Strong on paper, started with a bang, lost their way… but all it takes to win a final is one player’s brilliance, and they have plenty who could deliver that

Karthik Krishnaswamy09-Nov-20203:55

Aakash Chopra: Ashwin in the powerplay will be key to Capitals’ success

Expectations, reality. You know the meme format, but how do you apply it to the Delhi Capitals’ season?Before IPL 2020 began, a number of experts counted the Capitals among their pre-season favourites. “If this team plays to its full potential,” Aakash Chopra wrote on this website, “they have a real chance of winning their first ever IPL title.””It’s the team with the least number of weaknesses, it’s the team with options for all conditions,” Sanjay Manjrekar said while previewing the Capitals’ season-opener, also on this website. “Very exciting personnel that they’ve got together.”The Capitals finished in the top two on the league table, and they’ve now reached their maiden final, but the expectations-reality equation hasn’t been straightforward. Where the Mumbai Indians never looked in doubt of getting to the final, the Capitals are perhaps lucky to have made it this far, having won only two of their last seven games. But they’re in the final, and have history in their sights. How do you begin to make sense of it all?The Delhi Capitals’ line-up boasts plenty of individual brilliance•BCCIShaw and Pant misfire
At the start of the tournament, the Capitals seemed to have one of the best top orders in the competition. Three explosive boundary-hitters in Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer, an anchor in Shreyas Iyer, and, in Shikhar Dhawan, an experienced opener who had upped his T20 game, shrugging off a tendency for slow starts and lifting his powerplay strike rate into the 140s in the 2019 season.If its parts could fit smoothly together, this was a top order capable of inflicting serious damage, as the Capitals showed while posting what remains IPL 2020’s biggest total, against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Sharjah.That game, however, has been the exception rather than the rule, and the Capitals’ batting line-up has often had a dysfunctional look to it, thanks largely to two key components misfiring.Three highly promising young batsmen have suffered dips in form at the same time•ESPNcricinfo LtdShaw has gone through a horror run at the top – he has a top score of 10 in his last seven innings – and Pant, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, but which perhaps have something to do with not having played any cricket for half the year thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, has been a pale shadow of his usual self in the middle order. Iyer’s form hasn’t deviated too far from the mean, but with Shaw and Pant dropping well below their best, his inability to force the pace through the middle overs has stood out more starkly than it otherwise would have.The struggles of Shaw, Pant and Iyer have left the Capitals’ line-up looking structurally unsound, and when their in-form players have failed – such as when Dhawan, their top run-getter so far, made three ducks in the space of four innings – the others haven’t stepped up to compensate.Tactical tic-tac-toe
The batting issues have been compounded by a lack of options on the bench. When an injured Pant missed three games in the middle of the season, the Capitals didn’t just have to replace him but also Hetmyer, for no fault of his, simply because the only other wicketkeeper in the squad was the Australian Alex Carey.Ajinkya Rahane has been the Capitals’ main back-up batsman, but he’s another anchor, and not quite the solution that Shaw’s lean run called for. He’s also played in the same XI as Shaw on occasion, when the Capitals have left Hetmyer out to play an extra overseas bowler, but that’s only compromised their power through the middle and late overs.Stoinis steps up
The Capitals’ batting woes could have potentially cost them a playoffs spot if not for Marcus Stoinis. Their opening game was portentous: they were 86 for 4 in 14 overs when Stoinis walked in, and he walloped 53 off 21 to haul them to a defendable total. And he also bowled the final over to take the game to a Super Over, somehow going dot, wicket, wicket when the Kings XI Punjab needed one off the last three balls.Where would the Capitals be without Marcus Stoinis’ runs and wickets?•ESPNcricinfo LtdSince then he’s scored two more half-centuries, and bowled at difficult times to help shield the Capitals’ fingerspinners from unfavourable match-ups.And in the second Qualifier against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Capitals moved Stoinis up to open alongside Dhawan, using him in the role he’s had most of his recent success in, and the move brought them their best powerplay score of the tournament. With Hetmyer also back in the fold and contributing a late cameo, the Capitals’ batting seemed at its healthiest in a long time.How good have the Capitals bowlers been, really?
Best economy rate at the death, second-best economy rate in the powerplay, and the best overall economy rate and average of any bowling team in the tournament.The above facts were true on October 17, when the Capitals had played nine games and won seven of them.The Capitals’ bowling returns have nosedived over the second half of the season•ESPNcricinfo LtdIt’s a good time to insert a “stop the count” joke, because the Capitals, since then, have the third-worst economy rates in both the powerplay and the death overs, the worst middle-overs economy rate, and the worst economy rate and second-worst average overall.It’s not like they’ve undergone massive personnel changes between the two halves of the tournament, so how do you even begin to explain these numbers? Maybe you don’t. Maybe it’s all about the unreliability of small sample sizes. Maybe it’s a case of the Capitals’ attack regressing to the mean.So what now?To put it simply, the Capitals have been less than the sum of their parts through the season, but look at the parts themselves. If they go into the final with the same line-up that defeated the Sunrisers on Sunday, it’ll include Dhawan, Stoinis, Iyer, Pant, Hetmyer, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje. They were quality players before the tournament began, and they remain quality players even if they’ve ridden a collective rollercoaster of form in between.In what has possibly been the most tightly contested IPL ever, it’s probably all this individual quality that’s carried the Capitals into the final. Mumbai, their opponents, are one of the great T20 teams, boasting not just individual quality but also role clarity from No. 1 to No. 11. That sort of role clarity comes from the same core group of players competing together season after season, and winning titles season after season. That role clarity is probably what makes a team stand out in the long run, but it’s no guarantee of winning a one-off contest, where individual quality is often enough.The Capitals are an imperfect team entering the final lap of an imperfect campaign. One good day, and all else will be forgotten.

