Test Match Special - TMS does the IPL: Mumbai win a fifth title

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

Simon Mann, Nikesh Rughani and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala discuss the conclusion of the 2020 IPL. Plus, thoughts and analysis on the Women's T20 Challenge.

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. is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. So the Mumbai Indians have won the 2020 IPL, the delayed IPL of 2020, the fireworks going off in Dubai.

They've won by five wickets with eight balls to spare, and it was a canter for them. Crunall Pandya hitting the winning runs. 156 for 7 from the Delhi Capitals. at the end and Mumbai Indians no trouble at all in knocking them off. What we're going to do is we're going to have a look back on the tournament. Nikesh Raghani is with us as well

and Abhishek Jujan Wala alongside me, Simon Mann. Five wicket victory for Mumbai Indians. They won by one run in 2019. They won by five wickets in 2020. They dominated the whole of the tournament and the rest of the sides. It felt as if they were playing catch-up at times. They threatened. The teams

had good runs, but the Mumbai Indians just kept on going. They were relentless, and a strange tournament comes to an end. What will you remember most from it, Abyshak? This year's competition, as you mentioned, it's just been throughout the competition.

They have been the side. Every team wanted to chase and beat has been difficult. But yes, you've got to give them all the credit for the performance, for the way they have come out and played this competition, the tournament. And at the end, you've got to say they are the deserving side, absolutely,

for what they've brought to the table in this year's competition. What makes them so good? I think it's just the core, is the core team which they have kept for so long. In the first seven or eight games, if I'm not wrong, they only made one change. That was also made because of the injury. So they hardly believe in chopping and changing unlike a lot of sides. I've heard that horses were courses far too often when I was part of the IPL, And I honestly, I feel that that doesn't work.

You've got to stick to your core. You've got to pick your best 11 and you've got to show faith in them. But it's easy to do that because they've got a strong first 11. So, you know, they've got their selection right. They've got their auction right. And absolutely. That's what I said. They've got their core team right.

So they know the 11 who's going to come in day in, day out and perform for them and play in the team. But even if you look into their bench strength, I think most of the guys, if, If somebody gets injured, they've got the right person to back that person as well. So they did not only have the top 11, I think the next 11 which they have picked is also very important. And also a lot to do with their TRDOs, the talent development officers. I was saying it, I was mentioning it earlier as well. So you see Mumbai Indians talent development officers all over the world, not just in India. So if there is a tournament happening in South Africa, they've got a couple of guys in South Africa watching those events.

If it's in Australia, they send people to Australia. So they've got people working for them throughout the year and picking up players from all over the world, not just India. Nikesh, when the tournament started, did you see Mumbai Indians as the clear favourites to win it again? I mean, the IPL is because you have the auction and you have the salary caps, the amount of money that teams can spend.

In theory, it should be quite an equal tournament. But actually what we've had over the last few years, what, five Mumbai Indians wins in eight years. I wonder if that's good for the tournament, really. Yeah, I mean, to answer your first question, I did see them as the strongest contenders, certainly, to win this time. Not just because they've got the strongest side on paper, yes, they probably have. But as you mentioned, you know, the auction is there. You know, we've seen some players go for big money, other franchises sort of strengthening in key positions.

You look at the Rajasthan Royals, for example, on paper. And, you know, they've got a strong English core there. But they've got some of the best players in the world across all formats. Ben Stokes, Josh Butler, you know, Joffra Archer in that site, Steve Smith as well. So, you know, on paper there are players to compete with these players in the Mumbai Indians lineup. I think what they've got is that kind of that gel, that kind of the fact that, you know, the core of the side has been together for so long. You've got that middle order of Haddik Pandya, Karam Polar, Kurnal Pandya, those three have been sort of ever present over the last few years. Rohit Sharma at the top of the order as well.

