0:01

Yeah, gone! Gani gets his

0:03

very tall ending! An

0:06

epic way to go to a test-match

0:08

100. What a moment

0:10

for the Southern Braves! The most

0:12

remarkable thing you'll probably ever see in cricket!

0:15

604 and final Test Wicked, the

0:18

Stewart Ball. And Australia

0:20

win the World Cup for a

0:22

sixth time. England's captain Ben

0:24

Stokes, while he is there, England

0:27

have hope. Well,

0:33

the India juggernaut rolls on. An

0:35

unbelievable 17th consecutive series

0:37

victory at home. A

0:40

quite incredible record that India

0:42

have at home. They haven't been beaten since Alistair

0:44

Cook's team lowered their flag more than a

0:46

decade ago, 2012-13 that was. So

0:51

they wrapped up the series 3-1 here, handing Ben

0:53

Stokes, Nas his first

0:55

series defeat as England captain. So we're

0:57

going to move over what's happened

1:00

here in Ranchian and probably more

1:03

generally in the series for the Sky

1:05

Cricket podcast. What

1:07

have you made of today's play, Nas? Well, it's

1:09

the hope that kills you, doesn't it? As an England fan, you wake

1:11

up. The 40

1:14

runs last night was a bit of a

1:16

blow, I have to be honest. Chasing 1-9-1.

1:18

We'll come on to yesterday because that was,

1:20

you know, moving day,

1:22

day three, and that was a

1:24

terrible day for England yesterday. But today

1:27

you wake up and the first hour goes

1:29

to India, and then it's the

1:31

hope. They lose a couple of wickets

1:33

either side of lunch. I mean, after lunch, I went to

1:36

get me a cup of coffee. I sat

1:38

in front of this TV. Jadeja hit clips

1:40

of bull toss to mid-wicket. So

1:42

I'll razz out and you think, here

1:44

we go. England lost 35-7 in their

1:46

second innings. Could India

1:48

do the same? But you have to

1:51

admire those two lads. So calm,

1:53

so cool. Shubman Gill is always

1:55

cool and calm, but second

1:58

innings in particular in test matches. seems

2:00

to thrive in that pressure which is nice

2:02

to see and Jarrell played

2:04

brilliantly. I think we both debated when

2:06

they left Barras out why were they

2:08

doing that. I think we can now

2:10

see why they did that with gloves

2:12

and with the bat he

2:14

has been phenomenal and rightly named

2:17

player of the match. So yeah

2:19

hugely disappointing if you're an

2:22

England fan but India just so

2:24

difficult to beat at home. How

2:26

would England the team be looking

2:28

at it as disappointment or it's

2:30

in there and it's a hard tool to win on?

2:34

A little bit of both I think I mean

2:36

I don't

2:38

feel too strongly that you

2:40

know about being too critical of England

2:42

it's a difficult place to come and

2:44

win obviously we've mentioned that

2:47

nobody has done so here since

2:49

2012-13 and given the

2:52

relative strength of the spin attacks obviously spin

2:54

is the vital thing when we were talking

2:57

about the series before a ball was sent

2:59

down you know I don't think either was

3:01

expected England to win here given

3:03

the relative strength of the spin attacks so

3:06

I feel it's been a competitive

3:08

series I feel that India know they've been in

3:10

a tussle and in the end

3:13

they were just too good in home conditions

3:15

I thought this was a particularly good effort

3:18

from them to win this game they lost

3:20

the toss they were behind

3:22

on first innings and then

3:24

they pulled it around I mean just reflecting on

3:26

today a little bit Jarell I thought outstanding

3:29

both in the first innings

3:31

his first innings 90 I

3:34

think kept India in the game without that that

3:37

first thing's deficit is massive and I

3:39

thought today I know

3:41

you said Shubman Gill played really well second innings

3:43

and he did but I just felt that when

3:45

Jarell came in that both

3:48

his composure and his intent to

3:50

score just enabled Shubman Gill

3:52

to get going as well I mean there

3:55

was a stage where England really put the clamps on

3:57

I think when Jarell hit his first

3:59

bench It was the first boundary for 31 overs,

4:02

which was a measure of

4:04

the kind of control that England spinners had.

4:06

So I thought Jarell was terrific

4:08

today and had a great game. England

4:12

spinners really good. I mean, what a

4:15

game for Shoaib Bashir. He's

4:17

now got more test wickets than he

4:19

had first-class wickets coming into this tour.

4:22

He only had 10, didn't he? He's taken more

4:25

test wickets in this series than that.

