Plays of the day from the Group B game between South Africa and Ireland in Canberra

Firdose Moonda in Canberra03-Mar-2015The nervous moment
Hashim Amla got a second life when he was on 10 and Ed Joyce spilt the catch Ireland will rue but soon after that drop, Faf du Plessis was let off as well. At the end of the 11th over, when momentum was starting to go South Africa’s way, Paul Stirling produced a delivery with good drift but not a lot of turn and du Plessis went back to cut. Instead, he got a healthy edge which flew between the wicketkeeper and Kevin O’Brien at first slip, who had already taken a step forward as he saw du Plessis aiming for the cut. It was a tough chance but one that could have changed the course of the game if it had been taken.The crowd catch
For all Hashim Amla’s imperiousness, it was not until the 24th over that he scored the innings’ first six but he made sure it was memorable. In uncharacteristically ugly fashion, Amla slogged a Max Sorenson length ball over wide-long on and into the solitary grass embankment where someone in a crowd of Irish fans caught in. They picked up the littlest member of the group, complete with wide leprechaun hat, and bounced him and down in celebration before realising they had to give the ball back.The punchy celebration
Ireland did not seem in much of a fighting mood when Amla and du Plessis were in full flow but against the run of play, Kevin O’Brien produced a yorker to take out du Plessis. He cut through the batsman’s defences and then decided to take on the stumps, approaching them for a bit of shadow-boxing in one of the tournament’s more unique celebrations.The walking wicket
Everybody knew Paul Stirling had nicked the ball when he was squared up by a Dale Steyn short ball in the third over. Everybody apart from Ranmore Martinesz. Steyn went up, Quinton de Kock went up, Stirling went away – yes, he had actually begun walking – but stopped when he saw Martinesz unmoved. South Africa stopped mid-celebration to call for the review. Replays showed a clear deflection and a large spike on Snickometer. As soon as Stirling saw that, he resumed his walk off the field and South Africa continued celebrating.The unusual relay catch
Just when Ireland may have started to forgive themselves for their missed chances and began trying to limit the damage in the reply, they were reminded of how they had cost themselves in the cruelest fashion. Niall O’Brien flashed at a wide Kyle Abbott delivery and Quinton de Kock dived across Amla at first slip to take the catch but moved too early. De Kock blocked Amla’s view but the ball deflected off his glove into Amla’s hand and then into his armpit.The golden arm
The idea of AB de Villiers turning his arm over is not quite as a much of a joke as it used to be. South Africa’s ODI captain has bowled himself four times since September, after not bowling in ODIs for almost seven years, since a World XI game in 2007. And here’s why. His Midas touch was on display as early as his second ball when he bowled a nothing delivery, short of a length, and John Mooney managed to drag it on. Record-breaking batting, eye-catching grabs and now… wickets too. Is there anything AB cannot do?

Stats highlights from the Group B match between India and Ireland in Hamilton

Bishen Jeswant10-Mar-20154:03

Insights: Five in five, a unique record for India’s bowlers

174 The opening partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, the best opening stand for India in a World Cup match. This is India’s sixth 100-plus opening stand in World Cups.12 Number of World Cup matches in which Dhoni has led India to victory, the most for an Indian captain. He went past Kapil Dev’s tally of 11.8 Hundreds scored by Dhawan since 2013, the fourth-most by any batsman. The other players with more hundreds than Dhawan are Virat Kohli (9), Kumar Sangakkara (10) and Hashim Amla (10).14 Number of Indian batsmen who have scored 4000-plus ODI runs. Rohit became the latest batsman to cross this mark during his innings of 64.333 Runs scored by Dhawan in this World Cup, the second-highest for any batsman. Sangakkara leads the list with 372 runs, including three hundreds. Dhawan has scored two hundreds and a fifty.India extended their World Cup winning streak to nine matches•ESPNcricinfo Ltd9 Number of consecutive World Cup victories for India, the most for them. The record for the longest winning streak in World Cups is 25 matches, by Australia between the 1999 and 2011 editions.5 Number of consecutive ODIs where India have bowled out their opposition, their first such instance. The only team to have a longer streak in World Cups is South Africa, who bowled out their opposition six consecutive times in 2011.89 The opening stand between William Porterfield and Paul Stirling, the highest in World Cups for Ireland against a top-eight team.15 Number of times Mohammed Shami has taken three or more wickets in an ODI since 2013, the most for any bowler. These 15 hauls include five of four or more wickets. Next on the list is Ryan McLaren with 13 such hauls while Lasith Malinga has 12. Shami returned figures of 3 for 41 in this game.

There has been no direct apology yet to the journalist who faced Virat Kohli’s ire but, by stating that “this kind of incident should not be repeated,” an unequivocal message has been sent

