Missing stars, a lack of boundaries and no tension in the result. This wasn’t the opener the ECB was after

Matt Roller03-Aug-2022The opening night of the Hundred’s second season launched with a fireworks display so extensive that the smoke took nearly five minutes to clear. It felt as though a member of the Ageas Bowl’s events staff must have pushed the wrong button, using up all the pyrotechnics for the evening.So it proved. Over the course of 169 balls, Southern Brave and Welsh Fire hit only two sixes, one from Noor Ahmad, the 17-year-old Afghanistan wristspinner, and the other by James Vince off Noor’s bowling. Brave, the defending champions, cruised home with 31 balls to spare in pursuit of 108; Fire’s hopes were extinguished before the end of the powerplay.The shadow of the absent Jonny Bairstow loomed over their innings, after the ECB finally confirmed on the eve of the tournament that Fire’s marquee player would not be taking part in order to manage his workload. They were not short on batting power, with a stacked top order on paper, but any team in the world would feel his absence keenly given his recent form. “It’s huge,” Ben Duckett said. “He came in and won us two games last year.”Related

• Bairstow out of the Hundred after opting for rest

• Last summer, it was all fun and frolics – now comes the real test for the Hundred

• James Vince sparkles as Southern Brave claim dominant opening-night win

Bairstow’s decision to withdraw was the obvious move, the only window in his jammed schedule for him to take a rest, but by making his decision public at the 11th hour – his decision had been communicated internally 48 hours before the announcement – the ECB ensured his absence would be one of the evening’s main talking points.In fact, both sides were missing key men and neither managed to fill their quota of three overseas players: Brave were without Quinton de Kock and Finn Allen while Fire had to cope without David Miller and Naseem Shah, all on international duty. The opening night showed why the ECB have ensured the Hundred has a clear window of availability from next year: the names that had been used to sell tickets were nowhere to be seen.”We’re not quite sure what a good score will be,” Vince had said at the toss, and 107 for 7 was not the answer. Fire lost Joe Clarke, Tom Banton and Ollie Pope inside the first 22 balls for 16 runs between them, and despite Duckett’s valiant 40 off 31 and two drops from Vince in the field, they were a long way short of a competitive total.Vince sparkled in the chase after an early reprieve, dropped by Ryan Higgins at deep backward square leg. He has been seeing the white Kookaburra like a watermelon all summer, leading the run charts in the Blast, and his cuts for four through backward point off Adam Zampa tasted like strawberries on a summer evening.Vince apart, there was limited excitement on the pitch. Brave’s new-ball bowlers, Craig Overton and Michael Hogan, used the pace and bounce of a fresh surface to good effect and Fire’s top order self-destructed against the moving ball, epitomised by Pope losing his off stump while attempting to reverse-lap Overton over short third.The Ageas Bowl was sold out, though not quite at full capacity with two of the temporary stands for England’s T20Is against India and South Africa covered and unused, and felt subdued for much of the night. A clash with the Commonwealth Games means that the first eight days of the tournament will be standalone men’s games, and the ground was noticeably emptier – and quieter – at the start of the game than it had been last year.That also exacerbated the impact of the toss, with conditions significantly harder for batters in the first innings than the second. In the Hundred’s first season, teams taking more powerplay wickets won 68% of games in the men’s competition; on Wednesday night, Brave took three and Fire none. They will lose Overton to England duty soon, but have Tymal Mills and George Garton waiting in the wings.”The bowlers did a fantastic job and from there the gameplan was fairly simple,” Vince said. “The only way we would let them back into the game was to lose early wickets so there wasn’t a huge amount of scoreboard pressure. Our new-ball bowlers bowled really well and found a little bit of seam movement early on. We took early wickets and stayed in control.”The Hundred’s organisers openly admit that the first season, launched amid Covid restrictions which impacted the offering both on and off the pitch, had the feeling of a trial run, one which was generally considered to be a qualified success. This year will be the acid test at a time when domestic leagues are threatening to subsume the international game, but the tournament needs an injection of life after a quiet opening night.As the ECB found when they launched the Twenty20 Cup 20 seasons ago at this same venue, gimmicks and marketing can only take a competition so far. In time, the cricket will have to stand on its own two feet.

