South Africa haven’t picked up a single point yet, but the fast bowler feels the results will come if they focus on the processes

Firdose Moonda19-Dec-2019South Africa’s position at the bottom of the World Test Championship is a reality they don’t need to confront just yet, according to Kagiso Rabada. Instead, the fast bowler and his team-mates are focused on rebuilding as they prepare for a home series against England, where they are looking to break their run of five consecutive Test defeats and begin a new era.Speaking at the team’s training hub in Pretoria, Rabada indicated South Africa may not be as far behind the pace as they look. “The ICC Test Championship can put unnecessary pressure on us right now,” he said. “We shouldn’t really be looking at that. Yes, we don’t have any points and it does look quite bad. But if we can focus on what we want to do, that should look after itself.”We hadn’t been thinking about it, but when you mention it and you think about where we are on that table, it can get you into the mindset where you need to catch up on a lot of things. But at the moment we need to focus on the product and the byproduct will look after itself.”This insular kind of talk is commonplace among teams but essential for this South Africa side that is reeling from weeks of administrative chaos, which culminated in the overhaul of the coaching staff. Just seven days ago, the team did not know if they would have what was being termed a director. Now, they have several.Graeme Smith’s appointment as acting director of cricket brought with it Mark Boucher as head coach and Jacques Kallis as batting consultant. While Boucher and Kallis are household names in cricket circles, their playing days preceded Rabada’s, and the current camp is his first interaction with either of them. So far, so good.”It’s amazing to have someone like Jacques Kallis in. I’ve never worked with him. He’s a great of the game. So is Mark Boucher,” Rabada said. “To hear their knowledge, it doesn’t even have to be skill-based, but mentally how you want to approach certain situations. So it’s great to have them around because they almost speed up your learning process. Everything is well-drilled and well-oiled. There’s no hesitation. They have a plan, they’re really decisive on what needs to happen.”But at the same time it’s not very strict. There’s an expectation on every player to do the minimum of what is required, and the rest is up to you. As a player, you can liberate yourself.”Graeme Smith, Enoch Nkwe, Mark Boucher and Linda Zondi at the unveiling of South Africa’s new coaching structure•AFP

The excitement of new mentors is balanced with the familiarity of old hands such as Charl Langeveldt, the new bowling coach, who was last with the side under Russell Domingo, a tenure that ended in August 2017. Rabada has not had a specialist bowling coach since then (Ottis Gibson combined the role with his head-coach duties) and has enjoyed reconnecting.”It’s also great to have Charl Langeveldt back,” Rabada said. “I really enjoy working with him. He’s in the same light as Mark and Jacques. They know what they’re talking about. They played at this level for a very long time.”The presence of a trio of former international superstars could easily leave the former interim team director and now assistant coach Enoch Nkwe, who took the side to India, in the shadows. But Rabada hauled Nkwe into the light with high praise for how he has handled the transition from being the man in charge to being a supporting actor for players he has coached over many years.”Enoch is someone I’ve worked with since I was at age-group level, along with guys like Quinny [Quinton de Kock] and Temba [Bavuma]. The guys who’ve worked with him, they know his quality. He’s no doubt a valuable person to have in the change room,” Rabada said. “He would have had to make a decision about whether he was going to walk away or stay, and he stayed.”I’m really glad that he did because I’ve got a relationship with him and so do the other players. Especially the young players who are in the T20 format; guys like Rassie [van der Dussen] and Dwaine [Pretorius], they know him well and they know the value he can bring. I certainly know that, too. He’s made a decision to invest in the team and I’m really glad that he’s done so.”Now, the collection of expertise South Africa have assembled needs to pay dividends. South Africa have not had a Test win since January and their marquee players have made little impact on the global stage. De Kock is the only batsman to have scored more than 500 runs in 2019 and while Rabada lies 10th on the global Test wicket charts, he has had his leanest year since he became a regular in red-ball cricket. His 26 wickets – half of what he took in 2018 and 20 fewer than his first full calendar year of Test cricket in 2016 – have come at a bloated – by his standards – average of 28.19, and he has looked off his best. He was down on pace, accuracy and perhaps motivation, which has somewhat symbolised South Africa’s decline; he will want to stand for the opposite as it unfolds.”We’ve got a challenge now as we’re going through a transition phase, and we need to see if we can step up. We believe that we can,” Rabada said. “We spoke about where we want to go and where we’re at right now, and I think everyone is on the same page, which makes things a lot clearer. We are still trying to do define roles for each player to execute but it’s a process and at the moment it’s important for each player to buy into the mindset. Then, it’s up to each player to pull a rabbit out the hat.”

Will Jacks, Keaton Jennings among group bound for Mumbai, Jonny Bairstow to join James Anderson, Mark Wood in Potchefstroom

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Nov-2019A clutch of prospective England batsmen and spin bowlers will embark on a specialist training camp in Mumbai this week in an effort to hone their skills in unfamiliar conditions.On the day England fell to an innings defeat in New Zealand, the ECB announced that batsmen Will Jacks, James Bracey, Dan Lawrence, Keaton Jennings and Sam Hain would travel to India with spinners Dom Bess, Mason Crane and Amar Virdi for a three-week camp starting on Tuesday.Jacks, the 21-year-old Surrey batsman, produced a jaw-dropping 25-ball century during a pre-season T10 clash with Lancashire in Dubai in March and, on the other end of the spectrum, Jennings is hoping to resurrect his international career having played the last of his 17 Tests against West Indies in February.The batsmen will work with Surrey assistant head coach Vikram Solanki, while the spinners will train under the guidance of Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson and former Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath.The camp encompasses a series of so-called “Individualised Programmes” of training for players aimed at “delivering better prepared players” to England head coach Chris Silverwood, according to ECB Performance Director Mo Bobat.”The Individualised Programmes are a great opportunity for some of our best young cricketers to focus on specific areas of their game in unfamiliar and challenging conditions around the world,” Bobat said. “Some of the players involved are in England’s immediate plans, while others will be working on areas that will benefit the national team’s medium and long-term needs.”The ECB also confirmed that Jonny Bairstow would attend a training camp in South Africa from December 1-14, working with former England batsman Jonathan Trott in his bid to return to England’s Test squad. Bairstow, who averaged 23.77 during the Ashes, was dropped for the two-Test tour of New Zealand. He was briefly called back into the Test squad during the T20 series against New Zealand as cover for Joe Denly but returned home when Denly recovered from an ankle injury in time for the first Test at Mount Maunganui.Earlier this month, Ashley Giles, the managing director of England’s men’s cricket, revealed that James Anderson would take the next step in his return from injury at the camp in Potchefstroom. Anderson will be joined by fellow quicks Mark Wood, Olly Stone, Craig Overton and Ollie Robinson.Anderson and Wood have been undergoing intensive rehabilitation with ECB staff with a view to being available for selection for England’s tour of South Africa starting next month.Anderson has been sidelined since he broke down after bowling just four overs in the first Ashes Test in August with a recurrence of a calf injury he suffered while playing for Lancashire in early July. Wood was ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a side strain during the World Cup final and he has since had surgery on his right knee. Stone, meanwhile, is recovering from a stress fracture to his back.

The fast bowler injured his ankle while playing for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy

Sidharth Monga in Delhi21-Jan-2020Ishant Sharma is a serious doubt for the Test series in New Zealand after MRI scans revealed a grade-three tear in his ankle, which he twisted during Delhi’s ongoing Ranji Trophy match on Monday. The local specialist has advised him six weeks’ rest and rehab, but the BCCI will wait to make its own independent assessment at the NCA in Bangalore before taking an official decision on his selection.Sharma came to Feroz Shah Kotla for a while but soon returned home. He has trouble even walking right now, and is likely to go to the NCA in a week’s time. India’s first Test in New Zealand begins on February 21, exactly a month away, while the practice game they play ahead of it starts on February 14.Sharma suffered the injury on Monday when he twisted the ankle while turning around for an lbw appeal against Vidarbha batsman Faiz Fazal. Delhi needed a burst from him to overturn the 16-run first-innings deficit, but, a bowler short, they conceded 330 runs and needed to bat the last day out to rescue one point.His Vidarbha opponent Umesh Yadav is now likely to be the third quick in the Tests in New Zealand with Navdeep Saini expected to be the back-up fast bowler should Sharma not recover in time.Four short of the incredible feat of 100 Tests – only one Indian fast bowler has managed that – Sharma has been enjoying a late revival over the last three years. He credits it to a recent change in his bowling by which he has been able to pitch the ball fuller without losing any pace. His team with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami has turned India into a feared bowling unit even in away conditions.”Having a bunch of fast bowlers like this, who can just bowl out any opposition anywhere, is a brilliant thing to have in Indian cricket,” their captain Virat Kohli recently said. “[It’s] something that we haven’t quite relied on in the past, but I think them taking the attention away from the spinners in India is a huge statement, so I think that’s what makes us feel that when we travel now, we have it in us to win a series, and not just one-odd Test match here and there. So I think it’s been hard work, persistence, learning the game, thinking about the game that’s got them to where they are and they deserve it fully.”

Moores was injured during training and will fly home to England to recover

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2020Worcestershire wicketkeeper Ben Cox has earned his first call-up to the England Lions and will join the squad in Australia to replace the injured Tom Moores for the rest of their 50-overs campaign.Nottinghamshire’s Moores was struck while batting in the nets on Sunday and, with the Lions’ four remaining matches being played in the space of eight days, the decision was taken for him to return to England to recover.The Lions will face a Cricket Australia XI in two more limited-overs matches on the Gold Coast, having won the first match of the series on Sunday. They then travel to Sydney to play two matches against a New South Wales XI.James Bracey was the Lions’ opening batsman and wicketkeeper as they won the first match, in which the Cricket Australia XI captain, Will Pucovski, was concussed in a fall while running a single.Cox is regarded as one of the neatest keepers on the county circuit and is capable of some big hitting, as shown when he sealed victory over Sussex in the 2018 Blast final with a six, capping a match-winning knock of 46 not out off 27 balls.He played eight Royal London Cup matches in 2019, scoring 238 runs at 34.00 with 12 dismissals. Cox had the most dismissals of anyone in the Vitality Blast last season with 11 from 14 games, scoring 203 runs at an average of 25.37.Ben Cox celebrates his maiden one-day hundred•Getty Images

England Test trio Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Dom Bess will leave England for Sydney with the rest of the Lions’ red-ball squad on Friday with hopes of securing spots on the senior side’s tour of Sri Lanka in March.The Lions play three four-day matches – one against a Cricket Australia XI in Hobart from February 15-18, followed by a day/night match against Australia A at the MCG and a fixture against a New South Wales XI in Wollongong.

Al-Amin Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman share four wickets to restrict Zimbabwe despite Brendan Taylor’s unbeaten 59

The Report by Liam Brickhill11-Mar-2020Bangladesh sprinted to a 2-0 series victory in the second T20I at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. Once again, Liton Das shone with the bat, registering an unbeaten 60 off 45 balls to guide his team to a nine-wicket over Zimbabwe. While Brendan Taylor had also scored 59 not out off 48 balls, there was little else of substance from the visiting batsmen and they had no answer to Bangladesh’s sustained pressure in the field, crawling to a sub-par 119 for 7.With Tamim Iqbal rested today, Das had a new opening partner in Mohammad Naim, but the result was much the same. Bangladesh cruised to 77 before they lost a wicket, and by then the result was a formality. With one foot on the plane, Zimbabwe went through the motions and whatever intensity there was earlier in the match fizzled out long before Soumya Sarkar pulled Chris Mpofu over midwicket for the second six of his innings to level the scores and then dabbed him down to short third man to end their misery.Mahmud’s first outingHasan Mahmud turned heads with his pace in the last edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, picking up ten wickets for Dhaka Platoon with a best of 4 for 32. Having been touted for big things by various scouts and coaches, Mahmud was included in the T20I squad for this series and made the playing XI ahead of Shafiul Islam today as Bangladesh looked to blood some youngsters. As Mahmudullah rang the changes in his attack from the outset, Mahmud was into the fray in the fourth over of the innings and soon showed why there have been whispers of big things to come from him.His very first ball hooped across the left-hander Craig Ervine to beat his outside edge, his fourth seamed waspishly off a length to repeat the dose, and his fifth was clocked at over 140kph. With his sixth he should have had Taylor caught at short fine leg. Looking to upset the youngster’s rhythm, Taylor shuffled across his stumps and aimed a scoop shot over short fine leg but got more height than distance. Al-Amin Hossain hustled backwards but couldn’t quite get into position to cling on to the chance. Nevertheless, an impression had been made by Mahmud, and the entire bowling attack followed suit. The wickets were shared around, as were 50 dot balls in the innings, with Al-Amin getting through his quota of four overs at under a run a ball and the offspinners Afif Hossain and Mahedi Hasan taking a combined 2 for 16 from four overs. Bangladesh conceded just one extra throughout the innings, a leg-bye, and never made things easy for Zimbabwe.Taylor scores an unbeaten half-centuryTo say that Taylor hasn’t had the best tour would be a bit of an understatement: he managed just 27 runs across two innings in the one-off Test as his attempts to take the attack to Bangladesh backfired. In the ODIs, meanwhile, he got starts and alright but repeatedly found ways to get out. And while he was out for 1 in the first T20I, he was the glue that held a somewhat flimsy effort from Zimbabwe’s batsmen together tonight.Opening the innings, Taylor laid a platform with a 57-run second-wicket stand with Craig Ervine but Bangladesh’s doggedness with the ball meant it was a lot of hard graft. Unfortunately, Taylor had little support from the other end. Ervine provided some stickability, if not rapid scoring, but the rest of Zimbabwe’s top order made virtually no impact. Taylor reached a sixth T20I fifty from 42 balls in the 19th over, and hit the only six of the innings but Zimbabwe’s total never looked like challenging Bangladesh.Zimbabwe pay the price for indisciplineWhile tight lines and canny change-ups were the hallmarks of Bangladesh’s effort in the field, the same was not true of Zimbabwe’s attack. They feed Das on his pads, and Naim outside off, as the openers cruised to 44 in the powerplay. Had Naim not holed out, somewhat against the run of play, Bangladesh could have broken yet another partnership record tonight. While there was the odd good delivery bowled, consistency was lacking and so was control: Zimbabwe bowled four wides in the innings, as well as giving away a bye and two leg-byes.Das does it againEverything Das has touched on this tour has turned to gold. So, there was a sense of inevitability to proceedings this evening, with Zimbabwe’s bowlers seemingly having learned nothing in their battles with him over the past few weeks.Not that they had much say in the matter. Das displayed a remarkable serenity, even as he ticked along at well over a run a ball. Good deliveries were kept out, or nudged for singles, and bad ones unerringly slotted to the boundary. He registered a 35-ball fifty without a hint of violence in his strokeplay, killing Zimbabwe softly, and was named both Player of the Match and of the Series for his efforts.

