He can play as a batter or as a bowler alone and is not afraid of failure: in short, he does what no other T20 cricketer does

Sidharth Monga09-Nov-2022In February earlier this year, the India selectors anointed Rohit Sharma as India’s Test captain, to go with both the limited-overs formats, and dropped Ishant Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha from the Test side. In a rare occurrence, Chetan Sharma, the chairman of the selectors, took questions from the media after the announcement.A lot of it revolved around the big changes and the new appointment, but one question was not a question at all; it was an inflammatory statement. The gist of what the reporter said was this: nobody – including the selectors – knows what Hardik Pandya is up to, he doesn’t play domestic cricket, he will be miraculously fit come IPL, he will score runs, and based on that he will play the World Cup.Chetan’s response didn’t speak of a roadmap for Pandya, but instead asked the reporter to call Pandya to check for himself why he was not available for domestic cricket. It might suggest Pandya was not in touch with the selectors either. However, Chetan did go on to ask the reporter to not undermine what Pandya had done for India.Related

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The general import – not restricted to just the reporter – was clear: Pandya is a brat, he cares only for the IPL, and he is above general conventions of selection. He had played the last T20 World Cup purely as a batter, but the selector asked the reporter to not presume that runs will be enough to get Pandya back into the team.Pandya went on to bowl 30 overs in the IPL this year, and also scored 487 runs. Any questions over Pandya’s selection were not asked again. When fully fit and mentally confident in his fitness, Pandya is a cricketer unlike any other in T20s. There are other seam-bowling allrounders of course – Australia had three in this World Cup; there is Ben Stokes, Jimmy Neesham, Jason Holder among others – but neither of them can play as a batter alone or a bowler alone.But Pandya comes closest to that gold standard for an allrounder: he can play as a batter only, or as a bowler only.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo puts numbers to this in case you don’t believe that statement. In matches between Full Members in the last year, on an average, Pandya has been involved in 27.5 balls every match. Pandya is No. 7 on the involvement numbers, but all others in the top ten – bar Mohammad Rizwan and Holder – are spin-bowling allrounders, none of whom can play purely as a batter or a bowler. Holder, again, is more of a bowler who gets to bat more than he should in the West Indies side.In the IPL, Pandya was contesting nearly 37 balls per match. In this World Cup, he has been involved in 30.8 balls per match.Take your minds back to India’s opening match in the ongoing World Cup. Both India and Pakistan’s innings followed similar patterns. After tough starts, both sides went after left-arm spin in the 12th over, and made use of the short straight boundaries. When Pakistan attacked Axar Patel, India went to Pandya. When India attacked Mohammad Nawaz, Pakistan had to hold back his last over till the end.Later in the tournament, Pakistan had to breach this gap with the inclusion of Mohammad Wasim, who is a steady bowler, but whose batting average and strike rate are 18.44 and 122.05 respectively across all T20s. In T20Is, he goes at under a run a ball.Hardik Pandya’s bowling fitness is perhaps the biggest difference between India at the last World Cup and now•AFP/Getty ImagesStructurally, Pandya’s bowling fitness is perhaps the biggest difference between India at the last World Cup and India now. In these conditions, the spinners’ role has been diminished, which calls for an allrounder who is more than a placeholder.Pandya has not just contested as many balls as he has done, but also done so properly. You can’t think of targeting him as a bowler or sneaking in an easy over when he is at the wicket. His pace has been high, his bouncers have been difficult to hit, he has picked up eight wickets, and he has bowled at difficult times, including overs 13 and 15 in a 16-over innings against Bangladesh when they threatened to cause an upset.If the selectors do make an allowance for Pandya, it is plain to see why. He does what no other T20 cricketer does. On top of that, he does something extremely unnerving for an opponent: he is not afraid of failure. Possibly, this is why he has become the T20 cricketer that he has.Even if he is, he can put up a pretty convincing act of not caring about the results. During the Pakistan match, he was telling the dugout he didn’t care if India lost; they played a good game, they lost – it happens.A player with nothing to lose is an opponent’s nightmare. It means the player can perform to the best of their ability without any self-doubt. Pandya has had self-doubts, but they came through injuries and his inability to trust his body fully on comeback. Two days before India’s semi-final in this T20 World Cup against England in Adelaide, Pandya was one of the three players to turn up for optional training.All the bowling training didn’t involve a ball. He just simulated his run-up, the jump to the side, and the completion of the follow-through. This is a man at peace with his body, not one who has been let down at crucial times in the past.On this trip there is a certain calmness to Pandya. The way he doesn’t get flustered by the match situation, the way he prepares, and the way he talks to those outside the team bubble: his indifference for results will face a sterner test in the finals week of the World Cup amid all the noise about knockout matches. This is when all the preparation, all the change in philosophy, all the tactics come down to two matches.If you lose, nobody cares for what all you did in the whole year. That is why it is a good time to appreciate the balance Pandya provides India, something hardly any other T20 cricketer does.