Surukamar Yadav has been consistent at the top of the order. Jaspit Bhumra. You know, they've played a lot of cricket together, these local players, and they've kind of got that bond, that camaraderie. They kind of know each other's games inside out. If one's not performing, if they're banning in a partnership, if one's not quite middling the ball, they know how to take the pressure off them,

they know exactly what to say to them. They just seem to get things done at the right times, whether that's giving a bit of advice to your bowler, that your batting partner, whatever it is. The team spirit's there. They've obviously, you know, got these high-profile owners, which we've talked about previously and do they get involved in team selection

and, you know, are they interfering too much? Well, whatever they're doing, it seems to be working because that combination along with being so well coached by Mahala Jai Wardner, Robin Singh and the rest of the backroom staff as well, it's just it is the winning formula and you can't put your finger on what it is, but every time they stroll out to the middle,

they just nine times out of ten, they get the job done, particularly on these big occasions like the final as we saw this evening, It was an absolute cakewalk in the end. What about Rohit Sharma, the captain? What does he bring to the side? I mean, not so much necessarily his batting, but his captaincy. He seems to me to be the best Indian limited over's captain.

And, you know, take from that what you will. There's been a lot of debate. There is quite clearly in India a camp Rohit Sharma and a camp Viracoli as to who should be the Indian captain across all formats. I mean, there is an argument as well, why don't they split it across different formats and give Rohit Sherma the T20 captaincy of India. This is his fifth IPL title with the Mumbai Indians. His sixth in total.

He won one with the deck and charges in 2009 as well. He's an absolute winner. He's captain this side for the last few years now with distinction. He's been outstanding. He just seems to have a quicker, a sharper mind than most, I feel in this shorter format of the game. He reacts to things really quickly. He sees things extremely quickly. He doesn't let the game.

lag too much, which you can't afford to do in T20 cricket. You've got to make these decisions very quickly. It's a fast moving game. You've not got time to see how it goes for a couple of overs when you're in the field and things like that. He seems to have a sharp mind. He seems to make the changes at the right times to his bowling attack. His batting line up as well, he seems to shift that round when necessary. And it always just seems to come off. I don't know whether he's got the golden touch or he's just got an extremely good cricket brain. I think it's a combination of the two. But he's been outstanding as a captain. And tonight, we saw him back in form with the bat as well. And when you've got him batting like that, captaining like that,

there's not many better players in the world all round. It's interesting, isn't it? Meanwhile, RCB, you had a better season this time. I mean, they did qualify. But again, there's sort of question marks and questions about Virac Koli's role as RCB captain. What do you make of that, Abyshech? Yeah, I think Virat Koli, there's been a question mark with his captaincy for a while now and somebody who's led the site for eight years and have qualified in the top four three or four times there is definitely a question mark with his captaincy never won it and never won it that's what i was going to say i never won in eight years of his captaincy so i think it's time for even rcb to look beyond virad koli and find a new captain and

as nikesh mentioned there is two camps in india pro rohid pro virad and i think it's high time that looking at this the indian selectors and the manager give the ODI captaincy and the T20 captaincy to Rohit Sharma. So why doesn't he get it? Why doesn't Rohit Sharma get the white ball captaincy? That why question with the BCCI and Indian cricket is a big why. But I just feel that because there's what Virad Kohli brings to the table as a player. I mean, he's been the best player in Indian cricket for the last decade or so for the last 10 years.

And India is a country which is always who looks up to people. Like if Satchin Tenurka was there, he was obviously handed over the captaincy, then he didn't like the captaincy so much, he couldn't perform so well when he was given the captaincy, he handed over to Sorov Gangoli, who did a wonderful job. But Virad Koli, you always feel that he wants to leave a legacy where he's won tournaments, when he has won ICC events. And he's not somebody who, even if he's not doing the job well, as a captain, I'm not talking about as a player. As a player, there's no match-up. But as a captain, if he's not doing a job well, I don't think he's somebody who's ready. to hand it over to someone else. Probably that's one of the main reasons.

