All posts by h716a5.icu

Kohli’s sideways shuffle a sign of India’s batters buying into their new approach

Karthik Krishnaswamy03-Oct-20222:05

Rahul: ‘When batting first, we always try to be aggressive and take a lot of risks’

In an innings containing 25 fours and 13 sixes, this was perhaps not the most eye-catching boundary. But it was significant in two ways.One, it moved India’s score past 190. This was the 10th time in 21 innings this year that India had ticked off that milestone while batting first in T20Is. Across 2020 and 2021, India had only reached 190 three times while batting first, in 16 attempts.Scoring bigger totals more often has significantly improved India’s record while batting first. Duh, you might say, but this transformation has come from a recognition that par is simply not enough, given the advantage chasing teams enjoy in T20 cricket. On Sunday, India made 237 for 3 – their fourth-highest T20I total – and South Africa still gave them a scare.”It is something that all of us came together and we said, you know, this is what we want to do as a team,” Rohit said during the post-match presentation, when asked about India’s batting approach. “Sometimes it has come off; there will be times where it doesn’t come off, but we want to stick to it. We felt that this is the method of moving forward, it has given us results, and we will continue to take that approach.”You need special players to pull off this sort of approach, of course, and India have more than one in their ranks. Rahul is one of them, and while his shot-making ability can sometimes lie puzzlingly dormant in the early parts of his T20 innings, it was in evidence right from the first ball of the match, when he punched Kagiso Rabada past point off the back foot, silkily and with time to spare.He’s taken a bit of time finding his rhythm since coming back from injury in August, and on Wednesday he had battled his way to a slower-than-run-a-ball fifty on a hugely challenging pitch in Thiruvananthapuram. But that back-foot punch off Rabada seemed to flick a switch in him. You know Rahul is in rare and almost unearthly touch when he plays that shot, and when he whips sixes effortlessly off his pads, as he did twice in this innings.It was a standout innings in every way other than the fact that Suryakumar Yadav found a way to upstage it. Suryakumar is in the sort of form where he can seemingly decide to hit any line and any length from any bowler to any part of the ground, and all that’s been written about in ample detail already.His 22-ball 61 in Guwahati, however, brought another facet of his game to light.During his half-century in Thiruvananthapuram, Suryakumar had adopted a scissor-like trigger movement, segueing from an open stance into a side-on position at release, with front foot moving across to the off side and back foot jumping towards the leg side. On Sunday, he used an entirely different trigger movement, starting from the same open position and ending up even more open, with his back foot moving back and across and his front foot remaining stationary.It would be hugely illuminating to hear Suryakumar talk about these technical adjustments. What we do know is that he looked just as comfortable with both set-ups, and just as capable of accessing every part of the field.Dinesh Karthik: India’s most futuristic T20 cricketer?•BCCIAnd to cap it all off, Dinesh Karthik came in with less than two overs remaining and scored an unbeaten 17 off 7. Karthik is 37, and he first played international cricket in 2004, but he’s perhaps India’s most futuristic cricketer, the sort of hyper-specialist that could one day define the way T20 is played. He came in with only 11 balls remaining, but he greatly prefers that to having time to play himself in.Rabada bowled the last over to Karthik with deep backward point, deep cover, long-off, long-on and deep midwicket on the boundary. The plan was to go wide of off stump and short, to try and take away Karthik’s leg-side options. Twice, Karthik stepped across and found himself still having to drag the ball from well outside the line of his body, but he still managed to use his bottom hand and wrists to swat the ball over square leg.Rabada had done little wrong, but it didn’t matter.All through this year, all through the lead-up to the T20 World Cup that begins later this month, India have tried to push themselves to bat in a certain way. It’s not always been smooth; individual batters have struggled for rhythm at times, and there have been flurries of top-order wickets at other times. But in the longer term, good processes beget good outcomes, such as India’s improved bat-first record.On some days, good processes beget immediate outcomes. Sunday was such a day: a day of vindication, a day when almost everything fell into place.

Renowned more for his lack of turn, he produced three wickets with ones that went away on a slow, unhelpful track

Sidharth Monga17-Dec-20222:21

Jaffer: Axar’s pace makes it difficult for batters when the ball starts to turn

Coming into this Test, Axar Patel, he of the scarcely believable bowling average and strike-rate, had taken right-hand batters out 28 times out of his 35 wickets. Six of those 28 wickets were aggressive sweeps or catches in the outfield, eight times he took the outside edge or beat it. A staggering 14 wickets – exactly half – had come by beating right-hand batters on the inside edge or taking it.It was neither disparaging nor inaccurate to say that what made Axar so successful was the lack of turn or a smaller degree of turn. Himanish Ganjoo dove into HawkEye data to surmise that the angle that his long arm created by going roundarm was so big that the turn he got there barely straightened the ball, thus making the batter play outside the line.Related

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It is important to notice that a high percentage of these wickets came on tracks that turned a lot. So the ball that didn’t turn or turned less became extra dangerous because the batter’s instinct is reacting to the visual clues of the ball turning and bouncing dramatically. Few of these wickets come from arm balls that can be picked out of the hand. Sometimes, it was natural variation, sometimes the extreme angle created by his roundarm release.Also, batters watch. They watch footage and analyse how a bowler gets wickets. So what do you do if you see a bowler getting most of his wickets through the straighter ones? They become aware of the incoming or the less-turning delivery, and start playing for the angle and not the turn. Basically, play him as left-arm medium.How the batters wish it was so easy. On perhaps the least turning track that Axar has played on, all four of his right-hand batter victims have been done in on the outside edge. The one to bowl Yasir Ali, after only one wicket had come in nearly 50 overs on a slow pitch with little assistance for the bowlers, was a proper seed. Axar went roundarm, pitched it on off, Yasir defended for the angle, but Axar managed to get just enough turn to beat the outside edge and hit the off stump. Because he was stretched full forward, there was no way Yasir could have adjusted to the ball off the pitch.Ganjoo’s study found that on most of the occasions that Axar took the ball away despite than angle, the ball had to turn at least four degrees, which is a significant amount of turn. Quite a few of the balls he turned at more than four degrees appeared to be coming in because of his angle. Now you can’t blame Yasir for playing the angle and not the turn when he saw Axar go roundarm.Axar Patel got rid of Mushfiqur Rahim and Nurul Hasan in one over•Associated PressThen again, this is not the first time Axar has managed big turn with a roundarm delivery. Often in limited-overs cricket, Axar manages that big turn with a low-arm release. It is a testament to the revolutions he imparts on the ball.Axar perhaps bowls too quickly to get any dip, but it is that pace that keeps batters from lining him and stepping out to hit him off his length. His length, Axar hardly ever misses. That is the most important quality in a bowler: to be able to land the ball where you want and to know which length works for you. For Axar, attacking the stumps works the best.That’s what he did with the second new ball, with which things happened quicker. Mushfiqur Rahim saw the trajectory and stayed back, only for the ball to be fullish and then turn away past the outside edge. There was no time for him to do damage control with the bat. The off stump was pegged back.”What really stands out with Axar is pace that he bowls at first [of all],” India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said. “It is not easy for the batsman to step out. Also the angles he bowls. The way he releases the ball, it is kind of very difficult for the batsman to [decide whether to] leave it or play at it. And especially in conditions where the ball is turning a little bit, you have to play at those deliveries. That’s what stands out for him.”Always at you, extreme angle of release, mostly quick in the air, turning the odd ball, Axar gives you no relief as the Bangladesh batters will have realised. His other two victims were stumpings: Mehidy Hasan on a step-out in the first innings and Nurl Hasan on a forward-defensive in the second.In top-level cricket, if someone comes into a Test having a bowling strike-rate of 33.5, you know he is still in the honeymoon period thanks either to the conditions or ordinary batting against him. You wait to see how he will react when he has to bowl in less friendly conditions. The second innings on a dying Chattogram pitch was one such occasion. Axar had to work hard for his wickets. Still, he has taken one every nine overs, and with a delivery that is not supposed to be his main threat. He may not be your conventional loop and dip spinner, but he is doing just well even as the post-honeymoon starts.

He has all the attributes: pace, bounce, swing, left-arm advantage, yorkers, death bowling, middle-overs wickets, around-the-wicket angle, and more

Sidharth Monga19-Mar-20233:21

Tait: Starc close to being an Australia all-time great

Twice in two innings, KL Rahul has faced a hat-trick ball from Mitchell Starc. On both occasions he has walked out following near-perfect deliveries from Starc to Suryakumar Yadav. In the first match, Starc bowled the hat-trick delivery too full. In the second, he nearly repeated the ball that got Suryakumar out.Rahul kept it out. On the surface it looked like a more accomplished longer-formats batter handling the same ball better than one who is being pushed into the longer formats based on his success in T20s and not in List A or first-class cricket. On closer inspection, though, Suryakumar was done in by a ball that seamed to go with the beautiful swing Starc was getting. The hat-trick ball swung in the air, but didn’t change its direction upon pitching.Not to worry, Rahul got his own version of that Suryakumar ball soon enough. The shortest length with which you can hit the stumps with, swinging in in the air, then pitching and seaming some more to beat the bat, which had hoped to cover the line of the swing. At Starc’s pace. If you were teaching a class the meaning of unplayable, you might use that as an illustration.Related

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As Starc himself said, he didn’t do much different in these two ODIs. He tried to swing it, he bowled fast, and he attacked the stumps. This direct approach – high pace, hit the stumps – gives him comfortably the best strike rate among bowlers with 100 wickets or more in history of ODI cricket.When it is swinging and seaming – as it has been this series – Starc is a proper nightmare because he can swing it in a way that it still attacks the stumps. He is one of the only four fast bowlers with 100 wickets or more to have taken more than half of their wickets bowled or lbw. The other three – Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and Mohammad Sami – benefited heavily from the low Asian pitches and reverse swing, which has been practically regulated out of the game in Starc’s time.With the numbers that Starc has – a strike rate of 25.6, average of 21.78, nine five-fors – it is surely time to see where he sits among the greatest fast bowlers in ODIs. He has all the attributes: pace, bounce, swing, left-arm advantage, yorkers, death bowling, middle-overs wickets, around-the-wicket angle, ability to run through line-ups as seen in the 16 times he has been on a hat-trick, more than anyone since he debuted.Mitchell Starc rattled India again•ESPNcricinfo LtdHowever, ODIs are the toughest to compare players across eras because of how much the playing conditions and the tempo of the game keep changing. Starc has played most of his ODI cricket with reverse-swing practically non-existent, on high-scoring pitches with good bounce, but he also has bowled to more trigger-happy batters needing to score quicker and thus taking more risks. That he has taken only 219 wickets can be an argument against him, but if he plays such little ODI cricket, he plays only the “important” tournaments and series, which reduces matches against outmatched opponents.One way to contextualise Starc among the greats of the format is to see how much better he is than the average bowler of his era. Shiva Jayaraman from ESPNcricinfo’s stats team worked these numbers out for me. Starc averages 9.59 less than the average of fast bowlers in the matches he has played. Among those who have taken 100 wickets or more in ODIs, nine fast bowlers have fared better on this metric. Two of these are not full-time bowlers, which might suggest theirs being used only in seam-friendly conditions, thus skewing that number.The leaves us with seven: Jasprit Bumrah, Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath, Josh Hazlewood, Joel Garner, Nathan Bracken and Curtly Ambrose. Bumrah’s numbers are phenomenal: an average 16.56 lower than the average of fast bowlers in matches he has played, and an economy rate 1.17 lower.Starc doesn’t quite do that much better than the others on the economy rate front because of the highly aggressive lengths he bowls in order to get the bowleds and lbws. The flip side is the exceptional strike rate. Those traditional stats – average, strike rate – and that he is so much better than the others in his era should be enough to put him among a handful of the greatest fast bowlers in ODI cricket. Once he is back from injury and adds to his body of work, Bumrah could just end up right alongside Starc.The only argument against Starc can be the volume. However, he has topped the wickets chart in both the World Cups he has played. He won one, and ended up a semi-finalist in the other. How much Starc wants to add to the volume of wickets will probably be decided after the World Cup later this year, but if he has a similar World Cup to the last two, there will be very little keeping him from being recognised as the greatest of all time.

Influence of domestic tournament plain to see as homegrown matchwinners come to fore

Mohammad Isam09-Mar-2023It is commonplace for players from India, Pakistan and Australia to feed their form, confidence, planning and attitude from tournaments like the IPL, PSL and BBL into the international game. That has hardly been the case for Bangladeshi players and the BPL. The nine editions to date haven’t produced many players organically, neither have they influenced the playing style or confidence that Bangladesh’s national side has carried into T20Is.Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy have bucked this trend for once. The pair reproduced their Sylhet Strikers’ form and partnership in the first T20I in Chattogram, resulting in Bangladesh’s maiden victory against England in the format. The BPL ended less than a month ago, with many of its top performers picked in this Bangladesh squad. The policy has paid dividends in several aspects of this win.Shanto was the BPL’s leading run-getter with 516 runs at an average of 39.69, with four half-centuries. Hridoy made one more fifty, scoring 403 runs at a strike-rate of 140.41. They put together 466 runs in 12 partnerships, with one century stand, the best in the BPL this season.At 43 for two in the sixth over, chasing 157, Bangladesh really needed Shanto and Hridoy, on debut, to keep the run-rate up on a pitch that, as England had discovered, got trickier as the ball got older. Shanto responded by hitting Mark Wood, England’s fastest bowler, for four consecutive boundaries in the seventh over.Shanto went on to hit his third T20I fifty in four matches, following on from the two he scored against Zimbabwe and Pakistan in the T20 World Cup last year. He was the team’s top-scorer in that competition, and has now carried that form through the BPL and the ODIs against England.Related

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“I have been scoring regularly, which allows extra confidence,” Shanto said. “Game awareness gets better. I had a better understanding of building my innings. I wasn’t given a specific plan. We just tried to continue with the momentum from the openers. We stuck to a normal plan, reacted to the ball. We tried to apply the way we batted in the BPL. It was nothing different than that.”Shanto added that Hridoy’s confidence at the other end also helped him play his shots. Hridoy struck two fours and a six in his 17-ball 24, but like Shanto, looked full of confidence from the BPL. “[Hridoy’s] approach and intent, in his first international match, gave me a lot of confidence. He never got nervous playing against such a big team. We just batted the way we batted in the BPL, where we had some big partnerships.”Shanto said that he hadn’t planned to go after Wood, but focused on finding the gaps, and it all came together. “There was no pre-planning. I reacted to the ball. I tried to use the gaps, which is obviously why I could find the boundaries,” he said.Even the opposition noticed how well Shanto played, arguably changing the course of the game with his quickfire fifty. Phil Salt said that Bangladesh completely aced the 157-run chase.”Shanto played very well in the chase,” Salt said. “I think the openers set the chase up very well for them, and I think in the middle they played really well. I think the lads that were in for them, they found a way of getting a boundary early in the over quite a lot of the time. I think they ran pretty well as well. So, they’ll be sitting in that dressing-room right now, thinking that’s as close to a perfect chase as they’d have wanted these conditions.”Shanto said that he sensed that Bangladesh were slowly coming into control of the game from the midpoint of England’s innings. The visitors added only 76 runs in the last ten overs, after they had rushed to 80 for 1 in the first half.”The way we made the comeback in the last ten overs [of the England innings], that gave us the confidence” he said. “Then we started well with the bat. We knew that two more partnerships will get us close to the win.”Bangladesh’s fast bowlers – who only gave away 21 runs in the last four overs – were instrumental in turning their fortunes around, not least Hasan Mahmud, another star of the BPL, whose 17 wickets for Rangpur Rangers had been the joint-most in the competition.”He bowled an important spell. I think his BPL performance gave him confidence today,” Shanto said. “Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Mustafiz bowled really well in the last few overs. They played a big role in closing them down on 156 for 6.”Bangladesh have been a poor T20I team for a long time, but the recent T20 World Cup offered them some timely confidence after they won two games in the competition for the first time. Shanto scored key runs, Bangladesh won some close games, which all added up to their increased self-belief.The talk of impact, a watchword in the latter half of 2022, has finally come through for them. “The batsmen were given freedom in this series,” Shanto said. “Impact can’t happen quickly. It takes time. It depends on wickets, conditions. I think the batsmen have a lot more freedom, and soon there will be more impact.”

Coach Andrew McDonald hopes the batters can tire out England’s quick at Old Trafford

Andrew McGlashan11-Jul-2023Mark Wood has changed the mood around this Ashes and Australia know they need to find a way to exhaust him to nullify his impact.Wood claimed seven wickets at Headingley, including 5 for 34 in the first innings, and touched speeds of 96mph as Australia faced an entirely new challenge to one that confronted them in the first two Tests.At Edgbaston and Lord’s, Australia managed to put considerable overs into England’s quicks but at Headingley their two innings lasted for 60.4 and 67.1 overs. Wood did extend himself into a seven-over spell at the back-end of Australia’s second innings, but Ben Stokes was largely able to use him for maximum impact.Related

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It made the double loss of Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith even more of pivotal moment, especially given England were a bowler down with Ollie Robinson having suffered back spasms.Wood’s performance continued an impressive record against Australia which has now brought him 34 wickets at 27.76, although prior to Leeds the majority of that had come from the 2021-22 Ashes tour where he claimed 17 at 26.64, a rare bright spot in a forgettable series for England.He caused Labuschagne and Smith uncomfortable moments, removing them a combined five times in the four matches he played. Both were again rushed by Wood’s pace at Headingley and this time his efforts at hurrying up Australia’s top order and cutting through the tail in the first innings ended with victory. He also brought wickets at the other end; it was no coincidence that he was bowling when Moeen Ali claimed his double.”I think the plans we had leading in, they’ll remain the same,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “In the first innings he was swinging the ball at pace and that’s a challenge for top order, lower order.”You can plan for things but when you get out there you’ve got to be able to adapt and adjust. And maybe we didn’t do that in the first innings of the game.”Going forward, we’re going to be challenged with that. He’s a good bowler, he gives them variety in their attack and I think if we can put a few overs into him we saw that the ball speed can drop off a little bit.”But when he’s got his tail up he’s going to be a handful, so I think deny him any opportunities to make inroads and keep him out there a bit longer.”When Wood knocked over Australia’s tail in the first innings it was largely with the fuller delivery, crashing into the stumps of Mitchell Starc and Todd Murphy while pinning Pat Cummins lbw. In contrast, Australia bowled shorter at England’s lower order when they helped add 95 in 10 overs after lunch on the second day, and used a similar approach in the chase.By way of comparison, Australia bowled 52 deliveries classed as short or short of a length to England’s Nos. 8-11 in the Test, which brought three wickets but cost 65 runs. England bowled 40 balls classed as good length or full at Australia’s tail, taking four wickets and only costing 21 runs.McDonald believed that conditions played a big part in what tactics worked well, but added Australia would assess how they went about it.”The short ball’s been used more regularly in this series than I’ve ever seen before,” McDonald said. “And with the short ball comes the risk of runs, and that sometimes happens – shorter boundaries, faster outfield and the short ball probably didn’t reap the same rewards with the lower order as it has.”But I still think it’s going to be a plan that’s employed throughout the series. I think if it works you say that it works, and if it doesn’t then you’re probably on the opposite side.”Day one Mark Wood had ball speed and the ball was shifting, the overheads were pretty thick and you tend to pitch the ball up a lot more in those conditions. When the sun comes out and the ball’s not shifting as much, you’ve probably got less options on the fuller side so we’ve got to always balance that. We critique ourselves pretty harshly so we’ll be looking into that no doubt.”Ultimately, McDonald felt it was the two-hour session late on the third day after rain where the game took its decisive swing as England worked through Australia’s middle and lower order although Travis Head’s 77 gave the visitors a chance.”[There are] some areas where we can no doubt improve and a little bit of credit goes to England,” he said. “At certain times they got the conditions in their favour and they maximised those, and I thought [Saturday] went a long way to deciding the fortunes of today.”In difficult batting conditions, they maximised them with the ball and put us probably in a position where we didn’t have enough runs to be as creative as we would have liked.”

They’ve not been as dominant as the previous Australian teams, but they’ve fought hard and have found a way to win – which is as Australian as it can get

Osman Samiuddin18-Nov-2023In the simple, inarguable fact of Australia making the final of this World Cup, this has been a very Australian campaign. They have been here seven times before after all, and are arriving on the back of an eight-game winning streak. For anyone with even passing interest in this sport, this is familiar territory. Australia? Where else would you expect them to be right now?But it has been a very Australian campaign not in the way of the best-remembered Australian surges. Sure, they have won eight on the trot, but it’s not been with the aura of their dominant, flawless campaigns of 2003 or 2007. No, this run has highlighted that other Australianism, that thing that reminds you of German football teams of the past; the thing for which there absolutely must be a long German word that describes the ingrained refusal to lose a game, to never knowingly be beaten until the last wicket has been taken, ingrained so deep that it turns a loss inside out into a win.Because littered right through this winning streak are periods of extreme vulnerability punctuated by that very thing, by moments that now, in hindsight, gather together to form whatever might become that German word.Related

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Such as when Sri Lanka were cruising along at 125 for no loss in Lucknow just over a month ago. Australia were already 0-2 from their opening games, chastening defeats both, before Pat Cummins brought himself back, knocked over both openers and Sri Lanka lost 10 for 83.Or Marcus Stoinis doing likewise to Pakistan’s openers and throttling what had been an ominous start to a mammoth chase in Bengaluru in the very next game.Or, despite having one less fielder on the boundary in Dharamsala for the last over against New Zealand, conceding five wides and bowling one in the slot and one a thigh-high full toss to Jimmy Neesham, somehow scraping through to a five-run win (and Australia have rarely looked as vulnerable to conceding 19 in a last over to lose as they did in that game).Nobody needs reminding of Glenn Maxwell’s epic 201* and the circumstances from which it was forged, though do recall the moment of his dropping by Mujeeb Ur Rehman. All batters, at least one day, make opponents pay for dropping them, but somehow it never feels as cruel and excruciating as a reprieved Australian batter makes it feel – Mujeeb, Usama Mir in Bengaluru last month, and Herschelle Gibbs last century all deserve a kinder place in our hearts.You might need reminding of Adam Zampa’s last-ditch intervention in Ahmedabad against England. Australia needed to win that game but were rarely in control, until Zampa smashed a 19-ball 29, added 38 with Mitchell Starc. and turned an innings that might have folded for 250 into something 300-ish. They won that by 33.

Cummins doesn’t have the scowl or snarl of past Australian captains and neither does the team. But that only ever supplemented the aura of those great sides, it didn’t create it. That came from how good those players were and all their achievements

And how about that Josh Inglis, fairly anonymous World Cup behind him, turning up to douse the heat of a semi-final no less with an ice-cool and under-celebrated 28? In some ways that was the most Australian thing of this campaign; slightly unheralded player who didn’t start the tournament, becoming a little bit of a hero, proving that all of them are in it together, and any of them are capable of doing this.It speaks both to the strengths and weaknesses of this campaign because take them all out and they have been, as the kids might say, a pretty mid team. A collective batting average that is fourth best, a collective pace-bowling average that is fifth-best; the fifth-best batting average in the powerplay – though, importantly, the second-best strike rate; third-best batting average in the middle overs but fifth-best strike rate; fourth-best bowling average in the middle overs, the sixth-best economy; third-best bowling average at the death, fifth-best economy.In some ways, the unevenness of performance has mirrored the World Cup of their captain. More than anything, Cummins has looked a little spent. Which should not be surprising given the draining assignments he has overseen, and that only one fast bowler – Matt Henry – has bowled more overs than him in international cricket this year.Cummins brings such strong leading-man energy, though, that it’ll never not be odd seeing him come on first change (even after doing it 55 times in his 87 ODIs) and do the grunt work after the powerplay, effectively the economy class of bowling phases. Given what Josh Hazlewood and Starc bring with the new ball, though, it’s difficult to have it any other way. But it adds to the impression that this format hasn’t always brought us the best of Cummins.2:34

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Instead, like his team he has stepped up in the space of these small, critical moments. The double-strike against Sri Lanka (and the castling of Kusal Perera was a thrilling reminder of his quality), the unbeaten 12 in the chase against Afghanistan, and the catch of Quinton de Kock in the semi-final, part of a fierce Australian fielding performance in the powerplay. If anything, in a strange, understated way these little bits have added to his status as leader.He doesn’t have the scowl or snarl of past Australian captains and neither does the team. But that only ever supplemented the aura of those great sides, it didn’t create it. That came from how good those players were and all their achievements. As well, of course, as that Australianness, however ill-defined it remains. That is true and alive in this squad, seven of whom, remember, have won an ODI World Cup.”Yeah, I think with experience, and fortunately some of that experience is playing in World Cups where we’ve been dominant,” Cummins said. “We’ve won before. We’ve had to fight for every win, but we’ve found a way to win. And different players have stood up at different times. So, I think taking that confidence, knowing that we don’t have to be at our absolute best to challenge any team we can find a way through it.”They stand now on the cusp of something monumental. Defeat India in Ahmedabad on Sunday and it will mean that a chunk of this group will have won two World Cups, a T20 World Cup only two years ago, the World Test Championship, and retained an Ashes series this year.Whichever way you cut that, that’s about as Australian as you can get.