Rohit struggled, Kohli paced himself, Suryakumar flew – and all three scored contrasting fifties against the Netherlands

Sidharth Monga27-Oct-2022A story in three acts.The set-up
Rohit Sharma is not happy with his knock. Presumably he means the execution, and not the intent or the result. He scored 53 off 39 balls at a strike-rate of 135.89. In a 73-run partnership off 56 balls with Virat Kohli, Rohit scored 52 off 35.Not counting sweet shots hit straight to a fielder in the ring, Rohit tried to hit seven boundaries in the 16 balls he faced in the powerplay. Yet he managed just 16 runs in that period. That is why he was unhappy. However, thanks to an earlier drop, Rohit stayed long enough for his risks to come off. The next 23 balls brought him 37 runs, including five boundaries and three unsuccessful attempts.During the course of his innings, Rohit improved his execution, was happy to take the ugly runs, and provided some momentum after a slow start.The confrontation
At the other end, Kohli was happy to drop anchor. Till the time Rohit got out, Kohli’s strike-rate was under a run a ball without a single boundary in 21 deliveries. He had made one boundary attempt till then, in the 12th over. In our match report, Karthik Krishnaswamy made use of Kohli’s control figures to represent the lack of risk-taking: 81% in his first 21 balls and 75% overall. And this was a different innings to the one against Pakistan at the MCG, where his hand was forced because of the early fall of four wickets.Now there is nothing to suggest Kohli was not mindful, especially after he had shown in recent times that he was prepared to take more risks and put lesser value on his wicket. So there could be two reasons for going back to playing the anchor’s role. One is perhaps that India have assessed the conditions and have decided to score the bulk of their runs in the last 10 overs, when the pitch has settled down a little and when the ball older.Suryakumar Yadav was asked if that was the case, but he neither confirmed nor denied it. Which is fair enough. “Obviously, everyone must be having their own plan, and they are trying to execute it. Hopefully, we will come out again and do the same,” Suryakumar said with a smile that may as well have been a wink.Virat Kohli started slowly but finished strong, like he usually does•Getty ImagesThe other reason could be that Kohli is feeling in great form; he now has some of the luck that had deserted him completely, and he knows he is among the best at the death. So if he is set, if others around him take charge, and even if he is going at only a little over a run a ball going into the death overs, Kohli can finish with a good strike-rate. That gets reinforced possibly because India are not playing in conditions where 200 is par. Also Kohli’s numbers are not the best when he is slogging, which might back the way he played at the SCG.However, it does tend to leave all the eggs in one basket: that Kohli will stay until the end and accelerate like he did on this night, and also recognise a 200-pitch early on and make the adjustment. There is nothing to suggest Kohli won’t do that last bit.As it turned out against Netherlands, Kohli ended up with a higher strike-rate than Rohit, scoring 43 off the last 23 balls he played. But is it worth the risk – especially when batting first – of getting out at a run a ball and perhaps leaving India 80 for 2 or 3 in 12 overs?The resolution
On the night, India were 84 for 2 in 12 overs when Suryakumar walked out. In no time, he began to take the game away from Netherlands. Suryakumar dragged his third ball from well outside off for a four to square leg. Then he went through his whole repertoire and saw India to an above-par total.Suryakumar says he trains just for these situations, where he has to get going from ball one. “I feel what I have done [the work] during my practice sessions back home,” Suryakumar said when asked how he manages to score so quickly with high consistency. “When I go back to Mumbai and do it, I try and put a lot of pressure on myself whenever I’m going for a few practice sessions or playing a match scenario.Suryakumar Yadav was aggressive from the start of his innings•Getty Images”So, for example, if I am targeting a few balls, and I have to get N number of runs, if I get out, I just come out. That day I don’t go to bat again. The same thing I’ve been reflecting when I go into the games, and my plans have been very clear. What shots I have in my kitty, I just go out and express that. I won’t do anything out of the box. It has been helping me, and hopefully try and do the same thing in the coming games.”It can be similarly argued that Kohli is also doing the same: play shots that are in his kitty. And till such time that we find enough efficient out-and-out hitters, it can be argued Kohli’s is the right way in these conditions.Netherlands bowler Paul van Meekeren would much rather bowl to Kohli, though. “I think we know how good SKY [Suryakumar’s nickname] is,” van Meekeren said. “Over the last 12 months, if not longer, I’ve personally felt he was the biggest threat to bowl to. Just with his open stance, I just felt that the margin of error was a lot smaller compared to Kohli and maybe a bit more traditional batters.”They’re very good players in their right, and Rohit played some unbelievable shots. When I was bowling, I felt the biggest pressure came when I was bowling to SKY. Obviously, if you miss a little bit, he punishes you. Same with other guys, but he did just a little bit more today.”In the end, it made for a near-perfect game for India, but against other oppositions and in different conditions, they might have to improvise when batting first. Not every story is a straightforward three-act story.

