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Direct hits, sharp catches in the cordon, and athletic keeping – the best of Australia and India’s fielding from the Test series

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jan-2021
Kohli leaps to his right at midwicket

Australia were under pressure at 79 for 4 in Adelaide when Cameron Green pulled a short delivery from R Ashwin. He didn’t time it, and Virat Kohli, standing at short midwicket, dived to his right and held on to the catch while still in the air. Both hands in the air, doff of the cap, it was a typical Kohli moment.Jadeja stays focused to take a skyer

Ravindra Jadeja had to move a long way to his left from mid-on to get under this mis-hit from Matthew Wade that went high up in the air, but what really made the catch hard was that Shubman Gill was also running after it from midwicket. Gill got right in Jadeja’s eyeline and even collided with him after Jadeja had taken the catch. Even while holding a hand out to signal to Gill that it was his, Jadeja never took his eyes off the ball and completed the catch to leave Australia 35 for 2 on the first morning at the MCG.Gill gets low to take one at square leg

On the first day at the MCG, debutant Shubman Gill had been positioned at square leg for the uppish flick Marnus Labuschagne plays in that direction. With Australia 134 for 4, Labuschagne middled a flick off Mohammed Siraj, but Gill got low to his right to give Siraj his first Test wicket.Paine changes direction to send back Pujara

So good was this delivery from Pat Cummins that it wrongfooted his wicketkeeper, Tim Paine. The ball was angled in to Pujara, which made Paine lean left, but it then straightened to take the outside edge. Paine had to change direction and dive full length to his right to take a low catch. He had his poor moments with the gloves in the series, but this was a sharp take.Jadeja hits the stumps with a bullet throw

No surprises that Jadeja finds himself on this list for a second time, this time for his run-out of Steven Smith in Sydney. Smith had got to 130 in the first innings. Batting with the No.11, he was trying to get a few more quick runs and dropped one into the leg side off Jasprit Bumrah. Jadeja had to sprint in from deep square leg and had just one stump to aim at as Smith came back for the second. As he so often does, Jadeja hit that one stump to end Australia’s innings on 338.Hazlewood dives and throws to dismiss Vihari

With India 142 for 3 in response to Australia’s 338, Hanuma Vihari drove Nathan Lyon to mid-off and set off for a single. Josh Hazlewood was positioned wide at mid-off, so had to move quickly to his right to stop the ball. The 6’5″ Hazlewood took two long strides, bent low to his right, and then threw the ball as he was falling over, hitting the stumps direct to find Vihari short of the crease.Labuschagne makes a smart play from short leg

Jadeja was looking for quick runs while batting with the tail and tried to steal two after being hit on the pads by Mitchell Starc. Labuschagne was standing at short leg and, realizing there was no square leg, ran back to collect the ball. He had a look round his shoulder and saw the batsmen wanted two, so slid and threw on the turn, smartly going for the non-striker’s end, to which Jasprit Bumrah was running. A direct hit found Bumrah well short.Saha dives to strangle Labuschagne down leg

After Rishabh Pant took a blow on the body while batting, Wriddhiman Saha took the gloves for the second innings in Sydney and took an athletic catch down leg. Navdeep Saini bowled one at Labuschagne’s ribs, and the ball hit the glove and went a few metres to Saha’s left. But Saha’s excellent footwork had put him in a position from where he could go for the catch, and a dive got him there.Rohit shows his safe hands in the slips

Rohit Sharma ended up with five catches at the Gabba, four at second slip, and his first of the Test was the best of them. India’s inexperienced attack needed support from their fielders, and Rohit provided that in the very first over. David Warner nicked Siraj, and the ball was dying on first slip, but Rohit dived across Pujara and took the catch inches from the ground.Green shows his reflexes at gully

Cameron Green was exceptional at gully through the series, taking five catches there in total. The best was his fourth, to dismiss Rishabh Pant in the first innings in Brisbane. Green was standing closer and finer than usual, and the ball traveled quickly to him as it came off the full face of Pant’s bat. It was head height, and Green stuck his right hand up to take it reverse cup.

Statistical highlights from Afghanistan’s victory in the second Test against Zimbabwe

Sampath Bandarupalli14-Mar-2021596 Balls Rashid Khan bowled in this match, the most by any player in a Test in the 21st century. These are also the most balls bowled by a player in a Test match since Muttiah Muralitharan’s 683 against England at The Oval in 1998.Most balls bowled in a Test match since 1999•ESPNcricinfo Ltd187 The partnership between Sean Williams and Donald Tiripano in the second innings. This is now the highest eighth-wicket partnership for Zimbabwe in Test cricket, surpassing the 168-run stand by Andrew Blignaut and Heath Streak against West Indies in 2003.3 Test matches that Afghanistan have won out of the six they’ve played. These are the joint-most wins for a team in their first six matches in Test cricket. Australia also won three of their first six games in this format.5 Lbw dismissals for Rashid in Zimbabwe’s second innings, the joint-highest by a bowler in an innings. Six other players have also managed this quirky little feat, with Saeed Ajmal against England in 2012 in Dubai, the most recent.3 Centuries by Williams as captain of Zimbabwe in four Tests. Only Brendan Taylor (4) has more Test tons as captain for Zimbabwe than Williams, while Andy Flower also scored three hundreds as a skipper. The unbeaten 151 by Williams is only the fourth 150-plus score by a Zimbabwe captain in Test cricket.95 The highest score made by a Zimbabwe batsman coming in at No.9 or lower. Tiripano is the new holder of this record, beating the 91 made by Andrew Blignaut in 2003 against West Indies in Harare.Tiripano’s 95 is also the highest individual score in a follow-on innings while batting at No.8 or lower. Kapil Dev’s 89 against England in 1982 was the previous highest when he batted at No.8.17 Test debutants before Shahidullah who also got to be on the winning side without contributing a run, a wicket, a catch or even a stumping. Shahidullah’s work in this match comprised five overs in the second innings for six runs.

The key statistical highlights from the second Zimbabwe vs Pakistan Test in Harare

Sampath Bandarupalli10-May-2021ESPNcricinfo Ltd3 – Players with five-wicket hauls for Pakistan in the Test – Hasan Ali returned 5 for 27 in the first innings, while Nauman Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up 5 for 86 and 5 for 52 in the second innings respectively. It’s the first time three players have registered five-wicket hauls for Pakistan in a Test match.It was also just the sixth instance of three players from the same team picking up five-fors in a Test match. The last such occasion was at Edgbaston in 1993, when Australia’s Paul Reiffel, Shane Warne and Tim May picked up five-fors against England.2 – Instances when two left-arm bowlers have picked up five-wicket hauls in the same Test innings. Before Nauman and Afridi achieved it in Zimbabwe’s second innings in Harare, England’s George Hirst and Colin Blythe did the same against Australia at Edgbaston in 1909. Hirst and Blythe, in fact, picked up all 20 wickets for England in that Test.ESPNcricinfo Ltd2 – Series of more than one Test won by Pakistan outside Asia in the last ten years, including this one. Their other came in the West Indies in 2017, where they won the three-match series 2-1.4 – Test matches as captain for Babar Azam, and Pakistan have won all four. No Pakistan captain before Azam had won more than two consecutive Tests after their captaincy debut. Azam is also only the eighth captain overall to win each of his first four Test matches.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe victory margin of an innings and 147 runs was their second biggest in an innings win outside Asia. The biggest came in 1973 in Dunedin, when they defeated New Zealand by an innings and 166 runs.8.92 – Hasan Ali’s Bowling average in the Test series, the best by a Pakistan bowler in a multi-match Test series (minimum ten wickets). The previous best was 10.40 by Mudassar Nazar during the three-match Test series against England in 1982, where he took ten wickets.2010 – The last time a Pakistan player recorded a 50-plus score and a five-wicket haul in the same Test before Nauman Ali did it in Harare. It was Saeed Ajmal, who had achieved the double against England in 2010 at Edgbaston.

His skills aren’t in question, but his fitness is, and the mystery spinner must prove he is finally good to go

Deivarayan Muthu24-Jul-2021Varun Chakravarthy – here we go again! After missing out on selection for the T20I leg of the Australia tour and the home series against England because of fitness issues, the mystery spinner is braced for his international debut, one more time. With the T20I series in Sri Lanka being India’s last before the T20 World Cup, this will be Chakravarthy’s first – and probably last – chance to stake a claim for the tournament, to be held in the UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14.The last time Chakravarthy was in the UAE, he married his variations with control to emerge as the Kolkata Knight Riders’ highest wicket-taker, with 17 strikes in 13 matches at an economy rate of 6.84. The national selectors were so impressed that they immediately rewarded him with a place in the T20I side.Chakravarthy has had a roller-coaster ride since.Related

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He watched his Tamil Nadu mate T Natarajan take his place in the T20I side and make a big splash in Australia. He met his idol, actor Vijay, and got married to his girlfriend Neha during his time away from the game. He then underwent rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, but wasn’t deemed fit enough for selection for the T20Is against England. It was then time to prove he was no one-season IPL wonder, fronting up to bowl in the powerplay, middle overs, as well as at the death earlier this year – with or without Sunil Narine. IPL 2021 was later postponed after he was among the people to test positive for Covid-19.While Chakravarthy has recovered and continues to upgrade his skills – he is working on adding to his seven variations, according to the Knight Riders’ spin-bowling coach Carl Crowe, who is now with the Manchester Originals for the Hundred – there might still be question marks over his fitness.Reacting to Chakravarthy failing a fitness test ahead of the England T20Is, Virat Kohli had stressed that fitness could not be “compromised” in this Indian set-up. There is a school of thought – that Crowe subscribes to – that players like Chakravarthy, who come from a non-professional background, could be given some leeway.

“If you have a cricketer who comes from a low-base background and when he does not have support for fitness growing up in his formative years, I think you give a little bit of leeway as long as you see the fitness level improve as he goes along”Carl Crowe

“In the modern era of sport, particularly cricket, it is very fitness-driven. You could argue that it’s over the line on fitness and I might be in that camp,” Crowe tells ESPNcricinfo. “Cricket is a skill sport, but fitness is crucial for maximising performance, longevity and resisting injuries and so many reasons. When you have someone with the high skill level that Varun brings – different shades that he has – it’s not made up by extra fitness. If you look at how he’s bowled in the last two IPLs…. I think it was a game in Sharjah where he played the previous IPL on a small ground and flat wicket, he went for 24-25 runs in his four overs. Even this time, he got Virat out very quickly against RCB.”My view is – I’m not in charge of BCCI to tell them to do things at all – if you have a cricketer who comes from a low-base background and when he does not have support for fitness growing up in his formative years, I think you give a little bit of leeway as long as you see the fitness level improve as he goes along.”I don’t think Varun gave much away in the field ever. You don’t want too many fielders in the hot spots who can’t field out there, he wasn’t there; he often fields at 45 to maybe spinners and fine leg to seamers. There was no error that you could put down to fitness. You’re bowling four overs, fielding 16 overs and he can hold a bat down the order, so there’s nothing to me that suggests that he’s probably below the level of acceptability for fitness. At the same time, if the team is trying to drive a culture of fitness, it’s difficult to bring in a player who doesn’t meet the standards. But for me as long as the player works incredibly hard at fitness and keeps improving and has that skill level, I’d like to see a bit more leniency.”Among Chakravarthy’s unique skills is the carrom ball, which he flicks out with his ring finger as opposed to others who bowl the variation with the middle finger. He also has the ability to gather pace off pitches that aren’t as quick, something that puts him in the company of the best T20 spinners, according to Crowe.He has a knack of picking up the big wickets•BCCI”I can’t certainly say what is more difficult to pick than a standard carrom ball delivered from the middle finger, but what, I think, it does do is it makes the batters around the world looking and guessing what’s coming next,” Crowe says. “I think I know he’s working on at least one more delivery. Once the batter gets better at facing the carrom ball from the middle finger, they now have to be prepared and adapt to face the carrom ball off the ring finger. What matters ultimately is the ball spinning to the left, right, or over the top or underspin and there are obviously different degrees of that. How you go about doing that is up to you as an individual.”Gathering pace off the pitch for me is what separates the very best spinners from the rest. There’s less time for [batters] to adapt and then it spins past the bat quicker. It might look nice on TV – that ball breaking off the pitch – but if it doesn’t gather pace, good players will be able to adapt and play with the spin. If you look at the pace that the best T20 spinners bowl at – Rashid [Khan], Narine and like Varun – they are pushing close to 100ks and turning the ball both ways.”Crowe, who has overseen the progress of spinners in various leagues around the world, also believes that the presence of a mystery spinner in a global tournament, like the World Cup, could potentially give India a distinct advantage over the other teams.”In my experience at the IPL, the Indian players – they play mystery spin and any kind of spin the best and the overseas players not quite so much. Some of them like Jos Buttler play them well individually, but not across the board; the overseas players aren’t quite as skilled against mystery spin,” he says. “You think about a World Cup, where non-Indian players play against a mystery spinner… there might be a few sleepless nights for the batters, trying to see which way the ball is spinning . I’m really excited to see him play and it [playing for India] means a lot to him.”I get so many youngsters who contact me via my social media saying: ‘Sir, I want to be given a go or have an opportunity by only playing here’ and I always come back to Varun. I say this is the man you got to follow and dreams can come true. You play gully cricket, do some net bowling somewhere and be seen – it’s a story for all of us to learn and be inspired by.”India’s spin attack is already well-stocked with Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Krunal Pandya, but they don’t quite have X-factor, which Chakravarthy could bring to the table. If he can pass the test in Sri Lanka, and add another chapter to his fascinating story, who knows what might happen.

Having ridden the roller-coaster of Test cricket for 11 years, he is repaying Australia more than they perhaps deserve

Alex Malcolm06-Mar-2022It was almost written in the stars for Usman Khawaja. Born just a short drive up the road in Islamabad and playing Test cricket in Pakistan for the first time in his 11-year career with Australia, he was one boundary away from a magical, sentimental century.But alas, the reverse sweep, a shot that had yielded two boundaries in his classy 97 and has been a great weapon for him throughout his career, brought about his downfall.”It’s disappointing,” Khawaja said after the third day’s play. “Cricket is a funny game. Three runs – you bat so well for 97 and then you get out. You don’t get a hundred, you come back in the changeroom and it probably feels worse than getting a 20 in some respects. It’s a bizarre feeling. Yeah, I would love to get a hundred out here. Rawalpindi, Islamabad – where I grew up.Related

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“I think it would have brought a lot of joy. But at the same time, I think mum, dad, [and] Rachel, my wife, would have loved me being out there. I was having a lot of fun. I was enjoying playing. To put it in perspective, I wasn’t even in an Australian team a few months ago. So I’m very grateful to be here. I’m happy that I contributed to the team.”Therein lies the secret to Khawaja’s renaissance as a Test cricketer.It doesn’t matter that he perhaps picked the wrong length to reverse sweep Nauman Ali, as it wasn’t quite full enough. It doesn’t matter that he was through the shot too soon and it popped up off the glove to short leg. He won’t put the shot away. It has brought him 88 Test runs in his career for just two dismissals, 22 of them coming during his twin centuries on return to the Test arena against England in Sydney earlier this year.It doesn’t matter that Khawaja had some luck. He was dropped by Fawad Alam at gully on 22. He gloved another reverse sweep on 66 but wasn’t held by Mohammad Rizwan, and he edged another between the wicketkeeper and first slip on 73 to eventually pick up four.Fortune favours the brave; and Khawaja is daring to be brave and daring to be himself, something which is paying handsome dividends.Having ridden the roller-coaster of Test cricket for 11 years, having been sent to selection purgatory more times than can be counted, Khawaja is riding a wave of form that is repaying Australia more than they perhaps deserve.There was a freedom and a joy from 35-year-olds Khawaja and David Warner that has not always been in recent years•AFP/Getty ImagesHis 97, luck aside, ensured Australia stayed in the Test match. His positive mindset, his intent to score and his calm demeanour was the driver for a rollicking 156-run opening stand with long-time friend David Warner.They become just the ninth foreign pair to share a 150-run opening stand against Pakistan in either Pakistan or the UAE, and the first Australians since Mark Taylor and Michael Slater in 1994. The pace at which they scored – nearly four runs an over – kept the faint flicker of a result for Australia alive, albeit it might have been snuffed out by bad light cutting off the last session.It was Khawaja who dragged Warner with him. While Warner was a rabbit in the headlights for a period against a barrage of short stuff from Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi, Khawaja handled them with aplomb, pulling, driving and upper cutting with trademark elegance. He scored 40 of Australia’s first 56 runs, and 62 of the first 100.Khawaja forced Pakistan to turn to their three spinners, as Warner thrived attacking the trio off both the front and the back foot. They batted like they did more than 20 years ago when playing junior cricket in Sydney together.There was a freedom and a joy from the two 35-year-olds that has not always been in their batting in recent years. They even spoke together in the middle about the warm reception they were getting from the Pakistani crowd. That is what Khawaja has brought to Australia’s team since his return. He has been a breath of fresh air, and has dragged players with him in some tremendous partnerships.He shepherded Steven Smith and Cameron Green to century stands in the first and second innings respectively in Sydney when both were battling form, and elicited the best from Warner here in Rawalpindi after his early struggles. Khawaja is playing with the type of mental freedom that few cricketers at Test level have ever enjoyed.

“I’ve been dropped. It doesn’t matter. I just play the way I want to play”Khawaja after he fell reverse sweeping on 97

“I felt really good today,” Khawaja said. “I felt mentally in a really good spot coming into it, I guess. Probably because I’ve been out of the system. I’ve been out of cricket Australia for two years. And now it’s not the be-all and end-all anymore.”I’ve been in and out of the team so much. I’ve been dropped. It doesn’t matter. I just play the way I want to play. I just think of it as if I’m playing club cricket or Shield cricket back home. And that’s how I take it for Australia now.”In the end, it was Warner who perhaps let him down the most. Just as Warner was thriving, having cut Sajid Khan to ribbons off the stumps, he picked the wrong length and was bowled trying to cut something he could have driven.Khawaja was on 80 at the time and looked destined for a massive score. But he faced just 27 of the next 77 deliveries as Marnus Labuschagne took his time to get set.However, he looked to have broken the shackles with a powerful lofted drive down the ground and a slog sweep off Sajid. Perhaps impatience got the better of him as he fell for his third Test score of 97, and his second against Pakistan. But to Khawaja, it doesn’t matter why.”Obviously, I’m a Muslim. I believe in God,” he said. “I trust what happens. Good or bad, you have to take it equally. A lot of good things have happened in my life. Sometimes you want certain things to go a certain way and they don’t happen. I think you just have to accept that and move on, and take the good with the bad. I’m very grateful.”

The opener’s 44-ball 76 on a tricky surface ensured India did not have to break too much sweat in their chase

Deivarayan Muthu03-Aug-20223:29

Takeaways: Suryakumar sparkles, Shreyas’ struggles continue

Suryakumar Yadav has six scores of fifty or more in 20 innings in T20I cricket. Three of them have come from No.3, including the one on his debut against England in Ahmedabad last year, and two from No.4. On Tuesday, he hit his latest half-century as an opening batter, after his partner Rohit Sharma had to retire hurt on 11, turning a potentially tricky chase of 165 into a straightforward one in St Kitts.Suryakumar has the ability to make batting look ridiculously easy. He did so when he kick-started his T20I career with a hook off the first ball he faced, from Jofra Archer, for six. More recently this July, at Trent Bridge, he walloped 117 off 55 balls in a chase of 216 where no other Indian batter passed 30.Related

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In the third T20I in Basseterre, he unveiled two outrageous shots – like only can – that defined the game. When fast bowler Alzarri Joseph pounded a near-140kph delivery on a hard length and attacked the top of off stump, Suryakumar stood tall, extended his arms, lifted his left elbow high, and pumped it over wide long-off for six. Joseph then went wide of the crease and angled another sharp delivery into Suryakumar’s throat, but he sank to his knees and arched his back almost onto the ground and ramped it over the wicketkeeper for four.Just like that, Suryakumar took 29 off 15 short or short-of-a-length deliveries, according to ESPNcricinfo’s data, which allowed Shreyas Iyer, who can be vulnerable to this style of bowling, some breathing space on a bouncy track. Iyer managed just nine off 13 such balls. On the day, he could afford to evade or fend off the short stuff with Suryakumar going all-out at the other end.When West Indies went fuller and tried to york Suryakumar, he put those balls away as well. Obed McCoy, fresh off a record-breaking 6 for 17 in the second T20I, only marginally missed his length in the first over, but Suryakumar still carved him away through the covers for four. Then Jason Holder tried to bluff him with a yorker after the powerplay, with a strong leg-side field set for the short offcutter, but Suryakumar was ready for it. He collapsed his back knee to manufacture the elevation he needed to clear mid-on.Suryakumar Yadav raises his bat after reaching a 26-ball half-century•AFP/Getty ImagesSuryakumar was just as nerveless and decisive in the strokeplay against Akeal Hosein and Dominic Drakes. After bringing up a 26-ball half-century with a swept six off Hosein, he stepped back a bit against the older ball, scoring only 23 off his last 18 balls. When he was finally done in the 15th over, India needed only 30 off 33 balls.”Really happy with the way things went,” Suryakumar said after bagging the Player-of-the-Match award. “I felt when Rohit went inside [retired hurt] it was important for someone to bat till about 15-17 overs. I just went out to be myself and expressed it.”Obviously, we saw yesterday what happened in the second innings [alluding to the pitch slowing down]. So, it was really important, as I said, for someone to bat deep and go on and win the game for the team. So, that was what I was focusing on.”Rohit was effusive in his praise for Suryakumar, saying he made a not-so-easy chase look straightforward.”Once you get a start in this format, it’s always important to convert that because it does well for the team. Of course the thirties and forties for any player look good, but, I think when you get past 70-80 and then go on to get a hundred as well… then you’re scoring those runs for the team. I thought Surya batted brilliantly, [he had] a good partnership there with [Shreyas] Iyer and it was quite clinical.”When you’re chasing a target like that, anything can happen, and it’s not an easy target. The pitch had something in it for the bowlers. So we knew that we were up for the chase. I thought it was important for us to pick the right ball and right shots on a ground like that.”In the absence of KL Rahul, India have used seven different openers in T20I cricket in 2022, with Suryakumar their latest option at the top in the Caribbean.Suryakumar said he relished the rare opportunity. “Really love it because I’ve done that before in the IPL as well [for Mumbai Indians]. So, [I] just backed myself and enjoyed it. I was just holding myself back at that moment. I just knew I had to use some pace and stretched my innings and really loved it.”In all likelihood, Suryakumar will slot back into the middle order once Rahul returns at the top, but his growing versatility could be a potent point of difference for India at the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Former cricketers showered praise on Joe Root after he scored his 26th Test century and went past 10,000 runs

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jun-2022Joe Root walked off to a standing ovation at Lord’s after guiding England to a five-wicket win, not before reaching his 26th Test century and crossing 10,000 Test runs with the same shot. Here is how the cricket fraternity reacted to his achievements on social media.

ROOOOOT! Unbelievable

— Sam Billings (@sambillings) June 5, 2022