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Of late, Rohit has picked the corner of ODI cricket he wants to shake up and has gone rogue

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Shiva Jayaraman06-Aug-2024On Wednesday, Rohit Sharma will play his 265th ODI. Ordinarily, this is not a major milestone. But then this is Rohit, who even among the extraordinary players, has found ways to be extraordinary.Eighteen years into his ODI career, though, our guy is set to cross into uncharted territory. Ever since he played his first ODI his stats sheet has always shown a higher number under “high score” than “matches played”. Ten years since setting the kind of record that people credibly contend may never be broken, Rohit is about to go past 264.It is worth remembering and dwelling on the big-scoring Rohit right now. Worth recalling a time when Rohit stans would tell Virat Kohli stans that Rohit held his own at the tippy top of modern India batting.Related

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Though Kohli was the mass-producer of hundreds, “once Rohit gets past 70, there’s almost no stopping him,” was one theory. In ODIs, it was difficult to deny. The man has three double-hundreds, which is three times as many as any other batter, and a quarter of all the 200-plus scores ever made in the format. Of the 31 hundreds he has scored, 16 have produced 130 runs or more.Other batters merely “get in” on a track. Rohit embeds himself inside an opposition attack like the alien from and feeds until he is half the size of the spaceship and they are withering husks.Not lately, though. The more recent Rohit, in ODIs at least, is a highly-skilled DGAF figure – somebody who has seen it all, fought battles in all kinds of games there are to fight battles in, and picked the corner of ODI cricket he wants to shake up. Rohit has become predominantly a powerplay aggressor.The numbers lay this out. Since the start of the 2023 ODI World Cup, Rohit has batted in 13 ODIs and failed to get a start only in two of them. If you jump in at the 20-ball mark of the other 11, he’s striking at 150-plus (i.e. has more than 30 runs already) in seven of those innings, and at 100-plus in 10, the only exception being in an exceptionally difficult Lucknow pitch in the match against England, at the World Cup.In the ongoing series in Sri Lanka, he has hit 58 off 47, and 64 off 44, on hugely spin-favouring tracks. These are pitches on which strike rates of as low as 80 are acceptable, so long as you make a half-century, as Rohit did on both occasions. But here, Rohit’s starts on both occasions gave the middle order room to breathe while they attempted to hunt down modest scores.India have been bailed out by Rohit Sharma twice against Sri Lanka•AFP/Getty ImagesIn a previous age, Sri Lanka tightened their spin vices so effectively, that the pressure to score at a decent clip itself would produce wickets. In matches in which Rohit has peacocked his way through the early overs so spectacularly, Sri Lanka only had one route to victory – to dismiss the opposition. That they have done so twice is credit to their spinners on extremely dry surfaces.While he is batting this way, it might be more appropriate to think of Rohit Sharma, a producer of some of the most epic ODI innings, as a player who might “come off” for a significant number of deliveries. Since the start of the 2023 World Cup, he has never really tried to play himself in – his control percentage at 79.79 in his first 25 balls in that period, but then improving to only 82.32 in the next 25 balls.According to ESPNcricinfo’s data, Rohit plays more “aggressive false shots” now than ever before, which effectively means the man is happy to play attacking strokes that feel poorly conceived when they don’t come off. There are expansive drives against spinners early on, in which Rohit covers the line of the stumps and swings his bat at. There are safe mis-hits, where the bowler fooled Rohit, but he is still able hit to an area in which there is no protection. And there are shots like his attempted switch-sweep against Jeffrey Vandersay on Sunday, which saw him caught at backward point, and set in motion India’s collapse.And yet, though he has only occasionally middled the ball as emphatically as childhood coaches would love him to, Rohit has discovered the fun of hitting balls just okay. He has understood that hitting them well enough to clear the field means there are runs there too. It feels as if Rohit is in his most pragmatic era.There is little doubt that he wants to continue, wants to contest big tournaments, and wants more silverware in his arms. But Rohit has also stepped into a phase of his career in which he is only one star in the galaxy. And right now, that star wants to reap as many early-overs runs as possible.

Wicketkeeper puts rare first-day blemish behind him to score his third fifty in five Test innings

Matt Roller22-Aug-2024It can pay to have a short memory, not least for a Test match wicketkeeper. The ability to compartmentalise – or, better still, forget altogether – a missed opportunity behind the stumps is a priceless trait in any format; it is further heightened when a mistake on the first day of a match can have repercussions that stretch long into the fifth.It was not until the fourth match of Jamie Smith’s Test career that he faced that challenge. Smith was faultless with the gloves throughout England’s 3-0 whitewash against West Indies last month but missed his first chance on the opening day against Sri Lanka in Manchester: a fluffed stumping on the first afternoon.The miss did not prove especially costly, and was a difficult chance. On 65, Dhananjaya de Silva skipped down the pitch and yorked himself as Shoaib Bashir saw him coming, darting the ball in fast and flat. Smith couldn’t quite gather the ball cleanly, the ball bouncing out of his hands; Dhananjaya only added nine more runs before he was caught at leg slip.Even still, it represented the first setback of Smith’s Test career. He admitted last week that he had found the West Indies series both mentally and physically “draining” despite all three Tests ending inside four days. He cited the “added pressure” that comes with international cricket: however small it was, nobody would have been more aware of his mistake than him.That backdrop made his innings on this gloomy Thursday in Manchester even more impressive. Promoted to No. 6 in Ben Stokes’ absence, Smith walked out to bat in the 26th over with the ball reverse-swinging, which had just accounted for Joe Root. With a longer tail than usual behind him and England still 111 behind, this represented real jeopardy.But as Smith has already demonstrated, he has the temperament to deal with most challenges. He calmly flicked his first ball off his pads for four, skipped down the pitch to his 22nd to launch Prabath Jayasuriya over long-on, and swung his 95th through midwicket to move into the 70s in what proved to be the final over of the day.Smith went up and down the gears in his innings, going through occasional lulls against Jayasuriya in particular when his only focus seemed to be survival. But he picked his moments to attack, freeing his arms when Kamindu Mendis tossed up some offbreaks and slugging Asitha Fernando through the leg side when he dropped short.Related

