In this episode, we engage in a spirited IPL All-time XI Fantasy draft, featuring hosts Benny and Mayank, alongside distinguished cricket journalist Saurabh Somani. The focal point of our discussion is the intricate process of selecting an all-time IPL XI, in which each participant must navigate budgetary constraints and strategic considerations while curating their dream team. Our discourse not only highlights the players' illustrious careers and contributions to the IPL but also delves into the dynamics of team composition, examining the merits of various players across different eras. As we progress, we address the inevitable challenges of player selection and the emotional attachments that influence our choices. Through this engaging and analytical conversation, we aim to encapsulate the essence of the IPL's rich history and the players who have left an indelible mark on the tournament.

Hello and welcome to the last Wicked.

I'm your host Benny.

Thank you for joining us folks.

As always, I'm joined by my co host Mayank.

Hey Mayank.

Hey Benny.

And special guest Saurabh Somani.

Hey Saurabh, how are you?

Hi Benny.

I'm good.

Pleasure to be on the podcast.

Yeah, thank you so much.

And you've joined us for a very, very special episode.

Something we've been wanting to do for a really long time and it looks like we found the perfect person.

But Saurabh, before we go any further, can you just a few words about yourself or people who may not know you.

Yeah.

So I've been a cricket journalist since 15 plus years.

I worked with Crickbuzz and then Wizden, India and then Cricken four.

And now I've been freelancing.

I am writing a book on rcb.co writing a book with Shashankishore.

I believe he has been on the podcast once before.

So yeah, so he and I are writing a book on RCB together which should be out later this year with either the story of RCB's title win after 18 years or the story of their successful title defense after not winning one for 17 years.

So let's see how that goes.

And in short, that is the intro.

Yeah.

Basically I've been in cricket for a while.

What, what prompted you with the RCB book?

I'm curious.

How did you start on that and how did Shashank.

So Shashank and I have been colleagues and friends since the start.

We were together at Crickinfo, then at Wisden, then at Crickinfo.

Sorry, at Crickbuzz, then at Wisden, then at Crickinfo.

We have been colleagues at all three of those places and we've been friends for a long time.

And we, we did keep talking about, you know, there is a book in us, we need to write something.

And he was the one who first got the idea of rcb.

He's been, he's born in Bangalore or maybe if not born, he's lived most of his life in Bangalore.

He's a proper Bangalorean and what they call rcb Blood.

No.

So he's, he's, he's a great RCB fan.

I grew to, you know, quite like the team because of various factors, the kind of players they had and they were very fascinating in the sense that they had the personnel to have won a couple of titles by now.

You know, like you would think a team with that kind of quality would win one or two by accident, almost, if not anything else, but they just hadn't.

And then once they won it, it was like, you know, we have to do the book now.

This is the most fascinating franchisee.

And I genuinely believe that, like, not because we're writing the book.

Even before writing the book, we found RCB to be the most fascinating story franchise wise.

Yeah.

So that's why.

And do you.

I'm just curious because I know in the last few years there's been a lot of change at rcb.

There's like Freddy Wild is involved and Andy Flower is there and all those people.

So do you also try to cover that aspect of it?

How the backroom changed things and, and so on?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely.

In fact, just last week, Shashank and I came on Abwa's show also to talk about the book.

Ab, of course, is a massive part of rcb.

Massive part of the book also.

So that was nice to, you know, go there and talk to him about his stuff in the, about stuff we have written on him in the book.

So.

And we.

In fact, he also asked us that about the, the, the.

The backroom changes with the latest staff coming in especially.

So that is definitely covered.

I, I think they have had a huge hand in RCB actually winning the title.

The back room, obviously it's the players who eventually win the title, but you have to set the pieces behind the scenes first.

Right.

For the players to be able to build on that.

And both of those things happened for rcb, I think.

You know, I'm a lifelong CSK fan and I feel like most people just automatically would assume that, okay, there's this rivalry with RCB and you just like hate the other.

But honestly, that's not the case for me because for the longest time, RCB was always my second favorite team because I studied in Bangalore for the longest time.

And so I've always considered it like a secondary home for me.

And.

But of course, you know, as the years went by and you know, it became a meme, you know, like, oh, yeah, RCB is going to win this year.

And so when they did eventually win, but even the year before that, you know, that was like the start of their kind of rise.

And that culminated in the trophy win last year and now this year too, they're doing pretty well.

And so that leads me to think, like, is this the start of like a new era in RCB's history?

Do you talk about that at all in your book?

Whether it's the start of a new era?

Or not is we try not to predict, but we do feel like this.

I can say without revealing anything great about the book as such.

But it is a template laid down for more consistent future success.

The way these guys have approached things, the way they have built their squad, which you can see in the results.

Right.

Like last year also, they were, they finished in the top two and then they won.

This year also they're like, you know, looking on track to finish in the top two or at least qualify even if there is a blip mid season.

Right now they look on track for top two, but they look very strong possibilities to qualify at least.

So you can't do that consistently year after year without having that template in place.

And that's what they have set.

Now, obviously the IPL has a mega disruptor in the form of mega auctions.

So no matter what you have built at the mega auction, you do need to kind of reset and rebuild, which they did very smartly.

So if this team stays on now, there's an ownership change also coming, right.

Hopefully the new owners will hopefully.

I mean they should, right.

See the value of the current setup and just let that continue.

So because they have been so smart till now, I believe that, yeah, you can reasonably expect them to be smart going forward also.

So it does seem like the start of something of a higher level of performance from RCB that could be expected consistently.

Right.

It definitely is a very fascinating chapter and I can't wait to read your book.

And so when you guys are ready, like you and Shashank should come back on our podcast and talk.

Definitely, definitely this is your open invitation, but let's go ahead and get started on our main, you know, purpose of this episode.

You know, been wanting to do this IPL fantasy draft like an all time IPL fantasy draft.

So we pick our all time Levins and obviously there are going to be some inherent, kind of like challenges because otherwise everyone is going to end up with the same players probably.

Mike, why don't you go and explain how we're going to do this?

Absolutely.

I've seen a lot of 11 being drafted and the one twist that I thought of is we have to do it IPL style.

So that doesn't mean an auction, because for an auction you would need multiple teams to be picked.

But we will have a budget.

The budget is going to be 110 crores.

What I have on the screen is a Claude generated and then some minor tweaks by me.

Price.

For all the players that are either top 20 in terms of Indian players, wicket takers, run scorers, top 10 foreign players and run scorers, I've added some other names which, you know, didn't show up.

So for example, Shane Warren had to be added, of course, for, you know, the way it's all started.

And so there are certain names like that that I've added.

By no means is this a comprehensive list.

So I hope I haven't forgotten anybody major, but, but yeah, we'll, we'll start with this and try to keep it to 110 crores.

There's no other rules.

So it's not like we must have five bowlers.

There's no other rules in terms of each player must play five seasons.

If somebody's had a really short, you know, three season peak and then just disappeared, totally fine, you're allowed to pick them.

So that's, that's all it is.

Yeah.

And so for people who are.

Sorry, very quickly to interrupt.

If people are watching this episode on YouTube, obviously you can see the list for people who are listening.

We'll try to post this in our episode show notes, but it might be a little too hard.

So we encourage you to check this out on YouTube as well if you're interested in seeing the list of players and their different prices.

And we'll probably mention it too when we make our picks as well.

Mike, what about players who may not be on this list at all?

Can we go outside the list?

Yeah, we can.

That's the piece that I was thinking about.

I was like, should we just three of us decide, hey, this should be the rough prize for this player, maybe just the category that they fall into and so we can do something like that.

It sounds like you already have one or two in mind which are not here.

I'm not going to reveal the names, but I was thinking if there are players that we want to pick who are not on the list because what is the lowest that we have?

Is it 2 crores?

Is that what we're.

Yes.

Saying?

Right?

Correct.

So maybe we'll just default.

If a player is not on this list, should we just go with two?

One of you could throw a challenge and be like, hold on, maybe that player is way more than two.

It seems fair.

Like if he has not made the list, then he comes in at base price.

Like even in the ipl, if you are a replacement player, you come in at base price.

Right.

So good point.

Right?

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

Let's.

I can think of a few CSK the streets will remember sort of players that you want to add who are not here.

And I was going to say there's no limit on how many players you can pick from each team, right?

That's correct.

You can pick as many.

The budget will anyways restrict you.

Otherwise you will have all the elites.

Yes.

And four overseas players.

That's correct.

Yep.

Same rule as the ipl.

Four overseas is the max.

That is probably the only, you know, rule apart from the budget that you need to keep in mind.

And then the order we'll go in is we'll have Saurabh go first, Benny will be second and then I'll go third and then we'll pick 11 to start with.

That's the 110 crore budget for.

And after that we will also talk about maybe some who are super close and you know, would have made it if not for the budget.

Right.

All right.

Before you make your first pick.

Sorry.

Before you make your first pick, I guess we should even just talk very quickly or just your thoughts on.

It had its fair share of detractors.

People talked about how it was like a cattle market essentially.

What are your thoughts on this style of essentially assembling a team year after year?

I love the auctions, I think so I'll just tell you the negative of the auction which I see is that like what we were discussing when you asked about whether RCB has set for a new era.

The mega auction is a disruptor to continuity.

So that is there.

It does do that.

There are ways to sort of mitigate that.

Maybe you know, now that 10 teams are set, unless they add new teams, then retentions become difficult.

But now that 10 teams are set, you can have maybe up to 6, 7, 8 retentions if you want.

You know, figure out prices and this and bands accordingly.

But the auction is the greatest leveler and because of the budget cap.

That's why you see the IPL being such a even competition.

Otherwise what happens is if you.

The other option is a draft.

Of course, you know, a lot of the leagues have drafts.

But in the draft what happens is now let's just take this auction for example.

Here you have a Jaspreet bumrah priced at 17 crore and you have a Rishabh Pant, let's say at 13 crore.

And then you might have like if I go lower down, you have let's say MVJ at 2 crore.

Now while I'm picking in the draft order, the incremental or decreasing value of each player is equal, right?

Because I pick, then you pick, then Mayank picks, then Mayank picks, then you pick.

I mean the draft goes snake style.

So.

The value is the same.

It is as if each player was priced, let's say 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, like that.

And then we all end up with the same budget if they were priced price like that.

Whereas in the auction If I feel one player is worth 30 crore and and there is nobody else who's close to that, you know, the maybe the next best player is only 22 crore that we are willing to bid it, it builds that difference in because it is an auction.

So you lose more by buying that high value player than you would if you just had him as your first draft pick.

So that way the auction is more, more equal than a draft.

Which is why I like the auction.

Just, just for that equality aspect.

I like it.

And that's what makes the IPL what it is.

That's what makes the IPL such an even competition where any team can, you know, beat the other.

Obviously that is not true of some teams this year.

They have sort of fallen behind.

But in general the principle holds, you know, like as the IPL has matured, you see before every season most teams you feel like, yeah, on their day they can beat someone else, it just needs one player to catch fire.

It needs or maybe two, three players to do something and they can.

So that's why I'm a fan of the auctions.

You know, maybe the next time we do an episode like this, Mike, maybe we should do it in auction format too.

So let's try that out next time.

Change up the dynamics.

Yeah.

I was also going to say before Zora picks us first is I recently heard a podcast with RCB and London Spirits Mo Babat and he was mentioning how he actually likes the auction because there's less for him, there's less managing player agents and all of that.

It's way more transparent and I'd never thought of it.

So that's also a really interesting thing.

They're not worried about, hey, let me call this agent and negotiate and whether this person actually fits in this band and all of that kind of stuff.

So that probably is easier from an owner's perspective as well.

Because cutting out the player agent is a natural byproduct of players being in an auction.

Right.

Because nobody can control the price.

In an auction, you go for what you go for.

Yep.

All right, let's stop beating around the bush.

Let's go with our first pick.

Saurabh.

Yeah.

So I'm glad you guys gave me the first pick.

I'm going to go what I usually do with my first pick.

That's Jaspreet Bumra because for a couple of reasons.

One, he is, in my view the best IPL bowler of all time.

I don't care.

He has gone five matches without a wicket in this ipl.

I was going to ask you about that.

See, so the thing is, the first four batches, he actually bowled fine.

The wickets is somewhat of an uncontrollable.

In the last match against Punjab, it was a little bit off.

But also, you know, I discussed this on other podcasts.

Winning a World cup takes a lot out of you as a player, especially for a bowler, and especially for a bowler like Bura, who needed to be the guy for India at every moment, at every high pressure moment.

It does, you know, drain you physically, emotionally, mentally.

It's very difficult to pick yourself up after that and just come back to the way you were.

I think that is what has happened to him.

He's a little bit less than 100%, which you can see why and understand why.

The other reason I want to make him my first pick is because I don't know if there's.

We have the budget to pick more than two player, more than one or two players from the elite list.

So I needed Bumra to be one of them.

So I'm making that pick so that you guys are constrained with whatever you have to do.

So I, I.

There's absolutely no competition with Bumrah.

I'm wearing a Bumrah hoodie.

So absolutely all like, I don't think there's any argument.

I don't think Benny's gonna be like, what are you talking about?

Is that there?

