In his latest exclusive Betway blog, our global ambassador discusses Indian cricket's new superstar, IPL season highlights and England's win over New Zealand.
The IPL title went to RCB for the second year in a row, thanks to an iconic performance in the final from Virat Kohli.
I think it’s brilliant that at this stage of Kohli’s career, after the amount of time that he’s played in the IPL, he’s had these highlights from the past two seasons.
The IPL title was the piece that was missing for him for so long, but he’s been so consistent, and now it’s almost like he’s playing with a lot less expectation and pressure and his game has been freed up. He’s playing aggressively, and we all know his mindset in chases is a massive strength.
It’s been interesting to see that as you get to crunch time in the IPL, the teams you think are going to dominate often end up hitting the skids. The better bowling units start to come to the fore and shine, and I think we saw that with RCB and GT as their bowling started to dominate in comparison to the other teams.
RCB had a really good auction before the 2025 season, and the squad that they put together was probably the most balanced they’ve ever had. They’ve had top-order firepower over the years but maybe lacked middle order power, while the bowling they’ve now put together has plenty of options and wicket takers, which is also something they’ve missed in the past. That big auction helped them win their first title, and then this season they were just able to tighten it up a little bit without having to make any massive shifts.
I think the leadership group there, and the coaching staff in particular, have been really good in their recruitment and their preparation. Right from the word go, they just looked like a well-oiled machine. It was a controlled season from end to end, and as close to a perfect IPL season as you can get.
Sooryavanshi is the best T20 batting prospect I’ve ever seen
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has captured the imagination of the cricketing world. Everyone’s talking about him.
It’s the nature of cricket where everyone just keeps being sceptical – “let’s see him do it outside of India. Let’s see him do it in international cricket.” But I’ve not seen a guy who is that consistent in power hitting against some of the best in the world.
Sooryavanshi single-handedly carried the Royals. If someone around him had shown some consistency and some performance, they would definitely have reached the final. Sometimes I watch him and can’t believe he’s just whacking it in every game!
There have been some unbelievable prospects in different formats of the game over the years, but I can’t remember a better batting prospect since T20 took off around 2007. He consistently scores all around the park – it’s not like he’s got one side that he targets. We’ve seen people attack him with the short ball and he’s had options for that, and the margin for error when bowling to him is minimal. I hope he goes to England, finds his feet quickly and shows the world what he can do on the international stage.
It’s an interesting selection from India, and brave for a team that’s just won a World Cup to make the big, bold calls they have. I think it’s smart – there are two years between World Cups and they’re giving their young talent the best chance to get as many games as possible before the next World Cup.
They’re blessed with talent, but I think the selectors have shown courage and foresight. You might not win everything up front, but the plan is to be ready for two years’ time, and I think it’s food for thought for the other countries.
Rabada can be an all-time great across all formats
From a South African perspective, it was great to see Kagiso Rabada win his second Purple Cap.
Rabada has got legendary status in the red ball game, where his record is just incredible, but in the white ball game he’s still sometimes been trying to work out his best way to go about things. In T20 cricket you have to navigate bowling in different situations, but Rabada’s quality is always going to come in the difficult, crunch times. His quality means he’s never going to be given easy overs.
The thing that really stood out to me this year was his pace. It was great to see him running in and maximising his four overs. From a captain’s perspective, it was clear to see his role was to bowl fast and take wickets, and he was clear in that role.
For KG, it’s now going to be about managing his career, making sure he stays motivated and plays in the tournaments that he sees fit. Obviously he’s naturally a fit guy, he works hard and he’s athletic, so you would think that if he’s managed well he should be OK.
When you’ve been playing for a long time, the travel, the time away from home, the pressure and the expectations can build, but I really think he can maximise his time as a cricketer and go and achieve some special things. He could look back on his career and say he’s in the top five to 10 bowlers of all time across all records – he has that potential to be recognised as a hall of famer and a superstar.
IPL lessons to take into Betway SA20
It’s always interesting to watch the IPL’s scale and how it maintains its own authenticity. While we’re building and growing, each league has got to have its own style and character.
You always want the cricket being spoken about, and I’m sure in the next two years the IPL will debate its own laws, and the balance of the game between bat and ball.
For us, it’s just learning from how they do things in terms of television, production, the entertainment that they’ve built into half-time shows and so on.
We’ve got to bring those learnings into what makes Betway SA20 so successful in this market. You need to build a product that is for you own base, but is appreciated by audiences tuning in around the world. It’s important to have perspective of how people around the world are experiencing your product.
Lord’s pitch looked like a batter’s worst nightmare
For England’s leadership, winning their first Test since the Ashes will be a huge relief. It was a tricky Test match, with the surface and the overhead conditions, but England were ahead of the game pretty much throughout.
The pitch at Lord’s has been a big talking point, and having been a batter, I have to say it’s very difficult if the pitch is doing it all – up and down, swinging and seaming all over the place. It almost makes batting a lottery. You just know that at some point, something has got your name on it.
It’s your worst nightmare as a batter, but I also think batters’ techniques today and the way they think about the game is not really to say, “how can I fight for two hours to get to an older ball?” They still want to keep playing. The techniques and mindsets are different.
Sometimes the ground staff can just get it wrong. It wasn’t a good surface and the MCC have owned that. What you don’t want is there to be an overreaction to these things, and suddenly the pitch is super flat in the next games. It’s about always trying to find the balance between bat and ball, and keep it entertaining for people watching.
Ollie Robinson was one of the bowlers who thrived in those conditions, and I think if you’re going to come back into the England squad with his skillset, you couldn’t have asked for a better surface. He hits good areas and can get the ball to talk.
From the outside looking in, the challenge for Ollie Robinson in his career has always been a little bit of fitness, and then when you get good surfaces around the world outside England, without the Dukes ball, how does he measure up there? He’s played a fair amount of county cricket and earned his spot back, but England in early summer when the ball’s dipping around are the conditions that he thrives in.
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