4:28

And I thought he bowled excellently. I thought both of them did,

4:30

actually. I tried to work out their combined figures. I think it's

4:32

12 for 330 or something in the game. And

4:37

I think if you said before the

4:39

series began that two young spinners

4:41

who hadn't played a test match, not

4:43

really first choice for their counties, could

4:46

have been put in performances like that,

4:48

you know, I think you'd have taken

4:50

that. Yeah, and I read

4:52

you in the week as well. You

4:54

mentioned Stokes and how well he's captained

4:56

him. I think Hartley has improved. I

4:58

think he has become more consistent, especially

5:00

in this game. Sometimes his figures have

5:03

flattered him in that there's been for

5:05

his finger spinner, he should have had

5:07

more control, even with the caveat of

5:09

how inexperienced he is. As a finger

5:11

spinner, he should be landing it there

5:13

or there abouts. And Shoaib Bashir has

5:15

been a revelation, really, not just the

5:18

wickets. But the key for him is

5:20

obviously to be a complete

5:22

spinner and bowl in England and get wickets in

5:24

England. If you think of someone like Graham Swann,

5:26

he used to deceive the batter before it land

5:29

with drift and drop. And everyone

5:31

talks about Bashir's high release point. The

5:34

wickets today are Patidar and

5:36

Safra's. They were going

5:39

forward to try and smother it. And the last

5:41

second, that drop and then the turn

5:43

and bounce to Poonkalig Gali. So I

5:45

think that that's what's going to stand him

5:47

in good stead when he gets back from

5:50

India and bowls in England. So what

5:52

did you make of Stokes? Could he

5:54

have done anything different today? I'm

5:56

not sure he could, to be honest. I don't

5:58

think just. thinking about

6:01

what we were all feeling at the start of

6:03

the day given the 40 runs

6:06

that they scored last night in 8-0s, I

6:08

don't think really anybody expected England

6:10

to win today. I think

6:12

I looked at Winvis this morning which

6:14

had India about 95% or

6:18

something, obviously that changed as those wickets

6:20

tumbled and England just gave

6:22

themselves a sniff. But

6:25

I remain very impressed by

6:27

the way Stokes handles himself

6:29

and his bowlers and the

6:32

field settings in the field. He's

6:34

one of those people who's

6:36

never really beaten until the last ball goes

6:38

down and you can see that in his

6:40

body language and in the fields that he

6:42

sets. So I think he

6:45

does drag the best out of the

6:47

young players around him and

6:49

England gave a good account of themselves today, you know,

6:52

to give themselves just a sniff. When

6:54

Jarell came in there was 72 adrift

6:57

at that point with two wickets in

6:59

two balls. You

7:02

know, I think England just felt they had a

7:04

sniff then and to give themselves that opportunity I

7:07

thought was a pretty good effort but India too

7:09

strong. I mean if you look at the game overall

7:12

I still think the two

7:14

ends of the first innings were

7:16

pretty important. I mean I was a

7:18

bit frustrated when Joe Root was 122 not

7:22

out for example and Bashir

7:24

and Anderson played what you

7:26

might do, you know, two shots and just left

7:28

Root stranded and Bashir showed in the second innings

7:31

actually that when he looked to stay in he

7:33

could stay in and you know

7:35

if England had just added a few more or given

7:37

Root an opportunity to express himself

7:39

right at the end of that innings and

7:42

then obviously the drop catch when Robinson

7:44

put down Jarell on 59 they

7:47

added 40 odd more. If you

7:49

kind of put those two things together you

7:51

feel that England's first innings advantage

7:53

should have been somewhere around 100

7:55

and then that puts a very different complexion

7:57

on the third innings which as you know can

8:00

be often very difficult when there's

8:02

not much of an advantage on first innings.

8:04

So I felt looking at the game as

8:06

a whole, that's where

8:09

England missed their opportunities. Yeah,

8:11

I agree. There was a bit of

8:13

pumsiness, however well-rooted played for someone needed.

8:15

You could argue a Robinson played positively,

8:17

but Robinson has those shot options. We've

8:19

seen him in first-class cricket. That's how

8:21

he plays. He's got a lot of

8:23

good shot options. I thought those two

8:25

could have hung in with Ruth. And the

8:28

drop-cat from Robinson. Everyone are looking at the

8:30

game, but the game was not yesterday. That

8:32

was an incredible turnaround from India. A bit

8:34

like the previous game, when you talk about

8:36

going to bed and Ashwin's just been announced

8:39

that he's leaving the test, and there was

8:41

real hope. There was real hope here in

8:43

England that this was it. We're going to

8:45

Durham-Shala to how are India possibly going

8:47

to get back in this game? Well, I'll tell you

8:50

how they did. Jarell again. And

8:52

Tildi played brilliantly. And then, as

8:55

we've seen on a number of occasions, England

8:57

have done it. This England setup have done

8:59

it to oppositions in that third innings. You

9:01

don't know whether to stick or twist. When

9:03

it gets down to 46, it's still a reasonable

9:05

lead. But then when you lose a

9:08

couple earlier, I thought Roach got it right second

9:10

time round. I think Roach have

9:12

used Ashwin a lot more with the new ball

9:14

ducat. And Ashwin is one of

9:16

those matchups that the stats guys love to

9:18

talk about. And he got it

9:21

right. They lose a decade to Ashwin, then

9:23

they lose Pope for a pair, which will

9:25

come on to suddenly you're 60 for two.

9:28

And suddenly that middle order is exposed. And

9:30

you don't know whether to stick or twist.

9:32

I think the stats were they lost seven

9:34

for 35 in the best part of 26

9:37

overs. 35 in 26 overs for

9:42

this England side. What did

9:44

you make of that? And could they have done

9:46

anything different? Well, first of all, I

9:48

think it was outstanding bowling. I mean,

9:51

Ashwin actually, I don't think it looked quite

9:54

as best in the series so far, albeit,

9:56

as you say, maybe hasn't been bowled at

9:58

completely the right times. But

10:00

I thought he looked very dangerous with the new ball

10:02

when he came on. And him

10:05

and Gedade as they so often do just,

10:07

you know, clamping down and taking wickets and

10:09

then called coming on a bit of panic

10:11

either side of T. And,

10:14

you know, in the past when England have gone

10:17

down in flames, you

10:19

know, they've been criticized. And now that,

10:23

as you said, that they couldn't get that scoring

10:26

rate going, people are

10:28

criticizing them again. It

10:30

really just is on the outcome, isn't it? And

10:32

as you say, it was an incredible turnaround on

10:35

that day. I mean, I suppose England's middle order

10:37

has had a pretty bad game

10:40

with the exception of Root, who played brilliantly

10:42

in the first innings. Pope's pair, as you

10:44

say, Johnny, we've

10:46

got two thirties, but that second inning's

10:48

dismissal just after T. You felt

10:51

that was a bad time to

10:53

get out like that and Stokes with

10:55

two single figure scores in the game.

10:59

So yeah, that middle order hasn't really shone

11:01

in the game. I did see Ollie Pope

11:03

this morning at the toaster and

11:05

kind of said, welcome to the club. You're

11:07

not a proper batsman until you've got a

11:09

pair, to be honest. How

11:12

many pairs did you get? Well,

11:14

I certainly got two in test matches. And

11:18

well, you'll certainly remember one,

11:20

but bizarrely, they came

11:22

in consecutive away test matches. So I

11:24

got a pair in a

11:26

shocking game that I had in Melbourne that we

11:28

won in 98, where I don't

11:30

think I touched the ball all game, basically.

11:33

And then the following, I missed

11:35

the next test in Sydney, and then the following

11:37

away test match was in

11:40

Johannesburg, which was your first one as

11:42

England captain. And having

11:44

gone to the ground where I'd batied about, you

11:46

know, 11 hours or

11:49

something the time before. And didn't we

11:51

know it all week, all week, the

11:53

whole press, how Britain, the great man

11:55

returns to the Wanderers. All we heard

11:57

was about how wonderful you'd been

11:59

there. I've seen ever since is

12:01

Atherton at Janisburg. What about Atherton at

12:03

Janisburg bagging a pair? I mean, under

12:06

my circumstances, thanks mate. Well, I was

12:08

bowled by Donald's second ball. It's exactly

12:10

the same as Ollie Pope's pair, three

12:12

balls stretching over two innings. Bowled

12:15

by Donald's second ball for a duck in the

12:17

first innings. And then an absolute

12:19

ripped snorter from Pollock to

12:22

get a first ball in the second innings. I reckon

12:24

I could bat from now till Kingdom come and

12:27

I still wouldn't get a run against

12:29

those two bowlers in those conditions on that day.

12:33

But Ollie Pope's interesting, isn't it? Because

12:35

I mean, first of all, he's a

12:37

brilliant bit of bowling from Ashwin. The way he,

12:39

when you watch how he changes the position of

12:41

the seam, that ball was kind

12:43

of spinning on his axis that way and almost

12:45

just curling and going straight

12:48

on with the arm. But

12:50

he is a very frenetic starter,

12:52

isn't he, Ollie Pope? It's like he's had about

12:54

17 cups of coffee in the dressing

12:57

room before he comes out. Yeah,

12:59

it is like that Red Bull moment or whatever,

13:01

KP or Freddie or whoever he used to have.

13:03

So he is an odd player. Even

13:06

after he got that 196, you

13:08

watch him in the very next innings, he

13:10

looked like me, having averaged seven in a

13:12

year or whatever, I did. He looked like

13:14

he hadn't got a run for a year.

13:16

He'd literally a few days earlier, got 196

13:18

and got one of the great near double

13:22

hundreds there has been. So

13:24

that's something maybe he's got. I

13:26

don't know how you work on that,

13:29

looking a bit calmer. We've spoken about

13:31

Schudmann today and Jarrell today, how you

13:33

look calmer and impose yourself on

13:36

the opposition because it has been feast or

13:39

firm infirm since 196, the scores have

13:41

gone down. And I think that's why

13:43

England, if we look at

13:45

their batting, there have been some

13:47

collapses in there. So you've got

13:49

Pope since then, not getting many.

13:51

Joe obviously got 100 here, but

13:53

nothing before that. Bearstow and Stokes

13:56

struggling a little bit. So

13:59

that's where that battle. those collapses,

14:01

our costumes, it's not like collapses that were on

14:04

the last tour where the two pitches spun. Understandable

14:06

on those surfaces. You lose one,

14:09

you could lose four, five, six. On this

14:11

tour, as Stokes said after the game, the

14:13

surfaces have been good and hence

14:15

you've got a bit more time to get

14:18

in and start. And in fact, the surface

14:20

we've debated, it looked ugly, but actually

14:22

you said before the game, don't judge it until you play

14:24

on it. And it played all right and it played fine.

14:27

Yeah, it was at its worst on the first

14:29

morning, actually, funnily enough, when I think there was

14:31

a bit of dampness in the pitch

14:33

because they were worried about it being too

14:35

dry. They'd spent the day before sprinkling it

14:37

with an old watering can of the type

14:40

you've probably got in your garage. And

14:42

it was a bit damp and it

14:44

nipped around and went up and down. But

14:46

actually after that, although the oddball kind of

14:48

crept for the spinners, Stokes got that

14:50

one didn't he? And the first innings that crept along

14:52

the deck, but similar to yours

14:54

against Karl Hooper, other than that,

14:57

you know, it played pretty well.

14:59

But just, I'm not going

15:01

to let you get away with chatting about pairs,

15:03

by the way, you must have got a pair

15:05

in test cricket, at least one surely. I

15:08

got one against the I thought I got away

15:10

with this, by the way, against the West Indies

15:13

at the Oval. And

15:16

I can't remember who got me out in the first

15:18

innings. It wasn't memorable, but I

15:20

got out to Nagamoo to the leg spinner.

15:22

And I'd love to say it was Ambrose

15:24

and Walsh, but I got out to Nagamoo

15:26

to the leg spinner in the second innings.

15:28

And then I sort of tried to hide

15:30

behind the captaincy thing we won first time

15:32

for 30. You hide behind the captaincy thing.

15:35

All I remember from that Oval, when first

15:37

time we've beaten West Indies for about 60

15:39

years or something, is you on the balcony

15:41

with the big trophy,

15:44

big Winston trophy. And

15:46

you bagged a pair.

15:49

Unbelievable. Bluffed

15:51

my way through captaincy. So yeah,

15:54

what else? What else can we discuss?

15:56

Now, what about this England side? Let's

15:58

have a look. general look at them

16:01

because there's two ways of looking at it. This

16:03

was the first loss under Stokes'

16:05

captaincy at in a test series,

16:08

but they've not won a series

16:10

since Pakistan and they sit second

16:13

from bottom in the World

16:15

Test Championship table. How do you assess

16:17

where England's test cricket is under Stokes

16:19

and McCallum? Well, if I

16:21

look at this tour, I

16:24

don't feel that, you know, I'd

16:26

sit here and could be

16:29

unduly critical. I don't think anybody expected

16:31

them to come and win here. In

16:34

general, I feel they played some pretty good cricket,

16:38

that the cricket has been competitive, that

16:40

India know they've been in a scrap, but

16:43

in the end they were just not quite good enough. The

16:46

residual regret over the opportunities missed

16:49

and the fact that India were

16:51

missing some big names like Coley

16:53

and Shami and Bumrah

16:55

here. So there's kind

16:57

of a lingering regret in that, but

17:00

in terms of this

17:02

particular tour, I feel they've

17:05

given a pretty good account of themselves. And

17:07

of course, in sport, you

17:10

are judged on results. That's the

17:13

bottom line, regardless of the

17:15

style with which you play, how you play,

17:17

you're judged on the results. And as you say,

17:20

now that's three consecutive series

17:23

without a win. But just taking

17:25

this series in

17:27

particular, I think that,

17:30

you know, when we

17:32

were down under in Australia for the last

17:34

dashes, I felt that was a

17:36

bit of a schmozzle. I felt

17:38

the World Cup was a bit of a schmozzle, going

17:40

back to Dharamshala next week, which is where we were

17:42

in November. And

17:45

so if a tour

17:47

unravels, if you feel it's, you

17:49

know, it's just unraveling as it did

17:51

in Australia, England got their tactics and

17:53

their strategy wrong. They played timidly and

17:55

meekly and were just smashed off

17:58

the part. Or if like in the... the

18:00

World Cup, I think we all felt that just wasn't a

18:02

good tournament for England full

18:04

stop. They didn't get many things right and

18:07

things went from bad to worse. But

18:09

I don't really feel that about this

18:11

tour. I feel

18:13

that they've kind of given a pretty

18:15

good account of themselves. And

18:18

sometimes you get too close to it. You

18:20

know, I'm here, you may see it differently

18:22

from the distance of, you know, a few

18:24

thousand miles and just watching on television with

18:27

a kind of broader context. But

18:29

just sitting here, I don't

18:31

feel as though England have done that badly

18:33

in the cricket that they've played. I don't

18:35

know what you feel. No,

18:37

I don't think they've done that badly at

18:40

all. And there is context in both

18:42

directions in the, you

18:44

know, 17 series in a row,

18:46

they've won at home. That's how difficult they

18:48

are to beat in those conditions. But I

18:50

sit here at home and see it as

18:52

a missed opportunity. And as

18:54

much as there is no Virat Cudi, there

18:57

is no Mohammed Chami, there is no

18:59

Rishabh Pan. For most of

19:01

the series, there's no KL Rahul.

19:03

Jasper Bummer has been rested, Jadeja

19:05

injured. Ashwin has to leave for

19:07

a day of test match cricket.

19:09

There were opportunities there. And that's

19:13

why I think England fans will love what they

19:15

say. In fact, Stokes and McCollum have done exactly

19:17

what they said they would. They weren't

19:19

going to play for draws. You remember what, when

19:21

Wardy said, are you going to be like master

19:23

side and just hang in there and the look

19:25

that Stokes gave him was a complete disdain. We

19:27

don't play for draws. And they don't and it's

19:30

to all and it'll probably be, yeah, sorry, three

19:32

one and it will probably be a result in

19:34

the next one. So and it's

19:36

been very excitable, very watchful. It's been great

19:38

watching the feeling here in England, you know,

19:40

in the coffee shop the other morning and

19:42

a blow came up, he wins the cricket

19:45

start wins the cricket start, you go to

19:47

bed every now because obviously it finishes early

19:49

here. So the moment the day

19:51

finishes, I'm like looking forward to the next

19:53

day because of the anticipation.

19:56

Not like that in the ashes, I'm afraid, because you

19:58

almost know what it's going to be. when you

20:00

wake up. I think in this series

20:02

there's been a real hope and anticipation

20:04

and that was burnt out today but

20:06

that shouldn't take away from what this

20:09

side are doing. I just think they can be

20:11

a bit more ruthless. I think Stokes said before

20:13

the last game it's time to look

20:15

within and analyse ourselves a

20:17

little bit and I do believe

20:19

that each individual now the series is lost

20:21

in fact before that should have done is

20:24

how do we get better? How does Pope become more

20:27

consistent? How does Crawley who has now

20:29

become consistent become dynamic and

20:31

go on and get the double hundred

20:33

for Jaiswold getting you know how does

20:35

Bashir and Hartley improve? Stokes himself how

20:38

can I improve? So I just

20:40

hope they don't sit back and go yeah we

20:42

nearly did it and we played some good cricket

20:44

and it is about results as well. Yeah

20:47

and bizarrely the results of the series

20:49

right now after four games I mean

20:52

it could conceivably be 4-0 to India

20:54

couldn't it? Because they will

20:56

feel they should have won that first game in

20:58

Hyderabad and probably ought to have done and

21:01

yet you could also say well it could be 2-2 as well

21:04

because England did win in Hyderabad and they threw

21:06

away a strong position here and even

21:09

at Rajkot I know they ended up losing by

21:11

a massive margin there but on that day three

21:13

it was a very similar day three to

21:16

here so that's what I

21:18

mean about I felt that the cricket has

21:20

been competitive and that Indian know they've

21:22

been in a tussle and just

21:24

speaking to a few of the Indian cricket

21:26

commentators obviously I've been in the written media

21:29

box mainly but you know I didn't knock

21:32

around and catch up with the likes of Ravi

21:34

and DK and Sanjay and you know

21:36

I think they felt that some of the

21:38

cricket has been very competitive as well compared to

21:40

some of the other teams that

21:43

have come but I just wanted to touch on

21:45

a couple of individuals really I mean Johnny

21:47

Bearstow is on 99 tests and looking

21:50

at a hundred tests as

21:52

we get towards Dharam Sharla. Ollie

21:54

Robinson I was really disappointed with in

21:56

this game I felt that he bowled

22:00

His pace was pedestrian, he was down

22:02

on pace. Obviously got

22:04

that half century, but dropped to catch.

22:06

He wasn't called upon on the fifth

22:09

day by Stokes. He looked like a player who'd

22:11

been out of cricket for seven

22:13

months. And for all

22:15

the training that you do and for all the practice

22:18

sessions that you have in Abu Dhabi or whatever, I

22:20

think he looks like a bowler who needs

22:23

a good run of game time now, not

22:25

necessarily with England either. I completely agree with

22:27

that. There are some cricketers that need to

22:29

be done. We had two opening

22:31

bowlers in Goff and Kadik. Goff could just rock

22:33

up. And if there was a camera anywhere in

22:35

the vicinity, he would run in and bowl as

22:37

quickly as he could. But someone like Andrew Kadik

22:40

needed to be playing for Somerset time

22:42

after time to get into the rhythm of the

22:44

game and the rhythm of

22:46

bowling. And I see that in Ollie

22:48

Robinson. Ollie Robinson, as we saw in

22:50

Pakistan, is a very highly skillful bowler,

22:53

even if there's not a lot in the pitch.

22:55

He has those skills. But he needs to be

22:57

playing to show those skills. He needs

22:59

to be at a certain pace. He needs

23:01

to be in the 80s, mid 80s, not

23:03

high 70s. And

23:06

he did look a yard short of a

23:08

gallop at least. He just looked like he

23:10

hadn't paid for a year. And he hasn't

23:12

paid since hittingly. So quite a long time.

23:15

So you need to know your cricketers. You need

23:17

to know your players if you are going to rest

23:19

them. I think Anderson, you can rest. And he'll come

23:21

back and look just as good. And

23:23

he has done it at times. So it

23:26

was disappointing. Who's the other cricketer? Who's the

23:29

other player you want to touch on? Just

23:31

touching on Johnny, who's on 99 test matches.

23:34

And there's a bit of

23:36

speculation about his place before this game. And

23:39

one or two people thought, well, if

23:41

it's going to be a ranked pitch, as one

23:43

or two thought it might be but didn't turn

23:46

out to be, would England then play the extra

23:48

batter in Dan Lawrence? They didn't do. He remains

23:50

on the sidelines. Johnny

23:52

99 test matches. Sentiment

23:54

should never come into it. But

23:57

I can't see them not playing Johnny.

23:59

and him becoming then what, the 17th

24:02

or 18th player to play 100 caps

24:04

for England? Yeah, no, I think he should play. But

24:08

I think he is playing for his place

24:10

then because it's Harry Brooke. And who knows

24:12

what happens down the line. There will be

24:14

injuries, you know, best. What

24:17

we're very good at in England at times

24:19

is just writing people off. And that,

24:21

you know, when you play 99 test

24:24

matches, you are a serious talent. So

24:26

you don't just send off, oh, thank you very much.

24:28

We'll move on. So I would give him Darmeshala. I

24:30

would give him his 100th game. But

24:33

he has to realise that with Harry Brooke

24:35

in the background, who is the future, let's

24:37

be honest, and the way that,

24:40

you know, he has

24:42

belted himself at times in this series, and

24:45

the way him, he has kept and

24:47

vetted in this game. I

24:49

think you can say that I think folks should

24:51

start in England. So it's a

24:53

big, big game in Darmeshala for Johnny

24:55

Birstow. So

24:57

that goes with any game you come

24:59

up to, whether it's your 100th or your 1st. As

25:02

our mate Jack Russell used to say,

25:04

you know, play every game as if

25:06

it's your last. Go and give it

25:08

absolutely everything. Get 100, and then

25:11

you can't leave him out in England.

25:13

So there's still a lot to play

25:15

for in Darmeshala. Just

25:18

a maybe final reflection on India. You

25:20

mentioned that they were missing some

25:22

big names, probably

25:25

four or five world class players. If

25:27

you take Kohli, Mohammed Shammy, Rishabh

25:30

Pant, Gedadja missed one match,

25:33

KL Rahul has missed, what's he missed,

25:35

three or four now? Obviously

25:38

Bhumra in this game. So

25:40

they've had to mix and match themselves. And

25:42

it just reflects, I think, on the depth

25:44

and talent within India cricket

25:47

that they can call on

25:49

players to come in and still

25:51

be a pretty good England

25:53

tide comprehensively in the end. Yeah,

25:56

and just go back to England there. I think that's

25:58

been one of the positives in this. regime,

26:00

the selection has been excellent.

26:03

Anyone this regime has selected seems to

26:05

have come in and done brilliantly,

26:08

whether it be Bashir, Hartley, Tung,

26:10

Rayan Ahmed, Will Jacks, there's a

26:12

long list of them. I won't

26:14

go through, but that's

26:17

the same with this Indian side. Some

26:19

of the serious names that have been

26:21

left out, rested, injured, they obviously

26:23

have a massive pool of talent. And to get

26:26

to the highest level, as we discussed a few

26:28

weeks ago, you're going to have to be a

26:31

serious cricketer. But you don't know until you're

26:33

on that big stage, how you're going to

26:35

react to pressure. And that's

26:37

why Jirell in particular is

26:40

a highlight for me. Justin, some of the

26:42

stories you read about these lads

26:44

that are coming in, some of the things

26:46

they have to go through, not just Jai

26:48

Swal, but Jirell. That works two ways, doesn't

26:50

it? I was thinking of Patidar today. You

26:54

hear all the stories about the

26:56

hard road that some of these young lads have

26:58

taken and how much that

27:01

makes them driven to succeed. I've heard

27:03

Jai Swal talk in the last 10

27:05

days about every innings

27:08

matters to him. And he wants to

27:10

get the most number of runs that he

27:12

can, and he's not happy with just

27:15

getting a pretty 30 or 40. He wants to

27:17

go on and get big scores.

27:19

But equally, the other side of that coin is

27:22

the kind of pressure that I felt Patidar

27:24

was playing under today when

27:26

he came out. He's a good player, he's

27:28

got a good first-class record, runs

27:30

against the England Lions, deserved his place in

27:32

the team, but has looked to

27:35

be increasingly in the last two or three games

27:38

like a man under pressure. And he came in

27:40

today not only playing for his place in the

27:42

side, but probably his international future. I don't know

27:44

what they will do for the next Test match.

27:46

And that's the other side of the coin, isn't

27:48

it? When they've got that strength in depth, and

27:51

they've got so many players that

27:53

they can call upon, you know

27:55

that unlike, say, in New Zealand or

27:58

a country with a smaller population

28:00

resource of players, you

28:02

know, you might not get the number

28:05

of games here in India that you might

28:07

get, say in New Zealand or West Indies

28:09

or places where there's not necessarily the same

28:11

level of strength in depth. So, you

28:14

know, they do play under that kind of

28:16

pressure all the time. So those who come

28:18

through it, it's great credit to them. Yeah.

28:21

And he's playing with pressure from

28:23

both directions. Sometimes you come in

28:25

and the senior player has moved on. So, say

28:28

Brooke comes in for best or whatever. He's

28:30

getting it from both directions. There will be

28:32

a whole truckload of youngsters still that we

28:35

haven't seen that would be pushing him. And

28:37

he's got some bloke called Virat Kohli and

28:39

K.R. Rahul to a degree that are pushing

28:41

him from above as well. So he'll feel

28:44

squeezed in that number four spot. So I

28:46

like the Jiraal story. I think he had

28:48

to hide from his dad that he

28:50

was still playing cricket. You know, his dad didn't want

28:53

him to be a cricket. If the anti, you know,

28:55

like me, born in India, my dad just wanted me

28:57

to be a cricketer. So

29:00

his dad didn't. He wanted something a bit more

29:02

sort of regimented, a bit more

29:04

safe, shall I call it. And he was sat

29:06

at the table. I think I read this story

29:09

today reading the paper and he turned to Jiraal

29:11

and went, oh, there's a lad with your name

29:13

getting some load of runs out there. And

29:16

Jiraal didn't want to tell him that

29:18

that's actually me then. So it's been

29:20

some fascinating stories as it often is

29:22

with India. We haven't touched someone actually,

29:24

Koldi. Koldi coming back

29:27

from the side runs and wickets. Someone that's

29:29

what I mean about England, if you don't

29:31

know me, so you know, my two men

29:33

have a look at yourself and try and

29:35

improve. I think that's what I

29:37

like about Koldi. Koldi, first

29:40

couple of times, he couldn't quite see that

29:42

one day cricket and first cricket, he couldn't

29:44

quite nail it and he had to look

29:47

at himself, fall a bit quicker. Become a

29:49

bit more accurate. Work on his batting. I

29:51

remember walking past him in the World Cup

29:53

and he fielded really well. And I said,

29:55

Koldi, your fielding has improved. And he

29:57

went, yeah, I've been really working hard on that. And

30:00

he strikes me as someone who had a look at himself

30:02

and has tried to improve. And that's all you can

30:04

ask of a cricket. Can you second or third time

30:06

round? Absolutely. I mean, with

30:09

him, it's noticeable how much more

30:11

quickly he bowls through the air. I

30:15

think he's talked about, you know, straightening his

30:17

run, getting more body in his action. He's

30:19

noticeably a bit quicker or he can be

30:22

quicker through the air, but still getting the

30:25

amount of revs that he gets on the ball. And

30:27

he definitely causes stokes one or two

30:30

problems. I'm not sure Ben reads

30:32

him out of the hand that well. Obviously

30:35

on, you know, on pitches that spin a bit,

30:37

he's a handful, but he contributed in other ways

30:40

with the bat in this game as well. So

30:42

he's had an excellent test match and there's

30:44

going to be a break now. I mean,

30:46

I've been in Ranchi for... What

30:49

have you done in Ranchi? I have been very

30:51

pleasant. I

30:54

didn't get to your waterfall, although we

30:56

now have a spare day in Ranchi. So might

30:59

try and get to the waterfall

31:01

tomorrow. Who knows? But I went

31:03

to the Wargraves Cemetery, which was

31:05

beautifully tended for and cared for.

