As Ashwin question rears its head again, three of India’s pace quartet respond

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Aug-20211:49

Laxman: Seventeen no balls are unacceptable from an international team

A wicketless first session. An unflinching Joe Root raising the bat – more than once – as if toasting a jolly weekend crowd standing up in ovation. The scoreboard ticking over for England. A slowing pitch showing no mercy on a sunny Saturday. England in the ascendancy.Were India right in not playing R Ashwin? That question popped up, again, early into the second session as Root and Jonny Bairstow chipped away at India’s first-innings total. In the first session, England’s run rate was 3.46. In the second, it climbed to just under 4. There were nine fours in the first session, 12 in the second. Before lunch, India would have felt hopeful, with the new ball to be taken seven overs after the break. Midway into the second session, England were starting to think about taking the lead.Naturally, then, the Ashwin question came up. But then, India had picked their four best fast bowlers believing they could get 20 wickets. Their initial challenge today was to combat a slow surface with a worn-out ball against settled batters in the first session. It was never going to be easy. Only Jasprit Bumrah stood out in the first two hours, relentlessly attacking Root and Bairstow in a probing spell of fast bowling, and the only one to repeatedly make the batters play and miss. With a spell of 6-2-11-0, Bumrah showed how the surface could be factored out if you were able to stick to the plan.That might have inspired Mohammed Siraj to return from the Pavilion End after the break reinvigorated and with a targeted plan: to fire in short-pitched deliveries endlessly. It was not easy, especially since the ball was 70-plus overs old and the pitch was uncompromising. But Siraj mounted the pressure, firing in short ball after short ball. Eventually, Bairstow’s patience and resilience were broken. He flinched against a ball Siraj delivered from wide of the crease from around the wicket, which kept climbing and went off the glove for an easy catch.Related

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But Root and Jos Buttler immediately restored the advantage as Bumrah, along with Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, failed to dominate with the new ball straightaway. Shami was the weakest link in the Indian pace quartet as he struggled with not just his rhythm but the lines, failing to supplement the pressure created at the other end. That tested Kohli’s patience who was busy changing the bowlers after mini spells.It was a critical juncture, not just from the day’s point of view, but one where India could have easily let the game slip away. Just then Sharma came back from the Pavilion end and used the slope to his advantage by initially angling the balls into Buttler. At Trent Bridge Buttler had been bowled leaving the ball on the off stump. Today, Sharma burst through Buttler’s defence to shake his off stump and let out a guttural cry. Sharma had been challenged after missing out playing at Trent Bridge due to fitness issues. On all four days of the Test he was busy doing fitness drills alongside the Indian medical staff. He was hungry but not desperate.Post tea India pumped up the pressure as England’s scoring rate halved to nearly two runs an over. While that would not ruffle Root, it would bother Moeen Ali, who had dashed off the blocks punishing Siraj for pitching wide and short on off stump. Sharma sensed he could build the pressure on Moeen considering he has good numbers against left-handers. It did not take him long to force Moeen to poke at a delivery that nipped in and tucked out while taking the edge en route to Kohli at first slip. Next ball Sam Curran went in similar fashion, picked easily at second slip.Sharma is now one short of becoming the first Indian fast bowler to take 50 Test wickets in England. Today he used all his experience to understand the situation and help India build the pressure. Sharma and Siraj created the chances and remained persistent with their questions. Thrice in an over Siraj thudded into Ollie Robinson’s front knee. All three deliveries were pitched on the same good-length spot, with scrambled seam. All three times Siraj was convinced it was going to hit leg stump and ran up to Kohli pleading to use the one last review India had after Michael Gough remained unconvinced. Kohli eventually agreed the third time. All three times the ball would just clip the outside of the leg stump.”Come on, mate, **** sake,” Kohli exhorted loudly after the third time Siraj was unlucky. Siraj walked by Gough with his bulging eyes and shaking head. Gough put an arm around the shoulder of Siraj, patting his back and asking him to carry on. Siraj did not give up. He would return the next over, push the length slightly fuller and rap Robinson again on the front knee. Gough this time raised his finger. England reviewed and Siraj had the last laugh.James Anderson has a chat with Jasprit Bumrah after being given a thorough working over by him•PA Photos/Getty ImagesThat uncompromising attitude is one reason this Indian fast bowling attack is successful across continents. Nothing sums up that attitude better than Bumrah’s final over of the day which became a piece of theatre lasting nearly 10 minutes. The 10-ball over might have contained four no-balls, but it will be remembered more for the short-ball barrage Bumrah attacked England’s No. 11 with, including the first ball that hit Anderson’s helmet – forcing him to take a concussion test.Bumrah was not apologetic to the end. As Root walked out raising both hands to a standing ovation immediately after Shami had bowled Anderson on the final ball of the day, Bumrah walked behind Anderson raising both hands. It is difficult to know exactly what was said but it is fair to assume Anderson had taken unkindly to India deploying bouncers at him. As they climbed the steps into the Long Room, Kohli and Root would be seen talking animatedly.At lunch India were pushed into a corner. But they refused to be pushed on the back foot and credit must go to Siraj, Sharma and Bumrah.

David Frith’s updated autobiography is a journey to the very heart of the game he devoted his life to

Paul Edwards26-Dec-2021An Ashes series is taking place in Australia and things are going badly for the old country. The selectors have picked the wrong team twice in two attempts, chances are being muffed and one of English cricket’s narrow-eyed folk villains is settling some not-so-old scores. All this against the background of a pandemic. There’s not been a series like it. “Maybe not exactly like this,” one imagines David Frith saying, “but you might remember that Test when…”Perhaps that’s the point. You remember; Frith almost certainly . Ashes cricket has been one of his passions since, aged 11, his reverie on Rayners Lane railway bridge in 1948 was interrupted by the news that Australia had skittled England for 52 at The Oval. That experience is recalled in characteristically needle-sharp detail in chapter three of , Frith’s updated and considerably revised autobiography. His first attempt, , was published in 1997 and its title reflects the intriguingly blended identity of a Londoner who spent his childhood in England and adolescence in Australia, only to return home in April 1964 accompanied by a wife and three children and nurturing the daft idea that he might make it as a cricket writer.Frith succeeded to the extent that he is now regarded as one of the game’s finest historians. , his pictorial history of the game, has no equal; his book is the best in an absurdly crowded field; his biographies of AE Stoddart, Archie Jackson and Ross Gregory mix sympathetic insight with tough analysis and are the products of proper research; his original book on cricketers’ suicides in 1990 turned fresh turf decades before counselling was a thing.Related

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We could go on, and maybe we should. For, bizarrely, Frith has not been sufficiently honoured in either of the countries he called home. One could name about 20 young cricket writers, most of them with a decent knowledge of the game and some awareness of its history, who would benefit from an afternoon with him at his house-cum-library in Guildford. That shrine to one man’s devotion to the game is decorated with such glorious pieces of memorabilia as Bert Oldfield’s blazer from the 1930 Ashes tour and a ball from that year’s Trent Bridge Test, both of which were given to the near-obsessed youth in the 1950s, a decade in which he also frequented the sports shops owned by Stan McCabe and Alan Kippax.Frith’s autobiography contains accounts of those meetings and also of his later conversations with players like Wilfred Rhodes, Sydney Barnes and Percy Fender. By then, Frith had established himself in the cricket world and was determined to waste no opportunity to interview old players while he still could. To a degree, his journalistic reputation was made by his coup in getting an interview out of Jack Gregory, who never talked to reporters until Frith drove 200 miles in the hope he might chat to this one.While all this is lovingly recounted in , the book would be a lesser thing if it was simply a chronicle of personal achievement. One of the reasons why Frith’s work will live on for as long as cricket is valued is that he sees beyond the statistics and the accomplishments that satisfy others in his trade. He knows he will never write properly about the cricketer if he doesn’t understand the person, and that principle is also exemplified in the many passages of self-analysis where Frith reflects on the influences and events that formed his own character.For example, here he is on the afternoon when his ambition to be a cricket writer was probably conceived. It is January 8, 1951 and he is paying his first visit to the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch the third day of the third Test against England:

“I looked around me in wonderment, at the enchanting green 19th-century pavilion with its ornate roof and clock-tower, at the roomy and elegant Ladies’ Stand, and the long, cosy Brewongle Stand… The Hill was packed. Beer-cans were a future invention still. Hundreds of men sat on that great grassy expanse, almost all of them wearing wide-brimmed hats, some of them yelling encouragement to the Australians, not that they were in need of it, some directing ribaldry and gentle derision at the Englishmen. It was a momentous baptism, a revelation, destiny-making.”

Two years later and the 16-year-old Frith is at home: “The diary records my listening to the Hassett testimonial match on radio, bowling alone against the school wall, noting the deaths of Warren Bardsley and Fred Root, and being concerned at England’s performance in the first Test in the Caribbean.” is packed with such evocative passages but it is much more than a cricket writer’s autobiography. It is a rich account of what it was like to be a boy during a war in London and then grow to manhood in 1950s Australia. It is the story of how a young bloke eventually built a career for himself and a life for his family in England and developed into one of cricket’s most indefatigable researchers. And it is also a moving love story about Frith’s long marriage to Debbie, who passed away less than three years ago. The final chapter contains Frith’s honest attempt to cope with the loss of someone whose presence could light a room.CricMASHThere are other tough chapters in the book; Frith’s life has not been a ride up sunshine mountain. Having been appointed editor of the , he was removed from that post in 1978. The following year he founded and edited , a vibrant competitor to its increasingly staid competitor, and was then replaced as its editor in 1995. This latter blow hurt him deeply and it still does. Disingenuous conciliation is not his style and readers of should be grateful. This is a very honest book and its author does not spare himself. He is still bitter because he still cares.And so you can bet that dark mornings in Guildford will find one octogenarian following yet another Ashes series, even if its outcome appears as inevitable as that of his first, in 1948. But if you read this deeply scrupulous and rather wonderful autobiography – and you certainly should – you will find that the boy who leant on a railway bridge over 73 years ago is still alive in the book’s eminent author. For some reason, I imagine Bert Oldfield would be quietly pleased by that, and I’m certain Debbie was already very proud.Paddington Boy
By David Frith
CricketMASH
448 pages, £17.95

ESPNcricinfo’s (off-duty) correspondent from England recounts watching Pakistan ace the chase on a heady Sunday night in Dubai

Matt Roller25-Oct-2021″If you don’t want it on I can turn it down,” Muhammad, my Uber driver, says as we pull away from Sharjah. India have lost three wickets in the Powerplay and he’s listening to a broadcast on the radio which flickers between English and Urdu.I tell him not to worry, I want to listen too. I check who he’s supporting. “Pakistan, of course,” he confirms. “It’s very hard for me to work tonight because I’m not in the stadium.”I’ve spent the first half of Super Sunday – Subcontinent Sunday – watching Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka but by this time, there’s only one game on anyone’s mind. My colleague is covering India vs Pakistan so I don’t have accreditation to get in but there’s a ticket waiting for me in the top drawer of the front desk at ICC Academy thanks to a sheer fluke from a contact. (Alex, thank you.)But there’s one problem: I was covering the afternoon game and Bangladesh’s loose bowling has rendered my 750 words on Mushfiqur Rahim’s innings futile. That means every sports journalist’s worst nightmare: a re-write, not only with the pressure of a deadline but in the knowledge that 30 miles up the road, Shaheen Shah Afridi had the new ball in his hand and my seat was empty.

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Muhammad and I listened as Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant led India’s rebuild – a five-minute ad break means we miss Pant’s consecutive sixes off Hasan Ali – and I’m glued to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary in the back seat. I get hold of my ticket, no questions asked, and walk past hundreds of fans outside desperately trying to experience the action without one, with 20 or more huddled around a single iPhone streaming the game. After handing over my backpack – containing my laptop, accreditation and all my worldly possession – to a man in a porta cabin for safekeeping, I’m in.Related

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The first things I notice are the colours and the noise. I was in the press box, up in the gods, during England’s thrashing of West Indies the previous night when the stands were largely empty; despite the best efforts of the DJs and Adil Rashid, for the most part it felt flat. Not tonight: it seems as though every fan is wearing either blue or green and nobody is risking the rest of the stand not knowing about it. My 2021 season started with a behind-closed-doors County Championship match at Lord’s – this feels, quite literally, thousands of miles away.It is hard to gauge the split between India and Pakistan fans in Block 141 because everything that happens in the first over of the chase draws a huge cheer. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar nips the first ball away from Mohammad Rizwan’s outside edge: celebration. Varun Chakravarthy runs round to make a sprawling boundary stop: celebration. Confirmation on the big screen that Varun’s left hand was touching the rope after all: celebration.Pakistan fans celebrate as Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan cruise•ICC via GettyWhile there are disadvantages to my angle at extra cover or backward square leg in the second row of the lower tier – compared to the view from most press boxes, behind the bowler’s arm – there are reminders about players’ skill and athleticism: Suryakumar Yadav races 20 metres to his left to cut off a boundary in the sort of stop that has become so routine it scarcely warrants a mention, but his acceleration and dedication are remarkable; Rizwan’s power as he lashes at Mohammed Shami’s slower ball is unthinkable for such a diminutive man; Jasprit Bumrah’s action remains hypnotising.And gradually, it becomes apparent exactly what is going to happen. Babar Azam and Rizwan start slowly, as they tend to, but when Babar swings Ravindra Jadeja over midwicket, slashes at Varun and thumps Bumrah’s half-volley over extra cover, the rate is in control and the dew is setting in. Varun disappears for two sixes in an over and each run is being cheered louder and louder, each “!” chanted with more conviction.Perhaps the abiding memory will be of a moment in Shami’s final over, the 18th. His first ball slips out as a full toss and is dispatched for six, but when he is running in to bowl, Rizwan pulls away. There are people moving behind the big screen. As it turns out, they are India fans looking for the nearest exit to beat the traffic home.As Babar scampers home for the winning second run, I get my phone out to capture the moment. Fans in replica shirts are jumping up and down in celebration beside themselves at the win. One man in his fifties, dressed in a , is video calling his family or friends, and takes a deep breath of relief, soaking in what Pakistan have achieved.The man in the row behind me, wearing an India shirt from the mid-2010s, taps me on the shoulder. “They’re only celebrating like this because they’re not used to beating us,” he says with a wry smile. He’s right, of course, but who would begrudge them?

Having started relatively smoothly, everything changed in late December

Tristan Lavalette22-Jan-2022When Melbourne Stars and Brisbane Heat played a high-octane clash on December 27, as the BBL entered its traditional peak period of the school holidays, there was reason for optimism and little indication of the mayhem ahead for the tournament.In front of almost 15,000 fans at the Gabba, one of the biggest crowds of this turbulent regular season engulfed by Covid-19 chaos afflicting every team, Stars and Heat combined for nearly 400 runs to light a fuse under the competition which had started slowly behind the Ashes’ giant shadow.Three weeks into its 11th edition the BBL had already navigated logistical hurdles, most notably Western Australia’s ironclad hard border which consigned Perth Scorchers permanently on the road after their season opener against Heat on December 8 at Optus Stadium.But amid Australia’s borders easing elsewhere, after a change of government policy late last year as Covid-19 surged in the country’s most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, BBL officials breathed a sigh of relief that the virus hadn’t upended the competition like last year’s IPL, which paused in-season for four months and then shifted to the UAE for completion.”We were almost halfway through the competition and things were going relatively smoothly in regards to Covid,” BBL general manager Alistair Dobson told ESPNcricinfo. “Then it changed.”Related

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Late on December 27, tempering their mood, Stars officials noticed the first signs of Covid-19 had perhaps penetrated their camp. All their players and staff tested negative to rapid antigen tests before the first positive test of Covid-19 was recorded the next day and soon enough 10 players and eight staff members were confirmed to have contracted the virus.”We had been very vigilant and clear about the Covid protocols,” Stars general manager Blair Crouch said. “It was quite strict like no catching Uber or public transport. You couldn’t drink on the plane and had to wear a mask throughout. We were daily rapid antigen testing our players and staff before they came into the change rooms.”But once it hit, it hit so hard.”It led to Stars’ match against Scorchers on December 30 at the MCG being called off – the first of three BBL matches this season postponed due to Covid-19.Robust discussions then took place between Stars/Cricket Victoria and league officials on how to deal with this unprecedented situation. Complicating matters, it was a showpiece part of the calendar for Stars, who were about to play three matches in five days including the Melbourne derby against Renegades at the MCG – a marquee fixture that is often the highest attended match of the season.”Nothing predefined [on what is needed to stop the season]…it was about making the best possible decision in the moment with the information at hand,” Dobson said. “Any contemplation of a pause was for how long and what it would achieve. It wasn’t necessarily clear what that would achieve.”So it was agreed that the show should go on which meant the decimated Stars desperately needed to find replacement players for their match against league leaders Scorchers on January 2 at the Junction Oval.Justin Avendano has played for two clubs in one season•Cricket Australia via Getty ImagesIt was an incredibly onerous task made more difficult with their key decision makers unwell and forced into seven days of isolation. Covid-19 be damned, Crouch and Stars’ coaching staff led by head coach David Hussey worked around the clock to assemble the most unusual line-up in BBL history.”We probably worked 16-18 hour days,” said Crouch, who fortunately had relatively minor symptoms from the virus. “There was a lot of admin work. We were running on adrenaline. When Cricket Australia’s preference was for those games to go ahead, we didn’t think to push back and knew it was the right thing to do for the BBL.”Crouch suddenly found himself fielding calls from agents intent on plugging their clients’ cricket credentials but Stars had a pathway program filled with youngsters to mostly fall back on. While an opportunity to trial talent, Stars still needed to win matches and also looked interstate where they picked up batter Justin Avendano who is now currently part of Sydney Sixers’ finals team amid the BBL introducing a roster of replacement players.

Players’ mental health needs to be taken into account too. They are not performing circus animals, they are peopleNick Cummins, Cricket Victoria chief executive

The upheaval continued until almost the last minute before the Scorchers game. “We had Brayden Stepien locked in but he called on the morning of game day and said he tested positive to a rapid test,” Crouch said. “So I called [St Kilda grade cricketer] Patty Rowe at 9am and said ‘what are you doing this afternoon? Do you want to play with the Stars?’ He couldn’t believe it.”All the frantic work behind the scenes came to fruition as Stars fielded fairly competitive teams against Scorchers and Renegades although it led to some belief that the integrity of the competition had been compromised.Most prominently, Stars bowling talisman Adam Zampa believed CA had “taken the piss” out of the Melbourne derby, while team-mate Joe Burns has also been vocal over social media, although its administrators were more diplomatic.

Am I the only one who thinks it’s crazy that we pushed on blindly with replacement players simply for content fulfilment, thus losing competitive integrity, yet we won’t allow Steve Smith to be on TVs playing for the team his always represented and led #ReplacementsOverSmudge

— Joe Burns (@joeburns441) January 21, 2022

“We had coaches who had never coached Stars before…that was probably unprecedented in Australian sport,” Cricket Victoria chief executive Nick Cummins said. “We weren’t unfairly singled out. We were just unlucky we were the first team to go through it. I don’t think people should discount how difficult it’s been to keep the Big Bash running.”Shorthanded Stars needed all hands on deck even if that meant the big boss had to act as team manager, where his game day duties involved carrying water bottles and collecting mobile phones off players.”I was wondering how my career had gotten to this,” Cummins laughed. “The hardest part was trying to clothe the new players. It was difficult mid-season trying to find uniforms, helmets, the right size shoes and shirts for 10 new players.”Stars managed to get through the games against Scorchers and Renegades but their January 7 away fixture against Adelaide Strikers – as recovered players were exiting isolation – was a bridge too far and postponed.”After being in a room for seven days, it was unrealistic to think they could hop on a plane and just go from zero to 100kph and to peak performance,” Cummins said. “Players’ mental health needs to be taken into account too. They are not performing circus animals, they are people.”Covid-19 soon affected every team, most notably Heat who were badly hit at the backend of the tournament similarly to Stars, who ultimately missed finals by one point. It led to all eight teams moving to a hub in Victoria to reduce movement and restrictions tightened with players and staff limited to being in small groups to stem outbreaks. It meant the days of building team camaraderie on the bus or plane had to be shelved for now.”It does change your coaching style,” Hurricanes coach Adam Griffith said. “You don’t have the bus or plane to sit next to the player and chat to them. You have to identify when players are getting tired like [Matthew] Wade who has been in bubbles and hubs for a long time [and took personal leave mid-tournament].”The impact of Covid has been felt right towards the end of the competition with Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder unable to host home finals along with the long locked-out Scorchers. There was also the curious case of Steven Smith not being allowed to sign for Sixers because he was not part of the Local Replacement Player Pool that was introduced mid-tournament to cover for absences.There is still the question about how much more players can endure when it comes to restrictions to keep competitions afloat (an issue across many sports other than just cricket). But with the BBL having, fingers crossed, navigated the worst of its Covid-19 outbreak to ensure the finals series started on schedule, it’s provided perhaps a template for other sporting codes in Australia and cricket leagues worldwide to learn from.”Reality is you can plan as much as possible but ultimately it comes down to how agile you can be and what types of decisions you can make in a short timeframe and back them in,” Dobson said. “It’s been a phenomenal achievement to keep playing.”

Using his time away from competitive cricket to fine-tune his skills and bowling action, the left-arm quick aims to bounce back in 2022

Deivarayan Muthu07-Feb-2022India left-arm seamer T Natarajan, who missed a substantial chunk of playing time in 2021 because of injury and Covid, aims to bounce back in 2022 as the “Natarajan of the old”. Part of that process, Natarajan told ESPNcricinfo recently, involves him working on swinging the white ball more in his opening spells in T20 cricket.As far as return to competitive cricket is concerned, Natarajan is likely to feature in the second round of the Ranji Trophy where he will turn up for Tamil Nadu later this month. However, before that, Natarajan’s first test will come during the 2022 IPL auction, which will take place in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13. Natarajan is part of set no. 5 comprising specialist fast bowlers.That Natarajan remains confident he will get a good deal can be gauged from his base price, which the 30-year-old has listed at INR 1 crore. In 2018, at the last IPL mega auction, Natarajan was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 40 lakhs when he was working his way back from an elbow injury. That was a year after Kings XI Punjab, prompted by their then mentor Virender Sehwag, had shelled out INR 3 crore to snap up the then uncapped Natarajan. Since then Natarajan has taken big strides, including playing for India in all three formats on India’s tour of Australia in 2020-21.Related

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Natarajan is not fussed about his IPL price as long as he gets back to the field. “I’m not thinking too much about it [the auction],” Natarajan said. “IPL, another T20 World Cup – there are talks about 2022 being a big year – but I just want to focus on my strengths and keep working hard. If I do that, the rest of the things will fall in place. I’m coming back after a long break, so [nervousness will be there]. I’ll be lying if I say I’m not nervous.”I’ve done well in the IPL and for India before, so people will expect strong performances from me. Once I play one or two matches, I will hit my rhythm and will be more clear with my plans. I’m feeling refreshed now and just want to keep doing whatever has worked for me in the past – focusing on my yorkers and cutters. I want to come back as the old Natarajan.”Since his fairy-tale tour of Australia, Natarajan has spent more time on the sidelines than on the field. His knee injury flared up during the first leg of the IPL 2021, cutting his stint short, and then when he was ready to return to action for the UAE leg, he tested positive for Covid-19.More recently, Natarajan was part of the Tamil Nadu side that successfully defended the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 title, but his body struggled to cope with the match-intensity following those bouts of knee issues and Covid-19. As a result, he missed the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy in December.Natarajan underwent rehab for around five months at the NCA in Bengaluru and later trained in Chennai and his hometown Chinnappampatti, near Salem, where he is currently setting up a new cricket ground. He recalls that the rehab was monotonous but he learnt to embrace it.”It was boring to start with,” Natarajan said. “You will have to keep doing the same things again and again, but you need to do it properly to become fit again. I was in Bangalore for around five months at the NCA. During the weekends, I used to go back home to Salem and spend time with the family.”Apart from talking to my mentor Jayaprakash (brother), I used to call up Washy (Washington Sundar), Rajinikanth (trainer) and Shyam Sundar (Sunrisers Hyderabad physio) during the recovery phase. I had the confidence and motivation from my Jayaprakash. He always frees up my mind. Motivational words have always inspired me from childhood. The major learning was that cricket – and life – has both ups and downs and you’ll have to learn to accept it.”‘Looking to swing the white ball more’
Natarajan used his time away from competitive cricket to fine-tune his skills and bowling action, with help from Sreenath Aravind, the former Karnataka seamer who is now part of the state team’s coaching staff.T Natarajan made his debut in all three formats during India’s tour of Australia in 2020-21•Getty Images”I’m looking to swing the new ball more in white-ball cricket; sometimes in the past I haven’t got much swing under pressure in big matches,” Natarajan said. “I’m looking to have more control over the legcutter and have been in touch with Sreenath Aravind. He’s a superb red-ball bowler, through [R] Prasanna (Tamil Nadu assistant coach) I have spoken to him previously too.”During the last Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, I wasn’t in a good rhythm. I realised something was wrong and I passed my videos to him. He spotted that I was falling over in my action – the loading and landing was unstable – and I have rectified it since. His inputs have been very helpful for me.”Natarajan’s protegees part of accelerated auction
That Natarajan will keenly follow this IPL auction is also because two of his protegees G Periyaswamy and V Gowtham will be up for bidding. Periyaswamy, a right-arm seamer with a sling-arm action, has been among the highest wicket-takers in the last two TNPL seasons and was a net bowler for Sunrisers in the second leg of IPL 2021 in the UAE. Gowtham, a left-arm seamer, made his TNPL debut last year and has also bowled at the Chennai Super Kings nets. Gowtham attended trials at Mumbai Indians last month and Periyaswamy at Punjab Kings.”My dream was always to start an academy in my village, nurture talent and encourage them to play on the big stage,” Natarajan said. “I’m very proud and pleased to see their progress. I’ve opened the bowling with Periyaswamy for Tamil Nadu and he has been very impressive at the TNPL. Gowtham often reminds me of myself. He has a good yorker and will definitely go to the next level in the next couple of years. You never know, they could become my opponents in the IPL in the future .”