100 T20Is and counting for Virat Kohli, making him the second cricketer to complete the treble

ESPNcricinfo stats team, Mathew Varghese, illustration by Kshiraja K28-Aug-2022ESPNcricinfo LtdNote: Stats updated till the end of the India-Pakistan Asia Cup game on August 28.

History will remember that they fell short by five runs in the semi-final but it was much, much more than that

Firdose Moonda24-Feb-20232:45

Baynes: Australia’s death bowling the difference

India arrived in South Africa with what seemed like a date with destiny. On the eve of the long-awaited WPL, with more money and interest in the women’s game in their country than ever before, they were expected to break Australia’s hegemony on the title and announce themselves as a new global powerhouse.History will remember that they fell short by five runs, but it was much, much more than that. From the start of the tournament, they were under unexpected pressure but every time they were knocked down, they found a way to come back. Until today.Their captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s best effort in the tournament was not enough to take India to a second successive T20 World Cup final as she journeyed on a winding path to an ultimately heartbreaking defeat.
India land in South Africa to play a tri-series against the World Cup hosts and West Indies in preparation for the global tournament. Harmanpreet misses the first match with an injury, then struggles with a shoulder problem and picks up an illness too.Related

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Her team-mate Jemimah Rodrigues expressed her concern: “Harry , from the time she has come here, she has been falling sick. She has injuries. I have hardly seen her bat in the nets because something or the other was happening to her. Imagine the kind of thing she was going through, mentally.”Despite that, Harmanpreet played every match in the group stage of the World Cup. She didn’t score a lot of runs. She only crossed 20 once in four visits to the crease, but there was a sense she was saving her best for when it mattered most: the knockouts.
Harmanpreet develops a fever.”I had to visit the hospital [on Wednesday],” she would reveal later. “We had some paracetamol there because at that time, my body temperature was going up and down. But I think it happens sometimes when the weather changes; in South Africa, sometimes it is very hot and sometimes it is very cold.”Harmanpreet Kaur’s bat got stuck in the pitch, leading to her run-out•ICC/Getty Images
No one in the Indian team knows if their captain is well enough to lead them.”Honestly, until the team meeting, we didn’t even know whether she would play because she just kept it to herself,” Rodrigues said. “I had just stepped out of my room and I saw her carrying her own kit bag and I was like, ‘Yes, this is it.’An hour before play, Harmanpreet called her team into a huddle.”She said to us, ‘I am very proud of this team and I am very proud to lead this team’,” Rodrigues said.
Rodrigues and Harmanpreet put on a 69-run stand for the fourth wicket and scored at a rate of more than ten runs an over. India were ahead of Australia in the chase but then Rodrigues was caught behind attempting to ramp Darcie Brown, and Harmanpreet’s bat got stuck in the ground as she tried to slide it into the crease while trying to complete a second run. After their captain’s run-out, India’s chase started falling apart.”A little bit here or there and the ball would have been over the keeper’s head. The shot was still on and the intent was there,” Rodrigues said of her dismissal. “And Harman was very unfortunate. It was not in our control.”As Harmanpreet walked off, she flung her bat on to the turf.

Later, in the mixed zone, Rodrigues is asked what she wants to do as soon as she gets back to her hotel. “I just want to cry,” she says

“It was a disappointment because the way I was batting, maybe that was the only way I could have got out. Otherwise, the way I was hitting the ball, I knew how to take this chase till the end,” Harmanpreet said. “From the Australian team’s body language, it looked like they had given up. But the moment I got out, the momentum shifted from India to Australia, I personally felt it was a turning point.”But India needed only 40 runs off 32 balls after Harmanpreet’s dismissal and there was a sense they could have got there.”To come out there and the way Harry played, it speaks so much about her mental strength and determination,” Rodrigues said. “She’s very passionate about the sport, very passionate about this team and very passionate about winning.”India spent the rest of the innings on the edge of their seats as they watched Deepti Sharma take them as close as she could but the evening ended in tears. At the post-match presentation, Harmanpreet wore sunglasses to hide hers. Later, in the mixed zone, Rodrigues was asked what she wanted to do as soon as she got back to her hotel. “I just want to cry,” she said.She was asked more questions, some about the WPL, others about whether this defeat brought back bad memories that she had hoped to shelve away. Eventually, a wearing Rodrigues told reporters it was “too soon for me to process everything” and she was “not in the headspace right now”, but that “every loss hurts”. For her, and every member of the squad.”In the change room now, everyone’s disappointed. Nobody’s even talking to each other. But at the same time, this is like a learning experience.”Harmanpreet Kaur, Yastika Bhatia and Shafali Verma are dejected after the loss•ICC/Getty ImagesIn the moments after one of their most painful setbacks, the last thing India wanted was to talk about it publicly, but such is the life of a professional sportsperson. Their every moment must be analysed and dissected – India’s fielding is one of the areas that will come under the microscope most starkly – and everything explained even if the players can’t quite come up with the explanations themselves.”I don’t know what to say,” Rodrigues said. “It’s important after such losses to give people space. That is most important. We feel for each other. Today also it was like we will go and give our life out there – that’s the kind of bond we have. But it’s also good to respect each other. I’m sure everyone’s going to vent when they go back to their room but for now, they are just trying to be strong for each other.”By the time you read this, India might have come to terms with their defeat. Harmanpreet may have done what she said she would in the press conference: “accept whatever happened”. She may even have moved past the point of puzzlement she found herself in after the game. “I don’t understand how this is going on,” she said. “I think we played good cricket. That’s all I can say.”But there is a silver lining. “This team shows a lot of promise,” Rodrigues said. “If you go see it, our average age is around 22 to 24. Imagine two years down the line, and this will be the team that will be dominating the world.”India leave this World Cup wounded but with a young squad and a shiny, new franchise league at their doorstep, they have the ingredients to go all the way next time, and many times after that.

The northeastern state has barely any cricket infrastructure, but its players have fought their way to promotion

