All posts by h716a5.icu

Roughly a week after the Rafael Devers trade went down, Red Sox manager Alex Cora is still fielding questions about the franchise choosing to ship away its homegrown star—and he doesn't sound too happy about it.

Devers faced his former team for the first time Friday night, going 0 for 5 at the plate in the San Francisco Giants' 7-5 loss. The former Red Sox slugger did hit a drive to the left-field wall in the third inning, but his ex-teammate Ceddane Rafaela robbed him of the extra-base hit.

After the Red Sox's win, Cora was asked whether he needed to clear the air regarding the Devers trade, given all the reports that have come out of the woodwork about the perceived rift between Devers and the Red Sox organization.

Cora didn't seem at all interested in doing so, and echoed his previous sentiments about "turning the page" in the post-Devers era.

"Clear the air about what? It’s a trade. It’s baseball. It’s a business. That’s how it works," Cora said, via ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "It's not the first guy that’s gotten traded. It’s not the last guy. People have their opinions about the whole thing. Communication, first base, DH, third base, the manager, the GM, the owner, whatever. It’s a baseball trade. From my end, I turn the page.”

It certainly seems like Cora has grown tired of discussing his former player, despite how shocking the trade was at the time. In the days following the move, several reports detailed Devers's months-long dispute with the Red Sox stemming from his very public unwillingness to change positions.

Devers surprisingly admitted he would be okay with playing first base upon his arrival in San Francisco and gave a simple justification for his new flexible mindset with the Giants. "I am here to play wherever they want me to play," Devers said, via a translator.

Some bitter Red Sox fans might not have liked hearing Devers's answer, but as far as Cora is concerned, the page is officially turned, and that chapter of the Red Sox is now over.

Cal Raleigh's 2025 Home Run Derby win was a family affair.

The Mariners catcher, who leads MLB with 38 home runs this season, had his father Todd throw pitches to him and his 15-year-old brother Todd Jr. catch for him behind the plate.

Raleigh credited his family after his Derby win, and gave a special shout out to his younger brother for "hyping him up" during his performance. Raleigh finished with hitting 54 total home runs on Monday night.

"Honestly he was hyping me up," Raleigh said. "He was firing me up the whole time. I'd hit one good and he'd be like 'Let's go!' And, I don't know, it just got me going, and I think that's why I got good spurts during the Derby."

ESPN's Jeff Passan then asked Todd Jr. what it was like having the best view in Truist Park during his brother's performance, and he responded with one simple word: "Greatness."

Raleigh shared in his post-Derby interview on ESPN that he might gift his brother a new car for when he turns 16 as a thank you for participating in the Derby with him. What a generous big brother.

Raleigh competed against Tampa Bay Rays infielder Junior Caminero in the Derby final. Raleigh went first and crushed 18 homers, while Caminero fell short with 15 home runs in the final round. Raleigh became the first catcher and switch hitter to win the Derby.

The Red Sox will rue losing Game 2 of their wild card series Wednesday against the Yankees, 4–3, because for one night they failed the test of fundamentals. Here are the two crucial seventh-inning plays when the Red Sox let pass their opportunity to advance to the ALDS.

1. Ceddanne Rafaela fails to execute a sacrifice bunt

In a 3–3 tie, Boston had runners at first and second thanks to wildness from Yankees starter Carlos Rodon (who from the first pitch of the inning could not command the ball and kept looking at his hand as if compromised). Red Sox manager Alex Cora called for the right play: a sacrifice bunt. Boston could take the lead with two outs: a bunt and a fly ball.

Rafaela did have three bunts during the regular season. Each time he squared early and properly. This time he stabbed so poorly at the first pitch from Fernando Cruz, it made you think to take the bunt off, especially with the crashing corner infielders opening holes.

Cora kept the bunt on. Rafaela stabbed again. He popped it up to Cruz. Two attempts to bunt. Both poorly executed. Worse, both attempts were on pitches out of the zone. Chasing on bunts? Not good.

2. Nate Eaton hesitates at third base

Eaton stood on second base and Jarren Duran at first with two outs as Masataka Yoshida batted. The count went to 3-and-2.

The runner at second should remind himself not only that he is running on the pitch but also that he should be prepared to continue running on any ball hit in play—not just get to third base. The third base coach also has the responsibility to remind the runner to think two bases, not just one, with the head start. 

On Tuesday we saw Angel Martinez of Cleveland score from second base on an infield hit with two outs—running on contact and never stopping.
Yoshida hit a ground ball that second baseman Jazz Chisholm stopped with a dive. Chisholm bounced his throw to first. The play was close enough that first baseman Ben Rice tried to catch it on a short hop. It bounced off his glove and trickled away.

Eaton should have been well on his way to home. He wasn’t. He stopped around third to read the play. By the time he located the ball, he thought about restarting but it was too late. The moment was gone. The Red Sox would have no more chances. They failed Bunting 101 and Baserunning 101.

DETROIT — One game. One pitcher. One legacy. As if using a geodetic coordinate system, the American League division series between the Tigers and Mariners has arrived at a pinpoint of a place. Game 5 Friday in Seattle is about Tarik Skubal.

The Tigers ace has made his case over the past two and a half years that he is the best pitcher on the planet. Great. But it’s not enough.

Now, for the second time in 363 days, he will have the ball in his hands in a winner-take-all game. The last time was a bust.

Given a 1–0 lead in the fifth inning against Cleveland in Game 5 of the 2024 ALDS, Skubal coughed up the game in a horrific six-batter sequence: single, strikeout, single, single, hit by pitch, grand slam. Five runs. Lead and game gone in 18 pitches. Drive home safely.

His teammates rustled up a mulligan for him with a syzygy of a rally in ALDS Game 4 against the Mariners Wednesday. Just when the Tigers appeared dead, looking at a 3–0 deficit and staring at the last 15 outs of their season, they came together as weirdly and powerfully as an alignment of celestial bodies. Out of nowhere, they ran off nine unanswered runs to win, 9–3.

Skubal could join sudden death legends

Game 5 is a career-defining game for Skubal, given his loss last season and that his team is 0–3 this year when he faces Seattle. It’s no longer about “pitching well” or “keeping my team in the game.” It’s about going all Jack Morris on Seattle. On the night Morris’s Twins won Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, Morris, the Game 7 starter, walked into the interview room and announced, “In the immortal words of the late, great Marvin Gaye, let’s get it on!” The following night, Morris put the team on his back, throwing 10 shutout innings while refusing to come out of the game.

It was an all-time double elimination pitching performance by a future Hall of Famer. In more recent years, pitching greats who have risen to greater heights in sudden death games include Justin Verlander (2012 and '13 ALDS), Madison Bumgarner ('14 NLWC and World Series, '16 NLWC) and Gerrit Cole ('19 ALDS). This is Skubal’s moment.

He can adapt to different situations and mould his game accordingly in both forms of white-ball cricket

Aakash Chopra10-Dec-20201:49

Moody: ‘Hardik Pandya has emerged as a genuine top-order finisher’

India are ticking a lot of boxes in white-ball cricket at the moment. They are spoilt for choice when it comes to the opening pair, with Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. Virat Kohli at No. 3 is arguably the best batsman in the world. The bowling, with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal, gives them plenty of game-changing options to exercise in different phases of a match.The only place where India lag behind other teams is in finishing the innings with the bat. Not too long ago it was felt that Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja could bat Nos. 5 through 7, but Pant falling by the wayside has thrown a spanner in the works. That brings the spotlight onto Pandya as a batsman.His ability to hit the long ball has never been in doubt. Ever since the time of his early appearances for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, he was earmarked as India’s next finisher, after MS Dhoni. While he has played about a dozen Tests, and scored valuable runs in the format, his batting style is more suited to the shorter formats. He has been exceptionally brutal against spin, and his ability to clear the rope consistently without stepping out of the crease has made him a player to watch.ALSO READ: Virat Kohli: Hardik Pandya must bowl to be a Test option againThe difference between someone who can hit sixes against spin and someone who is dangerous against spin is that: the ability to hit sixes without stepping out. All spinners have tuned their game to counter the assault in white-ball cricket and so have started bowling a lot flatter and faster. These days, if you rely heavily on stepping out to go aerial (like Kohli, Kane Williamson, Joe Root and Steven Smith do), you won’t much be thought of as a finisher. That’s where Pandya was different and still is.When you play a lot of competitive cricket, teams will find ways to negate the threat you pose. The first chink in Pandya’s armour was against short fast bowling. Those are always tough balls to negotiate, and even tougher to score off, especially for batsman from the subcontinent, who don’t grow up on a heavy short-ball diet, and so aren’t natural players of the pull and hook.There was one season in the IPL where Pandya seemed to have sorted out that issue too. He started going really deep inside the crease, as if to tell the bowler that he was anticipating the short ball and was ready for it. The problem with going deep inside the crease even before the ball is bowled is that you leave no further room to move, and that leads to the back leg collapsing quite often. That didn’t happen with Pandya, though, for his weight was always on the front leg, and that allowed him stay tall. Later that season, he revealed that he had acknowledged that shortcoming in his game and was aware of bowlers’ plans and had left no stone unturned to develop his game against bouncers. Incidentally, that tactic of going deep inside the crease also helped him respond better to attempted yorkers.

Pandya is no longer playing the bowler but the situation, and that is something we associate with quality batsmen.

Pandya was still an allrounder – someone who would bat in the dying overs of a game and bowl a few overs. And that role had become his identity. While there’s nothing wrong in assuming that role and playing it perfectly, when injury prevented him from bowling, the dynamic changed completely. There were even question marks over his place in the side purely as a batsman – though that was just what he was for the Mumbai Indians in a trophy-winning campaign. Still, the balance of Mumbai was such that they could afford Pandya as a pure batsman, but could India afford that luxury? Was he ready to upgrade himself into a pure batsman at the highest level?He has answered both these questions in the affirmative. His batting software has been updated to merit him a place as a pure batsman, who is capable of batting in the top five in both ODIs and T20s. In Australia, the biggest difference in his batting has been his confidence in his ability, which in turn allowed him to stay calm under pressure. Instead of manufacturing shots, Pandya chose, successfully, to wait for balls to land in his zone.ALSO READ: The art of T20 six-hitting: Why Pollard and the Pandya brothers are key to Mumbai Indians’ dominanceHe is no longer a uni-dimensional batsman who only goes after spinners, and that has changed his approach radically. It is reflective of his growth as a reliable batsman who can adapt to different situations and mould his game accordingly. He is no longer playing the bowler but the situation, and that is something we associate with quality batsmen.Pandya isn’t a 360-degrees player but he does have shots for most balls, and against batsmen like that, bowlers tend to err more often than they do against more limited players. Pandya’s stable base has been his strength all along, and while he has added shots through the off side, both off the front foot and back (his sixes over point to wide bouncers, slow or fast, are outrageous), he hasn’t compromised that innate quality of keeping a good body shape.He is no longer only a finisher, and it’s only fair India start investing more faith in his abilities as a batsman. The day he starts bowling again, he will become India’s most valuable player in white-ball cricket.

Hanuma Vihari relives his incredible SCG rearguard with R Ashwin, when he batted with an injured leg he couldn’t feel and a mind focused on playing out six balls at a time

Sidharth Monga21-Jan-2021What were you feeling when you were limping up the stairs at the SCG after saving the Test?
Two feelings came to mind. One was pain, the other was relief. The pain was there and sigh of relief that I could do the job for the team. It was sweet pain. The pain was all worth it at the end of the day. If I hadn’t been able to save the match, it would have hurt more. But because we saved the Test, the pain was not so painful.Did memories of Adelaide flash back at this time?
After the Adelaide Test, you won’t believe, we as a team we never spoke about the game. We only felt that it has never happened before, I don’t think it will ever happen again. It was a freak innings. So let’s move on and let’s look at it as a three-Test series from Melbourne. Now if you look at it, we have won the series 2-0. The Indian team, the character and the fight we show, we leave everything on the ground. That’s the hallmark of the Indian team. That’s exactly how we played.We looked at the number of times you were not in control while playing a delivery. In this series, it has taken, on an average, nine to ten not-in-control balls for a wicket to fall. In that innings [36 all out], it took just three to four. I am sure you know this instinctively as batsmen, but did you need such numbers to reinforce the fact that it was a freak innings that day?
I read that article but we knew it, that every time that a good ball came, we edged it and it went straight to the fielder. It doesn’t happen in cricket that way. If it does on a freak day, you accept it and move on. That is Test cricket at the end of the day. You can have days like that also. But we knew this would not happen very often – once in 60 years or so.Related

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Reactions to SCG: 'Bruised. Broken. Never short of character'

How did the evening after the SCG Test go?
I hardly had any sleep. Again, with pain. One thing was pain and the other thing was I was happy and overwhelmed with the respect and love I got on the internet, in the messages I got. I think I slept for one hour and got up again at 6 in the morning. That is the kind of feeling I got. I would say for all the years of hard work I had done in first-class cricket, where there are no people watching you play and you have to go through the grind and struggle, and to have 1.3 billion watching back home and all the people in the world watching you save a Test match… That was the thought that came into my mind. Real satisfaction of going through the grind in the first-class arena and then achieving this, the satisfaction was really amazing.Have you ever been, at any level, in a match where your team has had so many injuries?
Never. This series has been a ride of emotions. We have been through the ups and downs, we have seen everything you can see in sports in one series. The way the support staff handled it… at no point were they panicked. At no point did they lose hope. They believed that whoever walked onto the park, we are “Team India” and we will get 100% on the ground.Because of the Covid situation, the squad was big. But losing players still upsets the balance of the team. Sometimes you don’t get the right combination. If you look at the Gabba Test, they took a punt on Washi [Washington Sundar] who never played first-class cricket in the last three years. Still they believed in the player. They knew his capability and ability. They have seen us play, they have seen us in the nets, they knew what we could do. Their task was to choose the right combination of players, and they believed whoever played could go and perform.

“At one point we joked that it felt like we were in a war with wounded soldiers. We will play the fourth Test with whoever is left standing. At one point it felt like that, but jokes apart the medical team did a tremendous job”

The actual physio and trainers, what all did they have to go through? What were the scenes in the dressing room?
Huge credit to the physios and the trainers. They had a tough time dealing with so many injuries. At no point did I feel they were panicked or worried or anything like that. They were quite calm. Both the physios and both the trainers. At one point we joked that it felt like we were in a war with wounded soldiers. We will play the fourth Test with whoever is left standing. At one point it felt like that, but jokes apart the medical team did a tremendous job.But seriously, when did the team start believing you could save the Sydney Test?
If you look at the first session and most part of the second session, we were looking good for a win. The way Rishabh [Pant] and [Cheteshwar] Pujara played. To be honest, once they got out, I don’t think a win was a possibility. Even before my injury, Ash [R Ashwin] was struggling with his back, [Ravindra] Jadeja could have played only a few overs if needed. The draw came in when we knew that Ash couldn’t run, and then when my hamstring injury happened, we knew we just had to bat out time. And it is not an easy task [for one partnership] to bat out 43 overs. Australia, day five, against that attack.We batted one ball at a time, one over at a time, me and Ash. We had a conversation every over about what we needed to do. The strategy also helped. We got messages from outside but we had already decided that he was going to face [Nathan] Lyon and I would face the fast bowlers. One he was batting well against Lyon and also I couldn’t stretch against the spinner with my hamstring.It panned out well. He was facing Lyon with ease on a day-five pitch, and I was pretty comfortable against the fast bowlers.So before Pant got out, were you just batting normally or would you say you were actually going for the win?
No, no, not really. The talk in the huddle was let’s bat normally. If we get close, then we will look at it. Never thought of chasing the target or anything.But that’s how Rishabh plays, isn’t it? He just played his natural game. Other than that we were not thinking of drawing the game or winning the game. Ninety-eight overs is too long a time to plan or predict what will happen. We just have to see how the game will take its course and then react to the situation.”I knew straightaway that I had torn my hamstring”•Getty ImagesI mean if Pant plays defensively, he will likely get out. He also must know that…
You can’t play for a draw from the first session. You must remember he still played 130 balls. If he doesn’t play that way [his natural game], the bowlers will be on top from the first session. So really good on him to play the way he did.Did you immediately know your injury was bad and you could put yourself out for a long time if you pushed yourself?
I knew it then and there that it was the end of my series. I knew it wasn’t a cramp or anything minor. I knew straightaway that I had torn my hamstring. Because I have done that before, I knew how it feels. I couldn’t walk or run. I knew it was a tear.I knew whatever contribution I could make, whatever impact I had to have, it has to be in this time. In one way, the injury helped me with clarity of mind. I knew I just have to play close to the body and not try anything fancy because I am not looking for runs and I can’t run anyway. It made things simpler for me to just be there and block balls that come my way.When Ashwin got off the mark, he made you run that quick single. You were nearly run out…
Before that also I had told Ash I can’t run. Instinctively he ran and I didn’t have a choice. Before that run I didn’t know if I could jog, but when I took that run I told Ash, see, I can’t even jog. I can only walk. That too with pain. So he said, ‘Okay, let’s not run and play out the overs.’Does he speak better Telugu or do you speak better Tamil?
He can speak better Telugu. I can’t speak Tamil. I can only understand Tamil.But we could pick up only Tamil on TV.
He spoke Telugu too. In Tamil he said, “” is like play, play. He was speaking both. Main thing was . Think of ten-ten balls.Were you counting “ten-ten balls”?
I was counting my six. So if I play my six, I was waiting for Ash to play his six. I knew if I played my six balls, I would get four minutes of rest where he plays the other six. Six balls of my strike, six balls of his strike. We believed once when the session started, we just batted. But after that, in the mandatory overs in the last hour, we said we will focus even harder. We believed then that we could actually do it. Before that we were just batting and taking our time and making sure we get as close to 6 o’clock as possible. In that last one hour, we knew we could achieve something special.

“In the tea break I took the injection. After tea… I couldn’t feel my right leg at all. The numbness of the painkiller meant I didn’t have any pain when standing, but I couldn’t even feel my leg. And then when I ran it hurt.”

Did that change your mindset now that you knew you were on the brink of something special?
Exactly. That’s when the communication was even more important. That’s when the Tamil and Telugu conversation happened. We hardly spoke before that. After that we knew we were getting close, we were pepping each other up, it was only a matter of time. That is when conversations happened.What did you do during the tea break?
I got a painkiller injection. And got taped up. In my mind, I knew this is the innings I have to give it back to the team. I was thinking in my mind I have to do something and show the character and grit and determination. That I have to go and bat for two-and-a-half hours.How many painkillers did you take?
One tablet when I first got injured and then the injection during the tea break.It takes 15-20 minutes for it to kick in, right?
Yes. In the tea break I took the injection. After tea, it stopped hurting me but I felt a weakness in my right leg. I couldn’t feel my right leg at all. The numbness of the painkiller meant I didn’t have any pain when standing, but I couldn’t even feel my leg. And then when I ran it hurt.Was there a phase when it felt like it might be slipping away?
Only towards the end when I was dropped [by Tim Paine]. Mitchell Starc bowled a brilliant spell. He was reverse-swinging the ball, and it was moving late. That was the only phase I thought I have to focus a little bit harder. If you look at the match, that was the only phase where they troubled us. Initially, Ash had trouble with the short ball but after that he was comfortable.Just overall, how difficult is it to face this Australian attack?
The thing is, the height they release from, and their pace, they hit the wicket hard. It is challenging but we showed in this Test series if you take up the challenge, then you can wear any bowler down. That’s exactly what we did. We wore them down and we capitalised on any loose balls we got. That is very rare from them. Only when they are tired or once you have batted 70-80 overs, then you tend to get some runs out of them.Especially Pat Cummins, he is like a machine. He gave nothing on the pads.
And he bowls those lengths. He bowls hard lengths. Not like he is coming and releasing it on a length. He hits it really hard. And it hits high up on the bat. So you have to be doubly focused on him.But people talk about strike rates and strike rotation. You must tell people what a big risk it is to force the pace against them.
You can only experience it. You can’t explain it. You can’t explain how it feels facing up against them.R Ashwin embraces Hanuma Vihari after the match ended in a draw•AFP via Getty ImagesAny technical adjustment you made during the series?
In the last [third] Test, against Josh Hazlewood, I made a small adjustment to bat outside the crease. He is someone who hits the length consistently, so I wanted to make him bowl a different length. That was a tactical change. But other than that I batted the way I did in West Indies and New Zealand. I always felt I was batting well throughout the series but the runs never came in the first two Tests – I got a pretty good ball in the first Test, threw my wicket away in the second and then got run out in the first innings in Sydney. That didn’t really help with the amount of runs I scored, but I always felt I was batting well.In hindsight, do you feel that run in the first innings in Sydney was on?
In hindsight, I wouldn’t say the run was on. It was an extraordinary piece of fielding from Hazlewood but still it wasn’t necessary on my part to take a risky single. The wicket was playing so well that I could have waited and ground them, had a partnership with Pujara and got a big score. But yeah that was a brain-fade moment for me.But if you think about it, can you find an explanation as to why this [being run out going for a quick single] happens in Test cricket?
I don’t think I can. Sometimes you feel there is a run. In a split second you make the decision. Because I have stepped out and the momentum was there and the danger end was also mine. I thought I could reach. I didn’t expect that kind of fielding from Josh. He was in the middle of a spell. He had bowled three-four overs in the spell and to come out and do that, we have to give credit to him as well. But as I said it wasn’t unnecessary.But when you pick out a fielder, even in that split second, do you know this guy is in the middle of a spell?
Yes. Exactly that is what I thought. But it didn’t pan out well.Just overall you have played only one Test at home, you are again missing a home series [against England], and you just get challenging assignments. Do you feel satisfied with what you have done at this point of your career?
I am really blessed to be part of this side. To be part of an Indian side winning abroad, winning twice in Australia, and the team management showing so much faith in me… The faith they show in me, I am really blessed and happy. I just want to repay that faith with good performances, whether it is home or abroad.Did you watch the whole final Test?
Yeah, yeah, I was waking up at 5am and watching it on TV. I didn’t miss a single ball. I was really happy and rooting for us to win.It must have been tough coming back alone after having been part of such a great series.
I was gutted that I wasn’t part of the historic Test at Gabba. You feel disappointed, but the reason I came back was I want to get fit as soon as possible and make sure I am available for selection for the last two Tests [against England]. That was why I came back.So you have to go to the National Cricket Academy (NCA)?
I am in NCA [in Bengaluru] already. I reached yesterday and will start rehab tomorrow.

