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Eoin Morgan’s personal triumph with the bat mirrors the attitude shift in his team that has enabled England to put their World Cup woes long behind them

Andrew McGlashan11-Sep-20151:11

Morgan lauds young side’s attitude

The summer of 2015 will be remembered as one in which the Ashes were regained but it is also becoming a personal triumph for Eoin Morgan. He has the chance on Sunday to lead England to a series victory against the world champions having achieved the same against the runners-up, New Zealand, earlier in the season.It took one of the most outstanding catches even of Glenn Maxwell’s career to prevent Morgan from scoring his second ODI hundred of the season, but his run-a-ball 92 broke the back of a 300-run chase. The victory was the first time England had chased down 300 against Australia, and only the fourth in their history against any team. Given the shellackings that have been handed out to them over the last couple of years, it is a remarkable turnaround. The Australians may be weakened, but four days ago they were also 2-0 up.”The group of players we have, the attitude they show is outstanding,” Morgan said. “I’ve never had that sort of feeling within a side, in a chase, we were very optimistic about things – it’s not experience because we are a young side, it’s just a ‘let’s take it on’ attitude which is brilliant.”No one has embodied that attitude better than Morgan himself. He now sits on 599 ODI runs for the season at a strike-rate of 111.13. Only one other England player has ever crossed 600 in a home summer: Andrew Strauss in 2010 when he made 745. In the whole of 2014, a total of 22 ODI innings, Morgan made 560 runs. There was more than just the occasional question as to whether he was surviving on reputation.”I’m a firm believer that things work in cycles, and when it’s in your favour you have to cash in and I’m taking advantage of a little bit of a form,” he said.And Morgan’s success this season has come when he has twice had question-marks hanging over his form. At the start of the summer, before facing New Zealand, he was coming off the back of a woeful World Cup in which he made 90 runs in six matches; before the Australia series his domestic runs had also dried up to such an extent that he requested, and was granted, a month’s break from domestic duties with Middlesex.But in the heat of battle, Morgan has responded in thrilling style. It started in the T20 in Cardiff when, in his first innings of any format for a month and coming in with England stalling in the Powerplay, he hammered 74 off 39 balls. That was the vindication to him, and proof to those watching, that he had taken the correct route in removing himself from the game.His 38 in the first match of this series was not his most fluent innings, but at Lord’s he struck 85 off 87 balls – channelling some anger late on at the perceived injustice of Ben Stokes’ obstructing-the-field dismissal.That incident, which prompted Morgan to question Steven Smith, could have led to an unravelling of the series. It is to England’s credit, and this stems from Morgan, that they have responded with the two impressive victories at Old Trafford and Headingley. Instead of wallowing in self-pity they have moved on.The significance of the captain leading from the front has not escaped Morgan, either. “I think it’s huge, there’s only so many words you can say or ways you can inspire people but the best way is to lead from the front and today I’ve managed to do that, which is great.”Earlier this year he collected three consecutive ducks against Australia, but that is the exception against an opposition that has often inspired him. During the course of his 92 today he became England’s leading run-scorer in ODIs against them. “He plays spin well, he plays pace well,” Pat Cummins said succinctly. “When he’s going there certainly aren’t many options. He’ll be a key wicket on Sunday.”This latest innings was Morgan at his calculating best. You could almost see the numbers whirring around in his head, seizing the moment after Stokes’ dismissal to ensure Australia were not allowed a foothold by picking out the roof of the stand. When he was cut off – by a catch few other fielders in world could have reached – the asking-rate was a run a ball which meant the lower order were not under undue pressure.As the Ashes showed, the theory of momentum can be meaningless but England appear the side with the greater zest for the final stage of a long season. “If it does exist, I think it is with us,” Morgan said.A victory in Manchester will mean England ending the season unbeaten across the formats. The drawn Tests series against New Zealand would be the only prize they have had to share. This most ludicrous of summers is set up for the perfect finale.

Their batsmen found themselves in a punctured raft, taking turns blowing air into it, but they soon ran out of breath. Before long, they were all in the water, with Sri Lanka’s close-in fielders encircling them like sharks

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo23-Oct-2015Batting collapses come in a range of shapes and sizes. With 11 of the last 12 Tests played in Sri Lanka having yielded results, it’s fair to say the island has seen its share.There are the classic dramatic capitulations. These begin poorly, grow steadily worse through the middle, and end so spectacularly bad that the arrival of the apocalypse is sometimes suspected. One such was India’s fourth-innings in Galle that prompted strident panning of the team’s overseas record, and led to much soul-searching as to the batsmen’s capabilities against spin. Within two weeks, the team had made light work of Sri Lanka in the following Tests.Prasad savours long run

Dhammika Prasad credited the improvement in his bowling average this year to the long spell he has been able to enjoy in the Test side. The P Sara match is his 12th successive Sri Lanka Test – by far his longest continuous stretch in a career that had been previously plagued by injury. He had averaged over 50 before August last year, but has taken 46 wickets at 26.89 since.
“As I play more matches, without getting dropped, I gain confidence and I’ve become a better bowler,” Prasad said. “I had [a] few injuries in the past and I was dropped from time to time. I used to play one match and then miss the next two. When that happens then we also haven’t got that confidence to come back and bowl.”
Prasad said the surprising turn from the P Sara pitch made for the low scores seen in the match so far. “Actually, we never expected this much of turn from day one. I think, bowlers from both sides bowled well. There was assistance from the pitch and in general, our batsmen got some good balls. It’s not that they played bad shots.”

There are batting efforts which take off with a sideways judder, like a plane in a strong crosswind, then fly successfully for a brief period, before, through a series of unrelated mishaps, like the door falling off, and the co-pilot managing to set his pants on fire, the whole thing nosedives. Sri Lanka have been particularly adept at this, as various batsmen have had vulnerabilities of all kinds exposed through the home season. In the end, Angelo Mathews alone is left floating down on his parachute, surveying the wreckage below him with a palm pressed to his face.Over the course of this series, West Indies have mastered another kind of collapse. Theirs is neither explosive nor apocalyptic, but nonetheless deserves to be inspected, and put through a post-mortem. On each occasion this series, their total has crossed 150. One batsman usually gets a half century – or as was the case today – gets very close. And most in the XI, in the upper and lower floors of the batting order, get to double figures, but fail to go on to scores of substance.In this they are like 11 men in a punctured life raft. They all take turns blowing air into it – one guy even tries a little harder than the rest – but they soon run out of breath and give up. Before long they are all in the water, with Sri Lanka’s close-in fielders encircling them like sharks.The P Sara surface was treacherous for sure, but on Friday, Sri Lanka did not have to bowl particularly well for some of their scalps. Dhammika Prasad got a little true bounce out of the pitch, but it was his poor short balls that opposition batsmen perished to. Nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo had cut Prasad for four early in the day, but when he was provided another short, wide ball a few overs later, he sent a nick to the keeper.Darren Bravo’s departure was similar. He survived a yorker-bouncer change-up from Prasad, in the 15th over, ducking the second ball without much discomfort. Then Prasad went short again, but this one was poorly directed – away from the body and easily avoidable. Bravo chopped at it instead, and saw the ball plummet from his under-edge into the stumps. There was a Chaplin-esque slapstick to the dismissal – Bravo was the man who leapt with alacrity over the banana peel, then walked face-first into the lamppost.Then, having seen two wickets fall to a good spell from left-arm spinner Milinda Siriwardene, Denesh Ramdin must have decided Rangana Herath was feeling left out. His heave across the line in the 56th over was a contender for poorest shot of the series; the ball passing several inches from his bat en route to the stumps. Even Herath was so underwhelmed, he celebrated with a mere shrug. Dilruwan Perera was equally undemonstrative as he cleaned out the tail.”We could have done better – some of the shots were not of the best,” the opener Kraigg Brathwaite said of the innings, after he had top-scored with 47. “Once you organise and plan your innings, you could succeed on that pitch.”Having finished the day 113 runs behind, with eight opposition wickets still to get, West Indies face the distinct possibility of having to make the game’s highest score in order to level the series. With the pitch already beginning to take sharp turn, Sri Lanka’s spinners will only become more dangerous – the sharks around the bat will only grow in number. It is not often that a team that reduces the opposition to 200 on the first day, ends the second in such dire circumstances. But then again, most teams do not go three full innings without a 50-run stand.

Hardus Viljoen might have emigrated to New Zealand last year. Instead he has claimed a rare double on debut to keep South Africa fighting at The Wanderers

Firdose Moonda at the Wanderers15-Jan-20161:35

‘It’s still unreal’ – Viljoen

December 2015. Nothing was going right for Hardus Viljoen. He had taken 20 wickets in two first-class matches on the back of three seasons in the top 10 on the first-class wicket-taker’s list but, even though both Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn were injured, a national call-up eluded him. So he decided to take some time out in Mossel Bay, a town on the Garden Route.Then this happened: “We couldn’t catch a flight and our accommodation got cancelled so we decided we would just go and see some friends down the road.”And then this happened. “The moment we drove out the gate, I got a phone call from Mr Linda Zondi and I almost went over the pavement.” But that didn’t happen and suddenly it was almost January 2016 and everything was going right for Hardus Viljoen.He was called up as cover for Kyle Abbott for the Newlands Test and, though Chris Morris was South Africa’s debutant on that occasion, he used the time to “settle in and get to know the guys”. A week later, at his home ground in Johannesburg, he knew he may not have that luxury. His reputation would require that, even though he was a rookie, he would really have to step up. And he did, in an unexpected way at first.Viljoen hit the first ball he faced in international cricket, a poor ball admittedly, but one that was delivered by England’s all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson, straight down the ground for four. “What a surprise! When you are facing a quality attack like Jimmy and Stuart [Broad] and to get a full toss upfront is a gift,” he said.Not nearly as good a gift as what came later. Viljoen took his first wicket in international cricket with the first ball he delivered, a poor ball admittedly, but one that removed England’s all-time leading run-scorer and captain Alastair Cook. “Wow, it’s still unreal. I had a bit of a claw [gripping the ball too tightly] the first ball. It was a dream start.”Of course it was. Only Matthew Henderson, a New Zealand international playing in the 1930s has managed that double – four off the first ball he faced and a wicket off the first ball he bowled – on debut. The only way Viljoen’s dream would have been sweeter was if he had “nicked him [Cook] off on the off side, but every one counts.”Even though Cook has developed a noticeable tendency to get out down the leg side – he was dismissed in that fashion in Cape Town and also fell in a similar manner against Pakistan in the UAE – Viljoen denied that it had all been thought out in advance. “There was definitely no plan there,” he said. “I was just glad he got some bat on it.”Hardus Viljoen removed Alastair Cook with his first ball in Test cricket•Getty ImagesThe rest of the day threatened to go just as well. Viljoen’s first two overs were poison-tipped. He was aggressive, he asked questions with short balls that exploded off the pitch and he managed some late movement. Joe Root did not have a clue as Viljoen beat him with bounce and pressured with pace. Of all the sparring that has taken place in this series so far, those 12 balls were the most stirring.The stage was set for it continue but lunch intervened. Viljoen didn’t mind that: he has confessed to building muscle by ignoring the bench-press and helping himself to “all the good food – pap and boerewors”.The Wanderers caterers tend to stick to grilled chicken but, even if Viljoen ate his fill, he was not able to show what it amounted to immediately. Instead of being allowed to continue his spell after the break, he was replaced by Morris. On the other end, Kagiso Rabada, who had Alex Hales caught at slip in the fourth over and consistently beat the bat, made way for Morne Morkel.Rabada had bowled a six-over opening spell which may have necessitated the change but he is a young, fit man who could have continued if AB de Villiers had asked him to. Instead, England got away. Morkel was wayward, de Villiers himself dropped a catch off Morris, Nick Compton and Root had the time to find their feet – Root mentioned struggling with his footwork before lunch – and the pressure popped.Viljoen, who had bowled a marathon 14-over spell last month to win a match for the Lions against the Dolphins, had no say in whether he should have continued and not even South Africa’s bowling coach Charl Langeveldt seemed to have an answer for why he didn’t. “That’s up to the captain,” Langeveldt said. “He was going with the experienced guys.”What de Villiers should have known was that Viljoen is as experienced as they come on this ground and even though the opposition are of a different class to the ones he faces at domestic level, he knows the basics. “The main difference is that you are not playing on a slope in Test cricket and we often play on a slope in domestic cricket, but the slope doesn’t play a massive role, the opposition does. A good delivery stays good, a bad delivery stays bad,” Viljoen said.The problem was that he went on to bowl a few too many bad deliveries when he got another chance. In desperation for more wickets, Viljoen threw all the extremes at England. Too short, too full, too wide and the dream debut dissipated.Nevertheless, just being selected for South Africa at all is the fulfilment of something that almost wasn’t. In April last year, Viljoen was considering leaving the country to further his career in New Zealand even though he knew he might have left it too late to quality as an international player. He believed nothing was going right, was frustrated by his lack of opportunity, was eager to improve his earning potential as the Rand slid, and had Fanie de Villiers advising him that “patriotism is out of the door”. Then he decided to give it one more go.”I don’t want to have second best. You get brought up in your country to play for your country,” he said. “I said I will give myself the right time and a fair time and a fair chance. It came quicker than I thought and I will never regret my decision to stay here.” And so, no matter what happens, everything has gone right.

