Test Match Special - IPL 2026 Predictions, Then v Now, Best Ever Players

Episode Date: March 28, 2026

Amber Samdhu looks ahead to the IPL 2026 with The Traitor's (and cricketer) Faraaz Noor and former IPL star Abhishek Jhunjhunwala.

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player. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Hello and welcome to Strategic Time Out with me, Amber Sandu, the show where we chat all things IPL. Now, it's not long to go until the 19th edition of the competition gets underway. And here we're going to be debriefing it all, from shots to stories to wicket and all the wonderful stuff in between. And each week, I'm going to be joined by a couple of fab guests.

This week, everyone's favourite faith, well, quite surreal. actually, seeing you in person. Traitor's finalist, Farras and all joins us. And a former IPL player knows the competition inside and out. Abishik, Jundrava. Abishak, Farras, hello. Hello. Farras, we're going to come to you first. Now, you are a massive sports fan, but also grew up playing cricket. You still do play as well. Yeah, still playing. Try it anyway. I know, I've seen you batting, actually. You've got the Stuart Broad... Broadie appreciated it, didn't he? So not too bad. For context, Stuart Broad did he? Forer's video of him batting saying shot. So I think that gives you

the approval, doesn't it? Tell me through some of your earliest memories of cricket and watching the IPL. I remember playing earliest cricket is like just playing in the dad with my dad in the gully so to speak playing gully cricket with my cousins as well and stuff. So much fun honestly, I absolutely loved it.

And then I remember just like watching the IPL. You see all the colours with all the kids and everything like that. You see all the stars. You see all the donies and then the pollards and all this and all that. Honestly love it. All the overseas players, I used to really like watching. It was a huge spectacle.

Also, Abyshek, you'll appreciate this as a former player. Show everyone your finger for us. Because you used to be a wicket keeper, right? I used to keep, yeah, but I'm knacket it there. So I had to stop them and just batten off. Now he just, yeah, bats for fun. Abyshek, it's a joy to have you on the episode because you're somebody who knows the IPL inside and out

as a player, as a commentator. You played in 2010 for Rajasthan Royals. Two years into the competition, you could say it was early, the kind of early days of the competition building. What was that like? It was life-changing. It was honestly a bit surreal, especially for domestic cricketers, for international cricketers, for players who were already playing for India.

It was very different. But for domestic cricketers, it was life-changing. To be among the best in the world, to be sharing the dressing room, to be playing with them. And it came out of nowhere. IPL came out of nowhere. Because we didn't have anything like this. No.

Go back to 2008-2009. There was not a franchise tournament like this. So it was a huge gamble. Well, massive gamble, massive gamble. but the way they did it, the people they bought into the tournament, the owners they bought, I mean, you've got to give credit to the BCCI and whoever arranged at all, you've got to give them a lot of credit. They bought the right people to make it successful.

They had a game plan and look at it today. And I guess it's really special for you to look back. You played between 2010 and 2012 for three different teams as well. So we played with a lot of players. But you played under Shane Warren, didn't you, in 2010? I mean, he was a special human, to be honest. And to be able to spend that much time with him was a lot of. extraordinary. In everything he did, he had a big heart, he bagged you as a youngster. I've played

under a lot of captains. I've played with among everyone you can think of the modern day grade of cricket. And I'd never seen anybody operate the way he did. He was obviously such a character as well. There must be some stories. Yeah, I know. We have some amazing stories. I mean, to be honest, we played a lot of poker together because I used to love playing poker. So we played a lot of poker on tour. Every evening probably we'll have a table of eight or nine. And a lot of players from different teams always joined as well because they're always touring sides and a lot of Bollywood joined as well because Shilpa was at that time, Shilpa Shetty was one of the co-owners for Rajasan Royals. So she bought the whole shabang with her. The Bollywood was there. I used to

play a lot of poker with one in his room because he used to love playing poker. And once I remember, so I was playing on his laptop because he was sponsored by some of the poker, massive poker companies where he used to get a certain amount of money to spend every year just playing. and I lost three and a half grand one day. I was playing a hand with his money and I lost three and a half grand and honestly, when I lost that hand, I didn't know what to do.