Himanshu Agrawal23-Jan-2023The state of Manipur, in the northeastern corner of India, has a rich history and tradition in sport; even the state’s current chief minister, N Biren Singh, is a former Border Security Force footballer. But amid all the success in boxing, weightlifting and football, cricket has barely had any presence.It is still, as Rajkumar Imo Singh, the president of the Manipur Cricket Association (MNCA) puts it, “in its infancy stage”. But infants grow quickly. Manipur have made the final of the Plate Division of the Ranji Trophy, where they will meet Bihar starting January 25, and have earned a promotion to the Elite Division next season. Manipur have done this with barely any infrastructure – their “home” games were played in Gujarat – and with a team full of homegrown players.”We have a team born and bred in Manipur – a totally indigenous team,” Imo tells ESPNcricinfo. “With the talent we have, we pushed forward only those who are actually from Manipur.”It was only before the 2018-19 season that nine new teams – including Manipur and five others from the Northeast – gained full-time BCCI membership. Until then, these associations received vastly less funding from the BCCI than the older full members. Though this has changed, Manipur continues to lag behind in infrastructure, grounds and support staff. That the wet weather in the state lasts five or six months a year doesn’t help either.But there is talent, and that talent is learning on the job.”The key is to keep it simple,” says Rakesh Sharma, Manipur’s coach – he formerly played for and coached Oman. “If we feed them with too much information or even stats, they might get confused.”Rakesh takes the example of the successful chase of 337 against Sikkim in the Plate semi-finals.”I broke it down into blocks of 50 runs each because 337 is a huge target. The boys kept believing, and kept growing in confidence as the chase moved on.”We played friendly matches in the build-up [to the Ranji Trophy]. Special thanks to our trainer [Raajoo Bhatkal], who keeps pushing them, since our players barely play ten matches a year. But they have played so much in the last five months that their bodies have taken a lot of load. Our physio has also worked very hard to make them match-ready.”The floodlights at the Luwangpokpa Cricket Stadium in Imphal are soon to be inaugurated•Manipur Cricket AssociationBefore the start of the Ranji season, camps in Noida helped players develop their fitness for four-day matches. Simultaneously, the focus was on developing the right environment for players to prosper no matter the problems they faced.Ronel Singh, the MNCA secretary, says the players gelled well because most of them had played together over he last few seasons.”My priority was strong team bonding,” Ronel says. “We emphasised on players below 30 years of age. We told them, ‘You will be given ample opportunities to showcase your skill’.”While he’s proud of what the players have achieved, Ronel sees room for improvement. “We seem to be low on patience with the bat,” he says. “We are almost always in T20 mode!”

New stars in the making

Rex Rajkumar was one of Manipur’s early bloomers, making the headlines when he picked up all ten wickets in an innings in an Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy match against Arunachal Pradesh in December 2018. Cut to the 2022-23 season, and Manipur’s list of impressive performers is growing.Pace bowler Pheiroijam Jotin, all of 16, made his first-class debut against Sikkim last month, and immediately grabbed attention with 9 for 69 in the first innings. He then took a nine-wicket match haul against Sikkim in the Plate semi-finals. So far, Jotin has 33 wickets at an average of 13.81 in six games this season.Left-arm spinner Kishan Singha has also taken 33 wickets this season, at 15.42, while seamer Bishworjit Konthoujam has 20, at 21.00.Konthoujam is currently Manipur’s leading wicket-taker in first-class, List A and T20 cricket.

Manipur pacer Bishworjit Konthoujam set the stage on fire against Arunachal Pradesh and scalped five wickets. #ARPvMAN #VijayHazareTrophy

Watch his superb bowling displayhttps://t.co/5Vy9UtxGYJ pic.twitter.com/4Q1px1XiD8

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) December 12, 2021

Cricket wasn’t Konthoujam’s first love – he was once a national-level boxer. And he’s not alone among Manipur’s players in having played other sports at a high level.”He is very tall, and has a fighting instinct,” Ronel says of Konthoujam. “We had just asked him to bowl for a few months, and he has now completely turned to cricket. Also, Johnson Singh played football at the representative level; he is still a very good footballer.”Incidentally, such is the quality of football in Manipur that 38 of their players – the most from any state – featured in the Indian Super League’s 2022-23 season.

