This week Ashwin and DJ review the seventh week of #IPL2024 that saw KKR officially qualified, Mumbai and Punjab officially eliminated, and 5 teams fighting for the remaining playoff spots as the IPL group stages come to a close.
[00:00:01] Hello and welcome to this week's episode of The Edges and Sledges Cricket Podcast. I'm
[00:00:13] your host Ashwin. I'm joined by DJ, who has just come back after a long day of playing
[00:00:18] cricket himself. DJ, I hear you had some arguments on the field in your cricket game
[00:00:23] too as we had Virat and Ishaat getting into some arguments on the field at the Chittaswamy.
[00:00:28] So it's been a big cricket day for you. How are you doing?
[00:00:30] Yeah, I'm okay. We unfortunately lost the game. I played a horrible shot coming
[00:00:35] down the track, missed it and got bowled. Probably too influenced by the IPL, right? Like
[00:00:40] watching these guys hit 36 rounds. Watching Sunil Narayan get bowled off, boomerang,
[00:00:44] then you were saying together. Yeah, that was a great moment. But no, we lost.
[00:00:47] But yeah, there were some moments of friction but in the end everybody shook hands and it
[00:00:51] was a good day of cricket. Yeah.
[00:00:55] So I partly say that because I know that although you're recording this, you haven't
[00:00:58] yet had a chance to fully watch the Sunday games. And Virat was batting against Ishaat
[00:01:05] and hit him for six. And basically starts abusing him or like, you know, just getting into
[00:01:09] bed with him. Now you could argue we couldn't hear it. We're not sure if it's friendly at
[00:01:12] all but it's a fired up Virat. And two balls later Ishaat gets him out and kind of runs
[00:01:19] towards him. But you know Ishaat, he's this jovial happy guy. And so like, he starts
[00:01:25] giving it back to Virat but in a fun friendly way, like kind of hip checks him in a friendly
[00:01:29] way. And Kohli has this like sort of half smile on his face. But I was thinking about
[00:01:34] this, there's maybe no other bowler in the world who can do that to Virat.
[00:01:38] I mean Kohli and Ishaat have played together since they were under 19.
[00:01:43] They are both 35, both from Delhi and have played together basically about an hour
[00:01:48] text someone. It's basically 17 or 18 years they've played together.
[00:01:51] They played their whole career together. So I mean.
[00:01:53] I can actually think of nobody better to suspend some of the tension in the air
[00:01:57] and give Virat a little bit of his medicine back other than Ishaat Sharma.
[00:02:01] Yeah, and Ishaat was a big part of his bowling attack when Kohli was at the helm.
[00:02:06] Don't forget to remember the Steve Smith Ishaat shaking his head.
[00:02:11] Moment and so Ishaat can get stuck in as well.
[00:02:13] I mean it don't have the opportunity often enough as a bowler in the IPL.
[00:02:17] So when you can make hay while the sun shines man, if you get the big man
[00:02:22] Kohli out, we get the king. Absolutely right.
[00:02:25] So it's worth digging in.
[00:02:27] Yeah, and so it was a great moment.
[00:02:28] But I jumped ahead.
[00:02:29] I feel like we've reached basically a really interesting turning point
[00:02:34] in the points table.
[00:02:35] So I'm going to start there, DJ, since we last spoke, which would have been Monday
[00:02:38] earlier this week, it's now Sunday.
[00:02:41] The Kolkata Knight Riders have just been on a continued tear.
[00:02:45] So they won one more game, which makes it four in a row for them.
[00:02:47] And they're officially the only team to qualify.
[00:02:51] And now officially, although we had sort of set it up front,
[00:02:54] officially the Mumbai Indians and the Punjab King at the bottom are eliminated.
[00:02:58] No major surprises that except you would have thought sort of Rajasthan
[00:03:01] sealed their spot maybe ahead of Kolkata, but but pretty predictable.
[00:03:05] Right?
[00:03:07] I mean, Rajasthan seem to have fallen away.
[00:03:10] They're still on 16 points.
[00:03:12] Yeah. So Rajasthan lost three years.
[00:03:15] Yeah, they lost both their games this week.
[00:03:18] We saw an interesting moment with the Sanju Samson as well,
[00:03:21] which we should talk about on field.
[00:03:24] Seemed to question the shy hope catch.
[00:03:26] There's been lots of this kind of niggly stuff towards the end of the side,
[00:03:32] which I'm quite enjoying actually, if truth is to be told.
[00:03:36] Yeah. So KKRs qualified.
[00:03:38] Rajasthan still looks pretty solid.
[00:03:39] I mean, given their net run rate will be fairly difficult,
[00:03:43] even with two more losses for them to get knocked out,
[00:03:45] but two massive losses and anything is possible.
[00:03:50] The Delhi team unfortunately needed to win both.
[00:03:52] I think mathematically still alive, but basically out.
[00:03:56] And the fact that they've lost to the RCB team this week or today
[00:03:59] rather was by 47 runs didn't help in terms of.
[00:04:03] OK, and what is up with RCB?
[00:04:05] Five wins in a row in with a chance of qualifying.
[00:04:09] They have jumped to fifth.
[00:04:10] I mean, what do you think it is?
[00:04:12] And we'll get into some more of the specifics
[00:04:13] and some of the incidents that happened
[00:04:15] and Koli's magnificent run out and his great 92 and things like that.
[00:04:19] But what do you think it is?
[00:04:21] Is it on the trot of, I guess they would have been two wins
[00:04:24] from their first 10 matches?
[00:04:27] No, I'm not doing that.
[00:04:28] Two wins from their first seven and then five of the next five.
[00:04:31] Do you think when you're two of seven sitting there
[00:04:33] halfway through the season on four points, you just you see this with RCB before?
[00:04:38] But do you think there's low pressure cricket, nothing to lose?
[00:04:40] And then you find your best form?
[00:04:43] I mean, there's a little bit of that.
[00:04:45] There's a little bit of.
[00:04:49] I mean, it's I don't know what to say really, man,
[00:04:52] to win five on the bounce, it's really unusual in the IPR.
[00:04:56] Even the best teams that Chennai is the Rajasthan Royals,
[00:05:00] you end up having a streak where you lose a couple of games
[00:05:04] even when you're playing well.
[00:05:06] Yeah. So to win five in a row, it's I think where this goes is like
[00:05:10] RCB fans and of course, they're probably the most fanatic fan base in the IPR.
[00:05:16] Right. And I say fanatic in a nice way.
[00:05:19] I don't know. Yeah, but what it gives them is the hope
[00:05:24] that they may qualify for the playoffs.
[00:05:28] And it's the hope as an Indian fan, as you know, it's the hope that killed you.
[00:05:33] And so RCB, I don't know.
[00:05:37] I don't still don't think they're going to qualify.
[00:05:39] I think CSK will still pull ahead.
[00:05:42] We saw them win today, but yeah, it's an RCB fan.
[00:05:45] I'm sitting and doing all the match and they but they do it every year.
[00:05:47] That's the worst part.
[00:05:49] RCB fans are probably the best mathematician in the country.
[00:05:53] That is well said.
[00:05:54] I mean, because what it will come down to, by the way,
[00:05:56] SRH has two matches left against Gujarat and Punjab
[00:05:59] and they'll back themselves to one at least one and secure
[00:06:02] most most likely secure that third spot.
[00:06:06] And so CSK versus RCB, which will be on the 18th of May,
[00:06:10] one of the last matches of the season, will basically be a potential.
[00:06:14] I don't want to call it quarterfinal, but yeah, almost a quarter like a knockout.
[00:06:17] Kaveri Dabi.
[00:06:19] There it is.
[00:06:22] You heard it here.
[00:06:22] Oh, which dosa is better?
[00:06:25] Chennai Dosa or Bangalore Dosa?
[00:06:27] I'm not to write off Lucknow.
[00:06:28] So Lucknow is an interesting spot where they play both Delhi and Mumbai
[00:06:33] as their last two games.
[00:06:34] And if they win both and they win both by big margin, which they would want to do,
[00:06:38] they can also do it.
[00:06:39] So kind of an interesting spot where I would say not mathematically,
[00:06:42] but basically mathematically, four teams are now out
[00:06:46] in Mumbai, Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat.
[00:06:50] So it's Delhi math.
[00:06:51] Why is Delhi out because of the net?
[00:06:53] It's not mathematically out because yeah, it's entirely.
[00:06:55] So Delhi, if I if I did the math correctly, because I'm basically an RCB
[00:06:59] fed at this for doing well, we need SRH to lose both by big
[00:07:03] big, big, big margins.
[00:07:05] And then yeah, that's basically it.
[00:07:07] And then win against Lucknow by an also huge margin.
[00:07:11] And SRH has two games in hand if they win, even one were basically done.
[00:07:15] But there's so much to talk about with each of these teams.
[00:07:17] Rishabh Pank missing the biggest game probably of the season for Delhi
[00:07:21] like LSG, the owner drama with Rahul
[00:07:25] Samson's fight with the umpires.
[00:07:28] I mean, every each of these games has a story of its own to tell.
[00:07:31] Right. Yeah.
[00:07:32] It was a big week. So why don't we jump right into it?
[00:07:34] Let's run through some of the games, some of the action that happened.
[00:07:37] The first one was Hyderabad versus Mumbai.
[00:07:39] And I'm only going through game by game.
[00:07:40] We won't cover all the details, but it just helps me remember.
[00:07:43] And the highlight there on in chasing 173 for it.
[00:07:46] Mumbai got a win, which seems very incredibly rare,
[00:07:48] but they were still 31 for three while chasing 180.
[00:07:53] And then Surika Bariyya, the founders form.
[00:07:55] And you were messaging me at the point saying,
[00:07:58] who do we want to win?
[00:07:59] Do we want Mumbai to win so that we have a better shot
[00:08:01] as Delhi fans from a point standpoint?
[00:08:03] And my response was just, man, I'm just thrilled
[00:08:06] from an India stand point to see Sky back in form.
[00:08:08] I mean, 102 or 51 balls match winning knock.
[00:08:12] How it wasn't it wasn't the most formidable total
[00:08:15] at a ground like the one KD honesty to do.
[00:08:17] But even but still 31 for three with the kind of season Mumbai had
[00:08:21] full points for that knock. Right.
[00:08:22] Yeah, great knock.
[00:08:23] But the one thing I was thinking about while watching that was
[00:08:26] yes, they've come in this idea we're playing for pride and stuff.
[00:08:30] But if you look at the Indian squad, some of the key players
[00:08:33] in that squad, Rohit, Hardik, Bumrah, Sky,
[00:08:39] they're all Mumbai Indians players.
[00:08:41] And like you want them almost to have a bit of a bounce
[00:08:46] at the end of the IPL so that they carry that form into the
[00:08:49] into the T20 World Cup because it's demoralizing
[00:08:52] coming in what is their ninth or 10th right now?
[00:08:54] I don't know. As a five time champion.
[00:08:57] I mean, that's that's a shocker.
[00:08:59] That's the kind of stuff that CEOs get sacked for right in companies.
[00:09:03] So let me jump ahead and ask you about that then.
[00:09:05] So I was going to go chronologically, but Mumbai's only other game
[00:09:08] this week was against Kolkata, rain curtailed game, kind of a fun.
[00:09:11] We are we are viped to see the players coming early on
[00:09:15] in each other's dressing rooms when the rain was happening.
[00:09:18] Glad that we got a 16 over again.
[00:09:20] I don't think we've lost any more overs than this to rain
[00:09:23] at all this season, if I'm not mistaken, which is kind of
[00:09:25] which is pretty great. KKR made on in 57.
[00:09:28] First off, I sort of mentioned it, but Narayan shouldering his arms to a
[00:09:33] I mean, how great.
[00:09:36] Yeah, how great. And this is the point that you just keep every time
[00:09:38] you see it, you're like, man, this guy is so special.
[00:09:41] Yeah, because this one, I mean, it started off
[00:09:44] like looking like it was going to miss the stumps and then it just
[00:09:47] curls back in and takes the off stump out.
[00:09:50] Just unbelievable.
[00:09:51] But you think back to the England series that
[00:09:54] just thought that those test matches that Bumrah was playing in like,
[00:09:57] I mean, he was unbelievable.
[00:09:59] He was just absolutely brilliant.
[00:10:01] Paul Art came out and said there's no question of us
[00:10:05] resting Bumrah for the T20 World Cup, which is another case
[00:10:08] of franchise versus versus national duty, which is yeah.
[00:10:13] I mean,
[00:10:17] ideally for Indian fans, you want Bumrah to be wrapped up in cotton
[00:10:20] wool. He doesn't need to play these meaningless games
[00:10:22] because Mumbai can't actually qualify.
[00:10:23] So
[00:10:25] but he came in steamed and took the wickets
[00:10:28] and seemed to enjoy bowling that span.
[00:10:32] Yeah, I would bet from a franchise owner or a coach lens even
[00:10:37] finishing the season on the back of let's say two wins on the truck,
[00:10:39] which won't be the case for Mumbai now.
