IPL 2024 Mid Season Review: That's the way, Mahi Ve!

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to this week's episode of The Edges and Sledges Cricket Podcast. I'm your host Ashwin. I'm joined by Varun. It has been a couple of weeks since I've been able to join. I've been out traveling. So Varun and DJ have been on the show without me, but it is peak IPL season. And I'm happy to be back. Varun, how are you doing, man?

[00:00:26] I'm glad you're here. Each team has played about six games, some one or two only played five. How are you feeling? We'll do the full rundown. We'll talk about the week. But it's been a mixed week, I guess, in Nightfield. If you think about it, some interesting results, some not so surprising, some pretty one-sided games, some pretty close ones. So how are you feeling?

[00:00:44] I almost feel like the previous week was a little bit more exciting. I'm not sure if now the pitches are starting to tie around. I don't know if the games are going to get a little bit slower, but as I looked through the week, we still had a lot of matches almost touching 200. So it is still up there. But like you rightly said, some games were much slower. And I think we're going to see that a little bit more. So keep that in mind as you pick your fantasy teams.

[00:01:11] Yeah. And I will talk the fantasy update in just a second. I think it's very interesting, right? I think if I'm trying to summarize the week a little and where we are, and we will talk about this, Varun, I'm going to put you on the spot because we're getting kind of close to what we believe will be a guard, guard announcing Team India's squad, or at least the probables, if you will, or 15 for the World T20 World Cup as it's now called.

[00:01:35] And so maybe next week, about six or seven more IPL games and probably eight more IPL games. And we will go out there and go out on a limb and list our probables. Now Varun, you've got yours basically identified already, right?

[00:01:49] Yeah, I have. I've written the 15 down this morning.

[00:01:52] But what does that say about the importance of IPL performance is that like, what if somebody has another breakthrough week?

[00:01:57] The thing is, I think it's important to note that I do this in my head every day, every month.

[00:02:02] It's the first time I've put it down on paper. So I don't know whether IPL plays a part or not, but I do it every morning when I wake up.

[00:02:09] What is the 15? Who are the three people that I'm starting it out? I don't have the final 15 yet. I'm going to give it another week.

[00:02:16] Hopefully by next Monday, when you guys listen to this, DJ Ashur and I will all have our list of 15 probables.

[00:02:22] And I believe Ajit Agarkar is going to release it first week of May sometimes.

[00:02:27] So it's important for us to get it out there before him so that we can see who's right and who's wrong.

[00:02:32] Yeah, I love that you said the life of an Indian cricket fed is just coming up with lists of squads every morning.

[00:02:38] I think that's the most accurate thing anybody's ever said.

[00:02:41] Varun, let's start with the IPL points table and then we'll talk a little about the fantasy league points table.

[00:02:46] And we'll put in our show notes the league code we're playing on a different website this year, but we'll get into that.

[00:02:52] IPL points table, not a ton of surprise if you will. Rajasthan leading from the front, just the one singular loss at this point.

[00:03:00] So five wins, reasonably healthy net run rate. The loss obviously came to Gujarat earlier in this week, which was also very close,

[00:03:06] which we'll talk about KKR also up there with four out of five.

[00:03:10] So just again, the one solitary loss for KKR.

[00:03:13] Look at their net run rate against Delhi.

[00:03:16] Net run rate thanks to the 106 run win against Delhi is through the roof.

[00:03:20] You then have CSK in fourth, another big win today against the Mumbai team.

[00:03:24] CSK in third, Sunrises in fourth.

[00:03:27] Middle of the table is very, very packed if you will with Sunrises for Lucknow five, Gujarat six all tied.

[00:03:34] And then you have kind of languishing at the bottom are the four teams.

[00:03:38] We probably predicted two of them, Punjab, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

[00:03:44] Talk to me a little bit about that high level.

[00:03:47] Delhi and Bangalore aren't really hugely surprising, unfortunately to be at the bottom.

[00:03:51] Mumbai is probably a bit of a surprise, but there's still two wins on the trot after starting with three loss.

[00:03:56] Was that right? They started with three in the last one, two.

[00:03:59] Yeah, and then they lost. So as we're recording on Monday morning, and so the CSK versus Mumbai game is just finished last night.

[00:04:06] And so they lost that, but they had been picking up momentum.

[00:04:09] Yeah. So interesting. What are the major surprises for this?

[00:04:12] Obviously not Delhi. I think Delhi being a ninth, maybe you could call a surprise because you publicly said they're going to finish in tenths.

[00:04:17] So that might be a shocker. But yeah, what are the other surprises?

[00:04:21] I think Sunrises at fourth right now. That's the other surprise.

[00:04:25] I think they would have been mid table in my opinion, but there's still a long way to go.

[00:04:29] So that's the one I'd call out Lucknow has this tendency of finding a way to win and get in the top four the last couple of years.

[00:04:36] So I'd be watching them also closely. And then at the other one, I'd say it's not really a surprise.

[00:04:41] It's Punjab like always start off well, find a way to get very close, but somehow just never make the cut.

[00:04:48] Yeah. And you often talk about how cricket is such a momentum sport.

[00:04:51] And as you think about Lucknow having lost two in a row,

[00:04:55] Sunrises having won one, two in a row, you just have to see momentum shift sometimes in these leagues.

