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The pandemic showed us what we stood to lose, but it also gave us greater perspective on the issues that really matter

Sambit Bal31-Dec-2020Defeat, any sportsperson who has experienced considerable success will tell you, is a greater teacher than victory. The same for life and adversity. Not in living memory has the human race been challenged like it was in 2020, and while the cost, in terms of loss of life, economic hardship, and just the all-encompassing shadow of fear, has been immense, what have we learnt? Or discovered? About ourselves and our world?Some things are instantly palpable. Collectively, we have found resilience and the adaptability to navigate through our circumstances. Remote-working made room for more family time and for reacquainting oneself with simple pleasures and finding new ones.At ESPNcricinfo, we survived the unthinkable – the absence of live sport – by slipping for a while into magazine mode, a thoroughly enjoyable challenge that meant conceiving and producing features, both text and video, that required the rigours of a weekly, at the pace of an instant medium. And gratifyingly, many of those features continue on the site, even after the return of cricket.Apart from everything else, and I believe I speak on behalf of many of my colleagues – and many of you – the break allowed us to renew our love for the game. Given how it felt when the world began shutting down in March, any cricket, let alone how much of it we have at the moment, feels like a miracle.But what about the most valuable lesson? Powered by artificial intelligence, super-fast cloud computing and advances in molecular science, the scale of human ambition and imagination has seemed limitless this century, luring us into a sense of unassailability. By making us confront our fragility, the pandemic has served as a useful reminder of our place in the universe and the power of nature.Related

• Virus stops cricket

• There was cricket in 2020. Isn't that miracle enough?

• Who makes it to our teams of the year?

• Steven Asks: How closely did you follow cricket in 2020?

• How did New Zealand, England, West Indies and women's cricket fare this year?

Cricket needed some soul-searching too. On the face of it, it is prosperous like never before, but beneath the boom there are serious fissures that imperil its future. And the pandemic has hastened one crisis that was always coming. But first, the good stuff.Cricket in the time of Covid
When life was suspended earlier this year – offices and businesses shut, borders closed, flights cancelled – resumption of live sport seemed the lowest priority. But yet, when sport, first football and then cricket, started up again, much earlier than we had expected, it reaffirmed its place in our lives. Even while the shadow of the pandemic hung grimly and normalcy seemed a distant vision, the sight of young and fit athletes displaying physical skill was reassuring and uplifting. Sport is not a luxury; it is the most joyous extension of life.For all the criticism they cop, let’s give a hand to the administrators for rising to a challenge no one could have imagined, much less planned for. The England Cricket Board led the way. Without precedence to go by or any template to follow, it put together a biosecure apparatus that was as elaborate as it was detailed. Faith came too from the West Indian players, who were the first ones to travel, and then from Ireland*, Pakistan and Australia, who ensured a full English summer.The BCCI benefited from this experience and pulled off an even more impressive feat. At the best of times, organising the IPL, which is as big as the World Cup in scale, is a gigantic task. To gather players, support staff, broadcast crew, umpires and officials from at least nine different countries, amid varying levels of travel restrictions, and host the tournament away from home in three separate emirates, with different quarantine norms and border restrictions, required fleet-footed planning, coordination with multiple government and private agencies, and exacting efficiency and rigour in execution. There was no room for lapses. After one Covid scare, the tournament went swimmingly.Playing the IPL in the UAE this year required an unprecedented level of coordination and care behind the scenes•Samuel Rajkumar/BCCIMeanwhile, there was the CPL in the Caribbean and, quite amazingly, the first edition of the Lanka Premier League, which, despite aborted attempts, a few Covid scares, and a few pullouts, was successfully completed mid-December in Sri Lanka.As the year wound on, crowds returned to grounds in New Zealand and Australia, and with chants, applause, drums, flags and even some boos, cricket felt restored.Cricket economy: brace for impact

But trouble is brewing elsewhere. The cricket economy, overheated for long and largely reliant on one country, is due a correction. Cricket subsists on broadcast revenue and the big cricket boards and the ICC have flourished in the last two decades on the back of mega rights deals. This has enriched the entire cricket ecosystem barring one vital constituent – the broadcaster.The rumblings have begun already. Cricket Australia is in a dispute over the value of the rights with its primary broadcaster; New Zealand Cricket has gone entirely digital; Pakistan has gone with an advertising revenue-sharing deal with the government-owned broadcaster based on highly optimistic projections; and both West Indies and Bangladesh are without broadcast deals at the moment.But the loudest warning came from the man primarily responsible for putting the cricket economy into hyper drive. Uday Shankar, the out-going chairman of Star and Disney India*, under whose leadership Star invested over US$ 4.5 billion in cricket rights in the current cycle, $3.5 billion of which went to the BCCI alone, said in an interview in the Times of India this October that the current global model of the game was fast becoming unsustainable and for cricket authorities to not take that into account would be short-sightedness.