What was his main? I thought I thought I had to pay him back now. Because obviously he didn't know he was just chilling and I was playing on his laptop and then I just turned around to him and I said, mate, I think I've made a big mess here. What happened?

I think I went all in with three and a half grand and I lost it. But it's all right, mate, you can add that more. It's fine. I've got, in my kitty, I've got more another whatever amount money he had. And I'm like, this is the coolest guy in the world. Proper chicken change.

I've literally lost three and a half grand and he didn't even bother. Who was the best at the poker table? He was. Because whenever we played, he literally, 80% of the time, he'll tell me what hands I was playing on. And not just me, like with a lot of other people. And yeah, it was so funny. And there's another very funny incident we had. So obviously, you know, when you get access to,

a bit of money. When you see everyone around you wearing nice watches, as a youngster, you always want to wear a nice watch. So I bought a nice watch. A couple of other youngsters on the table had a nice watch. And Woney was wearing a nice watch. And he asked me, how much did you pay for that watch? And we were wearing the exactly same watch.

Literally, identical, wearing the same watch. I said, you know how much I paid for it. You're wearing the same watch. But no, go on. Tell me how much did you pay for that watch? I gave him a number. He said, yeah, I paid $150 because I bought them from Hong Kong. They're all fake. But I can get away with it because I'm Shane Warren, you can't. You know, that's what makes him so special.

And these things he does, it's just, it's wild. Yeah, it's why we love warning. You mentioned the Bollywood and the big names. That's the big appeal, isn't it, when it comes to IPL? And you say IPL was quite different then. Yeah. How has it changed in your eyes? Because it has come such a long way in the last 18 years or so.

IPL was very different in the first three years. because you had the IPL parties we stopped after the first three years. Cricket was the prime focus when it started, it always has been, it will always will be. But those parties or the Bollywood was a lot more involved.

You had a lot more into that world which slowly gradually stopped because players were a lot more focused on just the matches because the issue was those parties used to start at 1 a.m. And then they used to carry on till 5, 6. And then they used to carry on

until 5, 6.m. in the morning and then you had a 6.37 o'clock in the flight. Wow. So I think to some extent it took a lot of toll on players and the whole lifestyle around it. And it would not.

No, like imagine having to process. You've just been partying from one till six. Then you've got to go. You've got to go and take a morning flight. For some reason, they always booked us in a morning flight. And we always question that and why not an afternoon flight? You know? T20, but they wanted to test you.

They wanted to test you. They wanted to. I'll be sure. I love the sound of these parties. Tell me more. Can you just paint a picture? Who were the names there? I want to know what did these parties look like?

Take us back. So you really want to get me into trouble. Yes. With all my ex-teammates and my friends. That's what we're here. I mean, see, those parties were amazing because as I mentioned earlier, you got in road to the Bollywood

because your Shah Ruk Khan is there. The Rithik Roshan is there. All the biggest name you can imagine, Salman Khan. I mean, you can name anyone from the Bollywood who were absolute mega-stars. They were there for those parties. So I guess the IPL

tested your resilience in a different way. How hard you could party. Yeah. And how hard you could travel. If you could see the ball after. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of. No one complained.

Oh God. Is it swinging in or I can't see? So obviously those parties, as far as we know, don't exist anymore. But the big change is, of course, the money being one of them, the money that goes into this tournament. Let's just be honest, is ridiculous. You have players just wanting to play franchise cricket now, don't you? Because of the money. Because it's so lucrative.

