Who makes the cut after a season which has seen significant disruption?

Tristan Lavalette24-Jan-2022Statistics until the end of the regular season

Ben McDermott (Hobart Hurricanes)

After a delayed start to the season due to a groin injury, McDermott initially struggled at No. 4 before a move to the top of the order unleashed his belligerent batting. The 27-year-old lit a fuse under the BBL mid-season when he became the first player in the competition’s history to smash consecutive centuries. A few matches later he agonisingly fell short of his fourth career BBL ton with 93 against Heat. McDermott tailed off slightly but his spectacular season, where he compiled the most runs, ensures the pressure is on Australia’s ageing openers Aaron Finch and David Warner ahead of a home T20 World Cup.

Josh Philippe (Sydney Sixers)

Philippe has been a standout batter in the BBL over recent years and it appeared the 24-year-old had taken his game to another level after striking three half-centuries early in the season, including 99 not out against Melbourne Stars at the MCG. Just as he was making an irresistible case to national selectors, Philippe went uncharacteristically cold and scored just one half-century in his next 10 innings. He has been overtaken by McDermott in the pecking order for Australia’s T20 team heightening the pressure on Philippe amid Sixers’ stuttering quest for a historic hat-trick of BBL titles.Related

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• Hayden Kerr's 98* sends Sixers into BBL final as Strikers go down in final-ball humdinger

• Ben McDermott 'more ready than ever to play for Australia'

• Peter Siddle calls for shorter BBL window

• Stats – Glenn Maxwell and Melbourne Stars' record-breaking act

Glenn Maxwell (Melbourne Stars)

Maxwell’s season was a mishmash of highs and lows but it was never dull. Over half of his runs came from two breathtaking innings, where he smashed hundreds, but around them were a lot of failures including four straight single digit failures amid Stars’ Covid-19 drama. Some of his dismissals were particularly rash and perhaps can be rued after Stars agonisingly missed finals by just one point. But Stars’ skipper just has to be included on this list after his record-breaking 154 not out against Hurricanes in a reminder of why the ‘Big Show’ remains the best show going around.

Mitchell Marsh (Perth Scorchers)

Fresh from his heroics at the T20 World Cup, Marsh has become perhaps the most intimidating batter in the BBL. Even though he’s played only half the tournament, Marsh’s imprint has been sizeable and he now exudes a type of aura reserved for the absolute elite. While the 30-year-old’s power hitting has been unparalleled, his growing maturity is eye-catching. His seam bowling hasn’t been greatly needed amid Scorchers’ well-oiled machine but he’s been handy when needed. However, a hamstring injury suffered in the qualifying final against Sixers has the potential to derail his golden run.Has this been a breakout season for Jason Sangha?•Getty Images

Moises Henriques (Sydney Sixers)

Somewhat reminiscent of team-mate Philippe, Henriques started the BBL season superbly with a pair of 70s but has cooled off since. Although he has still looked the goods and showed composure during Sixers’ horror collapses against Brisbane Heat at the SCG and Scorchers in the qualifying final. It’s been a tough period for Sixers mired in the BBL’s Covid-19 chaos and the two-time defending champions have been uncharacteristically off the boil. But the strong leadership of Henriques, who soon turns 35, has held Sixers together as they chase history.

Jason Sangha (Sydney Thunder)

The much-hyped 22-year-old is starting to live up to top billing after an ultra-consistent season batting at No. 3. Sangha had a purple patch during Thunder’s six-match winning streak where they stormed up the ladder and he also impressed as stand-in skipper for a few games. Given his inexperience, Sangha’s composure at the crease has stood out but he can switch gears when required like when he clubbed 91 not out from 55 balls against Adelaide Strikers. An international debut might not be far away.

Ashton Agar (Perth Scorchers)

Once again, the spinning allrounder has been ultra-consistent and a key cog in Scorchers’ dominant season. Generally bowling after the four-over powerplay, often in tandem with legspinner Peter Hatzoglou, left-armer Agar has been miserly and strangles batters mid-innings. He has a knack of picking up wickets at pivotal moments and Agar has also contributed several cameos with the bat at the death.

Hayden Kerr (Sydney Sixers)

The 25-year-old has been the breakout bowler of the BBL with Kerr finishing the regular season as the second highest wicket taker. With Sixers enduring a run of injuries to their quicks, Kerr has grabbed his opportunity with both hands and stolen the show. His versatility has stood out with the left-armer able to bowl rapidly but he has clever variations. The best of Kerr, who had been injury prone previously, may still be ahead with his explosive batting barely being utilised at No. 8.Rashid Khan signed off in style for Adelaide Strikers•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Rashid Khan (Adelaide Strikers)

It’s little surprise to see the maestro spinner on this list after Rashid once again stamped himself as the BBL’s best bowler. He kept afloat Strikers, who struggled for most of the season but importantly racked up bonus points to help them secure a finals berth. Rashid continued to weave his magic on flummoxed batters none more so than against Heat, where he finished his BBL season with the remarkable figures of 6 for 17.

Peter Siddle (Adelaide Strikers)

Siddle turned back the clock during a vintage regular season where he claimed the most wickets in the BBL. No one bowled better at the death marked by Siddle’s mastery of delivering unplayable yorkers. With Travis Head starring in the Ashes, Siddle took the captaincy reins and stamped his leadership on the group. He’s galvernised them and instilled belief even when Strikers’ finals prospects appeared grim. It appears there is plenty left in the tank for the evergreen 37-year-old.

Andrew Tye (Perth Scorchers)

Much like Siddle, Tye shows no signs of age after being one of only two Scorchers players to have played every match this season. The 35-year-old’s renowned trickery and slow bowling expertise have been on full display but he’s also bowled quicker than in recent years to perhaps rekindle an international career that appeared over. During his stellar season, Tye became the first Scorchers player to reach 100 career BBL wickets.

X-factors

Joe Clarke (Melbourne Stars)
Tom Rogers (Hobart Hurricanes)

New-age T20 was beating traditional T20 hands down. Until Rahul Tewatia came in and tore the script

Karthik Krishnaswamy09-Apr-20222:18

Ravi Shastri: ‘Rahul Tewatia anticipated what Odean Smith would do’

A curious thing happened off the last ball of Punjab Kings’ innings on Friday. Arshdeep Singh and Rahul Chahar ran two, and then attempted a third run that was absolutely not on. But it was the last ball, so why not look for that extra run even if there’s a 90% chance of a run-out? Simple, but not too many batters and teams actually attempt this. Almost as a reward for their opportunism, Hardik Pandya messed up the run-out at the bowler’s end, treading onto the stumps before he could break the wicket legally.That moment was symbolic of Kings’ approach with the bat throughout this season. If the effort to maximise run-scoring brings a greater risk of losing wickets, so be it.You can quibble with the finer details sometimes. On Friday, they went into the 16th over with their last two recognised batters at the crease, and with one of them, Liam Livingstone, batting on 64 off 26 balls. Rashid Khan was to bowl the 16th over, and most teams would have played his last over out carefully in that situation. Not Kings, and their risk-taking didn’t come off.You could argue that this was not the situation for Livingstone and Shahrukh Khan, both of whom have distinctly better records against pace than spin, to be going after the world’s best white-ball spinner, especially when there were four overs of pace to come. At a granular level, in that over and against that bowler, the merit of this approach was debatable.Zoom out, though, and the same approach brought Kings 112 runs in overs seven to 16 – the third-best middle-overs total of IPL 2022. Kings have two of the six best middle-overs totals of the season so far, the other being 99 during their successful chase of 206 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.In both innings, they lost five wickets in this phase. In both innings, they kept going hard.Teams have traditionally failed to – or opted not to – maximise the middle overs even though this phase makes up half of a T20 innings. There have always been teams that have swum against this tide, and Kings have been that team in this season of the IPL.Rahul Tewatia roars after finishing the game with back-to-back sixes•BCCIAnd they’re not doing it because they want to revolutionise T20. They’re doing it to try and win as many games as possible with the squad they have. Like most other sporting philosophies, theirs occupies some part of the vast middle ground between idealism and pragmatism. Kings bat the way they do not just because they want to, but also, perhaps, because they have to.With the total available talent in the IPL being divided by ten this season rather than eight, nearly every team has had to make some sort of compromise while building their squad. Kings have assembled a line-up of frightening hitting talent, but their bowling attack is among the less likely ones in the league to defend a par total.Kings, therefore, usually shoot for well above par. They were getting there easily for three-fourths of their innings on Friday, then they looked like they’d fall well below it, and then their last-wicket pair improbably took them to 189.It seemed a formidable total through most of the second innings despite Kings only taking their second wicket in the 15th over. Despite Shubman Gill timing the ball like a 14-year-old prodigy batting against his 10-year-old cousins, ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster pegged Gujarat Titans’ likelihood of victory at below 50% for most of their chase.How Gujarat Titans won a high-scoring thriller•ESPNcricinfo LtdAnd as the chase neared its climax, the dangers of the traditional T20 approach became apparent. Titans only scored 87 through the middle overs despite losing just one wicket in that phase. Gill, having reached 78 off 43 balls, scored only 18 runs and hit no boundaries off his last 16 balls. He faced some good defensive bowling in this time, particularly from Arshdeep, but the accumulated fatigue from running 10 twos in the heat and humidity of Mumbai in April may also have contributed to his slowdown.If you belong in the camp that believes the ideal T20 innings is made up of short bursts of hitting from multiple batters rather than being built around one big score, you might have smiled to yourself.The target kept pulling away from Titans’ reach: 37 from 18, 32 from 12, 19 from six. A panicky last-over run-out, and it came down to 18 from five.New-age T20 was beating traditional T20 hands down. Or, more accurately, the team that prioritised hitting over bowling at an auction where demand exceeded supply was beating the team that went the other way.You know what happened next. Fate, and Rahul Tewatia, tore up the script, and this match, billed as a clash of contrasts, got its grandstand finish. One team won and the other lost, but the ideological clash isn’t ending anytime soon.