Gaurav Kalra05-Mar-2015People get angry. Young. Old. Middle-aged. Anger is human. Often provoked and sometimes, as it appears to have been in Virat Kohli’s case, bubbling beneath the surface. Once it has found an outlet, there is time for reflection. Kohli surely has pondered over his actions but encouragingly, it seems, the BCCI has made a graceful – and swift – overture.In a clear departure from the method adopted by the previous regime, the new dispensation has taken a significant step towards mending a ruptured relationship with the media. There has been no direct apology yet to the journalist who faced Kohli’s ire but, by stating that “this kind of incident should not be repeated,” an unequivocal message has been sent. By asking Kohli to maintain the “dignity of the Indian team,” it has been acknowledged that he did step out of line. There is also a terse warning to “avoid any such behaviour in the future.”When the story first broke on Wednesday morning, it was apparent that the Indian management had not only misjudged its potential fallout but also made a clumsy attempt to brush it aside as a non-event. Despite having had hours to assess the situation and speak to each of the parties involved – the journalist in question, other journalists and onlookers who witnessed the incident and Kohli himself – this was the e-mail sent out to media outlets.Titled “Clarity on yesterday incident” by the media manager of the team in Australia, Dr RN Baba, the e-mail said (sic)- “There was a misunderstanding and no abusive language was used, Virat has spoken to the concerned gentlemen immediately and matter ends….”That was the complete statement. Besides needing a quick check for grammar, this so called “clarification” was strewn with inaccuracies. From all accounts, and not just that of the journalist at the receiving end, “abusive language” was indeed used. If the apology was relayed through another journalist, Kohli did not speak to the “concerned gentlemen” as Dr Baba claimed. In fact, in his official complaint to the ICC chief executive Dave Richardson, the journalist, Jasvinder Sidhu of the , said “no apology” had been tendered.Unless Sidhu and many of his colleagues on the ground were lying, it was blatantly obvious that Kohli did use abusive language. How long would it have taken the media manager to confirm with Kohli whether he had indeed used abusive language? How long would it have taken to ask Sidhu to walk up the stairs and have a brief chat with Kohli? Would it really have hurt the new Indian Test captain to say, “Sorry mate, I shouldn’t have said all that.”Instead, the management sought to “end the matter” with a churlish and inaccurate statement, a grim reminder of the aversion to the Indian media that gained ground under the regime that recently made way. As president, N Srinivasan held the media in contempt and institutionalised this disdain. Players were made off limits; information was at a premium, clarifications sought on developments were rarely forthcoming. An unhealthy mistrust was allowed, in fact encouraged, to fester.Some of this ire of course is well earned. A large section of the Indian media – and, having spent nearly a decade in news television, I have witnessed this first hand – has failed spectacularly in its functioning. Cricket has been reduced to entertainment and the players been subjected to pretty savage vitriol. Over time, an “us against them” environment has taken root. However, by painting the entire media with the same brush, the BCCI has also boxed in those who remain steadfast, devoted reporters of the game. It caused an unfortunate rupture in the relationship.The response of this newly-installed regime, led by president Jagmohan Dalmiya, a man known for a gentler dispensation than his predecessor, and secretary Anurag Thakur, known to engage positively with the media, is a welcome attempt to repair this bond.A veteran on the circuit tells me a story of a time when a cricketer walked up to him and complained bitterly about what had been written about him. “My friend,” the hack told him, “You have the choice not to read what I write, alas I have no choice other than to watch you bat.” He assures me that conversation ended with a smile on both faces. It would be nice to have those days back.

Stats highlights from New Zealand’s convincing 199-run win at Headingley

S Rajesh02-Jun-20155 Tests New Zealand have won in England, out of 54. Before this match, New Zealand had lost eight of their nine most recent Tests here.2 Test wins for New Zealand at Headingley; it’s the only ground in England where they’ve won more than one Test. At Lord’s, Trent Bridge and The Oval, they’ve won one Test.199 The margin of victory, which is their second highest, in terms of runs, in a Test win. Their highest is 204, against West Indies in Barbados in 2002.7 Runs contributed by England’s No. 3, 4 and 5 batsmen: Gary Ballance made 6, Ian Bell 1, and Joe Root 0. It’s the least runs made by England’s Nos. 3-5 in a Test innings against New Zealand (in an innings when all three have batted).204 Innings taken by Alastair Cook to reach 9000 Test runs, which he achieved in the second innings at Headingley. Among the 13 batsmen who are in this club, Cook is 10th in terms of innings taken to reach this landmark, but youngest in terms of age: he reached the mark 94 days before Sachin Tendulkar. Cook and Tendulkar are the only two batsmen to reach 9000 runs before turning 31.739 Balls faced by Cook in the series, the highest for an England batsman in a series where he played two Tests. The next-best is only 619 balls.6.87 Ian Bell’s batting average in his last eight Test innings: he has scored 55 runs during this period, since getting a century in the first innings of the first Test in the West Indies. Since the beginning of the 2013-14 Ashes series in Australia, Bell averages 29.89 in 30 innings, with 13 single-digit scores.49.82 Bell’s average in England. It has slipped below 50 for the first time since the first Test of the 2011 home series against India.6 Wickets taken by spinners in England’s second innings, which equals the most that New Zealand’s spinners have taken in an innings in England. The last time they took as many was at Lord’s in 1973.3 Wickets for Kane Williamson, giving him his second-best figures in a Test innings. His best is also against England – 4 for 44 in Auckland in 2013.

