India sweep England ODIs and Champions Trophy squad review

[00:00:08] Hello and welcome to this week's episode of The Edges & Sledges Cricket Podcast. This is DJ and I'll be your host for this week. I'm joined by Varun. It's late in Singapore. So Varun, thank you for joining me. How's life? What's going on?

[00:00:21] Good man. Like just done with bilaterals and ready for an ICC tournament. Although, I do have to say that, you know, Ashwin and I created this like fantasy link for Champions Trophy and both of us joined the league and we sent it out to like all the 20-25 friends that we know or maybe even more on groups. And I checked today and it was Ashwin and me in the league. So clearly nobody is interested in playing fantasy cricket for the Champions Trophy.

[00:00:50] Yeah, but I think it came, I don't know, it was not the official fantasy invite or anything. But it's never the... So did you think we were like fake news-ing you or something? I don't know. It felt like it was some kind of spam that came through. So I wasn't sure. Did you report it? Like did you report it on WhatsApp or something? No, but I was really disappointed. But I also get it. Like IPL is also coming up. People need to like gear up for a long fantasy season. So it feels like either it's going to be just Ashwin and me playing or nobody's going to play.

[00:01:18] Yeah, it feels like the IPL is a true kind of pinnacle of fantasy every year. I think ODI is difficult anyway because... Yeah, honestly it's harder. It's a difficult watch as well but we should talk through the... That's why I... We created the thing so that we would be fully invested. My worry now is that nobody I know is playing fantasy. And so how invested are you going to be in like Bangladesh versus Afghanistan?

[00:01:46] I mean Bangladesh versus India is the first game that India play in Dubai. But how invested would you be in Bangladesh versus Afghanistan even with fantasy? Isn't that the real question you should be asking? I would have been pretty invested, okay? Like that is the way to enjoy tournaments in my opinion. Okay, so let us know how Ashwin and you pan out which one of you wins. But anyway, we should probably get into the business of the podcast.

[00:02:15] Now Ashwin obviously can't join this to defend himself but we should get into England versus India, the ODI series after England got thrashed in the T20 series 4-1. Some of those guys stayed back to get thrashed in the India ODI series as well. Slightly different players, slightly different XI and somehow a worse result for England.

[00:02:38] So Varun, talk us through what happened in that bilateral ATM, MasterCard, I don't know, one of these bilateral series. I can't remember anymore. No, it's interesting. It was 4-1 like you said and then I never expected it to become like a 7-1 series. So India kind of just swept this series off the ODI 3-0. And you predicted 2-1 sitting on the fence, if you remember.

[00:03:04] I mean, always. We always predict 2-1, right? That's because India is going to win and then you hedge your bet. So 3-0, I mean, very honestly to me, it looked like this was the team that has just picked up from mid-November 2023 from that ODI World Cup. I don't think we had played too many games ODI in between the World Cup and this series. And if you think about it, it's been almost 14, 13, 14 months. But it just kind of felt like everyone slotted back in.

[00:03:34] Now, what was interesting about the first game is that apparently, Jaeswal was always going to be playing. And Shreyas Ayer had got this kind of tweet out or he spoke about this that I was just kind of watching a movie in my room. And since I knew I was not going to be playing tomorrow, I thought, let me extend and finish the movie and I can sleep a little late.

[00:03:58] And then they find out that Goalie, I think, had a small knee injury or just a slight flare up or something like that. And Shreyas Ayer was asked to play. So interestingly enough for me, for a lot of us who remember the ODI World Cup, Shreyas Ayer was a fantastic number four and made a very big difference. And we don't often say that about Shreyas Ayer, but he did. And I think, I don't know, DJ, what was your take? But to me, it's, you know, we've discussed this before that Jaeswal is an all-format player.

[00:04:28] But fast-forwarding a little from being picked over Shreyas Ayer in the first ODI, he's now a reserve in the Champions Trophy squad. So I'm not trying to muddle up the two discussions, but I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. I mean, there's two or three things, right? One, Jaeswal took a great catch as his first act in ODI cricket. So that was really good. I didn't get too many runs. And secondly, I don't know, which film do you think he was watching, Shreyas Ayer?

