Bumrah’s form, Jadeja-Ashwin conundrum among the key issues India look to sort out during their three-day tour match against a New Zealand XI

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Hamilton13-Feb-20202:06

‘Opening the innings isn’t new to me’ – Shubman Gill

India have won each of their last seven Tests, each of them by an innings or 200-plus runs. Given this, they should start the red-ball leg of their New Zealand tour at peak confidence, particularly since their opponents are coming off a 3-0 whitewash at Australia’s hands. But injuries and a couple of cases of iffy form have thrown uncertainty into India’s preparations. Here are the key issues they’ll look to sort out over the course of their three-day warm-up game against a New Zealand XI, which begins on Friday in Hamilton.A new opening combinationSince they began opening together, no one has scored more Test runs for India than Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma, and both average in the 90s in this period. New Zealand conditions were always going to be a bigger test for both of them, but now India won’t have Rohit, who’s out with a calf injury.Agarwal, meanwhile, has run into some ordinary form, picking up a pair for India A in an unofficial Test against New Zealand A in Christchurch, and following up with scores of 32, 3 and 1 in the ODI series. More than the scores, he will be concerned by the nature of his dismissals. In the second ODI in Auckland, he was caught on the crease and squared up by a Hamish Bennett delivery that didn’t move all that much, and in the third ODI in Mount Maunganui, he was bowled by one that straightened past his outside edge when he played across the line to Kyle Jamieson.Prithvi Shaw punches the air after a century on debut•Associated PressAgarwal will probably still start the Test series, given the weight of his runs in India’s home season, but who will partner him? Prithvi Shaw has already played two Tests and scored a century on debut, and was set to start for India on their 2018-19 Australia tour, before an injury, and then a suspension, put him out of the game for a significant spell. Shubman Gill is yet to play Test cricket, but he’s made 83, 204* and 136 in his last two red-ball games for India A, in New Zealand, and averages 73.55 in first-class cricket. How well Shaw and Gill do in the warm-up match could determine who partners Agarwal in the first Test in Wellington.Cracks in the pace machineIf all its components were fit and firing, India’s pace attack would be the least of their worries going into the Test series. But Ishant Sharma won’t play the warm-up match, and might miss one or both of the Tests too if his ankle injury doesn’t heal in time.Jasprit Bumrah, meanwhile, will be playing his first red-ball game since the second Test of India’s tour of the West Indies in August-September 2019. He bowled like a demon on that tour, moving the ball whichever way he pleased, at high pace, in the air or off the deck, and taking 13 wickets at the ridiculous average of 9.23, including a hat-trick. Just when he seemed to be at the peak of his powers, though, he sustained a stress fracture of the back, and his displays in white-ball cricket since his return have suggested he isn’t quite back at that level just yet.Ishant Sharma has been laid low by a grade-three tear in his ankle•BCCIIshant and Bumrah are probably India’s most important quicks away from home. Their fortunes over the next three weeks could hinge on how Bumrah copes with a red-ball workload over the next three days in Hamilton, and how Ishant performs in his fitness test in Bengaluru on Saturday. Even as India sweat over those questions, they will keep a close eye on how Umesh Yadav – who performed brilliantly in the 2019-20 home season but hasn’t yet made the same kind of impression overseas – and the pacy but uncapped Navdeep Saini bowl in Hamilton.The Jadeja-Ashwin questionIn India’s last overseas Test series, in the West Indies, they picked Ravindra Jadeja as their lone spinner and left out R Ashwin. As impressive as Ashwin was with the ball in the home Tests against South Africa and Bangladesh, Jadeja probably remains India’s No. 1 choice, with his contributions with the bat particularly hard to ignore.If the first-choice pace trio of Ishant, Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were all at full fitness, India may not have had any need for lengthy deliberations over their combination. But if they have to carry a fast bowler who’s not quite 100% fit, they might need to think of playing five bowlers, which opens a door for Ashwin.Another reason to ponder five bowlers is the nature of New Zealand’s pitches, which, over the recent past, have tended to not deteriorate on days four and five, leading to high-scoring third and fourth innings. There will likely be help for the fast bowlers on days one and two, though, so India have two ways to think about their selection: they might look for first-innings batting solidity and pick six specialist batsmen, or look ahead to an expanded second-innings workload and pick a fifth bowler.

The side has batting all the way down, enough bowling options, and a keeper who might surprise you

Saurabh Somani17-Mar-20201. Abhinav Mukund
In a season where openers across the spectrum had less-than stellar returns, Abhinav Mukund stood out with his consistency and volume of runs. During the course of the season, he also got to 10,000 first-class runs, and 100 Ranji Trophy matches, and made the occasion memorable with a sparkling hundred: Abhinav, in fact, hit a century in a session against Railways in an innings win for Tamil Nadu in his 100th game. He followed that up with 206 against Baroda in another innings victory. Tamil Nadu eventually fell short of qualification, though things might have been different if they had been on the right side of a couple of close results.ALSO READ: ‘Getting to 100 Ranji games or 10,000 runs doesn’t happen overnight’2. Devdutt Padikkal

He came into the Ranji Trophy as the hottest batsman on the domestic circuit, having topped the run charts in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Devdutt Padikkal seemed to begin the Ranji Trophy in the same way, with six fifties in his first six matches. His golden run ended there, though, as the next four matches brought only 145 runs with just one more half-century. Not entirely coincidentally perhaps, Padikkal’s dip in runs ran parallel to Karnataka looking a little less dominant than they had, culminating in a semi-final defeat to Bengal. That meant they couldn’t achieve a domestic treble. Overall, however, it has been a breakthrough season for Padikkal, who has not only made himself an indispensable part of Karnataka’s XI, across formats, but could soon be knocking on the doors of higher honours too.ALSO READ: Devdutt Padikkal carves his own niche in star-studded Karnataka line-upESPNcricinfo Ltd3. Arpit Vasavada
He didn’t have the highest batting average for Saurashtra, and nor did he score the most runs – but few would argue that Arpit Vasavada was the champions’ most important batsman. This, in a season where Cheteshwar Pujara played more than half the matches. Pujara had the highest average and Sheldon Jackson had the most runs, but Vasavada’s efforts were peerless. Each time he went past fifty, he made a century. Each of the four centuries he made came at critical moments for Saurashtra. And his best came at the end, with Man of the Match performances in the semi-final and final.ALSO READ: Arpit Vasavada’s rescue act4. Sarfaraz Khan
Without a doubt the batsman of the season. He got a place in the Mumbai XI midway through, but once in, Sarfaraz Khan made it impossible to drop him – or indeed look away when he was at the crease. Rain robbed him of the opportunity to become the first batsman to hit consecutive triple-centuries, but nothing was going to stop him zooming to the top of the run chart in the Elite Groups. Sarfaraz’s 301* against Uttar Pradesh was a tour de force, but it was known that he was capable of producing moments of brilliance. Now he showed he could sustain that through a season, heralding a future bright with possibilities.ALSO READ: ‘They used to call me panda, now they’ve started calling me macho’Anustup Majumdar picked up centuries in consecutive games•PTI 5. Anustup Majumdar
Before this season, Anustup Majumdar might have been described as a typical journeyman cricketer. Useful at what he does, able to contribute decently, but not the man who carried the team. That changed this year, as Majumdar unleashed one bravura performance after another. He very nearly scored hundreds in the quarter-final, semi-final and final. In fact, the title swung towards Saurashtra irrevocably only once Majumdar was out in the final. When Majumdar was out for 99 against Delhi, he might have thought this would be a season of heartbreaks. Instead, he turned it into a season of opportunity and rescue acts.ALSO READ: Anustup Majumdar makes rescuing Bengal from trouble a habit6. Anmol Malhotra – wicketkeeper
Not a name that would have perhaps been top of the mind for most, but Anmol Malhotra had a standout debut season for Punjab. Only Mandeep Singh’s presence meant he wasn’t Punjab’s best batsman, but given that he kept wickets for the team, he was arguably equally valuable. Punjab were leading the combined Groups A and B table for the first half before they slipped, and Malhotra was a quiet, but effective part of that surge. He served notice of his talent on debut, walking in at 125 for 5 and helping turn that into 358 all out. In his next match, 169 for 5 became 443 for 6 declared. While Singh played the starring role both times, it wouldn’t have been possible without Malhotra’s excellent support act. He continued to score crucial runs for Punjab through the season, marked by strokeplay all around the wicket.Shahbaz Ahmed is being carried by his team-mates after taking Bengal into the knockouts•PTI 7. Shahbaz Ahmed
The only man who could edge out Majumdar as Bengal’s MVP, Shahbaz Ahmed had a dream season. As an allrounder, he held his own with bat and ball. As a complete package, he was gold-dust for Bengal. He had completely unremarkable stats before the start of the season – three matches for 50 runs and two wickets. But the Bengal selectors must have seen something in the 25-year-old left-arm spinner, and they were proved right. He had a match haul of 11 wickets in a virtual knockout against Punjab to seal a low-scoring thriller. Then made two half-centuries against Odisha in a come-from-behind quarter-final win. He wasn’t called on to do much with the ball against Karnataka in the semi-final, but made a couple of useful 30s.ALSO READ: Shahbaz Ahmed wants to be Bengal’s Ben Stokes8. K Gowtham
Injury curtailed his season to just six matches, but there wasn’t a single one among those in which K Gowtham didn’t make an impact. He began the season with a lion-hearted performance in one of the most thrilling games, handing Karnataka victory against Tamil Nadu by just 26 runs. That performance aggravated an injury and he had to endure a spell of rehab, but he came back and showed his form was intact. His 7 for 54 in the quarter-final against Jammu & Kashmir ensured Karnataka’s dream of a treble of domestic titles remained alive. He did his bit in the semi-final too, but Bengal’s collective will proved too much for Karnataka.Harshal Patel produced a good all-round show for Haryana•Getty Images9. Harshal Patel
More than anyone else perhaps, Harshal Patel deserved to have his team in the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy. Haryana suffered two one-wicket defeats, and missed out by the narrowest of margins. And in Haryana’s season, Harshal was a colossus. That this performance followed on the heels of him doing well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy made it a season to remember. In the Ranji Trophy, if it so happened that he picked up fewer than three wickets in a match, he hit a fifty. Often, he picked up wickets in abundance and added valuable runs too. All that, and he captained the side as well.10. Jaydev Unadkat – captain
If the Ranji Trophy gave a Man of the Tournament award, no one would have a greater right to it than Jaydev Unadkat. He had an unparalleled season, one which even he might never replicate. His 67 wickets may not be an all-time record, but for all practical purposes, it is the benchmark for the future. No bowler in the Elite Groups has taken more in a Ranji season in history. More than the wickets, it was how Unadkat got them. Each one – right down to the last one he got which signalled Saurashtra had the first-innings lead over Bengal in the final – came right when it was needed. He often seemed to conjure wickets out of nothing. And he kept taking wickets even when bowling a bulk of Saurashtra’s overs. As captain, he could have saved himself some workload – he took on extra. It’s no wonder he’s the leader of this team too.ALSO READ: ‘If I want to be at that level, I have to be as good as Bumrah’Jaydev Unadkat sends one down•Shailesh Bhatnagar11. Akash Deep
He’s 23 years old. He made his debut this season. And he didn’t allow Bengal to feel the absence of Ashok Dinda. That’s quite a debut season CV to have for Akash Deep. He’s still developing, and if the signs of this season are anything to go by, he’ll be a considerable force. Akash Deep had the benefit of hunting in a pack with Mukesh Kumar and Ishan Porel, but Porel wasn’t available for half the season. And while Ahmed shouldered the spin duties for Bengal, it was Akash Deep who led the pace attack. He showed plenty of spunk too, with a crucial 44 in the semi-final against Karnataka with the bat.ALSO READ: Inside the Bengal pace revolutionSo that’s our XI for this Ranji season. Some of those who we would have really liked to include but couldn’t because – well, you can pick only 11 – were Manoj Tiwary, Sheldon Jackson and Parthiv Patel, to name a few. But this XI has batting till No. 9 and with both No. 10 and No. 11 also capable of holding an end up. It has three pacers and two spinners, with Majumdar’s part-time leggies. It has players from a variety of teams: Saurashtra, Bengal, Karnataka, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Haryana. And it’s a team that will be able to take on all comers, on all surfaces..