Who goes to Raipur in May? Mad dogs and cricket correspondents

Alagappan Muthu14-May-2015May 8
First trip to the north of India, armed with shards of Hindi borrowed from cricket commentary on the radio. Not too sure ” shot” will help me with asking for directions. Trawl the internet for information on Raipur. May is the hottest month. Temperature on the day I land is forecast to hit a high of 43°C. Paste notes about packing my cap and sunscreen all around the house. Predictable facepalm moment en route to the airport when I discover I’ve forgotten both.The Swami Vivekananda Airport is astounding. Great walls of brick, steel, glass, and all-round posh. Read that it was one of the richest cities in India. Am standing in the evidence. Even if it is 15km from the city and out in the wilderness. Search for the tourism desk. It is unmanned, and most of places in the pictures aren’t quite in the city.Fifteen seconds is all it takes on the drive for a first glimpse of the IPL – Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tiwary, Albie Morkel and a couple of other Delhi Daredevils on a billboard. The same one crops up three seconds later. In the air-conditioned cab, I’m busy revelling in beating the heat.May 9
Just couldn’t keep from gloating, could I? The mid-day sun stalks me now. But the bustle of Raipur offers enough distraction.The capital of Chhatisgarh looks more like a township striving incredibly hard to keep up its disguise. Little mom-and-pop stores everywhere, their wares spilling onto the street. Shop carts line the roads, selling everything from fruit to clothes. I’m reminded of a hard-working student concerned only with getting an A in the next exam. Hear that Raipur’s iron and steel resources are unrivalled in the country.I’m meeting a contact for match tickets. He is in town for the IPL as well, a scorer and statistician from Vidarbha. He tells me he has worked in cricket all his adult life. Laments that he wasn’t able to become an umpire. But then taps his chest and says, “It doesn’t matter. It’s the love of the game.”A patch of tiled ground? Game on•Alagappan Muthu/ESPNcricinfo LtdThe ground is over 20km away, nestled like a crown jewel in the government’s pet project – Naya Raipur. A railway station is planned. More bus routes are planned. The chief minister is hoping to make the capital a thriving hub of modernity. And if his visions are similar to the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, it will be. Grand, imposing, one of the largest in India. Also, a long walk from the main road. My poor legs.About two-thirds of the 50,000 seats are full. There is dancing. There is cheering. There is heckling. There is a lust for the camera that threatens decapitation. The cricket is almost a sideshow. They spot the absence of the spidercam and the Pepsi VIP box sooner than I do.May 10
Cons of broken Hindi: getting lost, missing out on jokes, and haggling is impossible. Still no cap for me. Pros: an auto-rickshaw driver mistaking me for cricketer. I drop a few names and show him a picture taken with Graeme Smith. He nods and scowls: “But isn’t that the bad coach?”Outside, the traffic befits a capital, and the people have pieces of cloth tied around their heads and torsos to ward off the heat.I hide out at a restaurant that calls itself Food Xxpress. The room- service menu at my hotel asks me to “dail 777”. I wonder if I can make typo-eat a trend.May 11
“Pease Pulaw” is on the menu next. And more roaming.Chhattisgarh doesn’t have a Ranji team yet. It hasn’t hosted international cricket yet. The IPL hit it in 2013 and is back now. I’ve seen how the people have fun in the stadium. Now I want to know how the kids go about playing the game.There is an indoor stadium in Buddha Talabh. Its facilities are used for football, but there is a stretch of land out back that is perfect for gully cricket. For the structured version, the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh conducts annual inter-district tournaments and 19 teams participate. They’ve also had sporadic success at the Under-19 and U-25 levels.I get a wicket first ball and in return I am bowled first ball. I’ve still got it.The crowd is always colourful (but mostly yellow when Chennai Super Kings are in town)•BCCIMay 12
Raipur is gracious enough to leave some ambiguity over their allegiance in the last game. MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings roll into town and the stadium turns yellow. At neutral venues, the fans’ thirst tips towards getting a selfie with one of their stars in the background rather than bothering with the cricket and its nuances.That Zaheer Khan bowls 19 dots in 24 deliveries goes unnoticed. But every time Dhoni is on strike, the chant is deafening. He was 10 off 17, yet Raipur roared his name. Whether he believed one ball could bring his form back or not, these people sure did. Jayant Yadav, playing his second IPL game, is pestered for a wave at long-on. Who knows what’s happening to Yuvraj Singh at long-off.The DJ isn’t quite bothered about the cricket either. His concern is to butter up the Raipur crowd. “You wanna know what the local boys behind the cheerleaders say?” he asks, before providing the answer with the lyrics of “Hero [Your Hero’s Over Here].”After a low-scoring game with the Daredevils bowlers strutting their stuff, I walk to where the government buses queue up to take the people back to the city. The conductor has “CSK” painted on his cheek and I meet a staff member from my hotel. They draw me into a discussion of how boring the match was. No fun, is the consensus. “”

The pitch against New Zealand, just a couple of months ago, was a brilliant Test surface that brought fascinating action so what has happened?

George Dobell at Lord's16-Jul-2015It is ironic that, in the week in which the MCC World Cricket Committee warned that Test cricket “will not survive” if “left as it is,” the pitch at the ground they own should provide such a poor advert for the game.While it is often said that some players “empty bars” with their exciting play, this was a surface to fill bars. It was a surface to pour cold water over the growing excitement in English cricket. A surface that might have been acceptable a generation ago but which now, in the age of T20 and more leisure opportunities, presents a danger to the future viability of the game. It is a poor surface.Ricky Ponting on the Lord’s pitch

“It’s a very, very different pitch than what we saw against New Zealand only about a month ago so that’s a bit of a worry to me. It sounds like the administrators or team captains or coaches might be getting to the groundsmen and asking for certain pitch conditions. I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think that should ever happen in the game.
“There’s such a thing as home ground advantage but I think that’s taking it a little bit too far. What we saw today is a very uncharacteristic Lord’s pitch. I think all anyone wants to see is the character of that ground come out and the character of the pitch come out.
“You think back a month ago to that Test match against New Zealand, there was the most runs scored ever in a Test match at Lord’s, it went into the last day, it ended up being a terrific Test match. This one, look it could turn out to be a great Test, who knows?
“But for me today the balance between bat versus ball was nowhere near what it needs to be for a Test match.”

