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He was Maharashtra’s captain when they last reached the Ranji Trophy final 21 years ago. As coach, Surendra Bhave has made them dream again

Amol Karhadkar15-Jan-2014Just before lunch on Day Three of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Mumbai, as Maharashtra readied themselves to take the field after conceding a 122-run first-innings lead, coach Surendra Bhave delivered one of his numerous pep talks, hoping it wouldn’t be his last one of the season.Bhave, a former Maharashtra captain who had led them to their last Ranji Trophy final appearance in 1992-93, gave his players two choices. “One was to go on to the field, complete the formalities, pack our bags and head straight to Pune from the Wankhede. The other was to go out, play with our heads held high, give it our best shot and change the opinion of the people.”Even when Maharashtra captain Rohit Motwani recalls the words four days later, he seems just as charged up as he was after hearing them at the Wankhede. “That speech inspired us a lot,” says Motwani. “We chose the second option and it worked for us.”

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Just over 12 months ago, Bhave, the then chief selector, was given the additional responsibility of being the interim coach with two games remaining in the group stage. Maharashtra were then at the bottom of Group B and required a miracle to avoid relegation.It wasn’t to be. Maharashtra were blown aside by Karnataka in their last league game. “[Abhimanyu] Mithun and Stuart [Binny] just ran through us and poured water over all our ambitions to continue the good work of the previous game against Baroda and avoid relegation. At that time itself, all of us knew we had to start afresh.”It was a fitting end to an erratic season. Maharashtra had started it by appointing Dermot Reeve as coach, and had replaced him with Bhave midway through the season. Reeve, the former England allrounder, had raised eyebrows during his brief tenure, playing the guitar just outside the boundary ropes during Maharashtra’s matches and even missing a couple of games to work as a TV analyst on the India-England series.Without a father figure, the team was in disarray. “Due to the prevailing circumstances, the team wasn’t that together,” Motwani says. “Everyone was kind of coming into the field and playing his own game. Even though all of us had been playing together for a while, the cohesiveness was somehow missing last season.”Maharashtra didn’t do any better in the second half of the season, and failed to progress beyond the zonal stages of the domestic one-day and Twenty20 competitions, which were considered their strengths.

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If Maharashtra were to turn the tide this season, they needed a pitch-perfect build-up. But with the Maharashtra Cricket Association in financial disarray, the team only had their first official training session on August 19. The mess also deprived the team of any competitive warm-up games. The association hadn’t been able to participate in preparatory tournaments or conduct a reciprocal tour with another state team, which had been a trend during recent off-seasons.But this gave Bhave ample time to evaluate what had gone wrong and to come up with a solution. “If you see the numbers, most of the batsmen had averaged 45-plus and still the team was not doing well,” he says. “We had to imbibe among the players that if your aim is to play for yourself, you’re not contributing to the team. Once we got everyone to work for the cause of the team, most of it was taken care of.”Bhave’s next task was to get the bowling act together. Barring Samad Fallah, the attack didn’t have a consistent performer in its ranks. And the lack of match practice may have affected the bowlers’ rhythm going into the season. Bhave’s solution benefited not only the bowlers but the batsmen as well.

It’s not just when the chips are down that he [Bhave] speaks. He makes it a point to compliment us for our good work. A pat on the back from someone you have idolised means a lot and he knows it. His words of wisdom – sometimes one-on-one, sometimes to the whole group – are cherished by all of us.Rohit Motwani, Maharashtra captain

“We couldn’t go to any of the warm-up tournaments, so the moment the monsoon receded, we formed four teams amongst our probables and played a handful of practice matches on lively tracks at Gahunje,” Bhave says. “The atmosphere was no different to a first-class match and you couldn’t even sense it was a practice match. It helped the bowlers get used to running in and bowling more than 20 overs per day and the batsmen were tested against tough bowling in tougher conditions.”The decision to prepare lively pitches for the warm-up games was based on the assumption that “every Plate team has three decent pace bowlers”. With the bowlers made to work hard outdoors rather than in the confines of the gym and the batsmen made to bat in adverse conditions, the team was ready by the time the season began.

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“We may not be that old but we are not a young team,” Motwani says. “For the last four to five years, more or less the same bunch has been playing together. And we were all confident at the start of the season that we could deliver this time around.”For the captain’s words to come true, Maharashtra needed to get their campaign off to a strong start. Harshad Khadiwale and Kedar Jadhav gave them just that, in their contrasting styles. At the end of Maharashtra’s fourth game of the season, they had scored three centuries each and were occupying the top two positions in the list of the Ranji Trophy’s highest run-getters.”Every time Khadi or KJ reached a milestone, the dressing room revelled with them,” says Akshay Darekar, the team’s leading spinner. “They gave us bowlers the much-needed cushion to bowl oppositions out.”While they piled on the runs, not many gave Khadiwale and Jadhav their due, reckoning that a hundred in a Plate (Group C) match wasn’t a big deal. “I can’t help such perceptions,” Jadhav says. “Those who say this don’t understand that many Plate teams play with such a defensive mindset that they bowl with seven or eight fielders on the boundary once a batsman is set. Scoring runs becomes really difficult at such times. When a batsman still scores big in such circumstances, you should give him his due. Be it myself or Khadi or anyone else from any other team.”The impact that Khadiwale and Jadhav had on their team can be gauged by the fact that Maharashtra didn’t once concede a first-innings deficit during the group stage. But the bowlers were coming to the party too; Maharashtra won an unprecedented four games outright, and ended Group C seven points ahead of second-placed Jammu & Kashmir. The team’s primary objective, of regaining their place in the top flight of the tournament, had been achieved. But the group was far from satisfied.

