T20 World Cup 2024: Afghanistan Qualify for Semi Finals!

[00:00:01] Cricket Podcast. 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, how are you doing? Man, it's been a whirlwind, got 72 hours of cricket, if you will. And we have our four semi-finalists.

[00:00:19] How are you feeling? I'm feeling great. I mean, the four semi-finalists have been announced, like you said. It is England, South Africa, India, and Australia. No, wait a minute. Australia has been knocked out.

[00:00:39] Like there's one way to stop Australia from winning the World Cup, that is to just knock them out before they reach the knockout game. So Afghanistan has made it for the first time to the semi-finals and they, I mean,

[00:00:56] there's just so much talk about, I think there's just too much excitement here that Afghanistan has managed to make their way through. It's a phenomenal feeling. All the excitement has been about them as opposed to any of the other three teams. But there's so much to get into.

[00:01:12] Yeah, and we will get into it. We'll start by talking about the most recent game and then we'll spend some of the time talking about the rest of the Super 8s. We'll talk about India versus Australia, which was a good match and phenomenal road show heroics.

[00:01:22] And then we'll preview the semi-finals a little bit. But Varun, let me start by saying DJ is not with us today. He wanted us to make sure we make a very clear point that this was his four semi-finalists prediction. I mean, are you surprised by it?

[00:01:37] On the one hand, I was sitting there having this moment during the game last night, my time saying if it ends up after all this drama and the twists and turns and Marcus Stoiness batting out of England out of it and Josh

[00:01:47] Chesilwood's press conference, et cetera, if it ends up with all that being India, South Africa, England, Australia, it's almost a little too predictable. Yeah, I can't remember what all of us had said at the start. But you said Afghanistan wouldn't even make the Super 8s. Yeah, I know.

[00:02:03] That's what I'm saying. It's like it's crazy because when you start a tournament, it's hard to think that Afghanistan will make it like, you know, they're going to cause an upset. You know, they're going to do well.

[00:02:12] But, you know, at the start, I didn't realize how one result is going to affect this so much because it's not a league stage where everyone's playing everyone. It's not a quarterfinals. So essentially it came down to a situation where you lose one and you're really under pressure.

[00:02:30] You have one match that's a bit rained out again, you're really under pressure. So something kind of did, you know, it just felt like between, you know, Australia and West Indies being such strong teams, West Indies being at home, Australia being Australian World Cups.

[00:02:50] I didn't expect this at all. So credit to DJ for getting there. I guess if he was on the podcast, I'm pretty sure he would say it's going to be an India-Afghanistan final. So let's take that as his prediction. Yeah.

[00:03:03] I mean, I don't want to get to the finals yet. I want to wrap my head around what's just happened, but I mean Australia not making the final four of a World Cup. I mean, even when they've had awful years, I mean, still too

[00:03:16] soon to talk into the depths of 2023, but they didn't look as good as they needed. You'd think they need to and they still make it and they have that big game ability and big game mindset, but they will sit,

[00:03:26] look back and say in the Super 8 stage, we only won one of our three games. And so although there were nerby moments last night where it looked like Bangladesh might bat Australia into the semis, it didn't happen. And I don't think Australia will sit saying they deserved. Yeah.

[00:03:40] So just to be clear, right? Australia lost to Afghanistan. Yeah. And so that put pressure on them. And if they won against India and Afghanistan won, it would have come down to Netrunner. Yeah. The fact that they lost and now it became a situation

[00:03:59] where all Afghanistan had to do was beat. And that's what Ashwin is kind of referring to for the listeners. He's just referring to the fact that Afghanistan still couldn't make it a convincing victory. And so there was a point in the game at the mid break of

[00:04:15] the second innings where there was a possibility that all three teams could have gone through. Yeah, till 12 overs basically had passed. And so that was the equation. Bangladesh needed to chase down the 115 in 12.1 overs. Once it was clear they didn't do that, it was not totally

[00:04:31] clear and let's get into this game now, but it was not totally clear what Bangladesh was doing. And I say this obviously not seeing, not being on the conditions, knowing that Afghanistan has phenomenal bowlers, it is not easy to bat out there.

[00:04:44] But to me, I guess, let me ask you, do you think there's any reason? What is the driver of playing for the win when the only thing that matters is if I make it in 12.1 overs, I'm in a semifinal. If I don't, I go home.

