He has more than a few skills to be transferred in either direction, from the shortest format to the longest

Andrew Miller07-Feb-20212:30

What makes Jofra Archer special?

It’s a sign of the strange times that we live in, that two fast bowlers whose records and reputations precede them in India are only right now playing in their first Test match in the country – and on opposing teams as well.The Indian Premier League may be the stage on which both men have honed their crafts, but in their contrasting but complementary styles, first Jasprit Bumrah and now Jofra Archer have demonstrated an abiding truth about high-class fast bowling. It transcends time, place, formats and conditions – and it remains the most compelling factor in the game. Pace is pace, no matter where and how you use it, and pace with skill can be unplayable.Bumrah’s efforts ended up being rather buried beneath the mountains of runs that England piled up over the first two-and-a-bit days of this match. However, his ability to take the pitch out of the equation, unmatched in the contemporary game, was showcased by his three lbws on each day of the match – full, fast, inswinging and startling, as well as by arguably the single best ball of the match so far, a sensational late-dipping yorker that should by rights have unseated Ben Stokes before his vital 82 had got underway.On the third day, on the other hand, Archer’s efforts were front and centre of England’s surge into the ascendancy, and what’s more, they seized on the exact opposite approach to Bumrah, not to mention the exact same methods that earned him the accolade of MVP at the last IPL that finished in November. Aggression to the fore, accuracy unwavering, and most importantly for England’s burgeoning hopes in this campaign, a determination not only to embrace the uncompromising nature of the wicket, but to factor it actively into his methods.To be fair to England’s planning for this series, he’s hardly been alone in that. For the third match running, a different England new-ball bowler has nailed his methods in his first spell of the winter – but whereas Stuart Broad and James Anderson, in consecutive Tests against Sri Lanka, created their opportunities through relentless dot-ball pressure, Archer was more content to duke it out in his favourite T20 fashion, relishing the cut and thrust of the encounter, and encouraging errors through the batsman’s adrenaline as much as his own.Archer’s first five-over burst went for 25 runs but yielded two priceless wickets – Rohit Sharma scalped by a fast cutter that kicked off the deck as if was a Dukes ball in May, before kissing the edge through to the keeper. The other was burgled with pure IPL trickery, as Archer ripped his fingers down the side of the ball, luring a pumped-up Shubman Gill into a fatefully early push through the line to a diving Anderson at mid-on.Jofra Archer vs Rohit Sharma•ESPNcricinfo LtdFrom the outset, Archer’s blood was pumping, to a more visible degree than had ever been the case during his undeniably subdued performances during England’s summer series – epitomised by his comments during the Old Trafford Test against Pakistan, when he claimed that the wicket was not one on which to “bend your back”.It’s arguable that Archer’s point in that contest was misconstrued – it certainly seems that way after witnessing the ferocity of his approach both here and at the IPL – given that English conditions, even flatter pitches, tend to offer just enough assistance to reward the virtues of conventional line and length. Without ever slipping the handbrake in that Old Trafford game, he still contributed four wickets at 21.5 to England’s series-deciding win. And in the long term, if Archer can develop the versatility to thrive without going full throttle, he’ll be all the better set for a long and fruitful Test career, in all conditions.In the early years of the IPL, it was regularly stated that the best Test players were equipped to thrive in T20 cricket, but not vice versa – and for a time this was true, because the longer game still rewarded the sort of technical discipline for which white-ball cricket (as it wasn’t then called) was liable to cut corners. Test cricket is where you “build the brand”, as Kevin Pietersen infamously put it at the height of his stand-off with the ECB.But that attitude is palpably wrongheaded now – a decade has passed since David Warner broke the mould, and India have just ended Australia’s three-decade-long unbeaten run at the Gabba with a victory that was siphoned directly from the vim and optimism of regular T20 combat. And, as Archer showed in bucking every conceivable fast-bowling trend at the latest IPL, he has more than a few skills to be transferred in either direction.All told, Archer claimed 20 wickets at 18.25 in Rajasthan Royals’ campaign, but half of those came with the new ball in his Powerplay overs, at a stunning economy rate of 4.34 that was a testament, as much as anything, to his sheer unplayability. It was widely noted at the time, in fact, that he was adapting a Test-match attitude to his white-ball game, consistently targeting the top of off with judicious use of the bouncer – a weapon so ferocious, even in the UAE, that it actually improved his economy rate (to a remarkable 3.54) – while keeping even his more confident opponents guessing with his cunning armoury of cutters and knuckle-balls.And so it showed today, in a thrilling but short-lived joust with India’s openers. Over the course of the past three IPLs, Gill and Sharma had faced 18 balls from Archer, with a palpable lack of success. Each had been dismissed twice, for a grand total of 11 runs, and Sharma’s head-to-head on home soil is now particularly bleak – he had been dismissed by two of the first four balls that Archer had bowled to him in India, and he made it three out of eight in total today, as he flinched at a perfect pacey cutter, one ball after flicking a rare loose ball off his toes.As for Gill, there can’t have been many more scintillating sub-30 innings in recent Test history, as he too showed how transferable his short-form skills can be, not least against one of England’s established Test masters – his checked on-drive for four off Anderson was nothing less than a come-and-get-me plea from his as-yet unsponsored bat. But for India’s purposes, it proved too short and sweet. A blend of methods might yet be required in the second innings, if India are to back up their Australia heroics with another extraordinary turnaround in this contest.

