New BCCI Rules cause a stir as Champions Trophy squad is announced

[00:00:08] Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Edges & Sledges Cricket Podcast. I'm your host Ashwin. We have a full house today for the first time in a little while. Varun's joining us in Singapore, DJ's in London. DJ, let me start by checking in. How are you doing? It's been a couple of weeks since we had you on the show. How are things going, man? Yeah, sorry, I'm just going to step it first. So two quick things. Firstly, it's Ashwin's birthday today. So happy birthday, Ashwin. And DJ reminded us in the morning that it was the day of Gyaabaka Gamand.

[00:00:39] No, DJ will never forget my birthday for that reason. Yeah, exactly. By the way, it's Gyaabaka Gamand. He's just like, I know, bro. It's Gyaabaka Gamand. Of course. And then secondly, bigger news, DJ, congratulations. You've had a baby girl and you know, I know from personal experience, nothing could be better than that. So congratulations to you and your wife and your families and how are you feeling? How are you doing?

[00:01:05] You are looking like a little bit sleep-deprived, but how are you doing? Yeah, guys, thank you very much. Firstly, Ashwin, happy birthday. Yeah, it's been life-changing, I'd say. Putting it mildly, it's been three and a half weeks. Now, she's great. I mean, she arrived on Christmas Eve. So her first day back home was the start of the Boxing Day test.

[00:01:28] So she was there watching Sammy Constance being shoulder barred by Virat and ramping Boomba and stuff. So she's lived through a lot in her little life already. But yeah, it's been great, man. And of course, you guys have been keeping the show going. So as they say, the show must go on. And now we're going to talk about ODIs and T20s. Yeah, nothing like that.

[00:01:52] I swear DJ sent me a picture of her today and her finger, like her right hand was doing this, you know, like the follow-through after the ball was bolted. So well done. She just needs the hyper extension of the elbow. Like just breathe. I would like, Varun, you and I can take some credit for that, right? While most of your friends and family were sending you books with ABCs and all kinds of basic pictures and things you showed two weeks old.

[00:02:18] Can we tell our listeners that Varun and I found a children's, a baby's book about cricket? And we sent that to your little girl. So hopefully you've been reading that to her. Yeah, black and white cricket book. I mean, unbelievable, right? Amazing. Thank you guys. It felt, it felt appropriate. Well, welcome back. We're happy to have you. And what better time. Sorry, can I just, can I just tell you one more thing? Because I don't know. So obviously, I don't know.

[00:02:44] My daughter's got a surname from my wife as well, right? My wife's surname is Kohli. So the number of questions I've got, whether I've named my daughter after Virat Kohli, is actually unbelievable. That would have been great. That would have been great. Part of her surname is Kohli. So she's Kohli Chuck. But yeah, people obviously think I'm a bigger cricket fan than I gave myself credit for. You should just add Sharma and Panthanol into her, into her last names. I mean, you were recommending I call her Mahi, right?

[00:03:13] Yeah. It's a great girl name. It's a great name for a girl. So anyway, it's weird because usually when we have a full house, we've either just won one or three to any world cup or won a series in Australia or things like that. And not only was last week, the episode where we got to talk about losing the series, there has been no cricket in the last seven days. So between our previous episode that we got to record, Varun and I did. And now when all three of us are back, there's been no cricket.

[00:03:42] And yet the news cycle never stops. So Varun, will you go through very quickly the big news this week before we get into Champions Trophy Squad and Shami's back for England and all of that important stuff. The big news this week was this BCCI 10 point rule or 10 point ruling essentially that came out with a whole bunch of stuff in there that was a little surprising. Doesn't seem like our skipper is too amused by it.

[00:04:08] And so, yeah, will you just give us a quick rundown on what it was that we can chat about it? Yeah. I mean, I gave you a perfect transition talking about children. I thought you were going to say, speaking of children and how you treat children, the BCCI has come out with, like I gave you the perfect segue, I'm very disappointed in you. But anyway, the BCCI has come out with this list and we'll go through a few of the points, but two things, right?

