It was just that kind of a day where all odds were defied, as Bairstow helped PBKS pull off the highest-ever chase in T20 history

Abhimanyu Bose27-Apr-20242:07

Rapid fire: Is this the worst time to be a bowler?

At this point in IPL 2024, a team scoring 261 is hardly a surprise. The chasing team mowing a total like that down with an over and some to spare? Even that prospect had started to look like an eventuality waiting to happen, with the way teams like Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders and even Rajasthan Royals have gone about their business this year.But for Punjab Kings to be the team to pull off the highest-ever T20 run chase, when they came into the game with the second-slowest batting unit of the season, on the back of four consecutive defeats? Even in a season where run-scoring has reached bizarre heights, few would have had that in their IPL bingo.But it was just that kind of a day where all odds were defied. For PBKS, it was almost like Murphy’s Law, but in reverse. They came to Eden Gardens with their top five averaging 19.07 – only Rajasthan Royals in 2009 had a top five that averaged worse over the course of a season.Related

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The IPL seemed to only prolong one of their most bankable overseas stars Jonny Bairstow’s miserable run of form in India, which includes the ODI World Cup last year and England’s Test tour earlier this year. Even with their regular captain Shikhar Dhawan injured, PBKS had opted to drop Bairstow for the previous two games after he couldn’t cross a best score of 42 after six innings. In all, they tried four different opening partnerships and six players in the top three, including opening with stand-in captain Sam Curran.But against KKR, they brought Bairstow back, and the drop seemed to have lit a fire in him. After all, there are few sights scarier on a cricket field than an angry Bairstow. Just ask Virat Kohli.PBKS would have started the season with high hopes from Prabhsimran Singh, but he had failed to convert his starts. But on Friday, after smacking Harshit Rana for two sixes on either side of the wicket in the second over of the chase, he got going. He plundered 23 runs off Chameera’s next over before cutting KKR’s Impact Player Anukul Roy for a boundary and then attacking him with a reverse-sweep the next ball, albeit picking up just the two runs off that shot.Sunil Narine – whom Bairstow said PBKS did not want to lose wickets to – came on to bowl the fifth over and was greeted with a four and a six behind square leg by Prabhsimran as he raced to an 18-ball half-century.By the end of the fifth over, Prabhsimran was on 54 off 20 balls, Bairstow on 12 off 10 and PBKS on 69. They had already bettered their previous best powerplay performance of the season.3:00

Jaffer on Bairstow’s ton: ‘It’s mind-boggling’

“[KKR] got a flier themselves thanks to Satly [Phil Salt] and Sunil so we knew we had to go ballistic in the powerplay,” Bairstow said in the post-match presentation. “You’ve got to take risks to go on. When you’ve to chase 200-plus you’ve to take risks in the powerplay.”Bairstow strikes at 119.53 against left-arm spinners in the IPL, but there was no respect paid to the match-up when Anukul was given a second over in the powerplay. Bairstow smoked three fours and two sixes off the first five balls to give PBKS their highest-ever powerplay score.It would have been the perfect first six overs for PBKS but for Prabhsimran being caught short of the crease for an unnecessary run-out off the final ball of the over. But it mattered little to the batting team, because that over was what Bairstow needed to find his lost rhythm.This was evident in the tenth over when a short ball from Andre Russell stayed lower than Bairstow was expecting as he shaped to hook, but he was quick to adjust and roll his wrists over it to turn it into a short-arm pull into the gap behind square leg for four. He had his sights set, and on a pitch where the ball was coming on nicely, he was going to make it count.But so steep was the challenge for them that even as PBKS knocked 39 runs off the target in the first four overs after the powerplay, ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster still gave them only an 11.08% chance of winning. Bairstow went 6, 4, 6 in Varun Chakravarthy’s next over to take their win probability up to 25%. Then, over the space of four legal deliveries, PBKS were suddenly 70% favourites to win.Russell started with a wide before being pulled for six by Rilee Rossouw. Another wide and a single followed before Bairstow deposited two back-of-length deliveries behind square leg for consecutive sixes – the second one travelling 105 metres.And when he clobbered Narine through backward point for four more off the first ball of the next over, he was suddenly on 92 off 36.Jonny Bairstow shellacked KKR to all parts and got his century up in 45 balls•BCCIRossouw fell in that over, but it did not slow PBKS down. Shashank Singh, a revelation in the lower-middle order for PBKS this season, was promoted above Jitesh Sharma and Curran, and didn’t take much time to settle in.Where KKR’s innings was largely a case of Phil Salt and Narine going hard in equal measure throughout a stunning 138-run opening partnership, PBKS’ chase felt like a relay race, with Prabhsimran starting things off before passing the baton of acceleration to Bairstow, who now handed it to Shashank, whose unbeaten 28-ball 68 was laced with eight sixes and two fours.Bairstow got to his century in 45 balls in the 16th over and was equally belligerent against pace and spin. He took on the fast bowlers at a strike rate of 200 and went much quicker against spinners, striking at 246.15.In the end, PBKS almost cantered to victory, with eight wickets and eight balls to spare. Before Friday, PBKS were the only team to not concede 200 runs or more this season. The first time they did, they conceded so many they would have been among the least fancied teams to make a game out of it. But the response served up an instant classic.Now, they will have to ensure that this batting performance becomes more their template, and less an outlier.

