From being full of self doubt, the 28-year old has transitioned to being a gun batter for the Scorchers

Tristan Lavalette26-Jan-2022During the dregs of last year’s off-season, as he pondered deficiencies in his batting amid a stalled T20 career, Kurtis Patterson watched classic footage of Australia legend Matthew Hayden for inspiration.Both tall and left-handed, the similarities were obvious but Patterson was struck by Hayden’s set up before he repeatedly thrashed beleaguered bowlers.”He used to keep his hands quite low, pick up his bat as the bowler released and wouldn’t really have a trigger movement with his feet,” Patterson said to ESPNcricinfo about Hayden, who hit 30 tons in 103 Tests.He also closely observed Glenn Maxwell. “He has such a nice bat swing and bat flow, especially to the spinners,” Patterson said of the Melbourne Stars skipper. “They were a couple of guys that did things well that I wanted to bring into my game.”As he watched highlights of those master blasters, Patterson – who hadn’t cracked a half-century in 30 BBL matches before this season – could probably not have envisioned that he would soon replicate them. During his breakout BBL season, the 28-year-old has top-scored for all-conquering Perth Scorchers with 390 runs at 143.91 strike rate ahead of Friday’s final at Marvel Stadium.

“The overarching feeling was that I didn’t know whether I was good enough.”Patterson on his frame of mind 12 months ago

Such has been his destructiveness that Patterson has now been labelled as the BBL’s “most improved player” by former Australia quick Damien Fleming amongst others. “Those that have seen me bat over the years, know that when I get my eye in I hit the ball hard,” said Patterson, who has smashed 18 sixes in 12 innings this season.He had emphasised a focus on power hitting during the off-season in 2020 but then couldn’t squeeze into Scorchers’ powerful line-up and sat on the bench for all bar one match of BBL 10. It meant Patterson had played just four matches in two seasons for Scorchers after crossing over from Sydney Thunder.Kurtis Patterson has drawn inspiration from Glenn Maxwell•Getty Images”I felt ready for an opportunity,” said Patterson, who admitted to being a “frustrated T20 cricketer” 12 months ago.  “The overarching feeling was that I didn’t know whether I was good enough.”Ahead of a pivotal BBL season, the last on his three-year contract with Scorchers, Patterson needed to ignite his T20 career and he sought to improve his batting overall having been somewhat forgotten since playing two Tests for Australia in early 2019.Backed by the trusted expertise of his NSW coaches Chandika Hathurusingha and Anthony Clark – and left inspired by the destructive deeds of vintage Hayden and Maxwell – he decided to take the bold step of tinkering with his technique knowing his somewhat limited range had been exposed in the accelerated T20 format.”What I lacked was accessing and hitting boundaries in different areas of the ground,” Patterson said. “Previously I hadn’t been able to access the leg side as I would have liked. And I needed bowlers to give me width to hit through point and cover.”I wanted to try something new.”Starting pre-season training a month earlier than usual, Patterson went about changing his batting set up in a bid for his “hands to relax”.”My hands were getting stuck around my belly button and sternum,” he said. “If your hands are stuck in that position there’s not much room to move and not much power to generate with any sort of bat swing.”It was about getting into a position where I could get my hands behind my back hip to be able to flow through the ball. Keeping my hands a bit lower seemed to help.”Kurtis Patterson has been in prolific form this season for the Scorchers•Getty ImagesSo too did discarding trigger movements and reverting back to Hayden’s playbook. “I realised I was telling myself a lie so I stopped going back and across with my feet because I was uncomfortable,” he said.”I’ve always known I’m best when I keep really still at the bowler’s point of release. That has allowed me to stay balanced and pick up length better than in previous years.”Patterson’s newfound approach started slowly against underarm bowling but after a month he had a litmus test against NSW’s bowlers returning from their off-season.”You may feel awkward and late on the ball,” advised Hathurusingha, who Patterson described as a “tactical genius for batting”. “That’s completely normal. There is no need to panic and change things.”But there was no reason to fret with everything “instantly clicking” for a relieved Patterson. “I knew from that point I did the right thing and it was about sticking with it,” he said.Patterson entered this BBL season confident having scored a century as captain for NSW against Victoria in the Sheffield Shield, but he was no certainty to be part of Scorchers’ season opener against Brisbane Heat at Optus Stadium.Even though Scorchers no longer had the services of big-hitters Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy, Patterson’s hopes rested on whether Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis would play for Australia A against England Lions.”Cam Bancroft finished last season really well and (Scorchers coach Adam) Voges said he was going to start with him,” Patterson said. But with Marsh and Inglis unavailable, Patterson made the most of his opportunity at No. 3 with a brutal 55 off 30 balls against Heat that seemed to catch everyone by surprise except himself.”I treated it as a free swing. See ball, hit ball attitude,” Patterson said of an innings he rated his “best” in a season yielding four half-centuries. “It certainly helped prove me right (about the technical changes). It was a nice feeling.”Being a key cog in Scorchers’ title push has helped Patterson re-enter the limelight for a talented batter who still holds a Test average of 144 after an unbeaten ton against Sri Lanka in Canberra.”I have desire to get back there,” Patterson said about Test cricket. “In previous years I’ve gone down rabbit holes of trying to prove people wrong. But it adds pressure and I’m now focusing on what I can control. It’s why I love captaining NSW because it forces me to focus on getting the best out of the team instead of thinking of representative needs.”Set to be a coveted BBL free agent, Patterson won’t be chasing IPL glory with the upcoming birth of his son ensuring he has a hectic schedule ahead. But, right now, he’s hoping to cap off a momentous season with Scorchers, who have been on the road for seven weeks due to Western Australia’s unmovable hard border.”Would be a remarkable achievement to win the title,” he said. “No one has whinged, everyone has been focused. It’s been nice to play a part and showcase my skills.”