What we can be sure of is that there will be plenty of quality spin on show right through the three ODIs

Madushka Balasuriya08-Feb-2024Sri Lanka might have won three of their last five ODIs against Afghanistan, and even hold an overall win-loss record of 7-4, but the two teams head into this three-match series on completely different trajectories.Afghanistan are building. Their next major ODI tournament is right around the corner – the 2025 Champions Trophy. They have a side brimming with potential and energy, just screaming to be harnessed and let loose. They left last year’s ODI World Cup with wins over three former champions in their bag. This is not a side to be trifled with.Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are rebuilding (yet again). Having failed to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy, their next major ODI tournament is still three years away – the 2027 World Cup. Theirs is a side with a settled core, but one that needs to contend with a new selection committee looking to stamp its authority. And the less said about Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign the better.But despite all that, this should be as keenly contested a series as ever. Here are a few things to keep an eye out for when these sides square off.Sri Lanka’s chance to build bench strength?In their first media briefing after being appointed, the new selection committee pointed out the importance of building bench strength. A look at this Sri Lanka squad tells us what a best XI might look like, but could this be an ideal opportunity to give fringe players a runout against quality opposition, with not much on the line?Related

Naib back in Afghanistan's ODI squad for SL series

Sri Lanka drop Shanaka for ODIs against Afghanistan

With a T20 World Cup just four months away, it’s unlikely we’ll see much experimentation in that format, which leaves ODIs – with nothing to build towards in the short term – as a straightforward option for new faces to dip their toes in international cricket and fringe players to stay sharp.With the likes of Sahan Arachchige, Shevon Daniel, Janith Liyanage, Dunith Wellalage and Akila Dananjaya in the squad, not finding room for a couple if not all of them in the starting XI might seem like a wasted opportunity.Can Avishka muscle his way into the T20I side?At the best of times, Avishka Fernando is a belligerent hitter at the top of the order capable of producing aggression and intent in spades.If the recent Zimbabwe series is anything to go by, the selectors’ prefer Kusal Perera in T20Is and Avishka in ODIs. Avishka for his part, didn’t do himself any favours, notching scores of 0, 4, 0, in his three innings.This series provides him with just the chance to bring himself back into the selectors’ thoughts should a position in the top of the order in the T20I side opens up.Hasaranga, Theekshana, Mujeeb, Noor – is spin the key?With Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dananjaya, Qais Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad all likely to get game time, it’s safe to say spin will play a key role in the series. With Rashid Khan still absent as he recovers from back surgery, Sri Lanka might feel they hold the edge when it comes to that battle.Therefore, how well the Afghanistan batters cope with Sri Lanka’s spin threats, and how the Afghanistan spinners keep control of proceedings without their star man could well decide the series.Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran will be key if Afghanistan want to post big scores•BCCIWill the power-hitting problem be solved?Despite their good showing at the World Cup, Afghanistan failed to go beyond the 300-run mark even once – they batted first four times. In a tournament where sides were pounding scores of 350-plus with regularity, this seems to be a glaring shortcoming.In fact, over the course of their ODI history, Afghanistan have scored 300 or more just seven times. For a side that not too long ago wasn’t even a side, that’s understandable, but if they want to start competing with the more established sides more regularly, it’s an area where gains certainly need to be made.Sri Lanka have similarly struggled to score 300 with any regularity, with many of their bigger scores coinciding with Kusal Mendis firing at the top of the order. But when Mendis is quiet, the score tends to be low. Sri Lanka will need to find big runs from more avenues if they are to put up a better showing in major tournaments going forward.

He has taken tough, unpopular calls, and used his bowlers brilliantly, but Bangladesh need their young leader to get out of a prolonged batting slump

Mohammad Isam15-Jun-20242:23

Najmul Hossain Shanto on his rise and Bangladesh’s strengths

As Bangladesh stand one win away from a Super Eight place in the T20 World Cup 2024, their captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is a subject of mixed feelings.He has led Bangladesh superbly. He has been proactive in his on-field leadership. His handling of bowling changes has been spot-on, which is hard to do in three consecutive games at a T20 World Cup, and he has not shied away from taking tough but unpopular decisions on and off the field.Shanto’s decision to give Shakib Al Hasan just the one over against South Africa was akin to heresy in Bangladesh cricket. It was a little like Rahul Dravid declaring the India innings with Sachin Tendulkar unbeaten on 194. It was called the “declaration of independence” at the time, a loud proclamation of a team-first attitude. Shanto giving Shakib just one over was a widely debated call, and a major one for a Bangladesh captain about to turn 26. His captaincy has been a key component of Bangladesh’s comeback from a nightmare start to their tour of North America.Related

Can Najmul Hossain Shanto pilot a successful World Cup campaign?

