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Kuldeep Yadav’s best first-class figures of 6 for 88 dismissed India Green for 277 and gave India Red a 219-run win in the country’s maiden first-class game with the pink ball

The Report by Arun Venugopal26-Aug-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
File photo – Suresh Raina resisted India Red with 90 off 101 balls•Associated Press

India Green din’t even venture a batathon on the final day as they lost their three remaining wickets in less than an hour to hand India Red a 219-run victory in Greater Noida. Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav added one wicket to his five-for on day three to finish with nine wickets in the match, which lasted only 10.2 overs on the final day.With the match all but out of grasp, Suresh Raina, resuming on 42, dashed towards a hundred but eventually fell ten runs short; it was Kuldeep, after being caned around by Raina, who got him out. Ashok Dinda and Pragyan Ojha offered no illusions of sticking it out, as they were removed either side of Raina’s dismissal. India Red secured six points by virtue of the outright win in the country’s maiden first-class game with the pink ball.

Parthiv Patel on…

The pink-ball experience: I thought we all came with some preconceived thought that the ball would move around, there would be a lot of movement. But, it wasn’t to be; I thought it didn’t move as much as we thought. The conditions were really good. [It was an] ideal four-day wicket where it did a bit on the first day, then turn a bit and good to bat on.
Sighting the ball: In fact, during the day I thought we could see the ball better because of the shine on the ball. I don’t think there was any problem sighting the ball, even during the night. Only thing which I felt was we are not used to have the pink ball coming towards us. When we practice with practice balls it gives you that kind of colour feeling; it was just a matter of getting used to it.
Pink Kookaburra and red SG Test ball: SG Test does reverse a bit but with the kind of glaze which stays on this ball it doesn’t reverse as much. And, since there is guidelines of 4mm grass and lush outfield, the ball doesn’t get roughed up. Reverse swing… I don’t know whether it will happen with this ball or not. But, if we play on a drier wicket or maybe a drier outfield, and then you don’t know. That will be one big [thing] if we all might want to see. Because in subcontinental conditions I don’t think an international game would be played with this much grass on the wicket.
Future of pink-ball cricket: There is definitely a future, but it would be too early to say. I think as we play a lot of games we will know a lot of things. Yesterday, we realised that dew also would be a factor. In the first two days there was no dew but yesterday there was. The new ball did move slightly more than what it did on the first day.

Raina’s patience against Kuldeep in the first over of the day was a red herring; in the next over he took two fours off Nathu Singh, the second of which saw him back away and glide a short ball uppishly over third man. Raina had hit top gear and Kuldeep would bear the brunt of it in his next over as he conceded three fours. Raina hared out of the crease on all the three occasions, and alternated between hitting straight and inside out.While Dinda had been shielded from the strike all this while, he could last no more than two balls against Nathu in the next over as his meek pull only went as far as mid-on. Nathu then welcomed Ojha by pinging him on the helmet, but he stuck around to watch his captain play a few more shots. Raina continued to take a liking to his Uttar Pradesh team-mate Kuldeep, and smashed his way to three more boundaries.However, it was Kuldeep who would eventually come out on top of this tussle. In the last ball of the 56th over, Raina tried to follow a six with a controlled lob, but it was snaffled at mid-off. Akshay Wakhare helped himself to Ojha’s wicket in the next over to bring the match to a close after India Green managed 60 runs in the session.At the presentation ceremony, Raina lauded Kuldeep and provided a positive appraisal of the pink ball. He was also appreciative of the crowd, which made its presence felt – in numbers and decibel levels – over the four days. “I was discussing with Yuvi [Yuvraj Singh] as well, the more we play, the better we’ll get at it,” Raina said. India Red captain Yuvraj Singh felt the pink ball moved a lot more than the SG ball. “It was pretty exciting, the pink ball doesn’t go old. It was coming onto the bat nicely,” he said.Abhinav Mukund, who was named Man-of-the-match for his 77 and 169, said he didn’t have any issues with sighting the ball throughout the game. “I was getting into good positions. I’ve been training well back home, especially batting under lights,” he said.”That experience helped me here. I think a lot of people had issues sighting the ball, but I didn’t have any issues with visibility. The wicket was damp, that’s perhaps why so many wickets fell on the first day. I worked hard during the off-season. I got leaner and stronger. I worked on my batting as well. Hopefully this season marks a turnaround for me.”India Red next play Gautam Gambhir’s India Blue from August 29 at the same venue.