New Zealand have never won a Test series against South Africa. Can they change that this time?

Firdose Moonda14-Feb-2022Of the Full Member nations New Zealand have played Test cricket against (all except Ireland and Afghanistan), the only one they have not registered a series win over is South Africa. They’ve lost 13 out of 16 series against South Africa including all of the last six and ten out of 11 since South Africa’s readmission in 1991. In 45 Tests dating back to 1932, New Zealand have only beaten South Africa four times, their worst win-loss ratio against any team.We take a look at that quartet of victories and one other time New Zealand came close, as they attempt to breach their final frontier – South Africa – in a two-match Test series starting this week.Cape Town, 1962
New Zealand embarked on this tour with only one Test win to their name – over West Indies in 1956 – and things did not immediately look likely to improve for them. South Africa took the series lead in Durban, thanks to Jackie McGlew’s 127 and Peter Pollock’s nine-for before New Zealand showed the fight and drew the second Test in Johannesburg. Against expectation, they then squared the series with victory in Cape Town.John Reid (92) and Zin Harris (101) put on 93 for the fourth wicket before Harris and Murray Chapple (69) shared 148 for the fifth in New Zealand’s first-innings total of 385. In response, South Africa were shot out for 190, with Frank Cameron (5 for 48) and Jack Alabaster (4 for 61) sharing nine wickets between them. New Zealand were 61 for 4 at one point in their second innings but recovered to declare on 212 for 9 to set South Africa 408 to win. They were 100 for 2 and 201 for 3 as Roy McLean scored 113 but Alabaster claimed another four and South Africa were bowled out for 335, to give New Zealand only their second Test victory and first away from home.John Reid’s 546 runs at an average of 60.66 were instrumental in New Zealand levelling the series in 1961-62•Getty ImagesPort Elizabeth, 1962
South Africa responded to their defeat in Cape Town with an innings-and-51-run win over New Zealand in the fourth Test to put a series win out of their visitor’s reach but New Zealand could still share the spoils, and did.Paul Barton scored the first and only century of his Test career in a line-up where no one else crossed 46 and New Zealand’s first innings ended on 275. But again, they dismissed South Africa for 190 and took an 85-run lead. New Zealand were 50 for 3 at one stage in their second innings but Graham Dowling (78) and Reid’s (69) 125-run fourth-wicket partnership allowed them to post 228 and set South Africa 314 to win. Again, South Africa appeared to be on track at 101 for 1 before Eddie Barlow was bowled by Reid for 59 as South Africa lost 5 for 41 to teeter on 142 for 6. Peter Pollock’s 54 held the lower together but New Zealand kept chipping away and won by 40 runs to level the series 2-2.Reid finished as the leading run scorer of the series with a tally of 546, 120 more than the second-best McGlew. Some have assessed this series as his best, both as a batter and captain.Johannesburg, 1994
It would be more than 30 years before New Zealand had the opportunity to beat South Africa and they did so in the first meeting between the two teams post-isolation.Martin Crowe (83), Ken Rutherford (68) and Shane Thomson (84) scored half-centuries as New Zealand piled on 411 in their first innings before Dion Nash and Richard de Groen reduced South Africa to 73 for 4. Daryll Cullinan’s 58 prevented a complete collapse in the top six and Dave Richardson’s 93 took South Africa over 200 but nowhere close to 400. They were bowled out for 279, 132 behind. In New Zealand’s second innings, Fanie de Villiers took four wickets and Craig Matthews one to leave them 34 for 5 but Adam Parore’s 49 helped New Zealand build a target. Matthews (5 for 42) ran through New Zealand’s lower order and they were all out for 194, having set South Africa 327. Doull (4 for 33) and left-arm spinner Matthew Hart’s career-best 5 for 77 ensured South Africa were bowled out for under 200 as New Zealand earned a comfortable win.Simon Doull was the Player of the Match when New Zealand met South Africa for the first time after 30 years•Stuart Milligan/Getty ImagesBut they could not sustain the momentum from that match and were dismissed for under 200 in both innings in Durban, where South Africa won by eight wickets, and conceded too many runs in South Africa’s first innings in Cape Town and lost the series 2-1.Auckland, 2004
A decade after their Johannesburg joy, New Zealand beat South Africa for the first time at home, when they took the series lead in Auckland after a high-scoring draw in the first Test in Hamilton. After scoring 509 in their first innings of the first Test, New Zealand went many better with 595 in the second match, still their highest against South Africa. That was in response to South Africa’s 296, a total that should have been much higher after Graeme Smith (88) and Herschelle Gibbs (80) put on 177 for the first wicket. South Africa’s ten wickets fell for 119, with Chris Martin taking 6 for 76. He finished the match with 11 for 180, his career-best.Two other New Zealand players also reached their career highs in this match. Scott Styris (170) and Chris Cairns (158) both registered their highest scores as New Zealand took a 299-run lead.Smith was dismissed for a first-ball duck by Martin in the second innings. Gibbs (61), Jacques Rudolph (154) and Jacques Kallis (71) kept New Zealand at bay for a while but South Africa eventually lost 7 for 99 to leave New Zealand needing 51 to win. They got there to take a 1-0 lead but went on to lose the third and final Test in Wellington.Kane Williamson taps the ball to mid-off during his 176•Getty ImagesHamilton, 2017
South Africa inflicted another Wellington heartbreak on New Zealand when they took the series lead after a draw in Dunedin but New Zealand had a golden opportunity to level matters in Hamilton. They had South Africa 5 for 2 in the first innings before Hashim Amla (50), Faf du Plessis (53) and Quinton de Kock (90) built the total to 314. However, none of them could match Kane Williamson’s brilliance as he scored 176. New Zealand’s first innings ended on 489, with a lead of 175.With four sessions left in the game, the smart money would have been on the draw but South Africa were reduced to 80 for 5 in 39 overs on the fourth evening and looked rattled. It rained overnight and for most of the fifth day to deny New Zealand. Of the XI that played for South Africa in that Test, only Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma, Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada are part of the current squad. New Zealand have five players from that match in their group this time: Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry and Neil Wagner.

