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India opener Smriti Mandhana talks about bouncing back from the injury that nearly ruled her out of the World Cup

Snehal Pradhan08-Jul-20171:22

The rise and rise of Smriti Mandhana

The last six months have been quite a journey for you, and now you have your first World Cup century. What was going through your mind when you went out to bat and India lost two early wickets?
When two wickets fell, there weren’t a lot of runs on the board, so we needed a good partnership, and getting out at that moment was not an option. So I restricted my shots a bit. Mithali was guiding me very well, telling me to concentrate on singles, because they had spread the field for me. Initially, for the first two overs, I panicked a bit. By panicked, I mean I thought, “Now I must not get out.” Because we were already under pressure after losing two wickets in a row.Your bat has been making good sounds, and the flow has looked good. Since when has it felt this way?
Since I started batting after getting injured, I’ve had a good feel. The first day, I thought that I won’t even be able to connect, but surprisingly I middled everything. I guess there is a hunger after not batting for many days, that [feeling that] finally I’m getting to bat. I thought I connected well.Can you describe the first day you batted after injury? What was the first shot you played?
It was a front-foot cover drive. I was in Sangli, I had gone there for ten days to give my exams. I thought, “Let’s play at least 15-20 balls and see.” I called Anant [Tambwekar, her coach]. I was doing a session with him after almost a year. He was excited, I also was excited.I started with underarm lobs. The first ball I connected, I felt, “Wow, that feel was really good.” I’m so greedy about batting that I had never missed a single day before. So not batting for three months was a huge thing. More than the injury, I was feeling bad that I can’t bat. After I heard that sound, I slept well that night.

“Earlier I used to put a lot of pressure on myself if I had not scored. I would go into a shell. Now it’s not like that. If I don’t score, I know I’m at least running, doing everything else”

How did your batting progress over the next few months?
The first 20 to 30 days, I was only allowed throwdowns. Out of these, the first five days were underarm, and then slowly overarm throwdowns. I was still not allowed to bat in the nets, which needs quick movements. With throwdowns, you expect the ball, and the movement isn’t that quick.Initially only front-foot batting was allowed for the first few days, since my back foot was the one that was injured. So the first six days I played front-foot shots. Then slowly I started underarm back-foot shots, and it progressed: first underarm back-foot from a short distance, then with a leather ball. Before coming to England, I practised with a plastic ball to train for the conditions.It was like the way we start for little children: hanging ball, stationary, throwdowns. I did throwdowns first because the physios wanted to see how my reaction is. Then after 15 to 20 days, when I settled down with throwdowns, I did hanging ball and stationary.Were you nervous before the team was announced? Were you uncertain if you would make it?
Yes, I was. Firstly because the openers had done really well. One thought in my mind was that the selectors would not want me, because already everything was settled. Secondly because I didn’t have match practice. Four, four and a half months, no match practice. And generally, after an injury, they say that one should start from domestic again, just to, you know, get that confidence back. So I had a doubt in my mind as to whether they will go for me directly for the World Cup. I’m thankful that they had the faith in me, despite not playing for four to five months, and despite the openers doing well, they supported me.There must have been a fitness test before the selection meeting?
Before the selection meeting, NCA sent a mail to the selectors saying I would be fit by the time the camp for the World Cup started. They sent my videos, details of what I was doing, everything. The team was announced quite early [15th May].The day the team was announced, I was not match-fit. Because it was early. But they had sent a mail that I would be fit by so and so date. So that was according to NCA procedure.Is coming back from injury like this a lonely and insecure process?
It is, because first of all you are not able to move. Second thing, no matter how great a player you are, when someone takes your place… I was feeling happy that India is winning, but somewhere it was like, the spot that I have made my own for two years, did I lose it with this injury? So that is somewhere in the mind. Of course I was really happy for them [the openers].Mandhana goes pow during her century against England•Getty ImagesAnd nothing is in your hand. When you are dropped from the team, you know you can go back, work hard, do running, work with dedication, and then you have your chances. This time I wanted to, but still I could not do too much running.Initially when I started running, it was with just two strides. Even if I wanted, even if I heard motivational music, I could not do more than two strides. So it’s really not in your hand. But I accepted the fact that it’s not in my hand. What was in my hand was how I progressed when I got the green signal. So I didn’t think about it that much, which is a good thing. I didn’t sit crying, “Why did this happen?” I had other issues to deal with.I started concentrating more on my diet, which would not have happened if I wasn’t injured. In fitness, I did 40% more than what I used to do before.The biggest lesson was that when you’re out of form, your mindset is to keep thinking about things like “I’ve not scored, I’ve not scored.” And you don’t really concentrate on the fact that you’re actually running around. Earlier I used to put a lot of pressure on myself if I had not scored. I would go into a shell, then I would go in to the next match in that zone. Now it’s not like that. If I don’t score, I know I’m at least running, doing everything else. So I just be grateful and keep playing. The day will come when I score runs again.How did your diet change?
They aren’t significant changes. I’ve not gone gluten-free or anything. But I’ve definitely cut down on [wheat flour], butter, cheese and sugar. I could not do without four spoons of sugar in tea. Now I drink green tea.You’ve spent almost five whole months at the NCA.
Yes, I went home only for my exams. Besides that I was completely at NCA. But I wasn’t homesick, because my mother or father was there, and having relatives in Bangalore really helped.Quite the cricketing family?
For them, my cricket is their cricket. More than me thinking about cricket, they think about it. When I go out to bat, they are more nervous than me. I’m (cool). used to make food for me in the hotel we were in, so I could get a good diet and didn’t have to eat out. I fought with her so much, but she would say, “You have to eat this.” Whatever I am, it is because of them. Their dedication is more than mine.

