Hello and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of news, features,
and debate from the quirky world of cricket. I'm Alison Mitchell, and I'm in London,
where it's a busy week. It's the annual conference for me for sports resolutions,
which is an organisation that provides pro bono legal support for high performing sports men
and women amongst many other things, including administering the country's national anti-doping
panel here in the UK and national safeguarding. And they've also just launched a new independent
complaints process. National governing bodies take note - that's freely available. There's been a lot
of instances of allegations around bullying and various behavioural things over the years,
and this is a process which really could help governing bodies - including cricket - with that
sort of process. So yeah, busy week going on down here. I'm Brett Sprigg in Sydney,
where I note Australia has increased its lead in the latest Test rankings. But people aren't
necessarily dancing in the streets here, I think the real test will come when the Aussie men have
to go away to face Sri Lanka next month. Until then I think we'll keep our celebrations a little low-key.
Hello, I'm Charu Sharma for All India Radio. I'm in New Delhi today at the wonderful
Taj Palace Hotel. Brett looks like you know you're talking about Test match cricket, but the world's
gonna be talking about T20 World Cup later this year. Alison, what can I say? Alison for PM.
I mean you're doing such fabulous stuff, but I'm in Delhi because of a little bit of important
stuff myself the Ethics and Governance Committee of the Pro Kabaddi League, which of course wants
to make sure that we are very well governed, which we think we are. Of course, in India, all eyes
still on the IPL where it's, you know, do or die time for the lower half of the table for sure.
The IPL keeps going, and this is where we're going to start Charu and Brett, because there
has been a star in the making, we believe. A fast bowler who's being hailed as the find
of this year's Indian Premier League. He's just 22-years-old, and already former South African
fast bowler Dale Steyn has called the youngster his own inspiration. The name you need to know is
Umran Malik, and he has gone from being a rookie to a star of the world's highest paid league in
just over a month. So, what makes him special? First, his speed. He's bowled the fastest ball
of this year's IPL - clocked at 154kmph. Just before that he took the season's best bowling
figures with 5-25 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. That was against the table topping Gujarat Titans. And
he's had praise heaped on him from his own hero, MS Dhoni. Charu, he has shot into the spotlight.
I guess the IPL does that but tell us a little bit more about Umran and his particular story.
You are right, Alison. Every year we get a new hero from the IPL and that of course is
his biggest contribution particular to Indian cricket, but I suspect to
international cricket as well. Once in a while, there are new heroes that are born out of the IPL
for other countries. So yeah, as he said he's just 22, but remarkably and this is rare, of course,
except in maybe the northern part of India and maybe Pakistan where until 2016/17 he played no
organised cricket. Can you imagine that? Just tennis ball cricket with friends and of course,
they this peculiar, taped ball cricket up north, which is just insulation tape that you put around
tennis ball. It can get really quick and hurt a bit too, I can assure you. So that's what he was
bowling with. And he got spotted played for his state Jammu and Kashmir which is up north. And
I'm not suggesting it's new to cricket but hasn't turned up too many stars over all these years,
except for one bowling off-spinner who played for India a couple of matches. So, if you can be
a star in that part of the country you can be a leading light for a lot of other youngsters,
which is the important part because sports has been little up and down in Jammu and Kashmir.
Yes, it's early days for him, Brett isn't it, but do you love this sort of story when you know a youngster
really hits the spotlight in this way? It's incredible, so impressive for a number of reasons.
And I guess putting all that aside for a moment, we can still appreciate that in a sport which
evolves so quickly, and things come and go in trends, certain things always seem to be in vogue.
There was still a place for just pure out and out express pace bowling and to be honest, we haven't
tended to see any of those really fast bowlers in the Indian system. I think Umesh Yadav might
have cracked 150kmph a few years ago, but not regularly. And Jasprit Bumrah, despite being a
very good bowler also doesn't reach those speeds. So, it is very, very exciting. And I guess maybe
the fact that he had a delayed start to playing organised cricket means he will prolong his career
through his 20s and 30s and not break down as we tend to see some very fast bowlers do.
In terms of India, is he a chance at all for the T20 World Cup in October or is it still a little too soon?
Well, there's a big populist movement - Umran for T20! But you know, of course it's a tough one
for the selectors, because when it comes to these major tournaments, I think people do
tend to fall over on the side of experience. You don't want to go in there and get shell
shocked about what's going on and just be like, you know, hare in the headlights. So, I really...
India has a habit of perhaps blooding people a little later compared to a few other countries.
The best part is that there's a bit of a hole in the fast bowling area in India right now because
some of the bowlers like Bumrah and others are very tired he's not doing too well in the IPL
at all. Others are tried and tested haven't quite made it - Ishant Sharma is no longer a force. So,
you know, there is a tiny window but there are a couple of others ahead of him, so it's 50/50
is the best I can do. I'm sorry, I don t want to sit on the fence. But you're getting splinters...
It's hurting! I do think that they should save them up a little because, you know, if he
gets thrashed at the World Cup, it might reduce his confidence and it might hurt his
career potentially. So, I personally would be happy to wait, but there's a very heavy popular swell to include him.
So, remember the name: Umran Malik, and we'll find out in time whether he is a seasonal sensation or a star in the making.
Next on Stumped, we know that fans around the world
love to collect items from their favourite sports. It might be a playing card, it might be the jersey
of a favourite team, you might be lucky enough to even have a shirt signed by your favourite player.
It could be a cricket bat or a ball signed, so sports memorabilia is nothing new. But
what about memorabilia that you can't physically touch and that only exists online? Welcome
to the world of NFT's - three little letters that you might have heard of before, but you
might not be quite sure what they mean. So, NFT stands for non-fungible token. And these NFT's
are making some people quite a lot of money. You're interested? You're confused? Well, I think
Charu, Brett and I are a little bit of both. So luckily, we have somebody here to explain
more. The co-founder of Rario, the first officially licenced digital collectibles platform
for cricket and they've recently partnered with Cricket Australia. Sunny Bhanot is with us.
Sunny, welcome to Stumped. First question is, in the simplest terms, can you explain to us in more detail what an NFT is?
Hi, Alison. It's great to be here today with you all. An NFT in a
nutshell, is a digitally verifiable way to prove your ownership through a trustless system. Now,
there's a lot of technical jargon here. And let me just unpack it a little for everyone.
One, it's digital, so it's available online.
Two, it's verifiable. It's mathematically provable, that you own a certain thing.
It's a trustless system, which basically means you don't need a trusted third party, trusted
intermediary to help you prove that ownership. For example, a bank or authority or something.
So basically, it works on blockchain. All right. So these three things basically allow you
to own anything digitally, prove the ownership of it, and then transact on it. That is what NFT in
a nutshell, means. It's a lot of technology jargon here. But what does it really mean for let's say,
a sports fan? Now, everyone here remembers, for example, one of the most iconic series
in last few years would have been the 2005 Ashes. We all remember what Andrew Flintoff did
in the second and fourth Test match for example. Now, as a sports fan, you want a piece of it,
right? You want to own that? You know, so what about I allow you to buy that, and own that?
Of course, you will have a poster already, you have seen those videos already on YouTube.
But what if I say that, you know, you are the only owner or maybe one of the 100 people who own
this in the world? Just you, 100 people, and that's what is the value of NFT, which is basically
a very fabulous way for you to own something which is as intangible as a video, or a moment,
or a player card. It basically enables that. That in essence, is what an NFT is.
So I understand in that sense of, if you're taking ownership of a video clip, that would be essentially what
you're talking about in terms of that kind of moment. What you're effectively buying
is the rights to that clip from the governing body who owns it? It's a little more complicated here.
Let me just explain that. So, for example, who owns the 2005 Ashes? It's technically the ECB,
which owns the rights to it. We partner with, for example, ECB in this case, and you know, ECB gives
us a licence to create NFTs of that particular series and then issue it to prospective buyers.
So, buyers will buy from us. In a way, it's a licensed collectible, which a
person can then buy and hold it in perpetuity because on blockchain, this is there for
perpetually. So you hold it forever. Sunny, as Ali mentioned, you've recently partnered with
Cricket Australia. Tell us a little bit about that, and what those collectibles look like.
So, like I mentioned, moments being one for sure when we plan to and they have, I think,
cricket footage since 1979. And that's just the international matches. Of course, there's the BBL,
which is very interesting piece, there's women's cricket, there's Sheffield Shield as well. So,
there's tonnes of cricket, which is happening in Australia. There are tonnes of brilliant
moments there, which a lot of people would want to collect. That's one for sure. Two, of course,
players, because this partnership also includes the ACA, which is the Australian Cricket Association,
the player body. We also plan to launch cricketer NFTs, as well, which would mean player cards.
Those player cards through our partnership with Dream11 could also be used,
for example, in a fantasy game. So, there's a lot of gaming component built around it as well.
That's the digital part of it. There's a lot of offline stuff that we're also planning, and we
hopefully will be releasing pretty soon. When our official platform for Cricket Australia launches,
I think in somewhere in July or so. So yeah, I mean, you know, there's
tonnes of exciting stuff we have planned. Digital, yes, but also offline, engaging fans,
and it is basically a fan-centric platform. It is built for fans. It is built for cricketers.
Tonnes of engagement and tonnes of access to their stars, to their heroes, to history as well.
There's tonnes of stuff, which is planned there. Well, I've been given good advice by those who
should know better that "Listen, don't worry about it, get into it, do something about this old NFT
rush." I'm still a little hesitant because I'm a little unclear about the IP, because
anyone can get up theoretically, to me, it seems and say, "well, hang on, you don't have the right
to do that." If I have Sachin's bat which he signed and given to me and I sell it to
you as an NFT for X rupees dollars. Does Sachin still have a right to say "excuse me? I mean,
you're not supposed to do that, because I gave it to you in good faith or still my bat or my
signature. And you have no right to sell it?" I mean, how do all these complications work?
I mean, these are complications, you know, a bunch of things are not very clearly defined,
who owns what. For example, when I buy a certain bat in an auction, what rights do I have? So those
are a little hazy in terms of the definition. What we're working towards, especially for example, and
our partnership with Cricket Australia, and the ACA is an example of that. We want to take all the
relevant stakeholders together, clearly define what rights are there, what can be allocated
to a certain NFT, what will be passed on to a user when he buys a certain NFT. So all of
that is very, very clear. We hope to replicate that model in other partnerships in the future.
Sunny, you are the ultimate collector. Thank you so much for being so thorough with
your explainers. I hope Charu and Brett that you're all clear on it and everybody listening
and watching indeed as well. Sunny Bhanot, thank you so much for joining us. Co-founder of Rario,
who I'm sure you'll be hearing much more about as NFT's gather pace.
Now finally making the news headlines 115 years after you played your final innings is quite
impressive. Then again, the impact of WG Grace extends far beyond his own cricketing career.
The man heralded as the father of cricket opened the batting for England beyond his 50th birthday
and is fifth on the list for the most runs scored in first-class cricket,
amassing over 50,000 in a 44-year career. Despite all that, he's being punished. Some of his runs
are being taken away from him. The question is, should they have been attributed to him in the
first place? The Wisden Cricketer's Almanack has determined that 10 of Grace's matches weren't
actually at first-class level. And so gone are 685 runs, 67 wickets and two centuries wiped
from the first-class record books. Brett, does it seem a little bit unfair? WG isn't even here
to make his case to keep those runs in the little yellow book. Well, I guess if nothing else, this
does bring Wisden into line with the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, so it
might sound arbitrary or pedantic, but there's a level of consistency here. And I think in general
history has been generous to certain first-class matches and matches that should not have been
deemed first-class fixtures, which is probably for example, why the university match Oxford
versus Cambridge no longer has first-class status. And then there's dispute around things such as the
World Series Super Tests in the late 70s, which I know Ian Chapell is a big advocate for, as well as
other various board XI or exhibition events that do or don't deserve official status. There is a
sizable can of worms here, Ali. I'm glad I'm not the one who asked to open up, particularly
against the tide of WG Grace sentimentalists in this case. Let me give you the background,
Wisden first changed the dates of his 100th 100 in 1981, but the book's editor at the time,
restored them the next year, basically saying that he didn't want to interfere with history. But the
current editor, who's Lawrence Booth, we of course had him on Stumped when the Almanack was published
a little while ago. He says it's ludicrous that the book has massaged Grace's statistics and
says "the time has come to accept that the Almanack should be more concerned with record than romance. "
There's got to be something in that Brett, are you sort of erring on the on the side of who with
this one? You're in favour of the records? Yeah, look, scorers and historians are some of the most
stubborn people I know. And we love them so, far be it for me to argue against them. I want to side
with the records, and I think Wisden has done that well enough. Simon Ray, who's the author of
a Grace biography has said in this case with what the Wisden Almanack is done, he says, "It's like
re-measuring Everest and shaving a foot or two off. It's still going to be the highest mountain
in the world." Charu, do you think that sort of applies quite neatly to the WG Grace scenario?
I do agree with Simon and by the way, Everest does keep getting re-measured all the time and we have
a different height all the time. It doesn't change the fact that it's still number one. However,
you know, the cat among the pigeons is set up when it does change. So all of a sudden if you
re-measure Everest and say it's 800 feet lower than it is and suddenly becomes the second highest
mountain in the world, that's trouble. So WG is still you know, the first to the first to this and
that's fine. But if a major ranking were to change,
that could be a bit of trouble. But Simon's right, I think it doesn't really matter. I think the legend lives on.
Well, that's all we've got time for on this week's show here on All India Radio.
Don't forget that you can follow us on Twitter. We're @BBCWSSport, use #BBCStumped. And
you can watch us on YouTube as well, just search for the BBC World Service's YouTube channel.
My thanks to Charu Sharma and to Brett Sprigg, and to all of you. See again next week, bye bye.