South Africa played like a team intent on silencing the noise around them but still came up second to England once again

Firdose Moonda27-Nov-2020International cricket is back. In South Africa. And by South Africa. But England are still the masters of the white-ball.As recently as 12 days ago, this series was in danger of not happening and CSA was in danger of having its status as the national body of cricket in this country stripped away. The sports minister was ready to step in and potentially prevent them from fielding a team that could call itself South Africa.As recently as Thursday, South African cricket’s chief medical officer warned that if a significant number of players contracted Covid-19, matches could be called off. Two of the 24-man squad had returned positive tests so his fears were not entirely unfounded.And here we are. For the first time in almost eight months, the South Africa men’s team got on the park and it was clear they had something to prove. Until the 17th over of England’s innings, South Africa played like a team intent on silencing the noise. Like a team that wanted to end the wittering around themselves and their culture, the whispers around the administration and the crisis. And even in that over that cost 28 runs and put England on the path to victory, South Africa still played in a way that amplified the sound of bat on ball. Finally. There was cricket.ALSO READ: Bairstow 86* powers England to five-wicket winIn the lead up to this series, the conversation has been about sportsmen and social justice especially when it comes to racial prejudice. Given the history of Apartheid, colonialism and slavery, South Africa could be one of the countries that could best understands and embodies the antiracist doctrine, but it is still grappling with recent schisms and trying to find solutions.CSA’s attempt was to put up two large banners with the message “We stand in solidarity against racism and gender-based violence” and drape them over stands at opposite ends of the ground. But on the day that New Zealand and West Indies took a knee and Australia and India formed a barefoot circle, the absence of any gesture from South Africa was glaring. They are the only one of the six teams that were in action who have not symbolically shown their support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, even though they insist they are working on living out a doctrine of equality.On top of that, they also have other causes to be concerned about. The first 16 days of next month are dedicated annually as days of activism against gender-based violence and both teams wore black armbands to mourn those who lose their lives to abuse and those who have died from Covid-19. In South Africa, the latter has risen to more than 21,000 and with infection rates rising, there are fears of many more. Ten minutes before the start of play, flags were frantically lowered to half-mast, where they should have been flying since Wednesday. Among the many things that needed to be done as Newlands got ready for international cricket, it seemed someone remembered that one just in time.As South Africa lined up to sing their national anthem, directly in front of the SuperSport commentary team, they could hear JP Duminy being asked about BLM and supporting the activist sportsman. An aura of awkwardness settled over the opening salvo and when the final chords of “Nkosi Sikelel’i Afrika” rung out, and everyone remained standing, it felt as though something had been left unsaid, or undone. History will judge South Africa’s (in)action and assess how well they have applied the principles of inclusion they have committed to.It may also see this season as one in which South Africa built on the foundation stone’s laid last summer, when a new coaching regime took over. Their tenure showed promise, with a Test victory but it was clear they needed time. The longest off-season since readmission may not have been exactly what they had in mind but it gave them room to reflect and reimagine the kind of team they want to be.We need more than one match to be able to see what their new approach of “aggressive, but smart,” means but we can already make some deductions. Faf du Plessis best demonstrated it with the bat when he twice went close to hitting one of the Egyptian geese that have made the Newlands outfield their home, but twice evaded them. While Harry the Hadeda, the avian superstar from England’s last tour, was nowhere to be found two adult and four teenage geese occupied positions from the covers to long-on, walking in to almost every ball and scurrying away as soon as it was hit.Kagiso Rabada’s catch gave George Linde a wicket•Getty ImagesDu Plessis played around them and in the same vein as he had been doing at the IPL. In the fifth over, he changed the tone of South Africa’s start from unsure, on a pitch where the ball was not coming on as quickly as might have been expected, to in control when he buried a ball in the construction site, smoked the new one down the ground and on to the railway stand, where the absence of fans meant the few in the ground could hear the ping as it hit a flagpole, and then mowed it through midwicket.The way George Linde, the debutant, was used was the other example of how the new style of play may reveal itself. Linde was tasked with opening the bowling and rewarded his captain with a wicket off the second ball and then switched ends to claim another as Rabada took a stunning low catch. South Africa seldom give a spinner or a new player that level of responsibility but Linde plays his franchise cricket here and has the experience of 81 domestic T20s so they trusted him and it paid off.More’s the pity that Linde did not have his home crowd cheering him on but these are the times. Newlands is not ready for visitors anyway as the construction of an office block continues. And who knows what commentary might have provided late in the game when, with England needing 84 runs from 48 balls, Quinton de Kock turned to Heinrich Klaasen to bowl at Ben Stokes. That was South Africa saying they thought they were so far ahead they could do anything. And they were wrong. Not aggressive, and definitely not smart.Klaasen conceded 14 runs, before de Kock went back to his premier spinner Tabraiz Shamsi. In hindsight, he should have let Shamsi bowl his full quota of four overs, although even that may not have stopped what happened later. Beuran Hendricks conceded 28 runs, including eight wides in an over where he lost control.Some will question why Anrich Nortje, who has just come off a fantastic IPL, didn’t play. Perhaps South Africa thought the pitch would better suit those who take pace off the ball – it looked that way when England was bowling. Perhaps there were transformation targets to consider, which could have been solved in other ways.Or perhaps still it’s that England, who are unbeaten in seven T20 series, are a bloody good team, who bat deep and back themselves until the very end. There is no better opposition to return to international action against. Welcome back, England. Welcome back, international cricket.

Five key questions that Australia will need to answer during the three-match series

Andrew McGlashan25-Nov-20202:01

We like having an extra bowling option in ODIs – Langer

Does Green get a debut?There will be at least one change from the team that clinched the ODI series against England in September with the Glenn Maxwell-Alex Carey inspired run chase. Mitchell Marsh is sidelined by the ankle injury he sustained during the IPL, which means an allrounder is needed in the middle order. It might be that Steven Smith’s comeback – he missed the England series because of concussion – sees Marcus Stoinis slip down the order on the back of his impressive IPL 2020 campaign and share 10 overs with Maxwell (another option would be the recalled Moises Henriques). However, the name on everyone’s lips is the uncapped Western Australia allrounder Cameron Green although he has been picked on the strength of his first-class rather than one-day form: he has only played nine List A games for a batting average of 27.83 and seven wickets at 34.42. Justin Langer has made it clear that Green will only be selected if he can perform a full role with the ball as he continues his comeback to bowling following stress fractures of his back.Beyond the big threeMitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins make up a fine pace-bowling trio in any format. But depending on whether any of them are rested during the ODIs, it could be a chance to a have look at what’s just below them. Kane Richardson would normally be the first understudy, but he has opted out of the series to stay with his family in Adelaide, so it is Sean Abbott, Daniel Sams and Andrew Tye who are the pace-bowling reserves. The latter two are known more for – and selected on – their T20 skills, so Abbott could be in pole position. His one ODI cap to date came back in 2014 against Pakistan, but overall he has an impressive List A bowling record of 97 wickets at 24.87 and, while in a different format, was one of the standout players in the recent Sheffield Shield hub.Marnus Labuschagne bowls in the nets•Getty ImagesTop-order formA couple of key members of Australia’s top order come into the series with question marks over their form following the IPL. Captain Aaron Finch couldn’t get going for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and was dropped for a few matches towards the end of the tournament after a campaign where he made starts but did not convert. Smith was ever present as captain of the Rajasthan Royals, who finished bottom, and while he started with a brace of half-centuries and later added a third, it wasn’t his most convincing of tournaments. However, speaking on Tuesday, Smith said he had “found his hands again” and was ready to go. While the white-ball matches are important in their own right, it will be interesting to see if the India bowlers can score any points against Smith ahead of the Test series.Will Labuschagne bowl more?Marnus Labuschagne is settling nicely into Australia’s ODI top order at No. 4 – averaging 43.77 after nine innings – but with the second string of his legspin he has only sent down four overs. His bowling continues to be in the developmental stage and is perhaps more suited to the red-ball game where the occasional drag-down or full-toss does not really matter but, particularly with the next ODI World Cup being in India, his value will continue to increase if he can become a viable option for Finch. Australia tend to play with four frontline bowlers and then a collection of batting allrounders to fill the rest of the overs.The Maxwell factorTalking of the balance of the side, so much of that revolves around Maxwell. In the deciding match against England, he produced one of the best innings of his career – 108 off 90 balls – which followed 77 in the opening match of the series, which steered another recovery. They were his first ODIs since the disappointing 2019 World Cup and, even though he will be 35, he is a key part of the team’s strategy for 2023. Having been all over the order, it would appear the No. 7 position is now his home, albeit with the ability to move up if the situation dictates.

His numbers are stunning despite lacking the kind of support Bumrah and Rabada have had

