Consecutive ducks against Netherlands leave skipper in the spotlight

Matt Roller20-Jun-2022Eight balls, no runs, two dismissals. Eoin Morgan’s grim run of form has continued in England’s ODI series against the Netherlands in Amstelveen and against the backdrop of his team-mates filling their boots, it has done nothing but heighten the scrutiny on his place in the side and his position as captain ahead of two white-ball World Cups in the next 17 months.Morgan was trapped lbw while sweeping a straight ball from Pieter Seelaar, the Dutch left-arm spinner, in the first ODI while in Sunday’s second fixture, he played out the last five balls of a maiden against Aryan Dutt’s offspin and pushed his sixth from part-timer Tom Cooper to cover, before shaping to drag Cooper’s wide offbreak over mid-on and ballooning a simple catch to point via the toe-end.The rest day between the first and second ODIs marked the three-year anniversary of Morgan’s record-breaking innings of 148 off 71 balls against Afghanistan at the 2019 World Cup which featured 17 sixes, seven of them off Rashid Khan. The contrast with his series this week, with two ducks at the hands of Dutch spinners, is stark, and Seelaar’s own retirement due to a persistent back injury, announced shortly after Morgan’s dismissal on Sunday, underlined the fact that at 35, the clock is ticking.Morgan has now hit a single half-century – 75 not out against Sri Lanka, almost a year ago – in his last 50 innings across formats, including both domestic and international cricket. He said before this series that he would have to rest himself from some games this summer for his body to cope with England’s busy white-ball schedule in July and while he insisted that he could “still contribute to a World Cup win”, he added that England’s defence of their 50-over title in India in October-November 2023 felt “a long way away”.Jason Roy, who made 77 in his 100th ODI for England, backed Morgan to come good again, saying that he was an innings away from removing any doubts over his ability. “We won the game so he put it to bed straight away,” Roy said. “As soon as the result’s there and we’ve won the game, he’s happy.”He’s a knock away from everyone being all over him again. That’s just the fickle nature of sport, unfortunately. If you’re behind the eight-ball, it’s quite tough. But he’s an incredible worker, an incredible guy so I’d back him for sure.”ESPNcricinfo LtdMorgan has suffered similar lean patches throughout his career before clicking back into form and has often highlighted them when asked about his position as captain. Asked how Morgan could get through his slump, Roy said: “He’ll know far better than me. He’s played double the games I have. He’ll know the answer.”Matthew Mott, England’s new head coach, threw his support behind Morgan at the start of the tour, saying he was “a long way off” the point where he was no longer worth his place in the side as a batter and that he has “a lot of great cricket ahead of him”.England have a congested fixture list involving three ODIs and three T20Is against both India and South Africa in July and their white-ball players will then be involved in the Hundred from August 3-September 3, before a seven-match T20I tour to Pakistan in September-October. Morgan will need runs at some point in the next two months to take the spotlight off him.Related

Eoin Morgan: 'I can still contribute to a World Cup win'

Stats – England smash record for highest-ever total in ODIs

Unburdened, unshackled, unbelievable: Jos Buttler channels AB de Villiers in record onslaught

Eoin Morgan: Jos Buttler is in a 'world of his own'

Morgan’s own struggles with the bat have been the exception in an otherwise dominant tour from England’s batters in Amstelveen, with Sunday’s six-wicket win sealing the series with a game to spare – though Wednesday’s game is not a dead-rubber, with Super League points at stake.”The boys have played really well again,” Morgan said after Sunday’s game. “They impressed with the ball – it’s great to see Brydon Carse come in and hit the series with plenty of energy and pace and offer something different. With the bat, up top, Phil Salt again showing what he does at the top of the order and contributing in the fashion that he likes to alongside Jason Roy in his 100th game.”Obviously we stuttered for a bit but managed to recalibrate a partnership and get something to get us over the line. The Netherlands batted first for a good reason – it did slow up and offer a little bit of turn, similar to the back-end of their innings – but we bat so deep these days that it might have been another 40 that would have troubled us.”

A look at some of the key elements of their performance which came together in Galle

Andrew McGlashan02-Jul-2022Get them quickly
There has been some positive batting, to say the least, in Test cricket over recent weeks. Australia knew they would have to adapt from the style that served them well in Pakistan, where they largely ground out big totals on surfaces that started flat and didn’t really break up. Galle was always likely to be a short Test, so it was a case of getting the runs before the unplayable balls got you. David Warner set the tone on the first evening and though that was followed by a stumble, Australia did not waver. “Failure is absolutely okay, as long as you are failing in a way you are happy to be,” Pat Cummins later said. Usman Khawaja mixed restraint with his full variety of sweeps (although actually finished with one of the more modest strike-rates), defended late and wore a smile whenever he was beaten by a delivery he could do nothing about. The defining stand then came between Cameron Green and Alex Carey, sweeping Sri Lanka’s spinners to distraction, and scored at one-day tempo, which took Australia into the lead while Cummins’ long levers were also useful. As an example of how Australia adapted, since April 2014 when ESPNcricinfo has collected shot data, they scored by far their highest amount of runs (111) from the sweep.Related

• Swepson on red-ball ambitions: 'I've had one eye on the India tour for a while'

• Covid-hit Sri Lanka seek answers against rampaging Australia to level series

• Australia have eye on India as building blocks slot into place

• How it happened: Sri Lanka – 113 all out in 22.5 overs

• Pat Cummins lauds 'brave' Australia for facing challenge head on

Green’s giant strides
Green won’t have seen anything like this in Perth, or anywhere else in his young career. But you wouldn’t have guessed it by the way he compiled his superb 77. “That was the difference in the end,” Cummins said. From his first delivery, Green was using his feet, getting down to Dhananjaya de Silva to make a delivery into a full toss and bunting it away. It set the tone. His reach often allowed him to get to the ball before it performed its mischievous tricks. The sweep, a shot previously rarely seen by Green in his short Test career, brought him 25 runs – before this innings, eight runs was the most it had accrued him in a single knock. “I think if you go out there just defending, you can get yourself in trouble,” he said at the presentation. “If you’re just looking to score it’s probably going to give yourself the best chance. If you’re going to get out at some point you might as well play some shots.”Swepson’s sliding doors
In a match dedicated to the late Shane Warne, there was a symbolism when Mitchell Swepson got the nod for Australia’s XI after his place was in doubt. That he probably wouldn’t have played if Jon Holland’s spinning finger had been right is a fascinating debate. Was too much emphasis put on the numbers of left-arm finger spinners? It would certainly have been rough for him to miss out on such a surface. Whether Swepson’s match will be looked back on in the way Warne’s matchwinning effort in Colombo in 1992 is recalled remains to be seen, but he certainly had a big part to play in Australia’s victory. His pair of legbreaks in the first innings were superb pieces of bowling and he didn’t flinch as the Sri Lankans tried to pressure him. Perhaps his luck, changed, too. After seeing a number of chances go down in Pakistan, the wicket that put him on a hat-trick came from a juggling catch by Warner at gully.Mitchell Swepson took his chance after a late nod for the XI•Getty ImagesCarey’s growth
Carey would have known he was in for an interesting match when he needed a concussion test in the sixth over after Nathan Lyon’s first delivery spat past the edge into his helmet. His Test debut was a reasonably hurried affair after the sudden departure of Tim Paine shortly before the Ashes. After a solid start at the Gabba he was not entirely convincing with glove or bat, although questions over whether he was the right man were premature. Since then he has been excellent in testing conditions, with Galle being the most extreme yet. His sweepathon wrestled the match into Australia’s favour and he twice held bottom edges off the same stroke. The one he took in the second innings, off Dimuth Karunaratne which began Sri Lanka’s slide, was followed by a piece of analysis from Brad Haddin on the host broadcast which noted how the ball before had bounced significantly, but Carey had held his position the next delivery to be able to take the chance. It is often said wicketkeepers are only noticed when they make mistakes, so performances like this should be applauded.Cummins’ captaincy
It was another good game for the skipper, who did not have to be a bowling captain in the second innings. After the match he referenced the planning that had gone on behind the scenes ahead of the series and in the middle he steered the ship impressively. There were little moments, such as having the deep backward square well in from the rope which Kusal Mendis top-edged to in the second innings, and he also did not over-attack with the field settings for Swepson. Then he threw the ball to Travis Head and watched the part-time offspinner rip a delivery through the gate of Dinesh Chandimal on his way to 4 for 10. Given the conditions it was perhaps not the most out-of-the-box move you’ll see, but a captain can enjoy them when they work out so well.

The emergence of Umran Malik has put the spotlight on the state’s quick bowlers. Are there more like him? The answer seems to be a resounding yes

Interviews by Mohsin Kamal27-Jun-2022When Umran Malik made his IPL debut last year, people began asking, “How many more undiscovered Umrans in Jammu and Kashmir?” The conversation grew more animated this season as 22-year-old Malik lit up the IPL. He sent down three of the five fastest deliveries of the competition (the fastest of them at 156.9kmph) and took 22 wickets – the second highest by a fast bowler in the season, just one behind Kagiso Rabada.Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) have been among the weaker sides on India’s domestic circuit. They have made it to the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals just twice in their 62-year history. But fast bowlers have always made a mark. A quick survey of the current J&K squads reflects this. In their 21-member squad for Ranji Trophy 2021-22, there were as many as eight fast bowlers. The numbers were similar in the various age-group teams.Related

Umran Malik, bringing the IPL alive with raw pace

Meet India's fastest bowler, Umran Malik

Jammu & Kashmir's pace future in good hands with Mujtaba Yousuf and Aquib Nabi

At the IPL, apart from Umran and Rasikh Salam, who was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad before he was ruled out with an injury, four other J&K fast bowlers served as net bowlers for franchises – Sharukh Dar and Umar Nazir at Sunrisers Hyderabad, Basit Bashir at Punjab Kings, and Auqib Nabi at Gujarat Titans.We spoke to a few former J&K players and coaches about the past, present and future of fast bowling in the region.Why is fast bowling so common in Jammu and Kashmir?Samiullah Beigh, former J&K captain: The major reason is that the infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir is not comparable with other places. For batting and spin bowling, you need a lot of equipment, skilled coaches and other facilities, but fast bowling is all about natural raw talent. We are physically better built because of our eating habits.Irfan Pathan and Baroda-based coach Milap Mewada (right) have been instrumental in finding and highlighting fast-bowling talent in Jammu and Kashmir•ESPNcricinfo LtdThe other thing I believe is the passion for cricket here. A few years back I was playing in Mumbai and a lot of players there told me, “In Azad Maidan, you can see a factory of players playing.” Then I showed them a scene of our Eidgah ground [Srinagar], where on a single pitch, about two to four teams play together – two on the vertical side and two on the horizontal side.Abdul Qayoom, former J&K captain and coach: In 1984 I was playing as a wicketkeeper-batsman in junior cricket and I went to Jammu for the CK Nayudu Trophy trials. I kept wickets for a couple of days in trials but on the evening of third day, I was bowling to tailenders for fun. There was a coach named Gautam sir. He came to me and said, “Abdul, from tomorrow you won’t keep wickets but bowl fast!” I was surprised, but as he was our coach, I agreed. That day onwards I became a fast bowler and went on to play for J&K for years. I don’t know whether it was my physique or height or whatever that made him convert me into a bowler. This is the case with almost every one of us – we are kind of naturally built for fast bowling. I also believe it is because we belong to a high-altitude region, so our stamina and physique is better than, say, someone from Delhi or Mumbai.Is fast bowling new to J&K or has it always been there?Beigh: J&K has been blessed with fast bowling from the very beginning. Our cricket history suggests that in 90% of the matches that we have won so far in Ranji Trophy and other domestic competitions, pace bowlers have contributed the most. Our batting and spin bowling has always been weaker than our opponents’ but it’s the fast-bowling department where we are on top.I will share an interesting incident: back when Bedi sir [Bishan Singh Bedi] was here, he was of the opinion that no matter what the pitch offered, a team should always bat first. So one day he asked us what we would do if we won the toss. I was supposed to be the captain that year and I was the only one who said we should bowl first. He got a bit angry and gave his reasons but I explained to him that J&K has always banked on its fast bowlers. And the best condition for pacers to bowl is the first session of the first day.Four J&K bowlers were drafted as net bowlers in IPL 2022, among them Basit Bashir, of whom people expect great things•Basit Bashir/InstagramQayoom: When I used to bowl, everyone outside J&K would say, “” [He’s a horse, he never gets tired]. Before me, Abdul Rauf, Abdul Qayoom Khan, Mehboob Iqbal, also used to bowl fast and they would hear similar things. So we took it from them, and then the upcoming generation learned it from us and it is continuing even now. I mean, in J&K, fast bowlers have been the role models. They are the ones who have achieved big things.Abid Nabi, former J&K fast bowler and India U-19 player: When I was playing, there was no sign of a speedometer. You could only check your speed if you played at international level. But I think J&K always had bowlers who bowled extremely quick. There was a J&K bowler named Surendra Singh Bagal. He made it hard for even international players to bat against him. There were also Abdul Qayoom, Asif Peerzada and many others in the past.How is J&K’s fast-bowling talent different from the rest of India’s?Milap Mewada, J&K senior team coach from 2018 to 2020: The entire pedigree of fast bowlers in J&K is very different. Everyone you come across wants to bowl quick. There are so many seam bowlers that even someone like Umran didn’t make it to the team sometimes, as there were already a lot of senior bowlers performing well.The major difference is in stamina. I am currently working with the Hyderabad Ranji team. I came across a couple of guys who are also bowling fast. If I make them bowl for too long, they will break. They can bowl fast but can’t sustain, but if I compare them with someone like [senior J&K fast bowler] Mohammed Mudhasir, they are nowhere. He never says no to fast bowling. Whenever you ask him, “Mudhi, three overs”, he always raises his hand. He’s a very senior player, so imagine what he was like as a young bowler!Former J&K captain Samiullah Beigh: “I was part of the zonal team six times in my career but I used to carry drinks despite having the highest wickets among the bowlers.”•Samiullah BeighWhy haven’t many bowlers from J&K made it big?Beigh: The simple reason is that till around 2013, the system of selection was wrong. It used to only favour big cricketing teams like Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka. No selector used to watch Plate group matches of Ranji Trophy. The maximum reward for doing well was a place in the zonal team but the captain of these teams would always be someone from a place like Delhi. They would refer players from their own states. I was part of the zonal team six times in my career but I got to play just once in Duleep Trophy, that too after my bus had passed. I used to carry drinks despite having the highest wickets among the bowlers. It happened to me and it must have happened with Abid Nabi, Abdul Qayoom. I think the same would have happened to Umran but thanks to the IPL net-bowling stint, he was spotted at the right time.Nabi: There was no one to talk about us earlier. No one would put an arm around our shoulders or guide us. I remember in 2004, I was in England playing county cricket and the Indian team was also on tour there. Many of their fast bowlers got injured and I had clocked 151.3kmph while playing U-19 around then. But no one recommended my name, so I never got to play.Will Malik’s emergence change things?Qayoom: After watching Umran, I truly believe that a lot of youngsters will take up the game more seriously. We are currently holding a talent hunt in J&K and I can already see many kids trying to bowl fast. They now think that if they bowl quick, they will be noticed. I visited Anantnag in south Kashmir and Baramulla in the north and a lot of pace bowlers are showing up. Despite having zero infrastructure here, a talent like Umran emerged. So if we improve facilities, a lot of Umrans will come to the forefront.Nabi: If Umran Malik plays at international level and does well even in one match, it will help J&K’s upcoming fast bowlers. In the past there used to be talk that J&K has good fast bowlers but nobody believed it. But now after watching Umran, India and the rest of the world will finally accept it and see for themselves. During my time, nobody would look at us. I finished as the highest wicket-taker in U-19s quite a few times but I wasn’t even considered for zonal teams initially. I think all of this will change after Umran’s success.Mewada picks fast bowler Mujtaba Yousuf (extreme left) and bowling allrounder Auqib Nabi (extreme right, back) among his players to watch•Sahil MagotraWhat do the BCCI and the J&K cricket association need to do to ensure the state’s fast-bowling talent doesn’t go in vain?Mewada: I believe the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) has to go to the ground level and bring out the talent. This is what they are there for; the association itself is a part of the BCCI. They have enough funding, so they can hire professionals and try to utilise them to the best.I, as a coach, will keep Umran in the top category and prepare two more guys for his back-up. When I think I need two more Umrans or Mohammed Mudhasirs, I won’t get them suddenly, so to identify and train them I need to form a system. It should be a continuous process.Beigh: I believe J&K is a gold mine of fast bowlers and a lot of bowlers from here can serve India, but the BCCI has to do one thing to ensure that: they need to appoint a permanent fast-bowling coach and a fast-bowing trainer, not part-time or for a single season. They should then work with fast bowlers here every single day; do conditioning in the morning and coach them in the evening. This is the only way the crop of raw pace bowling will be reserved and we will see many more Umrans.Which upcoming J&K fast-bowlers should we keep an eye out for?Mewada: Mujtaba Yousuf and Basit Bashir, two very young and talented bowlers, Akash Choudhary from Jammu, and a very talented fast-bowling allrounder Auqib Nabi. They are really good.Beigh: Mujtaba Yousuf – I like his bowling action and run-up. Sharukh Dar – he’s already a net bowler with Sunrisers Hyderabad. He swings the ball both ways at pace. I am quite hopeful that he will play at the higher levels. Third one is a young guy from Kupwara: Basit Bashir. I have predicted that if he improves a few things, he may play for India within a few years. He is a terrific bowler with pace, swing and height.

For the India allrounder, it’s mainly a matter of backing your strengths but “making sure to use it very wisely”

Shashank Kishore29-Aug-20224:15

‘Hardik Pandya in the side means India almost have 12 players’ – Mickey Arthur

Mohammad Rizwan had struggled to force the pace in front of square. So, when Hardik Pandya bowled a short ball into him, trying to arch back and ramp the ball fine was a legitimate call. Except, he may have underestimated Hardik’s pace.This wasn’t the old Hardik. This was Hardik the fast bowler, who can crank up the intensity when required, bounding in and bending his back. The same back that had nearly given up four years ago at the same venue against the same opponents, and in the same tournament.On that September afternoon of 2018, Hardik had to be stretchered out, after clutching on to his back, in severe pain. So many questions. Would Hardik ever be able to bowl full tilt again? If he can’t, can he hold his place in the team as a batter alone? What does that do to team balance?Related

• India vs Pakistan – cricket, not hype, takes centre stage ahead of Round 2

• Hardik Pandya breaks into top five in ICC rankings for T20I allrounders

• Explainer – Why did India and Pakistan have five fielders inside the circle in the death overs?

• Jadeja at No. 4 forced Pakistan to change plans, and it 'ultimately cost them'

• Hardik stays cool to ace a tense chase for India

Until February this year, it was all shrouded in mystery, especially the bowling part. Obviously, he hadn’t spoken about it publicly. At a Gujarat Titans press event, where he was named the captain, Hardik stoked the fire even more when he said the answer to it “will be a secret”.After last year’s T20 World Cup, where Hardik played as a specialist batter, he decided to take time off. He went off the grid, even social media. He worked out a robot-like schedule with a focus on sleeping and training. Every ball he bowled, every ball he batted, every lap he ran around the ground, every squat he did was mapped.Then came a time when Hardik feared getting hit by the short ball.He wasn’t used to wearing a chest guard, which he realised was an “ego issue”. Once he was made to understand by former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, his mentor, that it was perfectly acceptable for batters to wear a chest guard, and that even great batters of the past had done it, Hardik relented.What happened at the IPL then is fresh in the memory. He batted at the top, in the middle, as a finisher, put himself under the cosh in tough situations and came out on top. Hardik’s work behind the scenes as a bowler, too, bore fruit. The zip was back, he was bowling full tilt and without the worry of someone who is always afraid of breaking down. It was Hardik 2.0 unleashed.It’s this version we saw on Sunday night in Dubai, when he had Rizwan completely off balance with the short ball. As Rizwan arched back, he had gotten into a position where it was impossible to bail out. The ball kept coming at him and flew off the bat face as Avesh Khan came around and put in a dive to hold on at deep third. This was a classic fast bowler’s wicket.

“The calmer I can stay, it’s going to help me execute all the plans. Those executions, the 50-50 chances that I take, if I am calmer, it helps me to pull it off. Obviously, it was just seven runs [needed in the final over], even if it was 15, I would have fancied my chances”Hardik Pandya

You didn’t need to see the speed gun to tell you that it was a fast one. Only an over earlier, he had rushed Iftikhar Ahmed into a hook that was caught by the wicketkeeper. Two balls after Rizwan fell, he had Khushdil Shah’s attempted slash to a heavy ball finding Ravindra Jadeja at deep cover. All his three wickets had come off effort balls.As per ESPNcricinfo’s logs, all of Hardik’s deliveries were in the short-of-a-length zone. Nothing full. Each of his three wickets came with the short ball. Each of his deliveries also touched, and crossed, 140kph.”In bowling, my plans were pretty simple,” Hardik told Star Sports after the match. “I always tell the same thing. It’s just how I use it. I tell that it’s important to kind of assess the situation and conditions, and use your weapon which I feel, you know, hard lengths and hitting the length is my strength. But I make sure I use it very wisely, put some doubt in the batter and ask them to play the wrong shot.”Yet, for all the work with the ball, the game was on a knife’s edge when India needed Hardik the batter to stand up. It had been a difficult chase on a tacky surface. And it wasn’t until Hardik’s three fours in the penultimate over, bowled by Haris Rauf, where he played to the field and took advantage of Pakistan having only three fielders outside the ring – because of their slow over rate – that the game was in India’s control.This was a chase right down MS Dhoni’s alley. One where he knew the bowlers were under as much pressure, or maybe more, as he was. And one mistake was enough. Then, with six needed off three, Hardik swatted a flat six over long-on to finish it off. There were no fist bumps or angry growls – just a sense of calm all around and the acknowledgement of having done a job he always knew he could.Hardik Pandya finished the match for India with a six•AFP/Getty Images”In batting, over the years, I have understood [that] the calmer I can stay, it’s going to help me execute all the plans,” Hardik said. “Those executions, the 50-50 chances that I take, if I am calmer, it helps me to pull it off. Chases like this, you always plan overs. For me, it started from the 15th over. I knew we’re running short, but there’s one guy who is making his debut [Naseem] and there’s one left-arm spinner [Mohammad Nawaz]. Obviously, it was just seven runs [needed in the final over], even if it was 15, I would have fancied my chances.”I try to keep [my mindset] as clean as possible. I don’t try to put a lot of thoughts because I feel the bowler is much more under pressure than me. I don’t have anything to lose. I know it’s just one six. It’s not an ego thing. Against spinners, I fancy my chances more than fast bowlers.”Rohit Sharma was happy with the new and improved Hardik, and spoke of the work behind the scenes.”He’s a lot calmer, yes, but is very confident of what he wants to execute on the field, whether with the bat or ball,” Rohit said. “He’s quite confident, he understands what sort of field placements he needs to have. And he can bowl quick. We saw that today with those short balls. Obviously, a lot of hard work goes into it.”It was more about understanding his own game. With the bat as well, he was quite calm in the middle, trying to guide the team through it and when we were in a situation like that, high-pressure game, to get 10 runs in an over, there are times where you can panic too. But he didn’t show that at all, he was quite calm and took us through.”

Where the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Asia Cup final could be won and lost

Gaurav Sundararaman11-Sep-20225:52

Asia Cup final: are Sri Lanka the favourites?

Before the Asia Cup, Sri Lanka vs Pakistan was a final that not many would have predicted, with India touted as favourites. Before this edition, the two teams last met in the tournament in 2016 when Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six wickets. Although Sri Lanka emerged victorious against Pakistan in the Super 4 this time, it is tough to predict who holds an edge in this match where toss will play a crucial role.While Sri Lanka have benefitted with some strong performances by their openers, Pakistan have managed to win some tight games, thanks to their lower and middle order. Both teams have a few issues to deal with. Who will come out on top? Here’s a look at some of the factors that could play a key role in the final.ESPNcricinfo LtdWin toss, win match
Similar to last year’s T20 World Cup held in the UAE, the toss has played a major role in the competition. Since the start of 2021, there have been 21 T20Is played at the Dubai International Stadium and only on three occasions has the team batting first won the match. Those three games were played against Scotland, Hong Kong and Afghanistan by India and New Zealand. The Dubai pitch is known to be favourable for chasing because of two factors: dew and the pitch getting faster to bat on under lights.In the last 21 T20Is, only on one instance has a team that won the toss chosen to bat first. Since 2021, the average first innings winning score in Dubai is in excess of 190. In case teams bat first, they would want to score a minimum of 185 runs to give themselves a good chance. One approach the team batting first could look to do is to keep wickets in hand and then accelerate in the end to ensure they reach beyond par score rather than falling short.ESPNcricinfo LtdTrial against spin
Surprisingly, both Pakistan and Sri Lanka batters have fared below par against spin this tournament. Barring the duo of Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan batters have been a bit circumspect against spin. The likes of Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Babar Azam and Khushdil Shah strike at less than 100 against spin this tournament. Sri Lanka will be looking to capitalise on this weakness of Pakistan. To handle the spinners in the middle overs, Pakistan could promote Shadab Khan and Nawaz, and play their match-ups tactically to catch Sri Lanka off guard.For Sri Lanka, the gulf in playing spin between Kusal Mendis and the rest is noteworthy. Mendis has scored 86 runs from 46 balls at a strike rate of 186.9 with eight sixes against the spinners. But the likes of Charith Asalanka, Pathum Nissanka and Dasun Shanaka have struggled against spin.Shanaka has scored 30 off 33 balls while Asalanka has made only seven runs from 15 deliveries against spin. Nissanka, who has a better average among them, has scored 65 runs off 55 balls off spinners. While both Nissanka and Asalanka have been dismissed twice each by spinners in this year’s Asia Cup, Shanaka has been removed three times. Pakistan could look to bowl more overs of spin if they can remove Mendis early. Based on the above data about spinners, Shadab is going to be a key player for Pakistan with bat and ball.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe Hasaranga challenge
When Sri Lanka and Pakistan met in the Super 4, Wanindu Hasaranga, who returned with figures of 3 for 21, was the the Player of the Match. He took the key wickets of Babar, Iftikhar and Asif Ali to dent them in the middle overs. Interestingly, Hasaranga’s record against Pakistan in T20Is has been way above par compared to other oppositions. He has taken 11 wickets at an average of 9.09 and has conceded just 6.25 runs per over from 96 balls. One of his weapons is the googly and Pakistan’s record in this tournament against this particular delivery has been a bit underwhelming. They have scored 72 runs from 63 balls while losing four wickets. One potential plan to counter Hasaranga could be to ensure left-hand batters face him more. In this Asia Cup, all of Hasaranga’s six wickets are right-hand batters while the left-hand batters have scored at par.Related

Nissanka, Mendis, Shanaka, Theekshana – SL's heroes in Asia Cup

Shadab Khan has got his groove back

SL learning on the fly, teaching a lesson to their big brothers

Naseem Shah, the wunderkind from Lower Dir who conquered Sharjah

Getting past the openers of Sri Lanka
Before this Asia Cup, one of the biggest concerns for Sri Lanka was their opening stand. They averaged 19.80 and struck at 117 since January 2022 without creating any impetus in the powerplay. Sri Lanka decided to replace Danushka Gunathilaka with Mendis for the Asia Cup and it has been a refreshing change. Barring the first game against Afghanistan, their openers have led from the front.Nissanka and Mendis have struck at 143 at an average of 41.6 with four fifties in this competition. Mendis’ ability to play spin and Nissanka’s to counter pace have been key to their success. Sri Lanka have been the best team in the powerplay in this Asia Cup, scoring at 127.7 and hitting a boundary every 5.5 balls. The openers have also scored around 45% of the runs for Sri Lanka. If Pakistan need to get past Sri Lanka, they should get the openers out early to expose the middle order.

In the absence of Mukesh Kumar, the right-arm seamer has led the bowling charts for Bengal

Sreshth Shah07-Feb-2023After Bengal lost the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy final via a small first-innings deficit in a drawn match, there was a sense in the corridors of Bengal cricket, that nothing less than the trophy would do justice to the nearly three decades that have passed since their last win in 1990.After a cancelled 2020-21 season due to the pandemic, they topped their group in pursuit of the title in 2021-22, roaring into the semis without much trouble. But standing in their way were Madhya Pradesh, and the eventual champions steamrolled their way into the final to eventually clinch the trophy.This season seems to be eerily similar. Bengal finished first in their group and then secured a comfortable nine-wicket win over Jharkhand. Once again, MP are in their way, and this time the defending champions have home advantage too. That makes their semi-final in Indore their toughest challenge yet, and to overcome that, Bengal will need Akash Deep, their highest wicket-taker of the season, to repeat his Player-of-the-Match performance from the quarter-final.Akash is part of a three-pronged pace attack that has been Bengal’s bowling backbone for the past three seasons, along with Mukesh Kumar and Ishan Porel. The trio, having joined the Bengal set up at different periods of Bengal’s ‘Vision 2020’, have played most of their first-class cricket together, but Mukesh was always the leader.However, this season was different. With Mukesh part of India squads on occasion and regularly featuring for India A now, the team’s senior bowler played only two group-stage games and the quarter-final. Akash became the lead bowler of the team in his senior’s absence, and blossomed as the new lead, taking 31 wickets in eight matches at 21.96. It was as if Mukesh was not missed at all.Related

Mayank Agarwal fights against himself, and the conditions, to come up trumps

How Mukesh Kumar went from small-town Bihar to the Delhi Capitals line-up

Battered, bruised Tiwary keeps Bengal's Ranji dream burning

Shreyas Gopal opens up on cricket and life after cathartic quarter-final century

Saurashtra, Bengal, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh enter Ranji Trophy semi-finals

“When Mukesh isn’t in the team with us, then there’s extra pressure on me,” Akash told ESPNcricinfo before the semi-final. “When the three of us play together, we all feel that we can take wickets altogether anytime at any point of the game. When one of us is missing, there’s more pressure. The three of us have been playing cricket together through our career.”Akash hails from Sasaram in Bihar, and moved to Bengal with the desire to become a cricketer despite his father’s early hesitation. His struggles with personal loss – first of his father and then his brother in short time – is well documented, with him needing at least three years to pick the pieces up from the tragedy and resume his journey in becoming a state-level cricketer. In 2019, he was among the many bowlers in Bengal’s U-23 team. Four years later, he is their hope as the side’s most in-form bowler.Akash doesn’t need a lot of motivation to deliver these performances. He was part of that final that Bengal lost too, and despite being a fairly young member of an experienced squad, is aware how much a title would mean to the group.It starts off from Manoj Tiwary, their captain, who has suggested this could be his final year of cricket, and Bengal cricket as a whole has been dreaming of a Ranji title to give Tiwary a fitting farewell after three failed attempts in finals. Laxmi Shukla and Shib Paul, Bengal’s head coach and bowling coach respectively, along with Tiwary had two chances in the mid 2000s to clinch the title but lost in the final. This seems to be the final chance for that golden generation to taste success.Akash Deep:’I wasn’t 100% fit at the start of the Ranji season, but with Mukesh also not there, I was needed in the XI. So I came to play directly from rehab without any practice’•PTI “Winning the Ranji Trophy is a dream for every cricketer,” Akash said. “There are India cricketers who are yet to even reach a Ranji final. So it is also my dream to contribute towards the win for a team that has given me so much. When you lose in a final, a tinge of regret remains.”As a right-arm seam bowler, Akash bowls from wide of the crease and uses the angle coming into the right-hander’s body or away from the left-hander’s bat to trouble his opponents. When he isn’t contributing with the ball, he contributes useful runs as a No. 8, with a high score of 41 this season. Those runs have twice helped Bengal win games outright despite conceding first-innings deficits in the group stage.”I was injured at the start of the season, I did not play the Vijay Hazare Trophy also,” Akash said. “I wasn’t 100% fit at the start of the Ranji season, but with Mukesh also not there, I was needed in the XI. So I came to play directly from rehab without any practice. It took a short time for me to get my rhythm, but I got better as the season went along.”I have been focusing on my batting because I can bat well. From the number in bat in, if I score 35 or 40 then not only will it help the team but will also help the person batting with me. Whichever team has batters getting 25-30 runs late, then that team is very hard to beat, even in Tests.”With a strong MP team looking to make it two finals in a row, their captain Rajat Patidar back after a few weeks away for national duty and Avesh Khan in red-hot form, Bengal do not start Wednesday’s semi-final as favourites. But as veteran coach Chandrakant Pandit once said, the pressure of defending one’s title is more than winning it the first time. Bengal will be looking to take advantage of that undue pressure on MP, and for them to succeed, Tiwary will need Akash to come good.

The pair have touched the 1000-run mark together in just 13 innings, a record they now share with Roger Twose and Nathan Astle

Sampath Bandarupalli22-Nov-2022355 for 5 – Australia’s total in the third ODI against England, the first team total of 350-plus runs across the 150 men’s ODIs played at Melbourne Cricket Ground. The previous highest was 344 for 8, by ICC World XI against Asia XI in 2005.1 – Australia’s 355 for 5 was also their highest total against England in men’s ODIs. Their previous highest was 342 for 9 during the 2015 World Cup, which was also at the MCG.269 – Partnership runs between David Warner and Travis Head for the first wicket. It was the highest stand for any wicket in ODIs at the MCG and the first double-century stand for the first wicket at this venue. The previous highest ODI stand in Melbourne was 225 between Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist against England in 2002.2 – Number of ODI partnerships of 250-plus runs between Warner and Head. They are only the second pair in ODI cricket with two partnerships of 250-plus runs, after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – Number of ODI partnerships for Australia higher than the 269 between Warner and Head on Tuesday. Warner and Head had set the record with the 284-run opening stand in 2017 against Pakistan at Adelaide Oval.2 – The 269-run stand between Warner and Head was also the second-highest for any wicket against England in ODIs. The highest is the 286-run opening stand between Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga in 2006 in Leeds.13 – ODI innings as a pair for Warner and Head for 1000 partnership runs, the joint-quickest to the mark in men’s ODIs. Roger Twose and Nathan Astle also completed 1000 partnership runs in 13 innings.