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The 17-year-old legspinner is one of the players to watch out for as England try to match their title-winning feat from the 1998 Under-19 World Cup

Andrew Miller04-Feb-2022The kids are all right, you know.Amid the existential gloom of England’s Ashes misadventure, and the potshots at a county system that no longer seems capable of coaching a functioning technique into a generation of Test wannabes, there is an alternative narrative taking shape in Antigua this week.One in which a batch of fearless teenagers, raised on the derring-do of the greatest white-ball team in England’s history, and decked out in the same sky-blue shirts in which their heroes won the most thrilling World Cup final of all time, have surged into their own global final with a series of captivating performances.On Saturday, England’s Young Lions take on India in the country’s first appearance in the Under-19 World Cup final since their victory over New Zealand in 1998. And win or lose, if this latest contest comes close to living up to the epic semi-final against Afghanistan on Tuesday, it is safe to assume that more than a few of the combatants will be ready to follow in the footsteps of Graeme Swann, Owais Shah and Rob Key, the three most notable members of that trophy-lifting team from the previous millennium.One or two, however, would already appear to be on the fast track, not least the precocious Leicestershire legspinner Rehan Ahmed, who can loosely claim to have taken his first Test wicket at the age of 11, and whose extraordinary three-wicket over against Afghanistan – in the crunchiest match situation that he can yet have encountered in his young career – became the moment that his team-mates could finally dare to believe.Rehan Ahmed’s three wickets at the death turned the semi-final against Afghanistan around in England’s favour•ICC/Getty Images”Those are the games you live for,” Rehan tells ESPNcricinfo. “I’d much rather have a game like that and win, than an easy win. It was fun to be part of it.”England’s 15-run winning margin does little justice to the raw jeopardy of the contest’s closing overs – pound for pound, it was arguably the most compelling 50-over contest since World Cup final. With four overs remaining, England seemed finally to have settled it with room to spare. Afghanistan needed 43 more runs with four wickets standing, and Rehan for once looked to have played a bit-part role, after an uncharacteristically loose first spell and a solitary wicket in his second.But then, all hell broke loose, and all bets were off. The first ball of James Sales’ next over was skied to point for what seemed like the match-settling wicket, only for the batter to be reprieved by a front-foot no-ball. The resulting free hit skidded away for five no-balls as well, and when a nervous Sales was cracked over long-on for six, 20 runs had been skelped from the over to transform the match situation.Related

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What happened next was a credit to the players’ composure and burgeoning professionalism – but also, you sense, to the never-say-die attributes of the senior team on whom they have modelled their approach to the game. The notion, for instance, of an England captain tossing the ball to his legspinner with 19 runs needed from 12 balls might never have crossed the mind of a previous generation. But that is what Eoin Morgan memorably did in an ODI in Grenada in 2019, when Adil Rashid responded to his captain’s faith with four wickets in five balls, and as Tom Prest had hinted in the build-up to the Under-19 final, this was a tactic he had no qualms about emulating.”At the start, I didn’t bowl as well as I wanted to, but I knew I had an over in there somewhere,” Rehan recalls. “We have so many bowling options but I told Presty, ‘look, I want to bowl at the death; even if they need three runs in the last over, give it to me and I’ll still bowl it’. I told him I’m ready whenever he needs me.”

“I know I’ve got some kind of natural cricket skills, but if I don’t work as hard as I should, then there’s no point in being talented. Even if I’m not the most talented, if I work the hardest, I’ll still be in a good position”

His first ball alone justified the faith. The dangerous Noor Ahmad failed to connect properly with a high-bouncing googly, and James Rew sprinted in from long-on to hold on to a magnificent catch. Three balls later, Izharulhaq Naveed also went for broke, and Sales on the midwicket boundary atoned for his jitters with another hugely composed take. One ball later, it was all but over – another wicket-taking googly, Rehan’s fourth of the innings – ripped into middle stump to dispatch Bilal Sami for a duck. Though Josh Boyden still had to close the match out, Rehan’s three wickets for a single run had put the game way before Afghanistan’s last pair.”If I was to bowl a ball that could save my life, I would just bowl my googly,” he says. “I just love bowling it. I’m trying to bowl it quicker, so that even if they do pick it, they have less time to react to it. It’s a wicket-taking ball. In practice, I’ll focus my legspin against the batters, and then afterwards I just bowl four overs of googlies, top of middle, top of off… I’m very confident in my googly.”

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He is very confident in general – infectiously so – and with ample justification too, given the strides he is already making. But even at the age of 17, Rehan’s game is underpinned by a work ethic that players a decade older would kill to have recognised at such a tender age.”I know I’ve got some kind of natural cricket skills, but if I don’t work as hard as I should, then there’s no point in being talented,” he says. “Even if I’m not the most talented, if I work the hardest, I’ll still be in a good position.”To say he has been on England’s radar for a while would be understating it. In July 2016, Rehan hadn’t even celebrated his 12th birthday when he was spirited down to Lord’s by the MCC head coach Steve Kirby, whose job it was to round up net bowlers to assist preparations ahead of England’s Test series against Pakistan.Rehan Ahmed, just 13 then, in action against Test-class batters at Lord’s•Getty ImagesFinding himself short of adequate legspinners to replicate the methods of Pakistan’s star bowler Yasir Shah, Kirby put out feelers with his scouts on the league scene, including with Gemaal Hussain, his former Gloucestershire team-mate, and one of Rehan’s team-mates at his club in Nottinghamshire, Thoresby Colliery CC.”Gemaal was like, ‘are you ready’?” Rehan recalls. “And I was like, ‘I’m always ready’!”I wasn’t initially meant to bowl to the England boys [but only to the Pakistan players], but I bowled a couple of legspinners to Kirby, then I bowled the googly. He didn’t pick it. And he was like, ‘you can come bowl to the senior guys’.”As much as I tried to stay calm and bowl to them like normal people, I just couldn’t, because I was bowling to Ben Stokes and Alastair Cook and people with Ashes hundreds, and bowling in the same nets as people with five-fors and Test-match wickets. It was crazy.”But you nicked them off, didn’t you?Rehan grins: “Well, yeah, that did happen… yeah.””I bowled Ben Stokes a couple of legspinners and a googly and he snicked off; he wasn’t the happiest so I didn’t celebrate… I just took the ball and walked back to my mark. But when I snicked off Alastair Cook, that was a bit more like it. He wasn’t as bothered. But I didn’t celebrate because he’s probably the best player in Test cricket. So I was just lucky to do that.”The impact that Rehan made was so telling that MCC politely declined any media coverage, rightly suggesting that too much attention at such a young age would be detrimental. But when Rehan was brought back to Lord’s in 2017 for the visit of West Indies, he sensed a new-found respect from the players in his sights.”When I bowled to Pakistan, they didn’t take me seriously and I got a few more wickets against them,” he says. “But West Indies played me like an actual bowler, which was a big difference, and I learnt so much more. They just showed a different standard. When I bowled to Jason Holder, it was just a different class. He was the No. 1 Test allrounder at the time, and it was just crazy.”