I'm sure it's been discussed with him, but he is somebody who doesn't want anybody else to lead the side when he is there. So if he wants to say, if he wants to be captain, he's captain, basically. He's captain, basically. So probably that's what has happened so far. But with Rohit winning the fifth trophy, now he'll be under immense pressure. Nikesh?

Yeah, absolutely. I'd agree with that. It's almost like, you know, when Sachin Tendulka was captain, as Abyshech mentioned there, of the Indian side. He had a couple of stints at it. India weren't quite blessed with the same. talent across the 11 as they are these days. So it's a lot more difficult for those players to live up to his standards.

He decided to step down, though. That's the difference. If Sachin Tendulka wanted to be captain of India for 20 years, he probably could have been captain of India for 20 years. Nobody would have gone up to him and said, look, Sachin you're sacked. You know, we're taking the captaincy away from you. And I think that's the situation with Virac Koli. I don't think that's right, though.

I mean, you know, you can be the best player in the world. You can be the best player ever, as Virac Koli probably is in ODI cricket. you know, you look at those numbers, but if you're not performing as a captain, and I'm not saying he's done terribly well or terribly disappointingly or anything like that, but, you know, he's not winning those tournaments for India, which India perhaps expect to do a little bit better in. Yes, he has won a test series in Australia, but he's failed when he's come to England in terms of the team, has failed to win a series.

He's not quite done it in certain other parts of the world, like South Africa. You know, the more difficult places to go for Asian touring sides, So you've got to put question marks up against his captaincy. And, you know, there have been far too many occasions where decision making has been questioned. It's, you know, probably ended up costing India test matches, you know, ODI games, ODI tournaments as well. So you've got to look into all that. You've got to say to him, look, you're going to be here,

you're going to be betting at number three or four for the rest of your career as long as you want it. But in terms of leadership, we want somebody else to do the job. You just go out there, score the runs, win us the matches with the bat. What about the IPL itself? I mean, we've just had a very different tournament. It's been unique in the UAE without any spectators at all. And the players have risen to the challenge. And I think all the cricket, the pandemics in cricket has got back.

I mean, the players have, they found it difficult, being in the bio bubble and that, you know, their sense of restrictions. When they got onto the field, they've, you know, generally speaking, produced. It has been an interesting tournament, despite the fact that Mumbai have been, you know, just that much better than everybody else. What about the competitiveness of it in the future? So the auction is coming out. Just explain Nikesh and Abyshek. What happens now in terms of teams trying to change their personnel for the next tournament? Yeah, absolutely.

I think there's a big auction coming on before the next tournament. That's the big one where probably I think everyone goes back into the auction. Apart from the core, like you're allowed to keep five or six players. And apart from that, everyone else is in the auction pool. and it's going to be a season where we'll see a lot of changes in a lot of sides we'll see some of the sides being completely redone with the likes of Chennai Super Kings I don't know if MS Dhoni yes he has said out loud that

I will be back I'll be leading the side again but we still got to wait and see if that happens but apart from him I don't see many people staying in that side probably him and Ravindra Jadeja and if Shura Jaya again plays the IPL in five months time probably these three I can see still being there with the Chennai team and Sam Curran because he's done exceptionally well.

Apart from that, most of the people, I think they'll let go of a lot of people and we'll see a completely new side with Chennai and same can happen with Royal Challenges Bangal. Shouldn't they have done it for this tournament? Shouldn't Chennai have done it for this tournament? They should have, but I don't think they had the opportunity because from last year they kept the auction, they had the same

core group of people and the tournament was supposed to happen in April where most of the cricketers would come into the tournament when they were playing a lot of cricket. But with the likes of Watson and other people who are quite old and hasn't played any cricket for the last seven or eight months, it's even more difficult.

So they just got caught out by the timing, really? I think they just got caught out because of the timing because most of the players didn't get any practice, they didn't get any cricket, and they all came into the IPL with no match practice, and that's why they struggled. And they started to pick up at the later half of the season by that time it was too late for them.

