All posts by n8rngtd.top

Harbhajan Singh was left out for Karn Sharma, and the legspinner rewarded Mumbai Indians with a spell that took them into the IPL 2017 final

Deivarayan Muthu in Bengaluru19-May-20170:37

Tried to bowl at Narine’s stumps – Karn Sharma

After ferrying drinks in the first half of Mumbai Indians’ campaign, and later being a fill-in for the injured Krunal Pandya, legspinner Karn Sharma took the more experienced Harbhajan Singh’s spot on Friday night and put his side in the IPL final.He did so in style, knocking the stuffing out of the Kolkata Knight Riders top and middle order in the second Qualifier with career-best IPL returns of 4 for 16.Karn’s spell was founded on meticulous planning and excellent execution. He bowled 12 of his 25 balls on the stumps for three wickets, including that of Sunil Narine and KKR captain Gautam Gambhir.Karn was called to bowl the fifth over, and he started with a flat legbreak, which thudded into Narine’s pad. The next ball was fired on leg stump as well, and Narine had another crack, but only managed a leg bye. There are many ways to skin a cat; one is through denial. The denial of swinging room cut off Narine’s most productive region – mid-off – and forced him to jump down the track and have an almighty leg-side slog at a googly. Karn, though, had shortened his length and angled the line further away from the left-hander. Parthiv Patel took the bails off.”T20 is all about momentum,” Karn said after the game. “We started well in the first six overs … for Narine we tried to bowl at the stumps. He is a very good hitter straight. We have different plans for different batsmen. That is what I did.”In his next over, Karn dismissed Gambhir and Colin de Grandhomme to leave KKR on the ropes at 31 for 5 after seven overs. He had Gambhir holing out to deep midwicket with a slower legbreak, and with the next ball he hit de Grandhomme’s back pad with a fast, fizzing wrong’un. Karn bowls off just a couple of steps, but his quick-arm action makes it difficult to pick the variation.Karn conceded three runs in the ninth over, but was taken out of the attack by his captain Rohit Sharma to keep one over for later, and KKR mounted a recovery through a 56-run partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Ishank Jaggi. Krunal was taken for back-to-back boundaries by Suryakumar, Mitchell Johnson was crunched through extra cover, and even Lasith Malinga was whipped with a flourish by Jaggi.Rohit turned to Karn in the 15th, and the legspinner delivered again. Seeing Jaggi venture down the track, Karn speared it flat, and ensured the batsmen did not get under the ball. The batsman skied a loft into the hands of long-on. KKR were 88 for 6 by the end of the 15th over and there was no way back for them.Popular pre-match opinion was that there would be no place for Karn in the second Qualifier. Against Rising Pune Supergiant in the first Qualifier, Karn was picked over Harbhajan perhaps because their cross-expressway neighbours had 10 right-hand batsmen.KKR, on the other hand, had three left-hand batsmen, including two at the top, which made a case for Harbhajan’s return. The offspinner had the second-best economy rate (6.21) among spinners who have bowled at least 50 balls to left-hand batsmen this season.In fact, there had been no place for Karn in Mumbai’s first seven games of the season. An injury to Krunal provided the opening and the legspinner impressed in his first game, against Rising Pune, dismissing openers Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi despite conceding 39 runs in four overs. In all, he had taken nine wickets in seven matches before the second Qualifier.”Being in and out of the team has been good for me,” Karn said. “I am just working hard when I am not playing. The main motivation is when I get a game I need to perform for the team. That’s more important.”The replacement man has now become the main man and has given Mumbai a shot at moving past KKR and Chennai Super Kings for a record third IPL title. Standing in their way are Rising Pune, who have beaten Mumbai three times in three meetings this season. Karn doesn’t think Mumbai are at a disadvantage, though.”We are fully prepared and we will win the finals,” he confidently said. “[Three out of three losses] is in past.”

A look at a few famous instances of players making a splash after being summoned late

Srinath Sripath26-Jul-2017Shikhar Dhawan smashes it
Shikhar Dhawan wasn’t included in the Test squad for Sri Lanka. However, his phenomenal run in Champions Trophy – he was the leading run-getter with 338 runs at 67.60 – kept him on the radar. He was included in the tour party once it emerged that M Vijay hadn’t completely recovered from his wrist surgery. Dhawan warmed up with 41 in the tour game. On the opening day of the series in Galle, he ran Sri Lanka’s attack ragged, smashing 190, 126 of those coming in the second session. Galle was also the venue of his previous Test century, in 2015.Keaton Jennings eases into the England setup
Keaton Jennings was the last addition to an England squad ravaged by injuries, and reeling from a 2-0 reversal after three Tests in a five-match series. Having been overlooked in favour of Haseeb Hameed earlier, Jennings came on as his replacement. He was flown in straight from England Lions’ tour of the UAE, and slotted straight into the starting XI. He cashed in on an early reprieve to make 112. It was among the rare positives for England, during an otherwise forgettable tour.Alastair Cook celebrates a hundred on debut•AFPAlastair Cook’s 48-hour journey ends with a prolific debut
Alastair Cook, Jennings’ opening partner in the 2017 Test mentioned above, himself had a similar initiation to Test cricket, in 2005. With Marcus Trescothick flying back home due to a stress-related illness and Michael Vaughan’s dodgy knee ruling him out, England turned to their A side, then on tour in West Indies, to secure a replacement. They eventually picked Essex left-hander Cook, who flew across continents – from the Caribbean to Nagpur – for 48 hours to get his Test cap. Cook more than justified his inclusion by following up his first-innings 60 with a century in the second, becoming the youngest Englishman to score a Test hundred.Everton Weekes silences the boos
Having been dropped for the series, Everton Weekes was called up at the eleventh hour for the fourth Test. But multiple flight delays meant he was mid-air when the Test began. He found out about his inclusion in the XI only after reaching the ground. When he replaced his Jamaican substitute finally, it was met with boos from the Kingston crowd. Weekes, though, smashed 141 runs in the first innings to set up a win for his side.Another Cook, another fabulous debut
Back in 1983, another Cook – Nick – had a fine first game, after being called in to replace Phil Edmonds, who had injured his back while getting out of his car. Like a man who had been playing at the highest level for years, Cook eased in to the England side at Lord’s, wrecking the New Zealand batting order with match-winning figures of 8 for 125. Cook would go on to play 14 more Tests for England, finishing with an impressive 52 wickets, including three more five-fors.

Cricket Ireland’s failure to make adequate provisions for wet weather in Belfast was a dereliction of duty that cannot be repeated if they want the sport to grow

Tim Wigmore in Belfast13-Sep-2017In September 2013, 10,000 people crammed into a sun-kissed Malahide to watch Ireland host England in a one-day international that helped transform Irish cricket’s image at home and abroad. Four years and ten days on, Ireland are left to reflect on a deeply embarrassing day, the sort unbecoming of their new Full Member status.Yes, it rained; it often rains in Ireland. But for three hours from the scheduled start, the rain stayed away, the sun shone and a healthy crowd enjoyed perfect cricket-watching conditions. Only, there was no cricket to watch. Although heavy showers abated about 3am, the outfield was still unfit to use, after being left exposed the previous evening, when only the square and a small surrounding area were protected from the rain.Covering the whole outfield would have been expensive, and labour-intensive. But in the absence of a high-tech drainage system, Cricket Ireland should have bought, begged or stolen whatever they needed – covers, and temporary groundstaff to use them – to give the match the best possible chance of going ahead.The day had been 14 months in the planning, costing Ireland around €200,000. Why spend so much cash on a fixture – the sort that remains far rarer than they would like – and then not do everything possible to ensure it could lead to actual cricket? It was abject risk management.Privately, Irish players were fuming – not with the few groundstaff themselves, but with Cricket Ireland for allowing the farce to break out. Had the game been in England, after equally intense rainfall, it would almost certainly have begun on time, at 1015; even with the later shower, there would most likely have been enough cricket to get an ODI in. That’s why only 4% of ODIs in England end with a no-result.Instead, for Ireland’s third home ODI out of six, there was exasperation at an abandoned match. That is not just deeply frustrating for Ireland’s players, who crave more matches if they are to improve – and they don’t have any other confirmed ODIs against Full Members before the World Cup qualifiers, now expected to be in Zimbabwe in March. It also has deeper consequences for Cricket Ireland’s stated ambition to make the sport mainstream.Next time Ireland are playing an ODI at home, the healthy walk-up crowd, including an encouraging number of schoolchildren, might be less inclined to go: why bother to make the trip if there is no cricket even in glorious sunshine? Those at the ground today left angry, and less inclined to take a day off in the future to go to an Ireland game. “Where?” harrumphed one disgruntled spectator when the tannoy speaker assured fans that the groundstaff were doing everything they could to make conditions fit for play.And broadcasters will be less likely to bother in future too. It cost eir Sport about €100,000 to provide coverage of the ODI. The risk of again not having a single ball to show – even when conditions appear perfect for cricket – will lead them to question their investment in the future. That would be disastrous for Cricket Ireland, who still badly need the exposure of coverage that is easily accessible to those who are not ardent cricket fans – exactly the group who Ireland must reach.A day in which a delayed start gave way to a 10:30 inspection, then an 11:30 inspection, then a 12:30 inspection, and then a planned 1:30 inspection, before rain intervened, was a farce unbecoming of an organisation who have been acclaimed as one of world cricket’s best-run. Nor does Ireland’s lack of funding – they don’t get the extra funding garnered by virtue of being a Full Member until January, and even then it will be under half of Zimbabwe’s – provide any excuse.Given how often matches are ruined by the weather here – not just internationals, but also the interprovincial competition – proper investment in groundstaff, covers and drainage would have been a far better use of funds than one of the seven ODIs against Test nations Ireland have played this summer.Today was bad enough. But next year, Ireland hope to play their maiden Test at home, perhaps against Pakistan. If the match consists of five days of such unbecoming scenes, Irish cricket’s image will not easily recover.

