The Inner Athlete

The Amol Karhadkar Files - Journalism beyond the headlines

"How long do I have to decide?" asked Amol Karadkar when offered specialization choices. "Two and a half minutes," said his editor."Two and a half seconds," said Amol. "Sport." The Deputy Editor of The Hindu — one of India's finest cricket journalists — is back on Inner Athlete.And this time we go deeper. Into his personal journey. Into Sports Katta. Into women's cricket as a business opportunity. Into the fascinating football culture of Kolhapur. And into why Marathi sports journalism deserves far more credit.

Rebel Leagues Always Fail But Always Win

Three rebel leagues. Three sports forever changed. And a pattern that keeps repeating itself. Kerry Packer in the 1970s took on the cricket establishment — gave us colored clothing, day-night cricket, helmets, multi-camera setups and ODI cricket as we know it. The Indian Cricket League in 2007 — backed by Subhash Chandra of Zee — threatened the BCCI so severely that IPL and T20 franchise cricket were born almost as a defensive reaction. LIV Golf backed by Saudi Arabia — changed how golfers are paid, opened up emerging markets, and forced the PGA Tour to reform from within. None of them completely "won." But all of them changed sport forever. And Sameer Pai — who was INSIDE the ICL — joins us to tell these three stories like nobody else can.

The Blueprint To Fix Badminton!

India won the Thomas Cup in 2022. The current team just won a Thomas Cup bronze medal — seeded 8th, finishing in the top 4.And the players said they received almost no support. No recognition. No incentives.At the same time — two international badminton events in India have been cancelled. The Premier Badminton League is scrapped. And the sport that originated in this country is being ignored commercially.At Inner Athlete — we firmly believe badminton is India's second most promising sport after cricket. And it deserves far better.

IPL Auctions Are Ruining Cricket

Can Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar or KL Rahul get into today's Indian T20 side? The Deputy Editor of The Hindu — one of India's most respected cricket journalists — says the honest answer is probably not. And he explains exactly why. Amol Karhadkar joins Inner Athlete for one of our deepest, most wide-ranging cricket conversations ever — covering IPL's evolution, the auction problem, domestic cricket reform, MS Dhoni's character, and the stories from 2008 that nobody else is telling.

Abhishek Bachchan's Euro T20 Gamble

Abhishek Bachchan has done some genuinely good things as a sports entrepreneur. Pink Panthers in Pro Kabaddi — brilliant. Invested in an organic Indian sport, brought star power, helped make the league popular. But the Euro T20 Premier League? That is a completely different story. And at Inner Athlete, we are going to call it out directly.