He went from being their top wicket-taker to being benched in the space of two IPL seasons, but the mystery spinner believes this is his year to bounce back

Deivarayan Muthu31-Mar-2023Varun Chakravarthy burst onto the cricketing scene in 2018 as a mystery spinner with a bagful of variations, but his life – and career – has had more twists and turns than there are variations in his repertoire.He started his career as a wicketkeeper-batter who wanted to become the “next Dinesh Karthik”, then had a cameo as an actor in a Tamil movie, , when he was trying to break through as an assistant director. Somewhere along the way he ditched cricket and movies for architecture. He then returned to cricket again as a mystery spinner who could turn the ball both ways at a quick pace.Related

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It was those abilities, a prized and uncommon skill set, that gave Kolkata Knight Riders’ attack a potent point of difference in the 2020 and 2021 IPLs. Soon after, Varun played for India in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. However, in IPL 2022, his form and rhythm plummeted so much that he was benched for three games. The ball wasn’t quite turning both ways or he wasn’t giving it much of a chance to do so by uncharacteristically tossing it up too full, which allowed batters to get underneath the length and pump him over the top. The mystery in his bowling seemed to have disappeared.

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There is one constant theme in Varun’s life: he has bounced back from setbacks – both on and off the field. In 2017, for example, he started his own architecture business, but the floods in Chennai that year damaged his sites, resulting in heavy losses. He managed to find a way to overcome that disappointment. If anything, setbacks have been catalysts for him to bounce back. Just like when he decided to switch his career path to cricket from architecture.Having experienced such lows in life, Varun didn’t allow a few bad games in the IPL last season to send him into a shell. “Yes, obviously, I take the lessons [from life],” he says. “Cricket is part of my life and whatever happens in life also affects cricket. So I try to implement life lessons into my cricket as well and what I have understood is that even during your ups and downs, you should be level, and the only people who will always be with you are your family.Varun went wicketless in the three T20 World Cup matches he played in the UAE in 2021•Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images”I know that I’m not foolproof or damage-proof and I was expecting this kind of an [IPL] season at some point. Everyone will go through a low time, but it’s about coming back.”Sriram Krishnamurthy, Varun’s coach at Madurai Panthers in the Tamil Nadu Premier League and a former coach with Northern Brave Men in New Zealand, credits Varun with maintaining an equilibrium in both his cricket and life. “Even though he had that IPL season he had, one good thing about Varun we’ve seen from day one is, he never gets too high and never gets too low,” Sriram says. “While his confidence was dented after the last IPL, he wasn’t broken, and that comes down to the person that he is. He’s very practical and realistic about understanding the game and life per se. That’s a big strength of his because I feel like for someone who has had the life he has – being a late entrant into cricket – and how far he has gone, for anyone else, it could have taken them away from reality. We’ve seen other players get lost after this sort of quick success, whereas I feel with Varun, he is always focused on what he has to do and I feel the mental element of bouncing back from failures is there with him.”

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What went wrong with Varun last season?Having worked his way up from a tennis-ball background, he previously hadn’t played or practised as much as he did in the last five years. As a result, he veered away from his strengths and some undesirable technical changes also crept into his bowling. His run-up became slower, his lengths fuller, and overall his bowling lost some of its fizz.In the UAE, Varun got some of his fuller ones to skid or hold off the pitch, but on fairly easy-paced hit-through-the line Indian tracks last season, batters lined him up easily. According to ESPNcricinfo’s logs, he conceded 107 runs off 48 full balls last IPL.Around the time he was relegated to the sidelines by the Knight Riders, he sat down and watched his old videos to remedy his bowling. “After those games, I had a break,” Varun says. I was basically trying to flight the ball, which was not my expertise. I [now] bowl quicker and that has worked for me. It was better sticking to that. Personally, I worked on my run-up as well. I realised it quite late, but I came to know that was a mistake.Sriram Krishnamurthy, Madurai Panthers coach: “If, with his pace, Varun ensures the batsman doesn’t have much time to think, I feel that will set him up well”•BCCI”I [had] just started running slower because… if a cricketer practises for a long time again and again, there are a few basics you might forget, which you usually get right. It was a case of that and then when I watched previous videos of my bowling, I realised I was running slow. Then my run-up was quicker, like what it was before, and I feel that was the difference. The last three matches for KKR went well for me after the break.”Once he returned to action for Knight Riders in the last stretch of IPL 2022, Varun hit the pitch much harder, increased his pace, dragged his length back, and denied batters easy access to the boundary. He stuck to his guns in the TNPL 2022 that followed and he and Sriram tried to recreate what had worked for Varun when he first broke into the IPL.”I remember having a conversation with him about what he was doing well when he was going well, in terms of the pace and length he bowled,” Sriram recalls. “By being slower through the air and bowling fuller, he was also giving batsmen an opportunity to sort of get to the pitch of the ball, and when you’re doing that you take away the element of [doubt about] which way the ball is going to go. From that perspective, we discussed how he was successful by bowling that length or slightly back of a length, which made the batsmen play him pretty much only off the pitch. The quicker pace with which he bowls means batsmen will have slightly less time to react.”He did go towards doing something different in the last IPL. For a player to evolve, he has to constantly keep working, and that was probably the journey Varun was going on as well. On the basis of performance, it didn’t necessarily reflect too well on how he did for KKR in that IPL, which again dented his confidence a little bit. But again, the clarity he had about his own bowling and whatever the conversation we had was not about me telling him what to do, but it was a process of rediscovering what he did well before, and to his credit, he was fully aware of his strengths. So he recreated that confidence. [Also] there is a difference in the quality of batting in TNPL and IPL. So it gives him a bit more space and time to get his confidence back, so to say.”With the IPL returning to the home-and-away format, Varun is set to play for KKR at Eden Gardens for the first time. He is usually not a big turner of the ball and particularly relishes bowling on bouncier or even flatter pitches. With Eden Gardens no longer the turner that it once used to be, Sriram thinks Varun has the tools to be penetrative at the venue.After his three-game break in the IPL last year, Varun returned to take two wickets in two games•BCCI”Varun is slightly taller than most average spinners and the other thing is his high release point,” Sriram says. “That release point helps him get bounce off the wicket. He has to bowl that length to extract that bounce. If he uses his height and release point… like he said, maybe he’s not a massive turner of the ball, but he turns the ball enough. If he ensures that the batsman doesn’t have too much time to sit back and think, which comes down to the pace at which Varun bowls, then I feel that will set him up well.”Varun has tuned up for the new IPL season after getting ample game time with Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Madurai Panthers in the TNPL, and Vijay CC in the Chennai league during the city’s oppressive summer.”At Tamil Nadu and in the TNPL, they’ve been using me as a death bowler, so it’s something that challenges me and hopefully I’ll be able to do the job in the IPL as well,” Varun says. “KKR have shown a lot of faith in me, which is important for any player. The KKR management has always been in constant touch with me on how I’m doing and all those things. I’ll always be grateful to KKR for what they’ve bestowed upon me and the responsibility that they’ve given me.”Right after the end of the IPL, we had another camp at the KKR academy. Normally people have a camp before the IPL, but the same players were part of another camp. You don’t know if you will be retained or not, but still we trained with the same bunch of guys. That’s something I liked about what they did last year, and it basically helped our preparation for Syed Mushtaq Ali [Trophy]. Regardless of whether they’re going to retain that player or not, they called all the Indians for the camp again. Hopefully, I can live up to the expectations this IPL.”As a retained player, the expectations on Varun to deliver are even greater this IPL and whichever way this season goes, it could well add another twist to his career.

Only seven American-born players were picked at the draft, suggesting the league may be located in the USA but it’s not happening for the USA

Peter Della Penna24-Mar-2023On Sunday night at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, all sorts of questions could be explored walking around this wondrous complex dedicated to the history and future of space exploration. On entering, to the left, visitors couldn’t have missed a prominent exhibit dedicated to the new Artemis shuttle program which launched last November. Who might be the first woman to walk on the moon, one might ask? How many years until an astronaut lands on Mars?By the end of that evening’s Major League Cricket (MLC) player draft, conducted at the sprawling facility, a different question took center stage. One that might even stump NASA’s astrophysicists and rocket scientists: What is a local cricketer in the MLC?Judging by the list of 54 players chosen in the draft (for domestic players) it’s entirely possible that if you asked any of the hundreds of people present, you might not be able to get two people to give the same answer.Most coaches, players and fans within the USA have been sold the premise that the MLC is going to provide new opportunities for American players to aid their development by allowing them to play with and against some of the world’s elite stars. That was highlighted by the announcement of the first six international signings unveiled on draft night, headlined by Aaron Finch, Mitchell Marsh and Quinton de Kock.Related

