Can a bowler find a way to exploit a batter's anatomy and his movements? England did it to Bradman and Co. in the Bodyline series in 1932-33 but modern bowlers have tried a variation of this strategy too and turned in unforgettable spells.

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Talking Points:

• The essence of Bodyline
• Wahab Riaz v Watson in Adelaide, 2015
• The left-armer's unusual advantage when cramping the right-handers
• Mitchell Johnson's spell from hell at the Gabba in 2013
• Why it is relatively easy for a batter to leave some short balls compared to others
• Tendulkar v red hot Australian pace in Ahmedabad in 2011
• Allan Donald v Mike Atherton, Trent Bridge, 1998
• The disadvantage of the back-and-across movement for right-hand batters
• Wasim Akram v Rahul Dravid, Chennai, 1999
• Fearless: Mohinder Amarnath memoir - Amazon

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Prashant DP (@prashantdptweet) | Medium 

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Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

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Related

• Wahab Riaz spell v Watson - YouTube
• Mohammad Amir to Watson - YouTube
• Mitchell Johnson at the Gabba, 2013 - YouTube
• How the summer of Johnson changed cricket - ESPNcricinfo
• Allan Donald v Mike Atherton, Trent Bridge, 1998 - YouTube 
• Allan Donald fast bowling masterclass - YouTube
• Wasim Akram v Dravid, Chennai, 1999 - YouTube
• India. Pakistan. Chennai. 1999 - Siddhartha Vaidyanathan - ESPNcricinfo

We review the fifth Test between Australia and India in Sydney where Australia regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a thrilling three-day win.

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Talking Points:

• Australia's superior bowling depth wins the day
• The remarkable Mr Boland 
• India's muddled approach to this series: neither batting heavy nor bowling heavy
• Why didn't India trust their fast bowlers enough to play 4 each Test?
• The futility of picking two spinners in these conditions 
• Jasprit Bumrah's steep workload; Siraj's tireless spells
• Are Rohit and Kohli both in decline or is there a way back for them? 
• A series full of electric bowling
• Rishabh Pant's mad max half-century
• Prasidh Krishna's promise of steepling bounce
• The end of an era of magnificent India-Australia series

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Mahesh (@cornerd) 

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

*

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Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related

• Australia Regain The Border-Gavaskar Trophy After A Decade - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview substack
• India’s BGT report card - Sriram Veera - Indian Express
• Australia’s bowlers batter India to keep home fires burning for World Championship tilt - Geoff Lemon - Guardian
• India dismantle England in lop-sided finale: India v England, 5th Test review - 81allout podcast archive

We review the fourth Test between Australia and India at Melbourne. Australia went 2-1 ahead after a special win.

⁠Support 81allout on Ko-Fi

Talking Points:

• A series where the first 40 overs is vastly different to the second 40
• Why are India hesitant to play a fourth fast bowler?
• India's issue with four tailenders - and Australia's advantage in the lower order
• The Sam Konstas decision - and the hat tip to Bumrah
• Nathan Lyon's first-innings v second-innings effectiveness in Australia
• Jasprit Bumrah's mastery over the new and old ball
• Siraj and Akash Deep: impressive yet unlucky
• Rohit Sharma's struggles over his last 6 Tests

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

*

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Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related

• Australia 2-1 Up As India's Hedge Fails - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview substack
• Sam Konstas makes debut to remember - Geoff Lemon - Guardian
• Rohit on Bumrah's bowling workloads: 'We've been very careful' - Alagappan Muthu - ESPNcricinfo

• Nitish Kumar Reddy’s father: ‘No one used to know my name outside my town, but now in Australia people are asking selfies’ - Sriram Veera - Indian Express

We review the the third Test between Australia and India at Brisbane. Australia piled on 445 but rain helped India keep the series at 1-1. 