I'll take you back to 2006. When the IPL started 2007-8, a player who played every single tournament at the first class level would make 10 to 12 grand a year. I'm talking pounds. Which was okay money in India. But it was not a life-changing

money. But when IPL came, players got a taste of a different world. Majority of them went and lived in a five-star hotel for the first time. Learn to eat different cuisines. They put themselves out there in a different way. They had to learn a lot of different things.

manners, this, that these small things which you weren't taught when you're playing domestic cricket, because domestic cricket was never given any sort of importance in Indian cricket. It was all about India. If you're not playing for India, you're a nobody. And to be honest, to some extent, it's still the same case. Still the same. If you're not playing

IPL and if you're not playing for India, even if you're a first class cricketer who's played 80 first class matches, you don't exist. So that's a sad part to some extent, but now at least the money is there. The BCCI has improved the match fees in the first class cricket, which makes a massive difference.

Everyone can have a decent living. They can afford to buy a house. They can afford to buy a car. Which in 2006 and 7, 90, probably 95% of the players couldn't even dream of. So when you said it's life change and that's kind of what you mean. It transformed lives, didn't it? Absolutely. Absolutely. And also, see, a lot of families wouldn't allow players to kids to take up sport.

Doesn't matter with sport. In India, I'm just talking sport. Focus on studies and things like that. Because focus on studies, become a doctor, become an engineer. become something but not sport. First of all, it's a massive risk you take with your life anyway. Because what are the chances of you playing for India out of a 1.5 billion people? The numbers don't add up.

I mean, you literally have to be crazy to even play that sport and try and make it there. But IPL changed that perspective completely. I come from a background where no one ever played cricket apart from me. And since I played and the IPL came in, everyone in my family wanted to be a cricketer. But they didn't understand how difficult

the journey is. Yes. Especially if you want to get to the top. Absolutely. So then when IPL came it kind of just changed the game. Change the narrative changed the game completely. Indian parents mindset. Yeah.

Because we're having a lot of breakout sort of domestic players playing out through the IPL as opposed to all just overseas in it. There's a big focus on Indian players now in the IPL and teams building their teams around them. Well, this was going to be my next question because as we kind of talk about the auction, the teams are kind of set now for this year's tournament. There seems to be this emphasis.

like Farras mentioned, on the uncapped players, on the, I guess, nurturing the homegrown talent. How important is that? I think the whole league started based on that, that we want to give an opportunity to our domestic players. We want to create a massive pool of really, really talented players. Yes, it's taken a bit of time, but I think India now has a pool of players where they can have four different India sides. And probably they'll all challenge every international side in the world. and hence you can see how Indian cricket has grown in the last four or five years

and winning two back-to-back T20 World Cup. It just shows you that the amount of money and time and effort has been invested in that. They are the powerhouse. Absolutely. There is no doubt about that. It's the way they win tournaments well, like the fashion, the win games. They don't win them by slight margins as well, do you know what I mean? These are blockbuster games.

These are blockbuster finishes that we're seeing. What would you say is the biggest change that you've seen in the standard and in the playing that when you played in the IPL as to what it is now? I think the ball striking. I think, I mean, I know it for certain because when we were playing, our team goal would be to try and get to 160 to 170

and 8 out of 10 matches you would win if you get 160, 170. If you get 160, 170 now, you're losing that out of 10. It's not enough, isn't? And the strike rate, even the batting strike rate, 125 was a very good strike rate, it was acceptable. 130 was exceptional.

Now if you're striking at 130, you're not getting picked in any of these IPL sites. So that's how far the game has come. That's how much the game has evolved in the last five or seven years. Very much about batsmen games now, I believe. Well, we were talking about this, weren't we? That it is those pitches, I'm sorry, are just made for batters. And bowlers, ballers not even bowling-poly getting sent for, like, just miles. But I think that's the innovativeness of batsmen and being able to be 360.

Back in the day when you had people like A.B. DeVilliers who were like sort of only be able to pay 360, no only have him. But now you've got everyone being able to play. You've got to adapt. You've got to play all those shots otherwise. The competition is so much that it's very hard if you don't have the all-round game as a batter. And even for the bowlers, I would say they have come a long way. The innovation we have seen in bowling, the kind of deliveries they have come up with. They've got like three or four different types of slower balls. They've got so many different variations.

nowadays. So I think there's a massive opportunity for the bowlers to improve still, because you look at somebody like Just Pete Bumra. I mean, he still goes under seven and over. So definitely there is a possibility for bowlers to try and either adapt or try and find the best things they can from Just Beid Bumra's bowling and adapt to their game and they can be successful. It's not that it's not possible that everyone is getting hit for 10, 11 and over. There are bowlers who are going for 7-8-and-over. Yeah. When it came to the auction this year then, just some key names

for you that really stood out. A lot of teams have retained their players. One for me, I'll just put out there, Cameron Green, being the most expensive overseas. Was it over 2 million as well? I think he's one of the best players in World Cricket right now in terms of what he brings to the table, batting, bowling and fielding.

So he's a complete package. So for somebody like that, you will always expect teams to spend a lot of money, splurge a lot of money. But the real pick for us was those two youngsters by CSK going for uncapped players, going for 14 crores each which is a ridiculous sum Prashan Zvir is one of them imagine you haven't even played first-class cricket properly

you're an uncapped India player you're never even been discussed to play for India and you get picked for 1.4 million pounds I mean... It'd be nice wouldn't it fast? I know, I'll take it better. A bit of chicken change. And now imagine the career they have in front of them

If they do half decent, I'm not even saying they have to be the world beaters the first season because it will be difficult. They'll be under immense pressure. That's the one thing I was going to say when price tags that big, you will have so much pressure on you. Oh, you feel it every second. And I've seen it first time. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Their company's success helped build a nation.

The company is such a big part of Korea's economy. But who are the family behind one of the world's... tech giants. The major corporate empire that we now know today. Samsung. Inherence Samsung from the BBC World Service explores the real-life dramas of the Lee family. There's a succession style drama underneath of all this.

Inheritance Samsung. Listen on BBC.com, the BBC app, or wherever you get your BBC podcast. I would say then, does it take away from the enjoyment of this spectacle then because there is so much pressure on you? And I guess my question that I had for you as well, I'll be sheck, Are there nerves when you watch the auction and who you're going to end up with?

Well, I think every player goes through that. And obviously, when you go for something like one and a half million dollars or pounds, whatever it is, straight away puts a massive pressure because the expectation from your team, if it's at 10% goes to 90%. So automatically that pressure builds on you as a cricketer.

And then to go out there and first of all, have the pressure of winning matches, have the pressure of the home crowd, and then on top of that, You have the pressure of performing to that expectation of the money you've been paid. It all adds up. So you can imagine the kind of, I mean, how mentally strong you need to be as a human being as a cricketer or as a player to be able to perform under those circumstances.

And that's what makes these players so special. It's interesting to see behind the scenes of sort of professional changing room, because I was wanting to ask sort of when you have more senior players who might not have gone for such high prices, looking at junior players who have got that, do they sort of, feel that they wanted to put that reliance onto them junior players even though they've not sort of got the credit for that. It's just from the price tag. Did you see that happen? No, I don't think they put that reliance on them because at the end of the day, see, what price you get picked in the auction, it has nothing to do with you. So you cannot go to

a youngster. If you're somebody like, say, Quentin DeCock, who's gone sold for, say, 200,000 this year, which he's gone for the base price. And he's got young cricketers who has not even played International Cricket, who was uncapped players playing for 1.4 million. Obviously, Quentin Gucke, that kid has nothing to do with anything in this process. It's all to do with the franchise and what they think the values of the player. But if you're Quentin Dicke, you're definitely sitting there and thinking. Especially someone who knows the tournament so well. Yeah.

