A fortnight since the second season of Selection Day dropped online, showrunner and director Karan Boolani is proud to have given a cinematic adaptation to Aravind Adiga's celebrated novel by the same name. "There is ache and depth in his writing," says Boolani, counting himself fortunate to have a powerful source material to play with.

If the first season of the Netflix drama laid the groundwork by introducing us to Manju and Radha Kumar, the small-town boys who aspire to play in the U-16 Mumbai cricket team, the second edition delves into the dreams and demons of the protagonists. He says it was a collective call to make the story emotion-heavy rather than cricket-oriented. "Emotions are the core of this show because we are catering to 180 countries, and most of them are not cricket-playing nations. We established this at the writing level. Emotions travel further than the sport."