The pace bowler has evolved after a series of setbacks, and is confident of what the future holds – as long as it involves him bowling fast

Sreshth Shah in Nagpur13-Feb-2019For someone who has watched over ten times, it is not surprising that all Sandeep Warrier wants is to bowl quick.The right-arm pacer from Kerala has just completed a remarkable first-class season, taking 44 wickets to lead the state to their maiden Ranji semi-final appearance. That earned him a spot in the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup in Nagpur, although he didn’t make the final XI for the game.In a short career that’s seen him being suspended from the Kerala team, rejected by IPL franchises (he’s not received a bid since 2013), and waylaid with injuries, Warrier has developed into a mature cricketer who only focuses on what he can control.From a boy who only paid attention to his numbers, Warrier has become a man for whom the “team comes first”. He believes it’s that change in attitude that’s earned him rewards of late.”For the past three-four years, as a person, I used to get dejected if I wasn’t selected,” Warrier tells ESPNcricinfo. “I couldn’t come out of the sadness very easily. I know I was a person like that. But for the past two years, I’ve started caring on only the things I can control. There are some things not in your hand, so I just focus on my skills. The other thing I have developed is that I want my team to win.”Warrier’s development into a cricketer, though, began in the city that’s often called Indian cricket’s nursery – Mumbai. His father, a bank employee, worked in the city when Warrier was in school, but he only played at the lower levels, for his school. The love for the game though, was inculcated in Mumbai, and the real impetus came after moving back to Kerala at 16. Inside four years, Warrier had broken into the Kerala side after two successful seasons of district-level cricket, and at 20, he made his first-class debut. Soon, he found a place in India’s Under-23 side, albeit briefly.”I was not expecting a call-up into the Rest of India team for the Irani Cup, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish for it. I played A-Division cricket in Chennai as soon as the Ranji Trophy ended, so I was in form and I knew I can express myself if I got a chance,” Warrier says. “But no, I wasn’t expecting it, but definitely something I hoped for.

“My friends ask me how I want to be remembered. Like Steyn-gun or Rawalpindi Express. But I chose Sultan of Swing. really sealed it for me. I play, I don’t play it doesn’t matter – but all I want from life is to be a fast bowler”SANDEEP WARRIER

“For me, this was my best year just because I was getting enough support from the other side. Apart from my first year, we didn’t have a good bowling combination. But for the last two years , it’s me, Basil [Thampi], [MD] Nidheesh and Jalaj [Saxena] who have led the attack. And that consistency in the line-up has made the difference for me as well.”After the 2013 Under-23 Emerging Teams competition, I felt really disappointed at not getting picked for these squads again. But that’s what made me what I am now. I am a strong believer of hard work, and if you put in the effort, you will get success down the line. Yes, it’s taken me six years to get back into the limelight, but if I get an opportunity again, I will not let it go.”That success takes time, Warrier learnt back when he spent three seasons with Royal Challengers Bangalore. After impressing Virat Kohli as a net bowler in 2013, Warrier was picked in the squad. Although he was released three seasons later – having not played a single game – Warrier looks back at that time as ‘a blessing’.”In 2013, I went for the India nets. They were playing England in Kochi, and I bowled to the India batsmen,” Warrier says. “After that, Virat Kohli told the RCB manager to contact me, and I signed up for them.”But I was younger then, so I would get disappointed not getting a shot, because as a cricketer that’s what you want to do… just play. When I was released, I used to think about these what-ifs. But not playing that time was a blessing for me, because right now I know how to handle pressure. That time I was a bit nervous, and that may have played a role. I wanted to play, but I had the self-doubt on whether I could give myself a 100%. ‘What will happen if I get hit for a six, how will I come back?’ But I don’t panic and bowl aimlessly anymore.”During his time at RCB, Warrier also got to rub shoulders with Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar, which helped him hone his skills further. From being just an outswing bowler, Warrier has gradually added different variations to his arsenal.”For white-ball cricket, I used to bowl only one slower ball – the back of the hand. Now I’ve developed the knuckle ball and the offcutter, and for the past two years my yorkers are coming out really well. These things have made a difference in white-ball cricket. But in red-ball cricket, the only thing I did is that I developed my inswinger,” Warrier says. “My consistency reached a different level because of that, and I could move the ball just how I wanted. I could do it through the whole season, not just a one-off game.”Sandeep Warrier bowls•Sandeep Warrier/BCCIWarrier, however, did not always have such a clear thought-process. As a youngster, the expectations from friends and family bogged him down tremendously. But he’s successfully managed to keep those away as he’s evolved.”The one thing that causes this stress is the expectation that others keep on you,” Warrier says. “Your parents, your friends, they’ll say ‘your age is going up’. But I’ve developed a small cricket circle and no one else can enter that. Even my parents, I don’t allow them to discuss cricket with me, not even my best buddies. So that’s helped me in keeping expectations at bay.”As for Warrier’s dreams of playing for India’s national side, he’s happy to wait. Although he’s certain that he can succeed at the international level – given his red-hot form this season – Warrier does not want to be one of those cricketers who play for India one year and are forgotten by the time the next season comes.”With the form I am in now, I know I can take wickets for any team, even India. But I want to sustain this form, not just go in and out of the team,” he explains. “I don’t want to be that person who plays two matches, and then fight my way for the rest of my career. I’ll prefer waiting for three-four months and going there, rather than looking for the opportunity right away.”Warrier’s already got a moniker that he wants to be remembered by. It came about during his time spent in Mumbai when he pored over the success of the great West Indian fast bowlers of the 1970s. But for that, he’ll have to repeat his performance from this season over and over again.”My friends ask me how I want to be remembered. Like Steyn-gun or Rawalpindi Express. But I chose ‘Sultan of Swing’,” Warrier says. ” really sealed it for me. I play, I don’t play it doesn’t matter – but all I want from life is to be a fast bowler.”

Dinesh Karthik’s career-best 97 is the new entrant in the top-five list for batting performances

ESPNcricinfo Stats team29-Apr-2019Hardik Pandya’s jaw-dropping assault on Kolkata Knight Riders, albeit in a losing cause, is the most impactful batting performance of this IPL according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats. In addition to runs scored and strike rate, Smart Stats take into account the match situation and pressure on the batsman – quantified using factors such as the required run-rate, wickets in hand, strength of the bowlers with overs left, and the pressure (or the lack thereof) on the batsman because of the quality of his batting partners.Hardik walked in at a stage when Mumbai Indians were practically out of the match, with 175 required from 70 balls. He proceeded to smash 91 from just 34 balls. At the start of the 18th over, in which he got out, Mumbai required 59 off 18 balls, which given what had happened so far in the game and indeed in this IPL so far, wasn’t an impossible ask.Mumbai could have run Knight Riders much closer had Hardik got more support from batsmen at the other end – from the time he walked in to the close, the others scored only 44 from 36 balls; while he was there, they scored 31 in 24 balls. Keeping all the factors in mind, Hardik’s innings had 187.07 impact points. This trumped Kieron Pollard’s 31-ball 83 against Kings XI Punjab as the most impactful batting performance of this IPL.The other new entry in the top five of the list also came in a losing cause. Dinesh Karthik’s career-best 97 made it to the third position with 176.1 impact points. Much like Hardik’s, the innings by the Knight Riders captain stood out for being a lone hand. While he struck at 194, the other batsmen contributed at the rate of less than a run a ball. Smart Stats also takes into account the pressure on the batsman due to fall of wickets: four batsmen were dismissed while Karthik was at the crease and none of the other batsmen scored more than 21 runs.Jonny Bairstow’s 56-ball 114 and Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 27-ball 78 complete the top five.The two new entrants this week pushed out Sanju Samson’s hundred against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Prithvi Shaw’s 99 off 55 against Knight Riders from the top five.ESPNcricinfo LtdNone of the bowling performances in the two weeks since the last update made the top five. Piyush Chawla’s 3 for 20 against Rajasthan Royals – in a loss, again – was the top-ranked effort with the ball in this period with an impact score of 96.7.Hardik’s effort with the bat against Knight Riders was also enough to top the chart for the total impact (batting and bowling) any player has had in a match this season. Andre Russell’s match-winning all-round performance against Mumbai was at No. 2 with an impact score of 186.7. The third sport was Russell’s too: the 25-ball 65, which took his team within ten runs of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 213 from a seemingly hopeless situation in the 12th over when Knight Riders had lost four wickets for just 79 runs. On that occasion, Russell had an excellent outing with the ball too, returning an economy rate of 5.66 from three overs when over 400 runs were scored in the match. Pollard’s 83 against Kings XI and Karthik’s 97 round up the top five most impactful match performances of the season.ESPNcricinfo LtdFour of the 20 most impactful match performances of this IPL season have come from Russell, the most valuable player of the season by a distance with an aggregate impact score of 1038. If anyone has come close to matching Russell’s power-hitting and all-round ability, it has been Hardik. But he is a distant second with an impact score of 637. The incredibly consistent Sunrisers Hyderabad opening partners David Warner and Bairstow slot in at third and fifth, respectively, kept apart by Chris Gayle who is at No. 4.ESPNcricinfo LtdSmart Stats is a part of Superstats, a new set of metrics by ESPNcricinfo to tell more enriching and insightful numbers-based stories. To know more about Superstats, click here.