So we will see a lot of changes in a lot of sides when the big auction happens. Yeah, this is always the big time, isn't it, when, you know, every few years you have one of these big auctions and you can only retain, I think it is five or six players in your franchise. So it would be interesting to see what happens to the Mumbai Indians, really, because, you know, which five or six do you retain? Rohit Sharma is going to be one of them.

Probably Hardik Bandia, Karam Pollyad, maybe, Surukumar Yad, Vishan Kishan. You know, you can't keep. What about Jasperit Bumra, Trent Bolt, you know, who do you keep? Who do you let go back into the auction? Who do you back yourself to buy back when, you know, these players go? into the auction. Who's to say that, you know, for example, if Trent Bolt goes back into the auction, you're desperate to get him back, you know, Royal Changes Bangalore, another franchise, Rajasthan Royals, they might come in for him, outbid you, you know,

it's very uncertain. So, you know, we might see a more competitive tournament as a result if the tournament does take place as it's scheduled to do so next April and May, you just never know. But, you know, even with just that core of the Mumbai Indians, those five or six players, if they can retain the right ones, they're still going to be the side to beat, I feel. Does it need it as well? Does it need a more competitive tournament? Does it need someone?

You know, we think about three franchises that, you know, have never won the IPL, Delhi, RCB and Kings 11th. Does it need one of those two teams to sort of come through and win it or one of the slightly less fancies size? I mean, Rajasthan, for example, they won the first tournament,

but they haven't won it since 2008. How do you feel about that? Yeah, I mean, you know, along with the Kings 11, Punjab as well, that would certainly help. I think it's really helped that the Delhi Capitals have been really consistent this season. Yeah, they had a little bit of a blip towards the end of the group stages,

but came back well, managed to get themselves to the final, and just that lack of experience maybe cost them in the final, but, you know, they've shown great promise, so they've got, you know, great future ahead if they can hang on to some of their younger talent as well that's in their side, the likes of Brit Vishore if he comes back into some

form, Rishap Bant, as well, Shreyas I, is a good young captain as well. So they've got certainly a lot of potential. I'd say there's a lot of potential in the Royal Challenges Bangal. You know, finishing in the playoffs is not something they do very regularly. Yes, they've been to a couple of finals previously in these

IPL tournaments, but it's very few and far between. They're not usually there or thereabouts as one of the contenders. They look pretty consistent through the tournament. Their bowling seems to have been sorted out pretty well, and they've got a good young core of Indian bowlers, which seem to be doing the bulk of that as well.

So I think that bodes well for the future. I think just give these sides, you know, this season and they'll have a little bit more experience, one more year of experience. Hopefully come April and May a lot of these players will learn some lessons from what went wrong this time particularly from those two sides, Bangalore

and Delhi, and come back stronger and one or two decent bits of business in the auction window as well and you just never know, hopefully it can be more competitive but it doesn't completely ride on the Delhi Capitals or the World Challenges Bangalore. You just need somebody

to come up, stand up, be as strong as the Mumbai Indians to stand toe to toe with them, perhaps two or three sides battling it out for the majority of the tournament. It doesn't necessarily need all eight sides to be as strong as each other, if you see what I mean, and as consistent as each other. Yes, they've all got the same opportunity in the auction. Yes, even in this group stage, you know, it's pretty close in terms of points. We saw some close games and things like that.

Throughout the group stages, super overs, last ball finishes, which we tend to see quite a lot of in the IPL year after year. I don't think that's the problem. I just think when it comes to those crunch moments, you just need those extra couple of sides as well as the Mumbai Indians to sort of start winning more consistently. And that will certainly help things because, yeah, you don't want it to turn into a Manchester United situation

of the sort of mid-90s where they were kind of dominating English football. You won a bit of competition there. What about the tournament itself in terms of the venues and the lack of crowds? three venues. Did it become Samim, if you play in India, you know, you play in lots of different stadium, you know, you've got the spectators and there's different characters to the

different ground. How did you feel that that went Abyshech? I just feel that obviously you always want in such a big sporting event, you want crowd, you want people to come out there, that atmosphere is completely different. Along with it, it brings a lot of fun for the players and also a lot of pressure.