Vishal Dikshit31-Oct-2020Jofra Archer runs in to bowl as casually as you would if a kitten was after you. But he delivers the ball as fiercely as you would if you were to bounce out a tiger shark charging at you.Archer has been doing this all tournament now – running in at a pace you think is not his quickest, picking wickets as regularly as you’ve been attending Zoom meetings recently, bouncing out top-order batsmen for fun, returning in the death overs to scare the lower order and the tail, and then going back to play his XboX. And just like that, he has 19 wickets from 13 games for the Rajasthan Royals with a stunning economy rate of 6.69, which is far better than even Kagiso Rabada’s 8.13, Jasprit Bumrah’s 7.18 and Mohammed Shami’s 8.67, who are all marginally ahead of him on the wicket-takers’ list.But there’s one thing each of those bowlers has that Archer doesn’t: strong bowling support from the other end. The Royals’ over-dependence on Archer shows in many ways. It’s evident in the statistics, in their use of Archer against the opposition’s top batsmen, in the way oppositions look to see his spell off and target the other bowlers, and how the Royals seem handicapped when they need one more over of tight bowling from the other end to sustain the pressure when Archer has just finished his over. But there’s nobody to turn to.If Rabada has Anrich Nortje to share the responsibility, Bumrah is flanked by Trent Boult and James Pattinson, and Shami has had Arshdeep Singh of late in the powerplay or Chris Jordan at the death. Archer is standing tall and alone at the top for the Royals. Their next best bowler (Shreyas Gopal) on the wicket-takers’ list is not even in the top 20 overall, and their next best quick bowler is not even in the top 30: it’s 19-year-old Kartik Tyagi, who has impressed but can’t be expected to share such a responsibility at this stage of his career. The more experienced Jaydev Unadkat has four wickets with an economy rate of nearly 10 an over, and Ankit Rajpoot has only two while leaking 11.70 runs per over.In short, Archer’s 19 scalps are exactly half of the 38 wickets the Royals pace bowlers have picked this IPL, and while his economy rate is well under seven, the others collectively concede 10.51 per over. According to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Starts, Archer’s bowling impact is also twice as good as the next best Royals bowler in IPL 2020.This over-dependence was briefly evident on Friday night against the Kings XI Punjab when the Royals wanted Archer to bowl his raw pace to Chris Gayle upfront. And to make that happen too, they needed Archer to strike early because Gayle has been batting at No. 3 this IPL. With his same casual-looking run-up, Archer bounced out Mandeep Singh with a ferocious 144kmh delivery at the end of the first over, and out walked Gayle. Even more casually.Jofra Archer whistles a bouncer past Chris Gayle•BCCIArcher must have been itching to bowl his next over to Gayle, hoping that he would retain strike. Instead, he gets a boundary off an inside edge, and Archer has to bowl to KL Rahul again. He waits long, for another five balls, before Rahul finally takes a single and he can bowl to Gayle. Archer bangs the ball in, it whizzes past Gayle’s chin as he drops his hands and Archer’s two overs are done after having bowled only one delivery to Gayle.The Royals have needed Archer’s two overs so desperately at the death that they haven’t bowled more than two of his even once in the powerplay this IPL. The temptation is there to make him bowl a third in a row this time. Gayle is still fresh; get him early and the middle order could stutter. The season is on the line. Two legspinners have to be bowled later, and Gayle will pounce on them.But Archer is taken off. It’s probably to contain the damage at the end.”There’s always a consideration to bowl Jofra in many phases of the game but he’s got only four overs and we’ve got to position that in the best way we see,” the Royals coach Andrew McDonald told the commentators during the game on Star Sports. “It’s always a consideration to get two great overs upfront and then the third over is always going to be questionable but we need a couple of other bowlers in support there. We saw Varun [Aaron] almost got the breakthrough as well, so it’s always bowling around him (Archer) most importantly.”Lack of support from the other end has also meant the Royals can’t use him the way the Delhi Capitals bowl Rabada or how the Mumbai Indians employ Bumrah. Because of Nortje and the spinners for the Capitals, and Boult and Pattinson for Mumbai, Rabada and Bumrah bowl just one over in the powerplay, one just after the halfway mark, and two precious overs at the death. Archer, on the other hand, has mostly been bowling two in the powerplay and two at the death, leaving a lot of space in the middle overs for oppositions to cash in on.On Friday, the Royals managed two points because their batting has stepped up in the last couple of games. Now, they have just the one game left to reach 14 points which can possibly get them a playoff spot. With this being Archer’s best IPL – in terms of both wickets and economy rate – all the Royals need is for someone to bowl with the same intensity as Archer for one more match to not let their season end on Sunday.

In just his second T20I, batsman epitomises dynamic approach Virat Kohli promised on eve of series

Deivarayan Muthu18-Mar-20213:10

Suryakumar Yadav – ‘I just went out and expressed myself’

In September 2019, in a series decider against South Africa, Virat Kohli became the first captain to decide against chasing in T20 internationals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. His reasoning was this: he wanted to challenge India out of their comfort zone in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, but they ended up losing that match.That World Cup, which was originally supposed to be held in Australia in 2020, was pushed back by a year and shifted to India in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. India’s bat-first concerns, however, lingered and became more alarming after they dawdled to powerplay scores of 22 for 3 in the T20I series opener against England and then 24 for 3 in the third game.After losing the toss again in the fourth, and facing a must-win, Kohli reckoned that he would’ve opted to bat anyway and test out the line-up even if the toss had gone India’s way. Jofra Archer had Rohit Sharma plopping a return catch and KL Rahul, the other half of India’s first-choice opening combination, according to Kohli, managed to break his binary sequence of 1,0,0, but gulped down 17 balls for his 14.Related

