Moving on from the various ODI bilateral and tri-series into tournament play. The 2025 Champions Trophy is starting in less than a week being played in Pakistan and Dubai.

A short tournament featuring 8 teams drawn up in two groups of 4, with the top 2 in each group advancing to the semi-finals. Ten games will be played in Pakistan (Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi) and 4 in Dubai with the venue for the final contingent on whether India is still in fray.

Group A features India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh and Group B has Australia, England, Afghanistan and South Africa. Between the World T20 in 2024 and the WTC, teams have not really play much ODI cricket since the 2023 World Cup. The form guide though suggests that India and New Zealand might be the teams to watch for, then again between varying conditions and teams doing a lot of experimenting it is difficult to draw any specific pattern.

In this conversation we will be taking a look a brief look at the squads of the 8 teams and trying to assess their prospects. In particular factoring in the non availability of key players in some teams. We will also be spending more time on the selections for Team India, particular the curious decision of taking a spin heavy unit to Dubai.

During the chat we touch upon the following questions -

1. Can Afghanistan cause any ripples like in the 2023 World Cup ?
2. Does Australia have it in them to overcome the absence of all their first line quicks ?
3. Will England wake up from their stupor ?
4. How will New Zealand fare for their first major tournament without Boult and Southee ?
5. The South Africans have been severely impacted by the loss of many quicks. Will their reserve quicks come to the party.
6. Can Pakistan handle the intense pressure of a home campaign ?
7. Will India prove that the England series was just a trailer to a ICC trophy win ?

#TeamIndia #Australia #England #SouthAfrica #Pakistan #ChampionsTrophy #2025CT #ICC #BCCI

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer
• Anand Kumar Sankaran
• Vijaykumar Balasubramanian

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/preview-champions-trophy-2025

In this conversation we will be reviewing the India v England ODI series.

The Indian team handily routed the English white ball teams in the 8 game series spanning both T20Is and ODIs with the final score line being 7-1. One of the biggest indicators was that England's No.11 batter got to bat in every single game !

While England was able to put up some resistance in three of the five T20Is, the ODI series was absolutely one-sided. India handily won the first two games in 37 and 42 overs and that was even though they clearly started taking things easy in the final stretch. And then in the final game the margin was 142 runs with England barely batting 35 overs.

This English team clearly looked completely out of depth with just a few flickers of resistance which for most part came from their openers. Their bowlers looked pedestrian other than Adil Rashid and to a lesser extend Mark Wood. To boot they seem to have a lot a few first XI players to injury. These performances do not augur well for their chances in the Champions Trophy. That said they always seem to play better in Pakistan than in India.

Team India looked imperious even without Bumrah. Rohit seems to have regained his mojo, Gill is looking like a million bucks, Virat scored a very good 50, Iyer is looking ready to reprise his heroics from the 2023 WC. The bowling unit looked in great shape with even Shami slowly showing signs of getting back into his groove.

During the chat we touch upon :

1. Are India's two white ball teams ready to be the dominant white-ball force in the next few years ?
2. Has the elusive balance finally been achieved for Team India?
3. Is Team India primed to make a strong statement in Champions Trophy ?
4. What ails England ? Why are they not playing to potential ?
5. Will England recover from this shellacking in time for the Champions Trophy ?

#RohitSharma #ViratKohli #TeamIndia #ShreyasIyer #Buttler #Salt #ODI

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/india-clobbers-england-in-the-white-ball-series

Review of India England T20I series and preview of ODI series

In this episode we are reviewing the T20I series where an electric Team India absolutely thrashed England. In the first game the target was chased down in less than 13 overs and in the last game, we could have asked them to bat again and still won. There was a humdinger in Chennai and a very efficient win in Pune which provided the additional benefit of getting under the skin of the English team. The only misstep was in Rajkot where our batters could not silence Adil Rashid.

Also in this episode we will be previewing the ODI series that started on Feb 6 and more importantly the trial run for the Champions Trophy for both team. On paper both teams are strong contenders for that Champions Trophy and this series might serve as some kind of a litmus test.

During the chat we touch upon

• Is Abhishek Sharma the real deal ?
• Is there some validity in England being upset about Shivam Dube being converted into a quick bowler ?
• What is happening to Sky ?

#Abhishek #SKY #Samson #TilakVarma #TeamIndia #Dube #Rana #ImpactSub #ConcussionSub #Buttler #Salt #T20I

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Anand Kumar Sankaran
• Vijaykumar Balasubramanian
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/the-impact-sub-series