Outgoing India batting coach speaks on the challenges of his tenure, coaching Kohli, his thoughts on Rohit as a Test opener, and more

Saurabh Somani14-Sep-2019Rohit Sharma is set to open in Test cricket. What’s your view on this?
At the moment, there is no place in the settled middle order in the Test team. Opening will be a new challenge for him, since he has rarely done it in the longer formats. But the advantage is that he will get to bat against a hard ball with plenty of gaps in the field. He will also not have to wait for his turn to bat, which will save his mental energy.If he succeeds, his style of play will be extremely helpful to the team. It might result in being able to successfully chase down targets that we haven’t achieved in the past, like in Cape Town and Edgbaston.You have opened in Tests yourself. What does Rohit need do to succeed?
The key to his success will be if he maintains his individual style of play. He has to maintain his individuality.When you look back at your coaching tenure, what is the thing that makes you proudest?
It has been a memorable journey [India going] from No. 7 in the world to No. 1 in Test cricket. The team won 30 out of 52 Test matches played, including 13 overseas Test victories. In ODI cricket, the team won in all overseas countries convincingly. Overall, the team won 82 out of 122 matches. So it gives me immense pride that I was part of this phase of Indian cricket, for which I am grateful to the BCCI and to all the head coaches I worked with – Duncan [Fletcher], Ravi [Shastri] and Anil [Kumble] – for giving me an opportunity to serve the Indian cricket team for five consecutive years.What was your most challenging Test series as batting coach?
I believe that South African conditions are the most challenging in the international circuit, especially Cape Town and Johannesburg. We faced those conditions on our tour of 2018, and we also had very little time to adjust there – precisely six days before the first Test started. Those Test matches were the toughest one could encounter. The team is very proud of one of the most courageous displays by our batting group in Johannesburg in a memorable victory. And then to go on and dominate the ODI series and win it 5-1 was equally praiseworthy.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhat are the changes you introduced in the Test batting line-up once you had settled down as coach?
We had extensive simulated preparations, tailored to the conditions we were likely to play in. That allowed us to overcome the challenges we faced, eight out of ten times. We developed a better understanding of angles, and how to maximise them in terms of run-scoring.In the shorter format, we paid great attention to strike-rotation targets. I thought the work ethic of the batting group around these factors helped us deliver consistent results. We also assessed the goals and processes we had set up on a regular basis.Ajinkya Rahane, India’s Test vice-captain, went through an extended phase without a big score before he corrected that on the West Indies tour recently. What were the challenges of working with a senior batsman like Rahane?
Rahane missed out on converting a lot of fifties into hundreds in the last 18 months or so, but otherwise, he contributed in all our overseas victories. He contributed in Johannesburg, in Nottingham and in Adelaide.We worked a lot on leading with his head and shoulder to get a proper stride into the shot, and also on finishing his trigger movements before the ball was released. I was very happy for him that he eventually crossed the three-figure mark in West Indies, where once again he played a pivotal role under seaming conditions.He has been very gracious in acknowledging that the things we’ve worked on together have helped him at various points. [Rahane spoke about Bangar’s inputs after scoring twin centuries in the Delhi Test against South Africa in 2015, having come into the match with only 39 runs in three Tests before that.]Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Bangar deep in discussion•Getty ImagesAnother batsman who has openly acknowledged your hand in his success is Virat Kohli. Can you talk about the relationship with him?
The thing that is unique with Virat is that he is always on the lookout for improving his game. He was willing to make minor adjustments suggested, if he believed it could help him. So we worked on aspects like width of his stance, his backlift, his head position etc.You came on board right after Kohli had perhaps his lowest phase as a batsman in England in 2014. What did you focus on?
That time the positioning of his back-foot toe was towards cover-point at the time of release, which led to his hips opening. That also did not allow his bat’s downswing to come in a vertical plane. He worked tirelessly to iron out those flaws.How do you assess India’s batting overseas?
Our batting in Australia, in 2014-15 and 2018-19 was outstanding, amongst the best ever by a visiting side. The top-order batting in particular was very good across all tours.In overseas conditions, perhaps we lacked runs lower down the order. We have allrounders in the spin department, which helps in India, but in overseas conditions, we didn’t have as many fast-bowling allrounders. Our top and middle order out-batted the opposition, but the lower order did better for the opposition.ESPNcricinfo LtdDuring your tenure, India’s batting numbers were the best in the world across various parameters. How do you look back at that?
The team management was able to achieve a mindset shift of playing outside their [players’] comfort zones by often batting first, irrespective of the conditions. I am very happy with the results achieved not only by the top order but also by Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the lower order. Credit to the work the players put in and their drive to achieve excellence.How do you assess India’s T20I performance, which is relatively below what’s at the Test and ODI levels in spite of the IPL?
All our preparations to this point in T20 cricket were done keeping an eye on the 50-overs World Cup. However, the current set up will have a sufficient number of T20I matches before two T20 World Cups are played in consecutive years. So, from a combination point of view, it gives enough opportunities for the players to be exposed to match situations relating to their roles.Apart from team success, what are the most memorable moments you’ve had with the team during these five years?
I shall fondly remember the gratitude expressed by all the batsmen to me for the performances that we were able to create collectively.What will you miss?
I’ll miss singing the national anthem, and helping young people achieve their dreams.

