Their spinners bowled fewer poor deliveries and drew more forward-defensives from the England batsmen

Sidharth Monga14-Feb-20211:22

Manjrekar: Ashwin’s wicket-taking ability is taken for granted

It is a peculiar thing that has been happening during Tests in India for at least 20 years. It was on full display when the crowds returned to Chennai for the second Test. It is not exactly that but it sounds like a wild celebration at the fall of India’s second wicket. First it used to be for Sachin Tendulkar, now Virat Kohli.Steve Waugh described this period when the intensity picked up but also when the crowd would disorient you as fielders. Waugh wrote by the time you got used to the noise, Tendulkar already had 40 on the board. Not too different with Kohli. If you did manage to get Tendulkar out early, the pin-drop deathly silence in the stands was a joy for the fielding sides. England had managed it here in five balls. Kohli and the crowd were stunned by the full Moeen Ali offbreak that bowled him.India were now 86 for 3 in the first session. Sixty-five of those had been scored by one man. The man coming in was coming off scores of 1 and 0, someone who prefers facing pace to spin. India were playing five bowlers. Never mind all the profligacy before, England still had a chance to get right back into the game. They had done so twice after losing the toss against Sri Lanka in Galle not long ago. An attacking field was set. In came Ali, and what Ajinkya Rahane got was a full toss first ball, which he dispatched for four through extra cover.Related

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It summed up England’s bowling effort. Because of the excessive assistance from the pitch, there were unplayable balls every now and then but equally there were full tosses, half-volleys and long hops to take the pitch out of the equation. Kohli just happened to get the best ball out of the Ali lengths bingo. The spinner Ali replaced, Dom Bess, bowled seven full tosses in the fourth innings in the first Test, conditions out of a spin bowler’s dream. Ali bowled 10 in the first innings of this Test, a match tailormade for spinners, where puffs of dust and mini explosions were seen as early as in the first half hour of the match.When the ball reached the hands of R Ashwin and Axar Patel, though, the full tosses and the long hops disappeared. In all, England spinners bowled 14 full tosses. On 20 occasions they were cut or pull. India’s spinners were cut or pulled 10 times, and bowled no full tosses. And full tosses and being cut or pulled is the extremes; there are many other bad balls spinners can bowl within the spectrum.Basically, as a spinner on such a pitch you know you are in the game if you keep drawing a forward defensive or from on the crease. In a much shorter innings, India’s spinners drew the forward-defensive 112 times to England’s 115. If you are accurate enough to keep the batsmen tied down, your eventual misbehaving ball is likelier to be more lethal because you will have fielders in place to take the catches. Add to the accuracy the guile of Ashwin’s changes of pace, the drift, and then the variations in seam angles from both the spinners to make sure the ball spins less.India’s spinners bowled no full tosses in England’s first innings•BCCIOverall India’s batsmen were in control 82.4% of the times as against England’s 74.6%. If your bowlers are good enough to draw a false response once every four balls as against the opposition doing it once an over, you will end up on the winning side.Especially when you have batsmen who are playing a role in doing so. Bowlers should always get the extra credit because they initiate every bit of action in cricket, but sometimes bowlers react to what has been happening too. India batted way better than England did against spin. This pitch looked like a selectively watered one, where drier areas provided excessive turn and smoother ones went straight on. And they were next to each other on a good length for spinners and slightly fuller.Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant didn’t let it matter. In all India’s batsmen stepped out 81 times, reaching the pitch of the ball and doing their thing before it could do its. They swept from the rough and were to the pitch of the ball when the spinners went straighter. England often got caught up on the crease, stepped out – or were allowed to do so – only 20 times, and swept from straight lines.This is something India perhaps saw in the third innings in the last Test. It was a much better pitch for the batsmen, only really got difficult on days four and five. The control percentages in the four respective innings there were 88, 89.4, 79.5 and 88.3. That dip in the third innings didn’t go unnoticed. Knowing the quality of spin England brought, India knew it was the scoreboard pressure that made them potent. That is why they were happy to take the risk of what can sometimes turn out to be a lottery pitch. They didn’t just gamble; they backed themselves to negate the toss advantage on such a surface.Whatever you think of the pitch – and there will be talk around it because it started exploding in the first session of the Test – the side winning this Test played much better cricket, and it wasn’t even close. And they did so through a method, skill and discipline, and not through lottery.

Everything you need to know about the tournament, arranged alphabetically. Includes J for jinx and R for running out a non-striker

Sidharth Monga14-Oct-2022A for Australia: Defending champions for the first time, and also staging the T20 World Cup for the first time. Seven Australian grounds will host 45 matches and 16 teams over 28 days. One of the teams that qualifies into Group 2 will play Pakistan in Perth on October 27 and then take a four-and-a-half hour flight to Brisbane to cover the road distance of 4310km (or 3606km as the crow flies) for their next match, against Bangladesh on October 30.If that makes you worry about jet lag, keep in mind this is a tournament that will be played in four different time zones, but the eastern-most venue, Brisbane, is not the one that is the farthest ahead of UTC because it doesn’t take part in daylight savings time. Perth is eight hours ahead of UTC, Brisbane ten, Adelaide ten and a half, and Melbourne and Sydney 11.So where the bloody hell are you?B for bounce: It is unmissable, even to the naked eye. It is the first thing you notice. The bounce is steeper in Australia than elsewhere. It is not always bad news for limited-overs batting. The ball can be easier to time if the bounce is good and true, but equally, the really good bowlers can use the bounce to their advantage.C for captains: Quite a few captains go into the tournament with a big selection headache: do they drop themselves? Kane Williamson and Temba Bavuma are going at under a run a ball in all T20 cricket since the last World Cup. Aaron Finch hasn’t been in the best touch, has given up ODIs, and went down the order to let Cameron Green, who is not even in the World Cup squad (yet), open in the same month as the World Cup. Babar Azam will carry the strike-rate cross, and even Jos Buttler might have cause to doubt himself, what with injuries and meagre returns in T20Is leading up to the World Cup.D for Djilang: The indigenous name of Geelong, the only non-Test venue in the World Cup. Adelaide is Tarndanya, Brisbane is Meeanjin, Hobart is nipaluna, Melbourne is Naarm, Perth is Boorloo, and Sydney Warrane. Australia will be wearing an indigenous-themed kit (see K) for this World Cup. Only four indigenous men and two indigenous women have played international cricket for the country.We won’t be seeing most of West Indies’ 2016 title-winning side at this World Cup•Getty ImagesE for Eliminator: As in, the one-over eliminator. Or, more colloquially, the Super Over. Ever since the boundary-countback fiasco in the 2019 World Cup final, the provision is that teams will play Super Overs until there is a winner. However, there are time constraints and double headers. Only 30 minutes of extra time is available for all the matches (except for when the reserve day kicks in for the knockouts – an extra two hours are available on reserve days). If the full quota of overs in a match is bowled before the scheduled close, the minutes saved are added to the time provisioned for Super Overs. A minimum of 20 minutes will be made available for Super Overs, even if the actual match goes into overtime. The changeover time of five minutes between the match and the first Super Over is not counted in the time available.If we don’t have a winner in the time available, the match ends in a tie. If there is no winner in a semi-final, the team that finished higher in the Super 12s will progress. A final without a winner even after Super Over(s) will result in joint champions being crowned. Semi-finals and finals have a reserve day, but every attempt will be made to finish the match on the actual day with the match continuing from the point at which it was truncated, should the reserve day be used.F for first round: Not to be confused with Qualifiers (see Q). Four teams from the two groups in the first round will make it through to the second round. UAE, Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Namibia are in Group A in the first round; Ireland, Zimbabwe, West Indies and Scotland in Group B. The top two teams from each group will go into the two groups in the Super 12s. The top two teams from each of those Super 12 groups will make it to the semi-finals.G for Gayle: This is the first T20 World Cup without Chris Gayle. And the first without Dwayne Bravo. Also missing for West Indies are Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. That’s a massive load of T20 experience and genius they have lost in recent times. Add to it Shimron Hetmyer, who was replaced after he could not make both his original and his rescheduled flights to Australia. It’s the first time that West Indies have to qualify for the Super 12s, and there is a realistic chance that the two-time champions might not make it.H for Hazlewood: Josh Hazlewood is a category unto himself. Previously written off as a Test specialist, he has made a roaring comeback into limited-overs cricket, T20s in particular. He is not the word that Rahul Dravid is too shy to speak in public, but he rarely goes for more than the going rate in the match. He is a banker you can expect to bowl four overs pretty much all the time. In the IPL at least, R Ashwin became that kind of bowler, although in T20Is he might still rely on match-ups. Keshav Maharaj is also getting there.Australia will wear an indigenous-themed jersey at this World Cup•AFP/Getty ImagesI for injuries: Jasprit Bumrah, Jonny Bairstow and Jofra Archer are three exciting T20 players out with injuries. South Africa allrounder Dwaine Pretorius too has been withdrawn. Also on the injury watchlist is Shaheen Afridi, who is coming back from a knee injury but has been named in Pakistan’s squad.Thanks to the freak injury to Bairstow, Alex Hales, who last played in a T20 World Cup in 2016, gets to make a comeback. Dinesh Karthik has waited much longer since last appearing in a T20 World Cup, in 2010.J for jinx: No side has successfully defended its T20 World Cup. No host side has won the title either. Then again, no side has had a chance to defend at home. And Australia are the favourites, with most bases covered. There: we have reverse-jinxed a reverse-jinx.K for kits: Australia have their indigenous-based jersey, Sri Lanka are drawing attention to climate change, Zimbabwe’s yellow top to go with red trousers looks fresh, England are vowing to play with freedom in collarless red, India have managed to find another shade of light blue, and New Zealand again have everybody beat with a mix of grey and black punctuated with white horizontal stripes and the fern.L for luck: It is not the opposite of skill or strategy or fitness, but the shorter a match of cricket gets, the bigger the role luck plays. Other luck factors are difficult to imagine ahead of the start of the tournament, but not the toss. Matches in the UAE, the hosts of the last World Cup, were heavily loaded in favour of the chasing side, making the toss crucial. The coin is less likely to play a role in Australia. While chasing still remains the way to go in T20 cricket, it is confounding that over the last two years Australia has been the second-worst country for chasing sides, who have won 43% of the time. Still, expect teams to prefer chasing but also expect possible closer contests.M for MCB: Mini collapse breakers. The discussion around anchors in T20 is quickly moving to those who can arrest a collapse. Dawid Malan and Virat Kohli are examples: they bat high when a wicket falls early, but if the opening partnership has lasted close to or over ten overs, the batting order is reconsidered, to see if bigger hitters need to be promoted. Malan and Kohli are now efficient in this role, a skill Williamson, Bavuma and Steven Smith will aspire to developing.Get ready to be Rauf-ed up: the