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RCB stutter in their chase despite having the firepower of Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight

Sruthi Ravindranath05-Mar-2023It was just over a week ago when a disappointed Shafali Verma was watching Australia captain Meg Lanning celebrate a thrilling win over India in the T20 World Cup semi-finals in Cape Town. On Sunday, the two came together to feast on a listless Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling, fist-bumping their way to a rollicking 162-run stand in 14.3 overs at the Brabourne Stadium.Delhi Capitals amassed 223 for 2, the second 200-plus total in a row in the WPL, and in turn, Royal Challengers could only get to 163 for 8, as USA’s Tara Norris – the only Associate player in the tournament – bagged five wickets.It wasn’t like Royal Challengers did not have the firepower. Having Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight in your line-up is an absolute dream. On a good batting surface, you expect these big names to show up. But Capitals have Lanning and she is no ordinary captain. Actually, we can say it out loud: she is a five-time World Cup-winning captain.She placed a mid-off and prompted Alice Capsey to bowl wide to Devine, who had been targeting that area for boundaries. That resulted in a superb catch by Shafali at mid-off to dismiss the dangerous Devine for just 14. Lanning brought on left-arm spinner Radha Yadav only after Mandhana was dismissed. And she never gave Royal Challengers a chance to recover after that.

The Shafali-Lanning serve: elegance, power and everything in between

“, video analyst (Every team has a video analyst so everyone knows others’ strength and weakness, we have planned everything and we will execute it).”That was Shafali’s response to the host broadcaster before the match on being asked what advise she gave Lanning to stop Mandhana from scoring runs. On the day, Shafali made sure Royal Challengers did not execute any of their strategies they possibly had for her, as she brought her . It was evident in the way she effortlessly charged down the pitch to gracefully drive the ball over long-on or how she backed away to heave a short and wide ball from Devine powerfully over mid-off.While acknowledging that she found her fluency on the day, Shafali also said she was upset that she fell before reaching her century.”I knew it was my day today,” she said after the match. “I was telling myself that I need to bat throughout. When I got out in my 80s, I got really sad because it was that kind of a day, and I couldn’t get my century. It was my time to have hit a century. My family’s presence at the stadium also gave me confidence. And I was only thinking that I should convert and that I shouldn’t play any loose shot.”At the other end was world-class Lanning, showing off her elegance with every shot. She played her favourite cut every time the ball fell short and wide. She also targeted the area behind square with her pulls and sweeps. The duo hardly spared any bowler, leaving Royal Challengers clueless. They put up the fifth-highest stand in women’s T20 leagues, and they did that by constantly encouraging each other in the middle.”She [Lanning] was constantly appreciating me and I was more and more encouraged by it,” Shafali said. “We were just backing each other. She knows how I play and I know how she plays. I was also trying to back her, [I wanted her to be] confident and comfortable playing with me. When I hit a four she said, ‘good shot, keep playing’ and I also (did) that, kept telling her ‘good shot, keep going like this’ and I really enjoyed playing with her.”Ahead of the tournament, Lanning had said she couldn’t wait to stand at the other end and watch Shafali “whack other teams around the park”. Not only did her wish come true in Capitals’ first match, but she also got to join the party. On a sweltering Sunday afternoon, the duo made Mandhana regret her decision to bowl first.While we’ll leave you to decide what the pair’s nickname should be, all we can say is we ship this budding womance.Tara Norris bagged a five-for on WPL debut•BCCI

Kapp’s blitz and Tara Norris, the Associate trump card

The duo also laid the perfect platform for Marizanne Kapp to the off from. Along with Jemimah Rodrigues, Kapp made sure the run rate did not drop as she took on Perry, Megan Schutt and Knight for fours and sixes to get the team total to 200 in the 19th over. She scored a boundary off the last ball of the innings to finish with a 17-ball 39.Capitals had a standout performer in the bowling department too. Norris, the USA left-arm quick, who has been building her experience by plying her trade in the England domestic circuit, came to the party later in the evening.When Perry was just finding her touch in the tall chase, Norris all but ended Royal Challengers’ hopes by getting her to drag on in the 11th over. In the same over, she sent No. 4 Disha Kasat back with a short ball. Norris struck twice in her next over too, dismissing Richa Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja. By the end of that 13th over, Royal Challengers’ equation had reached an improbable 128 off 42 balls with just four wickets in hand.And in her final over, with Royal Challengers floundering, Norris also had Knight caught at cover to cap a memorable spell of 5 for 29.

“I will be very happy with whatever comes my way, but the aspirations and dreams never die”

Afzal Jiwani24-Aug-2022Mayank Agarwal, who had a disappointing run in IPL 2022 with the bat while leading Punjab Kings, has been working on trying to turn his white-ball game around by “opening up four-five areas”.Agarwal tallied just 196 runs in 12 innings for Kings in IPL 2022, averaging 16.33 and striking at 122.50 – he was not even among the top five scorers for his side in the competition. But now, at the Maharaja T20 Trophy – the local T20 tournament in Karnataka – he has struck 480 runs in 11 innings at an average of 53.33 and strike rate of 167.24, with two centuries, for Bengaluru Blasters.”In the last four months, I’ve really worked hard on my batting. As you can see, I’ve started sweeping and reverse-sweeping the ball, that too against the fast bowlers,” Agarwal told ESPNcricinfo. “I’ve opened up four-five areas in my game which are paying rich dividends. I am very happy that the hard work I put in is paying off now.Related

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“Getting two hundreds in a T20 tournament like the Maharaja Trophy feels amazing. It feels really nice when the players respond to you the way you want. Obviously runs behind my back really makes me feel good and then I can lead from the front.”In the 287 balls he has faced in the Maharaja T20 Trophy, Agarwal has hit as many as 50 fours and 20 sixes and brought up centuries off 48 balls against K Gowtham’s Shivamogga Strikers and off 58 balls against Gulbarga Mystics led by Manish Pandey. The last win put Blasters in the final.At a time when the surfeit of international cricket is forcing India’s team management, and selectors, to broaden the pool of players to never-before proportions, Agarwal has been conspicuous by his absence. He has played 21 Tests and five ODIs [but no T20Is] over the years, but the last of them came back in March against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru. He wasn’t picked in the original squad for the fifth Test at Edgbaston in July, but flew across as cover for KL Rahul, who was injured, and Rohit Sharma, who had tested positive for Covid-19. He didn’t play the Test, though, because India decided to open with Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara.”I am somebody who isn’t going to give up,” Agarwal said about his international future. “I am going to keep chasing it and improve my game with each passing day. I will be very happy with whatever comes my way, but the aspirations and dreams never die.”It’s about going out there, improving and ticking all those boxes.”

Is England’s new approach genius or confidence trick? It may be both, but buckle up anyway

Vithushan Ehantharajah22-Jun-2022

Big picture

In episode 20, season one of cult TV hit some of the Bluth Company assets are unfrozen leading to Michael, head and signatory by virtue of being the only competent Bluth, fielding requests for cash from various family members. At the end of his tether by the time his brother, Gob, and brother-in-law, Tobias, get to him, he suggests the pair come up with a business proposal to earn their money.Gob and Tobias retreat to a local coffee shop for a brainstorming session that goes nowhere. But as they go to leave, Michael walks in and, before they tell him of their fruitless conversation, he commends them for their initiative as he had always been interested in opening a coffee shop. They say nothing in response, and slowly back out of the shop, wary of ruining the perception they a) have a plan, and b) know how to pull it off. A bluff that lasts barely a week when all they managed to come up with is the name – “Gobias”. As in, “go buy us” a coffee.We are probably not at that stage with “Bazball” just yet. But as remarkable as the men’s Test team have been these last two weeks, it’s hard not to shake the feeling its veneration, perhaps even the ethos itself, has been bestowed upon them without a thorough idea of what it actually entails. And as much as the players can talk up the cleansing powers of Brendon McCullum and the contagious brilliance of Ben Stokes, the cynics are still wondering if this emperor has simply gone on a spending spree.As such, Headingley provides as much of an opportunity to reinforce the method behind the mantra or pull at a rogue thread on the invisible garment. The trick for England is to react calmly whatever the result: not get too full of of themselves with a 3-0 win, and keep faith in these principles even if New Zealand get on the board – two things previous iterations of this England team have not done exactly done well.For now there remains a humility within the squad that there is more learning to be done. They know the adrenalin shot of a Stokes-Bairstow partnership won’t always come off, or that chasing down scores of 299 inside 50 overs of the final day means all the ills of the last few years have been cured.Ben Stokes tees off in the nets ahead of the third Test•PA Images via Getty Images

Training on the final day was no less serious with a series won. And it was particularly noteworthy that Harry Brook, who won’t have the glory of a home debut, peppered all parts of Headingley during his net session, much to the enjoyment of managing director Rob Key, who was at the ground after making his way up yesterday. Those on the periphery are keen to adopt the new way, and it will be interesting to see how much of that filters through as it did with the white-ball revolution seven years earlier.By contrast, New Zealand’s practice was far more jovial in a bid to lift spirits after what has been a taxing few weeks. Along with the defeats has been the jeopardy of waking up every morning to some kind of Covid news.Thankfully for all concerned, it seems they are through the storm. Kane Williamson, fit and present, focussed on two good games for the neutral but will no doubt to be keen to make up for time spent in his hotel room during the second Test.Related

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In many ways, there is no better venue to follow on from the high of Trent Bridge. They do good Test matches up in Leeds, most obviously the blockbuster against Australia in 2019, which happened to be Stokes’ last game here for his country. A mental-health break last summer meant he missed the innings-and-76-run victory against India in 2021 – the team’s only success in 17 attempts until the start of this summer. This is a place of comfort for English cricket. Or at least it used to be.The cloud of the racism scandal engulfing Yorkshire County Cricket Club got an extra burst of smog last week when the ECB announced that the club and several of its current and former players will face charges following the conclusion of the board’s investigations. Those cases will be heard by the Cricket Discipline Commission panel in September and October, but the fact this Test remains here will be a sour note for many. It was back in November that the ECB suspended Yorkshire from hosting international matches given their appalling handling of the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.Those sanctions were lifted in March – a move welcomed by Rafiq. But the change the ECB wished to see has been slow and by no means steady. In a week to be celebrated, there is a sense those involved with the club, both at the time of the scandal and now, are praying the match passes as quietly and quickly as possible.