Against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils chose to promote Pawan Negi ahead of Chris Morris and Carlos Brathwaite, a move that tied them down at a crucial stage of the innings

Arun Venugopal in Raipur23-May-2016Delhi Daredevils, asked to bat by Royal Challengers Bangalore in clash for a playoff spot in Raipur, were 80 for 3 after 11 overs. It wasn’t a bad platform, especially on a pitch with some inconsistent bounce, but the last three overs had produced only 18 runs. Quinton de Kock, batting on 45, had bedded in for the long haul and he had for company Sam Billings, who had thus far faced only five balls. The roles appeared clear – de Kock would ration his risks while Billings would try to ramp up the scoring. It was sound logic – Chris Morris, who had recovered from a niggle, and Carlos Brathwaite were lying in wait.

Quinton de Kock on…

Daredevils’ constant change in playing XI
We spoke about this at the beginning of the tournament as a team; a collective thought as a team that when it comes to it, we’re going to look at every game and play the XI that we thought that can take up an opposing team. With regards to their bowlers, to spinners because we had a lot of variety. We tried and mixed and matched to complement who we were playing against. I think it’s good that we mixed up. We’ve also learnt now combinations and stuff for the next season.
Daredevils’ takeaways from this season
Other people have now learnt that they can’t take us too lightly, especially as youngsters. We’ve put up a scrap always, as young guys, we’re not just here to keep throwing half-volleys to superstars. We’re here to compete. We’ve tried to make a name for ourselves for next year and years to come. Hopefully, we won’t be taken for granted in the future.

