The team will be pleased to see their young batters taking leading roles and the tail finally generating some runs

Mohammad Isam13-May-2023Bangladesh’s three-wicket win against Ireland on Friday was only their sixth successful 300-plus chase in ODIs. The elements that stood out in this pursuit were the younger batters taking lead roles, the long tail that finally generated some runs, and the timing of it all. In a World Cup year when they are trying to enter the tournament with confidence and enhance their credentials as an ODI outfit, Chelmsford’s show was the ideal batting performance.Najmul Hossain Shanto, whose position in ODIs was dicey not so long ago, cracked his maiden century in the format. Shanto’s acceleration under pressure, when Bangladesh had lost two early wickets in a 320-chase, was heartening for the Bangladesh fans. He had been subject to a lot of trolling in the last two years but ever since the T20 World Cup in November 2022, he has grown as a batter.Related

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After the second ODI, Shanto, however, spoke highly of Towhid Hridoy who supported him with a quickfire 68. Hridoy is more of a newcomer than Shanto, having made his debut in March this year, and quickly grabbed a middle-order spot that’s so hotly contested between him and senior batters like Mahmudullah and Afif Hossain.Shanto and Hridoy added 131 runs for the fourth wicket after Shakib Al Hasan got out softly in the 17th over. Shakib and Shanto added 61 quickly but Ireland felt they had a big say in the game when Shakib got out. Hridoy, however, shut down that notion quickly.Shanto and Hridoy had the best partnership in this season’s BPL, including a century and three fifty stands. Shanto finishing as the BPL’s highest run-getter played into his growing confidence while this year’s BPL was Hridoy’s breakout season.”This win will definitely give us a lot of confidence,” Shanto said. “Hridoy’s intent helped my batting. He never seemed nervous. Our partnership served the exact purpose. We didn’t worry about the outcome. We tried to play our natural cricket. We hope that this type of cricket will do us good in the near future.”I certainly enjoying batting with him. We had some big partnerships in the BPL. We understand how we bat together. His intent is really good for the team. It puts the opponent under pressure. He doesn’t go away from his process regardless of losing three or four wickets. I think this is how we should play. Our mantra is to stick to our own processes and natural game in any situation, without caring much about losing three or four wickets.”Shanto said that he was pleased with his own effort although not being there in the end left him a little disappointed after the game. “I am very happy to get my first ODI hundred. I felt I batted the way I wanted to bat properly. I would have been happier to finish the game.”I didn’t think much about the cold weather. I reacted to the merit of the ball. I didn’t worry about the outcome. I tried to bat positively. It was a great wicket but there was some challenge to face the new ball.”Bangladesh’s bigger and more complicated challenge was to navigate the chase with four genuine tail-enders. Some may argue that Taijul Islam is still a decent batter, but he has no limited-overs credentials. Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud and Ebadto Hossain are genuine tail-enders, so scoring 320 runs in 45 overs with the top seven seemed a bit of a tight spot for the visitors.Mushfiqur Rahim scoops it over the wicketkeeper’s head for the the winning runs•Andrew Miller/ESPNcricinfo LtdBangladesh needed another 63 runs when the last recognised pair of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan Miraz got together in the 37th over. Mehidy got out when they needed 34 runs in the last 5.2 overs. But Mushfiqur got those runs with surprising help from Taijul and Shoriful.Shanto said that Bangladesh proved that they can chase with seven specialist batters but they needed a bit of luck with the TV umpire unable to find a good enough angle to judge Mushfiqur’s run-out, and when Mark Adair bowled a no-ball in the last over.”It doesn’t matter whether we have seven or eight batters. We have to bat with responsibility and intent. I didn’t think we had fewer batters in the line-up. We chased 320 successfully. We could chase 350 successfully.”We always believed we could win, seeing the wicket and conditions. We knew we could chase this target. We spoke about it in the dressing room. We needed the luck, so we got it through the no-ball and that run out.”Shanto said that Bangladesh will look to improve in the last ODI on Sunday, but he felt the bowlers did a good job for 39 out of the 45 overs. He also mentioned that they always discussed when to bring Mehidy into the bowling attack, before figuring out that Ireland probably could be countered with the offspinner bowling from a particular end.”I don’t think we bowled badly. The coach (Chandika Hathurusingha) mentioned that we gave six or seven big overs out of the 45 overs. Otherwise, we bowled well for 39 overs. The one who got the century for them, batted really well. I think there’s no reason to blame anyone. There’s always room for improvement, but the way the bowlers did here, it will help us in the future.”We were all discussing, including the captain, about when to bring Miraz into the attack. But there was more trust on Taijul . Then we realised that it was harder to hit a right-hander from one end, because it was big. They were playing well against left-arm spin. We believe in him. He bowled well. He is very helpful. We want a situation where anyone can bowl in any situation.”

Rayudu, Rahane and Dube – all at different stages of their careers – brought out their best through the season

Shashank Kishore30-May-20231:57

Moody: Dhoni develops the young and reinvents the old

“With him in the team I will never win the fairplay award. But what I will remember him for is he always gives his 100%.”That was MS Dhoni on Ambati Rayudu in a nutshell. The angry, often testy and emotional character that Rayudu can be, was sobbing inconsolably after the winning runs were hit in the IPL final. Two days earlier, he had announced retirement and promised there wouldn’t be any U-turns.It was a glorious end to a career that had its fair share of moments in the sun and moments that had the potential to go out of hand. Like in 2018, when Rayudu went incommunicado for over two weeks after he had been withdrawn from India’s squad over a failed yo-yo test.Related

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Rayudu: 'A fairy-tale finish, I can smile for the rest of my life'

Only a few months earlier, Rayudu had been front and centre of CSK’s magnificent run to the title. He had made 602 runs in 16 innings while striking at 149.75. A World Cup dream was burning bright, but Rayudu was crushed by the manner in which he is believed to have been told, “no fitness, no World Cup.”Kasi Viswanathan, the CSK CEO and a calm man who players swear by for being a “voice of reason”, stepped in to help Rayudu in a bid to get him back on track. A part of the exercise was to have him mentor young kids handpicked by CSK for an exchange programme in Yorkshire.Viswanathan left no stone unturned in reaching out to Rayudu, who in Dhoni’s own words “doesn’t use a mobile phone much”. And from being on the edge of walking away angry at the system and at himself, Rayudu came back reinvigorated. He thanked “Kasi sir” for helping him rediscover the fire. Two weeks later, he cleared the yo-yo test and forced his way back into contention, first with India A and then with the Indian team.Rayudu is a man of few words. The anger he can show on the field can, at times, come as a shock if you’re used to his polite off-field persona. He smiles more than he talks. His demeanour on Monday night was of someone emotional, yet satisfied with where he stood as he walked away a winner.From being touted as one for the future in 2002 to playing in an Under-19 World Cup in 2004 to disappearing into the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) and then returning to the mainstream, Rayudu’s career has been one of promise not entirely fulfilled. In Ahmedabad on Monday night, he was part of a sixth IPL crown, three each with CSK and Mumbai Indians.”I can smile for the rest of my life,” Rayudu said, wiping tears in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. “All the hard work for the last 30 years. I’m just happy that it finished on this night.”Rayudu’s was a clutch contribution, without which it’s entirely possible CSK may have not had the legs for the late heist. How someone who had barely batted in the tournament soaked in pressure and launched a sensational assault on one of the tournament’s best death bowler is a story for the ages.He was simply looking to hold his shape, stand deep inside his crease and let his instincts take over. It’s easier said than done, but to be able to execute when everything is on the line speaks of not just his class but composure. He went 6, 4, 6 against Mohit Sharma. From 39 off 18, the equation was down to 23 off 15.”Ambati Rayudu is an absolute legend, I rate him so highly as a batter,” coach Stephen Fleming said at the post-final press conference. “That over today, the three balls against Mohit Sharma proved why. Mohit’s one of the in-form death bowlers and the way Rayudu hit him for 6, 4, 6 was pure class. So, he will leave a hole [in the team going forward], there’s no doubt about it but the game keeps moving. He’s identified mentally and physically it’s his time to go. We’ve respected that, for him to go out like that was emotional for him and the group. I’m very pleased for him. I’m really rapped with what he contributed to CSK.”1:57

Manjrekar: Dhoni had his eyes closed for the final ball

****

In December 2022, Viswanathan had a brief discussion with Fleming and Dhoni over the possibility of shortlisting Ajinkya Rahane ahead of the auction. Fleming vouched for Rahane’s work ethic and strongly endorsed him being in the shortlist, even if a final call on selecting him was to be made in due course. Dhoni is believed to have told Viswanathan, “nothing like it if we can get Jinks.”Fleming had worked previously with Rahane at Rising Pune Supergiants and knew of his pedigree. He felt here was a batter who had immense potential even if he was at the fag end of his career. Getting him at base price, Viswanathan said, was a “bonus.” They had budgeted a “slightly more than that” – he was signed for INR 50 lakh (US$ 60,000 approx.).”When I turned up halfway through the pre-season training, I saw a guy who was in magnificent form,” Fleming said. “He wasn’t in our initial thoughts, but the game in Mumbai [where Rahane scored 61 off 27] was really defining.”Rahane only found out he was playing just prior to the toss. Ben Stokes had been injured, Moeen Ali was unwell, and CSK needed to rejig their top order. This was a return to the IPL of sorts. His career had hit a dead end. He hadn’t hit an IPL fifty since 2020. He hadn’t played in a Test for over a year. And when he didn’t get runs for Kolkata Knight Riders before leaving midway due to an injury last year, you feared he had done his time. Much to his credit, Rahane went back to domestic cricket to get back the “enjoyment factor” and in his first knock back at the IPL this season, he heads turn straightaway.Suddenly, Rahane’s form led to a chatter around him potentially lending India’s middle order some experience in Shreyas Iyer’s absence for the WTC final. Certainly the selectors felt that way and he was rewarded with a recall.On Monday night, you wouldn’t have expected Rahane to come in at No. 4 in a truncated game. But his six-hitting form and the improved focus on going hard from ball one convinced the team management that it was a “good call.” Rahane played two of the most stunning shots in the match. The first was a home run. “Baseballs it over midwicket,” said Karthik Krishnaswamy on ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary.The second shot, one ball later, brought back Sachin Tendulkar’s desert storm feels. “Straight down the ground, wonderful shot, all the wayyy for six.” You could hear the mind replay that in Tony Greig’s booming voice. If aesthetics was an Olympic sport, Rahane was a gold medalist, hands down. This unshackled version of Rahane, who finished the season with the best strike rate (232.39) against pace bowling (minimum balls faced 20) was down to proper role clarity.”My understanding is that we got rid of the tag of being the guy you bat around or bat through,” Fleming explained. “I think that maybe hung over his head a little bit too much and didn’t allow him to be the player that he can be. And once that tag was gone, it was one of our best wins in the tournament and he was the big catalyst behind it, so he cemented that No. 3 spot.”He’s been unwavering the whole way through, he’s been nothing but positive, his nets have been positive. Anytime he’s been caught on the boundary or out playing a big shot, we’ve just reinforced how good he’s playing. So a little bit of belief and just sheer ability – he’s been a wonderful player for us this year.”2:09

Manjrekar: Dhoni trusted Jadeja to do the job

****

Shivam Dube had a middling IPL 2022. Short balls tucked into his body at pace were his weakness. An injury in the build-up to the season left the team management with little time to work on his game. So instead, they decided to build on his strengths. Which was his ability to use his long levers to muscle spin for sixes. Dube had made a mark first when he walloped five sixes in five balls in a local T20 game in Mumbai. They worked on bringing that ferocity back, this time against quality spin of Yuzvendra Chahal, Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine.On Monday, Dube had a forgettable start. He was on 12 off 11 and CSK needed 54 off 24. The pressure was piling up. He couldn’t time the ball. They weren’t giving him the length to swing for the hills. In trying to overhit, he kept losing his shape.And then he went boom, boom against a clutch bowler, Rashid. It was a wrong’un gone wrong; it was right in his hitting slot and Dube picked him early to launch it straight down the ground. Next ball was of similar length, but a legbreak. Again, Dube picked it early, cleared his front leg and walloped it with the spin. Those two shots brought CSK back in. It would lead to the start of Rayudu’s torrent at the other end.”To bring Dube up and use him in an aggressive role took a few games,” Fleming said. “We were unsure but he played a defining innings against RCB [in Bengaluru where he scored 52 off 27] where he really stamped his authority and from there, he was sort of a catalyst for us through those middle overs. With the Impact Player, that’s what was needed.”