For all the criticism they cop, let’s give a hand to the administrators for rising to a challenge no one could have imagined, much less planned for

The cricket establishment, he argued, was in denial in thinking it was still all about Test cricket. Fans were primarily interested in T20s and ODIs and it was only marquee Test cricket – India vs Australia and England, Australia vs England – that they cared about. Advertisers and sponsors were always likely to prioritise the interests of fans.Star’s own deal with the BCCI for India’s bilateral cricket, drafted with no room for negotiation, is illustrative of Shankar’s point. Worth nearly a billion dollars, it is agnostic of format and opposition, with the broadcaster required to pay the same fee for a Test against Afghanistan as for a T20I against Australia.At the other end, there’s growing financial inequity between rich and poor boards, and a consequent and inevitable widening quality gap in the cricket played. New Zealand remain an outlier and perhaps a model of governance for the smaller boards in the way they have managed their resources to remain competitive, but signs are troubling everywhere else. Cricket’s elite club expanded when Afghanistan and Ireland were granted Test status in 2017, but those two sides have managed four and three Tests respectively since then.The big boys of this club, India, England and Australia, meanwhile have played 284 of the 454 Tests held since the beginning of 2010 (62.5%), of which 77 have been what Shankar described as marquee contests. Looked at from different vantage points, this points to either the Big Three cornering the biggest slice of action for themselves, or that too many Tests are commercially unviable in the current model.It’s a strong argument that the market will eventually determine the future of bilateral cricket, but the erosion of the game’s traditional battlefields will eventually shrink the global talent pool and the effects will be felt in the shiny T20 leagues that dip into this pool. This scenario might seem distant, but the IPL has just laid out its expansion plans and the demand for quality players will increase 20%. This is a simplistic illustration, but the underlying point is that even leaving aside the concept of equality, cricket isn’t a big enough sport to let some of its branches wither away.A powerful gesture can help in changing attitudes while a half-hearted one can dilute or confuse your message•Christiaan Kotze/AFP/Getty ImagesSouth Africa’s free fall
If you set aside wealth and boardroom power, South Africa have been, pretty much since their reintegration in 1992, a cricket powerhouse, a worthy challenger to Australia in the first decade of the century, and in possession of a better record away from home than everyone else. They produced an assembly line of international-quality fast bowlers, handy allrounders, gritty all-weather batsmen, and a few all-time greats. Their World Cup miseries aside – and even here, their failures become a talking point because they make it to the knockouts – they were never a side easily beaten. As a box-office draw, they were always gold class. England played five-Test series against them, and there was much hand-wringing when India’s last tour to their shores was cut to three Tests from four.It is distressing therefore to watch the gradual descent of a team so consistently excellent. Part of this is cyclical, of course. When a collection of world-class players, including a couple of once-in-a-lifetime ones, comes together, the departure of those players leaves massive voids. You don’t lose Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel over a period of five years – the last four over two – without suffering a dip. But the South African situation has also been aggravated by administrative chaos and the aggressive implementation of the national reservation policy.A sub-optimal cricket team is a small price to pay given the heinousness of South Africa’s past, and affirmative action in sport is part of a much more significant narrative. But even though delicate, the question at least needs to asked: whether the ultimate aim – of getting the cricket team to be more representative of the nation – wouldn’t be better served by a far more aggressive approach to developing talent at the lower levels. How many underprivileged children can afford to be in the elite cricket schools, for long the nursery for nurturing talent in South Africa, or to pursue professional cricket as a vocation, given their socio-economic circumstances? Wouldn’t creating equal opportunities at the grassroots be far more transformative than imposing stiff targets at the highest level?South Africa also face the challenge of containing the exodus of aspiring white players to whichever other nation – the US being the latest promised land – will have them. If the national team continues to decline, would cricket not become a less attractive sport for young people?

As the year wound on, crowds returned to grounds in New Zealand and Australia, and with chants, applause, drums, flags and even some boos, cricket felt restored

But who can one address these questions to? Cricket South Africa’s CEO was first suspended, then sacked for misconduct. One acting CEO stepped down, the second has been suspended for breaches of the Companies’ Act. The COO has been sacked. The entire cricket board resigned after the sports minister threatened to intervene, and an interim board is now in place. Amid all the chaos, a Covid outbreak led to the abandonment of an ongoing tour by England.The year 2020 couldn’t end any sooner for cricket in South Africa, but the fear is that it could get much worse in 2021.Take a knee, and rise together
Another confounding image came from South Africa on Boxing Day when the national team stood with raised fists to support the Black Lives Matter movement. It was a strange half-gesture.Taking a knee has become the most powerful symbol of solidarity with the movement that ignited across the world after George Floyd, an African-American man, was choked to death by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.England and West Indies women take a knee during a T20I in Derby in September•Nathan Stirk/Getty ImagesCricket did itself credit when the England team joined the West Indies players in taking a knee when play resumed after the pandemic in Southampton.The Test also featured a rousing interview on Sky Sports with Michael Holding, the former West Indies great, which became cricket’s call to arms on racism. Holding later criticised the England and Australia teams for not continuing the practice further in the summer.There’s an argument that the world needs to move beyond symbolism to tangible action against racism. It’s a hollow one. Taking a knee doesn’t prevent tangible action. In fact, by raising awareness repeatedly, it can help promote action. And as a symbolic gesture from sportspersons, it is profound and stirring. It’s the recognition of a problem; it’s a simple message of empathy with the persecuted, and a high-profile statement that the world stands united against the abomination of racism. It’s a movement that needs to expand. In India, it should transmute into Dalit Lives Matter, for casteism here is just as malevolent as racism elsewhere.As for racism, South Africa has the most to apologise for. The reluctance of its elite cricketers to go the full distance – a simple matter of bending a knee – sends the wrong message.

