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The upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy could give players the chance to fast-track a spot in the IPL, and potentially, India

Shashank Kishore10-Oct-2022Over the years, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic T20 competition, has helped identify several promising players who have gone on to play in the IPL. As scouts from across teams make a beeline for the seven venues to look out for players, here’s a list of those who could usher in the next chapter of their professional careers over the next three weeks.Mukesh Kumar, Bengal
When Mukesh Kumar came into the Bengal set-up from Bihar – his home state – in 2014, doctors pronounced him anemic. He would bowl a few overs with intensity and then get tired. He would play one game and miss three. It was the story of his first season as a Bengal cricketer trying to break into the domestic setup there. He was later diagnosed with bone edema – accumulation of fluids – in his knees. Over time, he has gained considerable strength and has become part of an impressive Bengal pace attack also consisting of Akash Deep and Ishan Porel.Mukesh Kumar, featuring for India A last month, was the joint-highest wicket-taker against New Zealand A•Mallikarjuna/KSCAMukesh had a prolific maiden stint with India A against the visiting New Zealanders just last month, where he was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the three red-ball games. He is currently part of India’s Shikhar Dhawan-led ODI squad taking on South Africa at home. That he has gotten this far without featuring in the IPL makes it an unreal rise.Mukesh is known for his robotic control – of the kind Josh Hazlewood is known for – hitting good lengths and deceiving batters with minute deviation off the deck. He was called up by Royal Challengers as a net bowler last year but missed out due to Covid-19. A good tournament here could well put him on the road to the IPL in 2023.Mujtaba Yousuf, Jammu & Kashmir
A tall left-arm seamer with a strapping action, Yousuf can dart the ball both ways and bowls in the high 130s. He’s also known to have excellent slower variations and cutters. In 14 T20s so far for Jammu & Kashmir, he has picked up 13 wickets at an economy of 7.38. Two years ago, he broke through during the course of a memorable first-class season with Jammu & Kashmir made the Ranji Trophy knockouts.As a package, he has impressed Irfan Pathan, the former India allrounder, who worked as a mentor for J&K two years ago. In 2021, he was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders as a net bowler. Earlier this year, he was with Royal Challengers Bangalore. A good SMA T20 could well see him join his state-mates Abdul Samad and Umran Malik in the IPL club.Raj Bawa, Chandigarh
Pace-bowling allrounders are rare – even more so in India – which is why when Raj Bawa first made a mark at this year’s Under-19 World Cup during the course of a title-winning campaign, he made heads turn with bat and ball. Bawa offers bristling pace with his skiddy action and is known for his six-hitting with the bat.Raj Bawa’s all-round performance in the Under-19 World Cup final earned him the player-of-the match award and India the trophy•ICC via GettyAt the Under-19 World Cup in the Caribbean, he hit the high notes with his five-for in the final that subdued England. He was also one of only eight batters who made over 250 runs in the tournament, 162 of those coming in a single knock against Uganda.A maiden IPL call-up came his way when Punjab Kings signed him at the auction, but opportunities have been far and few. It’s perhaps a mark of his talent and ability that the selectors fast-tracked him into the India A white-ball squad for the three one-dayers against New Zealand A. He performed well, picking up five wickets in two games, including a best of 4 for 11 in the third one-layer.LR Chethan, Karnataka
If the Karnataka selectors are daring to look beyond established veterans like Karun Nair, it’s because the younger crop – including LR Chethan – have made a beeline for selection through their exploits. Chethan’s explosive batting up top in the Maharaja T20 Cup helped lead his team, Bengaluru Blasters, to the final.Chethan LR hit 40 fours and 26 sixes in the Maharaja T20 League•Maharaja T20He ended the tournament with 447 runs in 12 innings, the second-most in the tournament after Mayank Agarwal, at a strike rate of 173.25. He hit one century and three half-centuries; struck 40 fours and 26 sixes, the second-most in the season. Based on those performances, he has already been called up for trials by at least two teams during the off-season and a good performance in his maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament could well fast-track his IPL dream.Yash Dhull, Delhi
India’s Under-19 World Cup winning captain from 2022 is part of Delhi Capitals, but in his maiden season, he had to watch from the sidelines. However, if he continues to rack up runs like he has across formats, it’s unlikely things will remain that way in the IPL for long. He has made heads turn with his calmness and strokemaking and has struck hundreds on debut in both the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy. He’s racked up 783 runs in eleven first-class innings, including four centuries and a best of 200 not out.At Capitals, the presence of a packed top order comprising Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitch Marsh and Rishabh Pant meant opportunities were barely available. That said, a big domestic T20 tournament could further enhance his white-ball credentials and put him in the fray, at least as a back-up batting option. He is uncapped in the white-ball format, but has an opportunity to make a name for himself in a strong batting order consisting of the likes of Nitish Rana, Anuj Rawat, Ayush Badoni and Lalit Yadav, all of whom have taken the long route to the IPL.

Scrappy contest sealed in final over as Pakistan rue lack of urgency with bat

Firdose Moonda19-Feb-2023There’s always that point at a World Cup when the trophy becomes secondary to the smaller goals teams have set for themselves, and for West Indies and Pakistan this encounter was it. They both targeted their match against the other as the one that would prove they are moving in the right direction.For West Indies, beating Pakistan would add an 11th victory to their tally over them, from 17 meetings, and underline a dominance they don’t have over any other side. For Pakistan, a win would continue a World Cup record in which they have beaten West Indies in the last two major tournaments – the 2020 T20 World Cup and last year’s 50-over World Cup.Only one of them got what they wanted, in a scrappy, low-scoring affair that should never have become the thriller it did after West Indies managed only 116 for 6. Hayley Matthews assessed the total as being “at least 20 runs” too short. There were times when Pakistan made it look that much too many.They made much harder work of the chase than they should have, even given the slowness of the surface and the quality of the West Indies spinners. Pakistan went from needing less than a run a ball at the start of the chase, to eight an over after 11 overs, to 10 runs an over for the last three and 18 runs off the last over.Asked if it left her with too much to do, Aliya Riaz, who came in with 57 runs needed off 41 balls, conceded that it was probably a stretch for her when her captain Bismah Maroof was dismissed. “We were a little bit slow early on, and the wickets also fell fast. The way (Nida) Dar was playing and was set, she could have taken it well, but unfortunately, she got out there. But my whole effort was to take the match with Bismah and then Bismah got out. If we had played a little bit faster, then maybe we would have won.”In hindsight, Pakistan may look at their best partnership – of 44 runs between Maroof and Dar which took 8.5 overs at a scoring rate of 4.98 – as the passage of play where the chase went wrong. Bismah’s strike rate of 78.78 in this match will be scrutinised, especially as she also hit two fours, which means that she scored 18 runs off the remaining 31 balls she faced, and Pakistan’s overall ability to rotate strike should be in their post-tournament analysis.While West Indies faced 48 dot balls and hit nine fours, Pakistan saw off 51 scoreless deliveries and hit eight fours. Given the margin of defeat, you may point to the boundary count as the difference but a closer look at the match will tell you that Pakistan had many chances to pick off the four runs they needed for victory. Their running between the wickets was too hesitant too often and there were several occasions where they had the opportunity to turn a single into two, but refused.Aliya recognised there is work to be done in that department. “There was a bit of miscommunication. The calling between the batters could have been better,” she said. “And the strike rate can be improved. The target was not so high and it could definitely have been chased.”Matthews agreed and said West Indies knew “Defending 116 was never, ever going to be easy,” but reminded her team of the importance of this match. “We really wanted to win this game against Pakistan, not taking away from any of the other games. We knew walking into this tournament, this was one of the games where we knew if we really put our head down, we had a serious chance,” she said. “After being disappointed in that first innings with the total we put up, everyone knew that the 70% we might have given with the bat, we had to take that extra 30% and give it in the field. That’s what really motivated us.”Related

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West Indies achieved that and have completed their allotment of group matches, and while progression to the knock-outs is not impossible (they need England to beat Pakistan and Ireland to beat India by approximately 59 runs or with 47 balls to spare), it’s unlikely. So while they spend the next two days “sitting back and waiting and seeing what the other results go like in this tournament,” they will soon have to turn their attention to the future and how to catch up to teams like Australia and England.For Matthews, the key may lie in franchise leagues like the WPL, where she is the only West Indian player in the mix, the Hundred and the WBBL. “A lot of people look at these leagues as negatives taken away from international cricket, but for a team like West Indies that may not have the best domestic system, these leagues can be very fruitful and very helpful for us,” Matthews said. “I know they certainly helped me from a young international player growing up and I can only hope that for the rest of the team, the girls get the opportunity to do the same things. And you know, I experienced playing cricket all over the world and learning from it as well.”Pakistan’s players are entirely excluded from the WPL and have to wait until September for a WPSL to kick off, but they still have something to play for in this tournament. They take on England in their last match on Tuesday and like West Indies, it seems the tournament could end for them there. Unless they beat England and Ireland beat India, Pakistan will exit at the group stage, but that is not as much of a concern for them as making one last statement after failing to do so against West Indies.”We will try to finish the tournament on a good note,” Aliya said. “The way we played the first two matches – attacking cricket, with the same strike rate, fast and quick, we will play that match in the same way.”

In a difficult season, the franchise has backed the same players to deliver even if they hadn’t quite done that earlier

Shashank Kishore20-May-20232:21

Should Jitesh be India’s next T20I wicketkeeper?

The more things change, the more they remain the same. This common refrain perhaps best sums up Punjab Kings season after season; IPL 2023 was no different.Take the last six seasons for example. They’ve had four designated captains – R Ashwin, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and now Shikhar Dhawan – and four head coaches – Brad Hodge, Mike Hesson, Anil Kumble and now Trevor Bayliss.This merry-go-round at the top can be unsettling for the players, at least the young Indian uncapped lot. But in what has been an anomaly, there’s been a growing sign of the team backing the same players to deliver even if they hadn’t quite done that earlier. Now, as they reflect on another season gone by, there’s an opportunity for them to build on these investments as they begin to bear fruit.Related