It’s likely to impact the confidence of other teams due to tour Pakistan over the coming months

Danyal Rasool04-Mar-2021It’s difficult to overestimate the impact of Thursday’s dramatic developments for Pakistan cricket. The decision to indefinitely postpone the Pakistan Super League strikes at the heart of one of the most salient buds of optimism that had begun to pervade cricket in the country. It throws a T20 franchise competition that didn’t exist five years ago, and rose to become arguably the world’s second-most valuable league of its kind, into some jeopardy; the possibility, at least, that this season may never be completed looks the likeliest scenario.Since Fawad Ahmed tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week, organisers scrambled to try and get a potential outbreak under control, but it was already too late. Further cases were discovered at several different franchises, meaning the league wasn’t just dealing with one outbreak, but any number of them. The decision, taken late on Wednesday to vaccinate all participants, in the desperate hope it would stop the outbreak in its track, looked neither feasible nor scientific; vaccination takes weeks to have an impact. On Thursday morning, when further cases at various franchises turned up, the inevitable happened: the league was off.Compared to last year’s postponement when the pandemic first hit, this is different – and by an order of magnitude – more damaging on two counts. To the PCB’s credibility as a board that can responsibly organise cricket during a pandemic, and to the chances of this season ever being completed. Little was known about the virus when one player displayed symptoms and tested positive last year, and even less about the measures necessary to prevent an outbreak. Cricket across most of the world was being called off, and the PCB was desperately trying to get through the final few games of 2020’s season, even getting rid of the playoffs to try and shave a few days off the competition’s length. Even when the season had to be postponed, there was an inevitability it would be back on at some point; there were only four games remaining, and with most teams unable to play almost any cricket due to global restrictions, there would always be time to carve out a week-long window.Related

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PSL blame game begins with independent investigation on the horizon

PSL could resume in May, clashing with the IPL

There will be lesser sympathy, and even fewer excuses, this time. PCB CEO Wasim Khan said on Thursday the players and franchises needed to take individual responsibility, but expect that responsibility to be passed around between the league, the franchises, the officials and the board over the coming days. It has been observed throughout the world that without effective centralised standard operating procedures that are enforced, cracks invariably appear. For a virus that spreads collectively through populations, quixotic expectations of individual responsibility don’t cut it.The PCB will have had the best part of nine months to analyse how the likes of England, India, the UAE and New Zealand pulled off extended cricket events in their countries without much of a hitch, and cautionary tales with regards to how England’s tour of South Africa last year panned out. They will have had the chance to consult doctors, pandemic experts and sports organisers. Test and tracing procedures will have been fine-tuned, isolation protocols perfected. With the experiences of others who have had success in staging complex, lengthy cricket tours, the PCB will have backed themselves to possess the professionalism and expertise to follow in those footsteps.With PSL 2021 indefinitely postponed, it’s time for the broadcasters to pack their equipment up•Getty ImagesThe failure to do that is likely to impact the confidence of other boards whose cricket teams are due to tour Pakistan over the coming months. There was great excitement in Pakistan over a two-match T20I series England were due to play just before the T20 World Cup. Whether they opt to do that now, and potentially expose their players days before the start of the world’s biggest T20 event is a much bigger doubt, now.A New Zealand tour later this year was also pencilled in, but that country’s confidence in Pakistan’s pandemic protocols was already at a low following the eventful – and at times bitter – three weeks Pakistan spent in quarantine in New Zealand, leading to the Director General of Health berating the side for violating safety protocols, and veiled threats of deportation. What has transpired in the PSL over the past few weeks is unlikely to have bolstered confidence that Pakistan has learned lessons from what happened there.With a congested international window coming up that stretches right through to next year’s PSL, it isn’t yet obvious when the PCB can find the time, not to mention the availability, of most of their star foreign players to viably conduct this tournament. The T20 World Cup in October and November means the window that was used last year doesn’t exist.Another possible avenue to go down is to conduct the remainder of the competition in May. That has the considerable disadvantage of clashing with the latter stages of the Indian Premier League, with which no T20 competition can currently compete for eyeballs and financial might. However, fewer than ten players who are part of the PSL are also scheduled to play the IPL, meaning if the PCB went down that route, player unavailability might not be as significant a concern as at first it appears.Laughed at, even as a concept, five years ago, because Pakistan weren’t able to play these matches in front of its home crowd, the PSL survived those nascent years, and games gradually trickled their way back to Pakistan. Last year, with the entire league played in Pakistan to overflowing crowds, it looked like fate had been kind, even to Pakistan, of all countries. Unbeknownst to all involved, an incipient threat, one far more potent than security concerns or TV viewership figures, was awakening from its slumber. Enter the Covid-19 pandemic.Being compelled to organise the latter stages of last season – and then played in front of no crowds in Pakistan – was a cruel twist of fate for a league whose for returning to Pakistan was to avoid empty stadia. Following that, the PCB established what it believed were stringent security protocols, and conducted its fullest home season in over a decade, albeit not without some alarm bells. It looked like the PSL would pass off with just a few problems, but little could be further from the truth.

