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The hosts could draw confidence from their recent ODI run and comeback wins against England and Sri Lanka in Tests

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong03-Sep-2017Before the Mirpur Test, Bangladesh had secured leads of 1-0 three times – twice against Zimbabwe in 2005 and 2014 and against a depleted West Indies side in 2009 – since being granted Test status in 2000. They pressed on to win the series on all three occasions. After beating Australia for the first time in Test cricket, Bangladesh find themselves with a shot at a landmark series victory. However, despite their difficulties in the subcontinent, Australia pose a threat to Bangladesh in Chittagong.The tourists had reduced Bangladesh to 10 for 3 in four overs in the first innings in Mirpur, and later engineered a mid-innings collapse in the second. David Warner slammed a rapid hundred, and Matt Renshaw, the other opener, showed promise, but these contributions were not enough for Australia. Mushfiqur had a glint in his eyes when he said “they (Australia) are under pressure” but he was also wary of a comeback from Steven Smith’s men.Losing a Test series to the ninth-ranked side will put pressure on Smith and in this scenario, Australia have more to lose than Bangladesh.Bangladesh, meanwhile, will be keen not to blow the opportunity of a lifetime. It is uncertain when Australia will next visit Bangladesh, and the odds will be heavily stacked against them when they tour Australia next year.In this series, though, Bangladesh’s players have not just dominated Australia with bat and ball but have also won the verbal battles. Tamim Iqbal picked up a demerit point after the Mirpur match for approaching Matthew Wade, and gesturing him to leave the field upon dismissal. In the first Test, Bangladesh’s body language was aggressive, their fielding better than before, and their bowling mostly accurate. Shakib Al Hasan wasn’t quite in a “Hadlee and Ilford Second XIs” situation, as Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan provided able support.How Bangladesh will react to the unique pressure of a 1-0 lead will be interesting. Their history of taking a lead against higher-ranked sides in ODIs offers a possible window into their mentality. Against New Zealand in 2010 and 2013 they took 2-0 leads. Against West Indies in 2012, they were rampant in the first two games before giving up the lead but went on to win the decider. Against Pakistan and India in 2015, they took the lead and ended up winning the series, too.These examples show glimpses of consistency in a single series. Bangladesh are not associated with getting on a roll, but these series wins over New Zealand, West Indies, India, Pakistan, and South Africa in the last seven years have helped their confidence soar.Bangladesh’s bouncebackability against England at home last year and in Sri Lanka this year should also keep them in good stead. They lost a tight game in Chittagong against England, but then leveled the two-Test series with a win in the second match. In Sri Lanka, they lost badly in Galle but rallied in Colombo.All these developments have contributed to their overall progress. There have been many false dawns, too, most notably their slump after a good 2007 World Cup. It took them another five years to become a more consistent side. Ensuring a series win over Australia, either through a win or a draw in Chittagong, will certainly inject more confidence into the system. If a victory resembles the one in Mirpur, with a cheeky smile on their battle-hardened faces, it will be a huge triumph.

Abhishek Nayar, a five-time Ranji Trophy winner, talks about the players he hero-worshipped as a youngster and the breezy irreverence of Mumbai’s current generation

Abhishek Nayar09-Nov-2017 (Mumbai should be seen in your eyes. It should reflect in your eyes that you play for Mumbai)Amol Muzumdar opened my eyes straight away. Amol was the epitome of the school of cricket Mumbai has been famous for for decades. When I heard that for the first time I did not understand what he was saying.Then I thought it bloody means I have to bring that spirit to the game. I have to make that difference when everyone feels nothing is happening. Amol, Nilesh [Nilesh Kulkarni], Sai [Sairaj Bahutule], Ramesh Powar – all these guys used to just kill the domestic circuit. During the days we heard tales about how sometimes Nilesh was like Courtney Walsh was bowling left-arm spin and getting that kind of bounce. How Sai and co. would pack off Saurashtra in three days. It was unreal to watch them destroy the opposition in tandem.These guys would walk in to the game with an attitude that was ruthless. (It is a four-day match. By lunch on the fourth day, we should finish the game, have biryani, and go home.)” And all you heard in the dressing room was: we have to win the Ranji Trophy. Not winning the next match or something. It was always about winning the tournament.For youngsters like me and others of my batch we just had blind faith in what seniors like Amol and Nilesh would say and do. We were just in awe of these guys. We youngsters would talk about how Amol would stand at silly point without a helmet or how Nilesh could consistently hit the handle of the bat with his left-arm spin. We just wanted to live up to their expectations and hopefully fulfill ours.If you look at the Mumbai dressing room now it is full of youngsters. When I entered the dressing room I was sharing it with guys who were used to winning, dominating the domestic circuit. It was about how I could do something to play the next match, how I can survive in the dressing room.The pressure was not just from the seniors but also the pressure of just doing well. If you did not win it outright then the feeling was you had not had the best game. Winning outright, at least at the Wankhede, running through an opponent was the norm.

These guys would walk in to the game with an attitude that was ruthless. ” (It is a four-day match. By lunch on the fourth day, we should finish the game, have biryani, and go home.)”

Acceptance in a dressing room is always important and earning respect of your teammates in Mumbai is very difficult. My first year was truly baptism by fire, but it hardened me and has taken me where I am today. My first year was not the best. I had got three consecutive ducks so I was not expecting to win any friends. Two of the ducks in the same match as a nightwatchman, in our final league match against Maharashtra, which they won outright. By the second year Pravin sir [Pravin Amre] had taken over as the coach and he supported me.But the turning point for came when Ajit Agarkar gave a glowing compliment having seen me play against Rajasthan at Wankhede. I had scored an attractive 86 and picked up five wickets in the match. Ajit liked what he saw of me and told Milind Rege sir (selector) that “this guy is a very good player. Where was he all this time?”We won that season and Amol, who was the captain, started believing in me and told me that my attitude would take me a long way and I had played a role in Mumbai winning the title. Guys like Amol and Nilesh actually brought the best out of me. I got that drive to perform because I was asked difficult questions by my seniors. It taught me what it takes to play for Mumbai and perform and rub shoulders with the best.Today I have won the Ranji Trophy five times. I know I now belong. It took years of toil. I am now a senior in the Mumbai dressing room, which is completely different to the ones I was part of previously.I was overawed by my seniors, like I said, but today’s youngsters, as much as they respect me, are not overburdened by the legacy created by hundreds of Mumbai players in the past. A Prithvi Shaw can easily crack a joke and be cool with it. In our last match, in Odisha, Prithvi was my roommate. Usually it is Shreyas [Shreyas Iyer], but he was away playing the New Zealand T20 series. So one of the nights Prithvi, feeling cold, moved from his single bed into my bed. Another night I was forced to go and sleep on his bed since I was pushed halfway out of my bed.After so many years of playing I have developed a sort of limp in my walk. Prithvi is not shy to point it out and joke, ” (Your time is up).” It is a different breed now.Getty ImagesWhen I shared a room with Nilesh during my younger days, I remember how it was left spic and span. I would not even touch the remote. (quietly) I used to sit. Once Amol picked me up from the DY Patil Stadium and took me to the Mumbai Cricket Association office and I was telling the town about it for the rest of the day.But now that hero worship is not there. They do want to play for the pride of Mumbai, but the youngsters today want to kind of set their own legacy. They want to create a name, brand, destiny. A Shreyas Iyer, a Siddhesh Lad, a Shardul Thakur – they do want to listen what Amol, Nilesh and others did in the past, but they want to win trophies for Mumbai, score 1000 runs in a season, they want to have their names in the record books. That is what this era believes in. That is brilliant and I encourage such a mindset.It does scare me sometimes, the freedom with which they play. A lot of times I heard them saying ” (Hit out)” I have to laugh out. I have to tell them that I have done what you are doing, but someone has to oversee, guide and arrest them from getting carried away.Times might be changing, but one thing I am confident about is some of these young men will in their own flamboyant way take Mumbai cricket forward. It is a good bunch of players with different talents. There is Akhil Herwadkar, a hardworking, player who will do everything for the team, a contrast to the flair and sort of arrogance of Shreyas and Prithvi; there is Siddhesh Lad, slowly becoming a crisis man; there is Aditya Tare, the captain, a perfect role model, who will give youngsters the space, but can bring back the old school attitude to reign them in.My message to the young lot is simple: respect the game and respect your talent. A lot of these guys in the Mumbai team are so talented, but at times they take it for granted. In the past an Amol Muzumdar or a Nilesh Kulkarni optimised his talent to the hilt. Hard work, work ethic, the attitude they walked into the ground with, you could never question them ever.That is what I tell these youngsters: never take this team and what is done in the past for granted. Because when you wear the Mumbai Lions on your chest there is more to it than just going there and showing off that you can score a hundred, but that double or triple that the team requires. You do what the team needs. And Mumbai always want to win.

Putting a spate of injuries and “freakish” bad luck behind him, Deepak Chahar is finally showing the world all of his abilities as a swing bowler

Deivarayan Muthu24-Apr-2018Manpreet Gony, Sudeep Tyagi, Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Shadab Jakati… and Deepak Chahar. Chahar has become the latest uncapped Indian bowler to deliver for Chennai Super Kings. While Gony, Tyagi, Mohit, Pandey and Jakati were all unknown names before their stints with Super Kings, Chahar shot to prominence in 2010, after bagging 8 for 10 on Ranji Trophy debut to bundle out Hyderabad for 21 – the lowest total in Indian domestic cricket – at just 18 years of age. In his first Ranji season, he carried Rajasthan to their first title with 30 wickets at 19.63. He was subsequently signed by Rajasthan Royals in 2011, but a spate of injuries and illnesses saw him fade away.This doesn’t mean he was sloppy. On the contrary, even after the end of his training sessions with Rajasthan, he’d go and do sprints in the dark to keep himself fit. Chahar’s problem is that he is “freakishly unlucky.” Or at least, that’s how Hrishikesh Kanitkar, his first Ranji Trophy captain, puts it. Once, during a practice match, Kanitkar drove a ball back to him, Chahar stretched his hand out instinctively and earned a split webbing for his trouble.He reunited with Kanitkar in 2016 at Rising Pune Supergiant and was even developing a knuckle ball when injury ruled him out of contention. After being seen as a first-choice pick, he played only five matches for Rising Pune in 2016 and 2017 and took one solitary wicket.In October 2017, he was initially named in the Board President’s XI squad for the warm-up games against the visiting New Zealand side, only for the BCCI to fix the “inadvertent” error and pick his brother Rahul Chahar instead.After several false dawns, things are finally looking up for Chahar this season. He was the top wicket-taker in the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 19 scalps in Rajasthan’s maiden run to the final. He showed he had added an extra yard of pace and grabbed 5 for 15 against Karnataka; twice he was on a hat-trick in that match. His performances caught the eyes of Chennai Super Kings in the auction.”When he came on to the domestic scene, Chahar used to bowl around 130kph, but now he has pushed his pace above 135kph because he wanted to play a higher level of cricket,” Kanitkar told ESPNcricinfo. “He did not rush into it and, like Bhuvneshwar, he has upped his pace gradually. In one of the IPL matches, I noticed he hit 140kph but swing will be his strength.”These are still early days in IPL 2018, but Chahar seems to have become MS Dhoni’s go-to bowler in the Powerplay. Dhoni’s preference for swing bowlers at CSK is well known – Gony, Tyagi, Mohit, Pandey all had good outswingers. Chahar can move the ball both ways and now he has the confidence to bowl the knuckle ball he had practiced at Rising Pune. Case in point: the variation that fooled Ajinkya Rahane and hit the top of off stump.CSK coach Stephen Fleming was thrilled to see how far Chahar has come along: “He’s been developing over the last two years. He had a very good domestic season. His skill set was something we were very impressed with since the first day. He’s actually a handy batsman as well. We think he’s a fine cricketer. The fact that he swings the ball is important. Lots of trends in the game, obviously wristspinners and swinging the ball are very effective at the moment. And he does that and he does it at good pace too. At the moment he’s around 140 kph, 143 tops. He’s gone really well. He’s got to find and maintain consistency and that will come with experience. “In his last two games, Chahar has bowled uninterrupted four and three-over spells with the new ball, opening up the middle order for the change bowlers. His spell against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday was particularly delightful. He began with a wicket-maiden, and the wicket itself was a perfect set up. Outswinger first. Inswinger next. Outswinger again. Batsman caught at slip for 0. In his next over, he dismissed Manish Pandey with one that move away again before getting Deepak Hooda with a change-up. At that point, Chahar had delivered 13 dots in 14 balls. Eventually, he finished with 3 for 15 in four overs to pave the way for another last-over CSK win.Most teams would have figured out by now that all of Chahar’s seven IPL wickets, including six this season, have come in the Powerplay at an economy rate of 8.6. How can he adapt to that and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s rollicking top four on an easy-paced, hit-through-the line, Chinnaswamy pitch?