West Indies opener draws on great’s mental strength ahead of England Tests

Valkerie Baynes17-Jun-2020Kraigg Brathwaite has engaged the help of West Indies great Desmond Haynes as he seeks to rediscover the form that saw him narrowly miss scoring twin centuries against England at Headingley in 2017.Both opening batsmen from Barbados, Brathwaite and Haynes have worked together previously on technical components of Brathwaite’s game but, more recently, the focus has shifted to the mental side as West Indies prepare to face England in their three-Test series behind closed doors, beginning at the Ageas Bowl on July 8.”I had some words with Desmond Haynes back in Barbados,” Brathwaite said on Wednesday via video link from the team’s Manchester training base. “Me and him always had a good relationship because he was team manager for the Barbados team when I first started, so I had some chats with him. He was obviously an opener as well and that’s been very beneficial to me.”A lot of it is keeping it simple, you don’t really want to complicate it too much. It’s just simple advice, just about what he did back in the day. Three hours left in a day is always a tough period for an opener, or an hour. So it’s just mental stuff that he helped me with… he was very strong mentally.”ALSO READ: Moeen Ali back in Test frame as England name 30-man training squadBrathwaite scored 134 and 95 when West Indies chased down 322 to win the second Test at Headingley in 2017 – their first Test victory in England for 17 years – and team-mate Shai Hope became the first man to score two centuries in a first-class match at the ground with 147 and 118 not out.Since then, Brathwaite has suffered a dip in form, averaging 25.33 in his last 20 Tests. He made it into the 40s twice as West Indies defeated England 2-1 in the Caribbean 18 months ago but his failure to convert those starts, followed by even leaner returns against India and, most recently, Afghanistan has put him under increasing pressure.Brathwaite did strike some good form with the bat during the West Indies Championship, reaching three half-centuries and scoring 40 or more on three further occasions for Barbados before the competition was halted with two rounds to go in mid-March because of the Covid-19 pandemic.The absence of batsmen Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer, who opted not to travel to England during the outbreak, only adds to the expectation on Brathwaite and Hope for this series, although Brathwaite doesn’t necessarily see it that way. Nor does he give too much currency to his feats in Leeds last time West Indies toured England.”That was almost three years ago,” Brathwaite said. “Looking back at stuff I did I can obviously see things I did well, but that’s history. I have a current job to do here and I’m ready, I’m raring to go.”I’m up for the challenge… I know all the guys here can do well. I’m starting the innings and I’m just going to do my job, it’s as simple as that. I know we have a good batting line-up and everyone’s ready and raring to go, so no added pressure really.”Having said that, Brathwaite also believes that run-chase at Headingley could hold the key to success this time around for a side that, by head coach Phil Simmons’ admission, has come to rely too heavily on its bowling attack.”We’ve got to score runs,” Brathwaite said. “Once you can put runs on the board we put our team in a great position. We’ve still got to be disciplined with the ball but I think potentially, when we won the game at Headingley, we scored runs, we chased down over 300 runs, so we’ve just got to put runs on the board.””You’ve just got to be mentally strong. The last couple of series, we’ve got to be honest with ourselves, we didn’t do as good as we know we can so we’ve got to buckle down and stay disciplined. Discipline will carry you a long way, in Test cricket in the whole and then especially here in England where the ball will potentially be moving. Once you can be disciplined throughout the whole day and not just for half an hour, an hour, I think that will bring forth big runs.”Brathwaite’s discipline and patience stood out against England in the Caribbean 18 months ago, where he performed well against the seamers and the new ball, but fell to Moeen Ali three times in six innings. But he has never faced fellow Barbadian Jofra Archer, who is set to play West Indies for the first time in a Test since qualifying to represent England last year.”Jofra is quality,” Brathwaite said. “I’ve never played against Jofra, not even back in Barbados, but I look forward to the challenge. We know it won’t be easy so you’ve just got to work hard. Our net sessions are quite competitive, our guys are quite aggressive so we’re getting in shape.”

Inoka Ranaweera has moved down to Grade B, while Yasoda Mendis finds herself out of the list

Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Jun-2020Sri Lanka captain Chamari Atapattu is the only player to earn a top contract in 2020, as Sri Lanka Cricket announced a 35-strong list of centrally-retained women players.As has been the case in the past year, these contracts are valid for only six months at a time (members of the men’s team get 12-month contracts), with this lot having gone into effect from May 1. And as with the previous round of women’s contracts, 20 of the contracts are for national-team players, and 15 are for emerging cricketers who get a “fixed monthly rate” to support their training, in addition to an “attendance allowance”.Two other players in addition to Atapattu had been placed in the highest contract category in 2019, but from among those players Shashikala Siriwardana has retired, and left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera has dropped into the second – Group B – category.Sathya Sandeepani and Umesha Thimashini graduated to Group D, having been in the Emerging list in the last round of contracts. Batsman Yasoda Mendis, who had had a group B contract last time but has not played for Sri Lanka since October, is not in this list at all.SLC central contracts:Group A: Chamari Atapattu.Group B: Anushka Sanjeewani, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Inoka Ranaweera, Nilakshi De Silva, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani, Hasini Perera, Harshitha Madavi.Group C: Dilani Manodara, Prasadini Weerakkody, Kavisha Dilhari.Group D: Ama Kanchana, Imalka Mendis, Inoshi Fernando, Achini Kulasooriya, Hansima Karunaratne, Madushika Meththananda, Umesha Thimashini, Sathya Sandeepani.Emerging players: Malsha Shehani, Lihini Apsara, Tharika Sewwandi, Jimanjalee Wijenayake, Harshani Wijeratne, Shashikala Silva, Sachini Nisansala, Iresha Sandamalee, Tharuka Shehani, Nilkashana Sandmini, Rose Perera, Janadi Analee, Shikari Niwarthana, Thilishiya Sathsarani, Saduni Nisansala.

“If I didn’t have a great relationship with him, I think it could have spiralled into something nasty,” captain says of star allrounder

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jul-2020Andre Russell, man of the tournament in IPL 2019, had criticised the “decision making” of his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders midway through the tournament, when losses for the team were piling up. That criticism had come on the back of Russell having suggested a week earlier that he wouldn’t mind moving up the order given his devastating form, saying: “To go out there and chasing 14-15 per over, it’s not the best way you want to start as a batsman.”KKR captain Dinesh Karthik had copped the blame for Russell batting lower down, but he said on Sunday that Russell was a “heart on sleeve” kind of player, and that they both shared an excellent equation which prevented a sour situation from turning ugly.”I think he’s one of those guys who wears his heart on his sleeve. It’s up to you how you take it,” Karthik said on the . “If you want to take it offensively, the mistake is on your part. If you want to take it constructively, which is how I looked at it… we had a conversation over it. Man to man, we discussed it. He wasn’t unhappy with me, he wasn’t happy that the team wasn’t winning. That is the bottom line.”ALSO READ: Andre Russell questions KKR’s decision-makingKarthik said that there was a gulf between the meaning Russell had intended to convey with his words and how they were perceived.”Whatever he said, I completely respected it. I think he got a taste of the Indian media then as well,” Karthik said. “Because what can be said and what comes out can be two different things. The tone of what you say to what comes out can be very different when it comes in print. He realised (that) and was a little apologetic as well. But at the end of the day, I have a great relationship with him. That makes the difference. If I didn’t have a great relationship with him, I think it could have spiralled into something nasty. Because I have an honest relationship, I can go straight up to him and say, ‘Russ, I don’t think what you said is right, because the way it has come out is not great, so what are we going do?’ And he said, ‘No, skip. This is how I felt about it, not how it’s come out.’ So there itself half the battle is over because what he said to what people are reading are two different things.”Karthik said that the duo had worked out the issues Russell had while explaining his own rationale, and had met his star allrounder “halfway”.”As a leader, I think having different opinions and dealing with it is one of the most important things,” Karthik said. “You need to be able to stand up and have a conversation, sometimes a hard conversation.”

Riley Meredith left Steven Smith flat on his back when he dismissed him with a bouncer

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Aug-2020Cummins XI 250 for 8 (Maxwell 108, Stoinis 87, Lyon 3-47) beat Finch XI 249 (Tye 59, Starc 41, Stoinis 4-31) by two wicketsGlenn Maxwell hit a century in his first innings since the Big Bash final in February and Marcus Stoinis produced an impressive all-round display with 87 and four wickets in Australia’s latest warm-up match ahead of the England series.This intersquad game was played across 50 overs and saw the Pat Cummins XI get home by two wickets chasing 250 after Maxwell (108) and Stoinis had added 174 in 26 overs for the third wicket. Earlier, AJ Tye top-scored for the Aaron Finch XI with 59 as that top-order stuttered to 113 for 6 before recovering.Maxwell’s last appearance for Australia was in the T20I series against Sri Lanka at the end of October, but neither he or Stoinis have appeared in the ODI team since the World Cup when the pair had disappointing returns.They came together at 9 for 2 following early wickets for Mitchell Starc, who trapped Matthew Wade lbw second ball for a duck, and Riley Meredith who bounced out Steven Smith leaving him flat on his back in the crease.Glenn Maxwell lofts the ball away during his century•Getty Images

The boundaries flowed between Maxwell and Stoinis with both striking two sixes in their dominant partnership before Meredith removed Stoinis 13 short of a hundred with a yorker from around the wicket.”It took a bit of time to get used to the wicket, but it was nice to get some rhythm,” Maxwell said. “That’s all you can hope for as a middle-order batter, is a fight for spots and for guys to put their hands up and make some big scores and give the selectors something to think about.”Can’t just have Warner, Finch and Smith making runs all the time, we’ve got to have other guys contributing as well.”The Cummins XI fell from 215 for 3 to 249 for 8 as Nathan Lyon claimed three wickets before the target was ticked off.Adam Zampa had produced an eye-catching spell with the ball during the first innings as he removed Marnus Labuschagne and Josh Philippe with a brace of wrong ‘uns. David Warner had again looked in good touch making 34 off 44 balls before he edged behind off Cummins.The Finch XI’s lower order more than doubled the total as Tye, who has a List A high score of 28 not out, Starc and Daniel Sams – the latter batting twice to make up the XI – muscled the ball around the ground. Stoinis, who has spoken of his belief that he can add value to the Australia limited-overs sides with his death bowling, claimed three late wickets.

Mayank Agarwal almost took Kings XI Punjab home, but Stoinis stole a tie out of nowhere before Kagiso Rabada bossed the Super Over

Karthik Krishnaswamy20-Sep-2020Seam movement and bounce with the new ball. A 20-ball half-century that came out of nowhere. A two-wicket over ending with a nasty-looking injury. A slow-burning, calculated rescue act that all but aced a tricky chase. A short run that wasn’t. Then, with one run required from three balls, somehow, Marcus Stoinis, who had also been the Capitals’ gamechanger with the bat, produced a dot and two wickets.The second match of IPL 2020 contained pretty much everything, until an anticlimactic Super Over handed two points to the Delhi Capitals and heartbreak to the Kings XI Punjab, particularly to Mayank Agarwal whose 89 off 60 balls had rescued them from an abject 55 for 5 in their chase of 158.Just as he was against the Kolkata Knight Riders last season, Kagiso Rabada was the Capitals’ Super Over hero. He took out KL Rahul with a well-directed bouncer, which followed the batsman’s premeditated movement towards the leg side, and bowled Nicholas Pooran next ball. Pooran’s slog across the line wouldn’t have been cause for too much censure in the regular part of a T20 game, but it was an unwise shot off the third ball of a Super Over, in which teams are only allowed two wickets.That left the Capitals just three runs to get, and they completed the job with no additions to the day’s quota of twists and turns.A fast bowlers’ pitchWith only three venues hosting this tournament, the pitches will, at some point, slow down and offer plenty of assistance to the spinners. For now, though, they’re keeping the fast bowlers interested. Saturday’s surface in Abu Dhabi had a healthy covering of grass. Today’s pitch in Dubai was well-grassed too, and offered seam movement and plenty of bounce. Both teams filled two of their overseas slots with fast bowlers.It was an Indian quick, however, who made the most of the early help. Delivering with his trademark upright seam, Mohammed Shami nipped the ball around, got it to spring off the pitch, and sent back Prithvi Shaw and Shimron Hetmyer in his second over. He had two catches dropped in his first over too, but one of them – Rahul putting Shikhar Dhawan down off a gloved hook – turned into a run-out.A recovery, and an eye-catching debutFrom 13 for 3 at the four-over mark, there was a bit of rebuilding to be done for the Capitals. Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant ensured they wouldn’t lose another wicket for another 10 overs, but the Capitals’ run rate remained in check. Staying below 6 an over even at the 12-over mark.One of the main reasons for this was the performance of Ravi Bishnoi, the 20-year-old legspinner, who performed the difficult act of keeping Pant quiet despite being the left-hander’s obvious target to go after. He did this by slanting the ball across Pant from over the wicket, and almost exclusively bowling sliders and wrong ‘uns that veered away from his hitting arc. He exhibited impressive control over his lengths as well, and only conceded 13 runs to Pant off 12 balls, ending their skirmish by bowling him off the inside edge.Iyer had a better time against his designated target, hitting the offspinner K Gowtham for three towering sixes. Ever since his India return late last year, Iyer has shown he’s become a ruthless hitter against spin, and this ability should come in handy for the Capitals right through this season.Stoinis goes berserkJust when Iyer was looking dangerous, Shami returned to the attack in the 15th over and dismissed him with a well-disguised knuckle ball. There were no boundaries in that over, or the next one from Bishnoi, or the one after that from Sheldon Cottrell. After 17 overs, the Capitals were 100 for 6 and looking at a total in the region of 130.They ended up with 158, thanks to one of the most remarkable slog-overs efforts the IPL has ever seen. The bowling wasn’t great – Chris Jordan and Cottrell didn’t vary their pace all that much, and kept missing their length while going for yorkers, both wide and straight – but Stoinis’ hitting was magnificent. He took guard on off stump to get closer to the line if the bowlers went wide, and that also allowed him to put away straighter deliveries behind square on the leg side. From there, it was all still head and stable base, and the last three overs brought the Capitals 13, 14, and an eye-watering 30 runs respectively.Stoinis ransacked 49 runs in the last three overs of the Capitals’ innings. Only Virat Kohli and Andre Russell have scored more in that part of an IPL innings.Mayank Agarwal drives powerfully•BCCI

Ashwin’s two-way impactJust as in the first innings, the new ball did a bit in the second too. Kings XI expected this, and also had a not-particularly-steep target to chase, so their top order played out this phase with a little more caution than Shaw and Hetmyer in particular had done for the Capitals. Rahul muscled a Mohit Sharma free-hit for a monstrous leg-side six but was otherwise circumspect until he was bowled by an inducker from Sharma in the fifth over. Agarwal was even more circumspect: he was on 4 off 10 at the end of the fifth over.Ashwin came on for the sixth over, and took a wicket with his first ever ball for the Capitals, against the team he captained last season; Karun Nair was the victim, falling to a top-edged sweep. Four balls later, Ashwin burst through Pooran’s defences with an arm ball from around the wicket. Kings XI were 34 for 3, and were looking at negotiating 19 more balls from Ashwin, but in an attempt to dive and save a single down the ground, he damaged his left shoulder and left the field in what appeared to be intense pain.Glenn Maxwell fell in the next over, miscuing Rabada to mid-off, but Kings XI had a bit of a lifeline. With Ashwin unable to bowl any further, targets could be found among the other five bowlers.Agarwal comes agonisingly closeWhen Kings XI lost Sarfaraz Khan at the end of the 10th over, they needed 103 from their last 60 balls with only five wickets in hand. Agarwal at that point was batting on 13 off 20.The boundaries began to arrive for him, but still in small, measured doses: a pulled six off Stoinis in the 11th over, two fast-hands slashes square on the off side off Anrich Nortje in the 13th. Amidst all this, the left-arm spinner Axar Patel kept him and Gowtham quiet, finding a bit of in-drift and getting the ball to skid towards the stumps.With 74 needed off 36, Gowtham went after Sharma, picking his slower delivery and launching it over the long-on boundary before flat-batting a short one over mid-off for four. He fell in the next over, off Rabada, but Agarwal kept Kings XI in touch with the required rate with two more fours off Nortje in the 17th.If Ashwin had been able to bowl, Sharma may not have had to finish his quota. As it happened, Sharma bowled the 18th and conceded two sixes to Agarwal, who was by now picking his spot and finding it ruthlessly, even if it meant carving full balls over point. Then, in the 19th over, Agarwal got the bit of luck that his innings deserved, Iyer putting down a chance running to his left from deep midwicket and giving away another four.Twelve came off that Rabada over – it could have been 13 but for a tight but erroneous call of short run when Jordan turned for a second run – leaving the Capitals’ sixth bowler, Stoinis, to defend 12 off the last over. Agarwal smacked the first ball for six, high over long-off, and seemed to have the match all sewn up two balls later with a drive that beat long-off to his left.That left one to get off three balls. A dot ball followed as Agarwal slashed at and missed a bouncer outside off. Stoinis brought all but one of his fielders into the 30-yard circle, and bowled a wide full-toss. Did he mean to? Who knows, but Agarwal picked out deep point, the only fielder on the boundary.Then, with one to get off the last ball, Jordan flicked powerfully, but just within range of Rabada, who moved a step to his right at square leg to pull off a terrific reflex catch. There was no logical reason for the Capitals to still be alive in this match, but logic was taking a day off.