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The World Cup draw, which is supposed to be a celebration of soccer, instead turned into a tribute to Donald Trump

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump could do anything he wanted – at least, that's what Gianni Infantino told him. 

That exchange – something that took no longer than 10 seconds as Trump clearly disrupted the schedule during the 2026 World Cup draw – summed up the baffling ceremony. Infantino tried to direct the President across the stage in a certain way. Trump took a different route. Whether it was a power play or simply a misunderstanding of directions, the FIFA President allowed it. 

"Mr. President, this way, this way. Oh, this way, you can do what you want," Infantino said, allowing Trump to play main man at his own party. 

But a draw is supposed to be something else entirely – not a stage for a single man.

It is supposed to let us forget the bad stuff – sportswashing, exploitation, and the uncomfortable political tensions between countries that will soon play each other.

Instead, it was an imperfect and inaccurate representation of what a World Cup should be. They are, from a hopeless football romantic’s point of view, about coming together, celebrating differences, and showcasing the world’s elite. This draw was about the exceptionalism of one country and, more specifically, one man – which misses the point altogether. What should have been the fun bit became a strange ode to one man – and that isn’t what a World Cup draw, or a tournament itself, should be about.

And everyone knew it. 

"I do not, like it, but we could have done it like, without all of this. I don't need it. But of course, it's a huge stage, and it's big entertainment. I was very well aware that it's not about the deep insight of football today," England manager Thomas Tuchel told reporters.

Getty Images SportThe circus

It all started, of course, with Infantino. The 55-year-old Italian aimed to be the hype man in a room full of executives, coaches, celebrities, and dignitaries. It was over the top at times, but it was justifiable in his view. 

"Because we are in America we need to make a show,” he said. 

This was Infantino-fest 3000. He rolled his favorite line, that the World Cup would be like '104 Super Bowls.' He then led the room in chants of "USA", "Canada" and "Mexico." 

That was one of the few times he split equal attention between all three hosts. Aside from that moment, there was little discussion of what this meant for the “other” two homes of the tournament. 

Canada coach Jesse Marsch, a U.S. citizen who was once an assistant coach for the USMNT, admitted he was unsurprised. 

"It was some serious pomp and circumstance, and like they said, very American, very American, to do it that way," Marsch said. 

There was little mention of Mexico, and a brief word for Canada. Otherwise, this was an event built entirely around Trump. 

The President, meanwhile, was given a chance to flex his football knowledge. Trump, supposedly a massive football fan, said he 'assumed' that Pele "was one of the greats."

After, he got in on the running gag that Infantino, a stand-up comic for the ages, had pushed, suggesting that the U.S. should conform to the rest of the world, stop using the word 'soccer', and 'come up with another name for the NFL.' 

Very few laughed.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportThe FIFA Peace Prize…

And then it was Trump's moment. It is worth acknowledging, first, that this is a World Cup that will have three hosts – even if U.S. soccer said as late as 2016 that it wanted to hold the tournament alone. Sure, the U.S. will host 78 of the 104 games, including the final. This event was also held at the Kennedy Center – reportedly due to its proximity to the White House. This does feel like the United States’ tournament. But the Prime Minister of Canada and President of Mexico were also in attendance. This should belong to all three nations. 

Yet Trump went solo for a while. FIFA announced that it would hand out its inaugural peace prize on Nov. 4. Some within the organization reportedly didn't even know that it would be awarded. But it didn't take long to figure out that this would be handed to the President. On Nov. 5, Infantino outlined the premise for the award: 

"The FIFA Peace Prize… will recognise the enormous efforts of those individuals who unite people, bringing hope for future generations," he said via Instagram. 

To further outline just how peaceful the prize was, that notion was reinforced by a video introducing it. 

"Throughout human history, a call for peace has echoed across generations and civilizations," it began. 

"The inaugural peace prize is presented on behalf of the billions of people who love this game and love peace," it continued. "In this spirit, we acknowledge a dynamic leader who has engaged in diplomatic efforts that created opportunities for dialogue, de-escalation, and stability, and who has championed the unifying power of football of the world's stage. The inaugural 2025 FIFA Peace Prize is proudly bestowed upon the President of the United States of America… Donald J. Trump." 

