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Recently, when Pakistan haven’t known anything about their future on and off the field, they’ve always known that soon, they’ll be playing against Sri Lanka

Osman Samiuddin in Colombo25-Feb-2011There must be a certain comfort for Pakistan in taking on Sri Lanka. This has nothing to do with who is the better side, but on the grounds of familiarity alone. In the last five years, when Pakistan haven’t known anything about their future on and off the field, they’ve always known that soon, they’ll be playing against Sri Lanka.When looking to introduce a new captain, they look to Sri Lanka, as they did with Shoaib Malik and a three-ODI series in Abu Dhabi just after the last World Cup. In the interests of symmetry they even ended Malik’s captaincy two years later just after he had lost another three-match series against them. The first international Pakistan played after the Oval Test forfeit and the positive dope tests of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif was against Sri Lanka. The most joyous occasions, such as the World Twenty20 win have involved Sri Lanka. The saddest, the Lahore attacks just before, have also regrettably involved them.No country has played more against Pakistan in the last five years across all three formats than Sri Lanka (30 games). In a recent board-to-board interchange, both chairmen referred to the other in “brotherly” terms. It was a pointless exchange about Sri Lanka’s scheduled series against Pakistan in October this year and the remote possibility of it being played in Pakistan. But if and when international cricket does return, it can be easily imagined that Sri Lanka will be the first visitors.In many ways, the rivalry has been a balm, a soothing one, for Pakistan.Lately, quietly slipping in under the radar of traditional duels, it has become an intense one. In the vernacular, you might even say it has acquired , or needle. In 17 ODIs since January 2006, the sides have won eight games each. None of the games have been particularly close but as a whole, contests have been competitive and carried meaningful sub-plots.”I think Pakistan is a great side, they’ve got great balance, they’ve got match winning cricketers, not just one but quite a lot of them, so any opposition is wary of them,” Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s captain, said. “We are not going to take anything lightly or for granted, we are just going to go out there and do the best what we can.”Sangakkara, who contributed to the needle with a much-remembered slanging match with Younis Khan in 2009, speaks from a position of equality, if not outright control. The equality is a modern attribute, since Sri Lanka’s rise from 1996. Pakistan may well have won six out of six World Cup encounters before Saturday, but – and this is remarkable – they haven’t come across each other since 1992.The stat means nothing. Altogether more relevant is the run-in: Sri Lanka have won six of the last eight.Familiarity, in fact, may be the winning and losing of it. Pakistan, over the years, have learnt not to give wickets to Muttiah Muralitharan; he’s taken 95 in 64 ODIs, but they rarely crumble to him. Even then, Waqar Younis’ bullish assessment, that Muralitharan “isn’t 28 anymore” and that the going may not be easy for him, tempts fate. Similarly, Lasith Malinga, not a certainty, has not been as difficult to fathom as others have found.And arguably, they were the first country to decode Ajantha Mendis.”We’ve played a lot of cricket against them and understand each other’s games well,” Misbah-ul-Haq said. “Both Muralitharan and Malinga are world class. But we’ve played them quite a lot, and players understand their strengths. Simple plan: play them on merit.”Instead, it is men such as Nuwan Kulusekera or even Rangana Herath if he plays, the more orthodox if you will, of Sri Lanka’s stars who have troubled Pakistan consistently. If Pakistan can shed their caution and attach another specialist bowler, their attack will be deceptively incisive. Regardless, we are assured of the presence of a vast, varied cast of match-winners on the field tomorrow, any of them capable of changing a game in a blink.For the World Cup, the R Premadasa has taken on a new visage. A day before the game, and empty, it still looked faintly intimidating, even threatening. The stands are new and high. The game is sold-out. The city is feeling it now, building up to it. The weekend is here. Both teams are wound up, ready to be let at each other. It will be some atmosphere, a true theatre for what will be – hopefully, given the lack of them so far – a true contest.

India’s bowling consultant is happy that his charges are one tight unit, working together, and he expects them to do well in England no matter what combination gets picked

Interview by Sriram Veera10-Jul-2011

Ishant Sharma

“If he bowls with the control he has got now, Ishant can be a real handful in England. His ability to get bounce out of a wicket from a fuller length is crucial there”•AFPI remember one of the first spells he bowled after I got involved. It was against South Africa in Kolkata, when he bowled a really great spell but didn’t get any wickets. He was stressed, and I told him, “Ishant, you bowled a wonderful spell so let’s focus on what you have done there.” Like Pragyan Ojha’s spell against Australia in Mohali, where he bowled 20 overs for around 28 runs and got no wickets, but played a huge role in India eventually going on to win that game. I have tried to tell the guys it’s not always about the wickets column.In South Africa we got Ishant to do a few drills, and when I was catching the ball from him, I saw the seam in different positions and I saw his confidence grow. Wickets may not be coming, but I am seeing good things stacking up.I got really excited with what I saw from him during the IPL. He still wasn’t getting wickets, but the channels he was bowling [were good]. I always thought he needed to bowl a little wider outside off stump. He did that during the IPL and he is doing it consistently now. Then his natural ball comes in, hits the off stump and the batsmen don’t know where to go.One of the things I tried to enforce with him was to never lose your belief in his ability, and everyone who saw him had to keep telling him that and keep him positive in his thinking in terms of how he sees his ability. In Ishant you’re now seeing confidence and technique come together. There are a lot of things you can do [to help a player regain confidence], but it’s seldom technical. It’s more about getting your mind in a calm space. It’s crucial to just get [the bowler] to a place where he is confident, calm and believing in himself.If he bowls with the control he has got now, Ishant can be a real handful in England. He has obviously got the height. His ability to get bounce out of a wicket from a fuller length is crucial. He is getting more confident now that his control is back. The no-balls are disappearing. He’s going to start finding the pace that he has. To try and bowl quicker when you haven’t got confidence is not going to work. I think now he’ll start bowling consistently at 140kph, 141, 142, and that’s just going to add to his strength. The only thing is he can drift down leg now and then, but it is a minor issue.A lot of it is to do with angles. If you run up in a particular way and use a particular action, you must try and use that action all the time. If you are bowling over the wicket and bowl with a certain action, and then if you bowl around the wicket and you are landing differently, it makes no sense – you bowl across yourself. Ishant used to run from behind the umpire, but now he runs in from wider. So his action is the same around the wicket as it is from over the wicket. His delivery is coming at the batsman’s off stump but his action’s the same, and because he naturally has a tendency to move the ball away, it makes it doubly difficult for the batsman. That’s the technical change we have made, so he is bowling down the line of his feet rather than across his body.My mantra for this bowling unit has been: the perfect plan you can execute for the batsman is not as good as the perfect plan you can execute for yourself. If Ishant bowls back of a length, we’ll pack the square field [in England] instead of making him bowl fuller.

Sreesanth

Sreesanth is an incredibly talented bowler. We try to make him understand his game plan and when he is most effective. You are not the most effective when you are bowling six different deliveries just because you can. His spell against Australia in Bangalore was one of the best in fast bowling I had seen. He was reversing the ball in and away. There are few in the world who can do that.That’s been one of the successes of Praveen Kumar: the patience he has shown in Test cricket. In one-dayers he has got so many variations, but in Tests he has put them away and bowled the way you need to in Test cricket, and reaped some success. That’s what Sree needs to do too – to stay focused and be patient.It’s been a little frustrating for him with injuries. He’s understood the importance of patience. But you also don’t want to take [his personality] out of him. That’s what makes the man special. He’s an artist in so many ways. So it’s just trying to keep all those things in place and keep him motivated and focused on the job he can do. He’s a very special talent to cricket. He’s a flamboyant personality and people love him. And I think the game needs him.Sreesanth can do really well and be effective in English conditions. I think back to the delivery he bowled to Jacques Kallis in Durban. There are few who can do that. And the spell in Mohali. He is a swing bowler, and I would like him to bowl a fuller length and see him make them drive.

Praveen Kumar

Six months ago we wouldn’t have thought Praveen would be going to England. And now, not only is he going to England but going there on the back of what he’s already done in Test cricket. He’s going to be a massive asset for us.”In Tests Praveen has put his variations away and bowled the way you need to in Test cricket, and reaped some success”•AFPWe have stressed to him the importance of patience in Test cricket; the importance of bowling to your field; how a batsman is thinking. If Praveen’s going to be nibbling outside the off stump, who’s going lose his patience first? I don’t think England like that kind of pace or balls that swing both ways. Just nibble away around off, they lose their off stump.In Jamaica he was prepared to bowl only outswing for a full over, for two overs. I think sometimes, what the batsman doesn’t want is the right tactic. You need to think like him.In the past Praveen has tried too many things. In Test cricket just having the variation is a strength in itself, because while you keep pitching it and nipping it away, the batsman knows you can also swing it back. How long before you bowl the inswinger? You can bowl one in three overs, and it’s all you have to do.I think Praveen can bowl quicker, but we are not talking about it now. I would love every bowler to have that 5kph more pace, but it shouldn’t be cause and effect in terms of gaining pace and losing something else. He has got something unique and one needs to respect that. You need to work on his pace slowly. You can’t try immediately to make it 145kph. You don’t want him to be falling over [at the point of release] because he wants to bowl quicker. Who did Sachin Tendulkar hate facing the most? Hansie Cronje! That’s a weapon. If you can nag at that pace, some people hate that. Sometimes it is the variation that keeps you going.

Munaf Patel

I would have loved to see Munaf bowl more [in the West Indies series]. He is just beginning to feel his way back. He has natural bounce and he is actually a natural athlete. He can be a casual-looking guy, but when he runs in at pace and does something, he is quicker than what most people think.In many ways he was one of the leaders of the attack in West Indies. He is in control of his emotions. He is a mature guy. He says little things to me at times that make me go, “Wow, I hadn’t seen that.” It could be about a batsman or about one of our bowlers. I have hopefully influenced some guys, and I have learnt a lot from Munaf as well. The way he embarks on a game, the way he thinks about it.I do believe he has a few more yards of pace in him, which we will see. He has the ability to bowl different lengths. He can be effective, keep a fuller length and do little things with the ball. He is going to be a handful if the conditions suit him. I am quite excited to see where he goes from here. The injuries were unfortunate. Hopefully he is over it now and can stake a good Test claim for England.Munaf comes across as a guy who is very grateful with what he has got, with what he has achieved. He is humble to everyone around him. The little things he does tell me he doesn’t see himself as a superstar . He doesn’t see himself as a World Cup winner and therefore as a bit special. He comes across as a guy who is very grateful with what he has got, with what he has achieved. He works hard, has a great attitude, and it rubs off on the people around him.

Zaheer Khan

Zaheer is a guy who knows his action very well. His ability to bowl at the same pace from a short run tells you he knows his action, because not many guys can do it. He is a different bowler because of his wrists. He can swing the ball just with his wrists.He also understands his body really well. He picks up on niggles very early. At times something could have grown more serious, but he picked it up early and pulled himself off. He has the ability to fix things. Now even Ishant has started to do that. I used to tell Ishant that his front arm was going over, that he was falling over. Now he is fixing things himself. Zaheer has the ability to fix things in the middle, and not wait for tea or lunch break.His break has been a blessing in disguise. He has played a lot of cricket. He went into the IPL from the World Cup. That must have been difficult.My contribution with Zaheer is that I might look at something differently and give a few suggestions. I have spoken to him about bowling round the stumps to right-handers. It’s not really worked for him in terms of the angle he comes in at.He has the ability to knock over Andrew Strauss during a crucial moment in the game against England at the World Cup, and to take crucial wickets in a Test when the ball starts reversing and the match is going nowhere.Also, because of who he is – to go to a young bowler and calm him down when he’s under pressure. To say, “I have been there before and this is maybe an idea and a thought.” We have tried to build a family unit. It’s great for me to see the bowlers build this spirit together. They have to hunt together as a group, and to have someone like Zaheer is crucial to lead that group. Again he’s got incredible ability technically, and you learn from people like that.

