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Australia allrounder keen to don London Spirit colours after pulling out of last year’s competition

Vithushan Ehantharajah03-Aug-2022On Thursday evening, playing against Oval Invincibles at the Kia Oval, Glenn Maxwell will finally add London Spirit to the list of teams he has graced on the lucrative short-form circuit.It has been a long time coming, or perhaps not long at all if you’re on Maxwell’s “tick follows tock” schedule of franchise tournament into international duty and back into franchise tournament again, where time moves that little bit quicker. He was one of the most sought-after names ahead of the original draft at the end of the 2019 summer, then one of the many overseas withdrawals for the inaugural season in 2021.But as the £100,000-man sits on the pavilion benches at Lord’s, looking out on the historic ground he will call home for four games before returning to Australia for their white-ball series with Zimbabwe, he appreciates where he is in this moment. “I’m not sure you get a better venue for an interview, do you? This is as good as it gets.”Related

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Amid the excitement of his first taste of the Hundred, there is a tinge of sadness that the man who brought him here is no longer around. Prior to the draft three years ago, Shane Warne had been buttering up Maxwell – not that the 33-year-old needed much convincing to spend a few weeks of the summer in the capital.”When the draft happened, I wasn’t sure who I was going to go to, but as soon as I was picked up to London I was basically on the phone to Warnie pretty much nonstop,” Maxwell says. “Trying to work out the team and all that sort of stuff. Different combinations.”Warne, who died suddenly in March, had a rough time as Spirit head coach last summer, ruled out of a chunk of games after contracting Covid-19 at the start. Nevertheless, his enthusiasm remained undimmed. Warne had spent the winter planning on springing a surprise on the rest after finishing bottom in the regular season, with Maxwell central to his plans to make amends.”He said it was an amazing tournament to be a part of and all he was talking about after last year was ‘oh next year we’re going to get it right, it’s fine, you’ll be coming over’. The excitement in his voice, he spoke really passionately about it and, yeah, he loves this team.”He loved being able to almost brag about coaching the team playing at Lord’s, which was always quite funny. Being in the heart of London suited his lifestyle, he absolutely loved it here.”Much like Rajasthan Royals in this year’s IPL, then Hampshire in the Vitality Blast, the legendary Australian will be in Spirit’s thoughts as they go through their second campaign under new head coach Trevor Bayliss. Maxwell also hopes Warne will be able to have family representation at the odd game: “I got to see Jackson [Warne’s oldest child] the other day. It’s nice to see him over here and hopefully he can get to a game and see the boys play. I know he [Shane] would have loved to have been here.”Perhaps the surprising element to all this is the emotional attachment to a team he hasn’t even played for. Most of that is Warne, of course: the pair were thick as thieves, with plenty in common beyond being avid St Kilda supporters. But part of being Glenn Maxwell is knowing you need to be Glenn Maxwell when a tournament of this billing comes calling.

“I’ve got a long nine months on the road so it’s about getting my body right. Being able to be injury free for all that time is going to be key. Especially the wrong side of 30, you have to do all the right things”

There is little doubt the Hundred needs Maxwell more than he needs it, particularly with high-profile England Test players such as Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow resting from season two. But the challenge of a new environment, conditions and an altogether different format is exactly what he’s after as he begins his step-up in preparations for the home Twenty20 World Cup awaiting him in October. In turn, the competition, even for those four rounds, should benefit.”I think me personally, I’m trying to get my own preparation done for the World Cup. That’s my whole game at the moment, is gearing towards that T20 World Cup. I’ll use these conditions and the quality of teams and players in all those teams to hopefully get myself prepared. I know I’m only here for a short period of time but I’m going to be training with a goal in mind to be ready for that T20 World Cup.”I still think this is an exciting new tournament that I wanted to be involved in anyway. Even if there wasn’t a World Cup I’m still going to approach the game as I do every other game. It’s more the off-field stuff, I’m starting to prepare longer down the road.”A best-ever Big Bash League season, with 468 runs at an average of 42.54 for Melbourne Stars, was followed by a middling IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore (301 across 13 innings and just one half-century), though his wedding during the early stages of the competition puts that in perspective. Then came a tour of Sri Lanka where, following ODI and T20I series, he came agonisingly close to a first Test cap since September 2017.And yet it is what lies ahead that Maxwell regards as a tougher period. Hence why the Hundred will be the start of his tuning up with a packed home summer on the horizon.”I’ve got a long nine months on the road so it’s about getting my body right. Being able to be injury free for all that time is going to be key. Especially the wrong side of 30, you have to do all the right things around your training and it’s certainly one of the things I’ve been working really hard at, to keep that consistency of training going and consistency of gym work to make sure I do stay injury free. And I know that’ll help in the back end of my career as well.”The card for all short-format cricketers is only growing, with the lucrative new UAE T20 league and South Africa’s own big-money offering, which are due to sandwich the BBL. As a contracted player with Cricket Australia – for the time being – organising his calendar is that little bit easier given they are his primary employer. But he has sympathy for those now spoilt for choice but having to sort their own path during what is both an exciting time for T20 cricketers but more precarious for those with irons in the fire elsewhere.”For the domestic player, there are so many opportunities all over the place,” he says. “Trying to organise your own schedule and pick and choose what you do left right and centre, that’ll be a nightmare. I’m probably going to be retiring at the right time in a few years – there are going to be T20 tournaments everywhere.”Maxwell is gearing his preparation towards Australia’s T20 World Cup defence•AFP/Getty ImagesThese next weeks in England should set him right. The lack of Covid-19 restrictions make it the best touring destination at the moment, a far cry from when Maxwell was last here at the end of the 2020 summer when he had and his Australia team-mates were kept to the bio-secure confines of the Ageas Bowl and Emirates Old Trafford for their white-ball tour. When he arrived for this stint, he grabbed a beer and dinner with Bayliss, something he did not take for granted. “I remember a couple of years ago, you’d be silly to think ‘oh it’s an amazing effort to get to the pub and just have a drink and a meal.’ But it just felt like you were normal again.”As for getting down to business, he is armed with some ideas on the Hundred, fuelled by his own observations and what he has learned from conversations with other cricketers. All underpinned by a pretty crucial love for someone in his line of work – mathematics.”Well, one of the things that they did say [to look out for] was the countdown,” he says of runs required and balls remaining ticking down in the chase – a quirk that caught some off-guard.”I think that’s a good way of trying to do it because saying you need 12 an over and saying you need two a ball, it’s the same thing. But sometimes it can sort of mess with the batter’s head a little bit and they said they struggled with that last year and it’s something that you’ve gotta get used to. But that’s why maths is something that you have to learn.”Marnus [Labuschange] isn’t that good at maths and, as a cricket nuffie, it has to be one of those things that you just know. I used to work on my maths just by net run rates watching Australia play England in a one-dayer, and I’d be working it out on the screen before it came up anywhere. And that’s how you get better, that’s how you work on things, but to be able to look at the scoreboard and just go okay, I need this, saves you so much stress and time. Marnus is there like trying to carry the one…”Interestingly, one prospect he is unsure of is bowling 10 deliveries straight. Last season, captains left the same bowler on around 10% of the time, with spinners bowling 69% of the 10-ball sets. As an off spinner with street smarts and a quick turnaround, Maxwell is an ideal candidate for that tactic.”I prefer to get five and just get out of the way. Whenever I bowl an over, even in the Big Bash, I bowl my sixth ball and I run. I’m like, I’ve got away with that. So I’m not sure about bowling 10 balls in a row. I think, unless you get the match-up right and we can keep them on strike, as a standard offspinner with not too many tricks it’s going to be hard to get away with 10 balls in a row. If you can get five and then come back on another five balls later that might work but I just think you need that break as a standard spinner.”Perhaps at some point over these first four games his skipper Eoin Morgan will be able to convince him otherwise, especially as Spirit used the 10-ball option more than any other team. One thing is for sure, Maxwell’s presence in the Hundred will enhance both its intrigue and cache.

All the important numbers from India’s emphatic 88-run win over England in Canterbury

Sampath Bandarupalli22-Sep-2022333 for 5 – India’s total in Canterbury is their second-highest in women’s ODIs, behind 358 for 2 that they recorded against Ireland in 2017. It is also the second-highest score by any team against England in this format, second only to Australia’s 356 for 5 in the World Cup final earlier this year.143* – Harmanpreet Kaur’s score in the second ODI is now the highest by an India captain in women’s ODIs. Mithali Raj’s 125* against Sri Lanka in 2018 in Katunayake was the previous best for. Harmanpreet’s score is also the third-highest individual score for India in this format.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1999 – The last instance of India Women winning an ODI series against England in England. India lost all six bilateral series played between the two sides in the country since then.2- India are only the second team to win an ODI series in England in the last 15 years after Australia, who won in 2015 and 2019. England have been victorious in 17 of the 20 bilateral ODI series they have played at home in this period.1 – Harmanpreet’s 143 not out is the highest individual score in an ODI against England in England. Sophie Devine’s 117* in 2018 was the previous highest, while Debbie Hockley and Lizelle Lee also scored 117 against the hosts in 1996 and 2018 respectively.

It often feels like no one in the history of cricket leading up to Pujara has batted quite like Pujara

Karthik Krishnaswamy15-Feb-20234:28

25 Questions: What makes Cheteshwar Pujara angry?

R Ashwin has 100 lbws in Test cricket, and he has had several times as many appeals turned down. Seldom, however, can he have appealed as loudly, or for as long, or as beseechingly in a Test match as he did when he hit Cheteshwar Pujara’s front pad in the Delhi nets on Wednesday.Bowling from around the wicket, Ashwin had drifted one across Pujara, whose response was to thrust his pad at the ball and offer no shot.Ashwin appealed, paused, and appealed again. Sairaj Bahutule, the spin-bowling consultant at the National Cricket Academy and occasional umpire, gestured to suggest, so it seemed, that the ball hadn’t straightened enough to hit the stumps.Related

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Some two minutes later, another appeal split the air. This time it was Axar Patel, pleading with Bahutule to give Pujara out after he had stepped out of his crease and thrust his bat and pad, so close to each other that they were almost one entity, at the ball.Bahutule shook his head. Not out.Those two balls contained so much of the essence of Pujara, and what Ashwin – in an appreciation he penned ahead of his colleague’s 100th Test match – refers to as his greatness “at playing percentages against spin”.Nathan Lyon, who has bowled more balls to Pujara than anyone else in Test cricket, would testify to that. In series after series against Australia, Pujara has used his feet to Lyon, and on numerous occasions when he has been beaten in the air, thrust his pad at the ball with bat tucked by its side or often just behind it.Each time Lyon has appealed in his theatrical manner, sinking to his knees with arms spread wide, and almost every time the verdict has been not out. Pujara has almost always been far enough out of his crease to put doubt in the umpire’s mind, while almost always ensuring that his pad is outside the line of off stump, and while almost always giving the impression that he has made a genuine effort to play the ball with his bat.Few batters play percentages against spin better than Pujara•Getty ImagesLyon has bowled 1158 balls to Pujara in Test cricket, and roared out what has seemed like hundreds of lbw appeals. He has dismissed Pujara ten times, but lbw only once.Playing the percentages. Few have done it better, or more adroitly, or more watchably.For a batter who often scores runs at a glacial pace, and for one whose style isn’t conventionally attractive, Pujara has somehow always been riveting to watch. It’s perhaps because his methods are so different to those of his contemporaries.Pujara is a throwback in some respects. In an almost entirely bat-up era, his stance is resolutely bat-down, even against pace. At a time when nearly every other batter defends against spin with bat in front of pad, he defends with bat next to pad. In the age of DRS, he’s often happy to trust his judgment and offer his pad to offspinners if he thinks the ball isn’t going to hit the stumps. And he uses his feet not just to attack but defend too.But he isn’t just a throwback. In some ways, he is a proper one-off, a batter with no stylistic forebearers, beating a classical rhythm with an autodidact’s technique. It often feels like no one in the history of cricket leading up to Pujara has batted quite like Pujara, with that low grip, top hand twisted so far around the handle that the bowler can almost see the back of his glove.That grip allows him to defend later and closer to his body than pretty much anyone in world cricket, and it has given him a repertoire of strokes all his own: a drive through mid-off that’s a flick by strict definition; a twirling, elaborate leg-side flick that ends with the toe of his bat pointing to square leg; a rasping square-cut, often played with both feet off the ground, that he can play even when he doesn’t have a lot of width to work with; and a swivelling, seemingly off-balance hook that makes you feel you’re watching footage from a 1940s newsreel.Over his 99 Tests, he has rationed his shots judiciously, to be brought out when the bowling and conditions permit their use. He will go months without pulling or hooking fast bowlers, and out of nowhere play the shot four times in a session. The area behind the wicket on the off side is a heavy scoring zone for him, usually, but on two-paced pitches he will go hours without opening his bat face to play in that direction.Over all the innings he has played over all these years, Pujara’s methods have grown familiar not just to viewers mesmerised by his methods but to his opponents as well.A Pujara special – rasping square-cut with both feet off the ground•Chris Hyde/Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesFast bowlers now routinely put an extra fielder on the leg side – often at leg gully – and attack Pujara’s stumps. Spinners bowl to him with a straight short midwicket, narrowing the gap between that fielder and mid-on, a gap Pujara loves to target with his dancing on-drive. Lyon stations a silly point most times when Pujara comes to the crease now, hoping to get him caught pad-bat, or at least to dissuade his prancing bat-pad thrusts with the risk of run-out now magnified.Where other batters have changed their game in dramatic ways to counter these plans, Pujara has trusted stubbornly in the soundness of his methods. Barring small adjustments every batter makes from innings to innings, like changing their guard by a few inches or opening up their stance, Pujara simply bats like Pujara.It’s why you feel a shock of familiarity when you watch highlights of his old innings. The Virat Kohli of 2012 looked like an entirely different person and batted in an entirely different way to the Virat Kohli of 2023. Watch this video, and the Pujara of 2012 is, well, just Pujara – yes, he ramped short balls over the slip cordon even then.Without that link, you would have needed to search long and hard on the official BCCI site to find any footage of what remains one of Pujara’s greatest hundreds, a first-innings 135 on a Wankhede Stadium track with generous turn and bounce against the only bowling attack that’s won a Test series in India since 2004. The video is a short and unsatisfying one, containing mostly boundaries against England’s fast bowlers, and nothing of his brilliant defence against their spinners.That it’s a struggle to find even that is perhaps the biggest misfortune of Pujara’s career, and the careers of his long-time team-mates, who have combined to pull off some of India’s greatest triumphs overseas while turning them near-invincible at home. The away highlights of their careers are easier to find than the home highlights, adding to the feeling that India’s home successes are taken for granted, and that the contributions of their bowlers and batters to these successes are hugely underappreciated.It wasn’t always so. Sachin Tendulkar’s career was defined as much by the 136 as the 114, and Rahul Dravid’s as much by the 180 as the 148, to the extent that if you’re an Indian fan of a certain generation, the scores are enough to know what’s being referred to. You can find footage, extended footage in some cases, of all these innings.Not so with Pujara. At a time when it should be easier than ever for cricket fans to summon up their favourite spells and innings, the recent past of India’s home Tests has become a no-go zone.But fans of Pujara, though not as vocal or numerous as fans of Kohli or Rohit Sharma, watch their man closely, almost transfixed by his one-of-a-kind methods. Their memories are a storehouse of Pujara moments, and they are hoping there is plenty more to add, from his 100th Test and beyond.

A summer that began with much gloom and doom has ended with South Africa on the brink of automatic World Cup qualification

Firdose Moonda02-Apr-2023It ended so much better than it began.On the heels of an embarrassing T20 World Cup exit and a chastening Test tour of Australia, without a national men’s head coach, South Africa tiptoed into the home summer wondering how much worse things could get. Now, as the sunshine starts to become diluted with autumn’s first air, and with three months of cricket that has been heart-stopping and heartwarming in equal measure, South Africans are struggling to remember a summer this good.A brass band played the 10,000 strong pink-clad Wanderers supporters home after South Africa did their bit to make automatic qualification for this year’s 50-over World Cup a reality. The rest is in Bangladesh’s hands. As long as they win a game in Ireland in May, South Africa will be on their way to India. But no one was thinking that far this evening.As the sun set in Johannesburg, it was about celebrating the first feel-good summer since 2017-18, when South Africa beat India and Australia in home Tests series, and forgetting about the seasons that have gone by since. The defeat to Sri Lanka in 2018-19. The administrative implosion of 2019-20, the effects of which were felt into this year. The pandemic, and the keeping apart of people who, at their core, are designed to congregate. Now, these are more of South Africa’s people than ever before.Have a glance at the crowds that packed out the SA20, showed up to support the women at the T20 World Cup and attended the series against West Indies and Netherlands and you’d have to agree that it’s the most diverse going group around. And then you have to feel it. South Africa is only place where Afrikaans pop-tracks and kwaito beats both get fans on their feet, it’s a place where a mix of races, genders and ages combine in what can very seldom be described accurately as unity, but this was one of those times and the team knows it.”We’ve spoken about how we’re in a privileged position to inspire our country and unite our country through sport. To see that happening on the banks has been awesome from someone who’s been out of the game in South Africa for seven years,” Rob Walter, South Africa’s white-ball coach who spent seven years coaching in New Zealand’s domestic system, said. “To see the difference in the people who are watching the game has been awesome as well.”Aiden Markram raises his fifty•AFP/Getty ImagesIn Walter’s time away, South African cricket has been through some uncomfortable things, most especially a raw reckoning with race. At the centre of the storm has been Temba Bavuma, the country’s first black African Test batter who was elevated to white-ball captain and struggled in T20Is. Bavuma suffered his worst scrutiny when he was snubbed at the SA20 auction in the lead up and at the World Cup, and under Walter, he has been relieved of that format. In return, he has scored three centuries in three months, two in ODI cricket, and has symbolised South Africa’s revival. “He’s a wonderful human being. He’s a great advocate for our country, So it’s wonderful just to be part of sharing a change room with him. And the fact that he can play the cricket that he’s played, which has been exceptional, is just a sort of cherry on top for a guy who is not given enough credit after what he has gone through,” Walter said.But Bavuma is not the only one. Aiden Markram started 2023 after he was dropped from the Test team, but picked to captain Sunrisers Eastern Cape. He then returned to score a century at SuperSport Park and was named T20I captain. In him, South Africans can see the aggressive, smart style of cricket they are trying to play. “We are on this new journey that everyone speaks about and that brand of cricket everyone wants to play is starting to take some shape,” Markam said. “It’s exciting to be a part of and exciting to watch.”And then there is Sisanda Magala. A player who could not make the squad for fitness reasons is now an integral part of the white-ball sides, has an IPL deal and took a first international five-for to win a series. The Wanderers is where he plays his domestic cricket and the crowd got behind him in a big way as he bowled at the death. Cries of ‘Sisanda, Sisanda,” reverberated around the Bullring and when he took the fifth wicket, the joy in the ground was palpable. Every player celebrated with him, even those in the dugout, where Wayne Parnell did his Cristiano Ronaldo celebration from his seat. Markram, who is Magala’s captain in the SA20, acknowledged that Magala’s success is shared by everyone.”With Sisi, if he’s got backing then he’s going to break his back for you,” Markram said. “Through a few performances, a player feels that now they belong at this level. And they can compete and win games at this level. It’s great for him to have these achievements that he’s getting. The guys love him. He has great value in the changeroom and when he does well, everyone is over the moon.”Sisanda Magala enjoyed success in the ODI series against England•Getty ImagesWhat the SA20 did for Markram and Magala and later even for Bavuma, who got a deal, is what it did for South African cricket in general: it showed it was still alive. When Walter was asked to track the revival, he traced it back to that tournament. “We can’t underestimate the impact of the SA20 on cricket in South Africa. There was some momentum coming out of that and we were able to jump on that,” he said. “We’ve played some nice cricket but by no means our best cricket and that’s the exciting part.”With so much promise, someone like Bavuma said it’s a “pity the summer has to end now” but it’s been far better than anyone expected. Ordinarily, series wins against West Indies and Netherlands – neither of them blockbuster opponents – would not be celebrated with such gusto. But this time it’s been about South Africa. They’ve played entertaining, engaging cricket to sign off a champagne summer with more fizz than anyone could have asked for.

They came with great expectations in Ahmedabad, but many left before the last ball was bowled

Shashank Kishore19-Nov-20232:06

Should one of Kohli or Rahul have taken charge?

Twenty minutes past eight on the night of their dreams.Scores of fans begin to move towards the exits of the Narendra Modi Stadium. The all-encompassing blue of tens of thousands of India jerseys dissipate to reveal bright orange seats beneath. The World Cup final is not yet over but many have had enough.Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne had raised their century stand. India’s defence of 240, which looked so promising when Australia were 47 for 3, was failing. The pitch they had hoped would aid the spin of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav was getting better to bat on as the night progressed. The day before the game, Australia’s captain Pat Cummins had spoken of there being no greater satisfaction than silencing a huge crowd. And 11 Australians did just that to more than 90,000 in Ahmedabad.The day had begun very differently. First a hush when Cummins won the toss. Then a roar when he put India in to bat. Those roars grew louder as Rohit Sharma began to do his thing. Where the stadium DJ had failed to rouse the crowd into a Mexican wave, Rohit got them going with a towering six off Glenn Maxwell. The footwork, backswing, timing, and the nonchalance as he turned his back on the ball after following its trajectory – all stunning and typical of Rohit.Related

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The roar was louder next ball as Rohit flayed Maxwell through the covers. He was staying true to the “” he’d beautifully elaborated on the previous evening. He was walking the aggressive talk like he’d done all through this World Cup. Two successive boundaries, however, weren’t enough for Rohit. He charged Maxwell and tried to go big again to make the most of the fielding restrictions.Most watching wouldn’t have thought it possible for Head to latch on to the miscued shot that quickly – turn around from cover, sprint a considerable distance, and dive full length to take a game-changing catch. For two previous balls, there had been bedlam in Ahmedabad. Now silence. As Head picked himself off the ground and began to celebrate before being mobbed by ecstatic team-mates, the parallel with Kapil Dev’s iconic catch off Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup final was impossible to miss. Rohit threw his head up and walked off for 47 off 31 balls.Four balls later, more silence, as Cummins found the outside edge to have Shreyas Iyer, who had scored hundreds in his two previous innings, caught behind. Left hand up, finger pointing skywards, Cummins took off on a celebratory run, the cheers of the Australians cutting through the silence.At 81 for 3 in the 11th over, India’s batting depth was facing its toughest test of the tournament and it was on Virat Kohli to lead the repair job. He’d scored three successive boundaries off Mitchell Starc in the seventh over to kickstart his innings, but once those two wickets fell, risks had to be reduced. So Kohli knuckled down. He ran the hard runs and defended like his life depended on it. The man with the most hundreds in ODIs, the man with the most runs in a World Cup, was now playing one of the most important innings of his life.The stands began to empty at the Narendra Modi Stadium even before the final ended•ICC/Getty ImagesKohli and KL Rahul rebuilt the innings slowly. India didn’t score a boundary for over 15 overs after the powerplay. Two batters at the peak of their powers curbing their instincts for the team’s cause. As Kohli raised his ninth 50-plus score of the World Cup off 56 balls, the crowd found its voice again. Seven balls later, he chopped Cummins on.Kohli was stunned. Couldn’t bear to look back. And it took a while for him to leave the crease. He glared at his bat as an overjoyed Cummins took off on another celebratory sprint, having made good on his pre-match promise a second time. Rahul also fell after his half-century and the mood at the stadium remained sombre for the rest of India’s innings.There was renewed hope after the innings break, though, as India began their defence of 240 with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami zipping the ball past the flailing bats of the Australian openers. The crowd began to find its voice as an edge went between first and second slip, and then raised the roof when the next edge – off Warner – was held by Kohli in the cordon.Bumrah grazed the under edge of Mitchell Marsh’s attempted smash, and then pinned Steven Smith lbw, but little did any of the Indian fans at the ground know then that there would be no more cause for joy for them.By the time Head was caught for a World Cup-winning 137 off 120 balls after a partnership of 192 with Labuschagne, with Australia needing only two runs to win, the final had wound down to its conclusion in eerie silence for a stadium that held nearly a 100,000 fans.

Mumbai still hold all the cards, but Nair’s resistance ensured Vidarbha lived to fight another day

Hemant Brar13-Mar-2024Before his famed 303 not out against England, Karun Nair had scored another triple-hundred.It was the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy final at the Wankhede. Bowling first, Karnataka had skittled out Tamil Nadu for 134. But when Nair walked in, Karnataka were 16 for 3, which soon became 84 for 5. From there, Nair scored 328 – the highest individual score in a Ranji Trophy final – to help his side win their second successive title.Nine years later, Nair was once again at the Wankhede, playing yet another Ranji Trophy final. This time as a professional for Vidarbha. His team was in an even worse situation. Chasing an unprecedented 538 against Mumbai, they were 64 for 2, having lost their openers in a space of three balls.To keep alive the little hope they had, Vidarbha needed Nair to repeat his 2014-15 heroics.Related

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Musheer: 'I batted with motivation to impress Sachin sir'

Rahane, Musheer get down and dirty to leave Vidarbha in the mud

Nair had moved to Vidarbha after Karnataka dropped him across formats for the 2022-23 season. But before joining them, he had a short stint with Northamptonshire in the County Championship. In his three innings there, he scored 78, 150 and 21.”I didn’t play for a year, so that was quite hard – to sit at home and watch others play,” Nair said on Wednesday. “But that [runs in county cricket] gave me a lot of confidence before coming here. If I could score runs at The Oval, score a 150 when the conditions are much tougher, I could score runs anywhere.”Nair carried that confidence and form into the Ranji Trophy as well. Coming into the final, he was the leading run-scorer for his team, with a tally of 616 at an average of 41.07. But now, on the fourth day of the final, he had his work cut out.Offspinner Tanush Kotian had just bowled Dhruv Shorey with a delivery that turned square. Nair was welcomed in the same manner. Only that Kotian got his line slightly wrong this time and the ball thudded into the batter’s pad.Soon after, Kotian bowled a similar-looking delivery around off stump. Nair played for the turn only for the ball to hold its line and take the outside edge. But wicketkeeper Hardik Tamore grassed the chance.To counter Kotian, Nair tried the reverse sweep, but it did not help. He looked more comfortable against the left-arm spin of Shams Mulani. But the runs were hard to come by. After facing 42 balls, Nair had scored only 9.Akshay Wadkar and Karun Nair added 90 for the fifth wicket•PTI At one stage it looked like even if Vidarbha batted for two full days, they might not reach their target. Having conceded a first-innings lead, a draw was not an option for them, but Nair felt that was the best approach.”I could have taken many, many chances but at the cost of what? It was not an easy wicket to score runs on. So the thought process was to not give them any chances. To keep batting and score the runs that they give you rather than trying to convert things. To bat as long as possible and you never know.”That’s exactly what Nair did.When Mulani’s spell ended, Ajinkya Rahane brought on Musheer Khan, another left-arm spinner. He troubled Nair even more than the other two spinners.In his second over, Musheer got one to turn past Nair’s outside edge and hit the back leg. Nair was saved by the turn.After lunch, Musheer beat his inside edge and hit the front pad. This time the umpire raised his finger. But Nair got the decision reversed on review, as Hawk-Eye showed the ball would have missed leg stump.Musheer then decided to go over the wicket. Turning the ball from the rough around leg stump, he beat Nair’s outside edge repeatedly but could not dislodge him.When Nair reached his fifty, off 174 balls, he hardly celebrated. After all, it was not even 10% of Vidarbha’s target.Akshay Wadkar was far more positive at the other end, which meant Vidarbha at last made some perceivable progress.Karun Nair’s wagon wheel during his 74•Getty ImagesWith the pitch slowing down and no reverse swing on offer, Mumbai took the second new ball as soon as it was available. Dhawal Kulkarni bowled a couple of overs with it but with nothing happening, Rahane turned to Tushar Deshpande for what the latter described as “the short-ball therapy”.All six deliveries of Deshpande’s over were short. Nair ducked under or swayed away the first four times. On the fifth occasion, Deshpande erred down the leg side and Nair pulled it fine for four.Nair and Wadkar had added 90 for the fifth wicket. But with 20-odd minutes left in the day’s play, Musheer finally got his man when Nair edged one to the keeper.Nair’s 74 contained only three fours. But his innings was more about the shots he did not play, the restraint he showed. During his 220-ball vigil, he did not score a single run in the V.When asked about it, Nair said: “The ball was turning from very close to the bat, so it was not easy. I could have tried but it could have gone either way. So I was just waiting for something really full or short to score runs.”At stumps, Wadkar was unbeaten on 56. But Vidarbha are not even halfway to their target. They need another 290 with five wickets in hand. Nair was asked if they still had hope.”We need to be realistic that it’s a tough task,” he said. “But if I can say anything about this team, it’s that they never give up. You never know what can happen. I would have loved to be batting overnight and then I could have given you a better answer.”Vidarbha, too, would have loved that.

The year he made his IPL breakthrough, the LSG fast bowler suffered a traumatic injury that he’s still recovering from

Nagraj Gollapudi13-May-20241:45

Mohsin Khan: ‘I thought I would never play again’

Even in the thrill-a-minute world of T20 cricket, there are performances that stop you in your tracks – a shot, a catch, a ball, or an over. Such as the one delivered by Mohsin Khan, the Lucknow Super Giants left-arm strike bowler in May last year, when he successfully defended 11 runs off the final over against Mumbai Indians’ Tim David and Cameron Green.If you watched that over (9:13 onwards), you will understand why 25-year-old Mohsin excites selectors and cricket pundits, who believe he has the potential, skills and mindset to play international T20 cricket.I brought the over up when I met Mohsin late this March at the Super Giants’ team hotel in Lucknow.Related

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“I stepped out [off the field] to splash my face with some water,” he says about how he approached the task. “I completely removed the runs element [from my mind] about how many runs I had to defend, because otherwise I could easily get distracted and put myself under pressure if there was even one big shot. I just planned to go ball by ball and bowl each one well.”He needed all the calm he could get, bowling as he was to two batters who can demolish bowlers with extreme prejudice. Mohsin had his plans: against Green he pitched either back of a length, as on the first delivery, which was a dot, or on length, as on the second, which went for a single.”I usually bowled slower ones majorly back then, which everyone knew about,” Mohsin says. “So I decided I’ll do something different for the rest of the over: just yorkers. There was this voice which was coming from inside saying, ” [It’ll work.]A yorker is a confidence ball. You can be a Bumrah, a Jofra or a Mohsin; without confidence, a yorker can fail miserably in execution. Mohsin’s self-belief in that moment was high. He left third in the ring, a bluff. “” [I kept bowling, and it happened.]Last laugh: Mohsin celebrates the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal earlier this season, where after being smacked for 17 runs off the first five balls of the over, he got his man off the sixth•BCCIIt was a cathartic moment for Mohsin. His father had suffered a stroke about ten days before the game and was in hospital. Mohsin dedicated the win to him. “Papa usually gets happy to see me play,” he says. “When I called him later after the win, he was unable to speak, he just said ‘Beta’ [son]. I was happy with just that. My entire performance was for papa. He was the only thing on my mind during the match. I thought he would be watching, so if we won it, it would bring him happiness. He would feel a little better. I think a day or so later he was discharged.”

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Mohsin’s family originally comes from Khalilabad in Uttar Pradesh. His father, who works in the UP Police, was transferred to Sambhal, about 700km away, east of New Delhi, where the family lives now. Mohsin lives in Moradabad, about 20km away from Sambhal, because the cricket infrastructure is better there.At 6’3″ Mohsin is tall and well-built. In bowling terms, his biggest strength is a high-arm action and a straight wrist. Despite being able to deliver speeds in excess of 140kph, he has a short run-up, just 11 strides. He says several experts have suggested a longer run-up, for extra speed, but he is not keen on fixing something that is not broken.His bowling was nearly much worse than broken a couple of years ago, when he almost came to the point of having to have his bowling arm amputated.After his debut IPL season with Super Giants in 2022, Mohsin went home, where, about a week later, when he went to the ground, he realised he couldn’t lift his left arm.”I didn’t have any injury. I had gone home immediately after IPL and was resting,” he says.He drifted in a wave of panic for the next few months, going first to the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, whose medical staff sent him to Mumbai to consult the board’s specialist surgeons.Against Mumbai Indians earlier this year, Mohsin bowled nine balls to Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma for three runs, and cleaned Nehal Wadhera up with the tenth, a 140kph yorker•BCCIVaibhav Daga, consultant of sports physiotherapy and medicine at Super Giants, who also heads the sports science and rehab department at the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Mumbai, says Mohsin had an extremely rare injury, an aneurysm in the axillary artery in his left shoulder, which was hampering blood supply to his left arm, forearm and hand. “If there was a delay in the diagnosis and surgery, he would have probably lost his limb,” Daga says.Mohsin had his surgery in October 2022, performed by Dr Raghuram Sekhar, a senior vascular surgeon. “His limb was saved, but because the aneurysm was close one of the nerves supplying the muscles of the left arm and forearm below, there was compromise of the nerve supply,” says Daga, “which affected the strength in his triceps muscle which helps the shoulder and elbow mechanics while bowling.”A graft needed to be taken from a vein to patch up the arterial wall after the aneurysm was removed. An upper limb nerve surgeon was consulted about treating the compromised nerve supply, and Mohsin had treatment for that, though he was lucky to not have to have more surgery.The doctors had warned Mohsin he might need close to two years to recover and there was no guarantee he would play again. By December that year, he commenced rehab, working closely with Daga, Nitin Patel and Dhananjay Kaushik (the head of sports science, and the senior physio at the NCA). Though it took a while for the regeneration of the affected nerve, it began to function properly as rehab progressed, and Mohsin gradually got most of the strength in his left arm back, Daga says.

Absolutely devastated…..I can’t actually demonstrate what it means personally as I was going through my toughest time in life after all the hard work and immense reassure from LSG team , UPCA and my family i was able to perform back. pic.twitter.com/KbXOHx6WgQ

— mohsin khan (@mohsin07khan) May 26, 2023

Iconic former England allrounder set for first professional coaching job with Northern Superchargers

Matt Roller25-Jul-2024There was no smoke on the water, but Andrew Flintoff’s emergence from Headingley’s home dressing room in deep purple training kit on Thursday marked the start of a new chapter in his career. On Friday night, Flintoff will sit in the dugout as a head coach for the first time in his new role with Northern Superchargers, the Leeds-based Hundred team.It is not a natural fit: Flintoff’s name has been associated with Lancashire since he was nine years old, and continues to be through his sons Rocky and Corey, who have played for their 2nd XI this summer. As PCA president, he criticised plans for a franchise-style competition like the Hundred, citing his “real pride” representing his county; he used to joke that the best thing about Yorkshire was “the M62, back to Lancashire”.His new team, Superchargers, lost their final five games last year to finished bottom in the men’s Hundred. The team’s board – along with Marcus North, their head of cricket – announced in mid-November that James Foster would not have his contract as head coach renewed. Five days later, Flintoff was announced as his successor, with his old Lancashire team-mate Kyle Hogg acting as his assistant.Related