And then he appeared. 

Infantino gave him a glowing introduction and handed him a gaudy, glistening medal. Trump waited no time for it to be presented, and immediately threw it on. 

"I'm gonna wear it right now," he said as he slung it around his neck. 

“You can wear it wherever you go,” Infantino replied.

Getty ImagesThe underlying reality

And then Trump started preaching. It was a confusing work of self-promotion. He spoke for two minutes. First, he listed his achievements – his efforts for peace, the wars he claimed he has stopped, the ceasefires he claimed he was solely responsible for. Next, he praised Infantino for his ticket sales efforts, conveniently ignoring the fact that prices have spiked on the resale market, making the 2026 tournament the most expensive World Cup on record. 

After that, he reassured the world that Canada and the U.S. have an excellent relationship, something that contradicts well-known comments from the President over the past year. 

The sobering reality is that the spectacle on stage didn’t reflect the wider geopolitical picture. Iran threatened to boycott the event after members of its delegation were denied visas. Haiti is among several countries whose citizens face restrictive travel policies to the United States. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has called on FIFA to “act on human rights” ahead of the 2026 tournament, even suggesting that relocation should be considered if protections aren’t guaranteed under current U.S. immigration policies.

In a way, it closely mirrors the human rights concerns that were raised before the 2022 World Cup. Back then, Infantino addressed human rights violations in Qatar by pointing out that he knew what it was like to face discrimination because kids used to make fun of him for having ginger hair.

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AFPA baffling draw

The rest of it was deeply puzzling. FIFA rolled out of slew of big names to get involved. Matthew McConaughey popped up in a not-very-funny skit to give Rio Ferdinand some advice as to how to lead a World Cup draw (glossing over the fact that he himself has never hosted a draw for a major tournament). 

For the event itself, which didn't start until one hour and 23 minutes into the ceremony, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neill, NFL legend Tom Brady, and Yankees star Aaron Judge all showed up. There was a bit referencing Brady's skill as a quarterback, before the NFL great pointed out that he 'believed in America'.

Ferdinand quipped that Judge – who hit 53 home runs last year – would 'knock it out of the park'. Wayne Gretzky, the only Canadian presence on stage, who spent the latter half of his career playing for American teams, struggled through the pronunciation of countries, breaking out the infinitely quotable 'Mac-A-Doe-ne-yah'. 

The draw itself took around 20 minutes. 

"I felt like football was second, and entertainment was first," Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson said. "I’ve done a few draws for Euros, for Gold Cup, for Copa America, so I’ve done a lot of these kinds of events. Football should always be first." 

In one final flourish, the Village People showed up to lip-sync "YMCA". 

The show closed with Trump dancing in the rafters. The giddy President had owned the World Cup draw. And he knew it, too.

The Washington Nationals dismissed both general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez on Sunday after the team fell to 37–53 on the season. On Monday, the Nationals announced that bench coach Miguel Cairo will serve as the interim manager.

Cairo was reportedly offered the interim role on Sunday after the news about Martinez's firing was announced, but he took time to think it over, s Britt Ghiroli reported.

“Miguel is well-respected in our organization and around baseball,” Nationals interim general manager Mike DeBartolo said in a statement. “A diligent worker and student of the game, he has a proven track record of showing strong leadership in a variety of situations, and I believe that his voice and energy will serve as a catalyst to our team and our fan base in the second half of the season.”

Cairo joined the Nationals in 2024 as a bench coach. In 2023, he worked as a Minor League infield coordinator for the New York Mets, which he had previously done from 2017-20 for the New York Yankees. He was also a bench coach for the Chicago White Sox from 2021-22.

Cairo played 17 seasons in MLB from 1996-2012, competing on nine different teams during his career. Cairo did not play for the Nationals during his career.

San Francisco Giants reporter Justice delos Santos of the in San Francisco certainly got his steps in to pay off a bet with Chicago Cubs reporter Jordan Bastian.

During Wednesday night's game, Santos told Bastian that he would run a mile for every run scored in the matchup between the Giants and the Cubs. The two teams picked a good night to score 15 combined runs in a contest the Giants won 12-3.