****

Perhaps there was no bigger catalyst on the night than Ravindra Jadeja. The man who dismissed Shubman Gill to give CSK an early breakthrough was there right at the end to see the team home. This was a moment Jadeja was perhaps waiting for, after a season of feeling a little letdown by the Chennai fans. The same fans who wanted him out so that Dhoni could come in to bat were willing him on with CSK needing 10 off the last two balls.They were all praying hard. The captain couldn’t watch. Jadeja knew he had to swing and swing hard. And he did. And just like that, all the tension that appeared to have built up, with all the social media potshots and cryptic messages of “karma” and “knowing my worth”, went down the river. There was unparalleled joy. Dhoni couldn’t hold back his emotions. Jadeja sprinted across as soon as he made contact, knowing they had won. He didn’t even bother looking behind. They were all trying to catch him. Everyone was running in circles. It was delirium.They say there are no fairy tales in sport. This was a pretty good one, for CSK; something that one didn’t see happening when Jadeja left the camp in a huff in 2022. He had just been removed as captain. Jadeja wiped out any mention of CSK on his Instagram account. He was fuming, only to be later cajoled and brought back into the camp. Here he was now, on top of the podium, having delivered under immense pressure. Jadeja had become their new ”.”It’s been a difficult 18 months, where the captaincy was difficult, the injury was difficult. It took a bit of time from out of the game to come back reinvigorated to the Test game and then reintegrate into CSK,” Fleming said. “He plays a great role with the ball, but we’ve got so much firepower that in some ways we use him down the order. But something has to give, and MS has been very supportive and proactive of getting him up there.”And today, he repaid that faith. That six to a ball that was neat-perfect was defining. And then a good left-hander’s straight drive through fine leg was a great way to finish it. I couldn’t have been happier for him. There’s been some frustration at times, but he’s our gun player, our No. 1-ranked player, and today he delivered.”It was the perfect end to a season full of drama. It was the culmination of a journey that began mid-February when Fleming and CSK realised they needed to patch together something out of nothing, given their injury list.It was quite symbolic in the end that the defining image of their season was one of an injured Dhoni, knee in a brace and struggling from the many million squats he has had to do, lifting Jadeja in one motion.You couldn’t have scripted any of it.

Australia head to India for a three-match series ahead of the World Cup with plenty to ponder after a 3-2 series defeat against South Africa

Alex Malcolm18-Sep-2023

Australia’s injury list lengthens

Australia entered the five-match series missing Pat Cummins (wrist fracture), Steven Smith (wrist tendon), Mitchell Starc (groin soreness) and Glenn Maxwell (ankle) but were buoyed by the opportunity to test their bench strength before those players returned. All of those players still need to get up to match fitness and intensity in India ahead of the World Cup but Australia leave South Africa with more injury issues.Travis Head has a fractured hand and is in severe doubt for the World Cup. Coach Andrew McDonald confirmed after the final ODI that he is unlikely to be available for the first half of the tournament and the selectors have to decide whether to carry him in the squad or not. Sean Abbott has split the webbing in his hand and will be monitored in India.Ashton Agar played just one game in South Africa coming off a calf tear. It was planned that he would play more but he experienced soreness and missed the second and third matches of the series before heading home for the birth of his child and he won’t play in the series in India starting on Friday.Nathan Ellis (adductor) and Spencer Johnson (hamstring) aren’t in the World Cup 15-man squad at the moment but both are key back-up fast bowling options and both leave South Africa with niggles. Australia has five more matches before the World Cup to get players up and running but they also have to factor in nine World Cup pool games in eight cities over the course of only a month in the tournament proper. It is a heavy workload for even a fully fit squad.Related

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Dismal death bowling

Australia’s death bowling was woeful in the last three games of the series and it is a major concern heading to the World Cup. Cummins and Starc were missing, while Mitchell Marsh was unavailable to bowl and Cameron Green missed two of the last three games due to concussion. All of those issues meant Marsh was limited in his options as stand-in captain.Agar’s absence was also keenly felt. While he does not bowl at the death, his middle-over skills can help build more pressure on opposition teams heading into the death overs. But even the experienced trio of Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis were mauled by South Africa’s middle-order in the death overs.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();

Two of the greatest teams of modern times, with a storied past against each other, meet at a venue steeped in cricket history

Sambit Bal07-Oct-2023Australia are training in the outdoor nets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium as the sun sets over the Marina, a beach so wide that the water seems to start at the horizon. From up close, Mitchell Starc’s run-up seems almost as long, and Steven Smith, it feels, has been batting for an eternity.By Chennai’s standards, it’s an unusually cool evening. The monsoon has come early and the tree-lined streets leading to the stadium are wet, but the relief from the balmy heat is set off by worry about the fate of the match. However, locals are confident that weather disruptions, if any, will be minor. Which is just as well.With apologies to the other teams, this World Cup will burst to life when India take on Australia on Sunday.Related

