The Punjab Kings and Chhattisgarh batter talks about impressing Brian Lara, his rollercoaster career so far, and the season ahead

Ashish Pant09-Oct-2024Players showing up at the IPL out of near obscurity and leaving a mark isn’t new. You get a handful of such names almost every season, and you got them this year too. Think Mayank Yadav, who hit 156.7kph. Or Harshit Rana, who played a key role in Kolkata Knight Riders’ title-winning run. Or Nitish Kumar Reddy, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s newest star.Another name made the rounds even before IPL 2024 got underway: Shashank Singh, who was picked by Punjab Kings in rather interesting circumstances at the auction, and went on to smash 61 not out off 29 against Gujarat Titans, 46 not out off 25 against SRH, and 68 not out off 28 against Kolkata Knight Riders – the last one in a record T20 run chase.That wasn’t Shashank’s first IPL rodeo. Nor was it the first time he had bittersweet feelings about the auction.Related

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December 23, 2022. He distinctly remembers the day of the IPL 2023 auction. He had just finished a Ranji Trophy game against Services in Delhi and was getting ready to catch a plane to Kerala, where his side, Chhattisgarh, were due to play their next match.After moving from Delhi Capitals (2017) to Rajasthan Royals (2019-21), Shashank finally made his IPL debut for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022. He had to wait until his sixth game to get a bat, and in his first innings, against Gujarat Titans, he smashed Lockie Ferguson for three back-to-back sixes in the final over to finish on an unbeaten 25 off six balls, leaving social media abuzz. ” [Who is this Shashank?] read a tweet from Yuvraj Singh. Harbhajan Singh marvelled at the young man’s power-hitting, and so did several experts on social media.Shashank didn’t have another innings of note that season but he received positive feedback from the team management, which included Brian Lara, the SRH batting coach. He had reasons to be optimistic about his chances, but on auction day he found no bidders.”Even now, when I think about it, I get very uneasy,” Shashank says. “I still don’t know how I spent that night [after the auction]. I can’t explain how those two to three months of my life went. cricketing emotions ” [I had lost those cricketing emotions.]”After the SRH year [2022], I was expecting that things would be good for me. I was expecting too much from myself and IPL as well. But I was not picked. After that, I had a very lean patch. So many thoughts were coming into my mind. cricket [If there was something good happening, I didn’t react to it. Any which way, things weren’t exactly going right.]He was out hurt for the next IPL. He should have been there, he thought. He was good enough to be a part of a team, any team.”I always wanted to test myself in red-ball cricket – to find out where exactly I stand”•Saikat Das/BCCICut to a year later and Shashank became Kings’ crisis man, helping them eke out wins from almost unwinnable situations. The two contrasting years at the IPL were a microcosm of his career.