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There is one huge reason why the details of his appointment might seem trivial. Flintoff’s return to the professional game comes after he was involved in a horrific car crash in December 2022 while filming an episode of . He spent nine months out of public life after suffering terrible injuries: he said last year that these had been among “the hardest times” of his life, but cricket has helped him through them.He had already started to come back to the sport, not least through the BBC series . The show saw him return home to Preston, assemble an unlikely team of teenagers and introduce them to cricket. It changed lives, most obviously of Adnan Miakhel, an Afghan refugee who now studies at Rossall School on a sports scholarship and plays for Lancashire’s Under-18s.But Flintoff’s appointment to a plum job in the Hundred still came as a surprise. At the time, his only senior coaching experience was a month in an informal role with England’s white-ball teams. He has since worked as a consultant coach on a tour to the Caribbean, a home series against Pakistan and at the T20 World Cup, and with the Lions on a camp in the UAE.And his fast-tracking raises awkward questions about recruitment processes: the Superchargers role was not publicly advertised, and Flintoff was the only candidate. It is common in sport for teams to make direct appointments, but even the English FA published a job advert for Gareth Southgate’s successor as England football manager last week.For the last four years, the ECB’s inclusion and diversity strategy has recommended the adoption of the Rooney Rule to ensure that non-white candidates are interviewed for major roles. It is a recommendation rather than a regulation but one that the Superchargers did not follow, opting against an open process and approaching Flintoff directly.

Flintoff is the only English head coach in the men’s competition and perhaps it is no surprise that he has been fast-tracked. He is an icon to most current players, who grew up watching him star in the 2005 Ashes

Flintoff also has close relationships with two of the most influential men at the ECB: men’s managing director Rob Key, a friend and former team-mate, and chairman Richard Thompson, who is also chair of M&C Saatchi Merlin, the talent agency who have represented Flintoff for more than a decade. It was Key who helped him back to public life and to the game last summer, though there is no indication that either was involved in the process.Naturally, there are compelling reasons that Flintoff might be seen as an exception to most rules. There is a huge sense of empathy towards him after his near-death experience, which resulted in broken ribs and severe facial injuries which he spent months covering up when in public. His legal team described them as “life-altering”, and agreed a reported multi-million pound settlement with the BBC.And Flintoff remains one of very few cricketers who could legitimately be described as a household name in the UK. At a time when it is struggling to stay relevant – not least in a low-key Test summer, which is competing with Euro 2024 and the Olympics – the sport is understandably desperate for him to turn his early forays as a coach into a long-term career.”After a review of last year, it was identified that we wanted to appoint a new men’s head coach,” a spokesperson for the Superchargers board told ESPNcricinfo on Thursday. “It was identified by the Northern Superchargers board that we wanted an inspirational figure with leadership qualities who would be able to excite fans, players, staff and media.”Andrew Flintoff was our first choice to become the new men’s head coach, and when it became clear that it was an opportunity he wanted to pursue, we moved to contracting. We are very excited to have appointed a young English coach with the pedigree and stature of Andrew Flintoff, and we’re excited about what he can bring to Northern Superchargers this season.”The ECB declined to comment, and indicated that Hundred team boards are fully responsible for recruitment. A spokesperson emphasised that the process for hiring Flintoff was not unique. Since the Hundred’s first season, there have been four changes of men’s head coach across the eight teams: two were publicly advertised and two were direct appointments.And the Hundred may prove a good place to start. Flintoff is managing a squad who will earn £1 million between them over the next month, but the competition is low-stakes and low-scrutiny: there will hardly be Superchargers fans demanding he is sacked if it goes badly. There are minimal media expectations compared to most jobs, to the extent he has declined to speak to any independent outlets.Superchargers finished bottom of the men’s Hundred in 2023•Getty ImagesHe is the only English head coach in the men’s competition and perhaps it is no surprise that he has been fast-tracked. Flintoff is an icon to most current players, who grew up watching him star in the 2005 Ashes: if anyone can succeed as a coach relying on vibes alone, it might well be him. Regardless, it is surely a frustration to other young coaches that they did not even have the chance to interview.”If you could design the perfect head coach development programme… Flintoff is going on a brilliant journey,” Key told the earlier this year. “[He is getting] relevant experience, much more than sitting on a Zoom call listening to someone tell you what to do.” That is undeniably true – but those opportunities do not present themselves to everyone.The early indications are that Flintoff intends to be a hands-off coach. Harry Brook, who will take over from Matthew Short as captain after England’s Test against West Indies, said this week that they would try to create a “fairly chilled” atmosphere: “I think we’ve said that all training will be optional… just be chilled, relaxed, go out there and express yourself and play.”Superchargers will be light on resources this week, with Brook and Ben Stokes with England’s Test squad, Mitchell Santner at Major League Cricket, and Reece Topley at least a week away from selection with a finger injury. They should get stronger soon, but Friday’s opener against Trent Rockets could be a challenging start with a threadbare squad.There has been speculation swirling around Matthew Mott’s future as England’s white-ball coach and Flintoff has been mentioned prominently as a potential successor. At this stage, it seems too early for a man who has never coached a professional team – but the next four weeks should give an indication as to just how much that matters.

After a series of injuries, the Delhi fast bowler is keen to “know where I stand” in the Ranji Trophy

Himanshu Agrawal17-Oct-2024Bowling fast has come naturally to Navdeep Saini. He grew up playing tennis-ball cricket, which demanded accuracy. That, in turn, made him bowl full and fast, and develop quick arm speed.Saini first made a name for himself when he rattled Bengal in the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy in 2017-18, consistently touching 140kph as a 25-year-old. Seven years on, he is an India international, although matches at the highest level have been few and far between. While Saini can still continually bowl at 135kph, multiple injuries have hampered his progress.”If someone is a fast bowler, he has to put in a lot more effort to bowl at that pace,” Saini told ESPNcricinfo ahead of Ranji Trophy 2024-25. “Thus, a fast bowler has a lot more chances of getting injured, as compared to someone who bowls at 120 or 125 [kph].”Related

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Saini, with 34, was Delhi’s highest wicket-taker in their run to the Ranji final in 2017-18. He was named in India’s squad in June 2018. While the debut didn’t come, he did make the standby list for the ODI World Cup in 2019.It was a year of promise and the surge began with his IPL debut for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, for whom he picked up 11 wickets in 13 games. In August, Saini impressed on his India debut in a T20I against West Indies.”Virat [Kohli] was India’s captain at the time, and having played for RCB under him, whenever there was pressure, I used to talk to him and he used to calm me down,” Saini said of his early days with India.By February 2020, Saini had shaken West Indies in a series decider on ODI debut, shown his full repertoire – from 150kph to accurate change-ups – against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.”Virat Kohli used to calm me down when there was pressure” – Navdeep Saini•BCCIBut the highs, as they often are, were often followed by the lows. In a four-month period from September 2020, Saini had a miserable IPL, where he also split his webbing. On India’s tour of Australia, he leaked 153 runs in 17 overs across the first two ODIs, and struck only once. In Sydney, in the third Test, Saini made his debut; but in in Brisbane, he walked off with a groin strain. But despite those setbacks, Saini never thought of sacrificing his pace.”Bowling fast helps you create more opportunities to get a wicket,” he said. “That makes you put in a lot more effort on your body. That, in turn, makes you injury prone. So you never know how or when you can get injured while trying to bowl at such high pace.”You only try your best to focus on your fitness, and it is difficult to point out any one reason why someone gets injured more than others.”Since Brisbane, Saini has played for India only twice – an ODI and a T20I each in July 2021. That T20I appearance, against Sri Lanka, happened only because multiple first-choice starters were ruled out due to Covid-19, with Saini batting as high as No. 7, and not getting to bowl.”You never know how or when you can get injured while trying to bowl at such high pace”•Getty ImagesSaini remained within touching distance of the national set-up in early and mid-2022. That was a time when there was intense competition for places with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and bowling allrounder Shardul Thakur all ahead of him in the pecking order. But he never gave up – both hope and pace. He went to play county cricket for Kent, bustling in, extracting good bounce, and pocketed a five-for on Championship debut.”That was all according to the preparation. I put in the same effort day after day while practicing, and then follow the same process in the match,” Saini said. “I can’t reduce my pace, which is my strength. I don’t want to sacrifice any bit of it; pace, after all, is my identity. I have always played cricket the same way, and intend to continue playing like that.”But doesn’t that make him more susceptible to injury?”No, sir. All I know is that I need to take proper care of everything. Sometimes you must sacrifice something to gain something else. The competition is so tight these days that I will never want to reduce my pace, something which is unique to me. It is [up to] my quality if I can continuously bowl at that pace for four or five days in a row.”

Shami feels I should keep hitting the 6-8 metre length; that will prevent me from leaking runs, and all but assure me of wickets. I always follow Shami Saini on the help he’s received from Shami

It turned out that five-for in England was only a brief reprieve. Ahead of the Duleep Trophy and a one-day series against New Zealand A in 2022-23, Saini suffered a groin injury. In yet another comeback, he toured Bangladesh two months later with India A. An opportunity for the senior side was around the corner with both Bumrah and Shami missing. But ahead of the second Test, Saini had an abdominal muscle strain. This is why over the last six to 12 months, Saini has put in a lot of effort to remain injury free.”I have paid more attention to my diet, rest and recovery,” he said. “I have tried to sleep on time, and maintained a particular time for practice to ensure I tick all boxes. I have been to the NCA for a camp. The physios and trainers there are really good: they set up a programme, and that helped me understand quite a lot. They provide you with a plan regarding your training regime. There are also the little things like having a good warm-up.”It was on a trip to the NCA that Saini was able to spend some time with Shami, whom he admires a lot. Saini remains keen to improve his bowling, and doesn’t let any chance to speak to Shami pass by.”Shami has always advised me not to bowl too full,” Saini said. “He keeps telling me that I’m a hit-the-deck bowler, and that the ball moves [sideways] after I pitch it. He feels I should keep hitting the 6-8 metre length; that will prevent me from leaking runs, and all but assure me of wickets. I always follow Shami .”Like Shami said, Saini’s first wicket of the 2024-25 domestic season came with a ball which seamed in. Playing for India B against India A in the Duleep Trophy, Saini went on the fuller side of a length around sixth stump. Shubman Gill shouldered arms, but the ball seamed back in sharply to hit the middle of off stump at 140kph.Saini has been working on his fitness and believes he is on the right track•PTI Initially, Saini wasn’t even named in any of the four Duleep Trophy teams, but replaced Siraj when the latter fell ill ahead of the first round. Saini has “no idea” why he wasn’t picked in the first instance despite “so many boys” getting selected. Eventually, out of “God’s (kindness)”, Saini was not only selected but he also played all three games for India B. He ended the Duleep Trophy with 14 wickets at 25.42, taking back valuable experience ahead of the more straining assignments like the Ranji Trophy.”I played a red-ball match after seven to eight months,” he said. “And since it was a four-day match, I also got to know about my fitness – like how much work I have done on myself, and where I stand.”Saini’s pace hovered around 135kph against India A, with two catches dropped off his bowling. He’s happy with his performance in the season-opening Duleep Trophy, and also about how he has shaped up this year.”There is a certain confidence that [makes me think] yes, I am on the right track, and that I should continue to follow the same process,” he said.When you look at Saini’s numbers across formats, there is hardly anything to choose from – his averages in first-class cricket, List A and T20s are 28.97, 30.46 and 30.80, respectively. But he considers the longest format his strength, and hopes a notable domestic season can take him to Australia.For now, though, the goal is to remain fit and firing, and, no matter the injuries in an up-and-down career so far, never give up on pace. After all, Saini believes competition among fast bowlers in India is at its fiercest now.”It has never been like this before,” he said. “But I know how I have played cricket till date, and the things I have done from the beginning. And I will remain stuck to it.”