His last act as captain was lifting the IPL trophy. His most lasting act, subverting expectation

Alagappan Muthu21-Mar-20244:43

Moody: Dhoni was able to get a lot out of average squads

It happened quietly. A whisper into the ether. Just like it did in 2014. And then in 2020. The end of an era. MS Dhoni’s last act as captain was lifting the IPL trophy. His most lasting act, subverting expectation.He’s made it seem like it’s been a straight line from being an Indian Railways employee to breakout cricket star to multiple World Cup winner to multiple IPL winner to finally the stuff of pure myth, who was spending his Thursday evening calmly playing volleyball with his feet.Related

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About two hours before this training session, it became clear that he’d made a life-altering decision (if not his, then at least Ruturaj Gaikwad’s). But here he was, whacking a ball to the other end of the outfield, that long hair from back in the day flowing in the wind.Two-hundred and thirty-five games as CSK captain. That’s just two matches less than Virat Kohli’s entire IPL career. And even over all those matches, he always found a way to surprise. Going all the way back to that wild night in Dharamsala in 2010. Back then there was a glitch in the system and the emotion came pouring out. There has rarely been a more visceral celebration in the 16 years of this tournament than the guy who gets called Captain Cool losing it and pretty much punching himself in the face. Although, ten months ago, when he grabbed a grown man around his middle and hoisted him up high on a knee that was completely shot, he probably topped himself.The long hair is back, but for how long will we continue to watch MS Dhoni in the IPL?•PTI Ravindra Jadeja was the one that was holding Dhoni up from taking the crease at practice on Thursday. Clean hits down the ground and over cover and once again they brought zero applause. There was only a smattering of people at the ground – maybe about a hundred – and they were here for only one person. He tends to wear funny pads, start sentences with “Well, of course” and drop bombshells with no warning.The time for him to bat finally came and once again he subverted expectations. Dhoni’s practice sessions in the IPL end up as a sort of structural integrity test for cricket balls. He absolutely belts them. Here he started with a (Chennai street lingo for block). It was a reminder that he can still be kept quiet by that in-between length on and around off stump. The person operating the sidearm quickly read the room and shifted his line closer to Dhoni’s body and very soon those vintage shots were peppering the leg-side boundary. There was a glimpse of the helicopter. One that soared out of the ground. And another that was a warning to anyone planning to bowl wide yorkers. Make sure they’re proper wide or you’ll be in the path of a missile coming straight at you.”It’s annoying, isn’t it?” CSK coach Stephen Fleming said with a smile as he spoke about Dhoni’s power. “That it comes that easy. But no, I have been absolutely amazed with the way that he has prepared and played the pre-season. And I’m very hopeful that he’s going to have a big contribution again to us in that role down the order.”But it is one of the things that we really admire about MS, his durability. Last year, he functioned on one leg and had that cleaned up and the desire to rehab and come back again is very strong. And it’s contagious and motivational for the players when they see the work that he does and then the skills that he still has. He’s a sharp mind. He’s hitting the ball beautifully in the nets and is still as determined as ever to make a contribution to the franchise. And that’s all that I can ask and that his fellow team-mates do as well.”‘He’s hitting the ball beautifully in the nets and is still as determined as ever to make a contribution to the franchise’ – Stephen Fleming on Dhoni•PTI The switch in captaincy was Dhoni’s idea and while he does have a long history of making calls based on gut instinct, the most famous of which happened at 114 for 3 on April 2, 2011, both he and the franchise would not have taken this one lightly. Especially because they last time they tried it, it backfired. The problem with succeeding Dhoni is that you aren’t just succeeding a man, you’re succeeding a feeling, a phenomenon. When Dhoni had faith in you, it meant a cult hero, a World-Cup-winning legend, one of the greatest to have ever played the game, had faith in you. That made you play differently.So this transition, like most others of its kind, will be painful and CSK will have to brace for a tough little period. They will want to insulate their new captain; ensure that even though the outside world would judge him against an impossible standard, they themselves are behind him and his vision. They seem better prepared for it. Fleming’s already cracking jokes.”There were tears everywhere. Everyone was crying,” he said, taking the opportunity to show off his dry sense of humour. “Yeah, no, it was typically low-key. Very low-key. And as expected, quickly led to a bit of a celebration of Ruturaj and the opportunity [he has]. So the players embraced it well. There’s always a little bit of shock around it, but going back to two years ago, we’re much more conditioned to this time. And the players handled it very well, just as the captain… ex-captain, handled it well in announcing it to the team.”That little slip of the tongue right there, where Fleming couldn’t help but call Dhoni captain, and then corrected himself, it’s going to keep happening. It’s going to take some time for this to feel real. For Fleming, for CSK, and the rest of us.

Where will the final of T20 World Cup 2024 be won and lost?

Nagraj Gollapudi, S Rajesh and Shiva Jayaraman28-Jun-20242:10

How do South Africa tackle Kuldeep and Bumrah?

Toss factor: Bat first?In the four day matches played at Kensington Oval so far in this tournament, the team winning the toss has twice elected to bat first. While Namibia lost against Scotland, India beat Afghanistan comfortably by 47 runs. England elected to bowl in the other two matches, losing to Australia and defeating USA.Overall in this tournament, India have batted first in five of their seven matches, and on four of those occasions their opponents sent them in, including Thursday’s semi-final in Guyana where England were bowled out for 103 in pursuit of 172.Related

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South Africa, meanwhile, have won the toss three times and elected to bowl twice. Overall, they have batted first on four occasions, and chased as many times, winning all their games so far.Bowling is a strong suit for both teams, and both India and South Africa may prefer bowling second in the final, when the pressure will be higher. Since this is a day game, there will be no dew to advantage the chasing team.ESPNcricinfo LtdPace-off against SKYSuryakumar Yadav scores a high proportion of his runs in the zone stretching from backward point to backward square leg. He loves using any pace and bounce on offer to direct the ball behind the wicket, and South Africa’s fast bowlers know this. The zones behind the wicket have brought Suryakumar 66 runs off 24 balls against Kagiso Rabada in all T20s, 32 off 12 against Nortje, and 25 off just five balls against Jansen. Suryakumar has a phenomenal overall strike rate of 298 against the South African trio when he plays them in those zones.ESPNcricinfo LtdThere is, though, a way for fast bowlers to try and prevent him from accessing these areas: take the pace off. Especially in the IPL over the last few years, there has been a noticeable rise in bowlers deploying the slower ball against Suryakumar. He scores quickly against the slower ball too, going at a strike rate of 180.40 against the 148 slower balls he has faced in T20s since the start of 2023, but the revealing number is the average: it drops from 42.30 against on-pace deliveries to 20.53 against slower balls. And from once every 23 balls against on-pace deliveries, his dismissal rate climbs to once every 11.4 balls against slower balls.ESPNcricinfo LtdBowl Maharaj in the powerplayAfter losing the semi-final in Guyana, Jos Buttler conceded that he could have bowled Moeen Ali in the first six overs to create pressure on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Jansen and Rabada have usually started with the new ball for South Africa in this World Cup, but India’s openers enjoy facing pace first up and like to go hard against the fast men. While Rabada has dismissed Kohli and Rohit four times each in T20s, and the sample size is too small for Jansen, South Africa could look at going defensive by introducing Keshav Maharaj’s left-arm spin in the powerplay. Since January 2023, Maharaj has gone for 143 runs in 114 powerplay deliveries, with an economy of 7.52, and picked up six wickets in this phase. Traditionally, both Rohit and Kohli have tended to score slowly against left-arm spin.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe key battles – Klaasen vs Jadeja, Kuldeep vs MillerHeinrich Klaasen and David Miller are the best players of spin in the South Africa line-up. But can they withstand the collective pressure that the Indian spin trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja could build from both ends? Both batters have strong numbers against Axar, but have faced issues against the other two.ESPNcricinfo LtdKlaasen’s modus operandi relies on standing deep in the crease and using his bat swing to launch big hits, while also being able to manoeuvre the ball into gaps and run hard. By his own admission, it is when he is in two minds whether to attack or play safe that he self-destructs. And he has found himself in such a scenario against Jadeja. In their T20 meetings so far, Klaasen has managed just 16 runs off 15 balls against Jadeja.Miller, too, has been circumspect against Kuldeep. Since January 2022, Miller has scored at a run a ball off 24 balls from India’s best spinner in the format, while being dismissed twice. There is no doubt India will try and exploit these match-ups; how will Klaasen and Miller respond?ESPNcricinfo LtdSamson for Dube?In a curious move in the semi-final against England, India pushed Shivam Dube down the order, having mostly used him at No. 5 over the course of the tournament. Dube was included in India’s squad as a spin-disruptor, and although he has scored 47 off 38 balls against spin in this tournament, he has been dismissed twice by that style of bowling, and has been circumspect against pace, picking up just 59 off 62 balls. While it seems highly unlikely India will drop him for the final, they could replace him with Sanju Samson, who has occupied the bench since playing the warm-up match against Bangladesh.Shamsi or Baartman?Tabraiz Shamsi has 11 wickets at this World Cup, with one four-wicket haul and two three-fors, including 3 for 6 in the semi-final against Afghanistan. Shamsi has decent head-to-head against most of India’s batters in the last two years, too, and won the Player-of-the-Match award in the second match of the home T20 series last December in Gqeberha, where he picked up 1 for 18 in four overs. However, do South Africa need a second spinner at a venue where fast bowlers have taken 32 wickets as against 20 by spinners?The alternative could be Ottneil Baartman. The right-arm fast man nearly let England back into South Africa’s last Super Eight match with a 21-run 17th over, erring while repeatedly looking for yorkers rather than bang away on a hard length. But the yorker is a big weapon for Baartman at the death, and he has executed it well in South African domestic cricket. He has also been among the most economical bowlers in the country, capable of operating in all three phases. It is a good headache for Rob Walters, South Africa’s head coach-cum-selector and captain Aiden Markarm: rely on Shamsi’s experience and guile or inject the pace of Baartman?