Through basic control and bowling smarts, Chahal delivered a match-turning performance

Saurabh Somani26-Jul-20210:58

I backed myself before coming on this tour – Chahal

Since India turned to wristspinners in the white-ball formats in the second half of 2017, Yuzvendra Chahal had been a regular fixture in the playing XIs, in both ODIs and T20Is. However, after the 2019 World Cup, both Chahal and fellow wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav were no longer able to command a spot in the first XI. The Covid-19 pandemic meant India’s squads were split, with Chahal being a more reliable inclusion in the limited-overs side playing in Sri Lanka. It was in Sri Lanka that Chahal established himself as a regular in the playing XI, and returning there has also seen the form of old return.Chahal was full of fizz in the first two ODIs, rested in the third since India had sealed the series, and went up a notch in the opening T20I on Sunday. In the ODIs, he had been thrown the ball after good starts by Sri Lanka, and invariably offered India greater control. He did the same thing in the first T20I, only better. Brought on immediately after the powerplay with Sri Lanka 46 for 1, Chahal bamboozled Dhananjaya de Silva with a delivery of a legspinner’s dreams. A loopy delivery that was so perfect it could have represented an equation, teasing drift, hitting the perfect length on leg, and then ripping across the batter to knock out off stump.That would be Chahal’s only wicket in the game, but his figures read 4-0-19-1. The bare numbers are impressive enough, but in terms of Smart Economy – which is arrived at after taking into account the stage of the match a bowler has bowled in and the batters bowled to – Chahal’s was an astounding 2.69, easily the best in the game for any bowler that delivered more than one over.Chahal could tie Sri Lanka down not just by skill, but by smarts too. He was bowling with a shorter leg-side boundary to the right-hand batters, and therefore didn’t bowl a single googly to them. Not just that, he maintained control of his line immaculately too. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, of the 13 balls Chahal bowled to right-hand batters, three were on the stumps and 10 were outside off stump. Not a single ball down leg. Of the 11 balls bowled to left-hand batters, seven were on the stumps, not giving them room to target the off side, which was the shorter boundary.Yuzvendra Chahal provided plenty of control with figures of 4-0-19-1.•ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images”The end I was bowling from, the leg side boundary was shorter and they were looking to hit that side,” Chahal said after the match. “That’s why I didn’t bowl googlies to the right-handers. I didn’t want to give them confidence, I thought that if I can bowl a lot of dot balls, pressure will build. So even if I don’t get a wicket, my partner from the other end can bowl more freely. If I had tried to go for wickets, or tried something extra, and they had hit a six or four, the pressure would have automatically come on us, because the total wasn’t so big. So I bowled more googlies to the left-handers. I kept mixing it up.”Chahal gave up seven runs in his first two overs, and an asking rate that was 7.66 before he came on, had ballooned to 10.00, with Sri Lanka having also lost two wickets inside three overs. Just before his final over, Charith Asalanka had taken debutant Varun Chakravarthy for 14 runs, giving Sri Lanka a set-up for a final-overs charge. On came Chahal for the 15th over. He conceded just three runs, varying pace, adjusting length if the batter moved and keeping the ball out of their hitting reach. ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats had Sri Lanka’s win probability at 40.47% before Chahal’s last over. After he bowled, it had dropped to 22.92. He said his job was “to control the middle overs”, which is exactly what he provided to India.Getting the fizz back in his bowling was the result of spending time during the pandemic-enforced lockdown with coaches, and with Haryana team-mate Jayant Yadav, whom Chahal bounced ideas off.”When I was not playing, I was working with my bowling coach, about where I should bowl, why I was not able to perform in a couple of matches. During the lockdown, I did single-wicket bowling, practiced with my friends,” Chahal said.Yuzvendra Chahal’s only wicket in the first T20I was of Dhananjaya de Silva with a ripping legbreak•SLC”I didn’t want to make too many changes. I thought about which lines I should focus on, whether to go wider or go stump to stump. I sat with (Bharat) Arun sir, there is Paras (Mhambrey) sir here and Rahul (Dravid) sir, so I sat with them, saw videos to see what am I missing? I have been doing well, but it was not happening in a couple of matches. During the lockdown, before this tour, I couldn’t really go much to cricket grounds due to Covid-19 restrictions. But the three-four sessions I got in my hometown, I went and practiced. Jayant Yadav was there, I’ve been playing with him since childhood, so we practiced together. I spoke to him also, and things started from there. The main thing was that the more confident I can be while bowling, the better I will be able to bowl.”Related

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For Chahal, it was important to do well in this series, given the depth of options India have to choose from. In this squad alone, among pure spinners, Rahul Chahar is on the sidelines as another promising legspinner, while Kuldeep and Chakravarthy are around too.”Definitely when your bench strength is so good that you have a pool of 30 players overall, it is a boost, and you get quality there,” Chahal said. “All spinners are doing well. You know that for your spot, there are already two people ready, who have already performed in the IPL, here. My focus when I play is that I should perform whenever I play. If you perform (well), then you get to play. You can stay in the team only with performance. When I bowl, I keep my mind clear, I don’t think of ‘this guy has done this, that guy has done that’. My mind is on the fact that I have the ball, and what I need to do now.”Chahal is likely to face sterner challenges after the current T20I series, with the twin behemoths of IPL and the T20 World Cup later this year. If he can continue to employ the skill and nous he has regained in Sri Lanka, there will be more happy days ahead for him and his team.

Also, do Lucknow Super Giants have enough back-up for their first XI?

