Analysis
The IPL’s coming $5 billion squeeze
Media Partners Asia expects a 94-match IPL to fetch Rs 48,500 crore, flat overall and 13% lower per match. One credible buyer leaves the BCCI bargaining over everything beyond the cheque.
International Cricket Council
Reportage
The Rs 1,500 crore prompt: How Google and OpenAI bought into Indian cricket
As gaming money receded, Google and OpenAI turned to cricket with rights, partnerships, and media packages valued at nearly Rs 1,500 crore. Both want their products to become the first place Indians turn to when a question comes to mind.
Reportage
Why India’s world champions are headed to a ramen town
India’s one-off T20 against Japan, played on a former school field, precedes the men’s Asian Games campaign and opens the countries’ 75th-anniversary celebrations. The match carries a commercial aim as Indian cricket looks abroad for growth.
Analysis
The BCCI’s Ouroboros economy
Indian cricket has never looked richer. The money now gathers around the properties that draw time and value away from bilateral cricket.
Interviews
Inside the ICC’s bet on women’s cricket
Ten years of work have lifted women’s cricket to record crowds and viewing hours. The business is still being priced in.
Reportage
From S Tendehar to the ICC: Cricket’s 43-year hunt for a game of its own
For nearly four decades, cricket has chased a digital mirror worthy of its devotion. Time and again, it has come close, only to misplace the moment. Now, the ICC believes it has finally assembled the pieces. Turning those pieces into one complete game will be harder.
Reportage
Google’s longest game
Google has spent fifteen years embedding itself into cricket's ecosystem: as a platform, a sponsor, a rights-market observer, and now a kingmaker. The sport's two biggest auctions arrive in 2027. The groundwork is already laid.
Reportage
India-Pakistan: Cricket’s costliest fixture goes missing
Pakistan’s proposed forfeit threatens JioStar’s $900 million tournament and the ICC revenues that fund the global game. Cricket built its economics around a fixture no contract could guarantee.
Reportage
Inside cricket’s $3 billion workaround
JioStar is locked into a $3 billion contract it cannot afford or exit. The workaround will show whether Indian cricket’s decade of growth was sustainable or inflated.