Shakti Gauchan, who has played for Nepal since 2001, finally hung up his gloves after his, and Nepal’s, first ODI

Peter Della Penna02-Aug-2018He’s spent more than half his life representing Nepal on a cricket field, starting with his first match captaining an Under-17 side against Bangladesh in February 2001. So it’s understandable that 34-year-old Shakti Gauchan’s legs might have felt a bit weary as he took the field as one of Nepal’s first eleven ODI cricketers on Wednesday.He was stationed at short midwicket, having already finished a four-over spell of 0 for 15, when the Netherlands captain Pieter Seelaar nailed a slog sweep. There wasn’t too much time for Gauchan to move, so he randomly stuck out his left paw and a split second later realised he had pulled off a spectacular catch. All of a sudden, the legs had power again as he raced around the outfield with a megawatt smile from ear to ear. It took a while for his team-mates, just like it had done for time, to catch up with him.”Usually when I took a wicket, I run around all over the boundary,” Gauchan said later. “I usually do but I got halfway around and the boys caught me and they all hugged me. I think that part is amazing and why I love cricket.”Even though Nepal captain Paras Khadka starred with the ball, taking four wickets on the nation’s ODI debut, he had Gauchan lead the players off the field at the innings break. He had announced before the tour that he was retiring and the 200 or so travelling Nepal fans provided a rousing show of their support as he walked towards them, right through a guard of honour from his team-mates.”Shakti has been incredible,” Khadka said after the match. “He’s the senior-most cricketer. He’s really set examples. He’s one of the most hard-working cricketers that I’ve ever seen or known. I think this was his last international game. He wants to retire back home with an official game but we never know when we’re going to get a home game. So we thought try and give him the best possible reception from our side that we can and hopefully I think Shakti Gauchan has served Nepal cricket and Nepal for the last 18-19 years and he deserves a lot more from everybody back home as well.”I just hope people realise the kind of sacrifices that he has made along with his family. Moving forward we’ll be missing him for sure. In the dressing room, he’s somebody whom we can always go to for advice, somebody who has put in so many match-winning performances. For Nepal cricket to become an ODI nation, he has played one of the most important key roles over the years.”The guard of honor wasn’t a pre-planned gesture, according to Khadka. But during the course of the Netherlands innings, he let Gauchan know that this was his chance to savour the moment. A last one even with Nepal’s coaching staff keen to use the final ODI in Amstelveen as an opportunity to blood younger players ahead of the Asia Cup Qualifier in Malaysia starting on August 29. The gesture clearly touched Gauchan as he broke into his trademark smile as if he was almost embarrassed by all the attention.”It was amazing,” Gauchan said. “When we were leaving after the first innings off the ground, suddenly Paras and Basant tell me, ‘Today is your last foreign tour match so we are giving you a guard of honor. Please stand there, we are going just for the boundary line up. Just come slowly. We are giving you a guard of honor.’ At that time, that is the best part of life when you may be retired as a cricket player. So it was amazing that they have given me guard of honor.”Gauchan’s day wasn’t entirely done, of course. He strode out to bat with his team on 104 for 6 chasing 190, and in days gone by, there may have been hope of his pulling off a miracle. After all, he was the second Nepal player to score a century, doing it from No. 4 against Italy in 2005. Gauchan tried to stretch the match out until he was the only man left. Netherlands did win the match, but Gauchan would not succumb, fighting to the end to finish unbeaten on 9.His ODI career may only include one match, but it’s significance was profound, starting as it did with Gauchan exchanging his sweaty and weather-worn Nepal cap for a bright and shimmering one. It had “3” sewn into the side, recognising his seniority after captain Paras Khadka and vice-captain Gyanendra Malla were given caps embroidered with No. 1 and 2.”I think that cap ceremony has given us more responsibility for Nepali cricket, whether or not I come on future tours,” Gauchan said. “Those who are getting this cap, they are getting the responsibility of Nepali cricket to grow up and up. We are thinking now for the next level of cricket and the next level is Test playing nation.Shakti Gauchan walks through the guard of honor formed by his teammates•Peter Della Penna”Before when we were playing in World [Cricket] League or other championship, we were thinking about ODI [status]. Today we became an ODI nation so the next part is to become a Test-playing nation. In that moment, everyone is thinking, ‘So we are getting today this ODI cap. Now the next cap is our Test cap and [becoming] a Test nation.'”Nepal are now being propelled by the likes of teenage legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane and he may achieve more fame than any other cricketer from his country thanks to his litany of T20 contracts. He’s already played in the IPL. He was part of a World XI squad that met West Indies at Lord’s. And he will soon be representing the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League.Lamichhane appreciates the foundation that Gauchan laid for him to achieve such personal heights, not to mention collective team honors for Nepal. “Growing up as a kid, it was really really enjoyable to watch him on TV. The way he celebrates all wickets and the way he gives his 100%, his dedication to Nepal cricket, his immense love from his side to Nepal cricket. It was a fantastic moment when I made my debut with him as well two years back against Namibia. My dream came true playing with him.””I feel lucky because if somebody asks me, ‘Who was Shakti Gauchan?’ I can proudly say I made my debut under him, Paras dai, Basant dai, Gyan dai, Sharad dai and other players,” Lamichhane said. “It gives me lots of strength whenever I watch him. I salute to him his dedication to Nepal cricket because I’ve never seen any other player who is honest to his cricket and to his passion for cricket and everything. He’s one of the idols for every player who wants to play cricket in Nepal.”This respect that Gauchan commands is in no small part due to his performance in the 2014 World T20, when he masterminded victories over Hong Kong and Afghanistan, inspired more and more youngsters to take up spin. But his fondest memories of playing for Nepal was the journey itself, rising up through the Associate ranks to become a team with international status.”Whenever we qualify for a big tournament, that is very very memorable for me,” Gauchan said. “Either T20 World Cup or qualify for ODI nation or qualify for World [Cricket] League, I think that part is very memorable for me. At that time we enjoy it and we support each other so that part I am missing as a player and I’ll miss all of these things.”As for what the future holds, Gauchan says he is contemplating a role in cricket administration instead of carrying on with his side job as a development coach because that is where the country needs the most help. The Nepal board is currently suspended by the ICC.Whatever he decides to pursue, Shakti will be bringing the power of his smile with him. “The big smile on his face shows he has that strength,” Lamichhane said. “He can kill everybody with his smile. His name as well, ‘Shakti The Power’, he has that power I feel. Sometimes it feels really bad he’s leaving us in his last tour, but this is cricket and one day you need to leave everything. I think he’ll continue his journey in any part of Nepal cricket.”

England weren’t poor by any means, but what they tried didn’t seem to come off for them the way it did for Pakistan

Jarrod Kimber at Lord's25-May-20181:49

Changing slip corden not behind dropped catches – Bairstow

Ben Stokes is charging in, Jos Buttler is flying, and Dawid Malan is desperate. Stokes has just come on to make something happen. What he’s delivered is a short of a length ball outside off stump, and Asad Shafiq tries to steer it. But it’s too big, and he can’t keep it down. The ball flies through gully. Buttler launches himself to his left, and the ball slams into his hands, but then pops back out. Malan reacts to the ball looping in front of him, but he’s just too far away and the ball lands on the turf. Stokes made something happen, it just didn’t work.In the first 15 overs Pakistan played and missed more than England did. England were in control of the ball 76% of the time, Pakistan a shade under at 74%. England bowlers – oft-lambasted for bowling too short – bowled fuller than Pakistan’s line up did. The bowlers were good, it just didn’t work.England had clear game plans for the batsmen, and they stuck to them. For Azhar Ali, it was to stay outside off stump. Usually he scores 52% on the leg side, this innings he only made 28% of his runs there, but he still stayed put for over 200 minutes. For Babar Azam it was the short ball which, according to CricViz, he averages over 40 against in Tests. They didn’t take his wicket, but it was the short ball that eventually made him leave the field injured. They stayed true to their theories, it just didn’t work.While the ball was still moving, and Pakistan barely holding on, England bowled short and around the wicket at Azhar. Mark Wood is superb at bowling right arm around the wicket short stuff, but Azhar is as good playing it. There was merit to trying it, it just didn’t work.They brought Dominic Bess on the first time last night for the penultimate over before stumps. Then they waited until the 43rd over to bring him on, when both of the left-handers were gone. Early in that second spell, the batsmen looked like they were trying to implode against him, before looking at the scoreboard and realising they could milk him. Bess worked hard, but the ball didn’t spin much, he wasn’t accurate, and he’s a 20-year-old with not much experience to use. They took a punt on him; it just didn’t work.That doesn’t include the fielding, there were perhaps seven missed opportunities. Last night Stokes tried to take a pearler, dropping it and stopping Malan from completing an easy chance. Alastair Cook missed a low one to his right. Buttler’s flying spill at gully. Cook missed one – or Jonny Bairstow did – when Cook and Bairstow left a wasteland between each other. And Cook dropped another one the next over. There was also the time when Buttler had a ball fly high and to his left, while he went low and to his right. And a Bess run out that might have been close if he’d hit the stumps.Ben Stokes celebrates the wicket of Asad Shafiq•Getty ImagesIn seven balls England missed a catch, allowed an easy four, dropped a catch and conceded overthrows. After Cook’s two misses, he was taken from slip to short leg, Anderson took over at slip, before Cook went back to slip an over later. Later he moved out again before going back. England’s fielding was stuck on shuffle. According to CricViz Cook catches 69% of his catches at slip, a good slip fielder should be at over 80%.So what do you do when your plans don’t work and your fielders can’t catch? You turn to Stokes. Because, Stokes.Early on Stokes was okay; his first six overs went for 13 runs, but he didn’t break through. After a big rest in the middle of the innings, he came back on with the old ball. He bowled so well they gave him the new one ahead of Anderson.It was Stokes who played on the ego of Sarfraz Ahmed just before tea. He bowled fast and short to him, he tempted him, and then Sarfraz got sucked in and was caught at fine leg. It was Stokes who kept bouncing Babar, well after it looked like that was a poor plan, and while he didn’t dismiss him, he retired him with a stinging blow on the arm. And when BFFs Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf were steering the game out of England’s reach, it was Stokes who removed Shadab.Stokes was in one of those moods that scares the villagers. Even when the speed didn’t say he was that quick, it felt like it. The game was slipping away from England, and he was in proper “Ben Stokes aint gonna let that happen” mood. Stokes bowled the fastest ball today for England, despite Wood. Stokes made the breakthroughs, despite Broad. Stokes took the new ball, despite Anderson. Had Stokes wanted to, you could see him bowling a couple of offies to show up Bess as well.The ball after Buttler’s drop, Stokes was back at Shafiq. Right at him, if the last ball got big, this one got Godzilla. It grew and grew, and went straight for the throat of Shafiq. This time Shafiq couldn’t play it, and got smashed on the fingers and the ball coughed up gently to slips. The ball was brutal, the reaction to the drop equally so. Stokes made it happen, he kept England in the game.But Pakistan were ahead in the game when Shafiq was dismissed and by the time Stokes got Shadab, Pakistan had a proper lead.Stokes did all he could, it just didn’t work.

From not being in the team to being thrown into the leadership role, plus a winless tour of England and a chance encounter on a Chicago baseball field – Tim Paine’s journey has been far from ordinary

Daniel Brettig02-Dec-2018Tim Paine thought he was having a pretty good morning, as he looked out across a vacant Wrigley Field in Chicago, home to the 2016 World Series-winning Cubs. Australia’s Test captain was there with a Cricket Australia delegation in August to learn about the systems and habits of one of the world’s most revered sporting clubs.The schedule called for a guided tour of the venerable stadium, before the group met members of the Cubs’ front-office staff ahead of watching that afternoon’s game together. But as tour began to break up, Paine received a tap on the shoulder from a former Cubs catcher, John Baker. “He said, ‘You don’t want to go with them, you want to come down with us, don’t you, and get around the players, see how they go about it.’ I said, ‘Yep that’d be great,'” Paine recalls.”It was a 1pm game, I think, and they started rolling in from about 9am doing their prep, so I just sat in around the bullpen and went out to the outfield, went into the batting cages and watched for about three or four hours. It was brilliant.”Paine spent most of his time with the Cubs’ All-Star catcher Willson Contreras, comparing and contrasting the arts of catching, batting and wicketkeeping. “It was awesome. Any time you get to cross-over sports and see how other world-class athletes go about things and how they prepare, you’d be silly not to try and learn as much as you can,” Paine says. “To see someone like that, who’s an All-Star, and a lot of the skill he has is catching and hitting – so, similar sort of stuff to what I do.”They’re super-professional in the way they recover and the way they prepare for each game, and it’s impressive to watch when you think they’re doing it over 100 times without much rest in 110 or 112 days. They’re highly skilled but the one-percenter type stuff they take to a new level, and I think you’ve got to, to be able to turn up and play day in, day out like they do.”Observing the pitchers work the bullpen and the batters in their cages, Paine was struck by how much they had in common. “It was so similar to cricket, how they come in,” he says. “It was almost like having throwdowns, then going on to a machine, then into some stuff out in the middle.

“I do need to be myself. I need to keep an eye on that. If I do change a little bit in my behaviour or I’m trying or training too hard, [Langer] just gives me a tap on the shoulder”

“Even the level they go to, the homework they do on the opposition pitchers, the level of detail they have in what they know that pitcher can throw and when he’s going to throw it, and what to look for in his load-up and all that sort of stuff, it was quite exceptional.”A few hours later, as the crowd filed in for the game, Paine returned to the rest of the travelling group, with something to remember Contreras by. “I’ve got a bat off Willson that he signed. I’ll hold onto that, hopefully by the end of his career he’s an all-time great and it might be a bit of a pool-room item…”***Paine has had an eventful 12 months in cricket. From a point where he was not even Tasmania’s first-choice wicketkeeper, he found himself being recalled to Australia’s Test squad for the Ashes, then assuming the captaincy amid the maelstrom of the Newlands scandal. In the eight months since, he has been among the key figures in the leadership as it wrestles with the fallout while also attempting to forge a new Australian team from out of the chaos.As if that was not enough change, Paine and his wife Bonnie became parents for the first time in mid-2017, and welcomed their second child into the world weeks before the UAE Test tour to face Pakistan. The last two weeks have allowed Paine and his family something of a breather in Hobart, thanks to Tasmania’s consecutive home fixtures in the Sheffield Shield, but he laughs when revealing even that time has included another adjustment.”It’s been a good couple of weeks, but again now we’re moving house, so that’s another dimension to it,” he says. “Having two young kids for Bonnie at home by herself has been quite challenging. It’s been really busy but back to as normal as it can be this time of the year.”It’s been a big 18 months, from where I was when we were talking about having a family, and having that all lined up pretty well, and then to be picked in the Ashes has in a good way thrown everything out. It’s been a really hectic time in a cricket sense and a family sense. It’s starting to settle down, which is nice, so I’m looking forward to this summer.”‘I’ve got a job to do as captain, Justin’s got a job to do as coach, and it’s pretty simple. It’s something you try not to overcomplicate, keep it simple and be yourself’•Getty ImagesIn the increasingly febrile environment of the Australia Test team last season, Paine’s calm and perspective shone through on the field and off it. His performances with the gloves and the bat brought a sense of reassurance to those around him. Memorably, he was the man in the middle of the David Warner-Quinton de Kock stairwell bust-up in Durban, physically restraining Warner from turning the encounter into something more than a verbal one. Then in unprecedented fashion, Paine found himself summarily appointed captain the morning after the ball-tampering scandal, and held the fort while Steven Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned, Darren Lehmann resigned, and a stunned team staggered through the final Test in Johannesburg.While Paine has always spoken well, carrying himself impressively even as a young cricketer when he debuted alongside Smith against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010, he admits now that the weight of the job and the circumstances in which he assumed the role took him away from being himself. This was most evident on the mid-year limited-overs tour of England, when he and the new coach, Justin Langer, travelled with high expectations only to see the team atomised by Eoin Morgan’s fearless aggressors.”That was probably because it was my first tour as captain of Australia,” Paine reflects. “I think trying to set the standard and I probably did overtrain, and tried too hard in a way to perform and didn’t let myself be free and express my skill as much. As well being a bit physically and mentally tired from overtraining, overthinking and trying to be the Australian captain rather than just be myself.”In the aftermath of the tour, and on the study tour of the United States that followed, Paine and Langer worked at making sure the captain was not losing sight of where he came from. “One of my key things as a captain and a cricketer is, I do need to be myself,” Paine says. “If I do change a little bit in my behaviour or I’m trying or training too hard, he just gives me a tap on the shoulder.”We’ve had a good relationship over a number of years, so we can talk pretty honestly about that. I’ve made some other people aware of it around the group as well, to keep an eye on it. At times there’s so much going on that you’re just always on the go and you forget to take a step back and relax a little bit. It’s important I continue to do that to keep myself fresh and ready for game day.

“Sometimes in the intensity of international cricket, people can start focusing a bit too much on themselves because you’re just so desperate to perform. I think guys can become a little bit insular”

“The more complicated you try to make it, the bigger and harder the job becomes. I’ve got a job to do as captain, Justin’s got a job to do as coach, and it’s pretty simple. It’s something you try not to overcomplicate.”***Away from the dressing room, Paine has a couple of mentors, one from within cricket and one from without, though he prefers not to say who they are. Bonnie has also been critical to keeping him balanced, alerting him if she feels he is disappearing too deeply into the cricket bubble. “Now having two kids as well is another blessing in disguise. You can come home and have a few hours with the kids and you actually haven’t got a chance to think about cricket because you’re so busy. That’s been a real benefit for me.”The virtues of balance could be seen in the contrast between England and the UAE. Where the first tour featured intensive preparation, the second saw Paine spending as much time as possible at home to be with his wife for the birth of their second child, Charlie, and subsequently missing the majority of the team’s pre-tour camp. Jumping more or less straight from parenthood in Hobart to captaincy in the UAE might appear jarring, but Paine now thinks that it helped him a great deal.”Sometimes I can actually train too hard and I get to games and, without knowing it, am a little bit tired and a little bit flat,” he says. “For me to have a little bit less of a run into it may have actually worked in my favour, particularly in those hot conditions, and I had the benefits, particularly with my wicketkeeping, of being able to stay quite sharp and concentrate for long periods in those conditions and keep really well.”Now I know that I don’t have to overtrain all the time. With a Test match, I need to be completely immersed in it. when I’m thinking of other things at times it can be hard, but the great thing with Test matches is, you can’t take your phone in. So once you switch that off for the day, I’m pretty good at being able to go into just cricket.”In Dubai, Paine kept immaculately throughout, before summoning all his mental and technical reserves to help Usman Khawaja guide Australia to safety. The telling images at the finish – a forward defence, a fist pump, then a gesture to the Australian viewing area to “keep a lid on” the celebrations – were exactly the sorts of deeds that will shape the team under Paine and Langer’s leadership.Paine rose admirably to the challenge of keeping Pakistan at bay with gloves and bat in Dubai•Getty ImagesThe following week, of course, Australia gave up a dominant first-day position to be well beaten by Pakistan, in a reminder of the challenge ahead of them. Facing India under the full glare of the home spotlight will present another challenge, but one that Paine is insistent upon facing without letting his players retreat into themselves. The “gilded bubble” discussed in the Longstaff review is not to be his way.”In terms of the bubble, I think it’s just that sometimes as much the individual, not so much the Australian Test team, there is so much on and it becomes a bit overwhelming that people just become a bit insular,” Paine says. “We try to keep each other out of that and make sure we keep giving back to the fans and people that come and watch the games.”Sometimes in the intensity of international cricket, people can start focusing a bit too much on themselves because you’re just so desperate to perform and it’s such a tough game that’s critiqued really heavily as well. I think guys can become a little bit insular, so we’ve got to try as much as we can to give back and open up a bit more.”One of the observations made by the Australians at Wrigley was how the notion of captaincy is nowhere near as prevalent in baseball as it is in cricket – the Cubs have in fact declined to name a leader since the retirement of Sammy Sosa in the early 2000s. More than anyone, Paine now knows the necessity of sharing the load.”I try to be quite inclusive, involving our senior players because they’ve played a lot of Test cricket and I also want to involve the younger guys because we want them to develop into leaders down the track,” he says. “That style is another good way of me being able to conserve a bit of energy.”

He was doggedly resistant while he couldn’t find his touch, and devastatingly effective as it returned to him

Danyal Rasool in Centurion28-Dec-2018The drawback to being in form all the time is no one quite knows what it looks like when you’re out of it. And for Hashim Amla, who had, with an average of 23.36 over 10 Tests in the past 12 months, this was a particularly nagging problem, the gravest dip in form in over a decade.The luxuriant cover drives, the deft wristwork, the natural elegance of South Africa’s “rock at number three”, as Faf du Plessis called him before the Centurion Test, is cricket’s answer to the Bolshoi Ballet, as much artistic as it has proved substantial. The technique is so perfect, the movements so unfailingly graceful, when they fail to produce the results they seem naturally predisposed to, the dissonance is disconcerting.There was talk of the dip being more of a decline; Amla has, after all, been playing international cricket for over 14 years, and at 35, is the oldest player in the current South African side. The scratchy, ungainly time he had spent in the first innings against Pakistan did little to dispel the impression this was a man with his best behind him.In the years Amla has been in the side, one of the more successful marketing campaigns surrounding cricket teams has been the #ProteaFire slogan created to represent the fierce combativeness of a team that would refuse to give up. It appears to have caught the imagination of the public, both at home and abroad, a symbol of how this side plays its cricket, with its heart on its sleeve and passion on full display.And yet Amla, one of the faces of the modern, inclusive South African cricket team, is as far removed from the “fire” this side purports to showcase as a sportsman could be. One would be reduced to poring through hours of archival footage to see so much as a significant change in facial expression from the man. Even so, playing international cricket at a high level for such a long time must surely only be possible if unbridled passion courses through the veins; many a cricketer will tell you once that motivation is lost, the game is over.Coming out to bat with his side 0 for 1 in an awkward chase, Amla was out to demonstrate how he interpreted ProteaFire. He survived a magnificent opening hour from Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi – not without luck; he was dropped in the slips on 8 – doggedly resistant while he couldn’t find his touch, and devastatingly effective as it returned to him. A pair of fours through the onside in the early overs might just have given him back his confidence, but there was hours’ worth of work left to be done. Under an overcast sky with the ball rearing and one of the world’s best pace attacks at his throat, Amla, along with Dean Elgar, kept surviving. And, if Elgar is to be believed, cricket was the last topic of discussion as they met in the middle during the change of overs.”There’s a lot of jokes going on when Hash and I bat together,” Elgar said. “There’s not a lot of cricket talk when we bat. We try to see the lighter side of life. That’s maybe your five or ten seconds that you can actually switch off a little bit and crack a joke or throw a little one liner out. Hash and I, we get each other with our humour. Definitely there was time for seriousness, when we knew we were getting closer to our final point. But in the beginning it was quite humorous.”Hashim Amla raises his bat after reaching fifty while Dean Elgar applauds•AFPWith Amla not naturally the most extroverted person, anecdotes like these are what help explain why he enjoys an almost unique reverence and affection among cricketers and fans around the world. He might be out there fighting for a scrappy Test win for his side, but the sense Amla manages to retain perspective better than almost anyone else makes him more relatable to fans, even in this uber-professional modern world. Du Plessis, who had so backed Amla ahead of the Test, said there was nothing about his game he had changed in a bid to regain form.”He’s done absolutely nothing different. That’s been the trademark of, looking behind the scenes, what Hashim has always done. He sticks to exactly the same things. Whether he scores runs or doesn’t, his mental application and attitude away from the game remains the same. He’s a very level-headed, calm guy. You don’t see him get frantic when he doesn’t score runs. He just believes it will turn. And in cricket, that’s how it works. You need a dropped catch, and then all of a sudden the lucks gone your way.”As the target began to whittle down and the ball lost its shine and venom, it was Pakistan who blinked. With Amla back to his unflappable self, the bowlers went searching for his wicket, in the process feeding him the shots out of which he has made such a glittering career. After the first 15 overs, Amla found himself getting greater width, allowing him to brandish that glorious cut, and whenever he found a delivery on his pads, the snappy flick inevitably dispatched it to midwicket.As Elgar got out and South Africa began to lose wickets by the time the result was a foregone conclusion, Amla was still standing at the other end. He may have scored just three runs of the last 25 on the path to victory, but, as ever, when a South African batsman came to the crease, he found that rock standing at the other end. It wasn’t the innings of a man looking for a swansong, but one who embodies the ProteaFire motto in his own, truly inimitable way.

He doesn’t have the experience, but he has the explosiveness. Will the think tank choose conservatism over boldness, or go the other way?

Nagraj Gollapudi in Southampton21-Jun-2019When his name was not in India’s original squad of 15 for the World Cup, there was quite an outcry – why no Rishabh Pant, one of the most explosive young batsmen in the game?Former stalwarts – Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting and Michael Vaughan among them – felt the Indian selection panel, led by MSK Prasad, had made a mistake. Well, Pant is in the UK now with the India team, as replacement for the injured Shikhar Dhawan. But now that he is there, how do India fit him in, what are the combination options with him in the mix? ESPNcricinfo takes a look on the eve of India’s game against Afghanistan.Where does he slot in?
If he is in the XI, it will be in the middle-order, anywhere between No. 4 and No. 6. With MS Dhoni behind the stumps, Pant has to play as a specialist batsman. Depending on the conditions, he would have to be a direct swap with Vijay Shankar or Kedar Jadhav, or one of the two frontline spinners; more likely one of the two allrounders.What exactly does Pant offer?
Being a left-hander, Pant has a big advantage over the others in the Indian team – with Dhawan out, there are not frontline left-handed batsmen in the touring party. He can blunt the opposition wristspinners in the middle overs, something Dhawan did against Australia when he batted deep, leaving Adam Zampa to stand quietly the deep. The other advantage, well known but significant, is Pant’s ability to dominate the bowling with his big hitting. Imagine Hardik Pandya and Pant batting together in the final phase – it can be quite a show.Can he deal with the middle overs?
He has played just five ODIs, and has an ODI average that is, well, average, at 23.25. The List A average is 29.73. Does he then have the ability to bat in the middle overs and do what the team needs of a top-order batsman?There’s no way to answer that right now, but it’s important to note that Pant is only 21, and he has been on a steady upward curve.During the India A tour of England in 2018, and then again against the Lions at home in January, Pant played according to the situation, he showed patience and didn’t get carried away at any stage. Even during the IPL, especially after swallowing the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup spot, he showed an ability to bat deep.Two good examples of Pant being a thinking batsman and not just an instinctive one came against Rajasthan Royals during the group phase and then Sunrisers Hyderabad in the playoffs. In the Eliminator against Sunrisers, Pant had walked in midway through a tense chase of a target of 165. At 111 for 5 with less than five overs to go, the responsibility was solely on Pant. He missed the half-century by a solitary run, but his 21-ball 49 was enough to knock Sunrisers out of the tournament. Against Royals, the target was a steep 191. Without a hiccup, Pant took Delhi Capitals past the finish line with an unbeaten 36-ball 78. Incredibly, Pant played just four dot balls against Royals and only one more against Sunrisers.Pant had started the IPL with five dot balls in Capitals’ tournament opener against Mumbai Indians. He ended with a match-winning 77 off just 27 deliveries (seven dot balls overall) and helped his team set a massive 213-run target that Mumbai failed to cross.Not to forget Test centuries at The Oval and in Sydney, he does have the smarts and the skills, clearly.What about the team combination?
The questions the think tank must answer: 1. Do India want to play a part-time seventh bowler – Vijay or Jadhav – instead of a specialist batsman in Pant to have more dimensions in their XI, and 2. Say the Indian top order continues to flourish, then would a more explosive option, like Pant, not be better than Vijay, who usually takes a few balls to settle down? Although Vijay and even Dinesh Karthik are better outfielders, India have the option of throwing their X-factor youngster in. Will they take it?

No side has won a Test after being bowled out for as little as 85 in the first innings since 1907

Bharath Seervi26-Jul-201938 Ireland’s total in the fourth innings, which is the seventh lowest in overall Test cricket history and lowest in the last 64 years. Eighth of the ten lowest totals in Tests have come against England.ESPNcricinfo Ltd94 Balls for which Ireland’s innings lasted, is the joint second-shortest innings in Tests. The only shorter innings was 75 balls by South Africa at Edgbaston in 1924.4 Number of times a team has won a Test after making a first-innings score less than England’s 85 in this Test. All the four instances occurred more than 100 years ago. The only other instance in the last 100 years of a team getting all out for less than 100 and winning a Test is Pakistan (99) against England at Dubai in 2012.ESPNcricinfo Ltd6 for 17 Chris Woakes’ figures in the fourth innings – his career-best figures. Woakes has taken three five-wicket hauls in his career and all have come at Lord’s. His haul is also the cheapest six-wicket haul in Tests at Lord’s. Woakes has got 24 wickets in four Tests at Lord’s at an average of 9.75. In the last Test at Lord’s, he scored his maiden Test century, against India.2011 The last time there were two sub-100 totals in a Test, which came in the Cape Town Test between South Africa and Australia. Overall, this was the 26th instance of two sub-100 totals in a Test and the first in England in the last 60 years.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 Jonny Bairstow and Gary Wilson – the wicketkeepers for both sides – got pairs in this Test. This was the first time both wicketkeepers got pairs in a Test. There were seven ducks by batsmen at No. 5 to 7 in this match, which is also the most in any Test.

Earlier, his bat used to point to first slip at the point of the bowler’s delivery. Now it’s over middle and off stump, but there’s been teething issues

Karthik Krishnaswamy02-Sep-2019Was that a defensive shot, or was it a leave? If you watched KL Rahul scratch his way to 6 off 63 balls on Sunday, the question would have popped into your head on several occasions.It usually happened when West Indies’ fast bowlers hit the short-of-good-length area in the corridor outside off stump. Rahul would push his bat at the ball, and then, having made contact, withdraw it hastily, as if he’d just touched a blazing skillet.He’d been out playing the same sort of half-shot in the first innings, getting squared up by a ball from Jason Holder, nicking to first slip, and then pulling his bat away futilely with an elaborate flourish.Batsmen often shadow-practise the shot they have played after they are beaten or dismissed; with Rahul, the shadow-practice seems to begin as soon as he’s made his mistake, as if to say, “wait, I’ve taken that shot back!”His dismissal on Sunday was a little different, off a front-foot defensive shot to a delivery from Kemar Roach that left him late in the corridor. But again, his bat, having felt for the ball, shrunk back guiltily after edging it.Rahul didn’t look like he was simply watching the ball and reacting to it. He seemed preoccupied with thoughts of where his feet were, where his head was, and how his bat was coming down.The uncertainty was understandable. Since the start of 2018, Rahul has averaged 22.23 across 15 Test matches, scoring one hundred, against England at The Oval, and one fifty, against Afghanistan in Bengaluru. His career average, which stood at 44.62 before this lean run, has now slumped to 34.58.In that time, he’s made a few technical adjustments, possibly prompted by a run of nine straight innings – in England, and against West Indies at home – in which he was either bowled or lbw.The most visible change is in the pick-up of his bat. In 2017, and through most of 2018, Rahul’s bat used to point to first slip at the point when the bowler let fly. During the Australia tour at the turn of the year, his pick-up became a little straighter, with his bat pointing over the top of off stump, perhaps to ensure that he didn’t leave too big a gap between bat and pad. The change didn’t bring him any immediate reward – he only managed one double-digit score in five innings.

KL Rahul has changed the way he picks up his bat, and the extent of his trigger movement. It hasn't changed his Test-match fortunes, just yet. pic.twitter.com/49CMISIIKS

— Karthik Krishnaswamy (@the_kk) September 1, 2019

On the West Indies tour, he’s been holding his bat up even straighter, over the top of middle and leg stumps, and his back-foot trigger movement isn’t taking him as far across his stumps as it used to.His indecision in the middle suggests that he’s still getting used to his new technique. It can’t be easy to be playing international cricket with a set-up you aren’t fully comfortable with, but that’s the way of the modern game – particularly if you’re an India player – with no off-season and hardly any gaps between series to fine-tune your game.India might have given him a break here if their other first-choice opener had been available, but Prithvi Shaw’s suspension has almost forced them to pick Rahul. And with the ability he has, he isn’t an easy batsman to leave out in the first place.Rahul’s struggle is hard to watch, and it must be even harder to experience. But hidden somewhere amid all the indecision is a top-class batsman who not too long ago made ten 50-plus scores in the span of 14 Test innings. India will hope Rahul can rediscover that batsman sooner rather than later.