[00:04:56] I guess there's like match fees. There's a spike to Afghanistan. Maybe they didn't want to feed that rising giant of Asian cricket to Afghanistan. And what could possibly have been the rationale for them to want to win but not in 12.1 overs?

[00:05:12] I think for Bangladesh, look, you have to take into account that as a sports person, you put everything else aside. You need to qualify for the next round. That's just the way this works. So I think what happened is that they would have

[00:05:30] celebrated the fact that they restricted them to 1-1 fight and it was showing on Rashid Khan's face at the end of that inning. He threw the bat when he was denied a second run. That was maybe the best one of the World Cups.

[00:05:41] I haven't seen things like that. You don't see stuff like that happening often, but it just shows you how invested both teams were. And so I think Bangladesh actually thought that they could do this. The pitch didn't seem that bad. It seemed like Afghanistan's batting post the

[00:05:58] openers just hasn't clicked. And that reflects in the fact that Gurbaz, I think is the highest run scorer of the T20 World Cup so far. So they know their strengths. They know their weaknesses. But I think Bangladesh should have given themselves a shot.

[00:06:11] I think when they lost the third wicket, they kind of understood that this 12.1 overs game is going to be very hard for us. And so if you can't qualify, the next thing you have to do is win. It doesn't matter if Australia goes through or not.

[00:06:28] And I think that just became the... I think you're right. You're being more balanced than I am. But in watching it at 7.1 overs, even when the equation is two runs a ball to do it in 12 overs, them hitting a forward defense just felt so silly.

[00:06:46] What you're saying is you might as well die trying. Absolutely. That's what I'm saying. Get it down to 30 needed off the last over. Know that it's 99% not going to happen if you're batting to Navin or Fazal Luck or somebody. But give yourself that shot.

[00:07:02] So anyway, let's run through the game. Like you said, Afghanistan, they made 115. I think very clearly their weakness is over-reliance on the openers. And the openers have made so much more together than any other partnership in the World Cup so far. But then came out the chase.

[00:07:19] And by the way, there was rain kind of coming and going. The match was running late. It finished almost after 1 a.m. local time. 115 for five. Bangladesh will be backing themselves. But again, knowing the equation is 12.1. Lytton Das comes out and starts playing a blinder.

[00:07:33] Just hitting what felt like for the second time in one day in our time zone. One batter felt like they were playing on a completely different surface. And I'm talking about Rohit who will come to after. But Lytton just batted phenomenally. And Bangladesh's hitting started going.

[00:07:48] So there was so much math going on, right? I live in the U.S. I'm trying to explain it to American players. How do you explain that in the last game of a group stage, all three teams can still qualify for a semi depending

[00:07:59] on one wins, the other wins by a certain magnitude or Australia watching from the side. I mean, I couldn't even calculate the NRL. I had to ask you how to calculate it because it just felt so complex because we're used to doing this in 15 match tournaments where each

[00:08:14] team is playing 15 matches and one win by 20 runs doesn't affect it. But in this case, yeah, it's huge. And then you really you layer on that Duckworth Lewis on its own day is hard enough. Duckworth Lewis, but factoring in shortened games into NRL.

[00:08:30] Just got all kinds of crazy. So the moment that was was was funny was at one point it was they were 80 odd for five. OK, by now this is 80 for five. So needing 35 odd runs with about half the overs left. This was probably the point where

[00:08:47] and when they do they couldn't do it in 12.1. The Duckworth Lewis par score was was 81. OK, then they got a wicked and the Duckworth Lewis par score. Sorry, they were slightly ahead of the Duckworth Lewis score. Then they got a wicked Duckworth Lewis par score.

[00:09:05] It goes 80 for six, 80 for seven. Suddenly they are now behind the Duckworth Lewis par score. OK, at this point they know Afghanistan full character of Arashid, an incredibly savvy cricketer, incredibly savvy skipper. At this point, Afghanistan knows they're losing on Duckworth Lewis if the rain was to come.

[00:09:22] So they are putting in their overs so fast. Arashid and Nurebolling back to the top of their marks. I mean, it was so quickly they were just coming in ball after ball. And at one point then rain starts coming, rain starts coming down. When the wicked falls,

[00:09:39] Jonathan Trott, the Afghanistan coach recognizes, hey, we are now ahead on Duckworth Lewis. So if it's going to rain out at this point, let's let it rain out. Signals to signals from the boundary rope guys slow it down a little bit, basically meaning, hey, go look at it,

[00:09:55] adjust your field, call for some water. This set. Have you seen the clip yet? I've seen it many times. Gulbadeen had to slip, just spontaneously falls over onto his back and just lies there. And I was just dying laughing because you fully understand the emotion of

[00:10:20] a game where your coaches had slowed down. You're currently ahead on the rain. And Arashid is running up saying, what the heck are you doing? What's happening? There's a million smart ways to slow down a game. Never before in cricket have I seen anything like this.

