All posts by h716a5.icu

As a young batsman, he stands out for the way he has adapted to suit the contrasting demands of Tests and T20s

Aakash Chopra18-Aug-2016The IPL is now nine seasons old. Having spent a few seasons in an IPL dressing room, I was soon convinced that T20 was here to stay, and second – a not-so-healthy upshot – that the format would seriously affect the growth of Test openers and spinners in particular. This because no other players are forced to change their basic game to suit the demands of the shortest format as much as Test openers and spinners.A Test opener is a skeptic by nature. He is trained to distrust the ball till it reaches him. Early signs can be misleading; the ball might appear to be traveling in a straight line after the bowler releases it, but it’s wrong for the batsman to assume that it will follow the same path till it reaches him. The new ball could move very late in the air or off the pitch, and so openers are hardwired to view it with suspicion. They are also trained not to commit early to a shot because that can leave them in a tangle. They’re told to wait till the ball gets to them and play close to the body. Reaching out with the hands is a temptation a Test opener must guard against.But in T20 cricket, an opener’s role is to set the tone. Go really hard in the first six overs, which is when scoring is considered to be easiest. If you can’t find the gaps, go aerial. If you can’t go down straight, trust the bounce and go across. Don’t get too close to the ball, as that will block the bat-swing. Stay away from the ball and use the arms and hands to reach out and hit. A spell of 12 balls without a boundary in the first six overs is considered to be pushing the team back. Patience might be a virtue in Tests; it’s a liability in T20.The same is true for the spinners. Flight, dip, guile and deception aren’t the most sought after virtues in the world of T20. Instead, the focus is on keeping the trajectory low and bowling it a little quicker to discourage the batsmen from using their feet. Bounce is revered in Tests, but the lack of it is a boon in T20. We have seen spinners go extremely roundarm (remember Ravindra Jadeja in the IPL?) to prevent the batsman from getting under the bounce.It takes a long time to master the art of bowling long spells to plot and plan dismissals in Test cricket – a tactic that’s alien to T20 bowlers who are used to bowling four overs across two or more spells. You can’t practise crossing the English Channel by spending 30 minutes in the swimming pool everyday. T20 cricket has challenged the fundamentals of spin bowling.

To shelve a shot that’s dear to you in one format and play it in other formats shows discipline and patience

The reason I think middle-order batsmen and fast bowlers haven’t been forced to change their game is because T20 hasn’t demanded they do anything that they weren’t already doing. A middle-order batsman in a Test side, as in a T20 game, is allowed to rotate the strike and play along the ground before accelerating the scoring. He does the same in Tests and ODIs, albeit later in the innings. The only adjustment he is called on to make is to shift gears a little sooner. That’s easier to do than being asked to move from riding a bicycle to driving a sports car, as spinners and opening batsmen are.Similarly, fast bowlers aren’t pressed to do anything radically different either. Make the new ball swing, change lengths and pace regularly, and find the blockhole on demand. It’s challenging for sure but not a skill-altering demand.After weighing in these factors, it is only fair to assume that the next generation of spinners and openers for the longer format might take a lot longer to come to the fore, or worse, not do so at all. After all, why would somebody invest in the skill set required to play the longest format given the huge rewards on offer in the shortest format? Unless you just can’t cut it in T20, leaving you with no choice whatsoever.While the likes of David Warner and R Ashwin excel equally in both formats, it’s worth noting that both honed their skills as youngsters when playing the longer format was still the way up. Also, both are aberrations and not the norm. Increasingly, Test teams are forced to pick specialists in these two departments.KL Rahul comes across as the first to challenge my hypothesis, and perhaps he provides an insight into how cricketers of the future will be.Things that look improbable now, both physically and mentally, could become reality in the near future. And Rahul’s early success across formats offers proof. He was only 16 when the IPL started, in 2008, and his first-class debut came two years later, which makes him a wonderful case study.Never satisfied with just a fifty: Rahul has set an example with his conversion rate in Tests•AFPRahul is happy leaving the ball that is only a few inches outside the off stump in Tests, and equally adept at flaying anything wide. He puts in a long stride to get close to the ball and then lean into drives in the longer format, but in T20 he doesn’t mind staying away from a ball pitched on the same length, the better to allow his hands to go through. Like a true Test opener, he is skeptical at the beginning of a Test innings, but he doesn’t mind going down on one knee to scoop the first ball he faces in the shortest format.He got out pulling from outside off in his debut Test match and since then he hasn’t played that stroke early in his innings. By his own admission, he really enjoys playing the pull and hook to anything that is short. To shelve a shot that’s dear to you in one format and play it in other formats shows discipline and patience. That’s a virtue the new-age opener wasn’t mastering, or so I thought.Most importantly, a fifty or an eighty isn’t enough for Rahul. In fact, save for one occasion, he has scored a century every time he has passed 50 in Tests. He has shown that if you train the mind as much as you train the body, it’s indeed possible to find a game that’s suited to Test cricket without compromising on success in other formats.Over on the bowling side, we are still struggling to find spinners for the longer format. I won’t be surprised if some boards decide to keep young spinners away from T20 cricket till a certain age, for it is widely accepted that the shortest format is affecting the development of young spinners.Perhaps I’m taking Rahul’s initial success too seriously. After all, he could be just like Warner, an aberration. But his style of play is reassuring and has given me hope. Maybe he’s the first of the new breed of Test openers. Amen to that thought.

