Not in the thick of the wickets, he is finding success as a key cog in England’s white-ball machine

Vithushan Ehantharajah10-Nov-20221:01

Buttler: ‘Rashid may not have picked up the wickets, but he’s been bowling really well’

“Well done, boss.”If you reside in the United Kingdom, you will appreciate the currency we place in that last four-letter word.It might come from a mate, a colleague, the person behind the bar at your local who’s always pleased to see you or a stranger in the street after you’ve done them a good turn. To be called “boss” is far greater than any knighthood: a moniker bestowed upon you by the people rather than the palace for services to immediate convenience or excellence. On this occasion, it was for both.Adil Rashid was the grateful recipient of the honour handed to him by Eoin Morgan. England’s former limited-overs captain has regularly thrown the phrase in Rashid’s direction, and for good reason. The legspinner was a key cog in his white-ball machine and even here, with a microphone in hand as a pundit for this T20 World Cup semi-final at the Adelaide Oval, he couldn’t help but dish it out again. Deservedly so.Related

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Rashid bowled his four overs in the semi-final victory over India for just 20 runs, one of them coming in the powerplay. The killer, however, was his last. Two balls in, flight, dip, and prodigious spin away just outside off stump cast the ball into the night sky for Phil Salt to pocket at deep point. Suryakumar Yadav, the walking highlight reel of this tournament, felled for just 14 from 10. It was the first time India’s projected total dipped below 150 on ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster. Though Hardik Pandya picked up the mantle of destroyer later in the innings with 63 off 33 that took India to 168, the fact that it was munched with four overs to spare by openers Jos Buttler and Alex Hales showed how vital it was to limit SKY.It’s funny to think this was only Rashid’s second wicket of the tournament. The previous one was to dismiss Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka in England’s final match of the Super 12s – another must-win game and another must-have wicket given that the batter led the line with 67 and victory was only achieved with two balls to spare. Has Rashid’s lack of dismissals come as a surprise? Maybe, but he is still doing it when it matters most. No bunnies, just prime cuts – including a fine catch at short third to see off Virat Kohli.He might have had Glenn Phillips, too, had bestie Moeen Ali not shelled the simplest catch before Phillips went on to hit him for two sixes. Alas, it’s a cruel form of a cruel sport, though Rashid hasn’t been bothered by what’s lacking in the wicket column.”For myself, I look to create chances and if wickets come, good,” he mused after the match. “If they don’t come, I’m containing and other people will get wickets.” That’s certainly how things have played out, so far. No one else in this attack has bowled their full allocation across the five games so far, and Rashid’s economy rate of 6.25 is the lowest of the regulars (Moeen’s is 4.5 but from just two overs).

“He may not have picked up the wickets that he usually does and certainly, from the outside, some people have said he wasn’t bowling as well. But from within the group, if you come and face him in the nets, he’s been bowling well and tonight he was exceptional.”Jos Buttler

The reservations around Rashid heading into the tournament were well-sourced. His annual T20I average is currently at 35.86, the highest of the eight years since he became a white-ball mainstay in 2015. The link between those figures and a chronic right shoulder issue was clear, and the way the injury inhibited his snap was seen in the way he seemed that little bit easier to sweep. And yet, within the smaller boundaries of the Adelaide Oval, he conceded just one four following a boundary-less display against Sri Lanka. South Australia has quietly been a happy hunting ground for Rashid, with 18 wickets at 13 in all T20s spread across 10 matches for both the state in the precursor to the Big Bash League, then Adelaide Strikers and now this one-off for his country.He hasn’t been doing much different. “Maybe it is a bit a little fuller, maybe it’s a bit slower,” was his review of the performance just gone. Which, all told, is pretty neat given those are two characteristics previously used as criticisms of Rashid, particularly in Test cricket.Aged 34, in his 17th year as an active cricketer, two things can be true: Rashid is both closer to the end than the start and still one of England’s most important cricketers. Along with the nous accrued by all that experience has been a level of comfort in himself and his craft.Adil Rashid bowled a killer final over where he spun out Suryakumar Yadav•Getty ImagesIt has been notable how in Moeen and Buttler he has trusted allies who, for example, can shift Rashid’s field without needing to check with him. There is a familiarity bred from trust, reinforced by a refreshing lack of ego from the bowler. Both were stood closest to the action on Thursday – Moeen at first slip – when Rashid was going about his business and the communication back and forth was evident throughout. There was a fear that trust in Rashid as a difference-maker might have left the set-up with Morgan’s departure. That evidently has not been the case.”He’s been brilliant for a long, long period of time,” beamed Buttler. “I’ve kept wicket to him a lot and I have a great seat to watch him go about his business. He bowls with so much variation and has as much variety as anyone, really. I think he’s been bowling really well, actually. He may not have picked up the wickets that he usually does and certainly, from the outside, some people have said he wasn’t bowling as well. But from within the group, if you come and face him in the nets, he’s been bowling well and tonight he was exceptional. Wicketkeeper-bowler, we have a good relationship.”It’s also worth noting that some within English cricket thought Rashid’s performances at this tournament would suffer with the impending Cricket Discipline Commission investigation into racism at his county, Yorkshire. Rashid is regarded as a key witness in proceedings having corroborated Azeem Rafiq’s claim that former England captain Michael Vaughan said there are “too many of you lot” ahead of a county T20 match in 2009, allegations Vaughan has denied. Whether those reservations were held in bad faith or not, they have proved unfounded at best.Having taken 11 wickets in the 2019 50-over success, Rashid is occupying a different role but offering just as much in England’s quest for a second global T20 trophy against Pakistan on Sunday and the honour of holding both international white-ball trophies concurrently.A two-time champion? Sounds good, boss.

A team of delivery drivers, businessmen, a student, and fathers who haven’t met their newborn children prepare to play mighty India

Shashank Kishore30-Aug-2022Hong Kong have been on the road so much of late that Babar Hayat, Ehsan Khan and Yasim Murtaza have all become fathers while away, and have only seen their newborns over video calls.Over the last three months, they’ve stopped in Namibia, Uganda and Jersey [for ICC events], South Africa and England [preparatory tours], Zimbabwe [for the T20 World Cup qualifiers], Oman [for the Asia Cup qualifiers], and now in the UAE for the Asia Cup, where they will play India and Pakistan in the group stage of the competition. The players are aware that there’s no real path to financial gain or a big-time future in the game here, but are a determined and committed lot nevertheless.While players from the more established countries can afford to take time off, the Hong Kong players would rather not; they live for this.On Wednesday, Hong Kong will play India. They haven’t played India or Pakistan in four years, and have no idea when they will face them again. When they last played India, at the 2018 Asia Cup, Hong Kong gave their superstar opponents a mighty scare. Wednesday presents them with a chance for an encore, or better.They are a motivated bunch of cricketers, but one of Trent Johnston’s challenges as head coach has been to ensure they don’t burn out after three months of non-stop cricket, coming as it has on the back of the Covid-19 lull.

“A majority of our squad have to earn a living outside of what they get from Cricket Hong Kong, who have been very supportive despite no cricket for more than two years. But we only have a certain amount of time with the players and have to maximise that”Trent Johnston, Hong Kong coach

“There were probably six lockdowns. We didn’t have training for over a year. The boys were doing their strength and conditioning sessions over Zoom, from their homes, car park and local parks,” Johnston, the former Ireland captain, told ESPNcricinfo. “The commitment they’ve shown has been phenomenal. They never questioned anything or complained but have just got on with it.”I’m pleased for the whole group that we put in three good games [against Singapore, Kuwait and UAE at the Asia Cup qualifiers] in Oman and now have an opportunity to play India and Pakistan.”Losing cricket time, as a result of the pandemic, was especially tough for the players who continue to try and find a balance between pursuing their passion and doing their regular salary-earning work.”Three or four players do private coaching, either at a cricket club or one-on-one coaching,” Johnston said. “A high percentage of the boys are delivery drivers with Food Panda or Deliveroo. Kinchit Shah, the vice-captain, is in the jewellery trade. Scott McKechnie has his own business that offers him a slight flexibility to come on out as long as he has internet. Young Ayush [Shukla], our opening bowler, is in university. A couple of guys are doing administration.”So all of them have sacrificed a lot over the past three months to come over and play cricket. I can’t thank their families enough. The wives and girlfriends, kids that are waiting for their dad to come back. Not one guy in the team has told me they have to go home. Their partners have been phenomenal and kept the house moving, I thank them a hell of a lot.”Remember Trent Johnston? He was Ireland’s captain when they beat Pakistan to reach the Super Eights in the 2007 ODI World Cup•Getty ImagesAll of it has been a challenge; off the field of play, expanding their pool of players, especially. Bringing players to a certain level of proficiency and then losing them to education or a full-time profession has been, perhaps, the biggest obstacle.Take some of the players that were around during the Asia Cup four years ago.Christopher Carter, the wicketkeeper-batter, left to attend flight school in Australia and is currently a pilot with Cathay Pacific.Jamie Atkinson, a former captain, is a PE teacher at a private school.Anshy Rath, their captain in that tournament, has moved to India, hoping to establish a career in the domestic set-up and the IPL as a local player with the use of his Indian passport.Mark Chapman, whose parents lived and worked in Hong Kong, grew up playing amid the high-rises. His father, Peter, a New Zealander, was the crown prosecutor for the Hong Kong government; his mother, Anne, a Chinese woman, worked in the lucrative finance sector. Chapman came through the age-group system in Hong Kong and made the national team before leaving for college in Auckland. The access to a first-class system, the best facilities and better pay, made his decision easy. He has played for both Hong Kong and New Zealand internationally, and is now with the New Zealand A squad in India.

“For me, as coach, working with players on an area of their game and then being able to see them execute them in games under pressure, that is what I get a buzz out of”Trent Johnston

“The expat community – you have kids who come through the pathways and then go off to school somewhere else. Carter and Jamie are available to play for us, but it’s limited. A majority of our squad have to earn a living outside of what they get from Cricket Hong Kong,” Johnston explained. “Cricket Hong Kong have been very supportive despite no cricket for more than two years. But we only have a certain amount of time with the players and have to maximise that.”They also have a living to make because Hong Kong is probably the second dearest city in the world [the dearest, for expats, according to an ECA International study]. Many of them are trying to send money back home to Pakistan. I try and get the maximum out of what I can, and they get the maximum out of what they need to do to support their families.”When the national team isn’t on tour, Johnston, who is now a Hong Kong resident too, charts their progress route. “We have the Under-16s and Under-19s that form our pathway programmes,” Johnston said. “We now have an Under-18 team heading to Oman for the Asia Cup qualifiers at the end of the month. We have quite a bit of infrastructure and participation from the cubs.”There are now five or six Chinese teams that play in various leagues. Our Premier League is now a five-team structure [as compared to three earlier], which is probably right. From the player pool point of view, you’re looking at choosing from 20 players tops if everyone is available, [accounting for] guys working and those sorts of things.”We don’t have a lot of players to choose from, but that has its advantages and disadvantages. If you’ve got guys unavailable or injured, you go to the next tier and bring on a guy who may be young and not ready but have to play them. It also gives you narrow focus, and you can concentrate on them, It is what it is, we can’t create players or bring players in. We just work with what we’ve got.Anshy Rath in action – when Hong Kong gave India an almighty scare•Getty Images”We’ve got two spinners, Ehsan Khan and Yamin, in their mid-30s, we have two fast bowlers, 19 and 22, and an experienced batting line-up. They [at the board] are working in operations and high performance, trying to enhance those structures. The women’s side of things is very good, consists mainly of local players and a mix of expats. The pathways from women’s point of view is up and running, so there are a lot of positives at the moment, and the next two games are only going to add to that.”At the Asia Cup, Johnston is realistic about Hong Kong’s chances and will measure progress through his own prism.”For me, as coach, working with players on an area of their game and then being able to see them execute them in games under pressure, that is what I get a buzz out of,” he said. “The last three games in Oman, we got most enjoyment out of it.”We missed out in the T20 World Cup qualifiers 2019 in UAE despite having Oman on the racks. Last week [at the qualifiers], against UAE, we were ruthless enough to get the win. To see the smile on their faces after the UAE game, you probably don’t see scenes like that unless you win a World Cup.”It means a lot to the guys, given the sacrifice they’ve put in. Now to be able to play India and Pakistan, they deserve to be here. We’re not just going to turn up and be the whipping boys. We’re going to try and cause an upset or two while we’re here.”

There are 60 spots for Indians at the auction, and the franchises will be on the lookout for useful players beyond the well-known names

S Sudarshanan11-Feb-2023Shradda Pokharkar (Maharashtra)Set 20 – uncapped fast bowlers. Base price: INR 10 lakh
A left-arm Indian fast bowler whose calling card is consistency could be a steal at such a low base price. Playing for Maharashtra, Pokharkar has picked up 14 wickets in T20s and nine wickets in the 50-over matches in the ongoing domestic season. Her economy rate in T20s in the season was 5.68, and given her tall frame, she could be a handful on true surfaces at Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium in the WPL. She is so good that she got a call-up as a net bowler with the senior team during the home series against Australia last year.Titas Sadhu was India’s second-most economical bowler at the U-19 World Cup•ICC/Getty ImagesTitas Sadhu (Bengal)Set 9 – emerging players. Base price: INR 10 lakh
She is only 18 but has been one of the fast bowlers to watch in the Indian circuit for a couple of years now. Sadhu made her one-day debut for Bengal in the 2020-21 season and then played T20s for them in 2021-22 and 2022-23. She was India’s spearhead in their successful Under-19 World Cup campaign and is known for giving her team early control with the ball. Sadhu picked up six wickets in the competition and was India’s second-most economical bowler with 4.27. What’s more, she is a handy bat.Jasia Akhter (Rajasthan)Set 17 – uncapped batters. Base price: INR 20 lakh
Talk about making a big noise at the perfect time. Akhter scored 273 runs, the second-most, in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy at a strike rate of 138.57, the best among those with over 150 runs in the competition. That got her into the Central Zone side for the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal T20s, where she scored 202 runs – the third most – at a strike rate of 121.68, the best among the top five. She was then selected in the four-team Senior Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy, where her 114 runs came at a strike rate of 132.55. Akhter, the 34-year-old top-order batter, was also the leading run-getter in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy with 501 runs at a strike rate of 112.58, captaining Rajasthan to a semi-final finish.Shreyanka Patil has quickly risen up the ranks in the Karnataka circles•Shreyanka PatilShreyanka Patil (Karnataka)Set 19 – uncapped allrounders. Base price: INR 10 lakh
Patil is an offspinner, who has deceived many a batter with her flight, dip and turn to rise up the ranks in Karnataka. Her seven wickets in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy came at a strike rate of 15.71. Playing for South Zone after that, she picked up eight wickets in the zonals, which were the joint third-most. Her haul of 20 wickets in Karnataka’s runners-up finish in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy was the joint second-highest. Patil was also at the exhibition games against the Zimbabwe women’s side in July last year and had the opponents in a fix with her tricks.Shweta Sehrawat was the leading run-scorer in the Women’s Under-19 World Cup•ICC via GettyShweta Sehrawat (Delhi)Set 9 – emerging players. Base price: INR 10 lakh
While all eyes were on Shafali Verma at the Under-19 World Cup, Sehrawat quietly settled in before eventually stealing the limelight from her senior colleague. She’s a versatile batter and is an excellent player through the off side, and finished atop the run chart in the tournament in South Africa. Expect her to be on the franchises’ radar as they look for reliable, attacking batters.Hurley Gala (Mumbai)Set 10 – emerging players. Base price: INR 10 lakh
A seam-bowling allrounder who can tonk the ball? Yes, please! Gala was touted to be one of the key lower-middle-order players for India at the Under-19 World Cup, but a thumb injury ruled her out. Gala, just 16, scored 122 runs in the Women’s Under-19 T20 Trophy at a strike rate of 143.52 to go with her seven wickets. She will likely be on the radar of most sides, not least of Mumbai Indians, who have organised numerous school-level tournaments, some of which Gala has participated in.

They now have a batting group that promises both depth and versatility, which will worry other teams

Karthik Krishnaswamy26-Apr-20233:01

Moody: Tewatia’s role has changed because of Impact Player rule

Gujarat Titans had a problem last season. It didn’t hurt them, because they went and won the IPL, but that didn’t mean the problem didn’t exist. In most of their games, they picked five genuine bowlers plus Hardik Pandya, but that forced them to compromise on their batting depth. It didn’t hurt them, because David Miller, Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan batted out of their skins, but it’s rare for Nos. 5, 6 and 7 to fire so consistently and in unison over the course of a season.When IPL 2023 dawned, Titans found themselves free of the need for this compromise, thanks to the introduction of the Impact Player. They could now stack their bowling their batting in every game.But just as teams can struggle to get to grips with a problem, they can sometimes struggle to get to grips with its solution.Over their first six games of this season, Titans’ batting suffered from a bit of a 2022 hangover. Out of necessity, their top order had batted with a degree of conservatism last season. The necessity was gone now, but the conservatism remained.Before Tuesday’s game against Mumbai Indians, Titans had the third-worst scoring rate (7.61) of all teams in the middle overs (7th to 16th) this season, while maintaining the best average (35.15) through that phase.If those numbers didn’t make it clear enough that their batters needed to take more chances through the middle overs, consider this: before Tuesday, Tewatia had faced only 19 balls in six games without being dismissed. Titans were wasting a key resource.ESPNcricinfo analyst Tom Moody brought up the Tewatia issue during Tuesday’s game, on the show .”To be honest with you, I think [Tewatia’s] role has changed slightly because of this Impact Player,” Moody said. “He’s gone one further down the rung on the batting order because everyone has that extra player now, so he’s probably thinking also, ‘I wish I had a few more overs to get out there and do my thing, because I’m feeling good about my game’, but he’s not getting the opportunity.”For all that, Titans had won four of their six games, and their two defeats had come about because of improbable late hitting from Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. They could easily have looked at their middle-overs issue through an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ lens.But they didn’t. They responded to the defeat against Royals by leaving out Sai Sudharsan, a top-order anchor who had made two impressive half-centuries at the start of the season, and making room in their middle order for both Vijay Shankar and Abhinav Manohar – both more natural six-hitters than Sudharsan – rather than just one of them.The change didn’t bring immediate results in a low-scoring game against Lucknow Super Giants, but it paid off on Tuesday, when Titans made their biggest total of the season (207 for 6) on their way to a thumping 55-run win.Rahul Tewatia swept his first ball for a six•BCCIIt wasn’t the perfect batting display, but the imperfections were, in a way, a true reflection of Titans’ changed approach.Their batters made a clear effort to go after Mumbai’s spinners through the middle overs, for instance, but this intent only seemed to backfire initially, as Hardik, Shubman Gill and Vijay picked out deep fielders while trying to hit sixes. By the time they had bowled six of their eight overs in the game, Piyush Chawla and Kumar Kartikeya had combined figures of 6-0-46-3.But Titans didn’t stop looking for the big hits against the spinners. Miller hit Kartikeya for a straight six in the 14th over, and Abhinav stepped out to launch Chawla for another in the 15th. The Abhinav six was particularly noteworthy, because it came in an over where he’d already drilled Chawla for a pair of fours through the covers off wide half-volleys – those boundaries didn’t temper Abhinav’s desire to keep going after the legspinner.Interviewed by the broadcaster between innings, Abhinav said Titans’ batters had gone out with a clear message.”There was an effort to actually get more runs in the middle overs,” he said. “In our batsmen’s meeting, Hardik made it very clear that if we go after their main bowler, which was Piyush Chawla, then we can get more runs on the board and the rest of the bowlers will be under pressure. So that’s what we tried to do and it worked.”It worked – almost too well, because Tewatia came out, once again, with barely any time left in the innings. But he proceeded to do what he does so well in these situations, facing just five balls and hitting three of them for six, including an audacious shuffle-sweep off Riley Meredith off the first ball he faced.Tewatia would probably prefer to come in with a little more time left in the innings, but for now he’s making an impact no matter how late he enters.”He’s good enough to do it, and there’s not many people that are good enough to go from ball one,” Moody said. “He’s good enough to do it, which is a unique skill.”With Hardik, Abhinav, Vijay, Miller, Tewatia and Rashid lined up from Nos. 3 to 8, Titans should theoretically be able to bat with none of them needing to hold themselves back unless absolutely necessary. Sudharsan could still play a role too, particularly as an Impact Player in chases of small-to-middling targets.It’s a batting group that promises both depth and versatility, which will worry other teams. For their first season-and-a-half in the IPL, Titans were mostly a gun bowling team that did just enough with the bat. At the halfway point of this season, they seem to be taking the next step towards becoming that elusive entity: an all-round T20-winning machine.

The WTC final will be his 50th Test, and winning it might just elevate him alongside the finest of India’s captains

Nagraj Gollapudi07-Jun-20232:57

Rohit: Whichever team uses the conditions better will win

It was about an hour after Ross Taylor had scored the winning runs to help New Zealand win the inaugural World Test Championship final in 2021. Virat Kohli, India’s vanquished captain, had finished his media briefings and was on his way back to the hotel, ensconced in the Ageas Bowl. But before going there, he stopped briefly to have a quick word with the pair of Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane.From a distance, you wouldn’t have known what was said, but a vivid image remains even two Junes later. Rohit was lying on the turf, sideways, with his head resting on his crooked elbow. There was an air of ease about him. Nothing about the scene suggested he might have been brooding about his pair of 30s, in what was only his second Test in England after the first in 2014.As Kohli retreated indoors, Rohit returned to resume what he was doing prior to the Indian captain stopping by: playing with Samaira, his daughter, and Aarya, Rahane’s daughter. Two friends with their wives and children milling around on a quiet afternoon.Related

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Compartmentalising has been among Rohit’s big strengths. No doubt, the WTC final loss was painful, but in that moment, maybe he realised switching off and enjoying time with family and friends was healthier than being consumed by the defeat. Rohit would continue to spend ample family time over the following weeks as India moved around England for the Pataudi Trophy.That England trip was transformational for Rohit in many ways: he ended as India’s best batter, and only behind Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow overall. More than the runs, it was the respect he accorded to the conditions. During training, he focused on leaving balls, scolding regular India bowlers in case they fed him hit-me deliveries. Rohit understood India needed to have a good first-innings total to have a shot at victory. He was willing to show the discipline: he was the only Indian batter to face more than 1000 deliveries across the five Tests that summer, including the WTC final. It all came to fruition in that fourth Test, at The Oval, where Rohit scored 127, a match-winning masterpiece as India took the crucial 2-1 series lead.It was Rohit’s first Test century overseas, and remains one of his finest.On Wednesday, Rohit will walk out at The Oval, this time as India’s captain, in another WTC final, against a most familiar foe in Australia. The significance of the moment will not be lost on Rohit – not that he will show it or showboat.Whether it’s at a press conference or on the pitch, Rohit is almost always relaxed and unfazed•ICC via Getty ImagesThe final will also be his 50th Test. A combination of injuries, form, and an impenetrable Indian middle order have all played a role in Rohit not being closer to 100 Tests, alongside his contemporaries Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. It is a landmark many might have thought inevitable when he first arrived, but the beauty of Rohit is the absence of insecurity. His belief – and he had to teach himself this – in focusing on the moment, and his tactical smarts, allowed Rohit to become a natural leader.Mumbai Indians recognised that in 2013 and appointed him their captain. It was a decision made with the long term in mind. Rohit has since more than proved his worth with five IPL titles, despite often not being the best batter in his teams. But he has also played a role in the development of young players who swarm to him like he is a sage, offering them both calmness and the feeling of lightness. In the pressure of the IPL, both are essential.Being true to yourself has always been Rohit’s mantra, and he wants youngsters to be able to do likewise. Allowing space to a player to grow is another way he leads. At the media briefing on Tuesday, Rohit was asked what his advice to Shubman Gill would be. His answer: just keep batting the way he has in 2023, where he has scored centuries in Test cricket, double-centuries in ODIs and three tons for Gujarat Titans in IPL. It is, Rohit said, “just about giving him more and more confidence”.In many ways, Rohit comes from the MS Dhoni school of captaincy: he believes in the process, too. Mental preparedness, if you listen to Rohit, is the backbone of his success. The one difference between him and Dhoni, though, is Rohit is big on winning “championships”, world titles.And Rohit now faces in front of him the prospect of a lasting success, a legacy-ensuring success, as important as any of India’s previous world titles.Rohit’s match-winning century at The Oval in 2021 remains one of his finest knocks•Getty Images”I’ve gotten the job to make sure that we take Indian cricket forward every time. Whoever it is, whether it’s me or someone else – even the guys before – their role was to take Indian cricket forward and win as many games, as many championships as possible,” Rohit said responding to the kind of legacy he would want to establish.”I want to win games, I want to win championships. That is what you play for. It’ll be nice to win some titles, win some extraordinary series. Having said that, I genuinely feel that we don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves by thinking, [or] overthinking about these kinds of stuff. So for me, it’ll be nice if I can win one or two championships before I decide to move on from this job.”In 2007, a 20-year-old Rohit won his first world title – the 2007 World T20. Four years later, he was desperate to have missed out on the ODI World Cup win having not put together the form to be part of the squad. In 2013, he won the Champions Trophy, which was the last time India won an ICC title. In the 2019 World Cup, Rohit had a dream individual tournament with five centuries and finished as the tournament’s leading run-maker, but he was gutted as India lost in the semi-final.At the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, his first ICC tournament as captain, his team were brushed aside by a rampaging England in the last four. Rohit became India’s captain across formats last year. All six Tests he has captained so far have come at home, with India winning four and losing one, against Australia.Thus, the WTC final will be his first overseas Test as captain. At 36, winning the WTC final is his shot at creating a true legacy. Losing to Australia doesn’t make India a bad Test team, or Rohit a poor leader. Winning it, though, can become the defining moment of Rohit’s Test career, elevating him alongside the finest of India’s captains.

Despite losing all five of their games so far, they can mathematically still finish in the top three

S Rajesh14-Mar-2023Five defeats in five matches isn’t how Royal Challengers Bangalore would have imagined their WPL would start, but the silver lining is that despite their winless record so far, they aren’t out of the tournament yet. Thanks to the utter domination of the top two teams – Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals – the third spot is still up for grabs, and Royal Challengers are still not completely out of it.In fact, if they win their last three games, it is still possible that they could make the top three without net run rates coming into play. That sounds incredible given how far behind they are at the moment, but if Mumbai Indians win every game except the one against Royal Challengers, and if Capitals win two of their last three (losing only to Mumbai Indians), then those two teams will finish on 14 and 12 points.Related

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That means only 14 points will be available to the three other teams (since there is a total of 20 matches, or 40 points, on offer). If UP Warriorz lose all their remaining games, they will stay on four points, while Gujarat Giants will also finish on four if they lose all their remaining games except the one against UP Warriorz. In such a scenario, six points will be enough for Royal Challengers to occupy third place without NRR coming into play.If Warriorz or Giants win another game, it could still come down to run rates. Currently, despite losing five out of five, Royal Challengers have a better NRR than Giants (-2.109 to -3.397).Such a turnaround sounds improbable, but it has happened in the past. In the 2015-16 WBBL, Sydney Sixers lost their first six games, before going on a tear and winning eight in a row to qualify for the semi-finals, where they beat Hobart Hurricanes before eventually going down to Sydney Thunder in the final.In the 2014 IPL, Mumbai Indians lost their first five, before winning seven of their next nine to qualify for the playoffs. Royal Challengers need many other results to go in their favour in they are to emulate those two teams, but to start with, they need to do what’s in their control and win their last three games.

