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Test captain, T20I vice-captain, and now ODI captain as well. Shubman Gill isn’t just one of a vanishing breed of all-format international players but also one holding leadership roles in each of them. He is aware of the toll this can take on him, especially mentally, but he is prepared to take on that challenge in order to achieve his own goals in all three formats.”Physically, most of the time, I feel fine, but sometimes, yes, there is mental fatigue, because when you are constantly playing, there is obviously a certain expectation that I have from myself, and to be able to keep up with my own expectations sometimes becomes the challenge,” Gill said on the eve of the second Test against West Indies in Delhi, in his first press conference since being appointed India’s ODI captain.”But I think that’s the challenge, to be able to play all the formats for India, and I want to play all the formats and succeed in all the formats for the country, and win ICC titles. So, if I want to do that, then this is the challenge I have to go through.”Related

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Gill replaced Rohit Sharma as ODI captain, and will captain two former full-time captains in Rohit and Virat Kohli when India play three ODIs in Australia later this month. With both Rohit and Kohli in their mid-30s and retired from both the other formats, a certain amount of doubt surrounds their future as ODI players with the next World Cup in that format two years away.”Absolutely,” Gill said, when asked if he saw Rohit and Kohli playing an important role in ODIs leading into that World Cup. “The experience the two of them have [is immense], and there are very few players who can match the number of matches they have won for India.”There are very few players in the world with such skill and quality along with that experience, and we look at it from that perspective.”Gill becoming ODI captain capped a five-month period over which he has become the face of Indian cricket, with his appointment as Test captain in May followed by a Test tour of England in which he scored 754 runs – the second-most by any India batter in a bilateral series – at an average of 75.40. While Gill acknowledged how “exciting” these months had been, he said he wanted to put past achievements behind him and keep looking ahead.”[The ODI captaincy] is obviously is a big responsibility and an even bigger honour, so I’m very excited to lead my country in that format, and yes, the last few months have been very exciting for me, but I’m really looking forward to what the future has,” he said. “I want to stay [in the] present as [much as] possible and don’t really want to look back on what I’ve been able to achieve or what we, as a team, have been able to achieve. Just want to look forward and win everything that we have in the upcoming months.””The challenge is to stay on top for five days in a Test match, and that is more difficult than captaining in a T20 game”•Associated Press

When asked what qualities he had inherited, or would like to inherit from his predecessor Rohit, Gill picked two. “So many qualities that I have inherited from Rohit – the calmness that he possesses, and the kind of friendship that he has among the group is something that I aspire to, these are the qualities that I want to take from him.Asked to compare the task of leading teams in red- and white-ball cricket, Gill felt Test cricket presents captains the stiffest challenge. He was perhaps reflecting on missed opportunities in his first series in charge, in England, where India drew 2-2 when they could have potentially won the five-Test series had they not let momentum slip away from them in a handful of sessions.”I feel in Test matches, the better team [in that match] does come on top at the end of the day because you’ve got more chances and more opportunities to make a comeback,” Gill said. “Whereas in T20, if you have three-four overs of bad period, there might be a case that you are completely taken away from the game. So, it is different in that sense.”When you are playing a Test match, whenever a team wins a Test match, for that particular match, that team deserves to win the Test match because they played better cricket not for two-three hours or not for one day, but consistently over a period of three, four or five days.”So the challenge is to stay on top for five days in a Test match, and that is more difficult than captaining in a T20 game. Whereas, in a T20 game, you get off to a really good start and then you maintain that, then you are sort of able to be on top of the game for the entirety of the game, but in a Test match, you can be on top for two days, but if you don’t turn up on day three, the other team can make a comeback.”0:49

Chopra: ‘Sai Sudharsan needs runs or the pressure will mount’

Gill on Sai Sudharsan: ‘We think he’s the man for us’

