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A round-up of all the thrills and spills from the Trinidad leg of CPL 2022

Deivarayan Muthu19-Sep-2022Barbados Royals storm into the playoffs
After finishing rock-bottom in CPL 2021, Barbados Royals have scripted a remarkable turnaround by becoming the first team to advance to the playoffs this season. With a 29-run victory via DLS method against Guyana Amazon Warriors, Royals not only sealed a playoffs spot but also ensured they will finish top in the league stage and get two cracks at the final.Related

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However, Royals will be without their captain David Miller and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock for the final leg of the tournament in Guyana as the South Africa pair will head back home to prepare for a white-ball tour of India, which begins with the first T20I in Thiruvananthapuram on September 28.The only blemish in Royals’ otherwise incredibly successful run was their six-run defeat via DLS to Jamaica Tallawahs in Port-of-Spain. On the day, the usually rapid Kyle Mayers dawdled to 1 off 17 balls, and although de Kock (74 off 43 balls) and Miller (34 off 27) teed off thereafter, Royals could manage only 146 for 6.Seamers Jason Holder and Obed McCoy made a good fist of the defence, but a six from Tallawahs captain Rovman Powell in the 17th over put them ahead of the DLS par score and snapped Royals’ winning streak.No Tim David? No problem for Kings
Despite the absence of Tim David, who has now linked up with the Australia team in India, St Lucia Kings won both their games in the Trinidad leg. Adam Hose, David’s replacement, didn’t do much, but Kings’ seniors stepped up to brush aside Patriots and then edge Trinbago Knight Riders by one run.Against Patriots, on a challenging Tarouba track that slowed down as the game progressed, Faf du Plessis and Johnson Charles were proactive enough to make use of the powerplay, helping Kings to 60 for 2 in that phase. In response, Patriots reached only 47 for 2 in the first six overs of their chase. David Wiese then delivered a double-wicket maiden and Kesrick Williams unfurled his slower variations as Patriots’ chase unravelled.In the last match of the Trinidad leg, du Plessis matched up Roston chase’s offspin with a left-hander-heavy TKR top order. Chase did his job, removing Leonardo Julien, Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran cheaply. Despite late blows from Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, Kings prevailed, with Roshun Primus defending 21 off the final over to lift Kings to second on the points table.As for TKR, they are presently fourth, with only three wins in eight games, and having already lost USA quick Ali Khan to injury, they’ve been depleted further by Jayden Seales’ absence for the remainder of CPL 2022. According to Pollard, Seales has a “fitness issue” and has been replaced by England allrounder Samit Patel.Johnson Charles has continued his sparkling form after his selection for the T20 World Cup•CPL T20 via Getty ImagesHow have the WI players who made the T20 World Cup squad via the CPL fared?
Johnson Charles celebrated his call-up for the T20 World Cup with back-to-back half-centuries. He was particularly aggressive against elite spin, taking on Rashid Khan, Sunil Narine and Akeal Hosein. During his 41-ball 61 against Patriots, Charles also surpassed Chris Gayle to become the second-highest run-getter in the history of the CPL.”He is someone who should’ve played more T20 cricket for West Indies,” Kings head coach Daren Sammy told the franchise’s YouTube channel. “He is going back to Australia; I remember the last time he was there he scored a brilliant hundred in Sydney [Melbourne] against Mitchell Johnson and co. He’s been very consistent and I’m quite happy to see him back into the line-up.”Raymon Reifer began the Trinidad leg with a scorching unbeaten 40 off 26 balls for Tallawahs but his form has cooled off since. He scored only 1 against Royals before bagging a duck against TKR. Since he is working his way back from a niggle sustained during the inaugural 6ixty, Reifer has bowled only sparingly this CPL. In all, he has bowled just 11 balls in the tournament so far.Player of the week
Holder claimed six wickets across three games in Trinidad, with his sparkling all-round effort against Amazon Warriors putting Royals in the playoffs. Holder was promoted to No.5, ahead of Azam Khan, who is also a spin-hitter, and captain Miller, and responded with an unbeaten 40 off 33 balls on a tough pitch in a rain-hit fixture. No other batter scored more than 20 runs in that game. Holder was not done yet: he tricked pinch-hitter Keemo Paul with a slower ball and came away with figures of 2-0-8-1. It was a week where Holder cemented his status as one of West Indies’ top allrounders in T20 cricket.

Which one of the spinning Sinclairs does it better? #CPL22 #CricketPlayedLouder #BiggestPartyInSport pic.twitter.com/tHfmodSEve

— CPL T20 (@CPL) September 18, 2022

Celebration of the week
In only his second official T20 game, offspinner Junior Sinclair collected 2 for 12 in his four overs. After having Mayers hole out, Sinclair celebrated with a gravity-defying somersault, which reminded Caribbean fans of the other Sinclair’s – Kevin – signature celebration. Disclaimer: Don’t try this at home.