Also, what is the record for the most men out for 1 in a Test?

Steven Lynch07-Jun-2022How many teams have managed a “team hat-trick”, as England did during one over in the Lord’s Test? asked Robert Horton from England, among others

Stuart Broad’s pivotal over on the third day of the see-saw Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s at the weekend included the wickets of Daryl Mitchell and Kyle Jamieson, interrupted by the run-out of Colin de Grandhomme. My first port of call for queries like these is the Melbourne statistician Charles Davis, whose monumental research into past Test matches has uncovered many previously unattainable statistics.He advises me there have been only two previous individual overs in Tests that definitely contained three wickets in three balls including a run-out. The first was in an Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1888, when England’s George Lohmann took two wickets with successive balls after Harry Trott was run out; 92 years later in 1980, also at Old Trafford, the West Indian fast bowler Joel Garner took two wickets immediately after Alan Knott was run out. There’s a third possibility: at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in 1997-98, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharmasena wrapped up the second innings with two wickets either side of a run-out with India’s total stuck on 181. This was definitely in the same over, but the scorebook has disappeared so it’s not certain whether the wickets fell to successive deliveries. If there’s anyone out there with a scoresheet, or video evidence, please let me know!There have also been eight further instances of a team hat-trick split over two different overs, involving two bowlers, including the only known instance of four wickets in four successive balls in a Test – by England against West Indies at Headingley in 1957, when Fred Trueman claimed a wicket with the last ball of an over, then Peter Loader took a hat-trick with the first three deliveries of the next. It should be said that, despite Charles’ remarkable efforts, there are still a number of Tests for which ball-by-ball scores are not available.Was Matt Parkinson the first man to make his Test debut as a concussion substitute? asked Kevin Ryan from England

The Lancashire legspinner Matt Parkinson was called up for his first Test after the unfortunate Jack Leach suffered concussion early on during the opening Test against New Zealand at Lord’s. Unusually, Parkinson’s debut was confirmed while he was tending a barbecue at his home around 200 miles away in Manchester.The only other man to play his first Test as a concussion replacement (the preferred term, as in cricket substitutes cannot bat or bowl, whereas these replacements can) was the Zimbabwean opener Brian Mudzinganyama, who was called up against Sri Lanka in Harare in January 2020 after Kevin Kasuza (another debutant) was hit on the head while fielding.More recently, South Africa’s Khaya Zondo made his Test debut as a Covid replacement after Sarel Erwee tested positive during the match against Bangladesh in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) in April.The first Test against New Zealand this year started at Lord’s on June 2. Last year, the same two teams met in the first Test at Lord’s – again starting on June 2. Has this ever happened before in Tests? asked Philip Kelly from England

My first thought was this it would not have happened before – but that’s always dangerous in cricket. And actually there was another instance, way back in the 19th century: Australia took on England in Sydney in a match that started on February 17, 1882, and the two teams met again at the SCG on February 17, 1883. Australia won both.There have been three further instances of teams meeting each other in successive years in Tests that started on the same day, but not at the same ground. West Indies and Pakistan started Tests on March 26 in Port-of-Spain in 1958 and Lahore in 1959; Pakistan and Bangladesh began matches on March 12 in Dhaka in 1999 and Karachi in 2000; and South Africa met Australia in Tests starting on November 9 in Cape Town in 2011 and Brisbane in 2012.England last fielded two Matthews in Tests in 2007, when Matthew Hoggard (left) and Matt Prior (centre) were part of the squad•Getty ImagesA lot of batters were out for 1 in the first Test between England and New Zealand – was it a record? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan from England

In all, there were five individual scores of 1 in the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s. However, five turned out to be a fair way down the list. There have been three Tests with eight scores of 1: South Africa vs England in Cape Town in 1898-99, India vs West Indies in Ahmedabad in 1983-84, and India vs South Africa in Mohali in 2015-16.The first two of those matches included seven dismissals plus a not-out (the third included three not-outs). There have been five further Tests in which seven men were out for 1.At Lord’s, New Zealand’s Will Young was out for a pair of 1s. This has now happened on 74 occasions in Tests – Jimmy Anderson has done it four times – but only six openers have completed the feat. Three of the others were also New Zealanders: Gordon Leggat (against Pakistan in Dacca in 1955-56), Bruce Murray (vs England in Christchurch in 1970-71) and Jeet Raval (vs Australia in Perth in 2019-20). It was also done by Moeen Ali for England (against Pakistan in Dubai in 2015-16) and India’s Wasim Jaffer (vs West Indies in Kingston in 2006).When did England’s Test side last contain two players called Matthew, as it did at Lord’s? asked Matthew Robertson from England

England’s two debutants in the first Test at Lord’s were Durham’s Matthew Potts and Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson, as mentioned above. It was the first time England had included two players with the first name Matthew since… March, when Yorkshire’s Matthew Fisher made his debut against West Indies in Bridgetown and lined up alongside Jack Leach, whose first name is Matthew.But that’s cheating a bit: the only time England have fielded two players generally known as Matthew (or Matt) in the same side was in four matches during 2007, when Matthew Hoggard appeared with Matt Prior (they both had the same second name too: James). England’s only previous Matthew was Glamorgan’s Matthew Maynard, who won four caps between 1988 and 1993-94.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Once mocked as a bits-and-pieces player, India’s No. 7 continues to have the last laugh

