This Week in Cricket #188: Abhishek & India do it again, Black Caps T20 squad depth & the NZ A tour tick

In this episode of the show, Raj and Stu discuss India v Pakistan at the Asia Cup, the Black Caps' T20 squad to take on Australia, NZ A's tour to South Africa and the start of Australia A's tour to India. We start the show once again by talking about another dominant Indian performance against Pakistan in the Asia Cup - this time in the Super 4 stage. Last week it was two brilliant allrounders - Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel - who made important contributions for India, but this time the spark came from Shivam Dube, who slowed Pakistan's momentum after a rather sloppy start to the match. There's also more praise for Abhishek Sharma, as well as discussion around the controversial catch by Sanju Samson. Next it's a Black Caps focus - first the T20 squad named to take on Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee series, in which Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Kane Williamson and a host of other key names are unavailable for the Kiwi side. We discuss how the NZ T20 side might take shape over the course of the home summer, with an eye to the ICC T20 World Cup in February. Is it a good thing that we can't name the Black Caps' best XI? Or a concern that so many roles feel up for grabs this close to a major event? To round out the show, first we give a big tick to NZ A's overall tour to South Africa. Things started slow with the white ball, and the final Test ended in a fairly subdued draw, but the likes of Rhys Mariu, Dale Phillips, Curtis Heaphy, Adi Ashok and Matt Fisher all made cases for higher honours over the years to come. We also quickly touch on Australia A's tour to India, in which we saw bat dominate ball in the first Test of that series, with Sam Konstas, Dhruv Jurel & Devdutt Padikkal among those to impress. We'll be back in your feed again next week to discuss more stories from the world of cricket, including the Asia Cup & more from New Zealand. 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 with 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. And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at thetoporderpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks for listening. 0:00 Intro 1:05 India cruise to another Asia Cup win against Pakistan 3:05 Shivam Dube & the spinners 7:05 Are India that far ahead? Or are Pakistan in transition? 15:15 Sanju Samson catch, Nawaz run out 19:10 Black Caps name T20 squad to face Australia 26:15 Ish Sodhi, Tim Seifert, Mitch Hay 35:25 Rhys Mariu shines for NZ A in South Africa 45:30 Runs galore between Aus A & India A Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices