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Delhi are in the playoffs after a six-year gap, but they are on a roll, while Sunrisers go into the match having won just one of their last five games

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy07-May-20196:53

Vettori: Nabi a good foil for Williamson

Big picture

Remember Sunny Gupta? You know, from the second Qualifier of the 2012 season? When Delhi (then Daredevils, now Capitals) left out Morne Morkel, the Purple Cap holder at the time, and played the little-known aforementioned offspinner, who had never featured in the IPL before?Still don’t remember? Here, have a look at the scorecard.We’re in May 2019 now, seven years on from that landmark day, and Delhi, a rebranded Delhi, are finally back in the IPL playoffs. The name change seems to have done them no harm as far as getting to the playoffs is concerned, but will it change their luck at the pointy end of the tournament? Their record so far in semifinal and playoff matches reads: P4, L4.Thanks to the fine margins of an exceptionally competitive season, Capitals find themselves in the Eliminator even though they ended the league stage with the same points as the two teams in Qualifier 1. There they face a team that ended up on the right side of another net run-rate logjam, Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Form guide (most recent first)

Delhi Capitals: beat Rajasthan Royals by five wickets, lost to Chennai Super Kings by 80 runs, beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 16 runs
Sunrisers Hyderabad: lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets, lost to Mumbai Indians on the one-over eliminator, beat kings XI Punjab by 45 runs

The venue is Visakhapatnam, ostensibly a neutral one, but one that has previously served as a secondary home ground for Sunrisers, who have won three and lost two of their matches here. It’s often a low-scoring ground – the average first-innings total here is 146, in T20I and IPL games since 2013 – and both seamers (economy rate of 7.0, strike rate of 21.2) and spinners (7.2, 19.8) have good numbers here in the same period.Three of the last five IPL games in Vizag have produced first-innings totals of less than 140 – though there was also one of 206, by Mumbai Indians in 2016 – and in February this year, India very nearly defended 126 against Australia thanks to some Jasprit Bumrah magic.If the pitch plays true to type, it should favour Sunrisers rather than Capitals, who through this season have preferred tracks that allow their batsmen to go out and hit without second-guessing themselves. Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi – who’s already had one terrific game against Capitals’ many left-hand batsmen – on a slow turner isn’t their ideal kind of match-up.Then again, Capitals have a fairly robust attack themselves – no Kagiso Rabada anymore, though – and Sunrisers come into this game having won only one of their last five matches. They are without David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, their two biggest run-getters this season, and bar Manish Pandey, most of their other batsmen aren’t in any kind of form.Capitals, on the other hand, have won seven of their last nine games, losing only to the two teams that finished above them on the table. They have form and momentum on their side, but can they overcome tricky conditions – if such is the case – and overturn their own playoffs history?

Likely XIs

Delhi Capitals: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Colin Ingram, 6 Sherfane Rutherford, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Keemo Paul/Chris Morris, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Ishant SharmaSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Kane Williamson (capt), 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Sandeep Sharma/Siddarth Kaul/Basil ThampiKhaleel Ahmed congratulates Rashid Khan•BCCI

Previous meeting

It was back on April 14, in Hyderabad, and forties from Colin Munro and Shreyas Iyer took Capitals to 155 for 7. But David Warner and Jonny Bairstow put together another big stand at the top for Sunrisers, this one of 72 runs. Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris and Keemo Paul, however, shared the ten wickets around to five Capitals a 39-run win.

Strategy punt

• Sunrisers have a fairly settled bowling combination, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Rashid and Nabi more or less certain to play. The third seamer’s slot, however, remains up for grabs, with Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi and Siddarth Kaul the likely contenders. Whom should they pick?
  The choice could come down to who’s done best in the death (16-20) overs. Thampi is the incumbent, having featured in Sunrisers’ last two league games, but those are the only two games he’s played all season. He didn’t bowl in the death against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and his one over in that phase against Mumbai Indians went for 17.
  Both Sandeep (9.2) and Kaul (10.5) have been expensive in the Powerplay overs this season, while Kaul (7.5) has been marginally better than Sandeep (8.1) in the middle overs. At the death, though, there’s been one clear winner between the two, with Sandeep (7.4) returning the best economy rate of all the Sunrisers bowlers (Khaleel and Rashid have also conceded less than eight an over), and Kaul leaking 11.4 runs per over.
• Axar Patel has been terrific against right-hand batsmen this season (economy rate of 5.84) but nowhere near as good against left-handers, who’ve hit him for 118 runs in 69 balls (10.26 per over) while only being dismissed once. Sunrisers have an almost exclusively right-handed line-up, so they could look to play Abhishek Sharma ahead of Yusuf Pathan in order to unsettle Axar. And it isn’t just Axar; Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma and Keemo Paul have all done significantly better against right-hand batsmen than against left-handers this season.

Stats that matter

• Overall, Sunrisers have a 9-5 head-to-head record against Capitals.
• Rishabh Pant has a monster record against Bhuvneshwar and Rashid, scoring a combined 111 runs against them off only 57 balls, while being dismissed once. He’s been less successful against Sandeep Sharma, though, only scoring 22 off 22 balls against him without being dismissed.
• Sunrisers (7.3) and Delhi Capitals (7.8) ended the league stage with the best Powerplay economy rates of all the teams this season. Sunrisers and Capitals were second- and third-best respectively in both the middle and death overs, with only Super Kings ahead of them in those phases.

Warwickshire put the squeeze on Leicestershire on a rain-hit second day at Grace Road

ECB Reporters Network11-Sep-2018
ScorecardDivision Two leaders Warwickshire are in a totally dominant position, leading by 284 runs with one first innings wicket remaining, after a rain-affected second day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road.As Chris Woakes, their England allrounder, put it: “We got everything we came for today.” Woakes got an unbeaten 64.The morning session was lost to rain, but play was able to start at 2pm, with 59.5 overs scheduled.Jonathan Trott, having resumed on 34 not out, hit just two scoring shots – both boundaries – in the first 40 minutes before falling to a delivery from 20-year-old seamer Ben Mike that bounced and seamed back to take the top edge on its way through to wicketkeeper Ned Eckersley.With the ball swinging in surprisingly humid conditions, Sam Hain and Tim Ambrose compiled a partnership of 55 for the fifth wicket before Ambrose, pressing forward, edged off-spinner Colin Ackermann to Eckersley.With batting bonus points in mind, Hain and Woakes began to accelerate the scoring rate after the tea interval before Hain, on 72, was leg before to Mike.Woakes went to a half-century of his own, off 69 balls, but lost partners quickly as Warwickshire accelerated, Keith Barker holing out to Acekermann before Mohammad Abbas gained some reward for unstinting effort with a double wicket maiden in which he dismissed both Chris Wright and Olly Stone without scoring.When bad light ended play, Warwickshire needed 16 runs off two overs to secure their fifth batting bonus point.Leicestershire batsman Colin Ackermann said: “A tough day for us, but the guys showed a lot of fight to restrict the scoring rate and keep them below 400. Ben Mike is bowling really well, he swings it nice and late and is a good prospect for the future.”

Keaton Jennings and Liam Dawson have been added to the England squad as replacements for the injured Haseeb Hameed and Zafar Ansari

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Nov-2016Keaton Jennings and Liam Dawson are to join the England squad as replacements for the remaining two matches of the Test series in India. Jennings, the uncapped Durham opener who is set to make his England Lions debut against United Arab Emirates in Dubai on Thursday, replaces Haseeb Hameed, whose tour ended with a broken finger in Mohali.Dawson, the Hampshire allrounder who was also selected for the Lions programme this winter before being released to play for Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League, was called up to replace Zafar Ansari, who is still struggling with the back injury he sustained in the second Test in Visakhapatnam. Ansari will stay with the squad and continue to receive medical support in India before returning to England on December 8.Jennings, 24, made his Durham debut in 2012 and was the leading run-scorer in the 2016 Specsavers County Championship season with 1548 runs at an average of 64, which led to him sweeping a host of awards and earning a spot in the England Lions squad. He has been on the Lions programme for the last month, initially at the National Performance Centre in Loughborough and for the last two weeks in Dubai, based at the ICC Academy. He is due to join the England squad in Mumbai on December 5 when they begin preparations for the fourth Test which starts at Wankhede Stadium three days later.The son of former South Africa coach Ray, Jennings was preferred ahead of Nick Gubbins, the left-handed batsman from Middlesex, and Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond. Jennings’ call-up does not mean he is certain of a debut in Mumbai as England also have Ben Duckett, who opened in Bangladesh, in the squad, albeit his form is a concern.”Andy Flower told me on Tuesday night,” Jennings said. “It was a lot to take in, and very exciting. And then telling my family and the guys at Durham has been pretty emotional. My mum was in tears and my dad was speechless, and they’re two things that don’t happen very often. All the Durham boys have been great – Mark Wood was bouncing off the walls, although that’s not unusual for him.”The thought of going back to India is exciting too. I’ve been lucky enough to go there once before as a youngster, when my dad was on the coaching staff of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. That was a great experience, but this is going to be very different. To be going there as a member of the England squad, I’m going to have to introduce myself to a lot of new guys I guess, because a lot of them I only know as opposition. I reckon [Durham team-mate Ben] Stokes will be a good guy to break the ice!”Dawson, 26, made ODI and T20I debuts this year after impressing on last winter’s Lions programme in the UAE. He is also expected to arrive in Mumbai early next week.It is the second year in succession that Ansari’s involvement in a tour has been in some way curtailed. He was picked for the tour of the UAE 12 months ago only to suffer a broken thumb hours after the squad announcement.Dawson was preferred to Jack Leach despite claiming only 20 Championship wickets in 2016 at a cost of 43.85 apiece. Leach claimed 65 Championship wickets at an average of 21.87 – no England-qualified player claimed more in Division One – but his Somerset captain in 2016, Chris Rogers, suggested he had “emotionally… a bit of a way to go” before he was ready for international cricket. Dawson is the better batsman and fielder, though, and is seen as a reliable, defensive spinner. His attitude impressed the England management when he played limited-overs cricket earlier in the year.The England squad has now disbanded for five days of holiday, before reconvening to prepare for the Mumbai Test which starts from December 8. Most of the players have travelled to Dubai for a short break, although Stuart Broad’s time there will be spent training with the Lions as he aims to overcome the foot injury which kept him out of the Mohali Test.

Tim Bresnan, whose valiant batting narrowly failed to bring Yorkshire a third Championship title, has undergone a third elbow operation to try to restore some of the nip that made him an England allrounder

David Hopps22-Oct-2016Tim Bresnan, whose valiant batting narrowly failed to bring Yorkshire a hat-trick of County Championship titles, has undergone a third elbow operation to try to restore some of the nip that made him an England allrounder.After several seasons of managing the elbow injury that has afflicted him since 2011, Bresnan had a further operation on Monday to clean out the joint, bringing him hope that he can “get some of the old firepower back.”Bresnan set greater store by his batting in 2016 as his bowling standards slipped a little, his efforts culminating in his unbeaten 142 against the eventual champions Middlesex at Lord’s which kept Yorkshire’s challenge alive until deep into the final day.Bresnan averaged more than 48 in the Championship, more than any other regular Yorkshire batsman – outdone only by irregular contributors Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and the short-term overseas signing Jake Lehmann.”The surgery went really well and the post-op signs have been very positive,” Bresnan told Yorkshire’s website. “The surgeon has said that it wasn’t as bad as they thought it might be. They just removed a few spurs and bumps.”It should give me a better range and reduce the pain that I have had, which hopefully will help me to get some of my old firepower back. It’s feeling pretty good already and it’s just a case of easing back into my gym work over the coming weeks. I wouldn’t normally be bowling at this stage of the year so it’s worked alright.”Yorkshire’s physio Kunwar Bansil said: “Tim has had problems with his right elbow dating back to 2011. We have managed these problems over the past few seasons but there is now a window of opportunity following the end of the 2016 season to improve the symptoms. He has had key-hole surgery to clean out the joint and smooth off any rough edges.”It should result in an increased elbow extension range making him feel more comfortable when bowling. We are now five days post-op and the initial signs are really good. We envisage that he will be fully fit in a couple of months but there are no real time constraints due to the time of the year.”Bresnan first had an elbow operation late in 2011 to remove a bone fragment. He regained his England place, but his bowling returns supported the notion that his effectiveness with the ball had been somewhat diminished.Another operation followed before the 2013 season to remove extra bone and scar tissue, causing him to miss England’s tour of New Zealand, and though he returned to play in the back-to-back Ashes his Test career ended in Australia later that year.Flashback to Tim Bresnan’s Lord’s heroics•Getty Images

Sri Lanka fast bowler Shaminda Eranga has been reported for a suspect action following the second Test against England in Chester-le-Street

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2016Sri Lanka fast bowler Shaminda Eranga has been reported for a suspect action following the second Test against England in Chester-le-Street.Eranga must have his action tested at an ICC accredited centre within 14 days – Loughborough University in England is his closest option – but can continue bowling until the result of that test is known.The Chester-le-Street Test was umpired by Aleem Dar and S Ravi, with Andy Pycroft as match referee. This is the first time Eranga’s action has been called into question – in his 18th Test. If it is found to be illegal, he will be barred from bowling in international cricket until he remodels his action and has it cleared at an ICC accredited centre.Losing Eranga could be a big blow to an already depleted Sri Lankan attack on a what is shaping up to be a disastrous tour of England. They had already lost first-choice quicks Dhammika Prasad and Dushmantha Chameera to injury, and are 2-0 down in the three-Test series, suffering heavy defeats. Eranga, however, has not been effective in the series so far, picking up just one wicket in 47 overs across three innings.

England coach Trevor Bayliss has backed Ben Stokes to bounce back from the pain of being taken for four sixes by Carlos Brathwaite in the final over the World T20 final

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Apr-20161:40

Butcher: Stokes would put his hand up again

England coach Trevor Bayliss has backed Ben Stokes to bounce back from the pain of being taken for four sixes by Carlos Brathwaite in the final over the World T20 final, and said he is the “heart and soul” of the England team.Stokes, who had become a key figure in the death overs for England during the World T20 as he delivered telling spells against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, had 19 runs to defend when he faced up to Brathwaite. However, four balls later the title was West Indies’ after each of the deliveries was dispatched into the Kolkata stands.Stokes was left distraught and, before hauling himself to the crease for what became the final delivery, he sank to his knees when Brathwaite had levelled the scores. A few hours later he tweeted his thanks for the support he had received and the morning after Brathwaite himself offered some consoling words. As England flew out of India, Paul Collingwood posted a photo of him alongside a relaxed Stokes on the plane.Over the last 12 months, the form of Stokes has become central to England’s success with key match-winning performances against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa before the World T20. Bayliss is in no doubt that he would front up to a similar final-over situation again.”He is one of those blokes – if we had a game tomorrow, he’d put his hand up to bowl the last over again,” he said. “No one is blaming Stokesy for anything. To be honest, he is the heart and soul of this team.”If everyone put in half as much as Stokesy does, we’d go a long way. You can’t fault Ben’s leadership in the team or the effort he puts in. It doesn’t matter whether he is batting, bowling or fielding, he gives you 100% until there’s nothing in the tank. The more of those type of cricketers we can produce, the better for England cricket.”

The closing stages of the tournament brought Stokes face-to-face with Marlon Samuels to reignite a tempestuous relationship which began a year ago on England’s tour of the West Indies, where Samuels saluted Stokes off the field after a dismissal in the Grenada Test.Samuels was fined 30% of his match fee for using foul language towards Stokes during the final over and in the press conference further fanned the flames by saying that Stokes “doesn’t learn” about how engaging with him provides motivation.”They keep telling him when he plays against me, do not speak to me because I’m going to perform,” Samuels said. “I didn’t even face a ball and he had so much to say to me that I know I had to be right there at the end, again.”However, Bayliss will not be attempting to change Stokes’ on-field persona and believes it goes hand-in-hand with what makes him such a valuable player.”Ben’s one of those players that feeds off that. Some players sometimes say things and they can’t really back it up. But Stokesy is one of those players… that’s what turns him on, that’s what gets his juices flowing and makes him as good as he is.”He’s not the only one around the world. There are a number of other players who do the same thing – almost create their own controversy, or whatever you want to call it, to psyche themselves up and get their head in the game. It brings the best out of him.”On the tournament overall, and while wanting to give the chance for the dust to settle, Bayliss believed that England will find regular success if they continue playing in the style they have done since the start of the last English season.”Obviously the final was disappointing but I’m extremely proud of the way they played through this last few weeks,” he said. “As long as we keep playing good cricket and someone has to do something remarkable to beat us, we’ll win a lot of games.”England’s next assignment is back in the Test format when a three-Test series against Sri Lanka starts on May 19. Most of the players will return to action with their counties over the next couple of weeks.

Despite suffering a crushing three-day defeat in Hobart, West Indies captain Jason Holder said he was upbeat about his team’s future, suggesting they were just “one good day away from a turnaround”

Brydon Coverdale24-Dec-2015Jason Holder looks, acts and speaks like a captain. He is thoughtful about the game, firm in his own opinions, and speaks his mind. He is only 24, but he pulls his players into line when necessary. He also has the potential to be the most important player in the West Indies line-up: he has played only 11 Tests, but already has a Test century and two fifties to his name, and offers consistency with the ball if not bags of wickets.

Holder calls for patience with Chandrika

Jason Holder has said opener Rajendra Chandrika must be given some time to find his way in international cricket, despite making three ducks from his first four Test innings. Chandrika has only one first-class hundred to his name, scored against Windward Islands last month, but the selectors view his game as adequate for the elite level.
Chandrika made a pair on Test debut against Australia in Jamaica in June and managed 25 and 0 in the first Test of this series in Hobart. But the other opening option in the squad, Shai Hope, batted at No.8 in the tour match in Geelong at the weekend, and Holder said it was important for the selectors to back Chandrika.
“Rajendra is the specialist opener,” Holder said. “If you look at the rest of the batsmen, they’re middle-order batsmen. Shai has opened in the past but I don’t think he’s a specialist opener. I think we have to give Chandrika some time to get into what he’s doing and we’ll see how he goes in the next couple of Test matches.”

But it is a hard road ahead for Holder, who so far has captained his team in three Tests for three losses. In those matches, he himself has taken just three wickets at 47.33 and scored 97 runs at 16.16. But those Tests have all been away from home in challenging conditions, in Sri Lanka and then Hobart. There had been glimpses of promise from his team during those Tests, but the challenge is to create more than just glimpses.”It’s not a burden, I’m enjoying the challenge,” Holder said of the captaincy, ahead of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. “It’ll take time before we get the results we’re looking for. We need to build and keep building. We need to put something on the table that we can build on. At the present time we’ve been fluctuating with a good performance here and then a bad performance there.”It’s never been something that we can just make a steady progression forward with. That’s the main thing for me. We need to understand the position we’re in. We have a very young side, very inexperienced, and we have some guys that we need to build a core of players around. Once we understand that it’s easier to move forward.”The three-day defeat in Hobart could have the potential to crush the confidence of the young West Indies side, but Darren Bravo’s first-innings 108 and Kraigg Brathwaite’s 94 in the second innings showed that their batsmen are capable of troubling Australia’s bowlers. Putting it all together in one performance is the task for Holder and his men.”For me personally I’m always upbeat,” Holder said. “I think we’re just one good performance from turning things around. That’s the way we have to look at it. We can’t be negative all the time, we just have to find ways to pick ourselves up. We’re just one good day from a turnaround and that’s the way I’m taking it going forward.”While the lack of batting support for Bravo and Brathwaite in Hobart was a major issue, the lack of incision from the bowling attack after the first session of the Test – in which they claimed three wickets – set the tone for the match. Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach in particular are experienced fast men with the skills and pace to do some damage in the Australian conditions, but nobody was able to stop the 449-run partnership between Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh.”I wouldn’t say we let them off the hook,” Holder said. “I thought we bowled reasonably well to Shaun Marsh up front but Voges was scoring pretty freely at the other end and that took a lot of pressure off of him. If we could be a lot more disciplined when we get new batsmen to the crease, especially those kinds of positions, then we’d be a lot better off. We have to be a lot more disciplined than we were in that first Test match.”We had a bad game. If you look at our performances for the last couple of months our bowlers have been pulling us through. They’ve been bowling well up to that point. All throughout in the Caribbean we played Australia and England, then we went to Sri Lanka and they did really well there as well. I just put it down hopefully to one bad Test match and hopefully we can pull our socks up.”While legspinner Devendra Bishoo might come into contention at the MCG after Jomel Warrican was used in Hobart, one forced change will be made to the pace attack after Shannon Gabriel flew home with an ankle injury. Allrounder Carlos Brathwaite is favoured to make his Test debut ahead of fast bowler Miguel Cummins, who only joined the squad as a replacement for Gabriel.”We’ve got to look at everything,” Holder said. “Carlos is an allrounder, Miguel is just an out-and-out fast bowler. Carlos has been in the squad for a little while now and he’s waiting for his opportunity, so he’s pretty much front line to go ahead of Miguel. But we’ll see how the conditions are tomorrow.”

A day after USA wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson questioned the motivation of his team-mates, they turned in a strong performance to bundle Jersey for 87 for their first win of the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jul-2015File photo – Akeem Dodson struck a run-a-ball 31 after effecting a record six dismissals behind the wicket•Peter Della Penna

A day after wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson questioned the motivation of the USA players, they turned in a strong performance to bundle Jersey for 87 for their first win of the tournament in Bready. Dodson himself set an example, effecting six dismissals behind the wicket, a record for any T20 involving international teams.The win, however, was set up by left-arm pacer Naseer Jamali and right-arm pacer Hammad Shahid who picked up three wickets each. Jamali punched the early holes, reducing Jersey to 36 for 4 in 6.1 overs before Shahid dismantled the middle order. Timil Patil then wrapped up the tail as Jersey folded for 87 inside 18 overs. Besides Anthony Kay and Charles Perchard who made identical scores of 18 off 17 balls, Ben Stevens was the only other batsman to manage double-figures.Fahad Babar and Dodson added 60 for the opening partnership to give USA a bright start in their chase. However, the wicket of Dodson sparked a wobble as USA lost four wickets in a space of 10 runs and two overs. Nicholas Standford then became Nat Watkins’ third victim but the Patels – Mrunal and Timil – got their side over the line with 26 balls to spare.

Trent Copeland, the Australia seamer, will return to boost Northamptonshire’s hopes of achieving promotion

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2013Trent Copeland, the Australia seamer, will return to boost Northamptonshire’s hopes of achieving promotion. Copeland was initially signed for the first half of the season, claiming 36 Championship wickets in seven games, and he will now return for Northants’ final three fixtures.Copeland returned to Sydney in June with Northants unbeaten and top of the table, having averaged 49.3 with the bat and 16.25 with the ball. Since then, the club have drawn once and lost twice to Lancashire, who have also overtaken them as Division Two leaders.In all competitions Copeland claimed 50 wickets but he was replaced for the FLt20 by Australia allrounder Cameron White and South Africa opener Richard Levi. Northamptonshire’s head coach, David Ripley, had previously indicated they might try to re-sign the tall fast bowler, who has played three Tests for Australia.”This news will give everybody involved with Northants a lift,” Ripley said. “Trent made an outstanding contribution in his first stint with us, both on and off the field, we look forward to welcoming both him and his wife Kim back to the County Ground.”Northamptonshire currently lie second in Division Two, a point behind Lancashire having played a game more than the teams around them. With six fixtures left, they are 38 points clear of Worcestershire in the race for automatic promotion.

While captain Misbah-ul-Haq was happy Pakistan managed to get off to a winning start in the three-match ODI series against India, he believes the team still has a lot to work on, especially in the field

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2012While captain Misbah-ul-Haq was happy Pakistan managed to get off to a winning start in the three-match ODI series against India, he believes the team still has a lot to work on, especially in the field. Pakistan, he said, were fortunate to walk away with the six-wicket win in Chennai.”Today we were lucky, India gave us a tough time in this situation. They lost five wickets early but still went on to make 227,” Misbah was quoted as saying by . “To win the next match, we will have to work hard and improve a fair bit. We have to really improve our fielding, and our death-over and Powerplay bowling. After these [changes to the] ODI rules especially, we have to improve the bowling.”Also, we have to improve our batting performances; we couldn’t chase the target down easily.”While Pakistan’s victory-margin was ultimately comfortable, they lost a wicket off the first ball of their innings when Mohammad Hafeez shouldered arms to a Bhuvneshwar Kumar inswinger. From there on, it was slow and edgy progress for Pakistan, who were 21 for 2 in the 11th over when Azhar Ali lobbed a catch to midwicket. Opener Nasir Jamshed was firm though, batting through the innings for 101 not out, and Younis Khan was relatively positive for his 58, ensuring victory.The hosts’ top order too had struggled in this, one of the rare day ODIs in India. Junaid Khan had India reeling with a remarkable spell of swing bowling, in which he bowled Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh in the space of eight balls.Both Misbah and India captain MS Dhoni said that while it was outstanding bowling, the toss too was important. “It was a good toss to win, but it was an excellent spell by Junaid. There was something for the bowlers but of you don’t bowl in the right areas when the ball is seaming, you don’t get results,” Misbah said. Dhoni agreed: “I think it was the toss to start with. After that they bowled well. When the ball is seaming or swinging, if you pitch it in the right areas it works.”If you see their bowlers, they bowled up which was good. Generally on these kind of wickets there will be temptation to bowl short because there will be bounce and carry, but they made sure they bowled up and left the batsmen in trouble.”With India tottering at 29 for 5 in the 10th, Suresh Raina and Dhoni began the rebuilding, adding 73 runs. Raina was out short of a half-century but Dhoni, in extremely humid conditions, paced his innings and finished unbeaten. He was 34 off 78 balls without a boundary, got to 50 off 86 and was battling dehydration when he launched, finishing with 113 off 125. The innings won him the Man of the Match award ahead of Jamshed.Misbah had high praise for Dhoni: “At one stage, it looked as if India would be getting out for 125 but Dhoni’s was a brilliant innings. It was more difficult to play in the first half. There was lot of moisture but very well played by Dhoni. He single-handedly took the game away from us, but in the end Nasir too played an extremely good knock.”Dhoni said he would have preferred to have India’s top order clicking: “Overall quite happy that I got a century. But going down the order, batting at six or seven, and if you get a 100 … actually you don’t want an opportunity like that because you want your top order to perform.”One of the big concerns for India was the fitness of Kohli, whose ankle gave way under him while he was bowling, resulting in him over-extending his knee. Dhoni said the team would know the details of the injury in “some time”. Later, a BCCI release confirmed that while an MRI scan revealed no serious damage, whether Kohli will play the next ODI – on January 3 in Kolkata – is yet to be determined. “All his major ligaments are fine. There is minimal injury fluid in his knee,” the release said. “His condition will be monitored, and a decision on whether he will play the second ODI will be taken over the next couple of days.”