Sixes, dots, near run-outs, and a nervy last-ball finish; Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals had it all

ESPNcricinfo staff02-May-20243:17

‘We saw the vintage Bhuvi today’

20 needed off 12. Cummins will definitely bowl one of these overs. Will Bhuvneshwar bowl the other? Or will it be Unadkat? Looks like we will have to wait another over to find out. Here is Cummins…18.1, Cummins to Jurel, OUT
The Sunrisers Hyderabad are alive! And the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad is alive too! Half-volley on the pads. Jurel steps across his stumps and tries to shovel it over deep square leg. The bottom hand comes off ever so slightly, though, and he arrows it to Abhishek, who tracks the ball and holds on to the chance!Dhruv Jurel c Abhishek Sharma b Cummins 1 (3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33Ashwin is the new batter in. RR need 20 off 11Related

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18.2, Cummins to Ashwin, 1 run
Angled in full on middle and off. Ashwin goes deep into his crease and works it towards long on. Gets Powell back on strike18.3, Cummins to Powell, no run
Slower delivery dug into the track outside off. Powell swings his bat like an axe but does not make any contact. The crowd finds its voice again!18.4, Cummins to Powell, no run
Nails the wide yorker, and Powell is all at sea. Perhaps he was not expecting it and is too late to bring his bat down. Squirms under the toe-end, and that is another dot18.5, Cummins to Powell, no run
Another slower bumper, just outside off. Powell tries to catch up with it but just cannot come to grips with the change in pace. Three dots in a row. In the penultimate over.Three fielders behind point in the ring18.6, Cummins to Powell, SIX runs
Powell with a magnificent shot under pressure! Cummins goes for the wide yorker again but bowls it a smidgen shorter than he would have wanted. That allows Powell to get under it and he carves this over deep cover point!Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck off the final ball to seal a one-run win for SRH•BCCI13 off 6. Ashwin on strike. Bhuvneshwar to bowl. So much experience on both ends. Who will triumph? Looks like the over-rate penalty has been imposed too. SRH can only have four fielders outside the ring.19.1, Bhuvneshwar to Ashwin, 1 run
Into the blockhole on middle and leg. Ashwin squeezes it out towards long on12 off 5. All eyes on Bhuvneshwar and Powell. Does Bhuvneshwar also look for the wide yorker, and does Powell pre-empt it?19.2, Bhuvneshwar to Powell, 2 runs
Yorker on the stumps. Powell flicks it towards long on and Ashwin comes back for the second. The throw goes to the batter’s end and Powell makes it too. Not great fielding and decision-making by Jansen. Surely the throw should have gone to Ashwin’s end?19.3, Bhuvneshwar to Powell, FOUR runs
Powell with another corker of a boundary! Low full toss wide outside off. Powell predicts it and moves across. Gets down low and laps it through the vacant fine leg region!6 off 3 now19.4, Bhuvneshwar to Powell, 2 runs
Nails the yorker on off. Powell drills it towards long-off and both batters want two. The throw goes to the batter’s end again and the throw is wild too. Two completed easily.19.5, Bhuvneshwar to Powell, 2 runs
Has Powell been run out?! He sprawled across the turf but was that enough?! Spears in a yorker on the pads. Powell whisks it towards deep square leg. He always wants to come back for the second and stretches every sinew of his body to get there. The dive saves him, and Powell is back on strike!Rovman Powell nearly took Rajasthan Royals home•Mahesh Kumar / AP PhotoPlenty of running repairs for Powell. He seemed to hurt himself but the adrenaline would be pumping right now. All he wants is to take RR home here. The umpire steps in and asks Powell and the rest of the RR contingent on the field to hurry upBhuvneshwar has had plenty of time to think about this last ball now. What does he bowl? Does Powell stay still or does he move around his crease?2 off 1. Here we go!19.6, Bhuvneshwar to Powell, OUT
Huge appeal, and the finger goes up! Bhuvneshwar Kumar has won it for SRH, and they have come back from the brink to upset the table toppers! Full toss zinged into middle and leg. Powell has a swing across the line and misses. Gets pinned on the back leg and the slow, dreaded finger of Anil Choudhary goes up. Powell is disconsolate and he has reviewed but it is immaterial. Even if he is deemed not out, they will not get any runs. The Ball Tracking graphic comes up, and it only confirms what we all knew. Powell is out, and that is that. What drama in Hyderabad. The Rajasthan Royals don’t know where to look. They do not know what has hit them. SRH don’t know how they have done this. This is a comeback and some, and a tale those at the ground will tell the next generation about!

England are showing signs of depth, and if they can continue to build on it, it’s even better for them

Valkerie Baynes18-May-2024Maia Bouchier’s timing was right on as she tucked the first ball of the match through backward square for four then rocked back to cut Waheeda Akhtar effortlessly to the deep point boundary three balls later. She pierced the covers off a wider, fuller ball from Sadia Iqbal to bring up her third boundary and was cruising despite losing her opening partner, Danni Wyatt, cheaply.The dismissal had brought Alice Capsey to the crease and her five boundaries off Waheeda’s third over spelt trouble for Pakistan, even if the first was a streaky edge which evaded the keeper and the second a premeditated slap through square leg.Another assured strike over the covers from Bouchier had England 48 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, a vast improvement on their 29 for 4 in the opening match of this series.Related