The only viable option is to approve and share a list that specifies the nominated concussion substitute for each player ahead of a match. That will not solve the problem but it will avoid post-substitution disgruntlement

Anatomy of collapses
When a team gets bowled out for 36, it is, inevitably, a combination of the following things: outstanding bowling on a helpful pitch, a few mistakes from the batsmen, but, most crucially, every element falling precisely in place in favour of the bowlers in an uncommon manner. Every potentially wicket-taking ball must find its mark – the edge, the pad or the stumps – every edge must carry and every catch must be taken. Batting can be a cruel game of fractions, and when caught in a perfect storm like India were in that fateful session in Adelaide, the room for error, the lifeblood of batting, is minimised to almost zero as bowlers find their zone.Another day, for no fault of the bowlers, it’s another story. On the first evening of the Melbourne Test, Mitchell Starc could have had three wickets in the first over instead of one, and Pat Cummins could have had six wickets in his two spells across two days instead of two. Shubman Gill was beaten three times in one Cummins’ over and dropped in the slips soon after. He would be dropped once more the next morning and score boundaries off genuine edges; Cheteshwar Pujara had edges off his bat drop short twice before being dismissed due to a third, and Ajinkya Rahane, the century-maker, had two clear reprieves.But it’s also a fact that teams collapse more often these days. For one, it has been a bowler-friendly era, with home teams preparing wickets to suit their bowlers, and in the process, helping all bowlers. Also, in an age that places a premium on fast run-scoring, defensive techniques have been eroded to a point where batsmen aren’t equipped to play out tough sessions with sideways movement. That’s true of all teams, including England, whose home grounds thrive on seam and swing.There are two ways to look at it. We can lament the lowering of the overall quality of Test cricket. Poor batsmanship means bowlers are made to look better, and the primary contest in cricket is devalued. Or we choose to embrace the way of the times and celebrate what we have: Test cricket on wheels, runs at a fast clip, sometimes wickets at a faster clip, and more results than ever before.The problem with upholding the umpire’s call for lbws is that the human decision introduces inconsistency•Mark Brake/Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesAnother manifestation of deteriorating defensive technique is the growing number of instances of batsmen getting hit on the head after taking their eyes off the ball. This has made concussions substitution one of the most important regulation changes introduced into the game. It’s a matter of debate why it can’t be extended to include all serious external injuries – a broken arm, for example – but head injuries are grievous, sometimes deceptively so, compared to others, and the substitution takes the pressure off teams and individual players to deploy a concussed player when a match is poised delicately.But it does create piquant situations like the one in India’s first T20I against Australia last month, when Yuzvendra Chahal came off the bench to replace Ravindra Jadeja, who took a blow to his head during his pugnacious and eventually match-defining innings of 44 off 23 balls. Chahal, a specialist and match-winning T20 bowler, duly bowled India to victory, causing considerable frustration to the Australian team.India clearly got the best of the deal in that match. They got full value from the bat of Jadeja, picked as an allrounder, but since he was also due to bowl four overs of spin, Chahal, even though he is a legspinner and Jadeja a left-arm spinner, was the only possible substitution available.But there is no way to avoid such scenarios in the future. It will be impossible for teams to carry like-for-like substitutes for every player, or even every group of players. And what if a substitute also gets injured? The only viable option is to approve and share a list that specifies the nominated substitute for each player ahead of the match. That will not solve the problem but it will avoid post-substitution disgruntlement.

It is ironical that the BCCI under Ganguly’s presidency has spent considerable time at the court to overturn the very reforms that facilitated his ascension

Decision over the decision-maker
The Decision Review System was meant, apart from trying to get as many decisions correct as possible, to take some heat away from the umpires, by co-opting players into the decision-making process. Despite the occasional baffling outcome with the technology, even the staunchest traditionalists will not have a convincing argument for reverting to the old ways.But a massive bugbear remains – the umpire’s call, which grants the benefit of doubt to the original decision for lbw. Umpire’s call was introduced for one primary reason: to account for a margin of inevitable uncertainty in the ball-tracking technology. However, the margin-of-uncertainty argument would be far more palatable if the benefit of doubt wasn’t granted to the umpire’s decision. The sport needs consistency and not confusion. One batsman can’t be out and another be not out, as is the case presently, when the ball is shown to be hitting the stumps in both instances.Joe Burns, battling to save his career, was dismissed in the Adelaide Test when the ball was shown to be grazing the leg stump. In the next Test, Marnus Labuschagne survived a review even though a larger part of the ball than in Burns’ case was projected to be hitting. The difference was that Burns was given out on the field and Labuschagne not out. A series of umpire’s calls that go against a team can prove decisive to the result of a game.There is a simple fix. Keep a standard margin of uncertainty in favour of the batsman. Perhaps reduce it to the batsman being out if more than 25% of the ball is projected to hit the stumps. And remove the umpire’s call. The sanctity of the decision is more important than that of the decision-maker.The skipper becomes a suit
Great expectations carry the risk of great disappointment. It would have been futile to expect Sourav Ganguly, among India’s most adored captains, to replicate the success he had with the Indian team in his stint in cricket governance, but when he promised a new era after being nominated as the BCCI president, hopes ran high. Perhaps a bit naïvely.Michael Holding’s moving interview about the racism he has experienced helped bring greater focus to the Black Lives Matter conversation in cricket•Getty ImagesIt’s true that Ganguly would not have become president – not so soon, at least – if most of the other leading aspirants had not been debarred in the wake of the Supreme Court-backed reforms mandated by the Lodha committee, but it is also true that Ganguly was co-opted by the old system. In the time-honoured tradition of the BCCI, he didn’t fight an election: he was selected. Though as board president he was never going to have around him a stellar team of the sort that made his tenure as Indian captain so successful, it is ironic that the BCCI under his presidency has spent considerable time in court trying to overturn the very reforms that facilitated his rise to the post.Under the new constitution that elected him, Ganguly’s term is over. Yet he, and Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, carry on, because the Supreme Court has been in no haste to make a ruling on the petition by the board to overturn the cooling-off clause between terms in office mandated by the Lodha committee.Meanwhile, the professional administration has been dismantled piece by piece. The BCCI has not replaced the CEO and the CFO who left; it is without a head of cricket operations and an administrative head for the National Cricket Academy. And just recently, the board picked a selection committee that has no experience in T20 cricket, though there are two back-to-back T20 World Cups on the horizon.The concept of zonal selectors, though officially discarded, is alive in practice and Abey Kuruvilla, who played the last of his 35 international matches in 1997, was preferred as the West Zone candidate over Ajit Agarkar, who represented India in 221 matches and played six seasons of the IPL. (This is not to say that more international experience is a defining qualification for being a better selector, but experience of contemporary cricket has to count, particularly in T20, which is almost a different game from Test cricket.)In simple terms, it’s just like in the old era – the honorary office bearers are back in administrative roles, thus defeating one of the central reforms that stipulated a clear demarcation of functions between the elected office bearers and the executive.Part of the problem is that the Lodha committee failed to address one of the root issues at hand. The reforms were limited to the top tier, and that was never going to be enough as long as the underlying electoral process remained the same. It only meant that many from the old guard who were debarred merely transferred their positions to their nominees. Some faces might have changed, but the power remained with the same network of clubs and state associations.It would have been beyond Ganguly to single-handedly upend the system that anointed him, but had he tried, he would have had the mandate of the Supreme Court and the force of goodwill behind him. Instead he has been in the news for his endorsement deals – among others for businesses that compete with the BCCI’s official sponsors – and for his links with a company that owns an IPL franchise.Our sporting heroes are not obliged to always live up to our image of them, but we are still entitled our disappointment.Persons of the Year
I have two, and neither held a bat or a ball this year. Steve Elworthy, the ECB’s event director, for leading cricket’s response to the pandemic and putting the show back on the road. And Michael Holding, for being the game’s eloquent voice of conscience in the BLM movement.*ESPNcricinfo and Star are part of the Walt Disney CompanyMore in our look back at 2020*Dec 31, 2020, 8.35 GMT: In the original version of the piece, Ireland was missing from the list of teams that toured England

أفادت تقارير صحفية أن ليفربول أصبح يضع عينه على أحد الأجنحة اللامعة، حيث يبحث عن التعاقد مع بديل للنجم المصري محمد صلاح.

ومن المحتمل أن يرحل محمد صلاح عن ملعب أنفيلد، وقد يوجه ليفربول بوصلته إلى برادلي باركولا جناح باريس سان جيرمان بجانب جناح أنطوان سيمينيو لاعب بورنموث.

وبحسب “Caughtoffside” فإنه ورغم مراقبة ليفربول لموقف باركولا مع باريس سان جيرمان، إلا أن النادي الفرنسي يفضل حالياً الإبقاء على لاعبه الشاب.

وقد يعمل باريس سان جيرمان خلال الفترة القادمة على تمديد عقد باركولا صاحب الـ23 عاماً والذي ينتهي عقده الحالي في عام 2028.

اقرأ أيضاً.. الدوري الأمريكي عن ضم محمد صلاح: عليه التحدث مع ميسي

ومع ذلك فإن صفقة انتقال باركولا إلى صفوف ليفربول قد تكون واقعية، حيث لم يتمكن اللاعب من حجز مكان أساسي في تشكيل باريس سان جيرمان بسبب المنافسة الشديدة في فريق المدرب لويس إنريكي لذا قد يبحث عن الانتقال لوجهة أخرى.

وقد يلعب باركولا دوراً محورياً في ليفربول ليحل محل محمد صلاح، وقد تكون هناك أندية كبيرة أخرى مثل مانشستر يونايتد مهتمة بالحصول على خدمات اللاعب.

جدير بالذكر أن باركولا سجل ستة أهداف وصنع خمس تمريرات حاسمة في جميع المسابقات مع باريس سان جيرمان وفرنسا هذا الموسم.

He didn’t get off to his usual quick start, yet ended up with an unbeaten 73 on a slow wicket to secure MI’s playoffs dream

Sidharth Monga22-May-20252:17

Aaron: Bowlers’ Plan B is Suryakumar’s Plan A

Suryakumar Yadav has a general cheery disposition towards life, but at the break between innings at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, he sounded extra pleased with himself. This had been one of his anomalous knocks: he was barely a run-a-ball in the first 20 balls, got to fifty in 36, and ended up with a strike rate of 169.76 despite playing for as long as 43 balls.Yet Suryakumar knew he had taken Mumbai Indians (MI) to an above-par score on a slow pitch where the ball gripped for the spinners and the fast bowlers who bowled cutters into the pitch. Now imagine the level of adjustment needed. You think a night match at Wankhede, you think you need to score 200 at the very least if you lose the toss. Here, Suryakumar batted thinking 160 was par, and 180 came about only because the last two overs went for 48.At the break, Suryakumar said this was an innings he had been hoping for a long time. “That it’s a difficult situation, I go into bat and try to bat till the end. And get a score that is above par,” Suryakumar told the broadcast.Related

