Just four days after the Indian cricket team breached through the Asia Cup tournament, winning the title without a single defeat, the team finds itself playing in a different format, Test cricket, that too at home, where the result was once again similar.

There was a sweeping victory where the Indian team won the first Test by a whopping margin.

It was one whole innings and one forty runs, and then they won the second Test by seven wickets.

And such as the life of Indian cricket team players that they are already I guess headed or they will be heading to Australia to take on the Australian team in a series of odias and T twenty cricket.

We're recording this on Tuesday, right after India has beaten West Indies and I guess it's credit to the West Indies that they managed to take the second Test at least to the fifth day after the three day capture that we saw.

Hello, this is Ahmad Kamat and uh this is Game Time Podcast.

Joining me today is Venkata Krishna B who has a few thoughts about Indian cricket and this new era of Indian cricket under various captains who are not called either Koli Wen Welcome to the show.

Thank you for joining us.

Hi everyone, Yes, it's good to be back on Game Time podcast with you at.

I know we just have both of us.

We don't have vinkor mehiras as been the case before.

But yeah, I think we can make this one and show them like, okay, we can do a choice without like how we'd have been doing it with.

I like how you were taking this opportunity of their absence to take digs at them and stir up trouble.

But I'm not going to go ahead rock the board because once you leave this episode, I have to join the next episode with the two of them, and I would rather not be cornered in a podcast.

So I mean, whatever it is that you are trying to start your I want no part of it.

So to leave you hanging, I guess yeah, it's okay, Like he's just like some thing in the Indian team, you know, right.

I think probably that people will get the reference.

That is a very smooth way to talk about Indian cricket.

But that is exactly what happens.

One day you are best friends with somebody, next day you are competing for the same role.

I guess one day you are somebody is meantor the other day that your protege is basically your captain.

And these sorts of things sometimes happen in Indian cricket.

I'm not saying it's happening right now.

I'm just saying that these sorts of things can happen in Indian cricket.

But yeah, coming back to the point, We've had an Asia Cup series where you know, the Indian team went unbeaten through the whole tournament and in what will basically please the masses, they've beaten Pakistan three times, including in the finals, and most of those games they barely look challenged.

Now we come to the West Indies tour where you've gone through two Tests without essentially being made to blink at all.

It did not even seem that in the second Test they would have to come out to bad for the second time after vosing follow on, but somehow they've had to come out and back the second time.

What do we take away from these two twos?

Venkert from the Asia Cup itself and the series against West Indies.

Tham both friends like T twenty Yes, it was like the start of the new season as well as for the t THWT World Cup is concerned, you need to have like a core group, right.

I think India.

Definitely used Asia Cup to identify it and the conditions in Ui, which would be like pretty similar to what India will face in the World Cup at home next year, would have just like and how well they did it would have definitely pleased it because conditions.

I don't think it'll be as slow as what it was in Ue, but definitely it will be like some sort of familiar conditions every now and then, especially if they're gonna play Pakistan or in Austrilan Cup in the Nucles, they could face similar challenges.

But I think overall it went pretty well for them.

But having said that, I think they were like more key on getting back into the test groove a lot.

That's what you got the message from the Serectorces as well.

How they've named a strong squad for the evening it was West Indies.

They could have listed a couple of players and they could have still managed to win the series.

But nonetheless they thought okay, like no, let's put the best team out there in the park.

Because the defeat the series defeat against New Zealand still hurts a lot.

In this Indian team, there are like a lot of I mean a lot of players have moved on, but there are like supposed staff I've remained the same and there are like a few players who have still had the hangover of their defeat.

So it's sumpletely Understoodbly, yes, we thought, like okay, India would definitely beat West Indies, which is without a winning Indian soil since nineteen ninety four.

That was a given, there is no two ways about it.

But just how well they started the home should kill As a captain.

That should be encouraging, right, because that seems to be like a templay they want to follow, which Gill themselfs reveal in Ahandaba that they want to play long, grinding test cricket in home conditions.

They don't want to play on turners or something or like, because that helped like spinners a lot.

So in that sense you got to see both right and both the tests.