Sydney Thunder make the record books for all sorts of unwanted reasons in their BBL game against Adelaide Strikers

Sampath Bandarupalli16-Dec-20221 – 15 all out is the lowest team total in men’s T20 cricket. Turkey’s 21 all out against Czech Republic in 2019 was the previous lowest.Related

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No team before Thunder have been dismissed below 50 in all these years of the Big Bash League.Thunder’s total was also the lowest in a men’s limited-overs game at the representative level, surpassing 18 all out by West Indies Under-19 against Barbados in the West Indies One-Day Cup game in 2007.5.5 – The number of overs the Thunder innings at Showground Stadium lasted, the shortest all-out innings in men’s T20s and the shortest in any format in men’s cricket. Turkey held the record when they were bowled out for 21 in 8.3 overs against Czech Republic in 2019.0 – Number of totals in any format in men’s cricket on Australian soil lower than Thunder’s 15 all out on Friday. Victoria were bowled out for 15 by England (then Marylebone Cricket Club) during a first-class match at Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1904.2 – Henry Thornton and Wes Agar became only the second pair to bag four-plus wickets in the same innings in the BBL. Nathan Lyon and Sean Abbott had taken four wickets each for Sydney Sixers against Brisbane Heat in the semi-final of the 2016-17 season.ESPNcricinfo Ltd3 – Runs conceded by Thornton, the fewest by any bowler during a five-wicket haul in the BBL. Only Lasith Malinga (6 for 7) for Melbourne Stars against Perth Scorchers in 2012-13 had conceded fewer than ten runs for a five-for. Thornton’s effort was also joint-second for the cheapest five-wicket hauls in men’s T20s, behind Tanzania bowler Yalinde Nkanya’s 5 for 2 against Cameroon last week.124 – Strikers’ margin of victory was the highest for any team with a first-innings total below 150 in men’s T20s. Only one team had won by more than 100 runs despite scoring below 150 in this format before, when North-West beat Boland by 105 runs after scoring 149 for 5 in the 2014 CSA Provincial T20 Challenge.5 – Catches for Harry Nielsen in the Thunder’s innings, equalling the BBL record for most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in an innings. Tom Triffitt of Scorchers had also taken five catches against Melbourne Renegades in 2012-13, while Jimmy Peirson had four catches and a stumping for Brisbane Heat against Strikers in 2019-20.4 – Runs by Brendan Doggett, the highest score in the Thunder innings. It is the lowest highest individual score in a completed innings in men’s T20s. The previous lowest was 7 by Turkey’s Hasan Helva against Luxembourg in 2019 and the Philippines’ Daniel Smith against Oman in 2022.

The 12 remaining teams will vie for four semi-final spots as the tournament heads towards an exciting conclusion

Raunak Kapoor21-Jan-2023The format
While it is called the Super Six, there are still 12 teams left in the tournament, as the top three sides from the four groups in the group stage have made it to the next round. These include – in that order – Bangladesh, Australia and Sri Lanka from Group A; England, Pakistan and Rwanda from Group B; New Zealand, West Indies and Ireland from Group C; and India, South Africa and UAE from Group D.In the Super Six, teams will be divided into two groups of six each, but each team only plays an additional two matches in this round. For instance, Bangladesh, who topped Group A, will now play South Africa and UAE, who had finished second and third respectively in Group D. Similarly, Group D toppers India will play Australia and Sri Lanka, who were second and third in Group A. Thus, these six teams comprise Super Six Group 1.Over to Group 2 in Super Six, which consists of England, West Indies, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan and Rwanda. England had topped Group B, and will thus play West Indies and Ireland, who had come second and third from Group C. On the other hand, New Zealand, who were first from Group C, will meet Pakistan and Rwanda from Group B in the Super Six.Related

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Also, teams carry forward the points and the net run rate from the group stage from the two matches against the other teams from their group who also qualified for the Super Six. So India’s points and net run rate against fourth-placed Scotland will not be included; the same for New Zealand against Indonesia, and England against Zimbabwe, etc.Eventually, the top two teams from each of the two Super Six groups advance to the semi-finals.Who are the favourites after the group stage?
The four group toppers are best placed to make the semi-finals after the Super Six stage. Bangladesh, England, New Zealand and India were group winners, with three wins out of three. While India, England and New Zealand dominated each of their games, Bangladesh were tested to a degree by Australia and Sri Lanka, but otherwise looked comfortable. With two wins carried forward for each of the table toppers, if they win their two super six games, they will cruise to the semi-final. No other team will be able to reach four wins.Shweta Sehrawat (left) is the highest run-getter of the tournament so far•ICC via GettyKey fixtures
India vs Australia on January 21 will headline the Super Six line up. Bangladesh’s opening-day win over Australia means India will now have arguably the toughest Super Six fixtures against Australia and Sri Lanka. What is more, India play Sri Lanka the very next day on January 22.New Zealand have had it quite easy so far after restricting Indonesia and Ireland to 74 each, and West Indies to 68 in the group stage. While they took 27 of 30 wickets, they lost just one across the three matches, having had to bat for less than 24 overs so far. But their biggest test will be against Pakistan on January 24.Stand-out players
India’s Shweta Sehrawat leads the run-scoring charts with 197 runs in three games, along with the tournament’s highest individual score of 92* against South Africa. Sehrawat has faced 116 balls so far without yet being dismissed. Shafali Verma, India’s captain and Sehrawat’s opening partner, is striking at 233.96, the highest by some distance in the tournament, with scores of 45 from 16 deliveries, and 78 off 34. But she missed out in the last group game against Scotland.England captain Grace Scrivens was very impressive in the group stage. She has 120 runs in three innings, and five wickets to go with that.The top three six-hitters of the tournament feature two names from Bangladesh: Afia Prottasha with five – just as many hit by Shafali – and Shorna Akter with four.England captain Grace Scrivens was very impressive in the group stage•Getty/ICCWhat to expect?
In spite of the unfriendly schedule, India start firm favourites against both Australia and Sri Lanka. Sehrawat’s form and G Trisha’s runs in the group stage mean India do not rely only on the experience of Shafali and Richa Ghosh. Moreover, they will also take confidence after restricting UAE to 97, and Scotland to 66.England should cruise through to the semi-final with fixtures against Ireland and West Indies, both of whom have looked well below par when up against formidable opposition.New Zealand have a potentially tricky game against Pakistan, who troubled England in phases with the ball but couldn’t stay in the game with the bat. That New Zealand start their Super Six campaign against Rwanda could mean their batting remains untested ahead of their match against Pakistan.Bangladesh have been outstanding in the group stage. If they keep up the standard they did against Australia and Sri Lanka, they should cruise past UAE and hosts South Africa, who have had their moments with the ball, but got only 112 against both Scotland and UAE in the group stage, even if they won both matches. And so it is their bowling and catching that have largely kept them alive in the tournament.The tournament has already given us one run-out at the non-striker’s end, two hat-tricks – including a haul of four wickets in as many consecutive balls – along with a highest team score of 219 by India, and a lowest of 25 by Zimbabwe. But what have been missing so far is a century by a batter, and a Super Over finish.

