IPL 2025: Week 1 Review

[00:00:08] 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. Varun, week one and a little bit, so two weekends essentially of the IPL are behind us already. That's big man, how are you feeling? What's the early reaction been? We're going to talk through top of the table, bottom of the table, all the successes, what's working, what's not, but how are you feeling? This is your favorite time of the year, right?

[00:00:35] Yeah, it is. I'm feeling great and to top it off, I was actually in Sri Lanka for a family holiday and the timings are just so beautiful man. It opened my eyes, a match starts at like 7.30, done by 11, 11.15. You can watch the whole thing, get a full night's sleep. So yeah, I've come back feeling rested and rejuvenated and having watched most of the games which I didn't expect to. Yeah, with your time zone, being in Singapore,

[00:01:05] means you're watching games till basically like one, two in the morning sometimes. So last night I was up there, so we're recording on a Monday morning. So last night I was up till the time that MS Tony got out, which was pretty late in the game as we expect. And I can see I should smile because I've preempted that and DJ's not on today, but it took us what, 60 seconds to mention MS. 65 seconds. That's a, that's pretty high up for you and DJ's not even here. So, but

[00:01:30] MS has been a pretty big part of the news, right? So we're going to talk about it. We're not going to go through because I think there's already been, how many matches are already done? 12-ish? 11? 10? 11, right? Which is just the pace at which this IPL moves. By the way, we are two and a half, three weeks now from you and I getting to watch a couple of games in person together. So that'll be a fun episode to record. But yeah, it's been a, it's been both consistent with previous years and

[00:01:57] not, right? I'm sitting here looking 10 matches, 11 matches in. And the two teams to have never lifted this trophy are one and two. That's RCB and the Delhi Capitals. And five-time champions, Mumbai, are at the bottom. But Mumbai always starts slow. And RCB and Delhi kind of often, not last year for RCB, but kind of often give you false hope. Is that a big picture, good way of summarizing? It's way too soon to make any conclusions from this, right?

[00:02:26] Yeah, it is. It's too soon. But look, I've taken the screenshot of RCB and Delhi as one and two, because those are the teams that I'm supporting. So I've taken that screenshot. Life feels good for the moment. But to be honest, they've played good cricket, right? So it's the other teams seem to be warming up and getting into the groove. And this is just what happens, right? Like I've seen this, that when you come back after a mega auction every third year, it takes teams some time. You had the

[00:02:56] champions trophy going on. You know, you've got people who, you know, the 11s are not even settled yet, right? Like just again, referencing last night's game, Chennai made two changes in their third game. That does not happen with Chennai. Chennai sticks to the same team. So you can very clearly tell that teams are still finding their kind of form and rhythm. And honestly, it's great that teams like

[00:03:20] Delhi and RCB have just taken the two wins because we know what's coming in store for these two teams. I mean, listen, every year, it's the 18th season. Every year, they feel, you've got to give yourself hope. This is a different Delhi. It truly is the first time it looks different. RCB, yes. Look, that started really strong, but RCB, I feel like I'm visualizing will fall apart in some way. Just touching on that, I know, you know, just, I just want to talk about RCB, right? Because

[00:03:49] I think I put them in the knockout. No, knockout. You want to talk about your IPL goat? One of your, one of the guys who made your list of the greatest of all time IPL players, which DJ gives you a really hard time for. Who did you call it? I'm talking about Kronel Patti. Did I actually say that? Yeah. Do you remember, we have to go back and find the episode where DJ gave you such a hard job. I just remember saying Boombra is a test goat. Like that, that's all I remember.

[00:04:17] I mean, I feel like you that I put Boombra and Kronel in the same sentence. No comment. They did used to both together in Mumbai. No, but I was just saying, just on RCB, since they're the tabletoppers, maybe we can have a new format that we started the show talking about the tabletoppers, right? Like, Basically, it will depend where Delhi ends. If Delhi is at the bottom, then we'll go bottom to top. But anyway. But what I was saying is, I think they've got salt at the top. We've spoken about Patidar.

[00:04:47] And then I think they've called, by the way. Yeah. Rappa has found his own as a skipper. I mean, just man of the match in one of the games. Sorry, I know you're going through, but man of the match in one of the games, 34 of 16 in the other. Great captaincy, by the way. I don't know how much behind the scenes Kohli is helping him, Bhovi is helping him, but either way, he gets the credit. Just been great. But anyway, keep going. Yeah. So I feel like you've got Phil solved. You've got Rajat Patidar and then you've got Tim David, right?

[00:05:16] So to me, in your top seven, these three are key. Now keep in mind, I'm not even mentioning Koldian Livingston, right? So what I'm saying is these three guys at those alternate batting positions are key for me. And then the fact that you've got a Bhovi and a Hazelwood, right? To me, that combination works well. The gap is the swing-up. Okay. So what I find amazing is that they have won at Eden and Jepok, right? That is truly, truly surprising to me.

[00:05:44] But they're doing this without a high-quality Indian or overseas spinner, as we know it, as other teams may have. I mean, their high-quality spinner got player of the match in the first game. I mean, that's a good segue into Kolderford. Yeah. Yeah. Kolder, but he's a team who's a bouncer, apparently. I mean, listen, I had him in my fantasy team. I'm doing awful at fantasy, but sometimes these

[00:06:10] types of picks, like picking Kronel in the first game of the season payoff, but you're right, right? On the one hand, Livingston, Suyash has been expensive. Kronel picked up 3-4. I don't think he did much in the second game. For them, he was not for 26. And at the same time, they've won at Jepok and Eden. Like, you take that any day of the week with weak spinners. But yeah, Varun, I made this joke with you, by the way, that Delhi versus CSK would be an amazing test match. I think I've made this joke

[00:06:39] before, right? Delhi, KL, Akshar, Faf, Stark, Kuldeep, Mohit and Mukesh, CSK, Ratchin, Conway, Jadeja, of course, Dhoni, Ash and Noor. You could argue that with RCB on paper. And when you said Hazelwood and Bhovey, I was like, man, that's an amazing test. Like a consistent, hit the top of off stump repeatedly type of bowling lineup, right?

[00:07:04] Yeah, it does. And listen, we're going to talk about Stark as well, the name that you've missed. I think you mentioned under Delhi, but this is where experience comes, right? So you need that balance. You need the Hazelwood, Bhoveys and Starks, and then you need the young ones also. So it's, yeah, it's just that combination. I'll tell you in RCB what my worry is. I think I saw a stat that said they win 50% of the games at home, right? And that's probably one

[00:07:32] of the weakest. So the minute you start getting to a Bangalore or a Bombay, you are going to see that it becomes very even, right? And I think that is where they've historically lost out. So it's great that they've got these wins. They just need to find a way to win at home. And I see them going through. Yeah, I remember they did win six out of seven last year after being in a losing position. So it's very, very, very possible. Like their quality side and they've strengthened since the auction, arguably.

[00:08:03] Let's jump to the bottom really quick. I want to jump around a little, right? Mumbai Indians so far, I think Brohit has scored, he scored a duck in the first game and eight in the second. Two pretty substantial losses, one against CSK, one against Gujarat. How are you starting to feel? Or is this one where you're saying in the opposite to RCB, you're like, I'm not worried. They're so quality. Like I had them in my top four. You look at them on paper and it's amazing. And it's just, just not clicking. Or how are you feeling about Mumbai two games?

[00:08:31] Okay. So I'm not feeling that great, man, to be honest. Firstly, Bumrah is missing. Secondly, maybe. Do we have an update by the way? Do you know when he's back? No, I don't, unfortunately. Okay. So, so Bumrah is missing. Rohit is in a terrible form. Like, you know, yes, Rohit will hit that 160 sometime in the next five to seven games, but around that it's almost like a sitting

[00:08:56] wicket, right? So I think that's, that's an issue. I also think the overseas batsmen are a big issue. Like they've got Will Jackson, I think Ryan Rickleton. Rickleton both. Yeah. And both are raw, both are new. You don't have like, you know, the cock type players of the past who have just stood up and been there. And so what this comes down to is the sky and the Tilekwarma show, right? That's basically what Mumbai Indians is coming down to.