That this is not right. Out of curiosity, what sort of is that split? So if someone gets sold at an auction, how much of that money goes to the player? Everything. penny, apart from the taxes you've got to pay in whichever country you're from, but every single penny goes to the player. Fas, were there any names for you that really

stuck out who's looking fairly strong for you in terms of squads? To be fair, I think obviously Mumbai Indians are looking quite strong, as always, but they always do every year. They're one of the big dogs, though, are they? Five titles? Yeah. The same with Chennai as well. They always do, and I think

when they're in their taint players, so like the Hardik Panjas is like a proper clutch player. But sorry, but how much pressures on him. Not only has he got to perform as an all-rounder, but also lead the side as well. I do worry. I don't know. I do worry that... But I think he's such a cool cut. He'll take it in his stride. Yeah, I think because, see, there was a lot of expectation of him when he was a captain of Gujarat and they won the title under him. And then he moved to Mumbai Indians. And there was a lot of,

I mean, what do you call it? A rumours that the deal he got himself was that you need to get Rohit out of the captaincy and I need to lead Mumbai Indians. So that automatically puts you under immense pressure. You're carrying the brand there. It's different when you've got Godraat Titans and they won the title. It's fantastic. You carry now Mumbai Indians brand on your shoulders.

And also the legacy of Rohit Sharma who's won five titles. I need to replace him and then not do well, which they haven't in the last couple of seasons. So he's under immense pressure. Yes, he's the World Cup winner. He's done really well as a player. But he'll be just how well he does as a skipper, given that he's got the best side.

He's got five World Cup winning players in his side. And you've got to deal with those personalities as well, haven't you? As a fun view in it and viewing how he plays, I feel as if he'll just love it and he'll try and thrive under that pressure. He will. Because the crowd will love him. See, also there was obviously, Just with Dumra was looked at the next skipper for Mumbai Indians, right? Being a vice captain, he was certain to get that role.

You don't know what's going on. But he must have felt that that roller should have gone to me. that has been two years now so things must have changed immensely but yeah he will be under immense pressure to keep his captaincy if he doesn't win I definitely think Pandya will take that pressure

and with stride and absolutely love it but I know some players handle pressure in different ways have certain superstitions so I was wondering to ask you Abashik in the changes did you ever see any certain superstitions that you thought that's a bit strange

and the first superstition you see with players is the spot where they sit because everyone comes in and they pick their own spot and then they don't want to move especially in the hon matches and then what colour grip that's so so important for every player

so you're grip on the bat? The bad's the handle the grip colour it's a massive superstition for players did they want it sort of matching maybe the kit or just nothing to do with that

it's just that you know how it happens that I used to play with their yellow grip and one day I mean my grip was completely worn out and I couldn't find a yellow grip. I was absolutely livid with myself that I didn't have enough yellow grips in my kid bag. And one of my friend had a white grip

and I'm like, you know what, who cares? I'm just going to get the white grip, put the white cone on. And I got 100 that game and never ever played with any other colour. So, you know, these sort of things. And superstition comes from that. What was sort of the biggest change that you've seen from superstitions? One player might change into another?

I mean, I used to be fascinated by watching Soar of Ganguli put his bad grip because he used to have a very, very thick grip at the first time. I mean, he used to put five or six grips, which I never could hold the back. Show that just weighs it down. Yeah, literally that fat. And then he has this habit of cutting a strip into like such small pieces and putting them in different places in the grip where only he could make sense of those things. Right.

Which for everyone else, it was weird to hold that grip because it was just up and down, it was lumpy, it was just weird. But for him it works. For him it works. So you see that with so many players. I mean, Chris Gale's bat. You can't lift Chris Gale's bat. It's like Thor's hammer.

It was like Thor's hammer. Literally you couldn't lift it. It was that heavy. I tried a few times. No, no chance. With my muscles, absolutely no chance. So, you know, all these things you see with so many different players. It's so interesting actually.

I'm sure it happens across the sports. Yeah. Yeah, it is funny to see how it translates from club level, like, to what I play at, and it goes to international level and they'll even take it to a next step. Yeah, absolutely. It is funny. Yeah, if there's any club superstitions for you when you're going out to back. So for me, I don't have too many.

It be fair, but we have obviously in the home changing room. We have certain people have their spots. And there's definitely big kickoff if someone goes to sit there. So they have them. So if you have someone new sign and we sort of let them know where to sit and where not to sit. Unspoken rule, isn't it? Like, that's my question. corner.

Yeah, absolutely. And especially if a junior comes in, he's in trouble. Yeah. I mean, senior members, you're still got to be respectful. And sometimes if he's a bigger name, you're a bit worried about going and telling him, that's my spot. You might get into a bit of trouble. Yeah. But for the juniors, yeah, you just go, I might, what you're doing.

Yeah, yeah. Over there, me. Yeah. You sit on the floor. Yeah. Let's have a look at last year then, because quite a special year for RCB. after getting to so many semifinals and nearly there, they finally won the title after 18 years.

Does that make somebody like Virat Kohli one of the greats when it comes to the IPL competition? I mean, to be honest, if you ask me, even Virad didn't win an IPL, I think he still go down as one of the greats because of single-handedly the way he has performed, the way he is... But yeah, winning a title makes a massive difference.

He was literally in tears after the final against Punjabi. I think the women team put far too much pressure on them after winning that WPL, so they had to win it. It was like Satching getting 100-100s. It just wasn't happening. And then he just wanted to. It was just ticking that box and he's done it now.

So can he now just go into this sheer season and be like, I can enjoy it now because I've won a title. I think he would want to win one more. I think what RCB, I always used to see it is there used to be an incredible batting side. Always, like, you'd look at the batting line up for years and you'd think like, this is ridiculous. How are they not winning leagues?

But I feel as if that ball in depth wasn't there. But now that they've got that balance and they're always really nearly there. So it's really not. nice to see him get over the line last season because when you've got big names out that, it's bount to happen at some point, you know what I mean? Yeah. Obviously, Koli is up there as one of the great guys.

Who else is up there? Who is in your top three greatest IPL players? I think Surya Shrana will be right up there as well. Really? What he has done in the IPL, yeah. He has been exceptional in the IPL for Chennai. And I think a lot of credit goes to him for all the trophies Chennai has won. Rohit

again he has been incredible it's hard to pick but one man who I think was changed IPA I mean what he bought to the table in the IPL no one else did and I don't see anybody else doing that was Chris Gale

he's in mine yeah Chris Gail he was I mean honestly when we were playing and when we were playing the IPL yeah you had the likes of Virat and Doni and everyone but just genuinely when Chris walked the room.

You do not want a bowl at Chris Dale. Everyone stood up. It's literally the aura he had. I mean, it's very hard to match that aura, especially in the IPL. And what he's done for the IPL. I mean, people lost IPL because of Chris Gail. I was one of those.

Which very few players could come on, that kind of respect. He is the epitome of IPL for me. Well, absolutely. I think when I look back in IPL, I think I give a lot of credit to the success of IPL, there are moments which which made IPL what IPL is

is one of those knocks from Brendan McCullum 170 in the very first game that I think that was a perfect start for an IPL IPL couldn't have asked for anything more and then it was Chris Gale I mean the sort of cricket he played and you know the way he is

the fans he can bring to the table like to any anywhere he goes I've been very fortunate recently to play a couple of legend stuff with him and still you see him walking around anywhere and the fan following his god, especially in India, is second to none.

Yeah. Yeah. Solid top three there. For us, we've given you a little bit of time to think about yours. Your top three? Yeah, so this favourite plays for me,

Chris Gale has to be there. Universe boss. I think he's just entertainment, pure form of entertainment and him as a character as well. As he said, like his aura, just the way he carries himself. Even when he bowls when he's got his glasses on

and stuff, like, honestly, unbelievable. Another one for me, DJ Bravo. I love watching Bravo play, honestly, class. Just like when I was a kid, just the feeling he got his celebrations as well. You know what I mean? Absolutely love him. And then West Indian Hattrick for me, Kieran Pollard, he was genuinely my favourite player growing up.

I think just seeing him such a big stature. I got to see him actually last week as well. And he was even bigger in person. He's huge, isn't he? Honestly, unbelievable. And what he contributed with bat and ball, he was just pure entertainment for me. So I love them three is watching them as players. Pure joy.

No surprise. I'm going Virat. I'm going MS. Donnie and I'm going Chris Gale. And I thought I was, you know, I've got Mumbai Indians, Chennai and Bengal representation there. There we go. There's my top three. But Chris Gail, I love that Chris Gail was on all of our three.

Yeah, he has to be. I think he's an absolute great of the IPL. Right then, let's talk this year. Before I ask you, who's your money on? Who are those players that we need to keep an eye on? I feel as if Jacob Bethel will have a really good. another breakout season as well. I think he'll do really well.

I know obviously he had a good World Cup and he's sort of on people's radars now and I feel as if maybe this tournament he'll even exceed them expectations. So for you, Jacob Bethel. No, I think Jacob Bethel, obviously, he's one of the most talented young cricketers in the world by a distance.

The innings he played against India was a bit ridiculous to be honest. He's a fearless player, is he? He's a fearless player. And also he's got so much talent. And he's somebody who's a bit different than a modern-day T-20 player, he doesn't go out there in slog. He actually plays cricketing shots, which is so, so special,

which is really refreshing to watch. And he's one of those players who's exceptionally good against PIN, which you don't really see that very often in players from Australia, England, anywhere apart from the subcontinent. So it's somebody who plays PIN a subcontinent. And if you can play Spin well, you'll be very successful in India. Yeah. Yeah.

One for me, Kartik Sharma. Yeah. I think, I don't know, he's had such a great domestic season. I don't know. I think he's, and he's also his strike rate last year was insane. It was like 164. So he's somebody for me that I'm like, I think he's going to have a good season. I think Deweil Brevis is as well.

He's a very special player. I think he's going to do something amazing. He's got so much talent. There's so many amazing young cricketers to look forward to in this tournament. All right, then. Probably the question you don't want to answer, but I'm going to ask you anyway. Who's your money? On, who is going to win the title this year?

You know what? I think Hardik Pandya's boys will do it. You reckon Mumbai Indians for a sixth title? I generally think Mumbai Indians will do it again. And he'll take them over the line. I think it'll just thrive under that pressure. And I feel as if they're absolutely star-studied team. So I think they'll go all the way.

All right, then. So for Faz, it's going to be Mumbai Indians. I'll be checked for you. I'm going to put you on the spot. I think I'm going to go with a couple of low-key teams. Go on. The Delhi, because the balance they have. They don't have big names, but it's such a balance.

that I'll be very surprised if they don't make it to the top four at least. And then Punjab because of Sharia Shayao. Yeah. I absolutely love that guy. My kind of heart is with Punjabi. And I know everyone's in the comments. It's going to be like, because you're Punjabi. I don't care because when it was the final last year,

I'm a big Koli fan, but also Punjab. So I was kind of conflicted. But I would love Punjab to get a title. I would love Punjab to get the title because of Shreashayor. Yeah. But what he has done and also, I mean, in my personal opinion, he should have been picked in every India side. So talented.

He's such an unbelievable player and he's done so well whenever he's got an opportunity in the last 12 to 18 months. So just to look past him every time, I think it's a bit unfair. So just for that sake, I think he should be the highest run-getter in this year's IPL and should win the trophy.

Hey, it's going to be a big tournament. Thank you both for joining me. It's been an absolute joy. We'll be back next week where we'll have had a number of fixtures to debrief and we'll see you there. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio Their company's success helped build a nation.

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