Mushtaq replaces Rangana Herath, who was in the role for two years

Mohammad Isam16-Apr-2024Mushtaq Ahmed, the former Pakistan legspinner, will be Bangladesh’s spin-bowling coach until the T20 World Cup this year. The BCB announced on Tuesday that Mushtaq will come to Dhaka for the preparatory camp ahead of the side’s T20I series against Zimbabwe next month.”It is a great honor for me to be a part of the Bangladesh cricket team as a spin bowling coach,” Mushtaq. “I am looking forward to the role and want to pass my experience to the players because they are very coachable and I always believe that they are one of the most dangerous teams around. They can beat anyone because they have the capability, the resources and the talent. I will try to instill that belief into them. I am very excited at the opportunity to work with the team.”Mushtaq replaces Rangana Herath, who was in the role for two years since he joined in June 2021.Mushtaq will join head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, assistant coach Nic Pothas, batting coach David Hemp and fast bowling coach Andre Adams, among others, in the Bangladesh coaching staff.Mushtaq’s longest time as a spin bowling coach was when he worked with the England men’s team from 2008 to 2014. He also worked in two stints for Pakistan: as a bowling consultant from 2014 to 2016, and as spin bowling coach from 2020 to 2022.In his playing days, Mushtaq won the 1992 World Cup in a career of 144 ODIs and 52 Tests. He was also prolific in county cricket, becoming the season’s highest wicket-taker in 1993 and in consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2007.Mushtaq’s inclusion is for a short stint but someone like Rishad Hossain could be excited to work with a legendary legspinner for the first time in his career.

Charlie Austin looks back at a year of turmoil in Sri Lanka

Charlie Austin25-Dec-2005

Lasith Malinga was plucked from a coconut grove and oozed energy and enthusiasm © Getty Images
Cricket was an irrelevance in Sri Lanka as the sun rose on 2005, the game submerged below the tragedy of tsunami-wreaked devastation. Sadly, as the year drew to a close with memories of the Boxing Day waves just starting to fade, mid-year hopes of the national team’s revival under a new management and cricket board were also washed away during a disastrous tour of India. Sri Lankan cricket was plunged into depression, handicapped by politics, favouritism and incompetence. After 12 months of topsy-turvy fortunes and life-changing experiences, the cricketers and supporters were able to look forward with fresh perspective but not with great confidence.After 2005, Sri Lanka’s future is unclear. The overwhelming emotion is one of profound frustration at a year of stagnation and missed opportunity, coupled with a deep sense of fear that cricket in the island faces hard times. Sri Lanka’s glaring Achilles heel, playing overseas, remains as obvious as ever with no solution in sight. Sri Lanka swept the board at home, defeating West Indies, Bangladesh and even India with ease. But abroad, there were Test series defeats to New Zealand and India. Even in the limited overs game they proved woeful tourists, humiliated by India in November with a 6-1 drubbing.The biggest concern for the future is undoubtedly the shortage of talent now coming through the system. The only really bright star to emerge in the last 18 months or so, Lasith Malinga, was literally plucked from a coconut grove, the product of his own enthusiasm and energy. Other youngsters appear handicapped by the system rather than polished and improved.The first-class system – ridiculously expanded into 20 sides as part of a post-tsunami fudge of abandoned promotion and relegation matches – continues to decline in standard, making it harder and harder for youngsters to make the jump into international cricket. Upul Tharanga, a left-handed opener with an attacking impulse was, though, one cricketer that caught the eye, although obviously still technically raw.The second major concern was the inability of the cricket board and the selectors to look after the talent that already exists – of which there is plenty. Bad management skills led to the departure of Shane Duff, a widely respected fitness trainer, and also created confusion and misunderstanding within the management team during the last six months of John Dyson’s coaching tenure, undermining the team’s efforts to win in New Zealand. Unfortunately, this was all too predictable.The players were also surrounded in uncertainty and sadly dragged into the politicisation and rancour surrounding the latest cricket board crisis that erupted in March after the government, egged on by opponents of Thilanga Sumathipala, who was planning his return to official control (as opposed to his puppet control the previous year) of Sri Lanka Cricket. Sumathipala’s foes, provided tacit support from within the ICC, completed their coup when Sumathipala ignored a ministry directive to stay away from an ICC executive meeting. Within days an interim committee was appointed.But, alas, it did not end there as the fight for cricket board control spilled into the courts, as well as farce. Total administrative deadlock ensued as the Sumathipala-led executive committee refused access to the board headquarters, claiming it as their own. The situation deteriorated to the extent that Sri Lanka’s preparations for New Zealand were affected with one entire session being abandoned because no one was willing to authorise the opening of a store room for the practice balls.The players tried their best to stay out of the fight but it was an impossible task. Predictably, there were promises and threats and a general piggy-in-the-middle feel. Finally, the uncertainty lifted as the ICC decisively backed the government-appointed interim committee, headed by Jayantha Dharmadasa (unfortunately an ardent Sumathipala enemy rather than a neutral leader who could build a consensus), and the sports minister finally got tough, sending in police armed with automatic weapons to physically takeover the cricket board. The move broke the deadlock but, sadly, seven months later there are few obvious signs of improvement with Dharmadasa’s committee also falling prey to the normal tendency amongst cricket boards of showing favouritism to their `own’ men.

Sanath Jayasuriya – axed © Getty Images
The selectors also played their part, doing their best to help Sri Lanka lose in India, dropping Sanath Jayasuriya, one of Sri Lanka’s most successful Test batsmen during the last two years despite his growing age – and, ironically, one of the few batsmen capable of inducing psychosis among Indian bowlers .The official rationale for the decision fluctuated, first a combination of poor form and suspect fitness, then a few media releases later it became just fitness. First the selectors claimed, in another media release, that the decision was made in consultation with the captain, then we were told the decision had merely been communicated to Atapattu. Fans could be forgiven for being confused and suspicions of political interference mushroomed.Jayasuriya’s axing was followed by a stubborn refusal to select Russel Arnold, despite the left-hander showing good form in the Indian ODIs, and the out-of-the-blue axing of Mahela Jayawardene as the vice-captain. By the time the team left for India in late October, a dressing room that had been remarkable for its togetherness earlier in the year was suddenly a melting pot of tensions and frustrations. Atapattu was left with a team in crisis and a batting order that had alarming weaknesses. Jayasuriya and Arnold’s replacements, Avishka Gunawardene and Jehan Mubarak, proved easy meat for the Indian attack.Suddenly, Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s new coach who was hired in June after a high profile recruitment, realised how tough it was going to be to achieve his objectives and why all his predecessors had started so excited and yet grown so disillusioned, aware that for all their expertise and toil too many factors lay beyond their control. The honeymoon was over and, predictably, the grumbles about his pay packet and nationality are already being voiced with growing frequency.It all means that winning the World Cup in 2007, despite potentially favourable conditions and a vastly experienced team, suddenly seems a fanciful dream. The sad part is that Sri Lanka do still have the players and resources to be a far better team than they showed in 2005 – we can only dream that 2006 will be a politics-free year of shrewd selection, efficient management and accountability. Call me a cynic but that sounds like a fairytale.New man on the block Chamara Kapugedera, an 18-year-old middle order batsman, has started to create a stir within the island, his outstanding performances for the Sri Lanka Under-19 side and A team (he scored 70 on debut against a strong New Zealand team) suggest that he has the ability to be fast-tracked into the national side. An aggressive strokeplayer, named the Duke of Edinburgh Cricketer of the Year – the most prestigious award for schoolboy cricketers – he was selected for the India tour in December 2005 but returned early with injury.Fading star According to the selectors anyway, Sanath Jayasuriya appears to be a fading star, at least in the Test arena where he was jettisoned immediately after winning his 100th cap against Bangladesh. However, judging by the furore created by his axing, Jayasuriya may not be leaving just yet. A possible middle order role may await in one-day internationals.High point A superb performance during the Indian Oil Cup that culminated in a brilliantly efficient display during the final as Mahela Jayawardene and Russel Arnold built a winning total with streetwise batsmanship and then the spinners slowly strangled India, the final collapse sending a full house at Premadasa International Stadium into a riotous frenzy.Low point A desperately disappointing performance during a seven-match ODI series against resurgent India. The team were overpowered at the start and were unable to prevent India’s momentum from snowballing into an unstoppable force. The wheels came off and major shortcomings were exposed.What does 2006 hold?A series of defeats unless Sri Lanka can start addressing the shortcomings of a nepotistic, corrupt and hopelessly politicised system. Tough series beckon in Australia, at home against Pakistan, and in England early next summer.

Sri Lanka in 2005

Matches Won Lost Drawn/ NR

Tests 9 4 32 ODIs 15 8 70

Stats highlights from India’s thumping three-day win in the second Test against Bangladesh

S Rajesh27-May-2007

Mohammad Ashraful’s 67 was a rare positive for Bangladesh © AFP
India’s victory at Mirpur by an innings and 239 runs is their 25th Test win by an innings, and their biggest – the earlier record margin was their innings-and-219-run victory against Australia at Kolkata in 1997-98. Seventeen of those 25 wins have been achieved at home, while five more have come outside India but in the subcontinent. India’s first-innings lead of 492 is also their highest ever in Tests. Their previous record was 400, against Australia at Kolkata in the match mentioned above. Bangladesh didn’t have much to cheer about, but Mohammad Ashraful’s delightful strokeplay offered some moments of joy for the home crowd, and entered the record books as the second-fastest half-century – in terms of balls – ever scored in Tests. Ashraful reached his 50 off a mere 26 balls; only Jacques Kallis, who made one off 24 deliveries against Zimbabwe at Cape Town in 2004-05, has done better, while Ian Botham and Shahid Afridi have also managed 26-ball fifties. (Click here for the fastest fifties in Tests.) Ashraful’s 67 was his third 50-plus score in seven Test innings against India. Ashraful averages 58.60 against them, which is almost two-and-a-half times his career average of 24.35. Mashrafe Mortaza has played 40 Test innings, but 35% of his total runs have come in his last three innings – 79, 2, 70. In his last eight innings before the Chittagong Test he had scored 12 runs. When Anil Kumble trapped Mohammad Sharif in front in the first innings, it was the 138th time he had nailed an lbw. It equals the record for most number of lbws in Tests, which is now jointly held by Kumble and Shane Warne. Javed Omar was dismissed for a first-ball duck in both innings, becoming the first Bangladesh batsman to bag a king pair. This was the 19th instance of a Bangladesh batsman bagging a pair, while Omar became the 15th batsman to do so. The pair also reduced his average against India down to 11.84 from four Tests, and his overall average to just 22 in 37 Tests. The Man-of-the-Match award for Zaheer Khan is his first in 47 Tests. In his last nine matches he has taken 40 wickets at an average of 28.20, six runs lower than his career average, while his strike rate too has reduced significantly to 46.1. Bangladesh’s batting performance showed they still have plenty to do to be competitive as a Test side: their 118 in the first innings is their fifth-lowest Test total. Their worst at home is 87, against West Indies at Dhaka in 2002-03.

The gameplan was to bat once and bat big, and with some sensible, yet often exciting, batting, India took a long stride towards that

Sidharth Monga in Chittagong18-May-2007

Rahul Dravid’s attacking half-century quickly put Bangladesh on the defensive after their first-ball strike © AFP

Effective. Considering the flat wicket, easy. Importantly, counterattacking. And, given that the plan was to bat once and bat big, India’s batting on day one of this series was just what was required. Blending sensible strokes with a willingness to dig deep to overcome whatever few hurdles they were faced with, India’s batsmen gave the team a strong foundation on which to build a winning total.Of course, the plans were rudely pushed aside with the very first ball of the day, with Wasim Jaffer’s dismissal requiring Rahul Dravid to walk out, yet again, in the opening over of a Test. And just when one expected a slow, steady recovery, Dravid provided a twist by going on the attack. The wicket was flat, the bowlers, though spirited, were not persistent or disciplined enough and he dealt with it in an appropriate manner. Also, he had at the other end Dinesh Karthik, opening a Test innings only for the second time, and needed to take the lead.Was it planned? “Things like [losing] a wicket in the first ball do not happen usually,” Karthik said pithily after the day’s play. “We didn’t plan it, we just played instinctively.” Yet it was a bold approach, given that India had gone into the match with only five specialist batsmenIt took Dravid three overs to assess the situation and, when Shahadat Hossain offered one full and outside the off stump in the fourth over, he leant in and drove it through the covers for four. The next over he showed his trust in the bounce of the wicket when he essayed an aerial cut off Mashrafe Mortaza, which just about cleared a leaping backward point. He followed that up with an array of punches, drives, and flicks, but the crucial point was that no shot looked risky.Happily, and not entirely unexpectedly, Dravid’s approach caught up with Karthik too and they scored fluently enough to bring up the 100-run partnership in the 21st over. This is the fourth time [a record] Dravid has featured in a second-wicket 100-run partnership after walking in at 0 for 1.Too often over the last couple of years, India have squandered a quick start by shutting shop once a couple of quick wickets have fallen, forgetting that scoring runs is the main purpose of batting. Such a scenario seemed to be on the cards again when Dravid and Karthik fell within eight runs of each other and the score stood at 132 for 3. Mortaza and Hossain were bowling well and seemed to be benefiting from the overcast conditions. But, after grinding the fast bowlers out of the attack, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly too cut loose.They were helped by the spinners, Bangladesh’s strength, being off their game today. They bowled too many short ones to Tendulkar, who accepted with delight. Ganguly, cautious against the short-pitched bowling of Hossain, didn’t mind the short ones from the spinners. Once set, he twice conjured a sight that has become rare and much missed: stepping out to a spinner and lofting him for a six.It’s easy to dismiss the partnership in light of the quality of the attack but there was a gameplan to follow, the odd ball was keeping low and wickets at that point of time would have forced India to fall back on to a Plan B. Under those conditions, Tendulkar and Ganguly paced their innings almost perfectly.The plan for Bangladesh would have been to get quick wickets and choke the batsmen. They had the opportunity twice but each time failed to test India’s weakness. It was not easy to bowl on this unresponsive wicket and under the hot, humid conditions; that could have played a role in what looked like a tactical error to take Mortaza and Shahadat off when they were looking good in the middle session.India’s plan tomorrow will be to see off the early morning freshness and then go on to bat Bangladesh out of the game. They will have to contend with Mortaza again, and the bowler had no doubts as to where the match stood. Asked whether Bangladesh had lost their chance, his reply was quick: “No. We have time tomorrow morning. If we can take a few quick wickets tomorrow, it could be different.”Indeed it could. Considering only Mahendra Singh Dhoni stands between this partnership and the long Indian tail, Tendulkar and Ganguly’s job is only half done.

Nathan Astle’s career in numbers

S Rajesh26-Jan-2007

Nathan Astle: one of the few New Zealand batsmen who coped with the Australian attack © Getty Images

A career which began 12 years ago finally wound to an end when Nathan Astle announced that he had lost motivation and had had enough of international cricket. Equally adept at both Test cricket and ODIs, Astle amassed a total of 11,792 international runs, including 27 hundreds, to rank among the most prolific batsmen for New Zealand. (Click here for a list of New Zealand’s highest run-scorers in Tests, and here for their leading ODI run-getters.) And while he only bowled at medium pace, he was an especially handy ODI bowler, finishing just one wicket short of 100His Test average of 37.02 is a relatively modest one in today’s age when so many batsmen have been topping the 50 mark, but Astle was more successful than most against the best side in the world – he averaged 38.75 against Australia, a rare instance of a batsman being more prolific against the Aussies than against the others. In fact, among New Zealand batsmen who played at least ten Tests against them, Astle is fourth in the chart. To put his numbers in perspective, take a look at what Stephen Fleming has managed against them – in 14 Tests, Fleming has only scored 680 runs at an average of 25.18.

Best batsmen for New Zealand in Tests versus Australia (Qual: 10 Tests)

Batsman	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
Martin Crowe	17	1255	48.26	3/ 6
Andrew Jones	10	808	42.52	2/ 2
Ken Rutherford	11	677	39.82	1/ 6
Nathan Astle	14	930	38.75	1/ 5
John Wright	19	1277	38.69	2/ 4
Adam Parore	10	534	38.14	1/ 1

Numbers don’t tell the entire story about Astle, but the one record that stands in his name is a fitting one and encapsulates the way he approached the game: at Christchurch against England in 2002, with New Zealand seemingly dead and buried in the game, Astle walked out and smashed a double-century in a record 153 balls, eventually falling for 222 off 168 and taking New Zealand to within 98 of their target of 550.As Astle’s career summary shows, he had some problems against some of the other sides – including Bangladesh – but the one bowling attack that gave him nightmares was Pakistan. In seven innings against them, he entered double-digits just once, and averaged a miserable 3.14, less than half of what Danny Morrison managed against them.Surprisingly for such an attacking batsman, his big knocks often didn’t win the game for his team; it only helped them draw matches. In victories Astle averaged only 34, while in stalemates that number went up to 54.

Astle as a Test batsman

	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
In victories	27	1239	34.41	2/ 8
In draws	26	1892	54.05	7/ 8
In defeats	28	1571	28.05	2/ 8

As a one-day batsman, though, Astle was a definite matchwinner – 14 of his 16 hundreds were in winning causes, and he averaged an impressive 54.53 in those games. When New Zealand lost, though, he only averaged 22.

Astle as an ODI batsman

	ODIs	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
In victories	92	4254	54.53	14/ 26
In ties	3	105	35.00	0/ 1
In no-results	12	168	28.00	0/ 1
In defeats	116	2563	22.09	2/ 13

Astle’s form in Tests noticeably dipped in 2006 – he only scored 316 in 13 innings – but as a one-day player he remained a force, averaging nearly 59 from 12 matches. Unfortunately for him, even the ODI runs dried up in January 2007 – from six innings he made just 46 runs, with three ducks.Astle’s decision to quit the game just six months before the World Cup also means he won’t get another opportunity to correct what are decidedly modest stats in the biggest cricket tournament in the world. Astle made his World Cup debut in auspicious manner, scoring 101 against England in the 1996 edition, but only once more did he reach three figures in 21 further World Cup innings. He ended the 2003 campaign with successive ducks to finish with a World Cup average of 20.15, which, like his other career numbers, do scant justice to his capabilities as a batsman.

At the Bradman Oration in Brisbane last Friday Bill Brown’s 94-year-old charm again showcased him as Australian cricket’s greatest living treasure

Peter English06-Nov-2006

Famous photo: Don Bradman and Bill Brown on their final tour of England in 1948 © Getty Images
Bill Brown rarely outshone Don Bradman during their playing days. Brown was a cautious accumulator in the 1930s and 40s alongside Bradman’s furious adding machine, but at the Bradman Oration in Brisbane last Friday Brown’s 94-year-old charm again showcased him as Australian cricket’s greatest living treasure.Waiting in the foyer before the fourth celebration of “the Australian spirit of cricket” Brown wondered why the dress code was black tie. Jeans and a business shirt can cover most functions in Queensland in November but the extra layers were requested on a night for remembering Bradman’s unmatchable deeds. During Brown’s first two tours of England in ’34 and ’38 dinner suits were almost standard night attire, but World War II curtailed such luxuries for his final trip in ’48.Bradman’s son John was a guest of honour at the function and told how Brown had stayed with his parents in Adelaide and remained a special family friend. “There’s a picture in the house of Dad’s last first-class game overseas, with he and Bill walking together,” John Bradman said. “It’s a very moving picture and I look at it a lot.”On a busy night Brown was also called to unveil the rescued Sheffield Shield, which was in ruin until the Brisbane jewellers Hardy Brothers spent more than 400 hours attempting to return it to its original appearance. It had been out of action since the entry of the sponsored Pura Cup in 1999 and had almost fallen apart. When asked what it looked like when he played almost 60 years ago Brown said: “I honestly can’t remember. Back then we didn’t really know what we were playing for.”While Brown’s appearances were the most memorable of the program, the Bradman Oration was delivered by Alan Jones, a broadcaster, former Australia rugby union coach and regular lunch guest of Bradman. John Howard, the prime minister, gave the first speech in 2000 and was followed by Michael Parkinson, the English journalist, in 2003 and Richie Benaud in 2005.Preferring to talk about Bradman rather than explore a current issue, Jones said his friend “defied comparison”. The pair exchanged many letters and Jones would fly to Adelaide for lunch up to ten times a year. “We always ate the same thing,” he said. “Vegie soup followed by whiting fillets and dessert. Don always ordered white wine and liked chardonnay.”The pair’s closeness did not prevent Bradman from pointing out errors and in 1989 Jones received a letter following his broadcasting of a television story. “It was kind of you to do a piece on me and the praise was more than generous,” Bradman wrote. “You have given me more credit than I deserve. I didn’t make a hundred in my first Test, but got 18 and 1. I’ll die in the belief that the lbw in the first innings was missing leg and in the second it was the first sticky I’d ever seen.” He was dropped for the second match against England in 1928-29 but returned with a century in the third.

Bradman’s batting “defied comparison” © Getty Images
Jones said Bradman was “quiet, unpretentious, extremely argumentative” and sometimes found the public attention “a nightmare”. At the opening weekend of the Bradman Museum in Bowral in 1987 he reckoned he signed 4000 autographs in two days.Praising Bradman’s statistics, Jones recalled numerous quotes about his batting, but none was more powerful than RC Robertson-Glasgow’s “poetry and murder lived together”. No example of his dominance was better than his 100 in three eight-ball overs during a second-class game at Blackheath in 1931. Wendell Bill, a New South Wales opener, managed two singles at the other end. “Wendell, we’ve passed their score,” Bradman said before the onslaught, “I think we’ll have a go.”Despite his occasionally terse letters, Bradman was also generous in passing on his knowledge. And if he could not do justice with his descriptions he found other materials to help make his point. When Jones wondered how good WG Grace was Bradman sent him AA Thomson’s book The Great Cricketer.”Don’t keep it too long, I want to read it again,” Bradman wrote in the accompanying letter. “One day I want to meet WG, touch his shaggy beard and tell him that I walked through the Grace Gates at Lord’s many times and tried to live up to his image.”

RP Singh came of age during last year’s tour of England. During the Tests in Australia this winter, he raised his game a notch. “I am happy about the way I took up the responsibility,” he tells Cricinfo

Sriram Veera16-Feb-2008

On the upswing: Singh can’t wait to get back into action for India © Getty Images
RP Singh emerges sweating out of the gym at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.He is in a hurry to get back to his room. Fitness and adequate rest are his prime focus these days.”No questions on my history or on the controversies in Sydney, please,” he says as he sits down for a chat. “You are not going to ask where I was born, how I moved to Lucknow to play cricket in a hostel, right?” You can sense he reckons, rightly, that he is no longer an unknown commodity.RP, who missed the CB Series due to a hamstring injury he picked up during thelast Test in Adelaide in the recently concluded series against Australia, can’t waitto get back into the Indian team. He is confident he will be back in the action against South Africa in March.”I am 80 to 90% fit physically and have been working with Paul Chapman [thestrengthening and conditioning coach of the National Cricket Academy]. Thankfully,since it was just a level one hamstring tear, I was lucky,” he says. “I will start bowling from Monday [February 18].”RP starred with the ball in Australia, picking up 13 wickets before he pickedthat injury after bowling just four overs in Adelaide. He went into that serieshaving performed well in England, and spoke about the difference between bowling inthe two countries.”I tried more variations in Australia. In particular, I tried to get the inswinggoing to the left-hand batsmen [Australia had more left-hand batsmen thanEngland]. I can generally get the outswinger going to the left-hand batsmen, and Iworked hard during this tour to mix things up. I changed my seam position and had aslight change in the wrist action. I also tried to bowl more bouncers and yorkers.”He believes that playing a full series in England, the first time he played three Tests in a row, helped his bowling. “My control, pace and accuracy improved.” His confidence had soared too, considering it was his first sustained run in the side after having missed ten Tests after his debut series, against Pakistan in 2006.In Australia, he started off slowly, taking just two wickets in the first Test, inMelbourne, before he was forced to don the role of a strike bowler after Zaheer Khan dropped out injured. Inspired by the emergency, RP turned in creditableperformances in Sydney, where he swung out the top order, and Perth, where he scythed through the lower order.”Since we didn’t have any practice game, it was only by the second Test that I was really ready,” he says. “I think I did a good job and took some crucial wickets. Zaheer bhai was not there and I am happy about the way I took up the responsibility.”On tour, he worked extensively with the bowing coach, Venkatesh Prasad, firming up plans for various batsmen. “I know Prasad for the last five years and he is like a friend. He worked on my follow-through – at times he felt I was not completing it. That helped me in increasing the pace. We tried to develop a slower ball – he had a great slower one – but I am not still confident to use it consistently in a match scenario.”RP also revealed how Prasad, Anil Kumble and the bowlers would sitfor a couple of hours before a game and discuss their plans against the batsmen. Whatwas the single most important thing that he picked up during those sessions?”I learned how to set up the batsmen better and to have the patience to prolong thatset-up time. During the practice game before the Test series, I had a chat with Prasad andAnil bhai on how to postpone the thoughts [of slipping in the changedelivery]. I have learned to give more time to set up the batsmen. That was the keyturning point for me on this tour. Previously I would bowl an inswinger on the thirdor fourth ball. I learned to do it in the third over, and it was really more effective.”He gives an example to illustrate. He was successful againstMichael Hussey, who he prised out four times during the series. “I had a good planagainst Hussey,” he warms up. “I would just keep bowling outswingers beforeslipping in the one that comes in. At times he played for the inswinger when itwasn’t or would play for the other one when the ball would come in.” Singh got Husseycaught behind the wicket three times and once trapped in front.India has two captains, Kumble for Tests and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in ODIs, andRP dwelt on the difference in their approaches. “Kumble is a bowler and he knows what to do when. He would ask me what I am going to do next, change the field, and work on the set up of the batsmen. Sometimes in ODIs, since Dhoni is behind the wicket, you don’t get to communicate that often.”But then, in ODIs the nature of the format means you don’t change your plans toomuch. There are generally just two spells to be bowled. So under Dhoni, you executewhat you have already decided off the field and when you change, he would comerunning to you and discuss. But both are very friendly and that helps.”The tour of Australia was marred during the Sydney Test by the poor umpiring and the racism allegation against Harbhajan Singh. RP credits Kumble’s captaincy during those “tough times”.I have learned to give more time to set up the batsmen. Previously I would bowl an inswinger on the third or fourth ball. I learned to do it in the third over “Kumble handled it really well. We had taken a stand in a team meeting and we justfollowed it. The communication between the team-mates was very strong and there wasno confusion. I didn’t read any papers, and not many people in the team readnewspapers. We took our minds off it by going to Bondi beach – played volleyballand toured a few places. We came back and just focused on cricket and our plans forthe next Test.”India’s greenhorn pace attack has been coming in for praise from all quarters of late. Ask RP if it is one of the best in the world, and he says, “We have a very good bunch of medium-pacers who can bowl 140kph-plus and get it to swing. And we – Sreesanth, Zaheer, Irfan and me – can swing it both ways. Of course, there are still lots of areas for improvement for us – we need to get more consistent and more accurate – but we are developing well. On this tour all the bowlers did very well in maintaining the pressure as a group and that was the real good thing about the attack. Ishant Sharma has come on really nicely.”RP is all praise for how well Ishant has quickly fit into the team. “The more you play the more you develop, and he has done exactly that. I am not surprised at how well he has grown. The atmosphere within the team was great and Prasad and Anil would encourage him to open up and contribute during the strategy talks of the bowlers. He is very focused, and the thing that separates you at this level is how confident you are of your skills and handle the pressure. He followed the plan, bowled very well, maintained thepressure and went on to trouble Ricky Ponting a lot.”RP rates India’s chances in the CB Series. “I think India will go on to win thetournament. They can. Why not?” Why not, indeed. This is a confident Indian team andRP is a prime embodiment of that trait. This young man, son of a telephone operator at the Indian Technical Institute, born in a village in Barabanki district, 30km east of Lucknow, who grew up in the town of Rae Bareilly before moving to the famed cricket hostels of Lucknow, has arrived.

Stats preview of the second Test between India and Australia in Sydney

S Rajesh01-Jan-2008

	Sachin Tendulkar: an average of 249 in three Tests in Sydney © Getty Images

After being demolished in the first Test in Melbourne, the Indians will be relieved that the venue for the second Test is the Sydney Cricket Ground, a stadium that has pleasant memories for most of their players.The team results here have been better than at any other Australian venue – one win and three defeats in eight Tests. The last time India played at this ground, they had the home team in all sorts of bother till a battling Steve Waugh and Simon Katich bailed them out. Rahul Dravid, in the middle of a batting rut at the moment, will do well to watch tapes of his batting in that game: with India looking for quick runs in the second innings, Dravid hammered an unbeaten 91 off 114 balls. In the same number of deliveries in the Melbourne Test last week, Dravid managed a mere 16.Most of the other Indian heavyweights have done well here too. Sachin Tendulkar leads the pack: in five innings at the ground, he has scored two centuries – including that unbeaten 241 on his previous trip – and averages 249. VVS Laxman isn’t far behind, with two centuries in his two Tests here. The only failure has been Sourav Ganguly, who averages just 14 here. The kind of form he is in, though, he won’t be too bothered by his track record in Sydney.

Indian batsmen in Sydney

Batsman	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
Sachin Tendulkar	3	498	249.00	2/ 1
VVS Laxman	2	352	117.33	2/ 0
Virender Sehwag	1	119	59.50	0/ 1
Rahul Dravid	2	158	52.67	0/ 1
Sourav Ganguly	2	42	14.00	0/ 0

The performance of the Indian batsmen is only one side of the story, however. The other side is the fact that the Australians have relished the conditions here as well. Their overall record here is an impressive 51 wins and 27 defeats, but their recent form is scary: in their last 13 Tests they have won 11, with their only loss – to England in 2002-03 – coming after they had already sealed the five-Test series by winning the first four games. The only other team to escape a defeat during this period is India, which drew in 2003-04.The Australian batsmen have enjoyed the pitch here as much as the Indians. Ricky Ponting has scored 1226 runs in 12 Tests at an average of more than 81, while Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden have been among the runs as well. Michael Clarke hasn’t flourished on his home ground, though, with just 90 runs in four innings.

Australian batsmen in Sydney

Batsman	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
Ricky Ponting	12	1226	81.73	5/ 4
Adam Gilchrist	10	722	60.16	2/ 4
Matthew Hayden	9	756	54.00	3/ 3
Michael Hussey	2	82	41.00	0/ 0
Andrew Symonds	2	60	30.00	0/ 0
Michael Clarke	3	90	22.50	0/ 0

Sydney has traditionally been a spin-friendly venue, but the table below indicates that spinners haven’t had a lot more success than the fast bowlers in recent years. Since 2000, slow bowlers average 38.55 per wicket, which is only marginally better than what the fast bowlers have achieved during this period.

Pace v spin at the SCG since 2000

	Wickets	Average	Strike rate	5WI/ 10WM
Pace	171	39.15	66.6	3/ 2
Spin	118	38.55	68.0	7/ 1

The last time he played here, Anil Kumble had plenty of success, with match figures of 12 for 279, but his overall average here is only 33.75, thanks to his wicketless performance in 1999-2000. It isn’t the favourite venue for Australia’s leading bowler either: Brett Lee has only managed 31 wickets from eight games at an average of more than 35.In the last 17 Tests here, the captain winning the toss has chosen to bat. The last team to insert the opposition was India, way back in 1992. The Indians didn’t do badly then, taking a first-innings lead of 170 and forcing Australia to hang on to a draw.Teams have generally jumped at the opportunity to bat first, but as the table below shows, batting in the fourth innings hasn’t been such a tough task recently.

Average runs per wicket in each innings in Sydney Tests since 2000

1st innings	2nd innings	3rd innings	4th innings
38.97	41.13	33.24	44.79

A statistical look at the spin pair of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh

Mathew Varghese05-Apr-2008
Spinning together for the 50th time © AFP
A pitch with a tinge of green was perhaps not the ideal setting for Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh to play their 50th Test together. South Africa’s fast bowlers wrecked India, and the duo hardly made an impact as AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis piled on the misery.Harbhajan himself was forthright with his take on the Motera strip on offer, and indicated how home pitches should have been conducive to spin. After all, the Indian bowling line-up consisted of what perhaps is the most experienced spin pairing of all time.Although the 50 Tests for Kumble and Harbhajan is far behind the most experienced bowling pair of all time – Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne tormented batsmen for over 100 Tests, a factor in Australia’s phenomenal success – they are one of the longest-serving spins pairs in Tests.

Bowling pairs featuring in most number of Tests

Tests Bowler Wickets Average Bowler Wickets Average

104 Shane Warne 513 24.87 Glenn McGrath 48821.38 95 Courtney Walsh 373 24.30 Curtly Ambrose 389 21.11 93 Shaun Pollock 377 22.61 Jacques Kallis 170 33.48 88 Muttiah Muralitharan 545 21.70 Chaminda Vaas 294 27.54 89 Courtney Walsh 315 25.70 Carl Hooper 95 47.52 79 Kapil Dev 243 31.73 Ravi Shastri 151 40.66 77 Jacques Kallis 159 32.74 Makhaya Ntini 297 28.57 70 Carl Hooper 76 47.60 Curtly Ambrose 291 21.95 63 Shaun Pollock 235 24.70 Makhaya Ntini 255 27.67 61 Wasim Akram 282 21.33 Waqar Younis 277 22.92 60 Garry Sobers 181 32.60 Lance Gibbs 237 29.00 60 Bob Willis 222 24.62 Ian Botham 254 25.67 58 Glenn McGrath 274 20.52 Jason Gillespie 210 26.27 53 Shane Warne 269 25.78 Jason Gillespie 176 28.57 52 Anil Kumble 225 27.94 Javagal Srinath 187 29.30 51 Ray Lindwall 195 22.47 Keith Miller 150 23.68 49 Andrew Flintoff 167 30.06 Matthew Hoggard 200 28.32 49 Derek Underwood 161 28.09 Tony Greig 119 31.41 49 Anil Kumble 272 26.95 Harbhajan Singh 197 32.52Perhaps only one spin pair has played more Tests together than Harbhajan-Kumble; the word “perhaps” is used since the combination in question includes Garry Sobers, whose bowling styles included left-arm fast-medium, slow left-arm orthodox and slow left-arm chinaman. Sobers played 60 Tests alongside offspinner Lance Gibbs. With the Motera Test, Kumble and Harbhajan move ahead of another dubious spin combination – Derek Underwood and Tony Greig played together in 49 Tests, but Underwood could lay as much claim as to being a left-arm spinner as Greig could to being an offspinner.Three Indian spin pairs come in next, all featuring a left-arm spinner. The first two include Bishan Bedi, who played alongside offspinner Erapalli Prasanna and legspinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar in 43 and 42 Tests, while Chandu Borde combined with the miserly left-arm spin of Bapu Nadkarni in 40 Tests.

Spin pairs featuring in most number of Tests

Tests Bowler Wickets Average Bowler Wickets Average

60 Garry Sobers 181 32.60 Lance Gibbs 237 29.00 49 Derek Underwood 161 28.09 Tony Greig 119 31.41 49 Anil Kumble 272 26.95 Harbhajan Singh 197 32.52 43 Erapalli Prasanna 162 31.03 Bishan Bedi 169 29.04 42 Bhagwat Chandrasekhar 184 28.70 Bishan Bedi 184 27.22 40 Bapu Nadkarni 88 27.46 Chandu Borde 37 47.51Harbhajan wasn’t too off with his suggestions on the pitch, as in the 32 home Tests together for Kumble and Harbhajan, India have won 14 and lost only five. Both average below 20 in home victories.However, they fare far worse in away conditions, though Kumble has been the better of the two both home and away.

Kumble-Harbhajan home and away

Venue Tests Wickets for Kumble Average Wickets for Harbhajan Average

Home 32 200 24.51 148 28.64 Home wins 14 114 16.87 77 19.89 Away 17 72 33.76 49 44.24 Away wins 6 28 21.35 19 27.63In the 49 Tests they played together prior to the Ahmedabad Test, Kumble and Harbhajan have been part of 20 wins, with 20 matches ending in a stalemate and nine ending in defeat. Their averages in victories are less than half of the corresponding figures in draws, an indication that when they have failed to get going, opposition bowlers too haven’t been able to dismiss India twice.

Kumble-Harbhajan by match result

Result Tests Wickets for Kumble Average Wickets for Harbhajan Average

Won 20 142 17.76 96 21.42 Lost 9 47 34.53 38 34.42 Drawn 20 83 38.40 63 48.30While Kumble’s averages 16.91 in the fourth innings of a match – with 48 wickets in 12 innings – Harbhajan only manages a third of those wickets, at an average of 37.18. The offspinner gives away more than 40 per wicket in the first, but he outdoes Kumble when it comes to averages in the third innings of a match, with both bowlers having taken 77 wickets.

Kumble-Harbhajan by match innings

Innings Tests Wickets for Kumble Average Wickets for Harbhajan Average

1st 30 83 32.61 60 42.20 2nd 19 64 26.01 44 33.38 3rd 31 77 27.90 77 23.53 4th 12 48 16.91 16 37.18While the inclusion of Harbhajan works favourably on Kumble’s statistics, the same doesn’t hold conversely. One prime reason for Harbhajan’s better performance in the absence of Kumble has to be the 2001 home series against Australia, when India, without Kumble, turned the series on its head. Harbhajan was one of the stars in that series, with 32 wickets at 17.03 apiece in three Tests.

Harbhajan with and without Kumble

Tests Wickets Average Strike-rate 5WI/10WM

Overall 64 264 31.45 66.1 21/4 With Kumble 49 197 32.52 69.3 16/2 Without Kumble 15 67 28.29 57.0 5/2

Kumble with and without Harbhajan

Tests Wickets Average Strike-rate 5WI/10WM

Overall 126 607 28.98 64.6 35/8 With Harbhajan 49 272 26.95 59.0 19/6 Without Harbhajan 77 335 30.62 69.2 16/2