In just his second T20I, batsman epitomises dynamic approach Virat Kohli promised on eve of series

Deivarayan Muthu18-Mar-20213:10

Suryakumar Yadav – ‘I just went out and expressed myself’

In September 2019, in a series decider against South Africa, Virat Kohli became the first captain to decide against chasing in T20 internationals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. His reasoning was this: he wanted to challenge India out of their comfort zone in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, but they ended up losing that match.That World Cup, which was originally supposed to be held in Australia in 2020, was pushed back by a year and shifted to India in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. India’s bat-first concerns, however, lingered and became more alarming after they dawdled to powerplay scores of 22 for 3 in the T20I series opener against England and then 24 for 3 in the third game.After losing the toss again in the fourth, and facing a must-win, Kohli reckoned that he would’ve opted to bat anyway and test out the line-up even if the toss had gone India’s way. Jofra Archer had Rohit Sharma plopping a return catch and KL Rahul, the other half of India’s first-choice opening combination, according to Kohli, managed to break his binary sequence of 1,0,0, but gulped down 17 balls for his 14.Related

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Ishan Kishan, who had belted a 28-ball half-century on his T20I debut on Wednesday, had suffered a groin strain, so the team management threw Suryakumar Yadav into No.3. He had made his international debut alongside his Mumbai Indians team-mate Kishan in that match, but didn’t get to bat. In the field, Suryakumar had looked as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. He hustled from the boundary and dropped Johnny Bairstow in the outfield before just about hanging onto a skier in the same over.On Thursday, after missing the third game, Suryakumar returned but had no such jitters. He dispatched the very first ball he faced from Archer for an agenda-setting six, never really let up, and showed India the way to bat first. Archer banged in a chest-high lifter at 144kph, but Suryakumar swiftly jumped back and nailed a one-legged pull with gum-chewing swagger and jaw-dropping timing.Suryakumar had pulled off a similar outrageous hit – a reverse-scoop – off Archer over Jos Buttler’s head for six in IPL 2020. At the post-match virtual media interaction, Suryakumar revealed that he was well-prepared for Archer’s hit-the-deck bustle.”My plan was very clear when I went into bat,” Suryakumar said. I’ve seen him [Archer] in the last two, three seasons in the IPL also. I’ve watched all of his games in international cricket as well. So whenever a new batsman comes in, what plans he has… Obviously I had my plans as well when I went in to bat. It was a great opportunity for me to bat at No. 3 for India. I knew that he’d come a little short at me so I really wanted to execute that and I was really happy with the way things went.”Suryakumar Yadav goes inside out•BCCIMark Wood then cranked his pace up to 148.5kph, but Suryakumar rose on top of the bounce and laced him through the covers for four. Then, when Chris Jordan explored a fuller length and aimed for off stump with a blameless delivery, Suryakumar manipulated the field by opening the bat-face and gliding it away between backward point and short third man for four. Despite Rahul’s go-slow, Suryakumar’s sustained intent and aggression saw India gallop to 45 for 1 in the powerplay.With Suryakumar taking England’s fast men for runs, Eoin Morgan turned to Adil Rashid to burgle a few quiet overs, but Suryakumar picked him apart, too, in clinical fashion. All up, he hit 23 off eight balls from Rashid; only Mohammad Hafeez, Glenn Maxwell (twice) and Martin Guptill have scored more runs off Rashid in a T20I, but then again all these batsmen had the benefit of facing more balls than Suryakumar did.Rashid usually starts by threatening the stumps and then unleashes the wrong’un – he did Kohli like a kipper with the variation – but once Suryakumar put those attempted googlies away, Rashid didn’t quite have a Plan B. After splicing a sweep for four, Suryakumar dashed out of the crease, collapsed his back leg, and launched him inside-out for six next ball.In Rashid’s next over, Suryakumar stretched so far across and outside the line of off, taking the lbw out of equation and drilling a sweep through square leg for four. That big reach from Suryakumar forced the legspinner to go much shorter and outside off. It came out as a half-tracker that was scythed through cover-point for four. It brought about a dominant 28-ball half-century for Suryakumar and although he was dismissed in controversial fashion, his blazing effort put India on course for a slightly above-par 185 for 8, which they could defend despite the onset of heavy dew.Speaking to at the post-match presentation, Kohli delivered a glowing appraisal of Suryakumar’s maiden international outing with the bat.”Very very happy. Again, I would like to mention Surya’s innings,” Kohli said. “I think playing at this level with top quality bowlers who bowl at pace, it’s not easy to just walk in and it’s your first game and you start off like that [monster six off Archer’s bowling], it was outstanding.”We all were quite stunned with that start and he completely stamped his authority from ball one and then the bowlers were under pressure throughout the way he played. The leggie as well – he maneuvered the bowlers beautifully. He put us in a great position and allowed the likes of Rishabh [Pant] and Shreyas [Iyer] and then Hardik [Pandya] to do the job they do and get us to that total eventually.”So big credit to these youngsters. They’re coming in and grabbing the opportunities and that’s something that I am a big fan of. The first few opportunities you make a mark and you set your standards high and then you help Indian cricket along the way. I think it’s great signs for the Indian team.”The competition for spots in India’s line-up continues to heat up in the lead-up to a home World Cup, but Suryakumar has made a compelling case for himself with his dynamic T20 approach, something that his captain had promised on the eve of the series opener.

The England and Sussex captain had aura, flair, majestic batting, and impossible glamour – and that was just on the field

Mark Nicholas27-Aug-2021I don’t know when the Ted Dexter affectation started but I can guess. The last thing my father did with me before he died so young was to take me to see the 1968 Gillette Cup final at Lord’s. This was during Ted’s short comeback and when the great man strode to the wicket, I leapt about in excitement, cheering his name for all I was worth. He didn’t get many but no matter, I had seen him live. That evening Dad bowled to me in the garden as I imitated every Dexter mannerism and stroke I had seen just a few hours before.

“There is about Dexter, when he chooses to face fast bowling with determination, a sort of air of command that lifts him above ordinary players. He seems to find time to play the fastest bowling and still retain dignity, something near majesty, as he does it.”
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I fell for the aura, and for the flair in those back-foot assaults on fast bowlers. Not for a minute do I think I saw the 70 in 75 balls against Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith at Lord’s in 1963 but I feel as if I did – the power, the poise, the sheer gall of it. Nothing, not even the Beatles, could drag me from the television screen when he walked to the wicket, seemingly changing the picture from black-and-white to glorious technicolor as he took guard. Frankly, much of the Test cricket of the time was pretty dull but there was a frisson, an expectation, with Ted, just as there is when Ben Stokes is on his way today. It was all too brief, he had retired for good before I started proper school.Related

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Former England captain Ted Dexter dies aged 86

The West Indians of the day – Conrad Hunte, Garry Sobers, Wes Hall – thought that innings the best played against them by anybody, though Dexter himself would modestly say it was just one of those days where everything came together and the bat swung freely in just about the right arc. He was well miffed to be given out lbw, however, insisting later that the DRS would have saved him. Who knows how many careers might have been changed by the sliding doors of the DRS.The word majesty sits well with Dexter’s batting, primarily because of the way in which he attacked through the off side off his back foot. This is a stroke so difficult to master that more prosaic batters choose to ignore it. It is no great surprise that Dexter thought Gordon Greenidge and Martin Crowe the two most technically correct right-hand players that he saw, citing their ability to stay sideways-on and to play the ball alongside their body as the prime reason for the accolade.He was a huge fan of Joe Root and became near apoplectic during the England captain’s relatively lean spell a while ago, when he became square-on to the bowler and was playing in front of his body. This niggled so much that he wrote to Root without mincing his words. Though at first put out, Root soon saw the kindness in a man of Dexter’s age and knowledge who bothered to write, and therefore returned an email of thanks with the observation that he took the point. Who knows to what degree? It is enough to say that this year Root has batted about as well as any man could have done, and no one has enjoyed each of these innings in Sri Lanka, India, and now at home as much as Dexter.One final appeal: Dexter (fourth from left) watches as umpire Charlie Elliot gives John Inverarity out off Derek Underwood, The Oval, 1968•Getty ImagesFor the best part of a year now, Ted has been banging on about Dawid Malan: simply couldn’t understand why England didn’t pick him to bat at three. He cited the hundred in Perth in 2017 and this year’s big scores for Yorkshire before predicting near-certain success with the method that brought those runs. It is sad, indeed, that he didn’t live to see the fulfillment of his prophecy in Malan’s fine innings yesterday. He liked the look of James Vince and Zak Crawley too, cricketers who stand tall and play with freedom. He got a lot right, this man of Radley, Cambridge, Sussex and England.Tall himself, strong, handsome and impossibly glamorous, Edward Ralph Dexter caught everyone’s eye. With the golden Susan Longfield on his arm, they cut quite a dash and cared little for the sniping that came from those less blessed. The enigma in him – and how! – was often confused with indifference, and though cricket has remained his other great love, it was never the be-all and end-all for him – a fact that made his appearances all the more cherished and his company all the more engaging. It is remarkable to think that he first retired as far back as 1965, before returning briefly in 1968 to make a double-hundred at Hastings against Kent and be immediately recalled to the England team for the Ashes. In the brilliant photograph (above) of the moment when Derek Underwood claims the final wicket at The Oval, Ted is caught spinning to appeal for lbw with a face that smacks of a lifelong instinct for competition and achievement.

“Ted was a man of moods, often caught up in theories, keen when the action was hot, seemingly uninterested when the game was dull… a big-time player, one who responded to atmosphere, liked action and enjoyed the chase and gamble. Maybe this was the reason he was drawn to horse racing so that a dull day stalking the covers might be enlivened for him by thoughts of how his money was faring on the 3:15 at Ascot or Goodwood.”
– Richie Benaud and Dexter in Sydney during the 1963-64 Ashes•Frank Albert Charles Burke/Fairfax Media/Getty ImagesAnd Snow would know for he was not the type to rise above those grey days of county cricket when the stakes were so low. Snow and Dexter, my first heroes, along with Jimmy Greaves and George Best, Muhammad Ali, the Beatles and the Stones – all of them important figures at 29 Queensdale Road, where the young Nicholas grew up with vinyl records and cared-for willow, narrow-grained and well-oiled for the garden Test matches that England forever won.Much of the 1960s were about rebellion, revolution even, in response to the age of austerity. After the long and mainly drab post-war years, the young simply broke free and changed pretty much anything they could get their hands on. Music and fashion led the way, leaving sport’s establishment to stutter in their wake. Only a few precious players could transcend the inertia, using both their talent and expression to delight the crowds and influence the young. Cricket was my thing, Dexter and Snow were the wind beneath my wings.In Snow there truly was rebellion, against authority and the system it supported. This was not so in Dexter’s case, though his free spirit and somewhat cavalier approach to responsibility gave the impression of one determined to ruffle feathers. From the outset he adored sport, worked harder than some might think at his books, and embraced diversions with the enthusiasm of a man who had more to do than could ever be done.In many ways Ted was a contradiction: at once a conformist, as shaped by the early years of his life at home and school, and a modernist, whose lateral thinking did much to reform the structure of English cricket during his time as chairman of selectors. Richie Benaud observed that Ted’s imagination and drive “will be of great benefit to English cricket in years to come. Equally, I’m in no doubt that others will take the credit for it.” The rebellion in Ted was hardly radicalised but he loved to challenge conservative thinking, to take risks and to invest in his life as an adventure. Both on and off the field, this made for a terrific watch.The best of Ted: Dexter on his way to 70 against Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith at Lord’s, June 1963•PA PhotosHe thought the Hundred a good wheeze and admitted he would rather like to have played it himself. He was, of course, the original thinker about one-day cricket, supporting its conception as early as the late 1950s and then leading Sussex to the first two 60-over titles at Lord’s in the Gillette Cup. He paid close attention to the tactics and convinced his men that following them to the letter would do the trick. Which it did. He pushed for four-day county matches 27 years before they were incorporated and he founded the idea of central contracts for England players long before other teams caught the bug.He was proud of his part in the development of the spirit of cricket, applying golf’s moral high ground to the game that made his name. Through his own PR agency, he became a pioneer in cricket’s digital-technology revolution by inventing the system of Test match rankings that first announced itself under the banner of Deloitte and is now the ICC international rankings.On a Zoom call a couple of months back, with tongue firmly in cheek, he said, “Having a rather high opinion of myself, I can safely say that had the rankings been in place sometime around the mid part of the 1963 summer, I would have been the No. 1-rated batsman in the world.” We had special guests on these calls – Mike Atherton, Michael Vaughan, Ed Smith, Robin Marlar, Sir Tim Rice and more – all keen to share a drink, chew the cud and have a laugh with the game’s most original and forward-thinking mind.Champagne days: (from left) Fred Trueman, Dexter, David Sheppard and Colin Cowdrey celebrate after winning the Melbourne Test, January 1963•PA Photos/Getty ImagesWe cannot jump past golf without mentioning the game at the Australian Golf Club in Sydney when Ted partnered Norman Von Nida against Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. So enamoured of Ted’s golf were they that Nicklaus suggested Ted follow him back to the USA for a crack at the tour. Player has long said that Ted was the best amateur ball-striker he ever saw and Von Nida just thanked him for securing the one-up triumph that day. Eighteen months ago Player told me that in their one head to head with each other, Ted beat him up the last at Sunningdale, receiving only four shots. “Little so-and-so,” said Ted, “we played level!” They were due for a game last summer but Covid stood firmly between them. The last time I played with Ted, two summers ago now, he beat his age, shooting 83 round the Old Course at Sunningdale without breaking a sweat.This was a man of Jaguar cars, Norton motorbikes, greyhounds, race horses and an Aztec light airplane that, in 1970, he piloted to Australia with his young family beside him, to cover the Ashes as a journalist. They flew 12,000 miles and made about two dozen stops at British military bases along the way.Ted married the very beautiful Susan soon after returning from Australia and New Zealand in the spring of 1959. How she is hurting today. So too Genevieve, Tom and the grandchildren.There was an eccentricity in him that was occasionally misunderstood but otherwise immensely appealing and it is with that in mind, that I turn to the man himself for the final word. It comes from his blog, which is a splendid read and will remain a platform for the family to share their thoughts about this husband, father and grandfather who brought us so much joy.Dexter and Frank Worrell at a BBC interview with Peter West, August 1963•Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Getty Images

It was in my last term at Radley College when I had a hard game of rackets in the morning, scored 3 tries with two conversions for the 1st XV in the afternoon, was heard listening to operatic voices in the early evening, before repairing to the Grand Piano in the Mansion and knocking off a couple of Chopin preludes. “Quite the Renaissance man it seems” said my Social Tutor and I admit I liked the sound of it, if not quite knowing what it meant.

The Encyclopaedia Brittanica description of Renaissance man (or polymath) is as follows: one who seeks to develop skills in all areas of knowledge, in physical development and social accomplishment and in the arts. A point is made that you do not need to excel at any one activity. It is enough to tackle it seriously and see how far you get. I like the physical development bit obviously and I feel the social accomplishment bit is covered by my willingness to take on responsibilities all my life. Perhaps the arts bit is a bit shaky but a love for music, and particularly opera, and love of language – being fairly fluent in French, Italian, rudimentary German and Spanish – may be some modest qualifications.”

Some different cat, huh. What a man. What a cricketer. Goodbye Ted, and thank you.

Whatever combination of quick bowlers and spinners they pick, their tail is longer and much less good at batting than England’s

Karthik Krishnaswamy27-Jul-2021Southampton 2018. Perth 2018. Christchurch 2020. Adelaide 2020. Southampton 2021.That’s five of India’s last seven defeats in Test cricket away from home. In each of those five Tests, India’s first-innings score at six wickets down was better than (or, in the case of Perth, equal to) that of their opponents at the same point. But while the lower orders of England, Australia and New Zealand added 160, 75, 82, 80 and 87 to their scores in those innings, India’s last four wickets added 84, 32, 45, 38 and 35.India, quite clearly, have a lower-order problem.How bad is it? Well, since the start of 2018, the average of India’s lower-order batters (Nos. 8 and below) is 13.39, better only than those of South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan in Test cricket. If you limit this to just the tail (Nos. 9 to 11), India have been the very worst in the world.Getty ImagesThis lower-order issue doesn’t affect India unduly at home, where, as they showed during their home series against England earlier this year, they can call upon a seemingly endless array of spin-bowling allrounders. Away from Asia, they can’t pack their side with spinners. Their first-choice fast bowlers are world-class at their primary skill, but they are severely limited with the bat.India’s Test-match team management in England may, therefore, have watched with a wry smile as Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar completed a stirring lower-order fightback to steer an entirely different India side to victory in the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo.Chahar has a first-class bowling average of 35.10, and isn’t anywhere near getting a Test-match call-up. A fully fit Kumar would be a vital member of an India Test side in England, but his injury record and his lack of long-format match practice – he last played a first-class game in January 2018 – have made him something of a white-ball specialist of late.The ODI side in Sri Lanka also includes Hardik Pandya, who would ordinarily be a useful option in a Test squad, capable of slotting in at No. 7 in conditions where India want a fourth seamer. But he’s only just starting to bowl regularly in white-ball cricket after recovering from a back stress fracture, and would seem to be some distance away from being able to take on a red-ball bowling workload.All this leaves only one fast bowler in India’s Test squad with any real batting ability, Shardul Thakur. He only averages 16.58 in first-class cricket, but that’s probably because he’s a late bloomer with the bat. For India, he has been out for single-digit scores only four times in 16 innings across formats, and the 67 he made against Australia at the Gabba suggested he has the eye and basic technique to hold his own as a Test-match No. 8.But Thakur only played that Test match because all of India’s first-choice bowling options, pace and spin, were injured and unavailable. As well as he bowled in that game, particularly in the second innings, he remains, purely in bowling terms, sixth in line among the six pace options in India’s squad in England. It’s hard to see India picking him in a three-man seam attack; if he plays, it’s probably only as one of four fast bowlers.India, therefore, have a familiar headache going into the first Test, in Nottingham. They have picked five bowlers in each of their last four away Tests, and that, when their first-choice options have been available, has usually meant three fast bowlers plus R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, which gives them batting depth up to No. 8. But that 3-2 combination, as the World Test Championship final in Southampton showed, may not always be ideal in English conditions.In that WTC final, which was played on a green pitch and almost entirely under overcast skies, New Zealand had four genuine fast-bowling options plus the accurate medium pace of Colin de Grandhomme. They could pick such an attack because de Grandhomme and Kyle Jamieson are allrounders to varying degrees, and their other three fast bowlers can all contribute usefully with the bat, even Trent Boult, who has the highest average of all No. 11s to have batted at least 30 times in Test cricket.India were unable to match that seam-bowling depth, and while Ashwin bowled magnificently to pick up four wickets and concede only 45 runs in his 25 overs across the two innings, Jadeja ended up somewhat marginalised, and the three quicks overbowled – out of necessity, given the conditions.This, with or without a second spinner in the attack, has been a recurring issue for India. Overworked fast bowlers – at least relative to those in the opposition – may have played just as much of a role in their lower-order mismatches as fast bowlers who can’t bat. Have a look, for instance, at how the two teams distributed their bowling workloads during India’s last Test series in England back in 2018.Getty ImagesA couple of things leap out of this chart. One, England’s “others” sent down a significantly greater share of overs than India’s did. And two, India’s fifth-most-used bowler in the series, Jadeja, played just one of the five Tests. England’s fifth-most-used bowler, Sam Curran, played four Tests.That’s a clear illustration of England’s bowling depth through the series, made possible by the all-round skills of the likes of Curran, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes. You can play more bowlers if more of them can bat, and those bowlers can ease each other’s workloads. Over a series of five Tests, this can make a massive difference.Having deeper bowling attacks also allows teams to reserve specific bowlers for specific phases of a game, or to match them up against specific opposition batters, as New Zealand did so well in their home series against India in early 2020. In an attack without that depth, each bowler will have to perform multiple roles out of necessity.On the current England tour, India can’t call upon that kind of bowling depth unless they sacrifice their batting depth. Or vice-versa. So how can they cope?Playing four fast bowlers is one option, allowing them to spread the wicket-taking burden more evenly on seaming pitches. But it won’t be easy for India to assemble such an attack. Picking their best four – Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Siraj – would leave them with the equivalent of four No. 11s, so Thakur would almost out of necessity have to be one of the four.What of the spinners, then? It would be exceedingly difficult for India to drop Jadeja and play a 4-1 seam-spin attack, because that would leave either Ashwin or the untested Thakur batting at No. 7. Jadeja averages 44.47 with the bat over the last five years, and Ashwin 23.58.A 4-1 attack might require India, therefore, to leave Ashwin out – a move that would be both extremely brave and extremely defensive, given he’s in the bowling form of his life, having picked up 48 wickets at 17.95 since the start of the Australia tour, with four of his eight Tests having come away from home. That three of England’s potential top seven – Rory Burns, Stokes and Curran – bat left-handed would make it even harder for India to leave Ashwin out.The most radical option, which might only come into play in extreme seam-bowling conditions like in the Johannesburg Test of 2018, would be to pick four quick bowlers, no spinners, and a specialist batter at No. 6.But whether they go 3-2, 3-1, 4-1 or 4-0, India’s line-up will end with three old-school tailenders, unless their batting coach works some sort of miracle with the likes of Shami and Bumrah.Compare India’s options with those in England’s squad for the first two Tests: three seam-bowling allrounders in Stokes, Curran and Ollie Robinson, a spin-bowling allrounder in Dom Bess, and a handy lower-order hitter in Mark Wood. No matter what combination England pick, they will have at least four seam options, and batting depth until at least No. 9. Over five Tests, that depth of resources could prove just as invaluable as it did in 2018, when India’s players picked Curran as England’s player of the series.India don’t have a Curran or a Stokes. They will once again have to compromise on their batting or bowling depth, or both, out of necessity. It’s a fact they will have to live with, as they have done for the last three years, while occasionally casting a longing eye at the opposition camp.

Not all that much over the last decade and a half, if you go by the numbers

Sidharth Monga24-Dec-2021In between his pleasantries with the BCCI during his pre-departure press conference, India’s captain, Virat Kohli, spoke of the actual cricketing challenge in South Africa too. He rightly said South Africa has the most challenging conditions for a visiting batter, but as a team overall, South Africa might just be the friendliest of the big five countries that are generally thought to be the toughest for players from visiting sides to succeed in.The instant image that comes to mind when you think South Africa is of their fast bowlers running through visitors, but scratch a little and major victories for visiting teams spring up. Even on what seemed like a disastrous tour in 1996-97 – infamous for the 100 all out and 66 all out in Durban, India might have snuck a win in Johannesburg if not for one of those infamous Highveld electric storms. Ten years later, they won a Test with a fractious team, practically using only two fast bowlers.In the last 15 years, only Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Ireland have worse win-loss ratios at home.

A set of ignominious records that the Black Caps now own after their dismal display in Mumbai

Sampath Bandarupalli04-Dec-20212:50

Vettori: Great day for Ajaz but poor for New Zealand

62 New Zealand’s total in the first innings in Mumbai, the lowest in Tests played in India. The previous was 75 by the home team against West Indies in Delhi in 1975.Watch live cricket on ESPN+ in the US

India vs New Zealand is available in the US on ESPN+. You can subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to highlights of day two of the 2nd Test in English or in Hindi.

62 New Zealand’s 62 is also the lowest total by any team against India in Test cricket, South Africa’s 79 in 2015 in Nagpur being the previous lowest. Two of the three lowest Test totals against India came in 2021 with England all out for 81 in February this year.1 Instance of New Zealand registering a total lower than 62 since 1959, when they were bowled out for 45 against South Africa in 2013 in Cape Town. Until 1958, New Zealand had as many as four all-out totals in Tests which were lower than 62.1 All-out total lower than New Zealand’s 62 in the subcontinent. Pakistan held West Indies to just 53 runs in 1986 in Faisalabad. New Zealand’s total in Mumbai is also the joint fourth-lowest total in Tests in Asia with Pakistan recording totals of 59 and 53 respectively against Australia in the Sharjah Test in 2002.28.1 Overs faced by New Zealand during their first innings. Only South Africa (19.2) and England (22.3) have dismissed them in fewer overs. They faced 27 overs while registering the lowest total ever – 26 all out against England in 1955. The 28.1 overs at Wankhede are third-fewest India needed to bowl out an opponent at home in Test cricket.17 The lowest highest individual score in an all-out innings against India in Tests. It belongs to Kyle Jamieson now. Only once had India bowled an opposition out with no batter reaching 20 runs – in Melbourne 1981 when Doug Walters was Australia’s top-scorer in the second innings with 18*.325 India’s first-innings total is the second-lowest for any team to end up with a lead of 250-plus runs. Australia, in Sharjah in 2002, earned a lead of 251 runs after bundling Pakistan out for 59 while bowling first.332 India’s lead at the end of the second day, the highest they have taken at this stage in a Test match. The only other instance of India leading by 300-plus runs in the second innings by stumps on day two was against South Africa in 2006 (311).

ESPNcricinfo staffers cast their minds back to Warne’s most memorable spells

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Mar-20227 for 52 vs West Indies, MCG, 1992
It was Warne’s first Test at the MCG. Also his first Boxing Day Test. His hair dyed platinum blonde, his lower lip white with zinc cream, Warne made the most of a worn-out fifth-day pitch to undo the great work of Phil Simmons and Richie Richardson, who had put on 134 runs on the final morning. A quarter of an hour before lunch, Warne sent Richardson back with one that, in Michael Holding’s words, “pitched off stump, kept low, and hit off stump”. Carl Hooper was done in by big spin as he tried to pull over midwicket. After lunch, a legbreak that curled late sucked Simmons into a false shot. Warne was relentless as West Indies lost their last nine wickets for just 76 runs, of which Warne picked up seven – his last four coming for just three runs. It was his maiden five-for in first-class cricket. Playing only his fifth Test, Warne also won his first Player-of-the-Match award at his favourite venue.
7 for 56 vs South Africa, SCG, 1994
One of the ultimate thrillers in Test cricket, for many South Africa players the match of their lives, especially Fanie de Villiers, who, along with Allan Donald, thwarted Australia as they failed to cross a 117-run target. The Test was memorable also for Warne’s 12 wickets, including a seven-wicket haul in the first innings. He left the South Africa batters in a mess with his fast flippers, topspinners and whipping legbreaks. Most memorably, the wicket of Daryll Cullinan, who played from the crease against a flipper that zipped past and left his off stump swinging like a peg. Even the usually unflappable Richie Benaud was excited enough to say, “You can guarantee that Shane Warne has out-thought him there – shown the obvious flipper, let him pull it for four, and then slipped the other one in.”
4:16

Allan Border: ‘Shane Warne is the Bradman of legspin bowling’

8 for 71 vs England, Gabba, 1994
Back in the day, the follow-on was . So, when, after England had folded for 167 in the first Test of the 1994-95 Ashes, Mark Taylor thumbed his nose at convention and chose to bat again for a lead of 508, the pundits were incredulous. By the close of the fourth day’s play, with England finding new resolve to reach 211 for 2, there was the sniff of a famous escape in the air. Unbeknownst to those new to the art of legspin, however, the longer England endured, the surer their final demise became. Sure enough, as the pitch began to crumble and Warne’s leggies began to bite, there was no place for England to hide. Eighteen months on from his sensational Ashes debut in 1993, his hold over the Poms was already absolute.
7 for 23 vs Pakistan, 1995, Gabba
Warne’s hold over England was legendary, of course; his record against Pakistan is not as celebrated, perhaps, but it was no less traumatising from the opponents’ point of view. He had taken 18 wickets in Pakistan in the famous 1994-95 series, the first Tests he had played against them, but Saleem Malik and some others had played him well enough. But back home, a year later, and no chance. He reduced a solid-against-spin middle-order to rubble, on a ground that was hitherto a seam-bowling haven. He took 11 in the Test, marking the true beginning of an era of Australian dominance over Pakistan in which he would remain at the very centre.
4 for 46 vs West Indies, 1996 World Cup semi-final, Mohali
West Indies were 165 for 2 chasing 208 to make it to the final. It was a cakewalk. Warne’s great fast-bowling mate Glenn McGrath showed him a slight opening with the wicket of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Warne burst through by creating panic when there should have been none, chaos when things should have been straightforward, and wickets in the 45th, 47th and 49th overs.
That 1999 World Cup semi-final was, in many ways, all about Warne•PA Images via Getty Images4 for 29 vs South Africa, 1999 World Cup semi-final, Edgbaston
It had been six years since he had bowled ball to Mike Gatting. The world knew by now what he had done and what he could do. He was himself contemplating retirement, struggling with injuries and being dropped in the West Indies. In this game, Australia had hardly a score to defend, South Africa were off to a great start, and one of the unbelievable runs in a World Cup was about to come to an end. And then Warne bowled a ball as good as the one to Gatting, except with a white ball on a one-day track and when in a personal rut. Then he dragged the team along with him into the final, which they won.
4 for 33 vs Pakistan, 1999 World Cup final, Lord’s
It is testament to Warne’s greatness that although he produced almost certainly the best back-to-back knockouts bowling performances in the history of the World Cup, this is some way down in the hierarchy of his achievements. Having bowled Australia to the final with 4 for 29 in an Edgbaston semi-final that was as fiercely contested as a game of cricket could be, Warne ripped through Pakistan in the final. He bowled Ijaz Ahmed with a big legbreak, had Moin Khan caught behind, got a big-sweeping Shahid Afridi lbw, then had Wasim Akram caught off a top edge. Pakistan were 132 all out, paving the way for the first of Australia’s three successive World Cup victories.
5 for 74 vs Pakistan, Sharjah, 2002
The absolute zenith of Warne vs Pakistan. He took 27 wickets in this three-Test series, consigning Pakistan to one of their worst series defeats. The two Tests in Sharjah were played in inhumane heat, but Warne bowled over 50 overs in this last Test. It was an absolute road, and Warne – ever intuitive – didn’t bend the pitch to his will. He just went along with it, a succession of those famed flippers, zooters, straighter ones, toppies, crashing quick and low into the pads. It was, in fact, a very Rashid Khan kind of spell, more than a decade before the Afghan would emerge as another legspinning hero.
5 for 90 vs Sri Lanka, Kandy, 2004
Sri Lanka was, in some ways, the making of Warne. Back in 1992, he had gone wicketless in three of his four bowling innings, until he claimed three wickets in 13 balls to wipe out Sri Lanka’s tail. In that match, they were all out for 164, chasing 181. In 2004, in his comeback series following a year-long suspension for taking a banned diuretic, he broke Sri Lankan hearts again. Sri Lanka were 319 for 7, with only 33 runs required for victory, when Warne dangled one up, tempting Chaminda Vaas to heave across the line. The batter was caught on the leg-side boundary. Soon after this, he trapped Kaushal Lokuarachchi lbw, before Jason Gillespie claimed the last wicket to seal the series 2-0. Where in 1992 Sri Lanka were only still figuring out the format, this five-wicket haul in Asgiriya had come against one of the best top orders Sri Lanka had assembled.
4 for 31 vs England, Trent Bridge, 2005
Warne was unequivocally the greatest match-winner in the history of Ashes cricket, and yet, nothing revealed his greatness quite like his response to impending defeat. By the fourth Test in 2005, Australia were cornered. The series was still level at 1-1, but after surviving at Old Trafford, they had now followed-on at Trent Bridge, whereupon his own innings of 45 from 42 balls had ensured at least a token target of 129. At 32 for 0 after five overs, England were cruising as he entered the attack… but not for long. Marcus Trescothick prodded Warne’s first ball to silly point: 32 for 1. Michael Vaughan nicked a drifting legbreak to fall for a duck: 36 for 2. Andrew Strauss tucked another ripper straight to leg slip: 57 for 3. And when Brett Lee joined the hunt in a pace and spin onslaught, England were suddenly in danger of a shattering, Ashes-ending defeat. Geraint Jones then tried to take Warne on… and holed out to give him his fourth wicket in 12 overs, but on this occasion, the challenge proved just out of his reach. England, however, had once again been Warne-ed.
4 for 49 vs England, Adelaide, 2006
If Test matches were crime scenes, then Interpol’s forensic teams could spend the rest of the century trying to solve the heist of Adelaide 2006, but they would find not a trace of evidence from the most perfect cat-burglary of Warne’s career. There was nothing about the match situation that gave any clue to the mayhem to come, as England resumed the final day on a serene 59 for 1, leading by 97, . A bore-draw was nailed on, but when Strauss and Ian Bell fell in quick succession – to a dodgy decision, and an even dodgier piece of running between the wickets – Warne needed no further invitation to shin his way up the drainpipe. In a monstrous moment of hubris, Kevin Pietersen was bowled around his legs for 2, and thereafter England’s game-plan was catatonic. Ashley Giles and Matthew Hoggard were rounded up meekly, and as the citizens of Adelaide trooped across the river to witness a Tuesday afternoon heist, Australia cantered to a victory target of 168, setting in motion the inevitability of a whitewash.

The upcoming series will give West Indies an opportunity to get acclimatised to the conditions ahead of next year’s World Cup

Shashank Kishore05-Feb-2022″It’s hurting and hurting very badly.”Kieron Pollard was point blank when asked to sum up his thoughts as West Indies crashed and burned to a 2-1 series loss to Ireland at home. That was in mid-January.Then, they flexed their T20 muscle against powerhouses England in a series that yo-yoed wildly before West Indies nicked it 3-2. Even before they could perhaps soak in Jason Holder’s inspirational words of how he felt “this group was the closest he’s even been a part of” in the aftermath of that performance, they were on a plane, flying across continents to arrive in Ahmedabad for a short white-ball tour.Related

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Having cleared the three-day isolation requirements, West Indies held their first training session at Motera on Friday, ahead of Sunday’s first ODI. If the general sense around India has been that their T20 game is an extension of their ODI game, it’s the bang opposite for the West Indies.With the next 50-over World Cup also to be held in India in 2023, this is another opportunity for them to try and figure out combinations that work well for them in these conditions. As such, several players will also be up for grabs at the IPL auction, which could help them get acclimatised further. For now, there’s an opportunity to build forward, and put behind their ODI series loss at home to Ireland.And as always, there are a few talking points as we look ahead to the series.Roach’s returnAgainst Ireland, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph and Odean Smith formed the pace attack. Sheldon Cottrell, who wasn’t part of the series, has been in the mix as part of the larger group along with Chemar Holder, Oshane Thomas and Shannon Gabriel. But lack of consistency and underwhelming returns have meant looking inwards again. West Indies needed a strike bowler to reduce the burden on Holder. Enter Kemar Roach.He hasn’t been part of the ODI mix since August 2019. In fact, he hasn’t played any form of white-ball cricket since then. But in the interim, he has regularly been troubling batting line-ups with the red ball, both for West Indies and in the county circuit in England. In 2020, he became the ninth West Indies fast bowler to pick up 200 Test wickets. Roach isn’t the tearaway 145kph quick of old. Injuries – stress fractures and dodgy knees – have played a part in his pace down to the mid-130s but he is a lot smarter with his angles and lengths. New selector Desmond Haynes believes Roach’s freshness, hunger and striking ability with the new ball could make a difference to the West Indies. Roach’s hard lengths and accuracy could challenge India if they’re looking to break away from their safety-first powerplay template.Brandon King could be entrusted to open alongside Shai Hope•PCBA new opening combinationThe middle order will be manned by Shamrah Brookes, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Fabian Allen and Odean Smith. But they must identify an opening combination with Evin Lewis recovering from Covid-19 and Shimron Hetmyer, who opened in the home ODIs against Australia last year, not part of the tour either. In Hetmyer’s case, it’s his fitness that “continues to let him and his team-mates down,” according to head coach Phil Simmons. So, who partners Shai Hope, the accumulator (he strikes at 74.96), at the top?Against Ireland, West Indies tried out Justin Greaves, who struggled in all three matches, managing scores of 7, 10 and 12. He didn’t play in the CPL and was largely picked on the back of two half-centuries in the Regional Super 50s in February last year. Now, Greaves has been dropped.Haynes has spoken about how players doing well in one format could open the door to another. And in line with this philosophy, Nkrumah Bonner and Brandon King are back in the ODI mix. Bonner played the last of his three ODIs 13 months ago. King, more-recently, had a decent tour of Pakistan, and got off to starts against England. One of these two could be trusted with the job again.The spin factorMotera laid out dust bowls when England visited for the Tests last year. That is not going to happen in the shorter formats, however. Roston Chase, seen as an all-round option and more than capable with his offspin, isn’t here. West Indies have got legspinner Hayden Walsh and left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein to shore up their spin stocks. Walsh hasn’t been particularly consistent, while Hosein has form on his side, though, having picked up a four-for last week in the series deciding T20I against England. But he largely has been the restrictive bowler who fires them in with the new ball in T20 cricket. The bigger boundaries and potentially slower surfaces in Motera could be a test of their adaptability.

Also: how many women have scored World Cup centuries in a losing cause?

Steven Lynch08-Mar-2022Sakibul Gani followed his 341 on debut with 98 and 101 in the next match. Has anyone scored more runs after three first-class innings? asked Azweer from India, among many others
That astonishing start from Bihar’s Sakibul Gani has seen him score 341 against Mizoram in Kolkata (the record score for anyone on first-class debut), followed by 98 and 101 not out against Sikkim at Eden Gardens (the first match was at the Jadavpur University Campus).Gani’s 540 runs is a record for a player’s first three first-class innings, surpassing 494 (12, 290 and 194) by the New Zealander Bill Carson for Auckland in 1936-37. Gani made 38 and 23 in his next match, so did not pass the Australian Bill Ponsford’s records of 616 runs after four-class innings, and 724 after five. The records for six and seven innings – 831 and 900 runs – were set by the Afghanistan batter Bahir Shah in 2017-18. Ponsford reached 1000 runs in his eighth innings, the record at the moment.Sophie Devine scored 108 in the World Cup opener, but still lost – how many other women have scored a World Cup century but finished on the losing side? asked Deborah Mitchell from New Zealand
That hundred by New Zealand’s captain Sophie Devine in the opening match against West Indies in Mount Manganui last week was the sixth time that an individual century had not been enough to bring victory in a Women’s World Cup match. The seventh was not long coming: Nat Sciver scored an unbeaten 109 for England as they ran Australia close next day in Hamilton.Devine was the third New Zealander on the list, after her current team-mates Suzie Bates, with 102 against Australia in Cuttack in February 2013, and Amy Satterthwaite, who hit 103 a week later against England in Mumbai.There have also been two cases for India: Harmanpreet Kaur made an undefeated 107 in vain against England in Mumbai in 2013, and Punam Raut 106 against Australia in Bristol in 2017. The other instance – and the highest such score – was made by Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu, with 178 not out against Australia, also in Bristol in 2017. Despite Athapaththu’s remarkable effort, Sri Lanka managed only 257 for 9 in their 50 overs, which Australia chased down with some ease; Meg Lanning hit 152 not out.In the men’s World Cups, it has happened on 40 occasions.I heard that Shakib Al Hasan is the only batter in ODI history whose average never fell below 30 in his entire career. Is this true? asked Fahim from Bangladesh
Well, it’s partly true: Shakib Al Hasan currently averages 37.62 in one-day internationals, and the lowest his average has ever been was 30.91. But, given a qualification of 30 innings, there are no fewer than 31 other men whose average has also never been below 30 (including Eoin Morgan, who once averaged exactly 30). Of these, three have never averaged below 40: Imam-ul-Haq of Pakistan, whose lowest to date is 49.18, and the retired Australian pair of Michael Hussey (47.89) and Michael Bevan (42.33). This record is perhaps overly dependent on someone making at least 30 in their first ODI innings.Shane Warne played 145 Tests without ever representing Australia in a T20I•Jack Atley/Fairfax Media/Getty ImagesWho has played the most Tests without ever playing a one-day international, and what’s the equivalent record for T20s? asked David Knight from England
Leaving aside players like Godfrey Evans, who won 91 Test caps but had retired before the first one-day international in 1971, the ODI record is held by England’s Mark Butcher, who won 71 Test caps without ever featuring in England’s one-day team (this always struck me as slightly odd, as he had a very respectable record in List A cricket). Next comes the New Zealand fast bowler Neil Wagner, who has so far played 58 Tests without a single white-ball appearance. The former England captain MJK Smith played 50 Tests, but no ODIs, although his international career only just stretched into the ODI era. Of players who made their Test debut after ODIs started, Butcher and Wagner lead the way, then come the Sri Lankans Kaushal Silva (39 Tests) and Tharanga Paranavitana (32), alongside England’s Rory Burns (32 Tests).Moving to T20Is, Shane Warne played 145 Tests without appearing in a 20-over international, which started towards the end of his great career. Considering only players who made their Test debut after the first official T20I early in 2005, the leader is Cheteshwar Pujara (95 Tests), ahead of Azhar Ali (91), Dimuth Karunaratne at 75 and Kraigg Brathwaite and Dean Elgar bracketed together on 74. All of these players did play some ODIs.What are the best bowling figures by a captain in ODIs and T20Is? asked Ramaswamy Gohel from India
The best by a captain in ODIs is 7 for 36, by Waqar Younis, for Pakistan against England at Headingley in 2001. Next, rather surprisingly perhaps, comes Viv Richards, with 6 for 41 for West Indies against India in Delhi in 1989-90. There have been three more six-fors, by Dwayne Bravo (2012-13), Gulbadin Naib (2019) and Waqar again, with 6 for 59 two days later in 2001 at Trent Bridge.There are a further 21 instances of a captain taking a five-for in a one-day international. Waqar did it three times in all, and Greg Chappell, Jason Holder, Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram twice.In T20Is the best figures by a captain are 6 for 18, by Argentina’s Hernan Fennell against Panama in a World Cup Americas Region qualifier in Antigua in November 2021. Next comes Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, with 5 for 6 against New Zealand in Pallekele in September 2019.There are four other cases of a captain talking a five-for in a T20I, by Moazzam Baig (Malawi), Charles Perchard (Jersey), Ahmed Raza (UAE) and Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh).Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions