Christmas and Hanukkah have ended and it’s almost New Year’s Day! What a year has gone by so far, especially in cricket. Make sure to put ‘listening to Cricket Huddle’s State of Cricket’ as part of your resolutions for 2023! Our latest topic, the one to close out 2022, is about how it seems like franchise cricket (for example, the IPL) is influencing even international cricket nowadays. Let’s let the crew take a deeper dive into this subject now.

One of the key reasons to make this point was the India-Bangladesh second Test. Out of nowhere, Jaydev Unadkat featured in the playing XI, replacing spinner Kuldeep Yadav (who was the man of the match in the first Test). Taking a further look, one can see that India’s stand-in captain, Lokesh Rahul, and Unadkat are set to represent the same IPL franchise, the Lucknow Super Giants. One can now say that maybe Rahul brought in Unadkat to get an early look at what he can bring to the table for Lucknow as well. This could go the other way around too, like with the aforementioned Kuldeep. He was dropped out of the India side and his then-franchise team, Kolkata Knight Riders, stopped featuring him in their playing XI as well.

In addition to this possible controversial topic, we ventured into Pakistani cricket territory. We discussed the interim Pakistan chief selector (the former great Shahid Afridi) as well as the Pakistani team composition. The crew feels like another spinner will be necessary to be found and used by the Men in Green. We also feel that Indian players, management, and staff need better press conference skills, judging by some of the responses we’ve seen from Lokesh Rahul and Vikram Rathour (India’s batting coach). We also finish off this podcast with a review/highlights from the 2023 IPL Auction, including the highest bids fetched and how certain players (like Ben Stokes to Chennai Super Kings) will fit into their respective sides.

If you are interested in the rest of the conversation, please check out the links below: