Stats highlights of Narine’s T20 career in which he will play his 500th game on Friday

Sampath Bandarupalli28-Mar-20241:37

Narine’s ‘amazing’ journey to 500 T20s

3 – Players before Sunil Narine to feature in 500-plus T20 matches. Kieron Pollard leads the list with 660 appearances, while Dwayne Bravo (573) and Shoaib Malik (542) are next.536 – Wickets for Narine in T20s are the third-most behind Bravo’s 625 and Rashid Khan’s 566 scalps. Imran Tahir (502) is the only other bowler with 500-plus T20 wickets.6.10 – Narine’s career economy rate is the second-best among the 309 players who have bowled 2000-plus balls in men’s T20s. Only Samuel Badree is ahead of Narine, with an economy rate of 6.08 in his 197-match T20 career.1 – Narine’s economy rate (7.18) in the death overs (17-20) is the best among those who have bowled 600-plus balls in men’s T20s (where ball-by-ball data is available). Narine’s economy rate of 6.08 in the first six overs is the second-best among the bowlers with 1200-plus balls, behind only Bhuvneshwar Kumar (6.00).30 – Maiden overs bowled by Narine are the most for any bowler in men’s T20s. Narine’s tally does not include the Super Over he bowled in the 2014 CPL match for Guyana Amazon Warriors against Nicholas Pooran and Ross Taylor while defending 11.9 – Narine dismissed both Shane Watson and Rohit Sharma on nine occasions each. Only one other bowler has dismissed a batter nine or more times in men’s T20s – Bravo, who claimed Kieron Pollard’s wicket on ten instances.10 – Batters dismissed by Narine on five or more instances in T20s, including Watson and Rohit. Sohail Tanvir (seven), Evin Lewis (six), Chris Gayle (six), Martin Guptill (six), Chadwick Walton (five), Rovman Powell (five), Dwayne Smith (five) and Ambati Rayudu (five) are the other batters he dismissed five or more times. R Ashwin (eight) is second on the list for dismissing most batters on five or more occasions in men’s T20s.

Sutherland’s double-century also breaks a number of records

Sampath Bandarupalli16-Feb-2024210 Annabel Sutherland has the second-highest individual score for Australia in women’s Tests, behind Ellyse Perry’s unbeaten 213 against England in 2017. It is also the fourth-highest individual score in all women’s Tests.1 Sutherland became the first to score a double-century while batting at No.5 or lower in women’s Tests. The previous highest while batting at No.5 or lower was 161* by Emily Drumm against Australia in 1995, while the highest at No.6 was 150 by Marizanne Kapp against England in 2022.248 Balls Sutherland needed to complete her double-century, the fastest in women’s Tests. The previous quickest was off 305 balls by Karen Rolton against England in 2001, where she scored an unbeaten 209.Related

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22y 126d Sutherland’s age coming into the Test match. She is now the second youngest among the nine players to score a double-century in women’s Tests, behind Mithali Raj, who was 19 years and 254 days old at the start of the 2002 Test in Taunton.1 Number of players younger than Sutherland with home and away tons in women’s Tests. Drumm had centuries at home and away in the format before she turned 22. Sutherland’s maiden hundred came away from home at Trent Bridge last year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd575 for 9 Australia’s total in Perth is now the highest by any team in women’s Tests. The record for the highest women’s Test total was with Australia for their 525 all out against India in 1984 till they themselves bettered in 1998 with 569 for 6 against England, and now they’ve topped that again.499 Australia’s first-innings lead in Perth is the highest for any team in a women’s Test match. The previous highest was 459 for England, who made 503 for 5 in response to New Zealand’s 44 all out in the 1935 Christchurch Test.81 Boundaries hit by Australian batters against South Africa are the most in a women’s Test innings. Their 78 fours are the most in an innings, surpassing England’s 72 against South Africa in 2003, while their three sixes are the joint-most.99 Alyssa Healy’s score – she is only the fifth player dismissed on 99 in women’s Tests. Four of those five instances are by Australians.

Kathryn Bryce and Vishmi Gunaratne tell the Powerplay podcast what it means to qualify

ESPNcricinfo staff08-May-2024Scotland captain Kathryn Bryce and Vishmi Gunaratne of Sri Lanka talk to Firdose Moonda and Valkerie Baynes about what it means to qualify for the T20 Women’s World Cup in Bangladesh in October.

The opener was on a run-a-ball 25 before finishing on 81 off 56 to help South Africa notch up their first win on the tour

Srinidhi Ramanujam06-Jul-2024Tazmin Brits wanted to smash the leather off the ball. But she couldn’t find the gears for it when she started in the first T20I against India alongside Laura Wolvaardt.She scored a match-winning 81 off 56 balls, but if one had watched only the first half of her innings, it would have felt like Brits was playing an ODI, despite it being a batting-friendly surface at Chepauk.It took her nine balls to get off the mark and she had moved to a run-a-ball 25 at the end of ten overs. At the other end, Wolvaardt was batting freely, and Marizanne Kapp attacked from the get-go. Brits struggled. Against Pooja Vastrakar in the seamer’s first over, she swung and missed, she was beaten on a loose drive, she toe-ended a heave to mid-on after charging down, she was beaten outside off while looking to go big. Brits just couldn’t get it right.Related

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Having recovered from a knee injury, Brits was playing her first T20I in three months. She had scored 61 runs in the three ODIs earlier in Bengaluru. She missed the one-off Test with an illness. This wasn’t going well either, but she managed to “shift the game a bit”, and it was possible because of advice from Wolvaardt and Kapp.”Kappie just said to me: ‘you are leaning back, your base isn’t strong enough – you maybe should just move your head a bit more forward’,” Brits, the Player of the Match, said after the game. “I was feeling like I was doing that, but if you look at the replays, I was leaning back a lot, so it didn’t allow me to free my hands. I was tucking myself up a bit, and the same thing with Wolf [Wolvaardt]. She said: ‘just stay in there; it’s going to come’.”It’s one thing to know what the flaw is and quite another to rectify it immediately in a T20 game. But Brits is a fighter.Six years after she missed the chance to take part in the 2012 London Olympics as a javelin thrower following a road accident, Brits – who has the Olympic rings tattooed on her right biceps – made her T20I debut for South Africa. Twenty-one days before the next Olympics, her resilience was on display again in front of a 12,000-strong crowd, far away from Paris.

“You got to be fearless. Everyone always says that but to actually do that in a game is always difficult. You fear getting dropped. So you play within yourself”Tazmin Brits

At the halfway mark, South Africa were 78 for 1. They scored 111 runs in the last ten overs with 56 of those coming off Brits’ bat.It began with her coming down the track to a flighted delivery from Asha Sobhana and smashing it over long-on for her first six. That was in the 11th over. In the following over, bowled by Radha Yadav, she muscled one over midwicket while maintaining a still base. Then came Vastrakar, who had conceded just three runs in her first two overs, for the 16th. But this time, Brits’ power game, married with timing, brought her a one-bounce four over extra cover, and with that, her tenth T20I half-century, off 40 balls.”We got into a bit of a hole with the ODIs and coming back from a knee injury and not getting runs…” Brits said. “If you don’t get runs, you’re not doing your job. I tried to hit the ball too hard in the first few overs. I wanted to hit the leather off the ball, maybe send the ball back to South Africa. But I wasn’t getting good positions. There’s a lot of basic things I should have looked at now that I think about it. But we’re human. We struggle. So when you struggle, you got to try to find a way out.”The real fun began after her fifty. That she got a life after being dropped by Richa Ghosh on 50 also helped. But her bat-swing became more refined, evident in the way she tonked Radha for two back-to-back sixes in the 17th over before using her strong wrists to collect two fours off Deepti Sharma in the 18th. This included a reverse hit through to the deep-third boundary.Laura Wolvaardt’s advice helped Brits switch gears•BCCIThen came the final part of the battle between Vastrakar and Brits. In the last over of the innings, Brits crouched low to Vastrakar’s bouncer and pulled it behind square while falling over. On the next delivery, the final ball of the innings, Vastrakar got the better of her as she holed out to long-on but not before Brits had notched up her career-best score in the format.”You got to be fearless. Everyone always says that but to actually do that in a game is always difficult,” Brits said. “You fear getting dropped. So you play within yourself. But we’ve made like a bond between the batters that we’re going to go hard no matter what. We have to represent our badge and we have to win the World Cup, so we’ve got to trust the process.”It does hurt when India beat us 3-0 [in the ODIs]. But at the end of the day, that’s where you rise, and that’s where you become champions. Your mentality needs to shift. You can’t sit in the corner for too long. If you sit in the corner too long, the game might just go by.”South Africa have won just five of their last 14 completed T20Is. But going by Friday night’s evidence, if Brits is consistent with her opening act, she could well be the point of difference at the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh later this year.

Numbers show us that Pakistan has served up some of the flattest pitches in the world since Test cricket returned to the country

Shiva Jayaraman12-Oct-20241:45

What can Pakistan change to avoid another mauling?

Pakistan’s capitulation with the bat on the fourth day in Multan and England’s massive win at the end of it shouldn’t obscure the fact that, as a host nation, Pakistan has produced some of the flattest pitches in Test cricket in recent times. England’s record-breaking total of 823 in Multan and the 1379 runs scored in the first two innings of the Test stand testimony to that.Since December 2019, when Test cricket returned to Pakistan, bowlers have averaged nearly 40 runs per wicket there. This is comfortably the poorest in the world and five runs more than Sri Lanka, the second-poorest where bowlers have averaged 34.25.However, things have taken a turn for the worse for bowlers since Pakistan’s home series against Australia in early 2022. Wickets have come at 42.13 runs apiece since then. Again, the worst that bowlers have averaged in any country, but the gap between them and Sri Lanka has increased. While, Pakistan has added two runs to the bowlers’ average, Sri Lanka has moved fractionally from 34.25 to 34.76.Related

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It emerged that, in that series against Australia, Pakistan had wanted to prepare pitches that offered little to no help for the Australia fast bowlers. But the juggernaut hasn’t come to a stop yet.Since March 2022, Pakistan has hosted 14 totals of 400 or more in just 42 Test innings – he highest in any country in this period. The second most – 12 – have come in England, but that’s over 76 innings. While in England, one 400-plus total has come every 6.3 innings, in Pakistan it’s happened once every three innings.In the same period, teams have scored 500-plus runs seven times in Pakistan – also the most in any country. Out of the five 600-plus totals since March 2022, three have come in Pakistan. Sri Lanka is the only other country where teams have scored in excess of 600 runs.

The South Africa allrounder has played an important role with the ball as a final tussle for the knockouts looms

Firdose Moonda12-Oct-20244:48

Takeaways: Mlaba too quick, South Africa too good for stifled West Indies

The beats that bring out the best in players at this World Cup include Lady Gaga’s , which was the tonic that turned West Indies around after their opening defeat and inspired two big wins, Punjabi music in the Pakistan camp that even has the injured Diana Baig dancing and a proverbial mix-tape of Afrikaans music and Amapiano – a mix of house, electronic, jazz and soul – that keeps South Africa’s squad connected.”We have a team playlist that we put together and we ask girls to add their music in, so we have a lot of music that we listen to and learn what kind of music everyone likes,” Chloe Tryon told ESPNcricinfo in Dubai. “I absolutely love it. It’s so nice to have a diverse team and I feel like we get along really well. We’ve gelled really well as a group in the last couple of months.”Related

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South Africa’s team spirit has not gone unnoticed at this tournament and squad members are regularly asked what it means for them to represent the country that have been in the last two T20 World Cup finals (at the women’s 2023 and men’s 2024 tournament) but have never won the trophy. They are serial semi-finalists and on track to qualify for another knockout but need a big win over Bangladesh and to keep an eye on Tuesday’s match between West Indies and England to secure their spots, and then things will really get serious.Expectation always stalks South Africa and, more so, their senior players at big tournaments, as Tryon is finding out.She is one of five South Africans to play 100 T20Is – three of them are at this event – and is playing her seventh World Cup. But she has yet to fire, especially with the bat, and hopes the time for big-hitting finishers like herself, is still coming.”On these wickets, when you come in to bat, you need to take a couple of balls to get yourself in. And as finishers, we can say that it hasn’t been that easy,” she said. “But our batting coach [Baakier Abrahams] spoke to us about out making an impact whenever get in, so I’m still playing really positively.”Chloe Tryon’s main impact has been with the ball•ICC/Getty ImagesTryon has been dismissed for 2 in each of her two innings at the tournament so far but has looked as though she wanted to maximise the limited opportunities she’s had at the crease. Against England, she was in during the 16th over as South Africa looked to push towards 140. She was aggressive from the second ball she faced when she got forward to Sophie Ecclestone and then charged Charlie Dean off the fifth ball, missed and was bowled. Against Scotland, she was in the 18th over, with South Africa two away from 150 and pushing for a big score. She started playing her shots from ball one, hitting to midwicket, then long-off, then swinging and eventually skying one to long-on.The slowness of the surfaces and the amount of pace-off bowling has meant batters have had to be innovative about run-scoring. The sweep shot has been one way of doing that, as players have struggled to get another ball, and for Tryon, strike rotation is another option.”As a finisher, you kind of have to back yourself from ball one and look at the options. With the outfields quite big as well, running hard between the wickets is something we’ve been doing really well,” she said. “And I think it’s about being a lot more proactive at the crease. If I’m going to sweep first ball, I need to be really confident and have to back myself to do that.”For now, that has happened more from a bowling perspective for Tryon. She has found herself in a slightly different role of operating in the powerplay, and in the last two games before fellow left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba. Both have been working with CSA’s spin-bowling coach Paul Adams – Mlaba on varying her pace, and Tryon with angling the ball in – using weighted balls to align themselves correctly. In Tryon’s case, it’s helped with her action and to make her more attacking.”As a spinner, you kind of have to get your hips over the front foot and when I first started, I was quite flat-footed and I’d fall to the side quite a bit,” she said. “So Paul spoke about that hip drive, going over the front leg and getting a really good motion into the ball. The more I started doing it, the more the motion felt really good and natural. And then obviously, there’s my variations. Paul has been helping me with getting it to angle in a lot more because on these wickets you can cramp the batter which I think is a good thing to do. It helps to have those options.”South Africa also have choice when it comes to the type of bowlers they want to use, including a reinvented Sune Luus. The former captain turned to offspin from legspin, after losing her confidence with the latter and identifying where South Africa had a gap. “I’m happy she took on the challenge of bowling offspin,” Tryon said. “It gives another option, especially with match-ups, whether it’s a left-hand batter or something like that.”South Africa have the chance to reach another semi-final•ICC/Getty ImagesWith 18-year old legspinner Seshnie Naidu on the bench, alongside two other seamers in Tumi Sekhukhune and Ayanda Hlubi, South Africa have all their bases covered but have, so far, opted to go batting-heavy into games. They use to Nadine de Klerk at No. 8 which, in the absence of runs from Tryon, and to an extent Luus, has papered over most cracks.”We have a long batting line-up which is something we haven’t had for a really long time,” Tryon said. “Since the last World Cup, we’ve got a lot more depth with the bat, which is important.”The last World Cup was the home tournament where South Africa enjoyed a dream run to the final. Tryon was part of that squad and “happy that in my career, I could play a home tournament and be part of a team that did that.” She believes this group can repeat the feat and perhaps go further because despite a string of results that saw South Africa fail to win a series between the end of the last World Cup and their trip to Pakistan last month, she feels they have a collective spirit.”Whenever we walk out there, we want to do our best, for South Africa and for our family and our friends. We just want to go out there and make them proud and bring the nation together; pull them close together. We know sport brings a lot of people together, and we just want to do that.”As for the music Tryon’s personal choices include “a little bit of R&B and some hip-hop,” which she thinks “everyone likes a bit of,” and a glimpse at her Instagram also shows she’s got some singing skills. There’s a little of Beyonce from her time with the Mumbai Indians at the WPL and some Flo Rida from CSA’s annual awards. The South African national football and rugby teams are known to sing in the tunnel as motivation before they walk out onto the field. Do the women’s cricket team do the same?”We just sing on the bus,” Tryon said. “Just some good Adele songs.”And Tryon is not expecting anyone to go easy on her.

The ECB hoped for better, but will the 2024 edition prove enough to entice the investors?

Matt Roller19-Aug-2024This was not a vintage year for the Hundred, just as it has not been a vintage English cricketing summer. The season’s main event – the men’s T20 World Cup – happened overseas, the touring men’s Test teams are ranked No. 7 and 8 in the world, and the Olympics and football’s European Championship have dominated the attention of general sports fans.For the ECB, the 2024 instalment of their shiny new thing has been about consolidation and proof of concept. They will hope that the prospective investors in hospitality suites across the finals weekend were engaged enough by some tense knockout games that they paid scant attention to declines in scoring rates and crowd numbers which defined the rest of the season.The sales process will officially get underway next month, with stakes of 49% or more in each franchise on offer. The stated aim is to “take the competition to the next level” – most obviously, by staving off competition from overseas leagues for the best players in the world through higher wages – with the proceeds shared across English cricket.Official figures showed a seven percent decline in ticket sales from 2023, from 580,000 to 540,000, most obviously outside of London. Between them, Lord’s and The Oval hosted 10 matchdays out of 34 but contributed around 46% of the Hundred’s total attendance this year: no wonder London Spirit and Oval Invincibles are expected to be the most sought-after franchises.Rob Hillman, the ECB’s director of major events, said the board were “immensely proud” of the Hundred’s fourth season, citing record-breaking attendances at women’s fixtures. “We look forward to seeing how it grows in the future and how we build on these foundations as we seek partners to help make the Hundred even bigger and better,” Hillman said.The women’s tournament remains some way ahead of the men’s in its status relative to the global game. “I can’t speak highly enough of how it’s put the women’s game on the map,” said Heather Knight, whose London Spirit side won their first title. “You look at the crowd and it’s so different to what you’d see at a men’s Test match… it’s brought different people to the women’s game.”The cricket itself was a mixed bag. The first week of the men’s competition suffered on account of clashes with Major League Cricket and England’s third Test against West Indies. That was compounded further by Jos Buttler’s calf injury, which deprived the Hundred of its best player and badly exposed Manchester Originals’ previous reliance on his runs.A batch of balls that swung and seamed early on, combined with indifferent pitches and heavy investment by teams into their bowling attacks prompted a sharp decline in scoring rates: around 14 runs per 100 balls in the men’s competition, and seven per 100 balls in the women’s. It brought bowlers back into the game – but probably too much so for casual followers.Nicholas Pooran arrived without luggage for his first game but found form for Northern SuperchargersThe success of Oval Invincibles – back-to-back champions, three defeats in two seasons – has benefitted the men’s tournament as a whole, with their focus on continuity in recruitment helping them to create an identity as a side. In the women’s game, the best stories were Welsh Fire’s resurgence and the unexpected struggles of Southern Brave, whose title defence culminated in a wooden spoon.The overlap with MLC caused a swathe of farcical one-match signings: Mohammad Amir bowled 15 of the first 20 balls in the men’s competition, then flew straight to Canada’s Global T20. Nicholas Pooran, the top draft pick, arrived with his luggage stuck in transit after a night on a transatlantic flight, then made 10 off 15 balls using a borrowed bat on Northern Superchargers debut.The women’s competition proved that investment can attract the world’s best players, with a 60% increase in top salaries tempting Meg Lanning and Ash Gardner to feature for the first time. Annabel Sutherland, another top-bracket £50,000 signing, was named MVP after starring with bat and ball for the Superchargers.But this season was a reminder that short-form leagues live or die on the quality of domestic players as much as their overseas stars. Lanning’s involvement was a major coup but she averaged 17 with a single half-century; Pooran batted brilliantly after his false start, but Andre Russell earned nearly £1,400 per run during an abject season for London Spirit’s men.Related

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There were only four overseas players in the men’s final, with Spencer Johnson injured and Andre Fletcher running the drinks for Southern Brave. But there were still 15 players with international caps involved in a high-quality game. “Our domestic pool of players is phenomenal,” said Sam Billings, the winning captain. “The standard is only second to the IPL.”England player availability is just as – if not more – important than that of overseas players, so Ben Stokes’ hamstring tear in his fifth-ever Superchargers game was a PR disaster. The ECB responded by resting Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson ahead of the Sri Lanka Tests; next year, the Hundred has a clear run from early August, starting immediately after India’s tour.The public response to Stokes’ injury underlined the fact that the tournament remains hugely unpopular in some quarters. “There’s a few Lancs fans who want me burned at the stake,” Keaton Jennings said – perhaps only half-joking – having captained them at the start of the Metro Bank Cup only to sign a replacement deal with London Spirit a few days later.The imminent sale means nobody knows exactly what the 2025 season will look like. “It is a huge unknown, of course,” Billings said. “There will be big change.” Any alterations to team names or salaries may wait until 2026, as details of investments are finalised: “We are going to take our time in order to make sure that we get to the right decisions,” Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, said.The Hundred is now four years old and for all the division that it has caused, it has shown signs of delivering on two of its core objectives: accelerating the growth of the women’s game, and attracting new fans to cricket. This winter’s sale process will dictate whether it can achieve a third, and its biggest yet: underpinning the sport’s financial future in England and Wales.

Usually one for few words and fewer expressions, Varun looked to be in a state of contentment on Sunday, even affording a smile

Hemant Brar07-Oct-20243:12

Takeaways: Mayank and Varun too hot to handle for Bangladesh

Varun Chakravarthy comes across as a man of few words and fewer emotions. At pre- or post-match chats in the IPL, the broadcasters have to work hard to extract words from him. In a world where many bowlers have signature celebrations – think Imran Tahir’s run to the boundary, Kevin Sinclair’s somersault, or Tabraiz Shamsi’s shoe-call – Varun’s is hard to recall.But after his 3 for 31 against Bangladesh in the first T20I in Gwalior, Varun confessed to being emotional. Representing India after three years, he said: “It feels like a rebirth.”Those who have worked with Varun closely say he is “intense and takes things very seriously”. The world saw a glimpse of it in June. After being left out of India’s T20I squad for the five-match series in Zimbabwe, he took to Instagram to share his frustration: “I wish I had a paid PR agency!!!!!!”Related

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Varun had last played for India in 2021, so it might seem he was nowhere in the picture. But this was India’s second-string squad, picked right after the T20 World Cup. A cycle had completed and the selectors were keen to try fresh faces. Many, including Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Tushar Deshpande, were rewarded for their stellar performances in IPL 2024.Varun had an equally compelling case. He was the second-highest wicket-taker in the IPL with 21 scalps in 15 games, playing a key role in Kolkata Knight Riders’ title run. In a tournament where the overall economy was 9.56, he was frugal at 8.04. A season before that, he had taken 20 wickets in 14 games at an economy of 8.14. His frustration, therefore, was understandable.Varun had made his T20I debut for India in 2021. After only three games, he was named in India’s squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup. It was probably a horses-for-courses selection: the World Cup was in the UAE, and Varun had done well there during IPL 2020 and 2021.Ravi Shastri, then India’s coach, said on air during Sunday’s match that he felt Varun was “a tad nervous”. In the three games at the World Cup, he could not take a single wicket. And after a poor IPL next year, he found himself in the wilderness.There were questions about his fitness, one-dimension-ness, and his mystery being unravelled. But Varun worked on himself. He tinkered with his run-up, tweaked his action, and improved his legbreak. In the last two IPL seasons, no one has taken more wickets than him.All that finally bore fruit when he was selected for the Bangladesh T20Is. Gautam Gambhir, KKR’s mentor last IPL and now India’s head coach, might have had a role in his selection. Either way, Varun did not let him down.Introduced in the fifth over, Varun started with a googly. He could have picked up the wicket of Towhid Hridoy with his second ball but debutant Reddy, running in from deep square leg, lost sight of the ball. Not only did he drop the catch but also let the ball go for four. Varun’s emotions were once again on display as he tried to cover his face with his hands.The next ball was too short and Hridoy pulled it behind square for another boundary. Adding more insult to the injury, Najmul Hossain Shanto reverse-swept the last ball of the over for a flat six. It could have been a fairy-tale comeback for Varun. Instead, his figures at that time read 1-0-15-0.Varun Chakravarthy celebrates the wicket of Towhid Hridoy•BCCI”The catch could have gone my way, but that’s how T20 cricket is played,” he said. “I felt even the reverse sweep was off a good ball, but it went for a six. So that’s how it is. It’s all mixed emotions.”Varun did not have to wait long, however. In his next over, Hridoy attempted another pull. This too was a short ball, but the 98.9kph speed meant it hurried the batter, resulting in an easy catch to long-on.By now, it was clear that the Bangladesh batters were not able to pick his variations. With another googly, he breached Jaker Ali’s defence. In his final over, he had Rishad Hossain top-edging a fast legbreak to deep midwicket to register his best figures in T20Is.”It has been a long three years,” Varun said of his comeback. “Whenever there was a series, I would keep thinking why my name was not there. That kind of motivated me, and I felt I should not leave it like this; I should go all out and try to make a comeback. So I started playing a lot of domestic games and started giving importance to those. All the matches I played was with full intensity. I never thought if it was a lower level or higher level.”During this time, Varun’s family was his biggest support. “They have been through this [with me]; they have been facing all my adverse emotions,” he said. “Other than that, everyone at the Tamil Nadu cricket board, my TNPL team Dindigul Dragons and the IPL team KKR backed me so that I could keep improving my skills.”I used to be a side-spin bowler, but now I have completely shifted to be an over-spin bowler. It is a minute technical aspect of spin bowling and took me more than two years to make the shift. Slowly, slowly I was testing it in the TNPL and then the IPL.”This performance, though, does not mean Varun has cemented his place in the side. Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav are India’s first-choice spinners. Apart from that, there is Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar. But Varun sees this as a healthy competition.”There is good competition and there is good camaraderie also. One person who was cheering me today was Ravi Bishnoi. He was coming in and passing me messages, so I can’t ask for more. And it’s actually good to have such competition so that we keep pushing each other. Someone will be better than others at one point in time and he will definitely get the Cup for India. So this competition is very much needed.”While talking about Bishnoi, Varun briefly had a smile on his face. In his case, that was enough to show he was finally in a state of contentment.

Stats highlights from India’s record stand between Jaiswal and Rahul in the second innings in Perth

Sampath Bandarupalli24-Nov-20241:35

Manjrekar: This is a turning point in Jaiswal’s career

201 Partnership runs between Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, the highest opening stand for India in Tests in Australia. Kris Srikkanth and Sunil Gavaskar held the record previously with their 191-run partnership in Sydney in 1986.6 Opening pairs with a partnership of 200-plus runs in Tests against Australia in Australia, including Jaiswal and Rahul. The previous five such stands were all put up by England’s openers. The last of the previous five was in 1991, a 203-run stand between Graham Gooch and Mike Atherton at the Adelaide Oval.378 Number of balls batted out by the opening pair of Rahul and Jaiswal. It is the second-longest opening stand by a visiting pair in Australia since 1998 (from when complete data is available). Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook batted out 398 balls in the second innings of the 2010 Brisbane Test for their 188-run stand.Related

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3 Opening stands of 200-plus runs for India in their second innings of a Test match, including Jaiswal-Rahul’s effort in Perth. Their previous two came against England – 213 by Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan in 1979 at The Oval and 203 by Vijay Merchant and Mushtaq Ali in Manchester in 1936.4 Number of 150-plus scores for Jaiswal in Tests, the joint-second most by any batter before turning 23. Don Bradman tops the list with five such scores, while Javed Miandad and Graeme Smith also have four 150-plus scores before their 23rd birthday.2 Number of players who have converted each of their first four Test hundreds into 150-plus scores. Graeme Smith and Jaiswal are the two players on the list.Yashasvi Jaiswal walks off after making 161•Getty Images3 Indian batters with three or more 150-plus scores in a calendar year in Tests before Jaiswal in 2024. Sachin Tendulkar (in 2002 and 2004), Virender Sehwag (in 2004 and 2008) and Virat Kohli (in 2016 and 2017) are the other ones.3 Indian men with a century in their maiden Test in Australia, including Jaiswal. ML Jaisimha in 1968 and Sunil Gavaskar in 1977 scored hundreds in India’s second innings in Brisbane during their respective debuts on Australian soil.1 Rahul is the first Indian opener to be part of a century opening stand in Tests in Australia, England and South Africa. Rahul was previously part of a 126-run stand with Rohit Sharma at Lord’s in 2021 and added 117 runs with Mayank Agarwal in Centurion in 2021.7 Batters with a higher individual score than Jaiswal’s 161 in a Test match where they bagged a duck in the first innings. He is only the fourth Indian batter with a 150-plus score and a duck in a Test match.35 Sixes hit by Jaiswal in the 12 Tests he played so far in 2024, the most by any batter in a calendar year in the format. He bettered Brendon McCullum’s record, who hit 33 sixes in nine Tests in 2014.3 Previous instances of the opening partnership in the third innings of a men’s Test match being higher than the team totals in the first innings. The last such instance was by Shan Masood and Abid Ali, who had a 278-run opening stand against Sri Lanka in the 2019 Karachi Test after the first-innings totals of 191 and 271.England’s Graeme Fowler and Chris Tavaré added 223 against New Zealand in 1983 at The Oval, where the first two innings totals were 209 and 196, while Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden put on 242 against West Indies after both teams made 240 in their respective first innings at St John’s in 2003.