“I never had much coaching when I was younger. It was mainly YouTube and a few tips from my dad. But you can take everything as a learning, whether it’s watching someone bowl badly or watching someone bowl well”

Word was spreading beyond the confines of the nets too. “Steve Kirby just dropped it on me during one of the sessions, saying I’m gonna meet Shane Warne,” Rehan recalls. “I thought I was just going to sit down with him and have a chat – that was already amazing – but when he said ‘come on, let’s go have a bowl’, I couldn’t feel my toes!”It is shocking to think that Rehan hadn’t yet turned three when Warne played his last Test in January 2007. But thanks to YouTube, his legend lives on, and in fact, it was Rehan’s hours spent studying Warne’s variations that helped to inspire a diminutive young seamer to first give it a rip.”I never had much coaching when I was younger,” he says. “It was mainly YouTube and a few tips from my dad. But you can take everything as a learning, whether it’s watching someone bowl badly or watching someone bowl well. Even the other day [against Afghanistan], I took my first spell as another learning curve. You never look down on yourself after a couple of bad balls or a bad spell. It’s always about having belief till the end.”But as his game continues to progress, the coaching support around Rehan becomes increasingly valuable. He speaks particularly highly of Richard Dawson, the Young Lions head coach whose name has entered the frame for the interim Test role, and whose methods are sufficiently hands-off to allow him to develop at his own pace.”He’s been a massive help,” Rehan says. “He’s not a big technical coach; he’s more of a feel coach, which I don’t mind. I much prefer it when people tell me how to do stuff, rather than telling me what to do and what not to do… like front leg, front arm, this and that. With Daws, he says if the outcome’s good, you don’t need to worry about anything else. Focus on the outcome – if you’re landing in a good area, your action must be good enough.”Sometimes I’ll force myself to bowl full tosses, just to see if I have control of the ball,” he adds. “In nets, I’ll see if I can hit the top of middle on the full, or bowl a half-tracker. Because if someone’s going well, you want to get them off strike, if he’s whacking the good balls, you need to learn how to give them one, so it’s not just about bowling in one area for every batter.”

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It has been a remarkable journey for Rehan already, and he doesn’t even turn 18 until August. But if the World Cup final marks his first major foray into the limelight, then the events of the past 12 months – including his first season of List A cricket for Leicestershire, and even a call-up to the squad for India’s tour match at Durham last summer – have all added to the sense that he is ready for whatever is coming next.Rehan Ahmed has four-fors in each of his three outings at the Under-19 World Cup so far•ICC via Getty”Joining Leicestershire was probably one of the best decisions that I could have made at the time,” he says, having initially been part of Nottinghamshire’s youth system. “Notts is a massive county – and obviously you never close doors – but I felt at Leicestershire there were more coaches available at more times. When you see Paul Nixon coaching the Under-10s, you’re like, yeah, this is the county for me.”Though he didn’t play in the County Select XI fixture against India, he did more than just gawp at the superstars in his midst. “Just being around the whole Indian team, you see [Virat] Kohli walking up there and Rishabh Pant hitting it, and Rohit Sharma playing – it was just crazy. But then I came on a substitute and I took a catch of [Cheteshwar] Pujara. He just guided it to me at leg slip, and I took the catch, and he’s walking off giving me a death stare, and I’m just smiling because I’ve caught Pujara out.”And it will be India in his sights once more on Saturday, albeit a generation of players that he may yet get a chance to mix with on a more regular basis as their careers progress.”They’re a very good batting side,” he says, after watching Yash Dhull’s century, and 94 from Shaik Rasheed put their semi-final against Australia out of reach. “If they bat first and we try and restrict them to a low score, it could happen… but it doesn’t really matter. They have bowled teams out for 50 before, so they have a decent attack as well.”Either way, Rehan is convinced that the events of England’s semi-final, and the fact that they were forced to dig so deep – first with the bat, as George Bell and Alex Horton transformed their target with an unbeaten 95-run stand, and then with the ball – can only serve as a huge confidence boost to the whole squad.”Belly is one of the best players I’ve seen in pressure situations,” Rehan says. “Even though he’s quite a nervous guy, he always finds a way. When I was batting with Belly, I was like, ‘he’s going to do it again’. If Belly’s there, you never lose hope.”That last game, Horts came out and he still smashed a fifty from No. 8. It just shows that we’ve got batting to the bottom. [Jacob] Bethell is in unbelievable form, Prest is in unbelievable form, [Will] Luxton is batting so well. [James] Rew is doing his own thing. Everyone’s contributing.”It’s just about doing our own skills the best we can, because it’s the biggest game of all our lives right now.”

The spitting image of the former South Africa wristspinner in how she bowls, Sonawane comes from humble roots in small-town Maharashtra

Annesha Ghosh26-May-2022″I know what they’ll say. ‘Her action is so unusual, just like Paul Adams.'”Uncapped Indian bowler Maya Sonawane was speculating about what the cricketing world at large would think about her when they saw her play in the Women’s T20 Challenge. Sure enough, when she came on to bowl for Velocity in the 11th over on her debut in the three-team tournament on Tuesday, the reactions that emerged on social media were almost exactly as she predicted.The impossible-looking contortions of her body when she delivers are invariably the first thing that catches the eye about the 23-year-old. Like it did former Australia player and commentator Lisa Sthalekar’s during Sonawane’s debut game. “My body is in so much pain watching her bowl,” Sthalekar tweeted during the match, in which Sonawane went for 19 runs in two wicketless overs. “Whilst it is unique and unique can sometimes be gold, can it be sustained at a top level for years?””Many people have told me there isn’t anyone with a similar action in women’s cricket, but I don’t see it as something extraordinary or detrimental,” says Sonawane, who considers Rashid Khan and Shane Warne her idols.”I didn’t know who Paul Adams was, what he looked like, whom he played for, until I made it to the Maharashtra senior team,” she says. It was then, at 15, fresh off a chart-topping wicket haul at the national Under-19 competition, that she first heard she was different from most wristspinners, but that there was a precedent in international cricket for the way she bowled.”One of our senior bowlers, Snehal Pradhan, walked up to me and said, ‘Maya, do you know who you bowl like?’ I said, ‘No, .’ She then showed me a picture or video of Paul Adams, and I said. ‘ same ‘ [We are identical. How can this be?] she remembers saying.Shivil Kaushik, a male left-arm wristpinner who bowls with an action like Adams’, evoked a similar social-media reception, including from Adams himself, when he first arrived on the scene, at the IPL in 2016. Unlike both those men, Sonawane is a right-armer, which makes her something of a first of her kind.”[The action] has always felt natural to me. That’s how I have bowled ever since I first decided to try bowling from the popping crease and not run in from a distance to deliver the ball,” she says. Back then, barely ten, Sonawane didn’t know what a spinner was, or a pace bowler. “I didn’t know what legspin or offspin was,” she says. “All I knew was, some people bowl from a distance, some from closer to the crease. One day, I felt like bowling from closer and my action turned out to be what it is now.”

