I thought I'd, I'd put it.

So my third would be, like, there are a lot of contenders for that particular thing.

Uh, like, I was a little confused between two knocks, Melbourne 100 or the Bloemfontein 100, where he introduced that uppercut.

But I think for the, all the outside noises that were there in '99, I would put that Melbourne knock on number three, because Bradley was debuting in that match.

McGrath was at the peak of his powers.

Even Fleming was troubling Tendulkar a lot in that particular era.

Vaughan was getting his mojo back.

Yeah.

Any- anyone else? Have you got yours?

Oh, I would say, like, first match, ch, I could have seen, uh, on, in the stadium, but I couldn't.

Was in Patiala.

Uh, it was Board 11 President versus Australian team in '96, October '96, before the first BGG test match, the first single sold test match that they had in Delhi.

So there was this young wicket keeper, Pankaj Dhirmani, from Punjab.

So at that time India was struggling to have proper, proper wicket keeper batters.

Really?

So this is at the wicket, yeah.

Did you imitate him? Well, uh, 'cause you're a lefty.

Yeah, but I tried my best.

Like, I did a pod with one of the creators, and the first drive I played he said, like, "Your bottom hand because of such," and I, I didn't even know this.

So like, it was like, I said, "Yes, had to be, maybe." So my-

So you bowled little medium paces?

Yeah.

[laughs] Yeah.

[laughs] Exactly, exactly the action.

Did, did m- m- did tri-series do anything good for the sport?

At least you had some build-up to the finale, to everything that some of the dead rubbers would even matter because you know that run rates, at least one team obviously in most of the tri-series would, was destined to be in the finals.

But the other two were still fighting to be there, like Coca-Cola Cup of '98.

Mm

...

T20, World Cup, all those things.

Mi- may- maybe we can just simply get rid of bilaterals.

But if anything outside the World Cup and the league cricket has to have some significance, I think it should be multi-nation tournaments.

Like according to me, I don't know, 2017 he retired, but I think-

At least for the younger players there has to be a lot more freedom because that'll add a lot of, uh, I think layers to their batting, to their skill, overall, uh, development of their game also.

Because till the time they don't even know whether they're getting their national, international gig, why not let them play all these leagues?

That would be my, my point of view.

It's, they've not been able to maximize it also.

And many teams have struggled with injuries or maybe they've got a bad option.

Only they would be then maybe going this path.

Because in m- majority of the cases, I don't think so they've been able to back and forth foreigners this year.

Yeah.

You're just putting it very linear, very much in a, uh, in a way that it's just structured on certain, uh, fixed parameters.

You're just not allowing any, I would say, miraculous things to happen-

Yeah.

They have processed the information and com- communicated to the players the b- the way it should be done, so that it should not be drastically changing the fundamentals on which the game had been built over the years, but would obviously give them a better idea about how to maximize the skills that they have.

Watch a few pitches and

...

it gives you that vibe also.

Like, I have, like, so many friends who would say it would be a dream job for them if they could actually retire and can travel the world, see matches, be a part of the ecosystem.

That's the kind of vibe it gives.

I have one small story also.

A friend of mine, I clearly remember 15 years back, I was just sitting with him, and he's a hardcore Manchester United fan, so I casually said, "Man U" and he was offended.

Bye-bye.

And what did they get right, do you think? 'Cause I'm pretty sure me and Ben Jones did a whole podcast on this.

I think the first one thing that they really got sorted was an amazing leader, somebody who actually understood, uh, the home ground really well.

Because Mitchell Johnson was their bowler in 2013, right? So he's more hit the deck kind of a bowler.

But then Rohit Sharma realized that if you want the left-armers to get counted on Wankhede, you need somebody who would pitch the ball up, who could make the ball swing.

So this is w- how they went back to, uh...

They went to, like, Mitchell McLenaghan, right?

Do you think?

...

But we're all sat here, have we ever seen anyone like this before?

Like, to be honest, when Sehwag started, I clearly remember he had an outlier ODI match against Australia.

But I was very skeptical whether somebody with such a footwork would even survive at that level, really.

Because he, I think, scored a 50 against Australia, took couple of wickets, then got injured in 2001 series.

