Their batsmen struggled yet again to strike a balance between attack and defence on a turning pitch

Firdose Moonda26-Jan-2021Well done, Pakistan. In the 14 years since South Africa last visited you’ve managed to become subcontinental, or at least, more subcontinental than they (read: Mark Boucher, current coach and part of the last group of players to tour Pakistan in 2007) remember. In fact, you’re even more subcontinental than you were just a few weeks ago, in the first-class competition, when the ball had the good grace not to turn from day one.But for this match, you’re so subcontinental that South Africa were ready to field not one, not two but all three of the spinners they brought with them. You’re so subcontinental there were footmarks in the second session and Yasir Shah and Nauman Ali were turning the ball around corners. Well done Pakistan, you made South Africa expect spin and you outspun them. Or did you?When South Africa assess what went wrong they will have to acknowledge that only one of the 10 wickets that fell was to a ball that turned. Faf du Plessis was on the receiving end of a beautifully flighted Yasir Shah delivery, that drifted in and turned away as he pushed at it. Everyone else could have done better, and they know it.”It’s an under-par score on that pitch,” Dean Elgar said.He was the biggest contributor to South Africa’s total and could have added more but his decision-making was questionable, both when he sent Rassie van der Dussen back to be run out, and when he gifted a catch to slip. And while we could dissect whether Elgar’s aggressive start contributed to his underwhelming end, we really need to talk about Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma.When de Kock joined Elgar, South Africa had lost du Plessis and Yasir was starting to pose problems. He found sharp turn and drift and invited batsmen to come forward. De Kock negotiated him fairly well but there was obvious frustration. He got a sweep shot past fine leg for four but couldn’t middle a reverse-sweep. But de Kock had only faced 22 balls when he decided to try and take on the bowling more aggressively and hit Nauman over cow corner. And he got it wrong. If South Africa had been 330 for 3 on the second morning and de Kock had played that shot, no matter, but they were 133 for 3, and not even halfway through the second session on the first day.Mistakes when trying to be positive are understandable, and even excusable, when trying to conquer conditions one usually struggles in. It’s why Sri Lanka were happy to see their line-up take on Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi at SuperSport Park in the last Boxing Day Test. “Get runs before you get out,” seems to be the mindset of choice and it’s brave and entertaining until it’s not. De Kock’s shot was not. He needed to make a conservative choice because South Africa expect consistent runs from their No.5 and there are already enough questions over whether that is the best place for him to bat.De Kock is already carrying the burden of captaincy and dealing with the claustrophobia of the biosecure bubble, something that Boucher said would be particularly difficult for de Kock because of his love of the outdoors. Should he also be batting somewhere he hasn’t had much experience before?South Africa lost two wickets to run-outs•Associated PressThe bulk of de Kock’s Test runs have come at No.7, irrespective of whether that seems too low for him. With the inclusion of an allrounder in the team, de Kock is more likely to bat No.6 (his second-most favoured position) which also means he won’t be stuck with the tail, if that’s the fear of holding him back from No. 5. It would also allow Bavuma, in the XI as a specialist batsman, to come in higher and give him more opportunity to develop into the Test player South Africa want him to be and to work on the aspects of his game that need swift improvement.It’s almost as though Bavuma’s approach is the opposite of de Kock’s. “Stay in until you get out,” which means he is prone to batting himself into a standstill, literally. He does not put away poor balls that deserve to be hit and he needs to rotate strike more so his scoring increases and he can avoid dismissals like the one we saw today. Bavuma was run-out having miscalculated a second run and the wait for him to add to his solitary Test hundred goes on.George Linde and Keshav Maharaj will also be disappointed, Linde for getting a decent start and throwing it away when he holed out off Hasan Ali, and Maharaj for missing a straight one. Their attitude to building an innings could be described as dismissive of the work that needs to be put in at the start, which Elgar alluded to as he explained how to strike the balance between scoring runs and staying at the crease. “You’ve got to earn your right in your Test cricket,” Elgar said. “We earned our right before lunch. We’ve got to earn the right again to create a platform again and just to build up a partnership again. It’s about trusting your defence, trusting in your game a bit.”South Africa know they have a reputation for being unable to play spin and for crumbling on pitches that behave like this one. But that is not why they were bowled out for 220 today. It was because they felt they needed to rush into run-scoring rather than play themselves in. That’s not to say this pitch is easy to play on. It is a strip on which bowlers do not need to have wickets handed to them because they can actually take them and that’s what South Africa did.With inconsistent bounce evident from early on, Kagiso Rabada bowled Abid Ali with one that kept low and then had Imran Butt caught off a delivery that reared up with a hint of extra bounce. As the variability increases, batting will become more difficult, which is what Elgar expects. “We know the pitch is going to become a little bit tougher to score on and we also have some very good spinners in our arsenal,” he warned.Already Keshav Maharaj has removed the Pakistan captain and though he might not have the ability to turn the ball like Yasir, this is his opportunity to play a starring role for a change. But all that said, Anrich Nortje made it clear that pace is still pace, and no matter how subcontinental Pakistan make it, fast and furious is often effective.Well done then, Pakistan, for a deck that showed South Africa they have not advanced their thinking around spin as much as they suggested they had, or badly done, because your own batsmen have to navigate the same strip? The morning session on day two will tell.

