We preview the upcoming England v India Test series - that has had one of the most lukewarm build-ups in a time of Covid, The Olympics, and The Hundred.
It's a time of bio-bubbles, quarantines, injuries, mental health and player rotation. And hopefully some memorable cricket too.
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Talking Points
- The new Covid normal in cricket's landscape
- Separate teams for Tests and short-form cricket - the pros, the cons, and the economics
- The constant existential threat facing Test cricket
- How does one put a value to Test cricket?
- Monetizing stories, memory, and legacies
- Ben Stokes' absence and implications for mental health in cricket
- India's recent history in England - with their last win coming in 2007
- How 4-1 didn't tell the story of the close series in 2018
- India's fast bowling attack maturing over the last three years
- Bowling in England and New Zealand versus bowling elsewhere
- India's selection quandary - in the light of the feeble lower order
- Mayank Agarwal v Prithvi Shaw
- The temptation to pick Shardul Thakur
- England's thin top-order - and the wealth of seam bowling options
- Predictions
Participants:
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)
Ashoka (@ABVan)
Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)
Related:
Ken Barrington's demons - Gideon Haigh - The Cricket Monthly
'I've found my love for the game in the last couple of years' - Abhinav Mukund interview - 81allout podcast
'It's ok to take a break, it's ok to speak up' - Abhinav Mukund column - cricbuzz.com
'It takes time to understand what makes you tick' - Aakash Chopra interview - 81allout podcast
Test of time - Wright Thompson - ESPN
India have a tailender problem - Karthik Krishnaswamy - ESPNcricinfo
The art of Bedi - Suresh Menon about his biography of Bishan Bedi - 81allout podcast