[00:09:26] Yeah, because three of your top six, as you said, are Rickleton, Jackson, and Robin Mintz, who's again, great, great on paper and, but very raw, right? Like the young, three of the top six of Mumbai used to basically be team India. Yeah. And so you've lost that Paul R. David type character. You've lost the Quinton DeCock type character. So I just, I feel there's just too many

[00:09:49] gaps in this team. Now, yes, they are strong, but I, Chahir Satyanarayan Raju bowl Santner is not a, I feel win in bowling lineup. They're not bad. Namandhi, Robin Mintz, as you call Will Jackson, Rickleton and Rohit. So it's basically down to sky and Tilek is my opinion and Pandya showing up. Like Pandya shows up, they win. Pandya doesn't show up. It's very hard.

[00:10:15] Yeah. And Pandya picked up two wickets against Gujarat. Like he looked pretty good. So he can't show up. I mean, listen, we could be sitting here. This is just the kind of team that we could be sitting here next week saying they had an unbelievable week. Sky, who by the way, got hit pretty bad in the head. I don't know if you ought to watch that. Got hit in the face. I think it was a Prasid bouncer. And this is the first time Sky went for the like true scoop. And I think the ball bounced more than he expected and hit him flush on the grill. And he fell flat to the floor and didn't move for a couple

[00:10:44] while. He's fine. He got up. He actually continued batting and all that. But man, that tells you a little, not to say he's not like he's a human, but it tells you a little about kind of the mindset and the state they're in. So Mumbai leaves a little bit to be desired. I will say Rohit's form continues to be a concern, but again, he's done this many times now. He kind of knows what he's doing. So I won't harp on them too much. Let's jump a little bit up because the first,

[00:11:12] was it the first, the second game of this season was Sunrises-Hyderabad versus Roger Sunroyles. Sunrises are all the ones we said, oh, Travis Head, Abhishek, Kishan, Red, they're going to look good. I don't think I thought second highest score of all time good in the second game of the season, 286. And yes, it was a belter. The Aydirabad is going to be an incredibly high scoring venue,

[00:11:38] it seems pretty clear. But man, 286. Ishan Kishan just seems freed of the burden of playing for Mumbai, of getting a new, getting into a new franchise. I mean, his first time out with a new franchise and he makes an effortless looking century. How incredible was that? Yeah. I mean, so firstly, they started off as almost like there was no gap between last year and this year, right? Yeah. When you sat down to watch that game, Travis Head just took it apart. So it almost felt like

[00:12:07] you were just watching a continuation. But when Kishan came out, it was very, very refreshing because here you have a typical opener who's batting at three, coming in probably towards the tail end of the power play and still able to find the gaps. Now, I think the problem with Kishan though, if I'm not mistaken, is the next two games he's made ducks or close to ducks, right? Let me try to find the scorecards really quick. No, he hasn't been that good. Yeah.

[00:12:33] Yeah. He just, he just hasn't. So I think to me, that is a, it speaks of a consistency issue that we've been used to. I think motivation level was very, very high playing for a first ball duck and then two of five against Dirk. So yeah, but basically not. So basically he's hit like now 110 runs of three matches or 108 runs of three matches as opposed to

[00:12:58] a hundred in the first. And so I'm not taking away anything from that. I feel the motivation level is very high. It's a new franchise. Reality is this guy was at a low, right? He didn't get picked by the Mumbai Indians and he doesn't have a BCCI contract. And apparently he spent a lot of time training working, working on his mental strength. So I was happy for him the way he came out, but listen, he's got a unique opportunity in this power pack lineup. He gets to bad at number three. And if he

[00:13:27] doesn't take advantage of that, it's going to be, it's going to be really hard. Yeah. I mean, I mean, well, well said. I think Hyderabad, you know, you could sit here saying one win from their first three games. So two losses on the trot, a little bit to be concerned about. Pat Cummins sort of said in his post-match conference today, actually against Delhi, he was like, listen, both, you know, we dropped a couple of catches, a couple of things didn't go our way. I don't think

[00:13:53] he's concerned. I do, I do still think this is an unbelievably explosive banning lineup, but I, yeah, I think if you have your day, like they did against Delhi, which we'll come back to, you know, and you start to see the gaps because you're so over-reliant on that top three. But tell me, tell me something, if you think about it, right? Is there a problem of going too hard? Is this, is this something like going too hard at D20 cricket? Because if you think about their last

[00:14:18] five games, there were two playoff games and the first three, they've had success in one out of the five. Okay. With this approach. And I granted a lot sits on, you know, Travis Shake's shoulders, but I just feel like there's something known as going too hard. And maybe you give your top two that freedom, but after that, you've got to play sensible cricket. And again, I'm saying that in, with the best intentions, like yesterday they played against Delhi and very honestly, like

[00:14:48] Anike Dwarma and Klasan actually pulled things back. They pulled things back to the point that you and I got scared. 37 for four within the power play. Yeah. So yeah. And then out, you know, at number five, at this point, Anike Dwarma comes out now, he's, you know, he's got a good reputation and stuff, but still, yeah, it feels a different ball game and just goes nuts. But so, so fair, but you could argue Anike was told do the same thing. He comes out after wickets have fallen and just goes

[00:15:14] berserk. Yeah. So if he had nudged and nurdled for a little bit, would that have been better? I don't, I don't know. I think, man, I think it's a hard one because we say the same with basketball. When it goes bad, it looks so stupid. Yeah. But when it's working, it's just, it's on. So it's, it's hard as kind of a word type cricket. And I don't see sunrisers changing that anytime. Yeah. The, the other thing, the other problem I feel is that their bowlers just don't seem to be informed,

[00:15:42] right? Harshil Patel, Shami, Pat Cummins feels like a great, but they're just not informed. So just all I'm thinking is you've got to balance the two a little bit. You can hit 286, but even in that Rajasthan game, like I was like, Rajasthan's going to be 150 rounds and stuff. Rajasthan's still got 242. Yeah. Which can be that both sides need to bear on the pitch before you can ever take a decision. So there's something not clicking. This is unfortunate because all of us put SRH as number one on the table.

[00:16:11] And that's the beauty of the IPL because RCB is number one on the table. Yeah. I mean, I'm still not writing them off, but, but I think to your point, I risk, I reward ish cricket. All right, let's take a very quick break. We're going to come talk, come back and talk about some batting heroics because there's been quite a few in this IPL. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with our IPL week one review on the edges and sledges

[00:16:33] cricket podcast. Welcome back to the edges and sledges cricket podcast. Hey, if you're on YouTube, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button, leave us a comment. Tell us how you felt about the first week of the IPL. Tell us we're wrong. All of our analysis is, is going to be wrong at some point. We'd love to talk about it. That's just how it goes. But Barron, let's talk about,

[00:17:01] let's talk about the Delhi capitals. Okay. So we talked about the Heidsbud game, right? Good win today or today for me, yesterday for you, whenever it was, but clinical and actually set up by the bowlers, right? Getting 37 for four, Stark got a five for Kuldeep, got three. Excellent, excellent set up by the bowlers. And then good times to see Faf show up. Faf just clinical as always. Awful fielding at times. But then Jake freaking jumps like what felt like eight feet high

[00:17:27] in the air, plucks it out and still falls forward magically. I mean, you had these great catches, but also, um, uh, Aniket made 74, I think, and was dropped on six of an absolute dolly by Bora. But let's talk about that first game, just very quickly for Delhi. So you meant, you specifically talked about, uh, Ashdor Sharma and Shashank Singh last year and the role they played. I'm not going to go through all the whole game, but Lucknow comes out, makes 209.

