This Week in Cricket #165: Black Caps beat India AGAIN, Bazball in trouble & a Santner surprise

The Top Order Cricket Podcast

In this episode of the show, we celebrate another incredible week for the Black Caps, which culminated in a series win in India for the Black Caps for the very first time. We also look back at Pakistan's turnaround against England as they spun their way to another victory in the third Test of that series.

The Black Caps' win in Pune capped off a remarkable sequence - a first Test victory in India for 36 years, then another one a week later. We discuss whether this series win is the Black Caps' finest achievement, try to break down how they came to beat the best team in the world in their home patch and heap praise on Mitchell Santner, Tom Latham, Yashasvi Jaiswal - plus much more.

We then turn our attention to Pakistan, where the home side's spinners once again tangled the English batters in knots to win the third and deciding Test. There's praise for Nauman Ali and Sajid Khan, a little Jamie Smith and Saud Shakeel, big fans and questions about whether it's time for England to consider a new approach.

We'll be back again next week with more news and reviews from around the world. 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

1:05 NZ beat India again - Greatest moment in Black Caps' history?

6:30 How did NZ find the formula to beat India at home?

8:00 NZ's batting tempo, tactics and Tom Latham's performance

16:45 Mitchell Santner - the unlikely hero

22:15 How concerning should this result be for India?

25:25 Virat Kohli's scary stats

29:55 Washington Sundar takes 12 wickets

32:45 World Test Championship Final implications

34:50 Rohit Sharma's captaincy decisions

38:15 Pakistan v England - Have Pakistan found a formula for home success?

45:15 Do England need to tweak their Bazball style?

57:55 Saud Shakeel and Pakistan's batting

1:00:00 Border-Gavaskar Trophy selection questions

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