Both are blinding individual talents, but only one of them has the strength of a team’s cohesion backing him

Alagappan Muthu21-May-20235:13

Runorder: Ravi Shastri wants Hardik to be India’s full-time T20I captain

Twenty-five seconds into stoppage time in extra time. Neymar has the ball.Thirty-five seconds into stoppage time in extra time. Brazil have the goal.Despite the best efforts of a ticking clock and a low block, he found a way through.A one-two with Rodrygo 30 yards out. Then another with Lucas Paquetá as he makes his run into Croatia’s box. He beats the last defender. He rounds the goalkeeper. And he scores.A place in the World Cup semi-final was his. And then it wasn’t.Lucknow Super Giants need 39 off 45 with nine wickets in hand.Hardik Pandya had top-scored in the first innings with 66 off 50. The highest score by a visiting batter on the toughest pitch in the IPL. And it looked like it wasn’t going to matter all that much.For the third time in four nights, he was going to lose. Until he didn’t.Mohammed Shami bowls a sublime 19th over. Mohit Sharma follows him and produces four wickets in four deliveries.From being unable to defend six runs a ball, Gujarat Titans had gone and defended less than six runs an over.”Maybe,” Hardik said at the presentation, “this was god is telling us that no it’s okay. I’m not always gonna take from you guys. I’m gonna give you something back as well.”Hardik Pandya: “A lot of people counted David Miller out but for us he was always a match-winner from the time we bought him at the auction”•BCCIDivine intervention aside, that World Cup game and this IPL game have another thing in common. They tell the story of how even blindingly talented individuals need a team backing them up.Neymar can’t do much to fix his situation. In football, players are brought in on the orders of a coach or at the whim of the owner. He is neither.In cricket, it’s different. Hardik has more power in his hands and, though it is still very early, he is starting to build something special. If he goes all the way again, like he did in 2022, he will become the first man in IPL history to win back-to-back titles with two different franchises.It feels remarkable that only four years ago, he was on a talk show where he was so impressed with himself he forgot he was being all kinds of wrong. Back then, Hardik possessed a rare gift. He could come in and hit the very first ball he faced for six. And that opened doors he would have only dreamed of growing up in a small town in Gujarat. This one led straight to infamy.People don’t follow a show-off, but that is a big part of who Hardik is. It actually enables him to be that most fabled of all things. A man for the big occasion. The first time he ever bowled a 20th over in defence of a total, he won India a World Cup game with impossible odds. But that’s the fun part. When you go hunting for glory, you will be confronted by failure. Repeatedly. You have to be strong enough – remain driven enough – to get up every time you are knocked down.Hardik is. Neymar, too. But only one of them has had the chance to build a team for himself.David Miller was an IPL outcast in 2022. In the previous five years, he had made 494 runs, with only two fifties, at an average of 26 and a strike rate of 117. Only two – of 10 – franchises showed any interest in him when his name came up for auction. He maintained that his stats – especially in the two seasons before joining Titans – were not so much a reflection of his ability but a consequence of uncertainty. He didn’t know where – or if – he even fit in.A few months after Rajasthan Royals passed him over when the price hit INR 3 crore, Miller was out there on the field, beating them to a pulp. At the end of it all, when he had 68 runs in 38 balls with three fours, five sixes and a place in the final, he was asked what had changed, and he said, “I think opportunity firstly. I have been given a good role and a good extensive run in the team. I felt extremely backed from the onset.”These are Hardik’s words from that night. “It kind of shows if you show love and importance to an individual player, he can flourish and how. A lot of people counted David Miller out but for us he was always a match-winner from the time we bought him at the auction. What he did today we always expected from him. But for us it was important to give him the importance, give him that love and give him the clarity as to what we expect from him. And if he fails, it’s okay; it’s just a game.”3:37

Why have Gujarat Titans been so successful so quickly?

Man management. Gut feel. And faith. All part of the dark art of captaincy.Hardik sought out players who were themselves seeking someone to believe in them. He gave them the chance they’d always wanted, the support that had been so hard to come by and that bound them to him; made them work miracles for him.Rahul Tewatia had to slog through seven IPL seasons to cobble the 48 matches he had to his name before Titans came for him. Now, even though he barely gets to bowl, and barely gets to bat, he walks in to work every day knowing he is an indispensable part of a champion side. “Every time we’d be in a tough situation,” he said, “Hardik would say, ‘Oh I know that Tewu will finish the job for us’. What more do you need when the captain shows such confidence in you?”Tewatia, Josh Little, Noor Ahmad, Vijay Shankar. They’ve been stuck in the margins, having to do their thing in relative obscurity. They were forged by the hunger to prove themselves on a bigger stage. They need this. They hunt this. They’re not great players by themselves, but Titans didn’t need greats. They already had that in Rashid Khan. They just needed people who could play off him. They needed parts to make a whole. Nobody believed they could win in 2022. Now here they are two (or maybe three) games away from going back-to-back.Hardik appears to understand that captaincy isn’t just about the ideas you take onto the field but the ideals you stand for. It isn’t a particularly difficult lesson to learn. All you have to do is spend some time watching your plans fall apart. And when they do, the only thing that stands between you and defeat are your team-mates and their willingness to put everything on the line.Hardik has that now. He is Neymar as Neymar could rarely be. A tattooed badass who does the sexiest thing in his sport (hitting sixes and dribbling respectively) with the strength of cohesion behind him.It won’t be long before India go all in.Hardik spent his formative years under MS Dhoni. He shaped the most successful franchise in IPL history alongside Rohit Sharma. Soon, he could walk the path of Kapil Dev. Maybe, one day, this fast-bowling allrounder will stand up there on the Lord’s balcony too, the world in his hands.

