Then there were four! DK joins us to preview the T20 World Cup semi-finals

·43 min·2 clips

Kartik picks South Africa as the team to beat, not India.

1. Sky Sports Cricket Podcast previews the T20 World Cup semi-finals with Dinesh Kartik ahead of matches in Kolkata and Mumbai. 2. Nasser Hussain and Ather host Kartik, whose broadcasting, coaching and franchise work make him relevant to England, India and the Hundred. 3. The episode asks whether South Africa, New Zealand, India and England have the right balance for the last four and who enters the games strongest. 4. Kartik describes a recent England Lions camp at Chelsea focused on preparing pathway players for Asian conditions. 5. He names Ben McKinney, Calvin Harrison, Matt Travis, Luke Bekenstein, Charlie Allison and Tom Hartley as players who stood out. 6. Kartik says McKinney looked 'a cut above the rest' and calls Calvin Harrison the best red-ball leg spinner in England. 7. He credits Freddie and the Indian coaches for letting the Lions camp be run in a way that suited the players. 8. Kartik says the camp mixed four or five days of red-ball work with two days of white-ball practice. 9. He says the same group has already done well for England Lions in ODIs and T20s against the Pakistan Shaheens. 10. He explains his franchise role with London Spirit and says the team uses a set auction template that has already been used twice. 11. Kartik says his work on The Hundred helps him understand English cricket from the grassroots upward. 12. He argues that associate nations were much more competitive than expected in this World Cup. 13. He links that improvement to franchise cricket, pointing to MLC, ILT20 and players from Scotland and the USA. 14. Kartik says the tournament has not produced the 'road' pitches some expected and that most games have stayed in the 160-180 range. 15. He says batting depth matters, but not if it comes at the cost of a weak bowling option. 16. He uses Jamie Overton and Rayan Ahmed as an example of selection being shaped by bowling value as much as batting. 17. Kartik says South Africa look like 'the team to beat' because their contributors are spread across the XI. 18. He says Kolkata's dew makes the toss crucial and calls the game there close to 70-30 once the toss is won. 19. The tone is conversational, argumentative and technical, with constant cross-talk between former players. 20. Listeners who follow World Cup tactics, England selection and T20 matchups will get the most from it. 21. Listeners wanting a simple match preview with minimal side discussion may skip it.

As heard by us

A semi-final discussion that cares more about selection logic than polish.

The Sky Cricket Podcast leans into the semi-final build-up and uses the travel chatter well before settling into India's batting choices. From there, it gets practical: form, matchups, left-handers, and the need for a right-hander all come into focus.

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Why you'd press play

You want the semi-finals framed through India's selection squeeze and DK's read on it.

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