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Two days before the quarterfinal, Maharashtra’s players asked the driver of their team bus, going from Pune to Mumbai, to take them straight to the Wankhede Stadium rather than their hotel. They were playing Mumbai, their big brother, away from home, in a televised match. They were ready.On the second evening, with the Maharashtra batsmen struggling in the face of a ferocious spell from Shardul Thakur, on a wicket tilted in favour of pace bowlers, it looked like the heckling of Maharashtra as flat-track bullies would continue. Mumbai captain Zaheer Khan, in what might have been a mocking gesture, placed all nine fielders behind the wicket early in Maharashtra’s innings.”We didn’t even take it as an insult. We took it as yet another challenge – a first of its kind, and Ankit (Bawne) and Kedar counterattacked to show we could take them on,” pace bowler Anupam Sanklecha says. “Even then, it wasn’t as if we had played bad cricket. All of us know that Mumbai crossed 400 only because of some stupendous batting by Vinit (Indulkar) and Surya (Yadav).”The next afternoon, Sanklecha led the Maharashtra fightback as a three-pronged pace attack dismantled the Mumbai batting in 38 overs to get Maharashtra back into the game. “The 60-70 runs that we were helped with when Mumbai over-attacked in the first innings helped us reduce the innings deficit,” Bhave says. “When we talked to the bowlers, my impression was, if there are more play balls, there are more chances of us getting wickets on such a track. Another thing that worked for us was, since we didn’t have a bowler who could rely on sheer pace in our attack, it was ultimately going to be a case of pitch it up to the bat and catch it whenever it comes your way.”But the manner in which the three seamers and the slip cordon executed that basic plan left the Wankhede spellbound. Often, seamers in India tend to get carried away when they see a green surface. It happened with the Maharashtra bowlers in the first innings and they sprayed the ball around. But to learn the lessons and reverse the trend so quickly stunned even Sunil Gavaskar, who was commentating on his first Ranji game.It isn’t a surprise that beating Mumbai meant so much to the players, since only one of them had experienced the feeling before. Sanklecha, in fact, had become the first Maharashtra player to feature in two outright wins over Mumbai. “Back then (in 2005-06), I had contributed with the bat, ending as the highest scorer in the second innings,” says Sanklecha, who hails from Ahmednagar, 120 km to the west of Pune. “This time around, my bowling came good. For the last four days, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing. I feel like I’m on top of the world right now.”

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Bhave’s pep talks have been a constant feature over the season. “Each time one of us drifts slightly, a pep talk is waiting, and it invariably sets things right,” says left-arm spinner Darekar, who, with 31 scalps, is Maharashtra’s leading wicket-taker this season. “His technical expertise is well known but he has also been a great motivator.”Motwani adds: “It’s not just when the chips are down that he speaks. He makes it a point to compliment us for our good work. A pat on the back from someone you have idolised means a lot and he knows it. His words of wisdom – sometimes one-on-one, sometimes to the whole group – are cherished by all of us.”When it began its journey back to Pune on the evening of January 11, the team bus was juddering down the same expressway it had taken to Mumbai. Bhave, however, knew everyone in it was floating in the air. Naturally, just before the team got off the bus, he had another pep talk waiting for them. “I said: ‘We have to play two more matches in the same way. Don’t get too far ahead of yourselves. Don’t think that you cannot be conquered. Be guarded against complacency. Enjoy the hard work and the rest will be taken care of’.”

ESPNcricinfo picks its team of the 2014 season, with a limit of only four foreign players in the XI

Nitin Sundar02-Jun-20147:58

Agarkar, Isa Guha pick their IPL XIs

Picking the tournament XI is among the most anticipated activities at ESPNcricinfo the end of a long tournament, and IPL 2014 was no different. Fourteen members of ESPNcricinfo’s editorial team who watched the tournament closely sent in their votes, and after the numbers were tallied, we ended up with a well-balanced and dynamic XI that ticks all the boxes, even if it has more wicketkeepers than it needs.Mohit Sharma and Suresh Raina made it to the ESPNcricinfo IPL XI for the second year running•BCCISeveral names were automatic picks – a reflection of a season where some players were consistent and impactful right through the tournament. Robin Uthappa and Sunil Narine were unanimous picks. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Suresh Raina came next, dropping just one vote each. So did Glenn Maxwell, whose slump in the latter half of the tournament would seem to have not impacted his popularity. Akshar Patel and Mohit Sharma were shoo-ins as well, with 12 votes each out of a possible 14. Wriddhiman Saha (9 votes), who capped an outstanding tournament with a century in the final was another straightforward choice in the middle order.