Wasim Jaffer, former Mumbai captain and current Vidarbha batsman, talks about his role as a mentor with Vidarbha who will play their first Ranji Trophy final from Friday

Nagraj Gollapudi27-Dec-2017Early in the morning session on the final day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final, Karnataka needed 18 runs to deny Vidarbha their maiden appearance in the final; Vidarbha needed two wickets. At the drinks break, Wasim Jaffer, one of the three professionals in the Vidarbha squad and the team’s senior-most player, spoke to the team in the huddle.”I still believed things could change,” Jaffer recounts. “I told them if they need to score 18 runs, we need to make sure they at least play 30-35 balls. They are not going to get those runs in four or five deliveries. And we need to bowl just two good balls, which is quite possible. Luckily for us, that is what happened. [Abhimanyu] Mithun played a bad shot and [S] Aravind was the last man caught. They [Vidarbha] have realised now that things can happen.”It was the second time in three days Jaffer had issued a stern but inspiring message to his team-mates. At the end of the second day, after Karnataka had taken the first-innings lead, the Vidarbha dressing room was a dejected unit. Players were quiet and sulking.”Our morale was down on the second evening after Karnataka had taken the lead,” Vidarbha allrounder Aditya Sarwate says. Sarwate was Vidarbha’s best batsman in their underwhelming first-innings total of 185, scoring 47 runs. Jaffer noticed that most of the Vidarbha players had started to mentally concede their dream run was coming to an end.

“They are all very good cricketers, but sometimes they lack the confidence and belief in themselves, some of them at least. And my job as a professional or mentor is to get them to play to their optimum.”

Jaffer, the man with most Ranji runs and with multiple Ranji titles, decided it was time to transform the sombre mood in the dressing room. “When Karnataka were ahead, I could see within the group few players had started to talk about our season might be over,” Jaffer tells ESPNcricinfo. “Negative thoughts were creeping in. I told them there were still 270 overs of cricket left in the final three days in the match. And if we could post about target of 250 in [bowler-friendly] conditions, anything could happen.”I told them it doesn’t matter even if we lose, as long as we show a good attitude and good approach. When Vidarbha plays Karnataka, Karnataka is expected to do well. Unless we put up a fight, it will be a tough three days. If we don’t fight and just give up now, it is going to be a big drag for the final three days as Karnataka would make us toil. If we show the right approach and attitude and put up a fight anything can happen.”According to Sarwate, Jaffer recounted the 2010 Ranji final between Mumbai and Karnataka in Mysore, where Ajit Agarkar led Mumbai’s fightback in a thrilling contest. “He stressed that belief should not be lost at any point in a match. He stressed that in a five-day game, what happens in the first innings is not that significant. He said Mumbai had never lost the belief in Mysore and won a crunch match in the end.”Jaffer’s inspiring speeches served the purpose. Vidarbha held their nerve and Rajneesh Gurbani’s seven-for in the second innings steered the side to their maiden Ranji Trophy final. “I was pumped up. The rest of the team was also inspired by his words. And we made an outstanding comeback,” Sarwate says.

****

Wasim Jaffer and Ajit Agarkar have a chat•FotocorpAs a professional, it is Jaffer’s job to help the youngsters in the team become better players. When he decided to move out of Mumbai because he did not want to deny a capable young batsman a spot, he shortlisted Vidarbha as one of the few teams where he could head. He made the move to Vidarbha as a professional in the 2015-16 season and now wants to retire with the team. Jaffer finds immense satisfaction when he sees players taking note of his advice on transforming themselves.When Sarwate met Jaffer for the first time properly (at the start of the 2016 domestic season) he told the senior pro that he had started his career as a batsman before focusing on left-arm spin, which now is his primary trade. Jaffer saved that information.In Vidarbha’s fourth match of this season, against Bengal, the team’s coach Chandrakant Pandit was unsure of playing Sarwate. Jaffer was insistent that Pandit, his former Mumbai coach, play the 28-year-old allrounder. “He had played 10 to 11 matches before this season and picked 50-plus wickets, and he was not finding a place,” Jaffer says. “I convinced Chandu [Pandit] to play [Sarwate] against Bengal because I knew what he could bring to the table as an allrounder. He is a good left-arm spinner who can bat. Against good teams you need good players.”Sarwate scored 89 in the first innings and picked five wickets in the match. “You need to show players the right path, and if they pick the tips you share and become better players, that is what gives me satisfaction,” Jaffer adds.Jaffer had asked Sarwate to not take his batting for granted if he wanted to grow as a player, and the allrounder credits Jaffer for the technical adjustments in the pre-season this year. Sarwate would move in quickly to play the ball, and against an incoming delivery such a trigger movement was proving to be a problem. Jaffer asked him to move later in his trigger movements and that has helped Sarwate be more comfortable at the crease.Against Karnataka, Vidarbha’s top order, including Jaffer, had collapsed quickly. Sarwate followed Jaffer’s suggestions – he stayed calm, moved late against the ball that R Vinay Kumar and the seamers were swinging both ways. “I was watching the ball till the last moment and waited for the delivery which allowed me to stay focused.” Sarwate got 47, the highest in Vidarbha’s first innings and then scored a crucial half-century in the second innings.Sarwate says Jaffer is always looking to make people around him comfortable. Before Jaffer, S Badrinath had been a professional with Vidarbha and was more of an “introverted personality”. Jaffer, on the other hand, mingles with the rest of the players, cracks jokes and is open. According to Sarwate, Badrinath was a hard-working player, who focused on work ethics and discipline and then retreated to his room. Jaffer meanwhile is light in his disposition. “He is very calm and strong-minded regardless of the pressure. He sticks to his game plan and does not distract himself. I like that about him a lot,” Sarwate says.

