We review the final of the T20 World Cup and end of India's wait for an ICC trophy.

Talking Points:

• How trophy wins don't define India's legacy.
• The unfairness of labelling South Africa chokers.
• The peerless Bumrah.
• Virat Kohli's change of approach and his great swansong T20 innings in the final.
• Rohit, Pant and the fallacy of "shot selections".
• How India finally managed to construct a well balanced squad for the conditions.

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@⁠sidvee⁠)

Ashoka (⁠@ABVan⁠)

Mahesh (@cornerd)

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Buy books republished by 81allout:

⁠War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee⁠

⁠Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward⁠

⁠The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh ⁠

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Related:

• 'The Worm Turns for India's Greatest Generation"- Cricketingview.

We review the Super 8 phase of the T20 World Cup and touch upon Afghanistan's glorious triumph, India's sweet win against Australia, and the hopes for the semis and final.

Talking Points:

• Afghanistan's historic wins over Australia and Bangladesh
• Gurbaz and Zadran - the rocks around Afghanistan's journey
• Playing their first official cricket match to 2004 to a semi-final in 2024
• The political question around Afghanistan - and absence of public pressure
• Rohit Sharma's assault against Australia in St Lucia
• India and South Africa thriving with their Test-quality attacks
• The mystery of Kuldeep - and his indecipherable fastish spin
• Looking ahead to the semis and final

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka (@ABVan)

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack | ESPNcricinfo

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Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh

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Related:

• ‘Cricket is the only source of happiness back home’ - Ben Morse and Masoud Popalzai - CNN
• The World catches up with Australia - Gideon Haigh - Cricket et al. substack
• Perfect Imperfection for Imperfect Tournament? - Neil Manthorp - Manners-on-cricket substack
• Human rights question hangs over success story of Afghanistan's men - Sidharth Monga - ESPNcricinfo

We review the first two weeks of the T20 World Cup and chat about the heartwarming performances of USA and other Associate teams. Plus Pakistan's insistence on opening with Babar and Rizwan; Kohli's attempts to change; Pant's hitting training; and the umpiring decision that Bangladesh are furious about.

Talking Points:

• Why a 20-team World Cup seems so much more inclusive
• Why USA beating Pakistan is not as shocking as it may have been 10 years ago
• Many teams have struggled to score freely but the games have been close
• Pakistan's RizBar problem
• The importance of a T20 batter having a wide range of strokes
• Rishabh Pant's trained hitting - and how he embraces risk at all times
• Bangladesh's close defeat to South Africa - and the lbw

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka (@ABVan)

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack | ESPNcricinfo

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Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh

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Related:

• BAN lose to SA Despite A DRS Reprieve for Mahmudullah - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview substack
• What will be the legacy of Cricket World Cup’s New York adventure? - Andy Bull - Guardian
• How India vs Pakistan converted an American sports fan to cricket - Michael Dominski - New York Times
• Saurabh Netravalkar and Harmeet Singh: two Mumbai boys living the American cricket dream - Nagraj Gollapudi and Shashank Kishore - ESPNcricinfo
• Cricket stadium opponents relieved with ICC’s decision to nix Van Cortlandt Park proposal, opt for Long Island site - Camille Botello - Bronx Times

Is there any other sport that allows recreational players to rub shoulders with superstars? Scott Oliver has traced down these delightful stories in a new book called Sticky Dogs and Stardust and we speak to Scott to understand his passion for this type of story and how these experiences can reveal so much about a cricketer and their love for the game.

Among the several superstars to have played in club cricket in England, the book tells the stories of all-time greats such as Adam Gilchrist, Malcolm Marshall, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, Wasim Akram, and Shane Warne - and also reveals what these cricketers' presence meant for their amateur team-mates.

Support 81allout on Ko-fi

*

Sticky Dogs and Stardust by Scott Oliver is available to buy in hardback and ebook formats. You can get 10% off the standard price at ⁠thenightwatchman.net⁠ with coupon code 81ALLOUT. Hardback (£15.30 + shipping when you use 81ALLOUT): ⁠https://www.thenightwatchman.net/buy/sticky-dogs-and-stardust⁠ Ebook (£4.49 when you use 81ALLOUT): ⁠https://www.thenightwatchman.net/buy/sticky-dogs-and-stardust-ebook⁠

Talking Points:

• The allure of the big star playing the small game
• The thrill of seeing a youngster with the potential for greatness
• Seventeen-year old Adam Gilchrist finding himself in England
• The remarkable story of Viv Richards in his pomp at Rishton CC
• The sight of great fast bowlers like Marshall and Donald terrorizing amateurs
• The cult of Garry Sobers at Norton CC
• The cricketers who disappointed their clubs
• The passing of an era - and how cricket's current economy doesn't allow for superstars to be part of an amateur setting

Participants:

Scott Oliver (@reverse_sweeper)

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

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Books republished by 81allout:

• War Minus the Shooting - Mike Marqusee
• Cricket Beyond the Bazaar - Mike Coward
• The Summer Game - Gideon Haigh

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Related:

• Sticky Dogs and Stardust review - Martin Chandler - Cricketweb.net
• List of Scott Oliver's articles

The 2024 edition of the IPL has seen hitters step up to a new level - with 200-plus totals becoming routine and 200-plus chases being achieved too. Is this an inflection point for the format? And how should we be talking about the sport if this is the new normal?

Support 81allout on Ko-Fi

Talking Points:

• Why has this IPL seen a sudden jump in totals?
• Has the impact-player rule played a significant role in raising totals?
• Have teams found more hitters to accomodate in the XIs?
• Jake Fraser-McGurk - the prototypical T20 hitter
• The effect of non-capped Indian players like Abhishek Sharma, Ashutosh Sharma
• Why Dhoni bats so late in the game: the effect of platooning
• What does it mean when you wish for a balance between bat and ball in T20s?
• Why higher scores suggest the hitters are more in control of their shot-making

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

Ashoka (@ABVan)

Karthikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack | ESPNcricinfo

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Buy The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh (republished by 81allout)

India (hardback) | India (paperback) | India (e-copy)

Australia (paperback, e-copy)

USA (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

UK (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

Canada (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

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Related:

• Hitting v Batting: the choice that dictates the shape of a T20 contest - 81allout podcast
• What’s the deal with T20 bowling? - 81allout podcast
• Jake Fraser-McGurk, the ideal T20 batter - Sidharth Monga - ESPNcricinfo
• How Do International Cricketers Do At The IPL? - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview

How much does bowling matter in T20s and how does one measure the potency of a bowler in this format? What are the measures of excellence for a T20 bowler?

Support 81allout on Ko-fi

Talking Points:

• How does one describe a good T20 bowler?
• Is it possible to separate actions and outcomes for T20 bowling?
• A format that offers the bowlers almost no leverage
• What is the role of bowlers in a contest designed to be between bat and bat?
• Does a great T20 bowler need any particular skills?
• The value of bowlers with unconventional actions
• What Jasprit Bumrah does well in T20s
• Why T20 bowlers can't be viewed in the same way as Test or ODI bowlers
• Can we gauge bowling in T20s before hitting has reached its full potential?
• The future of T20 bowling - and why some rule changes can bring bowlers into the game
• The Harshal Patel problem for T20 bowlers
• Are teams being inefficient when paying huge sums for bowlers?

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

Ashoka (@ABVan)

Karthikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack | ESPNcricinfo

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh (republished by 81allout)

India (hardback) | India (paperback) | India (e-copy)

Australia (paperback, e-copy)

USA (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

UK (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

Canada (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

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Related:

• Hitting v Batting: the choice that dictates the shape of a T20 contest - 81allout podcast
• Bowling doesn't really matter in T20 - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview
• Ferociously fast and thrillingly direct: how Mayank went bang, bang, bang - Karthik Krishnaswamy - ESPNcricinfo
• 'If you go searching for wickets in T20, you're playing into the batsman's hand' - Samuel Badree interview by Nagraj Gollapudi - The Cricket Monthly
• ICC recommends ODI rule changes - Cricket Australia

T20 started in the early 2000s but what if the format was invented 15 years earlier. Who were the players who would have excelled in the shorter format? We decided to pick a T20 side from the era before the IPL and debated how Aravinda de Silva and Brian Lara might have changed their game for T20s. And if players like Ricardo Powell and Adrian Kuiper would have had more illustrious careers than they did.

Support 81allout on Ko-Fi

Talking Points:

• The evolution of ODIs and T20s - and how both took about 20 years ago mature
• Would players like Sunil Narine have been as big a star if not for T20s?
• The West Indian legacy in terms of accelerating the T20 evolution
• Which players from the past would have thrived in this format?
• Would you have heard much more of Alistair Brown and Michael Di Venuto had T20s been around earlier?
• Would Aravinda de Silva have continued his Mad Max avatar in T20s?
• Ricardo Powell, Atul Bedade, Robin Singh - the superstars who could have been
• Players like Lance Klusener who rigorously practiced range-hitting
• The value of a good googly bowler in T20s

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

Ashoka (@ABVan)

Deepauk Murugesan (@complicateur)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh (republished by 81allout)

India (hardback) | India (paperback) | India (e-copy)

Australia (paperback, e-copy)

USA (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

UK (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

Canada (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

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Related:

• Ijaz Ahmed's 84-ball 139 v India in Lahore in 1997 - YouTube
• When Surrey smashed the 50-over World Record thanks to Alistair Brown's 268 - YouTube
• When Kapil Dev hit four sixes in a row to avoid the follow-on at Lord's - YouTube
• Atul Bedade's big day in Sharjah - YouTube

We review the fifth Test between India and England in Dharamshala – where India stamped their authority with a win by an innings and 64 runs.

Support 81allout on Ko-Fi

Talking Points:

• A one-sided – and thoroughly expected – end to a Test series in India
• The Bazball delusion
• England's inadequate bowling resources thoroughly exposed
• Kuldeep the genius - a wristspinner with both variety and control
• R Ashwin caps off his 100th Test with signature spells
• The first morning - when Bumrah and Siraj made the ball talk
• The challenge against spin for Duckett, Pope, Stokes, and Bairstow
• Did England Bazball enough or too much? And why it doesn't matter
• When Shubman Gill was at his fluent best
• The problem with England playing Anderson and hardly bowling him
• England not replacing the injured Leach and Rehan - and over-bowling Bashir

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

Ashoka (@ABVan)

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack | ESPNcricinfo page

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh (republished by 81allout)

India (hardback) | India (paperback) | India (e-copy)

Australia (paperback, e-copy)

USA (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

UK (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

Canada (hardback, paperback, e-copy)

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Related:

• IND Win By An Innings In Dharamsala, Finish Series 4-1 - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview
• On Ravichandran Ashwin - India's greatest matchwinner - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview
• Just sit back and get ready to marvel at R Ashwin, for the 100th time - Karthik Krishnaswamy - ESPNcricinfo
• Joe Root on facing Ashwin and Lyon - Sky Cricket podcast - YouTube
• How India Bazballed England - Himanish Ganjoo - X (formerly Twitter)