With no kingdom to build, no voters to please and no money to save, Rajasthan’s ad-hoc committee have brought to the fore an administrative model many associations can take a cue from

Sidharth Monga26-Oct-2015On September 4, 27 days before the first Ranji Trophy match of the season, the BCCI had to constitute, for the second year running, an ad-hoc committee to make sure Rajasthan was represented in the premier domestic first-class tournament. The court approved the selectors in a week’s time. No cricket of any meaning had been played in Rajasthan until then. The Sawai Mansingh Stadium had weeds growing in its stands. None of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) employees had been paid for eight months. During this period, one of the groundsmen lost his wife to illness. He did not have any money for the treatment.This is Rajasthan, twice champions in the last five years, one of the eight IPL centres, and the home constituency of Lalit Modi in the BCCI. It is the last bit that is a problem. Modi, desperate to gain a foothold in the BCCI, cracked in through Rajasthan in 2005, staging nothing short of a coup to oust the Rungtas, who had been invincible till then. It needed help from friend and chief minister Vasundhara Raje to shift the goalposts, when a new Sports Act took away the voting rights from individuals. The secretaries of district associations now voted Modi into power.Modi changed the face and soul of the RCA. With a chief minister happy to play ball, Modi transformed the state-owned Sawai Mansingh Stadium, and also brought up, in no time, the RCA Cricket Academy next to it. The nets here are still considered the best training facility in India. As there are everywhere in the BCCI, there are crazy Modi stories here too, of grandiosity and flamboyance, and of efficiency unheard of. Of how he made sure there was a 24/7 buffet on in the RCA offices so that those working here were not distracted looking for food, of the chartered planes that would wait for him at the airport as he would hop between matches in Mohali and Jaipur on the same day, of how decisions were immediate, of how ministers and bureaucrats were not allowed to throw their weight around and delay work in Rajasthan cricket.It was of course too good to last. Once Raje lost her post, Modi did too. When Modi came back, the BCCI, now full of vendetta for a man who was once Moses, refused to recognise the association that voted him to power. Now the factions await the court’s verdict. Workers here, who still admire the work Modi got done, are of the view that if Modi withdraws from the RCA, they can all get back to their feet. Modi, though, has no such plans to give up his last foothold in the BCCI.The situation is best summed by an RCA employee’s quoting of the famous line from Bollywood movie , said of the scheming villain of the piece: “” [It is Chuniya who makes it, and it is Chuniya who breaks it, what a bastard this Chuniya is.”]So there we were, 20 days to the first match of the season, when the Rajasthan players gathered at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, just across the road from the Rajasthan High Court, and pleaded to those in power not to ruin their year ahead. The task for the ad-hoc committee was unenviable. The Colvin Shield, the inter-district tournament, hadn’t been played. No other formal cricket had been played. How do you begin selecting teams?

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It is the fourth round of the Ranji Trophy. Rajasthan are to host Maharshtra. They have already played one match at home. This is the third Ranji Trophy match this correspondent is at this season. Enter the Sawai Mansingh Stadium and walk along the circumference, and there is a sense for the first time that a Ranji Trophy match is expected here. There are signboards of “Team Rajasthan” all over the ground. Both the teams are practising at the same time at the RCA academy. There is clear demarcation for the teams. Umbrellas, chairs, water, ice: everything is in place. There is a standee of Team Rajasthan to do interviews in front of. All the players are happy with the training facility.Amrit Mathur, who has been an India team manager in the past, is the co-ordinator of the ad-hoc committee. He is the signing authority. He is the only one from the committee present here. He is talking to Pritam Gandhe, the chairman of the junior selection committee. Gandhe is a former Vidarbha player and is a national junior selector. Mathur is asking him to look at a few of the youngsters once again. Mathur has been receiving calls from local coaches saying that some deserving kids have been left out.It is understandable that some complaints will be there. These selection committees had nothing but last year’s performances to go by. But what do you do with Under-14 teams? They had no cricket last year. So, they did the best they could. They called for open trials for the Under-14s. Nine hundred kids plus parents turned up.

“There are quibbles, but you can see Rajasthan’s ad-hoc committee is doing the best it can in the time it has available. It helps that Amrit Mathur, who heads it, has prior experience of cricket administration in his role as a consultation with Delhi Daredevils.”

Sitting space and refreshments were arranged for the parents. Sixty groups of 15 each would be sent into the nets. Kids were identified by numbers assigned to them to avoid foul play. Admittedly this is not the ideal way, but that was the only way for them. The number was brought down to 100 after the first screening, which came down to 60 after medical tests.These 60 were then split into teams of 15 each, and matches organised simultaneously to pick the best 15. They had some records for the seniors, so the Ranji selections started with a pool of 60 players. Matches, balls, scorers, umpires, outfields, government clearances: everything had to be done and was done. Medical tests, practice kits, match kits, coaching staff, support staff, accounting, were pulled out of thin air. Most of the coaching staff, though, was retained from last year to ensure some continuity.There are quibbles, there will be quibbles throughout, but you can see this committee is doing the best it can in the time it has available. It helps that Mathur has prior experience of cricket administration in his role as a consultant with Delhi Daredevils. It also helps that Mathur is originally from Jaipur, and knows people here. He says it helps the most that the infrastructure is in place already. That he doesn’t have to go looking for space for nets, that a residential block is built right next to the nets. They have taken one of the rooms there, and converted it into their office.When Rajasthan hosted the first match, an invite was sent to all the former Ranji cricketers living in Jaipur. They managed to trace 64 of them. Fifty turned up. Eighty-three-year-old Kishan Rungta, also a former national selector, was the oldest among them. A separate enclosure was built for them. They appreciated the gesture. One of Jagmohan Dalmiya’s last acts as BCCI president was to constitute this committee. There was a two minutes’ silence observed for him.The mind went back to Rajkot two weeks earlier. A Jharkhand player got injured and needed to apply ice where he had been hit. It took the hosts, Saurashtra, half an hour to provide ice. The next day, the Jharkhand manager could be heard complaining loudly to the organisers, “How long does it take to get some water here? It has been half an hour. Boys are playing out in the sun, can we get some drinking water?”
The 17-year-old Ishan Kishan was batting in his 80s when he asked his team-mates sitting on the sidelines for his score. The big scoreboard told only the team score. And the players on the sidelines couldn’t get hold of the scorer.The lone journalist who turned up didn’t get access to the scorer either. There was no power point to charge the laptop, leave alone water, tea or food, which can be done without. The spectators – and they turn out for Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara – are at the bottom of this chain. No shade, no toilet, no drinking water.In Delhi, Mohammad Azharuddin had been invited and was seen talking to players when the match was on. Their administrators didn’t have a clue what exactly constituted the players’ and match officials’ area (PMOA). Similar confusion reigned in Rajkot where reporters couldn’t sit with the scorer under instructions from the anti-corruption officer. How were they to get the scores? Why, of course, you can call her, they were told. In fact, the scorers are not supposed to take calls during games.The Delhi players have not been paid match fees for two years because DDCA can’t be bothered enough to put its house in order, to get the yearly grant, or at least compile a list of players who have played for them so the BCCI can share its profits with them. Rajasthan, on paper in much worse health, don’t have such problems. And these are associations in the spotlight. The less you talk of the remote outposts the better. These associations get close to Rs 30 crore each and some of them can’t arrange for proper nets.The players who visit a cricket venue want good nets, good dressing rooms and good playing conditions. Rajasthan has managed to provide all three. Everything else is secondary. Makes you wonder why all these other state associations, where power hardly changes hands, where people get elected unopposed for ages, can’t organise Ranji matches properly.The answer is simple. This committee doesn’t have a kingdom to build, no voters to please, no influential fathers to appease through selection, no money to save. It is the BCCI’s money, and it is being spent on cricket. And the officials who know how much it used to cost to organise Ranji matches say it is costing less this year in Jaipur. “Cricket administration is very easy actually,” Mathur says.

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It is not as if the problems have miraculously disappeared. Cricket administration is a year-round job. It cannot be done in one month. Players at lower levels are obviously demoralised. The staff is disheartened. The batsmen are still collapsing at least once every match. There used to be cricket all year round in Rajasthan; now there is only BCCI-organised cricket. For teams to be selected fairly, for talent to be identified all over the state, a committee with a longer time span might be needed. It is possible that if the impasse in Rajasthan cricket continues, the same committee might be asked to run districts cricket too.The fear of an outside authority running cricket is making the BCCI fall in line. The court is this close to taking it all away from the people who run the BCCI, which is trying its best to retain control. Suddenly conflict of interest is being addressed; suddenly transparency has become important. How the board could do with some co-operation and clean administration from its vote banks, the state units.

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2015Mitchell Starc’s opening over was eventful: his second delivery saw Jason Roy given out lbw, then the decision overturned on review; two balls later, umpire Joel Wilson again raised his finger. Roy decided not to use the DRS only for Hawk-Eye to show the ball missing leg stump•Getty ImagesJohn Hastings then removed Alex Hales, giving him his first wicket for Australia since 2012•Getty ImagesHastings also had James Taylor caught behind as England slipped to 22 for 3•Getty ImagesThings got worse when Eoin Morgan was struck on the head by a 90mph Starc bouncer…•Getty Images…Australia’s players were quick to show their concern and immediately came to his aid•AFPAfter lengthy on-field assessment, Morgan retired hurt to be treated for concussion, his participation in the match over•Getty ImagesBen Stokes provided a fighting response in the middle order but wickets continued to fall around him•Getty ImagesMitchell Marsh collected four wickets, including that of Stokes, and only Adil Rashid’s unbeaten 35 helped England up to 138•Getty ImagesAaron Finch struck a brisk half-century to ensure Australia recovered from losing two early wickets•Getty ImagesFinch and George Bailey put on an unbroken 109-run stand to take Australia to victory and a 3-2 series victory•Getty ImagesAustralia took the one-day trophy to end their tour on a high•Getty Images

The batsmen have been asked to score extra runs and their best way to do so is to think of overs 30 and 40, when there are only four men on the boundary, as one big Powerplay

Sidharth Monga17-Jan-20165:04

Agarkar: India bowlers not learning quickly enough

Around the time it became certain Australia were going to seal the series in Melbourne, a brilliantly funny tweet was retweeted 67 times. It showed a very young Rohit Sharma on a motorbike, Virat Kohli was riding pillion and the caption said: ” [Brother, we can’t do anymore, let’s go back to India.]” All it needed was a sidecar with Ajinkya Rahane.India have been on this treadmill of putting on 300 and failing to defend it, and every time the captain and the critics have asked the batsmen for more runs. In the absence of Mohammed Shami, their best ODI quick over the last two years, and with their throwing arms exposed ruthlessly by the Australian batsmen and their large outfields, India’s helplessness has never been more obvious than when MS Dhoni asked for 30 more runs from the batsmen instead of improvement from his bowlers.On a slower and drier MCG pitch the batsmen gave them 295, and India made a fist of it, but their fielding and bowling let them down at crucial moments again.The scrutiny, however, was on the dot balls Rohit Sharma faced, when he has been the one batsman making up for slow starts like a fiend. The big hitting of Ajinkya Rahane was dissected and the absence of Suresh Raina was rued. Everybody has sort of given up on the bowlers.And India’s batsmen are like the elder ones among quarrelling brothers and they are being told, ” [Son, you are the elder one, you please understand.]” You are among the best in the world, so please score 20 more. The question is, where do the batsmen get them from? It is extra pressure, Dhoni has made that clear, but it is not impossible.The onus is on India’s batsmen to score extra, and there is a way to do so between overs 30 and 40•Getty ImagesLet’s examine the options. Rahane came in to bat with the score at 134 for 2 in the 27th over. Eleven months ago, at the same venue, Rahane walked in at 136 for 2 in the 28th over against a far more threatening South African attack in the World Cup. He batted till the 46th over, struck 79 off 60 and fell with India’s score at 278. In this match he got out in the 45th over, having made 50 off 55, with India at just 243. Back then India reached 307 despite a stutter in the end; here they were kept to 295 despite a powerful kick from Dhoni’s nine-ball 23.The big difference was the Powerplay. It was still a thing at the World Cup and India took 44 runs from five overs heading into the final 10.But since the Powerplay has been abolished from ODI cricket, India have struggled to stay abreast with other teams. Dhoni had himself brought up the issue when, despite Rohit Sharma’s 150, India failed to chase 304 in Kanpur. In that game, India scored just 20 runs between the 35th and 40th overs, when batting Powerplay would have normally been on.With the change in rules, the last 10 overs, especially batting first, are not as critical as they used to be. Five fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle and teams can’t bank on getting 120 runs every time. Batsmen now need to look at overs 30 to 40 to accelerate.This is the time when there is one less boundary rider to worry about. It is some time in these overs that India need to create a Powerplay in their head. If a wicket falls, they should send a hitter in because, as Dhoni said, there is no need for one in the last 10 overs. Especially on these vast Australian outfields, where 80 runs can be scored by just knocking the ball around and the odd boundary, which is precisely what Dhoni can do.So when India’s captain asked for extra runs, you would have expected the batsmen to look for them between overs 30 and 40. In Melbourne, only 60 runs were added in these overs. In Brisbane and in Perth, an identical 67.India have been playing the first block of each game perfectly, especially with a shaky lower-middle order to follow. Their scores of 149 for 1, 166 for 2 and 147 for 2 at the end of 30 overs are testament to their quick scoring without losing wickets and under the pressure of knowing there isn’t much to follow. If, at some point before the 40th over, they can manufacture a Powerplay in their minds, possibly pick on a particular bowler, they may be able to get those extra 20 runs before going into the final overs.Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh did just that a couple of days ago and Australia went from 93 to 135 in three overs. It is not how India batsmen – more traditional and correct, who like to eliminate risk by following a method – like to bat, but their bowling and their fielding demand those extra runs be scored.

Stats preview of the fourth Test between India and South Africa in Delhi

Bharath Seervi02-Dec-20151987 The last time a visiting team defeated India at the Feroz Shah Kotla – West Indies by five wickets . Since then, India have won nine of the 10 Tests held here. India’s nine wins are the most by any team at a particular venue without losing any Test.0 Tests in Delhi where the team winning the toss has elected not to bat. In all the 32 matches played here, the side winning the toss has chosen to bat first, but only on five ocassions has the team winning the toss ended up winning the match as well.0 Tests South Africa have played at this venue in their previous five tours to India. In fact, South Africa have played just one International match at this venue – against West Indies in the 2011 World Cup . In that game, AB de Villiers made an unbeaten 107 off 105 balls to lead South Africa’s successful chase.57.4 Spinners’ strike rate at this venue since 1999, the second best among all venues which have hosted at least five Tests during this period.44.08 Bowling average of fast bowlers at this venue, the second worst since 2000 among all grounds that have hosted at least five Tests.31 Number of balls the spinners have taken per wicket in the first three matches of this series so far. This series ranks second among all series of three or more matches in terms of strike rate of spinners.40.87 Runs per wicket in the fourth innings of Tests in Delhi, the second best among all venues that have hosted five or more Tests. Incidentally, on the 17 occasions of teams chasing the target in fourth innings here, only two have resulted in a loss, with the chasing team successfully reaching their target 11 times. Four such matches have resulted in draws. Among all venues where a target has been chased down at least 15 times, the Kotla ranks second in terms of losses for the chasing teams. The Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore tops this list; only once has a team lost while chasing there in the fourth innings, out of 21 such instances.0 Number of second-innings hundreds (the match’s third or fourth innings) scored at the Kotla since the 1987 Test against West Indies; Sadagoppan Ramesh’s 96 against Pakistan in 1999 is the highest score. Since then, there have been only two other venues where no centuries have been scored by batsmen in their team’s second innings – Wakhede Stadium in Mumbai, and MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong.Spinners have taken 75 wickets in this series; another 35 in Delhi will make this tour the most productive ever for spinners in history•BCCI50 Wickets taken by Ishant Sharma in first-class matches at this venue, the most by any player in the last ten years at Kotla. Ishant has played 12 first-class matches at the Kotla and taken these wickets at an average of 18.38. His bowling average is the best by any bowler who has played more than five first-class matches here. Ishant took 6 for 36 for Delhi against Vidarbha when he bowled at this venue for the first time this Ranji Trophy season. Also, this has been by far the most productive venue for him in his first-class career. At no other venue has Ishant picked up even 20 wickets; his 16 wickets at the Roshanara Club Ground, also in Delhi, rank second on the list.2 Wickets taken by India’s fast bowlers in this series. If the hosts’ spinners don’t allow the seamers to take any wickets in the Delhi Test, it will be the least number of wickets taken by a team’s fast bowlers in a series of four or more matches. In the 1972-73 series against England, India’s fast bowlers managed to pick up just three wickets.75 Number of wickets that have fallen to spinners in the first three matches of this series – 34 in the first Test, eight in the second (only one complete innings) and 33 in the third. If the spinners take another 35 wickets in this Test in Delhi, this will be the series with most wickets by spinners. The five-match series between India and England in 1972-73 has the highest number of wickets falling to spinners in any series, with 109. The record in a series of four or fewer Tests is also in India, when 92 wickets were taken by spinners during the 2012-13 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.2006 The last time South Africa lost more than two matches in any Test series. They were whitewashed 3-0 by Australia in their own backyard.0 Centuries by batsmen in the first three matches of this series; AB de Villiers’ 85 in Bangalore is the highest score so far. There has never been a Test series of four or more matches with no centuries. At least two centuries have been scored in every Test series with four or matches. Incidentally, there were no centuries in the last Test in Delhi, against Australia in 2013.215 Highest innings total of the series so far. The the lowest high score of team in a series of four or more Tests is 320, during England’s tour of Australia in 1881-82. The total of 215 in this series is the lowest among all series of three or more matches as well.

Twists, turns, mishaps and jailbreaks. It’s all par for the course with the Pakistan batting line-up

Alagappan Muthu in Mirpur29-Feb-20162:15

‘Mature players take you out of problems’ – Waqar

Imagine you are on a tour bus. It is hijacked by a clown. One who’s fond of running into as much trouble as possible. Flooring it with a speed bump five yards away. Swinging the wheel this way and that on a simple, straight stretch of road. Attempting to drift because he had seen the night before and it seemed super cool.The whole damn thing is about to keel over. You are on edge. You don’t know what is going to happen. You can’t even figure out how it has come to such dire straits. To think you could have just sat at home and watched Pakistan play UAE in the Asia Cup.Don’t worry. The experience wouldn’t have been much different.Twists, turns, mishaps and jailbreaks. They seem so ingrained in a Pakistan game, as if their innings gets hijacked by a mad clown. Just ask Waqar Younis, their coach. He’d had a word with the openers Sharjeel Khan and Mohammad Hafeez before they had gone out to chase 130. “Yes I did tell [our plans] to the openers, but they came back very quickly.”See. Things have this habit of going haywire. Take the fact that in a Twenty20 game – where you have only 120 balls to bowl – they stopped 72 of them yielding any runs. The remaining 48 provided UAE with 129.Waqar wary of top-order issues

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis was happy to have “opened the account” in the Asia Cup, but said there were still some kinks to a iron out.
“There are problems. The top-order hasn’t scored runs again. The conditions are such that scoring runs against the new ball is difficult. Credit must be given to the UAE team for fighting hard. Then again, our experienced Umar Akmal and Malik played matured innings and got us home.”
Moving on to issues with the bowling, he said, “We did have a poor middle overs. That’s also one thing we have to really talk about and make sure we do not give away easy runs. At the end overs, it’s going to happen. The ball is going to fly all over the place but, especially in the middle overs, we have to be a bit more thoughtful.”
And finally a word on the misfiring Khurram Manzoor, and his selection for the Asia Cup and World T20. “It is too early to give an answer about it. We haven’t thought about what to do going forward.”

Still that’s not the worst total to be chasing. It’s a required run rate of 6.5. Speed bump. Sharjeel given lbw, although it did seem a dicey call on height. Speed bump. Khurram Manzoor, a rather left-field selection in this squad and later on for the World T20 as well, was caught behind. Speed bump. Hafeez gives catching practice to cover. Amjad Javed, the bowler on all three occasions, wore a smile that should put him on the cast list of a toothpaste commercial. Clearly the clown was making someone happy, at least.So Pakistan’s bus was out of control at 17 for 3 and at this point they needed Keanu Reeves, as you do when buses go out of control or when machines try to take over the world.That’s pretty hefty work for one man in the real world, so Shoaib Malik asked Umar Akmal for a little help.Like Reeves’ character in deduced the bad guy had a live feed of the bus and used that vital bit of knowledge to save lives, Malik and Akmal figured out something equally hard to spot in order to save their team. They actually had time to settle in, maybe as much as they would have had in a Test match.”We decided to forget about the run-rate,” Malik revealed at the presentation ceremony. He was 0 off 7, having been beaten on the outside and inside edge off back-to-back deliveries. He was given a half-volley in the sixth over which was converted into his first boundary of the night. The next one came as he capitalised on a short ball and the third was a pick off the legs.Bad balls still needed to be put away, but for all that efficiency Malik was still 19 off 23. He drifted to 23 off 30 and even after hitting his first six of the innings, he was travelling well under run-a-ball. He could afford to. Pakistan needed him to.If Malik had been chilled out, Akmal was absolutely frozen: 13 off 23. He had smashed eventual PSL finalists Quetta Gladiators for 54 runs for the same amount of balls three weeks ago. Pakistan had spoken about misreading conditions in Mirpur after their 83 all out against India. The Asia Cup featured the finest from the subcontinent and the pitches were a little spicy. It was not a domestic T20 tournament played on featherbeds. Shahid Afridi had spoken about the need for senior batsmen to show the way.Akmal, although only 25, was playing his 200th game for Pakistan. Normally such a resume would demand the most exalted tags. Yet Akmal is still seen as a player whose temperament often betrays his talent. He has a tendency to shove good sense aside and go for glory, often at the worst possible time. Tonight was different. Tonight, his first hit to the boundary was off his 26th ball and he lugged 24 of his 50 runs in ones and twos.”The maturity [both batsmen] showed was very clear,” Waqar said. “They took their time. When you lose wickets like this in a cluster in the first few overs, it always creates pressure. I think they absorbed the pressure very well. The run-rate which was at six and a half had gone up to nine and a half, but we always knew they were capable of getting the target when the time comes. It was a little scary in the beginning, but as I said, they played really well.”By the time Malik reached a strike rate of 100, in the 16th over on 41, he should have been out on the very next ball. Instead, a catch was dropped at deep square leg. The mad clown was thwarted.Malik struck his next two balls for four and six to cruise to his fifty. He and Akmal set the world record for the fourth-wicket partnership in T20Is – an unbeaten 114 in 93 balls and Pakistan had won on the occasion of their 100th T20I.End scene.

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2016Sharjeel, though, threw away a promising start, giving Arafat Sunny the charge, only to be cleaned up•AFPAhmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez offset the early loss through a 95-run second-wicket stand•AFPThe Bangladesh players had a tough time in the field, as Hafeez helped himself to 64 off 42 balls•AFPShahid Afridi entered in rampaging form, and his 19-ball 49 propelled Pakistan to 201 for 5•Associated PressBangladesh received an early jolt as Mohammad Amir went past Soumya Sarkar’s defence in the third ball of the chase•Associated PressTamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman combined for a 43-run second-wicket stand•AFPAfridi, however, followed up his good work with the bat by removing both batsmen•AFPShakib Al Hasan waged a lone battle for Bangladesh with an unbeaten 50, and, in the process, crossed the 1000-run mark in T20Is•AFPHowever, Pakistan had proceedings in control throughout and romped to a 55-run win. Afridi capped off a productive day with 2 for 27 and earned himself the Man-of-the-Match award•AFP

Bangladesh’s captain is the ace up their sleeve, but they have a problem to do with their team culture

Aakash Chopra09-Mar-2016Last year was the best Bangladesh have had in ODI cricket. It won’t be exaggerating to say that they are a force at home now. That’s how the rise of a cricketing nation progresses: first, you make your home a fortress and then gradually improve to become a force while travelling overseas.Their T20 numbers, however, still look quite average. So much so that they have to play the qualifying round of the World T20 to get into the main draw. But now their performance in the Asia Cup has made people sit up and take notice and made them favourites to make it to Group A.Strength
The captain is as good as his team, but often the team is as good as the captain allows it to be. In the last 12-odd months, Bangladesh have seen a surge in their fortunes, and while most will rightly credit it to the young crop of fast bowlers, Mashrafe Mortaza’s contribution needs to be mentioned in the same breath.Unlike football, for instance, cricket is a sport in which the captain has a huge role to play. Mortaza has been exceptional in handling his resources, especially his bowling, and he understands the flow of the game better than many other more accomplished captains.In recent games we have seen him not bowl Mustafizur Rahman more than one over in the Powerplay overs, holding him back for later. This makes sense because Bangladesh don’t really have quality death bowlers, and secondly, Mustafizur is at his best when the ball gets old on a slightly used pitch. But if Mortaza was looking to get a wicket at the top, he would keep Mustafizur on for longer in his first spell. That speaks of his flexibility.Mortaza comes across as someone with a clear vision when it comes to setting fields. He starts without a deep third man if Al-Amin Hossain is bowling to a left-hander, for instance, but gives him the cushion of deep point. Amin isn’t someone who bowls short, so it’s unlikely the batsman will go over the third-man area; for square-drives, Mortaza has a man on the fence. Later in the innings he keeps fine leg and square leg inside the circle, with a clear mandate to the bowler to bowl wide yorkers. Getting hit in a T20 game is a certainty, so the trick is to dictate what areas you get hit in. Mortaza is acutely aware of match situations and doesn’t think twice before deploying a fielder or two in catching positions, and having more than the mandatory four inside the circle.Mahmudullah should be batting higher than No. 6•Associated PressHe also has the tendency to make “shock” changes that, at times, throw batsmen off their plans. Bringing in Mahmudullah against Suresh Raina and Shakib al-Hasan against Tillakaratne Dilshan were examples of such moves in the Asia Cup.Weakness
One of the problems with Bangladesh cricket is to do with the team culture that has been built over the years. Mediocrity is not only accepted, it is rewarded in Bangladesh cricket. Nothing else can explain why some players stay in the team for years despite middling numbers. Once that kind of culture is deeply embedded, no one takes the responsibility of being the standout performer, for failure doesn’t have long-term repercussions. Some would say that it’s a reflection of the lack of options outside the team, but that doesn’t hold true any longer.We’ve seen many talented young players represent Bangladesh, but unfortunately none of the senior players are setting the right example of how it’s done, especially in the batting. They do have people who can bat and score runs but they don’t have the kind of match-winners that you need in T20 matches. The average strike rate of their top six is at or under 120, and that’s simply not enough.X-factor
Mahmadullah could be the man to watch. While his T20 numbers aren’t all that exciting, his current form surely is. He’s one of the rare Bangladesh batsmen who can start strongly even after the ball gets old, and has the ability to hit the long ball against both fast bowlers and spinners. The key to his success will be the number at which he bats. Currently he’s pencilled in to bat at six, which in my opinion is at least two spots too low. He should be either batting ahead or between both Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib.*stats updated till March 4, 2016

Brendon McCullum is a New Zealand icon because he’s equal parts good bloke, straight shooter and gambler – not an untouchable deity but rather the guy from two doors down

Paul Ford19-Feb-2016Brendon McCullum’s international cricket career comes to an end in a sliver of Christchurch cricket heaven, an oasis for our great game in a small pocket of the 164-hectare public park that is Hagley Oval.It’s appropriate that the park is for the people, because McCullum is a cricket fan’s cricketer – a man of the people. He’s the kid from King’s High School, South Dunedin – a place that is heartland New Zealand and a place where you play rugby, drink beer and don’t cry. McCullum is a product of his environment.He was a bloody good footy player, famously reprimanded for heading off to club rugby training after he had been named in the Black Caps for the first time. The reprimander? Mr Rhythm and Swing himself, Sir Richard Hadlee, chairman of selectors.He loves a beer. Or three. He is not the type of bloke you would expect to be popping the corks on a Dom Perignon and mowing into a super bowl of caviar. You get the feeling it’d suit him best if there was a telly with the Wingatui horse races on, somewhere close to that trio of beers too.He doesn’t cry. When he compiled the greatest New Zealand Test innings of all time that overcast day at the Basin Reserve, slashing a Zaheer Khan delivery to the third-man fence to surpass 300, he didn’t break down at the time or in the aftermath. Emotions in check – like the typical Kiwi bloke, stoked inside, proud as punch, but not revealing much on the outside. When asked if he got a bit misty-eyed, McCullum replied: “Nah, no tear in the eye. I’m from south Dunedin.”McCullum has become an iconic figure in New Zealand because of the way he plays the game and his reputation for being equal parts good bloke, straight shooter and gambler. He has not become an untouchable deity but is rather the guy from two doors down who knows how to swing a bat and is not prepared to die wondering.There is a dichotomy: McCullum is an intriguing, compelling character and a magnet for attention, but not an attention-seeker. He has also shown he is not afraid to stand up for himself when things overstep his line of reasonableness and call his integrity into question. The post-Taylor Parker Posse captaincy fiasco and the Cairns court case are two examples where he was prepared to endure off-field headlines and gossip because he saw it as the right thing to do.We love McCullum because he plays cricket like a backyard cricketer. A backyard cricketer with extraordinary hand-to-eye and possibly the most effective proprioceptors of all time. He is a freak.But more than just a freakishly good cricketer – we’ve had these before in our black caps and coloured pyjamas – McCullum has managed to connect with people. Credit here must go to the people around him, most notably coach Mike Hesson and manager Mike Sandle. They’ve let Brendon be Brendon. He is down to earth, but not devoid of personality. He is a swashbuckling cricketer who plays aggressively but he is no “bad boy”. He loves to win but won’t throw his toys if he loses trying to get there. We like that.

He loves a beer. Or three. He is not the type of bloke you would expect to be popping the corks on a Dom Perignon and mowing into a super bowl of caviar

When he took over the reins from Ross Taylor in controversial circumstances, he soon showed a trait unusual in highly paid, successful sportspeople: self-awareness. The cathartic moment was in the wake of the 45-all-out degradation in South Africa in 2012. Since that annihilation he has spoken about the fact that New Zealand fans can cope with their national XI losing but they could never embrace a team of “overpaid, under-delivering, lazy prima donnas”. McCullum put himself in that category, and set about the panelbeating required to put that right.His New Zealand team has subsequently become an awful team to play against – combining human decency and respect for opposition with relentlessly positive cricket and an absolute refusal to give up easily.On his watch, we see a New Zealand team prepared to damage limbs to stop a ball from crossing the boundary rope, and we see a team that plays the game with the same joy that emanates from kids playing cricket on Saturday mornings.The McCullum reign has been the catalyst for a fantastic renaissance in New Zealand cricket. As Sonia Gray put it so simply, translating Neil Manthorp: “Right here, right now, we are in a golden era for New Zealand Cricket. What a disaster it would be if we finally reached Peak Black Cap and failed to recognise it until it was over.”These are the halcyon days of New Zealand cricket, so we need to celebrate them and acknowledge that a little bloke from South Dunedin has played a critical role in making this happen.

West Indies and England have been explosive with the bat in this tournament, but West Indies’ spinners have done far better than England’s

S Rajesh02-Apr-20169-4 West Indies’ head-to-head advantage in T20Is against England; it’s the most games West Indies have won against any opposition, and the most England have lost against a team. In World T20s, West Indies have a clean 4-0 record against England, including a six-wicket win earlier in this edition.0 Number of times West Indies have batted first in this tournament: they have chased all five times, winning four of those games and losing once, to Afghanistan. England, on the other hand, have won two out of three games batting first, and two out of two while chasing. West Indies have also won the toss in every game in this tournament, while Eoin Morgan has got it right three out of five times.9.12 England’s run rate in this World T20 – they are the only team to average more than nine per over. Since the start of the Super 10s, the next best are South Africa with 8.78, while West Indies are fifth with a run rate of 7.78. As a bowling unit, though, England’s economy rate of 8.68 is the worst among all teams, while West Indies are second best at 7.41, next only to New Zealand’s 6.59. In terms of difference between run rate and economy rate in this tournament, though, there isn’t much to choose between the two finalists.

Eng and WI in the tournament so far

Team W/ L Bat ave RR Bowl ave ER RR-EREngland 4/ 1 31.57 9.12 25.84 8.68 0.44West Indies 4/ 1 29.84 7.78 23.15 7.41 0.3736 Sixes for West Indies in this tournament, the highest among all teams since the start of the Super 10s; England are next with 34, and these are the only two teams with 30-plus sixes during this period.33.85 England’s dot-ball percentage, which is lower than all teams except South Africa (33.48) since the start of the Super 10s. West Indies’ dot percentage of 45.44 is the highest.65.34 Percentage of runs scored in boundaries by West Indies, the highest among all teams; England are next at 62.93. Among the players expected in the starting line-ups on Sunday, eight batsmen across the two teams have scored 50-plus runs with a boundary percentage of more than 60: Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Alex Hales. Joe Root, the second-highest run-scorer in this tournament after Virat Kohli (since the Super 10s), has scored 56.4% of his runs in fours and sixes.

Dots and boundaries for Eng and WI

Bat team 4s/ 6s Boundary % Dot %England 78/ 34 62.93 33.85West Indies 61/ 36 65.34 45.445.73 The economy rate for West Indies’ spinners in this tournament, the best among all teams since the start of the Super 10s. England’s spinners have an economy rate of 9.36, which is the worst. No other team has had spinners conceding more than eight per over. West Indies’ spinners have averaged 21.36 runs per wicket, compared to England’s average of 31.22.5.68 Samuel Badree’s economy rate in this tournament, which is third among the 34 bowlers who have bowled at least 12 overs since the start of the Super 10 stage. Sulieman Benn is fifth on the list, with an economy rate of 5.78.

Pace and spin for Eng and WI

PaceSpinTeamWktsAveERWktsAveEREngland2027.858.17931.229.36West Indies1630.628.301121.365.739.50 England’s run rate in the Powerplays, the best among all teams in this tournament. They have struck 38 fours and seven sixes during this period, and averaged a boundary every four balls. West Indies have averaged 6.46 runs per over in the Powerplays, with a boundary every 5.4 balls.8.46 England’s economy rate in the middle overs (6.1 to 15.0), the poorest among all teams since the start of the Super 10s. West Indies’ rate of 6.24 is second only to New Zealand. England’s two spinners, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, have a combined economy rate of 8.66 in the middle overs (9 for 234 in 27 overs), while Benn and Badree have a combined economy rate of 5.26 (7 for 121 in 23 overs). Badree has outstanding figures of 5 for 45 from eight overs during this period.12.27 England’s run rate in the last five overs, also the best among all teams in this tournament. Buttler has scored 91 from 41 in the last five, Moeen 47 from 28, Morgan 36 from 20, and Root 35 from 18.

Eng and WI with bat and ball, in each phase during the WT20

BattingBowlingOversTeamAverageRun rateAverageEcon rate0.1 to 6.0England31.669.5027.888.36West Indies26.126.9627.127.236.1 to 15.0England30.097.3531.758.46West Indies34.907.7525.546.2415.1 to 20England33.5012.2718.419.53West Indies26.859.0218.699.722 Wins each for the teams batting first and the teams chasing in four matches at the Eden Gardens in this tournament. Pakistan and New Zealand beat Bangladesh after batting first, while India and Sri Lanka chased successfully against Pakistan and Afghanistan. Both the night games here were won by the teams chasing, while the afternoon matches were won by the teams batting first.

Regardless of how wet the ball became, India’s self-inflicted errors were crucial as they could not halt West Indies’ power-packed line-up

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Mumbai31-Mar-20162:38

Match Day – Ashwin no-ball the turning point

If the World T20 has taught us anything, it has taught us that Virat Kohli loves running twos. After Thursday’s semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium, he had hit 24 twos in the tournament. No other batsman had come remotely close to his total: daylight was second, and Tamim Iqbal next on 15. Tamim, unlike Kohli, had been involved in first-round action. Of batsmen whose tournaments began with the Super 10 phase, Shoaib Malik had hit the most twos apart from Kohli: 10.Over the course of his unbeaten 47-ball 89 on Thursday, Kohli hit 10 twos. Ajinkya Rahane, who hit seven, and MS Dhoni, who hit a two and a three in a nine-ball innings, were not too far behind. Twitter was abuzz with refrains along the lines of “twos are the new fours and sixes”.Kohli’s penchant for knocking the ball into gaps and running like the wind isn’t a fetish, of course. He doesn’t think that two twos are better than a cover drive smashed to the boundary, or that three twos are better than a slog-sweep launched over it. He simply realises that being aware of the field and running hard is a great way to score quickly off good balls, and score quickly even if he doesn’t face too many bad balls.West Indies’ bowlers, for the most part, did not feed Kohli bad balls. Until the start of the 17th over, he had only hit four fours in 31 balls. By and large, they packed the leg-side boundary to him, bowled straight-ish lines, and varied their pace cleverly.They also made Rahane work for his runs. Right from the start of his innings, he had kept an eye on the big gap between long-on and deep square leg while facing the spinners. Both Samuel Badree and Sulieman Benn bowled to him without anyone back at deep midwicket, and Rahane sat deep in his crease, waiting for anything short to pull past or over the short midwicket fielder.The wait was largely fruitless. He hit a couple of marginally short balls – one from Badree, one from Benn – to the left of short midwicket, and long-on was able to run around and keep it down to two runs on both occasions. Rahane received one proper long-hop – from Badree in the tenth over – and he duly smashed it for four. Otherwise, Benn and Badree bowled an immaculate length to him, and bowled at a pace that didn’t allow him to step out of his crease and hit them over midwicket or extra cover.Rahane’s pull off Badree was the second and last boundary of a 35-ball innings. The first had come off an outside edge that flew over short third man.The bulk of India’s boundaries in the first 16 overs came off the bat of Rohit Sharma. Rohit is the closest India have to the six-hitting ability that runs through the West Indies’ line-up, but even his boundaries, for the most part, came off two bad overs in the Powerplay, one from Benn and one from Andre Russell.The Wankhede Stadium pitch was the flattest India had played on all tournament, but even then they were being made to work hard for most of their runs: it wasn’t as if they could simply show up and smash it to all parts.Jasprit Bumrah could not help pull the game out of the fire on this occasion•Associated PressIndia’s bowlers did not return the favour when West Indies batted. The early going was great, as Chris Gayle and then Marlon Samuels fell cheaply, but slowly cracks began to appear in India’s bowling discipline.At the post-match press conference, Dhoni said the onset of dew had made his bowlers’ jobs difficult, and that West Indies had gained a crucial advantage by winning the toss and chasing. He said the only thing that had disappointed him about India’s performance was the fact that they had Lendl Simmons’ wicket chalked off twice for overstepping, R Ashwin and Hardik Pandya the offending bowlers.”When [West Indies] started batting, the first few overs were fine, but after that there was a considerable amount of dew which meant the spinner couldn’t bowl how they would have liked to,” he said. “It was coming on nicely and the ball was getting wet, so that was the difference between the first innings and second innings. The surface had some assistance for the spinners [in the first innings], it was gripping, but in the second innings there wasn’t much in it for them.”It’s one thing for dew to make it easier for batsmen to hit good balls to the boundary. It’s quite another when a bowler like Ravindra Jadeja, who has experienced dewy conditions plenty of times in his career, bowls three wide half-volleys in two overs. Jadeja, after all, has made a career out of bowling stump-to-stump; in that sense, he is the closest bowler India have to Badree. And Jadeja didn’t just bowl full and wide; he bowled full and wide with no protection for that kind of delivery. Dhoni had given him an unusual field: cover point was inside the circle, extra cover was back on the rope. With no one sweeping on the square boundary, Simmons flayed all three balls for four.When Jadeja came back for his final over, West Indies had more or less sealed the deal, needing only 20 from the last two overs. This time, Dhoni set a field for bowling wide of off stump, with deep point, deep cover and long-off guarding the off-side boundary, and square leg moving inside the circle. The wide line, however, meant the batsmen would have plenty of room to free their arms if he lost his length, and Russell swung him down the ground for a big six to silence the Wankhede, following it up with an unstoppable drive that easily bisected deep point and deep cover.Jadeja went for 48 in his four overs. Pandya was the next-most expensive bowler, going for 43. Even on India’s best days, Pandya is perhaps the weak link of their bowling attack. He had bowled the last over in India’s last-gasp win over Bangladesh, but it was a poor over to tell the truth. It had taken brain-fades from two of Bangladesh’s most experienced batsmen for India to win that game. Against West Indies, on a much flatter surface, Pandya’s wayward lines and lengths were cruelly exposed.Johnson Charles is perhaps the most limited batsman in West Indies’ line-up: his game revolves almost entirely around clearing his front leg and swatting the ball into the on side. Of the 52 runs he made on Thursday, 42 came through the leg side. Pandya kept bowling short to Charles, and was pulled – off front foot and back – for three fours in his first three overs. When Russell replaced Charles at the wicket, Pandya kept bowling short, and the ball kept sitting up. Russell flat-batted one of these short balls between mid-off and extra cover, and clubbed another up into the second tier behind cow corner.Given how much he was spraying the ball around, Dhoni’s continued use of Pandya was puzzling. Ashwin only bowled two overs, and Dhoni later put this down to the extent of dew on the surface, but surely someone with Ashwin’s experience could have been counted on to bowl tighter, particularly in the middle overs, than a newbie medium-pacer with an iffy radar?In the end, the scorecard told the story. West Indies hit 20 fours and 11 sixes. India hit 17 fours and four sixes. Some of this was down to the edge West Indies have over India in power hitting, but a lot of it was down to how loosely India bowled. It was an off day for India’s bowling attack after three months of exceeding expectations, an off day that happened to coincide with a semi-final.