The road ahead

Performances on the field have been encouraging, and there is now ample funding from the BCCI, but concerns linger.”The playing season is pretty short [due to the rainy weather], so we have to take that into consideration,” Imo says. “We need the expertise which BCCI has.” He suggests that indoor training facilities will help.But there are positive signs for the future. The Luwangpokpa Cricket Stadium in Imphal, the capital of Manipur, will soon inaugurate its floodlights. And Imo, who has been with the association for six years now, sees an appreciable increase in youngsters taking to cricket, and he has approached the state’s education directorate to request school and college students to be actively involved in the sport.Imo recalls his father, the former Manipur chief minister RK Jaichandra Singh, taking him to the Khuman Lampak Stadium – a multi-use stadium that’s mainly used for football and athletics, to play cricket. Imo hopes that budding cricketers in Manipur will have enough cricket grounds to play in. More and better infrastructure can only speed up the growth of cricket in the state.And there will be accelerated learning for Manipur’s players next year, when they face India’s domestic heavyweights in the Elite Division next year.”We follow Mumbai and Tamil Nadu a lot,” their captain Langlonyamba Meitan Keishangbam says. “And we admire Sai Kishore, Cheteshwar Pujara and Jaydev Unadkat the most.”The ambition, hunger and willingness to grow is already visible. If that desire is matched by performances on the field and the growth of the game in Manipur’s grassroots, there will soon be space for a bat and a ball alongside the football that sits in a corner of every household in the state.

He has a bunch of variations, can touch 150kph, specialises in bowling in the end overs, and has even impressed the OG, Lasith Malinga

Deivarayan Muthu06-May-20231:10

Ruturaj: I don’t want to face Pathirana in the nets

He doesn’t have blonde-tipped curls, but the slingy action, yorkers, dippers and the smile are all reminiscent of Lasith Malinga.Chennai Super Kings have bad memories of Malinga – he broke their top order in the 2013 IPL final, then in the 2015 final, he tricked MS Dhoni with a slower dipper, and more recently in the 2019 final, he broke their hearts with a sequence of five 140-plus-kph yorkers and a deadly slower ball. Malinga was also part of Mumbai Indians’ six-match winning streak against CSK at Chepauk between 2011 and 2019.But CSK now have their own Malinga, or (Little) Malinga: Matheesha Pathirana. For a change, a slinger in yellow spooked the team in blue on Saturday – Pathirana bowled the 13th, 15th, 18th and the 20th overs for just .

I see continuous improvement from Matheesha.
Good gas
Better control@matheesha_9 | #IPL2O23

— Lasith Malinga (@malinga_ninety9) May 6, 2023

Valkerie Baynes and Firdose Moonda on the Dane van Niekerk situation and the future of the women’s game

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Apr-2023Firdose Moonda and Valkerie Baynes taklk about the Dane van Niekerk situation, the growing pace of professionalisation in the women’s game, the upcoming Ashes series, and more.

They are embracing the challenge of trying to level the Border-Gavaskar series 2-2 in Ahmedabad

Andrew McGlashan07-Mar-20238:21

Rohit Sharma: We focus too much on the pitch here in India

Australia’s bid for a series-levelling victory in Ahmedabad, which would go down as one of their finest results, could begin in front of a world record Test match crowd amid further intrigue over what the pitch will offer with India seeking to bounce back from a rare home defeat.The opening day of the final Test will see a brief but elaborate attendance by the Prime Ministers of both countries with Narendra Modi, who the stadium is named after, hosting his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.Quite what the crowd ends up being around the first ball remains to be seen, but if it’s above the 91,112 which attended the first day of the 2013-14 Ashes Boxing Day Test at the MCG then Melbourne will lose its crown. However, the authenticity of the record could be up for debate given reports have indicated up to 85,000 families and students will be bussed to the stadium.Parking the politics, there are some practicalities to consider should a huge and loud crowd eventuate when play gets underway. Perhaps most significantly will be judging reviews that are based around edges but also communicating with team-mates over other line calls.Related