Nagraj Gollapudi and Gaurav Sundararaman18-Mar-2022
Rajasthan Royals: Where does Buttler bat, and who’s at No. 7?
Last IPL, Jos Buttler played only the first half but was his team’s leading scorer (254 runs at a strike rate of 153) before the Covid-19-enfored break. He signed off with 124 against Sunrisers. In six of seven Royals matches in the first half, Buttler opened. But given the addition of Devdutt Padikkal, will Buttler continue at the top?If he opens, Padikkal will possibly play at No. 3 followed by Sanju Samson, Royals’ captain, at No. 4. That will also mean a left-right opening combination instead two left-hand openers in Yashasvi Jaiswal and Padikkal. That said, if Buttler bats at No. 3 or 4, Royals would have a power-packed middle-order that also features Shimron Hetmyer at No. 5.Related

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You would expect R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Prasidh Krishna to be Nos. 8-11. That leaves No. 7. For that, Royals would ideally want an allrounder, who is likely to also be the fourth overseas player. Rassie van der Dussen could perhaps swap batting positions with Hetmyer to create batting depth, but then Royals would end up light on bowling. So it is essentially a toss-up between James Neesham and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Coulter-Nile might just be the front-runner considering he is a bowling allrounder who scores at a strike rate of 132 in T20s and can bowl at 140-plus kph.Punjab Kings: Should Bairstow bat at No. 4?
Punjab Kings have an enviable top five in Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone and Shahrukh Khan. The only question for them is whether Livingstone should bat at one-down and Bairstow at four, a role he performs for England in T20Is when Buttler and Jason Roy open.Will the big-hitting Liam Livingstone deliver for Punjab Kings?•Arjun Singh/BCCILivingstone has played at No. 3 18 times in T20s, scoring 496 runs at an average of 33.06, with a strike rate of 144.18 and five fifties. Both Bairstow and Livingstone have good records against spin in the last two years, scoring off the slow stuff at close to 140. Livingstone has similar a strike rate at Nos. 4 and 5 too, but his average drops to the mid-20s.If Bairstow bats at No. 4, not only will he allow more freedom to the top order, but with his extensive experience, he could also guide the lower-middle order, which is likely to have Shahrukh and Odean Smith.Sunrisers Hyderabad: Where should Pooran bat?
Sunrisers have a lot of depth and flexibility in their squad: many of their batters can bat at different positions and bowl too, while a lot of their bowlers can bat. Their main decision will be where to fit Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram in the line-up.Markram performed well at Nos. 4 and 5 for South Africa in the T20 World Cup. Pooran, who had a disappointing IPL last year as well as a lean World Cup, can slide between Nos. 3 and 5. With Kane Williamson and Abhishek Sharma likely to open, Pooran can follow Rahul Tripathi (No. 3) – that would provide a good balance, and also create the left-right combination that teams crave. Markram will then be No. 5.Another option could be to have Markram and Abhishek open the innings followed by Williamson and Tripathi, with Pooran playing the finisher. Sunrisers have a happy headache on their hands.Matthew Wade: the hero of Australia’s 2021 T20 World Cup semi-final•Getty ImagesGujarat Titans: Who opens with Gill?
Jason Roy’s withdrawal left Gujarat Titans with the immediate hurdle of finding Shubman Gill’s opening partner. Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Roy’s replacement, could end up being the reserve opener. Titans’ best option might be Matthew Wade, who provides a left-right combination with Gill, and doubles up as the wicketkeeper. Wade also has an impressive strike rate of 156.14 in all T20s as an opener since 2019 IPL, the fourth best in the world (min. 30 innings).Wade might have played only three matches in the IPL, for Delhi Daredevils in 2011, but he has a lot of experience, can be the aggressor at the top or even at the finish as he has proved, emerging as the hero of Australia’s semi-final win against Pakistan in last year’s T20 World Cup. Playing Wade at the top also gives Titans the additional option of considering Wriddhiman Saha at No. 3, a position which does not have a designated name to it yet. Vijay Shankar is the other option at one-down and don’t be surprised if Hardik Pandya fancies himself in the top order in some matches.Quinton de Kock could prove vital for Lucknow Super Giants at the top, especially early in the tournament when several of his IPL team-mates are yet to arrive•Getty Images Lucknow Super Giants: Do they have enough back-up for each role?
Lucknow Super Giants had a good auction, getting many in-demand Indian IPL players like Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi. However, they picked just seven overseas players and do not seem to have enough depth in case of injuries or unavailability. For at least their first three matches, Super Giants are likely to be without key overseas players Marcus Stoinis and Jason Holder, who are busy with bilateral series. And then there’s the loss of Mark Wood, out with an elbow injury picked up during England’s Tests against West Indies.*There are three main overseas players available from the start in Quinton de Kock, Dushmantha Chameera and Evin Lewis. With the opening slots likely to be taken by KL Rahul and de Kock, Super Giants will find it hard to play Lewis at the top. While their first XI is strong, the lack of like-for-like replacements and squad depth could prove costly.*

No team starts as favourite, but will the thinner spread of talent compromise the league’s competitiveness?

Nagraj Gollapudi and Gaurav Sundararaman25-Mar-20225:10

IPL 2022 – Will KL Rahul win another Orange Cap?

