Pradeep Magazine is a cricket writer, columnist, and former sports editor of The Pioneer, the India Today e-paper, and the Hindustan Times. He began his journalistic career in 1979 with the Chandigarh edition of The Indian Express and served as its cricket editor in 1999–2000. He writes on cricket regularly in The Tribune. He has written 2 wonderful cricket books - Not Just Cricket & Not Quite Cricket

In this episode we chat about -

1. SA’s remarkable WTC win with a black captain in Temba Bavuma at the helm
2. The lack of representation & invisibilisation of Dalits and OBCs in Cricket
3. The dim view of administration of Women’s Cricket
4. The star power creates disparities in the Indian team
5. Is Match fixing still possible due to the economic disparities and mushrooming of smaller leagues?
6. Pradeep refers to Ex-Commissioner of Police & Head of BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit - Neeraj Kumar’s book - A Cop in Cricket where his work and findings are ignored by the BCCI
7. Classist humour in India against cricketers
8. His evolving relationship with the game after being in such close proximity

Books by Pradeep Magazine

Not Just Cricket

Not Quite Cricket

Article that prompted the episode -

When Quota is fair game - The Tribune

In this episode, we discuss the changing nature of Bazball, Gill in his first test as captain, Yashasvi's drops affecting the game, the joy of Rishabh Pant, the finesse of KL Rahul, the vitriol against Siraj and Prasidh, the uselessness of Ravindra Jadeja and of course a media review of our favourite Youtube channels.

The only way to honour the memories of those who lost their lives in the stampede at Chinnaswamy on 4th of June is to continue talking about it.

We speak to Sarthak Dev, who wrote an excellent piece for News Laundry.

You can read The story of a disaster: An IPL win, a city’s joy, and a tragedy that was waiting to happen here.

Tarutr runs BestofCricket Substack where he publishes a Daily Newsletter with the best cricket stories (text, audio & video). You can read & subscribe here.

Trigger Warning

Mentions of the Tragedy at Chinnaswamy are discussed at multiple points in the episode. There is an outline and trigger warning at the start of the episode.

We are joined by Dave, Shay, Richa, Aditya, Tarutr & MV in this episode and there are 5 RCB fans who sent in voice notes on how they felt about winning the first league title.

What is covered in this episode?

1. RCB Fans from across the world share what it felt to win the first IPL title. (1:48 to 9:42)

2. We speak to Tarutr Malhotra from BestofCricket about the tragedy at Chinnaswamy, the commotion, lack of communication and why he decided to exit the celebrations. (9:42 to 36:13)

He has also written a piece. Read it here.

3. We start the IPL review with introduction of the guests (36:38 to 38:07), speak about the tragedy at Chinnaswamy (38:07 to 45:07) & Move to the IPL review which continues right till the end!

In this episode, we have long time listeners Saurabh, Shay & Fahad to discuss their memories of the IPL.

It’s a great mix of folks from varying age groups and their association with the league. While Saurabh is largely neutral despite having a soft corner for SRH & RR, Fahad loves CSK & Shay is an RCB fan from North India.

It gives us an insight into how the IPL has evolved and how the evolution affects the people watching it.

Are they still as chuffed at watching the IPL from their first viewing of the league? Listen in.

We sat down to record the Origin Story of our love with the game.

We discussed -

- Our first playgrounds (societies, mohalla etc)

- How our teams were decided?

- What were the various toss instruments?

- Specific rules for batting (1D, 2D) and bowling (fast, knee height no balls etc)

All of the above across the country since the panel was diverse and we wrapped up with our favourite story of playing Cricket.

In our series of episodes dealing with the lack of cricket in Indian cricket coverage and the rise of jingoism and demi-god worship in cricket media, we have with us accomplished cricket analyst and writer, Gurkirat S Gill.