[00:10:41] But it's worth it just as you go to auctions next to it,
[00:10:45] set up momentum, recency bias all matters.
[00:10:48] But the reason I jumped to this game is because in chasing
[00:10:51] just 158 runs and 16 overs and getting a decent start on one end
[00:10:56] with Kishan.
[00:10:58] We talk a lot about strike rate.
[00:10:59] We will come to Kail Rahul's knock.
[00:11:01] We will talk about Virat Kohli, etc.
[00:11:04] Rohit Sharma has had an absolutely appalling IPL
[00:11:08] and you can look back and say he's probably had
[00:11:10] and I might be being a little harsh.
[00:11:12] He's probably had four bad years in a row at this point.
[00:11:14] I mean, I don't I can't remember a standout season
[00:11:17] other than one off knock for the last four years as a bad
[00:11:21] as a batter.
[00:11:22] He's opening the badding.
[00:11:23] He is now going in as captain and his deputy in Hardik
[00:11:28] none for 32 and three overs and two off of four balls.
[00:11:31] Now, full credit to Varun Chakravarti who bolden absolutely
[00:11:35] phenomenal spell to both two for 17 and four overs in a shortened game
[00:11:39] is just phenomenal.
[00:11:41] But where are you at now on Roy Thanhardek as captain
[00:11:44] and vice captain of India?
[00:11:46] Six, five weeks out from a World Cup.
[00:11:50] It's a hard question to answer, man.
[00:11:52] I mean, where am I with this?
[00:11:55] I mean, we got some interesting questions after the last episode
[00:11:58] saying why haven't you talked about Abhishek Sharma at all?
[00:12:01] Maybe there was a bit of a read since he answers
[00:12:02] because he just smacked the LXG guys all over the place
[00:12:06] for 75 of 20 something balls.
[00:12:10] Look, Rohit is a fantastic player, both in tests and ODIs.
[00:12:16] Don't get me wrong when I say that he's a fantastic player.
[00:12:19] He's India's biggest six hitter in those four in those form
[00:12:22] in that format, the ODI format particularly.
[00:12:25] And he saw that come to the fore in the 2023 World Cup last year.
[00:12:30] Is he India's best opening option?
[00:12:33] Existing opening option?
[00:12:36] I don't think so.
[00:12:37] I mean, I saw a clip where Mati Hayden was saying
[00:12:39] if I had to put this team together because there's a lot of chat about
[00:12:42] Virat and and and we're out and we're out and we're out and Rohit opening
[00:12:49] and Hayden was like, you know what?
[00:12:51] I'm OK for Kohli to open because he's one of the best in the top six,
[00:12:55] which I agree because he takes advantage of hits through gaps,
[00:12:58] hits over the top.
[00:12:59] He had lots of folds in that with little risk.
[00:13:03] But if I had to do that, it would be Yasha Svi, Kohli left hand, right hand
[00:13:07] out put Sky at three and out put Rohit at four.
[00:13:12] I miss that. That's just a very interesting comment.
[00:13:14] But Rohit is batted at four for the Mumbai Indians.
[00:13:18] He's done well, he scored hundreds from there.
[00:13:20] And Hayden said, and I haven't double checked these stats that his stats
[00:13:24] batting T20 at four are actually really good.
[00:13:28] Now, there was a time where Rohit was doing great things in the T20 game.
[00:13:31] I'd say about the 2020, 2021, 2020, early 2020 season
[00:13:37] where he did really well.
[00:13:38] He was hitting those sixes in New Zealand to win the Super Over and stuff.
[00:13:43] What I've seen this season is apart from that hundred,
[00:13:46] because you had a decent start with the IPL.
[00:13:48] Apart from that hundred,
[00:13:51] he is hitting strokes that are not conventionally associated with Rohit.
[00:13:58] Right? He's hitting reverse sweeps.
[00:14:00] He's hitting switch.
[00:14:02] It's he doesn't need to bat like that.
[00:14:04] He's too good to get.
[00:14:06] He would just hit down the ground.
[00:14:08] He would hit, he'd pull it.
[00:14:10] He'd like slog sweep it and he hit straight down the ground.
[00:14:14] He was a magnificent player of the sport.
[00:14:16] And I saw him play some odd shots against the KKR spinners.
[00:14:21] Yeah, what you've always said about Rohit is he always look
[00:14:22] is one of those cliches, but one of the guys who looks like
[00:14:25] he has more time on the ball than anybody else.
[00:14:28] Is he starting to lose that a little bit with age?
[00:14:30] Maybe do you think it's so that.
[00:14:31] And so he's compensating by reverse slug, sweep, slog, sweep.
[00:14:34] But it's also nonstop, right?
[00:14:36] Like he's come out of the World Cup.
[00:14:38] They've then played the five match test series where he's been captain.
[00:14:43] He's that's mentally draining.
[00:14:44] They were one down, they went for one up.
[00:14:47] They've gone into the IPA.
[00:14:48] He's got to do all the press conferences for the World T20.
[00:14:52] It's tiring.
[00:14:53] And that's actually what I'm worried about for this Indian team
[00:14:55] that they are not going to have the mental space to chill.
[00:15:01] Right? Yeah.
[00:15:02] So and also the other thing we should talk about is Samson and Chadeja.
[00:15:06] I don't know whether you're keeping a note of this,
[00:15:08] but like they obstructed the field with another great.
[00:15:10] We're coming. We're getting to it.
[00:15:11] Before we wrap, Rondra, it's really quick.
[00:15:13] Opening in the IPL has paid 101 innings, one century and 14 half centuries.
[00:15:20] Average of 28, striker of 131.
[00:15:23] At number four, 86 innings.
[00:15:24] So to your point, a lot, 19 half centuries.
[00:15:27] So more 50 plus scores, average of 33.
[00:15:30] So average is five runs better and striker is 129 only slightly slower.
[00:15:34] So there's a point.
[00:15:36] He hasn't probably batted it for ever since he's had to go quicker.
[00:15:40] Correct. And so yeah, so.
[00:15:43] Anyway, we're going to cover one more one more match,
[00:15:45] one more incident in this sort of speed round of a busy week
[00:15:48] before we take a quick break.
[00:15:49] Delhi played Rajasthan at the turn, certainly, Siddharth.
[00:15:53] And Delhi, it was a must win game for Delhi and Rajasthan looking to get back
[00:15:57] on the board. I'm not going to get into too much of it.
[00:16:00] Delhi made 221 great batting from Jake Frasier.
[00:16:03] Jake Frasier, the one man show.
[00:16:06] And would have been today too, by the way, if you hadn't watched the game against
[00:16:10] RCB, got out off of a straight drive back by his partner, Flicked.
