Yasir Shah joins Abdul Qadir in select club

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

All the records Yasir triggered during the course of his magical spell in Dubai

Bharath Seervi26-Nov-20188/41 – Yasir Shah’s figures are the best by a bowler in UAE Tests. Devendra Bishoo’s 8 for 49 in Dubai two years ago was the previous best. Yasir’s figures are the third-best by a Pakistan bowler, behind Abdul Qadir’s 9 for 56 and Sarfraz Nawaz’s 9 for 86.0 – No one has bettered Yasir’s bowling figures in Tests against New Zealand. Yasir edged past South Africa’s Goofy Lawrence, who had figures of 8 for 53 in Johannesburg in 1961-62.ESPNcricinfo Ltd40 – New Zealand lost their last 10 wickets for 40 after being 50 for no loss. These are the joint-least added by a side after putting together an opening stand of at least 50. In 2001, New Zealand had a similar collapse against Pakistan in Auckland. On that occasion, they slipped from 91 for 0 to 131 all out.5 – These are the least runs added by a side from their Nos. 4 to 11. Six of the eight batsmen fell for ducks to make it the first such instance in Test history.9.3 – Yasir’s strike rate, as he picked eight wickets in 75 deliveries. These are the sixth-best strike rate by a Test bowler with an eight-for. The other five instances are all courtesy England bowlers; four of whom are senior citizens. Stuart Broad picked eight wickets in 9.3 overs during the 2015 Ashes in England.6 – Ducks by New Zealand batsmen, the joint-most in a Test innings. There have been four other innings with six ducks; the last was by India against England at Old Trafford in 2014. This was the first time since 1980 that Pakistan dismissed more than four batsmen for ducks in a Test innings. Five of these six batsmen who made ducks fell to Yasir.90 – New Zealand’s first innings score, the second-smallest since in UAE since 2009. The lowest is England’s 72 in Abu Dhabi in 2012. This is also the lowest by any team against Pakistan in the last five years.

Show-stopping fielding the highlight of WBBL semi-finals

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Two semi-finals. Two last-ball thrillers. Two incredible efforts from the fielding side

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jan-2019The first WBBL semi-final saw an astounding finish, with Brisbane Heat edging Sydney Thunder thanks to this effort from Haidee Birkett, who caught what seemed to be a match-winning hit from Nicola Carey.

Heat made it to their maiden WBBL final.

But that was to be topped by this team effort from Sydney Sixers in the second semi-final. Melbourne Renegades needed three to win off the last ball. It appeared that Sophie Molineux’s shot over backward point would make the boundary, but Erin Burns’ sprint and dive kept the ball in play. Sarah Aley then fired the throw in to the keeper, and Alyssa Healy found Molineux short with a direct hit.

Did your jaw drop on seeing that finish as well?

A six from captain Ellyse Perry clinched the win for Sixers, who made it to their fourth-straight final.

Usman Qadir: lost in Pakistan, found in Australia

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Son of Abdul Qadir, the 25-year old legspinner talks about carrying the burden of his surname, his role model, and his aspirations to play for Australia

Alex Malcolm20-Dec-2018It started with a phone call.Then Perth Scorchers coach Justin Langer was informed early during last year’s Big Bash League of a young Pakistani legspinner who was taking wickets for fun in Sydney Premier Cricket for Hawkesbury.Usman Qadir, 25, son of the great Abdul Qadir, had already claimed two five-wicket hauls, as well as figures of 2 for 14, 3 for 15 and 4 for 18 in three T20s to help Hawkesbury through to the T20 Cup preliminary final prior to Christmas.The Scorchers rarely look outside their Western Australian nest, but a series of events piqued their interest. They were decimated by injuries to their fast bowling brigade. Overseas signing David Willey was about to leave for international duty, and the development of Victorian legspinner James Muirhead was not working as planned.Meanwhile, Rashid Khan was wreaking havoc for the Adelaide Strikers. A mystery legspinner, the son of a gun no less, was a tantalising prospect.The impulsive move would have been to sign him sight unseen. But the Scorchers are three-time champions for a reason. They instead opted to fly Qadir to Brisbane for a training session ahead of their clash with the Brisbane Heat on January 5.”I went there and I was quite nervous,” Qadir tells ESPNcricinfo. “I just started bowling and after two or three balls I got my confidence back. I bowled pretty well over there and Justin Langer really liked me.”Langer wasn’t the only one impressed. Adam Voges, then Scorchers captain and now their new coach, faced plenty of Qadir in the nets.”He impressed everyone that day,” Voges says. “None of us could pick him. He had some energy about him. He bowled with a smile on his face. And he bowled really well. Right from that moment you sort of thought there’s something here. We certainly wanted to keep a relationship with him. We knew there was a possibility that we might be able to replace David Willey at the back end of the tournament so we just kept Usman in mind for that period.”But the Scorchers baulked at signing him. Even after losing to the Heat where their four quicks were taken for 167 from 16 overs before Yasir Shah took 1 for 27 from his four, the wheels were in motion to recruit Englishman Tim Bresnan.They asked Qadir to join training in Sydney a week later and his recruitment for the following season was cemented on the low and slow practice wickets of Spotless Stadium. He made fools of the Scorchers’ batsmen, five of whom had played international cricket.The fact that Voges took over as coach also helped. As opposed to Langer observing from the back of the nets, Voges had been bamboozled by him, and knew the value of spinners in T20 cricket.”We felt that we were a spinner short when we lost Ashton Agar to international duties last year,” Voges says. “We felt we got exposed there. So, we sort of made it a priority when I came on board to try and find another option, because should Ash be away again we felt we needed something.”He’s got a quick-arm speed. A bit like a Rashid Khan; he’s quick through the air as well. Even if you think you’ve picked it, you haven’t got much time to adjust if you’ve got it wrong.”It gives us an option of playing two spinners, which is something different to how we’ve gone in the past.”Voges got more than he bargained for. The Scorchers opted to bring Qadir to Perth to train with the Western Warriors in the lead-up to the JLT Cup in September. He played in a practice match against South Australia and took 7 for 35.He made his state debut for the Warriors against Victoria at the Junction Oval and took 3 for 50, claimed the prized wicket of Cameron White, and promptly declared he wanted to play in the 2020 T20 World Cup for Australia.