The former Rajasthan Royals spinner’s unlikely rise in cricket is now the subject of a film

Debayan Sen18-Apr-2022There is a poignant moment a little more than midway through , the biopic about former Mumbai, Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Lions legspinner Pravin Tambe, that you might miss unless you hit pause.It comes at a point in the movie where Tambe, played by Shreyas Talpade, is going through a rough patch. His older brother and pillar of support, Prashant, played by Varoon Varma, is moving to the Netherlands for a job. The scene requires Prashant to offer his brother some money, which he refuses, as Pravin’s wife comes into the frame.”I don’t know when the scene began,” Talpade says, about when director Jayprad Desai shot the portion. “He offered me money, then I said no, and I didn’t even realise when the wife came. I was so overcome with emotion that I just pulled Varoon towards me, hugged him and started crying. And he started crying. Jayprad was so emotional himself – he was behind the camera and he started crying. It was a minute or so before he said, ‘Cut.'”Related

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“I don’t know when I became Pravin Tambe, knowingly or unknowingly.”Biopics about Indian sportspersons are rare, and ones on cricketers rarer still. It puzzles you, considering films and cricket have been the two principal obsessions across the country over the decades. Perhaps it is because movies require a suspension of disbelief that sits at odds with the authenticity of sport. Still, one of your first thoughts here is why it took them so long to make a movie about Pravin Tambe.Here are the simple stats about his life: An IPL debut for Royals in 2013, followed by a Champions League season later in the year, where he was the top wicket-taker. The following IPL, a hat-trick against Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad fetched him the purple cap after the 25th game of the season. Sandwiched in between was a first-class debut for Mumbai, and six years on, history again as he became the first Indian cricketer to play in the CPL. Extraordinarily this journey began at the age of 41.”I was stunned,” is what Tambe remembers of his first reaction when Sudip Tewari of Boot Room Sports Media, the production company behind the film, first broached the idea of a biopic around the time of the 2014 season. “A movie on me? [I thought they were playing a prank].Like Tambe, Talpade bowled medium pace in his youth, and had to switch to learning legspin for the movie•Kaun Pravin Tambe?”But I feel great now because I had never thought I would be able to relay my story to so many people. When I started off, I didn’t know how far I would get to play. ” cricket [The only desire that drove me was to play good cricket]. I just gave it everything I had, and maybe this movie is a reward for that effort.”The film itself is a pleasant watch, with a fine cast that includes experienced names like Ashish Vidyarthi, Arif Zakaria and Parambrata Chatterjee. Cricket is at the heart of the story, but it is as much about Tambe the man as his long road to success.Tewari speaks of the creators’ desire for “authenticity” and their quest to “reflect the roots of Pravin’s life” in a Maharashtrian ethos. Humour serves as the bed on which drama resides – as it does, for instance, in a scene in a hospital room where Tambe is getting treatment for a fractured foot; the doctor is fascinated when he discovers he is talking to a legspinner and seeks tips on how to improve his own bowling.The realism and writing are in keeping with two fine films of the genre – and – and has significant links to both. While Tewari’s partner at Boot Room, Neeraj Pandey, directed the Dhoni film, Talpade shot to fame playing the eponymous deaf and mute fast bowler in Nagesh Kukunoor’s .By his own admission Talpade was an average cricketer in his younger days, with three older brothers in his joint family all excelling in the sport. He laughs about “never even making the XV”.Talpade and Tambe enjoy vada pav and tea after playing together at Shivaji Park for a promotional event for the film•Kaun Pravin Tambe”My eldest brother was quite embarrassed, and after my tenth-grade exams, he took me early in the morning to [Ramakant] Achrekar sir’s nets and he enrolled me there,” he says.After a few months, the coach moved him from the U-14 nets to the U-19 ones (“He probably saw some potential”) but soon the theatre bug would bite Talpade. That was when sport – table tennis, badminton, cricket, “not so much” football, “sometimes” hockey – took a back seat.It helped in his preparation for that he had bowled medium pace in his younger days, and he was still in first-hand touch with cricket, through weekend games alongside Marathi theatre, television and film personalities in places like Kalina, Pune and Dombivli. For this film, he had to make the transition to legspin, not unlike Tambe himself.”I used to be a fast bowler. I was short but I had good pace and I could swing the ball, though the wickets weren’t too helpful,” says Tambe. “There was one game for Orient [his corporate team] where the ball stopped swinging and the captain suggested I try spin. We won that match and from there I enjoyed bowling spin.” Tambe worked with his coach on his wrist position and straightening his run-up, and the results were quite dramatic.For his part, Talpade spent three months in cricket and character training to become Tambe. “There is slightly extra speed and extra jump in his action because of his medium-pace background,” says Talpade. “I thought I might as well learn it like him, so that whenever I am bowling, or practising, or just sitting and spinning the ball in one place, let me do it like Pravin.”Tambe on first hearing about the biopic: “I was stunned. A movie on me? I thought they were playing a prank”•Kaun Pravin Tambe?Tambe is fulsome in his praise of how Talpade picked up the nuances of his action. “I have turned to coaching now, and it’s a difficult art. You have to use your wrists, you have to jump with proper timing. But he got it spot-on within one or two weeks of me showing him.”He’s a very good human being. Speaking with him felt like chatting with a younger brother.”The feeling is mutual. Talpade talks of Tambe as a “brother from another mother”. He likens Tambe to Jackie Chan, what with his bent fingers and calluses – a legacy of the amount of bowling he has done.”There were times when he was playing an IPL match, and he had bowled three balls, and there was a catch in his back,” Talpade says. “He said, ‘I had to finish the over. I couldn’t tell anyone, right?’ Because as it is, people were talking about his age. So he said, ‘I was in immense pain, but I finished that over and then I finished two more overs and then I came in.’ I was like, ‘Dude, what are you made of?'”When you speak to anyone associated with the film, the words “perseverance”, “discipline” and dedication” come up quite often. Talpade used Tambe as an inspiration whenever he felt aches and pains – which was not rare, given he sometimes bowled ten overs non-stop for the cameras, as Desai shot from different angles.Tambe says he never thought his age ought ever to have been a factor in judging him. “I have had a lot of negativity in my life but never given it a second thought,” he says. “When I got into the IPL, all I tried to learn was: how do big players think and prepare for the game?Tambe on how Talpade quickly picked up legspin: “It’s a difficult art. You have to use your wrists, you have to jump with proper timing. But he got it spot-on within one or two weeks of me showing him”•Kaun Pravin Tambe?”When I started playing, everybody only ever talked about my age. They never spoke about my performance [though] I would think, ‘I am playing well and bowling well’.He speaks of having bowled to the best in the business, but having had the toughest time bowling to AB de Villiers, who took the most runs off him in his time in the IPL. “I always read the batter’s mind, but he was one batter who could play with mine.”Once the movie was finished, Tambe and Talpade got together for a media day in their whites at Shivaji Park. Talpade laid down a challenge, six balls apiece, and joked that he would be depositing Tambe on the roof of the nearest high-rise. “As usual, he was all praise for my bowling – ‘Look at the way he is spinning the ball,'” Talpade says. “I went, ‘look at the way are spinning the ball!'”Then we had our vada pav at Kirti College and cutting chai. That was also the first time both of us saw the trailer, and he got so emotional, he couldn’t speak initially.”For Talpade, the film has been an emotional experience because the reception tells him it is a redefining moment for his career. “I have been known to do a lot of comedy films, so people had not only forgotten that I had started with a serious film like , but most of them had also written me off,” he says.The best bit of feedback came after a screening for the subject of the film. “I asked him what his thoughts were, and he said, ‘Please don’t mind my saying this, but I didn’t see you in the film. I saw Pravin, I saw myself, living all that I have lived through.'””That, for me, is the biggest compliment that you can get.”

Two rain delays aside, nothing could interrupt his rhythm as he struck an unbeaten run-a-ball 98

Deivarayan Muthu28-Jul-20221:10

Shubman Gill: The aim is to convert good starts into big scores

There’s an air of serenity around Shubman Gill. He barely played a shot in anger during the three-match ODI series in the Caribbean, but he was left angered by the manner of his dismissals in the first two ODIs.In the series opener, some lax running between the wickets saw him being run-out for a 53-ball 64. In the second match, he attempted a bizarre scoop off a legcutter from Kyle Mayers, only to chip it back to the bowler for 43 off 49 balls.In the third ODI on Wednesday, Gill came agonisingly closer to a hundred, but intermittent rain in Port-of-Spain left him stranded on a run-a-ball 98. Perhaps, he was disappointed once again when he dragged himself off the field, with India’s innings ending abruptly on 225 for 3 in 36 overs. However, Gill appears to have done enough on this tour to become India’s back-up opener in ODI cricket, ahead of Ruturaj Gaikwad.Two rain delays aside, nothing could interrupt Gill’s rhythm at the Queen’s Park Oval. He was also conscious of not giving his wicket away, shelving low-percentage shots and showing urgency between the wickets.The Port-of-Spain pitch was a curious one once again: even the new ball didn’t quite come onto the bat and the cutters stopped at the batters. Gill, though, sussed out the conditions early and checked his cuts and pulls. As for Shikhar Dhawan, he took more risks and dominated a 113-run opening partnership with Gill. The stand, though, ended when legspinner Hayden Walsh Jr had Dhawan skewing a wrong’un to midwicket. By then, Gill had worked his way to a 60-ball fifty.Rain arrived when India were 115 for 1 in 24 overs. After a delay of almost two-and-a-half hours cut India’s innings to 40 overs, Gill came out and unlocked his T20 game. From being on 51 off 65 balls, he cranked up the tempo to hit 47 off his next 33.Shubman Gill came out all guns blazing post the rain break•Associated PressUpon resumption of play, Gill dashed out of the crease and pumped Walsh down the ground for a six, with the stillest of heads and smoothest of bat swings. He also lined up fast bowler Jayden Seales and swatted him off his chest over midwicket for four. Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein was shovel-swept past short fine leg with utmost ease for four more. Despite the absence of a left-hander in their middle order, India got on top of Walsh, Hosein and Gudakdesh Motie, another left-arm spinner, thanks in no small part to Gill and Shreyas Iyer.Ahead of the third ODI, Gill had publicly said that he was enthused by the opportunity to open the batting with Dhawan ahead of the other contenders.”[Asking me to open] gave me a lot of confidence,” Gill had said. “To be given to play a game for India, especially at the international level feels good. It was important for me to pay that trust back and I was happy to contribute to the team’s cause.”Opening the batting alongside Shikhar has been great. He has so much experience, has played all over the world and I get to learn a lot.”In the third ODI, which was essentially a dead rubber, India’s team management might have been tempted to take a look at Gaikwad, but they stuck with Gill, who seized his chance and repaid the team management’s faith once again.Dhawan was so impressed by Gill that he said he sees shades of Rohit Sharma in Gill.”He [Gill] has got a very good technique and he is a classy player; you can see that the touch he’s got – I think he has got a bit of Rohit touch in him,” Dhawan said after India won the rain-hit third ODI by 119 runs. “He has a lot of time in him. Good to see that he has scored 98 today. He knew how to convert his fifty to 90s. We both got two 100-run partnerships in three matches, that’s a very good sign. The way we handled the first ten overs and their bowling attack, it was really good.”Rain might have robbed Gill of his maiden ODI ton, but it was a tour to remember for him. After being omitted from all three squads for India’s last tour of the Caribbean in 2019, he came away with the Player-of-the-Series award in the ODI leg this time around.

Spinner outdoes previous Headingley cameo to claim maiden Test ten-wicket haul

Vithushan Ehantharajah26-Jun-20225:44

#PoliteEnquiries: How silly was Root scooping Wagner?

The trouble with being known for one thing above everything else is invariably, when people come across you, it’s all they want to talk about.Actors speak openly of frustrating periods in their lives when one role stuck with them a little too long. Christopher Mintz-Plasse once joked about asking his friends to start calling him McLovin because everyone else did. Bands often grow to resent their biggest songs, which might explain why the New Radicals last gig was in 2001, before Joe Biden brought them back 20 years later for his big inauguration do. And yeah, of course they played that songFor Jack Leach, the occasion of his 25th Test was a first return to the Leeds stage where he nailed the role that granted him cult status. That 1 not out alongside Ben Stokes against Australia here still ranks as the most celebrated single since Dua Lipa’s “One Kiss”, and probably just about shades it for airtime given how often it’s brought up. Along with shouts of “Leachy where are your glasses?!” and “Leachy – clean your glasses!”, which, to be fair, he handles with typical good grace, obliging every selfie and even the odd request to recreate the scamper after that nudge into the leg side off Pat Cummins.None of that will ever go away, and deep down he’d hate if it did. But the next time someone mentions “Headingley”, they’ll have to specify the year. Maybe even the innings, after his first effort of 5 for 100 was bettered with a second of 5 for 66. From no five-wicket hauls at home to two across four days. And now a maiden 10-wicket haul in a match that England are now in control of, needing just 113 of their 296 target on the final day, with eight wickets spare, to confirm a 3-0 victory over New Zealand in a series that feels seminal. Not bad considering this was his first home series since the end of that 2019 Ashes.Related