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Ishan Kishan, who had belted a 28-ball half-century on his T20I debut on Wednesday, had suffered a groin strain, so the team management threw Suryakumar Yadav into No.3. He had made his international debut alongside his Mumbai Indians team-mate Kishan in that match, but didn’t get to bat. In the field, Suryakumar had looked as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. He hustled from the boundary and dropped Johnny Bairstow in the outfield before just about hanging onto a skier in the same over.On Thursday, after missing the third game, Suryakumar returned but had no such jitters. He dispatched the very first ball he faced from Archer for an agenda-setting six, never really let up, and showed India the way to bat first. Archer banged in a chest-high lifter at 144kph, but Suryakumar swiftly jumped back and nailed a one-legged pull with gum-chewing swagger and jaw-dropping timing.Suryakumar had pulled off a similar outrageous hit – a reverse-scoop – off Archer over Jos Buttler’s head for six in IPL 2020. At the post-match virtual media interaction, Suryakumar revealed that he was well-prepared for Archer’s hit-the-deck bustle.”My plan was very clear when I went into bat,” Suryakumar said. I’ve seen him [Archer] in the last two, three seasons in the IPL also. I’ve watched all of his games in international cricket as well. So whenever a new batsman comes in, what plans he has… Obviously I had my plans as well when I went in to bat. It was a great opportunity for me to bat at No. 3 for India. I knew that he’d come a little short at me so I really wanted to execute that and I was really happy with the way things went.”Suryakumar Yadav goes inside out•BCCIMark Wood then cranked his pace up to 148.5kph, but Suryakumar rose on top of the bounce and laced him through the covers for four. Then, when Chris Jordan explored a fuller length and aimed for off stump with a blameless delivery, Suryakumar manipulated the field by opening the bat-face and gliding it away between backward point and short third man for four. Despite Rahul’s go-slow, Suryakumar’s sustained intent and aggression saw India gallop to 45 for 1 in the powerplay.With Suryakumar taking England’s fast men for runs, Eoin Morgan turned to Adil Rashid to burgle a few quiet overs, but Suryakumar picked him apart, too, in clinical fashion. All up, he hit 23 off eight balls from Rashid; only Mohammad Hafeez, Glenn Maxwell (twice) and Martin Guptill have scored more runs off Rashid in a T20I, but then again all these batsmen had the benefit of facing more balls than Suryakumar did.Rashid usually starts by threatening the stumps and then unleashes the wrong’un – he did Kohli like a kipper with the variation – but once Suryakumar put those attempted googlies away, Rashid didn’t quite have a Plan B. After splicing a sweep for four, Suryakumar dashed out of the crease, collapsed his back leg, and launched him inside-out for six next ball.In Rashid’s next over, Suryakumar stretched so far across and outside the line of off, taking the lbw out of equation and drilling a sweep through square leg for four. That big reach from Suryakumar forced the legspinner to go much shorter and outside off. It came out as a half-tracker that was scythed through cover-point for four. It brought about a dominant 28-ball half-century for Suryakumar and although he was dismissed in controversial fashion, his blazing effort put India on course for a slightly above-par 185 for 8, which they could defend despite the onset of heavy dew.Speaking to at the post-match presentation, Kohli delivered a glowing appraisal of Suryakumar’s maiden international outing with the bat.”Very very happy. Again, I would like to mention Surya’s innings,” Kohli said. “I think playing at this level with top quality bowlers who bowl at pace, it’s not easy to just walk in and it’s your first game and you start off like that [monster six off Archer’s bowling], it was outstanding.”We all were quite stunned with that start and he completely stamped his authority from ball one and then the bowlers were under pressure throughout the way he played. The leggie as well – he maneuvered the bowlers beautifully. He put us in a great position and allowed the likes of Rishabh [Pant] and Shreyas [Iyer] and then Hardik [Pandya] to do the job they do and get us to that total eventually.”So big credit to these youngsters. They’re coming in and grabbing the opportunities and that’s something that I am a big fan of. The first few opportunities you make a mark and you set your standards high and then you help Indian cricket along the way. I think it’s great signs for the Indian team.”The competition for spots in India’s line-up continues to heat up in the lead-up to a home World Cup, but Suryakumar has made a compelling case for himself with his dynamic T20 approach, something that his captain had promised on the eve of the series opener.

When Watto went from slow starter to ruthless punisher

Deivarayan Muthu07-May-20216:26

Tom Moody, Mike Hussey and Shane Watson relive the match-winning 117 not out

We polled our staff for their picks of the top ten best batting, bowling and all-round performances in the IPL through its history. Here’s No. 2Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, final, 2018
With the Chennai Super Kings returning from a two-year suspension, emotions ran high among players and fans. Even the usually unflappable MS Dhoni almost teared up at an event while speaking about his side’s return to the IPL.Both Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming agreed that only experience could counter the effects of the emotions and pressure. So, at the IPL 2018 auction, the Super Kings packed their squad with over-30s players, including Shane Watson.Fleming, who was coaching the Melbourne Stars then in the BBL, liked what he had seen of Watson in the 2017-18 Australian tournament. Watson was the fifth-highest scorer that season, tallying 331 runs for the Sydney Thunder in ten innings at an average of 36.77 and strike rate of just under 140. But at 36, could he reprise those heroics in the IPL, ten years after he had emerged MVP in the inaugural season, back in 2008?That question came up again in the 2018 final, when Watson went scoreless off his first ten balls in a chase of 179 at the Wankhede against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had started with a maiden over in which a big outswinger ripped past Watson’s outside edge, and he continued to challenge the edges. Watson was also carrying a hamstring strain that hampered his running between the wickets. Faf du Plessis was gone and Suresh Raina wasn’t quite the IPL stalwart he once was.In the sixth over, Watson broke loose with a six and four off Sandeep Sharma, and when first-change Siddarth Kaul darted one on to the pads the following over, Watson lunged at it like a caged animal released, clearing the square-leg boundary with a full-blooded whip. In Kaul’s next over, Watson sent a knuckleball over long-on for six. Then lined up Sharma again in the 13th, clobbering him for a hat-trick of sixes in a 27-run over.Flow like Watto: absorb, assess, attack•BCCIIn all, Watson ruthlessly took 74 off 27 balls from Kaul and Sharma. His stunning transformation even allowed Ambati Rayudu to play a maiden in the 15th over, bowled by Rashid Khan. They could afford it: CSK only needed 33 off 30 balls after that over, with eight wickets in hand. From 0 off ten balls, and a run-a-ball 19 at the end of the powerplay, Watson cranked up to his century in 51 balls.Other players might have panicked after such a slow start with the title on the line, but not a T20 veteran like Watson. Other teams might have panicked if their home base had been moved after just one game, but not Dhoni’s CSK. After the franchise moved to Pune (and their fans moved with them), Watson adapted to the conditions and struck a century against his former team, the Rajasthan Royals.Pilloried as Dad’s Army for picking too many over-30s – and retired – players, CSK eventually won the title thanks to a hundred from a 36-year old who was largely batting on one leg.