[00:10:34] It was just it was such ridiculous drama. But what is your take? What do you even say? What is your take? I mean, so many things. Firstly, give that man an Oscar. It was great. The way he clenched his hands and fell and then turned over because that's

[00:10:52] how you should be. It should be flat and straight. It all checked out. You couldn't really tell that, you know, I mean, I'm kidding of course. But and then Arashid runs over because it's possible that in all of this chaos, he doesn't know that we're two runs ahead.

[00:11:09] And so I don't know if he I think he was as the captain of the team, he must have been like, this is ridiculous. But also, you know, why has he done this? Why has he taken such a drastic step? Because Noor Ahmed

[00:11:20] was at the start of his run up and took two steps. So clearly nobody was slowing down the game. Nobody was slowing down the game. And if that had been edged and gone for a boundary and then it rained came and then you went off, that's it.

[00:11:34] Afghanistan was done. So you're right. Understand the emotion. What was great was that when the rain came down now, but it can't get up like a footballer and just start shaking off and running. So he's now carrying on this performance and limping off the field.

[00:11:52] With two guys holding him. And Navinul Haq is trying not to look at him to laugh. And so he just, I think it's credit for the commitment, man. Like he just went to them. He could have given up at any point because literally like seven minutes later,

[00:12:06] he came back and he bowled and got a wicket. Yeah, so he came back on. And I came back with his pants. And his pants were fully up. You could see his full leg and then he's like suddenly rolled it down and steaming into bowl. Yeah.

[00:12:21] So I think it's the commitment. It's the commitment to carry it on after the game. That was all it is for me. I think we would have a very different discussion if it had truly impacted the game. Right? Let's be honest. You were just trying to spirit of

[00:12:34] cricket and this and that. It didn't matter. These are the Sikharibian. These are passing showers. They came back on. He didn't come back on for one over, then came back on. And as he came back, he was sort of still doing the limp thing and then settled.

[00:12:46] And then at one point he just said, F it, I have to bowl. And bowls first of all, Littendass, to me, a little foolishly at seven down takes a single. And then he's bowling to Tansim Hassan Saqib and gets the wicked. And at that point,

[00:13:02] Ian Smith, I think it was on air, says the man with paper hamstrings, but the golden arm. That should be the title of Gulvadin's book someday because this is just this an absolutely phenomenal story. But then he had this last layer of drama as well

[00:13:21] that we aren't we weren't super clear on overs getting reduced because they went off one more time. I think they went off at right at nine for nine for eight, nine of eight. They went off for a very hot second. Came back on. They weren't clear

[00:13:36] if you lost an over or not, because if you lost an over nine of I think it was nine off. Now I'm getting my math wrong. Yeah, nine of eight becomes six off of two. And the whole math changes anyway, didn't end up mattering. There was a drop

[00:13:50] catch for off of Naveen Navinul Haq ten balls one more. Tuskin gets bold. Oh, sorry. That's when he got bold. Sorry, he got bold. They went off. Come back. Get most of his first ball. LBW. Did you see the the Bravo incident to that?

[00:14:05] Yeah, walk us through it really quickly. I mean, again, this who knows how much of this but Bravo standing next to Fuzzle Haq and is just standing there quietly waiting. And then when the camera pans to him and it comes on big screen, he tells him

[00:14:22] to go and tell Naveen to bowl a short one so that he edges it to the keeper. So again, acting abilities. Fuzzle Haq runs up to rush to the Naveen and keeps doing that to show them that it's going to come a short ball.

[00:14:38] Most of his is obviously thinking I've cracked the code here. Like these guys don't know they're on camera or what. And he's expecting a short ball and the ball is a fuller. So he's way back in the curve. He's waiting for way back zeroed out that

[00:14:53] it's going to be given out because of how far back he is. And again, I don't know as a genius is it? What is it really actually true? But everything conspired for them to win. So what with eight runs or something to go there, they pulled this off

[00:15:07] and it was just historic. And then they went berserk. And again, not to mention that Gurbadeen was the fastest of running. I mean, have you seen that as of the time we're recording this about 15, 20 minutes ago, he's posted a picture with his doctor saying medical miracles.

