Raw power meets technique and instinct in a shot the batter has made uniquely her own

Valkerie Baynes01-Mar-2022She’s been called “Harmanpreet Thor” and when she’s raining hammer blows on the opposition, it’s rather apt. And yet to put the word “slog” in front of Harmanpreet’s glorious sweep sounds so unrefined, and not entirely accurate, for her version is more nuanced. Sure, the aggression, power – and result – are there, but the effortlessness of her action makes it a thing of beauty as well as brutality. Dropping to her back knee, head over the front one to form a perfectly balanced base as she brings her bat down and lets her levers do their devastating work – pow!Slog, conventional, paddle, reverse. Watch Harmanpreet and you forget momentarily that her way is not the only way. Her action looks infinitely repeatable, from the set-up through the swing to the sight of the ball sailing over the fence, often several times in an innings. Brisbane Heat witnessed it during her 23-ball fifty for Sydney Thunder. And again as she slugged their attack for six sixes en route to 65 off 32 for Melbourne Renegades last November.India are no strangers to Harmanpreet’s impressive array of strokes, in which that sublime sweep features heavily, like during her unbeaten 171 in the 2017 World Cup semi-final.Biju George was India Women’s fielding coach at the time before going on to join Sunrisers Hyderabad and now the Sports Authority of India, and he reckons Harmanpreet’s sweep is as much about instinct as technique. “Normally, what the batter will hear taught right from the beginning is, if the spinner flights the ball, you come out and play the ball. The sweep is like a secondary shot, not your main shot,” he says. “But for Harmanpreet it’s an expression of her identity, her individuality.”While many players sweep late and fine, Harmanpreet takes the ball early and hits it square of the wicket or ahead of square – and hard. Once set, she’s not afraid to play the shot against medium-pacers either. A combination of coordination and bat speed enable her to generate huge power.”She hits it like a rocket,” says George. “She is there to dominate, make no mistake about that. When she goes out to bat, in my mind I see a big flag waving over her: ‘Here I am.'”She has thought out her game really well. People might think she’s an impulsive player [but] she’s an instinctive player. She reacts to the ball, she reacts to the situation.”Like Harmanpreet, England captain Heather Knight has a wonderful collection of strokes, her reverse sweep particularly effective. And while her vice-captain, Nat Sciver, has the inventive “Natmeg” in her bag – threading a full delivery between her feet and fine to the leg side – she can also produce a powerful conventional sweep.Sophie Devine admits there’s little more satisfying as a batter than punching a straight drive back past the bowler, but she values the rewards the sweep – or slog sweep as she is quick to clarify – has brought her. It is a shot players often learn later, after coaches teach the “safer” strokes, but Devine has advice for those wanting to add it to their game: “I just say, hit the ball hard. That’s the great thing about cricket, you’ve got to commit fully, whatever shot it is.”Who Does it Best?: The cutter | The pull | The googly | The cover drive | The yorker | The cut | The bouncer | The sweep

The intrigue at what he could do demanded we know more, but delivering the ball was only part of it

Shannon Gill12-Mar-2022Shane Warne was born in 1969, the year the world gathered around televisions to watch the moon land. The year he started primary school colour television came to Australia. These two events coronated television as the dominant cultural force in Australia for the next 30 years. They’re also neat coincidences because this environment shaped, and then showcased, Shane Warne as the customised sporting star made for Australian television.He was a child of television’s golden era, his own populist aesthetic of loud, flashy but still endearing was exactly how television presented in the late 70s, 80s and into the 90s. Happy Days characters, Countdown-era pop, and references to gross out comedy flicks seemed permanently imprinted on his brain, evident through his commentary and social media feeds. And while television informed the kitsch pop culture lens he saw the world through, it was also the medium made for the bowling that would enchant the world.If World Series Cricket was the television revolution that transformed the game, appropriately given it was some of Warne’s first cricket memories, it only reached its full potential as a TV product when Warne arrived.For all the thrill of fast bowling, it’s a skill most appreciated in person, and in retrospect 1980s broadcasts did not offer many layers to the blur of pace.Related

• There's a Warne-shaped hole in this Ashes

• Shane Warne Stand unveiled as MCG crowd bids their hero an emotional farewell

• Facing Warne: the magic, the theatre, and the whole shebang

• In praise of Shane Warne, cricketing genius

• Shane Warne gave us so much and he had so much more to give

Warne offered something very different, his simple grip and delivery stride allowed you to watch the ball out of his hand at its slower pace, follow its trajectory and then its bounce and spin. It didn’t matter if you’d played hundreds of games of cricket or were a novice, understanding that Warne had magic was simple because it all played out so clearly in front of you. There’s not been a pace ‘ball of the century’ to rival the Gatting ball, because apart from it being simply astounding, it allows time for the dip, swerve and turn to be savoured by television viewers. It’s a three-part act that no other type of bowling, or bowler, can rival.Within 12 months of Warne’s emergence as a bona fide superstar the then Australian Cricket Board was attempting to extricate itself from the PBL strait jacket and allow itself to sell its television rights for their true worth. Just in the nick of time it now had a beacon that would draw droves to their TV sets, and the board was rewarded handsomely when it sold the rights back to Channel 9 unencumbered.4:34

Mark Nicholas remembers Shane Warne

Warne’s role in that and the future financial riches that would tumble in cricket coffers over the next 25 years cannot be underestimated, because Warne was the most accessible bowler on television we’d seen.He was the magician who didn’t use a handkerchief to hide his tricks, your eyes saw it all unfold. It was why, as many have said this week and for years prior, you could not look away from a Warne bowling spell.While fast bowlers can bang the ball into the pitch in a whir that can over upon over look almost identical to the untrained eye, every Warne ball was an unfolding event. The child of television knew you had to have plot twists to keep people interested, so what would he bowl next? Each over was a new television episode, and for the 90s and first half of the 2000s it was the most popular show on the box.If television innovations like super slo-mo and spin-vision in the mid-90s were not created because of Warne, they were made essential to broadcasts by his presence. Now we could watch in greater definition, slower, the revolutions of the ball visible and the magic closer. The intrigue at what he could do demanded we know more, but delivering the ball was only part of it.Dennis Lillee captured the hearts and minds of Warne’s generation with television close-ups of his theatrical wiping of the brow and appealing. Whether it was deliberate or subconscious, Warne turned the Lillee approach up to ten. If every over was a television episode, the facial reactions and exaggerated body language were just as important as the balls themselves.There was also theatre when Shane Warne bowled•Getty ImagesThe close ups of his oohing and aahing with the blonde hair and earrings completed the package. He to stand out on TV like his idols, sporting and otherwise. It played a part in one of his most infamous scandals, his explanation for taking the diuretic pill that resulted in a 12-month ban was that he wanted to lose weight to “look good on television”.This was all indicative of a man who, while sometimes sensitive to the criticism that came with it, seemed more at home in the TV spotlight than any Australian sports star before or after. It’s why he never left the spotlight.After retiring from international cricket, he came back to the BBL where he was essentially a playing commentator. From there he globetrotted the world as a constant commentary presence on screen. He even had a go at hosting a tonight show, which you suspect is what he would have ultimately loved doing most; Warnie talking about all the things other than cricket that he liked.He completed the television experience by acting as a Shane Warne impersonator in the Australian sitcom , a show that satirised and celebrated the characters’ low-brow suburban tastes, most of which were based on what they saw on television. If that and the jokes about texting weren’t meta enough, Warne was one of those tastes. He was unashamedly a kindred spirit of Kath and Kim.And now amidst a pall of sadness there’s some solace to be found that will become more prescient as the years go on.Less than three months before his passing Warne released a made-for-TV documentary that most significantly revealed to the public the dedication and love in his relationship with his children. The man made for television had unknowingly left us with a perfectly wrapped package of his extraordinary life for the small screen. Like the Gatting ball, we’ll watch this final episode time and time again, just the way he would have liked it.

Former Bangladesh coach on his sacking: “The brave decision wasn’t taken, they took the easy decision”

Mohammad Isam21-Feb-2022How was the experience of winning a BPL trophy?
I haven’t won many trophies during my coaching career, (so) it was absolutely wonderful to be part of a trophy-winning campaign with Comilla. It was hugely important to win a trophy in Bangladesh. We had success in Bangladesh. I had a tiny bit of success in Worcestershire. I was very proud of the way the Comilla boys fought. [Fortune] Barishal were a very strong side during the campaign. It was fitting that we played against each other (in the final).Two tough teams, however, didn’t play very well on the day. There were lots of mistakes. I can only put that down to pressure of the final, and the build-up of the whole four weeks of intense cricket. I think that whilst, as a coach, you see so many mistakes, but to the public, what an entertaining game of cricket it was!Your coaching debut in Bangladesh cricket was far from memorable, though.
I don’t think anybody has had an international coaching debut like that. We lost the toss on a green bouncy wicket against some very good West Indian fast bowlers. We were 45 all out on the first day. But from then on, we nearly won the next Test. Then we won the ODI series in the West Indies. We were 1-0 down in the T20Is, but won the two games in Florida to win the series. Suddenly, we left the tour on a real high, winning two series and losing one.

“If you sit and watch from the BCB’s president box, you wouldn’t understand the workings of what’s going on there (at the ground). You just say, ‘Well, he didn’t do very well, let’s get rid of him’.”Steve Rhodes

Apu (Nazmul Islam), the left-arm spinner, started to call me the “lucky coach”. By which he meant, maybe, things are going our way a little bit. We lost a lot of games in the journey towards the World Cup. But we also won some other series. We beat the West Indies here (in Bangladesh) where we didn’t play a seamer in any of the Tests. Some of our tactics were clever. They were not all my tactics. I am not the egotistical coach who puts my hand down for everything. I had a wonderful captain in Shakib Al Hasan, who had some great thoughts and ideas about beating the West Indies. I think there were great things happening in the dressing room.How would you describe the 2019 World Cup campaign?
If things went our way, we thought we had a squad that could possibly squeak a bit further than we got. So, we were all disappointed by how we finished. We started really well. I thought Bangladesh fought hard against a lot of good opposition. When some of those teams played their good game, we couldn’t win. No matter how hard we tried, we weren’t quite good enough. That came as a surprise to a lot of people in Bangladesh.Related

Litton: 'Some want it, some don't, but I've always had responsibility from the start'

ESPNcricinfo BPL XI: Shakib, Moeen, Mustafizur among picks

Our only bad game was the last one against Pakistan, but we were already out of the tournament. Against the likes of England, India and Australia, we got plenty of runs. Even in the bad games, we competed hard. We could have won against New Zealand. We had some great wins against South Africa and West Indies. The best win was against Afghanistan. We had a tremendous campaign overall.I found it a little bit disappointing to be told that that poor performance in the World Cup is the reason why I was to be released from my contract. I felt it wasn’t true. To me, it looked flimsy. There must be some other reason. Where we were at the end of the World Cup in the points table looked poor. But the truth was, we played so much better than what our end position showed. I wasn’t there for arguing, because you can’t argue with your employers if they want to get rid of you. To this day, I don’t really know the actual reason.What was your coaching philosophy?
I was trying to do something new in Bangladesh, to drive forward in improvement. It revolved around the style of the coaching and the support staff. It was how we could make the players grow by getting them to be more responsible for their own game. Trying to get them to think more on the field, so that when a situation happens, there’s no coach around to ask “what do I do now”.It was quite a change from the normal culture of the way things are in the subcontinent. I accepted it was always going to be a difficult thing to drive through. You are up against a culture. But I have seen in the Indian team how it changed.The coach is there to assist, help and push along. We are not there to totally drive their careers. I call certain coaches as “satnav coaches”. To explain, you think about trying to go from Worcester to Newcastle in your car. I press in “Newcastle” in the satnav, and it tells me how to go, by giving me details about every turn I have to take, how long I have to go before the next junction. All you do is listen to the satnav and look at the map occasionally. When I reached Newcastle, it tells me that I have reached my destination. If someone asks me how I got there, I have not learned anything about that journey. I have been told, “do this, do that”. In coaching terms, a lot of people in the subcontinent thinks that’s how you coach. This is how you play the forward defensive, on this wicket you have to do this, on that wicket you do that, when you are bowling at him you do this. A player tries to do that.

Being in a high-profile position in Bangladesh cricket, my neck was on the line. So was Mashrafe [Mortaza] as captain. So were the senior players. If they decided the performance wasn’t good enough, then somebody had to go”Steve Rhodes

You’d say that’s coaching. No, that’s coaching to a degree. That’s satnav coaching. The player won’t improve. On the flipside of that, you go back to the time when we have to go to Newcastle. When I was a 25-year-old player, there was no satnav. The night before the journey, I’d open the map and take notes. There was no Google, so I’d ask winding the window down where Newcastle Cricket Club was. When I was on my way back to Worcester, I learned a lot more about the journey. I was responsible for my focus and concentration. Next time I went to Newcastle, I knew the route. I didn’t need the map.This is an example of how somebody improves without being told. Working things out for yourself. I was doing that style of coaching with the Bangladesh team. I encouraged the same with the other coaches. I even told them, “if you are unsure about saying anything, don’t say it; you don’t have to prove to me that you’re coaching and earning your money”. Sometimes, less is more.A culmination of this was when I had a visit from one of the board members during the World Cup. He was saying that they were unhappy with my coaching style. I needed to be more like a satnav-type coach. I explained fully to this board member how my style was going to improve people quicker. I gave him an example with his son, who is abroad. He admitted that his kid was growing up fast being on his own. But he went back with the news that the coach won’t change. I think that had something to do with it. I wasn’t coaching in the manner they were used to.Was there a feeling that you could lose your job?
As a Bangladesh coach, you are forever on a vibe of how long it will last. I think that’s life. Nobody has the right to be cushy in their job.We had a great tournament in Ireland as a build-up. We won the tri-series. I thought we were going the right way. At that stage, I didn’t expect that I would be gone after the World Cup. When we couldn’t qualify (for the semi-final), I thought there was a chance of change. I was, whilst surprised, not surprised as well. I really didn’t know what to expect, to be honest.Cricket is so big in Bangladesh that when a World Cup campaign is perceived as average, something has to go.
Being in a high-profile position in Bangladesh cricket, my neck was on the line. So was Mashrafe [Mortaza] as captain. So were the senior players. If they decided the performance wasn’t good enough, then somebody had to go. Scapegoat, or sacked. I don’t know what you want to call it, you are there to be knocked down in that sort of role.The senior players “can play a huge part in driving the next generations,” Steve Rhodes feels•AFP/Getty ImagesYou said yourself that something had to go. But did it go? Was it that bad? Could it be said that the way things had been building, winning around 50% of the matches, we were moving in the right direction? Apart from the Pakistan game, we weren’t doing badly in the tournament.Maybe a brave answer to those people calling for scapegoats would have been: we don’t really need one at the moment, we are okay. We would have loved to go forward but we didn’t. We played some good cricket. Shakib did brilliantly. Litton Das played a marvelous innings against the West Indies. [Mohammad] Saifuddin had shown his quality as well. But the brave decision wasn’t taken. They took the easy decision: we haven’t done well, so the coach is going.From a Bangladesh perspective, why does the World Cup always feel like the end of something?
Wrongly, people expect too much. Now people are saying to me, Bangladesh are in the same place they were 15 years ago. It is probably true. Maybe the expectation of being a top-four side is beyond them. They ought to be looking at it a little bit differently. What about, let’s get into the top six or seven first? The focus should be on general progression. Maybe the board and supporters should realise, are we going to improve first, than being in the top four?What did you think of the BCB’s approach, was it professional at all?
To a certain extent, yes. I got no qualms with the administrative staff. They were professional. They did a lot for me. I was very grateful. I think some things needed changing. The style of coaching was one thing. You need support from your board. They need to understand what you are doing. In this area, I wasn’t given the support as they didn’t understand it.The other angle might be, the players play under absolute pressure and not trusting people. It can affect their performance badly. To bring out the best in the player, take pressure off them as much as you can. Only a few players revel in pressure. You have to get through most when they are under pressure. The coaching staff and I got to know the players so well, we knew what made them tick.If you sit and watch from the BCB president’s box, you wouldn’t understand the workings of what’s going on there. You just say, “well, he didn’t do very well, let’s get rid of him”. Sadly, young players and medium-term players (those who have been around for a while but not quite done it) feel that pressure. There’s an immense sense of “what will they do next, will I be the one dropped?” How can you perform your best when you have that in your mind?

“Maybe the board can sometimes also get out of the way when something good is happening”Steve Rhodes

It comes down to whether the selection policy is right. I would question whether it is right. The president [Nazmul Hassan] does sign off the team. I think he is not a bad man. He listens to reason. Sometimes he’d say coach, or captain, “if that’s what you want, let’s do it”. But there are other times, because of his power and veto, that he can listen to other people around him that might persuade him differently. You then question the cricketing knowhow of those people. That system isn’t quite right.Do you think if you had the right kind of time, you could have made the players more self-reliant?
I really do. We were doing something that India have done. It was to give importance to every person in the team. The likes of [Virat] Kohli, [MS] Dhoni and the senior players came to the conclusion that everyone is equally important in their team.The proper analogy is whether the racing car driver is more important than the guy who puts one of the nuts on the tires. The answer is, there’s nobody more important. If the guy doesn’t put the nut on right, the wheel falls off, and the driver is no good. The person who takes that one catch is as important as the others. People might be surprised to know that it doesn’t often happen in the Bangladesh team. I think it is holding things back a little bit.What do you think worked against you?
I think they have had different styles of coaches in the past. [Chandika] Hathurusingha was a feisty character who got the best out of some people. I think it had more to do with the lack of understanding of how I wanted to coach. I think that’s where they didn’t really get it.It could have been easier. It would have been nice if they (BCB) understood the way I wanted to coach. It wasn’t the case, and you have to try to make the best of it. I wasn’t going to coach in the way they wanted me to coach.It was our way of getting the team and the players better. You must empower the players. They are out there batting and bowling for Bangladesh. They need to think clearly under pressure, and what’s best for them and the team. It is not about getting instructions from the captain or coach. You take decisions by being given responsibility.How was your relationship with the board president?
I did enjoy working with him. I had a better conversation with him one-to-one. There were two or three occasions when I had very, very good one-to-one conversations at his house. It was very difficult to get the president one-to-one. He had quite a few people who he works closely with. Then it becomes chaotic. You don’t concentrate on each other’s words. Too many people talk at the same time, and you don’t really achieve anything.We might not have agreed on some selection issues but I knew my place as well. As board president, they were employing me. I knew there were some fights you can’t win, but there were some fights worth fighting for.Courtney Walsh and Steve Rhodes worked together with the Bangladesh team•Getty ImagesHow do Bangladesh go forward, and get better given the present system?
I don’t know if they will get better. They will always compete really well. One thing about Bangladesh is, they have gifted, wonderful cricketers. I have seen some tremendous cricketers playing in the BPL. But they are not given the chance to think for themselves. I think they have to do what I was trying to do.The local coaches have to realise that there’s another way of coaching, one that might be beneficial. I am not pointing the finger at the Bangladeshi coaches. They are just used to the system of doing it.What do you make of Bangladeshi coaches?
Bangladesh have good coaches. I have experience with (Mohammad) Salahuddin, who has a good cricket brain. He keeps things relatively simple. There’s definitely a Bangladeshi guy who could be Bangladesh’s head coach. They would have to make compromises – the board and the coach – to make it a working relationship. Salahuddin could do the job really well. It could be the start of something.It is wrong of me talking of new coaches when you have got one in place. But I am not so sure that international coaches is the way forward all the time. I was one. The poor players get used to a coach, and he is gone. Then they get used to another coach, and he is gone. The players then go back to their own local coaches from years ago. He is here all the time, and someone they trust. They try to trust the international coaches, but they get moved on. It doesn’t give continuity, which doesn’t do good for Bangladesh cricket.Part of how Bangladesh are going to go forward, is how the careers of the five senior players are managed from this point.I think they are all different characters. You approach them in different ways – that’s the skill of man management. All of them were terrific. But the one area that used to wind me up, and it wasn’t their fault, is that the media called them the Magnificent Five. I was quoted somewhere saying that we are the Magnificent Eleven. I think that’s important: the team.How can they help going forward?
They can play a huge part in driving the next generations. Shakib, [Mahmudullah] Riyad, Mushi [Mushfiqur Rahim] and Tamim [Iqbal] have a lot of cricket left in them. They have a wealth of experience. They are all good cricketers. Shakib has one of the most magnificent brains I have come across in cricket. But does Shakib get the right respect for what he has achieved in cricket? Or is he just our employee and we will control him?He has so much to offer, so it will be such a waste if he finishes without giving more knowledge and experience. Mashrafe, too, has contributed a lot. He led from the front. He has been a passionate champion and warrior of Bangladesh cricket. He has lot of tactical nous. He can make people listen.Maybe the board can sometimes also get out of the way when something good is happening.Don’t overcoach by trying to warrant your salary. The board member is watching, so I better coach, coach, coach. You are ruining players doing that. The same [sits] with the board. Don’t over-instruct. If things are going okay, just relax. Don’t get too involved in it all. You don’t have to prove you are a board member. If things are going in the right direction, your worth as a board member might be to say less.

The left-arm seamer first made his name in Pune club cricket before graduating to the big leagues

Shashank Kishore04-May-2022On May 1, Gopal Choudhary and Prembai Choudhary travelled over 500km from their home in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, to Pune to watch their son Mukesh play cricket live at a ground. It was a first for them, and being driven to the ground, offered premium seating, and generally being treated like royalty only added to it. They left the stadium smiling as Choudhary picked up four wickets to keep Chennai Super Kings’ IPL hopes alive this season.”It was an amazing feeling to watch him play live and do so well,” Gopal says. “I had only watched him live on the internet earlier. Before the Mushtaq Ali T20s in Lucknow [last November], Mukesh called and asked us to subscribe to Hotstar to be able to watch him play [on TV]. But this experience was something else.”As Gopal watched the IPL game, he recalled the time his younger son packed his bags as a 13-year-old and left Jaipur with his older brother to move to study at the Sinhagad Institute in Pune. “He always liked cricket, but he moved mainly to study,” Gopal says.The family had no background in sport. Gopal, a stone crusher, moved near Yavatmal in Maharashtra in the mid-1980s for work, but left his sons back in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, where they grew up in a hostel close to their maternal grandparents’ home. Bhilwara back then had just one multi-purpose ground, which used to host carnivals more often than it did cricket matches.Choudhary’s cricket skills were spotted during his days in Pune. One of his friends, a club cricketer, saw him bowl at Pune’s Law College grounds in a league game and suggested he train at the 22 Yards Cricket Academy, co-founded by former Maharashtra captain and national selector Surendra Bhave. There, he could hone his game on turf wickets instead of bowling on cement pitches.At the academy Choudhary caught the eye of several senior Maharashtra players who came to train there during the off season, including Kedar Jadhav, Rahul Tripathi, Swapnil Gugale and Ankeet Bawne, Maharashtra’s current captain.Choudhary’s Maharashtra captain Ankeet Bawne: He is a bowler who a captain can throw the ball to at any stage without thinking about whether he’s ready or not”•BCCI”This was around 2015 that he first came to our academy,” 22 Yards head coach Rajesh Mahurkar remembers. “He didn’t have much pace, but there was something we could work with. Along with him there were two other left-arm pacers. We spoke to all three of them and told them that there is talent, and we could work with it if they’re serious. That is how he started.””We worked on his action, pace, and got him up to speed with his fitness. What stood out was, rain or shine, he was very punctual. He wouldn’t miss training.”As we got him in shape to become a competent bowler, we had our next challenge. How do we get him to play more matches?”The academy wasn’t eligible to field a team at the Maharashtra Cricket Association’s invitational tournament, which featured the state’s top club sides and was a key event for the state selectors picking teams across age groups and for first-class cricket.”One of his friends, who happened to know Pravin Tambe, helped find a corporate team he could play for,” Mahurkar says. “In one of the matches he picked up a five-wicket haul and suddenly came into the limelight.”In 2017, Choudhary impressed with his pace and accuracy at the RedBull Campus Cricket tournament, where he played for MMCC College. Among his team-mates was an upcoming batter, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who would go on to recommend Choudhary as a net bowler to Chennai Super Kings in 2021.By then Choudhary had already bowled in the nets in the IPL, for Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians, after fine-tuning his action during a two-year stint at the MRF Pace Academy in Chennai, which he joined in 2016. There he trained under head coach M Senthil Nathan, who has been associated with the academy for over two decades and has worked alongside Dennis Lillee and Glenn McGrath.During his time at MRF, Choudhary would return to Pune to work with his early mentors whenever possible, but he needed to find a club that could compete in tournaments like the MCA Invitational.Harshal Pathak, the former Maharashtra cricketer who now coaches the Thailand women’s national team, signed Choudhary for Cadence Academy, one of the top clubs in Pune, soon after he returned from his first stint at the MRF Academy. A year later, on Tripathi’s recommendation, Choudhary moved to Deccan Gymkhana, the city’s oldest and most prestigious club, to train under former Maharashtra cricketer Satyajit Satbhai.Rajesh Mahurkar, Chouhdary’s mentor in Pune: “Over the past year or so, he’s been working hard to improve his pace. He has identified what he needs to do to get there. He has tremendously improved his fitness and diet”•BCCIImpressive performances for Deccan got Choudhary into the Maharashtra Under-23 team and the senior Ranji side in the same year. He made his first-class debut in November 2017, and now, at 25, is Maharashtra’s front-line seam bowler, now that Samad Fallah and Anupam Sanklecha have moved on.”He’s at that stage where he isn’t insecure anymore,” Bawne says. “He knows he is a regular. He is a bowler who a captain can throw the ball to at any stage without thinking about whether he’s ready or not. I remember a game against Odisha, which we needed to win outright. There was just one session left and we needed to pick up six wickets or so and then chase down a small total.”He bowled ten to 12 overs on the trot, took four wickets, and we won the game.”That attitude comes from within – the willingness to wheel away even on the most placid pitches. It’s no surprise CSK have backed him despite some tough games, where he has been hit for runs. He’s a quick learner, persistent, and a honest trier.”Everyone in the Pune circles describes Choudhary as shy, polite and simple. Mahurkar, who perhaps knows him better than most, speaks highly of his discipline and work ethic.”You will never see him gossiping about anyone. Hardly uses a mobile phone, max one to two hours a day. No WhatsApp, no Facebook. If he must communicate, he’ll just prefer to call.”He comes, quietly trains, does all his drills, he’ll come up and talk to us about something he wants to work on the coming week, and that’s that. You won’t see him idling. If he’s happy with one aspect of his bowling, he will work on the next. Lately, over the past year or so, he’s been working hard to improve his pace. He has identified what he needs to do to get there. He has tremendously improved his fitness and diet. That way he’s very systematic.”Before this year’s IPL auction – his first – Choudhary appeared confident about being picked up by a franchise. “He said MS Dhoni liked his bowling and has been encouraging him a lot, and possibly CSK could give him a call-up,” Mahurkar says. “It’s no surprise they actually bid for him and picked him up at the auction.”Having watched Choudhary’s evolution from close quarters, Mahurkar believes the next step in his journey is for him to become consistent across formats. “His strength is to bowl the ball across the right-hander, but lately he has developed the ball that moves into the right-hander, away from the left-hander.”He mentions the dismissal of Mumbai Indians opener Ishan Kishan from earlier this season as an example. In a game-changing new-ball spell, Choudhary knocked out an off-balance Kishan’s off stump with an outswinger and finished as Player of the Match with 3 for 19.Mahurkar brings up the two other left-arm seamers who first came to train at 22 Yards along with Choudhary. Following his IPL success, they returned to the academy to ask if they could start training again.”The same guys who at the time appeared to have more pace than Mukesh,” Mahurkar says. “They came back wanting to train again after seeing how far this boy has gone.”Can there be a bigger validation than that?”

Pant added 222 runs with Ravindra Jadeja for the sixth wicket to lift India from 98 for 5

Sampath Bandarupalli01-Jul-2022222 Partnership runs between Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. It is India’s joint-highest partnership for the sixth or a lower wicket in Tests from a team total of less than 100 runs. Mohammad Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar added 222 runs for the sixth wicket against South Africa in 1996 from a team score of 58 for 5.1 The 222-run partnership by Pant and Jadeja is India’s joint-highest stand for the sixth or a lower wicket in an away Test. Azharuddin and Tendulkar’s partnership of 222 runs against South Africa also came away from home – in Cape Town.ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 Number of pairs in Test cricket with two double century stands for the sixth and lower wickets, including Pant and Jadeja. They added 204 for the seventh wicket against Australia in the 2019 Sydney Test.4 out of five centuries by Pant in Test cricket have come outside Asia. Only two India batters had more Test 100s outside Asia before turning 25 – seven by Sachin Tendulkar and five by Sunil Gavaskar.89 Balls taken by Pant for his hundred. It is the second-fastest century for India in Test cricket in England. The fastest is by Azharuddin, who needed 87 balls for his hundred at the Lord’s in 1990.131.53 Pant’s strike rate during his 111-ball 146. It is the second-fastest century for India in terms of strike rate in Test cricket. Azharuddin had a strike rate of 141.55 during his 77-ball 109 against South Africa in the 1996 Kolkata Test.ESPNcricinfo Ltd93 Balls needed for MS Dhoni to bring up his century against Pakistan in 2006 in Faisalabad, the fastest century by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests, before Pant’s effort in Birmingham. It was the first of the six Test hundreds for Dhoni, the only player with more Test hundreds as an India wicketkeeper than Pant (5).87.5 Pant’s average while batting at No .5 in Test cricket. Across the seven innings Pant has batted at this position, he’s scored 525 runs with a century and four fifties, all at a strike rate of 98.68.161.53 Pant’s batting strike rate in Tests against Jack Leach. He has scored 147 runs off 91 balls against the left-arm spinner, all while being dismissed once. Since the start of 2002, only one batter has had 100-plus runs against a bowler in Tests, at a higher strike rate than Pant – 175.00 by Shahid Afridi against Irfan Pathan (147 off 84 balls).

The pair added 104 off just 10.2 overs to blindside Australia in the series decider

Shashank Kishore26-Sep-20221:54

Hodge: ‘It looks like Kohli has his mojo back’

Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav. One a decade-old veteran continuing to push boundaries, both physically and skill-wise, in trying to rediscover himself. The other, a late bloomer at 31, and in the absolute peak of his prowess, with magical wrists and instincts that give him a split-second more than others to hit balls to corners of the ground as he pleases.On Sunday in Hyderabad, it was this combination that put Australia under the mat, before Hardik Pandya sealed India’s series win from being 1-0 down just four days ago. Kohli and Suryakumar added 104 off just 10.2 overs in a fine display of power, skill, wristwork, fitness and the inventive to raze down India’s 187-run target.Related

'I won't just sit out' – Suryakumar overcomes illness to give India series win

Rohit backs Bhuvneshwar to come good: 'It's important we give him that space'

Kohli, Suryakumar, Axar star as India seal T20I series 2-1

This partnership was a tad different, though.Teams tend to bring spin on to Kohli early in his innings. In all T20 cricket since 2021, Kohli strikes at just 108.85 in 40 innings against spin. In comparison, he goes at 137.81 against pace. So, when Aaron Finch brought Adam Zampa on within two balls of his arrival to the crease, it seemed a perfectly legitimate move. Zampa also had the wood over Kohli, having dismissed him eight times, the most he’s been out to a single bowler in white-ball cricket.Three nights ago, Kohli was out giving the charge to Zampa as he played all around a slider that snuck through bat and pad to crash into the stumps. Sunday was going to add another chapter to this match-up, and Kohli wasn’t in the mood to allow Zampa to dictate terms. His first delivery, Kohli’s third of the innings, was a perfectly tossed up delivery on off-stump. Kohli was forward and right to the pitch in a jiffy as he drilled the ball through extra cover to begin with a boundary. It set Kohli up for the rest of his innings.”When Surya started hitting it like that, I kind of looked at the dug-out as well,” Kohli said after the match to Star Sports. “Rohit and Rahul both told me, ‘you can just keep batting on’ because Surya was striking it that well. It was just about building a partnership, so I used my experience a little bit, stayed back.”Australia, though, didn’t just have to be mindful of Kohli. At the other end, Suryakumar was plotting carnage in his own style. One second, he was stepping out to leg, giving the impression he’d be going inside out, only to whip deliveries to bisect deep midwicket and long-on. The next, he was going deep into the crease, so deep you feared for his back leg nudging the stumps, to manufacture length to play his back-cut behind point. These two shots, in essence, are a peek into Suryakumar’s approach – no leeway, no luxuries to settle into a length.”It’s absolute clarity in what he wants to do,” Kohli said of Suryakumar’s brilliance. “Obviously he has the game to bat under any sort of situation, in any condition and he’s shown that already. He got a hundred in England; he batted beautifully in the Asia Cup as well. Here he’s striking the ball as well as I’ve seen him strike. I mean, for the last six months he’s been outstanding so it’s just the array of shots, and to play those shots at the right time is such tremendous for a guy who knows his game inside out and has no fear in executing those shots.”Kohli came out all guns blazing against spin, eventually hitting a match-winning fifty•BCCIAt the end of seven overs, Kohli had raced to 25, with Suryakumar on 6. Within four overs, Suryakumar had comfortably overtaken Kohli. Soon enough, he brought up his half-century with back-to-back sixes off Zampa in the 13th, with Kohli having slowed down to watch the show from the best seat in the house. This wasn’t to say Kohli went completely defensive. He took Zampa on from the get-go, walloping a massive six down the ground. More than the six, his manner of unsettling the bowler told you of how he’d meticulously planned to counter him.”I kind of made up my mind to go after him today,” Kohli said. “He’s a quality bowler. He kind of tries to control my scoring rate whenever we play, and I knew he is going to attack the stumps, so I was outside leg stump already. In the last game, I was kind of disappointed that after hitting a four, I went for a double rather than hitting him for a six, so I’m making a conscious effort to strike big in the middle overs, so that it can help the team’s situation.”Since he has returned from the break at the Asia Cup last month, Kohli has been visibly aggressive against spin. Shades of this dominance were visible in his takedown of Rashid Khan when he broke his century-drought earlier this month in Dubai. Such clarity can often be down to one’s confidence levels. On Sunday, Kohli arrived at the ground an hour and a half prior to the rest of the team and had a 30-minute net. This was a reinvigorated Kohli working his way back up to top form and wanting to cash in on good form that seemed to have deserted him for a while.”I’ve enjoyed my batting ever since I came back during the Asia Cup,” Kohli said. “I’m really enjoying my process, really working hard on my fitness all over again. I’m excited to go to the gym, excited go to practice and just contribute to the team’s cause. I know the last game wasn’t a big score, but I felt like I hit two impact boundaries, so am happy with my contributions. And am not putting myself down if I’m not getting big runs every time for the team. I’m just trying to stay in this space.”

Glenn Phillips knows he’s got incredible natural ability and works hard to keep his skills razor sharp

Andrew McGlashan07-Nov-2022There are many elements in the coming week that could decide who lifts the T20 World Cup. It may come down to plain luck too. But it could also be a sprinted single. Or an exceptional piece of fielding.There have been plenty of spectacular catches during the tournament (there have also been a few spectacular misses) but high on the list of instant classics was Glenn Phillips’ gravity-defying running dive to dismiss Marcus Stoinis at the SCG in the opening match of the Super 12s.That game set the tone for both teams involved: it put New Zealand on their way to the semi-finals, allowing them the breathing space to soak up a loss to England, and left Australia so far behind that they could not make up the ground.Related

• Think catch, not save: inside the art of boundary fielding

• Guptill, Boult left out of New Zealand's white-ball squads for India series

• Tactics board: Rauf vs Conway, Pakistan's weakness against offspin, and more

• Glenn Phillips is Superman once again

• 'It was very much spur of the moment' – Phillips

New Zealand are back in Sydney for their semi-final against Pakistan, an unlikely match-up until the extraordinary drama of Sunday. It is also the ground where Phillips left his mark with a masterful century against Sri Lanka. But while he is only an occasional bowler, it’s his value as a fielder which makes him worth being classed as an allrounder. He pushes himself to the limits, and sometimes beyond.”There’s certain things where I know if I haven’t got there, it’s okay, because there’s probably not many other people who would have,” Phillips told ESPNcricinfo. “I try to look at it that way for myself to not get too down. The chances are that, if you are getting to balls you aren’t meant to, then you are going to mess up quite a bit. But the odd screamer will come off. If you get it, you pull off something amazing. If you don’t, well you never had the right to be there anyway. So you may as well at least try.”Sometimes my speed gets me in trouble as well. Sometimes I over-run it. I went through a stage when I was younger where guys tried to get me to slow down, but it got to the point where I’d actually fumble just as much or stuff up probably more often than I would, if I was going 100%. I realised if I have the chance to be that little faster, or jump a little higher, it then becomes your responsibility to use it. Because if you don’t, then what’s the point having it?”Glenn Phillips practices fielding like Superman•ICC/Getty ImagesPhillips has always had his natural athleticism, but the enjoyment of fielding goes back to childhood when he and his younger brother Dale would practice with their dad in the nets, rather than just focusing on batting and bowling. He is also quick to acknowledge that others in the team also set high standards. There were some rare blunders against England, with Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell missing catches, but overall, New Zealand are one of the world leaders in the field.”I’ve always loved fielding,” he said. “It wasn’t just because you had to do fielding. It’s because we wanted to do it. Fielding these days can become a third string. If you have the ability to make a difference somehow in the field, it doesn’t necessarily matter if you’ve had a good day with bat or ball because fielding is an attitudinal thing and that’s what we [New Zealand] all try and bring.”From the genetic side of things, it has always been there but without working and keeping it growing, you lose it. So definitely, it’s something that I’ve worked on. I’ve tried to get stronger, tried to get faster, tried to get more agile, to be in positions where I have the right to at least have a go at making a catch that maybe no one else is going to get.”It is equally possible, though, that Phillips plays a decisive hand with the bat against Pakistan as New Zealand seek their first major piece of global limited-overs silverware. His 104 off 64 balls against Sri Lanka lifted them from 15 for 3 and featured superb acceleration, having been 22 off 22 deliveries. Against England at the Gabba Phillips was giving his team a chance of chasing a tough target, having been given a life by Moeen Ali, before falling just short of clearing long-on. It is those sorts of narrow margins involved in the format that Phillips tries to keep in perspective.”[It’s about] trying to find something in a game of such high failure that you can succeed at more often,” he said. “Sometimes it just takes one mis-hit. Say I didn’t mis-hit that [against England], you never know. I’ve done things similar on other occasions and it’s having that experience and banking on myself on being able to do it. It’s a game of small margins so sometimes it’s not going to come off, but if you have the belief that you are the one that can do it at least you have a chance.”Phillips has enjoyed the different challenges created by the various grounds during this tournament. This will be New Zealand’s third match at the SCG and the previous two have provided opposite short and long boundaries.Phillips outscored Sri Lanka all on his own in Sydney•ICC via Getty Images”It’s actually quite cool to try come up with unique ways of getting balls into areas that create high-scoring opportunity for lower risk,” he said. “[Bowlers] will always try to take it away from the small boundary and we will always try to hit it there, so how can my mind games play against their mind games.”It’s about looking at the field and deciding what my high risk, high-value shots are, then I understand I’ve got all my other shots as well which happen naturally as you’ve been trained to do for years on end. You’ve got a split second to react and will get it wrong sometimes, but if the idea in your mind is to be as positive as possible, then I have the chance of going both sides of the field.”Away from matches, Phillips thinks extensively about his batting and the various scenarios being at No. 4 or 5 can provide, but once he gets to the crease – whether it’s setting a target or chasing one – he wants to have as few thoughts as possible in his mind.”I’ve always been a deep-thinker, but in the middle I try to leave all the deep thinking back in the sheds,” he said. “At training I’m thinking about how I can get balls in different areas, and if I’ve trained [that way] then going into the middle, the less thinking that’s possible the clearer I’m going to be to make the right choice to the right ball. For me, when you’ve got a split-second to react, if my mind is filled with anything other than watching the ball then I’ll be in trouble.”

They have also lost the experience of Robin Uthappa in the middle, and Mayank Agarwal could be the answer there

Srinidhi Ramanujam18-Dec-20224:51

How can CSK replace Dwayne Bravo?

Who they’ve got
Super Kings finished ninth in the ten-team tournament in 2022 but – true to reputation – have retained most of their players. Dwayne Bravo is the biggest name they let go of – he will be their bowling coach instead. They have retained their star allrounder Ravindra Jadeja despite rumours suggesting the marriage might be over. MS Dhoni, at 41, still remains captain but they will be keen to identify and groom someone to take over after the 2023 edition.

Follow the 2023 IPL auction LIVE

You can watch the auction live in India on Star Sports, and follow live analysis with Tom Moody, Ian Bishop, Wasim Jaffer and Stuart Binny right here on ESPNcricinfo.

Current squad: MS Dhoni (capt, wk), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh TheekshanaWhat they have to play with
Super Kings have INR 20.45 crore (USD 2.4 million approx.) to spend at the auction. They have seven slots available, including two for overseas players.What they need

• Two Indian batters, of which one should ideally be a back-up wicketkeeper to Dhoni.
• It won’t be bad for them if they can get hold of a strong overseas quick as well as an Indian quick, because that department looks a little thin despite Mukesh Choudhary’s success last season.
• And while they are at it, why not an Indian wristspinner too?

The likely targets
Sam Curran isn’t new to Super Kings’ set-up, having worn the yellow jersey in 2020 and 2021 for 23 matches. With Dwayne Bravo not around anymore, Curran could be the overseas quick who can bowl at the death and also chip in with the bat lower down the order. He was picked by Super Kings for INR 5.5 crore in 2020.Mayank Agarwal is another obvious target, like Curran. Though primarily a top-order batter, Agarwal dropped to the middle order last year to accommodate better strikers at the top. With Robin Uthappa, one of Super Kings’ main Indian middle-order batters last season, retiring Agarwal could be a great fit.Josh Little made a big impact in the T20 World Cup in Australia this year, picking up 11 wickets in seven matches at a great economy of 7.00 for Ireland. That included a hat-trick [Kane Williamson, James Neesham and Mitchell Santner] against New Zealand.Jaydev Unadkat could be a contender for a team that likes experienced hands, and Unadkat has worked with Dhoni and Stephen Fleming at Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL 2017. He had a memorable season then, claiming 24 wickets in 12 matches.