Cricket with an Accent Podcast

South African legends Barry Richards and Garth Le Roux join the CWAA crew of Saqib Ali and Vijay Arumugam for a candid and wide-ranging conversation in the new episode of the podcast. From the disruptive era of World Series Cricket under Kerry Packer to reflections on Imran Khan, the discussion spans decades of cricketing history.   The duo shares rare insights into the Currie Cup, the evolution o...

South African batting maestro Barry Richards is the podcast guest for the latest episode at CWAA. He joins host Saqib Ali for a candid deep dive to relive some of his cricket and administrative days. Richards is considered one of the true batting giants of the game - his stints at Hampshire and South Australia are stuff of batting folklore. He also looks back at the only test series he played agai...

In the latest episode host Saqib Ali is joined by familiar panelists of the podcast Vijay Arumugam, Deepak Rao and Kevin Framp to talk about the biggest test rivalry in men's cricket. On one hand is the Ashes with all its cultural and historical significance vs the BGT where the on field contest has featured the two best teams in the last few editions. The panel dissects both set of rivalries thro...

Nasser Hussain has been a very prominent cricket personality for the last twenty years or more. He was born in Madras and moved to England at a young age with his parents. Since becoming an Essex man he has been in the public eye for almost thirty eight years. He went on to captain England for 45 test matches and remains one of the most feisty characters the game has seen. Sachin Tendulkar has hai...

Two lifelong fans join the podcast to relive their Ashes nostalgia. Kevin Framp and Deepak Rao join host Saqib Ali to exchange their recollections of the storied rivalry, unsung heroes and favorite captains. The conversation also has a personal touch as both men have lived a significant amount of time in both England and Australia.    It's a timeless trip down the nostalgic lane - a cricket romant...

Senior cricket journalist Pradeep Magazine is the podcast guest this week. He joins host Saqib Ali to explore the complexities of Indian captainship and its relationship with media and administration. The conversation uses the captaincy era of Sourav Ganguly - Rahul Dravid as the perfect backdrop to relive some of the age old topics. Brew a cup of coffee or chai and dive right in!   https://www.am...

In the new episode of the podcast host Saqib Ali is joined by resident guest Vijay Arumugam to talk about the cricketing journey of one Ravi Shastri. Shastri has been a fixture of the cricket imagination for Indian fans since he won the player of the series in the World Championship Cricket 1985. In this episode of the show the participants discuss the full evolution of Shastri in the public eye o...

Those who watched Indian team's masterclass at Perth last week will reminisce with great pride in the future or in other words will have a rich nostalgia to look back. This was not always the case if you grew up idolizing the fortunes of the Indian cricket team in the early 90's. At the heels of this historic win three older fans relive the nostalgic significance of India's 1991-92 tour to Austral...

Champions Trophy scheduling saga is the talking point as we drop our first episode in almost six months. Resident guest Vijay Arumugam joins host Saqib Ali to talk about sports, Politics and its many double standards. True to form Vijay brings a lot of cross sport and political reference points to address a larger point surrounding the India Pakistan Scheduling issue in discussion.  BCCI's decisio...

Commentary is an integral part of watching live sport on tv or following it on radio. We all owe some part of our acquired sporting knowledge through the commentary booth. However in this age of information some commentators fail to connect with a larger audience. Could thier views be outdated? Has commentarty changed over the years? Is there a clear interference from cricket governing bodies on f...

This week's episode is a departure from what we cover on the podcast. We have two father's joining the show to talk about the sporting journey of their respective kids - who are honing their skills in other sports. Deepak Rao from UK and Ahmed Hussain from US join host Saqib Ali to talk about a parents role in this journey with Squash and Baseball as the disciplines of practice. Deepak's daughter...

Vishal Misra is the podcast guest this week. Misra and the late Travis Basevi are considered the founding fathers of stats and cricket data. In this episode we revisit Misra's famous contributions while working at Cricinfo - which eventually changed and shaped the cricketing discourse forever. Misra and Basevi were the architects of live scoring, archived scorecards and Statsguru. In spite of bein...