ESPNcricinfo’s IPL XI from 2013

Chris Gayle, Michael Hussey, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, James Faulkner, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Dale Steyn, Mohit Sharma

The last remaining specialist bowling spot went to Lasith Malinga (6 votes), who was predictably effective for Mumbai until his departure for England. That left one more overseas slot to fill. David Warner (6 votes) beat competition from Dwayne Smith and Lendl Simmons to make the grade as an opener.One spot remained, and that selection proved to be the most contentious. The side needed a finisher and it had to be an Indian player, which ruled out JP Duminy and Kieron Pollard, both of whom had only one vote each in any case. It came down to Delhi Daredevils’ Kedar Jadhav and one of the usual suspects in IPL XIs – MS Dhoni. The spot eventually went to Dhoni (4 votes), whose ability to finish off games without a fuss helped Super Kings in their march to the play-offs. Dhoni’s selection gave the team it’s third wicketkeeper, but more importantly, gave it a captain.Shakib Al Hasan is the twelfth man, and a good choice since he fields well and can replace a batsman or a bowler as required. If team balance wasn’t a criterion, he would have made the starting XI. The most notable miss was David Miller, who made a strong case for a fifth overseas spot. Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag, who both showed signs of a second wind during the tournament, missed out narrowly as well, as did Sandeep Sharma.The team has six batsmen, one spinning allrounder, three seam bowlers and a mystery spinner.Team of the tournament
1. Robin Uthappa (Knight Riders) – 660 runs, average 44, strike-rate 138
2. David Warner (Sunrisers) – 528 runs, average 48, strike rate 141
3. Suresh Raina (Super Kings) – 523 runs, average 40, strike rate 146
4. Wriddhiman Saha (Kings XI) – 362 runs, average 33, strike rate 145
5. Glenn Maxwell (Kings XI) – 552 runs, average 35, strike rate 188
6. MS Dhoni (Super Kings) – 371 runs, average 74, strike rate 148
7. Akshar Patel (Kings XI) – 17 wickets, average 24, economy rate 6.13
8. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Sunrisers) – 20 wickets, average 18, economy rate 6.65
9. Mohit Sharma (Super Kings) – 23 wickets, average 20, economy rate 8.39
10. Lasith Malinga (Mumbai Indians) – 16 wickets, average 16, economy rate 6.45
11. Sunil Narine (Knight Riders) – 21 wickets, average 19, economy rate 6.35
12th man: Shakib Al Hasan (Knight Riders) – 227 runs, average 30, strike rate 149; 11 wickets, average 30, economy rate 6.68

Marcus Trescothick’s demise in the shortest format leads this week’s countdown of the things that mattered in the NatWest T20 Blast

Tim Wigmore14-Jul-20145. The end for Tresco in T20?
Marcus Trescothick’s emphatic return to form – he has just scored his fourth Championship hundred of the season – has been one of 2014’s most heart-warming tales.Could Marcus Trescothick’s career in the shortest format be over?•Getty ImagesBut it has not extended to the NatWest Blast. Trescothick mustered only 33 runs in six innings this season and, going back to the start of the 2012 season, has scored only 142 runs at 10.92 apiece. The offside crunches and nonchalant heaves over long-on, shown off during a 129-ball 133 against Durham hailed by Paul Collingwood as an innings that would be talked about “for the next ten years” have been absent in T20 colours. And they will continue to be so: Trescothick was omitted from Somerset’s team on Friday; they beat Gloucestershire without him.The decision hints at permanence, too. “We have decided to leave Marcus Trescothick out of the team,” director of cricket Dave Nosworthy said. “Marcus has not been scoring as well as he would have liked to have in this form of the game and he has agreed that it is in the best interests of the team that he should be left out.”This move will now allow him to focus on his Championship and 50-Over cricket,” Nosworthy said. The T20 captaincy has been taken over by Alfonso Thomas for the remainder of the season.Trescothick could perhaps be viewed as a victim of the new Blast format, and the demands on players to play a T20 game a day after a Championship match. Somerset are currently in the midst of a particularly nonsensical schedule: 11 consecutive days of cricket, including Championship matches in Uxbridge and Northampton, and T20 games at Southampton, Taunton and The Oval. He could hardly be blamed if he did not find that conducive to extending his sterling Championship scoring to T20.4. The Fred factor
Round two was better than round one. At Grace Road, Andrew Flintoff took 3 for 26, showing that his yorker remained in fine working order. The first innings of his comeback was less impressive, ending on 1 to a self-described “horrendous shot”. No matter: “I just can’t stop smiling,” he effused.

Player focus: Michael Hogan

Getty Images

Not many would be allowed to keep Justin Langer waiting but Michael Hogan can: so convinced is Langer of Hogan’s worth that he has kept a berth open in Western Australia’s squad for 2014/15 in the hope of being able to convince him to return. Hogan’s reputation – in so much as he has one – is for relentless first-class excellence from his rangy build. But he’s also a skilled death bowler. He earned an amazing tie against Kent when his last over went for only three, and he yielded only eight from his final over against Surrey at The Oval, with Vikram Solanki unable to get any bat on a final ball yorker outside off stump to hand Glamorgan a four-run win.

