The Inner Athlete

You've thrown a frisbee on the beach. You've seen it in parks. You probably thought it was just a casual toy. But Ultimate Frisbee is a World Cup sport. A professional league sport. A sport where India just broke into the top 20 globally — after beating Germany, Australia and the bronze medallists at the World Beach Championship. Neha Vaingankar — Indian American, two-time India World Cup...

Two cricket stories that defined generations of Indian fans. The 1991-92 Mumbai vs Haryana Ranji Trophy Final — decided by just two runs, featuring young Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ajay Jadeja and Amol Muzumdar (as a ball boy) — is perhaps the greatest Ranji Trophy final ever played. The 1986 Sharjah last-ball six by Javed Miandad off Chetan Sharma — which left a psychological...

Four minutes. Two goals. Two sides of the same man. Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal against England, four minutes apart - was the sinner and the saint. The cheeky hand of God. And then the greatest goal ever scored in World Cup history. And then 1995. A fractured nation emerging from apartheid. A president who had spent 27 years in jail and came out without vengeance. And a rugby...

"How long do I have to decide?" asked Amol Karadkar when offered specialization choices. "Two and a half minutes," said his editor."Two and a half seconds," said Amol. "Sport." The Deputy Editor of The Hindu — one of India's finest cricket journalists — is back on Inner Athlete. And this time we go deeper. Into his personal journey. Into Sports Katta. In...

Three rebel leagues. Three sports forever changed. And a pattern that keeps repeating itself. Kerry Packer in the 1970s took on the cricket establishment — gave us colored clothing, day-night cricket, helmets, multi-camera setups and ODI cricket as we know it. The Indian Cricket League in 2007 — backed by Subhash Chandra of Zee — threatened the BCCI so severely that IPL and T20 franchise cricket w...

India won the Thomas Cup in 2022. The current team just won a Thomas Cup bronze medal — seeded 8th, finishing in the top 4.And the players said they received almost no support. No recognition. No incentives. At the same time — two international badminton events in India have been cancelled. The Premier Badminton League is scrapped. And the sport that originated in this country is being ignored com...

Can Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar or KL Rahul get into today's Indian T20 side? The Deputy Editor of The Hindu — one of India's most respected cricket journalists — says the honest answer is probably not. And he explains exactly why. Amol Karhadkar joins Inner Athlete for one of our deepest, most wide-ranging cricket conversations ever — covering IPL's evolution, the auction problem, d...

Abhishek Bachchan has done some genuinely good things as a sports entrepreneur. Pink Panthers in Pro Kabaddi — brilliant. Invested in an organic Indian sport, brought star power, helped make the league popular. But the Euro T20 Premier League? That is a completely different story. And at Inner Athlete, we are going to call it out directly.

IPL viewership is down. Ad revenues are decreasing. Governance is under fire. And money is flowing out of Indian cricket into European T20 leagues that haven't proved their business model. Ronald Chettiar joins us for the most honest end-of-season IPL wrap-up covering everything from the governance crisis to the real threat of The Hundred, to why domestic Indian cricket needs urgent reform bef...

🏏 Our final IPL 2026 deep dive is live. MI had Bumrah, Rickleton & Tilak Verma and still had their worst season in years. RCB found their bowling attack and suddenly look unbeatable. KKR were dead and buried, now fighting for the playoffs. We talked about all 10 teams, what worked, what didn't, and what needs to change. One big take: stop dismantling teams at auction. Build. Develop. Stic...

You've been doing parkour your entire life — jumping over puddles, vaulting railings, climbing walls — without knowing it had a name. Today on Inner Athlete, we sit down with Dr. Rishi Prasad — emergency medicine doctor turned full-time parkour coach, co-founder of The Movement Academy, India's most prominent parkour facility, trainer to the Indian Army, and the man behind Hrithik Roshan&#...

Gyms are dying. Recreational sports are booming. And the age group driving this revolution might surprise you. Ronald Chettiar joins us for one of Inner Athlete's most practical and personal episodes — covering everything from why recreational sport is the future of fitness in India, to how to pick the right sport for your age, to the controversial world of peptides for injury recovery.