He’s happy being a spinner who doesn’t spin the ball and he’s ferocious when he gets a chance to bat

Alagappan Muthu04-Oct-20202:15

Moody: Can’t win by scoring just 19 boundaries in Sharjah

David Warner is set. It has taken him a while to get here. But finally, he is hitting a cricket ball so hard you wince watching it all happen.Imagine what it would take to beat him. To confound him to such an extent that he is bent over at the crease, held up by his bat, all of his power made totally redundant.This was a wide yorker of the finest quality. It had pace. It was accurate. And, best of all, it was the last thing the batsman expected… because it was bowled by a spinner.Krunal Pandya punched the air with a real sense of purpose. He had given away only nine runs in the over, the 15th of the innings, and he had taken a wicket, leaving the Sunrisers with an improbable task: 70 to win off only 30 balls – 12 of which would be shot out of the cannon that Jasprit Bumrah calls a right hand.Mumbai owed a lot of their victory on Sunday to Krunal. In fact, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, he had the greatest influence on the outcome of the match among his team-mates. In simple terms, his efforts mattered more than any other Mumbai player’s, and remember this iis a line-up that features T20 royalty.Krunal Pandya’s all-round show helped Mumbai Indians to their third win of IPL 2020•ESPNcricinfo LtdKrunal began his spell in the powerplay, where only two fielders are allowed on the boundary, which in Sharjah is barely 70m. He also had to deal with bowling into the hitting arc of the left-handed Warner. All of this points to a high degree of difficulty that the bowler has to negotiate and Krunal did beautifully. Dude hit four boundaries off four balls, but gave away only three in 24.And he’ll have to finish his full quota more often than not because there is no other option. Mumbai – or even India for that matter – can’t afford to rush Hardik Pandya into bowling after his back injury. The international players will be off on their tour of Australia immediately after the IPL. They can’t afford to go without their premier allrounder again.So Krunal is adapting to his new role. He only wobbles the ball now because he knows his pace (often exceeding 100kph) and his accuracy are his best bets to making a batsman hit where he wants. Krunal is so invested in this that he even experimented with a round-arm action to mess with Warner’s bat-swing. Anything to gain an edge.Krunal Pandya slammed two sixes and two fours in his four-ball innings•BCCIKrunal’s bowling showcased intelligence and clarity of thought. But there is a bit of anarchy in it as well. He’s happy being a spinner who doesn’t actually spin the ball. There was anarchy in his batting as well. Pure, pulse-pounding anarchy.In most of Mumbai’s matches, shots of their dugout late in the innings would reveal him in full gear and with a fearsome expression. He wanted in. He was ready to take on the world’s best death bowlers and put them into the stands. He had extra incentive to do that in Sharjah.Siddharth Kaul had just mercilessly yorked his little brother Hardik. You don’t mess with family like that. And so, big brother took strike, in his crease, his knees bent, his body in a crouch and set to spring on anything loose. Like a length ball. Krunal made it disappear over long-on. The strike was so pure that even cameraman lost track of the ball. This routine continued as Mumbai shot from 187 to 208 in the space of four balls – 6, 4, 4, 6.No batsman who has got to face at least two balls after having walked into bat in the 20th over in the IPL, has struck at a higher rate than Krunal’s 500 (FIVE HUNDRED!). Suddenly it wasn’t so clear which of the Mumbai siblings was the biggest six hitter. The question had to be put to Krunal at the press conference and, with a giant smile on his face, which then turned to out and out laughter, he simply said. “I’ll say [both] Pandyas are the biggest six-hitters.”IPL, you’ve been warned.

