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As the final steps in their road back from injury to the Indian team, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are now taking part in match simulations at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. This process will culminate in a couple of practice games for them, as they make their way back from a thigh (Rahul) and back (Iyer) injury.Rahul and Iyer are expected to take part in this training all through this week, which will give the national selectors clarity on how they are shaping up in a match environment before they sit down to pick India’s Asia Cup squad, which is expected to be out by August 20.”We have a few guys coming back from injuries in any case,” head coach Rahul Dravid had said in Florida after the fifth and final T20I against West Indies on Sunday. “We are going to have to give them opportunities to play [in the Asia Cup]. I haven’t really thought about the Asia Cup at this stage. We have a one-week camp in Bengaluru from August 23. We’ll be assembling there as a one-day team. We will take it as it comes.”Late last month, the BCCI issued a media statement confirming Iyer and Rahul’s return to batting in the nets and fitness drills. ESPNcricinfo understands the delay in Asia Cup squad announcement is to give selectors more of a chance to assess the duo, and give them the best chance to feature in the tournament which in many ways is a dry run for the World Cup in October-November.India’s Asia Cup contingent and reserves will undergo a week-long conditioning camp in Bengaluru from August 23-29 prior to leaving for Sri Lanka for the tournament, where India will open their campaign on September 2 against Pakistan.

Asia Cup squad = World Cup squad?

The selectors are keen on the Asia Cup being an unofficial hard stop as far as team selection for the World Cup goes, but it’s likely there could be an exception or two made, given India also play Australia in three ODIs prior to the World Cup campaign. As things stand, the BCCI must announce a preliminary World Cup squad by September 5, but can make changes to the squad as late as September 27, the day of the third and final ODI against Australia.Rahul and Iyer are among four players who are in line for comebacks. The other two, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna, are part of the Ireland tour party for the three T20Is from August 18-23.If fully fit, Rahul is India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in ODIs and will likely slot into the middle order along with Iyer, who has a formidable record at No. 4. In Iyer’s absence, the selectors have experimented with a number of options, including Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson and Axar Patel during the recently concluded ODI series in the Caribbean.Iyer hasn’t played any competitive cricket since the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test against Australia this March. He underwent a back surgery in London subsequently, which forced him to miss the entire IPL season. He was in line to return for the Ireland T20Is, but this had been pushed back after the NCA staff felt he needed a longer rehabilitation window.Rahul, meanwhile, pulled up towards the end stages of IPL 2023, when he tore a tendon in his right thigh while fielding. Like Iyer, Rahul too underwent surgery in the UK and has been in rehab at the NCA for the past two months.

Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah all set for Ireland gig

Prasidh and Bumrah had been had been put through similar match simulation exercises by the NCA staff late last month as their final lap of preparation before the squad selection for Ireland. On Sunday, Prasidh played for Mysuru Warriors in the Maharaja T20 Cup, his first top-level game in almost a year.Both players have now linked up with the squad leaving for Ireland.

Recent ups and downs in form have turned him into a different kind of player

Karthik Krishnaswamy16-Jul-20231:16

Dasgupta on Kohli: Very good innings on a difficult pitch

Virat Kohli has played every kind of cover drive you could think of. The front-foot cover drive, the back-foot cover drive, the step-out-and-step-away inside-out cover drive. The cover drive to the left of the cover fielder, the cover drive to his right. The straight-bat, punchy cover drive, the bottom-handed topspin cover drive with twirly flourish. The middled cover drive, the edged cover drive.It took until his 110th Test match, however, for Kohli to play a cover drive followed by a punch-the-air celebration when he hadn’t brought up 50, 100 or multiples thereof.Kohli celebrating a milestone, however. He had just hit the first boundary of his innings, off the 81st ball he had faced.It was that kind of innings. The pitch for the first West Indies-India Test in Dominica was a slow turner with a bit of bounce for the spinners, ingredients that limited batters’ ability to drive the ball unless it was pitched right up, or use the bowlers’ pace to score their runs.And so it was that Kohli took 81 balls to hit his first boundary, another 43 to hit his second, and another 36 to hit his third, by which time he had already passed 50.It was far from Kohli’s most fluent innings, and there were slices of luck along the way – two dropped chances on 40 and 72, and a missed run-out chance on 45 – but he was doing what he needed to do. India were looking to bat once and bat big after bowling West Indies out for 150 on the first day, and he was helping them do just that. He was happy to bat time, grind out his runs, and pump his fists whenever a boundary happened to come along.Related

Secret to Kohli's longevity? 'A lot of hard work and sacrifices,' says Dravid

Two Ashwin wickets, and what they say about his craft

A broad grin accompanied these boundary celebrations, suggesting both that he was enjoying his struggle and aware of how mortal it was making him look. Great batters don’t score runs only when every ball is pinging off the sweet spot; they often place greater value on the times they had to fight their own lack of fluency but scored runs nonetheless. They love waging heroic battles against the greatest bowlers on difficult pitches, and they also love days when they are themselves their stiffest opponents.The most remarkable thing about Sachin Tendulkar’s 241 not-out in Sydney wasn’t so much that he shelved his cover drive but the fact that he shelved it on one of the flattest pitches he ever batted on, against a middling Australia attack. It takes a lot for one of the greatest batters of all time to acknowledge that he wasn’t playing one of his bread-and-butter shots well enough to use it even in those circumstances.Virat Kohli took 81 balls to score his first boundary in the first Test against West Indies•AFP via Getty ImagesOver recent months and years, some of Kohli’s longest Test innings have featured this sort of self-denial: for instance the 79 in Cape Town, which featured one of the highest leave percentages of any Test innings in recent times, and the 186 in Ahmedabad, where he went 122 balls before hitting his first boundary of day four. He’s been happy to pare his game down to its most prosaic components when required to, almost revelling in the setting aside of his ego.But sometimes it’s felt different from the kind of situation-specific curtailing of shots that Tendulkar would perform every now and then. With Kohli over recent seasons, it feels like something may have changed in his game, perhaps even irrevocably.Until the end of 2019, Kohli scored his Test runs at a strike rate of 57.81. Since the start of 2020, he’s gone at 44.43.This, of course, is partly an effect of his diminished returns in this period – he has only averaged 30.75 in the pandemic and post-pandemic eras – and partly an effect of the quality of attacks he’s faced and the bowling-friendly nature of the pitches he’s batted on. Kohli has been far from alone among India’s batters in seeing his average and strike rate drop significantly since the turn of the decade.The difference with Kohli, however, is that when he had scored runs against quality attacks in testing conditions in the pre-pandemic period, he had often done so at a significant clip. Take three celebrated innings from 2018: the 153 in Centurion came at a strike rate of 70.50, his 149 in Birmingham at 66.22, and his 97 in Nottingham at 63.81.It isn’t easy to say why Kohli has slowed down to the extent he has, post-2020. The fundamentals of his game don’t seem to have changed to any great extent, but his limitations may be hampering him now in a way they didn’t in his prime. These limitations have always been evident. He’s a superb puller, for instance, but he’s never had much of a back-foot repertoire on the off side; against spin he only rarely sweeps or hits over the top or uses his feet to get down the pitch. In Dominica, for instance, he didn’t sweep or use his feet even though he faced a lot of bowling from West Indies’ part-time spinners.It could be that his eye isn’t quite what it used to be, and he isn’t hitting his go-to shots in quite the ruthless way he used to. Or it could be that bowlers are denying him his go-to shots more successfully now than they used to.Whatever the reasons may be, Kohli hasn’t changed his game or added new shots to his repertoire. And by not changing his game, Kohli has paradoxically turned into a different kind of player. He scores his runs slower now, and perhaps with less certainty than before, though he seems to be over the worst of his lean run – he averages 48.44 this year, compared to 26.20 in the 2020-22 period. What hasn’t changed, as Dominica showed, is how much he relishes a scrap – even if his fiercest opponent happens to be himself.

Juventus have lined up midfielder Matt O’Riley as they appear to have lost hope of signing either Sandro Tonali and Morten Hjumland.

O'Riley and Bissouma alternativesBissouma rules out MolinaBrighton ready to accept loan with obligationFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

According to , Juventus have turned to Brighton’s O’Riley and Tottenham’s Yves Bissouma as alternatives after moves for Tonali and Hjumland fell through. Brighton, who signed O’Riley from Celtic in 2024 for €30 million (£25m/$35m), are open to a loan deal with an obligation to buy.

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Juventus aim to strengthen their midfield around Italian star Manuel Locatelli. Their top target was Sporting CP’s Hjulmand, but after losing Viktor Gyokeres, the Portuguese side are refused to sell their captain unless his €80m (£68m/$92m) release clause is met. Juventus then shifted focus to Italy and Newcastle midfielder Tonali, proposing a player swap deal involving striker Dusan Vlahovic, which Newcastle rejected.

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If Juventus move for Bissouma, it would rule out signing Atletico Madrid’s Nahuel Molina, as both are non-EU players and only one slot remains after the arrival of Canadian striker Jonathan David.

AFPWHAT NEXT FOR O'RILEY AND JUVENTUS ?

Juventus will hope to secure O’Riley as the transfer market heats up and the new season approaches. Juve will take on Parma in their first Serie A match on August 24.

Tristan Stubbs’ coming-of-age season continued as he batted South Africa to a series-levelling win over India at St George’s Park. Stubbs rescued South Africa from 66 for 6 and shared in a 42-run stand off 20 balls with Gerald Coetzee to end India’s winning streak in T20Is, which extended back 11 matches. In the last month, Stubbs has scored his first Test and ODI centuries and though his 47* in Gqeberha will not go down as a milestone, it was an innings of maturity that turned things around for a struggling South African side.Since reaching the T20 World Cup final in June, South Africa had played six matches before today and won only one. They appeared to lack a certain structure to their game, which showed glimpses of returning when they put together a complete performance in the field and kept India to 124. The fast bowlers set the tone upfront before the spinners put on a squeeze and all but Keshav Maharaj were among the wickets. Importantly, they removed India’s top three early, and for a combined total of eight runs, and their middle-order had to play catch up. A 37-run stand between Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh for the seventh wicket was the only time India’s scoring rate went above six an over.Given the target, South Africa may have thought the win would come easily but they were made to work for it. Varun Chakravarthy’s first international five-for left them reeling while captain Aiden Markam’s poor form remains a concern. It has been 26 innings since he last scored a T20I half-century. South Africa were kept quiet by India’s spinners and as wickets fell, the required run-rate climbed to the point where they needed 40 off the last five overs. Stubbs held his nerve, Coetzee showed his batting prowess and South Africa got home with an over to spare.Gerald Coetzee – the batter Coetzee was put on a 12-week conditioning break to work on his bowling, but it seems as though he’s paid as much attention to his batting. After an 11-ball 23 at Kingsmead, with the game all but lost, Coetzee came in with everything at stake at St George’s Park. South Africa were 86 for 7 and needed 39 runs in 26 balls. He was off the mark with a single and that was all the sighting he needed. He dispatched the next ball he faced, a full delivery from Arshdeep Singh, over long-off to relieve the pressure. Stubbs ended the 17th over with a stunning drive through the covers which left South Africa needing 25 runs from 18 balls. Coetzee got that down to 17 off 16 balls with back-to-back boundaries off Avesh Khan, who erred in length. South Africa scored 12 runs off the 18th over and needed 13 off the last 12 balls to level the series.Varun confounds South Africa South Africa insist they have made progress in their batting against spin but then someone like Varun comes along and it doesn’t seem that way. He followed up a career-best in Durban with another in Gqeberha and made India’s modest total appear much bigger than it was. His second ball was a slow googly that Markram, struggling for form, did not pick. Markram slogged, missed and was bowled. The same delivery did Reeza Hendricks in in the next over. Hendricks had just hit Varun for four and was foxed by the wrong ‘un as he played for turn away and was bowled. Then, he changed ends and was equally dangerous from the other side. In his third over, Marco Jansen had no idea what to do against the googly but it was the final over where Varun all but ended South Africa’s hopes. Heinrich Klaasen tried to take him on and could only find long-off and with his next ball, Varun bowled David Miller to claim his five-for.Varun Chakravarthy removed Marco Jansen for 7 on his way to a five-for•AFP/Getty Images