Nagraj Gollapudi02-Jul-20222:28

Ashley Giles: ‘Ravindra Jadeja showed great maturity in near-flawless knock’

The first ball Ravindra Jadeja faced on Friday was curving into him from James Anderson. The ball swung fast in towards his legs, but Jadeja dug it out without missing a beat. Standing inside the crease, bat close to the body, Jadeja made contact with the ball right under his eyeline. There was no hurried or abrupt movement.Soon it became clear that Jadeja was not going to have a rush-of-blood moment in trying to counterattack his way out of the situation India were in. He was taking a big stride towards the pitch of the delivery while playing, as far as possible, with a full face. His bat remained tucked close to his body to avoid any nicks and, like all good batters, he played the ball late.Related

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Two days before this Test, Jadeja had spent the majority of his time in the nets practising that big stride towards the delivery and focusing on defending. But don’t think this was Jadeja adding a new string to his bow. It was more a case of him polishing the wares he put on display in the first four Tests of the Pataudi Trophy last summer. Measured in terms of balls played for lower-order batters so far in this series, Jadeja has faced nearly double that of the next person across either side: 459 deliveries, after the Edgbaston innings, with Rishabh Pant a distant second at 259.In their first innings of the first Test, at Trent Bridge, Jadeja came in at 145 for 5 and then helped India take 95-run lead, scoring 56 over two hours. India were in pole position chasing a short target before the fifth day was washed out.At Lord’s, where India recorded a memorable comeback, among the many psychological battles the visitors won, prominent again was Jadeja, who was the last man out, helping them to 364 in the first innings, having come at 282 for 5. He might have made just 40 runs, but they came off 120 balls and 160 minutes – highlighting both his grittiness as well as the ultimate aim of ensuring a healthy total. In the fourth Test, Jadeja conjured something out of nothing from a lifeless Oval pitch, which showcased his strength as an allrounder as well validating his selection over R Ashwin, who has sat out all the five Tests in this series.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhen he walked in on Friday afternoon, the ball might have grown a bit old – 28 overs – but the conditions remained overcast through the day. For the initial part of his partnership with Pant, Jadeja matched his partner’s scoring rate (Jadeja was 24 off 34 while Pant was 25 from 31 deliveries). Even as Pant started to score more freely, Jadeja did not get distracted. He slipped effortlessly into the role of playing second fiddle, in the process taking more strike and facing more questions from the England quicks. From Anderson to Matthew Potts to Stuart Broad to Ben Stokes – each of them attacked his off stump by pitching on a length and shaping the ball away. Barring a few occasions where he did fall for the bait, Jadeja kept his bat tucked in. When they bowled short, he did not pull awkwardly, instead ducking away.But when the opportunity presented itself – against a shorter ball or a fuller delivery – Jadeja had no qualms in taking them on and putting them away. Take the pushed straight drives on both sides of the wicket against Anderson and Broad on Friday afternoon: playing late and leaning into the shot, Jadeja used his powerful wrists to flick strokes without overhitting them. Once against a short delivery from Broad, Jadeja steered behind square for a certain boundary, but Ollie Pope, at backward point, threw himself to his right to intercept. Jadeja, instantly punched his bat.Against Anderson and Potts, Jadeja’s control dropped to 74% and 76% respectively, but overall his in-control numbers were at 82%. That might not appear high, but keeping in mind the conditions along with the quality of the bowling attack, you could say it was good.In the same over Pant brought up his century, Jadeja twirled his bat to celebrate his half-century, which had taken 20 more balls that the former’s ton (Jadeja reached 50 off 109 balls, compared to Pant getting to three figures in 89). As Pant said after play on Friday evening, both he and Jadeja wanted to solely focus on creating a partnership instead of adding pressure on themselves.Ravindra Jadeja got to his century off 183 balls after walking in with India at 98 for 5•AFP/Getty ImagesIf Stokes and England were not aware that Pant and Jadeja are among the best lower-order batters for the last three years, having conducted several rescue acts, they now know. Anderson pointed out that Jadeja had grown into a “proper batter”. “In the past he was coming at eight, batting with the tail so he had to chance his arm a little bit, whereas now at seven he can bat like a proper batter. He leaves really well and made it difficult for us.”In March Jadeja scored 175 against Sri Lanka to take a record from Kapil Dev for the highest score by an Indian No. 7 or lower. ESPNcricinfo analyst Shiva Jayaraman produced in-depth piece explaining how Jadeja had become a sting in the tail for the opposition since 2017. Updated numbers show 591 of Jadeja’s 1652 runs since 2017 – 35.8% – have come with India already six down. That is the highest for batters with a cut-off of at least 1000 runs in the last five years.Since 2019, with a cut-off of a minimum of 15 Test innings, Jadeja has taken on average 2.9 innings for a 50, which is the quickest for India, even better than the likes of Rohit Sharma (3.3) and Pant (3.5). In the same period, among all teams, Jadeja has the highest average of 51.45 (minimum cut-off of 10 innings) for No. 6 and lower batters.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhen Pant got out six overs before the finish on day one, Jadeja was on 68. India were still some way off a desired score of 400. Jadeja resumed with the same plan and method he had deployed the previous afternoon, rode his luck once, as England’s slips fumbled a catch, and next ball whipped a cut that brought up his third century, and first overseas.Then came the celebration which also carried a message. Jadeja stood mid-pitch, both arms aloft, one holding a helmet, the other his bat, looking across the ground, as if to ask: ladies and gents, did you expect anything less from me? On the back of a difficult season personally at the IPL, after he stepped down as captain at Chennai Super Kings at the halfway stage and then abruptly left the tournament, it may have felt that much more special.Heart, courage and character have defined Jadeja the cricketer. Once mocked as a bits-and-pieces player, Jadeja simply laughed back at his critics with enough spectacular acts – with bat, ball, as a gun fielder. At the end of the media briefing on Saturday he even joked saying people could now describe him as: “Fielder who bats and bowls.”An important element of Jadeja’s batting which is often overlooked is his pursuit of discipline, which has helped him become the Mr Dependable in the lower order.

