He has an enviable ability to dismiss the previous delivery from his mind and it accounts for a lot of his success

Aakash Chopra10-Jan-2022You remember that over from Mohammed Siraj to Dean Elgar in Johannesburg, right? It was a miracle that Elgar didn’t lose his wicket in those six balls, for every delivery seemed to have his name on it. He played and missed, he was hit on the body, and he played and missed some more.Not only did he survive, he didn’t allow that over to dent his resolve to stay in the middle for as long as possible. If South Africa were to pull off a heist at the Wanderers, they needed their captain in the middle till the end. And for that to happen, he had to take a few body blows, and more importantly, find a way as he faced up each time to forget what happened the previous ball.It’s tough to forget what just happened to you. If someone is impolite, the hurt stays with you, and you are filled with joy if someone has been nice to you. If it’s so difficult to not allow trivial things to impact your day-to-day life, imagine how difficult it must be to forget when you’re beaten all ends up multiple times by a similar sort of delivery, or when you’ve been hit on the body. It might be relatively easy to forget the mental scars momentarily – though some might rightfully disagree – but physical hurt is almost impossible to forget, for it really stings.Related

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Elgar soaked in everything – the mental and physical bruises – and played every ball as if it were a brand-new event in a brand-new game. When he hit the winning runs in the Test, it felt like the unfinished business of 2018 was resolved. The pitch at the Wanderers back then was far more torturous, and the Indian attack in that game was a tad more venomous, and while Elgar carried his bat in the second innings then, he couldn’t take his team to victory. This time it was different.South Africa tend to produce gritty left-hand openers who are not really pleasing to the eye: Kepler Wessels, Graeme Smith, Gary Kirsten – and you can add Dean Elgar to that list.Since most bowlers are so used to bowling to right-hand batters, sometimes they find it a little difficult to find effective ways to bowl to left-handers.The first line of attack to Elgar is to stay over the stumps and angle the ball across his body. We have not just seen him play and miss a thousand times, we have also seen the ball find the outside edge. His first dismissal in this series was an outside edge to Jasprit Bumrah in that manner. On that occasion his front foot hardly moved and the ball didn’t move enough to miss the outside edge. But ever since, the Indian bowlers have tried relentlessly to replicate that formula but found little success.

South Africa tend to produce gritty left-hand openers who are not really pleasing to the eye: Kepler Wessels, Graeme Smith, Gary Kirsten – and you can add Dean Elgar to that list

One must wonder: how does Elgar play and miss so many balls without edging? Well, the secret to his batting is to bring the bat down in a very straight path. That is, the downswing of the bat is in a straight line. That way his bat is never angular and the hands are trying to cover for the sideways movement away from him in the air and off the surface. This method is called playing inside the line. Elgar is so committed to it that he hardly hits the ball into the covers off the front foot.Does that mean that bowling over the wicket and taking it across the batter is pointless? Definitely not. This will always remain the fast bowler’s go-to plan against Elgar when the ball is new. Perhaps, though, there’s merit in changing the line a little bit every now and then. Instead of pitching the ball within the stumps and taking it away always, the Indian bowlers could try bringing it back into him from a fourth-stump line. That way, the natural variation of the ball holding its line might take the ball closer to the outside edge. Mohammed Shami is best suited to bowling such a line.The second plan against Elgar is to go round the stumps and bring the ball into him using the angle, but mixing it up with a bouncer or two every over. Elgar doesn’t necessarily take on every bouncer that comes his way, but we have seen him be a little uncomfortable against the bouncer directed at his body, and round the wicket is the perfect angle to exploit that. Once again, since he doesn’t take them on every time, it isn’t guaranteed to succeed, but a mean bouncer is often capable of preventing a batter from committing to playing the next delivery on the front foot. And it works that way with Elgar too, once in a while.These plans may or may not work in Cape Town but one thing is certain: Elgar will start a new innings as if he hasn’t scored a run in the series thus far. Sometimes the best way to wear down such tenacious batters is to meet patience with patience. With Elgar it’s about who blinks first. The Indian bowlers must ensure that they don’t do so.

Released by Notts last year, Compton has made hundreds in each of his first three innings for Kent

David Hopps20-Apr-2022Considering that Ben Compton has already batted for 20 hours and 43 minutes, and faced 918 balls, with the County Championship only two matches old, it would be understandable if casual observers looked at his age of 28 and exclaimed: “Where on earth has he been?”The answer for Neil Burns, who has coached Compton regularly in cricket and life skills, is simple: he has been on the outside, forever knocking on the door of a county system that is so often closed to the late developer.Compton’s extraordinary start to the season has brought a series of records. He became the first Kent batter ever to score hundreds in his first three innings for the county. And his 856 minutes at the crease against Lancashire at Canterbury was unprecedented in the Championship.There has even been a suggestion that when he was the last man out, lbw to George Balderson, and so narrowly failed to bat through in both innings, the umpire apologised for getting it wrong, although it looked a close-run thing.Rejected more times than he cares to remember, Compton has certainly been making up for lost time. Burns, MD of London County Cricket Club, where he offers mentorship in business and sport, feels the county system is at fault.Related

