Test Match Special - Strategic Timeout: Malan & Faraaz talk IPL, ball tampering, and captaincy pressure

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

Strategic Timeout is available to WATCH, in full, on the BBC Sport Youtube channel and on BBC iPlayer.Amber Sandhu, Faraaz Noor and former England international Dawid Malan break down the biggest IPL 2026 talking points. From captaincy debates and pressure moments to high-scoring games and standout performances, the panel explore what’s shaping the tournament so far. With insight from Malan’s IPL experience, the episode dives into the role of captains in T20 cricket, the value of all-rounders in the modern game and whether experience is becoming more important than ever. Plus, the team discuss the Impact Player rule and a wider ball tampering controversy.

You can keep up with all things IPL by watching strategic timeout, info on the BBC Sport YouTube channel and BBC IPlayer. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Hello and welcome to another strategic timeout with me, Amber Sandu, the place where we chat all things IPL. And today I'm very pleased to say, former England player, David Milan, joins me. And he's back for a second week in a row, Traders Finals for Arsenal. welcome both. It's lovely to see you. Let's get straight into it. It's been an event for a few days or so of the competition. What have we liked the look of then? What has stood out? What have the highlights been for you whilst you've been watching? I'll let David go first as a guest. Oh, throw me under the bus there. Well, I think that one of the things that stood out is the high scoring. Secondly, the fact that teams chasing have found it so much easier, whether that's the impact rule or not. But it seems like even if you score 220, you're pretty much out of the game. And I really like to see that.

see all the old boys row it and Coley back in the runs. That's what you want to see in these IPLs. They're just showing that age is just a number, aren't they, in their 30s and absolutely. Forms, temporary, class is permanent. Oh, here we go. Clip that up. For you, what have you liked the look of for us? I think, again, just echoing what David said, especially that Mumbai Indians chase.

I think chasing 224 and chasing it four down as well is like absolutely ridiculous. And the opening partnership was unbelievable. Can we also just mention 15-year-old Faber? of Surrey Avanchi, scoring a 15 ball 50. Part of me is just like, if you'd start at 10 years old, what could have happened? It could have been 10 ball 50s, right? I know, he is phenomenal, isn't he? I mean, the fact that he can walk, I mean, his first IPL last,

he walked and hit the first ball he faced for six, and then to come out and consistently do it, he did in the under 19 World Cup. He was the player of the series there to come out here and then continue that form, unbelievable. 15 years old. I mean, I don't even think I could tie my shoelaces at 15, and let alone face the best bowlers in the world

and score 50 or 15 balls. It's phenomenal. it's the fact that he's beating his own record as well. Obviously, it was 17 ball for him last year. And then he's done a 15 one. I think he'll be knocking on the door for the overall record, 100% knocking on Chris Gales, though. Oh, your favourite. We were talking about last week.

We're going to talk about that kind of comparison of kind of the youth and then the kind of senior players a little bit later on. But David, it's a pleasure to have you on, someone who has played in the IPL. Tell us what it's really like, because there is no franchise tournament like it, is there? No, you're right. It is the ultimate top of the pile, if you want to put it that way, in terms of franchise cricket. I'd say my experience was slightly different in the IPL. I played in COVID, actually. So I had the experience of hazmat suits on planes.

I had bubbles. I had no crowds. I had it being cancelled halfway through. It was a bit of an eye-opener. You know, you get picked in the IPL. You're incredibly excited. You have the highs of I'm now playing in the best tournament in the world. to suddenly turning up, sitting in a hotel room for a week, having to be isolated, then you're in a bubble,

you don't see anyone, you don't see the fans, you don't experience the whole IPL craze, if you want to put it that way. During that period, did you find it sort of hard to get going for games, especially when you've got like no fanfare and things? It was sort of a 50-50 really. You found it hard to get up for the games. It was really tricky when you rock up on a game and you know, I mean I played my game at Madabad and it's 120,000 seat. there was not one person in the stadium, it's just echoy and it's, it feels dead and, you know, they've got music playing, but it's just like, it's weird. It's like you're just playing, it feels like you're playing at your local club ground. It's, it's, I reckon you'd have more people at local club ground, actually.

So, um, you, you have that. And then on the other hand, um, you don't have any pressure. Because there's no crowd, there's no noise. You don't feel the build up. So I always say when you're batting in a game and you're struggling, you can start hearing all the noises. You hear the crowd. You hear the fans.

You hear the chanting. Everything starts getting. faster and faster and faster, whereas when you're playing in front of nobody, it's just silent. So you're actually able to control your emotions more, so you're able to focus more on the thing. So yeah, 50-50 in the sense of it was rubbish not having the crowd and it's really hard to get yourself up for it, but also great in the sense that you didn't feel as much pressure when you were batting. Obviously, the RPL experience wasn't what you'd maybe hope it would be. But what was the crowd that you played in front of where you thought, wow, like this is

this is incredible. You know, I would say whenever we played against India, the crowds were unbelievable, whether it was in the UK or whether it was overseas. Pakistan as well, when you play, I mean, I played a game in Lahore where it sounded like, you know, there were 150,000 people. That's how loud it was. And Pakistan were playing well at the time. So, and I feel like with the crowd, it's a bizarre experience.

So I feel like when I'm playing well, I don't notice the crowd at all. So you hear it when you walk out to bat or you hear it when you're waiting to bat. And you sort of, you know, Josh Butler was open the batting. I was batting three in T20. So, you know, you'd hear him hit a six in the crowd again. You'd be like, wow, this is awesome. Like, how good is this? Like, and you're looking at your mates and be like, this is top draw.

And then as soon as the wicked falls and you walk out to bat, you put your helmet on, it's like, you hear it walking out. Do you hear your name being called? And, you know, the bizarre bit where you look up and then you see your picture on the goal board with all your stats. And then you're like, oh, that's good or that's embarrassing. I need to sort them out. And then you walk out, and then it's just focus.

And then suddenly it's, It's like the noise is just gone. All you see is the bowler. You obviously look at the field. In times when you're batting really badly, it's amazing how you hear the crowd. Like, suddenly you can hear like individual things being shouted, which when you're playing well, it's just like white noise. It's just like a hum. But when you're not playing well, you can hear everything.

And you play a miss in the crowd suddenly in your ear, and it gets to you. So you have to find ways to cope with it, have techniques, whether it's breathing, whether it's walking away, whether it's slowing the game down to your pace. because otherwise it just gets faster and faster and you make the same mistake and you can feel yourself like really swinging harder and harder and your hands are getting quicker and your legs are feeling heavy and everything's moving so you have to be able to slow it down

and get the game to your pace. Is there a part of you that probably maybe wants to give it another go so you can have the full experience? I would love to have another go. I think time has caught up with me. I'm 39 this year so I think it's caught up with me unfortunately but I guess that's my biggest regret in terms of franchise cricket

and my cricket that when I had my IPL experience, I didn't play in front of a packed house. I was fortunate enough to play World Cups in India, and I played some T20s in India where you'd play in front of full houses, and so I managed to get that experience of the Indian crowd and the craziness of it and the loudness of it, and that was an experience.

I mean, I remember playing one of my World Cup games against India at Lucknow, and there were 60,000 people. The whole stadium was blue, and row it was on 49, and it was row it, row it, row it. and you're standing, you're getting goosebumps. It's not even you. They're not even calling your names. It's 50.

And it ended up getting 50. It sounded like, you know, like an explosion had gone off. The crowd was so loud. And those are the things that you sort of cherish as a player. But if I had the chance, I'd love to have played another IPL. And, you know, I actually pulled out of that IPL as well because we had nashes. I made the decision for my England career.

Whereas, looking back, I probably should have just got on with it. I got dropped from England afterwards either way. So I probably should have just done it either way and not worried. So on that point as well, would you sort of encourage players to look into franchise cricket more if it's going to come at a jeopardy in national cricket? No, I wouldn't say in jeopardy.

I think if you look at what Harry Brook and Ben Stokes are doing, I think that's brilliant and the fact that they're prioritised in England. I think the Australian players do that really well as well. They'll play the IPL, maybe one other tournament here or there

where their schedule allows it and I think it allows you to be fresh for international cricket. I think playing for your country is the pinnacle. What I would say is that franchise cricket helps you develop so much quicker. It helps you play against the best. best players in different conditions, your game develops at a rate that is just different to

when you're just playing for your county team. You know, one of the benefits to play in franchise cricket is you end up playing the players that you've idolized in your career. And I've played Chris Gale before that I've looked up at. I know he's one of your favorites who I just picked up. But you end up walking in a changing room with him and you're seeing how he goes about his business, how he does his training. You speak to him about batting. You know, you end up learning so much which ends up benefiting your international cricket. Yeah, because I think it is getting them tidbits from the best players, isn't it? I've seen a of Kevin Peterson saying when he

played in the IPL at 100% better his game playing like Rahana and obviously Bethel now he'll be sharing the change rooms with Corley so that's things that you're never going to get just playing with players that you already play with in it. Exactly and one of the things that no one talks about

franchise cricket is you're one of four or one of eight overseas players in a squad, you're one of four that plays in the game so you are there to perform you're getting paid the big bucks to walk out and to score runs, take wickets win games to cricket. If you don't perform there's someone knocking on the door behind you.