Leading into the Delhi Test, there has been a lot of media scrutiny on B Sai Sudharsan, Gill’s opening partner at Gujarat Titans in the IPL, who is under a certain amount of external pressure with an average in the early 20s across his first four Tests, and with a number of other middle-order batters knocking on the door. Gill suggested Sai Sudharsan’s numbers were a little misleading, and said he continues to enjoy the full backing of the team management.”I don’t really think he’s had a lean run,” Gill said. “He got one innings in the first match [in Ahmedabad]. At The Oval, he played a crucial innings of 40 runs [38] on that wicket where the ball was seaming. The match before that, he scored a fifty [61] in Manchester. Not every match everyone is going to score a hundred.”You have to give young players more opportunities. They are still trying to figure out their game. And we believe that you have to first see someone’s potential and then see their game in the entirety, not just judge someone from one, two, three, four matches. Once you have given someone enough matches – six, seven, eight matches – then you can sit back and have a think over it, where he needs to learn, or if he needs to play some more domestic matches or play some more India A games.”But as of now, we think he’s the man for us and he’s someone that can play for India at No. 3 for a very long time.”

Orange Cap leaderboard

We now have 14 batters who have 200 or more runs and a bunch who are not far behind. But only two of them have crossed 300, and only one other is within a hit of that mark, and they remain – since not long after the tournament started – the top three.On top is Nicholas Pooran (357 runs), despite a rare failure against CSK, followed by B Sai Sudharsan (329), followed by Mitchell Marsh (295).But the competition is hotting up. Shreyas Iyer has touched 250 runs. Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav are only a short way behind him. Jos Buttler, Travis Head, Tilak Varma, Phil Salt, Shubman Gill, Aiden Markram, Ajinkya Rahane and KL Rahul aren’t going too badly either.Pooran and Sai Sudharsan seem quite a way ahead at this stage, but a couple of lean games here and there, and a couple of big innings from a few of the chasing pack, and things could look quite different soon.Which is the case with the Purple Cap table.3:43

Bishop: LSG quicks lacked execution in the end

Purple Cap leaderboardNoor Ahmad had his first ‘0’ in the wickets’ column against LSG, but his 4-0-13-0 was most people’s Player-of-the-Match performance in that game. He still has 12 wickets, though, and is still leading the pack.But only one wicket behind are Khaleel Ahmed and Shardul Thakur. Khaleel got there with the one wicket he got against LSG, while Thakur went wicketless, missing a chance to match Noor, or even go past him.At ten wickets, we currently have Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Prasidh Krishna, R Sai Kishore and Mohammed Siraj.Highest batting strike ratesBest bowling economy ratesMost sixesBest bowling figures in a match

Digvesh Rathi has got Imran Tahir’s hair, Sunil Narine’s run-up, and Kesrick Williams’ celebration. That has been the running joke during Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) matches in IPL 2025. More importantly, though, the mystery spinner has shown he has got the skills to compete with the best out there.On Friday night, when all other LSG bowlers had economy rates of 10.00 or more, Rathi picked up 1 for 21 from his four overs to help his side defend 203 against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Lucknow. In four matches so far, he has gone for more than eight an over only once. In all, he has six wickets at an economy of 7.62.”I fell in love with bowling after watching Sunil Narine bowl,” Rathi said after being named the Player of the Match against MI. “My bowling style is such that I prefer attacking the batters and getting them out. I want to be even more attacking, just like Sunil Narine. The way he stays calm in pressure situations, I want to do the same.”Related

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The method behind Rathi’s mystery is the control over his length. As per ESPNcricinfo’s logs, of the 96 deliveries he has bowled in the tournament so far, 80 have been on good length or just short of it. Off those 80, he has conceded just 95 runs. Only three times has he bowled a short ball and 13 times a full one.Against MI, on a black-soil surface, he bowled 19 good-length or short-of-good-length deliveries, five full, and not a single short, hit-me ball. The reward came in the form of Naman Dhir’s wicket. Dhir had raced to 46 off 24 balls but ended up inside-edging Rathi’s carrom ball onto his stumps.”He [Rathi] was using the surface really well, bowling into the surface,” Sanjay Bangar said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “He didn’t really try anything in the fuller length. That has been strength.”[He has] a great temperament as well to go with the skill set. He is not just angling the ball in. He may give the batsmen a little bit of a doubt that he would probably take it away as well. So, all in all, a wonderful spot by the LSG management as well.”Rathi was spotted at the Delhi Premier League, where he finished fourth on the wicket-takers’ list with 14 strikes in ten matches at an economy of 7.83. At the IPL mega auction last year, LSG bought him for his base price of INR 30 lakh. He further impressed the team management during the practice games in the lead-up to the season.After the MI game, Justin Langer gave a glowing review of Rathi’s “unbelievable work ethic”.”I thought Digvesh bowled very, very well,” Langer said. “He will keep learning. He is very young to the game, but I will tell you what he does do: like all the great spinners, he loves bowling. If he could bowl for 16 hours a day, he would bowl for 16 hours a day. He probably bowls in the corridor of the hotel. He bowls at breakfast, he bowls in the shower, he bowls everywhere. He just loves bowling, and he is being rewarded for years and years of practice. Now he is in the big league, and that practice is starting to pay off.”LSG’s next match is on Tuesday, against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Kolkata. That will pit Rathi against his idol.Digvesh Rathi brings out his notebook celebration•BCCI