Thrown into the deep end against one of the format’s best attacks, Kishan showed his wares even if it was not in his preferred opening slot

Shashank Kishore03-Sep-20231:55

Jaffer: Kishan’s innings will give selectors a good headache when Rahul gets fit

Ishan Kishan may have carried drinks had KL Rahul been fit for the start of India’s Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan. But with Rahul unavailable initially, Kishan had a golden opportunity. The team sheet had listed him to bat at No. 3, but he eventually walked in at No. 5, a spot he hadn’t ever batted in previously in an ODI.The move was met with some scepticism. Experts, most notably former India head coach Ravi Shastri, felt he was best suited to be a powerplay enforcer at the top of the order. But on Saturday, while Kishan wasn’t quite in the middle during the powerplay, he proved to be an able enforcer anyway. And just when the raging selection debate seemed all but settled, Kishan may have fuelled it even more.His punchy 82 off 81 balls was pivotal in India staging a superb recovery from 66 for 4 in the 15th over. For now, while it’s a headache the team management will welcome with open arms, it also opens up another possibility of Kishan being a shoo-in as a reserve batter, one that Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav are already vying for in India’s World Cup squad.Related

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It could be significant on several counts. One, it helps India throw in a left-handed element that they lack in the top order. Two, it brings with it the possibility of having an extra seamer in the squad. But for now, this much is clear. Kishan has controlled the controllables in the best possible manner.His maiden knock against Pakistan didn’t come without its fair share of challenges. Kishan ran into a red-hot pace attack controlling the tempo of the game by making giant incisions. Shaheen Shah Afridi was moving them off the seam both ways, Haris Rauf was effortlessly cranking it up into the late 140kph, and Naseem Shah was bowling unplayable lifters.Kishan enjoyed an early streak of luck when a genuine outside edge off Naseem flew past the slip fielder; he was nearly done in by sharp away movement as the ball took the leading edge. This, coupled with the odd delivery scooting low to the wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, had the potential to create doubts for the batters. Kishan, though, seemed remarkably clear of his plans of taking the bowlers on.

England are 2-0 down in the Ashes. Stokes scored a stunning 155. As time wears on, they will be treated as independent events

Vithushan Ehantharajah03-Jul-2023There are, let’s say, three types of miracles.There are miracles written in religious texts. There are miracles that happen in every day life, like a train arriving just as you reach the platform. And then there are miracles that take place on sporting fields, neither divine nor happy coincidence, yet occupy this contradictory grey area of happening right in front of you and yet seemingly from out of this world. Moments when one man, let’s say Ben Stokes, looks fate in the eye and asks it to dance.But sometimes, miracles don’t end up being miracles at all. The crying statues of deities merely condensation in a badly insulated room. The train you jump on is eastbound when you actually wanted to go west. And one of the most outrageous Ashes innings by an Englishman ends up being a footnote in a convincing Australian victory.There was a point when you believed you were witnessing another Stokes wonder. And there is no shame in admitting that. Here at Lord’s, there was all the marvel we had witnessed before: the inner strength from the 2019 World Cup final on this very ground, the audacious striking of Headingley 2019 against this opponent, and the ruthlessness of 2022’s T20 World Cup final.Related

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All three of those match-winning performances came on a Sunday, just as it was here. With God resting on the seventh, Stokes sensed an opportunity to be that higher power on day five of this second Test. This time, for nothing.England are now 2-0 down in the Ashes, Stokes scored a stunning 155 and as time wears on, they will be treated as independent events. And because of Stokes, this Test felt like it was fractured into two very distinct parts.One contained four days’ play, then 21 overs at the start of day five and 9.2 overs at the end. A lot of bouncers were bowled. A lot of pull shots played – most not well. Mitchell Starc took a catch that he actually dropped. Stuff happened, judgments were made, things were said, articles were written.The other was this swirling black hole of 21 overs sandwiching between those two Sunday passage with England’s captain at its epicentre, bending everything that preceded it back on itself almost to breaking point, as those observing were sucked into this world Stokes had on his own.His trigger for this period of maelstrom was different to the other three. Lord’s ’19, Headingley ’19, MCG ’22 were extensions of an allrounder’s mindset; always wanting to contribute, mixed with a personal dose of not wanting to let his mates down. And while those aspects were present here, this “miracle” carried a stench of Old Testament fury.

It was only in hindsight that you realised there was a reason Stokes protested the Bairstow stumping with only a hint of dissent. “I didn’t want to get myself sidetracked by something that I couldn’t change,” he later explained

You could say Jonny Bairstow’s stumping was the spark for the gasoline, but Stokes the spark and the gasoline, and since becoming captain, he has been reluctant to mix the two. Until Alex Carey’s under-armer gave him as good a reason as any. And so, with him on 62 off 126, they were reintroduced together.Before the sixes, those seemingly unending sixes raining hellfire on the Tavern and Mound Stand – not including the one the previous night from Stokes the mortal – there were as many fours as horsemen warning of impending doom. Cameron Green was following orders to go short, but none of the three men on the fence could stop Stokes puncturing midwicket or flipping all two-metres of the quick around the corner. Green returned with a wider line for his next over. To the leg-side fence he went once more, this time through Josh Hazlewood.Only then came the sixes. Oh lord, the sixes! By now, each boundary was scored by cheers followed by a rendition of “same old Aussies, always cheating”. A day at Lord’s six times cheaper producing six times as much noise.Green was taken for three on the bounce, sent into the stands at square leg with his back to the pavilion. The third – so flat it threatened to punch a hole all the way to Paddington Station just over a mile away – took him to a 13th century from 142 deliveries.Just like Headingley, there was no celebration. From him at least.1:50

Cummins and Stokes respond to controversial Bairstow dismissal

Down came Stuart Broad, punching both hands in the air as he continued his role as the one who promised a reckoning. His innings – if you can call it that given the most notable bits came when he wasn’t actually facing up – was akin to a preacher at Speaker’s Corner wishing ill on all sinners. He baited close-in fielders with dramatic acts of staying in his crease, and constantly reminded Carey of burning in Ashes villainy. The quick-turned-troll knows as well as anyone what that’s like.It was only through Broad’s histrionics you became aware of the scale of Stokes’ focus. And only in hindsight you realised there was a reason he protested the Bairstow stumping with only a hint of dissent. “I didn’t want to get myself sidetracked by something that I couldn’t change,” Stokes later explained.There were more sixes to come. Hazlewood was pumped down the ground second ball after lunch, then twice in three balls two overs later. Two came off successive Mitchell Starc deliveries when the left-armer was reintroduced, retribution for three raps on the toes earlier, one of which was given LBW but overturned on review in the seventh over of the day when Stokes had 39. All the swings were calculated, even the fortuitous scuff on 114 which Steven Smith couldn’t claim, and exclusively to the leg side when facing the quicks from the Nursery End.The Lord’s slope and the wind going towards the Tavern and Mound Stands minimised the risk. According to CricViz, he struck 75 runs from the 94 deliveries pitched shorter than ten metres across his first and second innings for no losses. The rest of the batters in this match combined for 241 off 491 with 16 dismissals.

As Cummins patted Stokes on the back with the England captain making his way back, the crash back to reality was complete. The 9.2 overs required for the remaining three wickets were irrelevant. Stokes’ end was the game’s end

There were other moments of mindfulness within the maelstrom. Bunts for singles to give him the strike because he only trusted Broad to face two or three balls an over in the bumper barrage. Blocks were applied when necessary.”It just felt a lot more difficult to really take the attack and try and hit the boundaries or the sixes at the other end,” Stokes later explained. “Just because the slope was against me and I just felt it was a lot more difficult for me to play the pull shot for me from that end [batting at the Nursery End].”It was after the ninth and final six that things began to turn. Prior to the 67th over, Pat Cummins got his rattled bowlers together and removed the glaze from their eyes. With wide yorkers and better-directed short deliveries, those heaves became bunts and those bunts became blocks. And slowly, Stokes was dragged back to the mortal realm.He was scoreless from 22 of his final 29 deliveries, restricted to just eight runs on foot. An attempt to rally against the tightening shackles resulted in a flail of hands and a looped catch to backward point that was taken by a visibly nervy Carey.The relief from Australia pierced English gasps. A saviour in home eyes now a vanquished demon in those of the Australians. As Cummins patted Stokes on the back with the England captain making his way back, the crash back to reality was complete. The 9.2 overs required for the remaining three wickets were irrelevant. Stokes’ end was the game’s end.Ben Stokes heartbroken, Josh Hazlewood jubilant•Getty ImagesAs an innings and a passage, it will slot into Stokes’ legend nowhere near the top but clear to the man himself and those who were there. With a return to Headingley just three days away, it will be used as fuel for what optimism remains within the rest of a squad needing to win three on the bounce. Stokes already has enough as it is.A return to the real world brings a variety of questions.Some are rhetorical. Like, “how many miracles does one international team need?” The beauty is we all benefit from witnessing those of Stokes’ ilk accessing the farthest reaches of the spectrum where talent meets stubbornness the rest of us would not dare even dream of. Even for only 20-odd overs. Even in vain.The more pertinent questions will be answered in the next week. Such as, will England’s best chance for a first Ashes victory since 2015 be over at the earliest opportunity? And why does a team created in Stokes’ image, who have been given all the tools to succeed by their leader, still need him as a saviour?Finally, there is a question that can only be answered after it has been answered. That is if it ever is at all. Just how many more “miracles” does Ben Stokes have left? Because, through no fault of his own, this one has been wasted.