[00:16:14] I think yesterday I was the kind of runner.
[00:16:17] I mean, just the most unfortunate.
[00:16:19] He was looking great.
[00:16:21] But I want to ask you about Sanju Sampson.
[00:16:24] You talked about it a little bit, 86 of 46 balls.
[00:16:27] Got out, Mukesh Kumar, Shea Hope catch.
[00:16:30] And I haven't actually, I can't remember the last time I saw Sanju this fired up
[00:16:35] about it. This is not, I kind of like it to be honest.
[00:16:37] I like the brand of cricketers who will get into the arguments.
[00:16:40] Only because it shows me how passionate they are about it.
[00:16:43] You want to talk us through that incident a little bit?
[00:16:44] No, no, no. There's two things about this one.
[00:16:46] He was batting really well.
[00:16:48] He got 80 off almost nothing.
[00:16:50] I don't know what did you say, 40 balls?
[00:16:51] 86 or 46. Yeah.
[00:16:53] Yeah. Fantastic batting.
[00:16:55] Secondly, Khalil was trying to hide the ball outside of stump.
[00:16:59] Ended up bowling four wide consecutively.
[00:17:01] Ended up giving a nine run over, nine minute over
[00:17:06] that eventually ended up in Rishabh Panth being banned for the RCB game
[00:17:11] because they went over time.
[00:17:13] Now, a lot of that was a function, sadly,
[00:17:17] of Sanju Sampson just smacking every ball out of the ground.
[00:17:19] Yeah. Yeah.
[00:17:21] What does it take as a headline on the rule?
[00:17:22] Like, obviously we're going to say it seems insane, Rishabh knockout game.
[00:17:26] And I get it.
[00:17:27] They appealed and all that, but Akshar had to captain the RCB game.
[00:17:30] But what's your take on that rule?
[00:17:31] Because I think the appeal was appalling, by the way,
[00:17:33] because apparently the reason why they appeal was unsuccessful.
[00:17:38] And this is why IPL teams need lawyers, I think,
[00:17:41] is because they did not provide enough substantial evidence
[00:17:44] or substantiate the fact that there was time wasted
[00:17:47] with Sanju Sampson demonstrating with the Empire.
[00:17:50] They didn't tell them how much time was wasted.
[00:17:51] They just said, yeah, it was time-wasted.
[00:17:53] Like, but you can't say that right in a proper hearing.
[00:17:56] Are you raising your hand to go be a Delhi capitals or any IPL team lawyer?
[00:18:00] I can send them the rate card.
[00:18:02] That is great.
[00:18:04] That's all I can say.
[00:18:04] I mean, it's cheaper than 8 crores for Kumar Kusagra,
[00:18:07] who made like six runs all season.
[00:18:09] Yeah, I think I can come in under that cap.
[00:18:12] All right. But talk to me about Sanju Sampson.
[00:18:14] For a bit.
[00:18:14] So what does it take on the rule, though?
[00:18:16] The captain does need to have some accountability.
[00:18:18] I understand we had many games last season, four plus hours.
[00:18:22] So how do you reconcile those with also like Rishabh missing?
[00:18:25] The crowd is insane.
[00:18:27] It's fine, but it was his third offense.
[00:18:30] It wasn't his first offense.
[00:18:31] It's not like that you've got one strike here off.
[00:18:33] You've got three strikes and this was his third strike
[00:18:35] and he's been sitting on it for about eight games, I believe.
[00:18:38] So, I mean, I get it.
[00:18:40] You need to finish the game before midnight, right?
[00:18:42] It's ridiculous.
[00:18:43] The school kids need to go to sleep.
[00:18:45] I don't know, maybe a school summer holidays right now.
[00:18:47] I lost track because the IPL has been running for 10 months.
[00:18:51] But yeah, it's...
[00:18:54] I think the rule is fine.
[00:18:56] It was a fine as well and too bad.
[00:18:58] So then talk to me quickly about Samson's dismissal.
[00:19:01] Shea Hope grabs it.
[00:19:02] Yeah.
[00:19:03] Claims it.
[00:19:05] Claims it.
[00:19:05] Then he does a little dance on the boundary just like tiptoes
[00:19:09] because he's about to overbalance,
[00:19:11] but he does well to keep his body in.
[00:19:13] But there are some frames where it could be argued
[00:19:16] that his foot or his shoelace or something
[00:19:20] touched the boundary question.
[00:19:21] It could, it's arguable, like their shadows and stuff.
[00:19:23] Like, you don't know.
[00:19:25] The third umpire went with the field on that occasion,
[00:19:28] which I think is the guidance given to them,
[00:19:29] that benefit of the doubt goes to the field.
[00:19:33] Which is interesting because the benefit of the doubt
[00:19:34] otherwise goes to the batter.
[00:19:36] And if you listen carefully in the background,
[00:19:39] some of the commentators are like,
[00:19:40] oh, he touched the cushion there,
[00:19:42] but like the umpire didn't think that.
[00:19:45] And that's fine then for Sanju to remonstrate
[00:19:48] at that point, he got fined for it.
[00:19:50] And then that's the price you pay.
[00:19:52] I think it got 30% fine.
[00:19:54] Just sort of hoping he'd call all his players
[00:19:55] off the field in protest.
[00:19:57] No, Sangakara was there and like,
[00:20:00] I mean, he's obviously had his share.
[00:20:02] So Sanga's a law student.
[00:20:04] He never actually became a lawyer
[00:20:05] but like Sanga knows the rules.
[00:20:06] Oh, there you go.
[00:20:08] Yeah, he was looking to Sanga
[00:20:09] and Sanga told him to stay out there.
[00:20:11] At one point, there were three batters out there
[00:20:12] which was ridiculous.
[00:20:14] But in the battle of the keepers,
[00:20:16] which RR versus DC was,
[00:20:20] I think Samson has put his nose ahead of Mr. Pant.
[00:20:23] And Pant played one game less.
[00:20:25] Top scorer for their DC franchise as well,
[00:20:29] setting out of a crucial game.
[00:20:30] That's a bad look, man.
[00:20:32] But I think with the bad,
[00:20:33] I mean RR would have won that game with Samson
[00:20:35] was that it's pretty safe to say.
[00:20:36] They looked like they were getting close
[00:20:39] to getting over the line and then they fell short.
[00:20:40] So but then Kuldeep bowled a fantastic over as well
[00:20:43] because we were all sitting there going,
[00:20:44] why isn't he bowling spin?
[00:20:46] And that also didn't help the overrate
[00:20:48] because he was bowling quick.
[00:20:49] He kept bowling Khalil, kept bowling Mukesh.