[00:17:55] And Puran and Mitch Marsh look just deadly, just absolutely deadly. And Delhi goes two for one in the first over. Oh wait, two for two in the first over to Shardul Thak. Who, by the way, has had an excellent season. I never thought I'd be sick. Rizvi walks in at four, gets out seven for three, 50 for four, 65 for five. And then 66 off of 31 with one wicket to spare on the other side. Ashdor Sharma just batted. I mean,

[00:18:25] at the end when he hit that winning, that winning run, I mean, he ended up, I ended up with three balls to spare. It looked like it could go down to the last second, but he just spreads his arm out wide and just stands there. What is this guy made of? I mean, what a, this match was, I don't know what the winning wins was, but it was probably 99% Lucknow at one point in time. I think it was 1.6% win probability for Delhi.

[00:18:49] And I should mention, Kale Rahul, not playing, but playing with, not playing in this 11, but in the Delhi side. Rishabh Pant, captaining the Lucknow Supergiant. Okay. Yeah. Your reaction to that game? No. So, so I, that game was done and dusted. I mean, I remember we're on the way from the airport back to the hotel. I opened it up and we had, you know, lost this four wickets, as you said, and I closed it. I said, listen, the data isn't good. How am I going to watch this? Just forget it. Delhi started as Delhi.

[00:19:19] Um, 1.6% probability. Reach the hotel and just put it on and saw Astur Sharma 20 of 20. Yeah, that's true. And I was just like, yeah. All right. I don't know why I'm watching this. Why am I doing this to myself? Getting messages from all over the world saying, oh, it looks like nothing has changed and this and the torch. And then you remember that this guy is a finisher,

[00:19:45] right? He and Shashank Singh for Punjab last year turned it around and how like, I feel like Shashank Singh, not saying it's in a negative way, got a lot of the credit. Yeah. But I personally really liked watching this guy as well. Right. So he then comes out and his next 46 runs comes in 11 deliveries. It's like he was possessed. Every ball was going for a boundary.

[00:20:12] You could see Kevin Peterson in the stands, uh, just kind of saying he will do it. Just trust me, he will. If he stays, he'll do it. But Delhi being Delhi, there's always drama. I mean, they got to the last wicked. Yeah. Mohit Sharma is the last batsman out there. And not somebody you want on the non-striker. He's single. He misses the ball. Pant misses the keeping. Pant quickly takes a review to show that

[00:20:39] it was an LB, not my stumping mess. It's saved. And then Mohit Sharma hits the most beautiful forward defense of his life, takes a single and Ashutosh Sharma finishes off in one ball. Not even, I've got four balls to spare. Let me think. One ball comes down the track, does a reverse sweep action points to Kevin Peterson. The loop of the video plays that Kevin Peterson won a game like

[00:21:05] this with a straight six, six of two balls or something like six runs of the last over. And life really comes full circle and everyone in Delhi is just like celebrating. Now, now, when I say everyone in Delhi, just recall, I've been Hemang Badani, Vengopal Rao, Munaf Patel. Like, you guys are like, what happened? What just happened? Yeah. It was crazy. But it was just crazy. I just don't know how to describe it. That is, that is absolutely brilliant.

[00:21:33] Absolutely brilliant. I mean, spare a thought by the way, I should say for Vipraj Nigam who made 39 or 15. Because he will be forgotten in this. He will be the driver to Ashutosh's Lakshman, right? Like he just, it will not be remembered in all the conversation about this game, but it was critical. I mean, he bettered at 260, right? While Ashutosh was going in 20 of 20. He changed it. The Sonar Nigam's brother really changed the trajectory of this game.

[00:22:02] Every time I start telling you that my phone capitalizes the Vip. So I have to start calling him Vipraj. But he was a Vip in that game. He played like a Vip. I mean, just tremendous. I mean, this is the stuff you, this was actually probably, I'm probably speaking a little, I'm probably the first really good game of the IPL in terms of closeness. And it set it up because we've since then had a few blast over finishes. So let's talk about it. You brought him up after 65 seconds.

[00:22:30] But I have to talk about the CSK team who won their first game against Mumbai, but are now two losses in the next two. Let's start with this game against RCP, right? Like all the hype, Virat versus MS, this, that. Fine. Rappa makes a great half century. RCP makes 196. CSK, 26 for three. And Sam Curran walks out. Okay. 52 for four. Shivam Dubey, that's his position.