He is expected to remain in self-isolation for five days straight after landing and will be released after he returns with two more negative tests

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2020Mohammad Amir has left for England to join Pakistan’s advance training group in Derbyshire, after testing negative for Covid-19 for the second time. He is, however, expected to remain in self-isolation for five days after reaching, and will only be released to join the team after he returns two more negative tests.Amir made himself available for the tour after having initially pulled out as the dates clashed with the birth of his second child. Pakistan had already made arrangements for replacements, but after the birth of his daughter last week, he confirmed his availability for Pakistan’s T20Is against England. Amir was recalled in place of Haris Rauf, who had undergone six Covid-19 tests the last month, out of which five were positive.ALSO READ: Amir not indispensable, will pick him if he’s ‘up to the mark’ – WaqarAlong with Amir, masseur Mohammad Imran, who tested negative after having tested positive last month, would also be flying to England. As per the revised Covid-19 regulations, Imran is categorised as low risk after having recovered from the virus and, as such, would be integrated with the national side after another negative test.The larger group of Pakistan players and support staff arrived in England on June 28, several weeks before the start of the first match, to be able to train in the country as well as complete the mandatory quarantine for all foreigners travelling to the UK. The touring party is living in a bio-secure bubble where they will not interact with anyone outside of the group, and regular tests for Covid-19 will be conducted on the tour. The three Tests and three T20Is are all going to be played behind closed doors.

Delhi’s Shradhanand College beat DAV College, Jalandhar by eight wickets to book their place in the upcoming 2015 Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals in Dehradun

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Oct-2015Delhi’s Shradhanand College beat DAV College, Jalandhar by eight wickets to book their place in the upcoming 2015 Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals in Dehradun.Shradhanand College will play alongside Assupol TUKS (South Africa), University of Technology, Sydney (Australia), Loughborough MCC University (England), Government Jinnah College (Pakistan), European University of Bangladesh (Bangladesh), International College of Business and Technology (Sri Lanka) and Heriot Watt University (UAE) in the final leg of the tournament between October 19 and 24.In the final held on October 11, Shradhanand College seized the advantage over DAV College soon after putting them in to bat. They got a wicket in the second over, before their captain Hitesh Gemini (2-13) provided another breakthrough soon after. DAV College’s innings unraveled after Man-of-the-Match Harshit Kaushik (4-20) ripped through the middle-order and the batting side only managed 94 for 8 in their 20 overs.Shradhanand College openers Jitendra Saroha and Himanshu Rana, who has played Ranji Trophy for Haryana this season, gave the side a good start, scoring 22 and 20 respectively. Lakshay Theraja (16*) and Rohan Rathi (32*) then secured the win for the side in 14.2 overs.

Batting consultant praises Joe Root’s enduring drive ahead of his 100th Test

Andrew Miller03-Feb-2021Jonathan Trott, England’s batting consultant in India, has stressed the importance of big first-innings runs, with contributions all down the order, as the team puts in its final preparations ahead of Friday’s opening Test at Chennai.Trott, who has taken over the role filled by Jacques Kallis in Sri Lanka, was a part of the last England side to win a series in India in 2012-13 – a campaign in which Joe Root, now set to play his 100th Test, made his first England appearance in a series-settling draw in Nagpur.And just as that triumph was built on England’s ability to put big first-innings runs on the board – they posted scores of 413 and 523 in their two victories at Mumbai and Kolkata – so too will be their hopes of competing against an India side riding high after a hard-fought series win in Australia.”The message varies from player to player, but the fundamentals of playing in India are pretty much the same,” Trott said. “It’s about big runs in the first innings, like anywhere else, but in India it’s really, really important.”Although England can expect a typically stiff examination of their techniques against spin, with R Ashwin fit again, and either Axar Patel or Kuldeep Yadav set to partner him, Trott also stressed that India’s pace attack is a match for any line-up in the game, with Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma the probable spearheads in Chennai.”We saw their pace attack in Australia do really well, and they’re very talented all round with the ball,” he said. “For batters nowadays, as you go around the world, everyone’s got a good pace attack, so it’s crucially important to prepare for both.”I wouldn’t reinvent the wheel with the guys,” he added. “But it’s about making sure that they’re in the right space and ready to do whatever the conditions dictate, and that their all-round game is in tip top shape. That comes down to us as coaches, but also as players taking responsibility, not only in training but in the matches as well.”Confronting the new ball and perhaps the reversing ball, with spin in the middle, and the seamers doing a very good holding job, your skill level has to be very high, especially when playing in the heat and humidity of Chennai. You have to be very, very switched on.Related

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“And we saw in Sri Lanka that you need to play good cricket for all the four-five days that the Test lasts. It’s not just about first innings, but being able to back it up as batsmen and bowlers in the second innings as well, because that’s when the games are won and lost.”England’s options with bat and ball are set to be boosted by the return of Ben Stokes, who missed the Sri Lanka leg of the winter but has been training in Chennai since Sunday. And with both Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes available again after coming through their Covid quarantine periods in Sri Lanka, England have the ability to field a deeper batting line-up than was the case in Galle, where Dom Bess produced a gutsy 32 from No. 8 to help turn the tide in the second Test.”[Depth] is key,” Trott admitted. “It’s always a luxury if you can, but you have to make sure you have the right options with the ball as well, and I think that’s paramount when it comes to winning Test matches.”You try to find that balance all the time, so that’s why we’re very lucky to have a player like Ben Stokes, but it’s key for everybody to make sure that they have a good game plan as a batter, and make sure that they can chip in and hold up an end.”Even if you’re down at the lower end of the order, [you have to] understand what your role is, so working with those guys is always enjoyable for myself as a batting coach, and making sure that the guys are ready to perform.”All eyes, however, are bound to be on Root as he embarks on his 100th Test, fresh from an outstanding series in Sri Lanka where his haul of 426 runs was instrumental in England’s triumph. And looking back on his debut series, Trott admitted his success had not come as a surprise.”He’s certainly baby-faced still,” he said. “You wouldn’t say he’s played 100 Test matches compared the crow’s feet that most guys get from playing so much cricket in the sun.”But I wouldn’t be surprised one bit. On that tour [in 2012], he came into the warm-up games and impressed everybody, not only by his skill but the way that he conducted himself.”He was new to the scene then, but he’s gone from strength to strength. He leads by example, he still has a passion for the game and the desire to improve. I think that rubs off on everyone and England are very lucky to have a guy like that leading from the front and batting in the middle order.”

His control allowed England’s seamers to remain fresh and rotate from the other end

George Dobell in Cape Town04-Jan-2020Dominic Bess has won praise from the players of both sides after providing a crucial contribution on the second day in Cape Town.While the figures – 1-62 from 27 overs – may not look outstanding, Bess’s control allowed England’s seamers to rotate throughout the day. With one end offering bowlers a significant amount of assistance from a crack just outside the right-hander’s off stump, Bess was required to bowl from the end offering little.That he was able to do so allowed his captain, Joe Root, to keep his seamers relatively fresh and ensured the South Africa batsmen were never able to score freely. For a man who had not played a match since September and was only called into the squad as sickness cover it was, in the words of Sam Curran, an “outstanding” effort.”Bessy did an amazing job for us the whole day,” Curran said. “He was the biggest one in our line-up. He held it all together and helped us big lads come in from the top end where there’s a bit more movement.”He was outstanding. It’s pretty obvious that none of the seamers have managed to get as much movement from the end where he was bowling and he did the same job Keshav Maharaj managed for South Africa.”Getty Images

The wicket he claimed was significant too. Dean Elgar had batted for more than four hours and looked as comfortable as anyone in the game. But, he holed out to mid-off in trying to disrupt England’s plans by hitting Bess out of the attack. It triggered a collapse of sorts; South Africa losing five wickets for 58 runs.”I played with him at Somerset a couple of years ago,” Elgar said. “And he was a good bowler then. Playing domestic cricket at home has given him more confidence. He bowled well. He changed his pace nicely. He’s playing for England; he can’t be that bad!”Bess’s control was, in Curran’s view, a key difference between England’s performance here and in Centurion. While in the first Test, Quinton de Kock was able to speed the game away from England, here they maintained pressure for much of the day and claimed five wickets in the final session to take the initiative. On a surface that will probably deteriorate, any first innings lead could prove crucial.”In Centurion we let de Kock get away and his innings probably changed the game,” Curran said. “But here none of the bowlers went for more than three-an-over [Ben Stokes actually went for 3.77] so it was a great day as a group.”There are great signs for us. Hopefully the sun gets on the wicket again tomorrow (Sunday) and the cracks starts to open. Then maybe it will go up and down a little bit. But we don’t want to look too far ahead. We have to get those last couple of wickets and then try and bat really
well.”

