0:01

Yeah, gone! Ghandi gets his

0:03

fairytale ending! An

0:06

epic way to go to a test-match

0:08

100. What a

0:10

moment for the Southern Braves!

0:12

Seaweis, remarkable thing you've probably ever seen, cricket!

0:15

604 and final test wicket

0:17

for Stewart Ball. And

0:19

Australia win the World Cup for

0:21

a six-time. England's captain Ben

0:24

Stokes, while he is there, England

0:27

have hope. Today's

0:33

Sky Cricket podcast is being recorded on the last day of

0:35

the opening round of the Championship Games, actually. We're

0:38

recording on Monday. Quite

0:41

a lot of the Championship fixtures inevitably have

0:43

been affected by rain, but

0:46

one or two still going on.

0:49

And some eye-catching performances now. I see

0:51

you in the West Wing this morning.

0:54

Why are you in the West Wing,

0:56

Rob? I've been kicked out of the

0:58

East Wing. My lad is working from

1:00

home, so he's taken that side of

1:03

the house. He's got the better wi-fi,

1:05

so excuse me if I drop out

1:07

occasionally. But I have been

1:09

following those county scores. Half

1:11

the games haven't really kicked off at all.

1:14

The game at Durham, all I see on

1:16

my Twitter feed, are pitch inspections. I noticed

1:18

you were up at Old Trafford to watch

1:20

it rain with those two, Statler

1:22

and Waldorf. What did you make of Lancashire

1:25

this week? Well,

1:27

there was no play when I was there, inevitably.

1:29

It turned up, and play was abandoned for the

1:32

day within about an hour. So

1:34

that was a wasted journey. But

1:36

I did catch up with Bumble and Walter, which was nice

1:38

to see them. Lanc's TV, 24-7. Modern

1:44

operation with a couple of 70-year-olds fronting

1:46

it. It was nice to catch up

1:48

with them. We're

1:52

all crafted for the spinners. I

1:54

noticed that Sorrie's spinners

1:57

took nine between them, didn't they? One week.

2:00

lengths rather collapse. I mean, let's

2:02

just briefly touch on some of

2:04

the eye-catching performances. Sam Northeast, obviously

2:06

with the with the highest first-class

2:08

score at Lords, we'll come back

2:11

to that in a minute. Kashif Ali, that's

2:13

a really nice story at Worcestershire playing

2:15

just his sixth first-class game, I think,

2:18

and back-to-back hundreds in that

2:20

fixture for Worcestershire against Warwitch.

2:22

And a terrific story that he's a graduate

2:24

of the South Asian Cricket Academy. And

2:27

I noticed at Essex, Nas, somebody's

2:30

bat failed the gauge. It looked too

2:32

big. It was too big. Not

2:34

an issue. I imagine you were ever caught

2:37

out with at Essex. A, you're bat looking

2:39

too big, but I assume most of the

2:41

time you're within the regulations. Well

2:43

within the regulations. My bat was as thin

2:45

as anything. We can't work out who failed

2:48

it, actually. Maybe at the end of the

2:50

game, it will be announced. It was either

2:52

Cushey or Dean Elgar. I saw a tweet

2:54

saying it was Dean Elgar. It's fairly serious

2:56

because I think Taran, a couple of

2:58

years ago, one of their bats failed

3:00

the bat gauge test and they were

3:02

dotting points. That room is still going

3:04

on and that's a good close game.

3:07

I'm following it as I speak to

3:09

your boring chat here. Nuts

3:11

are already two down in the

3:13

run chase. And your lad was

3:15

playing, Josh DeCary, how is his

3:18

spinning finger bowling to Sam North

3:20

East record breaking Sam North East?

3:22

Yeah, I mean, what a what a

3:25

dull fixture that looks like. It's going

3:27

to be by the end. Loads of runs

3:29

for Glamorgan and Sam North East breaking Graham

3:31

Gucci's record that was set in a game

3:33

I played in actually in 1990. Gucci made

3:35

333 against India on a similarly very

3:40

flat pitch and Sam North.

3:42

I was actually there. I took

3:44

my parents down to watch and

3:47

I popped in for 10 minutes and

3:50

he was on 291 when I popped my head around the corner. So

3:54

I stayed to watch him get past Gucci's

3:57

record, which he did to a lot of

3:59

quite a deep. turnout actually. But

4:02

it sparked quite a bit of comment hasn't

4:04

it and quite a bit of debate around

4:08

the Kukaburra ball normally. I mean April actually

4:10

hasn't been a month where

4:14

people have been shorter runs in the last few

4:16

years but normally with the Dukes ball you'd expect

4:18

a bit of movement at the start of April

4:20

obviously given the weather that we've had

4:23

but it looked a very flat pitch at Lord's

4:25

and that combined with the

4:27

Kukaburra ball meant it looks like a very

4:30

high scoring game and

4:32

the debate really is around that Kukaburra

4:34

ball. Everybody knows what I mean

4:36

Rob Key is the one that has

4:38

pushed for it much to Alex Stewart's

4:41

disgust because he came on our podcast

4:43

and slammed that decision a few weeks

4:45

ago but everybody knows what they're trying

4:47

to do they're trying to kind

4:49

of expose the the medium-paced bowlers

4:52

who've been taking wickets in the

4:54

last few years trying to encourage

4:57

spin and fast bowlers by

5:00

using a ball which in

5:02

Australia and other parts of the world doesn't doesn't

5:04

move as much as the Dukes so that's the

5:07

rationale behind it. I'm I'll

5:09

get your view before I come on to my

5:11

view what do you say I mean it's early

5:13

days it's an experiment you have to really see

5:15

how it plays out and it'll be different in

5:17

other games no doubt but what

5:20

what's your opinion of the Kukaburra

5:22

ball for around the championship in

5:25

England? I don't mind it

5:27

because it does take away you

5:29

know the medium dauber just getting

5:32

wickets the sort of cricketer that may not

5:34

be successful in international test

5:36

match cricket that's what Rob Key's

5:38

thinking he's thinking about the Ashes

5:40

winning away from home in Australia

5:43

England sides have struggled since Frous'

5:45

side did so well down

5:47

there and you generally win down

5:49

there with extreme pace or

5:52

spinners that give it a good turn and

5:54

get some bounce and get some over spin

5:56

the problem with playing with the Kukaburra ball

5:58

is it's only for four rounds, so it's

6:00

two rounds early on and two rounds long. And

6:03

you are a product of your

6:05

environment. And is that environment

6:08

long enough? Because what will happen, as

6:10

we've seen this week, is

6:12

that you just play the one game, and

6:14

you look at Somerset, don't play show it

6:17

that year. They play their steamers and they

6:19

bulk Kent out for 290. Also,

6:21

they all seem, well, we've done well there. We've

6:23

done exactly what we needed to do. Oh,

6:26

you play spinners who bat. So we go back

6:29

to that Lancashire game, and the two lads, they've

6:31

got nine wickets for them. Cameron

6:33

Steele, who got 100 there last April.

6:36

He must have loved playing Old Trafford in April.

6:38

We watched him. He was like, that was our

6:40

televised game, kept televised the empty game, wasn't it?

6:43

Yeah, and also Dan Lawrence,

6:45

who's a batter, who bowls

6:47

some off-spin. So what you do is end

6:49

up playing these spin bowling all rounders. So

6:52

I don't know if it's going to happen

6:54

long enough for it to

6:56

really have a huge impact on

6:59

English cricket. And you hear from directors

7:01

of cricket, like Alex Stewart, that

7:03

just say, it's nonsense, we'll do

7:05

what's best for us. I think

7:08

it asks actually a more fundamental

7:10

question about championship

7:13

cricket, as in what is

7:15

it there for? What is it there to do?

7:17

If it is only there to

7:20

be a breeding ground for

7:22

to produce English test match

7:24

cricketers, you can see why they

7:27

moved to a kookaburra. That's really the rationale

7:29

behind this, as you said. They want

7:31

to try and produce quicker bowlers and

7:34

spinners and take some

7:36

of the kind of medium paces out that have

7:38

been doing so well with the Duke's Bowl. Although

7:40

that's going to take, if it's

7:42

going to have that impact, it's going to

7:44

take so long anyway. You're talking about another

7:47

generation almost. That's my point. Can

7:49

the championship be more than that would

7:51

be my question? I've

7:53

always envisaged that with

7:56

the right schedule and structure, i.e. 50 over

7:58

cricket, at

8:00

the start of the season between mid-April

8:02

and mid-May, and

8:05

short-form cricket in the school holidays

8:07

in August, can English

8:09

first-class cricket be a bit more ambitious

8:12

if you have it in June and July when

8:14

there's no other franchise cricket being played,

8:17

when you can get good overseas players

8:19

in, when you can have a competition

8:21

played in the summer months when people

8:24

can come actually and watch? It

8:27

can be a bit more than just a

8:29

breeding ground for England cricketers. You

8:32

can have a competition that is

8:34

followed and is entertaining and

8:36

worthwhile in its own right. And

8:39

the problem with the Kukaburra played at this time of

8:41

the year is you're going to get some very dull

8:43

cricket, I mean, Lords being a classic

8:45

example. So it asks

8:48

some very fundamental questions to me about

8:50

the championship. Is it only there

8:52

as a breeding ground, or is it important

8:54

in its own right and

8:56

if it's important in its own

8:58

right, you want attractive welcoming cricket for

9:01

people to watch? And I'm not

9:03

sure that... Well, you shouldn't be

9:05

playing on April the 5th championship cricket, in

9:07

any case, we all know that. But I'd

9:09

be a bit more ambitious for

9:11

the county championship if I was in charge of the

9:13

schedule. But

9:16

that's a longer debate and a

9:18

more perhaps a debate for another day. We're

9:22

going to turn our attentions a little bit

9:24

to the IPL, which is ongoing. We've got

9:26

our good mate, Dinesh

9:28

Karthik joining us

9:30

shortly. You're

9:33

laughing at the good mate bit there. Yeah,

9:35

you've added a bit there with the good

9:37

mate. He's just a plant we work with

9:39

occasionally and commentate on Dinesh Karthik, yeah. Well,

9:42

I'm absolutely delighted to say that

9:44

our old friend Dinesh Karthik has

9:46

joined us, looking resplendent as ever.

9:49

You've not disappointed us. We're

9:52

dressed in sombre black and I knew you'd come

9:54

on. Oh, I'm not so

9:56

right. Color. Now...

10:00

IPL, you have been

10:02

involved with, as far as I can see,

10:04

Delhi, Kings 11, Mumbai,

10:07

Gujarat, Kolkata, RCB. Have

10:11

I left anybody out? I reckon if

10:13

you go the other way around this day, you only have to name three

10:15

teams. You've

10:18

changed teams seven times. This either

10:20

means you're unbelievably highly sought after

10:23

or teams just can't wait to

10:25

get rid of you. Which one

10:27

is it? I think

10:29

you've got to ask the teams then. But

10:31

yes, I've been part of a few teams,

10:33

some exist, some don't, but I've been quite

10:35

the journey so far. And

10:37

I owe you an apology really, because

10:40

way back when England were in India

10:42

for the TASS series, we

10:44

were having a natter in the commentary box privately

10:46

and you said to me, oh, this will be

10:48

my last IPL. And I didn't

10:50

realize, I thought that was kind of public

10:53

news. And then in one of the

10:55

podcasts with NAS, I just let it slip that

10:57

this is DK's last IPL. And then

11:00

I had a load of messages from

11:02

Indian Journos saying you've let it slip,

11:04

this is not common knowledge. So first

11:07

of all, apologies, but I'm amazed to

11:09

think that the Journos thought you might

11:11

just wrestle another IPL next year after

11:14

this one. Well,

11:17

irrespective of whether I said

11:19

it to others, and I'll be saying I had it by

11:21

the way, it did increase the pressure many fold because they're

11:23

like, okay, last thing, what are you gonna do? What

11:26

have you got for us? So yes,

11:28

it could, I'm pretty sure that this is

11:31

my last IPL. And why I don't commit, I don't

11:33

know. I just feel that you fickle human mind probably

11:35

at the end of it, I'm like, you know, I

11:37

want Sky Force, doesn't give me a gig, I'll

11:39

probably go back to the auction. God knows what it could be.

11:43

If you've got a way of options, just stay light there.

11:46

Are you pretty sure? Because you've been

11:48

smashing it around. You had a fabulous

11:50

start to the tournament. That role, the finisher

11:52

suits you, DK. I mean, I thought I

11:55

saw you pushing yourself for a world T20

11:57

spot in the Caribbean as well after one.

12:00

No. No,

12:02

even if you are like

12:05

a tiger in sheets,

12:07

I'm not going to trust a word of

12:09

what you said just for all the Sky

12:12

Sports Podcast listeners. Nash doesn't like me as

12:14

a person, as a player, as a wicked

12:16

keeper, let alone any part of me. This

12:18

is the first time you said, oh, you're

12:20

snatching it. He's probably doing the scorecard once

12:23

or twice. And then said, alright,

12:25

this guy has done something worthwhile. But

12:27

still, if you ask Nash, if you put an Indian

12:29

team right now and ask six keepers, I'd probably be

12:31

the eighth one on the list that he wouldn't put

12:34

me there. I think that made that very clear. Let's

12:36

get that straight. Last year, I was the

12:38

World Cup. The only person in the

12:40

world who wanted me so badly out of the

12:42

team, you announced it on Sky Sports. I don't

12:44

know why they haven't released it yet. You took

12:47

an interview with me, you stabbed me in the

12:49

back, and then you said, this guy doesn't deserve

12:51

it. Where is Bishop Phan? That's the headline that

12:53

we got. Don't

12:55

try to play nice and coy with me. It's been

12:57

two games. You'll probably give me a

13:00

ring after 10 games to say, I just thought

13:02

for a second you batted well. Now I'm not

13:04

surprised. Now everything looks good. You're not going

13:06

well. But on a serious note, I think

13:08

it's been a good start for me first.