[00:04:57] Because this question has been bothering me for some time. I don't know. I think Pushpa 2 released around that time or so. Do you think the… Yeah, you never know. No, Jadeja took three wickets. Maybe Jadeja was watching Pushpa 2. And then, very interesting because Kohli obviously sat out. And Yashasvi Jaiswal played instead of him, really, is what I felt. So, it's difficult to keep… How it turned out.

[00:05:27] How it turned out. But that wasn't the plan, apparently. That was not the plan. Yeah. Yeah. Which is interesting because Shreyas was one of the guys that scored a ton of runs in that ODI World Cup, which India… I mean, the problem is India has lost that World Cup final, right? So, all the records, all the runs that people made have just been erased from people's minds because of what happened on November 19, 2023. And it's… Yeah, it's…

[00:05:56] I think he got like 500 plus runs, if I'm not wrong, in that World Cup. And he also scored 100 in the semi-final. And he played a really crucial knock in this game as well. He got 59. And he kind of brought the momentum back into the inning. So, it was… Yeah, it would have been a slightly weird decision to leave him out. But he's had his kind of disciplinary issues.

[00:06:23] He was dropped from the central contract list, which we keep coming back to because apparently he was faking a back injury or like… Yeah, but why would any player really fake a back injury? Maybe he wants to watch more films, lying in. Maybe that's what's happening. It was… I don't know. No. Jess Wall's time will come, right? Yeah. I have no doubt about that. He will be… I think he's number one in line. He's leapfrogged the likes of Ruta Raj and others.

[00:06:50] He is literally the number one star performer, batsman on the horizon. Yeah. And his time will come. But yeah. Slightly odd decision to leave Shreyas out if that was the case. Yeah. And so, basically, Shreyas, I think, turned that game around with that momentum. 59 of 36, as you said. Gill, fantastic ODI knock. 87 of 96. And Akshar Patel at number 5.

[00:07:18] DJ, another one I wanted to chat through because we're not going to go through all the detail here. But what's the deal with this? KL Rahul has been picked as the keeper. We've all talked about KL Rahul, who we all love and has done well. And now, what's happening? Is this a Gautam Gambir lefty-righty issue? Is it… I want KL Rahul to drop for some other reasons. I just… I didn't get it.

[00:07:48] And I know there was a lot of debate around this. And by the way, just before you answer that, I think he batted above Rahul in, I think, all the games. I definitely know the first two. So, it feels like this is a plan. Yeah, it is. Because I think Gambir came out and said it was a plan. It was a left-hand-right-hand combination that they wanted to deploy. And fair enough. Gambir has done that a lot with KKR. By the sounds of it, apparently, the number of left-hand-right-hand combinations went up by, like, tens of percents.

[00:08:17] And Akshar is good enough to deliver the runs, right? I mean, the first ODI actually, they kind of gave away their wickets a little bit. Akshar gave away his wicket. Gil, who you talked about briefly, 87 of 96. He, I think, came under pressure when Pandya came into bat and hit a six. And then Gil suddenly realized maybe he's not going to have enough runs left to get his 100. So, maybe he regretted that shot a little bit towards the end because he got out.

[00:08:45] I mean, it was 38 overs that India won the game in, right? Gil did not. He just smoked one through the covers. He did not need to hit that shot. So, I think he will be, when he looks back at that shot, he might be regretting it a little bit. But no, the Akshar Patel, we kind of discussed it in the context of whether Washington Sundar would play instead of the two left-arm spinners. But I think calling them similar left-arm spinners, they probably bring slightly different things to the table.

[00:09:13] Akshar has been more round arm, a bit flatter than Jadeja. Jadeja threatens both sides of the batsman's edge. So, yeah, I mean, it's clearly a plan they've gone into Dubai with that. We're going to play our, let's say, our best spinning all-rounders, whether they're left-arm spinners or not. And then Washi becomes number three instead of having the ball go away because, and I remember saying this on the podcast, you want someone to take the ball away from the left-handers, but they're playing Kuldeep. So, he does that.