World Cup is missing some key fast bowlers, but Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and Co will bring plenty of zing to it•Gareth Copley/ICC/Getty ImagesN for net run rate: It’s not uncommon in such tournaments for more than two teams to end up on the same number of points. Then it often comes down to net run rate, though only comes into the reckoning if the teams can’t be separated by number of wins. If two teams are tied on net run rates too, the next tiebreaker parameter is the number of wins in matches between them and then the net run rate in those matches. If that still doesn’t resolve the tie, the sides higher in the pre-tournament seeding will progress. The pre-tournament seeding order is: England, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Scotland, Namibia, Zimbabwe, UAE, Netherlands, Ireland.O for over rates: Over rates are not overrated anymore. For the first time since 1999, a cricket World Cup will have an in-game over-rate penalty. It means extra work for the third umpire, who will have to pause the clock every time there is a stoppage beyond the control of the fielding side. Any over that begins outside the stipulated time limit of 85 minutes for an innings has to be bowled with at least five fielders inside the ring, as opposed to four at other times. Any wicket after the fifth earns the fielding team one minute of time (there is no such time allowance for wickets one through four). In innings shortened by three or more overs, the fielding side must be ready to bowl the penultimate over inside the proportionately reduced time limit. No such penalties apply to innings of ten overs or shorter.P for pace: In the 2019 50-over World Cup we had only five men who regularly went over 145kph, which roughly classifies as extreme pace. Archer is not available, but we have Pakistan fast bowlers Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Afridi joining Mitchell Starc, Lockie Ferguson, Mark Wood, Kagiso Rabada, and the seriously fast Anrich Nortje.Extreme pace is one point of difference teams look for, left-arm pace is another. All eight teams that have qualified for the Super 12s already have at least one left-arm quick each.Q for Qualifiers: Two qualifying tournaments featuring eight teams each took place to decide who the final four teams in the World Cup would be. All four finalists – UAE and Ireland from Qualifier A, and Zimbabwe and Netherlands from Qualifier B – made it to Australia.R for running-out a non-striker: The practice is being normalised, though some sections still think of it as being underhanded. The MCC has moved its ruling on such run outs from the law on unfair play to the one on run outs, so watch out for more non-strikers being caught outside their crease before the ball is bowled.A total of 405 sixes were scored in the 2021 T20 World Cup. How many will be hit on the big Australian grounds in this year’s tournament?•Daniel Pockett/CA/Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesS for sixes: Since the start of 2020, a six in Australia has been hit every 22 balls. Only in South Africa has six-hitting been less frequent. The South African pitches probably make it difficult to hit sixes, but in Australia, it’s more likely a case of #mcgsobig.The boundaries for this World Cup can’t be bigger than 82.29 metres, but in order to maximise the use of available field of play, they can’t be pulled in more than ten metres in from the perimeter fence. The threshold for the shortest boundary has been reduced from 59.43 m to 52.12 m, in all likelihood to accommodate Geelong, which is primarily a footie ground and is quite narrow. The pitch is dropped in at an angle to get around the size limitation, but since the ground hosts six matches in five days, it might need a bit of elbow room when the game is not played on the centre pitch.T for triple-headers: There are three days in the tournament on which three matches will be played, to go with 14 double headers, but no match will be played simultaneously with another. That makes for another multi-team tournament where the teams playing the last match get the advantage of knowing what to do if their prospects of progressing come down to net run rate (see N). Namibia, UAE, Scotland, Zimbabwe, India and England stand to benefit from this schedule.U for umpires: Remember, they know the laws better than us and know how to judge and apply them better than us. But they also make mistakes, a lot of which are corrected these days. The same 16 umpires who stood in the last World Cup will stand this time around. With this tournament, Aleem Dar, Marais Erasmus and Rod Tucker will have officiated in six of seven men’s T20 World Cups. This will be second World Cup of the year for Langton Rusere of Zimbabwe, after the women’s World Cup. The four match referees will be Ranjan Madugalle, David Boon, Chris Broad and Andy Pycroft.V for venues: If Australia make it to the semi-finals, they will play their match in Sydney no matter where they finish on the table. If they don’t, the winners of Group 1 and runners-up of Group 2 will play the first semi-final in Sydney; the winners of Group 2 and runners-up of Group 1 will play in Adelaide.W for weather: Climate change is upon us, and this World Cup could be affected directly. Victoria this week braced for the “worst weather event” of the year in the form of very heavy untimely rain in what normally would have been spring, the season of sunny days, cool nights, colourful jacarandas and wildflowers. There was flooding in South Melbourne and flash-flood warnings in Victoria the week before the event, and there is already talk of rain-affected games.Sixteen-year-old Aayan Afzal Khan of UAE is the youngest player at this World Cup•Ashley Allen/ICC/Getty ImagesX for cross(over): Finally, we can put the confusion to rest. T20 leagues adopted a regulation saying that the incoming batter would be on strike irrespective of whether the batters had crossed during a dismissal (except if the dismissal was off the last ball of the over) before international cricket did on October 1, but now, at long last, the not-out batter will stay at the end they were at even if the two batters cross each other while a catch is taken. It is a crucial little bit of help for bowlers, especially when they are up against lower-order batters.Y for youngest: Aayan Afzal Khan of UAE, born in Goa, brought up in Sharjah, is 16 years old, comfortably younger than any other player in the tournament. In the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, Ayaan starred in what was possibly UAE’s biggest triumph on the world stage. He scored 93, taking his side from 26 for 4 to a total that was enough to beat West Indies by 82 runs. He is actually a left-arm spinner first and then a batter. UAE went on to win the Plate final. Mohammad Amir, who started the 2009 World Cup at 17 years and 55 days, remains the youngest player in all T20 World Cups.At 38 years and 230 days on the day Netherlands play their first match, opener Stephan Myburgh will be the oldest in the tournament. Hong Kong’s Ryan Campbell played in the 2016 World Cup when he was 44 years and 33 days old.Z for Zampa: And other wristspinners who are no longer part of XIs by right. Fingerspinners are making a comeback, especially if they can be as good as Maharaj and Ashwin, or if they have match-ups working for them. Apart from Rashid Khan and Adil Rashid, Zampa is the one non-allrounder wristspinner who gets picked no matter what. If the Australian pitches have the bounce they are famous for, this tournament could signal a comeback for his breed.