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• Ollie Pope, Joe Root break England's chase after Jack Leach stars with maiden ten-for

“We need to get a win tomorrow, and then it will be very special,” answered Leach when asked if he’s got a new favourite memory at this ground. “So at the moment – no.”With 83 wickets at an average of 33.47 coming into this third Test with New Zealand, the tide was already turning. This was a 31-year-old left arm spinner, not some cuddly everyman nerd, who had won games for his country even if he has not been wholly settled. And quite apart from the obvious love and affection towards him – every fielder queued up to hug him when he sent an arm ball through Trent Boult to close New Zealand’s second innings on 326 – there felt a profound difference to the Leach we were watching out there. He didn’t just believe he deserved to be out there – he knew.This is probably a good sign to talk about “belonging” because we all yearn to be loved and carry a sense of purpose. And though Leach was not lacking in either, the last few weeks it is clear he has been treated differently and, in turn, blossomed.We can probably say it began when he concussed himself on the boundary at Lord’s, ruled out of the match and then being replaced by legspinner and people’s champion Matt Parkinson. Then came word that Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid were eyeing up another once-round on Brendon McCullum’s party bus, and at another time he might have been lamenting a time in the not-too-distant future where he was nudged out of the circle for being too square. A solid if unspectacular tour to West Indies after an awkward time in the Ashes had fuelled talk of uncertainty over his place in the XI, and indeed as the No. 1 spinner.But despite only being signed off as fully recovered from his head injury a day before the Trent Bridge Test, he was backed with a spot and 59 overs across both innings, returning a handful of wickets. There were another 70.5 overs here, but more telling as a show of confidence was how early he was called upon: 12 overs into day one (he removed Will Young with his first ball), then opening the second innings on day three. It meant by the time he stepped up at the Football Stand End for his spell after lunch on Sunday, Leach was his best self.Jack Leach claimed his first Test ten-for•PA Images via Getty ImagesAcross the 56 deliveries sent down, he wedded great control (46 dot balls) with a constant threat to both edges of the bat. He was consistently into the rough, which was that little bit rougher outside the right-handers’ off stump thanks to New Zealand’s left-arm duo of Trent Boult and Neil Wagner, which is where he caused the most trouble.A couple of chances went begging at slip, but there was never a doubt further opportunities would come. The overall tally of 4 for 28 in this little period was as dominating as it sounds, particularly in tandem with find of the summer, Matthew Potts. Sure, they were lower order wickets, with six of his overall 10 coming in at No. 8 or lower, but England have long struggled to finish teams off and it would require some wilful naivety to ignore the fact Leach was regarded as a key man in every phase of England’s time in the field.McCullum’s work as head coach plays a part, but even he admits he is merely amplifying the messages of his captain. It was particularly instructive at stumps to hear the working relationship Leach has with Stokes: “I say what about mid-on back and he goes, ‘nope!’ I don’t know, he’s got this knack of making me want to do stuff for him.”He went on to laud Stokes’ confidence in both the decisions he makes and those he asks to carry them out. “I’ve never experienced anything like it,” beamed Leach.”I think I felt like I was bowling more attacking,” he said of innings-turning spell. “I felt I needed to put more on the ball and find the right pace and the right length, and you have to be really precise with the field, so attacking and that for me was a really good thing.

“That third innings when they’re in the lead, it would have been easy to drop guys out and make it a little bit easier for them [but] Stokes is going the opposite way which is brilliant”Jack Leach

“In the past I might have felt I need a bit of protection to bowl attackingly and that worked really nicely. The way we’re going about things, which is credit to Stokesy and Baz, is always taking the positive option. That third innings when they’re in the lead, it would have been easy to drop guys out and make it a little bit easier for them [but] Stokes is going out the opposite way which is brilliant, and it gives me a new mindset which is trying to take wickets, working towards modes of dismissal, a bit more precise and specific with what I want to do rather than just bowling it.”Evidently the support act of 2019 has flipped three years on. Stokes is all of comforter, devil on the shoulder and ego manifest for Leach. Those nuggets of man-management, however, are coming off because of the graft Leach has put in. He has worked with Jeetan Patel on getting more overspin on the ball, developed subtle angle changes at the crease and increased pace to mix up drift through the air and reaction off the pitch. And the mantra that the hardest workers get the most luck was clear when a freak dismissal on day one when Henry Nicholls drove Leach to Alex Lees at mid-off, via a huge deflection of Daryl Mitchell’s bat, was followed by a comical sight on day four when Wagner was caught between the knees of Covid substitute wicketkeeper Sam Billings.After the battles with Crohn’s disease, a dangerous bout of sepsis in New Zealand at the start of 2020 and then into a pandemic where his “at risk” status curbed life and cricket, the temptation is to say he might have wondered if he’d ever get to experience a week of such high, or be so integral to a team on the rise.But Leach’s spirit and unshakeable steel comes from believing he was good enough for Test cricket and able to contribute match-winning performances in all conditions, home and away, no matter the match situation. Now, four years after his debut, with 92 wickets, an average of 31 and one in the “ten-for” column, he knows.

England opener comes in from the cold as he prepares for first opportunity since 2019

