Off the field and on it, the lines between Delhi and Haryana can be blurry but the line between Virender Sehwag and Delhi is a distinct one this season

Sidharth Monga in Delhi14-Oct-2015At around 11am Virender Sehwag’s white Audi entered Feroz Shah Kotla. His team had earlier come on the bus, but Sehwag drove his own car in about half an hour later. The security didn’t stop him. You can tell when people are in unfamiliar places. This car wasn’t. Without hesitation, the bespectacled Sehwag drove the car to the players’ enclosure entry, opened the boot, got off, pulled out his kit, left it near the entry, closed the boot, went back into the driver’s seat and parked the car in a corner by the Delhi nets.Anil Jain, joint secretary (sports) of the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA), rushed from inside the nets and towards Sehwag’s car. Jain was looking after the ground on the morning. He cleared who could go in, he had people greeting him when he went into the Delhi nets. Now he theatrically made a move towards Sehwag’s car. He wanted to be the first person to welcome Sehwag, but another DDCA official had already reached the car and hugged Sehwag.Sehwag looked a little bemused at all the attention, but this was par for the course. The kit bag that Sehwag had earlier offloaded was Haryana Cricket Association’s. He has played against Delhi Daredevils in the IPL before, but this was the first time he was coming to Kotla to prepare for a first-class match against the home side.

Sehwag’s numbers in the opposition

• v Delhi Daredevils: 4 matches, 80 runs, no fifty

• As an opposition batsman at Feroz Shah Kotla: 2 matches, 24 runs

• v Gambhir and Dahiya: 11 matches, 255 runs, one fifty
  

In the Delhi nets, Gautam Gambhir, long-time opening partner and friend, and Vijay Dahiya, who along with Sehwag had scored a fifty against Australia in Bangalore in 2001*, had been preparing Delhi for this big match. Before Sehwag came, some of the Delhi players had hopped on to the other side to catch up with the Haryana players. Most of the players from Haryana have learnt their cricket playing in the leagues in Delhi. Haryana’s home venue, Lahli, is only a two hours’ drive away. The line between Delhi and Haryana is blurred, what with a few Haryana cities now only an extension of Delhi, but the line between Sehwag and Delhi is not so unclear now.Dahiya didn’t help himself from having a quick sledge. Asked about the game against “Viru”, Dahiya began with a straight bat, but the wicketkeeper in him soon took over. “It’s Haryana,” Dahiya said. “That’s what the game is all about. It’s the second game for them, third for us. We know they are a very consistent side. In this league, every side is a fantastic side.”Asked again about facing up to Sehwag, Dahiya said: “It’s a match between two teams, and that’s how you plan it. If somebody plays as an individual that is a different thing. We are playing as a team.” And then he smiled a cheeky smile.Dahiya can afford to smile with a ten-wicket win last week against Vidarbha after he took over as coach of the team in a shambolic state. Delhi’s administration remains in a similar state, with Mohammad Azharuddin invited to a Ranji match and allegedly allowed inside the players and match officials area (PMOA) for a chat with some of the participating players. Dahiya says the players are far away from the mess. They have been talked to a lot, they have been made to feel comfortable enough to trust each other, to be able to say anything they want in the dressing room.Despite all the controversies, the way Dahiya announced three changes to the XI a day before the match could point to a team better than what it looks from the outside. Sumit Narwal is injured. Sarang Rawat is rested, but Dahiya says they are going to ask DDCA to play him in Under-23 games so he stays in touch with “days” [multi-day] cricket. Parvinder Awana comes back after he was considered short of overs in the first match and after bowling a lot over the last week. On the surface at least, the clarity is at odds with the way the team was selected or the way the selectors and the coach were selected.Delhi’s and captain Gambhir’s relationship with Sehwag remains a matter of speculation. It is said in Delhi circles that Sehwag made the move because he and Gambhir had fallen out. Opening partners, friends, India comeback aspirants, opposing Ranji captains. At their home ground. Gambhir will have Ishant Sharma too, who will, in consultation with the physio, decide if he plays any more games after this.On Thursday, too, Sehwag will drive into his home ground with the same authority and calm. Some DDCA members might show up to greet him again. There will be warm-ups. Then the toss. If Gambhir wins it, early on a Thursday morning, in all likelihood Ishant will be charging in at Sehwag. Dahiya might not want to admit it, but a lot of it will be about individuals.*October 15, 0832 GMT. The article had erroneously stated a 100-run partnership between Vijay Dahiya and Virender Sehwag. This has been corrected

The PCB’s governing board has endorsed its chairman Shaharyar Khan’s view to not play their home series against India in India

Umar Farooq17-Nov-20155:03

Samiuddin: Every team has played in UAE, why can’t India?

The PCB’s governing board has endorsed its chairman Shaharyar Khan’s view to not play their home series against India in India. The board reaffirmed its stance and expected the BCCI to fulfill its agreement to play Pakistan in the UAE between December 8 and January 9.”The BoG has reaffirmed its position regarding the scheduled Pakistan-India series,” Shaharyar said after the meeting in Lahore. “BoG has restated that the BCCI has signed an agreement with the PCB to play the series in UAE. Under the circumstances the BoG insists that the BCCI should honour its pledge to play in the UAE. There is no reason to justify the BCCI asking the PCB to play the series in India because there’s no security issue involved playing the series in UAE.

Misbah, Younis appointed to PCB cricket committee

The PCB has announced the addition of Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan to the board’s cricket committee. This will be the first time that active players will be a part of the PCB committee.
“This is a very important decision that the Board of Governors has taken,” PCB chief Shaharyar Khan said. “Younis and Misbah will be offering their input purely on cricketing matters whenever they are available.”
Shaharyar said the decision was taken for the PCB to get a better understanding of the modern game. Misbah and Younis have both retired from the limited-overs cricket and only play for the Test side.

“They should adhere to that agreement and we should not go to India. So that’s what BoG discussed today and after that they have advised us. In reality where MoUs are signed, it’s not binding but there’s a legal opinion that it’s an agreement as you have given something against it.”A day after Shaharyar had revealed that BCCI president Shashank Manohar had offered to host Pakistan in India in December, he made it clear the bilateral series would only be possible if India toured the UAE. The BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur on the other hand had said the Indian government would not grant permission for India to play Pakistan in the UAE.Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had also expressed his disapproval regarding Pakistan playing in India. “This is not about money; it’s an issue that involves Pakistan’s dignity and honour,” he said. “Though the final decision is to be taken by the Prime Minister, I will oppose any tour to India under the present circumstances if it comes under discussion at a cabinet meeting or some other forum.”The PCB said it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the BCCI to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023. Four of those series will be hosted by Pakistan and the six tours will include up to 14 Tests, 30 ODIs and 12 T20s.”We won’t play against them,” said Shaharyar said, when asked what if the BCCI refuse to play in the UAE. “Some people think that if Pakistan doesn’t play against India, whether in UAE or in India, then we will go bankrupt. But we have not been playing for the last eight years and still we have survived. We won’t be getting a bonus, but it’s all right if you are not playing against us.”We will suffer a loss and we understand we have to tighten our belts and have to do downsizing but we have to pass through it. We have to sacrifice this because of the country but at the same time we are doing fine with our finances and can continue.”The MOU with the BCCI was a result of the PCB’s conditional support for the ICC revamp, a move pushed for by the BCCI, CA and ECB that restructured the power and revenue structure of the governing body. When asked if supporting the revamp was the wrong move, Shaharyar said commitments were made to be fulfilled at this level.

Azhar Ali has called Pakistan’s final ODI against England a “must-win game” as the pressure on his captaincy mounts after just six months in the job

Alan Gardner19-Nov-2015Azhar Ali has called Pakistan’s final ODI against England a “must-win game” as the pressure on his captaincy mounts after just six months in the job. Pakistan have twice been beaten heavily after going 1-0 up in the series and can now only manage a tie at best.In both Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, Pakistan struggled in particular with the bat. Azhar has only managed 66 runs in three innings at the top of the order and changes to the line-up – partly enforced by the sudden retirement of Younis Khan – have not helped. With Pakistan ranked a lowly No. 8 in ODIs, some commentators at home have turned their fire on the coach, Waqar Younis, despite the team’s recent success in Tests.”It’s a must-win game for us,” Azhar said of the fourth ODI in Dubai. “It won’t be easy because England played well in the last two games and won, but we all realise the importance of this game, we will do our hardest work to win the game and I am confident that if we play to our ability then we can definitely win this game and level the series.”Pakistan narrowly avoided missing out on a place at the 2017 Champions Trophy earlier this year, winning series against Zimbabwe (twice) and Sri Lanka to stay above West Indies in the rankings. But their indifferent form could jeopardise automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup.”Pressure is always there in every series and different pressures – we had the pressure of qualifying for the Champions Trophy when we were playing against Sri Lanka but then the players responded very well,” Azhar said. “So there is pressure and since it’s a must-win game, you take that as positive and focus on cricket, if you use all your abilities then there is no doubt you can do it.”Following the World Cup and Misbah-ul-Haq’s retirement, Azhar was recalled to the ODI side after a two-year absence to take up the captaincy. His tenure began with a first-ever series defeat to Bangladesh but results had been improving until back-to-back losses against England.Asked about his future in the role was at stake, he said: “Things which are not in your control, you can’t control so I think the best thing is to focus on what you have in your hand. I don’t have any fear of losing anything. Do the job honestly and no one in the team has that fear and will accept whatever the outcome is.”A loss of form with the bat has also come at an unfortunate time for Azhar. Having marked his ODI return with two hundreds in his first five matches as captain, he has now gone eight innings without reaching 50, either side of a short lay-off caused by an infected toe.”I scored a lot of runs when I started as captain, but sometimes you don’t score runs. I am trying my best and was feeling well in the last game, middling the ball well so hopefully I will do that again in the next game and convert the good start. When I go in I don’t take any pressure when I am batting.”His innings of 36 in the Sharjah ODI was curtailed by a run-out, one of three in the match that undermined Pakistan’s hopes of setting a more testing target. Azhar has been run out five times in ODIs this year, as well as once in Tests – five of which involved Mohammad Hafeez – and he admitted it was something Pakistan needed to work on.”Obviously you don’t want run-outs but sometimes it happens,” he said, “it was one of those days the calling was not good, three main batsmen got run outs and that is an area of concern. But it’s not a big problem that we cannot solve, I think it’s about focus and putting your mind into it.”He added that the batsmen had discussed the collapse that saw Pakistan go from 132 for 2 to 161 for 8. “I think all of us were hurt, we were in a position to score big and on that the kind of pitch it wasn’t easy to chase. At that time 208 looked good and had we taken one or two more wickets then the match could have been in our favour.”When it happens like this we discuss everything, obviously it’s part of the game but we were hurt because it was in our hands, so we need to take full advantage and achieve the best. The message was that we should score the maximum runs.”There was some good news for Azhar to contemplate on the eve of the match, with the suggestion that Yasir Shah could be available again after a knee injury kept him out in Sharjah.”Yasir, we will see his fitness today, how it goes, hopefully he is fit,” he said. “He is feeling better, and we want to assess whether he can survive the 50 overs, you can’t survive in a 50-overs game half fit, so we have to assess him. We will look at the pitch and then decide what combination we play.”

A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group C matches on December 4, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2015
ScorecardFile photo: Rahul Shukla took his third five-for in first-class cricket•PTI

Jharkhand wrapped up a 10-wicket win against Hyderabad to secure their place in the knockouts. Resuming on 169 for 6, Hyderabad managed 267 on the back of B Anirudh’s unbeaten 78. Jharkhand then chased down 27 in 3.4 overs with 10 wickets to spare to take a bonus-point win as they became the second team from Group C, after Saurashtra, to qualify for the quarter-finals. Anirudh hit 10 fours and a six during his 78 off 135 balls but did not get enough support from the lower order. Rahul Shukla was the pick of the bowlers for Jharkhand, claiming his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.
ScorecardServices cruised to an innings and 62-run win in Agartala, consigning Tripura to their fifth defeat of the season and leaving them rooted at the bottom of the table. Tripura, who began at 9 for 0 following on, needed to score at least 282 to make Services bat again. Parvinder Singh and Rajesh Banik stroked half-centuries to keep the team afloat, but meaningful contributions from the other players were few and far between, as Services struck at regular intervals to bowl the hosts out for 220. Raushan Raj ended with figures of 3 for 37, while Diwesh Pathania and Muzzaffaruddin Khalid snared two scalps apiece.

Having already claimed a 2-0 lead in the series, India will target a clean sweep in the final T20I against Australia on Sunday to counter the disappointment of the ODI series defeat