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Attack with the new ball, don't lose momentum in the middle: where the 2023 World Cup could be won

India vs Pakistan in Ahmedabad is billed as the blockbuster of the tournament. It’s hard to match the emotional charge, visceral and bordering on the toxic, of a cricket match between these two countries.England vs Australia carries the significance of history and tradition, but for those who know their cricket, India vs Australia is a whole new feeling. Over the last two decades, they have been the worthiest of opponents, producing epic, gladiatorial, astonishing, and unforgettable contests. In many ways, it’s a sporting rivalry of the purest kind, based mainly on the quality of the cricket, the performances it has extracted and the memories it has created.Great players and performances are measured against the toughness of their opponents, and Indian players of the last two generations have their Australian links firmly established. It began with Sachin Tendulkar, who announced himself to the world with that dazzling hundred as a teenager in Perth in 1992 and went on to score ten more in Tests, and 20 in all, against Australia. VVS Laxman’s 281 in Kolkata in 2001 remains arguably the greatest Test innings by an Indian, and Rahul Dravid would count his 180 in that Test, and his match-winning double-hundred in Adelaide in 2003, among his finest.The India-Australia fixture has been one with stars and star performances•Getty ImagesVirat Kohli, Tendulkar’s batting successor, has followed the same path, saving his best for his greatest opponents, starting with a maiden Test hundred in Adelaide and following with seven more in Tests and 16 overall.Though he took his time to establish himself in the national side, Rohit Sharma’s precocity was established with a half-century full of serene drives in the first of two CB Series finals in 2008, in the course of which he helped India with a 123-run partnership with Tendulkar on a tough pitch. KL Rahul discovered himself as an international player with a stroke-filled hundred in Sydney in 2015, and the 91 from Shubman Gill – tipped to be India’s next all-format batting great – that set up India’s astonishing and history-making chase in Brisbane in 2021 has to be his best international innings yet.Australia’s World Cup dominance has its roots in India, where they came from behind in 1987 to win their first title in Calcutta, in front of the biggest audience for a World Cup final. It kicked off a journey where they became the pre-eminent team across formats. One of the architects of that win, Steve Waugh, would go on to elevate India in the minds of his compatriots as worthy rivals for Australia with his remark in 2001 about India being the final frontier for them. India have matched them step for step since. No other team has taken more Test series off Australia this century, and apart from South Africa, no other team has beaten them back to back in their own den. Between them, the two teams have ten appearances in World Cup finals, and seven winners’ trophies, and in the minds of many, Sunday’s match is already a final before the actual final, however early it may come in the tournament.The MA Chidambaram Stadium, a cricket venue steeped in the history and tradition of the game, where the reverence, affection and care for the sport is evident in every wall, and will be in the crowds that will fill the ground on Sunday, seems the appropriate stage for this event. The freshly painted murals that greet you when you walk through the main entrance depict Chennai’s cricket heritage, the stadium itself gleams with a new coat of white, the stands have been redesigned in recent years to let in sea breeze, and the outfield is lush.The last World Cup encounter between these two teams here was a thriller in 1987 that Australia edged by a run, just a year after the two teams played out a tied Test, only the second in history, on the same turf. Like he would go on to do in the final, Waugh defended eight runs in the last over of that Chepauk ODI, and two off the last ball, with, by some uncanny coincidence, Maninder Singh, the batter who faced the final ball in the tied Test, on strike.In the 1987 final, the home crowd in Calcutta was on the side of Allan Border’s Australia when they beat England, who had knocked India out•Getty ImagesIn hindsight, it was a reversed decision that became the clincher. A hit over the top down the ground by Dean Jones off Maninder had initially been deemed a four but was changed to six upon review during the break by umpire Dickie Bird, following protests from the Australians. In the absence of conclusive television evidence, it’s a call that is still disputed by the players involved, but it was a sign of the times that the incident led to no outrage then – let alone a diplomatic crisis between the boards.Australia have gone on to win four more World Cups since then, and India are the game’s undisputed powerhouse. The IPL draws the best of the world to these shores for nearly two months every year, and none more than it does the Australians. Cultural differences have melted away and so has the challenge of alien playing conditions. Many of the Australians in this year’s World Cup team have adopted India as a second home, or at least as a regular workplace away from home.So setting aside the rankings and recent form – India are on a hot streak and Australia have lost five of their last six ODIs – it will be a match of equals when the coin comes down on Sunday. Australia will put on their tournament armour against what feels like the best-prepared Indian team at a World Cup in recent memory.If signs are your thing, here’s another filter to gauge the significance of this match by. Barring 1987, Australia, the winningest World Cup side, have never won the World Cup when they have lost to India at least once in the tournament; and both of India’s World Cup-winning campaigns have featured a win over Australia in the earlier rounds.But why rely on quirky stats when the evidence before us points to the prospects of an utterly compelling day of cricket between two hot pre-tournament favourites?