And that's what I think which lacked in this tournament was there's not enough pressure on the players. By pressure what I mean is when you're fielding at the boundary line if there's a big catch coming and when it's a catch of say Rojas Sharma who's batting on 60 and if you drop it you lose the game with no crowd it becomes

a lot easier. When there's 50,000 people chanting and screaming in your ear you're going to drop it, you're going to drop it, you're going to drop it it's not easy to catch that ball and you know that I think that's why we've seen some unbelievable catches I'm not saying we wouldn't have seen those catches if there was crowd but it makes life easier

as a player if there's no one screaming behind your ear when there's a pressure catch coming and and also I think it helped a lot of young players to perform because when you come into this such a big event and if you're walking into the ground with no crowd it it somehow feels sometimes it feels like you're just playing another game another practice match but when you have 70,000 people or 60,000 people like you have in India screaming that atmosphere can be overwhelming for somebody who's young and playing his first year the first IPL. And, yeah, it's just the whole atmosphere

which makes a huge difference. What about the surface? You know, you know, different grounds in India have different sort of characteristics in terms of pitches. What about, you know, the fact you're playing on three rounds and fairly similar sort of... Shaja was a bit more bats and friendly at the start,

but then, you know, the other grounds, you know, same, you are there? Absolutely. It's pretty much the same surface you're playing day in, day out. And with India, with eight or ten grounds, you get a different variety. Some pitches are a bit more, conducive for fast bowling, some are favoring the spinners.

But in Dubai, pretty much we knew what we are getting day in, day out, pretty much the same pitches. If you go in Saja in the early part of the tournament, we saw the scores of around 200 to 20 pretty much in every game. And when it came to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, that came down to 170, 180. So players knew exactly what they're getting. And as the game progressed in this year's competition, we saw that the pitches were getting a bit slower and lower and lower as well.

and the total of 180 became 160. A majority of the games in the last two weeks, the score's been around 150, 160. And team chasing has found it a bit easier because of the due factor. There was a due factor, as we know, the weather is changing in Abu Dhabi. So there is a bit of due factor.

And it's just like playing in India in 10 or 12 different grounds, it's a bit harder as a team. Here players found it a bit easier because it's the same surface you're playing day and out. Havishak, you know, just with regards to that point about the surfaces, back to the Royal Challenges, Bangalore as well. We've been praising their bowlers and how well they've bowled.

They usually bowl at the Chinnaswami Stadium, which is an absolute road. It's, you know, so many big sixes are hit on that ground. It's a batsman's paradise there. Do you think that's made a big difference to them? Yeah, absolutely. I think it did make a difference because, obviously, if you have a good pitch where the ball's coming on to the bat, your chances of Virad Koli and AB Davila is performing well. becomes a lot higher

but if the ball is stopping and not coming on to the bat these are stroke players they find it very very difficult to get going and that has happened in a few occasions where they have struggled to time the ball and in Chinnaswami it's always a batsman paradise so all of these factors make a huge difference in winning and not winning a competition

but you've got to give a lot of credit to Mumbai Indians doesn't matter where they are playing they're always bringing the A game we're going to wrap up this discussion about the men's IP and I I'm going to ask you really off the top of your head actually to think about, what's been your abiding memory or your best moment or your highlight of the tournament if there's one ball or one catch or one six or one play that really stuck in your mind? Perhaps I'll start with you, Nikesh, because Abysheck is looking at me slightly vacantly at the moment.

I don't know if you've got one moment, one play that really sticks in your mind. I mean, there's a few. I mean, there was a double super over. I mean, the super over, I've got to go with one of the superovers, I think, and it's got to be the one that the moment that led up to the super over between the Royal Challenges, Bangalore and the Mumbai Indians. Ishan Kishan and Karam Pollard basically took them from absolutely nowhere to that huge target, Kishin out for 99 in the final over of their 20 overs initially.

