All posts by n8rngtd.top

Players who discovered that home isn’t where the art is

Mohammad Isam27-May-2020Gehan Mendis
Born in Colombo, Gehan Mendis moved to the UK when he was 12. His prime as a cricketer coincided with Sri Lanka’s ascent as a Test team, but despite his vast first-class experience and his widely regarded skill against fast bowling, Mendis never represented his country of birth. Part of that was because he held out hope of playing for England, but also, he did not want to lose his status as a local player in county cricket. Between 1974 and 1993, he played 366 first-class games and 313 List A games in England, for Sussex and Lancashire, scoring more than 20,000 first-class runs, with 41 centuries.Cardigan Connor
Professional cricket did not pick up in the Caribbean island of Anguilla until late 2007. The first competitive cricket recorded in the island was in 1977, so when an 18-year old Cardigan Connor decided to take his fast-bowling skills to England in 1979, the move made sense. Since Anguilla is a British overseas territory, he was eligible to play county cricket as a local, and he became one of the lesser-known feel-good stories from the 1980s. After making his first-class debut in 1984, Connor took more than 1000 wickets for Hampshire in all competitions, was briefly considered for an England one-day spot and walked away with £147,000 ($180,250) from his benefit year. Connor was much loved in Hove. Later in life, he coached Anguilla before becoming an administrator and politician there.Basil D’Oliveira, seen here batting in a Test against Pakistan in 1967, played 44 Tests for England after moving there from South Africa at the age of 29•Getty ImagesKevin Pietersen
The poster child of modern-day migrant cricketers, Pietersen moved from South Africa to England in 2000, aged 20. When, in December 1999, he bowled 55.5 overs for KwaZulu-Natal against a touring England side, dismissing Michael Vaughan among four wickets, he would not have known what an important figure he would end up becoming for the opposition. Less than a year later, he signed for Nottinghamshire as a Kolpak player, and made his county debut in 2001.Pietersen’s decision was fuelled by worries that he may not get to represent South Africa due to their diversity targets. He found support in mentor Clive Rice, then director of cricket at Notts. His success in England paved the way for many other South Africans – Kyle Abbott, Simon Harmer, Rilee Rossouw and Duanne Olivier among them – to make the move to England in later years.Basil D’Oliveira
Before Kevin Pietersen, there was Basil D’Oliveira, whose journey from Cape Town to England’s West Midlands made him one of the most important figures in cricket history. Being a Cape Coloured, D’Oliveira was not permitted to play for South Africa during apartheid, but on broadcast-writer John Arlott’s insistence, Middleton, a Central Lancashire League club, signed him as a professional in 1960, when he was 29, rescuing his career. Worcestershire contracted him four years later, and in 1966 he made his Test debut for England.The most significant moment in D’Oliveira’s career came when, after scoring a match-saving 158 at the Oval in the 1968 Ashes series, he was expected to be a part of the MCC squad to tour South Africa in 1968-69. His initial omission sparked an outcry in the England, and when he was later picked as a replacement, the South African regime declared it a political move and said they would not admit the team’s entry into their country. The MCC ended up cancelling the tour, and the cricket world boycotted South Africa until the end of apartheid.D’Oliveira, who passed away in 2011, said he never intended to set so many wheels in motion. His on-field performances ensured he would be remembered for more than just the controversy that surrounded him. With nearly 2500 Test runs and 47 Test wickets to go with his 19,490 first-class runs and 551 first-class wickets, he is considered one of cricket’s great allrounders.Billy Ibadulla (left) opened the batting for Warwickshire alongside Bob Barber for long stretches in the 1960s•Getty ImagesKhalid Ibadulla
An opening batsman and offspinner, Khalid “Billy” Ibadulla was born in Lahore but ended up playing more matches against Pakistan than for them. At just 17, he was picked in a Pakistan touring squad, but missed out on the 1954 Pakistan tour of India, which, according to Peter Oborne’s , left him “bitterly disappointed”. He sought a career in England and became Pakistan’s first professional cricketer in the county circuit, debuting for Warwickshire in 1954. After success in England, Ibadulla did make his Test debut for Pakistan, in 1964, and scored 166 against Australia in Karachi. But he played just three more Tests for his home country, owing to first-class commitments in England and New Zealand, where he played for Otago.He played many matches against Pakistan, as part of a Commonwealth XI tour in 1963, and one for Otago in January 1965 in the Plunket Shield. Just a month later, he switched sides and played for Pakistan in a Test against New Zealand. He repeated the feat during Pakistan’s England tour in 1967, when he played for Warwickshire in a tour game and then for Pakistan during the Test series. He ended his career with more than 17,000 first-class runs and 462 wickets.Jofra Archer
One of the hottest young talents in world cricket might have played for West Indies if Barbados-born England seamer Chris Jordan hadn’t alerted Sussex to his abilities in 2013. By then, Archer had played three matches for West Indies Under-19 and seemed on track to play in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup. Instead, he moved to England in the spring of 2014 and declared his intention to play for his new country. Within five years, he would become one of the stars of the 2019 World Cup and make his Test debut for England too.