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England’s 65-run victory in the second T20I in Northampton for an unassailable 2-0 lead was far more clinical than at Edgbaston last Saturday, where the 53-run margin was somewhat flattering to the hosts after they had collapsed to 11 for 4. And, on the surface, there were multiple contributors.In Birmingham, it was Amy Jones, Heather Knight and latterly 41 from Dani Gibson who rescued England. At Wantage Road, Bouchier and Alice Capsey ensured panic was averted with their 49-run partnership at almost a run-a-ball.But while they were by no means sluggish with 30 off 26 and 31 off 33 respectively, Nat Sciver-Brunt made them look it in her return at No. 4 after recovering from her egg-freezing procedure which kept her out of the first match and which she hopes will enable her and wife Katherine to start a family when the time is right for them.Unavailable to bowl until she builds up her workloads with a view to possibly returning to her allrounder role during the ODI series which follows Sunday’s final T20I at Headingley, Sciver-Brunt showed just why England could come to rely on her batting again against tougher opposition.Bouchier was run out trying to push for a single she clearly didn’t expect Diana Baig to stop with a full-length dive at extra cover, firing the ball into the keeper with Bouchier too far gone. But Sciver-Brunt was off the mark immediately with a cut off Nashra Sandhu through point.Capsey was caught behind advancing to Nida Dar, who drew level with Australia’s Megan Schutt at the top of the Women’s T20I wicket-takers’ list with 136 as a consequence. But Sciver-Brunt got the England innings moving again, first working the ball through fine leg for four followed by a brilliantly executed piece of innovation for which she is so well respected by team-mates and rivals alike, with a brutal reverse off Dar.Maia Bouchier got the innings off to a confident start•Getty ImagesSciver-Brunt struck three fours off one Sandhu over to move to 30 off 19 balls and, where Bouchier had been cruising, she was positively flying. That was until she picked out Fatima Sana at cover next over off Sadia to end a promising comeback innings on 31.The rest of England’s innings was unremarkable as they reached 144 for 6, some 19 runs fewer than they managed to defend at Edgbaston, after Dar removed Jones in the last over to move to the top of the T20I wicket-takers’ list outright.For England’s bowlers, it was another strong team effort against a Pakistan batting line-up which lacks power and, so far this series, longevity.Lauren Bell made early inroads, Sarah Glenn – who took four at Edgbaston – took 2 for 10 from three overs, and Capsey 2 for 4 from two as she was awarded Player of the Match.But it was spin-bowling spearhead Sophie Ecclestone who led the way with 3 for 11 in 2.5 overs as Pakistan were bowled out for 79 with 25 balls to spare. In the process, she overtook Katherine Sciver-Brunt as England’s all-time leading wicket-taker in Women’s T20Is with 117.”I forget I’m 25,” Ecclestone, who celebrated her birthday earlier this month, said. “My body doesn’t feel 25 sometimes, but I think it’s obviously exciting and a massive thing for me is I keep enjoying it.”I’m not much of a stats person. As long as the team’s winning and we win a World Cup and the Ashes coming up, then I don’t really care what my stats are.”When I saw it on the screen I actually didn’t realise I’d taken that many wickets. Katherine was great. She was someone I looked up to when I was really young and got her autograph a couple of times and to have overtaken her is a bit surreal.”Ecclestone was also full of praise for the other Scvier-Brunt. “She’s just amazing and to have her calmness back in the squad means a lot to us. It’s great to have her back and long may that continue.”Sciver-Brunt’s ongoing presence looks sure to stand England in good stead but, if they can continue to build the depth they are showing signs of now, even better for them.

Severely injured and then mercilessly booed by IPL crowds, Hardik Pandya has bounced back to play a crucial role in India’s T20 World Cup triumph

Sidharth Monga30-Jun-20241:12

Manjrekar: ‘No surprise to see Hardik flourish on the big stage’

After one of the great jailbreaks in a match against Pakistan in the 2022 T20 World Cup, Hardik Pandya sat down with journalists on the floor of the press rooms at the MCG. It wasn’t a press conference but a mixed media zone, an ICC initiative that facilitates a more casual and friendly interaction with players at World Cups. In such a setting, players are not conscious of cameras and are likelier to speak from the heart.The recorder is there to capture words, so the eye can focus on a player’s mannerisms, but Hardik said something that caught my attention: something to the effect of having risen above results, having lost the fear of failure. Was he saying it because India had won? Would he have felt the same had India not?”I said it,” was Hardik’s response. “Even with three balls left, I told the boys, ‘Even if we lose the game, it’s okay.’ I said I am proud of the way we have fought in the game. We have been a team that has worked very hard individually, together, collectively. So even if we had lost the game, I would have still had a smile on my face and would have just said we gave it everything, and they were just good on that day.”Somewhere down the line I have accepted the fact that this sport will give me ups and downs. The more ups I have the better, but even the downs I will cherish because failure teaches you a lot of things.”Related

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Truth be told, this is how the sport should be played. This is how you perform at your optimum. But like George Costanza in “The Deal” episode of Seinfeld, I wanted to say: “Where are you living? Are you here? Are you on this planet? It’s impossible. It can’t be done.”Thousands of years people have been trying to have their cake and eat it too. So all of a sudden you are going to come along and do it. Where do you get the ego? No one can do it. It can’t be done.”Quite a few have tried to seek that balance and failed. This sport just doesn’t let you. You have to care like hell but play like you don’t care. Only the greatest can attain that nirvana.Sure enough, the injuries returned for Hardik. The only man in India who can do what he does, wasn’t able to do what he does. In the middle of a great ODI World Cup campaign last year, he hurt himself again while trying to field off his own bowling. The details are not important right now – and surely someday they will say their piece – but something happened at Mumbai Indians and suddenly nobody wanted to touch Hardik with a bargepole.He was booed wherever he went, and a while he became sport for the crowds. The ball didn’t come out of his hand right either. Paras Mhambrey, India’s bowling coach, said the team management kept monitoring him remotely, and Hardik kept following the process: workloads, intensity, net practice. His luck was bound to turn at some point, Mhambrey said.Hardik Pandya scored 144 runs and took 11 wickets in this T20 World Cup•CREIMASIt did turn around during this T20 World Cup. He was part of a strong team for the conditions. He didn’t have to carry the weight of the world. Wickets started coming, first against Ireland, then against Pakistan. Runs arrived when needed. He came to the final looking like a Tamil film hero: sharp cuts, just a moustache with no accompanying stubble.The game was nearly gone, but his MI team-mate Jasprit Bumrah kept it alive until Hardik’s return. He started with a wide slower ball and was lucky enough to get the edge of the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen. Then he tightened up. Cutters into the pitch. Nothing fancy. Didn’t try to reverse it like Bumrah. Kept it alive for Bumrah like Bumrah had done for him.Bumrah and Arshdeep left Hardik plenty to defend in the 20th over. Just 14 had come off the previous four overs, along with two wickets, but David Miller was still there. And anything can happen in the last over especially if the first ball flies. The plan was to not bowl in Miller’s arc. Hardik was by now deliberately taking his time before starting to run in. He got the line right but the length horribly wrong.Miller hits these full tosses for six blindfolded, but this is the last over of a World Cup final that South Africa had in their pocket four overs ago. It was not the sweetest hit, but bats these days can carry the ball far. It seemed like this was carrying too, but Hardik’s other MI team-mate Suryakumar Yadav took a catch for the ages. Those replays might be discussed for ages. Did Suryakumar’s boot just faintly touch the boundary? The tan lines on the outfield raised the possibility that the boundary triangles had not been restored to their original position after an earlier stop.That is how close Hardik came to ignominy again. Imagine the tide turning once again. Such are the margins. Eventually, though, he finished the game off. A great measure of what being part of a winning group in sport can do is how Rohit kissed Hardik on the cheek.Speaking to Star Sports, a teary-eyed Hardik made two false starts and then finally managed to say: “Those six months, I wanted those six months of mine. I couldn’t even figure out what happened to me. I controlled a lot. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t. People who were happy with my misery, I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. And I will never.”Now look at the fate. I got a chance to do this in the final over. I couldn’t ever have imagined this. I am speechless.”The biggest takeaway from all this is that no feeling is ever final until you retire in cricket. Even after retiring as a player, you can win your first World Cup, as Rahul Dravid did. You have to stay fit, dust yourself off, and get back to it. And if you can, rise above the results and live to tell the tale.

The duo brought their first-class experience to the fore, leaving the ball often, showing little ego about getting hit, and spending time in the middle without runs

Mohammad Isam28-Aug-2024The 12 overs batted out by Shadman Islam and Zakir Hasan before stumps on the second day is being talked about as one of the defining moments of Bangladesh’s ten-wicket win over Pakistan in Rawalpindi last week, with both Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque pointing to it as a major turning point in the game.But why was it so crucial?A top-order short on confidence – one of Bangladesh’s long-standing problems – had to respond after Pakistan had declared on 448 for 6. Shadman and Zakir did that. Making sure no wickets were lost late in the evening.They batted together for 16.5 overs (into the third morning). It was the longest opening stand for Bangladesh in Tests since December 2022. Bangladesh had used five different opening pairs in this phase. Tamim Iqbal is no longer part of their Test plans, while Mahmudul Hasan Joy, the only opener in form, pulled up injured ahead of the Test.Related

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Stats – Bangladesh's first Test win over Pakistan

The champion is back – whither Shakib the Bangladesh hero?

Shadman, who batted close to five-and-a-half hours for his 93, said that not losing a wicket that evening was important for Bangladesh’s short- and long-term goals in the match.”We planned to give away no wickets on the second evening,” he said. “We had to bat out the 12 overs. We thought that starting the third day with all wickets in hand would be a real confidence-booster for the team. It turned out to be the catalyst for our big score [565]. We batted confidently for the rest of the game.”Zakir dug in at the other end, battling for 81 minutes to score 12 runs. It will be hard to remember his contribution but Mominul had said that Zakir had inspired the dressing room with his doggedness.Shadman went on to face 183 balls, hitting 12 fours as he played a role in converting Bangladesh’s solid start into a solid innings. He added 94 runs for the third wicket with Mominul, before picking up the pace during his 52-run stand with Mushfiqur Rahim for the fourth wicket.”Batting with Mominul and Mushfiq , who are seasoned campaigners, makes you feel comfortable,” Shadman said. “You are always getting positive messages when you are batting with them. They always tell me to stick to the plan. They are mindful of what’s going on around the field. One thing that they do particularly well is remind you not to relax. Especially when the end of a session is coming up. They will tell you to be careful around those times.”Shadman missed out on a century but strengthened his case for the second Test. He had only come into the XI as Joy’s replacement.Shadman said it had been a tough road since his previous Test – in South Africa more than two years ago – but his sole focus was to be prepared. “My only goal was to return to the Test team. I was preparing myself for the last two years. I had not been in the team. It didn’t deter me too much but I kept preparing myself to be ready for Test cricket, especially when I played first-class cricket.”Shadman Islam dug in to score 93 in the first innings in Rawalpindi after replacing the injured Mahmudul Hasan Joy•Associated PressThough they have not played many Tests, Shadman (14) and Zakir (eight) have been part of the domestic set-up for a while. They have played 68 and 80 first-class matches respectively, outside of Test cricket. Both have come off good 2023-24 domestic tournaments but those were a while back. Shadman played two four-dayers against Pakistan A in Darwin last month, while Zakir’s only red-ball appearance in the last three months was the four-day match against Pakistan A in Islamabad last week.Zakir also took a blinder at gully, when Abdullah Shafique had edged Hasan Mahmud on the first afternoon. “I saw the ball early. I saw it coming off the edge,” Zakir said. “It was a split-second thing but when you have sighted it early off the bat, the reflex kicks in. I allowed the reflex to do the rest of the job.”At that time it was hard for anyone to imagine that Bangladesh would boss the game and win by ten wickets for the first time in their Test history. Zakir had another contribution left in the game, one which he had decided had to be his. “When we saw that the target was just 30 runs, I told myself that I want to be at the crease to score the winning runs. I wanted to be part of history.”Patience had always been a missing ingredient in Bangladesh’s top order, and now, they perhaps have a blueprint that can serve them in the long-term.

Also: what’s the record for most consecutive wins from the start of a captaincy career?

Steven Lynch17-Sep-2024Shimron Hetmyer hit 91 without a four in one innings in this year’s Caribbean Premier League. Is that the highest in T20s without a four? asked Chris Dowden from Grenada

You’re right that Shimron Hetmyer’s 91 for Guyana Amazon Warriors in their CPL match against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre a couple of weeks ago contained no fours. We should perhaps mention that he did manage no fewer than 11 sixes, though!It is the highest score in any T20 match without a four, beating Shashrika Pussegolla’s 78 for Sebastianites against Police in Colombo in June 2022.The highest individual score in any T20 match with no fours or sixes appears to be 38 not out, by Navdeep Poonia for Scotland against Bermuda in Belfast during the World T20 Qualifier in August 2008.What’s the highest opening partnership in an international in which neither player scored a hundred? asked Nandra de Silva from Sri Lanka

A performance in a T20I leads the way here. Playing for Gibraltar against Bulgaria in Valletta (Malta) in 2022, Avinash Pai (86 not out) and Louis Bruce (99 not out) batted through the innings for an unbroken opening partnership of 213.In ODIs, Chris Gayle (99) and Wavell Hinds (82) put on 192 for West Indies’ first wicket against Bangladesh in Southampton during the 2004 Champions Trophy in England. Shikhar Dhawan (81 not out) and Shubman Gill (82 not out) also shared an opening stand of 192 – without being parted – for India against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2022.The men’s Test record is also 192, by Sunil Gavaskar (97) and Chetan Chauhan (93) for India against Pakistan in Lahore in 1978. However, Caroline Atkins (90) and Arran Brindle (85) put on exactly 200 for England’s first wicket in a women’s Test against India in Lucknow in 2002.I was going through scorecards of the good old days of Pakistan cricket, and spotted that in a Test against India in 2005-06, seven batters made 50-plus in the second innings. Was this a record? asked M Usman Sharif from Pakistan

You’re right that Pakistan’s second innings against India in Karachi in 2006 contained seven scores of 50 or more. Actually, it was the top seven in the order: Salman Butt 53, Imran Farhat 57, Younis Khan 77, Mohammad Yousuf 97, Faisal Iqbal 139, Shahid Afridi 60 and Abdul Razzaq 90. The total was enough for Pakistan to win by 341 runs – quite a comeback considering they had been 0 for 3 in the first over of the match, after a hat-trick from Irfan Pathan.That was actually the second Test innings to contain seven individual scores of 50 or more, after England against Australia at Old Trafford in 1934. It happened again at Lord’s in 2006, when seven Sri Lankans reached 50 after they followed on against England. Here’s the full list of seven or more batters making 50 or more.Percy Chapman holds the record for winning the most consecutive Tests at the start of a captaincy career•SR Gaiger/Getty ImagesHad England won at The Oval, Ollie Pope would have started with three wins in his first three matches as captain. Which captain won the most Tests from the start of their career? asked Mark Annear via Facebook

England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope won his first two Tests in charge, before coming a cropper in the third, at The Oval last week. Over the years, 23 captains won their first three matches in charge: six of them are from England, the most recent being Brian Close in the mid-1960s. The most recent from any country is Pope’s opposite number, Dhananjaya de Silva, earlier this year.The best start is by England’s Percy Chapman, who won his first nine Tests as captain in the late 1920s. Earlier that decade, Warwick Armstrong won his first eight Tests in charge of Australia. There’s a big gap then to seven others who won their first four Tests as captain.Regarding last week’s question about the tallest men to play for England, what about Boyd Rankin? asked Michael O’Hara from Ireland

Thanks for pointing that out: it’s not the first time I’d forgotten that fast bowler Boyd Rankin, who played county cricket for Derbyshire and Warwickshire, played a Test for England (against Australia in Sydney in 2014), as well as two for his native Ireland.Rankin is also in the region of 6ft 8in (203cm), and thus shares the distinction of being England’s tallest Test cricketer with Steven Finn. Current squad member Reece Topley is also 6ft 8in, but although he has played more than 50 white-ball internationals, he hasn’t appeared in a Test match.The tallest Test player from any country remains Mohammad Irfan of Pakistan – another left-arm quick – who extends the tape to 7ft 1in (216cm). Irfan is believed to be the tallest first-class cricketer too.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Also: What is the most deliveries a batter has consumed in the nineties before going on to make a hundred in a Test?