[00:05:00] It's going to be very, very interesting.

[00:05:02] But we will cover it quickly the games of the week.

[00:05:05] We normally wait till the end to do a fantasy league update.

[00:05:08] I will go ahead. We have a gosh 75.

[00:05:11] No, sorry. Yeah, we have more than that about 80 people playing our fantasy league.

[00:05:15] And there's always time to join if you're playing.

[00:05:17] We're playing on fan, fan Zania, fan Zania, however you pronounce it this year.

[00:05:22] And we're happy to share the league code. It's on Twitter already, but check the show notes as well.

[00:05:26] And yeah, I mean, Varun, I'm not doing well. Let's start with that.

[00:05:30] I'm having a pretty horrendous season. I just, I just again, I've been picking Quinton de Coq

[00:05:36] and I backed Jess while in every time except in the thing in the one game he did well.

[00:05:40] And I backed Rohit at most games that he got a century as soon as I dropped him.

[00:05:44] So I among the three hosts, I'm in the bottom in 37th place.

[00:05:48] Scroll up a little DJs in 26th, Varun, you're in 20th.

[00:05:52] Not bad. The best of the three of us. So to give you a cringe for that.

[00:05:55] Yeah, it's best of the three, but 20th was like there's 90 people ahead of me.

[00:06:00] So that's a bit rough and fantasy is weird, man.

[00:06:04] Like you back a guy for six games and then you finally be like, all right, I'm taking him out

[00:06:08] and then he scores the seven. So there is no formula.

[00:06:12] Unfortunately, that has happened to me repeatedly this year,

[00:06:15] but it's a long season. Just got a hang in there.

[00:06:18] I'll give a quick shout out to our top three.

[00:06:20] Our number one team is Uncle Sam.

[00:06:22] Team name is Uncle Sam. The manager's name is Uncle Sam as well.

[00:06:25] Number two is a team called Bits Pieces.

[00:06:27] We've had a team called Bits and Pieces before.

[00:06:29] However, the manager this year is somebody named Kapil Sharma.

[00:06:32] If you are the Kapil Sharma, the comedian, we would love to make sure we know that.

[00:06:37] I'm not sure that's actually true, but if you are just rich out, it'd be great to know.

[00:06:41] And number three is Jithin's 11. Jithin Prakash.

[00:06:44] I mean, gosh, the top two are about a 1200 point lead over even the guy in third place.

[00:06:49] So it is going to be a tough battle to catch.

[00:06:52] But remember, there's some boosters you can use.

[00:06:54] I haven't really gotten into all those quite this year,

[00:06:56] but yeah, there's some interesting stuff and good ability to catch up.

[00:07:01] Right. So far, like you said, it's Monday morning, I guess April 15th.

[00:07:06] And last time you recorded was about a week ago.

[00:07:08] So why don't we just do a quick rundown on some of the highlights that happened

[00:07:11] from the games of this week?

[00:07:13] And it started with the Chennai Super Kings playing KKR.

[00:07:16] KKR who again, has had a good season so far.

[00:07:21] Had a pretty horrendous outing this game.

[00:07:23] 137 for nine in their 20 overs.

[00:07:27] The persisting with the Sunil Narayan experiment.

[00:07:29] How are you feeling about that?

[00:07:30] I mean, it worked. It absolutely destroyed Delhi.

[00:07:33] I think it makes sense.

[00:07:35] You know, we've thought about it a lot.

[00:07:36] It just makes sense.

[00:07:37] The guy is not going to waste balls.

[00:07:39] He's going to have an attacking approach.

[00:07:41] And if he gets out in the first over, it's okay.

[00:07:43] And if he plays till the sixth over, you may have won the game.

[00:07:46] So I think it's an approach that is totally worth it.

[00:07:50] I think KKR is doing very well.

[00:07:53] Just my only challenge with them is that it's very, very heavily dependent on either salt or Narayan.

[00:07:59] I'm going to club them as one and Russell.

[00:08:02] That's it. Right.

[00:08:03] So if these two sets of buckets kind of have an off day,

[00:08:07] they find, I think they find it impossible to win.

[00:08:10] And what's happened so far is that both have done really well.

[00:08:13] So I think that is the call out for me.

[00:08:16] But on this game, like Chennai Super Kings, man, they were just all over them.

[00:08:20] Jaddu, great to see him back in the wickets, picked up three.

[00:08:23] Tushar Deshpande who he loves to stick with also picked up three.

[00:08:28] And then I was saying this to some friends that Rukh Raj has to come good.

[00:08:32] It's been half the tournament.

[00:08:34] He's going to come good.

[00:08:35] He played a blinder.

[00:08:37] You know, yesterday versus Mumbai, he played a stable solid innings to get them across the line.

[00:08:41] You're going to see Captain Gaikwad coming into his own because remember the final is at Chepok

[00:08:47] and Rukh Raj has to give them to that final for one man.

[00:08:51] Did you say Mahi loves to persist with Tushar Deshpande?

[00:08:56] Yeah, Mahi sets the field.

[00:08:58] Mahi sets the ball.

[00:08:59] Just making sure.

[00:09:00] Just making sure it was a good slip.

[00:09:01] Rukh Raj just has one job which is bat well to win the game.

[00:09:04] That's it.

[00:09:05] What else is Mahi?

[00:09:06] Yeah, that's fair.

[00:09:07] I mean he made a comment about that earlier and we'll come to the game where he had three

[00:09:12] sixes in a row but I think Rukh Raj made a comment about the young wicket keeper behind

[00:09:16] the Stumps who came out and hit them some sixes.

[00:09:19] So very exciting.

[00:09:20] I mean great to see him back in form and a pretty clinical win for the CSK team.

[00:09:24] So I mean the only thing I shout out is Shivam Dubey.

[00:09:27] He's now got 15 at the time of recording the sixes in this tournament.

[00:09:30] He just seems to be hitting the cleanest kind of just beautiful across the line shots.

[00:09:36] It's just gorgeous to watch.

[00:09:37] Varun takes you back to your garage, doesn't it?

[00:09:39] Yeah, I've always said this every time I see him I think of Yuviyan and get excited.

[00:09:44] So hopefully we're going to see more of Dubey but I just think that ability between

[00:09:48] over seven and sixteen for him to hit sixes every over is game changing.

[00:09:54] That's what wins you games.

[00:09:55] Okay, I'm not asking you to give anything else away but in the 15 that you wrote

[00:09:59] today or the 15 ish was Dubey there.

[00:10:01] Yes, Dubey.

[00:10:03] Dildo Dubey.

[00:10:04] All right.

[00:10:05] That was the first match of the week.

[00:10:07] Second one we went on to Chandigarh where Punjab were to play Hyderabad.

[00:10:11] I mean I was starting to think about the themes I'm seeing from these teams and it was

[00:10:16] this just seems to be these teams these two teams seem to be the teams that bring

[00:10:20] out the relatively less known Indian players and just absolutely push them to the

[00:10:26] forefront.

[00:10:27] If you haven't seen it yet for Punjab I'm of course talking about Ashutosh Sharma and

[00:10:33] Shashank Singh.

[00:10:34] I mean just absolutely incredible stories.

[00:10:36] They've both batted well as a pair for multiple games at this point but in this game it

[00:10:42] actually was Nitesh Reddy.

[00:10:44] Very interesting to see obviously from the name I'm assuming he's a local boy.

[00:10:50] Don't know too much about Nitesh Reddy but great to see Hyderabad picking a

[00:10:54] good one guy and he came coming and making 64 runs with the bat.

[00:10:58] We know he has the ability he picked he bought three overs as well picked up a

[00:11:01] wicket.

[00:11:02] I mean he's 20 years old.

[00:11:03] How great is that to see just this is the beauty of the IPL right when it comes

[00:11:07] down to it.

[00:11:08] Yeah exactly and I think Nitesh Reddy from Unmistaken is an all-rounder in

[00:11:12] the Rangee.

[00:11:13] Yeah.

[00:11:14] And so he not only bats he also bowls but five sixes four four striker of

[00:11:18] over 170.

[00:11:19] He basically saved that innings because head and Sharma got off to a start

[00:11:23] and then it just crumbled Markram out for zero three-party out for 11 class

[00:11:27] and out for nine.

[00:11:28] And so I think if Nitesh Reddy wasn't in that team I think they would have

[00:11:33] lost pretty badly now as it turns out they won by only two runs but yes

[00:11:38] like you said full credit to him and then like like you rightly pointed

[00:11:43] out on the flip side Punjab that top order is just not clicking in fact

[00:11:47] Dhawan in the most recent game was injured and I think he's out for

[00:11:50] a week so couldn't miss up to two minutes.

[00:11:52] At least a week yeah.

[00:11:53] Yeah and so Sam Karan and Razak kind of had a fight back but Shashank Singh

[00:11:58] and Ashutosh Sharma between them I think was striking at combined of 200

[00:12:03] and they got them to within two runs man like every time I kind of

[00:12:08] watched Punjab I'm just seeing Shashank and Ashutosh Sharma hitting

[00:12:11] and it's happening multiple times maybe it's a case for them to

[00:12:15] move up the order a little bit because it's almost really leaving

[00:12:18] it down right three four five six seven eight.

[00:12:21] Ashutosh Sharma is coming in at number eight and 33 or 15 so I think

[00:12:26] there's a case there.

[00:12:27] Yeah I mean to your point one is question one is always do you bet

[00:12:33] your best batters higher up should you should they be getting more

[00:12:35] game time right and this is a no brainer to some extent second one

[00:12:39] the question is about Johnny Bearstow or Bonnie Jairstow as DJ likes

[00:12:42] to go sometimes just absolutely having a disastrous IPL it's

[00:12:47] happened to him before in multi ladder tournaments and the IPL in particular

[00:12:53] but he just goes through when he goes through these lean patches he just

[00:12:56] looks absolutely horrendous.

[00:12:58] It's really lean man like I think Punjab the challenges Livingston was injured

[00:13:02] apart from Rabada none of the overseas players are clicking

[00:13:05] and you need Bearstow to give you those starts right just capitalise

[00:13:09] the power play I feel like the T20 game is going more towards being

[00:13:13] a power play specialist and then you should get out after that so

[00:13:17] Bearstow just has one simple task and he's just not being able to manage.