Matt Roller16-Sep-2022Alex Hales is a keen enough darts player that he brought his board along in his hand luggage on England’s flight to Pakistan. But he was not in the mood to throw any during his first media engagement as an international cricketer in three-and-a-half years on Friday.Instead, he struck the conciliatory tone of an athlete who can scarcely believe the opportunity he has been afforded. Hales had planned to spend October with his girlfriend in Cape Town but is back in Karachi for the second time this year, after representing Islamabad United in the PSL. After the Lahore leg of this tour, he will fly straight to Australia where the chance to win a World Cup – and to right the wrongs of 2019 – awaits.Only two weeks previously, Hales was sitting in his car, looking into the rear-view mirror and preparing to make a phone call. At the other end of the line was Rob Key, England’s managing director and selector; Hales’ plan was to ask why he had been left out of the T20I squads for the winter’s tours which were due to be announced publicly the following morning, and whether the decision really had been based on performance alone.”I was quite firm and forceful when I rang him,” Hales said. “I wanted to know if there was a genuine chance of me playing or whether they were just saying it to the media, so I was quite forceful. I said ‘if we’re talking purely cricket, I feel like I should be in the squad’. I had nothing to lose, did I?” Another similar call followed to Jos Buttler later that day.The argument that Hales presented was straightforward: “I felt like I deserved my spot in that squad, if it was picked purely on cricketing merit. I had the right to ask why I wasn’t picked; to show that drive, to show I wanted to be part of it. If they give me a chance, I feel I’m more than capable of filling that role at the top of the order, especially in Australia. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have made that call.”ESPNcricinfo LtdBarely 24 hours later, while Key was explaining Hales’ omission to the press – “his name was mentioned a lot,” he said – an opportunity presented itself when Jonny Bairstow slipped on the tee box at Pannal Golf Club in Harrogate. Shortly after that, he was booking a flight home from South Africa: “I had to locate my cricket stuff, figure out where everything was, and get packed for this.”Hales declined the chance to throw any barbs at Eoin Morgan, who regularly cited trust issues and a “complete disregard” for team values as the rationale behind his continued omission after news of a second failed test for recreational drugs led to his axe a month before the 2019 World Cup. Had they spoken? “Not a huge amount. Not really, no,” he said. Would his recall have happened but for Morgan’s international retirement? “You’re asking the wrong guy, I think only Eoin would know that.”And while Hales suggested that he held himself responsible for his omission – “when you do something like that, there’s no-one else you can blame” – it clearly rankles that he has been denied the opportunity to play for England during his prime. “Three years is a very, very long time, especially in an athlete’s career.”It was extremely painful. It’s your worst nightmare: to be involved in a World Cup squad, missing out on the eve of it … it was brilliant to see the team lifting it, but at the same time, it eats at you inside that you should have been part of it and you weren’t. I guess that drives you on, to improve as a person and a cricketer and get that spot back that you feel you deserve.”I did think that the chance would not come again, for sure. At times I felt like I wouldn’t get this chance again. I felt like I’d been playing the best cricket of my career over those three years as well, so to get this chance again at this time is something I’m really proud of and something I’m really looking forward to. I feel like I can help push this team forward.”ESPNcricinfo LtdHales has tried to keep his head down and stay away from controversy during his years in the international wilderness, and has succeeded for long periods, but it has been hard to shake the sense that trouble has followed him around.In November, Azeem Rafiq alleged that he had named his black dog ‘Kevin’ as a racial slur. “It’s been investigated [by the ECB],” Hales said on Friday, having denied the allegation at the time. “I went through the process and everyone is happy with where it’s at.” He also apologised after a newspaper published photos of him wearing blackface at a student party: “It was shameful… I was a dumb 19-year-old who had no idea of the ramifications of what he was doing,” he said.Buttler suggested on arrival in Karachi that Hales had become “a different person” after his time in the international wilderness, a view that Hales himself shared. “I think I have changed. I’ve definitely matured. I’m comfortably into my 30s now [he is 33] and turning into a veteran. I feel as though I’ve grown as a person. Where I am at the moment – on and off the field – is probably the best of my career so far.”Related

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England trained for the first time in Pakistan on Friday night, driven from their hotel to Karachi’s National Stadium in bulletproof buses in the armed convoy that will become a familiar sight to them over the next two-and-a-half weeks. For Hales, playing here is already familiar: he has played 24 games in Pakistan across his various stints PSL stints, more than any other Englishman.On Tuesday night, he will have the opportunity to put his local knowledge to good use against Pakistan’s quicks. “I’ve really enjoyed playing cricket here in the past,” he said. “It’s such a good place to play cricket so to get a chance to do it for England is awesome.And he is confident that he will thrive. “One of the more frustrating things has been knowing how much better a T20 player I am now [compared] to when I played before. Since giving up red-ball cricket my numbers have been a lot better than they were. Just focusing on one format has been a game-changer … it has made me a lot better.”I’m treating this as a blank canvas and only looking to the future now … I’m really looking forward to the next two weeks in Pakistan and what the World Cup can bring.” For Hales and for England, there is no going back now.

Two sensational efforts from Pakistan pace bowlers, a blitz from a Netherlands batter and a stunning performance in a World Cup final

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2022 • Updated on 18-Oct-2022Voting for these match-ups has ended. Carlos Brathwaite’s 3-23 & 34* and Umar Gul’s 5-6 move to the quarter-finals.Stephan Myburgh’s 63 vs Carlos Brathwaite’s 3-23 & 34*63 (23) vs IRE | Stephan Myburgh | Sylhet, 2014
To qualify for the Super 10, Netherlands needed to vault from No. 3 to No. 1 in the group on net run-rate, which left them having to score 190 runs in 14.2 overs against Ireland – odds most teams might think would rule them out. But Stephan Myburgh was the master mathematician. He took three sixes off offspinner Andy McBrine’s first over and three more off Alex Cusack to bring up the team fifty in 3.1 overs. They got to 91 by the time the powerplay ended with Myburgh bringing up his own fifty in only 17 balls, which at the time was the second-fastest in the format. Not long after that, he was toasting a victory that even now seems unbelievable.Related

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3-23 & 34*(10) vs ENG | Carlos Brathwaite | Kolkata, 2016
Nineteen to win in the final over. Four balls, four sixes. “Carlos Brathwaite, remember the name”. Those hits at Eden Gardens will forever remain part of cricketing folklore. What gets forgotten is that Brathwaite was effective with the ball too: he picked up the key wickets of Jos Buttler and Joe Root to finish with figures of 4-0-23-3. He then came in at No. 8 with West Indies 107 for 6 in 15.3 chasing 156, and took West Indies to their second title in the company of Marlon Samuels.ESPNcricinfo LtdUmar Gul’s 5-6 vs Shaheen Shah Afridi’s 3-315-6 vs NZ | Umar Gul | The Oval, 2009
New Zealand were 72 for 4 when Umar Gul, Pakistan’s death-overs specialist, came on in the 13th over, and took five of the next six wickets to knock out the opposition for 99. Gul’s impact was instantaneous and devastating: he dismissed Scott Styris and Peter McGlashan with his third and fourth deliveries, sent Nathan McCullum’s leg stump cartwheeling in his next over, and ended with the dismissals of James Franklin and Kyle Mills – again off consecutive balls – in his third.3-31 vs IND | Shaheen Shah Afridi | Dubai, 2021
Shaheen Shah Afridi removed India’s top three batters in a sensational performance that set up their maiden win over India in men’s World Cups. Afridi, with a reputation for striking in the first over, welcomed Rohit Sharma with a yorker that swung into his pads and trapped him lbw. With the first ball of his second over, KL Rahul was bowled when he tried to play one to leg with the angle as it came in to him. And later in the 19th over, Afridi got Virat Kohli to top-edge a slow bouncer to the keeper.ESPNcricinfo Ltd