“This is my goal and I’m looking forward,” Qadir says. “If the opportunity comes I want to grab that. That’s the plan.”Why the son of a Pakistani legend wishes to play for Australia is a question that would require two or three hours to answer, according to Qadir himself.After he represented Pakistan at the 2012 Under-19s World Cup in Australia, Darren Berry, then South Australia coach, brought him to Adelaide to play club cricket. He took two seven-wicket hauls and two six-wicket hauls in seven games and played two Futures League games for South Australia.But at his father’s request, Qadir returned home to play first-class cricket for National Bank of Pakistan. Over three years, he played eight first-class matches, 14 List A games and 13 T20s. His last first-class match in Pakistan, in December 2014 against Port Qasim Authority, perhaps summed up his experience. He was picked as a bowler, but did not bowl a ball in the match.The perception of nepotism plagued his career in Pakistan. His father’s tenuous relationship with the Pakistan Cricket Board did not help. It is a burden Qadir carries with him.”Unfortunately, I have a big name with me,” Qadir says. “It’s quite difficult if I talk about my father. I don’t want to do that. In Pakistan I didn’t play lots of cricket. That’s why I did not get opportunities. So that’s why I moved to Australia.”His relationship with his father is good despite, like many fathers and sons, some rocky moments. He is still proud to be the son of Abdul Qadir but he wants to be his own man.”He carries the name and so everyone, I think, makes the assumption or makes the connection,” Voges says. “Usman is very aware of that. I think part of that is the reason he’s come out to try his luck in Australia. He speaks a lot about his dad. But he wants to forge his own path and hopefully he can out here.”He hasn’t played a lot of cricket but he’s got some really good variations and he can actually bat as well, so that’s good. I think he’ll keep learning. The more he gets exposed, the more he gets the opportunity to play out here, the more he’ll keep learning.”He is learning quickly in Australia. His splash in the JLT Cup should have been no surprise given his performances in club cricket, which he describes as some of the most competitive cricket he’s played.It led to selection in the Prime Minister’s XI game against South Africa in Canberra, where he took 3 for 28. It also gave him a chance to catch up with his hero and mentor, Imran Tahir.

“Mostly, I like to watch Imran Tahir,” Qadir says. “He’s like my brother. Whenever I get into difficulties I speak to my dad and Imran Tahir.”He said, ‘you bowled pretty well. Just go with your flow, whatever you are doing, you’re performing really well. Just keep working hard and you can achieve your goal.’ This was his advice to me.”Now Qadir gets his chance in the BBL as the league becomes a haven for overseas spinners to make their mark. Rashid has forged a path and every other club has taken the Strikers’ lead. The Brisbane Heat have added Afghanistan teenager Mujeeb Ur Rahman while the Melbourne Stars have signed Nepal youngster Sandeep Lamichhane. Mohammad Nabi returns for another overseas stint at the Melbourne Renegades and now the Scorchers, a side whose success is built on the back of a deep pace-bowling unit, have gambled on Qadir.Voges, with more recent batting experience in the league than any other coach, said it was easy to see why spinners were having such a significant impact on the tournament.”Not being able to pick guys, which way it’s spinning, and the pressures of being able to score are huge,” Voges says.”I guess it’s just their skill that has made scoring really quite difficult. I think Rashid Khan has been a breath of fresh air into the competition and certainly was a big part of Adelaide’s success last year. We’d be mad not to try and copy something like that.”All Usman Qadir ever wanted was an opportunity. Now he’s found it in the last place you would ever think to look.

Malinga's star turn to Kuldeep's slump – the IPL 2019 surprise pack

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

There were unexpected star performers, and highly rated players who just didn’t come to the party

Sreshth Shah13-May-201910. Kuldeep’s mysterious fall
Kuldeep Yadav, India’s premier left-arm wristspinner, had a season to forget, taking only four wickets in nine games before being shanked out of the Kolkata Knight Riders XI after being torn apart by Royal Challengers Bangalore. An economy of 8.66 is still acceptable for a wristspinner searching for wickets, but when those wickets don’t come, there’s not much to show. When he bowled quick, he was wayward. And when he looked to go slower through the air, the unsuitable Eden Gardens track allowed batsmen to take aim and tee off.9. Harbhajan, still relevant
He’s 38, and plays very little cricket outside the IPL. So there were concerns about whether Harbhajan Singh would be match-fit for 2019. But a snakepit of a pitch at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium meant there was room in the Chennai Super Kings side for an extra spinner, and Harbhajan became MS Dhoni’s trump card against opposition left-handers. Of the 11 games that Harbhajan played this season, eight were at home, and his ability to find the breakthrough in the Powerplay overs made him all the more potent. Nine of Harbhajan’s 16 wickets came in the first six overs, and he was a big reason for Super Kings reaching the title round.Lasith Malinga gets low to try and take a catch•BCCI8. Malinga, Mumbai’s all-season star
Lasith Malinga is a Mumbai Indians legend, so it wasn’t surprising that, when he was going through a lean patch fitness-wise last year, he became their bowling coach. This time, he wanted to play again, and when Malinga was picked up by Mumbai for his base price, it was expected that he would continue to play the bowling mentor’s role in the side while playing the occasional match. But injuries to Adam Milne and Alzarri Joseph, and the unavailability of Jason Behrendorff towards the back-end, pushed Malinga back into the spotlight. Although he was no longer the 140kph Slinga of the past, his skills with the slower ball, and the occasional yorker, continued to trouble batsmen both green and experienced. And in the final, despite being expensive early on, Malinga was up to the task of defending only eight runs in the last over to help Mumbai clinch their fourth IPL title.7. Rashid – found out?
It is not a coincidence that Rashid Khan’s lukewarm IPL coincided with an average run for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Since he started playing the IPL, this was the first season when Rashid was not Sunrisers’ leading wicket-taker. His average tally of 1.13 wickets per game and an economy rate of 6.28 were not poor by any stretch of the imagination, but they were not quite Rashid Khan. It didn’t help Rashid’s cause that Sunrisers’ pace attack was not as potent as before either, meaning (a) that there wasn’t much pressure for him to work with, and (b) his good work wasn’t always built on. Opponents managed to just see him off and work on the other bowlers.Ravindra Jadeja hugs Mitchell Santner after his last-ball six, while bowler Ben Stokes cuts a forlorn figure•BCCI6. Tye – no more purple patch
Andrew Tye, last year’s Purple Cap winner with 24 wickets, played just the six games in IPL 2019, taking only three wickets at an economy of nearly 11. Known for his death-bowling skills, Tye was unimpressive this IPL. He conceded at least 37 runs in each of his games, with batsmen preferring not to commit to a shot when Tye was bowling. Instead, they chose to wait, hold back, and watch Tye’s knuckleballs and slower-ball variations off his hand. It worked.5. Still no Stokes impact
The MVP from 2017 had a second season with minimal impact. Ben Stokes is not a regular bloke; he’s a special allrounder who can stake claim to a spot in the XI as much for his batting as he can for his bowling. But in 2019, Stokes barely held on to his place in either department, hitting only 12 boundaries, scoring an average of 20.50 per game, and conceding 11.22 runs an over. He was benched for three of Rajasthan Royals’ first 12 games, and against Super Kings, he failed to defend 18 off the final over against two bowling allrounders in Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner.Sam Curran roars after picking up a wicket•BCCI4. Curran, the big-match player
Sam Curran shaking a leg with team owner Preity Zinta immediately after his match-winning hat-trick (4 for 11) against Delhi Capitals was one of the lasting images of the tournament. The 20-year-old allrounder has not yet played white-ball cricket for England, so it was surprising when Kings XI Punjab invested INR 7.2 crore in him. He opened the batting in one game, and eventually finished the season with a batting strike rate of 172.72 and a bowling strike rate of 19.80.3. Ishant’s resurgence
Over the years, Ishant Sharma was often ignored at the IPL auction table, but in Delhi Capitals he found a place that made him feel at home. Tasked to be the frontline Powerplay bowler – especially after Kagiso Rabada’s exit from the tournament with a shoulder niggle – Ishant bowled hard Test-match lengths when the fielding restrictions were on. He mixed his spells with his newfound skill with the knuckleball, and his 13 wickets at an economy rate of 7.58 was a fair reflection of what he achieved.Quinton de Kock flicks the ball on to the stumps to find Shane Watson short•Getty Images2. De Kock comes of age
Last year, Quinton de Kock got only 208 runs despite calling Bengaluru home. So it was a gutsy call for Mumbai to trade him from Royal Challengers in a trade worth his auction price of INR 2.8 crore. Could de Kock deliver, given Mumbai had to offload two foreigners to accommodate him? He could, by getting 529 runs – the third-most this season. And barring the 19th-over wobble in the IPL final, he was rock solid behind the stumps too. De Kock’s addition forced Suryakumar Yadav to drop to No. 3, but the team’s balance was not affected. His average of 37.78 was a stark improvement from his IPL average of 29.90 from 2013 to 2018.1. The other Chahar, a future superstar?
With Mayank Markande returning to build on a successful IPL 2018, very few would have given Rahul Chahar a chance to become a first XI regular. But the legspinner filled the void that cropped up due to Markande’s inefficiency. His 13 wickets at an economy of 6.55 allowed Mumbai to control the middle overs, and his big heart – to give the ball that extra air – against top batsmen impressed many. His ability to strangle batsmen with accuracy and guile helped him turn many games – including the final – towards Mumbai. It was no surprise then that the IPL award for the also went to him.

How Mohammad Nabi almost hustled a big upset for Afghanistan over India

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“At times, we felt the way Nabi was playing was irritating” – Mohammed Shami