[00:23:00] He's a finisher. He plays his impact player. Great. Ratton gets out 75 for five. Jadeja walks in. Okay. Yeah. Fair. That's his position. Dubey gets out next. So it's 12.5 overs. So it's early still, arguably, but 84.6 and Ash walks out. And then at 99 for seven, 15.2 at number nine, only for the second time in his career, walks out MS Tony. First off, the crowd is going ballistic still. But you and I have exchanged a lot of this because

[00:23:29] I know your point of view, it's fine. He doesn't have the knees to run anymore. This is the role he plays. I have not stopped. We'll come back to the unbelievable dismissals he has created out of nothing from behind the stumps. Just tremendous. But let's start quickly with the batting. This is now this, and then the same thing happened in the next game. He came out. It was too late. He ended up getting caught on a boundary. So it's now two chases that Tony's walked in late and CSK

[00:23:56] fallen short. Thoughts, man. Okay. So I have a huge challenge right with this because, and I know we'll probably go there and fight it on the podcast, but my point here is that like, this is a Tony you remember, right? And you're, a lot of us are trying to kind of put him in that old bucket, right? And I can see you're ready to pounce on you already. So just

[00:24:22] hear me out. The point is, he is the best wicketkeeper in the game today. Maybe in the history of Tony I've ever played. I mean, those two dismissals. Like he doesn't even wait for the ball to come back. He just collects it and takes the serve. One of them was like 0.16 or something seconds. I think Sky was in shock. Like he, he just, he didn't even choose gum for the second day. Yeah. So, so, so, so that's when it's it. Now the second thing, he can.

[00:24:50] And the third, by the way, today where Nitish Rana was smashing it on the white ball. Yeah. Like just seeing him and Ash do the wide and stuff. Yeah. So the point here is that, like apart from the fact that I think it's a privilege to watch him still. Okay. Let's keep that aside. I'm trying very hard to keep that aside. It's hard, but let's keep that aside. He can smoke the ball. Okay. But the argument here is that, is there a better batter?

[00:25:18] Betty, Betty, Betty, Betty bought a better batter. I've lost my complete turn of thought. Is there a better batter? Because your argument is that he should be the impact star when we taken off. Yeah. My view is, even if he bats at 11, what's the problem? Like, are we not, are we, are we stopping a better batsman from getting into the 11 and playing? Or are we just

[00:25:46] like, you coward, you, you, you, you think you can do it, but you won't even try. Like, it's just funny. Like, do you get what I'm trying to say? I do. Yeah. He could bat at 11 and still have an impact in some form. But, but I also hear the flip side. You got to go for the win. And so he did come out at five down in the, in the latest game and tried, but man, like when running, when he was running with Jaddu, like you could tell that he was breathless. You could tell that

[00:26:16] in between balls, he was creating a reason to say Jads and then go over and talk to him. And you could see him just getting his breath back. So yeah, he should have retired probably. Okay. But I'm just, I come from a different, I just find it a privilege. I think that's not the right argument. It's a fair point and a good, good discussion. And yours and my tone will be different than it is over WhatsApp, right? But on this podcast, but I think it's probably just something we've never

[00:26:43] seen before where somebody is still at the apex of their game in one form, which is wicketkeeping, and just doesn't have the fitness to do, to bat eight, 10 overs. It's just not something we're used to. Like you, you don't have the legendary all-rounders still be amazing batterers. Like it, you know, your body starts to go away from you as it starts to go away from you, period. So it's just unusual. I think it's just made worse by the fact that he did come out

[00:27:09] against RCB and make 30 of 60. He hit two sixes and three fours, which is more equal sixes and equal number of fours than all three guys who came before him. Dupej, why not come out at seven and get out like he did today against... Yeah.

[00:27:35] Who did they play today? Yeah. Why not come out at seven and just hit a shot to the boundary and get out caught and say, cool. Yeah. And for the record, I actually agree with you here. Yeah. I actually agree that he should come out earlier. And by the way... It's just the eight. Yeah. No, I agree. The eight is unjustified, right? I think the numbers are the part that's also frustrating, which is the last thing I'll say. Since 2023, I found this stat on

[00:27:56] Crickenfall that he has hit now 13 fours and 13 sixes in chases in a losing cause. And has it zero fours and zero sixes in chases in a winning cause in the last two and a half years? Like that is just, that is really saying something. So it feels like he ends up coming in too late. Anyway, this is not a discussion we'll win. We might hear the worst of it in the comments, but I think it's an interesting challenge for CSK. To your point, maybe they don't have anybody better. So what are they

[00:28:25] going to do with that impact? So who are they going to bring in instead? Right. Varun, a couple other things to talk. We've sort of ignored Punjab only because they've only played the one game. So you're sitting here saying, okay, but they've played one and they've won one against a Gujarat side that looked in good touch. Shreyas Ayer, new skipper of Punjab, often felt like didn't get his due

[00:28:49] at KKR for lifting the freaking IPL trophy as the skipper. And then Godlet, you talked about this. You almost never have an IPL trophy winning team or a franchise trophy winning team and then coach and captain are both gone. Shreyas comes in, like you said about Traveshier, picks up where he left off, 97 of 42. By the way, batting at the end with Shashank Singh, who was also going gangbusters again.

[00:29:15] We've talked about him already. But hitting 44 of 16 and very clearly, there's a moment which you can see and Shashank has said in the media, Shreyas as a skipper walks over says, Shashank, just go after it. Like, you don't need to save balls for me. Don't try to get my century. Don't worry about my century, et cetera. All that matters is the team and the runs. So Shreyas ends

[00:29:40] the match, 97 not out. And Shashank gets 44 not out. I mean, thoughts on that overall innings and the leadership and the presence should not tell the guy, don't worry about taking a single. All I want is boundaries for the team. Yeah. I first credit to Shreyas, man. Again, he came out and just smoked it like clean. I love these guys who just hit a six as they would play a shot in a test match. It's just great. And yeah,

[00:30:10] dude, you got to do what is right by the team because Punjab has a history of losing. You have to get over that. You know, even though you were not part of that history, you have to break some of these shackles. So when you've kept a Shashank Singh, you've actually prioritized him over Shreyas, I am retaining somebody like him, right? You have to give him the freedom. Like we talked about Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh. You have to say, go for it. And ultimately that decision actually, I think,

[00:30:39] won them the match, right? Because Shreyas inevitably would have had something else on his mind and how do I get my century and things like that. So it's, I just think it was, it was great, right? Like Shreyas has taken a team to the IPL final, won an IPL final and has won five trophies in the last year as we spoke about. So there is something about this guy. I mean, it's more than

[00:31:01] that Sehri Babu dance that just can't get off my Instagram reels. Just can't. But there's something about this guy and I think, I think we should watch him. Having said that, I think this whole, like, Maxwell and Stoinis is just, it's too old, man. It's too old. Like, Maxwell out for zero on the first ball. Yeah. Stoinis will hit three out of the 14 games. It's, they better get the act together

[00:31:29] quickly because they've got the makings to do something big. But like, you know, I would, I would almost say be bold and like open with Stoinis. Give props and run in Stoinis though. Yeah. Do something different because your opening is, is not looking threatening. I'm not saying they're not good. It doesn't, doesn't look threatening enough to an opposition. And then you've got Maxi and Stoinis together. So my view is, but you have needs to sort out these couple of things and we spoke about it there. They feel like players coming together rather than a team.

[00:32:00] Which is what they have Shreyas for. And for one example, looks like he's doing his job. I mean, I'm with you. I don't think, I don't think that Maxi's starting his show last. And remember they have Lockie Ferguson in the squad who may take an overseas spot. They have Josh Inglis, who's been playing unbelievable in multiple formats. So I'm with you. I don't think the Maxi's starting his show lasts forever. But yeah, Baran, I think we talked about a lot of things. We're running out of time. Shardul picked up a four for an addition to his two. So that's been exciting.

