The New Zealand opener talks about dealing with his negativity last season while struggling for runs and how a chat with Kane Williamson helped him clear his mind

Interview by Shashank Kishore24-Jun-2020For close to three years since his Test debut in 2016, Jeet Raval was a regular opener. His six half-centuries in his first nine Tests gave New Zealand solidity at the top of the order. But Raval hit a wall against England and Pakistan in 2018. A maiden hundred, in Hamilton against Bangladesh, was a weight off his shoulders and should have been the point where his career took off, but instead he lost his central contract with New Zealand Cricket, and has now switched from Auckland to Northern Districts in domestic cricket. He hasn’t given up on a comeback, but isn’t beating himself up over it. The two-month lockdown due to Covid-19 has given him better balance and perspective, as he tells us in this chat.How do you look back at your career so far?
It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve been fortunate to have been part of a successful New Zealand Test side. Winning in the UAE and Sri Lanka has been a highlight of my career so far. We rose to No. 2 in the Test rankings, which hadn’t been done before. From a team’s perspective, it’s been an amazing journey. Personally, I feel I didn’t fully live up to my potential.ALSO READ: The contrasting fortunes of Mitchell Starc and Jeet RavalTwenty-four Tests, one Test century, seven fifties and an average of 30. How do you view these numbers?
You ought to have done something right to play those Tests. I felt I did well in the first couple of years and then my form fell away. A few issues started creeping into my game and then it sort of turned into a battle of the mind. But look, I’m content with the career I’ve had so far, and I’m determined to get back to where I was through the lessons I’ve learnt.What are the lessons you’ve learnt?
As an opener in New Zealand, you will probably fail more than you succeed, so when you do get runs, you need to look to make it big. In my case, I did all the right things at the start of my innings, but couldn’t capitalise. And that started playing on my mind.Your first Test hundred came in your 17th Test. Did that wait make you restless?
Not from within, but people around me often kept asking, “Hey, when is that first hundred coming?” And then I’d think, “Yeah, I’m yet to score that despite getting starts.” The external pressure starts weighing on you, so it was nice to be able to get that monkey off my back [against Bangladesh]. I was proud to get there. Where I come from [Ahmedabad], you think of the struggles we made as a family. It wasn’t about me, but the [people] around me who helped me get to where I was.

“I had a chat with Kane Williamson after I got 1 in each innings. He said: ‘Take your mind off cricket for a few days, and when you go to the next net, let go of all the worries and play like you did as a ten-year old'”

When did you realise you were putting a lot of pressure on yourself?
In Sri Lanka last year, perhaps. I’d prepared as well as anyone could have. Before that tour, I went to India with a club side, played days matches on all sorts of turning tracks, chatted and trained with Andhra Ranji players to get a different perspective. I hit thousands of balls in the nets. In the very first innings in Sri Lanka, I got a very good start before getting out in the last over before lunch to [Akila] Dananjaya. It frustrated me so much that I started to analyse why it happened, and then it affected my next innings. I kept digging the hole deeper instead of saying, “Hey, I batted out a session nearly to get 30-odd, I must have done something good.” The next two innings on that tour didn’t go well. I kept getting frustrated innings after innings.Was it the nature of your dismissals that annoyed you?
No, it was more the pressure I was putting on myself. Having been part of the team, I kept feeling I had to contribute more. In the heat of the moment, you get caught up in things that aren’t important and then struggle to come out of it. While we were on the field, things were very normal. I was as invested in the team’s success as anyone else was, but when I went back to the room, it hit me: “Why did I do that?” And it was a never-ending chain of thoughts.ALSO READ: How are cricketers keeping fit in lockdown?Did you speak to someone about it?
Not after the Sri Lanka tour. I kept it to myself because we were getting ready for the home summer. [The focus in] Sri Lanka was anyway about playing spin, but the focus going forward was to play in our conditions against a good England pace attack.What was your frame of mind going into that England series?
I didn’t get a run in three innings in the build-up to that series. Pressure started to build and I started looking at technical aspects of my game. I was questioning myself and thinking, “What if I try this or what if I try that?” instead of trusting the game I had. No doubt I was underdone in terms of having a weight of runs behind me.I started well in the Mount Maunganui Test and got out to a dreadful slog sweep against Jack Leach’s left-arm spin. I had slogged him for a couple of unconvincing fours, but I thought I could take him on. I should have really put it behind me because I got a solid start, but it started to chew me up. We got about 600 runs in that innings, so every run the team scored, I was beating myself up and thinking I could’ve got these runs. I let that affect me and it got really hard from there on.In the game after, my mental state was so bad that I didn’t even realise I’d smashed the ball onto the pad and didn’t refer an lbw. I started to tense up, thinking way too much. Everything had built up. I froze. I remember while batting in that series, for every ball I used to keep thinking: “I hope I don’t get out this ball.” That rut got the better of me. When I got dropped, it was not nice, but it gave me a chance to reflect on what was going on inside my mind and come out of the bubble. As much as it was terrible at the time, I’m a better person for it now.”It comes back to why you play the game. It’s because I enjoy it. Not because of money or contracts. It’s about the simple things”•Getty ImagesHow did you react at the time?
When you’re going through good times, you leave training behind, spend time with family, play golf and those sorts of things. When you’re not doing so good, you’re always thinking of failure. “Why did I fail? Do I get picked again?” You are not giving yourself a chance to get away from the game. I started tightening up too much. It wasn’t a healthy place to be in.It got to a stage where I wasn’t the person I was. A couple of times, I was out for dinner with my wife. We’d be chatting normally and all of a sudden, I’d stop. I’d be lost and then come up with questions like, “Hey, do you think I should bat like this?” or “Wish I didn’t play that shot” and she’d be like, “What are you doing?” That is when I started realising it’s not healthy. But because you’re in a rut and you haven’t got the scores you want, you try so much harder to get it right.ALSO READ: ‘My priority is being a reliable Test batsman’ – Raval (2017)The next stop was Australia. It couldn’t have been a tougher tour.
Going into the Australia series, I had a chat with Kane Williamson in Perth, after we were beaten convincingly and I got 1 in each innings. We were in the dining area after the game and I was quietly having dinner by myself when Kane comes in. He’s like, “Hey bro, how you getting on?” And I said, “I’m frustrated. Things haven’t gone as planned. I haven’t been able to contribute.”He said: “Go to Melbourne, take your mind off cricket for a few days. Go do some sightseeing, play golf, spend time with your wife, and then when you go to the next net, let go of all the worries and play like you did as a ten-year old in the gullies of India, without expectations, fear of getting dropped, fear of getting out. Play like it’s a T20 game.”And then you got dropped for the Boxing Day Test.
Yeah, but during the lunch break every day, I used to have a hit with Peter Fulton, our batting coach. I told myself: “I don’t care if I’m going to get out.” I used to get worried about people judging me if I get out. [That] they’re going to think, “Oh this guy isn’t in form.” Fulton said, “Don’t worry, just play.”All that week, I would go in, just hit balls without worrying about technique. Then in the next Test, I got a chance to play because of Kane’s illness. I wasn’t expecting to play, but a couple of days before the Test, we heard of a stomach bug floating about. The coach had given me a brief update that I should be ready. After that chat with Kane, I said I had to just enjoy the occasion, not worry about getting out. I made 31 [at No. 3 in the first innings in Sydney], but it was some of the most enjoyable runs I’ve scored. I felt like I belonged. The feeling you get while batting in the backyard and bullying your cousins and siblings into scoring runs – it was awesome. I wanted to try and take those learnings forward.