He wasn’t the only one, either. “There was definitely a Freddie factor,” Leicestershire chief executive Mike Siddall said. “Freddie probably put 500 on the gate – we’d love him at Grace Road every week! Our gate takings were the best of the T20 season and we sold a lot of beer as well.”With Flintoff obliging fans with autographs and photographs after the game, many Leicestershire supporters would have left unperturbed by the home side’s defeat.Lancashire’s win means they have qualified for the quarter-finals. Based on the current tables, they will have a home draw against Surrey and Kevin Pietersen. Tasty.3. Yorkshire’s spin twins
The notion of spin twins is a stirring one for many cricketing romantics. That is especially true when, as in the case of Yorkshire, both players are homegrown. Azeem Rafiq and Adil Rashid have both been through tumult in their careers but they have combined superbly so far in the Blast this season, already sharing 25 wickets. Rashid’s tale is familiar, but Rafiq’s is just as interesting. He stood-in as Yorkshire captain, with considerable success, in T20 two years ago: quite a fear for a 21-year-old. His career has stuttered since – partly due to Rashid’s resurgence. For all their T20 success, Yorkshire are still yet to partner Rafiq and Rashid in the Championship in 2014.2. Ajmal’s T20 farewell
His effect hasn’t been as spectacular as in the County Championship, but Saeed Ajmal has also been magnificent in the Blast, taking 12 wickets at 19.75 apiece while going for only 6.07 an over. Ajmal signed off from this season’s Blast with 3 for 17 at Edgbaston: he now goes to the Caribbean Premier League. His mystery and control – equally effective in and out of the Powerplay overs – have been instrumental in Worcestershire’s rise to third in the North Division, and the Rapids will now fear submerging without him.1 But don’t forget another overseas offspinner…
In comparison to Ajmal, Jeetan Patel is a rather less exciting import: an offspinner who enjoyed a fairly nondescript career with New Zealand But no one at Warwickshire would dispute his worth, and Patel’s gratitude in return was shown when he rejected the chance to tour the Caribbean with the Kiwis last month. His 2 for 17 helped Warwickshire trump Ajmal on Friday and snap a four-game losing streak: Patel now has eight wickets in his last three Blast games.

Only 16 matches into his Test career, Kraigg Brathwaite negotiated the conditions in Port Elizabeth, South Africa’s bowling attack and the clouds with class and composure

Firdose Moonda in Port Elizabeth29-Dec-2014If only weather interruptions in Test cricket were limited to the time it took for bursting clouds to relieve themselves. Instead, they extend to include both the build-up before and the clean-up afterwards.The cost of a 10-minute shower can be an hour’s play, overnight rain can wash out an entire morning and, if the heavens decide to have a sundowner, the third session can be sliced in half. When all that happens in the same game, everyone gets a little fidgety.Faf du Plessis revealed that the South Africans use the time to play change-room cricket and have discovered their coach Russell Domingo’s technique needs work. Allan Donald emerged to lob a rugby ball to the television director, the band at the ground played a few tracks that sounded like one, long, grey cloud and the sprinkling of scribes in the press box searched for something to fill their pages and stomachs.

Have been waiting for this opportunity – Samuels

After ending the last tour of South Africa, in 2007-08 as the overall top run-scorer, Marlon Samuels returned with unfinished business on this visit and his primary goal was to complete it.
“Last time I was here (Port Elizabeth) I made 94 and today I was sitting in the same seat. I told myself that when I reach the 90s, I am going to be more positive and try to get to 100,” he said. “There is no competition between this and T20. We all know Test cricket is not kid cricket; it’s big man cricket.”
In the current West Indian set-up, Samuels is one of the biggest men. Along with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin, he forms a part of an experienced core and is relishing the chance to mentor others, through both his actions and his words.
“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity – it’s lot of responsibility and I’ve been around for a while,” he said. “When I’ve got young players asking me stuff, it reminds me I have a big part to play.”