13:11

And I'm very happy that, as I said last

13:13

year, I just wanted to make sure. And

13:15

you know I've had this conversation with both of you

13:17

at different points of time during my last UK, How

13:21

do you decide when to tie a... Is there

13:23

something called a nice swan song? Does something

13:25

like that even exist? So, you

13:28

know, it's coming to

13:30

the end, and it has come to the

13:32

end to be honest. It's just that I

13:34

did bad well in a couple of games,

13:36

felt good, which was very surprising. I was

13:38

doing a lot of broadcasting, trying hard to

13:40

practice. It's not easy mixing broadcasting with playing.

13:44

Because A, you need to stay fit. That is

13:46

the most important thing. B, to

13:48

get a certain amount of skill

13:50

practice is not that easy. You

13:52

know, at times when you're playing,

13:55

other teams are playing. And what I mean by

13:57

that is domestic cricket is happening. So you don't

13:59

find players. players to help you practice. They're all

14:01

busy doing their own things. So to practice alone

14:03

is one thing but when you get in a

14:05

team environment, play a game, it's a completely different

14:08

kettle of fish. You feel very out of place

14:10

at the start and that's what I felt. I

14:12

played a tournament called the DY Parnell tournament and I

14:14

was abysmal in that and that got the fear even

14:17

more. What am I going to do this year? But

14:19

luckily then I practiced and did whatever possible.

14:22

Played as many practice matches as

14:24

possible and I'm very thankful that things have just gone

14:26

the way it has so far. It's

14:29

a very difficult decision to make, isn't it?

14:31

We all play because we

14:33

love the game. You're a

14:36

long time retired. Once

14:38

you've made the decision, although people have retired and

14:41

come back, but once you've made

14:43

the decision that's it. So it's not a

14:45

thing to be taken lightly, is it? Yeah,

14:48

well, unless you're free to go, I guess. But yeah,

14:50

I mean, most cases, I guess once you

14:52

say it's done, it's done. And at this age, there's

14:54

no looking back. So I guess I

14:57

just feel that when you finish how I look at it

14:59

is, do I regret anything or

15:02

am I missing something? Well, I don't know as

15:04

of now. Regret, you know, I said even a

15:06

couple of times, just a couple of regrets and

15:08

crickets. A, the fact that probably I had the

15:10

opportunity to be retained now that we speak about

15:12

IPL, to be retained by Mumbai Indians. I

15:15

reckon I missed the opportunity there. They were very keen

15:17

on me, but I thought differently and

15:19

reflecting back on that, it wasn't probably the

15:21

best decision for my career at that point of

15:23

time. B, it's a regret

15:26

because I haven't played for Super Kings and that's

15:28

because I'm from Chennai. I've lived all my life

15:30

there, but they try hard every year. And

15:32

as I said, there's a joke last time as well.

15:34

They've helped me in the bank balance and constantly bidding

15:36

for me and raising my price up. It's just that

15:39

they couldn't get me. So I'm not complaining too much.

15:41

But yes, these are the two things that I would

15:43

probably regret again, a strong word is

15:45

I wish I could turn round the clock and change

15:47

things in those two fronts. What

15:49

about this year? DK in the tournament in general,

15:51

scores seem to be going through the roof. I

15:53

think the average score is

15:56

1-9-1. What are

15:58

the trends in the tournament this year? so far

16:00

from what you've seen early days? The

16:03

impact player rule has had a massive

16:05

impact, pun intended, on the game so

16:08

far, genuinely, because it's not often that

16:10

you get two two seventies in the first 20

16:12

matches of a tournament. You have four totals of

16:14

two hundreds being chased. So the

16:17

fact that you can bat a genuine

16:19

batter at number eight has

16:21

really lengthened what scores could be.

16:23

And they've pushed players up top

16:26

to be even more fearless to go on and take

16:28

the bowling apart if you can. There

16:31

used to be a bit of a trend where they used to

16:33

take down bowlers in power play, then there used to be a

16:35

bit of a lull for two or three overs, and then they'll

16:37

again start striking and then finish it off on a strong note.

16:40

But you've gotten to a place

16:42

where there is no time to play

16:44

a few overs to have a look or once

16:46

the power play finishes, let over number seven be

16:48

one where you just try and just

16:50

play a couple of singles. That mindset is literally out of

16:52

the window. They just literally

16:54

the game right now is you go hard. If

16:57

you don't lose, we could go even harder till

17:00

you get out. That seems to be the mantra. And

17:02

hence you see targets like 270 and

17:04

interestingly, almost. I mean, to think that

17:06

270 could have been chased down. The

17:08

team was, you know, inside of it is

17:10

scary, actually, to be honest, if you're playing right

17:12

now. I mean, imagine that 270 is

17:16

thirteen and a half runs and over. And

17:18

to think that a team is competing for

17:20

about two thirds of the game and they're

17:23

almost taking them down is phenomenal. Honestly. And

17:26

is that the biggest change that you've seen? You've

17:28

obviously been involved right from the start of this competition.

17:30

I was looking at the number of matches you played

17:33

two hundred and forty six. Only MS.

17:35

Stoney has played more, I think, in that time,

17:37

two hundred and fifty four. So you you've kind

17:39

of seen it in its

17:41

entirety. Is that the biggest change,

17:43

just perhaps the horizons have been

17:46

lifted about what is possible now

17:48

from a batting perspective? I

17:51

think this is the fastest growing

17:54

format. A, B,

17:56

it's the format that has changed the most. We're just

17:58

speaking about one aspect of what it is. which has

18:00

been this year. But I promise you, if you take

18:02

2008 to 2024 today, amazing things have

18:07

happened. A, the quality

18:09

of batsmanship. 140 used to be a winning total

18:11

in 2008. It became 160 around 2012. It became

18:13

probably around the 2020s. 180 was a hard total to chase

18:18

down. Now, 200 is

18:21

far for the course and most crumbs. You

18:23

get to 200, it's not like you can breathe

18:25

easy. You need to bowl well. You get to

18:27

230, then you think, okay, I've got this game, I think

18:29

I've kind of scored more. So that's

18:31

with the batting. Now, with bowling, if you have to look

18:33

at skill sets, there

18:35

are no off spinners in the market right now. You

18:38

can take any finger spinner. The

18:40

word off spinner literally doesn't exist. More often than

18:42

not, it's a batter who can roll his arm.

18:44

Oh, I know you're laughing because his son is

18:47

growing off and doing really well. It's not very

18:49

encouraging to hear that. But that's the

18:51

fact. I mean, off spinners are literally

18:53

out of the game. You only have all the rounders

18:55

who can bowl a bit of off spin. If

18:57

you are a finger spinner, a left arm spinner

19:00

or an off spinner, you need to know to

19:02

turn the ball the other way around for teams

19:04

to have the confidence to play you as a

19:06

genuine bowler. Because if

19:08

you're a left arm spinner, it's coming to a stage

19:10

where if a left hander is there, it becomes literally

19:12

impossible for the captain to throw the ball to him

19:15

unless he knows he has the ball going away or

19:17

the pitch is slow and turning, which

19:19

is pretty rare these days in T20 cricket. It's

19:21

all flat pitches, slightly smaller ground. It's

19:24

all about hitting boundaries. The crowds love

19:26

it as you would know. And hence

19:28

it's always marketed towards the batter understandably

19:30

so. So in

19:33

2010, Ravi Ashwin came in, let's say, as an

19:35

example, bowl with the new ball and was phenomenal

19:37

for a few years. Now Ravi Ashwin

19:39

doesn't bowl a ball of off spin to a right hander.

19:42

All he focuses on is carom ball, back

19:44

spin, getting the ball going away. Nothing coming

19:46

in. The bats have become better. The

19:48

bat swing has become better. The ability to

19:51

hold when

19:53

you're almost committed to a start, to wait and still

19:55

hit it to a different part of the ground to

19:57

a six has become a lot better now. people

20:00

are constantly pushing their boundaries as batters to

20:02

hit sixes and I think you have a

20:04

question for me, Matt, shall we? Well, it's

20:06

an interesting debate really because scores are going

20:09

through the roof and as a spectacle, can

20:12

it go too far in favour of

20:14

a batsman or a batter in

20:17

as much as every ball is a four or

20:19

six, the event of a six is almost gone,

20:21

it's like every other ball is a boundary. But

20:24

if you say that to TV audiences and

20:26

people in the crowd, they love that, they

20:28

love that spectacle of boundaries. But the bat,

20:30

the sort of battle between bat and ball,

20:33

has it gone too far in the favour

20:35

of the batter? Yeah,

20:38

with the advent of impact player, I think

20:40

all rounders are not needed anymore as well

20:42

because you can have seven proper batters, five

20:45

proper bowlers and in case one of those bowlers

20:47

gets hit really badly, then you can get

20:49

an over or two of, you know, one of your part-timers,

20:52

so to say. So yes, it is very much

20:54

in favour of the batter, but that's exactly, you

20:56

answered the question, that's what crowds seem to like

20:59

because after the impact player rule is coming, the

21:01

average score has gone from 165, I think, to

21:03

191 in a space of one year. So

21:08

they like it a lot more. I mean, as

21:11

a broadcaster, that's exactly what you want, more boundaries. And am

21:13

I a big fan of it? No, I'm not a big

21:15

fan of 270s, 280s, no. I

21:18

think the skill in terms of, you know,

21:20

there is a bit of cat and mouse even in T20 cricket.

21:22

If a certain bowler comes, you know what, probably he's not my

21:25

matchup, let me just wait. The batter

21:27

is saying, even if he's not my matchup, by

21:29

the time I need to go after him. That means I

21:31

lose my wicket, so be it, let me just go after

21:33

him because there is even more batters left. The mindset has

21:35

shifted a little bit. So yes, it has

21:37

gone a lot in favour of that. But isn't that

21:40

the value? I mean, I noticed Jasperic Bummera's

21:42

figures yesterday as we speak or the day

21:44

before, you know, nearly 450 runs scored

21:48

in the game and he bowls four overs, two

21:50

for 22. It is

21:52

still those superstar bowlers

21:55

that win new games. I know batters can

21:57

set you up games or whatever, but a

22:00

bowl. like that I mean Bhumra it's

22:02

incredible what he manages in this era

22:05

of hitting potential. That just

22:07

tells you the quality of him to

22:09

be honest I don't think there is anyone

22:11

of his caliber who can play all three formats and

22:13

dominate the way he is and that's why I think

22:16

at this point of time as

22:18

we speak he is the most valuable cricket on

22:20

the planet because he is playing all three formats

22:22

and very strong and adapted all three formats I

22:25

can't think of another one player in any

22:27

skill set who dominates it as much

22:29

it's a hard one and you

22:32

know the problem is as

22:34

much as you say it is a very interesting fact

22:36

and it's great to see Bhumra doing that there is

22:38

no one else doing it so why should we cater

22:40

to you know just one out of

22:42

an ecosystem where thousands are there and everybody else

22:45

are probably on the same platform doing normal things

22:47

but he is very special you'd rather cater to

22:49

the thousand which would mean score more runs give

22:51

flatter wicket bring the boundaries in closer let

22:53

the bowlers have a slightly tougher time than the batters I

22:56

think overall that's more appreciated by people watching the

22:58

sport right now it's all young boys and

23:00

girls and I'm sure you know they at

23:02

least in India I know they seem to like t20

23:05

format a lot more to test cricket in England it's

23:07

slightly different. Talking of fast

23:09

bowlers young Mayank Yadav

23:11

has taken the the

23:14

tournament by storm hasn't he with the pace

23:16

he's been bowling and some of the Thunderbolts

23:19

he's been he's been sending down

23:21

you had a decent look

23:23

at him earlier on in the tournament tell us

23:25

a little bit about him and that

23:27

kind of eye-catching pace yeah

23:30

very quick luckily or unluckily

23:32

I got out to him second ball thanks to technology I

23:34

just escaped that bullet just went over

23:36

the stump umpire gave it out so

23:38

he's quick he's sharp but the good thing about

23:40

him generally people who come in and bowl at

23:43

that kind of pace over a period

23:45

of time haven't been very consistent with their length

23:47

he's very good with his length which is what

23:49

makes him really special did I see you play

23:51

a classic test match leave first ball I was

23:53

sat in front of my belly and looking

23:56

DK the finisher all I heard was

23:58

all over Twitter DK the finisher here

24:00

we go and you came and you played the

24:02

perfect lead for delivery are you trying to get

24:04

back to the test side as well I reckon

24:07

probably as the ball was running I was thinking about

24:10

you for a second there but but to be honest

24:16

so far I think he's the quickest ball I faced this

24:18

year so you know it was a bit of like wow

24:20

that's shop the

24:23

practice pitches in Bangalore at times have been tough to play on

24:25

so a lot of the batters have not played fast

24:27

bowlers they played spinners a lot more side armors a

24:30

little bit but not so much fast bowling so this

24:32

is the difference when you don't play fast bowling as

24:34

much and we are doing broadcasting and all of that

24:36

you can get you know you can play muscle

24:39

memory for spit you can up to 130 135

24:41

you've played it a few times so you know

24:43

somebody bowling 140 and you know he's in the

24:45

middle of a sharp skull now that's where you

24:47

need to have constantly played cricket for your body and

24:49

mind to react with a certain pace and get ready

24:51

for the ball even the second one that I got

24:53

out was just surely beaten on face I

24:55

mean by the time a bad game I got out

24:57

not like other domestic players who would play the whole

25:00

season wouldn't have gotten out but for me I could

25:02

feel the difference I'd been before where I was practicing

25:04

playing the whole season and then I come and play

25:06

140 bowlers the way I react to one where I'm

25:08

a little rusty and then you know the ball comes

25:10

back at that speed and then and

25:12

then you need to literally you know be a slightly

25:15

sharper have a slightly lower backlift make sure you know

25:17

you're getting in position slightly earlier you're tuning all of

25:19

this in in the middle of a match

25:21

and you know you're trying to get ready next ball was

25:23

a back foot punch for a single and thankfully spell is

25:25

over and you know that's that for him for that day

25:27

but I could see those are the small things that you

25:30

know you need to adapt on the go as you play

25:32

a game like that it's

25:34

part of a broader development isn't

25:36

it over the last generation or

25:38

so this emergence of a

25:41

lot of genuinely quick bowlers in India

25:43

you know if you go back to

25:45

when myself and mass play now jaggaal

25:47

srinath was quite quite sharp but

25:49

in terms of strength and depth

25:51

of fast bowling that's been one of the

25:53

significant developments in the time that you've been

25:55

playing oh

25:57

absolutely I think I feel has thrown

26:00

forward a lot of good cricketers and

26:03

for that matter if you take a separate skill set fast

26:05

pooling it's thrown a few a couple of years back it

26:08

was Umran Malik. We've had a few

26:10

names come through purely because of IPL and

26:12

that's the beauty of IPL. I love their

26:14

catch cry actually which basically says talent meets

26:17

opportunity and that's exactly what it is and

26:19

every year it seems to throw new cricketers and

26:22

it always will because there are new cricketers being

26:24

churned out every day in every part of the

26:26

country and they all get this platform to come

26:28

and play and you know a story like mine

26:31

we all see him today and we we

26:33

you know speak about him but the fact is he's been

26:35

there for three years with LSE he was

26:37

you know he wasn't played because probably the set

26:39

of coaches didn't feel he was there ready yet

26:41

they worked on him they have taken time and

26:43

he's come out from an injury but then to

26:46

come back and bowl after an injury and bowl

26:48

at this speed and be this consistent is phenomenal

26:50

and credit to LSE for unearthing a player like

26:52

that and and it's good to

26:54

see India constantly producing this kind of talent

26:56

the next step is obviously trying to win

26:58

a big title which is round the corner

27:01

I reckon but that's the challenge. Can

27:03

I ask you about your role as a as

27:05

a finisher which you

27:07

know I suppose from what from 2018 onwards

27:10

you started to get this tag as

27:13

as the finish I mean it we

27:15

did ask Benedict I'm going to

27:17

slightly uh take the Mickey here but we did

27:19

ask Benedict to work out how much

27:22

how many rupees you've earned in the

27:24

IPL since 2008 you

27:27

know the figure that he came back with I

27:32

mean it's amazing it's almost a billion

27:34

rupees 924

27:37

million rupees which comes out

27:39

about just over just under nine nine

27:41

million quid which is not a bad

27:43

return for a for

27:46

somebody finishing at the end of an innings

27:48

but just I mean there'll be lots of

27:50

young cricketers out there this role as a finisher

27:53

is one that's come relatively late

27:55

to cricket because you know for all kinds

27:57

of reasons you're you're a kind of specialist

28:00

in that role. Just give a... if

28:02

I was a young cricketer watching

28:05

this podcast and wanted to learn

28:07

about the mentality of

28:09

finishing, because, you know, when we grew

28:11

up, you

28:14

enjoyed batting, so you want to bat as many balls

28:16

as you can, but that's a very different mentality for

28:18

somebody like you who might come in and know you've

28:20

maybe only got a dozen balls or so to make

28:22

an impact upon the game. How do

28:25

you condition yourself mentally

28:27

for the role, the particular

28:29

role that you're expected

28:31

to play now at RCB? So

28:34

as a finisher, now, there

28:37

are two types of batting that you need

28:39

to be very aware of. One is instinctive,

28:42

where I go and I did what I did

28:44

to my own clather, back foot, just leave the

28:46

ball, that's normal batting. And then the

28:48

second aspect is power hitting. Now,

28:50

for the first aspect, that's what

28:52

I train a lot more for. To

28:55

be able to go out there and instinctively

28:57

put back the ball and still find a

28:59

single or hit a boundary, that,

29:01

the more I am good at that, the

29:04

better chances that I can be consistent. Then

29:07

comes the power hitting part. Now,

29:09

the power hitting part is obviously very dependent on

29:11

where I'm batting. If it's like 18, 19, over,

29:13

yes, I'm going for it, 5, 6, and I'm