“I remember every ball I used to keep thinking: ‘I hope I don’t get out this ball.’ That rut got the better of me. But as much as it was terrible at the time, I’m a better person for it now”

What have you done now to get out of the low phase?
It comes back to why you play the game. It’s because I enjoy it. Not because of money or contracts. It’s about the simple things. I’m not holding on to my Test spot now. It’s about being relaxed and enjoying every opportunity, because when you’re playing you’re always thinking: “I don’t want to let my spot go.” It can become a negative [mindset]. So having realised that, I’m better off for it. The chat with Kane in Perth was literally for just two minutes, but it was so meaningful. Kit Perera, my mentor, has also been a good sounding board. The time in lockdown was well spent. It helped me take my mind off the game.You lost your central contract last month. Were you expecting it?
Not really, but money is not something that drives me to play cricket. I play cricket because I enjoy the sport. I have an accounting degree, which will help me. Yes, having a contract is good, but it’s not the primary driver. Losing the contract isn’t going to decrease any motivation I have to drive harder. I know I have to.How far are you from completing your accountancy degree?
New Zealand and Australia have a combined programme. There are five exams in all. I’ve cleared three of them. I’ve enrolled in another [course], which I hope to complete by the end of September, which will leave me with one more. So hopefully early next year, I should be a chartered accountant. Hopefully I won’t have the need to exercise my education degree in the near future (laughs).What was lockdown life like for you?
Luckily for us, it was the end of the domestic season in March, so I was focusing on finishing my Chartered Accountancy course. We had some relatives come over from India for a short break, and they sort of got caught in the lockdown. It’s been quite nice to spend time with them and relax. It’s been nice to get away from the game and refresh my batteries. I’m looking forward to getting back to training.Accountancy is a very demanding course. How do you manage it alongside your cricket?
It works well, because I have a lot of time during the off season. Cricket training doesn’t happen all day in winter, so I space my time that way, give myself enough time to do gym, study and cricket training. I do yoga, guided meditation, strength-based sessions. I mix them all up pretty well. This has become the norm over the last couple of months. I don’t meditate to get something out of it. I just picked it up and it has given my mind some relaxation time. We do it together as a family.And you’re also a director in a start-up?
I used to work with an accounting firm called BDO. I have a good relationship with them, but because of the nature of Covid-19, the workforce is limited, so the opportunity to go back and work isn’t there. They are willing to get me back on board should an opportunity come about again.I’m currently working on a cricket app, focusing on technology and the design aspect of it. We’ve spent a lot of time ideating, debating, coding, processing, developing it. I’m excited by what it will bring to cricket and the cricket community. We’re targeting a September launch. When it’s out, hopefully it will be well-received and benefit the cricket community, not just in New Zealand but globally.How do you look at where you stand at 31?
I feel I have a good few years ahead. I’ve identified a few technical aspects and the mental side – hopefully it will help me enjoy [myself] and put up performances at the domestic level. I don’t want to chase it too hard. Hopefully that will result in good performances that will help me get back.

Who plays for who? How much did they cost? How likely are they to play? Here are all the answers

Andrew McGlashan17-Sep-2020While Australia’s domestic summer is likely to get underway next month, there will be plenty of Australian players at the IPL in the UAE over the next seven weeks after the tournament was rescheduled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Here’s who is going where and how likely they are to get into the team.Note: Exchange rates are approximate as of early September; The need for Australian players coming from the UK to quarantine on arrival may impact their initial availability.Alex Carey (Delhi Capitals)Carey has become Australia’s first choice limited-overs wicketkeeper over the last couple of years and until recently was a joint vice-captain before losing that title for the tour of England. He has floated up and down the order with Australia trying him as an opener and a finisher, with the latter role where he has settled for now, although he was dropped for the most recent T20I against England. In the BBL his success has come as an opener or at No. 4Price tag INR 2.4 crore (approx A$450,000)IPL history First seasonOverall T20 stats Matches: 76; Innings: 62; Runs 1624, Avg: 30.07, S/R 130.23How likely to make starting XI? May be competing with team-mate Marcus Stoinis for a place at the top of the order and is unlikely to keep wicket with Rishabh Pant also at the Capitals.Nathan Coulter-Nile (Mumbai Indians)A little over a year ago, Coulter-Nile featured in Australia’s ODI World Cup squad and had a CA central contract. He is now out of the national set-up and during this off-season dropped off the CA list and also lost his state deal with Western Australia although he remains part of the Melbourne Stars in the BBL. He has a lengthy association with the IPL, having had three franchises dating back to 2013.Price tag INR 8 crore (approx A$1,500,000)IPL history Mumbai Indians (2013, 2020); Delhi Daredevils (2014-2016); Kolkata Knight Riders (2017)Overall IPL stats Matches: 26; Inns: 12; Runs: 52; Avg 6.50; S/R 104.00 | Wickets: 36; Avg: 19.97; Econ: 7.66How likely to make starting XI? Could be competing with fellow overseas pacemen James Pattinson and Mitchell McClenaghan for the third pace-bowling slot, although Coulter-Nile brings the most batting ability of those three.Pat Cummins (Kolkata Knight Riders)One of the biggest stars in the game, Cummins became the most expensive overseas player in the IPL at the auction last December. He has been at the peak of his powers over the last two seasons for Australia and after not playing T20I for two years he is now an integral part of that side. Cummins made his first IPL appearance in 2014 and was due to play for Mumbai Indians in 2018 before injury ruled him outPrice tag INR 15.5 crore (approx A$2,900,000)IPL history Kolkata Knight Riders (2014, 2015, 2020); Delhi Daredevils (2017), Mumbai Indians (2018)Overall IPL stats Matches: 16; Wickets: 17; Avg: 29.35; Econ 8.29How likely to make starting XI? You can ink Cummins into the team when he’s available.Australia’s top order will be on display at the IPL•Getty ImagesAaron Finch (Royal Challengers Bangalore)Australia’s limited-overs captain is not far off having done a full circuit of IPL franchises with this year’s RCB deal his eighth team in the competition. After a dip in form for Australia that briefly threatened his standing leading into last year’s World Cup he is back as a consistent run-scorer in ODIs and T20s. His most successful season in the IPL came in 2013 with the Pune Warriors when he scored 456 runs. Missed last year’s tournament to prepare for the World Cup.Price tag INR 4.4 crore (approx A$820,000)IPL history Rajasthan Royals (2010); Delhi Daredevils (2011, 2012); Pune Warriors (2013); Sunrisers Hyderabad (2014); Mumbai Indians (2015); Gujarat Lions (2016, 2017); Kings XI Punjab (2018)Overall IPL stats Matches: 75; Inns: 73; Runs: 1737; Avg 26.31; S/R: 130.69How likely to make starting XI? The Australia captain is a first-choice opener but with Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the middle order he won’t want to waste many deliveries.Chris Green (Kolkata Knight Riders)The offspinner, who has become a T20 specialist, was handed his first IPL deal at last year’s auction. His 2019-2020 Australian season was curtailed when his action was reported and he was suspended from bowling, but he passed reassessment earlier this year and has just finished captaining Guyana Amazon Warriors at the CPL where his thrifty bowling made an impression with the new ball.Price tag INR 20 lakh (approx A$37,000)IPL history First seasonOverall T20 stats Matches: 93; Inns: 58; Runs: 523; Avg 14.52; S/R 124.52 | Wickets: 74; Avg: 27.33; Econ: 6.64How likely to make starting XI? Is likely to struggle to make the team at the start but could become an option depending how the surfaces wear during the tournament.Josh Hazlewood (Chennai Super Kings)Known for his outstanding Test record, Hazlewood is also an excellent performer with the white ball although his T20 appearances have been limited in recent seasons. He came back into the Sydney Sixers side last year and helped them to the Big Bash title and recently played his first T20I in four years against England. Was part of the Mumbai Indians set-up in 2014 but did not play and then withdraw from his deal the following year to manage his workload.Price tag INR 2 crore (approx A$370,000)IPL history Mumbai Indians (2014, 2015 – did not play)Overall T20 stats Matches: 36; Wickets: 43; Avg: 24.09; Econ 7.51How likely to make starting XI? CSK have two overseas openers (Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis) plus Dwayne Bravo in the middle order and Mitchell Santner and Imran Tahir among their spin options, so Hazlewood is likely to have to bide his time.4:43

Is there room for both Steyn and Morris in the RCB XI?

Chris Lynn (Mumbai Indians)Lynn, one of the biggest hitters in the game, has had IPL deals since 2011 although some seasons have been interrupted by injury and between 2012 and 2016 he only played five matches. After being a regular for KKR in the 2018 and 2019 tournaments he was released and found a new home with Mumbai Indians. After being in and out of the Australia set-up his international prospects have faded and he no longer holds a state contract but remains a key part of the Brisbane Heat in the BBL.Price tag INR 2 crore (approx A$370,000)IPL history Deccan Chargers (2011, 2012), Sunrisers Hyderabad (2013), Kolkata Knight Riders (2014-2019)Overall IPL stats Matches: 41; Inns: 41; Runs: 1280; Avg 33.68; S/R: 140.65How likely to make starting XI? The strength of Mumbai’s overseas options, which include Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard and Trent Boult, plus the fact that Rohit Sharma opens, is set to leave Lynn on the bench.Mitchell Marsh (Sunrisers Hyderabad)Marsh earned his first IPL deal with Deccan Chargers in 2010 on the back of a successful Under-19 World Cup and the following season was signed by Pune Warriors, coached by his father Geoff. His three-year spell with them was interrupted by a back injury that ruled him out of the 2012 season. His latest deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad is his first since 2016 and comes at a time when he is starting to re-establish himself in the Australia side.Price tag INR 2 crore (approx A$370,000)IPL history Deccan Chargers (2010), Pune Warriors (2011-2013); Rising Pune Supergiant (2016)Overall IPL stats Matches: 20; Inns: 14; Runs: 225; Avg 18.75; S/R: 114.79 | Wickets: 20; Avg: 20.70; Econ 7.88How likely to make starting XI? It’s difficult to see how Marsh forces his way in with the overseas quartet of captain David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan when all are available.Glenn Maxwell (Kings XI Punjab)One of the biggest names in T20 cricket, Maxwell secured a huge contract with Kings XI to return to the IPL having opted out of the 2019 edition to play county cricket. It marks a return to the franchise where he previously spent four seasons, having first been picked up by the IPL before playing for Australia. His overall batting average is a touch underwhelming but his strike rate is impressive.Price tag INR 10.75 crore (approx A$2,000,000)IPL history Delhi Daredevils (2012, 2018), Mumbai Indians (2013), Kings XI Punjab (2014-2017, 2020)Overall IPL stats Matches: 69; Inns: 68; Runs: 1397; Avg 22.90; S/R: 161.13 | Wickets: 16; Avg: 38.18; Econ 8.72How likely to make starting XI? Maxwell can expect to slot into the middle order, possibly alongside the hugely talented Nicholas Pooran from West Indies.Josh Philippe was Man of the Match in the BBL final•Getty ImagesJames Pattinson (Mumbai Indians)Signed by Mumbai Indians after Lasith Malinga’s withdrawal, Pattinson is a bowler capable of express pace having returned from significant back surgery. He was previously on the books of KKR for three seasons but did not play a match and was ruled out of the 2013 tournament with injury.Price tag Unknown (replacement player)IPL history Kolkata Knight Riders (2011-2013 – did not play)Overall T20 stats Matches: 39; Wickets: 47; Avg: 24.12; Econ 8.25How likely to make starting XI? Given Pattinson was a replacement for a certain starter in Malinga it could be he comes straight into the mix, although McClenaghan and Coulter-Nile are other options.Josh Philippe (Royal Challengers Bangalore)One of the rising stars of Australian cricket, Philippe is an aggressive top-order batsman and wicketkeeper. He starred in the BBL final for the Sydney Sixers last season and the recent tour of England was his first time in the national squad.Price tag INR 20 lakh (approx A$37,000)IPL history First seasonOverall T20 stats Matches: 32; Inns: 32; Runs: 798; Avg 33.25; S/R: 138.30How likely to make starting XI? With two overseas batsmen in the top order (Finch and de Villiers) it will be tough for Philippe to get into the side to start with.Daniel Sams (Delhi Capitals)Sams, a left-arm seamer, is something of a late developer in Australian cricket following two breakthrough seasons for the Sydney Thunder and was the leading wicket-taker in the 2019-2020 BBL. He is also a capable striker of the ball although had a horror run with the bat last season. He was handed a late IPL deal when Jason Roy withdrew.Price tag Unknown (replacement player for Jason Roy)IPL history First seasonOverall T20 stats Matches: 37; Inns: 31; Runs: 231; Avg 8.55; S/R: 117.85 | Wickets: 52; Avg: 18.36; Econ 8.13How likely to make starting XI? Depending on how the Capitals balance their team, Sams could be competing with the West Indian Keemo Paul for the pace-bowling allrounder position, which could be a test of how his batting has recovered from last season.4:47

Will Yashasvi Jaiswal be breakthrough star for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020?

Billy Stanlake (Sunrisers Hyderabad)A tall pace bowler capable of pushing the speedgun towards 150kph, Stanlake is looking to resurrect his T20 career after a difficult couple of seasons. He was part of Australia’s T20 side last year but has since drifted down the pecking order and recently moved from the Adelaide Strikers to the Brisbane Heat in the BBL. He has previous IPL experience across two deals but has only played a handful of games.Price tag INR 50 lakh (approx A$93,000)IPL history Royal Challengers Bangalore (2017); Sunrisers Hyderabad (2018, 2020)Overall IPL stats Matches: 6; Wickets: 7; Avg: 28.57; Econ 8.33How likely to make starting XI? Difficult to see how he gets in with SRH having two overseas spinners (Khan and Nabi) along with two overseas openers (Warner and Bairstow).Marcus Stoinis (Delhi Capitals)Stoinis joins the Capitals, his fourth IPL team, on the back of a record-breaking BBL where he scored 705 runs for the Melbourne Stars. That followed a disappointing ODI World Cup which saw him lose his Australia place but he returned to the side on the recent England tour. His career-best T20 bowling figures of 4 for 15 came in the IPL, for Kings XI back in 2016.Price tag INR 4.8 crore (approx A$900,000)IPL history Delhi Daredevils (2015); Kings XI Punjab (2016-2018), Royal Challengers Bangalore (2019)Overall IPL stats Matches: 29; Inns: 25; Runs: 473; Avg 31.53; S/R: 129.94 | Wickets: 15; Avg: 37.93; Econ 9.30How likely to make starting XI? Given the all-round package Stoinis brings he has a good chance of securing a spot in the top order.AJ Tye (Rajasthan Royals)Tye, a pace bowler known for having a bag of tricks including a hugely deceptive knuckle ball, did not play during his first IPL deal with CSK. However, he made a name for himself on debut for the Gujarat Lions in 2017 when he claimed 5 for 17 – which remain his career-best figures – including a hat-trick. The following season, having moved to Kings XI, he was their leading wicket-taker with 24. He missed the entire 2019-2020 BBL having suffered an elbow injury.Price tag INR 1 crore (approx A$190,000)IPL history Chennai Super Kings (2015-16); Gujarat Lions (2017); Kings XI Punjab (2018-19), Rajasthan Royals (2020)Overall IPL stats Matches: 26; Wickets: 39; Avg: 21.07; Econ 8.30How likely to make starting XI? Despite an impressive IPL record it will be a challenge to take one of the four overseas spots in a starting XI with Jos Buttler, Steven Smith and Ben Stokes in a first-choice top order – although the availability of the latter is still in doubt – and Jofra Archer in the attack.4:52

Can Mohammad Nabi or Fabian Allen step up as finishers?

David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad)One of the most prolific batsmen in IPL history, Warner is the leading run scorer among overseas batsman with only Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli ahead of him. He has the most 50-plus scores in the tournament with 48 which includes four centuries. Like Smith he missed the 2018 tournament due to the ball-tampering episode but returned in 2019 to average 69.20 in 12 matches, which followed averages of 58.27 in 2017 and 60.57 in 2016. Will captain SRH.Price tag INR 12.5 crore (approx A$2,300,000)IPL history Delhi Daredevils (2009-2013); Sunrisers Hyderabad (2014-2020)Overall IPL stats Matches: 126; Inns: 126; Runs: 4706; Avg 43.17; S/R: 142.39How likely to make starting XI? Yeah, we think he might squeeze in.Shane Watson (Chennai Super Kings)Watson is an IPL original having played the inaugural season in 2008 and has only missed one campaign, in 2009, because of Australia duty and injury. In 2013 he was named Player of the Tournament for a return of 543 runs and 13 wickets then in 2014 became the most expensive overseas player in the league. In last year’s final he struck 80 off 59 balls with an injury but fell in the last over as the Super Kings lost by one run. Watson no longer plays professionally in Australian cricket.Price tag INR 4 crore (approx A$740,000)IPL history Rajasthan Royals (2008-2015); Royal Challengers Bangalore (2016-17); Chennai Super Kings (2018-2020)Overall IPL stats Matches: 134; Inns: 130; Runs: 3575; Avg 31.08; S/R: 139.53 | Wickets: 92; Avg 29.15; Econ 7.93How likely to make starting XI? At 39, Watson remains a first-choice pick at the top of the order.Adam Zampa (Royal Challengers Bangalore)A late call-up to replace Australian team-mate Kane Richardson, Zampa returns to a tournament where he holds the third-best bowling figures of 6 for 19 which he claimed in his second outing for Supergiant in 2016 – although his team still lost the match. The following season Supergiant made the final where Zampa took 2 for 32 but Mumbai Indians won a low-scoring thriller by one run.Price tag Unknown (replacement player for Kane Richardson)IPL history Rising Pune Supergiant (2016-17)Overall IPL stats Matches: 11; Wickets: 19; Avg 14.63; Econ 7.54How likely to make starting XI? Given he doesn’t offer much batting, Zampa may struggle to get in the side with Yuzvendra Chahal the other specialist legspinner.

Skipper’s woes show state of South African cricket, and the magnitude and multitude of roles they ask him to fill

Firdose Moonda29-Nov-2020″Get me outta here,” Quinton de Kock seemed to gesture as he attempted to escape a toss-time interview. The technical difficulties and the repetition of who was in and who was out aside, de Kock had a real reason to want to run away. This captaincy thing is getting tough.De Kock has been in charge for 10 T20s, and South Africa have lost seven of them. That is not necessarily an indictment on de Kock, it is an illustration of the state South African cricket finds itself in, and the magnitude and multitude of the roles they have asked de Kock to fill.Not only does he have to open the batting and keep wicket (although Kyle Verreynne could relieve him of that if Verreynne ever makes it into the XI), but he also has to field pre- and post match questions, when it is clear public speaking is not his forte, and jump through South Africa’s many selection hoops. He doesn’t do the last of those alone and is doubtless being guided by coach Mark Boucher and the selection convener Victor Mpitsang, but it is quickly becoming the trickiest part of the job.ALSO READ: Malan fifty sees England home for 2-0 series leadSouth Africa have had overt transformation targets since the Vernon Philander/Kyle Abbott drama at the 2015 World Cup and which they usually meet. They are required to field, on average over the course of a season, six players of colour of which at least two must be black African. That means tough decisions have to be made on occasion, like the one to bench Anrich Nortje for the series opener, for example.Few other teams would have been able to excuse leaving out someone who clocked 156.2 kph on a speedometer a month ago, and the conditions at Newlands almost gave South Africa the reason they needed, but the threat Nortje posed immediately at Boland Park, suggested otherwise. Of course, there are all sorts of other combinations of the XI that could have seen Nortje slot in at Newlands (like playing Reeza Hendricks ahead of Pite van Biljon) but that causes other problems in the line-up like the one we saw today.In order to play both Temba Bavuma and Hendricks in this match, they had to bat Hendricks out of place. Previously, Hendricks has opened in 92 of his last 93 T20 innings but today he came in at No.3. That may not be such a big deal except that it also pushed Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s best batsman from Friday, to No.4. Du Plessis has not batted outside the top three in a T20I since the first game of the 2016 World T20.And all that’s is not even getting into what would need to happen if they also wanted to fit Janneman Malan in. The problem is that South Africa’s squad is top-order heavy and middle and allrounder light which continues to leave them unbalanced. Then, layer the impact of the coronavirus and how that affects player availability and you have a perfect storm.Quinton de Kock looks on as Dawid Malan is interviewed as Player of the Match•Getty ImagesOn Friday, du Plessis explained that the issue is that South Africa don’t have enough allrounders, and in this series, that’s true. Dwaine Pretorius is out with a hamstring injury. Andile Phehlukwayo, who is the other frontline two-in-one player is unavailable for selection at the moment. If not for George Linde, the margin of South Africa’s defeats may only have been bigger. Other players they have to consider in the squad are Jon-Jon Smuts, who is in the squad and Wiaan Mulder, who is not. All but Phehlukwayo are white.South Africa’s franchises are not producing enough batsmen of colour and it is beyond the scope of this piece to analyse the various socio-economic or circumstantial reasons why. Suffice to say that Hashim Amla and JP Duminy’s retirements have not helped, neither has overlooking Zubayr Hamza, who was the second leading run-scorer in the domestic one-day cup last season.And that’s just what’s happened in the last 18 months. Historically, actions like taking Khaya Zondo on a tour to India and not playing him, even when an opportunity an arose, or not finding room to cap Henry Davids more than twice in T20Is can also be pointed out as examples of where a different decision may have resulted in an entirely different calibre of player being available for South Africa now. But it is not too late to start changing the way things are being done.Of the batsmen of colour on the scene, apart from Hamza, there is at least one other player worth discussing. Sinethemba Qeshile played two T20s against Sri Lanka in early 2019 and does not have a huge amount of experience in domestic T20 cricket but is being talked about as one of the most exciting prospects for the future. Keeping him close to the national side won’t hurt, and though it might not solve immediate problems, South Africa have to play the long game.They can’t say the same about this series, which is gone, or the questions that are going to be asked of some of de Kock’s on-field decisions. On Friday, his choice to give Heinrich Klaasen an over, against Ben Stokes, opened the door for England’s victory; today, the last-minute decision that saw Lungi Ngidi bowl the 18th over in place of Nortje all but ended the game.T20 cricket is about these seemingly small decisions that ultimately make the difference between winning and losing. Get too many of them wrong, suffer too many defeats and suddenly a team that was able to explain mistakes away as part of the process of rebuilding is looking like one that can’t get off the starting blocks.De Kock is hamstrung by what is available to him. South Africa have gone into both matches with only five frontline bowlers which (and apologies for bringing him up again) du Plessis has repeatedly said is not enough. A team only needs one of those bowlers to have one bad over and the game could be lost. This series is a case study in that.It’s difficult to say what South Africa need more of apart from consistency from their quicks and the ability to land the yorker. In this match, they could also have used another over or two of spin and because it’s unlikely they will have room for three spinners, a batsman who could turn his arm over would be useful. And we don’t mean Klaasen. Smuts is a good candidate and has been overlooked so far, which may also have something to do with the top-heavy nature of the squad.The dead-rubber might give South Africa the space to experiment with some of the combinations mentioned here and others we haven’t thought of. But unless it brings a win, it probably won’t allow de Kock to get any closer to piecing together the puzzle he needs to be complete in a few months, for the T20 World Cup. And the more the losses mount up, the more he might feel like he just wants to get out of the position he is in, and of all the things South Africa can ill afford, that is the biggest one.