It’s a tactic that the pacers have loved using in IPL 2022. Find out which bowlers have been the most successful, and which batters have struggled

ESPNcricinfo stats team, Illustration by Kshiraja K18-May-2022ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Yes, the finisher’s job is that important, and it’s hard to argue with Karthik’s end-overs numbers since early 2019

Sidharth Monga07-Jun-20220:40

Dravid: ‘Karthik has been a point of difference at the back-end’

Dinesh Karthik’s comeback to international cricket is one of the more un-Indian T20 selections. He scored only one half-century in the IPL. With Rishabh Pant in the squad to take the gloves, Karthik becomes a specialist batter who won’t – and shouldn’t – bat in the top order. And, for once, here is a selection where a top-order accumulator in the IPL and/or domestic cricket is not being asked to go and take on a finisher’s role in international cricket.Karthik’s role description says “wicketkeeper-batter”, but he is not competing with Pant or Ishan Kishan. There is a specific role Karthik has in a T20 batting line-up, one that Kolkata Knight Riders learnt about the hard way. Ironically, when he was the captain of Knight Riders in 2020, Karthik tried to bat through innings, possibly to provide Eoin Morgan with his ideal point of entry, but through the season he managed only three innings of any impact: he entered in the 11th, 15th and 18th overs in those three innings.Related

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When IPL 2022 started, the Star Sports broadcast presented a telling stat: in the last three IPLs, Karthik had averaged 18 and struck at 126 when he had come out to bat before the end of the 14th over. In his innings that began in the last six overs, these numbers went up to 37 and 157. At the end of this IPL, ESPNcricinfo’s statsman Shiva Jayaraman expanded the filter to the last eight overs in IPL games and T20Is starting from January 1, 2019, and here are the corresponding numbers: in the last three-and-a-half years, Karthik has started 38 innings after the 12th over, averaging 47 and striking at 174 in them. In the same period, the 28 innings of his that have begun before the end of the 12th over have yielded an average of 19 and a strike rate of 129.An intangible reason behind this is the role clarity that comes with batting when only a certain number of deliveries are left in the innings. A tangible reason is Karthik’s struggles against spin and his preference for pace. In the last three IPLs, Karthik has averaged 37 and struck at 166 against pace while averaging 15 and striking at 111 against spin. And you get to face less spin when you bat only in the death overs.Royal Challengers Bangalore used Karthik almost perfectly in this year’s IPL, but the question is, are India willing to make those allowances to get the best out of Karthik? And the question arises because in the past many an IPL success has gone on to perform a different role for India without similar results.A good series against South Africa could put Dinesh Karthik in the mix for the World Cup•PTI It is as much about the willingness as it is about the resources. RCB had allrounders to promote ahead of Karthik if they lost wickets early, and the presence of Wanindu Hasaranga typically coming in behind him gave him the freedom to bat the way he did. India have the two Patels, Axar and Harshal, who should be prepared to bat three-four overs if needed to allow Karthik to bat at his preferred point of entry.For long India have tried to refashion top-order batters to fit the lower-middle-order and finishing roles. Now, with many a top-order batter resting, is the perfect time to make every allowance for a man used to playing the finishing role for his franchise, because this role is important. It is also important to not look at aggregates, especially when he doesn’t get to bat much, as was the case in his previous stint in T20Is.Just after his Premadasa heroics, Karthik found himself out of the team, and when he came back he got nine innings in 13 matches for a highest of 33 not out and a strike rate of 140. While India did well by not batting him before the death overs, Karthik didn’t get enough balls to bat, partly because India’s top orders tend to bat through and take fewer risks.In his long career with many comebacks, Karthik has played various roles, from Test opener in England and South Africa to a sudden-collapse plug in a World Cup semi-final, but now he promises to start a stint with high levels of role clarity, something he has earned with his performances in the IPL. He has time before this year’s T20 World Cup to take this to the international level too, and there is no reason for India to bat him in any other role now.

Unlikely death-bowling hero ensures UAE finish campaign with first win in T20 World Cups

Sidharth Monga20-Oct-20225:07

Erasmus: ‘Difficult to put the loss into words’

On the surface, Muhammad Waseem is the kind of cricketer you wish you were.By 10.10pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time, Waseem had bowled just 22 balls in official Twenty20 cricket. He had got three wickets in those 22 balls, which makes for an impressive strike rate of 7.33. Two of these three wickets were Namibians – one of them David Wiese – but still. His main role in the side is to open with the bat.Somewhere between 10.10pm and 10.15pm, Waseem came on to bowl in a match that had appeared to be UAE’s in the bag but was now in the balance. The momentum was with Namibia with Wiese refusing to have this as his last game in this tournament. And who knew if he would ever play one again?Related

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Waseem marked an extremely short run-up, making the keeper – standing as far back as he did for other quicks – look like either optimistic or unaware. Waseem tiptoed for a bit, and then off four paces he let the ball rip. First ball nearly a yorker. Second ball beat Ruben Trumplemann and carried comfortably to the keeper. He was like the old pro in the neighbourhood who could just turn up and do anything. As an opening bat, he had scored a half-century earlier in the day.This was the 17th over. Seventy-three off 36 had become 46 off 24. The last over had gone for 18. Even Trumplemann had begun to hit now. And here Waseem was, hardly a bowler, nailing his lengths off four paces at a decent lick.