[00:09:43] Yeah. So, that was an oversight for me. No, but a great and easy win. England imploding. Taking a lot of the boxes, except, of course, Rohit Sharma out for two of the bowling of Mahmood. But yeah, maybe we'll come to the second ODI and you can talk us through what happened there. Yeah, second ODI. England bats first. Gets 304. All out, actually, on the last ball.

[00:10:13] And out walks Rohit Sharma. Remember, Kohli is back for this game and because Shreyas has proved himself, he stays at number four. So, Jaiswal is out. The familiar opening ODI pair of Rohit and Gil are back. And man, they had a field day. Honestly, Rohit Sharma looked great for all the criticism in the last three months of him. He looked great. Like, 119 of 90 balls. 12-4, 7-6s.

[00:10:42] If my math serves me right, that's about 90 runs out of 119 that just came in hits, right? So, it was really, really good to watch. I think it was a statement on his part. He has said this a few times in interviews that I have been here. I know what my role is. I know what I need to do. He said that a few times. And I think that just set the momentum and it set us off nicely. Gil 60.

[00:11:11] We lost our first wicket at 136. Kohli, unfortunate, didn't get off to a great start. But Ayer again, 44. Akshar 41. Easy win. I mean, 308 in 44.3. Series done, I think. And really good to see Rohit back. Yeah, massive thrashing. And a bit of a statement from Rohit, right? Like, I think he gave an interview which later kind of basically said, if people have scored runs, they must be doing something right. We just need it.

[00:11:41] And you kind of feel better for him as well because he's had a pretty torrid time with the bat in test cricket. But again, it's a case of… I mean, Rohit is a legitimate one-day great for India. Like, there's no… He's got three double-hundreds in the format. Am I misremembering? It's been so long that we've talked about Rohit Sharma, the ODI cricketer. But it's ridiculous. Like, and his template used to be completely different as a batter. He used to start slow and then explode.

[00:12:10] And now he's changed that for the good of the team. And it nearly resulted in a 2023 World Cup win. It resulted in a World Cup win in the T20 format where he took down Mitchell Stark. So, obviously, slightly different format. But similar, like batting. Yes, it's caused him probably technical issues in the test game. But it was good to see something reassuring about watching Rohit Sharma score runs. I remember there was a point in which Varun went.

[00:12:37] I said, I don't want to watch this guy bat anymore because I wanted to watch Kohli, who would come in at three. But you'd get these partnerships with Shikhar and Rohit, who put on like 140 in 30 overs for no loss every time. And I was like, nah, Kohli is going to come in at 30th over. I don't want to watch this guy bat. But now I do want to do bad because we bat 30 overs. They get to 220, which is what they got. He got out in the 30th over. Rohit had taken India to 220 for three and the game was killed. Yeah.

[00:13:07] Unbelievable. The other thing is, look, Rohit Sharma is leading the team at Champions Trophy. So he needed this knock more than anyone else. More than you and I needed this knock from him, he needed this knock. And I'm really glad it happened because with one of these under your belt, you go in as the leader, you go in with that confidence. And I have no doubt that he will play the same way, which I think is what the team needs. The worst outcome is for you to change and go under or on a ball. And so, yeah. No, no.

[00:13:36] We should also talk about long-term leadership for this team because Bumrah is out again from the Champions Trophy squad because of injury, the one that he picked up in the Melbourne test. Arguably because Rohit Sharma bowled him into the ground on that day four with nine spells. He was like horrors only. On his knees. But yeah. But Rohit is obviously the leader for the 25 Champions Trophy,

[00:14:04] but he's probably got one eye on that World Cup in 27, right, to lead India into that. Because Bumrah is more fragile. I think it was important for him as a batter, but probably, as you say, more important for him as a leader of this Indian cricket team into going to those kind of big marquee tournaments. And then game three, Varun, the Shubman Gill show yet again. Yeah. I mean, this guy scored, what, 200 runs, 200 plus in three games.

