Cricket in itself is drama. But when cricket and its ecosystem is shaped into a drama for the screen, the excitement doubles. We got to experience that in the first two seasons of the popular Amazon Original Series Inside Edge.
Set in India and around the fictional cricket club of Mumbai Mavericks, Inside Edge looked at the unsavoury aspects of the cricketing world - spot-fixing, doping, player affairs, power struggles amongst the moneybags who own these franchises and the greed spreading across the sport’s hierarchy. The creative team did so with panache and poise.
So when Inside Edge Season 3 is all set to stream from December 3, the air of expectancy is but understandable.
The insistent question on which aspect of cricketing side-show will the makers choose to focus this time round is also floating in the air.
It is said that the series will trains its lens on the depiction of women in leadership roles within cricket.
In the new season, the stakes are also raised as rivalries thicken both on and off the field, with newer and murkier secrets about to unfold in the pursuit of the Indian cricket team captaincy.
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Women and Indian cricket
As women's cricket is taking centre stage world over, in Inside Edge too the plot veers to the fight of a woman for the all-powerful presidency of the Indian cricket board. Can the sport, described perfunctorily as a gentleman's game, grow to become a lady's game, too? Or will the efforts of pugnacious women be dead-batted?
The numbers in real-life do not favour women in sports and are far from encouraging. It is said that women occupy less than 10% of positions in sports associations and governing bodies in India.
Eight national sports associations do not have any female representation on their governing bodies. In cricket across the first-class counties in the UK there is only one female chief executive, and one female chair.
The International Olympic Committee counted 33 female members and honorary members out of a total of 144 in 2019.
These stats can provide a context to Inside Edge Season 3. In that sense, you can hope to see some social commentary in the new editions of the web series whose first season was Emmy-nominated.
Streaming from Dec 3 on Amazon Prime Video
The highly popular cricket drama is created by Karan Anshuman and directed by Kanishk Varma.
The Season 3 of Inside Edge stars Vivek Oberoi, Richa Chadha, Tanuj Virwani, Aamir Bashir, Sayani Gupta, Sapna Pabbi, Akshay Oberoi, Sidhant Gupta and Amit Sial, among others.
It will stream on Amazon Prime Video from December 3. As was the case in the previous two seasons, the third one too will have 10 episodes.
In an interesting promo for Inside Edge Season 3, the makers had former cricketer and Indian team coach Ravi Shastri speaking to the media, where he is asked for his thoughts on the captaincy of the Mumbai Mavericks. And Ravi Shastri, responds in his typical hyperbolic fashion.
If you are subscribed to Amazon Prime Video, you can check out the previous two seasons of Inside Edge here or can see a quick combined recap here.
Amazon Prime Video is available in India at no extra cost with Amazon Prime membership for Rs 999 annually or Rs 129 monthly, new customers can find out more at www.amazon.in/prime and subscribe to a free 30-day trial. The rate is set to increase.
Amazon Prime Video, ever since it amped up its India content, has had good success. Its recent web series Mumbai Diaries, The Family Man -Season 2 and the Vidya Balan starrer Sherni are blockbusters, to use a mainstream description.