In the opening act of the new year we discuss many layers of sports stardom. To narrow it down as a group we were fascinated by the notion when does an athlete becomes a Demigod. What does that even mean in the sporting universe? Does this happen in some societies more than others? Does this happen more in team sports compared to individual sports? Is glamour part of the demigod status equation? W...

Indian cricket team is visiting South Africa for the ninth time since the readmission of South Africa to international competition. I am joined by a special guest in Neil Manthorp along with podcast's regular voice Vijay Arumugam to look back at some of the memorable chapters and incidents that have shaped the rivalry. Manthorp has covered all things South African cricket since he started his care...

South African legend Mike Procter returns to the podcast for a candid conversation on all things Monkeygate, Kerry Packer and the South African readmission to cricket. He joins host Saqib Ali and resident podcast guest Vijay Arumugam. The conversation is a rich account on many phases of Procter's cricketing life where he was a player, coach, commentator and a match referee. Enough reading ....star...

We look back at the WC batting legends in this episode. The names that dominated the discussion were Aravinda de Silva, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting. Vijay Arumugam and Kandarp Mehta joined host Saqib Ali to look back at these distinguished world cup champions and their respective careers at the big event. This type of conversation had a lot of potential for digressions and digress we did! O...

In the latest episode of the podcast we take a deep dive into world cup nostalgia using miscellaneous topics. Podcast regular Vijay Arumugam returns to the podcast to talk about unsung heroes, underperforming legends, memorable WC match and organizational issues of the BCCI. In a rich conversation Vijay recalls upon lot of memories from the late 80's to the mid 90's of world cup competition. Names...

In the latest episode of the podcast we talk about Rivalries. Rivalry is quite an integral facet of how fans engage with a sport. Not only it can be an entry point for new fans but it is also an everlasting feature for many fans - be it a team sport or an individual sport. Host Saqib is joined by podcast regular Aftab Khanna and first time guest Kandarp Mehta. The conversation explores the meaning...

Professor Ratnakar Shetty is the podcast guest for this episode of Cricket with an Accent. He had served in the BCCI for more than thirty years in which he had donned many a hat - be it back room administrator, touring team manager or WC host team tournament director among other positions. In this deep dive of a conversation Professor Shetty shares his insights from his book - ON BOARD TEST, TRIAL...

As Cricket with an Accent reaches a 100 episodes, @aftabkhanna takes over the moderator’s chair and along with Saqib, Vijay and Saahil, we look ahead to the future of cricket podcasting. We try and understand how fans engage with digital media in cricket, the factors driving niche content creation, the challenges with standard mass braodcasting and how cricket can learn from bigger sports like the...

On this episode of the pod we look back at one of the true modern day greats - AB De Villiers. Helping host Saqib Ali do the honors are freelance cricket reporter from South Africa Dan Gallan and ABD superfan Prithvi. We needed an incredibly analytical fan and a cricket reporter for this episode to breakdown the highs and lows of the genius cricketer.  De Villiers is a bit of an interesting study...

The West Indies of the Clive Lloyd-Viv Richards era is arguably one of the greatest teams in all of sports. They did not lose a test series for a span of 15 years and won two cricket world cups among other laurels. In the 80's their most worthy adversary was Imran Khan led Pakistan side. The two sides clashed three times in a span of 6 years and produced three drawn series. In the latest episode o...

Mohammad Azharuddin remains one of the most mystical figures in all of cricket. His rise and fall from grace have both been meteoric. How does one do justice in unpacking a simple career gone so complex in a podcast. Here's a very personalized attempt from all quarters with the panel consisting of senior cricket writer Sharda Ugra and super fan Vijay Arumugam. In a long free flowing chat we look b...

On this episode of the podcast host Saqib Ali is joined by podcast regular Aftab Khanna as the duo reminisce on favorite cricket books. The conversation paves a very candid path and terms like The Sportstar, Doordarshan and newspapers eventually lead the listener to the main topic of books. Both men share their evolutionary stories as young readers and how certain books help them evolve as cricket...

In the latest edition of the podcast host Saqib Ali is joined by podcast regulars Vijay Arumugam and Saahil Sharma to talk about the Border Gavaskar Trophy and its relevant talking points. Of course everything cannot be covered in one episode about this rivalry, hence the panel focused on their respective entry points and early memories. The discussion also touched upon some of the favorite highli...