Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has said he is likely to open for the remainder of the IPL season, ahead of their match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday

Nagraj Gollapudi in Kolkata12-Apr-20161:00

‘We can’t take any baggage with us as a team’ – Rohit

Just over a month ago, Rohit Sharma had scored an unbeaten 98 at Eden Gardens. It was in India’s first warm-up match of the World Twenty20, against West Indies. Incidentally, Rohit had made the same score at the same ground in last year’s IPL opener against Kolkata Knight Riders, who Mumbai Indians will face on Wednesday evening. Although Rohit had succeeded that day last year, Mumbai had failed. Eventually, they won the IPL with three Mumbai batsmen featuring among the top-10 run-scorers – Lendl Simmons, Rohit and Kieron Pollard.This IPL season is Pollard’s first competitive tournament since his knee surgery last year. In the tournament opener in Mumbai on April 9, Pollard struggled against Rising Pune Supergiants, labouring for eight balls to make just one run.Simmons, one of the heroes in West Indies’ triumph over India in the World T20 semi-finals, is now likely to be rested for the next few matches. He had originally dropped out of the West Indies squad due to a bad back, only to be flown in as a late replacement for the knockout matches.Ambati Rayudu, Hardik Pandya and England batsman Jos Buttler, playing his maiden IPL, form the Mumbai middle order, but it is difficult to imagine and expect them to play the lead batsman’s role in case the top order fails as it did against Supergiants.That leaves the onus on Rohit, the team’s best batsman and captain. T20 history is abundant with examples in which a good beginning often ensures a team defends a big or huge total. Rohit has been opening regularly for India in limited-overs matches since 2013. However, with Mumbai Indians he has not done the same. Last IPL, he opened only twice. This season, though, he has decided to open with a longer stint in mind.”It’s important to get the balance and the position of each player right, where they have batted for their country/state, it’s important to keep that going,” Rohit said on Tuesday. “For me, I’ve been opening for a while – three years now – so I’d like to continue that for the remainder of the series. But everything depends on the balance, if I feel me batting top of order is not right for the team, I’ll come down as a middle-order batsman. If it helps the team, I’m ready to do whatever it takes to help the team win.”According to Rohit, the Mumbai batting has depth, including batsmen who are proven matchwinners in international cricket. “We have to share the responsibility. I cannot be just one person winning the tournament,” Rohit said. “Last year, we hardly had anyone in the top five in the batting list which shows that everybody contributed and shared the responsibility. You will have individual performances and brilliance at times, but if you want to win the tournament, it has to come from everyone not just one person. In the last three years, we have had so much success because the responsibility was shared. I would expect the same, but as a leader, I would like to step up and perform every game.”Building momentum in the first half, especially in the first few matches, is what Mumbai coach Ricky Ponting has always said is the key to succeed in tournaments like IPL. Last year, Mumbai had a horrid first half. In order to not repeat the mistakes, Rohit and co. will have to play their roles convincingly.Mumbai have two IPL editions in the last three seasons – 2013 and 2015. And which Mumbai batsman was among the top-10 run-scorers in those two seasons? Rohit would once again like to lead from the front, although in a different role.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that the board is in talks with former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed for the post of Bangladesh’s bowling coach

Mohammad Isam05-Jun-2016BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said the board is in talks with former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed for the post of Bangladesh’s bowling coach.”We are in touch with Aaqib Javed,” Hassan said. “Our CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury informed us that we will get an answer from him – yes or no – by day after tomorrow (Tuesday). We are also discussing if we can talk about the alternatives.”The position became vacant when Heath Streak decided not to continue as the bowling coach last month.Aaqib, who stepped down as the UAE coach in April, is also the director of cricket operations with Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League.So far, the BCB has been in discussions with three other candidates.