Didn’t open, didn’t bowl in the first six, but still made quite an impact

Saurabh Somani08-Oct-20201:20

Stephen Fleming: ‘Narine holding overs back made it difficult in the back end’

The question was asked in both innings when the Kolkata Knight Riders took on the Chennai Super Kings. While batting, Narine didn’t walk out to open. When bowling, the Super Kings had gone to 94 for 1 in 11 overs before Narine was handed the ball.He hadn’t had a great time at the top of the order, true, with 27 runs off 31 balls in four innings in IPL 2020; each time he was troubled by short bowling delivered at pace. Narine’s entire career as an opener has been fashioned in the vein of what street cricket calls the ‘hit out or get out’ method. But with four successive games of swinging and missing, hanging on the back foot and unable to capitalise on the balls that didn’t hit that length, it was on the cards that Narine would be moved down the order. Except, the Super Kings didn’t have the kind of attack that could pull off a sustained short-ball barrage. Maybe, the Knight Riders had demoted Narine a match early?As it turned out, they hadn’t. It’s possible that Narine’s failures at the top of the order were playing on his mind to an extent where he would be more liability than asset in that position. “Just hasn’t quite worked for him at the top of the order in the first few games of the tournament so far. A change is as good as a holiday they say,” the Knight Riders’ bowling coach Kyle Mills would say after the match.ALSO READ: Talking Points: Why did Sunil Narine bowl so late?Instead, Dinesh Karthik and the Knight Riders used Narine tactically. Mills described the role he performed as that of a “pinch hitter”. Essentially, that’s what Narine was doing at the top of the order anyway; he just did it at No. 4 in this match. The batting position wasn’t as important as the stage of the game he came in at. The Knight Riders had lost Nitish Rana on the first ball of the ninth over, with Karn Sharma bowling his legbreaks. A left-hander to a legspinner is a natural match-up. So why not send in Eoin Morgan, in great touch himself and one of the world’s most accomplished white-ball batsmen? For two connected reasons. Narine’s wicket was more expendable than Morgan’s at that stage, and what was needed was to inject some momentum into the innings in the middle overs, where traditionally bowling sides control the run rate more. Second, Narine’s entry would have left MS Dhoni with two options: either continue using spinners and risk them going for plenty, or bring back one of his fast bowlers and risk having a few less overs of pace at the death than he would like.

The Knight Riders could have either had one of their rookie pacers partner Russell at the death, or Narine. They went for Narine, keeping faith in his ability to tie down, and fox, even set batsmen.

