Australia’s bowling attack at home has not had many changes in the recent past, but Jhye Richardson’s successful debut can bring in longer-term gains for the side

Andrew McGlashan in Brisbane24-Jan-2019Amid all the upheaval in Australian cricket, the one constant until this week in Brisbane had been the composition of their Test attack on home soil. When Jhye Richardson claimed Dinesh Chandimal for his maiden Test wicket it was the first scalp by an Australian bowler outside the big four on their own turf since Steve O’Keefe removed Wahab Riaz at the SCG in January 2017.It has been different overseas, where conditions and injuries have demanded changes, but for nine consecutive outings – taking in an Ashes tour and the recent India series – Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon had not been separated. Hazlewood’s back injury put paid to that run continuing and it was a decision between the experienced workhorse in Peter Siddle, who had been 12th man throughout the India series, or the young, skiddy pace of Richardson who was added as the replacement.There may be a debate about Will Pucovski missing out on a spot in the middle order, but it was clear early in the first session of the day-night Test that Richardson, with just 11 first-class matches to his name, superseding Siddle was the right decision.He nearly had a wicket with the first ball of his Test career when Lahiru Thirimanne worked one just wide of short leg (incidentally a player who is part of that select group, Richard Illingworth, is one of the umpires at the Gabba) but it never felt as though success was far away. It came in his sixth over – a spell of that length was impressive in itself on an oppressive day – when Chandimal was squared up on off stump, sending an edge to second slip, which Joe Burns took sharply to his left.Before that, the last time a bowler who doesn’t play for New South Wales (also O’Keefe’s state) took a Test wicket in Australia was when Jackson Bird removed Mohammad Amir at the MCG in late 2016. And if we want to get technical even Bird, who plays for Tasmania, was born in New South Wales. So the previous home Test wicket taken by someone with no links to state was Mitchell Marsh removing Quinton de Kock at Perth in 2016. (South Australia’s Joe Mennie took his lone Test wicket against South Africa in Hobart but, too, was born in NSW)The point of all this is that Australia’s bowling attack has not had many changes at home. And it wouldn’t have changed here if Hazlewood had been fit. Yet having their hand forced may have turned out to be a good thing. None of them would have been dropped, but a natural refreshing of an attack can bring longer-term gains.

Message on a boot for Richardson

Jhye Richardson is keeping things very simple as he begins his Test career – with impressive early results – and has a reminder to himself close at hand.
“I’ve just written a little message on my boots that I used last year in a Sheffield Shield match which says KISS – keep it simple stupid – then I’ve written ruthless as well just to remind myself that I need to get into the contest, bowl aggressively and put my heart on the line,” he said.
Richardson was able to get his family and girlfriend to Brisbane in time for his debut which helped settle any nerves. He was presented his cap by Damien Fleming and then claimed his first wicket in his sixth over. However, he is refusing to look further ahead than the next stage of this match.
“As soon as you starting thinking about what is ahead or what could come up all these different emotions get better of you, you starting trying harder and you might not be bowling at your best. We have something up in the changing room that the team likes to go by – the next ball is the most important thing in your life at that moment.”

Richardson looked right at home in it. His early forays into one-day cricket suggested he had something – even though he took a hammering. along with all his team-mates, in England last year – and nabbing Virat Kohli in every match of the one-day series will have done his prospects no harm. Of equal relevance, though, was the 8 for 47 he took in the Sheffield Shield earlier this season against New South Wales, a match that also included a notable unbeaten century for fellow debutant Patterson.He is short by the standard of Australian fast bowlers, who have traditionally been associated with height and Richardson uses that to his advantage having grown up admiring Dale Steyn. “He’s a similar sort of build, the nontraditional fast bowler, quite skinny and not as tall as anyone else, he proved that he could be a class bowler with that sort of build and bowl at extreme pace,” Richardson said. “Breaking the stereotype of fast bowlers is what I’ve been trying to do.”Richardson certainly has a sharp bouncer, but his rewards came from pitching the ball up. Following Chandimal’s edge, he produced a gem to defeat Sri Lanka’s best batsman Kusal Mendis – the ball swinging late to completely square him up and crash into the stumps – then found the edge of Dhananjaya de Silva as the ball continued to shape.At the same time as breaking up the cartel, his performance also shone a light on the hierarchy of Australia’s attack. He was given the new ball ahead of Cummins, the pick of the pacemen against India, and his natural fuller length was ideal for making the most of the movement on offer.Starc, who came under pressure for his performances in the second half of the India series, was the least impressive of the trio although his 200th Test wicket did arrive when Suranga Lakmal edged low to second slip, 40 overs after he thought he had it when Thirimanne was saved from being lbw by the DRS. If Richardson builds on his impressive beginning and Hazlewood returns to fitness, there will be some interesting decisions to make for the Ashes, both in terms of who plays and who takes the new ball. Even if he stays in the side, does it keep going to Starc by default? If he bowls both sides of the wicket as he did here, the answer is probably not.At least the selectors can be comforted that Australia’s pace-bowling resources show deeper stocks than the batting. There is good competition to join the established three in England later this year with Chris Tremain unlucky to be overlooked for this match and Scott Boland in the mix. Richardson, though, has surely booked his ticket already.

The local boy is no longer part of his hometown franchise, but he still lives and breathes the city. Will Chepauk continue to cheer for him?

Deivarayan Muthu in Chennai05-Apr-2019Before MS Dhoni became the he is today, R Ashwin was the original Chennai Super King. He secured a contract with Super Kings even before he graduated from college, fronted up to bowl in the Powerplay, and soon became a fan favourite.Ashwin and Dhoni would combine to snaffle batsmen down the leg side by deploying a leg slip. There was a time when he dismissed Chris Gayle for fun. He brought the (carrom) ball from the streets of Chennai and made it sexy.Super Kings were then suspended for two years, and both Dhoni and Ashwin moved to Rising Pune Supergiant(s).Super Kings marked their return to the IPL with their third title in 2018, but a familiar face was missing. Super Kings had raised the paddle five times for Ashwin, but Kings XI Punjab bid more furiously for him and scooped him up for INR 7.6 crore in the auction.Kings XI made Ashwin their captain, but he admitted to being a “tad disappointed” to part ways with Super Kings. With protests over the Cauvery river water dispute forcing games out of the MA Chidambaram Stadium last year, Super Kings’ Kings XI’s Ashwin did not line up in Chennai.ALSO READ – : Chennai Super KingFor the first time in the IPL, Ashwin will line up at the Chepauk on Saturday as part of the opposition. Quite a few things have changed in Chennai and at Chennai Super Kings. For starters, the summer keeps getting hotter. The metro rail is up and running; Ashwin himself had taken a ride in it to avoid the traffic and get home after the ODI series against England in January 2017.Super Kings, meanwhile, have rebuilt their side with old pros and Harbhajan Singh has caught the attention of fans with his offbreaks as well as his poetic tweets in Tamil, the local language. Dhoni’s popularity has swelled to a crescendo. You all watched video.You can take the Super Kings out of Ashwin. But you just can’t take Chennai out of Ashwin. In various interviews, he has proudly said: “I own the space around Chepauk”. His first spectator experience here was the Test match between India and England in 1993, when Sachin Tendulkar made 165 in a series-clinching victory. Ashwin and his father Ravichandran have been regulars at Chepauk since. Ashwin then became a regular for Tamil Nadu and India in the Test set-up as well.R Ashwin is hoping to do well in the IPL to have a shot at making the World Cup squad•BCCIIn his first Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, he picked up 12 wickets in front of his family and rattled Australia. Whether it is a first-division club game or a Ranji Trophy game or a one-day game, Ashwin relishes playing in Chennai. Heck, he even relishes playing street cricket here. Back in the day, Ashwin was in such demand in street cricket that a certain group from the opposition sort of kidnapped him just to stop him from playing a game.Even before Ajantha Mendis introduced the carrom ball to the wider world, Ashwin was using that variation in tennis-ball cricket. He mastered it at the Super Kings nets and took to the new ball like a magnet, becoming Dhoni’s Powerplay specialist. In addition to his tricks on the field, his tricks off it impressed the Chennai faithful. On social media, he reels off inch-perfect punch dialogues of Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan, Tamil cinema’s biggest icons.A massive movie buff, Ashwin also used to watch videos of the famous Tamil comedian Goundamani with team-mates L Balaji and S Badrinath at Super Kings, and is adept at pulling off impressions of him as well.Ashwin continues to live in West Mambalam, the low-profile locality he grew up in. Usually, top-tier Tamil Nadu cricketers tend to move to posher localities along the beaches off East Coast Road, but Ashwin still retains the image of the guy every Chennaiite can connect to. He owns a lower-division team in the TNCA league and despite his packed schedule, he is actively involved in coaching young players at his academy Gen-Next.When the city was ravaged by floods in December 2016, Ashwin was helping India win a Test in Delhi, but he did his bit for Chennai too.From being the face of Chennai, Ashwin is no longer part of Super Kings. But the shift has helped him realise another dream: captain a high-profile side. From plotting with Dhoni against Gayle, Ashwin plotted with Gayle against Dhoni and even outsmarted his old mate when Kings XI met Super Kings in Mohali, in 2018. Yeah, the IPL is a strange tournament.In the return fixture in Pune, Dhoni unleashed “chaos theory” and trumped Ashwin. Dhoni promoted Harbhajan Singh and Deepak Chahar up the order and upset Ashwin’s plans, knocking Kings XI out of the playoffs.Ashwin had got a taste of his own medicine – he is used to inverting his batting order and bumping up pinch-hitters in domestic cricket. Against Rajasthan Royals last season in Jaipur, Ashwin promoted himself to No. 3 in a chase of 159, but he fell for a duck. More recently while leading Tamil Nadu in the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that preceded the IPL, Ashwin bumped up tailender R Sai Kishore to No. 3. He fell for a duck too, but that won’t stop Ashwin from venturing whacky captaincy moves.These are still early days in this IPL season, but it has already been a dramatic one for Ashwin. He reignited the spirit-of-cricket debate when he mankaded Jos Buttler, and there could be more drama when he returns to Chepauk – a place where he feels “even the air talks” to him – as the opposition captain.How will the crowd react to him? Some might still cheer for him. Some might still have a soft corner for him. Some might give him the cold shoulder and only get behind Dhoni. Ashwin will look forward to all of this and will be eager to show Super Kings what they are missing.

While they have a number of potentially dangerous hitters, the worry is Afghanistan won’t consistently put up competitive totals

Jarrod Kimber in Bristol01-Jun-2019No. 8s aren’t quite batsmen; neither are they tailenders. They fit somewhere in between, with the skills to hold a bat, but without the necessary behavioural traits that allow them to do it for hours. No. 8s generally either hit or block, they rarely run brilliantly between the wicket, they struggle with real pace and quality spin, play slog shots or get out in soft ways, and often don’t play the best shots for the situation.Afghanistan are a team of No. 8s.Since the last World Cup, Afghanistan have played 64 ODIs against teams of vastly differing skill levels. In those they have ten individual hundreds. To put that in perspective, Virat Kohli will score more hundreds by the time you finish reading this sentence. Afghanistan’s rate of hundreds is lower than every team in this World Cup, and also Zimbabwe and Ireland. Only Sri Lanka (a hundred every 6.2 matches) come anywhere close to being as poor as Afghanistan’s record.ALSO READ: Nerves getting back into the camp – WarnerAfghanistan have no players since the last World Cup averaging 40, and four over 30. One of those is Mohammad Shahzad, whose batting is built for parties, not long innings. Against Australia, he played a shot that belonged in the first over as much as an ox smoking a cigarette. He made a half-volley look like a length ball and ended up sprawled as if undone by an excellent yorker. It was an okay ball and a terrible shot.Hazratullah Zazai’s average is 20.33 in his short career so far, and his shot to Cummins the over after Shahzad’s abomination was like he’d been reading the Jos Buttler manual but with a few pages missing.At No. 3 was Rahmat Shah. You could make a solid argument that Rahmat is Afghanistan’s only real ODI-quality batsman. He averages 38.90 and has four ODI hundreds since the last World Cup; even if they don’t come quick, he can bat. He kept the batting together for the longest time before finding short cover on a drive.Hashmatullah Shahidi averages 36.50, but at the painfully slow strike rate of 66.03. He bats like a man hanging in, and eventually here he was out stumped trying to defend a ball from Adam Zampa. Which has to be close to the worst dismissal in ODI cricket. His strike rate was 52.94.In at No. 5 was Mohammad Nabi, a quality T20 hitter, but no one’s idea of an ODI five. He averages 28.80 since 2015 and hits the ball hard. He was run out when he knocked one to the left of Steven Smith and had his team-mate (and captain) Gulbadin Naib was so busy watching the fielding he didn’t respond to the call.

Considering how Sri Lanka and Pakistan batted in their opening games, Afghanistan’s was a decent effort

Naib (average 24.44), joined with the power-hitting Najibullah Zadran who has probably been their best batsman in ODIs, averaging 34.75 while striking at 95.63. But he’s someone they want to come in low and provide fireworks. When the score is 77 for 5, you have to dig in. And he did, he was two off 11 balls, before Zampa gave him two full tosses, a tossed-up half-volley and a short ball, off which Najibullah scored 20. Against Zampa he was 31 off 14, against the pacers 20 from 35. Naib got some balls away, and they made a decent partnership of 83.In the 34th over, Marcus Stoinis was bowling short balls – Australia’s bowlers delivered 18% of their deliveries like this – with mid-off and mid-on up. Naib tried to swing the short ball over midwicket and skied it and was gone. Four balls later and with Naib barely off the ground, Najibullah went for a big pull shot over midwicket and skied the ball and was caught. Stoinis had two caught behinds with Alex Carey in the outfield.It was then that Afghanistan’s literal No. 8, Rashid Khan came out to bat, and he was with Dawlat Zadran a handy player in his own right. Dawlat was out pulling a ball he was lucky to have his body nowhere near. Rashid slogged some of his own-brand sixes and Afghanistan had made 207.Considering how Sri Lanka and Pakistan batted in their opening games, it was a decent effort. It’s just that it is hard to see them doing much better than this consistently. They can all sort of hit, but almost none can really bat. They didn’t handle the new ball or the short stuff, gifted legspin wickets, had a stupid run-out, there was only one quality ODI partnership, and their highest score was 51.When asked if they had the best spinners in the pre-match conference, Naib praised his bowlers, then added, “but we should be working [on] the batting line-up”. After this match, where they lost two wickets at the top and two wickets in an over, you’d think they’d need to continue to work on it.As good as their bowling is, 250 is a minimum to give their bowlers a decent chance.Australia were uninspiring, and as Zampa said, “probably didn’t bowl as well as we could have through the middle overs”. But by changing Zampa around and keeping the ball short they kept control of the game. Instead of going for the kill, it seemed more like Australia were banking that something silly would follow. They were right.Afghanistan have a T20 batting line up with agricultural methods and short attention spans. It won’t work often, but because so many of their players are dangerous, it will be fun occasionally. But at the moment it looks like Afghanistan’s batsmen are here for a good time, not a long one.

Ishant Sharma has his eye on the big prize, and this season he has put his heart into getting Delhi Capitals there

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi08-May-2019Ishant Sharma, Delhi Capitals’ senior-statesman fast bowler, talks about making an impact without quite having the figures to show for it, learning the knuckleball, his stint in county cricket last year, and more.How has this IPL been different for you? Do you think in terms of your role, your job, and how you have done, something has been different?
See, I am not someone who thinks that much like [What is this, or that]. I just want to win games for my team. My main motto is to win the IPL trophy.How much has the discipline with which you have performed for India in Test cricket in the last year, where you were the leader of the attack, mentally charged you for the IPL role?
Yeah, it is a big boost for me [the Test form]. Because if you are taking wickets for India you take that confidence into the IPL. The good thing about this season at Capitals, we are having good bowling-group meetings. We discuss the plans and then try and execute even in the training, where we think that we are not bowling to our batsmen but to the opposition batsmen. Then you are mentally ready. Then you know what’s your Plan B, what’s your Plan A to a certain player. And when you are more clear at the top of your mark, then things become really easy.Once you get hit, obviously you are under pressure. Straightaway, doubt comes into your mind. It’s a small word, doubt, but you can get mentally disturbed when it occurs.ALSO READ: India’s fast bowlers make the big leapCan you give us an example of that?
Even in Tests when you are not getting wickets… take the first Test at Edgbaston during the England tour last year. We were behind in that Test. The doubt was, what if I can’t take those wickets, what if we can’t score those runs? In those moments you have to trust yourself, believe in your game. That’s how I have changed myself.Playing county helped me a lot. There is pressure on you being a professional, but you enjoy the responsibility. So I did that and enjoyed the county experience. And I have carried that to India and now in the IPL.

“My IPL economy is eight right now, but people still don’t consider me a good death bowler. I don’t know why”

You were unsold in the 2018 IPL auction, and the year before that (but you were picked by Kings XI Punjab as a replacement player). Did you expect to be picked this auction?
I did not even watch the auction. We were in Perth during the Australia Test series. [On auction day, December 18] I was sitting with Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and his wife, having a coffee. The Australia tour was very important and we wanted to win away from India, having lost in South Africa and England. So we were talking about the Perth Test when I got a call from BCCI congratulating me for being picked by the Capitals.But I should say this: what I missed, only I know. When I did not play IPL, I went to play county. It was a good experience, but you have to bowl a lot. There’s no rest in between games. You have to travel, do everything yourself. So there’s a lot of hard yards you have to do in county cricket. Every penny you earn there, it is hard work.Sitting out the last IPL, was it a little bit hurtful?
Before that, when I played for [Rising Pune] Supergiant, and even at Kings XI, I was a replacement player. So I wasn’t really shocked, to be very honest, because I knew I didn’t do well [previously in the IPL].It is better to be practical in life. If you didn’t do well, you didn’t do well. But what was my alternative? To go and play county cricket. Because I knew if I was watching my team-mates playing cricket while I was sitting back home, it would have made me frustrated. There [in county cricket] I was just playing, enjoying myself. That helped me a lot mentally. I was pretty happy with myself – yes, I took a good decision, although it took a toll on my body, but I was still happy.You are not the highest wicket-taker at Capitals, but you have been creating an impact in the Powerplays. How did that come about?
Actually the role of bowling in the Powerplay was not planned. In the game against Mumbai , after I took two wickets, Shreyas [Iyer] told me I should bowl the rest of my overs later. But I said, “No, let me bowl one more over. Maybe if I get another wicket, the game will get over.” I took Quinton de Kock’s wicket. So after that game I started bowling three overs upfront in the Powerplay.In the first three games [before playing Mumbai Indians] I was talking to Hopesy [James Hopes, bowling coach] telling him about not getting wickets. He was like, “Mate, you are doing a fantastic job for the team. Doesn’t matter, I’m sure wickets will come. And I’m going to say this to you every single day because that’s my job. But don’t worry about the wickets, because what you are doing, it’s not easy – bowling in the Powerplay, bowling to tough batsmen.” I told him I’m doing my job but I need wickets as well.”We don’t think about stats. Do your job, do your basics right”•Getty ImagesSo there was doubt even when you had a good economy rate?
Because if you are always happy with what you are doing, there’s something wrong. There’s always a chance to reflect on where you can improve your game. If you reflect and you don’t execute, that’s a different thing. But if I bowl a bad ball, I ask myself why I did that, what I was planning?Your economy of 6.71 in Powerplays is the fourth best among fast bowlers who have bowled 15-plus overs in the Powerplay. Only Jasprit Bumrah, Jofra Archer and Bhuvneshwar have better numbers. Does it help your confidence?
See, as I told you I don’t really think about these things. You just told me I’m fourth.Didn’t your analyst tell you that stat?
Seriously, we don’t even talk about such things. We don’t think about stats. Do your job, do your basics right. For me, I am expressing myself. I am doing what I can do best. End of the day, what matters to me is how look at myself. After you retire you can talk about how many wickets you took. But as a person, what will you take? You will take how many trophies you lift. You take what bonding you create as a team. You take good memories. I am fond of all those things, and not all the stats. I don’t care about the economy. Seriously.ALSO READ: Road to playoffs is paved by the bowlersSo you don’t use data to help your bowling?
No. It might add pressure on me now that you have told me (). On a serious note, I don’t really think about how many runs I have given. I am doing what best I can do to win a game.You have taken only four wickets in the Powerplay this year. Do you consider yourself a strike bowler?
Yes, I do. But what brings me a wicket, you have got to analyse that as well. That is important. In Test matches I don’t get wickets in a clutch. Suddenly I don’t take five wickets. So the way I take wickets in a Test match is by creating a lot of pressure, bowling a lot of overs, pitching on a good length and being consistent. I understand that. I do the same thing in T20: keep bowling, keep persisting for long enough. Even if you are not taking wickets in this format, if you are economical you are doing a fantastic job for the team. I want to take wickets, but you only get four overs.If I talk about the game against RCB [in Delhi], I went for 41 in the four overs. But early on in my spell I bowled a knuckleball and PP [Parthiv Patel] tried to cut but the ball did not carry to [Rishabh] Pant. Then there was a misfield from [Kagiso] Rabada, there was a top edge. Then there was the edge from Virat [Kohli], which was ruled not out. And then he hit me for a six, which would not have happened had he been out. So the analysis would have changed completely had those things gone in my favour – instead of taking just one wicket, I might have had three. In IPL there is always pressure at all times, but if you can keep the belief then it comes handy.I get to bowl 18 balls in the Powerplay, but I have got fantastic support from the management even if I have not taken too many wickets. Also, having KG at the other end was a big boost for me as he bowled the tough overs.

“There’s a lot of hard yards you have to do in county cricket. Every penny you earn there, it is hard work”

Was Kohli out in that match?
I think it carried. I told him, “You are out, walk, go.” He said, “No, it was one-bounce, you go and bowl.” The umpire gave it not out. Virat hit me for a six next ball. Even against Rohit [Sharma], against Mumbai Indians in Delhi, I was having fun in the middle. I told him, “” [Hit it]. He said, ” wicket ” [What kind of wicket is this? How will I hit it?]. After the match I told him, “” [You didn’t hit big]. He said, “” [Come to Wankhede]. I told him: “Out ” [But I got you out]. So these are fun moments we have despite playing with intensity. Yes, we are playing the IPL, but the Indian team is my first family.You usually come back to bowl your remaining overs at death. However, people who have picked teams at the auctions have had a perception that you are not a good death bowler. Do you agree?
If you look at the stats, in the IPL every bowler from every team has gone for more than ten runs. My IPL economy is eight right now, but people still don’t consider me a good death bowler. I don’t know why. Yes, in the past I did go for runs, but that’s the past. You have to see what I’m doing right now.Even in the last match [against Royal Challengers] I went for 16 in the 17th over, but in the 19th over I came back for only four runs. As a cricketer what I have realised is, if you win a game, that is the happiest thing. Ricky [Ponting] told me that. Even if you win Man of the Match but you lose the game, it is of no use. Making even a smaller impact is the key.You have not won a Man of the Match yet, but you have earned Ponting’s Man of the Match. (Ponting gives a badge to a player he thinks has made an impact in a game.)
Yes, I have won twice (). First was against KKR, where I had four overs for 21 and then against Hyderabad three overs for 17 bowling in the Powerplay to Jonny Bairstow and [David] Warner.Can you talk about that Sunrisers spell? Now that both players have left, you could tell us the plan?
My strength is swinging the ball into the batsman, so I was focusing on getting the swing. Against Bairstow I did not want to give him a boundary. The best part of the planning has been to keep things simple. You cannot get a team out in one spell. That does not happen in T20 cricket. If you can get the new ball to land on a length then it becomes difficult for every batsman. Maybe he can hit one ball, he might hit two, but he will find it difficult to hit the third one if you pitch on length.Talking about the length ball – you have become very consistent in hitting the same spot against all batsmen in all cricket. Is that helping your confidence?
After the Australia tour I returned home and played for Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. Even there I bowled pretty well. I trained a lot bowling against a single stump. I also placed a cone on length with the aim being to hit top of off stump. Or I placed a shoe and hit it if I wanted to execute the yorker. That is called target bowling. The main goal for a bowler is to finish on top of off stump with the new ball, irrespective of the format. I have been doing that ever since I have been playing cricket. Maybe having had a good Test season and doing okay in the IPL, people are realising these things.Which are the spells you have enjoyed?
Other than SRH and KKR, against Rajasthan Royals I bowled two overs in the Powerplay and two at death. I only gave 28 [actually 29] runs. Against Kings XI Punjab, first two overs I gave 16 [15], but then bowled a four-run third over against Chris Gayle.”As a person, what will you take when you retire? You will take how many trophies you lift, the bonding you create as a team, the good memories”•Getty ImagesIn the Powerplay you are bowling against the best batsmen in the tournament. Do you want to make a statement straightaway, like a batsman wants to hit a six first ball? What is your aim?
My mindset is to just to create that pressure ball by ball. I want to get him out. I want to play competitive cricket against the batsman. Yes, if you are good enough you can hit me one ball, but I will back my strengths – whether it is a yorker, length ball, knuckleball.What variations have you added this IPL?
I have started bowling the knuckleball. In the past I went for runs with the new ball because I was just bowling the same length again and again. So there was no variation in the pace. With the knuckleball, due to my height I get bounce but the ball also comes slow in the air – batsmen think it is a normal ball and get beaten at times.ALSO READ: How Ishant got his mojo workingHow much time did it take for you to learn the knuckleball?
I started training virtually the day I returned from Australia. I started developing new skills like the knuckleball, back-of-the-hand slower ball.Did you ask Bhuvneshwar about the knuckleball?
I asked him what length he tries to hit with his knuckleball. I thought he tries to float his knuckleball, but he said he tries to hit a length. Then I realised if you hit a length, it is very difficult for the batsman to hit. If you float, it might wobble and not land on the right length.Right now I am just getting up and hitting the length whenever I want. Touch wood. But holding that ball till the last moment, changing your grip, these are things I need to work on. I asked Bhuvi a lot of questions, and how he changes his grip with the knuckleball. He said he does it during his gather. Even I am doing that when I load. If you change the grip when you are about to deliver, then it can get very late.What is your aim for the rest of the tournament?
Just one aim: to win the IPL trophy this year. . I’m pretty sure we will win. I don’t know why, but I have that belief.

You couldn’t have scripted the end of the World Cup final better and it will take a long time to make sense of it. But here’s an attempt

Jarrod Kimber at Lord's15-Jul-2019Over 44.5Jos Buttler has changed how batsmen hit the ball. His golf-swing-power-fade shots have shown that big sixes aren’t solely about how big you are. Not that he isn’t in peak physical condition; as usual, every part of him is immaculate. If he looks like he has been grown in a lab by sports scientists, it’s because the ECB would actually do that if they could. And like he seems to do more than most, Buttler bats as if the pitch is different for him. His strike rate is 100 when he faces the last ball of the 45th over. The rest of his team is nowhere near that.Lockie Ferguson is bowling to him. He has his long-sleeved shirt untucked, he’s wearing his black boots, he does not look like an international cricketer. More the bloke who rocks up to your local club like he has never played the game, before bouncing out everyone. He doesn’t use pace or bounce, he bowls wide and slow. Buttler slices it towards deep point. Tim Southee – the 12th man who took 7 for 33 against England in the last World Cup – is part of the best fast-bowling fielding packs in the world. But he misjudges the ball, going left, then right, before sliding in to take it barely above the surface.Maybe it was like this all day, but this is where it really started. Whatever was – one of those things.Over 45.6Jimmy Neesham is a part-time bowler. He is probably the sixth bowler for New Zealand at times. At best he is part of the fifth bowler with Colin de Grandhomme. But in the last two games, he has been something else: a death bowler. Last match he had to hold his nerve with MS Dhoni at the crease. In this one, to win a World Cup. And this part-timer, fifth bowler, batting allrounder, whatever you call him, stands up. His first 11 balls in the Powerplay go for seven.Now he’s bowling to Ben Stokes, a man desperate to not be remembered for a fight outside a nightclub. And he has three boundaries in 85 balls. Buttler is gone, the lower order is in, it is now or never for Stokes. The ball is full and straight; it’s a shovel-helicopter-heave, the shot you play when you spend a lot of time in the gym. And he finds four.Jos Buttler walks off the field after being dismissed by Lockie Ferguson•Getty ImagesOver 46.1Ferguson digs one short, and it is Chris Woakes facing. England’s batting has been so deep over the last four years that Adil Rashid and his ten first-class hundreds have batted No. 11. And yet here, in the only game that matters, Woakes is at seven. It all feels different. England’s entire set-up is for 350-plus and hacking the middle overs with a never-ending batting order. Now it is about just getting the runs any way you can. With Ferguson’s bounce, Woakes can only top-edge.Under the catch is Tom Latham. He came into this tournament as a quality player and then hit a form slump at the wrong time. In the first seven games he never went past 14. It was only the game against England that he looked right, but his best innings was probably today, when he made 47. The catch is the same – it goes very high, he moves in nine directions and is not in control, before finally pulling it together, taking the catch and almost falling over in disbelief.Over 46.3When Ferguson bowls to Liam Plunkett, it is beast meets beast. The big fast bowler up against the burly hitter. But we get beauty instead. Ferguson bowls a Richard Hadlee legcutter. Here is this young, raw fast-bowling demon – New Zealand use leg gully as near necessity for him – bowling an intricate ball that angles in, grips and moves away, missing Plunkett’s outside edge. This game feels apocalyptic, and this is the daisy that stands tall in the rubble.Over 46.5There was a time when Plunkett was one player who looked like losing his spot to Jofra Archer. Plunkett had a disappointing Big Bash League, seemed to be down on pace, and those magical cross-seam balls just weren’t working. But they did today: they did for Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls – and now he is in at eight and doing his other skill, slogging a few at the end. Plunkett kept going like England keep going.This was England’s 2992nd boundary since the last World Cup. From 1 to 11, they all get it done.Trent Boult catches a Ben Stokes shot, but…•Getty ImagesOver 47.2Trent Boult was the one who would win New Zealand this. Left-arm seam rules Lord’s, England do not face it well, and first ball, when he hit Jason Roy’s pad, it looked like it would be his game. But the lbw wasn’t given, and now he is scrapping away at the death. He starts well, but he gives Stokes length, and Stokes smashes one out to midwicket. Against most teams it would be four. But Mitchell Santner is there. It was Santner patrolling the boundary against India as well, pulling off great saves that put extra pressure on Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.Over 48.4The ball prior, Neesham made Plunkett mistime one down to long-off; Boult took the catch. Now Neesham gets another mishit, this time from Stokes, and it’s straight to Boult again. It was Boult who caught Carlos Brathwaite after Brathwaite had made a hundred at Old Trafford. It was a simple chance under colossal pressure, right on the rope. He has pulled off some of the most fantastic boundary (and non-boundary) catches over the last few years. This one isn’t near his hardest. He takes the catch while falling back, and for a moment it looks like New Zealand have won the World Cup. But Boult gets his feet wrong. His right foot lands safely – had he just tried to balance on that, he would have been fine, but his left foot lands on the boundary triangle. It’s not a catch, it’s a six, England’s first for the entire innings. Martin Guptill, the relay catcher, doesn’t hesitate in calling it a six.Over 49.3Boult nails two yorkers. Those are the exact balls that Stokes couldn’t deliver against Brathwaite in the T20 World Cup final of 2016. Here is Stokes, back in the most important over in cricket, and again he has started poorly. When Don Topley tried to comfort Stokes after that over in Kolkata – regaling him with a time in domestic cricket where Topley had allowed a big match-losing over – Stokes turned to him and said, “But it didn’t happen in front of a billion people, did it?” That over haunts Stokes. It was out there in the middle with him today.Boult gives him a chance – he hits a length. Stokes swings across it as he loses balance. His power base is lopsided, but the ball flies deep into the stand. Lord’s had been nervous all day; this was the time it first roared.Over 49.4Boult misses his yorker again, and this time it’s a full toss. Stokes should hit it back into a stand, but he clangs it and it dribbles to deep midwicket. This time Guptill is there. In the 2015 World Cup he was the leading scorer. This time he struggled all tournament with the bat, but in the field he has been god-like. It was his run-out from deep backward square to remove Dhoni that got New Zealand here. Now he’s motoring in to stop Stokes from finding two. He picks it up third bounce and throws in one motion. It’s a beautiful throw, right in at the stumps. The only thing that can stop it hitting the stumps is Stokes’ dive.The law change of recent times means that batsmen can’t impede the ball being thrown at the stumps without a risk of being out. But Stokes is just diving because he needs to get in. He doesn’t know where the ball is, but he middles it off the back of his bat while he is horizontal. The ball goes past Latham and out towards the third-man boundary. But third man is up in the circle.Colin de Grandhomme played possibly one of the poorest innings of his life with the bat and then followed it with maybe his best spell of bowling ever. Now he’s chasing this ball up the Lord’s slope, and towards the rope. Behind him, Stokes has raised his hands and does not try to run for the deflected overthrows, he looks confused and apologetic. In the old days, to get a four to the Pavilion End the ball had to go up the slope and then also up the slight hill right in front of the pavilion. That hill, if it was there, might have been enough for the exhausted looking de Grandhomme to overcome the ball, instead the four metres of lost space means he can’t get there – it doesn’t race to the rope, it just gets there. And England have scored their second lucky six.There are conversations between players and umpires, Stokes doesn’t seem to want the runs, New Zealand would prefer they didn’t count, but there is nothing they can do. No one is sure if the umpires have noticed that Guptill’s throw came in before the batsmen had crossed, so perhaps the four overthrows should have stood, but only one of the actually run runs. But six runs in total are given to England. They need three from two.Ben Stokes smashes a six as he takes the match to the end•Getty ImagesOver 49.6Because of a great Boult yorker and a great Boult take, they run Rashid out at the non-striker’s end. That means England need two from the last ball. Stokes talks to Mark Wood. Stokes decides on a two, and even when Boult bowls a slower yorker outside leg stump, Stokes just pokes it into a gap, and they look for two. But he has hit it too hard, and Neesham flies in and gets the ball back to Boult, who takes off the bails. Wood, who looked injured earlier in the day when he finished his overs, Wood who almost always looks injured, who bowled probably the quickest spell in a World Cup final earlier that day, is now lying on the turf, run out by metres. New Zealand have two run-outs in as many balls. England have a tie.Super Over – England0.1Stokes faces Boult again for the Super Over, and the first ball he slices over third man. Buttler motors through for three, Stokes limps his. He looks moments from crippling cramp, and like running another three could have him close to retired hurt in a Super Over.0.6Boult finishes the over with another full toss. One of the most accurate bowlers in world cricket, but he has now bowled two consecutive last overs. He should have won the first one, now he’s strolling the second. Buttler whips the full toss with those golf power wrists, because that is what England do. That is what Buttler does. “Express yourself” is the English mantra, and Buttler’s self is boundaries. Since the last World Cup, his strike rate is 124; no one else over 1000 runs is faster. This is just four more, but it puts the Super Over into supernova territory.Jimmy Neesham smashes a six in the Super Over•Getty ImagesSuper Over – New Zealand0.2Neesham had a list in front of him with reasons why he should or shouldn’t have quit cricket only 18 months ago. He was 27, but the grind of professional cricket had almost beaten him. Injuries, form problems and missing the last World Cup had all eaten at the game he loved as a kid. Now he is New Zealand’s designated hitter for the Super Over of the World Cup final. And he has slogged a full ball into the stands.New Zealand are seven runs from four balls away from winning.The moment that won England the 2019 World Cup•Getty Images0.3Neesham hits out to the leg side. The New Zealand pair are running two no matter what, but it turns out that they don’t have to worry, as Roy flies in but fumbles the ball. A clean take and throw at Neesham’s end could have removed the power-hitting batsman; instead, Roy picks the ball back up as the batsmen stroll home.0.5After New Zealand take another two, Neesham has two balls to find three runs. But Jofra Archer is bowling to him. Archer was a wicketkeeper in Barbados in his youth, whose selection started a row about how tight the English team were, and whether he would somehow fit in. Archer’s father was born in the UK. Usually that would be enough to play for the country, but because of regulations, he had to wait to qualify for England. It seemed everything was always against Archer until he started bowling fast. He bowls very fast. Today, Archer hit someone in the head – the third time this tournament he had.So when Neesham was drilling his full balls, Archer went short. It was in conversation with Eoin Morgan. Morgan has been through a lot in his career. A failed Test career, captaining against his own nation, and annoying some English fans by not singing their anthem. Also rebuilding English white-ball cricket. And he has captained a bowler who went for 24 runs in four balls to lose a T20 World Cup.But this short ball works. It smashes Neesham’s arm and takes him off strike. The Archer-Morgan gamble pays off. New Zealand need two runs from the last ball.0.6Archer’s full, straight ball is flicked out to midwicket by Guptill. The reason New Zealand sent Guptill out was because of his running between the wickets. “He is such a fast runner, and that was all he had to do,” Williamson said. After Guptill flicks the ball, he slips. His spikes just don’t grip the surface. Roy is running around like mad. Roy made Australia’s semi-final total look pitiful, but they dropped Roy during the Champions Trophy. And he has just misfielded a ball. This time he picks it up perfectly, he gets it out of his hand, and it goes back to Buttler. It is a long way from the stumps, but Guptill is a long way from the crease.It is another tie, but a fatal one for New Zealand. The scores are the same, but England have hit more boundaries; Buttler hit seven on his own.On the balcony, Williamson clutches his chest. It was just one of those games, hey!

Whether through fortune or planning, Essex came hurtling up on the blindside to claim their maiden T20 title

Matt Roller at Edgbaston21-Sep-2019″It’s been frustrating and challenging,” Simon Harmer says, with a weary expression on his face. “Some of the cricket we’ve played has been quite frustrating – to be on the field and just watch things fall apart. And challenging in the way that I want to do things, what I feel is important in terms of T20 skills or whatever that may be, and trying to slowly change the mindset and get players to buy in.”It’s August 30, an hour before Essex play Kent in their final Blast group game, and it feels like Harmer knows what fate awaits his side. Even a convincing win will probably see them knocked out – they are reliant on winless Glamorgan plucking something out of nowhere against a strong, in-form Hampshire, and have themselves won only four of their 13 scheduled games.”It’s been quite difficult,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve had to make some tough decisions in terms of team selection, but I stand by the decisions that I’ve made and that we’ve made as management as well, and going forward we’ve put the right steps in place and hopefully we’ll start to reap the rewards in the coming years.”They are the niceties, the clichés of a man who knows his side haven’t performed as he’d have liked. Not that it matters – they still have the Championship to play for.Four hours later, the PA announcer declares to the loudest cheer of the night that the unthinkable has happened. Glamorgan have done it. Essex have stolen home after a third Kent implosion in as many games. By the barest of margins, Essex are through to the quarter-finals.***It’s a bitterly cold night in Chester-le-Street. Essex have fought hard on a tough pitch, but need 46 runs off 24 balls, and then 23 off the last 12.Lancashire’s attack is set up perfectly for this situation. They have excelled in the death overs, and they have an over of Matt Parkinson’s legspin left to bowl before Saqib Mahmood will finish things off. Maybe in another era Ravi Bopara and Ryan ten Doeschate would have got home, but they are veterans nowadays, sharing 73 years between them. The square boundaries are enormous, the pitch is worn, and runs are at a premium.But Dane Vilas throws the ball to Liam Livingstone, and Bopara heaves him for two massive sixes. Ten Doeschate adds a third in the over, the scores are tied with an over to spare, and Bopara whacks Parkinson into the stand for good measure. With six wins in 15 games, Essex are at Finals Day.

Essex’s media team have come with cardboard cut-outs of overseas stars Adam Zampa and Mohammad Amir – but they will be the only versions on show

***The joke going around Chelmsford in the build-up to Finals Day is that Essex have already made it further than ever before in this competition.On their previous four visits, they have been whizzing back down the motorway by early afternoon, with a record of played four, lost four in the 11am semi-final. With a 2.30pm start time this time, they are already in uncharted territory.Up the M1 with Essex’s media team come with cardboard cut-outs of Adam Zampa and Mohammad Amir, which spend the day at the back of the Edgbaston press box. Zampa’s even has a yellow headband lovingly placed on top of it.But they will be the only versions of Essex’s overseas players on show. Zampa is back home for the Australian One-Day Cup. Amir is in Pakistan for a training camp ahead of a white-ball series against Sri Lanka. That’s life, when the showpiece event of the county season is shoved to the back end of September.Zampa’s absence means that Aron Nijjar, a 24-year-old from Ilford of no particular cricketing acclaim (as yet), comes in for just the second T20 match of his career. Last time out, Kent took his three overs for 30, and he was sent back to the twos.The good news is that Nijjar bowls left-arm spin. Derbyshire’s best batsman is Wayne Madsen, who has averaged almost 50 while striking at 150 this season. But his numbers against left-arm spin aren’t great.It’s hardly a surprise when Nijjar comes on to bowl the fifth over, with Madsen on strike.His first ball is too full, and too straight. Madsen sweeps behind square for four. Nijjar tosses his second ball up, so Madsen clears his front leg and bangs him over long-on for six. His fourth ball is a dart on leg stump, which Madsen sweeps past short fine leg for four more.Nijjar’s fifth ball is much the same, fired in at leg stump. Madsen gets down to sweep, but the ball straightens just a fraction on a ragging wicket, which Billy Godleman will later claim offers “excessive turn”. It pings into the top of leg, and Derbyshire have lost three of their top four within the first five overs.The rest of the innings is a Harmer-inspired canter, and Essex march on into the final.***Moeen Ali in action during the Vitality Blast final•Getty ImagesIn Essex’s first-ever final, Harmer wins the toss and choses to chase on a day when the chasing team has lost twice. “We’re hoping that dew’s going to come into it later,” he says. “We’re pretty buggered if it doesn’t.”Despite missing their best spinner, Essex are blessed with options. Everyone in their side barring wicketkeeper Adam Wheater can bowl, and they have seven pace-off options in all. After three overs of seam in the Powerplay, Harmer decides he’s going to stop pretending this wicket isn’t just a cheap imitation of the MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch in Chennai.He might be no good against Nathan Lyon, but Moeen Ali is an unbelievable player of spin in T20. Since 2017, he has scored at more than ten an over against slow bowling, and spent the early months of his difficult 2019 biffing everything that came his way in a Royal Challengers Bangalore shirt.Quietly, Harmer has turned himself into a specialist against left-handers. CricViz notes that his 33 balls in the Blast against them have yielded 36 runs, and taken six wickets.It is odd, then, that while Moeen kicks into gear in the Powerplay, Harmer is quietly stewing at mid-off. In his first over, the seventh, Moeen knocks a single, and the right-handed Riki Wessels slams him over long-on.But even with Wessels on strike at the start of the next over, Harmer keeps himself on. Wessels clips a single out to deep square, and as Moeen looks to do the same, the ball sticks in the pitch, hits his leading edge, and Harmer – who has dropped his fair share of chances in the tournament – takes a low one off his own bowling.By luck or by judgment, Worcestershire’s chief spin-thrasher has chipped back a return catch for 32, and they can only scrape up to 145.***Six overs into their run chase, Essex look like they might be buggered after all. Their 36 for 1 is comfortably the lowest Powerplay score of the day. That much-promised dew is nowhere to be seen.Daryl Mitchell is nobody’s idea of a T20 gun, but his offcutters have gone at just above a run-a-ball this season. He bowls the reverse-sweeping Wheater for a run-a-ball 15.Then Wayne Parnell bangs one in halfway down to Tom Westley, who pulls it out to deep backward square leg. Pat Brown is sprinting in, and has misjudged it completely. But with Brown on his knees, sliding forward, the ball threatens to burst through his fingertips and decides against. Brown grins wryly, and Westley trudges off.Dan Lawrence has had one of those tournaments. Nobody has noticed him outside of Essex, but he’s thrashing everything that comes his way and striking at 150. He slogs Moeen high and mighty into the night sky with the rate ticking above nines, and Wessels takes a fantastic catch at long-on.In the last few moments of their T20 season, Essex’s luck is running out.***Ravi Bopara swings into the leg side•Getty ImagesBopara hates batting at No. 6, and has no intentions of keeping quiet about it. But he’s heading towards T20 specialism, and has decided that he needs to hit more sixes.”The biggest shift for me in the last 12 months has been: ‘Right, I’m just going to hit more sixes,'” he told this week.”Because Andre Russell is doing it, Chris Gayle is doing it, Kieron Pollard is doing it. All these young guys in the CPL just do it. All they do is just swing and they hit the ball for six. People in the Blast have started doing it in the last couple of years. So, I’ve just said: ‘Do you know what, I’m going to do it. I’m just going to focus on hitting sixes.'”
So he slaps Moeen for one, and then slugs Brown over midwicket for another.All of a sudden, Essex need 23 off 12, just like in the quarters. But Moeen isn’t missing a trick, and saves his best death bowlers until last.Harmer has faced 24 balls this season, and scored 25 from them. He’s not the last man you want to stride out with eight balls left and 17 needed, but Essex are now towards the bottom of the barrel.He belts Brown for four, then steals a single to start the final over on strike. One more, followed by a single to Bopara. Harmer is not the quickest mover, but steals a pair of twos off Parnell, then slugs him down the ground for four to move to 14 off six. The dew’s doing its thing now and suddenly fortune is smiling again.Essex need one to tie, and that will be enough. The field comes up. Harmer squeezes it through point, and charges away in celebration.Lucky? You bet. But who cares about that when there’s a trophy to lift. There will be no crazy night on Broad Street with a Championship to play for in barely 36 hours’ time, but somehow, after two wins from their first ten games, with cardboard cutouts instead of overseas players, through fortune or through planning, Essex have gone and won the thing.

A look at the standout numbers from the first day of the SCG Test

Gaurav Sundararaman03-Jan-2020215 – The biggest difference in terms of Test-match experience between consecutive XIs for New Zealand. Before today, it was 164 matches, in October 1990. In this Test, they lost a total experience of 215 matches, as the count plummeted from 540 Test caps in Melbourne to 325 in Sydney.It was the first time since December 2009, against Pakistan in Wellington, that New Zealand went into a Test without either Kane Williamson or Tim Southee or Trent Boult. Add to that Mitchell Santner and Henry Nicholls, and that’s a net loss of 267 Test caps, 11,108 runs, and 594 wickets.ESPNcricinfo Ltd