Contact the editorial desk
Where to send a correction, a tip or a complaint.
The editorial desk has three inboxes. Corrections go to [email protected] and are verified against the original source before any page is updated. Tips go to [email protected] and are accepted on or off the record. Complaints about editorial coverage go to [email protected] and are reviewed by the editor-in-chief within two working days.
Three inboxes, one desk.
Corrections
[email protected] — if we can verify the correction against the original source, the page is updated and a dated editor’s note is added at the top of the article.
Tips
[email protected] — off-record tips are accepted; the desk verifies before publishing, and we never publish an unverified tip.
Complaints
[email protected] — the complaint is reviewed by the editor-in-chief within two working days, and a written reply is sent within five.
Partnerships, advertising, syndication.
Partnerships
[email protected] — syndication, live-data feeds and selected media partnerships. The reply is within five working days.
Advertising
[email protected] — clearly-labelled advertising on the news section. The reply is within five working days.
Freelance pitches
[email protected] — match reports, tournament previews and editorial features. The reply is within seven working days.
The desk’s response time
The desk aims to respond to corrections within one working day, tips within two, complaints within five. Where the desk cannot meet these targets (during a marquee fixture, for example), a note is posted on the contact page. The desk has a calendar of busy periods and adjusts the response-time expectation in line.
Contact questions, answered.
What about corrections to live fixtures?
Live fixtures are corrected within thirty seconds of the host broadcaster’s confirmation. The scoreboard carries a dated editor’s note for any change of three or more runs.
Can I send a tip anonymously?
Yes — the tips inbox accepts anonymous tips. The desk verifies before publishing and never publishes an unverified tip.
What about partnership enquiries?
Partnership enquiries go to [email protected]. The reply is within five working days.
Do you accept advertising?
Yes — clearly-labelled advertising on the news section. The ad-ops email is on this page.
Is the freelance inbox open year-round?
Yes — pitches are accepted year-round. The desk commissions match reports, tournament previews and editorial features.
Do you publish the response-time measurement?
The customer-care page publishes the measured response time every month. The contact page mirrors it during a busy period.
Can I email the editor-in-chief directly?
The editor-in-chief can be reached via [email protected]. Direct, personal emails are not accepted.
What about international enquiries?
International enquiries are accepted on the same email addresses. Time-zone response delays may apply.
The contact inboxes respond within the published SLA.
Editorial coverage with three inboxes, one desk and a published response time.
The desk’s response time, by inbox.
The desk publishes a measured response time for every inbox. The numbers below come from a rolling thirty-day window; the desk refreshes the measurement on the first Monday of the month. The numbers are a target, not a guarantee — during a marquee fixture (a World Cup semi-final, an Asia Cup final, an IPL playoff), the desk takes longer to respond. The customer-care page publishes the marquee-fixture calendar.
Corrections: the desk aims to respond within one working day. Most corrections are verified and acted on within two hours. During a marquee fixture, the response time rises to four hours — because the editor-on-call is at the scoreboard and isn’t reachable by email. Corrections that affect a live scoreboard (e.g. a team-sheet misread) are surfaced immediately on the scoreboard’s editor’s note.
Tips: the desk aims to respond within two working days. Most tips are acknowledged within four hours. Tips that turn into published stories carry a verification log on the methodology page; tips that don’t are not named in the public record.
Complaints: the desk aims to respond within five working days. Most complaints are responded to within two. A complaint about editorial coverage (e.g. a published piece the reader disagrees with) is reviewed by the editor-in-chief within two working days; a written reply follows within five.
Partnerships and advertising: five working days. Freelance pitches: seven working days. International enquiries: same response times, but the desk may take longer over weekends and Indian public holidays.
When the desk isn’t available.
The desk is staffed Monday–Friday, 9 am–7 pm IST. Outside those hours, the desk isn’t reading email in real time — the inbox is open but replies wait until the next working morning. During a marquee fixture (the World Cup, the Asia Cup, the IPL playoffs), the desk extends to weekend hours and to a longer working day; the editor-on-call is announced on the contact page the morning of the fixture.
If your email is urgent (a live-fixture correction, a regulator dispute, a verified news tip), the desk recommends the [email protected] inbox with “URGENT” in the subject line. The editor-in-chief monitors this inbox on a tighter turnaround than the standard editorial inboxes.
What to do when the response time falls short.
The desk publishes a measured response time for every inbox on the customer-care page. Where the measured response time exceeds the target, the desk publishes a post-mortem note explaining what happened. The post-mortem is editorial — not an apology, an analysis.
A typical post-mortem explains: which inbox missed the target, what the measured response time was, what the desk’s editorial calendar looked like at the time, what the root cause was (volume, complexity, a marquee fixture), and what the desk is changing for the next month. The post-mortem is published on the contact page within five working days of the missed target.
The desk treats missed response targets as a signal that the editorial calendar is overcommitted. The fix is rarely “work faster” — the fix is usually “reduce the editorial calendar next month and recover”. Where the desk reduces the editorial calendar, the calendar adjustment is published on the contact page.
How reader feedback changes the editorial calendar.
The desk uses reader feedback to inform the editorial calendar. Where the feedback is consistent (a recurring comment on the captain focus shortlist, the captain-matrix refresh, the team-sheet verification), the desk treats it as a signal that the editorial coverage can be improved. The desk publishes a quarterly editor’s note on the changes the feedback drove.
Reader feedback is also where the desk catches errors it has missed. A reader who points out an editorial mistake is doing the desk a service, and the desk publishes the correction with a dated editor’s note. Where a reader’s feedback turns into a published correction, the desk credits the reader on the methodology page.
The desk’s policy is to read every piece of feedback, even when the desk doesn’t act on it. The feedback inbox is monitored by the editor-in-chief, who replies within two working days. Where the feedback is anonymous, the desk still reads it; the reply may be a no-reply if the desk can’t reach the reader back.
What you can expect from a written reply.
The desk commits to a written reply on every email that requires one — the corrections inbox, the tips inbox, the complaints inbox, the partnerships inbox, the advertising inbox, and the freelance inbox. The written reply includes a clear answer to the question raised, the desk’s reasoning, and a specific next step where one applies. The reply does not include filler phrases or template answers.
Where the desk cannot answer the question (because the answer requires information the desk doesn’t have, or because the answer requires operator input), the desk replies with a written acknowledgement and a target date for the follow-up. The desk does not send a generic acknowledgement with no follow-up commitment.
The desk’s commitments are listed on the methodology page. The commitments are reviewed every quarter by the editor-in-chief. Where a commitment changes (a shorter response window, a longer review window), the change is published with a dated editor’s note.