This Lord’s pitch is not poor in the way that Cardiff was poor. This surface, at least, has not offered variable bounce and, when the edge of the bat was found, the ball did just about carry to the slip cordon. It is a pitch that is fair to both teams.But whether it is fair to both skills – batting and bowling – and to spectators is far more debatable. There has always been a place in Test cricket for attritional play and there have always been pitches of which bowlers had nightmares. But if the MCC are to lead by example rather than simply pontificate, they really do need to sort their own house out first.It does not matter if there is, at some stage, a dramatic finale. A rock fall can be dramatic: it does not mean the 30,000 years of erosion that preceded it is great television. If the administrators are really serious about combating falling attendances and worrying viewing figures, they must combat the pitch problem.Might Lord’s have been following orders from the ECB? Perhaps. The England management insist not – they say there have been no specific instructions this summer – and the groundsman, Mick Hunt, points out that the days immediately before the game were full of rain. There was simply not, he says, the sun to bake the pitch into a quicker surface.It is an explanation that may raise eyebrows from those who recently enjoyed an almost uninterrupted Wimbledon Tennis Championships only a few miles down the road. But, until the last year or so, most Lord’s pitches were like this.It does seem a coincidence that the last two Tests on this ground – against New Zealand and India – have seen more lively surfaces. It does seem a coincidence that, once Mitchell Johnson is around, the two pitches prepared for this series have been painfully slow.If England asked for such pitches – if Andrew Strauss was on the grassy knoll, insisting the grass was cut and the knoll rolled flat – they can have no complaints.That would be a shame, though. After weeks of telling us how aggressively they were going to play, England were given little opportunity to “express their talent” or “show off their skills” on this surface. It was so slow, so flat, so lifeless that they had little option but to revert to more traditional tactics.Moeen Ali (left) pronounced himself fit for Lord’s, Adil Rashid did not•PA PhotosThey didn’t bowl quite as tightly as they might, but Alastair Cook was all but faultless in the field. After the excitement of Cardiff and the drama of the New Zealand series, this was a hugely anti-climatic day for English cricket. The game really does have a problem with self harm.Credit where it is due: Chris Rogers and Steven Smith batted with the hunger and application to take advantage of the situation. But this really was the sort of surface which any batsman would want to take home and introduce to their parents?Maybe it was a shame, too, that England did not have Adil Rashid available for them. On such a flat surface, perhaps his leg-breaks may have been able to coax more out of this surface.For a while on Tuesday, it looked as if he was going to be in the side. With Moeen Ali struggling with a side strain, Rashid was told that there was a good chance he could play and asked to ready himself.He then reported a finger problem – what is described as a relatively minor abrasion on the ring finger of his right hand – and ruled himself out of contention.It seems that some in the England camp are underwhelmed by that development. Not only are they surprised that he did not report the problem until Tuesday night, but there were some raised eyebrows when he considered the injury bad enough to rule himself out of a Test debut against Australia at Lord’s.To be fair to Rashid, he could be forgiven for not wanting to be judged when anything below 100% fit and only he can say with certainty whether he is ready. But many is the spinner who has gone into a game with ripped, blistered fingers – most would consider it an occupational hazard – and he may come to rue this decision as a crossroads moment in his career.If he is deemed fit to play for Yorkshire in their Championship match against Worcestershire at Scarborough on Monday – and at present the England camp expect him to be available for it – it will be a surprise if he is in the third Test squad.

Why was it that Australia put in such a hazy performance in a match that mattered so much? Of the two teams they are the more experienced, the more used to winning and entering this week the more confident