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Southampton22-Jun-2019KL Rahul is on one knee. The bat is turned in his gloves. His reverse sweep is in motion. But the ball he is awaiting is hanging in mid-air. Like a painting in a gallery. When eventually it arrives, Rahul is so off balance, he can only send it floating to short third man, those extra split seconds of flight having drawn the power from his shot. It is not a remarkable ball. There are no eye-catching revs. No drift. Barely an iota of turn.But the bowler, Mohammad Nabi, is not trying to be remarkable. He is not trying to dazzle you. Man is here to hustle.Sixteen overs later, another less-than-special delivery, another swindle. On a sticky pitch on which other batsmen are dragging the weight of their own labours around, Kohli is gliding, transcendental. Nabi has bowled 18 deliveries at Kohli, and never appeared threatening. But looking like getting him out is not the thing; the thing is to get. With his 19th ball, this humdrum bowler floats a slightly wide ball at perhaps the most extraordinary batting being on the planet right now. He invites the cut. A little overspin. A half-bat width of extra bounce. Another catch at third man. A hustle.Watch on Hotstar (India only): Highlights of Nabi’s performanceAlmost no bowler in the world appears to be doing so little, and yet leaves an imprint so indelible. Without Nabi’s outstanding returns through the middle overs – nine overs in which he did not conced a single boundary, and only one two – India’s innings might have entered those higher gears – the kind which, so often, there is no shifting them down from. Beyond the two vital wickets, his economy rate of 3.66 was the best for Afghanistan.Bat in hand, Nabi is almost more nondescript. His cut shot looks like it was mass produced in Japan – a sturdy, working, repeatable thing. His drives are prefabricated, cement and stone. There is a little grace to his pull, but he never admires the shot. His weight has moved forward the moment the ball has left bat, pressing forward in search of another run. When Afghanistan were hounding India down though those tense, late stages, it was always Nabi calling his partner through, turning those ones into twos. It was always Nabi who was hustling hardest. Nabi, who kept coming at India, refusing to go away.”At times, we felt the way Nabi was playing was irritating,” Mohammed Shami, who ended the match with a hat-trick, said. “But we were also conscious of the fact that we did not want to show the opposition that we were irritated. We were very clear that if we get his wicket, then the match is ours. He alone was a batsman who could build his innings and score. You have to remain aggressive in those situations.”Mohammad Nabi goes after Mohammed Shami•Getty ImagesNabi’s four off Shami at the start of the 45th over re-energised a chase that seemed to have acquired a limp. His six over midwicket in the 47th over made death-overs master Jasprit Bumrah seem human, if only briefly, before the bowler started nailing his yorkers again.With 16 needed off the last over, and a specialist wicketkeeper for company, the match seemed beyond Afghanistan, but a mighty four down the ground off Shami raised the final hackles of hope, before they were lowered again, with Nabi’s holing out to long on – the wicket that precipitated the hat-trick.It was no surprise, though, that it was Nabi that very nearly delivered a famous victory, and turned Afghanistan’s campaign around. Rashid Khan is an otherworldly talent. Mujeeb Ur Rahman has his sleight of hand. But when the team is in a destructive spiral, going from loss to embarrassing loss, it took Nabi and his hustle to bring Afghanistan roaring back.

How G Periyaswamy beat the odds to become a TNPL star

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

If not for two persistent mentors, this season’s leading wicket-taker of the T20 tournament would have been lost to cricket

Deivarayan Muthu08-Sep-2019On the night of August 15, G Periyaswamy found himself hoisted on the shoulders of his team-mates, with fireworks going off around them, to celebrate their second Tamil Nadu Premier League title. He had just taken five wickets to defend a total of 126 in the 20-over final, which took his tournament tally to 21 wickets – the most by a bowler in one TNPL season. So it wasn’t surprising that he was named player of the final and the tournament.The surprise was in how he overcame disability and difficult circumstances to get to a place where IPL scouts and Tamil Nadu selectors are now paying attention.Periyaswamy fell in love with cricket around the age of seven, but a bout of smallpox had blinded him in his right eye, which made him a target of jibes and insults at school. That made him drop out after seventh grade. He then suffered a bout of severe typhoid, followed by a knee injury. All of that, and his family’s stressful financial circumstances, threatened to end his career before it even took off, but his friend and mentor, medium-pacer T Natarajan, who plays for Tamil Nadu, and Kovai Kings in the TNPL, refused to let him give up.Periyaswamy had not played under lights with the white ball before, but he shone the brightest in this season’s TNPL with his slingy, Lasith Malinga-like action. Even some of the higher-profile Tamil Nadu players struggled to gauge his point of release. His yorkers, in the 135kph range, thudded into the base of the stumps and his cutters tricked batsmen into miscuing shots.His Chepauk Super Gillies team-mate and India allrounder Vijay Shankar said Periyaswamy was the side’s “X factor”, and was particularly impressed with how he had made the step up to a higher level of cricket.A couple of years ago, Periyaswamy attended trials for Dindigul Dragons, but they didn’t pick him. Chepauk, though, picked him as their first player in the draft this season and he helped them get to the title, brushing Dindigul aside twice in the knockouts: he followed his 3 for 27, which included the wicket of Dindigul captain R Ashwin, in the first qualifier with 5 for 15 in the final against them.”” [It feels like a dream], Periyaswamy says. “I never expected to first play the TNPL and then win it. I had to work, and I had to ask permission from my family to come and play in this tournament.”Coming from tennis-ball cricket, I initially struggled to grip the white ball, but then got used to it. This slingy action and the yorker come naturally to me. I didn’t feel much pressure playing under lights, even with the matches being shown on TV. We face pressure in tennis-ball T20s too.”