Harbhajan Singh

“Zaheer is a guy who knows his action very well. His ability to bowl from a short run, yet at the same pace, tells you he knows his action, because not many guys can do it”•AFPHarbhajan needs to see what the right bowling line is for him. He has the ability to read the situation and decide whether it’s important to attack or to hold. Particularly with a four-man attack, it’s hard work for seamers. Someone should hold down one end – a seamer or spinner. Sometimes Harbhajan has to do it. I would like him to have the freedom to make that decision. If it means a line outside off will be more attacking, or if it means bowling a straighter line because holding down is important so Zaheer can pick up a wicket from the other end , we trust Harbhajan with making that decision.I think Harbhajan is bowling a better line. He is hitting the line outside off. It’s all about encouragement and giving them a sense of belief in the system – the process.I have checklists with Harbhajan. You can see what people do when they are successful and what they are not doing when they are not. When I’m standing and taking balls when Harbhajan or Amit Mishra bowl, and I can sense the seam is in a good position, I stop them and ask, “What did you do there? What was different this time? The ball came out really well this time, we need to do more of this.”

Ricky Ponting wants to continue in one-day cricket after the World Cup, but there is little to be gained from him playing on

Brydon Coverdale at the R Premadasa Stadium 19-Mar-2011″I’m going. I have to keep playing. I’ve missed enough cricket the last couple of years.” Those were the words of Ricky Ponting earlier this week, when asked if he would be part of Australia’s one-day tour of Bangladesh immediately after the World Cup.Three days later, the chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, had this to say: “Some players get to go on their own terms at the right times and some don’t. I suppose if you’re determined to play forever then at some stage a selector is going to make the hard call.”Hilditch went on to praise Ponting’s energy and fitness, and said that if any man was capable of playing for a long time, it was the Australia captain. There was no hint that his panel would be making a “hard call” any time soon. But there is nothing to be gained from Ponting, who is now 36, extending his one-day career beyond this World Cup.If he can guide the Australians to a fourth consecutive title, it would be his greatest captaincy achievement. It would also be the perfect time to fold away the coloured clothing for good. If not – and they have much work to do after their 34-match streak without a World Cup loss ended against Pakistan in Colombo – it would still be the right time to start thinking about the next era of Australia’s one-day team.Michael Clarke has proven himself a thoughtful and adventurous captain, and handing him control of the one-day team would be a positive move. It would also create space to give more exposure to young batsmen like Callum Ferguson and Aaron Finch, who could be important parts of Australia’s one-day future. And what else can Ponting, a potentially four-time World Cup winner, hope to achieve in one-day cricket?Maybe he will go on in Tests; the temptation of another challenging summer against India on the horizon, and visions of one final Ashes tour in 2013 still flickering in his mind. However, by the time the 2015 World Cup comes around, he’ll be 40, and will be on the golf course working on his formidable handicap.Of course, Ponting has been a giant of limited-overs cricket – a tally of 13,184 runs speaks for itself, and his unbeaten 140 in the 2003 World Cup final victory over India is one of the great one-day innings. But right now, he is stuck in the leanest patch of his international career, which continued on Saturday, when he edged behind as he tried to cut against the spin of Mohammad Hafeez.Since he started at the Academy as a 16-year-old, batting has never appeared difficult for Ponting. It certainly seems to be getting harder. On Saturday at the Premadasa, he hustled to the crease with purpose, rehearsing the swing of his bat as he walked, like a boxer punching the air.He was careful, and took eight balls to get off the mark. But he was also on the front foot, as is his style when he wishes to make a statement, and when he tried his first hook he was beaten by the bounce of Wahab Riaz, and the top edge flew high over the wicketkeeper’s head to the boundary.The shot that was once Ponting’s trademark has become one of his major weaknesses, his judgment not what it was in his youth. In Bangalore on Wednesday, he was surprised by the pace of Canada’s Henry Osinde, and lobbed a catch when he tried to pull.Across all formats, Ponting has played 37 innings since he last made a hundred, against West Indies in an ODI in February last year. The only time he has gone longer without an international triple-figure score was a 43-innings stretch, starting in December 2003.But even then, during his barren period he still found ways to contribute, and averaged 40.20 across all formats. Now, since his last century, he has averaged 28.27. It is possible to return stronger from such a drought as a young man, but as an ageing player it is much more challenging.”I’m trying as hard as ever and I feel like I’m seeing the ball as good as ever,” Ponting said after making 19 against Pakistan. “If I keep doing the right things, hopefully that big score will come for me. It’s been a few games now and I certainly haven’t scored the runs I would have liked to have scored in the World Cup so far, but the big games are coming up and hopefully I get some in the quarter-final.”If Ponting wishes to play on after the finals, he would be better off narrowing his focus to Test cricket, and sliding down to No. 5 or 6. It is not a dishonourable move for a captain. Allan Border ended his career down the order, and nobody thought less of him. Steve Waugh hardly ever batted above No. 5.But Australia don’t play any more Tests until August, so that is a debate for another day. For now, it’s Ponting’s one-day future that needs to be considered. And if he is planning to continue after the World Cup, the selectors might need to make that hard call.

Ricky Ponting is happy to be playing whatever part he can within the new set-up in the Australian team. Even if it means running out with the drinks

Daniel Brettig in Galle29-Aug-2011Sri Lanka has been witness to some odd sights, featuring Ricky Ponting, so far. No longer the centre of attention, Ponting was seen running out with drinks during the tour match in Colombo. After the teams had travelled down to Galle, he could be seen quietly reading a newspaper at the as the sun grew weary at the team’s beachside hotel. Worries about team performance and the wider issues of Australian cricket appeared the furthest things from his mind.Handing over the responsibilities of captaincy has clearly agreed with Ponting, who is happily adjusted to the role of senior pro and top-order batsman. He speaks when spoken to, which means quite often in the case of his successor Michael Clarke, and also the young batsmen who are vying for a place at No. 6 – Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh. As the only member of the current team to have played Tests in Sri Lanka, seven in all, he has plenty of wisdom to pass on.”What I’ve been talking to the guys about [is] making sure they get the defensive part of their game right, because, like in all conditions, starting is always the hardest,” Ponting said. “But it tends to be even harder in these conditions when you’re facing a lot of spin bowling and there are a lot of guys around the bat. Your first 20 balls become the most critical here.”As you can see you can have 250-run partnerships, then you can lose three or four wickets on top of each other as well, and that’s because it is difficult to start. That’s what I’ve told the guys. At home we tend to practice a lot of big shots against spin because there’s not much in the wickets and you tend to use your feet a lot and run down the wickets. Whereas here, I think it’s the other way – you’ve really got to work on your defensive side of batting and through the course of an innings, if you make a hundred, you might play four or six big shots for the innings.”Ponting’s first Test match visit to Galle in 1999 coincided with the debut of Rangana Herath, the most senior of the home side’s spin bowlers. Herath had played in a warm-up match against the tourists, and Ponting can remember the shock of receiving his first carom ball. Now that Muttiah Muralitharan has retired, Herath’s crafty variations will be critical to Sri Lanka’s attack.”From memory, I reckon we might have played him in a tour game as well before those Tests; that was where we first got to see this thing [the carom ball],” Ponting said. “I must admit facing it for the first time I was like, ‘what was that, where did that come from’? But over the years now, even in the Twenty20 game and the one-day game we have played against him, and the guys picked it up pretty well. But he’s a quality spinner – he played well in England for Sri Lanka and we’d expect that he’d be in their starting XI for the first Test.”Prevailing conditions will mean plenty of time fielding close to the bat for Ponting, who doubts he will spend much time at all in the slips even though his battered finger, fractured during the Ashes then nursed grimly through the World Cup, has improved visibly. Instead he is likely to be employed by Clarke as a predatory presence in front of the bat, either looking for run outs or bat-pad catches.”I think the way it’s structured at the moment it’ll probably be Michael at second [slip] and Shane [Watson] at first, and over here we probably won’t have three slips for too long anyway,” Ponting said. “I’ll probably end up at bad-pad, Michael will probably have me in there somewhere I reckon when the spinners are bowling. I’ve always liked being involved in every ball basically. That’s the way I’ve always approached fielding, if there’s one little chance floating around through the course of a day’s play, I want to make sure I have some impact on the game.”Comfortable as he is away from the captaincy, Ponting acknowledges the difference Clarke appears to be making in the role. The pair have different personalities, and Clarke’s buzzing demeanour so far seems nicely suited to a team that is younger and less sure of itself than the one Ponting took to Sri Lanka on his first tour as captain in 2004.”He’s started really well. We’re continuing on with a lot of the things that have worked for us over the years,” Ponting said. “[But] He’s putting his touches on some of those things and no doubt we’re doing things slightly differently, because different personalities will deal with things and handle things in different ways. But he’s been very proactive and the results are coming. To have the ODI series win here against a side that competed in the World Cup final was a really good start for him as the full-time Australian captain.”We’re chatting a lot out in the field and even leading up to games [on] how players are going and tactics and stuff. I’m just sitting back, not imparting any of my stuff on him, but just waiting for questions to be asked. I think the whole structure we’ve got around the group is working really well and I’m just happy to be playing my little part in it all.”Even if that little part is running out with the drinks.

It has been many years since Haryana produced a player who gets the kind of attention that makes selectors bolt upright. Any performance that gets them into their first Ranji final since 1991, though, might just do it

Sharda Ugra08-Jan-2012In a season of tackling hairpin bends and skimming cliff edges of elimination, Haryana find themselves on solid ground and in their very element. Their first Ranji Trophy semi-final in 20 years will be only their third game at home this season – at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Lahli, outside Rohtak. It is a venue that coach Ashwini Kumar believes has played its part in altering his team’s fortunes – despite last season’s quarter-final loss to Tamil Nadu.In the semi-final, Haryana will meet a team whose success last season unlocked belief and confidence among the lower orders of Indian first-class cricket. Rajasthan arrive in Rohtak as defending champions, their surge out of the Plate League causing a stirring among the Ranji small fry. This season Haryana have produced the early aftershock. Their victory over Karnataka in a low-scoring game lasting only three days in Bangalore was the only outright result in the quarter-finals.Ashwini, whose tenure as Haryana coach since 2000 was briefly interrupted before he returned in 2009, said his team is only now hitting its full stride. “Struggle has been our habit this year,” he told ESPNcricinfo, “We’ve had so many ups and downs and still the team has managed to get past everything.” Whether it was injuries to key players, playing four of their six league matches away from home or heading into their final league game against Gujarat with relegation looming.Haryana’s batsmen crossed 300 in each of their first five league matches, but they took the first-innings lead in only two. The team followed on against Madhya Pradesh in Rohtak, and went into their last league game with the big drop looming.Their batsmen produced 207 in their first innings against Gujarat. Yet thanks to their bowlers, only a seventh-wicket partnership took Gujarat past the Haryana total. From this situation Haryana produced a big victory and gave their season the gear it will require to keep going. In their second innings, Haryana declared at 321 for 5, with middle-order batsman Priyank Tehlan 15 short of his maiden first-class century in only his sixth game. “We could have batted for another five or ten overs but we needed overs to get them out,” Anirudh Chaudhry, the Haryana Cricket Association secretary, said. Six wickets went to the spin team of captain Amit Mishra and debutant offspinner Jayant Yadav, who was picked over legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

“Rajasthan has won the Ranji Trophy. Our boys saw how Jharkhand won the 50-over title last year and Bengal the Twenty20 title. We had qualified for the knockouts in all three. The players now believe that it doesn’t matter if you come from a small state, if you do well, you can represent India.”Haryana coach Ashwini Kumar

Haryana has had a rash of rookies this season. The five debuts in their opening match against Delhi came from injuries to key players even though there was a worry of opening the Ranji season with “half the team made of up new players,” according to Chaudhry. Medium-pacer Sanjay Budhwar was recovering from a surgery, Mohit Sharma had a hand injury, Mishra a shin problem and halfway through the season, Joginder Sharma had an accident.Chaudhry said Haryana had been “fired up” fighting for promotion to the knock-outs. “These are simple boys with self-belief.” The victory over Karnataka, which Chaudhry followed on live streaming, was the team’s giant stride after three years of quarter-final defeats. “Karnataka was a very good team. They are an old association, they have a history. The country’s leading wicket-taker is president. They have a wealth of experience to consult.”It took a “bowling spell of his life” from Harshal Patel, the Gujarat fast bowler signed on as a professional, to break open Karnataka’s batting which set up the eventual victory. After his parents’ migration to New Jersey, Harshal stayed on in India for cricket and it is a decision he may never regret.Ashwini counts seven debutants for Haryana this season, with Chaudhry pointing out that along with that, there are two players playing their first full Ranji season. The average age of the 17 players who have turned out for Haryana in 2011-12 is just over 23.The sudden mushrooming of twenty-somethings has come, Ashwini said, due to a combination of factors, one of which he believes is the HCA’s fully-equipped cricket facility at Lahli. “It is our own stadium. We are able to hold off-season camps and have good practice facilities. We can train our coaches here. It is convenient for kids to get here for long periods of training. We can have trials.”Compared to 150 players who would turn up for open trials in a city, Lalhi’s trials pull in 350 from towns and villages, Chaudhry said, their bats “wrapped in gunny bags.”The other reason for the surge in Haryana’s overall fortunes and aspirations in the Ranji Trophy is “a big difference in the thinking of the players over the last decade,” Ashwini said. This comes from the success of their peers from other states. “Rajasthan has won the Ranji Trophy. Our boys saw how Jharkhand won the 50-over title last year and Bengal the Twenty20 title. We had qualified for the knockouts in all three. The players now believe that it doesn’t matter if you come from a small state, if you do well, you can represent India.”It has been many years since Haryana produced a player who gets the kind of attention that makes selectors bolt upright in their seats. Any performance that gets them into their first Ranji final since 1991, though, might just do it.

Having achieved success all around the world, consistent runs in England are all that is missing from Jacques Kallis’ illustrious career

Firdose Moonda at The Oval17-Jul-2012To suggest Jacques Kallis has something missing on his cricketing CV would seem an inaccuracy but it isn’t. He has admitted a World Cup trophy would colour in some of the available space. Others have suggested a strong tour of England could fill the blanks.Kallis has a poor record in England. His batting average there is 29.30 – little more than half his overall 56.78. Of his 42 hundreds Kallis has scored only one of them in England and that came 14 years ago. He has been dismissed for less than 15 on 11 of the 20 occasions he has batted in England and has scored only three half-centuries.Having conquered tough batting territories such as Australia and his home country, South Africa, the cause of Kallis’ underperformance in England is not immediately evident and it is something even he cannot really explain. “I couldn’t tell you why that is, I wouldn’t know,” Kallis said at The Oval. “I’m not one that worries too much about what happens in previous innings.”While that means Kallis does not bask in glories like his century at the MCG in 1997 or his first double-hundred after 143 Tests, it also means he does not carry any baggage from his disappointments in England. “You don’t get a head start from doing well in a previous innings or a previous tour. Every new tour, you start with 0 behind your name. It’s not like formula one where you get pole position,” he said. “That’s the way I approach my career. It will be nice if I can have a big tour but if I have a bad tour and we win, I’ll take that as well.”He won’t say it but this is probably Kallis’ last visit to England. He will play on “as long as I am still enjoying it” and although refusing to put a date on retirement he has acknowledged that it is looming. With that in the background, Kallis will want to say goodbye to England with his best but said that does not require him to change anything.”I’ll just prepare the way I’ve always prepared,” he said. “The past is the past. The last innings is the last innings and it plays no part in me wanting to do better. I just do what I do day in or day out and try and perform for whatever side I’ve played for.”His approach at the crease may remain the same, but Kallis has prepared for this series differently already. From a conditioning perspective and the mental aspects, Kallis is more ready than before. “I am as fit as I’ve ever been,” he confessed. “I’m probably playing as good cricket as I’ve ever played in my career. I’m hitting the ball as well as I’ve ever hit it. It’s like studying for an exam, and I’ve covered all the bases.”He has also had a change in role in bowling terms. No longer relied on to bear a heavy load of overs, which he was on his previous three tours to England, Kallis is now used as an impact bowler, in short bursts. It allows him the breaks he needs and so far, it has paid off. Kallis has bowled quickly in recent matches – up towards 90mph – and has been able to capitalise on the pressure created by the other seamers.The burden has been lifted slightly but Kallis said his bowling is “as important as the batting to me” and he understands he will be required to contribute with the ball for South Africa to see success in the series. “Whether it be taking wickets, holding up an end and or trying to be aggressive, whatever role I get given on the day, I want to try and perform that role.”The match-up between the two bowling attacks has been talked of as the most intense of the series and Kallis was not one to play it down. “The two attacks are as good as there is in world cricket at the moment. It’s going to be interesting to see who comes out on top,” he said. While he couldn’t call a winner, he was able to provide an assessment of the South African pack and why he thinks they will succeed. “We’ve got a nice balanced attack now, covering most surfaces and conditions. We’ve performed well of late and have gained a lot of confidence through that.”Kallis emphasised much of what the rest of the squad has been saying in the build-up. He expects uncompromising encounters, which he maintains is the best way to play the game, and which could create the situation for him to emerge on top. “This is why you play Test cricket: to test yourself against the best and be put in tough, tense situations. I’m sure the series it will be played the way cricket should be played – hard but in the right spirit.”

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from Bangladesh v New Zealand

Abhishek Purohit in Pallekele21-Sep-2012Tough gig of the day
You become the first man to make two hundreds in Twenty20 internationals, have to come back within minutes to keep wicket and also have a disappointed bowler stare at you. Big Jacob Oram didn’t hide his disappointment when Brendon McCullum put down a shoulder-high edge off Mushfiqur Rahim in the fourth over. “Tough being me” is not restricted only to Kevin Pietersen.Six of the day
McCullum muscled 18 boundaries during his century, including seven sixes. While power was the source of most of his runs, one six stood out for being incredulous even by McCullum standards. In the 15th over, barely two deliveries after James Franklin fell, McCullum charged Mashrafe Mortaza, who saw him coming and bowled short. McCullum had built up so much momentum in his charge that there was no turning back, short ball or not. He ended up sending it over the long-off boundary with a tennis forehand.Non-stroke of the day
McCullum’s big hits got all the attention, but apart from being dropped on 92, he hardly did anything wrong throughout his innings. In the 11th over, he jumped out to Shakib Al Hasan and again, his momentum sent a short delivery over deep midwicket. Shakib responded with sharp turn off his next ball, after angling it in from wide of the crease. For a batsman in such a belligerent mood, it could have been a difficult ball to tackle, but McCullum was in the zone. He went across, allowed the ball to turn and defended solidly.False alarm of the day
How would New Zealand fare against Bangladesh’s left-arm spin trio? Not too well, was the feeling when Martin Guptill fell to the second ball of the variety, bowled by Abdur Razzak. McCullum was around to alter that impression completely. By the end of New Zealand’s innings, Shakib Al Hasan, Elias Sunny and Razzak had been taken for 104 in 11 overs.

Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla both scored centuries on the third at The Oval but that is where the similarities stop for two vastly different batsmen

Firdose Moonda at The Oval21-Jul-2012Contrast is a form of art on its own. That is why the splash of a sunset against the canvas of the sky is a ready-made photograph and the rugged feel of leather and the luxurious softness of silk make them both common materials for clothing. The beauty of them all comes not just because they are different but because they are strikingly different.In cricket, too, those extreme juxtapositions exist. The same players can produce a completely different contest on a green top to the one they will tussle over on a rank turner. A seam bowler’s snarl invokes a different fear to a spinner’s snare and at The Oval on day three, Graeme Smith’s determination gave the England bowlers as much to think about as Hashim Amla’s elegance did.The two combined for 259 runs, the highest second-wicket stand for South Africa against England. Their blend of belligerence and style took the game from its position on the fence and planted it squarely in South Africa’s corner.Technically and temperamentally, the duo are as different as beauty and the beast. Smith lumbers through innings with a heavy bottom-hand and predominance for thumping the ball onto the leg side with little regard for how blunt the clobbering looks. Amla dances through, from his unusual backlift to his delicate driving and wristy strokeplay.Those two approaches formed a resistance so strong that the England bowlers could not penetrate it. Like all good attacks, South Africa’s pair built theirs on a foundation of defence. Smith and Amla played out the end of the second day in pedestrian fashion, with the run-rate never climbing above 2.3 an over on a slow pitch.Their main focus was to see the day through and it showed in the exaggerated way Smith did almost everything. He shouldered arms as though he was auditioning for a deodorant advertisement, raising his bat above his head and leaning on his left hip as he let the ball through to Matt Prior. Although he had trouble getting back and across to the angle of James Anderson, Smith showed a determination that implied it would take a huge effort to move him.The lack of runs did nothing to frustrate Smith, either. He left as though he could do it for the rest of the series, with astute awareness of where his off stump was. When he could play a shot, he did it with the care of a man escaping prison.Amla provided a perfect foil at the other end. Nothing he did looked like an effort. Everything happened with the stillness and calm that he has become known for as his patience stood as intact. The only time it dipped was when he offered a chance off Ravi Bopara’s bowling late on the second day.Amla did not falter again in his innings and rolled the classy cover drive off his bat in the fifth over of the morning. He stood tall to thread the ball through the gap, an establishing shot for the many more back-foot strokes he would produce as the day went on. Amla settled faster than Smith, who at one stage confessed to wondering how the No.3 had managed to time a shot so well when he was “scrapping for runs at the other end.”Smith’s struggle was exacerbated by the tense duel he was engaged in with Graeme Swann as the offspinner worked from around the wicket to try and get the edge or an lbw. There was an inside-edge that evaded short leg, a leading edge that went straight to the ground and an outside edge that ended up at third man. There was also an appeal for a ball that did not spin enough and another for one with too much bounce. The ball turned past Smith’s bat numerous times but still he survived it all.He also survived 17 balls and 20 minutes on 48, while Amla brought up his half-century in quiet fashion with a single to mid-on. Then Smith enjoyed a small psychological victory when he reached 50 off Swann with a flick through the leg-side.By the time the milestone had come up, Smith had faced 18 more balls than he did during his previous slowest 50, eight years ago in Galle and only played four shots on the off side. But, he had released pressure and grown in fluency after seeing plenty of bowling outside the off stump. “As much as England tried to frustrate me, I tried to frustrate to them,” he said.In the end, it was obvious which one out-frustrated the other. Smith and Amla escalated the run-rate in the second hour of the morning session to over 5.5, each accumulating in their own way. Smith clobbered the ball with the weight of a hearty steak and ale pie while Amla was able to place the ball into areas with an attention to detail as intricate as lace.England’s bowlers had to change tack and bowl straighter. Smith could continue to squirt runs on the leg side as Amla played all around the field. While they grew in confidence, the attack receded, eventually allowing the pair to pull off the best contrast of them all. The lunch break was sandwiched between their centuries but it did not need an interval to make a distinction that was already so obvious. Smith had willed himself to a hundred, Amla had played himself there.The Oval has witnessed some glorious contrasts. The 197-run stand between the Waugh brothers 11 years ago was a mosaic of Steve’s extreme determination while battling a calf injury and Mark’s skilfully attractive strokeplay. Now it can add Smith’s unrelenting grit and Amla’s fountain of finesse to that.

Rahul Dravid on India’s performance during the Test series against England and the way forward for a beaten team

Siddhartha Talya18-Dec-2012The last time India lost a home series was back in 2004, when they were beaten by Australia. You were part of the team then but that team was considered one of India’s best ever. Would you call this series defeat against England one of the lowest points in Indian cricket over the last couple of decades?
Any time you lose a Test series at home, because India haven’t lost a lot at home, you could consider it a low point. You’ve got to accept a little bit that this team is in transition as well, you have to give a bit of leeway for that. I think India will be disappointed, they would have expected to beat England at home. At the start of the series, and especially after Ahmedabad, you got the feeling that India felt they could have won the series. It hasn’t panned out that way. From that point of view, I guess you can only go up from here. India have lost a couple of series away from home, against England and Australia badly. There was always a feeling that, you know, India might not necessarily have been playing well abroad but India will always do well in India, and all of us I guess believed that as well. That has shown to be slightly not so true, and it’s time to introspect.And where, specifically, was the series lost? If you had to pinpoint a couple of areas, what would they be?
India were outperformed in all three departments. It sounds like a cliché and you say it all the time, but I think England batted better than India. Among the top five run-getters, there is only Cheteshwar Pujara. In the bowling department as well, both the spinners and James Anderson were sensational. On the field, England were quite simply superb. It’s just the ground fielding, the catching, just the overall intensity, just the energy on the field, in all these departments I think India came second best. The scoreline of 2-1 is I think a good indication of the performances of both these teams in the series.India have lost 10 out of 12 Tests against England and Australia now. You spoke of introspection. They play a couple of months from now against Australia at home. What can they do in the interim to improve?
There is one-day cricket and you’ve got to play that and do well. I know it’s pretty early to say this, but England were a very good side in these conditions because they had two quality spinners. Australia are always going to be competitive, they are a tough side, they’re always going to come hard at you but I don’t know if they have that quality of spin. Nathan Lyon can be a good bowler, but other than that I am not so sure. In the batting department as well, they’ve got a lot of young batsmen who’ve never been to India before. So I’m not that concerned about the Australia series from the point of view that I think [India] will have a good opportunity there again. So it’s more really about the foreign tours that come after that you start thinking about.If you’re looking at those foreign tours, India are touring South Africa in late 2013. If you’re looking for a team to be stable, consistently over a period of time, maybe two or three years, where would you start making the changes?
Well, I think you’ve got to look for the kind of players you think can do well abroad and think can be around for a consistent length of time. There will be a mix of [youth] and experience, you can’t have everyone with a five-year plan in mind, or a three-year plan in mind. There’s got to be a mix of guys who need to do the job for you now, and a sort of blend of guys who you would invest in for the next three to five years, and that would be in all departments, batting, bowling.There’s been talk of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. They’ve had some 17 innings now where they’ve averaged about 32 [as a pair]. Is there a case for a change in the opening combination? Maybe one of them can drop down the order. Ajinkya Rahane has been waiting in the wings for quite some time now.
I think there’s going to be a bit of pressure on both of them. They’ve been a fantastic pair for India and have done a really good job for India. They can still play, we saw glimpses of that in the series, a couple of forties, a hundred from Sehwag in the first game, some partnerships. But it’s becoming more and more clear, obviously, like I said, with a slightly more long-term view in mind – I’m not worried about Australia, but more in terms of looking at South Africa, New Zealand and England to follow – that maybe there could be a case at some stage of looking to split the two and maybe moving one of them down to the middle order, keeping this long-term view in mind. So that could be a possibility.Sachin Tendulkar has been having a lean patch for a while. He got a good 76 in the first innings in Kolkata but it is not an absolute certainty that he’ll be around when India play South Africa in 2013. Is it time that India started looking beyond him?
He’s been a huge servant of the game and been fantastic for Indian cricket. He is a great player and this period has been difficult for him. He is a proud man and this would have hurt him. The thing is, people need to have a conversation with him and see what’s his state of mind, what he’s thinking and what his plans are. After that conversation, he himself will have to think about a few things because I’m not sure there are many people who can take the decisions regarding Tendulkar. At some stage, Sachin will have to make decisions on his own, if he truly believes that, “Yes, I can be around when India makes these foreign trips, if I can be around in South Africa, New Zealand, England, playing at my best,” then I think it makes sense for him to back himself and fight it out. If he, at any stage, doubts himself and believes that he can’t then he’s got to start thinking about his career, and what’s the future of Indian cricket as well. So it’s really going to be up to him.Look, it’s a pretty emotional time, should take the emotion out of it, sit back, there’s time before the next Australia series, sit back calmly and reflect. And irrespective of whatever decision he takes, in the end we have to respect it.Zaheer Khan was left out of this Test match, India got Parvinder Awana in the squad but he didn’t get the game. Going forward, do India need to look at grooming a new crop of seamers for the series against Australia and after that?
We are already doing that in some ways. Other than Zaheer, all of them are pretty young and there is a process of grooming going on. If Zaheer can get himself fully fit and bowling well again, he can have a role to play in a format of the game. I cannot now see him playing all the three formats of the game, IPLs and every single game. That will be unrealistic. I still think he can have a role to play, and again that’s a discussion the selectors need to have and he needs to introspect as well as to what is his best format in which he believes he can give a top performance for India. I would love it to be Test cricket, but I’m not sure whether his body allows him to play Test cricket, that’s a decision he needs to make. But it’s clear to me that he needs to choose and sacrifice some of the formats of the game.There was a lot of talk about Dhoni in the build-up to this Test match and even on the morning of the fourth day, the tactic clearly was questionable when India batted out some 13 overs just to score 29 runs. Do you think he is still the right man to take India forward from here on?
That’s the thing about captaincy, you can look at a lot of tactics and question them, and we all did on that particular day. You get some right and you get some wrong as a captain. You can’t pick and choose and take out slices and say, “look, this was wrong and this was right,” in captaincy because as a captain, you will make mistakes. In the course of a Test match, you’ll get a few thing right, a few things wrong.At the moment I don’t really see a viable alternative. I really think Dhoni can be the man to take India forward if he has the energy, passion and the enjoyment to do it. That’s again the key. It’s really going to come down to a lot of these players actually sitting back themselves, once the emotion has gone back, and calmly reassessing where they’re at, and their roads to the future and the joy and enthusiasm they have to take Indian cricket forward. If Dhoni has it, I believe he is the right man to do it but that’s really up to him to decide.Cheteshwar Pujara got a double in Ahmedabad, Virat Kohli got a century here and Ravindra Jadeja was exceptional in the field. Those are some of the positives …
Pujara, definitely for me, is a very good positive going forward. He’s done really well, he’s shown good temperament. Virat Kohli, again, just reinforced our belief that he is going to be around for a long time and he is someone that Indian cricket can build a future around at some stage. Jadeja, like you said, did show glimpses with the ball and on the field that he can add some value at this level. With the bat, is, for me, the key element with Jadeja. We didn’t get a chance to see much of it here. But, going forward, if Jadeja wants to get selected and play regularly for India, he’s going to offer more at No.6. Or he’s going to offer more than the frontline spinners as a bowler.I think you can get away with it in one-day and T20 a little bit, you can be bits and pieces. In Test cricket, at some point of time, bits and pieces cricketers don’t work. So Jadeja has got to go beyond that. He’s got runs this domestic season so I’ll be interested to see actually whether that actually means runs at Test level.

I woke this morning with an increasingly unusual feeling in my cricketing belly – one of genuine anticipation

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013I woke this morning with an increasingly unusual feeling in my cricketing belly – one of genuine anticipation. This emotion, of course, has almost been successfully and completely excised from the cricketing calendar by the powers that be, as they pile wodge upon wodge of increasingly indistinguishable contests on top of each other, crammed into the few remaining crannies of time available.

Furthermore, as a die-hard lover of the five-day game, Test matches increasingly seem to me to be tagged on as a regrettable but contractually essential precursor to an interminably tedious one-day series, which would be forgettable were anyone able to take enough notice of it in the first place for its existence to register in their brain before being lost into the swamp of time and the ICC rankings.However, hearing the words “Sabina Park” on the radio instantly conjured up childhood memories of listening to terrified English commentators describing even more terrified English players in the terrifying heyday of the Caribbean pace attack, and of trying to work out if the resounding clonk I had just heard was leather on bat (unlikely), leather on stump (likely), or leather on nose (probable).This is a series that possesses that rarest of cricketing commodities – rarity. It is only the second time in the last 11 years that West Indies have hosted England in a Test series. (Admittedly, when the two sides reconvene for a hastily-arranged two-match series in England in May, minutes after concluding business in the Caribbean, and seconds after some of the players have returned from briefly adorning the non-business end of the IPL, it will be the third time in five years that the two have met in England, it will begin almost before the and looks set to smash all records for Least Eagerly Awaited Test Series Of All Time.)There are other factors adding to the excitement. Under their new captain Strauss, England are entering a new dawn, albeit with the same players who have boldly woken up on its last few new dawns, stretched, pulled back the new curtains, calculated the minimum allowable performance to avoid being dropped, hit the snooze button and settled down for a well-deserved lie-in, whilst Owais Shah sits alone in the breakfast room, picking at his corn flakes with an increasingly irritable spoon.England should win, although, hopefully, not quite as easily as in recent series between the two, if only because of the height of their bowlers – the most successful bowlers in the Caribbean recently include Harmison, Nel, Clark and Shabbir Ahmed – and because deposed skipper Pietersen appears to be in vengeful mood, like Anne Boleyn after her husband had had her head chopped off, only with his head still attached to his central nervous system, and therefore more able to act on his anger than the young church-schisming temptress of Kent and England. This is all dependent on someone concocting a method of dismissing Chanderpaul, who is arguably now the single most important player in world cricket, as well as the oddest.A few statistical pointers:The Lara Effect
Chanderpaul averaged 44 before Lara retired at the end of 2006, but a Bradman-embarrassing 104 since then. The team’s next best two batsmen have also posted more impressive numbers since the great Trindadian swished his spectacular bat for the final time. Both Sarwan and Gayle averaged 38 before his retirement; they average 45 and 44 respectively since.Fast Bowlers
In their last 16 Tests, Steve Harmison averages 47, Fidel Edwards 32, and Jerome Taylor 31. Harmison does however average 24 in 12 Tests against West Indies.Spin Bowlers
Since 1980, England’s specialist spinners in the West Indies have taken 53 wickets in 6 series at an average of 49.70.England’s stagnant batsmen
Excluding Pietersen (50) and Flintoff (32), five of England’s current top 7 have career averages in the low 40s. However, their recent form is less impressive.Cook: career average 42. Last 19 Tests: 36. First 17 Tests: 48.
Strauss: career average 42. Last 24 Tests 37. First 31 Tests: 46.
Bell: career average 41. Last 21 Tests: 36. First 24 Tests: 45.
Pietersen: career average 50. Last 20 Tests: 45. First 25 Tests: 54.
Collingwood: career average 42. Last 24 Tests: 37. First 17 Tests: 48.
Flintoff: career average 32. Last 12 Tests: 24. First 60 Tests: 33.
Prior: career average 40, but excluding century-spanking debut, has averaged 33 over 11 Tests.The statistics speak for themselves. Exactly what they are trying to say is not clear, and the selectors almost certainly are sticking their fingers in their ears and humming the theme tune to themselves, but they are certainly speaking.Possible interpretations of their utterances include:

• “These boys have been operating in the comfort zone of undroppability for too long.”
• “Moores was really, really adequate.”
• “They still haven’t got over the 5th day at Adelaide in 2006.”
• “If at least two or three of you don’t swing your career curves upwards again, you could lose this series.”

Finally, an apology. To Jack Russell. I have lain awake over the last few nights tormented by feelings of guilt and anguish that I have perpetrated a grave injustice by including the Gloucestershire genius in my World’s Dullest XI. His sublime glovework alone should have rendered him beyond consideration, let alone selection, and his batting provided far too fascinating an insight into the curious psyche of a tatty-hat-wearing painter-cricketer. Selectors often make mistakes – I am prepared to be the first in history to admit my error in public.