Daniel Brettig at Edgbaston31-Jul-2015Test matches can be about big moments but also small ones. Australia’s hefty defeat at Edgbaston looked vast enough to have not really been influenced by little details, yet one pair of two-ball sequences summed up the gap between the two sides as aptly as the final margin.Shortly after tea on the second evening, Steven Finn dismissed Michael Clarke. It was a key blow for England, even if Clarke’s batting touch has all but deserted him. Adam Voges walked to the middle of Edgbaston amid a cacophony of noise and marked his guard. Finn ran in again and landed the ball on a length just outside off stump, coaxing the new batsman into an edge to Ian Bell before he had his bearings.Midway through the third day, Josh Hazlewood dismissed Adam Lyth. The second wicket down in England’s chase of 121, it was the last glimmer of any kind of hope for Australia. Hazlewood swung the ball to defeat Lyth, and the new batsman Joe Root could be vulnerable as anyone to the moving delivery. Hazlewood ran in again and hurled down a wide long hop, which sat up for Root to crack through point to the boundary.In those four balls was the game summed up – England taking every opportunity to put the tourists under pressure; Australia failing almost completely to do so. Voges had been in imperious form entering this series but has been gradually broken down by plenty of other balls like the one Finn gave him. Root has prospered mostly by being allowed latitude early in his innings when he is vulnerable.The Australians spurned opportunities to take control of this match almost from the first ball. With the exception of Chris Rogers, their batsmen showed neither enough experience in English conditions nor enough awareness to respect what such climes require. There was one brief window when Rogers and Voges looked capable of enduring, but when the latter hung his bat out at James Anderson the rest more or less ceased to exist.Adam Voges is one of Australia’s middle order under severe pressure, Shaun Marsh could replace him•Getty ImagesIt is always a dicey exercise to criticise a bowling attack when they have a mere 136 runs to defend, but it must be said that the Australian pace unit was also a noticeably lesser collective than they had been at Lord’s. On the first evening under lights they bowled the sorts of changeable lines and lengths that were seen in Cardiff, never approaching England’s level of consistency.Then on the second morning, when Mitchell Johnson’s pair of snorting short balls had accounted for Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes, pressure from the other end was virtually non-existent. The two overs from Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc that followed Johnson’s double strike went for 16 runs, and England were able to wriggle free. Johnson has admitted he could have bowled more short stuff than he did, but the bleeding of runs must have come at least partly into his thinking.Even so, England were still only 54 runs ahead when their seventh wicket went down. From that point Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali enjoyed some good fortune, but there was never a sense that they were being actively corralled or goaded into dismissal. They were not to be separated until England led by 141, more than enough as it turned out.After only David Warner and the tail had propped up the second innings, Australia really had very little chance of defending their measly lead of 120. They had to do everything right in the field, sniff out every opportunity and take every chance. But it was soon abundantly clear that this team was not in the sort of robust frame of mind to do so. It was Ian Bell, so out of form before this match, who showed the way for England with batting of a very positive mindset to quickly run down the total.By contrast, Clarke and his men seemed unable to grasp even the meagre chances to stay in the match that came their way. A Bell edge to Clarke at second slip was unaccountably shelled, and the potentially destructive Johnson was not even used until England needed only another 74 runs to win. Clarke rang plenty of bowling changes from that point, but it was all far too late, as England cantered to victory.Why was it that Australia put in such a hazy performance in a match that mattered so much? Of the two teams they are the more experienced, the more used to winning and entering this week the more confident after administering a 405-run hiding to England at Lord’s. Clarke in particular had a shocking week, even if his batting struggles are discounted. Based on his own performance relative to the importance of the fixture, he cannot have had a worse match as captain.The wider issues of the team’s succession planning, touched on yesterday, have provided a disquieting undertone to the tour. But that cannot account for poor decisions made in the middle, old lessons seemingly forgotten and new ones not even close to being learned. Something is eating at this team and its players, whether it is internal issues, the march of time or the suffocating effects of an Ashes tour.At Edgbaston, Australia were a team overwhelmed to the point that they made errors a club side would not be proud of, something epitomised by Hazlewood. England, meanwhile, rose impressively to the occasion, personified by Finn. Australia talk often of winning the big moments. To get back into this series, they must find a way to clear their heads enough to pay attention to the small ones too.

Younis Khan talks about bouncing back from adversity, and the self-belief that has helped him overcome his limitations as a batsman

Rehan Ulhaq24-Oct-2015This article was first published in the November issue of magazine, which went to press early in OctoberPakistan cricket fans took to T20 like fish to water. After losing the inaugural World T20 final to arch-rivals India in 2007, victory in the 2009 edition captured the imagination of the entire country and the short format became prevalent faster in Pakistan than anywhere else on the planet. While other countries initially didn’t take T20 too seriously, Pakistan adopted it as their very own format – it was love at first sight.All of which meant that when their T20 captain, Younis Khan, described it as “fun” cricket when his side were on the verge of elimination in 2009, the media lashed out at him, painting him as public enemy numero uno. Pakistan went on to fight back from the brink and defeat Sri Lanka in the final at Lord’s to be crowned world champions. For neither the first nor last time in his career, Younis had defied his critics. His life in cricket has been that of a warrior, fighting his way through barricades and proving his worth even though his sensational record means he should never have to.”If someone writes something good about me in the papers, I just read it once,” Younis tells . “But if someone writes something against me, I keep a cutting of that paper with me, I keep it in front of me all the time and instead of getting dispirited by it, I get motivated and tell myself that I am going to prove this wrong, and I start putting all my effort and focus into trying to come out victorious.”When it comes to cricket, Pakistanis are obsessed with aesthetics, flair, swagger and everything that sounds better in words than in actions. For such a country, Younis Khan is an outlier. In the labyrinth that is Pakistan cricket, he has emerged triumphant – with scars and bruises of course – through sheer determination and professionalism. Tales of Younis’ relentless work ethic have almost mythical status in Pakistan. One such story shared amongst journalists is of a young Younis running around a cricket field trying to be fitter than his colleagues while onlookers laughed at him and told him that he would never make it to the top – an urban legend, perhaps, but he is undoubtedly revered by his team-mates for his insatiable appetite for hard work. “As a sportsman, Younis Khan is my ideal,” says Pakistan’s Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq. “He is the first one into training and the last one out.”

“If someone writes something against me, I keep a cutting of that paper with me, I keep it in front of me all the time and instead of getting dispirited by it, I get motivated”