The 2021 edition will kick off on Thursday and will include 29 matches over 10 days.

Barny Read27-Jan-2021The Abu Dhabi T10 League kicks off on Thursday, with the fourth edition looking to further establish a proof of concept and longer-term legacy for the format, even as its suitability to spearhead cricket’s long-awaited return to the Olympics Games continues to be discussed.With the Covid-19 pandemic still far from gone, this year’s tournament has gone to extraordinary lengths to try and conduct the 29 matches over 10 days of cricket – January 28 to February 6 – that will have over 100 players travelling in to the UAE. The playing pool does have a slightly different look and feel this season, but there remains an exciting cast.Chris Gayle still has enormous star power, and Shahid Afridi leads the list of returning Pakistan players after last year’s issues with the PCB were resolved. Among others, the likes of Tom Banton, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Chadwick Walton and Imran Tahir should make for entertaining viewing. There are also four Indian players – led by the evergreen Pravin Tambe – in the mix, while both Lalchand Rajput and Robin Singh are head coaches of teams, which certainly aren’t insignificant appointments considering the BCCI’s policy when it comes to franchise cricket beyond India’s shores.Related

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There have been challenges in the lead-up of the tournament. Players remained in quarantine slightly longer than hoped, Bangla Tigers’ 21-year-old icon player Afif Hossain was stuck at the border, and nearly an entire new broadcast team had to be sourced when the emirates placed a travel ban on South Africa days before the start. Some of the billed players are yet to arrive, but the majority of the last-minute issues have been resolved and the IPL’s visit to Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium during IPL 2020 has ultimately served as the perfect precursor for the far more condensed staging of the T10 league.”We were very, very lucky to have worked with the gold standard of bio-security measures that is the BCCI medical team, and that has driven everything forward now in terms of Abu Dhabi T10,” Matt Boucher, CEO of Abu Dhabi Cricket, told ESPNcricinfo. “Those same medical protocols are what we have used to base the Abu Dhabi T10 bio-security regulations on.”

“What we need to do is showcase this format, to show its attractiveness, to show its capability, to grow it and to show its relevance to multi-sport events like the Olympics”Haroon Lorgat

That translates to developing bluetooth track-and-trace systems, implementing bio-secure bubbles and keeping teams separated as part of an enormous undertaking. At the time of writing, the organisers are waiting for a final decision on their application to allow fans in the south stand at 30% capacity – this, incidentally, a week on from the UFC opening its doors to 2000 fans in the UAE capital.”We’re reviewing the UFC Fight Island spectator capacity and are hopeful in the latter stages of Abu Dhabi T10 to embrace some low percentage of fans into the event,” Boucher said. “That’s most likely to be vaccinated residents and frontline residents.”It’s anticipated that nearly one billion people will watch the event on TV after the league struck landmark deals in key territories, such as with Fox Sports in Australia. It represents a major win for the shortest professional format, which – since inception in 2017 – has frequently touted its potential for globalisation and suitability as a vehicle for cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics.The Maratha Arabians are the defending champions, having beaten Deccan Gladiators in the 2019 final•Abu Dhabi CricketDuring the inaugural run in Sharjah, England’s Eoin Morgan was the first to suggest T10 as an Olympic product and since then there’s been a procession of players supporting it. Gayle and Kumar Sangakkara joined the chorus in the lead-up to this year’s edition and with the ICC also expressing an interest, there’s genuine hope the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics could see cricket feature – in its T10 avatar.”It’s now a professional outfit and the product is certainly a lot more sharper,” league director for strategy and development Haroon Lorgat told ESPNcricinfo. “From where it started in Sharjah back in 2017 to what we will see at this upcoming season is tremendous growth.”We’re still cementing this as a product for the long-term. What we need to do is showcase this format, to show its attractiveness, to show its capability, to grow it and to show its relevance to multi-sport events like the Olympics. Then it’s up to the federations to take it and run with it.”The ambition to produce drop-in T10 tournaments around the world is another well-trodden path for the past three years, with the USA one market it has its sights firmly set upon. That and a women’s T10 league.”It will come in different forms,” Lorgat explained. “There may well be a T10 league played in one part of the world that’s for women cricketers, there may be a T10 league played in another part of the world that’s for Under-19s, and then there would be what we’re seeing in Abu Dhabi with the best men’s cricketers in the world playing.”Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, is entering the second of a five-year agreement and long-term, it sees the T10 as a crucial tourism commodity. “In terms of legacy, we have our own academy here and we have our own aspirations to bring cricket back to the top of the Abu Dhabi sports portfolio,” Boucher said. “That’s what we hope the Abu Dhabi T10 will do.”