From Sachin Tendulkar playing a steady anchor role at 125 strike rate to Vaibhav Suryavanshi smashing a 36-ball century at 200 plus. IPL opening batting has undergone the most dramatic transformation in cricket history — and today we decode every phase of it with data, analysis and the teams that are winning because of it. Plus — KKR vs Punjab Kings. Two Bollywood-owned teams. Both know how to cho...

It’s been IPL’s worst week off the field. And things aren’t looking great on it either. Riyan Parag caught vaping an illegal substance in the dressing room — fined just 25% of his match fee. Dead pitches turning bowlers into sidekicks. Delhi Capitals scoring 264 then bowled out for 75. And Abhishek Porel — a 150 strike rate player — warming the bench while KL Rahul keeps wickets. Ronald Chettiar j...

What is the real secret behind IPL's greatest franchises? It's not the superstars. It's not the auction budget. It's the COACH-CAPTAIN COMBINATION. Ronald Chettiar joins us for one of the most research-backed IPL episodes we've done, a deep dive into the coach-captain combos that built CSK, Mumbai Indians and RCB into legacy teams. And what needs to change for each of them now.

Mumbai Indians have lost 5 of 7. Akash Ambani left the stadium halfway. Bumrah has 2 wickets in 7 matches. And Hardik Pandya's captaincy is going nowhere. But wait — was bringing Hardik in and removing Rohit actually the right call? Ronald Chettiar joins us for the most honest mid-season IPL breakdown yet — and the ideas he puts forward are genuinely radical. In this episode we cover: Mumbai I...

Two IPL teams sold for record billions. Media rights facing a $1.75 billion loss. And the bold suggestion that BCCI should broadcast cricket itself. Roland Landers — one of India's most respected sports business minds — is back on Inner Athlete for the most comprehensive Indian sports business conversation we've had.

Match fixing murmurs. Mumbai Indians in freefall. KKR almost out. And Lalit Modi making more sense than anyone in Indian cricket administration. Sameer Pai is back for another unfiltered IPL mid-season deep dive — and this one pulls absolutely no punches.

Behind every great Indian cricketer is a story that starts on the Mumbai Maidan. Today on Inner Athlete, we sit down with Toz Rizvi — sports journalist, cricketer, Mumbai cricket chronicler and the man who covered every great batting record from the Mumbai school circuit. 23 years in sports journalism. A passionate voice for grassroot cricket like no other.

Over two weeks of IPL 2026 action done. Time for the most honest mid-season breakdown you'll find anywhere. Sameer Pai joins us for a deep, unfiltered dive into everything that's happened — the stunning performances, the struggling franchises, the emerging stars and the big calls that coaches and franchises are getting wrong.

"I'm not asking you to sell me a McDonald's burger while I'm watching the game. Sell me a decent glass of water."K Shriniwas Rao is back on Inner Athlete and this time he holds absolutely nothing back. One of India's most respected cricket journalists and sports business minds delivers his most comprehensive assessment yet of where Indian cricket, IPL and the BCCI are get...

Sports journalism is undergoing a massive shift. Traditional media is losing control of the narrative. Social media creators and independent voices are filling the gap. The question is no longer who has access , but who tells the best story.

What is the real X factor behind IPL's explosive growth? Why are teams losing 650 crores a year, and still buying in? And is Mumbai Indians really as invincible as everyone thinks? In this episode, Sameer Pai joins us for the most comprehensive IPL business and analysis breakdown you'll find anywhere — going deep on the numbers, the history, the franchises and the future.

What does it take to interview Sachin Tendulkar as a trainee journalist? How do you get 90 seconds with Mike Tyson? And what happens when you cold-call Imran Khan at home? Today on Inner Athlete, we sit down with one of India's finest sports writers — Akshay Sawai. Former sports editor at Open Magazine, senior journalist at Midday and ET Panache, and a man who has covered sport across continen...

IPL 2026 is here — and this season is different. It comes on the heels of a T20 World Cup, with redemption arcs, new captains, superstar coaches and youngsters ready to take over. We break it ALL down — unfiltered. In this episode, Sameer Pai joins us for a complete IPL 2026 season analysis covering: 🏏 Dhoni's real role at CSK — mentor, not player🔥 Kohli & RCB — pressure-free or under pr...