****

UAE are a lovely mix. Their cricket is no longer just the first-generation guns for hire. Many of their cricketers are homegrown. Their background is diverse. Their captain is a Malayali, their youngest player of Goan origin, their hat-trick hero is Tamil, their fast bowlers have roots in Pakistan. The team language is Hindi/Urdu, but Waseem can speak a bit of Malayalam, the captain’s mother tongue. Unlike their former countries, they have no problem playing with each other. They are not insecure. They are loud, expressive and are not shy of having a go at each other on the field. They are also a team that was aiming for just their second win in all World Cups, after their triumph over Netherlands in 1996. So even though this was a dead rubber for them in terms of tournament play, but there was a big point to prove. To others and to themselves. The world just below Full Member sides is cut-throat.

****

When they came to the ground, the Malayalee captain, CP Rizwan, saw the pitch and decided in consultation with the Trinidadian/Indian coach, Robin Singh, that they would play an extra spinner, and told Waseem he might be called upon to bowl an over or two.Now domestic T20 cricket in the UAE doesn’t qualify as official T20 cricket. So it is easy to miss that Waseem bowls a bit in T20s. Not just bowl, he bowls at the death. He makes sure he does because he is the captain of his club side. Recently in D10 cricket, he defended eight runs in the final over. Sometimes he bowls 14, 16, 18, 20. And he is playing, as he says, every second-third day.Muhammad Waseem gets a hug from his captain•AFP/Getty ImagesIn the UAE team, though, the bowling is, in his words, “very good”, so he isn’t required to bowl. Now that he was bowling, he had to do so to the ultimate pro, Wiese, who knew UAE would need two overs from somewhere and was quite excited at the idea of playing spin. He can pounce on any error in length. Waseem missed his on the fifth, and got clubbed. This was, to borrow from the ICC’s punch line, big time.With the sixth ball, Wiese perhaps fell to the temptation of the short square boundaries and turned the bat face. Waseem settled under the massive top edge, but the ball caught him on the fingers. Waseem was good enough to recover and fire a quick throw that would have caught Wiese short had the keeper gone back to the wicket.”I was very upset because I hardly drop catches,” Waseem said. “It is very rare that I drop one. When I did drop him – I was under it, had judged it, but it caught the fingers instead of the palm – I thought it was a big mistake, but the way Zahoor bowled that 19th over, I got my confidence back.”It was Zahoor Khan, born in Faisalabad, about 200km north of Mian Chunnu where Waseem started his cricket, who kept the game alive with his yorkers and one bewitching slower ball. He has been fantastic throughout at the death in this World Cup. His 19th over – three runs and a wicket – against Netherlands created something out of nothing. In the 20th against Sri Lanka, he conceded three runs and took two wickets.Zahoor gave Waseem a second wind. He was confident again. “The good thing is, being a death-overs bowler, I get yorkers right,” Waseem said. “And the plan was to bowl yorkers so that even if I miss the length, they have to hit down the ground, which is a big hit. I wanted to avoid being hit square. The idea was to get hit straight down the ground if I did, and that’s what happened with Wiese’s wicket.”Wiese, who had been waiting to target the two overs from spinners, was spot on when he said he was expecting some error from the part-time bowler. “We weren’t really expecting him to come on but when he came on – at the end of the day he is a part-timer – so you would expect him to miss one or two but he bowled well tonight,” Wiese said. “He executed his skill and at the end of the day, we just didn’t have enough in us. Fair play to them, well bowled.”

****

The night ended in tears for Wiese. At the press conference, he sat stone-faced, staring at nothing in particular. He vowed to come back for Namibia in the 2024 T20 World Cup. Rizwan was a relieved man, having got that elusive first win. “I’m feeling really happy,” Rizwan said. “First win for UAE in a [T20] World Cup. Indeed, it’s a proud moment. Really, we can now fly back better.” Just another bittersweet final day of the first round of a T20 World Cup.

Allrounder has been crucial to Pakistan’s progress into the Asia Cup final

Shashank Kishore10-Sep-20223:56

Arthur: ‘Shadab’s become far better and is an all-round package’

Shadab Khan had “complicated things” for himself not long ago. He made this candid revelation after the Super 4 game against India at the Asia Cup. He said he was trying too many things as a bowler. As an art, legspin can be demanding at the best of times. It leaves you with minuscule margins for error. And when you try too many things like Shadab felt he had, results are often likely to be met with inconsistency.This is something Shadab has consciously worked on since the start of 2022. He touched upon doing the simple things right. Like hitting the same spot over and over again and varying his pace and trajectory without losing sight of that spot. When he was convinced the consistency in hitting that was back, he weaved the variations back in, such as the googly and the flipper.It was as if he was reconstructing his bowling; one by one piecing back the jigsaw of skills that brought him tremendous success when he broke through as a teenager six years ago.Related