Yet, after Billings was undone by Chris Gayle’s one-handed diving screamer off Chris Jordan, Pawan Negi came out to bat, ahead of Morris and Brathwaite. Negi, the costliest player in the Daredevils side, came into the game with 51 runs from five innings at a strike-rate in the early 100s which would drop to 96.61 by the time his innings ended. He hadn’t batted or bowled in the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday, and before that had last played a game over a fortnight ago.With de Kock at the other end, the promotion flew in the face of the left-right combination that many teams have been so meticulously trying to achieve. The only plausible explanation for Negi’s elevation would be the presence of a legspinner and a left-arm spinner in Yuzvendra Chahal and Iqbal Abdulla. Negi’s first three balls off Jordan were dots, and the third delivery was an upper cut that was fluffed by S Aravind at third man. In retrospect, it was a dropped catch that unwittingly hurt Daredevils.Meanwhile, Virat Kohli countered the left-left gambit with a smart ploy of his own. He called upon Chris Gayle to bowl his offbreaks from one end, and had Aravind bowling a good mix of short balls, yorkers and slower deliveries from the other. While Negi was struggling to strike the ball with any force, Daredevils had to drastically scale down their projections from a possible 170-plus score to 140.Gayle’s first over to Negi was all about him following the batsman, who was backing away almost every delivery, with flat and fast darts. Gayle began the 15th over with a similar plan, and Negi, stifled to a point of no return, jumped out and swatted a catch to long-off. Carlos Brathwaite came in next and squirted his second ball to backward point. Gayle was doing a clumsy little tap dance, Royal Challengers might have metaphorically been doing the same too.Only 15 came in the 3.2 overs Negi was there at the crease, and he played out 12 balls with only 6 runs to show for. After Brathwaite’s dismissal, things went further downhill. De Kock perished for 60 in the 17th over even as replays indicated Chahal may have overstepped. Morris had to not just firefight but also pick up the scoring rate and despite his unbeaten 27 off 18 balls, Daredevils managed only 63 runs in their last 10 overs for a below-par total of 138.While there was help from the pitch, Royal Challengers did well with clever bowling changes – Kohli alternated between pace and spin between overs 11 and 20 – and smart field placements. Even in the early part of the innings, Royal Challengers sealed off de Kock’s strong zone – the area behind square on the off side – with fielders at short third man, a backward point and a gully.De Kock acknowledged Royal Challengers’ smarts and conceded the spinners had muzzled them into submission. “I think they put a lot of pressure on us; their spinners there in the middle,” he said. “There were some good bowling changes. It was hard to build partnerships. From there, we were losing wickets at the wrong time.”We lost wickets at the wrong time. We also had a couple of soft dismissals. I lost my wicket at the wrong time. We were under the pump. It could’ve gone either way though. If we had got 20 more runs, could’ve got 160, but we lost key wickets at the wrong time. They had good game plans in the death and it was hard to finish off. We didn’t have enough batsmen for that. Unfortunately, we lost wickets at the wrong time.”Chahal, who took 3 for 32, said he was looking to force the batsmen to hit down the ground with the long boundaries. “The ground is big and the wicket was a bit two-paced so we planned that when me and Iqqi [Iqbal Abdulla] were bowling we shouldn’t be giving the batsmen any room,” he said. “From the other end too, Chris [Gayle] came on to bowl and picked up those wickets in two overs. Run-scoring became hard for them because every time they tried to score they lost wickets. Otherwise, I think 150-160 was a good score on this pitch.”

Fomer West Indies player Bruce Pairaudeau, who is 83, surprised the West Indies players during their training session on the eve of the UAE clash, after driving 300 kilometres with a friend from Hamilton, where he lives

Firdose Moonda in Napier15-Mar-2015″Lord have mercy, how do you bat with that?” Bruce Pairaudeau, former West Indies player and now New Zealand resident, was not able to see the answer to the question he posed to Chris Gayle for himself, because the Jamaican was forced out of the only match Pairaudeau was able to attend with a back injury, but they may gave used the time to chat instead. There would not have been enough time at Saturday’s nets to properly get into a discussion about bat weights anyway.Pairaudeau, who is 83, surprised the West Indies players during their training session on the eve of the UAE clash, after driving 300 kilometres with a friend from Hamilton, where he lives. He arrived unannounced but almost recognisable, not by face, but by accent.”We heard a West Indian voice and when I looked at who it was, I thought it might be Bruce Pairaudeau. We knew he lived in New Zealand but we didn’t know he was coming over,” Philip Spooner, West Indies media manager said. “All the guys just loved meeting him.”Pairaudeau played 13 Tests for West Indies between 1953 and 1957, alongside Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and Alf Valentine and fell in love with New Zealand on a tour to the country in 1956. After West Indies won the series 3-1, he wanted to stay in New Zealand but knew that if he did, he would not be considered for the 1957 visit to England.That series was particularly important to him because, as a young man, Pairaudeau had made three promises to himself. He wanted to play for Guyana, represent West Indies and tour England. He managed all three and has the brochure to prove it. He brought it with to show to the current crop, who he also regaled with stories from that tour and life in New Zealand.When Pairaudeau moved, he did not give up playing cricket and helped Northern Districts to their first Plunkett Shield in the 1962-63 season. He played for the team for eight years but even after with two decades of first-class experience, still does not know how or why Gayle chooses to use the equipment he does, even when he tried it out himself.