Fast bowlers could dominate the powerplay
With the IPL returning to India from the UAE, batters should look forward to playing on smaller grounds and the potential for dew. But fast bowlers could enjoy themselves as well, especially at the Wankhede Stadium. During the first half of IPL 2021, which was played in India, fast bowlers were dominant during the powerplay at this venue. As per ESPNcricinfo logs, in the first six overs, fast bowlers took 31 out of 33 wickets that fell here in 20 innings, the highest for all the seven venues last season.Related

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The Wankhede also logged the second-lowest powerplay scoring rate in IPL 2021 – 7.22 – behind only Sharjah. Franchises invested heavily on Indian fast bowlers during the auction, and the onus will be on them to drive home the early advantage.New rule, a potential game-changer
This IPL will not only see teams have two DRS reviews per innings, but also newly revised playing conditions that, if triggered, could have a potential impact on the match result.It concerns the new batter taking strike regardless of whether the two players crossed or not in case of a catch being taken, unless it is the last ball of an over. Previously the new batter would head to the non-striker’s end if the batters crossed, but the MCC recently revised the law and the playing condition was first tried out in the Hundred last year to give the bowler the advantage. While this is applicable at any point during an innings, the effect will be felt the most in the end overs.Take the example of Qualifier 1 between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals last season. The Capitals might have felt they had the edge when Tom Curran had Moeen Ali caught off the first ball of the final over, which had begun with the Super Kings needing 13 runs. Moeen’s pull failed to clear square leg and MS Dhoni, who had hit Avesh Khan for a six in the previous over, quickly crossed to take strike. He duly finished off the match with two balls to spare and led Super Kings into the final. Under the new rule, new batter Ravindra Jadeja would have been on strike against Curran.Umran Malik is all ears as Jasprit Bumrah holds forth•BCCI7.30pm starts and the dew factor
Remember Dhoni fussing about 7.30pm starts because of the dew factor? He felt that with dew usually setting in around 8pm, teams batting first were under pressure to score 15-20 extra runs in the Powerplay. To add to their challenge, teams bowling second in dewy conditions then had to also try and pick up early wickets. Dhoni hinted that the advantage was with the teams that bowled with a dry ball for the first 30-40 minutes of the match before dew kicked in. The 7.30pm starts were put in play to ensure matches didn’t spill over past midnight, as had become the trend in previous seasons. The dew factor will be on the mind of teams this time around, too, when they go out to toss.Short straight boundaries, bigger square boundaries
All four venues have short straight boundaries, measuring around 70 yards. Surfaces at all four venues are also known for good bounce and carry. The red-soil decks in Mumbai help the ball come nicely on to the bat. This means the par score could hover close to 170-180. Harshal Patel, IPL 2021’s highest wicket-taker, believes bowlers can still dominate by using hard lengths on fresh pitches, as will be the case at all four venues. Harshal reckons another good strategy to counter the short straight boundaries would be to bowl very full and either at the heels of the batter or wide outside off stump. Why? To bring the longer square boundaries into play. However, teams will also need to keep in mind that one square boundary might be significantly shorter than the other; it is understood each of the four venues will use five pitches across the square to ensure all of them remain lively through the league phase.Rashid Khan will play for the Gujarat Titans this time•BCCI/IPLWristspinners vs fingerspinners
Surfaces at each of the four venues have different characteristics. While the numbers are strongly stacked against spinners of every variety, it can’t be denied that spin will eventually play a part, mostly from the second half as pitches begin to tire. In the first half, though, wristspinners who are quicker through the air are likely have an edge over traditional legbreak bowlers. So expect the likes of Rashid Khan and Ravi Bishnoi to prosper as compared to, say, Kuldeep Yadav, who has struggled with his pace variations lately.The bounce, the short boundaries, and dew are all factors that could work against loopy wristspinners. Based on the history of the venues, the role of the fingerspinners would be to contain. Their role could change towards the business end as surfaces slow down considerably due to the heat and the volume of cricket played through the tournament.An emerging crop of new leaders
IPL 2022 will unveil four new captains: Mayank Agarwal (Punjab Kings), Hardik Pandya (Gujarat Titans), Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings) and Faf du Plessis (Royal Challengers Bangalore). Among them, only du Plessis has the been a long-term captain, at South Africa, but even he will acknowledge that leading a popular franchise like RCB is a different challenge. His predecessor Virat Kohli, a highly successful international captain, could not take the franchise to a title in nine seasons.Agarwal might be happy to team up with former India captain and coach Anil Kumble, but it is his responsibility to quickly earn the trust and respect of a team brimming with explosive batters. In addition, he may also have some pressure from the ownership for they have been desperate for Punjab to win an IPL title. They have rebranded the team, wiped slates clean, and changed coaches and captains several times. Will it be their year?Jadeja was announced as CSK captain just 48 hours before their first game and has admitted he has “big boots” to fill. He will, however, benefit from Dhoni’s presence even though the former India captain will want Jadeja to be his own man. That is the key to successful teams: they are made in the image of their leaders.Mayank Agarwal is set to lead a franchise for the first time this IPL•BCCI/IPLA test of India’s talent pool
The IPL’s expansion to a 10-team event will test the tournament’s quality. The fluctuating auction prices for certain skillsets was the first indicator of the challenges of demand vs supply, with teams chasing the same set of players rather than looking for new ones. There is a possibility of frequent one-sided matches, which was the case a decade ago during the 2011 season when the IPL had 10 teams for the first time.If that happens, it could affect the narrative surrounding the last days of the league phase. Since 2016, the playoffs spots have only been confirmed after the last match of the league phase. Can the 10-team IPL keep that trend going? Some pundits want the IPL to allow teams to field five overseas players in order to keep its competitive nature alive, but that might not necessarily work.Take this auction, for example. Lucknow Super Giants, Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals failed to even fill their quota of eight overseas slots. Then there is the issue of availability with several overseas players missing the initial set of matches for their teams. One advantage of the additional teams is that it offers opportunities to several more Indian players, especially uncapped ones. While the youngsters will be excited, their franchises will remain anxious and hopeful that they can fulfil their talent and withstand the pressure of the IPL.