While the exact terms of the contract are not yet known, reports suggest it could make him a million-dollar player in the BBL

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2017Chris Lynn has signed a new five-year deal with the Big Bash League franchise Brisbane Heat. The franchise has called it “the biggest deal in BBL history”, although among Australian players, Aaron Finch is also on a lucrative long-term deal having signed with Melbourne Renegades for three seasons in August 2016.The exact terms of Lynn’s contract are not yet known, but reports suggest it could make him a million-dollar player in the BBL.Heat have also announced two-year deals for coaches Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond. “The fact we have locked-up Dan and Shane and a good proportion of our squad for the next few years bodes well for the future,” Lynn told the franchise’s website. “The Heat has evolved into a club for all Queensland fans and we’re determined to make a success of the opportunity we have ahead of us. It was one of the best experiences of my career to play in front of five sold-out home crowds at the Gabba.”To be in the same side as a legend like Brendon McCullum and enjoy some success along the way made it even more memorable. I’m honoured that the Heat have shown confidence in me for the coming seasons and given us the opportunity to achieve something special as a club in the future.”Lynn has spent his entire BBL career with Heat, scoring 1459 runs for them at an average of 39.43 and a strike rate of 155.04. He had an phenomenal 2016-17 season, scoring 309 runs in five innings while only being dismissed twice, at a strike rate of 177.58.Numbers of that nature make Lynn one of Australian cricket’s most exciting talents – when fit. He has suffered persistent shoulder injuries, and he is currently recovering after undergoing surgery. He has missed the start of Australia’s home season – including the entirety of the domestic one-day tournament – for the fourth year running, and has not been offered a Queensland contract for 2017-18.Lynn said that his recovery was proceeding steadily. “I’ve had some good reports from the surgeon and the QC medical staff and we’re working to the recovery plan. It is feeling okay now, although there is still a way to go.”

After the extraordinary highs of Headingley last week, the trip across the Pennines provided a rather more low-key resumption of hostilities

The Report by Andrew Miller04-Sep-2019Australia 170 for 3 (Labuschagne 67, Smith 60*) v England

Put that Ashes fever on ice. And wind. And rain. And grim Mancunian Autumnal mizzle. After the extraordinary highs of Headingley last week, England and Australia’s trip across the Pennines provided a rather more low-key resumption of hostilities, as just 44 overs were possible in a stop-start day that nevertheless provided a microcosm of the series to date.Stuart Broad bowled with aggression, intent and thrilling early success – scalping David Warner for the fifth time in seven innings, and for his sixth single-figure score of a desperately poor series, before Steven Smith and his super-sub-turned-automatic pick, Marnus Labuschagne, continued their own fine runs of form with another brace of half-centuries – for both men, it was their fourth in as many innings in this campaign, and Smith’s eighth in a row against England since the 2017-18 rubber.But then the weather had the ultimate say on a day that also featured a maiden home Test wicket for Craig Overton, a player rather surprisingly recalled to England’s attack on account of the ticker he showed in adversity Down Under two winters ago, and who lived up to that reputation with a very timely late incision after a three-hour rain delay, his sharp inducker bursting through Labuschagne’s gate to bowl him for 67 and end a determined third-wicket stand of 116.In between whiles, however, this was a day on which it was hard to judge quite where the two teams were at. At 28 for 2, with both Australian openers succumbing to Broad in the space of seven overs, it seemed the Headingley hangover was set to be prolonged for a visiting team that had had the Ashes “stolen” from under their noses, in the colourful phrasing of their coach Justin Langer.But then, by the time a three-hour rain delay had given way to a 4pm resumption amid swirling winds and a biting chill factor, the momentum of the day – such as was able to develop – swung emphatically back to Australia’s most accomplished pairing.In a mildly comical half-hour that featured another two-minute rain interruption, the squally conditions were so atrocious that the rubbish being served up by England’s bowlers was matched only by the detritus fizzing across the ground as a succession of crisp packets, clingfilm and a rogue beach-ball (crisply swept for four by Smith) punctuated both the action and what little rhythm England could muster. Even the bails failed to survive the conditions, with the umpires removing them (in accordance with Law 8.5) before a pair of replacements, weighed down by some hastily hammered-in nails, were brought back into play.Steve Smith pulls through square•Getty Images

