Allrounder has been crucial to Pakistan’s progress into the Asia Cup final

Shashank Kishore10-Sep-20223:56

Arthur: ‘Shadab’s become far better and is an all-round package’

Shadab Khan had “complicated things” for himself not long ago. He made this candid revelation after the Super 4 game against India at the Asia Cup. He said he was trying too many things as a bowler. As an art, legspin can be demanding at the best of times. It leaves you with minuscule margins for error. And when you try too many things like Shadab felt he had, results are often likely to be met with inconsistency.This is something Shadab has consciously worked on since the start of 2022. He touched upon doing the simple things right. Like hitting the same spot over and over again and varying his pace and trajectory without losing sight of that spot. When he was convinced the consistency in hitting that was back, he weaved the variations back in, such as the googly and the flipper.It was as if he was reconstructing his bowling; one by one piecing back the jigsaw of skills that brought him tremendous success when he broke through as a teenager six years ago.Related

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To Shadab’s credit, even through all that, he made sure his batting didn’t suffer. It’s actually something he takes great pride in, to the point that, two years ago, when he was pulled up by Mickey Arthur for not doing enough, he bet his coach that he’d score three half-centuries in three Tests and he did just that: 55 against Ireland followed by 52 and 56 against England.Shadab brings great flexibility to Pakistan’s T20 line-up, something they have lacked since moving on from Faheem Ashraf. And he likes being the two-in-one guy. Earlier this year, playing for Islamabad United, Shadab picked up 19 wickets in eight innings. This included two four-wicket hauls and a five-for. He also made 268 runs at a strike rate of 162.42. No one in the PSL had made 250 runs and taken 15 wickets. To have done all this while leading Islamabad suggests that responsibility sits well with him.Shadab Khan’s spell was crucial to Pakistan stopping a rampaging India in the Super 4 game•AFP/Getty ImagesOver the past two weeks, we’ve seen Shadab’s brilliance at different times at the Asia Cup. In the game against India, he was single-handedly responsible stalling an innings that was in overdrive. His spell of 2 for 31 in four overs was the reason India finished on 181 instead of the 200-plus they were on track to get.Shadab’s variations that night extended far beyond just a simple wrong’un. He produced subtle changes in length, pace and use of the crease. He struck off his very first ball when KL Rahul didn’t fully get beneath it. It was a classic Shadab wicket. Tempting the batter into a big shot, only to have him drag one to strategically-placed deep fielders. Later on, with Rishabh Pant trying to play funky shots, he drew a mis-hit that was caught at backward point.Shadab’s contribution didn’t end there. Thanks to a deep understanding of match-ups and data, he played a key role in Mohammad Nawaz being pushed up the order to disturb India’s two legspinners. Of course, the benefit of hindsight allows us to label it a masterstroke, as Nawaz’s 20-ball 42 blindsided India.Against Afghanistan, he responded to conceding an early six by prising out the dangerous Najibullah Zadran. It was a clever piece of work, sneaking in a seam-up delivery that the batter toe-ended to long-on. Then, on a low-scoring bunsen, in a game wasn’t sealed before Naseem Shah’s twin-sixes in the final over, Shadab’s 36 off 26 at No. 5 proved invaluable, especially after the top order faltered.The dramatic nature of the finish meant his knock didn’t get the credit it deserved. It had been an exhibition of total control until he was dismissed trying to be a tad too adventurous against Rashid Khan. A game earlier, against Hong Kong, his 4 for 8 had been a wholesome display of his bag of tricks.As a bowler, Shadab doesn’t get expansive turn and bounce. He gets his edge from imparting sidespin and playing around with trajectories. With the bat, he’s calm and calculative. He plays to his strengths, to his match-ups. All of this is why he’s as X-factor as they come. The old verve that made him a teenage sensation is back. The signs are promising, once again.

We look at the data and tactics to explore at this World Cup – with help from David Hussey

Andrew McGlashan and S Rajesh12-Oct-2022Australia has never staged a men’s T20 World Cup, and due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, over the last couple of seasons, T20Is have only been played in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. So how will the tournament, which will be staged across seven venues, possibly play out?With a combination of data – from all T20s from October 1, 2020 to October 1, 2022 – and expert insight from David Hussey, who has coached Melbourne Stars in the BBL for five seasons, we try to paint a picture of the characteristics of each venue and how that could impact tactics.

Global trends

First, a glance at how T20 in Australia compares to the rest of the world. Across a number of metrics, the figures for the format in Australia sit mid-table, suggesting games played in the country are not at either extreme in global terms. But there are a few factors that stand out.Related

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Much is often made about the size of the grounds in Australia (although these days it depends on how far in the rope is), but the fact that the country has the second-lowest boundary percentage in T20 suggests there is some truth to the belief. At 54.1% of runs in fours and sixes, only South Africa (51.7%) has a lower figure. For sixes alone, Australia is again second lowest, with maximums accounting for 20.6% of runs, behind South Africa (19.6%).That more threes are scored is linked to this. In Australia, batters score a three on average every 127.7 deliveries, which is by far the lowest figure. The next lowest is England at 235.4 deliveries. For twos as well, Australia has the lowest per-balls rate of 11.4, ahead of New Zealand at 13.1. So it would appear that batters should get their running shoes on.

It is both ironic and galling that they have lagged behind in both the physical and mental aspects of playing T20 cricket

Sambit Bal17-Nov-2022This is the age of breathlessness. No time to pause, reflect, mope, savour, rejoice or repair. You move on. The T20 World Cup already feels distant in the rear-view mirror. No grand homecoming and parade for the champions: like the uber professionals they are, England have gathered their tools and are out to entertain again, and at the time of writing, Jos Buttler, the victorious captain, is out in the middle, trying to raise England from 66 for 4 in the first ODI against Australia. Across the Tasman, India and New Zealand, two other teams that could have been in the final, are about to play another bilateral series.You could say it’s just as well. When life around is a blur, why should sport be any different? You lose one, redemption lies around the bend.Related

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But does it really? Ask the players. Or ask the fans who care. Even in these times of hyper-transience, sporting memories are built around big events, and World Cups matter, though they are more frequent these days. If anything, that makes heartbreaks come around faster, and where is that sort of emotion felt more palpably than in India, where over a billion hearts beat in expectation when a World Cup comes around?It can be argued that the quality of a team should not be judged on World Cup performances alone, and more so when they are of the T20 variety, where luck and a number of imponderables play bigger roles than in the longer formats. But now that a week has passed since they exited the tournament, the truth about India’s campaign is apparent in cold light: they were a flawed team, putting in a series of flawed performances, and they needed a bit of luck to make it to the semi-final.6:14

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The match against Pakistan was sealed with a couple of outrageous strokes and a slice of fortune. And who knows how far Litton Das could have gone had the game against Bangladesh not been interrupted by rain? The top order failed against every bowling attack that had teeth, and all their scores of over 170 came against weaker bowling attacks.The absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja forced a rejig of India’s game plan, and their choice of spinners came down to batting ability, which meant benching the attacking option. Their batting line-up became exclusively right-handers once they settled on Dinesh Karthik as the finisher. It now seems quite likely that a few members of that team might have played their last T20s for India, which points not to a team at its peak but one put together for the tournament and to work around compulsions. It was inevitable, irrespective of the outcome in the tournament, that starting afresh would be imperative.In that sense, this bilateral assignment in New Zealand is more than fulfilling an obligation. It’s an opportunity to break free. That India have been playing an outdated form of the T20 game is self-evident and this observation has been articulated on several occasions. Since their failure to make it to the semi-finals in 2021, the team under Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma has made a conscious effort towards making more attacking starts with their batting.The top order, led by Rohit, has come out swinging more vigorously. We have seen Virat Kohli charge and slog his first few balls and make noticeable attempts to hit spinners over the top. This approach resulted in a dramatic jump in India’s powerplay scoring rate in the period between the two World Cups, during which time they went from being laggards on that table to the top of it. This is the game they were expected to carry to the World Cup.

South Africa’s capitulation at the Gabba was the latest in a year where they have averaged just 24.63 in Tests