Luck Index estimates that the umpire’s call on the lbw shout against Keiron Pollard could have played a significant hand

ESPNcricinfo stats team03-Nov-2020With a place in the playoffs at stake in the match against Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the match. They won the toss and put Mumbai into bat – a significant advantage given how dew has been a big factor of late. With this match not being of any consequence to Mumbai, they opted to rest their best bowlers this season Jaspirt Bumrah and Trent Boult. If that weren’t enough Sunrisers had Mumbai on the mat at five down for 82 runs in the 13th over. The match was following an almost ideal script for the Sunrisers.Until the 15th over of Mumbai’s innings. Rashid Khan came on to bowl the last over of his spell. In the absence of Hardik Pandya – who was also rested for this match – Mumbai had their last recognized pair in the middle. Getting one of either Keiron Pollard or Ishan Kishan would’ve have further tilted the scales in favour of the bowling team. Rashid – being the champion bowler he is – created opportunities to dismiss both. However, both batsmen survived his over. Kishan was dropped by the bowler himself and Pollard survived a close lbw shout on the basis of umpire’s call.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhile Kishan’s drop didn’t cost Sunrisers big, ESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index reckons that given the batting that was to come, Mumbai would’ve scored 20 runs fewer had umpire C Shamshuddin given Pollard out on the last ball of Rashid’s over. Pollard, who was on six off ten balls, went on to score 41 off 25. He plundered 35 runs off the 14 balls that he faced after that event. Luck Index estimates that Mumbai’s remaining batsmen would’ve got just 15 runs from those 14 balls. That is so because Mumbai went on to lose Kishan shortly after, and had they lost Pollard as well, it would have left the task of securing Mumbai a defendable total to Nathan Coulter-Nile – a bowling allrounder in T20s – and their tail.Luck Index estimates the impact of the decision by distributing the balls that Pollard faced after the event among the batsmen who weren’t dismissed and if necessary, those who didn’t bat in the innings. (This calculation takes into account the expected balls that each batsman is likely to play, based on their quality.)If the umpire’s decision had favoured Sunrisers they would’ve been chasing 130 instead of 150 in this high-stakes match that will decide whether they progress to the playoff of IPL 2020.

Australia’s back-up bowlers showed promise, but their death bowling was a concern

Shashank Kishore09-Dec-2020ALSO WATCH: Match highlights: Kohli 85 in van in 3rd T20I as Wade, Maxwell shine (Indian subcontinent only)Nerveless Natarajan makes a markExactly a month ago, T Natarajan was named as one of four net bowlers in India’s tour party to Australia. The team management was impressed with his left-arm variety. With India’s fast bowling attack looking off-colour in their first two defeats on tour, he was handed an ODI debut in similar circumstances to Jasprit Bumrah’s in 2016. He’ll return home to a newborn, whom he is yet to meet, having made an impact in three of the four white-ball matches he featured in.Natarajan’s spell of 4-0-20-2 in Australia’s total of 194 in the second T20I helped India pull things back somewhat before Hardik Pandya helped clinch the chase. Natarajan finished the series with six wickets in three games and an economy rate of 6.91. This didn’t earn him the Player of the Series award, but Pandya, the winner, certainly underlined his impact. Kohli’s go-to death bowler in Bumrah’s absence, Natarajan showed there was more to him than just his ability to nail yorkers. His temperament and calmness under pressure have stood out – all promising signs a year out from the T20 World Cup.The Pandey-Iyer-Samson questionNone of the three managed to nail down a position. Sanju Samson thrilled like he often does with his six-hitting but failed to build on his starts. Manish Pandey had just one outing, where he struggled. Shreyas Iyer had a match-winning cameo sandwiched between two ordinary outings. With Suryakumar Yadav waiting in the wings, and India potentially having to move KL Rahul down the order when Rohit Sharma gets fit, Pandey, Iyer, Samson, Suryakumar and Rishabh Pant could jostle for two batting positions in the squad. Also, it’s entirely possible there could only be one spot up for grabs in the XI if India decide Ravindra Jadeja and Pandya, on current form, can bat at Nos. 5 and 6.ALSO WATCH: Video highlights: Sanju Samson falls cheaply in 3rd T20I(Indian subcontinent only)Sundar and Chahal add to India’s bowling varietyHaving been left out of India’s first T20I following an outstanding IPL season for Royal Challengers Bangalore – 21 wickets in 15 games and an economy rate of 7.08 – Yuzvendra Chahal made a mark as a concussion substitute to pick up three wickets and win India the first T20I single-handedly.Washington Sundar also had an excellent series, delivering frugal spells and going at only 7.08 in the 12 overs he bowled. Both his wickets – Aaron Finch and Steven Smith – came in the final T20I. But it was in the series opener, where he went for 0 for 16 in four overs, that he set the tone as India successfully defended 161. While Chahal cleverly used the advantage of bowling to big boundaries on one side, Sundar varied his lengths, and his nagging lines forced batsmen to try and improvise early in the innings.Now picture India’s bowling attack with a fully fit Pandya, Jadeja, Sundar, Chahal and three seamers – potentially Natarajan, Bumrah and one of Shardul Thakur or Mohammed Shami.Matthew Wade drops his shoulder and plays the ramp•Getty ImagesWade hits, Short missesNo Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc (for two matches), Josh Hazlewood and Kane Richardson. Aaron Finch missed the second T20I. David Warner missed the entire series with a groin injury. This was a chance for the back-ups to stand up. Where D’Arcy Short couldn’t capitalise, Matthew Wade, the stand-in captain, did with two half-centuries including a match-winning 50-ball 83 in the final game on Tuesday.ALSO WATCH (Indian subcontinent only): Video highlights: Sams stunner snares DhawanWithout Marcus Stoinis, Moises Henriques enjoyed good bowling returns, but couldn’t replicate that impact with the bat. Daniel Sams and Andrew Tye fell short while trying to defend 72 off the last six with Australia’s series on the line. Faced with a near-similar situation, their spin-twins Swepson and Zampa combined to take 4 for 44 in seven overs to help Australia secure a consolation win.Had Ashton Agar not been ruled out, Swepson may not have been summoned into the squad. Zampa provided Australia control in the middle overs on the face of some serious ball-striking. Among his three wickets, the one to dismiss Pandya in the final T20I with India needing 43 from 18 was game-changing.Who comes into the middle order?Just like India’s, there are a few contenders in Australia’s middle order too. Alex Carey, Wade, Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green and Short could all possibly tussle over limited batting spots. This is considering Warner and Finch will be reunited at the top of the order, with Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell floating around with Stoinis. Australia potentially have a five-match series against New Zealand and the BBL to narrow down their combinations for the T20 World Cup in October 2021.

Offspinner keen to continue development after “great experience” in India and Sri Lanka

Alan Gardner04-Apr-2021For any cricketer who has spent a winter touring with England and waiting in vain for their chance, the start of a new county season is bound to loom enticingly. For Amar Virdi, who was a reserve squad member in Sri Lanka and India, bowling in the nets for weeks in case of injury or illness affecting England’s frontline spinners, it will be an opportunity to be grasped with particular relish.A bouncy, bearded 22-year-old, Virdi has long been thought of as an England prospect, having emerged as an ever-present during Surrey’s 2018 Championship-winning season. Fitness issues limited his progress but, having trained in England’s Test bubble last summer, his merits as an attacking offspinner were on show during the Bob Willis Trophy, when he finished as Surrey’s leading wicket-taker.Virdi described his time with England on their trip to the subcontinent as a “great experience” but is now focused on a strong county showing with Surrey to push his case for a Test cap. April may be the cruellest month for spinners in England, but Virdi is eager to get back on the field and work out “a few different gameplans” for the grassier surfaces that are likely to predominate during the opening two-month block of Championship games.”The last time I played a game in April would have been when we won the Championship,” he said. “This time of year, as a spinner, it’s a bit of a new experience for me playing on these pitches. I haven’t really played on early-season pitches. I’ve always found you get a bit of grip when I played before, so I think this year might be a bit different.Related

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“It’s just a lot of excitement, everyone raring to go. You want to get out there, obviously with Covid and everything that happened we had a shortened season last year, so I think after a long winter like this you just want to get out there and play some games.”Even when considering what might likely be a holding role in the early part of the season, Virdi gave an indication of his approach to the spin bowler’s craft.”I think it’s not necessarily a case of being defensive. I wouldn’t say I’m a very defensive bowler,” he said. “I think it’s a case of finding other ways to attack. So it might be through maybe a defensive mindset, trying to bowl a lot of maidens and keeping things very simple and attacking in that way. I’m always looking to attack. I think I’ll always keep that mindset, regardless of the conditions.”Although England did not ultimately consider their spin-bowling reserves, which included Matt Parkinson and Mason Crane, for selection in Sri Lanka or India, Virdi was pleased with how his time as part of Joe Root’s touring party went. In particular, he said observing at close hand the level of control exhibited by India’s spinners, R Ashwin and Axar Patel, who claimed 59 wickets between them during the four-match Test series, had been instructive.”It was a great experience,” he said. “Quite a long trip, but I think it was very beneficial, being in an environment like that, that’s where I want to play. That’s where I want to be so getting an insight as to what it’s like bowling to guys like Rooty and [Ben] Stokes in the nets. It’s great practice, and I think it’s really helped my game.