In case you were among the many left confused, we try to explain the umpires’ decision here

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Oct-2020On Tuesday evening, the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Rashid Khan was both hit-wicket and caught off the same ball against the Chennai Super Kings. It couldn’t be both, of course. And the incident, a rare one, triggered the question: was Khan out hit-wicket or caught?After verifying with the concerned officials, ESPNcricnfo’s scorers recorded it as ‘Rashid Khan hit wicket b [Shardul] Thakur’. But many readers were left wondering why. Let’s explain…The incident took place on the last ball of the penultimate over of the match, delivered by Thakur. Sunrisers were in a desperate position, needing 22 runs from the final seven deliveries, with Khan on strike. Responding to the wide yorker, Khan quickly moved to his right, went down on his right knee, and hit the ball with power to long-on, where Deepak Chahar completed an easy catch. However, Khan, who had gone deep in his crease to play the shot, had pegged back the off stump and disturbed the off bail with his right heel while playing the shot.The result: Khan became the second batsman in IPL 2020 to be out hit-wicket after the Mumbai Indians’ Hardik Pandya.According to MCC’s Laws of Cricket, ‘caught’ takes precedence over any other form of dismissal except ‘bowled’. Law 33.1 states: “If […] the striker is not out Bowled, then he/she is out Caught, even though a decision against either batsman for another method of dismissal would be justified.”So why was Khan not declared out caught? Simple: the square-leg umpire, Anil Chaudhary, had declared him out hit-wicket as soon as he hit the stumps. Automatically, at that point, the ball became dead. According to Law 20.1.1.3, the ball is “deemed to be dead from the instant of the incident causing the dismissal.”A simpler interpretation is found in , which states that if more than one dismissal is “theoretically” possible “but an umpire gives a decision on one of those methods before the other is completed, it is the first decision that counts”.Coincidentally, the book cites an example matching the Khan dismissal. “A batsman may stand on his/her stumps while playing a pull shot into the air. If the batsman is out Hit wicket while the ball is in the air, the umpire should wait to see if the catch is taken, and if it is, he/she should give the batsman out Caught – should the catch not be taken, the umpire can then give the batsman out Hit Wicket. However, if the umpire does not wait, and instead gives the batsman out before the catch is taken, then the dismissal is Hit wicket.”So now you know.

India are more comfortable with chaos than the hosts, but they have a highly skilled batting line-up to contend with this time

Ian Chappell25-Oct-2020After much haggling Cricket Australia has finally cobbled together a schedule for the summer series against India. However, there are still lingering doubts over an MCG Test and the BCCI is yet to sign off on a proposed schedule that has the appearance of a first draft.In these weird pandemic times there is a heightened sense of chaos surrounding the upcoming tour. Which brings to mind the words of respected Indian broadcaster Harsha Bhogle: “Indians can navigate through chaos and thrive in it, while it unsettles Australians.”Harsha issued this warning in January 2008, following the Monkeygate drama and a devastating Indian loss at the SCG. The implication was that Australia had played into their opponents’ hands. What followed was the most unlikely of Indian victories at the pace-friendly WACA ground in Perth.On Harsha’s reading of the two rivals, Australia should be wary of the upcoming series with the probability of sudden last-minute disruption. In fact, uncertainty over the schedule at this late stage of preparations is reminiscent of what visiting teams have to contend with in the lead-up to an Indian tour. In other words, India will be right at home in this chaotic atmosphere.ALSO READ: India tour of Australia gets government green light; Sydney, Canberra to host white-ball legHowever, they shouldn’t rely totally on uncertainty to ensure they replicate the feat they pulled off last time, of a series victory. Australia possess a highly skilled pace attack ideally suited to home conditions. And this time round they won’t be missing the valuable services of Steve Smith and David Warner, and the batting has been further bolstered by the meteoric rise of Marnus Labuschagne. Even a diluted Australia were no pushovers last time – they won the Perth Test – and on paper at least, they are a far stronger combination this time.India’s chances for a repeat series victory will depend to a degree on Virat Kohli’s ability to take charge against the Australian pacemen and set an example for the other batsmen. On the last tour it was Cheteshwar Pujara who stubbornly resisted the Australians, eventually wearing them down so other Indian batsmen could prosper.In the intervening period India have blooded a number of fine young batsmen who have showcased their talents in different forms of the game. There will be no shortage of competent players for the Indian selectors to choose from.Nevertheless, key to another Indian success will be how quickly the less experienced batsmen adapt to the vastly different conditions in Australia. Producing worthwhile totals, especially in the first innings, is an important part of competing down under.The other half of the equation is producing a bowling attack capable of claiming 20 wickets on what, at times, can be soul-destroying pitches. On the last tour the Indian fast bowlers performed at a level above and beyond in achieving this feat. The challenge this time will be to replicate that performance with a similar attack but against a vastly improved Australian batting line-up.Recent battles between these two teams have provided riveting entertainment. They are currently the top two teams in the World Test championship and this aspect will add a further edge to the rivalry. For either team, a series loss to the other will be damaging to their prospects with the final of the World Test championship in June 2021.Adding to the intrigue, the border restrictions and isolation regulations brought about by the pandemic mean that the impregnable Gabba is not now the first but the last Test match. This will add to Australia’s frustration, especially as Adelaide – a venue better suited to India’s skill sets – is now slated for the opening Test.On the last tour India started with a victory in Adelaide but Australia will be slightly appeased by the knowledge that this time it will be a day-night Test, which will favour the home side.In light of the surrounding unpredictability it’ll be fascinating to see if the kings of chaos prevail.