What’s he done differently on this tour of Australia? The answer may surprise you

Sidharth Monga05-Jan-20211:03

Hussey: Australian batsmen aren’t used to facing Ashwin’s style of offspin, Aus vs Ind, 2020, 2nd Test

That’s Ravi Shastri after India’s last tour of Australia. During that tour, Ashwin, India’s preferred spinner when playing only one of them, sent India on their way to a win in Adelaide but injured himself when doing so. It was his second curtailed Test tour in a row, on both occasions after an impressive start with the ball. By the time the last Test came around in Sydney, India’s two spinners were Jadeja and Kuldeep. The latter took a five-for, something Ashwin can’t claim to have done outside Asia or the West Indies.India’s coach might have had his reasons for saying what he did – he might have been motivating a young spinner, possibly egging on a veteran by threatening him, or perhaps seeing a new trend in world cricket – but one thing was clear: the sentence “there is a time for everyone” was aimed at someone who should end up as India’s second-most-successful spinner, someone who has more Man-of-the-Series awards in Tests than any Indian and is behind only five other all-time greats in all Test cricket.This was also the summation of the equivocality around such a decorated career. “Overseas” no longer included Sri Lanka or the West Indies. Ashwin had to do well in the harshest conditions for spinners in order to be recognised among the greats. He would be compared unfavourably to Nathan Lyon. “Why can’t Ashwin go side-on and generate the bounce Lyon does?” Moeen Ali too. “Why can’t Ashwin stand there and aim at the rough?”For a large part of his career, Ashwin didn’t have what Lyon or Moeen had: pressure from other bowlers. These same spinners became significantly less effective when they came to India and were expected to bear bigger workloads and were denied feeding off tight, high-pressure spells just bowled by their quicks.When Ashwin got those high-quality quicks to partner with, starting with the Test tour of South Africa in early 2018, he began to become a factor. He was himself a much more experienced cricketer by now. In Centurion he dragged India back with four first-innings wickets but in the second innings he bowled with both his index and middle finger split and took just the one wicket. Later in the year he began the England tour in great rhythm but in Southampton he was outbowled by Moeen. He played that Test at less than 100% fitness but it showed the team valued him highly enough to risk that injury. A great start in Adelaide later in the year was followed by an injury that ruled him out of the rest of the Australia tour.No bowler in the series has taken more wickets, bowled more overs, or conceded fewer runs per over than Ashwin•Getty ImagesSince the start of 2018 and before the start of this Australia tour, among spinners who have taken at least 10 wickets put together in England, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, Ashwin held the best average and the best economy rate. Now the new question was if he had enough endurance in his body to bowl the long spells required in less helpful conditions, where the pitches do less for you and you have to put more of your body into it. Before the start of this Australia tour, 27% of the 40096 respondents on an ESPNcricinfo poll felt Ashwin should not start in Adelaide. There was some logic to it but that had to do with the conditions in day-night Tests and not Ashwin’s ability.Never mind the lead-up to the series. At the halfway mark Ashwin is responsible for two of Steven Smith’s three dismissals, exposing both his edges, in only 23 balls, and two of Marnus Labuschagne’s four dismissals. These are the two biggest wickets for India in this series. No bowler in the series has taken more wickets, bowled more overs, or conceded fewer runs per over than Ashwin. Last checked, Lyon was not asked to learn from Ashwin.It is often tempting to find out something different a cricketer might have done to succeed in a particular series. Usually the answer is not much. His allies have been the same: drift, dip, subtle changes in seam position, changes of pace, and use of the crease. His mode of operation has been simple: a tight leg-side field to the right-handers, often 6-3, and keep turning it into middle and leg. Bowl the flatter parallel-seam ball in between to give it every chance of not turning and threatening the outside edge. That’s all you have to work with when you turn the ball one way and into the batsman: the lbw is rare, and it needs a turning pitch or expansive batting to bowl elite batsmen out. Against left-hand batsmen, Ashwin has lost none of his potency, averaging 14.33 and conceding 1.54 runs an over. He is now the most successful bowler in Test cricket against left-hand batsmen.This is the classic job of a spinner on pitches that are not turning: provide control at one end so that fast bowlers can attack from the other, take the wickets that come your way as a bonus, but capitalise ruthlessly if there is an opportunity presented. If there is a discernible difference, it is perhaps that he seems to have bowled more like Ashwin than like Lyon or Moeen. In Southampton, for example, he kept aiming for the rough but couldn’t manage the efficiency of Moeen while doing so. In that moment, it was the thing to do, but in hindsight might he have been better off bowling the way he usually does?Ashwin has dismissed Steven Smith twice in 23 balls so far in this series•Getty ImagesAshwin is not falling into the trap of bowling wide outside off like Lyon just because that is the classic definition of aggressive offspin bowling. He knows he is a different bowler and has different tools at his disposal. He is a master of those tools. It appears he has changed his pace more often. Not the range per se, but going up and down in the same over, not letting the batsmen get into to any sort of rhythm. He has conceded just 14 boundaries in 85.1 overs, only three on the leg side in 344 balls bowled to right-hand batsmen. The planning has been immaculate, the execution just as good.In the absence of Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, it was imperative India got Ashwin at his best. The wickets of Smith, Tim Paine and Matthew Wade on day one after losing the toss in Melbourne set India on their way to one of their greatest Test wins. There wasn’t a five-for yet nor a match award but you would expect Ashwin to cherish this among his most special efforts: outside Asia and the West Indies, missing two key bowlers, losing the toss, not the first Test of the series, every box was ticked.Ashwin’s wife, Prithi, confirmed as much. “I have seen/ spoken to Ashwin after every Test he has played and after a lot of wins,” she tweeted after Melbourne. “But I have never seen him this happy, satisfied and light (can I say?) with a smile in his eyes in almost 10 years.”There is a time for everyone, and Ashwin’s wasn’t over two years ago.