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But when it came to the drafting, a steady stream of messages and social media posts highlighted both the excitement and at times dismay as to who plays as a “local” player alongside those stars. In the first round, three USA national team players were drafted: Steven Taylor, Ali Khan and Rusty Theron. All three have had very different journeys to play for USA.Taylor was born and raised in Florida. He is USA’s all-time leading scorer in T20Is and once flirted with playing for the West Indies by using his parents’ Jamaican heritage. He was briefly even contracted with Jamaica’s first-class team in 2017. He turned a standout knock of 88 off 71 balls in the 2017 CWI Super50 semi-final into a $30,000 contract with Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL, making him the highest paid American player in a T20 franchise league at the time. The $75,000 slot he’ll get for being the third overall pick by MI New York is not only two-and-a-half times what he got in the CPL, but nearly as much as he got in 2019 as one of USA’s first centrally contracted players. Except, that was for 12 months’ work compared to sweating out as few as five match days during MLC.Khan was born in Pakistan, moved with his family to Ohio at the age of 18 and became a naturalized citizen in 2015. That was well before he debuted for USA in 2016 and turned into a regular on the global T20 franchise circuit in the summer of 2018. But his pathway to fifth overall pick by Los Angeles Knight Riders was destined once he had been part of the Knight Riders set-ups in the CPL, IPL, and ILT20.Theron grew up in and represented South Africa before retiring and seeking out a university degree in education in Florida. His stay was meant to be temporary until he met his wife, got married and got back into cricket on the US club scene. After qualifying under the ICC’s three-year residency criteria, he was eventually picked for a USA debut in 2019.Elsewhere in the first round, Corey Anderson was drafted by San Francisco Unicorns. He retired from international cricket several years ago and migrated to Texas just ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic to be nearer to his then fiancée and now wife’s family. He has also met the three-year residency threshold to be eligible to play for USA. Liam Plunkett and Shehan Jayasuriya, both drafted in the second round, have also decided to settle in the USA over the last two years, through marriage.In different ways, these journeys paint a picture of a cricket league’s spin on the American dream, especially for a kid growing up in Texas wanting to be the next Taylor or Khan: “Hey kid, you can make an honest living as a professional cricketer right here in America.” As when 20-year-old Dallas native Ali Sheikh, who has played for USA Under-19, but is yet to get a senior team cap, was taken in the sixth round for $25,000. That’s not such a bad part-time summer job for a college student at the University of Texas at Dallas. If he does well enough, it’ll come off more like a summer internship leading to a full-time cricket job post-grad.Franchises gathered inside NASA Space Center Houston for the MLC Draft•Peter Della PennaHowever, snaking through the rest of the draft, that dream started to get fuzzier. The lack of USA national team qualified players selected became increasingly hard to ignore, or the lack of outright American citizens. This was, after all, a draft for local players. Following the selection of Taylor third overall, it took until the fourth round for a second American-born player to be picked: Nosthush Kenjige 22nd overall pick, joining Taylor at MI New York.But a pick which drew much more scrutiny came one selection earlier when Chaitanya Bishnoi was taken by San Francisco Unicorns. In a media release issued by MLC on March 6 to highlight the shortlist of 102 players in the draft pool – including 56 who were divided into four teams for a T20 quadrangular played in front of coaches and scouts from the six MLC franchises – there was no mention of Bishnoi, a 28-year-old journeyman from Delhi who at one time was in the Chennai Super Kings squad but never made it to a starting XI. As recently as January, Bishnoi was suiting up for Haryana in the Ranji Trophy. Instead, there was a ‘Chetan Bish’, presumably Bishnoi’s Clark Kent alter ego who had left India at the start of March, rocked up to Houston and was deemed a “local” player.When Bishnoi walked up on stage to collect his new Unicorns cap in the tradition of American drafts and pose for a photo with tournament director Justin Geale, there were smiles on the dais mixed with the pained grins of several USA squad players in the crowd. Many of those without a central contract who live paycheck to paycheck, along with their peers currently on an ODI tour in Namibia, wound up undrafted while Bishnoi was fetching a $40,000 purse designated for fourth-round picks.When asked for their definition of “local”, an MLC official said: “A player needs to demonstrate that they will hold a ‘qualified visa’, have established their ‘primary and permanent residence’ in the US, and will continue to satisfy the ICC’s guideline regarding ten out of 12 months for three consecutive years.” That may be a reasonable definition but satisfying all three statutes after spending a handful of days in the country strains credulity, especially since Bishnoi was specifically described in MLC documents as a “player currently transitioning to eligible visa to be classified as domestic player”. There is also a subtle but important difference in the language used by MLC, giving the green light to players who “will” pledge to stay in the USA for three years, versus the ICC guideline requiring non-citizen players to have already lived in the USA for three years.To be fair, Bishnoi was not the only one that MLC appears to have flexed their domestic player statute for, though he is the only one to bizarrely alter his name upon arrival. Mukhtar Ahmed and Saif Badar, 30 and 24 respectively, also arrived at the 11th hour into Texas for the quadrangular T20s held the week before the draft, having been part of the Pakistan domestic set-up during the 2022-23 season. Mukhtar went in the second round for $65,000 and Badar in round seven for $15,000.USA players on the fringe of being drafted might have been able to reconcile this if they saw the “local player” criteria being massaged to accommodate, say, Virat Kohli. But many people in US cricket circles are struggling to understand why MLC officials were so desperate to shoehorn a trio of fairly obscure names into the draft who will not move the needle one bit when it comes to marketing exposure, ticket sales or TV ratings.In the end, players with deep ties to the national team were few and far between among draft selections. Only seven American-born players (13% of the picks) were chosen, including four in the Under-23 development category. Though there is a requirement to have an Under-23 player in each squad, there’s no mandate to play them in the XI. It means that realistically, only three franchises may have a solitary American-born player in their starting XI of the 66 players who will make their MLC debut from July 13.Players with deep ties to the USA national team were few and far between among the MLC draft selections•Peter Della PennaSeparate from that, there is miniscule representation of USA national team players on the whole. Only 15 out of the 54 picks were players who have been capped for the senior or Under-19 teams. When all the overseas signings are finalised, it means that at best an average of two USA players will be in any squad.This is in stark contrast to, as a relevant example, the UAE’s ILT20. Though nine overseas players were allowed in any starting XI, organisers mandated that each squad pick four UAE-qualified players and two in every starting XI. MLC will allow six overseas players in their starting XI, yet their malleable definition of “local” – along with no mandate to specifically pick a minimum number of USA-qualified players – means that there may be numerous matches where not a single USA national team player takes the field.The glowing exception is MI New York. Despite their stubbornly goofy branding in tagging Mumbai into the name of every domestic city-based franchise they have a stake in, MI New York has the most American flavour by far. They used six of their nine draft picks – double the next best – on USA squad players. That’s thanks in large part to former USA head coach J Arunkumar in their backroom. If he thought the quality of a USA player was no good, he could easily have ignored his former charges. Instead, he has vouched for their quality. If that many are good enough for MI New York, why not other teams?At the other end, Washington Freedom and San Francisco Unicorns only took one USA squad member each. Meanwhile, a total of 22 current or former USA squad members at junior or senior level went undrafted out of the final pool of 102 players. The snubs include the three batting heroes of USA’s first ever T20I win over a Full Member nation in December 2021 against Ireland: Sushant Modani, Gajanand Singh and Marty Kain. That kind of unbalanced equation gives off the impression that while the league may be located in the USA, it may not necessarily be happening for the USA.Amid reminders of Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the moon, the ability for current or former overseas stars to cash in some American greenbacks on the T20 circuit took a giant leap for cricketkind on Sunday night. Yet, a much smaller step was taken to advance vital cricket playing ambitions and opportunities for the ‘local’ man.

At most times, Russell would have backed himself to face the final ball of a close chase, but here he had enough faith in Rinku’s abilities

Sreshth Shah09-May-20232:07

Dasgupta: Russell’s faith in Rinku reflects KKR’s confidence

Andre Russell has done the improbable with the bat for Kolkata Knight Riders for over half a decade. As long as Russell is in the middle, the possibilities are endless. When Russell is gone, so are KKR’s hopes.That’s one of the reasons why, possibly, Russell walks back looking frustrated, angry and disappointed when he gets out during a close finish. But against Punjab Kings on Monday evening, Russell did no such thing despite being run-out on the penultimate ball of the match. He was a picture of calm walking back after scoring 42 in 23 balls, even though KKR were one ball away from potentially being out of the playoffs race.That’s because Rinku Singh was still there, and on strike, for that last ball. Rinku did not disappoint Russell, or KKR, finishing the game with a four. It was a moment that not only displayed Rinku’s growing stature as a finisher but also the passing of the finisher’s baton in KKR.Related

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“In any other game, with any other batter, I’m not sure if I would run [a bye in the penultimate ball],” Russell told reporters after the match. “I’ve never really done those things before. I would back myself to bat the last delivery and get the job done. But when you have a guy like Rinku, who has been so successful in the last couple of overs for us, and when you have such a fearless player who has a shot to counter any delivery, I was definitely confident.”I gave him a hug and said, ‘listen, bring home the bacon for us; at the end of the day, we need you at this point’, and he said, ‘okay, big man, no worries’. Happy days.”Russell and Rinku had just got themselves set when Arshdeep Singh was tasked with bowling two of the last three overs. KKR needed 36 in 18, and even though Arshdeep conceded ten runs in the 18th over, one four from Rinku was a streaky one, and the bowler’s assortment of wide yorkers and short balls made it tough for the two batters to tee off.Then, with 26 needed off 12, all Arshdeep needed was for Sam Curran to leave enough runs for him to defend in the 20th. Russell looked to hurt Curran, and succeeded with six, six, dot, six in the space of four balls. That over went for 20, and the target of six in the last over made KKR overwhelming favourites.”Sam Curran was trying to bowl into my body so that I hit the big side of the boundary, that was their plan,” Russell said. “I hit him for two sixes over the big side but as a bowler, because I think like a bowler too, so I knew he wasn’t going to bowl in that area again. The short ball that he bowled, I missed out on it, but when he bowled the slower cutter into the wicket, I just gave myself that little room and just used my hands to get it over the field.”He didn’t have any third man, it was the short side, and that wasn’t part of their team plan. But when you conquer a team’s bowling plan, then their Plan B is in the batter’s zone most of the time. So T20 is tough and you have to make sure you, as bowlers and batters, stay calm in any situation.”But Arshdeep executed his plan perfectly for the first five balls of the last over.Russell was welcomed with a yorker, followed by a wide yorker that he could only slice behind square. Rinku then found a thigh-high full toss too tough to put away and Russell followed it up with a drive to cover for two. That made the equation two off two, and with Russell on strike, the penultimate delivery was high stakes.Arshdeep bowled a terrific wide yorker that was too good for Russell. He swung at it and missed as the ball bounced to the keeper. But Rinku had sprinted across to the other end to ensure he would face the last ball. Russell, slow to take off, was run-out, leaving KKR still needing two off the final ball.But Rinku on strike. The Eden crowd, which was until then cheering for Russell, started their “Rinku, Rinku, Rinku” chant.Arshdeep went with a leg-side plan for the final ball. The leg side was the shorter side and there was little chance of KKR’s batters making it back for two if the ball went there to a fielder. The bigger off-side region had big pockets for twos, so Arshdeep was not going to go there.Rinku Singh leaps in joy after hitting the winning boundary•BCCIKnowing all that, Rinku moved to the leg side even before Arshdeep delivered the ball. If Arshdeep bowled the ball he wanted to, it would have landed around leg and Rinku had the option of going inside out over cover for two. Instead, Arshdeep missed his length, his attempted leg-stump yorker becoming a thigh-high full toss, and Rinku swivelled a shot off his hips that went for four past fine leg. Like after his celebrations against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, Rinku opened his helmet and ran towards the dug-out, with his team-mates mobbing him for his match-winning unbeaten 10-ball 21.”The key to Rinku’s performance is being very calm,” Russell said. “As a batter, you have to have an open mind and be relaxed. You can’t expect just a full-pitched delivery. You have to expect the slower ball, the yorker, the short ball at the head, and Rinku has a shot for every delivery. That’s the key to his success. His technique is very simple… and I’ve been encouraging him whenever I get a chance to talk to him to stay humble.”Because no matter how many people keep shouting ‘Russell, Russell, Russell’, I always just stay humble. Because when you get swell-headed, that’s when you lose it. He’s a great guy, I love him like a brother, and I hope he keeps doing what he’s doing.”

Returning to the land of his forefathers for the World Cup, the Netherlands opener is hoping to turn his excellent start into something bigger

Himanshu Agrawal07-Oct-2023Vikramjit Singh, one of the biggest positives for Netherlands in their opening match against Pakistan, is briefly lost for words as he thinks back to one of his favourite shots from that half-century. He mimics the flick shot that he picked from a near fourth-stump line off Shaheen Shah Afridi. “That was sweet, I really enjoyed that,” he says with a smile.Vikramjit hit Shaheen for three boundaries, all inside the powerplay, to give Netherlands an excellent start in their chase of 287. His third-wicket stand with Bas de Leede briefly kept Pakistan on tenterhooks, before his toe-ended pull shot that found deep midwicket led to a collapse. A couple of overs earlier, he had cleared the same long boundary by playing a similar shot off legspinner Shadab Khan. He said he didn’t rue attempting the shot, but wished to have timed it better.On Monday, Vikramjit will have another opportunity. Perhaps he will have the chance to put to action the learnings from having watched his “idol” Quinton de Kock make bruising century in South Africa’s World Cup opener in New Delhi. It was an off day for Netherlands, so Vikramjit watched the match closely. He first met de Kock at the T20 World Cup last year, where he couldn’t stop asking him questions.”The backlift, him playing away from his body, the way he cuts the ball – I want to bat like him every time I go out there,” Vikramjit had told ESPNcricinfo prior to the World Cup. “The chat I had with him [at the 2022 T20 World Cup] was about the way he goes about it, what he thinks when the bowler is running in, etc. Then we had a series against South Africa, when again I had a chat with him.”Related

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Vikramjit, like a couple of others from his team, is returning to the country of his forefathers for the World Cup. While there are no games in Punjab, where his family hails from, there is still an air of familiarity about it for him.Prior to coming to Hyderabad, he spent ten days in Bengaluru training on different surfaces. As such, Vikramjit often makes trips back to India to play, and has spent considerable time training with former India Under-19 World Cup winner Taruwar Kohli in Jalandhar. Kohli’s familiarity with Vikramjit grew during his club cricket stint in the Netherlands between 2017 and 2019, when he would often frequent Vikramjit’s house. That eventually grew into a mentor-mentee relation.Vikramjit Singh’s batting is more fearless than his mentor, Taruwar Kohli’s•KNCB/Gerhard van der LaarseSince 2021, the two have trained together at Kohli’s academy, with the help of robo-arms, bowling machines and dedicated coaches. Vikramjit has fed off the knowledge of his mentor-cum-friend, but there is one difference. While Kohli’s batting was mostly orthodox, Vikramjit’s is a little more enterprising.”For me, it’s about getting used to the speed of the game,” Vikramjit says. “In international cricket, everything happens so much quicker. Not only is the ball being bowled faster, but also the game is moving so quickly. Just getting used to that takes a little bit. When you get into the professional set-up, you learn not only cricket-wise but also off the field – like how disciplined you need to be.”Much of Vikramjit’s early learnings were shaped by his father, Harpreet, who was also his first coach. The solid grounding helped Vikramjit make a name in the Under-12s and Under-15s. At 14, he even got a bat sponsorship from Jalandhar-based manufacturers BAS, which was incidentally facilitated by Ramesh Kohli, Taruwar’s uncle and one of the partners in the company.The early age-group promise helped him earn a national cap at 16 when he made his T20I debut against Scotland in 2019 following a strong endorsement from former Netherlands captain Peter Borren. An ODI debut followed in 2022, one that set in motion his trip to the World Cup. This is a fresh chapter in a journey that began in a tiny village near Jalandhar called Cheema Khurd.Vikramjit, who was born there, moved to the Netherlands when he was “three or four” after Harpreet took over a transport business established by his father. Vikramjit remembers watching the 2011 World Cup on TV and dreaming of playing in one.”My grandparents are the ones who migrated to the Netherlands,” he says. “My dad, and all my uncles and aunts, was born there. Dad was an amateur cricketer. I joined him at times, and really walked in his footsteps.”

“In international cricket, everything happens so much quicker. Not only is the ball being bowled faster, but also the game is moving so quickly. Just getting used to that takes a little bit”

Vikramjit went to a Dutch school and made Dutch friends, which meant playing a lot of football, the country’s most popular sport. However, cricket didn’t leave him.The defining moment of his young career came during the ODI World Cup Qualifier this June, when Netherlands were fighting for one of the two qualifying spots. Against hosts Zimbabwe, Vikramjit was struggling on 8 off 23 but picked up pace to finish with a then-career-best 88 off 111 to lay the foundation for Netherlands’ total of 315, at the time their joint-highest in the format.When facing West Indies in the same tournament, he went from 0 off 6 to 37 off 32 in a chase of 375. Netherlands eventually won the game via a Super Over, having tied the game with their highest ODI total. His “best innings” came when he cracked 110 from 109 deliveries against Oman in the Super Sixes and took home the Player-of-the-Match award.”I don’t like remembering my innings, but you still always remember the first hundred,” he says. “That was quite special.” Ultimately, Netherlands – along with Sri Lanka – made it through to the World Cup. Netherlands had finished last in the 13-team ODI Super League but had managed to take down the big boys en route to India for the ten-team World Cup.”The Super League was a great opportunity for us to showcase what we’re made of,” Vikramjit says. “It was great playing big names and bigger teams. But hopefully we can do well in the World Cup, and the ICC looks at us and says, ‘These guys are here to play as well. They are not just an Associate team.'”Perhaps a win or two against the big boys in the coming weeks will further drive home that point. For now, Vikramjit is happy to revel in an excellent start that he hopes to transform into something bigger.

After years of seeing his name on scorecards, our correspondent watched him in action for the first time, and it was worth the wait

Shashank Kishore28-Jun-2023Going through Ranji Trophy scorecards can be exhausting. Especially if you’ve to look up the performances of players and teams you almost never get to watch. It can become an endless scroll of numbers next to names. This is why selectors and talent scouts often seek out match referees for detailed reviews of certain players on their radar.If you’re from Tripura, a team that has won a grand sum of nine Ranji Trophy games since it came into existence in 1985-86, you can pass under the radar more easily than most. But those who have pored over scorecards involving the team will be familiar with Manisankar Murasingh – Tripura’s highest wicket-taker and run-getter in first-class cricket.Related

• Shorey, Sindhu and Murasingh headline opening day of Duleep Trophy

Murasingh, 30, like hundreds of others from the region, grind it out in anonymity, often in sub-par facilities. Adding to their woes is the weather in India’s Northeast, where it can rain non-stop for days together between June and October, a time when players would love to be tuning up for the season. That Murasingh has managed to hold it together for 14 seasons now speaks volumes of his resolve and skill.On Wednesday in Alur, I got to watch Murasingh in action for the first time, after years of seeing his name next to impressive numbers on scorecard after scorecard.Several questions gnaw at you at the top of his mark. How quick is he? What’s his action like? Is he a swing bowler or seam bowler? Is he skiddy? Can he hustle the batters? Over two sessions, blurry ideas formed through the perusal of all those scorecards come into focus, and you begin to see a picture of Murasingh the bowler.Murasingh bowls in the high 130s (kph), or so it seems. He bustles in gun-barrel straight, gets into his delivery stride with a small jump, and transfers his momentum into a smooth release and follow-through. He doesn’t swing the ball big. Or he didn’t, in his 20 overs on Wednesday. Instead, he relies on minute deviation off the deck. This is a skill he has learned over all his years in domestic cricket.Murasingh’s 5 for 42, his 13th five-for in first-class cricket, was one of the highlights of the opening day of the 2023 Duleep Trophy, which ushered in India’s new domestic season. In nondescript Alur, Murasingh quietly delivered as East Zone shot Central Zone out for 182 before they ended the day 32 for 2.In addition to his seam bowling, Murasingh is also an explosive lower-order batter•ESPNcricinfo LtdMurasingh’s wickets came in the classic modes: nicked off, caught and lbw. The one that gave him most satisfaction was his first, of the opener Vivek Singh, beating the batter with seam movement, getting the ball to nip away past his outside edge and hit off stump. It’s a delivery fast bowlers dream of. While whatever he did after that may not have matched the thrill of that wicket, his intensity hardly dropped. After the spell, he spoke of how he has kept himself match-ready through the off-season.”Unlike earlier, where I’d trial with IPL teams and get rejected for some reason after just one or two match simulations, I decided I had to train and play more in the summers,” Murasingh said. “Since 2015-16, I kept getting a few chances, but I didn’t go. After Covid, in 2021, I’ve been playing in the Minor Counties in England. In fact, until June 24, I was playing for Philadelphia Cricket Club in the Northeast Premier League in Durham. Bowling those long spells have been beneficial.”Murasingh doesn’t worry about the opportunities that haven’t come is way. He’s grateful for what he’s had. “Opportunities like these are gold dust for someone from the far east,” he says. “I don’t want to trade this experience for anything. I get that satisfaction from knowing many people from Tripura look up to me for inspiration.”Last September, when Murasingh was named in the India A squad for the one-dayers against New Zealand A at home, he was given a rousing reception by the Tripura chief minister, and hailed as a hero. “It’s very motivating, I look at it as reward for the hard work,” he says. “It’s been tough, but you can’t play for so many years without being dedicated.”Murasingh is a big fan of Yuvraj Singh, one of the reasons why he wanted to become an allrounder. His seam bowling is his biggest asset, but his explosive lower-order game has brought him 3308 first-class runs at an average of 26.67, with four centuries and 14 half-centuries. He has a T20 strike rate of 133.95. Shouldn’t he be a valuable proposition then?”I’ve never understood how all of it works,” he says. “I trialled with Mumbai Indians in 2019. This year, I went to trials organised by Gujarat Titans. It’s hard for me to see what traits they pick. If they gave me match-time, then I’d be in a better position to assess my shortcomings. But I’ve started putting a lot of work in during the off-season. Now, England stints have helped. Otherwise, I just do gym and running in the off-season. Club cricket has now started developing so there are chances to play. So that has made a bit of a difference. Otherwise, I play a bit of football.”Beyond the fun and games, Murasingh’s immediate goal is to bowl East Zone to the title. Then he’s hoping to be picked for the 50-overs Deodhar Trophy. “I’m due to fly back to England in early August to finish my commitments. I have six more games to play. Hopefully I can go there after Deodhar and come back for the [rest] of our domestic season with enough overs.”

They have certainly staked their claim through numbers to be one of the very best fielded by any team at the ODI World Cup

Shiva Jayaraman07-Nov-2023India owe their aura of invincibility in this World Cup to their bowlers. In a series where 350 has been breached 11 times, they are one of the only two teams to not conceded a 300-plus total. India have bowled out teams under 200 in five out of eight matches. Two of those totals have been under 100. Sure, their batters have done their bit by averaging six runs higher than any other side, but then it’s been a World Cup true to its times and the sport itself: odds stacked more in favour of the batter than the bowler. And India’s bowlers have put in performances that beat those odds like few before them.Ahead of the field
In a World Cup where bowlers have taken a wicket every 34.39 runs on an average and conceded runs at 5.73 an over, India bowlers have averaged 19.02 at an economy of 4.40. That’s how far ahead of the field India have been with the ball. The second-best bowling team in terms of average in this World Cup have been South Africa. Their bowlers have taken 72 wickets at an average of 26.01. India’s 75 wickets have come cheaper by almost 7 runs a pop. Among teams that have taken at least 50 wickets in any of the previous 12 World Cups, no team has outperformed the second-best side in a series by such a big margin. Australia’s bowling attack in 2003 was the previous best in these terms. Their bowlers took 96 wickets at an average of 18.33 in that series, at 5.23 runs a wicket lower than India’s, who took 82 wickets at 23.56.