So I think that's an easy one.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll just quickly add about Bumra too, is that, you know, you made some very good points about like, especially in the immediate aftermath of a very high pressure draining and eventually successful World cup campaign.

The other thing too, when it comes to the ipl, I don't know how much players can be like, well, you know what, I'm going to take a break right now.

I've had a great few months, very strenuous.

But now I'm going to sit out of this very lucrative phase in a, in a cricketer's, you know, calendar.

So I, I don't think he would feel like he even has that option.

And I think it's also unfair to the franchise if you're one of your star players.

It's like, well, actually I want to take a break.

It's just how the calendar is, you know, and you're going to get more and more of that where there are going to be like major tournaments or series that bookends like the ipl, especially if they want to go longer as they're considering in the future.

So it's just one of those things.

And you cannot really determine someone's class based on their performances in a few T20 games.

And it goes for quite a few of the other World cup winning players as well.

Not everyone is shining at the moment, but you know that that's just how it is right now.

Yeah.

All right, Benny, off to you.

All right, listen.

There was no question in my mind of who my first pick was going to be.

I was like, I don't care what his price is, I'm going for him.

And I've said it before in this episode, lifelong CSK fan, there's like no doubt in my mind who was going to be my first pick.

And I was just so worried that sort of was going to do it.

But he was being more logical, I'm being more emotional.

I'm going with Ms. Dhoni as my first pick.

He's also the most expensive person on the list as I see.

Right, yeah, that is, that is true.

Which I am surprised about.

Again, this is Claude generated.

So I would not have put him in that back.

Claude knows something that we did.

He's technically uncapped so.

I didn't have him in my team at all.

Same.

Listen, thank you for saying that because I feel like I almost have to defend myself now.

But see, I think we can all argue about who like the face of the IPL is.

You know, there have been quite a few players over the last couple of decades have shown and have really captured, you know, you know, fans heart and stuff.

His knee is creaking and he's just on the verge of just like breaking down like every single game.

He's like 40 to 43.

You know, one of those.

But he's still 45.

Oh, really?

Wow.

See, it's all just a number.

It's just, he's just captivated like this entire fan base and obviously there are varying degrees of like how intense people are about it.

I'm.

I'm not on that far end.

But I will say as much as I personally think it's time for him to hang up his boots for me.

He will always be what essentially became the IPL for me.

Like obviously he's, he was the captain of the Indian team when the IPL started and obviously we won the T20 World cup around the time of the IPL inception.

So that myth, that myth of Ms. Dhoni and just like his aura as the kids call it these days, you know, that was all integral and became integral to what CSK was over the first 15 years or so.

And the fact that Amazon loved CSK as much as CSK loved him, like, that's just an unbreakable bond.

And for me, again, when it comes to ipl, it's always Amazoni first.

Like I think of him first and then everyone else comes later.

All the big hitting batsmen and the star bowlers, sure they bring all the skills and whatever to the team, but Amazoni brings the heart, is how I feel it.

And I can build a team around him, but he needs to be there and lead it.

See, all of this would hold true if you're picking a CSK all time.

11 Is what I feel.

I'm going to try to do it.

Let's see if I can.

Yeah.

Now the problem is we've spent 37 crores.

Yeah.

So that is my major concern actually.

Our budget should be 120, just like the IPL teams.

Right, let's do that.

Actually, I, I don't know why I said 110.

Let's do 120.

That'll give us a little more room as well.

So maybe we can squeeze in one more of the elites from.

Are we trying to assemble it like a typical, like matched 11, like the balance?

Yeah.

Yes, absolutely.

Like, so it has to have a wicket keeper which you've already picked.

So that's not a problem.

Got it, Got it.

But yes, we should have at least, you know, it shouldn't be three batters and nine bowlers or something like that.

Yes.

Yeah, got it.

So.

So my first pick is actually surprisingly also a CSK pick.

So I would pick Suresh Raina for number three, I think just phenomenal record in the IPL.

You know, some of the knocks, 87 of 25, like just incredible knocks that he's played.

And during that peak of the CSK team, which I used to hate, I used to be on the other side of Benny.

He was just really, really good to watch.

And then of course, occasionally he could chip in with a few overs.

I don't remember him bowling too much in the ipl, but there were one off instances where he did chip in with, with some useful overs.

So for that reason, I think that 17 crore is justified.

And now that we have 120, I think we can do three elite picks.

So that's going to be my pick number one.

I also should remark that like, for all the things that I said about Amazon, Sirish Ra is still like considered like Mr. IPO, right?

Like that's his tag, 100%.

And you know, talking about the streets, the streets still talk about as 87, you know, of 25 deliveries.

And even in this era where all the Suryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Jai Swats, all.

Of those, nobody has, nobody matched it.

Yeah, nobody has matched that.

And that came at a, you know, a long time ago too.

And the fact that that still stands.

Yeah, yeah, that was insane.

So we had a, an episode on the Good Areas podcast where we picked our best ever IPL innings and that was second on my list.

I mean, it's difficult to go past the 175 of Gail so that just for the sheer volume, that was first.

But Rena's 87 is for me the second greatest IPL innings of all time.

Yeah, I can't think of too many that are better.

So.

Yeah, I completely agree with that.

We'll turn it back to you, Saurabh.

Who's your next?

Yeah, I think I'll have to be like a team player now.

I'll have to pick like a budget pick so that, you know, we have flexibility.

So I'll go.

Yusuf Pathan for 4 crores.

I think Yusuf Pathan at 4 crores is like a steal.

He was, he was actually not used to his best potential, I feel in the ipl because he was an absolute monster of a spin hitter.

And for some reason they, they thought just because he's a big guy who hits a long ball, okay, send him in at the death.

He would have been more effective if you had sent him earlier in the middle overs, you know, to take down spin.

And I think only Shane Warne did that to some extent with him later on.

He wasn't used in that fashion.

Neither in the IPL, nor by the Indian team who I think Mr. Trigg.

I would say knowing what we know now, like you know, with the kind of nuanced analysis that you can look at now.

I, at that time, of course the concept of phases, space hitter, spin hitter, this, that matchups, all of that was, was not even there or if it was, it would have been very nascent sort of ideas.

But he I think would be.

So he would bat at number five in my team so that you know, he, he comes in at his ideal entry point.

Wax 37 ball 100 which Shane wand will call the greatest things he has seen and then yeah, does the job for us and he can bowl maybe one over if needed.

Yeah, I think the way, the reason it also works is he works well with Ms. Dhoni who's not as much of a spin hitter.

So that's a good balance in the middle to have one spin hitter.

Yeah.

One person who's better with medium pace and, and fast.

Yeah,.

