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 Aditi is a ranked junior in the UK Squash system and competes in junior events across Europe....

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 being a stats Guru, Misra is a man of multitudes especially when it comes to viewing the game as a...

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? What happens to a fallen Demigod? Host Saqib Ali is joined by Kandarp Mehta and Andrew Burton to...

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 career as a cricket writer and broadcaster in 1988. His work can be found here -...

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 ....start listening...

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! Other names that were mentioned in this exercise were Michael Jordan, Lionel Messi and Viv...

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 like Desmond Haynes, David Houghton, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Simon O'Donnell make this...

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 of the word rivalry for each panelist and then further attempts to address issues such as...

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 AND TRIUMPH: MY YEARS IN BCCI. The book is a detailed account of a long serving career who had...

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 NBA.Thank you helping us get to the 100th episode and we hope you enjoy listening to this as...

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 as well because his career shares the same timeline with other modern greats and he was also a...

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 of the podcast  I am joined by Pakistani cricket broadcaster Sohaib Alvi and podcast resident...

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 back at Azhar the cricketer and the man and try to reflect our own recollections of how it all...

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 fans.  The list is a combination of history of the game, its flawed superstars and some...

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 highlights and talking points like the rise of VVS Laxman, Final Frontier, the Tendulkar McGrath...

Rahul Dravid's tenure as Indian cricket coach has had mixed results so far. With the ODI world cup coming up in 2023 we decided to break silence on this podcast and take a comparative look at Dravid the coach vs his predecessor Ravi Shastri.  Help me do the honors are podcast regulars Vijay Arumugam and Gurkirat Singh Gill. It's a rich conversation with lot of analysis and opinions.  Vijay Arumugam on twitter - https://twitter.com/vijayarumugam Gurkirat Singh Gill on twitter -...

In this episode of the podcast we pay homage to the careers of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Pujara and Rahane may or may not play again for India but they both have been mainstays of the Indian team. It's only fitting we reflect on their respective tenures in the middle given how both men polarized the Indian fandom. Doing the honors are Aftab Khanna and Saahil Sharma as we look back these careers and more. The second phase of this conversation is an extension to some of the main...

Duncan Hamilton is the podcast guest for this episode where he revisits his award winning book on English cricketer Harold Larwood. Hamilton who is a three time winner of the prestigious https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hill_Sports_Book_of_the_Year award has brought Larwood back to life through his maginicent account. Larwood remains one of the most tragic characters the game has ever seen given his relationship with MCC, English fans and the English cricket community suffered a great...

In the latest episode of the podcast Aftab Khanna and Vijay Arumugam join Saqib Ali to look back at the impact and larger than life legacy of the late Shane Warne.  

On the eve of Australia's upcoming tour to Pakistan Abhishek Chopra(https://twitter.com/El_Chopernos) joins the show this week to look back at the evolution of this test rivalry. Chopra is an avid reader - who shares his recollections of the early days of this contest dating back to the Aussies first visit to Pakistan in 1956. Context is king and Chopra provides a lot of it - be it the political importance of these tours to the matting wickets. This tour did set up the beginning of a new...

Bollywood and Cricket are arguably two of the biggest forms of entertainment in India - yet the purist cricket fan is seldom satisfied as a movie fan when filmmakers try to tackle cricket. Uday Bhatia joins Saqib Ali in this episode to explore how sports especially cricket gets depicted in Hindi films. The conversation also takes a deeper dive into film criticism and its evolution as a...

Jarrod Kimber joins me this week on the podcast as we discuss the conundrum of cricket commentary on Tv. The fan conversation has only gotten louder on the style of the commentary with notable names across the world struggling to add value to the hardcoure viewer. Kimber helps unpack this through layers of what the production houses can or cannot do improve this product. We use examples of Gavaskar, McEnroe and Shaq across from various sports to discuss this point at length. What type of...

Vijay Arumugam(@vijayarumugam) is back on the pod to wrap up the year. This time he flies as a solo guest and shares his experience of living in Australia as an "Indian expat". Vijay is candid as always in his explanation of where cricket and culture coincides in the Australian society. He also recalls upon his journey of being a SCG patron since 2009 when South Africa played the New years test match. The conversation then focuses on the public perception on how cheating and sledging were...

Mohammad Isam of ESPN cricinfo fame is the podcast guest for this episode. Isam is the digital voice of Bangladesh cricket as he has been covering the national team for almost a decade now. The episode takes a deeper dive to understand the political landscape of Bangladesh cricket - the academies, the domestic rivalries and political importance of cricket. Isam has helped unpack lots of background analysis on the power structure of his nation's cricket as its run by politicians and...