After relegation last season, Saurashtra have come a long way in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy season. But coach Sitanshu Kotak does not want his team to rest on its laurels

Shashank Kishore in Pune28-Feb-2016In September, Sitanshu Kotak called up Ravindra Jadeja. ” (“What plans?”),” he asked. ” (To help Saurashtra win matches, of course”) came the reply. Jadeja had just been left out of India’s squad across formats, and Axar Patel’s creditable show meant there was no guarantee of an immediate return. A comeback or the itch to prove a point, Kotak says, was far from Jadeja’s mind, but the prospect of being able to play matches immediately had him excited.A month later, on pitches tailored to suit Saurashtra’s strength, in their backyard in Rajkot, Jadeja picked up a mind-boggling six consecutive five-fors, and 37 wickets in three Ranji games. He backed that up with knocks of 91 and 58 in two of those games as Saurashtra opened up a massive lead in Group C. It was the start of their journey from a group that is often considered “weak”. That they came through unscathed till the end, blasting their way into the final, was as much due to the confidence they derived from those early wins as it was to their plan of empowering a young group of players.For Kotak, it was a sense of déjà vu after he missed the chance of lifting the Ranji Trophy as a player in similar circumstances three years ago, when his team had lost to the same opponents. But Saurashtra’s improvement this season – played for large parts without Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara, their two talismanic cricketers – was the most heartening sign for Kotak, even though the regret of folding cheaply without a fight at the final hurdle left him gutted.”In my 21 years as a player, I hadn’t seen relegation, so to be relegated as a coach in my first season last year was disheartening. This is as bad as I’ve felt since then, but these things happen,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “Losses aside, the biggest lesson this season has taught us is that we need to be a better green-track team. It’s not enough to score runs on flat tracks and play on turners.”The mention of turners is quite interesting, for it was a strategy that was well thought out. “The plan was simple,” he starts. “We didn’t want to be Himachal [Pradesh], who have been there and thereabouts. We wanted to push for results. Even if it meant we lose two here and there, so be it. We had to play to our strengths initially, just to get out of the rut we had found ourselves in. After getting relegated to Group C, the players were hurt. They finally realised something was wrong, so we thought, ‘Why not play to our advantage and get a head start – surely away, we may have to face conditions where we don’t thrive.'”As it turned out, the ploy to prepare turners helped Jadeja pitch for a comeback, which was a roaring success as, along with R Ashwin, he dismantled South Africa in the Tests. For Saurashtra, though, it was back to the drawing board. Their winning streak came to a halt as soon as Jadeja left for the Tests, as they drew against Goa and Himachal, and soon lost to Kerala. “That was an eye-opener; that is when we felt how weak our batting was, and we needed to tighten our game,” Kotak says. “We needed a mainstay. We’ve been used to not having Pujara around, but not too many raised their hands in the time he wasn’t available.”Sheldon Jackson has been doing well, has played India A too, but we needed someone in the top three. That was a challenge for us, because on seaming tracks, if we lost the toss, we would often fall behind. We could either change personnel or stick to the same set of guys who had shown the spark. We thought, this season wasn’t the best to change too many things because, having made the start, we had to finish it well. In some ways, the absence of a proper club structure in Rajkot means most of the players play outside, while young players who can’t do that get lost. So that needs to improve.”Ravindra Jadeja helped Saurashtra start their season with four consecutive wins•BCCIWhile the decision to stick with the batting seemed to work, the bowlers, particularly the pacers, who had little role to play on raging turners, were a little rusty. Jaydev Unadkat, who missed a good part of last season because of injury, was fit and firing. Hardik Rathod, who had played for Railways last season, returned to his home state in search of opportunities, as did Deepak Punia, the pacer, who previously represented Services. “After we finished our home games, both of them (Rathod and Punia) were key to our plans,” Kotak says. “We worked on their skills right through the season, got them to bowl long spells in the nets. But we made it clear that while a place in the team was no guarantee, at least we would try and look after them better.”As he speaks, it seems that Kotak, the coach, is more flamboyant than Kotak, the batsman, a stonewaller. He says the biggest challenge as coach was to ensure those he played with were involved in planning, even though he consciously made an effort to maintain a distance and a sense of perspective.”That is where I got guys like Jadeja and Pujara to talk to the boys,” he says. “My cricket was limited, so from a coach’s point of view, I had to make them feel comfortable, give them opportunities. These two, having played for India, were a major part of my plan because they have interacted with modern-day coaches and been exposed to the best training methods. You can be a Level-1 or Level-3 coach, but these are things no coaching degree will teach you. My challenge was to bring out the best in them without altering their game. Players react differently in good form, while the same advice when they are in bad form may invite a different discussion. So finding that balance was my challenge, but they were all motivated. The rebuilding phase has to be completed now.”With the side having bounced back to reach the final after having been relegated, Kotak doesn’t mince words when he says individuals need to be self-motivated if they are to consistently challenge top teams. “It’s not criticism, but the truth is, a lot of players get comfortable,” he says. “There has to be a purpose of playing first-class cricket. Either you want to play for India or contribute to the state team because you love the game. There is at times a mentality of not wanting to let go. You should be helping a cause, two or three fifties in a season and you can’t be happy.”A look at Saurashtra’s batting charts this season further drives home the point Kotak is trying to make. The team scored a combined tally of five hundreds, with the highest number of fifties scored by a player being three, by Jadeja and Avi Barot. That the top run-scorer for Saurashtra was Jackson with 538 runs – in comparison Mumbai’s top-scorer Shreyas Iyer had 1321 runs – further reinforces Kotak’s point. Of course it didn’t help that their captain Jaydev Shah, who has been in charge for a record 93 games out of the 105 he has played in, didn’t lead by example, managing a modest 294 runs from 11 matches.Saurashtra have faltered in the past, not having built on their gains from 2012-13. For a while now, their journey has been about taking one step forward, only to fall two steps back. This time around, there is another opportunity to build on the gains made by a young group of players. One way of doing so could be to have a younger captain take charge of the group, which means there could be a slot that could be filled by a promising batsman who is given a longer rope. How they decide to move forward from here could determine if Kotak manages to groom a set of players who go on to become ‘ (long-haul racehorses).

Plays of the day from the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Lions at Eden Gardens

Deivarayan Muthu08-May-2016Raina’s one-handed stunnerStunning catches at boundary edges have become frequent in the IPL. Andre Russell-Piyush Chawla and Shane Watson- David Wiese had combined for hokey-pokey grabs this season. Stunning slip catches, however, are not as regular. Suresh Raina claimed one on Sunday night.Dwayne Smith banged a short ball into the ribs of Suryakumar Yadav. The batsman arched his back to ramp the ball over Raina at slip. Cramped for room, he gloved it in the air instead. Raina flew to his left, stretched his right hand out, and plucked a one-handed catch as he tumbled onto the ground. He landed near wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik’s feet.Kaushik gets stunnedLeft-arm chinaman bowler Shivil Kaushik came into the action early – in the third over – when he awkwardly slid to his right at third man to intercept an open-faced dab from Suryakumar Yadav. The next over, Robin Uthappa picked one off his pads behind square. Kaushik moved to his left from fine leg and got his body behind the ball. But it bounced off a practice pitch, brushed Kaushik’s fingers, and trickled away for four. He had a puzzled expression on his face, while Dhawal Kulkarni, the bowler, had his hands on his mouth in disbelief.Shakib’s twin scoopsShakib Al Hasan, wearing multi-coloured boots, added more flash to the proceedings with scoops off contrasting balls in the penultimate over of Kolkata Knight Riders’ innings.The first came off a slow, 89 kph bouncer off Praveen Kumar. Shakib walked across off, waited for the ball to arrive, leaped, and used his upper-body power to shovel-scoop the ball over his shoulder, to the fine-leg boundary. Three balls later, Praveen bowled a 127 kph full toss. Shakib stepped across again and scooped it over the keeper for another four. Praveen was ready to rip his hair out.The nick that wasn’tBrendon McCullum’s cavalier approach is exemplified by his down-the-track bash. He stepped out to the third ball he faced, lost his shape, and swung wildly at a good-length delivery from Russell. Wicketkeeper Uthappa belted out a caught-behind appeal instantaneously. Seconds later, the bowler went up and Morne Morkel ran towards the keeper from short fine leg. Umpire Rod Tucker shook his head and shot down the appeal, even as ultra edge picked up a spike. McCullum made 29, which included three fours and two sixes, before toe-ending Piyush Chawla to long-on in the eighth over.

Legspinner M Ashwin talks about his journey to the IPL and learning from his offspin namesake

Arun Venugopal02-Jun-2016Before this IPL not many may have seen much of M Ashwin, who played all three of his first-class matches so far in 2012. He didn’t get to bowl in his debut game, a rain-hit affair, and took only one wicket from the 67 overs he bowled in the next two. While he remained active on the Chennai league circuit, he didn’t resurface on the Ranji scene till the end of 2015.Given his scant visibility at the domestic level, with only two List A and six T20 games, he had to take the unconventional route to the IPL. Ashwin attended selection trials for Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore, but in the end it was Rising Pune Supergiants who picked him up for Rs 4.5 crore (US$668,000 approx) at auction.Unbeknownst to him, his actual audition had probably taken place when he was called to bowl in the Chennai Super Kings nets during the 2015 IPL. Stephen Fleming and MS Dhoni, coach and captain at Super Kings, and later at Supergiants, were impressed with what they then saw of Ashwin, who further boosted his chances by taking ten wickets at less than six an over from six Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 matches in January this year.Having registered figures of 4-0-16-1 in the opening game of the IPL, Ashwin went on to play nine more before he suffered a side strain, which, along with the rise of Adam Zampa, played a part in ruling him out. He finished with seven wickets at 8.45 an over, but he thinks he did better than those numbers suggest.”For a first IPL it was a good learning experience, and I think I did fairly well,” he says. “I didn’t think about the price I was bought for. From a team point of view, though, it would have been good had we qualified for the playoffs.”