Alan Gardner is joined by Andrew McGlashan and Vithushan Ehantharajah to discuss Australia retaining the urn at a soggy Old Trafford

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2023Ducks and poncho-sellers were the only winners in Manchester, as rain washed out the final day of the fourth Test and ensured Australia would retain the Ashes. England were in charge but could not get back on the field as their attempt to become only the second team in history to successfully come back from 2-0 down fell flat. In this week’s pod, Alan Gardner, Andrew McGlashan and Vithushan Ehantharajah reflect on an Old Trafford anticlimax, despite the best efforts of Chris Woakes, Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow, and look ahead to what’s left to play for at The Oval.

The New Zealand left-armer talks about his new ball – the Claw – bowling to lefties, and how his time at Chennai Super Kings will help him in the World Cup

Deivarayan Muthu04-Sep-2023In this age of mystery spin and quick wristspin, there are still some capable fingerspinners who are fighting the tide. Among them, Mitchell Santner stands out for his remarkable control, despite having spent most of his career on the easy-paced bash-through-the-line pitches on small grounds in New Zealand.Mohammad Nabi (4.29), Shakib Al Hasan (4.44) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (4.70) all have better career economy rates than Santner (4.87) in ODI cricket, but they’ve all been bred on spin-friendly tracks in the subcontinent. That Santner is keeping pace with these fingerspinners – and even some wristspinners – is a credit to his defensive skills.So what’s on Santner’s mind when he is at the top of his mark, preparing to bowl to big hitters in ODI cricket?Related

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“I guess in recent times in one-day cricket, everyone is coming out quite hot with the bat,” he says. “We’ve seen some bigger scores, and it can be quite challenging at times for bowling. Our recent [bilateral] series in India was an example of that – where scores were 350-plus, and it makes a massive difference only having four men out vs five [between overs 11-40].”One [extra] guy you’ve got to have up [in the circle] and it’s usually a cow [midwicket] to the right-hander or mid-off to a left-hander. We know that the bowling style isn’t too different between T20 cricket and ODI cricket at the moment. You get a couple of dots, and you know the batsman wants to try some stuff and you try to build the pressure the same way.Santner says the strategy changes depending on the pitch he is bowling on. “You’re going to get a few more dots in one-day cricket, depending upon the surface. But if there’s a little bit there, you can probably be a bit more attacking. If it is a very flat wicket, like it could be in some of the World Cup games [in India], you have to be a bit more defensive and try to get wickets through false shots.”Santner used to be a left-arm seamer until he was about 15. Inspired by Daniel Vettori, he belatedly switched to left-arm fingerspin. When he was 17 or so, he suffered a back injury and he returned to action with a stiff non-bowling arm. The little pause in his bowling action and the effort he puts into reading the batter’s intention have helped him gain an advantage, though he isn’t a big turner of the ball.3:14

Mitchell Santner: ‘We’ve got our fast bowling and spin sorted for the World Cup’