Has Gill sealed a permanent place? And what about life after Ashwin and Jadeja

Karthik Krishnaswamy13-Mar-20232:44

What could India’s XI look like for the WTC final?

India were expected to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and they met those expectations, but few would have imagined they’d be pushed as hard as they were by an Australia side that lacked Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Cameron Green and David Warner during large parts of the series and Josh Hazlewood through all of it. Having gotten through that experience, India are now set to face Australia again in the World Test Championship final at The Oval in June. It promises to be a cracker, but before they get there, here are five questions they can ponder on in the short and long term.How do India approach the WTC final without Bumrah?India won’t play three spinners at The Oval, but they may seriously consider playing two. They played both Ashwin and Jadeja during the 2021 final in Southampton, as part of a 3-2 combination, and it didn’t quite work. Ashwin bowled beautifully, and was perhaps India’s best bowler in that game, but Jadeja went under-bowled, and New Zealand’s victory in overcast, seaming conditions was in large part down to their depth of seam options – they had four genuine quicks plus the medium-fast accuracy of Colin de Grandhomme, while India only had three fast bowlers.India played a five-Test series in England after that – spread over two tours – and never picked a 3-2 attack again. They went 4-1 in all five Tests, leaving out Ashwin and preferring Jadeja for being the better batter of the two.India drew that series 2-2 with that 4-1 attack, and they will probably want to stick to that combination at The Oval unless conditions seem unusually spin-friendly – an unlikely event in June. But India will be without Jasprit Bumrah, their pace spearhead. In his absence, India may find it hard to pick a four-man seam attack that offers the relentless control that won them Tests at Lord’s and The Oval in 2021.Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj will probably be the first-choice new-ball pair, if both are fit, while Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur and Jaydev Unadkat are the other pace options who could realistically be on that flight to the UK. Hardik Pandya, who last played a Test match in 2018, could be a left-field choice too, as the allrounder who can fill in as fourth seamer. But the first three names mentioned above didn’t bowl too many overs through the Border-Gavaskar series, with the spinners doing the bulk of the work, and the other three didn’t feature at all.Between now and the WTC final, India’s players will play no competitive red-ball cricket, with most of them set to get through a busy IPL season.Given this, it’s hard to see how India will assemble a four-man pace attack whose rhythm they can be confident of. There’s a chance, therefore, that they could go 3-2 again, and trust Ashwin and Jadeja to give them control even in conditions not ideally suited to their bowling.Jasprit Bumrah has been wrapped up in cotton wool to make sure he can play the ODI World Cup•Getty ImagesIs KS Bharat the right back-up for Rishabh Pant?Bharat began his debut series impressively behind the stumps, particularly while standing up to spin, but as the series progressed he began looking less assured. The new ball wobbled after passing the stumps on the first morning in Ahmedabad – a frequent scourge of overseas wicketkeepers touring England – and he struggled to cope with it, and put down a catch off Travis Head.Mistakes began to creep into his keeping against spin as well, particularly against edges travelling to his right, which often tended to miss his gloves and hit his right leg. On TV commentary, Dinesh Karthik – veteran of 26 Tests, 94 ODIs and 60 T20Is for India – suggested that this particular issue was down to Bharat’s right foot being his anchor foot – keepers are advised to use their left foot as anchor, to be able to move quickly to their right, which is where they can expect to collect the ball most often. This also perhaps explained why Bharat was often so impressive while collecting the ball down the leg side of right-hand batters – his catch off a gloved sweep from Green, in Ahmedabad, was remarkable for how far he moved to get into position.As the series progressed, Bharat seemed to gain confidence with the bat – or stayed in long enough to show how much talent he has. The unbeaten 23 in India’s chase in Delhi and the 44 in Ahmedabad were both bright and enterprising cameos full of attacking strokeplay – his back-to-back pulled sixes off Green in the latter innings were particularly eye-catching – and India have reason to believe he can hold his own with the bat.The keeping could be more of a worry, but Karthik’s comments suggested his issues were technical and fixable.No team can fully replace Rishabh Pant, but India have invested plenty of faith in Bharat, and it’s likely that they’ll see his mixed debut series as a learning curve, and continue to believe he has a higher ceiling that he can reach with smart work behind the scenes.Wicketkeeper KS Bharat began the Border-Gavaskar series well but a few errors crept into his game later on•Getty ImagesHas Shubman Gill sealed a permanent slot in the Test XI?
There seems to be no end to Gill’s insatiable hunger for hundreds. He’s now scored five in his last 10 innings for India. It almost felt inevitable that he’d get to three-figures when India began their innings in Ahmedabad, but a lot of that feeling was down to how true and easy-paced the pitch was. The other four hundreds Gill has scored in this remarkable stretch have all come on white-ball surfaces, which tend to be considerably flatter than Test pitches.That takes nothing away from Gill’s achievement, of course. But it’s important for fans to understand that this sort of form can’t go on forever – unless Gill turns out to be the reincarnation of Don Bradman – and that he, like any other batter, could make a run of low scores if India play their next few Test matches on challenging pitches.This is why India gave KL Rahul a long run in the side before they replaced him with Gill, and it’s also why they’ll likely give Gill a long run too. He will face plenty of hurdles as his career moves forward – seaming pitches in England could potentially prove his biggest challenge, given that his game seems ideally suited for hard pitches and back-foot play – but India know he’s a special talent and will back him to find a way to score runs in all conditions.2:01