[00:14:33] It's a solid performance by him. Also, just as much as there's this doubt about Shubman Gill as a T20 opener, which I don't think he can come back into the team now, there's equal amount of certainty for him in the ODI setup. Like, nobody can replace him. It's not a discussion. Like, what we said about the first game also, it wasn't about Jaeswal versus Gill. It became Jaeswal versus Ayer. Because Shubman Gill in ODI has cemented his game. He's the vice-captain also, right? He was made vice-captain.

[00:15:01] Took a great catch running backwards as well. And he was actually one of the guys that scored runs in that Ranji… He scored 100 for Punjab in that Ranji round that they played between Australia and this England ODI series. So, yeah, he had a really good series. He's really, like, cemented his credentials if they needed any further cementing, to be honest. So, yeah. It's nice to watch him back. Yeah. It was great to watch him back.

[00:15:29] And what I liked is Kohli also got a half-century in this game. Shreyya Sahir again got 78. So, if you think about him, he's got 50-something, 40-something, and now 78. It's rightly so, right? He's kept his spot. Rahul has done well in the third game. Pandya has shown some glimpse of being able to either play an anchor role or go to the hitting ability. And generally, I was very happy with this team.

[00:15:57] Now, we haven't talked about the bowling at all, DJ. And there have been two cases out of the three. No, actually, in all three ODIs, we got them all out. So, talk me through just the bowling a little bit. Like, why don't we take it differently? Let's talk about the bowlers and you give me your view. First name on my list, Shami. Yeah, so go ahead. Yeah, I was going to say, there's no real standout performance as such from the bowlers, right? It's not like 2-2, 3-3 wickets at most.

[00:16:26] But I think Shami is still building up. And it's crucial, right? With Bumrah missing, he is the leader of the attack. But he's probably had the least cricket amongst all the bowlers at this point. Harshit Rana has now replaced Bumrah if that was a possibility. Like, he's probably just taken his spot in the side. But yeah, Harshit kind of plays that Liam Plunkett type of role in the 2019 World Cup.

[00:16:52] Middle overs, enforcer, hit the deck, try and like ruffle the batsman up a bit of attitude. He's done okay. I kind of liked his attitude to bowling. And then, of course, all the spinners. You've got Kuldeep, you've got Akshar, you've got Washi, you've got Jadeja. Washi got a chance in, I think, the third ODI where he went for a few runs, picked up a solo wicket. But yeah, I mean, England would get off to a start with the new ball.

[00:17:21] But then, I think there are two games or three games where they got off to a start with the new ball. But then, once the spinners came on, it was the end, really. Because, I don't know, there was some chat from Kevin Peterson how they didn't practice between games and apparently totally unverified. Sorry? They're off playing golf, apparently. Yeah, but what are you going to do if you've lost the series? What are you going to go and practice?

[00:17:49] By the way, have you seen the greatest rivalry documentary? Yeah, I saw that. It's basically a Saivag love fest. But I was so disappointed. You had all of these guys and, I don't know, didn't you feel disappointed? It was a disaster. It was a disaster. It's so poorly made. I mean, firstly, Saivag was just alone everywhere. I was feeling really bad for him that he has no friends or something. He was just standing on the beach alone and staring at the front of the scene.

[00:18:13] And then, on flip side, Shoyam was just sitting alone and just, you know, like, it was just really poorly done. It was so badly done, right? Even I thought so. Well, it feels like I couldn't finish it, to be honest. I've got to the third episode, but I couldn't finish it. It feels like somebody had a great idea with pen and paper, probably put some money behind it, and then realized they're running into the might of the BCCI, who is not going to give them any footage.

[00:18:40] Because, I mean, we don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it out there, but generally, like, you'd be like, and Sachin Tandulkar hit that wonderful century, and then it'll just next screen is a picture of Sachin Tandulkar. Like, it felt like a very expensive PowerPoint presentation. It was really poorly made. Yeah, it was quite sad. Have you seen this documentary? If nobody's watched it, there's a documentary called A Bat and Ball War.