“I think you’ve got to be prepared to bowl on any type of pitch. It’s a case of trying to be a well-rounded bowler and being able to bowl in different conditions”

“The big difference is there’s no room for errors. If there is, it’s very minimal, even when the conditions are perhaps in the favour of the bowler. You still need to have that consistency and I think that was one of [India’s] main strengths. You take Axar for example, just being able to land it in a certain area over and over again, and then relying on the pitch or allowing the pitch to do the work, seemed like the way forward. So, I think they did that very well. And I think that just overall in terms of consistency. I think it’s a very important part of Test cricket.”England’s struggles in India highlighted both the lack of depth in their spin bowling, as well an ability to counter it effectively – in turn raising the perennial debate about the nature of pitches for County Championship cricket.The Kia Oval has long been a ground where spinners have needed to play their part, and with the impressive left-armer Dan Moriarity also coming through the ranks, Surrey could be tempted to lean in that direction. However, asked whether his development could be aided by bowling on more helpful surfaces, as was the case with England’s incumbent spinners, Jack Leach and Dom Bess, Virdi said that he felt it was important to gain a grounding in a variety of conditions.”My experience with county cricket has been that I find a lot of pitches do turn around the circuit. You’re playing at Essex and it spins there, I’ve played at Hampshire and it spins there, I’ve played at Worcester and it spins there. So I think it really just depends on you as a bowler, what you can actually get out of the pitch. It might not turn straight away, but it may turn as a game goes on, or you get the footmarks to work with.Amar Virdi was part of England’s Test bubble last summer•ECB”I think you’ve got to be prepared to bowl on any type of pitch. If you’re always bowling on pitches in your favour, you could go to a Test game and pitch doesn’t turn for four days, then you’re used to bowling really wide outside off stump and trying to spin it through the gate – and you’re like ‘what do I do?’ So I think it’s a case of trying to be a well-rounded bowler and being able to bowl in different conditions.”You’ve just got a face what’s in front of you, I think that will keep you in good stead going forward. Speaking with Leachy and Bessy, we always have chats. I speak to Leachy quite a lot, he’s a great guy, but it’s not something I’ve spoken to him about necessarily, playing down at Somerset and how it’s aided his development. It’s more about different things as a bowler that you can do on different pitches and things like that.”With Bess enduring a difficult time in India, and Moeen Ali missing the opening chunk of Championship cricket while at the IPL, Virdi could soon have the chance to put pressure on Leach for a Test spot. But for now, Virdi’s chief concern remains attacking April with gusto and seeing where that takes him.”I’m just thinking about county cricket at the moment and having the best season I can. If I have a good season and I perform well, then I think that I can’t really control the things that come outside of that. So my focus is going to be on doing my best for Surrey and trying to win another Championship.”

The best advertisement for the IPL came in the very first game

Matt Roller19-Apr-20214:20

Ajit Agarkar, David Hussey and Dale Steyn on McCullum’s innings

We polled our staff for their picks of the top ten best batting, bowling and all-round performances in the IPL through its history. Here’s No. 6 Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 2008It was the innings that changed cricket forever. On the competition’s opening night, Brendon McCullum’s breathtaking 158 not out confirmed that the IPL was not merely a showbiz concept but the future of the sport: futuristic gold helmets and cheerleaders brought the glitz, but the league could not flourish without a world-class on-field spectacle.There is an irony, therefore, in the fact that the abstract image of McCullum’s innings has been discussed so much more than the innings itself in the years that have followed. Its significance and its wider meaning for the IPL was transformative, but it also served as a handbook for a generation of T20 batters.McCullum went into the season under pressure. While he was an established international batter, his US$700,000 (Rs 2.8 crore approximately) price tag in the auction raised traditionalists’ eyebrows: was he really more valuable than his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mate Ricky Ponting, or Test greats like Shaun Pollock and Glenn McGrath? Certainly, there were no signs of that in the first over of the game, with Praveen Kumar extracting enough from the conditions to induce two false shots and even a leave.By the time Zaheer Khan was standing at the top of his mark to bowl the second over, McCullum had 0 off five balls. He could have been selfish, opting to see off the new ball and take the innings deep, but that is not the McCullum way.The gold standard: McCullum’s innings set the bar for the IPL in its first-ever game•Getty ImagesHe attacked. After failing to connect with a cut, he finally got off the mark with a pair of boundaries over midwicket – a sweetly timed pick-up, and a full-blooded pull. Shimmying down to Khan’s fourth ball, he was beaten for pace looking to swing to leg, but the power in his shot meant it hardly mattered: his thick edge flew away over third man’s head for six.Another four through the leg side followed the ball later, and McCullum was in his groove, making a mockery of the short Chinnaswamy boundaries. A powerful thrash through midwicket off Kumar flew away for four, before a vicious pull and a towering straight drive in Ashley Noffke’s first over, both going for six, took KKR to 50 within the first four overs.