Tait: Gill has a huge future ahead of him

Who after Ashwin and Jadeja?They have 738 Test wickets between them, and they dominated the wicket charts to such an extent during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that the adjudicators decided to jointly award them the Player of the Series trophy. Oh, and they’re both genuine allrounders too, particularly in Indian conditions.R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are irreplaceable, but they’re also 36 and 34, and it’s almost impossible to see how India will replace them when the time comes.Rohit Sharma was asked this during his post-match press conference in Ahmedabad – whether he felt the two would still be around when India next host Australia for a Test series in four years’ time.”I don’t know, honestly, if they’ll be around,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll be around. But no, four years is a long time. For the sake of Indian cricket I hope they stay and they play a lot of cricket for India. Honestly, both of them are marathon players for us. They know exactly how to get the job done, especially in this part of the world.”You give them the ball, they get you those breakthroughs. With the bat they get you crucial runs. Very very important players for us. Where we stand today in terms of how we’ve performed, especially in Indian conditions, the credit goes to them. A large part of our success belongs to those two guys, obviously because it’s not just for a period of few years but it’s over a decade now.R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been marathon players for India•BCCI”It’s a long long time to keep performing in the way these two guys have done for us, and I can only hope that they continue to play as long as possible, because those shoes will definitely be very very big ones to fill.”Ashwin took 25 wickets at an average of 17.28 over the four Tests against Australia, and Jadeja 22 at 18.86. They also made crucial runs in difficult conditions, with Jadeja scoring 70 during India’s only innings in Nagpur and Ashwin contributing 37 to a lower-order rearguard in Delhi, where he and Axar Patel rescued India after they were 139 for 7 in response to Australia’s first-innings total of 263.Happily for India, they’re both bowling as well as ever – Jadeja’s bowling form seemed to tail off somewhat as the series went on, but it may possibly have been down to his having returned to action only recently after undergoing knee surgery – and they don’t need to answer that big question yet.And as much as its important for teams to plan how they handle transitions, they can’t be micromanaged, and they often take place in unexpected ways. Ashwin came to Test cricket with a bowling average of 28.12 and a strike rate of 63.3 after 34 first-class matches. He was viewed as highly promising, but no one could have imagined he’d go on to be one of India’s all-time greats.Likewise with Jadeja, who many viewed as a bits-and-pieces white-ball specialist when he made his Test debut in 2012-13, his bowling seen as accurate but limited and his batting achievements in first-class cricket – including three triple-hundreds – viewed with suspicion. Look where he is now.It’s possible that India will struggle for years to replace Ashwin and Jadeja. But it didn’t take them all that long to replace Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, and there was no grand plan as to how that happened.Axar Patel chipped in with useful runs but his bowling fell short of expectations•Getty ImagesWhat next for Axar Patel?The foremost candidate to partially answer the previous question is, of course, Axar, who is in some ways a Jadeja clone. He was India’s second-highest run-getter during the Australia series, and while his bowling fell well short of pre-series expectations both in terms of volume and potency, he seemed to find some rhythm when he got a chance to bowl longer spells on the flat deck in Ahmedabad. His dismissal of Head on the final day was one of the balls of the series, drifting away from the left-hander before spinning back sharply off the footmarks to bowl him through the gate.Axar looks, in every way, a long-term prospect, and while 29 isn’t young in cricket terms, it’s young enough for a spinner to enjoy a long career.In the immediate term, though, his bigger worry is about featuring in India’s XI overseas. Whatever the conditions are at The Oval in June, they’re unlikely to be of the sort that gets teams thinking of three spinners. He’ll probably be part of India’s squad, though, and he’ll keep working hard with both bat and ball to remind the team management that he can do a job if needed.To get to a stage where he becomes a candidate for the first XI in all conditions, however, there’s one thing he can work on. At present, his biggest threat comes from his unusual trajectory and exaggerated angle into the right-hand batter. If he can work on his stock ball so it turns sharply more often than it currently does, he’ll make batters worry about both edges rather than just one, and that’ll make him an incredibly potent bowler.

The Stump Mic crew discuss the thrills and spills of the week gone by, and run their eye over India’s Test wicketkeeping candidates

ESPNcricinfo staff08-May-20232:09

Why Moody would have picked Saha over Kishan for the WTC final

Did the Virat Kohli-Gautam Gambhir face-off go too far? Who should replace KL Rahul in India’s World Test Championship final squad? Did Tom Moody actually wear a kilt in Scotland?The 2016 IPL-winning coach and ODI World Cup winner joins Vishal Dikshit and Kaustubh Kumar to discuss another incredible week of the IPL.Further reading: Can Jitesh Sharma be the ace in India’s T20 deck? – By Sidharth Monga There’s a new slinga in town, in CSK’s yellow – Deivarayan Muthu Rashid, out of form? Try telling Royals that – Matt Roller Saha’s intent burns brightest on openers’ day out – Karthik Krishnaswamy

They have been ultra aggressive with the bat all through this season and trusted that approach to succeed on a slow surface in the Eliminator

Sidharth Monga25-May-20233:48

Did Mumbai get lucky after injuries or were they prepared?

“T20 purist” might sound like an oxymoron but they exist, and they will be happy Mumbai Indians won the banana peel of an Eliminator, and are now headed to the quicker pitches of Ahmedabad where they need to win two matches for a sixth IPL title.The Eliminator was always going to be their big test after a season in which they overcame grave setbacks and still made the playoffs. They lost almost all of their bowling to injuries, then a middle-order batting star for a while, lost the first two matches, and are still here through some pure T20 cricket. It has required the quicker, truer surfaces to support their T20 purity, but they carried it to the slow surface, against a team built for slow surfaces, and triumphed.T20 purists don’t believe in expending too much energy on spectacular fielding, running between the wickets, and beyond a point, bowling. Twenty20 is a game for hitting boundaries and enjoying some luck, which has only been reinforced by the addition of an extra batter through the Impact Player rule.Related

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An interview of Rohit Sharma did the rounds in the lead-up to the Eliminator. Rohit Sharma, their captain, told how there is no room for an anchor in T20s anymore. If at all anchoring is required, it should be the last resort according to him, and not the default.Rohit has led the way himself both for India and Mumbai Indians by taking early risks even if it has meant a lean run for him. It hasn’t yet started showing in the strike-rate because he hasn’t lasted long enough but Rohit has attempted a boundary every 2.67 balls this IPL, his best rate since we started logging intent at ESPNcricinfo. In 2019, Rohit’s best aggregate season since 2018, he attempted a boundary every 4.5 balls.”I just want to play that way and see what I can do,” Rohit said. “I have played this format for a long time and in a certain manner, but I want to do different things now. While doing that, (if) I get out, (it) does not really bother me.”Rohit can’t demand that others attempt a boundary every three balls when he himself is taking a risk every five balls. This year they have anyway been forced to go extreme with the bat because of injuries to their bowlers. Mumbai have scored 65.9% of their runs in boundaries, the highest rate in the league. In 2019, they scored just 60.6% of their runs in boundaries, and were well behind the thought leaders, Kolkata Knight Riders.Of course, Mumbai tried their best with the available bowlers, but they also realised their limited agency and went harder with the bat. As a team they have tried to hit a boundary every 2.31 balls. KKR are next with an attempt every 2.39 balls. Their efficiency when attempting boundaries has been second only to Sunrisers Hyderabad – 2.64 runs for every attempt against SRH’s 2.67 – but SRH have attempted to go past the ropes much less often: once every three balls.Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav teed off to set Mumbai Indians up•BCCIOur statistician Sampath Bandaruppalli dug deeper. He calculated the length and the worth of each innings of a top-three run-getters of each team. The innings of Mumbai’s top-three run-getters have lasted 19.47 balls each – the third-lowest – but have yielded the best strike-rate at 162.1. So an average innings by a Mumbai top-three run-getter is roughly 32 off 20. The numbers for corresponding numbers for RCB, CSK and Titans are 42 off 28, 39 off 27 and 33 off 23.Mumbai have been happier to share the load to facilitate carrying it quicker. Titans are making up with their bowling, and RCB saw a big drop from the top-three run-getters. Mumbai have hitters all around, have given the license, and are happy to live with failure because, hey, how many of them can fail in one night?If there was ever a night for more of them to fail than succeed, it was at Chepauk against LSG. Only the previous night, CSK had defended 172 successfully there. Now Mumbai were against LSG, who had three spinners in their line-up.Mumbai were brave enough to give up chasing, which has worked spectacularly for them, but the way they went about setting the total was pure T20. Ishan Kishan went hard at the first ball of the match and hit a four, Rohit’s first scoring shot was a six followed by a four a ball later, Cameron Green hit a four first ball, and Suryakumar Yadav was, well, Suryakumar Yadav.Anchoring was undertaken only as a last resort when Naveen-ul-Haq removed both Suryakumar and Green in the same over, the 11th. And they didn’t import someone to be a specialist anchor; they trusted Tim David to do it. Had they not lost David in the 17th over, Mumbai would perhaps have brought in an extra bowler as Impact Player, but now they loaded their batting even more with Nehal Wadhera coming in as the impact Player.As it turned out, Mumbai went well past what was par for the conditions. This is, of course, not the only way to play. At least not for now. As Gujarat Titans, Mumbai’s next opponents in Qualifier 2, have shown. They have scored only 58.65% of their runs in boundaries, but have made up for it with their bowling. In the middle of the season, Titans did push their intent up after they lost the un-loseable match to Rinku Singh, but they still play a much safer style of T20 because of their bowling.That same attack was taken for 217 by Mumbai on a true Wankhede Stadium, a total their batters couldn’t chase down. All of a sudden, the defending champions, who finished on the top of the league table, will have to fight these T20 purists with their batters save Shubman Gill not in great hitting form. It can happen when you have a complete bowling attack, you tend not to maximise your batting because you don’t need to and you don’t want to unnecessarily risk a collapse. Ironically, that is the MS Dhoni way, which he has himself dropped for a more daring approach this year. It will be fascinating to see if the Titans bowlers can prove the T20 purists wrong on Friday.

England allrounder has time and again stood up in adverse situations and it is a role she won’t relinquish in a hurry

Vithushan Ehantharajah17-Jul-2023Five were needed off the last ball for an England win to take this hell-raising Women’s Ashes series to a Tuesday night decider in Taunton. Four for a Super Over to prolong the anxiety of those who want peace but can’t get enough of all this. Anything less and Australia keep the Ashes they have held for the last eight years. And as the rest of the world thought through those scenarios, Nat Sciver-Brunt took herself to one side for some alone time.She went down on her haunches, her bat briefly moonlighting as a screen to obscure her face for a moment of privacy in front of the live cameras and the 12,380 at the Ageas Bowl. It had served its primary purpose for the previous 98 deliveries, with 110 runs and counting. Runs which had brought England to the precipice in a fifth successive nerve-shredding climax of the series. Now she had to catch her breath and her thoughts. She’d been here before. Perhaps too many times.Related

