MI New York showed it’s possible to be successful while using USA players, but will MLC mandate their inclusion in future?

Peter Della Penna30-Jul-2023As the first year of Major League Cricket builds to a crescendo on Sunday night in Grand Prairie, Texas, the tournament final will feature an MI New York side whose stars have dominated the stats columns in the event.Nicholas Pooran enters as the leading scorer with 251 runs as well as the most sixes in the tournament with 21, while Tim David is also in the top five in runs scored with 199 at an average of 49.75 and a strike rate of 171.55 and the second most sixes in the tournament with 16. Trent Boult is the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 19, eight more than the nearest bowler. There’s also a spinner in the MI New York squad who is very impressively leading an important category in T20 cricket. But it isn’t Rashid Khan.This name might not have been on the tip of the tongue of any casual fan at the start of the tournament when asked to name one of the event’s best bowlers. But left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige’s league-leading 5.58 economy rate stands out for another very important reason in this fledgling American T20 franchise league.Related

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Dallas metroplex resident Kenjige, 32, is one of just nine US-born players on MLC rosters, and one of only two to actually make anyone’s starting XI along with MI New York team-mate Steven Taylor. He has been a USA national team player since 2017, much-loved and respected within the US community for his unrivalled work ethic, yet one who was very much unheralded on the global stage before this tournament began. But the support that he and other USA players have received from MI New York management is a blueprint for promoting local players in MLC going forward.”I think you have to win and develop at the same time,” MI New York head coach Robin Peterson said during a post-match press conference at the halfway stage of the tournament when discussing his team’s selection policy regarding the visibility of USA players in their squad. “It’s not either or. That’s the job we’re here to do. Players from the Associate nations and the USA national team, they need to become used to and ingrained in the pressure of having to perform. That’s part of their development in this league. Yes, we do have a keen development angle, but at the top of our mind is always trying to win and you can learn a lot from winning.”When other franchise leaders were asked the same question during the tournament, the answer was generally that winning comes first. But MI New York has shown that it is possible to walk and chew at the same time.Heading into the tournament final, a total of ten players with USA caps have made 56 appearances in the starting XI in 18 matches. But MI New York have led the way with 21 of those selections spread across four players. Aside from Kenjige, opener Shayan Jahangir is third on the team’s runs chart behind Pooran and David with 154 at an average of 25.66. MI New York has also picked Taylor and USA captain Monank Patel for more than half the matches played. They also took three other USA players in the draft – Kyle Phillip, Jessy Singh and Saideep Ganesh – and when Phillip was ruled out of the tournament after his bowling action was reported at the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, his place was taken by another US-eligible player in Slade van Staden.Saurabh Netravalkar’s scalps this tournament have included Nicholas Pooran•SportzpicsBut most of the other franchises have fallen short when it comes to giving USA players a platform to shine. San Francisco Unicorns, who failed to make the playoffs, did not start a single capped USA player. Yet it is not just the what but the how this has come about that is of particular note.On one hand, players like Saurabh Netravalkar for Washington Freedom and Cameron Gannon for Seattle Orcas have shown that, given a chance, USA players are more than capable of holding their own. Former USA captain Netravalkar registered the tournament’s best bowling figures of 6 for 9 against Unicorns and ended with a team-best ten wickets. Dual national Gannon, who last represented USA in 2019 but on either side of that appearance has committed his time to Sheffield Shield cricket in Australia, is the joint-leading wicket-taker for the other tournament finalist Orcas with 11 wickets at an average of 14.09.On the flip side, most franchises have exploited MLC’s nebulous definition of “domestic player” to mainly pick non-USA eligible players – many of whom had a negligible impact – to fill their domestic quota. Contrary to the Global T20 Canada and the UAE’s ILT20, a pair of leagues who mandate a minimum number of three and two domestic players respectively in each starting XI – and clearly define them as someone who is eligible for or has been capped for Canada or the UAE – MLC officials determined that a player could meet that standard simply by merely pledging to “hold a ‘qualified visa’, have established their ‘primary and permanent residence’ in the US, and will continue to satisfy the ICC’s guideline regarding ten out of 12 months for three consecutive years”.It opened the door for the farcical situation of Chaitanya Bishnoi, who landed in the USA merely days before the MLC draft for domestic players in March but was taken in the fourth round for $40,000. Though not as egregious an example, former Pakistan international Mukhtar Ahmed was playing domestic cricket in Faisalabad as recently as September 2022 before being taken as a domestic player in March’s MLC draft for the second round price tag of $65,000.Bishnoi went on to make 52 runs in four innings (entering at No. 8 in three of his four innings) and bowled three overs for Unicorns. Mukhtar’s returns were perhaps even more negligible: occupying prime real estate at No. 3 in the batting order every match for Freedom, he scored 78 runs at an average of 13.00 and a strike rate of 105.40 with a best of 20.This raises pertinent questions. A: Why are players who have played internationals for other countries being regarded as locals if they have not qualified yet by ICC rules to play for USA? B: Shouldn’t a player like Mukhtar, who is currently ineligible to play for USA and has played for Pakistan previously, be regarded as overseas and have to compete for overseas slots with the likes of Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf? C: Did any such player genuinely raise the standard of the league, thereby perhaps justifying the leniency in the rules that allows such picks in place of a US-eligible player?There is another wrench in the equation of local players though. There are cases like England’s Liam Plunkett, New Zealand’s Corey Anderson and Sri Lanka’s Shehan Jayasuriya – players who married American citizens and migrated to the USA for family reasons totally unrelated to MLC.Liam Plunkett – he of 2019 World Cup England fame, now at MLC•Getty ImagesPlunkett has made considerable efforts to establish links in the local Pennsylvania sports cricket community, mainly through academy coaching, and the same is true of Anderson in the Dallas area. But Plunkett is not eligible to play for USA and few, if any, promotional media segments organised in the build-up to the tournament have attempted to identify him as anything other than one of England’s heroes from the 2019 World Cup final win. He was even introduced in his opening spell of the tournament to TV audiences around the world by MLC broadcast commentator Pommie Mbangwa as the “50-over World Cup winner from England”.It would not seem unreasonable to establish a middle-ground category for players like Plunkett who are in a type of limbo: England international career done, but now firmly entrenched in the US cricket community despite not being eligible to play for USA. Why not ensure a minimum number of US-eligible players in the XI while also making room for a few “wildcard domestic” players? At least it would go some way towards ending the charade of pretending to portray Plunkett as something he is not, nor has Plunkett ever tried to be, while also curbing the practice of declaring players “domestic” at the 11th hour.It’s also worth noting that the Global T20 Canada’s policy of three Canadian players in the starting XI was not always so. In year one, the GT20’s original rules stated that four Canada players needed to be drafted into each squad, but there was no mandate to play any of them in the starting XI, and many teams chose not to. It was only Saad bin Zafar’s magical Player-of-the-Match performance in the tournament-final win by Vancouver Knights that seemingly opened eyes to the fact that Canada players could and would shine, if only given a chance.Time will tell if MLC adjusts their roster policy for the second year of the league to mandate a minimum number of US-eligible players in the starting XI in the same way that GT20 and ILT20 do. Until that time comes, MI New York have led the way in showing that whether by force or by choice, USA players are capable of holding their own both against and alongside some of the biggest names on the global T20 franchise circuit.