“If I continue working hard and doing well, who knows, I might get to play for India. And then if some other bowler comes along with a similar action, people might start saying, ‘She bowls like Maya'”

The captain of the senior Maharashtra side Sonawane made it to was India opener Smriti Mandhana, who also led them in the recently concluded Senior Women’s T20 League, where Sonawane made a mark with two four-fors in eight innings and placed fourth on the wicket-takers’ table in Maharashtra’s run to a runners-up finish.Ahead of the Women’s T20 Challenge, in which Mandhana is leading defending champions Trailblazers, she spoke about the strides Sonawane has made. “She has a good wrong’un and a legbreak. And the best thing is now she knows which will go which way. I think two years back that [knowledge] was missing.”Deepti Sharma, Velocity’s captain, believes a bowler like Sonawane can add an edge to an attack. “She has a lot of variations. Her control over her lines and lengths are very good, which makes her somebody who’s ready to take on challenges and bowl the kind of deliveries a captain may require her to in a situation.”Sonawane rubbed shoulders with both Mandhana and Deepti at a preparatory camp in Bengaluru in August last year, where she made it to the ranks of the probables for the multi-format tour of Australia after winning the 2021 One-Day Challenger Trophy with India A. She counts being selected for that camp as one of the highlights of her career.”Jhulan [Goswami] and Mitthu [Mithali Raj] , and Ramesh [Powar] sir spoke affectionately in that camp and motivated me to do well,” says Sonawane. “I couldn’t make it to the squad for the Australia series but gained a lot of confidence by interacting with the India players and all the support staff. And Mitthu even gave me a pair of gloves and said, ‘Do well.'”A similar gesture from Mandhana a few years earlier also left a strong imprint. “We were playing a domestic tournament in Baroda and Smriti di was our captain for Maharashtra. She said if I took three or more wickets, she’d give me shoes. I ended up taking four or five in that game and she gifted me a pair and encouraged me to do even better.”Sonawane comes from a family of humble means in the town of Sinnar, some 30km from Nashik in Maharashtra, where she currently trains. “My father and older brother do low-paying jobs that require a lot of hard work,” she says. “So it’s not like it has been easy for me to carry on with my cricket, but I am grateful to be continuing.”Like her Velocity and former Maharashtra team-mate Kiran Navgire, Sonawane says she has benefited from the goodwill of several well-meaning people. One of them was the local corporator in Sinnar, whose backyard was the first place where she played cricket.Sonawane with the Senior Women’s One-Day Challenger trophy in December last year, after her side, India A, won the title•Maya Sonawane”I was eight or nine when I came upon a house when I was out playing in the evening after school,” Sonawane remembers. “There, he [the corporator] was playing cricket with his daughter on a pitch he had built for her. I was so enchanted by the sight of the girl playing cricket that I stayed there for two hours straight, collecting any balls that came my way and throwing them back.”As Sonawane became a familiar face, the corporator asked her to join them properly. “That was where it all started for me,” she says. “My older brother found out that I used to go there and had started playing. He told my parents about all that I had been doing and asked them to encourage me to play cricket.”Sonawane first trialled for the Nashik District Cricket Association (NDCA) team at 11. She started training under Shivaji Jadhav, her first coach, who was part of the NDCA set-up. Her brother regularly helped with her training too. In the inter-district competition in 2013-14, she turned in an impressive performance, which paved the way for a call-up to the Under-19 Maharashtra side. She didn’t get a game that season but was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament the following year, with 23 dismissals in nine matches, which helped her break into the senior squad.”Everything I have been able to do in cricket, becoming the highest wicket-taker in the U-23 domestics or being on a hat-trick in three consecutive overs for West Zone U-19s in 2018-19 – they have all happened because of the way I bowl, how I bowl,” she says.”I am grateful to my coaches, Pradeep Ingle and the late Avinash Agarkar sir, for their guidance. Pradeep sir is one of those who has always backed me against changing my action.”Velocity coach Devika Palshikar too is among those who think the action, tortuous though it may look, is not something Sonawane needs to alter. “I saw her eight years back, when I took my first West Zone ZCA (Zonal Cricket Academy) camp. That time, when she was 14, she was just the same,” said Palshikar. “Many coaches tried to change her action, but that’s her natural thing. She’s still doing that and there is no injury, so we don’t need to change that.”She’s very much comfortable with that and doing well for her state. There will be stress on her back and shoulder, but I would say she’s lucky that till today she hasn’t got any injuries as such.”Asked how she would like to be best described as an unorthodox wristspinner, Sonawane smiles and says, “Maybe for now you can say, ‘Maya bowls like Maya.’ If I continue working hard and doing well, who knows, I might get to play for India with this action. And then if some other bowler comes along with a similar action, people might start saying, ‘She bowls like Maya.'”

With Nathan Lyon’s extra bounce a particular threat, the batters need to make use of other options

Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Jul-2022It’s not just about sweeping, surely? There’s more to batting on turning surfaces than that. Sweeping is how Australia got to their last victory. And perhaps how Joe Root did it against Sri Lanka in Galle last year. Sure. But there’s more to life on turning pitches than that. Especially when you have a world beating spinner in the opposition.Perhaps they know this already, to be honest. Dimuth Karunaratne has played 27 innings at Galle. Dinesh Chandimal 26. Sixteen of Kusal Mendis innings are at this venue. Dhananjaya de Silva, who is now out with Covid-19, 14. Niroshan Dickwella, 16.Even without Dhananjaya, that’s 85 Galle outings between them. And yet, a top seven containing these five batters, stumbled in consecutive innings, leading to scores of 212 all out, and then an utterly embarrassing 113 all out inside 23 overs. (Angelo Mathews, who has 41 innings at Galle, wasn’t included here, because he tested positive for Covid and didn’t bat in the second dig.)These are clearly not inexperienced batters. They are especially not inexperienced at this venue, by innings-per-venue standards. They’d also won the toss in that first Test, meaning they had enjoyed the best batting conditions. Yet, so many batted as if they had no effective plan on the pitch Sri Lanka batters play on the most.Related