Ricky Ponting did not hold back in his criticism of the hosts, whose major troubles in approach were exposed by a clinical India

Daniel Brettig28-Dec-2020One of the more under-rated elements of Australia’s’ rise to the top of world cricket in the 1990s was the contribution of Michael Slater as a tone-setting opener, unafraid to take pace bowlers on but still sound enough of technique to handle high-quality spells.He was successful in helping Australia break away from a more obdurate opening tradition – Lawry and Simpson, Boon and Marsh – and with the complementary approach of Mark Taylor, had Australia aiming for at least 300 runs in a day.In Australia, Warner has been the main reason opposition bowlers never feel able to drop into a rhythm•Getty ImagesOnce Slater faded from the scene, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer took things to another level with their left-handed hyper-aggression, bullying bowlers who would otherwise have felt in a most advantageous position when steaming in, fresh, with a new ball in hand. After their retirements, Shane Watson briefly played a similar role, and had fate been kinder, Phillip Hughes may well have done likewise.Since 2011, though, David Warner played this tone-setting role better than just about any of his forebears. In Australian conditions, Warner has been the single greatest factor in ensuring that bowlers never feel able to drop into a rhythm, while also easing a path for the middle-order batsmen behind him.Two years ago, when Warner and Steven Smith were banned for their Newlands transgressions, Australia’s batting tempo fell away noticeably against India, as a quality bowling attack was able to dictate terms in a way more or less unseen in Australia since the West Indies put clamps on scoring while harvesting regular wickets during their 1980s and 1990s dominance.Related

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An Australian scoring rate of just 2.64 for that series was the lowest for the hosts since 2000, and credit to detailed Indian plans and high-quality execution. This time around, it was widely thought that the returns of Smith and Warner would make it far harder for India to do a similar job – until Warner’s groin pinged in an SCG ODI and the whole balance shifted again.The outcome of Warner’s absence has been another sequence of frustration for the Australians, and a scoring rate of just 2.7 per over in the series so far, the second lowest, after 2018-19, since the year 2000. The ability to control the tempo of the game, hustling between the wickets as much as striking regular boundaries, has been almost entirely absent, underlining why Warner’s talent for top-order batting in Australia will be missed even more whenever he chooses to retire.”We know how good David’s been for a very, very long time, so it hurts having a guy out that averages nearly 50 in Test cricket obviously,” Matthew Wade said of Warner. “So we’ve done the best we can possibly do and will continue to do the same things when we’re asked it.Steven Smith is bowled as the ball just dislodges the leg bail•Getty Images”Hard to get going, they’re bowling pretty well, pretty straight, making it hard for us to score. Our intent’s to go out and score obviously as a batting group and individually, but they’re making it quite challenging at times. To be fair we haven’t gone deep enough yet to really cash in on tired bowlers late in the day, so we’ve only got ourselves to blame a little bit there, but they’ve been prettymuch on the mark from the start.”Australia’s second innings at the MCG, having started out 131 runs in arrears, was a neat case study in all the aforementioned struggles. In terms of setting the tone for the innings, the woefully out-of-touch Joe Burns and the amateur-opener-but-professional-pugilist Wade gave India plenty of hope from the start that they would be able to control proceedings.In Burns’ case, his increasingly fretful efforts simply to survive left almost all the initiative with the visitors, something that Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were able to run with even after Umesh Yadav was forced out of action. Wade, though he fought with plenty of grit, shaking off a blow to the helmet with crazy-brave resilience, was unable to turn the strike over or find the boundary with anything like the sort of regularity that would have placed pressure back on the Indian bowlers.In the meantime, Marnus Labuschagne and Smith continued to find things as tough as they have in Test cricket in the past two years. On every meaningful occasion in this series so far, they have entered the fray under pressure, and this has shown in their inability to find early boundaries or singles to build momentum.Both have been especially well-corralled in terms of their circuit-breaker deflections to the leg side, largely through the posting of square and backward-square legs in close proximity while the bowlers have pursued straight lines threatening the stumps, in between the occasional short ball. Labuschagne made a telling admission on the opening day of this match in terms of how he and Smith have had to hurriedly reconsider their plans in the face of such well-calibrated attacks.”Something that we’re realising very quickly is people are coming up with new ways, thinking about the game slightly differently,” Labuschagne said. “Obviously today, they came out with a heavy leg-side field and bowled very straight and didn’t give us any scoring options to the off-side. So for all our batters, you’ve just got to keep rolling with the punches, learning the game, understanding what they’re doing and take that innings to innings. I think that’s the key.”Given that Smith and Labuschagne are famously the most analytical, even obsessive, members of the Australian top six, the fortunes of others were hardly likely to be much better. In particular, the travails of Travis Head have raised plenty of questions about his Test-match longevity. While Head’s susceptibility to balls angled in from around the stumps is well known, he has also maintained a maddening tendency to mix periods of shotless occupation with a flurry of back-foot-forcing strokes that, on a seaming pitch such as this, offer the chance of an outside edge.When he skewed Siraj’s first ball of a spell into the slips, having failed to find a single boundary in his 46-ball stay, Head caused plenty of furrowed brows around the ground, a year on from a century against New Zealand that had seemed capable of being the making of him. The common denominator for all these Australian struggles was a lack of balanced tempo between attack and defence, with none of the middle-order batsmen able to change the momentum of the game from the halting rhythm set by Burns and Wade at the top.Ricky Ponting, as much an adjutant coach of the Australian side as he is an analyst and a commentator, did not hold back in his criticism of the hosts, nor in his focus on the fact that, without Warner, there were major tempo troubles in their approach.”You can’t blame the pitch. The pitch has been absolutely perfect today. It’s a little bit of spin, yes, but you’d expect that. Day three of a Test Match. Very little on offer for the fast bowlers, but it’s just been poor batting. Very, very poor batting so far,” Ponting said on Seven. “Once again, this Indian attack have made it so hard for the Australians to score. This is the 55th over, 6 for 110.”It’s been one of the reasons, I think, that they’ve eventually got themselves out, playing rash shots. They haven’t been able to tick the scoreboard over on a regular enough basis. Pressure builds. When pressure builds, bad shots come. I talked about it in first innings as well particularly with the way they played Ravi Ashwin. They weren’t proactive against him. Yes, it’s been good bowling, but sometimes against the best bowlers you have to take more risks as a batsman. For the sheer fact they’re not going to bowl bad balls.”The lesser skilled bowlers you can sit on all day because you know you’re going to one or two scoring opportunities an over, but Bumrah, Ashwin, Jadeja, even Siraj to a certain degree in this game, they don’t make many mistakes. They’ve actually forced the Australian batsman into making mistakes. When you’re just sitting there waiting for good bowlers to make mistakes, you’re basically are a sitting duck.”Warner, meanwhile, continued his rehab away from the main group, batting and running in the MCG nets. His value as an opening batsman had been felt by his absence two years ago. It has risen only further this time around as his contribution to the success of Labuschagne, Smith and company has now been made crystal clear.