His patchy form means he is no longer Bangladesh’s first-choice left-arm pacer despite his end-over skills. So now he’s looking to add to his repertoire

Mohammad Isam21-Sep-2023Not much cricket was played in Dhaka today, thanks to the on-again, off-again unseasonal rain, but what little was managed provided the stage for Mustafizur Rahman to show some vital rhythm ahead of the World Cup.Someone like Mustafizur would usually be a shoo-in for a spot in Bangladesh’s World Cup fifteen, but patchy form meant that the selectors and team management were looking for signs of this rhythm. His numbers for this season might be deceptively good, but he has looked out of sorts in most spells since last year and, for a while now, Shoriful Islam has edged ahead of him in Bangladesh’s left-arm pace pecking order. Shoriful bowled well enough in the Asia Cup to earn a rest in this series, meaning he is also confirmed pick for the World Cup. Mustafizur has this one series to state his strongest case for his own spot.Today, he took three wickets, conceding just 3.85 per over in his seven overs. That sort of economy is not common for him, and even more uncommonly, he got two of his three wickets in the first powerplay. He has only done this four times – in 90 ODI innings – in his career before today, the last instance coming 20 months ago, in January 2021.With his old-ball tricks – he is known for his use of his variations like cutters and slower-balls in the death overs – being deciphered more and more by batters since roughly the start of 2022, he has been working on sharpening his skills with the new ball. Bangladesh’s assistant coach Nic Pothas, speaking after today’s abandoned ODI, said as much.”Fizz [Mustafizur] has been working hard for the last month or so, to try to find some rhythm with the new ball,” Pothas said. “He has worked hard with [fast-bowling coach] Allan Donald. You can see the fruits, and it is coming along at the right time before the World Cup. We are very happy for him. We know his death-bowling credentials. You can wake him up at 3 o’clock in the morning to bowl death overs, and he will do them with the best in the world.”Pothas said that the skills needed to bowl with the new ball and being a death-overs specialist are very different things. Pothas believes Mustafizur is experienced enough to excel in both areas. “Those two roles are very specific. They almost live in two different boxes. It is no different to a batsman playing a particular type of innings and then having to do range hitting at the end.”[But] these guys are professionals. They have to be able to do anything. He prioritises very well. He is very experienced.”Mustafizur also earned praise from New Zealand captain Lockie Ferguson. “Certainly today was challenging for the boys and I thought the way Youngie [Will Young] and [Henry] Nicholls batted through that middle part really cemented a potential platform for us. Obviously it was difficult coming on and off with rain as well, it wasn’t easy.”Bangladesh bowled really well. Clearly there was some spin, and Mustafiz bowled really nicely as well. So, good learnings to take into the next game, but it’s just unfortunate that it rained.”

ODIs aren’t a priority for England at the moment, and that’s been reflected in their poor show at the World Cup so far

Matt Roller23-Oct-20231:40

What’s gone wrong for England?

The widespread view that ODIs are dying a slow and painful death has not been rebuffed in the first two-and-a-half weeks of the World Cup in India. Halfway through the group stage, the tournament has been characterised by two things: the number of close finishes (hardly any) and empty seats (plenty).It was a theme that emerged as Joe Root spoke to the English press in Bengaluru on Monday. Root stressed that he was not looking to make excuses for England’s disastrous start to their title defence, which has seen them lose three of their first four matches, but the lingering sense that 50-over cricket no longer takes precedence was reinforced.Echoing his coach, Matthew Mott, Root suggested that England’s build-up had been “rushed” after a six-month gap between March and September in which none of their World Cup squad played a single List A game, let alone an ODI. “It would have been nice to have a proper run-in,” he said.Related

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In the four years between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, England played 88 ODIs and used 34 players, 12 of whom played more than 50% of those games. From 2019-23, they played just 42 ODIs and used 44 players, of whom only eight featured in at least half. The player who won the most caps in this cycle, Jason Roy, is not at the World Cup.Playing a full-strength side more often “definitely would have benefitted” England, Root said. “It would have been nice to [have] a six-month period where you slowly work things through as a group. But that’s just not how it is at the minute, and that’s not how we get to play our cricket as an England player, so you’ve just got to be adaptable.”Since their triumph in the 2019 World Cup, England’s schedule has been dominated by Test cricket: they have played 56 Tests in that period, with Australia and India joint-second on 39. With several tours staged concurrently and their white-ball teams focused on the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups, multi-format players have often been rested for ODIs.The result is that England’s all-format players are simultaneously overcooked after a busy winter of touring, a full IPL season and an exhausting Ashes campaign; and undercooked, in terms of relevant practice in the format they are actually playing at this World Cup.Jos Buttler couldn’t do much to change the script against South Africa•ICC via Getty ImagesRoot is a prime example: he played only 19 ODIs between the 2019 final and the opening game of the 2023 tournament. “We’re in a unique situation,” he said. “We play a huge amount of Test cricket compared to a lot of the other nations, so there’s always going to be overlapping schedules if we continue to play the amount that we do.”England’s next generation has also hardly played 50-over cricket, since the counties’ One Day Cup clashes with the Hundred, which launched in 2021. Gus Atkinson, the young Surrey fast bowler who featured in their 229-run thrashing to South Africa on Saturday, has played more one-day cricket for his country (four caps) than his county (two).Mott admitted that England were “guessing a little bit” in selection meetings due to their inability to compare players’ recent 50-over performances. “When you’re not playing the format, it’s hard to know who the best players are,” Root said. “That being said, I don’t think we’ve got the wrong squad of players here; I just don’t think we’ve performed.”Root has been an advocate of the Hundred, and said that England’s start to the World Cup “doesn’t make me change my mind” about it. “It makes me question whether we should be playing more 50-over cricket [at domestic level] instead of T20 – instead of the Blast, maybe,” he said.But the reality is that England are unlikely to prioritise 50-over cricket again anytime soon. And why would they, given the shifts in the sport’s landscape? They will pick a fresh squad to play three ODIs against West Indies in December, but will then not play another series in the format until mid-September, when they host Australia.

“It shouldn’t be down to, ‘is it bringing the most money for the sport?’ It should be down to what people want to watch, and what’s going to engage the next generation of players”Joe Root

“There’s talk of whether this format is relevant anymore anyway, in international cricket,” Root said. “Whether that gets changed, I don’t know. Who knows how things will move in the future? But whether it’s domestically or internationally, I don’t think we play enough of it if we’re going to continue to look to compete in World Cups.”Asked whether he would like the format to survive, Root – who was England’s top-scorer at the 2019 World Cup – did not provide a ringing endorsement. “I think it’s got a huge amount of history and it brings a lot to cricket,” he said. “It will always hold a very special part of my heart for what it’s given me throughout my career.”[But] I think that’s a question that should be posed to the next generation of players, and to everyone watching the game, really. It shouldn’t be down to, ‘is it bringing the most money for the sport?’ It should be down to what people want to watch, and what’s going to engage the next generation of players.”Their answer may become apparent next month, when England select a squad to tour the Caribbean for three ODIs and five T20Is: will players who have been excluded from the list of central contracts that will be published this week turn down franchise deals in order to play in a bilateral tour?While many of the players involved in this tournament still see it as the centrepiece of the international game, that consensus is weakening. Last year, a survey by the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) found that just 54% of men’s players consider the World Cup the “pinnacle ICC event”, down from 86% in 2019.Joe Root has been dismissed six times in the powerplay in nine innings since the start of 2022•Associated PressAnd England’s squad has been surprised by how poor the crowds have been for their matches so far – in particular against New Zealand on the opening night in Ahmedabad.”I know [the stadium holds] 130,000 people but the first game, opening World Cup match, [teams from the] previous final, I expected more people to be there,” Root said. “But when it’s 50 degrees [sic] and you’re sat in the sun all day, and a lot of the time it’s working hours, it’s understandable.”If IPL games, which last up to four hours, can feel too long, the eight-hour ODI matchday is increasingly out of kilter with fans’ demands; the ICC’s slogan for this tournament, “It takes one day”, seems almost apologetic.Root emphasised his belief that England’s squad remain “bloody good players” who can pull off five consecutive wins to reach the semi-finals, starting against Sri Lanka on Thursday. He also played down the idea that, with their legacy as world champions in both white-ball formats secure, England have lacked the hunger of other teams.They are clearly not as bad a side as their performances at this World Cup have suggested, but the trend is clear: England were brilliant at one-day cricket during the four years when it became their No. 1 priority, and have declined in the four years since. Considering the global context, it may never be their priority again.

Having fallen off the back of a golf cart, the allrounder returned to action with big hits at the Wankhede nets

Vishal Dikshit06-Nov-2023Glenn Maxwell is standing diagonally behind the Australia team nets. Arms folded, his body straight, the cap worn backwards on the head, dark shades covering the eyes which are presumably fixed on what’s going on in the nets.He has watched Josh Inglis and Marcus Stoinis smash the ball around. He has seen enough of Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne take throwdowns. And the way he is holding his pose only a few steps away from the nets with a dead-pan straight face, it would seem as if he is barred from batting and has been punished further by watching his team-mates smother the ball in the nets, especially given the amount of runs that could again be on offer at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.Soon comes Maxwell’s turn. Before you can say “Glenn”, he has turned around and padded up with the same rush with which you dress up when you come out of the shower in the winters.The net Maxwell enters is to face four local spinners. There are two right-arm legspinners, one left-arm wristspinner and one left-arm fingerspinner. They all don’t replicate the variety and threat of spin bowling Afghanistan’s spin attack will pose for Maxwell and Australia on Tuesday, but it’s decent preparation they can manage for a game in which they will face at least three spinners, maybe four, all of different kind.Mind you, Maxwell had already batted once in the nets roughly an hour earlier before he padded up again. It’s Maxwell after all, a man not in form but in uber-form this World Cup. And he has been away from action for over a week now because of an off-field concussion. He is itching to get back and dispatch the ball to different parts of the ground. He must still be high on the fastest World Cup hundred he smashed recently and he is also scoring runs quicker than anyone this tournament (minimum 80 balls faced).Related

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Afghanistan have themselves reached dizzying heights this World Cup especially because of their spin attack which is not heavily reliant on one or two individuals, and has collectively taken the second-most wickets as a unit this tournament, only behind table-toppers India.So out comes Maxwell under his helmet. The length ball from the left-arm wristspinner is a bit too full and Maxwell swoops low for a slog-sweep deep into the leg side of the ground from the left-most training pitch on the off side. The legspinner pitches one too short and Maxwell pounces on the pull with such force that by the time he has finished his follow through, his bat is behind him, his body twisted with his stance open, his legs facing deep square leg and his torso is turned towards long leg.Maxwell, we already know, defies the laws of physics while executing his outrageous shots. Have you seen him bat in the last 10 overs this World Cup? His strike rate is a whopping 220.33, and unless you are Aiden Markram or Quinton de Kock, you can’t score quicker than him. Come Tuesday, he could easily face a lot of spin in that phase because Afghanistan are bowling more spin than anyone this World Cup.Maxwell prepares for the next ball. It’s pitched up, doesn’t matter which arm the bowler has released it with, if he was a finger or wristspinner, bowled a wrong’un or stock ball. Maxwell packs so much power into it, before it can turn either way, to flay it down the ground that his body has twisted again because of his quick and whippy swing. The legs are alright this time, but the upper half has bent and run away to the off side, almost perpendicular to the bottom half with his head pointed towards deep point. The bat’s face is towards the leg side. The ball? It had vanished a while ago.Whether the subsequent balls were pitched up or short, outside off or in line with the stumps, Maxwell would only use hard hands combined with his open stance to swing big and dispatch the ball high and far from his net. The lofted drives on the up, the fierce scythe over point, the aerial reverse laps and reverse sweeps, the pull full of disdain, the slog sweep packed with force. There was only one way he was batting, and it seemed like that was the only way he would bat on Tuesday.4:10

How did he do it? Maxwell’s blow-by-blow account of the mayhem

It was only once earlier in the day during his first batting stint that Maxwell had looked a little different. He had warmed up with some defensive strokes and use of soft hands, naturally so because he is coming back from a concussion and missed one game. And it was only once that he was beaten completely, while attempting a reverse sweep against the left-arm fingerspinner, when he missed his swing and lost his off stump.Maxwell won’t worry about that though. One dismissal surrounded by countless lofted strokes doesn’t mean much, that too against a left-arm spinner which Afghanistan don’t have. What Afghanistan do have, though, among their four spinners is an offspinner in Mohammad Nabi, and Maxwell didn’t get to face an offspinner in the nets on Monday. That won’t worry him either because have you seen Maxwell’s match-up against Nabi in ODIs? It’s 42 runs off a mere 20 balls with just one dismissal, studded with four sixes and two fours. The sample size is small but it translates to a boundary every three balls or so.The way the Wankhede has dished out sixes more frequently than any other ground this World Cup (55 in three games) and the way it has been so unfavourable to spinners in recent times, Afghanistan will probably hope that Maxwell ends up bowling more spin than facing it on Tuesday.

ESPNcricinfo picks seven players who could make their IPL debuts this season and have a big impact for their teams

Deivarayan Muthu14-Mar-2024

Rachin Ravindra (Chennai Super Kings)

Rachin Ravindra had piled up as many runs as any New Zealand batter has ever scored in an ODI World Cup, but when Chennai Super Kings signed him for INR 1.8 crore (USD 217,000 approx.) in December last year, he wasn’t a certain starter in their XI or XII (accounting for the Impact Player). His body of work in T20 cricket is fairly limited, but a thumb injury to Devon Conway, who has been sidelined until May, has opened up a spot for Ravindra at the top of the order. Like his New Zealand and Wellington mate Conway, Ravindra isn’t a power-hitter but can be a skillful disruptor at the top along with Ruturaj Gaikwad. The 24-year-old can also bowl quickish left-arm fingerspin, which gives CSK’s bowling attack additional cushion, especially if the pitches in Chennai continue to be spin-friendly.Related

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Sameer Rizvi (Chennai Super Kings)

CSK don’t usually splurge on uncapped players, but 20-year-old Sameer Rizvi’s ability to dominate spin made them bid INR 8.40 crore (USD 1 million approx) for him at the auction. In a Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 game on a slow pitch in Dehradun, Rizvi almost single-handedly powered Uttar Pradesh home with an unbeaten 75 off 46 balls against a strong Tamil Nadu spin attack comprising Varun Chakravarthy, R Sai Kishore and Washington Sundar.Rizvi had first emerged on the scouts’ radar after hitting the most sixes for Kanpur Superstars in the UP T20 league. More recently in February this year, he cracked a triple-century for UP in the Under-23 CK Nayudu Trophy. With CSK missing Ambati Rayudu, and Ajinkya Rahane struggling for form, Rizvi, who has been dubbed as the right-handed Suresh Raina, could make his IPL debut this season.Mumbai Indians’ Gerald Coetzee has got pace and passion•ICC/Getty Images

Gerald Coetzee (Mumbai Indians)

Having been part of Rajasthan Royals in the past as a replacement player, South Africa’s Gerald Coetzee could be among Mumbai’s first-choice overseas players along with Tim David this season. An out-and-out quick, who can touch 150kph, Coetzee announced himself during the 2023 ODI World Cup, with 20 wickets in eight games at a strike rate of 19.05.But Coetzee has more than just raw pace: he’s also got some nifty variations in his repertoire. Just ask Jos Buttler about his legcutter. Coetzee can also give it a good whack down the order, which makes him a particularly explosive package. Joburg Super Kings even tried out Coetzee as a pinch-hitting opening batter in a knockout game during the 2023 SA20. Coetzee, though, missed the entire 2024 SA20 season with injury and will be looking to make a comeback this IPL.

Nuwan Thushara (Mumbai Indians)

Lasith Malinga outsmarting batters with his slingy action has been a familiar sight in the IPL over the years. Now, it’s time for another Sri Lankan slinger to rock it in Mumbai’s blue and gold. Nuwan Thushara, 29, has never been part of the IPL before, but has had stints in the LPL and PSL. He has already eased his way into the Mumbai set-up with a stint at MI Cape Town in the most recent SA20, and will have the original slinger Malinga in his dugout.Thushara also turned heads in international cricket by bagging a hat-trick on his way to a five-wicket haul against Bangladesh in Sylhet earlier this month. That performance reminded Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis of Malinga (who else?). Thushara vs Matheesha Pathirana, another Sri Lanka slinger, could potentially add more spice to the Mumbai-CSK rivalry.

Azmatullah Omarzai (Gujarat Titans)

No Hardik Pandya for Gujarat Titans? Step forward, Azmatullah Omarzai, Afghanistan’s Hardik Pandya. Omarzai, 23, can float in the batting line-up and swing the new ball in the powerplay. Sachin Tendulkar was so impressed with his wrist position and swing bowling during the ODI World Cup that he was reminded of the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar. After dismissing David Warner with an inswinger, Omarzai snagged Josh Inglis with an outswinger next ball, but Glenn Maxwell averted the hat-trick and pulled off a miracle for Australia at the Wankhede.Omarzai’s recent form with the bat is also encouraging. He hit a career-best 149 not out in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Pallekele and was also among the runs for Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League. He has worked closely with Babar Azam in the BPL and PSL (Peshawar Zalmi).Australia’s Spencer Johnson is in high demand on the T20 circuit•BCCI

Spencer Johnson (Gujarat Titans)

Spencer, who? When he didn’t have a professional contract about two years ago, following a recurrence of an ankle injury, Johnson worked as a landscape gardener. The 28-year-old fast bowler is now among the most sought-after players on the T20 circuit, having had gigs in the Hundred (Oval Invincibles), MLC (Los Angeles Knight Riders), and Surrey Jaguars (Global T20 Canada), in addition to being a strike bowler for Brisbane Heat in the BBL. He capped an extraordinary 2023 with an IPL deal worth INR 10 crore (USD 1,205,000 approx.) with Titans. That’s who.Johnson’s USP is creating un-hittable angles and finding extra bounce with his imposing frame (six feet, four inches) at speeds north of 140kph. Considering the injury to Mohammed Shami and Titans coach Ashish Nehra’s penchant for left-armers, Johnson could be an overseas option for Titans, especially on quicker pitches.

Kumar Kushagra (Delhi Capitals)

A hard-hitting wicketkeeper from Jharkhand, Kumar Kushagra had CSK, Delhi Capitals and Titans locked in a fierce bidding war for him at the auction in December, with Capitals eventually buying him for INR 7.20 crore (USD 867,500 approx). Rishabh Pant has been cleared by the BCCI medical team to start IPL 2024 as a wicketkeeper-batter, but the Capitals’ co-owner Parth Jindal had suggested earlier that Pant would play as a batter for the first half of the season. In that case, 19-year-old Kushagra could slot in as the keeper.Kushagra impressed Sourav Ganguly, Capitals’ director of cricket, at the 50-over Deodhar Trophy last year and later at the trials. Then, in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, he walloped 67 off 37 balls from No.6 to help Jharkhand overhaul Maharashtra’s 355 in Jaipur. In the lead-up to a potential IPL debut, he also represented India A against the visiting England Lions.

He’s taking over a team that has qualified for two IPL finals and won a title, and needs a big season to push for a place in India’s T20 World Cup XI

Shashank Kishore23-Mar-2024″I don’t know if you’ve looked at the captains photo with the trophy. That’s how different it is.”Shubman Gill summed up in one sentence the different vibe to IPL 2024. He was referring to the changing of the guard among captains. No Dhoni, Rohit or Kohli. Shreyas Iyer is the most experienced leader, while Gill is the newest.The new Gujarat Titans captain has barely any formal leadership experience. He’s led his state side Punjab in just two T20s in 2019-20. That’s two more than his predecessor – and opponent on Sunday, Hardik Pandya – had when he captained Titans to the IPL title in their first season in 2022, and steered them to the final again in 2023. The bar has been set high for Gill.Related

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He also takes over as Titans captain in what is going to be a crucial season for him as a batter. After a sensational performance in IPL 2023 – 890 runs – you’d imagine that Gill is a lock-in for India at the upcoming T20 World Cup. But the competition for place in the top order, and even to be a reserve in a 15-man squad, is tough.The spectacular rise of Yashasvi Jaiswal and the return of Rohit Sharma as captain leaves little room in the top two. Virat Kohli’s comeback to the shortest format means No. 3 could be spoken for too. Suryakumar Yadav, when fully fit, walks in as well.So this is the challenge facing Gill in his first season as Titans captain, just one year after he so successfully transformed himself as a T20 batter. Between 2019 and 2022, Gill had a best strike rate of 132 in an IPL season. He upped that to 157.80 while remaining prolific – three hundreds and nearly a fourth, an unbeaten 94.Gill took giant strides in improving his six-hitting too. Between IPL 2018 and 2022, he had hit only 47 sixes. Last season alone, he hit 33. The question now is whether Gill will continue batting this aggressively and effectively with the added responsibility of captaincy? There are some examples of young Indian batters who haven’t done so.A time for change: the next generation of IPL captains•BCCIRishabh Pant’s strike rate in his first IPL season as captain was 128.52; it was 152.26 in the previous three seasons. Sanju Samson’s strike rate was 147.32 for three seasons leading into his first as captain, when it dropped to 136.72. For KL Rahul, the drop was from 146.60 to 129.45.Hardik Pandya also slowed down as captain. He went from being a finisher for Mumbai Indians with a strike rate of 169 in three seasons before he became the Titans captain, and then scored at 131.26 in his new role as the team’s anchor. It’s probable that Gill isn’t aware of this trend, but he’s shown himself capable of overcoming challenges.As recently as February, his place in the Test side came under scrutiny during the home series against England after a string of low scores. As the criticism of his form and weakness against the incoming delivery grew, Gill displayed resilience in constructing a fighting second-innings hundred in Visakhapatnam. It paved the way for more runs in the next three Tests.IPL 2022 was an incredible season for Gill with the bat. He needs to find a way to match that along with the responsibility of captaincy, for the Titans to go far in the IPL, and to further his prospects of making the cut for the T20 World Cup.

Soon-to-be-father sticks to the game that got him noticed to drive England into the ascendancy

Vithushan Ehantharajah20-Jul-2024Even before Ben Duckett got his second shot at a Test career on the 2022 tour of Pakistan, the four caps he achieved way back in 2016 were something he was looking forward to telling his grandchildren about.As he awaits the imminent birth of his first child with fiancée, Paige, setting the lineage in motion for those future earwiggers … well, kids, granddad has a few stories to tell. Not just of three centuries – and of a couple of indiscretions that preceded his chance to score them – but of his role in fortifying England’s opening partnership for the first time since 2012. It’s a role he’s performed with the kind of engaging play that, as was the case here on Saturday – and indeed on Thursday – channels an opponent’s energy and fires it straight back at them between the eyes.The 71 runs that West Indies added for their final wicket gave the tourists a not-inconsequential lead of 41, while also prolonging the morning session to further frustrate England. The move to simply not try and get Joshua Da Silva out confused many, who were then irked as No.11 Shamar Joseph started to show his aptitude with the bat. And when Duckett drove into Zak Crawley’s stumps at the non-striker’s end – via the fingertips of Jayden Seales – there was the missing ingredient from the first seven sessions of this second Test. Jeopardy.And then, just like that, it was gone. Ground to a paste and smeared across the Trent Bridge outfield, mainly through cover and backward point. Much like day one, when Crawley fell three balls into England’s opening effort, Duckett – again with the assistance of Ollie Pope – flipped matters with a breezy seventy-odd: another knock that did not trouble the centuries column, but carried as much weight given the circumstances.Then, the left-hander unfurled four consecutive fours against Seales – West Indies’ best last week at Lord’s – propelling England to 50 inside just 4.2 overs to change immediately the mood inside Trent Bridge. This time, the deficit was polished off in 41 deliveries. Duckett assumed a more subdued role with Pope having the honour to tuck into Seales for consecutive boundaries. But he had overtaken Pope by the time he unloaded a hat-trick of sweeps on Kevin Sinclair, which in turn allowed England to bring up their 100 in 18.4 overs. Duckett had 53 of them.Much as had been the case for England, a ball change helped momentarily turn the tide for West Indies. The first 14 deliveries with the replacement accounted for Pope and Duckett, both undone by the sideways movement that the subbed-out Dukes was lacking.Three successive sweeps took Ben Duckett to fifty, and ripped the initiative from West Indies•Getty ImagesOn a true pitch at a boundary-friendly ground, the lead of 99 for the loss of three at that juncture had the game in the balance. But the fact that England had that platform allowed Harry Brook (71 off 78) and Joe Root (37 off 67) to close out the day playing their natural games in the toughest conditions, as the moisture held in the air with the floodlights in use for the final 90 minutes of play.”There are occasions when you’d like to put your feet up for a little bit longer,” Chris Woakes joked when asked what it was like watching a top order perpetually on the charge, unperturbed by the odd casualty.”We’ve committed to that way of playing and, we want to entertain, we want to put the pressure back on the opposition. It’s exciting to watch, but at the same time there are sometimes when you’re like ‘lads can we just bat some overs’ so you can put your feet up! But you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth, the way the guys are playing so far in this game has been incredibly exciting, great to watch and hopefully puts bums on seats.”I also know, while there might also be occasionally chances with the new ball against our opening pair because of the way they play, I also know as a bowler – and an opening bowler – that when you’re put under pressure, it does make it harder to deliver your skill.”It’s worth noting Duckett’s introduction to the team came at a time when the vibes under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes were immaculate. The 2022 summer had hooked everyone in, but the selectors decided Duckett’s flourish was a missing piece. Alex Lees was a surprise casualty as Duckett got the nod for Pakistan. In the 18 Tests since, against six teams spread across three continents, the shorter left-hander is averaging 47 and has struck his 1,504 runs at 88.62.Related

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None of that is put on. It’s not Bazball, counter-attacking or imposing oneself. Simply a bloke who loves going after the ball so much that there were guffaws in the stands when he left his first ball of the innings, from Alzarri Joseph, to nudge his overall leave percentage closer to 2. And, every bit as loud as the cheers that greeted the 11 boundaries that took England away from peril, was the ovation when Duckett walked off with a second tone-shifting innings in three days.That it came at his home ground felt particularly pertinent, given the looming addition to his family speaks of a more grown-up Duckett, without having to shed the impish instincts. A handy sweet spot between maturity and immaturity. Like knowing swearing isn’t big or clever, but still finding it funny.Northamptonshire encouraged the renegade streak, then Nottinghamshire refined it. That included re-shaping his grip after a botched recovery from an operation on the ring finger of his left hand, which resulted in a contorted grip in the 2018 summer, limiting his scoring shots.The issue arose because Duckett returned to action four weeks earlier than he should have done, impatiently trying to state his case for a return to the England team. The recovery took longer than expected, but as he is finding out, good things come to those who wait, even to a man in a hurry. Particularly now he has a few more stories to share with the family. Perhaps even one of a series-clinching Test win in the city they now call home.

They haven’t yet fired as a combination, and with the USA leg over and conditions getting better for batting, India may need more from them

Sidharth Monga21-Jun-20241:21

Kumble: India unlikely to change Kohli-Rohit partnership against Bangladesh

At this T20 World Cup 2024, India have made it clear they want to be flexible with their batting order – with one caveat.”Besides the openers, none of the guys’ positions are fixed as such,” Rohit Sharma said ahead of their game against Pakistan in New York. “We want to be very flexible in that and the message has been given to them very clearly about it, that only the openers will stay stagnant unless it’s a Super Over or it’s a five-over game. But otherwise, the openers will stay the same.”Related

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Rohit and Virat Kohli have been India’s constants at the top of the order, and so far they’ve put on stands of 22, 12, 1 and 11. This wasn’t a matter of concern to the team management in the first round, because the openers were getting out early, looking to play aggressively, and those losses weren’t a dampener on the rest of the batting order, with the challenging surfaces of the USA not calling for power-hitting.Now, though, with pitches in the Super Eight stage getting better to bat on, with conditions calling for a little more inventiveness and power, there might be a bit more concern around Rohit and Kohli.India have some breathing space, having opened the Super Eight with a win, but two familiar scenarios played themselves out in that match against Afghanistan. Rohit scored six off nine deliveries from the left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi and got out to him. Since 2022, he has struck at just 120.12 against left-arm pace, a variety of bowling he will likely face in India’s remaining matches. Bangladesh, their next opponents in their Super Eight group, have Mustafizur Rahman, and Australia Mitchell Starc.Then the offspinner Mohammad Nabi rocked up and bowled through the powerplay without conceding a boundary to either Rohit or Kohli, both right-hand batters, conceding nine off 12 balls to the pair. Eventually, it was the left-hand batter at No. 3, Rishabh Pant, who innovated against Nabi and salvaged the powerplay for India.Kohli looked in better touch than Rohit, and batter for longer, but that is not necessarily a good thing in T20s. An opener batting into the ninth over and going at a run a ball on a pitch that isn’t treacherous can be counterproductive. You could even make the argument that an opener getting out for a single-digit score having faced single-digit balls is better than a run-a-ball 24.Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have put on 22, 12, 1 and 11 in India’s four matches so far•ICC via Getty ImagesThen, in case you feel out of form, how do you play yourself into form in a tournament with such a short turnaround between matches? Perhaps that’s why both Rohit and Kohli turned up for optional nets in the one-day gap India had between the Afghanistan and Bangladesh matches, this after having travelled from Barbados to Antigua on the evening of the Afghanistan match.Batting coach Vikram Rathour was asked whether he was happy India were winning even without any major contribution from Kohli so far. Rathour said he wasn’t. “I’m not happy. I would love if he gets going and scores more runs,” he said. “But yeah, it is good that when you are challenged at times and you know the guys who are not getting too much of batting in India sometimes, they are the ones who put up scores. Our middle order came to play. So it was good to see.”Bangladesh can test India with left-arm pace and spin so it will be a challenge for the openers again. “They’re a good unit. They have a lot of guys who can [challenge us with] spin bowling and they are good in certain conditions,” Rathour said, but he wasn’t speaking in the context of India’s openers. “And these conditions do suit them a little as a team because the wickets seem to have a bit of help for the spinners and they do have spinners in their team. But again, in this format I think every team is a tough team.”I don’t believe there is any contest in T20 cricket which is an easy contest. It might look like [it] in the end, I mean today [against Afghanistan] we won by almost 50 runs, so it looks easy but I’m sure when the game was on it felt pretty tight.”That last bit tells you a lot about how the contest felt in the first half of India’s innings. Kohli and Rohit are among the greatest batters India has produced. They take pride in continuing to earn their places in the side, and set an example with their work ethic. This is surely not the time to second-guess the combination India have gone with. And they have the batting depth and the bowling attack to make up for any shortcomings at the top of the order.Still, the openers will want to be at their best by the time they face bigger opponents. They don’t want Rohit’s proclamation about their being the only constants turn into famous last words.

He’s been a good stand-in captain but an erratic batter, and he’ll have to course-correct quickly if the side is to do well in Australia next year

Ian Chappell07-Sep-2024Despite playing a meaningful innings against a moderate Sri Lankan attack, Ollie Pope needs more convincing knocks away from his home ground to prove he’s a substantial No. 3 batter.Otherwise Pope is in danger of becoming the polar opposite of Joe Root – a capable captain with a feel for the job but an inconsistent batter.Root on the other hand is a batter – especially in England – who is as consistent as night follows day, but his captaincy attributes were negligible. Root is currently in imperious form, but he’ll be bordering on 35 years of age by the time the next Australian tour takes place in November 2025.While Root has a passable average in Australia there’s the not so minor fact that in 27 innings he is yet to compile a Test century in the country. Those knocks were all played when Root was at the peak of his powers, so this will probably be his last chance to rectify that anomaly.Related

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On Root’s three tours of Australia, England have lost 13 of the 15 Tests played. England’s former skipper is yet to experience the thrill of victory in Australia, and this is another major hurdle. The scars are unhealed.Batting in the middle order, Pope had a poor last tour of Australia and should be considered a potential weakness. It’s not just his renowned skittishness that should interest the Australian pace bowlers, there are also some technical flaws that can be exploited.The Australian pace bowlers will hope to break the risk-taking opening partnership and bring Pope to the crease early. If they then dismiss Pope quickly it means the ever dangerous Root will be batting while the ball still has plenty of shine. That is a dream situation under Australian conditions.If Australia do cause concerns for Pope, and England are forced to omit him, then the crucial No. 3 spot becomes a revolving door. Currently the English squad is limited in players who are qualified to do a sound job at No. 3. Without Pope, England would also be missing a suitable replacement captain if Ben Stokes suffers an injury.That would be a crucial double blow to England.

Pope needs more convincing knocks away from his home ground to prove he’s a substantial No. 3 batter or he is in danger of becoming the polar opposite of Joe Root – a capable captain with a feel for the job but an inconsistent batter

However, Australia’s excellent pace attack is also at a stage where age has a diminishing effect. Only Pat Cummins, who is also a fine captain, will be at the not-so-worrying age of 32. Both Mitchell Starc, who’ll be 35 by the time of the England tour, and Josh Hazlewood, age 34, are at a point where skill declines and injuries have a detrimental effect.Offspinner Nathan Lyon is also in that category, and ageing is more of a concern for bowlers than it is for excellent batters like Root.Meanwhile, Australia received the news they’ve probably been expecting but were dreading: former opener Will Pucovski is most likely going to be missing from their ranks following medical assessment.In form and healthy, Pucovski would be a blessing for Cummins’ team following the retirement of David Warner with his pugnacious skill. Australia now have a season to unearth a suitable replacement for Warner or else they’ll have to continue the unsatisfactory experiment of using Steve Smith as an opener.Unfortunately Pucovski’s technique against short-pitched bowling was laid bare at first-class level. It was absolutely disastrous by 2024, when Tasmanian quick Riley Meredith floored him in a Sheffield Shield match. Pucovski became a concern for any selection panel and by this stage nobody could risk choosing him for Australia.In his current cricketing and mental state it’ll be a blessing if Pucovski is left to continue his rehabilitation in virtual anonymity.In the meantime England is wisely pursuing a policy of choosing players who can have a positive effect under Australian conditions.Whilst this is an admirable policy, England’s bigger priority is for Pope to find consistently good form and cement the crucial No. 3 position. If Pope is still misfiring, then England’s tour in 2025-26 could be another frivolous trip to Australia.

