Former England spinner recalls the events of his maiden Test tour of India in 2006

Monty Panesar04-Feb-2021A tour of India is one of the hardest for an England cricketer, both in terms of the cricket and the culture. We all know that cricket is seen as a religion in India. And we all know Sachin Tendulkar is its God. So, when your first Test wicket is Sachin, you know 1.2 billion people will immediately detest you.England’s tour of India in 2006 was one of the best experiences of my life.  You know the quote: “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away”? Well, that’s how it felt when I dismissed Sachin. Ecstasy. Exhilaration. I ran wildly towards point, a sense of pure joy coursing through my body. Nobody could stop me. It was everything I had planned for and dreamed of for years. For various reasons, I probably didn’t fulfil my promise. But that was a perfect moment.My first encounter with the great Andrew Flintoff was at the ECB’s centre of excellence at Loughborough University. I remember he was wearing his Manchester City sky-blue socks. He said “alright, lad?” in that heavy Manchester accent of his. I could barely understand him, but I soon realised he meant “How you doing, mate?” It was the beginning of my relationship with a man who seemed to be larger than life in every sense.When we arrived in India I was completely immersed in my training and trying to get the best out of myself as a cricketer. I had just signed a two-year contract with Northants and, to be honest, I didn’t expect to play in the Test series. But Flintoff had other ideas.Monty Panesar celebrates after claiming Sachin Tendulkar as his first Test wicket•Getty ImagesWhen the squad was announced, the day before the game, my name was the last to be read out. I concluded that meant I was going to be 12th man for the first Test match in Nagpur, but that wasn’t the case. I felt Flintoff’s huge hand rest on my right shoulder as he whispered, “You’re playing, lad”.I rushed to my room. This was to be my first international game. I wanted to lay out my field settings for each player and I wanted to give them to my new captain.I went to his room. He was playing Fifa with other ‘lads’ – his best mate Steve Harmison was always with him – and he asked me “What’s this lad?”I told him “It’s the field settings for tomorrow, mate”. I wasn’t sure if he was impressed or thought I was being over the top. He found the game easy and probably expected the same from the rest of us. I wasn’t very confident as a bloke, but his encouragement and backing really helped me to believe in myself as an England cricketer.Both Flintoff and Harmison were laid-back guys off the pitch. Always approachable; always easy going. But, once they were on the pitch and you gave them the ball, this beast of a character appeared. I remember thinking, ‘this is what killer instinct looks like’.When it was my turn to bowl, I recall Flintoff saying: “C’mon lad. No more fairytales. This is the real thing: bowl like you have during practice and the warm-up games and get these guys out.”I was thinking: ‘how do I get Sehwag, Kaif, Laxman, Tendulkar and Dhoni out?’ These were their pitches and they played spin so well. I thought I had no chance.But this was one of Flintoff’s strengths. There was something about him, in the heat of the battle, that made you want to rise to the challenge. You didn’t want to let him down. You didn’t want to disappoint him. He had put his trust in me and now it was my turn to repay him. Indeed, so much confidence did he show in me, that it gave me greater belief. ‘If this lion of a man believes in me, I must be pretty good,’ was the way I saw it. Time to switch on.Spin bowling is different from fast bowling. You can’t hurt the batsmen, but you can be astute in your pace, trajectory and field settings. I remember Flintoff shouting “Come on, Monty, lad: spin it!” and giving me a look that left me in no doubt that this was time to deliver. I’d never experienced this level of intensity before. I don’t think I had ever concentrated that hard before. I suddenly understood what was required to succeed at Test level. I knew I wanted more of this experience.Related

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It was a great tour. We drew the series 1-1 and I felt I gave a good account of myself. I showed I could bowl on sub-continent pitches and I showed I could play at that level of the game. I knew I had a future in Test cricket after that. I even recognised who Johnny Cash was when we sang “Ring of Fire” during the lunch session. Somehow it gave us all a bit of energy and inspired us to bowl out India cheaply. I loved every moment of it.Playing with Flintoff was very special for me. He believed in me as a person and a cricketer. Without him, I wonder if I would ever have taken that first Test wicket.  I’m incredibly grateful for his belief in me.Maybe I will follow his footsteps off the pitch, too. I’m currently studying a Masters in International Sports Journalism and would like to emulate him in having a successful TV career as part of the next chapter of my life. Maybe, one day, I’ll have my own chat show. Even now, all those years since my debut in Nagpur, Freddie’s example is still inspiring me.

The move away from home grounds means some teams will have to tweak squads and game plans significantly

Gaurav Sundararaman and Saurabh Somani04-Apr-2021The Covid-19 pandemic continues to throw up unexpected challenges for the IPL. If it was moving out of India and playing in bio-secure bubbles in 2020, now it’s a move away from home venues for every franchise. In a first for the tournament in India, IPL 2021 will not have a single team playing a match at their home grounds, not even in the playoffs. Most IPL teams have evolved specific squad compositions keeping in mind they play seven games at a venue that is familiar to them each season, but now all of those plans will have to be revised. Teams will also play several matches at a stretch at the same venue – another first. Here’s a breakdown of each team’s schedule, how not playing at home could affect them, and what they need to do to counter that.

Chennai Super Kings

Five matches in Mumbai – April 10-25
Four matches in Delhi – April 28 – May 7
Three matches in Bangalore – May 9-16
Two matches in Kolkata – May 21, 23Of all the teams in the IPL, the Super Kings have used home advantage to best effect. They have built a squad that will win, more often than not, at Chepauk, with spinners and canny fast bowlers who know how to exploit the surface. When they played at neutral venues in the UAE, it affected the Super Kings’ style of play. In 2019, their spinners took 62 wickets at an average of 19.66 and an economy of 6.76. In 2020, their spinners took just 20 wickets at an average of 40.15 and at an economy of 8.51. The Super Kings are playing ten matches at venues that are very batting-friendly and tough on spinners. The average economy rate for spinners in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata in T20s since 2018 is close to 8.0 per over, and the average first-innings score is 175. If MS Dhoni’s side have to improve on last season’s showing, they need to adapt and find alternative ways of winning. Playing more than half their games in Mumbai and Bangalore also means their batting strategy might need tweaking, with an emphasis on going hard earlier because a total in the region of 160 likely won’t be enough there.

Delhi Capitals

Three matches in Mumbai – April 10-18
Two matches in Chennai – April 20, 25

Four matches in Ahmedabad – April 27 – May 8

Five matches in Kolkata – May 11-23The Capitals have a core of players who are well suited to take advantage of a variety of conditions, but they might have liked a few more games in Chennai considering they have a strong spin attack, with R Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Axar Patel. With their remaining games being in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, the Chennai games are likely to be the only ones where they can consider going in with all three of those spinners, and they’ll have to rely on their quick bowlers for the rest of tournament. Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada started with a lot of fire in IPL 2020, but tailed off towards the end. Managing their workloads is something the Capitals will have to pay close attention to, given their five games in Kolkata at the end, the venue that has the best strike rate for fast bowlers, 18.5 (none of the others have strike rates below 20) in all T20s since 2018. The Capitals might need to keep their focus fluid: start with batting dynamism in Mumbai, bring the spinners into play in Chennai, get a mix of everything in Ahmedabad with a batting tilt, and finish with pace bowlers leading the way in Kolkata. An interesting challenge awaits new captain Rishabh Pant.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Kolkata Knight Riders

Three matches in Chennai – April 11-18
Two matches in Mumbai – April 21, 24

Four matches in Ahmedabad – April 26 – May 8

Five matches in Bangalore – May 10-21The Knight Riders will play a bulk of their games in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. With Eoin Morgan as the captain, they are likely to follow a strategy similar to that of England in white-ball cricket. The venues they are playing at tie in nicely with a philosophy of focusing on six-hitting too. The Chinnaswamy Stadium, with its short boundaries, has proved to be a happy hunting ground for KKR, who have won five of their last six games there. As for Ahmedabad, Morgan has just led England in five T20Is at the new stadium, which should augur well in terms of tactics and familiarity. What the Knight Riders will miss are the helpful conditions for pace bowlers that Eden Gardens offers. The likes of Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins and Prasidh Krishna may not get the same bounce and carry in Bangalore or Ahmedabad. So while their batting looks sorted for the conditions they’ll face, they may want to evolve alternative bowling plans and combinations.

Mumbai Indians

Five matches in Chennai – April 9-23

Four matches in Delhi – April 29 – May 8

Three matches in Bangalore – May 10-16

Two matches in Kolkata – May 20, 23The Mumbai Indians might have turned their home venue into a fortress, but they haven’t become the most successful side in the IPL by winning only at home. Mumbai have most bases covered for whichever venue they find themselves in. At first glance, five consecutive matches in Chennai to start with might seem to work against them, given Chepauk’s famously spin-friendly surface and Mumbai’s relative lack of spin-bowling firepower, compared to their batting and their pace line-up. But the record says different: Mumbai have greatly enjoyed playing at Chepauk, and their last loss at the venue came back in 2011. They’ve beaten the Chennai Super Kings in their own den five consecutive times now, stretching back to 2012 and including two wins in 2019. So while there is no denying that the team finds something extra when playing at home, the quality and depth in the side suggests that the changed schedules will affect them the least. They end their campaign with three matches in Bangalore, followed by two in Kolkata, which could be an ideal way to tune up their batting and pace bowling with an eye on the knockouts.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Punjab Kings

Three matches in Mumbai – April 12-18

Two matches in Chennai – April 21, 23

Four matches in Ahmedabad – April 26 – May 6

Five matches in Bangalore – May 9-22
The Punjab Kings have never consistently had a home ground – in previous seasons, they have played in Pune and Indore in addition to Mohali. Playing at neutral venues is not new to them. Crucially, though, this time eight of their games are going to be played at venues that suit boundary-hitting more than others. For a Kings batting line-up firing on all cylinders, that suits them just fine. They start their campaign in Mumbai and finish in Bangalore, which gives them the opportunity for both a strong start and a strong finish. In Mumbai and Bangalore, a boundary is hit every five balls, while the figure for Chennai and Ahmedabad is around seven balls. The likes of Nicholas Pooran, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle are well placed to make use of the smaller boundaries. From a bowling perspective, the Kings have invested in 140kph-plus quicks and swing bowlers who could use the conditions in Mumbai and Ahmedabad effectively, with fast bowlers striking once every 20 balls at these two venues. Overall, the Kings don’t need to tinker with their tactics or approach, because the new schedule might actually work out better for them than the traditional home-and-away games.

Rajasthan Royals

Five matches in Mumbai – April 12-24
Four matches in Delhi – April 29 – May 8

Three matches in Kolkata – May 11-16

Two matches in Bengaluru – May 18, 22In IPLs past, whenever the Royals played in Jaipur, they found something extra, which led to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium being labelled their fortress. From IPL 2008 to 2013, they won 29 out of 38 matches at the venue. They subsequently didn’t play there for four years for a variety of reasons, before returning in 2018, but it wasn’t the same: since then, they have won eight and lost six matches at the venue. They will start their campaign in the batting-friendly environs of Mumbai, where pace bowlers have also found some nip early on. But the Royals will be without their primary weapon, Jofra Archer, making it a tough start for them. Archer is expected to miss at least the first four games, and possibly more, which leaves only Chris Morris to carry the attack. The Royals start with five matches in Mumbai and move to Delhi for four matches, marking a shift in bowling strategy from pace to spin, since Delhi is the second most favourable venue for spinners after Chennai, with a spin economy rate of 7.15 and a spin strike rate of 21.6. The Royals might struggle with the bowling in Delhi too, since their spin contingent lacks the pedigree and depth of the other sides. The change in schedules from the home-and-away format, coupled with Archer’s injury, might hit the Royals harder than most others.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Three matches in Chennai – April 9-18

Two matches in Mumbai – April 22, 25

Four matches in Ahmedabad – April 27 – May 6
Five matches in Kolkata – May 9-23The batting friendly conditions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium have meant the Royal Challengers’ bowlers never really made the kind of impact their batsmen did in past seasons. However, last year the bowlers played an important role, revelling in the bigger grounds in Dubai and in Abu Dhabi. This time around, they will have to figure out a way to make best use of the venues and their resources. Their finishing stretch is in Kolkata, which their batsmen might enjoy. Ahmedabad and Chennai are relatively tough places to bat, with average first-innings scores of around 155, while in Mumbai and Kolkata it is closer to 170. Just like with Morgan and KKR, Virat Kohli’s familiarity with the Ahmedabad stadium after leading India in the T20I series there should offer the Royal Challengers some tactical nous. Overall, they don’t have to change too much in their tactics, apart from picking the right bowling combinations based on venues.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Five matches in Chennai – April 11-25

Four matches in Delhi – April 28 – May 7

Three matches in Kolkata – May 9-17
Two matches in Bengaluru – May 19, 21With one of the best attacks in the league, the Sunrisers rely on their bowlers to win them matches. They do have some batting firepower at the top, but bowling has always been their strongest suit. Their first nine matches are being played in Chennai and Delhi. Both these venues are favourable for spin. In the last three years, spin bowlers have gone at 6.3 and 7.1 runs per over there, while the average first-innings scores have been 156 and 160 respectively. This suits the Sunrisers’ style of play, as they have excellent players of spin in David Warner, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow, and three top-notch T20 spinners in Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi. If the pitches do slow down, SRH could have a successful first half without altering too much of their strategy.

Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Mithun laid the platform an under-pressure Bangladesh needed against a fine bowling attack

Mohammad Isam23-Mar-2021Bangladesh would have left the Hagley Oval on Tuesday wondering what might have happened had they held their catches. Two easy catches were put down, which led to New Zealand gaining momentum and eventually going 2-0 up. That must have been particularly hard for the visitors to digest, given how diligently and effectively they’d gone about their job with the bat across the game’s first half.Bangladesh’s 271 for 6 was an impressive score given how they had batted in the previous match, the nature of the Hagley Oval pitch and the strength of the New Zealand bowling attack. Besides, another batting collapse would have added more sparks to an already toxic atmosphere back home. But captain Tamim Iqbal led by example, Mohammad Mithun chose this game to get back into form and, in contrast to how easily they folded in Dunedin, Bangladesh’s top-order applied themselves diligently in Christchurch.Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar added 81 for the second wicket to recover from the early loss of Liton Das. Three more sizable partnerships followed, particularly the fifth wicket stand between Mahmudullah and Mohammad Mithun that had 63 runs in just 6.5 overs. What also helped Bangladesh was the eight wickets they had in hand in the last 20 overs. Traditionally teams have targeted doubling their total from the 30-over mark: Bangladesh scored 138 in the last 20.In the first 30, there was hardly any risk-taking. Iqbal and Sarkar relied on rotating the strike more than looking for boundaries. Sarkar understandably batted with a lot of restraint after being under pressure following his duck in the first ODI. Meanwhile, every time the side took three or four runs early in the over, Iqbal would offer a pronounced dead bat for the final balls of the over. While this defensive approach might have irked a few, it must also be said it was very responsible of him under the circumstances.After the game, Iqbal said he wanted to be well set before taking any chances against the New Zealand bowlers, who got breakthroughs whenever Bangladesh had a partnership going.”I was well set at the crease and only took calculated risks after reaching my fifty,” Iqbal said. “We kept losing wickets as soon as we got together a partnership. Mithun played really well against a top bowling attack in difficult conditions. I would take 271 on this pitch because it wasn’t a 300 pitch. We did all we could with the bat.”When Iqbal fell in the 31st over, Mushfiqur Rahim struggled to time the ball during his 34 off 59 balls, but Mahmudullah and Mithun changed gears quickly – just what Bangladesh needed at that point. Mithun batted especially confidently, at times playing shots that had looked beyond him in his stretched-out international career so far. He said later that he had only wanted to react to each ball, rather than premeditate shots.Related

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“I am happy with the way I batted,” Mithun said. “I feel it helped my team. I just tried to stay in the present. I tried to play ball to ball. We all know New Zealand has tough conditions for us. We couldn’t get too bogged down here, which would have made it difficult to score for us. When I came to bat, I tried to play according to the ball and positively.”Iqbal praised Mithun for the innings, highlighting how he has been coming in and out of the squad depending on other players’ availability.”He played an outstanding innings but we are only talking about him because he played well. But the situation he finds himself in, it is never easy even for an established cricketer.”He played a couple of matches against Zimbabwe but then he had to make way for Shakib against West Indies. So it was pleasing to see him do well today, and I hope he can establish himself in the side.”Iqbal curbing his own style is not really a new role for the Bangladesh captain, who has spent the last seven years trying to bat with a touch more restraint. This has been mainly due to Bangladesh not finding a consistent opening partner for Iqbal, particularly after Imrul Kayes lost his regular place in the ODI side.To allow a middle order full of strokemakers like Rahim, Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan to play freely, Iqbal has been given the anchor’s role. Whenever he has pulled it off, it has meant batting till the 40th over at least, before unleashing the big-hitting in the last ten overs. Several of his innings in which he has faced more than 100 balls have been in these last six or seven years, often leading to Bangladesh either getting a big score or winning due to the big score.Mithun, for his part, is a vastly experienced domestic batsman. The team management has shown patience with his spot in the middle order, particularly in Shakib’s absence. His – free-flowing – batting today was mostly of a batsman bringing his experience to the fore. It all added up to positive things for Bangladesh, until those dropped catches turned the game.

They are not all necessarily new to the tournament, but they’re certainly arriving in new avatars

Saurabh Somani18-Sep-2021It’s IPL time again – for the second time this year. Though the tournament is continuing from where it left off, it’s got a very #NewSeason feel about it. The squads are somewhat different, several star players have withdrawn, new high-profile names have been signed on, and the venues are no longer the same. With new players comes always, the possibility of new chances to make an impact. ESPNcricinfo takes a look at a few who could make the second leg of the IPL one to remember. If they are not all necessarily new to the IPL, they’re certainly arriving in new avatars.Liam Livingstone
During the first half of the IPL, he was a promising, hard-hitting batter who couldn’t get into Rajasthan Royals’ first XI. So much so that he even withdrew before the tournament was called off, bubble life on the bench being tough. Now, Livingstone strides in as a destroyer of bowlers’ hopes, dreams and all kinds of lengths. It’s a transformation – in perception if not in his innate talent – that’s barely two months old, but what a two months it’s been since Livingstone bludgeoned 103 off 43 balls against Pakistan. He’s played 13 T20 matches since (including nine in the Hundred) and is averaging 52.00 while striking at 190.47. Not a single one of those 13 innings has been slower than a run a ball, even on the two occasions he fell before hitting double figures. If the Royals had prayed for some sort of deliverance for losing all of Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, they seem to have got it in the form of Livingstone.Starting XI chances: Livingstone will be a sure-shot starter for the Royals in each game he’s available. Their other overseas picks are competent too (and some will appear in this very article) – but none of them can provide Livingstone’s firepower. Don’t forget his ability to bowl either legspin or offspin too.Wanindu Hasaranga has been one of the most prolific wristpinners in the world this year•Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty ImagesWanindu Hasaranga
It was a bit of a surprise when Hasaranga didn’t get any bid in the auctions earlier this year, but with Adam Zampa’s withdrawal, he’s found a place at Royal Challengers Bangalore. The franchise is in the rare position of having signed a potentially better replacement than the player they lost. Hasaranga has been an efficient performer for the past couple of years, and since 2019 – which is also the year he first played T20Is for Sri Lanka – he has picked up 71 wickets in 45 innings in T20 cricket. The average is an outstanding 14.09 and the economy rate of 6.08 pushes his performance into ‘great’ territory. Half of those games have been in domestic cricket, but Hasaranga hasn’t suffered when making the grade up to international cricket, as his numbers show.A control of flight and length, a well-disguised googly, and bowling smarts have made him one of the game’s premier limited-overs leggspinners. In addition, he swings a decent bat lower down the order, good enough to average 17.90 at a strike rate of 131.62 in T20 cricket. The batting hasn’t quite translated into similar form at the international level, but Sri Lanka have also played on pitches where batting has not always been a breeze.Starting XI chances: Hasaranga should be in the Royal Challengers’ first XI plans most of the time, alongside AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, and Kyle Jamieson. During the India leg of the IPL, they had opted to go with Daniel Christian, but Hasaranga offers a much more potent threat with the ball, and the pitches in UAE should offer him something to work with.Adam Milne was the most economical bowler in The Hundred, in addition to being among its top wicket-takers•Getty ImagesAdam Milne
What is most surprising about Adam Milne this season is not that he’s among those to watch out for, but that he’s slated to be part of a squad playing in the UAE only until the end of the IPL. He’s only a travelling reserve for New Zealand for the T20 World Cup, but given his recent form in the shortest format, he might have been reasonably expected to be a part of the team’s first-choice XI. Milne has bowled more balls in T20 cricket in 2021 than he has in any other year, an encouraging sign for a pacer who has had to battle several injury problems. In The Hundred, he was devastating. He was not only one of the joint top-four top wicket takers, but also had the best economy rate of all bowlers, a truly great double whammy rendered more enticing for those who watched him regularly crank it up over 90mph.Starting XI chances: His form in The Hundred should get Milne a very good chance to make Mumbai Indians’ first XI. He’s not an IPL newcomer, having played five matches for RCB in 2016-17 and he played one match for Mumbai Indians in the first leg, but he’s rarely had the sort of sustained rhythm he found while bowling in the Hundred. The pace has always been high, but now that it’s better directed, Milne automatically becomes a threat on any surface. He’ll be targeting the fourth overseas spot for Mumbai Indians with three taken up by Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard and Trent Boult. The times he might miss out are if Mumbai Indians decide they need more batting depth and turn to the likes of Jimmy Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile or Marco Jansen.Evin Lewis is likely to pip David Miller and Glenn Phillips to one of the overseas slots•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / GettyEvin Lewis
Of all the names in the list, Lewis is the one whose sparkle has been the most recent. He has just completed a triumphant run with the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in CPL 2021, emerging as the best batsman in the tournament by some way. That included a tournament-high 38 sixes, beating a record held by none other than Chris Gayle. Lewis, too, is not an IPL newcomer, having played 16 games for the Mumbai Indians, mainly in 2018 with three coming in 2019. He didn’t do too shabbily back in 2018, but wasn’t outstanding to the level he is at now. In 2019, he hardly made a mark. What the Rajasthan Royals will be banking on, though, is neither the 2018 nor the 2019 versions of Lewis, but the one who has lit up 2021. He’s been scoring at a strike rate of above 160 for West Indies as well as the Patriots, and if the Royals needed an opener to match the aggression that they’ve lost in Buttler’s absence, Lewis is one of the foremost candidates.Starting XI chances: The first two names among the overseas slots in the Royals’ XI are likely to be Chris Morris and Livingstone. Among batters, Lewis will have to compete for a spot with David Miller and Glenn Phillips. That Phillips can keep won’t matter in this case since captain Sanju Samson can take the gloves, so it’ll come down to batting positions and roles. As an opener who bats left-handed, and is in prime form coming into the tournament, Lewis ticks three boxes, which gives him a head start over the others.Tim David is middle-order player who can not only hit big but also stay long.•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / GettyTim David
Another Royal Challengers Bangalore replacement who might just be a better fit than the original in Finn Allen. While David may not be picked ahead of de Villiers or Maxwell, he’s a handy back-up should the need arise, being a middle-order batter unlike Allen, who’s an opener. David has already had success this year in the BBL and the PSL, and made 15 off six in the only match he got to bat in the Hundred – the final. He took that one step further in the CPL, coming in to bat in the lower middle order and regularly churning out quickfire runs without falling early. That he ended up as the third highest run-getter in CPL 2021 despite batting mainly at No. 6 spoke of how well he had fitted into a difficult role: that of a middle-order player who can not only hit big but also stay long.Starting XI chances: He’s a dark horse at best to start, since two overseas middle-order batters are already inked in, in de Villiers and Maxwell. Royal Challengers are likely to have Jamieson and Hasaranga in the other two slots to give them a nice balance, but should they want to strengthen the batting, David could come in for one of the two bowling allrounders.Tabraiz Shamsi has previously played for the Royal Challengers•BCCITabraiz Shamsi
The world’s No.1-ranked T20 bowler had an IPL stint way back in 2016. Shamsi was not the bowler he is now, having acquired a much greater mastery of his craft since. The ICC rankings are not always a true reflection of a player’s standing – most particularly in T20Is – but even ignoring the rankings, you can’t ignore Shamsi’s results. He has done a lot of T20-hopping this year, playing for South Africa and franchises in the Caribbean, Ireland, the Hundred and then Sri Lanka. Through it all, he’s remained difficult to read or score off. Accurate wristspin is always an asset in T20’s middle overs, and Shamsi this year has taken 41 wickets in 28 matches while going at just 6.60 per over. The 607 balls he’s bowled are also the most for him in a year, so he’s coming into the tournament with form sustained over a good workload and a variety of conditions and oppositions.Starting XI chances: While Shamsi undoubtedly offers something more than any of the domestic spinners the Royals have, whether he makes it to the XI or not will largely depend on the balance the side needs. The Royals’ batting is thin, so while they are likely to have Livingstone and one of Lewis or Miller in there, they might be tempted to go for three overseas batters. With Morris a lock-in for one of the overseas slots, that leaves no room for Shamsi or any other overseas player.

This was an important day for India even though it won’t have much say on this Test

Sidharth Monga26-Aug-20213:10

Maninder Singh: Ishant Sharma seemed to be lacking in confidence

This day of cricket was supposed to be a rude reality check for the utterly pampered and spoiled followers of Indian cricket who started post 2015. They had been bowled out for 78, the pitch had flattened out, the opposition had got off to a start and there was a long day staring them in the face. They knew they couldn’t bowl as full as England did because any assistance from the pitch had vanished. They knew the batters were under no scoreboard pressure.This was the kind of day that had become commonplace watching India’s rag-tag bowling attack in 2011 and 2011-12. It was as though India were providing writing and meme material to Sacred Games: “utho, nahao, pito, so jao (wake up, take a bath, get hit, go back to sleep).” Such a day was feared in Australia earlier this year when almost all of India’s first-choice bowling unit was out with injury. It didn’t materialise.For patches on day two, especially when Ishant Sharma was having his rare bad Test, it seemed finally the sufferers of 2011 and 2011-12 might be able to tell younger followers, this is what it feels like. And still, India came out with 303 for 8, which, in isolation, is not a bad effort at all in the best batting conditions of the series and in a match situation where there is no pressure on the batters. Five wickets in the final session is something they can even be proud of.Related

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These days are a lose-lose day. If you bowl a side out on such a day, it is probably worse news for your team because that means batting in the second innings is not going to be easy. So all you hope for is to stick to restrictive plans and slowly work towards the odd wicket.Only problem is, Ishant was truly off colour. Ishant was having perhaps his first ordinary Test in seven years. He was cut away for three boundaries in his first four overs. The last time he conceded more than three boundaries in a whole Test – to the cut shot – was in December 2017*. It doesn’t need GPS trackers to know he was slower in his run-up than he probably has ever been. The speeds were down too. He bowled 22 overs without a maiden, the longest an opening bowler has gone without one in England since 2002.All bar four of Ishant’s dearer spells than this came before 2015. That he has had to be so drastically off rhythm to be reminded of those bad old days is testament to his turnaround. Those bad old days were when often he would be the only bowler fit enough to toil for long spells. Here he had Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah to pick up the slack. In an innings that Ishant and Mohammed Siraj drew a mistake once every 10 balls or slower, Bumrah and Shami kept doing so once an over.Mohammed Shami celebrates a wicket with team-mates•Getty ImagesShami of late has become a bowler whom you can wake up in the middle of the night and he will run up and start bowling with an upright seam on the shorter part of the good-length band. If Shami doesn’t draw any movement from a pitch, you can call an excavation party, you won’t find it. The only drawback with Shami on days like this one is that he is an aggressive bowler and keeps attacking the stumps. Over time, though, he has eliminated some of the deliveries that used to end up on leg.The Rory Burns wicket he took was a perfect illustration: hitting top of off after seaming the ball in. Jonny Bairstow went fishing outside off, and Jos Buttler fell to the leg trap. If Shami brought the run rate down through wickets, Bumrah was more methodical. He just bowled lengths that were hard to hit, resulting in 10 maidens out of 27 and an economy rate of 2.14 in an innings that went at 3.27 an over.Joe Root has been batting like a dream, averaging 126.75 in the series, but Bumrah has dismissed him three times for an average of 33. All three have been great deliveries, making him play without being full, moving the ball each way. Twice coming into this Test, it had been outside edges; at Leeds he managed to go past the inside edge from a similar pitching point.This was an important day for India even though it won’t have much say on this Test. Any salvaging process will have to start with the bat. But this is the start of three back-to-back Tests, and India would have hated to be kept in the field for two days. It is hard to make a comeback in a series after successive bad days in the field; imagine if England had made it three in a row.Shami said it was a day when it is the bowler’s responsibility to not let their heads go down, but to keep finding a way to make it difficult for the batters. While Ishant’s fitness and form will be a matter of concern, the two big fast bowlers managed to achieve that fairly well given the conditions and match situation. In the process they avoided an encore of the bad old days.

“We know it if does come down to the last game – it always does – very rarely it’s a straightforward scenario,” says Kyle Coetzer

Shashank Kishore19-Oct-2021When Scotland got off the bus on Tuesday afternoon, 40-degree Celsius flashed on the giant LED screen at the entrance to the Oman Cricket Academy ground in Al Amerat. For someone coming from a country where anything above 30 degrees is seriously hot, it was a “culture shock”, as Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer put it. But having spent close to seven weeks in the region prior to the T20 World Cup, Scotland gave themselves the best possible chance to acclimatise, and it’s working.Even before they got to Oman, the side simulated hot-weather conditions at home. They trained under greenhouse tents equipped with heaters to try and get it as hot as possible, they pedalled on bikes for 30-40 minutes at a stretch, their physical conditioning programmes were tailored to endure long periods in the heat. All of it done in the hope that the players wouldn’t let the heat affect their style of play, after getting an opportunity to play in a World Cup after five years.

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The hurt of missing the 2019 World Cup hasn’t fully gone away, as Coetzer mentioned when asked if qualification to the Super 12s was nearly done. Two years ago, in the 50-over World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe, Scotland were at the receiving end of an erroneous umpiring call off Richie Berrington that cost them the match. Had he been given not out, Scotland would have stayed ahead of the DLS par score in a rain-truncated match. They would have not just booked a 50-over World Cup berth but also ended up knocking out West Indies.More than 20 months on, Berrington was once again at the front and centre of Scotland’s recovery against Papua New Guinea, giving them the wings to dream of a berth in the Super 12s. All that training to prepare for the heat and humidity paid off as he ran hard between the wickets during his stand of 92 with Matt Cross, which helped Scotland post a competitive 165, one that proved 17 too many for PNG.Scotland are comfortably placed but are aware that a bad day against hosts Oman on Thursday could wreck a dream they have nurtured carefully. “I’m not sure anything guarantees qualification yet, there’s still plenty on the line,” Coetzer said after the win over PNG. “We’ll be watching this [Oman vs Bangladesh] game with a lot of interest. The way these qualifying tournaments are, what happened with us in Zimbabwe a couple of years ago, we know it if does come down to the last game – it always does – very rarely it’s a straightforward scenario. By no means have we qualified yet.”

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Five years ago in India, at the 2016 T20 World Cup, Scotland failed to qualify for the second round after they lost to Afghanistan despite being ahead in the game at one stage. This time, they are focused on enjoying every win as it comes, playing without the pressure of expectations, or fear of failure. Soon after the PNG win, the entire group got together to belt out their team song, exchanged high-fives, and thanked their fans back home before Coetzer stepped into the press conference hall.Josh Davey was the bowling star of the match•ICC via Getty”Every victory is important,” he said. “There are no easy games, a win against PNG is as valuable as any other win. We know we have to play well to win every single game. The exposure it brings back home, the following we’ve had since the Bangladesh win has been incredible. A huge amount of thanks to everyone who has sent messages, I know Chris Greaves had over 160 messages on his phone the other day, it’s really nice to see that. It’s great to see everyone get behind us. All victories are important, it will be nice to get one more.”Even in victory, Coetzer acknowledged PNG’s fighting spirit that gave Scotland a bit of a scare towards the end, especially with the big-hitting Norman Vanua going after the seamers to attempt the improbable.”I thought at half-time we were happy with 165, we felt that was enough to give us space to restrict PNG, but you can see the dangers they have in their team,” Coetzer said. “Norman Vanua came out and played extremely well. Assad Vala, their captain, has been in good form following the first game of the competition. We know the dangers they pose. Credit to them, they pushed us all the way there. They gave us a few nervous moments, but our bowlers, Josh Davey especially at the end, were fantastic. Mark Watt as well, as usual does the job, goes under the radar a little bit, but bowled some excellent overs.”The plan is always to take early wickets, the best way to stem the run flow is pick up wickets. It is nice it went our way today. We didn’t quite nail everything we wanted to nail today, they pushed us hard. Their speed between the wickets, the way they ran put us under pressure today. There were a few fumbles, catching wasn’t 100% today, it never always goes the way you want it to. No one means to drop a catch, but we need to keep eye on a few things, make sure we’re ready. Maybe there were a few nerves in the end, the way Norman was swinging the bat, anyone can get scared. But happy at the end of the day. Like I said, a few things to keep eye on but nothing that is worrying. We’ve got full confidence in our players under pressure, we’ll deliver when we need to.”