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To Shadab’s credit, even through all that, he made sure his batting didn’t suffer. It’s actually something he takes great pride in, to the point that, two years ago, when he was pulled up by Mickey Arthur for not doing enough, he bet his coach that he’d score three half-centuries in three Tests and he did just that: 55 against Ireland followed by 52 and 56 against England.Shadab brings great flexibility to Pakistan’s T20 line-up, something they have lacked since moving on from Faheem Ashraf. And he likes being the two-in-one guy. Earlier this year, playing for Islamabad United, Shadab picked up 19 wickets in eight innings. This included two four-wicket hauls and a five-for. He also made 268 runs at a strike rate of 162.42. No one in the PSL had made 250 runs and taken 15 wickets. To have done all this while leading Islamabad suggests that responsibility sits well with him.Shadab Khan’s spell was crucial to Pakistan stopping a rampaging India in the Super 4 game•AFP/Getty ImagesOver the past two weeks, we’ve seen Shadab’s brilliance at different times at the Asia Cup. In the game against India, he was single-handedly responsible stalling an innings that was in overdrive. His spell of 2 for 31 in four overs was the reason India finished on 181 instead of the 200-plus they were on track to get.Shadab’s variations that night extended far beyond just a simple wrong’un. He produced subtle changes in length, pace and use of the crease. He struck off his very first ball when KL Rahul didn’t fully get beneath it. It was a classic Shadab wicket. Tempting the batter into a big shot, only to have him drag one to strategically-placed deep fielders. Later on, with Rishabh Pant trying to play funky shots, he drew a mis-hit that was caught at backward point.Shadab’s contribution didn’t end there. Thanks to a deep understanding of match-ups and data, he played a key role in Mohammad Nawaz being pushed up the order to disturb India’s two legspinners. Of course, the benefit of hindsight allows us to label it a masterstroke, as Nawaz’s 20-ball 42 blindsided India.Against Afghanistan, he responded to conceding an early six by prising out the dangerous Najibullah Zadran. It was a clever piece of work, sneaking in a seam-up delivery that the batter toe-ended to long-on. Then, on a low-scoring bunsen, in a game wasn’t sealed before Naseem Shah’s twin-sixes in the final over, Shadab’s 36 off 26 at No. 5 proved invaluable, especially after the top order faltered.The dramatic nature of the finish meant his knock didn’t get the credit it deserved. It had been an exhibition of total control until he was dismissed trying to be a tad too adventurous against Rashid Khan. A game earlier, against Hong Kong, his 4 for 8 had been a wholesome display of his bag of tricks.As a bowler, Shadab doesn’t get expansive turn and bounce. He gets his edge from imparting sidespin and playing around with trajectories. With the bat, he’s calm and calculative. He plays to his strengths, to his match-ups. All of this is why he’s as X-factor as they come. The old verve that made him a teenage sensation is back. The signs are promising, once again.

The Australia captain has shown over the years that he has the tools to extract help from the flattest of tracks

Karthik Krishnaswamy04-Feb-20231:31

Cummins won’t forget ‘how good Australia fast bowlers are’

Among all the remarkable things about Pat Cummins, the most remarkable could be his durability. In an era when other world-class, genuinely quick bowlers – think Jofra Archer or Jasprit Bumrah – routinely miss matches and series for injury or workload-management reasons, Cummins is almost always part of Australia’s Test XIs. He has featured in 46 of Australia’s last 50 Tests, and only Nathan Lyon (50) has been more of an ever-present.It wasn’t always so, of course. Cummins, the Player of the Match on Test debut in November 2011, waited five-and-a-half injury-ravaged years before getting to play Test cricket again.In March 2017, he made his comeback in Ranchi, and proceeded to show the world just how special a talent he was. Figures of 39-10-106-4 aren’t immediately eye-catching, perhaps, but that performance was exceptional for two reasons.Related

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The first reason was what Cummins brought up when asked about Ranchi on Saturday, in Australia’s first press conference since landing in India for the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series, which begins in Nagpur on February 9.Cummins had only played one first-class game in the 18 months leading up to that game in Ranchi, and given his injury history, no one could have been certain how much of a workload he could get through. As it turned out, he bowled 39 overs as India piled up 603 for 9 declared. To date, he hasn’t bowled more overs in a Test innings.”I think what I learned about myself was, it was my first Test match in six years, it kind of reaffirmed that that’s where I wanted to be,” Cummins said, “and in Test cricket, you can’t be worried about your body or different things, you’ve just got to go all-in. I really enjoyed that.”I think also the lesson there is that Test cricket can be really, really hard. You’ve got to accept that it’s going to be a grind sometimes, and you have got to be up for it and embrace that challenge. I think, coming here to India, a lot of the talk is around big spinning wickets, mainly fast [-moving] Test matches, but it’s not always the case.”You need to get into the grind at times, and that role as a fast bowler might be bowling plenty of overs for not a heap of reward but doing a job for the team. I really enjoyed that aspect of that last tour.”

“We have got plenty of bowling options here – fingerspin, wristspin, left-arm [spin], and Starcy [Mitchell Starc] when he comes back”Pat Cummins is relying on the variety of his attack to pick 20 wickets

