'Much much more than a cricket tour' - Interview with journalist Bharat Sundaresan

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 a Test series in COVID times


• Driving from one Australian state to the other, avoiding borders


• The uncertainty over the venues and itinerary


• Wearing masks in the press box


• A distracted press box as India collapsed for 36 in Adelaide


• The spate of injuries during the tour


• A relatively muted Boxing Day


• Ashwin's spell in Melbourne


• Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy


• Mohammad Siraj improving with every spell in Melbourne


• Siraj reporting poor crowd behavior


• Australia constantly threatening to break away... until India kept fighting back


• The net session when Pant talked to his bruised arm


• The Ravi Shastri effect on the youngster in the team


• Ashwin's innings in the battling draw in Sydney


• Vihari - the quiet achiever


• Covering the Brisbane Test from a radio studio in Sydney


• Australians convincing themselves of the Brisbane myth


• All the talk of the weather in Brisbane


• India putting themselves in a position to dictate terms on the final day


• The emotional charge to victory

Participants:

Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07)

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@Sidvee)

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Related:

The unlikely script of the Gabba heist - Bharat Sundaresan - cricbuzz.com

Bruised but unbowed: India's mighty display of guts and gumption - Bharat Sundaresan - cricbuzz.com

The summer of Siraj - Bharat Sundaresan - cricbuzz.com

Washington Sundar: destiny's child - Bharat Sundaresan - cricbuzz.com

Rahane's personality-defining day out - Bharat Sundaresan - cricbuzz.com

Ashwin: The conscientious spin scientist - Bharat Sundaresan - cricbuzz.com

List of Bharat Sundaresan's cricbuzz columns