Five days of hard graft in Antigua reveal the character of the combatants

Cameron Ponsonby12-Mar-2022It’s funny how things are framed. Going into this Test match, England made six changes (one enforced) from their previous XI and it was evidence of a complete reset. On the other hand, West Indies made four and captain Kraigg Brathwaite commented ahead of the game that “we’ve had these guys together for quite a long period, so it’s pretty much the same feeling in the camp”.England’s Operation Red-Ball Reset has been viewed with a healthy pinch of cynicism by many and not without justification. Why are we prioritising learning over winning? This is Test cricket not Duolingo.But there is cause for riposte. England were/are in a rut and needed to manufacture a way to create the illusion of a new beginning; they have said themselves the reset is as much mental as anything else. This plays into a phenomenon known as the Fresh Start Effect, which argues that we measure our lives through a series of arbitrary benchmarks: our childhood home, this job, or that relationship. And each time something changes, it makes it that little bit easier for us to reinvent ourselves a touch and adopt new behaviours.And so we set new year’s resolutions, start new diets on a Monday, and leave 1,177 Test wickets at home. It’s far from a guarantee of success, and can smack of desperation, but it’s a start. Digging your own starting blocks into the sand.”I’m really proud of the team,” Joe Root, England’s captain, said. “I thought the attitude throughout the whole week was just fantastic. We threw everything into the game and, to be in the position we were [at 48 for 4] after that first hour, to respond as we have done since it’s been a really pleasing performance on what turned out to be a very docile wicket, which didn’t offer a huge amount for anyone. But the way we applied ourselves and went about it was really pleasing and very encouraging going into the rest of the series.”So what have England learnt from the first Test?The major positive was Jack Leach, as he put in one of his best performances in an England shirt. The major doubt surrounding Leach beforehand was his ability to play the holding role for England when part of a four-man attack, a role he had yet to perform. But in 43 first-innings overs he went at just 1.8 rpo before performing the attacking role we know he can in the fourth innings. He may have only taken five wickets in the match but, were it not for a number of umpire’s-call decisions going against him – and one notable non-review against Jason Holder – he could well have spun England to victory.Joe Root and Nkrumah Bonner shake hands on the draw•Getty ImagesLeach has been handed more responsibility on this tour as part of a wider move by the England management to share around duties, and emphasise the new feeling of seniority among some of the more familiar faces. He’s been asked to give a team-talk; Zak Crawley gave the speech congratulating Jonny Bairstow on his century, and Bairstow himself presented his former Yorkshire team-mate Alex Lees with his cap. This is a changing room genuinely attempting to turn a page and start a new chapter.Centuries from Bairstow, Crawley and Joe Root were another major positive. The pitch may have been flat, but the runs had to be scored. And given the frailties of this England batting line-up, which were duly exposed on the opening morning, those are positives worth taking.”It’ll definitely do a lot of the guys a lot of good,” Root said. “Leach was incredible throughout the whole game, there were runs at the top of the order for Zak [Crawley], Jonny [Bairstow]’s innings and some other contributions around him as well under pressure, and the way Dan [Lawrence] played today was brilliant. It gave us the opportunity to get that declaration a little bit sooner and really give us a sniff of trying to get a few extra overs out there.However, the learnings weren’t all positive. England had the use of three new balls across two innings in this Test, and failed to pick up a single wicket. The first ten overs of West Indies’ innings were particularly bad, as Chris Woakes and Craig Overton didn’t simply fail to threaten but were positively charitable. West Indies’ hadn’t had a fifty-run opening partnership since the last time England toured in 2019, but in Antigua they went two from two.”It’s very difficult for the seamers but they held things together very well under great pressure in that first innings,” Root added. “The guys worked extremely hard and Ben [Stokes] is somewhere near his best again, which is always very exciting and very promising. So I think there’s a lot of good things to take into next week.”You look at this wicket and it wasn’t really a new-ball wicket,” Root added, insisting that the first hour of the match, in which West Indies had ripped out four prime wickets, was the exception to the rule. “It assisted the seamers more with reverse-swing so it’ll be a completely different scenario when we get down to Barbados.”Related

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• Mark Wood elbow injury rules him out of action in Antigua

Fewer lessons were learned for West Indies, but that’s because their players, for the most part, performed with the character – good and bad – for which they are already known. Exciting young seamer Jayden Seales was exciting; skilful Kemar Roach bowled with skill. The excellent Jason Holder was excellent, their premier batters Brathwaite and Nkrumah Bonner scored the bulk of their runs, and their wildcards, John Campbell and Jermaine Blackwood, performed as erratically as you’d expect, with both men falling to wild hacks on the final day when trying to save the game.The major question mark for West Indies will be that of their spinner Veerasammy Permaul, who went wicketless across the match and was played with ease in the second innings as England cashed in at over five runs an over. Though he performed well in Sri Lanka recently, Permaul hadn’t played a home Test since 2015, and may find himself under renewed pressure from Rakheem Cornwall for the remainder of the series. Among his many attributes, Cornwall offers more with the bat too.”England have come here to play a hard-fought series, and they’ve shown that they’re not going to lie down and give us the series,” Phil Simmons, West Indies’ head coach, said. “It was good to see the fight from them, and we know the other Test matches are going to be just as hard.”