29:15

going for it, or I delay it as much

29:17

as possible because power hitting is

29:20

obviously, there's only one thought in mind. I'm

29:22

hitting 6 every ball. It's not even a

29:24

boundary. It's 6. So you're

29:26

taking the utmost risk in

29:28

trying to do that every ball. So

29:31

as a batter, if I'm a finisher, all the

29:33

more reason I need to bat a lot more

29:36

for two things, to be in touch when I get

29:38

in, I should be very, very sure of what I'm

29:40

doing because I face very little

29:42

bowling. I might be playing 7

29:44

balls, 8 balls. In a week, I might end

29:46

up playing just 12 balls. Like in the last

29:48

three games that I've played, one

29:51

match I played, 8 balls, another match I haven't batted and

29:53

the match before that I've placed 9 balls. So in the

29:55

last two weeks, I've played 14 balls in the game. So

29:57

straight away when you bat, I'm going to

29:59

do that. walk into every game you're going to

30:01

be slightly rusty unless you've batted and pushed

30:04

yourself in practice to bat

30:06

enough to be very confident of having

30:08

both those games ready. As I

30:11

said one is instinctive batting where you just go

30:13

see ball, look ball, get the length, pick the

30:15

length early, play the short required for it and

30:17

then there is depth hitting. Depth hitting is where

30:19

you stand deep in the crease you're ready to

30:21

hit the ball to a 6 so you get

30:23

into what is called a power position using the

30:25

ground forces and all that and you practice all

30:27

that. Now with power hitting why

30:29

you can't practice that so much a

30:31

lot is because it takes a toll on your body

30:34

you can only practice it for 15

30:36

to 20 minutes max if you want a

30:38

good output out of it otherwise you end

30:40

up just playing for the sake

30:42

of it you will develop bad habits you might

30:45

get an injury as well so when you're practicing

30:47

power hitting you need to be very precise very

30:49

sure about what you're practicing so this is how

30:51

I practice A the instinctive B the power hitting

30:53

part. What is the key because

30:55

you're not a big strumming we saw Romario

30:58

Shepherd the other day big and

31:00

strong we've seen Andre Russell just

31:02

bully the ball for six I mean hit

31:04

hit it massive you're not big and strong

31:06

so what are the key elements for you

31:09

is it a stable base is it risk

31:11

what makes you hit the ball so far

31:13

you think? So that's

31:15

a great question number one when you actually

31:17

talk about power hitters it is

31:19

exactly those players that you name they

31:21

are actually power hitters Romario Shepherd, Russell,

31:23

Pollard now people

31:25

like me Nicholas Purin you

31:28

know the smaller ones come our

31:30

bigger strength is that swing the

31:33

back speed those are our biggest strengths

31:35

and most importantly getting into

31:37

a position to play that ball for

31:39

a six and even more importantly

31:41

the skill to get out of it if the

31:43

ball is not there for it what a

31:45

lot of players will do is commit to hitting

31:48

a six and hit and try and hit a

31:50

six wherever they wherever the I mean rather commit

31:52

and try and hit a six whatever they are

31:54

planned before the greatest skill for

31:57

a player like me is to commit myself to try and

31:59

hit a six And in case the

32:01

ball is not what I thought it out to be,

32:03

the ability to still find the boundary, it could be

32:06

over the fielder or hitting gaps. Now

32:08

this is what makes a player like me very,

32:10

very effective if I need to be because what

32:13

power-hitting means like for Russell and Ramah Rishabhar,

32:15

the difference is missed kicks of theirs can

32:17

go for six. Whereas with me, I

32:19

need to hit it correctly. If I miss it more

32:22

often than not, it will be out. So

32:24

I need to practice that much harder to

32:26

get into good positions, get my bat swing

32:28

and bat speed ready, but more importantly also

32:30

train my brain in such a way that

32:32

in case the ball that I'm looking for is

32:34

not there. And what I mean by that is generally when

32:36

you see a field, you know at the bat what the

32:38

baller is trying to do. If he has a short fine

32:40

leg, he isn't going to bowl a bounce or any ball. You

32:42

can get ready for the yok there. You have a slow one.

32:44

These are the two balls that he's looking to bowl. So at

32:46

the back of your mind, subconsciously you're ready for it. But

32:49

in case that ball is not there, your

32:51

ability to still find the boundary using

32:54

that position is what makes players like me or

32:56

what I call touch players very effective in that

32:58

phase. That's why you'll see players like me not

33:00

play too many dot balls hit a lot more

33:02

force than sixes. But still if the opportunity arises

33:05

where it's in the slot, we'll still try and

33:07

put it away. So that's what you need to

33:09

practice for. How quickly are

33:11

you looking to find the, I mean

33:13

vary from situation to situation obviously when

33:15

you come in. But are you

33:17

somebody that if you don't hit a boundary

33:20

in your first three balls starts to get a bit twitchy

33:22

or you know an early boundary sets you on your way?

33:25

An early boundary definitely helps me a lot in terms of

33:27

calming my nerves and I feel a lot better after that.

33:29

But if I don't get a boundary within the first five,

33:31

six ball, more often than not my innings itself is over.

33:33

But in case there is time as well, five

33:36

to six ball, I'm looking to hit a boundary somewhere.

33:38

I mean that's the ideal place to be. If I've

33:40

not hit a boundary after that, that means they're either

33:42

bowling really well or not batting well on that given

33:44

day. And the knock that you saw is a great

33:46

case in point. You know I batted eight balls. First

33:49

couple of balls I did but it is just well left

33:51

and defense and all of that just surviving that over. But

33:53

from the next though I'm trying to hit the ball to

33:56

the boundary and I couldn't you know the golden areas that

33:58

I couldn't hit. I took a couple of singles. Then

34:00

the ball I got out actually was a ball that I could

34:02

have put away for a boundary. I ended up getting out. So

34:04

that's the point as well. When you batter

34:06

the finisher, the chance of you being consistent is

34:08

very low. But if you want to create an

34:10

impact, you have to be very aware that it's

34:12

not about consistency there. It's

34:14

about how you can make best use of six

34:17

balls at that stage and make an impact. Like

34:19

I reckon Romario Shepherd's 30 that he got against

34:21

Delhi was the turning point in that game. If

34:23

it had been 210, 215, it would have looked very different to 240.

34:27

And mentally then, how

34:29

easy was it for you to adjust to

34:31

this role that is

34:34

focused on perhaps eight balls or

34:36

10 balls compared to players of

34:38

our generation who you might look

34:41

to bat for a whole day. That's

34:44

quite a shift mentally, isn't it?

34:46

You're a professional player. You

34:48

only might have an impact for eight balls.

34:52

And the traditional metrics of looking at

34:55

averages and all that completely gone out

34:58

the window. How easy was it for

35:00

you to shift to that mentality? In

35:03

fact, if a finisher has a good

35:05

average, it's actually a bit of a problem. That means

35:07

he's at times trying to just be not out. That's

35:09

what it actually means. So a

35:12

finisher should be based on the impact that he creates.

35:14

And there are many ways to judge that. Strike

35:16

rate is just a starting point of it. Who

35:19

he's striking, how well he's striking. Most importantly, how

35:21

he's able to adapt to pressure. There are

35:23

times when you're probably going early. Like in the first game

35:25

I played against CSK, we were I think

35:27

what, less than 100 for five or six week it's

35:29

down. So then you just see a

35:31

few overs and then you go hard towards the end of

35:33

it. So as

35:36

a player, I found it hard initially

35:38

that A, I

35:40

felt I wasn't consistent enough. But as I

35:42

kept playing in that role, I realized that

35:44

players, the coaches around me also were new

35:46

to this concept. Mostly

35:49

up until then, up until 2017, 18, there weren't any finishers. They'd

35:53

expect the top order batters to finish the game.

35:56

That's what they're used to. You go, take your time,

35:58

get set. But once you play, see the end. through.

36:00

Bad slowly, this is what we want you to do.

36:03

But slowly, I think the cricketing world is understanding it's

36:05

okay if a batter gets out. The role of the

36:07

finisher is to go out there and do this exact,

36:11

at this point to do this, which is to go

36:13

and finish the game as well as possible.

36:16

So I realize that in trying to do that,

36:18

consistency can be expected from the top three. And

36:21

even that impact is important, but

36:23

still okay, you can expect a certain amount of

36:25

consistency. But at the back end of the game,

36:27

it's all about creating impacts consistently. I think it's

36:29

about trying to play the audacious shot very early

36:32

in your training for that. And

36:34

it's mostly fraught with risk, so consistency becomes hard.

36:36

But mostly you have to be at peace with

36:38

yourself. I know there's a player in my team

36:40

who tried that three games, didn't

36:42

go well, a couple of them for that matter.