The numbers

114 Runs McCullum hit on the leg side, 68 of them coming between square leg and straight midwicket alone

19 Balls McCullum faced in the rest of the 2008 IPL season. He flew to England after four games, hitting 97 off 97 balls in the first Test at Lord’s.

2 Number of innings of exactly 158 not out in T20 history. Both of them were by McCullum – the other for Birmingham Bears against Derbyshire in 2015.

The wicket of Sourav Ganguly at the other end prompted a brief slowdown, but McCullum was soon back up and running, with sixes in consecutive overs by Sunil Joshi. Cameron White came on in the 15th over hoping to stem the tide but disappeared for two enormous sixes over midwicket and a four, taking McCullum to 99. A cover drive for two brought him to three figures – prompting unbridled joy from Shah Rukh Khan, KKR’s owner, in the stands.Perhaps the shot of the night was a deft paddle sweep for six off Zaheer in the 17th over. McCullum was particularly punishing at the death. As Kumar and Jacques Kallis missed their lengths, he hit 39 off his last 11 balls, including five sixes, pounding the leg-side boundary time and again. Anything back of a length was pulled; anything full was bludgeoned down the ground. The method was simple but the result was extraordinary.Innings of 158 do not come around often in T20 cricket. In the 816 IPL matches since that night in Bengaluru, only one has featured a higher individual score – Chris Gayle’s 175 not out for RCB in 2013. Even now, Gayle’s is one of only five bigger innings in the history of the format.The Greatest IPL performances 2008-2020

The governing body, in order to win a contracts dispute, has compromised team unity and here’s how

