666, The Number of the Beast
Dhoni delivers at the death, Jio's ad strategy, BAN promotes their kids too quick & Hussey discusses CSK's culture
666, The Number of the Beast
Dhoni gives the fans what they want, Narine has quietly done the business for KKR, & Klaasen talks about his new T20 mentality.
The Chennai Super Kings beat the Mumbai Indians by 20 runs. ESPNcricinfo’s S. Sudarshanan has us covered about Chennai’s performances that turned the game. First, he wrote about MS Dhoni’s three 6s in his first three balls. Then, he wrote about Matheesha Pathirana’s 4-28 that squeezed the life out of MI’s batters.
Cricket.com’s Gaurav Nandan Tripathi noted that Rohit Sharma’s strike rate in the powerplay overs this season has exceeded even his own high standards, while Cricbuzz’s Vijay Tagore writes about the evolution of Shivam Dube from a spin specialist to all-round explosive batter.
In the early game, the Kolkata Knight Riders beat the Lucknow Super Giants by 8 wickets by punishing the visitors’ batting collapse. Cricket.com’s Anirudh Suresh writes about how Sunil Narine has quietly done the business with the ball this season for KKR.
ESPNcricinfo’s Andrew Fidel Fernando says that promising Windies pacer Shamar Joseph was brought back to Earth after he went for 47 runs on his IPL debut, while Cricket.com’s Anirudh Suresh writes that KL Rahul’s improved intent in the powerplay overs is a welcome change.
Cricbuzz’s Prakash Govindasreenivasan catches up with Hyderabad’s Heinrich Klaasen to discuss the South African’s rise to arguably the best T20 batter in the world.
Cricbuzz’s Kaushik Rangarajan reports on a pretty frank press conference by RCB Director Mo Bobat on why the team has played so poorly this season.
If you missed it, I wrote an article yesterday about how JioCinema is supposed to make their money back on the IPL…
…I looked at 2,692 ads over 40+ hours of cricket in the last two weeks and came to an startling conclusion; they have too many viewers!
By the way, I’ve set up a Twitter and Instagram account under @BestCricStories where I post all these graphs & images, and would appreciate the support if you like them!
Bangladesh’s burnt out youth
BAN promote their U-19 players too quick, the PCB is delaying payments to domestic players, & a 10-sec ad during the World Cup will cost $42K!
Cricbuzz’s Atif Azam has a great report on Bangladesh’s unnerving tendency to promote their successful U-19 players to the national team too quickly. Interestingly, the preliminary squad for the T20 World Cup doesn’t have a single player from the 2024 U-19 World Cup squad that didn’t even reach the playoffs.
The Pakistan Cricket Board is delaying payments to former director Mohammad Hafeez and some domestic players, with Dawn’s Mohammad Yaqoob reporting that it’s because the payments are linked to decisions made by the previous PCB chairman
Economic Times’ Javed Farooqui reports on Disney Star’s ad rates for the World Cup. Non-India matches will see a 10-second spot cost ₹6.4 Lakh (~$7,700), while India matches will see that price jump up to as high as ₹35 Lakh (~$42,000).
Dhoni leads the way
Ashwin & Hussey discuss CSK’s culture, when your kids don’t recognise you as a franchise cricketer, & how Ellyse Perry figured out T20s.
Ashwin talks to CSK coach Michael Hussey about the franchise’s stunning success in the IPL, as well as how they try to create a welcoming atmosphere for their players led by MS Dhoni’s example.
David Wiese continues the story of his globe-trotting franchise life on his podcast Hitman For Hire. In the latest episode he talks about that little bit of time he had at home without cricket last November; what it’s like to not have your kids recognise you, the anxiety of being unemployed while the World Cup is in full swing, and a lot more. [Apple Podcasts]
A Sports’ Fakhar-e-Alam catches up with former Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali to discuss his career, why he quit before his century of Test caps, and the emotional importance of his father’s support. They do jump between English & Hindi quite a bit in this video.
talkSPORT’s Neil Manthorp & Steve Harmison discuss the biggest storylines from the first round of matches in the County Championship.
Jarrod Kimber & Estelle Vasudevan how Ellyse Perry made herself a world class T20 player in a must watch for all the RCB fans who fell in love with her this year.
Editor’s Note
If you would like to receive this newsletter to you on WhatsApp when it is published, please message me here (or, on WhatsApp at +91 9972009893, if that link isn’t working).
If you have friends, colleagues, or anyone else that would like to receive this roundup every day, please share this Substack with them! Every extra reader matters.