The wicketkeeper batsman used to just want to hit everything, but now he’s playing more intelligently

Vishal Dikshit03-Oct-2020The Mumbai Indians management was not too pleased with 19-year-old Ishan Kishan in 2018. He wasn’t taking his diets seriously, he wasn’t walking into the gym with the right attitude, he was joking around too much, he was waking up at noon when training began at 1pm, and he wasn’t impressing head coach Mahela Jayawardene and batting coach Robin Singh all that much in the pre-tournament preparation.”You’re not applying yourself, you’re basically being a d***head,” strength and conditioning coach Paul Chapman was seen telling Kishan in front of other squad members in the gym in Netflix’s show on the franchise’s 2018 season, .”He just wants to hit everything, he cannot work the ball,” Singh said on the show of Kishan’s shot selection during a practice game at Wankhede Stadium. “He could use a little more intelligence. He has a lot of talent, but he has to channel it in the right place.”Mumbai had invested heavily in Kishan, especially financially, having bought him in the 2018 auction for a whopping INR 6.2 crore, nearly a million dollars at that time, and when they were expected to put up a fight to defend their 2017 title, Kishan scored only 275 runs after playing all 14 games.Kishan was clearly under the pump that season. In another scene from the Netflix show, a visibly irritated Kishan is seen outside his hotel room, saying to the camera: “Seriously, I don’t want to talk about cricket right now. You know I am not performing well, it’s not in my mind right now.”A year later, Kishan disappointed even more with the bat, scoring just 101 runs in the seven games he got. Nobody would have raised an eyebrow had Mumbai released him after that but they retained him once again. When IPL 2020 started in the UAE, Kishan’s No. 4 spot for the first two games went to his Jharkhand team-mate Saurabh Tiwary, who, the management felt, was better equipped to handle fast bowlers. Tiwary’s bigger frame and stronger arms could also clear bigger boundaries more easily compared to Kishan, one would think, who was expected to bide his time.Luckily for Kishan, in only the third game, against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the door reopened for him as Tiwary picked a niggle. Tiwary had impressed with his scores of 42 and 21, striking at 143, which made the door for Kishan more of a tiny window to perform in and impress the management quickly.And while top batsmen like Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell are struggling for good starts in the tournament, Kishan nearly won Mumbai the match in his very first outing, by smashing 99 off 58 balls, studded with nine sixes, to take the game to a Super Over with Kieron Pollard, by hammering 89 off the last five overs while chasing 202.Instead of hitting everything from the beginning, like Singh said about him two years ago, Kishan understands his role is to take the game deep and set things up for Hardik Pandya and Pollard.”I have been working with them (Pandya and Pollard) for the last three years and I know how they plan the game,” Kishan said on Saturday. “It’s not only about power hitting [but also] how they take the game to last over or how they put pressure on the bowlers also.”At the same time how they rotate the strike. So this is something I am learning from them. How to keep players (oppositions) confused [about] what’s your next move. It’s not just that you go there and start hitting.”Kishan’s maturity was on display in that knock when he first played the anchor to score at almost run a ball until the 10th over after Mumbai lost Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav early. Soon after the halfway mark, Kishan struck two sixes in an over off Navdeep Saini – the best bowler on that day – and later targeted Yuzvendra Chahal too when Pollard was setting his eye in after Pandya’s dismissal.Kishan struck seven out of his nine sixes on his favoured leg side with massive heaves and hooks, and he understands that oppositions will be planning for him accordingly, which has made him work on his off-side game.”I was not good at playing shots through covers and all but I have worked a lot in this off-season and if I get the ball over there, definitely I will go for it because it’s something that every team plans for you,” Kishan said. “They have meetings before the match, they know what is the weak spot and where they have to bowl to us, but it’s important for us to practice about that in the off-season.”With scores level at the end against the Royal Challengers and all his energy sapped by the Dubai heat and humidity, Kishan was unable to bat in the Super Over. The cameras showed him sitting on the ground in the dugout, with his gear drenched in sweat and head in his hands, watching his team score only seven runs off Saini, off whom Kishan had earlier scored 38 off 20 with as many as four sixes and a four.”He was left out of the first few games and then he got an opportunity so the conversation was just to go and bat normally. I thought he had a very good start, the tempo was very good,” Jayawardene said of Kishan later at the press conference.”During the middle period, we just wanted to make sure that he (Kishan) bats through the innings. We knew that we could put their bowling under pressure, so the message for him was to take it deep, because we had lost a few wickets, so he did that brilliantly and took his chances, played some really good shots.”I think it’s important you have a senior guy (Pollard) guiding the younger guy out there in the middle on a tough situation. So Ishan would learn a lot from that knock.”With 10 matches still to go in the league stage for Mumbai and the next one in a batting-friendly Sharjah stadium against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday, all Kishan has to do now is score consistently and repay the management’s faith in him.

Also, why is Smith batting like Narine? Key questions from the Knight Riders vs Royals match answered

Sidharth Monga30-Sep-2020Was there was a case for batting first?The Kolkata Knight Riders’ result against the Rajasthan Royals makes it nine wins out of 12 games for teams batting first so far at IPL 2020. And yet, only once has a team won the toss and batted first.The Royals were the latest victims of this trend after they chose to chase in Dubai, where all six matches have been won by teams batting first. Two of these were ties and won in the Super Over, but still the evidence has been overwhelming. Besides, in the case of teams such as the Royals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad – who rely almost unhealthily on their top three – it makes sense to not expose the middle order to a tense chase.However, sides have respected the dew and long-term data much more than the early trends in this tournament. How long before teams stop trying to correct the trend and instead look at the reasons why teams batting first are winning? In the case of Abu Dhabi, it is because there has been some seam under lights. In Dubai, the pitch has slowed down. Sharjah has been freakishly good for batting, so let’s not even bring it into this particular discussion.What did Archer do differently against KKR?In the first two games, Jofra Archer rocked up and bowled a lot of legcutters and knuckle balls even with the new ball. In four overs bowled inside the powerplay in the last two games, in Sharjah, he bowled an over worth of slower balls. That includes the first ball he bowled last game, which was duly smacked for four.In Dubai, he had only one change of pace inside the powerplay: from fast to faster, hustling Shubman Gill and Sunil Narine, conceding just one run in the over. The TV commentators loved it because they had been clamouring for him to bowl fast and set the tone. Now his choice of pace could be batsman-specific or ground-specific, but the numbers do tell a tale.ESPNcricinfo LtdOverall too, he has bowled 20 slower balls this IPL for 36 runs and no wicket. Otherwise, he has gone at 6.23 an over and averaged 18.Why was Russell promoted?Walking in at the end of the 10th over, this was the third-earliest Andre Russell had batted for KKR. In all T20 cricket, he had walked in sooner only on eight occasions. While David Hussey, the Knight Riders’ mentor, has spoken about Russell potentially scoring a double-century if he comes in early, that seems more like a cute quote than genuine intent.The one big reason for his promotion against the Royals could be Eoin Morgan’s match-up against his fellow England bowler Jofra Archer: eight balls, three runs, two wickets. And Archer had three overs left at that point, so it was pretty certain Archer would be brought on right away if Morgan had walked out.Archer bowled anyway, getting the wickets of Gill and Dinesh Karthik. Morgan eventually got to face seven balls from Archer, scoring nine off them. However, he did correct another match-up: against another bowler he usually captains, Tom Curran. Before this game, Morgan had hit only one boundary off 23 Curran deliveries in T20 cricket. In this game he took 22 off 12.Did the Russell promotion work, though? Well, Russell scored 24 off 14, and Morgan 34 off 23. You couldn’t say it was a failure, you couldn’t say it was a roaring success.Why is Smith batting like Narine?If you have noticed, Steven Smith has been swinging for the fences in the powerplay this IPL. There are many reasons. He is obliged to do so once he chooses to open, because his usual style doesn’t work at the top. Then there is a higher chance of getting away with shanks because the field is in. That happened with James Neesham in the last game: in the powerplay he managed to chip slower balls over the infield, but once the powerplay was over, he holed out to the same bowler.There is another strategy that seems to be at work here: Smith goes hammer and tongs, and Jos Buttler, a more complete T20 batsman, looks to bat through.Is that a successful strategy, though? Or is Smith better off playing Yashasvi Jaiswal or Manan Vohra at the top and taking on the responsibility of batting at the difficult No. 4 position? Robin Uthappa is anyway having an ordinary IPL so far. Buckle up for a debate that is only likely to get more intense as the Royals play more games on bigger grounds.Why did Cummins bowl three overs inside the powerplay?After being used as a death specialist, unsuccessfully, in the first game, Pat Cummins has bowled three overs in the powerplay in two straight games. In this game, he did so despite Sunil Narine enjoying a good match-up against the Royals’ top three. Overall, in his career, Cummins has bowled close to 10 balls inside powerplays on an average. His phase-wise break-up over the last three years has been similar.In the last game, the Knight Riders changed their strategy to one where they go all out in the powerplay to take wickets through Cummins. Figures of 3-0-11-1 and 3-0-13-1 would suggest the move has worked. There has been one early wicket, plus that sort of economy rate results in wickets for others too.However, it remains to be seen if this was a strategy specific to two teams – the Sunrisers and the Royals – who have no middle order to rave about. Against them, it is, on most occasions, a case of getting early wickets and killing the game. How will the Knight Riders use Cummins against deeper batting line-ups?Also props to Dinesh Karthik for staying aggressive and persisting with Shivam Mavi in the seventh over – an over usually used as a cheap over for a spinner – and taking that extra wicket to seal the deal.Why did Kuldeep Yadav start bowling in the 16th over?

