RCB aim for power and aggression

RCB’s director on RCB’s strategy, IND-W makes history, & the MCC’s fading relevance.

RCB want to spread the burden, but are going to focus on going gung-ho. I have no idea if that suits Kohli or not.

Forgive thy neighbour?

IND and PAK won’t travel next door, IND-W makes history, & McSweeney gets dropped.

• The ICC has approved the biggest open secret in cricket; India and Pakistan will no longer travel to each other’s countries for the duration of the 2024-27 cycle.

• India Women beat West Indies by 60 runs to win their first home T20 series in 5 years. ESPNcricinfo’s Sampath Bandarupalli has the stats from a record game for Richa Ghosh and India, and a record year for Smriti Mandhana.

• Pakistan beat South Africa by 81 runs to seal a 2-0 lead, and victory, in their ODI series.

• Sam Konstas has been called up to Australia’s Boxing Day side, with Nathan McSweeney dropped.

RCB aim for power and aggression

RCB’s director on RCB’s strategy, the MCC’s fading relevance, & AUS’s first indigenous cricketer.

• ESPNcricinfo’s Nagraj Gollapudi has an eye-opening chat with RCB team director Mo Bobat on the IPL team’s strategy; their desire for more balance, his aversion to accepting that data guided their auction, and their choice to focus on power.

• The Telegraph’s Will Macpherson reports on a turbulent 18 months at the Marylebone Cricket Club, which has called into question their relevance in the modern cricketing world.

• Cricket Australia’s Andrew Ramsey remembers Faith Thomas, the first indigenous player to represent Australia Women, while BBC’s Ffion Wynne analyses England Women’s readiness ahead of their Ashes series down under next month.

• Indian Express’ Venkata Krishna B writes about his experiences reporting on Ravichandran Ashwin, a great cricketer but a greater man.

• The Telegraph’s Tim Wigmore makes the case for 4-day Tests.

• The Guardian’s Adam Hopkins reminisces on his time playing club cricket in Shanghai where he bonded with other cricketing nation expats, and even played with a couple of Chinese internationals!

Playing with a prodigy

WV Raman on playing with early Ashwin, WI Academy’s plans, & reminiscing with Jeremy Coney.

• Sportstar talks to former India and Tamil Nadu player WV Raman about his early impressions of Ravichandran Ashwin at the start of the spinner’s career. [Apple Podcasts]

• Caribbean Cricket Podcast’s Machel St Patrick Hewitt talks to West Indies Academy head Ramesh Subasinghe about his plans to improve the side.

• Following On’s Neil Manthorp catches up with former Kiwi captain Jeremy Coney about playing alongside Richard Hadlee and John Wright, his career, & beating England in 1986. [Apple Podcasts]

---