The South Africa batter on finding his touch, dealing with conditions in the UAE, navigating a packed cricket calendar, and more

Ashish Pant26-Sep-2024It has been a strange 2024 for Aiden Markram. As captain, he has been phenomenal. He started the year leading Sunrisers Eastern Cape to their second successive SA20 title and then became the first captain to guide South Africa into the final of a men’s T20 World Cup in June. The T20I series loss against West Indies was little more than a blemish on his record.But his returns with the bat have taken a hit. There was a breathtaking century against India in the second Test in Cape Town in January, but barring that, his only 50-plus score this year across formats is the unbeaten 69 he hit in the third ODI against Afghanistan last week. It was a crucial innings in many ways, helping South Africa avoid a 3-0 clean sweep, but Markram’s form in general has been a concern. This becomes especially true in T20Is, where he last scored a half-century in October 2022.Markram, however, isn’t concerned about his lean patch, insisting he has felt “quite good with bat in hand.”Related

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“I mean, it’s all just cricket, really. You can feel as good as you want and not score runs, and that’s just the nature of the beast, unfortunately,” Markram told reporters in an interaction organised by ahead of the two-match T20I series against Ireland.”Some challenging wickets at the World Cup, but all in all, been feeling quite good with bat in hand. Obviously, was nice to get some runs in the last ODI, but a lot of the time I just measure form as to how much I can contribute to my team winning games and not necessarily the amount of runs that I’m scoring.”So that’s what I’m going to take with me moving forward, and hopefully, I can score some runs so that the team is in a good position and can win games are cricket.”Markram will hope to quickly find his 20-over rhythm, especially after South Africa’s heavy defeats to Afghanistan in the ODIs and the fact that they haven’t brought their strongest set of players on this UAE leg.Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller and Kagiso Rabada are some of the key names missing from the squad for the Ireland series. Nine of the 15 players in the T20I squad are yet to play more than ten T20 games. Add to that Reeza Hedricks’ lean run and that leaves a South Africa unit devoid of experience and form.Markram, though, feels that the players selected for this tour all have what it takes to succeed at the international level.”There’s a few guys that have put up their hands domestically back at home in the SA20 itself as well,” he said. “You look at a guy like Wiaan Mulder come on. Matthew Breetzke had a really good SA20. And then Nqaba Peter, of course, he’s got that X-factor. He’s still really, really young and really raw, but he has a lot of those attributes that we like as a team.”So there’s a few guys that deserve to be here firstly, and deserve to have that opportunity to grow their games as cricketers and get exposed to international cricket. And hopefully, if they get a fair opportunity and feel really comfortable in the environment, they can start putting in some nice performances for the team.”Markram became the first South Africa captain to lead the team into a World Cup final•Getty ImagesAnother thing that the South Africans have had to contend with on this UAE tour is the conditions. In sweltering heat in Sharjah during the ODI series, they often found themselves under the pump. The conditions are unlikely to change much when it comes to Abu Dhabi, but Markam feels having been in the UAE for a while should hold them in good stead.”From your heat point of view, it’s just as hot here [in Abu Dhabi], if not hotter and slightly more humid [than Sharjah]. So, it’s nice to have been here now for a while and played in an ODI series going into this T20 series. That’s a big positive for us,” he said. “Sharjah obviously spun quite a bit, or at least a fair amount, and the wicket was pretty placid. I think Abu Dhabi, I haven’t played too much cricket here, but I don’t think it’s going to be as bare a wicket as maybe Sharjah was.”If I look at our nets that we had last night, it’s actually a little bit of movement off the wicket, and they left quite a bit more grass on it compared to Sharjah. We’ll have to be sharp. We’ll have another look at it today at training and try get as much info as we can, just from looking at it with the naked eye. But it’ll ultimately come down to us assessing it in the first few balls, first over tomorrow, and coming up with those plans.”The last time South Africa faced Ireland in an international game was back in 2022 and while the Irish spinners might not trouble the South African batters as much as Afghanistan’s did, Markram is not taking them lightly.

“It is quite a busy schedule, but if you’d offered this to us as a kid growing up, we would have given lots for it”Markram on the cricket calendar

“We’ve all seen how good the Irish team has been over the last few years, and how much they’ve progressed as a team” he said. “Naturally, we don’t face them maybe as much as other teams, so it’ll just be trying to get accustomed to that as quick as we can, and trying to get an understanding of their plans as quick as we can, so that we can try to combat it ourselves.”South Africa have a busy schedule in front of them. After the T20I and ODI series against Ireland, they next travel to Bangladesh before going back home for a T20I series against India. Then they host Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home followed by the SA20 before they travel to Pakistan for a tri-nation series, also involving New Zealand.Markram, however, feels that a packed cricket schedule has become the norm and rotating and managing players will be the way forward.”Yeah, there’s lots of cricket. But we’re not the only team that’s playing lots of cricket. All the teams around the world are playing lots of cricket,” he said. “It’s down to the individual to manage their time wisely, look after their body, and give themselves the best chance of being really sharp for each and every series.”It is quite a busy schedule, but if you’d offered this to us as a kid growing up, we would have given lots for it. That’s sort of how we try to see it, and we take each series on as best we can.”