How many fairy tales is too many?

Sambit Bal19-Jan-2021Catch your breath. Settle your heart. Calm your nerves. And soak in it. Let it wash over you. Luxuriate in the feeling. Bask in your good fortune, whoever you are and wherever you are: you have just had the ride of a lifetime. Sport doesn’t do much better than this: this is beyond special, beyond the imagination, beyond dreams. As sports fans we live for days such as these, when hopeless odds are beaten, when the unimaginable is achieved, when new heroes emerge and when history is scripted.And India, what do we say to you? All through this magnificent series you have tugged at our hearts. Now you own them.Faith, courage, belief, grit, character, spirit – in the context of the cricket at least, you have raised the bar for these words, which are often worn from overuse. Not only have you – and I do not use these words lightly – created the greatest moment in India’s Test history, you have provided a glorious hurrah to the most epic, the most layered, form of sport known to us.Test cricket is life itself: not only is it a game of the highest skill, it is also a test of endurance and adaptability, patience and courage. There is the toil, ball after ball, session after session, day after day. You can glide on the waves only if you have the heart to weather the storms. There is heartbreak and there is redemption: Test cricket always gives you a second chance. How well India forged steel from the debris of Adelaide, numerically the lowest point of their Test history, with their captain and best batsman, and one of their strike bowlers gone.Related

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Given all that they had to overcome, it was appropriate that they should have finished their trial in the toughest arena. For subcontinental teams, Australia, with its hard pitches, big grounds, tall and muscular fast bowlers, and the aura of intimidation in the air, is the hardest land. And nothing amplifies the Australianness of Australian cricket as much as the Gabba, where the pitch, not yet a drop-in, yields bounce and movement, and where the cracks lengthen as the match wears on, making the aforementioned fast bowlers feel even deadlier; where Australia had not lost a Test since 1988, and where India have never won one. When it emerged that India were reluctant to travel to Queensland, it was put down in some quarters to their fear of the “Gabbattoir” rather than to legitimate concerns about the hard quarantine norms in Queensland.And what did they have at their disposal? Barely 11 fit men to put on the park, with six of their first-choice bowlers, two of whom had made match-defining contributions with the bat, lost to injury (one more would be incapacitated in the first innings of the match) and two middle-order batsmen, in addition to their captain, gone too. The number of wickets taken by the bowlers of the two teams read 1033 to 13, going into the game.And their captain loses the toss, his third in a row, at a ground where no opposition team has ever mounted a successful chase of over 200. And Australia’s bowling attack is one of their best ever.Given all the fairy tales they have woven on this tour, how could India do anything but cap it with the biggest of them all: the most audacious of heists, a chase of 328 on the final day. It’s a Test they didn’t need to win; a draw would have done enough to see them hold on to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which they won handsomely on these shores two years ago. But just how could they not go for the win?It was appropriate the charge was led by two young men who represent, in contrasting style, the dauntlessness of this team. Tellingly, neither played in the only Test India lost on the tour. Shubman Gill, 21 but marked out as a future star, caressed boundaries with the finesse of a Mahela Jayawardene in his prime, and took on the bouncer trap with the spirit of a pugilist. Rishabh Pant, who came on this tour off a horrid IPL and with questions over his attitude and fitness, and was picked over the first-choice wicketkeeper, Wriddhiman Saha, only because India needed to compensate for Kohli’s absence, was able to take on the dare of the final-session chase not just because he had the wares but mainly because he was prepared to bear the cost of failure. Or perhaps he chose never to contemplate it. Impossible odds are never beaten without a dose of audacity.Sandwiched in between was the phlegmatic figure of Cheteshwar Pujara, whose batting through the series has aroused many a debate. In 2018 he was the architect of India’s first-ever series win in Australia, with 521 runs and three hundreds. Australia were better prepared for him this time, and his run-scoring was reduced to a trickle even by his own standards. But he still was the hardest to dislodge, weathering 928 balls, grinding down the bowlers with each one he blunted. Apart from two innings – the Adelaide horror show and the small chase in Melbourne – the fewest deliveries he absorbed in an innings this series was 70, and his 211-ball vigil in Brisbane, during which he copped the nastiest blows because the Australian quicks homed in on him, gave his young partners insurance against the collapse. Every Test team needs a Pujara, one of a dying but priceless breed.Rishabh Pant: big heart, no fear•Patrick Hamilton/AFP/Getty ImagesThe story of India’s series is that the fairy tales just kept coming. There were three match-altering partnerships involving the No. 8s: in Melbourne, Ravindra Jadeja, playing his first game after being concussed in the T20I series, added 121 with Ajinkya Rahane; in Sydney, R Ashwin batted 128 balls in a 42.4-over partnership with Hanuma Vihari, who batted 161 balls on one leg. Ashwin, who has four Test hundreds, had not gone past 25 since December 2018. He perhaps wouldn’t have played the first Test, and possibly also the second, had Jadeja not been injured. Ashwin was, in the words of his wife, crawling on the hotel-room floor the night before the last day of the Sydney Test with a back injury that would deny him the opportunity of a final tilt in his best series outside the subcontinent.And what of Mohammed Siraj, the son of an auto-rickshaw driver, who came into the spotlight through a talent-hunt contest, who stayed on the tour to honour his father, who died while Siraj was in Australia, and who made his Test debut because of an injury to Mohammed Shami. Two Tests later, Siraj was India’s enforcer not only in name but in deed, hustling Australia’s best with wicket-taking balls.Or T Natarajan, who had bowled only with a tennis ball till 2010 or thereabouts, and found a place in India’s T20I squad on the strength of his yorkers this IPL, who went to earn an ODI cap and then make his Test cap, having stayed back as a net bowler. His three wickets in the first innings in Brisbane contributed to keeping Australia’s first-innings score under 400. As did the three-wicket hauls from fellow debutant Washington Sundar and near-debutant Shardul Thakur, who bowled only ten balls in his first Test before pulling up with an injury.Sundar, another T20 specialist who would have, cross your heart, never been thought of as a Test prospect, and was played only because India couldn’t afford a long tail, and Thakur, who was played as the fourth quick bowler as insurance against another injury, which duly came about when Navdeep Saini hobbled off with a groin strain, provided the penultimate twist with a 123-run partnership when at, 186 for 6, India’s resistance seemed to have finally been broken.As sports fans and writers we can usually consider ourselves fortunate if we are able to watch and write about one rousing story in a series. That this series between these two fierce rivals came down to the final hour of the final day of the final Test would have been enough. But this Indian team left us memories to keep us warm for a lifetime.

The USA batter is the fourth man to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket, after Gibbs, Yuvraj and Pollard

Daya Sagar11-Sep-2021As you would expect after equalling an international record previously achieved only by Herschelle Gibbs, Yuvraj Singh and Kieron Pollard, there are 4000-5000 unread WhatsApp messages on Jaskaran Malhotra’s phone. One of the first to congratulate Malhotra after he hit six sixes in an over for USA against Papua New Guinea was Pollard, who was also his captain at St Lucia Stars during the 2018 edition of the CPL.Like his more famous colleagues at the Stars from that year, like David Warner, Daren Sammy and Lendl Simmons, 31-year-old Malhotra aspires to play in the IPL one day, his early ambition of turning out for India having come to nothing. That said, there is pride and satisfaction of being a part of an improving USA outfit.Related

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“It’s quite amazing, really. I had not planned on any such thing when I went in to bat,” Malhotra told ESPNcricinfo about his innings of 173* (in 124 balls, with four fours and 16 sixes), also the first ODI century in men’s cricket for USA. “I entered the field with our team in a spot of bother, having lost three wickets for 29 inside the first ten overs. My first target was to just stay till the end. As the innings progressed, I got the confidence to play my shots.”In the final over (bowled by the unfortunate Gaudi Toka), once I was able to hit four sixes, that’s when the thought of six sixes first came in. I am grateful that I was able to equal this record.”Of the six sixes, which took USA to 271 for 9 and a 134-run win, Malhotra picked out the second as his best, having gone inside-out over cover. Shades of the third one Yuvraj had hit off Stuart Broad back in that 2007 T20 World Cup game there.And though there has been a surfeit of messages and calls since September 9, the one Malhotra has been waiting for hasn’t. “I know Yuvi (Yuvraj) will also be calling me soon. I am eagerly looking forward to that.”It’s a long way, that international fixture – his 13th across ODIs and T20Is – in Al Amerat from his formative years playing in Himachal Pradesh.”I captained Himachal Pradesh at Under-15 and Under-17 levels. I was also the most prolific domestic wicketkeeper-batter at Under-17 level. In fact, I was rewarded with a place among the 20 probables for the Under-19 World Cup in 2008, and was part of the NCA camp,” Malhotra said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the final 16, which won the tournament under Virat Kohli.”Malhotra did, however, find a place in the Himachal Pradesh senior team, but never got a look-in at the first-class level. A chance encounter with cricket in the USA came after the 2010 domestic season in India, when he was visiting a relative in America, ended up playing in a local tournament while there, and did well.After that, there were invitations each year from cricket bodies in the USA, and simultaneously a drop in the likelihood of ever making it big in India.In 2014, Malhotra decided to make his move to the USA. Permanently.”I did dream of playing for India at the highest level, but playing for USA in international cricket has been very satisfying too,” he said. “Cricket here is on the right track, and with possible inclusion at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, it will give us a chance to take on the best on a global stage quite soon.”Besides this, we need to make the most of the qualifying rounds for World Cups in T20 and 50-over formats, so that we can get better exposure at the highest level.”

Also, India’s poor partnership numbers and their issues with bowled and LBW dismissals

Sampath Bandarupalli02-Mar-2023272 Runs scored by India across their two innings in Indore. It is the joint-third lowest aggregate for India in a home Test when all out twice. India’s lowest aggregate is 212 against Australia in 2017 in Pune, followed by 247 in Chennai against England in 1977.8 for 64 Nathan Lyon’s bowling figures in India’s second innings, the second best for Australia in Tests against India, behind his 8 for 50 in Bengaluru during the 2017 tour. His Indore figures also puts him second best overall in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, behind his Bengaluru performance.113 Test wickets for Lyon against India. He is now the leading wicket-taker in Border-Gavaskar Trophy history, surpassing Anil Kumble’s tally of 111 wickets.Related

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'It was a massive moment' – Lyon on Smith's catch to dismiss Pujara

Lyon spins India out again; Australia need 76 to win

53 Test wickets for Lyon in India, the second highest among visiting bowlers behind Derek Underwood’s 54. Lyon’s five five-wicket hauls in India are the joint most for a visiting bowler along with Richie Benaud.35 India’s highest partnership in this Test, between Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer for the fifth wicket in the second innings. Only twice have India had a smaller top partnership in a Test where they lost all 20 wickets: 20 runs against South Africa in Durban in 1997 and 31 against Australia in Brisbane in 1947.18 Wickets for Australia’s spinners in Indore, the joint most by them in a Test match in Asia. The Australian spinners also took 18 wickets against Sri Lanka during the last year’s Galle Test. It is the joint most for Australian spinners in a Test since they took 19 against England in Nottingham in 1934.12 Number of bowled or LBW dismissals for India in Indore, their their most in a Test since 13 such dismissals against England at Lord’s in 1959.76 The target set by India in Indore. The lowest target any team has failed to chase is 85 . The dubious distinction belongs to England against Australia in 1882, the game that gave rise to the Ashes.

Having had sustained success for Australia and CSK, he appears most likely to start the tournament with Starc and Cummins

Deivarayan Muthu19-Oct-2021Do you remember the time when the Champions League T20 was a thing? Do you remember the time when Sydney Sixers won the title in Johannesburg? Do you remember that time when a certain Josh Hazlewood had the best economy rate (4.70) among bowlers who had bowled at least 15 overs in that tournament?In the 2013-14 Big Bash League (BBL), Hazlewood was the joint-second-highest wicket-taker, with 14 strikes in nine matches at an economy rate of 7.88. He could bounce out batters. He could york them. He could also best them with good lengths. Mumbai Indians, who would go on to become the gold standard of T20 cricket, snapped him up at the 2014 IPL auction for INR 50 lakh. He didn’t get a game at Mumbai in 2014 and he opted out of the next season, citing concerns around his workload.Related

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He made it to Australia’s squad in the 2016 T20 World Cup, but for the next four years, he didn’t play any competitive T20 cricket and went on to become a Test-match phenom. After he wasn’t selected in Australia’s 50-over World Cup squad in 2019, a hurt Hazlewood returned to where it all started for him, bowling thrifty spells for Sixers in the BBL. Hazlewood’s accuracy in the BBL attracted the attention of Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. In 2021, he became a regular for Australia in T20Is and Super Kings in the IPL, in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.Sure, hitting heavy lengths with a high-arm action is Hazlewood’s traditional strength, but there’s more to him. He can now bowl slower offcutters into the pitch, cross-seamers, and even has a knuckle-ball in his repertoire.He made a telling contribution for Super Kings in the IPL final against Kolkata Knight Riders last week in Dubai. In his very first over, he found extra bounce and the edge of Venkatesh Iyer’s bat, but MS Dhoni dropped a fairly straightforward catch. In his next over, he drew another mis-hit, this time from Shubman Gill, but Shardul Thakur missed a more difficult chance in the infield.Thakur, however, brought Super Kings back with a double-strike in the 11th over. In the next over, Dhoni matched up Hazlewood with Sunil Narine and the seamer bashed a heavy length, having Narine holing out on the pull. He then had Eoin Morgan holing out with a similar short ball. His 2 for 29 in four overs was also vital to Super Kings pinning down Knight Riders after they had surged to 91 for 0 in the 11th over, chasing 193.Hazlewood had also played his part in the first qualifier against Delhi Capitals, returning identical figures. Earlier against Mumbai Indians, Hazlewood had got a full ball to skid into Kieron Pollard and trapped him lbw.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the first leg of the IPL in India, Pollard had knocked the living daylights out of Super Kings – and Lungi Ngidi – in Delhi, walloping an unbeaten 87 off 34 balls as Mumbai mowed down 219. Hazlewood, who had opted out of the India leg of the tournament, was specifically picked to counter Pollard in Dubai and he did his job, swinging the game Super Kings’ way.”Working on a range of things [in T20 cricket],” Hazlewood told during the IPL. “Probably it’s about putting it into practice at the right time in these situations and every game throws up something different. They [the opposition] can come hard at the start, through at the middle or in the end. It’s just about reading the play, I think, and I guess what you’re working on training, implementing that at the right time and executing it.”I think it [Test-match] length can work at certain times and the batter is probably going to use his feet or get deep in the crease or try something. You got to sort of be ready for that and try and pre-empt that I guess.”That Test-match length has worked for him in the powerplay, but it will become a slot length in the slog overs, a phase in which Hazlewood has conceded 9.62 runs an over since the 2016 T20 World Cup. Kane Richardson, in comparison, has gone at only 8.81 runs an over in T20 cricket during this phase. Richardson also brings with him more experience and hence could be a more compelling option at the death along with Mitchell Starc, the leader of the pack.It would be a tough call for the team management but having had sustained success for Australia – and Super Kings – in recent times, Hazlewood appears most likely to start the T20 World Cup with Starc and Pat Cummins.

And is Mitch Marsh the only man to score a century and take a wicket on the first day of a Test?

Steven Lynch11-Jul-2023How many people have scored a century and taken five wickets in an ODI, as Bas de Leede did in the World Cup Qualifier? asked Carsten Wulff from the Netherlands
That astonishing performance by Bas de Leede, which almost single-handedly propelled Netherlands into the World Cup later this year, was only the fourth instance of a man scoring a century and taking a five-for in the same one-day international. But it’s fair to say that none of the others faced the pressure de Leede had: in his own version of “Basball”, he followed 5 for 52 with 123 off 92 balls as the Dutch beat Scotland in Bulawayo to clinch their place in the main event.The first to do this particular double was Viv Richards, with 119 and 5 for 41 for West Indies against New Zealand in Dunedin in 1986-87. He was followed by Paul Collingwood, with 112 not out and 6 for 31 for England vs Bangladesh at Trent Bridge in 2005, and Rohan Mustafa for United Arab Emirates against Papua New Guinea in Abu Dhabi in 2017.In women’s ODIs, New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr followed 232 not out with 5 for 17 against Ireland at Clontarf (Dublin) in 2018. And in men’s T20Is, Francisco Couana combined 104 with 5 for 19 for Mozambique against Cameroon in Rwanda in 2021-22.Mitch Marsh scored a century and later took a wicket on the first day of the third Test. How many people have done this? asked Keith McKenzie from Australia
Mitchell Marsh, in his first Test for nearly four years, scored 118 on the first day of the third Ashes Test at Headingley, and then took the wicket of Zak Crawley.I was surprised to find that only two men had previously achieved this particular double, both of them New Zealanders. The first was Giff Vivian, against South Africa in Wellington in 1931-32; he made exactly 100, and then dismissed the visitors’ captain Jock Cameron. He was joined many years later by Scott Styris, against West Indies in Auckland in 2005-06 – he followed an unbeaten 103 with the wickets of Chris Gayle and nightwatchman Ian Bradshaw.Records for women’s Tests are rather more sketchy, but it looks as if two women have also done it: Myrtle Maclagan for England against Australia in Blackpool in 1937, and Betty Wilson for Australia vs England in Adelaide in 1948-49Danni Wyatt recently made her Test debut after over 200 white-ball internationals. Was this the most, by a man or woman? asked Chris Merchant from England
Danni Wyatt made her Test debut for England recently, against Australia at Trent Bridge, after 245 white-ball internationals – 102 ODIs and 143 T20Is. That is indeed the most before a Test debut, beating 189 by Sune Luus of South Africa.The men’s record is 184 (125 ODIs and 59 T20Is) by Kevin O’Brien before his Test debut in 2018. His Ireland team-mate William Porterfield is next with 175 matches, then comes Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi with 161.The record for most white-ball internationals without ever playing a Test is 295, by New Zealand’s Suzie Bates; next comes the West Indian Deandra Dottin with 270. At the moment she’s one ahead of the leading man, South Africa’s David Miller, who has so far played 155 ODIs and 114 T20Is.Suzie Bates has played 295 internationals but is yet to make her red-ball debut for Zealand•AFP/Getty ImagesImran Khan dismissed Sunil Gavaskar with the first ball of the first Test played at Jaipur. How many other international grounds have seen a wicket from their very first ball? asked Rafay Iqbal from England
The match you’re talking about was the third Test of the 1986-87 series between India and Pakistan: Imran Khan had Sunil Gavaskar caught off the opening ball in Jaipur, which was staging its first – and to date only – Test match. Note that the Sawai Mansingh Stadium had previously held two ODIs, so this was not the first ball in international cricket there.Two other grounds have seen their Test careers begin with a wicket: Pakistan’s Mohsin Khan was trapped in front by Kapil Dev of India off the first ball of the only Test played at Burlton Park in Jalandhar, in 1983-84; it had also staged an ODI before this. And West Indies’ Chris Gayle was lbw to Suranga Lakmal of Sri Lanka off the first ball of the first Test – and first international – at the new stadium in Pallekele in 2010-11.Looking at all internationals, pride of place goes to the City Oval in Pietermaritzburg, which saw Chaminda Vaas take a hat-trick for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh with the first three deliveries there, during the 50-over World Cup early in 2003.Two other grounds have had a wicket go down to their first ball in men’s internationals: Scarborough (Barry Wood bowled by Andy Roberts for England vs West Indies in an ODI in 1976) and Windsor Park in Dominica (Tamim Iqbal caught behind off Kemar Roach for Bangladesh vs West Indies in an ODI in 2009). I remember a Sunday League game at Chelmsford many years ago, when the umpire had two walking sticks. Do you know who he was? asked Keith Mardell via Facebook
The gentleman you are thinking of was Roddy Wilson, a Yorkshireman who had one full season on the English first-class umpires’ panel, in 1978. He stood in some additional first-class games in other years, and more than 100 in the Minor Counties Championship. In his year on the first-class panel he umpired Essex’s County Championship and Sunday League games against Hampshire in Chelmsford.Roddy Wilson died in 2001 aged 69. He used a stick, sometimes two, to get around. I’m not sure why, but would hazard a guess at childhood polio. There was another Wilson umpiring at around the same time – the Lancastrian Tommy Wilson, who died earlier this year – who by coincidence had also suffered from polio as a child. Tommy remembered that Roddy, seven years his senior, eventually had to give up umpiring because he found his hands were being affected by constantly having to put weight on his arm crutches.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The stakes are higher than ever, and the stage is set for Jonny to be Jonny

Vithushan Ehantharajah04-Jul-2023The international schedule rightly gets a hammering for matches backing up on to one another. But all praise to it for ensuring we only have one more day of “spirit of cricket” discourse.Alex Carey’s Sunday stumping of Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s will have ideally run out of fumes by the time the third Test gets underway on Thursday. The actual cricket could not come back soon enough.That will certainly be how both protagonists feel. And though Carey might be the man in the sightlines of the frothier pearl-clutchers, he has the best insulation. The laws help keep the conscience clear, the 2-0 scoreline gives comfort of a job well done. One win away from enacting Australia’s first overseas Ashes win since 2001 keeping him focused.For Bairstow, things are not quite as clear cut. His mood is said to be pretty much as you would expect. And as such, his England team-mates are getting around him. On Tuesday evening, they head over to his house for a barbecue, which has become a loose tradition when the squad is up in these parts. Having numbers over will provide relief from the noise. But it would not be a surprise if some of them use the opportunity to wind him up a little further. Such is the situation England find themselves in, with three must-win games in a row, they need the angry Bairstow more than ever.Related

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“Jonny does thrive off things like this,” Joe Root said on Tuesday at Headingley, a homecoming for both of them as well as Harry Brook. “Playing at his ground, I’m sure he will want to entertain the local crowd. I think it is set up nicely for him but you have still got to go and do it. You can bet your bottom dollar he will have the bit between his teeth.”When asked of Bairstow’s current mood, Root, who has played alongside Bairstow since Under-12 level at Yorkshire, opted for sarcasm: “No, he has been really placid,” before adding, “you can spot him from a mile off.” No one wears anger as obviously.The general awareness of Bairstow’s frame of mind is a good thing at a time like this. “Jonny is Jonny” is a phrase you often hear when asking after him. Essentially, an answer acknowledging the motivation of the question, with a knowing nod to how things are. Not too dissimilar from “it is what it is”.A rekindling of his talents in 2022 – 681 runs for the summer, four centuries, at an average of 75.66 – was down to Ben Stokes’s empathy, recognising exactly what Bairstow needs to thrive. After an eight-month spell out with a broken leg, Bairstow’s belief and ball-striking remain undimmed. But a reaction is needed from the most pugnacious cricketers going. No one wants it more than him, partcularly against these opponents.Bairstow has one of the more peculiar relationship with Australia. On statistics alone, they are a bit of an oddity, averaging more there (32.29) than he does over here (27.45). Both of his Ashes hundreds have been scored in Australia, a place where few modern English batters have excelled.His first taste of this rivalry came in 2013, playing the first four Tests in a forgettable 3-0 England win. A second, more bitter taste was around the corner during the 2013-14 whitewash. Bairstow, who replaced Matt Prior behind the stumps for the final two matches, was so on the periphery as England’s most successful collection of players of the modern era tore themselves apart that he often got mistaken for a Barmy Army supporter when walking the streets in team stash.Jonny Bairstow is back on home turf at Headingley•Getty ImagesThen there was the “headbutt” that wasn’t to Cameron Bancroft at the very start of the 2017-18 tour. A quieter 2019, saw him pitch in with an underrated 36 during the great Headingley heist, outscoring Stokes in a partnership of 86 for the fifth wicket.And then there was last Ashes, in 2021-22, when Bairstow was heckled and told to lose weight by an Australian fan as he returned to the pavilion at Sydney. He went on to score the only England century of the tour.The on- and off-field incidents of this series could end up trumping the lot. A fine opening knock of 78 was overshadowed by some lacklustre glovework, allowing Australia to triumph by two wickets in the first Test and restarting the Ben Foakes bandwagon.An over into the second, he was carrying a Just Stop Oil protester back to the Grandstand with one hand. Between that and idly strolling out of his crease was another tough spell as keeper, taking his byes this series to 31. He failed to make those runs up in front of the stumps, with an avoidable dismissal in the first inning as he punched Josh Hazlewood to mid-on for 16.Have we ever been more certain that Bairstow is going to do something this week in what will be his 93rd Test cap? His team-mates believe something special is in the offing.”You want to be watching every ball this week,” Root said. “There is always something in these big series and this is it I guess. And it would have to involve Jonny. What a week he had.”It was last year at Edgbaston that Bairstow previously dialled himself up to 11. He walked out against with England 44 for 3 after India had posted 416 in their first innings. Virat Kohli decided to engage Bairstow in some typically frosty back and forth. Bairstow responded with a 72-ball century and followed it up with an unbeaten 114 in the second innings to chase down 378.This time around, the stakes are even higher. An Ashes on the line, Australia and Australians gunning for him, Bairstow will step into his home ground with every corner mimicking the fervour of the Western Terrace knowing his country needs him more than ever before.The stage is set for Jonny to be Jonny.

Vote for your memorable moments from England’s past tours of the Caribbean

Andrew Miller and Srinath Sripath23-Jan-2019

In an interview to ESPNcricinfo, the 37-year-old wicketkeeper describes the communication and reasons given for dropping him from the India Test side

Sidharth Monga20-Feb-2022You seem angry, going by your recent public comments.
I never get angry. Nor am I now. I was told about this selection decision in South Africa, but I didn’t tell anyone that till now. Now that the team is out, I have only answered questions that people have asked me.How was this communicated to you?
After the South Africa series, Rahul [Dravid, the head coach] called me to the room and said, “Wriddhi, I don’t know how to say this, but for some time now the selectors and the team management have been wanting to look at a new face (as wicketkeeper). Because you are not our first-choice wicketkeeper, because you haven’t been playing for a while, we want to use this time to groom a younger wicketkeeper.” I said “okay, no issues”.Related

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And he said, “Don’t be shocked if you are not selected for the Sri Lanka Tests. In the meantime, if you want to take some other decision, you can do that.” So I told him I was not thinking about retirement; not even close to doing so. I told him, “I started playing cricket because I liked playing it, and will continue till I like doing so. If you are not looking at me for the Indian team, that is your decision.”And the selectors?
Ten-twelve days later, I got a call from Chetan Sharma [chairman of selectors]. He asked me if I was playing Ranji Trophy. I said I hadn’t decided yet. Then he went on to tell me what Rahul had said. So I asked him if this decision was for just this series or for the upcoming series against Australia and England too. Then he paused for a couple of seconds and said, “From now on, you will not be considered.”Then I asked him why, is it because of my performance and fitness or is it because of my age? He said fitness and performance were not an issue. “We want to look at new faces and if we bring in a new face, we can’t drop him without playing him.” That’s why he said “from now on”.I said, “Okay, this is your decision.”And he said, “You can play Ranji Trophy if you want to. It’s your call.”

“If they were going to consider me after this series, then why would Rahul say, you can take ‘some other’ decision if you want?”Wriddhiman Saha

You haven’t been playing the Ranji Trophy.
It has got nothing to do with the selection. Some time ago my wife fell sick with dengue, and she hasn’t recovered fully. We have two young kids too. So I have to give my family some time too. I told the Cricket Association of Bengal clearly that I was not playing for personal reasons.Do you feel you are being nudged to retire?
When the selectors and the coach say they have been thinking about this for a while, it is not an isolated call. It means other officials – president, vice-president, etc – are in the loop too.The biggest shock was that when I scored 61 against New Zealand in Kanpur despite being injured, Dadi [Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president] texted to congratulate me and said I didn’t need to worry about anything till he is there. Naturally, I was shocked at what I was told immediately one series after.But the board president doesn’t get involved in selections.
I don’t know all that. I don’t complain about selection. If I am selected, I try to deliver. If I am dropped, I don’t say why I have not been picked. If I am not picked now, the team must not be needing me, which is why they have decided. I am not going to say anything against it.Are you satisfied by the reasons and communication?
They said performance or fitness is not an issue. “We just want to look at a new face. You are with the squad, not getting to play, so we will not consider you ‘from now on’.” So if I play Ranji or not, if I score double-centuries or triple-centuries, “from now on” means out. That means we will not consider you from now on.If you score a thousand runs in a Ranji season, your fitness will be obvious, then how can they not consider you?
If they are saying fitness and performance are not an issue, what is the issue? Age.One person indirectly asked me to consider retirement. One said, “From now on you won’t be considered.” It is clear they won’t take me whatever I do. I have been told that Chetan Sharma yesterday said you are not being considered only for these two Tests. That version is different. I have been told “from now on”. If they were going to consider me after this series, then why would Rahul say, “You can take some other decision if you want”?Have you spoken to Ganguly after that?
No. Not after that text.