Hi, this is Sharda Agra. Hello, this is Mohammad Assam.
Hi, this is Pradeep Magazine. This is Bhairam Qazi, welcome to
the PCCI podcast. Hello and welcome to another
episode of the PCCI podcast. We are recording this on the 5th
of January in some parts of the world, 4th of January in others,
and we have a preview lined up on the WPL.
This makes us probably the third podcast probably on the Internet
to do this and we are not a news organization.
If we were then we would be probably the third news
organization also to cover it. There is alarmingly low content
on the WPL on the Internet and whenever I've searched WPL
previews for researching, considering we do research on
this podcast, I I found previews of previous year's games.
I have found previews of last year's IPL games come up on the
news tab in Google and it is just absolutely been crazy that
so much more can be done but very little is being done.
I have with me Richa and Ben. Is that Moin Ali in the
background? Yes, it is.
That was a that was a gift for my business partner.
He he likes mommy. Very cool.
Yeah, nice. That's when he broke this stump.
He's carrying the stump from the Test match.
Yeah. Speaking of, that'll be the top
of conversation later. Yeah, that's detour #1 coming
back. Yes, doing well.
Glad to be here. Glad to talk.
WPL I was going to say if it makes you feel better, it maybe
makes you feel worse. MV But yeah, there's, you know,
there's been a couple times in my life I tried to get into, you
know, women's basketball in America.
And there's also just a total lack of the quality.
You know, like I in my mind, I feel like one big women's
basketball blog you could blow up or one big, you know, if you
if you put quality right in mind, WPL you could blow up.
But maybe, maybe that's just living in the niche ball where
we live in. But glad to have have friends
here today who we can we can make our own, our own preview,
our own discourse. So are you saying the Caitlin
Clark Nike ad is not enough? You know what?
She's certainly, she's brought, she's brought a lot of eyeballs,
but I think it's more. That's right.
That's more viral stuff. It's still I need some, you
know, I need those stats, I need the sabermetrics, you know.
Yeah, yeah, that's right. I think.
Yeah, it's been interesting. I think Detroit's been kind of
crazy with football for the last few years.
So that's all that everyone's playing here, so it's hard to
miss it. But yeah, I have been forgetting
to watch the Ashes because they're they're they're over.
And I keep forgetting when when they're on, which is very
strange. Like I seem to have lost
interest in that series completely by the last Test,
which really sucks. I don't think that's your fault.
I think that's their fault, yeah.
And it's not just the pitches it's been.
I think we're lacking storylines.
We're lacking all the things other than England catastrophe.
I know the, The thing is when, when they started doing well,
then you know, it's hard to have the catastrophe line as well.
And now I'm bored. But yeah, the WPL coverage it,
it hasn't existed. So I set my Cricinfo to not
India and it doesn't even show up as one of the series that I
need to follow. There's no, there's almost very
little articles on Cricinfo. Dharatra has done a really good
article about women's cricket coverage overall, which is
really, really very nice. And it kind of exposes the
complete lack of quality coverage for cricket.
So I think he's done a good job in highlighting that.
But yeah, I think with cricket.com shutting down,
there's like no women's IPL coverage as well, because that's
something I used to follow every year around the WPL.
Really sucks. Now MVI have a question for you.
Did you in in India see any additional attention or after?
You know, I would think that with the Indian women winning
the World Cup that that would provide a boost.
If if that's not going to provide a boost, you know what,
what will? But do you think that that's
giving it a boost or anything? I mean, are you seeing some bits
of that for the, for the 15 women and, and the coaching
staff, they in the country, they, they are getting brand
deals and BCCI has also announced an increment in the
salaries for domestic games as well.
It's still not as much as you would like it to be, but I guess
BCI is in the business of doing tokenism.
So they've done that. Well, now they'll spend more
Money Marketing that tokenism over a period of the next one. 1
1/2 years. And pretty much any conversation
about women's cricket cannot start or end without thanking
Jaysha. So thank you, Jaysha.
Yeah, Thank you, Jaysha. Yeah.
Thank you for moving up. The way go ahead He has.
By the way. Just yesterday, he was speaking
at Run for Girl Child Marathon 2 Point O at Surat in Gujarat, he
said. Was he running?
India won eight medals. No, God forbid he was speaking
so he said India won eight medals in the previous Olympics,
which is wrong. India won six.
And then he said that we need to win 10 in 2036, No, actually 100
in 2026, in 2036. And 10 medals have to come from
Gujarat, a state famous for no sporting history all together.
And then he said, 2, two medals will come from people here right
there. Like I was like, OK.
Was it a crowd of athletes or generic?
I mean, I've like, no idea. You know there's an old saying
if you. Shoot the.
Moon and you miss, maybe you hit the stars, and I think that's
just what Jay's gone for, setting a lofty goal.
I don't. Think.
I'll, I'll, I'll suck up to him. That'll get my Gudra giant women
some more, some more wide balls, some more, you know, rigged good
calls. I'll, I'll suck up to Jay all I
need to. I'm ready to do that.
So first of all, thank you Jay Shah for moving the tournament
up by two months because you know who wants the same
consistent window year after year?
Let's move it up two months to account for the men's T20I World
Cup and the men's IPL. Great idea there.
And yeah, so that means the I think the first half of the
tournament is in DY Partil and the second-half is in Vadodara.
So yeah, it's it's a tournament of two halves this time.
The good thing is the first half is DY Partil.
So yeah, maybe it'll. Be dy Partil deserves all the
all the love and with that I think we can start the previews.
The first team is the UP Warriors.
Yeah, have. Absolutely used the auction to
do things. Yeah, they've they've done
something. So they had a good captain last
year, but they they decided well since we finished last and we're
not doing well and we've won like six matches in two years or
something. You know, something ridiculous
like that. Let's overhaul the team.
And they had the biggest person, the auction as well.
I think they had about 14 crores.
They got Meg Lanning as the new captain.
Meg Lanning had a slightly middling season for her last
year. She was, her average was like 34
at 118, which is kind of slow for her, but she's coming in
with a bit of form. Like if you look at her WBBL
numbers, her strike rate's up. Her average is very good.
It's 53. I think that's because of the
century that she had. She also did well in the women's
hundred and the same like she's been solid, right?
She's had like 135 plus strike rate this whole year.
I think the double. To a little bit of a slow start
in the the women's hundred and I as soon as I declared her washed
she she started scoring a lot of runs there.
So I agree with good form. Yeah, so I think she's coming in
with good form. She scored a century in the
WBBL. So I was, I was like, oh, good
stuff from Meg. I'm excited to see what she does
at UP. I am super excited to see Kiran
Navgiri again. Oh my God, she's such a fun
player. And like last year she didn't,
she didn't have a very high average, but boy, did she get
like, did she tonk those things on the ground?
It was fantastic. And she's coming from great
domestic form. So she's scored, I think.
What did she do? Yeah, she kind.
She scored a century, like the fastest women's T20 century and
had a strike rate of 235.35, which is just wild.
She just did this in October. So I'm super excited for Kiran.
You know how they've the UP Warriors have also got this new
Gongadhi Trisha. So she was really good in the
under 19 World Cup. She's actually also an opener,
but has been surprisingly really good at bowling.
She bowls these leg breaks and you like her MP for that.
And she took like 3 for 15 in the final in women's under 19
final and then also scored 44 of 33 to win.
So I'm like, wow, really want to see her and see what what she
does like really solid freaking talent.
So I think that's that's probably the top order.
I think I think Meg Lanning and Kiran of Kiran might open.
That's the hints. Those are the hints we're
seeing. And they've also got Pratika
Raval, who's my, my word. She's had a great year with the
ODI format. I don't think she's played much
in the she's. Not going to play, yeah.
Yeah, she's not. Also going to play right?
This is not likely to play, I would say like she's more like
injury backup for Meg or someone who they need to solidify the
innings I don't think. She's injured injury backup.
Correct. Yeah, Yeah.
But you know, this team's around for three years, so I think
they're probably just trying to bank on her hype also a little
bit and see how she does in the T20 format.
So yeah, I think that's that's pretty solid.
They still have her lean. Who's your favorite player, Dave
Yes. So they bought her lean.
Sorry, they bought her from GG. She was thought at UPA Warriors
yes. So they bought her from GG.
She's pretty solid, you know, like just all round solid
talent. Nothing, nothing extraordinary.
Gets the runs, gets things done. But they have Phoebe Litchfield,
which I think is, you know, that's the person.
Another former GG. Player yeah, what a phenom and
she's done so well at the WBBL. She's coming in red hot form and
has is hitting like a strike rate of 150 in the WBBL, so I
really like her. She didn't do as well in the WBL
last year. Like she wasn't this consistent
with her runs. I think like she, she.
Wasn't in the line up for the the first half or so.
And then Robar wasn't scoring runs.
But she didn't, she didn't really, you know, catch on.
Yeah. But I I, you know, I think she's
very important. I'm with you.
Yeah, I would say like their top, their batting order kind of
looks like Kiran, Meg, Phoebe, Parlene.
That's a good top four. That's a good likely top 4I, I
like it. And then you have probably
Deandra at 5 or 6 wherever you want to put her in.
Like she's she was really good last year.
Like she kind of set the WPL on fire and didn't do anything
anywhere else basically. So Deandra is very interesting.
She gets she gets wickets and you know, both of these, I mean,
newbie warriors also has a bit of an issue in the fast bowling
department. I think because they have they
have Shika Pande. So they got Shika Pande from
Delhi and she's good at bowling in the middle overs.
Like I think I like Shika kind of holding thing, keeping things
tied. She goes at about 7 and over and
does a reasonable job, but with Shikhar, the concern is always
like if she's doing 3 or 4 overs back-to-back, like she kind of
gets tired in the back end, so you don't want her bowling more
than two or three overs. I think that they'll have to
keep an eye on Shikhar Pandey's fitness, but yeah, she's pretty
good. Let's see.
Who else do they have? Yeah, they have the auto board
will give you. Know bowling pace.
Yeah, Darden will be bowling pace, Shikha will probably bowl
to three overs if they have her in the squad and you know, she
can always hit a few shots at the end.
But yeah, I, I think they they do have the issue.
They do have that issue there. The other one is they bought
Charlie not which I, I don't understand, like the whole
tournament, everyone just buys these Australian all rounders
that they think are going to do really well.
I, I didn't say too much with Charlie not, but who knows?
As I say this, she's going to have like a breakout tournament.
So but I mean her, she was decent in the 100, but she's
terrible in the WBBL and her strike rate's not great.
I'm I'm not sure you're not getting a lot of batting, you're
not getting a lot of bowling. So I am not a huge fan.
They have still kept Shweta Sairawat from last year.
Shweta looked compact, but I don't think she, I mean, she'll
need to work a lot at her game to really show her strength.
But yeah, I think we saw, we saw the make.
We saw that there's someone who has talent.
Like she's definitely someone who can build upon her talent
and do well. But yeah, we'll we'll see.
And then there's of course, the ever they gave her solid
performer, Deepti Sharma. She got she got good wickets
last year. She's a nice, really good
bowler. And nobody looks at her batting
stats anyway because she she does the job when she needs to.
So we we don't look at her batting numbers.
We we know that she can get the job done.
And yeah, I. He was the top top price player
in the in the auction. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. That was fantastic.
So I think they used right to match with Dipti and they used
right to match with Kiran. Is that right or something like
that? As well as Ecclestone.
Yeah, yeah. So that was that was good.
They've bought Asha, Shobna and. Kranti did an.
Injury recovery, yeah, Asha and Kranti.
So Kranti of course is fantastic, right?
Kranti's had a great year in terms of bowling.
She bowled really well for India.
She took a six wicket haul in England earlier this year.
So you know she can bowl in all sorts of conditions.
I'm not concerned about Kranti doing well at all.
Asha is still coming back from injury.
I think she started rehab a couple of months ago so she's
coming back. She's bowling in the Nets and
stuff now, but I don't think that I don't know if she's going
to be ready for prime time the WPL, because it is starting in a
few days. There is there is another player
they got who's Chloe Tryon. So if you followed the Women's
World Cup, Chloe Tryon is a pretty good finisher at the back
end. She's very important knocks for
South Africa. Yeah, Chloe Tryon's really,
really good. I I like the idea, though she
hasn't done as well in the T20 format lately.
She hasn't even played in any leagues around the world, so
it'll be interesting to see how she comes in.
And this is her first WPL. I don't think she's been in the
WPL before this, at least I haven't seen her play.
Let's see. Who else do they have they?
Yeah. So they got Sophie Ecclestone
back, which very smart. So I think, I think I looked at
Sophie Ecclestone's numbers last year.
She's got an economy of about 6.87, which is phenomenal.
Like just freaking amazing. She's changed her style of
bowling, so she gets a lot more dot balls in than she used to.
So that last WPL was a master class in defensive bowling for
Sophie Eccleston. Like just fantastic.
So her dot ball percentage is very high.
And I think, yeah, I'm going to be super excited to see what she
does in Vadodara at the back end, because that's, that's
going to be a place where we may see a lot more defensive
bowling. Let's see who else.
Ah, so talking about bad coverage UP warriors.
They, they didn't actually buy a high profile wicket keeper.
So they have an uncapped player called Shipra Giri.
And this is a player that's very hard to get any information
about cause some websites list her has as a left-handed batter,
others list her as a right-handed batter.
And I'm just like, what does she do?
What? What's her history?
Yeah, just a complete mystery wicket keeper.
Yeah. So I'm sure there's people who
know about her, but since I have no idea how to get in touch with
any of those people, Yeah, I know nothing about her, but we
shall see. I think that's a huge risk to
come up with an uncapped wicket keeper and that's your only
wicket keeper. That is.
That is a huge risk with UP Warriors.
They do have. They did pick up a couple of
other uncapped players. So they picked up Suman Meena,
who is a bowler. I think she's played the senior
women's T20 for Rajasthan and she plays for Central Zone.
She's been decent. I think it would be nice to see
if she gets, if WPL exposure gets her into the mainstream.
I'm not sure, but yeah, that's that's interesting.
And they also have Tara Norris who pulled out.
So that's that's a bit of a miss for them because they are that
would have been another fast bowler and that would have
looked like a more complete squad.
I think she's the. I don't think there's any
Associate Nation players left since Tara Norris pulled out,
which is kind of a bummer. Yeah, I didn't see.
The DC woman from last year, Bryce, she was really, really
cute. Yeah, I really like Sarah Bryce,
but yeah, they don't have, they don't have Tara Norris.
They do have a new coach. So they got rid of John Lewis,
which was smart. He had some really strange
things to say, but yes, he did. Some some wonderful quotes.
I really like the team. I think they have power, they
have stability provided Meg Lanning has a good tournament
and they have they have really good spin.
They don't have a lot of pace. I'm not sure they'll need really
need really need it, but you know, we'll see.
I I think they have a really good chance.
Yeah, I was with you first that I think I like the batting
better than the bowling. But the more I look at it, I
mean Deepti and Ecclestone, they've had those two for a
while. Yeah.
I guess the the fast bowling with Pandi and and.
And Deandra they're. Going to have to come up big
dawn. You kind of know what you're
going to get, you know, some big wickets and some expensive
overs. Yeah.
So we'll see. She's uneven.
I think having both Dorton and Shikha Pandey is a little bit of
a risk. I wouldn't.
I mean, I I can, you can count on Kranti, you can count on
Eaglestone. Those are 8 good overs.
And yeah. Yeah, I think this is the most
exciting new team though, don't you?
I think it's the one that I'm most excited to see how they
look on the. I'm really worried about their
middle order. I I feel like suddenly if they
lose like two or three wickets and then you need to do a Bay
job again, I don't see that happening.
I mean, there's only so many miracles.
Dalton will be able to get through.
Yeah, the middle order seems a little flimsy.
Yeah, yeah. And also very interesting that
they got back deep deep but gave the captaincy to Metal Anning.
You know, they seem to me that the past couple of years like a
team that's not having a lot of fun, like that team that needs a
leader. So how do you feel about, you
know, we talked about her up and down form earlier.
How do you feel about that? I think, I think that it's good
for them to have a serious leader.
Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, we almost forgot. We forgot to introduce it.
The our how we're going to summarize each team with
analogous food item. Rachel, what do you think?
I think UP is like a cheeseburger, which is something
you could never get in UP because you know, everything's
there. You have the meat, you have the
bread, you have, you know, whatever veggies, Pickles,
whatever you want to put in. But it still has to be done
well. And it really, you know, if they
have a good leader, if they have someone who's a real chef in
there, you know, I. Like it?
Good job. I like it.
I could see it being soggy. I could see it not turning out
well. I know you get a couple of
people in bad form like Meg and Phoebe and wow, you know?
Yeah, I think, I think that works.
I mean, I'm, I was sold as soon as you said you can never get a
cheeseburger in UP. And I was like, yeah, that's
right, because you cannot. All right.
The next team is the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Royal
Challengers Bengaluru, who've had a great time playing at
home, not particularly last season, but now they cannot play
at home for reasons that everybody knows.
I think they've assembled a very, very interesting team and
I'm very, very excited about watching Smriti Mandhana and
Georgia Vol opening the batting followed by a very, very
powerful middle order along with explosive finishers.
I think they they do have a problem at #3 but I'm hoping
that they go with Gautami Nayak and not the Alan Hemlata because
Got Me provides that option of the left-hander and then they
have an explosive middle order at which by the way, they could
also use up top one of them, Grace Harris, Nadine de Clark,
Richard Ghosh. I think this is not that
completely eliminates the need for Ellie's Berry because she's
absolutely unreplaceable, but I think that they've done a very,
very good job despite the fact that they that they knew in
advance that Alice Perry is not going to be there.
I think that's exactly what I got from whatever little videos
they they've put out that bowling is actually pretty good.
I I thought, I thought they were able to pick up good bowlers in
the in the option and they retained Shriyanka Patil.
They have the exciting option of playing both Puja Vasilkar and
Arundati Reddy. Nice.
I was going to say Arundati Roy but I'm not moving Karthik.
I'm not only Karthik. Yeah, the side note, I mean,
everybody should read Mother Mary Comes to Me.
Good book by Arundhati Roy. I was, I was actually surprised
that they didn't go for Asha and they went for Prema.
But I think Prema will will be very, very handy as a leg
spinner. And they can wrap up their line
up with Lauren Belle at at #11 and the option of, let's say
playing Radha instead of Puja if Puja is still not completely
fit. And there is a good chance that
this team takes a while to figure out their 11, which is a
very dangerous thing to do in any tournament.
But if they are able to agree that this XY or Z is the right
position for Grace Harris, Richard Gorsh, Nating Nating the
clerk, I think that is going to serve them very, very well.
Very, very excited about seeing Georgia wool bat with the Smitty
Vandana. It is going to be very, very
exciting. It's it's it's it's such a step
up from Danny Ward Smith as well.
Just in terms of total excitement that that all of this
provide. They did also get Lindsay Smith
in their in the auction aside of a few others like Pratyusha
Kumar and Sally Sabkare. You.
Don't even mention Lauren Bell. They spent a lot of money on
Yeah, Lauren Bell. I did say that, right, that
that's how the 11 will end with Lauren.
Bell. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah. I like Lauren Bell.
I think she's shaped up the bowl well this year.
She looked good in the World Cup.
Yes, she looked really good in the World Cup.
This tells me that she probably knows how to bowl on Indian
pitches and you know that that's always a good sign.
I I really like her. Very tall woman, I can tell you
that much. Very tall.
Yeah. I don't, I wonder about, you
know, they, they, I feel like Georgia Wareham was always was
very involved her her leg break was, was a constant costing for
RCP last year. And I don't know, there's not a
lot in terms of that, that excitement, yeah.
Yeah, I think in fact. I'll go, I'll go once.
Sorry, Sorry. I.
Mean go ahead. I think they miss Sophie Sophie
Molyneux even more last year than they did anybody else
because Sophie Molyneux had a fantastic WPL in 2024.
So yeah, the the season they won and and the final, of course,
yeah. I think they're expecting that
Radha and Shriyanka are going to be good enough as that spin core
to keep things together. And I think Prema has a little
bit of batting as well if they need to bring her in at the
second-half of the tournament. Lauren Bell got 19 wickets in
the women's hundred this year. That's that's interesting.
That is crazy, yeah. That's wild.
Yeah. So they have the wicket takers.
And is Pooja Vasaka still injured?
I think she's still injured, right?
I was wondering the same. Yeah, she is, She is.
Which is why I said they could have a chance to play Radha
Yadav as well. Rather's good, although her
World Cup form wasn't great, but yeah, she was coming back from
an injury. Interesting.
Yeah, I like this team. What is what is your view?
What food item would you call this?
Steam. I have a feeling that this is a
paneer butter masala. This is there to solve protein
needs for a particular set of dietary restrictions.
This has the same gravy as a butter chicken, so that helps,
but it still doesn't punch above its weight as much as I would
like them to. But say you ask them to spice it
up, then that middle order could.
Suddenly you're eating dinner and you know, like, oh, you have
that rare conversation. Oh, the paneer butter masala was
good today, so yeah. I think it's spicy.
I think that the that, that Elise Perry was kind of the
cooler. She was kind of the, you know,
like the, the, the yogurt sauce on the side that if you kept too
too spicy of a bite, you know, but now it's all spicy.
Now it might be too spicy. The writer.
Like someone needs not get out. We've just called.
Elise Perry, Writer Please
continue listening for such quality.
Well. Speaking of teams who who are
going to need someone to knock it out, should we talk about my
Gujarat Giants? Yeah.
Let's go. Oh, I guess one last question.
Do you, do you think there are? I think they're not better than
last year. What do you think?
I'd say marginally on. Paper on paper, they were better
last year. I think they had so many
injuries. Like I feel like if Shriyanka's
back in this team, how much better are they than last year?
Yeah, she's going to have a really, really good season, I
think. I think there is something about
Shriyanka which is so exciting and there is.
She has that experience of playing in the Cpl., She has the
she has all the right ingredients to be the spin
anchor of this of this squad. OK, fair enough.
I'm especially as a in the IPL as a Punjab Kingsman.
I'm not I'm not very friendly to RCB right now.
So I'm I'm hoping that that they're much worse, but we'll
see. What happened?
We don't. Need to.
We don't need to. We don't need to get into all
that. Let's talk about Goudreau Giant,
shall we? Everyone ready?
OK, so we're back. We're we are more Australian
than ever. We are the Goudreau giant women.
So right, the core. The core is still Ash Gardner,
you know, one of the most expensive women, tied for the
most expensive woman in in the WPL with Seaver Brunt and Marie
T She's going to need to be huge.
And then of course, Beth Mooney, who was a little bit who was a
little bit chilly last year, didn't really she had a couple
huge matches, but not the kind of not the kind of consistent
presence, like, you know, driving force that that that we
really needed. She had a a pretty solid big
bash, fine World Cup. We we need her more than ever.
And then right we used RTMS on Barty Fulmali who really came on
Speaking of power, she's she can she can slog it for sex.
So if you need more of that and then cash we get out of time 65
lock. That's kind of our core, right?
That's our core quickly who who did who did we lose?
Andrew Dodd and we already talked about is going to UP as
well as Phoebe Litchfield and Harlan Deol.
So I guess UP took a lot of lot of those old GG stalwarts, which
is interesting. And then of course, Laura
Wolvart has moved on to DC. I'm not a fan of Laura Wolvart.
I'm excited to have her out from clogging up that top order she
did. She was kind of out of the
lineup anyway by the end of last year.
I, I just don't really, I'm not sure if, if she's a great T20
player. That's my opinion, but that's
what we're looking at in terms of that's, that's where I am,
that's where I am. I mean, I'm not sure she's even
getting on the field for, for DC.
We'll see. But additions, right?
So the big headline purchase is the very very elderly Sophie
Devine, not that elderly retired from it international and then
on retired and re retired yeah she's going to be important with
the bat and the ball. Her bowling numbers are are
still pretty consistently good. The batting not not so much.
You know she she had a couple she had a good start, especially
to the the women's World Cup, but she's she's coming off a
rough big bash. I'm not that's not where I where
I would have thrown my 2 core maybe on Sophie Devine, but
we'll see what happens there. Georgia Wareham, who I not so
coincidentally mentioned RCB might be missing.
You know, she kind of seems like a a role player, but she did get
this 11 bowling average with 5.47 economy in the most recent
Big Bash and with the bat she averaged 40 at 1:47.
I like them apples. She's really good.
She she was really good at finishing for RCB as well.
Like I really liked her. I think she did a really good
job. So she's going to be very
important. Here's one that I'm really
excited about is Ranuka Singh, 60 lock.
You know, just having someone top of the power play, you know
exactly who's getting the ball. I've always liked her swing
bowling. I'm I'm thrilled to have Ranuka.
You know, she's had a some, some some low lows in the WPL, but I
think she's a great player. I'm excited to have her.
Nika Yasti Kibatia. You know, we need, we need, we
need domestic batting and she theoretically is supposed to
provide it. So, you know, if you just read,
you just read the previews and you don't look at the numbers,
maybe maybe she'll be that. I have my doubts.
What do you guys have any thoughts on Yasti Kibatia?
I don't. I'm not sure that.
So last year she played ten matches.
So she was in MI which is a pretty good team and her strike
rate was like 101 and her average was 9.7.
That's those are bad numbers. Yeah, she's got a lot of
international caps, so I'm wondering if maybe there's
something that someone knows that I don't.
I yeah, so she's played in 20 international T20 is, I don't
know, I always thought of her more as like a longer format
player as well. Yeah, well, I think she's going
to be on the field and then, you know, a couple other players who
we'll see. We'll see how much time they
get. Kim Garth, she was another RCP,
you know, I remember she bowled a big super over for them.
Important player, good bowler. So I don't think she's in the
1st 11. I also don't think Danny Wyatt
is in the 1st 11. Never been a big fan really, but
it's I think that is there's a very real possibility if we end
up needing more batting that she she gets some games in and Tita
Sadhu, I'm not super familiar, but just you know, she she will
will definitely get on on the pitch.
She's young and fast, a really good bowler.
But yeah, I don't think she bowled like her whole last year.
I think she was bowling just like 2-3 overs.
Right, which we potentially have the flexibility for for her to
just do a couple overs. We'll see.
Yeah. So those are kind of the the big
additions, right? The the the bowling is also
fortified by Kashva Galatam and Tanuja Kanwar, who were really,
really solid last year, kind of the core of the bowling attack,
like surprisingly last year. Yeah.
So they're I don't I don't want to leave them out, you know,
while we're going through. But right.
So with that in mind, the strengths, I guess first, let me
name what I think is the likely 11 got Beth Mooney at the top.
And I think it's going to have to be Bhatia batting next to her
Divine at 3, Ash Gardner 4, Bharti Fulmali 5, Georgia
Wareham 6. Someone whose name I saw come up
in a couple of the previews was Ayushi Sony.
I'm not not super familiar with her game either.
But you know, we're going to need one of Kanika Ahuja and
Ayushi Sony in that middle order all rounder spot.
Probably in my eyes, it's going to be a Ahuja because we need, I
think we need another. Spinner.
But but we'll see what happens with that.
Then at 8, we've got Galatam 9, Tanuja Kanwar 10, Ranuka Singh
11, Tita Sahu. For me, the strength, well, one
of the strengths is for sure power hitting is going to be
bashing that ball to the boundary, which you love, right?
Divine Gardner, Fulmali, Wareham boundaries.
So we'll see about we'll see how that goes.
I think that I think that should be that should provide some
entertainment. There should be enough, enough
depth of of of of powerful hitting there.
In my mind, this is a great bowling.
This is a great bowling team. It it we were, we were bowling
was our strength last year, not batting.
And I think we've only improved. So maybe we just got lucky.
Like I don't know. Am I being delusional on that
one? What do you guys think?
So I think I think they have the fast bowling.
So I love that fast bowling line up.
I don't think anyone has like I feel like they borrowed the fast
bowlers, especially on behalf of UP and DC, but I don't know if
they have like a mainstream good spinner.
I guess that Tanuja is pretty decent.
Georgia Wareham, she's going to be.
Georgia Wareham's good, but yeah, they'll.
Utilize a lot of Ash Gardner as well, right?
Yeah. I think that's the thing.
I think one of the things with all the women's teams is that
we're still in that, in that, in that phase in in T20 cricket
where these roles are still not as coded as the men's game.
And that allows for having all rounders play a much, much
better part than let's say any other than the men's game, so to
speak. And, and, and I, and again, I
mean, pardon my ignorance, but there is no impact player,
right? So that means the 11 is the 11
and therefore you are able to get more out of the Andrew
Dortin or or Ash Gardner or or even Sophie Devine for that
matter, right. And and it just gives you so
much more flexibility. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the
impact player rule. We all know why.
Now you, you know, I guess to that point, I think this is a
team where there could be 8 people bowling in a match, you
know, So I'm telling myself the bowling is great.
I hope that it's right. Weaknesses.
We're one or two Indian batters short.
I mean, that's that's the big thing for sure.
Our top four most highly paid players are overseas players,
which I think is a flashing red light of of like not roster
construction. And I think that's where you
really see it is domestic batting.
Like Barti Fomali needs she's there's a lot of lot of weight
on her shoulders and she kind of.
Yeah, we'll, we'll just have to see how that goes.
She looked good last year. But yeah, those are the
strengths and weaknesses. Other thoughts.
We have someone named Happy Kumari.
Needless to say, I'm a fan. I'm going to be cheering for
Happy Kumari. Yeah.
First, I think I. Yeah, first change from the 11 I
mentioned, I think would be, you know, if we if we just need more
batting. I think that where I'm could go
and and Danny Wyatt could could could hop in there.
Please Lord may we feel the better than last year.
The fielding was was a problem just.
Except for. The whole season, yeah.
You know, I forgot to mention this.
That's I'd said some you know, the last time we were on here
talking about women's cricket, I wasn't super nice to Harleen
Deol. We're we have a Harleen Deol
sized hole in our in our squad. We really could use her this
year and she wasn't great, but she did play a couple a couple
match wing knocks. Yeah, this is certainly a team
that could use Sarah Bryce as well.
So don't know. Why didn't they?
Was she not in the auction? Maybe she.
Wasn't available, who knows what.
Are all these teams doing not selecting Alyssa Haley?
Like I don't get it. Yeah.
Unless she's specifically blacklisted for some reason, I.
Don't want to speculate but. Oh, I want to speculate, but it
will derail us quite a bit, yeah.
She, you know, her husband has been known to be flaky on the,
the, the men's side of things. So maybe there's.
Yeah. I don't think it's that.
I think it's a certain, certain story that she that she told
after the IPL ended last year. Yeah, that's that's.
About a train journey and you know about some.
A bomb attack. Yeah.
A certain power outage, perhaps? Yeah.
Yeah, well, we wish her the best.
All right, Food item. I'm thinking a dessert here for
sure. You know, we've got this is like
it's it's like, you know, you've got a lot of big names.
We spent all our money on Sophie Devine.
Like we're we're going to get all excited on a sugar high on
the dessert, either a candy bar or maybe a cupcake.
But yeah, I think some of that foundational, you know, the
protein like MV was talking about maybe maybe we're not as
maybe we're not as high in protein right now, but I'm
seeing either a candy bar or a cupcake.
Any thoughts on that? What frosting?
Oh, I always have been a buttercream man myself.
Not not for your reach. It's too sweet.
That's what this team is. We are we are all sugar baby.
So do I think we're better than last year?
Definitely. I think this is this is a better
team than last year, No doubt. You know, dotting for for
divine. That's kind of a like for like
replacement. And I'm, I'm happy to have
Divine's bowling in my mind. It's like a really solid bowling
core. That's that's the path to
qualification because we're not stacking up with RCB in batting.
We're not even close. So we're going to need to bowl
our booties off. Yeah, I think that's about all
I've got on Gigi. Let's let's hope for a good
season. You know, it brought in all the
Australians. It worked for for Punjab.
Maybe you can work for. That's the other reason.
I'm not sure if Danny Wyatt's getting on the field is like
there could be some some Australian collusion there.
But anyway, I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to stop
talking. I can talk all that.
All right, the next team is the defending champions Mumbai
Indians. They won two WPL titles in the
three seasons and they even defended 149 to beat the Delhi
Capitals. And I think they do enter as one
of the favorites. They retained Harmanpreet Kaur,
Nat Silva Plant, Hayley Matthews, Amanjyot Kaur and I
think this is a these are all great signs of a team that knows
that they're in for the long haul.
They they do care about their players, which is very evident
across the MI franchises. They do take good care of their
players. DKS spoken about like getting
practice sessions all through the year while he was at Mumbai
Indians. That was more than a decade ago,
but which means that things would have only improved.
And they did get in Kamalini, they brought back Amelia Kerr.
They also got in Shabnam Ismail, Nicola Kerry.
They of course have Saikai Shark, Nala Reddy, Mary
Ellenworth, Sajana Sajeevan, Sanskriti Gupta, Raila Ferdos
and Triveni Vashisht. I think they were very, very
strong and settled core like having Herman Preet, Nat Silver
brand, Haley Matthews, Amanjot or Amelia Kurt.
I think any of them could win you one game and typically if
all of them win you one game each, I think that's that's the
title. Once again, there is AII felt
that they don't have the fast bowling chops as as much as they
would have liked, but they do have Shabnam Ismail as their
stand out pacer and she's done really, really well all across
the world. And there's a lot of dependence
on Haley Matthews coming back from injury and which means that
she would have the added pressure of a opening the
batting and B also bowling regularly.
They released Jessica Bhatia, so now I think they will have to go
with the keeping of G Kamalini and I'm very excited for her to
play this entire season. She looked very good in her
opportunities last year. Like athletic.
Very, very athletic. Yeah.
And, and they completely balanced like they have a good
mix of seam spin all around us and I think a very, very good
support staff that compliments the captaincy of Herman Tree
Court as well. I do think they might have a
have some trouble if Haley Matthews is unable to bowl or is
is limited in any form, right? Which means if if Haley Matthew
doesn't play, then they might have to put Amelia Kerr right up
at the top, top of the order to bat with G Kamalini.
And then it's a little more flaky in terms of their batting,
because then we'd have Sergeant and Sajim and coming in at maybe
6 or 7, right? I, I'm very excited that they
got in Nikola Carey. Nikola Carey is going to be
really, really good, very good seam bowler and, and provide
some batting depth at the end. And I I wish for an improvement
in fielding from Psych I Shark, but she's such a live wire in
terms of how excited and anxious she is on the field.
That's that's such a great thing to see.
Like in general, the the range of emotions that you see in a
women's game is, is is something that you must all TuneIn for and
and psycho act short third or or or or short fine, always hoping
the ball never reaches or the ball doesn't follow.
I think that that that is also very, very important.
I mean, anybody who's played cricket right, like you, you
always have this one team member.
Like just put me somewhere where the ball's never going to be
coming. And, and yeah, the ball's always
going to follow them by by an inside edge or by deliberate
batting towards that field. Yeah, that they do have Poonam
Kemnar who's going to come in as their leg spinner and let me see
what their eleven could be. So I'm I'm taking into account
that Haley Matthews fit. So she opens with the Kamalini.
Nazima Brunt is nailed down at 3, Harmonbeal Court at 4, Amelia
Court at 5, Amanjot at 7, Poonam at Poonam at 7.
Sorry. Then depending on how it goes,
Saji and Sajana at 8, either of Sanskriti Gupta or yeah
Sanskriti Gupta at 9 and who else we will get Saikai Shark
most definitely at 11 and maybe Shabnam is smile at 10.
If they were to swap Shabnam is smile, then maybe they will get
Nikola Carry in. The thing is that, and I have
always like at least in this format, they've always had a
very, very good foreign core as well.
This is the other progression that I foresee happening in the
next few auction cycles is that teams are going to have a
stronger Indian core because that allows them more
flexibility. But having said that, I think
this is as balanced and as stronger squad that that could
be and I think they they'll remain favourites every time
they play with as long as I would.
The Hayley Matthews is really the only thing that could get in
the way of that, but other than that, I.
Agree. Yeah, yeah.
Do you think they might be? I feel like they have, they have
a lot of bowling options, but do they have like enough of those
score strike bowlers to get you wickets?
I don't. I'm not 100% sure about that.
I have a feeling that The thing is with MI is that they're also
very good at matchups. They they they will ensure that
at different times of the game, Amelia Kerr is bowling as a leg
spinning all rounder. They'll they'll have not several
brand bowling at different phases of the game as well.
And hopefully, hopefully the the leg spin off Poonam came not
also comes to the four here, right.
You would want more leg spinners in the game or you want more
Indian spinners to come to the four as well.
So from that lens, yeah, I think net, net I, there's this as much
as you don't like MI for their, whatever they do on the men's
side, I think you eventually have to doff your hat to the
overall organization and, and say that yeah, they, they do a
good job every time, yeah. Pretty solid.
It's. Kind of.
There's a saying you hate them because you ain't them.
There's kind of a you hate them because you ain't them.
Quality to to am I? I mean, I was kind of mad that
they stole DC's championship last year, yes.
I was surprised that they were able to get When they got this
mail back for 60 locks, I was like this is just.
What are the other teams? It was like when the men got
Quentin de Kock, whose form is now, yeah, the stratosphere for
1,00,00,000 in the men's auction.
It's like only these. Only these only MI seems to have
the right side of deals and no one wants to go up against them
and. Yeah, you know like like
imagine, imagine Quinton de Kock going at once year in the men's
auction and nobody raising a paddle and MI had only two
crores I think in that auction in there in the Kitty.
I like that was. Fishy.
That was fishy. Yeah, am I collects, am I
collects players the way am I collects players the way Anand
Ambani collects animals for his Conservatory in Vantara.
So there aren't any left for everyone else.
And they're all there's always a lot of shady stuff.
How could you guys think that Amanda Cora is?
Or she has a very high ceiling. We saw that in the first game of
the World Cup, right when I think India were 124 for five
and and she and Deepti powered India to more than 270, if I'm
not wrong. Yeah.
So that was she's a *. Yeah, and that catch and that
catch and that catch. What food item?
I think this is dumb biryani guys, this is slow.
This is this new planning this needs.
This is just right. You ordered it.
It has all the star ingredients. It has a structure.
And yeah, like, there's, there's just, there's just only nice
things to say about a dumb biryani.
It could go wrong. It could go wrong.
But very rarely it does. Like like 9 out of 10 people
will go and eat any dumb biryani and they're like, Oh my God,
that was a great experience. There's only always going to be
like this this one guy or one girl.
Like, no, you know, the, the layering wasn't right or the
meat wasn't this. Nobody cares about you guys.
Nobody cares about you. Well, the meat could be stale
like that happens a lot here. I I don't know if you've gone to
all like there's a lot of Indian restaurants in the US that have
really mediocre, substandard food.
Especially biryani and you know, if you order biryani on a
Monday, it's. Being ordered old.
Being ordered in India, this is being ordered in.
Mumbai Indians is the is the good stuff.
You know, it is like, you know, lost their wages to provide you
this biryani. No, I'm going and eating, guys.
I'm going and eating. OK.
I think. I think we'll buy Indians Most
boring team to prove you wouldn't you guys agree?
I was going to, I would have called them grilled chicken
because it's like you, it's stuff you got to eat.
It's good for you and it's like gets the job done.
But are you excited to look forward?
I don't know. Yeah, I mean, it could be a swap
between them, biryani or a grilled chicken, depending on
which side of you're on. What does that leave us with?
That leaves us with the bells of the ball.
DC, DC. My my question.
My question is. Go ahead.
Will they reach the final again? So I, I don't know and I suspect
not. And I mean, they, they could go
on a tear because they have, so they have Jemmy.
Jemima Rodriguez is the captain now and she's, she's replacing
Meg Lanning. Those are huge shoes to fill.
I don't know if Jemmy's done a lot of captaincy in the past,
but you know, she's great. I love her, one of the best,
best, most lovable characters in Indian cricket.
So I'm really happy for her and really happy for this
opportunity. I want her personally to do
really well because she did not do well last season.
Like she her average was very low and she's someone who brings
solidity to the team and is bustling like a busy player,
someone who doesn't let the game get too far ahead of them.
So I really want her to do well this year.
You know, they have the chance to do something amazing, which
is to have Shefali Verma and Lizel Lee open the batting.
And if that happens, I guarantee you guys this it's 150 strike
rate. So it's basically just like the
you're going to have eyeballs glued to this television and
you're going to see like a lot of balls lose their shape as
they get hit out of the ground. I'm so excited for this pair.
And you know, Lizelle also has a comeback arc.
Go ahead. I was going to say I've got DCS,
the biggest downgrade from last year, but you kind of sold me
with the idea of Lizelle Lee and Shafali Verma opening the
batting. And you know that's not going to
happen, right? I know it's not going to happen,
but it's, it's just it's, it's if they do that, then they
deserve to win. You know, if if they don't do
that, then yeah, there I think they have definitely downgraded
from the last season. I don't think they're going to
go on that that they had last year.
Just consistent performances and like good stuff.
I don't know, but they have Volvard.
Volvard's not going to play like I feel like if they're starting
with Volvard, you're you've gone wrong right there.
She's she hasn't done well in the WBL.
She hasn't done well in the WBBL like.
It's a like for like with the 110 strike rate they got from
Meg Lanning last year. They'll just insert a new 110
strike right opener. There you go, that's.
True. But see, I I don't know, like I
really like Laura Wilbert. I know she's going to be the
next best batter, but yeah, she's not, not in T 20s.
Like that's not her format. And that's fine.
They they still have Cap, you know, Marison Cap, who's not at
her best, but she's still pretty damn good.
She's a really, she's a decent bat.
You know, she can get you those 20s, thirties, not much more
than that. But she can also, she can also
bowl pretty well and be a little bit scary in that first over
that she bowls. So I, I like Cap.
She's more of a controlling bowler than a wicket taker.
They do have Alana King, who played only one match last year
because UP Warriors is just, you know, stupid.
And she had, she's had, she's coming off of really good
bowling form in the WBBL. There is absolutely no reason
that she cannot do a good job, especially in the second-half of
the tournament. I know she needs bounce and
she's used to more bouncy wickets, but if Sophie Echelson
can do it like she can do it like these people are able to
adjust their games and I think you should give them, give them
some chance and some exposure. They've gotten Sneh Rana, which
you know, if you're going to build a squad, you know, Sneh
Rana is 1 fierce competitor. I really like her, although
she's still more of a defensive bowler I don't think like she
has. I think again, no attacking chop
so far in their bowling other than Alana King.
If they can play her well, they have brought in Lucy Hamilton
who is a bowling all rounder. She doesn't take a lot of
wickets but she keeps things nice and tidy and she was also
the Australian under 19 captain. So I really, I really do like
her. Quite a bit interesting.
Yeah. So someone to watch out for, I
think. Yeah, that, that'll be
interesting to see. There's the Borden and uncapped
player Nandini Sharma, who's from Chandigarh.
She might play, I think because they don't have Annabelle
Sutherland. So they, you know, Annabelle
Sutherland was still in the score.
I think they retained her, but she's out of the WPL and that is
a huge miss because Annabelle Sutherland is the one who gave
them control in those middle overs and bulldoze back of the
length deliveries that, you know, would be really good.
So I think it's it really sucks that she's not there.
I think it's a bigger loss than Elise Perry being gone for RCBI.
Think that DC actually might need Sutherland more than than.
RCDC needed Sutherland's bowling.
Yeah, yeah. So.
I'm not so sure. Like I mean they could manage
without her. Yeah, she was pretty critical, I
think so she did provided them a lot of control in the middle
overs. And the other one was Shikha
Pandey. I don't know.
Unless they want my son to play this role or they want Lucy
Hamilton or someone else to play this role, I don't know who's
really going to do it. It'll be interesting.
They'll probably bring in Lucy Hamilton for the Animal
Sutherland role based on what I think she brings.
They have, they have a really interesting 16 year old called
DI Yadav, which I'm just like, you're 16, but what are you
doing? But shouldn't you be like
writing in slam books? Or you know something?
Slam Books. In high school.
Slam books have been mentioned. So DI Yadav, she's coming in
from Haryana, right in Shafali Varma's footsteps and people are
saying that she's she bats like her.
I don't know if she's going to play in the games.
I'm I would be super excited if she gets a couple of games.
The way you know, we're above Surya when she broke in in the
IPL last year. I would really love to see like
a young player come in like that, especially if we don't
think DC is going to have a great season.
They might want to just see how she does, especially if she's
doing well in the Nets. I like her.
They have Chanel Henry who had a fun season and an insane strike
rate of 196 for UP last year. Like just while so I, I she's
not consistent. So I, I don't know if they'll
play her, but I, I, I think Slim begins at this point, right?
They spent they. Have.
Yeah, yeah. So they again have a huge
weakness with their keepers. Like they have Tania Bhatia
who's working her way into the Indian team contention who last
played in Tests and ODI is like as I don't really think she's
played in T 20s either. Then they have someone from
Hyderabad, the Mahdiwala Mamta, who's who's a, who's a reserve
wicket keeper. But I haven't seen good strike
rate numbers at the domestic level.
So again, I don't think she's going to be playing.
Yeah. I have a.
You're going to miss a guys surprise us.
I have a feeling you're going to surprise us guys because I like
them. I think that's reason #1 and
that's. Our bat for the season then,
because I have a feeling they're bottom of the table.
They would be sneaky. I must share, Ben, that nobody
listens to the podcast, so whatever your claim is right
now, nobody's going to remember it at the end of the season.
I can just turn the tables and say that I had DC at the bottom
of the table at the start of the season.
I really like. Wow, what a great call.
So really interesting. They have a decent spin goal,
right? So they have, I think they have
what it takes to have to work in a batting dominated part of the
season, which is going to be at the D by Partil with their
hitting at the top. They do have Nikki Prasad.
So I'm excited to see what Nikki Prasad can do.
She's a phenomenal fielder, right?
But in terms of her batting and her overall ability like we're,
I would love to see more of her. I think she's she's super
exciting. I want to see Jamie get her form
back. But I think they have a
reasonable spin due of me, no money and Sri Charani.
Sri Charani, who didn't get a lot of games last year but has
played regularly for the Indian side, is just like beautiful
slow left arm bowler. What a what a gorgeous bowler.
I feel like she's she's going to do well.
I have a feeling like if if Bishan Singh Bedi was alive, he
would have liked to have watched Sri Charani bowl.
That is high praise, I. Mean that action is is so good
that action can hide the arm ball.
Like I have no idea what bio mechanics is or her bio
mechanics, but my God, like that is so smooth and that ability to
land the ball at the correct spot every time.
Very, very close to OK, Sophie Eccleston.
But I think not as much guile because because that comes with
time, that ability to flight. I think she's much more flatter,
but I think it'll come. I mean, everything is is right
there. She is, as Sartre said on our
board. I think she was born in 2004.
How can you be born in the 2000s?
Yeah, like. So do you like the spin line up
though? You have Minu, you have Sri
Charani and you have Alana King. Yeah, I mean, that's 10 wickets,
guys. Alana King takes 7, Sri Charani
2 and Minumani one. That's 10 wickets every game.
Oh, I didn't know a lot of King replaced.
I don't know, Sutherlands. That's pretty huge.
Yeah. Not changing my bottom of the
table prediction, but that's still pretty huge.
So they have good spin and they have good top order batting.
So I, I think they'll, I think they've built a team that can
work at both the venues and I, I don't mind it, but I think it,
it's their middle order will be what decides how well they do
and how consistent they are. So yeah, that's all I had for DC
and. We need a food item.
Oh, yeah. I think DC is kind of like, it's
like a really good beer. So, you know, one that has
really good body and mouthfeel and, you know, it's fresh and,
you know, really fun. You it's great at the beginning
of the beginning of the evening and you have a great time.
But if you have too many, like, are you going to consistently
feel the same about the beer through the night?
I don't know. So.
Yeah. I like it, but I'm saying really
bad beer. Really bad.
Yeah, really bad bottom of the table beer.
How about a Miller Lite? Miller lights.
There you go. There you go.
Nice, nice light to hear. Should we do rankings before we
wrap up? You guys want me?
To start doing rankings, I think, I think you can do
rankings and we'll judge you at the end of the season.
Yeah, yeah. OK.
You do the rankings. I already set my bottom of the
table, so I'll start at the bottom.
Daily Capital women. I'm I'm giving them the the
preseason wooden spoon. I just don't think there's
enough bowling there. I guess the spin bowling is
we'll see. I don't think there's enough
bowling then. It was a tough one, but I'm
going with UPW Uttar Pradesh. They've definitely got, I think
they've got the biggest variance.
That's my opinion there. My Gujarat Giant women third
middle of the table, the same as last year RCB coming in in
seconds and the the the evil overlords Mumbai Indians still
stay at the top. Maybe maybe this Haley Matthews
injury that could really change things.
They're pretty pretty reliant on those all those all rounders,
but maybe not. What do you guys think of that?
I didn't you you thought I was going to go with Gujarat at the
top, didn't you because but I'm not a Homer.
I'm I'm a very, very, I've got credibility.
I, I thought you'd have them second, I think you've
underrated UPA little bit. I like UPC more and I think
you're overrating RCBA little bit because I.
Yeah. I just have a feeling that
they're not going to do as well this year.
Yeah, I think, I think UP will do better than fourth, most
definitely. Interesting.
With RCPI, just can't get over The top is the top is Mariti and
George of all and then the bottom is Richard Ghosh.
That's like maybe not really. I'm hanging with that.
I'm very, very excited about Grace Harris.
Like I when I when I first heard that she was part of the RCB as
my first thought was Grace Harris at Bangalore and then I
realized no, no games in Bangalore.
That would have been fun. Yeah, that would have been fun.
All right, I think we have a fun quiz.
Do you want me to start? Yes, go ahead.
So Speaking of Grace Harris, who's already done this, who is
most likely to break their bat smashing something?
And it can't be Grace Harris, so it has to be someone else.
I have a feeling it's going to be Meg Lanning.
We're going. To see her angry at something,
we're going to see her chopping onto the stumps at a critical
juncture and it's they're 5 down, she's already on like some
67 of 52 or something like that. And and they close, but no cigar
because she just chopped it onto her stumps.
I think that's a good answer. Is, is Harmon Breit?
Is that too easy? Guys, she is the answer to 12344
questions that I come here. Yeah.
I've got Meg Lanning for at least one of those four that
that I bet you have in mind. So.
Herman Breit's always a good answer.
Herman Breit's just box office right?
She is OK Herman Breit's a great answer.
Who is most likely to have a really funny reel?
I have two options. One is Diya Yadav and two is
Shriyanka Patil. I like it.
I've I've got Nikki Prasad. I think she's she seems like a
reals kind of kind of gal in me. She's got that kind of like
selfie look about her, you know, lots of followers, lots of
likes. I'm I'm seeing Nikki Prasad as
as as the funny real have her. That's a generation generational
gap between her and the IR though.
I think the IR the wins gap of players.
I didn't realize there was there was a 16 year old that's not
quite vibe off level but that's good.
To know Sophie Devine already has a Durander themed.
Oh God. OK, so who is most likely to
break a stump? OK, is this bowling or is this
in anger? I'd I had imagined this from
bowling because in anger it's probably Herman Breed.
I went with shop name is that that might be another too easy
of an answer. There, that's that's an easy
one. That's too easy, but I'm going
Kranti gourd. Yeah, Kranti is another one.
That's right, I'm going Kranti gourd.
Who's most likely to hit 5 sixes in an over?
I am going with Kiran Navgiri. Great answer.
That's a good one. I have Chanel Henry, who she
probably, she may have actually done that at one point last
season. Probably done.
I think she's going to play for DC.
I'm predicting that's another day.
Addiction I. Think if she does DC wins like.
That's a good point. If she can stay in the line up,
that's a bad sign for everyone else.
That's a good point, yeah. So, you know, how's your.
Prediction looking. How's your prediction looking?
My prediction will look good, rest assured.
So no, Harmanpreet answers. But who's most likely to yell at
the umpire? Each core this.
I have I I still think the scariest cricketer, man or
woman, is Mari's on cop. I've got cop for most likely to
yell. Oh my.
God, yes, that's true. Oh yes, Oh yes.
And and the umpire will change their call out of fear when she
does. The glare, The stairs.
She had some fearsome when she got some like it's in the
Women's World Cup. Scary, scary.
Woman so I like her most for the next answer, which is who's most
likely to yell at their teammates because I feel like
I've if you drop a catch of Marazan cap like good luck.
Yeah, seriously. Just don't go in the dressing
room. Just go straight home or
whatever it is, go back to the hotel and yeah.
Try not to meet. Her I, I think yelling at their
own teammates, I have a feeling it's going to be deep, deep.
I have a combination of deep deep Meg landing and.
And it's going to be very funny because her voice is not suited
for yelling They. Aren't the same team now.
Yeah. Do you think they could be
yelling at each other that that would be funny?
I think Deep Dee and Meg Landing are going to gang up on poor
Sophie Ecclestone. I'm, I'm, I'm afraid for her.
They don't, Australians don't like Ecclestone.
I think that she's going to not hustle in between the wickets or
something and, and she's going to, she's going to get it.
I predict. I predict Sophie Eccleston hits
A6 to win them the game and Meg Lanning out of character rushes
onto the field to hug her. Interesting.
Wow. OK, there's the there's another
one. Add that to our bats list these.
Are our ashes. These are our ashes.
Yes, and this happens in the game.
Meg Lanning has smashed the bat, and then so comes at the end of
the game and she's like, Meg thought we couldn't do it.
Yeah, something like that. So what's?
Happening they're not finishing fourth in the table, so I can't
I can't cosign that. So if they're yelling at each
other, that's really funny. Who's most likely to yell at the
opposition? And let's get a new player this
time, not. It's good that you said that
because I had written down cop again.
I, I, I have a feeling it's going to be OK.
I have three options, but I will go with Shikha Pandey for this
one. Like there's going to be like
something really random on one of her out swingers or an in
swinger depending on if it's a lefty or a righty.
They would have edged it and not walked and something like that.
We could use something like that.
I would love that. I want fire, I want, I want, I
want fights to happen. Yes, in the WPL.
We need the Big Bash of the WPL. Yeah, I need it.
I don't have. I'm going to go with Danny
Wyatt. I think she's going to be, she,
she wants revenge on UP. It's going to be this Sunday,
actually, she's going to, she's going to want revenge on UP.
She was clearly not happy there. So that's my prediction.
Interesting that is. That is very interesting.
And the last one, who's going to take an awesome boundary catch?
I had Jemima Rodriguez written down for this, but then I
realized she's the captain, so she's going to be in the inner
circle. Correct.
And that's why my answer is Radha Yadav.
I like it. That's.
A very good answer. I had actually a reverse answer.
This is where this is where I've done the research.
I have a reverse answer. It's just not going to be anyone
on Gigi. It's not going to be a Gujarat
giant taking any sort of good defensive play.
That's that's a you can you can write that.
One, it'll happen again. It is going to happen and Ash
Gardner is going to take a flyer at the deep mid wicket boundary.
Oh my God. Yes.
Ash Gardner. Ash Gardner, Helene.
I was also thinking an outside chance of Nikki Prasad because
she's also a really good fielder.
And I and I and I did forget. But for the second question, a
funny reel. We did miss Phoebe Lichfield
because she is box office. You also missed Miley Cyrus.
I'm not sold on it in terms of a funny reel.
OK, OK. OK, not yet.
These these teams need to up their game.
The social media teams. Speaking of incredible social
media games, the last bonus question Who will follow in
David Warner's footsteps and do a 6-7 celebration when they get
a 50 or 100? I saw someone tweeting that that
was worse than the sandpaper the the 6-7 celebration on the 100.
So I think there's one clear answer for who's doing 6-7.
I'll let you guys go first. Bet Mooney.
Interesting, but that's well, it's she would be following the
tradition of of of the the the old people not getting that the
meme's already dead. So.
Yes. That's that's the reason.
I I think it's got to be Jamima. She, she was doing the floss
celebrations. 6 sevens coming. Out keep the floss.
It was not the floss. It was.
She she made it kind of charming.
She could maybe make me like 6-7 maybe?
I. I see that happening.
I I can see.
Jimmy. It could be Jimmy or Shriyanka,
like forcing other people to do this, Yeah.
That's nice that we got to the end of the podcast and we agreed
on something that's a, that's a nice full circle moment right
there. Yeah.
And with that, that's a wrap on our WPL preview podcast with the
37 different diversions and detours we took and hope you
enjoy. We will probably be doing two or
three parts through the WPL and hopefully have a good time.
You have a good time watching it.
We will hope to do that as well. That's.
More in a row there is good they're going to blow next in.
The prodigal son turn Messiah gets a second hundred in
successive. Romantic style, The whole of
Bengal are on their feet on the next bull.
The dream is diminished for Carlos Pratt Wing.
Favourable scenes here at the Bull Ring.