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Shashank was born in Bhilai in Chhattisgarh but played a lot of his early age-group cricket in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, where his father, an officer in the Indian police, was posted. At 16 he moved to Mumbai for better opportunities. There he got a massive reality check.Coming from Bhopal, where cricketing infrastructure was not as developed, he was up against players of the calibre of Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur, and he realised he needed to level up quickly. He joined the DY Patil Academy under the tutelage of former India fast bowler Abey Kuruvilla, who became his mentor.”When I was in Bhopal playing school cricket, there weren’t a lot of inter-state matches. But when I went to Mumbai, I saw the competition,” Shashank says. “I was surprised by just how much talent the players had, compared to me. Be it fitness, cricketing skills, training, the struggle… that’s when I told myself that just this much work won’t do.”Then I joined DY Patil and Abey Kuruvilla sir, and obviously there my life completely changed. He gave me all the freedom. The initial days in Mumbai really made me tough. Even when I got settled in Mumbai, that competition was always there. The culture, that definitely got imbibed.”For the next ten years Shashank played every tournament that came his way: Kanga league, Times Shield, DY Patil league. It took him some time to get there, but he made his Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy debuts for Mumbai in 2015. However, with competition for spots tight in Mumbai cricket, he failed to get into the red-ball side. Even in white-ball cricket, matches were few and far between. He played three List A games, all in 2015, while his last T20 game for Mumbai came in 2018.Shashank with Punjab Kings team-mate Shikhar Dhawan•Arjun Singh/BCCIThen came probably one of the toughest decisions of his career. At 27, Shashank decided to part ways with Mumbai to try and play first-class cricket elsewhere and prolong his professional career. He moved to Chhattisgarh, the state of his birth. Kuruvilla helped, by speaking to the secretary of the cricket association there, and soon enough Shashank made his Ranji Trophy debut for the state in the 2019-20 season.Did he feel the move was a step down?”Yes, 100%,” Shashank says. “I cried. I still remember that night when I went to Abey sir and told him that I don’t want to leave Mumbai cricket. I am very emotional towards that Mumbai cap. But sir was very honest to me.”He said, in red-ball cricket it would be very difficult because Abhishek Nayar is there, Shivam Dube is there. [In] white-ball, we were all playing. There you can accommodate allrounders. But in red-ball it gets difficult.”I always wanted to test myself in red-ball cricket – [to find out] where exactly I stand. When you start playing cricket, it is mostly about Test cricket. Obviously you want to challenge yourself at the toughest competition.”It was very difficult for me to accept that I won’t be playing for Mumbai, I won’t be wearing that Mumbai cap, I won’t be in their dressing room. It took me a few days to digest it. I made the decision to play for Chhattisgarh because I wanted to test myself in red-ball cricket.”Shashank has since been a regular in the Chhattisgarh side across formats. Starting in 2019, in 21 first-class games for the state he has scored 858 runs at an average of 31.77, and taken 12 wickets with his medium pace. In List A cricket, he has better numbers: 859 runs in 23 innings at 40.90 and 31 wickets, while in T20s he averages 18.75 with the bat. In the 2023-24 season, he became the first Indian to score 150-plus runs and take five wickets in the same List A game, a feat he achieved against Manipur.Shashank says his success in the IPL has given him more credibility with his team-mates•Saikat Das/BCCIIn a lot of ways, the 2023-24 season was a turning point in Shashank’s career. He was among the runs and wickets during the Vijay Hazare Trophy and had decent returns in the Mushtaq Ali tournament as well. He finished IPL 2024 as Kings’ highest run-getter with 354 runs in 14 games at a strike rate of 164.65, and more recently scored back-to-back centuries for Chhattisgarh in the KSCA league in Bengaluru.Shashank’s new-found success in the IPL has helped him earn more respect from his Chhattisgarh team-mates.”The friendships, the bonding, how they used to pull my leg earlier, all that is there. But now they have started trusting me more with my batting abilities, now they have started respecting me more as a cricketer,” he says. “I am not the captain of the state but sometimes, when I give my opinions, the management as well as the players, they respect it. ‘Okay if Shashank is saying this, there must be some logic in it.'”Along with his growing reputation, there has also been an upsurge in his social media following, from a few hundreds it now numbers in the hundreds of thousands. The people who used to troll him earlier over the name confusion at the auction ended up praising him for his steely determination when, seemingly overnight, he became the centrepiece of Kings’ success.How did the sudden spotlight feel?”I felt happy – obviously, anybody will,” Shashank says. “You get out of the lift and all the people know you by your name.”When I came to the team hotel ahead of the IPL, they asked my name. I said, ‘Shashank Singh’, and they were like, ‘Right, yeah… which state do you play for?’ Oh, Chhattisgarh. After a month they were like, ‘Oh, here’s Shashank Singh.’ It felt nice, and who won’t like it?”I still remember, there was a huge Punjab Kings poster which had pictures of me, Arsh [Arshdeep Singh], Jitesh [Sharma], and I think Sam [Curran]. I sent that picture to my mother. It felt nice to open the [hotel] window in the morning and see my face. I won’t lie. You go shopping, you go out to eat, people ask for a selfie, autograph, recognise you… I feel blessed.”Shashank is a big AB de Villiers fan, but the cricketer he really looks up to is Lara. The former West Indies captain was SRH’s batting coach when Shashank was part of the team and he credits Lara with giving him the confidence and belief to succeed at the IPL.Shashank moved from Chhattisgarh, where he was born, to Bhopal, then to Mumbai, and now is playing for Chhattisgarh•Anupam Nath/Associated Press”I came into the IPL only because of Brian Lara. He literally changed my mindset, and the technical part as well,” he says. “He has changed my cricketing things – from being a normal cricketer to a good IPL cricketer. He has had a great impact on my cricketing journey.”I remember, the first time when I came to bat in front of him, I just tried to impress him. I was trying to hit every ball. One round of six bowlers finished, he called me and said, ‘Don’t try to impress me, just bat. I know you can bat well’.’ Then I calmed down, played according to the merit of the ball, and then he was impressed. He was the one who said, ‘Shashank, you are not a No. 6 batsman’, and gave me the confidence.”Ahead of a long season, Shashank says he has worked on a number of things. The first was to “stop being harsh on myself”. He didn’t have a great Ranji Trophy season last time around, managing just 232 runs in six games, which he believes was down to him being confused and overthinking his technique. But now, having played in the IPL, spoken to different coaches, he has developed clarity of thought.”Till last year I was extremely confused whether I should change my batting style in red-ball cricket,” he says. “But this year when I met Sanjay [Bangar] sir, and lately I met Wasim [Jaffer] as well in Mumbai. They just told me to play my normal game and not change just because the format is changed.”I have now started to react to the ball and have started backing myself, like I do in white-ball cricket, and I have stopped overthinking. Even if I score four zeroes in four innings, who cares? There is a chance I could score a century in the fifth.”And the other thing I worked on is my bowling and fitness. I was pretty sure as to what I needed to work on in my training. Before this, I wasn’t sure of the areas to work on. I was all over the place. Now I know where I am standing.”Shashank is not looking ahead to the IPL 2025 auction or thinking about retentions. For now, he wants to replicate his good form in the three major domestic tournaments, which begin with the Ranji Trophy on October 11. He wants to be an X-factor player for whichever team he plays for and is working hard towards it. The rest, he says, is destiny.

He will be remembered as much for his courage against fearsome fast bowlers as for his role in helping India move into the era of professionalism

Suresh Menon01-Aug-20246:24

Manjrekar: ‘Indian cricket should be grateful to Gaekwad’

Aunshuman Gaekwad – “Charlie” to friends – had that mix of toughness (as a player) and likeability (as a person) that is rare not just in cricket but in life itself. He was one of the youngest captains on the Indian first-class scene in his time, but was never in the running for the national captaincy. This was partly because he appeared in only 40 of the 90 Tests India played during his decade-old career, and partly because a younger man, Kapil Dev, took over the job. His father, Dattajirao Gaekwad, had led India on a tour of England in 1959.Gaekwad’s understanding of the sport and his knowledge of its nuances were not lost to Indian cricket, however. As manager, selector, and member of the BCCI’s apex council, his was a voice – gentle and persuasive – that helped shape Indian cricket in many ways.He was crucial in two periods of transition. When he made his debut, the Indian team was rebuilding itself after a disastrous tour of England and had just deposed Ajit Wadekar as captain. It was necessary to have a batter with courage, who didn’t give up easily and made the bowlers work hard. Gaekwad fit that role. Opening with Sunil Gavaskar, he gave the batters who followed the kind of respite they had not been used to during the phase when the nation debated the question: Who can partner Gavaskar?Related

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Then, after his playing days, as an administrator, Gaekwad saw the transition towards an era of greater professionalism and self-belief as Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and others held the Indian flag aloft.He was only 32 when he played his last Test, coming full circle in Calcutta, where he had made his debut. The more attacking Krishnamachari Srikkanth was preferred in the next match. As often happens in cricket, like in other areas of endeavour, the skills of the pioneer and consolidator were seen as excess to requirements. What was needed was to go beyond consolidation and take charge. Gaekwad never complained, and looked for other avenues where his experience and superior grasp of the game would serve the country.5:23

Holding: ‘Anshuman was a proper gentleman’

Gaekwad earned his reputation as a player of grit and substance early. As a 22-year-old when he walked out to play that first Test, against West Indies, he crossed the incoming batter who was returning after being hit in the face by Andy Roberts. This was his hero and captain, Tiger Pataudi. Gaekwad made an important 36 in a low-scoring match, which India won, and was run out for 80 in the next, which too India won. He had won his spurs with a century against the tourists for Combined Universities where he drove off the front foot with elan. Later, as he began to open the batting and faced fast bowling consistently, he became more proficient off the back foot.In the West Indies next season, in the “bloodbath” in Kingston, Jamaica, which saw five batters absent hurt in the second innings, Gaekwad helped Sunil Gavaskar add 136 for the opening wicket before he was forced to retire following a nasty blow to the ear from Michael Holding. He needed surgery. He had batted on with a broken finger earlier, using one of the remaining to communicate with Holding in a gesture universally understood.Gaekwad’s highest Test score, 201 against Pakistan, took over 11 hours, which didn’t surprise anyone.India have produced more attractive batters than Aunshuman Gaekwad, better catchers at slip, and perhaps – we don’t know this for sure – better captains. But for sheer courage and for taking on the world’s fastest bowlers with little more than a strong heart and indomitable courage, Gaekwad stands alone. To be remembered for guts and tenacity rather than batting or bowling figures is not such a bad thing.

Perth Scorchers quick is taking wickets in all formats after an injury-ravaged few years but believes international cricket is still ‘unrealistic’ in the short term

Tristan Lavalette16-Dec-2024As his latest comeback gains further steam, quick Jhye Richardson chuckled at a rather amusing question from a reporter before he pondered.Having last month had a scare with his troubled shoulder after animatedly celebrating a wicket against South Australia in his long-awaited Sheffield Shield return, Richardson was asked whether he could still high-five teammates.”I think I just got caught in a funny position over there in Adelaide, probably just got a little bit too excited and decided to slap a few hands a little bit too hard,” a grinning Richardson told reporters after starring with 3 for 19 in Perth Scorchers’ six-wicket victory over Melbourne Stars in the BBL season-opener at Optus Stadium.Related

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But given his horror run with injuries, including shoulder and hamstring surgeries, Richardson paused in his response and then struck a serious tone.”I mean, it does sound silly, but … maybe we’ll stick with the low fives instead of the high fives,” he said. “But that’s just another thing that we deal with. I’ve dealt enough with my shoulder over the last few years. It’s just another thing to add to the basket.”Richardson is wise to take any precautions, no matter how innocuous they might seem to be, given his cursed luck over the years. He is still unable to throw from deep in the outfield due to the shoulder issue and instead has to bowl the ball in or underarm it if he’s closer in.