It is like daily though they had to like literally grind it out because the pictures are like didn't offer much assistant to the spinners.

But still India could easily like.

Manage that even the sound week it when nevertheless sounds big right, it isn't no thing coming.

It is not a yes distin did you expect them to fight?

And they fought in the final innings of the tests, so which is good.

But again it was not enough for them to get a job done.

But for India, I think these two series back to back in different formats, in different conditions, I think they have ten out of ten in both places.

Right, ten out of ten probably it was.

But we could just talk about this series defeat against New Zealand because I remember Gambier also spoke about this before the start of the Delely Test when he sat down with the broadcasters for an interview.

He was telling Aka Shukra that you know, we should not forget about the New Zealand series and that defeat clearly rankles them to the point that they have made it a point to keep reminding themselves in a sense of what had happened the last time they played they hosted a team in India for a test series.

Definitely because the last time just around the same time that Newsland came to India and then it just like everybody were looking forward all the talk was around the Australia too that was coming up.

It is so much that you forgot like what was lying in front of you.

The immediate challenge was like sort of overlooked, and all the focus on Australia too.

So that's where I think.

India sort of like I wouldn't say they were complacent, but they thought like, Okay, we have like not lost a Test series at home since twenty twelve, and we've just lost not even like handful of Test manager you lost at home.

We just lost like four games in the last ten years.

So will New Zealand trouble as maybe, but they're not going to like sort of win series or whatever.

That's what seems to be the thinking, right, Like, I mean, it's.

Completely understandable how if that was a caseester because India had been like literally the final fronte that teams couldn't beach at all, so and they had like everything that home record.

They had like batsmen who was returning.

To form, You had like a young cup of Ba's not coming through, and you had like a strong spin attack.

But I think that was a series where it was like a India got like a proper reality chick right.

That's where it really showed them the mirror.

Listen, a couple of your senior batsmen are not the same anymore, and your lead spinner isn't the same anymore.

You just need to probably need to evolve.

You just had to like check your balances.

So I think that's where everything started to turn around.

And Australia you saw how it went right.

You know that it was India this time.

They were never in with the chance of like even I mean, I would say like the winning the first Test itself was a very good achievement.

From beyond that, it was like, there are the same close moments, but we never came close to consistently challenging Australia on any of the other remaining fortests.

So it was a bit of thing.

So in England you saw them press a reboot button and starting a race and then now you're continuing, and that's what India like being after the news and series got over, there are some conversations that, Okay, this is going to happen.

We can't like immediately change plans for Australia because already things are in place.

But they were already looking at the twenty twenty six Border Govers for trophy.

That was their planning.

They were like, okay, now is the time to reboard.

Let this Border Govers CULTR.

If you get going, let's finish it, and then we'll start the transition.

And they want a team that is like in the good shape when Australia come home visit here.

They want a team that is up and running at its peak.

And I think that's where like the team is like sort of molding itself into They're like, of course there is like few spots here and there up for grabs, and then like you have like size to the trying to cimit a spot at number three or if there could be a space for anybody else, we'll twenty time wle s in.

But it's like overall you can see like okay, your core is being formed, it's already in place, and now it's like all about like sort of letting it like sort.

Of hanging and like sort of take cores from here.

That's what they want to do.

Ideally, So after this we have South Africa Series at all, which again won't be easy.

India not going to take it lightly that as well, and then you have a challenging tour Astri Lanka because where the conditions, if they remain spin a friendly, it is no doubt it's going to challenge the Indians because playing spin doesn't come as naturally to many of the current Indian beast and as it does in the previous eras.

So that Sri Lanka series will be a challenging one.

I'm not saying India will like struggle, but it will be very very challenging.

They need to like have the right players and you need to like properly.

They should have some redball games behind them.

Is we're talking about next August?

That is so I think post right pl they could play some games here and there to just get themselves like ready.

And then you have New Zealan end of the year and which is akain a very very difficult country to do because you get to play only two test matches and then it's not like Ostradia or England where you go there like ten days in advance where you prepare India off late whenever they go to news then it's only for a couple of tests in the recent past decade or so, so what they do they just go there for five days in advance and then just have three foot practice days and then they go right into the test batch.