[00:15:23] Are you seeing this? He's embracing it. Listen, why not? At this point, I mean, even Drash and everybody should tell him, listen, it's clearly everybody's enjoying the moment now. Maybe he gets slapped with a fine from the match for you or whatever. And that's that's OK.

[00:15:38] But he has to embrace it and know that this and that's how this and anyway, I don't want to say I don't want to say it's fine, but it sort of is fine. It didn't matter to the result at the end. Look, from our perspective,

[00:15:50] anything that gets Australia out is fine. Absolutely. So Australia is out. Varun, before we take a quick break, let's talk about we take it for granted because they are undefeated in the tournament. But this is the craziness of this format. Six wins in a row.

[00:16:03] And yet South Africa played West Indies in what ended up being a must win game. I mean, it's crazy to think they had six wins in a row and one loss against West Indies could have knocked them out of the tournament. But that's how scrappy

[00:16:17] South Africa's losses have been. They didn't have a significant net run rate advantage. Et cetera. That group had a different dynamic with England having won two of their games, whereas our group, India, won all three. So it changed the equation. But do you want to walk us

[00:16:29] through very quickly the West Indies-South Africa game also rain affected and looked for a minute like West Indies would find their way back. But obviously they couldn't. Yeah, again, South Africa in World Cups had a with a rain affected game. Like we were going a bit crazy

[00:16:42] messaging at that point. But basically the game just turned when Janssen and Markrum within a span of four balls got Shea Hope and to run out. That's it. Like the top order had done well, you know, for West Indies, the top three or four are very important

[00:16:57] to give the lower order that freedom. And when Nikki P went, it was just like one of three. It was a disaster. And that's when I think shoulders kind of droop now. Royston Chase and Mayors did a good job, but just around 100, 120 strike rate. So not enough.

[00:17:14] And then nobody got going. Like there was a point in which you thought Russell was going to turn it on, but he got run out. So very disappointed. He was so upset at that. Yeah, because that was it. You needed that is the difference for the World Cup.

[00:17:27] Honestly, I mean, if Russell had smacked another even just three sixes got into 155, it's a different game. So I think I think that was the turning point, but I don't think that is where they necessarily lost it. And then South Africa comes out kind of, you know,

[00:17:45] Quentin LeCocque, three boundaries in a row. Things get started, but they also just kept losing wickets at regular intervals. I mean, I want to shout out for Alzari Joseph. He pulled really well, like he was the length he bored. He was getting it to bounce and move.

[00:18:01] And it looked like it was going to be easy, but South Africa, as South Africa always does, just kind of every 20 runs lost a wicked and it kept West Indies in the game to the point that they were basically 100 for 7, chasing 135. And I think that they basically got

[00:18:24] lucky that, you know, Janssen and Maharaj are kind of batsmen, Rabada with this one boundary that turned it around. But really, it was a 17 over game. They won in the 17th over. So it was much closer than we were expecting. Sad to see the West Indies

[00:18:42] knocked out at home like they are. They are such a fun team. But you have to say, I think South Africa deserved it. Probably over the course of the tournament too. I mean, yeah, you had these little captaincy moments where they gave the ball

[00:18:54] at the end to Obed McCoy with six ish to defend and Janssen hits a six on the first ball of the 17th, the ultimate, the last over and gets the runs. And you're thinking did they miss a trick a little? Now Russell and Alzari had bowled and Akhil

[00:19:07] Hussain and Rostan had bowled through their own spells and Buda Kishmoti had gone for 20. So I understand it on paper, but giving pace to a lower order bad, which may be a mean description of Michael Janssen's capabilities, but giving pace to an order that just didn't necessarily seem

[00:19:23] like the smartest, but. Phenomenal. I mean, we'll talk in the next half on preview of the semifinals. Absolutely huge congratulations for getting comments in the chat too that Afghanistan are worthy semifinalists and Gulbadan should should truly be submitted for the Oscars. And yeah, Varun, we're going

[00:19:40] to take a very quick break. If you're watching us on YouTube, hit that like button. Doesn't take a lot of work. It helps us grow. Hit that subscribe button so you hear from us next time we're live or next time we post.