Certain multi-format players have surprisingly underachieved in T20Is. It’s because they haven’t played enough of such matches to develop a rhythm

Tim Wigmore31-Mar-2016Lionel Messi is not merely the greatest footballer of his generation but perhaps the greatest that there has ever been. Balletic when dribbling the ball, he marries agility with a knack for the killer pass and is remorseless when handed a goal-scoring opportunity. And yet, his record for Argentina has been comparatively underwhelming. He scores 0.86 goals a game for Barcelona but only 0.46 a game for Argentina, and has never been victorious in a World Cup or Copa América.When discussing AB de Villiers recently, Harsha Bhogle likened him to Messi. It was only half a compliment. For in T20 cricket, de Villiers’ career is panning out like Messi’s: outstanding in domestic matches but underwhelming on the international stage.”AB de Villiers: wonder of the world” read a sign in the crowd during South Africa’s game with Sri Lanka this week, accompanied by a picture of de Villiers dressed as Superman. So it has often seemed in the IPL, where de Villiers averages 36.70, at a strike rate of 144.73.But de Villiers averages only 23.58, with a strike rate of 131.91, for South Africa: hardly Superman numbers. Little wonder that South Africa have yet to reach the World T20 final in six attempts.Paradoxically for a 32-year-old international captain, inexperience is part of de Villiers’ problem. He has played 71 T20Is, but that only amounts to seven a year. And he has only played in 41 matches outside the World T20: a puny four games a year to try and work out his best role. Whereas the norm for de Villiers in red-ball cricket or the 50-over game is playing for his country – 106 of his 132 first-class games have been Tests and 200 of his 232 List A games have been ODIs – in T20s it is the exception, and almost two-thirds of his matches in the format have been domestic games.After the 2015 IPL, David Warner played two T20 matches in 292 days•IDI/Getty ImagesAfter the last WT20, de Villiers went 15 months until his next T20I, being denied the intensive period of concentrating on T20 cricket and the role within a side he is afforded during the IPL. For batsmen, the lack of T20Is means “cohesion becomes an issue – batting partnerships and running between the wickets, knowing when your batting partner is going to ‘go’,” says Trent Woodhill, batting and fielding coach for Royal Challengers Bangalore.In T20, de Villiers is a victim of his own gifts. “I haven’t really found a rhythm yet in T20 cricket,” he said in 2013, seven years into his T20I career. “I’m still finding my way… exactly where I’m going to bat, whether I’m a finisher, in the middle order or in the top three, maybe.”Is he an opener, a middle-order accumulator or a finisher with only sixes on his mind? De Villiers has spent his entire T20I career oscillating between all three. A decade into his South Africa T20 career, he has never batted more than six matches in the same position. Before the tournament, Faf du Plessis declared: “We decided on AB at the top a while ago, and to change that would be a sign of panic.” Two games after a 29-ball 71 opening against England, de Villiers was shuffled down the order; in his last five games alone, he has opened, and batted at three, four and five.South Africa have given ample thought to trying to maximise de Villiers’ effectiveness. Yet in the process they have failed to ensure he, their outstanding batsman, bats in the top three. After their exit from the 2014 World T20, head coach Russell Domingo justified the tactic of holding de Villiers back – he batted at five in the semi-final defeat to India, and did not come in until the end of the 14th over – because the data showed he was more effective coming in after the tenth over. But the sample size in T20 cricket, especially internationals, is so small that such numbers should be used with care. Where Domingo said de Villiers thrived coming in late in an innings, he was referring to nine innings played over eight years.One case of a player floundering in international T20Is is even more perplexing than that of de Villiers. When he was selected to play South Africa in a T20I in 2009, David Warner became