In the spotlight

An environment of celebrating wins is kept ticking along day-to-day by the bonhomie of celebrating other people’s successes. And so far 11 of the 12 players who have turned out for England in this series have had something to take home and frame. Zak Crawley, though, remains uncelebrated. The only batter to have not registered at least one half-century – a 43 in the first innings at Lord’s his highest score so far – Crawley is nursing an average of 14 that puts him below James Anderson (16) and well adrift of his opening partner, Alex Lees (39).There cannot be a much worse feeling than that of a failing batter in a successful team. The added sour taste for Crawley is that, of the openers picked in the last few years, he is the most perfect fit for what this side are trying to be about. There’s an argument to be made that he got out to the two best deliveries sent down by Trent Boult, New Zealand’s best bowler, in the second Test. But that will only console him so far. The of this England set-up is to give people opportunities to come good. As is always the case for anyone searching for form, the best time to find it is the present.On the other side of the fence, Kane Williamson finds himself in the unique position of being doubted. Former New Zealand fast bowler Simon Doull, currently working for Sky out in the Netherlands, stated his belief Williamson should walk away from the captaincy to prolong his status as the nation’s best batter. When the thought was put to Williamson, it was typically met with the softest of straight bats: “The picture of leadership in this side is something I’m very passionate about”. He then went a bit cryptic, talking of “a number of leaders in this team that share that passion to take steps forward and become a better side”. Whatever he decides, and whenever he decides, his body language and tactics will be under the microscope to monitor any lapses in “desire” for the job. Throw into the fact he has just one century and one fifty since the start of 2021 – albeit from nine innings, and with 238 at the start of that sequence – you’ve got the makings of quite the narrative.

Team news

Ben Stokes made it a hat-trick of announcing the team 24 hours in advance. There is just one change, though not for the captain who pulled through in good spirits after a few days of an undisclosed illness. Jamie Overton will make his international debut as a replacement for James Anderson who has reported discomfort in his ankle. It is believed that, if push came to shove, Anderson could have turned out, though the opportunity to see Overton crank it up and give Anderson a few days off ahead of facing India at Edgbaston next week made it an easy decision to take.England: 1 Alex Lees, 2 Zak Crawley, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Matthew Potts, 9 Jamie Overton, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Stuart BroadNeil Wagner has put his hand up for selection•PA Images via Getty Images

Williamson confirmed a squad of 13 a day out, which is the touring party minus its newest additions Dane Cleaver and Blair Tickner. His return is likely to be in place for Michael Bracewell, and it looks like we will finally get a sight of Neil Wagner on this tour as he comes in to replace the injured Kyle Jamieson. One particular sticking point may be the need for a spinner, given how the pitch looks like it will play, which could bring Ajaz Patel back into the reckoning as the superior spinner, even after bowling just two overs in the Test he played at Lord’s.New Zealand (possible): 1 Tom Latham, 2 Will Young, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Devon Conway, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Henry Nicholls, 7 Tom Blundell (wk), 8 Tim Southee, 9 Neil Wagner, 10 Matt Henry/Ajaz Patel, 11 Trent Boult

Pitch and conditions

The rains expected over the weekend are probably not going to be enough to guarantee this game will go to five days. But the look of the pitch – the beigest so far this series – a day out suggests it will require a decent amount of graft from the bowlers to prise 20 wickets. England chose to bowl first at Trent Bridge last week and conceded 553, and though that worked out fine in the end, it’s probably not an approach they’ll look to take again.

Stats and trivia

• Stokes is one six away from 100 in Test cricket. Should he hit eight, as he did in his brain-melting 135 not out against Australia here three years ago, he will go level at the top with his coach McCullum (108)
• England have the opportunity to sweep a team in a multi-match series at home for the first time since 2013, when they won both matches of their series also against New Zealand. Their previous wash of any kind came in the 2-0 win away to Sri Lanka at the start of 2021.

Quotes

“For me, my message is clear and simple: let’s try to progress from that. It’s hard to put into words how we do that this week, but I said this week let’s feel like we’re in the entertainment business and not the sports business. That’s the only real way I could put into simple terms for everyone.”
Ben Stokes wants his side to go bigger, again“There’s a lot of pride in that changing room from some of the performances we’ve put out over the last few years. If we’re fair we probably haven’t been at the standards we want to be as a group, it’s nice to have one game to go out and play like we know we can.”


Trent Boult believes New Zealand can remind people how good they are and why they are World Test champions

Ramesh Mendis’ five-for could not prevent Pakistan from racking up 461 after struggling at 101 for 5

Madushka Balasuriya18-Jul-2023
Pakistan’s first five wickets cost 101, and their next five amassed 360. Of that Saud Shakeel accumulated 208. He would end the innings unbeaten, having frustrated, pummelled and ground down Sri Lanka, and in the process put Pakistan in total control at the end of the third day’s play in Galle. The visitors would eventually be bowled out for 461, having batted on for 121.2 overs – no mean feat in Galle – with Ramesh Mendis picking up the fifth five-wicket haul of his career.Sri Lanka’s batters saw out 20 minutes of play at the end, without loss; though the real business will start tomorrow, when an already fractured wicket will likely break down even further. But as for today, it belonged to Shakeel through and through. In fact, such was his dominance that after a point Sri Lanka simply stopped trying to get him out, with much of the afternoon and post-tea sessions resembling a glorified net session as Sri Lanka allowed him to freely turn over the strike to the tailender at the other end, who offered valiant support.Shakeel’s innings could be broken down into two parts: before and after Agha Salman. Sri Lanka felt the pinch while Agha was at the crease, as the pair rattled along at nearly five runs an over; with their partnership of 177 scooting at 4.96 per over.Saud Shakeel and Agha Salman put together 177 runs for the sixth wicket•AFP/Getty Images