[00:13:21] Yeah I mean he ended up playing the next game as well and we'll talk about

[00:13:26] that but Raza was on who got dropped which feels a little bit harsh

[00:13:29] understanding yeah understanding how Bearstow what the role

[00:13:33] and how explosive he can be but good win for Hyderabad you have to give

[00:13:37] that to them the Punjab lower order looking as good as they are

[00:13:39] getting to within two runs and Hyderabad still managing to get over

[00:13:43] I mean Bhovi picked up a couple of wickets Pat Cummins has looked good

[00:13:47] so overall good game and with that we went to what I thought was a very

[00:13:51] interesting Rajasthan Royals versus Good Rock Titans game

[00:13:54] and the reason I thought it was interesting a little bit is when

[00:13:57] Shubman Gill was talking I think it was to Harsha

[00:14:00] Harsha said something like I have to admit for a moment that

[00:14:04] I thought you guys may have left it a little bit too late

[00:14:07] and Gill said something to the effect of with good draft you shouldn't

[00:14:11] you should never think that or with GTU. Yeah I mean almost like

[00:14:15] I think he was trying to be funny but he's new to this

[00:14:19] so to me it came about came out a little bit cocky but like you're telling

[00:14:23] Harsha don't think that again yeah like it just he needs to work on

[00:14:27] that a little bit in my opinion but yeah man look when you've got people

[00:14:31] like Devatiya and that team you should not be counting them out

[00:14:35] because Gill is getting you the starts that you need and

[00:14:39] he is proving the case for himself right 72 or 44 is a very very

[00:14:43] solid inning just got out due to Chehal's brilliance right just pulled

[00:14:47] it a little bit wide and got him stumped but after that

[00:14:51] Wade Abhinav Manohar Vijay Shankar these are not names that necessarily

[00:14:55] inspire the confidence so they've brought Shahrukh Khan back in

[00:14:59] I think it's a positive mood move from them Devatiya of course is good

[00:15:03] and Rashid Khan man on his day it changes the guy

[00:15:07] so 24 of 11 kind of signal that I'm here or I'm here

[00:15:11] to stay or I'm back I don't know what he was signaling but yes when

[00:15:15] Rashid Khan picks up the bat and goes well you're more often than not going to win the game

[00:15:19] Yeah absolutely brilliant I mean just great to see him just

[00:15:23] holding it down at the end even when Devatiya got run out

[00:15:27] Rashid basically he had it covered I mean disappointing honestly

[00:15:31] at the end from the bowler standpoint right if you look at Avesh went for

[00:15:35] 12 runs on over he picked up a wicket put 48 in his spell

[00:15:39] Kuldeep went for 41 Kuldeep actually was the only highlight was 3 wickets but it was expensive

[00:15:43] Chehal picked up a couple but expensive I mean

[00:15:47] yeah just great to see and the environment spare thought for Rian Parag right

[00:15:51] although this was Rajasthan's only lost today he's currently

[00:15:55] whatever the color is of the purple couple the orange cap runner up

[00:15:59] so he's the second in line for it but he's at 18-6

[00:16:03] in his 284 run so far in the tournament I mean

[00:16:07] if anybody said in the lineup of Samson Butler-Jaiswal that Rian

[00:16:11] Parag would be the standout six games ago before the start of the tournament I mean none of us had

[00:16:15] called it right yeah and shows the maturity shows the stability

[00:16:19] we talked about this DJ and I as well highest

[00:16:23] corner on multiple occasions now when he walks in you have the confidence that

[00:16:27] despite the top three they're still gonna make a big score and then don't forget

[00:16:31] you've got Hetmayer, Jurel I think in one game they played

[00:16:35] Ravman Powell so they've got the thing below Parag as well right so I think

[00:16:39] he's just batting at the perfect position and he's realized that my

[00:16:43] contribution to this team can be significant and sometimes that's all it takes

[00:16:47] let me ask you I said I wasn't gonna but I will

[00:16:51] ask you again Sanju Samson in your probable so far

[00:16:55] we have to leave that for next week okay fine it's so close that we need to see

[00:16:59] another two games of all the keepers I mean that is the thing I think the most

[00:17:03] interesting conspiracy theory that's very sad that I read this Jurel hasn't actually got a lot of time

[00:17:07] to bat and Samson as keeper just seems to be debuting him now

[00:17:11] I don't think he's doing that because he I don't think the Jurel is a threat yet for

[00:17:15] the T20 no setup just because he doesn't he hasn't done enough of it but

[00:17:19] anyone Sanju Samson is forcing selectors to ask the right

[00:17:23] questions when you said too many keepers don't is the other one you're talking about bring it up back

[00:17:27] I mean the young keeper who can hit at a strike rate of 500

[00:17:31] and who's got guns for biceps like

[00:17:35] if you have a checklist who is meeting that checklist today

[00:17:39] have you heard the noise when he walks out

[00:17:43] I mean I have not only heard the noise I was telling somebody

[00:17:47] I have now in the last 10 days ever since that

[00:17:51] Delhi game which he lost I spent about

[00:17:54] 8 hours a day sleeping 8 hours a day working and 8 hours a day watching

[00:17:59] Thala Reels on Instagram I cannot do anything else

[00:18:03] I have got the best Tamil songs now in my head for his entry

[00:18:07] I'm waiting for it like I just can't do anything else this is my life for the last 10 days

[00:18:11] It is unbelievable and we're not even talking about a CSK game at the moment so we will come to it

[00:18:15] but RCB ended up making 196 runs

[00:18:19] against the Mumbai Indians this was at the one KD there was a few games

[00:18:23] at the one KD back to back RCB ended up making 196 for 8

[00:18:27] you know with a rare failure 3 of 9 which is

[00:18:31] not a good look to eat up 9 balls and only make 3 runs but fine

[00:18:35] Rajasthi Dharbhajati himself back in the form made a 50

[00:18:39] then he is Karthik again just lower order he is also one of the young

[00:18:43] younger keepers in the base did you see his shots

[00:18:47] I saw some of them I couldn't watch the game live but I saw the highlights

[00:18:51] how many runs he is so 53 I think at least 40 out of the

[00:18:55] 53 runs came from behind the keeper he just

[00:18:59] kept doing that and Rohit kept saying put a third man then how did he kept saying no

[00:19:03] apparently I read this I read this I don't want to quote that

[00:19:07] actually happened I read this that Rohit kept saying put the third man how did he kept saying

[00:19:11] no and then he kept hitting it there and then Rohit actually walks up to

[00:19:15] him in front of Kishan and said prepping for the World Cup

[00:19:19] right like yeah I heard that that got caught and then Kishan is looking at

[00:19:23] Rohit I hear this one like it was ridiculous

[00:19:27] but yeah so keepers in every team seem to be making

[00:19:31] a play at clearing their stake but it is why not

[00:19:35] it's the only open slot I would say today yeah

[00:19:39] 196 and Ishan Kishan thinking I have to respond

[00:19:43] I mean makes a brilliant 69 but the highlight of that game was

[00:19:47] Sky is back I mean yeah he had a failure after

[00:19:51] that again but 52 off 19 balls I mean he doesn't

[00:19:55] it's all or nothing 0 or 100 with this guy right

[00:19:59] when he's out of form he's out of form and that's T20 right like

[00:20:03] if you're going to make an impact do it like 52 off 19 and if you are

[00:20:07] not going to make an impact don't suck up balls for it that's the way I see it

[00:20:11] that's what Sky seems to be in the mold I think him getting back

[00:20:15] is very important for India and I also think as the tournament progresses

[00:20:19] you're going to see that when Sky scores Mumbai wins when Sky doesn't

[00:20:23] score Mumbai struggles I feel like that's where it's going yeah very

[00:20:27] very interesting or that's about half the matches of the week why don't we take a very quick break

[00:20:31] you'll hear some messages from our sponsors and then we will be right back

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[00:22:05] welcome back to the edges and sledges cricket podcast

[00:22:09] hit the like button hit the subscribe button if you're on youtube we love doing this

[00:22:13] the IPL is just absolutely crazy there's so much to cover so many things to talk about

[00:22:17] we know we won't get to all of them but we definitely try our best

[00:22:21] Varun the one bright spot for us as daily capital spend this week

[00:22:25] came in Lucknow against the Lucknow Super Giant team

[00:22:29] and yeah Lucknow got all out for 167 I mean at one point

[00:22:33] they were 94 for 7 thanks to and for large part

[00:22:37] Kuldip Yadav picking up three Khalil I mean is Khalil in your

[00:22:41] probably this spot I'm just asking you with the whole I can confirm

[00:22:45] that is not not is our steep there because if you're putting it on left arm

[00:22:49] quick Khalil is better dude I'm not saying anymore you're just going to copy

[00:22:53] my team in the next Sunday I'm not going to remember and then I would have watched another week of IPL

[00:22:57] and have the most short term bias and just pick whoever does well

[00:23:01] next week that's how this stuff goes but yeah 167 I mean full

[00:23:05] full credit actually to the strategic think tank of Lucknow as well

[00:23:09] 94 for 7 and they used the impact sub rule to beef up

[00:23:13] the batting and brought in Ayush Pardoni instead which is

[00:23:17] not the ideal use case but is very much a use case you can

[00:23:21] lean in on if you absolutely need to makes a great half century

[00:23:25] and then fortunately Delhi made one very interesting change

[00:23:29] just before you talk about the reason that I used

[00:23:32] but only thing is more significant in hindsight

[00:23:35] is because till this game Lucknow had never lost

[00:23:39] when they had made 160 never 1313

[00:23:43] so you got to play the stats you got to play the odds and

[00:23:47] look I used to go out for 10 but the thing is you got to try and it clicked

[00:23:51] like he was the only guy really who who scored for them

[00:23:55] and got them to 167 so at that point Lucknow is thinking

[00:23:59] the jaw-star and that's against the number 10 team

[00:24:03] the only other team that did this early was Delhi with Abhishek Porel they brought him in as the

[00:24:07] extra batter I think it was the first game of the season so it's great to it is great to see

[00:24:11] I'm very encouraged by teams owning the strategy and

[00:24:15] just choosing to use the impact you know you have a base plan for your impact player but then

[00:24:19] you adapt and you figure it out but then Varun

[00:24:23] Prithvi Shah looked decent Warner got out quickly

[00:24:26] at number 3 walked in a new guy making his IPL debut

[00:24:29] I think his first ball was a dot ball second ball first runs of the IPL were a 6

[00:24:34] and Jake Frazier McGurk came in to make a statement

[00:24:38] I mean 5-6's in his half century partnered with the captain

[00:24:42] Rishabh who got 41 and then Delhi won the game with almost 2 overs to spare

[00:24:46] but thanks to a magnificent half century from Jake

[00:24:49] is Delhi starting to find their combination or was it kind of a free

[00:24:53] win that they're going to go back to losing with soon?

[00:24:56] So I think Delhi is a kind of team who can easily get you 5-5 wins right

[00:25:01] out of these 14 games 5-10

[00:25:04] and I think they have the potential to do that

[00:25:07] I think they have been plagued with injury doesn't take away from how bad their performance has been

[00:25:11] but the minute you have Kuldeep back in the mix

[00:25:14] the minute you've got Mukesh back in the mix suddenly things are different

[00:25:17] I mean don't forget Kuldeep picked up 3 wickets right

[00:25:20] and then Mitch Marsh is injured and that's where Jake comes in

[00:25:24] so first of all kudos to him I think he did a fantastic job

[00:25:28] it's not easy on your debut in India tackling spin to be able to play like that

[00:25:33] so I think that was phenomenal

[00:25:35] I think Maxwell in December tweeted about him and said he's the next big thing

[00:25:39] and so I'm glad they've given him game time because if you are losing

[00:25:44] you need to change things up and I think yes your question is

[00:25:48] whether Delhi is finding the combination I think so I think if Mitch Marsh comes in

[00:25:52] you've kind of replaced Shay Hope with him

[00:25:55] and I think that's a decent lineup right

[00:25:57] it's just about where you play these different players

[00:26:00] so yes overall I think Delhi is looking better

[00:26:04] they are going to gain some momentum but remember Delhi is basically going to spoil the party

[00:26:09] anyone who's looking for an easy win I think they're going to have to look twice

[00:26:13] yeah I think very interesting and well said I think

[00:26:17] ability to win 5-6 maybe even 7 games but not enough to obviously get top 4

[00:26:22] but I realize as we were rushing through this because there's a lot to cover

[00:26:26] in the Bangalore Mumbai game we talked about DK

[00:26:29] we talked about Ishan Kishan we talked about Sky

[00:26:34] we did not talk about Bumram picking up 5 for 21

[00:26:38] and I just have to quickly mention it because that is just almost how much we take this guy for granted

[00:26:43] of course I had him in my fantasy team the day before and then I didn't take him for this game

[00:26:48] but how brilliant I mean what a spell that was man it just completely completely changed the game

[00:26:53] in a match where almost 400 runs were made

[00:26:57] to make the world 5 for 21 is just outstanding

[00:27:00] I mean I don't know what to say I think every time this guy comes on

[00:27:03] the opposition looks to take singles play him out and then

[00:27:07] you're kind of having to realize that if 4 overs go for 24

[00:27:11] in the balance 16 you're going to have to make minimum 10-11 runs per over

[00:27:17] to try and achieve pass goals of 190 right so it is very hard for

[00:27:22] oppositions now with Bumram bowling the way he is and wickets are just

[00:27:27] going to be kind of a result of his process otherwise

[00:27:31] even a 0 for 20 and 4 overs is matroning in my opinion

[00:27:36] yeah and he was doing that for quite a while because teams were just willing to waste the overs

[00:27:41] and now if he's going to give only the 20 runs but pick up 2, 3, 5 wickets it's just unbelievable

[00:27:47] right that takes us to the weekend and

[00:27:49] Varun let me quickly ask you how do you feel about not having double headers on Saturdays

[00:27:53] it takes a little bit of the fun away from B to B

[00:27:55] it does I mean I'm sure you're happy given your type zone

[00:27:58] I am and I'm not like 5 a.m. is not a great start but like I wake up around 6 6 30

[00:28:03] and I'm ready to watch and I have to wait till night on Saturday at 4 to 2

[00:28:07] yeah it's disappointing because the time zone really works for me Saturday Sundays

[00:28:11] and so I wish there were more but I understand that they need to stretch it out to kind of

[00:28:16] be 26th if I'm not mistaken yeah so it does require this but hey I'm glad that Sunday still has them

[00:28:22] yeah we still have the Sunday double headers but let's talk about Saturdays game then this week

[00:28:27] very interesting kind of strategic decision so Punjab added nobody in the top order did great

[00:28:32] we've been down this journey before and Ashutosh Sharma gave made a really nice looking 31 to get them

[00:28:39] to some semblance of decency with 147 still not a good enough score

[00:28:43] Varun, Joss Butler's out new player comes in

[00:28:48] okay let's see I'm double checking his age

[00:28:52] let's see 25 year old Maharashtra player Tanush Kothia comes in and he opens the batting

[00:29:00] and in the Ranjit trophy from what I've been reading I haven't followed him this career quite as much

[00:29:04] but before I've been reading a roundabout or just after the game

[00:29:08] he has he bats at 8 or below I mean 8 let's even say bats at 8

[00:29:13] I didn't know that yeah I mean yeah he did not an opening bet

[00:29:17] has had a great Ranjit season from again what I read but batting lower order in completely different

[00:29:22] game situations what could possibly have been in a team where you have Sundar Samson

[00:29:27] and you have potentially some other names and through drills etc who can get promoted up

[00:29:31] what could possibly have been the reason to send an unknown entity

[00:29:35] I mean almost almost lost them the game and I don't hold anything against him he's playing out of position

[00:29:40] but I hold it against Samson to be honest right

[00:29:42] yeah so I think this is the Sunil Narayan factor

[00:29:46] yeah you're saying this

[00:29:47] and I think like anyone who can swing is going to be promoted up the order

[00:29:52] and I say this in the context of what our discussion is going to be two matches from now

[00:29:57] which is Ajinkar Ahane came out to open the batting

[00:30:00] and clearly again these are all players I think who with the field up and the fast bowling

[00:30:05] can get you 30 to 40 very very quick runs

[00:30:08] and I think that was your real objective now it didn't work

[00:30:12] it's a one-off risk I think butler is going to come back clearly so

[00:30:16] it's a risk it did not pay off

[00:30:18] the Ahane move did not pay off

[00:30:21] and so again it comes back to if you're going to suck up these balls

[00:30:24] it's going to be an issue

[00:30:26] but if you can carry even 10 runs of 6 balls

[00:30:29] I don't think anyone's going to believe you

[00:30:31] yeah I mean fair I think that's a good point

[00:30:34] Jaswail ended up continuing his decent form from the previous game

[00:30:38] still took some work and had my at the end

[00:30:41] I mean had a couple of massive 6s and got them over the line

[00:30:44] but yeah dangerous there for a little bit

[00:30:47] I think the idea the highest kind of word of an opener who

[00:30:50] you know it's just such a non-traditional way to think about openers

[00:30:54] but to your point maybe it'll be dubbed the Sunil Narayan effect

[00:30:57] and that's how it's going to happen

[00:31:01] alright Barun then we get to the double header

[00:31:04] so the first match of the double header was KKR

[00:31:07] versus Lucknow at the Eden Gardens

[00:31:10] and you mentioned the Sunil Narayan effect

[00:31:12] he did end up coming into open didn't end up making too many runs

[00:31:15] but yeah I mean Lucknow again made 161

[00:31:18] so they're just about maybe they've overplayed that stat

[00:31:22] too seriously yeah they're just about

[00:31:25] yeah they're just about getting to it right

[00:31:28] I mean not but only batted a just over run a ball

[00:31:31] Dekak batted just over run a ball he's been pretty bad form

[00:31:34] other than Puran who made 45 runs of 32

[00:31:38] Rahul made 39 just nothing really exciting about this team right

[00:31:43] yeah there's just nothing like they don't have their batting order clear

[00:31:47] why isn't Stoin is batting at 3 if Rahul is going to

[00:31:51] bat the way he does which is just frustrating

[00:31:55] the living daylights out of me now but if Rahul is going to

[00:31:59] continue to bat in this fashion where he goes out on a ball

[00:32:03] hits two sixes at the end and then gets out and then his track

[00:32:06] is 130-140 it's just place Stoin us up right give Puran the back

[00:32:10] place Stoin us up and then get you know

[00:32:14] but only in the middle like it just it doesn't make sense

[00:32:17] something is not working in this team and you can't keep making

[00:32:21] 161-165-166 and expecting to win it's not going to happen

[00:32:26] the other teams are better than that

[00:32:28] yeah and you've your bowlers have defended at some point I mean couldn't today feel

[00:32:31] salt unbelievable Dekak he was a one man show stress

[00:32:35] back him at the end like just stayed on the other side taking singles

[00:32:39] basically 30 out of 38 so back him is very literally just back to him

[00:32:43] yeah I mean but I mean at that point when you have a guy going at that

[00:32:46] right I'm okay with somebody batting at about a run a ball like when you have somebody

[00:32:49] just going absolutely berserk I'm okay with it

[00:32:52] I think the problem is doing it when there's nobody hitting on the other

[00:32:55] right that's when it starts to become yeah and again it comes down to if we

[00:33:00] think of like I can't think of a game when neither salt nine or Russell

[00:33:04] have has been needed for an end kicker as well so this is a risk

[00:33:08] yeah very very interesting right Baron that brings us to the last game

[00:33:13] of this week that we're going to try to cover and that is this morning's

[00:33:16] or this morning for me last night for you Mumbai Indians versus the Jannay

[00:33:20] Super Kings and a lot to talk about on this one but I want to start with

[00:33:24] this discussion and we'll come back and talk about the only I promise

[00:33:28] we talked about I use bad the only in the last game we'll talk about MS good

[00:33:31] the only in this game if you want nice we that's been a running joke on

[00:33:35] our WhatsApp group but yeah one you guys talked about Virat century

[00:33:40] just over a week ago in a losing cause it's happened a couple of times to him

[00:33:45] two or three out of his eight to 23 century centuries have been in losing

[00:33:49] causes Roja much today the stats will say 105 of 63

[00:33:55] strike rate of 166.67 not out and the team fell short by

[00:34:01] was what it ended up being 20 runs yeah what somebody who watched the match

[00:34:06] saw was a very different type of innings progression and almost

[00:34:12] yearning to start going more aggressively a little sooner but also

[00:34:17] equivalently you saw the shankation started decent got out sky got a second

[00:34:23] ball duck they luck was hitting nicely and perished hard to find the

[00:34:27] absolutely like absolutely destroyed the momentum in the innings and so

[00:34:32] you could you could you could always equal parts see nobody else

[00:34:35] bettered well and yes but the guy who ate up most more than half the

[00:34:39] deliveries didn't quite bases innings correct me and help me understand

[00:34:43] what side of this discussion your because I just don't know I don't know how

[00:34:46] I feel about I also don't know I think here's the facts right there are two

[00:34:50] guys with its entries in this world cup apart from butler one is the other

[00:34:56] this IPL one is Rohit the other is Goli right and now we're criticizing

[00:35:03] how they hit the hundred so it needs to be taken to the pinch of salt

[00:35:08] I also have to call this out because Rohit's hundred or sixty one balls

[00:35:12] got a lot of credit Rohit Koli is hundred or sixty six or sixty seven

[00:35:17] balls criticism yeah and both lost so I don't get it why are you kind of

[00:35:24] criticizing one guy and not and praising the other when the net outcome

[00:35:28] is similar I do agree that Rohit is playing better in the power play

[00:35:32] he's playing more attacking and he's adapted his game so we have to

[00:35:35] give him credit there but net net it doesn't have to be a zero sum gamer

[00:35:39] you don't have to say Koli's bad and so on yeah I mean I agree with that

[00:35:44] I think the question is just just an approach right it is it do you value

[00:35:48] a 20 off nine balls and out more than you value a hundred off 60 let's

[00:35:54] call it 61 balls and and now or and if so do you need everybody to

[00:36:00] consistently making 20 to 30 off their nine balls and then you back till

[00:36:04] number nine and then if you happen to be 76 for six then you back the guys

[00:36:09] of the lower order take you through like but but India doesn't have that we have

[00:36:13] at least three number elevens on average on our side so sometimes four

[00:36:18] sometimes four yeah and so it's the team composition it's the team balance

[00:36:22] it's if people can go at 30 off 10 like you said do it but not everyone

[00:36:29] can not everyone will and so I think what it happens is that if you've got a

[00:36:34] rojito Koli batting the other guys need to step up and if they don't the

[00:36:38] pressure on these to keep building because what are they supposed to do

[00:36:41] they can't get out yeah they can't play reckless shots and so they have

[00:36:46] to build that innings yes they should both be going faster but I don't

[00:36:50] see too many solutions yeah it's very interesting I mean at the end of

[00:36:54] the day if you think about what was probably that the more most popular

[00:36:59] majority opinion on probables for the India skyde in the T20 World Cup

[00:37:04] before the IPL started I mean the reality is Virat and Rohit are the only

[00:37:09] two who really put runs on the board. Jaiswal is starting to find his form

[00:37:13] back four days ago we were to said Jaiswal's and now we're in this one.

[00:37:16] Sky played one good knock but then got out for duck like so not a

[00:37:21] slam dunk. Are they struggling? Struggling big time. Ravindra Jnadeja

[00:37:26] struggling reasonably big that Bumrah also obviously walks in no question

[00:37:31] of us but what Siraj has had a horrendous. Siraj like Harbhajan Singh said this

[00:37:36] he's looking tired and I went back and thought about it I don't think that

[00:37:39] guy's had a break yeah I mean it's maybe in 18 months yeah I think he's

[00:37:43] just tired he's not looking good so Kuldip and Bumrah looking fantastic

[00:37:48] Rohit and Koli are looking good not great but apart from that you're right

[00:37:53] in the list of probables it's not looking that promising. I mean Raghun

[00:37:57] is basically bad at his with himself outside out of a spot right?

[00:38:00] Yeah his batting position and the way he's batted I think he's batted

[00:38:04] himself outside out of a spot I think Gill has the outside chance

[00:38:09] Jaiswal I think will be there for what he's done in the last 18 months

[00:38:12] Rinku Singh is the other guy who's just not getting an opportunity to show

[00:38:16] his skill. Correct I think it's harsh to say he has had not as good an IPL

[00:38:21] but again then you have other guys breaking down the doors Rian Parag

[00:38:25] and Shashank Singhs and Ashutosh Sharma these guys are breaking down the doors

[00:38:28] and that is actually one of the magic of the IPL right? That's where these guys

[00:38:32] come from sky we discovered him from the IPL then of course we wanted to

[00:38:35] play Test cricket for two years and that's the problem with the other extreme

[00:38:39] of the IPL. That's why you gotta hold your horses but yeah I think

[00:38:42] I am looking forward to next week's discussion I think we'll have 80% overlapping players

[00:38:46] but 20% will be different. Yeah it's gonna be great start thinking about you

[00:38:50] for you all of our listeners start thinking about your playing 11s

[00:38:54] and your probable 15s for the T20 World Cup

[00:38:57] it's always a blitz getting through seven eight games in one quick discussion

[00:39:01] but it's always fun to relive it a little bit I'm excited about some of the big games this week

[00:39:05] and Delhi takes on Gautrath which will be a big clash if you will

[00:39:10] at least from the lens of Delhi fans Punjab takes on Mumbai

[00:39:13] you also have KKR taking on RCB and RCB will be looking to get some points on the board

[00:39:17] so lots of exciting games to come I think that's a wrap we already did our fantasy league

[00:39:22] discussion as well we covered everything we wanted to

[00:39:26] if you're listening to us on YouTube again hit that like button hit that subscribe button

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[00:39:43] and that is basically it

[00:39:45] Varun thank you so much for joining me it has been a great time great chat

[00:39:49] this is the Edges and Fledges Cricket podcast and we will see you next week

[00:39:53] thank you very much