“If you talk to some of the other bowlers, they try to probably look at some spot on the pitch. I try to watch the batter the whole time. The little delay [in my action] helps me if they’re going to charge at me or try something… At times, especially when it’s flat or if I think the batsman is going to do something, I watch him even harder. And at times, if it’s spinning, I might just bowl my best ball – the one that spins – and see what happens.”It has become increasingly difficult for left-arm fingerspinners to operate against left-hand batters in white-ball cricket. Colin Munro, a former New Zealand team-mate of Santner’s and currently a freelancer, recently spoke about playing Bazball-style cricket against left-arm fingerspinners. He talked about how Brendon McCullum, who was a mentor of sorts to him, spoke about picking match-ups. “If the left-arm spinner comes on to a left-hand batter, take him down. Don’t just get ten runs in the over; if you can get 18, it accelerates the game.”These days, even right-hand batters are switching into left-handers to spook left-arm spinners. For instance, in his first full season at Wellington Firebirds, Finn Allen switched his stance and monstered Santner into the grass banks beyond midwicket at the Basin Reserve. Santner says in these situations he tries to watch the batter’s feet and movements even more carefully than usual, and to vary his pace even more.”With the nature of these pitches being flatter and a lot of T20 cricket [being played], people are being very aggressive in ODI cricket. [As a bowler] there are times to attack and there will be times to defend as well, so being able to watch the batter is massive… see when the guy is going to switch [-hit] or run down.”With the lefties, you have to try and vary your pace [more] and maybe bowl a few variations to try to keep it away [from them]. Being a left-hand batter, if a left-arm spinner comes on, I try to take him down as well. So, it’s obviously vice-versa when I’m bowling.”Santner is also planning to use his version of the carrom ball, “the Claw”, to counter left-hand batters on particularly placid pitches in the World Cup. He recently flicked it out during his T20 stint with Worcestershire Rapids in the Blast in England.On bowling with Ish Sodhi: “We have a very good relationship, so we talk about different roles between each of us. If it’s spinning, we could do it [attack] together and at times we might both have to defend, depending upon the conditions”•Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images”I think it’s definitely an option to some left-handers. Something that just goes away from the left-hander has been so effective. I know [R] Ashwin uses it a lot against right-handers as well, so just some variation outside of the natural stuff to keep the batsmen guessing, especially when the pitches are flat.”Santner usually dovetails beautifully with legspinner Ish Sodhi, and their partnership will once again be crucial to New Zealand’s success in India. They combined spectacularly to spin India out for 79 in Nagpur in the T20 World Cup in 2016 and have both grown in stature since. New Zealand also have other options in Rachin Ravindra (another left-arm spinner) and Glenn Phillips (part-time offspinner).”Me and Ish have done it for a very long time,” Santner says. “We have a very good relationship, so we talk about different roles between each of us. It might be on me to tie up one end and he can be more aggressive at the other. If it’s spinning, we could do it [attack] together and at times we might both have to defend, depending upon the conditions.”In New Zealand, you might just go for one spinner every now and then, but in the World Cup in India, you might see at least two.”Michael Bracewell’s injury has stripped New Zealand of batting depth, but Santner’s improved power-hitting could help make up for that. Some of that power was on display when he cracked 64 off 46 balls at No. 3 for Worcestershire against Derbyshire in July.”Yeah, it’s been nice to get some opportunities [to bat up the order]. When you’re playing a lot for New Zealand, you’re kind of coming at the end. With our top order and middle order, we’ve got quite a good line-up, so you don’t get that much opportunity. It’s nice to go back and play for ND [Northern Districts] and get some more batting opportunities and then with Worcestershire. Michael Bracewell got injured, which wasn’t ideal for us, but it was an opportunity for me to go from No. 5 to No. 3, which was nice. Batting in the powerplay is definitely different to batting at the end. The more I can bank those experiences, and have good opportunities with the bat, the better.”Santner has been working on his batting ahead of the World Cup and worked with power-hitter Albie Morkel while playing in MLC in the USA•Dan Mullan/Getty Images”I think we’ve seen in one-day cricket, but especially in T20 cricket, power-hitting at the end of an innings – or even throughout the innings – is so important. We had Albie Morkel [assistant coach] with the Texas Super Kings [in MLC, the US-based T20 league] who was a very good exponent of that in his time. It was nice to work with him for a little bit as well.”More recently, on his Hundred debut for Southern Brave in August, Santner made an immediate impact, taking the new ball and giving away only 20 runs in his four sets, handcuffing Jos Buttler and Phil Salt with his subtle variations.Santner also fronted up to take the newish ball in MLC. He could perhaps do a similar job for New Zealand in their two World Cup games in Chennai, which is also his home base in the IPL.”The nature of playing leagues is, you come up against some of the best players and you’re likely to play them in these World Cups coming up. You get more of an understanding about each person playing and the conditions.”The IPL has been so good for that. You play a lot of games in India on some pretty good pitches – some slightly slower and some that can go through. Having that understanding of what you think batters are going to do and pitches are going to do is a massive one. Adapting on the day might be slightly different and you have to keep your options open when you’re out there.”Santner’s first introduction to the World Cup was through footage of the 1992 edition, when New Zealand bossed their way to the semi-final. Dipak Patel was New Zealand’s trump card at the time with his cagey fingerspin on small grounds with fielding restrictions in place. After that Vettori did that job for New Zealand, and though the landscape of the game has changed vastly since, Santner has taken over and continues to show the way for fingerspinners.