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Certainly too many times with this eventuality. She arose to face up to Jess Jonassen, heaving one last heave to the leg side as the left-arm spinner landed one just outside off stump. The ball started high but finished low far too soon, bouncing a couple of feet in front of Annabel Sutherland running in from wide long-on. Sutherland gathered and threw into Jonassen, who broke the bails for the sake of it to confirm Australian victory by three runs.By then, Sciver-Brunt was bent over, her bat now a crutch to keep her upright. The weight of England’s hopes were manageable. Not being able to get them over the line a familiar punch in the gut.Nat Sciver-Brunt played another valiant knock but was unable to get her side over the line•Getty ImagesSciver-Brunt now has the most centuries by a woman in lost ODIs (three), all of them unbeaten, all of them against Australia. The previous one came in the 2022 50-over World Cup final; the allrounder finishing 148 not out in pursuit of an unlikely 357 that only she thought was gettable. Australia won that by a comfortable 71 runs, which makes this one so much worse. “She’s pretty good at getting hundreds in a losing chase, unfortunately,” said Heather Knight out of weary sympathy.Knight had seen England home in the first ODI last Wednesday and admitted being an observer on this occasion was “horrific”. The captain was one of the three dismissed by incoming legspinner Alana King, and thought the worst when Amy Jones was dismissed to leave England six down with 82 needed 71 deliveries. But what control Knight hated ceding as the game tilted Australia’s way with every delivery not struck to the fence was made easier by the fact that, as she put it, “the best person to be out there was Nat Sciver-Brunt.”No doubt about that. Facing their record ODI chase of 283 – kept down by Sciver-Brunt’s 10 overs for 44 – just a few days after topping their previous best in Bristol, her entry at No. 4 would always define England’s fortunes. It came in the 18th over, passing Knight who was on her way back.The allrounder was as she ever is; hovering around a run-a-ball throughout; fifty brought up in 53 deliveries, three figures coming 40 later. Calculated devastation with cold blood and the hot hand.Did she need to be there all on her own by the end? A familiar question with a familiar answer. No.Sophia Dunkley was out of sorts up top, and both Alice Capsey and Danni Wyatt fell cheaply. Jones offered support for 57 runs for the sixth wicket only to reverse tamely to short third. Sarah Glenn remained defiant through to the end but 22 off 35 spoke of an inability to pitch in beyond trying to get Sciver-Brunt on strike.With 13 needed from the final four deliveries, Sciver-Brunt swept Jonassen around the corner for the last of her 10 boundaries. A brace of twos followed, leading to that one final delivery. And as she was down on her haunches, catching her breath, taking a moment to herself, some of the thoughts of those around her veered from the Ashes and to what might be a potential moment of glorious catharsis.On this very ground over a year ago, Sciver-Brunt came close to another hail mary effort. Playing for Trent Rockets against Southern Brave, she struck three consecutive sixes in the final over before only managing a single to lose by two runs. Just as it was then, Glenn was the non-striker. Tahlia McGrath was the bowler on the end of those blows, now merely observing in the field.What followed was a raw, revealing insight into exhausting and emotional vulnerability of Sciver-Brunt. The toll of 2022’s cricket up to that point (September), had begun to consume her. The pressure she put on herself was more than she could handle. All this came out in what began as a cheery “hard luck” post-match interview on the BBC. A week later, she would pull out of the limited-overs series against India to focus on her mental health, eventually returning to international duty at the end of the year. She would reprise her role as vice-captain at the start of 2023.”I was actually part of the BBC crew that interviewed her afterwards,” said Knight. “I could tell she wasn’t quite herself and wasn’t quite right. To do that on the day she did and the way she was feeling was quite remarkable. It was a great move by her to take a break and probably made it a lot easier for a lot of people to be quite open in our dressing room.”It was kind of written in the stars that she was going to do it today. Just unfortunately a bit too much to do. But great character by her to get us anywhere near close and to rally the tail in another unbelievably entertaining game of cricket.”Sarah Glenn and Nat Sciver-Brunt added 76 runs for the eighth wicket, but it wasn’t enough•Getty ImagesBy all accounts, she is back to herself and better at voicing how she is feeling and what she needs and wants. As such, the focus, for now, can be on worries from the outside about how one of English cricket’s genuine world-class exponents might not finish with the wins and accolades her talents deserve. That a player capable of winning matches on the biggest stage is consistently reduced to covering the gap between her team and a generationally transcendent Australian side. Michelangelo did not paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel just to cover the cracks, but Sciver-Brunt’s done it three times now.The past few weeks do offer encouragement. Though the Ashes are gone, victory in Taunton will mean England have won both white-ball series against a team that, up until two weeks ago, had forgotten what it was like to lose. With all the talk of talent gaps being closed, perhaps the most important progression has been in belief. A team 6-0 down brought it back to 6-6, and this could have been so different for a boundary saved or scored in the deliveries not involving Sciver-Brunt. The hosts have shown incredible strength of character and resilience – both pages out of Sciver-Brunt’s book.Yet, we all know that no matter how many others choose to stand up going forward, Sciver-Brunt will always see it as her responsibility to be the one to do the unthinkable. That she has those three hundreds in vain against England’s biggest rivals is not simply misfortune. She is not staggering into these improbable situations after a few wrong turns. She is seeking them out. Even if someone else emerges capable of carrying that burden, it is not something she will relinquish in a hurry. It is in every fibre of her being.It is why she is the most box-office cricketer around. It is why Mumbai Indians forked out £320,000 (INR 3.2 crore) for her in the inaugural WPL, and won. And it is why, even after another bitter disappointment, we know the next time England need someone to pull them from the brink, Nat Sciver-Brunt will be the first on the scene. Whether she can win it or not, however, will still depend on those around her.

