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Whatever the approach to batting, you need 20 wickets to win a Test – India chose that option, England left their bowling undermanned and ill-equipped

Karthik Krishnaswamy09-Mar-20242:35

How significant is this series win for India?

Sometimes, a series will throw up the oddest of numbers. Take this one, from India’s just-completed 4-1 win over England. Over ten innings in this series, Ben Stokes faced 367 balls. Over six innings, Kuldeep Yadav faced 362.Sometimes these numbers are random and meaningless, products of the high-speed blender of outcomes over small sample sizes. And even if there is meaning to be found, it may not be particularly deep. Sometimes a gun player goes through a bad patch and a lower-order batter ends up being unusually hard to dismiss.Sometimes, though, a stat like this makes you pause and wonder. Would Stokes have endured less of a struggle if he hadn’t had to face so much of Kuldeep, and would Kuldeep have found survival a lot more difficult had Stokes’ knee allowed him to bowl more than just one spell in the entire series?Related

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The question isn’t so much about Stokes or Kuldeep, individually, as it is about the composition of the two bowling attacks. India played five proper bowlers in each of the five Tests, while England made do with just four, with Joe Root taking on an unusually high workload for a part-time spinner.Root, in fact, ended up bowling more overs than James Anderson, while Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir, who made their debuts during this series, bowled more overs than anyone else on either side.England’s management of their bowling resources, in the end, showed the classic signs of an undermanned attack ill-equipped to the conditions: inexperienced spinners overbowled, an experienced fast bowler restricted to an oxymoronic bit-part starring role. Anderson looked in excellent rhythm whenever he bowled, always accurate, always buzzing in the mid-130s (kph) range, and threatened to take wickets whenever conditions gave him a window of help. But he was England’s fifth-most-used bowler, behind Root and three spinners who came into the series with one previous Test cap between them.In effect, the bulk of the overs India faced through the series were bowled by inexperienced or non-regular spinners, who often also happened to be tiring.Kuldeep Yadav was chosen ahead of a spinner with better batting credentials, and it worked•Gareth Copley/GettyBashir bowled a 31-over spell in Ranchi – Kuldeep’s dogged, match-turning 28 must have owed something to coming in during its latter stages – and he sent down 46.1 overs during India’s only innings in Dharamsala. He did this despite starting the match with a stomach bug, and Jeetan Patel, England’s spin-bowling coach, put a positive spin on it at the end of day two.”Look, it’s a hell of an effort,” Patel said. “He was ill the day before the game. He wasn’t well yesterday. And he’s still a little bit iffy today, but to then go bang out 45 [44] overs and nearly knock off a five-for … you could say he deserves it, but no one deserves anything in this game.”It’s one of those things, he’s put in a hell of a shift for us.”It was a hell of a shift, but it begged the question: if England were putting their inexperienced spinners through this sort of thing in match after match, they must have surely thought, at some point, of playing a fifth bowler?Stokes, in his post-match press conference, was tetchy when he was asked this. “Hindsight,” he said, “never loses.”Then he was pressed again on whether England had debated playing the extra bowler at any point during the series. “No,” he said. “Again, those types of questions will always be asked after the fact. I don’t deal in hindsight, sorry.”

“I think we’ve always wanted to ensure that we’ve got the best resources to be able to take 20 wickets. That’s been the bottomline of what me and Rohit [Sharma] have always spoken about. I think that’s what wins you Test matches – being able to take 20 wickets quickly, as quickly as possible”Rahul Dravid

Ignoring the fact that Stokes did deal in hindsight for much of the rest of his press conference, let’s move on, and talk about India.For all of England’s structural issues with the ball, they put India under pressure on numerous occasions, and even won a Test match – the first one, in Hyderabad.Then, 1-0 down leading into the second Test in Visakhapatnam, India lost the services of KL Rahul, their most experienced specialist middle-order batter, and gun allrounder Ravindra Jadeja. These two had also made their top two scores in Hyderabad.It left India with a potentially tricky choice: replace Jadeja with a like-for-like of sorts in Washington Sundar, who would give them comparable batting ability to Jadeja but not his skill or stamina with the ball, and Kuldeep, a proper bowler.With the series wrapped up, and with Kuldeep having been one of its star performers, the choice looks obvious in hindsight. But it wasn’t at the time, especially given the absence of so many experienced batters – apart from Rahul and Jadeja, India were without Virat Kohli, who missed the entire series for personal reasons.”I think we’ve always wanted to ensure that we’ve got the best resources to be able to take 20 wickets,” India coach Rahul Dravid said at the end of the Dharamsala Test. “I think that’s been the bottomline of what me and Rohit [Sharma] have always spoken about. I think that’s what wins you Test matches – being able to take 20 wickets quickly, as quickly as possible. That’s something that we’ve always been clear about.With England playing just four specialist bowlers, Joe Root had to take on an unusually high workload•BCCI”The safer option would have been probably to strengthen the batting a little bit there. When I watched Axar Patel walk out at No. 6 [in Visakhapatnam], I remember looking at Vikram [Rathour, batting coach] and thinking, geez man, VVS Laxman used to walk out in that position . I mean, with due respect to Axar – he’s a lovely guy, lovely player.”But it was the braver option [to pick Kuldeep] and yes, we had to take a call there, and I’m really glad we were brave. We went with the braver option when we decided to back the fact that we knew we needed 20 wickets to win the series, and trust our batsmen to do the job when required, and I think that’s paid off.”The Laxman reference was interesting, because Laxman missed out on a couple of Test matches when Dravid went with a five-bowler combination as India captain. That thinking was fresh at the time, and controversial too, and didn’t really persist beyond Dravid’s relatively brief captaincy stint. MS Dhoni played five bowlers on a few occasions, and Kohli a lot more often, but it took until India began to trust Jadeja to bat at No. 6 or 7 in all conditions for it to become a norm – the decisive shift perhaps came with the 2020 Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, when Ajinkya Rahane led in the absence of Kohli.By the time India had to choose between Washington and Kuldeep, the precedent had long been established. They took the braver option, but it was so ingrained in their thinking that it may not have felt especially brave.India picked up all 100 wickets they could, while England got 79 – perhaps the stat that explains the 4-1 scoreline•AFP/Getty ImagesThat word, brave, has often been used in reference to England’s batting approach under Stokes and Brendon McCullum, and it’s not misplaced. You need to be brave to back yourself to play attacking shots and look to hit good bowlers off their lengths, knowing the level of risk you’re taking, knowing that there’s even more of a chance than usual of a low score next to your name. You have to be brave to bat like this even if your team has backed you and told you they will keep backing you even if it doesn’t come off.There’s a team element to it too: if a line-up of gifted attacking batters who have worked extremely hard on their attacking game commits to this philosophy fully, it only takes two or three of them coming off for an innings to take off. Playing like this, perhaps, requires a certain amount of batting depth too – as is evident in white-ball cricket. It’s perhaps why England did not pick a fifth bowler at any point.But the trade-off is immense. It can stretch your bowling attack to its limit. And when you come up against an attack as good as India’s, you can end up with a complete mismatch. You can end up with one team taking all 100 available wickets in a series, and the other taking just 79.Whatever approach batting sides may take, the fundamental truth of Test cricket doesn’t change. Bowlers win matches and series.The moment that ended this series, India’s 100th wicket, could not have been more appropriate: Root c Jasprit Bumrah b Kuldeep. England’s best batter, turned into a makeshift allrounder, caught by the series’ best fast bowler by far, off the bowling of its most pivotal selection.

