Being left-handers' kryptonite could see R Ashwin edge Axar Patel out

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Despite his Player-of-the-Series performance against Australia, Axar might not be in the XI against South Africa

Karthik Krishnaswamy27-Sep-2022Eight wickets at an average of 7.87, and an economy rate of 6.30. Incredible numbers by themselves, but even more remarkable given that Axar Patel was bowling to an Australia side that posted totals of 211 and 186 either side of scoring 90 in an eight-overs-a-side shootout.Three days after winning the Player-of-the-Series award for that effort, however, there’s a chance that Axar might not feature when India open their three-match series against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram. It sounds preposterous, but it’s a distinct possibility when you look at potential match-ups. Matthew Wade was the only left-hand batter in Australia’s top seven; South Africa’s will quite likely include three, in Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw and David Miller.Related

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While commentators routinely scoff at match-ups, the facts lay out a clear case for respecting them. This year, in all T20 matches for which ball-by-ball data is available, left-arm spinners have an economy rate of 8.12 against left-hand batters as compared to 6.86 against right-hand batters. Offspinners have gone at 6.60 against left-hand batters, and 7.28 against right-handers.And because there are significantly fewer left-hand batters than right-hand batters going around, it’s fairly straightforward for teams to hide left-arm spinners away from unfavourable match-ups. Axar, for example, has only bowled 857 balls to left-hand batters in his T20 career (economy rate 8.58), as compared to 2385 to right-hand batters (6.68).Ordinarily, the composition of India’s attack might allow them to play their left-arm spinner regardless of opposition. But with Hardik Pandya rested and Deepak Hooda injured, they will most likely have no sixth bowler, which means the five main bowlers will have to deliver four overs each, no matter how favourable the match-ups are.And India have no need to force-fit Axar into their XI, given that their squad contains one of the world’s foremost exponents of bowling to left-hand batters. Since the start of last year’s T20 World Cup – when he came back into the T20I side after a four-year absence – R Ashwin has an economy rate of 6.05 against left-hand batters – the best of all India bowlers to have sent down at least 50 balls to left-hand batters in this period. His average against left-handers in this period, 13.25, is the second-best behind Arshdeep Singh’s 12.00.Axar, in comparison, has gone at 8.92, and Chahal at 8.10.Ashwin, of course, isn’t just an offspinner in T20 cricket. To right-handers in particular, he uses his front-of-the-hand variations – the carrom ball, and the reverse-carrom ball, which behaves like an inswinger – so often that you could label him a mystery bowler, except the mystery isn’t the point as much as the use of a wide range of tools to tie down the batter.It isn’t just left-hand batters who’ve found him hard to get away, as a result. Since the start of last year’s World Cup, Ashwin has been just as economical against right-handers, going at 6.13. Ravindra Jadeja is the only India bowler, among those who have sent down at least 50 balls to right-handers, to have done better (5.55).If you look at the above table, you might wonder why Ashwin isn’t India’s first-choice fingerspinner in T20Is regardless of opposition, but there’s an obvious answer to that question. Jadeja and Axar are proper allrounders who bat left-handed, and can bat at No. 7 or move up the order: either to break up India’s largely right-handed top six, or to allow Dinesh Karthik his preferred entry point close to the slog overs. Ashwin, over the last year or so, has turned himself into a versatile T20 batter who can pinch-block as well as pinch-hit, but he’s not nearly as good a six-hitter as Jadeja or Axar, and he bats right-handed.Against South Africa, the pluses of Ashwin’s bowling against a left-hander-heavy line-up should outweigh his relative shortcomings as a lower-order batter. India will most likely replace Pandya with Rishabh Pant, which means they probably don’t need a left-handed floater down the order. And Ashwin needn’t necessarily bat at No. 7 either, with Harshal Patel also likely to be part of the bowling attack. There is, of course, the option of India leaving out Chahal, playing both Ashwin and Axar. and lengthening their batting significantly.But in case India do leave out the guy who just won a Player-of-the-Series award, don’t be shocked. It’s no slight on a terrific cricketer; it’s just a reflection of India’s squad depth.

Chronicle of a collapse foretold – Pakistan's meltdown in Multan

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

For a while, Pakistan promised much in the second Test, but there would be no improbable fourth-innings glory, just another defeat

Danyal Rasool12-Dec-2022The fog that hovered over the Multan Cricket Stadium has dissipated, and the sun is shining. England’s lead spinner, Jack Leach, doesn’t seem much of a threat to Pakistan’s chances of a series-equalising win. Abrar Ahmed has made the surface look like a raging turner on day one, but on the other side of the weekend, the pitch only appears to be improving. Saud Shakeel is batting with the confidence of a man playing his 92nd Test rather than his second. Mohammad Nawaz is sweeping his way through spin, and using his feet against seam. Monday morning blues? This Multan crowd doesn’t know the meaning of it.Related

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Faheem Ashraf falls early in the morning, but there are no signs of Shakeel following suit. Across this series, the newbie to Test cricket has carried himself with the vibe of a high-schooler rocking his dad’s best clothes for a formal occasion, and pulling it off with gusto. This stage suits him fine. His fourth-innings average in first-class cricket is in excess of 66. He is born for this occasion, and an innings conceived in various Quaid-e-Azam trophy competitions is being delivered against England.Nawaz’s promotion ahead of Salman Agha catches enough people off-guard, and wonder if the latter was nursing a niggle, particularly as Pakistan eschew a left-right combination for Nawaz to come in at seven. But the variety in the two batters’ playing styles still gives England plenty to ponder.Nawaz sweeps one of every five balls he faces off Leach or Joe Root; Shakeel one in 52. Shakeel is content to defend – nearly half of all deliveries against spin are defended or left alone. Nawaz, meanwhile, is pointedly proactive against spin, scoring 28 in 30 balls. England push fields out, and get catchers in for the sweep. Then, as the pair exchange ends, the fielders creep in that bit closer, sweepers move squarer.Pakistan cricket has days like these. Three chases in excess of 300 in the past decade would attest to that, as would two remarkable Test matches against Australia in Karachi. Multan, meanwhile, was home to a classic fourth-innings heist against this very team in 2005 – Pakistan dragging a side that had just won the Ashes over the summer back down to earth with a 22-run win. It would prove to be a dynasty-killer, with that England side dismantled over the next few seasons. England now seem to be building another dynasty, and Pakistan have the chance to prove the foundations are wobblier than Brendon McCullum would have you believe.Ollie Robinson wheels away after taking the final wicket•Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesAs lunch beckons, Ben Stokes turns to Mark Wood. It’s not the first time he’s tried that; 24 hours earlier, with Pakistan’s opening partnership unbroken, Wood was brought on for a two-over pre-lunch burst. He couldn’t break through but he did enough to whet English appetites: Mohammad Rizwan was given out lbw before it was overturned on review, and Abdullah Shafique had taken on a short ball, only to get a top edge that sailed for six. Stokes knew the outcome did not override the potential behind the strategy. So here, with lunch three overs away, is Wood once more.At times like these, Wood has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and all its destructive power, too. There’s a short leg around the bat, and three men in catching positions on the leg side. Just before he bowls the first ball, Zak Crawley moves out of first slip, and positions himself at catching square leg. Unless it’s a phenomenally good double bluff, even the most unobservant viewer would tell you to watch out for a short-ball burst.Nawaz ducks the first, but it’s the boundary he scores off the second that really encourages England. It was straying on to the hips. That could suggest inaccuracy on the bowler’s part, but he might as easily have been testing Pakistan’s willingness for a dab down the leg side. It doesn’t get up high enough, and Nawaz clips it past the wicketkeeper for a four. The trap is set, the bait in place.Every one of Wood’s 12 balls before lunch lands short of a length. It’s an unsustainable barrage from a bowler who frequently exceeds the 90mph mark, just returning to Test cricket from an injury that kept him out in the first Test. It’s a desperate throw of the dice on a monopoly board where Pakistan own most of the best properties. As with any kind of baiting, it only works if the baited engages. Pakistan do not need to engage, and England are desperate for them to.Pakistan cricket has days like these, as Babar Azam has found out too often of late•Getty ImagesAside from that flicked four, Pakistan try and play just two of Wood’s short balls, leaving all others well alone. But with the risk-reward ratio stacked so thoroughly in the bowler’s favour, it’s a very high number. Once Nawaz, and then Shakeel are drawn by the temptation of an easy boundary to fine leg, the carrot of four fewer runs to get dangles much too closely to be resisted. Twice, Pakistan walk into the trap, and twice, the trap springs shut.Few among the locals at the ground are looking forward to lunch; the knot in the stomach leaves little room for an appetite. The calm assuredness the long-suffering fans get to see so rarely has vanished again, to be replaced by the frenzied status quo, at the end of which only lies heroic failure.They still cheer animatedly when Abrar swishes and flicks his way to a breezy 17, but there’s a knowingness to it all, like counting your pennies as you save up for a dream car you know you’ll never be able to afford. There’s comfort in moving closer to that unobtainable destination, and as Pakistan count the runs required each time Abrar hits another boundary, that’s exactly what it feels like.Pakistan are snapped out of that daydream soon enough, and before long, England squash the last dregs of resistance out of Zahid Mahmood and Mohammad Ali. Far from adding to the improbable flurry of recent fourth-innings heroics, Multan instead bears witness to the burgeoning list of Pakistan’s batting collapses. Last week, they lost their last five wickets for nine runs. This time, 38.The sun is still shining just as brightly, but as the fans stream out from behind the shaded columns of the stadium, they can no longer see it. Pakistan cricket has days like these, too.

Rohit Sharma's Test captaincy faces its first huge test

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Since becoming captain in February 2022, Rohit has played only two Tests, and now Australia stand between him and a World Test Championship final

Karthik Krishnaswamy05-Feb-2023It’s been a little over a year since it officially began, but has the Rohit Sharma era as India captain really begun at all?It’s made a spluttering sort of start in Test cricket: Rohit missed three of India’s five Tests since he became their all-format captain. Injuries, in fact, have forced Rohit to miss eight of India’s last 10 Test matches. He was Player of the Match in India’s last Test before this stretch of games, a landmark victory that took them to a 2-1 series lead in England, months after they had beaten Australia 2-1 in Australia.Since then, India’s world-beating aura has faded somewhat – they lost Tests they could have won in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Birmingham, and won one they could quite conceivably have lost in Dhaka – and Rohit has mostly been an absent figurehead.Related

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He has had more of a chance to make an impact as a white-ball captain, and his overall results have been fantastic. Rohit has the best win-loss ratio of any India ODI captain who has led at least 10 times in that format, and only Hardik Pandya, who has only captained in 11 matches, sits above him on the corresponding T20I list.Reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup a year after exiting the same tournament at the group stage could be seen as a significant achievement for both Rohit and Rahul Dravid, who took over as head coach after the 2021 tournament. But it wouldn’t be lost on either of them that, for all the gains India made as a T20I side between the two tournaments, particularly in terms of batting approach, the same failings cost them in both 2021 and 2022.Dravid knows from experience that tournament results end up defining captains, and that one bad tournament can cancel out the goodwill earned via bilateral results, especially in white-ball cricket. He could be remembered as the captain who turned India into a world-class chasing team in ODIs, but it’s likely that far more remember him for leading India to a group-stage exit at the 2007 World Cup.Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid took over as India’s captain and coach after the 2021 T20 World Cup•Getty ImagesProcess dominates cricket discourse far more in Rohit’s era than it did in Dravid’s, but results – specifically results in “big” games and tournaments – eventually come to define the tenures of captains, coaches and selectors.That Rohit succeeded Virat Kohli was itself, in part, down to a sense that he would be a big-tournament captain, and India had been starved of big-tournament titles since 2013. At the time he took over the white-ball teams, Rohit had just won his fifth IPL title as Mumbai Indians’ captain, and there were three ICC trophies up for grabs in the next two years.Tournament results are, of course, heavily dependent on how good a team is relative to the competition, the format – one or two bad days are enough to send a strong contender out of the T20 World Cup at the group stage than they are to prevent one from reaching the IPL playoffs – and luck.When teams win, though, the complicated story of their success is often simplified, and retold with the captain cast as some sort of all-knowing, benevolent mastermind. In the media, this premise is usually backed up with player testimonials – it’s a fresh surprise each time players in winning teams say good things about their captains, no doubt – rather than any analysis of how this superhero captain’s decision-making differed from that of other captains in similar situations, and no one ever asks whether the same team, filled with so many other winning ingredients, could have just as easily won with a different captain.For whatever it was worth, then, Rohit came to the India captaincy with something of an aura. Now, just over a year since becoming all-format captain, there are threats to his leadership in every format.In T20Is, the threat has a name. Hardik has captained India in every T20I they’ve played since the World Cup semi-final against England in November. Rohit scored a scratchy 27 off 28 balls in that match, and he hasn’t played a T20I since. Now this is mostly because India are building up to an ODI World Cup and are looking to rest their senior players from T20Is, but it’s not inconceivable that one or more of the young top-order contenders who are now getting their chance could make themselves exceedingly difficult to leave out by the time T20Is become top priority again.The future of Rohit’s ODI captaincy, meanwhile, could hinge on whether or not India translate their status as favourites for this year’s home World Cup into actually winning it. It’s an unfair amount of pressure, but it is what it is.Rohit Sharma has not played a Test match since March 2022•Associated PressHis Test captaincy, of course, has barely begun at all.It’s against this backdrop that Rohit will lead India in one of Test cricket’s highest-profile contests. The 2016-17 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was perhaps the greatest Test series India has hosted this millennium – yes, arguably even greater than 2000-01 for the range of quality performances from both sets of players – a series where Australia made them reach into their deepest reserves of skill and stamina to complete a 2-1 comeback win.The Australia of 2022-23 could be an even better collection of players than the one that toured in 2016-17, and could be an even better team if they address one key structural issue – the seeming lack of a quality second spinner.India will, as ever, begin the series with a formidable spin attack and, despite the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, a group of quicks who are often deadly in home conditions. The batting will give them a few more headaches: India will be without Rishabh Pant’s genius and – for the first Test at least – Shreyas Iyer’s counterattacking flair against spin. This is a worry because they’ve been India’s best batters in subcontinental conditions since the start of 2021, a period in which Cheteshwar Pujara has averaged 34.61 in Asia and Virat Kohli 23.85. Rohit’s red-ball rhythm, meanwhile, is a bit of an unknown, since he hasn’t played a Test match since March 2022.For all that, India should still be favourites, but if you’re an India fan and your normal pre-series anticipation is tinged with a sense of nameless dread, it could be because of this: R Ashwin is 36; Rohit, Pujara and Umesh Yadav are 35; Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja are 34; and Mohammed Shami is 32. Ishant Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, both 34, may already have played their last Tests.It’s fallen upon Rohit to captain India’s most successful generation of Test cricketers when they’re ageing at the same time. Managing this transition could be an exceedingly tricky task, and quite a lot of it – what can a mere captain do, for instance, to unearth successors to all-time greats? – is beyond his control, but it’s one other thing he’ll be judged on, for better or worse.The Rohit Sharma era, then, could be a short one. And if this series against Australia – upon whose outcome hinges India’s qualification for the World Test Championship final – doesn’t go to plan, it could threaten to end before it’s even had a chance to properly begin.

What is a local cricketer in the MLC?

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Only seven American-born players were picked at the draft, suggesting the league may be located in the USA but it’s not happening for the USA

Peter Della Penna24-Mar-2023On Sunday night at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, all sorts of questions could be explored walking around this wondrous complex dedicated to the history and future of space exploration. On entering, to the left, visitors couldn’t have missed a prominent exhibit dedicated to the new Artemis shuttle program which launched last November. Who might be the first woman to walk on the moon, one might ask? How many years until an astronaut lands on Mars?By the end of that evening’s Major League Cricket (MLC) player draft, conducted at the sprawling facility, a different question took center stage. One that might even stump NASA’s astrophysicists and rocket scientists: What is a local cricketer in the MLC?Judging by the list of 54 players chosen in the draft (for domestic players) it’s entirely possible that if you asked any of the hundreds of people present, you might not be able to get two people to give the same answer.Most coaches, players and fans within the USA have been sold the premise that the MLC is going to provide new opportunities for American players to aid their development by allowing them to play with and against some of the world’s elite stars. That was highlighted by the announcement of the first six international signings unveiled on draft night, headlined by Aaron Finch, Mitchell Marsh and Quinton de Kock.Related

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But when it came to the drafting, a steady stream of messages and social media posts highlighted both the excitement and at times dismay as to who plays as a “local” player alongside those stars. In the first round, three USA national team players were drafted: Steven Taylor, Ali Khan and Rusty Theron. All three have had very different journeys to play for USA.Taylor was born and raised in Florida. He is USA’s all-time leading scorer in T20Is and once flirted with playing for the West Indies by using his parents’ Jamaican heritage. He was briefly even contracted with Jamaica’s first-class team in 2017. He turned a standout knock of 88 off 71 balls in the 2017 CWI Super50 semi-final into a $30,000 contract with Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL, making him the highest paid American player in a T20 franchise league at the time. The $75,000 slot he’ll get for being the third overall pick by MI New York is not only two-and-a-half times what he got in the CPL, but nearly as much as he got in 2019 as one of USA’s first centrally contracted players. Except, that was for 12 months’ work compared to sweating out as few as five match days during MLC.Khan was born in Pakistan, moved with his family to Ohio at the age of 18 and became a naturalized citizen in 2015. That was well before he debuted for USA in 2016 and turned into a regular on the global T20 franchise circuit in the summer of 2018. But his pathway to fifth overall pick by Los Angeles Knight Riders was destined once he had been part of the Knight Riders set-ups in the CPL, IPL, and ILT20.Theron grew up in and represented South Africa before retiring and seeking out a university degree in education in Florida. His stay was meant to be temporary until he met his wife, got married and got back into cricket on the US club scene. After qualifying under the ICC’s three-year residency criteria, he was eventually picked for a USA debut in 2019.Elsewhere in the first round, Corey Anderson was drafted by San Francisco Unicorns. He retired from international cricket several years ago and migrated to Texas just ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic to be nearer to his then fiancée and now wife’s family. He has also met the three-year residency threshold to be eligible to play for USA. Liam Plunkett and Shehan Jayasuriya, both drafted in the second round, have also decided to settle in the USA over the last two years, through marriage.In different ways, these journeys paint a picture of a cricket league’s spin on the American dream, especially for a kid growing up in Texas wanting to be the next Taylor or Khan: “Hey kid, you can make an honest living as a professional cricketer right here in America.” As when 20-year-old Dallas native Ali Sheikh, who has played for USA Under-19, but is yet to get a senior team cap, was taken in the sixth round for $25,000. That’s not such a bad part-time summer job for a college student at the University of Texas at Dallas. If he does well enough, it’ll come off more like a summer internship leading to a full-time cricket job post-grad.Franchises gathered inside NASA Space Center Houston for the MLC Draft•Peter Della PennaHowever, snaking through the rest of the draft, that dream started to get fuzzier. The lack of USA national team qualified players selected became increasingly hard to ignore, or the lack of outright American citizens. This was, after all, a draft for local players. Following the selection of Taylor third overall, it took until the fourth round for a second American-born player to be picked: Nosthush Kenjige 22nd overall pick, joining Taylor at MI New York.But a pick which drew much more scrutiny came one selection earlier when Chaitanya Bishnoi was taken by San Francisco Unicorns. In a media release issued by MLC on March 6 to highlight the shortlist of 102 players in the draft pool – including 56 who were divided into four teams for a T20 quadrangular played in front of coaches and scouts from the six MLC franchises – there was no mention of Bishnoi, a 28-year-old journeyman from Delhi who at one time was in the Chennai Super Kings squad but never made it to a starting XI. As recently as January, Bishnoi was suiting up for Haryana in the Ranji Trophy. Instead, there was a ‘Chetan Bish’, presumably Bishnoi’s Clark Kent alter ego who had left India at the start of March, rocked up to Houston and was deemed a “local” player.When Bishnoi walked up on stage to collect his new Unicorns cap in the tradition of American drafts and pose for a photo with tournament director Justin Geale, there were smiles on the dais mixed with the pained grins of several USA squad players in the crowd. Many of those without a central contract who live paycheck to paycheck, along with their peers currently on an ODI tour in Namibia, wound up undrafted while Bishnoi was fetching a $40,000 purse designated for fourth-round picks.When asked for their definition of “local”, an MLC official said: “A player needs to demonstrate that they will hold a ‘qualified visa’, have established their ‘primary and permanent residence’ in the US, and will continue to satisfy the ICC’s guideline regarding ten out of 12 months for three consecutive years.” That may be a reasonable definition but satisfying all three statutes after spending a handful of days in the country strains credulity, especially since Bishnoi was specifically described in MLC documents as a “player currently transitioning to eligible visa to be classified as domestic player”. There is also a subtle but important difference in the language used by MLC, giving the green light to players who “will” pledge to stay in the USA for three years, versus the ICC guideline requiring non-citizen players to have already lived in the USA for three years.To be fair, Bishnoi was not the only one that MLC appears to have flexed their domestic player statute for, though he is the only one to bizarrely alter his name upon arrival. Mukhtar Ahmed and Saif Badar, 30 and 24 respectively, also arrived at the 11th hour into Texas for the quadrangular T20s held the week before the draft, having been part of the Pakistan domestic set-up during the 2022-23 season. Mukhtar went in the second round for $65,000 and Badar in round seven for $15,000.USA players on the fringe of being drafted might have been able to reconcile this if they saw the “local player” criteria being massaged to accommodate, say, Virat Kohli. But many people in US cricket circles are struggling to understand why MLC officials were so desperate to shoehorn a trio of fairly obscure names into the draft who will not move the needle one bit when it comes to marketing exposure, ticket sales or TV ratings.In the end, players with deep ties to the national team were few and far between among draft selections. Only seven American-born players (13% of the picks) were chosen, including four in the Under-23 development category. Though there is a requirement to have an Under-23 player in each squad, there’s no mandate to play them in the XI. It means that realistically, only three franchises may have a solitary American-born player in their starting XI of the 66 players who will make their MLC debut from July 13.Players with deep ties to the USA national team were few and far between among the MLC draft selections•Peter Della PennaSeparate from that, there is miniscule representation of USA national team players on the whole. Only 15 out of the 54 picks were players who have been capped for the senior or Under-19 teams. When all the overseas signings are finalised, it means that at best an average of two USA players will be in any squad.This is in stark contrast to, as a relevant example, the UAE’s ILT20. Though nine overseas players were allowed in any starting XI, organisers mandated that each squad pick four UAE-qualified players and two in every starting XI. MLC will allow six overseas players in their starting XI, yet their malleable definition of “local” – along with no mandate to specifically pick a minimum number of USA-qualified players – means that there may be numerous matches where not a single USA national team player takes the field.The glowing exception is MI New York. Despite their stubbornly goofy branding in tagging Mumbai into the name of every domestic city-based franchise they have a stake in, MI New York has the most American flavour by far. They used six of their nine draft picks – double the next best – on USA squad players. That’s thanks in large part to former USA head coach J Arunkumar in their backroom. If he thought the quality of a USA player was no good, he could easily have ignored his former charges. Instead, he has vouched for their quality. If that many are good enough for MI New York, why not other teams?At the other end, Washington Freedom and San Francisco Unicorns only took one USA squad member each. Meanwhile, a total of 22 current or former USA squad members at junior or senior level went undrafted out of the final pool of 102 players. The snubs include the three batting heroes of USA’s first ever T20I win over a Full Member nation in December 2021 against Ireland: Sushant Modani, Gajanand Singh and Marty Kain. That kind of unbalanced equation gives off the impression that while the league may be located in the USA, it may not necessarily be happening for the USA.Amid reminders of Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the moon, the ability for current or former overseas stars to cash in some American greenbacks on the T20 circuit took a giant leap for cricketkind on Sunday night. Yet, a much smaller step was taken to advance vital cricket playing ambitions and opportunities for the ‘local’ man.

Switch Hit: England tee off (again)

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Alan, Miller and Vish reflect on another comprehensive Bazballing in the Mount Maunganui Test

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2023England continued their striking run of Test form with a crushing 267-run victory in the day-night Test at Mount Maunganui, making it 10 wins out of 11 since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took charge of the team’s fortunes. Harry Brook was Player of the Match for the third game running, while James Anderson and Stuart Broad took their wickets tally in Tests together past 1000. On this week’s pod, Alan Gardner was joined by Andrew Miller and, on the line from Wellington, Vithushan Ehantharajah to breakdown another emphatic display of “Bazballing”, marvel at two old-stagers enjoying their part in the revolution, and preview England’s final Test assignment of the winter.

The trinity that wrote CSK's script for their fifth IPL title

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Rayudu, Rahane and Dube – all at different stages of their careers – brought out their best through the season

Shashank Kishore30-May-20231:57

Moody: Dhoni develops the young and reinvents the old

“With him in the team I will never win the fairplay award. But what I will remember him for is he always gives his 100%.”That was MS Dhoni on Ambati Rayudu in a nutshell. The angry, often testy and emotional character that Rayudu can be, was sobbing inconsolably after the winning runs were hit in the IPL final. Two days earlier, he had announced retirement and promised there wouldn’t be any U-turns.It was a glorious end to a career that had its fair share of moments in the sun and moments that had the potential to go out of hand. Like in 2018, when Rayudu went incommunicado for over two weeks after he had been withdrawn from India’s squad over a failed yo-yo test.Related

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  • Dhoni vows to return for another season if his body allows

  • Rayudu: 'A fairy-tale finish, I can smile for the rest of my life'

Only a few months earlier, Rayudu had been front and centre of CSK’s magnificent run to the title. He had made 602 runs in 16 innings while striking at 149.75. A World Cup dream was burning bright, but Rayudu was crushed by the manner in which he is believed to have been told, “no fitness, no World Cup.”Kasi Viswanathan, the CSK CEO and a calm man who players swear by for being a “voice of reason”, stepped in to help Rayudu in a bid to get him back on track. A part of the exercise was to have him mentor young kids handpicked by CSK for an exchange programme in Yorkshire.Viswanathan left no stone unturned in reaching out to Rayudu, who in Dhoni’s own words “doesn’t use a mobile phone much”. And from being on the edge of walking away angry at the system and at himself, Rayudu came back reinvigorated. He thanked “Kasi sir” for helping him rediscover the fire. Two weeks later, he cleared the yo-yo test and forced his way back into contention, first with India A and then with the Indian team.Rayudu is a man of few words. The anger he can show on the field can, at times, come as a shock if you’re used to his polite off-field persona. He smiles more than he talks. His demeanour on Monday night was of someone emotional, yet satisfied with where he stood as he walked away a winner.From being touted as one for the future in 2002 to playing in an Under-19 World Cup in 2004 to disappearing into the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) and then returning to the mainstream, Rayudu’s career has been one of promise not entirely fulfilled. In Ahmedabad on Monday night, he was part of a sixth IPL crown, three each with CSK and Mumbai Indians.”I can smile for the rest of my life,” Rayudu said, wiping tears in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. “All the hard work for the last 30 years. I’m just happy that it finished on this night.”Rayudu’s was a clutch contribution, without which it’s entirely possible CSK may have not had the legs for the late heist. How someone who had barely batted in the tournament soaked in pressure and launched a sensational assault on one of the tournament’s best death bowler is a story for the ages.He was simply looking to hold his shape, stand deep inside his crease and let his instincts take over. It’s easier said than done, but to be able to execute when everything is on the line speaks of not just his class but composure. He went 6, 4, 6 against Mohit Sharma. From 39 off 18, the equation was down to 23 off 15.”Ambati Rayudu is an absolute legend, I rate him so highly as a batter,” coach Stephen Fleming said at the post-final press conference. “That over today, the three balls against Mohit Sharma proved why. Mohit’s one of the in-form death bowlers and the way Rayudu hit him for 6, 4, 6 was pure class. So, he will leave a hole [in the team going forward], there’s no doubt about it but the game keeps moving. He’s identified mentally and physically it’s his time to go. We’ve respected that, for him to go out like that was emotional for him and the group. I’m very pleased for him. I’m really rapped with what he contributed to CSK.”1:57

Manjrekar: Dhoni had his eyes closed for the final ball

****

In December 2022, Viswanathan had a brief discussion with Fleming and Dhoni over the possibility of shortlisting Ajinkya Rahane ahead of the auction. Fleming vouched for Rahane’s work ethic and strongly endorsed him being in the shortlist, even if a final call on selecting him was to be made in due course. Dhoni is believed to have told Viswanathan, “nothing like it if we can get Jinks.”Fleming had worked previously with Rahane at Rising Pune Supergiants and knew of his pedigree. He felt here was a batter who had immense potential even if he was at the fag end of his career. Getting him at base price, Viswanathan said, was a “bonus.” They had budgeted a “slightly more than that” – he was signed for INR 50 lakh (US$ 60,000 approx.).”When I turned up halfway through the pre-season training, I saw a guy who was in magnificent form,” Fleming said. “He wasn’t in our initial thoughts, but the game in Mumbai [where Rahane scored 61 off 27] was really defining.”Rahane only found out he was playing just prior to the toss. Ben Stokes had been injured, Moeen Ali was unwell, and CSK needed to rejig their top order. This was a return to the IPL of sorts. His career had hit a dead end. He hadn’t hit an IPL fifty since 2020. He hadn’t played in a Test for over a year. And when he didn’t get runs for Kolkata Knight Riders before leaving midway due to an injury last year, you feared he had done his time. Much to his credit, Rahane went back to domestic cricket to get back the “enjoyment factor” and in his first knock back at the IPL this season, he heads turn straightaway.Suddenly, Rahane’s form led to a chatter around him potentially lending India’s middle order some experience in Shreyas Iyer’s absence for the WTC final. Certainly the selectors felt that way and he was rewarded with a recall.On Monday night, you wouldn’t have expected Rahane to come in at No. 4 in a truncated game. But his six-hitting form and the improved focus on going hard from ball one convinced the team management that it was a “good call.” Rahane played two of the most stunning shots in the match. The first was a home run. “Baseballs it over midwicket,” said Karthik Krishnaswamy on ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary.The second shot, one ball later, brought back Sachin Tendulkar’s desert storm feels. “Straight down the ground, wonderful shot, all the wayyy for six.” You could hear the mind replay that in Tony Greig’s booming voice. If aesthetics was an Olympic sport, Rahane was a gold medalist, hands down. This unshackled version of Rahane, who finished the season with the best strike rate (232.39) against pace bowling (minimum balls faced 20) was down to proper role clarity.”My understanding is that we got rid of the tag of being the guy you bat around or bat through,” Fleming explained. “I think that maybe hung over his head a little bit too much and didn’t allow him to be the player that he can be. And once that tag was gone, it was one of our best wins in the tournament and he was the big catalyst behind it, so he cemented that No. 3 spot.”He’s been unwavering the whole way through, he’s been nothing but positive, his nets have been positive. Anytime he’s been caught on the boundary or out playing a big shot, we’ve just reinforced how good he’s playing. So a little bit of belief and just sheer ability – he’s been a wonderful player for us this year.”2:09

Manjrekar: Dhoni trusted Jadeja to do the job

****

Shivam Dube had a middling IPL 2022. Short balls tucked into his body at pace were his weakness. An injury in the build-up to the season left the team management with little time to work on his game. So instead, they decided to build on his strengths. Which was his ability to use his long levers to muscle spin for sixes. Dube had made a mark first when he walloped five sixes in five balls in a local T20 game in Mumbai. They worked on bringing that ferocity back, this time against quality spin of Yuzvendra Chahal, Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine.On Monday, Dube had a forgettable start. He was on 12 off 11 and CSK needed 54 off 24. The pressure was piling up. He couldn’t time the ball. They weren’t giving him the length to swing for the hills. In trying to overhit, he kept losing his shape.And then he went boom, boom against a clutch bowler, Rashid. It was a wrong’un gone wrong; it was right in his hitting slot and Dube picked him early to launch it straight down the ground. Next ball was of similar length, but a legbreak. Again, Dube picked it early, cleared his front leg and walloped it with the spin. Those two shots brought CSK back in. It would lead to the start of Rayudu’s torrent at the other end.”To bring Dube up and use him in an aggressive role took a few games,” Fleming said. “We were unsure but he played a defining innings against RCB [in Bengaluru where he scored 52 off 27] where he really stamped his authority and from there, he was sort of a catalyst for us through those middle overs. With the Impact Player, that’s what was needed.”

****

Perhaps there was no bigger catalyst on the night than Ravindra Jadeja. The man who dismissed Shubman Gill to give CSK an early breakthrough was there right at the end to see the team home. This was a moment Jadeja was perhaps waiting for, after a season of feeling a little letdown by the Chennai fans. The same fans who wanted him out so that Dhoni could come in to bat were willing him on with CSK needing 10 off the last two balls.They were all praying hard. The captain couldn’t watch. Jadeja knew he had to swing and swing hard. And he did. And just like that, all the tension that appeared to have built up, with all the social media potshots and cryptic messages of “karma” and “knowing my worth”, went down the river. There was unparalleled joy. Dhoni couldn’t hold back his emotions. Jadeja sprinted across as soon as he made contact, knowing they had won. He didn’t even bother looking behind. They were all trying to catch him. Everyone was running in circles. It was delirium.They say there are no fairy tales in sport. This was a pretty good one, for CSK; something that one didn’t see happening when Jadeja left the camp in a huff in 2022. He had just been removed as captain. Jadeja wiped out any mention of CSK on his Instagram account. He was fuming, only to be later cajoled and brought back into the camp. Here he was now, on top of the podium, having delivered under immense pressure. Jadeja had become their new ”.”It’s been a difficult 18 months, where the captaincy was difficult, the injury was difficult. It took a bit of time from out of the game to come back reinvigorated to the Test game and then reintegrate into CSK,” Fleming said. “He plays a great role with the ball, but we’ve got so much firepower that in some ways we use him down the order. But something has to give, and MS has been very supportive and proactive of getting him up there.”And today, he repaid that faith. That six to a ball that was neat-perfect was defining. And then a good left-hander’s straight drive through fine leg was a great way to finish it. I couldn’t have been happier for him. There’s been some frustration at times, but he’s our gun player, our No. 1-ranked player, and today he delivered.”It was the perfect end to a season full of drama. It was the culmination of a journey that began mid-February when Fleming and CSK realised they needed to patch together something out of nothing, given their injury list.It was quite symbolic in the end that the defining image of their season was one of an injured Dhoni, knee in a brace and struggling from the many million squats he has had to do, lifting Jadeja in one motion.You couldn’t have scripted any of it.

Issy Wong grew up watching Mumbai Indians. Now she's one of them

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The fast bowler missed out on England’s T20 World Cup squad but she’s got plenty of cricket to look forward to

Matt Roller02-Mar-2023″It just went off in there,” says Issy Wong, remembering a visit to Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium in 2019.”I was there on an England academy tour and we went to a game against Kings XI Punjab. KL Rahul got a hundred and [Mumbai] looked absolutely nowhere. Then [Kieron] Pollard got 80-odd off nothing. They needed two to win off the last ball – it must have been about midnight at this point – and there was a misfield to win it. The atmosphere was just unreal.”Four years later Wong has little need for the Mumbai Indians replica shirt she bought during that tour. She is part of their squad for the first-ever Women’s Premier League fixture on Saturday against Gujarat Giants, pinching herself at the opportunity to play in the women’s equivalent of the competition she watched throughout her childhood.Related