If there was a talking point from an England perspective, it centred around a notably off-colour day for Jofra Archer – an overdue development, some might say, after a summer of ceaseless highs and expectations for a player who – lest we forget – has barely celebrated his three-month anniversary as an international cricketer.Archer’s first five-over spell was cagey, averaging in the low 80s rather than the mid-90s, although that could have been put down to his assessment of the conditions – after all, having taken the new ball in similar weather at Lord’s, he had arguably bowled a yard too short to truly challenge the outside edge, and this time seemed more focused on line and length than pace and fire.It was his second spell in the afternoon that raised a few more eyebrows – with Smith in his sights and already well set after a solid start to his comeback innings, Archer opened up with a 79mph loosener and rarely exceeded 85mph in an occasionally sharp though largely lacklustre display. There’s no doubt that the chill did not favour such a thoroughbred performer, and he seemed reluctant to part with his two sweaters before finally settling for a short-sleeve only, but such are the expectations surrounding his every delivery these days that anything that veers towards the ordinary is bound to attract attention. But he’ll be back. He always is.Besides, with Broad in one of his Ashes moods from the outset, Archer perhaps felt entitled to be the support act for once. With James Anderson now officially ruled out of the series, Broad’s status in England’s Test attack has never been more senior, and he responded to Australia’s desire to take first use of a dry pitch with another outstandingly hostile opening gambit.His first over featured a second-ball lbw appeal against Marcus Harris that England rightly chose not to review, and a fourth-ball breakthrough, as Warner’s struggles against his round-the-wicket line were exposed once again.The manner of Warner’s parting today was stereotypical of the trouble that Broad has caused him all series. Around the wicket, outside off and shaping back in, drawing the batsman into two minds, then snicking the edge of a half-committed bat by a hint of jag off the seam allied to extra bounce.Off Warner trooped for a second-ball duck, for a series record that now reads: 2, 8, 3, 5, 61, 0 and 0. Only Mike Atherton, in his first full series against Glenn McGrath in 1997, has recorded more than Warner’s current tally of six single-figure scores in an Ashes series, and with a maximum of three more innings to come, there’s time yet to match or surpass his figure of seven.Broad now was in one of his ominously rhythmic spells, and three overs later, he thumped Harris on the knee-roll with another of his angling-in nipbackers from round the wicket, and roared down the pitch, arms outstretched in celebrappeal, with only the most belated of backwards glances to the umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, who duly obliged with a tentative, unconvincing raise of the finger.Harris reviewed, as well he might, and sure enough the ball was shown to be clipping the leg bail … indisputably out, but one of those ones that leaves a batsman ruing what might have been.And so, for the first time this summer, Australia’s two stand-out batsman of the series were united in the middle – by the close they had scored more than 40 percent of their team’s runs for the series, but until now in single file rather than tandem.The curious spin-off benefit of Smith’s concussion substitution at Lord’s was that Labuschagne was handed an opportunity that might not otherwise have arisen, and for the fourth innings of the campaign, the calm, methodical, reasoned approach honed by half a season of rich returns for Glamorgan paid further dividends for his country.As had been the case with Smith at Edgbaston, England were too quick to lose patience when their lines of attack failed to find the edges that have been standard among the rest of Australia’s batting, and at times it was surprisingly hard to tell the two batsmen apart, with Labuschagne every bit as adept at working the ball off the straight and narrow through the leg-side before capitalising on the over-compensations with drilled drives through the covers.And as at Headingley in what had appeared to be an Ashes-deciding hour of indiscipline in the first innings, England’s failure to settle into any sort of rhythm looked likely to cost them dear until Overton’s sparky intervention before the early close. Either way, Smith was able to take advantage and kickstart his comeback with 60 largely unchallenged runs. They got away with it last week, but England will need to be sharper on the resumption to keep their Ashes ablaze.