The numbers

1 Watson’s score, 117 off 57 balls, is the highest in an IPL final

555 Runs scored by Watson in 2018, his most prolific IPL season

108 Runs Watson has scored against Rashid Khan at a strike rate of 147.94 being dismissed, in all T20 cricket. No other batter has a better record against the legspinner in the format

“This year we’ve really valued experience and also around the world you see experienced players consistently do well,” Fleming had said after the auction in 2018. “MS and I are both on the same wavelength that that experience counts. There’s room there for young players to come tomorrow, but it was one of our directions as CSK comes back in, to get an established experienced side to join the likes of [Ravindra] Jadeja and [Suresh] Raina and a couple of other young players. That was the plan.”The plan worked perfectly for CSK as they beat the Sunrisers 4-0 that season to seal their third IPL title and one of the most remarkable comebacks.The Greatest IPL performances 2008-2020

What is it about India that always gets James Anderson on edge?

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2021James Anderson has more Test wickets against India than any other team. He has won two Man-of-the-Series awards against India at home and even has a Player-of-the-Match award in India, for the Nagpur Test in 2012. In fact, during that tour, MS Dhoni said Anderson was the difference between the two sides after England won the series 2-1. But behind all the wickets, Anderson also has a history of getting into verbal duels with India’s players, and the tension resurfaced at Lord’s in 2021.James Anderson was accused of shoving Ravindra Jadeja during India’s 2014 tour of England•Getty ImagesThe Jadeja tunnel incident, Trent Bridge, 2014
On the second day of the Trent Bridge Test in 2014, Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja had an altercation in the corridor on the way to the dressing rooms as they left the field for lunch. The Indian team management alleged Anderson had verbally abused and then pushed Jadeja. They made a complaint to the ICC, and Anderson was charged under Level 3 of the Code of Conduct, which meant that had he been found guilty, he would have been suspended for at least two Tests. England made a counter claim that it was Jadeja who had turned aggressively towards Anderson in the corridor and Anderson had only pushed him in self-defence.The incident caused a rift between the two teams, with India insisting Anderson needed to be punished for the offence while Alastair Cook, then England captain, said it was nothing more than a tactic from the visitors to unsettle his best bowler and try to get him suspended.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the absence of video evidence of the incident, it was one team’s word against the other’s, and the ICC found Jadeja guilty of a Level 1 offence and fined him 50% of his match fees, something Dhoni was not at all pleased with.There was further shock and dismay for India after Anderson was found not guilty, with Dhoni maintaining that he had witnessed Anderson abusing and pushing Jadeja and had no regrets about reporting it to the ICC. Eventually, Jadeja’s guilty verdict was repealed after India appealed it, but the incident was being talked about as late as September, when Anderson told Sky Sports that it was one of the most stressful periods of his career.ESPNcricinfo LtdDon’t talk about our captain, Mumbai, 2016
Anderson had dismissed Virat Kohli four times in eight innings when India toured England in 2014. By 2016, when England toured India, Kohli was captain. He had a mammoth series, scoring a century and a fifty in Visakhapatnam and another fifty in Mohali before a double-ton in Mumbai. With England on the brink of going 0-3 down, Anderson, who had not been able to dismiss Kohli in the series, was asked whether he thought Kohli had improved since 2014. He was reserved in his praise, saying that while Kohli was a good player, home pitches hid his flaws.ESPNcricinfo LtdR Ashwin thought Anderson was not being a gracious loser and decided to tell him so on the fifth day of the Mumbai Test, walking right up to Anderson when he came to the crease. Kohli had to step in to hold his offspinner back and while he found the exchange amusing, his opposite number, Cook, said it was a bit of a “sour end” to the match.1:28

Cook and Kohli on the Ashwin-Anderson chatter

Did you just bounce me? Lord’s, 2021
On the third evening of the 2021 Lord’s Test, with England nine down after having snatched a small lead, Jasprit Bumrah attacked Anderson’s body with the short ball, pinging him on the helmet once and on the gloves and arms a couple more times. Anderson seemed to take exception to the tactic and had words with Bumrah at the close of play. The tense atmosphere continued into the next day, when Anderson had words with Kohli while bowling to him, and on the last day, when England returned the favour, bowling short balls to Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Bumrah was antagonised by something in the morning session, and it led to a lot of verbals during England’s innings, with Kohli the main protagonist.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhile the details of what was said to Bumrah and Shami are unknown, the stump microphone did pick up some unpleasant language from Kohli towards England’s batters on the fifth evening. After the game, Kohli made a point of mentioning that the verbals directed at Bumrah and Shami in the morning session gave his side extra motivation when they came out to bowl.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

