This Week in Cricket #166 - Black Caps sweep India, Ajaz owns the Wankhede & Will Young play?

The Top Order Cricket Podcast

In this episode of the show, we reflect on the Black Caps' 3-0 series win against India, which left interesting questions for both sides as they head into their next fixtures. We also discuss potential World Test Championship final scenarios and the flurry of white-ball series from around the world.

The Black Caps made it a clean sweep against India with a 25-run victory at Wankhede Stadium, to cap off a remarkable month for New Zealand cricket. Ajaz Patel was crowned player of the match and Will Young the player of the series, but those performances might still not be enough to get them into the starting XI for the home summer. We talk through the spin bowlers on show, heap praise on Daryl Mitchell's fighting effort with bat in hand and raise questions that now face this Indian side:

• Are they still the best Test team in the world?
• Do Gautam Gambhir and the leadership group need to make changes?
• Can Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma bounce back against Australia?
• Is there a place for all three of Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar in the XI away from home?

We also discuss whether the ICC need to consider moving to four-day Tests, then take a quick look at the white-ball series featuring NZ, Sri Lanka, England, West Indies, Australia and Pakistan - so many that we ran out of time to cover the 47 other series that are currently under way.

We'll be back again next week with a full preview of the 2024 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with the Black Caps v England preview not far behind that. Until then please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter & Facebook, and @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram & YouTube) and a (5-Star!) review at your favourite podcast provider, or tell a friend to download. It really helps others find the show and is the best thing you can do to support us. You can also find all our written content, including our Hall of Fame series, at our website.

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including conversations Mike Hesson, Shane Bond and Mike Hussey, current players such as Matt Henry, Sophie Devine and Ish Sodhi, coaches Gary Stead, Jeetan Patel and Luke Wright, as well as Barry Richards, Frankie Mackay, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

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Thanks for listening.

0:00 Intro

1:50 Black Caps win again at the Wankhede

7:05 Ajaz Patel & Glenn Phillips edge out Jadeja, Ashwin and Sundar

18:05 A word on Matt Henry

21:50 Daryl Mitchell and Will Young stood up with the bat

27:25 Questions for India - key players under the microscope

28:25 Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

32:00 Have things changed under Gambhir?

38:15 Can Ashwin bounce back in Australia?

42:25 Four-day tests?

48:55 England v West Indies

52:55 NZ v Sri Lanka - all eyes on Mitch Hay and Zak Foulkes

56:40 Aus v Pakistan & Nathan McSweeney set to be Australia's new Test opener

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