KKR are one of the teams I believe have cracked their 11. If no injuries this is the team they need to carry through the tournament. Lot of different bowling options for the captain and can use based on conditions. https://t.co/9pHcOqcSK8

— Gaurav Sundararaman (@gaurav_sundar) September 30, 2020

Because Knight Riders didn’t need him. Plan A worked superbly, and they could show off the depth in their bowling attack. Three frontline spinners, three frontline quicks, with Andre Russell and Nitish Rana waiting if needed in a contingency. That gives you the luxury to not over-expose a variety of bowler who is rare to face. Thus Knight Riders used Kuldeep’s left-arm wristspin only against the tail.

That, and other talking points from the Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad match

Nagraj Gollapudi31-Oct-20203:16

What makes Sandeep Sharma tick?

Virat Kohli’s troubles against Sandeep Sharma continue
No other bowler has got Virat Kohli out as many times in the IPL as Sandeep Sharma. Seven, that’s how many times a bowler with the international experience of just two T20Is has bested the India and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain – and one of the best in the world across formats – in the competition. It is not an insignificant number.David Warner, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, recognised that fact when he kept Sharma on for his third straight over in the powerplay. Knowing that the pitch was slow, Sharma took off the pace off the ball: his first ball to Josh Philippe was just 113kph, and the next one, to Kohli, was 123kph, which was driven through the covers for two.Sharma sensed that Kohli would attack him on what is the smallest ground around, but he had an ace up his sleeve. He asked wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha to come up to the stumps, and challenged Kohli with a 126kph delivery, pitched on a length. On cue, Kohli attempted to clear cover, but hit straight into the hands of Kane Williamson, stationed at short extra cover.That was Strike Seven for Sharma against Kohli. It is also the joint-highest in the IPL for a bowler getting a batsman out – Zaheer Khan had got the better of MS Dhoni that many times too.Were Royal Challengers Bangalore one batsman short?
In the two matches they had lost before this one, against the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings, there was one clear weakness for the Royal Challengers: their lower-order batting. Despite that, today, they left out Shivam Dube to make space for their best quick bowler, Navdeep Saini, who had to sit out the match against the Mumbai Indians after hurting a webbing on his bowling hand in the defeat against the Super Kings.However, was it wise playing four fast bowlers – Saini, Chris Morris, Mohammed Siraj and Isuru Udana – on a slow surface? The Royal Challengers might argue that the strategy worked in Sharjah when they beat the Kolkata Knight Riders comfortably and lost a close match against the Kings XI Punjab. But both those matches were played in the first half of the tournament, when the pitches were still relatively fresh. Now, the surface is not just slow, but also the dew gathered pretty quickly and it became more difficult for bowlers to grip the ball.Would it then have been prudent for the Royal Challengers instead to field an extra batsman – Dube or even Moeen Ali – to bolster the lower order, which once again failed, re-establishing the fact that the Royal Challengers continue to be heavily dependent on Kohli and AB de Villiers to succeed?Did Sunrisers’ brisk powerplay batting help them?
In a word: yes. Only once before in this IPL had Sunrisers made a quicker start in the Powerplay: when they dashed off the blocks to raise 77 in the victory against the Delhi Capitals in their previous match. Although the target was just 121 here, the dew factor coupled with the slow nature of the pitch could potentially have proven to be a massive hurdle for David Warner’s team.But, after Warner perished early in the chase, Manish Pandey and Saha showed courage to take risks that took the Sunrisers to 58 for 1 after the first six overs and eventually that paid off. The powerful start ensured the Sunrisers continued to be ahead of the curve despite a couple of hiccups in the middle overs. The experienced Jason Holder came in and duly sealed victory without breaking a sweat.