An unabashedly populist new potboiler uses cricket to offer a window into modern Pakistan

Ahmer Naqvi21-Sep-2013Recently, I was part of a discussion on films and cricket, and whether a successful confluence of the two was possible. The venerable Sam Collins had most of us agreeing when he pointed out that a major obstacle was the fact that sport regularly provided the sort of implausible scenarios that would come across as trite if scripted. Ashton Agar’s 98 on debut from No. 11 in the Ashes was one such example. My own feeling was that, in addition, the viewer’s experience would be let down by a cinematic approach to depicting the game, particularly the use of sound effects and gameplay.In that sense, it is plausible that masala films would provide the most agreeable paradigm for cinematically translating cricket. Referred to as masala for their mixture of genres (action and comedy and romance and drama), such films are part of a greater tradition of oral narrative. Think epics with linear plots, comedic and musical tangents, simple good v evil dynamics, happy endings.Originally looked down upon by intellectuals, masala films with their populism and mass appeal are now embraced and celebrated thanks to post-modernism. In the context of cricket and films, this means that an over-the-top storyline, bombastic characters and sounds, as well as a sickeningly saccharine resolution would be expected rather than dreaded. After all, the ultimate aim of any masala film is to entertain the public. (Gee, I wonder who that reminds us of?) (I am Shahid Afridi) is a story of an underdog team’s rise against the backdrop of a fictional domestic cricket tournament in Pakistan. It revolves principally around Akbar Deen, a former international cricketer seeking redemption after a UAE drugs scandal left him shunned. He is the reluctant coach of the Sialkot Shaheens, owned by the hilarious yet lovable Malick Khalid, and led by Shahid Bhatti – an amateur cricketer hoping to become Boom Boom. Pitted against them is the magnificently Modi/Packer/Stanford-esque Mian Asif, who owns the Islamabad Hunters – a team of boys from the “elite ruling class”. Mian Asif, in the first of a million twists, is also Akbar’s father-in-law.As a film, MHSA is quite ludicrous in its construction. Despite a street-smart score and decent soundtrack, the remarkably funny and sharp dialogue is recorded in a way as to make it seem to belong to an error-strewn student film. The colour correction is similarly jarring, displaying as much logic as a typical Afridi innings, often completely changing tones mid-scene. And even making allowances for the masala format, many of the plot lines are lazily developed and hastily resolved. Nevertheless the depleted nature of Pakistani cinema’s intellectual, technical and financial resources requests, if not demands, a level of charitableness in opinion.To be a successful masala film, MHSA required an underlying fantasy; the earliest masala films were about mythological tales. In Pakistan during the past few decades, the local film industry saw its fortunes dwindle, but blindly held onto the once-popular but increasingly irrelevant gandasa-wielding badmaash formula, based on violent rural revenge fantasies. The genius behind MHSA, in contrast, is its expropriation of cricket as the overarching source of the fantasy on which its plot is based, a relatively unprecedented approach in mainstream Pakistani cinema.The requisite good v evil narrative of every masala film is provided in MHSA by the class differences – rather than regional, ethnic or religious ones – with the rich Islamabad Hunters players being “gentlemen who will speak and talk to foreigners without feeling insecure”.In contrast, the Sialkot Shaheens are all working-class ruffians who have little other than their dreams. There are numerous father-son conflicts throughout the plot, which are resolved through the traditional miracle-of-god* and tears-of-mother approach, but also through cricket. The game exists as one of the archetypes upon which the film’s moral universe rests.In fact, cricket completely permeates the film. Crooked umpires, Martin Crowe’s 1992 World Cup strategies, dressing-room bust-ups, on-field bust-ups, press conference bust-ups, Shoaib and Sania, the street-urchin-turned-Test-star, IPL parties, fast bowlers on PEDs, Allen Stanford’s helicopter at Lord’s, Kamran Akmal’s keeping, Qadir teaching Warne how to bowl a googly with an apple, the MCC (Malik Cricket Club), Miandad at Sharjah, post-match interviews in English, over-age players in a U-19 side, bitchy journalists, old Pepsi ads with Imran and the two Ws – the film is jam-packed with cricket references, woven into a populist, aspirational story.In being such, the film offers a window into Pakistan; a window only as true as an Afridi hoick that ends up over cover for six, but a window nevertheless that shows a Pakistani identity far more endearing and relatable than the infinite attempts made post 9/11 by the media, and in literature and film.To use a cliché when it is finally due, MHSA is a truly “mercurial” film.*(It actually rains right at the very moment the cocky Australian coach of the Hunters mocks the Shaheens with the immortal line: ” Where is your God now?”)Main Hoon Shahid Afridi
Dir: Syed Ali Raza Usama
Starring: Hamza Abbasi, Mohammad Ahmad, Ainan Arif <brSix Sigma Entertainment

The warm and engaging life story of a man who accomplished the rare feat of playing cricket and football for England

Martin Williamson21-Aug-2011Arthur Milton occupies a place in sporting history that will never be usurped: he was the last of the 12 men who played cricket and football for England.Milton’s sporting career, which started in 1948 and lasted through to his retirement from Gloucestershire in 1974, began in an era when there was still a distinct divide between the summer and winter sporting seasons, and ended when playing both sports professionally was a dying concept. It was an indication of the importance of cricket in post-war England that Arsenal, one of the leading sides, happily allowed him to play for his county when the seasons did overlap.Milton’s one England football international came in 1951, after he had made only 12 league appearances for Arsenal (a largely forgettable draw at home to Austria), but he was good enough to win a championship medal in 1952-53.His record for England at cricket was slightly better; he scored a hundred in his first Test innings, against New Zealand in 1958, and in so doing became the first player to be on the field for every ball of a Test, and toured Australia that winter. But he failed to pass 50 in his remaining five matches, and by 1959 he had been dropped.Thereafter, he continued to ply his trade for his beloved Gloucestershire with great success. Although he officially retired in 1970, he kept being recalled until he quietly called time. He was an excellent close catcher – he equalled the world record for catches in one game – and an undemonstrative but very effective batsman. In retirement he coached for a time – but as he admitted, he did not believe in coaching.He was just short of being top-class in both his sports, and there is a sense that he was the kind of sportsman who was more comfortable in the familiar surroundings of his club or county rather than in the glare of the bigger stage.Oddly, he appears to have been at his happiest when he became a postman, serving the public and getting out and about in his beloved countryside. He also saw more of his family. Having missed seeing his boys grow up because of the relentless grind of the county circuit produced some rare bitterness.There is also an underlying sense that Milton, for all his sporting success, might have been happier in the world of academia. Clearly an intelligent man, he eschewed university for sport, and that seems to have been a matter of regret as he got older – not that such a delightful man would have ever let such a thing turn him resentful. He gained some solace when he was awarded an honorary degree by Bristol University late in his life.Mike Vockins has succeeded in getting a real flavour of Milton across in his book, even if he was hampered by the unfortunate death of his subject during the writing of it, and clearly he bonded with a genuinely decent man. Anyone expecting a warts-and-all book – not that they should, given the subject matter – will be disappointed, but Milton was not that kind of man.This is a warm and engaging look back on the life of the kind of sportsman who no longer exists, and in doing provides insights into a long-forgotten world.Arthur Milton: Last of the Double Internationals
Mike Vockins
Sportsbooks; £18.99

