This Week in Cricket #144 - Black Caps' World Test Championship campaign, Rinku Singh's impact and the Hardik Pandya trade

The Top Order Cricket Podcast

The World Cup is over but the cricket rolls on and we're back to review the week that was and look forward to what's to come.

In this episode of the show, we discuss the India v Australia T20 series, in which we've seen Steve Smith at the top of the order, Rinku Singh making a big impact from a small number of deliveries and the talent of Yashasvi Jaiswal on full display.

The IPL is fast becoming a year-round enterprise, and the most recent news has been all about retentions, releases and trades, with Cameron Green and Hardik Pandya on the move before the auction on December 19.

By the time you're listening to or watching this episode, the first Test between the Black Caps and Bangladesh will be well underway, but Binksy, Stu and Raj took a wider look at the New Zealand draw for the World Test Championship cycle to talk through realistic goals and where the team needs to evolve over the next few years.

We finish the show with a whizz around a number of different topics, including Babar Azam stepping down from the Pakistan captaincy, Uganda's big win at the African T20 qualifiers, the stop clock, Georgia Plimmer's hundred and the eye-catching nature of every Zak Foulkes highlight.

We'll be back again next week with more news and views, but 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 a recent conversation with Mike Hesson, plus chats with former World Cup stars 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 [e-mail].

Thanks for listening.

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