In this episode of the show, Baldy and Stu recap the India v Pakistan Asia Cup final and take a brief look at all the cricket to look forward to over the next few months.

We start the show by talking about Pakistan's impressive start, with Farhan and Fakhar combining to reach a score of 113-1. And then the wheels fell off as a mixture of excellent spin bowling and poor shot selection led to the collapse of all collapses, which saw Pakistan crumble to be all out for 146.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for India, though, who found themselves in trouble at 20-3 before Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube played their part in what proved to be an exciting final and one which saw India crowned as Asia Cup champions in 2025. Do Pakistan have enough building blocks for a 2026 T20 World Cup challenge? And is SKY's spot under threat?

To round out the show, we make quick mention of a few things we're looking forward to in what shapes as an exciting finish to the calendar year in the world of cricket.

We'll be back in your feed again soon to discuss the week that was, which should include India v West Indies, the Chappell-Hadlee T20 series and the Women's World Cup, among other things. 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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

0:00 Intro

1:25 Asia Cup Final: Pakistan's brilliant start

5:30 Did Pakistan show a lack of game awareness?

13:30 India in trouble early - enter Tilak, Samson and Dube

21:00 Is Suryakumar Yadav's India spot under threat?

26:20 An exciting few months of cricket ahead

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