'Every generation needs its writers to tell its stories'

In this special episode, we chat with veteran sports writer Sharda Ugra.

From interviewing star cricketers as a college student... to blazing a trail as a sports journalist in the early '90s... to writing on a variety of sports for The Hindu... to being the chief sports writer at India Today... to presently working as a senior editor at ESPNcricinfo... Sharda has been an inspiration for a number of sports writers around the world.

We chat with Sharda about her illustrious career – and are riveted by her range of experiences as well as her inexhaustible bank of anecdotes.

Talking Points:

The magazines that hooked her on to sports
The interviews she and her college buddies did with the stars of the 1980s
Memories of Imran Khan
Landing her first job
Finding Sachin Tendulkar's number
Covering sailing 
Watching Kenya's biggest cricketing moment
The match-fixing shock
The fall of Hansie Cronje
The Azharuddin she interviewed
Authoring a book with John Wright
The Ganguly era
Player access and the importance of stories
Women's cricket - past, present and future
And much, much more

Participants:

Sharda Ugra

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Ashoka (@ABVan)

Related:

The stolid buccaneer - Sharda Ugra on Mark Taylor

Hansie-gate - Sharda Ugra's piece on the King Commission hearings

What makes sportsmen go corrupt

Manoj Prabhakar? Love? - on a cricketer Sharda Ugra hated to love

All Indian cricketers should write books like this - Sharda Ugra reviews Sanjay Manjrekar's book

Girls aloud - Sharda Ugra on how TV is redefining TV commentary

Couchtalk with Sharda Ugra - interview with Subash Jayaraman

This is personal - Sharda Ugra's letter to Mumbai post 26/11