Marsh terms his team’s batting “as good as it gets” after Head blazes away followed by hundreds for Warner and Labuschagne

Andrew McGlashan10-Sep-20231:04

Warner: Labuschagne is putting his hand up for World Cup selection

It is hardly revolutionary to see a team blaze away at the start of a one-day innings, but Australia’s mindset in the first two matches against South Africa has given a clear indication of how they will approach the World Cup. And it won’t involve seeing out the new balls.Their gameplan also brought two contrasting outcomes in Bloemfontein. In the opening match their scorecard read a somewhat bizarre 113 for 7 in the 17th over chasing 223 before Marnus Labuschagne, who himself had rattled along to 36 off 20 balls after being subbed into the contest, and Ashton Agar settled into a more conservative tempo to secure victory.It was notable after the first game how stand-in captain Mitchell Marsh, who is leading in place of the injured Pat Cummins, made a point of saying he was pleased with the intent shown even though it left the team in trouble.Two days later, just about everything clicked as David Warner and particularly Travis Head cantered to 102 in the first ten overs. There was some loose stuff served up by South Africa’s attack but sustaining 10 an over was still a notable achievement.Related

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Even when Head, after making 64 off 36, and Marsh fell in consecutive balls there wasn’t really sustained consolidation. Warner and Labuschange added 151 in 20.4 overs, the latter playing as freely as he ever has in ODI colours to leave the selectors plenty to ponder in the next few weeks, and Warner needing just 33 balls for his second fifty. After a sluggish start, Josh Inglis also joined in with a maiden ODI fifty off 36 balls having been 13 off 19 at one stage.”We saw the lack, probably, of intent from South Africa the game before, so for us we had to get on the front foot,” Warner said. “Our goal is always to try to target the first ten. Then from there try to build a partnership outside of the powerplay. We got a couple of probably free shots outside the off stump, especially with Travis, his leg stump is his off stump, he can create that off-side play whenever he feels like it, but our gameplan was to take the first ten on and build from there.”Over the last couple of series, as attention has turned more specifically to the ODI World Cup, Australia’s ten-over powerplays have produced some hefty returns. In the last eight games, their lowest score in that period has been 53 for 2 against England in Sydney; on six occasions they have gone at better than a run a ball and twice have flayed over 100.David Warner needed just 33 balls for his second fifty•AFP/Getty ImagesAside from yesterday in Bloemfontein, the other triple-figure return came in Visakhapatnam when Head and Marsh crunched 112 in ten overs to almost complete a chase inside the powerplay. With such a small target there are fewer consequences should it go wrong, but the success Head and Marsh had together in India briefly raised the question of who should open at the World Cup. When Warner returned for the final game of that series he batted No. 4.But Warner and Head have a formidable record together: after their latest partnership the pair’s average is 100.55 with four century stands. Since returning to the ODI side in 2022, Head has had a phenomenal impact with 736 runs at a strike rate of 117.76. And for all the angst over Warner’s Test performances, his white-ball cricket has never provided the same concern. They will be together for the World Cup.”He [Travis] had a bit of a crack at me from the last game getting out on zero, it killed our partnership average he said,” Warner joked. “We know each other’s game plan very well, we are trying to put the pressure back on the bowlers and today, without swinging conditions, it probably enhanced that a little bit for us to go after them. If there is a bit of swing we’ll have to deal with that.”The desire to embolden the top order to keep playing with freedom is a big reason why Australia are stacking their batting down to at least No. 8, although on Saturday the lower middle order was the only part of the game that did not quite click with Tim David, Alex Carey and Aaron Hardie making 10 off 19 balls between them, but it was the smallest of blemishes.”Thought the way they batted was just outstanding to have 110 [102] off the powerplay, Heady and David Warner were amazing, then for Marnus to bat the way he did just carried it on,” Marsh said. “Thought our intent throughout the whole innings was something that we’ve spoken about and our execution today was as good as it gets with the bat.”It was, in fact, only Marsh who really missed out on the fun. “I’ll probably put the reverse sweep away first ball, I think,” Marsh, who now has five wins from five matches as Australia captain, said.

Bashir Chacha, still hoping to get a ticket for the India vs Pakistan game, could be the only Pakistan fan in the stands

Yash Jha13-Oct-20235:40

‘Once the first ball is bowled, everything is back to normal’

Thursday, 5pm IST. Hundreds of locals have gathered under the Ashram Road flyover in Usmanpura, Ahmedabad. They are there to catch a glimpse of the Pakistan team as they head for training. There’s still 30 minutes to go before the bus leaves the hotel, but two days out from contest of the World Cup, anticipation is heightening and security cover is already at the level you’d see on most match days for other games.But this is a game like no other. India versus Pakistan. In India for the first time in seven years. In front of what could be a record crowd of more than 100,000 people. They played in front of 90,000 at the MCG in last year’s T20 World Cup. Expect this to be louder and far more partisan than anything these Pakistan players would have come up against in their careers.Before the Pakistan team bus leaves the hotel, out walks Mohammad Bashir, known more famously as Bashir . He was a crowd favourite in Hyderabad during Pakistan’s first two World Cup games, and now Ahmedabad locals get their first sighting of him. He could possibly be the only Pakistani fan at the game on Saturday. How’s that for a daunting position to be in?Related

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“,” Bashir asks of the crowd, having scanned the scene for a minute. “India ,” is the instant response, loud in volume but not visceral in tone. The mood is good natured enough for Bashir to counter with a shout of “Pakistan “. The locals gather around him for selfies and the media can’t get enough of the man who moved from Karachi to Chicago four decades ago.Bashir’s attire on the day – a combined Pakistan and India outfit – is in keeping with his life story: his wife is an Indian from Hyderabad and he’s got used to being sledged by her. Remember, India have a proud 7-0 record against Pakistan in ODI World Cups. ” (She told me I’m going to be embarrassed again [by Pakistan losing], I said it doesn’t matter, I have to be there [in Ahmedabad]).”As of Thursday, he didn’t have a ticket to the game yet, but he’s optimistic. In 2011, ahead of the World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan in Mohali, his plea for tickets was fulfilled by MS Dhoni. He says Dhoni and Rohit Sharma have arranged tickets for him on many occasions.

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