Steven Lynch24-Dec-2024What is the most number of balls a batter has spent in the nineties before going on to make a hundred in a Test? And what’s the longest time someone has spent on 99 before reaching 100? asked Ben Cox from Australia

This is one of those questions that is difficult to answer definitively, because we lack ball-by-ball data for a lot of early matches – and the increased rates of scoring these days means, according to the Australian statistician Charles Davis, that records for slow scoring are more likely to be incomplete as they are more likely to involve the older matches for which we don’t have full details.Given that, the longest spell known for a batter in the nineties is 75 balls, by the England opener Cyril Washbrook, in the third Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge in 1950. Remarkably enough, Washbrook is also in third place on this list, as he’d warmed up in the previous Test at Lord’s by spending 68 balls in the nineties. Charles warns: “For him the number of balls could be plus or minus two or three owing to unmarked leg-byes in the scorebook.”In between comes Jack Hobbs, with 72 balls in the nineties for England against Australia at Lord’s in 1926. Another England player, Michael Vaughan, spent 68 balls in the nineties against Sri Lanka in Kandy in 2003. The leading non-Englishman is Bruce Mitchell, with 67 balls in the nineties against England in Cape Town in 1949.In Kandy, Vaughan spent 87 minutes in the nineties, a time that looks to have been exceeded only by Saqlain Mushtaq, who was in the nineties for around 98 minutes (66 balls, including 17 on 99) while approaching his only Test century, against New Zealand in Christchurch in 2001.When Glenn Turner reached the first of his twin centuries for New Zealand against Australia in Christchurch in 1974, he spent only 43 balls in the nineties, but a record 36 of them came while he was on 99. England’s Derek Randall was stuck on 99 for 28 balls against New Zealand in Wellington in 1984. The New Zealand opener John Wright spent 17 balls on 99 against England in Christchurch in January 1992, being stumped off the last of them and not reaching his century.At the other end of the scale, Ben Stokes uniquely spent just one ball in the nineties against Australia at Lord’s in 2023, going from 88 to 100 with successive sixes off Cameron Green.R Ashwin not only took 537 wickets in Tests but also scored six centuries. Who’s the next-highest wicket-taker with six hundreds under his belt? asked Gawtham Patel from India

You’re right that R Ashwin finished his Test career with 537 wickets and six centuries (and a total of 3503 runs). Another Indian, Kapil Dev, finished with 434 wickets and eight hundreds in Tests, while Ian Botham ended up with 383 wickets and 14 centuries.In all, eight men who scored six or more Test hundreds also reached 200 wickets. The figures of Jacques Kallis are pretty remarkable – 292 wickets and 13,289 runs, with no fewer than 45 centuries!Yashasvi Jaiswal has reached 100 four times in Tests now, and gone on to 150 each time. Is this a record? asked Nikhil Shrestha from India

You’re right that Yashasvi Jaiswal has converted all four of his Test centuries to date to 150s: he started with 171 on his debut, against West Indies in Dominica in 2023, and has added 209 against England in Visakhapatnam in 2024, an undefeated 214 in the next match in Rajkot, and 161 in the first Test of the current series against Australia in Perth.The only other man to do this was another left-hand opener, South Africa’s Graeme Smith. His first four Test centuries were 200 against Bangladesh in East London in 2002, followed by 151 against Pakistan in Cape Town in 2003, and innings of 277 at Edgbaston and 259 at Lord’s in the first two Tests against England in the summer of 2003. Smith’s run was broken when he was out for 132 against West Indies in Johannesburg in 2003: Jaiswal’s run is still ongoing.Graeme Smith converted his first four Test hundreds into 150s, three of which were double-hundreds•Getty ImagesHas anyone younger than Sam Konstas opened the batting for Australia in a Test? asked Davey Moore from Australia

If he makes his Test debut for Australia against India in Melbourne on Boxing Day, the precocious New South Wales batter Sam Konstas will be 19 years 85 days old. There have been only three younger Australian Test players: Ian Craig (17 in 1953), the current captain Pat Cummins (18 in 2011), and Tom Garrett (18 in the first Test of all, in 1877). But none of them opened the batting as teenagers: at the moment the youngest man to go in first for Australia remains Archie Jackson, against England in Adelaide in 1929 – and he marked his Test debut with a memorable 164. So if Konstas plays – and opens – in Melbourne, he will indeed be the youngest to do so for Australia.Overall, he is quite a way down the list. The youngest man to go in first in a Test match is Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh, who was 17 years 188 days old when he opened in the second innings against Pakistan in Dhaka in 2002. Four other 17-year-olds have opened in Tests: Vijay Mehra and Parthiv Patel for India, Hanif Mohammad for Pakistan, and Ibrahim Zadran for Afghanistan.How many people have been out for 99 in their first Test? And anyone in their last? asked Andrew Lucas from England

Only three men have been out for 99 on their Test debut. The first was Arthur Chipperfield, for Australia against England at Trent Bridge in 1934, and he was followed by Robert Christiani of West Indies, also against England, in Bridgetown in 1948. The most recent case was by Asim Kamal, for Pakistan against South Africa in Lahore in 2003. Chipperfield and Christiani did later reach three figures in a Test, but the unfortunate Asim never did.Only one woman has fallen for 99 on her Test debut: Jess Jonassen, for Australia against England in Canterbury in 2015.The only man to be out for 99 in his final Test was the South African Bruce Mitchell, against England in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) in March 1949. Alyssa Healy was out for 99 in her most recent Test, for Australia against South Africa in Perth in February 2024, but she will presumably play again.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Despite the doubts, Pakistan’s renovations are on track, albeit the clock is ticking loudly

Danyal Rasool24-Jan-2025The joke in Lahore – or it would be, if it wasn’t so often true – is that everybody seems to be in a hurry, and yet nothing is ever on time. It is perhaps only fitting that, just a few months ago, there was a nagging worry this would also apply to the city’s most iconic sporting colosseum, the Gaddafi Stadium.While the Champions Trophy was awarded to Pakistan three years ago, the upgrades required to Pakistan’s venues – most notably in Lahore – only started in earnest in August. At the time, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced that a massive infrastructure project would see the whole structure knocked down and rebuilt almost from scratch, after admitting that none of Pakistan’s stadia were up to international standards and promising to change that.At the same time, the PCB recognised that scepticism in Pakistan concerning whether this could be done on time was high. They have issued a dozen updates since, insisting that the project is on track to finish on time, and that 250 workers labour “day and night” to meet the deadline.Related

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They have more than once quashed speculation that construction delays could see the tournament moved to the UAE. A fortnight ago, the board felt confident enough that work at each venue was on track to announce that a tri-series before the Champions Trophy – originally scheduled for Multan – would take place in Lahore and Karachi, instead.The area around the Gaddafi Stadium was never an oasis of calm but, just two weeks out from the start of that tri-series, it is a hive of frenzied activity. Diggers fill in the dirt in the gap between the front rows in the stands and the boundary fences. Power tools and welding kits lie scattered about, while managers assure there is little concern about the tight deadline they must stick to.Two things become immediately clear; there is indeed much to do, but also that it is being done at breakneck speed. The balcony in front of the players’ pavilion – part of a new hospitality enclosure for players and officials – offers perfect views in line with the pitch, though it has some way to go before it’s ready. There’s a 4x2m rectangular hole sectioned off in the middle, while the staircase they will descend to take to the field is in its embryonic stages.The Imran Khan enclosure at Gaddafi Stadium is being renovated•Danyal RasoolA rectangular mortar structure a quarter full of wet cement nestles in the corner which, when completed, will be used for players’ ice baths. This is the side of the ground where much of the refurbishment is happening; many of the hospitality and corporate enclosures have been rebuilt from scratch.The walk back down the stairs to the ground floor is made slightly nervy by the current absence of safety rails on either side, but here is where the work is most concentrated; hammering, nailing, welding, excavating, beaming, all happening in such fury it is hard not to feel that one’s own presence is a hindrance. It is here, underneath the Imran Khan enclosure, that bricks and cement lie scattered about on the sludgy ground, with the floor tiles yet to be laid.Make your way from underneath those long columns, out of the tunnel and into the open expanse of the stadium itself, and the bigger picture – in more ways than one – hits you. Most of the standing structure has been erected, and more than half the seats are laid out. More are being added as you watch, like an ever-expanding sea of forest green and white. Two new giant replay screens in the ground are also being added; one is complete, with the other more than halfway there.There used to be no view to speak of from the foot of the enclosures because large steel fences had been erected in the past. While they kept spectators physically away from the playing field, they also had the effect of visually locking them out from seeing the actual cricket they happened to be there for.Seats have now been laid in more than half the stands at the Gaddafi Stadium•Danyal RasoolNow, this is where the action will feel closest. The steel cages are gone, and they’re not coming back. Instead, a dry moat will keep the playing area protected from any unwanted fan incursions, without making any compromises to the viewing experience. It is an experience that more people will be able to partake in; the venue capacity has been increased to 35,000. Crucially, much of the increase in capacity has occurred closer to the ground, which would have been impossible in the past when the fences ruled that area out as a seating option.The lost context of the bigger picture at the expense of deadline anxiety is a bit of a shame. The PCB remain confident that, despite the Champions Trophy 2025 bearing down on them, everything is on track. The ICC too say progress is on track. But this grand old theatre was due an upgrade anyway regardless of whether seven teams came here to play some 50-over games this spring or not.The last renovation on this scale occurred in 1996, which also happened to be the last time Pakistan played host to an ICC event. On that occasion, Lahore was the venue for Sri Lanka’s victory over Australia in the World Cup final. It was then that the modern Gaddafi – in all its neo-Mughal grandeur – was built.The result of this upgrade will be a superior matchday experience, long after those three weeks have come and gone. Until now, the notion that a venue has an obligation to provide a spectator anything more than entry upon the production of a ticket had been something of an alien concept. Obliged to raise their standards for an ICC event, a PCB official told ESPNcricinfo they intended to keep those standards just as high in future events, even when the ICC’s hand wasn’t steering them in that direction.Through a warren of mud tracks, tunnels and corridors is where the car park used to be. It is now a makeshift camp office, set up in a repurposed shipping container where the head of infrastructure for the stadium is seated. We were due for a chat, but it seems there may have been a miscommunication. He is busy, and it will have to wait for a later date. After all, he has work to do, and not much time to do it in.