Here's the hilarious clip of Santos discussing the bet that he would have to pay off.

By the way, he did it.

Safe to say he might think twice before making that bet next time!

The Braves beat the White Sox 1-0 on Wednesday in front of an announced crowd of more than 30,000 at Truist Park. Since it was a home game, FanDuel Sports Network's Wiley Ballard was in the crowd to talk to some fans.

During the top of the 5th, he found a fan named Rick sitting in front of the Chop House in right field. Rick was holding an upper body cutout of Ballard himself with a red and white striped shirt that said, "Where's Wiley?" Ballard did a quick interview with the fan asking if someone had put him up to it.

He revealed that his wife had and explained why she was missing the interview. Oh, and he swore.

“She loves you," said the fan. "Every time you come up, you know, and talk about either food or whatever she loves you so she’s like we gotta f—— put a sign up for him. So I was like ok cool. So… but she just went to the bathroom."

Ballard didn't even blink and continued the interview as the game continued. The Braves social media team posted a gif of the couple holding up a sign and a teddy bear, but stopped short of sharing the video.

The Brewers experienced a redemptive victory in Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Saturday to advance to the NLCS for the first time since 2018. In order to do that, they had to eliminate the Cubs, which was probably a nice little cherry on top of their third run to a league championship series since the early 1980s.

After the game, the team gathered together on the field to take a team picture. Someone got ahold of a white flag with a big blue L on it, meant to mirror Chicago's Win Flag which flies at Wrigley Field whenever the Cubs win.

According to the media present for the picture, pitcher Trevor Megill was the one brave enough to grab the flag and hold it up to immortalize the win with a little bit of trolling.

The two teams have both played in the NL Central since Brewers moved over from the American League in 1998. This troll job is just another chapter in an intense rivalry that's only getting spicier.

Does Dale Steyn make it? Is it even possible to leave him out with the numbers he has?