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“I used to run home from school to watch it,” Wong recalls. “I’d sit down with a snack and watch whichever game was on. Danny Morrison was my favourite commentator. He epitomised what it was about: getting people excited about cricket.” She breaks into an impersonation: “Brendon McCullum has got his dancing shoes on!”Wong was one of seven England players sold at February’s auction, and the only one not involved in their T20 World Cup squad. While her team-mates tried – with mixed success – to block it out during their win over Ireland, Wong was training at Edgbaston. Her girlfriend – and new Central Sparks team-mate – Katie George shouted, “You’re on!” across the indoor school.”By the time I got over there, I’d been picked up,” she says with a grin. Mumbai signed her at her base price of Rs 30 lakh (US$36,600 approximately) as one of their six overseas players. For Wong, it means a reunion with Charlotte Edwards, Mumbai’s coach, who gave her a first professional contract with Southern Vipers in the Kia Super League four years ago.”It felt a bit like ,” Wong says. “I’ve worked with her on a few England A tours but I’m looking forward to getting out there and working a bit more closely with her.” She is also relishing the prospect of playing under Jhulan Goswami, Mumbai’s mentor and bowling coach.Wong made her debut for England in all three formats last summer, but couldn’t find a place in the Women’s T20 World Cup squad•Julian Finney/Getty Images”She’s a genuine legend of the game. She’s the best Indian seam bowler ever. To be able to pick her brains about bowling pace in India is second to none, isn’t it? That’s right from the horse’s mouth. I can’t wait.”We are speaking at Major League Baseball’s London headquarters, just off Oxford Street, two days before her flight to India; Wong has recently signed up as a Europe ambassador for the baseball league. She is 20 years old and has played for England 13 times but has attracted significant commercial interest as a charismatic young fast bowler who personifies the rapid growth of women’s cricket.A decade ago there were no full-time professional women’s cricketers in England and Wales; in the past six months, Wong has moved from a regional contract with Southern Vipers to an England central contract, signed a WPL deal, and been retained by Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred ahead of this month’s draft. The game is changing fast.”It feels like absolute carnage to be honest,” Wong says, laughing. “Every week, there’s something else happening. Then the next week, it’s like, ‘Okay, this is what we’re focusing on. This is happening now.'”Jon Lewis, who replaced Lisa Keightley as England coach last year, has told his players to “live in your shoes”, a modification of Brendon McCullum’s mantra to “be where your feet are”. The message has resonated with Wong.”That’s all you can control,” she says. “If I sat here thinking, ‘I’ve not packed, I need to have a haircut, I need to start swinging the ball again, I need to get that running session in, and how much am I going to squat tomorrow?’ then I would just explode. I’m just trying to be as flexible, as adaptable as possible.”Those are traits that Wong hopes will help her win back her place in the England team after a winter where she has “not had the best run of it”. She made her debuts in all three formats last summer and was an ever-present in the side that finished fourth at the Commonwealth Games, but a quadriceps niggle denied her the opportunity to impress Lewis in the Caribbean.Wong trains with Mumbai Indians’ bowling coach Devika Palshikar: “These last two months, it’s been, ‘How can I make Issy Wong a better cricketer and a better athlete?”•Mumbai IndiansShe anticipated her exclusion from the T20 World Cup squad, and the call arrived as expected on January 2. “Katie said it would be positive either way,” Wong recalls. “Either you represent your country at a World Cup, or they’ve given you feedback and space to make some progress. Once I framed it like that in my head, it felt better.”Look at the Future Tours Programme: there’s so many more World Cups in the next three years alone. I’m only 20. It doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road. It gave me an opportunity to stay at home, train, and get better.” Having struggled to swing the new ball last year, she has worked hard in a bid to start moving her stock ball away from right-handers again. She has been in the gym regularly, “trying to get myself a little bit fitter” through “a lot of strength and endurance work”.”It’s hard, once you get into that cycle. You’re always preparing for the next game, as opposed to having a chance to step back and say ‘I’m going to work on myself.’ It’s always, ‘How am I going to get Smriti Mandhana out?’ Or, ‘How am I going to bowl to Alyssa Healy?’ Whereas actually, these last two months, it’s been, ‘How can I make Issy Wong a better cricketer and a better athlete?’ It’s been nice to step back and make the most of that time away.”After the WPL, Wong will hardly have a chance to catch her breath: she will return to Central Sparks’ pre-season training barely a week after the season ends, then play two months of regional cricket before the Ashes, the Hundred, and a series against Sri Lanka. “Then all of a sudden, it’s October,” she says. Such is life for the modern women’s cricketer.But for the next four weeks, the focus is on India. “It’ll be such a good experience,” Wong predicts. “Look at the overseas players we’ve got: Nat Sciver, one of the best allrounders in the world. Amelia Kerr, one of the best legspinners. Chloe Tryon and Hayley Matthews, two of the most powerful batters. Then Harmanpreet Kaur, India’s captain; Pooja Vastrakar, one of their frontline bowlers.”Even if Wong does not expect to play every game – teams can only field four overseas players in their XI – the tournament will give her the chance to learn from the best. “These guys have played much more franchise and international cricket than me. It’ll be really good to soak in as much as I can off them. They’ve done more good things than me; they’ve made more mistakes than me and they’ve learned from them.”Watch the Major League Baseball season live on BT Sport in the UK from March 30, with live coverage of the St Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs, MLB World Tour: London Series 2023 on screens June 24-25.

Polo-shaped Pakistan look to shake off ODI rust against Afghanistan

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Pakistan have played just eight ODIs all year, and must fast come up with a winning formula ahead of the long hard grind of the season

Danyal Rasool21-Aug-2023The clock would not even have struck nine in the morning when PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf was in his car in Colombo. It is rush hour in Colombo on a Monday morning, no one’s idea of a pleasant start to any day. But this VIP guest could not leave it any longer, because the appointment he had to keep lay four hours away in a small southern Sri Lankan town. Ashraf was meeting the Pakistan team for brunch in Hambantota, a day out from the start of the first of three ODIs between Pakistan and Afghanistan. With no flights between the capital and the town, this was the only way to get there. Ironically, if Afghanistan – the official hosts of the series – had been actually hosting it – Kabul was just a half-hour plane hop away.The window in any four-year cycle when bilateral ODI cricket truly feels like it matters has shrunk exponentially and is diminishing even faster, but we’re finally looking through it now. With the ODI World Cup on the horizon, Afghanistan and Pakistan – victims of geopolitics and security concerns – find themselves in Sri Lanka for the best part of their preparations for the tournament. Before the Asia Cup, they have got together for their first-ever bilateral series, Hambantota and Colombo the neutral venues.Related

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It is not clear if the Afghanistan players also had the pleasure of the ACB chairman to benefit from, but they got to Hambantota early enough. Hashmatullah Shahidi’s side has experience at the venue; just two months earlier, they played a three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in Hambantota, losing 2-1. They played a more recent 50-over series in Bangladesh, winning it by the same margin. It’s a near-identical squad to those two tours that they have assembled in Hambantota to face Pakistan. It’s a settled side, and one that’s had ODI experience in these conditions. It’s more than Pakistan can say.Afghanistan might never have beaten Pakistan in this format, but they have little to fear. The four times these sides have played ODIs – at varying degrees of development during Afghanistan’s journey over the last decade – Afghanistan have shown steady improvement, and been desperately unlucky not to win their last two encounters. Throw in Naseem Shah’s T20 Asia Cup heroics, and Afghanistan’s problem against Pakistan boils down less to quality and more to composure and experience in the moments that count most. As the 2-1 T20I series defeat of Pakistan in March demonstrated, they are making progress on that front, too.