[00:20:52] And when Kuldeep comes in and takes two wickets in an over
[00:20:56] and that changes the game again.
[00:20:57] Your equal parts for our I'm equal parts frustrated
[00:21:00] that he didn't bowl to Kuldeep earlier
[00:21:01] and also appreciate that when he did bowl
[00:21:03] he was potentially saving him for Robman Power.
[00:21:05] Robman and his old teammate.
[00:21:07] Yeah, yeah.
[00:21:09] For whom he called the players off the field the last time.
[00:21:13] Unbelievable.
[00:21:14] Life comes full circle.
[00:21:16] Yeah, busy match, lots going on.
[00:21:19] I think you said it.
[00:21:20] If you're an India fan, two wicket keepers both doing well
[00:21:22] is probably good, but I do sit here saying Samson
[00:21:24] has just aged his way ahead of Rishabh Panth
[00:21:27] which probably net good for team India.
[00:21:30] DJ, why don't we take a very quick break
[00:21:31] in this again speed round episode?
[00:21:33] There's a lot that happened this week.
[00:21:34] We will come right back
[00:21:35] and talk about the rest of the action.
[00:21:45] Welcome back to the edges and sledges cricket podcast.
[00:21:49] DJ, I sense you starting to feel the tiredness
[00:21:51] from a day of cricket.
[00:21:52] So you started to get exhausted
[00:21:53] and you started hanging in with me.
[00:21:55] If you're watching us on YouTube, hit the like button,
[00:21:56] hit the subscribe button.
[00:21:57] And if you are listening to us on any podcasting app
[00:22:00] give us a five star review.
[00:22:01] We'd love to see it.
[00:22:02] We'd love to hear from you.
[00:22:04] DJ, we talked about strike rates.
[00:22:08] We talked a little bit about Virat.
[00:22:09] We talk about Virat all the time.
[00:22:10] We talked a little about Rohit Sharma.
[00:22:12] The next game was in Hyderabad
[00:22:15] and the Lucknow team took on travel there.
[00:22:17] And the quicker rundown of how this played out
[00:22:21] is Quinton DeCoq for some reason
[00:22:23] was brought back in.
[00:22:23] I don't know why they still haven't really tried Kyle Mayer's
[00:22:26] in a big way.
[00:22:27] I don't know why they keep going back to DeCoq.
[00:22:28] It's fine.
[00:22:29] Stoin has failed.
[00:22:31] Rahul and Krunal Pandya put on a partnership
[00:22:34] at about a runner ball, slightly below a runner ball.
[00:22:37] Rahul made 29 of 33, Krunal made 24 of 21
[00:22:40] and at this point you're saying,
[00:22:41] gosh, this pitch is brutal.
[00:22:42] Ball doesn't seem to be coming under the bat,
[00:22:44] hard to bat.
[00:22:46] Then you have Nichols Puran and Aiyush Padoni
[00:22:48] put on just shy of 100 runs in like 52 balls.
[00:22:53] I think.
[00:22:54] And you're saying, oh, maybe the pitch is getting better.
[00:22:57] Maybe it isn't quite as bad as you thought.
[00:23:00] And then as they have done many times this season,
[00:23:03] Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head,
[00:23:04] I mean, Abhishek Sharma comes out,
[00:23:06] makes 75 of 28 balls that he was learning to
[00:23:08] and was the slowest strike rate on his own team
[00:23:12] by like 15%.
[00:23:13] I mean, Travis Head 89 of 30,
[00:23:16] 167 chased down in 9.4 overs.
[00:23:20] Every bowler went for above 14 and a half runs
[00:23:22] and over the economy.
[00:23:24] I mean, just absolutely mind blowing.
[00:23:26] There's no amount of numbers I can throw at you.
[00:23:27] And it was just mind blowing.
[00:23:31] By the way, Abhishek Sharma is not on the list
[00:23:32] of like most fours head
[00:23:33] because he just seems to keep it in six.
[00:23:37] But let's talk about the reaction after that.
[00:23:40] So there's a clip that sort of went viral.
[00:23:42] Kail Rahul talking to the owner of the Lucknow team.
[00:23:47] Yeah, what exactly happened
[00:23:49] and what is your take on that?
[00:23:50] So the owners actually have come
[00:23:53] on to scrutiny this week as well.
[00:23:54] Cause you saw Pat Jindal go losing a little bit
[00:23:57] celebrating the Delhi game.
[00:23:59] Yeah, in the Delhi game at the Samson dismissal
[00:24:02] and he was screaming out, out, out, which is pretty funny
[00:24:04] because Samson used to play for Delhi a little while ago.
[00:24:10] And this is, this looked like,
[00:24:12] and I don't know whether this is fake news or it's not
[00:24:16] because there was some chat
[00:24:17] that Kail is not going to continue his captain.
[00:24:19] But that was a weird look for this franchise owner
[00:24:22] to be like basically giving Kail Rahul
[00:24:25] what seemed like a headmaster's lecture.
[00:24:28] It was like when you know, you're in school
[00:24:29] and you've like dropped the catch
[00:24:31] and then PT sir told you to take rounds of the ground.
[00:24:34] It was a professional equivalent of that.
[00:24:36] And you're like, dude, like, okay,
[00:24:38] Ashwin, you and I sit here and we talk crap
[00:24:40] like we talk shit because we're fans of the game, right?
[00:24:43] But when you're an owner of an IPL team
[00:24:46] and there's an India cricketer standing in front of you,
[00:24:51] I think you should do your thing owning the team
[00:24:54] and let them do their thing playing the cricket.
[00:24:57] Because, and this is remember,
[00:24:59] this is, I think this is the RP Goenka group, right?
[00:25:04] That was Super Jam.
[00:25:06] There's the same guys that removed them
[00:25:08] as the hones captain of our RPS,
[00:25:11] rising Pune Super Jam replacing him with Chief Smith.
[00:25:13] Yes, a successful move in the second season
[00:25:15] as they made the final.
[00:25:18] But should franchise owners be interacting publicly
[00:25:25] in that direct manner, clearly upset by something?
[00:25:29] I don't know.
[00:25:29] I think it's a little bit of an odd look.
[00:25:32] The word you said there that resonates with me
[00:25:34] is just the choice of publicly, right?
[00:25:36] I actually do like when owners are hands-on.
[00:25:39] I don't want clubs franchises to be owned by venture capitalists
[00:25:44] that are private equity, that are nameless, faceless.
[00:25:48] I like that.
[00:25:49] That's only, I think CVC their own good, bad titans.
[00:25:52] Yeah, so I like it.
[00:25:54] I think they have to acknowledge that cameras are on you
[00:25:57] when you're in the field and there's differences
[00:25:59] between what happens at a dressing room
[00:26:01] and what happens outside at the same time.
[00:26:03] I wanted to scream at Kailor,
[00:26:05] I'm like, what were you doing?
[00:26:06] And Rahul came out at that as best as he could
[00:26:09] and said, listen, these guys were,
[00:26:10] even if we made 280 at the rate they were betting
[00:26:12] they were to chase it down.
[00:26:14] But man, you can't be 29 or 33 now
[00:26:16] like as an opener in an IPL with the kind of season.
[00:26:19] You just can't, just doesn't.
[00:26:21] But I'll tell you, strike rate is overrated.
[00:26:23] All right.
[00:26:24] On that happy note.
[00:26:25] Maybe that's why you're telling the franchise owner.
[00:26:28] On that happy note, we went to,
[00:26:30] if he was, he definitely doesn't have a job.
[00:26:32] We moved to Dharmshala
[00:26:34] and this was the Virat Kohli special.
[00:26:37] And there was other stuff that happened
[00:26:38] and Rajat Patti that I have to give him a shout out
[00:26:40] because he made back to back 50s this week
[00:26:42] and has looked like an absolutely different,
[00:26:44] different batter,
[00:26:46] but Kohli made 92 of 47.
[00:26:49] And then although,
[00:26:51] although RCB Bodewell,
[00:26:52] there was a point when Shashank Singh was betting there
[00:26:54] and already hit two sixes
[00:26:57] and Virat instituted, by the way,
[00:26:59] I was making you watch this video
[00:27:00] right before we hit the record button.
[00:27:02] I should have recorded your reaction.
[00:27:04] But that run out where he ran in,
[00:27:06] 35 year old ran in full speed from the boundary,
[00:27:09] picks up while falling over flings his arm,
[00:27:12] directed one just over one stump in view
[00:27:15] and Shashank Singh gets out.
[00:27:16] And that's a turning point in the game.
[00:27:17] I mean, RCB ended up getting about for 181
[00:27:21] and 17 overs, I mean, one by 60 run.
[00:27:24] What a match for him.
[00:27:25] It's the Kohli hitting the ground after that
[00:27:27] that gets me because that's,
[00:27:28] it shows you the passion in which he's doing it, man.
[00:27:32] That's a 35 year old that
[00:27:35] doesn't have anything else to prove.
[00:27:37] Doesn't need anything.
[00:27:38] Yeah, but he's still out there.
[00:27:40] He's still improving.
[00:27:41] When you tell him he can't bat against spin in the middle
[00:27:43] overs, he's like, I can bat against spin in the middle
[00:27:46] overs, I can pick my strike rate up.
[00:27:48] The thing with Kohli is that like,
[00:27:50] you tell him that you can't do something
[00:27:53] and he will go out of his way to prove you wrong.
[00:27:55] Let's talk about Jimmy Anderson who just retired right now.
[00:27:57] We send him a tweet congratulating on a good career
[00:28:00] but we're blocked by him.
[00:28:01] So that's a different story.
[00:28:03] When Jimmy Anderson had his number in 2014,
[00:28:06] averaging 130 or averaging 13.4 over 10 innings in 2014,
[00:28:14] the next season, the next time India toward England
[00:28:18] Kohli got 593 runs.
[00:28:20] Yeah.
[00:28:21] Right? Including 300s or 200s,
[00:28:24] averaging just a shade under 60
[00:28:28] and captain
[00:28:29] and you tell him you can't play Siemen England.
[00:28:32] He said, OK, I'll show you how to play Siemen England.
[00:28:34] I'll show you. Yeah.
[00:28:36] Yeah. Highest run scorer by a mile on both sides
[00:28:38] and just I mean brilliantly.
[00:28:40] Like it's kind of weirdly inspiring
[00:28:45] to watch him do it as well still
[00:28:47] because it makes like you think that yeah,
[00:28:50] I mean age is just a number.
[00:28:51] Like you can always get better.
[00:28:53] Yeah. We say as both of us have a bit of white in our beards now.
[00:28:56] A lot of white, not even a bit.
[00:28:58] I think it's a lot.
[00:28:59] Yeah, somehow, Kohli's attitude is both incredibly inspiring
[00:29:03] about proving his naysayers wrong.
[00:29:04] But now and also that of a four year old who says,
[00:29:06] you can't let me do that. I want to do that.
[00:29:08] Like that's exactly how he behaves.
[00:29:11] But phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.
[00:29:12] I mean, and by the way, what I said to you guys,
[00:29:15] we are big Kohli fans, it's fine.
[00:29:16] We acknowledge it.
[00:29:17] But I think getting out on 92 after he was 92 or 46
[00:29:20] gets out finishes innings on 92 or 47
[00:29:22] was probably the best thing for from a PR standpoint for him
[00:29:26] because typically he would have been 92 or 46,
[00:29:29] taken five, six balls to make the last eight runs
[00:29:32] and gotten to a slower century
[00:29:35] and then gotten credit criticism for slowing down in the 90s.
[00:29:38] He didn't this time.
[00:29:39] He went for the swing.
[00:29:40] I actually think 92 or 46 getting
[00:29:42] 47 being out going for a big shot was the best thing
[00:29:45] that could have happened for his for his image or PR.
[00:29:48] Yeah, though, to me, he didn't need it.
[00:29:50] Yeah. The one other thing I'll ask you, DJ,
[00:29:52] and I'm going off off topic.
[00:29:54] But as I look at the difference between Rohit and Kohli,
[00:29:57] probably the biggest difference is the singles and doubles.
[00:30:00] Right. And it comes back to fitness.
[00:30:03] But Rohit has always relied on stand and swing.
[00:30:06] And he's trying to do that again this year
[00:30:07] and not getting as much success.
[00:30:08] Kohli has had innings this season where he hasn't
[00:30:11] had quite as much success on stand
[00:30:13] and deliver go for the big shot.
[00:30:15] But he always gets that single.
[00:30:16] He always converts that one or two into three.
[00:30:19] And so the scoreboard is always ticking.
[00:30:20] He's always getting a break.
[00:30:22] If he was like Rohit is either four, six or dot,
[00:30:25] which I'm oversimplifying.
[00:30:27] Is that probably the biggest difference in your ability
[00:30:29] to unleash if you're not rotating the strike?
[00:30:31] I don't want to go back into the Rohit versus Kohli a bit.
[00:30:34] I think we should appreciate Kohli for what he is.
[00:30:36] But he plays a slightly different role from what Rohit does.
[00:30:38] Rohit Rohit is the he's the aggressor.
[00:30:42] Whereas Kohli is more the anchor.
[00:30:44] Right. Like Kohli will go hard in the first six,
[00:30:47] but then he will try and consolidate a bit more.
[00:30:50] Whereas Rohit, even in the like the 100 that he got,
[00:30:53] he just went throughout.
[00:30:54] Like it was not for lack of trying that he's not being able to score.
[00:30:58] It's just had it's not coming off.
[00:31:01] Just kind of convert just slightly different.
[00:31:04] They're playing slightly different roles from each other.
[00:31:06] Yeah. Yeah.
[00:31:07] Which is why it's almost better to think about Kohli as the opener
[00:31:10] and Rohit as the number four.
[00:31:12] If you think about it or number three.
[00:31:14] Yeah. Yeah. Very interesting.
[00:31:16] All right. We have lots more time to talk about team India.
[00:31:18] We wrap up the week on Friday.
[00:31:20] We already talked about Saturday Israel,
[00:31:22] Kertel came on Friday.
[00:31:23] Goodrath played CSK.
[00:31:24] CSK needed to win not necessarily a must win,
[00:31:27] but would have helped them have an easier run going into the
[00:31:31] into the playoffs and Goodrath came out and made 231 for three.
[00:31:37] I mean, Saisudarshan and so Shubman both made centuries.
[00:31:40] I can't remember the last time both batters made centuries.
[00:31:42] I think I'd read the stat and I haven't written down somewhere.
[00:31:45] But man, I mean, is Shubman Gill going through this?
[00:31:50] I don't have as much pressure because I wasn't selected.
[00:31:51] But also I kind of want to show you that you made a mistake
[00:31:53] by not selecting me face for the T20 World Cup.
[00:31:56] I mean, they're all proud, right?
[00:31:58] Like they would have all like to be selected.
[00:32:00] But I don't think he meditated it.
[00:32:01] I don't think you need a Shubman if you've got a call in the.
[00:32:02] No, yeah, I know.
[00:32:03] But if he wanted to and he's now he's now trying to send a message.
[00:32:06] Yeah. Yeah. As you should.
[00:32:08] Or at the very least saying, listen, I'm next in line the minute.
[00:32:12] The score can still change, right?
[00:32:14] Yeah, till the 24th.
[00:32:16] Phenomenal win for the good.
[00:32:18] I think, yeah, I mean, Saisa Darshan as well,
[00:32:21] the other guy that we talked about last week was him saying,
[00:32:23] is he going to walk in next?
[00:32:24] I mean, he's doing himself no harm.
[00:32:26] It's all this is the next generation that we're watching.
[00:32:29] We're watching Gill.
[00:32:30] We're watching Saisa Darshan, watching Rutheraaj.
[00:32:31] We're watching Parag.
[00:32:34] We're watching all of these guys come through the ranks.
[00:32:36] This is I mean my ideal team this time would have actually been
[00:32:40] captain by someone like Sky.
[00:32:42] You get one team, one guy, T20 batsman number one.
[00:32:46] And he just like surround him by crazy,
[00:32:50] like teenage sensation type.
[00:32:53] Yeah. Players who just anyway, that's a different story.
[00:32:57] Yeah, we talked about that.
[00:32:58] It's not that story.
[00:33:00] All right.
[00:33:00] And then we came to Super Sunday where you had the double header CSK
[00:33:04] player, I just signed like I mentioned kind of a slow game,
[00:33:07] slow pitch CSK we get 141.
[00:33:10] But I have to give a shout out to Simarjeet Singh, three for 26
[00:33:14] in his four overs basically changed the game and kept this alive
[00:33:17] like we talked about.
[00:33:18] I just thought still teetering with three losses in a row
[00:33:22] and CSK kept themselves alive.
[00:33:23] I think a loss would have made it.
[00:33:24] Doctor may have a jadeja obstructed in the field.
[00:33:28] Yeah. Did you get a chance to watch the clip?
[00:33:29] I saw that bit.
[00:33:30] Yeah, I saw that today.
[00:33:32] I mean there was some comment basically the summary for me
[00:33:35] is as he was running to try to get back to the other end,
[00:33:39] diverted his path and ended up the ball ended up hitting him.
[00:33:43] And there were some commentators saying, oh, this would be
[00:33:44] hotly debated.
[00:33:45] And I looked at that it said they would be zero zero.
[00:33:48] He's look back changed his track.
[00:33:52] He's also got smacked in the back in the process.
[00:33:55] And what I liked was Sanju went up straight away.
[00:33:59] Yeah, Sanju was like, what is this?
[00:34:01] His hand went up.
[00:34:01] He's like, what is this guy doing?
[00:34:03] And he's blocking the throw and he was absolutely right.
[00:34:06] I don't even think I haven't seen anything yet,
[00:34:08] but I don't think the agent is going to debate it.
[00:34:09] I don't think why would you?
[00:34:11] What is the debate?
[00:34:12] No, there's nothing to debate.
[00:34:14] I was disappointed though that they sent Rizvi out and not.
[00:34:17] Tala, I was going to ask you that Chennai man, it could be
[00:34:21] if they don't make it to the playoffs,
[00:34:24] then it is his last innings at Chennai.
[00:34:26] Enough belief that they will make it to the playoffs
[00:34:29] and they will. So there was a great poll.
[00:34:31] Did he watch the poll during the morning?
[00:34:33] Which was like, will Chennai qualify?
[00:34:37] One option was certainly the second was probably not.
[00:34:42] Clearly a take on definitely not.
[00:34:44] Definitely not.
[00:34:45] It's pretty funny.
[00:34:45] Definitely.
[00:34:47] But yeah, this time he sent the youngsters
[00:34:49] that clearly Dhoni seen some spark in this time.
[00:34:51] So youngsters do not lack spark anymore.
[00:34:55] You mean Ruthera had just seen some spark in now.
[00:34:57] Okay, let's go with that.
[00:34:59] No comment.
[00:35:00] Let's go with that.
[00:35:02] A depressing way to wrap up the week for us as Delhi fans,
[00:35:04] but RCB came out at the Chinna Swami, made 178, 187.
[00:35:09] Very, very full mark.
[00:35:10] Siraj's Pati Dhar, by the way.
[00:35:12] I mentioned the Koli-e-Shanth incident that happened.
[00:35:15] But then Pati Dhar walks in at 36 for two
[00:35:17] with both Koli and Faf gone
[00:35:19] and the match could have gone a couple of different ways.
[00:35:21] And he's in partnership with Will Jax, put up
[00:35:24] just eight like 90 odd runs, made a brilliant 50, 187.
[00:35:30] And just Delhi just didn't have the ability to chase it down.
[00:35:34] There was a couple of things that changed this game for me.
[00:35:36] I don't know if you saw it.
[00:35:37] Yeah, but that's the other thing.
[00:35:38] They've got like Will Jax in.
[00:35:41] They've worked out their combination.
[00:35:44] They've got some big wins where they've won without
[00:35:46] with losing a wicket in like 10, 14 overs.
[00:35:48] They won by 60 rounds.
[00:35:49] They won by 40 runs.
[00:35:51] That's why RCB, as I was saying,
[00:35:53] Delhi had big losses.
[00:35:55] We lost really big and it's going to come back to bite us.
[00:35:58] And it has come back to bite us.
[00:35:59] Yeah, RCB on their head, the hand were losing by smaller margins
[00:36:03] and they were winning by big margins.
[00:36:06] So I mean, all of this plays into the RCB
[00:36:08] mathematicians like hands right?
[00:36:12] Yeah. And so as you look at, look at this game finally.
[00:36:15] And again, I know you haven't fully caught up on it.
[00:36:18] You can look at the scorecard and say 187 runs scored.
[00:36:21] You can look at the bowling scorecard
[00:36:22] and say, yes, I'll pick up three.
[00:36:25] Locky took two.
[00:36:27] You can look at Delhi's bowling, all of those things.
[00:36:29] To me, this was the example of a match that got defined
[00:36:32] entirely by fielding.
[00:36:34] OK, 10 balls during a Kuldipover.
[00:36:38] Four drop catches.
[00:36:39] One was difficult.
[00:36:41] Three were makeable.
[00:36:42] Delhi dropped four catches.
[00:36:45] In 10 balls in the span of 10 balls.
[00:36:49] Yeah, I mean, this is real on the other RCB.
[00:36:51] But you know why I did it?
[00:36:52] It's like you've got Dada and Ricky both sitting in the camp
[00:36:56] and saying I'll do fielding practice.
[00:36:58] The other guy doesn't care about fielding.
[00:36:59] I thought you were going to say the combination of...
[00:37:02] I thought you would say, no,
[00:37:02] Rishabh got disallowed to play and four drop catches.
[00:37:05] Which you kind of wonder what's happening behind the scenes.
[00:37:08] Which I'm not saying.
[00:37:11] But four drop catches and then some
[00:37:14] some unfur... some bad luck, etc.
[00:37:16] But there was an absolutely magnificent catch.
[00:37:20] I'm trying to remember who it was.
[00:37:21] So no offense intended.
[00:37:24] I think it was...
[00:37:25] lucky.
[00:37:26] Anyway, running in two RCB fielders were running in.
[00:37:30] Almost collided, took the brilliant catch.
[00:37:32] One got out of the way at the last second and they held on.
[00:37:35] And then there was Jake Frazier-McGurk
[00:37:37] got run out, clipped the bales.
[00:37:39] Now he was backing up way too far.
[00:37:42] But clipped the bales, got hit the stump
[00:37:44] and then Tristan Stubbs, Akshar Patel defended a ball.
[00:37:49] Started to set off.
[00:37:50] Didn't.
[00:37:50] Tristan Stubbs was halfway down, turned around,
[00:37:52] started running back.
[00:37:53] Cam Green, the bowler grabs it, turns full speed,
[00:37:55] hits the stumps.
[00:37:56] Two run outs and a catch that made all the difference
[00:37:58] when this could have been very chasable.
[00:38:01] I will give a shout out to Akshar.
[00:38:02] 57 off 39, hit some nice sixes and some nice boundaries.
[00:38:06] And if he couldn't get his team to the playoffs
[00:38:08] in his first matches captain,
[00:38:10] he sure has screamed to the Indian selectors to say,
[00:38:14] I can make it as a seven, even as a six in the side.
[00:38:19] So very, very interesting.
[00:38:22] Right.
[00:38:22] DJ, we're a week away from the group stage of the IPL being done.
[00:38:26] I'm looking at the next Sunday at this time.
[00:38:28] By the time we record this,
[00:38:29] we will be into Rajasthan KKR is the final match,
[00:38:32] which will define the top two.
[00:38:34] So it's going to be extremely interesting.
[00:38:37] Thank you for powering through.
[00:38:38] I know we had to adjust the schedule this week
[00:38:39] because you played some cricket.
[00:38:41] Varun's out sick, but we made it happen.
[00:38:42] We're doing fantasy.
[00:38:43] Thank you all for listening.
[00:38:45] Oh yeah, we're going to do a fantasy update.
[00:38:46] I was trying to avoid that
[00:38:47] because I'm doing horrendously badly.
[00:38:49] Varun is ninth.
[00:38:50] Varun is currently ninth in our league.
[00:38:52] You are currently 19th.
[00:38:54] And then I'm going to not just,
[00:38:56] I'm going to not talk about my score.
[00:38:57] I've been 42nd.
[00:38:58] I've had an awful, awful, awful season.
[00:39:00] I did miss one game, I will say,
[00:39:02] because I thought the app allowed you to select your side
[00:39:06] after the toss is delayed.
[00:39:07] And by the time I went there for the Mumbai KKR game,
[00:39:10] it said teams are locked.
[00:39:11] So I missed that game,
[00:39:12] but I'm like three, 4,000 points behind one game
[00:39:15] didn't make a difference to be clear.
[00:39:17] But our top three teams are Uncle Sam
[00:39:19] who stayed near the top for quite a while.
[00:39:20] Ons108 and Bishnoyboy, great team name.
[00:39:24] Is Ons like an Ons Javard fan?
[00:39:27] I don't know, but the team manager's name is Vijay Manoharan.
[00:39:30] So if Vijay right into us, let us know
[00:39:31] if it's an Ons Javard reference or something else.
[00:39:35] But yeah, DJ, thank you for joining me.
[00:39:37] This has been fun.
[00:39:38] Another good week, a little bit more drama filled
[00:39:40] than the last couple where there was a little more quiet.
[00:39:43] We'll be back next week to talk about
[00:39:44] a preview of the playoffs,
[00:39:46] the qualifiers and the eliminator.
[00:39:48] Suddenly then the void hits in your life,
[00:39:50] the Monday, May 20th.
[00:39:51] And for the first time in seven weeks,
[00:39:53] there's no IPL cricket.
[00:39:54] We are all mentally preparing ourselves to deal with it.
[00:39:57] But before we know it,
[00:39:58] the T20 World Cup will be upon us.
[00:40:01] This has been the Edges and Sledges cricket podcast.
[00:40:03] Thank you very much for joining us.
[00:40:04] We will see you next week.