I think it's not enough because in seeming.

Conditions you need a bit more time and the New Zealand with the same attack, they'll always cause problems for India, so give on all of it.

It's like the start against West Indies where they had to be absolutely ruthless.

I know everybody says just West Indies, but they had to show that ruthless side that Okay, listen, we're going to get it back.

That's what the Indian team did the last ten years.

They were like ruthless as a pack.

Never mind the opposition.

They wanted to like come all guns blazing.

That's what they were doing.

So it's good they're getting shades of it, but still a long way to go for where to arrange the past of the New Zealand series.

They still have a long long way to go with We.

Could also talk to us about this upcoming tour of Australia itself.

Right, we have Rat and uh Row in the side, obviously not the captain anymore.

It's Schumann Guils team now it's Schumann Gills era, if we can.

Call it that.

You know you spoke about just before England we kind of pressed the reboot button in a sense, and then we saw the results in England as well.

Talk to us about what this two of Australia, what we should expect from it, considering Schumann will be at the Helm for Odeas for the first time obviously T twenty May you have Suria leading the team.

What should fans expect from this tour from India with.

Rohit and were turning.

Ultimately all the focus is going to be on both of them in the odos this audio say, this is pretty much in consecution in many ways.

You still have the ODIO World Cups in long way to go, and then India are saying like, okay, listen, that World Cup is still far like me just exactly have two years and there is still no certainty whether these truly part of the.

Plan going forward.

So it's like now we have every series that play is going to be off, like all ice is going to be on them, whether if they have any credit to like if happened to like.

Have a quite serious what happens next?

This is a question that is going to hang around forever until they decided because it's a very peculiar spot they find themselves in.

Like you have seen pickeaters who give up T twenty's and play just odees and tests, and you have like players who have given up press cricket and just play ode s T twots.

But we still are in a place where they are given up both T twenty ice and tests and they just want to play odi ice.

It's a very peculiar case, right, It's like it's going to be like test them a lot because they don't have many games.

They don't have enough games to play.

Because even if.

You retire some of the past, if say like somebody like retired from trist cricket and they just want to play T twenty, they are playing all these global T twenty leagues and they are like finding themselves.

Fit and going.

And similarly those who just gave up white ball and was playing with the red Buck cricket, they're playing county cricket and other stuff just to keep themself going.

But with odio ice, there's not much competition all around them, even across the world.

You you pose this Australia series, the witch has a right toffee happens to be the only sort of right on this that Cody Andro Hitchama have and after that they have the series against South Africa and then New Zealand.

So it's a very tight spot they find themselves in, so they need to keep scoring.

They had to keep proving all over again, like listen, listen, I'm not missed out.

My skill, it's the same level, My inter city is the same.

They can probly going by what we saw in chinesetopee, we have all the reasons to believe, okay, they can keep it going.

But since then a lot has change, like they have like retired from one formator an other.

And how they're going to overcome this obstacle, which is like sort of new to them, will determine how far their ODO career goes from here, because if they feel like okay, it is like there is a long to too much of gap and they're not able to like keep it up.

I don't know how long they will play, whether they will be match fit, and what is going to be like it's going to be like a real struggle for them.

You talk about Donie, he keeps using ten minutes of pickets terns for IPL for two months, but even then he struggles, right at forty four, it's like relatively understandable with the two they're going to be in the same thing, but with a.

Bit of age by this side.

So it's got to be like a very interesting face for these two cricketers and for me personally, if you're looking at the Australia White Boss series, I'm what the thing I'm most looking forward is the T twenty A series.

It's going to be like absolute absolute like in ww SIGN.

It's going to be like a proper SmackDown because we have to really go T twenty teams and wicks and pictures in Australia gott to be like really flat and it's going to have like runs in it.

So because again the start of the season, because it'll be fresh as well, so it'll be like good games right like in Austlia we always love you just afternoon games.

That it'll be.

It may not be in the peak time, it's going to be an afternoon games, but you have enough time to like sort of just sit back after a good launch and then just enjoy the cricket like it'll be like awesome.

That much would be great and you have like like I said, it's going to be two really good teton.

Besides like gonna like critic gase each other.

You have like batting vice is going to be like both teams, I mean a five power and then boarding vicel so that is enough in both sides.

So it's like five games.

It's really like a popcorn stuff.

Man, you just need to get some popcorn.

Just get in and just watch cricket or if you want something else so you can enough fee too by Masham.

I probably wouldn't watch cricket with any kind of stuff.

I mean this is a personal preference.

But anyway, but when you know, you spoke about this very tight spot that you said that we are and and you know, first of all, what is the since that the selectors have kind of sent to Rohit when they've not retained him as captain, but also kind of said that, you know, the World Cup is far away, but we're still essentially planning for the World Cup even though it comes almost like two years later down the line.

I think it is simple.

See when you know that Okay, by next World Cup will be forty, there is no guarantee that he's going to be around.

There's no guarantee about that.

You can't guarantee the form he's going to be in, or if that is by chances any fitness related issues, then India will be like suddenly looking for a new captain.

I think that they want to avoid it because that's a hallmark of a good site.

I think they are like doing what Australia did in previous errors where they were like such they were ruthless selectors.

I remember, like in two thousand and two or two thousand and one they lost a Try series.

I mean they didn't qualify for the Try series at home involving New Zealand and South Africa.

And the first thing they did they got rid of Steve war and made to Key Potting the captain.

So that's sort of a thing.

That's what Australia were like man at it back then, right.

They didn't show any mercy when it comes to like compromizing the quality of the side.

That's why it made them like go unbeaten into successive World Cups.

They were like totally they were like unmatched.

Sid and India given their white ball resources and the depth they have, they feel like okay, they can like add a couple of CC titles to their name.

So in that sense they feel like, Okay, given how Schumann Gil went about his performance in England, I think that's what would have like probably helped them as well to just sort of hurry with the decision for the Australia to probably if Gil didn't have time to like buide into his role or taken some more time to like just fit in those things, they would have thought, Okay, let's not burden them with another responsibility of the side as well.

Let's like take it simple, like let's give him some more breathing space.

But Gil not only like score runs, he also showed like he has like sort of Gordon on him as a captain as well, So they thought, like, okay, when a captain is high, there's nothing in cricket like confidence really use.

Yes, there is runs and everything, but confidence ultimately matter cricket.

There's a lot goes on the mind.

But that's why they say it's a crickets a mind game.

And then when you have some like Gil who's like in top of his thing, they would have thought, Okay, this is the right time to give it to him.

Just give it to him and then let's see there is always like two years there is like Rohit as well to Goom as well been in assistment required which the luxury doesn't have in test cricket, right, so he can learn a lot and you have Virata as well, so it is sort of helps both in ingradant in multiple fronts.

Yes, you're not completely saying like two legends, okay, like enough is enough, but they're looking at them as like, okay.

Listen, we need you.

We saw like him during the chapters Trophee, how much they brought to the table, both Rohit and Virat in terms of like playing the tournament cricket and in terms of like just adu in their game to the conditions.

I think that's where this Indian team needs a bit of like sort of help to the answers because ODIs we have played very less odio ice the recent times.

And then it's a format where you need to like be shifting between different gears.

In test cricket, you have can get into one variant, you can just play in your third gear or whatever you can in top gear.

But in ODIs you need to keep shuffling every now and then.

I think that's where the Indian selectors also field.

Okay, let's bank on these guys to provide the young batsman some sort of input on these lines.

They will also learn a lot from how to pay some innings in odias and stuff.

And this is like what like I said earlier, I think it's going to be a series by series for Bodo and yes Thestulia series there, but even if they fail, I think the current home season which includes South African Newsland, I think in selectors will give them opportunities still then.

But post IPL is where it will probably get a little bit interesting.

Right, you know, while he was explaining some of the selections right in that also you mentioned this point that you brought up that you know, we are not playing too many odias to begin with, and that also kind of makes it slightly harder for somebody like a Rocherman art because as you said, there's not too much cricket in Odia format that they can anyway play.

If you are probably gearing up for the Test team, you could go play Raji if you are trying to go so you know, play for only the T twenties.

There is obviously multiple events happening.

There is the IPL itself, there is Syed Mushtakali things like that, so for these two guys, how much does this tour of Australia kind of matter because as you said, you know, obviously there is going to be the tour of South Africa, New Zealand all of that happening.

But for them to tell the selectors, tell the rest of the think tank of Indian side that, you know, boss, we might have retired from the two other formats and you don't see us a whole lot these days playing cricket, but as you mentioned, we are still key cogs of that team that won the Champions Trophy very recently.

It will be like, I'm more interested to see watching were at whatever was under his game is not going to change a lot because at three he has been doing the same role and with just like a little bit of peaks here and there depending on the scoring rate and stuff.

But I'm just interested to see how Rohma goes about it.

Right, because since the lead up to the twenty twenty three World Cup, starting with the Asha Cup, if I don't right, he has been playing one particular brand of cricket where he wants to take the attack to the opposition and wants to give the game, won the game in the.

First ten overs.

That's what he's been trying to do.

He's been at the forefront of this.

India's new the current setup, like the batting formula they have incorporated.

Bean has been at the forefront of it.

Like he has been like leading the charge.

He's been like he doesn't mind getting out even after like ten hours.

He's been like going in terms of striker, That's what he's been like looking at and from there on he has like ensure that the rest of the batting order gets the platform right, That's what he's been doing so far.

Now he's not the captain anymore.

Now what is it going to do to him?

Now he has to take care of his spot as well.

Right, it's got to ultimately play in his mind.

Now, what does it do?

Like he's he going to employ the same formula or he's going to say, like, okay, listen, I've done that role.

I was like selfless.

I was like a self less capinal dated.

Now it's a Guil team.

He will have his own ideas and he will have his own formulas.

So should I keep doing the same thing or should I go back to my original the old rohait of old, which was like nothing different it was like he used to start pretty cautious leading and then as in once he crosses hundred he used to explode.

That does the of the old.

Now I'm waiting to see whether he goes back to doing that or he continues to remain the road two point zero version in white ball cricket.

Because both have been effective in their own ways.

They've brought like provided Indian team with good success.

Be it like the providing impedus at the top straight away is no easy thing.

It is like very few or capable of doing it.

And then Hit has shown that it comes naturally to him and even building a foundation and then exploring how once he ex casses three figure mark again that comes very naturally to do it, he will be like toying with the gaps here and there.

He will like just like natural sitter.

So I've just seen to see how Rod goes about that in Australia.

That will like sort of determine if he gets caught in a two minds, then he will be neither here neither there.

Then it could be like sort of could be a slippery rope for it.

So I'm just hoping, like lo Hip when he comes goes to Australia.

He'll be like, okay, listen, this is what I'm going to do.

This is what my plan is.

Or rather he was the pre management with Corey.

Yes, he is somebody who's been like sort of being away right you don't I mean Rohith you see here and there with Corey.

You don't see him often these days.

He lives in UK and then we don't get to see him a lot as well, so there'll be like definitely there'll be like a lot more attention or eyes on him as to how he goes about it.

So but again, if there's one player who's like ours to all this.

Noise and everything, it's Coley and Curly in Australia, we would like to always like to see the Cody of the old right, like who can like forget the knock and how bad and stuff.

So if he can like get back that face, if you could get a second wind, like say switch in Tender perform in Odia is between two thousand and seven twenty.

Eleven, then we might be in for a treat.

I don't know whether it's like again, it's just like me assuming that Cody will prefer to play till twenty seven World Cup because he doesn't speak to the press as he used to do before, so it's all like sort of I'm just declating from here, but it would be nice to hear his sort of what is going through his mind as well where because Cody, if he wished to, could a carry on in test cricket, but he's said enough is enough, So.

Yeah, we have to see where they go from here.

Right, I think that's kind of all the time we have for this episode.

N Thank you so much for joining us and talking cricket for this while and for our listeners.

Guys, this is our episode for this coming week after a short Devali break.

We will be back the week after this, so thank you so much for listening.

And I guess, as Venkert said at the start, we'll let you guys decide whether not having MII ran Vinaik is the best thing for this podcast.

That's just a jue, But thank you so much for listening.

We'll be back the week after next.

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