[00:19:49] I want to take a very quick break. We will be right back with more Edges and Sledges. Welcome back to the Edges and Sledges cricket podcast. Like I said, if you're listening to us on YouTube, hit the like button, hit the subscribe button if you're listening

[00:20:12] or watching us live somehow on on X or Twitter, which we tried to link our connections. Let us know. Let us know how it went. We'd love to hear from you there as well. Varun, before we get to semifinal previews and final predictions. India played Australia.

[00:20:25] It is mind boggling to me how excited everybody was to knock Australia out for Afghanistan to make their first semifinals. I don't think we've ever recorded the day after an India game. And the reason this episode is latest because we were waiting

[00:20:37] for the semifinalist to be turned over. I don't think we've ever recorded a day after an India game and waited till the second half, 20 minutes in to talk about it. That's how big Afghanistan was, wasn't it? Yeah, exactly. Before getting on,

[00:20:51] we said everyone's going to want to talk more about Afghanistan. So we decided to kind of hold back the India piece. But India, India against Australia, I think post 19th November, the trauma like all of us feel it. You know who feels it the most

[00:21:06] is the captain Rohit Sharma. And that really showed. So I'm happy to just do a quick rundown. But basically, you know, this Rohit Kohli opening is in my opinion, it's not working. And let's talk about this at the end, right? In terms of

[00:21:22] there's so many things India could change. They are not going to change even one of them. But let's hypothetically talk about what is the one or two things they should do. But Kohli got out cheaply and then Rohit just went berserk like bull six,

[00:21:40] off drive six, straight six. It was just eight sixes in that innings, 92 or 41. The highest number of sixes by an Indian in any T20 World Cup. And the next was Yuvraj. Now remember, in an innings. He hit six in one over

[00:21:59] and then one in the rest of the innings. He ended up at seven. That's a great stat. So this guy has just I mean, he just went ballistic. I have not seen him that like that. It was like he had something to prove. He just he was swinging.

[00:22:11] It was a high risk sort of a game, but something was connecting. And I just felt like it was a brilliant inning. So I've criticized Rohit a lot. I think he hasn't done enough, but even if he had made half these runs, 41 of let's say 20 balls,

[00:22:30] I still think it was a brilliant inning. So the fact that he went on to 92 was great. Pant Yeah, it was a bit of a mixed inning. He just keeps hitting that reverse sweep. So you kind of got to think at some point, you know, do something different.

[00:22:46] Maybe just play a straight, bad and short. You learn how to be expecting that of you and sky. So so puns went about 100 sky, I think, help Rohit and they changed the game a little bit together. Now, what happened after that in Shivam Dubey was

[00:23:02] I don't know if you want to just kind of voice it out. Look, I like Shivam Dubey but we'll talk about it. Yeah, I mean, I will say to that point, it looked like Rohit was running on a completely different surface at one point.

[00:23:12] I think Kohli and Pant combined were on like had made like two or three runs of 13 balls and Rohit was already at 40. But then Sky came in and made it look pretty easy to or pretty good as well. I mean, it felt like Dubey

[00:23:26] so Dubey had the opportunity to play Zampa a little bit. I'm surprised disappointed they didn't give the ball to Maxwell because that's what we would have been assuming. And I think Dubey could have taken him apart. That's why they did it. But that's good captaincy

[00:23:38] from the Aussies, right? Or, you know, good leadership there. But when I just I feel like I've used this word a lot because again, we sit here saying 28 off 22 on paper in a match where Kohli and Pant couldn't score. It's not that bad, but it looked unbelievably scratchy,

[00:23:54] just incredibly scratchy. Wasn't able to get it away. Would you know what you don't need from him is dot dot dot six. Right. You need you'd rather take one singles every ball you can get and then get four or still obviously you want the six.

[00:24:09] But so for me, if Dubey's come into the team with the role or and we'll talk about the finals, but the semis. But if Dubey's come into the team with the role to be a spin killer in the middle overs, that's not 28 off 22

[00:24:21] with one six is not that. And that's not me saying the pitch was easy to bat on. But on a pitch where Sky hit a couple, Rohit hit eight. You're just like it's not. And Pandya after that hit too. And Bharatik at the end looked phenomenal.

[00:24:37] Bharatik in India colors looks completely different than he looks in Indians colors. And he just looked great. It was great finish. You know, I thought that's at one point, Jadeja would have the opportunity to bat a little longer. He ended up getting a six.