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“The talk has been excitement around actually playing a Test in front of that [size crowd] then actually just the logistics of it on the field – how you deal with reviews, all that sort of stuff, because the noise will play a huge part in that,” Daniel Vettori, Australia’s assistant coach, said earlier in the week. “Guys will be trying to be as pragmatic as possible around how it’s actually going to play out.”It’s uncertain what size crowd will attend on the other days – however long the game lasts – or indeed how many will remain in the stadium once the early formalities are complete. Both leaders are only expected to stay for around an hour of the first session.Attendances have been encouraging during the series. But whether fans will get to see a fourth day for the first time was hard to judge two days out with what appeared a bit of further byplay going on around the pitches.Two surfaces were covered and uncovered at regular intervals, as both were being considered for use, but just before Australia left a few of the squad did gather around the drier-looking of the two pitches.Nathan Lyon and Steven Smith inspect conditions in Ahmedabad•Getty ImagesThen when India began their training session there looked to be confirmation that it was the chosen pitch with Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma taking turns to ask for the cover to be pulled back. That was further reinforced when the television cameras were being put into place later on Tuesday afternoon.The greener of the two surfaces may have come into play had India won in Indore. Before the game Rohit had raised the prospect of a more seamer-friendly pitch to aid preparations for the World Test Championship final. As it stands now, however, India still have to guarantee their berth against Australia, although the result in Christchurch, where New Zealand face Sri Lanka, may yet make the outcome in Ahmedabad irrelevant in that regard.India were effectively beaten at their own game in Indore on a pitch that was rated “poor” by the ICC. The venues themselves have no control over the surfaces with BCCI centralising the process but it’s unlikely the board would want to suffer back-to-back sanctions even if they plan to appeal the Holkar Stadium judgment.The two Tests played at the Ahmedabad ground since its development were against England in 2021. The first, a day-night contest, ended inside two days with Axar Patel taking 11 wickets and Joe Root 5 for 8. The second only went a little longer with spin again dominating, although batters were able to succeed with Rishabh Pant making a century and Washington Sundar 96.Pitch debate has dominated this series from the moment images emerged before the first match in Nagpur of the selective watering. After the Indore defeat, Rohit was unapologetic about the nature of the pitches, saying it was what India wanted and they accepted that it could go against them when conditions were extreme.”Honestly the pitch talk is getting too much, every time we play in India focus is only on the pitch. We focus too much on the pitch in India,” he said. “I don’t think that is necessary. Honestly speaking, these are the kind of pitches we want to play on. This is our strength, so when you’re playing at your home, you always play to your strength, not worry about what people outside are talking about.”One of the key reasons Australia were able to fight back in Indore was because they have not taken a negative view to it, rather embraced the challenge to finding solutions.”Personally I really enjoy playing on these kind of wickets,” Steven Smith said after Indore. “I prefer this than just a genuine flat wicket that goes five days and can be boring in stages. There’s always something happening on these wickets. You’ve got to really work hard for your runs. But it’s showed that the guys can do it. You’ve got to work hard for them and you need some luck.”If Australia can channel their positive outlook one more time, it could secure a drawn series against the odds, and against the conditions.

India captain sees larger picture too, praising Radha and Pandey for their valiant fight to put up a testing total for the Capitals

S Sudarshanan27-Mar-2023The feeling of falling short of expectations can hurt in varying degrees. Ask a student failing an exam by two marks, who would perhaps be hurting more than one who has a bigger margin. Or a Formula 1 driver, who’s been overtaken in the last lap just before the safety car has been deployed and, as a result, came a close second. Or an athlete who keeps turning up and competing and yet losing against the same opponent by different margins. Or simply, ask Harmanpreet Kaur.The joy when she threw punches in the air after Amelia Kerr hit the second of the two fours to get the asking rate below a run a ball was unmissable. Her run to the centre after Nat Sciver-Brunt hit the winning runs to help Mumbai Indians win the inaugural WPL title was akin to a kindergarten kid running towards their parent after a day at school. It was as raw as it was delightful.India have regularly challenged Australia’s dominance in women’s T20Is in recent times but have a bare trophy cabinet to show. As India’s captain, Harmanpreet has often seen the match slip away and fall short against Meg Lanning’s Australia – be it in the Commonwealth Games gold-medal match or the semi-final of the Women’s T20 World Cup last month, to name a few. She knows how it feels to fall short after being in control. Therefore, the win over the Lanning-led Delhi Capitals was a feeling she was longing for.”I was waiting for such a moment for a long time… when as a captain I can win something which is so important for women’s cricket,” Harmanpreet beamed with the WPL trophy glittering beside her at the post-match press conference. “I want to keep doing this in future also. I was waiting for a long time to win a tournament on a good platform. Whatever I have learnt from this tournament I want to share the experience with my Indian team mates.”Related