The left hander has worked on being a little less hard on herself when things don’t go to plan

Andrew McGlashan04-Jul-2024Phoebe Litchfield believes the lean run she endured during the latter half of last season will make her a better player in the long run with her winter having focused on both some technical work and learning to be less hard on herself when things don’t go well.Litchfield’s form slipped significantly early in 2024 following an impressive ODI series in India late the previous year where she averaged 86.66. The runs started to dry up after that tour with a thin return across formats against South Africa, a WPL for Gujarat Giants where she averaged 10.33 then capped off by struggles in tough batting conditions in Bangladesh where five innings brought 19 runs in four knocks.Related

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“It was a bit of a dry patch to put it bluntly,” she told ESPNcricinfo. “I was training fine, I was in a good headspace, so I feel I just found ways to get out and probably made the wrong decisions at times. Towards the back end of the Bangladesh tour I got a golden [duck], got run out, so it was like it couldn’t really go to plan, but that’s cricket.”It’s actually been really nice to go through that and learn from it. I could have scored runs and happy days, but to go through that, especially as a young player, it has taught me ways to reflect and ways to learn and also ways to train. Whilst it was pretty shit while I was going through it, I’m better for it hopefully.”The strain of an increasingly busy calendar played a part – such is the maturity that Litchfield portrays, it’s easy to forget 2023 had been her first full year at the top level – but some technical issues had also crept into her game, and by the end of the Bangladesh tour she needed a break.Having managed that during April and May, she is now well back into building towards a return to action which will come in the Hundred next month. The international focus then turns to a series against New Zealand that provides a lead-in to the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh which will be Litchfield’s first global event. After that comes an ODI visit from India, a brief pre-Christmas trip across the Tasman then the multi-format Ashes in January. Throw in the WBBL from late October and it’s another hectic schedule.Litchfield on Bangladesh tour: ‘I’ve never played on anything like it’•Getty Images”Towards the backend [of last season], the WPL and the Bangladesh series, I probably felt it a bit, going ‘wow, we have to play cricket again today’, it does get pretty hectic,” Litchfield said, speaking at the launch of the Sydney Thunder Tape Ball League. “It is a game at the end of the day. But I sat down with the coaching staff, we looked forward and I’m just really excited. I kind of look at all the fixtures and each one’s new, each one’s different. But there are times when we need to switch off and that Christmas break will be important.”Amid the runs becoming a trickle there was a low score in the Test against South Africa in Perth when Litchfield edged to slip in the opening over of Australia’s innings. A little while later, the TV cameras showed her sitting alone outside the dressing looking less-than-pleased with life and it prompted conversation about how harsh Litchfield can be on herself.”I didn’t really know that camera was even out there,” Litchfield recalled. “It wasn’t until my team-mates were listening to the comms and they were like ‘Phoebs, come back inside’. I didn’t score a run during that South Africa series, and was pretty disappointed with myself, so that was probably true emotion shown there.

There were a few things with my backlift and we’ve sorted through that and worked out a few trigger options, trying to make things simpler…with that, learning how to get over things, so training, being okay with mistakes, learning from them rather than spitting the dummy

“Yeah, I am hard on myself, but I think it works both ways: it drives me to be better and there are probably times when I’m too hard on myself and it’s detrimental. I’m trying to work that out and think I’ve learnt from that and I’m definitely less hard on myself now.”Litchfield is eager to put her pre-season work into action, starting with Northern Superchargers in the Hundred then back to T20Is where, last season, she exploded in the middle order against West Indies and India, striking at 184.94 across those two series including a record-equaling 18-ball fifty at North Sydney Oval before batting became harder work.”Definitely some technical stuff that crept in, especially throughout India and Bangladesh,” Litchfield said. “There were a few things with my backlift and we’ve sorted through that and worked out a few trigger options, trying to make things simpler, that’s basically my goal for this pre-season. With that, learning how to get over things, so training, being okay with mistakes, learning from them rather than spitting the dummy. Really excited to work through this technical stuff.”Although the Bangladesh trip was not one that Litchfield will remember too fondly from a batting point of view, the lessons from it could yet be important come the World Cup even though the expectation is that the pitches will be flatter for a global event.”It was very different to anything we’ve played on, even compared to India,” she said. “You try and read the pitch, but it just has some hidden demons so playing six games on there, hopefully it’s given us some experience and learnings.”I’ve never played on anything like it. You tap and go ‘okay, that’s alright, it’s a bit soft’ but for it to turn the way it did, even our pace bowlers got some purchase off it as well. Hopefully we get some truer pitches for the World Cup, but you never know so those six games we did have, and they were all different, will hopefully stand us in good stead.”

Get to know the 2024 World Cup teams: Nepal, PNG, Uganda and USA

27-May-2024

Nepal

by Ashish Pant
The year 2023 started with Nepal conjuring 12 miracles to make it to the ODI World Cup qualifiers and ended with them qualifying for the T20 World Cup for the first time in a decade. In the group stage of the World Cup Asia Qualifier, they beat Singapore and Malaysia and made it to the knockouts despite losing to Oman. In the semi-final, they met old foes UAE, who were entering the knockouts unbeaten. In front of a packed home crowd, Nepal restricted UAE to 134 for 9 and made it to the final with eight wickets and 17 balls to spare, which also confirmed their qualification for the T20 World Cup. They lost to Oman in the final in the Super Over, but their World Cup ticket was secured.Key players
Rohit Paudel was Nepal’s leading run-scorer in T20Is last year, with 403 runs in 13 innings at an average of 50.37. The Nepal captain is also going into the T20 World Cup in prime form having scored 265 runs in four innings, which included a century and two fifties against a West Indies A side that had bowlers of international repute.Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal’s highest run-getter in T20Is with 1626 runs in 56 innings, has had a stunning 12 months. Last year against Mongolia he broke the T20 record for the fastest fifty, getting there in just nine balls. More recently, he smashed six sixes in an over in a T20I against Qatar. Airee is also a handy offspinner. with 37 T20I wickets, and is an electric fielder to boot.Kushal Malla, just 20 years old, holds the record for the second-fastest century in T20Is, getting there in 34 balls, against Mongolia last year. He had an excellent 2023 where he scored 402 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 193.26. Malla also bowls left-arm spin and has 19 wickets at an economy of 6.18 in T20Is.Nepal in major tournaments
This is Nepal’s first T20 World Cup appearance since 2014. They made it to the 2023 ODI World Cup qualifiers last year, but couldn’t make it to the main event. In 2023, Nepal also qualified for the Asia Cup for the first time in history but failed to register a win in two attempts.Form guide*
LWLWWSquad
Rohit Paudel (capt), Aasif Sheikh, Anil Sah, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Pratis GC, Sundeep Jora, Abinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal, Kamal AireeOpener Tony Ura scored two half-centuries and got his 125 runs at a strike rate of 164.47 in the T20I tri-series in Hong Kong in March•Peter Della Penna

Papua New Guinea

by Ashish Pant
PNG booked their place in the 2024 T20 World Cup after going unbeaten through the 2023 East-Asia-Pacific Qualifier, sealing their berth with a game to go.This will be their second appearance at the T20 World Cup. Ten members of the current squad played in the 2021 edition held in the UAE and Oman. Assad Vala remains captain and allrounder Charles Amini is his deputy. The bowling unit will be led by medium-pacer Norman Vanua, PNG’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is.Key players
Tony Ura is one of PNG’s most experienced batters and is coming into the World Cup on the back of fifties against Hong Kong and Nepal in a tri-series in Hong Kong in March. He is PNG’s highest run-getter in T20Is overall and since the start of 2023, and was second on the run-scorers’ list in the EAP Qualifier.Charles Amini’s all-round abilities will hold the key for PNG at the World Cup. He is third on PNG’s run-getters’ list (994 in 48 innings) in T20Is, behind Ura and Vala, and second on the wickets charts (47 in 48 innings), behind Vanua.PNG in major tournaments
In their only previous World Cup, in 2021, PNG were placed in a group with Scotland, Bangladesh and Oman in the first round but failed to win any of their three games.Form guide*
WLLWLSquad
Assad Vala (capt), Charles Amini, Alei Nao, Chad Soper, Hila Vare, Hiri Hiri, Jack Gardner, John Kariko, Kabua Morea, Kiplin Doriga, Lega Siaka, Norman Vanua, Semo Kamea, Sese Bau, Tony UraUganda beat every team they came up against in the Africa Region Qualifier, bar Namibia, in November last year•International Cricket Council

Uganda

by Firdose Moonda
A former British colony with a substantial South Asian diaspora population (both before and after the Idi Amin dictatorship, during which Asians were expelled from the country), Uganda has a cricket history that comes from outside influence, but its present is home-grown. The majority of the current squad are Ugandan-born, developed in the sport through the schooling system and are now a pioneering generation of cricketers for their country. This is the first time a senior Uganda side will play at a World Cup, a feat that has not yet been achieved by the national football team.Uganda qualified ahead of Zimbabwe via the Africa Qualifier tournament last year,
where they beat Zimbabwe by five wickets and finished second on the seven-team points table. The only side they lost to were fellow qualifiers Namibia; they convincingly beat all other opposition, including their once-up-and-coming neighbours, Kenya.Key players

Frank Nsubuga began his cricket career 27 years ago (although official records have his first cap recorded in 2004), and at 43 he will be the oldest player at this T20 World Cup. He is heralded as one of the fittest members of the squad, who runs 10km before training and aims to sign off from the international game after this event.Riazat Ali Shah, born in Gilgit, Pakistan, is Uganda’s vice-captain, one of three batters in the side with over 1000 T20I runs, and one of their most reliable run-scorers. Riazat moved to Uganda when he was 16 years old but missed out on the next Under-19 World Cup because the logistics around his eligibility were not finalised. He was 20 when he debuted for Uganda in 2018, and is now one of their top performers.Roger Mukasa and Simon Ssesazi are the other two Ugandans with more than 1000 T20I runs, and Ssesazi’s brother, Henry Ssenyondo, is the country’s leading T20I wicket-taker and six away from becoming the first Ugandan to 100 T20I wickets.Uganda in major tournaments

Uganda have never played at a cricket World Cup but have competed in several multi-team tournaments in Africa with a fair amount of success. They won last year’s East Africa Cup in Rwanda with victories in 11 out of 12 games, and reached the semi-final of this year’s African Games in Accra, where they lost to Namibia.Form guide*

LLLLLSquad

Brian Masaba (capt), Riazat Ali Shah, Kenneth Waiswa, Dinesh Nakrani, Frank Nsubuga, Ronak Patel, Roger Mukasa, Cosmas Kyewuta, Bilal Hassan, Fred Achelam, Robinson Obuya, Simon Ssesazi, Henry Ssenyondo, Alpesh Ramjani, Juma MiyagiThis will be USA’s first World Cup, in either format•ICC via Getty Images

USA

by Hemant Brar
They have qualified for the tournament by virtue of being co-hosts. This will be their first World Cup in any format. Wicketkeeper-opener Monank Patel will lead the side; Aaron Jones will be his deputy.USA come into this World Cup having beaten Bangladesh 2-1 in a three-match T20I series at home. Before that, they trounced Canada 4-0 in a five-match T20I series, also at home.USA will face Canada once again in the World Cup opener in Dallas on June 1. India, Pakistan and Ireland are the other three teams in their group.Key players
Corey Anderson, who played one ODI World Cup and two T20 ones for New Zealand, will turn out for USA this time. He made his USA debut against Canada last month and scored 28 and 55 in two outings. Anderson held the record for the fastest ODI hundred at one time, and USA will want him to roll the clock back to the form of that period.Ali Khan, one of the biggest names in USA cricket, wanted to bowl as fast as Shoaib Akhtar when growing up in Pakistan. While that did not come to pass, he can land his yorkers at a decent pace. He has also been a regular in the CPL.After the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, Ian Chappell compared left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, who represented India in that event, to Bishan Bedi, saying the youngster was ready for international cricket. Harmeet made his T20I debut for USA last month, scoring 34 not out off 17 balls and taking 4 for 18 against Canada.USA in major tournaments
They have never been part of a World Cup previously, though they did make it to the Champions Trophy in 2004. They came close for the 2022 T20 World Cup, when they won the Americas regional Qualifier the previous year, staying unbeaten throughout the tournament. But in the global Qualifier, with two spots to grab, they lost to Netherlands in the semi-final.Form guide*

LWWWWSquad

Monank Patel (capt), Aaron Jones, Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jesdeep Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Nosthush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir*in last five games against teams featuring in the 2024 World CupAlso read the team previews of Canada, Namibia, Netherlands, Oman and Scotland

The opener got a rare chance to show what he’s got because of an injury to Mahmudul Hasan Joy, and he went on to hold Bangladesh’s innings together

Mohammad Isam23-Aug-2024Shadman Islam spent a minute short of five and a half hours at the crease in Bangladesh’s first innings in Rawalpindi. He held together an overseas Test innings for Bangladesh after the opposition declared on 448 for 6. An unheralded red-ball opener, Shadman’s steadfast 93 should do his career a world of good in the longer run and in the immediate term served Bangladesh quite well.The visitors ended day three on 316 for 5, still 132 runs adrift of Pakistan’s total, but the mood seem to have shifted slightly in Bangladesh’s favour. Shadman saw off crucial periods, particularly on the second evening, and then again after Bangladesh lost two early wickets on the third morning. He added 94 runs for the third wicket with Mominul Haque, before a 52-run stand for the fourth with Mushfiqur Rahim.Shadman waited out 23 overs before he hit his first boundary of the third day, a flowing drive off Shaheen Shah Afridi. It was a long time coming but it looked so natural from Shadman when it did come. He followed that up with another in the same over and then got a third in nine balls off Salman Ali Agha, whom he took a liking to.Related

• Bangladesh pacers vs Pakistan batters: a song of ice and fire

• Shadman, Mushfiqur, Litton cut down Bangladesh's deficit

• Muted Rawalpindi shows little love for a Pakistan in rehab

• Shakib among 147 named in FIR for alleged murder during Bangladesh unrest

Shadman struck Agha, the offspinner, for four boundaries in two consecutive overs in the second session. He struck two off a Naseem Shah over too, the second shot of which was his best of the day. It was a cut shot that he had waited an eternity to connect. It took him into the nineties, but then he got slightly bogged down before Mohammad Ali pried open a gap between his bat and pad, a minute before the tea interval.Mominul enjoyed watching Shadman’s even keel throughout the day, particularly talking about how the left-hander was playing a Test match after a long time, and how often these comeback matches can be tough on the batter.”He has been in the setup for so long but I have honestly forgotten the last time he played a Test match,” Mominul said. “I am sure everyone forgot about it. It is very difficult for a player like him to get into the team and perform straightaway. You can see how mentally strong he is. We would have loved it if he reached a century. We all wanted it for him. It was an important knock for him.”He played within his game. He only played shots that he was confident playing. He made the ball old [count]. He didn’t chase anything away from his body. He stuck to his strengths and slowly built our innings. He set the tone of our innings.”Mominul said the pair hardly spoke during their stand, focusing mainly on getting Bangladesh out of trouble after the early wickets.

“Shadman played one of the best innings in my opinion. It came against four top-quality fast bowlers in foreign conditions. The way he played and stuck to his gameplan, it was outstanding”Mominul Haque

“We didn’t talk much or think too deeply at that point. We tried to get runs. Plain and simple. You have to play for runs in every format.”I tried to be positive. I waited for my zone, like I was patient about anything on my legs. Like I drove only those in front of me, nothing away from my body.”Shadman played one of the best innings in my opinion. It came against four top-quality fast bowlers in foreign conditions. The way he played and stuck to his gameplan, it was outstanding.”Shadman had come into this Test only because Mahmudul Hasan Joy was ruled out due to a groin injury. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto had said before the Test that Shadman had come into the game with form on his side, having got an 88 on the BCB High Performance XI’s tour of Darwin.Shadman made his Test debut in 2018 but, before Rawalpindi, had played only 13 Tests, the last of which came more than two years ago. He had missed 18 matches in this period, often being tagged the backup opener behind Saif Hassan, Joy or Zakir.In domestic cricket, he had gone on to 13 centuries out of the 45 times he has gone past fifty. Last year, he made 1,000-plus runs for the second time in his first-class career. But Test cricket is a different proposition and breaking into this team was a long hard slog.If he can show the same solidity in the second innings in Rawalpindi, with the Test still in the balance, it will go a long way in bolstering his case.

There has been uproar over India getting to play Harshit Rana as a concussion sub for Shivam Dube

Sidharth Monga01-Feb-20253:48

Was Rana a like-for-like concussion sub for Dube?

Harshit Rana for Shivam Dube as a bowler has created a predictable furore but it should not end up diluting the need for a playing condition that has objectively been proven to be a necessary duty of care.Firstly let’s not assume that the match referee, who is the sole arbitrator on these substitutions, is partisan, incompetent or negligent. If we assume any of that, we cannot hope to understand or appreciate the process of officiating, which should be the first requirement to reasonably criticise a decision.We need to put ourselves in the shoes of Javagal Srinath and examine the rule and all the facts. The rule says: “The ICC Match Referee should ordinarily approve a Concussion Replacement Request if the replacement is a like-for-like player whose inclusion will not excessively advantage his/her team for the remainder of the match. In assessing whether the nominated Concussion Replacement should be considered a like-for-like player, the ICC Match Referee should consider the likely role the concussed player would have played during the remainder of the match, and the normal role that would be performed by the nominated Concussion Replacement.”The wording of the rule practically admits it is impossible to cover every eventuality with like-for-like replacements when you have only four or five extras in the squad. It stays silent on style and quality too: Yuzvendra Chahal has replaced Ravindra Jadeja in the past, and Matt Parkinson has taken Jack Leach’s place. Also the rule only focuses on the concussed player’s likely role in the “remainder of the match” so Rana’s batting ability is immaterial. The replacement shouldn’t, in the match referee’s assessment, offer excessive advantage to the side. Needless to say such an assessment can’t be made post facto; the three wickets Rana took should be immaterial here.2:11

Morkel: ‘Harshit was having dinner, had to get himself ready’

Now it is tempting to just look at Dube in the IPL, where the presence of the Impact Player rule eliminates any need to utilise the lesser discipline of bits-and-pieces players, and say Dube hardly bowls at all. In the most recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), Dube bowled 19 overs in five matches. Twice he came on as the first change. In his most recent four T20Is, he bowled a total of eight overs. In the World Cup before that, he was called on to bowl just one over.You can argue either way based on that. What queers the pitch here for Srinath is that this was Dube’s first match in the series so he doesn’t quite have anything from this series to go by when assessing Dube’s likely role. In the XI, he replaced Washington Sundar, who bowled two overs in two matches.It is quite likely that Srinath merely went by what role Dube has been playing in the sides he has represented in the last six months. It is reasonable to argue that even despite this given record, India drew an excessive advantage, but it is also important to acknowledge that Srinath couldn’t have completely ignored Dube’s recent record and that he had nothing to go by in the current series to assess his likely role in the rest of the series.If it were Abhishek Sharma asking for someone like Ravi Bishnoi as a concussion substitute based on the fact that he bowled 21 overs in seven Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches, the match referee would have likely looked at his usage in this series and said Bishnoi is an excessive advantage.Then again, it is also reasonable to complain that India had in their squad a batting allrounder, Ramandeep Singh, who is much closer to the role that Dube plays. He bowled 3.2 overs in his last T20I, following it up with 10 overs in six matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.0:53

Buttler: Rana for Dube wasn’t a like-for-like replacement

The match referee could have rejected Rana as a substitute, which would have forced India to come up with Ramandeep, but would it really? This is where the essence of the concussion rule comes in. It has been brought in to encourage teams to protect players who have been hit in the head, but if it results in a disadvantage, will these ultra-competitive teams in an ultra-competitive environment with the series on the line agree to substitute the player out? The playing condition is so liberal around this that it includes not just a concussion but a suspected concussion as a qualification for a substitution.This is a peculiarity in the rules that we will have to live with if we are to actively encourage teams to look after the player who has been hit in the head. If it results in a competitive disadvantage, teams will continue to risk the well-being of players hit in the head, which science tells us can be fatal even though it might not look as threatening in the moment.Of course, teams will look to use it cynically from time to time, which requires strict vigilance from the authorities. My considered opinion is that Rana provided India an excessive advantage. Dube was replaced by a taller, hit-the-deck bowler in a match where England’s bowlers with similar style drew assistance from the pitch doing just that. Also because players do tend to use SMAT as a laboratory in preparation for the IPL, the numbers there shouldn’t be seen as an absolute when assessing someone’s role in a higher competition.

If it results in a disadvantage, will these ultra-competitive teams in an ultra-competitive environment with the series on the line agree to substitute the player out?

Then again, the match referee obviously disagreed with that view. He had enough grounds to not believe he was allowing India an excessive advantage. Or, he possibly felt he didn’t have enough justification to disallow the request. On another day, the same match referee might disallow Rajasthan Royals’ request to substitute R Ashwin with Dhruv Jurel despite Ashwin’s role as an opening batter in the TNPL.If we are to encourage teams to protect a player who has been hit in the head, we will have to live with the case-to-case discretion and the occasional disagreement with the assessment of the match referee. If we don’t trust that an experienced match referee has acted in good faith and reasonable mindfulness, we will trust very little in life.That doesn’t mean the rule shouldn’t evolve. It needs to remain vigilant to any loopholes. As of now, the match referee can limit the nature of involvement of a player. If an allrounder replaces a specialist bowler with four overs left in their batting innings, the match referee can stipulate that he will be allowed to only bowl and not bat. The ICC will surely review it now and question if the match referees can go a step further and limit the number of overs a bowler can bowl. Or when they can bowl it. Or a specific point of entry before which a batting replacement can’t bat.This rule is a work in progress. The reaction to this instance will test the ICC’s commitment to player safety.

The chances of CSK’s old squad-building methods bringing them success were lower this year than ever before, because while CSK hadn’t changed, the IPL had – unrecognisably

Karthik Krishnaswamy25-May-20251:39

Kumble: Brevis, Mhatre set the tone for CSK

Urvil Patel, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis. None of them were part of Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) original squad for IPL 2025, so there’s some irony to the fact that they finish the season on top of the team’s strike rates list (minimum 50 balls faced), having gone at 212.50, 188.97 and 180.00 respectively.These three sit some distance above the next name on the list, Ruturaj Gaikwad (150.61), who is himself a fair way above the rest of the pack (Sam Curran is next at 135.71).That list tells the story of CSK’s season: an under-powered squad finishing bottom of the table, finding a small measure of consolation through a trio of players signed too late to change their fate. They won two of their last three games, passed 200 twice in their last four – having done so just once in their first 10 matches – and signed off on Sunday with their biggest total and their biggest win of the season, beating Gujarat Titans (GT) by 83 runs, but they began the day at the bottom of the league table and knew all along that they’d end it there.Related

• IPL 2025 showed the might of the uncapped Indian batter

• Dhoni on his IPL future: I have four-five months to decide

• Brevis, Mhatre, Urvil help CSK sign off gloomy season on bright note

• CSK and the Dhoni retirement question: how late is too late?

For whatever it was worth, though, Mhatre, Urvil and Brevis were key to CSK’s late surge.That two of those players are uncapped Indian batters in their debut IPL seasons tells another story: a team that has demonstrated, for close to two decades, a preference for the tried-and-tested over raw potential almost unwillingly buying into the idea of youthful promise.But there’s a bigger story too, which goes beyond CSK. We’ll come to it soon enough.Now while CSK have always been old-school in their approach to squad construction, they’ve tended to be ahead of the curve when it comes to their actual playing philosophy. They recognised before anyone else in the IPL that T20 is a fickle format, and that it’s best to identify your best combination and stick with it, ignoring the pressure to chop and change based on success and failure over small sample sizes. Even in the pre-Impact-Player era, their line-ups usually had more depth and flexibility than those of most other teams, because of their heavy use of allrounders.And they’ve always valued six-hitters. They hit the most sixes in the competition when they won the 2018 and 2021 titles with their Dad’s Army team, and the second-most sixes (behind Mumbai Indians) when they won it again in 2023. Their first great team, which reached the final six times in the first eight seasons of the IPL, hit more sixes than any other team in that period.They’ve been old-school, and for much of their history they’ve been, well, old, but it would be inaccurate to brand CSK as a backward-looking team. You don’t become the IPL’s joint-most-successful franchise by playing a regressive brand of T20.If there was a mistrust of young, unproven Indian batters through all these years, it probably stemmed from a belief that had some basis in fact: that Indian cricket didn’t produce enough batters ready for the top level of T20 for CSK to take a chance on them. Through most of the IPL’s history, India has tended to produce batters who’ve played in an all-format way rather than power-hitters, with the likes of Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube only coming along sporadically.For years, CSK excelled in picking all-format-ish players in the second halves of their careers and maximising their six-hitting potential: Ambati Rayudu and Ajinkya Rahane, for example. When IPL 2025 began, they probably felt they could do something similar with Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda and Vijay Shankar. This trick had worked for them before; why wouldn’t it work again?2:33

How Mhatre transformed CSK’s powerplay game

It’s possible that CSK could have put together a fairly successful season with their original squad if form, fitness and luck had been kinder to them. But the chances of their old squad-building methods bringing them success were lower this year than ever before, because while CSK hadn’t changed, the IPL had – unrecognisably.Look at this list. Four of the top ten strike rates in IPL 2025, with a cut-off of 100 runs, belong to Indian batters in their debut seasons – Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Mhatre, Priyansh Arya and Vipraj Nigam – and one to a batter in his second season – Naman Dhir.This explosion of Indian hitting talent was bound to happen sooner or later, all these years into the life cycles of T20 and the IPL. It was only natural that Mhatre, born just over two months before the T20 World Cup final of 2007, harnessed his gifts of hand and eye in a T20 direction. It’s astonishing that this 17-year-old can clear his front leg and flat-bat balls of good length or shorter over mid-on and mid-off, as he did so thrillingly against Mohammed Siraj and Arshad Khan on Sunday, but it shouldn’t be surprising.Ayush Mhatre played a belligerent little innings•BCCIUrvil is significantly older, at 26, but young enough to have spent a significant chunk of his formative years working on his six-hitting skills. He was the highest six-hitter in the 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, hitting 29 in six games for Gujarat, and he’s now hit six in his first 32 balls at CSK, including an effortless flick off Siraj that may have been the shot of CSK’s innings on Sunday.Mhatre and Urvil are archetypes of the batting talent that’s now coming through the Indian cricket pipeline, blessed with a significantly higher ceiling for power and explosiveness than previous generations.While most teams in the IPL cottoned onto this well before IPL 2025, scouting players out of state-run leagues and putting them in their first XIs without a second thought, CSK continued to trust in the tried and tested. You could understand why, because it had worked so many times over so many seasons, but this season wouldn’t just be a new season but an entirely new tournament.

India’s last five wickets added just 31 runs, after a similar collapse in the first innings, to keep England in the hunt

Matt Roller23-Jun-2025

Josh Tongue took three wickets in one over•Getty Images

Josh Tongue was nonplussed by Ben Stokes’ “rabbit pie” celebration, but his demolition of India’s lower order has kept England’s hopes alive at Headingley. Tongue took 4 for 7 to wrap up the first innings and then struck three times in four balls on day four, living up to his nickname of “the mop”, given to him by his Nottinghamshire team-mate Ben Duckett after repeatedly cleaning up tailenders at county level.Tongue admitted before the third day’s play that he had been unaware why Stokes had celebrated his first-innings dismissal of Prasidh Krishna by mimicking eating until he saw a tweet by Stuart Broad which explained he was “eating rabbit pie”. He has twice knocked over India’s tail in Leeds to emerge with match figures of 7 for 158.England have repeatedly struggled to finish teams off under Stokes’ captaincy: since he took over three years ago, only Pakistan have a worse record when bowling for the last three wickets. In the reverse series 18 months ago, India’s lower order regularly frustrated England, with three eighth-wicket partnerships between 75 and 80.Related

• Tongue sets England's eyes on prize with 350 more needed

• Rahul content after giving himself 'the best chance to succeed'

• Pant, Rahul tons set England 371 to win at Headingley

• Rahul on the Headingley surface: 'Like a subcontinent wicket on day five'

But Tongue’s pace, height and beyond-perpendicular action have proved a lethal combination in Leeds, with India twice collapsing from positions of strength. He found himself on a hat-trick on Monday evening after Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj were caught behind the wicket, and while Jasprit Bumrah kept his first ball out, he chopped his second onto middle stump.India’s Nos. 8-11 have managed just nine runs between them in the match, despite the selection of Thakur as a bowling allrounder. Thakur was the first of Tongue’s three victims in the second innings after nicking off to Stokes in the first, and has so far played a bit-part role in the match after bowling six wicketless overs for 38.”We felt like if we got to their lower order quickly, we could get through them,” Tongue said. “I don’t mind bowling at the tail: you’ve got a good opportunity to take wickets. All I tried to do was to hit the pitch hard. I felt like I got more out of the pitch when I did that; I thought when I went that tad fuller, it was nicer for the batters to get on the front foot and drive me.”

Tongue missed the whole of the 2024 summer through injury, and said that he was proud to have returned to Test cricket after a long period on the sidelines. England have long admired his ability to bowl at speeds approaching 90mph/145kph on a consistent basis, and to nip the ball in off the seam, and his success against the tail has relied on those qualities.He also joked that he would adopt Duckett’s nickname for him. “I’ve done it twice now, so I might have to start calling myself that [the mop],” Tongue said. “When they were batting, it flattened out, and it was quite hard work in the wind. We stuck to our task, trying to hit the pitch as hard as we could to get something out of it, and thankfully, we got the wickets.”KL Rahul, whose dismissal for 137 was the first wicket of a collapse of 6 for 33, said that India “wanted at least 40 or 50 runs more” than they managed. “I don’t look at it as the lower order being from a different squad: they’re still from our squad, they’re still trying their best,” he said. “Everyone’s putting in a lot of work in the nets, and sometimes it doesn’t happen.1:32

Draw off the table? – Tongue and Rahul on day five possibilties

“Before the series, the chat as a group was how could we get 350 and 400 runs every time we go out to bat? The positive is that we’ve been able to do that… Yes, there’s learnings, and a few of the batters, if they can come good, that 350 can become 450 and 500, and that’s ideally what a batting group would want. But we’ll take the runs that we’ve got in this innings.”The total lack of contribution from India’s tail was further laid bare by England’s partnerships of 49 (Harry Brook and Chris Woakes) and 55 (Woakes and Brydon Carse) for the seventh and eighth wickets in their first innings, both at better than a run a ball. Where England’s last five wickets added 189, India’s have managed to put on 24 and 31.Ollie Pope said on Sunday evening that England’s lower-order runs had struck a psychological blow. “[A lead of] 40 or 50, just from a mindset, might have given them a little bit more confidence, knowing that they’ve got that headstart almost; playing the game from an even playing field is quite important.”But more significantly, they ensured that the fourth-innings target did not grow out of control: instead, after Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley saw off the final half hour, England require 350 in 90 overs on the final day at a venue when four of the last six Tests have seen successful fourth-innings chases of 250 or more.

She isn’t used to batting too early in the innings in ODIs, but it’s happened two games in a row now, and Chloe Tryon has come good on both occasions

Vishal Dikshit14-Oct-20253:33

Review – South Africa find ways to win under pressure

“We like the challenge, we like the pressure.”South Africa have flipped the script in this World Cup more than once since being rolled over for 69 in their opening game against England. And even though the routes they have taken to get to two points in their last two fixtures haven’t been cruises, they have almost started to enjoy the obstacle-ridden paths, as their latest hero Chloe Tryon put it.If stumbling to 142 for 6 in a chase of 252 against India was not enough, South Africa tottered to 78 for 5 chasing 233 against Bangladesh on Monday. Nadine de Klerk smashed the winning six on both occasions, but what will really soothe South Africa’s nerves heading into the second half of the league stage is that they have had a new batting star in each game since Tazmin Brits’ century against New Zealand, South Africa’s only convincing win so far. After de Klerk silenced the home crowd the other night, half-centuries from Marizanne Kapp and Tryon against Bangladesh have given their batting a new lease of life.Related

• From 69 all out to statement win – SA restore credentials

• 'Simplicity is everything' and impossible is Nadine

Despite the staggering form Brits has been in this year – a record five centuries so far – such was her fate that on one of the best batting tracks of the tournament, she bagged back-to-back ducks and couldn’t even get the ball past the bowler. Against Bangladesh, the lower order would have felt the glare of the spotlight even more after Laura Wolvaardt fell for 31 – Sune Luus sat out with a hip flexor strain. When they were five down, Tryon joined Kapp, who has batted from No. 3 to 8 and turned out in more than 20 ODIs in India. Tryon, a lower-order specialist, found herself in the middle in the 23rd over, not too far from her entry point in the 20th over against India.Tryon is not used to batting so early in the innings: she had faced more than 70 deliveries only twice before in 96 ODI innings. It was not just an unfamiliar situation but unknown territory too. While the crowd against Bangladesh was sparse, she had been in front of over 12,000 vocal home fans in the fixture against India.As much as the WPL in particular and the women’s game in general have seen crowds of over 50,000 on occasion in India in recent years, Tryon has hardly been part of the party. She has been in the Mumbai Indians squad in all three WPL seasons but somehow never got a game. She last toured India in July 2024 for three T20Is but barely faced 35 deliveries in the whole series, and her last ODI assignment in the country was over ten years ago. It didn’t matter as she put her head down and narrowed it down to spending time in the middle to get South Africa closer.

“Yeah, I wish I could stay in for the last couple of runs and actually take the team over the line, but yeah, I’ve just been taking that responsibility”Chloe Tryon

“I was still quite positive the way I wanted to go about it, and so really good intent,” Tryon said after the Bangladesh game – she scored a 69-ball 62 to go with Kapp’s 56 in 71 balls. “I think, the other day with India, the crowd can play into it a lot and you can kind of put pressure on yourself for no reason. So, I think for me, it’s just cutting all of that out and just going, sticking to my plans and what works best, but still trying to be really positive and just building really good partnerships.”In both games, Tryon had the advantage of stitching stands with more experienced batters – Wolvaardt and Kapp – but she had to grind it out for over an hour-and-a-half on both occasions, battling a fitness issue that has left her left leg completely strapped; she even needed some attention in both chases.”It’s just something that’s there,” she said of her leg. “But, yeah, I don’t think too much about it, whether I’m batting or bowling.”I feel like, in a tournament like this, you want to be batting as long as you can and getting good partnerships and once you get a really good partnership going, it can thrive off that. And yeah, we then got finishes at the back end, that make it look nice and easy. But I think, for me, just making sure that I’m taking the responsibility. You know, I’ve been at my third or fourth World Cup, so a lot of experience on that, but just knowing that the longer you bat, the easier it can get. So just grinding a little bit more in the beginning.”Chloe Tryon did not let the momentum slip for South Africa at any stage•Getty ImagesThat grinding paid off most against Bangladesh – although with a slice of luck – when Kapp fell with 70 to get from 58 and de Klerk was fresh in the middle. Tryon soon whacked legspinner Rabeya Khan to wide long-on but knew she didn’t get enough to clear the rope. Once she saw the catch slip through Sumaiya Akter’s hands for a four, she added more muscle for the slog sweep the next ball and this time sent the ball sailing for six.When she ended the over with a four on the other side of the pitch, the equation had come down to nearly a-run-a-ball, which tilted the scales heavily in South Africa’s favour. Even though she was run-out trying to pinch a single in the next over, she knew most of the job was done.”Yeah, I wish I could stay in for the last couple of runs and actually take the team over the line, but yeah, I’ve just been taking that responsibility,” she said. “And now coming in really early in the India game and today as well, myself and Marizanne just spoke about taking it as deep as we could and just take it over. We knew we had time on our hand and we knew we had Nadine in the back end. We didn’t want to bring [her] in too early, so we kind of went low risk and still kind of chipped away at the runs as much as we could. And I’m just happy we still find ways to get over the line.”Tryon and South Africa know they “haven’t played our perfect game yet” but for now they sit third on the points table and such is their tried-and-tested batting depth that their remaining three oppositions have to start finding new ways to put pressure on this batting order.

Borussia Dortmund legend Marco Reus is reportedly close to extending his contract with LA Galaxy, with his agent confirming that "both sides want to continue and expand the successful cooperation." The 36-year-old German midfielder, who joined the MLS club in 2024, is described as "simply a very good fit" for the West Coast team, potentially extending his stay until the end of 2027.

• Marco Reus and LA Galaxy in advanced contract extension talks

  Reus is in advanced discussions to extend his contract with MLS side LA Galaxy. His current deal runs until the end of 2026, but talks are underway to add another year, taking his commitment to the club until the end of 2027, according to .

  Dirk Hebel, Reus' long-time advisor for over two decades, confirmed the positive nature of the negotiations. Hebel said: "We are in very good talks with Galaxy. Marco Reus and LA – it's simply a very good fit. Both sides want to continue and expand the successful cooperation."

  Reus, 36, joined LA Galaxy during the 2024 MLS season following his departure from Borussia Dortmund, where he spent over a decade. He quickly made an impact, helping the West Coast club win the MLS championship in his inaugural year. In his 39 appearances for the club so far, he has scored nine goals across all competitions. This includes five goals and eight assists in 21 MLS appearances during the 2025 season.

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  Reus's impact and role at LA Galaxy

  Despite LA Galaxy missing the playoffs in the recent season, Reus's individual performances have remained consistent. His five goals and eight assists in 21 MLS appearances highlight his continued attacking prowess and playmaking abilities. Reus primarily operates as an attacking midfielder but can also play on both wings, offering valuable versatility to the squad.

  He is currently the fifth-highest earner at LA Galaxy, with a reported weekly wage of around $25,000, equating to an annual salary of $1.3 million. While he is not among the top five earners across the entire MLS, which features stars like Lionel Messi and Lorenzo Insigne, his significant contribution to the team's salary structure reflects his importance to the club.

  His arrival has undoubtedly boosted the profile of LA Galaxy, particularly after a period where the club had not reached the same heights. Reus's immediate success in winning the MLS championship in his first season underscores his quality and leadership, seamlessly integrating into the team.

• Future role as Borussia Dortmund brand ambassador

  Beyond his playing career in MLS, Reus is also set to take on a significant role with his former club. He will work for Dortmund as a brand ambassador, focusing on boosting the club's presence, particularly in the Asian market.

  Reus is "by far the most famous Borussia player, especially in Asia," making him an ideal figure to expand the club's global brand. This post-playing career plan demonstrates his enduring loyalty to Dortmund and his continued value to the club, even from afar. His long-standing relationship with BVB, spanning over two decades from youth teams to captaincy, solidifies his legendary status at the club.

  His time at Dortmund saw him achieve numerous accolades, including being named Best German Player in 2018 and making the UEFA Team of the Year in 2013. He also consistently featured in the Bundesliga Team of the Season, solidifying his reputation as one of Germany's most gifted attackers.

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  What next for Marco Reus and LA Galaxy?

  With contract extension talks progressing positively, Reus's immediate future appears to be with LA Galaxy. The focus for both player and club will be on improving their performance in the upcoming MLS season and aiming for another championship title. Reus's leadership, experience, and attacking output will be crucial for the team's ambitions.

  Reus will likely sign an extension that runs until the end of December 2027. At 36, he continues to showcase remarkable longevity in a physically demanding league. His ability to perform consistently and contribute significantly to LA Galaxy's attack is a testament to his professionalism and enduring quality. This proposed extension would see him play at an elite level past his 38th birthday, further cementing his status as a long-serving professional.

No confirmation yet on whom he will play for this season

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2025Batter Mandeep Singh has decided to leave Tripura ahead of the 2025-26 domestic season after spending just one season with the team.”Thank you Tripura CA for giving me the opportunity to play last season, I enjoyed my time there,” Mandeep wrote in an Instagram post. “Made some wonderful memories on and off the field. Wishing the team success for the upcoming season. Looking forward to the next chapter.”Mandeep captained Tripura across formats, playing six matches in the Ranji Trophy, six games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and seven matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Tripura in the 2024-25 season.Tripura failed to make it out of the group stages in all the competitions but Mandeep showed good form.In the Ranji Trophy, he scored an unbeaten 124 and made five half-centuries, crossing the fifty-run mark in every game he played last season. He made three fifties in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with a top score of 94 against Bengal, and he scored two half-centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s.Mandeep had switched over to Tripura after 15 years with Punjab, having led them to the Syed Mushtaq Ali title in his last season with them, ending a 30-year trophy drought.There is still no confirmation on which team he will play for in the upcoming season.