Cricket Doesn't Pay Enough ft. Sharda Ugra & Swaroop Swaminathan

Today, we have with us Sharda Ugra, a sports journalist for over 30 years who now writes what she wants, when she wants and where she wants. You can read her work in the Hindustan Times and her coverage of the BCCI in The Wire and The Caravan, amongst other publications.

Along with Sharda, we have Swaroop who has been with The New Indian Express for over a decade and a Red Ink Award winner. He has covered multiple Hockey World cups, Asian Games, Cricket World Cups and, very recently covered the World Chess Championships. 

Richa, Aditya & MV join them to discuss -

- BCCI Central Contracts for Women , CA's plan for women's cricket and grassroots investment

- Why are Ranji Cricketers are paid so little, and why does the BCCI want Int'l cricketers to prioritise domestic over IPL

- Saudi Money & Golf - How will they move forward with Cricket

- IPL salaries vs the World's best leagues (Swaroop's piece is linked here)

- Indian Cricketers Association - The Late Anshuman Gaekwad and current President V Chamundeswarnath, a sexual harassment accused and also an IPL Governing Council Member.

Recommendations

Sharda

1. Temples, Tombs, & Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt by Barbara Mertz
2. Acquired Podcast on IPL (It's only 4.5 hours long)
3. Sky Sports Podcast with Nasser & Athers
4. Zeteo Podcast founded by Mehdi Hasan

Swaroop

1. The Business of Sport Podcast - Listen here.
2. Indian Summers by Sharda Ugra & John Wright, which he used as reference material for his Master’s thesis

Aditya - The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha

Richa - Mystery novels by Tana French