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.

In Bumrah, Rohit and Jadeja, India had players who could do what the hosts could not

George Dobell06-Sep-2021The gas holder still stood one side of the ground and Archbishop Tenison’s School to the other, but something surely had changed.This was the surface on which England’s bowlers had laboured for almost 150 overs in India’s second innings, after all. It was the surface on which James Anderson, one of the most skilful bowlers the country has ever produced, said he had tried everything to gain some movement but to no avail. It was the surface on which Jasprit Bumrah – who came into the game with a career average of 4.81 – had driven Chris Woakes through extra-cover with a confidence that suggested even batters of modest pretensions had nothing to fear on this wicket.But now it looked different. Now, as England lost four wickets for six runs, as four of their middle-order contributed seven between them, as India’s spinner choked the scoring and India’s seamers found late movement, it looked almost unrecognisable. In less than 24 hours, it seemed a pitch transported.That’s nonsense, of course. The truth is, in Bumrah India had a bowler with the pace and skill to extract life from the surface and the ball which was almost completely absent to his England counterparts. His figures of 2-27 do no justice to an outstanding spell of fast bowling which highlighted a key difference between the sides: he was able to hit the pitch harder than anyone in the England side and he was able to gain movement that England could not.But it wasn’t just about Bumrah. In Rohit Sharma, India had the one batter in the match to convert a start into a match-defining score, while in Ravindra Jadeja they had a spinner who could apply pressure and threaten. It is telling that his economy rate was 1.66 per over and his opposite number on the England side, Moeen Ali’s, was 4.54. Ultimately, India were just better than England.Related

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There is no disgrace in losing to this India side. Even with Virat Kohli enduring a prolonged run of modest form, even with their long tail, even without R Ashwin, they are a formidable side blessed with the talent and temperament to beat the best. Throughout this series, either with their top-order batting or their seam bowling, they have given England a lesson in playing in their own conditions. While it’s true this series could yet be drawn, it is worth remembering that, but for poor weather in Nottingham, the score line in this series would probably be 3-1 at present. Again, India just look the better side.With that acknowledged, perhaps we have to temper our criticism of England. And maybe they may consider themselves a little unfortunate, too. Perhaps the warmer weather over the last couple of days had helped the playing surface dry out and offer some reverse. Perhaps the footmarks outside the left-hander’s off stump had grown, too.But England had benefited from helpful conditions when they bowled first and reduced India to 127 for 7. You can’t have it both ways. They must know they played a part in their own downfall. They might accept that their catching, so poor for so long, is an accident waiting to happen. They might accept their first innings total of 290 was, perhaps, 100 fewer than they could have scored had they taken a more ruthless approach to their batting. And they might accept that, in losing 10 for 110 in their second innings, they showed a fragility that had become wearingly familiar. Joe Root, who has scored six Test centuries this year, won’t always be able to bail them out. The rest of his team have one between go them.England’s options for Emirates Old Trafford are not plentiful. Anderson, Woakes and Ollie Robinson looked exhausted long before the end of the India second innings and may all be considered high-risk options for Manchester. While Mark Wood will freshen up the seam attack, Saqib Mahmood and Brydon Carse are the latest options to have been struck by injury and Craig Overton sustained a nasty blow on the elbow which must render him a doubt. Two spinners might be one option, but Sam Curran and Gloucestershire’s David Payne could also win call-ups.Dawid Malan after being run-out, as Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant celebrate•AFP/Getty ImagesIt won’t make any difference who England pick if they cannot hold their catches, though. Six chances were squandered in this game, with Rohit reprieved on 6 and 31. It’s hardly surprising England’s seamers look tied: they’re effectively required to claim 25 wickets a game. The ECB scouting network holds vast amount of data, we are told. It seems incredible that an ability to field in the slips doesn’t appear to have been included in such calculations.Equally, Jonny Bairstow has now gone 18 Tests (that’s 34 innings) and almost three years without a century. In that time, he is averaging 21.40 with a top score of 57. This was his sixth duck in that period. It doesn’t say much for the production line of county cricket that he has been able to retain his place.It must also be recognised that England are without Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler – who is expected to return for the final Test having celebrated the arrival of a daughter – all of whom might be considered first-choice picks. But coping with injuries comes with the territory in sport. And maybe Stokes, in particular, has masked England’s deficiencies for too long. Perhaps it will, in the long-run, do them no harm to be exposed.For England are now facing the prospect of losing two Test series in a home summer for the first time since 1986. Given that they recently lost in India and next face the mother of all challenges in Australia and the possibility of four consecutive series defeats is real. The positions of captains and coaches are bound to come under question. But it’s far higher up the food chain, where decisions about scheduling and priorities are made, that questions should really be asked.That’s not the say the management do not have questions to answer. For too long, England have relied on Anderson and Broad to do the bulk of their seam bowling, in the knowledge they will utilise the Dukes ball and the English pitches very well. As a result, there has been little forward planning and almost no acknowledgement of the statistics that suggest that Anderson, in particular, is now struggling to back up performances in the second innings. It sometimes seems that the personalities involved are so powerful, nobody in the team management has the courage to make tough decisions.In the greater scheme of things, there was a fair bit to celebrate from The Kia Oval. We had a sell-out crowd for five days in succession, after all and, on the last day in particular, when tickets were priced at £20, there were many families and children in attendance. Let’s never forget how wonderful it is that, at cricket at least, the supporters of both sides (and it appeared as if there was a pretty even split of India and England supporters) can sit side-by-side for hours without falling out. We have a fantastic sport.But, in retrospect, it seems naive to have thought England could have pulled off a record run-chase against this India side. Akin to thinking Frank Bruno could beat Mike Tyson after he caught him with that left hook. In general, they have looked outgunned and outplayed. They have it all to do to pull-off a series-levelling victory at Emirates Old Trafford.

It isn’t just a question of the next century, the man is now sparring with administrators, unthinkable two years ago

Osman Samiuddin25-Dec-2021Welcome back to the planet, Virat. It’s been a while. It’s not in the best shape it’s ever been right now, but it’ll have to do, because it is where we all eventually end up.Although, for a while, it did genuinely look like earth might never be big enough for Virat Kohli, that Kohli had become so big he wasn’t supranational, it was possible to think of him eclipsing multiverses and not traversing them: think Sachin Tendulkar, add MS Dhoni, times the sum by Bollywood, all to the power West Delhi.Kohli was the barometer through which the health of a game – even the health of a nation – could be measured. If Kohli said he loved Test cricket, then Test cricket was still breathing. If Kohli shook hands with Shahid Afridi, it was possible to imagine harmony between the two countries. If Kohli didn’t play in a series, that country’s cricket economy was doomed. With Kohli, broadcasters happily ripped off the façade that cricket is a team game, training their cameras on him. A Kohli net session became a must-watch event.Related

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For a while, on the field, Kohli was infallible, indefatigable, unquenchable, and above all, inevitable. All the biggest and the greatest go through this one period, and perhaps the only difference ends up being of degrees. We wonder, not only when this greatness will ever stop, but how it can possibly ever stop? With each one of them, we think this one – – will surely be the greatest of them all.And then, without paying it any more attention than what you would to a temporary run of un-great scores, a lean run turns into lean days turns into lean months turns into a lean year turns into the start of the regression back to great, rather than greatest turns into the start of the end. Because – and this is a lesson we happily forget every time – gravity gets us all (the Don excepted) in the end.Massive caveat: this is Kohli, who is 33, and has been the gold standard when it comes to fitness. In a time when more athletes are being great deeper into their 30s, it’s entirely plausible to see a whole new coda to Kohli’s career over the next five, six years. He is Kohli after all, who will never be done with proving somebody, anybody, wrong.But when you burn as intensely as Kohli has done, there’s always the risk that burnout happens quicker. In which light, this phase of Kohli, ticking over two years now, is beginning to feel a little bit more loaded than just a phase. A phase is what a teenager passes through; for adults, it may need a more serious diagnosis.

Kohli is now sparring with administrators. Two years ago, this was unthinkable. He was untouchable. Nobody could have picked a fight with him. They all let him be so that the idea that he would one day have to take to a press conference to fight back against a BCCI press release seemed comically beneath him

Two years without a hundred of any kind, two years in which his Test average has fallen five runs. If he bats every innings this series, is dismissed each time and scores less than 198 runs, his Test average will fall under 50. Meaning that by his 100th Test, Kohli’s Test average could be under 50. Little says batting mortality like an average under 50, in any era.Kind of like age, though, the average can sometimes also just be a number; it’s not always indicative of how one feels, especially when it is flitting around high-end landmark numbers. Still, it is strange to think of Kohli as a sub-50 Test batter; the last time he was that was August 2017, when he’d spent nearly a year hovering around that 50 mark. Two of India’s greatest batters before him, Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, were, by their 100th Tests, both averaging 57.As with everything, though, Covid-19 has warped the texture of this Kohli run. It feels both like it has gone on for a while but also that it hasn’t; two years is plenty of time, but he’s played 13 Tests in that time, whereas he played nearly twice as many – 24 Tests – in the two-year period before that.If it was only a question of his batting, though, it would be simpler because it’s not as if he has looked like some struggling, out-of-sorts batter. His last 11 Test innings include scores of 44, 42, 20, 55, 50, 44 and 36. This is not out of form.But Kohli is now sparring with administrators. Two years ago, this was unthinkable. He was untouchable. Nobody could have picked a fight with him. The Committee of Administrators let him be. The coach let him be. The players let him be. They all let him be so that the idea that he would one day have to take to a press conference to fight back against a BCCI press release seemed comically beneath him.4:52

Kohli: ‘Nothing can derail me from being motivated to play for India’

He’s no longer captain of all formats. And because he’s been pushed out in one, it allows the germ of another previously unthinkable thought to slip in – that there may even come a time soon when he is no longer a part of at least one white-ball side. Hell, if the BCCI wants to get vindictive, he may no longer be part of the other. Far-fetched still, but then this is now a regular, worldly situation, a scrap between a board and star player. This has happened before. To other stars. Kohli was going to be the one who transcended all this and now he’s just another star.It says something about his impact that he’s still likely to achieve something no Asian captain has if India win in South Africa and he then avoids defeat next summer in the re-scheduled Test against England – if he’s still captain, no longer perishing that thought. He’ll become the first Asian captain to have won Test series in England, Australia, and South Africa.But the sharpness, the bristle, can’t help but be somewhat blunted now. In a happier way, from the other end of the spectrum of life experiences to a workplace scrap, parenthood cannot help but have done the same. Few things can cause a razor-sharp, myopic focus to be diffused as a child can.This is Kohli’s new world, one in which it’s possible to see him no longer as the essential figure or as clearly defined against the background. For more or less three decades, Indian cricket, and by extension world cricket, has had one global star. Through Tendulkar, then Dhoni and then Kohli, the game has tried to explain itself to the outside world. Through each it has sought to measure itself against the outside world, to sell itself to the outside world, to find its place in the outside world. Each one has been more burdened than the last. Maybe, the time is coming to start thinking about the next in that line.All of which, of course, is exactly what Kohli needs, to think that he’s being written off, to think that he has enemies to slay. No better time than now, in this new world, to find that old motivation.

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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'Not here to prove anything' – Khawaja unfazed by return to Pak

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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 assault against the fastest bowler in IPL 2022 changed the complexion of the game

Hemant Brar02-May-20222:40

Vettori: Gaikwad looks fearless against pace

Ruturaj Gaikwad doesn’t have the big frame of Kieron Pollard. Nor does he possess the bulging biceps of Andre Russell. He has a “six-pack” but he doesn’t muscle the ball. And on Sunday, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he showed he need not, as he took down Umran Malik – the fastest bowler in IPL 2022 – with sheer timing.The pitch for the game in Pune was slightly on the slower side, but this being Gaikwad’s home ground, he knew that once he got his eye in, things would become easier.He started slowly. At the end of five overs, he was on a run-a-ball 18. After he reached 90, he slowed down again, scoring only nine runs off the last seven balls he faced. In between, though, he smashed 72 off 32 balls, his onslaught against Malik changing the complexion of the game.Related

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Chennai Super Kings were 47 for no loss after seven overs when Kane Williamson gave the ball to Malik. Most teams turn to their spinners to control the middle overs but Sunrisers rely on Malik’s pace. His 12 wickets are the most by a seamer in overs 7 to 16 this season.However, Gaikwad decided to take Malik on. On the fast bowler’s very first ball, he skipped down the track, and even though he didn’t get the timing right, he got enough on it to clear mid-off for a couple of runs.But then, as if a switch was flicked. Two balls later, Malik bowled one short outside off. Gaikwad stood tall and slapped him over covers for four. The next ball was fuller around off. Gaikwad wasn’t caught on the back foot. He planted his front foot forward and punched it over long-on for a six.Malik is an out-and-out fast bowler. He rarely bowls a slower one, but here he tried that variation too. Gaikwad was up to it, though, and dabbed it towards backward point with little fuss.Ruturaj Gaikwad holds the pose after hitting Umran Malik for a six over long-off•BCCIThe best was yet to come. In his next over, Malik bowled a 154kph thunderbolt – the fastest delivery of IPL 2022 yet – only for Gaikwad to drive it on the up towards long-on, where a misfield gifted him a boundary. That was followed by a top-edged four, which took him to a 34-ball half-century.Sunrisers were also handicapped by the absence of Washington Sundar, who once again hurt the webbing on his right hand while trying to prevent a boundary. T Natarajan too had a niggle, for which he was off the field for quite some time and, therefore, was allowed to bowl only towards the end of the innings.This resulted in Aiden Markram bowling to a well-set Gaikwad, who lined him up for back-to-back sixes. Gaikwad’s all-out attack meant despite Devon Conway languishing on 29 off 28 balls, Super Kings reached 100 inside 11 overs.Then came, arguably, the shot of the match. In the next over, the 12th of the innings, Malik pitched one fuller. Gaikwad took a short stride forward and extended his arms to drive it over mid-off. Such was the timing that the ball sailed all the way.In all, he took 33 off 13 balls against Malik, without playing a shot in anger. All he did was maintain his shape, and convert timing into power.”I thought the wicket was a little bit slow, and he provided the right pace [to bat against],” Gaikwad said of his attack against Malik. “So I just tried to put him under pressure right from his first over.”

“I don’t like to believe in form because in every game, you start from zero. Irrespective of whatever you have scored in the last game, you have to start again”Ruturaj Gaikwad

He eventually fell for 99 off 57 balls, and while Sunrisers did manage to pull things back somewhat at the death, his innings had already set up the win for Super Kings.This is Gaikwad’s third IPL season. In 2020, he had scores of 0, 5 and 0 in his first three outings before notching up three successive half-centuries. In 2021, he started with 5, 5 and 10 and still finished as the leading run-scorer for the season. This year, it was 0, 0 and 1 and now he has scores of 73 and 99 among his last four knocks.To outsiders, it might feel as if he has a magic wand to turn his form around. But the man himself had an even interesting take.”Personally, I don’t like to believe in form,” he told Star Sports, “because in every game, you start from zero. Irrespective of whatever you have scored in the last game, you have to start again. I believe in that, I believe in starting from zero in each and every game. That’s what has helped.”

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.

Reactions on social media to the devastating news of Andrew Symonds’ death

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-20222:52

‘When times were tough, Roy made it easier on his team-mates’

If Roy shook your hand you had his word, that’s the sort of bloke he was and that's why I always wanted him on my team. An extraordinary player and even better human being. Can’t believe he’s gone. Thoughts are with his family at this time. pic.twitter.com/7r7FiK1CzK

— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) May 15, 2022