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No Balls Cricket Unfiltered Episode 54: Thank the Gods for Rain, Ashwin, and Bumrah

·48 min·3 clips

Ravi Ashwin told the team manager he was retiring during the Brisbane Test.

1. The No Balls Cricket Podcast episode 54 centers on the drawn third Test between India and Australia and Ravi Ashwin's retirement. 2. Siddhan Pradhan hosts with Aditya Devrath, and both are presented as the voices driving the cricket roundup and the Ashwin discussion. 3. The episode asks what India can take from the Brisbane draw, Ashwin's retirement, and the wider December cricket calendar. 4. The roundup covers Zimbabwe versus Afghanistan, where Afghanistan won the T20 series 2-1 and took the first ODI. 5. The hosts note England's Test series win in New Zealand and Tim Southee finishing on 391 Test wickets and 98 Test sixes. 6. They also mention Pakistan's tour of South Africa, including Pakistan's T20 series loss and the first ODI run-out involving Saim Ayub and Kamran Ghulam. 7. Another roundup item is Shakib Al Hasan being banned from bowling in county cricket because the ECB found a suspect action. 8. The episode then turns to the India women's side, who beat West Indies 2-1 in a T20 series at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. 9. The hosts also discuss England's heavy Test win over South Africa and the lack of DRS in that match. 10. The middle of the episode moves to the Champions Trophy, where the fixture list was announced but India's venues remained unclear. 11. They describe Pakistan's agreement to a hybrid model while still not knowing whether India's games will be in the UAE, Sri Lanka, or Dubai. 12. The hosts also criticize the way the PCB handled Gary Kirsten, Jason Gillespie, and Tim Nielsen before Gillespie was removed too. 13. On the India-Australia Test, they describe weather interruptions, a Fox Sports four-hour Brisbane weather timelapse, and the match repeatedly being stopped by rain. 14. They say India bowled well, then badly, then relied on Jasprit Bumrah while Australia still reached 450. 15. Steve Smith and Travis Head's partnership, plus Alex Carey's batting with the tail, are treated as the decisive batting phases for Australia. 16. KL Rahul's series of three fifties becomes a major talking point, along with Steve Smith's dropped chance and Rahul looking the most technically secure in the conditions. 17. The biggest off-field moment is Ashwin telling the team manager that he was retiring during the Test, which leads into a long career assessment. 18. The hosts compare Ashwin with Anil Kumble, Muthiah Muralidaran's era, Nathan Lyon, and the Indian spin quartet, and they stress his 530 Test wickets and his 2022 T20 comeback. 19. The tone is loose, argumentative, and joke-heavy, with the show shifting quickly between score updates, administrative chaos, and long-form cricket debate. 20. Anyone who follows India, Australia, Pakistan, or Test cricket history would get value from this episode, while listeners wanting a tightly edited preview of one match may skip it.

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