And when you start playing international cricket, it's exactly the same pressure and you feel like you used to. What was sort of the most important thing you think you picked up from another player or the best piece of advice you got from sharing them, changing rooms as another player or another coach? Yeah, so funny enough, the game I played, I got out to Axel, Axel Patel, I got out, Slog Sweep, and he bowled me. And I got out, and I was obviously annoyed as I am.

And I walked up, sat down, and Chris Gale was sat there. You know, I sort of said to him, what do you reckon? he just said, you shouldn't get bold. I said, what you mean? He said, left arm spinner should never bowl you. And I was like, go on. He was like, well, what guard be on? I was like, I was standing on middle stump.

He was around the wicked. I wanted to give myself a bit of freedom. He was like, nah, go about an off stump. Either LBW or court, you cannot be bowled to a left arm spinner. You know, what they're sort of things that you think that you know and you think that you've got them into your game. But then when you hear someone who was one of the most feared players of spin, and especially the ball turning into him, offspin, leg spin in world at the time,

giving you a little tip, like that, it sticks with you and then you can put that into practice. You're at Punjab, so was your captain, Keal Rahul. Yeah. What was he like as a leader? He's a lovely guy. He's got a lot of time for you. And you always think that when you play against India and you play against some of the big

names and you see how, I mean, they're superstars, aren't they? It's almost like Hollywood stars when, you know, the Indian cricket is. And you think they're not going to have time for people, but they're genuinely such good people. They make a lot of time for you. Even in the hotel, he'd invite you for dinner. He had his partner with him at the time. and he'd invite you to sit down and breakfast with him

and just watching him go about his business. You know, I always watched him play for India. He'd scored 100 across all formats. He was someone that I'd looked up to watching and thought was a hell of a player. So to be able to see him train, see how he goes about things, see how he prepares.

Because that's what you want to do as a player. You want to pick up on the small things. I remember watching Chris Gale doing some training with, you know, I think he had his weight on his heel to start with and then he was putting his foot down as he was making contact. And when he asks him, he says he doesn't want to commit too early on his front foot because then he loses power and then you start picking up little things like that

and then you start trying to find ways of implement them in your game and you know those are the things that you can't really get from watching cricket on the TV and when you start sitting in the changing with these people you start learning things and asking questions and hearing stories and that's they're the memories you can never forget we talk about pressure and responsibility when it comes to being a captain media scrutiny also being there for your players as well

being that role model and what sort of captain and leader were you I guess my captaincy experience has fluctuated a bit in terms of how I was. I had it quite young. I think it was 2016, a captain for the first time. And I hadn't really learned how to control my emotions as much. I would be a bit up and down with the game. And you'd get a bit emotional when things were going badly and get a bit high when things were going well. So, you know, I had to learn how to be consistent.

Actually helped by batting that as well, learning to be consistent. Because even when you're batting, as soon as you hit a four, you're like, oh, I'm going again. And then everything, your adrenaline's going. That's me, though. Isn't like all of us? And then I'm out next board. And that's it. And that's the key to batting is trying to control your motion.

So I actually learned from the captaincy how to keep it as consistent. I think the key for any captain is to have a really good coach with you, someone that's on the same page, someone that understands your strengths and your weaknesses, someone who's able to dovetail with you. I was the type of captain that liked to tell players whether they were getting picked or not. I thought players respected that a lot more when you could look someone in the eyes and say,

sorry pal you're missing out today these are the reasons making sure that your coach is on the same page as you so they you know as with anything if you get dropped you're going to run straight to the coach and say give me a reason and you want the message to be as consistent as you can so as long as those sort of basic things are in place i think that makes life a lot easier that the biggest challenge as a captain is performing so yes you have an influence on the game you have an influence on decisions that get made in the game whether it be bowling changes or batting changes or team decisions, tosses, whether you bat first or not. But if you're not performing as a captain and you're not scoring runs if you're a batter or taking wickets, it's a very lonely

place to be because you know everyone's looking at you, especially if you look at franchise cricket as a captain, you know, your place is guaranteed because you're playing. If you're not pulling your weight, at some point there's going to be questions of we're not winning games of cricket because the captain's not scoring runs or taking wickets. Suddenly there's added pressure on you. You have to learn to deal with it and that's where a good coach who's able to, I would say, especially in franchise cricket manage up, you know, there's a lot of pressure from owners, there's a lot of pressure from media, there's a lot of pressure from friends and a lot of opinions from friends to owners and things like that. So that will start filtering down to the team. So if you've got a good coach that can

manage up and shield the players and the captain from that, I think that's a lot of the job done. Who was sort of the best captain you think you played under? The best captain I played under, without doubt, is Owen Morgan. Show me as someone who's quite level-headed. Someone who's very, just very, call as a cucumber, some would say. Yeah, he is. He's got a lot about him, Owen, even though he doesn't show it. And he really prides himself on his emotions.

He's always been like that, you know, I made my debut in 2006 with Owen for Middlesex. And he's always been that play. It gives you nothing, like, as a play. You don't know if he's happy or sad. You don't know. He's always been like that. He's always controlled his emotions. well. He was consistent with his messaging. He never changed it from week to week. It was for four or five or

six years. This is how we're going to play. This is what we're going to do. This is the type of person I want. This is the type of character that I want in my team. He was pretty clear on it. And I was left out a lot of times and you were able to sit down and have an open conversation with him. There was never a hard feeling. But he was by far the best in terms of the off field management on field. He was so calm in terms of his decision making. I mean, he's a little bit of a gambler morgue in general. So a lot of his decisions, even though he did his homework and he was very clear what he wanted to do, he would understand moments in the game.

And because that was his nature, he would take a gamble by bringing his best bowlers in or by keeping his best bowlers deeper or he would sort of read the game really well and understand when to sort of go all in and when to pull out if you want to put it that way. So he was very good at that. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. A question for both of you then. Having heard Owen Morgan's traits there and, you know, speaking of your own captain's experience, what are those attributes that kind of define an elite successful captain? I think for me, obviously, I won't have played under the captains

like you'll have played under and yourself. But I think for me, man management's a huge thing. you can have ideas coming from anywhere but I think you want your captain to be a leader and to be able to know how to communicate with every single person differently spoken like a true leader yeah

to be fair I've captain once before I remember we had a mint game here we go honestly it was like under 15s and our captains beforehand they were away so I stepped in for this game and they were mint like I'll nowhere near as good as them

and we were playing this team who we probably should have beat quite comprehensively we batted first I think we got pulled out for like 50, 60 and I thought, oh my God, I'm never being ever again. And I just said to the lads I said the lads after I'm when, you know what lads, just enjoy yourselves, no pressure whatsoever

like just enjoy yourselves and I'll probably see me. And we ended up winning. We bowled the other team out for like 45, so I was absolutely buzzing after that. So I thought of 60 played 45. Yeah. Well, there you guys. I know, yeah.

It was a right game. Did you get a call up again? You wouldn't find that in the IPL, would you? Did you get a call up again? Yeah, yeah. So I was captain for the game. the rest of the season. Did you?

Yeah, we've done, we've done well. What so, so captain were you then? No, I was one of them, like, sort of, like, man in management, I think. My tactics, like, my nose of the game wasn't as good as a few of the other lads. And I saw, as you said, like, you balance that with the coaches, obviously being younger. But I think I got on well with everyone. So it was just nice to, like, make sure everyone enjoyed the game, not too push pressure on anyone. Because I was keeping as well at the time, so I was quite the voice.

So I was really vocal, probably to the detriment of other players and batsmen and other coaches. I remember one coach went and my daddy went you know I need to shut up like he's two neds in I reckon you probably give the bass a bit of chat as well don't you? Yeah you used to love it me You're a bit of a chaper on you? Actually there must be

You know when you play like What sort of the slavre at your level Like you must get a lot of a lot of chat At times yeah At times they were It gets monitored a lot more now There's stump mics things like that So players are a lot more careful what they say

Things feel like it's always on You know there's always a microphone on umpires have microphones now umpire's always listening there's you know the camera that that flies around now so there's always things and and because of franchise cricket players play against each other and with each other all the time so it's like everyone's mate so you get the odd fight-up situation and then five minutes later you walk past and you go sorry mate and then you're like yeah and everyone has it as a beer afterwards but yeah there's been times where you think oh that's cross the mark and i guess it was probably early on county cricket there was a lot more um

a lot more than there was an international cricket. Maybe once or twice against the Aussies. There were some good moments. But, you know, those are the moments you want as players. You don't want to just be happy, smiling. Yeah, you want people to get, like, really in your bubble, and you really want to feel like you're in the fight. And I really enjoyed that.

Yeah, I think he's gone out of the game a little bit. Yeah, so we're a bit in tangent there. So, yeah, man management. Man management. As much I want to talk about sledge in. Next one. Well, let's bring that back to IPL then. Some of the greatest captains we've seen

across the tournament. I mean, we have to mention, of course, M.S. Doni, Roets Schroema, both winning five titles each. But who are some of those IPL captains that you look at and be like, they've done a great job? Well, it's hard to look past those two, aren't there?

I mean, Donie, I mean, 10 finals, I think he's been into 1-5 Roitz 5. There's been some good ones over the years. I mean, they've had Shane Warren has been a part of Gilchrist's captain before. Fafter de Plessee, we did really well with RCB a couple years ago. He's actually a really good captain,

and someone that I've played against who, you know, tactically, it's very, very good. It reads the game really well. Always feels like he's one step ahead. You know, and Morgan's captain in the IPL before. But yeah, it's hard to look past those two guys with the records they've had, the teams they've had, the consistency that they've had in winning titles and always being there and thereabouts towards the playoffs. Think with them too as well.

It's about like they'll take the pressure on themselves, especially MSEs. He's like the perfect example really like he thrives in that. pressure and taking it off other players as well. So I think, yeah, it's hard to look past them too. Yeah, and they're both different styles, aren't they? So Doni plays at Chennai where the, you know, generally slower turning wickets. You have to win your home games to be successful in the IPL, majority of the time. So they had a really good squad built for that. And his theory of taking the game deep, whether it be with the ball or with the bat, really suited the home conditions where it was slow and hard to start. Where Roe plays at Mumbai, which is a high scoring game. And

to take the game on. So the two total different leaders of trying to get ahead of the game and one takes a deep. Doni also is so calm. He never says a word. He's quiet. He's, you know, he's just moving, doesn't do any meetings, doesn't even turn up to the meetings. He lets everyone else do a meeting and then just says, do this. Too cool for school. Do this. Yeah. And it's weird. Like everyone that's played with him says he's phenomenal in how he does it, how he man manages, how he treats people, how he's got time for people. His room doors always open. So you can always just walk into his hotel room at any time and he's always available. He would let the bowlers go and do their meetings and the batters.

And then the bowler would go at the end of his mark saying, all right, this is our plan. And he goes, no, this is the plan. And then everyone goes, all right. So he just sort of changed it. He'd read the conditions and that's how he liked a captain. Roet was obviously, I wouldn't say more emotional. He's quiet on the field, but like really gets fired up in moments. And you can see it when you play, whether that be with his own teammates or not,

he really get fired up in crucial moments of the game and tactically both very good as well. MS didn't really believe in matchups. So if he thought an offspinner was the right option to two right handers, he would bowl them, where someone like Roet was very good tactically. He had Bumra, Malinga and all these guys. So he would always bring them back at crucial times in the game. We talk about Owen Morgan being understanding when to gamble and bring back your players. Roet does that really well.

So they both have different styles of captaincy. Well, we've had a lot of captain chats. This is going to be quite a tricky question, but could we almost build our perfect captain? Should we start with batting aura? For us, I'll come to you first. Batting aura, I think I'm going to go with Ricky Ponting. I think just the way he attacked the game on the front foot,

very aggressive. He always said, if I was on 100, I'll play the same when I was in the first ball, the yearnings. So I think just that mentality, that fearless mentality. So I'd go with him. Tactical mindset. Tactical?

Tactical, I'd probably go with... I'm going to pass this over, David. I'm passing this over, David. You can do a combined one, actually. Let's do a combined one. Yeah, go on. I would say tactical would be Morgan or Doney. I would be the two,

and I'll let you decide which one that you want to have Morgan or Doney. You know what? From what you said, I'll go with Doney from saying that his plan is the way. And just also, even feeding in that money management as well, like his door's always open, but I think his calmness, his consistency I think will lead in it with tactics.

So you're picking Doni for that one? Yeah. Okay, so man management, are we going to put Owen in that one then? I'd put Owen in there, yeah. Yeah, after what we spoke about, his level-headedness. Media presence. Now, I know who I'd want to put in there, but go on.

Yeah, I'd say coli as well. Yeah, I was going to see a collie as well. Definitely a coli. Or I also thought of Hardic Pandeyer as well, because he's quite good. Yeah, he likes it a little, yeah. And final one. argue me maybe the most important

pressure handling. Who can handle the pressure the best? I think Coley's another good shout. You can't have him twice? Can I not? Can I have him twice? You know what? I'm going to put Graham Smith in there. Okay.

You pulled out. This is a test cricket or T20. I think he was an unbelievable captain and I feel as if in that South Africa side as well he sort of was that pinpoint that held it all together and that must have took a lot of pressure when you carry it basically a nation on your shoulders. So I think Graham Smith for me. Perfect captain there. Yeah. Happy with it. Nearly as good as

me in that. I don't know if they'll have won that under 15s game. I won't like. It always comes back to the under 15th's game. Now, I'm going to be very careful with this section because what I don't want is people to say that I'm calling certain players old, which I'm not. But T20 has been attached to kind of like, you know, fearless stroke play, this kind of youthful energy. But then you've got your Roach Sharma's, your Emus Donies, your Verac Coles, who were saying, actually, I can still come out here, hit 50s and centuries for fun. Yeah, well, considering I'm the oldest in general, I was trying to be careful. Yeah, you've done well, you didn't throw me under the bus of that, but because I'm coming towards the older age, I think older players should be play.

But, you know, you have to have the balance, right? I wouldn't say it's a young man's game, but you have to be athletic, you have to be able to field in different positions. Nowadays, in the IPL with the impact rule, it allows you to have, you know, an extra batter come in or an extra bowler come in. And as the older player, you could probably set out, which is the absolute dream, no fielding, what a gig that is. I think the game has changed to some extent now that bowlers are more athletic. So as an older player, you can feel that short third man and 45 and at cover more often at points. So you don't have to be on the boundary where you're having to be, you know, really quick. But you need to have these older players in teams for players to learn. You know,

if you have a young team where you've got everyone under 25 years old, players are not going to learn. They haven't had the experience that of failing of dealing with the social media, dealing with press, dealing with, you know, the fallout from owners, whatever it may be. And if you don't have these players around, you don't, you're not going to develop as quickly. And we talked about a little bit earlier about how, you know, I still learn from players that you play with, from players that have been there and done that you watch. And if you don't have these players setting the right examples and doing the things that you you know, you haven't thought of.

You just don't develop as quickly. So you have to have the balance. You don't want to have six guys that are 35 plus in a team because, you know, realistically over a long tournament, especially the IPL, is incredibly long. It makes it harder for those players to perform consistently. You know, the, you know, the travel and, and, you know, training, it takes a lot out of you. So you have to find that balance. But, you know, I still think experience is what you need in T20 cricket.

People can say whatever they want about young players. I have never seen an inexperienced team win a World Cup or win a trophy. I mean, you can go through all the books and hopefully someone proves me wrong. World Cups are not won by a young team. They're always won by teams that have been together for three or four years, older players that have been experienced. So, yeah, I think if you can get the right balance, you know, there's a massive part of the game in T20 cricket for the older players.

Yeah, I think it's definitely a necessity because they've been there, done it. They'll have experienced them sort of whether to take it deep or whether it take the game on. they'll have experienced them situations for on scenarios, whereas maybe an inexperienced team it might be the first time doing something like that. Well, let's get around some of the talking points from around the tournament. One of them being in the last week or so,

Cameron Green, who was of course the most expensive overseas player in the auction. Playing for Colcotta, we saw him back, but not bowl. And when they were asked about it at the end of the game, the quote was Ask Cricket Australia. And apparently it was already pre-agreed that he wouldn't bowl. But

you're buying him as an all-rounder, huge price tag, are you actually getting value for money? No, I don't think you are. Because if they knew it wasn't going to bowl, they probably wouldn't have picked him up in the auction. So they might have said maybe three weeks before the IPL where he's not available to bowl until this day, and then that's a bit late when you picked him up in the auction.

I actually think all rounders in the IPL now are slightly overrated, not in the sense that they're not good players, but because there's an impact rule now, you don't need all the all rounders because you can pick seven or eight batters and swap one of the batters for an out-in-out-nout-nour bowler. So you have specialists in each position. So the impact rule, as good as it is,

it actually makes the all rounders role slightly redundant unless you're an absolute jet. So I was a bit surprised that considering the impact rule has been in for a while, they've actually paid so much money for Cameron Green when you wouldn't say his batting is good enough to guarantee a spot and you wouldn't say his bowling is good enough to guarantee a spot. That doesn't mean he's not an unbelievable cricket and he's going to be a fantastic cricket over the years. But he hasn't found his way yet in either of those. So if he's not bowling, it makes it incredibly difficult for him to, I believe,

hold his spot mainly as a batter unless he really kicks on. Yeah, 100% I agree. I think the specialist role is the way to go. As we've seen in the past few games, it's sort of them opening partnerships, your top four have been scoring bulk of the runs, Jacob Duffy as well. He's not an all-roundery. He had an amazing game.

So I really do think that the all-rounder probably is a bit overrated in this day and age in the IPL. And another talking point away from the IPR, but still on kind of tournaments in the PSL, we've seen another case of ball tampering and a fucker Zamans who plays for Lahaw, Galundas, and being charged with ball tampering. Now, he denies it, but he's been charged for unfairly changing the condition of the ball. Now, it's a huge talking point within the sport. My question to you is, David, how much of an impact does something like ball tampering have on a game and on the ball and on the situation as a whole.

Well, it makes a massive difference if you can get the ball reversing, whichever way you do it, whether that's legally or illegally, whether you're throwing the ball into the dirt and getting it scuffed up or whether you're changing the condition of the ball yourself. If you can get the ball to move, it makes such a difference at the death. You know, the death overs are the hardest to bowl. Badders are so skilled now at hitting the ball miles and, you know, your misfits are going for sixes.

So if you can get any tactical advantage with the ball, shaping a little bit reverse swinging towards the end. You want to do what you can to do that. But, you know, in the teams that I've played in in the past, teams are all, you know, you're always trying to find ways to get the ball reversing. You know, and I'm not going to sit here and say that people haven't tried different things to get the ball reversing because they have that, you know, that's part of the game is you want that little bit of advantage. And I, and if you look at historically over the game, people have been caught trying to tamper with the ball for years. You know, it's not a new thing. So, you know, I actually think it's just legal.

it. Like, just let people scratch the ball. Like, obviously not bring things in from outside, but if you, it's a skill in itself to be able to get the ball to reverse swing, I think it would make cricket a lot more bowler-friendly towards the end. If he can get the ball reversing, I think it would make games tighter towards the end. And it wouldn't just be winning with six wickets in hand because there'd be, you know, ball moving, harder to face. I'd obviously be out by then, so it wouldn't affect me. So it would affect some guy down the order that's getting paid $3 million to go whack it. But as the law stands, you shouldn't be doing it. So, yeah, he's been caught, he's been banned, and, you know, hopefully he learns from that.

When you say legalise it, how common is it then? Because that sort of implies that it happens regularly. Is it something you've seen? Yeah. Yeah, as I said, I've played in teams where guys definitely look to try and do what you can and, you know, you do what you can do to try and get the ball moving in different ways because any sort of movement towards the end benefits you, even if it only moves an inch, it's missing the middle of the back by an inch,

which is the inside edge, so you gain an advantage. So, you know, there's definitely times where players have tried things, whether it's worked or not, it's irrelevant, but you're always trying to find things, you know, legally you can bowl the ball, the ball cross seam and, you know, the advertising boards now, you've got these LED boards that go around the field. If the ball hits that, it scuffs it up. And that's all you need is that one little scuff on the ball.

And if you look after the ball really well, you keep the ball as dry as you can. You keep the rough side off at certain point, so it doesn't get too rough. You keep the one side really smooth. So you see guys really shining the one side of the ball towards the end and in their shirts and things. And there's little things that players do to try and get the ball reversing

because you need every single bit of help you can get as a bowler towards the end. I think we can have a whole episode on board tampering. And we'll leave it there. Final question. I asked Farras this last week. Who's your money on very quickly? Who's going to win the tournament this year? RCP.

Without a hesitation. RCB two years in a row. It's been a joy to have you. David. Thank you so much. Fraz, as always. We will be back next. week where we unpick even more and we debrief all things IPL.

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