Shanto’s batting form, however, is a cause for concern. His three innings at this World Cup so far have brought him scores of 7, 14 and 1, and he has not scored a half-century in his last 16 innings across international formats, averaging 13.43 in this period. His form has worsened since his arrival in North America in mid-May: he has passed 14 just once in five T20I innings over the course of Bangladesh’s 2-1 defeat to USA last month and this World Cup.Shanto’s North America tour began with his getting stumped off the USA part-timer Steven Taylor as he looked to hit his way out of trouble with Bangladesh stuck at 51 for 2 in the eighth over. He looked in better shape in the next innings, scoring 36 off 34 balls before a mix-up with Towhid Hridoy got him run out.In Bangladesh’s first match at the T20 World Cup, Shanto scratched around for 12 balls before hitting a drive straight to cover. It was a similar story against South Africa: he scratched around for 22 balls before he got rushed by Anrich Nortje, caught at short square-leg trying to pull a 146kph delivery. Shanto had been dismissed in similar manner against India in the warm-up game in New York.Against Netherlands, Shanto reverse-swept offspinner Aryan Dutt straight to slip. He was facing just his third ball.Three innings at the T20 World Cup so far have brought Najmul Hossain Shanto scores of 7, 14 and 1•Getty ImagesThe shot brought to mind a comment in a recent interview from Shanto’s club coach, the former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud.”He [Shanto] is a confident guy, but consistency is becoming a hurdle for him,” Mahmud had said. “I spoke to him recently. I told him that it looks like you are in a lot of hurry in the middle. It is not written anywhere that you have to hit a six every ball in T20s.”Away from the batting crease, however, Shanto is a completely different character. He keeps his calm in public, and smiles a lot in the field. He enjoys his teammates’ success. It takes a strong character to survive the high-pressure and lonely world of Bangladesh captaincy, and Shanto has shown character off the field too, sticking to his guns even when taking unpopular decisions.He is, for instance, part of the decision-making group that has kept picking Tanzim Hasan Sakib over Shoriful Islam, who has been fit since June 8, and Tanzim has vindicated this with his new-ball displays.The highlight of Shanto’s captaincy, though, has been his handling of legspinner Rishad Hossain. After the South Africa match, coach Chandika Hathurusinghe praised Shanto for risking Rishad in the 19th over against a hungry David Miller. Rishad got the left-hander out first ball. Hathurusinghe said the credit for the wicket should go not just to the bowler but the captain too.He used Rishad smartly against the Netherlands too, keeping faith in him even after he went for 14 in his first over. Rishad rewarded Bangladesh with three wickets in two overs when Shanto gave him the 15th and 18th overs. A Bangladeshi legspinner getting important wickets is a sight for sore eyes, and so is a Bangladeshi captain trusting the legspinner to bowl the big overs.1:34

Shakib: Shanto has a great head on his shoulders

Shanto is also Bangladesh’s best all-round fielder. He makes innumerable stops in the covers and midwicket when he is in the circle, and he doesn’t shy away from fielding in the deep in the death overs. Shanto communicates well with the bowlers even when he is in the deep, sometimes relying on his throat, and at other times running all the way to the bowler before heading back to his fielding position.Shanto has also shown he can get out of his own comfort zone to help his team-mates. When Soumya Sarkar failed in the first game against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh replaced him with the middle-order batter Jaker Ali. Someone had to move up the order to open in Soumya’s place, and with Litton Das having scored runs at No. 3 against Sri Lanka, Shanto stepped up, allowing Litton to stay in his position.Fans, however, remain skeptical about Shanto’s batting form. He hasn’t yet adjusted to the new batting position, and his shot against Netherlands has drawn heavy flak. Yet, it seems like Shanto is equipped to handle the frustration at not scoring runs and the criticism he gets for it. At least that’s what his strong captaincy and brilliant fielding suggest. That’s all the public needs to see.Shanto isn’t the first Bangladesh captain to go through a lean run at a World Cup. Two of their better campaigns, in fact, were helmed by struggling captains: Habibul Bashar averaged 13.12 across eight innings at the 2007 ODI World Cup, when Bangladesh made the Super Eight stage, and Mashrafe Mortaza took one wicket for 361 runs in 2019, when they pulled off memorable wins over South Africa and West Indies.The BCB has previously taken rash decisions based on a captain’s performance at a World Cup, so it will be in Shanto’s best interests – as well as that of Bangladesh’s struggling top order – for him to get back among the runs as soon as possible.It’s important that he does this, because he’s ticked every other box. In him, Bangladesh may have found a captain ready to move the team into the future while shedding the baggage of the past, and do so with a smile on his face.