Cricinfo’s senior editors on the best passages of cricket they watched in 2008

05-Jan-2009

Osman Samiuddin

Mendis in the Asia Cup final
This was the beauty of it, of cricket and cricketers in the subcontinent. A
young guy, very much his own guy, little heard of, coming out on a big stage
and torpedoing a giant. Even if Ajantha Mendis never bowled another
ball or got another wicket, his six-for would stand as tribute, a most
beautiful tribute in fact, to the art and joy of this region’s cricket. It
doesn’t matter if it is a fleeting thing – often that enhances it – for in
that moment, or prolonged moment, you are sucked in and taken along on a
ride where nothing makes sense but everything makes you smile and makes the
hair on your body stand up. Cricket becomes an experience, a very visceral
experience, and not a sport, to be sensed, even touched, but above all to be
felt.These bouts are difficult to explain. The National Stadium in Karachi had
been a graveyard for the bowlers. Three
hundred was the new 240. Two seventy-four was thus a gettable thing, and with Virender
Sehwag in flow and India 76 for 1 in the 10th over, it threatened to be a
miniscule total. Mendis – rested in the group game against India – came on,
Sehwag charged a straight, wide one, missed, and was stumped. Yuvraj Singh,
Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma also missed straight balls; they expected
something to happen with that strange grip and yet nothing really did.
Suddenly India were all out for 173. These things happen in such a sudden
burst of flair.There was about the whole spell, a very Pakistani air – something a Waqar
or Wasim could do, but more pertinently something a guy like Mohammad Zahid
from Gaggu Mandi, who only his parents had heard of, could do. Stuart Broad
took a superb five-fer against South Africa last summer but it was all so pristine, so
sanitised: straight-up swing; nice, coached upright action; edges to slip;
boy who has worked his way through a structure.This was nothing like it, because it induced in India a very visible panic
and in everyone else the purest thrill, from a guy nobody knew much about.
Fielders suddenly become more alert, batsmen more incompetent, balls turning
who knows which way, and that is the joy of cricket surely, at its absolute
base level: in a team game, one man changing the mood of a match, of
entire countries, in a trice, just like that, as you or I might turn on a
switch. Indeed, the best was that until the very end, nobody could say for
sure that someone like Mahendra Singh Dhoni – an equal of Mendis in unorthodoxy – wouldn’t do what Mendis had just done and switch it all back. Ajantha Mendis, long
may he live and bowl; the glory of this region’s cricket, long may it flourish.

Peter English

Session one at the WACA, Australia v South Africa
Opening sessions that justify the pre-series hype are rare and when
Australia are involved they usually occur only in Ashes contests. South
Africa provided the perfect gatecrash in the first Test at the WACA with a
brilliant 30 minutes that involved three wickets and showed Australia were
finally in a serious contest at home. Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini had been
talked about as major weapons and they provided the early bullets. Getting
through Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey can sometimes takes
days, but the opening pair managed it in less than six overs.An out-of-form Hayden was uncertain outside off stump and edged to Ntini,
who followed next ball by having a driving Ponting caught superbly by AB de
Villiers in the cordon. Hussey avoided the hat-trick but was quickly lined
up by Steyn’s angle and de Villiers was sharp again. It was the sort of
spell that excited neutrals, shocked Australian fans and gave South Africans
hope.It also did something that few teams manage Down Under, by getting the home
players to doubt themselves. To achieve all that in half an hour was an
incredible feat. While it set up the series, it did not gain South Africa
immediate control, with the advantage swinging from side to side throughout
the three sessions – and the entire game. The opening day couldn’t match the
start of the Ashes in 2005, but it was so addictive.

