A Starc Contrast
21st December 2023
A Starc contrast
Everyone’s hassled by Mitch Starc’s big deal, the underlying trends of the auction, and how IPL teams unearth new players.
Wisden’s Katya Witney tries to analyse if Starc’s £6,000+ per delivery contract will prove a sensible spend considering the Aussie’s limited (and fairly average) bowling stats in the T20 format.
Cricket.com’s Anirudh Suresh believes that the Starc & Cummins deals proves that reputations still reign supreme for IPL teams, while Yahoo’s Adam Lucius catches up with Starc’s agent to understand how IPL fees are changing the game for players.
ESPNcricinfo’s Sampath Bandarupalli went through all the purchases to identify trends within the auction, and Cricket.com’s Shubh Aggarwal goes through some of the shockingly underpriced players, such as Azmatullah Omarzai.
News18’s Sahil Malhotra has an explainer on how the IPL salary structure works, while Daryl Mitchell talked about how IPL money is such a financial game changer, even for international cricketers.
News18’s Sahil Malhotra also has a fascinating piece on the ‘5Ws and 1H’ of IPL scouting, which helps teams identify and validate the talent of potential stars.
Speaking of, Indian Express’ Pratyush Raj catches up with Robin Minz’s father to talk about his son’s ground-breaking deal - and the promise Dhoni made him!
ESPNcricinfo’s Nikhil Sharma tries to explain why CSK spent Rs. 8.40 crore for 20-year old Sameer Rizvi, a barely tested batter from Uttar Pradesh.
Will tests become the norm in Women’s cricket?
Aussie captain Alyssa Healy thinks multi-format series are essential for the Women’s game, while Zimbabwean legend Houghton has stepped down as national coach.
In her pre-game conference before the India-Australia match, Alyssa Healy struck a realistic if hopeful tone about the prospect of more tests in the women’s game.
Cricket Australia’s Laura Jolly has the data on the limited head-to-head record between India and Australia, plus how the two teams match up.
Zimbabwe head coach Dave Houghton has resigned after the African country failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup.
Vindication for the little guy
Essex whistleblower gets vindicated over his claims of racism, Alyssa Healy & Harmanpreet Kaur are stepping into the unknown together, and has Sanju Samson really gotten a raw deal?
Wisden’s Tawhid Qureshi talks to Essex whistleblower Jahid Ahmed about the challenges of calling out racism in English county cricket, following a publication of an independent report backing his claims earlier this week.
ESPNcricinfo’s S Sudarshanan writes about how Alyssa Healy & Harmanpreet Kaur struck starkly different tones in their pre-game press conferences, while Cricbuzz’s Purnima Malhotra wrote about the legacies that are on the line for the two new test captains.
Indian Express’ Sandip G ponders on Sanju Samson’ struggles to get into the Indian side, and the “myth of the raw deal” that he gets.
Sportstar’s V.V. Subrahmanyam declares that the U-19 call up of two Hyderabadi kids to the Indian national team is just what the city’s developing cricket fraternity needed at the moment.
Editor’s Note
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