He often bats within himself nowadays, but he plays that role for a specific reason and does it brilliantly

Mohammad Isam25-Jan-2021Tamim Iqbal’s strike rate is the sacrifice he makes for his team’s needs, and he’s been doing it for over a decade now.Tamim spent 28 overs at the crease during the third ODI against West Indies. He made 64, and was one of four half-centurions in Bangladesh’s innings. His strike rate, over 80 balls, was 80.00. He hit three fours and a six.Those numbers aren’t those of a dasher, someone who goes after the bowling whenever he pleases, someone whose dismissal won’t have a major impact on his team’s position or the mood of his dressing room.Those numbers, instead, are those of a senior opening batsman performing a specific role in the side, a batsman who can set a platform to allow the middle-order batsmen to play their shots. It’s the role Tamim has played for a number of years now, but it hasn’t always received the appreciation of the wider public. There’s an expectation that he should bat in a more carefree manner, especially with all the strokeplayers around him who have scored at attractive strike rates especially over the last couple of years.Last year, after Tamim made 24 off 43 balls in the first ODI against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh’s then batting coach Neil McKenzie explained why his role was so important to the team. In the following two games, Tamim made 158 and an unbeaten 128, finishing with 100-plus strike rates in both innings. But his starts are usually watchful, and he usually denies himself the license the likes of Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar have to express themselves freely.That role, of going hard at the bowling right from the start, used to be Tamim’s early in his career. It’s likely he himself has forgotten when he stopped being that sort of batsman and became the responsible senior.Tamim Iqbal drives against the spin•AFP via Getty ImagesIt was important Tamim played himself in even in a game of little consequence like the third ODI against West Indies, because Bangladesh lost Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto by the ninth over. Using all their experience, Tamim and Shakib Al Hasan added 93 runs for the third wicket, which ensured that those coming next, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, had the security of a solid start, and enough tiredness in the bowlers’ and fielders’ legs, to go for quick runs.In the 22 overs following Tamim’s dismissal, Bangladesh smashed 166 runs, to finish on a formidable 297 for 6. They eventually won by a whopping 120 runs, and while the rapid half-centuries of Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah deserve a large share of the credit for that margin of victory, it’s important to acknowledge the foundation laid by Tamim as well. That platform needed to be built from scratch. It is not a pretty job, but it’s a vital one, particularly in a team like Bangladesh whose top order, Tamim apart, isn’t always the most durable.This plan came into being under Mashrafe Mortaza back in 2015, and it has worked more often than not. It wasn’t the duty of any one of the top three to play this anchor role. It was always Tamim who was marked out to bat through as many overs as he could, and ensure he passed the baton to one of the three senior middle-order batsmen.Among the 36 ODIs in which Tamim has scored at least 50 and Bangladesh have gone on to win, 22 have come in the last six years.It wasn’t always like this for Tamim. In 2007, he was marked out as the big-hitting opener who could take advantage of the first powerplay. His breakout innings against India during the 2007 World Cup, involved a lot of hoicking and stand-and-deliver shots, but he has come a long way from that version of himself.A quick look at the revolving door of his opening partners and the unstable No. 3 position over the years will also tell you why Tamim has had to cut down on his free-flowing strokeplay, and bat more responsibly. If Tamim hadn’t done so, it may not have hurt him too much at an individual level, but Bangladesh may have remained a more mercurial side.Successive coaches since Jamie Siddons, under whom Tamim evolved considerably as an opener, have always relied on him to provide early solidity. Under Chandika Hathurusingha, a mature Tamim guided the ODI, Test and T20I line-ups with a mix of caution and aggression.This method has gained even more importance in the last three years as a string of batsmen have failed to hold on to their positions in the top order. It forced Steve Rhodes, who was Bangladesh’s coach from 2018 to 2019, to agree with Shakib and promote him to No. 3 during the 2019 World Cup. The decision was a raging success, but the fact that Russell Domingo, the current coach, wanted Shakib to bat at No 4 suggests Bangladesh still feel the need for a sturdier middle order.Tamim finishes his first ODI series as the designated, non-temporary captain with scores of 44, 50 and 64, and though they came against a feeble West Indies side, all his contributions have been significant. It is unlikely that the current or any future team management would let him go back to his old style, and while that may cause some of his fans to heave a nostalgic sigh, they’ll come to understand why he’s put away some of the flashy shots of his youth.

Even the greatest of them start to decline in their mid-thirties, but Paine seems only to be improving

Daniel Brettig25-Dec-2020When Ian Healy recently tipped that Tim Paine might be capable of going on as Australia’s captain for “three more years”, he did not use those words lightly.Healy, alongside Australia’s other longest-term wicketkeepers Rod Marsh, Adam Gilchrist and Brad Haddin, were all subject to a trend so consistent that it seemed almost an immutable fact of being a custodian behind the stumps for the Test team. Immutable, that is, until Paine came along.No matter how talented or accomplished they were with the bat, whether a left-handed slugger like Marsh, a No. 7 counter-puncher like Healy or Haddin, or an otherworldly talent like Gilchrist, the advance of time and years would inevitably see the wicketkeeper’s supply of runs ebb away to a level that forced the selectors to start looking elsewhere.Marsh had been very much a gamechanger for Australian wicketkeepers, adding the genuine capability of scoring centuries to the repertoire of stumpers called up by Australia, after several generations of handy scorers who nonetheless might find themselves batting anywhere from Nos. 7 through 9 in the order behind an allrounder or two.But once he had scored the last of his centuries, against England in the Centenary Test in 1977, Marsh’s batting returns took a long, slow descent once he returned to establishment ranks after two years of World Series Cricket. His average of 34.30 from 47 Tests at the end of the MCG match dipped to 26.51 by the time of his 96th and final appearance at the SCG against Pakistan in 1984: an average of 19.48 in the remaining 49 Tests.Tim Paine overcame injury, took the hot seat, and found empathy•Getty ImagesFor Healy, the decline was more sudden but no less pronounced. When he fought his way to a fourth Test hundred, eclipsing Marsh’s mark, in the first Ashes Test of the 1988-99 series at the Gabba, he was averaging 29.90, the high-water mark of Heay’s career after 107 matches. His final 12 Tests, however, were a tale of woe: his total average slipped to 27.39 as he cobbled just 170 runs at 8.94. Over the same period, even Glenn McGrath managed to do better than Healy – 111 runs at 9.25 with a higher top score, 39 to Healy’s 36.Gilchrist has spoken frankly of his own struggles over the final portion of his own career, having soared so highly he merited comparisons with the greatest batsmen of any age, let alone other wicketkeepers. Perhaps his most famous innings was the 57-ball mauling of England for a century at the WACA in late 2006, but by that stage Gilchrist’s fade, from an admittedly incredible high point, was well underway.Related

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After 46 Tests, Gilchrist had been averaging a scarcely believable 61.06 with a strike rate of 83.62 and nine centuries. While Gilchrist would go on to make 17 hundreds in all, his consistency would drop away, and eventually his overall output would suffer too. By the time he retired in early 2008 during the final Test of the “Monkeygate” series against India in 2008, Gilchrist’s average was down to 47.6, even if his revolutionary strike rate had dipped only slightly. An average of 37.56 over Gilchrist’s final 50 Tests was still outstanding, but somewhat more human.This brings us to Haddin, who had two dips either side of an unforgettable 2013-14 Ashes series in Australia. Up until the end of the 2010-11 Ashes, Haddin managed to keep his average near enough to 40 over 32 matches, although he also maintained a record of generally making runs in his side’s bigger totals with at least one other centurion for the innings. However by late 2013, including time out of the side to be with his ill daughter, Mia, Haddin was back down to an average of 33.97.Adam Gilchrist struck the second fastest century in Test cricket, while in decline•Getty ImagesWhen the 2013-14 Ashes concluded, with Haddin having pummeled 493 runs at 61.62, he looked ready for a sustained renaissance. Instead, the late career fade resumed: Haddin’s final 12 Tests would reap just 259 runs at 15.23, seeing his overall record dip to 32.98 and like Healy and Marsh a somewhat unflattering portrait of his contributions for most of the time.Such background was written all over Healy’s comments when assessing how Paine was bucking this trend. “I’m expecting him to play for quite long because he started so late – and it looks like he’s in great shape physically and doing it well,” Healy told the . “He’s got a job to do so that will keep him interested, keep him motivated to get that Australian side on top again and in the hearts of Australians.”He’s led a massive cultural revolution, which has got to be draining, so I don’t have a problem if he does surprise me and finish before I reckon he will because he’s taken on so much, but I think he’s about to reap the rewards and enjoy it a lot more. I’ve got no problems saying three more years.”That revolution has been as true of Paine’s batting as the progress of his team. From moments during the 2019 Ashes when he looked to be over-matched as a batsman, and certainly too conservative, Paine has upped his tempo and his effectiveness: at a time when all of his forebears were trending down, he has compiled 342 runs at 42.75 and a strike rate of 52.29 in eight matches since the end of the Leeds Test in 2019. Healy and Haddin were two of the voices encouraging him to “bat like a wicketkeeper”, in other words, attack.A change in mindset and technique has helped Tim Paine’s batting reach another level•Getty Images”He tried to bat like Greg Chappell all the time,” Healy said. “The batting needs to be natural and free. Bad ball on the legs put it away, cut shot get it on. He was blocking bad balls last year and just surviving very much like a lot of the players did upfront in Adelaide. All I said to him was just put bad balls away, look for them and put them away. If it’s a clip to leg, clip it hard. If it’s a cut shot, go at it. Bat like a keeper and that’s what he’s done.”Add to this the fact that Paine is showing a level of enthusiasm and eagerness for improvement that can be hard to maintain the longer any player continues and there appears a sound formula for him to carry on. Paine’s most recent column outlined how Marnus Labuschagne had helped him tweak his batting technique during the Sheffield Shield games that preceded the India series, adjusting his bat pick-up position to sit closer to his back hip – more or less the same spot Steven Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson have it.”I’ve felt pretty good pretty much since I made the change during the South Australian Shield game,” Paine said. “So for me it’s been about just having more time to become accustomed to it and make it more second nature rather than having to think about it. I can certainly feel that’s happening now.”I’m someone who needs to write a bit of stuff down to remind myself, particularly when it comes to my batting, but I’ve found the last couple of weeks that little changes now I don’t have to think about, and when that’s the case I can just watch the ball. It’s been a good start to the series but it’s only one innings.”Paine, then, is proving to be a departure from history in plenty of ways. Not only as an Australian wicketkeeper captain, but as a Test match gloveman improving his batting when it would usually be on the slide. His next challenge will be to join Marsh, Healy, Gilchrist and Haddin as Test centurions.

After a season hobbled by injury, the Sunrisers Hyderabad allrounder says he’s fighting fit and ready for anything the IPL might throw at him

Interview by Deivarayan Muthu11-Apr-20218:04

Vijay Shankar: “When I enjoy my game and take things as they come, I’m in a far better mental space”

After Vijay Shankar came home from the India A tour of New Zealand in late 2018, the side’s backroom staff, led by then coach Rahul Dravid, quipped that it was probably the first time the allrounder was coming back from a tour injury-free. That stint with the A team got Shankar into the senior side soon after, but injuries have stalled his progress since. He hasn’t played for India after he hurt his toe in the nets during the 2019 World Cup. He has played just one competitive match between the 2020 IPL and the upcoming IPL season – a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy fixture for Tamil Nadu against Jharkhand at Eden Gardens, where he bowled only 13 balls before suffering another injury. Shankar has since married, completed his rehab, and is now looking forward to returning to action.You have entered your thirties. Has that made you wiser and more responsible?
I’ve always been responsible with whatever I’ve done in my life so far (). I’m also married now, so there’s a lot more responsibility. It’s going to be interesting…Related

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You’ve played 98 T20s so far and will likely tick over 100 this IPL. How do you look back on a career that has had its share of highs and lows: from the Nidahas Trophy final to winning the IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016?
Actually, this number [100] was in my mind when I joined the Tamil Nadu team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy in January. I was thinking of playing my 100th T20 game, but then I totally forgot about it.I think most of my lows came around my injuries, which set me back in whatever I was working on, but I learnt how to come out of it and handle these situations. So, playing my 100th T20 game will definitely be a good thing for me. I think I’ve also played 90 [88] List A matches, so I thought I would get close to 100 in that as well.”I’m someone who likes spending more time at the nets, but unfortunately, due to the injuries, I’ve had to give more time to rehab”•Associated PressYou’ve had to deal with multiple freak injuries over the years. What has been the biggest learning since your T20 debut?
It has been an amazing journey. When it goes your way, things might happen quickly [for you], but sometimes you may have to grind all the way. I had to wait for my opportunity to get into the Indian side. And then injuries and all… These were all great challenges for me and I just thought I should focus on things I can control: my practice and training. Every time I come out of an injury, I’ve always focused on my own thing rather than what’s happening outside. That’s one thing that made me push myself. I don’t really compare myself with others and I don’t think about what others are doing. For me it was important to get better as a cricketer.With all the data available, it has given us a lot of cues on how we can approach a game. I haven’t had any set batting position as such. For example, even last year [at SRH], I batted at No. 5, No. 7, No. 4 when early wickets fell. In the previous season, I’ve batted at No. 3. So, with these cues, all you can prepare for is what best you can do when you walk into that particular situation. I try to [imagine] two, three different situations, prepare for it, so that when I go in, it is easier for me. I’ve learnt this over a period of time.Power-hitting has become a vital part of T20 middle-order batting. How have you improved on that front?
For me, it’s all about adapting. I don’t see myself as a middle-order batsman or a top-order batsman. Since I’ve played at various positions, it’s very important for me to be flexible. What I’ve been doing is trusting my own strength more than these things, because [be it] power-hitting or conventional batting, the end result is important. It’s about showing results and doing well.I had a very good practice session with my personal coach [S Balaji, former Railways player] before joining the SRH camp. So I’ve just started to enjoy my own batting and not think about changing my game and things like that. I think I have a lot more to offer and it’s about enhancing that. Your last IPL season was also cut short by injury. Your most recent injury came at the start of the Indian domestic season. How frustrating was that?