Plight of teams like New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka throws spotlight on restrictions

Matt Roller02-Nov-20232:07

Have New Zealand been unlucky?

Picture the scene: two of France’s centre-backs have gone down with niggles, so a third is summoned halfway across the world 48 hours before a vital FIFA World Cup match. “We couldn’t risk being a defender down for Saturday,” explains Didier Deschamps, their manager, while awaiting scan results for his first-choice pairing.The idea seems anachronistic, not least in a sport that allows squads of up to 26 players at its World Cup. Yet it is exactly the situation facing New Zealand at the Cricket World Cup after Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry’s injuries left them with no choice but to fly Kyle Jamieson to Bengaluru as cover for Saturday’s game against Pakistan.Cricket is not football, and the existence of substitutions clearly demands a bigger squad in one than the other. But with several teams in India experiencing an availability crisis – Australia are picking from a squad of 13 against England on Saturday – it is time for the ICC to discuss the 15-man limit on squads at world events.Related

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The issue was not raised internally at the ICC in the build-up to the World Cup but teams can propose a change via the men’s cricket committee – which incidentally, Gary Stead, New Zealand’s coach, sits on – or the chief executives’ committee. It is time they do so, because the current level is needlessly strict.New Zealand have been affected worse than most teams by injuries and left themselves open to the possibility of an availability crisis when they retained Kane Williamson in their squad despite his fractured thumb. But their scramble to find 11 fit players is a direct function of the tight cap on squad numbers.”15 men is not enough,” Steve Harmison said on ESPNcricinfo’s Matchday show. “There’s a lot of teams now having injuries at this time – and they’re all muscle injuries. There’s a lot of muscle injuries because you play, you travel, you play… it’s not easy getting around India for nine games in this space of time.”The overall impact is to damage the quality of the game: players are selected even if they are not fully fit due to the lack of viable alternatives, and teams are forced to rebalance their sides in the event of injury, even if they may not want to. It is a situation that suits nobody.Kane Williamson fractured his thumb against Bangladesh•ICC/GettyThere is a skill in selecting a squad versatile enough to overcome multiple injuries – but players can become unavailable at any time for any reason, as Australia’s absentees this week have shown: if Glenn Maxwell’s freak concussion was avoidable, then Mitchell Marsh’s return home for family reasons was clearly not.Another drawback is that selecting first-choice players who are carrying injuries – as Australia and New Zealand did with Travis Head and Williamson – becomes much more of a gamble than it should be. If the aim is to ensure the best players are involved, an extra two or three spots in a squad would help achieve that.The principal argument against bigger squads is financial. Under current regulations, the ICC funds travel, accommodation and expenses for 15 squad members and eight support staff, with teams left to foot the bill in the event that they wish to bring travelling reserves or additional staff – as many do.For most boards, the additional expenditure is nothing more than a rounding error on their balance sheet, but consider the Netherlands. Their travelling reserves, Noah Croes and Kyle Klein, have flown economy class and shared twin rooms throughout the World Cup, at a combined expense of around €22,000 across six weeks; according to the KNCB, that is more than the total cost of a short ‘A’ team tour to England.In theory, smaller squads should help competitive balance, denying the best teams the opportunity to use their depth. In practice, smaller teams are affected just as badly: Sri Lanka have carried – and paid for – travelling reserves, and have used more players in the tournament than anyone else.The 15-man cap has been constant since the 1999 World Cup despite fundamental changes to the sport and the format. There has been a marked shift in the physical demands on players, the athleticism that 50-over cricket requires and the tournament lasts significantly longer.There is also scope for more flexibility within a seven-week tournament for players to come in and out of squads. If the ICC insist on keeping the cap at 15, there should be reasonable scope for teams to replace players for a set period: if Henry is ruled out for the next week, why shouldn’t Jamieson be able to join the squad as cover for two games?At one stage of their defeat to South Africa on Wednesday, New Zealand only had 11 players fit enough to field; the same could be true for them against Pakistan this weekend. Their plight should be enough to prompt change.

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.