The only downside to the tactic of sending in a pinch-hitter in T20s is the risk of the pinch-hitter getting into a rut, and slowing things down rather than speeding them up. With Narine, that risk is minimal: ‘hit out or get out’.Tactically, the move worked perfectly. Narine made a typical Narine score of 17 off 9, and the third-wicket stand brought 28 runs in 2.5 overs. Among other things, it also probably played a part in Dhoni not calling on Ravindra Jadeja to bowl at all. Narine was also out early enough that it left space for Morgan and Andre Russell to launch at the death. That they fell cheaply didn’t diminish the tactical use of Narine.The bowling plan was harder to fathom in the first half of the Super Kings’ chase. The Knight Riders had only got 167, about 25 to 30 runs short of what they looked like getting halfway into their innings. Before coming into this game, Narine’s match-up with the Super Kings’ top order was excellent: Shane Watson had scored 88 runs off 83 balls against Narine, being dismissed eight times (89 off 85 with nine dismissals after the match). Ambati Rayudu’s figures were 41 off 50, and dismissed thrice (44 off 55 after the match). Faf du Plessis had 16 off 26, out once. Surely the time to bring Narine was early on? With the new ball, but failing that, within the powerplay at least? Du Plessis fell, Watson and Rayudu bedded in, and Narine continued to prowl the outfield, with Karthik rotating all his other bowlers.Sunil Narine played a useful cameo from No. 4•BCCIIt seemed baffling because what the Knight Riders seemingly needed after a below-par total was early wickets. What they actually needed, was what Karthik and the Knight Riders think-tank sussed correctly: Narine operating entirely at the back end of the chase.The tactic could have failed if the Super Kings had got off to a blazing start, the kind that reduces the required rate by a whole point. It could have failed if Narine had an off-day with the ball. It could have failed even if some of the Super Kings batsmen had made better decisions. Of course, if the match had shaped differently, Karthik might well have called on Narine to bowl before the 12th over. But although Watson and Rayudu were cruising towards the target, they weren’t doing it at breakneck speed. Karthik gambled by bowling out Pat Cummins the over before he brought Narine on. Cummins needed to strike, but failing that, keep things quiet. He kept things quiet. Narine began wheeling away.”If you give an opportunity to an IPL team, an opening, and they’ve got quality players to take it – today with Narine holding overs back, it made it very difficult in the back end,” Stephen Fleming, the Super Kings coach, would say later.When Narine came on to bowl, ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats tool gave the Super Kings a win probability of 78.72%. When he had completed his second over, the match had altered radically with the win probability more than halved at 36.81%.”With the ball, yes he came in late in the piece but jeez the job he did at the back end of the innings,” Mills gushed. “So comforting sitting on the sidelines to know you’ve got an experienced individual with four overs up his sleeve out of the nine overs left in the innings.”The Knight Riders have not used Cummins at the death since he got pasted in their first game. They’ve identified Russell as one of their death-overs specialists. They could have either had one of their rookie pacers partner Russell at the death, or Narine. They went for Narine, keeping faith in his ability to tie down, and fox, even set batsmen. They kept faith in his match-up with Dhoni which is even more startling than the rest, standing now at 39 runs off 80 balls with two dismissals and boundaries. They kept faith in his ability to bowl against a daunting asking rate. And they kept faith in the tactical ploy that had been devised to mount a successful defence.On the day, Narine repaid that faith handsomely.

Pick your India XI for MCG to decide who should open and who should keep

Sidharth Monga21-Dec-20203:37

Gambhir: Rahane should go with five bowlers

Predictions before the Adelaide Test expected India to be down 0-1 going into Melbourne, but the way it happened has left the team management second-guessing itself. Add to it the non-availability of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami, and they have quite a few selection decisions to make. Here is your chance to put on their hat and play selector. As of now, five men are confirmed to start: captain Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav.Openers
The popular demand for a scalp – Prithvi Shaw in particular – is high. It doesn’t mean Mayank Agarwal is in the clear by that yardstick. Both Shaw and Agarwal scored a fifty each in New Zealand, both had stellar home series before that and both failed twice in Adelaide. India have two reserve openers in the squad: Shubman Gill, who opens for Punjab in domestic cricket and scored 43 and 65 in the tour game at the SCG and KL Rahul, who has opened for India before, but has played just the one first-class game since being dropped after the West Indies tour last year.

They are producing formidable young cricketers at an impressive rate

Ian Chappell28-Mar-2021All right-thinking cricket opponents must have been dreading the day India got it right.That’s the day India unearthed all the talent that was available and then fully capitalised by selecting their best team. That time is well and truly upon the rest of the cricket world as India have showcased their amazing depth in the last few months.The emergence of such talents as Shubman Gill, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan and Axar Patel would have been monumental if it had happened in the space of three years, let alone just three months as it did. And when you consider that Shardul Thakur excelled in just his second game and the ebullient Rishabh Pant was an international match-winner before his 20th appearance, it really is a rosy picture.A rosy picture, that is, if you’re an Indian fan; for the rest of the cricket world, it strikes a note of fear.Related

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• India and England have impressive depth, Australia not so much

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• Would the modern player switch places with a counterpart from the past?