Saurabh Somani and Gaurav Sundararaman25-May-2020The Deccan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad all-time XI•ESPNcricinfo LtdSunrisers Hyderabad/Deccan ChargersWe’re calling this the Sunrisers Hyderabad all-time XI, but we have considered players from Deccan Chargers too for selection. We debated this, and finally decided that since the playing group didn’t change when the management did, we would consider them one entity. It also gives players who did well for the Chargers a selection avenue. Two IPL titles and four straight years of qualifying for the play-offs since 2016 suggest some very good players and a very favourable success ratio. While that is true, there were still some challenges to picking an all-time XI, thanks to the bowling-heavy avatar that the franchise has had. In a sense, it is almost the anti-RCB, with a surfeit of bowling options, but a bit of a struggle to pick batsmen. That the franchise has two titles – beating RCB in both finals coincidentally – perhaps tells a tale of which discipline helps win tournaments.The picks
David Warner, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were straightforward picks. Each of them have been almost synonymous with SRH’s success. With the inclusion of the Chargers’ players, Adam Gilchrist also makes it – forming a dream opening combination with Warner. Both men have led the franchise to titles, and Gilchrist’s win in 2009 came on the back of a wooden-spoon finish in 2008 – but we decided to give the captaincy reins to Warner, since Gilchrist will be keeping wickets too. Shikhar Dhawan may be with the other DC now – Delhi Capitals – but he’s still the top scorer for the two franchises combined, shading Warner by 466 runs. With both Warner and Gilchrist there though, Dhawan will bat at No. 3.The debate
The struggle to pick SRH sides involved filling up batting spots. At first, Dale Steyn was thought to be a walk-in selection. He has 71 wickets for the two franchises combined – second only to Bhuvneshwar – and his economy rate of 6.68 is outstanding. But picking Steyn would mean no more overseas slots available, since Warner, Gilchrist and Rashid already occupy three. And the fact of the matter is, that while there are decent pace options available (even if not Steyn quality), we struggled to pick Indian batsmen. Which meant Steyn had to be replaced by Kane Williamson. It was not an easy decision, but team dynamics demanded it.The paucity of batsmen is best reflected in the fact that for the role of the No. 6, we had to go back to Rohit Sharma. He had done an excellent job for the Chargers, before becoming the face of Mumbai Indians, and in fact is still the for the two franchises combined. Gilchrist is fourth, and both have played only three seasons – as telling a stat as any on the franchise’s batting troubles. Rohit in his 2008-2010 avatar was a middle-order batsman and a finisher, who occasionally rolled his arm over too. He is picked in that capacity for this side.The bowling line-up is potent though, with Amit Mishra, RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha added to the roster. Singh and Ojha were superb for Deccan, while Mishra straddled both franchises well. His legspin is distinct from Rashid’s and both in tandem would be a compelling sight. There was still one spot to fill, and with only five batsmen so far, it had to go to another batsman. That meant we had no room for a Siddarth Kaul or Sandeep Sharma, both of whom had done much better for the franchise in absolute terms than any batsman available for selection. The batting spot came down to Yuvraj Singh or Manish Pandey. While Yuvraj’s average (27.11) and strike rate (137.07) compare reasonably with Pandey’s (33.05 and 123.37), we went with Pandey because he showed a significant upward trend in the latter half of the last season and has sustained his numbers for more matches than Yuvraj.In terms of balance, the team has a top four who might all be more comfortable opening the batting, but that is down to how the franchise has built its squad over the years, and who have performed well. Rashid at No. 7 might feel one spot too high, but with the bowling attack this team has and the quality of the top order, going a bit light on batting might not matter.Incidentally, there are plenty of individual achievements in this side. Warner won the Orange Cap in 2015, 2017 and 2019, while Williamson did so in 2018. Singh and Ojha won the Purple Cap in 2009 and 2010, while Bhuvneshwar won it in 2016 and 2017.Playing XI stats for SRH1. David Warner
71 matches (2014-2019)
Runs 3271, Ave 55.44, SR 146.872. Adam Gilchrist
48 matches (2008-2010)
Runs 1289, Ave 27.42, SR 147.823. Shikhar Dhawan
120 matches (2011-2018)
Runs 3737, Ave 35.59, SR 126.204. Kane Williamson
41 matches (2015-19)
Runs 1302, Ave 38.29, SR 135.065. Manish Pandey
27 matches (2018-19)
Runs 628, Ave 33.05, SR 123.376. Rohit Sharma
47 matches (2008-10)
Runs 1219, Ave 30.47, SR 130.37Wickets 14, Ave 25.14, ER 7.337. Rashid Khan
46 matches (2017-19)
Wickets 55, Ave 21.69, ER 6.558. B Kumar
86 matches (2014-2019)
Wickets 109, Ave 22.33, ER 7.419. Amit Mishra
61 matches (2011-2014)
Wickets 62, Ave 25.38, ER 7.2910. Pragyan Ojha
56 matches (2008-2011)
Wickets 62, Ave 22.19, ER 7.0811. RP Singh
44 matches (2008-2010)
Wickets 54, Ave 23.59, ER 7.91Want to pick your own DC/SRH all-time XI? Head over to our readers’ voting page here. all-time IPL XIs, .

Also: has any cricket ground staged more than three Tests in a row?

Steven Lynch11-Aug-2020Old Trafford just staged three successive Test matches – has any ground done this before? asked Gordon Wilson from England
It’s the first time England have played three successive Tests at the same ground since 1905-06, when the first three matches of their South African tour all took place at the old Wanderers ground in Johannesburg. Oddly, there was more than two months between the first and second Tests in that long-ago series.England also did it in 1886-87 and 1887-88, when they played three in a row in Sydney (they had no Tests at home in 1887), and in Melbourne in 1876-77 and 1878-79 (the first three Tests of all). The only other instance – and the overall record – was set by Zimbabwe, who played five successive Tests at the Harare Sports Club between April 2013 and August 2014 (two against Bangladesh and Pakistan, and one against South Africa). England made four changes between the first and second Tests against West Indies. When was the last time they made four or more changes mid-series? asked Mike Sowerby from England
It looks like 20 years since England last made four changes to their team for successive Tests in mid-series. In 2000, also against West Indies, they made four alterations between the first Test at Edgbaston, and the second at Lord’s – and then made four more changes for the third Test at Old Trafford.It wasn’t mid-series, obviously, but last year England made five changes to their team between the third Test against West Indies in St Lucia in February, and their next Test, against Ireland at Lord’s in July 2019.The England record for mid-series changes was set in 1950, when there were no fewer than eight differences between the sides for the third Test against West Indies, at Trent Bridge, and the fourth and final Test at The Oval. It didn’t help much: West Indies won both matches by wide margins.In 1884-85, Australia changed their side entirely between the first Test in Adelaide, and the second in Melbourne, after a pay dispute. Don Bradman’s 6996 Test runs include seven ducks. Has any player scored more Test runs than the Don with fewer ducks? asked Joel Pojas from the Philippines
My first thought was that no one would have scored more Test runs than Don Bradman with fewer ducks, but actually that was emphatically not the case. Steve Smith has so far made 7227 runs with only four ducks, while Wally Hammond (7249 runs) and Clive Lloyd (7515) were only out for nought four times as well. Mark Taylor’s 7525 runs included five ducks, including a pair in his first match as captain, while David Gower made 8231 with a Bradman-equalling seven zeroes.But well clear at the top of this particular table is Pakistan’s Javed Miandad, whose 8832 runs in Tests included only six ducks.Tom Latham and Martin Guptill were dismissed for golden ducks by Dale Steyn in Centurion in 2016, the latest instance of both openers falling first ball in a Test innings•AFPHave both openers ever been out first ball in a Test innings? asked Krishna Shah from India
The ESPNcricinfo database throws up four cases of both openers falling first ball in a Test innings – it’s possible there are one or two more, from matches where we don’t have full ball-by-ball details. The first one was in Christchurch in 1932-33, when England’s openers Herbert Sutcliffe and Eddie Paynter both bagged golden ducks, with the New Zealand seamer Dennis Smith taking a wicket with his first ball in Tests (he never managed another one). But No. 3 Wally Hammond made up for it with 227, as England ran up 560.The next known instance came at Headingley in 1982, when Pakistan’s openers Mohsin Khan and Mudassar Nazar both fell first ball in Bob Willis’ first over in the second innings. Something similar happened in Centurion in August 2016, when Tom Latham and Martin Guptill both bagged first-ball ducks in Dale Steyn’s first over of New Zealand’s second innings against South Africa. Which Australian player was not dismissed twice by Jim Laker when he took 19 wickets in a Test at Old Trafford? asked Ian Hugo from Nigeria
The England offspinner Jim Laker famously took 19 Australian wickets in the Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1956 (no one else has managed more than 17 in a Test). Slow left-armer Tony Lock took the other wicket – Jim Burke early in the first innings – and Ray Lindwall and Ian Johnson remained not out in the two innings. So Laker dismissed eight Aussies twice – including Neil Harvey and Ken Mackay for pairs – and the other three batsmen once each.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

He hasn’t excelled in the IPL this year, and now finds himself out of favour in the India set-up. He still has his talent but his mindset might need some work