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Prabhsimran Singh joined the franchise ahead of 2019 but had only played six games across four seasons. This year, he had the role clarity. To give them explosive starts and allow Dhawan to anchor the innings. It wasn’t a blockbuster season, but his 358 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 150.42 provided more than glimpses of his ability.His 65-ball 103 on a Kotla deck against Delhi Capitals where most batters struggled on the two-paced nature of the surface told you of a special player who is capable of taking pitches out of the equation when in his element. Prabhsimran’s backing is unlike what the Kings have done, but here’s is a chance for them to help elevate his game.”I think the talent was always there with him, the maturity has changed,” Kings’ bowling coach Sunil Joshi said. “He started thinking about the game. He started thinking and respecting the bowlers also. That has helped him a lot, staying calm in different situations.”Then there’s Shahrukh Khan who has been branded a finisher for years now and has been with Kings for three seasons. The raw numbers will tell you he doesn’t have a T20 fifty across 33 innings in the IPL.He has failed more than he’s succeeded, and perhaps that’s simply down to the nature of his role, but the one common factor has been the team’s faith in him. This year, he featured in all 14 games but only once batted over 20 balls in an innings.On Friday night, he delivered, albeit belatedly. His 23-ball 41 not out at No. 7 gave Kings a total they didn’t look like getting at one point. In doing so, he gave more than a glimpse into his methods.It wasn’t like he was blindly swinging at every delivery. He came into bat in the 14th over and saw out Yuzvendra Chahal’s threat, fully knowing he could inflict damage later on a small ground. And against a wonky attack that has struggled in the death overs, he unleashed those big hits in the end.Shahrukh doesn’t premeditate; instead, he reacts to the ball and trains for it the same way. “I think my practice is paying off. I am reacting properly at practice to each and every ball I play. That’s the reason it’s paying off here,” he said during the season. “If I go too cheeky, I don’t think it will work for me. So, I just have one thing on my mind. I look to play straight. If anything is here and there, I try and adjust.”Jitesh Sharma ended the season with 309 runs at a strike rate of 156.06•BCCISuch clarity isn’t rare, but the ability to stick to methods that work for him and to have the belief that it will pay dividends, is.Then there’s Jitesh Sharma, whose rise has perhaps been a direct byproduct of the faith and opportunities the franchise has given him. He broke through last year after being scouted by Kumble and has shown a quality few Indian batters have – a no-holds barred approach, the ability to get go right from the outset with a fair degree of success.His power game and calmness at the same time have come in for plaudits. Like it did on Friday night, when he walked in with Kings 50 for 4 in the seventh over. Now, this can cause a few doubts to a few. Jitesh was clear the scorecard wasn’t a reflection of the surface and tried to pick his spots almost immediately.Sure, it didn’t come off, but the intent to go for it was unmissable. He somewhat made up for his relatively slow beginning – 30 off 23 – by taking apart Navdeep Saini for a sequence of 4,6,4 with each of the hits peppering different parts of the ground. In going for a fourth, he was out. But you could see he backed himself to go big once set. He ended the season with 309 runs at a strike rate of 156.06.It’s as much credit to Dhawan as it is to the team management that they’ve been willing to back players in roles they thrive at, even if it hasn’t always paid off. Dhawan himself has had a tough first full season with the Kings, and their history is replete with constant chopping and changing.Now is an opportunity for them to nip that in the bud and punt on this core that has given them an inkling of what is to come in the future with some backing and plenty of opportunities.

The series against Afghanistan with good death bowling, set batters finishing the chase, and holding on to their catches are signs of things coming together for them

Mohammad Isam17-Jul-2023Bangladesh’s season of change in T20Is finished with a high in Sylhet. Their four-wicket win against Afghanistan gave them their first bilateral series win against a side who usually dominate them in this format. To go by their theme this year, Bangladesh dominated the powerplays with both bat and ball. They bowled well at the death and had set batters finishing the chase. They also caught almost everything that came their way.Bangladesh’s series wins against world champions England, Ireland and Afghanistan are proof of a visibly more open-minded approach in T20Is. They call it a bold approach in Bangladesh, but it is basically playing catch-up with the rest of the world. Batting powerfully in the powerplay. Having a strong pace attack. Having enough bowlers. Using big-hitters in the back-end who don’t just look blindly for sixes. A lot of things are coming together for this team.Bangladesh’s search for a powerful top three in the batting line-up also seems to be over. Litton Das, Rony Talukdar and Najmul Hossain Shanto are their top three scorers this year but the likes of Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan and Shamim Hossain have also scored important runs.Taskin Ahmed has led the bowling attack with not just wickets, but by also being an enforcer. With his pace, bounce and movement around the corner, opponents have had to look for runs against the other bowlers. But those have also included Shakib who has combined well with Mustafizur Rahman and Hasan Mahmud.Their catch-to-drop ratio is 33 taken and six dropped since March this year, a huge improvement compared to how they have fielded in the last two years.This T20I form bump also comes at an interesting time for Bangladesh. They have lost two of their last three ODI series, also against England, Ireland and Afghanistan. It is rare for a side that prides itself on their home bilateral record in ODIs since 2014. The T20I side is no match but losing only against Pakistan at home since 2019 isn’t a bad record too.Shakib, who was adjudged the Player of the Series against Afghanistan, has led the side during this period. He is said to be one of the masterminds behind this revival since the T20 World Cup last year. Shakib said that the current bunch of T20I players, many of whom are in the ODI set-up too, can take this confidence of doing well in this format to the two big tournaments in a couple of months.Shakib Al Hasan: “The bowling group’s job is to make life easier for the batters. It is a good combination between our pacers and spinners”•BCB”Most of the T20I players are in the ODI squad so they can take this confidence along with them,” Shakib said. “We will face Afghanistan in the Asia Cup and in the first game of the World Cup, so taking this feeling along will help us. This will be a big confidence boost before those tournaments.”It is satisfying when our plans are reflected in the field. Players are executing it in the middle, and we are getting results. What better can there be? We hadn’t done well against Afghanistan in T20Is in the past so it is a good feeling to win this series. I feel it will give us a lot of confidence in the near future.”Shakib was impressed with the way the bowling attack complemented each other in this game against Afghanistan. Taskin took two early wickets before Shakib and Mustafizur took two each. Although Hasan Mahmud didn’t take wickets, he combined well with Taskin with the new ball to concede just 20 runs in his three overs.”I thought Hasan bowled better than Taskin,” Shakib said. “The bowling group’s job is to make life easier for the batters. It is a good combination between the pacers and spinners. It is also a healthy competition between the two types of bowlers. I think it is helping the team.”Shakib said that sticking to the same group of players since the T20 World Cup last year has paid off with these series wins. He added that within this group, the batters and bowlers have had to switch between different roles, which is only going to make them stronger as cricketers.”Towhid Hridoy is one of the few additions since the last Asia Cup or the World Cup. We have kept almost the same team. There have been two or four players who have come and gone, but that’s part of the process. We have a lot left in our quest to find the best combination. But the way we have done according to the conditions, it is going well. We have to adjust to new conditions in the future.”Flexibility is useful in T20s. An opener and a No. 7 may have to do the same thing in this format. If an opener bats for 15 overs, he would have to bat in the last five overs. If a batter can adjust to every situation, then they will take a difficult situation in their stride. The same with bowlers. If they bowl in a tough situation, then nothing will be new to him.”

It was a performance of ups and downs that further endears you to a cricketer

Vithushan Ehantharajah07-Aug-2023The sun shone throughout the evening in Manchester, and it’s important to put that on the record given the last few weeks here.An entire men’s Ashes was ruined by two days of rain at the end of the fourth Test, followed by a Manchester Originals home opener against London Spirit scuppered in both competitions. The blokes managed to get on for 80 balls, of which Jos Buttler thrilled for 32 of them. Ultimately, it was for nothing.Proximity to such an engaging seven weeks of England and Australia duels means the Hundred needs to thrive more than ever. Even before the parallel men’s and women’s Ashes, there was an understanding at HQ this third season had to harness the power of what was always likely to be a public-enrapturing block of international cricket. And while pockets of the country remain untouched by the harsh, bright hues of the Hundred’s colour palette, the cities exposed to this flash jamboree needed to make it count.Part of that requires attachment. And for the longest time, before the Hundred even got off the ground, you wondered how those in the stands could truly vibe with nebulous concepts. Yet as Emirates Old Trafford welcomed an eventual 11,692 for the men’s portion of this doubleheader, the parochialism from the stands hit you like grapes on Ricky Ponting.The cheers for Buttler’s boundaries were loud. The palpable disdain when replays of the direct hit run out from Moeen Ali showed Buttler might have grounded his bat over the line even louder. They chuntered when Phoenix opener Ben Duckett inadvertently got in the way of a shy at the stumps after popping one into the leg side during the third set of the chase. Moeen, cheered to the rafters here three weeks ago when gliding to a half-century in whites for his country, was jeered off after being trapped by a vicious yorker from local boy Richard Gleeson. They even booed Kane Richardson simply for being Australian.Related

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But it was Usama Mir, one of Originals own as of, well, a few weeks ago, that was the most evocative presence this Monday night. Most of it good, some of it bad, all of it endearing. A performance of ups and downs that further endears you to a cricketer, if it is even possible to have greater admiration for one who fizzes leg spin and smokes boundaries.Uncapped in T20s for Pakistan, and with just six appearances in ODIs, Mir essentially undertook an overseas Vitality Blast gig with Worcestershire with a view to breaking into the Hundred. A route in looked tricky given only domestic players can be Wildcard picks, but 19 wickets in 11 matches at an economy rate of 7.29 impressed Buttler enough to ratify his inclusion after Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga pulled out for the second year in succession.”We had Hasaranga down to come, and Usama Mir was playing for Worcester and doing brilliantly, so bring him in,” said Buttler at stumps, after a 49-run win had been banked thanks to the 27-year-old’s 32 off 14 and 2 for 27.It felt like Originals – and the competition more broadly – fell on their feet when Usama came out at 105 for 6 with 24 balls to go. A tournament that relies on highlight reels has another walking one, it seems.Usama Mir interacts with fans after the game•ECB/Getty ImagesThe wily Benny Howell dipped into his box of tricks and pulled out a slower, length ball he had to go fetch after it was carted over cover. Richardson was then swung over mid off before being short-arm flayed over midwicket for six two deliveries later. Even Adam Milne, who can usually get by on fear of his pace when bowling to the lower half of a batting order, was reverse-ramped twice. At times it looked like Mir had extra joints in his arms, such were the angles created and areas accessed.That feel for the game did not quite carry onto the field, at least not straight away. Will Smeed was shelled on six, after skying a pull around the corner off Josh Little, leading to Mir running back and failing to take over his shoulder. The fall to the ground, as he attempted to clasp it a second time, was comical.The second drop – Jamie Smith on 15 – was even worse, looping to him off a regulation edge after a smart cutter from Paul Walter. An error compounded by the fact Smith had carted Usama’s second and third deliveries for six. But Walter got his man with the very next delivery – caught long on. And when Mir trapped Dan Mousley lbw followed by Shadab Khan, his rival for Pakistan’s leggie allrounder spot, we knew whose day it was. Particularly given Mousley did not review his decision despite impact outside the line after the umpires had made an error in chalking off Phoenix’s review when Moeen’s unsuccessful one came back with an umpire’s call.That review was only reinstated with 25 balls to go, by which point this game was long gone with 75 runs still to get. The deficit would eventually be whittled down to 49 runs, with subdued glee from the Originals “faithful” as Phoenix were dismissed for 111. In a season primarily of rain and tight finishes, we have our second blowout.Ironically, it was one of Lancashire’s own, Liam Livingstone, who was likeliest to make this tighter than it was. It was at this corresponding fixture in the 2021 season – the first Hundred match at Emirates Old Trafford – that Livingstone was booed. This time around, the man who carried the inaugural season on his back managed just 27 off 25, before county team-mate Tom Hartley dismissed him caught-and-bowled. Those cheers carried a genuine sense of a dangerman snared, rather than a pantomime villain vanquished.Through surprise packages and familiar faces, something is brewing among the Originals. It might be that local fans are feeling this new competition. It might be that Manchester just likes its cricket. It might be that it wasn’t raining.The next fixture here is in 13 days (the derby with Northern Supercharges), immediately followed by another three days after versus Southern Brave – the last two fixtures of the group stage. By then, we will know whether Originals are in it to win. And maybe also if this local support is something real.