A mere month after the Mount Manganui miracle, Bangladesh’s young ‘uns scripted another memorable win

Mohammad Isam23-Feb-2022Before the series opener against Afghanistan, Afif Hossain’s ODI career was going nowhere. He had 146 runs from seven matches with perhaps just one innings of note. Mehidy Hasan Miraz had climbed to No. 2 in the ODI rankings last year, but his batting never really took off.Expectations from both players were low, particularly when Bangladesh slipped to 45 for 6 in the 12th over on Wednesday. Bangladesh have had very few comeback stories, the most famous one being the Shakib Al Hasan-Mahmudullah stand in Cardiff against New Zealand in 2017. Earlier in the 2011 World Cup at home, Mahmudullah put on an unbroken 58-run stand for the ninth wicket with Shafiul Islam to stun England in Chattogram. Even in the other such tense wins, Bangladesh had at least one experienced player to see them home.Miraz and Afif, however, operate in the post-Mount Maunganui world. Miraz himself played a vital role – both with bat and ball – in that sensational win in Mount Maunganui. It won’t be prudent to overlook the influence of the miracle in this win, too, particularly at a time of great instability in Bangladesh cricket.ESPNcricinfo LtdTo script a second miracle in as many months in 2022, Afif and Miraz had to take stock of the situation facing them. At 45 for 6, they were probably in danger of being bowled out for their lowest total in ODI cricket, but the pair absorbed the pressure and countered Afghanistan’s spinners whose threat had dominated the pre-match talk. Rashid Khan’s 11-wicket haul in Chattogram Test in 2019 was fresh in everyone’s memory, and even fresher was how Mujeeb Ur Rahman troubled the local batters in this season’s BPL. Mohammad Nabi, too, can give the ball a rip.”Not for once did we mention winning the game in the middle. We just wanted to conserve our wickets,” Afif said. “Our only goal was not to lose anymore wickets after we were six down. We just wanted to spend as much time as possible in the middle. There wasn’t many calculations for us. We wanted to spend time at the crease and collect whatever runs come our way. It became run-a-ball towards the end, but we definitely tried to play normal cricket.”The dressing room and dugout sat tensed as Bangladesh collapsed. However, after the win, Shrinivas Chandrasekaran, the Bangladesh performance analyst, revealed on Instagram that he had heard Miraz telling Afif that they both could chase down the target. The two batters survived and eventually snatched the game from Afghanistan’s grasp.”I don’t have so many plans in my mind when I am batting,” Afif said. “I am just focused on the next ball. The only message from the dressing room was to keep batting the way we had been batting in the middle. To keep wickets in hand. We can win the game if we were in the middle.”As soon as they got past the survival mode, Afif and Miraz understood that they needed to adopt a more calculated approach. They had to play out the Afghanistan spin trio and seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi who had taken 4 for 19 in the powerplay. So, they chose to go after Yamin Ahmadzai and Gulbadin Naib, and were prepared to wait for them in the slog overs.”Miraz batted really well,” Afif said. “He picked up boundaries from his end when there was a few dot balls. We spoke positively with each other. We both knew that as long as we didn’t give away our wickets, we could win the game.”Afif said that his unbeaten 93 off 115 balls was his best knock at this level, and that seizing his chance to bat more than 35 overs was important. “Playing well against a world-class attack, against whom I had to consider a lot of things. So this is definitely the better innings,” Afif said. “I am always happy to play well for the country. I try to do well. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. The sort of opportunity doesn’t come always. Today I made use of a big opportunity.”The likes of Miraz, Afif, Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Shoriful Islam still have a lot left to do, but the last two months have proven that the future of Bangladesh is in safe hands.

“I worked on my off-side game before this season because bowlers had started bowling wide with an off-side field”

Hemant Brar30-Apr-2022After Rahul Tewatia helped Gujarat Titans pull off yet another odds-defying chase, this time against Royal Challengers Bangalore, everyone from commentators to Twitteratis started calling him Iceman. His captain Hardik Pandya, too, approved of the moniker. “If you can finish games like this, you have to be super cool,” Pandya said at the post-match presentation.However, if Tewatia is to be believed, he isn’t as cool in the middle as he appears to be.”I cannot say I am cool while batting,” he told Star Sports after being named the Player of the Match for his unbeaten 25-ball 43. “I might look cool but inside my head, many things are going on, like from which over to execute my plans, which bowler to take chances against. I think a lot, and then whatever plan I come with, I follow that.”At the Brabourne Stadium, Titans needed 71 from the last six overs with Tewatia and David Miller at the crease. The two hit nine fours and three sixes between them, adding 79 off 40 balls, and wrapped up the win with three balls to spare.Until recently, Tewatia has predominantly been a leg-side player, and the Royal Challengers seamers tried to take advantage of that. With the long boundary on the off side, they bowled outside off, but Tewatia caught them by surprise.He steered Mohammed Siraj fine of third man four before creaming Josh Hazlewood through covers. On the last ball of the 19th over, now with the shorter boundary on the off side, he skipped down the track and launched Harshal Patel inside out over extra cover for a six.”I worked on my off-side game before this season,” Tewatia said, “because bowlers had started bowling wide with an off-side field. So I was like if I can find the gaps, I can get boundaries on the off side too. So now I can play on both sides of the wicket.”In the death overs, you have to play premeditated shots but I always have an eye on the field. In the end, you have to play according to the ball. I try if it’s an off stump ball, I play it on the off side. And if it’s on the leg stump, which is my area, I make sure not to miss out.”David Miller and Rahul Tewatia were at it again guiding the chase for Titans•BCCIBut is there a number in Tewatia’s mind he feels confident of chasing?”It’s not like how many I can chase down,” he said. “It’s all about the situation and conditions. On some pitches chasing 60 in five overs is a big ask. But these pitches are much easier to bat on. Here 60 in five overs is quite chaseable, and we have been doing that since the start of the season.”You need to have that belief on yourself that till you are at the crease, you can do it. If you have that belief, your confidence to finish the games automatically gets that extra boost.”Earlier in the tournament too, Tewatia has had crucial partnerships with Miller. In six innings, they have added 236 runs at a rate of 10.48 per over. According to Tewatia, the duo’s bonding, both on and off the field, has played a big part in that.”We have been playing together for quite some time now. We were together at Kings XI [Punjab] for one year and at Rajasthan Royals for two years. Off the field also we have good bonding, we spent a lot of time together. In net sessions, we discuss how we can finish a game. Now that we are doing it in the middle, it feels great.”

Dubey, Kartikeya, Patidar, Raghuwanshi, Gaurav Yadav and Shubham Sharma all made crucial contributions

Afzal Jiwani26-Jun-2022

Yash Dubey

In 28 first-class innings since debuting four years ago, Yash Dubey hadn’t opened until midway through the 2021-22 season. A sprightly 85 against Meghalaya at No. 7 happened to be the springboard for his elevation as the team’s opener. And in his very first outing in the new role, Dubey made a career-best 289 against Kerala in a must-win game. But the best was perhaps reserved for the last, his first-innings century in the final helping MP squeeze Mumbai. He was one of five batters to have made over 600 runs this season. He ended with 614 runs at an average of 76.75 with two centuries.

Kumar Kartikeya

Having left home nine years ago to “achieve something in life,” Kumar Kartikeya is set to finally return to his hometown in Uttar Pradesh as an IPL player and a Ranji champion. In his very first game this season, Kartikeya left a mark against Gujarat by picking up a match-winning five-for while defending 194. A breakthrough IPL season later – he first joined Mumbai Indians as a net bowler and was later drafted into the main squad following an injury to Arshad Khan – Kartikeya returned for the Ranji Trophy knockouts and made heads turn. He picked up six wickets to knock Punjab out of the quarter-final. He continued his stellar bowling and picked up a five-for against Bengal to lead MP into only their second Ranji final. He bowled only traditional left-arm orthodox, unlike in the IPL where he was known to mix in all of his wristspinning variations, Kartikeya’s 32 scalps made him the second-highest wicket-taker this season.Related

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• How Kumar Kartikeya went from left-arm orthodox to left-arm everything

• How the 'Alex Ferguson of the Ranji Trophy' moulded Madhya Pradesh into a title-winning unit

• 'He hadn't eaten lunch for a year' – The sacrifices of Kumar Kartikeya

• Dubey, Shubham, Patidar fashion MP's maiden Ranji Trophy title

Rajat Patidar

May 25: First uncapped player to hit an IPL ton in a playoff game. June 25: Memorable century to help MP set up a match-winning first-innings lead in the Ranji final. The runs keep flowing for Patidar, who only in April was sitting at home and wondering what he’d done wrong. Then, an IPL call-up came his way when Royal Challengers Bangalore needed a replacement and life hasn’t been the same since. IPL form aside, Patidar crossed fifty in every innings barring one, in the semi-final. With five half-centuries and two hundreds, Patidar was second in the season’s run charts behind Mumbai’s Sarfaraz Khan.

Akshat Raghuwanshi

The 18-year-old has been touted by many as the find of MP this season. A stroke maker in the middle order, Raghuwanshi had struggled to even nail down a spot in the state’s under-19 team until Pandit, who had heard of him from someone, watched him bat live in a practice game that he was umpiring in. Having turned down a plumb lbw appeal that would’ve sent him back for a duck, the coach saw Raghuwanshi smash 165. He was immediately summoned to the senior squad, and here he is, finishing with a century and three half-centuries, including a momentum changing knock in the semi-final, in his maiden Ranji season.

Gaurav Yadav

If batters win you games, bowlers win you championships. With Avesh away on India duty, Gaurav Yadav was given a long run this season, and he impressed with his swing and seam even on the most docile pitches. Few that were there can forget the spell to Prithvi Shaw on the opening morning of the final, where he beat both the inside and outside edge five times in a single over before eventually having him clean bowled. Yadav finished as MP’s leading wicket-taker among seamers and the fourth-best overall.

Shubham Sharma

He finished with 608 runs at an average of 76. This includes four hundreds, thereby confirming his appetite for big runs. He started the season with a 92 against Gujarat and ended it with a hundred when it mattered the most. Adding 222 runs with Dubey, he gave Mumbai a taste of its own medicine in batting long and scoring big. Although he couldn’t stay on to hit the winning runs, he had done enough to make sure his team was miles ahead of the opposition even on the final day.

There have been 14 IPL finals since 2008. How well do you remember them?

Yash Jha29-May-2022