Pakistan’s national team has been to hell and back in the last decade but Younis remains the constant amongst infinite variables. No one deals with adversity the way he does; his resolve to prove people wrong and unflinching perserverence are the attributes that mark him out as a batsman, and as a person.Whenever there are question marks about him or his team, he rises from the ashes – his entire career has been about emerging from the darkness into light. He remembers the death of former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, on March 18, 2007, as the darkest moment of his career. “That 2007 World Cup in the West Indies was a nightmare. We lost to Ireland but winning and losing is part of the game, what happened next was something I couldn’t fathom. Bob Woolmer passed away and the next few days we spent there were some of the darkest days of my life. Bob wasn’t just a coach to me, he was like a father. What saddened me most was that our own coach was no longer with us and we were all treated as suspects, being questioned about his death. At that point I thought to myself, ‘Why are we even playing for Pakistan?’ I can never ever forget the way we were treated back then.”After the lowest moment in his career, Younis went on to score three Test hundreds in his next four matches. Two years later, when he led Pakistan to the World T20 title, he dedicated the win to Woolmer. “This final must go to Bob Woolmer,” he said. “He was doing good things with us in 2005 and especially my cricket. I would be very proud if he was alive and sitting with me because he’s a very nice guy and was a father figure for us. Why I am captain is because in 2005 – at that time I was not a regular player for Pakistan – he was the guy who all the time was chatting with the chairman and the selectors that Younis will be the next captain. So because of him I have become a captain. I dedicate this final to Bob Woolmer.””Bob [Woolmer] wasn’t just a coach to me, he was like a father”•AFPPerhaps the one blemish on Younis’ career is his ODI record but he remembers his one-day debut against Sri Lanka in 2000 as one of the highlights of his career. “My cricket changed when I played my first ODI in Karachi,” he recalls. “The situation was quite difficult for me. I was supposed to bat up the order but wasn’t given the opportunity to do so. I was sent in at No. 7 and the match was getting out of hand. It was a grim situation and I scored a quick 46. That innings showed my character to everyone. When I wasn’t sent in at my number, I stood up and told them I wanted to play, every time a wicket fell, I wanted to be the next to bat. I kept telling everyone to let me take the responsibility, I told them I could pull it off. It is very tough for a young player making his debut to keep asking for responsibility and believing that you can deliver but when I scored 46, despite losing the match, I knew and my team-mates knew that I belonged at this level. It gave me belief and my team-mates started to have faith in in me.”Younis is arguably the best third- and fourth-innings batsman of his generation and one of the greatest of all time in getting his team out of jail. This isn’t just a fluke, it again stems from that unparalleled perseverance and fortitude which was palpable in his very first Test match, against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi. Pakistan had conceded a first-innings lead of 171 and were five down in their second innings, still trailing by two runs, when a 22-year-old Younis walked out to bat. His rearguard of 107 from 250 deliveries helped set Sri Lanka a target of 220 and so nearly resulted in Pakistan snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, the hosts eventually losing by two wickets. “We were in dire straits when I came out to bat. I had a very good partnership with Wasim Akram of 145 [for the ninth wicket] and that brought us back into the match. Although we didn’t end up winning, that innings is a highlight of my career.”Younis is not a man blessed with a great array of shots or natural talent and yet he has gone on to become statistically Pakistan’s best Test batsman. It’s a point he is aware of. “When you have self-belief and faith even a player like me with a limited skillset can deliver. I have 30 Test centuries despite not being very naturally gifted and having limited resources at my disposal. But because I have so much belief, God helps me to do things I don’t think I am even capable of. For example, I won the World T20, not in Pakistan, not in India, but in England and with a team comprising mostly players who were new at international level and some who were making their debuts.”

“When you have self-belief and faith even a player like me with a limited skillset can deliver. I have 30 Test centuries despite not being very naturally gifted”

That self-awareness has proven to be one of Younis’ greatest virtues in his run-filled career. It not only sets him apart as a character, it has also informed his batting style and allowed him to squeeze out every ounce of potential – something that’s been evident in each and every one of his most special innings.”In 2001-02, I was making my comeback after being dropped and I scored 91 and 141 in the first Test against New Zealand in Auckland. That again showed my character to the selectors, management and my team-mates. There are two or three other innings that I remember fondly which put my name on the world map. The 267 I scored in Bangalore and the ODI century I scored at the Rose Bowl are very special to me.”But perhaps the two ODI hundreds I scored against India in 2008 and 2009 emphasised my determination the most. One was at Karachi in the last Asia Cup played in Pakistan; we had already lost to India once and we were chasing a total in excess of 300, I scored a hundred and we won that match comfortably. The other one was in Bangladesh in the final of the 2008 Kitply Cup. I had scored two consecutive ducks, we were playing the final against India and I had to prove my critics wrong. I scored a hundred and we ended up winning the match.”Misbah on Younis: “Younis Khan is my ideal. He is the first one into training and the last one out”•AFPDespite these achievements, Younis still doesn’t get nearly enough acknowledgement in Pakistan, perhaps due to the fact that it’s a country that gives more weight to T20 and ODI cricket. It’s not something that keeps Younis up at night, though.”I get more love from the fans than I could ever have imagined. Even now fans from all over come to support me and shout my name. I see them and I am proud of myself, it is a great achievement for me. Perhaps my greatest achievement is when Pakistanis walk up to me while I am on tours or travelling and tell me that they are proud of me. I don’t care one bit if I don’t get commercials or have my picture up on billboards, I don’t care when people say he isn’t that special because I am telling you myself that I am a player with very little and limited skill.”The term “cornered tigers” was first used to describe Pakistan during their unexpected World Cup triumph in 1992 and Younis has been the poster boy for that famous unbreakable spirit in more recent times. Time and time again he has been at the heart of the most unlikely victories. Perhaps his greatest moment in the sun was the 2014 Test series against Australia in the UAE when he destroyed records left, right and centre. For those familiar with Younis’ career it came as little surprise. After all, he had a relatively modest record against Australia that needed rectifying and Pakistan had been whitewashed in the ODIs and T20s prior to the Test series.All Out Cricket”The way we lost against Australia in the T20 and then the ODIs was very hard for me to digest. In fact one of the ODIs we lost was beyond the realms of logic. I didn’t feature in those series but I was part of the Test squad so I was motivated and pumped up to be the difference between the two teams in the Test series. When the team is losing, I want to be the man to change it, to be the catalyst for a change in fortune. My biggest motivation is my love for this country and in fact I give 100% for every team I play in, be it my department team, my region or my club. I take great pride in being competitive.”Younis’ outspoken, straight-talking attitude has got him in hot water in the past, most notably when he was slapped with an indefinite ban by the PCB in 2010 for ill-discipline, as well a well-documented mutiny against him when he was captain for allegedly being excessively tough and demanding too much from his players. He remains unapologetic for saying it as he sees it. It’s part of his DNA. “I belong to the Pathan tribe,” he says. “We are straightforward people, both my parents are simple people who never discouraged us to speak up about our opinions.”With the series against England imminent, Younis is in the headlines once again. Firstly there was an overhyped supposed feud with Misbah when Younis said in a TV interview that his captain couldn’t be compared to him. Then certain sections of the media in Pakistan put him forward as the next Test captain while the rest reminded everyone of the mutiny in his first stint at the helm. More recently, when Younis wasn’t present at the launch ceremony of the Pakistan Super League, claims were made that he hadn’t been invited, only for the PCB to issue an official statement insisting that he was.The cherry on top was Younis’ reply to Wasim Akram after the former left-arm quick suggested he concentrate on Test cricket and forget about ODIs. Younis politely said that, while he respected the opinion of Wasim, he didn’t need anyone’s advice at this point in his career. You can be sure that any frustration felt by Younis at the latest media circus will be meted out on England in this series. magazine, available either in print or as a digital magazine. See what all the fuss is about here.

Stats highlights from the second ODI between England and Australia, at Lord’s

Shiva Jayaraman05-Sep-2015206.45 Mitchell Marsh’s strike rate in his innings of 64 – the second-best strike rate by any batsman to score at least 50 runs in an ODI in England. Craig McMillan’s strike rate of 237.03 in his 27-ball 64 against USA in the 2004 Champions Trophy is the best. This was also the second-highest strike rate in an ODI innings of 50 or more runs by an Australia batsman against England. James Faulkner had struck at 208.33 in his unbeaten innings of 50 in a tri-series final in Perth earlier this year, which is the highest.15.71 Scoring rate of the stand between Morgan and Plunkett – the highest for a partnership of at least 50 runs against Australia in ODIs. This was also the third best run-rate in a fifty-plus partnership by England.1951 Last time an England batsman was out obstructing the field in international cricket before Ben Stokes in this match. Len Hutton was given out obstructing the field in the second innings against South Africa at The Oval. Overall, this is only the seventh time a batsman has been dismissed in this manner in international cricket.12 Number of sixes hit in this match – the most hit in an ODI at Lord’s. The previous highest was the 11 sixes hit in an ODI between the hosts and West Indies in 2004.8 Sixes conceded by England in this match – equal second highest that they have conceded in an ODI against Australia. The most sixes they have conceded to Australia was at the MCG in 2002-03 when they conceded nine.5 Sixes conceded by Moeen Ali in this match – equal third highest conceded by an England bowler in ODIs since 2001. New Zealand had hit seven sixes off Chris Jordan in an ODI at The Oval in June this year, which is the most. Including Ali in this game, four of the top-five instances of an England bowler conceding most sixes in an ODI have come this year.1 Number of times before Australia’s innings in this match that five or more batsmen in their middle-order had made at least 30 runs. The last and the only time this happened was in an ODI against West Indies at the Adelaide Oval in 2004-05.2002 The last and the only time any team made a higher total from 50 or fewer overs in an ODI at Lord’s. On that occasion both the teams – the hosts and India – had made more than the 309 by Australia in this match. This was also only the fifth time a team had posted a total of 300-plus from 50 or fewer overs at this venue in ODIs.8.5 Ali’s economy in this match, his worst in an ODI and the third-most expensive figures by any bowler to bowl five or more overs at Lord’s. He conceded 62 runs from his eight overs in this game, the most he has conceded in an ODI.4/56 Pat Cummins’ bowling figures in this match – his best in ODIs. His previous best was the 3 for 28 he took on his debut against South Africa in Centurion in 2011.11 Number of fifty-plus scores in just 24 innings by Eoin Morgan while leading England in ODIs – the second most by any batsman in his first 24 ODI innings as England’s captain. Alastair Cook had 12 fifty-plus scores – four hundreds and eight fifties – in his first 24. Morgan has made 1085 runs at an average of 49.31 as England’s ODI captain.3 Fifty-plus stands by England’s ninth wicket in ODIs before the one between Morgan and Liam Plunkett in this match. The last such stand came in 2005, against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, when Kabir Ali and Ian Blackwell added 50 runs. The highest ninth-wicket stand and the only century partnership for that wicket for England also involved Plunkett, when he added exactly 100 runs along with Vikram Solanki against Pakistan in Lahore in 2005.

