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Hardik Pandya wants to be Hardik Pandya. He wants to stop being compared to the India’s greatest allrounder, Kapil Dev.Pandya took his maiden five-wicket haul within 29 balls on the second day at Trent Bridge, breaking England’s spine as they conceded 168-run lead, which was extended to 292 by the close with India having eight wickets in hand. Pandya is now the second-highest wicket-taker for India with eight and has the best average.Ever since Pandya smashed a 50 on debut and then made a century in his third Test during last year’s tour of Sri Lanka, the question has been asked if he can perform the role that Kapil did for India for about 15 years.Last week, the former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding told ESPNcricinfo that Pandya is not yet completely performing his role as a bowling allrounder convincingly. Holding had heard Pandya was being compared to Kapil during the South African Test series this January. Based on his own observation Holding said Pandya was “nowhere near” Kapil and India needed to find “somebody” who could contribute more.After his performance on Sunday, which turned the match firmly in India’s favour, Pandya said he is tired of the comparison and wants to put a stop on the talk.”The problem with this is you compare yes, but all of a sudden something goes wrong and they are like he is not that [Kapil Dev],” Pandya said. “I have never wanted to be Kapil Dev. Let me be Hardik Pandya. I am good at being Hardik Pandya, reached here till now, I have played 40 ODIs and now 10 Test matches being Hardik Pandya, not Kapil Dev. They are great in their era. Let me be Hardik Pandya. Stop comparing me with anyone. I will be happy if you don’t.”Talking to former England captain Nasser Hussain on Pandya said he does not care what the critics think. “For sure not. I will simply say one thing. Let’s not worry about me. I know what I am exactly doing. My team backs me. That’s what matters. And to be honest I don’t care what people say.”Pandya told Sky Sports the focus of the bowling group in the second session was to bowl full. “I tried to swing the ball and if you try to swing the ball you go little full. You tend to get driven. I am not afraid of getting driven because if the wickets come runs does not matter.”Pandya added that he did not want the batsmen to read him and one way to do that was to vary his release points, bowl from different parts of the popping crease, use the seam in different angles and create doubts in the their mind.”I feel that if I keep on bowling the same way they might get used to it,” he said. “So I always focus on using the crease or even the line where I am bowling because it is very important, it makes a huge difference. If I go wide and I bowl the same ball the batsman thinks it is coming in with the angle, but if goes out you get the opportunity of getting him out.”In the later press conference, Pandya revealed Ishant Sharma had jokingly told him to talk about his role in the five-for. Jokes apart, Pandya acknowledged Ishant did play a “big role”. Having played against most of the England batsmen in international and county cricket, Ishant has the knowledge of their weaknesses which he shared with Pandya.”Ishy [Ishant] was telling me the same thing: don’t go for the wickets, if you keep bowling at the rights areas, you have the talent to get them. That’s the same thing I tell him and same thing which we tell other bowlers. Keep it tight, let’s see what they do, let’s check their patience and once again we saw the result what happens.”Last year, in Pallekele, Pandya raised his bat to celebrate his maiden Test century. Today, in Nottingham, he flashed the ball to relish the maiden five-wicket haul. Which did he enjoy more? “I am happier with taking five-wicket haul than scoring a hundred. I have taken very few five-wicket hauls, I think this is the second of my life. and it has come at a very important place so I am very happy.”

Ed Smith, the England national selector, has defended the selection of Adil Rashid for next week’s first Test against India at Edgbaston, in spite of his unavailability for Yorkshire in red-ball cricket, saying that the decision was taken with the full approval of both his fellow selectors and England’s Test captain Joe Root, with Yorkshire kept informed at every step of the process.Smith took over from James Whitaker as the head of England’s selection panel in May, and was not therefore privy to the decisions that led to Rashid’s withdrawal from red-ball cricket, in the wake of his omission from last year’s Ashes. His first Test selection, for the Pakistan series in May, had also featured a notable recall on the strength of a player’s white-ball form, when Jos Buttler was successfully reintroduced to the side after starring in the IPL.”I believe strongly in the county game’s value,” Smith told reporters at The Oval. “In no way is there any sense that I would do anything to damage county cricket. However, in these circumstances where the context pre-dated my involvement as England selector, the panel unanimously felt that the right selection was Adil Rashid in the squad.”