During this period, Shakeel was completely in his element, working singles with ease, never searching for the boundary but graciously accepting any when the opportunities came around. In Agha, he had a like-minded partner at the other end, one who was equally adept at rotating strike and finding the ropes.Together they tormented Sri Lanka’s bowlers, especially their primary weapon, Prabath Jayasuriya, who racked up 145 runs in his 35 overs – well above his Test career economy rate of 2.93. While Agha utilised the sweep to great effect, Shakeel used his feet, either coming down the track or using the depths of the crease. Neither batter allowed Jayasuriya to settle into the lines and lengths that have devastated other visiting batters. The left-right combo aided them further in wearing down the Lankan bowlers.But when Agha fell, going for an ill-fated charge against Mendis only to find himself well out his crease and stumped, Shakeel began to show the other side of his game, one characterised by resilience and solidity that Sri Lanka just could not find a way past. He strung together partnerships of 52, 16, 94, and 21 for the final four wickets.But that’s not to say there weren’t chances – two came by, in fact. The first was when Shakeel was on 93, as he sought to work a length ball from Ramesh, around the corner. But the fielder at backward short leg, who didn’t have to move, spilt a low grab. The ball not sticking in the hand indicated that it was Shakeel’s day after all.Naseem Shah and Saud Shakeel hung in for a 94-run stand•AFP/Getty Images

The second was Angelo Mathews grassing a dolly at deep midwicket. If the first was a genuine mistake coaxed out of the batter, this was Shakeel at his most carefree, looking to up the scoring rate with a big slog sweep. He was on 139, with Naseem Shah for company, their partnership worth just 13 at the time. Shakeel would spend a couple of hours, shielding Naseem from the strike and inching Pakistan’s lead forward. Of the pair’s 94-run stand, Naseem scored just six runs.During that period, it seemed Shakeel and Pakistan would bat for as long as they wished, as the Lankan bowlers wilted in the face of the batters’ endurance. Naseem had an lbw call overturned and was beaten once or twice on the outside edge, but aside from that he was sturdy in defence. Shakeel would bat out the first four deliveries of an over, time and again before turning over the strike on the fifth delivery – no field placement was good enough to contain him.It was only once Naseem fell, castled by one that was tossed up and dipping from Mendis, that Sri Lanka felt the end was nigh. There were a few lusty blows from the last man Abrar Ahmed – and Shakeel, too, joined in to reach his double ton with a carve through point. Abrar would eventually hole out to Mathews, who completed a good catch running the boundary at long leg.But by then the pitch had started spitting and Sri Lanka were 149 in the red – at Galle that can be a death sentence. Sri Lanka’s batters will know they have an uphill task ahead of them tomorrow if they’re to save this Test, let alone win it.

Former Test captain advocates radical change with call for ECB to impose Hundred template on first-class game

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Dec-2021Former England batter Kevin Pietersen believes that the ECB must create a first-class competition with a similar structure to the Hundred if the men’s Test team is to “return to its former glories”.Pietersen, an Ashes winner in 2005, 2009, 2010-11 and 2013, was part of Sky Sports’ commentary team for the inaugural edition of the Hundred this summer and suggested that players involved “will have improved markedly” due to the concentration of talent.In a column for Betway, Pietersen said that the standard of County Championship cricket had fallen markedly since his debut for Nottinghamshire in 2001 and described the competition as “not fit to serve the Test team”.Related

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“The best players don’t want to play in it, so young English players aren’t learning from other greats like I did,” Pietersen wrote. “Batters are being dismissed by average bowlers on poor wickets and the whole thing is spiralling.”When I first started playing first-class cricket in England, the intensity of a County Championship match was like a Test match. It was as tough as anything. I learned my trade against some of the greatest players in the world every week.”The Leicestershire side we came up against in 2003 featured Virender Sehwag, Brad Hodge, Paul Nixon, Jeremy Snape, Phil DeFreitas and Charlie Dagnall [but] when I made 355* against Leicestershire in 2015, I would have made 250 without pads on. It was a moment when I realised just how far county cricket had fallen.”Pietersen suggested that the Championship could continue as a “feeder system… where players develop until they’re ready to step up” but said that English cricket needs an eight-team, round-robin competition in the heart of summer in order to better serve the interest of the Test side.”In the Hundred, the ECB have actually produced a competition with some sort of value,” he said. “They now need to introduce a similar franchise competition for red-ball cricket, whereby the best play against the best every single week.”They would make money available to attract some of the best overseas players in the world and the top English players would benefit from playing alongside them.”It would be a marketable, exciting competition, which would drive improvement in the standard and get people back through the gates for long-form cricket.”We need to produce lucrative, high-quality, interesting competitions that reward and improve the best players. This could be one. This Ashes defeat needn’t be a total failure if they [the ECB] can use it to implement proper change for the Test side.”The charge that the Championship is failing to produce Test-quality players has been levelled by several senior figures within the England set-up since their innings defeat in Melbourne saw Australia take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Ashes, with Joe Root, James Anderson and Graham Thorpe among those to criticise the county game either implicitly or explicitly.Michael Atherton, the former England captain and broadcaster, proposed in his column that the Championship should move to three divisions of six, with each team playing 10 games between May and July, and encouraged more representative games. “North v South, Best v Rest, Lions games… should be used as a bridge between the county and Test game,” he wrote.Atherton also suggested Andrew Strauss and Ed Smith as candidates to replace Tom Harrison and Ashley Giles as the ECB’s chief executive and managing director of men’s cricket respectively; called for split-format coaches to replace the “out of his depth” Chris Silverwood; and said that it was “time for someone else” to take over from Joe Root as captain, proposing Ben Stokes as “a viable alternative”.