****

Aditya Sarwate raises his bat after reaching his century•PTI Jaffer did not have a good first season with Vidarbha, even though the team qualified for the quarter-finals. His disappointment was more personal: a failure to match the expectations he had set for himself. This season, he has got starts, but only one century. Jaffer reckons he could have easily scored “at least 200 to 300 runs more” than the 500 he currently has from 11 innings.But, as a professional, Jaffer’s job is not just to score runs. The Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) want him to mentor and guide the young players at all times and make them understand and learn things on the run.”They are all very good cricketers, but sometimes they lack the confidence and belief in themselves, some of them at least. And my job as a professional or mentor is to get them to play to their optimum.”Jaffer says there are three-four players from Vidarbha who are part of IPL teams, and three young cricketers who were recently part of the Under-19 Asia Cup squad. “Sometimes we need to push them to realise their potential. They are very down-to-earth and sometimes they don’t push themselves very hard, I feel. So that is our job – mine and Chandu’s to push them.”In the last league match, against Himachal Pradesh, played at home in Nagpur, Jaffer noticed Gurbani was struggling with his rhythm. “We won the toss and decided to bowl because it was a seamer-friendly wicket. I remember Gurbani started really badly – his body language and his approach was very lethargic. When you win the toss and bowl, you expect your fast bowlers to run in and make life difficult for the batsmen. The wicket was such where it shouldn’t be that easy. And he came in and bowled two very ordinary overs.”Jaffer, usually a phlegmatic guy on field, “ran down” to the bowler and asked him to “pull up his socks otherwise it won’t be good for him”. He made it a point to ask Gurbani to improve his body language as well, telling him not to put his head down when things were not going his way. “The bowler always has this advantage that he has a chance to come back. The batsman can be at his best of his powers but one bad ball and one lapse of concentration and his match is gone. That is what I told Gurbani: he could not make his captain look like a fool.”Gurbani made the corrections and bowled a tidy line for the rest of the match and even took six wickets in the first innings in the drawn game. Gurbani, the side’s best fast bowler this season, acknowledges Jaffer’s role in his success. “Many might think Wasim Jaffer’s role is to only help batsmen. Even I used to think that – what will I ask him for bowling tips,” Gurbani says.

“I had not played last year but Vidarbha still paid me all my dues, so it would be fair on me to return that favour this season”

Against Bengal, on a pitch supporting movement, Gurbani was swinging the ball both ways. Jaffer asked him to “hide” the ball. Prior to that, the youngster would hide the ball when he got it to reverse-swing. Jaffer, however, wanted him to create doubt in the batsman’s mind even with conventional swing. “He would tell me to subtly hide the ball while running in, hold the ball in the left hand and cover it, not show the seam position. I used to do the same to him in the nets and he faced trouble. It was one of the main tips he offered.”Gurbani has 31 wickets this season and credited Jaffer for at least a dozen of those. “I will give him credit for 12 wickets at least. He would ask me to bowl outswing, at times inswing, at times a bouncer. He has taught me when to bowl which delivery at the right time and that has only helped me grow as a bowler. He also sets fields for me, which, at times I would never think on my own. If there is a left-handed batsman who likes to cut, he would place two gullies and a slip when my plan would be to have just two slips and one gully. Considering he has seen many batsmen across teams, he understands their weak points, and that way helps me set up a plan.”Standing in the slips, Jaffer would watch the feet movement of the batsman and guide Gurbani. “Against Kerala, in the quarter-final, he asked once to bowl an inswinger and on another occasion an inswinger and then a bouncer, which fetched him easy wickets during the match,” Gurbani says. “The last ball of the semis, which I got [Aravind, caught behind], was actually due to Wasim . He asked me to keep the ball full and swing it away. Aravind was the last man and it was my first ball to him.”

****

Wasim Jaffer taps his glove with Faiz Fazal after getting to 10,000 runs in Ranji Trophy•PTI Another player who has been heavily influenced by Jaffer’s guidance is Sanjay Ramaswamy, the second-best batsman for the side this season after his captain and opening partner Faiz Fazal. Ramaswamy is the fifth-highest run-maker this season with 735 runs, including three centuries. According to Jaffer, Ramaswamy was an “aloof” player, who would not mingle with the rest of the group. Technically, too, he was not sound, struggling with feet movement which was getting him into a “bad position.” Both Pandit and Jaffer spoke to him bluntly.”The way he was moving before the ball was bowled, he was getting himself into a very bad position. And he would not listen. He felt that is the only way he could play,” Jaffer recounts. Pandit and Jaffer spent “quite a few hours” with Ramaswamy at one practice session before this season and recorded a video to make some technical corrections. “His bat was opening a little bit too much, which was making the balls go to gully or point. I just told him to correct his grip, which would help him to play more in front of the wicket.”Jaffer points out after that practice session Ramaswamy realised his mistake. “Till then he was within his own bubble. He won’t go to anyone and speak about his game. I told him if he wants to play at the higher levels, he needs to keep his mind open. I told him greats like Sachin Tendulkar or Sunil Gavaskar achieved so much, but even now they are very keen to learn things. You need to have an open mind to become a better player. You just can’t shut out suggestions.”After that session Ramaswamy started opening up, and would approach Jaffer and Pandit and ask questions. “It makes it worthwhile to see him score runs against good teams.”Ramaswamy, Sarwate, Gurbani now know what belief can do. Pandit and Jaffer learned, practised, mastered the art of winning at all costs during their Mumbai years. Now they are passing some of those learnings to Vidarbha.On Friday, Jaffer will play his ninth Ranji final. On all eight previous occasions, all with Mumbai, Jaffer walked out with the winner’s medal. Delhi, their opponents in the deciding game, are no pushovers. They are as hungry and as desperate to clinch the title. Jaffer’s key message to his team-mates ahead of the final is to enjoy it, to savour the occasion of playing the final, a moment that so many cricketers have not experienced. “I want them to try and think like a winner because nobody really remembers the finalist. So we need to think about the winning the game and all of us need to just believe we can win and go out there thinking only that.”

