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Manchester City have been one of the most successful teams in the Premier League over the past decade or so in terms of the number of trophies they’ve won.

Since the 2010/11 season, the Etihad Stadium outfit have won six League cups, two FA Cups and five Premier League titles.

One figure in their current squad who has been a big part of that success over recent years is Fernandinho.

Since arriving at the Etihad back in the summer of 2013, the soon-to-be 37-year-old has gone on to make 378 appearances for the Citizens across all competitions. In that time, the Brazilian has scored 26 goals and provided 33 assists along the way.

With 28 appearances to his name this season, the midfielder has only started 14 times, as he looks to run down the final two months of his current contract.

Having claimed that this could be his last season with City, the club could have a big challenge on their hands to try and find a suitable replacement for the Brazil veteran.

However, there is one player with whom the Manchester club have been linked recently who could be a dream heir for Fernandinho – West Ham United’s Declan Rice.

Labelled a “freak” in terms of his physicality, the 23-year-old has also been described by former Irons team-mate Jack Wilshere as a player that “can do anything” on a technical level on the pitch.

From a defensive point of view, the England international has racked up a combined total of 585 tackles and interceptions in the Premier League since the 2017/18 season.

By comparison, Fernandinho has 313 tackles and interceptions to his name during the same period of time, highlighting just how tough the West Ham star is to play against.

With that in mind, and only two other midfielders in the Premier League having a higher pass completion percentage than Rice this season, he could well be the perfect long-term replacement for City’s long-serving stalwart.

Even though it could cost Pep Guardiola’s side a hefty fee of £100m for the 23-year-old’s services, shelling out this sort of money could be a wise investment for the club as they prepare for the future without Fernandinho.

In other news: Man City plot bid for “unbelievable” £60m ace who’s “one of the best”, Pep would love him

Haseeb Hameed finds form away from the limelight, while Michael Carberry has been given time to consider his Leicestershire future

Paul Bolton29-May-2018Nottinghamshire hope that Alex Hales’ first appearance of the season will attract another bumper crowd to Trent Bridge for Friday’s Royal London One-Day Cup group match against Worcestershire.Hales is contracted to Nottinghamshire for white-ball cricket only but he missed their first five 50-over matches because of IPL commitments with Sunrisers Hyderabad. Hales made his last appearance for Sunrisers on May 17 but their progress to Sunday’s final delayed his return to Trent Bridge.In Hales’ absence Nottinghamshire have made a stuttering start to their defence of the cup and have lost both their homes games so far, against Northamptonshire at Welbeck and Warwickshire at Trent Bridge on Sunday in front of crowd of 14,357.Nottinghamshire’s initiative in reducing ticket prices to just £1 for their Family Day was rewarded with a modern-day ground record for a county match.”We did a similar thing last year when we got a crowd of 10,000 and that encouraged us to push hard for a similar fixture,” Nottinghamshire director of cricket Mick Newell said. “We did a lot of promotion locally in the media and the tickets for a £1 obviously makes it attractive. But to get almost 15,000 in was a fantastic effort and it created a great atmosphere.”There should have been scope for more counties to replicate Nottinghamshire’s initiative but an imbalanced fixture list over the late May Bank Holiday, which used to be a busy weekend for county cricket, meant other opportunities to attract a new and younger audience was missed.There were eight Royal London matches scheduled for Friday and again on Sunday but, inexplicably, none at all anywhere in the country on Saturday or Monday.***Dom Bess became the 11th former Minor Counties player in 10 years to play Test cricket when he made his debut at Lord’s.Bess played all his youth cricket for Devon and even played for his native county in two Minor Counties Trophy matches at the start of last season.He follows Graeme Swann (Bedfordshire) James Taylor (Shropshire), Chris Woakes (Herefordshire), Mark Wood (Northumberland), Alex Hales (Buckinghamshire), James Vince (Wiltshire), Liam Dawson (Wiltshire), Tom Westley (Cambridgeshire), Craig Overton (Devon) and Jack Leach (Dorset), all of whom gained valuable experience of three-day senior cricket in the Minor Counties system.While Bess was involved in the last rites at Lord’s on Sunday morning, two of his cousins, Josh and Zac Bess, were helping Devon to two victories in the day over Wiltshire in the new Minor Counties T20 competition in Salisbury.Vic Marks hands fellow Somerset spinner Dom Bess his cap•Getty Images***Haseeb Hameed would barely have merited a mention when the England selectors considered a replacement for Mark Stoneman for the second Test against Pakistan at Headingley.The Lancashire batsman is one of Alastair Cook’s 12 opening partners since Andrew Straus retired but, instead of pushing for a Test recall, Hameed finds himself plying his trade in the less glamorous surroundings of the Liverpool and District Competition and county second team cricket.Hameed’s Test career began promisingly with two half-centuries, including 82 in the second innings of his debut, in six innings against India in November 2016. But he broke a finger in his last Test in Mohali and suffered a similar injury last September batting against Middlesex at Lord’s.Hameed has struggled for runs since he regained fitness but there are encouraging signs that he is regaining form and confidence.Last week Hameed made three centuries in five days: 121 for Formby against Rainhill, 107 in the Second XI Trophy victory over Worcestershire at Barnt Green and 140 in the second innings of the Second XI Championship match at the same venue.***Warwickshire’s Royal London Cup match against Northamptonshire will go ahead as planned at Edgbaston on Wednesday, despite almost five inches of rain falling on the ground over the Bank Holiday weekend.The ground was flooded on Sunday evening when 58mm of rain – more than the monthly average total for May – fell in an hour during violent thunderstorms.The flooding was so severe that roads around the ground became canals and a long stretch of the Pershore Road became impassable after it was submerged to a depth of 5ft when the River Rea broke its banks.But Warwickshire’s sand-based outfield absorbed the rainfall and groundstaff were able to give the grass a post-deluge trim on Monday.***Michael Carberry walks off after being bowled•Getty ImagesLeicestershire have given former England opening batsman Michael Carberry time off to consider his future after they relieved him of the captaincy less than two months into the season.Carberry, who joined Leicestershire on a two-year contract during the winter after an initial loan spell at the end of last season, lost the captaincy after a review of early season performances by head coach Paul Nixon.”We have given Michael time away from the game for him to think over the situation,” Leicestershire chief executive Wasim Khan said.Meanwhile Shiv Thakor, the former Leicestershire and Derbyshire batsman, has been training at Grace Road. Thakor is currently suspended from playing all cricket under the auspices of the ECB until the end of June for bringing the game into disrepute as a result of his conviction for indecent exposure last November.Thakor, who was sacked by Derbyshire, has returned to the family home in Leicester and has been given permission by Leicestershire to use their facilities for occasional training sessions on days when they are not required by their players.”Shiv asked if he could train here on his own to keep in shape during his suspension and he’s done that a couple of times,” Khan said.

