Hello and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of news, features
and debate from the quirky world of cricket. I'm Alison Mitchell and I'm in the Lord's commentary
box in north west London. It's the start of the Test season and it feels like there has been
a big build up to this one. England's men are starting with a Test match against Ireland. Not
expecting this one to be a sell-out. I think a lot of people are saving their money for the men's and
the women's Ashes. We will be back at Lord's later for a Test match when the men play here later in
the summer and the women have a game here as well, so it's a lot of cricket coming up in a very short
space of time on the international front over here. The scene is a little bit overcast for
this opening day, but I'm looking out across to the wonderful Victorian terracotta pavilion and
already the members who have been queuing up for a long time, are starting to take their seats.
It's nice to see you Ali and I've been having a little bit of a spell as the winter starts. What
I'm looking forward to is being in London in a couple of days' time just before the start of
that game at the Oval. But, as you can see with my winter woollies on, it is wintery, so what a
good time to escape for what I anticipate to be a brilliant English summer with hopefully some
brilliant cricket, Baz ball and all. We're ready for you, Jim. Well, some of the Indian players
have already reached England, waiting for that big World Test Championship. They do claim it's
still a little too cold for them, so we'll see how the whole sweater thing goes, Jim. Hello,
I'm Charu Sharma for Akashvani. Glad to be home in Bangalore and glad that there's some red ball
cricket in the offing. Ali, you mention saving money for the women's and men's Ashes. I'm sure
a lot of people saving money for the World Test Championship as well. So that's a big one for at
least some countries that are playing good Test match cricket. I'm in Bangalore, I'm home where
it has been pretty stormy. We've had an amount of rain, in fact record May rain and we managed
somehow to get our seniors amateur golf event through, luckily here in Bangalore. But of course, wow what a final!
You know what, we might start with that this week. Just to say weather-wise,
Jim, it is a bit chilly today. I came in with a winter coat on and a scarf, so I am hoping that
once this cloud clears away, the sun will make an appearance because it has been beautiful here
for the last couple of weeks. So, we could do with that weather carrying on because yes, this
Test match and then the World Test Championship final to come straight away before the men's and
women's Ashes gets under way. It is the IPL final that we are going to start with because Charu, it
was magnificent, wasn't it? And believe it or not, a final that spanned three whole days. The final
was first pushed back into Monday, the reserve day because of rain and then it was only at 01:35am
on the Tuesday that arguably one of the greatest IPL finals came to an end. There was remarkable
tension and drama, wasn't there, between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans. A packed crowd
still had energy after one in the morning and it came down to Ravindra Jadeja needing 10 runs off
the last two balls in order to give Chennai Super Kings a record equalling fifth IPL title. They did
win by five wickets on DLS. Even just to unpack the last six balls Charu of that final, it was
really about who would hold their nerve better in those early hours, with Mohit Sharma bowling for
Gujarat Titans. He'd bowled brilliantly, hadn't he. He'd been hitting his yorkers under so much
pressure and just got it fractionally wrong on that fifth ball. Was it for you the best IPL final that you've seen?
Well, I have to admit that the memory sometimes favours recent events,
and I can't remember too many other finals, but this one was certainly one for the ages.
Just the tension and most of it came through the commentary as well. It had everything, didn't it.
You mentioned the record time as well. Not many one-day or T20 finals stretch over three days. So,
there was the weather to contend with. There was a high scoring first innings where a new batting
hero was born, who by the way is from Chennai, playing for the Gujarat team. And the crowd,
the very large stadium, then the rain interruption again. The DLS system of course, if you know how
it works, it's all about resources. Even though the target was less, and it was in 15 overs you
felt that with all 10 wickets in hand, Chennai did have a better chance to get that 170 and
change rather than the 215 in 20 overs. But it was magnificent and all of it coming together
in addition with the Dhoni factor because yes, he got out for a golden duck. He'll be pretty
embarrassed about that, but there's so much built on the Dhoni legend that when it actually comes
through again you feel, gosh is there really something in terms of being a talisman.
With the Mohit story as well, wasn't it right that Mohit had initially agreed to travel with
the Titans as a net bowler, and then actually ends up making it into the side and bowling the
final over of the whole tournament. Just to recap the story of the match, Gujarat batted first on
the Monday. They were put in by Chennai who had won the toss. We had Sai Sudharsan smashing 96
off 47 balls. Titans making 214-4 from their 20 overs. Then that three-hour rain delay,
so the revised target was 171 in just 15 overs. First of all, you thought that Ambati Rayudu was
going to see Chennai home in what was his last ever match, so there was that story going on.
He was out in the 13th over and then as you say, Charu, Dhoni came in. So you thought that well,
if it wasn't going to be Rayudu, it'll be Dhoni and that'll be the fairy tale. But then he gets
out for a duck, so the tension really ramped up. Jim, were you able to see much of it in Oz? When
you do have a DLS revised target, as is so often the chasing team who's favourite, isn't it?
Yes, I guess that's the case, but I didn't see it. I was asleep. I wasn't expecting this sort of
delay and everything else. So, by the time I got up the result was on the scoreboard. So,
I could only reflect by reading about it and seeing all the Twitterati and the rest of it that
goes around telling you the story on social media. But just extraordinary finish, amazing finish. And
what did they play, about 74 games in the IPL this year? So, what about captain MS Dhoni? A lot of
people thought it would be the perfect way for him to bow out. He's 41 years old now, but he
said afterwards he has had so much love from the Chennai fans that whilst the easy thing would be
to walk away with another IPL title tucked under his belt, and announce his retirement, he feels
he needs to give something back with possibly yet another season. His story just keeps going.
Give something back? What has he not given so far, Alison? He's given everything, his whole soul
and his body to cricket. There is a lot of news about his knee, and it was pretty heavily iced and
strapped and everything else, and he went through the whole IPL with a big strapping on his knee.
He's mentioned already, but he might have to go in for a major operation, some procedure
to try and get his knee sorted. I do think not playing cricket for nine, 10 months of the year
and then this high intensity game for two months is probably too much for him. But his franchise?
They will do everything in their power to make sure Dhoni never leaves the yellow shirt. So,
he'll probably stay as part of the squad if nothing else, and perhaps even the captain.
Although he might go and keep a bit, but he doesn't really need to bat much, and he didn't
bat too much this season. The franchise will be desperate to keep him in the playing XI, not just
as a mentor or whatever because that seriously reduces the contribution or perceived contribution
of a player. I really think he needs to walk away. He needs to say thank you, done enough and Chennai
are never going to let him go, so he will return as a mentor/coach/whatever, but he is going to
be in the yellow shirt for his whole life. He's got nine months to decide Jim, hasn't he? But
players often say when they know, they know. Surely Dhoni knows by now if you're thinking about it to that degree.
It sounds like apart from the emotional reasons as Charu mentioned, there's
a few commercial reasons for hanging around. He's a kind of Tom Brady of the IPL. Go on for another
year or two. 41's not very old, and Jimmy Anderson will be that at any moment, won't he?
Yeah, and playing Test cricket, so Dhoni's got another two years left in him. Well, barring the knee,
of course. But there is pure theatre wherever he goes, isn't there. There is a Dhoni factor which
lights up any game that CSK play. I thought Hardik Pandya was extremely gracious at the end and spoke
quite meaningfully when he said: "destiny had this written for him," talking about Dhoni. He said,
"if I had to lose, I don't mind losing to him." This is Pandya of the Gujarat Titans. He says,
"good things happen to good people, and I think he is one of the nicest people I've met. God has been
kind to me, but I think God gave him a little more today." I thought that was a wonderful phraseology,
brought in a post-match interview. You don't often get words like that spoken. But Charu, where do
the Titans go from here? Because they've only been established for two seasons. They won at the first
attempt, and they've made the final now as well. So, they're still on an upward curve, aren't they?
Oh yes. They've had another magnificent season and by the way, it was good of Hardik Pandya
to drag in the Devine. He's like it's nobody's fault, it's what God ordained. But it is also
true that a lot of people round the world, if I might say so, certain here in India are happy if
whatever Dhoni's connected with wins. And that was probably the sentiment of Hardik as
well. When they've finished licking their wounds and when they normalise, the Gujarat Titans, they
will probably realise that they had another fantastic season and there is nothing broke,
so there's nothing to fix. They should just carry on the way they are. They are fortunate to have
a captain and a leader such as Hardik Pandya, who's from the region. Who's still likely to be doing
at least white-ball service to the country and his team. As well as coach in Ashish Nehra, who's home
grown. They have a young combination in that sense, and they're likely to carry on in their
winning ways for very long. Yep, small margins in T20 cricket, that is for sure. But it was a
fabulous IPL and a final befitting of a fabulous tournament this year. As you heard on last week's
show, I recently spent a week in Uganda in Africa, which was an incredible trip, and I met some
really special people there. I promised that we would bring you a little bit more on cricket in
Uganda and you remember that I talked about Concy Aweko, who is the captain of the women's team
known as the Victoria Pearls. It was Concy who presented me with the wonderful red and yellow
Uganda shirt which I wore on last week's show, and we've got Concy with us now, wearing her own
Uganda shirt as well and looking very bright along with it. Concy, it's great to see you again. How are you doing?
I'm very fine. Good morning from Uganda and Kampala. I'm happy to be on this forum
and I'm happy to talk about cricket from Uganda. It's great to have you on to share some of your
story with us as well. Before we get into the team and what you've been achieving lately, will you share
with us your story of how you got involved in cricket in Uganda? Cricket in Uganda, I got
involved in cricket I would have to say around 20 years ago. I was a student in my primary school.
We had the chance of playing cricket in my primary school, but personally I was not given
the opportunity because I was in the last level of that school, and they needed me to perform
well during my last time. So, my parents didn't permit me to play cricket that year. Luckily
enough when I joined secondary school, the school I was admitted to had cricket. I got permission
from my parents to start playing that game. That was in 2004 at city high school. It's close to the
main stadium here at Lugogo. In senior one when I was given the opportunity to train with the
school team and the talent I had was enough for me to join the main team as early as senior one.
From that time, I got the invitation from the national team to train with the national
team and groom my game. So that's how I got the chance to start playing for the main team, the women's team.
So, introduction at school level. Jim Maxwell in Sydney, Australia, Concy.
How many of your players are full time professionals, how many have jobs outside? How is this evolution
taking place from just amateur cricket to women being full time professional?
We have one player who has work to do besides cricket and the others, we have five players who are in school
and then we also have the ones who are basically depending on cricket and giving it their best,
so it's their full-time job. Concy hi, this is Charu Sharma. I speak from Bangalore.
I can only imagine how difficult it is in Uganda to keep your cricketing dreams alive and on top of
all of that, you're a mother, which is incredible that you're still involved and doing so well.
Are there maternity policies in Uganda and how difficult is it for you to manage both the cricket
and life at home with the child? I became a mother when I'm playing cricket. It wasn't
so challenging, cos first of all as a player and you have that sports background within you. It was
like a swift movement for me as a person. I didn't feel the hiccups of the pregnancy and everything.
The support we got from the association because after birth, you're given the leeway to come back
and join the team. You are not restricted, but you know what, you're now a mother. You're
not to going to involve yourself with other girls. Everyone is welcomed. After maternity,
you can always join. To me, I was giving a warm welcome. And I was encouraged by the current
board member Madam Rita Tinka. She was someone who was really behind us pushing us all the time
to come back and play, because she told us being a mother doesn't mean that it's the end of your
career. It's just the start of your new career. It was, in fact, a booster to start to come back
and work harder as a mother and also as a player. At one point, you're not the only one and although
there are other girls who will maybe one time break off. They have to see from you how well you're
going to show them that it is possible. Some girls have got that courage cos it wasn't easy, but you
show them how mentally you have to be strong. You're showing the way Concy. It is remarkable.
I was about to say Concy, you must be a fabulous role model for all the youngsters who want to play
cricket in Uganda, men or women. Which brings us to some of the successes that you had, in fact,
you recently won the Victoria series in Kampala and then you won the women's quadrangular in
Namibia. How successful would you suggest the Ugandan women team is and may I ask whether you
feel that you are more successful than the men? We can't compare ourselves to the men,
but our success is 70 percent. I can't say we are 100 percent successful. We've had a lot of ups
and downs in our journey of success, but it's also giving us another way to work harder. The success
doesn't mean that we have reached our climax. The climax is to play the World Cup one time,
but also the success we've got in the previous tournaments also has its own downfalls. We lost
some of the games. It also helps us to come back and check ourselves as a team and see
where have I gone wrong as a player. We had 70 percent of success and 30 to improve on.
Well, I wish you that missing thirty soon. I'm so pleased to have heard more about your story as well,
Concy. Good luck going forwards and thank you so much for being with us on Stumped.
Thank you too, have a good day. Concy Aweko, captain of the Victoria Pearls, the Uganda
women's team. Well, that's all we've got time for on this week's Stumped. So, I'll say thanks to Jim Maxwell and Charu Sharma
and of course to all of you make sure you're back with us again next week. See you soon, bye bye.