Andrew Miller

Flintoff to Kallis at Edgbaston
A spell so good, it deserved to win a Test match. That it did not was
ultimately down to the skill of Graeme Smith, whose incredible 154 not out
in the second innings secured an improbable run-chase, but when Andrew
Flintoff tore into Jacques Kallis to turn the Edgbaston Test match on its
head, it was the moment a great competitor announced his rehabilitation at
Test level. Until his intervention, England had been drifting out of
contention. Their first-innings 231 had been all but matched and six South
African wickets were still standing. Then Flintoff upped the ante. Two
brutal bouncers and a pair of perfect yorkers, the second of which struck
Kallis plumb in front of middle, revived memories of Flintoff’s inspired
over to Ricky Ponting on the same ground in 2005, except it took another
four deliveries to get the desired result. Another wicked bouncer and a
perfect outswinging yorker ripped Kallis from the crease, to scenes of wild
adulation.The over had a twin impact. Firstly, it was indisputable proof of Flintoff’s
enduring class at international level – at the age of 30, and after four
ankle operations, seeing was believing, and for the packed Birmingham crowd
that day, belief had rarely felt so good. Secondly, it reminded England that
all the line-and-length merchants in the world cannot make up for the raw
threat of a genuine 90mph speedster. For the next Test at The Oval, Kevin
Pietersen’s first in charge, Steve Harmison was recalled to the fold, and
the improvement in the team was plain for all to see.

Dileep Premachandran

Yuvraj v England’s spinners in Chennai
As VVS Laxman trudges back, some fans clutch their heads in despair.
Yuvraj Singh strides to the middle a minute later, but on a final-day
pitch taking dramatic turn, he’s not the figure you want to see. Sachin Tendulkar
has made sedate progress to 32, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious
that he will have to seize the initiative if the effervescent Graeme Swann
and the less bubbly Monty Panesar are to be kept at bay.Tendulkar starts Panesar’s next over with a typically precise paddle
sweep. As it streaks past Matt Prior and the helmet for four, the crowd
finds its voice again. After a nervous Yuvraj sees off another over from
Swann, Tendulkar targets Monty once more. This time, a short ball is
dismissed to the rope at square leg. He seems to be warming into his role
as Yuvraj’s guardian.But does the younger man need such cotton wool? Having been flummoxed by a
Swann delivery that turns right across his bat and into Prior’s gloves,
Yuvraj decides to trust the attacking instincts that have served him so
well in coloured clothes. A lovely back-foot push through the covers gives
Swann reason to think, and when the next ball lands on leg stump, it’s
swept with awesome power for four more.

When Monty resumes, Yuvraj is out of his crease and lofting with
confidence down to long-on. Pietersen swiftly calls off his spin twins and
brings back Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff. The tide has turned, the Red Sea parted
by a man who allegedly can’t play spin.

Sambit Bal

Ishant v Ponting in Perth
It isn’t coincidence that four out of five in this collection of memories of the best cricket we watched last year – are about triumphs by bowlers. It¹s
a reflection of our times. What’s rare is precious. When the standard
wicket-taking method is boring the batsman out with run-denying lines and
smart fields, which often include a deep point, out-and-out wicket-taking
performances are the ones to hold on to.After a bit of juggling I settled on Ishant Sharma’s dismantling of Ricky
Ponting over Ajantha Mendis’ dumbfounding of Rahul Dravid in Colombo – if only because the first was a spectacle that lasted an hour. Already in the same Test we had seen a thrilling duel between the game’s two premier players, Sachin Tendulkar and Brett Lee, but this was between a rookie and a master, and the master ended up looking like a rookie.In the first over he bowled to him on the fourth day, Ishant could have had
Ponting twice – one went away missing the outside edge by a fraction, and
another jagged back and hit in front – but that he didn’t only prolonged the
drama. Ishant charged in over and over, hurrying Ponting with pace, getting him
to fend with bounce, beating him with movement. Every over probably seemed
like an eternity for Ponting, who couldn’t even get off strike. The
reward finally came in the eighth, which came about as a last-second
change of mind prompted by Virender Sehwag, who had seen Ishant bowl long
spells as his captain for the Delhi team. The ball pitched on off stump and rose
while leaving Ponting, who could only edge it to Rahul Dravid at slip. That
was Ishant’s only wicket in the innings, but it was the one that mattered.

