Mustafizur Rahman’s rise continued at the IPL, where he led his team Sunrisers Hyderabad to the title, but his toughest challenges are yet to come

Mohammad Isam01-Jun-2016″Bulu, did you see who’s inside?””There was the foreign coach, and another guy wearing t-shirt. Who is he?” Bulu asked breathlessly and then walked away briskly, as usual.Bulu is a tea-maker for cricket stars. He has souvenirs from Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. He once advised Tamim Iqbal on his form. But he couldn’t recognise Mustafizur Rahman sitting in the physio’s room at the National Cricket Academy in Mirpur.Bulu’s official duty is to help take care of the media. Only minutes had passed before he returned with a bottle of water for the journalists waiting outside. “How come there are so many cameras here?” he asked softly.It was only when Mustafizur came out of the room, and feigned running away from the cameras, that Bulu recognised who he was.*****Mustafizur’s IPL campaign – 17 wickets at 24.76 – went as his Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza had predicted. Perhaps even better, considering the 20-year old left-arm quick and his team Sunrisers Hyderabad emerged champions.”I said it in interviews before the IPL, even as far back as November last year, that he [Mustafizur] would trouble all the batsmen in the world,” Mashrafe told ESPNcricinfo. “From the way he troubled top international batsmen in 2015, I knew that those in the IPL would have a tough time taking him on. And as you have seen, it wasn’t easy for anyone.”From what I have seen of him in the tournament, Mustafizur has used the yorker quite well. It came in handy for him to keep the run-rate down. Batsmen know that he is all about the cutter, which makes them think of him differently. So he has improved a lot, and with more experience he will do better.”Mustafizur’s economy rate of 6.90 was the best in the IPL, under condition of 120 balls bowled. He was named the Emerging Player of the Season, but he was already a vital cog for Bangladesh in limited-overs cricket, having helped them to series wins over India, South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2015.*****Mustafizur has never spoken about what kind of ball he prefers – red or white, new or old. He has opened the bowling in all of his 14 first-class matches and nine ODIs but the bulk of his wickets have come in late spells.Considering only three days’ cricket were possible in his debut Test series, Mustafizur could bowl no more than 22.4 overs across two innings. Three of his four wickets – Hashim Amla, JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock – came with the old ball.Similarly in ODIs, 18 of his 26 wickets have come after he has bowled five overs in a match. His captains – Mashrafe and Mushfiqur Rahim for Bangladesh, Kumar Sangakkara for Dhaka Dynamites in the BPL, and David Warner in the IPL – preferred to use him in the slog overs.Mustafizur is expected to be critical to Bangladesh’s ODI plans, especially in the 2017 Champions Trophy, and for ensuring automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup. So it won’t be surprising if he is given time off from Test cricket.*****Mustafizur is contracted to play limited-overs cricket for Sussex in the English county season. The BCB hasn’t decided when they will send Mustafizur, and the man himself is not keen on another stint outside his beloved Tetulia village in southwest Bangladesh.Coaches and former cricketers believe he should go to UK because playing in different environments would help him grow as a player. The Bangladesh management, however, is worried about overexposure.Participating in domestic tournaments around the world could lead to batsmen figuring out the mystery of his cutters, and possibly result in him becoming a diminished force for his country. In the IPL final, Virat Kohli was able to take him on by stepping out of his crease or making room to the leg side. But Mustafizur is said to have a beautiful cricketing brain and he is a tremendous competitor. As he showed in the IPL, his yorkers beat batsmen who may have thought the only threat he posed was with the slower ball.Mustafizur has generated a lot of interest in Bangladesh, and around the world. Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Ashraful had done the same during their careers, and at times had been handled poorly. It is important that the team management and the BCB do better considering Mustafizur’s temperament. He is still a shy, small-town boy and he will need help handling off-field issues.Mustafizur is a rare bowler. Fitness and form withstanding, he will stoke the club v country debate regularly in the coming years. He will need to be guided properly, given the right signals, and then the freedom to express himself.

From a strong IPL influence to persistent questions over financial sustainability, here are four talking points as CPL 2016 gets underway

Colin Benjamin30-Jun-2016Ever since Carlos Brathwaite’s heroics in the World T20 final in April this year, West Indian fans have been waiting to celebrate their world-champion cricketers. They were denied an opportunity to do so during the tri-series against Australia and South Africa in June, after Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Andre Russell were left out of the team because of their absence from the WICB’s List A tournament.This then is an opportunity for fans to celebrate with their winning stars in a tournament that also has a strong IPL influence and the best selection of overseas talent. From a West Indies perspective, here are four points of note for this season.Emerging playersWest Indies coach Phil Simmons told after CPL 2015 that, “The tournament is good, but not enough young West Indian players came to the fore. Just the established stars and the overseas players and as coach I would have liked to see more from the young players. I hope that improves in next year’s competition.”Unless the WICB changes its selection policy, or is disbanded in July’s CARICOM government meeting, most of the senior West Indies players could be excluded for a longer period. Thus, big performances in a platform like the CPL will be key for a few next-generation players looking to make a mark.One of them is 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran [Barbados Tridents], who made his T20 debut against Guyana Amazon Warriors in the 2013 edition of the tournament. He showed his abilities in a knock of 143 against Australia at the 2014 Under-19 World Cup. He will return to competitive cricket for the first time since December 2014, following a recovery from a car accident that injured his left leg in January 2015. Pooran will have to build on his early potential as West Indies could do with more back-up options for their first-choice wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin.The tournament also presents an opportunity for quick bowlers like Ronsford Beaton [Trinbago Knight Riders] and Delorn Johnson [St Lucia Zouks], and allrounders Kyle Mayers [Zouks] and Raymon Reifer [Tridents]. West Indies are short of options in the fast bowling department, even as the selection status of senior allrounders, Bravo, Russell and Sammy, remains unclear.Offspinner Jon-Russ Jaggesar, who played a key role in Trinidad & Tobago’s title win in the Nagico Super50 competition this season with 14 wickets, will be able to test his guile against established international batsmen when he takes the field for Jamaica Tallawahs. Another young player to watch out for is Shimron Hetmyer [Guyana Amazon Warriors], who led West Indies to victory at the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year.One interesting subplot in the tournament is be the presence of Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is part of the Knight Riders’ squad. Sarwan hasn’t played competitive cricket in almost two years but could be an important figure for the team once Darren Bravo leaves for the India Tests. After Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s retirement, young batsmen like Shai Hope and Jermaine Blackwood have not been convincing, so the tournament is a chance for Sarwan to remind the selectors of his quality.The clash with the India TestsOne of the biggest issues for contracted West Indies players who were likely to feature in the home Tests against India was that they would not be allowed to participate in the CPL.Earlier this month, however, the WICB released five players – captain Jason Holder, batsman Darren Bravo, allrounder Carlos Brathwaite, legspinner Devendra Bishoo, and wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramdin for the T20 tournament. They have been permitted to remain with their franchises until July 11, ten days before the first Test against India in Antigua. Marlon Samuels, Man of the Match in the World T20 final, was not picked by any franchise during the draft in February this year.During the tri-series in Barbados, Simmons explained the rationale behind the decision to allow players. “It was an easy decision, we would have a five-day camp, then three days before the first test”, he said. “It’s something that everybody in world cricket allows. Joe Root just played a Twenty20 game in between the England and Sri Lanka Tests and, when we were in Australia, [Usman] Khawaja played a few T20 games before the Melbourne Test and came into that game with brilliant form.”A tender for the finals venue is an important source of income for the CPL but questions remain on the league’s financial sustainability•Caribbean Premier LeagueFinancial sustainabilityIn an interview to ESPNcricinfo recently, CPL CEO Damien O’Donohoe offered an interesting insight into how the league made money, particularly through tenders for hosting the finals.”We tender the finals, and last year it couldn’t have been a bigger success than it was in Trinidad,” he said. “The government there paid a decent sum – US$3.5 million – to get the finals last year. Now we’re still in negotiations in relation to the finals, because Trinidad’s economy’s been badly hit with the oil prices and they’re in deep recession. They don’t have that level of money to pay, which is a big challenge for us because that’s a very important revenue line for us. What I explained to the government is that the final is one thing, but actually supporting the team is a huge part of making CPL work long term.”Months of speculation over Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Florida hosting the final was put to rest when it was announced only days before the start of the tournament that St Kitts would host the final. According to local media reports in T&T, the government did not want to give US $1 million in foreign currency to host the finals when the country is facing a shortage of foreign exchange. Instead they wanted pay the CPL in T&T currency, which the organisers reportedly rejected.Unlike the IPL and the Big Bash League – where the BCCI and Cricket Australia have strong control over the organisation of the tournament and infrastructure – the WICB have sold the rights to run the tournament in the West Indies. The question, therefore, is how sustainable will it be, in the long term, for cash-strapped CARICOM governments to pay money to host CPL finals?The CPL is a welcome initiative that has also brought in funds for the domestic competitions, but many have criticised the WICB for signing a 50-year contract with the league. This was reportedly one of the factors that led to Dave Cameron’s election over Julian Hunte as WICB president in 2013. Concerns remain over whether the board needed to sign such a long-term contract, considering the uncertain fixtures climate in world cricket.The IPL influenceWhen CPL first started in 2013, there was no indication that linking up IPL teams was part of the league’s plans. In the inaugural year, Hollywood actors Mark Wahlberg and Gerard Butler purchased stakes in Barbados Tridents and Jamaica Tallawahs respectively.Over the last two years, however, the CPL has stumbled upon partnerships with IPL teams. The owners of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders bought the Trinidad & Tobago team, and renamed it Trinbago Knight Riders, and Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, former owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore, purchased Tridents. As Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore said, the IPL-CPL partnerships are potentially “perfect marriages”.West Indies’ legendary commentator Tony Cozier had earlier revealed before Mallya’s acquisition that the league was contemplating disbanding the Tridents as it had done with the Antigua franchise in 2015.In the current global climate of co-operation at the ICC, perhaps what Mysore and Mallya are doing could lead to the CPL being the first of many T20 leagues where Indian players will be allowed to participate.

While his team-mates were prone to losing concentration on the cusp of breaks in play, Virat Kohli steeled himself to stay until stumps and brought up another Test ton

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Antigua 22-Jul-20161:03

Manjrekar: ‘Kohli reminds me of Tendulkar’

Four wickets down, 302 on the board. An excellent first day for a batting side, by almost any measure. Almost. India’s number six was R Ashwin, a man who has played 32 Test matches, a man with undoubted batting talent, but also a man who had never batted anywhere in the top six before, and had batted at seven only twice. On Thursday, Ashwin walked in at 236 for 4, a far less secure situation than 302 for 4.At the other end was Virat Kohli, batting on 99.Kohli had just watched Ajinkya Rahane fall against the run of play to a long hop. Not too long before that, in the final over before tea, he had watched Shikhar Dhawan, who had curbed his instincts for four hours to score 84, fall to a high-risk shot: a sweep played to a ball pitched on middle stump, by a legspinner. Deliveries from legspinners pitching on middle stump often straighten to hit middle stump, or, as in Dhawan’s case, the front pad. And just after lunch, Kohli had walked into the middle after Cheteshwar Pujara had got himself out to another long hop.Three wickets carelessly given away, three wickets given away against the run of play, two of them close to breaks in play.On the eve of the match, Kohli had spoken about the need to guard against that sort of thing.”We have discussed this quite a lot, since the [2014-15] tour of Australia. We have felt the breaks – lunch break, tea break, drinks break – we tend to lose a lot of wickets around this time. It’s a matter of experience. We were losing our concentration, and not realising how important those moments are in a Test match.”He had also spoken about India identifying the need to attack the opposition in the first Test of a series, and to play their best possible bowling combination in order to do so. He had backed his words in the most comprehensive way possible. Kohli’s India had played five bowlers before, but one of them was usually an allrounder such as Stuart Binny or Ravindra Jadeja. Now neither was in the side, and the five bowlers were five .This was why Ashwin was batting at No. 6. And he came in as early as he did because of three soft dismissals, two of them close to breaks, two of them watched from 22 yards away by the very person who had spoken of the need to avoid such lapses.They had committed those lapses against a team that had seemed set for two days on the field, a team with one genuine fast bowler, one genuine spinner, and two 128 kph workhorses who were in the side in large part for their batting ability. It was a bowling attack of a team that seemed bent on drawing the Test before a ball had been bowled. Given the resources available to them – the one other fast bowler in their squad, Miguel Cummins, was yet to make his Test debut – it may even have been a prudent selection.Shannon Gabriel, the one genuine fast bowler in the West Indies XI, had begun the day by removing one of India’s openers in a nasty spell of short-pitched bowling. But that spell had only lasted four overs, and his next spell, close to lunch, only three. Every time he went out of the attack, the threat to India’s batsmen dwindled visibly.Virat Kohli held firm to finish 143 not out at the close of day one in Antigua•Associated PressAnd so, when the third-wicket partnership between Dhawan and Kohli passed the 100 mark, West Indies almost seemed resigned to conceding 500. And yet, somehow, India slipped to 236 for 4.For once, it was hard to read displeasure in Kohli’s body language. He probably felt it. But all he could do was carry on batting. Just as he had done till then.When Kohli came to the crease, India were 74 for 2 in 27.4 overs. They were going at less than three runs an over. Carlos Brathwaite, bowling wide of off stump and testing India’s patience, had figures of 6-2-6-0, because Dhawan and Pujara had been as patient as the tactic demanded, with an early wicket down and the ball still new.The first time Brathwaite bowled that line to Kohli, he took a long stride out, reached for the ball, and drove him into the covers for three. He was batting on 26, but he had done the same thing against Jason Holder, West Indies’ other run-drying workhorse, when he had been batting on 0.This need to feel bat on ball has been Kohli’s weakness in conditions where the ball moves around, but here, with the sun out, the ball shorn of its shine, and against friendly medium-paced bowling, he probably reckoned it was a risk worth taking.It proved to be so, and the reward was a strike rate that rattled along in the 70s. Twice – once off Gabriel when on 19, and then off Brathwaite when on 37 – he reached out and sliced the ball dangerously wide of gully. But those were the only false steps in an innings where he achieved a 94% control rate.It was an approach that probably only Kohli among India’s batsmen could have taken, for he has consistently shown across formats an ability to make risky shots look mundane during his ongoing, and seemingly endless, run of form. Take this shot he played against Devendra Bishoo when on 83. A well-flighted delivery, landing on a length that forced Kohli into a big front-foot stretch. It pitched on off stump, and Kohli flicked it between midwicket and mid-on. It wasn’t the rubbery bottom-handed Kohli whip we are accustomed to seeing. This was a daintier creation, a last-second improvisation born of that long, smooth stride that brought his head on top of the ball, and the recognition – possibly off the pitch rather than out of the hand – that this was a googly.Strokes of this kind peppered Kohli’s innings. The loose balls disappeared as you might expect, and reasonably good ones went into gaps as well, manipulated by neat footwork and a pair of hands and wrists that is perhaps the best in the cricketing world today. Twenty-eight of his 143 runs came in twos and threes.On a pitch that seemed to flatten out as the day went on, against a bowling attack with only one real threat, there were moments when batting almost seemed too easy for Kohli. But, as his team-mates showed, snares lay waiting for that one mistake, that one moment of carelessness. This, after all, was still Test cricket.

The India A squad travels to Australia on Thursday, but the composition remains unknown thanks to last-minute changes the BCCI has neither acknowledged nor explained

Arun Venugopal03-Aug-2016On June 25, the India A squad to tour Australia for a quadrangular one-day series and two four-day matches was announced through a BCCI press release, but late changes have been made to that squad.The selectors had named the same squad for both formats with Naman Ojha as captain. With less than a week before the team’s departure, reported that Naman Ojha had been replaced by Manish Pandey for the limited-overs leg; Pandey would be the captain for the quadrangular series and Ojha would lead the side in the four-day games.The team departs for Australia on Thursday, but the BCCI has neither confirmed nor denied the story. There is no acknowledgement that last-minute changes have been made, its media manager has not responded to ESPNcricinfo’s queries, and nobody outside the BCCI is sure which players are travelling to Australia for which format. ESPNcricinfo has independently verified that the change has been made, and that Pandey for Ojha is not the only change in the squads.Akhil Herwadkar, who initially featured in the squad for both legs, will now be a part of only the four-day matches, while Hardik Pandya, who wasn’t part of the initial 16-member squad, will now replace the injured Vijay Shankar in both formats. Mandeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal have also been drafted into the limited-overs side.A BCCI source attributed the late changes to a “communication gap” in the selection process, and said the original idea was to pick two separate squads. “We started off with two teams but in the middle there was a communication gap that’s why we kept certain boys in the standby list,” he said. “(The) information has come a little late. Definitely it’s a little embarrassing for someone like Naman Ojha.”It is understood the selectors were initially in favour of players for specific formats, and had a few players like Mandeep and Hardik on stand-by. However, unclear communication apparently led to a delay in the board signing off on the changes made to the team. The board source, though, denied there was lack of clarity while naming the initial squad.”Everybody was clear (about the players to be selected),” he said. “(But) subsequently different sides were picked for (multiple) day matches and one-dayers after considering the future options (for the Indian team), like whether Naman Ojha is in the race for one-day spot or the Test spot. Accordingly, the changes were made. Suddenly Vijay Shankar got injured, so there are quite a few things, which happened but otherwise we were very clear. Players like Hardik and Mandeep Singh are future prospects and they need to be given exposure to white-ball cricket.”Ojha said on Tuesday he was informed of the decision “five-six days” ago. “There are 15 (13) Test matches this season so it (playing the four-day games) is good for me,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I have time to prepare well on my batting and keeping, and I will not burn out. I can now train harder for two more weeks (before leaving for Australia for the four-day leg).”By all accounts it is possible there is nothing sinister about the changes. The logic might even be sound: Ojha is 33, he is not the next India limited-overs wicketkeeper, and like Tests and ODIs it makes sense to have two different squads. There might be logic to it but there was no communication or explanation behind the changes, or knowledge of when the BCCI realised these changes were necessary. The fact that nobody from the BCCI has owned up to this on the record just forces observers to look for reasons other than cricket logic.

ESPNcricinfo staff30-May-2016England were in control when the first wicket fell inside five overs•Getty Images… Milinda Siriwardena, removed by James Anderson for his overnight 35•Getty ImagesIt was Anderson’s third wicket of the innings•Getty ImagesBut Dinesh Chandimal continued to play his shots•Getty Images… and was joined in a seventh-wicket stand of 116 by Rangana Herath•Getty ImagesChandimal brought up his sixth Test century with a steer through third man•Getty ImagesIt was his first outside of Asia and ensured England would bat again•AFPHerath made his second Test half-century•Getty Images… but was lucky to survive a drop at point on 46 by James Vince•Getty ImagesAnderson, however, returned to trap him lbw for 61•Getty Images… then bowled Shaminda Eranga to complete his five-wicket haul•Getty ImagesAnderson finished with 5 for 58, and 18 wickets in two Tests•PA PhotosStuart Broad claimed the key wicket, bowling Chandimal for 126•PA PhotosAlastair Cook then became the first England batsman to make 10,000 Test runs•PA PhotosA banner was unfurled in the crowd to commemorate the feat•PA PhotosChasing 79, Alex Hales was bowled by Milinda Siriwardana for 11•PA Photos… but Cook anchored the chase with an unbeaten 47•PA Photos… to set the seal on a nine-wicket win•PA Photos

Plays of the day from the second ODI between India and New Zealand in Delhi, featuring cramps, throws and blows

Alagappan Muthu20-Oct-2016Nothing but painRohit Sharma had used his backfoot cover drive to bully a reasonably good ball to the boundary. There was barely any swing. There was no reason not to try it again. At the start of the eighth over, he got in position for the shot again, but this time Trent Boult, from around the wicket, got the ball to straighten just enough to snatch the edge through to the wicketkeeper. It was a beautiful ball, but that matters little to the dismissed batsman. Less so when he suddenly cramps up. Rohit was turning back to see if the catch would be taken when he felt something in his left bicep. The arm went completely limp. He was left hunched over for several moments, clutching it, and needed the physio to tend to it before he could walk off.Avoiding painLately, umpire Bruce Oxenford has been turning up for limited-overs matches with a shield on his arm. He crosses his arms in front of his chest as he takes his stance at the bowler’s end, the shield in place to deflect the ball away from his face. It turned out that the extra protection would have served his partner well too. In the seventh over, Tom Latham drilled the ball down the ground, and fear of being hit made umpire Anil Chaudhary dash frantically to his right. He was on one foot, the other in the air, looking comically ungainly. Umesh Yadav, the bowler, was able to get a hand on the ball and send it off course. But Chaudhary gestured immediately to his partner, his elbow moving up to his face, as if he were saying, “I should get a shield too. Could have avoided pain – and looked cool to boot.”Only, when Oxenford had the chance to use the shield, he couldn’t act quickly enough. Corey Anderson’s throw from the deep at the bowler’s end headed straight at him and he was struck on the box.The Superman dive that went in vainManish Pandey seemed to have done enough to secure a couple of runs. He’d played the ball softly, placed the ball to deep midwicket’s right, and the fielder there was Mitchell Santner, who is left-handed and had to run around the ball. He did so with remarkable swiftness. Then came the throw which was brutally flat. Luke Ronchi had positioned himself between the stumps and the throw, but it came to him on the half-volley, which is hard to collect because you have to keep your eyes on the ball when there is a real chance it might bounce up and hit you. But in one fluid motion, he collected the ball and swung it back to catch Pandey short despite his full-length dive.And the fast bowler’s disdainNew Zealand were floundering in the final overs of their innings, and they could have done with some good, old-fashioned Tim Southee slogs. He had, after all, made his maiden fifty in his 100th ODI in Dharamsala. Except, in Delhi, he was bowled second ball by a superb yorker from Jasprit Bumrah. It was quick. It cramped the batsman for room. And it hit the base of off stump.The second innings provided opportunity for round two. And this time, the game was at stake. It was the final over. India needed 10 to win. New Zealand needed a wicket. Bumrah was given the strike in the third ball and Southee revved up. The ball curved into the right-hander at pace, sank below the bat and crashed into middle stump to seal New Zealand’s victory.

Not yet, as numbers and Dhoni will tell you, but they need more from the lower middle order to squash that notion

Arun Venugopal and Shiva Jayaraman 28-Oct-2016Virat Kohli’s rapid and sustained rise over the last few years has brought inevitable comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar. In less than a decade since making his ODI debut, Kohli has marked himself out by acing the chasing game. He has numbers to go with it: 14 hundreds in successful chases, already level with Tendulkar. Kohli has batted in 59 successful chases, Tendulkar did so in 124.As with Tendulkar, Kohli’s dismissals are greeted with gasps of resignation. When Kohli got out in Delhi and Ranchi, for 9 and 45 respectively, there was that sudden, piercing silence again, one that most Indian cricket fans who grew up in the ’90s would be familiar with. The immediate throwaway line has been: it’s just like Tendulkar, Kohli gone, India lose. Especially in chases; in 2015, for instance, Kohli scored less than 12 in four of the five ODIs India lost chasing. Is it then a throwback to the era when Tendulkar’s failure would inevitably result in India’s defeat or is it just an emotional reaction?There is no doubt India win much more often when Kohli scores a fifty or more in a chase. While chasing 200 or more, India have won 23 of 32 games when Kohli has completed his half-century. When Kohli hasn’t reached fifty, India have managed only 20 wins from 44 chases of over 200. In those 20 chases that were won without a big contribution from Kohli, there were 36 scores of 50 or more from other specialist batsmen. Rohit Sharma has scored seven of those.MS Dhoni, too, doesn’t believe India is a one-batsman team, and isn’t inclined to read too much into the numbers thrown up because the sample is not large enough for him. “If you see the last one, one-and-a-half years, we haven’t played a lot of ODI cricket,” he said after India lost to New Zealand by 19 runs in Ranchi. “I can say that the stats actually don’t reflect the exact scenario because also at that period I have batted at a different position and our top order was batting brilliantly.”The numbers largely appear to corroborate Dhoni’s view. In all ODIs where India have chased since 2014, they have won five games and lost as many when Kohli has scored at least 50. He has scored two hundreds and three fifties in losing causes during this period. In the 17 games that Kohli has scored less than 50, India’s record hasn’t been too bad: they have won nine wins and lost eight. In the nine wins that came without Kohli making a half-century, Shikhar Dhawan has contributed a century and four half-centuries while Rohit Sharma has struck three fifties. The rest of the batsmen have chipped in with four hundreds and three fifties. Kohli has scored 25.76% (813 out of 3156) of India’s top-order runs in successful chases in ODIs since 2014. Dhawan is second on the list with 18.25%.These numbers reveal that despite Kohli’s overwhelming contribution to India’s successful chases, the team hasn’t been overly dependent on him. However, the numbers don’t tell you what happens when India fail despite a Kohli century or fifty. What happens after he is gone?A good example of how Kohli’s dismissal exposes a middle order that isn’t well versed in finishing games came in Canberra at the start of the year. Set a target of 349, Kohli and Dhawan racked up hundreds. At 277 for 1 in the 38th over, India looked like they would complete the chase fairly easily, but once Kohli departed within two overs of the dismissals of Dhawan and Dhoni, India’s middle order unravelled, with only Ravindra Jadeja getting into double digits.Similarly in the Rajkot ODI against South Africa, Kohli batted deep but his departure, with 55 required off 29 balls, snuffed out India’s chase. When the “Tendulkar-falls-India-lose” era ended, India had match-winners following him: Rahul Dravid, Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh. That Dhoni is not finishing matches now, and that India’s two other match-winners in recent times – Rohit and Dhawan – bat before Kohli accentuates the “Kohli-falls-India-lose” impression.The numbers will tell you India are not over-dependent on Kohli – at least not yet – but the impression they are coincides with their struggle to find somebody who can make his own the slot vacated by Yuvraj. Not even Suresh Raina – good as he has been – has been able to provide that presence consistently. With Dhoni moving up to No.4, suggesting the youngsters need to learn finishing innings by themselves, India’s overreliance on Kohli may be more than just a feeling.

Right-arm quick Tom and skillful young allrounder Sam have what it takes to get to the highest level

Vithushan Ehantharajah17-Nov-2016It is put to 21-year-old Tom Curran and his 18-year-old brother Sam, sat side by side and dressed almost identically in England stash as two members of this winter’s Lions programme, that the younger sibling is generally considered the most talented. The example offered is Michael Jackson – the youngest of the original Jackson 5, who left the troupe to become the undisputed King of Pop. Sam smirks. Tom responds: “Good thing we’re not in the music industry then, pal!”Brothers in cricket are no new thing. Even at Surrey, before Currans, there were Hollioakes. Both Adam and Ben left such a profound mark on the club that the mere mention of their names gets Brown Caps misty-eyed. As they talk about how Adam led and Ben thrilled, the conversation invariably turns to just how far Tom and Sam can go. The consensus is: far.It was 2015 when Surrey fans got their first good look at both. Tom led the line as an assured and ridiculously skilful right-arm quick in a promotion charge that saw the club finish as Division Two champions, thanks to his 74 wickets. Sam, a genuine allrounder, whippy with his left-arm seam and enterprising with the bat, dropped by halfway through that summer to make his senior debut in a T20 Blast fixture against Kent in front of more than 20,000 people at the Kia Oval, two weeks after his 17th birthday.From then, he was around to offer assistance to Tom, taking 11 Championship wickets and even registering a half-century in the final match of the season, at home to their father Kevin’s former county Northamptonshire. It was in that fixture that the Currans became only the third pair of brothers to take all ten wickets in an innings, with Tom grabbing the big brother’s share of seven and Sam making do with three.

“As three brothers, we’ve been competitive – whether it is golf or in the cricket field. I suppose as cricketers we are team-mates, but on the golf course there are no team-mates. And there are no free drops!”Sam Curran

This year saw a more even share, as Surrey turned around relegation form to finish fifth in Division One. Tom took 33 wickets, Sam 27. Their advancements in white-ball cricket have also been clear to see. Sam’s ability to swing the new ball at pace gets things going, while Tom works the older one with wide yorkers and a bit of reverse swing. Both have taken on more responsibility than most at their age, and it is only when they are together, poking the other in the ribs or trying to spy on each other’s phone activity that you realise just how young they are.”It’s hard sometimes to take it all in,” says Tom. “It’s been an unbelievable journey and things have happened pretty quickly at Surrey.” Particularly, he says, when he was the spearhead of Surrey’s bowling attack at just 20. “As cricketers, you want to be given the ball at the tough times and you want to be leading your attack. I’ve been lucky enough to do that.”The career acceleration meant that, given the age gap, Sam’s Surrey debut in July 2015 was the first time that the pair had played competitive cricket together. Sam, though, offers a caveat. “Well, other than the back garden. I think we had some very good encounters.”Tom interjects, pointing to Sam as he does so: “No, but that’s different because in the back garden you can cheat! This one: geez!” It seems an odd twist, considering garden cricket’s long, sketchy history of the oldest sibling opening the batting and being the sole arbiter of the laws. Not so in the Curran household.If there is an older-brother dynamic that Tom has upheld, it is of leading the way and clearing a path for his younger brother. It was his performance during a school match in Durban for Hilton College in January 2012 that left such an impression on the former Surrey captain, Ian Greig, who was in charge of the opposition, that he alerted Gareth Townsend, Surrey’s academy director, to Tom’s talents.In 39 first-class games so far, fast bowler Tom Curran has taken 132 wickets at 29.12•Getty ImagesLater that year, after the tragic passing of their father Kevin, a former Zimbabwe allrounder, Surrey used their partnership with Wellington College, where Tom was continuing his schooling thanks to a bursary, to bring both Ben – the middle brother and an organised left-hand batsman – and Sam to England to keep the family together.Just as Tom did when he joined, Sam spent 2016 balancing cricket with his last year of A-Levels. And it was Tom’s experiences that, essentially, scoped Sam’s itinerary.”It was quite tricky, actually. In April I played the first game of the season and then there was an agreement that I was going to play no games up until my exams were finished; maybe the odd T20. That was the same with Tom – the relationship between the school and the club was very good.”Did he have a say in how much or what form he could play? “Don’t let him pretend to be Mr Bigshot – he didn’t!” ribs Tom.”Nah, I don’t think I did have a say,” admits Sam. “But the balance was good: we had a psychologist who did actually work well with me and made sure I did everything. There were a couple of four-day games where the lads went out for dinner but I had to stay put. The lads did take the mick out of me a little bit when I had to do a bit of school work. And when school thought I was behind, they would make sure I wouldn’t play any cricket.”By way of thanks, Sam made sure he played a few games for the Wellington side, too. Commiserations to the poor saps who lined up against a player who would go on to average 27.85 with the ball and 39.33 with the bat in Division One. “It was fun,” he beams, though presumably not for the opposition.Refreshingly, the atmosphere of professional sport has merely strengthened their bond. While both are hard on each other in the field – “if he messes up off my bowling then it is a bit easier to spray him than the skipper,” admits Tom – it is simply an extension of the competition that has featured in their family throughout. Fittingly, they can’t decide who is the most competitive.

“”As cricketers, you want to be given the ball at the tough times and you want to be leading your attack. I’ve been lucky enough to do that”Tom Curran

“It’s something that has been with us the whole way through,” says Sam. “As three brothers, we’ve been competitive – whether it is golf or in the cricket field. I suppose as cricketers we are team-mates, but on the golf course there are no team-mates. And there are no free drops!”As for the biggest sulker, Tom is happy to win that outright, prompted by Sam: “See, I’ve only just got my licence, so he sulks when he has to drive home after bowling 40 overs.””It’s an easy life for him!” bites Tom. “He just stands around in the field and then he’s got his feet up on my dashboard!”There are elements that give the other strength, too. For instance, Tom’s sure footing in a young, sparky dressing room enabled Sam to lean on his older brother before making his own impression. The trick for Sam was in identifying the difference between the school set-up and that of a county: “At school you’re looking to impress yourself. But in the Surrey side you’re about enjoying team success and that is something that has really stuck out to me.”For Tom that older presence was provided by Jade Dernbach, who took him under his wing and advised him in matters on the field and off it. It is hard to think of a player more in tune with the fickle nature of the game than Dernbach. “He was my age once,” says Tom, “and he put his arm around me. He made me feel a bit more relaxed within myself. When Sam came into the Surrey side, I tried to do the same for him. I’m sure Sam will do the same when he’s an old man.”Sam’s progress with the bat has also lit a fire under Tom, who has let this discipline slip, despite some recovery last season. As a youngster his batting and bowling progressed at an equal rate of knots, and Surrey’s former captain Graeme Smith and former coach Graham Ford believed that he had the ability to be a world-class allrounder.When he first played for Surrey, Sam Curran had to balance school work with cricket, and at 17, he became the second-youngest player after Tony Lock to make his first class debut for the county•Clint Hughes/Getty ImagesThe lapse has been understandable: Tom’s intense workload of 31 Championship matches and 44 limited-overs matches in the last two seasons has seen him opt for extra rest rather than practice, for fear of burnout (it is worth noting that the only Championship match he missed in this period – Hampshire away this summer – was down to a Lions call-up). It is a lapse he is keen to address over the winter.The Lions tour presents an opportunity for both brothers to further broaden their horizons, with a training camp in Dubai, a short tour of Sri Lanka in February, and the experience of working with new, unfamiliar team-mates who are usually nine-to-five rivals.It may also prepare them for the possibility that, eventually, one might leave the other behind. Having experienced the first throes of professional cricket together, both admit that will be a new sensation.”I was actually thinking about that the other day,” reflects Sam. “Obviously, coming into the Lions side, hopefully we both play. But there will be a stage when it comes down to the pitch or the opposition, where one of us gets left out. I guess we kind of have to take it on the chin. It’ll be a dream to play for England and even when it’s not you, if it’s someone in your family, you’re going to be really proud of them.”To allow a moment’s speculation, Tom looks to possess the requisite skills to be a fine international bowler – perhaps even a long-term replacement for James Anderson – while Sam’s precociousness suggests a role in the top six is not beyond him. As George Dobell reported last week, the England management was considering bringing Sam to India to have a closer look at him but decided against it.Whichever one does take that first step to the next level, you can be certain of one thing: the other will be very proud. And not too far behind.

On a dissimilar surface to the ones they’ve encountered in recent home Tests, India’s bowlers lacked consistency and failed to adapt, raising questions about their overall efficiency

Alagappan Muthu14-Nov-20160:51

Ganguly: Ishant should replace Umesh in Visakhapatnam

The Rajkot Test was filled with tough lessons for India. But a draw was secured, and the team moves on to Visakhapatnam, its picture postcard beaches and possibly turning pitches.At the most recent international match played at the venue, Amit Mishra picked up five wickets and New Zealand were bowled out for 79 after having been 63 for 2. Before the start of that ODI, the host broadcaster’s pitch report suggested it would be a belter. Fifty or so overs in, it was turning from one corner to the other.India’s bowlers may not mind a similar setting come Thursday. They tend to work better when there’s something in it for them, much the way children are far more inclined to do their chores when they get extra dessert at dinner. Work needs incentive and, often, it is in the form of chocolate cake.They weren’t too bad in Rajkot. In fact, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami were able to find reverse swing when it looked like none of England’s bowlers could. They created chances with the new ball on the first day but were let down by their fielders. R Ashwin, often the big brother pulling this bowling attack out of trouble, crafted two fine wickets to redress the dropped catches but from there on; from the second session of the Test, India slowly lost their way.It raised a familiar question. Can India’s bowlers be effective on a good pitch?England outclassed India with both bat and ball in the first Test, albeit after winning a crucial toss•Associated PressIt’s a difficult proposition because the window of opportunity you have is quite small. Say the first half hour when you can expect some sideways movement. Making the batsman play as much as possible in this period is vital. So too is attacking each one’s weaknesses. For example, India rarely tried to bounce Moeen Ali when they themselves had success with the ploy before. England were very keen to test Cheteshwar Pujara with the short ball.The other thing when dealing with stubborn pitches is having a clear plan and sticking to it. When the batsman knows there is no seam or swing or spin, when he can trust the pace and bounce, it is only the bowler’s discipline that creates doubt: keeping the ball outside off stump if he is susceptible to nicking off, getting closer if he tends to get bowled or lbw. Be boring. Be repetitive. Play on his ego. Induce the mistake. Savour the triumph.India were lacking in this regard. At times, it seemed like they didn’t have an idea of what they wanted to do. They were hoping for wickets rather than pushing for them. They were hoping to keep the runs down rather than devising ways to find wickets. They had an in-out field on the second morning in Rajkot. Yet, they conceded 21 boundaries in a single session. This spell of play forced India so far back in the match that it required their five batsmen to bat at their peak not once but twice to save it. Could they have done so had they conceded 537 runs in the first innings away from home?In Rajkot, India’s spinners did not turn up when they were needed the most•Associated PressLosing the toss was a mitigating factor, a sizeable one. It meant India had to bowl when the pitch was at its most docile. England too conceded a total of 488. But they made the batsmen take a lot longer to get there. Chris Woakes took the pitch out of the equation with his pace. Stuart Broad was skillful enough to repeatedly hit a crack, which ran length-wise down the pitch, to see if it could give him some natural variation.There are ways to overcome a stubborn pitch. The margin of error is small and it often takes an exceptional effort to succeed but there are ways.Harking back to the Eden Gardens where India clinched the No. 1 Test ranking, Virat Kohli was noticeably chipper. He had won the Test mace a year into full-time captaincy, he had another series victory on his record and the signs pointed to dominance over the entire home season in 2016-17. But the reasons for his happiness were none of those things. The batsmen did well on a seamer-friendly surface. The fast bowlers outdid New Zealand’s, who were arguably more used to such conditions. Kohli had seen his team stand up to adversity. He wouldn’t want that to be a one shot.

Both batsmen fell cheaply in the first innings in Bengaluru but after some minor technical adjustments they put on the only wicketless session of the series so far and helped India draw level in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Ranchi15-Mar-20170:54

Kohli applauds quick-thinking Pujara, Rahane

Opposite the practice area at the JSCA International Stadium is a staircase leading up to one of the stands. Ascending one level gives you a terrific view of the nets, with an elevated, square-on view of the batsmen. Imagine standing atop a watch tower at cover point.It is a view you hardly see on TV and the one restricted to the cheaper seats in most stadiums because from here it is near impossible to judge the line of the ball and the extent of swing, seam or turn accurately. But it gives you such insights into a batsman’s technique.India’s net sessions on the two days leading up to the third Test against Australia offered an excellent opportunity to watch Ajinkya Rahane’s footwork against the spinners. Cat-like, nimble, fully forward or fully back. As has mostly been the case since he lowered his stance – a move that contributed to his twin hundreds in the Delhi Test against South Africa in 2015. His head was right on top of the ball when he stretched forward to defend.When Cheteshwar Pujara batted against seam, it was possible to observe how his hands never once strayed even six inches in front of his body when he defended the ball. He grips his bat in an unusual manner, his top hand turned so far around the handle that the back of his hand – rather than his knuckles as is the norm – faces the bowler. While this can hamper his freedom while driving, it ensures he plays closer to his body, and later than most batsmen on the planet. His defensive bat is a cushion that invariably drops the ball by his feet.Just over a week ago, these skills played their part in steering India through what has so far been the only wicketless session of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Through the course of their 118-run fifth-wicket partnership, Rahane and Pujara turned the Bengaluru Test around, slowly, calmly, with growing authority.The partnership also showcased two batsmen coming to grips with a bowler who had caused them and their team all kinds of problems the last time they had faced him. Nathan Lyon had dismissed both Pujara and Rahane while taking eight wickets in the first innings, and while there were moments of discomfort in the second innings too – Pujara was dropped on 4 – both men grew increasingly at ease, eventually keeping Lyon out for a combined 131 wicketless balls.On Wednesday, the eve of the Ranchi Test, India captain Virat Kohli revealed the technical adjustments the two batsmen had made to overcome Lyon.”I saw Pujara opening up his stance, which was an apt adjustment for him to give himself more space to play the ball,” Kohli said. “Ajinkya, again, getting inside the line of the ball and not playing through the covers. I think those are the small adjustments. KL [Rahul, who made fifties in both innings] is batting well anyway but I think those two guys stepped up their game and found a way to score runs on a difficult wicket.”And as I mentioned, that was the difference between winning a game and probably not winning it because there could have been only two results, the draw wasn’t there on the cards anyway. Such minor things can make massive differences in the game. We saw that and credit to those two guys to get runs on that sort of wicket.”Armed with Kohli’s insights, it was rewarding to re-watch Pujara’s 92 and Rahane’s 52 in Bengaluru.A slightly open stance helped Cheteshwar Pujara handle Nathan Lyon and his extra bounce•Associated PressRahane had been stumped in the first innings, while looking to step out and drive Lyon inside-out. It is a shot he plays well, but on this occasion, looking for non-existent turn, he had simply swished at thin air. In the second innings, he changed his guard: his back toe was in line with off stump rather than between middle and off. This brought him closer to the line of the ball, and ensured he was playing with the spin more often than not.It also made the sweep an easier option: from his original guard, he would have had to plant his front leg a fair way across to get his pad outside the line of off stump, thereby cramping him up and minimising the arc into which he could hit the ball. From his new off-stump guard, he did not have to stretch as far across to get close to the ball get his front pad outside the line of off stump. He could be better balanced and sweep the same delivery square or fine, depending on the field.The sweeps played their part in forcing Lyon to bowl wider, returning to Rahane the scoring option he had initially denied himself – the push or drive into the covers. At one point, the ease with which Rahane was handling him made Lyon switch to bowling around the wicket. This, for India, represented a small victory over a bowler who had tasted so much success bowling into the footmarks outside the right-handers’ off stump.A ball that spat out of these footmarks had led to Pujara’s first-innings dismissal, caught bat-pad. In his stance, Pujara’s feet had been aligned to point straight down the pitch, but a front-and-across trigger movement then left him closed-off and cramped up when the ball turned and bounced more than expected.By opening his stance, Pujara gave himself a better chance of negotiating Lyon’s extra bounce out of the rough. There were at least two occasions when this adjustment proved useful. Coupled with his usual ability to play the ball late and close to his body, the offbreaks that jumped at him now hit the part of the glove facing the bowler rather than that facing the fielders at short leg or leg gully.Being chest-on also made it easier for Pujara to play the pull should Lyon drop the ball marginally short. From the five times he played the shot, he collected three singles, a boundary and inside-edged a ball that kept low onto his pads.It wasn’t all plain sailing, of course. The slightly open stance may well have been a factor in Pujara, twice, playing inside the line of the ball and therefore outside-edging Lyon. It is possible that due to the change in his alignment, Pujara’s bat came down at an angle – from wide slip towards mid-on – on both occasions leaving him vulnerable. Had Smith snaffled up the slip catch he offered, Pujara’s open stance may well have come in for criticism rather than praise. Every little technical adjustment solves one problem while potentially creating another.On a difficult pitch, bowlers were always likely to create chances, no matter how ingenious a batsman’s plans might be. Smith, a beneficiary of multiple dropped catches while scoring a second-innings hundred in the Pune Test, knew this well. He had compiled the technical masterclass of the first Test, by playing for Ravindra Jadeja’s straighter one, minimising the risk of bowled and lbw, and not worrying about getting beaten on the outside edge.Pujara and Rahane had matched him with their own masterclass in Bengaluru. With spin likely to remain the dominant theme of the series, who will follow them up in Ranchi?