Don’t speculate on his road ahead. Simply sit back and watch him do his thing

Karthik Krishnaswamy12-Aug-20199, 88, 65, 18, 30, DNB.Six matches, five innings, two fifties. Average of 42.00, strike rate of 96.33. Not a bad start, you’d think, to life as an ODI batsman.And yet, Shreyas Iyer didn’t play another 50-over game for India in the next 18 months. He didn’t get a game on the 2018 tour of England, and didn’t even make the squad for the Asia Cup later that year. By the time the 2019 World Cup rolled around, India had played 27 straight Iyer-free ODIs, and he was no longer a real contender for a middle-order slot.Selection is a subjective thing, and selectors can have many reasons for picking one player and leaving out another, not all of which can be explained by averages and strike rates. There may have been something in Iyer’s game that didn’t quite convince them. Or something in his game that needed working on away from the glare of international cricket. Perhaps they liked what they saw, but felt other batsmen offered more.Whatever it was, Iyer is back now, part of India’s line-up at the start of a fresh four-year ODI cycle. KL Rahul, who began the World Cup in the middle order and ended it as opener, and did pretty well in both roles without quite hitting peak form, is back on the bench.

I think he’s a very confident guy, he’s got the right attitude, and his body language was brilliantVirat Kohli on Shreyas Iyer

So it goes, perhaps understandably, in a crowded field without any one standout choice, where convincing arguments can be made for pretty much every candidate. Until someone stakes an undeniable claim for a permanent spot, the spectator is best advised to sit back and enjoy the talent on view, and ignore the selection question.On Sunday, there was one shot that particularly summed up what Iyer is good at. You might have seen it in the IPL, and you’ll definitely have seen it if you’ve watched him bat for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy.The ball, from Carlos Brathwaite, was respectable enough, not quite short or wide, and the field West Indies had set showed an awareness of Iyer’s strengths: deepish gully, backward point and cover point forming a tight ring square on the off side, and third man on the boundary, also square. There are no unknowns in international cricket anymore. And yet, Iyer found a gap, meeting the ball on top of the bounce with a shot that wasn’t quite a cut or a punch, and is perhaps best described as a stab. Shimron Hetmyer turned to his left at backward point and shaped to dive, before deciding it was pointless. Chris Gayle expended no such effort at gully, but the ball would have beaten even Roger Harper.Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer put on 125 runs for the fourth wicket•Getty ImagesIyer excels at this sort of thing, needing less width and shortness of length than most to cut, punch, stab, chop, slash, carve, flay, steer, guide or dab the ball through the off side, square and fine. A slowish pitch at Queen’s Park Oval gave him plenty of time to sit back and pick off runs in those areas. Four of his five fours came in the region behind square on the off side. One of them was a ramp almost exactly over the keeper’s head; he crouched in response to a short ball from Kemar Roach, and kept his eye on the ball as it rose, the slowness of the bounce allowing him to meet the ball precisely when, and where, he wanted to, with the bat face angled just so.The ability to pick off boundaries in that region allowed Iyer to chug along at a run a ball while otherwise simply sticking to the nuts and bolts of middle-order ODI batting: nudges off the legs, checked drives down the ground, slaps to the off-side sweeper. It was precisely what India needed when he joined Virat Kohli at 101 for 3.”Brilliant,” was Kohli’s verdict on Iyer during the post-match presentation. “Stepping in, not having played many games in the past, but I think he’s a very confident guy, he’s got the right attitude, and his body language was brilliant. Beautiful hands on the ball, and really kept the tempo going, took a lot of pressure off me, so I could play myself into a tempo like I like doing, and after I got out he got those extra runs for us as well. Really good start for him, hopefully he gets another one.”An excellent return to the ODI team, then, with a third half-century in only his sixth innings. What it means for Iyer beyond this game, and this series, and what it says about how he might do when faced with challenges unlike this one, are questions for another day. For now, it’s perhaps best to simply sit back and watch him do his thing.

Tim Paine believes his attack his still getting better despite two convincing victories

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide02-Dec-2019With these words to the host broadcaster, Australia’s coach Justin Langer referred to the fact that after battling India at home and England away in the past 12 months, he and Tim Paine are leading a hardened Test match team. Judging by their ejection of Pakistan from two Tests each won by an innings, it is only the two aforementioned teams that are currently capable of containing them, and of those perhaps only India on home soil.The final day in Adelaide unfolded with the air of inevitability that once enveloped so many Australian home Tests during their previous era of dominance between 1995 and 2008. Pakistan have been, save for a few sparkling moments in time, thoroughly outplayed and taught lessons in Test match craft that will serve some well, while being the breaking of others.Australia meanwhile have enjoyed headlining performances from David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Starc, while Nathan Lyon joined the party on the final day with his first ever five-for against Pakistan. For Paine, who nursed a stung finger through the final innings of the Test, this was the performance of a team that has grown enormously over the past 18 months, and has now recalibrated to focus upon future challenges against India at home, South Africa away and then the carrot of the world Test Championship final in mid-2021. New Zealand, ranked No. 2 in the world and disciplined to a fault, will provide a more systematic test than Pakistan have provided.”Particularly this game I thought that it was quite a professional performance, barring some catches and my stumping yesterday, I thought we were always creating chances,” Paine said. “I thought our energy and attitude in the field was really good and we kept at them, we knew that it was going to be hard toil for us during the day time, the wicket was pretty flat and the ball doesn’t give you a hell of a lot through the air.Australia celebrate taking the final wicket•AFP”But I thought the way our bowlers backed up, kept on coming, it was also really windy out there so difficult for the bowlers to bowl at one end. But I thought it was a really professional, clinical performance barring some fielding slips.”Paine was, partly due to Lyon and partly due to the rest that had already been banked for the bowlers due to Warner, Labuschagne and also Joe Burns in Brisbane, able to enforce the follow-on and thus take advantage of the vagaries of a pink-ball Test. He was rewarded not only by some more fiery spells from his pacemen but also Lyon’s best performance against Pakistan, as he steadily worked his way through the visitors in the fashion of the wisened spin bowling pro he has become.”I think he bowled really well in the first innings as well. We just let him down. Missed some chances off him,” Paine said. “But I think Lyno today turned up and did exactly what we wanted him to do particularly in the second innings and win us Test matches. And again, I don’t think people understand how difficult it can be with that pink ball, particularly during the day, and for Lyno to still be getting spin and bounce and challenging batsmen at all times and creating chances for our team is an unbelievable effort and why he’s such a great bowler.”We’re lucky not only because of how good [the quick bowlers] are but they’re great athletes as well. We knew they had that in them to be able to go again. Starcy has a bit of a cut on his big toe, he did land awkwardly at one stage yesterday but that was fine. Most of his grimacing today…I think he’s waiting the nail to come off the big toe which happens to a lot of fast bowlers and until it actually happens it can be quite painful. He’s battling a little bit with that but nothing he hasn’t gone through before.”This wear and tear will get the chance to heal over the next week before the team reconfigures in Perth for New Zealand, who have shown against England and by their consistent displays over recent years that they will likely make best use of every element of their game, where Pakistan – through inexperience and mental lapses – were unable to. Paine sees the series as another chance to further hone the skills seen in Adelaide, on three surfaces in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney that should provide some measure of contrasts.Nathan Lyon holds the ball up after his five-wicket haul•AFP”I think we’re getting better at it. I think in the second innings at the Gabba we had a big lead so we sort of tried to get a few wickets which is probably slightly different to the game plan we’ll stick with most of the time,” Paine said. “Again, that’s a product of playing really good cricket for the other four days is that we were so far ahead of that game that we could try that.”I think we’ve got a very skilful attack. We’ve got an attack with good pace, we’ve got a great spinner but at the same time when you have players that good bowling, just giving you nothing and building pressure, at some stage you’re going to break teams open. At the moment, we’re finding ways to hold the scoreboard for long periods of time and when we take wickets we tend to take them quickly because of the quality bowling we’ve got.”They’ve been awesome for a while now. I thought they were really good at the Ashes as well. I think our attack, as good as they are, is still getting better.”A contrast in teams was offered not only by Pakistan as the Adelaide Test drew to a close but also by South Australia, a team in a far deeper hole. Having threatened to complete a tough fourth innings chase against Western Australia, they subsided to lose when Adam Zampa hooked with eight balls remaining. As Langer and Paine undoubtedly know, the current “heavyweight” pitch of the Australian team’s performance can so easily slip away.

They felt the same suffocation Australia young batsmen did in the tour game before the Gabba Test

Daniel Brettig at the Gabba21-Nov-2019Pressure, doubt and uncertainty can do remarkable things to a cricket team and the scoreboard illustrating their fortunes. In Perth a little more than a week ago, Pakistan batted with assurance and then bowled with suffocating precision against an Australia A side that crumbled under the weight of their own expectations, as they were thrust into a “Hunger Games” style selection trial in front of the selectors Trevor Hohns and Justin Langer.In Brisbane, however, it was Pakistan’s turn to feel the sense of suffocation, constraining them from the construction of a truly substantial first innings as the top six – save for the admirable Asad Shafiq – was pressed and pressed until they cracked, losing four wickets for three runs in the hour after lunch at the Gabba.In both cases, the bowlers delivered admirable spells that, in the case of Australia, featured more than three hours of sustained pressure to eventually force an implosion. But there was also a cost: for Australia A batsmen, a Test place; for Pakistan, possibly, a Test match.ESPNcricinfo LtdComposure and presence of mind are, of course, the qualities that will aid most players good enough for first-class cricket to graduate to Tests. In the west, these were on display from Babar Azam and Shafiq on day one, as they sculpted a first innings brimful of promise for the tourists after a wretched Twenty20 series. Well though Australia A’s pacemen bowled, they could not keep up the tight lines required all day, as Babar and Shafiq gradually took control.Their calm, unaffacted air at the crease had notably impressed Pakistan’s coach Misbah-ul-Haq, who spoke boldly about how this tour would be a chance for Babar, in particular, to graduate to the company of the very best of batsmen. “It was a very difficult pitch for our three-day game and they bowled very well,” he had said.ALSO READ: Australia resort to new DRS system“We were playing pretty much the top four bowlers from Australia A. Babar Azam did both the things there – he punished the poor deliveries and respected the bowlers when it was required. He batted with a lot of maturity there. It’s not just aggression, aggression and aggression, he has a very balanced approach. He puts the short balls away and even respects the good deliveries whenever he had to. He is ready to play that sort of a long innings in Tests.”For the Australian batsmen in Perth, the Test top six members Joe Burns and Travis Head among them, there was too much anxiety present to allow for that sort of calm clarity of thought and action. Wickets fell in a rush, to pace and spin, leaving Hohns and Langer to consider earlier displays in their thinking while also pondering how a constructive environment might be fostered for the chosen ones. Will Pucovski’s decision to absent himself from selection for Brisbane due to mental health concerns part of a separate story for the young Victorian, but events around him cannot possibly have helped.Babar Azam walks off after being dismissed early•AFPAustralia’s captain Tim Paine, though, had been swift to argue, forcefully, that Brisbane would be a different scenario. The pace attack that had helped Australia retain the urn in England, clearer bowling plans, a far more settled batting line-up and an intimidating record for the hosts at the Gabba all aided his view of the world. When the Australians got to Brisbane they were the owner occupiers, irrespective of whether they had been taught a lesson or two by the Pakistanis in Perth.To further underline the point, this was Pakistan’s first day of Test cricket since mid-January, and their first match of the World Test Championship. They were, in every sense, coming from a long way back against an Australian side hardened by the Ashes. When Azhar Ali won the toss and batted, it was with as much hope as expectation. The Australians, meanwhile, looked to be filled with eagerness but not uncertainty: they have been this way before, and recently.It all meant that, even as Azhar and Shan Masood got the visitors off to the best possible start, a wicket-free first session as they successfully blunted Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins with the new ball, there was still an anxiousness to Pakistan and a calm confidence to Australia. Rather than reverting from plan A to B or C, Paine and his bowlers made micro-adjustments, a little fuller, a little straighter, and all the time ratcheting up the pressure.So when Masood edged into the gap where third slip should have been shortly after lunch, Cummins did not lose his composure and resort to anything wild. Instead he pushed harder still, and coaxed out another mistake, this time to be caught by Steven Smith. Suddenly the veneer of Pakistani calm was shattered, as Azhar succumbed to Hazlewood, and a skittish Haris Sohail gifted an outside edge to Starc. Babar walked out with work to do, but amid a keen and alert bowling attack.Pat Cummins claimed Australia’s first Test wicket of the summer•AFPThat he lasted only four balls before wafting and edging behind will be a source of frustration to Misbah, Azhar and Babar himself, but it was also a vindication of the Australian sense that this was the real thing for all players on both sides, rather than a selection trial that affected some individuals more than others. Three short balls corralling Babar, then one fuller one tempting the drive, were a cheap price for the most sought-after Pakistani wicket on this tour, yet also the reward for near enough to three hours of investment by the Australian pacemen.Their rewards came a little more slowly thereafter as Shafiq offered a sensible rearguard and Naseem Shah some hearty entertainment against the second new ball. In this, there was evidence of how close Masood and Azhar had come to establishing a definitive bridgehead as much as anything else. By stumps, though, Pakistan had been bowled out, their 10 wickets lost for 165 after the initial union worth 75.Where Australia A had cracked in Perth, a different story had been told on the other side of the country. And no words rang truer than Paine’s: “I saw that Pakistan are smelling blood in the water or whatever they said. What happened in Perth has got nothing to do with what is going to happen at the Gabba.”

Both men were involved in a century stand, but once that was broken, India lost four wickets for 30 runs

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai14-Jan-20201:47

One bad day at the office is fine – Dhawan

Opener Shikhar Dhawan believes KL Rahul’s wicket in Mumbai was the turning point of the match, as it triggered a collapse of four wickets for 30 runs that eventually dismissed India for 255.Dhawan top-scored with 74 off 91 on his ODI return and stitched a century stand with Rahul which was helping India score at nearly five an over before the in-form Rahul fell for 47. India slipped from there, as all of Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa and Mitchell Starc struck to leave them on 164 for 5.The target was later chased down rather easily with a record-breaking stand from opener David Warner and Aaron Finch.”I feel that when KL got out, that time we planned to accelerate and those four wickets we lost, that’s where we lost the momentum,” Dhawan said at the press conference. “From there, we were targeting 300 runs and because of loss of wickets we ended up scoring less runs on that sort of a wicket. In bowling, we could not take wickets and they outplayed us.”ALSO READ: How Starc and Finch masterminded Australia’s victoryDhawan elaborated on his 121-run partnership with Rahul, saying after seeing off the initial spells of Starc and Cummins, their plan was to accelerate and give India a more competitive score.6:14

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“I feel at that time we wanted to hold wickets in hand and we were not taking extra chances in that particular phase and still we were having four to five run-rate,” he said. “I knew that in a few overs we would have gone for it, like I started going for it and started to accelerate three-four overs before KL got out. That was the plan that we were going to accelerate but unfortunately KL got out in that particular over. I feel if we both were there for another five-six overs, we would have got the run rate much more higher.”The Wankhede track on Tuesday was not its usually flat self and the ball refused to come onto the bat. While there was no swing on offer, Australia’s attack “bowled really well,” according to Dhawan, who attributed their accuracy and discipline to the way Cummins started.”There was a bit of moisture when we started batting,” Dhawan said. “Their bowlers bowled really well. Pat Cummins bowled really strict lines to me, having that extra bounce and pace. We handled those first 10-15 overs very nicely. Where we lost four wickets in a go changed the game for us. Then, we were behind the game and we were trying to cover it. That’s where we went wrong.”They’ve got good quality bowlers and they’ve got some decent pace as well and it’s a good challenge as well [for our batsmen]. We guys enjoy taking that challenge and if you look back to the World Cup, we scored 330 (352), we took them on as well. Of course, first 10 overs Pat Cummins bowled really good line and length, tight line, he didn’t give much loose deliveries and with that pace it can get a bit challenging as well to score runs, especially when they’re bowling in such tight areas. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have any chance. Of course, we’ll come up with better plans, better solutions and execute next time.”

Given the numbers, the pedigree and the wickets Abbas has – how was picking Imran Khan ahead of him in Brisbane even a choice?

Osman Samiuddin22-Nov-2019Thirteen months ago Mohammad Abbas went from 21st in the Test bowling rankings to 13th and then to third, in the space of two Tests. In the far more important chamber of validation that is Dale Steyn’s twitter feed, he was there: “I see a new number one Test bowler coming… Mohammad Abbas.”He was breaking records wherever he went, taking wickets wherever he went, not giving away runs wherever he went; miraculously he was doing things like Mohammad Asif wherever he went while miraculously being nothing Mohammad Asif wherever he went. Naturally, then, the mind couldn’t help but drift towards the novel new way in which he would break and end up as another character in one of cricket’s greatest, cruellest, and most enduring storylines: The Ballad of the Unfulfilled Pakistani Pace Genius.A few ideas were thrown up here: “A doping ban. Mixing with the wrong guys. He could beat up on a team-mate. Get done for match-fixing. Probably spot-fixing. He could break a back. More to the point he could break his right wrist. He could look at somebody wrong. He could start getting picked for ODIs. He could be made captain. It could all go to his head. Test cricket could die before he really gets going. Duncan Fletcher could become coach and dump him because no pace. John Buchanan could become coach and teach him to bowl left-arm instead. Intikhab Alam could become coach. Ijaz Butt could return.”Not getting picked for a Test in Australia and it all going belly-up subsequently didn’t jump out as an option at the time but who knew? And make no mistake, this may be the exact moment Pakistan broke Abbas. Too dramatic? At least hear this scenario out.Pakistan lose badly at the Gabba. They react and recall Abbas for the day-night Test. Pakistan bat first, get rolled over and the bowlers are up against it already. Maybe Abbas doesn’t bowl badly but doesn’t run through them like people expect him to. His confidence is, understandably, fragile. He’s thinking they dropped me 66 wickets and a sub-19 average 14 Tests into my career and picked a guy who hadn’t played a Test for three years.Pakistan lose again, another Australian clean sweep and now Sri Lanka at home. Pitches will be different and they need some fresh blood. Naseem Shah’s pace is too exciting to ignore and being that a left-arm paceman is an immovable tenet of Pakistan’s cricket and that they’ll probably play two spinners, it means Abbas is no longer a shoo-in. He’s nearing 30 and because of the long gaps in Pakistan’s Test schedule and because he’s not quick, he’s vulnerable and easy to forget. Plus, in rushing him back for South Africa last year there’s that right shoulder injury that’s already been mismanaged – the PCB medical department’s record in managing-ruining player careers is exemplary. He may already be forever changed.Mohammad Abbas made early inroads•Sportsfile/Getty ImagesSo no, not so much drama, and even less if you consider the kind of judgements this new management team is making about him – as the rationale for dropping him at the Gabba. The line is that he didn’t fit in what Misbah-ul-Haq and team felt was Pakistan’s best bowling combination for this Test. He has lost pace and was unimpressive in nets, lacking in rhythm. Imran Khan looked better and so here we are. Oh, and Abbas is not injured, they’re very clear about that.Reflect on what that means. If he has lost pace – to a degree where they reckon he is unpickable even on a fast pitch – why bring him here in the first place? Presumably they saw him in the pre-series camp and kept tabs on him during his county season, so was this not clocked along the way? If, as one member of the backroom staff says, you need pace on Australian pitches, then why is Abbas here because he’s never been about pace?We’re not even getting into the gaping hole in the centre of this argument. Pace in Australia? Vernon Philander, twice on the series-winning side, and absolutely central in the 2016-17 series, is cackling away. Jimmy Anderson, central to the 2010-11 triumph and leading England wicket-taker in 2017-18, is probably just sneering at the assertion. More contemporaneously, just across the Tasman and on the same day as Pakistan were not using Abbas, Tim Southee’s 120-something clicks were scuttling England.What you need in Australia is an attack with a varied set of skills. Pace, sure, which Naseem Shah clearly has. A different angle, which Shaheen Shah Afridi brings. And somebody who can get something out of a surface – anything, a little seam, cut – exactly the kind that Abbas has managed in the UAE, West Indies, Ireland and England. And if they wanted someone quicker than Abbas, is Imran – who began with a delivery at 127kmph and didn’t venture over 135kmph – really that guy?Selection is no exact science and is right only in hindsight. You allow for gut calls and instinct picks so give Misbah and Azhar Ali that much. They have enough experience to be entrusted with this.Except when you have numbers like the following to consider, then? How was this even a choice?Since Imran’s previous Test – in January 2017 at the SCG – he has played 19 first-class games and taken 59 wickets at 29. Not standout but respectable. In that same period Abbas has played 45 first-class matches (including Tests), taken 203 wickets at an average of 19. He’s taken 14 five-fors and three ten-wicket hauls. Those are numbers built around the world, and include, generally, a higher quality of victim.So there’s gut calls and there’s what you see and it would seem as if they saw Imran take a five-for at Perth against Australia A and decided that was all they wanted to see – pink ball, day-night conditions and pitch be damned. These numbers be damned too, numbers which speak unequivocally of a pedigree. They speak of a quality that maybe, just , speak over and above a poor net session or three. Abbas’s figures this year aren’t as spectacular but the gulf is still so vast that it’s ridiculous we’re treating this as a choice that had to be made.And frankly, it was evident on day two. Imran has never been a bad bowler and he was harshly treated himself when first dropped – averaging under 27 from eight Tests and one poor Test later he was gone. He deserved a longer rope even if, ironically, it was his lack of pace that was his undoing.But he’s not Abbas. His first over made that very clear. Too many lengths, no set line and soon Australia off to a flyer, day decided. Also no surprise: in that same period Imran’s economy rate is 3.37 and Abbas’s is 2.50. Abbas may not have gotten wickets but bet the house that he wouldn’t have leaked runs and any control would’ve been gold dust.Imran ended up only bowling 12 overs on the day, an admission of this folly but a hollow one.

With the summer transfer window approaching, Crystal Palace are now reportedly looking to shock a mega rich club in the race to sign one particular attacking talent for Oliver Glanser should he stay put.

Crystal Palace face Oliver Glasner concern

In his first full season in charge at Selhurst Park, it’s fair to say that Glasner’s impressive spell at Crystal Palace has not gone unnoticed. The Austrian is reportedly among the names on RB Leipzig’s radar as they look to welcome their replacement for the sacked Marco Rose. Having previously managed in Germany, there will be plenty of concern surrounding Glasner’s future in South London.

The Eagles have already suffered one major departure away from the pitch in the form of Dougie Freedman and the last thing that Steve Parish needs is to be left replacing both his sporting director and manager.

Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time that Europe’s top clubs came swooping in for Palace’s top talents. Just last summer, the headlines surrounded Michael Olise, who eventually swapped Selhurst Park for Bayern Munich.

Now, on top of Glasner, Eberechi Eze has also been linked with a summer exit amid links to the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Given that Palace sit above both those sides in the Premier League this season, losing Eze to either would represent the most frustrating blow for Crystal Palace.

Potentially preparing for the worst, however, Palace have reportedly turned their attention towards a move to sign one particular Bundesliga talent ahead of Newcastle United.

Crystal Palace battling to sign "complete" Merlin Rohl

According to Bild in Germany, Crystal Palace are now shock contenders to sign Merlin Rohl from SC Freiburg this summer in a deal that will cost a reported €25m (£21m). With Liverpool and Newcastle also interested, there’s no doubt that the Eagles would be landing an impressive coup by signing the attacking midfielder in the coming months.

What would be most impressive if Rohl joined Palace over Newcastle specifically is how the finances of both clubs compare. These days, thanks to PIF, those at St James’ Park represent one of the richest clubs in world football and could put that billionaire status to good use this summer having managed their PSR issues over the last year. Meanwhile, Palace are often forced to sell before they can buy.

Just where Rohl’s next destination is remains to be seen, but his arrival would certainly ease any potential Eze exit blow for Crystal Palace this summer. The 22-year-old has earned plenty of praise during his Bundesliga rise over the years, including from former Ingolstadt coach Tomas Oral, who said: “Merlin’s the complete midfielder. He can do it defensively and offensively.”

With the Premier League calling, Palace will be desperate for Rohl to make his choice and join up with Glasner’s side this summer.