Aaron: Santner showing his worth in Mumbai Indians colours

Du Plessis: MI's counterpunch cost us in last two overs

Suryakumar, Santner and Bumrah lead MI into playoffs

Now Suryakumar has had the most unbelievable run of 13 consecutive scores of 25 or more, which is now a world record, but that is not enough for him. He was waiting for an innings where he stood out. “It’s been 13 games now,” Suryakumar said later. “My wife told me a sweet story today. She said, ‘you have got all the awards except Man of the Match’. So this award is really special today. From the team’s point of view, this knock was important. Also this trophy [was important] for her.”Elite athletes want to win games, but they also want to do as much as they can on their own. So far Suryakumar hasn’t really had a shot at a solo showing. With their qualification for playoffs on the line, this game was as good a time as any. As he said, it didn’t come easy. He walked in at 48 for 2 in the last over of the powerplay. It became 58 for 3 soon, and the spinners handcuffed him and Tilak Varma soon after.It is rare to see Suryakumar get beaten four times in the first eight balls of spin he plays. He just couldn’t get the right length to attack. You wondered where the sweep shot was. It arrived against the ninth ball of spin, and even that a mis-cue. This was a slow pitch not conducive to dominating spin. Suryakumar would have to adjust his sights much lower and bide for his opportunity.Suryakumar Yadav unlocked deep pockets to write Mumbai Indians’ playoffs story•BCCINot a fan of taking it deep, Suryakumar was forced to do so here as Delhi Capitals (DC) kept bowling their best slower bowlers to try to get him out. He scored just 27 off 23 balls from Kuldeep Yadav, Vipraj Nigam and Mustafizur Rahman.Suryakumar said he knew the pitch was going to be slow so it wasn’t really a shock to his system, but even that par assessment of 160 looked in doubt when the last two overs began. They would need to score 30 off the last two to give themselves an even chance, that too provided there wasn’t any dew.When he finally got pace on ball, Suryakumar scored 28 off eight balls in those last two overs from Mukesh Kumar and Dushmantha Chameera. With a little help from Naman Dhir, he had taken MI to 180. He scored only 26 of his 73 runs behind square, which is a rare event for Suryakumar. The conditions and smart bowling forced him to look deeper into his drawer. The most complete T20 batter of this age showed the drawer has deep pockets.

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley has struggled defensively of late, committing as many as five errors over the team's last 15 games.

Riley ranks fifth in MLB with seven errors on the season, and, amid a tumultuous stretch at the hot corner, Braves manager Brian Snitker has come to his defense.

Following Atlanta's 5–3 loss vs. the San Diego Padres on Sunday, during which Riley committed yet another defensive mishap, Snitker addressed the third baseman's recent woes at third base. Snitker seemed to suggest that the field conditions at Truist Park have been lacking, and that part of the reason for Riley's surge in defensive mishaps was the grounds crew.

"I don't think it's all on him if you want to know the truth," Snitker told reporters, via MLB.com's Mark Bowman.

On the play in question, Riley misplayed a ground ball at third base, allowing Luis Arraez to reach base safely. Arraez was plated a couple of batters later courtesy of a two-run shot from Gavin Sheets.

As Bowman pointed out, four of Riley's five errors over the last 15 games have occurred at home. Snitker seemed more willing to deflect the blame onto the Truist Park grounds crew rather than hold his player accountable for his poor spell on defense.

The 2025 season has not gone to plan for the Braves, who sit at 25-27 on the year following Sunday's loss.

The opener exuded confidence ahead of Pakistan’s first game of the Asia Cup in Abu Dhabi, against Sri Lanka

Danyal Rasool22-Sep-20251:39

Chopra: Clear difference in Pakistan’s intent with the bat

Pakistan may be sitting at the bottom of the Super Four table after another fairly convincing defeat against India, but their best performer on the night felt the game showed what Pakistan were capable of. Sahibzada Farhan, who dominated the first ten overs of the contest and scored a 34-ball half-century, was confident Pakistan were well set up to put themselves on the board against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.”The way we batted today, the boys are very confident,” Farhan said, speaking after the game against India. “The wickets in Abu Dhabi are true and the ball comes onto the bat, and we’ll play to win.”Unlike Sri Lanka, who have played two of their four games in Dubai, Pakistan’s four matches at the Asia Cup have all taken place there. Without a formal training session, they will go into a game which may end up proving an eliminator for the losing side, with Sri Lanka having begun the Super Fours with defeat to Bangladesh. Farhan, though, dismissed the idea that preparation was a concern.Related

Similar goals, similar problems: SL, Pakistan resume borderline sappy yet competitive rivalry

“We’re very well prepared. The boys are confident ahead of the Sri Lanka game because this wasn’t a one-sided game; it was one we took right to the end.”That increased optimism is largely down to Farhan himself. His start, particularly in the way he took down Jasprit Bumrah in the powerplay, as well as the aggression against Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel in the four overs that followed, took Pakistan to 91 for 1 in ten overs, their highest midway total against India. Despite a post-drinks slowdown which robbed them of momentum, Pakistan posted 171, requiring India to complete the highest successful chase of the tournament for victory.”I worked a lot on my six hitting,” Farhan, who hit three sixes and is Pakistan’s highest run-scorer of the tournament, said. “When I used to score runs before, there were very few boundaries among them. If we’d won this game, it would have been very valuable to me. Performing against India is very highly rated but I just regret we didn’t win the game today.”The mistake we were making in previous matches was losing wickets early on and not utilising the powerplay. This time around our powerplay was brilliant, with 91 in 10 overs. There was a collapse in the middle and we’ll look to rectify that.”When, with a six of Axar, Farhan reached his half-century, he opted to celebrate in a manner that raised eyebrows at the time, with Farhan cocking his bat and miming the firing of a gun. It was just one of the flashpoints in an ill-tempered game between the two sides, though Farhan said there was nothing to read into it.”That celebration was just a spur of the moment. I rarely celebrate when I get to fifty,” he said. “But when I got there I suddenly got the idea of celebrating, and so I did without knowing or caring how people would interpret it. We should play aggressive cricket against any team, not just India, the way we played today.”Farhan hoped Pakistan and India aren’t done with each other yet in the Asia Cup. “We’d love to be able to meet India again in the final.”Their trip to Abu Dhabi is likely to have a huge say in determining how realistic that ambition is.

Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters will already be fearing the worst regarding their side’s bottom-of-the-table position in the Premier League.

Only a sorry two points have been accumulated so far this season, with the Old Gold hierarchy ultimately left with no choice but to sack Vitor Pereira, after Wolves slipped to their disastrous eighth loss of the campaign already away at Fulham on Saturday.

Now, the hunt is on to appoint a miracle worker in the West Midlands, who can turn around this awful start, with a whole host of names being tipped to take on the vacancy.

The latest on Wolves' hunt for a new manager

The only certainty at the moment is that Gary O’Neil will not be re-entering the Molineux dug-out.

Indeed, rumours had begun to circulate that O’Neil was the favourite to take over from Pereira and return in dramatic circumstances. But, the ex-AFC Bournemouth head coach has since withdrawn himself from the race, after holding advanced talks.

Moreover, Michael Carrick is also on Wolves’ radar, with the former Middlesbrough manager still looking for work after being let go by Boro.

With three caretaker matches in charge of Manchester United also under his belt, he could potentially relish the chance of being a saviour for Wolves in the top division.

Carrick’s replacement at the Riverside Stadium in Rob Edwards is also high up the alleged priority list, having previously lined up for Wolves as a player, before earning his managerial stripes at Luton Town and beyond.

Yet, the most out-there name being linked to the Wolves vacancy right now could be viewed as Erik ten Hag, with reports from ESPN indicating that the Dutchman is ‘interested’ in holding talks with the Molineux outfit over the vacant job.

It’s stated that Ten Hag would like to return to the Premier League after his torrid spell at Manchester United, having had his already tattered managerial reputation put through the wringer again when axed three games into his Bayer Leverkusen stint this season.

Still, even with his back-to-back failures hanging over him, ten Hag has been a success in his career elsewhere, as Wolves potentially prepare to welcome a new Nuno Espirito Santo-style figure to Molineux.

How Ten Hag can be Wolves' new Nuno Santo

Despite his sketchy recent track record, the ex-Ajax manager would also be seen as an upgrade on O’Neil walking through the door.

Indeed, despite being the butt of many a Red Devils joke by the time of his dismissal, the 55-year-old guided United to 44 top-flight wins from his 85 games in charge. O’Neil has only 25 league wins next to his name on the contrary.

With other high-profile managers also struggling to get a tune out of the Premier League giants, since he left the Theatre of Dreams, it’s clear the problems run far deeper in Manchester than just who occupies the stressful dug-out.

Nuno has also been up against it in the top division since exiting Wolves, with spells at Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest not exactly going to plan. But, having overseen 73 wins in charge of the Old Gold in the top-flight, he is still heralded as one of the finest bosses they have possessed in the elite division in recent memory.

Despite his wobbles, Ten Hag will hope he will be seen as a similarly ambitious appointment, like when Nuno entered the Wolves dug-out in the Championship after successful stints in La Liga and Liga Portugal, when taking in his glittering managerial numbers above.

The unemployed boss collected three Eredivisie titles as manager of Ajax, with a Champions League semi-final run also being spearheaded by the Dutchman, who has been noted as being a “world-class” operator by his former United midfielder in Fred.

An FA Cup success also came his way during his hot-and-cold reign in Manchester, as the 55-year-old attempts to become a much-loved name at Molineux by steering Wolves away from certain relegation.

If he pulls that unbelievable feat off, he will definitely be seen as the second coming of Nuno – with Ten Hag also regularly setting his teams up in the Portuguese’s preferred 4-2-3-1 make-up – as another bold coup of an appointment potentially goes down a treat.

After all, landing Ten Hag would surely be seen as a more exciting development than retreading old ground with O’Neil.

Wolves want Rob Edwards after Gary O'Neil snub, timeline of appointment revealed

Is the former Luton Town boss the right man for the job?

ByHenry Jackson Nov 4, 2025

Manchester United have been boosted in their efforts to sign a player who has been compared to Lionel Messi, with an offer potentially incoming.

Neville hails Amorim's "best week" at Man Utd

A feeling of positivity has finally returned to Old Trafford, following three Premier League wins in a row, with Saturday’s 3-2 win at home to Brighton another big step in the right direction.

In fact, United legend Neville even believes that has been Ruben Amorim’s “best week” in charge, finding plenty of positives in the last three games.

“I think that it feels like his best week in the job. I think where we’ve all been with it, I wouldn’t have been surprised if we talked about him losing his job. I was thinking he was under massive pressure after going into the international break in October. I felt as though that change could be imminent.

“But the victory at Anfield shows you how things can turn around and then obviously this was so important today. He’s not out of the woods yet and it’s certainly not time to get carried away but I think Manchester United are now where they thought they probably would be.”

Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, two of United’s most expensive signings of all time, are beginning to purr, and the Red Devils are now being linked with a move for an equally exciting attacking player.

Man Utd boosted in Kubo chase

A newspaper in Spain claims to have a “bombshell” update regarding the future of Real Sociedad winger Takefusa Kubo. They report he is expected to leave the Spanish club in 2026, with Manchester United in line to bid for him.

The Japanese starlet is also wanted by the likes of Tottenham and Everton, both of whom have shown an interest, and he may cost as little as £35m as Sociedad have decided to cash in for less than his release clause rather than risk his value plummeting any further after a run of bad form.

Kubo is a special talent who has even been dubbed the ‘new Messi’ in his homeland, while Zinedine Zidane also once spoke highly of him when was out on loan from Real Madrid, even though he failed to excel at the Santiago Bernabeu in the end.

Kubo is primarily a right winger, coming in onto his left foot like Mbeumo, and while fitting him into the team may not be easy, competition for places and elite squad depth can only bed a good thing for Amorim.

Forget Sesko: Man Utd have Van Persie 2.0 who's 'one of the best in the PL'

Manchester United have found their next Robin van Persie in this star, and it is not Benjamin Sesko.

ByDan Emery Oct 27, 2025

Still only 24, there is still so much more to come from the Japan star, and if United can pip others to his signature, they could have a future Old Trafford superstar on their hands, both on the pitch and in terms of marketing.

Arsenal are so good at set-pieces it’s boring. Their long throw-ins are ridiculous. They need to find other ways of scoring.

Those are not our words but the words of various pundits and neutrals in recent weeks.

Mikel Arteta’s men have won all three of their Champions League encounters and sit top of the Premier League.

It’s not been a captivating start to the new campaign for the Gunners but they’ve been super effective. Their core strengths, namely set-pieces and their defensive record, have formed the bedrock of Arteta’s success in recent years.

Arsenal are as solid as they’ve ever been, conceding just one open play goal all term in the top-flight. Yet, with a reliance on dead-balls again, some wonder just how sustainable this model will be.

The fact is, that as Arsenal showed this week, they are not over-reliant on those situations and have a great deal more than that in their locker.

Despite what pundits say, they are not boring. You don’t beat Atletico Madrid, one of the most defensively sound sides in Europe, 4-0 if you’re dull.

Indeed, their win over Diego Simeone on Tuesday evening was a statement to the rest of their continent, and while they did score from two set plays, their performance in the final third was perhaps their most impressive of the campaign.

Gabriel, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli found themselves on the scoresheet but truth be told, it was Arsenal’s midfield that helped springboard them to this win.

The progression of Arsenal's midfield under Mikel Arteta

At this current moment in time, it feels like this squad of Arsenal players are the most complete set they have ever had under the Spaniard.

The backline has been bolstered beyond belief and they now arguably have the greatest depth in defence across Europe’s top five leagues, ensuring that no matter who plays, they will be solid.

Mikel Arteta’s first Arsenal XI

GK – Bernd Leno

RB – Ainsley Maitland-Niles

CB – Sokratis

CB – David Luiz

LB – Bukayo Saka

CM – Lucas Torreira

CM – Granit Xhaka

CAM – Mesut Ozil

RW – Reiss Nelson

LW – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

CF – Alexandre Lacazette

The forward line has been less of a priority but when you spawn Bukayo Saka from the academy and sign Gabriel Martinelli for just £6m, there wasn’t a huge amount wrong with it until last season. No player hit double figures for goals for the first time since the 1923/24 campaign.

The midfield, however, has really taken Arsenal to the next level in recent years.

Gone are the likes of Thomas Partey, Jorginho and Granit Xhaka. They all play elsewhere now but in a bid to replace them, they have done so superbly well.

Declan Rice was never going to flop and indeed, despite setting the club back a whopping £105m, has been a game breaker.

His tally of nine goals and ten assists in 2024/25 was a career high, while that pair of free-kicks against Real Madrid will never be forgotten. In the words of Sky Sporters reporter Sam Blitz, he’s also now “the best set-piece taker in the world”. It’s hard to disagree with that statement considering all four of his assists this season have come from dead-ball scenarios.

He’s now surrounded by some of the best midfield talents around. Tempo-setter Martin Zubimendi, another Martin in Odegaard and Eberechi Eze all make the Englishman’s job easier by either sitting behind him in Zubimendi’s case or providing the creative spark as Odegaard and Eze do so well.

When Odegaard is fit, it really does feel as though the midfield has everything you could want: power, creativity, goals and reading of the play.

Arsenal's new Xhaka is playing his part

When Xhaka arrived at Arsenal in 2016 under the stewardship of Arsene Wenger, it was a deal that was met with scepticism.

The Gunners had spent £30m on a talent from the Bundesliga, a rather unknown one at that, and the opening few years of his time in north London were a rollercoaster.

Xhaka was a defensive midfielder by trade when he arrived but his defensive work simply wasn’t up to scratch, quickly becoming known as a walking red card, picking up two in his opening season.

While the Swiss midfielder’s discipline did improve, fans grew impatient with his displays over a number of years and it all came to a head under Unai Emery.

He was now the captain but was swiftly relieved of his duties after chucking the armband to the floor and gesticulating towards the Emirates crowd when he was booed off the field during a game with Crystal Palace.

Xhaka’s revival under Arteta, therefore, was quite the sight. The Spaniard gave him a freer role as a left-sided 8 and he repaid the manager’s faith by delivering the finest campaign of his career to date in 2022/23.

That season, the now 33-year-old scored nine times and registered seven assists. The redemption arc was complete, only for him to leave in the summer of 2023 for Bayer Leverkusen.

Now back in the Premier League with Sunderland, Xhaka has rolled back the years, providing three assists in his first eight matches for the Black Cats.

But, who embodies the spirit of Xhaka in the present Arsenal squad? You may well think the aforementioned Rice is a strong candidate but in Zubimendi, they have someone who delivers similar attributes.

Now, it must be stated, the former Real Sociedad star is certainly classier on the ball and more disciplined than Xhaka ever was in Arsenal colours.

Yet, there are certainly parallels. Xhaka arrived as a defensive midfielder, a deep-lying playmaker, before going on to become a threat in the final third.

The same can be said of Zubimendi. He was declared “the best #6 in the world” by some after his dominant display during Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid.