West Indies have made an unpromising start to their preparations for the tri-series with Australia and South Africa, as they were beaten twice in the space of three days by Barbados Select in a pair of practice matches

Daniel Brettig28-May-2016West Indies have made an unpromising start to their preparations for the tri-series against Australia and South Africa, as they were beaten twice in the space of three days by a Barbados Select XI in a pair of practice matches.Thrashed by 50 runs in a day-night encounter at the Kensington Oval on Wednesday, West Indies lost again by four wickets in Cave Hill on Friday. These were the first fixtures for the team since their World T20 victory in India, with the squad comprising of some T20 players mixed with younger names.While the main priority for the team was to gain match practice in a variety of conditions ahead of the tri-series, the fact that they were unable to defeat a side composed of some players with limited international experience and Barbados’ fringe players does not bode well for harder assignments ahead.In the first match, half-centuries from Shai Hope and Omar Phillips led the way for Barbados Select in compiling a tally of 290 for 8 from 50 overs. Offspinner Hayden Walsh (3 for 17) and seamers Kevin Stoute (2 for 28), Tarik Shorey (2 for 33) and Dario Seale (2 for 50) then rounded West Indies up for 250 in 47.1 overs.Conditions were lower and slower in Cave Hill, and West Indies scrapped their way to 200 for 9 from 45 overs after choosing to bat. No player was able to make a half-century, while medium-pacer Kyle Mayers scooped 4 for 47.In reply, Barbados Select cruised to the target with seven overs to spare, helped by 49 from Aaron Jones and 48 from Hope. West Indies’ opening match of the tournament is against South Africa in Guyana on June 3.

Denesh Ramdin, the West Indies wicketkeeper, has said he will have no choice but to accept the selectors’ supposed decision to keep him out of the Test squad for the upcoming series against India

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2016Denesh Ramdin, the West Indies wicketkeeper, has said he will have no choice but to accept the selectors’ supposed decision to keep him out of the Test squad for the upcoming series against India, and use the regional four-day competition to work his way back to the top. The squad for the four-Test series is yet to be named, but Ramdin had lashed out at new selection committee chairman Courtney Browne on Twitter earlier in the week, saying Browne had told him he is being dropped.”I haven’t felt any pressure for the last three or four years,” Ramdin told Jamaican radio station Power FM. “I felt a bit surprised, but I have no choice but to live by the decision of the higher authority. I don’t own cricket, and, well, I have to go back to my game in the regional four day-set up and come again.””It seems like I’m not a senior player who has done well over the years. But I’ve been down that road before and come back and done very well, so I think the process is easy.”Ramdin, who has scored 2898 runs in 74 Tests, made 59 and 62 in his most recent Test innings in Australia, a series that West Indies lost 2-0. West Indies have not played any Tests since that tour. In their last international assignment, the ODI tri-series last month, Ramdin scored 197 runs at 28.14, with a highest of 91 against Australia in Bridgetown.Expanding on what Browne supposedly told him, Ramdin said: “The chairman called me and he explained to me I would no longer be in the four Test series coming up against India.”He said over the past five-six years my averages haven’t been where they should be as a Test player so they need someone else to fill that position and do well for the West Indies.”I’m pretty disappointed with it; any player would be disappointed. That was said to me that I have to get back in the four-day regional set up and score runs again.”

The England coach Trevor Bayliss has said he is “very” tempted by the idea of playing Adil Rashid as part of a twin-spin attack in the final Test against Pakistan at The Oval

Andrew McGlashan08-Aug-2016The England coach Trevor Bayliss has said he is “very” tempted by the idea of playing Adil Rashid as part of a twin-spin attack in the final Test against Pakistan at The Oval, but even if he does not feature this week has indicated Rashid will start the series in the subcontinent later in the year.Rashid, who played three Tests against Pakistan in the UAE last year, has been part of the squad since the Old Trafford Test and Bayliss said he had come close to playing in the last two matches before England opted to retain the balance of four quicks and Moeen Ali as the spinner.While there have been reports that The Oval pitch will suit England in the final Test, with pace and bounce, recent evidence has been of it offering some help for the spinners. The last time England played two spinners in a home Test was at The Oval, against Australia in 2013, when Simon Kerrigan made his debut.Having been omitted from the third Test, Rashid returned to play for Yorkshire in the County Championship against Warwickshire, where he took 7 for 61 in the match. A notable part of Rashid’s role in that game was running through the lower order, which is something Bayliss believes he could bring to the Test side.”Very,” Bayliss said when asked how tempted he was by the thought of Rashid playing. “I think we saw last year at The Oval, the wicket had a bit in it for everyone. Nathan Lyon bowled very well there, got some spin and bounce out of the wicket. I’ve thought Rashid’s been a chance for the last two or three Tests that we’ve played. At some stage he will get an opportunity.

Anderson back to No. 1

James Anderson has reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the ICC’s Test bowler rankings. Anderson finished with 4 for 85 across two innings as England beat Pakistan by 141 runs at Edgbaston, moving him back above R Ashwin, despite the India offspinner taking six wickets in the draw with West Indies at Sabina Park.
Anderson went top of the rankings for the first time in his career earlier this summer, after the second Test against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street. He was then overtaken by Pakistan’s Yasir Shah, after the legspinner took 10 for 141 at Lord’s – a Test Anderson missed through injury – before Ashwin dislodged Yasir following India’s victory in Antigua.
Stuart Broad remains at No. 3, two places above Yasir, while Chris Woakes continued his rise by moving up to a career-high of 20th. Joe Root is still the No. 2-ranked batsman, behind Australia’s Steven Smith, with Alastair Cook climbing a place to No. 7.

“Obviously, we are going to the subcontinent, so he’s probably the guy who will get the first opportunity there. Having a legspinner will help when the wicket is turning, that we can knock over the tail a bit easier.”There are a couple of ways England could fit Rashid into their side; they could drop a pace bowler or back Rashid’s ability as an allrounder and leave either James Vince or Gary Ballance out of the middle order. It is unlikely England will follow either path at The Oval after the all-round success of the attack at Edgbaston, while Ballance made 70 in the first-innings and Vince again earned the backing of the coach after scoring 81 runs in the Test even though he twice fell in familiar fashion edging to the slips.However, further down the line in Bangladesh, should the tour go ahead, and India, Bayliss offered the hint that playing Rashid as another allrounder would be high up England’s thinking – especially when Ben Stokes is available again.”Ben Stokes is a big part of that. If he is in the team as one of four pace bowlers, you could have two spinners. If he was one of three pace bowlers, you might even have three spinners.”If the wickets are anything like South Africa had in India, that’s a possibility. I’d say at this stage we’d definitely be taking three spinners to India. But I think the case for playing two is a definite.”For now, it is likely England will stick to their current balance of having Moeen as the one spinner for the final Test. Moeen produced his best spell of the summer in the second innings at Edgbaston – sending down 15 overs either side of lunch – and claimed the key wicket of Azhar Ali, which opened the door for England’s push towards victory when the ball started to reverse.Moeen, who was named Man of the Match, has been under pressure throughout this series. He has constantly been targeted by the Pakistan batsmen, something which continued in Birmingham, but has continued to chip in with wickets and now has nine in the series at 39.33, albeit his economy stands at 4.36. He worked with Saqlain Mushtaq during the Old Trafford Test and, on the final afternoon at Edgbaston, managed to pitch the ball consistently on a full length with a touch more loop.”The spell just after lunch that he and Broad put together in partnership there, quite simply the difference with his bowling in that spell was his discipline of length,” Bayliss said.”We’ve all seen him before probably falling a little bit short, but I thought that spell he got it pretty much spot on, bowled a little bit wider of the off stump into the rough, coming into the stumps and putting the pressure on the batter. It’s a bit harder then to run down the wicket and hit over the top and play reverse sweeps and sweeps. I thought he put the pressure on very well there.”England’s victory has given them a chance to ascend to the top of the world rankings if they finish the series 3-1 and India do not secure a 3-0 victory over West Indies. Bayliss did not quite say it was a position they were ready for but, as Alastair Cook acknowledged after the Test when he talked about the side “toughening up”, he was encouraged by the comeback during a match they had been behind in for more than two days.”It does give the guys confidence that they can win games from a little bit behind, that anything’s possible,” he said. “I still think we are a little way off. I thought there were signs in this game that some of the more inexperienced players were starting to show a little bit of maturity.”

Aaron Finch blasted an 18-ball half-century, the equal fastest in Australia’s ODI history, as Australia beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in the fourth ODI

The Report by Brydon Coverdale31-Aug-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:58