They have rested Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2025Toss India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and elected to bat against Oman in the last league fixture of the Asia Cup, in Abu Dhabi. With this being a dead rubber – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have qualified for the Super Four – India experimented with their combination, resting their bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy. They handed Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh their first games of the tournament.With Abu Dhabi less conducive to spin than Dubai in recent times, India fielded just two specialist spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel though Abhishek Sharma can also pitch in with left-arm spin, if needed. Arshdeep, who returned to the XI, is on the brink of a milestone: he is just one strike away from 100 T20I wickets. He is set to become the first Indian to the landmark.Suryakumar explained that India chose to bat to test their depth. “We’ve not batted [first] in this competition and we want to know our depth. having game-time is important going into Super Fours,” he said.Oman also made two changes, with Zikira Islam and Mohammad Nadeem coming in for Wasim Ali and Hassnain Shah.Oman captain Jatinder said his team lacked experience and exposure at this level and were keen to compete against India. This is the first international game between Oman and India.India: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Sanju Samson (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Kuldeep Yadav.Oman: 1 Aamir Kaleem, 2 Jatinder Singh (capt), 3 Hammad Mirza, 4 Vinayak Shukla (wk), 5 Shah Faisal, 6 Zikria Islam, 7 Aryan Bisht, 8 Mohammad Nadeem, 9 Shakeel Ahmed, 10 Samay Shrivastava, 11 Jiten Ramanandi.

Says he is in the “happiest phase” of his life and is “batting well” despite the numbers not showing as much

ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-20226:02

Shastri: ‘Difficult for an all-format player to maintain form, hunger and passion’

Virat Kohli is open to the idea of taking a break from cricket to “rejuvenate” himself mentally and get himself out of the lean patch he has been going through of late. At the same time, Kohli said he was going through the “happiest phase” of his life and he was “batting well” despite struggling for consistent starts across formats. Winning the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup were his two main goals for 2022, he said.Kohli, 33, last scored a century in any format in November 2019 and currently averages 21.45 in the ongoing IPL – his lowest in the tournament since 2008, when he averaged 15. His strike rate of 113.46 this season is also well below his overall IPL strike rate of 129.26 and his lowest in the tournament since 2012, when it was 111.65.While there have been many voices raising concerns over Kohli’s batting struggles, it was former India head coach Ravi Shastri who first said the former India captain was “overcooked” and suggested he go on a break.Kohli said he had heard Shastri’s words and agreed that a break was a “healthy” option for him especially as he has been moving around on cricket’s conveyor belt for more than a decade, including a significant amount of time as a captain.Kohli said he would “definitely discuss” it with the Indian team management, including head coach Rahul Dravid.Related

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• What is ailing Virat Kohli?

“It’s not a lot of people who mentioned it (taking a break),” Kohli told in an interview. “There is one person precisely who has mentioned it which is Ravi and that’s because he has seen from close quarters over the last six-seven years the reality of the situation that I have been in. The amount of cricket that I have played and the ups and downs and the toll that it takes on you to play three formats of the game plus the IPL for 10-11 years non-stop with the seven years of captaincy in between…”Last year after Ben Stokes became the first high-profile cricketer to take an indefinite break to recoup from the pressure of operating inside a biosecure environment thrust on cricket due the pandemic, Kohli supported the England allrounder’s decision calling it “refreshing” and “necessary”.Kohli said a break, if he took that option, could allow him a “mental reset”, which was needed to perform at the highest level. “It is definitely a thing that one needs to consider because you don’t want to do something which you are not a part of 100% and I have always believed in that in my life. So to take a break and when to take a break is obviously something that I need to take a call on, but it is only a healthy decision for anyone to take some time off and just rejuvenate yourself mentally and physically. Not so much physically because physical fitness you keep up with through the course of playing cricket all the time, but it is a mental kind of reset that you need, and you want to be excited for what you are doing. You don’t want to feel like you have been forcing yourself into any situation.”So I don’t think there is anything wrong in that. It’s a very healthy thing to think of especially with the amount of cricket that we play nowadays and the amount of cricket that I have played in the last 10-11 years as I mentioned. It’s only a thing of creating a balance and finding that balance which is right for you as an individual moving forward and I’ll definitely discuss this with all the people involved – Rahul , the Indian team management, everyone to chart out whatever is best for myself and for the team definitely.”“Want to learn from current phase”
Kohli said his struggles in the IPL are dissimilar to 2014 – when his technique was exposed by James Anderson on the tour of England, which he finished with an average of 13.40 in 10 innings – as there is no pattern to his dismissals. He has been caught at different positions seven times, bowled twice, lbw once and even run out twice. The only thing that tells a story is his low scores: he has been dismissed for under 10 runs on six occasions so far, including three golden ducks.”I am not looking to put this phase behind me, to be honest,” Kohli said. “What happened in England was a pattern so something that I could work on, something that I had to overcome. Right now, there is nothing that you can point out saying there is a problem here. So that for me is an easier thing to process because I know that I’m batting well and at times when I start feeling that rhythm back then I know I am batting well, which wasn’t the case in England [where] I didn’t feel like I was batting well at all. So I had to work hard on one thing that I could be exposed to again and again which I overcame. Right now, that’s not the case. I know where my game stands and you cannot come this far in your international career without having the ability to counter the situations and counter conditions and counter different kinds of bowling.”So this phase for me is the easier phase to process but I don’t want to put this behind me. I want to learn from it and understand that what are the core values that I have as a sports person and as a human being. As long as I’m ticking those boxes… I know these are ups and downs and when I come out of this phase I know how consistent I can be. I know how motivated I will be once the scores start coming to make sure it’s one after the another. I know that I have that drive in me to go back to back to back, which motivates me more as I mentioned in contributing towards my team’s cause and making my team win. So these things drive me and propel me way more than the setbacks that I have.”I am very aware of what’s going on and I am absolutely, as I said, at ease with myself. And very, very confident about the fact that I will keep getting more and more balanced as a human being. Eventually that’s what I want to get out of all these experiences because there is so much life beyond this that we don’t understand the value, the true value of finding this balance.”I am not sitting in a position where I am desperate to prove anything to anyone. For me God’s been so kind and I’m only grateful for everything that has been blessed upon me for over so many years. So much love I am getting from people, so many wishes. It is showing me another side of things that I probably haven’t experienced first-hand before because I was so lost in what I was doing all the time. So I’m feeling more grateful and more grounded with the fact that I have been able to have all these experiences as a normal person.”Virat Kohli has had a forgettable IPL season so far•BCCI

“I care for my own well-being way more than I would have in the past”
Kohli also stressed that he will not be bogged down by his performance on the field because he has started to value his “well-being” more.”My experiences are sacred to me – whatever I have experienced in this phase or in the past as well. One thing that I can vouch for is that I have never valued myself more as a person. Because I’m experiencing now that there is a big sense of identity that is created by the world for you, which is far more different, so far away from the reality of you as a human being. So I am experiencing now that I value myself and I care for my own well-being way more than I would have in the past. And actually, contrary to a lot of belief or a lot of perceptions as I mentioned on the outside, I’m actually in the happiest phase of my life.”I am not finding any self-worth or value on what I do on the field. I’m way past that phase. This is a phase of evolution for me. Not to say that I don’t have the same drive, my drive will never die down. The day my drive goes away I will not be playing this game, but to understand that some things are not controllable. The only controllables you have are the things that you can work towards which is working hard on the field and in life as well. And from that point of view, I feel more balanced that I have ever been.”And I am happy with who I am and how I am leading my life. If I start valuing myself with my [on-field] achievements then these achievements are not going to be possible after a stage where I stop playing the game anyways, so where will I get that validation from? So I have started to value myself way more as a person and I’m not finding any source of encouragement or disappointment by what happens on the field. In the heat of the moment, in that moment, because you are a competitive sportsman and it is your profession, it is something that you prepare very well for, you feel disappointed when you are not able to contribute to the team’s cause as much as much as you want to.”[But] this is not about myself. This is about the fact that I have not contributed to my team’s cause as much as I would have wanted to, or I pride myself on.”“Want to win India the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup”
Despite the turbulent run of form, Kohli found time to joke about his batting struggles during a separate chat on with former India team-mate Harbhajan Singh. “Jos Buttler came to me, after the Rajasthan Royals match and said, ‘I want to ask you something’, and I told him that you’re wearing the orange cap what do you want to ask me, I am not able to make runs – and we had a laugh about it,” Kohli told Harbhajan.Asked by Harbhajan what his goals were after the IPL, Kohli said he was focused on making India win two big titles this year.”I want to win India the Asia Cup and the [T20] World Cup; that’s the motivation,” he said. “I have to move forward maintaining a balance, get some rest, some rejuvenation, once I’m in the mindset then there’s no looking back and [it’s] great fun. My main aim is to help India win the Asia Cup and the World Cup and for that I am ready to do anything for the team.”

Knight Riders’ top six faces a big challenge as the IPL returns to the Eden Gardens

Vishal Dikshit05-Apr-2023

Big picture – will KKR’s batting stand up?

If a depleted Royal Challengers Bangalore attack could deflate the power-packed Mumbai Indians at the batting-friendly Chinnaswamy Stadium, imagine what they could do at a more pace-friendly Eden Gardens against the underwhelming top six of Kolkata Knight Riders.Against Punjab Kings’ bowling attack, which doesn’t look the most threatening in the tournament, Knight Riders were 146 for 7 in 16 overs, without a single marquee name in their top six which managed a combined 90 runs off 74 balls, leaving too much on Andre Russell’s shoulders and weathered knees. They signing of Jason Roy is a clear boost, but he won’t be joining them in time for this game.On Thursday, they have to match the fired-up top order of Royal Challengers. In the previous match, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis scored blazing half-centuries, hammering 11 sixes and as many fours together. Both of them like pace onto the bat, which could put the onus on the Knight Riders’ spin trio of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Anukul Roy, if he gets another game. Spinners have been more economical compared to the quicks in Kolkata since 2018, and both du Plessis and Kohli haven’t scored as quickly against spinners in the last three IPLs. Kohli also doesn’t have a great record against both Narine and Varun. Remember the 2021 eliminator when Narine single-handedly took out the trio of Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers to help his team to the final?Even if Knight Riders can’t replicate that performance, they will be hoping to put up a better show in front of their home crowd.

Team news – RCB without Topley

Royal Challengers will continue to be without Wanindu Hasaranga and Josh Hazlewood, who are yet to join the squad, and Rajat Patidar has been ruled out of the tournament. Their left-arm quick Reece Topley, who snared Cameron Green with a searing yorker in their last game, hurt his right shoulder badly while fielding and traveled to Kolkata with his arm in a sling. They can bring in David Willey as a like-for-like bowling replacement.Roy will join Knight Riders in time for Sunday’s game in Ahmedabad, and Litton Das will fly in from Dhaka after the ongoing Test against Ireland. Lockie Ferguson, who missed their first game as well, is still bowling with half a run-up in the nets and is unlikely to play.Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis were on fire in RCB’s first match against Mumbai Indians•Associated Press

Toss and Impact Player strategy

Royal Challengers Bangalore
Royal Challengers didn’t have to use the Impact Player rule in their convincing win against Mumbai. If they bat second like they did that day, they can bring in another batter like Suyash Prabhudessai or Anuj Rawat in place of Akash Deep or Mohammed Siraj, and do the opposite while batting first.Probable bat-first XI: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Glenn Maxwell, 4 Michael Bracewell, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Suyash Prabhudessai, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Akash Deep, 10 David Willey, 11 Karn SharmaProbable bowl-first XI: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Glenn Maxwell, 4 Michael Bracewell, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Harshal Patel, 8 Akash Deep, 9 David Willey, 10 Karn Sharma, 11 Mohammed SirajKolkata Knight Riders
While batting second against Kings, they subbed out Varun to bring in Venkatesh Iyer in the chase, and they could stick to a similar strategy in this game as well. Batting first, they could start with an extra batter with Russell slotted at No. 7 and Narine at 8, and sub out Mandeep Singh for a bowler to retain Venkatesh’s bowling option for the second innings. In either case, they could also play Kulwant Khejroliya instead of Shardul Thakur, who leaked 43 in the first game, with enough batting depth.Possible bat-first XI: 1 Mandeep Singh, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Anukul Roy, 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Nitish Rana (capt), 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Shardul Thakur/Kulwant Khejroliya, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Tim SoutheePossible bowl-first XI: 1 Mandeep Singh, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Anukul Roy, 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Nitish Rana (capt), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Shardul Thakur/Kulwant Khejroliya, 9 Varun Chakravarthy, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Tim Southee

Stats that matter – Tie Kohli up with spin

• Maxwell, Kohli and du Plessis don’t have great strike rates against Narine in the IPL. Maxwell’s stands at 101.75 (58 off 57 balls), Kohli’s at 103.06 (101 off 98) and du Plessis’ at 80 (36 off 45 balls)
• On the other hand, Kohli loves hitting out against the India quicks in the Knight Riders squad. He has hit Umesh Yadav for 150 runs off 85 balls and Thakur for 67 off 42. So don’t be surprised if they introduce Narine early against Kohli and du Plessis.
• Russell is going to play his 100th IPL game and Narine his 150th, and it will be in front of the Knight Riders home crowd.

Pitch and conditions – Home disadvantage

The trend at Eden Gardens in the IPL has mostly been to chase. The pitch usually has something for the quicks and spinners both, and the bigger dimensions mean boundaries may not come as often as they did for Kohli and du Plessis at the Chinnaswamy Stadium a few days ago. It’s expected to be slightly humid with temperatures in the late 20s in the evening, and some early swing and dew later as usual.

Quotes

“One cannot be judgmental after only one game. Even in the last game, we were in the game till the end and it was unfortunate [that we lost]. I’m pretty confident about the side we have.”

MI captain says he hasn’t met with his predecessor Rohit Sharma yet but foresees no issues

Yash Jha18-Mar-2024Hardik Pandya has declared himself fit to bowl as he returns to captain Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024. The allrounder said he has been fit since the start of this year, after suffering an ankle injury during the 2023 ODI World Cup that ruled him out of all cricket since October.”Yes, I will be bowling,” Hardik said at a pre-season press conference in Mumbai on Monday. “My injury in [the] World Cup was a freak injury. It had nothing to do with my past injuries, it had nothing to do with my fitness. When I got fit, the Afghanistan [T20I] series had just started [in January]. I’ve been fit since then, but there were no games to play.”Hardik had injured his ankle in his follow-through while bowling during India’s World Cup league match against Bangladesh in Pune. He said that his attempts to recover in time for the knockout stages had aggravated the injury.”My injury, from day one, showed that I’m going to be out of the World Cup, but playing for India has always been special, especially in a World Cup. [So] we pushed [for] ten days – we knew that it’s an uphill task to be fit for the World Cup semi-finals or finals,” he said. “When we pushed, I kind of triggered my injury [further], and the injury became a little longer.”Related

• IPL 2024 FAQs – New captains, record buys, Smart Replay System, and more

• IPL introduces Smart Replay System for quicker, more accurate reviews

• Do new-look SRH have the personnel to turn fortunes around?

• Shreyas Iyer's fitness a concern for spin-heavy KKR

• Suryakumar Yadav in doubt for Mumbai Indians' season opener

Hardik: ‘I know that Rohit will always have a hand on my shoulder’

Hardik’s return to Mumbai as captain, replacing Rohit Sharma who had led the team since 2013, is one of the biggest talking points of this IPL season.”I don’t think it will be awkward, or anything different, it will be a nice feeling because we’ve been playing [together] for ten years,” Hardik said of his relationship with Rohit and the new team dynamic. “I’ve played my whole career under him, and I know he’s going to have a hand on my shoulder always.”He’s been traveling, he’s been playing. It’s been a couple of months since we’ve seen each other. Once he comes [and joins the MI camp], we’ll definitely have a chat.”The Mumbai coach Mark Boucher said that Rohit freed from the responsibility of captaincy could be key for the team. “I think Rohit’s in fantastic form. I’ve been watching the games against England and the way that he’s hitting the ball, his movements into the ball are fantastic,” Boucher said. “So I’m really looking forward to Rohit going out and really expressing himself, without the captaincy on his shoulders.”Rohit has had a tough time with the bat in recent IPL seasons, averaging 24.89 and going at a strike rate of 127.54 in 70 innings across the last five years. “If he has a great season for us, we’re going to be in the dying stages of the tournament,” Boucher said.IPL 2023 was Boucher’s first season as head coach after replacing Mahela Jayawardene, and Mumbai finished fourth in the league stage before crashing out in Qualifier 2 – to Hardik’s Gujarat Titans.

Will MI start with four overseas players?

Mumbai went all out for overseas quicks to partner the returning Jasprit Bumrah this season, spending INR 14.40 crore (out of a remaining purse of INR 17.75 crore) on South Africa’s Gerald Coetzee and Sri Lanka’s Dilshan Madushanka and Nuwan Thushara. They also bought Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi in addition to the pre-auction trade of West Indian Romario Shepherd.”If you have a look at all the [overseas] players we have selected, we’ve got plenty of options,” Boucher said. “I think this season we can choose conditions-related, we’ll have a look and see which players best suit different conditions.”Boucher did hint at Mumbai possibly starting with three overseas players – something they did in three games last season – given the wealth of Indian batting options available for the first XI.”There might even be situations where we only go in with three overseas players, without giving too much away, and maybe have one or two options as impact players on the bench, and have a look at the conditions and see what’s best going to suit us.”

“Let’s see what the future holds,” Narine said after the match when asked if he’d reconsider his decision to retire

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Apr-20243:22

Powell: ‘Tried to take down KKR’s main bowler Narine’

Is Sunil Narine being coaxed into coming out of international retirement for the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA that follows IPL 2024?Three nights ago, Narine, who had announced his international retirement in November 2023, was certain he’d be watching the tournament from home. But on Tuesday night, after hitting a magnificent century to power Kolkata Knight Riders to 223 for 6, Narine gave an inkling of that stance changing.”It is what it is, but let’s see what the future holds,” Narine, said after the match, when asked if he’d reconsider his decision to retire.Related

• RCB have Narine to tackle, again, with their campaign starting to go belly-up

• Ball-by-ball: How Royals and Buttler pulled off a heist at Eden Gardens

• Buttler's 107* tops Narine's 109 as Royals ace record chase against KKR

After the match, Rovman Powell, West Indies’ T20I captain, revealed he’d been trying to change Narine’s mind through every channel possible.”For the last 12 months, I’ve been whispering in his (Narine’s) ears, but he’s blocked out everyone,” Powell said when asked about trying to convince Narine to reverse his decision. “I’ve asked [Kieron] Pollard, [Dwayne] Bravo, [Nicholas] Pooran. Hopefully, before they select the team, they can crack his code.”Powell himself was a key contributor to Rajasthan Royals’ chase, hitting 26 off 13 balls. He came into his own in the 17th over, when he took apart Narine for a four and two back-to-back sixes in a 16-run over that left Royals needing 46 off the last three.They eventually got home off the last delivery when Jos Buttler, who struck his second century of the competition, heaved Varun Chakravarthy into the leg side with the scores level.Powell was one of Royals’ big-ticket auction signings at INR 7.4 crore, but opportunities have been limited. Tuesday’s game at the Eden Gardens was just his second outing with the bat this season, but he was all praise for the team management.Rovman Powell played a crucial role in Rajasthan Royals’ win•AFP/Getty Images

“The morale in the team is very good, even when I am not playing the communication has been very good and as an international player, I really appreciate when the communication is precise and clear,” he said. “The guys are in good space and long may that continue.”Powell was also asked tongue-in-cheek if he’d been whispering into Kumar Sangakkara’s [director of cricket] ear about a batting promotion.”I told them, ‘hey, I bat at No. 4 or 5 for West Indies and if you think West Indies is a good T20 side, then you can push me up the order,” he said with a smile. “We have got a few days off now and I will keep ringing it in their (the management) ears.”Powell likened the emotions at the end to that of a roller-coaster ride as Royals pulled off IPL’s highest successful chase. He also revealed he went out to bat with not set plans of taking down spin, and was merely reacting to the situation.”The emotions are all over the place at the moment,” he said. “I didn’t plan to take on Sunil, I knew he’s their best bowler, but when it comes down to 80 off 30, you have to take your chances. I backed my strengths, took my chances and came off today.”