Lots of people seem to think he should, but they’re wrong to mix success in international cricket with success in league T20

Aakash Chopra26-Nov-2020Rohit Sharma is the most successful IPL captain in history, with five trophies to his name. Anyone who follows his captaincy closely – outsiders like me and players who play under him – vouches that he is tactically astute and that there are few who read the game better than he does. He remains calm under pressure, marshals his troops with a sense of control, and makes the most radical changes to the flow of the game without making them look radical at all.Captaincy consists of two equally important parts: one, the ability to read the game so that you are at least a couple of overs ahead of it (in white-ball cricket), and two, acknowledging your instincts and sticking with them when you’re convinced. A good captain has no ego and is happy to take his leadership group on board for a lot of the decision-making but has the confidence to overrule them if he thinks otherwise.Sharma ticks all these boxes, and while the Mumbai Indians’ success is a lot about their auction strategy and talent-scouting, it is equally about his leadership both on and off the field.ALSO READ: ‘India’s loss if Rohit Sharma isn’t made white-ball captain’ – Gautam GambhirIf he is such a successful IPL captain, wouldn’t it be natural to make him the captain of the Indian T20I team too? If players get picked for India in the shortest format on the basis of their performances in the IPL, why should it be different for the captain?Just that it isn’t the same thing – ever. And to be fair, it shouldn’t be either, unless there’s a captain who’s failing with his playing skills in the format while leading the Indian T20I team.After Mumbai’s fifth IPL title, there was a clamour among some former cricketers to replace Virat Kohli with Sharma as captain in the shortest format. Their argument is that Kohli’s record as a captain leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore is quite poor and that that should be enough to make the change for India too.Sharma has won five titles and has won 60% of all his games as captain of the Mumbai Indians. On the other hand, Kohli’s team has never won the IPL; and RCB have won just about 47% of their matches under his captaincy. The argument against Kohli is that since Sharma not only wins more games but also knows how to win knockout matches, he should be leading India into the next T20 World Cup.Let’s look more closely at Kohli’s returns as captain and then at the merits of possibly making a change.Kohli as an India captain in ODIs has won 72% of his games; in T20Is this figure is about 65%. If we were to further narrow it down in the shortest format, his win percentage goes up to 75% since the start of 2019 – 12 wins from 16 games.To put things a little more in perspective, MS Dhoni is arguably India’s most successful limited-overs captain, with a T20 World Cup, 50-over World Cup and a Champions Trophy title to his name – the only captain in the world to have all three. Dhoni’s win percentage in T20Is and ODIs is about 60%. When you set Kohli’s returns as an India captain alongside Dhoni’s performance, you can’t possibly punch holes in it.

Would you drop proven international performers like Jasprit Bumrah or KL Rahul from the Indian T20I team if they had a poor IPL? The answer is an overwhelming no

While some argue that bilateral cricket doesn’t matter, others say Kohli’s numbers are as good as they are only because India is such a strong team that captaincy does not have much impact on their win percentage. To answer both these reservations: since Kohli hasn’t led in an ICC event in T20Is, we ought to look at his records in bilateral series only. And beating both New Zealand and England in their backyards must count for something. Also, the two ICC events in which he has led India, they have got to the final once and to the semi-final the other time. Those aren’t poor results by any stretch of the imagination. As for the second point, if Kohli is a good captain with a good team under him when he leads India, perhaps it’s the team at RCB that needs changing and not the captain.Of course, winning the trophy is all that matters for a team of India’s calibre, but let’s remind ourselves that that is not easy for even the best captains. While Dhoni won the inaugural Word T20, he led in many more World Cups in the format but couldn’t win the trophy again. Is that a slight on his captaincy skills? Not at all, for that is how it is at the highest level.Going back to the argument about Kohli having a good team under him when he leads India, it’s understandable if some of the blame for RCB’s poor results is directed at him, but what does that have to do with his performance as India captain? Given his win percentage of 47, RCB might not want to continue with him as captain, but maybe they will have him stay on as captain anyway.ALSO WATCH: Kohli or Rohit: Chopra and Gambhir on India’s T20I captaincy (Hindi)It’s important that we understand that we aren’t stakeholders in franchise teams, which will always be run the way their bosses want them to be. They have every right to take the direction that suits their cause, and they are not obliged to share the reasons for their decisions with the public at large. If you don’t like their ideas, stop following them. The India team is different, though. We are stakeholders when we follow India.We, the fans of the sport and former cricketers and experts, ought to learn to separate the two – international and franchise cricket. Indian players must be judged on their performances — whether captaincy or otherwise – for India alone. For example, would you drop proven international performers like Jasprit Bumrah or KL Rahul from the Indian T20I team if they had a poor IPL? The answer is an overwhelming no, because they have been outstanding for India in the T20I format, and that will supersede all franchise cricket.Given that the captaincy role went to Kohli when Dhoni moved on, it’s only fair that he get as long a run as his performances as India captain merit; his lack of IPL success must not come in the way of his chances of leading in his maiden ICC T20I event. The fact that when Kohli took over from Dhoni there was no ruckus about the appointment tells you that Sharma wasn’t really in the contest for the job back then.If Kohli goes on to win the next World T20 and more ICC trophies, it is possible that Sharma might never get a crack at the captaincy at the highest level. While that will be unfortunate, it will be a case of him being born in the wrong era. Amol Muzumdar scored tons of runs, and Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar took truckloads of wickets, but all three never got a chance to play for India, unfortunately. And that was because India was blessed with the Fab Four batsmen in Muzumdar’s time and Bishan Singh Bedi and other fine spinners in Goel’s and Shivalkar’s time.As much as it’s about being fair to Kohli (who has won 12 of his last 16 T20Is in charge), it’s equally about being fair to Sharma. If and when the selectors decide to turn towards him to lead India in T20Is, they must give him enough time to build the team he wants to build. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and nor were the Mumbai Indians, and the same will be true for Sharma’s India team.

ESPNcricinfo looks at where these players stand after their contributions in the series wins in Australia and against England at home

Himanshu Agrawal08-Mar-2021Mohammed Siraj4:20

Bell: Siraj could be effective with the Dukes ball in English conditions

Where was he? Part of the Test squad in Australia only because of an injury to Ishant Sharma.Opportunity: Further injury to Mohammed Shami during the Adelaide Test in Australia, which pushed Siraj for a debut in Melbourne.Contribution: With 16 wickets in his first five matches, Siraj has carried his stellar run with the red ball to the highest level against quality oppositions. On debut in Melbourne, he first foxed a set Marnus Labuschagne with the leg-side trap before setting up Cameron Green with outswingers only to pin him in front with one that came in. He carried forward that success into the series decider in Brisbane, where he bagged his maiden five-for and set up a memorable win. In the fourth Test against England in Ahmedabad, Siraj got rid of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow at a crucial stage in the first innings, as India went on to wrap up the series.Chances of playing the WTC final: Only if one out of Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Shami is injured.Axar Patel3:22

What made Axar Patel so effective against England?

Where was he? Part of the Test squad for the England series but because Ravindra Jadeja was out injured.Opportunity: Made his Test debut in the second Test in Chennai after missing the first match due to a last-minute injury.Contribution: Patel has burst on to the Test scene and achieved immediate success as a like-for-like replacement for Jadeja. He replaced Shahbaz Nadeem from India’s loss in the first Test against England and pocketed 27 wickets in three games at a staggering average of 10.59. His first Test wicket was Root, who top-edged a sweep to short fine leg while trying to play against the turn. Patel even grabbed three consecutive five-fors across the second and the third Tests and added a fourth to the list in the next game, as England struggled to find answers to him. He also contributed with 43 in a crucial century stand with Washington Sundar to extend India’s lead in the last Test.Chance of playing the WTC final: Only if Jadeja is unfit and Hardik Pandya doesn’t bowl, and India want to play five bowlers.Washington Sundar2:59

Manjrekar: Can only marvel at Washington Sundar’s talent

Where was he? Travelled to Australia as a spare bowler due to enlarged squads during Covid-19.Opportunity: R Ashwin was out with an injury in Australia after the third Test, and Kuldeep Yadav’s inclusion would have made the tail longer, which led to Sundar’s Test debut in Brisbane.Contribution: Sundar’s major contributions have come with the bat in his four Tests so far. He has three half-centuries in just six innings, including two match-defining knocks of 62 on debut in Brisbane and 96 not out in Ahmedabad. While the former brought India’s innings back on track in a 123-run stand with Shardul Thakur, the latter ensured India built a solid lead after being in a dicey situation. But that doesn’t take away his efforts with the ball: he removed a stable Steven Smith as his first Test wicket to finish with 3 for 89.Chance of playing the WTC final: Very low unless there are multiple injuries because he is behind Ashwin, Jadeja and Patel in the spinners’ queue.T NatarajanT Natarajan made an impressive Test debut in Brisbane•AFP via Getty ImagesWhere was he? Picked as a net bowler for Australia tour after his success in the IPL.Opportunity: Handed ODI and T20I debuts after Varun Chakravarthy and Navdeep Saini were ruled out with injuries, and Test debut after none of India’s first-choice quartet of Sharma, Bumrah, Shami and Yadav was available.Contribution: Though Natarajan has played just one Test, he delivered instantly in Brisbane by breaking open the match on the first day with the twin wickets of Labuschagne and Matthew Wade who had put on a century partnership. Natarajan brings the left-armer’s angle into play, something India have been missing since Zaheer Khan retired. He also has an accurate yorker, aside from variations of slow cutters and low full tosses dipping onto the batsmen.Chance of playing the WTC final: Almost impossible given India already have a string of pace bowlers who are ahead of him.

Shardul ThakurLike Sundar, Shardul Thakur has proved useful with both bat and ball•AFP via Getty ImagesWhere was he? Much like Sundar and Natarajan, Thakur stayed back as a net bowler for the Tests in Australia.Opportunity: Drafted in for the Brisbane Test as India struggled to put together an XI following a long injury list.Contribution: Thakur answered the call with both bat and ball in what was just his second Test – he had limped off on debut against West Indies in 2018 – as India made history. He struck with his first ball back on the way to three first-innings wickets before contributing with a fighting 67 to limit Australia’s lead. Not just that, when the hosts threatened to post a hefty total in the second innings, Thakur returned figures of 4 for 61 by rocking Australia’s lower-middle order.Chance of playing the WTC final: Like Natarajan, almost impossible.

