Once Ireland’s free spirit, Stirling has churned out ODI runs by embracing responsibility

Matt Roller27-Jan-2021In 2019, Paul Stirling had a decision to make. When Ireland were awarded Test status in 2017, the ECB provided Irish internationals with a two-year grace period in county cricket, after which they would only be able to play as their side’s overseas player, rather than as locals – unless they quit international cricket.As a British passport-holder, Stirling admitted that he was “baffled” at the situation, but decided against a legal challenge and was left a choice between renewing his contract at Middlesex, where he had spent 10 years as a professional, and extending his international career.While some of his Ireland team-mates opted for the security and stability of a county deal, Stirling chose the other path. “When he texted me to say he had committed to Ireland and wasn’t going to continue with Middlesex, I was delighted,” Andy Balbirnie, Ireland’s captain, recalled. “Every team around the world would want him.”It is easy to see why he was so enthusiastic. Once a dasher who would throw his hands at the new ball and hope, Stirling has become one of the world’s most consistent opening batsmen, especially in 50-over cricket, the format which comes most naturally to him. Since international cricket restarted in July 2020 after its Covid-enforced hiatus, Stirling has made four ODI hundreds in eight innings; Steven Smith, with two, is the only other batsman to have compiled more than one.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhile it had never been in doubt that Stirling was a player with bags of natural talent, there had been legitimate questions a decade into his international career as to whether he would reach his potential.Having made his debut at 17, Stirling’s ODI average was an impressive 42.48 after 32 innings, with a strike rate of 95.43 denoting his aggressive style at the top of the order. In his next 40 innings, he lost his way: he passed 50 only four times, averaging 24.82 across a six-year period which even included a fleeting shift down to No. 6 as a ploy to combat Afghanistan’s spinners.But in his 50 most recent innings, dating back to March 2017, he averages 49.22, with a more conservative strike rate of 84.57 demonstrating the extent to which he has reined in his instincts and adapted his game to perform the role of a senior batsman in a team in transition. Seven of his 12 ODI hundreds have come in that time, with his three in Abu Dhabi this month taking him past William Porterfield’s previous Ireland record of 11. He dedicated the most recent two, against Afghanistan, to the late Roy Torrens, whom he described as “an absolute hero”.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn particular, Stirling has been exceptional against spin, a quality that might not be obvious in a player brought up on green Belfast pitches. Since mid-March 2017, he has scored at a marginally slower strike rate against spinners (83.33) than seamers (86.11), but his average of 78.57 facing spin is up there with the world’s best, after honing his methods against Afghanistan’s ‘big three’ – Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman – and the best in the associate game.Essentially, Stirling realised in his mid-to-late 20s that it was no longer enough for him to swing through the line and hope. “You get bored of getting to 30, hitting it in the air and getting out,” he told ESPNcricinfo earlier this month. “From there you think, ‘actually, I quite like batting – maybe I’ll try and bat a little longer’.”I got off to a really good start in ODI cricket and I probably took it for granted a little bit. I think it’s my favourite format – it’s the one where I feel I can just bat. To me, that’s the most natural you can be. I can walk out there and not have to think too hard, and naturally strike the ball well and score at a strike rate that’s OK.”Stirling displayed his ability against spin during his 142 vs England and Adil Rashid in August 2020•AFP via Getty ImagesRather than any major technical changes, Stirling attributes his improvements over the last four years to a shift in mindset. He still attacks in the powerplay when he can, but not at the expense of throwing his wicket away. “It comes down to experience. I definitely had a shift. I think I was averaging 40-plus in ODI cricket and it slid down maybe even into the early 30s. That’s when I was like ‘right, it’s time to make some improvements here’. You ask yourself, ‘what do you want, to score quick 30s or make match-winning scores?'”In particular, he hails the influence of Graham Ford, who sat him down upon becoming head coach in December 2017 to tell him that he would not settle for sporadic brilliance. “He made his point very clear, which was that I’m here to score runs, not to score pretty 20s and 30s to stay in the team,” Stirling recalled. “I thought that was good. If he hadn’t done that, I could have just continued on my way, so he was certainly a big help.” When he became vice-captain last year, it seemed like a natural fit.As a result, Stirling’s recent record puts him in the company of the best in the game. Since the start of 2019, only Aaron Finch and Rohit Sharma have more ODI hundreds than him, and while their innings may have been against stronger opposition, they have not had to carry the rest of their respective batting line-ups in the way that Stirling has; in that timeframe, Stirling has scored 1351 ODI runs, while only one team-mate – Balbirnie – has breached the 500 mark.The upshot is that Stirling has levelled up by slowing down. Once Ireland’s free spirit, he has turned into a relentless run-scorer by embracing responsibility.

Here is part 2 of our team-by-team guide to the new Pakistan Super League season

Umar Farooq19-Feb-2021Lahore QalandarsTeam overview
All those seasons at the bottom of the table were forgotten last year thanks to the Qalandars’ bristling competitiveness. The franchise rose from the ashes and stormed into their final by eliminating Peshawar Zalmi and then the league toppers Multan Sultans, before they lost to the Karachi Kings in the final. Over the years, the Qalandars had struggled to find their ideal combination and grappled with injuries and player unavailability, but last season they managed to create a desirable core under their captain Sohail Akhtar, a product of their player-development program.Related

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The Qalandars now have a deadly bowling trio at their disposal, comprising the three highest T20 wicket-takers of 2020 in Haris Rauf (57), Rashid Khan (56) and Shaheen Afridi (52). And while this dynamic attack makes them stand out from the rest of the teams, their batting also packs a punch, with their top order including Fakhar Zaman, who is looking to revive his Pakistan career, Akhtar, who comes into the tournament with T10 form behind him, and Ben Dunk, who made 300 runs last season at a strike rate of 167.59. The Qalandars have retained him for this season, and released Chris Lynn.The middle order also bursts with authority with Mohammad Hafeez, David Wiese and Samit Patel in the ranks. These three aren’t the youngest, but they bring valuable experience and rock-solid temperaments.Strengths
The Qalandars possess a bowling attack with all bases covered – pace, seam, left-arm spin, legspin, offspin. The captain Sohail Akhtar is an underrated batsman, who has a T20 hundred under his belt. His career strike rate of 128.68 might not look too flash, but he comes into the PSL with a chart-topping 248 runs at a strike rate of 187.87 in the Abu Dhabi T10. Hafeez has hit a purple patch in the shortest format of late, scoring 1005 runs at an average of 47.85 and a strike rate of 141.54 since the start of 2020. He’s added a new dimension to his game with improved power-hitting, and even at 40 the Professor shows no signs of stopping.Weaknesses
Rashid is with the Qalandars for only two games since he will be leaving for national duty to play a Test series against Zimbabwe for Afghanistan. The Qalandars don’t have too much cover for his role, and his loss will be felt going deep in the tournament. After a promising start to his international career across formats, Fakhar Zaman is now out of favour with his form dipping significantly. The Qalandars will hope he can get back to his best because he is a key figure in their top order.Roster
Ben Dunk, David Wiese, Dilbar Hussain, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hafeez, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Akhtar, Ahmed Danyal, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Faizan, Joe Denly, Rashid Khan, Samit Patel, Tom Abell, Salman Ali Agha. Zaid Alam, Zeeshan AshrafPotential First XI: Fakhar Zaman, Sohail Akhtar (capt), Zaid Alam, Mohammad Hafeez, Ben Dunk (wk), Samit Patel, David Wiese, Rashid Khan, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Dilbar HussainBabar Azam will be surrounded by an array of experienced top-order colleagues•PCBKarachi KingsTeam overview
The Karachi Kings broke their playoffs jinx last year to win the title. Otherwise, they had never finished in the top two, losing three times in the Eliminator and finishing in third place in 2017. They have always had a star-studded roster and arguably started each season as one of the favorites with a triumvirate of three long-standing players – Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, and Imad Wasim as the captain – as their defining feature.This year, as in the last few seasons, they have carefully injected firepower into their top order to bat around Babar Azam, trading Alex Hales with Islamabad United to bring back Colin Ingram, who had two sensational seasons for the Kings in 2018 and 2019, scoring 587 runs at a strike rate of 153.66.Their coaching panel is largely taken care of by director and president Wasim Akram but the franchise has also roped in the former South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs as their head coach. Gibbs comes into the role that was previously held by Dean Jones, who died aged 59 in September last year in Mumbai. In November, the franchise dedicated their maiden title to Jones.Strengths
The top five positions offer guaranteed firepower with Sharjeel Khan, Ingram and Dan Christian capable of booming strike rates and batting around the class of Babar Azam.Weaknesses
The Kings have decent bowling options but their pace attack can be over-reliant on Mohammad Amir’s four-over quota. His form cost him his Pakistan place recently, and if he doesn’t fire on a given day, it might test the other fast bowlers – Arshad Iqbal, Waqas Maqsood and Aamer Yamin. It could be a make-or-break season for Amir’s career. A lack of batting depth could be an issue, with the Kings lacking truly top-drawer hitters down the order, though Imad and Mohammad Nabi can do a decent job.Roster
Aamer Yamin, Arshad Iqbal, Babar Azam, Colin Ingram, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Sharjeel Khan, Waqas Maqsood, Chadwick Walton, Dan Christian, Danish Aziz, Joe Clarke, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Ilyas, Noor Ahmed, Qasim Akram, Zeeshan MalikPotential First XI
Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Colin Ingram, Dan Christian, Imad Wasim (capt), Chadwick Walton (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Aamer Yamin, Mohammad Amir, Waqas Maqsood, Arshad IqbalPeshawar Zalmi will hope the arrival of Mujeeb Ur Rahman can make up for the loss of Hasan Ali•Getty ImagesPeshawar ZalmiTeam overview
The franchise is in a rebuilding phase after losing their premier fast bowler Hasan Ali – who parted ways to join Islamabad United. They are the only team after Karachi to have made the playoffs each time they’ve played the tournament in the last five years. They’ve played as many as three finals, but won only once. Zalmi are going through a reboot this year, having retained only five players in the draft while every other team retained the maximum quota of eight to secure their core.This is a new development, since no team has had as loyal a core as Zalmi’s since the league began in 2016. Darren Sammy, Hasan Ali, Kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz have worn no other colours until Hasan decided to leave; they also went through a mid-season crisis earlier, having to bench Sammy and appoint him as a coach. Their head coach Mohammad Akram – who has also been with the franchise from the beginning – has said the team is looking to make a fresh start.Strengths
The middle-order is brimming with experience, with Shoaib Malik and Ravi Bopara occupying key positions. The bowling is largely based on their go-to quick Wahab Riaz, who is the leading wicket-taker in the PSL and has made a crucial contribution to Zalmi’s success over the years. He might be missing Hasan at the other end but the attack will be bolstered by the arrival of the Afghanistan mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who had a decent BBL season, picking up 14 wickets at an average of 13.42 and an economy rate of 6.26. Weaknesses
Veteran Kamran Akmal hasn’t had a good run lately with the bat, and has missed chunks of the recent domestic season due to fitness issues. Liam Livingstone pulling out on national duty has exposed cracks in the top order, leaving it largely in the hands of the inexperienced Haider Ali. Tom Kohler-Cadmore has been brought in as a replacement but he doesn’t have a lot of experience in Asian conditions. Imam ul Haq, meanwhile, has hardly played since picking up a thumb injury in New Zealand. Roster
Haider Ali, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz, Abrar Ahmed, Amad Butt, David Miller, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir Khan, Mohammad Irfan Snr, Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ravi Bopara, Saqib Mahmood, Sherfane Rutherford, Umaid Asif, Tom-Kohler CadmorePotential First XI
Haider Ali, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shoaib Malik, Ravi Bopara, Amad Butt, Wahab Riaz (capt), Umaid Asif, Mohammad Irfan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Imran

Catch up with how the English names have gone in the opening stages of this year’s IPL

Andrew Miller19-Apr-2021Moeen Ali
Who knew that Moeen Ali’s abrupt involvement in England’s Test tour of India could prove to be so serendipitous? After a winter of endless frustration with England – starting with his Covid-19 diagnosis in Sri Lanka and culminating in his absence from all five matches of England’s T20I series – here he is, starring for the franchise in whose city he played his solitary Test of the winter. He is batting at No. 3 with unfettered joy, and playing a quietly vital role with his offspin too. First-drop was a void for Chennai Super Kings in their abject IPL campaign last season, but with MS Dhoni’s relaxed approach encouraging Ali not to try too hard, but to focus on timing the ball, he has picked up where he left off in that auction audition in February. Ali made 43 from 17 balls from No. 9 at the fag end of England’s defeat, but it restated an easily overlooked truth, that there are few more natural six-hitters in the game. Subsequent knocks of 36 from 24 against the Delhi Capitals, and 46 from 31 against the Punjab Kings have carried on in a similar vein.Jonny Bairstow
Perhaps the IPL need not have a drastic impact on England’s T20 World Cup plans, but the machinations at the Sunrisers Hyderabad are worth keeping an eye on nonetheless. Jonny Bairstow has been an undoubted success at No. 4 for England in recent times, where his clean aggression against the spinners can come to the fore, as shown with a 32-ball fifty in their campaign opener against the Kolkata Knight Riders. But, with Wriddhiman Saha struggling to make an impact at the top, the old bromance was rekindled for Saturday’s clash with the Mumbai Indians. Bairstow and David Warner were reunited as an opening pair, and Bairstow duly seized the moment with a startling onslaught – 39 from his first 14 balls, including four fours and four sixes – even smashing a fridge door in the process before he smashed his own stumps for 43. That let the champions back into the game, but the message was clear. Bairstow is in a rich vein of form, and the longer he gets to display it, the better it may be for his team.Chris Woakes had the better of Jos Buttler in their face-off•BCCIJos Buttler
The last man standing of the Rajasthan Royals’ English triumvirate (with apologies to Liam Livingstone), a whole lot rests on Jos Buttler right now, with his team’s overseas contingent pillaged by the finger injuries to Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes. At least he set the right example in their agonising opening-round loss to the Punjab Kings, as he clattered out of the blocks in pursuit of 222, rifling Riley Meredith for four consecutive fours in his 13-ball 25 before Jhye Richardson exacted revenge on behalf of all Australians with a well-directed yorker. Stokes’ injury in that contest sent Buttler back up the order against the Delhi Capitals, where Chris Woakes was waiting to snag the bragging rights… but at least the Royals held their nerve this time, thanks to their new million-dollar man, Chris Morris.Related

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Chris Woakes
It beggars belief that Chris Woakes has not played for England in T20Is since 2015 – or in any form of the game since September last year, despite being acclaimed as the PCA men’s player of the year in October after starring with red and white ball alike. But what he has lacked in game-time he has more than made up for in game-craft, with a series of startlingly composed bowling displays that make you wonder if he is England’s missing link for the T20 World Cup. Certainly there are growing concerns about Tom Curran’s form and confidence, but Woakes’ old-school performances have been revelatory, and shown that sometimes it’s best not to outthink yourself, let alone the batter. Tight lines, cutters, canny slower balls when required, but more than anything else, a faith in that just-back-of-a-length stock ball that helped win a World Cup. That’s a badge of honour that counts for plenty when you’re playing chicken with batters who want to smash you into next week.Sam Curran
It’s mildly perplexing to think that, in England’s T20I team, Ali and Sam Curran are basically competing for a single non-specific berth – probably at or around No. 7, with their bowling expected to fit around the big three pillars of the attack, Archer, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid. In the IPL, Ali’s stock is higher than it’s ever been, and Curran’s just keeps on rising. He was widely acclaimed as the Super Kings’ brightest prospect in a grim 2020 campaign, and he’s begun this year with similar gusto, not least in his act of fratricide to mangle Tom’s figures in the game against the Capitals. He made 34 from 15 in the death overs on that occasion, and he followed that up with 1 for 12 in three overs against the Punjab Kings, his efforts split between the powerplay and the 20th over, where he cleaned up Shahrukh Khan, the only batter to get a toe-hold. Another big season is taking shape.Eoin Morgan has been a mixed bag so far, both as batter and as captain•BCCIEoin Morgan

A quiet start for the Knight Riders’ captain, with the bat and on the field, where a comfortable opening-round victory over the Sunrisers was followed by a pair of contrasting losses to the Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The former was a batting malfunction with the chase at their mercy, the latter, a death by AB de Villiers and, well, that happens from time to time, even if Morgan’s decision to take Varun Chakravarthy out of the attack after he had removed Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar in his first over raised eyebrows, not least from Gautam Gambhir, who called it some of the “weirdest captaincy” he’d ever seen. Morgan made 29 from 23 in the reply, his first double-figured contribution of the campaign, but he’ll want more from his own bat to back up his authority.Tom Curran
The rueful shakes of the head and sotto voce curses have said it all. Tom Curran is not having much fun with the ball at the moment, and for a bowler of his type, so much of it stems from his own mindset. England know what he can do when his game-brain is in gear – he relishes the cut-and-thrust of death bowling in particular, or rather he used to, for his recent efforts have seemed rather punch-drunk. Arguably, he has not yet recovered from a gruelling experience in Sharjah at the last IPL, where the short boundaries and plentiful dew played havoc with his variations. But whatever type of slower ball he chooses to attempt, knee-high full tosses and ugly half-trackers – such as he served up to Morris with 12 runs to defend against the Royals last week – are rarely going to fit the bill.Ben Stokes
It was, to be fair, an exceptional outfield catch. A fast, flat flog to long-on from Chris Gayle, where Stokes plunged forward to scoop up the chance in both hands. Unfortunately, that has ended his IPL, and ruled him out of the two-Test series against New Zealand as well. He will need surgery on a broken finger, so there’s not a lot to read into his subsequent three-ball duck after opening the Royals’ run chase, except to say that at least he tried.And the rest…
No game-time as yet for Jason Roy (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Dawid Malan (Punjab Kings), Liam Livingstone (Rajasthan Royals), Chris Jordan (Punjab Kings), Sam Billings (Delhi Capitals), and Jofra Archer (Rajasthan Royals). Archer has been cleared to resume training at Hove, after finger surgery and treatment on his right elbow, but there’s no timeframe yet for his IPL comeback.

“Test cricket is the No. 1 format, but trying to get the players to understand that is the biggest thing”

Mohammad Isam23-Feb-2021Bangladesh have never won a match against New Zealand in New Zealand.
We know it’s going to be a tough tour; New Zealand are playing really good cricket at the moment. From the year that I have been here [with Bangladesh] now, 50-overs cricket is a format that a lot of our players seem to enjoy and pride themselves on. We are looking forward to a very competitive series.Related

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The fast bowlers will have a big role to play there – what sort of improvements are you looking at for them on this white-ball tour?
We haven’t played a lot of one-day cricket without Shakib (Al Hasan), so trying to find that allrounder to balance the team is crucially important. (Mehidy Hasan) Miraz has shown that he can do it in Tests, but we need to find some allrounders who can give us more options. The second area is our finishing of games with the lower-middle order, trying to establish a power-hitter in the back-end, giving someone the responsibility of finishing games. It is something that we want to develop over the next couple of months.

“If the player is not all in it, and there are other opportunities at this stage of his career, it is very hard to judge him on making those decisions”On Shakib Al Hasan prioritising the IPL over national duty

On that, Mohammad Saifuddin is the first name that comes to mind – he has been around now for four years, what are your thoughts about his progress?
He still has a lot of work to do, especially on his batting. He is still a bit inconsistent with the way he strikes the ball. He is coming off quite a few injuries too. We would like him to get his pace up by another five or six kph or so. I know that’s something that Ottis (Gibson, the bowling coach) also feels. If he can bowl consistently at 132-134kph, that’s where we need him to be. He is a very good package for us in white-ball cricket, but he is still not the finished product as far as I am concerned.What would be the challenges for Tamim Iqbal as captain? And do Bangladesh hope to win the series?
Absolutely. We definitely feel that we are going in with good fast bowlers like Taskin (Ahmed), Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur (Rahman) and Saifuddin; Shoriful (Islam) brings good pace into our attack. We want to play an aggressive brand of cricket there with our fast bowlers. I suppose in the past Bangladesh have relied heavily on spinners on away tours as well. We are going to try to change that. We will try to strike with the new ball and strike in the middle of the innings with pace, not just with spin. Those are the types of challenge Tamim is going to face, to get the team moving in that direction and not become spin-dominant in the middle of the innings and also be able to get his fast bowlers to get those big breakthroughs that we need to happen.The Test series loss to West Indies at home has expectedly brought great criticism for the team•Raton Gomes/BCBIn terms of the bigger picture, how much do you think the team has progressed, in all formats, since you took charge?
I have been very happy with the way the one-dayers and T20s have gone. To win a T20 in India and push them close in the third T20, we probably should have won that game. We have won six ODIs in a row. We have won six of our last T20 games, which is a good return. In terms of white-ball cricket, the team is definitely moving in the right direction.We are a long way off where we need to be in Tests, it is obvious. We have to change the culture of the Test team. We have to make sure that we have a group of players who are hungry to play Tests, skilled to play Tests, and have the fight that’s required to guts it out for five days. It is the big challenge for us.We know there’s a lot of disappointment losing the series against West Indies. It is a good wake-up call for everybody to show how far back we have fallen in Tests. Guys will say that they have won in the past but those were one-off Test wins. They haven’t won a major Test series yet. There’s a lot of work to do in the Test format. I see it as a great challenge as a coach and management to ensure our Test cricket improves. For me, it’s the No. 1 format, but trying to get the players to understand that is the biggest thing. Just an appreciation of the Test-match format is a big challenge for players to try to get their heads around.How did the team react to the West Indies Test series loss?
Everyone was very disappointed with the performance. We know in the first Test we dominated for four days and made some bad decisions on day five. We didn’t play well at all in the second Test. The coaches are hurt by the way the Test series went. But that’s the nature of international sport. We have an opportunity now to rectify that in New Zealand, and do something no Bangladesh side has done before in New Zealand, and that’s winning the series. We will try our utmost to do it. It is going to be a tough ask.The players, being professionals, know that they have to lift themselves. They know that when they put on their green shirts again in two weeks’ time, their minds are completely clear and focused on the future, not the past.”It is a job Mominul [Haque] wants to do and is fully committed in doing”•Raton Gomes/BCBWhere do you think Mominul Haque, the captain, went wrong against West Indies?
Mominul has a lot to learn as captain but his heart is in the right place. He is fully focused on the team. He wants to lead the team from the front. It is a new experience for him. He is going to get better. We support, guide, and advise him as much as we possibly can. But he also has to find his own way of captaincy, which he is still trying to establish.It has been a very stop-start captaincy for him, which makes it even harder. It would have been easier if had a Test match in a week’s time but now he has to wait a couple of months for the next Test. It is not easy, and nor is it a simple job, but I know it is a job he wants to do and is fully committed in doing. I support him 100% to try to achieve the goals he has set for the team.Lastly, where do you stand on Shakib’s decision not to play the Sri Lanka series in favour of the IPL?
It is a tough one. As a coach, I would always want Shakib available in the side. On the other side of things, if the player is not all in it, and there are other opportunities at this stage of his career, it is very hard to judge him on making those decisions. I think it is the decision he has to make. He can take opinions from various quarters but it is Shakib’s decision. As coaches, we have to respect his decision. It is his career and livelihood, so it is not for us to make those judgements.I know when he does play for Bangladesh, he is fully committed. What format he is going to play, those are discussions we probably still need to have going forward. The way cricket is going at the moment, nobody can be forced to play in any format. We have to respect the decision that the board and player is making.

It makes sense at many levels, but there are also plenty of unknowns and obstacles involved

Osman Samiuddin09-Jul-2021Rahul Dravid, head coach, India. That has some ring to it.Just feels right, right? In the same way you knew you’d brought the right boy home to meet the parents.Dravid has always had prospective-son-in-law vibes, though presently that quality stands doubly amplified because the actual India coach seems very much the boyfriend your parents warned you about.Dravid in Sri Lanka is not, publicly at least, an audition for the role, because he is thought to be reluctant. But of course, it can’t help but be seen as an audition. Ravi Shastri’s contract is up after the T20 World Cup and, well, people are allowed to put two and two together and dream.And why not? It makes sense at many levels. For one, Dravid wouldn’t be former great who became a coach because what else would he do? A potential reading of his playing career, in fact, is as a prelude to a career as India’s head coach. That’s not to dismiss what he achieved as a player but to recognise that the nature of his greatness as a player stood him apart from the greatness of those around him.Related

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No greatness is ever unearned, but Dravid’s came across as sweatier and more worked for than his contemporaries in that revered batting order. This isn’t some reductive assessment, that he was a limited player; just that the clear impression was that he was more aware than most of what made him tick and why, and as importantly, what didn’t. Which, for coaching, is a priceless quality to have.He’s also been working as a coach for a while, though it isn’t simply about having the right qualifications or even practical experience so much. It is more that it makes him familiar with the game as it is now. So often, especially in the subcontinent (or maybe it’s just Pakistan) former players who become coaches remain stuck in the time they played in, unable to recognise that the game has evolved, let alone by what measure.Through his work with IPL franchises, and more seminally with India’s Under-19 and A sides and the National Cricket Academy, Dravid likely recognises the environment young cricketers are coming from, as well as the influences that are shaping them. He has bought into, for example, data analytics. But more importantly, you suspect he can sense which players are receptive to something like analytics, and to what degree, and which players tick slightly differently.Go through head coaches in international cricket right now and it’s clear Dravid hits a sweet spot unlike others. One tier is of those with celebrated international careers and a range of coaching experience: from limited, like Misbah-ul-Haq, Mark Boucher and Shastri, to extensive, like Phil Simmons, Lance Klusener and Justin Langer. There is a tier of hardy domestic cricketers who had limited international careers: Chris Silverwood, Gary Stead and Lalchand Rajput. Finally there are the career coaches: Graham Ford, Mickey Arthur and Russell Domingo.And then there is, or could be, Dravid, in a tier all by himself. A more celebrated playing career than many – perhaps any – on that list. More coaching experience than some on that list, but also the empathy and humility (though perhaps not as elite as Langer’s) that is the hallmark of the best coaches.He’s also set up better, of course, because he will have at his disposal arguably a better team than most anyone on that list, and unarguably greater depth and resources to play with. It can’t be said enough how much that impacts – and often distorts – assessments of coaching.(Don’t) shake things up: working with established stars is always trickier than mentoring younger players, and Anil Kumble’s tumultous tenure as India coach might potentially discourage Dravid from taking the job•Aijaz Rahi/Associated PressBut that also leads, in a straightish line, to the question of what India need now. And now that we’re asking, let’s be blunt with the answer: a title. India need a title.They’re already unbeatable at home and difficult to stop, let alone beat, in most other countries. They already enter all white-ball events among the favourites and are perennial semi-finalists – which comes off sounding like more of a slight than it is intended to be.But a title is the validation that teams and athletes live, and break themselves, for. It’s all very well being ranked No. 1, but how many people remember Marcelo Rios? It is one of the unavoidable – and slightly ludicrous – realities of sport that winning titles is what we judge players by.For a while now, India have been on the verge of becoming cricket’s dominant side without becoming it. It’s moot that they should have been here long ago. But what they would appear to need now are mostly infinitesimal advances. Greater attention to detail, smarter selection of playing XIs, more efficient management, and better deployment of that vast depth. These are the kind of things, you imagine, Dravid would be especially good at.You could argue that India’s issue with their white-ball batting is trickier, needing a more nuanced and sensitive handling. Learning to see wickets as expendable, and breaking away from those anchors, particularly in T20, is a cultural rewiring rather than a cricketing one. And soon there will be time for a transition – more pressingly with the Test side. Virat Kohli is 32, Ajinkya Rahane 33, Cheteshwar Pujara 33, Rohit Sharma 34, R Ashwin 34, Ravindra Jadeja 32, Ishant Sharma 32. It often goes overlooked just how much experience any India team brings to the field these days. Both matters will need careful management and careful management is kind of Dravid’s schtick.There will be to all this some element of the unknown, a tangible sense of risk. These are, after all, matters between humans, not algorithms. The dynamics of working with younger, fringe players are entirely different to those of working with established superstars in a national side. And Anil Kumble is a different man, but the circumstances of his exit can’t help but linger as a cautionary tale. It says something about the kind of coach this team, this captain, is comfortable with.Dravid’s resignation from the captaincy in 2007 lingers too – at the edges of memory but there. He stopped enjoying it because it had drained him, he once explained. It hardly needs spelling out that being the head coach of India, like being the captain, is no holiday; it can be a draining, overwhelming job, and the prospects of a life on the road for much of a year are hardly appealing at the moment.More than either Dravid or the team, the issue will weigh heaviest on the BCCI. It will be a critical rejig of an ecosystem that has only recently clicked into place. If the appointment is to happen, the BCCI will have to place the benefits of the work Dravid is undertaking now against the potential benefits he will bring to the national side. It’s a question to which the answer is usually another question and then another, until someone ends up asking whether the chicken came first or the egg.Not easy, no, but some perspective: it’s the kind of conundrum other countries would love to have.

They did collapse against India but that’s because most of the players in the top six are still getting used to Test cricket

Firdose Moonda28-Dec-20211:07

Bavuma: No excuses, but lack of Tests does have an impact

It looks bad. At 130 runs behind and dismissed for their lowest total at a ground where they have only previously lost to England, it sounds bad. And with two days left to play, the result may end up being bad. But believe it or not, South Africa’s batters weren’t bad in their first innings at SuperSport Park, because India’s attack was good.As they did on their home patch in 2019, India’s seamers demonstrated accuracy, aggression and pace that was far superior to their hosts. South Africa will look back at the first morning and know that is where they made their biggest mistakes. They should have built pressure, attacked the stumps and made India play instead of offering a mish-mash of lengths, mostly outside the off stump. They will also know that since Vernon Philander’s retirement they don’t have someone who can move the ball off the seam as skillfully as Mohammed Shami, and for now, that is the biggest difference.Related

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Shami was unplayable in his first spell, so much so that there was nothing Aiden Markram could do about the delivery that nipped away to beat the outside edge and hit the top of off. Similarly, there were very few other ways Dean Elgar could have approached the ball Jasprit Bumrah bowled that angled across him. If Elgar left it, he may have been out lbw, so he chose to attempt to defend, got an edge and was caught behind. It’s Test cricket and opening batters can expect things like this to happen, sometimes even to both of them in the same innings.You could argue that Keegan Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen’s dismissals involved an element of carelessness because Petersen found himself stuck on the crease and van der Dussen was playing away from his body but those were decisions taken in a cauldron. Petersen is only in his third Test, his captain had been dismissed in the opening over, he made it to lunch and looked as though he had settled but after the interval, made an error of judgment against a fine bowler. Van der Dussen faced 18 balls for his three runs, negotiated the variable bounce, and, the ball before he was dismissed, edged short of second slip, also driving away from the body. He will analyse whether he needs to tighten his defences but will also admit India were relentless, especially with the new ball.We’ve seen that on this surface, it is crucial to open the bowling well. After wasting that opportunity on day one, South Africa were much improved on the third morning with the second new ball. Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi induced 11 false strokes in 7.4 overs today compared with 60 in 90 overs on the first day. With uneven bounce aiding them, they forced an Indian collapse of 7 for 55 in 15.3 overs, against a ball that was only 9.3 overs old when the day started. That should have told them the danger that may face their own line-up, and there’s every chance it did, but what could they do about it? Not much, it seems.Keegan Petersen is bowled by Mohammed Shami•AFP/Getty Images”As batters, we’ve got to front up. We’ve got to back our defence as much as we can and if he bowls a good ball, kudos to him. The one thing we want to cut out is soft dismissals but if a guy is bowling good balls then kudos to him,” Temba Bavuma said.Once the ball had softened and the pitch had hardened, batting became easier and temporarily, it seemed that Bavuma and Quinton de Kock could dig South Africa out of a hole. Bavuma, in particular, did not look like someone who last played a red-ball match in February. He left well and drove crisply and in the end was also done by a Shami delivery that deserved a wicket. Maybe Bavuma should have decided to play inside the line sooner and could have avoided the outside edge but it would be harsh to call his shot selection poor. In fact, the only South African batter who may be guilty of that is de Kock.Ultimately, South Africa’s is a problem of both quality and experience. In a line-up of six specialists, there are only two – Elgar and de Kock – with some record of consistency and one other – Bavuma – who has shown a regular ability to dig in. Markram’s reputation precedes him and his century in Pakistan suggests that he is maturing as a Test player but now, he has to show that at home. Petersen is still finding his feet and it’s too early to know whether he has what it takes for a long career in whites and even van der Dussen, who seems to have been around forever, only has 10 Test caps to his name.It’s tiring reading this (and writing it) but this is still very much a team that’s rebuilding and it’s going to take time. They will probably break more records, but not in a good way, and find themselves in difficult positions and lose more matches.It will sting that this is the among the worst positions South Africa have found themselves in at a place where they seldom lose. But SuperSport Park has also changed a little. It was unexpectedly flat on the first day and then there was significant variable bounce and movement. “On the first day, the wicket was on the slower side. There was more grass on the wicket so the movement wasn’t as exaggerated. Today, where the wicket had a lot of sun, the movement was a bit challenging,” Bavuma confirmed.Dale Steyn, who knows this venue better than most, expects that after the up and down, the pitch will take turn, which probably isn’t what South Africa want to hear given that they will end up batting last. But Bavuma has called on the batters to dig deep, even if it’s in defeat and know that more time in the middle and more matches will eventually make them better. “As batters we are going to have to knuckle down and make it super hard for the Indian bowlers. I don’t want to be accused of making excuses but one of the factors is the lack of match intensity. There’s only so much training you can do. I saw a stat that said we have played 13 Tests over three years and England have played 13 this year. As players there’s nothing we can do and that’s no excuse.”And he made a comparison to England. It’s that bad.

He does not have official Test statistics yet, but his excellent glove work on the third day turned around India’s fortunes

Sidharth Monga27-Nov-2021Chances are that KS Bharat will never get a Test cap. He might not play next week in Mumbai, if Wriddhiman Saha plays, and then Rishabh Pant will take back the gloves. Yet, on Saturday in Kanpur, he showed off the incredible depth of Indian cricket by coming on as a substitute and pulling off three sensational dismissals on a difficult pitch for keeping wicket. Much like Shreyas Iyer, who got in because of four missing batters – Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Hanuma Vihari – and scored a century on Test debut.Watch live cricket on ESPN+ in the US

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The thing is, Bharat is no spring chicken. He turned 28 in October but has been kept out by a 24-year-old and a 37-year-old, who have both been phenomenal wicketkeepers for India. Pant is an absolute game-changer with the bat, the only Indian keeper to have scored centuries in Australia and England. He turned around India’s tour of Australia with the bat, and then repeated it at home against England. Saha is arguably the best pure glovesman in the world, all due respect to Nathan Lyon’s backing of his former captain and mate. Saha himself might have played more Tests had it not been for MS Dhoni.Bharat, who had been recognised as Saha’s successor by the previous selection committee led by MSK Prasad, takes after Saha as a glovesman. Back in 2018, when India sent Dinesh Karthik as the back-up for Tests in England, Bharat was next in line as the India A wicketkeeper on the shadow tour. However, injuries in the Test side meant India probably wanted someone who had been in the spotlight before, so they fast-tracked Pant.Pant grabbed his chance with a hundred at The Oval, and Bharat, like many an India cricketer, had no choice but to bide his time. It’s only now that Pant has taken rest, and Bharat has made it to the main squad. Saha’s stiff neck put Bharat on a Test field for the first time.If his clean takes on balls shooting low hadn’t done it already, Bharat’s sensational catch off a grubber to give India their first breakthrough of the third day grabbed the eyeballs. Not only did it practically scoot along the ground, it was an intended offbreak that didn’t turn and took a healthy outside edge. Bharat followed the movement with his hands while staying low enough for the catch. His left knee was on the ground when he completed it. The preparation for the catch was important: R Ashwin had bowled this with a parallel seam, which meant he wanted to give it the best chance to go straight on. Bharat didn’t commit to an offbreak as much as the batter, Will Young, batting on 89, did.The next one was a quick Axar Patel delivery that turned more than Ross Taylor expected and took a big deviation. He was perhaps helped by the slow pitch here, allowing him time to move with the deviation. The upper body beautifully moved towards point with the ball as he took it with soft hands. This came after what technically might be called a reprieve to Taylor when he jumped down the pitch and survived. Quite incredible, that a blinded Bharat had still tracked the line of the ball as it went between Taylor’s legs, but an inside edge moved it away from Bharat’s gloves. Dropped catch, some might call it.Bharat followed that up by stumping Tom Latham off a bottom edge, watching the ball till the last moment and displaying quick hands. That Bharat did all this on a day that India could afford no errors makes it all the more special. It was a slow, low pitch on which New Zealand’s openers had put on 151.One of three things can happen next week. Saha doesn’t recover, and Bharat officially gets Test statistics. Saha recovers, and Bharat drops out despite doing a great job to help India turn it around in Kanpur. Saha recovers, and India decide to look to the future and put Bharat in for Mumbai and back-up for Pant in South Africa. The luxury for the team management is that in all the circumstances they will have a man well-equipped for the job.

Bangladesh’s new low and other statistical highlights from the Durban Test

ESPNcricinfo stats team04-Apr-202253 – Bangladesh’s total in their second innings, their second-lowest in Tests, and the lowest by any team in Durban. Bangladesh’s lowest is 43, against West Indies in North Sound in 2018. The earlier record for lowest Test total in Durban was India’s 66, in 1996.10 – Wickets for Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer in the second innings, only the third time South Africa’s spinners have taken all the wickets in an innings. The two previous instances were also in Durban – against Australia in 1950, and against England in 1948.2 – Bowlers who operated unchanged through Bangladesh’s entire second innings, which is a first for South Africa, and a first for any team against Bangladesh. This has only happened 28 times in Test history, with the last such instance taking place at Lord’s in 2019, when Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes ran through Ireland in their second innings.This is also only the second time that two spinners have opened the bowling for South Africa. The only other such instance was when Paul Adams and Pat Symcox shared the new ball against Pakistan in the fourth innings in Faisalabad in 1997. Pakistan, chasing 146 to win, were bowled out for 92, but Shaun Pollock, bowling first change, did the bulk of the damage, taking five wickets.0 – Balls bowled by South Africa’s fast bowlers in the second innings, the first time in over 100 years that a seamer didn’t bowl a single delivery in a completed innings for South Africa.7-32 – Maharaj’s figures in the second innings, the best by a spinner in South Africa in the last 65 years. The last time a spinner did better here was in February 1957, when Hugh Tayfield took 9 for 113. The overall tally of 20 wickets for spinners in this Test is also the best in South Africa since December 1957, while South Africa’s haul of 14 spin wickets is the best by a team in South Africa since England’s spinners took 15 in a Test in December 1964, also in Durban.60 – Balls Maharaj needed to take seven wickets, the second-fastest for anyone since the start of 2002. The only instance of a bowler taking seven in fewer deliveries in this period was when Broad destroyed Australia with his 8 for 15 at Trent Bridge in 2015; he took his first seven wickets in just 42 balls in that innings. Maharaj’s five-for came in 35 balls, which is the second-fastest for South Africa where the information is available; Tayfield took a five-for in 33 balls against Australia in 1950.