I, yeah, I, I actually think when I looked at this list again, I do think Yusuf Pathan was lower in, in.

Again, this is my memory of him.

He has a 72 of 22 balls that puts KKR into the qualifiers.

Actually he's.

Yeah, no, Yusuf actually is a very hot topic amongst a niche set of people and so I am part of that set and I think he's.

Yeah, he, he was, he was like a sure shot entry as soon as I saw the price tag actually in this regenerated one he's gone to 4 crores.

Earlier he was at 2 crore.

I was like he.

In a logical order, he's the first one I'm picking.

Of course I'm picking Bumrah first but otherwise he would be the first one I would pick because he's just 2 crore.

Makes a lot of sense.

I couldn't agree more.

I think his exploits for Rajasthan are well remembered.

I mean, I guess it depends on when you started watching.

So I paid a lot more attention to the IPL at the beginning.

So I remember the Rajasthan exploits.

I do sometimes forget his KKR exploits.

Not consistently, but on and off.

He was part of both the one day team.

So yeah, just a great period and there was a lot in that, you know, just potential wise.

Just a lot in that because at that point we didn't even have like actual bashers.

So he was one of the few who would actually go after from ball one and had the license to do it.

They, they trusted his quality.

Yeah.

Benny, who's your next pick?

Right, I'm going to, I'm going to show by the end of this episode, I'm going to show why you shouldn't follow my tactics because I'm going to struggle at the end.

But first I'm going to like, you know, like gamble like I'm in Vegas.

I'm gonna go with another top tier pick.

So if you can scroll up,.

Please tell me it's a great and not an elite.

It's, it's a great.

I don't know if I can afford another elite just yet.

Did I get a better feel?

I'm actually gonna go with an opener.

And it can also, it can kind of be forgotten that David Warner had an astonishing tournament himself.

He scored 800 plus runs and he, if I'm not mistaken, was leading the team too.

He was leading the Hyderabad team.

Yes.

Right.

So it's leadership and kind of like how Ms. Dhoni has this bond with Chennai like David Warner has that with Hyderabad.

Even though he hasn't been with the team for a really long time, he still, you know, has their heart.

So for me he, he just, you know, for my team he had, you know, I need a power packed opener, you know, who can give, give those flying starts, who has that energy in the field, who can be like a council to M. Stoney on the field.

So I'm gonna go with David Warner as my opener.

One of the openers.

No, I think that's a good pick and I, he was there in my list because at 14 crore I thought David Warner is a very, very good pick to have.

He belongs in the elite tier for me.

So the fact that he's below that made him automatically like a value for money pick for me.

I, I would agree.

I, I also had Warner in the list.

The only reason Why I was thinking about whether we pick and of course now we already have him was there's also Shane Watson and on that same price range and he had a few really good seasons for CSK as opener and then you know he could also bowl pitch in with the ball.

So that was the only reason why I was thinking about hey do we go Warner or not?

But I guess we already have gone for him so.

All right.

Actually when Benny said opener I thought Shane Watson is who he's going for because of the CSK connect.

See I can be a little bit reasonable.

But five people in and we are at 72 crores so we have 48 crores and six more to go.

So it's getting tight.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to scroll to this section and I'm going to look at what is considered tier 3.

Now again this is.

I don't necessarily think everybody here belongs here.

There's a couple of people who I do think should be above but here's the.

Here's what we're playing with.

So I will pick Shreya Sayer.

I think he has had the last three seasons has just been unbelievable and just the game how he's improved.

Obviously he started his IPL career with Delhi and you know has moved around quite a bit.

So.

But post Covid I think his game has been just at another level and he's just batting really well at 8 crores.

I think that is in an automatic pick in my mind.

Of course we already have Ms. Dhoni David Warner in the team so we may not need a captain but he's also good captain potential.

So there's.

That's another reason why I would be in the team and he would to me if we would batted number four.

Yeah it's a pretty bold tech in my opinion because is it more because of price constraint you're going with him.

Rather than really not.

Not really actually because I was thinking about this before I looked at the price and I was thinking about all the people that you know we've grown up watching the ipl.

So the David Warner and and even thinking Dwayne Bravo like all those folks who had done really well in the first let's say 10 seasons of the IPL and I was thinking of all that and I still couldn't like pinpoint to a middle order or number four who is absolutely been superb who can hit both spin, who can hit both pace like spin.

He's just elite and he's improved his pace batting Quite a bit.

So I think from that perspective, I always wanted to pick Shreya Sayer.

And yeah, the fact that it's at 8 crores.

He's at 8 crores, that I think sealed the deal for me.

I am happy with that pick, man.

I'm, I'm a Shreya Sayer bandwagoner.

So I'm, I'm very happy with this pick.

When people are watching this podcast five years later, they'll be like, oh, you got shares here for 8 crores.

That's a steal.

So, yes, 100 agree.

I, I think that there are two people right now in the IPL who are.

It's hard to imagine how they are not in the Indian 11.

It's him.

And I would say maybe it's recency bias, but maybe Rajat Patidar.

Like to me those two people are just the way they are batting, the ball is just, just flowing off their bat.

They don't need to, you know, do anything special.

So that's why I was like, I have to have at least one of them.

Rajat is not in your list.

Right.

So I noticed that just as we're starting.

Yes.

So I was, I actually didn't want to put him because we had decided that if someone is not in the list, he comes in at 2 crore.

So I thought that would be a useful, you know, ace to have in the back pocket if we need it.

Like we are running out of budget and we need.

But now you have picked Shreyas.

So it's a similar sort of role.

So I don't know if we have room for Rajats.

But it's my pick, right?

Yes.

Yeah.

I'll go hardik pandya for 9 crores.

Which is also I think a bit of a steal at 9 crore.

Yeah.

And of course he balances the team.

You know, we are not playing with an impact player.

So we need some amount of top order batters bowling.

And amongst the elite all rounders, he is by far the cheapest priced one from what I could see.

So therefore Hardik Pandya.

Yeah, Hard to argue with that one because he can bowl with the new ball.

He can bowl at the death.

He's a good batter at, you know, six, seven.

So, yeah, he's just really good.

I also was very surprised to see him at 9 crores.

And yeah, obviously I had a lot of success with Mumbai, with Gujarat Titans in one of the two seasons.

Actually, even in the second season they were finalists.

So, yeah, just a good leader and yeah, just balances out the team.

And that's really why India loves him as well.

Like, anytime he's injured, we are.

We are in trouble.

And again, it's just sad that, you know, we live in this very reactionary environment where people always look at the most recent performances and are, you know, not just criticize the player, but they're like, maybe you should not be in the team at all.

And it's just.

I always feel like if I was a player or, you know, someone close to the player, I'd be like, how do you even face this kind of pressure and criticism, like, day after day, week after week?

And you're like, I just did this just like very short time ago, but now I'm like, with the crosshairs.

So I don't.

I don't envy these players when they're not doing very well in the moment.

I envy their bank balances, but otherwise, yeah.

Yes, they can cry into that, you know.

Yeah.

We don't have a lot of overseas players yet.

What's our team looking like right now?

So.

So we have Warner as opener.

We have the second slot open.

Ryan is number three.

Maybe Ryan I can open.

I don't know what we pick.

At.

Number four, Yusuf Pathan, number five, Ms. Dhoni is number six.

Probably can move up and down with Hardik Pandya at number seven.

And then we have Bumra, who can be 10, 11, something like that.

So we still have another opener, potentially.

Benny is right.

We have been really focused on Indian players.

So there's.

We've only picked one, you know, foreign player so far.

So we have some of those left.

What is.

How much do we have left?

We have.

We are at 89 crores.

So we have 31 crores to go and we have four players.

Four players, yes.

Very tempted to go for this one player.

And then we're gonna be having to spend 2 crores on other players to fill up 11.

So this is hard.

This is a lot harder than I thought.

Let's.

Can you go to tier three.

Or do you want me to blow this all up?

I want to Go with the tier one player.

Just have fun.

Just have fun.

All right then we'll, we'll worry about the rest later.

I think someone like David Warner needs an equally explosive opener.

And how can you not have Chris Gale in an ipl?

Come on, come on.

He needs to be in an all time RP11.

He arguably changed the face of RCB when he came on and had that amazing season.

He came in as an injury replacement and just changed the way rcb.

I mean imagine RCB was the team that had Rahul Dravid Kallas where the other.

Didn't they have Chandrapal too?

Not when, not when Gail came.

That was in the.

Before that.

Before that.

Right, like in the first and second.

Year for Jack Kallis and I think Mizbaoul Haq.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then they even had Shiv Narayan Chandapal in the first season.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And so Anu Kumbay, right, Like, so this is a team that at least in the beginning years they thought like let's go with the known proven performers in international cricket.

Forget the format.

And then years later Chris Gale comes along and he's like, hey, this could be our brand, this could be our identity.

And he kind of just fit in perfectly with that RCB brand.

And then of course it took years to eventually form that winning side for them but.

And he's had some Amazing knocks the 175.

I mean can anyone forget that ever?

So yeah, Chris Gale has to be in there somehow.

So I just have to, you know, step in that RCB brand that you're saying the Test team or sort of that.

There was a third place playoff that time.

So they reached the semi finals and then they finished third.

So with that same team, that same court, they actually did pretty well in two out of three years.

Only in the first year they faltered a little bit.

So of course when Gail came they hit a different level.

And it's very weirdly coincidental at that.

This is exactly what I was referring to right now for one chapter in my book.

So Gail.

Yeah, I think Gail does belong in an all time IPL 11.

It's just that with the budget constraints I didn't have him given that you torpedoed it at the start with 20 crores.

Listen, this is my philosophy fee, okay?

Fill your team with like a core of like just like just known match winners.

Then you can have a few players who are like at the start of their careers or just like unknowns, they can fill in the, you know, they can make up the numbers.

Wow, that's not a good place to be at all.

That's the recipe for disappointment.

But you have a good time till it all explodes.

Yeah.

I will say that you probably remember the Ms. Dhoni who was hitting Irfan Pathan in Dharamshala and not the Ms. Dunhill.

Listen, we are picking players based on their peak.

Okay.

Not picking on their current performance.

We're picking them at when they were best.

MSD of that same time.

So yeah, same all these players when they were really at the top of their powers.

All right, I'm gonna go with my next pick and I have to be a little bit conservative now how much.

Someone has to be.

We have 15 crore and three players.

Left and we have three spots to go.

Top order is one to seven is pretty much packed.

So we've got Warner, Gail Raina, Shreya sayer, Yusuf Pathan, Ms. Dhoni and Hardik Pandya.

So top 7 is more or less set.

So we just need bowlers.

Yeah.

Yes.

All we need is bowlers.

We obviously have Bumra and I think the other pick that I was thinking of is trying to get a left armour and I really would have loved to have Arshdeep in my lineup but I think at 7 crores that's tricky right now.

So I'm going to go with Sandeep Sharma who's.

That's a good pick.

He's like underrated.

I think he's been consistent for many seasons so I think he's a good pick.

He has plenty of IPL wickets and lot of experience.

So 4 crores, I think that's solid money for a bankable player.

Yeah,.

Yeah, I like Sandeep a lot.

He's.

He makes my, you know, underrated IPL 11 of all time.

He's been really good for a lot of seasons and he, he has this insane record against, you know, all the elite batters against Kohi, Gail, Rohit, all these guys, he's dismissed them very often.

Yeah, he.

And he'll obviously you need a new ball bowler because, you know, you want to save Bumra for the back end.

So he fits into that role also nicely.

So he reminds me of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar to a large extent too.

Where obviously not as impactful as Bhuvaneshwar in my opinion.

But you know, Sandeep Sharma just feels like, like you know when he runs up to ball he almost like ambles up to bowl.

He doesn't like run full steam like a typical what you would think of as a fast bowler.

But then he always gets the wickets somehow and like you said, some of the best players in the game.

So yeah, he's the definition of underrated in my opinion.

Okay, so we have 11 crores and two picks.

Actually there's two players here who will come will be perfect in that 11.

Now I don't know.

Remember like Benny is going to screw it up at the end anyway.

Yes.

Leave two crores for me.

No, no, I, I have two players worth seven and four, you know, so actually fit in well with this.

I'm just wondering whether you will.

Well the max you can go is nine so that you can pick at least one player for two.

No, no, I, I have a seven and a four who will balance this team nicely.

How many overseas do we have?

Gail Warner.

We have just Gail Warner.

That's it.

So we still have two for two overseas which is not a lot of money for overseas players.

Yeah.

Okay.

Now and we need a spinner.

Right?

That is what I was thinking.

I definitely think we are short a spinner because right now apart from.

Yeah, so you.

So for Raina there's no overs a.

Spin and we can get Gale Gail to some over.

You know, why not?

Yeah, no, there is a spinner who's available for seven but I'll go with a, a four crore pick.

Actually I'll go with Chris Morris who is, I think he's also a little bit underrated and he's just for 4 crore and he wouldn't have made my team originally but given the budget concerns now I think he is one of the decent picks.

We need a bowler anyway.

Morris can bowl up top at the death.

He also provides something with the bat.

You know in this new go hard all through era you need batting depth and he gives that, he gives good, good a decent bowling option I would say and for 4 crores is definitely good value.