On the night of the final, Periyaswamy’s family back home in Chinnappampatti, a hamlet about 30 kilometres west of Salem, also celebrated his success with fireworks. It had not been easy for them to let him go to pursue his dream. They needed his wages to make ends meet. At one point, Periyaswamy himself thought cricket ” [I can’t continue playing cricket], but two locals convinced his family that he had the talent to do it professionally – his mentor Natarajan and Jayaprakash, who runs the Chinnappampatti cricket club.”I am here because of Natarajan [older brother] and Jayaprakash ,” Periyaswamy says. “They came and spoke to my parents, asking them to let me play this tournament.”Periyaswamy’s father, Ganesan, runs a small tea stall and his mother, Gandhamani, rears cattle. After losing vision in his right eye, Periyaswamy found solace in playing tennis-ball street cricket in his village, but he juggled it with cattle-rearing and working as a weaver.Jayaprakash first came across Periyaswamy in 2011 and was impressed by his very round-arm action. Natarajan and Periyaswamy would combine to win several trophies for their club in tennis-ball cricket with their yorkers and slower variations.Periyaswamy went on to break into the Under-19 district side and became a yorker specialist, but then came the typhoid and the knee injury, which threatened to crush his dreams again.By then Natarajan had graduated to league cricket in Chennai – and later made it to the IPL and the state team. He and Jayaprakash always had Periyaswamy’s back.G Periyaswamy was the Player of the Tournament in this season’s TNPL for his 21 wickets•TNPL/TNCA”After Periyaswamy was down with typhoid, he became very weak and had body aches,” Jayaprakash recalls. “We consulted a doctor in Salem and after one month he recovered from fever. Then he had problems in his leg. We used to pick him up from his home at 4am, consult doctors in Coimbatore, and even Bangalore, and then drop him back after treatment. Natarajan and I always knew he had the talent to succeed. Natarajan moved to Chennai to play cricket, but he always looked after Periyaswamy.”Periyaswamy took a break from cricket at one point to work as a welder, to help his family. However, having seen a spark in his bowling, Natarajan, with assistance from a couple of club managers in Chennai, brought him to the city, to play lower-division cricket.After playing the 2017 IPL, where he was bought for Rs 3 crore by Kings XI Punjab, Natarajan set up his own cricket academy in Chinnappampatti to coach players for free. Periyaswamy was one of those players, but Natarajan soon realised he might need more help than his academy could give. In January this year, he put the bowler in touch with Tamil Nadu physio Thulasi Ram, who worked on his fitness and tuned him up for a stint with a second-division club in Chennai.Periyaswamy was intimidated by the big-city life – he still is, according to Natarajan – but his accurate yorkers made Chepauk coach Hemang Badani and performance analyst Lakshmi Narayanan (who also works with Chennai Super Kings) sit up and take notice. And despite his blindness, Periyaswamy is a good outfielder.Players who can bowl yorkers and mystery balls usually pique the interest of franchises at IPL auctions. Cases in point: Natarajan himself, Shivil Kaushik, KC Cariappa, and more recently, Varun Chakaravarthy.When Periyaswamy bowled to Natarajan in the TNPL in Tirunelveli, he did so wearing shoes that used to belong to Natarajan. After that match, Periyaswamy joked to the host broadcaster that he will never dismiss Natarajan and will instead look to beat his edges.Off the field, Periyaswamy is quiet, even in the dressing room. In contrast, in Chinnappampatti he is known as an entertainer who can mimic voices of famous Tamil cinema actors like Rajinikanth and Vijayakanth and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi.Natarajan hopes the TNPL will finally launch the 25-year old’s stop-start career.”A lot of people have discouraged him throughout his life and that has broken him,” Natarajan says. “But I always knew he had something in him. His slower-ball variation is not easy to pick.”He can swing the ball in, attack the stumps, and gets a lot of wickets lbw or bowled. The next step for him is to do more strengthening and improve his fitness. Let’s wait and see if he gets into the IPL, but for now I’m eagerly hoping to open the bowling with Periyaswamy for Tamil Nadu this domestic season.”Periyaswamy is now back in his village, juggling cricket and work once again to help repay his family’s debts. It remains to be seen if a call-up for Tamil Nadu or the IPL arrives, but his story is already one of triumph in the face of adversity.

What sets New Zealand apart? Their ability to understand conditions

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

And their captain is a man who specialises in adapting to situations as they arise