Firdose Moonda21-Dec-2022Let’s get this out of the way up front: parts of this story could sound like excuses or justifications for South Africa’s poor batting. They’re not. Think of them as explanations of sorts, reasons, perhaps, and ways to ensure we’re not going over the same ground when we discuss what we have known for the last year: that their batting line-up has severely underperformed.In 2022, South Africa’s average per wicket is 24.63, the seventh-lowest for any team in a calendar year in which they’ve played a minimum of 10 Tests, and the lowest for South Africa in their history. They have no batters with Test averages over 40, though this year Temba Bavuma has averaged 41.25. Only four others average over 30 and one of them, Keegan Petersen, missed out on two of the four series they’ve played. Kyle Verreynne and Dean Elgar are the other two who have some runs to their name, but not nearly as many as South Africa would like.Almost every member of the South African squad has mentioned conditions as one of the causes, if not the main cause, of their lean patches and their newest cap, Khaya Zondo, has added his voice to the conversation. “I did think this was going to be a tough year of international cricket for the Proteas,” he said. “The first series was in New Zealand, then Bangladesh [at home]. Then we went to England and now we’re in Australia.”The last time South Africa visited those three countries in the same year was a decade ago, in 2012. They won in all three, with a batting line-up that included Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers. Of those, Kallis and de Villiers finished with Test averages over 50 and Smith and Amla just shy of that mark. Those players had also played together for the best part of eight years and at a time when Test cricket was more batter-friendly. A little under five years later, with Smith and Kallis retired and de Villiers on sabbatical, they won in Australia in late 2016, and New Zealand in early 2017 but lost in England, where Amla began to wane.Since then, South Africa have lost several more experienced batters including Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock and have found themselves in a situation where Elgar, with 80 caps and Bavuma, with 52, are the only batters who have even traveled to the places they are playing in now, before. And they’re not easy places to play, as Zondo expressed.New Zealand, England and Australia are the most challenging places to play fast bowling and all three nations boast some of the best executioners of swing, seam movement, pace and bounce we have seen. You could argue that South Africa have that too and it worked for them against India last summer, but the only other home series they’ve played this year was against Bangladesh with their frontline attack away at the IPL.Zondo made his debut in that series, as a Covid-19 substitute, and has since played in two Tests, both of which have only had two days’ worth of playing time. All he’d like is for the next match he plays to last at least three days so he can have more of an opportunity to see how he matches up. So far, Zondo has shown some promising signs, although it’s difficult to analyse too much given how low South Africa’s scores have been overall. While his first-class average of 31.47 may raise questions about his selection, he is learning fast.”Test cricket is played between the sets of stumps,” he said. “The guys are testing your technique, they’re making you play with a straight blade. The wickets have been tricky. It was a matter of making sure you defend your stumps, because that’s where the dismissals were happening. [In Brisbane], there was too much in the pitch for the bowlers to bowl short, and if they did they were wasting their time. But if they put the ball up to the bat and tried to get your pad or nick you off, there was a lot happening.”It was a matter of making sure that you watched the ball closely, and any movement off the pitch – whether it was up and down, or sideways – you were ahead of it so that you could adjust accordingly. In the first innings, the ball that nipped back for me hit me quickly. In the second innings I made sure I watched the ball more closely and moved quicker, in case it nipped or bounced or stayed low, so I could react.”Khaya Zondo was South Africa’s top-scorer when they got bowled out for 99 at the Gabba•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesAt the Gabba, Zondo was out for a duck off Scott Boland in the first innings, when he was given out on-field with the decision upheld on umpire’s call. He was not out in the second innings, with South Africa’s top score of 36. That’s not much to write home about, but considering their total was 99, it’s something.But these struggles with the bat are not an isolated incident. They have been bowled out for under 200 in their last six Test innings and even when conditions and quality of bowling are taken into account, the opposition have not been dismissed as cheaply. What else could be the issue?A lack of consistency in the top six is one problem, and that’s been driven by injury. In every series this year, South Africa have had one main batter unavailable: Petersen in New Zealand because of Covid-19; Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen for the Bangladesh series because of the IPL; Bavuma in England because of an elbow issue; van der Dussen for the last Test in England with a broken finger; and now Petersen again, with a torn hamstring.It means that the best-performing batters can’t always play together and there’s always someone new coming in. If they’re coming into a well-oiled line-up, that may not be too much of a problem, but they’re coming into a set-up that needs solutions and also expected to be the solutions. That’s too much pressure on a new player, too soon.Then, there are some obvious technical deficiencies which are concerning for batters at Test level, such as Sarel Erwee’s looseness outside off stump and Kyle Verreynne’s lack of footwork, which cannot always be compensated for by his good hands. But the general consensus is that the batters on tour are the best South Africa have.There is, of course, the issue of Ryan Rickelton, who is reeling off hundreds at home, but could not travel to Australia because he needs ankle surgery. Why then, you may ask, is Rickelton playing domestic cricket? Because he has postponed the operation in order to play the summer which includes also competing in the SA20, where he picked up a R1 million (USD 58,000 approx.) deal with MI Emirates. Cricket South Africa’s medical team advised against sending him to Australia for fear that the injury may worsen and necessitate a replacement.We’ve dissected the issues in the domestic system at length and several sources who spoke to ESPNcricinfo said they are being addressed. Pitches for domestic first-class games are being prepared a little less spicily than in seasons before and batters are getting big hundreds.Last summer, Rickelton excelled. This season Tony de Zorzi, Jordan Hermann and Heinrich Klaasen are bossing proceedings. Similar names pop every season and South Africa have rotated through several of them: Theunis de Bruyn, for example, is back for this Australia tour and Markram will doubtless be back in future.So the only other thing that can happen is that the current crop get as much experience at Test level as possible. Even there, South Africa are hamstrung. This is the last three Test series they will play until 2026, which makes the next four innings crucial – not just for them right now, but for the future of the Test team as well.Zondo seems to know it. “We must apply ourselves and get focused and make sure we’re present at the crease all the time,” he said. “A lot of guys are new to Test cricket, so there are new tricks and a different intensity they’re trying to get used to. You need to be really focused on the ball and have all of your soul and mind there.”The guys have their own challenges, and they’ve got to find a way to work through it. It will take us having stronger defences, making sure we keep the good balls out. There’s a lot of them in Test cricket. If they can’t get you out, you’ve got half a chance of scoring runs.”

And how many Test batters have converted their last two Test centuries into doubles?