Hanuma VihariA hamstring injury didn’t stop Vihari from saving a Test for India in Sydney•Getty ImagesWhere was he? Part of the Test squad in Australia, but he has so far played only overseas Tests.Opportunity: Played the first three Tests in Australia before getting ruled out of the fourth due to injury.Contribution: Vihari’s valiant vigil in Sydney in the company of Ashwin went a long way in India securing a draw, and in turn also booking a place in the WTC final. He had tweaked his right hamstring early in India’s second innings and had only Ashwin and the tail for company, as he showed courage to battle against Australia’s bowlers. Vihari’s innings of 93 in North Sound, and 111 and 53 not out in Kingston in 2019 helped India gain an early advantage in the WTC table on the way to a 2-0 sweep of West Indies.Chance of playing the WTC final: Little chance if India stick to playing five bowlers, but may get the nod at No. 6 or 7 if they decide to play an extra batsman.

Karunaratne, Thirimanne will face stiffer challenges, but returns are not to be sniffed at

Andrew Fidel Fernando29-Apr-2021Okay, so let’s get the caveats out of the way. Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne have had some flat pitches to bat on recently. In the second innings at North Sound, and in each of the innings they’ve had together in Pallekele, there’s been little bounce, less carry, no turn, no puffs of dust, no shin-high grubbers, barely any seam movement. On top of which, they have not even had the usual uncles yelling insults from the stands while guzzling their seventh beer at 2pm, which should, by rights, be a mandatory feature at every Test in Sri Lanka (could a bio-bubble not have been created for them? Or for the stray dogs that amble in front of the sightscreen, annoying batters? Shame).But this Sri Lanka team being this Sri Lanka team (seventh on the Test rankings, remember), and so prone to tragicomic collapse have they been, that even soft wins are still wins. So what if Bangladesh are missing two of their best bowlers, in Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman? No one can say that this from Sri Lanka is not competence. Not only did Karunaratne and Thirimanne put up 209 for the first wicket – the first opening stand north of 200 for Sri Lanka in almost 10 years – they’ve also become the only Sri Lanka pair ever to produce three consecutive century stands.In an era in which Sri Lanka opening pairs have tended to stumble at the merest hurdle, the bar so low that one guy even had to be suspended in 2018 because he was unable to resist going on an overnight bender in the middle of a Test match, this commitment to bare-minimum adequacy is almost stirring.Related

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That Karunaratne is a serious player who rarely lingers in a lean patch has been observed over a few years, but the true surprise in this partnership has been Thirimanne, who – don’t fall off your chair – now has scores of 70, 76, 55, 39, 58 and 131 not out in his past six innings. For so long he was almost business-like in the manner in which he redirected balls in the channel to a pair of hands in the slips, like a traffic cop dutifully waving cars from a busy intersection into an empty lane. He’s made a few minor technical changes, he says, and suddenly he’s leaving well, covering what modest seam movement he has encountered, leaning into crisp drives, and finding scoring shots in between the boundaries, which had at times also been a challenge for him.When he hit a hundred against England earlier in the year, you wondered if it was just a blip. Now, with 638 runs to his name for the year, at an average of 58, it is a full-blown Thirisurgence/Thirinewal/Thirivitalisation (take your pick). So stark has been the change, that it’s even difficult to work out where exactly Thirimanne has become stronger – his Test innings used to produce so few runs, it was hard to work out which his scoring areas were.”I was just looking at some of the stats on the TV today, and his are great to see,” said batting coach Grant Flower of Thirimanne at the close of day one. “I think it’s just a hunger to score runs. He’s worked hard on his game and taken no short-cuts. He was netting with us during the LPL while everyone else was playing that.”And he’s very fit, and he’s got a very sound mind. On the mental side of things, he’s very good. I think they have all come together. Hopefully he carries on.”That this pair will face far sterner Tests than they have in their last two innings almost goes without saying – the moving ball has been a weakness for both at various stages. Although Karunaratne is frequently an excellent player of spin, Thirimanne is yet to prosper against high-quality spinners on turning tracks. But between the start of 2015 and January this year, Sri Lanka’s opening stands averaged 28.32 – ninth in the world, behind even Zimbabwe’s opening partnerships. Since these two have come together in this stint, they’ve averaged 77.83. For now, competence is enough.

Statistical insight to England’s new ODI XI at Cardiff.

Sampath Bandarupalli08-Jul-20211985 The last instance of England playing an ODI with less experience than their total of 124 ODI caps in the first ODI against Pakistan in Cardiff. England’s XI had a combined tally of 70 ODI caps during the consolation final of the Rothmans Cup against Pakistan in 1985.5 Number of ODI debutants in England’s playing XI against Pakistan – Zak Crawley, Brydon Carse, Lewis Gregory, Phil Salt and John Simpson. This only the fifth instance of England handing out debuts to five or more players since their inaugural ODI. The other such instance in the last two decades came against Ireland in 2015 at Dublin.3241 Total runs in ODI cricket from the England XI, prior to the game against Pakistan, their second-lowest at the start of any given ODI since 1987. The England XI against Ireland in 2015 had made 1846 ODI runs between them. The current England XI began the match with 80 ODI wickets between them. That is their lowest since they fielded a team with a total of 44 wickets against Ireland in 2011.ESPNcricinfo Ltd3.769 Ratio of the ODI experience of skipper Ben Stokes and his team-mates in Cardiff, the highest such ratio for any captain in the format. The previous highest ratio was 3.767 between the experience of MS Dhoni and the rest during the first ODI against Zimbabwe in 2016. The Indian skipper had played 275 ODI games going into the fixture, while the remaining ten Indians had collectively featured in only 73 ODIs.9 Number of players in the current England ODI XI with fewer than five ODI caps to their names. This is the first instance, among the ten full-member nations, of a team fielding eight or more such players since the 1992 World Cup, when South Africa – newly restored to international cricket, fielded ten players with five ODI caps or fewer against New Zealand, in only their fifth-ever ODI.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 Number of players before Stokes to make his captaincy debut in an ODI having more matches, runs and wickets in the format than the rest of the team. Kepler Wessels had been in such a situation when he first led South Africa in the 1992 World Cup against Australia, for whom he played 54 ODIs, scoring 1740 runs and taking 18 wickets.In fact, before Thursday, England had played only one ODI in which their captain had had more ODI experience than the rest of his team-mates; Eoin Morgan vs Australia in 2015.