****

At the outset of this season Jaffer sent an e-mail to the VCA, telling the association’s bosses that he would like to play for Vidarbha again but did not want them to pay him the contract fee. Last year Jaffer was injured during the Ranji season, but the VCA still paid him the contract amount as a professional. Jaffer had worked hard to recuperate in time for the domestic ODIs, but the team management did not pick him.Jaffer says he was “irritated” that the selectors shunned him. But he did not take it negatively. He agrees he had a point to prove this year. “I had not played last year but they still paid me all my dues, so it would be fair on me to return that favour this season,” Jaffer says.Regardless of the result in the final, Jaffer has been a true professional: performing, inspiring, cajoling and leading Vidarbha’s players to the next level.

India recorded their biggest innings victory and became the first Asian side to win inside two days

Bharath Seervi15-Jun-2018.ESPNcricinfo LtdAfghanistan were bowled out twice on Friday as India became the first Asian side to win a Test in less than two days. Afghanistan’s debut was the 21st two-day Test, only the second in Asia and just the sixth in the last 70 years. The India-Australia Test in Mumbai in 2004 was the previous shortest Test in India in terms of balls bowled. That Test lasted 202.1 overs; this one in Bengaluru lasted just 171.2 overs.Afghanistan became only the third team to get bowled out twice on the same day in a Test. Their opponents India had suffered the same fate against England at Old Trafford in 1953, while Zimbabwe were bundled out twice against New Zealand, in 2005 and 2012.

The 24 wickets that fell on the second day in Bengaluru (20 Afghanistan, 4 India) are the most to have fallen in a day of Test cricket in the last 115 years. The highest number of wickets to have fallen in a day previously in India is 20: Mumbai 2004 against Australia, and Nagpur 2015 against South Africa.India’s win by an innings and 262 runs is their biggest in Tests, eclipsing the margin of an innings and 239 runs against Bangladesh in 2007. The 399 deliveries they bowled and 212 runs they conceded are the fewest in a Test win.

Possibly still stuck in one-day mode, Bangladesh failed to reach 200 for the seventh successive Test innings

Mohammad Isam in Sylhet04-Nov-2018Antigua was a nightmare. Kingston was inexplicable. Dhaka was just too unpredictable.Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal were missing in Sylhet. This was Bangladesh’s first home Test in eight months. They have come into the game on the back of 12 ODIs since August. Zimbabwe won the toss.The explanations and excuses, however, have to stop right there. Zimbabwe bowled Bangladesh out for 143. It was the seventh successive Test innings in which they didn’t get to 200.This has come at a time when Bangladesh have won eight of their last 12 ODIs, beating West Indies 2-1 at home, reaching the Asia Cup final, and crushing Zimbabwe 3-0. The batsmen have made seven centuries and the bowlers have contributed in every win.The contrast couldn’t be starker in Tests. Sri Lanka and West Indies crushed them, and now Zimbabwe have a 140-run lead going into the third day in Sylhet, with all ten wickets in hand. Bangladesh might well need a miracle to win or draw this game. A turnaround, like Bangladesh’s to save a Test against Pakistan in Khulna in 2015, cannot yet be ruled out. But given how woeful the first-innings batting was, and how lopsided the bowling attack is, such a turnaround seems fanciful.Imrul Kayes and Mahmudullah were bowled off inside edges, against deliveries they could have left alone. Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque were out playing at away-going deliveries. The dismissals of Liton and Mushfiqur followed boundaries struck through the off-side. Reading too much into Ariful Haque’s unbeaten 41 on debut would be premature, particularly because he came in after the initial spells of Tendai Chatara and Kyle Jarvis.Perhaps Mehidy Hasan Miraz could have contributed a little more at No 8, but when a side has picked seven full batsmen, it is extremely difficult to point fingers at the bottom four.Chatara, Jarvis and Sikandar Raza underscored Bangladesh’s haplessness in front of disciplined bowling, and it should be particularly chastening since it happened on a relatively good pitch to bat on. Raza, Brandon Mavuta and Sean Williams were not spitting venom like Rangana Herath and Akila Dananjaya did in Dhaka back in February. Nor were Chatara and Jarvis bowling in Antigua or Kingston. They were simply testing the batsmen’s patience. The test lasted just 51 overs.In these last seven innings in Test cricket, Bangladesh have managed an average total of 126 while lasting an average of 39 overs. Among the four batsmen who have batted in all seven innings, Mushfiqur has the highest balls-faced-per-innings figure, a meagre 33. Liton has faced 31 balls per innings while Mominul and Mahmudullah have faced 20 and 14 on an average, respectively.It’s not as if these batsmen have been in poor form across formats. In the same period, Mushfiqur has averaged 55.00 in ODIs, and Imrul 86.40, with two hundreds. Liton has scored 120 in the Asia Cup final and 83 in the second ODI against Zimbabwe. Batting down the order, Mahmudullah has played some important innings too.Why then have all of them struggled so much in Test cricket of late? One common thread running through the top seven in the first innings in Sylhet was of batsmen repeatedly playing away from their body. Chatara suggested they might have still been in one-day mode, which helped his discipline pay off.Bangladesh’s Test batting gained a decent amount of confidence over the tours of New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka in 2017. Since then, though, starting with the home series against Australia and particularly after a disastrous tour of South Africa, those gains have evaporated.This inconsistency has a lot to do with the type of pitches used at home. Dhaka’s dark clay doesn’t encourage longer-version batting, while Chittagong is a featherbed. Sylhet is a typical sub-continent pitch that is expected to take turn from the third day. Batting in South Africa and West Indies has been difficult, but the same batsmen have done better in ODIs and T20Is.The question of context, once again, rears its ugly head. How much does this series, against Zimbabwe, mean? With an ODI World Cup coming up in seven months, do Bangladesh care for Test cricket? If they do, the second innings in Sylhet is a good place for them to start showing it.