The injury happened on January 10. It was the Jharkhand game. The Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament was very important for me to make a mark in some way, but then the very first game, I got injured. I was pushing myself to play but I realised later there was no point [doing that] when I was not 100%. After the [2020] IPL, I did all my tests and I was fully fit, but I came back and got injured. These things are very frustrating mentally, especially when you want to make a mark and push for India selection and all that.In the last IPL, Shankar copped a nasty blow to the helmet in a game against the Punjab Kings. He then tweaked his hamstring and had to sit out the rest of the tournament•BCCISoon after that you got married. Did the celebrations at home take your mind off not being able to play?
Yes. No one at home asks me about these things. They always support me and don’t ask why this or that is happening. I do update them about my status, but they know I’m doing my best and some things are beyond my control. I went to Maldives for a few days and to Ooty, and then mentally I was much more free. Most importantly, I took the decision of backing out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. I thought I should be smart. I’ve played a lot when I’m at just 80-90% fitness before.The last few months have been different compared to the life I was leading before. I’m not expecting much now. I just want to enjoy my game.How have you been preparing for this IPL?
I’ve put a lot of work into my bowling and batting with Balaji sir. I’m someone who likes spending more time at the nets, but unfortunately, due to the injuries, I had to focus on rehab, which I did with my physio Thulasi Ram and trainer Rajinikanth. Now, I’ve been giving more time to my skills.In the last few months, pretty much all the training facilities and gyms have reopened in Chennai. There was a facility called Throttle, where I had enough space to practice and had net bowlers to bowl to me. I really have to thank all those who helped me out because it was really, really hot. My coach also came and stood there in the [mid-day] sun, so it’s important for me to do well. That’s the only way I can give back.I have also worked on my bowling run-up during this period with Palani Amarnath, who played for CSK in early 2008-09. Alternate days I was working on my bowling at Guru Nanak College. I tried to set a few things right with my stride length. If I get it right in the match, it will be at least 1% different than what I was bowling last year.You bowled your full quota of four overs for the first time in the IPL, against the Kolkata Knight Riders, in 2020. Do you see yourself doing the job as a bowler more often for SRH?
Definitely. I’m confident in the role. Last year, if you see, overall I had an economy of around 6.6 [6.22] and bowled reasonably well in the opportunities I got. Last year also I mentioned that I’ve worked on my bowling. It was about putting in more time, and I have now.Shankar bowled his full complement of overs against KKR in 2020, at an economy of 5.00 per over•BCCII’m not thinking about doing extraordinary stuff or making a comeback. It’s about enjoying myself. I started playing this game because I love it. If I enjoy the game and take things as they come, I think I will be in much better mental space.Almost every seamer at SRH can bowl the knuckleball. Have you picked up that variation?

Yes, I’m learning from them and they come up with different variations. It’s important for me to learn how they execute it, and in a way it’s good to talk with them. Even my coach says he learns now by watching the game. As a cricketer, learning is never-ending.Can you recount your tussle with Jofra Archer in Dubai, where you hit him for three successive fours?
That innings is very special [to me] because I was supposed to bat down the order. Because we lost early wickets, they asked me to pad up. I just went in. I was completely blank and had no clue when I went in – as in, I knew I had to fight that situation out and get the team to a good position. I wasn’t thinking about Archer bowling really quick and all that. I was being myself and trying to go with my instinct. I was pretty happy that it was coming out pretty well. As a cricketer, you always want to do well against the best. So that innings gave me confidence in some way.After finishing off that game, you spoke of it being a do-or-die situation for you. You had a back spasm earlier in the season and dropped down the order.
It definitely was added pressure for me. I knew that either that game or the next would have been the last for me had I not got runs. If you see the previous games I played, I hadn’t batted much – in the first match I got out first ball, and then I was out [of action] for a while. I came back and played against KKR and CSK.To walk into a situation where we were really under pressure [against the Royals] and to come out of that and do well and the team winning from that situation gives a player great satisfaction. I knew it would be the most important innings for me. If not for that, I wouldn’t have played the next game for sure.Jofra Archer was dispatched for three successive fours by Shankar in the course of his run-a-ball 52 against the Rajasthan Royals last year•BCCIGoing into the IPL, has the thought of making an India comeback crossed your mind?
That keeps coming up every now and then (). Sometimes when I’m idle in my room, I watch my own videos [of old innings]. As a player you will want to push yourself for a comeback, but I want to do it the other way. I don’t want to put myself under pressure to perform or get back into the Indian team. I just want to enjoy the game and I feel I’ve done really well when I’ve enjoyed every small thing I do. The end result will take care of itself. So, whatever happens, I’m ready to take it.You enjoy playing against the Chennai Super Kings, particularly in Chennai. Are you looking forward to playing in Chennai as a Sunriser?
I’m from Chennai and I’ve played a lot of matches here, but this is going to be really different because if you see in the last one and a half years, I haven’t played much at Chepauk. It’s going to be really new for me as well. This ground is always special because as a youngster, when I started playing my cricket – Under-13 or whatever – it was my dream to play at Chepauk. I’ll definitely look forward to it. I can see the ground from my room as well. It’s always, always special. You have Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, J Suchith, Shahbaz Nadeem in a spin attack that seems well suited for the Chepauk conditions. You could also ditch your medium pace for offspin there.
() For now, we really don’t know how the pitch is going to behave. However the wicket is, they [Afghanistan spinners] are some of the best in the world right now. When they come good, it’s going to be challenging for whoever comes up against us. As a team, we’ve been doing consistently well for the last few seasons. So, it’s important for us to keep doing that and look to get better from that.

It is not only a matter of doing the difficult job, but often how the opener chooses to do it

Mohammad Isam26-Apr-2021Tamim Iqbal gave confidence to the Bangladesh dressing room at the start of the Pallekele Test against Sri Lanka, and then calmed nerves again with his counter-attacking half-century when there was a jitter and a stutter on the last day. When Iqbal is in such situations and in charge, it is not only a matter of doing the difficult job, but often how he chooses to do it.On the fifth afternoon, he blazed Dhananjaya de Silva’s offspin straight down the ground for three sixes. The art was how he met the ball while charging towards it and then finding the right moment to lift the ball. The third of those sixes, he went inside-out, hitting the ball over long-off. Iqbal also drove and pulled Vishwa Fernando freely, hitting him for three fours in an over to bring up his quickfire fifty.Sri Lanka had left Bangladesh 68 overs to bat in the last two sessions with a 107-run lead. Over four days, when both sets of players have fielded for 170-odd overs in searing heat and humidity, it was hard to tell which side would blink first. Bangladesh lost two early wickets including Najmul Hossain Shanto, who made 163 in the first innings. Doubts are bound to creep in to a team that has lost their eight previous international matches. This was also a side that had lost two Tests even after scoring 500-plus runs. Iqbal saw the situation at hand differently.Related

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Tamim Iqbal hints he may give up one format to prolong his international career

Tamim Iqbal: 'If we continue to play like this, we are going nowhere'

He played attacking shots, particularly going after de Silva, who was brought on early to disturb the batters’ rhythm. He didn’t let Vishwa Fernando settle too, but was mostly quiet against Suranga Lakmal and Wanindu Hasaranga. Mominul Haque had begun stonewalling at the other end.Iqbal’s opening act too had a resounding effect on Bangladesh. His 90 was the ideal response that captain Haque and coach Russell Domingo would have wished for, after deciding to bat first with five specialist bowlers. However, Bangladesh, who have won only four overseas Tests in their history, often prepare for the worst scenario.Instead of being on a defensive side, Iqbal went after Sri Lanka’s bowling on what could possible be the first green pitch in the visitors’ backyard. He didn’t let any of their fast bowlers settle down, hitting them for 15 fours, before getting carried away against Fernando.

Tamim set the tone for us with his 90 in the first innings. He likes to play shots. He bats with a specific plan.Mominul Haque on Tamim Iqbal

Haque acknowledged Iqbal’s twin fifties, particularly the first innings score of 90 which laid the foundation for their total of 541 for 7.”Tamim set the tone for us with his 90 in the first innings,” Haque said. “Since the start of his career, this is how he has batted. I bat in a different way. Everyone has their own style. He likes to play shots. He bats with a specific plan. If I try to play like him, I might have scored five more centuries instead of eleven.”It was the eighth instance of Iqbal making 50-plus scores in both innings. But this time, he has done it slightly differently. Lack of a senior player in the top order has often meant he has to cut down on his attacking shots and make sure he stays at the crease for long. In the limited-overs format, Iqbal’s role is more refined. As a Test opener, it is not often that he gets the license to play freely, while also looking to provide stability at the top.However, Shanto – who hit his maiden Test hundred in this match – said that Iqbal’s presence made it easier for him, and it allowed him to bat in his own way.Maybe this Test is the start of a new role for Iqbal, particularly in a team that has many unsettled batting spots. Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim are in charge of the middle order. But at the top, Iqbal is expected to provide a good start irrespective of who his partner is. It is a tough balancing act. But it isn’t something new for him, having thrived in various roles for Bangladesh over the years.

For Islamabad United, he is a free-stroking middle-order attack machine; for the national side, a shadow of that player

Osman Samiuddin22-Jun-2021Asif Ali is mad. This is an event because Asif Ali doesn’t look like a man who gets mad a lot. If he does, he looks like the kind of man who does mad like Misbah-ul-Haq does mad, by burying it way deep behind dead eyes.Even here, in these 24 seconds, he’s not looking or sounding mad but what he’s saying is coming from a place of anger. Anger, some frustration and plenty of vindication, which make for one dynamite cocktail.The 24 seconds are from a post-game interview that lasts barely a minute in all. He has hit 75 off 43 balls for Islamabad United against the Lahore Qalandars and turned 20 for 5 into a thumping win.”And as far as my batting goes,” he says, looking for all the world like this might be the routine note of thanks to team, coaches and fans that is produced in these circumstances, but instead launching an arson attack on it all, including, potentially, his international future, “other than Islamabad United, nobody has trusted or backed my batting. Some people think I’m a batter for just four overs. For them my message is, I am not a four-over batter. When I get an opportunity, like I did today, wherever, I will prove it.”Twenty-four seconds is short but here’s a precis nevertheless: To hell with you all (but not you, United).This was coming. Ali had spent the last couple of months with an entire ecosystem essentially telling him that he was not good enough and that he was wasting everyone’s time. On Pakistan’s tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe, he played in three of seven T20Is, didn’t bat in one and made 5 and 1 in the others. In these two he was part of two mighty middle-order fails, from 98 for 2 to 115 for 6 in the first, against South Africa (though Pakistan scraped through) and then from 78 for 3 to 99 all out, in Pakistan’s first-ever T20I loss to Zimbabwe.0:27

Asif Ali: ‘I’m not just a four-over batter’

To many, these two failures were two more than they could take. For three years Ali had been given every opportunity for Pakistan and had spurned them. He was supposed to be their Andre Russell, or Kieron Pollard, or Rishabh Pant; instead, he was the poster boy for the country’s bare cupboard of power-hitting finishers.Finally, earlier this month he was cut from Pakistan’s squads for tours to England and the West Indies.What those 24 seconds also did was strike at the heart of the bewildering duality that is Ali’s T20 career: for Islamabad United and for Pakistan. In one he averages 26, strikes at 165, and has won multiple titles. In the other, he averages less than 17, strikes at 123.74, and was an invisible member of the world’s top-ranked team. In one, his strike rate from the first ten balls of an innings is 165 and, on average, he hits more than two boundaries off those first ten. In the other, it’s not so much a strike rate as a surrender rate: 110 off the first ten balls.In one career, he is the answer to Pakistan’s problems. In the other, he is the problem.

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Not long after Ali returned from Africa, United’s analysts sat him down and showed him some numbers for middle-order batters from around the world. Don’t worry about averages was the message. Don’t worry about not coming off all the time; make sure to capitalise when you do.More than the detail, the act itself was instructive, a manifestation of the trust and backing Ali spoke of. This was the reassurance and security needed to perform in one of cricket’s newest, least understood, most difficult roles, in an already cut-throat sporting environment.A few days after those post-game comments, Ali had a more considered and expansive take on what he meant.In 27 T20I innings for Pakistan, Ali averages only 16.38•Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images”You know, international cricket, the environment is different,” he said. “In international cricket, in a team environment, you can’t discuss things with a free mind, unless you are a senior player. You can’t do it under any management or captain. You can’t speak to them freely about things.”And especially if you’re a player who is in and out of the team, and then when he comes back, he starts talking about the game and roles, people look at him and think… well, you understand, right?”The gist of it, perhaps, yes, if it is that people look at him and think he needs to be put in his place, or that he’s some overhyped PSL star too big for his boots. That ultimately he has not felt like he belongs when playing for Pakistan.”In a franchise, you are much freer in your mind. You can talk to the coach, whether he’s a foreigner or local, you can talk about your training or batting plans. About that four-over line, well there’s some players, some senior players, who think I’m a four-over batter and I just wanted to let them know that I am not that. There’s no player who doesn’t know what he is inside and what he can do. I know what I can do.”It is a revelatory take, though ultimately not surprising. And it doesn’t necessarily indict Pakistan’s treatment of him. A dressing room houses a range of personalities, some in need of little attention, others in need of more, and not everyone will always get what they want.Ali did, initially at least, get opportunities. From his debut in April 2018 until Misbah took over as coach and selector, he played in each of Pakistan’s 20 T20Is – the only player to do so. It was a winning side, so his slightly middling numbers didn’t matter so much.After Misbah took over in September 2019, those opportunities thinned drastically. Ali has played in nine of 27 T20Is since.The stark contrast in his strike rate in the first ten balls for the national team and for Islamabad United suggests that Pakistan might not be using Ali’s skills right•Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images”I can say that I got chances and I didn’t perform,” Ali acknowledged. “But that’s fine. [no big issue]. Players have to perform ultimately. I’ll keep trying as hard as I can and whatever is in my fate will happen. People talking about it is not going to make it happen.”I know that I worked hard and performed to get into the national side. The team is not run by my family. If you’re working hard and the performances aren’t there, you leave it in Allah’s hands and the good days come eventually.”The fatalism aside – that somehow it simply isn’t meant to be – the sense that this is still about Pakistan not understanding the role, or its terms of reference, hangs heavy. Shoaib Malik observed recently that Pakistani selectors still judge middle-order positions by how many fifties they find on the sheet. If that really is so, it’s like gauging the depth of the ocean with a tape measure.If that sounds anecdotal, or too much like an ex-player’s gripe, look at the selectors’ decisions. In less than two years they have tried 19 batters across numbers four, five and six and none have had a run of more than nine innings. These are not the actions of men who know who – or what – they are looking for.Foremost, the role requires that those who judge it have patience. There aren’t many of this kind of batter around who didn’t struggle for long early in their careers. Nicholas Pooran, as just one example, averages less than 20 for West Indies and has a strike rate of 121.36, yet he is the T20 team’s vice-captain.ESPNcricinfo LtdIf the selectors had had that patience, it makes little sense that Ali has played only a third of Pakistan’s matches under Misbah as coach. Even if you include the dead weight of his Pakistan numbers, Ali has the second-best strike rate globally in T20 since February 2017 for middle-order batters who have made over 1500 runs, and averages over 25.With that patience, it also requires an intelligent recognition of relevant data. Like his death-overs strike rate of 195.51 since April 2018, which puts him just outside the top ten globally (with a minimum of 300 runs). Or that among middle-order batters post-powerplay, his strike rate and balls-per-boundary figures are second only to Russell over the last four years (across the IPL, PSL, BBL, CPL, T20 Blast and Mzansi League). And that he’s one of only two Pakistani batters among those in the top ten for best strike rates in PSL history (for batters with at least 500 runs). In each of these lists, he is either the only Pakistani, or one of a couple of them, so it’s not like there is a cache of alternatives selectors can look at.A more evolved measure could consider the impact of middle-order batters on an innings, in terms of the burden of scoring they take on, as well as of their scoring rate. If you take batters outside the top three who come into an innings with more than five overs left and end up making more than 50% of a team’s runs from there on at a better strike rate than their team-mates, Ali is mingling with some T20 bling. With a minimum cut-off of 50 such occasions since the start of 2017 (again across the top six franchise leagues), Ali has done this 11 times out of 51, at a rate behind only Pollard, AB de Villiers and Russell. That is, from the moment he arrives, he scores more than half the team’s runs at a better rate than his partners more often than anyone other than three of the greatest T20 batters ever.ESPNcricinfo LtdCast your mind back to that wild difference in his strike rate for the first ten balls of an innings for Pakistan and for Islamabad United – 110 for the former and 165.4 for the latter (until June 20). It seems even more profound, and can only really speak either of a difference in how he’s asked to bat for both sides, or a hesitation borne from the sense that if he’s not careful, he’ll be out of the national side. And once you start hesitating and worrying in this role, you’re already not fit for it.

