A Justin Bieber in the making?

She is supposed to be THE YouTube sensation of India. Shraddha Sharma is her name and, according to a story in Mint Lounge on September 17, her YouTube channel had more subscribers than John Abraham's.

SHRADDHA SHARMA STRUTTING HER STUFF.

In the profile, written by Anindita Ghose, we learn that Shraddha, "savvy songstress, YouTube phenomenon and Facebook celebrity", is a 15-year-old schoolgirl who lives in Dehradun and has never travelled beyond New Delhi.

How did Shraddha get her start?

A little before midnight on 30 April, Shraddha Sharma uploaded a YouTube video of her singing, with a guitar accompaniment, a teary song of separation dedicated to “a special friend who was leaving her forever”. It was recorded on her parents’ living room sofa. She sang Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s Mein Tenu Samjhawan from the Punjabi movie Virsa.

Five videos and 16 weeks later, in the third week of August, Shraddha’s YouTube channel, Shraddharockin, became the highest subscribed channel in India.

Shades of Justin Bieber! Back in May last year, The Reading Room had published a post based on Time magazine's article on how the internet had turned a 16-year-old into a pop phenom. And now here's an Indian teen rocking the internet charts.

Read the Shraddha Sharma profile here and the Justin Bieber post here.

• Photo courtesy: Mint Lounge

"YouTube is a miracle for cricket fanatics"

Rahul Bhattacharya, author of the cricket tour book Pundits From Pakistan, writes a monthly cricket column for Mint Lounge. He has a felicity with words that makes his articles a delight to read, even if you're not a cricket fan. On August 28, he wrote the cover story for Lounge, "Time travel cricket". The opening line says it all:

Cricket in the age of YouTube... is cricket in another age. 

Bhattacharya goes on from there to describe "the sheer athleticism of Garry Sobers, Majid Khan’s disdain for footwork, Bedi’s silken flight" and explains why YouTube is a miracle for cricket fanatics, "encouraging us to revisit the game’s greatest and often changing our idea of them".

Cricket fans are already tweeting and blogging and emailing links to this article.

BACK TO THE PAVILION: GREG CHAPPELL BOWLED FOR A DUCK BY KARSAN GHAVRI WITH AUSTRALIA CHASING 143 FOR VICTORY IN THE THIRD TEST IN MELBOURNE (1981). THIS WAS ONE OF INDIA'S MOST MEMORABLE WINS. ENJOY IT ALL OVER AGAIN ON YOUTUBE.

I'm sure they are also going to YouTube and checking out the videos recommended in a sidebar in Lounge. For those keen on watching four "memorable encounters on YouTube from the time before live telecasts", here's the list:

• West Indies in Australia, 1960-61

Search for "Green and gold greats"

• Lillee vs Sobers, 1971-72

Search for "Lillee Sobers"

• Holding vs Boycott, 1980-81

Search for "Holding Boycott"

• India vs Australia, Melbourne, 1981-82

Search for "Aus Ind Melbourne 81"

• Arpan Bhattacharyya (Class of 2010) tells me Rahul Bhattacharya's piece is available on Cricinfo, too: "Video thrills the history fan". Thanks, Arpan.