Sikandar Raza says the pain of failing to qualify for the 2019 World Cup will never fully go away, but hopes the Sylhet Test win will be the first step towards easing it

Mohammad Isam in Sylhet06-Nov-2018Half an hour after Regis Chakabva took the match-winning catch to complete Zimbabwe’s first away Test win in 17 years, the team’s dressing room was quiet. A team meeting was taking place. As soon as it ended, though, the room roared. The entire team chanted a popular tune, followed by a loud cry of “Zimbabwe”.Coach Lalchand Rajput had earlier said, at the post-match press conference, that it was a doubly special occasion for him, with the 151-run win over Bangladesh coming on the day of Diwali. In the eerily quiet Sylhet stadium, the only noise was from the away dressing room. Laughter was everywhere. This was a moment to cherish.These were the reverberating celebrations of an underdog cricket team that is unloved by the very game it plays. There’s no World Cup for Zimbabwe next year, and just the two Test matches this year. There were strong undertones of Bangladesh taking them lightly, particularly after winning the ODI series 3-0, Mustafizur Rahman being rested being the biggest example.The way Zimbabwe have bounced back has been stunning. Crucial runs from Sean Williams and Hamilton Masakadza and the bowling pressure built by Tendai Chatara, Sikandar Raza and Kyle Jarvis was a wonderful bouquet from Zimbabwe to Test cricket.Raza, who took six wickets in the match, was a late addition to the Bangladesh tour only after he ended his contractual differences with Zimbabwe Cricket. The aftermath of Zimbabwe failing to qualify to the 2019 World Cup, after a heartbreaking loss to UAE in Harare back in February, bore down strongly on Raza, like many of his team-mates that day.After the win against Bangladesh, Raza and Brandon Mavuta, who took four wickets on the fourth afternoon, were having a laugh at each other’s expense with the debutant Wellington Masakadza looking on. Raza said beating Bangladesh in their backyard was a difficult task Zimbabwe were happy to have achieved.”This is the first Test win in my career,” Raza told ESPNcricinfo. “I was the 12th man in the Test win over Pakistan in 2013. It is a humbling and exciting time, considering Zimbabwe last played a Test almost a year ago. We haven’t had much cricket after that anyway. The feeling is still sinking in.”All the physical pain that came from batting, bowling and fielding has gone away, because we won. Hopefully we can carry on winning at home and away and keep up this momentum. This is a sweeter Test win, and to do that in Bangladesh where most of the other teams haven’t been able to do it, is quite a happy and exciting feeling to be honest.”Sikandar Raza sweeps•AFPIt was a contrasting afternoon to the one in Harare eight months ago. The Zimbabwe dressing room was a dark place that day, and the repercussions have been quite negative in the following months.Raza felt the Test win would have a positive effect on Zimbabwe’s overall mindset, in not just giving them confidence to do well in the next Test, but also to start the process of forgetting the World Cup disappointment.”The nightmares of not qualifying for the World Cup are still fresh in our memories, and also in our fans,” he said. “A bit of the pain probably will go away. But all of it won’t go away. I know that I will be playing with that pain for the rest of my career.”The magnitude of what we lost and how well we were playing, that pain will always be there for me. But I was picked for this tour along with other senior cricketers so that we can help Zimbabwe win more games. The pain will definitely fade away as we win more matches at home and away.”Rajput, who joined Zimbabwe as head coach only four months ago, said the desperation to win was what stood out for him, particularly after going down in the ODI series. “We were hungry to win,” he said. “We wanted really badly to win the match because we had been losing in previous games. If you’re hungry for success, you’ll do well.”The way we batted in the first two days really showed the character of the players. From the first day the wicket was turning, it was slow, and batsmen were a little worried about whether the match would last four or five days.”So I just said keep calm, you’ve got to trust your defence, and basically it’s important that you show temperament and character. And our players have really shown that.”