“During the Delhi Daredevils game I had a long chat with Imran Tahir, and I asked him how he bowls the flipper and the slider. He is very generous. He doesn’t mind sharing his tricks”

He says the only brief he was given was to take wickets and he tailored his preparation to suit. Since there was no designated phase of play where he would be introduced, he learned to enjoy the dynamism that came with bowling at different stages.”At practice, I was working on my variations and was planning which lines to bowl, which lines to bowl in the slog [overs]. I bowled in the Powerplay in one match, and I also bowled in the 18th over in another game. I felt they used me whenever they needed a wicket.” So much so that he was often brought into the attack ahead of his more famous namesake, R Ashwin.The similarities between them piqued interest, especially among headline-writers and meme-creators looking for wacky puns and trivia. The Ashwins went to the same engineering college, spoke the same language, Tamil, played for the same state, and were now turning out for the same IPL franchise.M Ashwin, however, doesn’t think Dhoni preferred bowling him over the other Ashwin, and calls it a “legspinner-offspinner, horses for courses kind of decision”. He talks of the example of the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad where he bowled only one over as opposed to the offspinner, who bowled four.What M Ashwin cherishes most are his off-field conversations with R Ashwin, who had praised his younger team-mate’s ability to spin the ball appreciably both ways.”This is the first time I had the opportunity to have a lot of conversation with him,” M Ashwin says. “We used to have breakfast together, and we would watch other games together during dinner. I was lucky to have actually watched the game with him, and discuss other teams – why a bowler was successful, what length and line he was bowling. We used to talk cricket like how people would normally discuss stuff over the dinner table.”Having never played in Pune or at the Wankhede or Eden Gardens before the IPL, M Ashwin received valuable input from his senior colleague on how the pitches behaved there, and on the overall dynamics of the grounds. “He would also tell me about the preferred hitting areas of guys like Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith.R Ashwin (left, holding mike) gave his younger team-mate tips on the various grounds they bowled in and the players they played against•BCCI”It’s not like we always discuss [plans] for every batsman. I do my own homework. With aggressive batsmen like McCullum or Smith, I generally bowl a wider line so that they don’t reach for the ball. But you can’t go in with fixed ideas. I can’t simply keep bowling wider lines to all batsmen at all times.”Ashwin, however, admits to having made mistakes under pressure on occasion, recalling in particular the game against Kolkata Knight Riders where Yusuf Pathan lined him up for two sixes over long-on in successive overs. In hindsight, he says bowling full to Pathan was an “executional error”.”He is a very strong player, and I knew I shouldn’t bowl there,” he says. “Execution comes with experience, but at this stage you have to absorb that pressure and perform.”Ashwin quickly learnt to insulate himself from the pressure and to instead focus on putting into practice the plans he had drawn up. Suryakumar Yadav’s dismissal in the same game – Ashwin’s favourite moment in the tournament – is a perfect illustration of his preparation and his awareness of his strengths.In the 16th over, after Yadav misread a googly that spat past the inside edge, Ashwin beat the batsman with a legbreak and then bowled another googly to nail him in front. This strategy of sandwiching a legbreak between googlies, Ashwin says, has been one of his key wicket-taking set pieces at the domestic level.”He [Suryakumar] wasn’t able to pick my googly,” he says. “If you see, he missed the googly the first time I bowled it, went for the cut and it almost hit the stumps. Since my googly is good, I think I used it well, and I was fortunate it came out well.”That googly has a fan in South Africa legspinner Imran Tahir, who bowls a mean one himself. Ashwin first met Tahir during the India-South Africa ODI in Chennai last year, where Ashwin was a net bowler, and they continued to swap notes during this year’s IPL.

“At practice, I was working on my variations. I bowled in the Powerplay in one match, and I also bowled in the 18th over in another game. I felt they used me whenever they needed a wicket”

“During the Delhi Daredevils game I had a long chat with Imran Tahir, and I asked him how he bowls the flipper and the slider,” he says. “He is very generous. He doesn’t mind sharing his tricks. During the net session in Chennai he had asked me how I bowled my googly. He gave me feedback this time, saying he tried it and it didn’t work for him.”Ashwin has also benefited from inputs from the likes of Dhoni in the nets. “If I bowled too slow, Dhoni would come and ask me to vary my speeds. He would also tell me which line worked better – outside off or at the stumps.”Of course, everyone told me it was my googly that troubled them the most. But the ideal wicket-taking line would be [the ball spinning away] from the stumps off a good length. Looking back, I feel I should have probably done that a lot more.”

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Ashwin’s arrival on the Tamil Nadu scene in 2012 was greeted with mild excitement, given the side had lacked a legspinner for quite some time. But that first coming didn’t last longer than a month, during which he conceded 176 runs in 48 overs and bowled 14 no-balls in his second game, where Karnataka easily went past Tamil Nadu’s first-innings total of 538.The Ashwin of three years ago was, in his own words, a diffident character prone to nervousness. But he retraced his steps, identified the problem and found a solution. He realised his head was falling away in his action and he wasn’t using his non-bowling arm optimally.He bowled at a single stump for several net sessions and then to a batsman. He mostly worked alone and made mistakes along the way, occasionally seeking advice from coaches at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association academy. It took him a long time to settle on a stable, rhythmic action. The three years on the periphery became an attritional cycle of spotting mistakes, unlearning the routines that led to them, and learning the right technique.Ashwin speaks matter-of-factly about the inevitable frustrations that crop up during such a phase. “I think every cricketer has to deal with such frustrations,” he says. “Unless you taste success, whatever you do you are bound to be irritated.”It helped to have a supportive wife and father. In 2014, he married Aishwarya after five years of courtship, and he believes marriage has made him a more composed individual. He discussed his practice sessions with her every day to gain perspective on the “incremental improvements” he was making.M Ashwin took seven wickets from ten IPL games this season•BCCI”She is a much more positive person than I am, so I think that has rubbed on to me,” he says.His father, Era Murugan, is a popular novelist and a writer of dialogue for Tamil films. “Although I don’t read my father’s books, I have always been inspired by his ability to work tirelessly. He does not watch cricket, but during this IPL he watched all the games, not just the ones Supergiants played.”Ashwin believes making qualitative changes to his cricket without worrying about the result helped him. “When I say negative mindset, it is more nervousness. At a young age, every cricketer has it. But if you are prepared then you can go to a game with confidence. I just changed the way I think.”Probably I improved my practice ethics, and I think that helped my confidence. I wasn’t consciously trying to be positive. I worked a lot on my bowling, which made me confident in return. More than the number of hours I trained, I improved the quality of my practice and my analysis.”Ashwin, who has an excellent academic record, also thinks his engineering background brought intangible benefits to his bowling. “Even Anil Kumble has said engineering helped him. I don’t know in exactly what way, but subconsciously it maybe has helped me – probably in being analytical.”He says the IPL has provided him a window on the standard of cricket played at the international level. “Bowling in the CSK nets last year was a trial for the IPL. It gave me a lot of confidence,” he says. “[This year] I was able to gauge myself at the international level. Now I have a better idea of where I could go wrong and how I could possibly rectify [those errors].”If I go to the nets and practice, I know the results I can achieve by bowling in a certain manner. The quality of batsmanship in the IPL is much better, so you need to up your level to succeed.”

Transformation guidelines, the weakening rand and a domestic structure that offers limited opportunities have forced players and coaches to look for greener pastures abroad

Firdose Moonda07-Jul-2016On Wednesday, Rob Walter became the third South African cricket official in a month to leave for New Zealand, accepting a two-year coaching deal with Otago. Walter was the most successful coach on South Africa’s franchise circuit, having won three trophies in four seasons with the Titans, and was set to take the A side to Australia, which should have put him in line for the national job. Walter, though, did not believe it did, telling ESPNcricinfo he could not see himself coaching South Africa in the “short-term,” and was looking to further his experience.It’s only the latest sign that South African cricket is staring at an exodus of its top talent. A weakening rand, a domestic structure that offers too small a pool for its talent, and the decision to push through transformation is squeezing opportunity, especially for those at lower levels. Employees in coaching, management and administration are heading abroad in search of wealthier pastures.A range of former players and senior officials in the system confirmed to ESPNcricinfo – asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject – that they are also aware of several players considering options abroad. At least four currently contracted internationals are among those named by sources. Consider that the South African Rugby Annual listed 280 players plying their trade abroad at the end of 2015 and South African cricket may not feel too badly, but a significant flight of players will affect the domestic game.”I’d say 80% of the reason players leave is money,” one former player said. “In South Africa we just don’t have the amounts to pay our players what they can get overseas. And when they are at a level that is not international, there is a lot less stress. Some players just decide they don’t need that high-pressure anymore.”Those pressures include anxiety over whether they will continue to be selected, as South Africa target aggressive transformation. An example is fast bowler Morne Morkel, who ESPNcricinfo has learned was ready to retire from limited-overs cricket after being left out of the 2016 World T20 squad. He was close to signing a deal with English county Glamorgan but was convinced to stay on and taken to the Caribbean for the triangular series, in which he played only two out of six games. Morkel also helped broker a deal at the county for Dale Steyn, who South Africa’s selectors said would be rested for the West Indies tour but then gave him an NOC to play in the NatWest t20 Blast.Both Morkel and Steyn are understood to be interested in playing Cricket Australia’s Big Bash League, which will coincide with South Africa’s home series against Sri Lanka at the end of the year. AB de Villiers has already turned down a BBL offer, but another former national player will not be surprised if the pace pair does not.”I don’t blame Morne Morkel for thinking that way. He has been messed around. It is very strange how the senior seamers have been treated. I don’t think they have been managed well,” the player said. “The same thing with Dale Steyn. No-one had the gumption to say that he has had a tough 18 months in white-ball cricket so he is being dropped for the West Indies series and is going to England to find form; instead they said they are resting him. It’s no secret Dale is not the happiest camper out there at the moment.”Morkel and Steyn are not alone. Several younger franchise players are looking at the UK as a destination to further their careers and the player said he would encourage them to go, citing the several variables in South African cricket and the lack of opportunity as reasons. England’s first-class competition comprises 18 counties; South Africa’s has only six franchise teams.South Africa’s system was modeled on Australia’s domestic structure to ensure strong competition, but it is being seen as too small to provide opportunities for everyone who deserves one. There has been talk of expanding to an eight-team structure to ensure more players can participate, to give selectors more options, and to create more jobs for coaches.That may mean the likes of Lance Klusener, whose contract was not renewed by Dolphins, Makhaya Ntini, who is coaching in Zimbabwe, and Walter stay in the system. “Rob wants to coach an international team and sitting at the Titans for another three years might not get him there,” a source close to Walter said. “He knows that Geoffrey Toyana is probably the next national coach and deservedly so, so moving might give Rob the opportunity to coach much sooner.”Toyana is on the verge of signing a three-year extension with the Lions but several sources revealed he may be elevated to the South African job sooner than expected as pressure mounts on the incumbent Russell Domingo. The source was of the opinion, however, that South Africa needed a foreign coach – “someone who can shake things up and challenge the guys” – to help fulfill the potential of a group that has tended to underachieve on the global stage, but said an outsider would not be able to handle the politics in South African cricket.So the focus returns to South Africa’s transformation policy, which is seen as a cause of what is being termed “white flight”. One former player believes it is not so much the policy but the lack of clarity surrounding its implementation that is causing player unhappiness.”If you are good enough, you will play for South Africa no matter what colour your skin and we know that,” the player, who is white, said. “But CSA need to be open and honest about transformation and then you will have fewer players leaving. The players just want to know: these are the rules and this is what we have to do. That’s all. They keep saying there is no quota, there are only targets, and that is a lie.”At the same time we have to stop saying every time someone of colour gets a position that they are only there because of their colour. We have very deserving people.”Not everyone believes the exodus of personnel is a reason to panic, though, and some see it as an effect of the globalisation of sport. “If an engineer leaves to work in Dubai we read less into it than when a sportsperson leaves,” a senior administrator said. “We need to be careful of reading too much into it. The bottom line is that the rand has slipped and guys can make money elsewhere.”

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2016Both batsmen struck 12 fours together in the first 10 overs as the visitors raced to 80 for 0•AFPThe introduction of spin, however, slowed down New Zealand through the middle overs•AFPGuptill made his second fifty-plus score of the tour, before being caught behind for 72•Associated PressKane WIlliamson kept New Zealand steady in the second half of the innings, but a middle-order collapse brought India back•AFPIndia conceded just 61 off the final 10 overs to limit New Zealand to 260 for 7•Associated PressAjinkya Rahane was solid in India’s chase after Rohit Sharma fell early•Associated PressVirat Kohli was typically fluent before he nicked Ish Sodhi to the wicketkeeper on 45•Associated PressJames Neesham then rattled India’s chase with wickets off successive overs …•Associated Press… including that of MS Dhoni for 11 at his home ground•Associated PressIndia’s middle and lower order crumbled on a tricky surface, and despite a late fightback from Dhawal Kulkarni, New Zealand won by 19 runs to level the series 2-2•Associated Press

One of three experienced members in Australia’s top six, Usman Khawaja showed mighty forbearance to build a knock of genuine substance and get his team ahead

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide25-Nov-2016Five years ago, Usman Khawaja made his debut at a grim moment for Australian cricket.His first Test innings was at the SCG against England in the New Year’s Test of 2011. The Barmy Army dominated the atmosphere, England’s cricketers dominated the scoreboard, and in the stands James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, was making his first gestures towards constituting the Argus Review in the wake of what would be the third innings defeat of that Ashes series.In that prevailing mood of gloom, Khawaja’s handy first-up innings of 37 was praised in the manner a desert wanderer might welcome an oasis. Yes, Khawaja played well, most notably firing off a ripping pull shot from his very first ball, but over time he was bogged down and ultimately fell sweeping Graeme Swann just before rain arrived. Even so, Khawaja was called upon to speak to the press afterwards, and remarked “I had so much fun out there”.Three coaches, three captains and 20 Khawaja Tests later, Australian cricket was again at a difficult juncture, this time in Adelaide. Khawaja was no longer the starry-eyed youth, but an established player needing to do better. Before play on day two, Sutherland told that he and the board had encouraged the selectors to push for youth even before former chairman Rod Marsh chose to resign.That made Khawaja one of three experienced members in the top six, alongside David Warner and Steven Smith. He was thus commissioned with the task of minding three young debutants – Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and Nic Maddinson. The passage of time turns debutants into older salts, pupils into teachers and foot soldiers into officers. While most eyes were on Renshaw, Handscomb and Maddinson, it was Khawaja who grew noticeably in their presence.Usman Khawaja showed tremendous mental resolve to bring up his fifth Test century•Getty ImagesFor too many of the intervening years, Khawaja has been given to moments that betrayed his obvious talent with lapses in concentration or work ethic – a slight as much perceived as real. He appeared to have made a quantum leap last summer with a quartet of Test hundreds, but a dire tour of Sri Lanka followed by a costly dropping of the guard in Hobart raised those old questions once more.When the final morning began at Bellerive, a former teammate could tell from the boundary that Khawaja seemed in an absent-minded mood, his feet not moving in concert with his bat. Duly, a flat-footed swish and edge behind ushered a violent end to the match. Afterwards, coach Darren Lehmann pointedly omitted Khawaja from his list of players guaranteed their places.What followed was a sequence of impressive maturity. First, Khawaja led Queensland to victory over South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match while making a crisp first-innings hundred. Second, he accepted a move into the slips cordon by snaffling a sharp chance from Dean Elgar.But third, and most memorably, he adapted to the impromptu commission of opener – via David Warner’s tardiness and Faf du Plessis’ opportunism – to survive till stumps when the ball hooped around in the evening on day one. He shepherded Renshaw expertly, even as the 20-year-old showed his own excellent judgment around the off stump. Renshaw did a decent job to blunt the new ball before edging a good one from Kyle Abbott on the second afternoon, but he had a willing ally in Khawaja.A notion discussed by numerous former Australian players over the past few weeks – of batting disasters – has been that of earning the right to play the way you want to play. A batsman’s natural game is only useful when allied to methods less so, geared at surviving tough periods to prosper later. Khawaja did not divert from what his instincts told him to do in Hobart, to the team’s cost. But in Adelaide he showed mighty forbearance, playing an innings for others to build around.There was an air of authority and control over Khawaja’s innings•Getty ImagesConsecutive stands of 137 with Steven Smith and 99 with Handscomb brought a level of solidity to Australia that had not been witnessed since the Sri Lanka Tests began. If he played some part in the run out that wrecked Smith’s innings, he then atoned by making sure that Handscomb was able to get going in Tests. Like Khawaja, Handscomb has a method far from textbook, but the self-knowledge to make it work.While they motored along together, it was possible to glimpse a brighter future for Australian batting. For the first time since David Warner’s partnership with Shaun Marsh early in the first Test, it was also possible to see furrowed South African brows. It was during this time that Khawaja went to three figures, raising his bat and head skywards to mark the moment. Five Test hundreds have now flowed form his bat, none better than this.One more episode remained for Khawaja to negotiate when Abbott burst the second new ball through Handscomb. Neither Maddinson nor Matthew Wade could make much of the movement on offer under floodlights, the former showing a defensive porousness that will need significant tightening if he is to prosper at this level. At Wade’s dismissal, edging a seamer, Khawaja reeled away in frustration, for he could see another collapse in the offing.But he was able to find support from Mitchell Starc, the man who had hobbled through for the winning runs against New Zealand in the corresponding match last year, and who like Khawaja has graduated near enough to senior player status due to the recent raft of team changes. Together they forged through to stumps, putting Australia ahead of the game with the chance to prosper further.Like his debut, Khawaja has found himself batting for a team in tribulation. Unlike his debut, he has responded with something of genuine substance. He has earned the right to respect.He is now a senior player.