South Africa’s sensational bowling start Cricket has its way of humbling humans and it did to Sanju Samson, who was bowled off the third ball of the innings for a duck, after back-to-back hundreds in his last two matches. The delivery was impressive as Jansen got the ball to seam and then swing but Samson moved too early to give himself room and may have been in a better place to keep it out if he had remained in line. Jansen’s first over was scoreless and South Africa had set the tone. Four balls later, Coetzee and umpire Lubabalo Gcume thought Abhishek Sharma gloved him down the leg side but an immediate review proved otherwise. Coetzee had the last laugh when Abhishek top-edged him to Jansen at short fine. But the moment of the powerplay came when Andile Simelane, who was wicketless on debut in Durban, seared in a yorker to Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav to get his first international wicket. Suryakumar tried to flick it away but was beaten for pace and hit on the pad and did not even bother to review. India were 15 for 3 after four overs and recovered to 34 for 3 after the powerplay. David Miller’s wonder catch Tilak Varma smashed Markram towards cover. The ball rocketed towards Miller who moved to his right, reached overhead and plucked it out of the Gqeberha. Tilak stood open-mouthed and stared at Miller in disbelief. At the stands, the spectators’ eyes were the size of saucers. The commentators struggled to get the words out.’Oh, my, word’, was the overall sentiment as India slumped to 45 for 4. South Africa stayed sharp in the field and legspinner Nqaba Peter reacted quickly when Hardik drove the ball to him at the end of his second over. Peter got a touch as the ball deflected onto the non-striker’s stumps and Axar Patel was run out. Hardik hits out Hardik scored 19 runs off the first 29 balls he faced and only found the boundary off the 28th as South Africa dried up India’s run-scoring opportunities. The middle overs were heavy going as India scored 24 runs in five overs and went 35 deliveries without scoring a boundary. Finally, in the 18th over, Hardik found his touch. Jansen was brought back on after his first two overs cost only five runs and Hardik immediately punched them through the covers for four. Two balls later, he got under a wider delivery and hit it over extra cover for six and then closed out the over with a ramp shot off a short ball for India’s most profitable over.

Archie Vaughan and Kesh Fonseka add important runs as spinners loom as key fourth-innings weapon

ECB Reporters Network28-Jan-2025
Thomas Rew’s run-a-ball 71 helped England Men U19s to take a 255-run lead into the final day of the first Youth Test against South Africa Men U19s in Stellenbosch.Leg-spinner Chad Mason claimed four for 97 – his 26 overs more than double than any of his team-mates – as the Young Lions reached the close at 275 for eight.Captain Archie Vaughan (44) and Kesh Fonseka (43) made key contributions at the top of the order while Jack Home was unbeaten on 34 and primarily tasked with extending his side’s lead in the morning.South Africa added a handy 50 runs for the final two wickets this morning to be bowled out for 319 and a lead of 20 runs.

Farhan Ahmed finished with innings-best figures of four for 78 and his spin partnership with Tazeem Ali and Vaughan looms as important on the final day.Mason was the mainstay of the home attack today and after he made the initial breakthrough of Ben Dawkins (33), well caught by Muhammad Bulbulia at first slip, he also got the key wicket of Rew who had counter-attacked to reach his half-century from 54 balls.

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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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.

England head coach Thomas Tuchel was spotted at Manchester City's training centre as he shared a warm embrace with old adversary Pep Guardiola and was also seen sharing a chat with City and Three Lions defender John Stones. Tuchel is keeping an eye on the Premier League matches ahead of the September international break, where England will play two of World Cup qualifying matches.

Tuchel visited Man City training groundShared warm embrace with GuardiolaEngland to play two World Cup qualifiers in SeptemberFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Tuchel caught up with the England players in the City squad, including John Stones, as he visited the club's training on Sunday. He also shared a warm embrace with Cityzens boss Pep Guardiola.

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England are set to compete in the World Cup qualifiers during the international break next month as they are scheduled to face Andorra and Serbia on September 6 and 9, respectively. Tuchel attended the Premier League games in its opening weekend and will watch the remaining two gameweeks to monitor the English stars, before picking his best possible squad. 

DID YOU KNOW?

City were off to a flying start in the 2025-26 Premier League campaign as they demolished Wolves 4-0, riding on Erling Haaland's brace, while Tijjani Reijnders scored on his league debut.

Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR MANCHESTER CITY?

Guardiola's men will next face Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League at home on August 23.

Ask an Arsenal fan what the team needs this summer, and we reckon the vast majority will say a striker.

It’s undoubtedly true that Mikel Arteta’s side need more help up top to either replace or challenge Kai Havertz next season, but arguably just as important is a new left-winger.

Compared to Bukayo Saka on the right – who missed over three months of football – the Gunners’ options on the left weren’t able to have the same sort of impact on games.

Fortunately, reports have now linked the club with a renowned international who’s been compared to the incredible Lamine Yamal and would be a perfect upgrade on Leandro Trossard.

Arsenal's winger search

Arsenal seem to recognise their need for wide reinforcements this summer, as over the last few weeks and months, they’ve been linked with a host of sensational talents, like Bradley Barcola and Rayan Cherki.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The former has been unreal for Paris Saint-Germain this season, scoring 21 goals and providing 19 assists in 58 games, but such a rate of return has seen the Parisian value him at a whopping £101m.

Fellow Ligue 1 superstar Cherki, on the other hand, could be available for around £30m this summer, and should Manchester City not get their man, then that’d be a bargain fee, as in 44 appearances, he’s scored 12 goals and provided 20 assists.

However, while both wingers would be brilliant additions to the squad, Arteta and Co may want someone more experienced to come in and replace Trossard, someone like Leroy Sané.

Yes, according to a recent report from The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Arsenal are one of several English sides interested in the Bayern Munich star this summer.

The report has revealed that ‘senior figures at the club have held talks with 29-year-old’ and that should he not decide to renew his contract with the German giants, the Gunners are a real option for him ahead of next season.

It might not be the most exciting transfer imaginable, but Sané is a proven winner, who’d not only be free but an upgrade on Trossard and someone who’s won comparisons to the phenomenal Yamal.

How Sané compares to Trossard and Yamal

Before looking at how Sané stacks up against Trossard, it’s worth examining this comparison to Yamal and where it has come from.

Well, in this case, it stems from FBref, which compares players in similar positions in Europe’s top five leagues, the Champions League and Europa League, and in this instance, has come to the conclusion that the Barcelona gem is the eighth most similar attacking midfielder or winger to the Bayern ace across the last 365 days.

The best way to understand how this conclusion was reached is by looking at some of the underlying metrics in which the pair rank closely, such as non-penalty expected goals plus assists, expected assists, key passes, live passes, switches, tackles and tackles won, blocks and more, all per 90.

However, while a comparison to one of the most exciting players in the world is certainly encouraging, how does the former Manchester City star compare to the Gunners’ Belgian wideman, as he’d be one of his main competitors for game time next year?

Well, when it comes to their raw output from this season, it’s the German “superstar,” as dubbed by football scout Antonio Mango, who has the better record, as in just 2377 minutes across 45 appearances, he’s scored 13 goals and provided six assists.

That comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.36 games, or far more crucially, every 125.10 minutes, which is nothing to sniff at.

In contrast, the former Brighton & Hove Albion star has scored ten goals and provided ten assists in 56 appearances, totalling 3455 minutes this season.

That comes out to an okay but far less impressive average of a goal involvement every 2.8 games, or every 172.75 minutes, which is not what you want in a title-chasing team.

Speaking of titles, the Essen-born dynamo would also bring with him a real know-how when it comes to winning them, as across his time with City and FC Hollywood, he’s won six league titles, the FA Cup, two League Cups and a handful of other trophies.

Ultimately, picking up Sané for nothing this summer would be an excellent decision by Arsenal, as he’d be an ideal upgrade on Trossard, he’d bring a winning mentality, and then there is the added bonus of his similarities to Yamal – it feels like a no-brainer.

Berta's answer to Mbeumo: Arsenal now favourites to sign £59m "powerhouse"

Arsenal could sign their answer to Bryan Mbeumo this summer.

By
Jack Salveson Holmes

Jun 3, 2025

India’s head coach explains the secrets behind a high-performing unit that beat Australia in Australia and then humbled England

Karthik Krishnaswamy07-Mar-20218:06

Ravi Shastri on India qualifying for the WTC final from a bio-bubble: ‘I cannot say enough how proud I am of my team’

It’s hard to fully understand what life in a bio-secure bubble is like if you haven’t been in one, but for India’s cricketers, it must feel like swimming in a fishbowl, an exhausting combination of confinement and hyper-visibility.It’s the only life they’ve known for many months now – it began as early as August 2020 for those involved in IPL 2020 in the UAE – and through it they’ve pulled off two outstanding Test-series victories and reached the final of the World Test Championship. Ravi Shastri, their coach, couldn’t be a prouder man, and through this journey he’s also discovered some of the positives that a team can accrue from being in a bubble.He says, for one, that it’s brought the players closer together.”They have no choice,” Shastri said a day after India had completed their 3-1 series win over England. “There are restricted areas, there are team areas, so you can’t go out anywhere, you can’t meet anyone. If you want to get out of your room, go into a team area, where you’ll meet other players.5:09