So that's why I'll just go Chris Morris and we have an overseas spot and I, I'll trust Benny to pick the spinner.

Before.

Can I chip in with my own money.

Before we go to Benny?

I was gonna say that Chris Morris was one that I really struggled with because I remember there were at least two auctions where he was the highest paid overseas player.

Yes.

And you know he definitely was doing well, as a bowler, I think his economy in the IPL was something like 8 or something like that.

So he did well.

I don't know if he really contributed as much with the back definite potential, but I don't remember if he did as much.

He had, he had a couple of outstanding innings.

Yeah.

Bowling that economy of 8.

You also have to remember he bowled power play and death.

So you know, that is.

That has to be factored in.

So that eight is a very, very acceptable economy rate for a guy who bowls those phases.

Yep.

Absolutely.

No, no, absolutely.

I meant eight as a positive.

I think it was a solid economy.

Yeah.

The batting is where I feel like the, the teams did not use him or were not able to get the most out of him.

But yeah, that's why I was like, I don't know if he should be in the four cover category because clearly IPL things went crazy after him.

So maybe he should be in the very great category.

But hey, that's a very good pick.

And he comes in at number eight.

So to have that hitting at number eight is really amazing.

I mean he.

He could be number nine also depending on who Benny picks.

That's fair.

That's fair.

Wait, there's only four left, right?

I'm trying to.

To inceptionize the.

The pick for you.

I know where you're going.

I know where you're going.

I'm looking for a specific player in this list and I don't see him.

So it's 7 crores and we have 7 left.

Yeah, we have 7.

Yeah.

See, I've left you with 7 crores.

I made the.

The budget pick to.

To.

Problem is my preference is all like Rashid Khan, Sunil Narayan, Shane Warren, all are way over the price.

But it's missing that then you're not invited to the next episode.

So we just have to make up the numbers.

That's what you're saying?

I feel like we should fill up.

You know we only have three overseas players, right?

No, you need a spinner first.

Actually more than an overseas, I would say.

Yeah.

Because.

Okay, one spinner at least one frontline spinner is needed, Right.

In a team you can't rely on Gale.

That's fine.

That's fine.

Listen, I.

There's one player I did not see on this list.

Can you scroll down to the bottom?

Okay.

Juventur Chahal is not on this list, right?

Oh, he is.

He is at 13 crores.

Yeah.

I thought he finally had him.

He's not on the original one.

Okay, never mind.

Okay.

Wow.

I Feel like I have to go outside of this list to pick up a spinner.

Actually.

Let's see.

Seven.

Let's go seven and down.

So let me see.

Who are the spinners that we have?

7 And below.

Start with Akshar Patel.

I'm not fully convinced about Akshar.

Let's keep going.

That is so funny.

I don't know if you have other spinners.

So let's see.

No, there's spinners.

Let's see if four core has.

Oh, there's Piu Shablat 5. Who else?

No, nobody else.

I think those are the only two spinners we have in the.

In the money we have left.

Okay.

But I don't know if he.

If I. Yeah.

Washington Sundar is.

Is not even used as a spinner by his IPL team.

I know.

He bats at number five.

And he has, like.

And he doesn't bowl 50s.

Yeah.

And he doesn't bowl right.

Like, he's not been bowling for Gujarat Titans.

Yes.

No.

No.

Do we have.

You guys are gonna hate me for this.

It's Mitchell Satner on this list.

Oh, that is a good one.

He's not.

Yeah, you could actually go Mitchell Santa.

That is a good idea.

That's a good idea.

I think he's fit.

Very.

Right, Right.

And I feel like he's not been really utilized well by most teams.

I think Mumbai, India's fairly decent job with him recently, but other than that, he doesn't really get a lot of opportunities.

Even with csk, they really didn't use him well.

Because if he's not there, I think.

I think that's a fair pick.

I think that's a good.

I think.

Yeah.

I think it's a good pick.

Overseas.

It keeps us in budget because we don't have him.

It gives us a spinning option without, you know, and it lengthens the batting order also, so.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So now Chris Morris is actually at number nine.

Because.

Actually, now that we have five crores left, can I pick someone instead of Chris Morris?

Can I pick Dale Stain instead?

I really wanted Dale.

Okay, fine.

You're a special guest.

You get to do three.

Stain or Hazelwood.

You know, one of them.

Like, makes more sense that way.

I think Chris Morris thinking budget constraints and all that.

Yeah.

Because otherwise you don't really have a solid partner.

I mean, Sharma.

But you need a solid partner for Bumra.

I. I was gonna say Akshar Patel because he also bats team.

That is the one.

I thought.

You know, like, I thought Akshar and Morris Given we have only 11 crores left, Akshar and Morris make the most sense.

Yeah.

In this 11.

But Santner actually is a great outside the box pick, so it frees up some budget for a pacer.

So.

So then we switch Dale Stain for.

Oh, yeah, that's right, we have.

So who do you want, Hazelwood or Stain?

Who do you guys want?

Hazelwood is what I would.

I think Hazelwood is just historically more effective in T20s than Dale stainless.

Actually.

I think Steyn in the early years of T20s was awesome.

He was amazing in the early years of the ipl.

The only reason why I might lean Hazelwood is because he's doing it in the impact player era, which is, you know, tougher to do in this batting friendly era.

And also.

Okay, let's, let's put Hazelwood there, would you?

Maybe that's the other thing I was thinking is Steyn is obviously great as a new ball bowler.

And we have Sandeep Sharma.

Yeah, we had Hardik Pandya who can bowl with the new ball.

So I think we have plenty of options with the new ball, which is.

Yeah,.

I guess Hazelwood also is.

I know, I'm so confused.

Hazelwood is.

But Hazelwood can also bowl at the death.

RCB have used him at the death and you know, obviously he's great with the new ball also.

But, you know, we can always keep Hardik for the death.

You don't have to give him the new ball.

You can, you can go Hazelwood and Sandeep for the new ball and then keep one over of Hazelwood for the death if you need to, or, or something, you know, and keep three overs of Bumra for the death.

One of.

So basically Bumra bowls 16, 18, 20, Hazelwood bowls 19 and Hardik bowls 17.

So 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 is like.

Yeah, nicely taken care of.

All right, so then we have.

Yeah, so let's go.

David Warner, Chris Gale, Suresh Raina, Shreya sayer, Yusuf Pathan, Ms. dhoni Hardik Pandya at number eight, Mitch Satner number nine, Hazelwood, Sandeep Sharma and Jasmine.

We have.

Actually, I would have, I would have bumra at number nine and.

And that's Hazelwood at 10 and Sandeep Sharma at 11.