[00:04:36] Firstly, it sounds like a group of frustrated old uncles just got together and vented and came out with the minutes of the meeting, which became the policy. And the second thing to me, it feels like this could have been addressed in a text message to Virat Kohli specifically. Like it didn't have to be published. It felt very, very targeted. So anyway, they have to participate in domestic matches, which I think is fine. And we spoke about this last week about Ranji.

[00:05:03] It says, then it goes on to start talking about how you have to travel separate to your family. It then lists out that your family can only be with you for, I believe, two weeks in a 45-day tour, right? So what if it's 44 or what if it's 46? We have no idea. You restrict your personal staff, like chefs and security.

[00:05:31] And then obviously, if you're doing all this, it comes down to the next one, which is no baggage allowance of more than 150 kgs. So it just feels very weird. Like what are you solving for? Baggage allowance? Chef? Families can't visit? I mean, I don't know, DJ, you've read this as well. What was your take? To me, it just sounded ridiculous.

[00:05:58] It sounds like there's been a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to losing the New Zealand series and then losing Borda Gawaskar. As I think you pretty much put it pretty well, Kohli edged and Anushka got dropped, right? So I think that sums it up because, I mean, obviously Kohli had that run-in with the reporters at Melbourne before Boxing Day. We know Rishabh Pant at least has his own chef because he's been using a nutritionist after his accident. That can't be a bad thing.

[00:06:29] Someone like Kohli probably does need a bit more security, particularly going around India. I don't know how that's going to be managed. Maybe the BCCI will deal with that. But for me, the biggest question in all of this is, who needs 150 kilo allowance while traveling? What? I mean, if you've got... Does that include bats? Security guards. Yeah, but how much will that? Okay, you have two kid bats. Let's say that's 60 kgs. Okay, yes. You have not traveled as a child, my friend. An eight-day trip.

[00:06:59] I travel with 80 to 90 kgs. I have two children, a chef, security guard, and Mirat Kohli's equipment. It's not a lot, DJ. Yeah, but the best part about this is the sanctions, right? The sanctions are, you may be blacklisted from the IPL. And that's the golden goose, right? So that's the stick that they're using to beat the Indian test cricketers with, which is a slightly odd place to be as well.

[00:07:28] Because yes, this applies to everybody, but it's come off the back. Remember, we're T20 World Cup champions. We've only played six ODIs since the World Cup in 23. So this is coming off the back of losing a test series. And the sanction is you might not play the IPL. So yeah, the BCCI has probably gone a bit overboard on this front. But maybe it's time to bring some of the players back down to earth. I don't know, man. It's a little bit odd to do this publicly as well.

[00:07:55] And Rohit in the press conference, that's the next point. Yeah, Varun, there's a little bit of debate on whether there was clearly a hot mic that picked up stuff that it wasn't necessarily supposed to. There's a little bit of debate on whether Rohit knew or not. I mean, he also at the same time hasn't really hidden his displeasure or confusion. And it feels like maybe on Thursday when the letter went out, he got it when everybody did. Which is not necessarily how you want to manage it for your captain.

[00:08:24] But kind of thoughts on Rohit's reaction. And obviously, I don't think he travels with an entourage or personal chef. I haven't seen reports of him arriving separately from the team. So I don't know which ones will impact him the most. Maybe the family stuff. But yeah, thoughts on how Rohit reacted and what that means for kind of the team dynamic in Unity? I don't know. It is. I can't believe that Rohit has pre-planned this and said it.

[00:08:48] But I mean, he did on mic say, I will have to talk to the secretary now because all the boys are writing to me and I need to sort this out. So, you know, it's a weird thing to tell somebody like Ajita Garkar anyway sitting at a press conference even if the mic was off. So, I don't know. I just think he got unlucky. Rohit can't seem to catch a break. You know, like, I don't know if you guys saw the video of him going for a jog in the

[00:09:16] park with like uncles all around him. It's really weird. He just went for a jog. And it's really, really weird. With his Mumbai Indians bag as well. He had his backpack and he was doing shuttle runs and this uncle with the dog was watching him. So weird. Where is he going? He just can't catch a break these days. Right? So, I think it's just unfortunate. It feels like when everything's going wrong, it just goes wrong.