Frustration, deflation for Australia, relief for England as tourists hold out for a draw

Andrew McGlashan09-Jan-2022James Anderson was up against Steven Smith with a Test match on the line. But with a twist. Anderson had the bat in hand and Smith the ball.Smith had just taken his first Test wicket since 2016 when Jack Leach edged to slip meaning England’s last pair needed to survive 12 balls to salvage something from the tour. Stuart Broad did his part by seeing out Nathan Lyon’s last over then Smith, who was bowling because the umpires deemed it too dark for the quicks, had six balls at England’s No. 11.Anderson had been here before, albeit over a much longer period of time. There was the 2009 Ashes when he saved the game alongside Monty Panesar and against Sri Lanka at Headingley in 2014 when he came up an agonising two balls short. He couldn’t have been more surrounded with close fielders as a crowd of 11,660 sounded closer to 30,000.With the final ball blocked and hands shaken there were no wild scenes of celebration. Frustration and a little deflation for Australia, their whitewash dreams ended, and relief for England who up until now had been through a tour to forget.Related

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Anderson and Broad made their way back towards the dressing room. Two giants of English and world cricket who have been through another brutal Ashes experience in Australia. This will be their final tour of the country; for Anderson there will always be 2010-11 but Broad was injured after two matches that year.However, often in England’s struggles since Broad has stood tall and it was the same here, his 35 balls of defiance following a that’ll-show-them five-wicket haul having made his displeasure clear at not playing more. How many more chapters of Ashes history this pair have left remains to be seen, but this was a better moment that had appeared likely.England were much improved in many areas of this game, although Joe Root did wish the top order had got the team to safety in the second innings rather than the tail. Each time calmer waters were approaching, Australia broke through: Zak Crawley was pinned by Cameron Green’s yorker; Root edged the outstanding Scott Boland; Ben Stokes pushed Lyon to slip (Stokes could barely watch the closing moments from the dugout) and Jonny Bairstow’s superb Test was ended with an inside edge to silly point.Before the game Root and stand-in coach Graham Thorpe had called for character and spirit. Stokes with an injured side, Bairstow with a bust thumb and Jos Buttler with a broken finger that has ended his tour typified that. Before the final efforts to block for safety, the stroke play of Bairstow, Stokes and Crawley had shown England the way of putting pressure back on Australia. It came too late for this series, but that should not mean it is disregarded. This was still a full-throttle, high-intensity Test with no quarter given.James Anderson and Stuart Broad embrace after the match•Getty ImagesIt appeared the game had finally been broken open by Pat Cummins’ brilliant 18th over when he beat Buttler with an inswinger – ending a valiant 38-ball stay – then rifled a yorker into Mark Wood’s toe. Wood was in such pain that Bairstow signalled for the review only for the umpire to tell them it had to come from Wood. It was a moot point anyway, he was plumb.It was a breathtaking over on the most challenging day of Cummins’ captaincy career so far. As Justin Langer said two days ago, it won’t always be “butterflies and sunshine.” It was the first time in a Test innings he had claimed two lbws. ESPNcricinfo data said it was only the second time he had taken a wicket with a yorker.Could Cummins and Australia have done more? It was the second time in consecutive SCG Tests that they had been unable to secure victory on the final day. Last season they were denied by India’s bruised and battered middle order and this time it wasn’t vastly different. There were little moments. Three catches went down – Bairstow spilled by Smith at second slip off Starc with 16 overs remaining felt at the end the most crucial. There will be scrutiny, too, of Cummins’s declaration on the fourth evening and whether it was too conservative. It was a little cautious.The pitch did not prove quite as spiteful on the final day as some of the evidence of batters getting whacked on the gloves earlier in the contest may have suggested. Leach, writing himself another little chapter in Ashes folklore, if not on the scale of Headingley, looked largely assured until the late edge off Smith. Mitchell Starc, who has been outstanding this series, was not quite at his best on the final day and Lyon could not quite make one bite and turn enough towards the end as he had done to remove Stokes.Given the way the last two Tests have gone, if light had permitted it would have been no surprise to see Boland had been able to seal victory. He had enjoyed another immense day with the wickets of Haseeb Hameed, Root and Bairstow. His Test bowling average stands at 8.64.After it all, though, the balance of power has not shifted. England could yet be a patched-up side in Hobart depending on how the walking wounded pull up. Australia’s big question is whether they leave out a batter who has just scored two centuries. However, this series needed a better contest. There was only ever going to be one winner on the final day, but for a few hours at least that did not matter. The desire for one side not to lose was just as compelling.