There's been so much chatter about the ICC Champions Trophy last few days.
Will India go to Pakistan, or will they not? Will Pak Cricket Board host it, or will it not?
Reminds me of SRK in the movie Darr: You Love Me, You Love Me Not. : )
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So I thought it's a good time to share some perspectives -- at least how I see things or the way I know.
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Today's apparently ICC's "virtual" meeting (wonder if it was a conscious call to not make it "physical") to decide on the tournament.
So, what's likely to happen?
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Sep 5 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
🧵
#Cricket #Broadcast #Merger #ICC
Long time, no thread. Sitting at the airport, waiting to catch a flight -- I thought let me type this one out quickly.
So many things have happened lately. 👇🏾
* Media reports said Disney asked ICC for a discount in media rights payments.
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* CCI has approved the Jio-Disney merger.
* ICC has set up a 3-member committee to investigate US World Cup finances.
* ECB's revamped version of The Hundred is gaining pace.
* BCCI is getting ready to inaugurate its brand new National Cricket Academy.
I'm sure there's more.
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May 31 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
🧵 A short "No Tobacco" story:
Since everybody's talking about the importance of #WorldNoTobaccoDay, I thought I'll share a personal experience too.
I was a habitual smoker for around 25-plus yrs. Started sometime during college and it only got worse over a period of time.
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Over the last 10 to 12 years, I was puffing away a minimum of 20+ cigarettes a day.
Working late hours made it worse.
I was convinced I would have no choice but to continue smoking for the rest of my life.
I was convinced I had become a prisoner to the habit.
Women’s Premier League: A good show indeed.
BCCI needs a pat on the back.
Let’s cut to the chase right away...
How was the #WPL broadcast received? Well, for starters, it delivered the highest viewership on any women’s event, globally.
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The tournament clocked a per-user watching time of more than 50 mins per game and saw more than 10 million first-time users log in just for the final.
And yeah, quite a final it was! Best of the world's talent, backed by the best cricket ecosystems, putting a show out there!
So far, algebra & geometry were clearly missing from Test cricket.
But looks like even that's been taken care of since so much is being spoken about India being "unfair" hosts and watering only 3/4th of the questionable 1/3rd of the Nagpur pitch.
🤦🏾
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Anyway, 3 things stand out right now:
* Wondering what brainwave caused Aussies to travel with 6 left-handers. 🤔
* India's global status as "good Test cricket hosts" being under risk for not watering remaining 0.75% of the pitch. 😆
&
* What does being a "good host" mean?
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Feb 7, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Morning!
The 2 new T20 leagues floated this year -- SA20 & IL20 -- are in their last phase.
Two distinct aspects have separated these leagues:
* One league has a great domestic circuit to use as a feeder line & sees excited crowds filling up stands every single game.
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Where this league hasn't settled yet is: they still don't have the kind of sponsorships they might want.
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* The other league does not have a domestic circuit to act as a feeder line & is heavily dependent on overseas talent. Further, crowds are not filling up stands either.
An interesting week is coming up. A total of 29 bid documents (ITT) have gone on sale and five #WIPL franchises are in the fray, waiting to be bought.
Even if a dozen of them come to the bidding table, consider it to be a winning exercise.
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And will at least a dozen come? Well, it looks like.
Remember -- not every single party that buys the ITT buys because it wants to bid. Some buy it to see what's the business model all about.
So, who all have bought? And who may bid?
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Jan 20, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
So -- cricket is not headed to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
It's official.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has finally conveyed the same to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
ICC will now have to make a fresh pitch for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
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The ICC is now putting a new Olympics committee in place and BCCI secretary Jay Shah -- who is also the Indian cricket board's representative at the ICC -- will chair it going forward.
Cricket has some serious questions to answer should it wish to head the Olympics route.
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Jan 20, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Kamlesh Makwana, a First Class veteran from Saurashtra, retired today from all forms of the game. 93 FC matches, 250 wickets, 2357 runs -- quite a career he had spanning 18 years.
Saurashtra Cric Assn did well to felicitate him.
Kamlesh is the son of Rasikbhai Makwana.
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Rasikbhai had been a curator with BCCI & Saurashtra since the early 80s, until he passed away in July 2020.
He'll be happy watching his son walk away with distinction from wherever he is.
The contribution of Makwanas to Saurashtra cricket is 2nd to none.
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Jan 19, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
A "Jamtara" has happened with the International Cricket Council (ICC). 🤦🏾
For those who can't get the reference, "Jamtara" is an exceptionally good series on Netflix that deals with the "phishing" menace.
You must watch it, if you haven't already. : )
Anyways ... 👇🏾
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The ICC too has become a victim of "phishing".
Some crook created a fake email ID in the name of one ICC's consultants in USA and wrote to the federation's CFO, raising a US$500,000 voucher to be cleared for payment.
Nobody in ICC noticed the different bank Ac No either. 🤦🏾
The number of angles to watch Messi's goal on @JioCinema from last night's game is so awesome!
With the kind of digital onset we're witnessing, sky's the limit how technology is changing ways we consume live sport.
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tinyurl.com/2zzqkvot
App Annie, tool for app analytics, says JioCinema garnered 1/3rd of downloads in entertainment in Nov’2022 (29%). In fact, the tool claims JioCinema was the fastest growing app across categories in Nov.
Fifa obviously turned on the magic here & numbers are telling a story.
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Dec 2, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
BCCI giving this a thought. Nothing confirmed yet.
How about having five women's T20 franchises from five different zones in the country?
North, east, south, west, central. Will it work?
Like -- Chennai or Bangalore, not both (south).
Mumbai or Ahmedabad, not both (west).
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Delhi or Dharamsala, not both (north).
Kolkata or Northeast (yeah, you heard that right), not both (east).
Lucknow or Jaipur, not both (central).
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Or does it have too much of a Duleep / Deodhar feel to it? More of a "zonal tournament" outlook / approach?
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Dec 2, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Action this week...
Women's IPL broadcast rights tender to come out over the next 24 hours.
Tender for Women's IPL franchises will be out next. All ready & waiting to be brought out.
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Hearing more...
BCCI has decided to do away with the idea of a base price for the women's franchise tender.
Earlier, I'd heard they'd kept it at Rs 400 cr but that won't be the case now.
There's logic behind the decision. Will tweet about it separately.
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Dec 1, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
A total of 991 players (714 Indian and 277 overseas players) have signed up to be part of the TATA #IPL 2023 Player Auction set to take place on 23rd December 2022 in Kochi.
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The players' list includes 185 capped, 786 uncapped and 20 players from Associate Nations.
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Nov 30, 2022 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
So...
A conflict of interest report has been filed against BCCI president Mr Roger Binny.
Why?
Because apparently his daughter in law is employed with the broadcaster of Indian cricket.
Now, this is exactly the reason I have held an adverse opinion on the conflict clause.
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This is a good reason to point out how silly / mindless some Lodha committee recommendations on most things concerning Indian cricket were!
Binny is a World Cup winner & anyone who has even remotely known him will tell you how simple & non-controversial the man has been!
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Nov 29, 2022 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Women's T20 League...
Men's franchises that I think will want to bid for a women's franchise:
I'll explain why, but first a few other pointers...
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I'm not sure Punjab Kings will want, although it's great advertisement for Priety Zinta's personal profile as team owner.
Same stands for Sunrisers and their young owner Kavya Maran.
But haven't heard anything on this front.
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Nov 19, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Cricket is not heading to America. It's already there!
The noise coming from American markets surrounding the T20 Major League Cricket is loud enough already.
Every second day, there's a new announcement catching our imagination.
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Cricket-specific Infrastructure is getting ready in US at a very hurried pace.
Until now, infrastructure alone was seen as the biggest hurdle for the league to move ahead and take any shape. Challenges were foreseen for a machinery running against time & bureaucratic hurdles.
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Nov 12, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
After a gap of 7 yrs -- one that saw Indian cricket go through ridiculous turmoil because of legal proceedings -- BCCI is crawling its way back into the ICC.
It's a space that India had lost out on despite their absolute right & authority thanks to selfish, self-serving men.
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Today's a start.
BCCI (read: secy Jay Shah) will once again occupy and head the all-imp Financial & Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) in the governing body.
It's a body that takes all calls on the game's global finances.
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Nov 12, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Aaj ki taaza khabar... : )
The men's IPL transfer window has been a very calm one so far this season. Not much action. Let me share whatever I can...
* Deadline for transfer window to end: November 15.
* IPL player auction: December 23.
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* A top franchise is trying to let go of two players --
-> 1 lesser known overseas batsman who came in as a last-minute replacement for an England player last year but didn't play a single game.
-> An overseas medium pacer.
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Nov 11, 2022 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Find a lot of people trying hard to connect (a) India's loss to England and (b) a missing T20 World Cup title since the onset of the IPL together in 2008.
It makes for an argument to some extent, but if you dig deeper, the two elements have no real connect with each other.
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You can't blame poor squad selection, ordinary captaincy, lack of proper form, persistence with reputation over current form on IPL all the time.
By that logic, England should be in the final of every Fifa world cup just because they run the world's fanciest football league.
