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Bumrah was the Player of the Match, but Siraj played more than just a cameo with wickets of Shafique and Babar

Shashank Kishore15-Oct-20231:23

Mohammed Siraj explains how he set Abdullah Shafique up

It’s a week to go to that memorable day from three years ago that made Mohammed Siraj. The day he emerged from being a punching bag with the worst IPL economy – among 92 bowlers who had bowled at least 100 overs until then – to being a heavyweight champion.The day he showed he could make the new ball dance to his tunes and nip out highly-skilled batters. Amid a glut of T20s where performances come and go, Siraj left a lasting impression that night.Watching from afar at his farm in Alibaug, then India head coach Ravi Shastri knew he could be a trump card against Australia in two months’ time from then. The performance set in stone a series of life-altering months where Siraj went from being yet another IPL bowler to an Indian Test cricketer that December on Boxing Day. Siraj’s has been quite a rise since.Related

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When Jasprit Bumrah was injured and out of the game for ten months with a back injury, Siraj accepted the responsibility of being front and centre of India’s pace pack, along with Mohammed Shami. He was no longer the sidekick to the hero; he was blockbuster material himself.A part of the reason for his improvement, and elevation, was his keenness to learn and get better. It helped to have a sounding board like Bharat Arun, who helped him fine-tune his skills. But while the Siraj of 2020 could move the ball both ways, he wasn’t the old-ball bowler as he is today.Now, Rohit Sharma banks on him to deliver across phases. Even if he doesn’t start well, the after-effects don’t last long enough to seep into his next spell. And when he is in the zone, like he was in the Asia Cup final not long ago, batters can be sitting ducks.On Saturday, in his first World Cup game against Pakistan, Siraj started poorly. He was searching for swing, but there was none. And in trying to bowl full, he kept bowling half volleys that were picked away for three boundaries by Imam-ul-Haq in his opening over.Mohammed Siraj knocking over Babar Azam initiated a collapse of 8 for 36•ICC/Getty ImagesAt the other end, Bumrah kept a tight lid. As Siraj stood at fine leg after his third over, substitute Suryakumar Yadav came around with a message. What was told is anybody’s guess. It’s entirely possible they weren’t talking cricket at all. But there was a slight change in Siraj’s plans as he returned.Siraj began to shorten his lengths considerably. He was bounding in and hitting the deck hard. The black-soil deck didn’t give him the same zip or bounce that a red-soil surface would have, but at least the plan was to not err on the fuller side. Off the final delivery in his fourth over, he trapped Abdullah Shafique lbw with a length ball that kept a tad low. This is something Siraj touched upon at the post-match press conference.”Yes, absolutely,” he replied when asked if it was a plan to go shorter. “With the new ball, you have to see if it’s swinging or not. You can pitch it up at the start and can [afford to] get hit for a few boundaries because it’s such a big format. Then you understand what line is better on this wicket.”Then we consistently keep hitting those areas. Abdullah Shafique’s wicket was a plan because I had spoken to Rohit . I had bowled a bouncer to him before but he got stuck in the middle. Then I talked to Rohit for a while and spent some time there. He [Shafique] thought I was going to bowl a bouncer again. He was on the back foot, and I pitched the ball up and got success.”Siraj lacked rhythm until he started bowling cross-seam•Associated PressAfter winning the Player-of-the-Match award for 2 for 19 off his seven overs, Bumrah spoke of how his first instinct is to try to read a surface quickly, and then formulate plans to bowl on it. Siraj touched upon how he picked up cues from watching Bumrah go.”If you don’t get a wicket, you’re building pressure and putting in dot balls. When Jassi [Bumrah] bowls, you can see what line is better on the wicket,” Siraj said. “When you’re at the third-man or final-leg boundary, you get to see the line and get some information from the keeper also as to what line is better on this wicket. So it becomes easier to execute.”Siraj’s second wicket of the day was perhaps the biggest. It helped break a flourishing 82-run stand between Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Brought back, he struck in the second over of a new spell – in the 30th – with a skiddy cross-seam delivery that beat Babar for pace as he tried to run one down to deep third, a shot Babar prides himself on playing better than most. That wicket opened the floodgates. Pakistan went from cruising at 155 for 2 to 191 all out.”I started bowling cross-seam from the third over,” Siraj said when asked about how he found his rhythm. “In the end, there were chances of the ball reversing. When I was bowling with the seam, it was coming onto the bat easily. With cross-seam, I thought there could be low bounce; sometimes you [also] get extra bounce. It worked. You saw the result.”The result was indeed a fine one. Bumrah walked away with the honours, and deservedly so, but it helped to a great extent that he had an able support cast on the night, with Siraj playing more than just a cameo.

“Nerves were there to see today, the way they batted” – James Anderson

Vithushan Ehantharajah04-Feb-2024As Rehan Ahmed played the most rogue final set since Bradford Cox banged out for an hour to hit back at a heckler, you were reminded that nothing is beyond this England team.A target of 399 may still well be, of course. A healthy 67 have been knocked off already, eight of them in the last three balls of day three as Rehan scuffed Axar Patel through midwicket, then beyond first slip. If Brendon McCullum’s chat 24 hours earlier was anything to go by, India are at least 201 light.”We got sat down by the coach last night and he said if India get 600 ahead we’re going to try and chase it down,” said James Anderson at stumps. “That is exactly what we’re going to do.”It is a wild kind of optimism. The kind that usually comes in the dead of night, right before you get a hankering for some Cheetos. But it was exactly what kept England going throughout their 74 overs in the field today.Related

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India arrived with a lead of 171, with all their second-innings wickets in hand. When Ravichandran Ashwin worked a single to the fielder at deep midwicket in the 71st over of the day, India moved to 388 in front. One more than the highest successful chase in this country, achieved by a host team with a fair few hall-of-famers against Kevin Pietersen’s England.Yet, by the time India’s innings ended on 255 and the target was confirmed, the emotion from England was not relief, or joy that their toil was over. Simply satisfaction.It was as they walked off, with 14 overs to bat before close, that Rehan turned to Ben Stokes and asked if he could bat at No. 3. He would probably have been asked to do it anyway, but the enthusiasm was as welcome as ever. After an opening stand had been broken on 50 with the wicket of Ben Duckett, out strode all 19 years of the Original Nighthawk.It would be wrong to look ahead in anticipation of what’s to come and neglect the graft that brought us to this point. Especially as defeat may dull what the bowlers achieved, in both innings.Today, England managed to prise out all 10 Indian wickets for just 227 runs, despite their most experienced spin option, Joe Root, sending down just two overs. He spent the majority of the innings off the field after damaging his right little finger in the eighth over of the day.By then, Anderson had got the show on the road, using the early morning humidity to stitch together a spell of 2 for 6 from four overs. Rohit Sharma’s off stump was taken for a ride, then a wobble seam delivery decked across Yashasvi Jaiswal to leave India 30 for 2.Then came a succession of reprieves for Shubman Gill, all of varying degrees. He was given out lbw to Tom Hartley, which he overturned with a sliver of an inside edge, before earning the benefit of the doubt of umpire’s call on projected impact with the stumps when hit in front by Anderson. Those let-offs – both with just four to his name – were followed by a healthy edge off Hartley, which flew between wicketkeeper Ben Foakes and Root at a wide first slip.As Gill went on to a third Test century, it was not unreasonable to wonder if England would wilt. And even though they were buoyed by Stokes’ sensational catch to remove Shreyas Iyer after a botched heave down the ground Tom Hartley, closely followed by a low inside edge from Rajat Patidar off Rehan, neatly taken low by Foakes, the game was steadily moving out of England’s reach.Gill and Axar’s stand for the fifth wicket lifted the lead beyond 350 and into the realms of “surely not England, not even you.” And yet somehow, they dug deep again.James Anderson goes up in appeal•Getty ImagesIt was specifically the inexperienced spin trio that instigated the necessary cascade of the six remaining wickets, for just 44 runs. Shoaib Bashir set it off, forcing Gill to pop up a catch off inside-edge and pad up to Foakes. India began second-guessing themselves as England’s penchant for the chase came forward from the back of their minds. It allowed Hartley and Rehan back into the match. Not since Children of the Corn have youngsters preyed on such fear in experienced heads.Only three of this India side played in 2022 when England munched a target of 378 inside 76.4 overs to win a one-off Test at Edgbaston. Evidently, the rest know the score. “England are never out of the game,” said Gill, one of the three, who rightly pointed out these conditions are very different. But the stands that followed his departure stood still, notably 26 off 71 between Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah, two batters far more at ease playing their shots, giving an indication that even India were thinking the unthinkable.”I think the nerves were there to see today, the way they batted,” Anderson observed. “I think they didn’t know how many was enough. They were quite cautious, even when they had a big lead.”None of this happens by accident of course. England’s 8 out of 10 successful fourth-innings victories have created waves, and the familiar thread through most of them has been their scrapping in these third innings. To see the new crop carrying on this short-lived legacy was a testament to their all-in approach and the encouragement bestowed upon them.Seconds before Rehan had shunted Ollie Pope from first-drop, he had pocketed Ashwin – the young leggie’s third – in his 42nd over, having never bowled more than 39 in 13 previous first-class matches. Hartley is now only the third English men’s spinner since the First World War to take four or more wickets in an innings in each of their first two Tests. Bashir’s match figures of 4 for 196 from 53 overs – the second most he’s bowled – represents an impressive body of work from a 20-year-old off-spinner just three days into the gig.Despite needing the highest score in the match to win this second Test, and bearing in mind no visiting team has ever reached 300 in a fourth innings here, there remains a bemusing optimism. With 332 still on the table, regardless of how this plays out, it is one that has been earned.