It is not the average score at a venue. It’s not the scoring rate. And it’s not the perfect winning score

Anantha Narayanan15-Mar-2019

– from

The game unites the country, cutting through race, religion, caste and class in the way few other things can

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Jun-2019When the Sri Lanka squad left to undertake pre-World Cup training in the UK, a little over three weeks ago, a stultifying unease had settled upon their island. Rocked to its core by the seven bomb blasts that wrenched away more than 250 lives on Easter Sunday, the island’s parks and beaches had emptied, restaurants sat idle, and much of the vivacity of Sri Lankan life had given way to fear.In the weeks since, some semblance of normalcy has been restored. Classrooms are full of students again. Offices hum once more, commuter trains are packed, and the negative foreign-travel advisories – which had helped bring Sri Lankan tourism to a virtual standstill – have begun to be relaxed. Yet there are daily reminders that not all is as it once was. Armed guards stand outside churches, mosques, hotels and malls. Children as young as five must have their bags inspected before they enter school grounds. The news is a vortex of rumour, nationalist fervour, haunting admissions, and wild allegations. Analysts attempt to grapple with local manifestations of a global threat, the government attempts to chart a peaceful course forward, and every fresh revelation wages a fresh onslaught on the psyche. Here is a nation in need of a distraction – a purpose cricket has so often served.ALSO READ: ‘I’ll never forget the scene’ – Shanaka revisits Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday horrorThe game is uniquely qualified to speak to Sri Lanka in harrowing times, because there is no pursuit that cuts through race, religion, caste and class in the country quite as comprehensively. Resoundingly popular in the north – where cricket survived the deprivations of the decades-long civil war – as it is in the wild south-east, or up in the tea-growing hills, it is at once a sport beloved by the working- and middle classes, as it is controlled by elites. Once a weapon used by British to subjugate and divide (many clubs in Colombo still bear their racial names, though they abide by them no longer), cricket has in modern times become a showcase of a unified Sri Lanka: Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Christians all turn out for the national side.The man who has led the team most often this decade, for example, is half-Tamil and Catholic – two minority identities heaped one upon the other. And yet Angelo Mathews’ background was barely remarked upon when he was appointed Sri Lanka’s youngest captain in 2013. Why hail this as some progressive milestone after all, when race and religion have virtually been incidental within Sri Lankan cricket for decades?Cricket in the country is by no means without vast and debilitating woes. It is corrupt and cripplingly intertwined with politics. The apex administrative body’s constitution is a source of profound dysfunction. And yet, for all its sins, Sri Lankan cricket is unblemished by flaw. Beyond runs scored, wickets taken, and catches held, there are few considerations. Where you went to school? Well, perhaps that still has cachet. Who you pray to? What language you speak? The nation’s best ever, Muttiah Muralitharan, is a Hindu from the Hill Country Tamil community, who, having been brutalised by the British and disenfranchised for decades after independence, might fairly lay claim to being the island’s most besieged.Whatever Sri Lanka’s fortunes may be in this World Cup, the country’s fans will bear them collectively•IDI/Getty ImagesIt is unsurprising that when ethnic tensions spill over, and hateful forces mobilise, Sri Lanka’s cricketers are among the first and most forceful voices to campaign for unity. Kumar Sangakkara frequently takes to his social-media pages to deliver conciliatory sermons, his Sinhala as elegant as his English. Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya are just as quick to use their platforms to push for calm. The current crop of players do not stand idly by either – Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Upul Tharanga and Jeffrey Vandersay all have spoken out on various occasions.And theirs are not merely parroted platitudes. When new captain Dimuth Karunaratne – one of the most vocal on Twitter in the past few weeks – stands against racism, he understands, like so many captains before him, the strength in Sri Lanka’s diversity. Himself a Sinhala Buddhist who made his name opening the batting for a Catholic school, he has in his dressing room players from all over the Sri Lankan spectrum. There is Nuwan Pradeep, the Sinhala fast bowler who speaks Tamil, having grown up in a multilingual fishing neighbourhood in Negombo. There’s Mendis, the rising star in the batting order, and Catholic son of a Moratuwa trishaw driver. There are players with Burgher (Dutch or British) ancestry, and others from the deep south, from villages as Buddhist as they come. Muslims have not had substantial representation in the team in recent years (though Mohamed Shiraz did make the squad for the recent South Africa Tests, even if he didn’t play), but that is not believed to be a result of discrimination. Muslims can be counted among the most respected voices in the cricket media, and they form one of the most raucous groups within Sri Lanka’s fandom – Mohamed Nilam, a superfan, is often seen in his jester’s hat in the stands.ALSO READ: Can Sri Lanka spring another surprise, 23 years on?Cricket has its limitations. World Cup wins will do little to ease the suffering of families devastated by the blasts in Katuwapitiya and Kochchikade, or dull the profound grief of Batticaloa parents whose children were killed just as they were returning to the church building after Sunday school. A great innings will not un-burn Muslim-owned shops. Dipping yorkers will not quell divisive rhetoric, or provide political solutions to long-standing grievances. And perhaps victories will be in short supply in this particular World Cup, given the state of this team’s ODI form. In having won the Tests in South Africa in February, Sri Lanka may already have exhausted their cricket miracle for the year.But there is always the hope there will be some respite. Hope that Sri Lanka raise their game for a World Cup, as they often have done in this century, and that by some magic, a few wins can be strung together. And that even if not, and a nation is disappointed, that it will bear that disappointment as it has often done, together.