He brings heat, passion and energy to the middle. And Bangladesh need it now

Mohammad Isam19-Nov-2021Taskin Ahmed brings a whole lot of energy to the Bangladesh team. When he gets a wicket, he spreads the joy. His Shoaib Akhtar-like take-off and infectious smile lets his team-mates join in. And he celebrates every wicket, in every situation.He took 2 for 31 on Friday against Pakistan, making him one of the bright spots in Bangladesh’s four-wicket loss in the first T20I. Taskin removed Babar Azam in the fourth over, and when he had Fakhar Azam caught behind in the 15th, he broke a 56-run fifth-wicket stand between Fakhar and Khushdil Shah that set the stone of Pakistan’s revival.Both wickets felt like big events. His team-mates’ reaction, the crowd’s reaction and the opposition’s reaction told you so. Taskin’s energy resonates across the ground. Part of their admiration for him stems from how he has proved everyone wrong to bounce back from multiple setbacks when it appeared as if his career was over.All said, there wasn’t the usual air of expectation around the Bangladesh team on Friday even though the crowd sensed the need to give them a lift. And they cheered for every run saved – every stop – even though things remained difficult on the field.But the defeat compounded Bangladesh’s misery after the T20 World Cup debacle. On the field, the changed top order hardly made much of a difference to their approach or their score. The middle order quickly caved in too, leaving the lower order to get them past the three-figure mark for the first time in three matches.Bangladesh also were left to rue a poor end-overs performance that blew away their strong start – they reduced Pakistan to 24 for 4 in defence. A late big-hitting onslaught from Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz ended the home side’s hopes of a late revival. Mustafizur Rahman’s 15-run over off the 18th gave Pakistan the spring to push over the line.Having to chew on another tough loss, Mahmudullah once again was drawing on crumbs of comfort. “I wasn’t frustrated [about the late onslaught],” he said. “I think we bowled well. We took wickets up front. These things can happen in the death overs when batsmen are chancing their arms.”Our bowlers tried hard, especially Mustafizur. They [Pakistan batters] played some good shots there in the end. I think Mahedi [Hasan] has been performing well for the team, both with the bat and ball. Taskin has been outstanding. Afif [Hossan] and Sohan [Nurul Hasan] batted well. I still think we could have done better with the bat.”Mahmudullah will feel under pressure if Bangladesh can’t pull one back in the second of the back-to-back T20Is on Saturday. There have been several points of criticism, including his bowling changes and his inability to finish the game against West Indies in the T20 World Cup. The latest in what is growing to be a long list of issues is his silence over selections, like Mushfiqur Rahim’s axing from this series.Another aspect he may have to potentially look at is letting his trail of thoughts filter through to the bowlers. Someone like Mustafizur, as experienced as he is, largely keeps to himself. He does his bowling, quietly fields and isn’t the type who will proactively walk up to his captain with suggestions and advice.This is where someone like Taskin can spruce things up. He gives Mahmudullah some breathing space. Every captain wants a genuine fast bowler in his attack and in Taskin, Mahmudullah has someone who can bowl 140kph on a regular basis. He loves being in the thick of things. He brings heat, passion and energy to the middle. And Bangladesh need it.

He seems to have gone back to trusting his hands and eye, and allowing his innate attacking game to flourish

Karthik Krishnaswamy03-Jan-20224:05

Ashwin: ‘Maybe our total is a bit short’

It’s not often that anyone outscores Rishabh Pant in a partnership, but R Ashwin on a good day is a plausible candidate for doing so. And after four years when his gifts of eye and timing lay frustratingly dormant, the good days are growing in frequency.Having averaged 16.72 and scored just one fifty in 39 innings from the start of 2017 to the end of 2020, Ashwin has been back among the runs. He’s averaged 26.73 since the start of 2021, and his manner of run-scoring in this period has been as encouraging as the scores he has made.Related

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His 46 on Monday was of a piece with other counterattacking knocks he’s played of late: the 27-ball 22 in the World Test Championship final, and a pair of 30s against New Zealand in Kanpur in November. He moved into strong positions from which to drive down the ground and through the off side, prompting mental flashbacks to his early years in Test cricket when the languid elegance of his strokeplay routinely drew comparisons with VVS Laxman.That fluency had been missing for most of the 2017-20 period, a time when he tinkered constantly with his technique in an effort to get back among the runs.Over the last year or so, Ashwin seems to have gone back to trusting his hands and eye and allowing his innate attacking game to flourish – particularly against fast bowling. Since – but not counting – his stonewalling efforts to save the Sydney Test last January, he’s scored at a strike rate of 69.17 against pace, with 30 fours in 292 balls, a rate better than one every ten balls.Ashwin says he hasn’t made any conscious effort to go after fast bowling; his scoring rate, he reckons, has simply been an outcome of getting into better positions at the crease.”Look, in between, somewhere, for a couple of years, trying to get very technically right or whatever it is to try and build on scores, I think I lost a bit of my flow with respect to getting into good positions at the crease,” Ashwin said, at the end of the first day’s play at the Wanderers.”Even before that I have always batted at a good clip, so there’s not been a conscious effort to go out there and keep playing those shots. If it’s there, it’s there. For me, I get into positions where I can play some of those shots which maybe some of the other specialist batters might not be able to play, but this freedom is what gave me success in the past.”R Ashwin – “I get into positions where I can play shots which maybe some of the other specialist batters might not be able to play”•AFP via Getty ImagesThat line about playing shots that specialist batters might not be able to play is, of course, no idle boast. Even his briefest innings have sometimes been lit up by an incandescent stroke; think of the back-foot drive that he hit off Josh Hazlewood on a pitch of hugely uncertain bounce in Bengaluru, back in 2017, before being bowled by a grubber while attempting a repeat.There were at least three shots in Monday’s innings that might stick in your memory: an effortless push straight of mid-on off Lungi Ngidi, an inside-out drive through the covers off Keshav Maharaj, and an on-drive over midwicket off Kagiso Rabada.”It’s still about choosing [shots] correctly and also getting the flow of my hands right, which I think I’ve been able to get back ever since Australia, or a little bit before Australia,” Ashwin said. “[Batting coach] Vikram Rathour has been very helpful in terms of having those communications and also trying to get those things sorted in the nets.”Ashwin acknowledged that his innings got off to a flier because he got a few balls in his area first up, but he also felt South Africa’s bowlers may have helped him get into rhythm by attacking him with the short ball when he came to the crease.”The moment I went in I got a straight ball which I hit down the ground, then I got one which I hit on the up off Lungi Ngidi on the off side,” Ashwin said. “So the balls presented themselves, and I responded. There was no attempt to try and go there and play at that strike rate; sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t, that’s the beauty of playing the game.”And also, I thought, getting a hang of the pitch. Initially they started with the short ball again, so I feel like whenever I get started off with the short ball, it gets me going a bit, so yeah, I had gameplans. Glad it worked out, and it’s also about building on and trying to be more productive for the team.”

Also, why did Chahar, Hasaranga and Hetmyer attract such big money?

Dustin Silgardo14-Feb-20225:30

Best and worst buys? Biggest surprise? Missed opportunity?

Why did Wanindu Hasaranga go for so much? Hasaranga fills two crucial roles teams look for. He can function as a wristspinner with variations, and also be used as an allrounder who can strike at 130-plus from No. 6 or No. 7. Hasaranga has established himself as one of the best googly bowlers in the world – his T20I strike rate is 12.9 and his economy rate is 6.32. And spinners with variations have traditionally done well in the IPL.Related

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But why did Hasaranga get a higher price than experienced spinners such as Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin? This is where his second skill comes in. Hasaranga can bat in the middle order and score fast – his T20 strike rate is 136.63. That kind of player was in short supply in the auction. Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja had all been retained, but that still left four teams – Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings – desperate to find explosive allrounders. No surprise that three of those teams were battling for Hasaranga. Another point to remember is that his name came up before many of the big-hitting allrounders who were sold on day two. Also, he was the only one of those allrounders who bowls wristspin.There have been questions as to why the Royal Challengers pursued Hasaranga despite having him in their squad last season and only giving him two games. But remember, last season the Royal Challengers had Chahal filling the wristspinner’s spot. This season, by having a wicket-taking wristspinner who can bat in the top seven, they have more options in terms of team combination – they could play four seamers after Hasaranga, with Glenn Maxwell as the second spinner, or make the batting deep with Shahbaz Ahmed as another spin-bowling allrounder at No.8.Why did David Warner and Quinton de Kock go for less than INR 7 crore (USD 926,000 approx)? Three reasons: Overseas batters have been among the cheaper buys because the supply is more. Every team had at least one opener pre-auction. A lot of teams were waiting for Ishan Kishan’s name to come up.Warner and de Kock would probably both have been better off not being in the marquee set. Clearly, many teams had their eyes on Kishan as a keeper-batter. Once Kishan was sold, the very next keeper, Nicholas Pooran, went for INR 10.75 crore (USD 1.4 million) to the Sunrisers. de Kock could have fetched a similar price had he come up after Kishan.Another factor was that of the 31 players picked pre-auction, 11 were potential openers. Every team had at least one player who could open, so those slots were not as much of a priority early in the auction.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn recent auctions, overseas top-order batters have been among the less expensive buys. Think of it this way, if you consider six of the top-eight-ranked international teams (minus India and Pakistan) as your supply pool, each team has around four top-order batters, so the total supply is about 24 international-quality batters. But each team has a maximum of two allrounders, finishers or express pacers, so there your supply is half. It could make sense to spend on those other categories and try to pick up an inexpensive top-order player.For example, Chennai Super Kings, who were in for Warner but pulled out early, ended up getting Devon Conway for just INR 1 crore (USD 132,000), and he is still an international-level player. The auction also had a lot of Indian top-order options, so teams wanted to save their overseas slots for other areas.Of course, Warner is a special top-order player and a three-time winner of the orange cap, so if he hits top form, he could end up being the steal of the auction.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhy did Shimron Hetmyer spark such a bidding war? Again, this is a function of supply and demand. Teams wanted to fill the No. 5 slot in their team with a finisher – someone who can come in and strike quickly from the off, a totally different skill from building an innings from the top. Every team wants to find their own Pollard, Russell or Pandya, but there aren’t too many of those kinds of players around. While the ideal pick is an allrounder who can also be a finisher, teams were willing to pay big bucks even for batters or batting allrounders who can play this specific role.Hetmyer has a strike rate of 150.00 from No. 5 or lower. In 23 IPL innings from No. 5 or lower, he has struck at 160.26. Shahrukh Khan, another finisher, also went for big money, as did Tim David and Liam Livingstone, though he is seen as an allrounder.Hetmyer also benefited from being in the first pool of capped batters, as a lot of the options for this role were only going to come much later on in the auction, so some teams wanted a finisher early so they didn’t have to scramble for one with a diminished purse. Delhi Capitals, the other team bidding for Hetmyer, never ended up finding a proven No. 5 and will have to use Mandeep Singh or Rovman Powell in the role, or push Rishabh Pant down the order. Why didn’t Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin get bigger bids?Ashwin and Chahal are both among the 10 highest wicket-takers in the IPL, and it isn’t like their form has dipped. No spinner took more wickets than Chahal’s 18 last season, while Ashwin’s economy-rate of 7.41 was excellent. So why did Chahal get just INR 6.50 crore (USD 860,000) and Ashwin INR 5 crore (USD 661,000)?It seems that teams came into the auction with the idea that any spinners they picked needed to be allrounders who could bat at No.7 or higher. The reason for this was that there were a lot of spin-bowling allrounders to pick from but few seam-bowling allrounders who could bat in the top seven. So a lot of teams had set up to have multiple spin-bowling options in their top seven and a maximum of one spinner occupying the bowlers’ positions.If you include pre-auction buys, 15 spin-bowling allrounders went for INR 2 crore or more, with nine earning upwards of INR 8 crore. In contrast, just seven specialist spinners earned INR 2 crore (USD 264,000) or more, and that’s including Rashid Khan, who could, at a push, bat in the top seven.ESPNcricinfo LtdHow did Deepak Chahar become the second-most-expensive buy in the auction?Seamers are always in demand in auctions – you need five or six quality seamers in your squad to allow for injuries, loss of form and confidence. But one specific kind of seamer in great demand at this auction was someone that could bat at No. 8 and provide depth, which is becoming more and more valued in T20 cricket. Having someone who can finish games from No. 8 not only adds insurance but can change the way your top and middle order bat, allowing them to be more aggressive. There are not a lot of frontline seamers going around who can also strike at 130 with the bat, and so those players went at a premium.The reason Chahar went for even more than the rest of the seamers who can hit a ball long, is that he is one of the best powerplay bowlers in the IPL and tends to win a handful of games every season just with his early wickets.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhy did Mumbai Indians go hard for an injured Jofra Archer?Archer is unlikely to feature at all in the 2022 season, so why would teams want him in this auction? Why not simply wait for the next auction? By taking a gamble this season, Mumbai have actually ended up paying a lot less for Archer than they otherwise might have. A fully fit Archer in an auction could have earned massive bids. But by picking him up late in this auction, when other teams had used up most of their purses, Mumbai have actually got Archer at a bargain – remember, if he doesn’t play this season, Mumbai don’t need to pay him – and now have a formidable pace attack for 2023. They may also have been thinking of the 26-year-old Archer as someone they can retain at the end of this three-year cycle. The trade-off, of course, is that their first XI for this season is not as strong.The big question, which only Archer can answer, is why he decided to enter this auction. If he had entered the mini-auction next year, he probably would have fetched a lot more money. We will have to wait for him to answer that.Why did Kolkata Knight Riders pick Ajinkya Rahane?In four of his past five seasons, Rahane has struck at less than 120, and he was given just two games by the Capitals in 2021. But the Knight Riders wanted a steady opener to complement the aggressive Venkatesh Iyer. Their outgoing opener, Shubman Gill, also struck at less than 120 in his past two seasons but was consistent. Also, the experience and leadership of Rahane can be an asset in the dressing-room and training ground.

“We can do similar things: he hits the ball a long way and bowls fast, and I can do that”

Matt Roller20-Jan-2022A Jamaican allrounder who hits 100-metre sixes and bowls at 90mph/145kph will represent West Indies against England this week – but it isn’t Andre Russell.While Russell takes part in the Bangladesh Premier League, Odean Smith will be tasked with closing out the innings with both bat and ball in the five T20Is in Barbados. Smith, 25, was among the young players introduced into West Indies’ white-ball set-up after their World Cup debacle in the UAE, and will be given opportunities to impress in his first T20I series on Caribbean soil.Last week’s ODI series against Ireland brought mixed emotions for him. A surprise 2-1 defeat meant the team started 2022 on a low note, but Smith had personal success in his maiden series: he hit 84 runs off 47 balls across three innings – surprisingly held back to No. 10 – and chipped in with three wickets.He was also involved in the series’ viral moment, when he hit Josh Little for six over cover only to see it land on the roof of his team-mate Sheldon Cottrell’s bright-blue Range Rover. “I was praying for that ball to go over the car,” he laughs. “He made a post about it, but you can’t park there. It was just unfortunate… he’s not going to make me pay.”

Don’t park your car too close when a West Indian is batting pic.twitter.com/Qpd2WEs5ah

— Sheldon Cotterell (@SaluteCotterell) January 8, 2022