Opposition captains always feared: what if Sehwag gets going? Everyone else just learned to accept that he would forever surprise

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan23-Oct-2015The heart wishes Virender Sehwag had retired after a rousing Test, his team-mates chairing him off the ground, the crowd bidding him adieu with a standing ovation. The mind understands that this was never going to come to pass, that Sehwag’s days as an international cricketer were long past, and that he would tweet the news of his exit (as he had promised late last year) and be off without a fuss.The end was as abrupt as it was apt. Not for him a press conference bathed in emotion, or a speech that tugged at heartstrings. There was no grand felicitation, there were no teary goodbyes. Instead he went his own way, wrapping up with a tweet that started “I hereby… ” and a statement that began, “To paraphrase Mark Twain…”None of this should come as a surprise; to have experienced Sehwag’s career is to have come to expect the unexpected. During times when conventional wisdom advised circumspection, he would blast off. Where other batsmen shut shop a few overs before stumps, he saw it as an opportunity to pick off boundaries. When opposition captains pushed mid-off and mid-on back, he didn’t look at it as a chance for singles; instead he was determined to launch the ball over the fielders’ heads. Where team-mates used the services of a nightwatchman, he deemed it an insult (“If I can’t play for 25 minutes, I’m not much of a batsman.”)Stories of Sehwag’s counter-intuition are legion. He once charged a medium-pace bowler in a Ranji Trophy game, swished wildly, and missed by more than a foot. That in itself should come as no surprise, except, as his former team-mate Aakash Chopra wrote on this website, it was little but an act. On “one of the worst pitches”, Sehwag was actually trying to mess with the bowler’s length. Sure enough, the trick rattled the opponent. The next two balls pitched short. And Sehwag smashed two fours.Paul Harris ended up the loser in his contest with Sehwag in 2008•Getty ImagesThe common refrain while talking about Sehwag’s batting is how his approach was so simple, how the see-ball-hit-ball approach served him so well. This, of course, is partly true – he has himself acknowledged the value of clearing all clutter from the mind – but it is also somewhat reductionist. Sehwag might not have analysed ground conditions and wagon wheels with a high level of granularity (and, back in 2006, he might not have known about Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad’s record partnership) but he was far from unschooled. He analysed his innings and dismissals, and spoke to those he respected about technical glitches, taking on advice from openers as varied in approach as Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth. He enjoyed chatting with psychologist Rudi Webster (he was especially curious to hear about the early struggles of Viv Richards, whom Webster likened Sehwag to) and sometimes surprised team-mates by reeling off names of bowlers he had faced in stray innings.Most significantly he was astute enough to constantly upend traditional approaches to batting. Where Sachin Tendulkar was bogged down, padding away Ashley Giles bowling over the wicket, Sehwag backed away and slashed; charged diagonally and slashed; and, in what was little short of a tight slap across the bowler’s face, reverse-swept without a care in the world. None of this was blind slogging; it was a planned assault to disrupt a bowler’s rhythm, nullifying his negative tactics. Six years on, when another left-arm spinner targeted his pads, Sehwag challenged him: “Come round the wicket and first ball I’ll hit you for a six.” Paul Harris – with a long-off, long-on, deep midwicket and a deep point – accepted the dare. And sure enough, the first ball soared over the sightscreen.Such provocation wasn’t merely an instinctive flash of bravado. Like the smartest of bowlers, Sehwag understood when to needle the opposition and when to send out a message by shutting up. Against Australia in Chennai in 2004, he made friendly small-talk with some fielders as he walked off after the first day’s play. But come the end of the fourth day, with India chasing a tricky target, he pounded a drive past Glenn McGrath and strode off, chin up, with a raging sense of purpose. “You have to show the other team that you’re here to win,” he would later say of that unforgettable walk-off.Fury Road: Sehwag set up India’s record chase against England in Chennai in 2008•AFPIt has often been pointed out that Sehwag averaged slightly over 30 in the third and fourth innings of Tests with just one hundred, a stat used to demonstrate his frailty under “scoreboard pressure”. What is not highlighted as much is that he averaged a mighty 65.91 in the second innings of Tests, with 12 hundreds – many of which came after the opposition had piled on massive scores. When New Zealand amassed 630 in Mohali in 2003, Sehwag responded with 130; when South Africa piled on 510 in Kanpur in 2004, he answered with 164; when Pakistan erected 679 in Lahore in 2006, he blitzed 254; and when South Africa put on 540 in Chennai in 2008, he smoked the fastest Test triple-hundred. As important as it is to celebrate Sehwag the match-winner, it’s vital to hail Sehwag the match-saver: the opening batsman who drew games not by playing out time but by rollicking along at berserker pace, eliminating threats of India following on.What this meant was that, despite his poor fourth-innings record, teams were often hesitant to declare in the third innings, the fear of “what if Sehwag gets going?” never far from their calculations. There is no stat to quantify the psychological effect that Sehwag had on fielding teams but an Ian Chappell quote from 2005 sums up the sentiment: “Sehwag can change the course of a match with the ease of Moses parting the Red Sea”.Over the years there were a number of innings when Sehwag parted the metaphorical Red Sea, but the apex of match-changeability arrived on that December afternoon in 2008 – a month after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai – when England set India 387 for victory in Chennai. The odds were grim. No team had chased more than 155 at the ground and no team had achieved a fourth-innings target of more than 276 at any Indian venue.None of this mattered to Sehwag. He had begun the fourth day by telling Ravi Shastri, “We could easily chase 300-plus against England,” and then gone on to burn the batting manual, juddering a 68-ball 83 to fire-start the chase. There were rasping upper cuts and swirling sixes; the short balls ending up in the V between point and third man, the full ones in the V between square leg and midwicket. It was a kind of innings that galvanises the team to dare to dream; an innings that sends shock waves through the fielding side; and an innings that makes ten-year-olds want to reach for their bats, getting them hooked to the game for good.Once the win was achieved, Tendulkar was asked about Sehwag’s mighty eruption. “We are quite used to that,” he said with a smile. “You kind of expect something which is not expected.”He may as well have been summing up a once-in-a-lifetime career.