Daniel Vettori13-Jul-20192:36

Vettori: Williamson, Taylor can assess conditions better than anyone

There’s real excitement back in New Zealand about the final. Winning the semi-final last time at home meant a lot to everyone and it swept up everyone at the time. But a win away from home to make the final is particularly impressive.In most recent World Cups, Australia have been dominant and gone in as favourites. I think this tournament at the top end has been a lot more even, with England and India being favourites to start. Then Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan – West Indies to some extent. Upsets were expected from Afghanistan and Bangladesh. So I think it feels like a tougher road to have travelled this time, because of the quality of all the teams on show.ALSO READ: The serenity and resilience of being New ZealandI think New Zealand will be feeling pretty good on the eve of the game. You hear the stuff Gary Stead said about trying to treat it as another game, and I think because of the experience of 2015, they possibly can.They will be led by Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Martin Guptill, who are all pretty experienced, and the fact that they have played in a final before will help. They’ve been there, with all the trappings, the build-up, the emotion. Walking into Lord’s and seeing everything that’s going on may change that a little bit, but I think that they will be able to stay relatively calm also because they have come in on the back of some good performances.Back in 2015, no one in the group had that experience, but now the majority of the group have, and those players are the most experienced members of the side. I think they will provide leadership and guidance in how to understand and deal with it. So will some of the coaching staff – Craig McMillan was there and he will play a critical role in the lead-up as well.Five years ago it was a pretty relaxed build-up. We tried to keep it as low-key as possible, as similar to everything that had gone on previously. Brendon [McCullum] and Hess [Mike Hesson] were big proponents of that – looking at it as just another game. We had been in New Zealand through the tournament, so to get on a plane and go to Melbourne was pretty exciting. I remember Derek Jeter was at the ground, and I got a photo with him. That’s what I was most excited about!I can’t remember any nerves. And there was no change of tactics. It was: “We’ve played some good cricket, let’s keep going.”I truly believe that the players are ready to go, and they’re pretty comfortable with the situation, though looking on from the outside, there seems to be so much pressure. I don’t think they think about the semi-finals record. They’ll look at the game in front of them and say, “This is an incredible achievement to get here, but we still have to win it.” I think there will be some conversations around mindset, but I don’t think they’ll get specific about “We have to do this, this, this and this.”In the current team, Taylor, Southee and Guptill are the only ones who have ever lost a semi-final, I think. They’ve won two and lost one – that’s how they’ll see it. New Zealand are a very confident semi-final team. The next step is to take it into that final. If this team can go one step further, it will be amazing.In the semi-final in 2015, Brendon stepped out and smashed Dale Steyn, and that was one of the main reasons we made the final. We all wanted him to do against Mitchell Starc what he did against Steyn, but that didn’t happen, of course. And in any case, there are ten other players who’re all supposed to stand up and get the job done…ALSO READ: Grant Elliott: The 2015 semi-final made me realise that sport can change a nationAfter the game, it was business as usual. I took my son to school the next morning. I think my wife made me! She said, “You’re going away for a few days, make yourself useful before you go.” There were some excited parents at the school.New Zealand is such a small country, so I suppose you’re accessible in a lot of ways. You’re not secluded from everything that happens in daily life. I think the guys really love that as well. You can be – “anonymous” is not the right word, but you can be left to your own devices. I think that’s a New Zealand thing. The rugby players will probably be the only ones who get adulation, but even that is low-key. People are left alone to work and do their own thing, and people’s privacy is respected.When you look at Kane’s captaincy, I think the team has been shaped in his image – pretty low-key and humble. When you’re in a tough situation, he is about understanding and figuring out how they can work through it. I think that’s the main thing that he has brought to this team: having a game plan to get them out of trouble. When they lost three games in a row, they had a game plan to get a victory against India, and that’s testament to Kane. He will remain calm, he will see the big picture rather than panicking in the moment.He has stayed pretty consistent over the years, and I think he has learned to deal with everything that comes with being a top batsman and leading the team. There will have been some new experiences for him; he was just about being a batsman, but now he is a leader, dealing with everything that comes with that.ALSO READ: Boult, Henry, Ferguson: Brutal, hellish, fastThe way Kane goes about things, it’s not about “I’m aggressive today” or “I’m defensive today.” He just sums up the situation: “This is what we’ve got to do to win the game.” And that permeates through the team.The ability to understand conditions is, more than anything else, what sets this New Zealand team apart. They just read situations well. They’re not confined to one style of play. They adapt, and figure things out on the fly. That’s a sign of a good team. I think England are the same: they’ve done similar things in terms of understanding what is going to work in certain situations and working to that.Looking at the players, Guptill hasn’t had a great World Cup, but I think they will be looking to the Guptill who has played 170 games, who is one of New Zealand’s greatest players, been one of the world’s best batsmen over the last four or five years. That’s the confidence they’ll want to build.Not only Guppy but everyone in the group. When you look at Boult and his improvement – it seems funny to talk about one of the best bowlers in the world as having improved, but I think the way he bowls in the middle now, the way he bowls at the death, those things suggest that there’s a general trend of players in the side getting better.”Earlier Kane was just about being a batsman. Now he’s about being a leader and dealing with everything that comes from that”•Getty ImagesIn World Cups, Taylor will perhaps be New Zealand’s most successful player: 2007, semi-final; 2011, semi-final; 2015, final; 2019 final. There’s no other New Zealand cricketer who has that kind of achievement in World Cups. And I have heard him talk about going to another one, so let’s not write him off yet! If this is his last one, hopefully he’ll come out a winner.Tim got injured at a really inopportune time and he missed games, and Matt Henry took his chance, bowled exceptionally well, and has come back even stronger at the back end of the tournament.Mitchell Santner – he’ll far exceed me. I’ve known Mitch since he was about 12 or 13. He used to come to the nets and bowl to us, and he was impressive from day one. He is just a really talented bowler, and over the years he has learned conditions, learned how to deal with coming up against some of the greatest batsmen, and also dealing with how aggressive everyone is now. I think he has managed his game as well as anyone to be successful in this era.He has also always been a good batsman. He was a genuine allrounder who opened the batting for Northern Districts back home, and I think his development over the last few years in the spotlight with New Zealand has been incredible.ALSO READ: Bring on the pressure: dot-ball devil Santner is up for itOccasionally when spinners are given conditions that favour them, they might look to do something different, and not bowl as consistently well as they have in the past, but I can’t remember Mitch bowling a bad ball in that semi-final. It was a wicket that assisted him slightly but he stuck to the plan of trying to take the stumps, mixing his pace up and not giving anything away.I think he, like any good spinner, trusts the bowling partnerships, so if someone is attacking at the other end, he can be defensive and vice versa, and I think he read that really well and just built and built and built. His six overs for five runs, or whatever it was, was almost the winning of the game in a lot of ways, because it just continued on the work from Boult and Henry.In the semi-final, New Zealand were all about understanding the conditions – what was going to work and what wasn’t. If you take any other attitude, it can catch you out. And I think that’s how they’ll go in the final. They’ll look at the Lord’s wicket, they’ll look at the overhead conditions, they’ll see how Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer are bowling first up, if they are; or see how Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy are batting.It will be about gaining information. Once again it comes down to the pragmatic question: How are we going to win the game? It will be about reading conditions. It seems almost boring, but I think that’s the right way to go about it, and probably the way they will go about it.

Glenn Maxwell the MVP, Jhye Richardson and Daniel Sams top bowling chart

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Rashid Khan the only overseas cricketer to feature in the top five

ESPNcricinfo stats team28-Jan-2020The Melbourne Stars finished top of the league in BBL 2019-20, after dominating all the way thanks to the able leadership and performance of Glenn Maxwell along with some strong support from Marcus Stoinis.Glenn Maxwell has been by far the most valuable player in the competition till now.ESPNcricinfo LtdAccording to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, which takes into account not just the runs scored and wickets taken but also the match context and quality of those runs and wickets, Maxwell had a total impact score of 859, some distance in front of second-placed Rashid Khan, who had a score of 784.Although the Perth Scorchers did not make the finals, their fast bowler Jhye Richardson and captain Mitchell Marsh were good enough to find room among the five most valuable players. The leading run-getter of the competition at this stage, Stoinis, also made the top five with an impact score of 715.Maxwell’s impact was evident with both bat and ball. Although he has lost a bit of sting with the bat as the tournament has gone on, he had enough impact in the early stages to remain at pole position. His unbeaten 83 from 45 deliveries against the Melbourne Renegades after walking out at 54 for 3 chasing 169, was one of the best knocks of the competition. Maxwell the bowler has also made a significant impact. Although he has taken only seven wickets from 31 overs, his economy rate of 6.8 was the second best for anyone who bowled at least 150 deliveries.Khan was the lone overseas player in the top five, with 18 wickets at an economy rate of 7.24. Khan’s impact has been high mainly due to the situations he has bowled on, usually looking to break strong partnerships or control the run rate.Batting impact score is derived taking into account Smart Runs (Factors taken are the innings run rate, required run rate at every ball when he scored his runs, the quality of opposition bowlers, wickets in hand, quality of batsmen to follow, and match situation) and the replacement benefit or cost to the team, as the case may be, if the batsman’s performance is replaced with the match average.Bowling impact score is derived taking into account Smart Economy and Smart Wickets (Factors taken are the phase in which he bowled, the current/required rate, the quality of batsmen dismissed, and the match context when he took his wickets) and the replacement benefit or cost to the team, as the case may be, if the bowler’s performance is replaced with the match average. Impact Score is a sum of the batting and bowling impact scores in each match.ESPNcricinfo Ltd Smart WicketsWhile batsmen have been impactful at various times, some bowlers have stood out with match-winning performances, key wickets at crucial stages of the game. Daniel Sams from the Sydney Thunder has been the best bowler in the BBL taking 25 wickets at 7.81 runs per over; 22 of them were that of top-six batsmen and at crucial stages of the game. Although Tom Curran was the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, Smart Stats found that Curran’s 22 wickets were valued slightly less at 19 wickets – 36% of his wickets were of lower-order batsmen (positions 7 to 11) and were sometimes taken with no impact on the result.In terms of Smart Wickets, Khan, Richardson and Wes Agar completed the top five. Richardson had a telling impact for the Scorchers, 13 of his 15 wickets were of top-seven batsmen and ten from the top five. Bowling the tougher overs in the Powerplay and the death, the impact Richardson had on the game was much higher than that of many others. Richardson’s 15 wickets are therefore worth 17 because Smart Wickets takes into account the following:

  • The quality of batsman dismissed, so dismissing a top-order batsman fetches more points than dismissing a tail-ender
  • The score at which a batsman was dismissed, so dismissing a batsman for a single-digit score is more rewarding than getting him out for 60
  • The match situation at the time of the dismissal, so dismissing a batsman when the match is in the balance is worth more than getting him out when the result of the game is all but decided

Richardson has removed the best batsmen of the opposition more often than not and has been instrumental when the Scorchers have won. Agar has also played a key role for the Adelaide Strikers. He has bowled the harder overs and taken crucial wickets, like against the Hobart Hurricanes and the StarsGetty ImagesSmart Economy RateAt the end of the league stage, some bowlers not only took wickets but also controlled the run flow. Smart Economy Rate evaluates this aspect of the game. In terms of Smart Economy Rate, which is calculated by dividing Smart Runs Conceded by overs bowled, Richardson was the best with an economy of 5.84. Coming in a close second is team-mate Fawad Ahmed, whose Smart Economy Rate was 5.88. Peter Siddle, Adam Zampa and Khan completed the top five. Interestingly, three of the top five bowlers are wristspinners.Smart Stats is a part of Superstats, a new set of metrics by ESPNcricinfo to tell more enriching and insightful numbers-based stories. To know more about Superstats, click here

What players want: sporting tracks, better cameras

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Should the toss be scrapped? What about the tournament’s format itself? We spoke to a few players

Nagraj Gollapudi08-Dec-2019India’s domestic season will enter its second phase, comprising the Ranji Trophy followed by the Irani Cup. The BCCI and its state associations will need to grapple with the massive volume of cricket given 38 teams. There’s still lots of room for change though, and ESPNcricinfo spoke with four established players asking them to recommend one change they would want in domestic cricket going forward.Wasim Jaffer (Vidarbha batsman) – Sporting pitches a must
I want first-class matches to be played on sporting pitches. A sporting pitch for me is where the team batting first scores 300-350. Not 500 or 600. If the game is too dependent on the toss, we have lost the battle straightaway.Currently, I feel both the curator’s and the match referee’s hands are tied because of the pressure from the host association. The BCCI needs to give more powers to the match referee. I have seen the odd match played in conditions that are very favourable to the host association. Ideally, the match referees have all the rights to reprimand them, but they don’t.As an example take this match in Rajkot between Saurashtra and Karanataka, where the spinners had a big say. Karnataka lost the toss and Saurashtra easily won in the end. That match was shown live on TV. How could you play on such a pitch?Even though the BCCI is doing far more than many other countries to make good pitches by sending a neutral curator a week or so before the game, if the pitches are sporting and the conditions are even for both teams, where everyone – batsman, fast bowler, spinner – is involved, then Indian cricket will improve.The other advantage of having a sporting pitch is that if a player excels in a demanding situation the selectors can gauge the value of such a performance and that can help in the longer run.Abhinav Mukund (Tamil Nadu batsman) – Upgrade television cameras
Every single domestic match in India is covered by cameras with the match officials having access to the feed to assess line calls. But the quality of these cameras has not changed for more than a decade. That is the change I would want. The feed that we as players get from the most of the existing cameras is very, very bad. I feel the cameras have not changed since I made my first-class debut. Technology has advanced far ahead so better cameras ought to be there in domestic cricket.How can better cameras help? Take the example of a no-ball call, it is something that is referred constantly, so with better cameras the decisions could become more accurate than what exists now. Also, currently the team analyst does not get the feed to the side-angle camera. It is unfair only because if the match is being broadcast on TV, everyone has access to the side camera angle. With better cameras, decision making will become smoother and teams can also avail of the benefits, especially in marginal decisions.Ekana Cricket Media/ Randhir DevJaydev Unadkat (Saurashtra fast bowler) – Do away with the toss
Perhaps the BCCI can think of doing away the toss. Give the visiting the team the choice to bat or bowl. That probably could make the matches more challenging. That way the wickets will be more sporting as well.The home team naturally has a better idea of the pitch and how it will behave. For example, if I am playing at home and Saurashtra have prepared a turner, a wicket I know will turn in the fourth innings, so if I get to bat first I am 90% certain I can beat any team.In the same scenario, if the visiting team gets to decide to bat first, based on past results and behaviour of the pitch and our performance in the first innings, it would be more challenging even for the home team. We will have to figure out what kind of wicket to give and what kind of cricket to play. We will then have to fight it out even in home conditions. Essentially what I am saying neutralises home advantage and makes the contest even.Unmukt Chand (Uttarakhand batsman) – Make Deodhar Trophy more relevant
The Deodhar Trophy needs to be made more competitive. I know the schedule is too tight for the BCCI administration to fit in everything, but this time the Deodhar Trophy followed the Vijay Hazare Trophy and was a rushed affair. The Deodhar Trophy, played between three teams – India A, B and C – lasted five days including a a rest day before the final.Somehow, in a way, such a schedule affects the relevance of such a big tournament. So I would want the Deodhar Trophy become more competitive and played over a larger time span. Also in the current format, players have no attachments to their teams. If you are playing for your state you have that attachment and there is a pride involved. Right now it is more like you are looking at your own performance and not care about anything else. It is not an individual game. There has to be something you are fighting (together) for.How can it be more competitive? In the past the Deodhar was contested between zones. You had this pride of playing for North Zone etc. Also the tournament then did not end in four days, there was a proper time given, proper relevance.

Bangladesh trapped in vicious cycle of failure and forgetting

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

With five WTC series scheduled over the next 18 months, the team will have to start showing more attention to detail

Mohammad Isam in Kolkata24-Nov-2019Bangladesh’s Test cricket has been stuck in a vicious cycle for years.After every overseas series loss, fingers are pointed at the same issues: the pitches back home, the standard of domestic first-class cricket, technical frailties of the batsmen, and everything in between. Then the attention shifts to the limited-overs formats, which Bangladesh play more of anyway. They are a pretty good ODI team, and they are looking to catch up with the rest of the world in T20Is.The cycle has repeated itself with no actual change on the ground over the course of Bangladesh’s last four overseas series: 2-0 losses in South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and India. The inability to compete in Test cricket, especially away from home, is a long-standing issue, but there’s always a limited-overs series around the corner for a change of taste. Then, before the next overseas tour, there will be talk about conditions being a challenge for a set of batsmen bred on slow and low pitches, primarily against left-arm spinners, and a set of fast bowlers who have been bit-part players on those unhelpful tracks.The cycle can seem an endless one.But it will have to break, out of necessity, over the next 18 months, when Bangladesh are set to play at home against Australia, New Zealand and West Indies, and away against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in the World Test Championship. In this period, they will also play a Test match each against Zimbabwe and Ireland. This sets a new and unprecedented agenda since, because of all these contests, Bangladesh will have to take Test cricket more seriously than they have done before.Mominul Haque, who was named Test captain after Shakib Al Hasan was banned by the ICC last month, wants his players to work harder and improve their Test game, and wants this work to reflect in Bangladesh’s next WTC assignment.”We took a lot of lessons from this Test series,” Mominul Haque, who led the Test side in India, said. “How to play this challenging pace attack, how to bat session by session, how to bat against the new pink ball, these are the small things we learned from this series. Everyone knows that we don’t play a lot of Tests.”We have around ten Tests coming next year, so I think we can overcome these issues. If [the players] have taken the lesson from this series, you will be able to see it in the next series. You will see it otherwise too. We have to be mentally stronger, I feel.”For this improvement to take place, the Test team – and the coaching staff – will have to pay more attention to detail. Bangladesh can learn from how well they have managed the ODI team since 2007, with proper plans in place. They have found at least two batsmen to compete for specific batting positions. The established batsmen have grown more consistent, and the line-up as a whole has looked more settled. Bangladesh have also found new talents among bowlers and allrounders, with Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin standing out as examples.Virat Kohli and Mominul Haque at the toss in India’s first-ever day-night Test•BCCIBangladesh haven’t tasted as much success in T20Is, with big-hitting talent in particular proving elusive, but their players have been highly motivated to improve themselves in the format. A similar sense of desperation and hunger for technical knowledge would serve Bangladesh well if applied to Test cricket as well.Making Mominul the captain is a positive move, and so far he has shown a glimpse of his aggressive side, choosing to bat first in both Indore and Kolkata, against arguably the best pace attack in the world. Bangladesh failed on both occasions but, as their coach Russell Domingo said, they don’t want to be sitting ducks. That may be ridiculed in many quarters, but he makes a fair point.It would be a sensible move for the BCB to retain Mominul at the helm for at least a year, to give him the time, and a bit of security, to prove his captaincy mettle. His partnership with Domingo may well have some potential, given their pragmatic personalities.Mominul also represents a niche in Bangladesh cricket by being a Test specialist. The term was almost a slur in the past, while used to describe players like Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh and Enamul Haque Jr, but the establishment is finally seeing some value in players with Test-match virtues like Mominul, Taijul Islam and Shadman Islam. Taijul is a fighting cricketer who brings value to the team as a left-arm spinner who is prepared to bowl long spells. Shadman, as opener, has shown he can bat with patience and leave well outside off stump, even though he didn’t make a fifty in either New Zealand or India.Eventually, Bangladesh may have to bring more Test specialists into their side, with some of the senior players possibly needing to give up one or two formats to lengthen their international careers. It could have happened earlier, for instance, in the case of Mahmudullah, and now might be a good time for that decision.The two Tests in India were, in the end, missed opportunities for Bangladesh. Had they prepared a little better, they could have shown more than just glimpses of their ability, and a fighting performance against a top side in their own conditions could have raised Bangladesh’s profile considerably. It would have shown that their cricket is improving overall, even in the longest format.Instead, their performance in India could prove damaging in the longer term, putting forward another reason for the bigger cricket nations to not show any interest in hosting Bangladesh in bilateral Test series. The only way for Bangladesh to change this perception would be to ensure that they pay enough attention to detail in Test cricket. The pieces of the puzzle are lying there, scattered on the floor. All they have to do is pick them up and put them together.

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