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“We talk about being positive and aggressive, and putting teams under pressure,” Marcus Trescothick, England’s assistant coach, said. “But the skill is to identify the moments when it’s the right time. We’re trying to gather times when we can really put the foot down and drive home what we’re trying to do, but there are also times when we have to sit in.”On Friday, he will resume with the chance to underline his ability to bat with the lower order, one of the reasons which underpinned his call-up in the first place. This was already the third time out of four that he has added 50 or more in a partnership with Chris Woakes, but he now has the opportunity to prove he can marshal the tail.He has already showcased his six-hitting ability in Test cricket, clearing both the Tavern Stand at Lord’s and the Hollies Stand at Edgbaston. The temporary stand at deep midwicket at Emirates Old Trafford would be the biggest challenge of the lot, but his first task is simply to extend England’s first-innings lead, which is only 23 overnight.Smith turned 24 last month and every innings that he plays in an England shirt has felt like a tantalising look into the future, not least during his 62-run partnership with Harry Brook in Manchester on Thursday. He bats at No. 4 for Surrey and could yet find himself playing as a specialist batter: “I don’t think we’ve really discussed where he’ll end up batting,” Trescothick admitted.Therein lies the other reason why it might pay for Smith to have as short a memory as possible. His predecessor as England’s Test wicketkeeper, Ben Foakes, spent six years in and out of the side. As well as Foakes, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler have found themselves playing with and without the gloves, while regularly shuffling up and down the order.Rare is the England wicketkeeper who has an extended run in a single role, as Smith has already found with this promotion to No. 6 in only his fourth Test. But crucially, his performances across his first three-and-a-half Tests – 17 catches, three half-centuries in five innings – have silenced any debate over whether he deserves the gloves – for the time being, at least.For now, his challenge is simply to stay in the moment. England’s challenges get progressively harder over the next 18 months, with series against Pakistan, New Zealand, India and Australia, but Smith has made a serene start to life as a Test cricketer.

It has been a WTC cycle of squandered opportunities as plans swiftly and constantly moved from being centred around pace to spin to seemingly everywhere in between

Danyal Rasool07-Jan-2025There was some extremely exciting red-ball cricket being played by some Pakistanis on the third day of the Newlands Test. It’s an unusual thing to say for a day that saw some of Pakistan’s worst shot selection, and a day where they crumpled in a heap for 194, giving South Africa a 421-run lead, and effectively killing off any hopes Pakistan would break their interminable losing run in South Africa.But that aforementioned exciting cricket wasn’t being played at Newlands; it was happening in Karachi at the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (QeA) final, where a thrilling run-chase saw Sialkot beat Peshawar by one wicket.The QeA this year is an appropriate bellweather of Pakistan’s relationship with Test cricket over the last year. In a year that saw the busiest home Test season for Pakistan this century, there was little information on when QeA would start, or what format it would assume. When eventually it did start, it began on October 26, almost as late as it ever has in the last 15 years. The format, too, was somewhat clunky, an expanded tournament comprising 18 teams played across a pool and triangular stage.Related

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By that time, five of Pakistan’s seven home Test matches had already been played; the home season was almost done. September, the only window Pakistan had that hadn’t been packed with some international series or other, could have been spent in preparation for the red-ball winter; instead, Pakistan hosted, to much fanfare, a domestic 50-over tournament, to the bemusement and frustration of then red-ball coach Jason Gillespie. None of it, bar the final, was broadcast live, though the PCB was diligent with providing regular updates. The QeA final, clashing as it was with the Newlands Test, did not exactly capture public imagination.

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This World Test Championship (WTC) cycle is gone. Yes, Pakistan have to play two Tests against West Indies later this month, but none of it really matters. This series was supposed to be held this time last year, but an overcrowded schedule squeezed it out. Pakistan are eighth on the WTC table, West Indies are ninth. This is a basement battle. The feast of the last six months will be followed by a prolonged famine; Pakistan do not play another Test until October, and just two in the next 14 months.It is something their captain Shan Masood, appointed in the early stages of this cycle, has called on to change, but, despite his brief tenure, he is already the great survivor of the last year in Pakistan. Pakistan’s approach to Test cricket has been so furiously inconsistent that even a glut of Tests – as we saw this season – is unlikely to lead to improved results. They began the 18 months of this cycle with a demolition of Sri Lanka away from home under coach Grant Bradburn and director of cricket Mickey Arthur. The PCB branded it “the Pakistan Way”, ostensibly a long-term roadmap for how they aimed to play Test cricket.

The feast of the last six months will be followed by a prolonged famine; Pakistan do not play another Test until October, and just two in the next 14 months. It is something their captain Shan Masood has called on to change, but… Pakistan’s approach to Test cricket has been so furiously inconsistent that even a glut of Tests is unlikely to lead to improved results.

By the time the next series came about, Bradburn, Arthur, the PCB chair, and captain Babar Azam had all been replaced, and references to the Pakistan Way were getting harder to find. Any encouragement they drew despite a whitewash in Australia was squandered when they were similarly swept aside at home by Bangladesh. By now, the chair as well as the coach had of course changed once more, and Pakistan had planned to prepare a pitch so juicy they played an all-pace attack in the first Test.Just two Test matches on from both Gillespie and Masood indicating pace at home was a strategy they wanted to pursue, both had had their selection powers stripped from them, and Pakistan played all-spin attacks at home against England on raging surfaces. Another month and another change of coach later, Pakistan dropped Shaheen Afridi – or allowed him to sit out the Test series in South Africa to play the Bangladesh Premier League – and played four medium-fast bowlers at Newlands, sitting Naseem Shah out as well for good measure. (The official version that he had a stiff back is somewhat undercut by him bowling on the practice pitches a few strips away from the playing surface at tea on the second day, notably quicker than any of the four Pakistan actually fielded). Masood directly compared South Africa’s pace to Pakistan’s lack of it following the series loss, less as a point of criticism than just a statement of fact.In Pakistan, there’s a leitmotif of existential crisis running through most setbacks, one which must be framed in terms of who is to blame, who can be sacked, or who the saviour can be. But a series loss in South Africa is in itself hardly a signifier of anything, because Pakistan have lost almost every series across every decade in South Africa.Shan Masood has called for more Test cricket, something Pakistan will be quite short on over the next year and a bit•AFP/Getty ImagesThey could not have played three high-pace, high-quality seamers like South Africa, because they simply don’t have them. They might have played Naseem, though he wasn’t exactly at the level of Kagiso Rabada or Marco Jansen in Centurion, and they might have played Noman Ali, though they do not have enough seam-bowling allrounders to do so without enfeebling a vulnerable batting line-up. The series result was more of an endpoint than a harbinger, of the rather boring fact that better Test teams are more likely to win Test matches than worse ones.Perhaps none of this really matters, because all indications from the PCB is it has matters of greater import to deal with. It has spent the last few months working out the finer details of how it will go about hosting the Champions Trophy. All three stadiums that will see games are undergoing significant renovation, with the chair Mohsin Naqvi stating on multiple occasions construction work needed to happen “day and night” to make sure the venues will be ready on time. The PSL has moved into a new window that clashes with the IPL; just about every day of the South Africa Tests, a new player to have signed up for the draft was excitedly announced across the PCB media channels.But Pakistan is not like a number of other cricketing nations, where people only care about it if it’s happening in a particular season, at a particular time or year, in a particular format or against a particular opposition. It is a de facto single sport country, where the official line is every game matters. As they look rather enviously over at South Africa, making plans to go Lord’s to play the WTC final, they know they are far off finding themselves in a situation where they, too, can realistically harbour such ambitions. For that, they will need to know what they want from Test cricket when it comes around again, so they do not squander it quite as profligately as they did this cycle.

The leadership has plotted and planned and pulled off some extraordinary things of late, the enormous weight of the missing trophy evident at every stage of their run

Sidharth Monga19-Mar-20253:33

Aakash Chopra: India have now moved far ahead of other teams

India needed to lose control.It’s not that they were a bad team. They had lost just three matches in the last two ODI World Cups. Two matches in the last two Champions Trophies. Three matches in the last two T20 World Cups.This was an enviable record, but also a record that kept India from pushing the boundaries of what this extremely talented side was capable of achieving. Then came the early exit at the T20 World Cup of 2021. It brought about a reset in the leadership – they perhaps would not have had the freedom to challenge the batters had India made another semi-final.One of the effective tools used by the management to get the point across was control percentages when attacking. They were unusually high. It told the batters two things: they were not attacking enough good balls, and they were not giving the opposition chances when they attacked. There was clear room for more risks.Related

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The intent changed to an extent, India began to put up above-par scores in bilateral series, but as the 2022 T20 World Cup approached, the ideal combination became elusive. Jasprit Bumrah was injured beforehand, and Ravindra Jadeja joined the list as India went to the dress rehearsal, the Asia Cup in the UAE.As Hardik Pandya’s fitness could not always be relied upon, Rohit Sharma, the new captain, wanted to play two spinner-allrounders to provide for contingencies. The injury to Jadeja denied him that experiment. Axar Patel took Jadeja’s place when Rohit wanted him for the slot that they kept trying to fill with Washington Sundar and Deepak Hooda. With Kuldeep Yadav still only coming back from injury, they settled on R Ashwin as the spinner for left-hand batters. They didn’t make it to the final of the Asia Cup.By the time India reached Australia, sans Bumrah, their other main death bowler, Harshal Patel, coming back from injury, had completely lost form. In an ideal world, they would have played Harshal at No. 8 and Yuzvendra Chahal, Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh as bowlers who couldn’t bat. Bumrah could be replaced with Mohammed Shami, but Harshal’s replacements couldn’t bat, which meant India had to sacrifice the wristspinner.