There is something common to all those things – they are distractions. And distractions are what Kraigg Brathwaite has not allowed himself over the course of the last two days. He fought his way to his third Test century, and first away from home, through the kind of focus most 22 year-olds have not found the need for. His was an innings of four hours and 47 minutes at the crease, the better part of two days and what must have seemed like years of waiting in-between.First, he had to survive the initial examination upfront, which tested his reflexes against the moving ball and an awareness of his off stump. On both counts, he passed on the third day. Brathwaite waited for South Africa’s seamers to offer width and err in their lengths by going too short.Importantly, he managed not to stagnate while doing that, even when he lost his opening partner and the No.3 batsman off successive balls. He brought up 50 in 74 balls, which impressed Marlon Samuels, his batting partner at the time. “They used to say he batted too slow but now he is scoring a little bit faster,” Samuels said.Then he survived a tricky period as the day wound down, when the ball had shown signs of reverse-swing and South Africa turned the heat up. Brathwaite had one moment of nervousness when he hit the ball back to Imran Tahir late on the third day but the legspinner could not hold on in his follow-through.Overnight, Brathwaite and Samuels regrouped and Samuels put to his partner the possibility that they could save the game: “I knew I could rely on a guy like Kraigg to be patient because he is a very patient person. As long as we can put up a record-breaking partnership, it would augur well for us to save the game and take it to a draw.”Easy. Except when Morne Morkel is steaming in, with blood on the brain and a field in place to accept the dripping.When play eventually got underway on the fourth afternoon, Morkel had decided on a plan to unsettle Brathwaite by forcing him to fend the ball off his ribs and into the hands of either Temba Bavuma or Faf du Plessis at short leg and leg gully respectively. Sometimes in calculated fashion, at other times with a bit of luck and a lot of awkwardness, Brathwaite managed to get the ball between them or past them. “You don’t know where to put the guys. You can’t put them everywhere,” Morkel said. “We were working towards that sort of dismissal but their shot selection was quite good. They waited for a shortish length and didn’t try anything tricky.”With Imran Tahir handing out late Christmas presents in the form of full tosses, Brathwaite had some release, too. Only once, when he reached 90 and Steyn had started replicating the tactic, did he almost fall into the trap. The ball caught the shoulder of Brathwaite’s bat and ballooned over to du Plessis at second slip who back-pedalled but got to it and then spilled it while trying to regain balance.His century was there for the taking and it was perhaps fitting that it came off an uncertain stroke to a short ball, because that was the stroke that encapsulated what his innings was about: grit and grind.That he was able to do both so well for so long can only be good news for West Indies’ future. Brathwaite is only 16 Tests into his career and has already enjoyed a breakthrough year. In 2014, he scored three centuries, of which one was a double, and the most recent one was scored in a country that is regarded as one of the most difficult for a batsman to prosper.He negotiated conditions, the competition offered by the attack spoken of as the best in the world, and the clouds with class and composure.”He is a very strong person mentally. It’s definitely showing in his game,” Samuels said. “It’s good to have an opening batsman who is showing determination.”If he can do it again in the second innings, West Indies will have a reason to celebrate more than the weather in Port Elizabeth.

Stats highlights from the fourth day of the third Test between West Indies and South Africa in Cape Town

Bishen Jeswant05-Jan-201566 Number of Test fifties scored by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, second only to Sachin Tendulkar who scored 68.27104 Balls faced by Chanderpaul in Tests. From matches where balls-faced data is available, only three batsmen have faced more deliveries: Rahul Dravid (31258), Sachin Tendulkar* (29437) and Jacques Kallis (28903).8 Number of years since Chanderpaul has been run-out in Tests. He was run-out against New Zealand in Napier in 2006. This is the fourth time he has been run-out in his Test career.7 Number of wickets taken by Simon Harmer, the most by a South African spinner on debut in a home Test. Two other South African spinners have taken seven or more wickets in their first Test – Dane Piedt (8 for 152, Harare, 2014) and Ian Smith (7 for 189, Nottingham, 1947)50 Number of overs bowled by Harmer in this Test. He is only the fourth South African spinner in 68 years to bowl 50 or more overs on Test debut. Interestingly, three South African spinners bowled 50-plus overs each on debut in the same Test in 1947, against England.890 Runs scored by Chanderpaul in South Africa, the most by a West Indies batsman. He went past Lara (841) during his 50 in the second innings.98 Marlon Samuels’ strike rate against Harmer during his knock of 74 in the second innings. He scored 46 runs off 47 balls against Harmer. Against the other bowlers, Samuels scored 28 runs off 103 balls at a strike rate of 27.5 Number of times that Samuels has faced 150-plus balls in an innings against South Africa, more than against any other team. He has done this three times each against England and India. Samuels played exactly 150 balls for his 74 in the second innings.8 Number of ducks scored by Denesh Ramdin, the second-most by a West Indies wicketkeeper in Tests. The only wicketkeeper to score more ducks is Ridley Jacobs – 12 ducks.355 Number of balls since Vernon Philander has taken a Test wicket at Newlands, Cape Town. His last wicket here was against Australia in March 2014, when he took a wicket in the first innings and returned match figures of 1 for 158.

Stats highlights from the third day of the fourth Test between India and Australia in Sydney

Bishen Jeswant08-Jan-2015

Highest Indian run-getters in a series against Australia

639 Runs scored by Virat Kohli in this series, the most by an Indian against Australia, at home or away. He went past Rahul Dravid, who had scored 619 runs during the 2003-04 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.4 Hundreds scored by Kohli during this series, making him only the second Indian to score as many in a Test series. Sunil Gavaskar had achieved this feat on two occasions against West Indies in 1971 and 1978-79.7 Centuries scored by captains across the four Tests, the most ever in a single Test series. Michael Clarke had one, Kohli and Steven Smith have three each.1 Time that two batsmen – Kohli and Smith – have made four or more hundreds each in the same Test series. Individually, they are the 19th and 20th batsmen to make four hundreds in a Test series.23 Years since an Indian opener played 250 or more balls in an innings in Australia. KL Rahul, with 262 balls for his 110 in Sydney, emulated Ravi Shastri, who had faced 477 balls for his 206 in Sydney in 1992.3 Hundreds for Kohli in his first three innings as captain, the only player to do so. His counterpart Smith has scored at least one hundred in each of his first three Tests as captain.2.97 India’s run rate during their first innings, the second-slowest of this series by either team. India have scored 342 runs so far from 115 overs. Teams have scored at a run rate in excess of three in 12 of the 13 other innings this series.5 Test hundreds for Kohli in Australia, only Sachin Tendulkar (6) has more. Gavaskar has scored five hundreds as well. Kohli is fifth on the list of overseas batsmen to score the most hundreds in Australia.39 Number of innings since Shane Watson has taken more than one wicket in an innings. He has figures of 2 for 42 in the first innings. The last time he took more than one wicket was in November 2011, when he returned figures of 5 for 17 against South Africa in Cape Town.

For 30 minutes, everything else took a backseat, as the world watched in awe and fear, a fired-up Pakistan fast bowler mercilessly bullying an Australian batsman

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Adelaide20-Mar-2015″Are you holding a bat?”When Shane Watson stalks in from the slips to lean in and spit those words at Wahab Riaz, does he know? Does he have any bloody idea, what he is really doing to Wahab, and 90 minutes later, to himself?Australia had, at one stage, spoken in team meetings about easing off Kevin Pietersen verbally. “It fires him up,” was Brett Lee’s reasoning. They had not had this meeting about Wahab. When Mitchell Starc beats his edge with an outswinging yorker in the 39th over, the bowler slithers forward. He tells the batsman: “It’s the white thing, you have to hit it.” Wahab, already cranky at another middle-order meltdown from his team-mates, follows Starc down the pitch. He seethes at the bowler, complains to the umpires.

‘Wahab one of the best in the world’

Misbah-ul-Haq on Wahab’s spell
“Nobody in this world is very good against a bowler who is bowling 150kph and with this sort of deceptive pace and bounce. Today he’s shown his class again. At one stage we were pretty much in the game, and the way he was bowling, that catch could have made a big difference, but this the way it is.”
On Wahab’s World Cup
“He was a different bowler in the World Cup. You could rate him at the moment one of the best bowlers in the world – the kind of pace he’s generating and the way he’s bowling. I think still, to become Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, he needs a lot of experience and especially the kind of yorkers and reverse swing they really bowled. But I think he’s a much improved bowler, and he could just be a leading bowler for Pakistan.”

Next over, James Faulkner throws Wahab a stare. Brad Haddin, running close to the stumps to collect a return throw, sticks his own verbal shiv in Wahab’s side. Watson’s sledge is only one of many, but it’s Watson’s sledge Wahab remembers. Before the end of the night, Watson would know best of all, this is not a man worth ruffling; that Wahab’s blood boils when you turn up the heat.Eighteen overs and an innings break later, it is Wahab with the white thing in his hands. Third ball, he rushes David Warner into an uppercut, which settles in the palms of third man Rahat Ali. Tenth ball, Michael Clarke arches his creaking back and fends the white thing to Sohaib Maqsood at short leg.The first ball to Watson would have flattened the batsman’s grille. He dips beneath it with only a little discomfort, but for Wahab, ducking is tantamount to submission. He gets in Watson’s face, claps him sarcastically. The next ball is 150kph, Watson dare not play.Wahab Riaz smelled blood and did not stop•Getty ImagesThe next over is even more intense. Wahab is an inferno. The white thing is a meteor. Watson goes through series of evasive full-body spasms. His back and limbs are aping the shape of half the alphabet, but his mouth can form no words now. In the stands, 35,516 people all smell leather, voices hoarse, fidgeting, pumping fists from the edge of their seats. In the slips, Haris Sohail’s face contorts at the climax of each delivery, sometimes with glee, other times with desperation. On occasion his eyes are filled with fear. Is he afraid for Watson?Steven Smith, who is bending space-time to appear in a parallel universe from his partner, routinely takes a single early in the overs that follow and coolly observes the combat from the best vantage point in the world. Does he feel the heat pouring off Wahab? Is he enjoying the view?All through the match, the cricket had not failed to be interesting. This spell is transcendental. Of the tens of thousands in the ground, there is only one protagonist, and one victim, but the cricket so good, all are drawn in. Wahab’s anger is felt as keenly as Watson’s timidity. So bent is Wahab on embarrassing Watson, he taunts him after every ball.In one over, he does it so many times, it’s as if Wahab rides a conveyor belt from the bowling crease into Watson’s personal space. In the crowd, nothing of their exchange is heard, but its details are intimately understood. The Adelaide Oval playing surface covers acres of land. The stands themselves are vast and high. But in those moments, it’s as if the whole stadium exists in the burning space between these two men.Shane Watson experienced an onslaught like no other•Getty Images”When I was batting Watson just came up to me and said, ‘Are you holding a bat?’ And that was going through my mind,” Wahab later said. “I let him know that even he is having the bat, but he couldn’t touch the ball. I know that nowadays, he’s not good on the short ball. It was a plan of myself that we discussed in the team meeting.”Eventually, Watson is defeated. Having ducked, arched and hopped, he is eventually humiliated into playing a hook shot off the first ball of Wahab’s fifth over. Australian crowds so often scream insults at foreign fielders lining up high catches, but in the seconds this top-edged ball hung in the air, the wind’s rustling through the trees at the Cathedral End was heard in perfect silence. When Rahat spilt the simple chance, 35,000 yelped – more in relief than frustration. A sheepish Watson is avoiding gazes at the non-striker’s end. A disbelieving Wahab is keeled over, mid pitch.In the limp finish, an hour later, Australia cruise to the semi-final with six wickets in hand and 97 balls remaining. On the scoreboard, Wahab’s figures read 9-0-54-2. Watson has 64 not out from 66. Few will remember in years to come, the ins and outs; that Pakistan had been bowled out for 213.But few will forget the theatre, and the unbridled, oscillating emotion of this spell. Tattooed into their nerves will be the night a fast bowler filled a stadium with his fury; the half-hour their collective pulses raced in sync with a batsman’s heart.