Zubimendi vs Atletico Madrid

Minutes played

73

Accurate passes

41/46 (89%)

Touches

56

Key passes

3

Big chances created

1

Accurate long balls

2/2

Accurate crosses

1/1

Distance covered

8.3km

Successful dribbles

1/1

Interceptions

2

Clearances

3

Stats via Sofascore.

That he may well be, but the 26-year-old is also a threat in the final third, just as Xhaka became in the latter stages of his Gunners career.

Zubimendi has already scored twice in the Premier League, netting a brace in the 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest.

His vision and eye for a pass are simply awe-inspiring too. Xhaka was known for a defence-splitting pass but Arsenal’s new Spaniard is cut from a similar cloth in that regard.

He provided a delicious assist for Viktor Gyokeres’ first goal for the club in pre-season and has often been the man to provide the pre-assist.

It was Zubimendi’s lovely ball in behind the West Ham defence for Eze that eventually led to Rice’s goal in the game and to pinpoint another example, he very nearly provided a remarkable assist for Gyokeres again on Tuesday night, popping the ball up and playing it behind.

The Basque midfielder has been a sensational addition, billed as “one of the best Emirates era signings” by Arsenal podcaster and content creator, Jamie Kent.

He’s not had a bad game yet and perhaps saved his finest performance in the famous red and white for Simeone’s men earlier in the week.

The big-money summer arrival completed 89% of his passes, created that big chance for Gyokeres and left the field with three key passes. He also won three of his five duels.

An all-round package, there is a reason that former Ballon d’Or winner Rodri has said that he is “leaving him the keys to the [national] team.”

As aggressive and eccentric as Xhaka he may not be, but the passing range and ability to pop up with key attacking contributions are certainly alike. You may well argue that Zubimendi is the best of both Xhaka and Rice. What a mighty fine combination that is.

Laura Wolvaardt dropped to tied-second alongside Nat Sciver-Brunt

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-2025India opener Smriti Mandhana is back to No. 1 on the ICC’s ODI rankings for women’s batting. It is the first time since 2019 for Mandhana (727 rating points) at the top. South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt (717) – who lost 17 rating points – dropped to tied-second alongside England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt.In early May, Mandhana had scored 51 against South Africa and 116 in the final against hosts Sri Lanka in a tri-series, which were has last two ODI appearances.Wolvaardt, in her five ODI appearances in 2025, has averaged 28.20 with a top score of 43. She scored 27 and 28 in the first two ODIs of the ongoing series against West Indies.Related

Devine to retire from ODIs after the World Cup

Women's ODI World Cup: India vs Pakistan on October 5 in Colombo

England’s Amy Jones and Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry round out the top five. Mandhana is the lone Indian in the top ten, with Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur on 15th and 16th respectively.The top of the ODI bowling charts stayed the same, with England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone well ahead of Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner and Megan Schutt. But West Indies spinner Afy Fletcher’s four-wicket haul against South Africa in the second ODI helped her gain four spots up to 19th.There were no changes in the ODI allrounders’ top ten either. Gardner leads the list, with West Indies’ Hayley Matthews at No. 2 and South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp at No. 3. New Zealand’s Sophie Devine, who announced her decision to retire from ODIs after the World Cup in September to be hosted by India, is ninth among allrounders and 13th among batters.

Sunderland had one of the busiest transfer windows in the Premier League, with Regis Le Bris’s side having the 5th highest net spend of the entire league.

Earlier in the window, Sunderland brought in some of their most expensive ever players ever, such as Habib Diarra, Simon Adingra and Enzo Le Fée. The Black Cats were still pushing for deals on deadline day as they signed Ajax’s Brian Brobbey in the window’s final hours.

However, one deal they didn’t manage to complete was that of Jhon Lucumi. Sunderland placed numerous bids with Bologna for the centre-back that culminated with a £24 million deadline day offer that was rebuffed.

Bologna had already sold centre-back Sam Beukema to Napoli in the window and were reluctant to let another defender go. They were also hoping to get Lucumi to sign a new contract, but this has not yet materialised, providing Sunderland with the opportunity to reignite the transfer saga in January.

Sunderland given hope in Lucumi transfer

Renato Villa spent six years at Bologna and retired there after making nearly 200 appearances for the club. In a recent interview, he spoke about Bologna’s current defensive options and was pressed about Lucumi’s future: “Selling him now would have brought in £21.7 million, while if you sell him in January, you’ll only get £9 million. It’s an evaluation the club will surely have made, weighing up the technical and financial factors.”

As an alternative to Lucumi, Sunderland agreed a deadline loan deal with RB Leipzig for Lutsharel Geertruida, paying just over £2 million as a loan fee, and they have the option to sign him permanently next summer for £20 million. Despite bringing in another option though, with Geertruida only guaranteed to be on Wearside for one year, Sunderland may go back in for their top target when his price drops, providing he does not sign a new contract.

Space for Geertruida and Lucumi

While both are good options for Le Bris, they are two very different defenders. Last season, Lucumi played considerably more of the pair; his extra minutes equalled almost 12 full games. Their defensive strengths had significant variations, with Geertruida on the front foot with more interceptions, whereas Lucumi was better at tackling dribbling players and getting blocks in.

As well as the ways they vary statistically, they also vary stylistically. Lucumi is a traditional centre-back, while Geertruida is a little more versatile and fluid in his position, having previously been utilised at centre-back and full-back. This means that if Lucumi were to join in January, there may still be a place for Geertruida as cover along all of the backline.

Overall, Sunderland seem to still have the funds available to sign Lucumi, especially for the cut-price, as they submitted that deadline day bid for him and only signed Geertruida on loan. If they feel they can accommodate both players in their squad, this would be the best strategy, and having multiple defensive options won’t hurt their chances of Premier League survival.