Steven Lynch13-Jun-2023India’s second innings in the WTC final started with Pat Cummins bowling to Rohit Sharma. How often has a Test innings started with one captain bowling to the other? asked Mahesh Dharmendra from India

You’re right that India’s chase in the World Test Championship final at The Oval at the weekend started with captain Pat Cummins bowling to skipper Rohit Sharma.This pair had already done this twice already earlier in the year, in Nagpur and in Delhi in February. They were the 14th pair of captains to start a Test innings in direct opposition; The Oval was the 39th instance overall. The most recent one before Cummins/Rohit came in Mirpur late in 2018, when Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh bowled the first ball of both West Indian innings to his opposite number Kraigg Brathwaite.The first pair to do it were Arthur Gilligan and Herbie Taylor, in the match at Edgbaston in 1924 in which England bowled South Africa out for 30.I heard during the commentary that only two players in the World Test Championship final were under 30 – was this a first for a Test match? asked James Phillips from England

The two under-28s in the World Test Championship final at The Oval were the precocious pair of Shubman Gill, who’s 23, and Cameron Green (24).This was the 12th Test match to include only two players under the age of 28, but the third this year: Australians Todd Murphy (22) and Matt Renshaw featured against India in Nagpur in February, while in the match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Christchurch in March the only under-28s were Asitha Fernando (25) and Lahiru Kumara (26).However, back in 1926 there were two Tests in the Ashes series in England that included just one man under the age of 28: Percy Chapman, 25, was the only “youngster” in the first Test at Trent Bridge and the third at Headingley. All the Australians in those matches were over 28: their opening partnership in the second Test at Lord’s (where Chapman was joined for England by 21-year-old Harold Larwood), was the last occasion before David Warner and Usman Khawaja in the WTC final that Australia’s openers were both at least 36 – Warren Bardsley was 43 and Bert “Horseshoe” Collins 37.England lost wickets from the first two balls of an ODI in 2020. How many times has this happened – and has any team won after doing it? asked Michael Granger from England

In the match you’re talking about at Old Trafford in September 2020, Jason Roy and Joe Root were dismissed by the first two balls of the match, from Mitchell Starc. Even so, England looked like winning that game, before a sixth-wicket partnership of 212 between Alex Carey and Glenn Maxwell turned the tables.There have been four other ODIs in which wickets fell to the first two balls of an innings, and only one of them was then won: New Zealand bounced back to beat Ireland in Malahide in July 2022 despite losing Martin Guptill and Will Young from the first two balls of their chase, bowled by Mark Adair.There have also been six T20Is in which wickets fell to the first two deliveries. Five of them were lost, and the other ended as a no-result. And apart from Ireland’s win mentioned above, there have been four ODIs and 11 T20s won by a team which was 0 for 2 early on (not necessarily after two balls).Stephen Fleming is one of only four batters, including Kumar Sangakkara, Vinoo Mankad and Qasim Umar, whose last two Test centuries were doubles•Getty ImagesKumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting both ended their Test careers with their last two three-figure scores being double-centuries. Are there any others? asked Tim Malin from Australia

You’re right that Kumar Sangakkara’s last two Test centuries were doubles – 221 against Pakistan in Galle in August 2014 and 203 vs New Zealand in Wellington in January 2015. But Ricky Ponting doesn’t quite qualify for this list – the 40th of his 41 Test hundreds was 134 against India in Sydney in 2011-12 (he did make 221 not long afterwards, in Adelaide).Three other batters achieved this impressive farewell feat. Vinoo Mankad’s last two Test centuries for India were 223 in Bombay and 231 in Madras (now Chennai) against New Zealand in 1955-56. Pakistan’s Qasim Umar made only three Test centuries, but the last two were 210 against India in Faisalabad in 1984-85, and 206 against Sri Lanka in 1985-86, also in Faisalabad. And the New Zealander Stephen Fleming signed off with 202 against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2004-05, and 262 vs South Africa in Cape Town in 2005-06.What is the longest duck in Test cricket, by balls faced? asked Alex Cardew from England

The longest duck in a Test match, by any measure, was achieved by the New Zealand fast bowler Geoff Allott against South Africa in Auckland in 1998-99. Allott lasted for 77 balls, and 101 minutes, before giving a catch off Jacques Kallis: he’d helped Chris Harris, who finished unbeaten on 68, add 32 for the last wicket.Jimmy Anderson had a 55-ball duck in 2014, which just failed to stave off defeat by Sri Lanka at Headingley – he was out from the penultimate ball of the match, after batting for 81 minutes). And the West Indian fast bowler Miguel Cummins came close to Allott’s time record against India in Antigua in 2019 – he survived for 95 minutes (45 balls) before falling for nought, and hasn’t played another Test since.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The Netherlands batter talks about living alone since he was 16, and how a call out of the blue changed the trajectory of his life

Shashank Kishore26-Sep-2023The smell of tomato (a type of dal) elicits a child-like excitement in Teja Nidamanuru. He has had a long day of training in Bengaluru, surprisingly hot for late August, and is craving spicy Indian food for dinner. It’s a giveaway to where in India his roots are.Nidamanuru, 29, comes from Vijayawada in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, known for the heat of its cuisine, and is currently in the country to represent Netherlands at the World Cup. When he takes the field in their tournament opener against Pakistan in Hyderabad on October 6, his family will be watching him play for the first time.His maternal grandmother, who he says has promised to make him loads of , will be among those in attendance. It will herald a new chapter in an eventful journey that has taken him to Auckland, Amsterdam and Harare.On a hot June afternoon in the Zimbabwean capital at the World Cup Qualifiers earlier this year, he unleashed carnage on West Indies’ bowlers, scoring a 76-ball 111 from No. 5 – the fastest ODI hundred for Netherlands – to help his side force a tie in their steep chase of 375, before Logan van Beek’s heroics in the Super Over sealed a sensational win to all but confirm their World Cup ticket.Related

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“It’s surreal to even just be sitting here and talking of playing in a World Cup,” Nidamanuru says as he sips piping hot . In part that might be because moving to Netherlands wasn’t part of his plan when he first arrived in the country in the summer of 2019 to play club cricket.Nidamanuru had been living in Auckland, a city he moved to as an six-year-old when his mother took up a job there as a dialysis technician. After school he completed a double major in sports management and marketing, while also playing cricket.He made his List A debut for Auckland in 2018, having played age-group cricket alongside current New Zealand internationals Mark Chapman, Colin Munro, Lockie Ferguson and Glenn Phillips. But when Nidamanuru couldn’t break into the ranks of New Zealand’s domestically contracted players, he looked for opportunities elsewhere. That was when an agent helped him sign with the Kampong Cricket Club in Utrecht.”I’d finished my six-month stint in Utrecht and was in India on a short visit to see family en route to Auckland when I received a call that changed my life,” Nidamanuru says.”It was from someone I’d met through a common connection. I later found out he was an amateur club cricketer who I’d played against in Amsterdam. He happened to be the CEO of a company called StrateX. During a casual conversation after one of our games, I’d told him of my education background and where I come from. He’d asked for my CV and I’d sent it over to him out of courtesy.”So here he was now on the phone, and he’s like, ‘Are you happy to work in Netherlands?’ I had been exploring different avenues since I wasn’t a contracted domestic cricketer in New Zealand, so I said yes, ditched my onward journey to New Zealand and booked a flight back to Amsterdam once my work papers came through.”Nidamanuru’s innings against West Indies in the World Cup Qualifiers was the fastest ODI hundred by a Netherlands batter•Johan Rynners/ICC/Getty ImagesIt’s a strange quirk of fate in a way that a skilled worker visa, and not a sports visa, has helped Nidamanuru fuel his cricket dream in the Netherlands. Work, he says, was an outlet to give himself a safety net and secure himself financially before he went back to cricket.”Now I’ve gained valuable experience in a start-up environment, having worn multiple hats,” he says. “It’s given me life experience.”It’s nothing related to sports marketing, but it is only because of my educational degree that I’ve made my way into the Dutch team. Once I got a taste of it, I thought, ‘Maybe I can play international cricket.’ The road to it has been hard but today, it feels worth it.”Nidamanuru gets teary reminiscing about the sacrifices his mother made for the family. “My mum’s had a tough life. She brought me up as a single mother, but because of her own challenges, she returned to India. I’ve been living in New Zealand on my own from the age of 16.”I had to mature at a very young age. I was sharing a flat with someone at the age of 16, paying my own bills, I had a part-time job. I had to find a way to survive. Fortunately, I had friends who were like family. Had they not insisted I study, I wouldn’t be here.”Nidamanuru qualified for Netherlands selection in May last year, and he struck an impressive half-century on debut in an ODI against West Indies. In the period between settling in the country and trying to fulfil qualification criteria, he made his way up to the premier division, where a hundred against a team coached by former Netherlands captain Pieter Seelaar turned heads.An emotional Nidamanuru celebrates Netherlands’ Super Over win against West Indies•ICC via Getty Images”After that game, I spoke to Pieter of a desire to play for Netherlands if an opportunity came up,” Nidamanuru says. “He spoke to Ryan Campbell [head coach at the time] and got me involved with the group. He invited me for winter training in 2021, where I played alongside Bas de Leede, Scott Edwards, Max O’Dowd, who I knew from New Zealand as he’d also migrated there with his family when he was young. In a way, I knew most of the guys before my senior team debut, so that helped.”As his cricket took off, Nidamanuru found himself having to juggle work, which invariably led to long days, sometimes lasting 16 or 17 hours. He says a laptop is his companion at all times. It’s even present on our table during the interview.Two months ago the Netherlands Cricket Board (KNCB) offered him an opportunity to work in administration for them. That has allowed him “better balance”, he says, for the board understands the effort that goes into training to play international cricket. He currently has two contracts: a playing retainer, and another for his administrative job, which enables him to live in Netherlands.”In Netherlands currently, there are just three of them who make a living out of the game,” he says. “I’m on a summer contract as far as my cricket goes, which offers a retainer for five months. It covers fuel expenses, travel and a few meals, but isn’t enough to make a living. That’s why a lot of Dutch guys go to England to play county cricket. Paul van Meekeren, Roelof van der Merwe, Colin Ackermann, de Leede – they all have contracts.”Cricket in Netherlands needs a boost, the structures need to grow. I’ve now come on board to lead their cricket performance, look at things from a strategic aspect and develop strategies to grow the sport, develop pathways and work alongside the high-performance manager and CEOs. Being a player gives me an overview of everything – it allows me to contribute in different ways.””It is only because of my educational degree that I’ve made my way into the Dutch team. Once I got a taste of it, I thought, ‘Maybe I can play international cricket'”•Albert Perez/ICC/Getty ImagesOn the field, Nidamanuru swears by a philosophy called S.O.U.L, which he believes is slowly becoming the team’s World Cup buzzword. “It stands for: Selflessness, Ownership, Unity, Learning. All of us are as passionate about the game, as you guys are in India or anywhere else.”You may call it Associate cricket, [but] for us, it’s as important a game as we’ll ever play. In Associate cricket, something is always on the line when we play, whether it’s a qualifier or a bilateral. That’s the type of culture we’ve tried to create over the past year, from the T20 World Cup campaign in Australia. We’re very proud of how everyone works with the little resources we have. We’ve been able to achieve significant results despite that, and we want to do it more consistently now.”Nidamanuru’s immediate goal is the World Cup, for which he’s been “training like mad”. Indulgences, like gorging on rich Indian food, as he is when we speak, are rare. He draws inspiration from the physical regimen of players like Virat Kohli. “That kind of commitment is the difference between good and great, I guess,” he says.”I’m ready to do anything in my capacity to help Netherlands win. I definitely want to go out and have a World Cup to remember. I hope it’s the start of something big in Netherlands. We’ve also made it through to the T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA next year. It just shows how much one can achieve with commitment.”As we wind up our chat, Nidamanuru is offered a tempting assortment of desserts by the restaurant staff. “Nah, I’m good, thanks,” he says.”Discipline, discipline! I’m staying back in India after the World Cup to visit family back in Vijayawada. I’ll gorge on them then. For now, I can’t wait to get started.”