the first man since 1877 to debut for Australia before playing first-class cricket. He is a poster boy for the notion that modern players can emerge in T20 cricket and then thrive in Tests too.There has just been one snag: as his Test form has soared, so Warner’s returns in T20I cricket have plummeted. A lack of matches is at the heart of his problem: while excelling in 50-over cricket and Tests, Warner played just six T20Is between the 2014 and 2016 WT20 tournaments, and only had three games to get accustomed to his new role in the middle order. Thirty-eight runs in four innings in India were the result.Grant Elliott has no IPL contract, but he has been very effective for New Zealand with his all-round skills•Getty Images/ICCMulti-format players like de Villiers and Warner also arrived at the WT20 less fresh, the result of years of touring in all forms; while many T20 specialists are on the road nearly as long, Tests are far more draining. And de Villiers and Warner also practise far less in T20: after last year’s IPL, Warner played two T20 matches in 292 days. Returning to T20, he has felt like a rugby union star out of sync with the demands of rugby sevens. His predicament risks becoming a common fate until countries block off several months before the World T20 to focus exclusively on the format.While de Villiers and Warner departed in the Super 10s, the World T20 has been a triumph for the anti-Messis. These are cricket’s equivalent of David Healy, who scored just four goals in 44 Premier League appearances but, with the side designed around him, was a man transformed for Northern Ireland, scoring a national record 36 international goals, including a hat trick over Spain and the winner against England.In keeping with the country’s tradition of rising to more than the sum of their parts in world events, several Healy impersonators have emerged from New Zealand. None have been better than Grant Elliott, who has defied a lack of T20 pedigree; he has never been bought by an IPL side. While other players have suffered from a lack of clarity about their roles, Elliott finishes innings with a combination of canny placing, hard running and selective hitting. With the ball he has found the slow pitches in India well suited to his undemonstrative wicket-to-wicket bowling, normally coming in at the end and just after the Powerplay. Elliott has been adept at honing these roles not merely because of his experience and skill but because of the experience afforded by being a white-ball specialist for two years.The same is true of Ashish Nehra, who has not used a red ball in international cricket since the start of 2014. Recalled after five years away from international cricket, Nehra has thrived with swing, accuracy and cutters. He has been allowed to replicate his IPL role, typically bowling three overs during the Powerplay and has settled seamlessly back into the side during India’s intensive lead-in to the WT20: they played ten T20Is in six weeks before the tournament, preparation far exceeding that of Australia and South Africa.Yet it is West Indies who provide the greatest example of a cricketing David Healy. Eighteen overs are the sum of Samuel Badree’s IPL experience, and it has been seven years since his last first-class match.Badree is not a huge turner of the ball, but it has proved no barrier to T20I effectiveness: his 26 games have brought 37 wickets at under 15 apiece, conceding less than a run a ball. He delivers legspin with accuracy, pace and bounce, equally comfortable against left- and right-handers alike. Even his lack of spin is arguably an advantage in T20, rendering it harder for batsmen to open up angles.When Badree arrived in India, he had not played for West Indies since 2014. Yet he returned to find his role opening the attack, normally bowling out within ten overs of the innings, unchanged: he has opened in all four West Indies matches at the World T20 so far, and in all 26 T20Is of his career.At 35, Badree would seem an unlikely trendsetter. But he points to a future in which, unless countries embrace the need to adequately prepare their dwindling band of three-format players for T20 tournaments, international T20 success could become largely the preserve of short-format specialists.