The Australia coach also defended his batsmen for their scoring rate against R Ashwin after their tactics were questioned by Sachin Tendulkar among others

Melinda Farrell in Adelaide08-Dec-20183:16

Laxman: Langer has got it wrong about Kohli’s celebrations

Justin Langer believes if the Australia players were to react in the same manner Virat Kohli celebrated the wicket of Aaron Finch, they would be considered “the worst blokes in the world”. Langer also fended off criticism from Sachin Tendulkar over Australia’s slow batting in the first innings.Langer’s comments showed the level of scrutiny that surrounds Australia on two distinct levels: their style of play and their on-field behaviour. Amid all the swirling fallout from the Newlands scandal, the question is hovering: can the Australian team win without resorting to the sort of behaviour that led to a widespread public backlash? When replayed Kohli’s celebration after Ishant Sharma bowled Aaron Finch, Langer’s answer suggested the team is still trying to find the right balance.”You love seeing that passion in sport, don’t you?” said Langer. “Mind you, I think if we did that at the moment we’d be the worst blokes in the world, but it’s a fine line isn’t it? That’s the truth of it. But I love seeing the passion, I mean that’s great passion but, as I said, there’s a fine line isn’t there?”In an interview to be broadcast later on Saturday on , Kohli says he had sympathy with Steven Smith and David Warner with what they had to go through after the ball-tampering.Langer, speaking as rain delayed the start of play on day three, defended his players for their scoring rate and suggested allowances should be made for youth and inexperience.6:10

Hodge questions Australia’s defensive mindset

As Australia battled to 7 for 191 on the second day on what has proved to be a difficult pitch for batting, Tendulkar tweeted, “#TeamIndia should make the most of this situation and not lose their grip. The defensive mindset by the Australian batsmen at home is something I’ve not seen before in my experience. @ashwinravi99 has been very effective and has played a role to help the team be on top, for now.””I saw the tweet from Sachin saying he’s never seen an Australian side bat so defensively,” Langer told . “That said every time he’s played Australia he had Allan Border or David Boon, guys who have played 300 or 400 Tests between them. We’ve literally got kids when it comes to Test cricket playing. They’re just finding their own skin, they’re fighting their backsides off, not only to help us win the Test match, but to find out what Test cricket’s about.”You’re always looking to score, every one of them is looking to score, but they bowled really well, Ashwin bowled well, we’ve got to find different ways of playing him, that’ll come. But it’s a very different team this batting order than what we’ve seen in past Australian teams.””After the day’s play I knew there’d be a lot of comments about, like Sachin’s comments, I knew that’s what they’d say,” Langer told . “And if that starts affecting our players then that’s going to really hurt us so the key is to get as close to the mark as we can and regardless of whether it’s no more runs or go ahead of them it’s going to be key how we bowl in the second innings.”Langer did concede that Australia could have been more attacking when R Ashwin was bowling. The offspinner took three wickets – all of them left-handed batsmen – while keeping one end tight during a 22-over spell.Virat Kohli shows his emotions•Getty Images

“Maybe Ashwin we could have been a little bit more pro-active against,” he said. “I think particularly our lefties we need to have methods of scoring on both sides of the wicket. I think Travis did it really well I think Marcus did it well in his first Test match so there’s areas we can get better at. It’s the first innings of a four Test match series so and they’re the number one ranked Test team in the world but I’m definitely not going to get caught up in this we were too slow, we weren’t attacking enough because we saw with some fantastic Indians the same thing happened.”One thing I learned from Allan Border 25 years ago is there’s a lot of time in Test cricket, you have to be patient. In Test cricket we’ve probably gone a bit away from it actually over a bit of time, but the great players are patient, they bat for a long time and that’s what we can do. I think we get a bit preoccupied with how T20 goes and to an extent one-day cricket, but in Test cricket there’s so much time, there’s five days to bat. Particularly in a long series like this we’ve got to wear down the opponent, so we probably missed an opportunity to do that.”

