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Wolverhampton Wanderers have been linked with a move for Portuguese midfielder Andre Almeida in recent weeks but the youngster’s disappointing form last season suggests he could be another Vitinha at Molineux.

Recent reports have claimed that the Old Gold are preparing a bid for the Vitoria Guimaraes midfielder, who would reportedly cost £9m, as Bruno Lage looks to add to his options in the middle of the park.

However, it is difficult to see what the 22-year-old would add at Molineux, as his performances in recent seasons have been less than impressive.

In the 2021/22 league campaign, Almeida made 31 appearances in the Portuguese top-flight, contributing no goals or assists and averaging a poor 6.63 rating from WhoScored for his performances.

He also averaged just 24.3 passes per game last season, whereas both Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho were closer to 60 passes per fixture in the Premier League, so it is difficult to see what qualities he would offer Wolves as a central midfielder.

Almeida might have a lot of potential, but he has no experience of the Premier League and struggled in Portugal last season, so it would be a surprise if he was a success in a more physical and competitive league.

His signing would perhaps be reminiscent of the deal that saw Vitinha join Wolves on loan from Porto in 2020, with the youngster going to make just 19 appearances for the Old Gold, the majority of which came from the bench.

He would average a shocking 6.23 rating from WhoScored for his performances, while Nuno Espirito Santo suggested he perhaps wasn’t ready for the Premier League, so it was definitely a failed signing.

While he has subsequently gone on to star for Porto and earn himself a move to PSG this summer, Almeida’s lack of goals and assists for Vitoria Guimaraes suggests that he will not follow the same trajectory.

If Wolves are to rectify their shocking form from the end of last season and propel themselves up the Premier League table next season, then Lage arguably needs to be aiming much higher with his new signings.

AND in other news: Lage must seal Wolves swoop for £18m machine who’s “exploding”, imagine him & Neves

Having finally wrapped up the signing of Morocco international, Nayef Aguerd, West Ham United boss David Moyes is reportedly set to press on with further transfer business…

What’s the word?

According to the Evening Standard’s Giuseppe Muro, the Hammers are said to be targeting as many as six additional signings to that of the 26-year-old, centre-back, with Moyes set to be significantly backed ahead of a campaign that will see the club once again juggle domestic and European commitments.

While no potential targets or priority positions are mentioned in the report, the latest suggestion is that a new centre-forward is one area that needs addressing, with Chelsea youngster Armando Broja believed to be a current player of interest, following his impressive stint on loan at Southampton.

The Albania international’s former Saints teammate James Ward-Prowse is another name to have been linked with a move to the London Stadium, while Alphonse Areola could be set for a permanent stay after his recent temporary spell.

Supporters buzzing

Although it remains somewhat difficult to narrow down who the Irons’ actual targets are this summer, the fact that they appear set to recruit so extensively will be music to the ears of the club’s support, as Moyes’ men look to kick on again next term.

Having secured European qualification for the second season running last term, the former Manchester United boss will be acutely aware that his side will need to be strengthened, with resources having been stretched, particularly defensively, as a result of their remarkable run to the Europa League semi-finals last season.

That lack of potential squad depth has been hampered even further by the retirement of club captain Mark Noble, while fellow midfielder Alex Kral appears unlikely to see his loan move made permanent, having made just a single Premier League appearance in the 2021/22 campaign.

Equally, Croatia international Nikola Vlasic appears set for a swift departure after just a solitary campaign with the club, while veteran winger Andriy Yarmolenko is set for pastures new following the expiry of his contract, with full-back Ryan Fredericks set to follow him out the door.

Those departures – or potential exits – have left a number of holes to be plugged for Moyes and co this summer, while in attack the lack of genuine competition to Michail Antonio also remains a concern, with the club simply unable to rely on 32-year-old alone for another campaign.

To know that the Hammers are plotting to hopefully solve those issues, however, with a raft of new additions will no doubt be of great delight to the club’s supporters, with the arrival of the aforementioned Aguerd seemingly just the tip of the iceberg in the current window.

IN other news, Moyes plotting move for “special” £45m “baller”, he’d be a “superstar” for West Ham

Yorkshire Live journalist Dom Howson has delivered an update on Lee Gregory’s future at Sheffield Wednesday during a fan Q&A session.

The Lowdown: Gregory’s debut season

The 33-year-old first made the switch to League One when he joined the Owls in a permanent move from Championship side Stoke City last summer, where he has become a regular feature in Darren Moore’s starting XI in his debut season at Hillsborough, racking up 39 appearances across all competitions.