Yes, that's correct.

That was just how I had written it initially.

But yes, that's a. I feel like.

The bowling is not really super intimidating.

You know, it.

They can control, but it doesn't really strike fear.

Whereas the batters, the first four, like, you know, Warner, Gale Reiner, Shrez like that is intimidating.

And throw in Yusuf, Pathan and Hardik and MST in prime.

Like yeah, now that's scary.

Yeah, this is definitely a team that will do well in, in Bangalore or Hyderabad venue.

Like I think they're gonna score the two hundreds and, and all of that.

But no, I actually am pretty happy with the bowling man.

Like Bumra Hazelwood to lead, Sandeep Santner as effective second.

You know, support bowlers Hardik there and then a few matchup overs of Reina Gail or Yusuf.

However we need them.

I'm pretty happy with the bowling.

I, I think the only thing it's missing is a mystery spinner that like, that's the piece.

Like a wrist spinner or something.

Yeah, or your mystery spinner.

Yeah, that.

I mean we, we could have had Rashid or Narayan or someone but like, yeah, then we needed to let go of one of the other elites.

Yeah.

Someone had to pick Ms. Dhoni, David Warner and Chris Gale.

Right.

I, I was actually thinking when you picked Gail that the other elite, see here is Sunil.

And the reason that works is one, he could open.

Second, he gives the spin option.

Like he didn't open for super long but the one or two seasons he did, he did make a difference at kkr.

So yeah, I think that would have been a good choice as well.

Adds that mystery spinner.

But I think that apart from the mystery spinner, this is obviously a really, really good team.

Let me ask.

I cannot believe.

I can't.

Okay, maybe we'll talk about the missus because there are some big glaring names that you know, people will be, how could you not pick this person?

So that's what we'll go to next.

So maybe we'll start with Saurabh.

What is let's do three because we have three people on the podcast, one name each.

Where you're like, oh, I can't believe I could not pick this guy because of budget constraint.

Oh, I have way more than one guy.

I could not believe I couldn't pick.

I don't know how to choose just one.

No, but maybe your top one and.

Then we can do some top one is always abw.

I think he's the best, best batter in IPL history and he would have made my team.

I actually he didn't make my team.

Given the original 100 crore budget with the 120 crore, he would have made my team.

But, but yeah, I mean we didn't.

We couldn't pick him and have three of the other elites.

So we had to go.

I mean, there, there is a cup.

There are at least three more in the elite team who also are like, oh, I can't believe we didn't have them.

But the top one, if I have to pick just one is abws.

There's a couple of greats also who I think like, you know, wow, we needed to have them.

But yeah, what about you, Benny?

I'm like struggling too, because how to go with just one?

Because there are so many.

There are like three West Indian players right there on our screen.

I'm like, yes, exactly.

Like how, how, how, you know, but that's the nature we kind of.

Well, me, I kind of put us in this bind.

But I think out of all those,.

Those three West Indians are exactly what I was thinking of when I was.

Looking at the screen.

And it's hard.

But I'm gonna go with Sunil Narayan, honestly, because I mean, when we talk about spinners in, yeah, ipl, you know, mostly Indian spinners will dominate that list.

Especially like Child is a leading.

We could take it right now.

Right, but you can have all those players but nobody quite still commands the, the name recognition or you just hear his name and you just immediately think, okay, we need to like play it smart.

Played kind of like how batters would think against bumra.

Right.

And Suno 9 is the spin version.

And it is testament to his skill that we have so many imitations.

Right.

Like people who aspire to be him.

Like Varun Chakravarti is like the best example currently.

So someone like him too.

And he's such a huge part of KKR and kind of like how the likes of Rohit Sharma for Mumbai Indians, Virat Kohli for rcb, Dhoni and Raina for csk.

I think kkr, like many other teams which have gone like so many personal changes over the years, but Suranaran is kind of like that one constant who's always there.

And so yeah, that's like a really hard miss because when you talk of spinners, he just has to be there.

And that's why I was like, there has to be a way to put him in there.

But yeah, he's my number one big myths in this 11.

Yeah.

And I think the other aspect, now that you've talked about the West Indian players, the other one that I will call out is I think we kind of discussed him when we were talking about the 11, but I. Yeah, just a phenomenal player.

Like he's been out of the Indian 11 for a while, but you know, he's Just been consistent titles with sunrises titles with title with RCB last year.

So yeah, just a dependable bowler just finds his way, you know, to keep batters quiet.

Takes plenty of wickets.

So I think unbudgeted 11 would have probably, you know, been a pick over.

Yeah, maybe Sandeep Sharma.

I think Sandeep is pretty underrated but.

But still I think movie would have probably been one step better than him.

That's one person who comes in mind.

But let me ask this other question.

Like this is obviously players who've done well and we are picking from the past.

Who do you think?

And I'll go, maybe I'll give one each.

Who do you think is a definite future 11 all time IPL guy in from the players who have just started.

Let's say they started in the last two to three years.

Maybe you can expand to five if you'd like.

But who are those who really excite you?

And you're like this guy will be a star in 10 years.

This is very easy.

If I have first pick web of.

Suryavanshi, I was like, this is.

Somebody's gonna pick that.

It's gonna be my pick too.

Yeah.

I mean he's the standout name, right.

Like there's no one close to him.

I think in terms of guys who you think are going to rule the league for the next whatever decade plus he's the guy.

Yeah.

What's now that Benny that's gone.

Well, I was gonna.

So my second pick was going to be Ayush Matre.

Because you know, as a CSK suffering CSK fan, I've been thinking about what the future holds for csk and you know, he's been one of the few bright spots in the last couple of years and especially when you think about the future and in terms of leadership, you know, or like at least the leadership group since he has World cup winning pedigree.

And he's like, he kind of fits in with the current crop of these young batters who are so fearless.

And don't worry about like, like stat padding or anything like that.

They just like go in, just want to like start striking, forget about settling in all that stuff.

So he checks all those boxes.

He checks a box of, you know, a potential future future captain.

And he just seems to have a very strong, you know, sensible head on the shoulders.

And I don't think we've seen his full potential yet.

So yeah, I think after Suryavanshi, I think he's the next big name for me in Indian Cricket.

I was.

There's one other person that I was thinking of also Rajasthan Royals because, you know, web of Suryan, she's Rajasthan Royals.

But I, now that I think about it, he's probably played for more than two to three seasons.

I was thinking of Ravi Bishnoi because I think he's been around and he's constantly taking wickets and.

But yeah, he's probably a little more experienced.

So the other pick that I would have is Kolkata's Angrish Raghuvansri.

He's very, very good in my opinion.