It’s even more imposing when you consider that of those debutants, only Gill and possibly Siraj would play when every player is available for selection.The picture attains a veritable glow when you consider that Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya have all made successful white-ball debuts against England.An abundance of talent like this is reminiscent of West Indies and Australia during dominant periods when they overflowed with good players, many of whom struggled to make the first XI.In West Indies’ case it was mainly a surplus of fast bowlers during a dominant span that kept serious pacemen like Wayne Daniel, Sylvester Clarke, Winston Davis, Patrick Patterson and Ezra Moseley from having substantial Test careers. When Australia were dominating at the turn of the century, capable batsmen like Matthew Elliott, Darren Lehmann, Stuart Law, Martin Love, and in the early part of the period, even Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, struggled to find a permanent place.Surpluses like that provide selectors with a belly ache from gorging, but it’s a whole lot better than the pain caused by searching a bare larder for morsels.1:46

Manjrekar: “Excited about India’s talent pool”

Not only are India now in the enviable position of having a surplus of young talent but the candidates are also highly competitive cricketers.Long gone are the days when some Indian players would quietly go up to an opponent and confess, “You are my idol.” As one former Indian cricketer told me, “There used to be players who just wanted to own the sweater and cap.” There’s also no chance you’d hear in the current Indian dressing room the utterance, “Why me?” as happened when a Test team was announced during the 1977-78 Australian tour.It was MS Dhoni, born in Ranchi, whose success provided the inspiration for young cricketers from outlying areas to suddenly believe they could play for India. The belligerent Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy style encouraged all players in the Indian team to believe they were the equal of their opponents. This belief grew under the guidance of Dhoni, followed by the highly emotive leadership of Virat Kohli.India’s recent successes in Australia – particularly the latest one – have only reinforced the players’ belief in their ability to win under any circumstances. In an era where teams struggle overseas, India now have the depth of talent to alter that pattern. No longer can opponents afford to say, when India are on their doorstep, “Just pick a string of fast bowlers with long run-ups and the series will be ours.”Can India replicate the dominant periods of West Indies and Australia? It’s a much more difficult proposition these days, with an extra form of the game, a frightful schedule, and the riches of the IPL, not to mention a pandemic to circumnavigate.However, India have finally got the equation right and as long as they avoid the pitfalls often associated with continuing success, they are better equipped than any team to produce an era of dominance. The rest of the cricketing world beware.

There’s a fair bit to be learned by looking at these bowlers in terms of the support (or lack of it) at the other end

Kartikeya Date30-Mar-2021Batting partnerships are recorded as a matter of course in cricket scorecards. What about the bowling equivalent?Using ball-by-ball records, which are now available for 887 Test matches, from 1999 to 2021, I have constructed spells records for each bowler, along the lines of batting partnership records. For example, if a bowler bowls a five-over spell starting in over 49 of a Test innings and ending in over 57 (overs 49, 51, 53, 55 and 57), then the overs at the other end during this spell are 50, 52, 54 and 56. The record for each spell includes the runs conceded and wickets taken by the bowler during the spell, and the runs conceded and wickets taken at the other end during the spell.The overall picture presented by the spells record is as one might expect in Test cricket. When wickets fall at one end, they are also likely to fall at the other. The table below shows the overall record of spells organised by the number of wickets that fell at the other end during the spells. All told, three out of four spells are bowled without a single wicket falling at the other end. Only a little over 6% of spells involve at least two wickets falling at the other end. When wickets are falling at the other end, bowlers do better than when they aren’t.Kartikeya DateThe record is sufficiently large now to include the full careers of players like James Anderson, Dale Steyn and R Ashwin (but not those of players like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Harbhajan Singh). In the rest of this article, the possibilities of the spells data set are illustrated using the example of Anderson. Ishant Sharma’s record is used as a short second example.Related

• James Anderson – ageless, and a champion in home conditions

• Ishant Sharma – from unlucky workhorse to master quick

Unlike limited-overs cricket, which is a contest of efficiency, Test cricket is a game of control. The absence of a predetermined limit on the length of an innings over which the ten available wickets are to be taken means that batsmen seek to accumulate runs as safely as possible. Bowlers are the masters of the contest. If a bowler does not bowl a bad ball, and bowls according to the set field, the batsman is unlikely to score freely. Test cricket is a contest of control because it is the bowler’s accuracy that shapes possibilities.Consider the spells record for Anderson. This is presented as a rolling record of 150 chronologically consecutive spells. The first graph below gives a comparison of Anderson’s bowling average over each 150-spell period compared to the bowling average achieved at the other end during these 150 spells. The labels on the horizontal axis give the end dates of each of the 150-spell periods.Kartikeya DateThe record suggests that Anderson’s career can be organised into four periods. In his early years, he was not the best bowler in the England side. His wickets were initially more expensive than those taken at the other end, and this meant that he did not hold a regular spot in England’s XI.He returned in 2006 and won his spot in the strong English attack that would win the Ashes in Australia in 2010-11, and win in India in 2012-13, reaching the top of the world rankings.A third phase of his career – perhaps the finest – began after Graeme Swann retired and that world No. 1 team broke up. Anderson carried the English attack, along with the mercurial Stuart Broad. His wickets came cheap and when he was bowling, England were at their attacking best. The support at the other end was sporadic, though, and this meant that other than in England, the team’s results were poor. They were hammered in Australia in 2013-14 and 2017-18 and in India in 2016-17.A fourth phase appears to have commenced in about the second half of 2018. The English attack has greater depth now, especially on the fast-bowling side of things, and support for Anderson has improved.A similar comparison of economy rates is given below. The economy rate in a Test match is an important aspect of control. This record adds texture to the four phases above, especially after the first phase, when Anderson was evidently either not sufficiently accurate or bowled the attacking length too often and went for runs.Kartikeya DateIn the second phase of his career, bowling in a strong all-round bowling attack that had both significant seam-bowling depth and quality spinners in Swann and Monty Panesar, Anderson could afford to be extremely attacking. He conceded about three runs per over. When that team broke up, the record suggests that Anderson changed his approach and decided to become more defensive and restrictive. In the fourth (and currently ongoing) phase of his great career, Anderson has mastered this restrictive style. He concedes less than 2.5 runs per over, while England concede runs at three an over at the other end.Anderson’s career trajectory is illustrated well by his record on his four Ashes tours so far. On his first, in 2006-07, he conceded 4.4 runs per over and took only five wickets at 82.6 apiece. On his second tour, in 2010-11, he conceded 2.9 runs per over and took 24 wickets at 26 apiece without taking a single five-wicket haul. This last suggests (much as it does with Pat Cummins’ 29 wickets in the 2019 Ashes in England without a single five-wicket haul), that Anderson bowled in a strong all-round attack. In 2013-14, he conceded 3.2 runs per over and took 14 wickets at 43.9 apiece. This was the tour on which England’s world No. 1 team broke apart. In 2017-18, Anderson conceded 2.1 runs per over, and took 17 wickets at 28.This restrictiveness alongside slightly lesser wicket-taking potency has become a feature of his bowling, especially away from home in this latest phase of his career. In Australia, India, West Indies and Sri Lanka – where the conditions are not traditionally conducive to Anderson’s brand of medium-fast seam and swing bowling – his last 14 Tests have brought him 42 wickets at 23.7 apiece. That’s only three wickets per Test, so while the wickets have been cheap, he has not been a significant wicket-taking threat. But he has been extremely difficult to score off – 2.16 runs per over. That kind of control is a captain’s dream.The spells record provides further insight into these four phases of Anderson’s career. The table below shows these four roughly defined phases as more or less equal numbers of matches, deliveries and wickets. The spells in each phase are classified into two groups. The first includes all spells by Anderson where no wickets fell from the other end. The second includes all spells by Anderson where at least one wicket fell from the other end.Kartikeya DateAs one would expect, Anderson has typically had better returns when wickets have been falling at the other end (the 2016-21 period is marginally an exception). This is, as the first table in this article shows, generally true for the average bowler in Test cricket. One can imagine why this is – the fact that wickets are falling from the other end suggests that the conditions are probably more bowler-friendly, or that the lower order is in, or both.Apart from that second phase, Anderson has bowled about two-thirds of his spells when no wickets have fallen at the other end. His returns from these spells show just how far he has come as a Test match bowler. He began as a highly gifted seam and swing bowler with a natural outswinger and a superb, simple, repeatable cartwheel action. When there was little help from the wicket (as evident from the fact that no wickets were falling at the other end), he was unable to exert control in that first phase. In the second phase of his career, Anderson benefited greatly from bowling in a strong attack. It is the only phase in which the majority of his wickets came in spells where at least one wicket also fell at the other end.Today, Anderson is a true maestro. He is able to control the scoring regardless of the conditions, and regardless of what’s happening at the other end. In part, this could be because opponents have decided to see him off. But it is far more likely that opponents would concede wickets to Anderson if they tried to take liberties against him. In other words, it is far more likely that batsmen are compelled to see him off.Reviewing Ishant Sharma’s career in this way offers revealing insights. If we organise his 101 Tests into three roughly equal phases, then his slump in the middle phase is one of more intriguing such troughs in modern Test history. If he had that type of slump after 30-odd Tests today, he would almost certainly lose his spot in the Test team, given the fast-bowling options available to India today. The third phase shows the colossal extent to which his returns have improved.Kartikeya DateWhy might this be? In part, this is probably because the Indian attack Sharma bowls in today is better than it used to be. In part, this is probably also because there are probably fewer featherbeds today than there used to be.The BCCI publishes scorecards on its website, and wherever available, they publish ball-tracking data under the Hawk-Eye tab. A review of this data (which is not available for Sharma’s full career, but is available for about 7800 deliveries of it, since 2011) shows that in the period until 2016, his average length was 7.4m from the batsman’s stumps. Since 2016, his average length is 7m. The same record, which is also not exhaustive for Anderson, shows Anderson’s average length (over roughly 13,800 deliveries for which the record is available) during this period to be 7.1m. Bowling a fuller length on average seems to mean that Sharma can attack the stumps more often than he used to, and is consequently more lethal.Like Anderson, Sharma is able to make his own weather in the Test match arena. His record is not a barometer for how helpful the conditions might be. He commands the batsman’s attention, and as is the case with Anderson, even that is often not enough for the batsman to survive.The spells data set produces a picture of the Test match game from the bowler’s point of view. This view is much neglected in the game, and the spells dataset should become a regular feature of the scorecard, in the same way that batting partnerships are. It provides a texture in the landscape of the Test match game that is otherwise difficult to observe.

He’s bounced out Rohit Sharma, he’s yorked Hardik Pandya, and his numbers suggest he’s an utterly transformed bowler

Alagappan Muthu02-Oct-20212:54

Manjrekar: Avesh Khan is confident, and he has the range as a bowler

It’s a lot of fun being Avesh Khan. Now.He is barely into his first over and he has Rohit Sharma hopping about. He’s making one of India’s very best look out of place, but there’s nothing out-of-the-box about how he’s doing it. Avesh has always been a hit-the-deck fast bowler. It’s just that now he’s learned to put the ball exactly where he wants to.

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Kids who become superstars at Under-19 level produce a lot of excitement in India. Call it the Virat Kohli syndrome.Avesh once belonged in this bracket. At the 2016 Youth World Cup, when India went all the way to the final, he was their highest wicket-taker. But while his peers from that tournament have gone on to bigger things – Rashid Khan is probably the world’s greatest T20 bowler now, Shadab Khan is Pakistan’s No. 1 limited-overs spinner, Shimron Hetmyer and Alzarri Joseph are West Indies regulars, and even Sandeep Lamichhane travels the world playing franchise cricket – Avesh has been stuck.He couldn’t even break into an IPL team. Avesh made his debut back in 2017. But until 2021 he had played only nine games in four years.Imagine that. This is a new-ball/death bowler. A resource every team needs. And he clocks 140 kph and more. An asset in any form of the game. Plus, he’s Indian, which means not only does he cover a specialist position for you, he also frees you up in your search for overseas picks. While most other franchises scour the globe for a quality quick, you could go and get a six-hitter or an allrounder. There’s a lot of one and not a lot of the other.But Avesh – the old Avesh – wasn’t all that good. He gave away a boundary every four balls and he took 36 (roughly) to pick up a wicket.Avesh Khan has become a completely different bowler this season•ESPNcricinfo LtdCut to 2021 though, and Avesh is a bowler transformed. Now, it takes about seven balls for him to concede a boundary and only 13 to pick up a wicket.”I don’t know if he can go any better than this,” Anrich Nortje said midway through the Delhi Capitals’ game against the Mumbai Indians on Saturday. And here’s why.Avesh is in his last over, the 19th of the innings, and he completely nails Hardik Pandya.This is a yorker. Not just any yorker. It’s an inswinging yorker. And it’s a corker. At 141kph. Hardik is, at first, set up to helicopter the ball away. But it starts moving in the air. Moving scarily. Hardik is not in the right position. He’s falling over and the ball keeps surging in. It slips through the gap between his feet – his feet! – and knocks back leg stump.The old Avesh could produce such moments. But he wouldn’t have finished a T20 game with an economy rate of 3.75. Top-class fast bowlers make it seem like they can do everything. Strike first, strike late, keep the runs down, make batters wet their pants. Avesh is finally starting to look like he can tick all those boxes.