Broad backing for Rashid

Stuart Broad has said Adil Rashid’s recall was testament to the spinner’s increased confidence from a successful spell in England’s limited-overs sides, and backed him to produce “wicket-taking balls” in the Test series with India.
“He’s bowled beautifully in the one-day series,” he said. “I know it’s easy to say it’s a very different format with different strategies and all that sort of thing but you can see he has got wicket-taking balls in him and he’s come through a couple of years of wonderful white-ball bowling which will give him a lot of confidence at the top level.
“I know Moeen [Ali] has said it’s different bowling with a Dukes and a Kookaburra red ball but I’m sure he’s building up for a big week’s prep in Birmingham. We training three days before Wednesday, so that’s quite a lot of prep time to get used to it.”

Smith revealed that he had sounded Rashid out about a Test recall prior to the ODI series against India. It was, he added, “a general chat about whether it was in his heart to play Test cricket for England again, what his aspirations were. At no stage did I give him any assurances about selection, even if he was available.”One thing that did not change, however, was that Rashid opted not to make himself available for Yorkshire’s Roses match at Old Trafford last week. Yorkshire chose to play on-loan legspinner Josh Poysden instead, and club officials were outspoken in their annoyance in the wake of a call-up that will now limit Rashid’s involvement in their Vitality Blast campaign.”We are pretty disappointed with both the ECB’s and Adil’s decision,” Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s Director of Cricket, said, while Mark Arthur, the chief executive, added: “I hope that England know what they’re doing to Adil, and the county game.”Smith, however, was unrepentant for picking a player whom he believes will help England to win a high-profile Test series. “I’m not party to the relationship between Adil and Yorkshire,” he said. “I am very sympathetic to Yorkshire’s position in terms of their planning. I’ve spoken with Martyn Moxon all the way through so it’s been no surprise to Yorkshire, they have been kept informed every step of the way.”I’m aware it will prompt discussion, but moving forward it’s been made clear to Adil that if he wishes to be eligible for selection in the 2019 summer, he must have a contract to play red-ball cricket.”I am tasked to put the best available squad together to give to the captain and the coach to pick the XI on the day. That’s the extent of my job. Given the circumstances, I feel very comfortable that, after a unanimous decision, we have picked Adil Rashid in the squad.”That unanimity, Smith reiterated, included the blessing of Root, whom he said he “did more than consult”.”The decision was a unanimous one, the decision makers being myself, James Taylor and coach Trevor Bayliss, and also round that table was Joe Root,” Smith said.”The number one question was ‘Joe, what do you need?’. I know Joe wishes to give Adil and Moeen [Ali] the best environment to thrive in the Test team, as they thrive in the one-day side. When it came to the final decision, I asked all four if it was the right thing to do and the answer was ‘yes’ from all four.””The decision involved quite a lot of context,” he added. “We are fully aware of the summer we are having and the likelihood or possibility that the pitches are going to turn. Secondly, in the event of needing two spinners, how would we get people into the side who turn the ball in different directions?”It would be quite eccentric to play two offspinners and Joe Root. In that context as part of that decision, obviously Adil’s form in white-ball cricket, his confidence, his touch, the fact that he has evolved so much as a bowler and is in the form of his life, and never felt more at home in an England one-day or T20 jersey.”

ScorecardTwenty wickets fell on a highly dramatic opening day at Tunbridge Wells, with Specsavers County Championship Division Two leaders Warwickshire dismissing second-placed Kent for 197 before themselves crumbling to 125 in reply after tea. In two overs’ batting before the close, Kent made 4 without loss in their second innings and lead overall by 76.Joe Denly’s classy 59 on a seam-friendly pitch kept Kent afloat in the first two sessions, despite Keith Barker’s 5 for 32, which included a skilful spell of 4 for 13 in 5.1 overs to finish off Kent’s first innings.But then Warwickshire’s batsmen – Jonathan Trott, with a calm 51 not out from 81 balls, apart – had no answer to a home attack in which Matt Henry and Darren Stevens made the new ball incisions and Harry Podmore, who has shot to form in Kent;s charge to the Royal London Cup final, took four wickets in his first five overs to record a career-best 4 for 26.Henry returned to polish off the tail, after Henry Brookes had helped Trott to add a valuable 54 in 12 overs for the ninth wicket. Henry had 19-year-old Brookes caught at third slip for an excellent 28, and then saw Oliver Hannon-Dalby snick his first ball to the keeper as the Kiwi paceman finished with 4 for 54 and take his remarkable season’s championship haul to 47 wickets.Warwickshire were 34 for 4 after Henry and Stevens each took two early scalps, before sliding further to 71 for 8 in glorious late afternoon sunshine as Podmore sent back Tim Ambrose, Barker and Jeetan Patel in quick succession.Trott, watching impassively from the non-striker’s end, had come in at No 4 when Ian Bell fell second ball for 4 to Henry, well held in the gully by Adam Riley. Bell’s first ball had been top-edged to the third man boundary.The rampant Henry, who began this match with 43 championship wickets at an average of 11 runs apiece, made the first strike too when he bowled Will Rhodes for 11 in the fifth over.The New Zealander has been one of the best overseas player signings in recent county history, but the veteran Stevens is still proving highly effective himself in English domestic cricket with 21 wickets at 14 before this game began.And the 42-year-old all-rounder was soon into the action with the wickets of Dom Sibley and Adam Hose in an opening spell of 8-3-18-2. Sibley nibbled at an outswinger and was caught behind for 1 while Hose was leg-before for 5.Then came Podmore, with the 23-year-old former Middlesex seamer producing a beauty to have Ambrose taken at second slip, pinning Barker lbw for 0, seeing Patel edge a drive at his second ball to go for 4 and then bowling Chris Wright for 8 with another terrific ball that clipped off stump.Kent, put in when Warwickshire captain Patel opted not to contest a toss, were in almost immediate trouble when Sean Dickson was bowled by Barker for 1 and Daniel Bell-Drummond, pushing forward, edged Wright to the keeper to go for 7.From 15 for 2, however, Denly and Heino Kuhn counter-attacked spiritedly and there were seven sparkling fours in the in-form Kuhn’s 39 as 51 runs were added for the third wicket.But Kuhn and Zak Crawley were both leg-before in three balls from Hannon-Dalby, and at 66 for 4 the home team were wobbling again.Stevens, with a punchy 27, helped Denly to add another 51 either side of lunch before edging Wright to second slip, and Adam Rouse had scored only 10 when he edged Brookes into the slip cordon.Barker then returned to wrap up the Kent first innings, snapping up the key wicket of Denly at 174 before bowling Henry for 2, trapping Podmore leg-before for a useful 22 and also winning an lbw shout against Ivan Thomas to send the No 11 back for 3. Riley finished 13 not out but the tail just failed to earn Kent a batting point.Soon, however, any thoughts of underachievement with the bat were put in perspective as Kent’s bowlers shattered Warwickshire’s reply in what has so far been a remarkable top-of-the-table contest. A good-sized crowd of 1,500 certainly got their money’s worth, too, but it remains to be seen if the pitch flattens out enough on day two to take this game into Friday, when a bigger attendance is forecast, let alone Saturday.

A week after sustaining a finger injury that sidelined him from the IPL final, India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha is still unclear about whether he will recover in time for Afghanistan’s inaugural Test, which starts on June 14 in Bengaluru.Saha is currently being monitored by the BCCI and is awaiting an X-ray report next week that will ascertain whether he will need surgery on his right thumb. He picked up the injury when he was struck by a Shivam Mavi bouncer during the IPL’s second qualifier.”The BCCI is keeping a track of my injury on a day-to-day basis. The decision lies with them,” Saha was reported as saying by . “To be honest, I might not be fit for that game. It’s not in my hands.”Saha had previously missed six games in the IPL with a shoulder niggle before the thumb injury. As things stand, he is the only specialist wicketkeeper in India’s 15-man squad for the Test; KL Rahul is the only plausible back-up option in the squad. If Saha is ruled out, he will likely be replaced by one of Parthiv Patel or Dinesh Karthik, who were both part of India’s last Test squad in South Africa when Saha had to be withdrawn from the tour with another injury.

With 252 runs in four matches this season for Kings XI Punjab, Chris Gayle has rediscovered the form that made him such a force for Royal Challengers Bangalore over the years, before he was released by the franchise ahead of the 2018 IPL.Gayle, however, revealed he’d been told RCB would retain him, only to not hear from the franchise again. “I was their biggest draw. It was disappointing from that end, because they had called me. They wanted me in the team and I was told that I will be retained,” Gayle told . “But they never called back after that. So that gave me the impression that they didn’t want me, and it’s fine.RCB let Gayle go after he scored only 200 runs at a strike rate of 122.69 in nine innings in the 2017 IPL, but between then and now the batsman had found T20 form.In the 2017 CPL, Gayle was the highest scorer for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. He bettered that in the BPL, where he topped the tournament run charts by a distance and scored 146 not out with 18 sixes in the final.”I think I had a wonderful CPL and BPL – where I scored two centuries for my side Rangpur Riders. The stats don’t lie: 21 centuries, most number of sixes. If that doesn’t put a stamp on brand Chris Gayle, I don’t know what will.”Gayle nearly didn’t make it to this IPL entirely. Having gone unsold when his name came up for bidding the first time during the player auction in January, he was eventually bought at base price by Kings XI towards the end of the auction’s second day.”I’ll be honest in admitting that it was very surprising for me to not get picked by any team,” Gayle said. “I don’t know what went behind closed doors, but I also understand that these things happen,” he said. “It’s just the way it is. But it’s fine, I’ve moved on from it. Like I said, it’s a great opportunity to be playing for King XI Punjab, and so far I’ve had a great time. Perhaps it was supposed to happen, you know. King Gayle: destined to be playing for Kings XI Punjab.”After finally being picked at the auction, Gayle did not have a smooth start to the season either: he was benched for Kings XI’s first two games. However, after overseas batsmen Aaron Finch and David Miller had poor starts themselves, Gayle was given a go at the top of the order. He scored a 33-ball 63 against Chennai Super Kings and then followed up with a hundred and another half-century, forming a prolific opening partnership with KL Rahul, another player RCB let go.”Even though I was selected in the very last round of the auction, I wasn’t really worried about it,” Gayle said. “At some stage, you are going to walk away from the IPL and other forms of cricket. This is how I’ve always been: living in the present. But, given the sense that I was picked up and playing for a new franchise, it was very pleasing. And the way I have played in the first three games, I think it has been fantastic. I’m very happy with where I’m at.”

The two things England have most enjoyed in this Test match so far have been with neither bat or ball: Ed Sheeran popped into the dressing room while in Auckland for three gigs this weekend, and rain wiped out most of the second day with more forecast for the next two. Stuart Broad’s 400th wicket aside, there is not much else they can take from it.Sheeran, a cricket fan who is friends with Shane Warne, received a bat from Mark Wood and a signed shirt. “A few of the lads chatted to him for a while, it was nice especially after a couple of average days to meet someone of his calibre,” James Anderson said. “It was nice of him to come in, there are a lot of big fans in there.”Back on the field there was precious little to savour in the 23.1 overs possible. They bowled tightly but without much penetration which is not a new story. Anderson managed to extract Kane Williamson for 102, but New Zealand’s lead swelled to 171.Having been bowled out for 58, the game is so far advanced that the weather is not yet a problem for the home side, but the forecast is poor for the weekend. From such depths England will take any help they can, although Anderson insisted they could yet haul themselves out of the mire.”We have to keep believing we can save it because if we don’t have belief there’s no point turning up and putting in the hard yards and bowling the overs in the middle,” he said. “We’ve got to believe that we can get something out of this game.”Twenty-four hours after registering their sixth-lowest total in Test history and threatening the lowest by anyone – 26 – there was a sense of England still trying to work out how it happened. The same could be said for New Zealand.When asked his thoughts on batting before lunch on the first day, Anderson said: “It was a big chance for my maiden hundred.” Gallows humour is not a bad idea.”I can’t remember experiencing an hour like that before,” he added. “Certainly at the start of the game. It’s just one of those things, when the stars align, you’re not on form and facing two world-class bowlers it’s going to happen. We’ve got to try and work very hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”There was still a sense of disbelief in Williamson’s voice: “It was a bit of a perfect storm, really. England have a very long batting line-up. Even when you do fire you expect a partnership or two. It was doing just enough and that just enough was on our side. Hard to beat it from our perspective with ball in hand.”On the first day England coach Trevor Bayliss lamented technical failings from batsmen with a reluctance to get on the front foot to a slightly moving ball and while the major post-mortem will wait until after the match, Anderson said the onus was on the batsmen to work out what had gone wrong.”I’m sure the batsmen are working hard with the coaches to figure out what went wrong with them and counter that during the second innings and hopefully bat much better. I think it’s something after the game we’ll really have a chat about it but at the minute you’ve really got to do what you can do to influence this game.”More rain would be music to England’s ears. Otherwise, they might have time to see one of Ed Sheeran’s concerts in person.

Temba Bavuma congratulated the selectors for showing faith in his ability to open the batting after he became only the second South African to score a century on debut. However, he has suggested he will continue to view himself as a middle-order batsman for the time being.Bavuma deputised for Hashim Amla, who missed the match against Ireland while waiting for his wife to give birth, and put on a record opening stand at Benoni with Quinton de Kock. He eventually fell for 113 – only his second List A hundred – to help set up a big win.”I think the credit must go to the selectors and the administrators,” Bavuma joked in a television interview at the innings break.”They decided I should fill in this role for this game and it’s worked out.”This was the second time Bavuma has been used in the role, after opening in a Test match in Delhi last year and on both occasions he responded to the challenge well. So well that it could become an option for him to consider in future, no matter how much he does not think it’s the place for him at either national or franchise level at the moment.”Hashim is the incumbent. He is well established and I am sure he will be back to fill those boots,” Bavuma said. “And at the Lions, I probably won’t go to Geoff [Toyana] and ask to open. I think it will be disruptive. The Lions have Stephen Cook and Reeza Hendricks so for me to look for a place there will cause more harm than good.”But Bavuma may be underplaying his chances of getting another go at the top. One could come as soon as next Friday if Amla’s third child does not arrive before then. Other opportunities could present themselves, especially after Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, confirmed he believes Bavuma has both the technique and the temperament to open the batting.It may not have looked so at first, when Bavuma’s footwork was questionable and he seemed to be absorbing too many dot balls, but he learnt quickly thanks to his partner de Kock. “I was able to perform the way I performed because of the way Quinny plays. Up front he makes any wicket look flat,” Bavuma said. “He can score runs at will so it allowed me to take a bit more time and settle the nerves.”After de Kock got off to a flier, and found boundaries off both the front and back foot, Bavuma did the same. By the time the pair were in the 40s, Bavuma’s strike rate had caught up with de Kock’s and his strokeplay was just as eye-catching.Bavuma drove the ball sweetly but also demonstrated a powerful pull shot, although he admitted to never feeling entirely comfortable at the crease. “Throughout the innings I didn’t feel any kind of fluency. The wicket was a bit on the slower side and a bit two-paced, I struggled to hit through the line so I had to make sure I was strong in my game plans, ran hard and found the gaps,” Bavuma said.This summer, he wants to work on honing those skills a little more, even if it means doing it lower the down the order.”At the start of the season I set myself goals to try and improve as a player and one of the areas was with the white ball,” Bavuma said. “Your intensity must be higher. Even if you block the ball, you block it with the intent to score. At times I struggled with that today but I am generally a positive player and I look to put the bad balls away.”I have always seen batting as just batting. Whether it’s at No. 1 or No. 4, the ball is still the ball. At the Lions I will probably slot in in the middle and I will try and do things the way I normally do them.”

Sri Lanka Cricket has outlined its strong opposition to the proposed two-tier Test system, claiming that it “can’t see any benefit for Sri Lankan cricket, the game, or the players”. SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala also voiced concerns over the financial ramifications of a potential tiered system, and believed the current path towards full membership and Test status for Associate sides was adequate.

ACC set to move headquarters to Colombo

Colombo is set to be the new home of the Asian Cricket Council, SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala has said. The ACC is currently based in Singapore, but its executive committee is said to have supported SLC’s bid to move its headquarters to Colombo, though Dubai and Mauritius were also considered.
“We offered to have the ACC headquarters in Colombo, and the ACC executive committee comprising of four Full Members and the ICC Associate Member representative, unanimously supported Sri Lanka as the venue to be the next ACC head office,” Sumathipala said.
The relocation must be ratified at the ACC AGM on August 21, which will be held in Colombo as well. Sumathipala, the present deputy speaker of parliament, said SLC had asked the country’s government to offer tax breaks to the ACC, in order to attract its headquarters to Colombo.
“We made about three submissions to the SL government and the finance minister, for all the terms to meet all the tax concessions requested by ACC.”

The proposal to split Test cricket into two tiers – with seven nations in tier one, and five, including two new Test nations, in the second tier – was mooted at the ICC’s annual conference, in Edinburgh. BCB president Nazmul Hassan had said Bangladesh was the only country to oppose the proposed system, but SLC officials said Sri Lanka was one of two boards in opposition.In any case, Sumathipala spoke strongly against a move from the status quo, in which ten nations have full membership and Test status. Sri Lanka is currently seventh in the Test rankings with 85 points, ahead of West Indies, in eighth position with 65.”Sri Lanka Cricket has decided not to support two-tier Test cricket as we have decided it’s detrimental to SLC and for its future,” Sumathipala said. “We feel that to make it a top seven – you are virtually relegating the bottom three to a different level.”The revenue-sharing details within the proposed system have not yet been worked out, but there has been the suggestion that all matches within the proposed structure be sold in one block, as part of a centralised broadcasting agreement. Another option might be for the ICC to pay a competition grant, which would cover the costs of every nation’s Test fixtures within the structure. Sumathipala, however, was skeptical of how such a financial model might work.”We believe that if you are a Full Member, there can’t be two tiers. One of the reasons is to maintain sustainability of the economy of cricket. If India goes to eighth position, what happens?”The primary aims of a two-tier system are to provide stronger context for Test matches, a merit-based promotion and relegation system, and to create a clear pathway to Test status for Associate nations. SLC had helped lobby for Bangladesh to be granted Test status, in 2000, and Sumathipala said that pathway remained available and adequate for any aspiring Test side.”If someone wants to come up – they can come up, that’s no problem. That’s the way Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka came up. But that doesn’t mean that anyone should go down. If you want to take the Test level that is a different effort that you must make. We did that for Bangladesh and it’s a very successful story.”The board did, however, support a separate but equally radical change to the game – that of four-day Tests. The suggestion that Tests should ideally be played over four days consisting of 100 overs each has been around for some time, and had recently been advanced by ECB chairman Colin Graves.”We strongly believe that in years to come we should encourage four-day Test cricket,” Sumathipala said. “We believe it’s going to be strong and effective. With the pink ball coming up and day-night facilities coming in, you can easily extend the day another 45 minutes and play a four-day Test comprising of 400 overs.”