You know, just, you know, kind of like Ayush Matre, just somebody who starts quickly, has all the shots, definitely has areas in his game that he could improve, but overall has been very consistent even if the team around him has not been performing.

So I think that that guy is definitely somebody to watch for.

Yeah, sorry, I was just gonna ask you but you something but you can finish your thought on that.

No, I was just saying amongst the bowlers, if he manages to hold his body together and injuries don't blight him, I think Mohsin Khan has a really great future.

But I, I don't know if he needs to be able to play more than one in 10 matches for that.

So right now that's not happening.

But if he, if he can do that, then I think amongst the bowlers he's.

And of course Mayank Yadav was.

But again, Mayank Yadav, because of the pace at which he bowls, injuries are all also always going to be a part of his bowling career.

So it depends on how he deals with them, how much it affects his pace.

But his first season, when he burst onto the scene, he was like the most exciting bowler, like, you know, that I think anyone had ever seen you.

If you can hit 156km per hour and, and, and not just.

And bang it on, on the, on that length again and again and again.

You know, like Umran Malik could do, could hit that same speed, but he, he didn't have his radar.

Mayank Adam did.

So those are the two.

You know, bowling wise, if, if we have to pick because we've picked only batters, those are the two bowlers that if injuries stay away, I would be very excited by.

You know, and that's what I was going to ask you because we just don't have enough pace bowlers kind of like putting their hand up and saying, yeah, I could be the next big thing.

We see, we see and hear all these names and they'll come up for one or two Seasons, you know, the Minecraft, the Omran Malik, we get very excited and then they say, oh, he's injured, recovering, you know.

This one player that comes to my mind is Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

When he came on and I remember watching him bowl and I was like, like I'm excited watching this guy just bull.

Forget to take him with wickets.

Yeah.

And I was like, he's definitely a future star.

But he never, I don't even know where he is right now if he's even part of any team or if he's still like recovering.

That's a good question.

I know that he was injured for at least two, three seasons he spent at ncaa, but I don't know if he's part of the IPL right now.

That's a good.

I think he was in the auction.

I don't know if he got picked or not.

I think he did get picked in one of the later rounds, you know, towards the end.

I'm not sure by whom or it's possible he did go unsold also.

I can't remember now but that's actually, you know, that speaks to what Benny was saying.

Like we don't know where he is right now.

We're supposed to be a future star and none of us can remember whether which team is in or whether he's been picked or not.

Which is.

Yeah, yeah.

Kind of sad.

So what do you think about just in general, like the fast bowling stocks for India?

Because we talk about, you know, all these big names or the names for the future are mainly like batters or even like spinners.

But where are the fast bowlers?

Yeah, the fast bowlers are all injured.

That's where they are.

It's, I mean fast bowling is an unnatural sort of activity.

You know, like you're putting your body through incredible amounts of stress in a very short burst and repeating that over and over.

It's, it's.

Your body is not, you know, biomechanically aligned to.

Fast bowling is not a natural thing.

So, so there are going to be injuries.

It's the, it's how you manage them and how you, you know, set yourself up for having an.

Eventually injury free.

Not it can't be injury free, but largely, you know, free of injuries.

Career like, like let's say Pat Cummins is the best example of this.

Pat Cummins, he burst onto the scene as a 19 year old for Australia.

Tear away quick.

Everyone was super excited with him and what he could do.

And after his debut test where he got the man of the match.

He didn't play for like five, six years.

There was some injury or the other.

Some injury?

Yeah, some injury or the other.

But during that time he also built up whatever, you know, in terms of workload, diet, conditioning, whatever he needed to do to then have the career he has had after that.

That.

So I think that is the way that is sort of a template.

I mean, there can't be one template for everyone to follow.

But the broad idea, you know, that is the way you need to manage your fast bowlers.

I think you can.

We should take the example of how Pat Cummins did it.

The tearaway quick.

Very exciting, very exciting for everyone who watched him managed to come back and then still be one of the best bowlers of his era.

So, yeah, I say it'll require a bit of careful management and thought.

Yeah, I, I don't know what the future holds for these players, but a couple of fast bowlers that I've recently watched and I'm, you know, hopeful that they can continue to build on it is one is obviously with the Gujarat Titans.

There's a lot of expectation on him and I think he's still pretty raw, but he's again, you know, I'm always hesitant because I think about all these other names that we kind of mentioned and I'm like, okay, I hope he's still around in two, three years.

But another person is Karthik Yagi who's obviously been around for much longer and whenever he bowls, I just feel like he's always thinking.

He's not just like running in and just like bowling.

He's like thinking about how to outsmart the batter.

He can bowl fast but he can also switch it up.

So I hope things kind of turn.

Turn around for him or, you know, go upswing for him.

Obviously there's a lot of chatter about, you know, for Sunrisers, Hengye, right.

Hinge and Sake was saying like, yeah, very early to say anything about them.

Obviously they had an amazing debut, but I'm curious to see how they perform from here on.

Yeah, I think those two are great names.

You mentioned Karthik Yagi and Ashok Sharma.

Kartik Jagi is the same under 19 batch as Ravi Bishna Yashasvi Jaisw and he was the best bowler.

Like Yashasvi was the standout man of the tournament in that World cup.

But Karthik Yagi was the best bowler of that competition, you know, so he was also looking set for great things.

He, whatever, lost his way a little bit.

I'm really glad he's coming back now.

He's changed his action a little bit.

He's also had his fair share of injuries.

He's changed his action now so hopefully that works out for him.

But luckily the changed action has not reduced his speed and it.

He definitely seems to have added smarts to his bowling.

So like, that's also really good.

And Ashok Sharma, of course.

Yeah, any guy.

Again, you know, this 150km guys, they always will excite you.

It's just that, you know, fingers crossed.

Injury is that.

Yeah.

Yes, it's.

It's funny you mentioned those names because today watching the Gujarat vs KKR game, I was like looking at all the players there, there's Shubman Gill, there's.

There's Ajinkyan.

It is Karthik Tyagi.

And I was, all I could think about was the GABA test because I was like all these players were somehow involved there.

And you know, being a test fan first, I all.

That's all I can think of.

I was like, oh yeah, this player has caught cross paths with this player or shared dressing rooms with this player.

And there's so much overlap in terms of under 19 players and in this case like the India senior side with of course a lot of injuries.

Karthik Tyagi of course didn't play that GABA test but he was part of the extras who were called upon when half of India was injured or something like that.

So.

But anyways, on that note, Saurabh, thank you so much for joining us.

It's been a real pleasure and we really hope you'll come back and share your RCB book when it's ready.

Thank you very much.

It's been even more of a pleasure for me and we are definitely coming back for the RCB book.

Perfect.

Looking forward to talking to you there.

Yeah.