31:09

Went to an excellent restaurant last

31:11

night called Una the Place, which

31:13

was a rod tucker recommendation, but

31:15

was fantastic. And

31:18

Ranchi's looked after us really, but there's

31:20

now this long break.

31:22

So they say it's about five

31:24

degrees in Dharamshala and

31:26

forecast sleet on the first day.

31:29

There'll be thousands of England supporters

31:31

coming that have been praying

31:33

for that. It'd be two all and

31:35

a chance of a

31:37

winner-takes-all game at Dharamshala. It's not going to

31:39

be like that. I think it's going to

31:42

be pretty brisk and cold there. England's

31:44

players, I think, are going in different directions.

31:46

Some are going to Chandigarh. The golfers are

31:49

going to Bengaluru, I think. So

31:52

then they'll all congregate in

31:54

Dharamshala in about, well,

31:56

a week's time. name

32:00

of that trail we did in Dharamshala where was I

32:02

was like an hour I was an hour like in

32:04

life I'm always just a little

32:06

bit ahead of you I was an hour

32:08

ahead of you up that mountain and you

32:10

were blowing out of your backside if I could

32:12

say that in a podcast but you were blowing way

32:15

way behind me you're going to do that again or not

32:17

well the tree on the trek it was called if you

32:19

remember but it's a very different

32:21

time of year that was November it was

32:24

beautiful warm but not

32:26

too hot certainly not too cold my

32:28

understanding is there's snow on the mountains at

32:31

the moment and it's about four

32:34

degrees I know must have

32:36

done the rate district exactly

32:38

but I may do that that may be the

32:40

thing to do before the Dharamshala test

32:43

match but it's a bucket list test

32:45

I think for a lot of England fans they

32:47

saw the ground in the World

32:49

Cup on the telly you know it's

32:51

beautiful ground with the Himalayas in

32:53

the background and I think many of them

32:56

thought when they realized that the fifth test was going

32:58

to be there that that's where we want to go

33:00

so I think many more are coming

33:02

in than were here in Ranchi

33:04

or Rajkolo had decent numbers actually in Ranchi

33:06

has been excellent following for

33:09

England as there always is but I think there's

33:11

going to be a few thousand in Dharamshala but

33:13

they're not going to get the test match that they wanted

33:15

to see with everything on the line but you

33:17

know I always feel that each test match is

33:20

a self-contained thing it can still be an

33:22

excellent game there's still masses to

33:25

play for Johnny Besto's

33:27

hundredth game there'll be players playing

33:29

for their futures on both sides

33:32

and of course 3-2 sounds

33:34

a whole lot better than than 4-1 and what

33:37

do you make you said sometimes it's difficult

33:39

when you're out there to work out what

33:41

England fans and pundits think here what

33:44

has it been like four tests one ago

33:46

four tests in India it

33:48

feels like there's been a great atmosphere and

33:51

it also feels like it's been a good month the

33:54

test match cricket you know the closeness of the games

33:56

the way it's gone the way it's been followed around

33:58

the world so you know The social media has

34:00

been getting mad about it. Do

34:03

you get that vibe about this last month? Yeah,

34:05

crowds have been good. I

34:08

think people here have been pleasantly

34:10

surprised about the numbers that

34:12

have come into the ground itself. I'm not talking

34:14

about the millions who've been watching on television, but

34:17

the numbers in the ground, I think BCCI

34:19

have worked quite hard at getting

34:21

people in, giving tickets to

34:23

school children throughout all the tests actually.

34:25

Good numbers of young kids have

34:28

come in. So it's felt

34:30

like the atmosphere has been good at the ground. I

34:32

think the cricket has been compelling. India

34:35

has proved to be too good, as we've

34:37

said. But you wouldn't say that it's

34:39

just been one-way traffic throughout, where

34:41

you wake up every day and know that

34:43

it's going to be backs to the wall

34:45

and a real struggle. So the

34:47

cricket has been compelling. And I

34:50

agree. I think a good month for

34:53

this test series, both teams well

34:55

led by Rohit and Ben Stokes, could deal

34:57

with respect for each other and

35:00

have produced some excellent cricket. So a

35:02

nine-day break. We're going to

35:04

catch up again, I think, in the middle of this break

35:07

and maybe try and change tack a little bit.

35:09

The Women's Premier League has started an

35:11

ongoing here. So maybe we'll try and

35:15

catch up with one of the England players

35:17

in that competition, have a natter about that,

35:20

before switching our attentions to

35:22

Dharam Sharla. So nine days, I'm going to

35:24

be in Delhi and then Dharam Sharla. And

35:27

we'll catch up on the far side. Trust

35:34

in politics is broken. So can we

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get UK politics working again? That was

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the last time we were happy. I'm

35:42

Beth Macby, Sky's political editor. Join

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me every week with Labour's

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Ruth Davidson for some electoral

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