R Ashwin praises India’s dressing room environment

“So what it’s done is, it’s made players meet each other more often after playing hours. And when you meet more often, somewhere down the line there will be conversations regarding the game, which used to happen in our time. When you finished the game, you’d still be sitting in the dressing room a good hour after the game, talking cricket. So I think the best thing that’s happened is talking cricket, amongst the team members.”And they had no choice, they were forced to do it, and that’s been a big help. They’ve got to understand each other better. They’ve got to understand each other’s backgrounds, mental state, where they come from, where they are in life – settled, unsettled. It allowed them to open themselves to their colleagues a lot more, discuss personal issues more freely. Win more trust from the team members. A lot of positives came out because of this bubble.”It must have helped India that they were winning, of course, but they won each time from positions of adversity. India began their tour of Australia with back-to-back defeats in the first two ODIs, and began the Test series by getting bowled out for 36 in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide. They began their home Test series against England with a resounding defeat in Chennai.You can imagine the impact such defeats may have on players who can’t step into the outside world to distract themselves. Many of these players, moreover, came back to cricket after months of being in strict lockdown as India struggled to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, so they were perhaps rusty and not necessarily in the best physical shape either. All this, therefore, led Shastri to approach these two bubble tours with an understanding that he and the rest of the team management had to be more empathetic towards the players.Ravi Shastri decided not to be hard on the India players when their cricket resumed after lockdown and he says that has been key to their success•Getty Images”You had to be patient, more than anything else,” Shastri said. “See, we started [the tour of] Australia with two losses in the one-day games. In normal circumstances, you can be a little aggressive, you can be more straight to the point with the individual and tell him, pull up your socks. But I’d made up my mind with my team management very early that we’re going to show empathy, because for six months a lot of the guys had not got out of their flats.”No one lives in farms and houses in India. Some do, some don’t. Luckily I have a place outside Bombay so I could stay there and roam freely. But a lot of the other boys were in flats, and they’re professional sportsmen. So when you can’t get out and do the job you have to do for six months, which you’ve done all your life, it’s not easy. Whereas in Australia, New Zealand, the rules were relaxed. People would go out, train. Australia even went out and played in England.”So I knew very clearly that it will take time. Now how much time do I be patient? That was my call. And it didn’t take long. We were in quarantine for two weeks, and [suffered] two losses in another week, so three weeks [in total]. By that time the boys had trained a bit, and I knew we needed one result our way for things to turn around very quickly, because of the work we had done over the last 4-5 years as an Indian cricket team.”We had realised that this team takes pride in winning. This team doesn’t mind losing as long as they throw punches. So it was a matter of just being patient for that one switch of results. And it happened in the third game, the one-day game, through some brilliance from Hardik [Pandya] and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja). And then you didn’t look back. From that day, once we won that game, we matched Australia day for day. We lost the one-day series, we won the T20 series, and we won the Test series. You can’t have a tour like that. Unreal.”From lockdown, to get unlocked and then pull off something special was very special. So that’s where the empathy came in, where instead of being hard on the guys, you said, let’s be patient, understand the mindset where they’ve come from, six months of lockdown, what they’ve gone through, what the rules are in this place you’ve gone to.”And it was hard, because things were being shifted. Things that were promised weren’t happening. Let me be straight here. Because of one case here, one case there, they could bend the rules.”India found a host of new young players ready for Test cricket this season•BCCIWhat Shastri calls bending of rules – relating to quarantine regulations in Australia, particularly in the lead-up to the fourth Test in Brisbane – others might term as caution in the face of a global pandemic. Whichever way you look at it, the global impact of Covid-19 on cricketers also extended to the way the World Test Championship finalists were identified. With a number of series getting cancelled, a simple ranking on the basis of points totals gave way to one based on the percentage of points earned from series contested.India were one of only two teams to not have any of their series cancelled, so they had to play more, and win more, to seal their place in the final. This rankled with their captain Virat Kohli, and it rankled with Shastri too.”Please don’t shift the goalposts mid-stream,” he said. “I’m sitting at home in Covid [lockdown] in the month of November, or October. You have got more points than any other team in the world, 360 at that time. Suddenly, a week later, without playing cricket, there’s some rule that comes that they’re going to go on percentage system, where you go from number one to number three in a week.”Fine, that’s because of countries not wanting to travel, to countries that are in the red zone or whatever. All acceptable, fine. Now I want to understand the logic behind this because what is the way forward for me? I have two tours left. Sitting on top of the table, comfortably, leading by 60-70 points as opposed to any other team. They say, no, you have to go to Australia. I say, okay, what have you to do in Australia? You have to beat Australia.Ravi Shastri says India became a more close-knit team as a consequence of living in bio-secure bubbles•AFP via Getty Images”Now how many teams in 100 years or last 10 years have gone to Australia and you can guarantee will beat Australia? Now the reason I’m saying this is, you’re sitting on top of the table, 360 [points], percentage system, you have to go to Australia to beat Australia. You don’t beat Australia, you come back home and beat England 4-0, you get close to 500 points, you still don’t qualify.”So we have had to dig deep, we have had to go down every hole that’s needed to find water. We’ve found it, and we’ve earned our stripes to be in the final of the World Test Championship, the biggest trophy in the world, with 520 points.”Along the way, they experienced a freakish injury crisis too, which led them to play their last Test in Australia with their bowling attack consisting of two debutants, two fast bowlers who had played just one Test apiece, and one who had played two. India couldn’t field all of their first-choice players against England either. But by being forced to try so many of their reserves, India discovered a number of players with the skills to succeed in Test cricket.”That’s the most positive thing to come out of the bubble,” Shastri said. “Because of the bubble, you had to go with enlarged squads. Normally you would go with 17-18 [players], but because of the bubble and because of the quarantine laws that exist, you had to go with 25, 30, 35 in certain cases, as a result of which you had to dig deep and pick your best 30 players, and as luck would have it, we were left with no choice but to play each 30 of them, and you found out who’s good and who’s not good.”So it’s a good headache to have, it’s something that worked well. You would have never imagined the number of players that would have played for India, six months ago. If you think [T] Natarajan would have played a Test match, no way you’d have said he would have played a Test match. Will Washington Sundar play a Test match? No way. These are things you would not imagine, but circumstances make it happen, and I’m glad the youngsters who got the opportunity have grabbed it with both hands.”

The young Royal Challengers Bangalore opener on what he learnt from Kohli, de Villiers and Finch, and his India goals

Interview by Vishal Dikshit13-Nov-2020Devdutt Padikkal, the 20-year-old Royal Challengers Bangalore opener, made his IPL debut this season and, with his elegant strokeplay, he even outscored Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, taking home the Emerging Player Award for his 473 runs, which included five half-centuries, from 15 innings. After returning to India, he talked to us about his unforgettable season, the things he picked up from Kohli and de Villiers, and the bowler he found the most challenging to face.Opening the batting for Royal Challengers, you had a crucial role in the powerplay. How did you plan your innings?
I was just looking to stick to my strengths and do what I do best. In T20 cricket, it’s important how the powerplay goes. We had our roles clearly defined, so it was important to get that opening partnership away at a decent rate. And, to an extent, we were able to do that.How and when did you come to know you’d be opening for RCB?
Simon Katich [RCB’s head coach] came up to me the day before the [first] game in the team room and he was like, “You’re going to be making your debut tomorrow”. It was a huge moment for me and I was really happy about it.You spent a lot of time in the middle with Kohli. You scored 345 runs together this season with four half-century stands. What did you learn from batting with him?
He makes your game easier and helps you build an innings. He knows exactly what to do in every situation because he is such an experienced player, he’s played so much good quality cricket, and he’s won so many things. Every time I batted with him, I could learn something new. It was a really great experience for me. I was just trying to take in as much as I can. I really enjoyed it.ALSO READ: IPL stats review: Uncapped Indians shine, overseas fast bowlers trump IndiansDo you remember any particular conversations with him out in the middle?
Yeah, during the Rajasthan [Royals] game, we were batting together and I got a fifty. We knew that for the next batsman coming into the chase it’s not always easy. It was important that I carried on. I was tiring a little bit and he kept pushing me to get those extra runs – whatever I could. He said it was important that I wouldn’t throw my wicket away at that point. That’s something he helped me out with in that innings.

Passion. Purpose. Progress. #Grateful pic.twitter.com/M7bUTRceND

— Devdutt Padikkal (@devdpd07) October 3, 2020

You also tweeted two pictures with Kohli – one from a while ago in which you’re receiving a medal from him and the other is a recent one in Royal Challengers colours. Can you tell us about the journey between those two photographs?
[The first one] was from a promotional event around five years ago. He [Kohli] had come to our academy [Karnataka Institute of Cricket]. A few boys from the academy were asked to go and play a match and he was there. Even Unmukt Chand [the former India Under-19 captain] was there. They were captains of two teams and I was part of Chand’s team. After that, everyone was given a medal and Kohli gave my medal to me.You didn’t bat with de Villiers as much as you did with Kohli, but you must have picked his brain during the tournament?
Yeah. He’s a special player. Just watching him bat is a treat for your eyes. Throughout the season, he kept telling me to stay in the zone and continue to do what I was doing. I remember when we were travelling back from the Mumbai [Indians] game in which I got the 70 [74], he sent me a text message saying, “Continue to do that and you’re playing really well, just stay in the zone and enjoy yourself”. That was really special because, coming from him, it was a great honour. I really enjoyed batting with him whenever I could because he makes your job so easy. He just takes on the bowlers from ball one and I enjoyed watching him.”I knew that when I came into the IPL, there will be big players around and I knew I’d want to be the one to take the responsibility”•BCCIIn a lot of the videos that the Royal Challengers posted on social media, it seemed like you had a good rapport with Aaron Finch, whom you also opened with quite a few times. What kind of a relationship did you build with him as the season went on?
He’s a really great person and I enjoyed spending time with him off the field as well. Like I said, all these experienced batsmen make your job easier. At the beginning of the tournament, we had this goal to have one of the highest opening partnerships of the season. I think we were third on the list after KL Rahul-Mayank Agarwal and Jonny Bairstow and David Warner, or second, I’m not sure [Padikkal and Finch were second with 444 runs behind Rahul and Agarwal, who made 671 runs together]. That’s something we were looking to do and we were able to do that, to an extent.You’ve scored a lot of runs in the last domestic season, but in the IPL, you were facing bowlers like Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins. Did you have to take your batting one level up to face these fast bowlers?
Yeah, it’s a different challenge compared to domestic cricket. But I knew I was prepared enough and we had put in three weeks of intense practice before starting the IPL.Which bowlers made you think, “I’ve never faced this kind of pace before”?
Pace, not really, because there are quite a few bowlers who are pretty quick in the domestic circuit as well. Probably the one bowler I felt was challenging was [legspinner] Rashid Khan, because he has really good pace and turns the ball at the same time. He’s not easy to pick. I think while facing him I felt like, “Okay, this is something I’m not used to.”ALSO READ: Aakash Chopra: Things that surprised me this IPLWhat kind of preparation did you put in with the Royal Challengers over the last two years? Mike Hesson, the RCB director of cricket operations, said in November last year that when you were with the team in 2019, you showed a lot of willingness to learn from the seniors around you.
It was more [about] the mental side of the game, because after a certain point the physical aspect is in a set place. Then it’s more about how you handle the pressure and the situation. So that’s what I was working on and whenever I got a chance, even in domestic tournaments, I wanted to make sure that I took responsibility and tried to take the team home even though there were some international cricketers in our Karnataka side. That’s something I really wanted to work on because I knew that when I came into the IPL, there will be big players around and I knew I’d want to be the one to take the responsibility.Which senior batsman or coach in the Royal Challengers set-up did you approach the most when you had questions or doubts?
To an extent, it was Simon Katich, because he was really approachable. Whenever I felt like there was something I needed to work on and if I had any doubts, I would go to him.You impressed everyone a lot with your strokeplay and flair, but statistics show that your strike rate dips after the powerplay. Did that bother you at any point? Did you feel it was something you needed to work on?
Definitely, sometimes you may not get the shots off the middle of your bat. That’s part of the learning and hopefully I can continue to work on that and keep improving. It didn’t really affect me too much because I knew that as I improve and learn, I can get better at that as well.You have got plenty of runs in domestic cricket for Karnataka and an Emerging Player Award in the IPL. What’s your next target?
Now the next step would be to play for the country. It’s something everyone dreams of as a cricketer, so I’m looking forward to doing that soon. I’ll continue to work on my game, continue to improve and, whenever I get the opportunity, I’ll take it with both hands.