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Jul-20211:11

Dasun Shanaka: I’m ready for my ‘new duty’ as Sri Lanka captain

Dasun Shanaka, 29 years old, is Sri Lanka’s newest men’s limited-overs captain. He is a cricketer of significant promise, and one that has previously captained Sri Lanka (in a stand-in capacity) to a 3-0 victory over Pakistan in T20s, so you hope he will make a fist of it. Better yet, that he can inspire a team that has lost seven of the eight completed ODIs they’ve played in 2021, and 12 of their last 13 T20 internationals. But can he?Shanaka has not been a consistent member of the Sri Lankan XI for the past three years. In ODIs, he has 28 appearances, 611 runs, and 10 wickets. In T20Is, those numbers are 43 games, 548 runs and and 11 wickets. These are not particularly encouraging statistics.There is a train of thought within the Sri Lanka team that Shanaka has only been made captain because he cut a deal with either the cricket board or its technical advisory committee in agreeing to sign the tour contracts the board was offering. This is after Sri Lanka’s cricketers had spent months defying the contracts on offer. After it was clear that the deadlock between the board and and the players had been broken, but long before SLC officially announced Shanaka’s captaincy, his team-mates knew the announcement was coming. Whatever the exact nature of Shanaka’s relationship with the board, whatever his own motivations, he is now due to lead a team that does not fully believe he is in charge for purely cricketing reasons.But it is natural for players to be ambitious. Commendable, even. Innumerable sports people across history, have coveted their team’s captaincy. But it is rarer that a governing body acts with such self-serving shortsightedness, that in order to win a contracts dispute, it chooses a course of action that would inevitably sow discord within an already-ailing team. No one can be surprised, though. Diplomacy, tact, basic competence – these have long been imperiled resources among the top brass at the SLC.This is, after all essentially the same set of administrators that over the last five years, presided over the change of ODI captains from Angelo Mathew to Upul Tharanga (in mid-2017), from Tharanga to Thisara Perera (in late 2017), from Thisara back to Mathews (in early 2018), from Mathews to Dinesh Chandimal (in late 2018), from Chandimal to Lasith Malinga (in early 2019), from Malinga to Dimuth Karunaratne (just ahead of the 2019 World Cup), from Karunaratne to Kusal Perera in early 2019, and now from Kusal to Shanaka. Some captains have come in promising discipline. Others commitment in the field. One has championed sensible batting. Another batting fearlessly. During all this, since July 2016, Sri Lanka have lost 60 ODIs to the 26 they have won.Shammi Silva, the SLC president•SLCSri Lanka have not just rifled through captains, searching desperately for results no one could deliver given the paucity of the country’s domestic cricket, it’s the same with coaches. There was Graham Ford, then Nic Pothas (though briefly), then Chandika Hathurusingha, and now Mickey Arthur (there are already rumours the board is fixing to replace him). Meanwhile, Shammi Silva has been either vice-president or president of SLC (elected uncontested this year for his second two-year stint as head honcho) since late 2015, and Ashley de Silva has been CEO for the better part of a decade.It is possible that over the next few weeks, these two men – who along with others such as Thilanga Sumathipala and Nishantha Ranatunga have overseen the galling decline of Sri Lanka’s top-flight cricket – will take their places on a dais, and wearing their grumpiest expressions, hand out lengthy suspensions to Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella, for their breaking of the bio-bubble during the England tour.The absence of those three players, along with Kusal Perera’s shoulder injury, means the most experienced player in Sri Lanka’s 25-strong first-choice ODI squad is Dhananjaya de Silva, who has played 50 matches. Shikhar Dhawan, the captain of India’s second-string team, has played 142 ODIs. India have also been training for weeks in Sri Lanka; the hosts have only been able to come out of isolation over the past few days.Can Shanaka pick his team-mates up, help devise world-class game plans against better drilled opposition, show tactical acuity in game-breaking situations, communicate effectively, and raise his team’s performance by, I dunno, a 1000%? Although this team’s decline has been almost staggering since 2015, the one thing you could still say about Sri Lanka is that they do occasionally do a good line in miracles.If they lose, SLC’s board members will likely blame the team or its coach. They may question commitment, they may cast aspersions on discipline. If they keep losing, the captain could be under threat again. For the third time in succession, a coach may get sacked by the same people who hired him.But if they look like winning, oh man, what a party: a call will go out to the broadcasters, a camera will be trained on the front row of the board president’s box, allies in commentary who are happy to criticise players but almost never turn the spotlight on administrators will recite their names on air, and the bum-patting carousel of middle-aged men in suits will go on until the nation is nauseated.

Kings needed eight from the last two overs with eight wickets in hand, and still lost

Shashank Kishore21-Sep-20214:52

Dale Steyn: The better team lost tonight

Punjab Kings need eight runs off the final two overs. They have eight wickets in hand. Aiden Markram, signed as a late replacement because of his scintillating form in Sri Lanka, and Nicholas Pooran, widely touted to be one of the cleanest six-hitters, have put on a half-century stand off just 28 balls. A defeat looms large for Rajasthan Royals. Surely, they weren’t thinking of a coup. Or maybe they were, because it’s Kings who, not for the first time in recent memory, contrived to turn it into a game of nerves.Mustafizur Rahman isn’t the easiest bowler to put away at the best of times. On a surface with a hint of grip towards the end, the left-arm seamer varied his slower ones masterfully, going back of a length, digging one hard into the surface, and then bowling four stunning wide yorkers from different release points. So what if he had conceded 27 off his first three wicketless overs? This was the kind of mastery he had displayed when he became David Warner’s right-hand man in a sensational MVP and title-winning performance in 2016 with Sunrisers Hyderabad.Yet for all that, Kings need just four in the final over. Eight wickets in hand. Surely, they weren’t going to bottle up the chase. Surely, it was just a matter of one blow that would seal the deal. The man delivering it was Kartik Tyagi, a rookie in every sense. Someone who is known to have the pace but can also spray it around. Life hasn’t quite been the same for the 20-year-old since IPL 2020.Watch the IPL on ESPN+