Rangpur were propelled to 185 by Jimmy Neesham’s 97* after they were 66 for 4, but their bowling faltered in the defense

Mohammad Isam26-Feb-2024Litton Das and Towhid Hridoy launched Comilla Victorians into the BPL final through a six-wicket win against Rangpur Riders in Qualifier 1 in Dhaka. The pair struck attractive fifties as the defending and four-time champions chased down 186 with nine balls to spare.James Neesham’s T20 career-best of an unbeaten 97 from 49 balls had propelled Rangpur after they were 66 for 4, but their bowling faltered in the defense.Neesham, Litton and Hridoy’s innings seemed to be a just reward for a 25,000-plus crowd at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, which had witnessed a relatively one-sided Eliminator match earlier in the day.Hridoy struck 64 off 43 balls with five fours and four sixes, while Litton smacked nine fours and four sixes in an innings of 83 from 57 deliveries. The pair added 143 for the second wicket after Sunil Narine’s first-ball dismissal.Hridoy and Litton got Comilla’s steep chase going almost immediately, the former hammering Hasan Mahmud for 22 runs in the fifth over. Litton then went after Neesham, hitting him for a four and a six, to end the powerplay. Hridoy hit two more sixes, while Litton also got a six in the next four overs.Hridoy struck the ball strongly through the leg side, while Litton kept up the pace with three fours off Neesham in the 13th over. The partnership ended in the 15th over when Shakib Al Hasan held on to Hridoy’s swipe down the ground.But Litton continued to keep the chase on track with more boundaries before falling with 13 runs required to win, which were knocked off in the next four legal deliveries.Earlier, Rangpur’s innings had changed its course when Neesham walked in to bat in the fifth over. Rangpur had already lost Shakib, Shamim Hossain and Rony Talukdar before Neesham and Mahedi Hasan added 39 for the fourth wicket.Mahedi fell in the ninth over, before Neesham added another useful 38 with Nicholas Pooran for the fifth wicket. Pooran, who arrived in Dhaka only on Monday morning, made 14 off nine balls, before Neesham was joined by captain Nurul Hasan to stabilise Rangpur’s innings.That is when Neesham opened up, as he and Nurul added 53, with Neesham climbing into the Comilla bowlers. He struck most of his seven sixes over midwicket, at times shuffling to the off side to fetch the ball and hit the bowlers on the leg side.Neesham struck three sixes and two fours in the last over of Rangpur’s innings as Comilla’s youngster Musfik Hasan conceded 27 – the other run was from a bye – with the total of 28 being the most in an over in this season’s BPL. Musfik’s four overs cost 72, and turned out to be the most expensive spell in BPL history.But it didn’t cost Comilla, although Rangpur now have a second shot at the final as they take on Fortune Barishal in Qualifier 2 in Dhaka on Wednesday.

MatériaMais Notícias

Por quase todo o tempo nessas três semanas sem jogo do São Paulo após a eliminação no Campeonato Paulista, o assunto quando se tratava sobre o time era a volta do esquema com três zagueiros, abolida pelo técnico Rogério Ceni desde o fim do ano passado.

Pois bem, após a vitória por 2 a 0 sobre o Tigre nesta quinta-feira (6), na estreia do Tricolor na Copa Sul-Americana, o treinador comentou sobre os motivos que o levaram a sacramentar a volta do sistema.

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+ATUAÇÕES: Erison faz 2 gols pelo São Paulo e leva a melhor no duelo do ‘Touro’ com o Tigre

– O sistema treinamos desde que saímos do Campeonato Paulista. Devido à volta do Arboleda e ao fato de o Diego (Costa) estar prestes a voltar, além do Rafinha, que também pode exercer a função, decidimos trabalhar com três zagueiros.

Sobre a escalação escolhida para preencher o sistema, Ceni foi direto e justificou que precisava de jogadores mais fortes e físicos para romper as linhas dos argentinos.

– Calleri suspenso, acho que para esse jogo o David com o Erison era a formação ideal, porque são jogadores fortes, de atacar espaço, como foi o primeiro gol. O Luciano é mais de flutuação, de jogar entrelinhas. A escolha se mostrou boa, Erison fez dois gols. David também ajudou muito segurando essas bolas na frente. O Michel Araújo atacando bastante, Nathan também, dentro de suas características.

+ Confira jogos, classificação e simule resultados da Copa Sul-Americana-23 na tabela do LANCE!