The batsman said the decision was taken so that he could focus on his limited-overs career

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Nov-2018Ambati Rayudu has called time on his first-class career in order to focus on limited-overs cricket. Rayudu, who recently made a comeback into the Indian ODI side, communicated the decision to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) on Saturday.Rayudu will continue to play international and domestic matches in the shorter versions. He had a successful outing in India’s recently concluded five-match ODI series against West Indies, hitting a century in the fourth ODI to cement his claim to what had been a fairly long search to fill the No. 4 spot in the Indian team.The 33-year-old Rayudu had begun his career with the HCA, making his first-class debut as a teenager in 2001. He played only the one game that season, but the next year he made an immediate impact with 210 and 159 not out against Andhra in just his third match. However, Rayudu had a rocky ride at Hyderabad with reports of differences with Arjun Yadav, and he soon moved to Andhra – one of the four teams he would eventually represent in domestic cricket.Yadav, son of former India player Shivlal Yadav, is the current Hyderabad coach.His stint with Andhra was also short, and he came back to Hyderabad before joining the now-defunct Indian Cricket League, thus being banned from participating in any BCCI-sanctioned tournaments. When the ICL dissolved and its players returned, Rayudu also returned to Hyderabad, but moved out a season later to Baroda. In 2016-17, he signed up with Vidarabha, although injuries prevented him from playing a single first-class match for the team though he did turn out in a few domestic limited-overs matches.Rayudu returned to Hyderabad before the 2017-18 season, but since making his debut for India in 2013, Rayudu has not played in a full Ranji season. Last year, he played only three matches for Hyderabad, scoring 278 runs at an average of 69.50 with a century and two fifties.He ends his first-class career with 6151 runs in 97 matches, at an average of 45.56 with 16 centuries. The 210 he scored in his third first-class match remains his highest score.

Coach Fleming stresses on ability and not whether a player is from India or overseas; is happy with squad depth

Saurabh Somani in Chennai30-Mar-2019Unbeaten Chennai Super Kings are sitting on the top of the IPL points table. Both victories were achieved with Super Kings in control of the match. For the defending champions to begin confidently this season is not remarkable. However, the make-up of their playing XI has been out of the ordinary. In both games, they have fielded only three overseas players, even though they’ve had the option to go for four.Both games have been played on pitches that aided the slower bowlers to varying degrees. Despite having Mitchell Santner in the squad, Super Kings have not felt the need to add his all-round talent to their playing roster as yet, with their complement of Indian bowlers and Imran Tahir doing the job. They didn’t even name a replacement when Lungi Ngidi was ruled out before the season started, only roping in Scott Kuggeleijn after David Willey also became unavailable.The playing XI looks set to continue for a third straight game when they take on Rajasthan Royals on home ground on Sunday, barring any late injury or illness. It is almost unheard of to not pick the full complement of overseas stars for three matches in a row, but Super Kings aren’t looking at this as a ‘strategy’. It is, quite simply, a simple matter of picking the best available XI. If only three overseas players fit in it, so be it.”Looking at the squad and skills is not based on overseas versus Indian (players),” coach Stephen Fleming said on Saturday. “Harbhajan Singh was a great option for the left-handed combinations that we faced in the first two games. And that can change if you face a lot of right-handers, you’ve got Mitchell Santner there. But you don’t to play four overseas.”Whilst in the past you’ve picked overseas players that fit into your side, we’re really happy with the quality of Indian players that we have and that’s why we tend to talk about the abilities in the squad rather than if you’re an overseas player or an Indian player. We rate the players that we pick and those two sides were based on the best balance we thought would win the game.”Based on the make-up of the squad and the pitch at the home ground of Chepauk, Fleming also gave out 160 to 170 as the total that should be par on an “ideal” T20 pitch.”We bought a side based on Chennai’s history, which is a slower track,” he said, adding that the pitch for the first game where Royal Challengers Bangalore were bowled out for 70 was an anomaly. “What we saw the other night was an aberration, that’s not normally how it is. A sort of a 160-170 score here has been what we’ve looked for in the past.”The pitch at Delhi was fractionally slow but certainly dry. It think a variation of surface is what you’re after, you don’t want 200 every time. People think that’s the best wicket but if you ask the bowlers that’s probably not a great season for them. So something that’s got a little bit of challenge for the batters, which you can also get a rough par score of about 160, maybe 170 – in between there – and depending on how you get it and what’s on offer, that would probably be the score or conditions you’re looking for if you want it to be ideal.”Whether faced with a pitch on which 100 is par, or 150 or 200 – Fleming and the Super Kings think-tank know they have the personnel to fit the conditions, Indian or overseas.