And who has bowled the most overs in a single Test series?

Steven Lynch22-Oct-2019Is the current India-South Africa series the first one in which three different batsmen from the same side have scored double-centuries? asked Arun from Finland

The current series between India and South Africa, which has featured double-centuries from Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, turns out to be the fifth in which three different batsmen from the same side have reached 200. It is the first of those series to include only three matches, though.Three Englishmen passed 200 in the four Tests of the 1938 Ashes series: Eddie Paynter made 216 not out at Trent Bridge, Walter Hammond 240 at Lord’s, and Len Hutton 364 at The Oval. Two Australians also made double-centuries – Bill Brown and Stan McCabe, but not Don Bradman – making this the only Test series to feature five different double-centurions.The feat was not achieved again for more than 44 years, when Zaheer Abbas, Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad all made double-centuries for Pakistan against India in 1982-83. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle all passed 200 for West Indies v South Africa in 2004-05, and finally Kevin Pietersen, Alastair Cook and Ian Bell did likewise for England against India in 2011.Which bowler has dismissed the most opening batsmen in Tests? asked Jeremy Corke from England

This record changed hands in the Caribbean earlier this year, when England’s Jimmy Anderson had Kraigg Brathwaite caught at second slip in St Lucia: that was the 156th time he had dismissed an opening batsman in a Test, one more than Australia’s Glenn McGrath. Next come Muttiah Muralitharan (130), Kapil Dev (127) and Courtney Walsh (125).There are nine others who dismissed more than 100 opening batsmen in Tests. Of all of them, Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas has the best percentage: 110 of his 355 Test wickets were opposing openers.What’s the highest opening partnership in a Test, where neither batsman managed to score a century? asked Ankur Jain from India

Unless I’ve missed something, the answer here is the stand of 192 between Sunil Gavaskar (97) and Chetan Chauhan (93) for India against Pakistan in Lahore in 1978-79. That just shades the 191 of another Indian pair, VVS Laxman (95) and Navjot Singh Sidhu (97) against Australia in Kolkata in 1997-98. There are only two other Test innings in which both openers were out in the nineties.Shane Warne bowled 439.5 overs in his first Ashes series, in 1993•Philip BrownWho bowled the most overs in a single Test series? asked Roni from India

The hard-worked winner here is Shane Warne, who sent down 439.5 overs in the 1993 Ashes. That beat the previous record, set by the Jamaican slow left-armer Alf Valentine, who bowled 430 overs in West Indies’ home series against India in 1952-53. Valentine also occupies third spot: in his maiden series, in England in 1950, he delivered 422.3 overs in just four Tests (Warne in 1993 had six Tests, and Valentine five in 1952-53). The record for a three-Test series is 236 overs, by Muttiah Muralitharan at home against England in 2000-01, while also in Sri Lanka, in 1996-97, Saqlain Mushtaq bowled 195.1 overs in a two-match rubber.Here’s the full list (note that Maurice Tate is shown in fourth place as he was delivering eight-ball overs).How did New Zealand’s Graham Vivian come to make his first-class debut in a Test match in India? asked Murray Evans from New Zealand

It seems that Graham Vivian was picked for New Zealand’s tours of India, Pakistan and New Zealand in 1964-65, despite no previous first-class experience, because they felt they needed a legspinner on what were expected to be helpful subcontinental surfaces. He had just enjoyed a successful season for Auckland Under-20 side in their domestic competition, taking 12 for 74 in the match against Otago, and 23 wickets in three matches in all. His father, Giff Vivian, had played seven Tests in the 1930s.John Reid, New Zealand’s captain on that tour, had been impressed by Vivian’s bowling in the nets, and he was invited to a trial in Christchurch, with three other legspinners, with a view to one of them making the tour party. “Vivian came out of the trial top,” wrote Reid. “He bowled, in fact, immensely well. He beat all of us with his wrong’uns, he spun the ball sharply, he controlled very well indeed. He won the vote. The pity of it was that never on tour was he able to bowl as well as he did that day at Lancaster Park.”It was obviously very optimistic to expect Vivian, who was barely 19 when the tour started, to be able to perform immediately at the top level, especially as there were no warm-up matches in India and Pakistan. He played in only one of the ten Tests on the whole tour (including the England leg), taking the wicket of India’s Salim Durani in Calcutta (now Kolkata).Vivian was a superb fielder, and subsequently enjoyed a reasonable first-class career in New Zealand, scoring three centuries and taking 56 wickets. He reappeared on tour in the West Indies in 1971-72, playing four more Tests. He was the first man since 1898-99 to make his first-class debut in a Test (there had been a few in the 19th century, when some of the tours were privately organised). Only five men have done so since, most recently the 17-year-old Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman, against India in Bengaluru in June 2018.Use our
feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions