Yuvraj Singh has answered questions over his fitness with his double-century against Central Zone, according to Shikhar Dhawan and former cricketer Ajay Mehra

Abhishek Purohit15-Oct-2012Yuvraj Singh has answered questions over his fitness with a double-century against Central Zone in his first first-class match since recovering from cancer, according to two men who watched the innings closely. Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj’s North Zone captain, said no one could play such a long knock without being fit. Ajay Mehra, the former first-class cricketer who is working as a commentator on the game in Hyderabad, said Yuvraj had proved a lot of critics wrong with his performance. His former India team-mate and opposition captain, Mohammad Kaif, said Yuvraj had displayed impeccable timing through most of the innings*.Yuvraj’s innings lasted over five-and-a-half hours and he took the field after lunch on the second day during Central Zone’s innings, standing in the slip cordon for most of the day. Dhawan, who made 121 and batted for over 20 overs with Yuvraj during their third-wicket partnership, praised his senior partner’s mental strength.”I felt really good for Yuvi ,” Dhawan told ESPNcricinfo. “He is such a motivation for all youngsters. It was a classy innings. I loved seeing him from the other end. The way he came in and started batting, I [laughing] told him he had almost finished the game. He is a very strong man mentally.”If someone is scoring a double-century, he has to be fit. He was running very fast during the innings. We ran several quick singles and threes.”Yuvraj was selected for the recently concluded World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka without having played any competitive match since November 2011, though he trained at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. He showed signs of rustiness in Sri Lanka and he looked tired after running twos and sharp singles, leading former players to question the timing of his comeback.Dhawan, who also trained at the NCA when Yuvraj did, spoke about the effort he had put into his preparation at that time. “I trained with him in the NCA as well before he went to Sri Lanka for the World Twenty20. Even then, he was sprinting hard with high intensity. Of course, it takes time for things to get together for one in a match.”Mehra said Yuvraj had the option of taking some more time off the field but it was good to see that he had chosen to turn out for North Zone in the Duleep Trophy. “It was a test for him,” Mehra said. “He was playing the longer format for the first time since recovering from cancer and he has proved a lot of critics wrong. He could have easily opted out of the Duleep Trophy. He could have said that he wanted some time to get fitter. What was good to see was the way he slogged it out in the middle. He looked very determined and focused. It was pleasing to see the way he applied himself.”There is nothing like match practice. The more he plays, the more he will improve. He has worked hard on his fitness and is looking much better than he did during the World Twenty20.”Kaif, while also expressing disappointment at the runs coming against his team, praised Yuvraj’s “impressive” showing. “The hallmark of this particular innings in Hyderabad was his timing – one of his strengths over the years. When he times the ball well he becomes a completely different batsman and that is what he did during his long stay at the wicket over the first two days of the [match],” Kaif said in the . “What was as impressive as the number of runs Yuvraj scored was the fact that he was able to bat over five hours across two days and he must be very pleased with his level of fitness, which is key when you play the longer versions of the game.Though he scored a large number of runs in boundaries on way to his double hundred he also showed that he could sprint between the wickets. At different points in the game he did steal quick singles.”*05:53 GMT, October 16: This story has been updated with the Mohammad Kaif quotes

All that is to watch out for in the second round of Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Nov-2012

Group A

Punjab v Bengal in Mohali
The Punjab quicks had a good time on the Mohali track in winning by an innings against Hyderabad. There is no reason Sourav Sarkar, Ashok Dinda and Veer Pratap Singh won’t like it. Watch out for Jiwanjot Singh, the Punjab opener who scored a double-hundred on debut. Punjab 7 points, Bengal 3 pointsRajasthan v Mumbai in Jaipur
Mumbai go to Jaipur sans all the Test stars and Ajit Agarkar. Rohit Sharma will captain them against the defending Ranji champions who managed just one point in their first match. Watch out for Pankaj Singh, who took nine wickets in the first match and might even have harboured thoughts of a Test call-up. Rajasthan 1, Mumbai 3Gujarat v Saurasthra in Surat
When Saurashtra had Cheteshwar Pujara available, they weren’t playing. Now that Pujara is gone to India Test camp, they kick off their season with this Gujarat derby. Gujarat are coming off a frustrating finish when they came close to sealing six points against Madhya Pradesh. Watch out for Parhtiv Patel, who scored 162 and 80 in the first match. Gujarat 3, Saurashtra yet to beginHyderabad v Madhya Pradesh in Hyderabad
Despite the presence of VVS Laxman, Hyderabad have got off to yet another disastrous start. Who said it was going to be easy? They could learn from their next opponents, Madhya Pradesh, whose lower order fought and fought to register one point against MP. Watch out for Jalaj Saxena, the India A spinner, who must consider himself the best spinner outside the Test squad. Hyderabad 0, MP 1

Group B

Delhi v Odisha in Delhi
Delhi, who lost their first match outright despite the presence of four Test stars, will miss not only them but also Ashish Nehra, who has been rested in order to fight the tight schedule. And they are still missing Rajat Bhatia, who got injured in the Champions League T20. Odisha hosted a rained-out match last week, and will hope for a drier time in the capital. Watch out for Parvinder Awana, who is one of the quicker bowlers in Indian domestic cricket but didn’t get to play in the presence of Ishant Sharma and Nehra. Delhi 0, Odisha 1Maharashtra v Uttar Pradesh in Pune
This is the impressive Subroto Roy Sahara Stadium’s first-class debut, and Maharashtra’s first game this season. This is also the game to watch out for Suresh Raina, who has been dropped from the Test side. Reports say he was sombre and didn’t even have lunch the day the announcement of his exclusion was made. Maharashtra yet to begin, UP 6. Read more here.Baroda v Vidarbha in Baroda
Vidarbha are coming off an outright win over Haryana, but will be missing Umesh Yadav who is away for Tests. Baroda, too, will be missing Irfan Pathan, who is out with a knee injury. Watch out for Yusuf Pathan, who failed twice in the previous match, scoring 24 and 0. Baroda 3, Vidarbha 6Tamil Nadu v Karnataka in Chennai
A rivalry that once was. Nowadays they play each other in front of 30 people or so. This will be a battle of the Karnataka bowling against the Tamil Nadu batting, although they will be missing the services of M Vijay, who has been called up for Tests. Tamil Nadu 1, Karnataka 1

Group C

Jharkhand v Assam in Jamshedpur
Big match in Group C. Assam and Jharkhand have emerged as early leaders in the group with seven points each. Watch out for Dheeraj Jadhav, who scored the first double-century of this Ranji Trophy.Andhra v Tripura in Anantapur
Two teams with ordinary starts to the season. Tripura lost by an innings in Guwahati, and Andhra conceded a first-innings lead in a rain-interrupted home match to Services at home. The weather is expected to be better this time. Watch out for Amol Muzumdar, who is 81 short of becoming the highest overall run-getter in Ranji Trophy. Andhra 1, Tripura 0Goa v Jammu & Kashmir in Porvorim
This is Goa’s first game of the season, and also their imported keeper Manvinder Bisla’s first since December 2010. Bisla was without a Ranji side in 2011-12, before he became a star through his innings in the IPL final. J&K will look to prove wrong those who have started calling them walking seven points after their innings defeat to Jharkhand. Goa yet to begin, J&K 0Himachal Pradesh v Services in Naduan
Himachal Pradesh came close to beating Kerala outright, but had to do with three points. Services are at three too. Watch out for Rishi Dhawan, who scored a century and took three wickets in Himachal’s first. Himachal 3, Services 3

Michael Hussey has said he’d have liked an earlier crack at international cricket, but the long spell at the domestic level honed his game to perfection