Where will the final of T20 World Cup 2024 be won and lost?

Nagraj Gollapudi, S Rajesh and Shiva Jayaraman28-Jun-20242:10

How do South Africa tackle Kuldeep and Bumrah?

Toss factor: Bat first?

In the four day matches played at Kensington Oval so far in this tournament, the team winning the toss has twice elected to bat first. While Namibia lost against Scotland, India beat Afghanistan comfortably by 47 runs. England elected to bowl in the other two matches, losing to Australia and defeating USA.Overall in this tournament, India have batted first in five of their seven matches, and on four of those occasions their opponents sent them in, including Thursday’s semi-final in Guyana where England were bowled out for 103 in pursuit of 172.Related

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South Africa, meanwhile, have won the toss three times and elected to bowl twice. Overall, they have batted first on four occasions, and chased as many times, winning all their games so far.Bowling is a strong suit for both teams, and both India and South Africa may prefer bowling second in the final, when the pressure will be higher. Since this is a day game, there will be no dew to advantage the chasing team.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Pace-off against SKY

Suryakumar Yadav scores a high proportion of his runs in the zone stretching from backward point to backward square leg. He loves using any pace and bounce on offer to direct the ball behind the wicket, and South Africa’s fast bowlers know this. The zones behind the wicket have brought Suryakumar 66 runs off 24 balls against Kagiso Rabada in all T20s, 32 off 12 against Nortje, and 25 off just five balls against Jansen. Suryakumar has a phenomenal overall strike rate of 298 against the South African trio when he plays them in those zones.ESPNcricinfo LtdThere is, though, a way for fast bowlers to try and prevent him from accessing these areas: take the pace off. Especially in the IPL over the last few years, there has been a noticeable rise in bowlers deploying the slower ball against Suryakumar. He scores quickly against the slower ball too, going at a strike rate of 180.40 against the 148 slower balls he has faced in T20s since the start of 2023, but the revealing number is the average: it drops from 42.30 against on-pace deliveries to 20.53 against slower balls. And from once every 23 balls against on-pace deliveries, his dismissal rate climbs to once every 11.4 balls against slower balls.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bowl Maharaj in the powerplay

After losing the semi-final in Guyana, Jos Buttler conceded that he could have bowled Moeen Ali in the first six overs to create pressure on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Jansen and Rabada have usually started with the new ball for South Africa in this World Cup, but India’s openers enjoy facing pace first up and like to go hard against the fast men. While Rabada has dismissed Kohli and Rohit four times each in T20s, and the sample size is too small for Jansen, South Africa could look at going defensive by introducing Keshav Maharaj’s left-arm spin in the powerplay. Since January 2023, Maharaj has gone for 143 runs in 114 powerplay deliveries, with an economy of 7.52, and picked up six wickets in this phase. Traditionally, both Rohit and Kohli have tended to score slowly against left-arm spin.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The key battles – Klaasen vs Jadeja, Kuldeep vs Miller

Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller are the best players of spin in the South Africa line-up. But can they withstand the collective pressure that the Indian spin trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja could build from both ends? Both batters have strong numbers against Axar, but have faced issues against the other two.ESPNcricinfo LtdKlaasen’s modus operandi relies on standing deep in the crease and using his bat swing to launch big hits, while also being able to manoeuvre the ball into gaps and run hard. By his own admission, it is when he is in two minds whether to attack or play safe that he self-destructs. And he has found himself in such a scenario against Jadeja. In their T20 meetings so far, Klaasen has managed just 16 runs off 15 balls against Jadeja.Miller, too, has been circumspect against Kuldeep. Since January 2022, Miller has scored at a run a ball off 24 balls from India’s best spinner in the format, while being dismissed twice. There is no doubt India will try and exploit these match-ups; how will Klaasen and Miller respond?ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Samson for Dube?

In a curious move in the semi-final against England, India pushed Shivam Dube down the order, having mostly used him at No. 5 over the course of the tournament. Dube was included in India’s squad as a spin-disruptor, and although he has scored 47 off 38 balls against spin in this tournament, he has been dismissed twice by that style of bowling, and has been circumspect against pace, picking up just 59 off 62 balls. While it seems highly unlikely India will drop him for the final, they could replace him with Sanju Samson, who has occupied the bench since playing the warm-up match against Bangladesh.

Shamsi or Baartman?

