Life at Cricinfo - Testimonials

Jayaditya Gupta, Executive Editor

When I was about to join Cricinfo, my friends and colleagues were, to put it mildly, amazed. After all, I'd spent 17 years in print, was in a senior position in a highly respected media organisation, and had the rest of my career pretty well mapped out. Moreover, I wasn't even a cricket fan. Football was my game: I'd covered two World Cups and was set for a few more. And in any case, as sports editor at the Indian Express I had to look at all sports.

So why, they wondered, did I join Cricinfo?

Good question, and the answer is in many parts. Cricinfo offered me the chance to work in a small, focused, high-energy team, which made achieving results much easier than in a large, multi-dimensional organisation (and also minimised, if not eliminated, the risk of politics). Also, I do not subscribe to the theory that the net spells the end of print in the media world, I do believe that the net as a medium is far more exciting and offers greater creative opportunities. So I looked forward to the challenge of starting all over again in a new medium. And finally, Cricinfo had a reputation as a solid news organisation, with high credibility and little of the we-can-change-the-world hypocrisy that mainstream media excels in.

There was also the selfish motive: having worked in cities in the north, west and east of India, I wanted the chance to work in the South.

So how has my first year at Cricinfo been?

Largely what I expected, with a few bonuses, including the conference in Goa, and George Binoy's consistently excellent choice of workstation music; though I must confess I hadn't bargained for riot police and night curfews!