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By the second innings, several regarded the sweep and its variations (paddle, reverse, slog) their only scoring options. The result was an air of panic and haplessness to their work. As if they were the line-up with batters playing on a pitch like this for the first time. This is after Cameron Green had top-scored in the match, in his first Test knock in Sri Lanka.The major caveat here, is that Sri Lanka were playing an attack far superior to the one they themselves put up. Aside from Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, who have each had excellent results in Asia, Australia have Nathan Lyon – the most successful fingerspinner their nation has ever produced. Lyon took a match-high 9 for 121, and was easily the best bowler on show, varying his speed and angle, rarely delivering the kind of out-of-control deliveries the Sri Lanka spinners frequently threw up.Most importantly, though, Lyon puts substantial overspin on the ball, which means he gets more bounce, which in turn means he is more difficult to sweep. As Karunaratne said following that match, cross-bat shots against balls that bounce more than expected always carry the risk of taking the top edge. In that abysmal second innings, three of Lyon’s wickets came from batters top-edging the sweep.Dimuth Karunaratne will need to lead from the front if Sri Lanka are to bounce back•AFPWhich makes you kind of question the whole thing. In this Sri Lanka side, Kusal Mendis is an exceptional sweeper of the ball, and Chandimal is almost as good. But they have other options. Coming down the track is one. Hanging back deep in the crease is another. There are other shots. Clips through midwicket. Pokes through square leg. If you’re a leftie, as Karunaratne and Dickwella are, making of space and a chop square on the off side are also options.But these are not things that these batters need to be told. They have already put a lot of this into practice. Karunaratne has exceptional hundreds on wildly turning wickets, at the SSC, and in Bengaluru, against R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. He rarely used his sweep or any of its variants in either innings, relying instead on his flicks, jaunts down the track, and squirts through point.In the second innings, he was out to the sweep against Lyon, but it was not the top edge that brought his demise – it was the bottom edge. It is likely he overcompensated, figuring that even if he got a bottom-edge to this ball, bottom-edges are rarely caught, because wicketkeepers are usually anticipating edges that go in the opposite direction. Alex Carey managed to get his gloves around this chance. But in any case, Karunaratne will perhaps be wary of trying the sweep against Lyon at all in the second Test, even if, as he said, he was trying to move Lyon’s fielders out of the infield so he could create a gap that he could milk for singles.Sweeping is fine, but particularly when opposition spinners are getting bounce, the sweeps cannot be indiscriminate. Getting your pad out of the line of the stumps. Coming down to the pitch of the ball. Trusting your hand-eye co-ordination while staying back in the crease. These are all options. There’s more than one way to play, even on surfaces that spit on day one.In the second Test, Sri Lanka need their senior batters to make much more of the conditions than they did last week. Karunaratne averages 52.20 at this venue. Mathews (who is due to make a comeback after a mild Covid illness) averages 47. Chandimal makes 41 a pop in Galle, and de Silva and Dickwella around 32 (very roughly).Sri Lanka may reflect in between Tests, that although the sweep can important, the sweep is not what it’s always about.

The Tamil Nadu batter has worked hard on developing a more aggressive approach to his game

Shashank Kishore, with inputs from Deivarayan Muthu21-Nov-2022N Jagadeesan is a positive person. He tends to find hope, according to friends and team-mates, in tough situations. Like he did when MS Dhoni, in a rare outburst, spoke of how the youngsters on the bench at Chennai Super Kings “lacked spark” after their dismal showing in the first half of IPL 2020.Jagadeesan, 26 now, was one of those youngsters who sat out for much of that season. And when he was asked if Dhoni’s comment had hurt, Jagadeesan’s response was that it was the captain’s way of “firing up youngsters to stand up and deliver”.Last week, Jagadeesan was one of eight players released by CSK ahead of the auction on December 23. It brought an end to a four-year stint with the team, during which he’d only played seven games. And like several others released, Jagadeesan was back on the long and winding road that is India’s domestic cricket to chart a way forward.One week later, Jagadeesan is in the news again, this time for spark turning into a wildfire in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He came into the tournament with three List A hundreds in 36 matches across five years. Nine days on, Jagadeesan has nearly tripled that tally, becoming the first batter in history to score five consecutive List A centuries.Related

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On Monday, when he smashed 277 off 141 balls against Arunachal Pradesh at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, he surpassed the record of four consecutive tons held by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, South Africa’s Alviro Petersen and India’s Devdutt Padikkal. He also shattered Alistair Brown’s two-decade old record for the highest List A score of 268. His innings included 25 fours and 15 sixes.Jagadeesan’s previous four hundreds in the tournament had come against Haryana (128), Goa (168), Chhattisgarh (107) and Andhra (114 not out). In comparison, the record-breaking 277 was against a vastly inexperienced Arunachal Pradesh attack that had a combined 43 wickets between them. All said, runs are runs, and his feat helped Tamil Nadu shatter the record for the highest score in List A cricket, as they blasted 506 for 2 in 50 overs.Even as the sensational news began to make waves on social media, Jagadeesan’s knock itself was witnessed by no more than a handful of people. At the innings break, the Tamil Nadu team manager was lining up to chat with the video analyst and retrieve footage of the innings. Jagadeesan appeared his usual self – chirpy and jovial with his team-mates as they prepared to field.This Vijay Hazare Trophy has been all the more crucial for Jagadeesan because he has been able to shake off the perception of being a batter who plays a safe game. It also ended talk of his form being on the wane, especially after a disappointing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he managed just 118 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 131.11.ESPNcricinfo LtdOn Monday, Jagadeesan got to his century off 76 balls; took just 23 more deliveries to bring up the 150; and another 15 balls to get to his double-century. This aggressive approach could make a difference when his name comes up for bidding at the IPL auction.So far, Jagadeesan has played only seven IPL games and batted just four times, scoring 73 runs for CSK at a strike rate of 110.61. One of the factors that supposedly prevented him from getting more opportunities was that he was an accumulator and not an aggressive batter. And with the growing clamour for dynamism in T20 cricket, Jagadeesan decided to work on developing his skills.Those who have followed Jagadeesan in Chennai’s cricket circles vouch for his work ethic. Even though he wasn’t a part of CSK’s traveling contingent during the 2019 IPL season, his drive was not dimmed. Jagadeesan would often play a league game in the morning and return to train at Chepauk with the squad during their home games.While opportunities in the IPL have been few, Jagadeesan has been prolific for Chepauk Super Gillies in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. Last year he made 336 runs – third most in the tournament – in 10 innings at a strike rate of 125.37. There may have been concerns about his ability to accelerate, and he has recognised his shortfalls and worked on overcoming them.While you could argue that four of his five hundreds have come at relatively small grounds in Alur on the outskirts of Bangalore, those who watched Jagadeesan bat vouch for how he’s managed to accelerate seamlessly. His knocks have earned praise from a number of talent scouts – from the Super Kings camp too.Having been a key part of Tamil Nadu’s white-ball revolution over the years, Jagadeesan is now enjoying a sensational run of form. And a timely one too. He was sold to CSK at his base price of INR 20 lakh at the mega auction earlier this year. After a record-breaking 277 off 141 balls, the demand for his skills is likely to be higher come December 23.

