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In a one-day series dominated by bowlers, two batsmen in particular stood out. AB de Villiers led the run scoring and Martin Guptill recovered from a hamstring injury to play perhaps his best innings. But neither of them will feature in the upcoming three-Test series between their two countries, albeit for different reasons.De Villiers has opted out of the series – and most of Test cricket for 2017 – as part of a workload management program while Guptill has not been selected despite his finding form, after he lost his Test place late last year, and the contest may be poorer without them.”Anybody, any coach, would want AB de Villiers in their side but he has made a decision and we respect that decision,” Russell Domingo, the South Africa coach, said. “He plays such a lot of cricket around the world, at such a high level all the time and he has got a young family so you can understand those decisions. We all definitely wanted him to stay but it’s a decision he has made for family life.”De Villiers, who has had lengthy breaks over the last eight months with an elbow problem, appeared close to his best in the last three weeks. His 262 runs came at 87.33 and included two half-centuries but that was not enough to change his mind about his Test hiatus. “I can’t wait to get home. I am really looking forward to get to my family. A three-week tour works really well. A couple of weeks at home before more cricket starts again is coming at a great time for me,” de Villiers said. “I will really miss the boys and I will watch the cricket but it’s a great time for me to get back and rest the mind.”He will have the next few weeks off before joining up with the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the IPL and then reuniting with his national team-mates as they prepare for the Champions Trophy – a tournament de Villiers “believes in my heart” they can win. Even if they don’t, he will see the competition as a valuable marker for his ultimate goal of lifting the 2019 World Cup, which will take priority over all other cricket for now. “He needs to freshen up and he needs to try and win the World Cup in 2019 – that’s a big ambition for him. It’s his decision and we respect it,” Domingo said.Without de Villiers, South Africa have already won three Test series, against New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka, and although they will miss their star batsman, Domingo is confident they can cope without him “We know when he is here, he gives absolutely everything, there’s no doubt about it. He will be missed but we’ve gone through a series against Sri Lanka and a series in Australia without him so the game goes on. As good as anyone is, the game goes on,” Domingo said. “Somebody will in time get to de Villiers’ level. When that is we don’t know, but someone will get there at some stage.”South Africa’s Test middle-order is made up of JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock with Theunis de Bruyn included as a reserve batsmen. Of those, only Bavuma has struggled of late but he found some form domestically during February with two fifties in his last four matches.Those numbers pale in comparison to Guptill’s but he was never going to be considered for a Test recall after being dropped at the start of the season, so while the unbeaten 180 reignited the debate the decision had been made. New Zealand coach Mike Hesson explained Guptill could be tried in the middle-order, where Henry Nicholls is currently establishing himself, but will first have to stake his claim in domestic cricket with Auckland.Guptill had a reputation for being loose outside the off stump and, as a result, is a favourite for the South Africa attack. In Tests, no bowler has dismissed him more than the absent Dale Steyn (six times in seven matches) and Vernon Philander is encroaching on that, having accounted for Guptill four times in six matches. Guptill has only scored one fifty against South Africa in 13 Tests innings but his two ODI hundreds – coming in the space of three innings – and one T20 century have served as enough warning of what he can do. Domingo was not complaining that they will not face him again over the next three weeks.”You always feel maybe you can bowl to the rest of the guys [in one-day cricket] whereas Martin is a guy who can dominate you straight away. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor will try and get themselves in but Martin is a guy who, from ball one, can take you apart,” Domingo said. “He is a hell of a player and that was one of the best one-day hundreds I’ve seen. His ball striking is phenomenal. I know his Test record hasn’t been as good as he would have hoped for but we always think a team without Martin Guptill is probably not the same.”

R Ashwin, the India offspinner, opened up a 37-point lead over second-placed Rangana Herath after taking match figures of 12 for 167 in the Mumbai Test.Ashwin now has 904 points, the second best by an offspinner after Muttiah Muralitharan (920), and the fifth-best among spinners after Tony Lock (912), Derek Underwood (907) and Shane Warne (905).

ICC top five rankings

• Test batsmen: 1. Steven Smith 2. Virat Kohli 3. Joe Root 4. Kane Williamson 5. Hashim Amla

• Test bowlers: 1. R Ashwin 2. Rangana Herath 3. Dale Steyn 4. James Anderson 5. Josh Hazlewood

• Test allrounders: 1. R Ashwin 2. Shakib Al Hasan 3 Ben Stokes 4. Ravindra Jadeja 5 Moeen Ali

Ashwin, who has scored 239 runs in six innings, including three half-centuries, in the ongoing Test series, also consolidated his position as the No.1 allrounder with 483 points, 78 ahead of the second-placed Shakib Al Hasan.Ashwin’s spin partner Ravindra Jadeja is ranked fourth in the allrounder’s list, just one point behind Ben Stokes’ 341. Jadeja’s six wickets in the Mumbai Test meant he rose to a career-best sixth in the bowlers’ list.India Test captain Virat Kohli, meanwhile, reached a career-best second rank among batsmen after his 235 in Mumbai. The knock earned him 53 points and an average of over 50 in Test cricket too. Australia captain Steven Smith occupies the top spot with 897 points, 11 ahead of Kohli.Kohli, who is also placed second in ODIs, and first in T20 internationals, has the chance to secure the top ranking in all three formats next year.India opener M Vijay and offspinning allrounder Jayant Yadav also moved up the batting rankings following their centuries in Mumbai. Vijay jumped up five places to 24th while Jayant vaulted to 56th from 87th.

If there was a shot in the Mohali Test that said “you may as well shake hands now” it was Parthiv Patel’s upper cut off Ben Stokes for four with India needing 48 runs to win. Parthiv was playing for India for the first time in eight years and he gave a fine account of himself, cracking 67 off 54 balls, including a lofted cover drive for four which became the winning runs.”I think he really stood out in this game for me as a batsman,” India’s captain, Virat Kohli, said.Parthiv had also made 42 in the first innings opening the batting at short notice after KL Rahul was ruled out aggravating a forearm injury in the nets, to go with four catches and a stumping. So was there a chance that he might stay with the team as a back-up batsman even if Wriddhiman Saha comes back to keep wicket for the Mumbai Test, starting on December 8?”You never know, there are all kinds of possibilities,” Kohli said. “The way he approached both innings, it was amazing to see. That’s where experience from the first-class level comes into play. He’s someone who’s played [for India] at a very early age and he’s come back and the intent he showed in both innings, I think, just deflated the opposition. Credit to him to go out there and counterattack and take on their seamers. You never know. We’ll see what happens in the next few days. We’ll take a call accordingly.”Another aspect that pleased Kohli was how consistently India’s lower order has been performing. They are second in terms of average runs added by the last four wickets in Test cricket this year.”As a side, when you get five or six wickets you think that the game is going to get over early and the batsmen go into that zone and suddenly you have to field for 50 more overs,” Kohli said. “You are confused whether to think about the game or focus on batting or focus on the field. All sorts of things start happening. We have experienced in the past as well when other teams have done it against us and we haven’t found a way to stop it. So it’s great to see our guys stepping up and making it count.”Every game, on an average, we are scoring 80-85 runs. This game was 200-plus. Amazing to see guys working hard on their batting, 70-80 runs put a dent on the opposition batting and when they come out to bat they know they’ve given 60 runs more. It makes a massive difference especially in Test cricket to stretch the game longer for a session or session-and-a-half and then come out with the confidence in the field as well. With the ball also it helps them, they have admitted it themselves. You see, Ashwin is the No. 1 allrounder, he scores lots of runs and comes out more confident with the ball. Credit to them and for executing those plans.”There was something else that geed up Kohli as well. He was seen exchanging words with Ben Stokes after the England allrounder was dismissed on the first day at the PCA stadium. Stokes was later fined by the ICC for the incident and when he took Kohli’s wicket on the second day, he celebrated by putting his hand over his mouth. Kohli responded with a finger-on-lips celebration when Stokes got out in the last over of the third day.Tthe question was bound to crop up in the press conference. “I’m surprised out of all the cricket questions you picked this,” Kohli said. “He’s a competitive player and so am I. I wouldn’t like to explain or elaborate what happened on the field. It’s better left to officials to know what happened. These things have only motivated me in the past and continued to do so. So I don’t mind it.”

Group B

After bowling Assam, who had been 132 for 6 overnight, for 193, Delhi‘s batsmen piled on the runs in Vadodara. Three of their top five made fifties – captain Unmukt Chand scored 55, Nitish Rana was unbeaten on 72 and Rishabh Pant, who played the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, was not out on 84 off 83 balls. Pant’s innings included seven fours and five sixes.The batsmen’s efforts made the second day’s play near perfect for Delhi. It had begun with Pradeep Sangwan ripping through the tail to finish with 3 for 47 – Assam’s Tarjinder Singh was left stranded with 61 runs to his name – and it ended with Delhi ahead by 48 runs with seven wickets remaining.A maiden first-class century from 19-year old Kaushal Singh helped Jharkhand secure an 83-run lead over Maharashtra in Delhi.Coming in at 108 for 5 in the 35th over, Kaushal batted through to stumps on the second day and helped his team overcome a top-order wobble. And it wasn’t like he was plodding along either. His 121 runs came off only 178 balls, with 15 fours and three sixes and that aggression meant the seventh and eighth-wicket partnerships with Shahbaz Nadeem and captain Varun Aaron contributed upwards of 50 runs each.Maharashtra, despite having only 210 on the board, would have felt hopeful considering Shrikant Mundhe began the day with two wickets in the space of four overs. But they couldn’t finish well.Saurashtra captain Jaydev Shah fell two runs shy of a career-best score as his team racked up a total of 430 against Rajasthan in Vizianagaram.Shah began the day on an unbeaten 120 and was the eighth wicket to fall for 193, an innings that lasted over six hours and included 36 fours. His strike-rate was an impressive 84.64. He added 110 runs with Chirag Jani for the sixth wicket which pushed the score over 300. Marshalled by Shah, the tail made some handy contributions as well to put Saurashtra in a position of strength.Rajasthan bowled them out with just enough time for them to bat again – 1.4 overs – which they got through unscathed.Half-centuries from Faiz Fazal and Ganesh Satish pushed Vidarbha into the lead against Odisha in Visakhapatnam. Fazal made an unbeaten 76. Satish was on 74 when he was caught behind with five overs left for stumps, a minor positive for Odisha, who had begun the day on 134 for 6 only to be bowled out for 150.Vidarbha were dominant from the very first ball they bowled on Friday – it bowled Odisha’s Biplab Samantaray for 53. Srikanth Wagh, who produced the wicket, finished with 3 for 13. Offspinner Akshay Wakhare then cleaned up the tail and finished with 3 for 19.Vidharba’s innings suffered a setback when opener Sanjay Ramaswamy was bowled for 13 by seamer Deepak Behera but Fazal and Satish negated Odisha’s bowling and added 158 for the second wicket. They have a 32-run lead and eight more wickets to work on building it further.

Aditya Tare, the Mumbai captain, lauded birthday boy Abhishek Nayar’s counterattack that helped the defending champions scrape home by two wickets in a low-scoring thriller against Tamil Nadu in their Ranji Trophy opener in Lahli.Set a target of 97, Nayar came in at the fall of the third wicket on 24 and then watched the side slide to 35 for 5. He then conjured a fighting unbeaten 56-ball 45 with the tail to see Mumbai through on what Tare described a “tricky wicket.””One person you can bank on during crisis is Abhishek Nayar,” Tare told ESPNcricinfo. “He is a specialist when it comes to playing under pressure and he’s done it a lot of times in the past. The wicket had already started to deteriorate. It would viciously bounce or keep low because the cracks had widened. It was always never going to be a cakewalk for us. I thought we did pretty well to hold our nerves.”While there were inevitable comparisons to Mumbai’s one-wicket heist against Tamil Nadu last season, both Tare and Nayar said that game hadn’t crossed their minds during the chase.Nayar, who turned 33, revealed he was promoted – he had batted at No.7 in the first innings – to counter Rahil Shah’s left-arm spin. “Chandu sir [coach Chandrakant Pandit] sent me up the order because their left-arm spinner, Rahil [Shah], was bowling really well,” Nayar explained. “So, they sent me to try and get him out of the attack and get some runs flowing. The mindset was that I have to play aggressively and take them on.”Nayar was appreciative of No. 9 batsman Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who contributed 12 runs to their 30-run stand for the eighth wicket. “I expected five-six runs from each one of them and if they could collectively get 10, I could get the remaining 40,” he said. But with Sandhu prised out by Aswin Crist with Mumbai needing seven, Nayar decided to take a chance against debutant seamer K Vignesh, who had a memorable debut, picking up nine wickets.The move worked as Nayar smashed a six off the first ball with a “pick-up shot” to level the scores before hitting the winning run two balls later. “I wasn’t sure whether or not we will be able to sustain for one more over because the ball was doing quite a bit and they were bowling well,” he said. “So, I decided to take a chance in the first ball of the over. Because I knew what he was bowling to me – he was bowling that to me for quite a while – I set myself up for that. I just gave it a full throttle, hoping that even if I didn’t time it, the ball would still go out of the ground.”While scoring was difficult, Nayar also credited Tamil Nadu for their accuracy. “It was basically a very green pitch. Initially, there was a very thick covering of grass that made it very tough for stroke-play. What made things more difficult was the outfield was super slow, so getting boundaries was not easy. In normal grounds where you get four runs, you get two for it. Later on, the cracks widened up on the pitch, so it was quite uneven.”We ended up batting in the toughest session of the game – in the morning – when the ball did the most. With the new ball, I anticipated them to come in hard and they bowled really well, so kudos to them. “Tare admitted it was nerve-wracking for him to watch the chase unfold.”I was just sitting in the dressing room by myself with my pads on, with sweaty palms ball after ball,” he said. “I just can’t stay out and rub my anxiety on to others. It is a sort of superstition and a way of hiding my nervousness also.”He also singled out the will to win as a constant trait of any Mumbai team. “In many situations, many teams would give up, or they wouldn’t know how to win, but our history is such that there have been so many games which we have almost lost, but the Mumbai team has won it,” he said. “There is a lot of faith in one another and not giving up. That’s what we showed today.”

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.”

Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan coach, has admitted having sleepless nights pondering the balance of the side for the final Test against England as they search for a series-levelling victory.Having been in control at Edgbaston, and holding a realistic chance of coming to The Oval 2-1 up themselves, they now have to dig deep into their resolve after a final-day collapse.”There were a lot of good things for us out of the last Test. I certainly did not feel that we ever rolled over there,” Arthur said. “We were in the contest for most of that game. I’ve taken a lot of positives out of that and reinforced the positives with the chaps.””I counted we probably won five sessions, England won three. The sessions England won, they won convincingly.”Before their demise over the last two sessions in Birmingham, Pakistan’s chances of winning had slipped away when the four-man attack tired on the fourth evening, allowing Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali to produce a game-changing partnership of 152 in 29 overs.”I said to the boys, we were probably one wicket away there from breaking through,” Arthur said. “If we could have knocked Bairstow over or Moeen early, it certainly would have put a totally different perspective on the game.”Pakistan’s lack of an allrounder – in stark contrast to England – has been a running theme throughout the series with Mohammad Hafeez’s inability to bowl being a major problem. There are no easy fixes to the problem, but Arthur hinted that Iftikhar Ahmed, who bowls offspin, could come into consideration.”Yes, he is an option,” Arthur said. “He bowls offspin and decently, England have a lot of left handers so he does give us an option as a fifth bowler if he comes in. But we have to be dead certain he can come into our top six and get runs, because we’ll be asking for runs first and bowling second.”If Iftikhar was to come in for his Test debut it would be Hafeez who would likely make way after his twin failures at Edgbaston, completed with an horrendous shot in the second innings when he pulled to long leg. That would probably entail Azhar Ali being promoted to open alongside Sami Aslam.Arthur even floated the notion of a fifth specialist bowler, calling it the “very positive option”, but it is hard to see that happening with the length of tail Pakistan already have and which England exploited twice at Edgbaston.”It’s certainly one of the options, but whoever comes in somebody has got to bat middle order, which makes it a particularly long tail,” he said. “That’s a very positive way to go. It’s one that we’ve thought about and one I lay in bed thinking about it last night. That’s a very positive option because we’ve got to get 20 wickets in this Test match. We’ve got to work through that one.”One of the key reasons that Pakistan’s attack has been under pressure is that England have countered Yasir Shah impressively since Lord’s. In the last two Tests he has combined figures of 4 for 502 having claimed 10 for 141 in the opening Test.After a difficult Old Trafford outing, Yasir performed an impressive holding role in the first innings at Edgbaston – sending down 25 unchanged – but in England’s second innings was taken for 172 off 43 overs, showing as much weariness as the quick bowlers by the end.”They have played the legspinner very well but we have to remember he’s been used in a defensive role,” Arthur said. “We bowled first at Edgbaston, there wasn’t a hell of a lot on offer, and at Old Trafford so he hasn’t had the luxury of bowling with runs on the board.”I’m hoping we can get runs on board here, it turns a bit and there’s a bit of bounce – and that’s a legspinner’s best friend. I actually think he’s bowled extremely well in both roles – attacking and defending.”If Pakistan are to level the series at The Oval – a ground where they have not authentically lost since 1967; they were in control of the controversial 2006 Test – they will need a key performance from Yasir, but their cause would also be helped by runs from Younis Khan.Younis has had a poor series with 122 runs in six knocks, his innings typified by extravagant movements around the crease which have twice played a part in him being caught down the leg side.As the Pakistan squad were given a quiet day of light training on Tuesday, Younis had an extended net on the square receiving throwdowns from Grant Flower.”I’m very confident he can make a contribution,” Arthur said. “He’s been very open to us speaking about some technical things, he has trained the house down and the hunger is there. I’ve been really impressed with how he’s handled it.”Watching him train and go about his business, he still tops the fitness charts, he’s one of the fittest in the team, his diet is exemplary. He’s so professional on and off the field. Put it this way, he’s giving himself the best chance to perform and I’ll take my hat off to chap like that any day of the week.”

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