Tabraiz Shamsi has 11 wickets at this World Cup, with one four-wicket haul and two three-fors, including 3 for 6 in the semi-final against Afghanistan. Shamsi has decent head-to-head against most of India’s batters in the last two years, too, and won the Player-of-the-Match award in the second match of the home T20 series last December in Gqeberha, where he picked up 1 for 18 in four overs. However, do South Africa need a second spinner at a venue where fast bowlers have taken 32 wickets as against 20 by spinners?The alternative could be Ottneil Baartman. The right-arm fast man nearly let England back into South Africa’s last Super Eight match with a 21-run 17th over, erring while repeatedly looking for yorkers rather than bang away on a hard length. But the yorker is a big weapon for Baartman at the death, and he has executed it well in South African domestic cricket. He has also been among the most economical bowlers in the country, capable of operating in all three phases. It is a good headache for Rob Walters, South Africa’s head coach-cum-selector and captain Aiden Markarm: rely on Shamsi’s experience and guile or inject the pace of Baartman?

England aren’t quite the force they were on their all-conquering 2022-23 tour. That, however, is no consolation to a struggling Pakistan side

Danyal Rasool04-Oct-2024Pakistan have been confronted by two sets of very different challenges in their last two Test series. First, they lost the unwinnable; no Pakistan Test side had managed anything other than defeat in Australia since 1995. Then, at home, they lost the unlosable, suffering their first and second Test defeats to Bangladesh. Now, with England on their shores to play three Test matches, they face their most intriguing challenge: the possible.It is perhaps this kind of match-up, where success is unlikely but eminently achievable, that is best placed to determine the upper limits of Pakistan’s grasp, and most in danger of exposing the pace of their slide. Moving past Pakistan’s defeats in Australia as a grim rite of passage that they cannot escape requires some generosity; setting aside an excellent Bangladesh side’s clean sweep in Pakistan as a freak event demands excessive charity. One was too predictable, the other too dramatic, and neither conducive to rational assessment. But a home series against England is precisely the sort of contest Pakistan have cherished competing in. This is a litmus test.Related

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Pakistan’s psychological scars may have begun to prick once more at the memories of what England dished out in 2022-23. But while the tendency to group all of their results under the all-encompassing term Bazball remains undying, England now are scarcely the formidable side that delivered Pakistan’s only home-series whitewash to date. In the intervening two years, England have just about split the 19 Tests they’ve played, winning 10 and losing eight; six of those wins have come at home against West Indies, Sri Lanka and Ireland. Five of their seven away Tests have ended as defeats. None of the four seamers who played any part in the 2022-23 Pakistan tour are in their current squad, and captain Ben Stokes is a serious doubt for the first Test in Multan.With that limited context, England’s triumph two years ago appears an aberration, not the heralding of a new dawn. Greater England sides than this have found playing in Pakistan a struggle; until their 2022 victory, England had managed just one away-series win against Pakistan in 60 years. Months after their iconic Ashes win in 2005, they fell 2-0 on Pakistani shores, and that famously hard-nosed 2009-12 England side were swept away by Pakistan at their adopted UAE home ground in 2011.But zoom out for greater context, and you run into Pakistan’s problems. It’s difficult for them to draw encouragement from their opposition’s away record when they haven’t won a home Test in three-and-a-half years, and though England did lose a dead rubber to Sri Lanka to cap off their red-ball summer, it was overshadowed by Pakistan’s own dismantling at Bangladesh’s hands.Abrar Ahmed’s 11-wicket debut two years ago seems like a distant memory•Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesEngland’s seamers might never have played in Pakistan, but Pakistan are going through their own fast-bowling identity crisis as they struggle for speed, form, fitness or a combination of the three. England’s spinners are inexperienced, but Pakistan’s supply isn’t brimming either, and Abrar Ahmed’s 11-wicket debut in Multan two years ago is now a distant memory. And when it comes to batting, Pakistan’s problems are in a different league.Earlier this week, captain Shan Masood appealed for time and patience, but is also clever enough to understand those will be offered in stingy doses with severe prescriptive restrictions. And against an England side perceived to be better than it perhaps is, a competitive series with enough of the numbers in the result corner presents the only viable opportunity to change attitudes about his side.Pakistan have had a month to reflect on that Bangladesh series, and played domestic one-day cricket in the interregnum; the wisdom of that remains up for debate. But at some point, the only way to read into the quality of this Test side will be the results they get rather than the promise they show, the quality of the opposition or the capriciousness of the pitch. This Pakistan side is either good enough to beat England at home, or they’re not. Zak Crawley’s comments about the dangers of underestimating Pakistan would suggest England are blocking out the external noise about their supposed superiority over the hosts, and are approaching this series as a contest of equals.Pakistan still have a distance to travel to demonstrate they have earned that tag. But either way, the upcoming three weeks should go a long way towards illuminating whether that Bangladesh series was a wake-up call, or simply the new company Pakistan keep.

Vote for the best individual Border-Gavaskar Trophy performance by an Indian in Australia since 2000

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2024Update: This poll has ended. Cheteshwar Pujara’s performance goes into the quarter-finals. Check the other polls here.ESPNcricinfo LtdCheteshwar Pujara was the rock Australia could not budge in Adelaide•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaCheteshwar Pujara – 123 and 71 in Adelaide, 2018India won by 31 runs, lead series 1-0Mitchell Starc was swinging the ball again. At 145 kph. Some of the quickest bowling ever seen in Australia in 2018 had India 127 for 6 on the first day of a long tour. But it still wasn’t enough to dislodge Cheteshwar Pujara. It barely even made a dent. In an age where batting is nothing if it doesn’t look sexy, one man stood up to show the world that “when you defend confidently you know you are in command, you are on top of the bowler, and he doesn’t have a chance to get you out.”Pujara batted for more than six hours to contribute 123 to India’s first-innings total of 250 in Adelaide. He then wore Australia down for nearly another five hours in the second innings; his 71 putting India on course to set a target of over 300. They won by 31 runs, and went on to take the series 2-1, their first ever triumph on Australian soil.
By Alagappan MuthuWatch the highlights of these performances on the Star Sports network at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm IST, from October 22 onwards.Shardul Thakur delivered with runs and wickets to keep India in the Brisbane Test•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaShardul Thakur – 67, 3-94 & 4-61 in Brisbane, 2021India win by three wickets & win series 2-1Shardul Thakur had played one Test match before Brisbane 2021, but he may as well have not played that game, with a groin strain restricting him to delivering just 10 balls against West Indies in Hyderabad in 2018. Thakur wasn’t part of India’s original squad in Australia, and it’s hard to say exactly where he stood in their pecking order of bowlers, because when he did get his chance at the Gabba, India were without their entire first-choice attack: over the course of the tour, injury had ruled out Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.Miraculously, the series was still alive at 1-1. And miraculously, an India XI that included Thakur and five players who made their debuts on this tour kept trading punches with Australia’s first-choice star cast. Thakur was in the middle of it all, with ball and bat. First, he picked up three wickets with his outswing and attacking lengths to help restrict Australia to 369 in their first innings. Then he walked in with India 186 for 6, and hooked Pat Cummins for six off his third ball to score his first runs in Test cricket. The shots kept flowing in an audacious 123-run stand with Washington Sundar, as India narrowed Australia’s lead to a mere 33 runs.Then India kept finding a breakthrough every time Australia threatened to pull too far from their reach in the second innings. Thakur was in the middle of it all again, getting the ball to kick awkwardly from just short of a length to pick up four wickets. All this left India with 328 to get, 324 of them on day five. All they needed now, after four miraculous days, was one final miracle.By Karthik Krishnaswamy

He did it on Thursday. He did it on Friday too. This time he got to triple digits with shots all around the park, and celebrated in style after what’s been a tough cricketing period for him

Vishal Dikshit24-Jan-2025Shardul Thakur likes batting in difficult situations. He had said as much on Thursday, after he had put together 51 off 57 after coming in with Mumbai 42 for 6 against Jammu & Kashmir. On Friday, he took the rescue act up a notch, delivering an unbeaten century at almost a run a ball having come in at 91 for 6, with Mumbai leading by just five runs.All this when the recent past has not been kind to him. Shardul the allrounder was a regular in and around the India set-up at the end of 2023 before a foot surgery kept him out for more than half of 2024, and he hasn’t found a way back in since. Even though he has added consistency to his batting: four of his 14 first-class half-centuries and both his centuries have come in the last two domestic seasons. And much of this has been crisis batting, including 109 off 105 from 106 for 7 against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy semi-final last season, followed by 75 off 69 from 111 for 6 against Vidarbha to set up the title win.And he went unsold at the mega auction ahead of the IPL 2025 season. “You have to forget whatever has happened in the past,” he had said on Thursday. It is perhaps this practicality that helps him stay in the present when he walks out to bat in tough situations.Related

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What worked in his favour on Friday was that the ball was more than 25 overs old when he came out, and had lost all its swing. So, when he saw width on offer, he didn’t shy away from slashing over the infield on the off side. When the fast bowlers pitched it short, he middled his pulls. And the shots kept coming.First ball after tea, when Mumbai were 174 for 7, Thakur punched Umar Nazir Malik through the off side for four and, three balls later, pulled a short ball to the boundary. In the next over he swept left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq for another four to get to a 59-ball half-century. What did slow him down a bit was cramps; he had to call out the physio a couple of times after he crossed 50 and was clearly struggling between the wickets.The worst of it seemed to have passed by the time he got into the seventies, and his strokes reflected that. He pounced on fast bowler Yudhvir Singh outside off on 80 with such timing that he made it look like he was picking the length against a spinner. Two balls later, he clobbered Yudhvir over the covers with disdain to take the lead past 150 in style. On 94, he hooked Auqib Nabi and got a leading edge, but also four more. He was on 98, his team was still not on top of the game with the lead only 162, but Thakur kept going for it. He lofted the next ball straight down the ground, didn’t middle it at all, but it landed just beyond mid-off’s reach.

When Shardul Thakur saw width on offer, he didn’t shy away from slashing over the infield on the off side. When the fast bowlers pitched it short, he middled his pulls. And the shots kept coming.

Next over, against Mushtaq, he brought out the sweep on 99 and got the run that cued telling celebrations: he ran at speed (what cramps?) with his bat held high, punched the air, let out a scream, and pointed to the sky. It showed what the knock meant to him.The Mumbai dressing room, which had been dour and gloomy for most of the day, broke into rapturous applause, acknowledging a rare feat from a No. 8: Thakur was only the 13th player to score a fifty and a hundred in the same first-class match batting at No. 8 or lower since 2006.The J&K bowlers knew the pitch had nothing to offer now and they started peppering him with short balls. He took a blow on his chest near the left shoulder, got some ice treatment on the field, and still went on. He ramped Nabi’s short ball over the keeper for four, and eventually walked back unbeaten on 113 off 119 with Tanush Kotian – again, his support act from the semi-final last season – for company on 58 off 119.It was another Thakur knock that will go down as one that saved Mumbai’s blushes, even putting them a little in front after they’d been far behind. Maybe it will serve Thakur well to remember these bits of the past.

Ashwin finishes his Test career with the joint-most number of Player-of-the-Series awards in Tests

Omkar Mankame18-Dec-2024#1
West Indies in India, 2011-12
After taking 13 wickets in India’s victories in the first two Tests, R Ashwin showcased his all-round brilliance at the Wankhede Stadium with a century and a nine-wicket match haul. With India needing two runs to win and two wickets in hand, Ashwin managed a single before being run out on the final delivery of the series, leading to the rare instance of a match being drawn with the scores level.Related

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#2
New Zealand in India, 2012
New Zealand’s batting lineup, featuring Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum, had no answer to Ashwin’s spin. He finished the Hyderabad Test with 12 for 85, his first ten-wicket haul in Tests, and followed it up with another six wickets in Bengaluru as India won 2-0.#3
Australia in India, 2012-13
After a poor home series against England, Ashwin finished as the highest wicket-taker in the series against Australia, with 29 wickets at 20.10, starring in India’s first 4-0 series series win in Tests. In the opening Test in Chennai, his hometown, he set the tone with a match haul of 12 for 198. Ashwin took two more five-wicket hauls in the remainder of the series and often bowled with the new ball, something that would become a staple at home for the rest of his career.Promoted to No. 6, Ashwin scored two centuries on the 2016 tour of the West Indies•Associated Press#4
India in Sri Lanka, 2015
Ashwin’s first series award away came in a tough series in which India had to turn over a 0-1 deficit. He became the first Indian spinner to take 20 or more wickets in an away series containing three or fewer Tests. In the first Test, he claimed his maiden 10-wicket haul outside India, and his seven wickets in the second Test secured India’s 278-run victory. He dismissed Kumar Sangakkara four times in four innings in what was the batter’s final Test series.#5
South Africa in India, 2015-16
In India’s sixth Test series win since his debut, Ashwin picked up his fifth Player-of-the-Series award, going level with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. His haul of 31 wickets in the series remains the second-highest by an Indian bowler in seven or fewer innings, after Harbhajan Singh’s 32 wickets against Australia in 2000-01. On raging turners, Ashwin tormented South Africa’s batters, dismissing Dean Elgar four times and AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis twice each as India won 3-0.#6
India in West Indies, 2016
Promoted to No. 6 in the first three Tests for India to play five specialist bowlers, Ashwin scored centuries in Antigua and St Lucia. With the ball, he took 7 for 83 in the second innings in Antigua and backed it up with 5 for 52 in the first innings in Jamaica. Having won Player-of-the-Match awards in both India’s victories in the four-match series, Ashwin was the obvious choice for Player of the series.#7
New Zealand in India, 2016-17
A series haul of 27 wickets, including a career-best match haul of 13 for 140 in the third Test in Indore, propelled Ashwin back to the top of the ICC Test rankings for bowlers. His series haul is the second-highest by any Indian bowler in a three-Test series, again behind Harbhajan Singh’s 32 wickets. Ashwin had opened the series with a 10-wicket haul in Kanpur and continued to hold it over New Zealand’s batters as India won 3-0.Ashwin took 32 wickets against England in 2021, but his favourite moment of the series was his hundred at Chepauk•BCCI#8
England in India, 2020-21

In another stellar series with both ball and bat, Ashwin scored a century at Chepauk, his first Test ton in almost five years, and finished with 32 wickets from four Test matches. He went past 400 wickets in the series, becoming the fastest to get there in terms of balls bowled (21,242). He also made headlines during the series by speaking against criticism of spin-friendly pitches, saying it was no different from pitches that assisted seam on the first day.#9
New Zealand in India, 2021-22
Continuing his dominance over New Zealand at home, Ashwin provided crucial lower-order contributions in the first Test in Kanpur while taking six wickets. He took 4 for 8 and 4 for 34 in Mumbai to seal India’s 1-0 win.#10
Australia in India, 2022-23
After being outbowled by Ravindra Jadeja and Nathan Lyon in the 2017 home Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ashwin topped the wicket charts six years later and shared the Player-of-the-Series award with Jadeja, who took 22 wickets. After taking eight wickets in Kanpur, Ashwin bowled a memorable over on day one in Delhi, dismissing both Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith with outstanding deliveries. He showed he was in top form by even managing a five-for on a flat Ahmedabad track in the fourth Test. India’s 2-1 series win was their fourth straight over Australia.#11
Bangladesh in India, 2024
With India in trouble at 144 for 6 on day one in Chennai, Ashwin scored a fluent century, his first in three years and his second on his home ground. He went on to take 6 for 88 in the second innings, making it the fourth time in his career he had scored a hundred and taken a five-for in the same Test. He added five more wickets to his series tally in Kanpur as India romped to a 2-0 win.

The effect of the return of saliva and reverse-swing is there to see: fuller lengths have been more economical than shorter lengths for the first time in this decade this IPL

Karthik Krishnaswamy17-Apr-20251:38

Bishop: We saw the best of Starc tonight

“Why don’t they just bowl yorkers?”It’s a refrain you might hear from a disgruntled uncle watching fast bowlers get walloped in the end overs of a T20 game. You even hear it from TV commentators sometimes.The yorker remains the hardest ball for most batters to hit, but it’s one with a low margin for error. Err with your length a little bit, and you’re delivering two of the easier lengths for batters to hit: full-tosses and half-volleys.And over the years, events around white-ball cricket have made it harder and harder for bowlers to trust their yorkers. With the use of two new balls in ODIs, and the ban on the use of saliva to shine the ball brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, reverse-swing began to go out of the game.Related

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• DC win an IPL classic in Delhi after Super Over drama

• Samson on Starc: 'One of the best guys around in the world'

It’s coming back now, though, at least in the IPL, where saliva is legal again. Mohit Sharma believes it’s contributing to the ball reversing in 70% of games in IPL 2025, and Delhi Capitals’ (DC) match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday night was certainly one of them.The ball showed signs of reversing as early as the fifth over of RR’s innings, when Mohit swerved two yorkers into Sanju Samson, with replays suggesting that the ball swung against the orientation of the seam, which was canted towards slip. This early reverse has happened in other games too – for example, in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 12, when Eshan Malinga got the ball to reverse consistently, starting from the seventh over.Wednesday’s most dramatic moments of reverse came late in the game, though, when Mitchell Starc swung the contest in DC’s direction over the course of three overs. First, with RR needing 31 off 18, the left-arm quick conceded just eight runs in the 18th over and dismissed half-centurion Nitish Rana with a wickedly tailing yorker; an inside edge off the next ball saved Shimron Hetmyer from being bowled by a similar delivery. Then, with RR needing nine off the last over, Starc forced the game into a Super Over, curtailing Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel with ball after ball speared into the base of the stumps and landing there or thereabouts with late bend in its path.Quite naturally, DC entrusted Starc with the Super Over, and once again he showed an unwavering faith in the yorker. Despite bowling a no-ball when he cut the return crease while going round the wicket to the right-handed Riyan Parag, he kept RR to 11 runs, and induced enough panic for them to lose both their wickets to run-outs with a ball left unused. DC chased down their target in just four balls, and a match that had seemed lost was theirs, moving them back to the top of the IPL table with five wins from six games.Mitchell Starc induced enough panic for Rajasthan Royals to lose both their Super Over wickets to run-outs with a ball left unused•BCCIHere’s how much Starc swung the old ball: 1.2 degrees on average across the 18th and 20th overs, and 1.8 degrees in his Super Over (old balls are used for Super Overs, with the fielding captain allowed to choose from a box of used balls). He had bowled the first and third overs of RR’s innings and swung the new ball just 0.8 degrees.When you’re as quick as Starc and as good at executing the yorker as he is, the decision of what option to go for at the death becomes far easier to make when the ball is reversing.”I’ve played long enough that everyone pretty much knows what I’m going to do,” Starc said while receiving the Player-of-the-Match award. “If I can execute more often than not, it’s going to be okay.”I mean, you could play that [20th] over ten more times and do ten different things and it might be ten different results, so as I said, a bit of luck goes a long way, and fortunately I executed well enough to get us to a Super Over and then, yeah, we were on the right end of it.”It also helped Starc that left-hand batters Rana and Hetmyer were on strike for eight of his 12 balls across the 18th and 20th overs, which made his stock ball, swinging into the batter from over the wicket, an easier one to execute and set a field to.1:16

Pujara surprised by RR’s Super Over line-up

Starc was surprised, then, that RR chose to send out Hetmyer as one of their openers in the Super Over, and had another left-hand batter, Yashasvi Jaiswal, at No. 3.Starc’s problems came when the right-handed Riyan Parag came on strike. He went around the wicket and bowled that back-foot no-ball – he also erred in line with that ball, bowling wide of off stump with four of his five boundary fielders out on the leg side. Having given away five runs without bowling a ball, he overcompensated with his line off the next ball, with a brush off Parag’s pad stopping it from becoming a leg-side wide. An attempt to steal a leg bye, however, resulted in the first of two run-outs off successive balls.”Yeah, I was probably a little surprised they had left-handers with the ball tailing in and my angle,” Starc said. “Probably got two [balls] wrong there and obviously stepped on the wide line a bit, so yeah, I may even have got away with a couple there, but we obviously had the batting depth to chase the runs, so yeah, solid win in the end.”In his press conference after the match, Rana spoke of the difference that the return of saliva had made to the game.”The difference that comes from applying saliva, the reverse-swing that we got to see from Starc – obviously the credit goes to Starc, but the saliva makes a lot of difference,” he said. “We didn’t use saliva at all in the last two-three years, and we didn’t do this type of batting even in the nets, because reverse-swing had completely gone away from cricket, whether it was red ball or white ball. Suddenly, if someone can execute 11 yorkers in 12 balls at a 145 [kph] pace, then you have to give Starc the credit.”

“Getting reverse-swing is one thing, but executing it is very important. It was reversing, but at that time, under pressure, he [Starc] was executing it. I was just reminding him to be clear with his plans, and trust himself. I was getting the same response: ‘Don’t worry, skip. I’ll do it’Axar Patel

While acknowledging the role of saliva in the return of reverse, DC captain Axar Patel also highlighted the lack of grass on the pitches used in the IPL, which accelerates wear and tear on the ball.”Because we can use saliva this season, and since there isn’t much grass on the surface, you can get the ball to reverse,” Axar said in his post-match press conference. “I feel it’s fair for bowlers, given how the grounds are, and how batsmen’s bats are, and how runs keep flowing.”We’re getting 180-190 scores, and it’s fun when that happens, because it’s competitive cricket, and it’s not as if there’s nothing in it for the bowlers. So I feel we’re able to get reverse-swing because of the use of saliva.”And getting reverse-swing is one thing, but executing it is very important. It was reversing, but at that time, under pressure, he [Starc] was executing it. I was just reminding him to be clear with his plans, and trust himself. I was getting the same response: ‘Don’t worry, skip. I’ll do it’.”ESPNcricinfo’s data bears out the effect that the return of saliva and reverse-swing have had on the end-overs yorker in the IPL. While the overall economy rate of fast bowlers in the death overs has continued its season-by-season increase, the fuller lengths (full-toss, yorker, full) have become more economical than the shorter lengths (length, short-of-good length, short) for the first time in this decade.This could mean that batters are getting better at handling shorter lengths at the death; it could also, of course, just be the effect of reverse-swing encouraging bowlers to attempt yorkers more often and set fields accordingly, leading to shorter lengths suffering greater punishment. Or it could be a combination of the two.In any case, successive matches in Delhi have shown the value of the newly re-weaponised yorker, swinging games away from chasing teams in dramatic fashion. First it was Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah for Mumbai Indians (MI) against DC; now it’s Starc for DC against RR. Given that batters are still getting used to all this, we could yet see a few more end-overs heists before the pendulum swings back.

The Delhi Capitals medium-pacer talks about his most memorable final overs in T20 cricket, the guidance he has received from Ashish Nehra, and more

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi15-Apr-20254:56

‘Preparation is my greatest strength’

Mohit Sharma corrects me and points out he is not 34 but 36 years old. “I will take it as a compliment, though,” he says, chuckling, during our meeting in Chennai earlier this month. Despite his international career falling off the map due to a combination of back injuries and the emergence of younger, fitter, highly skilled fast bowlers, Mohit, who last played for India in 2015, has managed to find a second wind in his IPL career. In 2022, eight years after he topped the IPL wickets table for Chennai Super Kings, he joined Gujarat Titans as a net bowler, and the following season was the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament. He delivered the eventful last over in the 2023 IPL final, where his former CSK team-mate Ravindra Jadeja denied Mohit and Titans what would have been their second title in a row.The backbone of Mohit’s fast bowling has been his variations, delivered with a grunt. Cutters, slower balls and slow bouncers are the weapons he uses to counter the batting carnage in the second half of T20 innings, where he normally operates. In this interview, he speaks of having only gratitude and no regrets about that 20th over in the 2023 final, and opens up on a career that is now limited to just domestic T20s and the IPL.How’s life at the moment?
My life is in peace right now. It is going good. Pressure is part of the process, and personally, I feel it is important to have pressure. Even if, at times, the pressure can be too much, it always teaches you something.Related

Versatile GT seek first win against well-rounded DC at home

Reverse in fast forward – Starc's three overs of yorker mayhem

Mohit Sharma: Use of saliva is 100% helping the ball reverse swing

'My confidence goes up when Dhoni throws me the ball in tough situations' (2014)

Almost-forgotten Mohit is back, and he's the same bowler he used to be

When I say “last over”, what comes to your mind?
A lot of things have been associated with the last over for me ( [Ashish Nehra, the head coach] was repeating the same things from sidelines throughout the match: “Pandit [Mohit’s nickname], breathe, relax.” He always says when you are at the top of your bowling mark, you need to be clear about what you are going to do. The ball is in your hand. It doesn’t matter what others come and tell you. You have to execute it, so there shouldn’t be two things in your mind.

“I thought there is no bigger thing than education. I started reading up on biomechanics of fast bowling. Then I started dabbling in a course on sprint mechanics. If you want to pursue coaching, you need to understand what coaching is, because it is totally different to playing”

Before 2023, you had last played a full IPL season in 2018. In 2019 and 2020, you played one match each. In 2022, you went unsold in the auction, but Nehra called you to train with the Titans squad. Is it true that around this point you were thinking of ending your career but that Nehra advised you not to?
A lot happened for me between the end of the 2018 IPL and the start of the 2022 season, including having back surgery. I had a good domestic season [in 2021-22], including the Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy. My body was responding well post-surgery. When I went unsold, Ashu videos of my bowling. Ashu ). He is like an older brother in my life and has always guided me. If not for that chat, I might have taken a call on my career that year or the following season. After that I thought I will continue playing till my body supports me.I have been lucky that in the second phase of my career, the coaches I have encountered have been like my older brothers more than coaches. They don’t think it is my decision, so I should take it [alone]. They jump in to guide me to the right path. They have experienced more in life. If I have encountered such a situation once or twice in my life, some of these coaches might have been through it 20 times.Mohit chats with his Titans captain Hardik Pandya during the 2023 IPL final against CSK. At the start of the final over, CSK needed 13. Mohit conceded only three from the first four balls, but Ravindra Jadeja hit him for a six and a four off the last two balls•Associated PressLike, the Delhi Capitals coaching staff – Hemang [Badani] bhai, Munna [Munaf Patel] nicknamed me “Maria Sharapova” [the former Grand Slam champion known for her loud grunt]. I’d say: “With the grunt, batsmen will feel the ball will come at 145-150kph even though the ball comes slower, so it is a plus point for me!”What is the fastest you have ever bowled?
After the 2015 World Cup, in the T20 series against South Africa, I clicked 145.4kph once. At that World Cup, Umesh [Yadav], Shami and myself were consistently operating at 140kph.One has to accept things change with age, and in T20 cricket speed is not everything.
Absolutely. You have to accept that. You can’t have an ego. Cricket will not stop for you. You will have to adapt yourself according to the way cricket is evolving.When we spoke back in 2014, you mentioned that you write down your positive and negative feelings on two separate sheets and bin the one with the negative thoughts. Do you still do that?
Yes, I still do that. I tear up the negative ones. Regardless of the result, I have ensured the work ethic that I have had since my Under-19 days does not change. As long as I’m playing I will continue doing things the way I did when I started.”When I am bowling at the death now, my options include bowling a dot ball, but I also have an option to get a wicket every second ball”•Deepak Malik/BCCIDoes doing those things keep you sane?
[stillness, stability] is probably the right word. I get clarity on what I should focus on and what I should not focus on. In current times, our minds get scattered even if nothing much has happened in two balls. So my work ethic has taught me that if I have only three things, then I need to stick to those three rather than thinking that if I get hit for a six off a bouncer with pace then I ) The bowler runs in saying: I will get you out; the batsman says: I will hit you for a six. When there’s nothing to lose, a person learns a lot. If you disregard some of the early matches of this IPL [as of April 3], and three-four matches from the last IPL, the bowlers have started to dominate.If you noticed last evening [in the RCB vs Titans game], how brilliantly [Mohammed] Siraj bowled [against RCB] and Prasidh [Krishna] too. Our bowlers are also learning how to execute the plans more accurately so that [the carnage] that starts from the first ball, we can delay that a bit and at least we [bowlers] get some breathing space.Has the planning changed or have the pitches also become more supportive of bowlers?
It sounds nice hearing such a thing, but with the bounce, you also get hit for sixes! The wicket in [the RCB-Titans] match was good, but it was not like it was seaming or there was extra bounce. It was RCB’s home ground, they provided that wicket. But how GT’s bowling unit executed plans was magical for me. They were bowling in such good areas and the ball was swinging amazingly. If you saw, Siraj was not just swinging the ball, he was also bowling cross-seams and other variations, and his plans were very clear. I am not saying the wicket should not be supportive, but whatever pitches we get, our plans need to be clear.

India hit back to level the series at Edgbaston. Alan Gardner hears from Andrew Miller and Sid Monga about where the second Test was won and lost

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jul-2025India levelled the Test series at Edgbaston, Shubman Gill’s runs laying the platform before Akash Deep finished England off with a ten-wicket haul. With a short turnaround to Lord’s, Alan Gardner was joined on the pod by Andrew Miller and Sidharth Monga to dissect the action. How good was Gill? Has Bazball gone off the rails? And should England turn to Jofra Archer with the series on the line?