Is Hardik Pandya’s appointment as captain a sign of something more permanent? Who will partner Ishan Kishan at the top? And will Samson finally get a consistent run?

Shashank Kishore02-Jan-2023India had an odd year in T20 internationals in 2022. They played 40 matches, the most by any team in any year by a distance, and used 31 players, the most along with England. They won eight out of nine bilateral series, but didn’t make the finals of the two big ones – the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup. The semi-final exit in Australia led to the team management beginning the New Year with a review meeting with the BCCI’s top brass.Despite success in bilateral matches, there’s been an intense scrutiny of India’s approach in T20 cricket – particularly around the batting – and their failings at major tournaments. The series that begins against Sri Lanka in Mumbai on Tuesday is a chance at a fresh start. With the focus shifting to the ODI World Cup at home this October and November, India have picked a relatively young squad for the T20Is.While Rohit Sharma, who appears to have been given assurances that he will continue to lead the 50-over side, is recovering from a finger injury, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have been rested. Rishabh Pant was not part of the series either, even before his serious car accident on December 30, and veterans like Bhuvneshwar Kumar were not picked.Related

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Given the overarching feeling that there is a need for change in India’s T20 cricket, there are opportunities for fringe players to make a strong case to be part of India’s first-choice squad, even when the regulars become available. With the next T20 World Cup in 2024, it’s a chance for India to start afresh and redefine the way they want to approach the shortest format of the game.Hardik Pandya – India’s T20I captain?
In Rohit’s absence, Hardik Pandya has once again been appointed India’s T20I captain. Only time will tell if he is a temporary replacement, or whether the elevation is a more permanent promotion, as India build towards the next T20 World Cup. This series is a chance for Hardik to lead without the pressures of winning a major event at short notice – a luxury Rohit did not have; he took over with barely eight months to prepare for the World Cup in Australia.Hardik has made a strong impression as a captain, ever since he was first appointed by Gujarat Titans ahead of IPL 2022. While it seemed like an unconventional move, Hardik quickly grew into the role as the tournament progressed. Player security, continuity and role clarity became buzzwords around the group as Titans won the title in their debut season.Watch on ESPN Player in the UK

WATCH the first India vs Sri Lanka T20I LIVE

Since then, Hardik has led India in T20Is in Ireland, West Indies and most recently New Zealand, and the chorus for him to take over the captaincy full time has been growing louder within Indian cricket circles. This series – and the selection for the next one against New Zealand – could give us an indication about the possibility of a transition. Hardik also has a new deputy with Suryakumar Yadav, India’s best T20 batter of 2022, getting a promotion to vice-captain.Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and a top-order makeover
When Ishan Kishan smashed 56 off 32 balls on T20I debut against an England side featuring Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid, it appeared as though India had found a key piece of their T20I puzzle. Kishan went on to be a part of India’s 2021 T20 World Cup squad, but quickly lost his way. An underwhelming IPL 2022 season did not help his cause, even though he continued to feature in second-string Indian squads.Ishan Kishan smashed 210 off 131 balls in the third ODI in Bangladesh•Associated PressOne day in Bangladesh, when he smashed the record for the fastest double-century in ODIs, has changed all that. Kishan may not have played that match had Rohit been fit, but not he’s bound to get a longer run at the top of the order, especially with Rahul likely to be on personal leave for the New Zealand series too.Like Kishan, Sanju Samson could get a run of successive games against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. If he does, it will surpass the longest streak of consecutive games – three T20Is – he’s had for India since his debut in 2015. The sixth highest run-scorer in the IPL over the past three seasons, Samson can bat anywhere in the top six, keep wicket, attack from the start, and is an excellent player of spin. His perceived inconsistency has hindered his progress but that could also be a result of the constant uncertainty over his selection. In 16 T20Is, Samson has a lone half-century, a 42-ball 77 against Ireland; this series could be the opportunity for him to get not just more games but also a chance to bat in the top order, where he can be at his destructive best.India will also have a new opening combination for this series, with Kishan likely to team up with either Shubman Gill or Ruturaj Gaikwad in Pant’s absence. Gill has not yet played a T20 international, and is coming off a Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament in which he scored 260 runs as an opener at an average of 52 and strike rate of 156.62. Gaikwad’s numbers are similar – 295 runs at an average of 59 and strike rate of 146.7 – and he has not played a T20I for India since the tour of Ireland in July last year. Will India be able to find that explosive opening combination they’ve been searching for?Umran Malik has not yet played an international at home•AFP via Getty ImagesWashington adds all-round depth
With Washington Sundar fully fit, India’s all-rounder stocks look healthy for the home series, with Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel to choose from as well, in addition to Hardik. Washington played only one T20I on the tour of New Zealand but his ability to bowl in the powerplay and his ever-improving batting skills gives India options. He had scores of 37* off 16 balls in an ODI in New Zealand, and 51 and 37 in ODIs in Bangladesh.Arshdeep’s chance to lead the attack
Arshdeep Singh started as a powerplay specialist but his responsibilities have grown in Jasprit Bumrah’s absence. His ability to nail the yorker and his calm temperament has made Arshdeep an asset in the death overs, and currently he is the only left-arm pacer in India’s T20 plans. He was India’s best bowler at the 2022 T20 World Cup and took 4 for 37 in the tied third T20I in New Zealand in November.Now, along with Harshal Patel, Arshdeep will spearhead a pace attack comprising rookies: tearaway quick Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar and Shivam Mavi. With India keen to develop wicket-taking options in the middle overs, Malik could play his first international at home; all his five ODIs and three T20Is so far have been outside India.