Does Pant walk back into the ODI setup? Will Rahul lead in the 50-over format? A look at the big questions facing India’s selectors ahead of Wednesday’s meeting

Shashank Kishore16-Jul-20242:36

How do India rebuild their T20I side under Gambhir?

Will Rohit, Kohli, Bumrah play the Sri Lanka ODIs?In his role as a media professional, new India head coach Gautam Gambhir has previously been critical of senior players resting between high-profile assignments. But with India slated to play 10 Tests from September to January (five at home and five in Australia, all part of the 2023-25 WTC cycle) there is a possibility that Rohit, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah will be rested for the Sri Lanka ODIs, leaving the selectors to pick a new 50-overs captain as well.Is KL Rahul the obvious choice as stand-in ODI captain?KL Rahul stood in as captain when India last played ODIs, in South Africa last December. If fully fit, Rahul is likely to return to ODI setup as a middle-order batter at the very least, if not as a wicketkeeper too – a role he performed during India’s run to the 2023 World Cup final. There’s also familiarity between Rahul and Gambhir, the pair having worked together as captain-coach previously at Lucknow Super Giants.KL Rahul and Sanju Samson are both contenders to take the gloves in the Sri Lanka ODIs•BCCIHowever, there could be a consideration made for Shubman Gill, who incidentally just led India to the 4-1 T20I series win in Zimbabwe. Over the past year, Gill has become a dominant force in ODIs – he’s the second-highest run-getter worldwide in the format since the start of 2023.Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma might extend their break to the Sri Lanka ODIs•BCCIWhether Rishabh Pant, for the first time since his accident in December 2022, returns to the ODI setup and takes the gloves will be another big call for the Agarkar-led committee to make. Rahul aside, they also have a formidable wicketkeeping option in Sanju Samson, who struck his maiden international century in India’s most-recent ODI, against South Africa late last year. Samson’s overall ODI numbers are laudable – he has three half-centuries and a century in 14 innings (average 56.66), while scoring at nearly a run-a-ball (strike rate 99.60).What about Shreyas Iyer?Shreyas Iyer lost his BCCI central contract this February, seemingly for failing to prioritise domestic cricket by not turning up for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. Iyer cited persistent back trouble, which “no one was agreeing with”, as one of the reasons for that. However, since then Iyer has turned things around by leading Kolkata Knight Riders to their first IPL triumph in ten years. Iyer has a prolific ODI record too – he was India’s third highest-run scorer in the 50-overs World Cup, behind Rohit and Kohli, hitting 530 runs in 11 innings including two hundreds and three fifties. He also hit the second-most sixes in the tournament.Shreyas Iyer had a fantastic ODI World Cup before he ran into contract issues•AFP/Getty ImagesWho from the Zimbabwe series could find a look-in in Sri Lanka?With Rohit likely to rest, Yashasvi Jaiswal has made a strong pitch to earn a maiden ODI cap. Jaiswal, a reserve opener in India’s T20 World Cup winning squad, struck a 53-ball 93 last week in Harare to seal the T20I series against Zimbabwe.Ravindra Jadeja’s T20I retirement could pave way for Washington Sundar’s inclusion. Washington is coming off a Player of the Series winning performance in Zimbabwe; he finished the series with eight wickets in five matches at an economy of 5.16.Abhishek Sharma, who struck a maiden T20I ton in only his second international innings, and Ruturaj Gaikwad could be picked as reserve openers for the T20Is and ODIs respectively.

