Test Match Special - The IPL - Season 2024 is up and running!

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

Simon Mann is with former England and IPL star Ravi Bopara as well as Aatif Nawaz to discuss tight finishes, captaincy conundrums and English performances at the start of the IPL.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Bring more gear, carry more passengers, face greater challenges. Welcome to the world of Defender, with seating up to eight, ample cargo space and legendary off-road capability. It's built to make the most of every adventure. Learn more at landrover.ca. podcast at the IPL. Hello, I'm Simon Mann and welcome to the weekly Indian Premier League podcast from Test Match Special. The 2024 tournament is underway with all sides having now played and we're already seen some thrilling games to build anticipation for what's to come over the next few weeks. As ever, the IPL is delivering some remarkable performances, stories and finishes.

This is the TMS podcast at the IPL. Well, with me to discuss what we've seen so far in the first, just under a week or so, is former Kings 11 Punjab and Sunrises, Hyderabad batter, Ravi Bopara and cricket broadcaster Atif Noaz. Now, today on Five Sports Extra, we witnessed a repeat, a rerun, if you like, of last year's final. Chennai Super Kings against Gujarat Titans, Janai Super Kings, who opened their IPL on Friday with a win against RCP. They've done it again. They've won by 63 runs. It was dramatic in Armidabad last year.

It really was a thrilling finish with Ravi Jadaja winning the game. But today in Chepak, it was a bit of a stroll, really, for Chennai Super Kings. Let's just have a look at the match itself. Chennai making 206 for six and Gujarat Titans never really threatening to get anywhere close. Ravi, what did you like about what Chennai did today? What did you not like about the Gujarat Titans team? We've been so good for the last two years. And they won the tournament two years ago.

They got to the final last year. they probably should have won it and didn't. What's, you know, what about them? Well, look, first of all, what I did like about Chennai was how discipline they were bowling in their first six officers. Yes, they've got a big score on the board, but they were brilliant through the first six. They bowed at the stumps.

They kept the stumps in play. You know, it says a lot when both of the wickets were taken off balls that were straight at the stumps. An LBW and one swipe out to the leg side where there was a man standing there for the catch. but it's important that you keep the stumps in play in the first six overs and that's something that the Gujarat Titans did not do

they were all over the place with their lines their lengths and they allowed Chennai really to free their arms and it just gave Ratching that confidence although he's off a few runs from the last game it just gave him the confidence to go right I'm going to come after you here because you guys are obviously struggling

you're ill-disciplined yes he did hit one off the top of off-stump for six but as a bowler you've got to stay there you got a new ball in your hand if you can stay in that area you know and make the batchman hit two or three or even more off that area you're more likely to get a miss hit at some stage what do you think about him as a player rushing revindra you really came to the four during the world cup he's 24 years of age he plays for new zealand he's had a good start to the competition and sort of capture the imagination a little bit of the chenai supporters and supporters all around

India, what do you make him as a player? I think he's a very good player. I watched him quite closely today, and I have done before, he has very, very good basics. He keeps his head very, very still at release, when the baller releases the ball. And then, you know, as the ball is coming down at him, he's sort of in a forward position.

He's coming at the ball, his head's coming at the ball, body weight going into the ball, which is always a good sign. It's always a good sign as a bachelor's. It just allows you to, A, be able to time the ball because your weight's going into the ball. And you generally don't really get stuck on the crease when you're in that sort of mode.

So he was brilliant. He kept his weight going through the ball. And, you know, if you end up watching some highlights of today, you'll see it was a fantastic inning. No Devon Conway so far this yet. He might play eventually for Chennai Super Kings. We don't know. He's got this injury, but he was so good for them.

year but Ravindra stepped up and has had a good start. The tournament, okay, he hasn't made a half century yet, but he's got them going at the start. And they've got a new captain as well and Atif as well and Ravi. Ritteraj Gaiquod, taking over from MS. Doni. I mean, so it feels a little bit, well, good luck with that because of what Dony's achieved during his career. But what a way to start?

A couple of wins right at the start. I mean, that's got to do a lot for him, you'd think. It's better than Dony managed some of the years as well in the beginning because Chennai obviously famously known for starting poorly in the IPL, but they've started really well this time. And I feel like they've got a very healthy dynamic as well. Mahendra Singh Doni obviously is known for being quite a selfless player, happy to go down the order or de-emphasize himself in the batting order for the greater good of the team.

And we've seen some uneasy. I mean, we're just reading between the lines really because we're just watching from a distance. But if some of the alliances of the new captains feel a bit uneasy, and we'll go into this a bit more, but just looking at the dynamics between hard Bandia and Roy Tsharman. It doesn't necessarily look as healthy

or as friendly as things do between, you know, Ruth Raj Kaikwad and Mahendra Singh, Doni, who really wants his new captain to succeed.

So there's definitely an element of that. It feels quite harmonious in that setup. You know, they've got access to some of the better bowlers

in the competition as well. I mean, Mustafa is, again, early days, but he's got the purple cap on already for top wicket

taker. it's a lot to like about this Chennai side and as Ravi said as well Ratchin Ravindra I think he's going to end this tournament as the top run scorer Do we make too much of Doni as captain or are we right actually

to doff our captain over the years because his record is so great so he's actually quite a seismic change in a way that Guy Quad has now taken over from him No I think I think Doni was a very good captain what he did really well was captain very very simple you could see from a distance

to the trained eye that he had his formula and he stuck to his formula he always backed his formula over what the other team has got and what they might present you know in his day it was you know I've got Jereja

as my left arm spinner and who else did they have Ashwin at a time as well and those were his two main guys and I'm talking about even the times he was captain in India as well you know he had these formula he had these opening bowlers and he stuck with that

and that was their recipe for success and I'm sure he has a big say in building the team for Chennai as well he picks the right makes the right decision in picking guys like Mustafa Fisa for example he's a perfect guy on a Chennai pitch

you know with his slow ball which is his most important ball is it's a spinner you know it's a really fast spinner it's going to get grip on this type of pitch so he's been picked you know with that in mind so that's

you know, it's clever. One thing I want to talk about is the impact player. Shivam Duvay, I don't know how this would sit with you, Rav, if you were playing. Would you like to be subbed on or subbed in, actually, subbed off or subbed in? Shivam Duvay didn't start the first game. So he doesn't field at all.

And then he comes in cold, you know, in the closing overs, and your job is Shabam, you're the impact player, you've got to win the game. And today, he bats and he waxes it around for 50 and very entertaining. And then he's hooked. He doesn't have to feel. Discuss.

It's great, isn't it, Robbie? I mean, we need this rule in more tournaments so we can squeeze more years out of some of our best players. And I'm just reading Robbie's mind a little bit, I think. Actually, you know, I've never thought of it like that. But, you know, those batters that never really lose their way as a batten. But, you know, they may lose their way as fielders. They get found out in the field a bit, yeah.

Yeah, but they can be subbed off now. So, I mean, you can prolong those careers, I suppose. And, I mean, if you don't bowl, then it's the ideal game, really, isn't it? Just have a whack and off you go. It's almost like it's your ball. You know, when you're in a playground. Yeah. You know, it's your ball.

Once you get out, you take your stuff, your equipment. Cheers, lads. If you just go. I like that there's a formula with this now that sort of everybody's embraced. And it's just not a gimmick. It genuinely adds something to the game because now you've got 12 players that are going to be featuring. and so if you're a batting side you're batting first you know in your mind that okay one of this one of my top order

I'm probably going to be you know retiring or sorry subbing off and getting the impact player on as an extra bowler to give yourself that option so it's added that sort of tactical depth I think it makes sense it doesn't take too much time out of the game it's not overly complicated it doesn't you know there might be some traditionalists somewhere that are offended by it but I think it's actually a good rule that adds something to the game

yeah and it seems to me cricket has come to this quite late, isn't it about substitutions? I mean, it was a no-no in other sports. We have talked about this before. It was a no-no in other sports, you know, way back in the day, football, rugby, whatever, and then those sports have adapted enormously. Five subs in football and eight in

rugby union. To me, it doesn't seem to, it doesn't detract. And what it does do, I think one of the reasons why it was brought in, wasn't it, to try to even up the idea of the toss, wasn't it? If you sort of got the wrong side at the toss and you have to bowl second and you didn't have the right

formula in your team, it was a bit tough, like it felt like the toss was too important. Actually, what's happened so far in the competition, the toss hasn't been that important. You can win the toss and lose. You can bat first and win, bat second and lose. What we have seen

so far, if there is a pattern, and I don't think it's going to continue, is that the team who is at home has won the game. To me, that seems a bit of an outlier. Seven games, seven home victories. But Artie, you've got a bit of a theory about this. Yeah, I think it's the crowds.

You know, they really do make a difference. Like, with sort of 17 years into the IPL now, right? So, you know, fans have really built that connection with their players. Now, we saw this in the game in Ahmedabad where the very, very partisan Gujarat Titans crowd were booing hard Dick Bandier out of the stadium, like loudly booing, right? I mean, there was a little bit of pantomime element to it, but that has to do something to you. Because it was their captain and he went back to the Mumbai. Exactly.

So there's a bit of history. and they're booing him and they've turned him into this pantomime villain but equally you know you see it happen in loads of games over the years

you've seen every time you get a shot of Mahendra Singh Doni and Chennai the crowd goes wild you walk into Chennai you look at the crowd everybody's in yellow so they've that sort of

football Premier League aspect I think is translated a little bit of like when you are going away to a team that has that fervent fan support it's something that you as an opposition player

have to deal with even if it's not something that feels like a massive challenge it is just another thing that you have to overcome and add to your preparation. So it's like going to Anfield, an opposing player going to Anfield, something like that. Well, the Emirates these days, I would say, but yeah. So Robbie, here's a question for you. Did you ever get intimidated by playing in someone else's backyard?

Not at all. The crowd's almost silent to you as a player. I remember the crowd or feeling the crowd when I was batting. If they were behind me, it did make a difference. But generally, if it was... So how does that feel? Can you give an example? I mean,

batting at, I don't know... A chumps hood, for example, where, you know, the crowd would start singing and all that sort of stuff. It just gets me into a zone, which, you know, it can make a difference. But I think the winning at home thing is more about the pitches you can design for your team.

So if you've, if you're sort of spin-heavy and sort of more on the slower side of bowlers, then you can make pitches that are sluggish. which suit your bowlers and you know you can make the pitches how you really want them for your team so that's the advantage i think of the of the home the home sort of wins and all that sort of stuff but can i tell me this though right in that match between Mumbai and Gujarat you know there was a moment towards the end where you know the equation is very much against um but hardik bandier walks out of the middle the crowd is booing him he hits a six he hits a four it feels like he's going to take this game it's the storybook kind of you know, it's like the WrestleMania ending to this particular match but he somehow, you know,

he doesn't get over the line and he plays miscues, he gets out and they lose the game from then on. Is it, I mean, you know, it's a crazy hypothetical, but it's reasonable to say, right, that had that crowd been behind him, it might have just given him that extra bit of something

to push him over the edge and just get him over the line. Maybe. You'll never know. But yes, maybe, maybe. It still comes down to execution at the end of the day. You know, cricket's, unfortunately, it shouldn't be played with too much emotion. The whole point of any sport is execution.

You've got to execute your skill. And generally, the crowd doesn't help you execute your skill. They can't do it for you. You need the ice in your veins. Is that what you're saying? You need to put all that out of your mind when you're trying to ice at and trying to place a score. But Ravi's like, you're an experienced cricketer who's played for so much. many teams around the world.

You've had so much experience, right? It's a different, I feel like it's a different thing for you versus, you know, a young player, like a, um, a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, a, a, uh, a, a, uh, a, a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, he genuinely got rattled after a few sixes were hit off. Well, he dropped the opener, Guy Quad, uh, on one, and Guy Quad made 46. They got off to flying start. They were 69 inside the power players, you know, quite a big moment.

Yeah, no, actually, there could be something that you said, for the younger player. The crowds actually might make a big difference I actually didn't think about it from the young eyes and the experience guys I can tell you now it really does not affect them either way but maybe for the youngsters

Good point You raised earlier Atif this issue of Hardik Pandia and Rohit Sharma I mean from the distance It does seem an odd one doesn't it I mean Hardik goes off He leaves Mumbai Indians He goes off to play for Gujarat Titans

They win the IPL in their first season, second season, they get to the final, and they probably should have won it, and they might have won it if it hadn't rained, and the chase was a full chase rather a reduced chase. And then he goes back to the Mumbai Indians. He doesn't just go back to the Mumbai Indians. He takes over from the man who's captain of them for so many years,

and also he's the captain of India as well. So you sense some sort of disharmony looking at their body language? Well, yeah, I mean, there's a few clips that did the rounds. I can understand, of course, like, you know, anybody would do what Hardick did. You want to be, you know, it's the premier franchise. They're the big dogs. They're the most successful franchise in the IPL history. And they, you know, having the opportunity to captain them in Hardik's mind probably

cements his chances of captaining India further down the line. He's captained India before as well. But, you know, in a more permanent way, taking over from India's all-format captain, Roycehrmer is symbolic in a way as well of that happening maybe in the future. or you can understand why he did it. But there's some clips doing the rounds of this on social media of just the way he's guiding Rohit. Like, Rohit is, you know, everybody loves Rohit Sharma.

You know, he's a wonderful player, particularly younger players. He said so many lovely things about, you know, Drov Jarrell and Zarfraz Khan, who just joined the test team. So it's wonderful, really sentimental moments. But I get the feeling he doesn't take kindly to other people's shorthand necessarily. And so there were a few moments. We're hard to used a bit of shorthand on the pitch, getting him to move into position

and he just got that Rohit Sharma glare back. I mean, they call him the hitman, don't they? I don't think you want to be in his side's really hard. They're going to be careful, mate. Well, it's probably one of those where you sort of watch this space and see how that dynamic sort of progresses really.

And I suppose it's about Mormonians winning. If they start to win, then everything will be fine. But it does feel like a transitional year in the IPL because, I mean, we talk about that photo at the start of the IPL, you know, that captain's portrait. and it was really bizarre because you're looking at it all of these players are still featuring but you don't in that captain's portrait

see Rohit Sharma, you don't see Mahendra Singh Doni and you don't see Virat Koli. You see three young players who have now taken their positions in these leadership roles and it does feel like there's a transitional point coming in the IPL it's not quite there because the players are still active

but we're nearly there. Yeah and there are six different captains this season we made this point in our opening IPL podcast Some returning from injury and some captaining for the first time, like Shubman Gillough had quite a chastening day, actually, is Gujarat Titans, a captain today and his team well beaten. And when you think of a Gujarat side, who've done really well in the two years that they've been in the IPL,

this is quite a chastening day for them. And also Rashid Khan as well, wallop for 49 from his four overs. You don't see that happening that often. This is the TMS podcast at the IPL. Welcome to the Wild West of 1980s wrestling. A world of chair throwing, blood spilling, steroid taking, and spandex wearing. Bruiser Brody was pulling in crowds all around the world.

He would burst through the curtain and fans would scatter. But then, at the height of his fame, he's gone. In the dressing room before a match, Brody was nice in the abdomen. This is a story of unreality. Misdirection, fakery, rivalry. revenge, and ultimately, death. He pushed the buttons hard enough, and one of the buttons pushed back. Nobody is ever going to know exactly what happened.

I'm Adam Hills. Join me for Sports Strangest Crimes, The Ballad of Bruiser Brody. Listen on BBC Sounds. IPL on the TMS Podcasts. What have we seen in the first, one nearly week of the competition? We've seen some really tight matches. we've seen teams win batting first, which I think is good. I think you need it.

In fact, I think more teams have won batting first so far than batting second. I like that in T20. I don't like this idea of win the toss, bat second, win the game, as a bit of a formula. And it's going to happen. And I think the rule with the impact player has just lessened perhaps the possibility of that happening to some extent. We've seen a couple of really belting games, the one we talked about there in Armandabad with Mumbai Indians,

couldn't chase 19 off the last day when it looks as if they were going to, it looks as if we're going to have that incredible script. with Hardick Pandey going back there and six and four and he's going to win the game and then he was out and of course

Gujarat won by six runs but he also saw a remarkable game incredible game in Eden Gardens on Saturday between KKR and Sunrises face off between the two big hitters

Andre Russell 64 from 25 balls with seven sixes and then Henry Classen 63 from 29 balls with eight sixes and Mitchell Stark with that big feed

that they paid for him, whacked all over Eden Gardens. And I thought what was fascinating about that, is the psychology of the game. Perhaps you can talk a bit more about this, Ravi, that basically sunrises were out of it. They wanted something like 70 or four overs. And then suddenly they were favourites. They wanted seven or five balls.

And you think, well, you should score seven or five balls. I mean, you would back yourself to score seven or five balls, wouldn't you? Especially if I've scored at 20 and over for the last three. And then they made a complete, well, they made a mess with it. I mean, the bowling side has something to say. about that as well what's that like in that situation where you're losing losing losing and suddenly think well give it a go whack whack whack oh oh suddenly oh we're favorites it's a weird pressure that builds on you yeah the pressure almost switches back onto the batting side it's almost like no I should definitely win this and that's the issue with games going down to the last over you know that's why a lot of teams like finishing in the 19th over because once you get down to the last over even if it's six of six it's a couple of dots you know guy swings misses

as another swing misses and all of a sudden it's now massively you know you've gone from we don't win this game to oh we should easily win this game to now going oh no I'm missing this up now because we should win it from

you've got that little thing you're missing this up rather you're messing this up this little guy on your shoulder telling you but remember you've got 20 others and if it takes you know the 100 120 balls to win the game

then it takes 120 balls to win the game. The point is just to score more runs in the opposition and that it's it. There is nothing more to it. You make it sound so simple. Your heart pounding, the crowd are yelling. I know, I know, I know. And nobody wants to mess up.

Nobody wants to be the guy who, you know, could knock the six runs or seven runs off the last over. But, you know, that's the game. It's happened. It's not the first time it's happened. It's not going to be the last time it happens. It's part of the game. And you've got to accept that.

batsman and just going back to that game and I was watching it was a great effort to get to the biggest mistake I think class I made was taking the single when they needed seven for five because he hit the first ball for six now I need seven or five and then I think he miscues one sort of you know inside age or something and he should have just taken responsibility himself and then he actually he did go for glory then later on the over and miscued him's court short third

it was a good catch actually with the problem came because he took the single now you need six or four the guy gets out you can't swap ends there's no changing ends a new batsman comes in he's on strike and now they're suddenly

running out of balls so I think what he should have done was stayed on strike said right I'm not going to run still need seven or four but he faces all four balls because at the ratio he said he was hitting sixes

he would have put one out of the park and it would have been game over but that takes a brave decision as well you know seven or five and you don't take the single when you end up losing well why didn't you take that single you know there's no winning no winner in that situation

but for him to get the team back into that place that they were he should have said no this is my game I'll control it either I win it or I lose it yes the interesting one what do you think of Classen as a player he seems to me every time you switch on an IPR game and Sunrises playing there is Classen whacking it out of the park I mean he did it last year but he played a really unsuccessful team the only one four matches but it seems to

Last season, we saw Classen hitting it, but his team losing. And of course, it happened again. He smacked it, but the team lost. What do you think of him as one of the sort of, you know, the top T20 players around the world? Well, he is at the moment. He's having a real purple patch. But he's got all the makings for a very good T20 batsman. He's got reach.

He's tall. He's got a great swing. He's powerful. So, you know, all those things. contribute to you hitting more sixes than the other person, the guy who's five foot eight. You know, he can reach balls that other guys can't. We saw him hit a ball.

I think it was a wide sort of length ball for spinner, and he flat batted it straight. Most other guys wouldn't have reached that. They wouldn't have been able to get that much of the bat on it, so it would have been more of a skew out to deep cover, but he's flat batted it straight over mid off for six. all those little little tiny things add up to playing a good innings.

So he's got all the attributes. One of the greatest hitters of spin. He's really worked out, a great formula for himself where he sits back deep, waits for the ball to be sort of, you know, that length, that spinners like to bowl. He's now turning that into a flat bat and he's smacking him.

You know, he's powerful. Yeah. I'll say he's one of those players is that if I'm not doing a game and I just see Classen's in. You switch on, don't you, and have a watch or listen to see what he's doing because he has played some dramatic innings

in the last IPR and obviously at the start of this one. I think we should wrap this up, but let's talk about finally the England players. And one of the things I said in our preview podcast is I wonder how much they're going to feature for their teams. And actually, there are quite a few who are sitting on the sidelines for their team that haven't featured yet.

Sam Curran, those made a half. century. Phil Salt has made a half century. Liam Livingston helped his team Punjab Kings win their opening game with 38 not out. Luke Woods had a game, but 11. Johnny Besto, an 8 and a 9 so far. That doesn't take

the tale of the whole tale because Berto is a huge misfortune being run out backing up. I don't mean what some people refer to as a man card where the bowler takes the bells off when you're backing up. I mean the ball was drilled back and Boller got his, his shun got his fingers on it and Johnny Besto was run out. I mean I think, for

me, just bad luck. Some people say, well, it shouldn't have been out of his crease, but you go with the bowler, don't you? You're trying to anticipate the single. It's just, sure, it's just one of those things. It seems to me it's rather sums up Johnny Berto's sort of year or so, really. Yeah, for sure. I mean, if you think as recently back to sort of

2022, the test series against New Zealand where it looked like Johnny Birsto couldn't not score 100. All he could do was score hundreds in test cricket, and there was nothing else that was going to get in his way supremely confident and everything was wonderful. And then he sort of fast forward a bit

to the buildup to the Indian test series that just took place and people were sort of questioning his place in the side. And you think that's absurd. This is Johnny Berto. You know, this is a player who's confidence, whose ability can't be questioned.

But, you know, people have that negative dip of form and sometimes it goes on for longer than you think. And sadly for Johnny, he's still in it at the moment. Miss Q in his second inning's out for nine in his second game. Yeah, I mean, it is difficult when, you know, you've had that he had an injury as well remember to come back from that as well if you don't quite get it right um you know the form can elude you it can be so difficult to find what you had before um especially if you don't have a solid foundation to go back to johnny besto's not got the

greatest technique in the world but he does have is a very good hand-eye coordination he's powerful as well so he'll always get away um with it because of his his ability to just hit the more harder than the other guy. But, you know, at some point, it's going to have to start scoring runs. You can't, at the end of day, your currency is a cricketer as a batsman is runs. It's numbers on the board. And if they don't come soon, he'll find himself not playing in that team. Yeah.

And a few have not played so far. I mean, no moin for CSK. David Willie is sitting out at the start of the tournament. Cudor Cadmore might struggle to get in the Rajasthan Royals team. Chris Wokes at Punjab. Tom, current at RCB, Will Jack's at RCB, which he's topply at RCB, that none of those have played so far.

There was a sort of feeling perhaps before last season that the English were coming in terms of the IPL, but it's all tailed off again, hasn't it, really? Yeah, it's tricky, really. I feel most ready for Will Jacks. Like, I mean, I think he's tailor-made for this format of the game. He's absolutely phenomenal T-20 cricketer. Anybody who's seen him in the blast in England

and obviously in 100 and all the other competitions where he's flourished. It's just very unlucky that he's in the RCB lineup where it's very difficult to displace their overseas players. They've got some of the very best overseas players in the world. You've got a lineup where you've got Glenn Maxwell. How are you going to displace someone like a Glenn Maxwell and Coley and things like that? I think eventually he'll get his chance. I just fear he's got too much of a task ahead of him.

He's got to score 100 and take five wickets to keep his place in that side. But I do feel like some of the players that have featured, Phil Salt, I think, has made a very promising start. And he's in the right team for me. You know, he's in a team where he's going to get loads of opportunities. And at the top of the order, he's always going to have a chance batting in that powerplay to flourish and score runs and always look flashy and exciting. Final thought, Ravio, what it's like when he get picked up by a franchise,

you just have to sit on the bench, sit on the bench, sit on the bench. Is it bother you or not? Well, I think it does bother you if, you know, you're young and you're trying to make an impression on the world. You know, you want to set your, you want to set the world a lot and you're sort of being held back. I think that's a difficult thing to deal with. On the other hand, you know, cricket is a little bit different now to when I grew up, I must say. You know, it was all about playing, you know, playing, playing, I had to get on the, on the, in the 11, had to get in the 11. And I've been lucky enough to go through different errors

and see the change in mentality through the years. Now the younger players are happy to sit on the bench. They don't mind. They're almost trying to get themselves on the bench now. It's crazy. I mean, I've seen it. You know, I've been through the 20, 25 years and seeing that the older players was all about playing.

We had to get in the 11. But now they're almost like, well, I'll get paid to sit on the bench anyway. So I'll get my money as a squad game and that's a way of it. That's a way of it and it's almost like that now. Well, we shall see. We'll see how many of those England players get in their various franchises over the next few weeks.

An interesting start to the IPL. That Classen versus Andre Russell Clash on Saturday was the highlight for me so far, closely followed by Hardick Pandya, nearly but not quite pulling it off for Mumbai Indians in Armada. Thanks to Ravi and Attie for their thoughts. Remember, there's plenty of enjoy from the IPL in the coming weeks with over 40 commentaries on five sports extra. Look out on BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website for details. Elsewhere on BBC Sounds, the Test Match special

podcast stream will have regular offerings to keep you going over the coming weeks as well. We'll be back every Tuesday to bring you the latest from the IPL and on Fridays Kevin Howells introduces all the latest from the County Championship. Thanks so much for listening. Goodbye for now. The TMS podcast at the IPL. Listen to live commentary on 5

Sports Extra and BBC Sounds. Hello, Gary Indyka here with Alan Shear and Micah Riches to say the match of the day Top 10 podcast is back. They're the worst wingers only. Us being selfish centre forwards, we want the ball delivered all the time. What do you normally say?

Please may you pass me the ball. We'll be ranking our footballing top 10s and DeBayton, who is right. I'm going to go with Alan, but I might change your mind in a minute. Quick wrapping up then. Match on the Day, Top 10. Listen only on BBC Sounds.