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale30-Jan-2016

Match facts

Sunday, January 31, 2016
Start time 1938 local (0838 GMT)4:08

Agarkar: India would like to keep the same team

Big Picture

Friday was a good day for India. In the afternoon, their women’s team wrapped up their first ever bilateral series win against Australia in any format, and in the evening their men completed a second T20 victory to ensure their first series win in Australia in any format since they won the 2007-08 tri-series. On Sunday, it could be clean-sweep time. It would be the perfect way for India to depart Australia after the disappointment of losing the ODI series. After the win in Melbourne, MS Dhoni played down the possibility that India might use the dead rubber in Sydney to experiment with their side ahead of a World T20, but Australia have no choice but to make changes.In a case of divided loyalties, Australia have sent several players to New Zealand to prepare for the ODI series that starts there on Wednesday. That means none of Steven Smith, David Warner, John Hastings, Kane Richardson or Matthew Wade will be available for Sunday’s T20. Just as significantly, they will be without their captain Aaron Finch, who injured his hamstring during the loss in Melbourne. The short-term question was who would captain the side, with Shane Watson confirmed as the answer on Saturday, but the long-term worry is whether Finch’s injury is serious enough to put him in any doubt for March’s World T20 in India.The Australians started this series with plenty of questions ahead of the World T20 in India, given that they had played only one T20 international last year. So far, they have found few answers. Chris Lynn has struggled against spin, which hardly augurs well for the Indian conditions, while Nathan Lyon has bowled only one over in this series for 15 runs. Shaun Tait also endured his least economical T20 international in Adelaide, hardly the comeback the selectors were hoping for. And now Finch’s injury adds another worry.

Form guide

Australia: LLLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: WWLLL

In the spotlight

T20 is not the format in which most observers would have expected Cameron Bancroft to make his international debut. A technically correct batsman, who the selectors view as a future Test opener, Bancroft is also a part-time wicketkeeper who took the gloves for Perth Scorchers in the BBL this summer and it is this role that has meant he can squeeze into the side in place of Matthew Wade. Whether Bancroft can score quickly enough to be an effective T20 international batsman remains to be seen.To watch Jasprit Bumrah‘s stiff-armed bowling from side-on during his delivery stride, you’d swear he was a clock and the time was a quarter to one. But Bumrah is certainly effective and has proven difficult for the Australian batsmen to get away during these T20s; he is the leading wicket taker from either side so far in the series with five dismissals at an average of 12.00. India have certainly found a candidate for their home World T20 campaign.

Team news

Usman Khawaja has joined the squad to cover for the injured Finch, though with Travis Head also in the squad there is no guarantee Khawaja will make his T20 international debut. Bancroft is in to replace Wade, who has gone to New Zealand. The absence of Hastings and Richardson means Tait may return.Australia (possible) 1 Shaun Marsh, 2 Shane Watson (capt), 3 Chris Lynn, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Usman Khawaja/Travis Head, 6 Cameron Bancroft (wk), 7 James Faulkner, 8 Andrew Tye, 9 Nathan Lyon/Cameron Boyce, 10 Scott Boland, 11 Shaun Tait.India have used the same XI in both wins so far, and could yet go through the series unchanged.India (possible) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Ashish Nehra.

Pitch and conditions

Another good pitch is expected at the SCG, and the forecast is also good.

Stats and trivia

• Watson will become the ninth man to captain Australia in T20 internationals after Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Cameron White, George Bailey, Finch and Smith.
• Australia have already used 17 players in this series to India’s 11; it is possible the tally might finish up at 19 for Australia and 11 for India
• Australia last won a T20 international on November 9, 2014

Quotes

“We’re getting completely outplayed in all three departments at the moment – bat, ball and field.”

Australia’s batsmen will be tested by New Zealand’s bowlers and will have to successfully negotiate any swing on offer if they are to spoil Brendon McCullum’s farewell party

The Preview by Daniel Brettig11-Feb-2016

Match facts

February 12-16, 2016
Start time 10.30 local (21.30 GMT)6:37

Coverdale: Moving ball Australia’s problem for years

Big Picture

More than five years after their last cricket contact outside of ICC events, Australia and New Zealand resumed Test combat late last year. If a slow start by the tourists is discounted due to their ordinary preparation – including the Blacktown abandonment – then it was a keenly fought contest, curtailed somewhat by a dead pitch in Perth but enlivened under the lights of Adelaide Oval. That match arguably turned on one contentious umpiring decision in favour of Nathan Lyon, meaning Australia’s 2-0 margin was nowhere near as comfortable as it appeared.Now the tables are somewhat turned. New Zealand are at home, with the benefit of local knowledge. Australia are out of their comfort zone, and with a weakened bowling attack. There is also the considerable sub plot of Brendon McCullum’s final series and his 100th Test (in Wellington, he is set to become the first player to play 100 Tests in a row), and all of New Zealand will be baying for the most fitting possible farewell – a first series victory over Australia since 1986. By way of assistance to the hosts, the Basin Reserve pitch has plenty of grassy coverage, and in Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Doug Bracewell, New Zealand have a bowling attack capable of exploiting it. They will hope that some of the recent ODI form lines – notably the free-spirited batting of Martin Guptill – flow into the Tests.For Steven Smith’s side there is the lure of picking up the No. 1 Test ranking with a series victory, not at any sort of World Championship but before the “annual cut-off” currently deemed prestigious enough for the game. But more broadly Smith, the coach Darren Lehmann, the selectors and the players will all have atonement for last year’s Ashes misadventures on their minds. Unable to choose Mitchell Starc, they have opted for a seam-bowling attack that would not have looked out of place at Trent Bridge, but it is the batting order that needs to stand up. Oodles of runs on the roads of Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and Melbourne will have little relevance here, but the improved display at The Oval after the Ashes were gone just might. Helpful memories, of course, are all the Australians have – zero practice matches have left them unsure of where they stand.

Form guide

New Zealand: WWLDL (last five completed matches, most recent first)


Australia: DWWWD

In the spotlight

Not quite at his best during the Australia tour, Trent Boult has regained much of his rhythm and swing in the intervening weeks, and was a consistent threat during the ODIs. Alongside Southee, Bracwell and Corey Anderson he should expect more sustained movement through the air and off the pitch, more akin to Adelaide’s pink-ball environment than those of Brisbane or Perth. The New Zealand bowling attack has been widely lauded as the nation’s most capable since the days of Sir Richard Hadlee, and it will take a strong performance from Boult to help deliver the sort of series wins of which Hadlee was a major part.There were few superlatives left for Usman Khawaja by the end of the home summer. A stack of centuries and other scores nearly as significant left most to conclude he was batting better than anyone else in the world right now, and his uncertain limited-overs place was a source of some disquiet. But there was one thing missing from Khawaja’s summer, and also his international career. With the exception of an outlier display at the Wanderers in 2011, Khawaja is yet to show himself an adept player on seaming pitches. Since that time he has moved to Queensland, and some of his Gabba experiences will help. Proving himself in New Zealand climes will go a long way towards securing the series for Australia.

Team news

Henry Nicholls debuts at No. 4 in place of the unfit Ross Taylor, while Corey Anderson and Mark Craig are in for Mitchell Santner (foot injury) and Neil Wagner (left out).New Zealand 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Henry Nicholls, 5 Brendon McCullum (capt), 6 Corey Anderson, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Doug Bracewell, 9 Mark Craig, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Trent BoultJackson Bird was chosen ahead of James Pattinson as the third seamer, while Peter Siddle resumes, having missed the Sydney Test against West Indies.Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Adam Voges, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Peter Nevill (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 Josh Hazlewood, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jackson Bird

Pitch and conditions

The Basin Reserve pitch was verdant green two days out from the match, and even if its colour may not denote as much seam movement as it appears, the ball will be kept in good condition by the surface and should swing.

Stats and trivia

• Australia’s last Test series in New Zealand in 2010 resulted in a 2-0 series win for the visitors, including the first Test at Basin Reserve
• Steven Smith, then uncapped, is the only member of that touring squad to be in the team this time around
• Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum and Tim Southee are the remaining New Zealand players
• Australia will attain the world No. 1 Test ranking with a series win

Quotes

“I’m looking forward to finishing these next two Test matches. It’s going to be a great series, two very evenly matched teams I think, and what better way to go out?”
“We haven’t been good enough with the bat on wickets that have been doing a bit in the last year or so. The wicket here looks like it might do a bit so we’ve got a bit to prove and we’ve got to adapt accordingly, a lot better than we have in recent times.”

India Women’s captain Mithali Raj chose to focus on the positives, despite the side’s early exit from the World T20

Shashank Kishore in Mohali27-Mar-2016The World Twenty20 was built up beautifully for India Women to create a splash. A record T20I series win in Australia and a creditable showing in the ODIs that followed raised hopes of an improved show at their own party. India hadn’t qualified for the semi-finals since 2010, but were primed to break the deadlock this time around. It looked like the team had finally managed to reduce the burden on Mithali Raj’s shoulders.A whitewash of Sri Lanka Women at home in February ensured the engine was revving up at the right time. Talks of a women’s IPL were gathering steam. Contracts meant they were no longer semi-professionals who turned up at more camps than matches. Evolution of a core group of players around Raj pointed to a giant party waiting to take off. Like at a Formula One race, they overcame numerous challenges and change in strategies to qualify on pole position. But an engine freeze as the three lights went off resulted in their campaign going up in smoke in a manner not many had seen coming.Barring their tournament opener against Bangladesh, where they muscled 163 – their highest-ever T20I score – they registered scores of 96, 90 and 111. Pitches weren’t tailor made for batsmen to simply hit through the line, but the manner in which a young batting line-up, that appeared to have turned a corner in Australia, caved in was a matter of concern.Against Pakistan and England, the spinners kept India alive by using the conditions as an ally. On Sunday, while conditions helped them – although not to the extent it did in Dharamsala – the bowlers were guilty of slipping into a run-containing mode once the early damage was done. While they didn’t easily give away boundaries, Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin rotated the strike tactfully in a 77-run stand off just 71 balls to expose India’s fielding.There were misfields, fumbles, throws that went wide. All that amounted to India conceding at least 15 more than they should have. Even the comeback towards the death – they picked up five wickets for 11 runs off the last 14 balls – couldn’t mask their fielding lapses, despite Anuja Patil’s catch, running in from long-on and then dishing in a full-length dive to dismiss Taylor.Although dejected, Raj chose to focus on the positives. “With this performance, we aren’t on par with them, but the girls have done very well,” she said. “It’s a matter of pulling off one game that will give them a lot of confidence, like we did in Australia. When it comes to World Cup, there will always be pressure. The girls need to accept that and work around it. Even in the 2013 World Cup, in a very important match we somewhere lost the grip of it.”She was forthright in her assessment of where the team stood, but was the first to put her hand up and say she had let the team down when it mattered most. “Though I was among runs, I didn’t quite score when the team really looked up to me,” she reflected on the scores of 16, 20 and 0 in her last three games. “This has not been the best of the tournaments for me, but in the T20 format, you can’t always be very consistent. Ups and downs are a part of the format. In the last three games, the batting unit was not coordinated.Mithali Raj: “We had those players who scored those 20s and 30s but we haven’t got somebody who could take the team along.”•IDI/Getty Images

“We had those players who scored those 20s and 30s but we haven’t got somebody who could take the team along. Even those who hit form in a particular day could not carry the team along. That’s something we need to work on. Though we could not make it to the semis, I am proud of the way the girls have fought in the last three games and got the team back into the game. There is always slip-up in the game, but with this experience of having handled pressure, the girls will be able to do better in the coming tournaments.”Over the course of the tournament, Raj has been repeatedly asked about the surfaces dished out for the tournament. On a couple of occasions, she even reasoned that the women’s game needed a 150 v 150 contest, and not 100 v 90 as has been the case this time around. On Sunday, questions about the pitch resurfaced again, but this time around Raj wasn’t in the mood to use that as an excuse to mask their lacklustre batting.Instead, she said the team would be better off training to become fitter, and that the difference against West Indies Women was in the agility of both sides. “In big events, it is very important to be consistent in the departments where you are doing well,” she said. “As a fielding unit, we were inconsistent. When we thought we were squeezing them for runs, we let down ourselves with slip-ups through boundaries. Fitness is something we need to work on, especially in our fielding and running between the wickets.”Jhulan Goswami’s run-out with India needing 12 off nine balls highlighted what Raj was trying to say. Having slogged the ball to wide long-on, Goswami stuttered while turning for a second run, even as the throw was fired towards the wicketkeeper’s end. Two seconds of indecision resulted in a terrible mix-up that left Goswami and India high and dry. While it’s impossible to say what could have been had Goswami hared back for the second, that it was a huge moment in the match was an understatement.”As far as planning strategies go, the girls have to work really hard on their fitness and running between the wickets. At crucial times, it is important to know how to have composed mind. In that run out, had Jhulan stood her end, we probably would have lost Shikha, but Jhulan was in good flow. That is the biggest difference between good sides and very good sides. We haven’t been able to do that.”The end of India’s tournament leaves them with little to look forward to over the next two months. The absence of an FTP has somewhat been covered up by the need to play the other seven Full Members in a series of at least three ODIs to identify four direct qualifiers for the 2017 Women’s World Cup.With six wins in 15 matches, India are currently placed fifth, with games against Pakistan, West Indies to come. “We are looking forward for the one-day World Cup and again the work starts from the beginning,” Raj said. The girls will take a lot of positives from this series and try to implement them in the upcoming games heading into that tournament.”

Mashrafe Mortaza has urged his players to isolate themselves from the emotional outpouring back home following their heart wrenching loss to India, and instead focus on the positives that a win against New Zealand would bring

Arun Venugopal in Kolkata25-Mar-2016Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has urged his players to isolate themselves from the emotional outpouring back home following their heart-wrenching loss to India, and instead focus on the positives that a win against New Zealand would bring.While Bangladesh fans were shocked by the one-run defeat that knocked their team out of the competition, there has been no shortage of sympathy and support for the players – like the reactions to Mushfiqur Rahim’s apology on Facebook would tell you. Mashrafe admitted it wasn’t easy to recover quickly from such an enervating experience, but said there was no point in clinging on to it either.”The boys have had 48 hours to think about it. Nobody broke down but everyone was upset. I think [now] you have to play hard,” Mashrafe told reporters on the eve of Bangladesh’s last group stage match against New Zealand. “At the moment, you can’t just think about [what] others [are thinking or feeling]. We have to think we have one match left to play. But we should think positively that we have one match left and if we get a chance to win, we will grab it.”All Bangladeshis are passionate about cricket and it [the loss to India] is disappointing. The way we lost you just can’t describe [it]. There’s no words [left] for any player [to say]. Even if we say sorry, it’s not good enough.”We needed two from three balls and we should have won it easily. We have to accept the criticism. Whatever people say, we don’t have anything to say. It’s acceptable.”Mushfiqur’s premature celebration after bringing down the target to two off three balls against India is an image that will haunt him and his team for a long time. Bangladesh’s excitable nature on the field has at times been held against them, but Mashrafe couldn’t make up his mind on whether it worked for or against his team. “Yes, you are right [about Bangladesh being an emotional team]. [But] emotion is something that is difficult to change. It can help sometimes, I feel, and it’s been working for us. But it’s very difficult to say [whether remaining calm like MS Dhoni would work for us]. It varies from person to person, so I don’t know what to answer.”But he wasn’t nearly as unsure about disputing the line of thought that Bangladesh had a patchy record in Twenty20 cricket, and said they were a much improved side across formats over the last two years. “We have prepared a good team. We have reached a stage in the last one-two years,” Mashrafe said. “We reached the quarter-final in the [2015] ODI World Cup. We made it to the final of the Asia Cup. There is still inexperience but it is an almost settled team now. Even in this World T20 we ran teams like Australia and India really close. So there are a lot of positives. Hopefully we will be a different team in the next World Cup.”With many careers winding down at the end of the World T20, there were predictably questions about Mashrafe’s own future. He, however, dead-batted them saying he would think about it only after getting back to Bangladesh.

George Bailey has been called in by Rising Pune Supergiants as the replacement for Faf du Plessis, who was ruled out of the IPL with a finger injury

Nagraj Gollapudi02-May-2016Australia batsman George Bailey has been called in by Rising Pune Supergiants as the replacement for Faf du Plessis, who was ruled out of the IPL with a finger injury.Supergiants will be Bailey’s third IPL franchise: he has already represented Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab, where he was the captain in 2015 before the franchise decided to release him. At the auction in February, Bailey, who had listed his base price as Rs 1 crore (USD 148,000 approx), did not find any buyers despite his name coming up twice.Supergiants, one of the two new teams introduced this season, have endured a string of losses and are currently sixth on the points table with just two wins in eight games. Injuries have added to their woe, with four of their first-pick overseas players being ruled out over the past week. Before du Plessis, former England batsman Kevin Pietersen tore his calf while batting in the home match against Kolkata Knight Riders. Australian allrounder Mitchell Marsh managed to play just three matches before eventually returning to Australia earlier this week due to a side strain. Possibly the biggest blow came on Monday morning when Cricket Australia’s medical team announced that Australia captain Steven Smith, who had scored his maiden T20 century on April 29, had picked a wrist injury and needed to return home.”Smith’s [news] been a bummer. He was just coming into his own and this happened,” Raghu Iyer, chief executive at Supergiants, said. “It is a challenging time. Before we could settle down we lost the core group of players around whom you build a team around.”According to Iyer, given Bailey’s leadership experience, he can cover for the loss of Smith and Pietersen. “We lost four crucial players, but we are looking ahead. Bailey has tremendous experience and had a very successful season before last. He can contribute to the leadership group,” Iyer said. In 34 IPL games, Bailey has 579 runs at 25.17, with a strike rate 129.82.Iyer said the franchise is likely to announce Marsh’s replacement in the next two days. They have already signed Australia batsman Usman Khawaja as Pietersen’s replacement.

Chris Woakes and Keith Barker made centuries as Warwickshire recovered from 17 for 4 to post 372 for 9 after choosing to bat

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge15-May-2016
ScorecardChris Woakes once again proved his worth with the bat (file photo)•Getty Images

The hamstring injury to Ian Bell meant that, for the first time, captaining Warwickshire rested on the shoulders on Chris Woakes, who may have felt it was weighing pretty heavily as he made his way out to the middle at 60 for 5. His decision not to bowl first on a mottled pitch came as a surprise to some, possibly including the Nottinghamshire captain.The word from the home camp was that Chris Read would “probably” have chosen to bowl had the coin fallen in his favour but Woakes had his wish. If he might have been wondering where to look as wickets tumbled during the morning session, the first four with only 17 runs scored, he was happy to engage with anyone in the shadows of the evening as Warwickshire recovered to claim four batting points.”It’s a tricky one on the first day when the pitch is a little bit green but the sun’s out,” Woakes said. “After an hour maybe it looked like a bad decision but sitting here at 370 for 9 we would have taken that.”I did feel a bit of responsibility to make some runs myself, although probably no more so than usual. And though it’s my decision to bat, it is a collective thing, with Belly having an input as well, and the management of course.”His own contribution was 121, which must certainly have reinforced his perception that bat first was the appropriate tactic. It was his first century in a first-class match since March 2014 when, as it happens, he was captaining England Lions against Sri Lanka A in Colombo. Here is a man, it seems, who thrives on responsibility.His stand for the eighth wicket with the perpetually underrated Keith Barker turned the day around. Barker, who bowled superbly against Somerset at Edgbaston last week, albeit on a pitch subsequently deemed suspect, batted with style and aplomb on this occasion, recording his sixth first-class hundred after a partnership with Woakes that added 167.Yet Nottinghamshire will argue quite reasonably that it should never have happened and chastise themselves for allowing it to, having dropped Woakes twice when they were well on top.The first was a difficult chance, to Michael Lumb at third slip when he was on 19, the second much more straightforward to Steven Mullaney at second slip when he had reached 29. At 117 for 7 or 129 for 7, would Warwickshire have found a way back? Perhaps, but after Rikki Clarke’s dismissal, paying the price with a catch at long-off for a disdainful swing in the day’s first over of spin, Barker would have had to make most of it with only Jeetan Patel and Chris Wright to come.Brett Hutton was the bowler left cursing on both occasions, his frustration all the more keenly felt for the fact he had just taken an absolute blinder himself to inflict what had looked like a critical wound, diving to his right at third slip as Jonathan Trott edged a ball from Jackson Bird, throwing out one hand to pluck it out of the air when it seemed to have gone past the cordon and was heading for the boundary.Trott, serenely authoritative, had made 68 as others feebly succumbed. He had just survived an appeal for leg-before by Bird, the ball striking him a painful blow on the inside of his right thigh, but otherwise had been untroubled. It seemed like a decisive moment.Indeed, at that moment it appeared the story of the day would be about a triumphant return to Trent Bridge for Luke Fletcher, the crowd favourite, affectionately nicknamed the “Bulwell Bomber”, the local lad, big of build and even bigger of heart but slipping down the pecking order among the young tyros emerging from the Nottinghamshire academy.He had been shipped off to Derbyshire, in Division Two, on loan, but brought back after Jake Ball’s call to Test duty left Nottinghamshire a little short. His figures down the road had been modest, to say the least, amounting to four wickets in four matches at 69 runs each. Yet here he was, back and relishing every moment, bowling straight and full, swinging it late. He bowled 11 overs off the reel, six of them maidens, and had 3 for 6 when he took his sweater and his appreciative fan club warmly applauded.Fletcher would not have played, as it happens, but for Luke Wood, one of the aforementioned tyros, having a bad back, which made the story even more appealing.By the close, though, he was 3 for 70, which was not so much fun. Even with the second new ball he was unable to summon his earlier powers as Barker, his eye well in, making good use of the short boundary on the Bridgford Road side (the Smith Cooper Stand, to acknowledge the sponsors), began to take liberties, hitting him for four boundaries in the same over.”It was good to be back,” Fletcher said “I enjoyed having the Radcliffe Road getting behind me. It was like old times. There is a lot of competition here now, which is good for the club, but I feel I’ve kind of taken my chance today and hopefully I can play the rest of my cricket here this season.”Woakes reached his hundred off 156 balls with 15 fours, Barker his off 113, completing it with a nonchalant pick up for six off Hutton to go with 14 boundaries. Bird, the best on a day in the end of not particularly distinguished Nottinghamshire bowling, eventually found a thin edge to dismiss Woakes before Barker helped one round the corner to give his wicket to Harry Gurney.