Aakash Chopra05-Nov-2020Rishabh Pant is the only Indian wicketkeeper to score Test centuries in Australia and England. He was the second-highest run scorer in the IPL in 2018. He’s young, he’s dynamic, and his style of play is refreshingly liberating. His early exploits in Test match cricket ensured that he would get a long run in the India side, and his style of play almost guaranteed a place in limited-overs cricket as and when the opportunity arose. It felt like the world was at his feet.But though the new blue-eyed boy of Indian cricket seemed to quickly get everything he might have desired, it didn’t last long. Pant is no longer in India’s white-ball squads, and he is second in line after Wriddhiman Saha in the Test team. His successes in ODI cricket for India were sporadic, and the modes of his dismissals converted some of his fans into critics. Who goes for a glory shot when you need less than a run a ball to take the team home? Or how do you justify a high-risk shot first ball when the team has just lost a wicket?Pant’s Test and IPL returns suggested he had cracked the longest and shortest formats but simply didn’t understand the rhythm of the 50-over game. Is that possible?We’ve seen it in the past. Virender Sehwag bossed Tests but was below average in ODIs. We make attempts at understanding the anomaly to make sense of it, but we are far from deciphering it completely. However, we must keep trying, and here I too will make an attempt.ALSO READ: Why Rishabh Pant is perhaps India’s first T20 batsman with a T20 attitudePant burst onto the international scene after his exploits in the IPL. There were no expectations of him to play a certain kind of cricket and he played in the fashion he knew best. That’s how a lot of young cricketers start their careers: see the ball and react. He did just that in Test cricket. It didn’t always work but that can be said about any method one might employ. Nothing is foolproof, but the success of a method is in the percentages. And when your preferred method stops yielding an acceptable success rate, you ought to reinvent. Is it the case that Pant does not know his methods of play completely?Scoring runs and knowing how to score runs aren’t the same thing. Lots of players score a lot of runs to merit selection but few know the art of scoring runs. Confused? Let me elaborate.The ability to react to a ball that’s coming your way is built over years, decades even. The more you play, the more you learn about eliminating errors, and that, in turn, enables you to score runs. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have understood your game inside-out. While you know that you react differently to different situations, you don’t really fully know how and why you react to a particular situation in a certain manner, and what your best response should be – if it isn’t the one you’re presenting. You know you have played a bad shot and got out, but you don’t remember what mindset you were in, because of which you played that bad shot. Unless you know the state of mind and the thoughts that led to that false shot, you won’t see the red flags in time the next time and will repeat the mistake.Awareness about your own play and what makes you behave differently in different situations isn’t acquired overnight. I scored over 5000 first-class runs before I made my India debut, and to be honest, I didn’t understand my game even after I was dropped from the side in 2004. That understanding developed only in the summer of 2007, while playing league cricket in England.Going back to Pant – he comes across as someone who is confused about his role and his responsibilities towards his own game. I’m not talking about what the team or the situation demands of him but just his comfort with his own style of play. His last couple of Test matches and this edition of the IPL have brought that uncertainty to the fore. He is blessed with the ability to hit the ball long and hard, but it seems that he is unsure of the right time to do so.2:45

Tom Moody: Rishabh Pant not in the best shape when he arrived for this season

There have been instances in this IPL where left-arm spinners have come and gone unscathed. The bowlers he wouldn’t allow to settle down in the past have kept him quiet this season because he chose to let the moment pass and wait for a better, more opportune moment. Pant was Pant because he could change the tide, but now he’s trying to swim with it and by the time he thinks about changing it, it’s a little too late.There’s a theory doing the rounds that since he is batting slightly lower down the order, he has been asked by his franchise to play a different role. While data suggests that he has been at his best when he has had more overs to bat through in T20 cricket, and so that there is merit in the argument that this new role isn’t doing him any favours, the fact is that batting lower down the order should give him the license to go berserk quicker. That is when he is at his best, right?Wrong. Once you’ve tasted some success at the top and have been dropped thereafter, your overriding thought is about making it back into the side. Now your best game is no longer the game that got you the India cap in the first place but the one that you think is likely to help you regain it.It’s time for Pant to clear the cobwebs and spend more time with his own game, understanding its nuances. He is the same player who everyone thought had the X-Factor, he is the same player who was seen as a natural successor to Dhoni, and he is the same player who produced consistent performances at high strike rates in T20 cricket. He is the same player because you don’t lose these skills overnight.Temperament is the combination of knowing the demands of the situation and the best response based on your own strengths and weaknesses. Some of us are born with exceptional hand-eye coordination and the ability to pick the length and line a fraction earlier, but temperament has to be acquired.Pant has entered the second stage of his career. This phase is about understanding and acquiring. The sooner he does that, the better for him and for Indian cricket.

Shahidi and Asghar Afghan also stitched together Afghanistan’s first 300-run partnership in the format

Sampath Bandarupalli11-Mar-20211 Hashmatullah Shahidi (200*) became the first Afghanistan player to score a double-century in Test cricket. Asghar Afghan briefly held the record for the highest individual score for Afghanistan with his 164 before Shahidi overtook him. Before Thursday, Rahmat Shah’s 102 against Bangladesh in the 2019 Chattogram was Afghanistan’s only hundred in their first five Tests.307 Partnership runs between Shahidi and Asghar for the fourth wicket, the highest for any wicket for Afghanistan. Their previous highest was 139 between Ihsanullah and Rahmat for the second wicket against Ireland in 2019.1 Number of partnerships in Test cricket in the UAE higher than Shahidi and Asghar’s 307. The South African pair of Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers had added 338 for the fifth wicket against Pakistan in 2013. The 307-run stand between Shahidi and Asghar is also the third-highest partnership for any wicket in Test cricket against Zimbabwe.0 Countries before Afghanistan with a triple-century partnership and 500-plus total in their first ten Test matches. The previous record for the fewest Tests required by a team for a 300-plus partnership was 16 matches by Pakistan, while Zimbabwe, with 544/4 in only their 11th match, held the record for the fewest Tests for breaching the 500-run milestone.6 Matches Afghanistan took to record their first individual double-century in Test cricket, the joint-fewest by any team. West Indies had also got their maiden Test double-centurion in their sixth match when Clifford Roach struck 209 against England in 1930.2016 Last instance of No. 4 and No. 5 batsmen scoring 150-plus runs in the same Test innings before Shahidi and Asghar. The Indian duo of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane had scored 211 and 188 respectively against New Zealand in the first-ever Test at the Holkar stadium in Indore.

“While doing commentary with him, I felt I was learning cricket all over again”

As told to Hemant Brar13-Jul-2021The first time I met Yashpal was during a Ranji Trophy match in 1981-82. I picked up 14 wickets in that game, including his in both innings.The pitch wasn’t a great one to bat on but I could see his determination in the way he batted. [Sharma scored 74 out of Punjab’s first-innings total of 156.] And since he was already an India player, getting him out twice was a big achievement for me.In the next season, we were team-mates for North Zone at the Duleep Trophy. That’s when I realised how serious he was about his cricket. Even in the nets, he batted with the intensity of a match. He was so much into the game that he wouldn’t sit idle after he was done with batting. He would come and bowl his offspin, or work on his fielding.I learnt how to improve my fielding first and majorly from Maddi [Madan Lal], but when I saw Yashpal Sharma working on his fielding, I told myself if I could also do that, I would become a good fielder too. So there was a lesson to be learnt from his work ethic.He was a very disciplined cricketer, overall. He was fond of food but at the same time he was conscious of what he ate. He didn’t want anything to affect his cricket. If he was playing the next day, he would avoid a heavy dinner. On a match day, he would have a light lunch.

“I realised how serious he was about his cricket. Even in the nets, he batted with the intensity of a match. He was so much into the game that he wouldn’t sit idle after he was done with batting. He would come and bowl his offspin, or work on his fielding”

I have always believed that to be successful in international cricket, you have to be mentally strong. And he was. He was gritty. He didn’t look 100% technically sound but at that level if you are mentally strong, you can make up for it.He was a massive fan of [Indian actor] Dilip Kumar. I remember on my first tour to Pakistan, in 1982-83, we were staying at guesthouses at certain places. There used to be VCRs and he would watch Dilip Kumar movies. Sometimes just to annoy him, some of the players would put in a different cassette when he went for a toilet break. That was the only time I saw him getting angry.After our playing days, we did umpiring and commentary together. We stood in a couple of games together and his concentration level was as high as when he was playing.There was also a lot to learn from him about the game when we did commentary. As I was junior to him, we didn’t communicate much during our playing days. But during our commentary stints, I felt whatever he said on air, he used to apply all that in his own game too. While doing commentary with him, I felt I was learning cricket all over again.Related

1983 World Cup winner Yashpal Sharma dies aged 66

Sometimes I felt he was a bit too serious. But that was his way of life, and everybody cannot be like that.We met recently during India’s home series against England. And he looked fit and fine. He was very health conscious; he would go for his walks quite regularly. So when the news of his death came, I was in absolute shock. I still cannot believe this has happened. For someone who was so disciplined in his life, so health-conscious, he is gone too soon.I can’t shake the thought from my head, perhaps he took the departure of his hero [Dilip Kumar, who died on July 7] to heart.