When the striker put pen to paper on arrival, his contract was set to run until 2023, so with just 12 months now remaining on his current deal, the club will no doubt be sweating over his future after such a successful campaign.

The Latest: Howson drops Gregory update

In a fan Q&A session for Yorkshire Live, Howson was asked by a supporter whether Sheffield Wednesday are in negotiations over a new agreement for Gregory, confirming there are no talks yet but they will be in the pipeline:

“Not sure talks have taken place yet with Gregory but I am sure that is one Wednesday will be looking to sort out sooner rather than later. Gregory was superb in his first year at the club.”

The Verdict: Exciting

The former Potters star was a standout performer for the Owls during his opening campaign in the third-tier, so it wouldn’t come as any surprise to see the club wanting to extend his stay for as long as possible.

Throughout the 2021/22 term, the forward, who was once hailed an “instrumental” player by former Millwall teammate Tom Bradshaw, scored an outstanding 16 goals and provided six assists in League One, as per Transfermarkt, and was a pivotal figure in helping his side reach the play-offs.

Looking ahead to next season, Gregory will be pivotal if the club manage to go all the way and seal promotion to the Championship, so this update that talks are due is certainly an exciting one.

In other news… Sheffield Wednesday are reportedly closing in on the signing of a new defender.

Pundit Gabby Agbonlahor believes Leeds United forward Joe Gelhardt may be ‘another’ player to leave cheaply if the Whites go down this weekend, Football Insider report.

The Lowdown: Exit links

Gelhardt has established himself as a regular in the match-day squad this season and has failed to feature in just three of the last 14 Premier League games.

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The 20-year-old provided a moment of quality last weekend to set up Pascal Struijk in injury time against Brighton, but reports earlier this month claimed that top-flight rivals will look to poach the youngster if Leeds find themselves in the Championship next season.

Jesse Marsch’s side now know that a defeat against Brentford on the final day of the season will send the club back to the Championship, and Agbonlahor has had his say on a number of Leeds stars and their futures.

The Latest: Agbonlahor’s claim

Agbonlahor, who contributes for Sky Sports, was talking to FI at what relegation could mean for Leeds.

He said that Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips will hand in ‘transfer requests’, should the Whites go down and also believes Gelhardt is ‘another’ who could leave for a ‘cheap fee’.

“If Leeds go down they are going to lose loads of players.

“Phillips and Raphinha will be handing in transfer requests to leave. They will not go back to the Championship.

“The biggest thing is that the Championship is getting harder and harder to get out of. Sheffield United haven’t gone up, you’ve got Norwich, Watford, and Middlesbrough all up there as favourites to come up. Leeds will find it hard to come straight back up.

“As much as it’s massive money wise, it’s about keeping your players too.

“Gelhardt is another one that clubs will be wanting to nick for a cheap fee.”

The Verdict: Make him a regular

Should the worst-case scenario happen this weekend, then the likes of Raphinha and Phillips will almost certainly leave. You’d expect that a few more big earners could also depart, however, Leeds should be under no pressure to part ways with Gelhardt.

He’s under contract until 2024 and has shown his quality this season, so it could be wise to make him a regular starter in a rebuild under Marsch in the Championship.

Hopefully, Leeds can better Burnley’s result on Sunday and fans won’t have to worry about a Premier League side poaching Gelhardt and another spell in the second tier – only time will tell.

In other news: Orta now finally set to accept defeat as Leeds plot exit for Bielsa ‘mistake’ – opinion. 

Tottenham Hotspur could be looking to replace Lucas Moura with a big upgrade this summer, if recent reports are to be believed.

According to 90min, the north London outfit had scouts in attendance for Villarreal’s two-legged Champions League semi-final clash with Liverpool. It’s thought that they were taking a closer look at centre-back Pau Torres and winger Arnaut Danjuma.

The Yellow Submarines were defeated 5-2 on aggregate with the former featuring in both fixtures, and the latter only playing the first leg, missing the second through injury.

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After leaving Championship side AFC Bournemouth for Unai Emery’s side in a €25m (£21.4m) deal the summer, the six-time Netherlands international has enjoyed a standout campaign across both domestic and European competitions.

As per Transfermarkt, the 25-year-old has delivered a whopping 16 goals and four assists, which included goals as a centre-forward against Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Granada, where he bagged a hat-trick.

Danjuma has been one of Villarreal’s best-performing and most consistent stars, ranking fifth (LaLiga) and second (UCL) overall for average rating, whilst no player has found the net more times.