The intent had to be initiated by players whose places in the side were certain and not by those who would be disposed if they failed in pursuit of quick runs. Too much of that had happened in the past. It also meant that the combinations and tactics had to be much better

Again, whenever the stakes grew or whenever the conditions were tricky, the batters fell back to the default options. It happened against South Africa in Perth, and it was repeated against England in the semi-final when India fell woefully short. The Adelaide semi-final was stark. England handcuffed them with spin. They just had the wrong guys batting together all through the start and the middle. At the end, did we see Rohit wipe a tear or two?The revival would have to start with Rohit. The feedback the leadership got from the players was that they needed the leaders to first walk the talk. That meant the intent had to be initiated by players whose places in the side were certain and not by those who would be disposed if they failed in pursuit of quick runs. Too much of that had happened in the past. It also meant that the combinations and tactics had to be much better. For example, there was no way Rohit and Virat Kohli should bat together for too long outside the powerplay.With the onus on himself, Rohit doubled down on his need for depth, the 8-6 formula. He wanted to play every game with eight batters and six bowlers so that the batters could be freed, so that they had options to counter match-ups.India have achieved the cheat code of three allrounders in the XI whenever Hardik Pandya is fit•CREIMASA sting operation on the then chairman of selectors brought into the frame Ajit Agarkar. Now the team management included three men who could healthily challenge each other without any mistrust: Agarkar, Rohit and coach Rahul Dravid. Tough calls were now taken and explained properly to the players. Shubman Gill replaced Shikhar Dhawan in ODIs even though the players still rated Dhawan highly. KL Rahul was trusted as the middle-order rock. He and Shreyas Iyer were given until the last possible moment to prove their fitness for the ODI World Cup.The intent began to bleed into the ODIs as well. India were a solid ODI team previously too, but you could close your eyes and predict a score of 51 for 1 in the powerplay, and you wouldn’t be off by more than 2%. It worked great when the top three scored all the runs, but it didn’t give the others any breathing space when they went to bat. Rohit became the intent bunny in ODIs as well.It was a rained-out match where the teams shared points, but in Pallekele in the Asia Cup, the leadership knew the team had turned a corner. In an eerie resemblance to the T20 World Cup match against Pakistan, India lost the early wickets of Rohit and Kohli to Shaheen Shah Afridi as the ball moved around in humid conditions. Even at 66 for 4, Ishan Kishan and Hardik counter-attacked. India went on to score 261 for 8. When they came up against Pakistan next, they all went hammer and tongs to end with 356 for 2.Quality was meeting intent in the batting. Kuldeep was back to his best, and Bumrah was fit. Everything was looking great, but then Axar got injured again. Axar as the second allrounder had been in India’s plans for a while as they knew the next two World Cups would be in India and the West Indies, both places where they could afford to play two spinner-allrounders. Kuldeep’s return meant they had a spinner to take the ball away from left-hand batters unlike Chahal earlier.2:43

Harbhajan Singh: 2027 World Cup might be too far for Rohit Sharma

This combination of unique circumstances would let India achieve the cheat code of three allrounders in the side whenever Hardik would be fit. They tried to promote Axar in the batting order every now and then, notably against Pakistan in Melbourne and once in an ODI loss to West Indies in July 2023. In Axar’s absence, though, India relied on Shardul Thakur to be the eighth batter.When Hardik went down during the ODI World Cup, India had to leave Thakur out for a more specialised bowler in Shami. Only Rahul and Kohli will know if that lack of depth played a part in their back-to-default conservatism in the World Cup final in Ahmedabad, where, throughout the tournament, there were clear signs that batting becoming much easier under lights.This was only their fourth defeat in the last three ODI World Cups, but one that stung them the most. They had played fearless, attractive and dominant cricket to get to the final. Their narrowest wins were by four wickets and 70 runs. The defeat in the final left everyone too shocked to react, let alone analyse or think of the next World Cup, barely six months away.The T20I captain, Hardik, was injured with no timeline for a return. The ODI captain hadn’t played a T20I since the Adelaide debacle two years ago. The coach’s tenure was over, and he was happy to walk away without a world title. The selectors now had to take the less-than-ideal route of selecting the captain first and then the team. Not least because the captain could convince the coach to come back for one last ride. Had any of the three men been different, the band wouldn’t have come back together.1:21

Is Shreyas now India’s most reliable ODI batter?

Now, finally, the blueprint of eight batters and six bowlers could be put in place. Everyone was fit, and the West Indies pitches always have some grip. Except that the selectors wanted an offspinner-allrounder in the squad because they envisaged the XI would include Jadeja this allrounder. Rohit and Dravid pressed for Axar because they wanted to go with Jadeja Axar.With Shivam Dube’s emergence and the Axar gambit, Rohit and Dravid had enough options to deny oppositions a match-up at both ends. They could split right-hand batters, they could split those who struggled against spin, they had six bowlers plus Dube to choose from. As some of us suspected before, and the rest of us have learned since, this was still not India’s optimal T20I XI. Even if you disregard the belated emergence of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal was clearly the best opener out there at that time, and a left-hand batter to boot.Even at 34 for 3 in the final, India could pair Kohli up with Axar and Dube, and give India a target to bowl to. India were either due some luck or used up a year’s worth in the climax of that match – a six goes out of the ground and the replacement ball reverses, David Miller mistimes a full toss even when hitting downwind – but now they finally had a trophy to show for their processes and their dominance.The enormous weight of the missing trophy became apparent only during the celebrations back in Mumbai. Deep inside, the players and the management knew they were an exceptional side with two exceptional campaigns behind them, but they still felt what they felt: horrible after Ahmedabad, overjoyed after Barbados.In the following months, the Test transition arrived in earnest, but the T20I and the ODI sides remain formidable. The new management not only carried forward the Hardik-Jadeja-Axar cheat code, but they were shrewd enough to change the Champions Trophy squad at the last moment to include another wicket-taking spinner because they knew all their matches would be played on a tired Dubai square that had just hosted a T20 tournament. There is no evidence to suggest India would not have won even if they were playing on 350 pitches, but the Dubai conditions did make their job easier.Now, India are a team that have lost only one match in their last three ICC tournaments. From 2013 Champions Trophy onwards, they have missed out on the knockouts of only one of the 11 ICC tournaments. Of the other ten, only four have been semi-final defeats.Moments after winning this year’s Champions Trophy, Rahul perhaps summed up the reasons behind this dominance best.”It’s just pure skill and the way we’ve all played our cricket growing up,” Rahul said with unusual clarity for such a heady moment. “We’ve had to face a lot of challenges. We’ve had to face pressure from the time we held the bat and from the time we decided to be professional cricketers. I think it’s just the first-class cricket, BCCI, how they’ve groomed every player, every talented player that comes around. They’re giving us opportunities and platforms to showcase our skills and to put ourselves under pressure and keep challenging ourselves and getting better.”The leadership needs to already start thinking of the next two years if they want to continue celebrating•ICC via Getty ImagesThe talent pool is vast and, consequently, the pressure they face at every step on the way to the top is immense. That is also perhaps why they hold onto their places at the top a little too tightly. That is why the leadership constantly needs to keep making them feel secure enough to keep pushing their boundaries.There is still one final step to go to earn comparisons with the best-ever sides. If they can defend their T20 crown next year, India will be regarded as the best T20I side of all time. They will start as the favourites for it, but this dream team with all kinds of cheat codes will not be easy to replicate in the 2027 ODI World Cup, a title only Kohli among the current players has won. Compare this to the Australia of 1999 to 2009: they always had a well-rounded ODI attack to outperform their opposition in conditions as diverse as South Africa in 2003, India in 2006, the West Indies in 2007 and South Africa again in 2009. They also almost always had at least two allrounders who almost never broke down. Even they have never been able to crack both ODIs and T20Is at the same time.India will not magically find a strike bowler with the batting ability of Brett Lee or Andy Bichel. That means at any given point of time only three of Kuldeep, Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Siraj and Shami can play. Axar and Jadeja, if the latter is still around, won’t make for an optimal combination on your usual South African tracks. Hardik’s body is what it is. Gill, Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Rahul form a formidable batting core even if Rohit doesn’t make it, but some work will be needed to attain this kind of balance in South Africa.There has been cause aplenty to celebrate over the last two years, but the leadership needs to already start thinking of the next two years if they want to continue celebrating. With all the talent in the country, it won’t take much to remain very good, but excellence is what they want to continue aiming for.

Russell was among only two allrounders in IPL history to achieve the double of 2000 runs and 100 wickets

Shubh Agarwal30-Nov-2025Andre Russell has retired from the IPL as a player, culminating one of the most influential careers in the league, especially for an overseas player. Making his debut in 2012, Russell featured in 140 IPL games – seven for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and 133 for Kolkata Knight Riders – scoring 2,651 runs at a strike rate of 174.17 and picking 123 wickets. Here are some of the statistical highlights from his IPL career.2 – Russell is among only two allrounders in IPL history to achieve the double of 2000 runs and 100 wickets. Only Ravindra Jadeja (3260 runs and 170 wickets) has matched this feat.174.71 – Russell’s strike rate in the IPL is the highest for any batter with over 1500 runs. The next on the list is Nicholas Pooran, who has a strike rate of 168.97 for his 2293 runs in this league.Related

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204.81 – Russell’s strike rate in the 2019 IPL season. It is the only occasion of a batter amassing over 500 runs in an IPL season with a strike rate in excess of 200. Russell scored 510 runs in IPL 2019 at an average of 56.66 in what was his most productive year with the bat. Only two other batters have achieved the double of averaging above 50 at a strike rate of more than 200 in an IPL season – Brendon McCullum in 2008 and MS Dhoni in 2024.100 – Sixes Russell hit in the death overs (overs 17 to 20), making him one among only four batters with 100 or more sixes in that phase in the IPL.

Will Pat Cummins play the Gabba Test? And if he does, will he be captain? And who will he replace – Nathan Lyon or Brendan Doggett?

Andrew McGlashan03-Dec-20250:54

Clarke: Australia going to a venue where they play well

It was a question that summed up the slightly curious situation that has become the discussion around Australia’s selection for the Gabba Test. Steven Smith, the stand-in captain, was asked if he would still be leading if Pat Cummins made a surprise return: “I wouldn’t have thought so,” Smith said.There have been plenty of chances this week to say that Cummins definitely won’t make his comeback in Brisbane. Adelaide had long seemed the most likely timeline and he has never officially been made part of the squad. But the door has not been slammed shut.At the time Smith spoke on Wednesday, Australia’s hierarchy wanted a further look at the pitch before making a call on their XI. It was due for another cut from the groundstaff, which duly came at around 3pm, although, in truth, it did not seem to change its distinct green tinge much at all – at least from 100 or so metres away.Related

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A short while later, Smith and chair of selectors George Bailey wandered out to the middle for a look and a prod. There were chats with the curator. How much grass was left, how firm was it? Around 15 minutes later another inspection followed, this time including Cummins and head coach Andrew McDonald.There was a hug exchanged between Cummins and McDonald, but that could have meant absolutely nothing, and they will have been well aware that plenty of eyes were watching. Remember when Mitchell Marsh marked out his run at Edgbaston before the opening Test of the 2023 Ashes?Shortly after 5pm, in which time the Gabba had been evacuated due to a smoke alarm, it was confirmed Australia would name their XI at the toss. Yes, that has taken quite a lot of words to say something completely unremarkable. But there’s been 11 days without cricket.

“We’ll look at the surface, as I said, and we’ll sum things up from there. I think here’s a place where Nathan’s done really well in the past. He’s a quality bowler, but we’ll weigh up the options”Steven Smith on Nathan Lyon

On a slightly more serious note, the intrigue around Cummins has been fuelled by how impressive he has looked during his ramp up in bowling over the last two weeks. On Monday in Brisbane, he bowled twice either side of a having a bat. On Tuesday, he went out to Allan Border Field, along with Mitchell Starc, where bowlers are able to get full run-ups unlike in the Gabba nets, although it could not be ascertained what he did there.”He looked in red-hot form the other night, as good as you’ll see [from] a fast bowler charging in in the nets,” Scott Boland said.But, perhaps significantly, Smith made reference to how nets and the middle are different beasts. “He looks pretty good to me,” he said. “The way he’s bowled in the nets, obviously the game’s a different intensity for sure, but he’s tracking really nicely. He knows his body well, and we’ll wait and see.”The other interest in all this comes from who Cummins would replace. It’s understood that a week ago the only realistic way for him to feature in Brisbane would be as part of an all-pace attack so that workloads could be managed, which would mean Nathan Lyon being left out.2:10

England hedging their bets on Will Jacks is ‘worrying’

Lyon didn’t play Australia’s previous pink-ball Test in Jamaica, bowled only two overs in Perth and sent down just one in last season’s day-night Test in Adelaide. But he had an important role to play at the Gabba in the ground’s previous day-night Test against West Indies, and concerns linger about how the harder surface here could make the ball so soft. Overall with the pink ball, Lyon has 43 wickets at 25.62.”We’ll look at the surface, as I said, and we’ll sum things up from there,” Smith said. “I think here’s a place where Nathan’s done really well in the past. He’s a quality bowler, but we’ll weigh up the options.”The other way back for Cummins would be in place of Brendan Doggett, although there may be a risk of having him as one of three frontline quicks without another two weeks of work under his belt, albeit Cameron Green was barely needed in Perth.England captain Ben Stokes acknowledged he didn’t know who he would be walking out with tomorrow afternoon. “Pat’s awesome,” he added. “Has been for a very, very long time. He’s done great things, not only as a player, but he’s been great since he’s been given the responsibility of being captain for Australia.”0:46

McGlashan: An unfortunate end if Khawaja’s Test career is over

The home side has another decision to make, but the replacement for Usman Khawaja feels more certain with Josh Inglis, who made a century on Test debut in Sri Lanka earlier this year, strongly favoured to come into the middle order with Travis Head continuing the opening role he took on with such dramatic effect in the second innings in Perth.It would mean Beau Webster being unfortunate for the second Test in a row, but Inglis’ strength against the short ball, something Australia expect to continue to receive plenty of, is highly rated by the selectors. He was very impressive against Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Mark Wood (the latter now injured) when he crunched 120 off 86 balls at the Champions Trophy earlier this year.”He’s obviously a pretty attacking batsman,” Smith said. “He did really well on his debut in Sri Lanka. He’s been in really good form… he plays fast bowling really nicely. He’s been a really good player for a long period of time. He’s come up through the system and I think he just continues to get better and better. Every opportunity he’s got at any level, whether it be T20, ODI or Test cricket, he’s put his best foot forward and done a good job for the team.”But tomorrow afternoon, all the interest will be around one man. Is it all a smokescreen? You know, those dastardly Ashes mind games. Or is it a genuine selection discussion? Either way, one of Smith or Cummins will be in their blazers to toss the coin and then this Ashes series can finally resume.

The RCB left-arm spinner keeps the percentages in his favour even on some of the high-scoring venues, a glimpse of which was seen on the opening night of IPL 2025

Karthik Krishnaswamy22-Mar-20251:48

Why were RCB spinners successful?

You always know what you’re going to get with Krunal Pandya. He’s played nine full seasons of the IPL, and his economy rate each time has been there or thereabouts, ranging from a best of 6.82 in 2017 to a worst of 7.98 in 2021.Ravindra Jadeja has finished three full IPL seasons with eight-plus economy rates (not counting his debut season when he only bowled 2.1 overs). Axar Patel has done this three times too. Krunal, never.This isn’t to say that Krunal is better or more consistent than those two. But it says something about him that he has comparable overall numbers in the IPL to two of international cricket’s most respected left-arm spinners, and that he’s done a difficult and sometimes underappreciated job year after year.Related

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• Krunal, Kohli and Salt thrash KKR on opening night of IPL 2025

Even so, you wondered what exactly Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), his newest employers, were thinking when they gave Krunal the ball at the start of the fifth over on Saturday night, with Sunil Narine on strike. Narine was enduring one of his rare slow starts in the powerplay, and if you’d asked him which opposition bowler he’d want to face at that moment, he’d quite likely have pointed to Krunal and said, “I’ll have some left-arm spin, please.”The first ball of this match-up, slogged with the turn over the wide long-on boundary, may have made you question RCB’s wisdom again. And then, when Ajinkya Rahane swept and chipped Krunal for back-to-back fours to end that over, you may have asked the same question again, with a wider ambit this time, taking in not just this moment in this match, but RCB’s season in its about-to-enfold entirety.On the eve of this IPL 2025 season-opener against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), RCB head coach Andy Flower had been asked whether he felt his squad was lacking in the spin department. It was somewhat telling that Flower began his answer with these words: “It’s a really good and apt question to ask.”Flower then backed Krunal – they had worked together at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) – emphatically to lead RCB’s spin attack through the season.Krunal Pandya struck in each of his second, third and fourth overs•Associated Press”Krunal was a significant part of our targeted players in the auction. He’s a smart and courageous cricketer and he’s got leadership experience as well. So having his nous, he’s a streetwise operator and he’s obviously got class as a left-arm spinner, let alone as an allrounder. That is comforting to have in our group and leading the way in the spin department.”By the time Krunal returned to the attack, RCB needed him to show all the qualities Flower had spoken of. Narine had just departed, but another left-hand batter, Venkatesh Iyer, had replaced him, and KKR were 107 for 2 in ten overs.Now, bear in mind that there’s always a certain messiness to the mechanisms of cause and effect in T20s. There are many, many factors behind why a bowler concedes 15 in a wicketless first over and comes back to pick up 3 for 14 in his next three, and one of those factors is, well, randomness. Things just happen sometimes, you know?You could certainly say that about the ball that began the transformation in Krunal’s fortunes: Rahane c Rasikh Salam b Krunal 56. A ball that wasn’t quite there to be pulled, but one the batter had to try and pull anyway, because this is T20 and you can’t keep waiting for bad balls, and it’s always a bigger risk outside the powerplay with all those fielders on the boundary.But if it was a random dismissal, it was also a very Krunal kind of random dismissal. The ball was fired in from left-arm around to finish at an awkward spot for the batter, at around bail height or just above on leg stump, tucking him up for room. At 98.4kph, it was very much at the quicker end of the IPL spinners’ pace spectrum, so the batter didn’t just have a paucity of room to deal with but a paucity of time as well. Add all that up, and you get a ball that’s hard to get more than a single off – almost always a win for the bowler in this format – and hard to hit for four or six without taking a significant risk.The on-song Ajinkya Rahane was one of the three wickets Krunal Pandya picked up•Associated PressThis is the crux of Krunal’s art. It often involves doing predictable things, which could be – depending on the type of batter he’s bowling to, the conditions, and the field setting – keeping the stumps in play, or bowling outside a batter’s hitting arc, or finding a way to get the batter off strike. But because he knows that the batter knows what’s coming, Krunal has also developed a genius for throwing in the unexpected. He routinely delivers the ball from well behind the crease, for example, and in this match, he delivered a nasty surprise bouncer to the bareheaded Iyer. It was called wide – it qualified both on line and height – but Krunal had made his point, and Iyer immediately called for a helmet.Next ball, Krunal was back to bowling what you might call his stock ball. It was quick – this one clocked 101.9kph – delivered from around the wicket, and angled towards the top of the right-hand batter’s leg stump or the left-hand batter’s off stump, with the chance of a little bit of turn to make things unpredictable. Given that pace, line and length, it’s a hard ball to step out to, a risky ball to sweep, and an unnatural ball to play attacking shots against with either a vertical or horizontal bat.Iyer went right back in his crease, and tried to manufacture a whip through the leg side, with his bat somewhere between vertical and horizontal. All he managed was an inside edge into the stumps.”You have to go with the flow, how cricket is evolving, right?” Player-of-the-Match Krunal said at the post-match presentation, when asked about the pace he was bowling at. “The skillset [that] batters have these days, the ability to hit sixes or hit good shots consistently – so you also have to make sure [of] how can you up your game, you know? So that was one of the reasons, where I wanted to bowl quick, I wanted to give [batters] less time.Krunal Pandya finished with figures of 3 for 29 on his RCB debut•MB Media/Getty Images”And once again, my change of pace […] bowling slow also comes in handy when I use that quick ball.”Krunal’s last ball of the day was another of these quick balls – 103kph – and Rinku Singh, going for a pull that couldn’t really be a pull, because of the diagonal angle of his bat, missed entirely, the ball straightening ever so slightly past the inside edge to hit the top of off stump. The transformation from 1-0-15-0 to 4-0-29-3 was complete.”Sometimes when you play in [front of] so much of crowd, you have to narrow down your focus, right?” Krunal said, when asked about the comeback. “So again, when I came in [for my] second over, I made a very conscious effort to just narrow down my focus where I wanted to bowl, and if I [had] to get hit, I’ll get hit on a good ball. So that was the thought process, and glad that I was able to deliver.”Apart from everything else that goes into his bowling, what sets Krunal apart is his ability to keep the percentages in his favour. It’s essential if you have to bowl spin in the IPL and come away without suffering serious punishment. And he’s managed to do this time and again on the toughest proving grounds. He has an economy rate of 6.98 at the Wankhede Stadium – his primary home ground from 2016 to 2021 – and if that ground is notoriously unforgiving for spinners, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, his new home ground, can be even more unforgiving, and he’s gone at 6.58 there, over seven games.Krunal has always been a survivor, and it was this skill, more than any other, that RCB hoped to tap into when they signed him up. No matter what comes next, they have got the start they wanted from this relationship.