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“I told Ben he had to work very hard because the way the system is designed it is a closed shop,” Burns told ESPNcricinfo. “It is designed to recognise top talent at a young age – the next Joe Root, the next Ian Bell. But you don’t need to find that player – they are a class apart. The real test of a system is whether it helps a player who is not outstanding at a young age to make the cut.”What happens is because lots of money and time, not to say careers, is invested in that academy process, it becomes very exclusive. I’m not saying it is consciously exclusive, but late developers find it harder to break in. Players outside the system get disregarded.”His assertion comes fast on the heels of Darren Gough’s criticism ahead of Yorkshire’s opening Championship match against Gloucestershire at Bristol that county cricket was “too matey” when it came to coaching appointments.Cricket exists on the principle of incremental change where players are identified early and progress tiny step by tiny step. For Burns, Compton represents “Discontinuous Change” – an abrupt change that disturbs the traditional way of doing things.He sees that as a very good thing. “Ben has sent a message to those in elite development that they have to perform to justify their gilded life,” he said.Compton was born in Durban, South Africa, but he has a British passport. He is a cousin of Nick, a former England batter, and grandson of Denis, one of the most celebrated and entertaining players in England history. Since netting alongside Nick as a 16-year-old, he became determined to make it as a county cricketer, but despite the famous cricketing name, he was stymied at every turn.

If ever someone deserved a summer G&T it’s this man #BenCompton #3inarow #kentccc pic.twitter.com/a7RpDToiSB

— Nick Compton (@thecompdog) April 18, 2022

Brace yourself. These two top teams haven’t faced each other in an ODI since the 2017 World Cup

Vishal Dikshit21-Mar-2022Marizanne Kapp vs Alyssa Healy. Shabnim Ismail vs Rachael Haynes. And Meg Lanning against, well, the entire South African bowling attack. The only two unbeaten teams at the Women’s World Cup will go head-to-head on Tuesday, and it is worth looking at their journey to this point because it has been all sorts of compelling.Australia, not surprisingly, have marched into the semi-finals by stomping over all in their path. South Africa, meanwhile, have taken things to the very last over almost every game, and emerged victorious even against England, defending champions, and New Zealand, who have historically been much stronger than them.Related

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Tuesday brings them face to face in an ODI for the first time in nearly five years and the winner may well be decided based on who prevails in the battle between Australia’s mighty batting line-up and South Africa’s feisty pace attack.Lanning’s team began the World Cup with a total of 310 against an experienced England side and they chased down a stiff 278 against India in their last game. They have scored three 250-plus totals in this tournament so far – more than any other team – and their batting average is a whopping 53.57, which is more than twice the next best, 26.11 by India. Don’t be surprised at all that their scoring rate is also the best.ESPNcricinfo LtdAll this, led by the balanced left-right opening pair of a patient Haynes and attacking Healy, followed by the domineering Lanning at No. 3. They also have the experience of Ellyse Perry at No. 4 and a finisher in Beth Mooney after that.”Obviously, our batting line-up is such an elite top four that I haven’t had to do too much of the heavy lifting, which has been nice,” Mooney said on the eve of the game. “But I also love the fact that I get to put my feet up and watch those girls go about their business and break the back of those run-chases really nicely. So to be able to contribute in the field is important to me as well. And thankfully Meg, Midge (Healy) and I have been doing okay behind the bat there.”Mooney, and Australia, are also aware of how well South Africa’s “world-class bowling attack” has performed in the last two weeks. A regular wicket-taker in Kapp and one of the fastest bowlers in Ismail make for arguably the most lethal new-ball pair in the world. They are also well complemented by the slightly slower but accurate Ayabonga Khaka, who has nailed numerous yorkers and helped bail South Africa out against Bangladesh, get the big wickets of Amy Satterthwaite and Sophie Devine against New Zealand, and lead the wicket-taking charts along with Kapp, Hayley Matthews and Lea Tahuhu.Marizanne Kapp has been a leader with both bat and ball for South Africa•Getty Images”Yeah, as a batting unit we spoke about coming up against Ismail and Kapp. They’re probably two form opening bowlers in the world at the moment,” Mooney said. “And we spoke about that against India as well with Jhulan Goswami and Meghna Singh so we know that the threat in most teams is up front and having to nullify that a lot.”We also have played a few games here at the Basin [Reserve] and understand that’s a pretty quick wicket, you know, taking our medicine, when we have to understand that the second those bowlers of that class miss their line and length a little bit, which isn’t that often, we have to cash in. So not a whole lot of changes for our batting unit.”As I said before, the girls have been doing an outstanding job up the top, breaking the back of those chases and getting us in positions where we can build a strong total to defend so I’m sure we’ll see more of the same tomorrow against some competitors in Kapp and Ismail.”South Africa’s pace attack has collected as many as 32 wickets in just four games so far, easily more than anyone else. And if that isn’t enough, they have the best average and economy rate as well.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhen asked if she was excited about facing Kapp, her team-mate at Perth Scorchers, Mooney replied that she was “slightly scared as well. We’ve seen what she can do with the bat and the ball and how competitive she is and that fiery nature she brings to the contest so looking forward to coming up against her this game and hopefully we can keep her a little bit quiet. And then she has been in in the last couple of games, but she’s also shown she’s always the one that puts her hand up for South Africa. So as I said, hopefully we can keep her a little bit quiet and get on top of them early.”There is an air of the unknown about this game, given that the two teams have met just once since the 2017 World Cup – in a T20I – but the players themselves have spent so much time with each other at the WBBL that it may not be that big a factor.Apart from Mooney and Kapp in the Scorchers squad, Laura Wolvaardt was with Tahlia McGrath, Megan Schutt and Darcie Brown at Adelaide Strikers, and Mignon du Preez and Nicola Carey were together at Hobart Hurricanes.”Yeah, it’s a huge point that got raised in our meeting just before training,” Mooney said of not facing South Africa in the recent years. “Obviously, they have been on a bit of a run and played a lot of consistent cricket across those five years against you know, some world-class opponents as well. Unfortunately, we haven’t had too much of an opportunity to come up against them. They’ve shown they’ve got a world-class bowling attack as well as batters that can win the game for them, but we’re pretty, pretty confident with the intel we have both playing with them in WBBL, and playing against some of the girls in that team that have been around for a long period of time.Laura Wolvaardt said whatever they had seen of each other at the WBBL will work both ways for both teams.”I think it helps a lot,” she said. “It’s actually one of the sides that I guess we should be most prepared for because a lot of our girls have spent quite a lot of time playing against and in the same team as a lot of their players. But I guess it goes both ways. I guess we might know their games a bit better, but they might know ours a bit better as well, having spent some time over there. So I think it’s an advantage but I guess it gives them a bit of an advantage as well. So we’ll see what happens.”

Both teams had to deal with out-of-form captains and injury issues this season

Shashank Kishore23-May-20226:53

Shastri: Tilak Varma has made a mark for himself

Mumbai IndiansWhere they finished
Tenth in a ten-team pool, an inferior net run-rate to Chennai Super Kings, who also finished with four wins and eight points, keeping them at the bottom of the table.Season in a nutshell
Whatever could go wrong, went wrong.Rohit Sharma finished the season without a half-century. Ishan Kishan, their costliest buy, struggled for runs and form at the top. Injured at the start, Suryakumar Yadav was unfortunately hit by injury again towards the back end. Kieron Pollard, one of their MVPs over the years, failed to fire. He struck at less than 110 while managing all of 144 runs in 11 innings. The loss of form also led to the team leaving him out for the last three games.Tymal Mills, who they hoped would be a death-bowling partner for Jasprit Bumrah, was out with injury after five games. In the games he played, he conceded runs at 11.17 an over. They lacked a reliable wristspinning option once M Ashwin lost the confidence of the team management. By the time they introduced left-arm wristspinner Kumar Kartikeya and legspinner Mayank Markande at the back end, their playoff hopes had been dashed.3:09

Rohit Sharma reflects on Mumbai’s forgettable season

Questionable move
Leaving out their big-ticket signing Tim David after a couple of poor outings. When he was eventually handed an opportunity at the back end, their campaign was done and dusted. Still, he played a big part in them winning three out of their four games – something Royal Challengers Bangalore benefited from; his whirlwind ten-ball 34 in Mumbai’s final game knocked Delhi Capitals out. Overall, he struck his 186 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 216.27, showing enough to be worthy playing the finisher’s role next year and beyond.Find of the season
Tilak Varma, the tall left-handed top-order batter, earned plaudits from Rohit, who believes he will soon be an “all-format player for India”. The high praise came on the back of a consistent season where Varma played the role of a middle-order enforcer, striking 397 runs at 131. His fearlessness, range of shots, and composure stood out.Dewald Brevis switched from Under-19 cricket to the IPL seamlessly. His aggressive middle-order hitting along with Varma bodes well for the team as they look to bounce back in 2023. Brevis can’t be judged yet on impact, even though he struck his runs at 149. However, his exciting stroke play that elicited comparison with AB de Villiers, left everyone asking for more.Notable mention
Hrithik Shokeen proved to be a handy offspinner with excellent smarts, while Kartikeya, a left-arm-everything bowler, showed he was not overawed by the big stage in the handful of games he played.1:23

Ponting – ‘It’s been one of those up-and-down seasons’

Delhi CapitalsWhere they finished
A heartbreaking fifth after missing out on the playoffs following a loss in their final league game against Mumbai.Season in a nutshell
Covid-enforced quarantines, isolations, cancelled training sessions, venue shifts, key players injured or ill – all contributed to Capitals having to mix and match their combinations at different times, leading to a lack of continuity. If they were patching together opening combinations for one game, in the next they were looking to plug a middle-order hole or their bowling attack.Prithvi Shaw’s ill-health at a crucial time caused a stir, as did Khaleel Ahmed’s absence for four games in the middle phase. Rishabh Pant’s form was patchy at best, while Lalit Yadav, whom they banked on to go big, disappointed. All this contributed to them not being able to string up more than two wins in a row at any stage.Questionable move
The rotation of fringe Indian players, especially the batters, did them no good. They started with Mandeep Singh, moved to Sarfaraz Khan, then to Ripal Patel and KS Bharat before returning to Sarfaraz. This game of musical chairs may have affected the players too.Find of the season
Mitchell Marsh showed he is no longer the injury-prone allrounder that teams used to be wary of picking. Two impact knocks with the bat at No. 3 and handy contributions with the ball meant he had his best season in 11 years – qualitatively, of course. Kuldeep Yadav rediscovered his mojo after an indifferent last three IPL seasons, picking 21 wickets in 14 games.Notable mention
Back to where it all started in 2009, David Warner seamlessly switched back in with a chart-topping 432 runs at a strike rate of 150. Axar Patel’s lower-order hitting came of age and Rovman Powell brought with him the promise of greater things as a finisher.

Lancashire seamer is back for his sixth Finals Day in seven years

Paul Edwards15-Jul-2022Superheroes and supervillains come in various forms and have various monikers. There is The Terminator and The Exterminator and probably many others, most of them attached to seriously dreadful films.Luke Wood’s performances for the three counties he has represented on Finals Day have often been rather heroic and he has been at Edgbaston for English cricket’s biggest hogfeast for five successive years from 2016 to 2020. So with due acknowledgement to Lancashire’s physio, Sam Byrne, residents in south-west Birmingham should know that coming on Saturday to a cricket ground near them will be…The Denominator.It is a wonderfully low-key name for one of the county game’s most high-voltage cricketers. Watch Wood steam in to bowl deliciously laser-guided bouncers at well-set openers and you might think that he has more in common with Ted Hughes’ hawk. His manners are also tearing off heads.On Saturday, though, Wood will discipline the formidable skills that have already earned him an England one-day call-up this season, although not yet an international appearance. (He might just as well have spent his week in the Netherlands going round the Rijksmuseum.) Wood will play in the morning semi-final, hoping that the first time a T20 Roses match takes place on Finals Day is also the prelude to Lancashire’s appearance in the evening.Supporters from Manchester and its surrounds know all too well that losing that opening game is like being thrown out of a party before the decent booze arrives. Wood has had similar experiences; he was in the Nottinghamshire team that seemed certain to beat Worcestershire in 2019, only to lose the game in a final over no-one quite believed.”Losing that game was hard but a lot of learnings came out of it,” Wood told ESPNcricinfo. “And it’s important to remember that it’s not always about the last ball and one player. It can also be about saving that one run in the field at a point in the game when you can’t know what the consequences of that will be.”Related

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Wood’s experience of five Finals Days – although he was simply a Nottinghamshire squad member for the first two – may be useful in helping the younger members of Lancashire’s team cope with English cricket’s longest day. For example, it is impossible, useless and probably debilitating to try to maintain anything like the same level of concentration throughout the day, even if victory in the first game affords you such an opportunity. Ian Bell was wont to play nine holes’ golf at his local course but Wood’s approach is a little more conventional.”If you want to go back to the hotel, you can, but most players stick around, have some food and watch the other game for a bit,” he said. “Not everyone will want to watch more cricket but you can always take things out of the second semi: how the pitch is deteriorating, for example, or how people are playing. There isn’t a massive turnaround between the semi-final and the final but it’s a long day if you’re there from the build-up to the first semi-final to the end of the final. You can only stay in the changing-rooms until you get chucked out.”There are, however, two new elements to Finals Day this year. The first is that the event is being tightly sandwiched between two rounds of County Championship matches. On Thursday evening Lancashire, Yorkshire and Somerset were all involved in tightly-contested four-day games. It is, as it were, rather more than 110 miles between the idyllic surroundings of Trafalgar Road, Southport, the venue for Lancashire and Somerset’s match, and Edgbaston. Hampshire had the slight advantage of having beating Gloucestershire quite early on Thursday.”We’ll go down to Edgbaston on Friday and have a training slot,” said Wood. “Some people will have played in the game at Southport, so if they feel they need to do some white-ball training, they will and if others need a break, they’ll probably get one. People will simply get what they need ahead of the big day on Saturday.”Wood (far left) celebrates winning the Blast with Worcestershire in 2018•Getty ImagesThe other problem is that a clash with England’s ODI series against India means Lancashire will be without Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone, two of six players who are unavailable for their respective counties on Saturday. Matt Parkinson and Phil Salt have been released to play but the schedule gives a clear impression that the Blast’s showpiece occasion has been devalued – something that cannot be said of the Hundred, which has been given a window for its own knockout stages in early September.The question of the England players is an interesting one,” Wood said. “I imagine that before Finals Day they’ll know the team for Sunday’s One-Day International at Emirates Old Trafford and I want the best for all the Lancashire players in the England team. But if they’re not playing for England, they’re certainly big players for us. So on the one hand, you want them back; on the other, you want them to play well for England.”It’s tough one because it doesn’t affect every county. The chief ones have been Yorkshire, Surrey and Lancashire this year, but at least it does show the depth of our squad. On the other hand, it’s a bit of a shame because supporters might say their team has lost big games because they didn’t have certain players available. We’ll never moan about not having players available, we’ll just put out the best team we can and try and win every game. But that may not be an outsider’s perspective on it. The fans may not be happy that you’re losing X, Y and Z but that’s the way it is.”

Titans team director chats about the “opportunity to do something special”, the men who matter, and the team culture

Nagraj Gollapudi28-May-20224:04

Vikram Solanki: ‘We have an opportunity to do something special’

The very first ball for Titans in the IPL was an event. Remember that?
Absolutely! That seems a long time ago, although, bizarrely, it doesn’t seem so long ago if you see the point I’m trying to make. It’s always a good starting point, isn’t it? The first ball of the tournament, the first ball for a new franchise, and Mohammed Shami definitely delivered. An absolutely peach of a ball. I thought KL Rahul did well to nick it, to be honest with you. It was such a good ball. All credit Shami. He is confident in his skill and his art is exactly that, to try and challenge the batsman’s defence, regardless of the format.Match 1, Ball 1: KL Rahul, caught Matthew Wade, bowled Mohammed Shami•Ron Gaunt/BCCITitans beat Lucknow Super Giants in that game. The key batter was Rahul Tewatia, who straightaway showed that he had worked on his main weakness: playing outside off. You remember that reverse-sweep six against Ravi Bishnoi at the death where the target came down from 42 off 24 to 29 off 17? He said that he was confident of taking the match deep along with Miller because the situation was right. He had confidence in Abhinav Manohar and the way he took on Bishnoi turned the match.
You have mentioned two players that have been standout performers for us, amongst others, in David Miller and Rahul Tewatia. Rahul and David bat in a position that requires a certain type of character. Rahul has that in abundance, as does Miller. And the fact that he [Tewatia] was able to execute his plan, was calm under pressure, and had Miller as a good foil, as well as the point he made about being confident, and instilling that confidence that he has in a newcomer, Abhinav, speaks volumes for the sort of atmosphere, the environment that that we were fortunate enough to create.Related

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One marked change in Tewatia’s batting has been his off-side play, which has improved compared to 2021. Was that a factor you jotted down when you went for him in the auction?
If you were to ask me to give you an example of a summary of our season, it would be this: we have worked extremely hard, whether that be in practice, whether that be in games, we have been prepared to challenge ourselves. We’ve tried to play smart cricket, but we understand we will make mistakes. Not that we’ve been blasé about – okay, it doesn’t matter if we don’t get it right. It’s not having the fear of making a mistake or not having the fear of failing. Those two components have stood us in good stead, certainly when we’ve got into tight situations in games.As far as Rahul is concerned, I only admire the way he goes about his practice, he is a fierce competitor even at practice. He practices his competitiveness. If you were able to see some of the net sessions that Rahul takes part in, he is very much competing against his team-mates, against the bowlers that he’s up against, it’s always a contest. And your point about him developing his off-side play, it’s all Rahul.

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Titans’ last-over finishes is another great story. While chasing, you have won seven out of eight with every game going to the last over. You have won three matches where the target was more than 50 runs in the final four overs. Five of the seven wins while chasing came when you needed ten-plus runs in the final over. It takes belief, no doubt, but I felt Titans’ batters showed a presence of mind and calmness to not get swayed by pressure. Do you agree?
I would add to that, that it requires somebody to allow themselves to be in that position and allow themselves to be challenged in that position, whether that be in practice or not. They put themselves under pressure in practice so they can actually deal with pressure when it comes down to matches and the pressure situations. And it epitomises exactly how Rahul goes about his work – he puts himself under pressure in practice so he can then deliver when he is under pressure.Vikram Solanki and Hardik Pandya thrash out their plans•BCCIWas the last win, against Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 1, a good example?
You could go through the season and you could go through a number of games where exactly that sort of scenario is played out and somebody else has put their hand up. You think of some of the innings Rashid Khan has played, David Miller has played, to get us across the line, it then becomes a habit in the sense that you are, as a team, confident under pressure. And at times we’ve delivered with the ball under pressure: you think of the second Super Giants game in Pune, we delivered with the ball under pressure. Shubman Gill in that game stood out. He was brave in his decision-making, he had the conviction of assessing the pitch and playing accordingly. He was able to put a competitive score on the board.You think of all the noise around strike rates in T20 cricket and things, but Shubman was able to actually make an assessment of the pitch and what was required at that particular moment in that particular game, against that attack, with wickets falling at the other end. We posted a competitive total and then actually defended a par total. You’d agree that it was by no means a comfortable total [144] for us to defend, but then when they bowled in the fashion they did, that again is an example of allowing yourself to go to those pressure situations and trusting yourself and trusting your method, trusting your technique, trusting your game to the extent that you will get through.No one has symbolised that attitude, perhaps, more than Miller. He has immense experience, has hit some of the fastest innings, but was not getting in the playing XI regularly the last few seasons. Again, why did you decide to buy him?
Like I pointed out, that’s a difficult role to play as a batsman. I’m not in any way understating the role that perhaps the top order plays – you get guys that can take games away from you in the top order, and if they get in, they can single-handedly win games. [But] in my mind, the difficult job, the more pressurised job, is exactly that: those middle- and lower-middle order batters that have to actually assess what is required, be smart, take the game deep. Or make a decision at times not to take the game deep and actually press the button earlier because, for whatever reason, they think a bowler is somebody they’ve got to take down. They’ve got to be brave enough to take that decision and then have that conviction in their method, trust their technique, trust the fact that they’ve done the work that is needed, put themselves in that sort of pressure situation. I’d go as far as sort of saying it’s the tougher side of batting in short-format cricket.So, our approach in thinking of David Miller was we were confident of his qualities as a cricketer. He’s displayed that time and time again. Our assessment was that he perhaps didn’t have the opportunities or the consistent run that he needs, or anybody needs, if you think about it in those slots. They need a consistent run, and you need to instil that sort of confidence in them and a bit of backing in them. So that was our thinking when we went for Miller in the auction.Miller and Tewatia – the two middle-order rocks for Titans•BCCIIs Miller the Andre Russell for Titans in that you feel safe when he’s there at the end?
Miller is the David Miller of the Titans. At times somebody else puts their hand up. Of course, David has taken us over the line a couple of times and I’m sure he takes a lot of confidence, and the team takes a lot of confidence, when he’s at the crease. Equally Hardik Pandya is an exceptional batsman, an exceptional finisher. He’s a winner himself. He’s led the team and has an imprint of his style of play on the team. We are confident as a group when any of those batsmen are at the crease.

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These will be surprising stats for readers: Hardik’s strike rate of 152.54 in the last four overs this season is the for him in any IPL season, and he has hit only two sixes in 59 balls in this phase. Clearly it is a planned strategy to allow him to play a middle-order role?
You just think of the form Hardik showed at the start – he kept our innings together. The nature of batting in T20 cricket is at times you are going to go through these sorts of peaks and troughs.As far as Hardik is concerned, as far as strike rate is concerned, what we’ve tried to instil in our planning group is a confidence that you make an assessment of what is required in any given situation, play the situation according to what you think is appropriate, what role it is that the team needs you to play. You make that decision. We will of course have conversations about it. And Hardik has done that.Take the knock he played in Qualifier 1 – more often, it is Hardik that plays the lion’s share in that sort of a partnership. But he absolutely assessed Davey was going well; he just needed to make sure that the partnership was sort of taken deep. And he played exactly the knock that he needed to play. Whether you view that as maturity from just his experience, whether you view that as a maturity and a responsibility because he is now captain, I’m not sure. He certainly made some good decisions. He has led the team well. He’s led the team with good example. He has been very giving of his time, he’s all in it.What stands out is his composure. Barring the odd display of emotion, Hardik has maintained this I-am-in-control face. As a leader from match one to 15, where has he – as a captain – improved?
That would be, perhaps, a question for Hardik. For me, it was very apparent that right from the outset, from when we spoke to him about the captaincy, he was enthused by it. He is somebody that’s clearly a passionate cricketer, he plays cricket in a sort of entertaining way that is contagious in its style itself because he’s confident, he is prepared to take the fight on. But, to some extent, that point about encouraging people to not be afraid of making mistakes, not doubt themselves if something hasn’t gone right, he’s certainly been giving of his time in that sense, he’s been giving of his experience in that sense. And he’s got a lot of experience to share.To me, he has a poise that is typical of winners. He’s somebody that has clearly been through a great deal in his life, both as a cricketer and as a person. And he uses those experiences to sort of lead the way he does. I’m so pleased because he was very adamant that he wanted to do a really good job. He’s a thoroughly good human being. And that that has sort of stood him in good stead as well.Two of the leaders of the Titans unit – Hardik Pandya and Ashish Nehra•BCCIIf anything, the emotions are being shown outside the field by the partners of the players and coaches. Do you have to tell to please calm down?
Why would you? Emotion is good. It shows that you care. And this group does care. It cares about each and every individual. It cares about the team, as do the families. This bubble has been a really interesting situation for us. It has its challenges, of course, but it has benefits. There’s no doubt about it.Has it allowed the group to gel well too?
There’s no sort of comparison to make, but it certainly feels that way. I wonder when there is no bubble, whether there’ll be a small element of everybody thinking there was actually a lot of good about that sort of situation.

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You will be aware that teams that have topped the league stage have won the IPL four times in the previous 14 years. What gives you the confidence that Titans are ready for something historic?
I wasn’t aware of that – thank you!We take confidence in the way we have played our cricket. We take confidence in the way we practice. We take confidence that this group is, again, I come back to those points that we made: we worked hard at practice today, we will work hard at practice tomorrow, we will play smart cricket. When it comes down to the game, we have been in pressure situations before and got over the line in very tight situation from nowhere at times.This is our first final. We have an opportunity to do something special. But, to some extent, what we have achieved so far is something special. I would congratulate everybody that’s been involved in this franchise for what we have achieved so far. There is more for us to achieve – not only this year, but as a group going forward as well. This is just the next step for us.

His control and rhythm has been instrumental in India turning around a dismal record in the first powerplay

Karthik Krishnaswamy11-Oct-2022There’s usually an unwritten rhythm to the international white-ball calendar; there are ODI years and T20I years, with teams prioritising one format or the other depending on which global event is around the corner.In the time of Covid-19, though, ODIs have come to occupy a strange and seemingly neglected space. A T20 World Cup was scheduled for 2020 and postponed to 2021. There’s another T20 World Cup starting later this month. There could have been an ODI Champions Trophy in the mix, but it was scrapped, so the ODI became the format where you played your second-stringers most often.It was at such a time, this February, that Mohammed Siraj came back into the ODI side for a home series against West Indies. He’d played just the one ODI before that, back in January 2019.In his comeback game, in Ahmedabad, Siraj took the new ball and began with a maiden. In his second over, he conceded back-to-back fours to Shai Hope, full outswingers dispatched with fluent drives through the off side. Then, Siraj bowled his wobble-seam ball, looking just as driveable as the previous two balls but nipping back in off the deck, and Hope, taking the bait, inside-edged it onto his stumps.Related

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From that point, Siraj has given India regular breakthroughs in the first powerplay of ODIs. On Tuesday, he added two more, both with short balls, both times using the two-paced nature of the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch to his advantage.Batters probably find Siraj’s short ball a little tricky to pick anyway, given his beyond-the-perpendicular release, and the way he hurries through the crease. You expect the ball to skid quickly onto the bat; when it instead stops on you, as it did when Reeza Hendricks shaped for a pull, you’re halfway through the shot before you realise what’s happening.The wicket of Hendricks was Siraj’s 12th in the first 10 overs this year, the most of any bowler from a Full-Member team. Siraj averages 15.66 in the first powerplay this year, and he has an economy rate of just 3.54.These are superb numbers, and especially encouraging for the team management because they’ve come at a time when India were suffering from a bit of a new-ball problem.And that’s an understatement. From the start of 2020 to their last ODI before Siraj’s comeback, India played 18 matches, in which their bowlers took just nine first-powerplay wickets, at an average of 115.77. They were comfortably the worst team in the world in that phase, well ahead of Zimbabwe who averaged 63.45. India’s economy rate of 5.78 in this phase was the worst of any team too, with Pakistan in second place at 5.34.The lack of new-ball wickets was a major factor behind India’s 7-11 win-loss record in this period. Opposition top orders made merry – there were century stands for the first wicket alone.India bowled to some of the world’s best batting teams in this period, but they were also using their first-choice fast bowlers most of the time. Jasprit Bumrah bowled in the first 10 overs in 12 innings, and took just one wicket at an average of 213.00, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar averaged 64.50 across seven innings. While these two kept the runs down, managing economy rates of below five an over, Mohammed Shami averaged 75.50 and went at 6.29. The other India fast bowler to bowl at least 100 balls in this phase in this period, Navdeep Saini, went wicketless while going at 6.47.Ouch.Siraj has been in sparkling form throughout this series, displaying all the skills needed to thrive with the new white ball•Associated PressIt’s possible, of course, that Siraj may have played those games and done just as poorly. His outstanding recent form with the new ball has coincided with an overall improvement in India’s record; they’ve averaged 21.10 in the first powerplay since Siraj’s comeback, and conceded 4.22 per over, indicating that they’ve often bowled in conditions with a little more help and/or to weaker top orders.But no matter what circumstances they came in, Siraj’s contribution to India’s improved new-ball record cannot be underestimated: since his comeback, he’s bowled 318 balls in the first 10 overs, over three times as many as the 102 delivered by Prasidh Krishna, who has taken on the next-biggest workload.As he’s shown through all three matches of this ODI series against South Africa, Siraj has all the skills you need with the new white ball. He swings the ball away from the right-hander, and snakes his wobble-seam ball back into them. His default line and length ensure a tight grouping of balls close to the top of off stump. He has a sharp bouncer.There were glimpses of skills for other phases too. In the second ODI, he bowled unchanged from the 44th over to the 50th, and conceded just 14 runs and four overthrows (which counted as byes and didn’t go into his figures) in four overs of unhittable slower cutters. Ball after ball, he hit that annoying length that was too short to drive and not short enough to pull, and used all the purchase on a dry Ranchi pitch to suffocate South Africa’s batters. The conditions were unusual – so dry and abrasive that the ball took on the greenish-brown colour that evoked the end overs of ODIs in the era when they only used one ball per innings – but he showed the control needed to make complete use of them.That’s been a feature of a lot of his recent performances too. In the third T20I in Indore, for instance, he bowled a 17th over full of inch-perfect yorkers, and gave away just eight runs – a small, memorable stretch of ball holding its own against bat in a match that was entirely about bat dominating ball.

Siraj’s outstanding recent form with the new ball has coincided with an overall improvement in India’s record; they’ve averaged 21.10 in the first powerplay since his comeback

The control Siraj showed in that over, and the control of length he showed right through the ODI series, indicated the kind of rhythm he’s in. This has been evident just from watching him run up and zip through the crease. Everything’s just looked smooth and in sync.There’s even a chance that this rhythm might tempt India to name Siraj as their replacement for Bumrah in their T20 World Cup squad. Thanks to a bout of Covid-19, it’s as yet unclear whether Shami – who seems to be their preferred option – will be at full fitness by the time the tournament begins. Deepak Chahar, the other fast bowler in the original list of reserves, is injured.Siraj was probably nowhere near India’s plans when they began planning for the World Cup. He’s only played two T20Is this year; Avesh Khan, in comparison, has played 15, and you could argue that Siraj was lucky to not get the time and space to have his weaknesses thoroughly tested.ODIs, moreover, are an entirely different beast to T20Is, with entirely different demands. Even if some strengths are transferable, Siraj’s biggest one – new-ball bowling – isn’t the gap India are looking to plug in Bumrah’s absence.But Siraj is quick, slippery and skilful, and he appears to be in peak rhythm. Sometimes, those reasons are compelling enough.

It changes and adapts in response to the situation and today it did what it needed to – mostly

Firdose Moonda18-Aug-2022So this is Bouchball. It’s not sexy but it’s solid. It’s not entirely slow, but it’s mostly sensible. It’s probably not going to fill the stands with young fans but with so few Tests in their future, South Africa may not have to care much about that. What they care about is whether it works and the 124-run lead suggests they’re on the way to being able to declare that it does.The key to being successful in England – and probably in most places – is to have a decent opening stand. India showed that last year when KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma shared stands of 83, 126 (scored in a winning cause at Lord’s) and 97 on last year’s tour. Those starts set India up for totals of 466, 364 and 278, and they weren’t beaten in any of those encounters. On the basis of those numbers, Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee can be satisfied with the 85 they put on and especially the way they saw out the toughest period against the England attack.Related

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They did it without looking as though they were navigating landmines even though the going was pretty tough against the most reputed pair these two have faced. Elgar successfully reviewed being given out caught behind to a Stuart Broad ball he didn’t hit and was dropped by Zak Crawley off Matthew Potts at second slip when he was on seven but for a batter with a reputation for inelegance, he actually played quite sweetly. He hit the full balls and survived the jaffas.When his opposite number, Ben Stokes, came on to bowl later in the afternoon, he made his most aggressive statement, punching him up the slope and steering him through backward point for two fours in three balls. Stokes has made it his business to set the tone in the England camp and Elgar responded in kind. By taking on Stokes, he showed the rest of his line-up, none of whom have played a Test in England before, that can stand up to their opposition.At the other end, Erwee showed the value of his years in the domestic game after taking the old-fashioned route to the Test team. He is in the 14th year of his professional career and until six months ago, he may have thought he’d finish without an international cap. But Erwee got an opportunity in New Zealand and he has held onto it tightly since.He spent the 10 days in camp before the Test visualising what it’s like to be at Lord’s. Everything about it. What it feels like to see the pavilion and walk the stairs, to face a ball, to hit it, to see it go to the boundary and to hear the polite applause. He prepared himself the way a nervous newcomer would but then played like an experienced hand. He moved his feet to meet the fuller deliveries and the leg-stump half-volleys stood no chance.Sarel Erwee didn’t look too shabby when playing his shots, and scored at a strike rate of 50•Getty ImagesAll that also speaks to the line and lengths England employed early, which failed to create the same kind of pressure South Africa did on the first day. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, England left 57 of the 270 deliveries they faced in their innings – that’s a little more than one in every five. They were made to play at the same number of balls. South Africa’s openers alone, left 70 of the 227 balls they faced, just over 30%, and defended 49. So England made South Africa’s top two play as often as South Africa allowed England’s line-up to watch the ball through. That’s an area that England will want to sharpen up, especially given the way they responded later in the day.In two Stokes’ overs, South Africa went from looking in a position that was close to control to barely clinging on to their hard-fought lead. England set a funky field, mostly spread with a wide short fine-leg and a fine-ish short third and Stokes began to bounce Erwee, upping the ante until the South African opener could do nothing but throw his hands up and glove one high for Ben Foakes to collect. Stokes changed his length to trap Rassie van der Dussen on the knee roll and from that moment (which was also after 5pm when they were well-hydrated) the Lord’s crowd came properly alive.A wave of noise swelled and then broke every time Stokes delivered a ball. For Marco Jansen and Kyle Verreynne, with only 13 Tests between them, this would have been the most pressure either of them have been under. Verreynne also fell victim to England’s short-balls-to-the-tail tactic but Jansen played with the stature of his height, not his age. His authoritative drive through backward point off Potts as the shadows grew long and the hoist over fine leg and one-bounce smash through mid-on off Stokes with minutes to go before stumps were executed with the right mix of mastery and mischief to underline his case to bat higher than his wicketkeeper, but it still leaves some questions for South Africa about the composition of their XI.Dean Elgar was bowled in luckless fashion via a deflection into his stumps•Getty ImagesIn the absence of Temba Bavuma, South Africa’s line-up was always going to lack some clout but it looked particularly short when they led by only 27 runs with their last recognised batter at the crease. In picking Jansen as a lower-order bowling allrounder South Africa have created the room for five specialist bowlers – four quicks and a spinner – but they will ask themselves if they have over-resourced the bowling department by under-resourcing the batting. Keshav Maharaj added his opinion by getting himself in sight of a fifth Test fifty and then chucking it away at the end. Even with nearly 1,000 Test runs to his name, Maharaj doesn’t always inspire confidence he will be consistent and with such a long tail, the limitations of Bouchball have been somewhat exposed.While Bazball can cause self-induced implosions and quick collapses, Bouchball may look like it’s getting somewhere when it may not be. At one stage, on 160 for 2, South Africa looked like they were set for a lead of 150-plus, but from 192 for 5, a lead of 50-plus seemed satisfying enough. By the end of the day, South Africa were more than 100 runs ahead, so somewhere between fold-your-arms and sit-back-satisfied to if-only-we-could-get-a-few-more.That probably sums up what we know about Bouchball best. It’s not the finished product but a work in progress. It changes and adapts in response to the situation, so maybe it will soon be criticised for being too reactive and not as proactive as it could be. That’s a discussion for another day. Today, it did what it needed to. Mostly.