Two of the greatest teams of modern times, with a storied past against each other, meet at a venue steeped in cricket history

Sambit Bal07-Oct-2023Australia are training in the outdoor nets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium as the sun sets over the Marina, a beach so wide that the water seems to start at the horizon. From up close, Mitchell Starc’s run-up seems almost as long, and Steven Smith, it feels, has been batting for an eternity.By Chennai’s standards, it’s an unusually cool evening. The monsoon has come early and the tree-lined streets leading to the stadium are wet, but the relief from the balmy heat is set off by worry about the fate of the match. However, locals are confident that weather disruptions, if any, will be minor. Which is just as well.With apologies to the other teams, this World Cup will burst to life when India take on Australia on Sunday.Related

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India vs Pakistan in Ahmedabad is billed as the blockbuster of the tournament. It’s hard to match the emotional charge, visceral and bordering on the toxic, of a cricket match between these two countries.England vs Australia carries the significance of history and tradition, but for those who know their cricket, India vs Australia is a whole new feeling. Over the last two decades, they have been the worthiest of opponents, producing epic, gladiatorial, astonishing, and unforgettable contests. In many ways, it’s a sporting rivalry of the purest kind, based mainly on the quality of the cricket, the performances it has extracted and the memories it has created.Great players and performances are measured against the toughness of their opponents, and Indian players of the last two generations have their Australian links firmly established. It began with Sachin Tendulkar, who announced himself to the world with that dazzling hundred as a teenager in Perth in 1992 and went on to score ten more in Tests, and 20 in all, against Australia. VVS Laxman’s 281 in Kolkata in 2001 remains arguably the greatest Test innings by an Indian, and Rahul Dravid would count his 180 in that Test, and his match-winning double-hundred in Adelaide in 2003, among his finest.The India-Australia fixture has been one with stars and star performances•Getty ImagesVirat Kohli, Tendulkar’s batting successor, has followed the same path, saving his best for his greatest opponents, starting with a maiden Test hundred in Adelaide and following with seven more in Tests and 16 overall.Though he took his time to establish himself in the national side, Rohit Sharma’s precocity was established with a half-century full of serene drives in the first of two CB Series finals in 2008, in the course of which he helped India with a 123-run partnership with Tendulkar on a tough pitch. KL Rahul discovered himself as an international player with a stroke-filled hundred in Sydney in 2015, and the 91 from Shubman Gill – tipped to be India’s next all-format batting great – that set up India’s astonishing and history-making chase in Brisbane in 2021 has to be his best international innings yet.Australia’s World Cup dominance has its roots in India, where they came from behind in 1987 to win their first title in Calcutta, in front of the biggest audience for a World Cup final. It kicked off a journey where they became the pre-eminent team across formats. One of the architects of that win, Steve Waugh, would go on to elevate India in the minds of his compatriots as worthy rivals for Australia with his remark in 2001 about India being the final frontier for them. India have matched them step for step since. No other team has taken more Test series off Australia this century, and apart from South Africa, no other team has beaten them back to back in their own den. Between them, the two teams have ten appearances in World Cup finals, and seven winners’ trophies, and in the minds of many, Sunday’s match is already a final before the actual final, however early it may come in the tournament.The MA Chidambaram Stadium, a cricket venue steeped in the history and tradition of the game, where the reverence, affection and care for the sport is evident in every wall, and will be in the crowds that will fill the ground on Sunday, seems the appropriate stage for this event. The freshly painted murals that greet you when you walk through the main entrance depict Chennai’s cricket heritage, the stadium itself gleams with a new coat of white, the stands have been redesigned in recent years to let in sea breeze, and the outfield is lush.The last World Cup encounter between these two teams here was a thriller in 1987 that Australia edged by a run, just a year after the two teams played out a tied Test, only the second in history, on the same turf. Like he would go on to do in the final, Waugh defended eight runs in the last over of that Chepauk ODI, and two off the last ball, with, by some uncanny coincidence, Maninder Singh, the batter who faced the final ball in the tied Test, on strike.In the 1987 final, the home crowd in Calcutta was on the side of Allan Border’s Australia when they beat England, who had knocked India out•Getty ImagesIn hindsight, it was a reversed decision that became the clincher. A hit over the top down the ground by Dean Jones off Maninder had initially been deemed a four but was changed to six upon review during the break by umpire Dickie Bird, following protests from the Australians. In the absence of conclusive television evidence, it’s a call that is still disputed by the players involved, but it was a sign of the times that the incident led to no outrage then – let alone a diplomatic crisis between the boards.Australia have gone on to win four more World Cups since then, and India are the game’s undisputed powerhouse. The IPL draws the best of the world to these shores for nearly two months every year, and none more than it does the Australians. Cultural differences have melted away and so has the challenge of alien playing conditions. Many of the Australians in this year’s World Cup team have adopted India as a second home, or at least as a regular workplace away from home.So setting aside the rankings and recent form – India are on a hot streak and Australia have lost five of their last six ODIs – it will be a match of equals when the coin comes down on Sunday. Australia will put on their tournament armour against what feels like the best-prepared Indian team at a World Cup in recent memory.If signs are your thing, here’s another filter to gauge the significance of this match by. Barring 1987, Australia, the winningest World Cup side, have never won the World Cup when they have lost to India at least once in the tournament; and both of India’s World Cup-winning campaigns have featured a win over Australia in the earlier rounds.But why rely on quirky stats when the evidence before us points to the prospects of an utterly compelling day of cricket between two hot pre-tournament favourites?

Bangladesh have relied on their spinners at home over the years, but as today demonstrated, that might be changing

Mohammad Isam15-Jun-2023Bangladesh fans don’t really know what it’s like to see their fast bowlers rattle opponents at a home Test. They were never a side that had a genuine fast bowling attack in their first decade, which led to a period between 2016 and 2020 when the team management decided to show the door to fast bowling at home. When Afghanistan last played a Test here in 2019, Bangladesh didn’t even field a specialist seamer.The circumstances have certainly changed. Bangladesh’s fast bowling has progressed so much in the last two and a half years that the Shere Bangla National Stadium curator, Gamini Silva – seemingly following instructions from the team management – put out a green top with pace, bounce and carry in the one-off Test against Afghanistan this week.There was turn on the pitch from the first day too, but the fast bowlers from both sides have outperformed spinners. They have combined to take 13 wickets, including eight in the first session on the second day. Nijat Masood took a five-wicket debut haul, before Ebadot Hossain snared four wickets.Such scenes are a rarity at this venue which is well-known for dishing out regular raging turners. But with the fast bowling unit improving in all formats, the Bangladesh think-tank showed that they have belief in them.Ahead of this Test, Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said that they want to see how their different skillsets can give them options over five days of a Test match. It was during Hathurusinghe’s first reign as head coach when Bangladesh team management wanted only raging turners at home. It paid off with maiden Test wins over England and Australia but they lost to Afghanistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka using the same tactics. It was becoming too predictable.

We had a pitch in our favour so we wanted to make best use of it. The rest is up to the team management. I think if we keep bowling well at home, the team management can have confidence in usEbadot Hossain

On Thursday, it was Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Ebadot Hossain who blazed away in the hot afternoon. Left-arm quick Shoriful opened the floodgates with two crucial strikes before Ebadot bounced out four of the batters. Taskin didn’t get wickets but he’s the natural leader of this attack, and wickets are often around the corner for the 28-year old tearaway.Ebadot looked the most hostile of the Bangladesh bowlers, either attacking the stumps or bowling quick bouncers to keep the batters guessing. He said that the idea was to use the bouncer a surprise weapon.”I think this is the first time that we got this type of wicket (at home),” Ebadot said. “We were lucky to have three fast bowlers playing here. We tried to bowl them out for as less a total as possible. I am happy that we could stick to our plan. We extracted bounce out of the wicket. We cannot plan for it. We tried to make use of the pace and bounce of the wicket. They found it tough.Ebadot Hossain struck twice with the new ball in the first session•Walton”I didn’t get my wickets just by bowling bouncers. I set up the batter with full balls before surprising them with a bouncer. I have grabbed this plan slowly. Before I used to bowl two or three bouncers an over after bowling inswingers and outswingers. But now I could do execute a plan of surprising the batter due to the wicket.”Ebadot said that the unit is trying to match up to the world standards of fast bowling’s effectiveness at the highest level. He said that the more they have performances that help the team win, the more confidence the team management will have in them.”Our pace bowling department have improved a lot in the last three years. I am not saying that we are the finished product but our graph is going upward in this period. We want to do consistently well. We have been able to grab the fast bowling dominating mindset of world cricket.”The fast bowlers did well in this good wicket. The match isn’t over. We have bowled only one innings. We want to do better in the second innings. We were all confident that we could do well in this game. We had a pitch in our favour so we wanted to make best use of it. The rest is up to the team management. I think if we keep bowling well at home, the team management can have confidence in us,” he said.Ebadot said that he didn’t regret not taking the five-for, as the captain Litton Das was having to catch up to a slow over rate. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam shared the last three wickets.”I am okay with not getting five wickets. We were two overs behind so the captain employed spinners from both ends. He told me that I won’t be bowling since we needed to make up for the overs. Team comes first for me, more than my personal goals,” he said.Ebadot also had another bit of good news during this spell of 4-47. His bowling average has gone down to less than 50 for the first time in his Test career. It has taken him 20 Tests in four years to get to this level. These four years have also seen Bangladesh changing its perception about fast bowling. When was the last time you saw the wicketkeeper collecting the ball around his chest for two days in Mirpur?

Bas de Leede, meanwhile, recorded the most expensive bowling figures in ODI cricket

Sampath Bandarupalli25-Oct-202340 Balls for Glenn Maxwell to complete his century, the fastest in the history of the men’s ODI World Cup. He broke the record set just three weeks ago, by Aiden Markram with his 49-ball ton against Sri Lanka, also in Delhi.ESPNcricinfo Ltd39.1 overs – Maxwell’s entry point after Australia lost their fourth wicket. It is the latest entry point for a batter who has gone on to score a century in ODIs (where fall-of-wickets data is available). The previous latest entry point was de Villiers’, who came in at 38.4 overs against West Indies in the 2015 Johannesburg ODI, where he made 149.1 Maxwell’s 40-ball hundred is the fastest for Australia in the ODI format. The previous fastest was off 45 balls by Meg Lanning against New Zealand Women in 2012, while the previous quickest in men’s ODIs was by Maxwell himself, who made a 51-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in the 2015 World Cup.3 Only three ODI hundreds have come in fewer balls than Maxwell’s 40-ball effort against Netherlands. AB de Villiers hit a 31-ball century against West Indies in 2015, which is the fastest by anyone in the format, followed by Corey Anderson (36 balls against WI) and Shahid Afridi (37 balls against Sri Lanka)ESPNcricinfo Ltd6 Hundreds for David Warner in World Cups, the most for Australia, surpassing Ricky Ponting’s five. Warner is now tied in second place for most World Cup hundreds with Sachin Tendulkar and is only behind Rohit Sharma, who has seven.399 for 8 Australia’s total against Netherlands is their second-highest at the World Cup, behind the 417 for 6 against Afghanistan in 2015. It is also the highest total by Australia in ODIs in India, bettering the 367 for 9 they posted against Pakistan in their previous match.115 Runs conceded by Bas de Leede in his ten overs today, the most by any bowler in a men’s ODI. The previous record was 113 runs, held by two Australians – Mick Lewis against South Africa in 2006 and Adam Zampa against South Africa again in 2023.ESPNcricinfo Ltd106 Runs scored by Maxwell in the last ten overs are the fifth-most by any batter in a men’s ODI (where ball-by-ball data is available). These are also the most runs scored by an Australian between the 41st and 50th over in an innings, surpassing Cameron White’s 81 runs against India in 2010.309 Margin of Australia’s win in Delhi, the biggest by runs for any team in the World Cup. It is also the second-biggest win margin by runs in men’s ODIs, behind India’s 317-run win against Sri Lanka at the start of this year.3 Consecutive four-wicket hauls for Adam Zampa, the second Australian to pull this off in men’s ODIs, after Shane Warne in 1996-97. Zampa is also only the third bowler with three consecutive four-plus wicket hauls at the World Cup, after Shahid Afridi and Mohammed Shami.6 Hundreds at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla across four matches in this World Cup. These are the joint-most hundreds at a venue in a men’s ODI World Cup, equaling the six hundreds at Manchester’s Old Trafford in 2019.