He was nearly unplayable on some surfaces, made a strong case for catch of the tournament, and made useful contributions as a batter

Matt Roller30-Jun-20243:54

DP World Going Beyond Boundaries – Axar Patel

A spell of 2 for 23 in three overs. Hardly an uncommon set of figures in a T20 match but in the context of an innings of 176, there is an obvious question to ask: why only three overs? Keshav Maharaj took two wickets in his first over of Saturday’s T20 World Cup 2024 final and went at 7.66 runs per over, compared to an innings run rate of 8.80. But after the ninth over, he was not seen again.Maharaj bowled his full four-over allocation in each of his first six appearances at the World Cup, and might well have done the same in the semi-final if his team-mates had not rolled Afghanistan over for 56. And yet, in a final of fine margins, his fourth over went unused.The reason behind it was straightforward: it was because of Axar Patel.Related

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Axar had been deployed as a floater by India, making a vital 20 from No. 4 in a low-scoring game against Pakistan in the group stage. But it came as a surprise even to him when he was sent in ahead of Shivam Dube in the final: “Suddenly, Rahul [Dravid] asked me to pad up. I didn’t get to think anything about my batting and that worked for me,” he explained afterwards.The idea was simple enough. Axar was carded to bat at No. 8 and therefore the value on his wicket was relatively low. He rarely gets the chance to face many balls, and if India lost another quick wicket, at least they would have Dube, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja to come. His promotion artificially lengthened their batting line-up.But it also ensured that Maharaj’s impact on the game would be limited, particularly when Axar played a shot that proved vital in the context of the final. Axar hit the first six of India’s innings when slog-sweeping Aiden Markram over midwicket, hitting with the wind, but in the following over, he played the same shot the breeze off Maharaj and cleared the boundary.In Markram’s eyes, it effectively rendered Maharaj unbowlable while India had a left-hander at the crease. This was not a case of blindly following match-ups, or the guiding principle that fingerspinners turning the ball into batters is high-risk: Markram took the gamble, and the on-field evidence suggested that even with the wind helping him, Maharaj was too vulnerable.Axar’s stand with Virat Kohli was the biggest of the final – and he dominated the partnership. They added 72 off 54 for the fourth wicket, of which Kohli’s contribution was 21 boundary-less runs off 23 balls; Axar hit 47 off 31, including a four and four sixes. Without Axar’s impetus, Kohli would have felt compelled to take more risks earlier: that would have made India more likely to reach 190, but would also have increased the chance of them folding for 140.

“This time, I felt that I had to do something good for India. Finally, I did it. I’m feeling so proud”Axar Patel

The slog-sweep was the defining shot of Axar’s innings, with another off Tabraiz Shamsi just about evading Kagiso Rabada’s sprawling dive at long-on. But this was not just a tailender promoted to have a swing: it was an innings of high skill, exemplified by his straight-bat, high-elbow on-drive for six off Rabada.Axar even timed his dismissal well, midway through the 14th over. Perhaps he was a little dozy when running through to the non-striker’s end, only for Quinton de Kock’s direct hit to find him short of his ground. But it meant Dube had the chance to impact the game from No. 6 and gave Kohli a free hand at attacking at the death without fear of failure, with Hardik and Jadeja still waiting.Few would have sincerely nominated Axar for Player of the Tournament, but he has been the sort of player that every champion team needs: a regular contributor with the versatility to be useful in all facets. He bowled dry on New York’s seaming pitches, took a stunning catch against Australia in St Lucia, and played this vital hand with the bat against South Africa in Barbados.Axar Patel gave the India innings some impetus in the final•Getty ImagesThat is not to forget his spell of 3 for 23 against England in the semi-final, a throwback to his performances against the same opposition in two Ahmedabad Tests in 2021. Axar is not the most talented player India have, but he is a master of working out how he can be effective in certain conditions: in Guyana, the turn and low bounce on offer made his straighter ball deadly.The final could have been very different for Axar. If South Africa had held their nerve with 30 needed off 30 balls or if Suryakumar Yadav’s foot had brushed the boundary cushion, his abiding memory of the final would have been his over to Heinrich Klaasen which cost 24 runs, including two huge sixes – one onto the roof, another into the pavilion. In a cricketing culture where idolisation turns into vilification overnight, Axar’s over would not have been forgotten in a hurry.And yet, for all the ignominy it involved, standing at the top of his mark and waiting for the ball to be fetched, perhaps that was when the final turned in India’s favour. The ball was retrieved from the stands, rather than replaced; barely two overs later, Jasprit Bumrah was getting it to reverse-swing. Maybe it would have done anyway, but it goes to show how fickle sport – and life – can be.”This time, I felt that I had to do something good for India,” Axar said in the moments after India’s victory. “Finally, I did it. I’m feeling so proud.” Kohli, Bumrah and Rohit Sharma rightly took the plaudits, but Axar was India’s unsung hero.

