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Butcher laments dropped catches

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Alan Butcher, Zimbabwe’s coach, singled out dropped catches as the reason for his team squandering their chance of being competitive in the latter stages of the Test

Firdose Moonda in Bulawayo05-Sep-2011Alan Butcher, Zimbabwe’s coach, singled out dropped catches as the reason for his team squandering their chance of being competitive in the latter stages of the Test against Pakistan. Zimbabwe dropped six catches in Pakistan’s first innings and conceded a lead of 54 runs, after they had scored an impressive 412 themselves.”Catching probably cost us a chance of winning,” Butcher said. “We had every reason to believe that we would get a first-innings lead.” Mohammad Hafeez, who was Pakistan’s only centurion, was dropped twice, while Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Umar Akmal were also put down. The bulk of the missed chances were relatively simple and Brendan Taylor said the team felt a general “frustration” at not taking their opportunities.They were less hard on themselves for the batting collapse in the second innings, which resulted in Pakistan being given a small target to chase. “On this wicket there was always potential for a collapse,” Butcher said. “[Saeed] Ajmal will cause better teams than ours some problems but we were disappointed to lose so many wickets to Hafeez in the second innings, because we thought he didn’t spin it that much.”Hafeez took four middle- and lower-order wickets after Ajmal had bagged three, with Aizaz Cheema chipping in with one. After slumping 69 for 8 on the fourth day, defeat appeared certain for Zimbabwe, but Tatenda Taibu’s stubborn half-century gave them slim hope of posting a defendable total. “We wanted to try and bat a session, bat some time out of the game and then chip away and build a lead,” Taylor said. “We knew anything could happen given their [Pakistan’s] history.”For a change, “anything” did not happen and Pakistan went on to record a routine victory. Zimbabwe lost by a smaller margin than the last time they played Pakistan – a 10-wicket defeat in Bulawayo in 2002 – and instead of dwell on the defeat they are opting to zone in on other aspects of their game as they look to rebuild a reputation in Test cricket.”There are a lot of positives to take out of this,” Taylor said “I wouldn’t say more than the Bangladesh game, but there are definitely positives. It was good to see us bat for 150 overs.” Butcher also lauded the first innings effort, in particular Tino Mawoyo’s maiden Test century. “Having an opening batsman bat through an innings was good.”Ajmal proved the major threat of the match, and tested Zimbabwe right through the first innings, even when the pitch had yet to show cracks. Butcher was pleased with the way Zimbabwe tried to withstand his assault. “We said if he is going to get a lot of wickets, then we will make him bowl a lot of overs for it and we made Ajmal bowl 50 overs to get his four wickets.”The Zimbabwe bowlers had a tough time on an unresponsive strip and Taylor thought, “The spinners worked hard together and showed good character,” while Butcher was impressed that, “having conceded so quickly at the start to have pulled it back was also good.”Zimbabwe’s inexperienced seam attack of Brian Vitori, Kyle Jarvis and Chris Mpofu took a pasting, managing only four wickets between them. Vitori, the nation’s wonderkid after his performances against Bangladesh, did not snag a single victim. “There were high hopes for him after Harare, he is hungry to learn,” Taylor said. “He has a great attitude and he will be back.”Butcher said the unhelpful surface will only aid Vitori’s development. “It took him a lot longer to find his length,” he said. “He has probably been brought back down to earth after his spectacular start but it was always going to happen.” While Vitori was expensive, Jarvis and Mpofu leaked a little less and Taylor said the pair could “hold their heads up high” for a brave showing.