[00:24:51] I mean, on paper at the end of the day, 205 is not bad. But if you are playing a dedicated number five to be a spin basher in Caribbean conditions. I just it was tough to watch, man. And I've said that about him, unfortunately, a few times.

[00:25:04] I just yeah, I think I just feel my personal feeling is that he just tries to hit the ball too hard. And maybe he's thinking the ball is going to come onto the bat and it's not. And my only way to counter that is to hit it harder.

[00:25:19] There's something that he's not got right. I guess it doesn't help that they've played across countries. So he hasn't had the time to kind of really sit and understand the pitch. But at this level, you don't have that kind of time. You know, you get one game

[00:25:32] by the second game. We expect you to understand the conditions and start moving on. So for me, yes, I think if he just tries to time the ball a little bit better, it'll help. And then he also has to realize that there is Pandya,

[00:25:46] Jeddu and Akshay to come. So all the burden of this innings is not sitting on his shoulders. I am pretty sure if you got 28 of 12, the team would have been much happier with him and probably could potentially add another 10 runs to the total because the ball saved.

[00:26:00] So I think he just has to take that burden off his shoulder because Kohli and Pant are a bit of a mixed bag. Sky has been a mixed bag. So yeah, anyway, so like we said, they ended up at 205 and then Warner gets out early,

[00:26:18] which is which was great. But then which was shockingly parallel to Kohli, sadly. Right? Yeah, it was. And Warner, by the way, has retired. Yeah. And so just a plug for him. I mean, I think a great, great player has won every trophy that he's played

[00:26:34] in, including the IPL World Test Championship, two World Cups and one World T20. And I'm not counting. I don't know if he's won a big bash at the Wiley, all of those. So anyway, Warner goes and head and middle marsh kind of build up this partnership.

[00:26:52] And you're thinking, oh, man, this is this is going to be hard. And I, I without even doing the math, I was never worried that we're not going to qualify. It was just a yeah, I actually was very worried until we went to a five,

[00:27:05] to be clear, because if we made 130 and they chased it down and eight over just something, people weren't thinking about it. And yes, so I credit to you. You were right. Yeah, I was more nervous than I needed to be. Yeah, I think you were a little bit.

[00:27:19] And that's fair. You know what happens to India in certain situations, right? So they just, you know, even Max, so Hen gets 76, March 37, even Maxwell got 20 of 12 and everything is moving in the right path. But then I think that Kuldeep's spell was great. And you know what's happening?

[00:27:36] We're all waiting for Kuldeep to come on. So this team is a lot about Kuldeep and Bumrah and very well supported by Arshdeep at the end. If I think through the last few matches, we haven't picked up that many wickets at the start. But Arshdeep has come back

[00:27:49] and picked up two, three in one over at the end. And so credit to him there. But, you know, for me, Ashwin, like Akshar pettails two overs for nine runs when Jaddu and Pandya were getting smashed. Just to put into perspective, Jaddu went for 17 in one over

[00:28:08] and Pandya went for 47 in four. So Akshar pettails two overs in the middle, I think just helped India. Yeah, I mean, 100 percent. I'm going to take a quick plug to talk about Mitchell Marsh. I was batting at 87 for one in 8.5 overs and Kuldeep comes into the ball

[00:28:28] and Akshar pettail, who you mentioned for his bowling, is on the boundary and Marsh swipes it full speed, flat kind of shot. Akshar pettail wrong handed, lefty guy wrong handed with his right hand jumps. I mean, I had I was watching this in real time.

[00:28:45] I had no there was no chance he was going to take it. You'd think I maybe save a boundary by like sort of swatting it out of the air. And he he grabbed it, fell was nowhere close to the ropes. I mean, there's so much so much

[00:28:57] brilliance there. The wind, the ball moved with the wind. Moving ball. Yeah. Wrong handed grabs as fielding coach behind you. Oh, perfect. Just perfect. Right. I mean, full credit. Those are the moments right in a tournament and a short issue. I mean, the final stages of a tournament

[00:29:15] when Travis heads batting and Mitchell Marsh is going for it. He'd already had a couple of sixes. That's that's probably for me was the turning point of the game, because that brought back in enough belief for the Indians. I mean, they ended up being 181 and that's what created

[00:29:29] this whole net run rate dynamic. Right. If they had made 140, 150, it may have changed the equation for Bangladesh as well. But pretty good, pretty good win. Warren undefeated going to the semis. So let's pivot quickly. Does that make you more nervous? Are you wishing we had one?

[00:29:44] I kind of wish we had just lost because it would have been. I mean, there's no logic to this, but it would have been that one loss, maybe a wake up call. Now we go. I mean, technically in Canada, we didn't we didn't beat Canada.

[00:29:55] So do we count that as the loss is rained out? I mean, I think we can safely assume that we would have beaten Canada. But yeah, I mean, look, it's great. The technically what how many games have we played with including the Canada one seven including Canada,

[00:30:12] seven including Canada. And we've played 12 in the last World Cup which is about six months ago. Yeah. So in 19 games, we've lost one. If you like when we can. Yeah, but it's the only one that we can go through. That's what I'm saying.

[00:30:27] So is there something wrong with the team? Probably not. But, you know, as let's get into the India's chance in the semifinals, I think India is playing England. And I think that's going to be very hard because sorry, go ahead. No. So let me ask you, right?

[00:30:43] This may be the first time in a while this is harsh. So take this with a great assault. India has obviously undefeated, but some cracks, right? Coley, I think, has made 65 runs the whole series. That's probably one of the biggest cracks and we'll come back to it.

[00:30:58] England was one mark his toy in the settings away from not qualify. Right. If Australia had done what they could have, England would not have qualified for the semifinals. South Africa needed Marco Janssen to hit a six in the last over against West Indies

[00:31:13] to kind of sneak through. And Afghanistan needed Gulbadeen to kind of cramp, fake cramp. But that's not why they won. Full credit to them. But every team has looked pretty scratchy. So you don't have a dominant, I guess, India probably. You don't have a dominant team. Like this.

[00:31:28] That's the funny thing. This could have easily been Australia and West Indies in these semis, easily. 100%. So talk me through it with that lens then. India plays against England and Guyana, I guess, were playing. And I guess it's first to South Africa, Afghanistan and Trinidad,

[00:31:44] then India and Guyana. So very quickly, first South Africa, Afghanistan. I think both teams are going to go in there thinking this is our shot. Afghanistan is going to think if we bowl second and our spinners turn it on, we have a real shot. Like that's outside chance,

[00:32:00] but we have a real shot. The momentum is on our side. So if you're Afghanistan, you follow the playbook, try to get openers, get some runs, bat runs on the board. I think the risk for Afghanistan is just if you bat first and you get blown away

[00:32:13] for like 75 or something, I think it's very hard to recover. But I think the strength is the bowling. And I think the risk, by the way, you said, Gurbaz, I think injured his knee. So now there's also a high possibility that he doesn't play.

[00:32:28] And knowing this guy's spirit, I think if he can move, I have a feeling he's going to want to play. But it's a big call, right? It's the highest runs called. So and South Africa is going to feel that I can't recall if they've made a finals before,

[00:32:43] but South Africa is going to feel this is our ticket to the World Cup finals. So I'm actually going to be really interested in that game. Now comes to the second one at India versus England. Let's just first acknowledge England. They have. Trashed a couple of these teams

[00:33:01] to get their net run in a situation where they control their own fate. And I think they are just about coming good. Now, Butler and Salt hold the key if they take you back to that last semifinal that we played, they won by 10 wickets. If they get going,

[00:33:19] I think India is in trouble. But if even one or both of them get out, their middle order has not proved well enough and our strength is our bowling. So it's really about those top two wickets in my opinion. Just find a way to get

[00:33:34] those two in England. And I think you have made it. Yeah, I mean, yeah. No, I mentioned South Africa just making through England probably should have beaten them. Right. And they felt short on the day and it didn't end up mattering both teams. But yeah, England

[00:33:50] should have beaten South Africa too. So. Let's do quick predictions. Who's making the finals for you? I would. I mean, I'm going to say India, South Africa. Yeah, I'm going to say India, South Africa. I'll go with it. I'm like, why not? Feel good story at this point.

[00:34:10] Our predictions are more much more wrong than they are. Right. So let's enjoy it and own it. And then what are the questions when it comes? OK, England top heavy. Very clear. I don't think you're changing Kuldip at this point. So I don't think Saraj

[00:34:21] gets a look back and I don't think you do anything with the bowlers. They've played other than the Kuldip Saraj swap. They've played the same 10 guys from the start of the tournament. If you are team India, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid and Virat, who's still

[00:34:34] in the leadership group, obviously. What do you think in going to the Saby finals in terms of combination and or strategy? I mean, OK, let me give you my perspective and then let me just tell you, I think there are lots of things you can change.

[00:34:47] I think you can push Kori to three and make Panto open. It's a small change. Does not involve getting Jaiswal and this so controversial because Jaiswal should be the opener and Panth has done well at three. Panth has done decent at three. OK, he's played it,

[00:35:01] missed a lot. He's fallen a lot. But yes, he's got you some runs. I don't see any difference of him coming opening versus three. Koli at three in these tricky pitches is a better bet. So that's the first change I would make. The next change I would

[00:35:16] like consider is Doubaix. I would still back Doubaix to play one innings in a knockout game. But after seeing Rohit yesterday and his kind of expression and frustration when Doubaix was batting, I think there is an off chance that you may see a Sanju Samson

[00:35:33] or somebody coming in. So that's essentially the second change. And then at the expense of who like I never thought I'd say this, but it's Doubaix and Jaddu, those guys are the two weak links right now. Koli is Virat Koli, right? So let's not talk about

[00:35:50] a weak link there. But between these two, I think it's going to be interesting. But let me say, I don't think they're going to make a change. I just feel these are the three opportunities. Do you think it's fair for a Jassual Samson type to get their first

[00:36:05] World Cup opportunity in a semifinal? Look, it's you're there with the team, you're training, you are not in game scenario, but it's happened before, right? You've you've gone through World Cups in the past where your top three, Dhawan Shikhar and sorry, Dhawan, Rohit and Koli have got you

[00:36:22] through to the semis and suddenly you need Panth and DK and all these Jaddu and Hardik to start playing and performing. Yes, they're in the middle out there, but I think this Samson and Jassual need to just be ready. That's all. And maybe if Doubaix

[00:36:37] holds his hamstring and falls, then Rinku comes in. So there's many things you can do. Yeah, I mean, obviously it's pretty shocking so far. It's uncharacteristic for India to not have had any back spasms or niggles or anything of that sort. But I'm with you.

[00:36:53] I don't think they change anything. I think what it comes down to and actually we have a comment coming in live on YouTube that says India have a very good chance in Guyana. The one English player is performing well in West Indies is Phil Salt,

[00:37:05] exactly what you said. But he hasn't played in Guyana yet and his wicket would be important. So very, very, very interesting. I'm with you, Varun. I don't think I change anything up. I would like to see a little bit more as much as Rohit played a phenomenal

[00:37:19] knock with the bat. And he's captain well as well. So I'd like to see a little bit more creativity with how you use the bowlers. Like if Butler and Salt get off to an absolute flyer, are you, do you leverage Bumrah a little bit earlier?

[00:37:31] If, you know, if Akshar is going for runs, which he probably won't, do you give Jenejam or do you give Dube the ball? I'd like to see us use the fact that we've played four all-rounders for the first time in, consistently for the first time in my memory.

[00:37:46] And so we bat through nine and we have seven bowling options. So that's right. Yeah, like I would like to see us use that a little bit more. That's my only thought. Yeah, that's fair. Right. Varun, crazy day, crazy time. I'm going to be watching the Gulbadeen video

[00:38:01] again and again and again, as I'm sure you have already. Just huge kudos to Afghanistan. Congratulations as well, obviously to South Africa, England and India. It's going to be an exciting semifinals with the games for you and for me are sort of

[00:38:14] you go to bed, watching a game played, you wake up and it started already. It's been both great and a little bit tiring, so it'll be good to be done. And with Euro 2024 season is done, if anybody is missing fake injuries, etc., you'll be able to switch over

[00:38:28] and catch it, because obviously that's a thing football is a lot better known for than cricket. Thank you for joining. Thank you, everybody, for being here. Like I said, if you watch this on Twitter or X Live, leave us a note, leave us a comment.

[00:38:40] We love to know how that's working as well. If you're on YouTube, leave us a comment. We read every single one. We are at one tip one hand on all the social media or even one tip one hand at Gmail dot com. We'll be back after

[00:38:52] it's hard to believe I'm since we'll be back after the World Cup finals. And although we got a big summer of Wimbledon and Olympics and stuff, there's going to be a void when the World Cup finals wrap. But for now, we've got three big games left

[00:39:04] to determine who will pick who will lift the T20 World Cup. This has been the Eddison's Ledis Cricket podcast. Thank you, everybody, for joining us.