India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand look primed to take semi-final slots, despite Afghanistan’s climb up the ranks

Ian Chappell05-Nov-2023The first objective in a World Cup is to qualify for the semi-finals. The best result then is to meet your preferred opponent in a knockout match.As we reach the climax of the round-robin stage, the most likely semi-finals look to be India vs New Zealand, and South Africa vs Australia. For two of the tournament favourites, India and Australia, this would be their favoured semi-final match-ups, if the actual finishing order of the top four does result in those contests.While there have been a number of upsets so far – England’s utter collapse being monumental – there have been no real surprises in terms of the best way to win 50-over matches.Related

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Taking early wickets and then maintaining momentum in the middle overs is a surefire way to restrict an opponent. If the best batters are back in the pavilion during the death overs of the first innings, you are likely to be chasing a reasonable target. Having good, wicket-taking spinners is important.Picking the right thing to do on winning the toss is critical. The toss-winning captain faces a challenging decision. One thing you don’t want is to send the opposition in and then find yourself chasing a huge total. Having a decent score on the board is a positive result, especially when the match decides who progresses and who goes home.For that top four finishing order I laid out above to occur, there are still a few crucial games. India, despite remaining undefeated in the round robin, have to stay ahead of South Africa on points. Victory over the South Africa in their group match is still a must, though India are now 7-0 up, after humiliating Sri Lanka.Australia are now almost assured of a third-place finish (which could help them avoid India in the semis) as long as they keep winning. With the unexpected injury to Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh’s untimely absence, this could have been a difficult exercise, except that their arch-rivals, England, have played like headless chooks.

Afghanistan have won a lot of fans with their aggressive approach and continuing improvement in skill. It also doesn’t hurt that their spinners maintain line and length under fire and seek wickets at every opportunity

New Zealand, though they lost to Pakistan on Saturday, and are tied on points with them, are ahead on net run rate.Pakistan, though they have overcome the first of their last two hurdles before the semi-finals, still need to beat their last opponent, England, by a handy margin and have other results go their way.Despite being easy to barrack for and producing a clinical win over Netherlands, Afghanistan have a tough job to sneak into the final four. While mathematically they could finish ahead of New Zealand on points, they have two huge obstacles in their way.Firstly they have a brutal finish, with hard games against Australia and South Africa. That is a difficult enough task, but they are also well behind New Zealand and Pakistan on net run rate, which means Afghanistan have to both bat and bowl outrageously well in those last two matches if they are to have a chance. Nevertheless, they have won a lot of fans with their aggressive approach and continuing improvement in skill. It also doesn’t hurt that their spinners maintain line and length under fire and seek wickets at every opportunity.New Zealand find themselves in a precarious position. They had a reasonably gentle early schedule, considering the absolute disintegration of England. They’ve also suffered some serious injuries along the way, but it is their fielding frailty – normally a strength – that has been a worry of late.South Africa stumbled badly against Netherlands. Australia will hope they commit a playoff crime by producing another inexplicable mix-up to bow out of the World Cup with a poor semi-final performance.Apart from England’s collapse and South Africa’s surprisingly good form, the tournament has progressed as the superpowers, India and Australia, would like. This is an ongoing headache for the ICC if they don’t resolve the current financial imbalance in world cricket.

New local stars emerged, including Josh Brown, but Renegades and Thunder need to rebuild after poor campaigns

Tristan Lavalette26-Jan-2024After a rocky start, marred by a farcical abandonment in Geelong due to a dangerous pitch and the schedule being heavily impacted by bad weather, a shortened BBL season came alive in a throwback to its heyday.It built on the bounce back experienced last season following a difficult period for the BBL mired in successive Covid-19 affected seasons. The tournament appears in a good place, having eroded a negative perception that had set in, but as ever question marks remain.Shortened season fuels big crowdsThis was seen as a pivotal season for the tournament after a resurgence last year. There had long been complaints over the protracted length of the BBL and officials reacted by shortening the regular season from 56 to 40 games.Related

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• What went wrong for Perth Scorchers in BBL hat-trick bid?