36:45

And they might be thinking it's so

36:47

hard and it's such a tough role because every time you

36:49

walk in, that's exactly what they expect you to do. Take

36:52

lesser balls, score more runs. Take lesser balls, score more

36:54

runs. The pressure is high. So it

36:56

is a very tough skill, one that

36:58

you need to make peace with that. It's not

37:00

a skill where you're going to be

37:02

constantly spoken about because there are going to be

37:04

more bad days than good days. And

37:06

that's the nature of the game. You're talking

37:09

about making peace with failure really, which, I

37:11

mean, that in professional

37:13

sport is a big thing, but particularly

37:16

in your role, where you're not always

37:18

going to succeed, I suspect. Because

37:21

the beauty about batting in that position is you're not going

37:23

to get out to a good ball. You

37:25

will get out to a normal

37:27

good length ball. Your weight could have been slightly

37:29

further back than what it should be and it

37:32

will end up being caught on the boundary. Now,

37:34

how do you constantly judge that? If

37:36

you're being very hard on yourself, then

37:38

you will forget the good things that you're doing in

37:40

the lead up to that, be it hitting a good

37:42

boundary or whatnot. You'll constantly focus on

37:46

the position and the shot that you've played and you'd

37:48

be upset with that. And in trying to constantly work

37:50

and get better at that, you lose a lot of

37:52

the other strengths, which has been really working well for

37:54

you. So you need to be very aware as a

37:57

middle-order, as a finisher to

37:59

understand. What your strengths are you

38:01

know you're getting into good positions playing good shots But

38:04

a lot of the times you'll get out to innocuous

38:06

bosses get out the full tosses waste high full tosses

38:08

and you're thinking geez how can I do that every

38:10

time and But it

38:12

is what it is you know the bowler could have

38:14

been slightly quicker The ball could have been at a

38:16

slightly different angle the field would have made you get

38:18

into a certain position And then you're thinking why did

38:21

I pre meditate? Why could I'm there just to still

38:23

and hit the ball so you know these types these

38:25

sort of thoughts will come But it's very

38:27

under very very important to understand your

38:29

game And what your strength is which

38:31

for me is getting into positions looking at the field

38:33

and the ball is going to make it harder He's not

38:35

going to bowl to what his field is not so

38:37

he's going to make it harder for me But still be

38:40

okay if I get out a certain way

38:42

you know those things take time You know

38:44

if you're just constantly judging yourself on

38:47

the shot that you got out for failure It's a

38:49

very tough position to baton. It's not like you're nicking

38:51

off in a technically bad You know one thing that's

38:53

the whole point here. Can we

38:55

move it on because my heart bleeds

38:57

your billion billion rupee Billion

38:59

rupee finish your role you're making it sound

39:01

like the hardest thing ever Can

39:08

we move it on to India

39:10

soon after the IPL finishes world

39:12

t20 Caribbean and America

39:14

where are India? In

39:17

the in the pecking order because I watch

39:19

the IPL and I look at the young

39:22

and senior talent in Indian cricket Unbelievable

39:25

talent, but then I look at

39:27

West Indians playing in this competition I think they

39:29

look a good side then I look at the

39:32

South Africans playing in this competition I think whoa

39:34

they're going to be a good side in that

39:36

world t20 I see butler

39:38

back in fall inform salt teeing

39:40

off nicely There are going

39:42

to be as you said right at the start this podcast

39:45

T20 cricket is going through the roof

39:47

the standard is going through the roof

39:50

So that world event is

39:52

going to be a marquee event

39:54

where our India position DK They

39:59

have a few have great things

40:01

happening for them and they have a few tough things

40:03

happening to them as well. And what I mean by

40:05

that is there are some really good players involved. And

40:08

if you do take

40:10

the team list and see the names, you're always

40:12

thinking, why aren't they winning? And so,

40:14

you know, in the league phase, they ace it, they

40:17

get to a knockout, and that's when it's all about

40:19

dealing with pressure for India. It's as simple as that.

40:22

But a couple of issues that India have had is

40:26

trying to understand how to formulate that level.

40:29

And that's why that is the all-rounders. Now

40:31

with the impact player rule coming in, the all-rounders going

40:34

out of the window even more, we're getting more specialists.

40:37

So in the near future, India is going to still have

40:39

that issue of trying to figure out

40:41

who their next all-rounder is. There is Adik and

40:43

Jadita right now. Jadita is obviously on the slightly

40:45

older side, so who's next in that role? For

40:48

the moment, let's just say Adik and Jadita

40:50

will definitely walk into the 11 because they

40:52

give that flexibility. Again,

40:54

who they're going to play around them. There's plenty

40:57

of questions. They just row it to open, yes, yes, we,

40:59

very human. Then you have

41:01

Virat Kohli. What is the situation there? And

41:03

then there is Surya Kumar. There is Shivam Dubey,

41:05

who's done really well. There's Rin Kusing, who's been

41:07

in great form. Jitesh Sharma, who's done well in

41:09

the limited time that he's had. So there are

41:11

more names than spots available right

41:13

now. And I'm sure by the end

41:15

of this item, there'll be a few more names coming through. The

41:19

question for India is not about how their 11

41:21

is or how their spot is. It's about exactly

41:23

what we've been discussing for about three, four World

41:25

Cups. Now come the big game, can

41:28

they bring their A game the way they have been

41:30

playing the league matches? The

41:32

biggest success and the

41:35

biggest plus for India in this recently concluded

41:37

World Cup was throughout the World

41:39

Cup, they promised us a certain template and they played to

41:41

it. And whether they can do it

41:43

in the T20 format, again, that's the

41:46

only thing that I guess they

41:48

can only answer it. And we have to watch and observe at that

41:50

point of time, I guess. But do they have the skill set to

41:52

do it? For sure, yes. But also,

41:54

you know, one thing that I am a little, I

41:57

think everybody is in the dark a little bit is how the pitches are

41:59

going to be. They're playing in New York. No one has ever played

42:01

in New York now. We don't know what the pitches are. It needn't

42:03

be 200 pitches. It could be 140, my winning

42:05

score. So I guess, you know, we have

42:08

to wait and see what the situation is with those kind

42:10

of pitches as well. And a

42:12

couple of questions before we let you

42:14

go about RCB at the moment. I

42:16

noticed you languishing in, well, as we

42:18

speak, ninth place. Rajasthan,

42:21

Josputla's team are flying high. Well, it's not his

42:23

team. He's not captain now. But he came back

42:25

to form the other day and they're flying high.