The second thing that made that Ranchi display so remarkable was that on a track that was slow, low and utterly lifeless when any of Australia’s other bowlers tried their luck on it, Cummins threatened to run through India. By means of searing pace, conventional swing with the second new ball, reverse with the old one, and offcutter-bouncers that reared at the gloves, he had, at one stage, taken four wickets to leave India six down and trailing Australia’s first-innings total by 123.Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha turned the match around thereafter, putting India in control with a 199-run seventh-wicket stand, but Cummins had shown Australia how he had both the stamina and the sting to be a threat on subcontinental pitches.Australia recognise that pace could play as crucial a role as spin in their push for a first Test-series win in India since 2004 – their two best bowlers in that series were Jason Gillespie (20 wickets at 16.15) and Glenn McGrath (14 at 25.42) – and the attacks that led them to victories in Bengaluru and Nagpur featured three quicks and one spinner.While a lot of the pre-series talk this time has revolved around who among Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson and Todd Murphy will partner Lyon in Australia’s spin attack, Cummins suggested that three quicks and one spinner could be an option too.”I wouldn’t say [two spinners is] a given,” he said. “Obviously it’s very conditions-dependent, particularly in the first Test. Once we get to Nagpur, we will see. But yeah, I think sometimes talking about a couple of spinners, you forget how good a lot of our fast bowlers have been in all conditions.Pat Cummins picked up eight wickets in the Lahore Test last year to help Australia win the series•AFP/Getty Images”You know, even some of the SCG wickets, [there hasn’t] been a lot in it for the quick bowlers, but the quick bowlers have found a way. So yeah, we’ve got plenty of bowling options here – fingerspin, wristspin, left-arm [spin], and Starcy [Mitchell Starc] when he comes back down the line. So yeah, we’ve obviously picked the bowlers that we think can take 20 wickets. How we are going to split that up, we are not 100% sure yet.”Australia’s most recent Test match, against South Africa in January, came on one of the SCG pitches Cummins referenced flat and slow. Rain dashed Australia’s hopes of forcing a win, but Cummins put them in a position to push for that result, summoning every weapon at his disposal, including bouncers from around the wicket with a leg-theory field, to dismiss three of South Africa’s top six and force them to follow on.Cummins had bowled with similar hostility in Lahore last year, picking up five wickets in the first innings and three in the second as Australia wrapped up a series victory their bowlers had worked tirelessly for on some of the flattest Test pitches of recent times.Cummins wasn’t just tireless, though. In a series where the next-best Australia bowler averaged 34.12, he took 12 wickets at 22.50. On pitches designed to blunt his wicket-taking threat, he was both tireless and incisive.Over the next six weeks or so, there will likely be as much – or more – chatter about the pitches in Nagpur, Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad as there is about the superstars who will bowl and bat on them. No matter how the pitches behave, though, Cummins – as he showed six years ago in Ranchi – will be a threat, quite likely the foremost threat in India’s minds.

In the absence of KL Rahul and Axar Patel, India will be testing out a few of their bench players

Deivarayan Muthu16-Jan-20232:48

Jaffer: I would pick Kuldeep ahead of Chahal on current form

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Will Kishan keep wicket and open the batting?

With Rahul missing the series because of family commitments and Rishabh Pant in recovery after a serious car crash, Ishan Kishan has emerged as the frontrunner to keep wicket in both the ODI and the T20I series against New Zealand. However, it remains to be seen whether he slots right back in as an opener in 50-over cricket.Despite shellacking a 126-ball double-century last month – the fastest ever in ODI cricket – Kishan was benched for the Sri Lanka series, with Shubman Gill getting the nod ahead of him. Gill scored two fifty-plus scores in three innings, and worked his way towards establishing himself as an all-format player for India. However, if India want to fit Suryakumar Yadav in the middle order in place of Rahul, and want Kishan to have another go at the top along with captain Rohit Sharma, then Gill could potentially drop out of the XI.Related

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Kuldeep vs Chahal

With India all but certain to play at least one fingerspin-bowling allrounder, it has always been about Yuzvendra Chahal vs Kuldeep Yadav in this ODI World Cup year. If Chahal still hasn’t recovered sufficiently from the shoulder complaint that put him out of the last two ODIs against Sri Lanka, then Kuldeep might surely start the New Zealand series.However, if Chahal is fit again, India will have to a make a difficult choice between the two wristspinners. Though Chahal has leaked runs in his last few ODI outings, his experience and slow legbreaks are still valuable, particularly at home. Kuldeep has also presented his case, bridging the gap between Chahal and himself by adding more vigour to his action which is enabling him to get a little more drift and a little more turn. He has bagged two Player-of-the-Match awards in his last three international games, which could be hard to ignore.Washington Sundar has worked specifically on power-hitting and expanding his range of strokes•AFP/Getty Images

More game-time for Washington?

With Ravindra Jadeja still working his way back from injury and Axar also taking a break due to family reasons, offspin-bowling allrounder Washington Sundar could be set for a consistent run in the ODIs and T20Is against New Zealand.Bengal’s left-arm fingerspinner Shahbaz Ahmed has been drafted in as Axar’s like-for-like replacement in the ODI squad, but it is Washington’s offspin that could be matched up with New Zealand’s left-hander heavy line-up that could include all of Devon Conway, Mark Chapman, Tom Latham, Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner.Washington has missed at least two World Cups because of injury since his international debut in 2017, and this is now his chance to break the jinx. Since IPL 2022, he has worked specifically on power-hitting and expanding his range of strokes some of which were on display during his cameos in New Zealand late last year.Washington had also dropped down the order for his state team Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy to get accustomed to closing out the innings. Having started his career as a top-order batter, he is on the path towards reinventing himself as a spinner and a finisher.Shardul Thakur was left out for the ODI series against Sri Lanka•AFP via Getty Images

The return of Thakur

After being left out for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, Shardul Thakur is back in the mix, with left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh dropping out of the squad. With Bhuvneshwar no longer on India’s radar and Deepak Chahar still unfit, Thakur gets another opportunity as a seam bowler who can also offer batting depth. Although Thakur isn’t a genuine swing bowler like Chahar, he can also bowl with the new ball, something he did on the Bangladesh tour.Thakur also has some recent batting form against the New Zealanders on his side. In September against New Zealand A in Chennai, he cracked 51 off 33 balls from No. 8 to help drag India A close to 300.

Malik steps up in Prasidh’s absence

In the early half of 2022, Prasidh Krishna was India’s chief enforcer with his hit-the-deck bustle, but a long injury layoff has set his career back. In the absence of Prasidh, India’s team management has turned to Umran Malik for high pace and bounce in the middle overs. Malik has not gone wicketless in the six completed ODIs he has played so far.When Sri Lanka were making a good fist of a chase of 374 on a flat pitch in Guwahati, it was Malik who provided India with a point of difference by ripping out Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka and Dunith Wellalage with rapid deliveries. Similar bowling performances will keep Malik in India’s World Cup frame, with or without Prasidh.