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Talking Points:

• India's decision to persist with four bowlers an an allrounder
• The need for insurance in the lower order against Australia's attack
• Akash Deep's incisive spells with little reward
• India's multipronged. issues with their transition
• Rohit and Kohli: poor form or slowing reflexes. Or mostly bad luck?
• Pat Cummins: the master of seam and length
• Jasprit Bumrah's ability to create jeopardy at will
• R Ashwin's decision to retire midway through the series 
• Ashwin's astonishing strike rate and the legacy he leaves behind

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

*

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Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related

• Ashwin :the great problem-solver who played cricket for cricket's sake - Sidharth Monga - ESPNcricinfo
• Ashwin retires - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview Substack
• The Encyclopedist - Gideon Haigh - Cricket et al. (subscription)
• How Ashwin remained a committed cricketer and a team man till his sudden and surprising exit - Sriram Veera - Indian Express

We review the the second Test between Australia and India at Adelaide. Australia drew level with a handsome 10-wicket win. 

Support 81allout on Ko-Fi

Talking Points:

• Mitchell Starc: the pink ball master
• Australia's bowling depth to the fore in day-night Test
• India's selection hedges come back to bite them
• Is it time to go back to picking five specialist bowlers? 
• Travis Head: a right royal headache for India
• Australia thrive on a pitch with true bounce
• Has the Harshit Rana experiment run its course? 
• The Nitish Reddy puzzle: he is offering lower-order runs with the bat but little with the ball
• Ashwin's fine spell on a pitch that offered nothing for him
• Pat Cummins' deadly bouncers

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related:

• Australia square the series - Kartikeya Date - Cricketing View substack
• Sanjay Manjrekar: Kohli has 'serious technical issue' that he can't find solution to - ESPNcricinfo
• Travis Head brings the South Australia feelgood factor to make India suffer - Geoff Lemon - Guardian
• Give it up for 2024: Test cricket has had few better years - Sidharth Monga - ESPNcricinfo
• 81allout podcast archives from the 2020-21 series: Preview | Adelaide | Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane | Interview with journalist Bharat Sundaresan

We review the the first Test between Australia and India at Perth - a remarkable game where the ball dominated the bat... until it did not. 

Support 81allout on Ko-Fi

Talking Points:

• The significance (and surprise) of India's 295-run victory at Perth
• The toss advantage, and how India made the most of it
• Watching a game live at Perth - and how different it was
• Is a Test match in Australia now like a destination wedding for Indians?
• Jasprit Bumrah's latest greatest spell
• The lengths from hell: what makes Bumrah so good
• Jaiswal's range of strokeplay
• Rishabh Pant's keeping and the wide area he opens up for the slips
• The Kohli industrial complex
• Nitish's Reddy's impressive debut
• KL Rahul's technique against the moving ball
• Australia's top order problems 

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related:

• India beat Australia by 295 runs - Kartikeya Date - Cricketing View Substack
• Bumrah post-match press conference - YouTube
• Bumrah dominates Australia in the first test match, a breakdown - Jomboy Media - YouTube
• Australia's mission improbable: crack Jasprit Bumrah's genius in 10 days - Barney Ronay - Guardian
• To watch cricket at the ground or on TV? It’s complicated - 81allout podcast

• 81allout podcast archives from the 2020-21 series: Preview | Adelaide | Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane | Interview with journalist Bharat Sundaresan

We preview the upcoming five-Test series between Australia and India. 

Support 81allout on Ko-Fi

Talking Points:

• The marketing of the India v Australia rivalry: and its evolution over the years
• The profusion of India-Australia cricket in the last 25 years - and the relative dearth in the 15 years prior
• The influence of Kerry Packer on modern cricket commentary
• The legends around the Australian teams from the past: rugged, macho, sleek, hyper-efficient
• The IPL effect: and how it is much harder to hype this current Australian team
• The importance of Jasprit Bumrah through the five Tests
• The potential XI for both sides for Perth: will India go with Reddy or Prasidh?
• Australia's own ageing problem - and how it could soon catch up with them
• A great chance for many young Indians to leave a mark on the series

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related:

• The day Kerry Packer tore apart Nine anchor Mark Nicholas - Fox Sports 

• Why Australia vs India is Test cricket's premier rivalry - Sidharth Monga - ESPNcricinfo

• 81allout podcast archives from the 2020-21 series: Preview | Adelaide | Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane | Interview with journalist Bharat Sundaresan

We review the third Test between India and New Zealand in Mumbai where Ajaz Patel bowled New Zealand to an incredible win.