Unlucky number won't bother Marsh – Hussey

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Michael Hussey says Shaun Marsh has the composure to deal with being 87 not out overnight and praised the debutant’s concentration

Daniel Brettig in Pallekele09-Sep-2011Michael Hussey batted with Shaun Marsh when he made his first-class debut, and again when Marsh clouted a first century for Western Australia. He hopes to be there again to see Marsh mark his Test debut with a century.Marsh was unbeaten on 87 when he and Hussey, 76 not out, were sent to the dressing room more than an hour before the scheduled close of play on the second day in Pallekele due to bad light. Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka batsman, made sure to remind the debutant that he was stuck on a score considered unlucky in Australia because it is 13 runs short of a hundred. But Hussey said Marsh had shown the composure of a Test batsman in an innings played in fluctuating conditions and circumstances, allying it to the talent he had first displayed when spanking 119 against New South Wales in 2003.That day Steve Waugh had attempted to unsettle Marsh in the 90s and, as Hussey recalled, the response was emphatic.”That was an amazing innings,” Hussey said. “I remember that vividly because Steve Waugh was at cover and Mark Waugh was bowling. Shaun got into the 90s and Steve just got into his head a bit saying `don’t get nervous now Shaun, you know you’ve played so well, don’t throw away a hundred now’, and he hit the next two balls for six to bring up his 100. Obviously there is still a lot of work to go in this match and as long as he keeps sticking to his game he’ll be fine.”It’s a bad score to be stuck on and Mahela did give him a little wink as he was walking off and said `Jeez, you wouldn’t want to be 87 not out overnight’. But it’s not going to bother him I don’t think. I said something like `I’d much rather be on 87 than seven overnight’.”In Pallekele, Marsh withstood a sharp early spell from Suranga Lakmal when he first arrived, then matched wits with the spin of Suraj Randiv for most of the day, which saw Australia recover from an iffy 116 for 3 to be powerfully placed at 264 for 3 by the early close. Hussey said Marsh’s concentration was the most impressive feature of his innings, which saw him face 211 balls on the second day.”I thought he showed tremendous concentration because there were periods when scoring was difficult. They bowled really tight for a while and it was tough. Obviously in your first Test match you’re going to be pretty nervous but he got his feet moving well. He showed good composure to be able to get through a tough early period and even beyond that.”They still continually bowled well to him and it was difficult to get any momentum going with his innings. He showed great concentration and then you could just see the confidence grow a little bit as the innings wore on. I think when he got that legspinner [Seekkuge Prasanna] away for a few boundaries in a row you could see him start to believe that he belonged there.”That sense of belonging at the international level has not always been evident, perhaps because Marsh’s overall record is somewhat underwhelming. He averages 37.71 in first-class cricket and has made only six hundreds, but can add to that tally on the third day by employing the more measured and consistent approach Hussey has witnessed him develop in Western Australia.”It’s been well documented that early in his career he was a bit inconsistent but I think if you look at the way he’s played in the last two or three years in first-class cricket he’s been a lot more consistent. With the way he’s prepared, the way he’s approached his innings and the way he’s played out in the middle, he’s had a lot more understanding of his game and the conditions and probably his routines. Obviously he wants more hundreds in the column but it’s pretty tough to make first-class hundreds let alone Test hundreds.”Hussey admitted to struggling for concentration and touch at times throughout his own innings, but it was another vital contribution on a tour during which he has made many, from the 95 on the first day in Galle to the stunning gully catch and freak wicket with the ball to start the Pallekele Test.Kumar Sangakkara had been a most unlikely Test victim of Hussey’s slow-medium seamers on the first afternoon, and attempted to get his own back by not only bowling but taking the new ball. Hussey admitted considerable relief when the ball was given back to a specialist.”You don’t want it to last for very long. I was pretty happy when he took the new ball; I thought at least it might come on a little more, but he got a little swing as well, so it was a relief when he went off. I didn’t want to get out to Kumar and for him to pay me back.”

Past failures made me nervous – Azhar Ali

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Azhar Ali said memories of the two previous innings in which he was dismissed in the nineties did make him nervous as he approached his maiden Test hundred in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Oct-2011Azhar Ali, the Pakistan batsman, said memories of previous innings in which he had failed to convert big fifties into a century did make him nervous as he approached his maiden Test hundred in Dubai. He had scored 10 Test half-centuries before he finally reached the three-figure mark on Thursday, and said this time he was patient in waiting for the last few runs to come.”The last time I was on 90, in Abu Dhabi [against South Africa], I tried to hit a few boundaries to get to the hundred mark. But this time I waited for the bad balls.”I was a bit nervous and did think of the other occasions I had been in the nineties. Misbah-ul-Haq was very helpful and told me to just bat and wait for the runs to come.”Even without having got a century, Azhar had averaged 39.75 over his first 14 Tests and cemented his place in the Pakistan side. However, he said his ambition is to become a “great player”, and knew that would require big scores. “You have to play big innings to be a great player and I was missing those. Now, I want to continue to play big knocks because I’ve already missed a few hundreds and have to make up for that.”Pakistan had received criticism for batting too slowly in the first innings of the first Test against Sri Lanka, and on Thursday got just 239 runs in 90 overs at a run-rate of 2.66. Azhar’s strike-rate was 41.32 but he said the Dubai pitch was not easy to score quickly on.”It’s not easy to score freely on this pitch. The track is slow and if you try to score fast you could end up playing a silly shot and losing your wicket. On this pitch you have to take your time. We did well as a team today to get into the position we are in.”A lead of 150 or 200 will put us in a good position because the ball is turning and keeping low. Today, the second new ball swung as well. This is the kind of pitch where one good spell can run through a batting line-up.”Azhar was dismissed at the end of the day for exactly 100 but replays showed he had got a bottom-edge on to the Tillakaratne Dilshan delivery. Rather than blame the umpire Tony Hill for the decision, Azhar said he was disappointed he had chosen to play a sweep with the end of the day nearing.”I selected a wrong shot and it was disappointing because had we been three down I could have been sitting here looking forward to increasing the lead tomorrow. But we have Misbah there who is very calm so hopefully he can take us ahead.”Geoff Marsh, the Sri Lanka coach, said he was glad his side got rid of Azhar before stumps but said he had looked like getting out in the nineties. “We were glad to get Azhar out at the end of the day but it looked as though we could have had him before,” Marsh said. “You could see he was nervous in the nineties and it looked like we could dismiss him then.”Despite Pakistan being ahead by 42 runs with six wickets in hand, Marsh said Sri Lanka were not yet out of the match. “If we can bowl Pakistan out for a first-innings lead of 100-150 then we have to bat well and you never know on the last day of a Test match. If you can get 150 or so ahead by the last day of a Test then the previous four days go out the window and it comes down to those last two sessions.”But we’ve got a lot of hard work to do. We’ve first got to bowl them out. The turn on this pitch is slow so it’s going to be hard work for both sides. If you bowl well on this pitch there is a bit of swing and help.”

Bulls stay unbeaten by narrow margin

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Queensland were pushed all the way by New South Wales captain Steve O’Keefe before claiming a 14-run victory in Brisbane to remain unbeaten in four matches

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2011
ScorecardQueensland were pushed all the way by New South Wales captain Steve O’Keefe before claiming a 14-run victory in Brisbane to remain unbeaten in four matches and extend their advantage at the top of the Sheffield Shield table.Led by the Australia A-selected Ben Cutting, the Bulls were on course for a comfortable win when the Blues slid to 7 for 85 in pursuit of 224, but O’Keefe added 70 with wicketkeeper Peter Nevill and then 54 with the No. 10 Josh Hazlewood to creep to within 15 runs of a first outright victory of the season.However the legspinner Cameron Boyce, who had earlier snuffed out Nevill’s innings, found a way through Hazlewood’s defence, and with an injured Doug Bollinger hobbled at the other end, O’Keefe edged Cutting behind to leave all six points in the hands of the Bulls.Cutting was named man of the match for his seven wickets and 58 first innings runs.

Williams ton helps Namibia win high-scoring game

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In a dramatic change from the first game of the day, where just 171 runs were scored over both innings, Namibia chased 195 to beat Kenya in the second

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2011In a dramatic change from the first game of the day, where just 171 runs were scored over both innings, Namibia chased 195 to beat Kenya in the second match at the Windhoek High School. Kenya chose to bat and lost Peter Kituku in the first over but captain Collins Obuya scored an unbeaten 100 off 63 balls. Obuya struck 10 fours and four sixes in his innings. Kenya were going along at just over four an over till the eighth over, when Alex Obanda was dismissed. Rakep Patel came in and smashed seven sixes in his 73 off 31 balls. He and Obuya’s unbeaten partnership was worth 160 in 12 overs, giving Kenya an imposing total.Namibia, however, notched up their fourth straight win over Kenya, chasing the target down in just 18 overs. Craig Williams bettered Obuya’s effort by smashing 125 off 60 balls including 10 fours and eight sixes. Elijah Otieno had given Kenya a couple of early wickets but Williams then took control and was helped by Raymond van Schoor’s run-a-ball 33

Rajasthan to face Hyderabad in quarters

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Defending champions Rajasthan will take on Hyderabad in the quarter-finals of the 2011-12 Ranji Trophy in a rematch of their season opener last year

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Dec-2011

Ranji Trophy quarter-finals

(from January 2-5)
Hyderabad vs Rajasthan at Hyderabad
Karnataka vs Haryana at Bangalore
Tamil Nadu vs Maharashtra at Chennai
Madhya Pradesh vs Mumbai at Indore

Defending champions Rajasthan will take on Hyderabad in the quarter-finals of the 2011-12 Ranji Trophy from January 2 in a rematch of their season opener last year in the Plate League, when Hyderabad were routed for a Ranji record low of 21. A substantially improved performance this year led to promotion to the Elite League and they now have a chance to extract some revenge with the game being played in Hyderabad.Maharashtra, the other team from the Plate league to be promoted, will face Tamil Nadu, which finished first in Group B, in Chennai. Mumbai, which topped Group A after beating Punjab in their final league game, will take on Madhya Pradhesh in Indore, while Kanataka and Haryana match up in Bangalore.The BCCI has also sent the teams a notice stating that the respective zonal curators will oversee the preparation of pitches for all the Ranji knock-out matches. The BCCI’s directive comes after last season’s semi-finals, when Karnataka filed an official complaint against the Reliance Stadium pitch in Vadodara on which they lost to Baroda inside two days.

'Must be ruthless in finishing games off' – Jayawardene

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Mahela Jayawardene has said that India would be more disappointed with the tie, but he knows his side needs to start winning games

Sidharth Monga at the Adelaide Oval14-Feb-2012It was a bittersweet night for Sri Lanka.They were set for a big total at 3 for 168 after 35 overs with the batting Powerplay at hand, but they contrived to end up with only 236. Angelo Mathews, the man who brought Sri Lanka heartbreakingly close in Perth against Australia, let the game slip with two full tosses in the 49th over of the chase, and then pulled it back with two direct-hits. Lasith Malinga bowled these four overs towards the end to keep Sri Lanka alive: four runs in the 39th, a maiden with a run-out in the 41st, five in 45th, and four and wicket in the 48th. Then, in the final over, he failed to make two collections and would have got them run-outs, and went for three over extra cover off the last ball. And spare a thought for the young Dinesh Chandimal. Yet another good innings, but one that ended in a suicidal run-out and short of being the decisive one.The overall fielding, too, went from being flash to flaccid. There were four direct-hit run-outs, but Kumar Sangakkara dropped a sitter, and then Malinga missed those two run-outs. It can be difficult to decide how to feel after such a night. Mahela Jayawardene wouldn’t blame the fielding for sure. “But I think the fielding got us into the game,” he said. “The run-outs and the way we stopped at least 20-25 runs on the field, on a hot day, on a bigger ground as well. We didn’t give them any easy twos. Only the last few fumbles. That’s the thing. Make or break situations. We have got to be ruthless.”Jayawardene said his instinct told him to trust Mathews, and that he will learn a lot from this night. Mathews bowled the 49th over with 24 runs required and Malinga to bowl the last. He slipped up, though, and bowled two full tosses – one of them a no-ball – that went for six and four. “This is how these guys are going to learn,” Jayawardene said. “The more games these guys play, they will become better finishers and they will take more responsibility. That’s probably why I had my gut feeling, giving the ball to Angie in the 49th over.”I feel he is ready now to take more responsibility. Apart from those couple of bad balls, I thought he bowled a very, very good over. So let’s put them in these situations, let them learn. I am quite happy, we are headed in the right direction, we are close, playing two top teams. Once we get that win we can get come momentum going.”Malinga’s bowling is the reason why Sri Lanka not only came back from the dead but were the favourites in the last over. With the ball, Malinga hardly faltered, except – if you were harsh – with the final ball, which Dhoni went deep into his crease to get under. “He [Malinga] bowled beautifully,” Jayawardene said. “I mean, you love to have a guy like that in the field. You know he is going to deliver for you. He did in the last three-four overs.”He changed ends as well. It wasn’t a problem for him. He didn’t give a single loose ball. He created the pressure for us. Otherwise we probably would have lost in the 46th-47th over. Lasith has been the difference. He has been in these situations, you know. We have lost some matches, he has won some matches for us, no issues with him. He will come back strong.”However, with Malinga, when you have three runs to defend off the last ball, you expect him to pull through. Jayawardene thought so too. “Well, 10 overs to go, they had a run a ball, I am sure they will be disappointed,” Jayawardene said. “I was disappointed when we had one ball, four runs. I would back Malinga to finish it off. I am happy with the two points after the amount of mistakes we made in the last few overs and in the entire game. To come back with two points, it is always good. But not a win in our column. Hopefully we get that and some momentum going forward.”Jayawardene felt that India would be more disappointed with the tie, but know his side needs to start winning games. They now need four wins from their last five games, which is a tough ask. “The last bit, we aren’t finishing games off, we are making mistakes,” he said. “But overall I thought we came back strongly in this game. 230 was not good enough on this surface. After making so many mistakes, I should be happy, but at the same time the way we are making mistakes we need to be a bit more focussed. And try and be ruthless in finishing games off. That’s what you expect, especially with these two teams.”

Pakistan have the advantage – Misbah

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Misbah-ul-Haq said that Pakistan’s recent exposure to Asian conditions compared to the other teams in the Asia Cup will play as important a role as coach Dav Whatmore’s inside knowledge

Siddarth Ravindran in Mirpur10-Mar-2012Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has said that his side’s recent exposure to Asian conditions compared to the other teams in the Asia Cup will play as important a role as coach Dav Whatmore’s inside knowledge.Few people are better qualified to coach a side in the Asia Cup than Whatmore, a man well-versed with the teams in the tournament. Born in Sri Lanka, the Australian has regularly shown an affinity and ability to work in the subcontinent.His first major international coaching assignment was guiding Sri Lanka, a team regarded as minnows even in the early ’90s, to the World Cup back in 1996. Then came an even bigger challenge in 2003 – of moulding the also-rans of Bangladesh into a competitive side. In four years under his charge, there continued to be many heavy defeats but memorable highs as well, including the shock win over Australia in Cardiff and the wrecking of India’s 2007 World Cup campaign.This was followed by a few years at India’s National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, and coaching stints with the India A and Under-19 teams, including Virat Kohli’s World Cup-winning one in 2008. Two seasons in charge of Kolkata Knight Riders imparted him more knowledge of the ways of Indian cricket.Now he completes the subcontinental quartet by taking over as Pakistan’s head coach. His first opponents are Bangladesh, the side he led in his previous international job. Misbah, though, said that another factor will be as crucial as Whatmore’s inputs.”He is contributing, but I think the main thing is we are playing a lot of cricket against Bangladesh,” Misbah said. “We just had a series here [in December], we know each other, we know the strengths and weaknesses of each other. He can give us some input, but the players already know each other well.”Coaching Pakistan is one of the most exacting jobs in cricket, even for someone with Whatmore’s vast experience, but he seems to have begun well. Misbah said the initial interactions between coach and team had been positive. “The sessions we have already had, it has gone well. The players are professionals, the coaches are also professional. We have to just gel together quickly, understand each other quickly. I see it going well.”Misbah highlighted several reasons for the Pakistan team to be confident of its chances in the tournament despite coming in after a 0-4 drubbing in the one-dayers against England previous month. “When we played some time back here, the team played really well in these conditions,” he said, referring to their clean sweep of Bangladesh in both the Tests and one-dayers three months ago.Over the past three months, India have been playing in Australia, while Sri Lanka have been touring South Africa and Australia, places where the pitches are vastly different to the ones likely to be served up in the Asia Cup. “We have a bit of an advantage in that we have been playing in Asia recently,” Misbah said, before qualifying his statement. “But India and Sri Lanka have played a lot of tough cricket, and will return mentally tougher from there.”Misbah also urged his players to remember the team’s outstanding record over the past year-and-a-half, instead of focussing on the recent limited-overs defeat to England. “Every game, every series is a different ball game,” he said. “If you look at the series before, we have won six in a row and never lost a series. So this is part of the game. We were playing with one of the top sides in the world. What we want to do is just forget the one-day series, look forward and just play what we were playing before that series.”Another advantage for Pakistan is that, unusually, they seem the most settled team of the tournament. Bangladesh’s prime minister had to step in to resolve a row between their chief selector and the board, Sri Lanka are still tussling with their board over payments due and have a mere four days between the end of their previous series and this one, and India have had a torturous tour of Australia which was plagued by rumours of a rift between senior players.Today’s press conference began with a stern reminder from Pakistan’s media manager that the questions should pertain only to the Asia Cup. He needn’t have bothered. Given the off-field issues bothering the rest of the teams, Pakistan’s build-up has been smooth and controversy-free, with the appointment of the experienced Whatmore the only source of headlines.Edited by Abhishek Purohit

Klinger sweeps South Australia awards

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South Australia’s captain Michael Klinger dominated the state’s awards night on Friday, being named the Redbacks’ best player in the Sheffield Shield and the Ryobi Cup, and the best Adelaide Strikers T20 player for the summer

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Mar-2012South Australia’s captain Michael Klinger dominated the state’s awards night on Friday, being named the Redbacks’ best player in the Sheffield Shield and the Ryobi Cup, and the best Adelaide Strikers T20 player for the summer.Klinger finished one vote ahead of Daniel Christian in the Lord Hampden Trophy, awarded to the state’s best Sheffield Shield player, after a season in which he scored 835 runs at 46.38. The Redbacks had a disappointing Shield season, failing to win a match, although they had plenty of success in the Ryobi Cup.South Australia took out the 50-over title for the first time in 25 years, with a tied home final against Tasmania. Klinger made 498 runs at 55.33 in the Ryobi Cup and ended up as the tournament’s leading run scorer, so it was no surprise that he finished on 112 votes, ahead of Tom Cooper on 103 votes.But Cooper, who had been named the Ryobi Cup Player of the Year at the annual State Cricket Awards in Brisbane, won the Barry Jarman Most Improved Trophy after a breakout season. In the Adelaide Strikers voting, Klinger finished one vote ahead of Johan Botha and Aaron O’Brien to be the team’s best T20 player of the Big Bash League.

Kings XI Punjab look to Gilchrist for inspiration

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ESPNcricinfo previews Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2012

Nagraj Gollapudi03-Apr-2012Big picture
Kings XI Punjab have never believed in big names. In fact, they have just one millionaire on their roaster in Australian David Hussey ($1.4m). Their most expensive buy at this year’s player auction was former Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood for $200,000. Their most popular face is the 40-year old Adam Gilchrist.Punjab’s maxim has been: we do not need the names, but we can still win. Last year they proved that theory correct when an unknown Paul Valthaty, who was clinging to the edges of domestic cricket before the tournament, catapulted himself into the front pages of newspapers and television screens with his batting exploits.But Punjab, the 2008 semi-finalists (which remains their best showing so far), is the only team from the original bunch of eight, which has failed to evolve. Ownership issues disrupted their development in the first three years of IPL. But last year, the franchise, after having successfully staved off a threat from the BCCI to remove it from the IPL, decided to put fresh plans in place. The biggest positive was the appointment of Gilchrist as the leader. He led Punjab to a fifth place finish last season, an improved showing over the 2010 season when they had ended at the bottom of the pile with only four wins.This year, Gilchrist has been appointed the coach-cum-captain. Two more Australians – Joe Dawes, who is the Indian bowling coach and former Australian fielding consultant Mike Young, have been hired as Gilchrist’s assistants.The franchise has also strengthened its domestic vaults. Ramesh Powar, who played for Punjab in first three seasons, is back to play the role of lead offspinner while the medium pace pair of Harmeet Singh and Parvinder Awana have been roped in to add more teeth to the fast bowling line-up.Like nervous teenagers, Punjab have always struggled to find their feet early in the tournament. In 2010, Punjab’s scored only one win in their first eight matches, which came in a tied game after a one-over eliminator. Last year, they started with a defeat, won three matches on a trot but followed it with five defeats in a row.Key players
Adam Gilchrist: Gilchrist is one of the two 40-year-old players* in the tournament. A hardworker, a good man-manager who leads by example, Gilchrist has been rightly appointed by Punjab as the coach-cum-captain. Last year, he inspired the likes of Valthaty to aspire for greater heights and helped Punjab finish at the middle of the points table. Needless to say, Gilchrist will push on the accelerator once again.David Hussey: The younger of the Hussey brothers did turn heads last season but for the wrong reasons. He managed only 64 runs in eight matches, leaving Punjab fans and critic’s wondering if he was worth the $1.4 million price tag. But Hussey is a pedigree player: he is the highest scorer in Twenty20 cricket (4270 runs) and also topped the batting charts for the Melbourne Stars in the inaugural season of the Big Bash League earlier this year. A brilliant fielder, who can keep a tight line with his offbreaks, Hussey’s biggest suit is his experience, making him a dangerous proposition. Shaun Marsh: Marsh has been Punjab’s most consistent and dependable batsman. By ending fourth on the IPL run charts last year, Marsh proved that his heroics in the inaugural edition of the tournament, where he finished as the highest scorer, was no fluke. Even though Marsh is yet to find a firm foothold in the Australian Test side, in the IPL he manages to slip into the zone easily and gives Punjab the right platform to build and chase totals.Big names in
Azhar Mahmood: Do not get deceived by his age: Mahmood, the only Pakistan player in IPL, is 37, but he is still the sturdy allrounder he was for Pakistan when he made his debut at 21. Mahmood, who now lives in England, was the player of the season for Kent in the County Championships. But Mahmood’s best has come in Twenty20 cricket. He finished as Kent’s highest scorer in the domestic Twenty20 competition with a century. With his experience, Mahmood can easily provide solidity to Punjab’s middle order and play the leading allrounder’s role in the absence of the injured Stuart Broad.Joe Dawes: Dawes, who was recently appointed as India’s bowling coach, replaced fellow Australian and former quick Jason Gillespie, who moved to Yorkshire as head coach. Dawes will take this opportunity as a good learning experience to understand Indian players, conditions and culture. In exchange, his coaching experience with Queensland is bound to come handy for the youngsters at Punjab.Big names out
Dinesh Karthik: Punjab sold him to Mumbai Indians for an undisclosed but substantial sum, reportedly good enough to offset the money spent on Hussey and Gilchrist.Below the radar
Piyush Chawla Chawla was Punjab’s joint highest wicket-taker last season and plays important role with his attacking legbreaks and a decent googly at any point in an innings. His bowling and his ability to play influential cameos with the bat, makes Chawla an important player for Punjab and a good man to help Gilchrist with his local knowledge.Abhishek Nayar Nayar has been one of the most attractive allrounders on the domestic circuit but frequent injuries have slowed his progress. This year, Nayar played with renewed vigour, showing maturity and patience during Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy campaign. He will be one of the regulars in the playing eleven and will look to make an impression, with an eye on the allrounder’s spot in the Indian team for World Twenty20 competition later this year. Availability :
Stuart Broad: The England allrounder underwent a scan for the calf-strain he suffered during the first Test of the Sri Lanka series and is reportedly expected to be fit in two weeks’ time.Ryan Harris: Punjab’s best fast bowler last season, Harris is currently on national duty with Australia in the Caribbean, participating in the Test series against West Indies. He will join the team from April 29.2011 in a tweet: Late starters, recovered to make headlines with their unexpected resilience, but lost the momentum again towards the end.April 13, 08:15 GMT: The article earlier mentioned that Adam Gilchrist was the only 40-year old in IPL. This has been corrected.