Pollard managing to get them up to that super over, managing to tie the game. The super over was, you know, went out with a bit of a whimper really. Mumbai, we're just defending seven eventually in that. But that innings from Ishan Gishan, Gishin, absolutely outstanding hitting. Karam Pollard rolling back the years as well, just clearing the ropes at will. A huge partnership between them. And, yeah, I think that's probably the best hitting that I've seen in the IPL, particularly because it wasn't at Sharja.

I mean, I know we've seen lots of sixes and big runs scored in Sharjah. A slightly different proposition when you're playing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And I think that particular innings just stands out as some of the best. hitting I've seen in the tournament and in the past few years in this tournament. For me, for me, is Rian Parag and Rahal Tiwatiya. Two youngsters, nobody knew much about them in this

competition to come out there and produce a innings like that to win the game from absolutely hopeless situation. In Sharja. You've got to give a lot of credit and it shows that the Indian cricket is in good hands. A lot of youngsters coming of the ranks. So that was the highlight. And also, I've got one more highlight which

I have to mention is the catch from Nicholas Poran. The stop from Nicholas poor run. I've never seen anything like that. Yeah, that was sensational from Poran. Well, I would add, Poran, I would, Tuati is hitting against Cortrell. Yeah, Sheldon Cottrell, the saluter. And one final one, Joffa Archer's ball to get rid of Johnny Bastow.

That quick ball that knit back and knocked over his England teammate. So those are our highlights of the IPL. Well, over the past few days, we've heard commentary from another branch of IPL cricket featuring some of the biggest stars of the women's game and Henry Moran. has been watching on and can tell us more. Yes, the IPL Women's T20 Challenge may only have lasted across six days, but the four matches that took place showed some good quality cricket

and plenty of encouragement both on and off the field for how a more fully fledged tournament could exist in the future. To recap how it all worked, we had three teams called the Trailblazers, the Supernova's and Velocity. They played each other once in a round-robin format before a final for the top two sides, which was held on Monday. The teams, as you can probably tell from the names, aren't assigned to cities, but rather are stand-alones comprised of Indian internationals

and some stars from other countries around the world game. On the field, it was the Trailblazers, captained by the India opener Smriti Mandana, and featuring as well England's star bowler Sophie Eccleston, who were the winners. They beat the Supernova's by 16 runs in the final at Sharja. Well, watching the tournament for Test Match special alongside me has been Isabel Westbury and Izzy.

But I think first of all, the general consensus is it was a great product, but perhaps just a bit of a shame it wasn't a little bit longer. Yeah, it almost fitted into the whole period in which we were waiting for Joe Biden's presidency to be announced. To be honest, it was that short. And, you know, there are reasons for that. The BCCI wanted to hold it during the playoffs of the men's IP out to try and, I guess, get the most eyeballs on it. And, of course, with the pandemic, there's been lots of ramifications on professional sport, both men's and women. But considering that the men's IPL has gone on for, I think it was 60-odd games in the group stages and is still going on, it would be nice to have seen a longer woman's IPL. I think Mattali Rauch's velocity in D. Danny Wyatt, I think that their tournament was done within 24 hours because they had an evening game followed by an afternoon game the next day.

So, yes, lots to work on, lots of potential to work with. we just want to see it put into action in a more fully fledged real-life women's IPL next year perhaps but it was a wonderful tournament to watch. Some have argued that given the challenges and everything that we've seen this year and the requirements for getting any sort of tournament on,

the fact that we saw anything is perhaps a success. Yeah, absolutely. The fact that they managed to get three separate teams flown out to the UAE. It was held during the Women's Big Bash League, which, you know, you could argue that's a problem in itself, but also it meant that there are a lot of overseas internationals who you might want to call up for such a tournament who found themselves unavailable. So being able to muster international talents, make sure that everybody quarantines for the requisite amount of time, getting them all out to the UAE, and also arranging the first standalone title sponsor,

I think Geo Cement is for the first time in women's cricket history in India was a major achievement. So yes, we should sort of celebrate the good bits, the progress, but doesn't mean you should stop asking the questions. And guess on the other hand is once you've got the teams out there and gone through all that, then why not play a few more matches? That would be the other argument for the length of the tournament. Yeah, there was certainly some kind of irony in the fact that they've been quarantining for longer than the actual tournament. itself. But no, for us as viewers, it was certainly worth it. And I, you know, I've seen some encouraging comments from Suro Ganguly, the president of the BCCI about their plans that are afoot for, if not next year, then certainly in the next couple of years to expand the tournament

and get it back in India. So I think, yes, a lot of encouragement, and we should celebrate that, certainly. Let's have a little look about what we saw on the field. There was some good quality cricket, certainly. And Sophie Eccleston. She's the name that keeps on springing up and again is excelling that the number one T20 bowler in the world five wickets and an average of 11 across the three matches including a remarkable spell of four for nine

she was the one player that really stood up out of everyone really and announced herself as look this is my game now almost oh it's an incredible spell of bowling and it was the one that precipitated that collapsed to 49 or 47 all out velocity in the end and it was one of those

in women's cricket, quite often we're quick to jump on a poor batting performance, but I really do feel that the way in which she bowled, the skill that she has, the control she has of her variations, whether it be in flight, turn, or where she releases the ball as well. You know, there's a reason that she is the number one T20 bowler in the world, and I think in that respect, we should be celebrating the bowling, the good bowling, superb bowling, rather than the rather lackadaisical batting. So yes, I think she cemented herself at the top of things. Although she was overtaken in the end in the wicket charts by

Raddiyadh, who snuck in with her own cheeky fibre in the final. I think we're seeing a lot of talent in the spin-volume department coming out of India as well, which is certainly good for global cricket. It was not exactly a great time of it for Danny Wyatt, the other England representative. She played two innings in less than 24

hours, scoring a total of three runs and her tournament was over. Yeah, and that's kind of the problem with having such a short tournament. If you're out of form, if you're not really in a particularly good place with your cricket, then you haven't got much of a chance to rectify that. And we saw that with Wyatt. She just didn't have the timing that we usually see.

And this is a batter who, you know, remember she, a couple of years ago, blasting those hundreds against Australian T20 innings. She is one of the most explosive, exciting players in the woman's T20 game. And the fact that we weren't really offered the opportunity to see that on such a stage was disappointing, Disappointing for her, of course, because she's got a lot of work to do before England go over to Australia and New Zealand in the New Year to tour over there. But I think, yes, that is certainly a reflection on a short, sharp tournament that we're going to miss out on a few performances.

Off the field, much of the attention has been on what this now means for the future of a potential women's IPL. The BCCI have announced that the tournament this year was self-sufficient. It funded itself with this sponsorship, this standalone sponsor. that in isolation, regardless of what else happened, is huge news, isn't it? Oh, absolutely. I mean, this is, I think, you know, I think we're often in cricket where we sort of get the right outcome for the wrong reasons and this might be part of it.

I think India are realising now that women's cricket, it's a viable commercial product. I mean, if you think about tapping into the billions of female sports people in India, where it is, of course, a national game and has been for the men for ages, and actually now it's an opportunity to make it so for the women. as well. There is so much potential, so much talent. We're already seeing that with some of the players that are coming through, like Suchma Verma, Jamima Rodriguez as well. Like, you know, there are 16-year-olds, 17-year-olds performing in this IPL, or at least part of the squads. And I think they've got a much better structure around there under 16s, around that

under 19 talent structure. And you feel that the depth is there. You just need the BCCI to kind of take the plunge, which, you know, it's a, it's a difficult step, but one that needs to be taken. You mentioned Surav Ganguly and the potential for a full women's tournament. Where are we in terms of that? So I think we heard from Surabanguli, he spoke to India today a couple of days before the final, in which they were touting in the next couple of years, a seven, possibly eight team structure or franchise-based team for the women. Now, we don't know what's immediately going to happen because next year, of course, the men's IPL is happening well in Lefey's than six months time in March, April. So I wonder whether we'll have a sort of similar

structure of the women's IPL in that one. And maybe it's a little bit too quickly for the BCCI to get its act together. But in the future, I think it does sound as though it's reaching the higher echelons of this governing body, who remember are the most powerful national governing body in the world. And so that's important. And I think the science error are encouraging, certainly. wider than that and the international game. We know that we've got the Women's Big Bash League taking place at the moment, but I saw an amazing piece of information

that I hadn't really sort of reconciled prior to when I first read it earlier on in the week. And that is that only six international teams have played since the start of lockdown. You've got England and West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany and Austria, who, you know, played a series right up the start of the summer. You almost discount them because they're not part of the higher grouping of teams in the world game. And it was quite telling when Harmon Preet Corr, one of the captains of the sides in the IPL tournament we've just seen, said that the players need to go out and enjoy themselves in this final because they don't know when they're next going to play. The tour to Sri Lanka has just been called off. And there's a bit of a barren spell for the women's game coming up, internationally speaking, at least.

Yeah, we're seeing these challenges face all aspects of professional sport, whether it be men's, women, you know, relies a lot on home boards to really facilitate professional sport by setting up bicycle bubbles. obviously renting out sort of whole hotels, ensuring that there are flights chartered, etc. So it's a hugely expensive process. And that inevitably means that the boards that have those funds and also have that sort of that intent to invest in the women's game are going to see a lot more cricket. And we've seen that with England, for example, hosting the West Indies,

with Australia hosting New Zealand. We're going to see England go over to Australia, over to New Zealand. And the danger, of course, is that those boards that have the means, the funds, the appetite, I guess, to do so for the women's game will carry on doing so and their respective teams will only get stronger for it whereas the teams sort of caught in the middle who have got some incredibly talented players

and who might even have good domestic structure you're looking at your South Africa's, your West Indies, your Pakistans who are coming up, they just haven't got the funds to support or even, you know, it might just fall down the pecking order as well. I think this is something where the England's, the Australia's as well, the ICC as well, and really put their heads together to make sure that this gap, this performance gap, doesn't kind of open up into this great big chasm, which is

the danger now. It was already a danger pre-COVID, but I think that's only exacerbated it the fact that, yeah, they've got the haves, and the haves are playing lots of cricket, and you have not, just haven't got anything in the foreseeable future. And that also impacts, you know, your training regimens as well. I mean, if you're a professional athlete and you've got literally no fixtures in the horizon, I mean, why do you get up and go to the net each day? day. So it does have some really far-reaching effects. I do think there's a lot of chat around. I think there are a lot of good people in all these organisations that are really trying to make this work in very difficult circumstances. I don't envy anyone in any administrative role at the

moment, but I think this needs to be recognised as sort of the biggest challenge facing women's cricket globally right now is the chasm between the richer boards and the ones are more progressive with their attitude to women's cricket and the rest. Plenty to think about, and as much as the successes of this IPL women's T20 challenge should be acknowledged, there are, as you say, is he plenty of other issues to keep an eye out. Well, thank you for your company over the tournament and across the IPL as well. The question now is whether that's the last time we'll see these teams, and if next year the Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians and the like, will have women's sides as part of a full Women's Indian Premier League, or if this is just another step that will need a few more incremental steps before we see that full. fledged tournaments in the future. Henry Moran and Isabel Westbury

looking back on the IPL Women's Challenge. The IPL men's tournament is over after six gruelling weeks for the players in the bio bubble in the UAE. Congratulations to Mumbai Indians. You can keep up to date with Test Match special

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