All Out 4 No Loss - Episode 20

IPL 2025 - Previews: Punjab Kings, Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans

IPL returns with all the usual fanfare and this time around it is after a mega auctions which means all teams are looking different from the previous campaigns. In some cases the are significant differences in the makeup of the teams and in some cases teams have managed to stay the course with minimal changes.

This is the first of a series of episodes where we will be previewing the teams in the competition.

In this conversation we will take a look at the Punjab Kings, Lucknow Super Giants and the Gujarat Titans

The Ponting era at the Punjab Kings has resulted in a move from a team that was loaded with big-hitters and a modest bowling attack to a unit where their bowling attack has become super-charged at the expense of some fire-power with the bat.

The Lucknow Super Giants who are coached by another legend of the 2000 Australia team Justin Langer seem to have regressed a little bit in terms of their personnel and might just be too dependent on their overseas professionals. The balance seems a little questionable and their backup suite is a little weak.

The Gujarat Titans did sign Buttler, but was that a really good move given that their top three while being very proper batters need some time to get going and that just might not be the ideal recipe if the pitches are similar to what we saw in the last IPL.

#IPL #IPL2025 #BCCI #ChennaiSuperKings #DelhiCapitals #GujaratTitans #KolkataKnightRiders #LucknowSuperGiants #MumbaiIndians #PunjabKings #RajasthanRoyals #RoyalChallengersBengaluru #SunrisersHyderabad

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Anand Kumar Sankaran

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/ipl2025-previews-pk-lsg-gt

The Champions Trophy: The Finals

India handily regained the Champions Trophy with a relatively comfortable win over New Zealand on March 9 in Dubai. Once again the 4 spinners took over the game from the moment they came on and squeezed out any resistance from the New Zealand middle order. The late burst notwithstanding the total of 251 was below par and once Rohit set the platform with a brisk 76, it was all about playing sensibly to ensure that the New Zealand spinners did not wrest the game away.

In this conversation we will take a look at the game and this India team in historical terms

1. Did New Zealand miss the presence of another spinner in their team ?
2. Is this the best ever ODI team from India ?
3. Has Rohit become the best white captain we have ever had ?
4. Most important even if this team wins, does it lose thanks to the BCCI ?

#ICC #BCCI #newzealandcricket #indiacricket #australiacricket

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer
• Anand Kumar Sankaran
• Vijaykumar Balasubramanian

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/india-regains-the-champions-trophy

The Champions Trophy: The Finals Preview

Champions Trophy 2025 has arrived and the pre-tournament favorites have made the final. Between them they have a combined record of 13-1 in the past month (the one loss was when India beat New Zealand last Sunday)

In this conversation we will take a look at the two teams and the lead-up

During the chat we touch upon the following questions -

1. Will New Zealand reprise Nairobi 2000 or Manchester 2019 ?
2. Will India continue their dominant run in the ODI game ?
3. Who do we think is the favorite ?
4. What should Rohit do if we win the toss ?
5. What are the likely and par scores ?
6. And for whom will this be the final dance ?

#ICC #BCCI #newzealandcricket #indiacricket #australiacricket

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer
• Anand Kumar Sankaran
• Vijaykumar Balasubramanian

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/champions-trophy-2025-finals-preview

The Champions Trophy: Final Round Games and Semi-Final Preview

Here come the semi-finals of the 2025 Champions Trophy. The same teams that played in the 2023 WC semi-finals have made it to the semi-finals of this tournament and done so in a convincing manner.

India has been looking at its best with three very strong showings while New Zealand was very good until they got tripped up by a sublime show by the Indian spinners. South Africa is looking like a complete team as they won their two games that were played in very convincing style. The Australia fought back to win against England albeit easily and were looking in very good shape against the Afghans as well. Without doubt the four teams that played the best made it to the semi-finals.

In this conversation we will take a look at the last 4 games of the league phase and will do a preview of the semi-finals

During the chat we touch upon the following questions -

1. Is India unstoppable ?
2. Who will India pick in their semis after Varun gave them a good problem to have ?
3. Can New Zealand return to their efficient best after a slip-up ?
4. Will South Africa continue their merry ways or will they hit their play-off wall once more ?
5. Australia is missing their big quicks, but would anyone underestimate them ?
6. Did India really have an unfair advantage ?
7. How could ICC mess up the scheduling so badly ?

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer
• Anand Kumar Sankaran
• Vijaykumar Balasubramanian

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/champions-trophy-2025-into-the-business-end

The Champions Trophy: And then there were five left Preview

We are one week and halfway into the Champions Trophy and seen three teams being eliminated after two rounds of matches.

The official hosts Pakistan just were unable to overcome the pressure of a home tournament. They crumbled rather meekly against a very efficient and impressive New Zealand and then just were not able to challenge India.

Bangladesh predictably capitulated by ceding significant ground in the first quarter of both games, and even though they tried hard there were simply unable to match either India or New Zealand.

Clearly India and New Zealand have laid down markers as the teams to beat in this tournament. Then again their first challenge is when they play each other over the coming weekend.

England was part of the two best games in the tournament so far, but just slip their advantage again and again and ended up being the third team to be eliminated. In 2025, the English cricket teams (men and women) have a combined record of 1-16 !

Australia, South Africa and Afghanistan will be battling for the two semi-final slots from group B.

In this conversation we will take a look at the 8 games that have been played and discuss what we liked and did not from each time.

During the chat we touch upon the following questions -

• Does England require a major overhaul of their white ball setup ?
• What happened to Pakistan ?
• How good can New Zealand be ?
• Can India ward off New Zealand ?
• Does Australia have it in them ?

#TeamIndia #Australia #England #SouthAfrica #Pakistan #NewZealand #ChampionsTrophy #2025CT #ICC #BCCI

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer
• Anand Kumar Sankaran
• Vijaykumar Balasubramanian

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/champions-trophy-2025-the-halfway-point

Moving on from the various ODI bilateral and tri-series into tournament play. The 2025 Champions Trophy is starting in less than a week being played in Pakistan and Dubai.

A short tournament featuring 8 teams drawn up in two groups of 4, with the top 2 in each group advancing to the semi-finals. Ten games will be played in Pakistan (Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi) and 4 in Dubai with the venue for the final contingent on whether India is still in fray.

Group A features India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh and Group B has Australia, England, Afghanistan and South Africa. Between the World T20 in 2024 and the WTC, teams have not really play much ODI cricket since the 2023 World Cup. The form guide though suggests that India and New Zealand might be the teams to watch for, then again between varying conditions and teams doing a lot of experimenting it is difficult to draw any specific pattern.

In this conversation we will be taking a look a brief look at the squads of the 8 teams and trying to assess their prospects. In particular factoring in the non availability of key players in some teams. We will also be spending more time on the selections for Team India, particular the curious decision of taking a spin heavy unit to Dubai.

During the chat we touch upon the following questions -

1. Can Afghanistan cause any ripples like in the 2023 World Cup ?
2. Does Australia have it in them to overcome the absence of all their first line quicks ?
3. Will England wake up from their stupor ?
4. How will New Zealand fare for their first major tournament without Boult and Southee ?
5. The South Africans have been severely impacted by the loss of many quicks. Will their reserve quicks come to the party.
6. Can Pakistan handle the intense pressure of a home campaign ?
7. Will India prove that the England series was just a trailer to a ICC trophy win ?

#TeamIndia #Australia #England #SouthAfrica #Pakistan #ChampionsTrophy #2025CT #ICC #BCCI

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer
• Anand Kumar Sankaran
• Vijaykumar Balasubramanian

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/preview-champions-trophy-2025

In this conversation we will be reviewing the India v England ODI series.

The Indian team handily routed the English white ball teams in the 8 game series spanning both T20Is and ODIs with the final score line being 7-1. One of the biggest indicators was that England's No.11 batter got to bat in every single game !

While England was able to put up some resistance in three of the five T20Is, the ODI series was absolutely one-sided. India handily won the first two games in 37 and 42 overs and that was even though they clearly started taking things easy in the final stretch. And then in the final game the margin was 142 runs with England barely batting 35 overs.

This English team clearly looked completely out of depth with just a few flickers of resistance which for most part came from their openers. Their bowlers looked pedestrian other than Adil Rashid and to a lesser extend Mark Wood. To boot they seem to have a lot a few first XI players to injury. These performances do not augur well for their chances in the Champions Trophy. That said they always seem to play better in Pakistan than in India.

Team India looked imperious even without Bumrah. Rohit seems to have regained his mojo, Gill is looking like a million bucks, Virat scored a very good 50, Iyer is looking ready to reprise his heroics from the 2023 WC. The bowling unit looked in great shape with even Shami slowly showing signs of getting back into his groove.

During the chat we touch upon :

1. Are India's two white ball teams ready to be the dominant white-ball force in the next few years ?
2. Has the elusive balance finally been achieved for Team India?
3. Is Team India primed to make a strong statement in Champions Trophy ?
4. What ails England ? Why are they not playing to potential ?
5. Will England recover from this shellacking in time for the Champions Trophy ?

#RohitSharma #ViratKohli #TeamIndia #ShreyasIyer #Buttler #Salt #ODI

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/india-clobbers-england-in-the-white-ball-series

Review of India England T20I series and preview of ODI series

In this episode we are reviewing the T20I series where an electric Team India absolutely thrashed England. In the first game the target was chased down in less than 13 overs and in the last game, we could have asked them to bat again and still won. There was a humdinger in Chennai and a very efficient win in Pune which provided the additional benefit of getting under the skin of the English team. The only misstep was in Rajkot where our batters could not silence Adil Rashid.

Also in this episode we will be previewing the ODI series that started on Feb 6 and more importantly the trial run for the Champions Trophy for both team. On paper both teams are strong contenders for that Champions Trophy and this series might serve as some kind of a litmus test.

During the chat we touch upon

• Is Abhishek Sharma the real deal ?
• Is there some validity in England being upset about Shivam Dube being converted into a quick bowler ?
• What is happening to Sky ?

#Abhishek #SKY #Samson #TilakVarma #TeamIndia #Dube #Rana #ImpactSub #ConcussionSub #Buttler #Salt #T20I

Participants:

• Vasant Kumar
• Anand Kumar Sankaran
• Vijaykumar Balasubramanian
• Ramakrishnan G Iyer

Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

https://all-out-for-no-loss.captivate.fm/episode/the-impact-sub-series