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India wobble against seam before rain washes out second day

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Dasun Shanaka took two wickets as India were reduced to 74 for 5 in bowling-friendly conditions before a period of persistent rain forced officials to call off play more than two hours before the scheduled close

The Report by Nikhil Kalro17-Nov-2017Stumps
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:31

Irfan Pathan: Pujara knows his game and sticks to it

Persistent rain dominated another day in Kolkata, allowing just 21 overs on the second morning. In all, just 32.5 overs have been bowled over two days. Sri Lanka’s seamers had earlier capitalised on a dry, bowling-friendly morning at Eden Gardens, as Dasun Shanaka picked up two wickets with his gentle medium pace under gloomy skies offering sufficient lateral movement. Cheteshwar Pujara displayed impeccable defensive technique again, picking only the errant deliveries to score during his unbeaten 47, carrying India to 74 for 5 before a drizzle that became gradually heavier at 11.00 am forced an early lunch.The rain had relented for a short period around noon, but returned heavier and forced the officials to call off the second day at 2.30pm local, more than two hours before the scheduled close of play.The little play on the second day wasn’t short of action. Dinesh Chandimal, anticipating a long haul for his seamers, operated with a specialist fast bowler from one end and Shanaka from the other for the majority of the morning. Seam, like spin, is more effective at a quicker pace, disallowing batsmen time to be decisive with their feet and shot selection. Therefore, India’s batsmen would have preferred Shanaka to two specialist fast bowlers.However, these are atypical conditions for a Test match in India. With so much rain over the last few days, it seemed like a pitch on which the grass grew itself under the covers. That gave Shanaka, despite his 125 kmph range, a fair chance under overcast skies.Pujara, attuned to such conditions through his recent stint with Nottinghamshire, came forward to drive away from his body only when Shanaka erred too full, hitting him for four boundaries through mid-off. However, Ajinkya Rahane, and then R Ashwin, misread Shanaka’s perfect full deliveries for run-scoring opportunities, driving loosely with their hands too far away.A scrambled-seam delivery, which neither swung nor seamed, found Rahane’s outside edge, as he played for the inward angle. Ashwin had played 28 balls for four runs, his only scoring shot a sweetly-timed cover drive off a full toss from Shanaka, when he sliced a drive to backward point.In between, Suranga Lakmal and Lahiru Gamage generated appreciable swing and bounce – arguably too much on this surface – to beat the bat regularly. Ashwin was even rapped on the right hand by an inducking dart that kept climbing steeply to beat an awkward jab.Pujara was rewarded for his diligence as Chandimal was forced to turn to Dimuth Karunaratne’s even-gentler medium pace, hitting him for 12 runs off six wayward deliveries.

Cloudy outlook for Yorkshire as Berg tips contest

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Gareth Berg took his first five-wicket haul in five years as Hampshire’s attack made the best of favourable conditions to reduce the champions to 275 for 9

Freddie Wilde at the Ageas Bowl31-Aug-2016
ScorecardJake Lehmann anchored Yorkshire’s first innings (file photo)•Getty Images

“Don’t look down, look up” goes the old Yorkshire adage about whether to bat or bowl first at Headingley. A few hundred miles south at the Ageas Bowl the proverb is ever-more appropriate, as overhead conditions appear to be shaping the game at Hampshire’s ground with increasing regularity.Upon winning the toss in this crucial match, with repercussions for the top and bottom of the Championship table, Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale looked up, saw a cloudless blue sky and opted to bat. With the two most recent first-innings scores at this ground being 637 for 7 and 548 for 6 Hampshire would have been forgiven for preparing themselves for another long stint in the field, having last week been run ragged for 137.4 overs in their most recent Championship match at Taunton.In a season in which fortune has frequently frowned on Hampshire, with injuries and illness robbing them of some of their best players, they could probably hardly believe their luck when after just 20 minutes of play, in which Yorkshire’s openers had looked relatively untroubled, the sky was suddenly choked by dense and leaden clouds. Five minutes later the floodlights were on, a couple of balls jagged sharply past the outside edge and the whole feeling of the occasion had been transformed.