“It’s going to be very interesting,” Langer said. “I can’t wait to watch this because Kolkata have two spinners [Narine and Varun Chakravarthy] and both of them he idolises. Watch how he runs into bowl, who does he look like? Sunil Narine, right?”And he always has something different. He thinks a lot about the game, about how he is going to get the opposition out, and I think that’s why he has got a bright future.”There is one concern, though. After LSG’s previous game, Rathi was fined for making physical contact with Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) Priyansh Arya after he dismissed the batter and brought out the celebration. He was fined again after the MI game, though there was no physical contact this time, only the celebration. He now has three demerit points against his name. One more demerit point will lead to a one-match suspension.Shardul Thakur, who himself bowled a crucial 19th over against MI, said the game needed such characters. That was, though, before the news of the latest fine came through.”He is a phenomenal bowler and a bit of character as well,” Thakur said. “That’s what we need in the game. We need characters who will come and deliver for the team, who are not afraid of expressing themselves. I feel he always expresses himself and that’s his biggest strength.”

Former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal has returned home, having been discharged from the hospital on Friday, four days after he had suffered a heart attack. Tamim will continue to be monitored by specialists for the next few weeks after having undergone an angioplasty surgery on Monday.Tamim was leading Mohammedan Sporting Club in a Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League match against Shinepukur Cricket Club, at the BKSP ground, when he felt unwell shortly after the toss. He was taken to the KPJ Specialised Hospital and Nursing Home (formerly Fazilatunnesa Hospital) near the ground in Savar. After the initial tests, Tamim was carried on a helicopter from BKSP to a hospital in Dhaka.He, however, collapsed while getting back to BKSP. Tamim’s condition worsened, to the extent that the Mohammedan team physio had to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him before the hospital administered shock therapy to resuscitate him. When Tamim regained consciousness, the cardiologist operated on him, putting a ring in one of his arteries.Related

• Tamim undergoes emergency angioplasty after suffering heart attack during Dhaka Premier League game

Tamim’s family members rushed to Savar to be beside him, alongside cricketers, coaches, journalists and fans who were all shocked by the news. Tamim however regained his senses after the surgery, with the doctors announcing that the following 72 hours would be crucial for his recovery.Two days after his surgery, Tamim was shifted to another hospital in Dhaka. From there, Tamim was discharged on Friday.Tamim, who retired from international cricket in January this year, is still playing domestic cricket. He led the Fortune Barishal franchise to their second BPL title; he also struck two centuries for Mohammedan in this season’s DPL.

The BCCI has shifted the Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Haryana and Mumbai from Lahli, Haryana’s home venue, to Kolkata, a neutral venue. The development has affected the travel plans of both the teams – the game is scheduled to start on Saturday – and taken the “hosts” by surprise, since the BCCI hasn’t provided Haryana with a reason for the switch officially.Mumbai were due to arrive in Lahli on Wednesday morning. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) is now making arrangements for them to fly out to Kolkata by Wednesday evening. Haryana, like Mumbai, are expected to reach Kolkata late on Wednesday. “Yes, we have received a communication from BCCI that our quarter-final against Haryana will be played at the Eden Gardens,” MCA president Ajinkya Naik told PTI.ESPNcricinfo understands that the weather in Lahli has been clear over the past few days, and the Haryana Cricket Association was confident of hosting the match at the Bansi Lal Stadium, which had hosted all their three home games this season. ESPNcricinfo reached out to a senior HCA official, but they chose not to comment on the issue.Related