Currently valued at £45m, the enigmatic dynamo wouldn’t come cheap but he’d be a massive upgrade on the out-of-sorts Moura, that’s for sure.

The Brazilian winger has been usurped by Dejan Kulusevski in the pecking order under Antonio Conte, hardly a surprise given his poor returns of two goals and five assists in 31 league appearances.

Danjuma outranks the long-serving Spurs star in pretty much every attacking metric, as per FBRef.

In terms of shooting output, the Yellow Submarines sensation is managing 1.26 shots on target per 90, in comparison to Moura’s 0.83, whilst for expected goals and assists (excluding penalty kicks) sees the former Cherries man sit on 0.57 per 90, compared to the 0.35 put up by the Spurs ace.

Danjuma also manages 1.88 carries into the 18-yard box, way clear of Moura’s 0.84, on top of attempting more dribbles and receiving more progressive passes in the final third, also via FBRef.

Lauded as an “exceptional talent” by EFL pundit Clinton Morrison and “unbelievable” by former manager Jonathan Woodgate, it’s evident that Conte could secure a major upgrade on Moura with a swoop to bring Danjuma back to England.

Fabio Paratici and co must look to get this done during the off-season.

AND in other news, Paratici bargain: Spurs plot bid for “extraordinary” £45m titan, imagine him & Romero…

With a power-packed batting line-up, England have racked up massive scores more consistently than any other team in the last three years

S Rajesh10-Jul-2018The England-India ODI series pits two of the best teams in this format against each other. England have clearly been the standout team, with a 46-19 win-loss record since their horrendous 2015 World Cup campaign, but India haven’t done badly either, winning 39 and losing 19 in this period. They are the top two teams in the ICC ODI rankings, and the only ones who have won twice as many matches as they have lost over the last three years.ESPNcricinfo LtdThey are clearly the two best ODI teams, but the way they have gone about their business has been quite different. England have relied almost exclusively on their batsmen to deliver the wins – their run rate of 6.26 is well clear of the next-best, 5.77 – while India have been more balanced, relying on their bowling as well. Their economy rate of 5.33 is third among the top ten teams, while England’s is ninth.In fact, England’s economy rate of 5.71 is only 0.03 better than Sri Lanka’s, who are in last place at 5.74. And yet, while Sri Lanka have a dismal 20-39 win-loss record in ODIs during this period, losing two games per victory. England, meanwhile, are soaring high with 2.4 wins per defeat. What makes the difference is their batting.

The aspect that stands out about England’s batting is their boundary-hitting ability throughout their innings. Overall, they hit a four or a six every 8.5 balls, compared to India’s 9.6. (To give an idea of just how much England have improved this aspect of their batting, in the period between January 2012 and March 2015, their boundary-hitting rate was one every 12 balls.)ESPNcricinfo LtdThat power-hitting has helped England rack up 300-plus totals like no other team. In 68 innings since the 2015 World Cup, they have gone past 300 31 times, which is once every two innings. India have achieved it 16 times in 59 innings. England have also gone past 350 on 11 occasions, and breached 400 three times. Those are far superior numbers to any other team, including India.

Breaking up the numbers further into over-wise phases, the biggest difference between the two batting units is their approach to the Powerplay overs. England’s openers have gone hard at the bowlers from the start, while India have been far more circumspect. England’s first-10-overs run rate of 5.63 is the best among the top teams during this period, while India are in sixth place at 4.92, only above Bangladesh, Pakistan, West Indies and Afghanistan. England hit a four or a six every 7.13 balls and their opening stand averages 6.36 per over, compared to India’s 8.59 balls per boundary and a run rate of 5.24 for their opening partnerships.

This early aggression from England’s openers allows the rest of the line-up to feed off of them, while also putting the opposition bowlers on the back foot from the start. Among the 17 openers from the top teams who have scored 500-plus runs in the first 10 overs of ODIs since the 2015 World Cup, Jonny Bairstow has the best strike rate of 108, while Jason Roy (96) and Alex Hales (93.3) are also in the top five. In comparison, Rohit has a strike rate of 79.5 in the first 10, which is 13th among these 17 batsmen. (He often makes up for it later in his innings, but India’s Powerplay numbers still suffer because of this approach.)Datawrapper/ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the middle and death overs, too, England are well clear of the rest of the teams, though India are up there too in terms of run-rate rankings among the top ten teams. On average, England gain around seven runs on India in the Powerplay overs, 13 in the middle overs and five in the death, which means about 25 more runs than India on average. (The actual run rates of the two teams – 6.26 and 5.77 – are lesser than these average totals because teams don’t always play each of their last ten overs in every game.)ESPNcricinfo LtdIndia’s bowlers have a better ODI record than England’s, but they will have to contend with tough conditions: in the last three years, bowlers have conceded 5.92 runs per over in England, the highest among countries which have hosted at least 20 ODIs in this period; India are third at 5.63. England is also the toughest country for spinners: they have gone at 5.82 and concede almost 46 runs per wicket, compared to 5.37 in India.Add England’s home record in these three years – 28 wins, 8 losses, including no defeats in the last ten games – and you know that India will be up against it. But as India showed in the T20I series, they have the resources to overcome one of the toughest teams in ODI cricket.

Stats highlights from the third day of the first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Port Elizabeth

Gaurav Sundararaman28-Dec-20161929 The previous instance when the same opening pair shared a 100-plus partnership for South Africa in both innings of a Test. Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar added 104 in the first innings and 116 in the second in Port Elizabeth. Bob Catteral and Bruce Mitchell added 119 and 171 respectively against England at Birmingham in 1929. Overall, eight other opening pairs have shared century stands in both innings of a Test.2012 The last instance of a century stand for the opening wicket in both innings of a Test match for South Africa, against England in 2012 at Leeds. However, this was achieved by two different pairs: Graeme Smith added 120 runs each with Alviro Petersen and Jacques Rudolph respectively.1970 The last instance of two fifty-plus partnerships by the opening pair for South Africa in a Test in Port Elizabeth. Barry Richards and Eddie Barlow added 157 and 73 against Australia in 1970.70 Innings taken by Vernon Philander to reach 11 five-fors in Tests. He is the third-quickest bowler from South Africa to reach this mark after Hugh Tayfield (43 innings) and Dale Steyn (54 innings). Philander now has three five-fors each against Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand.3 Centuries scored by Stephen Cook in 2016, the most by a South Africa batsman in 2016. Hashim Amla, Faf Du Plessis and Quinton de Kock have two hundreds each. Cook has three hundreds from 12 innings and also made his top score of 117 today.84 Dean Elgar’s average at St Georges Park, Port Elizabeth, the second-best across all venues he has played in after Durban, where he averages 88.5. He has scored 420 runs with two hundreds and two fifties in Port Elizabeth.49.90 Hashim Amla’s current average. This is the first time his average has dropped below 50 since November 2012.

He has scored the most runs, bowled the most economic spells for Sri Lanka, led them out of tough situations and has been the driving force in this Sri Lankan team, silently

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo22-Aug-20151:06

‘We threw it away after the second new ball’ -Thirimanne

Second new ball in hand, Ishant Sharma bends his back to issue Angelo Mathews a threat. Almost before he can look back up, the batsman meets the delivery like it was a greeting card. The bouncer rises to Mathews’ chest. With no hint of fuss or flourish, he clatters it in front of square on the legside. The next two balls, also at the body, end up beyond the boundary.Mathews’ cricket is often like this. There are no airs to it. He has no look-at-me shots. Last week, he played his 50th Test, batted and captained well in it, but barely anyone took notice. His runs come so frequently now, they are almost taken for granted. As the light fades on Kumar Sangakkara’s career, he has set himself up in the top-order engine room. Yet another difficult job will pass to him.Mathews can also sometimes seem like the straight face in a batting line up full of unintentional comedians. On Friday evening, he arrived at the crease after the top four had frozen time with their slow approach and immediately set about shaking the innings awake. The others had poked balls into the infield over and over again. Mathews basically took his partner by the hand and pointed out the vast gaps between fielders. When he started hitting boundaries, Lahiru Thirimanne began to bat with a pulse as well.

Men in the lower order usually bat smartly in his presence, like office workers who straighten their ties and take keenly to their work when the boss is around

“Angelo batted very well,” Thirimanne said of the man he shared a 127-run fourth wicket stand with. “We decided from yesterday that we should put together a big partnership. At that time we had lost three wickets, we knew that if another wicket had fallen, at that time, we could have been in trouble. Angelo always says to bat positively. We hit the loose balls and got runs, otherwise it is not easy to score runs on this pitch.”All through the third morning Mathews ensured India’s bowlers would not settle the rhythm they had had going the previous day. He stood outside the crease to Stuart Binny’s gentle pace to cream a four through mid-on and over cover in the second over of the day.Though he was proactive today, his runs still crept up on the opposition. They often do. In that, he is a little like Kane Williamson. Unlike the Virat Kohlis and AB de Villiers of the world, he has no distinctive presence at the crease. So the effect is disarming. When he pulls his team out of trouble, he seems to have done it on the sly. He is on 20 one minute, then 45 the next.There are shortcomings to his game as well. Among contemporary batsmen, he is likeliest to be involved in a run out. And then there are the nervous minutes in the approach to a milestone. Today he soaked up 16 balls to move from 47 to 50. He was quicker through the nineties, but was almost run out trying to steal a single, edged a ball just short of gully, and had his inside edge beaten for the opposition to appeal a bat-pad catch. In the end, he put himself out of misery with a searing reverse sweep to complete his sixth ton. As if emotionally spent by that effort, he edged a tame delivery to first slip next over.His departure became Sri Lanka’s rallying call to mediocrity. Men in the lower order usually bat smartly in his presence, like office workers who straighten their ties and take keenly to their work when the boss is around. When he goes, the beer guts hang out and employees loiter casually by the water cooler.Dhammika Prasad sent an easy catch to slip off Amit Mishra’s bowling. It is difficult to tell by now whether Jehan Mubarak keeps getting superb deliveries, or whether he is making deliveries look superb. He committed to the wrong line, and Mishra drifted it past him, and spun it back in to clip off stump. Rangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal barely protested before throwing away their wickets. The last seven wickets fell for 65 runs.Sri Lanka now need to spring another second-innings surprise if they are to push for a series victory at the P Sara Oval. Mathews has scored the most runs, and bowled the most economical spells for Sri Lanka thus far in the game. He will probably have to do plenty more if his team is to emerge from the match with credit.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s quest to adapt to the needs of T20 cricket is still a painfully on-going process, as evidenced by his jarring innings against Rajasthan Royals

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Sharjah21-Apr-2014Cheteshwar Pujara seemed stuck in an endless, horrifying loop. For what seemed an eternity, all he seemed capable of doing was hitting the ball to long-on for one. Whether he was down the track to Pravin Tambe’s legspin or back in his crease to Rajat Bhatia’s medium-pace, the same thing kept happening. Pujara would swing with all his might only to mistime the ball, which would then roll slowly down the heavy Sharjah outfield.One of these efforts provoked a disproportionate noise from the members’ enclosure. This, it turned out, had come about after some of the spectators had spotted Preity Zinta in the cubicle-like VIP boxes. Some of them ran over to the wall separating the two areas, passed a couple of perplexed-looking babies and into Zinta’s arms. The TV cameras swooped, and Zinta was up on the big screen. Everyone cheered.Out in the middle, Pujara must have felt more than a touch disoriented. A feeling only heightened as he watched Glenn Maxwell hitting chest-high balls down the ground for four, upper-cutting slower bouncers for six from halfway down the pitch, and batting left-handed when he was getting bored. All of this was keeping Punjab in sight of a big target, but it was throwing a particularly harsh light on Pujara’s struggles.In the end, Pujara’s 38-ball 40 was the tenth-slowest unbeaten innings by an opening batsman in the IPL. The nine innings slower than Pujara’s, however, came in chases of targets below 150. Kings XI, on Sunday, were chasing 192. Without the unusual fortune of Maxwell and David Miller playing freakish knocks, victory may well have been beyond Kings XI.According to their captain George Bailey, though, Pujara had played an important role in the run-chase.”In a chase like that, it’s always nice to have wickets in hand,” he said. “Puj [Pujara] obviously played that role really, really well. He got Maxi on strike well, and then he got Davey [Miller] on strike and he chipped in with a couple of boundaries late when we really needed to find those.”We know what we are going to get from Puj and we know we want consistency and it’s nice to have someone we can bat around. There will be wickets that suit him more and that was the really pleasing thing for me, the way he worked those partnerships with those guys. It’s really important for our team.”Pujara certainly didn’t get stuck at one end, and there was a period from the 10th to the 13th over when he only faced four balls to Maxwell’s 20 (in which he moved from 40 to 88). But it wasn’t as if Pujara was calmly slotting the ball into gaps. He was going hard at the ball, and was simply unable to time it.To watch Pujara bat on Sunday was to watch a man trying desperately hard to show the world that he could crack the T20 code. Pujara radiates serenity when he bats in Test cricket. Here, you could feel the uncertainty and the anxiety to belong. You could see it in how hard he was running between the wickets. You could see his relief when he ran to embrace Miller after he had hit the winning six. There must have been times during his innings when he thought he’d lost it for his team.In Pujara’s batting there raged a fierce battle between his muscle memory, which has been trained over all his cricketing years to tackle the questions posed by the long-format game, and the need to make concessions for T20.Early in his innings, against Dhawal Kulkarni, he played a shot that wasn’t too dissimilar to his trademark square cut and bisected point and third man. But he hadn’t gone back and across as he usually does; he had stayed where he was and made himself room, against a ball that wasn’t too wide of off stump. He looked unbalanced when he was beaten later in the over, trying to repeat the shot.Apart from the cut, Pujara wanted to adapt another of his Test-match batting strengths – his footwork against spin – to the IPL. There were glimpses of this during his brief innings against Chennai Super Kings as well, where he charged the seamers as well, but here, against Tambe, he was almost doing it every ball. In Test matches, he skips nimbly down the pitch, reacting to the flight of the ball. Here it looked like he was trying to force the issue, and overcommitting.It was an innings full of such jarring notes, and watching it was like watching VVS Laxman slog across the line during his largely unfulfilling IPL career. Batting among players as explosive as Maxwell and Miller, however, could give him the space and time to define a role for himself.

The Kaul brothers, Siddarth and Uday, have been integral to Punjab’s success in this Ranji Trophy season

Amol Karhadkar in Rajkot15-Jan-2013There are several noteworthy aspects to Punjab’s journey to the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy. One of their two captains this season is a match shy of joining the 100-Test club, while the other is only 21 years old. They have an opener who has a fair chance of ending his debut season as the highest run-scorer of the tournament. They also have an impressive battery of fast bowlers. And they have the only pair of siblings to play together in this Indian domestic season.Uday and Siddarth, the Kaul brothers, have been an integral part of Punjab’s fairytale ride, as they approach the semi-final against Saurashtra as favourites. They have completely different skills: Uday, the older of the two, is a wicketkeeper-batsman, while Siddarth is a fast bowler.Both brothers are chasing one man’s dream, that of Tej Kaul, their father, coach and mentor. Tej had kept wicket and opened the batting for Jammu & Kashmir for a brief period during the 1970s before becoming a coach. Uday followed in Tej’s footsteps, while Siddarth, on the other hand, followed his father’s instincts and instructions to the tee.”He [Uday] always wanted to be like dad, but I always followed what our father told me to be,” Siddarth said. “He somehow always saw a fast bowler in me and here I am, doing what he wanted me to do day in and day out.” Siddarth, with 38 wickets in eight games, is the fifth highest wicket-taker this season.Both players earned their accolades in different ways. Siddarth, who was a member of India’s victorious Under-19 World Cup campaign in 2008, was an instant hit at the first-class level. Two months before that Under-19 tournament, he had made his first-class debut with a five-wicket haul against Orissa. Since then it has been a topsy-turvy ride, primarily due to injuries.Uday, on the other hand, had to toil to make a name among his team-mates and in the domestic cricket fraternity. After emerging as one of the most consistent wicketkeeper-batsmen in 2009-10 and 2010-11, a back injury disturbed Uday’s rhythm last season. But he returned and made a big impact. With 614 runs, which include three centuries, he is Punjab’s second highest run-scorer. “We don’t compare each other’s success, in fact we revel in it,” Uday said. “It’s been an excellent season so far. I hope we can carry forward and help Punjab win the Ranji title that has eluded us for 20 years.”Siddarth’s frequent injures were a major reason for Punjab’s opponents’ batting card not having “c Kaul b Kaul” more often, but they haven’t forgotten its first occurrence. “It was [Rashmi] Das from Orissa, in my first game,” Siddarth said.Uday adds: “Even though he got five in his first innings in Ranji, it would have been more had I taken those chances off his bowling. I think I dropped two or three catches off his bowling in that game.”It isn’t dropped catches, though, that lead to arguments between the two. Usually, it is the choice of music. While Siddarth is “not that into English” songs, Uday prefers to listen to English classics. But that doesn’t stop them from sharing a room most of the times when they are on tour.”Being together helps both of us – as individuals and cricketers,” Siddarth, the more outspoken of the pair, said. “When it comes to cricket, it helps me immensely for him to be behind the wickets. There are some observations that only a studious ‘keeper can make about a bowler. And he puts them across time and again to help me become a better bowler.”With the brothers sharing a strong bond, Punjab’s team management is more than happy to let them be together. “Both are serious about the game and take care of each other, so we know that they are looking after each other,” the coach and manager Arun Sharma said. “That in a way means two players less when it comes to man-management.”