[00:32:29] Quinton de Kock started a little bit slow and then comes out and hits an unbelievable. Also, by the way, same score, 97, not out. Just unbelievable. So yeah, lots of exciting stuff. As we go kind of next week, where do you expect we'll be sitting here a week from now? Do you think the point stable is going to move a lot? Do you think Mumbai is going to start surging? Who has kind of looked good to you, but just gotten unlucky versus, I don't know what you said,

[00:32:57] Delhi and RCB have not looked that good and gotten lucky. What do you see happening the next week as we wrap up? I think Delhi got very lucky. So I think somebody like Delhi needs to shape up and strengthen this kind of batting order. Like Akshar hasn't come to the table, right? Jake Frazier McGuck hasn't come to the table. So there are people... Jake has looked awful, by the way. So hopefully Kp is doing... Yeah, but without Harry Brooke, like you said, there's no other option. So hopefully Peterson is doing what he was doing with Ash Stoosh and just working. Tristan Stubbs has said

[00:33:26] Kp's been important. So anyway, yeah. Yeah. So anyway, without getting into too many of the teams, I want to see KKR because I think they've got a good lineup, but I don't think they're great. So I want to see them and their batting progress a little bit. I actually think Lucknow has a very, very solid team. So I think you're going to see a little bit of those tables turning there. Like when you think about it, you think about Mitch Marsh, Puran, Pant, David Miller and Abdul Samad,

[00:33:53] that is your batting lineup. Followed by Ayush Badoni, who is solid. So we can't run through all the teams, but I'm just saying I'm interested to see DC shape up. I want to see how KKR comes into the park with their batting. And I also want to see how LSG does because I think they've got a very, very strong batting lineup. Yeah. You know, just as we wrap, the thing that hurts a little as a fan is that LSG didn't

[00:34:19] lose to Delhi because of Ashutosh's unbelievable heroics. Yes, that mattered. Big Praj, yes, that mattered. All of it. LSG lost because of Rishabh Panski, I would say. And that hurts as a fan of the guy, but you cannot have Shardul both two overs, two for 19. In a match where both teams scored over 200, right? Two overs, two wickets for 19. And leave, that's it. That's

[00:34:45] all he bought, by the way, against Delhi. Rishabh left two overs of Shardul Thakurh unused. By the way, Shardul has since picked up four. I mean, there were just moments in that game, multiple moments with bowling changes, field positions where I felt like Rishabh is showing some weakness. So while I disagreed with the decision to let him go, it started to, you know, once you take the blinders of the fandom off, it started to show me why Delhi let him go a little bit and just kept in seedlings a little to be desired.

[00:35:15] Yeah, it's, listen, he's not the wide ball player we thought he was. Yeah. You've said this for five years. I've been saying this for a long time. I'm starting to think this about Jaswal as well. Is he truly that all-format player we're talking about? Because it's been two IPLs in a row where he's just not done anything. So let's add Jaswal to that by list of, so that's the fourth thing I would look forward to is Jaswal, LSG, Delhi and KKR. You think Jaswal comes good or you want to see how he...

[00:35:41] He has to come good. He has to come good. He has the qualities. It's just, I don't know. I think when you go out to chase 200 plus, he's just not mature enough to understand how to go about it. But Jaswal has to come good. He does. Varun, thank you for joining me. I know it's a day off on a long weekend. It is the best time of the year. Cricket every night. Join us. Play fantasy cricket. I'm not doing an update yet because it's so early in the season, but in the YouTube comments

[00:36:08] and the show notes, you'll find the link to join us and play. Play against us. I have not started well, but I never do. So now I'm starting to make some wild picks and it's probably hurting me even more. But that's how the season goes. Varun, thanks for joining. We'll be back next week to see where the points table is. And we'll be back doing this. We get to do this for each one of the next seven or eight weeks. It's going to be great. Thank you everybody for listening. This is the Edges and Sledges Cricket Podcast signing off.