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Firstly, a bout of Covid led him to miss a portion of the first half of the season. When he was finally fit, he saw another rookie in Chetan Sakariya overtake him in the pecking order. So, in many ways, Tyagi was on a comeback on Tuesday night. You can see he is nervous, the wry smile on his face after delivering a high full toss for a dot ball a dead giveaway. It’s still four off five. The camera pans to Anil Kumble, the Kings coach. Surely, he’s not yet down the ‘oh no, not again’ road. He smiles, knowing well victory is just one biff away.Tyagi now alters his line, goes full and wide; Markram drags it into the leg side for a single. Now, it’s three from four balls with Pooran on strike. He’s on 32 off 21 balls, the fluency that eluded him in the first half of the IPL has found its way back. The very fact that the team has backed him despite four ducks – even if it feels like so long ago – is a sure shot indication of how much they rate him. Here’s Pooran’s opportunity to repay that faith and close the game off without much fuss.Kartik Tyagi leaps with joy after sealing victory•BCCITyagi bowls full again, almost yorker length, gets it to tail away a touch. Pooran attempts a cute little steer behind, only to nick it to Sanju Samson. Smiles turn into a frown, but surely Kings still think the game is in their grasp. Three from three, with Deepak Hooda on strike.He has managed just one score of 20 or more in his last six outings, so in a sense, his inclusion ahead of Shahrukh Khan is another ringing endorsement of his abilities. He began the season, in April, with a bruising 64 off 28 balls against the same opponents at the Wankhede Stadium. He had hit four fours and six sixes that night. Here, all he needs to do is put bat to ball. But he ends up walking across to chase a wide ball and misses. Dot ball. Three from two.Now, Hooda really needs to find a release shot, or so we assume as he shadow practices a slog. Tyagi goes full and wide again. It would’ve certainly been called wide had he let it go. All he manages is an edge that’s taken by Samson.Three from one. Kumble is fuming now. Rahul is wiping sweat off his forehead. Tyagi, at the top of his mark, shows zen-like calm. He takes a deep breath, steams in and bowls a stunning wide yorker. Allen fails to make contact, and just like that Tyagi has delivered four successive dots. Under immense pressure, to steal two points from under the rug of the shell-shocked Kings.The century stand upfront between KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, the five-for from Arshdeep Singh, late wickets by Mohammed Shami – all of it seems pointless. Kings have six points from nine games. They may have to win all their next five matches to make it to the playoffs. They couldn’t have made it any tougher for themselves.

Qualification scenarios after West Indies put their first points on the board

S Rajesh29-Oct-2021West Indies’ thrilling three-run win against Bangladesh means they are still in the hunt for a semi-final spot. To get there, they must win their last two games and finish on six points. (There is a possibility of five teams finishing on four points with England topping with 10, but given West Indies’ net run rate, that is not a route they’d want to take.)Assuming West Indies finish on six points, here is how they can qualify without NRR coming into play:- England must win at least two of their three remaining matches. That includes beating Australia, and winning at least one of their two remaining games, against Sri Lanka or South Africa.- Australia to lose all three remaining matches. They already have four points, and from West Indies’ point of view, they wouldn’t want any addition to that tally.- Sri Lanka and South Africa to win no more than one of their two remaining matches. Both teams currently have two points, and play each other on Saturday. They also have games against England coming up, which means the team that wins on Saturday should lose to England.- Bangladesh must beat Australia, since Australia already have four. If they lose to South Africa, then South Africa must in turn lose to England so that they don’t move beyond four points.If all of these happen, then West Indies can progress without run rates coming into play. To start with, though, they need to keep their end of the bargain and win their two remaining games – against Sri Lanka on November 4, and Australia on November 6. Given that five more Group 1 matches would have happened by the time they take the field again, they will have a pretty good idea of where they stand before their next game.

There was the prospect of centuries from both, but errors cost them on a cat-and-mouse type of day

Firdose Moonda04-Jan-2022It’s not perfect – and batting in these conditions isn’t supposed to be – but South Africa’s line-up finally showed some of the mettle they have been missing over much of the last two years. You won’t find much proof of that on the scorecard, with no centuries and no partnerships in triple-figures, but you will find it in an analysis of how the runs were scored and who scored them.Keegan Petersen and Temba Bavuma sussed out the situation and adjusted accordingly to provide something of a blueprint for how to approach both the Wanderers surface and the Indian attack. Neither allow batters to hang around and wait for runs. The uneven bounce means you never quite know when you get a ball that has your name on it. The visiting bowlers rarely deliver a bad ball. “You’re never really in,” Petersen confirmed. So, you have to do what you can when you are.When Ottis Gibson was South Africa’s coach between 2017 and 2019 and South Africa embarked on a revenge-pitches approach, the line-up adopted a mantra along the lines of get-runs-before-you-get-out. That was the kind of strategy needed here.Petersen looks like has the technique to do that anywhere; a technique he honed under the watch of his father, Dirk, who played club cricket alongside Marais Erasmus, one of the umpires in this Test. “If you could ask people that I know, they would always see my dad throwing thousands of balls to me in the nets at the time. That’s where I learnt my batting,” he said.

Dirkie Petersen,father and mentor of Keegan Petersen, was an outstanding all-round sportsman in the 80's and 90's. Here he is in the middle row, third from left sitting next to none other than Marais Erasmus who is officiating in the current test in which Keegan is playing. pic.twitter.com/2LYgiCl8Xw

— Shafiek Mouton (@fiekie7) January 4, 2022