episode, I analyze New Zealand's chances in the World Test Championship final, their journey over the last couple of years and how this team has become a force under Kane Williamson. With a largely solid and settled line-up, I analyze what New Zealand's strengths and threats are and how they come up against the Indian team. I ended my episode by putting out my thoughts on what the eleven against India will be. 

Tune in for a comprehensive analysis on the New Zealand test team that will face India in a few days time in the title decider. 

The IPL 2021 had to be suspended due to rising COVID cases in India and also due to the outbreak of cases in the bio-secure bubbles themselves. We saw the completion of the first half of the season with each team having played 7 games at least when the tournament had to be suspended. 

Despite that, we did see some riveting cricket being played. This season also saw the emergence of many new faces as they went on to perform to the best of their abilities for their respective teams. 

So as the tournament remain suspended at the moment and with the future still uncertain, we decided to pick the Team of IPL 2021 based on the first half of the season. Joining me in picking the team is, Sibi, all the way from Montreal. 

Tune in to find out which players made it into the final eleven.    

Every IPL produces a bunch of exciting young stars who take the tournament by storm as they go on to impress the fans. This IPL was no different as we saw a few exciting young talents shine for their respective teams. 

Though the IPL got suspended with just half the season played, these talented blokes impressed one and all. We'd definitely have loved to see a lot more of them in the second half of the season. These guys definitely impressed and we'd all hope to see a lot more of them in the coming IPL seasons and also in domestic cricket. 

The list features the likes of Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, and Ravi Bishnoi. Tune in to find out which other players had breakthrough tournaments. 

Welcome back to the sixth edition of the Frenemies Cricket Quiz- When Friends become Rivals. In this episode, four of my cricket buddies, Siddharth and Rahul go up against Vignesh and Akshay go up against each other and test their cricket knowledge and memories in this exciting quiz.

Tune in to find which of the two teams emerged victorious.

After a six month delay due to the COVID-19, IPL 2020 is all set to kick off in UAE in less than a week. A vast majority of the players will be coming into the tournament and this could mean that they could be scratchy and could take time to find their bearings. 

Defending champions Mumbai Indians will start as favourites yet again. But will the slow, turning UAE pitches hinder their performance as their squad isn't ideally suited to those sluggish wickets? Or will their experience and togetherness help them land a fifth title?

What makes Mumbai Indians such a force? What are the worries going into the tournament? What could their playing XI look like?

To get all these answers and a lot more, listen to this episode to find out. 

Also stay tuned to this podcast channel for the team previews of the remaining sides as well. 

Test match cricket is considered the hardest format of the game, and rightly so. It's a game that requires a lot of skill, patience, concentration, determination, and numerous other challenges are to be tackled over 5 days. Some of the brightest talents in the game have shown glimpses but failed to showcase their true potential in this format due to various reasons. 

Some of the categories of players include- 

• Playing in the wrong era when the team was stacked with legends of the game
• Being injured too often
• Performed well in ODIs, but couldn't replicate in tests
• Players being mismanaged by boards
• Disciplinary issues or mental issues holding them back
• Players who took up Kolpak deals
• Players playing in the smaller sides that don't play too much test cricket

In this episode, my guest speaker, Venkatesh and I, discuss some of the most talented cricketers who couldn't quite fulfill their potential in test cricket.  

Listen in to find out who are the players who join the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Eoin Morgan, Suresh Raina, Shane Bond, Shoaib Akhtar, Ryan Harris, Shahid Afridi, Lasith Malinga and Brad Hodge in this list. 

Cricket, despite being in existence for over 130 years now has remained a game that is played majorly by 10-12 top international teams. Cricket has remained popular in the countries that play the sport but has struggled for relevance and popularity in other countries. 

However, most ardent cricket fans want the game to expand globally with it reaching and being played by more countries. What are the reasons hindering this global expansion? Is it ideal for more countries to be brought into mainstream cricket?

In this episode, I am joined by Ajith Kidami, as we discuss and dissect whether the introduction of more countries is better for the game. 

Some of the points discussed include-

• How can this be transitioned smoothly in such a way that games don't become too one-sided? 
• Which is the ideal format to bring in these new countries? 
• What could be the ideal format and number of teams for the ODI World Cup and the World T20?
• Will franchise cricket be a catalyst to bring in players from the smaller nations?
• Would hosting international games and tournaments in those countries generate interest in the game?
• And finally, the burning question, can we see cricket in the Olympics in the future?

Listen to our discussion to find out- 

Being a fast bowler with the current playing conditions is no easy task. A fast bowler needs to develop so many skills to ensure that he is able to survive. Few bowlers are gifted with certain skills while they lack in certain departments. Very few bowlers are supremely skilled in all aspects.

How would a perfect fast bowler skilled in all facets look? A bowler who has the ability to stay fit, is accurate and on target, has pace, deceptive swing, a good bouncer, a searing yorker, a mixture of slower deliveries,  and has a memorable celebration after picking up a wicket. It's a dream for most fast bowlers.

If I'm given the chance to pick up the best characteristics from all the fast bowlers to create the ultimate fast bowler, which skills would I pick up from which bowler? Listen to the podcast to find out whose characteristics I chose in developing 'My Perfect Dream Fast Bowler'.

The presence of Dhoni in the Indian team for the past 15 years since his entry into international cricket meant that the wicket-keeping slot was the last of our worries. However, since Dhoni's retirement in tests in 2015 and since his departure post the 2019 World Cup, this has become a position that has become a major cause for concern for the team management and fans.

Though we have numerous options for each of the formats, a variety of reasons have meant that none of the options tried out so far have made themselves a definite pick in the XI, the way Dhoni established himself very early. There are also a few faces that haven't been given chances based on their performances in the IPL and domestic cricket.

In this episode, I am joined by my friend Ajith Amudhan, and together we discuss on the options that we have at our disposal and come to an agreement on who could solve this dilemma in each of the formats. Listen to this episode to find out who we believe should line up behind the stumps in tests, ODIs and T20Is and who the dark horses for the selection in future are. 

We've seen England take the field against Ireland with a completely changed set of players from the team that played the test matches against England.  

Due to the current Covid-19 situation, many Indian series have been postponed or canceled. How would the Indian team look like if two different sides had to be picked for the Test matches and the limited-overs matches with matches coming in thick and fast? Wouldn't it be fun seeing two completely changed Indian teams play in the two formats? Considering the fact that a player can only feature in one team made it a strenuous task to pick these teams.
Here's my take on who would make it to which side and how the two teams would line-up if such a hypothetical situation did arise in the near future. Listen to the podcast to find out who I picked and the reason behind picking them in a particular format. 

Welcome back to the fifth edition of the Frenemies Cricket Quiz. In this episode, two buddies, Shubhrit and Aniket test their cricket knowledge memory as they go up against each other in this exciting quiz. 

Despite India's absence in the 2019 World Cup final, we were all excited to see what was in store as hosts England faced New Zealand. Little did we all expect to see what we ended up seeing. A low-scoring match produced what is arguably the greatest ODI of all-time. The game ended in a thrilling tie which led to a Super over to decide the World champion. The two teams couldn't be separated even in the Super over which led to England being declared as the winners on the virtue of having scored more boundaries. England lifted the World Cup for the first time while New Zealand was cruelly denied their moment of glory.

As a tribute to this exhilarating match, we called two guests on the show to discuss how the game unfolded and the critical stages of the contest.

 Tune into this podcast to find out our thoughts about the Best ODI of all-time.

Welcome to the fourth episode of our Frenemies Cricket quiz. This is a very special episode for us as we were joined by CricThink and 22Yards, two cricket organization where we began our cricket writing career before we began this podcast. This is also the first 2 vs 2 episode as we were joined by 2 members from each organization. Being in teams brought in a lot of fun elements during the quiz contest.

So we went ahead and tested these two groups on their cricketing knowledge. Tune into this podcast to find out which group emerged as the winner in this thrilling cricket quiz. 

This is a special episode on account of MS Dhoni's 39th birthday. We look back at his incredible career starting from when he first emerged as the swashbuckling batsmen to a mature leader with coolness personified. We reminisce over some of the memorable achievements of Dhoni that brought such unbridled joy to Indian fans. We also discuss what the future could potentially hold for MSD in the international arena.

After nearly a 4 month break, cricket is back once again as England take on the West Indies in the 'Raise the bat' test series. The first of the 3 match test series starts on the 8th of July at Southampton. Cricket fans will follow the series keenly to see how the game would change due to the impact of the new regulations in this post-Covid era. The series promises to be a thriller with two strong bowling line-ups going up against each other. Interesting match-ups like the battle of the all-rounders have also been discussed.
Listen to this episode to find out everything about the series and also the new regulations. 

Over the years, we've been blessed with mesmerizing left-hand batsmen and skillful left-arm bowlers in ODI cricket. The left-right combination is an oft-heard term in cricket and that has often meant that captains have searched for the best left-handers to add variety to the team. We've been lucky to have witnessed numerous graceful left-handed batsmen, which made picking an All-Time ODI XI purely comprising of Left-Handers a difficult task. We've gone and picked our sides after a lot of deliberation and realized that 4 of those were picked in both our sides. Tune into this episode to find out our complete XIs.  

Ever since the retirement of Kapil Dev, India has been craving for that elite fast-bowling allrounder. A lot of options have been tried in the past two decades but none of them have given the much-needed balance to the Indian team. However, with the emergence of Hardik Pandya, many believed that we've finally found our man. But has he really lived up to expectations? Can he be the world-class allrounder for India in all three formats? Listen to our discussion to find out what we feel about Pandya and as to whether he has what it takes to be the best in the world.

As a continuation of our discussion on India's memorable 1983 World Cup victory, in the second part of this episode, we try to find out from our guests on the effect the win had on their lives. We try to understand the impact the victory made on Indian cricket, Indian people, world cricket, and many other factors. Tune into this episode to find out more about their thoughts and feelings about this incredible Indian triumph. 

Thirty seven years ago, a fearless Indian side led by Kapil Dev shocked the mighty West Indies side at the Home of Cricket- Lord's to register a famous underdog victory. 
From being almost no-hopers at the start of the tournament, the Indian team overcame all the obstacles in their path to stop the reigning world champions to create history. 
This would turn out to be a victory that would change the course of cricket in our country as it shaped the lives of millions of young Indians who began to dream of replicating what this special team had done. Listen to the episode to find out the thoughts of some of our guests who witnessed the magical moment in their childhood. 

In the third episode of our Frenemies cricket quiz, a cracking battle between two best buddies- Surya and Srinivasan goes down to a thrilling climax that ends in a tie. The tiebreaker question also ends as a tie, bringing back memories of the 2019 World Cup final. What happened next?
Tune in to the podcast to find out who emerged as the ultimate winner of this titanic clash. 

Listen to our discussion on whether Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root still remain as the Fab 4 if across all formats. It turned out to be a pretty heated discussion in the end, but eventually, we did come to a consensus and pick our 'Fab Four Batsmen of the Modern Era'. You might be in for surprises.

Over the years, we have been blessed with some attractive left-handed batsmen and artistic left-arm bowlers in Test Cricket. There is an element of style in everything they do. So we have gone ahead and picked our Test eleven comprising only of Left-Handers. We have given the five obvious names who feature in both our teams. Listen to the episode to find out the rest of our teams. 

You've heard us discussing various XIs and giving our opinions on different topics. This time we go up against each other in the Second Episode of Frenemies Cricket Quiz. Watch buddies Neeraj and KK Anirudh turn rivals in this quiz as our guest and quiz master of this show- Pavan Kumar tests our cricket knowledge and memory.
Find out who emerged the QuizWiz by listening to our podcast. Also have a crack at this exciting quiz and let us know how much you scored out of the available 60 points

We’ve seen some fabulous fielders across the 21st century in limited overs cricket. In this episode we frame our ‘Fielders ODI XI’ wherein we have done our best to fit in all the best fielders into a competitive eleven. We’ve given you both of our elevens . Listen to the podcast to find out as to how we arrived at our teams.

With the advent of T20 cricket, test cricket has evolved over the past few years and the various facets of the greatest form of cricket have changed considerably. So we decided to decipher that and also discussed the need for more day-night test matches and the world test championship to ensure Test cricket remains popular

With everyone across the globe picking their 'two XIs' for their respective countries, we have decided to make our world elevens for the three different formats. Considering the fact that we can feature a player only in one team made it a strenuous task. Nonetheless, we have picked the most balanced sides we could for all three formats. So tune in to the episode to get to know our teams. 

In this episode, two passionate test cricket lovers take on each other in the first episode of the Frenemies Cricket Quiz- where friends turn rivals. 

With rumors going around that the T20 World Cup could be postponed due to the Covid-19 crisis, we delve deep and look into the possible implications that a postponement of the tournament could have on International cricket. The topics we discussed include: 

1. Does this mean that it's the end of the road for MS Dhoni in the Indian colors?

2. Would the last remaining few players of the 'golden generation' of South Africa also miss out on their last chance to win an ICC tournament?

3. Retirement of T20 stars who had announced that this tournament was likely to be their final one

4. The countries that look like the favourites if the tournament is postponed

5. How does the Indian team stand to benefit if the tournament is postponed?

6. Is there a chance that the tournament could see the coronation of a new champion? 

In continuation of the 21st Century XI series, we have picked our elevens for the ODI format. Four of the most obvious players have been put on a platter for you guys, listen to the podcast to find out the rest of our teams. 

Listen to our dissection of the Test eleven of the 21st century. It was extremely difficult to pick a balanced team. We have given you four players who both of us ended up picking in our sides. To find out the rest of our teams, click the play button. 

In this episode, we have framed a eleven from the set of players who haven't the ODI World Cup. We have given you the four obvious names already. Listen to find out the rest of our teams. 

Listen to our deconstruction of the Never Won T20 WC XI. For starters , we’ve already given you four names. Listen to the podcast to find out the rest of our teams. 

We've slotted in the 4 RCB boys in our 'Never Won IPL XI'. Tune into our podcast to find out the remaining 7 that make our teams. 

Enter your XIs in the comments section below.