Joe Root has admitted he should already have up to double his nine Test centuries and can’t quite work out why he does not convert into three figures more consistently.Since the beginning of 2015, Root has scored four centuries in 19 Tests but has been dismissed between 50 and 98 on a further 13 occasions, the most recent being in the first innings at Chester-le-Street when he got into a tangle against Nuwan Pradeep and spooned a catch to cover, having move serenely to 80 – a shot he termed as a “car crash”.He is not letting the issue weigh too heavily on his mind – “I feel I am contributing consistently” – but knows that the best Test batsmen in the world he is jostling with to be ranked No. 1 are judged on their century output.”You are always striving to get better, and it’s an area that over the last few months has been very frustrating for me because I am playing well, but you don’t win games with 70s and 80s. You want to make sure you cash in,” Root said.”There have been a few decent deliveries in there but mainly it’s been batsman error so it’s an area that needs to be addressed in practice – and it has been – and the only thing I can really do is make sure I don’t make the same mistake twice.”You look at the dismissal [in Durham] and it was a car crash, really. It was awful. It’s hard to put your finger on it. I don’t think I change my approach or the way I play when I get to a certain score. I’d like to think it was a bit of a coincidence and it’s all happened together.”I feel my game is in a good place, I’m moving well. If anything maybe I get slightly complacent for the odd ball, sometimes you get away with it and it goes unnoticed and sometimes it catches up with you and you are made to look very silly. I don’t think that’s the case, but it may come across that way. I’m working really hard and it’s something I want to address.”Root stressed how he is not a player too fussed about personal landmarks and suggested that, on occasion, he may get caught up in the natural free-scoring pace that he operates at and that encapsulates this England side.”Complacent is probably the wrong word, maybe concentrating is a better way to put it. Maybe you are caught in the flow of the game, scoring at a certain rate and you try to score against deliveries that don’t allow you to,” he said. “It’s not something that’s really concerning me to be honest, but it’s an annoyance that I want to put right. If I’ve been got out, fair play, but I don’t want to throw it away.”Joe Root passed 50 without going on to score a hundred once again in Chester-le-Street•AFP

Despite the issue of reaching three figures on fewer occasions than he would have liked, Root’s game has developed enormously over the last two years – since his recall against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in 2014 when he scored a double-century following omission at the end of 2013-14 Ashes whitewash – to make him one of the most complete batsmen in the world. But in his determination to further improve, he watches his contemporaries closely.”As a kid growing up I would look at the best players and think there’s a reason they are at the top, they are doing something that sets them apart,” he said. “These days, AB [de Villiers], Virat [Kohli] in the shorter formats, then Steve [Smith] and Kane [Williamson], it would be silly not to look at the way they play and try to add bits to my game. If you can take any little nugget hopefully you will benefit from it.”Although Root remains a delightful touch player – his innings in the World T20 against South Africa where his 83 off 44 balls marshalled England’s huge chase was a stand-out example – his boundary-hitting has been one of the areas that has developed most significantly since the early days of his international career when a slight, scrawny 21-year-old made 73 off 229 balls against India in Nagpur.”It’s a slow process when it comes to the gym side of it, a long-term improvement I’m looking for,” he said. “If you don’t practice hitting it for six you won’t do it, either. It’s an area I want to keep developing and it’s good to see it going in the same direction.”With boundary-hitting in mind – and his flamboyant whip over deep midwicket in the recent Roses T20 against Lancashire was the latest example of what he is now capable of – Root joked that he would like bats to get bigger, rather than smaller as the ICC cricket committee has recently suggested, but he remains sanguine about any potential changes to the tools of his trade.”If they feel it’s making an unfair advantage then fair enough, as a batter you have to be skilful and strong enough to find different ways of scoring if restrictions will be put in place,” he said. “There’s no less skill in being able to hit it out of the park to being able to flick it as long as it goes for six. If players are good enough they will find ways of doing it.”Root is clearly good enough to adapt to whatever shape (or size) the game takes. He would just like a few more hundreds to show for it.Investec is the title sponsor of Test match cricket in England. For more on Investec private banking, visit investec.co.uk/banking

Match facts

Monday, June 20, 2016
Start time 1300 local (1100 GMT)The first T20I saw a return of the vibrant Zimbabwe the world loves to watch•Associated Press

Big Picture

Zimbabwe made a few changes to their team for the first T20I against India, most notably the inclusion of pluck, spirit and ebullience.Spirit was brought to proceedings when Hamilton Masakadza and Chamu Chibhabha punished India’s opening bowlers for missing their lengths. It intervened again when Elton Chigumbura, put a pair of golden ducks behind him to cream seven sixes in a dazzling half-century. That knock took Zimbabwe from a flagging 111 for 5 to a competitive 170.Pluck was a steady presence throughout the match, never more so than when Neville Madziva nailed wide yorkers and slower balls to defend seven in the last over. Ebullience came to the fore thereafter as the home team’s players and fans revelled. Zimbabwe will hope that Messrs P, S and E retain their place in the team for a long time to come.Of immediate interest is the second T20I in Harare, which will present the hosts a chance to secure a historic series win. Never before have Zimbabwe won a T20I series of two or more matches, although they did beat West Indies in a one-off T20I in Port of Spain six years ago. A win now would offer much needed cheer to their fans and send out a message to other teams thinking of sending a second-string side to Zimbabwe.For India, the wake-up call is timely – perhaps even welcome. Things seemed to be coming too easily to them in the ODI leg of the tour. On Saturday, however, they were put under serious pressure for the first time. They were reminded that sloppy mistakes can be costly, even against unfancied oppositions. How will India’s young side respond, now that they know they are in a genuine contest, with the series on the line?

Form guide

Zimbabwe: WLWWW (last five matches, most recent first)
India: LLWWW

In the spotlight

Chigumbura was Zimbabwe’s star with the bat, but Hamilton Masakadza‘s brief fireworks at the top constitute a promising sign for the team. Masakadza was sacked as captain prior to India’s visit, and went on to have a quiet ODI series. Zimbabwe’s most accomplished batsman’s hitting form could be vital if Vusi Sibanda cannot recover from the injury that kept him out of the first T20I.Yuzvendra Chahal had a disappointing T20I debut, offering the batsmen too much room to swing their arms and bowling the no-ball that precipitated Chigumbura’s assault. Nevertheless, his willingness to flight the ball in search of wickets and a potent googly make him a threat to batsmen. It also makes for compelling viewing.

Team news

Sibanda has joined Craig Ervine and Sean Williams on Zimbabwe’s injury list. Richmond Mutumbami, who had to retire hurt after taking a blow to the hip area on Saturday, will not be available either. This probably leaves the door open for Peter Moor, who will be a straight swap considering he is a specialist wicketkeeper, or Timycen Maruma.*Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Timycen Maruma/Peter Moor, 4 Sikandar Raza, 5 Malcolm Waller (wk), 6 Elton Chigumbura, 7 Tinotenda Mutombodzi, 8 Graeme Cremer (capt), 9 Neville Madziva, 10 Taurai Muzarabani, 11 Donald TiripanoIndia fielded five debutants in the first T20I, including Mandeep Singh, Rishi Dhawan and Jaydev Unadkat, who had their first outing of the tour. Unadkat and Dhawan bowled poorly; whether Dhoni chooses to give them another chance or brings Barinder Sran and Dhawal Kulkarni back is open to debate.India (probable): 1 KL Rahul, 2 Mandeep Singh, 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Rishi Dhawan/Dhawal Kulkarni, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Jaydev Unadkat/Barinder Sran

Pitch and conditions

The pitch is expected to be batting friendly again at Harare Sports Club. The size of the outfield should test the fielders and reward batsmen who run hard between the wickets.

Stats and trivia

• Only once have Zimbabwe won consecutive T20I matches against Full Member oppositions – against Bangladesh in Khulna this January.
• Since India made their debut in T20 cricket, only twice have they packed as many as five debutants into an XI – against Zimbabwe on Saturday and against Zimbabwe a year ago.

*June 20, 08.00GMT: The preview was updated after Richmond Mutumbami’s injury update came in