Crammed schedule for 2024-25 highlights impossibility of fielding best players across formats

Matt Roller22-Jul-2024England teams have played three games against West Indies in the last month but only one player – Harry Brook – has featured in all of them. Brook was the only England player to appear in both the T20 World Cup fixture in St Lucia in June and first two Tests in July, and a disjointed forthcoming schedule will ensure the divergence between their squads continues.Australia and India – who have won all three of the global men’s finals in the past 13 months between them – have relied upon an adaptable core of multi-format players who have underpinned their success. Their captain Pat Cummins has been integral to that, with Australia’s regular breaks between Test series allowing him periods of rest in between key series.But England play so much Test cricket that they have little choice but to separate selection between red and white-ball cricket, whether they want to or not. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, they have played 51 matches in just over four years; India have played the second-most Tests, with just 37.Brook was touted as a potential successor as England’s white-ball captain to Jos Buttler, who is understood to be contemplating his options after the manner of their T20 World Cup exit. But England’s next T20I series, against Australia in September, starts the very day after their third Test against Sri Lanka is due to finish: it is simply not feasible for anyone to feature in both.The logistical challenges continue through the rest of the year. If England wish to give any of their Test players preparation for February’s Champions Trophy, September’s ODI series against Australia is theoretically a good opportunity – but they are due to start a three-Test series in Pakistan eight days after the final ODI in Bristol.Jonny Bairstow struggled at the T20 World Cup after playing in all three formats over the winter•Getty ImagesTheir subsequent ODI series begins on October 31, three days after the scheduled fifth day of the third Test in Pakistan, more than 12,000km away in Antigua. In November, there are only eight days between the fifth T20I against West Indies in St Lucia and the first Test against New Zealand in Christchurch, on November 28. Good luck trying to play in both.England do have a six-month gap between Tests in early 2025, but only a short tour to India (five T20Is, three ODIs) before the Champions Trophy starts. Even their most adaptable multi-format players would struggle with only three 50-over games. “I’m very inexperienced in this format,” Brook said during last year’s World Cup, having not played a single List A game between May 2019 and his ODI debut in South Africa in January 2023. “It does make a big difference, not having played it.”And England’s 2025 home summer is just as chaotic as ever. Four different teams are due to tour: Zimbabwe, West Indies (twice), India and South Africa. They are also due to play three ODIs in Ireland during the home Test series against India, which – like the 2022 series against Netherlands between two Tests against New Zealand – will necessitate split squads.Further down the line, there is a problem that will be familiar to a generation of England captains: the 2025-26 winter includes a World Cup – albeit a T20 one – immediately after an away Ashes series, just as in 2013-14, 2010-11, 2006-07 and 2002-03. Jonny Bairstow, who struggled for form at both the 50- and 20-over World Cups as well as the Test tour of India in between, showed the folly of expecting players to be at their best while constantly on tour.ESPNcricinfo LtdEngland have expressed a desire to bring their squads closer together, following Australia and India’s lead. Rob Key, the team director, spoke after the 50-over World Cup about wanting to develop a generation of “multi-format bowlers who bowl at 85-plus miles per hour”. He cited the examples of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, as well as Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.When England picked a second-string ODI squad against Ireland last September, with the main contenders resting up ahead of the World Cup, Zak Crawley stood in as captain. Ahead of Thursday’s Test at Trent Bridge, Crawley outlined his “big aspirations” as a white-ball player. “I’ve got to earn my spot… but absolutely, certainly in my eyes, I want to be part of that team,” he said. It is hard to see how it will happen.This is not an unfortunate accident, nor anything new: the ECB, along with all other full-member boards, signed off on the ICC’s 2023-27 Future Tours Programme which was finalised two years ago. Even though they have played 35% more Tests since the pandemic than second-placed India, it was their board’s decision to commit to those fixtures.Rather than using their schedule as an excuse, England must turn it into an opportunity. They already have different captains and coaches across formats, and have the resources to field separate squads as a matter of course: only their very best players should be considered for selection across all three formats, and a pool of 26 centrally contracted players should enable them to follow this course.Related

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England have a competitive advantage over most of their rivals in that the majority of franchise T20 leagues take place during their off-season, allowing players the opportunity both to develop and to earn without restriction. It has enabled them to grow a deep pool of white-ball players, even while their Test regulars increasingly specialise in that format.Australia’s limited-overs tour in September gives England the chance to test their bench strength and bring through a new generation of young players. They must be brave in selection: with players involved in the third Test unlikely to be available at the start of the series, marginal calls should lean towards white-ball specialists who can get a proper run over the next 18 months.Take Ben Duckett, who is nailed on as England’s Test opener and has been on the fringes of their white-ball squads. In theory, Duckett should come into the picture for the Champions Trophy, but his availability is limited for their next eight ODIs. The smart play would be to invest in a younger player in a similar role, such as Warwickshire’s Dan Mousley.England have been down this road before, most obviously during the split-squads era of the pandemic: since April 2020, they have used 65 different players in 176 international fixtures. Their forthcoming schedule leaves them with no choice but to double down.