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Sciver-Brunt and Wong lead Mumbai Indians to inaugural WPL title

Harmanpreet: Today I can feel how one feels after winning a trophy

Briefly in the chase though, there was a sense of déjà vu. Thirty seven were needed in the final four overs when the Mumbai supporters at the Brabourne Stadium were silenced with Harmanpreet’s run-out. It brought back memories of her run-out against Australia in the Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final with India needing 40 off 33. A set Sciver-Brunt and an experienced Kerr wouldn’t let Lanning’s Capitals claw back.”Both [the run-outs] were disappointing,” Harmanpreet said. “Today it was different because Nat was there. She was already well settled and knew who is going to bowl and how they were bowling. Amelia is always there for the team and she was in good touch. Apart from them Pooja [Vastrakar] and [Issy] Wong were there. We were positive and knew we would finish the game one or two overs before. But after I got out, we thought we should go by how the situation is.”Despite the high of the title win in the first edition of the WPL, Harmanpreet was quick to put the success into larger perspective. She was the first Indian to be signed up for the Women’s Big Bash League in 2016, a move she termed “turning point in my life”. Having played about seven years of international cricket upto that point, Harmanpreet wanted to add another string to her bow, challenge herself and get out of set routine. With a home-grown league in place, she hoped the Indian domestic players benefit similarly.”At this level it’s about learning how to keep calm and handle the pressure and do well for the team,” Harmanpreet said. “Otherwise in terms of skills everyone works hard. Fitness also they are doing so well. It’s about how mentally strong you are and how you can do on the field. These are the things domestic players need to learn from international.”As the captain of the Indian team, Harmanpreet was also pleased to see Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey impress with the bat for the opposing team. Capitals were reduced to 79 for 9 in the 16th over when Radha and Pandey got together. They added 52 in the last four overs with both finishing unbeaten on 27 to take Capitals to a respectable score. In the WPL, Pandey picked up ten wickets, the third most by a seamer. Apart from her knock in the final, she was also involved in a 35-run stand with Arundhati Reddy in Capitals’ narrow loss against Gujarat Giants.”I was actually very happy the way they were batting,” Harmanpreet said eliciting laughter in the room. “I always told Radha, you don’t need to take singles because singles (leave strike rotation to someone else). I was actually happy when she hit those sixes at the end. Even after the match I spoke to her and said I want to see the same batting when you join the Indian team.”Shikha was bowling brilliantly throughout the tournament. And today when the team needed batting, she took time and then executed it brilliantly.”Harmanpreet finished the competition with 281 runs, the fourth highest run-getter. In a tricky chase on Sunday, she added 72 with Sciver-Brunt to help Mumbai be in command after they lost the openers relatively early. On the eve of the final, she spoke about how Lanning always led her teams from the front and on the D-day, Harmanpreet herself did the same.”We’ve seen Lanning do well for her country for so many years but it was different here,” she said. “For me it was important to get everyone together and make them understand why they are here and what they can do best for the team. Everybody was so mature. It didn’t come across even once that they didn’t understand what we were talking.”A line in the peppy WPL anthem goes, (I am a daughter of this age, I accept the battles)!” That sportswomen have to face stereotypes, stave off inequality and distasteful jokes, all while being multitaskers who fight rivals on the field is almost a given. With the platform of the WPL, there’s belief that little of this is done away from the public glare.The WPL title win could well be a start of a period where Harmanpreet – and in extension India – move away from the feeling of falling short in global tournaments.