Arsenal beat German champions Bayern Munich 3-1 on a night to remember in Europe, and one Gunners star absolutely stole the show with his performance.

Mikel Arteta’s side were handed one of their toughest tests on paper tonight against a Bayern side who are still unbeaten in the Bundesliga and one of the favourites to win the Champions League, but they were no match for the Premier League frontrunners in north London.

Bayern had also won all but one of their matches in all competitions this season heading into their trip to the Emirates, with Arsenal handing Vincent Kompany’s side their first defeat of 2025/2026.

Second-half goals from Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli ended up firing Arsenal to victory in their heavyweight clash. Madueke, back after two months out with a knee injury, scored his first Gunners goal before fellow sub Martinelli pounced on a mistake from Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer to stretch Arsenal’s perfect record in the competition to five victories from five matches.

Earlier, Jurrien Timber had headed Arsenal into the lead and, with former Tottenham striker Harry Kane unable to add to the six goals he has scored at the Emirates, it was left to Bayern’s 17-year-old star Lennart Karl to grab the first goal Arsenal have conceded in the competition this season.

This glamour tie was arguably the least important of Premier League leaders Arsenal’s three matches this week, sandwiched between the 4-1 derby demolition of Spurs and Sunday’s trip to second-placed Chelsea.

Nevertheless, it is still one to revel in, and the result perhaps hands Arsenal the status of Europe’s best team right now.

While Timber, Madueke and Martinelli were the heroes on paper, it was a complete midfield performance by club-record signing Declan Rice, who absolutely bossed proceedings in the middle of the park with one of his best ever displays in red and white.

Ally McCoist hails 'out of this world' Declan Rice in Arsenal win

Covering the game for TNT Sports, commentator Ally McCoist repeatedly waxed lyrical about the England international — branding him Man of the Match for his “first class” outing against the Bavarians.

Rice was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet as well on 60 minutes, with the former West Ham captain storming down the left only for veteran keeper Manuel Neuer to deny him just reward for his imperious showing.

McCoist called Rice “magnificent” and “out of this world” for the run, which just about summed up what was a possessed performance from one of Arsenal’s leaders.

Tonight was a massive statement from Arsenal, who not only showed they can cut it against Europe’s toughest opponents, but also sent a very clear message that they’ve got absolutely zero intention of letting up.

Next up, a fierce London derby awaits against Chelsea this weekend — a match which could send Arteta’s side nine points clear at the top of the table and cement their status as overwhelming title favourites.

Rice will be a massive part of that, and tonight shows just how vital he is in Arteta’s quest to end the club’s 22-year wait for a Premier League trophy.

Two-way star Shohei Ohtani is a baseball marvel.

Pitching and hitting both seem to come so easily to Ohtani, who has won three MVPs and has finished in the top-five of the Cy Young Award voting once in his decorated eight-year career. So much so that it's hard to believe that wasn't the case at one point in his life.

Ohtani, during an appearance on on Monday, was asked if he views himself more as a pitcher or a hitter.

"I feel like I was more talented as a hitter growing up," Ohtani said through his interpreter Will Ireton. "And it was hard for me to pitch actually. So I feel like I'm more of a hitter who learned how to pitch more than a pitcher learning how to hit."

It's incredibly difficult to believe that it was once hard for Ohtani to pitch. This is a man who just three seasons ago ranked among the top-five American League pitchers in ERA (2.33) and strikeouts (219). In 2025—his return to the mound after undergoing elbow surgery in September of 2023—he has permitted just one earned run and has struck out 10 in nine innings.

If pitching didn't initially come naturally to Ohtani, it's scary to think how much better he'd be on the mound if it did. Nevertheless, it's astounding how good he's become at a skill that once didn't come as easily to him.

All this to say: imagine the havoc a young Ohtani wreaked in Little League once he learned how to pitch.