[00:19:09] It's a BBC documentary on the 1999 tour, or the 98-99 tour by the Pakistan team of India. It is a fantastic documentary. They've got access to the dressing room with Vasim Akram sitting there eating biryani and having a Pepsi during lunch with his shirt off. This is how good that documentary is. 1998-99, this is a Chennai test match, the Anil Kumblay 10 wickets, that tour.

[00:19:36] Incredible, incredible insight and just fantastic documentary. So, if anybody can, I think it may be still available on YouTube, but the BBC archives will have it. Go and have a look. But this was one of the biggest letdowns in recent history, I have to say. It was really sad. It was also just about one tour to Pakistan. Yeah. Again, it comes down to the fact that you probably got approval from, I don't know if it was PCB or who,

[00:20:06] somebody who was not BCCI who gave them access to the videos, right? Because there was almost nothing else available in that documentary. So, I think they had to just pivot from going into a grand plan into finding a narrative for videos that they had. It was really weird. Yeah, I really wonder what the BCCI do with all this footage. They don't give it to fans. They clearly don't give it to commercial enterprises like Netflix. So, maybe it's just lying in some office in some, like, that. In those places. I don't know.

[00:20:36] Sorry, what were we talking about before I got totally distracted? No, we were just, I think we were going to talk about the bowling. But on that note, we'll just take a very quick break and come back. And I'm going to ask you for your playing 11 of the Champions Trophy. And just, yeah, more generally thoughts around Champions Trophy. So, we'll be back in just a minute. Welcome back. So, DJ, we ended up at bowlers here.

[00:21:06] Do you know who's replaced Jaspreet Bumrah in this squad? Harshit, no? Harshit Rana. I thought it was like Varun Chakravarti. I'm going to make it go. Chakra. Probably is. Probably is Harshit. But yeah. So. Mystery bowler for mystery bowler. Like for like. Yeah. So. Weird. Now, okay. So, now we've got five spinners. DJ, let's. Why do you have five spinners? We do, right? But why do we have five spinners? It's really weird.

[00:21:36] Maybe Dubai is really far away from India. So, you can't actually send players there, right? It's really hard to send players to Dubai. It's just really odd that we've got this like weird, like half hours. One third of our squad is just spin bowlers. I've never, I've never not seen that in modern day cricket. But as we do traditionally on this podcast, why don't we run through from the top? Because I think bowlers will take a little bit more time in this particular lineup.

[00:22:03] So, DJ, Gil, Rohit, Kohli, top three. Any discussion there? No. No, no, no. All right. Number four, Shreya Sair. Yeah. Also no discussion. I would say five, just from a, let's finish it off in order kind of perspective, is a KL Rahul. Yeah. Done. And keeper as well, because Pant is in the squad. And interestingly, Pant hasn't played any of the ODIs. Yeah. So, very clear direction in my opinion.

[00:22:32] But how good must Rahul have to be to keep a Rishabh Pant out of a squad? I mean, again, look, I'm surprised it's taken us this long to mention Pant in the show. But listen, he is, he has not been a great ODI player. He was in that. Yeah, he sucks. Ever since he went to Lucknow, he definitely sucks. And ever since Rahul has come out of Lucknow. Yeah, best player. Yeah. But anyway, I think there's no debate there. I think Rahul is going to play.

[00:23:01] Pant is the backup keeper, which is good. And now, we know Hardik Pandya is definitely going to play as well. So, number six is Hardik. Now is where it gets interesting. DJ, do you play two out of Jadeja, Akshar and Sundar? Or do you play one? You play two. They've been doing that throughout. So, after they've given you the template in the England ODIs, right? They're going to play at least two.

[00:23:30] I'm not even saying one out of two. One out of the three. At least two will play. Yeah. So, who is that in your opinion? Jadeja and Akshar. Yeah, agree. So, it's Jadeja and Akshar. And then Kuldeep. So, you've got nine now. So, Kuldeep is also there. So… That leaves two fast bonus. That's it. I actually think Akshar. I think Akshar plays 100%. Like… Yeah. We were having this debate among friends. People are saying Shami should walk in.

[00:24:00] I agree. I love the guy. But I still think Akshar walks in this current form ahead of Shami. Right? Right? And so, Akshar, both of us have agreed. Now, it comes down to Rana versus Shami. But that's a Shami, right? That's just experience, class. And honestly, an 80% Shami is better than 100% Rana. No doubt. Right? 75% Shami is better than 100% Rana, dude. Sorry. Like… Harshit Rana is… He's like…

[00:24:30] He's fine. He bowls quick and stuff. But like Shami is just too good. Yeah. He's just too good. And he's walking his way back into form. There's another what? Week or so to go for the Champions Trophy? I mean, no. It's on Thursday, the match. So, it's like three days. Yeah. But our match is on Thursday, right? Our match is Thursday. The Champions Trophy starts on Wednesday. And we're recording this on Monday, just FYI for anyone listening. Oh, wow. Clearly, I've been clued into the Indian. But see, this is how quickly stuff goes, right?

[00:24:59] Like, last week, India were playing England in the ODIs. Yep. And it feels like an age ago. Because for once, this weekend did not have a cricket match. That was an India men's cricket match. There was WPL, which came with its own Zing Bales controversy. And Delhi Capitals beating Mumbai. And Harmanpreet losing it about why the Zing Bales… Did you know about the Zing Bales controversy? I thought… Hilarious. I didn't go into detail. Hilarious. So, basically, apparently what has happened is…

[00:25:28] So, what kept happening was there were three runouts, which were given not out by the third umpire, even though the Zing Bales lit up. But she moved one… And it was a female third umpire. So, this is also an important point. Right? It went one frame forward. And then, by the time the bale was dislodged, the batter was already in her ground. So, it was given not out three times.

[00:25:55] Then, people started reading the playing conditions saying the moment the Zing Bale lights up, it's out, it's out. So, then a lot of jhamela was made about this. Then, apparently, the clarification came from the organizers that the morning before, they had told the officials that the Zing Bales were malfunctioning because before they were fully dislodged, they started to light up. But the officials were told this before the match and the players were told this after the match. So, this is classic cover-up behavior, in my view at least.

[00:26:24] I mean, seriously. So, now they've changed the rule, by the way. The playing conditions have been retrospectively amended. Well, in theory, they've been prospectively amended going forward that this is the rule. But apparently, this was already the rule on the day that this happened. So, Mumbai should not be aggrieved. Oh, yeah. Wow. Yes. Hilarious. Right now, pretty funny stuff. I remember just seeing something very brief on this, but I did not pick up all the details. It is just too good, actually.

[00:26:53] There's a lot of intrigue in this WPL tournament. Anyway. So, yeah. All right. So, we come back. So, that is effectively our team. I think we all agree that Chami will play over Harshad. But having said that, Harshad did not do badly. Whenever he showed up, whether it was as a concussion substitute or as a regular playing 11 in the last month. Were you going to say impact player? Impact stop. He's done well. So, I give him credit. I think it's a good, credible third bowler.

[00:27:22] But I do think that Chami should start like you, DJ. But, you know, stranger things have happened with Gautam Gambir. I just hope Chami starts. And if he's not fully up to the mark, Harshad Rana can very easily come in. That's what I would hope for. No, but interesting. There's only eight teams playing the Champions Trophy, obviously. England nearly didn't qualify after their failed ODI campaign, ODI World Cup campaign. So, they needed to finish within the top eight.

[00:27:52] Sri Lanka are not part of this. Neither are the Western days. Yep. Yep. That's right. So, it's a really small tournament of eight teams. It's even smaller than the World Cup. Yeah. So, yeah. I'm not sure what to make of it totally at this point. I reckon if India starts positively and starts making it as well as the semi, I reckon you'll see a huge, large crowd get behind this. Right? But my expectation is it'll happen around the semi. I have a feeling the first game against Bangladesh will probably be a slow burn.

[00:28:22] But then you've got India-Pakistan on Sunday. And I mean, who doesn't wait for India-Pakistan? It happens once a year. And it's going to be good. It's just that, like I said, for an ODI, it's going to be eight hours long. So, I think people will get into it, man. If India can just, you know, win the first two, suddenly you'll see the whole country behind you. Yeah. But there's a… I think not having Bumrah has been a huge loss to the Indian people. Massive, massive. It's… I think with Bumrah, I would put us as favorites, probably.

[00:28:51] Because Australia are also pretty… They're pretty, like, depleted. South Africa are okay. Pakistan, okay. New Zealand, done well in Pakistan conditions. But no, man. Like, with Bumrah, I think India would have probably won this championship trophy. And we've won it once before. We've been runners-up in 2017, famously, as we remember, at the Oval.

[00:29:19] And we've shared it once with Sri Lanka in 2001, 2002. And we were back in school. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So, I mean, we're not going to run through the team. But DJ, give me your top four. Like, who are the four semifinalists going to be? Top four teams. Okay. So, let's do this. I still think India will make it. Yeah. I'm going to say Australia will make it. Just pedigree.

[00:29:48] I think… I'm going to say England are not going to make it. I'm going to say New Zealand will make it. Because they always do. Then I'm going to say Afghanistan will make it. Interesting. I would… I'm going to say New Zealand, India, South Africa. And I would actually say Pakistan will be a home tournament. Really? Okay. Interesting. I would say Pakistan. Because Pakistan at home, I mean, Pakistan is just…

[00:30:18] It's always about that one… But can… Wait. Can… The group stages… Are there groups in the… What is the format of this? Actually, there are. There are. Wait. That's what I'm saying. So, Pakistan, India and New Zealand won't be able to make it from the same group, I'd say. So, I think that's a fair call. So, I think in that case, I will err on the side of caution and say New Zealand. Because I didn't last time when I was wrong. So, I think… Just put book New Zealand in the semifinals. Yeah, New Zealand is in semis.

[00:30:48] I think you're right then. It'll be India, South Africa, New Zealand and… I'm going to say… I'm going to say England. I'm going to go with England. Oh. I'm going to go with Afghanistan, man. They're too exciting. And I called them for the T20 World Cup semi also. That was amazing. Yeah. I'm quite enjoying this. I hope you're right. I hope you're right again. Yeah, Rashid. Rashid Bhai. Yeah. Just because Rashid Bhai once spoke to me at the Nets in Melbourne. Really? It was too good. Oh, yeah.

[00:31:16] Because he hit the helicopter shot and he looked up and said, It's a MS Dhoni. And I was like, bro. Done for life. That's awesome. Rashid Bhai. Awesome. Awesome guy. So, that we have it, TJ. Like, two days from the day of recording, the Champions Trophy starts. India… By the time we record next, India would have played two games. I think all of us would love to get together at the end of that India Park game. Hopefully, three of us can make it with Sheddington.

[00:31:46] But I think it'll be an exciting week. You've got India-Bangaladesh coming up. You've got India-Pakistan coming up. And like we're predicting, it may be a slow start from terms of viewership. But by Sunday, it's going to heat up. Yeah. What I absolutely loved about this episode, Barun, is because Ashwin's not there to keep us on track. I think I started hosting the episode. Oh, wait. We forgot. I took over the break. It's too good. It's the best. Ashwin is going to be hearing this, losing it though. Yeah.

[00:32:15] But I'm going to pass over to you. What is this meeting conduct? I'm going to have to pass over to you for the final because I don't… You don't know what the Instagram handle is. Great. Exactly. So, I'm going to pass over to you for the last slide. On that note, guys, this is the Edges & Sledges Cricket Podcast signing off. Please do follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or X as it's now known, which is also Elon Musk's son's name is what I recently found out. So, yeah. One Tip, One Hand.

[00:32:45] YouTube, like, subscribe, etc. Leave us a review. Leave us a comment. Write us an email. OneTipOneHand at gmail.com. We're on Discord. So, come and say hi there. Yeah. It's ICC Trophy, baby. And we won the last one. So, apparently, the Indian team has already forgotten about all that because we have to forget about winning. So, on that note, we're signing off and we will see you next week after the biggest game in limited overs cricket because they don't play test cricket anymore.

[00:33:15] India, Pakistan. Don't go anywhere. We'll see you next week.