Cricket conversations
By Siddhartha Vaidyanathan I grew up at a time when India won (nearly) every Test at home and lost (nearly) every Test abroad. The phrases that punctuated newspaper reports back then: ‘designer pitches’, ‘underprepared pitches’ and ‘doctored pitches’. The players were ‘tigers at home, lambs abroad’, prospering on tracks they
Click here to support 81allout on Ko-Fi In this episode, we look back to England’s tour to India in 2012-13. England had not won a series in India since 1984-85 and they began the tour as underdogs – especially after a heavy defeat in the first Test in Ahmedabad. The
By Siddhartha Vaidyanathan Late in January, Australia lost a Test in Brisbane. The three words ‘Australia’, ‘lost’ and ‘Brisbane’ had last been uttered in combination in 1988. Of the 31 subsequent Tests at the venue, 24 had ended in Australia wins, the other seven in draws. Then along came a
Dear Reader, This website began as a blog where Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd) and I exchanged leisurely thoughts on Test cricket. When I suggested the name 81allout, Mahesh had said: “Can’t get a more symbolic name for a suicidal mission. Love it.” Soon we branched out into podcasting, inviting others to
We preview the upcoming India v England Test series which comes on the back of an epic series win for India in Australia, and a very impressive win for England in Sri Lanka. While the teams prepare for fresh challenges in Chennai and Ahmedabad, they still have to contend with
By Rohit Naimpally Raging infernos aside, living in Berkeley, California has proven a blessing over the past few months. The weather is conducive to being outdoors at a time when indoor spaces are petri dishes. More importantly, it has allowed me to indulge two obsessions: a lifelong one of cricket
In this special episode of the 81allout podcast, we chat with journalist and author Bharat Sundaresan on his experiences of covering India’s recent tour to Australia. Bharat is a cricket reporter at cricbuzz.com and is the author of The Dhoni Touch: Unravelling the Enigma that is MS Dhoni Talking points: Covering
By Siddhartha Vaidyanathan Two years ago, I revisited the Chennai Test between India and Pakistan in 1999. To mark the 20th anniversary of that momentous match, I spoke to some of the players who had taken part, some journalists who covered it, and some fans who were at the stadium
We discuss the final day of the fourth Test in Brisbane, where India did the improbable. Talking Points: Excuse me, what did we just see? India’s greatest series win? Teams getting ambitious with fourth-innings chases The value – and strategic brilliance – of Pujara’s innings Gill and Pant in their
By Aftab Khanna In mid-December last year, as I sat in a hospital room holding my two-day old son in my arms, I asked myself what kind of cricketing legacy I would be passing on to my children. You might wonder why among all the things in the world did
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