The India batter talks about facing Stuart Broad in county cricket, and his work helping with pandemic relief in India

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi04-Jun-2021In April, while the IPL was on, Hanuma Vihari played three County Championship matches for Warwickshire, scoring 100 runs in six innings at an average of 16.66, with one half-century. But he still made headlines in India – for his efforts to help people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Vihari talks about the work he did and how the county experience brought him clarity about his game ahead of an English summer where he could be in contention to play the World Test Championship final followed by the five-match Test series against England.Since the first week of May, as soon as you finished your county stint, you have been focused on helping people affected by Covid-19 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. How did that come about?
After the county stint I had a break. The situation in India was not great, so I thought if I could help out, I could have an influence on some other people’s lives. It started by me using my contacts on social media. And fortunately, now there is a group of volunteers who have formed a WhatsApp group and they share the workload and reach out to as many people as possible.Related

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We believe it was your wife Preethi who urged you to take this up?
Yes. I used to tell her that I have an interest in social service. One day while watching the news from India, she said why not start now? The next day I started on Instagram and then moved to Twitter.Back when I started, plasma [from recovering Covid-19 patients] was a big requirement, so I thought about asking my followers on Instagram to help out. Later, I realised there were several other requirements people had, so I decided to form a team, which has around 120 volunteers now. They comprise a mix of working professionals, including doctors and even players from the Andhra Ranji Trophy team. Initially I spent around eight to nine hours daily facilitating requests from the public. Now that has come down to three-four hours because I have been training to get ready to be part of the Indian team.What exactly do you and your volunteer group do?
The group solves most problems themselves, but in case of an emergency, say, they are unable to find a ventilator bed or medicines for someone, they ask me to post it on my social media to spread the word. At times, I speak to families of patients as well as doctors and coordinate. That is my role in the group.I have also done a few fundraisers. Unfortunately one of the patients from Hyderabad for whom I did a fundraiser passed away recently. I told his daughter, who is 20, that we will support her. Her father and one of her two younger brothers tested positive. She was in a lot of debt and so had reached out in the first place. We have told her that we will be there to support her financially and emotionally. Similarly, I have reached out to a few other families personally, and it is pleasing to help.

Good news.. we managed to move mamatha garu to Hyderabad few days back and she delivered a baby boy this morning. They’re in observation.
Thank you to everyone who supported their family. Saved two lives. https://t.co/dnhMRHTWdd

— Hanuma vihari (@Hanumavihari) May 28, 2021

His accuracy against South Africa was a throwback to the 2017 Champions Trophy glory days

Danyal Rasool06-Feb-2021The Rawalpindi Test may still be finely poised, but in many ways, the end of South Africa’s innings is where the credits should have rolled. And if one day they ever make a movie about Hasan Ali, the conclusion of South Africa’s first innings may be a suitable place to wrap up.We have all seen those horror films where everyone in the audience knows if you enter a certain room, you are not going to emerge from it unaffected, if at all you do emerge. And if you’re a Pakistan cricketer – a Pakistan fast bowler, more specifically – that room is the rehabilitation facility post-injury.The pre-credits warning kill of such a film would likely be Umar Gul, unaware of the dangers that lurked in that dark corner of the building, which he entered with a stress fracture of his back around the mid-2000s and it wouldn’t be a couple of years before he managed to return to his best. Those niggles, however, would never quite go away; and by 2010, Gul was regularly on and off the fitness table, and in and out of the side. His pace had dropped, the threat had gone and he would spend the rest of his days in the obscurity of the Pakistan domestic scene. Roll the opening credits.Related

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Hasan had already seen the careers of Junaid Khan, Rumman Raees and most recently Mohammad Abbas – whose game is so outwardly docile you wouldn’t imagine any kind of medical treatment could impinge upon his performances – begin to regress after a spell out on the sidelines. That gave him every cause to worry about his own back injury that the PCB made clear last year would require prolonged rehabilitation and possible surgery.There can be no sequence of words scarier to a fast bowler, especially one from Pakistan who has already seen what happened to his counterparts in similar situations. In the days prior to that, Hasan had been dropped from the PCB’s list of centrally contracted players; he still remains without a central contract for now. It made clear the PCB did not view him as part of their short-to-medium-term plans, with speculation that his career at the highest level was over.From the plans Hasan seemed to be making in the weeks and months following that setback, he might as well not have understood what the medical diagnosis was. He set his mind not only to returning at the highest level in record time, but also decided he wanted to come back in his favourite format – Test cricket.”One thing is very clear – I like Test cricket a lot,” he told reporters in a virtual press conference after the third day’s play against South Africa. “I always dreamed of playing Test cricket, and now I’m a Test cricketer. This is the format I would pick over all the others, and you want to keep your motivation and work ethic up if you want to play Test cricket. I told the management I was ready for all three formats and prepared myself such that even if I got a go in Test cricket, I’d be raring to go.”He was. After a season in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy where he was the most prolific fast bowler with 43 wickets, he earned a recall to the Test side eight months after that crushing, career-threating diagnosis. In the first Test in Karachi, he was a casualty of a pitch designed to neutralise South Africa’s pace bowlers, but come Rawalpindi, Hasan showed Pakistan what they could still expect from him. He began by taking Dean Elgar’s outside edge just before tea on the second afternoon, and if that was a standard, banal, new-ball dismissal, the others were all trademark Hasan from the days of Champions Trophy 2017 glory and the world number one ranking.The speed at which Hasan’s return to the highest level has occurred may continue to adjust expectations upwards•PCBRassie van der Dussen had no chance against an inswinger that made a beeline for his off stump first up, and today, Hasan turned the dial up to 11, running through the opposition’s lower order that had specifically been bolstered by an extra batsman. Yasir Shah and Nauman Ali could afford to take a back seat as Hasan first cleaned up George Linde with a slower delivery that had as much swagger as the hallmark “Generator” celebration that followed, before one reversed through the gap between Keshav Maharaj’s bat and pad. Anrich Nortje decided to shoulder arms to a ball that began on a fifth stump line, before it clattered into off stump, with the stricken stump combined by the lack of a shot forming a picture of perfect surrender. Hasan thus wrapped up the innings with a five-for in just his second Test in almost two years.People might have enjoyed that at home in front of their TVs with a cup of tea, having previously shouted at him and berated him for allowing his pace to drop and swing to recede, as if stress fractures of the back could be shaken off like morning drowsiness. The warp speed at which Hasan’s return to the highest level has occurred – as well as how close to his delightful old self he looked for large parts of this Test – may continue to adjust expectations upwards for a man still gingerly trying out his rehabilitated body. It is worth remembering that those wickets, that swing and even that celebration doesn’t come as easily as he sometimes made it look.”Staying away from cricket for 16-17 months after being a part of all three formats was difficult. But I’ve worked day and night to get back to where I was, demonstrated both my form and fitness in domestic cricket, and thankfully that has translated to international cricket,” Hasan said of his comeback.”When players return, it’s true that a lot of players can’t get the same pace back. But if you work hard enough, those things come back to you. I still remember that I used to do rehab several times a day and then the Covid pandemic struck and I was stuck at home. That is frustrating of course, but I never let my work ethic drop. I got lots of injuries but if you work hard, nothing is difficult anymore.”And yet, even more importantly, Hasan refused to allow himself to go down the dark mental paths during what must undoubtedly have been crushingly uncertain times. A scroll through his social media feeds included light-hearted clips enjoying himself with his family and friends, his exercise routines and answering fans’ questions in jovial, uninhibited ways uncommon in the age of brand-managed sports stars.”It was a very tough time for me, but you’ll always have good and bad days,” Hasan added. “I try to keep a smile on my face and relax. Life goes up and down but if you don’t enjoy it, then what’s the point? You only live once, so smile through it. I used social media to show my fans that I’m motivated through the tough times, and I’m sure they appreciated it.”The joie de vivre had never gone away, and now the quality is back, too. There’s always the fear of an unexpected post-credits scene, but for now, the critical reception has to be positive.

Also, did Sunrisers miss a trick by sending Vijay Shankar ahead of Abdul Samad?