[00:09:46] I don't think that was meant to be caught. I think it was just, he's probably dealing with so much. Yes, 15 guys are probably messaging you saying, you got to talk to the BCCI. This is childish as we already spoke about. Yeah. So, let's, I mean, we can spend a lot of time going through all of it, but obviously the, Varun mentioned this sort of in jest, but the reality is the, don't come travel separately from the team, no personal chef or staff. A lot of those seem pretty targeted at Kohli.

[00:10:13] The question, DJ, I have for you is around this mandatory domestic cricket clause. Because there's a lot to unpack there, right? Varun and I talked last week about how, yes, Ranji Trophy is awesome and important, but then we had guys who had phenomenal Ranji Trophy seasons in the squad and they didn't get a game in Australia. Now, as the Champions Trophy side has been, a squad has been announced.

[00:10:40] Sanju Samson is being disciplined by Kerala for not playing in a camp, but is being selected for the squad. So domestic isn't that important there. Virat Kohli has been told to go play domestic, but he's got a neck strain now, which I haven't seen him have in years. But he'll miraculously be fine, I'm sure, for the ODIs against England. And then most of you have called to some... It's with the PCC putting his neck on the block and like chopping, chopping. I think he got some Baba and right, he just went full leg on the floor.

[00:11:09] So maybe he sprinted there or something. I mean, just he sprinted for exactly three weeks is what happened. But DJ, my question is then like, so what happens, are you going to make Bumra play Ranji now? Like, of course, there's different rules, right? You cannot possibly say Bumra has to go put more workload on his shoulder. Yeah, also, it's double standards because you spoke about Iswaran, I think, last week. This week, we'll come to the Champions Trophy squad, but the guy who scored the most runs

[00:11:36] in the ODI tournament hasn't made the squad, Karan Nair, right? He averages 750, I think, in the tournament or something crazy like that. Agarkar mentioned it. Kohli, there's a problem of too much cricket. We've been talking about that for years. We've struggled following cricket as simple podcasters, right? That just follow Indian men's cricket. When you said there's not, Indian women are playing Ireland. There's a lot going on. There's so much cricket at the moment, which it's not bad for players to get a bit of a break.

[00:12:06] So to then impose the fact that you have to be available for domestic cricket is a bit, it's a bit crazy to be saying that and then not picking the guys that are performing there. Sarfara as Anishwara, as you said, and then Karan Nair. So your standards are not being applied equally. And I get maybe there's not a spot for Karan in the 15, but you can't then say you'll be sanctioned if you don't play domestic cricket and then not pick the guys that perform in

[00:12:31] domestic cricket because you think that you've got a squad which is probably the best already. So it's very difficult to reconcile the two. And Farun, just as we wrap, the point is, this is a 10-point ruling targeted at certain problems. They couldn't figure out how to say, how to have a specific conversation with the offending players, if you will. And so they've created this ruling. But in a perfect world, you're saying, hey, if you performed above a certain amount in

[00:12:57] the last series and you are selected for the next one, you don't have to play domestic. Like Boombra, let's pick him as the example, right? But saying you played the last series is not enough to get out of domestic because the guys who failed in the last series are the ones who you want to go get domestic time, right? So how do you reconcile that? In a perfect world, you're able to have the conversations with Kohli, Rohit, maybe to

[00:13:22] an extent Rahul and some of these guys who had a gil for sure and say, it is mandatory for you to go play Ranji without creating this kind of blanket ruling in the way we treat children. But obviously that's not happening. Do you see that changing at any point? I mean, I think they got lucky in the sense that there was only one person who performed that entire series. So apart from that one person, it could be applicable to all. I think, yes, you should maybe specify, right?

[00:13:52] Maybe you should say that you have to play three Ranji games a year or something. I'm just making this up. But rather than just be a little bit vague about you have to be available, maybe put a metric. Could you set numerical rules? Yeah. That's what I was going to say. Could you say like, hey, if you finish a test series with a batting average below 30 or bowling average above 30, you have to go play more domestic cricket. I don't know. It's so arbitrary. Isn't it the other way around that?

[00:14:18] You say that the prerequisite to be selected for India is performing well in domestic cricket. Yeah. Right? So if you're dropping someone like a Rohit or a Kohli, they need to go back. Like a Pujara goes back, scores a run in domestic and comes back. Because there's no point getting them to play and then picking them anyway. It doesn't make any sense unless you're going to actually drop them. Yeah. So it's like K. Rahul, right? I don't think he played much domestic. He was dropped and then he came back, right? That's the example.

[00:14:47] Now, I think Rahan and Pujara have actually gone back and played. But I don't know, just the way cricket in general and Indian cricket works is you've just got people in slots, right? And it's very hard. Like even this ODI, as we talked about it, the ODI team that reached the final of the 2023 World Cup has done nothing wrong. So there is, you know, yes, a Karunay type should have been looked at and probably brought in. But, you know, on what basis are you throwing them out? It's just complex.

[00:15:14] That's why I'm saying you should probably just have a minimum number of games that everyone should be playing because your calendar allows them to be able to do that. Yeah, it's complicated, right? We don't envy the folks who have to make these tough decisions. You mentioned the Champions Trophy squad. So let's, it's just come out. DJ, I don't know if you have it in front of you. Let's go through really quickly and talk through the Champions Trophy squad. And then we will just chat kind of what it means. What are the decisions?

[00:15:41] And obviously the big decision, Varun, actually, let me come to you first because you said that big decision was last time we played ODS, we played, we played well. We are looking to solidify kind of what the current strategy has been versus use this as our first look to the future. My point, by the way, the other day was there's always some tournaments. You're always saying we'll start prepping for the future later. To me, this would have been a good chance. But is that a fair summation of kind of the strategic approach to selection?

[00:16:09] It's basically the same, same approach as the last time we played ODS. Yeah, so look, this tournament, I think Harsha Bogle said this, right? And I'm not sure if we mentioned it last time is this tournament is hanging in the middle of nowhere. It is, it is not that relevant. It is too far away. You're two and a half years away from the ODI World Cup for you to make changes for that. And so I think in given that context, I think, you know, a lot of the guys who did well

[00:16:38] in that ODI World Cup, they have not done anything wrong to be excluded. So as we, you know, maybe, maybe we can just start talking through it. But I, I really can't argue with the logic that much, except for probably saying that, you know, two names are not there, which I think could have. One was Jay Swal, right? And the second was a Karun Nair equivalent, right? Even a Karun Nair type is, it's just hard in Indian cricket to have one good series and

[00:17:07] then go straight into the ODI squad. Wait, just to be, just to clarify, Jay Swal has made the squad, which is a big, which is the big change. So, oh, sorry, sorry. Jay Swal has made the Champions Trophy squad. Correct. Okay. I was thinking, sorry, I was thinking more playing 11. Because Gil and Rohit. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Correct. So, DJ, actually, why don't we take a very quick break? We'll come back. We'll run through what we think the 11 could be for the Champions Trophy with the excitement of Shami being back, the asterisk next to Jaspreet Pumra's name. We'll talk that.

[00:17:35] And then we'll talk a little bit about the England series, which starts in three days at the time of recording this. May have, maybe right around the corner by the time. Enough time for a domestic game, for sure. For at least three. Go play at least three. All right. Don't go anywhere. We will be right back after this break. Welcome back to the Edges and Sledges Cricket Podcast.

[00:18:03] If you are on YouTube, as always, hit that like button. Hit that subscribe button. Leave us a comment. We read them. We'd love to hear from you. It makes it fun for us to keep putting out these episodes. So please leave us a message. Otherwise, we're at one tip, one hand on all the social medias. We actually don't have a Blue Sky account. Well, DJ, maybe we should talk about doing that in parallel. That's the new kind of fast growing. I don't know. TikTok is getting shut down in the US now. So it's a wild time to be on social media.

[00:18:29] But why don't you give me, if you look at this Champions Trophy squad, you're kind of playing 11. Let me read through the squad quickly. And then you give me who's going to play. So Rohit is captain. Gil is vice. Kohli, Ayer, Rahul, Rishabh, Hardik. Then you go all-rounders. Hardik, Chadeja, Akshar, Sundar. And then you go Kuldeep, Bumrah, Shami, Arshadeep. And then, of course, Jaswal, who I missed up front. So what is your ODI playing 11 here? Do you change it up? Does Jaswal get a look?

[00:18:59] How do you manage the five right-handers in the top five situation? What's the approach? So what is incredible here is that Shubman Gil is the vice captain of this team. So to my mind, and maybe that was conflating test form and T20 form with ODI form, I would have loved to see Jaswaj Jaiswal at the top of that order. I would have loved to see him opening with Rohit. Because Rohit's captain. He's never played in ODI. Yeah, but he's a fantastic T20 player. I don't disagree whatsoever.

[00:19:29] So he can't go wrong. There's no Sky argument here. He's the next all-format. I don't disagree 1%. I don't disagree at all. But it's important to remember he hasn't made an ODI debut yet. Correct. And this is an ICC tournament. So that's just what I think. He's got like, I don't know, a thousand plus runs in test. And he plays, like, he's incredible in T20s. And he's 23. And, I mean, he's going to be a future Indian captain. He's up there with Gil, right?

[00:19:54] So if Rohit had been rested or opted to sit out, Gil and Yasha Spi would have opened, right? Like, that would have been the optimal forward-looking planning for 2027 combination. But we haven't done that. The two guys that are the captain and the vice captain will now open the batting. Which means that I don't think there's a spot for Yasha Spi unless he drops down the order and bats four.

[00:20:21] And AJ, just on that, that vice captain, did you read that article that said Gambhir wanted two things and both got overruled? He wanted Hardik to be vice captain. And he wanted Samson in the team instead of Pant. And both overruled. By Agar Kapp. By… And Rohit. So it was kind of two against one. So… I didn't read this article. It's hard for Gambhir. I don't know. I don't know what the logic is.

[00:20:46] It just kind of said that they prefer Pant, his ability to be able to change a match, which we know has not happened in wide-ball cricket. And Hardik thing, I don't know why. But so much for then Gambhir kind of laying down the hammer saying, this is my team now and all that. Like, he clearly doesn't have the power to do it. And that's what his excuse is going to be. So that is going to be his excuse that I haven't been able to do anything I want. So anyway, sorry to stop messing. You got to Jess while playing down the order. Yeah.

[00:21:15] So, I mean, if Rohit continues opening the batting… Because interestingly, on the CrickInfo website, he's described as a top-order batter, not as an opening batter, which is in contrast to what Shubman Gill has described as. Can I just say one thing really quick? And I've been very critical of Rohit, the red ball batter. But in the spirit of your opening comment, which is not conflating form across formats too much, right? Rohit averages 49 in ODIs at a strike rate of 92 across his career.

[00:21:45] But in 24, he played three matches, made two half-centuries at a strike rate of 141. The year before that, 2023, played 27 ODIs, averaged 52.2. Before that, 41. 2020, averaged 57. 2019, averaged 57. 2018, averaged 73. 2017, averaged 72. Like, these are not… These numbers are unbelievable. No, no. So, I have been super critical. There's no doubt that all-time ODI grade for India. But we've said he was our biggest six-hitter.

[00:22:16] Or anyone. So, keep going. But see, you've got to… See, it comes back to the context of the tournament and these ODIs, right? Like, are you planning for 27? In which case, you should be giving guys like Yashas Vijay Swala a look-in. Particularly because of the right-handedness of that order. Kohli is going to bat three. It's where he's had his success. He's batted four previously. But if he can drop down to four… I mean, the point is that Kohli's spot, again, an all-time ODI grade. I don't know.

[00:22:45] He must be averaging more than 50. 55, I'd say. Almost venture towards in ODI cricket. But you're planning for South Africa. You're planning for 2027. Jeswal, for me… 58.18. Yeah. He's an all-time great in ODI cricket. There's no doubt about it. But you have to plan… Including in 2023, his average was 72. But you have to plan for what is coming ahead. You have to plan for that. You have to say… You have to put an eye on 2027.

[00:23:14] And say, what's gone is gone. They're all great players. They are all-time great players for India. There's no doubt. But the future… Yes, they are probably going to be fit enough. Just about. In Rohit's case, probably borderline. For the 27 World Cup. Kohli is going to be fit enough. But you need to plan for that 27 World Cup. And for that, Jeswal has to play. I think… I think Jeswal has to play even if you don't plan for the 27. That's the point. Because it's so close by. And we said 27 is so far.

[00:23:44] I just think Jeswal is too good to drop. And who do you drop? Do you drop Shreyas, Rahul, Pant? Who's not going to play? I mean, Pant is definitely not going to play. Yeah. I was like, Pant is out. Rahul will keep. For sure. But it's the left-handedness of that order again. You've got to think about that. Left hand, right hand. That's… You've got to think about the match-ups. But we've seen success without that, right? Exactly in the same lineup all the way down to Hardik. Yeah. Basically, until Jadeja at 7, you don't have a lefty.

[00:24:13] And we've seen success with it. Yeah. So, are we saying Shreyas is playing ahead of Yashasui at this point in ODIs? We are saying he will. We can have a debate on existentially whether he should. But I'm saying he will. I mean, I think he probably will. But should he? I don't think he should. All right. Let's go to pull up. But then the only way he can… The only way Jaisal can come in if his Kohli bats at 4, which is exactly what you said. Okay. Shreyasui here in 2023.

[00:24:42] How are we talking about Kohli at 9? Who's going to bat it 4? 4? 10 years. I mean, if you take… Jay Shankar is still around, right? Hardik Pandya. 3. All right. If you hold on. But to be fair, if you remove 2024 where there was only three games. In 23, Shreyas Iyer played 20 ODIs, averaged 52.8. Right? Three centuries, four half centuries. In 2022, he averaged 55.7.

[00:25:12] Like his record is there in ODIs. I'm all there for lefty-righty. I'm all there for future proving. But Shreyas' numbers in this format in particular do speak for themselves. Yeah. Fair. And I don't disagree with it. But these are flat decks where almost anyone is going to score on. Pakistan and Dubai, right? Like you're going to score on that. It's party time. So speaking of flat decks, Varun, let me ask you.

[00:25:38] The big surprise actually, as much as we spend 90% of every episode here talking about the top six at Urubad, where the big surprise in the Champions Trophy 2025 squad was Mohamed Siraj. What is your assessment on him being left out of the squad? And I know you were hypercritical of his Australia series. But he has been a kind of mainstay in the side for the white ball for a while now. Of course, Arshadip is a top class white ball bowler. Chami is back. And Bumrah has still got a question mark. But what's your take on Siraj?

[00:26:10] I don't think he should be there. If you're picking three basers, I think that's just what it is. I don't dislike Siraj. I just have said this before. I don't think he's evolving as fast as he needs to. Over five years, his growth and evolution has not been the same as even an Arshadip. So I think the lefty, left-handed bowler, Arshadip, is definitely a value-add. I think Shami, I mean, Shami just is Shami. He walks in.

[00:26:38] And I think the Bumrah inclusion, it's got to be some technicality where you probably have to include him from the start or something. There has to be something because they've also not announced the third ODI squad for the England CDs, by the way. They've said he's likely to play. Yeah, Rana is there instead of him in that English. So the teams are exactly mirrored except Bumrah and Rana.

[00:27:02] So got to think there's some technicality and it's better to keep him in the squad and remove him and bring him back later. There has been a lot of chat that he, you know, he will be fully ready by the time it's semis. I believe this tournament goes straight to semis. So, you know, so that's there. But I think Siraj just needs a break as well. I think he's been probably bowled the most number of overs for India in the last five years.

[00:27:27] Yeah, I think that and the fact is, if you have full availability of Bumrah, Shami, Arshideep, Siraj in these conditions, he's probably the fourth in that order. Right? So especially because Hardik is going to play as your quick bowling all-rounder, you're going to play max two pacers. And I think your point is valid. DJ, final one on the Champions Trophy, R11. Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akshar Patel. It feels like two of them get a look in.

[00:27:57] Akshar is a great kind of lefty option. He's batted, by the way, up at four and five before in certain match situations. Go ahead, Varun. I think only one gets a look in, right? Because you're assuming Kuldeep will play. Yeah, Kuldeep will play. So I'm assuming Kuldeep, two quicks. Yeah, Shami Bumrah. And then seven and then Hardik at six. So I'm assuming seven and eight will be two spinning all-rounders. We can go through the order. Jadeja and Washi. No, I've got Akshar Deep. Yeah, I've got Akshar Deep in there. So Akshar Deep, I don't think will play if Shami and Bumrah both fit that expected. Got it.

[00:28:27] I don't think you play three quicks and Hardik in these conditions. I've got Jadeja and Washington at seven and eight in my lineup. That's two lefties, one after the other. So Akshar selected as the T20 vice captain, which we'll talk about right after this. Doesn't get a look in? T20. Akshar is number one. I think Akshar walks the deady white both sides. But you're going to play Jadeja and Akshar, both left-arm spinners? Yeah, because both of them can bat up the order if you need to.

[00:28:55] Like if you're 12 for three, which we will be, you can easily send one of these guys to play defensive cricket. Both of them have that caliber. But you don't have anyone spinning off-spinning anymore. That's why I would play Washington. Because if you play in England or somebody like that, or you're playing Australia with a Travis Head, who's been such a pain, you would want to bowl off-spin going away from him. So I think that there's too much sameness in that order. And that's the reason I would have gone for Washi. Maybe we'll get some wrong-footed goalie bowling to give us, break up the...

[00:29:23] I mean, he might make the team as a bowler sometime. But I think Sundar just hasn't done enough with the bat in white ball cricket. IPL, T20. I don't know if he's... I'm sure he's played ODIs before. He just hasn't done enough, in my opinion. So... And his batting is stronger than his bowling. That is the only catch for me. But it's a valid point about the off-spin, right-hand off-spin. Yeah. But I...

[00:29:52] And just to close off the 11 for me, I think Jaiswal for me would play at 3. Kohli would play at 4. And Panth would be my wicket-keeper. I think there's too much of an expat. Yeah, mine is totally different. Yeah, but... Mine is completely different. Yours is probably the 11 that will play. For me, it's the 11 I would like. Yeah, sorry. I was going to predict. I want Jaiswal to play at 5. I want Jaiswal to play at 3. That's exciting for me. That can match in basketball. Varun, what is your take? I mean, I think... Okay, forget.

[00:30:21] We all know what the team is going to be. What would you like? I would actually like Jaiswal at 3, Kohli at 4. And I would like Panth to not play. And Rahul over Punk. Yeah. But haven't they said something to Rahul that your spot is not certain and you have to play some... No, they've just... I think they've just... Dude, till yesterday, Punk's spot was not certain. Like Gambhir was backing Samson. So I think KL has just been told, just play the England series. Like, you're not an automatic, I think.

[00:30:51] Also, when was the last time KL kept... World Cup. Well, yeah, but that was 18 months. No, whatever. Not two years, but 15, 16 months now. Yeah. He's also been test captain in the middle of that Skoda 100 in South Africa. His life, man. Yeah. KL Rahul. That's what I'm saying, right? So just... I think he would play just to keep, right? And get back into that middle order mindset. Clearly a very stable kind of multi-format team situation going on as we live through it.

[00:31:21] Yeah. I mean, I'm with you guys. I think Shreyas does play, but I also think potentially, DJ, to your point, there's a little bit of horses for courses, a little bit of rotating. I think the three spinning all-rounders may rotate through. I think you may see Rahul and Pant alternate depending on match situation, depending on the bowling attack. And I don't hate that, honestly. Just given it's a long tournament, you have to adjust. So, right. As we wrap, we talked a lot about the Champions Trophy. We talked a lot about this 10-point ruling.

[00:31:47] We are now sitting here three days away from an England series that kind of came out of nowhere, but five T20s starting on January 22nd, and then three ODIs, which will be our final, final prep for the Champions Trophy. The big news on that squad, Mohamed Shami is back, which is awesome. I'll run through a couple of other quick highlights, and then we'll just chat through how we're feeling about the T20 squad. But after the big test of the Champions Trophy club, it feels a little out of place.

[00:32:17] So, Shami's back. Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar are all back. Compared to the last time we played T20s, Jitesh misses out, Yash Dayal misses out, Avesh misses out. I think we had Ramandeep Singh, Vijay Kumar, Vaishak, all in the T20 setup last time. They're all missing out. So, here's what the squad looks like. Sky is captain. Akshar Patel is vice captain. Then you have Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nithish

[00:32:46] Reddy, and then Harshit Rana, Arshdeep, Shami, Varun Chakravarti, Ravi Bishnoy, Washington Sundar, and the surprise pick for me is the backup keeper, Dhruv Jharal. Varun, let me ask you first. Do you expect any surprises here? Is this just going to be kind of a random one-off T20 that we watch for fun? Is it going to be IPL prep for these guys and for the teams? Or is this going to influence the white ball strategy going forward even for 50 overs?

[00:33:14] Honestly, I just see this as prep for Shami. Like that is basically how I'm seeing this T20 series. It makes no sense to have five T20s. But yeah, it's prep for Shami. It's probably good prep for Ashdeep and Hardik Pandya. That's it. It's a weird series that's hanging in the middle of nowhere, like you said. I think India's most success in the last six to nine months has come in T20 cricket. So I think it's a good squad.

[00:33:43] They've kept true to this squad that they're going after. And I think it'll be fun. I always like watching T20 cricket. Understatement of the year. I mean, what's the not to like? Sky is captain. You've got Abhishek Sharma. You've got Samson, Telak, Rinku. I just think it'll be fun. I just don't know the value of it.

[00:34:10] And I think this is Gambhir's only controllable squad out of the three. And they have delivered. And so, yeah, I think England is the one who's probably going to use this as the prep for the Champions Trophy. Surprisingly, India is not. But, yeah, DJ, different take. Do you think Akshar gets, if Akshar has a breakthrough series, does that get him in ahead of Sundar, you think, in the ODIs? I think he's competing with Jadeja, to be honest. Not with Sundar.

[00:34:39] Do you think Sundar walks in? Okay. I think Sundar, not walks in, but the logical thing for me would be to have more variety in the attack. On those pitches particularly. Right. It's going to be an interesting one. Big 5-2-20s, three ODIs coming up. Before we wrap, I have to make sure we talk very quickly. DJ, you mentioned it, about the phenomenal India Women's Series against Ireland Women.

[00:35:04] If you haven't been following it, 435 for five. I mean, in the final ODI. 304 run win over Ireland. The highest total in women's ODIs by quite a long distance. I mean, I remember I was in college when 434 was the Australia-South Africa ODI game. And it is just mind-boggling that this team put up 435.

[00:35:31] I mean, a three-match whitewash, essentially. I mean, like six wickets for the first game. That second game is where Jemima showed up really strong. So the second ODI, they scored 370. And, I mean, just phenomenal. Won by 116 runs. And then in the third ODI came in and said, you know what? We're going to do one better. Made 435. 233 run opening stands. Sentries by both the openers. So just an absolutely phenomenal series for the India Women.

[00:36:00] I don't actually know when their next series is. But what an incredible series, right? Did you have anything you'd add? Yeah, fantastic. Hundreds for Jemi, for Smriti, for the newcomer as well. Is it Pratika? Pratika Rawal, yeah. She nearly looked like she was getting a double hundred. The 430 was an underachievement. They could have got 450. She could have got a double. Yeah, it came against Ireland. But runs are runs. And this is the Smriti era.

[00:36:29] Remember, Harman Preet isn't playing this. So Smriti Mandana, captain of India. Absolutely phenomenal. I think there's now some, while the men are playing, there's also some T20s against the England women. So that's going to be exciting. And then there's some England women. Actually, that's not true. Sorry. That's coming in a few months time. So we got a little bit of time. WPL starts in February. So it's going to be very exciting. Just phenomenal. I was just looking. I didn't get a chance to watch it. But 435 in an ODI match is just stunning.

[00:36:58] So, gentlemen, thank you for joining. Baran, I know it's late for you, DJ. I know your body probably has no idea what time is what would sleep. But this has been great. 5 T20s coming up. It's going to be a good series. And we'll be back before you know it to talk about who's batting at number 4 again and again, probably for the next 20 years of our lives. So stay tuned. If you're on YouTube, again, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button, at OneTipOneHand on all the socials. And we'll be back next week.

[00:37:26] Thanks so much for joining the Edges and Sledges Cricket Podcast.