And then he scored an 100, 100 in Aust- in South Africa, Australia, England, everywhere, and turns the test cricket on its head.

So that is what I, I would like to understand first.

Like, how was Sachin at the beginning? Like, was he actually having such a compact technique in t- in ni- 1989 also, or we actually saw his evolution as a batter? If that is the case, then Vaibhav definitely has more gears, definitely has-

Yeah.

I'll let, I'll let you come in in a second

... for me, it is almost the Virat Koh- Kohli issue with him in Test because he was kind of doing it, like, till the time the wickets were flat, things were...

People were not able to figure him out.

He was able to do it day in, day out.

Because that peak that we mentioned, um, there was lot of domestic Test matches in that.

He scored that, I think, match-saving 100 against Australia, runs against England, all those-

But Virat still found ways of making runs in other formats.

So I'll tell you what happened.

Mm

... is, is what is going to be his legacy.

I'm not even talking about, like, I clearly remember there was this, uh, article by, uh, Mr. Guha in 2018 where he said he's one, one of the most well-articulated and the most intelligent Indian cricketer he has ever come across, uh, outside of Anil Kumble.

That's what he said, like he just knows how to get his things done.

And that is something that kids can look up to for sure.

And, and one more thing that he will add to the overall celebrity culture in India.

Celebrities in India are not good entrepreneurs.

Very few stories.

But he was saying it for sixes, but I think it also matters for running twos.

Yeah, exactly, because if your core strength is good, I think that serves r- really well in cricket because I think the center of gravity thing, this actually happened with Inzamam in 2003 World Cup.

I clearly remember he was not even close to his best in that World Cup because he had lost a lot of weight.

And also, there are certain aspects of the game apart from, I would say, six hitting or running between the wickets also, where the physique or the demands are completely different.

So like, for example, if you look at cricket in, in totality, a footballer would run for 15 kilometers in 90 minutes.

But even a peak athlete like, uh, Virat would cover that much distance in a good six, seven hours.

Mm.

Different physiques, different skills, as we've already mentioned.

Yeah.

And, and they draw a lot of inspiration from there.

So for me, I think, um, they're, they're less technically driven, but they're trying to be, uh, uh, trying to maximize their utility as much as they can.

So for me, I think, um, one of the things I noticed when I was mentoring one of the women's teams last year-

... like, when, when they're younger particularly.

I think there's a very famous incident.

Like, uh, one of the Australian, uh, women's, uh, cricket team legend kind of, uh, I think, uh, plastered one of the young players by quoting that, uh, do you want to win the matches for the team, or you want to bat like an Indian legend who's kind of...

I, I'm not going to name the person, who's kind of categorized as a batter who just plays for herself.

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Mm.

Mm.

In that 2024, they won the trophy 20- in '25.

In '26, we know that they are among the front runners for the trophy.

So in last two and a half seasons, once he realized that he has that cushion to kind of just go a little overboard with his hitting because there's an extra batter there, the whole thing changed for him.

So that, that kind of validates what, like, uh, even Robbie said, that he always wanted that freedom, otherwise he'll always take it on himself.

And understanding that where impact player kind of comes in and how it overall impacts the whole game has completely gave a completely different dimension to his game altogether.

Uh, you mentioned also bef- uh, before about Rahul Dravid, um, playing a part in this in, in this, in a-

Yeah, he just, uh, went on, uh, record recently in, uh, one of the pods where he said that once he was kind of, uh, taken down from the captaincy, Indian captaincy, he had a lot of personality issues.

Yeah

...

according to the whole situation of the team or the series.

Like BGT 2024, he knew that nobody's go- bowling short balls.

He took, like, 10 or 11 wickets with the bouncers in that series.

Ruined the series for Pant significantly, and, uh, I think this is something which Rabada is more consistent, more one-dimensional with that-

Mm

... particular part.

Oh, yeah

... that was a, that was a crazy part for me.

'Cause that takes a lot of effort.

If you're gonna, gonna do, if you're gonna do that for 40 overs in an innings, it's like, what are you doing to this human being?

So it keeps happening, keeps happening, keeps-

And did that, they did that to him during the India test series also, right? He won them, he won them the Lord's test match, and in the fourth test match again in Manchester on a road, they again kind of gutted him, and-