Support 81allout on Ko-Fi

Talking Points:

• Is this the finest Test series win of all time?
• New Zealand overcome great odds in dream sequence
• The categories of outrage accompanying an Indian defeat
• The potency of left-arm spin in India
• Ajaz Patel's dream Test 
• New Zealand's bowlers strike gold on tricky pitch
• To attack or to defend: India's batting dilemma 
• Rohit Sharma's aggressive approach
• India's choice to not play four spinners in the final two Tests
• Ashwin v the sweeps: and what his length seems to suggest
• The intriguing possibilities ahead of the WTC final

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related:

• Black Caps' unseen challenges on the way to whitewash of India - Andrew Voerman - Stuff.co.nz
• Why rank turners actually reduce India's home advantage - Sidharth Monga - ESPNcricinfo
• India swept away by Ajaz Patel - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview Substack
• A bad equilibrium - Harigovind S - Kohli and Kipling Substack

We review the second Test between India and New Zealand in Pune where Mitchell Santner bowled New Zealand to their greatest series victory. 

Support 81allout on Ko-fi

Talking Points:

• New Zealand's finest hour: breaking India's 13 year home streak
• When India were dominated in typical Indian conditions 
• Mitchell Santner's golden Test
• India's batters caught between defense and attack
• India's spinners undone by a barrage of sweeps and reverse-sweeps
• Washington Sundar's terrific spells 
• Were India's spinners too quick for this pitch?
• The question of length: and the problem in front of Ashwin and Jadeja 
• Rohit Sharma's urge to attack - and how it could be getting him in trouble
• Jaiswal's blistering knock
• India's problem of a core group aging together

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related:

• Santner Collects Thirteen, New Zealand Make History - Kartikeya Date - Cricketing View Substack
• Black Caps' greatest achievement fuelled by unlikely spin-bowling hero Mitchell Santner - Andrew Voerman - Stuff.co.nz

• Bittersweet moment for India, as one of cricket's great winning streaks ends - Sidharth Monga - ESPNcricinfo

We review the first Test between India and New Zealand in Bangalore - a magnificent match that will be remembered for a long, long time.

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Talking Points:

• Pitch-perfect conditions for New Zealand's bowlers
• The sub-air effect: how Bangalore's drainage system played its part
• India misreading the pitch and choosing three spinners
• The decision to bat first under cloudy skies
• Henry, O'Rourke and Southee: unplayable in the gloom
• Rachin Ravindra: a superstar in the making
• The astonishing Sarfaraz-Pant partnership
• Sarfaraz' unique handiwork
• Bumrah's spell on the final morning
• India's potential reaction to this defeat - and thoughts on the surface in Pune

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related:

• Marvelous New Zealand win in Bangalore - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview Substack
• Batting magic in Bengaluru as India threaten something special - Sidharth Monga - ESPNcricinfo
• How Rachin Ravindra defanged the Indian spinners - Sandip G - Indian Express

We preview the upcoming three Test series between India and New Zealand - and also discuss England's win over Pakistan in the Test in Multan. 

Talking Points:

• The India-New Zealand rivalry down the years
• New Zealand in transition - after the retirements of Boult and Wagner
• Rachin Ravindra's terrific 92 at Galle in the recent series v Sri Lanka
• New Zealand's reliance on part-timers to fill in some spin overs
• Should New Zealand play to their pace strength in Bangalore and Mumbai?
• The Pakistan-England Test and what it taught us about bowling in Test cricket
• The batting-centric nature of cricketing discourse and why that is problematic
• Would a team with a world-class bowling attack and 6 'average' batters win as much as a team with the same bowling attack and 6 great batters? 

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka

Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview) | Substack| ESPNcricinfo

Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)

*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy books republished by 81allout:

War Minus the Shooting by Mike Marqusee

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar by Mike Coward

The Summer Game by Gideon Haigh 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related:

• Will O'Rourke's Canterbury Tales - Deivarayan Muthu - ESPNcricinfo
• A freakish ten-for and good old Indian dominance - 81allout review of the India v New Zealand series in 2021
• Two seamers or three? The big Black Caps question ahead of India tests -Andrew Voerman - Stuff.co.nz
• Why Pakistan Aren't Winning, And Why Batting Is Irrelevant In Test Cricket - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview Substack