A lot of things are in flux right now but their batting leaders are still churning out those tough runs

Deivarayan Muthu28-Dec-20222:26

Latham: ‘It’s not going to get any easier for us to bat on’

In 2021, Kane Williamson staked his claim to be New Zealand’s greatest ever captain by leading them to the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) title and final of the T20 World Cup. However, his long-standing elbow injury and a slump in form – both in international cricket and IPL – put his future under scrutiny. Given the congested cricketing calendar, Williamson was expected to give up white-ball captaincy and continue to lead New Zealand in Test cricket. Except that didn’t happen.When the time came, Williamson stepped down from Test captaincy but kept hold of the white-ball sides, perhaps fueled by the dream of going one better at the 2023 ODI World Cup. Even in this unlikely event, it was thought that Tom Latham would be his successor. He had stepped in for him often enough. But New Zealand Cricket (NZC) felt differently and appointed Tim Southee to the post.Related

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Around the time New Zealand desperately needed a wicket on the opening day of the Karachi Test, Trent Boult was in action for Melbourne Stars at the BBL. Then, on the second, Martin Guptill, was making his BBL debut for Melbourne Renegades. Colin de Grandhomme has retired from international cricket, as has Ross Taylor. New Zealand’s cricketing landscape is in flux, but there is still one constant: Williamson and Latham are still the batting leaders of the Test side.The cracks on the Karachi pitch are opening up. The ball landing in the rough was routinely drawing puffs of dust, and towards the close, Pakistan’s spinners were getting turn even off the straight. But it was slow turn. Batters don’t mind that. What did bother them was the low bounce.Kane Williamson made his 25th Test century•AFPWilliamson, in particular, relishes standing up tall and dinking the ball down to third man on true pitches. This one was anything but. So he had to lower his stance, tighten his defence and play as straight as possible. That naturally messes with your chances of scoring quick runs, which is why, at one point, he was just 7 off 45.Latham followed a similar template. It’s funny, the son of Rockin Rod doesn’t even have a franchise T20 deal, but when his team need him he’s always there. He blunts the new ball across conditions in an era where opening the batting in Test cricket is a difficult job. He has vastly improved his keeping to become New Zealand’s frontline ODI keeper and offer the team balance. Rahul Dravid selflessly did that back in the day for India. And whenever Williamson has been unavailable, Latham has always been ready to captain the team. He will lead the side in India in January 2023, when Williamson and Southee will rest at home after the Pakistan tour.It is too early to tell what impact these two centuries have on the Test but one thing is for certain, this was Williamson and Latham at their calculative best. They took great care not to be caught at the same end for a long time, using something they have in common – a strong back-foot game – to keep piercing gaps on the leg side. Their boundaries, though, were the result of special skills.Latham is one of the best sweepers in the modern game and he used it to great effect en route to becoming the most prolific century-maker among New Zealand’s openers, surpassing John Wright with his 13th Test hundred. Williamson, on the other hand, just extended his impeccable defence whenever there was too long a lull. His down-the-track lofts against Nauman Ali were all virtually perfect, giving no warning that he would be on the charge, reaching the pitch of the ball every single time and taking the most risk-averse route to the boundary. Straight down the ground.This has been a slow-burning Test match on a slow pitch where it hasn’t been easy to score freely or strike quickly. But it has produced an image that lingers. That of a long work day ending – and perhaps a new era in New Zealand cricket beginning – with Williamson walking back to a warm reception from Latham and Southee in the dressing room.

Lancashire seamer feeling his way back into red-ball cricket following back stress fracture

Vithushan Ehantharajah01-May-2023On the face of it, 37 overs of grind for just one wicket does not sound overly encouraging. But Lancashire’s Championship stalemate against Somerset on a docile Taunton pitch was as a welcome return to the red-ball format for Saqib Mahmood.”It was actually a year to the week since I played my last red-ball game,” said Mahmood, referring to Gloucestershire’s visit to Emirates Old Trafford at the start of the 2022 season. A back stress fracture picked up during the match sidelined him for 10 months, with Mahmood eventually returning to competitive action in February of this year for England Lions in Sri Lanka.He donned full England colours in the second ODI against Bangladesh a month later. Getting through nine overs (0 for 41) in a dominant win was another step towards a more rounded return. As much as a skiddy action, the ability to move the ball late and a reliable yorker see Mahmood tend towards the white ball, his passion is to get ahead with the red.Related

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Mahmood’s diagnosis came a month after earning his first two Test caps. England were in a state of enforced, almost self-defeating transition, leaving out James Anderson and Stuart Broad and calling up Mahmood and Yorkshire’s Matt Fisher for the tour to the Caribbean. Mahmood acquitted himself well, with six wickets at 22.83 on dull surfaces – similar to what he encountered at Somerset.”The conditions weren’t the best,” Mahmood said of Taunton. “The outfield was real sandy, so for a first game back it probably wasn’t ideal for the body. Halfway through the second session, my legs were gone. It was challenging: slow, low, flat wicket – as the scores suggested. But for me, it was something I wanted to do – I don’t just want to take my time and settle back in, I wanted to come back in and try to make a difference straight away.”The 26-year-old had been warned his first day in the dirt would sting. After 96 overs in the field, as centuries from Tom Abell and James Rew took the hosts to 311 for 4, he experienced first-hand.”I remember I bowled all of day one, and I woke up to go to the toilet after that, put my left out and it nearly gave way. I had to limp over the toilet, got back in bed, and woke up the next morning real stiff.”There was a slight anxiety at the time. That is understandable, given the nature of the injury and the tedium of rehabilitation that puts bowlers on edge in the early stages of their return. The fear of having to do it all again creates a distinct paranoia.”Pre-stress fracture, if I was sore like this, I’d have thought nothing of it and just cracked on. But I suppose those anxieties do come in a little bit. But as soon as I get a ball in my hand and bowl and it feels all right, you can crack on.”Those thoughts are more manageable. As much because he can now distinguish between one soreness and the other, as his more-robust mentality. “I’ve learned what not to put your energy into, as well – rather than constantly focusing on the negatives.”

“The one positive coming out of the [Taunton game] was getting through the four days. My last spell was probably the quickest of the game, which is encouraging”

There are also some physical adjustments he has made. The first is around preparation, which he regards as more professional. Mahmood gets up half an hour earlier than he used to for training or on the morning of matches, going through extra mobility work. If there is a swimming pool handy, he’ll use that to loosen the joints and limbs. While it is still early, the benefits were apparent on the final day against Somerset.”The one positive coming out of the week was getting through the four days. My last spell was probably the quickest of the game, which is also encouraging in terms of my engine and being able to back spells up.”A second tweak has come with his action, specifically around his load-up. Having grown up with the ball by his side just before he goes into delivery, he noticed his right hand had drifted closer to his belly button. Though he does not think there is a direct correlation between that unconscious shift and his injury, there is no harm in resorting back to the old ways particularly when it comes to giving his skills the best chance.”When I look back at my action, as soon as you’re loading up in front of your body, your arms have to splay out to get behind yourself. If you try and load up here [mimics holding the ball by his right hip], you can work in straight lines. That’s what I’ve tried to do.”I watched the game back at Somerset – certain spells, there was a bit of reverting back. But I expect that. For the most part, it was quite good and I actually think it’s improved my skills. A lot of bowling coaches tell you fast bowling is straight lines and things like that. When this is free-er, what I do with my fingers and wrists is a lot easier to control as well. From that point of view, I think it’s had a good effect.”As for a route back into the national set-up, Mahmood is realistic. A chat with managing director Rob Key last month was encouraging, detailing how he should approach each red-ball game – essentially, focus on taking wickets in an attacking manner, which is pretty much what he does anyway.Mahmood celebrates taking a wicket on his comeback for England Lions•SLCIn terms of further international honours this year, Mahmood is self-aware enough to know he has dropped down the pecking order. He can even look at his 22 England appearances to date and acknowledge some caveats.Those first steps in the Test arena were symbolic of Anderson and Broad’s omissions rather than reflecting his red-ball numbers, though 28 wickets at 23.89 in the 2021 summer did make an impression. Likewise, his white-ball caps have been here and there since debuting in 2019, with two runs of three ODI matches in a row due to Covid-19 restrictions, notably in 2021 when he was drafted in as part of an emergency squad to face Pakistan after the original group were ruled out following positive tests.Nevertheless, he made that count with nine dismissals at 13.66, leaving a strong impression on Ben Stokes, who stepped in as captain. Even with Mahmood out of action, Stokes still has a high opinion of him, as do others within the England set-up. Now he has to take it further.”I think I’ve got myself in positions where you feel like you should be part of the mix,” he said. “But if I’m honest, at the time it did feel quite tricky, especially during and after Covid when you were balancing the squads. Sometimes it just felt like I was keeping someone else’s seat warm.”That’s the tricky bit; if you look at when Eoin Morgan first came in, he really backed all of his players, and there still is that, but those guys got a run of games. I think that Pakistan series was the only games where I was playing and had a run of games and an opportunity to show everyone.”It’s not an excuse or anything, but sometimes it does get challenging. For me now, though, rather than focusing on those, I’m just trying to get back to the best of my game, and the rest will take care of itself. What I can control is what I do out there and what I do in training.”

CSK will be playing a full season at home for the first time in four years, and the Chepauk faithful know their chances to soak in that feeling are running down

Alagappan Muthu and Deivarayan Muthu02-Apr-2023He is everywhere right now. He always is, especially in April and May. On billboards which seem to fit nicely with his larger-than-life persona. On the backs of the autos that zip through our streets. Well, on streets (see below) as well. At a plush hotel, near the Marina Beach, where the 12th anniversary of his iconic World Cup-winning six was being celebrated. On murals and stands at Chepauk, which he calls home. An entire city has become a tribute to MS Dhoni. It feels like Chennai knows something that we don’t. Or maybe we do and just don’t want to say it out loud.Chennai Super Kings’ intra-squad practice match that was thrown open to the public just an hour before the start last week provided a peek into the revelry that Chennai could finally experience this season. Only the C,D and E stands were originally available for the fans, but they got filled up quickly on a weekday and the new stand was also soon taken over by fans.

For all the super fandom and the #Yellove happenings! Turn on the television for The Super Kings show on SS 1/1 HD! #WhistlePodu pic.twitter.com/IvTiEhuS0X

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 21, 2019

It’s the differences between the two Asia Cup finalists that make for a fascinating game

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Sep-20233:42

Maharoof: Sri Lanka batters’ composure have surprised everyone

Ahead of the Asia Cup final, the India side is like a Japanese chef’s knife: comprised of layers of high-carbon steel, and forged with precision. Both the raw materials used and the processes that have tempered them are world-class. Perhaps some final honing remains. But India are effective, balanced, and often beautiful to behold.Sri Lanka, meanwhile, are the beaten up cast iron pot that’s been passed down through the family for generations. There is joy in their work, and piquant memories of a storied past about them. But there are cold spots on the base, the lid has seen better days, and the enamel is chipped in places.This is not to say Sri Lanka are the older team, because in fact, they are the more youthful outfit – two of their bowlers only 20, their top five comprising of four batters under 29. But in this tournament, their style of play has had a throwback quality to it, and as throwbacks go, they could hardly have picked a better era. Between 2007 and 2014, Sri Lanka made five ICC tournament finals. They did so on the back of a phenomenally varied attack.So it has been in 2023 – they have a rapid sling-bowler in Matheesha Pathirana, a mystery spinner in Maheesh Theekshana (who won’t play the final, but has been an important part of this campaign), a left-arm spinner in Dunith Wellalage, and an offspinner in Dhananjaya de Silva. Scrapping to competitive totals, defending modest scores on spinning tracks, doing just enough to win crucial passages of the game – this is their wheelhouse.Often they have had luck, such as when Afghanistan failed to realise they could still knock Sri Lanka out of the group stage if they’d hit boundaries to win their match in Lahore. Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf being injured for the virtual knockout match on Thursday helped as well, though Sri Lanka had plenty of injured bowlers who didn’t even make their squad too.Related

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Where India are the purring machine set to race down the straight stretch of road that is a World Cup hosted solely by their board, Sri Lanka are building up speed too, but more like the guy flying increasingly dangerously down a hillside, trying desperately to keep his legs underneath him.Where India have as their captain Rohit Sharma, one of the IPL’s most successful captains, a reputed tactician, one of the last World Cup’s very best players, and an opener who averages 48.08 with a strike rate of 107 this year, Sri Lanka have Dasun Shanaka, whose last 10 innings read: 2, 9, 24, 5, 14*, 1, 5, 0, 5 and 1.Rohit Sharma and Dasun Shanaka appear to be very different kinds of leaders•Getty ImagesRohit’s India have four losses in their last 10 result matches; Shanaka’s team has 14 wins in their last 15 games. Their winning is the main reason the selectors cannot, or perhaps will not, drop Shanaka. But even within this complexity, there are further folds. Many of those Sri Lanka victories came against modest opposition at the World Cup Qualifier. On the flipside, the only completed match in this tournament in which India were pushed, was in their Super Fours encounter against Sri Lanka.And then there is Shanaka’s marshalling of his bowling resources. Rohit brings a rigour to his strategising, weighing reams of data with his own knowledge, seeking the inputs of many before finalising plans. Shanaka has learned to be loose with his ideas. Sri Lanka had tried to make a new-ball bowler out of Pathirana, but while he is still developing that aspect of his game, Shanaka has taken on some powerplay bowling himself, to good effect. When the occasion has called for it, he’s brought part-timer Charith Asalanka into the attack. In the match against India, Asalanka took four wickets.It seems almost inconceivable, looking through the team lists, that Sri Lanka can challenge this India side. India are more talented, better drilled, and their resources are greater by several orders of magnitude. There may be a debate about whether Shardul Thakur really adds sufficient value to be in this XI. But in comparison, this is minor. India are a team that have planned, built, refined, are possessed of great players such as Virat Kohli and Rohit, and leave very little to chance.And yet it is in the cracks of chance that Sri Lanka operate. Where India have made efforts to know everything about themselves and their opposition, Sri Lanka, very clearly do not know much. They don’t know yet where their ceiling is, have not quite nailed down a combination, are led by a captain under monumental personal pressure, and for this game are missing quite literally their entire first-choice attack.But they have reveled in the twists and turns of tournament cricket, uncovering promising talents in unusual places, and find themselves again, unexpectedly perhaps even to themselves, in another title match in Asia.In contests between sides who are clinical, and teams that are chaotic, we know which to win. But they don’t always.

Walter is a former New Zealand A coach, and has also worked closely with many of the stars in the opposite camp

Firdose Moonda31-Oct-2023With their low-key profile but high-performing team, it’s no longer surprising for New Zealand to be considered potential champions at Cricket World Cups, according to South Africa white-ball coach Rob Walter. And he would know.For the last seven years, Walter has been based in New Zealand, and coached Otago, Central Districts and New Zealand A, after relocating from South Africa to further his work opportunities. He’s had a first-hand view of the pipeline of one the smallest populations in cricket with some of the richest resources, and knows that the talent pool New Zealand now have has been in the making for a long time.”They’ve gone beyond the time where people couldn’t understand why they achieved the results they have. They’re a very good side now and you don’t see many holes in their make-up,” Walter said in Pune, ahead of South Africa’s match against New Zealand. “They have a lot of depth in different positions and for the most part, highly experienced cricketers who’ve played a lot and achieved a lot.”New Zealand’s array of options are evident in their squad selection, which included two players who were still recovering from injury – Kane Williamson and Tim Southee – when it was named in September. New Zealand have carried Williamson through a second injury, have not even needed Southee and have, most recently, coped without Mark Chapman. For their next match, they may also be missing Lockie Ferguson, who left the field in their last match with an Achilles’ injury and underwent a fitness test at Tuesday’s training, but even that won’t derail them.

“In New Zealand, when a player steps in [to the national side] there’s pressure from beneath and it inspires the incumbents to raise their game”

In Williamson’s absence, they have Tom Latham to captain and Will Young and Rachin Ravindra as two of the top three. James Neesham replaced Chapman and nearly beat Australia and if Ferguson can’t play, Southee, the second most capped player in the squad, will get a game. To Walter’s point, even in a squad of 15, New Zealand have depth and that is the result of an excellent domestic structure. “That’s probably the strength of this New Zealand side, it’s not easy to get a game, let alone a World Cup squad,” he said.He cited Daryl Mitchell, who made his domestic debut in December 2011 and earned his first international cap eight years later, as an example of how tough it is to break into their national side. “If you look at a guy like Daryl Mitchell, it’s an indication that in the New Zealand system, you have to play a lot of domestic cricket to eventually get a shot at internationals. I was exposed to Daryl from day one when I started coaching in New Zealand and it’s only in the last two years that he’s really become an unbelievable international cricketer.”Mitchell has been playing ODIs since 2021, and has five centuries including against India at this World Cup. With a batting average of 51.80, Walter believes Mitchell is performing at such a high-level both because he was prepared for it, and because he knows if he doesn’t, New Zealand could have a ready replacement. “In New Zealand, when a player steps in [to the national side] there’s pressure from beneath and it inspires the incumbents to raise their game,” Walter said.Related

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You can see that in the New Zealand squad. When Williamson returns to full fitness, they can choose between five players – Devon Conway, Ravindra, Young, Mitchell and Williamson – to make up the top four and all of them have runs to their name at this tournament. Apart from Ravindra, they each have more than a decade’s worth of domestic experience but what Ravindra has is stand-out talent.Walter saw that himself when was New Zealand A coach for the tour of India in September last year. Ravindra scored one fifty in the three-match unofficial ODIs and was the third highest wicket-taker in the first-class series – a decent return but perhaps not enough to suggest he would shoot the lights out at a World Cup a year later to everyone – besides Walter. “I am not very surprised to see the results he has delivered,” he said. “He works hard on his game, a lot harder than a lot of cricketers I know.”Will all this experiential-knowledge mean that Walter will also have the inside-track on how to beat New Zealand? Walter isn’t quite so bullish about that.”There’s some local knowledge with their players and I’ve worked with a fair number of them and [teams I have coached have] played against the majority of them,” Walter said. “It’s just a bunch of quality cricketers and if it were it’s just as easy as doing your scouting and prep against them, it would be an easy game. But it’s not, they’ve been playing great cricket. We’ll have to see how a bit of local knowledge stacks up.”

Kuldeep brings a point of difference to India’s XI, particularly against reverse sweeps if the pitches are not rank turners

Alagappan Muthu07-Feb-20242:53

Manjrekar: Kuldeep is the spinner for pitches that are not rank turners

Kuldeep Yadav has come all the way from square leg to pester Rohit Sharma about taking a review.Rohit is busy trying to get the opinion of someone with a better view of the delivery but Kuldeep isn’t letting him. So he comes to a standstill, raises his left hand, points it in Kuldeep’s general direction and trolls from all around the globe swing into action. They have a new meme to unleash.Introverts when they’re asked to come out Friday night. Rohit gif. The rest of the class when that one suck-up reminds the teacher they forgot to give homework. Rohit gif. Messi fans when they hear Ronaldo is better. Rohit gif. Ronaldo fans when they hear Messi is better. Rohit gif.Related

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The replays on the big screen show that restraint was the right option. Zak Crawley had not nicked that Jasprit Bumrah delivery through to the wicketkeeper and the camera once again finds Rohit, who offers a cheeky smile, claps exactly four times, and signs off with a double thumbs up. And once again social media is in business.Extroverts when they’re asked to come out on Friday night. Rohit gif. Two for one deals at your favourite cupcake shop on cheat day. Rohit gif. India fans to the Indian team for bringing Kuldeep into the XI. Rohit gif.As a gruelling five-Test series against England goes into a nine-day break between matches and the players from both teams have dispersed for rest and relaxation, there is a feeling that this whole thing is just getting started.India have held off all challengers at home, their spinners repeatedly showing up the opposition. Except that’s not been the case this time. Tom Hartley, Joe Root, Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir have taken more wickets (33) than R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep (23). While part of that is down to Bumrah claiming a large slice of the pie through his genius, it also says something about the two batting line-ups: England are quite settled, India are in transition.Rohit Sharma dismisses Kuldeep Yadav’s pleas to go for a DRS review•BCCIGiven that, it is possible the remaining three Tests will be played on pitches similar to the one in Visakhapatnam, the kind that starts out good for batting and then, with natural wear and tear, begins to offer more for the bowlers. In such conditions, it is crucial for a spinner to pose a threat in the air and that is what Kuldeep did with his left-arm wristspin in the second Test.He gave India their first wicket of the match, at a time when England had raced to 59 for 0 in 10.1 overs after India were dismissed for 396, leaving a lingering feeling they had underachieved in their first innings. The ball drew the left-handed Ben Duckett out into a rare forward defence and then dipped on him, leaving the batter away from the pitch of the delivery, giving the ball enough time to leap off the surface and hit the shoulder of the bat and pop to silly point.Later on the second day, he accounted for Ben Foakes with another beauty. The right-hand batter played for the legbreak spinning into him – and it was the legbreak – yet he was beaten on the outside edge. Because drift. Foakes was playing for a ball pitching on off stump but it drifted wider and therefore when it turned it didn’t turn into the middle of the bat as he expected. It shimmied right past the outside edge and crashed into the stumps.Then there was the deception of Ollie Pope. This was dip and drift, drawing England’s No. 3 out on the front foot, luring him a fair bit across his crease, creating a gap between bat and pad so he could surge through it. That reverse-swinging, stump-shattering, other-worldly yorker from Bumrah would never have come into existence if KS Bharat had been alive to the stumping opportunity Kuldeep had created against Pope. On the final count in England’s first innings, Kuldeep generated almost as many false responses (21) as Bumrah (24).

According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, England played only 12 reverse sweeps in the second Test as opposed to 50 in the first, and only two against Kuldeep, which were both dot balls

Most teams would be more than happy with this package. For India, however, Kuldeep has been stuck in a queue, behind two all-time greats R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and the third guy Axar Patel who has a habit of scoring crucial runs down the order. Therefore, Kuldeep’s played only nine Tests in seven years for 38 wickets at 22.73 apiece. He was even dropped after being Player of the Match for an eight-wicket haul in his previous Test in Chattogram in December 2022.With Jadeja injured, though, there is space in the XI for Kuldeep. Even if Jadeja should return in time for the next Test, there is a strong argument to keep Kuldeep on as the third spinner.According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, England played only 12 reverse sweeps in the second Test as opposed to 50 in the first, and only two against Kuldeep, which were both dot balls.This is what a wristspinner can do. Especially on a pitch like the one in Visakhapatnam, which had more bounce than the Hyderabad track on days one and two, so the top edge was in play if you opted to play a cross-bat shot. And on days three and four, the ball began to keep low, which made it doubly dangerous to hit across the line.Kuldeep has pressed this advantage further by altering his bowling action to become a wicket-to-wicket bowler – 71% of the deliveries he pitched in line with the stumps in the second Test were also going on to threaten them. He has also worked on his overspin, which helps the ball dip more sharply than the batter expects, and bounce higher than he is ready for. So, the reverse sweep, or even the drive, that they think is on is actually fraught with risk.Kuldeep Yadav’s drift meant Ben Foakes was beaten on the outside edge by a legbreak•BCCINow, none of this means that India have taken the ascendancy. Or that England will be backing off: England still scored at 4.61 an over against spin. Just that both teams are learning and evolving, and 1-1 is an apt scoreline.The third Test starting on February 15 is in Rajkot. That’s Jadeja’s home turf but hamstring injuries usually take longer than a couple of weeks to heal. Even if Jadeja does get back up to full fitness during this series, Kuldeep brings a point of difference to this XI, particularly against the threat India are facing and more so if the pitches are not rank turners.He even enjoyed vindication in the DRS stakes and, coincidentally, it led to the wicket that assured India their victory. Crawley, who was leading England’s charge towards the target of 399 on the fourth morning, went back to a ball from Kuldeep that pitched on the shorter side of the good-length area. It held its line and skidded through to hit low on pad. It looked to be heading past leg stump to the human eye. The on-field umpire clearly thought as much. But the ball-tracking tech stated otherwise, and the three reds triggered a jubilant celebratory run from Kuldeep and his team-mates mobbing him.When your crush agrees to go out on a date with you. Kuldeep gif. When mum and dad are out of town for the weekend. Kuldeep gif. When Test cricket is this much fun. Kuldeep gif.

There is no obvious reason but a collective dip in form has left the five-time champions on the brink of elimination

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-May-20241:25

Moody, Jaffer on Rohit’s struggles to shine in IPL 2024

Ten matches in now, almost no hope of making the playoffs, there is a sadness to watching one of the great IPL franchises take their sorry show around India.It is not as if Mumbai Indians have imploded entirely. Jasprit Bumrah leads the bowling charts in IPL 2024, his 14 wickets top equal, and his economy rate of 6.40 beyond exceptional. Gerald Coetzee is not far behind on 13 wickets.And we know roughly what is going wrong, or at least where the major flaws lie. They have lost 19 wickets in the powerplay this season, which is the second-worst in the league (after Delhi Capitals, who have lost 21). Their top five have scored quickly enough but have fallen too cheaply – their collective average of 29.10 is better only than that of Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings who, like them, are haunting the bottom half of the points table.Related

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On the bowling front, they have been woeful in the middle overs (between overs 7 and 16), where Bumrah typically bowls the least. They have conceded 60 sixes in that phase, and travelled at an economy of 10.21 (Chennai Super Kings have an economy rate of 7.67 in that phase). They have been especially weak on the spin front. Their top slow bowler, Piyush Chawla, has four wickets in seven outings, and has conceded runs at 9.85 an over. Mohammad Nabi has been marginally cheaper, but less penetrative, taking only two wickets in six bowling innings.There is no obvious reason why besides Bumrah and perhaps Coetzee, their entire side is performing so far below potential, though plenty have pointed fingers at Hardik Pandya’s leadership. As in the match against Lucknow Super Giants, however, MI’s major shortcomings have been with the bat. In this game, they lost Rohit Sharma in the second over (Rohit, by the way, has batted as selflessly as he had in the 2023 ODI World Cup, just without anywhere near as much success), Suryakumar Yadav in the third, then Tilak Varma and Hardik in successive balls in the sixth.MI’s batting has not clicked in IPL 2024•BCCIIn what is shaping to be the highest-scoring IPL ever, a scoreline of 28 for 4 in the powerplay was always going to be difficult to recover from. But even more difficult for a team gasping for breath in the competition, with hitters who have only sporadically shown up this season.The ultra-modern response to a scoreline of 28 for 4 is to attack your way out of it, reasoning that a middling score isn’t going to vex the opposition anyway. MI chose the old-fashioned rebuild, collecting just 52 runs off the eight overs immediately following the powerplay. From 80 for 5 after 14 overs, they needed a furious finish to launch them to a competitive score. They didn’t get it. They lacked penetration through the middle overs again, though LSG were never particularly stressed; such was the gettable-ness of their target.It’s the kind of season for MI that even just over halfway through the league stage, their captain comes off the field after another loss and says things like: “I have always believed that sometimes you will be down, and sometimes you will be up, but you always have to fight.” Not fighting for a place in the top four, or any kind of tangible goal. Just fighting for the sake of the fight. Professional sportspeople are often hard-wired to be competitive, but even then, there may be many in that MI dressing room wondering what the point of the rest of this season is.They have got hard decisions to make now. Do they overhaul their misfiring top order, or back players of the quality of Suryakumar, Ishan Kishan, and Rohit to turn their seasons around? Do they reach deeper into their reserves in their attempts to unearth new middle-overs talents? They have already begun to go to the likes of Nuwan Thushara in the early overs, though Thushara only showed glimpses of his best form in this match, having swung the ball early in Lucknow. Do they stick with him, or look elsewhere in the squad?In general, is it time now to pursue regeneration more intensively? When formerly good teams begin to lose, the easy accusation to make is that a staleness has entered their game. But strangely, their batting problems at least don’t seem insurmountable – it feels more like a collective dip in form, rather than a running out of ideas. There is also the burning question of the captaincy. It should not be forgotten that Hardik has led an IPL side to victory as recently as 2022.With so much data on offer now, it is simple enough to diagnose a losing team’s flaws. What MI have to figure out is to what extent they need new personnel to fix them.

India also joined West Indies and England as the only sides with two men’s T20 World Cup titles in the bag

Sampath Bandarupalli29-Jun-20241 – India became the first team to win the men’s T20 World Cup without losing a game all tournament. India won all eight matches they played in the tournament, and had one washout: the first-round game against Canada.India’s eight consecutive wins in completed games is the joint-longest winning streak for any team in the men’s T20 World Cup. Australia won eight successive games across the 2022 and 2024 editions, while South Africa was on an eight-match winning streak before Saturday’s defeat.8-1 – Win-loss record of the teams winning the toss in the finals of the men’s T20 World Cup. The only team to lose a final despite winning the toss was Sri Lanka against Pakistan in 2009.Related

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It is only the third instance of a team winning a men’s T20 World Cup final while defending a total. India against Pakistan in 2007 and West Indies against Sri Lanka in 2012 won the final while batting first.2 – India is now the third team to win the men’s T20 World Cup for the second time, having won the inaugural 2007 edition. West Indies were the first team with two titles, having won in 2012 and 2016, while England won in 2010 and 2022.9 – Players to be part of two men’s T20 World Cup final wins – Rohit Sharma was added to the list on Saturday. Eight West Indies players were part of their both title wins – Daren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Dwayne Bravo, Samuel Badree, Andre Russell and Denesh Ramdin.ESPNcricinfo Ltd176 for 7 – India’s total against South Africa on Saturday is the highest by any team in the final of the men’s T20 World Cup. Australia’s 173 for 2 in a run chase against New Zealand in 2021 was the previous highest. The 345 runs scored in Bridgetown is the joint-highest aggregate for a men’s T20 World Cup final.23 – Balls Heinrich Klaasen needed for his fifty against India, the fastest in any men’s World Cup final. The previous quickest was off 31 balls by Mitchell Marsh against New Zealand in the 2021 T20 World Cup final.16.95 – Per cent of the target that South Africa needed at the start of the 16th over with six wickets in hand – 30 runs out of 177. It is the second-lowest percentage of the target runs any team failed to chase in the last five overs (16-20) of a men’s T20I with six or more wickets in hand, where ball-by-ball data is available.New Zealand needed 15.06 % of their target at the start of the 16th over – 141 for 3 chasing 166 against South Africa in 2012. They ended up losing by three runs, finishing on 162 for 7.16 – Player-of-the-Match awards for Virat Kohli in the T20I format – the most for any player in men’s T20Is, surpassing Suryakumar Yadav’s 15. Eight of Kohli’s 16 match awards have come in the men’s T20 World Cup, while no one else has more than five.ESPNcricinfo Ltd37y, 60d – Rohit’s age on Saturday, making him the oldest captain to win a T20 World Cup. He is also the second-oldest captain to win an ICC tournament final, behind Imran Khan, who was 39 year and 172 days old when Pakistan defeated England in the 1992 ODI World Cup final.8-0 – Rohit’s win-loss record as captain in T20 finals – six with Mumbai Indians and two for India. Only MS Dhoni has won more men’s T20 finals as captain than Rohit, nine out of 15.This is also the 11th T20 final where Rohit was part of the winning side of the 12 he has played. Only Dwayne Bravo (17), Kieron Pollard (16) and Shoaib Malik (15) have more men’s T20 final wins than Rohit.49 – Wins for Rohit as captain out of the 62 T20Is where he led India, the most for anyone in men’s T20Is, surpassing Babar Azam’s 48. India have lost only 12 T20Is under Rohit’s captaincy, while another game ended in a tie, which India went on to win in the Super Over.2 – Number of players, including Kohli, to be part of the winning team in the finals of all three ICC white-ball events (ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy). MS Dhoni was the first to be part of all three, and he did it as a captain.