They are entering the Test series with a batting unit that has had one of its worst years against spin

Ashish Pant14-Oct-2024This was meant to be New Zealand’s great Test-match adventure in the subcontinent. They were to start with a non-World Test Championship (WTC) game against Afghanistan in Greater Noida to get acclimatised to the conditions, travel to Sri Lanka for a two-Test series and work on their spin game, and then return to India and try and achieve something no team has in 12 years – win a Test series in the country. It was a rare stretch of six Tests in the region with their WTC final chances still very much alive.But halfway into it, the plan has unravelled, quickly.To start with, no play was possible in Greater Noida across five days. The spinners and Kamindu Mendis blew them away in Sri Lanka for a 2-0 knockout. Tim Southee has stepped down from captaincy, and their best and most experienced batter, Kane Williamson, has a groin injury and will miss at least the first Test in India.Related

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Now in Bengaluru for the first of the three Tests starting on Wednesday, New Zealand are with a new captain, without their best batter (temporarily), and with a batting unit that has had one of its poorest years against spin.In 12 innings in 2024, New Zealand have lost 67 of 104 wickets to spin – their most in five years – and they still have six Tests to go this year. Their average of 22.58 against spin in 2024 is the worst for any team in the WTC.They were found out in Sri Lanka, where they lost 37 of their 40 wickets to spinners. While still competitive in the first Test, with Latham, Williamson, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell all scoring half-centuries across the two innings, they were left shell-shocked in the second Test. On a surface where Sri Lanka amassed 602 for 5, New Zealand were bowled out for 88 inside 40 overs. They came up with a much better show in the second dig to score 360, but the Test was pretty much done by then.

The pitch was meant to be more batting-friendly than usual, and seemed so for a while, but then changed character and one team bore the brunt more than the other

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Jul-2025At least two captains of Sri Lanka’s men’s white-ball team have said in recent years that they would really prefer it if this piece-of-work Khettarama pitch learned how to behave.The theory goes something like this. Where other top white-ball countries have rolled out flatter and flatter white-ball surfaces, sending totals into the stratosphere and bowling economy rates into neighbouring galaxies, the pitch Sri Lanka play most of their home matches on is stuck naughtily in the nineties. It is devious. It lets the ball dance evil little dances on it. And so often, it rises up mid-innings and chokes a chase. As per the theory, this means that Sri Lanka’s batters and bowlers do not develop the skills required to compete on the kinds of surfaces most modern white-ball cricket is played on.Ahead of this match, Charith Asalanka had said he felt “this pitch [at Khettarama] will be a bit more batting-friendly than usual”. He had said it with the conviction of a man who was aware of directions being passed on from the team to the curator, on what kind of surface that curator should prepare.Related

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Having perhaps been assured that this was not going to be yet another spin-friendly track, Asalanka even picked three seamers in his XI, choosing to give Milan Rathnayake a debut, over choosing left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Dunith Wellalage, who is already bit of a Khettarama favourite, averaging 16.60 with the ball at this venue.For 66.2 overs of this match, it felt like Asalanka was right. This a “more-batting-friendly-than-usual Khettarama deck”. Batters were hitting through the line. Errors of length were brutally punished. Asalanka himself scored a fighting 106 off 123 for Sri Lanka, which was no real surprise – he been quietly making himself one of the best ODI middle-order batters in the world. But Sri Lanka had lost 3 for 29 to start with, lost seven of their wickets to seam bowling, never really had a big partnership, and eventually their 244 all out seemed 30 runs light, especially when Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto were bounding through those early overs.But old habits die hard, we can never truly deny our deepest selves, there is comfort in the familiar, and joy in good stories retold.Maybe the pitch suddenly reclaimed some of its viciousness. Maybe Sri Lanka reclaimed a little of its old spin-bowling mayhem. Maybe Bangladesh dived deep and found one of their old collapses against Sri Lanka. It’s possible all three happened. What we know for sure is that seven wickets were lost for five runs. And that never before in ODI history have wickets No. 2 down to No. 8 fallen for fewer runs than this.On the frontlines of the spin-bowling mayhem argument, we have Kamindu Mendis. Kamindu is mainly a batter, so his taking 3 for 19 in an innings is unusual enough. But of course we are talking Sri Lankan spin bowling divorced from batting here, and even on that front, this is a mad cricketer. His first two wickets were with left-arm spin, which, as a left-handed batter, is his better finger-spin arm. But his third wicket – the lbw-ing of left-hand batter Taskin Ahmed – was a right-arm offspin dismissal.Kamindu Mendis is an utterly unique collaborator for Wanindu Hasaranga•AFP/Getty Images”Bowlers who can bowl with either arm are really valuable,” Wanindu Hasaranga, who took 4 for 10 – the best figures in the game – said. Hasaranga getting wickets at this venue is not altogether surprising. But Kamindu is an utterly unique collaborator at the other end. “When there’s a left-hand right-hand combination batting, he can spin the ball away from both of them. That’s really valuable. The spell he bowled made it easier for me too. Players like that are really valuable.”If dual-arm bowling becomes more common, Sri Lanka feels like the natural birthplace for such a cricketing evolution. In the last week, a dual-arm Test bowler – Tharindu Rathnayake – had taken wickets with both arms in a single innings too. Already this is normal behaviour in Sri Lanka, just as the carrom ball had found a home here, long before it became popular.And it has to be noted that Bangladesh’s batters were channeling the easy-beat Bangladesh sides of the 1990s too, with some awful batting. They were 99 for 1 at one point. Soon they were 105 for 7. No serious innings recovers from such a slide. It was history-making ineptitude.Bangladesh’s batting has showed resilience and strength against Sri Lanka in the past. Sri Lanka has showed a willingness to move on from spin-friendly tracks. But sometimes we get caught up in old behaviours. And suddenly, almost by accident, seven wickets have fallen for five runs.

Early next year the selectors will need to decide if there’s a spot in a 15-player squad for a reserve keeper

Andrew McGlashan13-Aug-2025

Alex Carey completed an unusual stumping on his T20I return•AFP/Getty Images

The second T20I in Darwin was lit up by Dewald Brevis’ century, but it also highlighted a question Australia have to answer before the T20 World Cup: do they need to have wicketkeeping cover in their 15-player squad?With Josh Inglis suffering from flu which he had played through in the opening game, Alex Carey was flown in ahead of schedule and earned his first T20I since 2021. He pulled off one of the more unusual stumpings to remove Lhuan-dre Pretorius and was Australia’s second-highest scorer with 26 off 18 balls.Related

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In a home bilateral series it was easy enough for the selectors to make a quick phone call to Carey and have him fly up to Darwin at short notice. But things are trickier in global tournaments where squad sizes are restricted, replacement players need approval and once a player is removed from the squad they can’t return.Inglis is locked in as Australia’s white-ball keeper but there would be a risk of entering a World Cup without another option on hand to take the gloves, particularly with Inglis managing ongoing back problems. None of the other batters in the current T20I squad, which seems likely to form the core of the World Cup group, are viable alternatives behind the stumps.Australia nearly found themselves in such a situation at the 2022 T20 World Cup when Matthew Wade came down with Covid prior to the game against England. Inglis, who was in the original squad, had suffered a hand injury playing golf prior to the tournament and been replaced by Cameron Green. As it was, the match was washed out although Wade would likely have pushed through and played. Australia’s contingencies on that day were potentially David Warner, who once took the gloves in a Test match, and captain Aaron Finch.In Darwin, Alex Carey batted as low as No. 7 in a T20 only for the seventh time, and the first since 2018•Getty ImagesAt the most recent T20 World Cup in the Caribbean last year, Wade and Inglis were both in the 15-player squad, as they were for the 2021 edition in the UAE that Australia won. At the 2023 ODI World Cup, Inglis was in the squad and replaced Carey after one game. Now the duo feature together in the one-day side, with Carey playing as a batter in the Champions Trophy earlier this year.In the 50-over format they can both carry themselves as frontline batters, but that is not so clear cut for the T20I team. Tuesday was only the seventh time Carey had batted as low as No. 7 in a T20 and the first since 2018, with everyone else moved up a place in Inglis’ absence. His two BBL hundreds have come as an opener while he also has a solid record at No. 4. Overall in T20, Carey’s strike-rate is 129.04 compared to Inglis’ 150.98. However, in limited BBL appearances over the last three seasons, Carey has lifted his strike-rate to 146.52, which is higher than Inglis’ 138.57 over the same period.The issue the selectors will need to ponder early next year is whether there’s a spot in a 15-player squad for Carey, where the choice could come down to between him and another frontline batter, to cover for the eventuality where Inglis is unavailable for a game but hasn’t suffered a tournament-ending injury.On the recent tour of West Indies, a key reason Jake Fraser-McGurk was called in as a replacement when Spencer Johnson was ruled out was because the selectors are looking to build on the wicketkeeping side of his game and they wanted cover for Inglis in a condensed series.There is a chance he will have the gloves at some point for Australia A in the one-day series against India A in late September with him and Lachlan Shaw the two keeping options in that squad. But currently Fraser-McGurk doesn’t warrant a place as a batter in the national side – he made 2 in his one innings in West Indies to continue a lean year in T20s where he is averaging 19.41 albeit with a strike-rate of 150.22.

In a format that isn’t their top priority right now, they showed enough and more evidence that they can go toe to toe with the very best

Firdose Moonda30-Nov-2025Well, that was fun.South Africa, at 11 for 3 in the fifth over, should never have been in with a chance of chasing 350. But Matthew Breetzke, who has the joint-most fifties (six) in his first 10 ODIs and Marco Jansen, who is enjoying the tour of his life, with bat more than ball, kept them in the contest. Still, South Africa, after losing Breetzke and Jansen in the same Kuldeep Yadav over and who were at 228 for 7 in the 34th, should not have come within three hits of the second-highest successful chase against India.That they did will remind them of two things: they are building the muscle memory of not knowing when they are beaten and that coach Shukri Conrad’s partiality to allrounders is proving to be a good policy, especially in the lower order. That they didn’t finish the job won’t bother them too much, not because South Africa aren’t interested in a slice of history but because of cricket’s three formats, ODIs are the lowest on South Africa’s priority list right now.They have just come off an intense and successful start to the World Test Championship title defence in Pakistan and India and there is a T20 World Cup less than three months away. The Tests were crucial to underlining their credentials and the five T20Is that follow in December will be vital to their preparation for the tournament. ODIs are just ODIs for now.Related

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These matches will be chalked up as experiments on the road to the home World Cup in 2027, which is important to them but too far away to be too important right now. So while losing is not ideal, and Conrad’s predecessor Rob Walter came under pressure for a poor bilateral record albeit in similar circumstances, South Africa will see this series as a process of information-gathering and already they have some good stuff.Chiefly, that in Jansen they not only have a destructive new-ball bowler but also a confident lower middle-order batter. Those words have been chosen carefully. Jansen is a proper batter, not just a finisher and he has shown that over the last week. After his career-best 93 in the Guwahati Test, Jansen followed up with a 39-ball 70 in this match which included the fastest fifty for a South African in India in men’s ODIs, off 26 balls.After he timed a drive off a Harshit Rana yorker gone slightly wrong, Jansen brought out his full range of sweeps: conventional, reverse and slog off four balls from Kuldeep and then iced the cake with his range hitting down the ground. Exactly half of his runs were scored in the ‘v’ and he only scored five runs behind square demonstrating his traditional strength. The 97-run sixth-wicket stand he shared with Breetzke came at a run rate of 8.43, and set South Africa up to push for the win.Then it was over to Corbin Bosch to try and get them there. With a Test hundred to his name, Bosch has the ability and he has now also shown it in white-ball cricket. He is particularly strong against the short ball and on the cut and marshalled the tail well to give himself maximum opportunity to pull off something amazing. No one will blame him for South Africa falling short with Aiden Markram laying the blame on the top three’s inability to deal with the swinging ball and who “have to come up with a solution in the next game.”Whether all three will or should play the next game is a question that forms part of a wider discussion over how South Africa have stacked their squad. Even without Temba Bavuma, who was ruled out of this match through illness, South Africa’s top five includes four batters – Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton, Tony de Zorzi and Breetzke – who have all opened more in List A cricket than they have batted anywhere else. The fifth, Markram, is not a regular opener but is playing in that position and South Africa need to relook at the combination.Marco Jansen struck several meaty blows•Associated PressSpecifically, they have to get de Kock in the top two, because that is where he is at his best. De Kock has opened the batting in 175 out of the 200 List A matches he has played and has scored all 22 of his ODI centuries as an opener. Who should he displace? Markram, who must move down to No. 4 for the same reason de Kock must be promoted. In 84 ODIs, Markram has batted 43 times at No. 4, averages 42.91 and has all three of his centuries in that position. He has opened the batting 24 times, including at the start of his career (which proved a mistake), with an average in the 30s and four fifties. Conrad’s rationale behind promoting Markram, at least in T20Is, is that it allows for bigger hitters in the middle order. The same does not need to apply to ODIs.It may also be that there is a hesitance to have two left-hand batters in the top two – and all of de Kock, Rickelton and de Zorzi are left-handed – so de Kock should open with Bavuma, with one of Rickelton or de Zorzi at No. 3, Markram at No. 4 and Breetzke at No. 5. On form, de Zorzi gets in ahead of Rickelton at this stage.That’s unfortunate for Rickelton, who has also been dropped from the T20 squad following de Kock’s return, but with no half-centuries since his century against Afghanistan at the Champions Trophy in February, it is probably the right call. It would also mean South Africa have their Dewald Brevis and Jansen at Nos. 6 and 7 respectively, which seems to be the right spot for both of them. With Bosch, Nandre Burger and the return of Keshav Maharaj and eventually Kagiso Rabada (out of the series with a rib niggle), South Africa have the makings of their strongest XI.Ultimately, that’s what they’re using these matches to try and find. If they’re able to produce some entertaining cricket along the way – and bag some wins – that’s a bonus they’ll gladly accept.

Will Delhi Capitals look to bring back former captain Rishabh Pant? And is Mohammed Shami the obvious choice for Gujarat Titans?

Dustin Silgardo19-Nov-2024What is the right-to-match (RTM) rule?
Ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, each team was allowed to retain up to six players, with a maximum of five capped players and a maximum of two uncapped Indian players.For the eight teams that did not use all of their six retentions, they can now use right-to-match options on players from their 2024 squads to fill up the remaining slots. The limits of five capped and two uncapped players still apply, so teams that have retained five capped players can use their RTM option on only one uncapped Indian player. And if a team has retained two uncapped players, they can use their RTM options on only capped players. If a team uses a RTM option on one of their former players at the auction, the last bidder will be allowed to raise the bid one final time, and the choice of whether to continue with the right-to-match option and match the bid then lies with the team using the RTM option.
Delhi Capitals
Players retained: Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abhishek Porel
Purse remaining: INR 73 crore
Right-to-match options: 2The big question for DC ahead of the auction is whether they will use a right-to-match option on former captain Rishabh Pant. While DC did not retain Pant, there is talk that they still want him at the franchise. DC can use both their right-to-match options on capped players, so they could also target Khaleel Ahmed, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mukesh Kumar, Anrich Nortje, Mitchell Marsh or Harry Brook.Khaleel spent three years at DC and consistently provided powerplay wickets. That he is an Indian left-arm seamer also makes him someone worth using a right-to-match option on. While Mukesh is not the most spectacular T20 bowler, his death-bowling numbers over two seasons with DC have been fair. His name only comes up in Set 16, though, so DC may not have a right-to-match option remaining then. Nortje was one of DC’s retentions in 2022 after two strong seasons with them, but he had a shocker in 2024. He has regained some form since but is still a risky pick.Among the batters, Fraser-McGurk, who is in Set 3, is the name that stands out after his eye-catching first season. His international form since then, though, has been underwhelming. With Australian coaches at two other franchises, the bidding for Fraser-McGurk might go quite high, which will make the right-to-match option handy. Marsh and Brook have both failed to impress in the IPL but are proven internationals.If DC somehow reach the latter stages of the auction with a right-to-match option still in hand, they may look at 24-year-old uncapped seamer Rasikh Salam Dar, who had an impressive debut season in 2024. He is in Set 11.BCCIGujarat Titans
Players retained: Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan
Purse remaining: INR 69 crore
Right-to-match options: 1 (capped)Will Gujarat Titans use their lone right-to-match option on Mohammed Shami? He was the Purple Cap winner in 2023 and played a crucial role in GT’s run to the final in both 2022 and 2023 before missing the 2024 season with injury. Injuries and age are the main concerns surrounding Shami. He played his first competitive match since 2023 just ahead of the auction and took seven wickets across two innings for Bengal against Madhya Pradesh in a first-class game. That show of fitness could be the deciding factor in GT going for him.If GT don’t use the right-to-match option on Shami, the other options are David Miller, who is in Set 2, and Noor Ahmad, who is in Set 7. Miller, 34, had a disappointing 2024 season but was in fine form during the recent Caribbean Premier League. Noor, meanwhile, topped the wicket charts in the CPL and at 19, might be seen as an investment for the future.