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Like Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, too, won’t enjoy home advantage after their quarter-final against Kerala was shifted from Jammu to the MCA Stadium in Pune.In this case, though, the shift came about because the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), it is understood, was concerned about the ground conditions following a harsh winter and conveyed the same to the BCCI.JKCA had been keen on hosting the game in Mumbai or Ahmedabad but were informed that those venues would be unavailable, and a decision was made to host the game in Pune instead.The other two knockout games – Vidarbha vs Tamil Nadu and Saurashtra vs Gujarat – would be played in Nagpur (Civil Lines Stadium) and Rajkot (Niranjan Shah Stadium) respectively, as per the current norms where the group toppers are recognised as the host teams.Vidarbha’s 40 points owing to six outright wins in seven games are the most by any team in the group stage this season. Gujarat, meanwhile, have the third-highest points (32), behind J&K’s 35.

India and Mumbai batter Shreyas Iyer, the second-most expensive player in the player auction, has been appointed captain by Punjab Kings for IPL 2025. The announcement was made on Sunday night on reality TV show Big Boss, where Iyer appeared as a guest alongside PBKS team-mates Yuzvendra Chahal and Shashank Singh.Related

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“I am honoured that the team has reposed its faith in me. I am looking forward to working again with coach [Ricky] Ponting,” Iyer was quoted as saying in a release. “The team looks strong, with a great mix of potential and proven performers. I hope to repay the faith shown by the management to deliver our maiden title.””Shreyas has a great mind for the game. His proven capabilities as captain will enable the team to deliver,” PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting said. “Shreyas has a great mind for the game. His proven capabilities as captain will enable the team to deliver. I have enjoyed my time with Iyer in the past in IPL, and I look forward to working with him again. With his leadership and the talent in the squad, I am excited about the seasons ahead.”Iyer, 30, is among only eight captains to have won the IPL, a feat he accomplished by leading Kolkata Knight Riders, whom he led from 2022 to 2024, to the title last year. PBKS, who had the strongest purse at the mega auction for IPL 2025, outbid Delhi Capitals, another franchise on the lookout for a captain, to bag Iyer for INR 26.75 crore (USD 3.18 million approx). For a few minutes, Iyer was the most expensive player in IPL history. But Lucknow Super Giants picked Rishabh Pant for INR 27 crore (USD 3.21 mn approx) to make him the most expensive buy at an IPL auction.PBKS will be Iyer’s third franchise in the IPL after DC, with whom he made his debut in 2015, and KKR. Midway through IPL 2018, DC appointed Iyer as their captain and made the playoffs in each of the next three seasons including a runners-up finish in 2020. He also led Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this season, and finished fourth among the tournament’s leading run-getters with 345 runs, including a century, in nine innings at a strike rate of 188.52 and an average of over 49.

Iyer will reunite with former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who was appointed PBKS head coach for four years. The pair had a successful partnership as coach-captain for DC, which Ponting said was a key factor behind PBKS bidding so fiercely for Iyer at the auction.Ponting also dropped strong hints about appointing Iyer as captain after the mega auction. “I wanted to work with Shreyas,” Ponting told after the auction. “I’ve worked with him before and he is a great guy and a great player. He’ll be a great leader for our team if we decide to go that way, which I’m pretty sure we probably will. And obviously, he was the championship-winning captain last year. So there are lots of great things about bringing him to Punjab.”

Pat Cummins’ five-wicket haul capped Australia’s dominance in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval as they leveled the series on the third afternoon with a statement win. The end was nigh for India when Mitchell Starc struck in the first over of the day with a perfectly pitched delivery to have Rishabh Pant nicking behind for his overnight score of 28. India folded for 175, a little over an hour into the first session. Needing 19, Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney knocked off the runs within four overs before the first interval.India were in danger of conceding an innings win when Cummins was banging one bouncer after another. R Ashwin, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy all fell to short balls from the Australia captain. Much to the delight of the Adelaide crowd, their hero Travis Head pulled off a tumbling catch to dismiss No. 11 Mohammed Siraj, who had become public enemy No. 1 after giving Head a send-off on day two.Related

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Australia, though, didn’t need Head with the bat in their second innings as Khawaja and McSweeney applied the finishing touches for them.Australia’s 295-run drubbing in Perth drew some hot takes, which surprised some of their players, but they produced a near-perfect response in Adelaide to achieve parity and set things up beautifully for the rest of the series.Cummins, who didn’t look sharp enough with the ball in the first Test, was back to his best in the second. After having hit the top of Rohit’s off stump with the pink new ball under lights on Saturday, Cummins dragged his lengths further back with the older ball, which wasn’t swinging or seaming as much under natural light. He had Ashwin gloving behind and Rana popping up a catch to gully with a nastier bouncer.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Reddy stood up to Cummins and hooked a throat-high lifter over square leg for six, despite two men out on the leg-side boundary. But when Cummins angled one across him from around the wicket next ball, Reddy ramped it straight to fine third.Reddy finished with 42 off 47 balls – it was the third time in four innings that he had top-scored for India in his maiden Test series. The hosts ended up facing only 81 overs across both innings, which contributed to the shortest pink-ball Test in Australia and also the shortest between the two teams.The Adelaide crowd of 33,184 had more reasons to cheer about when their adopted son McSweeney creamed a brace of fours in the slim chase and then when their favourite son Head bagged the Player-of-the-Match award.

Alzarri Joseph, the West Indies fast bowler, has been suspended for two matches for his unsanctioned departure from the field during the third ODI against England, in the wake of a disagreement with captain Shai Hope.Joseph issued a public apology in the aftermath of the incident, acknowledging that “my passion got the best of me”, adding that he had “personally apologised to Captain Shai Hope, my team-mates and management”.”I also extend my sincerest apologies to the West Indies fans – I understand that even a brief lapse in judgment can have a far-reaching impact, and I deeply regret any disappointment caused.”During the fourth over of the innings in Bridgetown, Joseph was unhappy with a field placement and could be seen remonstrating with Hope. Off the fourth ball, Joseph removed Jordan Cox caught behind, but did not celebrate with his team, instead immediately returning to his mark. At the end of the over, Joseph left the field unannounced and went into the dressing room, forcing West Indies to begin the fifth over with only ten fielders on the pitch.”Behaviour like that is unacceptable on my cricket field,” Daren Sammy, West Indies’ head coach said to TalkSPORT after play. “We will be friends…but in the culture I’m trying to build, that’s unacceptable. We will definitely have a chat about that.”Joseph returned to the pitch for the beginning of the sixth over, but did not resume bowling until the 12th. He bowled two more overs, before leaving the field again after two misfields off his bowling saw England gain two runs through overthrows. He returned later to bowl two more in the middle overs and his remaining three in the death.Joseph finished the match with figures of 2 for 45 from his 10 overs after dismissing Cox and Dan Mousley.”Alzarri’s behavior did not align with the core values that Cricket West Indies upholds,” Miles Bascombe, CWI Director of Cricket, said. “Such conduct cannot be overlooked, and we have taken decisive action to ensure the gravity of the situation is fully acknowledged.”Sammy, who was appointed as West Indies head coach in May 2023, is widely credited for his man-management abilities, and has convinced several players, such as Andre Russell and Evin Lewis, to return to the international game.”I pride myself on having the difficult conversations,” Sammy said. “But in a way that everybody understands what is needed to be done. To see guys going out there and slowly progressing in the right direction makes me proud.”There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s one that I’m quite passionate about.”West Indies won the ODI series 2-1 and the five-match T20 series begins on Saturday, with Sammy hinting that some of the star names who were absent from their recent series against Sri Lanka, such as Nicholas Pooran and Akeal Hosein, are set to return.”We’ve got a couple of senior players who were not in Sri Lanka that we expect to be back,” Sammy said. “Our T20 team is our most successful team and our most settled team. So, yes, we incorporate some new guys to give them that exposure, but our T20 team normally picks itself.”This story was updated at 12am GMT following Joseph’s suspension

Western Australia 465 (Inglis 122, Whiteman 102, Connolly 79, Neser 5-68) and 263 for 6 dec (Marsh 94, Wildermuth 3-38) drew with Queensland 367 (Clayton 85, Labuschagne 77, McDermott 68, Gannon 5-57) and 120 for 1 (Khawaja 64*, Labuschagne 35*)Mitchell Marsh smashed 94 as a specialist batter before the Sheffield Shield match between Western Australia and Queensland petered out to a draw on a sedate WACA surface.Set 362 runs off 62 overs, Queensland never went for the target and the match ended when the captains agreed to call it off midway through the final session on the last day.Opener Usman Khawaja looked in fine touch and finished 64 not out to ensure Queensland avoided any late nerves. Captain Marnus Labuschagne tuned up for the Test summer with an unbeaten 35 on the back of his 77 in the first innings.With Test allrounder Cameron Green facing a long stint on the sidelines due to a back injury, a number of players in the match were under the spotlight. Test aspirant Matthew Renshaw made an untimely double failure after edging behind to Matthew Kelly on 15 having scored just six runs in the first innings.WA counterpart Cameron Bancroft, another possible option to open for Australia if Steven Smith shifts down the order, fared even worse after making a pair earlier in the match.”He’s [Bancroft] so resilient. He’s been through so much in his career. He’ll be fine,” WA captain Sam Whiteman said after the match.Batting at No.4, Marsh top-scored in WA’s second innings of 263 for 6 dec after rescuing his team from a top-order collapse. He also scored 13 in the first innings, but did not bowl in the match.”Mitch is in for a big summer. His workloads are going to be managed very carefully by Cricket Australia. We are hopeful we might see Mitch with ball in hand for the next Shield match,” WA coach Adam Voges said after play on day three.Allrounder Aaron Hardie, who looms as a like-for-like replacement for Green, missed the match due to a quad injury but is likely to return for WA’s next Shield match against Tasmania starting on October 20 at the WACA.Quick Lance Morris sustained a minor quad injury during training and is pushing to be available for the One Day Cup game against Tasmania on 25 October.With WA resuming on 106 for 3, a lead of 204, there was intrigue over how they would approach the situation. Marsh had mostly been watchful late on day three, but was in a trademark aggressive mood as he reached his half-century with a push that rocketed to the boundary.Fringe Test quick Michael Neser threatened by targeting a crack, but Marsh was unperturbed as he put the foot down. His most belligerent shot was smashing a short delivery from debutant Tom Straker that thudded into the ground’s famous grassbanks.Marsh tried to reach his century with one mighty blow, but mistimed and holed out much to his chagrin as he threw his bat in the air.Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis backed up his first-innings century with a quick-fire 48 to claim Player-of-the-Match award. His confidence was obvious and he toyed with legspinner Mitchell Swepson, who had the last laugh but struggled to have much impact across the match.The pitch flattened considerably after tough early conditions when WA lost the wickets of Bancroft and Jayden Goodwin off the first two balls bowled by Neser, who was Queensland’s standout bowler with six wickets for the match.”Phenomenal bowler and I was very happy how he started the season,” Labuschagne said of Neser, who could also be in the Test mix.

Harmanpreet Kaur is “quite confident” with the India squad at her disposal for Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 because of the experience they bring. As many as 12 of India’s 15 squad members have prior experience of playing the tournament. Only Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana and S Sajana are making their first appearances at a World Cup, having come through eye-catching performances in the Women’s Premier League.”If I talk about this team, we have a few players who have been playing for a long time and they know their roles really well,” Harmanpreet said at the pre-departure press conference in Mumbai. “I can say that this is the best team we are going for a T20 World Cup with.”Pooja [Vastrakar] is doing well and Renuka [Singh] is supporting her really well. She [Renuka] is someone who is always giving us breakthroughs. Arundhati [Reddy] is someone who can always come and bowl a few overs for the team and bat in the deep. I can’t compare our bowling line-up with other teams because every team has its own positives and negatives, but I’m quite confident in my team. I know what they are doing and what they are capable of.”Related

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• Harmanpreet wants regular sports psychologist to address 'mental fatigue'

India played T20Is against Australia, England, South Africa and Bangladesh, apart from the Asia Cup, in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. While they lost the series against England and Australia, each by a 2-1 margin, they won 5-0 in Bangladesh and tied the series against South Africa 1-1 after one game was washed out. The surprise result, though, came at the Asia Cup, where Sri Lanka beat them in the final to win their maiden title.”During the Asia Cup, we played really good cricket, if I talk about the entire tournament,” Harmanpreet said. “It was just one odd game that day when things didn’t go according to the way we wanted. We sat and discussed how we wanted to work on our shortcomings in the camps and where we can improve if next time these kinds of situations arise.”The Asia Cup, in July, was India’s last outing before the World Cup. Since then, they had a couple of camps while a few players played in the Hundred and the Women’s Caribbean Premier League. Head coach Amol Muzumdar said that the camps were designed with a focus on specifics and that the lack of game-time should not hamper India at the World Cup.”We had a fitness camp which happened at the NCA and fitness and fielding camp,” Muzumdar said. “That was specifically done for those two areas and the skills [aspect] were not touched. The entire 15 days were delegated to fitness and fielding.”Later on, we had a ten-day skills camp, where there were not just the net sessions but the players played almost five games in ten days. So if you ask for game time, we have ticked that box. We played some very competitive games. There were different oppositions, there were different skill sets that were chosen for those particular games.”In 2020, India lost to Australia in the final•AFP via Getty Images

India finished runners-up at the T20 World Cup in 2020 and lost in the semi-finals in 2018 and 2023. They also narrowly lost the gold medal to Australia at the inaugural Commonwealth Games in 2022.In a bid to deal with pressure better, the players have had sessions with sports psychologist Mugdha Bavare. In the past, Harmanpreet has spoken about how Bavare helped her overcome mental fatigue, and the sessions in the camp last month have helped the players, she said.”When you talk [to a psychologist] personally, you know what you are talking and the areas you want to focus on,” she said. “But when it comes to the team, it is important that everyone opens up so that as a team we can work together and help the player as needed. We had a few sessions where we talked to each other about how we wre feeling and how we wanted to go about it. With Mugdha’s help, there were a lot of sessions after which we felt well and then after executing it on the ground, we felt better. She is really working hard on us, and so far, it is really helping us.”

‘We will reveal our No. 3 closer to opening game’ – Muzumdar

Muzumdar was also guarded on the No. 3 spot, which has been in focus in recent times. Since Jemimah Rodrigues’ shift down to No. 5 in April, India have tried Yastika Bhatia, D Hemalatha, S Sajana and Uma Chetry at that spot. Hemalatha got the longest run, batting at No. 3 in seven of the 12 games India played since April. With Bhatia’s return, though, things are a bit unclear.”Ever since I’ve taken over, we have had some tough series against good teams – England, Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, and then Asia Cup. So, I think the preparation has been fantastic,” Muzumdar said. “As far as the top six is concerned, I think they’re the best in the country.”I know for a fact that in T20, the No. 3 sets the game up. We have identified [our No. 3] but we will reveal that only closer to our opening game.”The World Cup was moved to the UAE after the anti-government protests in Bangladesh. Muzumdar said while the change in the venue did put a spanner in the works, India were well-equipped for the challenges.Harmanpreet and Amol Muzumdar speak to the media before departing to the UAE for the T20 World Cup•PTI

“We had specifically gone to Bangladesh in May and played five T20Is to get used to conditions. I think conditions [in UAE] would be like what we have over here in India,” said Muzumdar, who was the batting coach of Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020, which was held in the UAE around the same period. “It is just that start of the season, I think there will be a little bit of bounce on the surfaces in Dubai especially.”Humidity will play a part over there. There will be a lot of heat over there, hot and humid. But I think we’ll have to go there and just assess the situation, assess the ground conditions first. We do have three games in Dubai and then one in Sharjah. We will have to really go there, feel the pitch, and then decide how and which bowlers and what combination we need to play.”For Harmanpreet, it will be her ninth T20 World Cup, having played in every edition since the inaugural one in 2009. She said she would tap into that experience to handle the pressure.”I’ve played so many World Cups and that experience and atmosphere is totally different to any bilateral series or any other tournament,” she said. “I’m going with the same excitement as I had when I was just a 19-year-old. I just want to go there and enjoy myself. I know now I have so much experience with me.”I know what the pressure is like and how I’m going to handle it. [It is about playing] with full freedom and just not thinking about what is the result. But if I go there and play freely and enjoy my cricket, I know I can change a lot of things.”