“Pakistan in ODIs are surprisingly uncomplicated – a world-class top three, a gun pace bowling attack, and the still ascending star of Shadab Khan. The middle order is unconvincing, the underbelly is weak, and bench strength, particularly in the batting department, is limited”

Pakistan have played only a few more ODIs than their counterparts this World Cup cycle – it is their lowest tally since 1979-83 – and any patterns of form are difficult to make out. Their only ODI involvement all year has come in the form of eight matches against New Zealand at home, for all of which the visitors were hindered by unavailability to some extent or other. That has been the story of Pakistan’s opponents for much of the last four years; series wins against South Africa and Australia have come when those teams have been significantly diminished. Nine further games have been played against Zimbabwe, the Netherlands and the West Indies. But the win-loss ratio -19 victories and eight defeats – is solid, and in May, they rose to the top of the ODI rankings; they will get there again if they beat Afghanistan 3-0.At its core, Pakistan in ODIs are surprisingly uncomplicated – a world-class top three, a gun pace bowling attack, and the still ascending star of Shadab Khan. That’s about it. The middle order is unconvincing, the underbelly is weak, and bench strength, particularly in the batting department, is limited. It’s a Polo-shaped side, a winning formula all around with a large gap through the middle. That makes it conspicuously incomplete, but also plenty of fun.Pakistan have, belatedly in this cycle, tried to plug those gaps. Agha Salman has shown flashes of ability in the middle order, while Mohammad Nawaz has gradually assumed greater importance in the ODI side. Tayyab Tahir and Abdullah Shafique offer bench strength, while Pakistan wait for Mohammad Rizwan to translate his T20 runs into ODI accumulation. While what they have might be enough to overwhelm Afghanistan, this series is as much about what follows as it is about itself, and Pakistan will try and ensure they don’t spread themselves too thin for the sterner tests that will follow.By the time Ashraf returned to Colombo, the evening rush hour was waiting to greet him. It was quite a day for the chairman, but for the players he left behind in Hambantota, the long hard grind of the season was only just about to begin.

Faster, straighter, deadlier – Kuldeep 2.0 is India's ace in the hole

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

His transformation has been remarkable, and he has earned his place as India’s premier white-ball wristspinner

Abhimanyu Bose26-Sep-20233:00

How Kuldeep Yadav has fared since the 2019 World Cup

If, at the start of 2022, you were asked which wristspinner among Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav was going to be picked for the ODI World Cup the following year, you would not be blamed for choosing the former. In fact, that would be the sound, educated guess.After all, from the end of the 2019 World Cup to the end of 2021, Chahal had picked 34 wickets in 21 ODIs at an average of 28.47. Kuldeep, in that same period, played a game more, got just 26 wickets, and averaged 43.73.Nothing seemed to be going right for Kuldeep around then – he was even relegated to the bench by his then IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.But then, something changed.Related

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It’s not like Chahal did a lot wrong. He picked up 24 wickets in 16 ODIs between the start of 2022 to now, and his average improved marginally to 27.91. Even his economy rate dropped from 5.70 to 5.53.But Kuldeep’s transformation was massive.Suddenly, he was bowling quicker, but still getting the turn that troubled batters when he first burst on to the scene. His variations were still as effective, if not more, and now came with more zip off the surface.The results followed.From the start of 2022, Kuldeep has picked up 43 wickets in 24 matches and his bowling average has shot down to 18.93 (in this period). His economy rate, which was 5.76 between the end of the 2019 World Cup and the end of 2021, dropped to 4.70. He has picked up three-wicket hauls against Australia and New Zealand and four-fors against South Africa and Sri Lanka. And then, of course, there was the 5 for 25 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup Super Four game.Kuldeep Yadav has been a transformed bowler since the start of 2022•ESPNcricinfo LtdA criticism Kuldeep often faced when his career seemed to be all downhill was that he was bowling too slow. Despite the prodigious turn he would generate.But the solution wasn’t simple, because Kuldeep had to get quicker without losing the trajectory that so deceived the batters, and turn that made him so good in the first place.A knee injury, suffered during IPL 2021, turned out to be the point the transformation started. The surgery that followed offered him a chance to start over, in a sense. As he completed a five-month recovery and got back to bowling, he tweaked his run-up from what was almost a 45-degree angle to a much straighter approach. That was change number one.”It’s been over one-and-a-half years since I had surgery,” Kuldeep said after his heroics against Pakistan at the Asia Cup. “The run-up has become straighter. The rhythm has become aggressive. The approach is nice.”Other things might have changed too.1:25

How did Kuldeep Yadav outfox Pakistan?

“Maybe my hand used to fall over but that is well in control and faces the batter more,” he said. “At the same time, I did not lose my spin and drift, and my pace increased – all of which helped me.”These, and an increased focus on his lengths, which he has credited for his success not only during the Asia Cup but also on India’s tour of the West Indies.The increase in pace without a loss in turn means batters now don’t have as much time to read him off the pitch as the ball comes on quicker. Add to it his variations, and it leads to indecision.During his devastating spell against Pakistan, Kuldeep tossed a ball up to Fakhar Zaman that rose above the batter’s eyeline, drawing him forward. But the ball dipped sharply and landed on a perfect length and zipped away, leaving Fakhar leaden-footed and getting an outside edge with a poke. Rohit Sharma spilled it at slip, but the delivery showed the threat that has made Kuldeep so hard to play again.At 83kph, it wasn’t a particularly quick delivery for a modern spinner, but unlike before, the ball did not lose pace after pitching and skidded through, not giving the batter enough time to adjust.He displayed this ability time and again in the West Indies, where he also used the wrong’un to great effect.Kuldeep Yadav finished with the Player-of-the-Series award at the Asia Cup for his nine wickets•AFP/Getty Images

Anil Kumble: Kuldeep has ‘more body behind every ball’ now

The key, though, is the run-up, as Anil Kumble, legspin great and Kuldeep’s first international coach, explained.”Even when I was the coach, Kuldeep had just come into the Indian team and we were trying to get him to bowl straighter. And hats off to him, he has been able to understand that that had to be done and he’s done that to good effect,” Kumble told ESPNcricinfo. “He is now running in straighter, which means that the body is more behind the ball that he bowls and that has certainly helped the pace at which he bowls now. Naturally, he doesn’t have to bowl quicker. It’s not that the arm-speed has suddenly become quicker.”What is really good and impressive is that he’s always been a big turner of the ball so he is still able to give it a good rip. And because of the change of the angle of the run-up, it’s given him the advantage of body behind every ball.”Kumble further said that the front arm coming down in line with his body instead of going across it has, indeed, given Kuldeep greater control.Kuldeep will head into the World Cup after a special performance in the Asia Cup, where his nine wickets helped him get the Player-of-the-Series award, even though he got to bowl just the one over in the final after Mohammed Siraj blew Sri Lanka away with his opening spell.1:41

Kuldeep: My rhythm is more aggressive now

Kuldeep was rested for the first two ODIs against Australia, with Rohit explaining the importance of “preserving” the lone wristspinner in his World Cup squad.”Kuldeep is a rhythm bowler, we all know that,” Rohit said ahead of the Australia series. “But we thought of a lot of things and took this call. We have been looking at Kuldeep for the last one, one-and-a-half years, this is why we don’t want to expose him a lot.”He is coming back for the last match. There are a lot of reasons. This is the best decision for us, to have him sit out for two games and play the third. We also have two practice matches [before the World Cup opener], so for the bowling rhythm, he will be back in it.”With 31 wickets since the start of 2023, Kuldeep is the joint-highest wicket-taker in ODIs this year for players in teams that will be playing the World Cup in India.Kuldeep is anyway a point of difference in a world-class bowling attack – Tabraiz Shamsi and Noor Ahmad are the only other left-arm wristspinners at the World Cup. And with his all-round improvement, he could well become India’s ace in the hole as they look to win a second home World Cup.

Masood's captaincy could well be Pakistan's accidental masterstroke

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

He hasn’t reinvented the wheel just yet, but the last thing you can accuse Shan Masood of is sleepwalking through the role

Danyal Rasool02-Jan-2024They might have got there in their own colourful way, but perhaps serendipity has got Pakistan to the right place after all. Pakistan’s appointment of Shan Masood as Test captain wasn’t so much a carefully managed transition of an experienced player into a position of responsibility as it was throwing names at a wall and hoping one would stick.But that kind of al fresco decision making at least meant the appointment wasn’t the wrong way around, as most captaincy appointments are in cricket now. Many captains are often criticised for captaincy by autopilot, but the same charge could be levelled at the appointments themselves. Pakistan, for one, didn’t appoint Babar Azam as skipper, not because there was a long and promising history of strategic nous, but because he was comfortably the side’s best batter across formats, and didn’t need to worry about his spot in the side for the foreseeable future. Shan wasn’t appointed for the guarantee he had locked down a place in the team, but in spite of the fact that he never has.Related

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Pakistan cautious over Abrar's participation in Sydney Test

There can be plenty of cynicism around every aspect of Masood’s involvement in any aspect of Pakistan cricket, but perhaps only because that’s the easiest thing to do. The PCB didn’t manage Babar’s departure from the captaincy with great decorum – not that anyone expected them to – but in naming his successor, the thinking was fairly simple: appoint a captain who can be a good captain. And sometimes, that kind of simplicity is the highest form of sophistication.Masood wasn’t reinventing the wheel with the approach he brought to the role, but the last thing you could accuse him of is sleepwalking through the role. He had barely landed in Perth before he began to speak of the approach Pakistan needed to adopt to take on Australia, and, despite his soft-spoken, non-confrontational demeanour, he has been demanding it of his team all series. When Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq adopted the antithesis of that approach to score 74 runs in 36.2 overs, Shan charged down the wicket off the second ball he faced, tonking Nathan Lyon over long-on for four. It felt as much a message to his own side as it did to Australia.It is an approach that risks looking silly – as it has perhaps done with some of Masood’s dismissals, but as he said on the eve of the third Test, there is a risk-reward calculation that supersedes specific optics. Two expansive drives off fast bowlers in Perth to get out looked technically deficient, and dancing down the track to Lyon only to hole out in Melbourne appeared irresponsible.But across the two Tests, no other Pakistan player has two half-centuries, none of his team-mates have scored more runs and Mitchell Marsh aside, no player across both units can boast a higher strike rate. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-tracking numbers, only Travis Head – who has faced around half as many balls as Masood – has managed to exceed the Pakistan captain’s attacking shot percentage of 22.39% across the series. And his defensive shot percentage is significantly lower than everyone else’s at 30.85%; for all of Head’s belligerence, he defends over 37% of balls he faces.Masood’s Pakistan have made a point out of not hanging anyone to dry•Getty ImagesIt is something he has spoken of so frequently even if he was bashful about coming off as repetitive.”I’ll sound like a broken record but there are some things you have to do in Test cricket,” he said. “The first thing is to take 20 wickets; we had that box ticked [in Melbourne]. The second is the scoring rate. If you score at the significantly lower rate than your opposition like happened in Perth, where there was a difference of two runs an over at least, then you’ll be way behind in the game. We batted 100 overs and they batted 110. That’s not much of a difference but the scoring rate set us back quite a bit. Our target is to hopefully bat at a quicker rate and obviously bat a decent amount of overs too.”His cynics will argue about how likely it is that Pakistan bat the same number of overs if they’re scoring at higher run rates, and point to the irrefutable fact that he, like every Pakistan captain before him in 24 years, has overseen a series defeat in Australia. But being cynical about Masood is somewhat easier than winning Test matches in Australia. Few will disagree that Pakistan pushed Australia closer than most expected in Melbourne, and while that in itself may not guarantee this strategy’s long-term effectiveness, there is a serious attempt at problem-solving not always evident with Pakistan.It has also been evident in the way Pakistan’s fielding positions keep twitching and tinkering. Short legs have come in and gone out depending on the batter and the tone Pakistan have looked to set in the field. Marnus Labuschagne was most notably done in by squeezing him down the legside moments after Masood went to have a word with Shaheen Shah Afridi; Pakistan put in a leg slip and Afridi sent one down legside that he nicked off to the keeper. Against Marsh, Pakistan tried to smother him by bringing short midwicket up and bowling straighter. In Perth, when Australia threatened to get away on the first day, Pakistan put fielders in catching positions behind the stumps and bowled short, getting three cheap wickets towards the end of the day.Masood may not be the guy to read out the riot act in the dressing room, but ten years on and off with the national side, as well as many across the red-ball and franchise circuit, has exposed him to various ideas and multiple leaders.Masood fidgeting, tinkering and thinking, in pursuit of a solution he will eventually stumble upon•Getty Images”In 10 years, you play under a lot of captains and you learn a lot from different individuals,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot from the captains I’ve played under, be them international, domestic, County or PSL. When you meet different characters, your horizons expand. But you need to bring your own individuality to the role as well.”The circumstances that he took over in meant this could have been one of those Pakistan tours where the dressing room becomes a toxic environment, and the fighting spirit disappears completely. But even with a severely depleted bowling line-up against what he called “the best Test side in the world”, there is little doubt that Pakistan are scrapping for every possible advantage, even if they come up short.Masood’s Pakistan have made a point out of not hanging anyone to dry. There was a protective wall around Abdullah Shafique after a Test where his spilled chances likely cost Pakistan a win. On the eve of the second Test, when Pakistan announced Sarfaraz Ahmed had been dropped for Mohammad Rizwan and he was asked about it, Masood began his response with a lengthy riposte defending Sarfaraz’s inclusion in the first place.

“There are ups and downs but you be there for people. It’s easy to reward a good player or praise them, but how you look after someone who’s not playing well or having a rough time is something that’s at the forefront of my mind as a captain”Masood on the importance of a unified front

It’s a philosophy he appears to have sworn by. “I believe as a captain, you need to stand up for your players, and for their wellbeing,” he said. “Sometimes you need to leave cricketing performance to the side. You need to care for and understand your players. Off and on the field.”Sometimes you have to take such decisions because you can only play 11 players and have 18 in a squad. If you don’t understand your players well you can end up making mistakes. My first thought is not to do anyone injustice. There are ups and downs but you be there for people. It’s easy to reward a good player or praise them, but how you look after someone who’s not playing well or having a rough time is something that’s at the forefront of my mind as a captain. It’s impossible to be everyone’s favourite; there will be people who won’t be happy with you, but you do whatever you can for someone.”Masood will never have the mass support his predecessor Babar enjoys, or the lengthy, unencumbered run Misbah-ul-Haq got with his Test side. It is hard to say where Pakistan, and Masood, will be by the time Pakistan play their next Test series, which could potentially be another 10 months away.But until then, he’s doing with the armband what he’s always done with bat in hand: fidgeting, tinkering and thinking, in pursuit of a solution he will eventually stumble upon. And if this doesn’t work, he’ll always have one more thing he can try. He always does.

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