India’s top four prepare to face Pakistan’s pace pack in their Asia Cup opener in Pallekele

S Sudarshanan01-Sep-20233:07

Shaheen Afridi vs India’s top order will be defining – Wasim Jaffer

Rohit Sharma often gives light-hearted answers during press conferences and ahead of India’s Asia Cup opener against Pakistan, another of his statements evoked laughter when he was asked about facing the in-form Pakistan’s pace trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf.”Look, we don’t have Shaheen, Naseem and Rauf in our nets,” Rohit said. “We practice with the bowlers we have. They are all quality bowlers, and they are performing well together for some time.”Opting to bat in pairs, in terms of batting order, Shubman Gill was the first to face Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, with Rohit at the other end. As soon as Gill was done, he briskly made his way to the enclosed nets just behind the dressing rooms. Soon after, Rohit and Shreyas Iyer, who was the fourth player to take part in the open drills, also followed the same routine.Related

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Even as India’s throwdown specialists Nuwan Seneviratne (being the left-arm thrower, he played the Afridi role) and Dayanand Garani (emulating Rauf) threw from a very high-arm action to keep the batters busy, batting coach Vikram Rathour tried to replicate Naseem by going wide of the crease and getting the ball to move in and jag away viciously with his throwdowns. Even so, Gill watched a couple of balls on his bat before unleashing the cut and the pull; his trademark short-arm jab was also on show.Meanwhile, Rohit unleashed an array of strokes in the nets. There were also the picture-perfect punch down the ground, and drives through cover. Speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s Match Day preview on the eve of India’s game against Pakistan, Sanjay Manjrekar, though, had a word of caution for both Rohit and Gill.”Rohit and Gill – [in fact] more Gill than Rohit – have to be careful about their front foot, coming not too much across the line allowing [Afridi’s] late swing and speed to trap him in front,” he said.Iyer, next in line in the nets, proceeded to attack the first ball he faced – getting the perfect stride forward and drilling one through cover. The cut, straight drives and swivel-pulls were on display, as India’s probable No. 4 showed good touch upon return from a long-standing back injury. Virat Kohli, though, did not opt for the throwdowns.Later in the evening, Pakistan confirmed their XI against India – it was an unchanged side from the one that beat Nepal in the opener – with all three of Afridi, Naseem and Rauf featuring in it. Both Naseem and Rauf are yet to play an ODI against India – incidentally, Afridi had made his ODI debut against Afghanistan in the 2018 Asia Cup – but will be keen to make an impact again, as they face a potential top four of Rohit, Gill, Kohli and Iyer.

It seemed like the perfectly orchestrated exit, but final Test isn’t dancing to his tune just yet

Vithushan Ehantharajah30-Jul-2023The Australian team ensured their pre-play huddle was prompt, to be in position for the guard of honour. Those in the stands were in place earlier than they had been over the previous three days of this fifth Test, despite Sunday’s train disruptions. Some had even brought homemade signs with them. Nothing particularly over the top, of course. Mainly block letters, coloured in, a few doodles on the side – that kind of thing. Whatever your creativity could muster with 17 hours’ notice. As the clock ticked towards the start of day four, there was no sign of The One we were all waiting for. Even the England staff members loitering outside the dressing-room doors peered in to check how much longer he’d be. Those in the Baggy Green Boulevard started getting a bit restless, arching their necks up to the home balcony, while the punters in the JM Finn stand squinted for clues to his presence. Of course Stuart Broad was fashionably late for his own leaving do.It was on Friday at 8.30pm that Broad decided this would be his 167th and final Test, and just after 6.30pm on Saturday when he informed the world. Even the best cricketers don’t get to choose precisely how they walk away from the game. But an outstanding personal series, coupled with the match situation – Australia had a first-innings lead of 12 on Friday night, before England moved 377 ahead by Saturday to put a 2-2 series draw on the cards – had framed this as the perfect time to pull the pin. He had one more walk to the middle, alongside James Anderson as part of a last-wicket stand, which would be the first of at least two guaranteed ovations on Sunday. Perhaps there’d be a third as he bowled them to victory one last time? At that juncture, it could not be ruled out. A player whose most spectacular moments have involved bending a chaotic game to his whim seemed to have his destiny on strings.When Broad eventually emerged, the eruption throughout the ground was exactly as expected. It feels obvious to state a bloke with 602 Test wickets over a stretch of time long enough to legally buy a packet of cigarettes has been a key figure in England’s greatest triumphs of the recent era. But knowing this could be his final day added an emotional heft to the tickets presented at the gates this morning, and a few extra pounds on those being touted outside.Broad walks out to bat for the final time in his Test career•ECB via Getty ImagesThe walk down the steps was dignified and slow. Broad removed his helmet at the bottom of the steps as if peeling back a veil to let us all bask in his splendour. By now, Anderson was lagging behind, so he paused at the bottom of an Australian tunnel, just about holding it together – structurally rather than emotionally – to embrace his long-time bowling partner. A squeeze of the shoulders, a look into each other’s eyes before Broad strode off in front to receive the applause from his opponents.It was an oddly symbolic moment. Two players tethered together for so long through their longevity and occupation will finally separate. But it was Broad, prior to this series the Robin of England’s dynamic duo, who was getting the bells-and-whistles swansong – notwithstanding that his partner Anderson is arguably the greatest Test cricketer England have ever produced. The bloke who had to make do with second choice on ends got first dibs on exit. On Anderson’s 41st birthday, no less. Surely Broad did not blow out his candles, too?Related

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By now, you were waiting for the next bit of this celebration: a procession of all of Broad’s Test victims, a tribute to his Celebrappeal from the Red Arrows, just straight across the Kia Oval before veering away to be embraced in the slip cordon of constellations. England needed to fashion a few quick runs, get Australia in, and set about winning this Test to ensure the tourists’s retention of the Ashes was as hollow as possible. There was still a game to be won. Then the singles started being turned down.Why? No one really knew. Broad faced up to Mitchell Starc with everyone on the fence. A few scythes and bunts found space, but Broad stayed put, and clearly not to protect Anderson, given that at no point did he do that on Saturday evening. Just as it seemed this was all getting a little bit silly, as cynical thoughts entered the mind that the pageantry might impose on the professionalism, Starc dug one short and Broad smeared it over square leg for six.Touchpaper lit, the crowd went wild. Broadmania will never die – and when Anderson played out four odd dots before falling to Todd Murphy, there was confirmation that it will live forever. His last ball in Test cricket: a six off a bouncer. The most amount of runs scored off his least favourite delivery.There was not enough time to register the absurdity of those 11 deliveries. Broad was back out there within minutes, this time with the rest of his team, headband and bowling boots on, brand new Dukes in hand, David Warner in his sights. Australia needed a seemingly unlikely 384 for victory, with time to bat, but this was not about them. As Broad bristled at the top of his mark, Joe Root turned from first slip to goad the crowd into turning up the heat.Broad contemplates the match situation in his final Test•ECB via Getty ImagesSix overs later, things had already gone cold. Broad was taken out of the attack by Ben Stokes and replaced with Chris Woakes. There were two notable edges, one off the inside, another short of Ben Duckett at third slip, both from Warner. By the time Broad returned in the 15th over, Warner’s and Usman Khawaja’s partnership had moved past fifty, and were on 61 when he was hooked again.That second spell, also of three overs, was primarily cutters. It was those deliveries that did for Australia on this ground back in 2009, with 5 for 37 – the first recorded sighting of one of those Broad spells. This time, they were simply attempts to rouse a pitch that clearly did not know this was supposed to be his day.At 2.43pm, the rains that would eventually see play abandoned settled in. And as Broad sat through what he and England hopes will be his final such delay, the big screen looped his highlights and Saturday night’s interview, in which he had first declared this would be it.By the time the mercy of an abandonment came, everyone had already given up. The punters who thought they possessed a golden ticket walked away with enough play to ensure they were not entitled to their silver back, while nursing the very real possibility of Australia pulling off an audacious chase to triumph 3-1, with 249 still to get and all 10 wickets remaining.It seems even the most perfectly judged retirements are not perfect at all. Then again, who knows what the final day of this series may bring. After all, this is Stuart Broad we’re talking about.

The Andhra player was primarily a batter at age group level but has since been working hard on his fast bowling

S Sudarshanan13-Jan-2024After close to 50 overs on another hot Mumbai day, Andhra’s time on the field had finally come to a close, and that’s not counting the 88 they delivered yesterday. Their tired bodies were on auto-pilot when Hanuma Vihari paused just before heading into the dressing room. He stepped aside, broke into applause and asked Nitish Kumar Reddy to lead the team off.Reddy picked up five wickets, his second in first-class cricket, in the Ranji Trophy clash against Mumbai at the Sharad Pawar Academy. Among his dismissals on the first day were Ajinkya Rahane for a first-ball duck and Shreyas Iyer after a free-flowing 48.Brought on as the second change bowler in the 12th over, Reddy struck in his sixth over dismissing Jay Bista and Rahane off successive balls. While Rahane’s lbw call was contentious, it was still pretty much the perfect inswinger, full length, with prodigious movement in the air creating problems for the new batter.”I bowled a lot of outswingers [to Bista and Bhupen Lalwani] and tested their patience,” Reddy said on Friday evening. “I did not bowl any inswingers from the start of the innings. So [Hanuma] Vihari and Ricky [Bhui, captain] came to me and asked me to get the sharp inswing [going]. ‘Let it be full toss or yorker, but you should hit the pad,’ they said. I just came and delivered that, and it worked. In this game, it was first inswinger.”We actually planned the bouncers for Shreyas, but were leaking too many runs. That’s when we came to the normal plan and we bowled full [from around the wicket], and it worked,” Reddy said of Iyer’s wicket, caught by the wicketkeeper.On Saturday, he had Tanush Kotian and Shams Mulani caught at slip to complete the five-for and leave Mumbai on 316 for 8. Vihari had grassed Mulani at first slip a ball before he pouched one to signal the celebrations for Reddy. Andhra, however, had to wait a further 37.4 overs as the last two wickets for Mumbai added 79.Reddy rose through the ranks for Andhra as an opening batter, primarily. He batted No. 3 in the Vinoo Mankad Under-19 tournament in 2018-19. He opened for India Green in the Under-19 Challenger Trophy that same season. He turned up at No. 3 or 4 for Andhra as well at the senior level. At the same time, he kept working hard on his fast bowling until eventually a decision had to be made.”In my Under-16 days, I bowled with the new ball and was the opening batter,” he said. “I got plenty of runs and picked up wickets too. But as I went along, I found it hard to open the batting as well as bowling – padding up after bowling a lot of overs, I felt it affected my concentration.”A conversation with his coaches led him to shift down the order and contribute in both the facets. Like picking up five wickets against Maharashtra in December 2022 or scoring 66 batting at No. 7 against Delhi in January 2023.”It is hard that allrounders do all the jobs – fielding, batting and bowling,” Reddy, who classifies himself as a batting allrounder, said. “It is really hard. Hardik Pandya is doing brilliant; and even Ben Stokes. So I just admire them, enjoy seeing them and I like them.”Sunrisers Hyderabad selected Reddy for his base price of INR 20 lakh in the auction ahead of IPL 2023, where he played two matches but returned wicketless and did not get to bat.”There are a lot of differences in domestic cricket and the IPL, not in terms of the game itself but in terms of preparations levels,” he said. “There will be a crowd in the IPL while not so much here [in domestic cricket]. In the IPL I was at deep point. Bhuvaneshwar [Kumar] is bowling. The batsman just sliced the ball.”In domestic cricket, we hear the sound of the ball hitting bat and [know whether] it is timed well or not. We will accordingly chase the ball in that direction. But in the IPL, I did not hear the sound. I just ran ahead, thought it was mistimed but eventually missed it. I couldn’t hear the sound off the bat due to the crowd. There are a lot of things to learn.”Andhra were 98 for 3 after day two, trailing Mumbai’s first innings score of 395 by 297. With plenty of time left in the game, there’s chance for Reddy to earn more applause perhaps with a batting show.

They have done it before but will have to do it with a shuffling batting order finding its feet

Karthik Krishnaswamy12-Feb-20241:33

Can the Vizag pitch be replicated in other Indian venues?

R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav.Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, Joe Root.One of these spin attacks began this India-England series with 849 wickets at a combined average of 23.35, and the other with 191 wickets at 36.83.Two Tests into the series, one of them has taken 33 wickets at 33.90, and the other 23 at 38.39.It’s one thing that the averages are as close to each other as they are, given how brutally India’s spinners had outperformed their opposite numbers over their decade of home dominance leading into this series. It’s another thing entirely that those averages are the wrong way round.There’s reason to believe, too, that luck has contributed significantly to England’s returns so far. Where India’s batters have achieved a significantly better control percentage against spin than their England counterparts, their errors have cost them a lot more often. Roughly one in eight false shots from India’s batters has cost them their wicket, while England’s batters have survived 12 false shots per dismissal on average.Luck tends to even out over long series, but so far in this one, it has felt like India have contributed to their own misfortune, failing to turn their control into dominant positions.On day two in Hyderabad, a string of their batters were out to attacking shots against spin, with none of their top five falling to the traditional modes of dismissal: bowled, lbw, caught by keeper, slips or bat-pad. It was a passage of play that Rahul Dravid, India’s head coach, singled out as critical to their failure to convert a dominant position into one from which they could not lose. India’s first-innings lead of 190 was a tall order to overturn, but not one immune to a once-in-a-lifetime innings from Ollie Pope.Related

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“I thought we left probably 70 runs on the board in the first innings,” Dravid said. “You know, I think in our first innings, when conditions were pretty good to bat in on day two, I thought in the kinds of situations we got ourselves into, some good starts and we didn’t really capitalise. We didn’t get a hundred, you know, we didn’t get somebody getting a really big hundred for us. So, in some ways, in India, I just felt we left those 70-80 runs back in the hut in the first innings.”The feeling that India were leaving scorable runs unscored persisted into the second Test in Visakhapatnam. Five of their top six got past 20 in their first innings, and one of them scored a double-hundred, but their total fell just short of 400. In the second innings, India were at one point 354 ahead with six wickets in hand, but the target they set England fell, once again, just short of 400.Both innings were peppered with strange, hard-to-diagnose dismissals. In the first innings, Rohit Sharma glanced an offbreak straight into the lap of leg slip, and Axar and KS Bharat hit uppish square cuts straight to backward point. Shubman Gill gloved a reverse-sweep soon after reaching his hundred in the second innings, and Bharat pulled a long-hop straight into midwicket’s hands. On that Visakhapatnam pitch, spinners occasionally got the ball to stop and bounce awkwardly, so all those shots came with a certain amount of room for things to go wrong. Individually, it was hard to say whether the batters chose the wrong shot or executed the right shot poorly or happened to get that one ball that turned or bounced just that little bit more. Collectively, they added up to a picture of a line-up failing to cash in against a not-particularly-threatening attack, and failing to bat their opposition out of the game, for the second time in a row.1:13

Manjrekar: ‘India can’t expect Bumrah to bail them out’

It cost India a Test match in Hyderabad, and without Jasprit Bumrah doing Jasprit Bumrah things, who knows what could have happened in Visakhapatnam.It can happen when a batting line-up loses experienced heads. Virat Kohli is out of the entire series, and India seem to have moved on fully from Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. They began the series with a top six of whom only three had played more than 30 Tests, and two of these three – KL Rahul and Jadeja – missed the second Test with injuries. Even the more experienced batters who have featured in this series are getting used to new roles: Gill and Rahul are still new to the middle order, and Axar in Visakhapatnam was designated to bat in the top six for the first timeMost of these players, meanwhile, are white-ball regulars, so the only red-ball cricket they have played in recent months is the Test series at the turn of the year in South Africa – a series played on extravagantly seam-friendly pitches where they didn’t face a single ball of spin. It isn’t surprising then, that these batters have seemed a little rusty when it’s come to milking inexperienced spinners for session after session, keeping the runs flowing steadily while keeping certain risks – hitting the ball in the air, sweeping from the line of the stumps – to a minimum.It’s a skill that viewers often take for granted when they watch Indian batters, but it needs constant polishing like every other skill. India are no doubt working assiduously on it in the lead-up to the third Test in Rajkot, hoping that their batters can do their bit to restore the balance of power between the two spin attacks.

Cameron Green and Travis Head both earned player of the match awards in the IPL last week

Alex Malcolm13-May-20244:04

McClenaghan: RCB’s whole bowling unit made contributions

Green’s growth in a new role bodes well for AustraliaCameron Green has had an outstanding week for Royal Challengers Bengaluru to keep their playoff hopes alive playing a pivotal role in two wins over Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals. Against Punjab, Green made 46 off 27 at No. 5 with five fours and a six and shared in a 92-run stand with Virat Kohli that came off just 46 balls as RCB racked up a match-winning total of 241 for 7. He followed up that performance with an accomplished all-round display against Capitals, scoring 32 not out off 24, taking 1 for 19 from four overs and producing an excellent direct hit run out to earn player of the match honours. Green appears to be getting more comfortable with the unfamiliar and highly specialised No. 5 role. He has started brightly with five men out in his last two innings and has slowed down at the death as wickets have fallen around him. He was 27 off 16 against Capitals but could not find the rope in his last eight balls and only managed to score five runs.Cameron Green winds up for a big hit•BCCIHe still hasn’t quite unlocked the secret to death hitting but Australia’s coaching staff will be thrilled with his development in the role as it only adds to his versatility for the upcoming World Cup. He also bowled well against Capitals, conceding one boundary in four overs. His second over, the 11th of the chase, was his best where he conceded three singles and three dots and ran out Tristan Stubbs with a stunning direct hit having sprinted to the striker’s end to collect the ball in his follow-through before swivelling and hitting at the non-striker’s to beat Stubbs after he was sent back by Axar Patel.Warner misfires on return while Fraser-McGurk’s scintillating form continuesJake Fraser-McGurk hit the first ball he faced for a six•BCCIDavid Warner finally returned from his finger injury against RCB but it did not go as planned. He was unable to field due to the bone bruising that is still causing some discomfort but he was cleared to bat as the impact sub. He only lasted two balls. He was a little unfortunate as he nailed an arm ball from left-arm orthodox Swapnil Singh straight to a very well-placed man at wide long-on. Some more elevation would have seen it sail into the stands. His frustration was evident as he threw his head back after seeing Will Jacks pouch the catch.Related

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Meanwhile, at the other end Jake Fraser-McGurk continued his spectacular form and was unfortunate not to post another blistering half-century. Having thumped a 19-ball fifty in Capitals’ win over Rajasthan Royals last week where he torched Avesh Khan for 28 off an over, he looked on again against RCB. He flat-batted Swapnil for six first ball and then clubbed Mohammed Siraj over his head and through cover to race to 21 off 8. But he was cruelly run out backing up too far when a Shai Hope straight drive ricocheted off Yash Dayal’s fingers onto the stumps at the non-striker’s.Capitals have all-but been eliminated from the IPL playoff race, but Warner has one more chance against Lucknow Super Giants to find some time in the middle before the World Cup while Fraser-McGurk can put an exclamation point on his incredible debut season and push his case further for a World Cup travelling reserve spot.Head’s heroics continue while Cummins keeps on keeping on2:15

Rapid Fire Review: Head and Abhishek, or Salt and Narine?

Travis Head’s IPL form is reaching a ridiculous realm. He and his Sunrisers Hyderabad opening partner Abhishek Sharma produced the most brutal batting beatdown of the tournament to date against Justin Langer’s Super Giants, mowing down a target of 166 in just 9.4 overs. He made 89 not out off 30 balls with eight fours and eight sixes to finish player of the match.This came just two days after Head also made a comparatively pedestrian 48 off 30 in a losing effort against Mumbai Indians. Head is the IPL’s third-highest run-scorer with 533 runs in 11 innings. He is the only one of the top 12 run-scorers to be striking at a rate higher than 183, having scored his runs at a staggering 201.83 per 100 balls across the tournament. Only Abhishek (205.64) and Fraser-McGurk (237.41) have scored quicker across the tournament among players with 60 runs or more.Meanwhile, SRH captain Pat Cummins continued his solid form with a great all-round showing against Mumbai. He made an outstanding 35 not out off 17 balls with two fours and two sixes to lift his side from a deep hole with the bat, before being one of the few SRH bowlers to survive Suryakumar Yadav’s onslaught, taking 1 for 35 from four with a maiden. He was more expensive against Lucknow but mainly in his last over where he conceded 19 including four boundaries, although several came via skewed mishits into gaps.