Opportunities have been far and few at the first-class level, but becoming an IPL regular has breathed life into Yuzvendra Chahal’s yet flourishing limited-overs career

Deivarayan Muthu in Bangalore02-Feb-20173:05

‘Chahal worked with accuracy’ – Agarkar

While India’s captain Virat Kohli was beaming from ear to ear at the post-match press conference after his team secured the T20 series, Yuzvendra Chahal looked like a nervous kid told about a surprise test. On the field, though, he had delivered a nerveless performance, posing question after question to England’s batsmen. Chahal ultimately came away with incredible figures of 6 for 25 in four overs – the best by an Indian bowler in T20I history and the third best overall.He was chiefly responsible for England’s blink-and-you-miss-it collapse: they lost 8 for 8 in 19 balls. Chahal might not have been in the XI in the first place had R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja not been rested from the T20I series. Chahal’s sidekick in the match was Amit Mishra, his state captain at Haryana, who claimed 1 for 23 off four overs.Wednesday was just Chahal’s ninth match in India colours. He’s been an IPL regular now for Royal Challengers Bangalore for three seasons, and has been around in the first-class scene since 2009. However, opportunities have remained elusive – he has played just 27 matches in eight years. Seven of those games came in the Ranji Trophy season gone by, when Mishra was working his way into becoming a Test regular. When Mishra was released from the Test squad for the Ranji game against Goa last November, Chahal had to sit out. He has had to operate in Mishra’s shadows for a bulk of his career. More recently, he has had to also contend with Jayant Yadav.At the IPL, he was first snapped up by Mumbai Indians in 2011. He played understudy to Harbhajan Singh there, although he picked up 2 for 9 in Mumbai’s title triumph in the Champions League T20 the same year. Overall, he got only seven games for Mumbai between 2011 and 2013. In 2014, he was bought by Royal Challengers at the auction, and he made a mark immediately.He isn’t intimidated by the short boundaries at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. He loops the ball up and doesn’t lose heart even if he is launched out of the park. He managed 12 wickets in his first season with the Bangalore franchise and nearly doubled it in the next season. In Royal Challengers’ run to the final in 2016, he collected 21 wickets and finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in that season, but was overshadowed by Kohli and AB de Villiers.Chahal’s efforts, though, caught the eyeballs of the national selectors, who picked him in India’s second-string squad for the Zimbabwe trip in 2016. Chahal gave a good account of himself in Zimbabwe; none quite like his efforts in Bangalore though.Yuzvendra Chahal has spent a majority of his first-class career in the shadows of Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav•Associated PressAfter having played the sidekick for several years, Chahal became the leader. He took the new ball but received a cold welcome from Jason Roy, who flipped his stance and switch-hit the legspinner into the stands. Two balls later, Chahal tossed one up above the eyeline, caused the ball to dip, and coaxed a bat-pad catch from Sam Billings to slip.Roy then brought out the orthodox sweep to send Chahal over square leg, but the legspinner wasn’t flustered. He lobbed the ball up outside off, again, beat Roy in flight as an inside edge snuck away to the left of MS Dhoni. He bowled two-fourths of his quota inside the Powerplay and conceded 19, a creditable effort at this ground.”In the IPL too, I use him [Chahal] in most of the matches [as a wicket-taking option],” Kohli said. “He never says ‘no’ to bowling with the new ball or bowling in the middle overs, so I mean having a guy like this is great. He doesn’t say ‘no’ to any situation.”Mishra then bottled up England in the middle overs and ended with 4-0-23-1, including only three off his last over, the 13th of the chase. England, though, were still in the hunt at 117 for 2 in 13 overs. Kohli’s Suresh Raina experiment had bombed with Eoin Morgan smiting the part-time offspinner for three sixes in three balls. Kohli needed a wicket and recalled Chahal.The move worked immediately as he dismissed Morgan and Joe Root off successive balls. His googly made a mess of Morgan’s slog-sweep but it was the next ball that showed Chahal’s range. He sent down a flat fizzer from the front of the hand à la Mishra – 10kph faster than the previous ball – which beat Root for pace and thudded into the pad in line with off stump. Chahal let out an almighty roar and the Chinnaswamy roared with him.England were still in it, though, with muscle in Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, and Chris Jordan, but Chahal gutted all in his next over to round off a mesmerising spell: 2-0-6-5. Moments later, England were skittled for 127 and Chahal, holding the ball up, walked off to a rousing reception.”It’s like a home ground match for me,” Chahal said. “I’ve not played too many series for India. Whenever I come to Bangalore, I get a vibe. I feel at home here as I’ve spent three seasons with RCB now.”The end may have come sooner than expected for England, but Kohli thought he may have just a par score to defend at the start. That victory was made possible, he said, was mainly because of Chahal, who has now been accustomed to different situations in a T20 game under Kohli.”In Bangalore, I feel any total is chaseable,” he said. “We’ve seen that in the past, talking from RCB experience, teams have chased 60-plus runs in three overs against us sometimes. When the ball starts travelling here, it is very difficult to consolidate. That’s why the middle overs become very crucial in Bangalore.”If you don’t get wickets in the middle overs then any total is chaseable. No total looks far-fetched. Any batting line-up in the world can explode in the end. The key today was to take wickets in the middle overs. This guy sitting here [Chahal] didn’t do such a bad job with that.”Kohli also said that the maturity shown by Chahal and the depth he added to the spin group would allow the management to rest Ashwin and Jadeja “whenever” they want.This record haul could probably be Chahal’s stepping stone for bigger things in India colours.