42:28

Four from four. You're one

42:31

from five. Andy Flower, I noticed

42:33

the other day, quoted

42:35

as saying, you know, we've got some real issues

42:37

with our batting. You

42:39

know, obviously, Coley in good

42:42

form, but lacking a little bit

42:44

of confidence, he said,

42:46

elsewhere. Is that the

42:48

key issue for you at the moment? A

42:51

couple of things. One, you know, we've

42:54

lost a couple of wickets in the middle consistently through the

42:56

game. So that put us on the back foot at a

42:58

point where we could really accelerate. We're losing a couple of

43:00

wickets and that's really pushing us back. So

43:02

that is one that's one area where we look to improve

43:04

where, you know, one of those middle order batters

43:07

will go and get us at 50, 60 from

43:09

about 30, 32 balls teams that have done

43:11

that have actually gone on to score. And

43:13

you get the feeling that 180 is not enough. It's

43:16

no more a 180 game. You need to get closer to

43:18

200 if the pitch is good, obviously, which is the been

43:20

the case in most games. So you need to

43:22

push 200 and push a little more than that. As

43:25

I speak, I've got a couple of two seventies

43:27

and whatnot. So it's been high

43:29

scoring. So we need to keep up with, you know,

43:32

those high scores wherever we play because teams are comfortable

43:34

chasing it down as well. Even now,

43:36

the team winning the toss almost every

43:39

game is batting, you know, bowling

43:41

first. They prefer chasing. So you need to

43:43

get that score when you

43:45

bat higher. And for us, we have a very experienced

43:47

pass bowling unit. There's no doubt about it. We have

43:49

some good names. People have done really well in T20

43:51

cricket. The spinners are very young. What

43:54

have you made of Andy Flower? I mean, he's a

43:56

serial winner in franchise cricket around

43:58

the world. He was brilliant within. England

44:00

took him to number one. Me and

44:02

Ath have huge admiration for Andy as

44:04

a person, player and as a

44:06

coach. Has he fitted in okay there? I

44:09

reckon he's been one of the best that I've worked with only

44:12

because of the clarity he gives. I think it

44:14

is a great case in point as the support staff

44:16

can only do that much. It is

44:18

a captain driven game, cricket is. It

44:20

is the fact. It is not

44:22

football or basketball where the managers have

44:24

such a big role to play on the

44:27

field of play. Literally, I mean,

44:29

I had to give an analogy like taking

44:31

the horse to the water which he has

44:33

done and he provided us with whatever possible

44:35

in terms of not only clarity, roles and

44:37

all of that in terms

44:39

of giving us space, in terms

44:41

of understanding, travel, like giving us days

44:43

off after the game. The way he

44:45

has managed it so far, I genuinely

44:48

feel he's been outstanding. I can't add a

44:50

word for mobo bat as well. I think

44:52

they've worked unbelievably well,

44:55

both of them. It would be

44:57

very unfair if I don't say it's two

44:59

of the best people I've ever worked with. And

45:01

it's only been five games and I know you're

45:03

thinking, oh, he's lost, why he's just won one,

45:05

lost four and he's just praising them no end.

45:08

But genuinely back end is about

45:10

as good as you can do. And we have

45:12

a very loyal team. That's another contract next

45:14

year. Obviously,

45:20

Will Jax is with you. I won't, it would be

45:23

unfair to put you on the spot and ask you

45:25

whether Will Jax should be playing. But we

45:27

think he's going to be an integral part of

45:30

England's T20 side in the Caribbean.

45:32

Just from what you see in and

45:35

around practice, is he somebody that

45:37

has impressed you? I've

45:41

seen him play. If I had only

45:43

watched him for the first time in Bangalore, I'd say

45:45

I'm definitely not impressed because the pitches were green. We

45:48

play on the outfield and it's like basically playing in the early

45:50

months, early months of the summer in UK. So it's been

45:53

seeming, it's been hard work to bat in the net. But

45:55

I've seen him play before in SA 20

45:57

for Delhi Capitals and for Pretoria

45:59

Capitals. He is a super player, one

46:01

that I like watching. I like people who

46:03

hit the offside very comfortably and he

46:06

is one of those who targets covers very well. I

46:08

like him personally. I think he has a lot of skill. I

46:11

think I feel he is a kick which will really help him a

46:13

lot and make him a lot better. He is

46:15

very keen. I was sitting next to him the other day

46:17

before I went to bat, having a chat about Saturday and what

46:19

he is looking forward to. I asked him whether

46:21

he will be part of the T20 World Cup. He said, for sure.

46:23

I have to wait and watch. I am pretty confident he will be

46:25

there as well. He

46:28

is a very confident lad and I can see he is

46:30

itching for his opportunity here. I

46:32

have no doubt that he will come good because the way

46:34

he bats, the intent with

46:36

which he bats, he can't go too wrong in T20

46:39

cricket. Have you

46:41

been frequenting that restaurant you took me

46:43

to in Bengaluru, the one that does

46:45

the beautiful medallions? Have you

46:47

been there? I have

46:49

taken more boba so far, not Andy yet, but

46:52

I realized I need the contract. I am going

46:54

to take that too. It

46:58

is an unbelievably long tournament. You

47:01

are not going that well at the moment. There

47:03

is time to turn these things around, isn't

47:05

there? You

47:08

have got plenty of time yet. When

47:12

I was at KKR, last year I was at

47:14

KKR, Morgan was the captain. I

47:16

got stopped midway due to Covid. At this

47:18

middle point, we were seven matches played, two,

47:20

one, five lost. Then

47:22

the second half started in Dubai. We

47:25

turned things around. We won five, went to the

47:27

finals all the way and lost to the finals

47:29

to CSK. So, stranger things have happened. To

47:32

be very honest, if I was sitting in your place,

47:34

I would probably be a bit skeptical. But

47:37

being a player, I am still very optimistic

47:39

that with the names we have on the

47:41

roster and the way things are handled

47:43

outside, I don't think

47:45

good things can be too far away. That's why I would

47:47

be very surprised if we don't end the season well. We

47:51

are talking about Sastuplesi, Virat Kohli,

47:53

Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green. These

47:55

are some big names in international cricket. go

48:00

too many games without winning, can we? And

48:02

I'm pretty confident with the younger boys doing

48:04

what they've done so far as well, the

48:06

likes of Maipaul Lamrod, Yash Dayal. So

48:09

these guys are chipping in a lot more than

48:11

what is expected. So I just believe that, I mean,

48:14

the word momentum is a very strange word in IPL, but

48:16

it somehow seems to work. And I think that if we

48:19

do find a way of winning a couple of games, you

48:21

can tend to get on a roll in these kind of tournaments. Well,

48:25

we wish you well. Thanks very much

48:28

for joining us, as always. I know we'll catch

48:30

up with you probably in the Caribbean. I'm sure

48:32

you'll be there. It's great to see you again.

48:34

And I hope RCB's

48:36

form picks up. At least you've been in

48:38

decent touch. And I hope that continues for

48:40

you. And good luck for the rest of

48:42

the tournament. Great to see you. Thanks,

48:45

Matt. Thanks, Matt. And

48:49

here's Rory McIlroy on the 18th of

48:51

August. And

48:54

here it goes. Surely not. Goal!

48:58

Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal!

49:01

Goal! Goal! Goal! Some

49:04

things are worth shouting about. Watch

49:06

all four days of the Masters exclusively

49:08

live on Sky Sports. Get all of Sky Sports for

49:11

£22 extra a month. See

49:13

sky.com for details. New AQ month contract for

49:15

Sky TV required. Further terms of play.