Daniel Brettig30-Dec-2012No-one made more runs before being handed a baggy green cap than Michael Hussey, and it is highly likely that no-one ever will have to again. In addition to leaving an enormous hole in Australia’s batting order, Hussey’s exit from the game at 37 also poses a major question about the development of players capable of filling it.Was Hussey robbed of an even more illustrious career by a selection panel that scorned his talents until he was 30, or was the wonderfully dextrous and adaptable player he became a direct result of all those years spent honing his game for the opportunity? As he looked forward to more time at home, though he will continue to play for Western Australia and Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, Hussey said he wished he had been given an earlier chance, but reasoned that the completeness of his game and the maturity of his approach stemmed from the extra time he was left to shape it.”I would’ve loved to get an opportunity earlier, there’s no question about that,” Hussey said. “I would’ve maybe liked to go through what young players go through at international level where you come in, you’re so excited to be there, probably go through some hard times and then come out the other side a batter player.”But in a lot of ways it probably did help me to be able to perform consistently at international level, to have so much first-class cricket behind me. To learn about the game and learn about batting and learn about myself as a person, I think held me in very good stead when I came to the international game when there’s so many distractions externally, to be able to put them aside and concentration my game. Knowing what worked for me helped me definitely.”With Hussey soon to be gone from the team, Australia’s selectors are left to pick from the meagre batting options they have left. Usman Khawaja is part of the current squad and has worked at rounding out his game in the manner of Hussey, while the Twenty20 captain George Bailey has a fighter’s instinct and a leader’s brain and attitude, if not quite the record of batting achievement that suggests he will make as instant an impression at 30 as Hussey did after he debuted in 2005.

Hussey’s most cherished moments

“The 2007 World Cup was just an amazing experience – the way the team played throughout that tournament was just incredible cricket,. So to be a part of that was absolutely fantastic and a huge highlight for me. Being part of an Ashes series where we won 5-0 here in Australia and to play with some of the true legends and greats of the game I’m really thrilled to play with these guys and to play in such a fantastic Ashes series like that. They’re the two that standout most to me over my career.
“From a personal point of view my favourite moment would be hitting the winning runs in the second Test in Adelaide in that Ashes series [in 2006]. I’m not sure how many I made that day, but that feeling I got, to win that amazing Test match and to be out there to hit the winning runs, was a fantastic honour.”

Hussey himself believes his 35-year-old brother David deserves a chance, while Chris Rogers is of the same age and the possessor of endless first-class experience in England. Other young batsmen like Joe Burns in Queensland, Kurtis Patterson in New South Wales, Alex Doolan in Tasmania and Peter Handscomb in Victoria will in time press their claims, but their readiness for international cricket and all its myriad challenges will depend on how – and for how long – they are groomed.A major reason for Hussey’s exit is that he is no longer prepared to separate himself from his family for the long tracts of time required by international tours, but another is the wearing down effect of Test match pressure, be it from opponents, media, supporters, team-mates and the man himself. The support Hussey has been given from the likes of his first-grade batting coach Ian Keevan, the former Northants coach Bob Carter, and his wife Amy allowed him to push through much of it, and those relationships were also built up over the years he spent waiting for his chance.”There’s so much pressure, stress and tension around international cricket, on all the guys,” Hussey said. “I’m amazed how the guys handle it at times. But I think it’s very important to have a good support network around you, people who keep believing in you all the time, and keep you in a positive frame of mind when sometimes it’s quite easy to get yourself down and put more pressure on yourself. I’m very lucky to have that network around me that’ve remained really positive and confident and believed in me.”It’s a little bit sad and I will miss certain parts of it. But there’s so much more to life than just playing cricket, and I have those fantastic memories, but there’s going to be a lot of things I certainly won’t miss, like the really sick feeling in the stomach when you have to go out and bat in a Test match, the constant time away from home, training, travel, hotels and airports. It does wear you down after a while.”It’s taken me a long time to learn how I play my best cricket. It’s going to be different for everyone, but for me personally when I do relax, when I do enjoy the game I just stick to my very good preparation, and I just know and believe I will perform.”Hussey’s final summer has been played without the self-imposed expectations he had previously lived with, for he knew that retirement at the end of the season was always his most likely path. That allowed him to relax and play his best, just as he did not gain a start for Australia until after he had virtually given up hope of earning one.”I do feel like the pressure’s been off a little bit,” he said. “I was very keen to do well in this particular summer. Like every summer I guess. But I felt like I could go out there with nothing to lose a little bit because I knew in my own mind that it was probably going to come to an end at the end of the Australian summer.”So I could play with a bit more freedom and just go out there and relax. Maybe there is a lesson in there to be learnt – I have always been someone that has put a lot of pressure on myself and tried sometimes too hard and when you just relax and play and enjoy the game, that’s when I’ve played my best cricket.”There is a lesson in that for all those who will follow Hussey into Australia’s Test team, one of many that can be learned from observing the career and achievements of a cricketer who tried to – and usually did – do everything right.

Yuvraj Singh’s spell of left-arm spin upended England’s innings and then his burst of hitting smoothened India’s path to a comprehensive victory

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran20-Dec-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Yuvraj Singh showed why he is indispensable in limited-overs cricket•BCCI

Smart stats

• India’s win is their third in six Twenty20 internationals against England. However, it is their first win in home Twenty20 matches against England.

• The number of balls remaining after the win (13) is the highest for India in a successful chase of 150 or more. The target is also the fourth-highest chased by India.

• This is the second time that Yuvraj Singh has made a 35-plus score and picked up three or more wickets in the same game. Overall, there have been 13 such instances in Twenty20 internationals.

• Yuvraj’s 3 for 19 is the joint sixth-best bowling performance for India in Twenty20 matches. It is also the second-best performance for India against England after Harbhajan Singh’s 4 for 12 in Colombo earlier this year.

• The strike rate of 160 for Alex Hales is the highest for an England batsman against India (50-plus scores only).

Yuvraj Singh’s decade-long attempt to secure a permanent spot in the Test team may have been thwarted once again this month, but in the first Twenty20 against England he once again showed why he is indispensable in limited-overs formats. First, his spell of left-arm spin upended England’s innings and then his burst of hitting smoothened India’s path to a comprehensive victory.In the first international match at the Subrata Roy Stadium in Pune, Alex Hales and Luke Wright had muscled 68 in seven overs for the second wicket as England rattled along at more than 10 an over. Hales began with two powerful pulls for four in the first over, and then showed off his straight-hitting to sprint to a 26-ball half-century, his fourth for England. Unlike Hales, Wright hadn’t spent time in India with the England Performance Programme squad but he too played a fluent boundary-filled innings, not flustered by the change in conditions from the Big Bash League in Australia.Yuvraj’s introduction in the ninth over transformed the game. He was the seventh bowler MS Dhoni turned to as India desperately searched for ways to stall the runs, and he immediately delivered. Five of the previous six overs had been punished for 10 runs or more, but Yuvraj in his first gave away just five singles. In his next, he had Luke Wright caught at long-off. In his third, Hales was dropped by Dhoni, then bowled before England captain Eoin Morgan gave long-on a catch. The triple-blow sucked out the momentum from the innings, and by the end of his spell the run-rate was down to around seven-and-a-half.Ashok Dinda, leading India’s pace attack though he himself is fairly new to international cricket, delivered the perfect penultimate over, taking two wickets and giving away only two runs. Either side of that though, Dhoni’s go-to bowler in Twenty20s, R Ashwin, and debutant fast bowler Parvinder Awana were hit for two sixes in an over each as Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 33 lifted England to 157.That was a score India looked happy to concede on a good track in a stadium with short boundaries. Their task was made easier by the poor line of England’s new-ball bowlers, who gifted plenty of runs down the leg side. Ajinkya Rahane, a near-permanent fixture on the India bench, finally got a chance in the middle, and he jumpstarted the chase with a couple of straight sixes.Though Tim Bresnan got his first international wickets since September by removing both Rahane and Gautam Gambhir in the fifth over, Yuvraj kept the large crowd cheering with a 21-ball 38. That included an onslaught on left-arm spinner Danny Briggs, who was taken for 18 in his only over of the game. Soon after, Yuvraj top-edged a pull off Luke Wright for six and though he connected solidly on the next delivery as well, it soared too high and didn’t clear the rope, falling in the hands of Stuart Meaker.India were already 93 for 3 in the 10th over by the time Yuvraj was dismissed, and Suresh Raina and Dhoni weren’t unduly troubled as India knocked off the runs required to confirm victory in the 18th over.

Ian Bell has acknowledged that England’s top-order batsmen will have to perform far better if they are regain a footing in the ODI series against India

George Dobell21-Jan-2013Ian Bell has acknowledged that England’s top-order batsmen will have to perform far better if they are regain a footing in the ODI series against India. England suffered their second crushing loss in succession in the third ODI on Saturday to allow India to take a 2-1 lead with two games to play and Bell knows that, with England having been bowled out for totals of 158 and 155, they will need to improve substantially if they are to prevent India securing a series victory in Wednesday’s game in Mohali.It is no coincidence that England won the first game of the series following a dominant performance from their top-order. Bell and Alastair Cook posted an opening stand of 158 within 28 overs to allow the middle-order to accelerate in the later stages of the innings.While Bell accepted that India’s opening bowlers had performed admirably in the last couple of games, he stressed the need for one of England’s top-order to bat through most of the innings to provide a platform for the middle-order. He hopes that the cooler conditions in Mohali might benefit England.”If we are going to get 150, that’s not going to challenge India at all in these conditions,” Bell said. “We need to get runs on the board and get a senior batsman batting for the majority of the overs.”We haven’t done that in the last two games and if we do that we can push India. In the final two games we need to get into a position to hurt India at the back end of the innings.”Their opening bowlers are very good,” he added. “They have plenty of skills and swing the ball both ways. They have made us work really hard. But we need a foundation for our big hitters in the middle to get us going.”It’s a little bit more familiar here than the last couple of games and obviously that’s nice. It’s been very nice here, very English really. That sure helps everyone.”The situation also presents the first significant test of Ashley Giles’ new career as an international coach. While Giles’ first series as England’s limited-overs coach was always likely to prove demanding – England’s limited-overs record in India offered little room for optimism – the extent of the last two defeats has been alarming.But, while Giles will consider changes to the England side ahead of the fourth match, he is also keen not to over-react. He knows, both from the ups and downs of his time as an international player and from his time as director of cricket at Warwickshire, that a calm appraisal of such adversity is infinitely preferable to any hint of panic or knee-jerk reaction.”I never, or probably only a couple of times, stamped my feet when I was at Warwickshire,” Giles said. “If the coach is on an emotional rollercoaster you end up with a team that is second guessing what your reaction will be if you win or lose. That’s not how I want to be.”Honesty is the important thing. You have to analyse where you’ve gone wrong, look at your personnel, pull those things together and ask ‘are we getting it right? Is this the right mix? Are they the right people?’ That’s the unemotional way of looking at it.”The hairdryer treatment works occasionally but not very often, not if you’re in it for the long term. If I did that after my third game, there would be a lot of worry.”However, Giles did provide the strongest hint yet that there may be changes to the England side. Concern over Craig Kieswetter’s form – though it has not been much worse than Eoin Morgan’s – has raised the possibility to him making way for his Somerset team-mate, Jos Buttler, though doubts about the latter’s wicketkeeping could count against him.While England’s batting has been their main downfall in the last couple of matches there will also be a temptation to make some changes to the bowling attack. Jade Dernbach has conceded his runs at a cost of an average cost of 7.79 an over in the series to date and, after 21 ODIs, concedes more runs per over than anyone to have bowled over 1,000 ODI deliveries: an average 6.28 runs per over. Mohali may provide an opportunity to take a look at Stuart Meaker.”That statistic is tough on Jade because he’s played a lot of cricket in India and it’s a hard place to come and play,” Giles said. “But again you have to adapt. What the Indians have done very well is hold lengths and lines, so you have to go at them to try to score. Really that’s what we’ve got to do.”Perhaps the most obvious message to England in the series to date is how much they miss Jonathan Trott. England won 12 out of 13 ODIs involving Trott in 2012 and, in that time, were never dismissed for under 200. In three out of four games without him, however, they have failed to reach 200 and been defeated in all three. Rested for this part of the tour, he returns to the side in New Zealand.In his absence, England might promote Joe Root to bat at No. 3. Root has faced more deliveries than any other England batsman in the last two games and might offer stability at the top of the order and provide Morgan and Kevin Pietersen with some protection from the newer balls. Long-term, though, Root is the only member of the top five unlikely to feature in England’s Champions Trophy side, so Giles is expecting more from his experienced players.”Changes are something that myself, Alastair Cook and the coaches will talk about,” Giles said. “We’ve got options and part of this trip is to look at those options, because we’re missing some senior players. This is where you find out about people, under pressure.”This group has been very refreshing and what we want to avoid is them just feeling beaten up. We have to pick the best team to win the next game of cricket. That will be a hot topic over the next day or two.”

South Australia completed a spectacular blow-out in the finishing straight of the domestic limited overs competition, losing by 18 runs to New South Wales

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2013
ScorecardSouth Australia completed a spectacular blow-out in the finishing straight of the domestic limited overs competition, losing by 18 runs against New South Wales at Adelaide Oval to drop out of the tournament after leading its standings with three matches to go.