Shreyas Iyer has opened the innings in nine of the ten games so far and is the only uncapped batsman in the 300-run club this season

Amol Karhadkar06-May-2015″Be so good that no one can ignore you!!”Shreyas Iyer is living up to his WhatsApp status quite literally. The 20-year-old has followed an impressive maiden first-class season with an even more notable debut in the Indian Premier League.The Delhi Daredevils batsman has opened the innings in nine of the ten games so far and is the only uncapped batsman in the 300-run club this season. He sits in the company of some of the established names in world cricket. The achievement is the first tick in the box for Iyer.”At the start of the IPL, I had set a target that I should reach at least 300 runs. Now that I have reached there, with four more matches in hand, I would love to add a few more. Next target is 400 now,” Iyer says in a chat with ESPNcricinfo.In his first ten games of the IPL, Iyer has faced some of the most fearsome pace bowlers. Barring the two Mitchells, Johnson and Starc, from Australia, he has dealt with the likes of Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Trent Boult and Lasith Malinga quite well. It reflects in the fact that two of his fifties this IPL have been scored against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians.Asked which was the toughest over or spell he has faced so far, Iyer responded with a straight face. “I don’t remember any over which was tough for me.” He isn’t joking. Prod him further about the most challenging bowler he has faced and the batsman thinks for almost half a minute. Then comes the answer.”If I have to pick one, I would say it was Sandeep Sharma. He swings it both ways so you need to take some time to settle,” Iyer says, referring to the over that he faced against Kings XI Punjab early on in the season.Iyer’s highest score – 83 – came against against Mumbai Indians, where he dealt with Malinga cautiously but went after Harbhajan Singh’s offspin. Iyer stressed that he had little problems while picking the ball coming off Malinga’s slinging action.”We all know he is a really good bowler,” he says. “I visualised before the game. I have heard that he becomes difficult to bat against because of his round-arm action, but it wasn’t difficult for me to pick him. The only thing is that he bowls a good slower one, that’s the only problem I faced. Picking his release point wasn’t a big problem for me.”Mention Steyn to him and the confident eyes light up. “I had always dreamt of facing Steyn. It was a dream come true and I really enjoyed the way I played him. Steyn is the fastest bowler I have faced so far,” he says.Iyer hasn’t faced Mitchell Johnson as yet. He was dismissed before Johnson came on to bowl in the first game while the bowler didn’t feature in the return leg when Iyer scored his third fifty of the season.The only time Iyer faltered against pace and swing was against Royal Challengers Bangalore when he was trapped in front off first ball he faced from Mitchell Starc. Iyer maintains he was unfortunate to have been adjudged lbw. “That wasn’t out. It was going down the leg. He was quick, had some swing in the ball but I was not out,” he says.Despite having overcome most of the bowlers he has faced so far, Iyer’s real challenge has been against himself. “IPL is a mental game. No matter how your technique is, it all boils down to how strong mentally you are. If you are tough mentally, the result will go your way,” Iyer says.He cites an example at the start of the season. In his debut IPL game, against Chennai Super Kings, playing in front of a huge crowed, he admits the occasion got to him. Not once before that day at Chepauk had he played in front of “a stand full of spectators, at the most”.”There wasn’t much pressure on me but I was really nervous playing in front of such an arena, in front of so many people. I was so nervous in Chennai, didn’t really know how to approach the game,” Iyer admits.But before the next game against Rajasthan Royals, he figured out a plan that has helped him since then. Once Daredevils coach Gary Kirsten “walked up to” him “after the first game” and asked him if was willing to open the innings, Iyer decided to give himself some time at the start of the innings. To get used to the conditions and to settle nerves.”I realised it’s nothing big. You just have to play your natural game, stick to the basics. I realised even if I play some dot balls initially, I can make up for it later. I had a slow start against Royals and then I recovered well,” he says.His 30-ball 40 gave him the confidence that he belonged at the highest stage. Since then, he hasn’t looked back, emerging as Daredevils’ batting mainstay along with captain JP Duminy.In the first month of the IPL, Iyer has been able to analyse his game better and has zeroed in on the improvements needed in his batting. “I get fours easily but I play a lot of dot balls. Instead of those dot balls if I could get some singles it would be great for the team and for me too. So that’s the biggest task for me at the moment, playing with soft hands,” he says.Iyer admits that besides the presence of his coach Pravin Amre in the Delhi Daredevils dugout, he has been making the most of the opportunity to interact with the seasoned international cricketers. While he hasn’t been able to pick brains of those from other teams, he has been learning tricks of the trade from seniors including Duminy, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh.Duminy sits next to him on Daredevils’ bus rides, while Yuvraj and Zaheer have been available whenever he wishes to discuss anything with them. “Zaheer is really good in giving tips. He knows how a bowler’s mind plays, so before every game I approach him how this guy will bowl at me and he advises me. Good to learn from them,” Iyer says.

Stats highlights from the third day of the fourth Investec Test at Trent Bridge, where England won back the Ashes

Shiva Jayaraman08-Aug-20154 Number of away Ashes Australia have now lost in a row; this is the longest such sequence for them since 1896-97 when they had lost the first-six Ashes series consecutively.6 Ashes Tests won by Alastair Cook; among England captains only Mike Brearly (11) and WG Grace (8) have won more Ashes Tests than Cook. Percy Chapman also won six Ashes Tests.5 Number of Ashes series wins Ian Bell has now been part of, which equals the most Ashes series wins for any England player since 1950. Ian Botham too featured in five Ashes wins, from seven series. This is Bell’s seventh Ashes series as well.2 Number of England captains to win two or more home Ashes series before Alastair Cook. WG Grace had captained England in four Ashes wins at home and two of Mike Brearly’s three Ashes wins had come at home. Cook is also only the sixth England captain to win more than one Ashes series.3 Man-of-the-match awards won by Stuart Broad in the Ashes – equals the second-most won by any England player since such awards started being given away. Ian Botham won five such awards during his career. Andrew Flintoff too won three such awards in the Ashes.7 Ashes Tests lost by Michael Clarke – the most by any Australian as a captain. Overall, only three other captains have lost more Ashes Tests than Clarke. Archie McLaren lost 11 Ashes Tests, Mike Atherton lost nine and Johnny Douglas lost eight Ashes matches.1986 Last time in the Ashes a team made a first-innings total lower than England’s 391 in this Test and still went on to win by an innings. On that occasion too, England beat Australia, by an innings and 14 runs at the MCG, after posting a total of 349 in their first innings. Overall, there have been 12 such instances in the Ashes including this Test and only five have happened since the 1900s.1921 Last time before this series a team lost back-to-back Tests in the Ashes, each within three days. On that occasion though, Australia were on the winning side, beating England in three consecutive Tests, each within three days.6/36 Ben Stokes’ bowling figures in Australia’s second innings – his best in Tests. This was also his second five-for in Tests. His first five-for had also come against Australia, at the SCG in 2014. On that too, Stokes took six Australian wickets. Stokes has taken 23 of his 37 Test wickets in the Ashes.5 Number of times two England bowlers have taken six-wicket hauls (or better) in an Ashes Test including Stuart Broad and Stokes in this match. This is the second time in this series that two England bowlers have taken such hauls in a match. At Edgbaston, James Anderson and Steven Finn had taken six-wicket hauls.

South Africa’s top four batsmen have done better than any other overseas team in Tests in India

Shiva Jayaraman02-Nov-2015One of the reasons that South Africa have been among the best, if not the best, touring Test sides in India in the last 20 years – their win-loss ratio of 1.0 in Tests in India is matched only by Pakistan – is because of their top four batsmen. South Africa’s top order has averaged 45.72 in Tests in India, which is the best among overseas teams in the last-20 years.South Africa pull well ahead of other teams when it comes to just their top four: they have averaged 52.81 from 12 Tests. The closest any other team come to their record is Sri Lanka, whose top four have averaged 46.44. But an aspect where South Africa’s batsmen have left other teams miles behind is in the conversion of the starts: out of the 26 times the top-order batsmen have made a fifty, they have gone on to make a hundred on 14 instances. Their conversion rate of 53.8% is by far the best among any of the visitors.Visiting teams that have done well in India seem to have had their top-four pulling their weight with big scores. Pakistan who did well to draw their 2004-05 series in India, had four hundreds – two of them scores of 180-plus – and six fifties from their top four in three Tests. In contrast, Australia – not always a happy visiting side in India with a win-loss record of 4-13 – have had their top four convert only nine of their 39 fifties into hundreds – a much inferior conversion rate of 23.1%.South Africa’s top four have done better than other teams in getting the big hundreds too. As many as six of the 17 150-plus scores by the top-four batsmen of visiting teams have come from them. It is a factor that is likely to have contributed to South Africa’s good record in India, considering only two of these 17 scores – Matthew Hayden’s 203 in the 2001 Chennai Test and Alastair Cook’s 176 following-on in Ahmedabad in 2012 – have come in losses for the overseas sides.