Deivarayan Muthu11-Apr-20213:25

Steyn: Morgan’s captaincy the biggest reason for KKR’s win

Why was Rashid held back for Russell??
Before Sunday’s game, Rashid Khan had dismissed Andre Russell three times in T20 cricket off 28 balls while conceding 48 runs. After bowling the seventh, ninth, and the 13th overs, Rashid was back into the attack for the 17th soon after Rahul Tripathi skied T Natarajan behind to Wriddhiman Saha.The head-to-head battle lasted merely two (legitimate) balls on Sunday. After Rashid fired a wrong’un down the leg side for five wides, he pinged Russell’s pad with another wrong’un. The next ball was a quicker slider, but Russell couldn’t clear long-on. It was the fourth time that Rashid got Russell in T20 cricket. Only Dwayne Bravo has dismissed Russell more times in T20 cricket, with six dismissals in 133 balls. Rashid has got Russel four times now, in 30 balls.Related

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Did Sunrisers miss a trick by sending Shankar ahead of Samad?
Vijay Shankar scores a boundary every 7.4 balls while Abdul Samad hits one every 4.3 balls (in a shorter T20 career). Samad had showcased his ball-striking ability last IPL on the larger grounds in the UAE, even taking on the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Anrich Nortje for sixes.When Mohammad Nabi holed out, the Sunrisers were 131 for 4, needing 57 from 24 balls. Instead of pushing Samad – or even Rashid – up the order, the Sunrisers sent in Shankar, who managed only 11 off seven balls before chipping Russell to cover. Samad then came in and walloped two sixes off his first three balls, but despite his late cameo and Manish Pandey’s unbeaten 61 off 44 balls, the Sunrisers fell short in the end.Why did Sunrisers pick Nabi?
In IPL 2020, Nabi had got just one game in Abu Dhabi, where he came up against three left-handers in Kolkata Knight Riders’ top five. On Sunday, Nabi was thrown into the Sunrisers’ mix to counter a left-hander heavy Knight Riders batting line-up once again. West Indies allrounder Jason Holder could have given the Sunrisers another option had he been available for selection, but he was still stuck in quarantine.Nabi gave up just five runs in the only over he bowled in the powerplay, where the Sunrisers leaked 50 runs overall without taking a wicket. Although the right-handed Rahul Tripathi cracked Nabi for a pair of boundaries in the middle overs, the offspinner bounced back in his last over, the 18th of the first innings, to dismiss a well-set Rana and captain Eoin Morgan off successive deliveries.Against left-handers, Nabi has taken 10 wickets at an average of 15.30 and strike rate of 5.43 in the IPL. However, against right-handers, he has picked up only three wickets, with his average and strike rate shooting up to 66.00 and 7.92 respectively.Why did Harbhajan open the attack for KKR?
In the lead-up to IPL 2021, Harbhajan Singh hadn’t played competitive cricket for nearly two years. His last match was the IPL 2019 final for Chennai Super Kings in the pre-Covid times. Harbhajan will turn 41 this July, but Morgan tossed the new ball to him straightaway in the Knight Riders’ defence of 187. This could have been down to his success against David Warner. Before this game, Harbhajan had bested Warner four times while keeping him to 133 runs off 107 balls in T20 cricket. Harbhajan drew a sliced drive from Warner first ball, but Pat Cummins dropped the catch at backward point.With the Sunrisers’ middle order packed with right-handers, Harbhajan’s bowling stint ended with that opening over.

Stats highlights from Pakistan’s convincing 95-run win in the second Test in Rawalpindi