• Mass ILT20 exodus leaves BBL finals lacking star quality

Teams played 10 games each – down from 14 – and cut the length so it finished before the school holidays with finals having for a number of years been played in February. The finals series was reduced by a game after a rejigging of the format where only the top four qualified instead of five. It meant that games had more stakes and there were less dead rubbers.The truncated season proved a hit with crowds rising by 27 percent with five regular season matches boasting more than 40,000 fans. It recreated the type of spectacle that saw the BBL take off in the mid-2010s and helped ensure a much better television product to help banish the eyesore of empty grandstands from previous seasons.While traditional strongholds in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane enjoyed record attendances, tournament officials would have been especially delighted with crowd numbers in Melbourne where the BBL has had difficulty penetrating. Renegades had an average crowd increase of 63 pe cent despite another underwhelming season.A capacity crowd of 43,000 at the SCG for the final was a fitting end to a successful season.Laurie Evans was brilliant for Perth Scorchers, but missed the finals•Getty ImagesMass exodus still underlines availability issuesIt wasn’t all smooth sailing with a number of players leaving ahead of the finals to rival leagues, mostly the lucrative ILT20 in the UAE.The BBL had sought to ward off competitors by doubling the salary caps of teams with top overseas players around $420,000 if they were available for the whole season.But it still fell short of the salary cap of teams for the ILT20, which has a footprint from the IPL and is played in a shorter timespan than the BBL. Players unsurprisingly have found the ILT20 too hard to resist.Laurie Evans emerged as a fan favourite for Perth Scorchers after his cavalier batting through the season, but he left the day after their final regular season match to fly to the UAE.He believed the BBL season needed to be further shortened to a month, so that a clash of tournaments could be avoided. Sam Billings, who also left for the ILT20 and subsequently missed the Heat’s triumph, floated the idea of multi-year deals as a way of retaining players.But as cricket’s calendar increasingly gets saturated, the clash of rival tournaments and international fixtures means the issue over player availability might prove impossible to fix.New local stars emergeJosh Brown has suddenly become sought-after around the world•Getty ImagesThe departure of overseas players gutted teams in the finals, who had to rely on bench strength and local talent to get them through. No one grabbed their opportunity more than Brisbane Heat opener Josh Brown, who stepped up with probably the most outrageous innings seen in the BBL when he clubbed 140 off 57 balls against Adelaide Strikers in the Challenger.He made headlines worldwide and backed up his heroics with a half-century – the only one of the match – in tough batting conditions in the final. Brown was subsequently offered a contract in the Bangladesh Premier League.The breakout batter of the regular season was Renegades dynamo Jake Fraser-McGurk, who is starting to put together his big-hitting talents to devastating effect. He produced clean hitting underlined by a strike-rate of 158.64. He also scored two half-centuries having never struck one in the BBL before.Fraser-McGurk, 21, has quickly become a drawcard and looms as a player of considerable interest for the national hierarchy having smashed the fastest ever List A century earlier in the summer and he also struck a maiden first-class hundred. He should make his international debut in the ODI series against West Indies.Seamer Xavier Bartlett has also been named against West Indies after starring with the new ball and at the death to finish as the season’s leading wicket-taker. His destruction of Hurricanes’ top-order had the Gabba heaving in the spell of the tournament.Nikhil Chaudhary, of the Hurricanes, was another to make a name for himself and has reportedly had interest from other BBL clubs.Heat end Scorchers/Sixers’ strangleholdWas this season the start of something for Brisbane Heat?•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesAs top-placed Heat started wobbling late in the season, one suspected Scorchers and Sixers were on a collision course to meet in another final. But Scorchers could never quite overcome the absence of inspirational skipper Ashton Turner as they crashed to a big home loss in the Knockout to Strikers.Sixers, however, peaked at the right time to thrash Heat in the Qualifier on the Gold Coast to book a home final at their SCG fortress. But they were left stunned by Heat in a one-sided final in what might prove to be a changing of the guard.Scorchers and Sixers had won eight of 12 titles, including the last four, but Heat have replicated their blueprint of building around a local core. Queensland Cricket have reaped rewards for their local T20 Max competition which has proven an effective breeding ground for Heat.Having earned redemption after their nightmare defeat against Scorchers last season, Heat became just the third team to win multiple titles and might well be in the midst of a golden run.Renegades and Thunder struggleRenegades and Thunder have often struggled in the BBL – despite each team having won a title – to underline the difficulties of having multiple teams in a city.They combined for just three wins to finish at the foot of the table leading to uncertainty over their futures. Ricky Ponting and Aaron Finch have speculated that Thunder shift to Canberra in order to move away from the often difficult and slow Sydney Showground surface. newspapers recently reported that the ACT are pushing for a new BBL team to be based in Canberra, but expansion seems unlikely in the near future.Finch has also suggested that Renegades, who he used to captain, could move to Geelong. “I think we’re already a bit thin at the moment with the talent pool to get another side in,” he told ESPN’s .Next season: Australia’s stars set to returnThe schedule should allow more appearances from Australia’s Test players next season•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaIn a reassuring sign of the competition’s footing, the BBL enjoyed considerable success even with most of Australia’s star players absent after the Test summer started later than usual.Having lit up the BBL late last season, Steven Smith and David Warner had limited impact in their two matches each. Although Warner did grab plenty of headlines over his arrival by helicopter to the SCG for the Sydney Smash. He will be retired from international cricket by next summer meaning he should be much more available for the BBL.Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head did not play at all, but Australia’s stars are likely to be available for the backend of next season amid a clear slate in the international fixtures in January after the India-Australia Test series wraps up at the SCG.The presence of Australia’s top players in the backend of the season and finals would undoubtedly catapult the BBL to even greater heights.

Shivam Dube had to adapt on tough USA pitches but India will need his power at some stage

Sidharth Monga18-Jun-20244:17

Do India have every box ticked going into the Super Eight?

If you include the warm-up game, Shivam Dube spent 60 legal deliveries in the USA to hit his first six on the tour. This is a batter who has been hitting a six every eight balls or so in the IPL over the last year. In his T20 career overall, which includes times when he was not the six-hitter he is now, he has still hit a six every 16 balls. The six-hitting ability has brought him to the World Cup, and he has had to wait so long to put one in the stands. He jokes he has only ever waited for this long in first-class cricket.Dube is also somebody who loves to hit sixes at practice. He does train other parts of his game, but he absolutely loves range-hitting. Sometimes his training sessions with CSK are just about hitting sixes as soon as he feels ready. It was not possible in New York where India – and other teams – practised in a small facility that can house only the nets. In Florida it just kept raining.You’d expect Dube to be the happiest person to get out of New York, and the USA, and onto more reliable pitches and better training facilities. He isn’t. When asked how easy or difficult, and how important, it is to delete the memories of New York before going to better batting tracks, Dube said he wasn’t going to do any such thing. “I won’t delete this from my memory because this is my first World Cup. Why should I?”Related

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• Rohit on Suryakumar: 'He showed he's got a different game as well'

Relish such conditions is not what six-hitters do. They are in here because of their six-hitting. They know the six-hitting can’t happen on surfaces where the bounce, pace and direction of the ball after the pitching are all unpredictable. So survive them, yes, co-exist with them, but enjoy them?”What I have done in the past is never doubt myself,” Dube said. “What I see is these conditions don’t demand what I have done at CSK. These conditions demand a different game. So I was batting in a different way.”That Dube enjoyed the challenge, trying to find a way to win matches for India, tells you he wants to be more than just a six-hitter. Watching him in the nets, the wind-up always suggests he is going to hit a six. And then he acts according to the ball. It’s as though his batting is all about doing something else only when the option of hitting the six is eliminated. And so far he has found himself in conditions where you have to hit your best possible shot for it to clear the field. You can’t afford even a slight mishit. It is to Dube’s credit that he has done his job without hitting these sixes.Shivam Dube has had to bide his time at this World Cup•ICC/Getty ImagesDube’s arrival in the West Indies hasn’t necessarily been the opening of the floodgates either. The pitches in the nets at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados have had both seam and swing – then the further garnish of a passing shower, which spiced them up further. Dube didn’t opt for range-hitting either, instead spending more time bowling than batting.Some day or the other during this World Cup all this denial will make way for a pitch that calls for 200. It could well be on the main pitch at Kensington Oval, which has already hosted one score of 200. It could be in St Lucia, the highest-scoring ground this tournament. Or the final. It could be against the spinners of Afghanistan or against the varied quicks of Bangladesh.It is on these high-scoring grounds that India really need Dube. While what he did during the chase against USA must have reassured the team of his quality, India have batters who can anchor a middling chase. With the rest of his team-mates, Dube has had two training sessions at Kensington Oval to probably undo the muscle memory, if any, of the USA.Now that switch will have to flick quickly because there is hardly any time in T20s. The skill, though, is not just batting that way but identifying when to do so. Suryakumar Yadav says the captain and the management trust the batters in the middle to know which pace to aim for. Dube will have the feedback from two of the most experienced batters in international cricket to fall back on, but, especially when batting first, India will rely a lot on his instinct to inform what they are aiming for.Whatever the conditions might be in the Super Eight, it is unlikely Dube will have to wait 60 balls for his next six. India might yet need a few from him.

They got a chance to try an extra seamer for the Scotland clash and were successful in their experiment

Valkerie Baynes14-Oct-2024England tested their pace and spin combinations to devastating effect ahead of a move to Dubai for their crucial last group game of this T20 World Cup, against West Indies on Tuesday.Heather Knight, England’s captain, noted ahead of Sunday’s 10-wicket thumping of Scotland that while an enviable attack consisting of four frontline spinners had served her team well, seam had been effective across both venues.Indeed, seam bowling has been more effective than spin across the tournament with wickets coming three runs cheaper for seam bowlers than spinners and at two balls fewer.Related

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So Linsey Smith, the standout performer with the ball in England’s opening win against Bangladesh, made way for Lauren Bell, who took 1 for 16 from her four overs as her side shared the wickets 3-3 between seam and spin.Sophie Ecclestone, Smith’s fellow left-arm spinner was the only multiple wicket-taker with 2 for 13 as offspinner Charlie Dean and seamers Nat Sciver-Brunt and Dani Gibson chimed in with one apiece.It was the perfect match to try out their theory. Scotland had struggled to challenge in their three previous games, despite a plucky performance against Bangladesh in the tournament opener.Scotland started brightly enough, negotiating a meagre powerplay intact and reaching their highest total of the tournament at 109 for 6 but couldn’t get going as England’s bowlers kept them contained.Smith’s low trajectory had proved particularly troublesome to opposition batters on a low and slow Sharjah pitch, while playing two left-arm spinners was a good match-up against South Africa, whom they beat on the same ground, where England have played their first three games. Similarly, New Zealand legspinner Amelia Kerr had walked away with six wickets from two games in Sharjah.But as the pitch showed signs of becoming more conducive to seam – and even swing as a miserly Megan Schutt showed with her twin three-wicket hauls from Australia’s first two games – the evidence supported England’s change.Bell had spent the English summer working with fast bowling coach Matt Mason to remodel her action while playing series against Pakistan and New Zealand and, after sitting out the first two games of this World Cup, it was her turn, to the delight of team-mate Maia Bouchier.Charlie Dean trots in to bowl•ICC/Getty Images”We’ve seen so many improvements from her,” Bouchier said. “She’s worked really hard on her outswing as well, changing her action completely really. She’s put a lot of time and effort and spoken with Lewy (head coach Jon Lewis) and Mase about what she can do to be better and she’s actually taken that on herself, which has been really cool to see.”Working on all these variations, which are really key in these conditions, it’s so important that she’s doing it and lots of the other girls are doing it as well, but she’s put in a really good performance today.”Bouchier herself came into some fine form after two lean outings with the bat of 23 and 8.She scored an unbeaten 62 and Danni Wyatt 51 not out in mowing down a modest 110-run target against Scotland in the 10 overs required to overtake South Africa at the top of Group B on net run rate with a game in hand. England still need to beat West Indies to guarantee a place in the semi-finals.”We knew it was going to be a game that we could take advantage of and putting in a really good performance ahead of the upcoming games, we needed to make sure it was a strong one, and thinking about that net rate as well,” Bouchier said. “We just wanted to get it done as quick as possible.””We really haven’t talked about what could happen,” she added. “We talked a lot about what’s in the present and focusing on each game and no matter what comes up, we will be focusing on what’s happening then.”We could think about who we’re going to play and what’s going to happen, but I think that’s going against our thought processes. Whoever we play, we’re just looking to play on the day.”For herself, Bouchier took her improved performance in her stride.”I’ve been working a lot in the nets on watching and reacting to the ball and my processes in the last year or so… making sure that I’ve been really still at the crease,” she said. “That was the pitch for it. These pitches have worked out quite well for my game. Today was just a really dominant performance from both of us, Danni and I, and also the bowlers, they showed off their class.”Wyatt is England’s leading run-scorer at the tournament so far and fourth overall behind Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt, with India captain Harmanpreet Kaur between the two South Africa openers. Wyatt has 135 runs at an average of 67.50 and strike rate of 123.85.

Bangladesh’s fast bowlers picked up all ten wickets in a Test innings for the first time, and Mahmud took five of them

Mohammad Isam02-Sep-2024Monday was a landmark day in the history of Bangladeshi fast bowling. When the visitors wrapped up Pakistan’s second innings for 172, they did so with their fast bowlers taking all ten wickets. It was a first for Bangladesh in Test cricket.Nahid Rana created a stir with his pace and bounce, and Taskin Ahmed used all his experience to keep Pakistan’s batters on the front foot. Amid all that, though, was the constant, wicket-taking presence of Hasan Mahmud, who picked up a maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket, vindicating the selectors’ decision to bring him into the long format after a strong start in white-ball cricket.Related

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Mahmud became only the third Bangladesh quick in the last 11 years to take a five-for in Test cricket, and like Ebadot Hossain and Khaled Ahmed before him, he too had done so on foreign soil.”I have played a good amount of first-class cricket, so the red ball isn’t new to me,” he said. “It has a different feel in the hand. I like it in my hand. I always have a feeling that I can get a wicket with the red ball.”Mahmud delivered for his captain Najmul Hossain Shanto at important moments. After Bangladesh had made an epic recovery from 26 for 6 to reduce their first-innings deficit to 12 runs, they took the ball late on day three hoping for at least one wicket early in Pakistan’s second innings. Mahmud picked up two. He found Abdullah Shafique’s edge by inviting him to drive at a wide outswinger, and cleaned up nightwatcher Khurram Shahzad to leave Pakistan 9 for 2 at stumps.Mahmud gave Bangladesh two early breakthroughs late on day three•AFP/Getty ImagesOn the fourth morning, Taskin got Bangladesh their first breakthrough by removing Saim Ayub, before Rana ran through the middle order, leaving Pakistan 81 for 6. Then Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha added 55 for the seventh wicket, putting a puzzle in front of Bangladesh.It was time once more for Mahmud to make a mark. He removed Rizwan in much the same way he had sent back Shafique, coaxing a loose drive with a full one outside off, and perhaps this was even more impressive for the amount of late swing he generated with a 36-over-old ball. Next ball, he hit the perfect length in the corridor and found enough movement to get Mohammad Ali to nick to first slip.Agha’s unbeaten 47 led a mini rearguard, as Pakistan’s last two wickets added 36 runs before Mahmud ended their innings with his fifth wicket, that of the No. 11 Mir Hamza.”The bowler has to find ways to get wickets whenever he is handed the ball,” Mahmud said. “Taskin got us going, and then Rana bowled superbly. He was excellent. He shifted the momentum. I stuck to my process, to try to contribute.”A partnership often causes a bit of puzzle in the team. We tried to stop runs from both ends. Dry up the boundaries. It was our plan.”Mahmud’s performance capped a promising series with the ball. He bowled well in the first Test too, removing both openers in the first innings and dismissing Shan Masood in the second. And on the third day of this Test, he showed another facet of his game and his character.Mahmud revived Bangladesh with back-to-back wickets after a fightback from Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha•AFP/Getty ImagesWhen he walked in at No. 10, Bangladesh were 81 adrift of Pakistan’s first-innings total, and Litton Das had run out of recognised batting partners. He was batting with a hand injury and also battling cramps. Bangladesh couldn’t afford to give away a big lead, and Litton needed someone to stay with him. Mahmud did exactly that. He defended for two straight hours, scoring an unbeaten 13 off 51 balls. Mahmud was so focused on his job that it took him a while to realise just how long he had spent at the crease.”[Litton] was the set batter, so there was a lot of work to do,” Mahmud said. “All he told me was that I had to give him support. He said he will do the rest. That’s what I tried to do. I really enjoyed batting with . I know now that I have batted for two hours. I realised this later. I only saw that I batted 55 balls when I was walking off with the bat.”Mahmud reiterated the belief within the group, going back to the mood in the dressing room when Litton and Mehidy Hasan Miraz came together at 26 for 6.”When we faced that situation, we lost all those wickets, we had to come out with a new plan,” Mahmud said. “We trusted Litton and Mehidy out in the middle to do the job. We felt that they will get settled, get the runs. They got settled, so we believed that they can do the job.”Bangladesh’s belief will be tested one last time when they resume the fourth innings on Tuesday morning, needing another 143 with all ten wickets in hand, and potentially rain in the air. This has already been a special tour for Bangladesh. Mahmud has done his bit, and he will hope his batting won’t be required once again as they look to end their trip on a massive, unprecedented high.