A dearth of fixtures, form and finances have caused them to flounder since their return from Test exile. And a bunch of premature retirements haven’t helped

Firdose Moonda09-Aug-2016Five years ago there was hope for Zimbabwean cricket. They made a comeback to Test cricket after a six-year self-imposed exile with a win. In purely cricket terms, it was a fairy tale.Zimbabwe’s XI was a mix of fresh faces and players who had seemed out of their depth in the format a few years before but had become experienced. Among them was Hamilton Masakadza, who had scored a century on debut and repeated the feat in this landmark 2011 fixture; Brendan Taylor, reformed from his days as a rebel and relishing leadership; and Tatenda Taibu, whose talent overflowed. They had an exciting new-ball pair, Brian Vitori and Kyle Jarvis, who brought swing and pace to complement the veteran Chris Mpofu. The individuals provided all the ingredients, the backroom staff turned them into a team.On reputation alone, Grant Flower and Heath Streak inspired. When they rolled their sleeves up to work with the team, they translated that into action. Flower threw endless balls, Streak massaged bowling skills into shape, and then there was Alan Butcher, who took man-management seriously, created a safe environment and taught the players to believe in themselves.Of course the set was not perfect; few ever are. There were run-ins between the coaches and the board, there was Taibu’s bombshell on the eve of the match, that players did not have certainty over their contracts or their pay; and there was the reality that one Test was just one Test. But there was hope.”Even though we had not played any international cricket, we had played a lot against South Africa A and we played Australia A. The guys had played a lot of cricket, as well as domestic cricket,” Streak, who was Zimbabwe’s bowling coach at the time, said. “We played a lot of international A teams at a high level, which I think helped the guys prepare.”In the three months that followed, Zimbabwe had the same number of home tours. They lost more than they won but they showed the kind of fight that could lead to improvement. But now, five years later, they’re still waiting for the curve to turn properly. “We were competitive. It was exciting times. Grant Flower and I were pretty hopeful that if we continued to work hard on the guys, you could see progression happening,” Streak says.So far, though, all there has been is fluctuation, with periods of promise lost in deserts of uncertainty. At Test level, Zimbabwe are all but marooned, with a dearth of fixtures, form and finances causing them to flounder.The pitches in Zimbabwe are generally slow and low, and do not train their batsmen enough to adjust to foreign conditions•AFPIn the five-year period since their comeback in 2011, Zimbabwe have played just 16 matches, the fewest of any team. Bangladesh are the only other Test team to have played fewer than 40 matches in the same period, with Australia and England playing the most – 60 and 62 respectively.Of the matches Zimbabwe have played, more than a third have been against the same opposition – Bangladesh – who they have played six times. They have played New Zealand four times, Pakistan three, West Indies twice and South Africa once, leaving no matches against England, Australia, India and Sri Lanka.In the small world of elite-level cricket, Zimbabwe have only been exposed to an even smaller circle of competition. While England have political reasons for not competing against Zimbabwe, the other three have just not organised any fixtures against them, although there is a Sri Lanka series scheduled for the end of the year. But that is not where Zimbabwe’s limitations stop.In 16 Tests, Zimbabwe have played at eight different venues. Two of them are at home: Harare and Bulawayo, where they have played six and four of those Tests. They have had just six away matches, one in New Zealand, two in the West Indies and three in Bangladesh, who also don’t get to travel that much. Over the same period, Bangladesh have played at nine venues, but the other eight teams have played at a minimum of 18, with England and Australia getting to 33 and 32 respectively.It’s not just change of scenery that Zimbabwe are after but different conditions, which will allow them to adapt better. As things stand, the surfaces Zimbabwe are most used to playing on are their own, which are slow and low year round. Both Harare Sports Club and Queens Club in Bulawayo do not offer much assistance for either seam or spin, and force batsmen to settle into slower than usual scoring rates. Test cricket in Zimbabwe is a throwback to the 1990s or earlier. Test cricket everywhere else operates in the 2000s. Surfaces are primed to suit home advantage: green mambas in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand for the quicks, raging turners in the subcontinent for the spinners. Zimbabwe would not know how to approach either because they simply never see those types of wickets.Even if a small selection of Zimbabwean players does get to experience varying conditions through club stints in other countries, the chances of those players being able to bring that experience to bear when they play for the national team are slim. Player rotation in Zimbabwean cricket is high and those that go tend to stay gone, or at least stay away long enough to deny the system any continuity.Kyle Jarvis (right) who debuted in 2011, retired two years later to play county cricket•AFPThat’s why, in just 16 Tests, Zimbabwe have capped 25 new players, the joint-highest number with Australia. In those matches, there were only three occasions when Zimbabwe took the field without debutants. In total, Zimbabwe have used 36 players in this time.Streak identified the retirements of Taibu, Jarvis and Taylor as the biggest losses. “Even though it was only three players, it had a massive impact on Zimbabwe. We don’t have a lot of players, like Australia or India, who have players lined up, and especially those of that calibre – they are difficult to replace overnight. They were match-winners,” he said.The trio aside, scanning some of the names asks many questions about how well Zimbabwe’s personnel are managed. Of those 25 new caps, nine have been retained from before the current series against New Zealand, while four others made their debuts in this series. What about the other half? Here’s the low-down.Tendai Chatara was ruled out with an injury. Vitori, who has also struggled with injuries, has more recently been sidelined for six months, correcting an illegal action. Greg Lamb, who is 35 and was playing until last season, has presumably moved on. Keegan Meth has relocated to Canada. Malcolm Waller hoped to be in the squad for this series but was overlooked. Shingi Masakadza finished as the leading wicket-taker in the Logan Cup and played in the A matches against South Africa but was not picked. Timycen Maruma and Natsai M’shangwe played for the A side, and Richmond Mutumbami and Tafadwa Kamungozi have been used in limited-overs teams, Forster Mutizwa is playing domestically, and Jarvis has retired to play county cricket.All but Lamb and Meth are still playing cricket but Zimbabwe’s dilemma is that they don’t seem to know how to make best use of them. “The talent is there but you’ve got to support and nurture that talent,” Streak said. “Guys have to be allowed to play enough cricket to continue to evolve.”Finances are one reason some have left but mostly it’s the unpredictability of the system that frustrates them. There are stories of players being notified of call-ups at midnight the day before a game, and of players being given to believe they will be picked and then told they are not in contention at the last minute.Because the domestic structure, which has moved away from a franchise competition to a provincial one, has so few fixtures, it cannot be used as a guideline for picking the national squad. “The franchise system was initially very strong because it was supported by two or three very strong overseas professionals, and that has also fallen away,” Streak says. “The level of domestic cricket has just come down a bit because those sorts of guys would raise the bar.”Heath Streak: “It’s expensive for us to host Test cricket here. We are very reliant on Indian fixtures”•Zimbabwe CricketIt’s on a whim sometimes that players are called up – Mpofu to the current Test squad training, for example – and dropped. Vusi Sibanda played in the A matches leading up to this Test series, only to be given no explanation for why he was not part of the final squad.Some of these are down to the fac that Zimbabwe’s administration is in a constant state of flux, which cannot aid stability. In the five years since their Test comeback, Zimbabwe have had five coaches, moving from Butcher, to Andy Waller to Stephen Mangongo, Dav Whatmore, and now Makhaya Ntini. They have also had several different consultants, changes in the selection panel, convener, a change of chairman and managing director. Every new person who comes in brings his own plan, and often those plans do not match each other. Sometimes it is simply the cost of implementing plans that Zimbabwe cannot meet.The financial malaise of Zimbabwe Cricket has been written about at length, with investigations into the organisation’s debt and the alleged mismanagement of an ICC loan, but the larger context is that Zimbabwe the country is in economic meltdown. Even dollarisation has not been able to spark growth, and the result is that industry is at a standstill and small businesses are struggling to survive. In that climate, sponsors are hard to come by and funding sport is almost impossible even with the ICC grant.The biggest sufferer of the monetary squeeze is the five-day game. “It’s expensive for us to host Test cricket here,” Streak says. “We are very reliant on Indian fixtures because of the amount of revenue that brings in. If the ICC can look at ways on how we could play more cricket without impacting on us financially, that would be good.”A two-tier Test structure has been mooted as one way to do that, and even though it would see Zimbabwe relegated to a second division, it may help Test cricket remain alive in the country, albeit only just. That it still is, is in itself remarkable. The players still talk about the pride in the format, and the crowds are bigger than at some higher-profile venues around the world. There’s a hunger to do more and to do better, and so, five years after their Test comeback, it’s the hope that hurts.

Plays of the Day from the match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai

Abhishek Purohit07-May-2015Watson v WarnerThe Sunrisers Hyderabad openers had raced to 40 in the first four overs when Shane Watson brought himself on. With no third man and no deep point, he started short and wide, and Warner happily helped himself to successive fours with a steer and an upper cut. Watson corrected himself third ball, pitching it up on a tighter line. Wanting another boundary, Warner flailed from the crease, and nicked it behind.Binny’s boundary blundersMoises Henriques did not get too many but he made Stuart Binny labour for no return twice. In the tenth over, Henriques pulled James Faulkner towards deep midwicket. Binny was not exactly sprinting across from deep square leg. He dived awkwardly the first time, and only helped the ball into the boundary. On the second attempt, by the time Binny sprawled on to the ground, the ball had already gone past.Dhawan’s reverse rouletteShikhar Dhawan had taken a liking to the reverse-swat, using the shot often against offspinner Deepak Hooda. Off the last ball of the 14th over, he reverse-hit a four past short third man off the same bowler. Next up was James Faulkner. Dhawan immediately tried the shot against the much quicker bowler, but had his off stump rattled after missing a length delivery.Morris’ triple shockWith Royals needing an improbable 40 from two overs and only three wickets standing, Chris Morris delivered a succession of jolts to Sunrisers. Praveen Kumar started the 19th over with a length ball, and Morris deposited it just out of Eoin Morgan’s reach at deep midwicket. Morgan had no chance next ball, as Morris heaved a full toss way over the fielder. Praveen tried the short ball now. Morris cranked up and pulled it over deep square leg for six more. Sunrisers just about survived this scare in the end.

A look at what the eight IPL franchises did during the 2014 player auction and how their teams stack up

George Binoy13-Feb-2014

Chennai Super Kings

Squad strength: 20 (Indian 12, overseas 8)Squad cost: INR 59.80 croreSquad composition
Batsmen: Faf du Plessis (INR 4.75 crore), Mithun Manhas (INR 30 lakh), Suresh Raina (retained)Allrounders: Dwayne Smith (INR 4.5 crore), John Hastings (INR 50 lakh), Vijay Shankar (INR 10 lakh), B Aparajith (INR 10 lakh), Dwayne Bravo (retained), Ravindra Jadeja (retained)Wicketkeeper-batsmen: Brendon McCullum (INR 3.25 crore), MS Dhoni (retained)Spinners: Samuel Badree (INR 30 lakh), Pawan Negi (INR 10 lakh), R Ashwin (retained)Fast bowlers: Mohit Sharma (INR 2 crore), Ashish Nehra (INR 2 crore), Ishwar Pandey (INR 1.5 crore), Ben Hilfenhaus (INR 1 crore), Matt Henry (INR 30 lakh), Ronit More (INR 10 lakh)Most expensive player at auction: Faf du Plessis (INR 4.75 crore)Bargain buy: B Aparajith (INR 10 lakh)Strengths: Their five retained players form the core of the side and compelling additions are du Plessis, McCullum and Smith. They have a number of allrounders and spinners to choose from, and batting or bowling options will never be a problem.Weaknesses: While the Super Kings have several fast bowlers in their squad, only Ben Hilfenhaus is world class.Probable first XI: 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Baba Aparajith, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 MS Dhoni, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Ishwar Pandey, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.

Kings XI Punjab

Squad strength: 23 (Indian 16, overseas 7)Squad cost: INR 55.90 croreSquad composition
Batsmen: George Bailey (INR 3.25 crore), Virender Sehwag (INR 3.2 crore), Shaun Marsh (INR 2.2 crore), Cheteshwar Pujara (INR 1.9 crore), Gurkeerat Singh (INR 1.3 crore), Mandeep Singh (INR 80 lakh), David Miller (retained), Manan Vohra (retained)Allrounders: Glenn Maxwell (INR 6 crore), Rishi Dhawan (INR 3 crore), Thisara Perera (INR 1.6 crore), Akshar Patel (INR 75 lakh), Karanveer Singh (INR 10 lakh)Wicketkeeper-batsmen: Wriddhiman Saha (INR 2.2 crore)Spinners: Murali Kartik (INR 1 crore), Shivam Sharma (INR 10 lakh)Fast bowlers: Mitchell Johnson (INR 6.5 crore), Beuran Hendricks (INR 1.8 crore), L Balaji (INR 1.8 crore), Sandeep Sharma (INR 85 lakh), Parvinder Awana (INR 65 lakh), Anureet Singh (INR 20 lakh), Shardul Thakur (INR 20 lakh)Most expensive player at auction: Mitchell Johnson (INR 6.5 crore)Bargain buy: Virender Sehwag (INR 3.2 crore)Strengths: A performance at the auction that was almost perfect. They have firepower and depth in batting, fast bowler and allrounders.Weaknesses: Kings XI did not have a specialist spinner until late on the second day of the auction. Murali Kartik and the rookie Shivam Sharma are their only slow bowlers, so that department lacks depth. They also have only one wicketkeeper in Wriddhiman Saha.Probable first XI: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 George Bailey, 5 David Miller, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Wriddhiman Saha, 8 Rishi Dhawan, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Murali Kartik, L Balaji.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Squad strength: 21 (Indian 13, overseas 8)Squad cost: INR 59 croreSquad composition
Batsmen: Robin Uthappa (INR 5 crore), Manish Pandey (INR 1.7 crore), Chris Lynn (INR 1.3 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (INR 70 lakh), Gautam Gambhir (retained)Allrounders: Jacques Kallis (INR 5.5 crore), Yusuf Pathan (INR 3.25 crore), Shakib Al Hasan (INR 2.8 crore), Ryan ten Doeschate (INR 1 crore), Andre Russell (INR 60 lakh)Wicketkeeper-batsmen: Manvinder Bisla (INR 60 lakh), Debabrata Das (INR 20 lakh), SS Mondal (INR 10 lakh)Spinners: Piyush Chawla (INR 4.25 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (INR 40 lakh), Sunil Narine (retained)Fast bowlers: Vinay Kumar (INR 2.8 crore), Morne Morkel (INR 2.8 crore), Umesh Yadav (INR 2.6 crore), Pat Cummins (INR 1 crore), Veer Pratap Singh (INR 40 lakh)Most expensive player at auction: Jacques Kallis (INR 5.5 crore)Bargain buy: Pat Cummins (INR 1 crore)Strengths: KKR lacked an X factor, until they bought Chris Lynn and Pat Cummins late on the second day of the auction. They look quite complete.Weaknesses: No obvious ones.Probable first XI: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Manvinder Bisla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Chris Lynn, 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Robin Uthappa, 7 Yusuf Pathan,, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Vinay Kumar, 11 Sunil Narine.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Squad strength: 21 (Indians 14, overseas 7)Squad cost: INR 60 croreSquad composition
Batsmen: Nic Maddinson (INR 50 lakh), Vijay Zol (INR 30 lakh), Tanmay Mishra (INR 10 lakh), Virat Kohli (retained), Chris Gayle (retained)Allrounders: Yuvraj Singh (INR 14 crore), Albie Morkel (INR 2.4 crore), Yuzvendra Chahal (INR 10 lakh)Wicketkeeper-batsmen: Parthiv Patel (INR 1.4 crore), Yogesh Takawale (INR 10 lakh), AB de Villiers (retained)Spinners: Muttiah Muralitharan (INR 1 crore), Shadab Jakati (INR 20 lakh)Fast bowlers: Mitchell Starc (INR 5 crore), Varun Aaron (INR 2 crore), Ashok Dinda (INR 1.5 crore), Ravi Rampaul (INR 90 lakh), Harshal Patel (INR 40 lakh), Abu Nechim (INR 30 lakh), Sachin Rana (INR 20 lakh), Sandeep Warrier (INR 10 lakh)Most expensive player at auction: Yuvraj Singh (INR 14 crore)Bargain buy: Vijay Zol (INR 30 lakh)Strengths: A batting line-up that’s well worth the ticket price to an RCB match.Weaknesses: RCB’s bowling underwhelming despite having several fast bowlers. They also do not have a single player from Karnataka.Probable first XI: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Parthiv Patel, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Vijay Zol, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Shadab Jakati, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Ashok Dinda.

Delhi Daredevils

Squad strength: 23 (Indian 16, overseas 7)Squad cost: INR 60 croreSquad composition
Batsmen: Kevin Pietersen (INR 9 crore), M Vijay (INR 5 crore), Manoj Tiwary (INR 2.8 crore), JP Duminy (INR 2.2 crore), Ross Taylor (INR 2 crore), Kedar Jadhav (INR 2 crore), Mayank Agarwal (INR 1.6 crore), Saurabh Tiwary (INR 70 lakh), Milind Kumar (INR 10 lakh)Allrounders: Laxmi Ratan Shukla (INR 1.5 crore), Jimmy Neesham (INR 1 crore), Jayant Yadav (INR 10 lakh)Wicketkeeper-batsmen: Dinesh Karthik (INR 12.5 crore), Quinton de Kock (INR 3.5 crore)Spinners: Rahul Sharma (INR 1.9 crore), Shahbaz Nadeem (INR 85 lakh)Fast bowlers: Nathan Coulter-Nile (INR 4.25 crore), Mohammad Shami (INR 4.25 crore), Jaydev Unadkat (INR 2.8 crore), Wayne Parnell (INR 1 crore), Siddarth Kaul (INR 45 lakh), Rahul Shukla (INR 40 lakh), HS Sharath (INR 10 lakh)Most expensive player at auction: Dinesh Karthik (INR 12.5 crore)Bargain buy: Ross Taylor (INR 2 crore)Strengths: A strong batting unit, Delhi also have fast bowling depth.Weaknesses: They are light on all-round talent, and spinners. They could have also done another big-ticket overseas player.Probable first XI: 1 M Vijay, 2 Quinton de Kock, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Dinesh Karthik, 5 Ross Taylor, 6 Saurabh Tiwary, 7 Laxmi Ratan Shukla, 8 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 9 Shahbaz Nadeem, 10 Mohammad Shami, 11 Rahul Shukla.

Rajasthan Royals

Squad strength: 25 (Indian 17, overseas 8)Squad cost: INR 54.45 croreSquad composition
Batsmen: Brad Hodge (INR 2.4 crore), Karun Nair (INR 75 lakh), Unmukt Chand (INR 65 lakh), Ajinkya Rahane (retained)Allrounders: Steven Smith (INR 4 crore), Rajat Bhatia (INR 1.7 crore), Abhishek Nayar (INR 1 crore), Ben Cutting (INR 80 lakh), Kevon Cooper (INR 30 lakh), Rahul Tewatia (INR 10 lakh), Shane Watson (retained), Stuart Binny (retained), James Faulkner (retained)Wicketkeeper-batsmen: Dishank Yagnik (INR 30 lakh), Ankush Bains (INR 10 lakh), Sanju Samson (retained)Spinners: Iqbal Abdullah (INR 65 lakh), Deepak Hooda (INR 40 lakh), Ankit Sharma (INR 10 lakh), Pravin Tambe (INR 10 lakh)Fast bowlers: Tim Southee (INR 1.2 crore), Dhaval Kulkarni (INR 1.1 crore), Kane Richardson (INR 1 crore), Vikramjeet Malik (INR 20 lakh), Amit Mishra (INR 10 lakh)Most expensive player at auction: Steven Smith (INR 4 crore)Bargain buy: Pravin Tambe (INR 10 lakh)Strengths: They managed to buy the most players and still have the most economical squad. They have depth in every department.Weaknesses: A lot of their back-up players are relatively inexperienced and untested, but that is in keeping with previous Rajasthan squads.Probable first XI: 1 Sanju Samson 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Brad Hodge, 6 Unmukt Chand, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Rajat Bhatia, 10 Dhaval Kulkarni, 11 Pravin Tambe.

Mumbai Indians

Squad strength: 21 (Indian 13, overseas 8)Squad cost: INR 59.95 croreSquad composition
Batsmen: Michael Hussey (INR 5 crore), Apoorv Wankhede (INR 10 lakh), Rohit Sharma (retained), Ambati Rayudu (retained)Allrounders: Corey Anderson (INR 4.5 crore), Jalaj Saxena (INR 90 lakh), Kieron Pollard (retained)Wicketkeeper-batsmen: Aditya Tare (INR 1.6 crore), CM Gautham (INR 20 lakh), Ben Dunk (INR 20 lakh), Sushant Marathe (INR 10 lakh)Spinners: Pragyan Ojha (INR 3.25 crore), Shreyas Gopal (INR 10 lakh), Harbhajan Singh (retained)Fast bowlers: Zaheer Khan (INR 2.6 crore), Jasprit Bumrah (INR 1.2 crore), Josh Hazlewood (INR 50 lakh), Krishmar Santokie (INR 30 lakh), Marchant de Lange (INR 30 lakh), Pawan Suyal (INR 10 lakh), Lasith Malinga (retained)Most expensive player at auction: Michael Hussey (INR 5 crore)Bargain buy: Josh Hazlewood (INR 50 lakh)Strengths: Strong all-round talent and a strong bowling attack as a result.Weaknesses: There are holes in the batting line-up. Their wicketkeeper-batsmen are not the best, and they are short of high quality Indian batsmen.Probable first XI: 1 Aditya Tare, 2 Michael Hussey, 3 Rohit Sharma, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Corey Anderson, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 CM Gautham 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Pragyan Ojha

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Squad strength: 24 (Indian 17, overseas 7)Squad cost: INR 59 croreSquad composition
Batsmen: David Warner (INR 5.5 crore), Aaron Finch (INR 4 crore), KL Rahul (INR 1 crore), Venugopal Rao (INR 55 lakh), S Anirudha (INR 20 lakh), Manprit Juneja (INR 10 lakh), Ricky Bhui (INR 10 lakh), Shikhar Dhawan (retained)Allrounders: Darren Sammy (INR 3.5 crore), Irfan Pathan (INR 2.4 crore), Moises Henriques (INR 1 crore), Parveez Rasool (INR 95 lakh)Wicketkeeper-batsmen: Naman Ojha (INR 50 lakh), Brendan Taylor (INR 30 lakh), Amit Paunikar (INR 20 lakh)Spinners: Amit Mishra (INR 4.75 crore), Karn Sharma (INR 3.75 crore)Fast bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar (INR 4.25 crore), Ishant Sharma (INR 2.6 crore), Jason Holder (INR 75 lakh), P Parameswaran (INR 30 lakh), Ashish Reddy (INR 20 lakh), Chama Milind (INR 10 lakh), Dale Steyn (retained)Most expensive player at auction: David Warner (INR 5.5 crore)Bargain buy: Irfan Pathan (INR 2.4 crore)Strengths: A terrific top order, and Dale Steyn.Weaknesses: Sunrisers are light on Indian batsmen and offspinners.Probable first XI: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 David Warner, 3 Aaron Finch, 4 Naman Ojha, 5 Darren Sammy, 6 Irfan Pathan, 7 Bhuvneshwar Kumar 8 Amit Mishra, 9 Karan Sharma, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Ishant Sharma

In a year when London hosts the Olympics, we look at first-class cricketers who represented Great Britain in the Games

Martin Williamson22-Jul-2012As the 2012 London Olympics loom, a number of articles have been written about Great Britain being the current cricket Olympic champions thanks to their win in 1900 in Paris, the only time the sport has featured in the modern Games. But cricketers with all-round abilities have participated for Britain in other sports over the years, although increasing specialisation, and more recently professionalisation, means it is a thing of the past.Of the first three names on the list (see sidebar) – from the 1900 Paris Games – two come from the cricket competition, which was not even recognised as an Olympic event until 12 years after it took place. The third was Claude Buckenham, a member of the gold-winning football team, who went on to play four Tests for England almost a decade later. So insignificant was his Olympic success thought that Wisden did not even mention it in his obituary in 1938. Oddly, all three medals in 1900 came at the same venue – the Vélodrome de Vincennes, which was, as its name implies, a cycling arena.Perhaps the highest profile name on the list is Johnny Douglas, who took Olympic gold in boxing as a middleweight at the 1908 London Games. Douglas, who captained England in 18 of his 23 Tests, fought all three of his bouts on the same day in the less-than-glamorous setting of the Northampton Institute. He outpointed Australia’s Reginald “Snowy” Baker in the final. Baker was no sporting slouch either, and had played rugby for Australia. It was said Douglas’ father refereed the bout – Baker claimed so in an interview in 1952 – but it seems Douglas senior’s role was limited to presenting the medals in his capacity as president of the British Amateur Boxing Association.Henry Brougham was another who excelled in a number of sports. His forte was rackets, for which he won bronze in 1908. He also won a cricket Blue at Oxford and played four times as a three-quarter for England at rugby, although he was not good enough at that sport to win either a Blue or even get into his school’s 1st XV.Hockey, touted by coaches over the years as a way for cricketers to “keep their eye in” over the winter, has provided the richest pickings. The Great Britain side that took the gold medal in Antwerp in 1920 contained three first-class players – Eric Crockford, Jack MacBryan and Cyril Wilkinson. A fourth, John Bennett, played in the Minor Counties Championship for Berkshire.

British Olympians who also played first-class cricket

• 1900: Claude Buckenham (Football, gold); Alfred Bowerman (Cricket, gold); Montagu Toller (Cricket, gold)

• 1908: Johnny Douglas (Boxing, gold); Reginald Pridmore (Hockey, gold); Arthur Page (Real tennis); Henry Brougham (Rackets, bronze)

• 1912 Arthur Knight (Football, gold)

• 1920 Eric Crockford (Hockey, gold); Cyril Wilkinson (Hockey, gold); Jack MacBryan (Hockey, gold)

• 1948 Alastair McCorquodale (100m); Norman Borrett (Hockey, silver); Micky Walford (Hockey, silver)

• 1952 John Cockett (Hockey, bronze)

• 1968 and 1972 David Acfield (Fencing)

In 1948, two from the Great Britain side that took hockey silver were also cricketers. Norman Borrett, described in the Times as “arguably Britain’s most talented post-war all-round amateur sportsman” represented Essex three times and also won the British Amateur Squash Championship every year from 1946 to 1950 despite little practice between events. His team-mate Micky Walford, like Borrett a schoolmaster, was no slouch either, winning Blues at Oxford for hockey, rugby and cricket and going on to play rugby wartime internationals for England and reputedly turning down an invitation to play in the Wimbledon Championships because he was “too busy”. His record for Somerset, where he played in the school holidays, was impressive and his maiden century, 201 not out in two and a half hours, for the University against MCC at Lord’s in 1938, was the 12th-fastest double-hundred at the time.Another multi-talented group took silver for GB in the 4×100 metres in the same Games. Alastair McCorquodale, a Scottish fast bowler who played three times for Middlesex in 1951, ran alongside a brace of rugby internationals. Remarkably, McCorquodale had only taken up running a year earlier. He also came fourth in a photo finish in the 100m, being given exactly the same time – 10.4 seconds – as the runners in second and third. “He was never over-concerned about training,” noted the Daily Telegraph. “It was joked that he would stub out his cigarette to go on to the track.”The last on the list is Essex spinner David Acfield who perhaps made the biggest sacrifice of them all to represent his country at the 1968 and 1972 Olympiads. At a time when the amateur ideal was preciously guarded against encroaching professionalism, Acfield could not be paid for playing sport, even as a cricketer, if he wanted to retain his status. “I wasn’t a regular member of the Essex side then, so it was reasonably easy to fit in but it was much harder the next time,” he told the Independent. “Perhaps I should have given up because all the time I was an amateur fencer for Britain I couldn’t be paid for playing for cricket. I don’t think it could be done today.”

It will take something special to match the mix-up between Wavell Hinds and Andre Fletcher

Andrew McGlashan at Kensington Oval07-May-2010There has been a yawning gap between the highlight-reel fielding at this tournament and those moments destined for the blooper video. The good has sometimes been spectacular but the bad has often been embarrassing. Saeed Ajmal laid a high marker to top the list after his three drops against England, but it will take something special to match the mix-up between Wavell Hinds and Andre Fletcher, which left both players starring at each other as the ball landed between them.Mahela Jayawardene, well set on 66, went for a sweep off Sulieman Benn and got a top edge which looped high towards short third man. Fletcher looked at the chance but barely moved from his position behind the stumps, while Hinds took a couple of steps in from the fielding circle before stopping. It was a keeper’s catch – if the man with the gloves can get near a chance he should go for it – but there appeared a complete breakdown in communication.It summed up a West Indies performance that quickly disintegrated after a promising start with the new ball by Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach as six chances were missed. The hosts qualified with two group wins but momentum is fragile in Twenty20. Take your eye off the ball for a moment (and that happened in every sense) and a team can be on the back foot.”It’s a disappointing start but we had our chances and we let it slip away,” Chris Gayle said. “They must be given credit for the way they batted after those chances. We were bowling at a guy in fine form and to give a guy like [Kumar] Sangakkara a chance, those guys can hurt you, which they did.”After seeing the bounce generated by Australia’s quicks, Roach and Taylor also made life uncomfortable, but that was about as close as the comparison got to Michael Clarke’s team. Taylor suffered most from fielding lapses as Sanath Jayasuriya was spilled at backward point in the second over by Kieron Pollard. Although that only cost a single, a much bigger error soon followed.Taylor found the edge of Sangakkara’s bat and Gayle, normally very safe at slip, couldn’t take a low chance diving to his left. By the time Sangakkara eventually fell for 68 the partnership was worth 166. In between there had been other let-offs, too, and one brought the spotlight on West Indies’ selection policy.Fletcher has been given the keeping gloves in place of Denesh Ramdin after the specialist keeper was dropped following the opening game against Ireland. Four balls before the horrendous non-catch, Fletcher fluffed a stumping opportunity off Jayawardene. He isn’t a complete novice behind the stumps, having kept extensively for Grenada and done the job during the Stanford tournament, but here he didn’t look international quality.Having your specialist wicketkeeper sat in the dug out seems an expensive luxury. Ramdin’s form hadn’t been good leading into the tournament, but once selected in the 15 it seems wasteful not to play him. If the selectors were so concerned they should have taken a drastic call before the event and dropped him in favour of another specialist. A part-time keeper is always a risk.It has been done so West Indies can play an extra batsman, but the runs that keeping errors cost (and Jaywardene’s missed stumped was worth 33) means it defeats the object of strengthening the line-up. Fletcher’s case wasn’t improved by his own painful innings of 16 from 18 balls, but by then the match was already lost.”Ramdin has been struggling with the bat for the last couple of series and we want to play the extra batter,” Gayle said. “So to try and balance the team we have given Fletcher the gloves and he’s done well for us before.”It’s a conundrum many sides have had, but quality keepers regularly show their worth in Twenty20. Most teams in this tournament are fortunate that their gloveman is also a frontline batsman – Sangakkara, MS Dhoni, Craig Kieswetter and Brad Haddin being top of the list – and it seems West Indies are trying to muddle their way there.West Indies’ fielding of recent times has always had the capacity to fall apart in dramatic style and unless they sharpen up their chances of progressing are slim, although they can take heart that Pakistan won last year despite, not because of, their fielding. However, West Indian heads collectively went down quickly as Jayawardene and Sangakkara produced a masterful partnership and now they must rise to beat India on Sunday.”We’ll discuss what happened today and it’s back to the drawing board,” Gayle said. “It is must-win for both teams and it should be a good game. We are still confident we can win the two games and move onto the semi-final.”

Cricket may not feature in many films but it did provide a peaceful backdrop away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood

Christopher Sandford 10-Jun-2005

Sir Charles Aubrey Smith at the Hollywood CC © The Cricketer
When it was launched 70 years ago, the Hollywood Cricket Club looked like an English village green. Except not many village greens have a pavilion floored in sun-bleached Spanish tiles, a backdrop of canyons and gorges fringed with bougainvillea and the likes of Boris Karloff keeping wicket.The club was officially formed in February 1932 as a vehicle for Sunday afternoon fixtures against nearby Venice, Malibu and Pasadena, but also as a way of bringing civilisation to the film colony. Its founding father was one Charles Aubrey Smith, aged 68, a craggy, moustachioed character actor given to baggy plus-fours – with Old Carthusian tassels at the knee and loudly checked socks – who had come to represent Hollywood’s ideal of the screen Englishman.Although Aubrey Smith – winner of a single Test cap, against South Africa in 1888 – may not have had the most skilled group of players, they were certainly the best dressed. Hollywood CC turned out in harlequin caps and magenta, mauve and black striped blazers. The club’s dinner dances at the Roosevelt Hotel were legendary for being urbane and British in an oldfashioned way. As America fell headlong into the Great Depression and Europe slid ever closer to war, Aubrey Smith’s side continued to remind people of a vanished, altogether gentler Edwardian world.Aubrey Smith worked long and hard to bring cricket to southern California, where he had settled himself after the Great War. He would always call the negotiations for a home ground to be quite the toughest and longest-running role of his life. Certainly, in the category of epic performances this famous eccentric’s wranglings with the Los Angeles park commission richly deserved an Oscar. He was nothing if not persistent, though, and after three years of debate he had a plot of land, five cartloads of English grass seed to plant a wicket and a new $30,000 pavilion. Laid out at the north end of Griffith Park, high up in the Hollywood hills, the playing area was formally named the C. Aubrey Smith Field at a ceremony on May 21, 1933.Later that same month, the young Laurence Olivier sashayed into the Chateau Marmont Hotel to begin his first day as a film star in America. Waiting for him was a note: `There will be nets tomorrow at 9am. I trust I shall see you there.’ In the 1930s and ’40s, the golden era of Hollywood, Smith’s arm-twisting of expatriate and home-grown talent alike always followed much the same script: a polite summons to net practice, two hours of peak-decibel abuse of the man’s technique, then a guffaw, a warm handshake and an invitation to that weekend’s match.Few A-list names, from David Niven to Errol Flynn to Ronald Colman, failed to pay a ritual call to Smith’s villa at 2881 Coldwater Canyon Drive, where the raised Union Jack denoted a sort of semi-ambassadorial status. Many more found themselves pressed into spending long hot Sunday afternoons in the field, where Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) mingled with the likes of George Coulouris (Citizen Kane) while P.G. Wodehouse took notes from the boundary. Like every major star before him, Olivier dutifully joined the consensus that spring morning in 1933. He showed up at the ground in size 13 boots hurriedly borrowed from Boris Karloff. Smith himself remained an active member of the side throughout his 70s, and an occasional player into his 80s. Dubbed `Round the Corner’ because of a peculiar crablike run when bowling, he not only regularly took 50 wickets a season but also interested himself in literally everyone and everything behind the scenes. An annual general meeting early in the Second World War included a vote of thanks to the president, Karloff, Cary Grant and others `in connection with the large sums raised for the Commando Fund’, while at the AGM of May 1945 he spoke at length not about victory in Europe but rather the knotty problem of moles damaging the wicket.Three years later Sir Aubrey, as he now was, expressed his wish to retire `within the foreseeable future’ to allow someone younger to take over. The mere suggestion caused such an uproar from the members present that he smiled and withdrew his remarks. He died on December 20, 1948, a dapper, kindly and humorous man to the very end, bequeathing the club generous royalties from films like The Prisoner of Zenda.Long before then, Smith’s club had become a legendary enclave, at once rigidly British and yet gaudily American, a rich blend of country-house civility, New World chutzpah and a discreet trysting place for the rich and famous. This heady mixture of contradictions and exotic personalities made it a perfect resort for visiting international cricketers. Among those who played amid the tropical limes and reds of Griffith Park were England’s Gubby Allen, Denis Compton and a future star of The Final Test, Len Hutton. Godfrey Evans had fond memories of a day and night spent at the club on his way home from the 1950/51 MCC tour of Australia.Top Test players were invariably struck by both the quality and chivalrous spirit of the matches. Since 1955 an annual prize, the Rodney Sober Cup, has been presented to the Hollywood player who best exemplifies the Corinthian ethic of Sir Aubrey himself. Its first sponsor was the Welshborn Oscar winning actor Edmund Gwenn, who took time out from filming Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble With Harry to present the award.Like so much else, Hollywood CC changed during the 1960s. Those with long memories still evoked names like Karloff and Flynn but, increasingly, the club aligned itself with a new set of stars. Millionaire rock musicians began to patronise Griffith Park, which meantmore, and flashier, limousines snaking up Cahuenga Boulevard and the occasional whiff of herbally scented cigarettes from the dressing room.Perhaps inevitably, some of the original charm of the place, with its cast of characters seemingly on permanent audition for the film of The Loved One, began to fade. Sportsmanship and fair play were no longer accorded the priority they once had. In a physical but also symbolic break from the past, the club left its base of more than 30 years and moved west along the Los Angeles river to Woodley Park, a sprawling heath dotted by golf courses and municipal waterworks in the perfectly respectable but unlovely town of Van Nuys.More recently, a parallel migration to southern California of scores of club or first-class cricketers, many from the subcontinent, has reignited a professional pride that had been badly diminished or lost. Players like Ronnie Iranpur, a graduate of India’s West Zone University, veteran ‘keeper Mark Azeez and club president Jimmy Colabavala – each a winner of the Rodney Sober Cup – have been a steadying presence.The Indian Test caps Rajesh Chauhan and Nikhil Chopra, India’s one-day star Rajinder Singh Ghai, Pakistani leg-spinner Igbal Sikander and Nick Taylor, formerly of Yorkshire and Somerset, all bring in a kind of vestigial authority, not only as links to the professional game but in marking a return to Sir Aubrey’s ideals. Today’s club, for all its changed membership and location, is grounded in cricket’s core traditional values, genuinely suggestive of community.Even so, early in 1999 a team of diehard British enthusiasts set out to check what they saw as a deplorable decline of manners and standards, not so much in Hollywood CC but in Californian cricket as a whole. `We want to make it a decent game again,’ said Andy Rose, 38, a landscape gardener from Runcorn in Cheshire who formed a Social Cricket Alliance of 10 teams, subsidised in part by Mick Jagger, to rival the established Southem California Cricket Association.For its part, the SCCA, through its English treasurer, David Sentance, admitted that matches were `extremely competitive’ but said that breaches of the rules, threats of violence and foul language were not condoned. `Anyone coming to play cricket here from England is in for a bit of a shock,’ Sentance added. `But it’s still surprising to me that anyone would expect things to be the way they were 65 years ago.’More controversy visited Hollywood at the end of the 2001 season when the club twice fielded a former Indian Test captain, Ajay Jadeja, who had been banned for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal. In fact, it was only his home board, not the ICC, who imposed the ban, which is still being debated in the Indian courts. Both Hollywood CC’s decision to play him, and their subsequent fine for doing so, have drawn fire from opposing sides of the Press.Reassuring signs lately, both of visiting teams and overseas tours, have rightly diffused the controversy about what the club’s founder might have made of all this. As a lifelong ambassador and world traveller, Sir Aubrey would have welcomed the recent arrival at Woodley Park of an MCC side complete with Bill Frindall, and applauded Hollywood CC’s wildly successful visits to the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Malaysia. He would have positively loved the annual Old Timers game, where players still conform to his strict sartorial sense and bring Edwardian style to the park. They bring convention too, with bunting, flags and a proper tea-tent, and even Van Nuys, with its huddle of red roofs and vivid neon, becomes a contented;looking place.There it is then, a solid and friendly club, with two teams playing good cricket in a well organised league. It is crazy and funny and not a little comforting: civilisation in Hollywood. It will never last, people said. That was 70 years ago.

For Mumbai Indians, there is still a lot to play for, and lifting themselves off the bottom of the table is one of them

Karthik Krishnaswamy05-May-2024Match details Mumbai Indians (10th; W3, L8) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (4th; W6, L4)
Mumbai, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)Big pictureBy the time Monday dawns, Mumbai Indians (MI) will either be out of the reckoning for the playoffs of IPL 2024, or all but. Heading into their last three games of the league phase, the most they can realistically hope for, in all likelihood, is to lift themselves off the bottom of the table, finish somewhere near its middle, and get a clear picture of who to retain and who to let go of before the big 2025 auction.Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), their opponents on Monday night, will have a lot more to play for. They are fourth at the end of Sunday’s action, and are well placed for a top-four finish with three home games to end the league phase after this trip to Mumbai. If the last ball of their most recent game – a one-run victory over Rajasthan Royals – had played out any differently, though, they might be looking a lot less secure, nursing the wounds of three back-to-back defeats.On such results can hinge the fate of entire seasons. It feels especially true right now, with the playoffs race as tight as it is. With four games left, SRH will look to control everything they can control, and hope that enough of the 50-50 moments go their way to keep them near the front of the playoffs queue.Form guideMumbai Indians LLLLW
Sunrisers Hyderabad WLLWWPrevious meetingThis was the match that turned IPL 2024 into IPL 2024. The first seven games of the season had been, well, normal – just three 200-plus totals in 14 innings, with a highest of 208. Then SRH went and raised the ceiling for everyone, going crash, bang, wallop all the way to 277 for 3, the IPL’s new record total. For a while it looked like the record would last only a few hours, as MI got to the halfway point of their chase at better than their original required rate, but SRH’s bowlers held on through the back half to seal a 31-run win. The record wouldn’t last too long anyway, as SRH themselves obliterated it 19 days later.Rohit Sharma should return to the starting XI if he is back to full fitness•BCCITeam news and Impact Player strategyMumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma was MI’s Impact Player in their last game, against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), a back spasm forcing the team to use their ex-captain in this role. Rohit batted in the nets on both Saturday and Sunday and didn’t look in any visible discomfort, and Naman Dhir said at Sunday’s press conference that Rohit was “fit and fine”. He should return to the starting XI if he is back to full fitness.MI may also reconsider the idea of deploying just two overseas players: with Rohit designated to come off the bench as an almost mandatory impact sub, they were unable to use either Mohammad Nabi – whose offspin could have been very useful on a pitch where the part-timer Dhir ended up bowling three overs – or the big-hitting Romario Shepherd off the bench, so it felt like a waste to start neither of them.Likely XII: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Tim David, 7 , 8 Romario Shepherd/Mohammad Nabi, 9 Gerald Coetzee, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Sunrisers Hyderabad
SRH made a significant decision in their last game, leaving out the out-of-form Aiden Markram and bringing in the bowling allrounder Marco Jansen. They are likely to stick to that overseas combination at the Wankhede, with their last bowling pick – either Jaydev Unadkat, Umran Malik or Mayank Markande – likely to be conditions-dependent.Likely XII: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 , 4 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 5 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 T Natarajan, 12 In the spotlightRohit Sharma scored 261 runs at a strike rate of 167.31 and an average of 52.20 in his first six matches of IPL 2024. Since then, he has only made 65 runs in five innings, getting past 11 only once and falling four times to left-arm pace. How will he go against an SRH attack that could feature as many as three left-arm quicks in Jansen, T Natarajan and Unadkat?Abdul Samad will need to find a way to raise his game in chases•BCCIWhen things fall into place for them, SRH’s batting line-up is awe-inspiring. When the top order doesn’t click, though, vulnerabilities begin to appear. SRH have more than adequate batting depth on paper to not let a couple of early wickets derail them, but that depth doesn’t always translate into returns on the field. It’s been particularly evident in run-chases this season. Perhaps what they need is for Abdul Samad, a batter of immense potential as well as frustrating limitations, to round out his game. While batting first, Samad is often the perfect end-overs finisher, but his game isn’t always suited to situations that call for multiple gears against different styles of bowling. His record reflects this: he averages 34.66 and strikes at 236.36 while batting first this season, while going at 14.66 and 125.71 in chases. It’s been a pattern over his IPL career too: batting first he’s gone at 32.22 and 164.77, and while chasing those numbers drop to 14.88 and 133.15. His bowling-type numbers also tell a similar story: he has averaged 23.94 and struck at 174.49 against pace over his IPL career, while going at 16.00 and 94.11 against spin.Stats that matter SRH’s two most dangerous spin hitters have terrific records against Piyush Chawla. Abhishek Sharma has hit the legspinner for 40 runs in 16 balls in T20s while being dismissed twice, while Klaasen has hit him for 28 runs in 14 balls while being dismissed once. MI would love to have Tim David facing Natarajan in the death overs. So far, David has scored 47 off 16 balls from the left-arm quick without being dismissed. Travis Head is eight runs away from the 3000 mark in T20s. Bhuvneshwar Kumar needs three wickets to get to the milestone of 300 in T20s, while Unadkat is one short of 100 IPL wickets. Pitch and conditionsThe Wankhede is usually characterised by high scores and tall run-chases, but the most recent game there, between MI and KKR, had a different flavour, with the spinners coming into their own. Chawla picked up 1 for 15 in three overs, while Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy returned identical figures of 4-0-22-2 for KKR. It remains to be seen if this was a sign of wearing pitches in the second half of the season or just a one-off.Quotes”In IPL every team is very competitive, so often ‘home-ground advantage’ is not the apt term. I won’t say that SRH is going to score 250-plus again. We are a good bowling side so we’ll try to restrict them.”
“That’s always going to be an ongoing conversation but the way we pick our team is very much a game-to-game situation. We know the quality that someone like Umran has and it’s a new venue and opposition tomorrow and obviously his name may come up in selection conversation.”

Out-of-favour AC Milan defender Emerson Royal is poised for a move to Turkey, with Besiktas preparing a loan offer with an option to buy.

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• Full-back set to leave AC Milan after one season
• Royal has greenlit his move to Turkey
• Besiktas preparing a loan offer for the Brazilian

• WHAT HAPPENED

  Milan defender Royal is on the verge of departing the club after just a year arriving from Tottenham. Excluded from Milan's Asia-Pacific tour and not part of the head coach Massimiliano Allegri's future plans, his exit is now considered a certainty following an underwhelming debut season. According to Fabrizio Romano, Royal has given his approval for a switch and Besiktas are now discussing a deal with the Italian club that will bring the Brazilian full-back to Istanbul.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The ex-Tottenham defender's brief tenure at Milan has been marked by disappointment. Royal made only 26 appearances as he suffered a serious calf injury mid-season which kept him out for the remainder of the season, failing to make an impact and meet performance expectations. This led Milan to actively place him on the market. For Besiktas, acquiring Royal, even on an initial loan with an option to buy, represents an opportunity to add a known name to their squad and also makes him a good option as the Turkish giants were looking for experienced right-backs they can afford.

• GALATASARAY WANTED HIM IN JANUARY

  Earlier, Galatasaray wanted to sign the 26-year-old defender in January but the deal couldn't go through as the Brazilian suffered an injury. Later, it was Alvaro Morata who made the switch from Milan to Turkey to join Galatasaray.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR ROYAL?

  Royal can be a good addition for Besiktas. The Brazilian brings strong defensive skills and high work rate, as shown during his time at Real Betis and Tottenham. With 10 assists in two La Liga seasons and four goals and two assists in 79 games for Tottenham. Royal offers both stability and attacking support. Should he find his confidence, the ex-Barcelona player can be relied on for passing and versatility, both of which can make a him a valuable asset for Besiktas.