S Rajesh08-Feb-20212003 – The last time Pakistan beat South Africa in a Test series, before their 2-0 win in 2021. In that series in 2003-04, Pakistan won the two-Test series 1-0. Since then, the two teams played six series before this one, with South Africa winning four and drawing two. In that period, Pakistan had a 2-10 win-loss record against South Africa, their worst against any team.ESPNcricinfo Ltd9 – Consecutive Test defeats for South Africa in Asia. Before the 2-0 defeat here, they lost the last two Tests of the series in India in 2015-16, and then lost 2-0 in Sri Lanka in 2018, and 3-0 in India the following year. There have only been two instances of a team losing more successive Tests in Asia: Bangladesh lost 18 in a row in the early 2000s, when they were new to Test cricket, while West Indies lost 10 in a row between November 1997 and October 2002.0 – Instances of Pakistan winning back-to-back Tests versus South Africa, before their two wins in this series. They had beaten South Africa by seven wickets in the first Test of the series in Karachi.2 – Instances of a Pakistan fast bowler taking ten wickets in a match in the last 14 years. Before Hasan Ali’s haul of 10 for 114 in Rawalpindi, the only other instance was Mohammad Abbas’ 10 for 95 against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2018. This was also Hasan’s first ten-wicket haul in his 11-match Test career.9 – Wickets taken by Pakistan’s fast bowlers in South Africa’s second innings – five by Hasan and four by Shaheen Shah Afridi. This is only the fifth instance of Pakistan’s fast bowlers picking up nine or more wickets in the fourth innings of a Test in Asia. The last such occurrence was way back in January 2002.ESPNcricinfo Ltd33 – Runs for which South Africa lost their last seven wickets in their second innings. In the last 26 years, there have only been only two innings when they have lost their last seven for fewer runs: against Australia in Cape Town in 2011 they lost seven for 23, and against India in Delhi in 2015, their last seven wickets fell for 32.227 – Aiden Markram’s series aggregate, which included his second-innings 108 in Rawalpindi, his maiden Test hundred in an away Test. Markram’s aggregate was easily the best for South Africa in the series, and also his best away series by far. In his two previous away series – in Sri Lanka and India – he had scored 84 runs in eight innings.

The intense scrutiny of his action has taken away the big turn, but he’s reinvented himself and remains hugely influential

Alagappan Muthu24-Sep-20212:53

Dasgupta: KKR’s plan to use fast bowlers against Mumbai’s middle order worked well

The Mohawk is still there. The bling too. And those full sleeves? Yeah, he probably wears them in the shower. Everything that makes Sunil Narine makes him box-office.But there’s something missing.He remains one of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ go-to bowlers. An architect of wickets and victories. The one he took on Thursday night was crucial to an all-round performance that keeps the play-off dream alive.But there’s something missing.He came on to bowl as early as the third over against Mumbai Indians. In his third over, the 10th of the innings, he brought down Rohit Sharma.But there’s something missing.The wicket was the result of extra bounce. Rohit had set up to slog-sweep a ball that got big on him and ended up caught at long-on.But there’s something mis–that’s it!Why is Narine relying on something as subtle as extra bounce?Think back. Back to 2012, when Kolkata Knight Riders signed this miracle worker for more than 10 times his base price. Back to those times that no one knew how, if and which way the ball would turn. There’s this curly-haired chap who always hangs out in the Mumbai dugout these days. Ask him about how he once tried to play a cover drive to a ball a bolt of lightning that ripped right through and cuh-lean bowled him.Watch the IPL on ESPN+

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Narine was in his first over that night in 2013 when he made Sachin Tendulkar look like he didn’t belong. He was a spinner at the top of his game. A magician in whose hands the ball went from being just a piece of leather into a force of nature.All that has changed now. The crippling scrutiny on his bowling action – he has run into trouble at both IPL level and higher – has forced Narine to let go of some of his tricks. And it’s been tough. Perhaps even overwhelming. Why else would a player of his quality choose to withdraw from a World Cup?Eoin Morgan and Sunil Narine celebrate Rohit Sharma’s dismissal•BCCIThere are those who are skeptical of the ICC and the way they police suspect actions. Saqlain Mushtaq, for one, has often wondered how the 15-degree flex rule even came to be. And Mohammad Hafeez thinks there’s something fishy in the way some bowlers keep getting called up repeatedly and some just aren’t.Narine couldn’t be bothered with conspiracy theories. Like Joey if he could no longer say ‘how you doin’ or Courage if he could no longer be the cowardly dog, he had to find a way to reinvent himself. And so this new avatar was born.In the 2012 IPL, because of the way his balls turned big, turned quick and turned in every which way, he generated a false shot roughly once every three deliveries. Nine years later, relying on subtlety rather than mystery, Narine remains a nuisance, drawing a false shot once every four deliveries.This is how he was able to bounce back from conceding 11 off his first over to giving up just four, three and two (plus a leg bye) off his next three overs, while dismissing Rohit and sucking precious momentum out of a Mumbai innings that had gotten off to a flier.”I’m coming off a good amount of cricket,” Narine said while picking up the Player-of-the-Match award, “The Hundred, CPL and out here. It’s been a while since I’ve played so much cricket and I’m happy to be playing as much as possible. I’ve put a lot of work into my action and it’s getting better and better. So just to be able to continue the good work and hopefully I can get in good performances that contribute to my team’s victory.”But there’s something missing.And it’s okay. Because although Narine at his peak was an absolute spectacle, the one we have now might be just as good. He is a reminder that no matter what comes your way, you just never give up.

His off-side game against spin is limited, but that actually works in his favour

Aakash Chopra01-Dec-20212:02

Vettori: ‘Latham is the perfect all-conditions opener’

New Zealand played 240 overs across the two innings of the Kanpur Test, of which Tom Latham faced 71 overs by himself. His occupying the crease for so long was one of the key reasons for New Zealand holding on to a draw.Watch live cricket on ESPN+ in the US

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Most memorable knocks by overseas batters on Indian soil have come when the visiting team got the opportunity to bat first; that not only allows them to bat at the best possible time – the first day – but also lets them avoid having to bat in the fourth innings, when the pitch is at its worst for batting. It wasn’t that way for Latham, since New Zealand were asked to field first.The pitch in Kanpur was not a rank turner, but the lack of bounce, and the quality of the Indian spinners, made it tougher for the batters as the game progressed. But Latham stonewalled everything the spinners threw at him, and even his dismissals weren’t exactly caused by the bowler trapping him but instead the result of him being over-eager to reach the three-figure mark in the first innings, and a rather lazy shot in the second.So what did Latham do to negate the Indian spin threat?His batting reiterated that there are multiple ways of doing this.The first method that comes to mind is using the feet and having an all-round game against spin – skills you associate with almost every other batter who has done well in Indian conditions.Related

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The second way is how Latham did it – by having a robust game plan and an unwavering commitment to it. Latham didn’t drive the spinners, even with the spin. He rarely cut too. In fact, he has such a limited off-side game against spin that as a bowler you don’t feel threatened even while bowling really full deliveries without fielding protection. Of course, he’ll drive a half-volley but only if it’s right under the bat. He will also cut you but only if it’s really short and wide.As a bowler, you can continue bowling wide outside off while varying the length and he’ll happily play maiden after maiden. That makes bowling to Latham a fascinating challenge. He has a rock-solid defence, which is technically so perfect that even subcontinental batters can learn from him. His front-foot movement is fluid and optimum, the head is always on top of the ball and the hands nicely in front of the bat with the bat face slightly angled, the bat and his arms approximately making a figure nine.Too long a stride pushes the body weight behind and too short pushes the hands too far in front to be effective, but Latham’s movements are just right. And it seems like he has worked really hard on this aspect of his game, because during New Zealand’s last tour to India, he was dismissed four times by R Ashwin, three of those while defending on the front foot.It’s not that in Kanpur he didn’t get beaten while defending or that every defensive shot he played was impeccable, but that didn’t make him deviate from his game plan at all. They say the best way to bat is to forget what happened the previous ball, but that’s easier said than done. Every ball that turns more than you expected or bounces more or less than you expected leaves its imprint and, at times, dictates your response to the next one. Latham’s ability to not let it affect his game was commendable.Tom Latham has the subcontinental playbook down pat: leave balls wide outside off alone, scoring off those that stray in, and sweep with ease•Arjun Singh/BCCIImagine David Warner in a similar situation against Ashwin. Once Ashwin starts troubling him, Warner will likely go on the offensive by creating room or dancing down the track. While it’s not a bad idea to counterattack, and sometimes attack is indeed the best form of defence, on a lot of Indian pitches defence is the only form of defence; every other tactic is designed to fail.By defending so many balls outside off, Latham forced bowlers to pitch closer to him, and that’s when he scored his runs. In response, the bowlers would go wide again and he would happily defend once more. This sequence kept playing out time and again. While he doesn’t sweep as hard as Matthew Hayden or Adam Gilchrist, Latham has immense control and a fairly wide range of sweep shots.Just like against spin, his game against pace is also pretty sorted. He leaves a lot of deliveries outside off, defends the ones that are a little closer, and scores off those that drift on to the pads. But unlike against spin, he does like driving on the up to fast bowlers, though those shots end up a little squarer than traditional cover drives.Latham has been a thorn in India’s flesh and seems like the most competent New Zealand batter on these surfaces. That’s why it was surprising no bouncers were bowled to him; the lack of pace and bounce on a pitch like Kanpur makes the short ball really difficult to negotiate. Maybe we will see some of that at the Wankhede in the second Test.