Who should replace McCullum as England Test head coach? Plus, India T20 & ODI series analysed

22:29Dinesh Karthik:There may be things that we're saying in the dressing room, but it's about winning. In the end, I think it was about entertaining, of course, but winning is absolutely everything. And those moments that, and I got, I guess, because of the brand and style they were playing, and that's why they were entertaining, that sometimes they did go over the line. You have to understand that. if you push so hard sometimes you'll find yourself on the wrong side of the line but those moments where they had the game by the scruff of the neck so many moments edge baston ashes lord's ashes when lions limp limping off uh perth ashes india at the oval uh when harry brook is smashing it everywhere so many occasions they had the game and instead of being smart they continued to go harder and harder and harder and no one in that dressing room it seemed just went lads we're winning this game just reel your necks in a little bit and be ruthless the amount of times we heard we're going to be smarter next time and key rob key came on our pod at melbourne and went we want them to play smart cricket not dumb cricket there were just times where they played done cricket and that in the end really frustrated fans fans didn't like the fact that they had the game and they let it slip but it was it was a lot of fun i mean you i think mccullum would have would have survived if it wasn't your last call at at trend bridge where you just announced to the world that um basball has died well the place where basball was born it has died at trend bridge It was a great call, and it did die in that last day at Trent Bridge.

24:13Nasser Hussain:Well, I was looking at the numbers. 49 tests, 127, lost 20. 13 series, not including the one-offs, you know, like against Ireland or Afghanistan. Won six series, lost four, drawn three. So some successes along the way. some thrilling series wins. I think for me that first series win in Pakistan 3-0 and I can't think that any other England team would have won that series 3-0 because they scored so quickly and gave themselves time to win on some very flat pitches but they didn't get over the line against India, against Australia and I think on pitches that did a bit as well that style became unstuck.

25:07Nasser Hussain:So people found them out a bit and the game found them out a bit and they tried to take some shortcuts ahead of the Ashes and that certainly found them out a bit. So some lessons to be learned.

25:22Dinesh Karthik:He was true to his word when Ian Ward said to him on that first interview, are you going to be like NASA and try and first draw games? And he sort of looked at Wardy and went, me try to draw test matches they didn't try and draw any single just before we welcome uh dk in

25:39Nasser Hussain:for the second half of the pod stokes is retired do you you don't do you see any way that this change now will affect his thinking i don't know it was such a spectacular weird retirement announcement mid-session mid-spell you know how you can suddenly just go back I mean you can I

26:07Dinesh Karthik:mean he's unretired from white ball cricket maybe he'll parachute in halfway through the opening series of the ashes next year to save English cricket well what did you think of the timing yesterday again of it I mean in the middle of a women's test match was that maybe because a story was going to break or they feel something was going to happen why I mean they've had a lot

26:27Nasser Hussain:of criticism for that this morning and I understand that. But I also have some sympathy for their position that these things don't wait, do they? News is not waiting till the end of a test match or whatever. And they've been so behind the curve on this story. Generally, you know, the last month or six weeks, they just thought, let's get it out there. And it certainly wasn't ideal timing. And Richard Gould admitted that yesterday. But, you know, I think that story would have come out had they not announced it yesterday. But not ideal timing. And, yeah, I was there. Just, you know, Tammy Beaumont finishing Heather Knight, finishing slightly overshadowed that.

27:20Nasser Hussain:But our best wishes to them on retirement and the end of two fabulous careers.

27:50Nasser Hussain:Please like and subscribe. You can watch 3Sky TV on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. See you soon.

28:05Nasser Hussain:OK, moving on from Basbal, we're going to turn our attentions to some of the white ball stuff we've been watching, both the T20 series that has just finished, the ODI series to come. Now when we ask DK to come on on the back of some tremendous success he's had in the IPL He tends to come on in his RCB shirt But I don't see him wearing the blue of India today After a 4-0 shellacking in the T20 series DK, good morning, how are you?

28:34Atharva Tiwari:Good morning, Athos Good confident, brisk start I see something that you're not used to But let me just say You guys, after RCB's back-to-back wins didn't invite me for the podcast so you waited for your time and when it has in your words India I've got a shellacking now you've comfortably called me to discuss all the things that went wrong in the series anyway there's a lot of good things that happened as well from India's point of view really what were they okay sorry before we get on to looking at um the the India series

29:10Dinesh Karthik:a bit of talk, mainly from me and Ath, about Andy Flower going back to become England Test match coach. You know Andy well. Where do you think he is with his life, work, life balance? It's a good gig that he's got on RCB, very successful gig. Do you think he would consider it?

29:29Atharva Tiwari:Yeah, first I'll answer Athas's question. We won four out of four tosses in the T20s. That's the start. Now, coming back to Andy Flower's... I genuinely, in all seriousness, I think he'll be a great candidate. He is definitely probably, should be one of the players, I mean, names thought of. But I would be very surprised if he took it, considering where England are and his pack schedule as well. So he used to do a lot of leagues. And I'm sure that, you know, he didn't have time. Now, coming from, I obviously read an article which said that England will be happy to accommodate IPL and then the rest of Test cricket.

30:02Atharva Tiwari:But with the schedule being the way it is, like when Jacob Bethel didn't come in for the first Test, Just Joffre Archer not being available. Obviously, it kicked up a fuss and there were plenty of people saying, why? Why? How come, you know, one of the players not there? With Andy Flower, if he obviously with already pre-signed contract with RCB, which would mean that he would miss parts of all those. How would it be? Will it be okay for England in the preparation to Ashes if they don't have a coach for a test match or two? I heard there's a test match against Bangladesh in May next year. And if Andy Flower is doing RCB, that could be a challenge as well.

30:35Atharva Tiwari:Is he good? Definitely. He's probably one of the best in the world, if not the best. Will he have time? That's the question. I would be very surprised if the answer is a yes. But if they've found a good partnership together with all of it being settled, why not?

30:50Nasser Hussain:And just before we move on to the white ball stuff that we've been watching and is to come, if not, Andy Flower, I mean, you work as a coach in the various environments. who do you hear good things about in terms of other coaches that are out there? England have obviously said they will accommodate perhaps a coach who works in franchise cricket. So looking beyond the shores of England, who do you hear good things about in terms of other coaches?

31:21Atharva Tiwari:I think someone like Rahul Dravid will obviously bring a lot of balance. I think he's very good in test cricket. Given a free hand, I'm sure he can do some good things with England cricket. He's a very mature man. But the problem with him is I'm sure he'll say with two young boys and both are playing really well as well. Does he have the time? That's the only question. If you go through just cricketing success in terms of franchise cricket, obviously you'll have to throw in names like Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakara, who's had a good time with Royals. But again, I don't know whether there'll be, you know, there's a happy work-life balance that comes with franchise cricket.

31:58Atharva Tiwari:Like, you know, being a coach of a national cricket team is a very tedious job, one that will involve time. And a lot of the time dealing with the stresses and pressures of being the coach and handling media, handling players. And it's a year-round job, even if you just take up test cricket, which is how it should be in England, because the amount of cricket they play, it's a year-round job. And there's a certain cozy comfort in just coming, doing a tournament and just walking out of it. If you're doing something for nine months, ten months in a year, there is a lot of challenge to it. And it could mean that doing other things on the side can be very challenging.

32:33Nasser Hussain:OK, let's get on to the T20 series then. Why are India so uncompetitive, DK?

32:38Atharva Tiwari:Various things. Number one, I do feel they've picked a completely different side. For a start, I must say, I think Team India has obviously not focused on T20 cricket for this. I genuinely think for the next six to eight months, they are OK with losing bilaterals. only because, or rather, okay, with not competing in bilaterals. Not losing, that's the wrong way to say it. Not competing in bilaterals because I think this is the time for them to see what can be the bench strength for India when they go for the T20 World Cup in 28. India has been so obsessed with bilaterals for some time now. And strangely, when they've been doing very well in bilaterals, it hasn't meant that they've done well in World Cups.

33:20Atharva Tiwari:Now, I do think they're going down the route of let's try and see what bench strength we have. try out a few players before we kind of get in on that squad about six to eight months before the 2020 T20 World Cup. Now, having said this, India had a great run in the lead up to the 2025 World Cup and 2024 World Cup. So, I mean, 2026 T20 World Cup and 24 T20 World Cup, they had good bilaterals. But right now, I think they're just taking it easy. Their main focus, I think, from whatever I see, is ODI cricket and definitely gaining some respect back in test cricket. They've been very ordinary in test cricket.

33:53Atharva Tiwari:These must be their primary focus. That's why you see a lot of chopping and changing. And they've taken a big decision. I think they've looked at it into the future and said, we need a captain who can be different, who's young, who's vibrant. And that's why they've gone for Shreya Sair. I mean, how many teams would drop their World Cup winning captain? So I think they're taking some bold decisions. But there's a lot of time. But India as a cricketing nation isn't very patient. So obviously, I can understand.

34:18Dinesh Karthik:they're taking some bold decisions dk but are they taking the right decisions i want to know your opinion on the whole uh syria vanchi sanju samson and the way that was handled right at the beginning sanju plays that first game uh syria vanchi doesn't play in ireland then after one game they go to syria vanchi basically on the back of public pressure that this young lad must play but by doing it that way you're destroying the confidence of sanju samson You say a World Cup winning captain was left out. You now have left out the World Cup player of the tournament and someone who smashed England around Mumbai.

34:54Dinesh Karthik:And then three games later, they leave the young man out, which now they're destroying his confidence as well. So by doing it that way, both these lads now are sitting there going, where am I with my game? How would you have handled it?

35:09Atharva Tiwari:First up, that part, I completely agree with you, Nas. I don't think they got it right. For a start, if they are so much in favour of seeing how good Suryavanshi is, Ireland would have been a great time to start. Now, communication is going to be the key. If you're going to give a vibe of an opportunity up front in Ireland and say, Sanju and Abhishek, we're going to rotate you. Please understand, we want to have a look at him. And we're building the bench strength. That is the most important aspect. I think that feels like it's missing. Because I do think the selector, probably the chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, has one eye on the future.

35:41Atharva Tiwari:and he probably wants to try and see the group of players around. Whereas Gambhir, who's in the hot seat, might be thinking, you know, I want to win every bilateral series because it's my name on the line. So I think there's a conflict, maybe it looks like, because there's one selector who wants to try and build a squad, another who's saying, I want success because every series that I play, my name is on the line with the captain's name. So I do think there's a bit of friction there in trying to understand how do we move about this, like what is happening, because Sanju played two, three games, failed, gone.

36:14Atharva Tiwari:Vaibhav came, he played three games, failed, gone. Ravi Bishnoi played one game, gone. Washington, Sundar and Prasid started in Ireland and until an injury came, they were not even looked at. So the starting 11 that you played, is that the 11 you don't trust? Or you're just going with, okay, this is 11 for this game, I feel will give me success. And then moving on to the next game. Oh, no, they have not done well. Let me move to another player. It feels like that. Very, very short-sighted. So there is a bit of a friction between what the chief selector, I feel, who has long-term plans and a current coach who is saying, you know, I want to win every game that I play.

36:50Atharva Tiwari:And hence the confusion that we can see unfold in front of us. Is it ideal for the players? Definitely not. I mean, if you're from India, imagine the kind of bench strength India has. Everybody's thinking, oh my God, if I have a couple of bad games, anybody could replace me. And on top of that, this happens. It's definitely a situation that India needs to be aware of and try and rectify as soon as possible.

37:11Nasser Hussain:I mean, we shouldn't also forget the outstanding cricket that England played as well in that T20 series. I mean, it's curious, isn't it? When you look at England's T20 side, it looks everything that the test side is not, i.e. a core of really hard and experienced cricketers who know their stuff. And in fact, England's recent record in T20 cricket is outstanding. They've gone to the, even before this series, and they've gone to the top of the rankings on the back of that. But it's curious, Nass and DK, isn't it? How they're so strong in T20, and yet their recent records in ODI and Test cricket have been so poor.

37:55Dinesh Karthik:Well, I mean, some of it's because of the success and the successful players they've had, and then the IPL coming and improving those even more. So he looked like Phil Salt. He was playing well. And then obviously the IPL side, working with the great Dinesh Kartik, that's only going to improve your game. I see him every morning. I saw him in the T20 series, hugging each other, Jacob Bethel hugging Dinesh Kartik. That's just going to improve your standard. So it's sort of self-fulfilling. You play well, IPL sides want you. You go, whether you're on the bench or not like Bethel, you improve, you come back, and then you know the Indian attack, and that's another thing.

38:33Dinesh Karthik:All these England batters, you know, the old days of playing against India in a mystery spinner or something, Chakravarti or Bishnoy or whatever, you take three games to work them out. Now, they've seen so much of them, and they're a very talented side. I think they've made good decisions. Something else, the Test match side, having the move for Brook to number three, happened halfway through that World Cup. I think that was a superb move. I think McCollum is more suited to white ball cricket, Butler. And that partnership between Butler and Brooke the other day was just incredible. I know you didn't do the game math, but it was just incredible.

39:06Dinesh Karthik:You couldn't bowl to the pair of them. And in one stage, Butler was taking a bat stage for Harry Brooke. Our greatest white ball player was knocking it for one to say over to you, Harry. So it was incredible. They are in a really good place. And that's why I thought they should be ruthless because their next stage after he can, and I don't know how you think they should get to that stage, is to win World Cups. Last two, they've been knocked out by India in semifinals, Guyana and Mumbai. With this core of players, where is the next World Cup? Australia. They need to work out that's got to be their planning, how we're going to go.

39:43Dinesh Karthik:And how do they get to that next stage of making sure they go back to winning tournaments, DK?

39:49Atharva Tiwari:For a start, I think they're on the right track. I do think this current set of youngsters have definitely understood what it takes to do well in T20 cricket. Now, their 11 is pretty sorted as well. Add a Jamie Overton to it who brings a good amount of pace, then, you know, that also brings, makes it a very well-rounded squad. They have a unique set of players who actually are some good all-rounders. And to balance out 11, you need solid all-rounders. And what England will take a lot of happiness from is how well Will Jacks and Sam Curran went. and that would mean that they are in a very, very healthy place.

40:25Atharva Tiwari:When I look at what England needs to do, basically be exactly what you said, Nathar. I think ruthlessness is what they require. At times in test cricket, that's what they have not had. When the game is in their hands, they have let it go and that's exactly what they should be looking to do. Like how they came and absolutely annihilated India in that 50-20. I didn't give them a chance to breathe and they've just completely decimated them and that should be their approach from here on. it can't be a bit of a backward step. The challenges would be, though, when England plays various bilateral series, how much of the same team will be available?

40:59Atharva Tiwari:Are players sometimes going to choose playing other franchise leagues? And that's going to be the challenge. And the modern player will also be challenged. When you play tournaments of high quality, you keep playing with the best and you keep raising your standards. When you start playing so much around the world, in very, for lack of a better word, diluted forms of franchise cricket, it drops your standard as well. So they need to be very aware of what it takes for them to be the best in the world. I think if they have that at the forefront of their mind, then it's a tournament that's, I mean, it's a team that will always look going up.

41:30Atharva Tiwari:And that's one thing India have done pretty well, which is maintain a quality of players. And they don't have the option of playing anything else but IPL. So the standards have always been very good. And that's helped eventually in results.

41:42Nasser Hussain:and nasa's point uh is a good one that world cup is 29 but the next world cup is a 50 over world cup so focus kind of shifts towards the odi team and and that world cup coming i mean it seems to me that you should have five odis this summer and three to not the other way around because you really want to be you know playing more of the of the white ball stuff that's that's relevant for the next World Cup. Anyway, they've not done that for some reason. But focus does fall on the ODI series, which starts tomorrow at Edgbaston, then Cardiff, then Lords. We'll be doing those. And a very different-looking team, DK, and a more, I suppose, what you might call a more established-looking team from India with some of the great names coming back, whose last hurrah is going to be that World Cup in South Africa?

42:40Atharva Tiwari:Oh, for sure. It has to be, you know, the two big boys, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will probably have their last ever stint in England as players. So that's something for the English public to look forward to. And I'm very sure that the 2027 World Cup will be their last tournament they play in the Blues for India. But what you will see is definitely a side which has more experience. And it's a word that was used by Harry Brook a lot through this T20 series is adaptability. And where does adaptability come from? Either it comes from volume in prep or experience, where you can obviously reduce the volume and still be good at it.

43:16Atharva Tiwari:I think India definitely didn't have volume of prep. They went to Ireland a day before. That's not good enough and didn't practice literally. Can't take the sport for granted. Whereas you have experience here, so the volume of prep can be slightly lesser. And I've already seen the likes of KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma all practicing in Birmingham when the T20s were going. So with the likes of Bumrah being added to the squad and he's such an important cog in the wheel. And India will definitely fancy themselves to have a strong ODI series.

43:45Dinesh Karthik:Where is Bulmaro with his fitness decay? Was it just precautionary he didn't play the T20? I mean, how many of the three games do you see him playing in the 50-over series?

43:55Atharva Tiwari:Ideally, all three. And I wish he does that because that would be a small little check for his body as well. Though I won't be surprised if he just plays on 14th and 19th and gives a skip on 16th. understandably back to back if his body is not completely ready. Bumrah was pushed a lot. I think towards the end of the World Cup, he was a bit tired. And then he played a monster of a tournament called IPL, which definitely wasn't ideal for him, even though he had to play it. You could see and his performance showed as well. It probably was one of his poorer IPLs that he's ever had. I mean, that kind of drop in standard we have never seen.

44:30Atharva Tiwari:So you can definitely say his body was tired. And now we are going to see a fresher, better Bumrah. And that always means Team India becomes much stronger than what it can be. And that pace attack definitely needs some direction. And you can see the whole bowling attack is at a place where they would need some senior players to stand up for them. Because the spinners are actually being put under immense pressure by Harry Brook and the likes. And it's becoming hard to bowl to Harry Brook if you're a finger spinner. It's but too obvious. So there will be pressure on the likes of Akshar and Washington.

45:03Atharva Tiwari:and Kuldeep will probably find a way to get past it.

45:07Nasser Hussain:I was going to ask, how do you see India lining up? What would you say is their best 11? Assuming a relatively normal pitch.

45:18Atharva Tiwari:I think it'll be Shubman to open with Rohit Sharma. At three, you'll have Virat Khauli, four Shraya Sire, five KL Rahul. And after that is when India will be thinking, what is the exact combination? You can definitely say Bumrah, you'll have Arshdeep Singh and a pacer. I have a feeling Shivam Dube has to play at number six because they don't have an all-rounder otherwise. Kuldeep Yadav will be a pacer and Akshar Patel probably to start things off. But Akshar Patel is definitely lacking in confidence with the ball. And you can say a bit with the bat as well.

45:52Nasser Hussain:And England are going to line up slightly differently with Jacob Bethel. Looks like he's going to open, become another opening partner for Ben Duckett. You know him well, DK. I mean, there's not, you know, if you're batting the top order as a test cricketer and he's in at three, the inference is that you'll be perfectly capable and adaptable of going at the top of the order in 50 over cricket.

46:16Atharva Tiwari:Yeah, Jacob Bethel genuinely wants to be at the top of the innings. But what I mean is in white ball cricket, he prefers opening. And I think in the ODIs, we'll see him opening. And I won't be surprised if we see him opening even in the 100. That's where he prefers to bat. So it's something that he is not alien to. It's something that he wants to embrace. So here is his opportunity. He's a good player. And I see him having a good time up top.

46:40Dinesh Karthik:What about the difference between 50-over and T20 cricket? And in the Indian side, it's obviously personnel, as you've just mentioned, those big guns coming back. But Af mentioned earlier with England, they have T20 number one in the world, but their 50-over stuff has just completely faded away from that great O.E. Morgan side in 2019. You know, for a while, a lot of people were saying they're amazed how 50-over cricket had just become like a little bit longer game of T20 cricket, and yet the likes of Phil Salt have not been able to get their tempo of batting right. Where do you see the sort of pace, in particular, of batting of 50-over cricket, and why haven't England been able to convert their T20 cricket to a 50-over game?

47:26Atharva Tiwari:I do think it's attention span and concentration. 10 years ago, people were watching one-minute and two-minute videos. Now they're all into reels which last 10 seconds. I think T20 cricket has spoiled them a bit. Obviously, it's slam-bang through and through. And that basically means, at times, the art of just knocking around singles without taking risks come into the play for long periods of time. You have 30 overs of dead time between overs 11 and 40 where all you expect to do is try and rotate strike and hit the odd boundary. And I don't think the T20 players sometimes are able to adapt to that.

48:01Atharva Tiwari:It can be a challenge mentally when you're just taking singles because all the time they're batting in T20, they're looking to hit a boundary every ball. Now to suddenly drop two, three gears and say, no, a boundary is not required, let me just knock it around means it's a challenge. Earlier starts during the day basically means the pitches could have some life in them. and that could mean they need to deal with the moving ball and that has also been a challenge to a lot of the top-order T20 players. So these are some of the challenges. And I mean, in all fairness, when you play on a really flat deck, they're able to obviously play it like an elongated T20 and that basically helps them.

48:34Atharva Tiwari:But when they play on pitches which are slightly spicy, which are slightly challenging, which are slightly slow, even that could mean that their technique is tested quite a bit and they're alien to that. They have not been able to adapt to that.

48:49Nasser Hussain:Well, that series gets underway tomorrow. Edgbaston the 1st, then Cardiff, then Lourdes. It's the sixth Blue for Bob day, actually. The sixth and last, I think, Blue for Bob day at Edgbaston tomorrow. So we'll be decked out in blue. Nass, DK, I know you're a bit embarrassed coming on in India blue this morning, but you can go for it tomorrow at Edgbaston. You can come in your Blue for India outfit and give it a good go. And it should be a good series, actually. I mean, it's going to be fantastic to see the likes of Coley and Rohit here probably making their last appearances in England. So we're very much looking forward to that.

49:29Nasser Hussain:And I'll see you two boys up at Edgbaston tomorrow morning.