‘Family comes first’ – Gillespie

Jason Gillespie has reiterated that his decision to leave his position as Yorkshire head coach was due to a desire to spend more time with his family.
“This decision hasn’t come around as quickly as it may have seemed. It’s been in the pipeline for a little while,” Gillespie said. “I didn’t want to make any snap decisions but considering all things I’m sure it is the right time. Family is the most important thing and the brutal reality is that seven or eight months away from the family just doesn’t work. And that’s just the honest truth. It was a difficult decision to stand down because I love it.
“I feel that we have made some great strides and there is more for this group of players to achieve but it’s time for someone else to take the team further forward.
“My main job is as a husband and a father. Cricket’s my hobby and my second job so to speak. I have to be true to that, and that’s why I’ve made this decision.”

What followed was an engrossingly competitive day that ebbed and flowed as readily as the clouds rolled in and out, in which ball dominated bat for large swathes of it and ended with Hampshire in a decidedly better position than perhaps even they would have envisaged at 11am.If Hampshire are indeed relegated this season, which remains likely, the locals are unlikely to see cricket bearing the intensity and meaning of that which they witnessed in the morning session for some time. The air was heavy with import as Ryan McLaren, Brad Wheal and Gareth Berg stared the top order of county cricket’s northern powerhouse straight in the eyes and matched them blow for blow, beating the edge by getting the ball to spit, bounce, seam and swing.As well as Hampshire bowled in that opening session it was the catching of Will Smith that could be largely credited with the wickets of Yorkshire’s left-handed openers. Both Alex Lees, against McLaren, and Adam Lyth, against Wheal, tried to force balls through the off side delivered from round the wicket that were arguably not wide enough to do so too, and on both occasions Smith, diving to his right at a wide gully, first with two hands and then spectacularly with one, was there to intercept the ball inches above the turf.The brilliance of Smith did not rub off on to James Vince, whose catching struggles continued as he dropped England team-mate and possible rival for a winter tour spot, Gary Ballance, twice in less than 15 minutes at third slip. It was third time unlucky for Ballance however when wicketkeeper Lewis McManus did not make the same mistake as his captain when a hint of swing extracted a fine edge to leave Yorkshire teetering at 57 for 3.It was then that the pendulum began to swing back towards Yorkshire as Gale and Jake Lehmann combined in a 62-run partnership either side of lunch that arrested their slide. Lehmann’s counter-attacking innings of 58 from 73 balls made for enjoyable viewing. He is a punchy player, unafraid to play his shots and his quickness to pick up length is an enticing trait.After Gale was squared up by McLaren and Lehmann brilliantly caught by Jimmy Adams playing one cut shot too many, the game swung towards Hampshire again only for Tim Bresnan to wrest it back with a typically tough fifty from No. 6.It was after tea with the floodlights on and dark skies above that Hampshire built on the foundations of their strong first two sessions. A superb spell by Berg, in which he took 3 for 13 from five overs and got the ball to move wickedly off the pitch, gutted Yorkshire’s lower order, instigating a dramatic collapse from 212 for 5 to 234 for 9. The three wickets sealed Berg his first five wicket-haul since September 2011. He, like Hampshire more generally, were assisted by the conditions but it took skill to utilise them.Just how important Yorkshire’s unbeaten tenth wicket partnership of 41 between Jack Brooks and Ryan Sidebottom was will become apparent after Hampshire have batted. This felt like a good day for Hampshire, especially after being put into the field, but batting was not easy and Yorkshire have the bowlers to cause real damage if helpful conditions persist.

Essex sneak through; Northants, Lancashire in quarters after rain

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The last series of group matches in the NatWest T20 Blast saw a number of teams deeply interested in what their rivals were doing or, more to the point, given the wide band of rain that moved in from the West, whether they were playing at all

Paul Edwards24-Jul-2015This was not a normal Friday evening. The last series of group matches in the NatWest T20 Blast saw a number of teams deeply interested in what their rivals were doing or, more to the point, given the wide band of rain that moved in from the West, whether they were playing at all.And, in the end, the final quarter-final berth was confirmed in the dying moments of a sodden evening when Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan in a Five5 which meant Essex clung on for fourth place in the South Group.After heroic efforts by the Glamorgan groundstaff, and with just minutes to spare, the thrash began moments before 9pm. Essex fans suddenly swelled Gloucestershire’s support base. They glued themselves to radio and social media to track every ball. It was out of their hands, but Glamorgan could only post 45 in their five overs. Gloucestershire cruised it.Paul Grayson, the Essex coach, was relieved. “We would have preferred to have played and beaten Kent to book our quarter-final place but I am still happy that we have made it through,” he said. “After our poor start in the competition when we lost four of our opening five matches, to have reached the quarter-finals is something that we have to be happy with no matter how it was achieved.”

NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals

August 12: Sussex v Northamptonshire, Hove
August 13: Birmingham v Essex, Edgbaston
August 14: Worcestershire v Hampshire, New Road
August 15: Kent v Lancashire, Canterbury

Earlier, at lunchtime, the position in the North Group was that Birmingham Bears and Worcestershire Rapids had secured home quarter-finals; the remaining places would be taken by two of Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Lancashire Lightning and Nottinghamshire Outlaws with the Trent Bridge side needing to get more points than one of the other pair in order to make the last eight. If no game could be played, Notts were out.The situation in the South Group was never so simple. While Kent Spitfires had booked their home quarter-final spot for Saturday August 15, the remaining three places were to be fought over by six counties: Hampshire, Sussex, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Surrey. It was, in its way, as near as county cricket gets to an election night.The first no-result came in from Kennington North, where Surrey’s home match against Sussex Sharks at The Oval was abandoned early on. This eliminated Surrey. It also moved Sussex up to second in the group but, quaintly, did not even guarantee their qualification for the last eight.And that was it for an hour or more. Somerset’s home game with Middlesex had bit the Taunton mud but neither of those teams could qualify anyway.Across the rest of the country, savvy captains took the view that play might still be possible in their own game for just as long as they knew other matches had not been called off. At Worcester the great ground could only be viewed through a thin film of rain. Everyone waited for conditions to improve in the full knowledge that they probably would not. Peter Roebuck once described English cricket as a dry game in a wet land.At 6.45 umpires Steve Garratt and Jeremy Lloyds declared that no play would be possible at Worcester and at more or less the same time, the game between Leicestershire and Notts was also abandoned. Those decisions sorted out the North Group and made it clear that Lancashire Lightning would visit Kent Spitfires.”There a few nervous moments checking on my weather thing,” Ashley Giles, Lancashire’s cricket director, said. “It suddenly brightened up a little bit at Leicester but it appears it has gone dark.”It is unfortunate for Notts but of course good news for us. It’s not the way you want to go through to a quarter-final but one of our targets was to get to the quarters for a start, then move on from there.”Mick Newell, Notts’ director of cricket, had an honest assessment. “It wasn’t about tonight, it was about the results earlier in the
competition,” he said. “We’ve beaten all the teams which have finished in the top four at least once, so we only have ourselves to blame.”Now all that was needed was for similarly executive decisions to be made by the returning officers at Chelmsford and Cardiff. But at Chelmsford, the rain stopped and the umpires decided to have a glance at 7.45. However, it was futile and the match was abandoned shortly before 8.30pm, leaving all eyes on events in Cardiff. Despite all the rain, there was drama to the very end.

Railways collapse after solid start

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A wrap of the first day of the ninth round of Ranji Trophy matches in Group A

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Dec-2012
ScorecardSourav Sarkar took three wickets to halt Railways’ progress•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Railways began the round with an outside chance of qualifying for the next round, made a good start, but collapsed after that. Asked to bat first by hosts Bengal, openers Amit Paunikar and Shivakant Shukla added 85 for the first wicket, at a fair clip, but once Sourav Sarkar dismissed Paunikar for 50, Railways couldn’t arrest the slide.Railways lost six wickets for 40 runs, the last one of those to Shib Paul, the injury-prone fast bowler who was playing his first first-class match in four-and-a-half years. Murali Kartik and Karan Sharma then added 68 for the seventh wicket, but Railways lost three more in one go. Kartik, who scored 48, was the last man to fall to what turned out to be the last ball of the day.
ScorecardIn the contest to avoid relegation, Rajasthan, the defending champions, made decent progress after being put in by Hyderabad. Rajasthan may have lost five wickets, but the smallest partnership they had was 40. The end of that partnership reduced Rajasthan to 82 for 2, but the reliable Vineet Saxena scored 84 to set them on their way.Ashok Menaria capitalised on the start with a quick 63, and while Saxena fell short of a century, captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar, playing his 100th Ranji Trophy match, added 42 before being bowled to the last ball of the day. The team that emerges the better side from this match will avoid relegation.
ScorecardZaheer Khan had a fruitful first day as captain of a first-class side, as Mumbai bowled out Gujarat for 244 in what is a virtual pre-quarter-final. Had hosts Mumbai not lost opener Kaustubh Pawar in the last over of the day, the smile on Zaheer’s face at stumps would have been even wider.Click here for the full report.
ScorecardGoing by day one, the Rajkot pitch confounded both sides, who were expecting it to turn early, and turn big. In the end, the innate slow nature of the pitch didn’t allow that. The lack of watering and rolling of the pitch over the last two days, in the presence of a BCCI curator, somehow added variable, largely low, bounce to the mix. Slow and mostly low made batting difficult for Saurashtra, who conceded whatever advantage winning the toss had given them by losing nine wickets.Click here for the full report.

Kallis and Amla to miss rest of ODI series

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South Africa have made three changes to the squad for the remainder of the ODI series against Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2012Hashim Amla will
miss the remainder of the ODI series against Sri Lanka to be with his wife, who is expecting their first child. Jacques Kallis has been rested while Rory Kleinveldt has been ruled out due to injury.Alviro Petersen and Colin Ingram replace the two senior batsmen and Vernon Philander, who’s been impressive in Tests, has been picked in the ODI squad in place of Kleinveldt.Amla’s been in excellent form in the series; he scored a century in the first ODI in Paarl and followed up with a half-century to help South Africa take a 2-0 lead in East London.The decision to rest Kallis is part of Cricket South Africa’s rotational policy, though it is yet unclear about when Kleinveldt is likely to return after a “relatively long-term injury”.”Hashim Amla has been forced to stand down because of family responsibilities while Rory Kleinveldt has a relatively long-term injury,” Andrew Hudson, the CSA selection convenor, said in a release.Petersen has been in good form, with runs behind his back for the Lions in the Franchise 1-day Cup, the domestic List A tournament, where he was the top scorer, and a century against Sri Lanka in the third Test in Cape Town, where he was picked at the expense of Ashwell Prince.Ingram, too, has had a good run, with consecutive hundreds for Warriors in the SuperSport series and 521 runs at 57.88 in the Franchise 1-day Cup. Both are making a comeback to the ODI side after extended breaks. Ingram last played in the World Cup and Petersen hasn’t played an ODI for South Africa since May 2010.Philander finished the Sri Lanka Test series with 16 wickets in two matches and grabbed 14 in the series prior against Australia. He last played an ODI for South Africa in August 2008.”Both Petersen and Philander showed excellent form in the recent Test series against Sri Lanka and they have also represented the Proteas in the ODI format before so I don’t anticipate their having any problems adapting to 50 overs cricket,” Hudson said. “Ingram has also been in top form in domestic cricket and was a member of the squad that went to the World Cup last year after making a century on debut against Zimbabwe.”Although we are sad to lose players such as Amla and Kallis I see this as an opportunity to try out our options. There are still places up for grabs in our ODI squad and I must say I am excited to see the talent coming through our development pipeline.”South Africa squad: AB de Villiers (capt & wk), Johan Botha, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Davy Jacobs eager to open with Tendulkar

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Davy Jacobs is looking forward to opening the batting for Mumbai Indians with Sachin Tendulkar, while Johan Botha admits being surprised at his high price

Firdose Moonda08-Jan-2011Just over three-quarters of a million dollars wound up separating Warriors team-mates Johan Botha and Davy Jacobs after the first day of the 2011 IPL player auction. Botha was snapped up for the massive amount of US$950,000 by the Rajasthan Royals, while Jacobs was a bargain for the Mumbai Indians at $190,000.The difference in money doesn’t bother Jacobs at all. “My base price was $20, 000 so I took a massive leap. To be honest, I would have gone for free,” he told ESPNCricinfo. Jacobs made a name for himself in the Champions League Twenty20 last year, where he scored 286 runs in six matches at an average of 47.66, and led the Warriors to the final. “I got the opportunity to play in the IPL because of my performance in the Champions League, I wouldn’t have got anywhere without it.”Jacobs hoped his CLT20 performances would help him earn a national call up, but he has so far been ignored. Now, he thinks if he performs well in the IPL, it might earn him a chance to wear the green and gold. “I want to play for South Africa, but I know I couldn’t have played better than I did in the CLT20. I am going to put the Warriors and the Mumbai Indians first and hope I can get there. There’s no point planning it anymore.”As an opening batsman, there is the real possibility that Jacobs will get to partner Sachin Tendulkar. “I’ve had people tweeting me saying I may be opening the batting with Sachin Tendulkar. I’ve never met him but it will be awesome. The whole world looks at this guy. When I was a boy, he was playing Test cricket and he is still going.” Jacobs did not keep in the CLT20 because Mark Boucher was in the side, but he is an able wicketkeeper and would do the job if called on.”I’ll bat anywhere or do anything. I just want to make the most of my chance.”He is known for his lively personality on the South African domestic circuit, and said he will try to bring some of that to Mumbai. “I just want to add what I can add. I will bring the same passion and desire that I have at the Warriors.”Botha received his news in a more measured fashion. He admitted to being surprised about his high price tag. “It’s a massive surprise and these types of things are life-changing but with that comes responsibility.” He has had a season in the IPL before, also at the Royals and he is pleased to be back at the same franchise. “I enjoyed my time with them before. I got along well with Warnie [Shane Warne] and the coaching staff. It’s a nice to go back to a team where you were before.”The South African T20 captain is concentrating on the current one-day international series against India and the World Cup before turning his attention to the IPL. “There is a lot of cricket before IPL4. I’m sure once we get there we will give 100% for our teams.”

Hodge's 139 sets up 20-run win for Victoria

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Brad Hodge’s highest one-day score in 17 seasons for Victoria set up a 20-run win that pushed the Bushrangers into second place on the FR Cup table

Cricinfo staff27-Jan-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBrad Hodge was in sparkling form•Getty Images

Brad Hodge’s highest one-day score in 17 seasons for Victoria set up a 20-run win that pushed the Bushrangers into second place on the FR Cup table. Tasmania were set an enormous 327 for victory and thanks to a powerful 97 from Travis Birt they almost got there, but the loss of Birt in the 48th over snuffed out their chances.James Pattinson picked up the key wicket of Birt, whose 77-ball stay ended when a flat aerial drive was taken at long-off. Birt struck three sixes and was the key man for Tasmania, who also had contributions from Michael Dighton with 63 and George Bailey, who made 58.The Tigers had some misfortune including the dismissal of Jason Krejza, who helped Birt in a late 32-run stand. Krejza was controversially adjudged run out when the third umpire felt his bat was in the air within the crease when the stumps were broken, having bounced when he touched it down, although it was hard to conclusively call one way or the other.Another moment of luck for Victoria came when Rhett Lockyear (26) became one of three wickets for John Hastings. Lockyear drove down the ground and the ball was spilled by David Hussey, running back at mid-off, only to bounce off his cap and then off his forehead and land safely in his hands.Hussey, the stand-in captain for Victoria, had helped drive them to 7 for 326 in a 183-run stand with Hodge. Hussey had made 93 from 85 balls when he played on a knuckle-ball slower deliver from the part-time medium pace of Dighton.But the star of the day was unquestionably Hodge, who has retired from first-class cricket but continues to prove a force at state level. Hodge’s 139 from 136 deliveries was his best score ever in the FR Cup or its predecessors – his highest List A innings of 164 came in a match for Australia A.Hodge struck 11 fours and three sixes, including one slap over midwicket off Brett Geeves that landed on the roof of the corporate boxes. The win meant Victoria jumped Tasmania and moved into second behind Queensland with two games each remaining for the Bushrangers and the Tigers.

Tendulkar confident Gill will do 'something special', predicts 3-1 series win for India

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“My advice to Gill would be that he should not worry about what x, y, z is talking about,” Tendulkar says

Sruthi Ravindranath19-Jun-20253:18

Gill: ‘Can’t win a Test without taking 20 wickets’

Sachin Tendulkar wants new India Test captain Shubman Gill to “shut the doors” to the external noise surrounding his approach to captaincy during the England tour. Tendulkar believes Gill will do “something special” on the tour and India will win the five-Test series 3-1.”My advice to him [Gill] would be that he should not worry about what x, y, z is saying,” Tendulkar told ESPNcricinfo. “His captaincy, whether Shubman is being aggressive, or defensive, or attacking enough, or not a proactive captain, or active captain – whatever that opinion is, it’s only an opinion and it’s from outside. I think what he needs to think about is what was discussed in the dressing room – when they are planning something, are they going according to that plan and whether the decision being made is in the interests of the team – that is what he needs to think about and not about the outside world.”The outside world can only give opinions. These guys can go out and play as well, and only the dressing room will have that honour. No one else will have that. I would say, just go out, it’s a huge honour, enjoy the moment and give your best for the country and do what is in the interest of the country. Other than that, I would say shut the doors to everything. I think that should be his thought process.”Related

  • 'Wanted to keep Pataudi legacy alive' – how Tendulkar helped in creating Pataudi medal

  • India begin Gill era with an eye on England's weakened bowling

  • Pant relishes 'senior' tag but also focuses on 'individual' game

  • Gill unveiled as India's new Test captain, Pant his deputy

Gill, 25, having taken over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma last month, will not only be leading a young India side following the retirements of senior batters Rohit and Virat Kohli, but will also be batting at No. 4 – a spot occupied by Tendulkar and Kohli for the last 30 years. Tendulkar, who batted in that position 275 times from 1992 till his retirement in 2013 and scored 13,492 runs, said Gill has earned that spot because “people have faith in him”.”Playing for India itself is a responsibility,” Tendulkar said. “And it could be batting at any number, even if you go out to bat at 6 or 7, those runs are invaluable. No. 11 is also fulfilling the responsibility in a different capacity. It is good that people believe that he is capable of fulfilling that [No. 4] responsibility. The expectations that people have of him is a positive sign, because people have faith in him. He has to just go out and be himself, be determined and put his best foot forward with all his commitment. I’m sure he’ll do something special.”Shubman Gill was in a cheerful mood during the practice session•PA Images via Getty Images

Tendulkar, who averaged 54.31 with four centuries in England, also had some advice for the young Indian batters on tour, mainly on how they should play England’s fast bowlers.”There are three things which one needs to respect: overhead conditions, the wind, and the pitch,” he said. “I feel something that all batters should think about and consider is a good, solid front-foot defence to a fast bowler. If you can defend well on the front foot to a fast bowler, then the rest of the things will fall into place. It is important to keep your hands close to your body, have a solid front-foot defence. The balls which are meant to be hit are, anyway, going to go ahead because they all are attacking players. But the balls which are not meant to be hit, that is when the hands will go away from the body, and a dismissal could cost the game. So a good, solid defence on the front foot is going to be a key factor.”

Tendulkar: ‘Pant should back his instincts most of the time’

Among the senior batters in the India side will be 27-year-old Rishabh Pant, whose audacious approach during India’s tour of Australia late last year came under scrutiny. Tendulkar wants Pant to find a balance between playing his natural game and playing to the match situation.”He [Pant] should back his instincts most of the time,” Tendulkar said. “But there’ll be situations where he’ll have to curb his game in the interests of the team. I know that whatever he does the rest of the time will also be in the interest of the team, but the approach might have to be different. He has to have that flexibility in his mind. If there are times when you’re looking to save the game, then he may have to adapt that defensive approach, for let’s say an hour or 45 minutes or sometimes two hours, where he’ll have to just take those risky shots out of the game and not be as aggressive. He could be positive, but the shot selection will come into play.2:41

Pant doesn’t want to ‘focus on the senior part too much’

“Otherwise, nine out of ten times, if I’m the captain, I’ll say, ‘Just go out and play your game, why worry about anything.’ If you’re looking to save the game, that is when the approach changes a bit, but otherwise I would tell him that you go out and be yourself and do what you feel is in the best interest of the team.”Tendulkar was part of the Indian side that last won a Test series in England. In 2007, India beat the hosts 1-0 after winning the second Test in Nottingham – where Tendulkar top-scored with 91 in the first innings – and drawing the other two. While Tendulkar backed the current Indian team to take on the England challenge, he is keenly awaiting the battle between India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and England’s senior batter Joe Root.”Winning the series was a fabulous, fabulous moment – that is what we strive for,” he said, looking back at the 2007 series. “There were multiple good performances by individuals… Zaheer [Khan] played a role. I think everyone coming together and then chipping in at the right time makes a big difference. I still remember we were in the dressing room, celebrating at The Oval, the last Test. These kinds of moments stay with you forever. We’re still talking about it 18 years down the line. I hope we’re able to do something this series too, so 20 years down the line we can still talk about it.”When asked about his prediction for the series scoreline, Tendulkar said: “I have settled for 3-1 to India.”

Young and Latham power New Zealand to 1-0 lead in rain-hit match

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Debutant Josh Clarkson took 2 for 24 on debut to keep Bangladesh to 200 for 9

Vishal Dikshit17-Dec-202330 overs A power-packed partnership of 171 for the third wicket between centurion Will Young and captain Tom Latham led the way for New Zealand to take a 1-0 lead over Bangladesh in the rain-hit first ODI in Dunedin. Chasing a stiff and revised target of 245 in 30 overs, Bangladesh had no big scores or partnerships to set up their chase.It looked like they had a chance when they were 80 for 2 in the 12th over but once debutant Josh Clarkson removed the well-set Anamul Haque and Litton Das in consecutive overs, and Rachin Ravindra had Mushfiqur Rahim caught behind, Bangladesh never recovered from 103 for 5 apart from some late fireworks from Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz.New Zealand got off to a rocky start after rain had initially reduced the game to 46 overs a side after the toss, when Shoriful Islam found the edges of Rachin Ravindra and Henry Nicholls to dismiss them for ducks in the first over. From 5 for 2, Young and Latham began the recovery but Latham was dropped on 18 when Soumya Sarkar put down a catch above his head at second slip off Mustafizur Rahman. The innings was interrupted twice by rain; first in the 14th over, when it became a 40-overs-per-side contest, and then in the 20th over with New Zealand 108 for 2. Both batters had just opened up with consecutive fours from Latham against Mehidy and Young against Mustafizur that pushed the run rate towards 5.50.As soon as Latham brought up 4000 ODI runs and his 50, off 58 balls, came the longest rain interruption in the 20th over that reduced the game to a 30-over contest. After play resumed, Latham and Young hit Soumya for two sixes in an over and Latham also launched Mehidy into the car park over long-on before clobbering Soumya for three consecutive fours on the leg side. Young, after raising his fifty of 61 balls, accelerated by swatting Shoriful for two fours in an over behind square on the leg side that took them to 159 for 2 with six overs left.Running out of options, Bangladesh brought on Afif but he too got belted for two sixes before Mehidy finally gave them some respite by having Latham chop on for 92 off 77. Mark Chapman attacked from his first ball, hitting two sixes and a four in his first six balls, while Young raced from 72 to 89 in one over with four more fours off Soumya. In a dramatic 29th over from Mehidy, Young smacked a four and a six to get to 99 before Chapman was run out and Young reached his third ODI hundred off just 82 balls. Bangladesh conceded only eight runs and affected three run-outs in the final over, but New Zealand had put up a formidable 239 by hammering 131 runs off the last 64 balls after the last rain break.Josh Clarkson took two wickets on debut•Getty Images

Set a revised target of 245, Bangladesh lost Soumya for a duck when he was caught behind off Adam Milne in the first over before Anamul and Najmul Hossain Shanto steered them towards 50. Ish Sodhi, however, struck with his fourth ball by bowling Shanto around his legs by going past his reverse sweep, and when it looked like Anamul and Litton were going steady, Clarkson struck with two different kinds of short balls. He first took a return catch off Anamul by inducing a leading edge and then bowled a slower bouncer to have Litton caught behind. Like Shanto, Mushfiqur’s reverse sweep also resulted in his dismissal when his top edge was caught by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell. Bangladesh were reeling at 103 for 5, with the asking rate above 10 an over.Bangladesh were still in the game though, with Towhd Hridoy and Afif adding a quick stand of 56 off 38 balls, but it was still not enough to reduce the asking rate. They slipped further when Sodhi returned and had Hridoy caught at long leg off a wrong’un and Afif lobbed a catch to short midwicket next over. It was a lost cause to get 80 runs from six overs with three wickets in hand, and Mehidy’s blows only ensured that Bangladesh got to 200.

'If we stay together, it'll be fine' – Nicholas Pooran backs West Indies to fire despite lack of big names

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Says his team are “underdogs”, and winning the T20 World Cup “would mean the world” to them

Deivarayan Muthu16-Oct-20221:51

Nicholas Pooran: You don’t need big names to win a World Cup

This will be the first Men’s T20 World Cup without both Chris Gayle, whose West Indies future is uncertain, and Dwayne Bravo, who has retired from international cricket. West Indies will also be without Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shimron Hetmyer, who was recently dropped from the squad after missing a “rescheduled” flight to Australia. West Indies’ side appears light on experience, but their captain Nicholas Pooran is confident his players can fire in unison to get the job done.”I think it should be a balance with experience and younger players,” Pooran said on the eve of West Indies’ opening game against Scotland in Hobart. “If you look at it, there were a lot of big names when we won those two World Cups [2012 and 2016], but we also had a lot of big names in the last year’s World Cup, as well, and we didn’t qualify [for the semis].Related

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“Obviously, Australia won last year, and they didn’t have too many big names, but they obviously had a team that was proven, and that was enough for them to win the World Cup.”So, coming back to us, we don’t have the big names, but we have formed a team here, and that’s been really important. Once the guys play for each other and stay together, it’ll be fine.”In the absence of several senior players, West Indies are counting on their CPL stars Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Rovman Powell, Obed McCoy, Akeal Hosein and Shamarh Brooks, who was a late addition to the squad in place of Hetmyer, to do the job for them. The odds are stacked against West Indies – they first need to compete with Scotland, Ireland and Zimbabwe in the first round to progress to the main tournament – and beating them all to win their third T20 world title would “mean the world” to them, according to Pooran.”Yeah, it [winning the title] would definitely be something special,” Pooran said. “Obviously for this group here, it’s a new group, new faces, a lot of younger players in the team. For us to obviously win this World Cup, it would be our biggest achievement as individuals.”We are underdogs in this tournament [even though] we have won the tournament twice, and a lot of people, a lot of media you see, a lot of people don’t think we can even qualify, as well. So, it will mean a lot for us. We spoke about sticking this time together. Whether we win or lose we’re going to stick together as a group, so winning this tournament, yeah, obviously we need to work really hard, but it would mean the world to us.”West Indies haven’t played Scotland before in a T20I before and, though their players have had a steady diet of T20 cricket, including the CPL, in the lead-up to the World Cup, Pooran was wary of Scotland.”Yeah, it [Scotland] will be a challenge,” Pooran said. “But our guys are confident. We’ve been here for over two weeks now. I think the guys are ready to go and acclimatising to these conditions. A lot of these guys haven’t played in Australia. This will be the first time, but the guys are confident, they’re happy. The preparation has been really good, and we just can’t wait for tomorrow to start our game.”West Indies’ wildcard pick Yannic Cariah, the 30-year-old legspin-bowling allrounder, suffered a minor bruising after being struck on his bowling hand while batting against UAE in the warm-up fixture at the MCG on October 10. It remains to be seen whether he has recovered sufficiently to play for West Indies on Monday.During the two-match T20I series against Australia, West Indies had opted against pairing Mayers up with King at the top, promoting Johnson Charles instead. Pooran kept his cards close to his chest when he was asked about West Indies’ potential combination for their opening fixture.”Yeah, we obviously have to select the team still,” Pooran said. “It’s quite early here in Australia. We haven’t sat down and discussed who’s playing tomorrow. The makeup of the team obviously varies due to the conditions here obviously, here in Hobart which has been cold for a while now, we have to go back and look at it.”