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If there is a sense that Ali is not taken seriously by those outside Islamabad United, it perhaps has something to do with the route he has taken to get here.In his younger days he was a tape-ball professional, playing in tournaments across Punjab. That was his grounding – practising on cement wickets, which sharpens bat speeds and reflexes. Friends on the circuit pushed him to join a club and start playing hard-ball cricket, but he took that up late, and for a while, not seriously. He could only play club games on weekends because his job as a quality inspector in a steel factory in Faisalabad left him no time during the week. But he could play tape-ball in the evenings, so he continued.One weekend his club took on Combined Cricket Club, a prominent local team that had several first-class cricketers. His own team called in Mohammad Salman, a wicketkeeper who played ten internationals for Pakistan in 2011, as a guest player for the game. Ali and Salman eventually opened, chasing a modest target of 130-odd. They got there in ten overs, Ali hitting 120. It left both Salman and opponents alike astonished enough to make sure Ali was, through a white-ball camp for Faisalabad, mainstreamed.Eventually he would make his T20 debut for the Faisalabad Wolves in the much loved and missed Super Eight T20 tournament, and hit a 59-ball 100. He couldn’t believe the boundaries at Iqbal Stadium were so small for that game, because when he played there for his club, the boundaries were never really marked and invariably were wherever the stands began. And he was so raw, so untrained as a professional athlete, he remembers getting to 39 and running out of breath. But it was only after that hundred that he gave up his factory job for a full-time tilt at cricket. If he could hit a hundred in a national tournament against national-level players, he figured, imagine what he could do if he trained to become a professional cricketer.The hurt at being ignored by Pakistan is showing in Ali’s PSL performances and celebrations•Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty ImagesThis is a familiar route in Pakistan – tape-ball nursery, maybe alongside club cricket, spotted by a coach or player, and suddenly, bang, straight into the pipeline. Except that it is a familiar route for fast bowlers. Pakistan is an orthodox, conservative cricket environment, especially for batters, who are required to conform to some vague notion of correctness; to have come through multi-day, red-ball cricket, where they learn about footwork and technique and patience.Ali did not come through like that. He only played three first-class games before his T20 debut, no age-group cricket, and barely any district-level cricket. He does not even now seem hugely hung up on a red-ball career.This is not a career path Pakistan’s cricket establishment can readily get its head round, least of all that tape-ball cricket has had such a formative influence on his batting. Fine for fast bowlers but it corrupts batting. It’s easy to imagine that in the minds of decision-makers, Ali probably produces a frisson of the same unease they associated with Shahid Afridi’s batting, just with a fancier job title and new-fangled data decorating it; that he is essentially the same good-time-not-long-time, hit-now-think-never batter.

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In his first innings after those 24 seconds, Ali walked in at one down instead of his usual five or six. United were soaring, 98 already with the tenth over not done. It was a typical United move, having understood the situation and calculated there was nobody better than Ali to double down – not consolidate – on that start. Ali was gone before the end of the 13th but not before he had hit 43 off 14. Next game, he hit 25 off 16, all but killing a chase that, with him not there, eventually still went to the last over.These were not unusual Ali innings, but they were also simmering around the edges with a new, clear-eyed anger. There was a mean-spirited triumphalism about these, like the dictator who doesn’t want to just win a majority in a sham election but wants the opposition dead as well. One six he struck off Peshawar Zalmi’s Sameen Gul, on one knee, over extra cover, didn’t just take six off Zalmi’s total, it exacted a bit of the bowler’s soul with it. It was personal. When he pulled Sohail Khan in the next game high into the night sky, so too he sent with that ball some of the bowler’s spirit.This was batting as venting and maybe there’s the trick. That what he needs is to corral this anger and funnel it one day straight through an innings for Pakistan.Stats inputs from Shiva Jayaraman. All stats current to June 20, 2021