“Test cricket is obviously the goal. I’d love to play Test cricket again. I think it’s difficult having had a taste of it and then having that sort of ripped away.”Jhye Richardson

Richardson’s been limited to just three Test matches since debuting against Sri Lanka in January 2019, with the last being a pink-ball game in Adelaide in 2021 when he took his maiden Test five-wicket haul against England.The succession of injuries means Richardson, 28, has spent plenty of time on the sidelines and become a somewhat forgotten player in Australian cricket.But Richardson’s been bowling without interruption since his return in this year’s IPL and his improved fitness saw him return to first-class cricket earlier than expected.Richardson had match figures of 4 for 85 from 29 overs against South Australia in the Shield following four One-Day Cup matches and a couple of second XI games for Western Australia.Jhye Richardson made a dramatic Shield return last month•Getty ImagesEntering the BBL fit and firing, Richardson issued a reminder of why he’s one of the country’s most highly-rated quicks with a spectacular performance against Stars on a bouncy Optus Stadium surface.Bowling fast and finding swing, he claimed Joe Clarke and Sam Harper in a devastating new ball spell before finishing with the wicket of Beau Webster in the backend of Stars’ innings.”It felt a little bit different coming into this game, just purely actually having some cricket behind me over the last few months,” Richardson said. “I know last season, I sort of changed my run-up and had all of that I was dealing with and hadn’t played many games before actually coming into the tournament.”I remember last year feeling probably the most nervous I’ve ever felt on a cricket field before my first ball.”Today was probably the polar opposite. It felt like I could go out there and actually do what I’m used to doing, which is bowling a cricket ball.”While Australia’s frontline attack of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, along with back-up quick Scott Boland, have been remarkably consistent and resilient, Richardson offers valuable pace depth and could figure prominently – if he stays fit – amid an expected transition in the coming years.”Test cricket is obviously the goal,” Richardson said. “I’d love to play Test cricket again. I think it’s difficult having had a taste of it and then having that sort of ripped away.”I think it’s nice to have goals, but I’m obviously not there at the moment, so it would be unrealistic for me to think about international cricket. What’s realistic is what’s in front of me right now, and that’s playing Big Bash cricket and domestic cricket for WA.”But I’m hoping to get back there.”

A winning feeling can change how a team thinks, and if that means prioritising short-term goals over long-term ambitions, the idea isn’t too bad

Madushka Balasuriya21-Nov-2024For Sri Lanka and new head coach Sanath Jayasuriya, the last few months have certainly been winning ones, with the few blips – a 3-0 T20I series reverse against India, and losing the first two Tests in England – swiftly forgotten thanks to the morale-boosting wins and performances that followed.But observers of Sri Lankan cricket over recent years will know better than to get carried away. After the twin peaks of 2014’s T20 World Cup win and overseas Test triumph in England, there was always likely to be a comedown and rebuild after the retirement of the stalwarts that drove those victories.But the false dawns since then have been plenty, from an unexpectedly promising 2021 T20 World Cup campaign, to an even more unexpected 2022 Asia Cup final win, and then a run to the final of the 2023 Asia Cup which itself was preceded by an unbeaten 2023 ODI World Cup qualifying campaign. Even this year’s T20 World Cup build up had seen resounding series wins against Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. All the hope that sprung from those victories, however, was just as quickly snuffed out by abject showings in major tournaments and finals.So will this time be any different? For Jayasuriya and his team (which he has mentioned at any opportunity when allocating credit), the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. At the moment it tastes quite good, but balancing long-term objectives with short-term goals is no easy task, and during the early part of Jayasuriya’s reign as head coach it’s the short-term that has taken immediate priority.Take the recently concluded series against New Zealand. Several red-ball specialists were sent to South Africa early to prepare for Sri Lanka’s crucial WTC-impacting Test series later this month, but four key players – Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis and Asitha Fernando – were asked to remain and play against a fairly green New Zealand side.Related

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Would those four have been better served preparing for the Tests Sri Lanka need to win to keep their WTC final hopes alive? Most certainly. But for Jayasuriya, the need to keep a winning momentum was just as important – and for those four players, a shorter adaptation period is now a challenge they must meet head-on.”We were discussing all these options, but we wanted to do well, even in Sri Lanka with the ODIs and T20s, because we can’t take things for granted even with this New Zealand team. Yes, some of their players didn’t come but they [still] have a good team. They played good cricket here,” said Jayasuriya, alongside chief selector Upul Tharanga, on Thursday. “So that is why we give some of them to rest on the last game – to come back to Colombo, rest and then go to South Africa. Some of the players may have to adjust themselves as quickly as possible to the situation. So Kamindu, Pathum, Kusal Mendis, those three players need to adjust themselves according to the situations, red-ball and white-ball.”As for Asitha – Sri Lanka’s lead red-ball seamer – Jayasuriya felt the rest afforded by not playing in the T20s and the final ODI was enough.”We gave him a rest in the T20 games, where he had two games off,” Jayasuriya said. “And after that we got him to play two ODIs and we gave him the third ODI off. So we’re managing him, because he’s the one who’s bowling really well at the moment. We have to look after him.”Of course, we considered those areas [resting players] with the selectors, but we came to the decision to play everyone in the first two games, and then to see how it goes.”

"Data is the key area when it comes to international cricket" – Sanath Jayasuriya pic.twitter.com/OAlKEM9omU

Video credit: SLC

— Madushka Balasuriya (@frommadtoworse) November 21, 2024

Fielding brilliance underpins New Zealand’s low-key threat as they lay down a marker even in defeat

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Mar-20251:23

Manjrekar: Not seen so many brilliant fielding moments in an innings before

Betrayal. That’s the look on Virat Kohli’s face as an entire stadium goes quiet for a second, inhaling in awe, having borne witness to a little miracle.Kohli has hit hundreds of thousands of cut shots in his life. He has beaten many thousands of backward points with that shot. Most importantly, he has made enough pilgrimages to the halls of the cricket gods (what are his intense net sessions but an act of the most dutiful worship?) to know that, if you nail one that hard and place it that far away from the fielder, the gods will deliver unto you the kind of dismissive early boundary that makes millions all around the world sit up and say, “Uff, he’s looking good for another big one here”.In this moment, however, Kohli has just had his cricketing worldview shaken. He doesn’t quite know where in that universe to place himself.Glenn Phillips would never claim to be a god, but in the Champions Trophy, his catches at backward point have been the closest we have had to acts of divine intervention. At the moment the outermost skin-cells on his fingers make contact with the outermost white lacquer of the cricket ball, he has his right arm outstretched – shades of Adam, reaching out to God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.Related

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Unlike Adam, Phillips had to throw himself both feet off the ground to close the distance. And unlike the artist Michelangelo up on that scaffolding, Phillips is working in three dimensions; he had to reach back behind him to catch up with the ball. He had already taken a mirror-image of this catch in the tournament opener, stretching every molecule of his body in the air, his arm reaching behind him again, to shake the cricketing faith of Mohammad Rizwan on that occasion. In whatever this Champions Trophy’s version of the Sistine Chapel is (the shiny new pavilion at the Lahore Stadium?), you could have Glenn Phillips reaching out to commune with the majesty that is Glenn Phillips.Phillips fields almost exclusively in what analysts call the “hot zones”, which means the areas to which the ball is most likely to travel, and in which your best fielder(s) can make the biggest difference. He roams the straight boundaries when the spinners are in operation, and also fields on the deep midwicket rope, when hitters that favour that region – such as Hardik Pandya – are swinging late in the innings.But backward point at the start of an innings is essentially the living-room mantlepiece as far as cricket fielding positions are concerned, and this is where Phillips gets his pride of place. Rachin Ravindra could probably do the job, but he’s usually rocking a boundary position. Mitchell Santner could also do the job, but he’s often at mid-off, mid-on, or the covers, chatting every now and then to his bowlers. Kane Williamson definitely could do the job, but we know why he isn’t doing it. In all their age group and regional teams, Ravindra, Santner and Williamson were likely the best fielders around. In other top national men’s teams, they would be the best in show. But there is no contest in this team – Phillips blows them all out of the water, without any shadow of a doubt.Glenn Phillips flies across from point to grab the half-chance from Virat Kohli•ICC/Getty ImagesHe is so good, he even sometimes makes you forget that others have put in an extraordinary 50 overs of effort too. In this match, it was likely Williamson who had the greater body of work. His diving one-handed catch at backward point to get rid of Ravindra Jadeja in the 46th over was a classic of Williamson cool (a stunning catch, a little toss of the ball in the air before he rolls it over to the umpire).But then there was also the running-backwards, overhead catch to dismiss Axar Patel in the 20th over. That ball went off Axar’s top edge, and it was clear that Williamson had lost this white ball in the high, white canopy that shades the stands. But if you were teaching a university course entitled “Catches running backwards 101”, Williamson’s catch could form the majority of the syllabus. Watch the ball closely enough before it disappears from view that you have a good idea of its flight path. Try to pace your run backwards so that when the ball comes down, it does so just over your back shoulder. And keep your hands low, so that on the off chance it suddenly appears somewhere you don’t expect, you can react late and have a chance of snatching it.As it happened, Williamson had judged its flight path so well, it came down right over his back shoulder. He plucked it with his right hand only, as if it were a ripe mango on a low branch. But he had been well-placed in the event the ball had made a more difficult descent too. When we break down New Zealand’s fielding, we are talking about practitioners operating in the very highest realms of their craft.In the last over of the match, Pandya hit one in the air towards Phillips at deep midwicket, and because Phillips made a misjudgement – not running hard enough at the ball, perhaps because he lost it in that canopy – he neither got to the ball on the full, nor fielded it cleanly, which should have given Pandya a chance to claim an easy two. But because Phillips was the fielder, Pandya dared not risk taking a single that would have left him off strike with No. 10 Mohammad Shami at the other end.Phillips has built up such a reputation now, that even his screw-ups do not hurt his team. When batters see him there, they think primarily about the man, and not the quality of their shot, or even the quality of Phillips’ run towards the ball.And whereas for other teams, spectacular catches such as this are moments of euphoric joy, for New Zealand’s fielders they are only more entries into a ledger that they have the most entries on. There are grins, hugs, tossings-up of the ball, and gentle rollings to the umpire. Then they get into their huddle, and seem to shoot the breeze. You wonder if they know, or even care about, exactly how many millions of minds they have just blown.

Hazlewood has been outstanding in the IPL following injury and indications from last season are that the hierarchy remains

Andrew McGlashan01-May-20252:12

What makes Hazlewood a much-improved T20 bowler?

Plenty of Australian cricketers are currently plying their trade overseas, and Josh Hazlewood is going as well as any of them for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the IPL in what has been an encouraging return from injury and shapes as bad news for Scott Boland’s hopes of featuring in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.As of Thursday, Hazlewood was the leading wicket-taker in the IPL – with 18 wickets in ten matches – and while the role and requirements of T20 are considerably different to a Test match, his trademark back-of-a-length mode of attack has been key to a number of his dismissals.Two years ago, Boland was the beneficiary when the selectors opted to preserve Hazlewood for the Ashes that followed the WTC final against India as he returned from a side injury picked up in that season’s IPL. Boland went on to bowl brilliantly at The Oval, claiming five wickets in the match, as Australia won the mace by 209 runs. This time, barring any setbacks for Hazlewood over the next month, it looks like going the other way.Related

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For all Boland’s success that sees him sit with a Test record of 56 wickets at 17.66 from 13 matches he has only once been a first-choice selection when the big three quicks have been fit or not rotated: that was the opening Test of the 2023 Ashes when he was selected ahead of Mitchell Starc at Edgbaston. The two matches Boland played in that series have been the only occasion when a team has consistently dominated him – he finished with two wickets at 115.50 and an economy rate of 4.91 – as England’s Bazballers used his metronomic length to their advantage.Last season against India, Boland was the ultimate super sub. He replaced an injured Hazlewood in Adelaide where he zipped the pink ball around but then immediately made way in Brisbane only for Hazlewood to then suffer a calf strain. Boland took 16 wickets in the next two matches at the MCG and SCG, but the pace-bowling hierarchy remained clear. Again, Boland will likely need someone else’s misfortune to make the XI at Lord’s.Josh Hazlewood had an interrupted series against India•Getty ImagesHazlewood cut a distraught and frustrated figure as he walked off the Gabba after a ginger one-over spell on the fourth day after he tested the extent of the calf strain. Having emerged from an injury-hit period between 2021 and 2023, where he played just four Tests, he featured in 12 out of 13 matches after the WTC final, only missing at Headingley in the Ashes when he was rested.As Hazlewood recovered from the calf injury, a hip problem emerged, which ruled him out of the Champions Trophy. Through the various setbacks – both the recent ones and during 2021-2023 period – Hazlewood has remained adamant that it’s largely been bad timing rather than an indication that his body is becoming a genuine concern although Aaron Finch has previously suggested the selectors may need to start cherry-picking the Tests he plays.”I’ve had a little history of sides and calves, they are probably the two things that have kept me out for the majority of the last four years, but I [can] sort of just keep adding another layer to the defence hopefully,” he said late last year. “I’ve ticked a lot of boxes in the last 12 months and it’s just the timing again – they are only little two or three-week injuries, it’s just the timing of it and missing big games so that’s probably the frustrating thing.”Hazlewood has the 300-wicket mark in his sights should he be able to string appearances together this year, currently sitting on 279 at 24.57. There are landmarks approaching for all the big three: Pat Cummins is on 294 Test wickets, while Starc has 382 and is four games away from reaching 100 caps.There will be a couple of training camps in Brisbane during May for the Australian players who are based at home, which includes Boland who opted not to play county cricket after finishing the domestic season with a knee niggle.Initial WTC final squads, which will be 15 players, need to be submitted to the ICC by May 11 but can be amended until the end of the month. After that, the technical committee’s approval will be required for any injury replacements. Australia are expected to have a couple of travelling reserves with them in England, from where they head straight to the West Indies for a three-Test series.

England and India served up a treat at Lord’s, leaving the series delicately poised. Alan Gardner was joined by Sid Monga and Vish Ehantharajah to discuss what went down

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jul-2025England and India served up a Test match for the ages at Lord’s, one that was eventually won by 22 runs deep into the final day as the hosts took a 2-1 lead with two to play. With the dust still settling on the closest contest of the series, Alan Gardner was joined by Sidharth Monga and Vithushan Ehantharajah to pick through all the goodness – from honours board appearances for Joe Root, Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul, to Jofra Archer’s comeback, Ravindra Jadeja’s herocis, Ben Stokes’ juju and the welcome return of on-field needle as the tour reaches its pointy end.

Rahul has not been among the luckiest batters in recent years, but when he got a life on Monday at Headingley, he cashed in and made it count

Sidharth Monga23-Jun-20251:18

The curious case of KL Rahul

A total of 335 batters have had reprieves in Test cricket since 2020, which is when ESPNcricinfo started maintaining a log for such things. Ben Stokes has been missed 31 times, Marnus Labuschagne 26, and Rishabh Pant 24. This is catches and stumpings put together, of all kinds: regulation, tough, half-chances.When Harry Brook dropped KL Rahul on 59 in the second innings at Headingley – a return gift of sorts after having been missed twice himself, though not by Rahul – it was only the seventh time in 23 Tests since 2020 that Rahul had been given a life. Arguably, nobody deserved a chance more than Rahul.Bear with this repetition for a second. In terms of skill, Rahul has been the second-best India batter of the Virat Kohli era, but it is inexplicable that he had averaged 33.57 coming into this Test, his 59th. Even allowing for the notably bowler-friendly conditions that have prevailed in recent years, particularly since the WTC came into being in 2019, it is a bit underwhelming. The overall batting average for the top six in the Tests he had played was 33.88. A player of great innings, yes – seven of his eight hundreds came away from home – but a pretty average player overall.Related

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Rahul has indeed failed to fill his boots at times – including in the first innings here – but he is not the luckiest batter going around either. And that is not insignificant. Forty-seven batters have offered 30 or more catches since 2020, and 24 of them have had a lower percentage of catches held than Rahul. The luckiest batters happen to be Pant, Labuschagne and Stokes. Rahul was being dismissed every 11.67 mistakes, leaving 22 luckier batters than him out of 57 that have been dismissed by a bowler 30 or more times.Of course, you’ll never hear players complaining about a lack of luck, even though they know the role that it plays, especially in Test batting. They won’t say it because they don’t want to stop improving, they don’t want to stop repeating their processes.Rahul, filthy with himself for throwing it away on 42 in the first innings, pulled himself up and repeated his processes all right. Actually, what Rahul did in the first innings also was part of a process. Through that breezy first-innings knock, he played more cover drives than he usually does outside Asia and the Caribbean. It seemed to be a plan: being slightly proactive denied England the freedom to keep bowling a good length. The ball that got him was full enough for the drive. What hurt him more was that he had done the hard work, then failed to convert the start into a big one.In the second innings, when the bounce became a bit more uneven, he went to stumps on day three unbeaten with 95% control and 47 off 75. He had put out all the best hits in that evening session. A back-foot punch off Chris Woakes in front of point, three gorgeous cover drives, one square drive on one knee, an on-drive and a pull off Shoaib Bashir.On the fourth morning, the uneven bounce and nip off the surface increased. India lost Shubman Gill in the first full over. Pant tried to counter the movement and the new ball in his own idiosyncratic manner. Rahul, at the other end, was a proper, classic Test batter. In the first hour he scored just 7 off 44 balls, with a control rate of 89%.3:12

Rahul: ‘I’ve forgotten what my batting position actually is’

When it got difficult, Rahul trusted his method and processes to take him past the new ball. Or, in the event he didn’t succeed, at least his efforts would give the incoming batters an older, softer ball. He also just about managed to nudge Pant when he tried one slog too many. Not everyone has the tact to speak to Pant. He famously got upset with Cheteshwar Pujara for asking him to be watchful in Sydney 2020-21 in the last over before the new ball. He still tried to hit a six to get to his hundred before the new ball, but maintained that the doubt planted in his mind caused the mis-hit for him to be caught on 97.Rahul managed to get through to Pant. He spoke three languages: Tamil with B Sai Sudharsan, Hindi with Pant, Kannada with friend and fellow Bangalorean Karun Nair. The real language he spoke was that of proper Test batting, playing the ball on its merit because he has the ability to do so. He shifted gears seamlessly as the ball got older. When he was scoring the first 47 off 75 or the next 7 off 44 or the next 46 off 83 or 37 off the 44 after reaching his hundred, you couldn’t look and tell he was doing anything out of character. Every tempo seemed natural to him, in his own bubble, almost a meditative state.In the last five tours outside Asia and the Caribbean, Rahul now has had superb starts: 84 and 129 in the first two Tests in England in 2021, 123 in the first Test in South Africa later that year, 101 in Centurion in the same fixture in South Africa two years later, 26 and 77 late last year in Perth, and now this century in the most difficult conditions in this Test so far. However, incredibly, he doesn’t have a single blockbuster series. The highest he has ever aggregated in a series is 393.Rahul acknowledged how disappointed he was that, despite batting well in Australia on the last tour, he didn’t have that defining series. He also said he knows that effort, preparation, skill and application don’t always translate into results in this game. That, if you let the outcomes play on your mind, you will be paralysed playing this game. How sweet it will be, though, if he can use this rare stroke of luck and finally go on to chalk up that big 500-run series.

Bangladesh’s death-over expert was instrumental in their victories in their previous two games in the Asia Cup

Mohammad Isam and Shiva Jayaraman23-Sep-20254:47

Chopra: India lives in Bangladesh’s head rent free

Mustafizur Rahman equalling Shakib Al Hasan’s national record of 149 T20I wickets validates his stature as Bangladesh’s best bowler in the format. Seventy of those 149 wickets have come in the death overs (16-20) – the most by any bowler in this phase in men’s T20Is.He took 3 for 20 with his left-arm pace in Bangladesh’s first Super Four match of the Asia Cup, against Sri Lanka; his two wickets in the 19th over kept the opponents down to a target which his team’s batters were able to achieve. In the game before that, Mustafizur had taken 3 for 28, successfully spearheading Bangladesh’s defence of 154 against Afghanistan to earn two crucial points.Related

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Mustafizur is a proven death-overs specialist: in the last 18 months, he has an economy rate of 3.0 while bowling the 19th over. He’s done it over six matches, an incredible feat regardless of the opposition. For context, Jasprit Bumrah’s economy in the 19th over during this period is 6.5.His mix of offcutters from over the wicket that went away from the right-hand batter was all the rage when Mustafizur emerged in 2015. Even R Ashwin wondered how he managed to bowl that cutter and still got the ball to carry to the wicketkeeper standing back.Shoulder injuries, however, forced Mustafizur to expand his skills. Between 2019 and 2021, he worked with fast-bowling coaches Ottis Gibson and Allan Donald to bring the ball back into the right-hand batter. In recent years, he worked hard on angling the ball across the right-hand batters with his left-arm angle at decent pace, but mixing it up with offcutters.Mustafizur Rahman needs one wicket to become Bangladesh’s top wicket-taker in T20Is•Associated PressMustafizur has the second-best economy rate (7.94) among bowlers with at least 50 wickets from overs 16 to 20 in T20Is. When narrowed down to matches between Full Member nations, Mustafizur still has the second-best economy rate (6.48) in the death overs, behind Bumrah, since April 2024. To be anywhere near Bumrah is impressive.Mustafizur’s career has had ebbs and flows since his debut across formats in 2015. He is no longer picked for Tests and he isn’t as impactful in ODIs as he is in T20Is. Like most bowlers, he’s had his struggles against particular batters and he could face one of them against India on Wednesday. Hardik Pandya has a T20 strike rate of 212.50 against Mustafizur since 2024, and poses a threat to his death-over effectiveness.Ahead of the game, Bangladesh’s head coach Phil Simmons said Mustafizur was now the leader of the attack. “[Mustafizur] has been bowling really well – he’s been the main bowler,” Simmons said. “And he’s carrying that mantle of being the senior bowler on the team. And even in meetings and everything, he’s really stepping up. So it’s great to see him performing out there.”In his debut IPL season, in 2016, Mustafizur Rahman won the Emerging Player award•BCCIBefore the Sri Lanka game, Bangladesh’s fast-bowling coach Shaun Tait had said he tries to keep Mustafizur comfortable to get the best out of him. “He has all the experience; he doesn’t need me to talk to him too much about the way he’s bowling,” Tait said. “If he’s in an environment where he’s happy, I think he’ll perform well. My job with him is just to make sure he’s happy and confident. The rest he takes care of himself.”Many of the world’s best T20 bowlers have honed their skills in franchise leagues around the world, and Mustafizur has been among the busiest Bangladesh players on the circuit. After playing the BPL in 2015-16, his first T20 tournament, he represented Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2016, winning the Emerging Player award after taking 17 wickets in his debut season. He also had successful IPL seasons in 2021 and 2024, taking 14 wickets in each year for Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. Apart from the BPL and IPL, he has also played in the Vitaility Blast, PSL and LPL. While he’s built up his experience, his performance has been a rung or two below the A-listers, and hence he doesn’t evoke the same aura.For Bangladesh, Mustafizur is their go-to bowler at the death. He usually bowls his first over in the powerplay, his second in the middle overs, before returning for two overs at the end. His record against India reads eight wickets at an average of 57.37 and economy rate of 9.4. He will need to improve on that for Bangladesh to upset the reigning T20 World Cup champions.