Stats highlights from England’s convincing series win in Sri Lanka

S Rajesh25-Jan-20216 – Consecutive Test wins for England in Sri Lanka, the second-best for them in any country. The streak started in 2012 when they levelled the two-Test series, continued in 2018-19 with a 3-0 sweep, and reached new heights with the two wins in Galle. Only once have they won more successive Tests in a country: in the period between 1889 and 1899, when South Africa started out as a Test-playing nation, England won eight in a row in that country. England’s six in a row here is also the most by a non-Asian team in Asia, going past the five by them in Bangladesh, and the five by Australia in Sri Lanka between 2002 and 2011.ESPNcricinfo Ltd426 – Joe Root’s aggregate in the series. Only once has an England batsman scored more runs in a series in which he played two or fewer matches: in 1932-33 tour to New Zealand, Wally Hammond scored 563 runs in just two innings, including an unbeaten 336 in Auckland.44.4 – Percentage of England’s runs off the bat scored by Root in the series: he made 426 out of the 980 runs scored by all the England batsmen. The percentage of 44.4 is the fifth-highest in the all-time list for any series of two or more Tests. On top is Hammond’s 52.4%, in the series mentioned above.ESPNcricinfo Ltd6 – Instances of England successfully chasing down a fourth-innings target in Sri Lanka. No other non-Asian team has done it even once in Sri Lanka.0 – Tosses that England won in the series. They lost the toss in both Tests and yet ended up winning the matches. What England achieved in successive Tests has been done only once previously by a visiting team in Galle, when Pakistan lost the toss but won the Test in 2000. The other seven wins by overseas teams in Galle have all happened after they won the toss.5 – Tests won by England in Asia after losing the toss in the last 10 years (since January 2011); apart from the two wins in Galle, they also won in Colombo, Mumbai and Kolkata in 2012. During this period, all the other non-Asian teams have won only four Tests in the continent after losing the toss.0 – Instances of fast bowlers taking all 10 wickets in an innings, and spinners doing the same in a team’s other innings of the same Test. In this Galle Test, England’s fast bowlers took all 10 in Sri Lanka’s first innings, while Jack Leach, Dom Bess and Root took all 10 in the second. The closest any team has come to achieving this was Australia against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010: Australia’s seamers took all 10 in the first innings, while Marcus North (6 for 55) and Steven Smith (3 for 51) took nine in Pakistan’s second innings.25 – Test wins for Root as captain, which is the second-best by any England captain. Only Michael Vaughan, with 26, has more. Vaughan had 26 wins in 51 Tests, compared with Root’s 25 in 46.9 – Defeats for Sri Lanka in their last 12 Tests. They have lost five to England, three to India, and one to New Zealand.

They are panicking and trying to attack from the crease rather than stepping out to get the bowler to change length

Ian Chappell27-Feb-20216:11

Rohit Sharma: ‘Intent wasn’t to survive, but to score’

Virat Kohli described the day-night third Test, in Ahmedabad, as “bizarre”, a word that aptly describes the England batsmen’s attempts to cope with India’s spinners.India’s decision to select three spinners for the Test was prompted by England’s batting on a tricky Chennai pitch, where their batsmen – Joe Root excepted – displayed a distinct ineptitude against spin. India correctly calculated that would result in mental scarring and used it to their advantage.From the moment Axar Patel conjured up the ultimate thimble-and-pea trick to dismiss Jonny Bairstow with a straight delivery, England were in a spin. Is the ball over there? No, it’s here.When faced with a serious spin challenge, the England batsmen didn’t trust their defence, which eventually resulted in panicked attempts to attack the Indian spinners. Their choice to reverse-sweep rather than to leave their crease to change the bowler’s length is a classic example.Related

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The science of deception

How can a risky premeditated shot be less dangerous than what was previously a trusted technique to unsettle good spinners?One of the first principles of batting – especially on a pitch assisting spinners – is to keep the odds slightly in your favour.Following the memorable 2000-01 series in India where VVS Laxman made a magnificent 281 on a testing surface, I asked Shane Warne how he thought he had performed. “I didn’t think I bowled badly,” he replied. “You didn’t,” was my response. “When a batsman alters your length drastically by coming out three paces and then is quickly onto the back foot when you toss the next delivery a little higher and shorter, that’s not bad bowling, that’s excellent footwork.”Shrewd use of footwork not only helps negate the spin but also puts a batsman in a position to direct the ball where he wants, rather than where the bowler would prefer it to be hit.To be fair, this is a skill to be learned at a young age. Which prompts the question: why is it not widely taught in England, where sweeping is misguidedly touted as the secret to playing spin bowling successfully?Another prominent theory is to take block on off stump when the ball is spinning back in to the batsman.Ollie Pope was looking to attack India’s spinners but at the same time was worried about getting stumped•Saikat Das/BCCIThis flawed theory closes off scoring opportunities through the on side. It’s designed to reduce the chances of being dismissed rather than to create scoring opportunities, which is always a bad option. It also causes batsmen to play balls towards leg slip. Why deliberately hit the ball where there’s a catching fielder?I asked former Australia batsman Doug Walters: “How do you get caught at leg slip when an offspinner is bowling?””You can’t,” he replied.Walters is the best batsman I’ve seen against top-class offspin bowling. He scored a century in a session on a tricky Queen’s Park Oval pitch against Lance Gibbs and crafted a brilliant hundred against Erapalli Prasanna on a Chepauk pitch that was every bit as difficult as the one in the recent Test there between India and England. On both occasions he used lightning quick footwork to both negate the spin and manipulate the field placings against two champion offspin bowlers.Back in Ahmedabad, Ollie Pope decided to use his feet against the Indian spinners. He had the right idea but the wrong execution. Firstly, he jumped rather than glided out of the crease. Secondly, his front foot pressed forward but the back one lingered, as if searching for the safety of the crease.I was told two crucial things about footwork when I was very young: “Get stumped by three yards not three inches,” my coach said, “and never think about the keeper when you leave the crease.”Pope was conscious of the keeper as he tentatively ventured out of his crease, which meant he was worried he would miss the delivery. That results in footwork that hinders rather than helps.It’s never easy against good spinners on a challenging surface, but it is possible to play well; just not the way England are going about it.

What he has achieved since slotting into India’s attack is to make viewers almost forget that Jadeja is out injured

Karthik Krishnaswamy24-Feb-20214:44

Why England have struggled against India’s spinners

The hardest ball to face on a turning pitch is the one that doesn’t turn.It’s an old and overused adage, but there’s a lot of truth to it. It goes a long way to explaining why England have found Axar Patel so hard to negotiate over his first three innings as a Test-match bowler: 2 for 40 and 5 for 60 in Chennai, and now, on day one of the third Test in Ahmedabad, 6 for 38.That’s 13 wickets at an average of 10.61 and a strike rate of 28.9. Some of those 13 wickets have come off balls that have turned and jumped, but most have come via that most deadly weapon, the one that goes on straight.Related

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And Axar’s straighter one is particularly tricky to negotiate because it isn’t the classic arm ball, which is delivered with a vertical seam, or any other variation that can be picked out of the hand. Axar’s straighter ball is delivered with pretty much the same grip and release as most other balls he bowls.The traditional left-arm fingerspinner – Jack Leach would fit that description – usually delivers the ball with the seam pointing to a right-hand batsman’s first slip, and with a certain degree of overspin. With most of Axar’s deliveries, however, the seam is almost horizontal, aligned roughly from square leg to point. Because of his low, round-arm release, his palm usually faces upwards at delivery, which means he invariably undercuts the ball.Everything combines to ensure the ball lands on the leather as often as – or more often than – it lands on the seam. When that happens, the ball doesn’t grip the pitch and turn sharply, but, depending on the patch of turf it comes in contact with, either straightens ever so slightly or skids on with the angle.And every now and then, especially on pitches like the ones he’s bowled on in Chennai and Ahmedabad, one ball delivered with the same sort of release will grip and turn absolutely square. Natural variation. On Wednesday, Axar turned at least four such balls across the face of Zak Crawley’s bat.The third ball of Axar’s tenth over turned in this manner to beat Crawley’s defensive push by a distance. It was probably entirely reasonable, therefore, for him to play for turn when Axar bowled his next ball. An entirely reasonable but entirely inappropriate response, because the ball skidded on, kept going with Axar’s inward angle from left-arm around, and brought him his second wicket of the day, and his second lbw.If the pitch for the second Test at Chepauk, which threw up dramatic puffs of dust from beginning to end, was tailor-made for Axar’s bowling, this one at Motera may have been even more to his liking. The ball wasn’t leaping from a length as often to threaten the gloves or the shoulder of the bat. Instead, it was skidding through quickly, which made it more of a bowled-and-lbw pitch than a bat-pad pitch.Axar Patel followed up his five-for in the second Test with 6 for 38•BCCIAnd it’s possible that this also had something to do with the nature of the pink ball, which has more lacquer compared to the red ball.”I feel there’s a little more glare (shine) on the pink ball, because of which the ball was skidding a little more off the wicket, and I got the lbw decisions because of that,” Axar said in his press conference at the end of the day’s play on Wednesday. “Maybe because of this difference between the red ball and the pink ball, I was getting the ball to skid more off this pitch than the one in Chennai.”Given the skid on offer, both of India’s spinners made sure they attacked the stumps as much as possible, finishing with four lbws and three bowleds among their nine wickets.Of the 51 balls R Ashwin bowled to right-hand batsmen, he delivered 33 from around the wicket. From here, he could pitch the ball within the line of the stumps, beat either edge, and still end up within the line of the stumps. He beat Root’s inside edge to get him lbw from this angle, and he beat Ollie Pope’s outside edge to get him bowled.Axar, meanwhile, simply looked to be the most extreme version of himself.1:29

Axar Patel – ‘I was confident in my variations and line and length’

“Basically it’s my usual style, but because it was skidding so much, I was undercutting it even more, and trying to bowl a little quicker than usual too,” he said. “I tried to exploit [the skiddiness] as much as possible [when I came on], because the ball was new, and there was more shine. The older the ball became, the less it was skidding.”Perhaps the most impressive feature of Axar’s bowling, though, and the one that’s likeliest to be taken for granted, was his consistency. We’re used to Ashwin bowling an immaculate length, match after match, and we’re used to Ravindra Jadeja doing the same thing. What Axar has achieved since slotting into India’s attack is to make viewers almost forget that Jadeja is out injured.It’s a remarkable achievement for someone who’d only played 38 first-class matches before this series, in a career that dates all the way back to November 2012. Before this series, Axar had shown he could bowl accurately in white-ball cricket, but it’s an entirely different thing to bowl accurately while bowling Test-match lengths over long spells. On Wednesday, Axar bowled all his 21.4 overs in one unbroken spell.It was like watching Jadeja bowl, or, more accurately, his 2013 version. Over his many years as a Test cricketer, Jadeja has added multiple layers to his bowling, and he now takes wickets on all kinds of pitches. In time, India will hope Axar can get there too. But for now, they’ll be delighted to watch his current avatar wheel away, over after over, firing them in with his low arm, forever threatening stumps and pads.

The USA batter is the fourth man to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket, after Gibbs, Yuvraj and Pollard

Daya Sagar11-Sep-2021As you would expect after equalling an international record previously achieved only by Herschelle Gibbs, Yuvraj Singh and Kieron Pollard, there are 4000-5000 unread WhatsApp messages on Jaskaran Malhotra’s phone. One of the first to congratulate Malhotra after he hit six sixes in an over for USA against Papua New Guinea was Pollard, who was also his captain at St Lucia Stars during the 2018 edition of the CPL.Like his more famous colleagues at the Stars from that year, like David Warner, Daren Sammy and Lendl Simmons, 31-year-old Malhotra aspires to play in the IPL one day, his early ambition of turning out for India having come to nothing. That said, there is pride and satisfaction of being a part of an improving USA outfit.Related

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“It’s quite amazing, really. I had not planned on any such thing when I went in to bat,” Malhotra told ESPNcricinfo about his innings of 173* (in 124 balls, with four fours and 16 sixes), also the first ODI century in men’s cricket for USA. “I entered the field with our team in a spot of bother, having lost three wickets for 29 inside the first ten overs. My first target was to just stay till the end. As the innings progressed, I got the confidence to play my shots.”In the final over (bowled by the unfortunate Gaudi Toka), once I was able to hit four sixes, that’s when the thought of six sixes first came in. I am grateful that I was able to equal this record.”Of the six sixes, which took USA to 271 for 9 and a 134-run win, Malhotra picked out the second as his best, having gone inside-out over cover. Shades of the third one Yuvraj had hit off Stuart Broad back in that 2007 T20 World Cup game there.And though there has been a surfeit of messages and calls since September 9, the one Malhotra has been waiting for hasn’t. “I know Yuvi (Yuvraj) will also be calling me soon. I am eagerly looking forward to that.”It’s a long way, that international fixture – his 13th across ODIs and T20Is – in Al Amerat from his formative years playing in Himachal Pradesh.”I captained Himachal Pradesh at Under-15 and Under-17 levels. I was also the most prolific domestic wicketkeeper-batter at Under-17 level. In fact, I was rewarded with a place among the 20 probables for the Under-19 World Cup in 2008, and was part of the NCA camp,” Malhotra said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the final 16, which won the tournament under Virat Kohli.”Malhotra did, however, find a place in the Himachal Pradesh senior team, but never got a look-in at the first-class level. A chance encounter with cricket in the USA came after the 2010 domestic season in India, when he was visiting a relative in America, ended up playing in a local tournament while there, and did well.After that, there were invitations each year from cricket bodies in the USA, and simultaneously a drop in the likelihood of ever making it big in India.In 2014, Malhotra decided to make his move to the USA. Permanently.”I did dream of playing for India at the highest level, but playing for USA in international cricket has been very satisfying too,” he said. “Cricket here is on the right track, and with possible inclusion at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, it will give us a chance to take on the best on a global stage quite soon.”Besides this, we need to make the most of the qualifying rounds for World Cups in T20 and 50-over formats, so that we can get better exposure at the highest level.”

It was the sixth time Knight Riders bowled out their opposition for a sub-100 total

Sampath Bandarupalli07-Oct-20212:30

Gambhir: As ruthless as you can expect from KKR

86 – Margin of Rajasthan Royals’ defeat in terms of runs, their worst loss in the IPL. Their previous biggest loss was by 75 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2009 while chasing 134.2 – The 86-run margin is also the second-biggest win in terms of runs for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. Their biggest win came against Royal Challengers on the opening night of the IPL in 2008.Watch the IPL on ESPN+

Sign up for ESPN+ and catch all the action from the IPL live in the US. Match highlights of Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).

175 – Total runs scored by Royals across their last two matches, the lowest by any team across two completed innings in the IPL. The previous lowest was 183 runs by Kochi Tuskers Kerala, who made 109 and 74 in successive games in 2011, while Royal Challengers also aggregated 183 runs in 2017 when they recorded totals of 49 all out and 134 all out.35 – Royals’ total at the fall of the seventh wicket in this game, the lowest a team scored before losing their seventh wicket in an IPL innings. Royal Challengers’ 42 runs was the previous lowest for a team at the fall of the seventh wicket in IPL, when they folded for 49 in 2017, also against Knight Riders.6 – Instances of Knight Riders bowling out an opponent for a sub-100 total in the IPL, the joint-most for any team. Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers have also had their opponents bowled out under 100 in the IPL on six occasions each.1 – Royals’ 85 is their third-lowest total in the IPL and the lowest by any team in Sharjah. Royals’ 90 for 9 against Mumbai on Tuesday was the previous lowest IPL total at the venue.51.76 – Percentage of Royals’ total scored by Rahul Tewatia, the highest proportion of a team’s total scored by a player at No. 7 or lower in the IPL in a completed innings. The previous highest was 50.40% by MS Dhoni, scoring 63 runs out of the total 125 for Chennai Super Kings in the 2013 final against Mumbai.