Tottenham Hotspur are "set to start" club-to-club talks "soon" for Bayer Leverkusen star Edmond Tapsoba, according to reports.

Who have Spurs signed this summer?

Spurs and new manager Ange Postecoglou have been very busy so far this summer transfer window, having already sealed the signings of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, England international James Maddison and winger Manor Solomon on a free transfer.

The trio are set to bolster Tottenham's options for the 2023/2024 season, with Postecoglou seeming particularly excited about the prospect of linking up with Maddison and Vicario.

“It’s not just about the talent they bring as footballers," explained the Spurs manager recently.

"It’s what they bring as people as well because we are going to play football that requires a certain type of personality and character.

“Both those guys have got it in abundance. I could hear it in their voices when I spoke to them. I had a couple of chats with both of them before we signed them and I knew that they were the right types to bring into the dressing room."

Following on from those signings, it is believed Tottenham are chasing a new centre-back or two as they seek to strengthen a fragile defence – one which conceded 63 league goals last season.

Wolfsburg's Micky van de Ven is reported to be edging closer to joining Spurs, but reports suggest the north Londoners could make more than one signing in that position.

Tapsoba, who was undroppable for Leverkusen last season, is among the options being considered by Tottenham with journalist Sacha Tavolieri claiming talks over personal terms have been held in London.

The Burkina Faso international's representatives have been in London for contract discussions and Tavolieri sayus club-to-club talks are set to start imminently.

"Edmond Tapsoba's representatives were in London this weekend in order to discuss the personal terms with Tottenham," said the reporter on Twitter.

"I understand the meet-up was constructive and that talks are progressing 'significantly' as – for example – the salary of the B04 player has already been discussed.

"There are still points to fix but it goes on the good way about all parties involved. THFC now set to start talks soon with Bayer Leverkusen."

How good is Edmond Tapsoba?

Leverkusen apparently want around £43 million for their star regular, but as per the numbers, he could well be worth it.

Only goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky played more Bundesliga minutes than Tapsoba last season, with the defender ranking just behind centre-back partner Jonathan Tah for clearances made per 90 (WhoScored).

Xabi Alonso clearly views the 24-year-old as an indispendable member of his starting eleven with the Bundesliga website even comparing him to Jerome Boateng.

They wrote:

"The legendary Bayern Munich defender, who made 364 appearances across 11 seasons for the Bavarian giants, was as cool and calm as it gets both on the ball and in the tackle while he was also famed for his pinpoint long passing that set up many an attack for the record champions. Tapsoba has similar traits and such is his eagerness to start forward thrusts, he has often been referred to as a defensive playmaker."

Paul Stirling’s 99 – his third consecutive fifty – and an unbeaten 85 from Andy Balbirnie took Ireland to a six-wicket victory in a must-win third ODI

The report by Varun Shetty19-Mar-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Andy Balbirnie’s unbeaten 85 was Ireland’s first middle-order fifty in the series•Associated PressIreland’s hankering for a resistant middle order was finally satisfied by Andy Balbirnie, as the right-handed batsman struck his fourth half-century – an unbeaten 85 off 74 balls – to take them to a six-wicket victory in the third ODI. It was their first victory of the tour and kept the series alive at 2-1 with two ODIs to go.At least two of Ireland’s top three had scored fifties in the first two ODIs. That pattern was quickly erased by Dawlat Zadran who dismissed Ed Joyce and William Porterfield off consecutive overs to reduce Ireland to 24 for 2 by the end of the sixth. But Paul Stirling continued to stand in their way, cutting out the risks early as he dug in to put on 96 for the third wicket with Niall O’Brien (30), and got to his third-consecutive ODI fifty in the process. He put on a further 59 with Balbirnie for the fourth wicket, before falling one run short of another hundred. This time, he missed a straight one from Mohammad Nabi and lost his off stump. His wicket, however, wouldn’t bring another collapse. On the contrary, Ireland lost no further wickets. Gary Wilson’s run-a-ball 28 did enough to complement his younger partner, who spearheaded the unbroken 86-run stand as he scored Ireland’s first half-century from the middle-order in this series. Afghanistan dropped three catches to help Ireland along in the chase, but the neutralization of legspinner Rashid Khan, who went wicketless, will have made them feel most vulnerable. They did have Rashid to thank, however, for keeping them in the game in the first place.A ten-ball first over from Peter Chase belied the start to come for Afghanistan. Chase and Tim Murtagh made run-scoring difficult for Afghanistan’s top order on a slow pitch. By the 11th over, three of them had fallen playing away from the body, and one had swiped across the line. Mohammad Nabi was given the marching orders when Stuart Thompson got a finger on the ball before Samiullah Shenwari’s straight drive broke the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Afghanistan were reduced to 67 for 5 after electing to bat. Shenwari and Gulbadin Naib’s painstaking 30-run stand for the sixth wicket ended nine overs later, leaving Afghanistan’s lower order nearly 24 overs to contend with. Rashid and Naib played 16.1 of those and put on 97, getting fifties before falling in the space of four balls. Ireland wouldn’t have minded that fight at 193 for 8, but Shafiqullah, who would’ve come in at No. 7 normally, struck a 28-ball 50 at No. 9 to set Ireland a target of 265.

Tamim Iqbal also said the pitches were “worse than Mirpur”, which is known for its slow and low surfaces

Mohammad Isam17-Jul-2022West Indies white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran has criticised the pitches used for the ODIs against Bangladesh in Guyana, after the home side lost the series 3-0.The subcontinent-style surfaces at the Providence Stadium put a lot of emphasis on the toss. Bangladesh called correctly in all three games, and won by chasing low totals.Pooran’s opposite number, Tamim Iqbal, also said the pitches were “worse than Mirpur,” in reference to the Shere Bangla National Stadium, which is known for slow and low surfaces that offer turn.”These pitches are not helping us,” Pooran said. “The most it is doing is frustrating us as a group. It doesn’t matter who we brought into the team, we will struggle on wickets like this. Tamim Iqbal got Man of the Series for scoring 110 [117] runs. We do know that every time we got good batting pitches in the Caribbean, we as a batting unit have been doing well. Not only batting wickets, but better cricket pitches.”Nine-thirty start is always challenging… a lot of moisture in the wicket. That had been the biggest challenge for us. The toss hasn’t gone in our favour in the last six ODIs in the Caribbean, and we lost all six [five]. I believe that the toss played a big role.”Despite the pitches, West Indies have looked lost as a batting unit of late. In the rain-affected first ODI, they lasted the allocated 41 overs thanks to an unbeaten 39-run stand for the tenth wicket between Anderson Phillip and Jayden Seales. In the other two games, they were bowled out for 108 and 178 respectively. Before this, in Pakistan, they were bowled out for 216 and 155 in consecutive ODIs.In February, Kieron Pollard, who was West Indies’ white-ball captain at the time, had talked about trying to bat full 50 overs. Pooran also reiterated the same goal.”As a batting group, [we have to] try to bat 50 overs,” Pooran said. “It is the game plan for us. We weren’t looking at any target, to be honest. We tried to assess the wicket as fast as possible. Our goal was to bat 50 overs but we fell short by one over today [in the third ODI].”West Indies were also at a disadvantage because Keemo Paul couldn’t bowl due to a hamstring injury, while Rovman Powell also pulled up with a side strain.”I definitely felt that we had a really good chance,” Pooran said. “We knew the wicket would get better as well. But losing Keemo Paul was big for us, especially since his skills were key in Providence. We were one bowler short. I had to bowl seven overs, which made it very difficult.”Pooran was one of two bright spots for West Indies in the third ODI, having made 73 off 109 balls, but felt that he should have stuck around for longer. Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie, who took a four-wicket haul, was another positive for West Indies.”If that half-century helped us win the game, then definitely… I know I have to improve my batting, and as a team, we have a lot of work to do. I played well today but I left 20-30 runs out there. It was vital for the team. If we got those runs, maybe we would have won the game today.”[Motie] has been tremendous in the entire series, not just today’s game. It was his debut series in front of his home crowd. He was consistent, something that we have been asking of the spinners for a long time. I am just happy that he took his opportunity with both hands.”West Indies’ next assignment begins in less than a week’s time. They will host India for three ODIs and five T20Is starting July 22.

Reactions from former Madhya Pradesh players after the team’s maiden Ranji Trophy victory

Shashank Kishore, Nikhil Sharma and Afzal Jiwani26-Jun-2022Chandrakant Pandit, title-winning coach of Madhya Pradesh (as told to the BCCI website)
“It is becoming a little emotional because missing out when I was captain to win this trophy on the same ground after 23 years. Some say father could not do it but son has done it. Aditya Shrivastava has done it. I owed Madhya Pradesh the trophy that I missed out.”I used to play for Madhya Pradesh in ’94-’96 [1994-95 to 2000-01]. Almost six years I played. The offer [to coach them] came to me in March and I didn’t hesitate. Before that I had a couple of offers and then I thought about going back to Madhya Pradesh because I had left something 23 years back. Probably God willed me back to the same place and we came back to play the final at Chinnaswamy Stadium.”I would definitely say Aditya Shrivastava has been an outstanding captain with his plans and strategy. Whatever we discussed, I think he has never hesitated to implement on the ground. The captain makes the team win 50% according to me and that is what I wanted him to do. He has done a fantastic job and though he wasn’t getting runs I always had confidence in him. At the same time, Rajat Patidar, Shubham Sharma, Kumar Kartikeya, there are many many guys – young guy Akshat Raghuwanshi – has also come out well for MP.”Jalaj Saxena, former Madhya Pradesh allrounder
“It’s been seven years since I moved from playing first-class cricket for Madhya Pradesh but my heart has been pounding away watching the final. The only thought that kept playing in my mind at the start of the day were the memories of 1998-99, where we took a lead and had the final under control before one bad session cost us the game. I’m so happy to see how calmly they approached it.”When I started for MP 17 years ago, it was a dream to play in a Ranji final. We had talent but as a group, winning remained just a dream. To see these guys lift the trophy is a gift to the entire cricketing fraternity in MP. It has the potential to open several avenues.”Coaches and talent scouts will keenly look out for talent from MP even more now. We’ve already seen so many names coming through – Rajat Patidar, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Kumar Kartikeya. Many more could emerge. These guys have all been trendsetters for the younger players. So many youngsters in MP are now encouraged by seeing these guys perform on the big stage, and a platform like the IPL only magnifies your performances and provides a lift to the region.”We always knew MP had a strong team, but it was always a question of being able to hold our nerves on the big stage. After this win, that perception is bound to change. This win has the power to transform the direction of MP cricket for the better.

Madhya Pradesh, take a bow #RanjiTrophy

(Video via @BCCIdomestic) pic.twitter.com/htupTkaanQ

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 26, 2022