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Explaining the events of the BBL match between Adelaide Strikers and Hobart Hurricanes on January 6 using cold, hard numbers and their inferences

Jarrod Kimber and Gaurav Sundararaman06-Jan-2017Adelaide Strikers won the toss and elected to field. This shouldn’t come as a surprise because, prior to Friday’s match, teams have preferred to chase 14 out of 17 times in the BBL and the three who batted first lost. I know all this because of ESPNcricinfo’s newest recruit, Gaurav Sundararaman. He is a senior stats analyst, and before this, he worked with Barbados Tridents and the West Indies national team at the 2016 World Cup.Before the Hurricanes-Strikers match, I asked him to prepare the kind of dossier he would for a team. Although we have some data, it’s nothing like what he had access to when he was a team analyst.There were things I already knew or at least thought I did. Like how Strikers have a weakness in their middle order because they have three batsmen – Travis Head, Kieron Pollard and Brad Hodge – who take a while to start scoring quickly. I also heard from one of the analysts who works with a Big Bash team that D’Arcy Short – from a pretty small sample size – smashes quicks and only goes at run-a-ball against spinners.With Hobart batting first, Gaurav said this of their team strategies: “The average run-rate for the Hurricanes in the Powerplay was 6.94 in 2014-15 and 6.25 last season. So far this season, their run-rate has been impressive at 8.66. The welcome addition of Short has been vital towards this change, and the Hurricanes have won both the games in which he scored a fifty.”On the Hurricanes new singing, the replacement for Ben Dunk, Gaurav said, “Short has two fifties and has 140 runs from 82 balls. His strike-rate in the Powerplay is 197. He scored 60 off 39 in the previous game against Strikers. However, off the 21 balls he has faced against spin in the competition this year, he has scored only 24 runs and hence starting off with a genuine spinner could be an option for Strikers. Liam O’Connor and Head could open to reduce the run flow.”Head had only opened the bowling twice according to ESPNcricinfo’s data, which is not entirely complete for the Big Bash. Tonight was the third instance, and as Gaurav suggested he was brought on for the second over. The first ball Short played a shocking shot that just got past mid-on at a catchable height. The next ball he was out. Short improved his strike-rate against spinners, but he’s going to get a lot more chances in the future to face them.Statistics pointed strongly towards D’Arcy Short getting out to a spinner•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesGaurav’s research showed that it wasn’t just Short, but almost the entire top order of the Hurricanes that were weak against spin. “Tim Paine has been dismissed three times in the Powerplay versus spin and his strike-rate is 96, while against pacers it is 131. In the 11 knocks he has played in the Big Bash in the last three years, Kumar Sangakkara has played more than 20 balls only once, and has fallen to spin once every eight balls. George Bailey has been dismissed by legspinners 11 times in the last three years in all T20s. Dan Christian gets out once every six balls, and has a strike-rate of 87 against spin. Jonathan Wells’ strike-rate is 109 against spinners and 121 against fast bowling.”You might ask yourself how a T20 team pack itself with so many players with question marks against spin, but I myself didn’t get the time as they lost 5 for 37 in the Powerplay to quick bowling, two each for Billy Stanlake and Chris Jordan.The Hurricanes also may have made a tactical error in asking Christian to bat so early, considering that if they were to consolidate, they wouldn’t have their best slog-overs batsman to build on it. In the end he faced one ball, was out lbw – and probably caught – and Bailey was gone next over. So even if they had held Christian back, and promoted Wells, he would have been in at roughly the same time.Darren Berry tweeted, “Take 3 wickets in Powerplay, win 75% BBL games. Powerful KPI.” This stat, that many other coaches have told me, stands up through all T20. Although they are yet to invent a form of cricket where losing three wickets in the first six overs is a good thing.Something else Gaurav predicted was that the Strikers would “play an extra spinner to leverage on Hobart’s weakness against spin”. Michael Neser – seasoned seam bowler – was dropped for Tom Andrews, a 22-year-old left-arm spinner playing his second match.After the initial carnage of the five wickets, Wells and Beau Webster put together a partnership. It was the second time that Wells has had to come in and bail out the Hurricanes against the Strikers. Two years earlier he’d come in early and made an unbeaten 58. This time he wasn’t on his own, as Webster, in his first T20 innings, stuck around with him. Webster had no data to mine from T20, but he’s played 21 matches in first-class cricket, has three hundreds, and has already played for Australia A. Their partnership was 89 runs – a strike-rate of 158 against pace, and 106 against spin.Webster hit out at the end off O’Connor, but before that over, other than Jordan, the three lowest economy rates were those of the spinners. The total of 161 was better than what they deserved, but still below-par on a small ground.Beau Webster added value to Jonathan Wells’ habit of rescuing his team against the Strikers•Cricket AustraliaIt – the ground and the total – looked smaller with Dunk opening up. The Hurricanes know all about Dunk – he smashed them around Bellerive for a few balls last game – and, more dramatically, it was them who traded him for Hamish Kingston at the start of this season. Since that trade, Kingston has been handy, although was left out for the last game. Dunk, meanwhile, has been brutal. Before this innings of 79 off 49, he’d already scored more from four games than he had all of last season. He has even outscored Short, who took his place in the Hurricanes line-up.Dunk’s form should have meant more wins. Strikers lost the first game, after he had already broken the chase with a rapid 85, because they have an inefficient middle order.”Hodge, Head and Pollard are all slow starters. The strike-rates of Head and Pollard indicate that they can catch up and Hodge can finish well. However, in the process of getting in, they do take up a lot of mid-innings resources. Can a team afford to have three slow starters in the middle order? Based on the situation, Strikers need to relook their batting positions. Just picking players with a high strike-rate is misleading and may not result in the desired outcome.”It hasn’t helped that Head and Pollard have looked in pretty ordinary form, either. But, Dunk. Good old Dunk. He is in such good form that when Jake Weatherald was dismissed early, Head could come in at No. 3, with Dunk on 14 off 6. That meant there was no reason for Head to smash the ball around, he could play himself in, and then attack once set. On top of being a slow starter, and dreadfully out of form, Head also has issues against spin.”One big weakness that the Hurricanes could look to exploit is his inability to play spin. He has a strike-rate of 97 against offspin and has been dismissed six times against it.” So considering all that, it was a bit of a shock when the second ball he faced, off Webster’s offspin, he smashed a straight six.It looked like Head was trying to attack the spinners more and trying to start quicker – the one time he didn’t need to do either. A few balls later he went a bit hard at a Kingston slower ball and was caught for 9. So far in this tournament, he has scored 23 (25), 13 (13), 7 (8), 24 (26) and 9 (8). Strikers might not have worked out their middle order to perfection, but they would never have expected Head to be this poor. That he was 7 off 2, and ended up 9 off 8, suggests that even the six didn’t hurry up his start.Then Hodge came in. Dunk was now 27 from 14, and Hodge started slowly as Gaurav thought he would. For the next four overs Dunk hit a four, or six, off every one, except the over he was dropped off the bowling of Short. And Hodge scored six runs from his first 11 balls. Then, perhaps as Dunk was tiring, or at least, slowing down, Hodge hit six balls for 24 runs, going after Kingston in particular. Had Hurricanes brought Stuart Broad on when Hodge was batting slowly and taken him out then, it would’ve meant another Strikers batsman had eaten up balls in the middle before being dismissed. Instead, Kingston bowled and Hodge destroyed him.Both batsmen took boundaries off a poor Short over next. Broad came on after that, and took the wicket of Hodge straight away.Pollard and Jono Dean both came and went, but Dunk’s batting and Hodge’s cameo had broken the chase, so Jordan, who has a modest 118 strike-rate and hits a boundary every nine balls, only needed to chip the ball around and stay in with Dunk. He did this, and in his 14 balls, he hit one boundary, scored 15 runs, and hit a six to finish the game. Dunk sat at the other end nursing a healthy not out.Think about this, you only get eight games a year, and Hurricanes have just lost one to the man they traded away for a handy player who’s made no impact this season.On Dunk, Gaurav had written, “He has been explosive at the top of the order, scoring at a strike-rate of 200 in the Powerplay and will look to continue his good form. He has nine sixes so far in the tournament. He has been strong against spin in the Powerplay. In the last three years, Ben Dunk has a strike rate of 171 in the Powerplay against spin and a strike-rate of just 111 against the pacers. Hurricanes should be looking to bowl the pacers in the Powerplay and hope to dismiss or contain him.”The tried Gaurav’s plan, but couldn’t contain or dismiss him. Ultimately, that meant they lost to him.

Tom Latham has not been among the runs since his last ODI century. Once Martin Guptill returns from injury, Latham could be struggling to keep his place in the side

Andrew McGlashan23-Feb-2017New Zealand’s summer could have turned sour if they had let victory slip away in Christchurch. In the end, though, Trent Boult and Tim Southee found their yorkers and the series is level heading to Wellington. It could be a fight to the finish.However, with eyes on the Champions Trophy, New Zealand have some decisions to make and they chiefly surround the top order. Martin Guptill has yet to recover from his hamstring strain so there is an unchanged squad for the third one-day international on Saturday, but when fit he clearly slots straight back in at the top.The question is, who is alongside him? Tom Latham is in the midst of a lean run: since his 137 against Bangladesh he has made scores of 22, 4, 7, 0, 0 and 2 – the last of those when he flicked an innocuous delivery to square leg in Christchurch.Currently, Latham also has the gloves ahead of Luke Ronchi. In the first two matches of this series this has helped New Zealand accommodate Ish Sodhi as the second spinner and he has impressed in both outings. In Christchurch Latham kept neatly and was involved in three key wickets: JP Duminy’s stumping, David Miller’s outside edge and a good catch, coming forward, to gather AB de Villiers’ under edge.But if he isn’t scoring runs then the benefit of the balance he provides starts to be negated. Particularly as in December Ronchi was billed as the premier limited-overs gloveman. “At this stage we see him as the best ODI gloveman in the country,” selector Gavin Larsen said when Ronchi was recalled for the series against Bangladesh.However, it isn’t a simple case of switching Ronchi for Latham. Although Ronchi was used as an opener early in his ODI career, that ship has sailed: he has a top score of 22 from seven innings opening the batting (a brief return there in the second T20 against Bangladesh brought a first-ball duck). He would need to slip into the middle order, alongside allrounders Jimmy Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme.That could be an option in England, where a second frontline spinner may not be required during June when the Champions Trophy will be played. However, if both Neesham and de Grandhomme play ahead of another specialist bowler they would need to fulfil most of their 10 overs. It appears a luxury for New Zealand to have the No. 8-ranked ODI bowler, Matt Henry, sit on the sidelines.Mike Hesson indicated Neesham, who made an unbeaten 71 off 57 in Christchurch, and de Grandhomme will continue to feature together. “Jimmy was excellent, he was one of the ticks we’ve been looking for,” he said. “De Grandhomme in the previous game showed how good he is at finishing. We are starting to answer a few questions around the balance of the side and Jimmy’s innings was really important in that.”Tom Latham’s keeping has added balance to the squad to include an extra spinner•Getty ImagesIf Latham’s form does not improve and the selectors decide to make a change, Guptill will need an opening partner. Dean Brownlie, who was drafted in as Guptill’s replacement, is making a decent bid. Without setting the world alight, he has been consistent with scores of 63, 31 and 34 against Australia and South Africa.”It’s hard to tick all your boxes at the same time, yesterday we certainly had more answers than questions,” was Hesson’s guarded response to Latham’s returns. “I think we are travelling alright.”Another name touted is George Worker, the 27-year-old Central Districts batsman with two ODI and T20 caps each from 2015, who enjoyed a prolific Ford Trophy season. He was the leading scorer with 659 runs at 82.37 including a high-score of 181. He also provides some handy left-arm spin which claimed 12 wickets in the same competition, the highest for his team.There could be a chance for fringe players to make a late impression on the selectors during the tri-series in Ireland, also involving Bangladesh, which precedes the Champions Trophy. New Zealand’s IPL-bound players, which includes Guptill and Williamson from the top order, have been given permission to miss that series while their franchises remained involved.Although Champions Trophy squads will have to be named by early May – 30 days before the tournament starts – under amended ICC regulations for global events changes can be made without ICC approval until May 25 when the ICC officially takes control of the tournament.It would be extremely harsh on anyone named in the initial squad to then be dropped, but in such a short, sharp tournament there is little room for passengers. In reality, though, New Zealand have three more matches against South Africa to make up their minds.

While their bowling attack is well-rounded, Sunrisers Hyderabad will be out to prove there’s more to their batting than just David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan

Varun Shetty03-Apr-2017Likely first-choice XIDavid Warner (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha (wk), Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Mustafizur Rahman, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish NehraReservesBatsmen – Kane Williamson, Eklavya Dwivedi, Ricky Bhui, Tanmay Agarwal
Bowlers – Ben Laughlin, Pravin Tambe, Mohammed Siraj, Abhimanyu Mithun, Siddarth Kaul, Barinder Sran
Allrounders – Ben Cutting, Chris Jordan, Mohammad Nabi, Bipul Sharma
StrengthsOf the 88 wickets they took in 2016, 75 were shared across their regular choice of five strike bowlers. Sunrisers also had the best economy rates in the Powerplays and slog overs – 6.83 in the former, 8.73 in the latter. This is a straightforward indicator of what won them the title last year. It’s not surprising then that they have made sure to keep that area strong.The core of the pace attack is made up of Mustafizur Rahman – who should be a shoo in when he’s available – Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashish Nehra. They will be backed up by the newly-acquired Chris Jordan, Ben Laughlin, Barinder Sran and Mohammed Siraj. Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting give them depth and bring to the fore slower variations along with their seam-ups.While they’ve put together a formidable pace bowling group, they haven’t ignored their spin stocks. Their two frontline spinners last season – Bipul Sharma and Karn Sharma – took a combined three wickets and went at 8.64 and 10.46 respectively. This season, they’ve added the experienced Pravin Tambe and Afghanistan’s pair of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, who have overall economy rates of 7.04, 6.98 and 5.99, respectively, in this format.This makes Sunrisers, arguably, the strongest bowling attack in the IPL. Mustafizur and Rashid, in particular, will make them a difficult side to bat against, particularly in the small window when they’ll both be available together.WeaknessesIn contrast to the bowling, Sunrisers’ batting last year was a monopoly at the top. Just over 50% of the runs they scored came from David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan. This meant a dependency on Warner at the top, and on Mustafizur at the end. That is a potential weakness, given Warner’s shaky month in the lead-up to the IPL, and Mustafizur’s limited availability.Those dependencies also put pressure on a fragile middle order which will consist of Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha, and possibly Vijay Shankar, coming in after Yuvraj Singh at No. 4. The back-up is not particularly menacing to think about either for opposition – Kane Williamson, Ricky Bhui and Tanmay Agarwal.Where they finished in 2016, and what’s different this year?Sunrisers won their maiden title last year, beating Royal Challengers in the finals.From that squad, they have released Eoin Morgan and Trent Boult, alongside four others. The telling difference this year is the signing of three spinners, two of them Associate players, Rashid and Nabi. While stereotypes may dictate that these players will be backup options, the structure of the team this year allows the possibility of them being frontline options.What have their players been up to? David Warner is coming off a Test series against India in which he made only one fifty in eight innings. Warner also came under fire for what many deemed a lack of ability outside home conditions. This is a different format, and these are conditions he scored 848 runs in last season, but Warner might be a different sort of man confidence-wise. Rashid Khan has been playing in India since the start of March – three T20Is, five ODIs and a four-day game for Afghanistan against Ireland. In this period, he has taken 33 wickets in nine innings across formats. Yuvraj Singh turned up for North Zone in four domestic T20s, and four Punjab in four domestic 50-over matches. His best return with the bat was 66 against Railways in a 50-over game. It was his only half-century in those eight matches, Ben Cutting and Moises Henriques faced off in the second semi-final of the Big Bash earlier this year. It involved Henriques scoring 64 in a chase, Cutting pulling things back and conceding five runs off the last over when six were required, and a super-over in which Henriques smashed 18 off his bowling. They’ve had their share of pressure situations as they head into this season. Overseas-player availabilityMustafizur will be available from April 8, for about a month, after which he will head out on May 7 to play for Bangladesh in a tri-series involving New Zealand and Ireland. Williamson, the New Zealand captain, is also expected to leave then.Home and away record in 2016Sunrisers won four out of seven matches at home at Uppal in Hyderabad. They won seven out of ten away, of which they had a 100% record in the two matches played closer to home in Vizag.PollTest your Sunrisers Hyderabad knowledge

Moeen Ali moved from 50 to his century in just 12 balls, incidentally the fastest fifty in international cricket.

Shiva Jayaraman24-Sep-2017Midway through his innings against West Indies in the Bristol ODI, Moeen Ali changed gears, and possibly also turbo-charged his engine, to register what is the fastest ODI hundred ever made in England. Moeen’s 53-ball hundred is the second-quickest by an England batsman in ODIs. Jos Buttler made a 46-ball century against Pakistan in 2015-16, which is the quickest. Click here for a list of the fastest hundreds in ODIs.Moeen had made only 39 off his first 39 balls at the end of the 44th over of England’s innings, before he launched into Miguel Cummins and Jason Holder in the next-two overs scoring 48 runs in the space of just 10 balls. In limited-over internationals since 2001, only Herschelle Gibbs and Chris Gayle have made as many runs in the space of any ten balls in an innings.

Most runs off any successive 10 balls, International matches since 2001

Batsman Date Format RunsHerschelle Gibbs 2007-03-16 ODI 48Chris Gayle 2015-01-09 T20I 48Moeen Ali 2017-09-24 ODI 48This onslaught by Moeen meant that he reached his hundred in the 48th over in spite of coming into bat only in the 33rd over at the fall of Buttler’s wicket. In ODIs since 2001, there are only three instances when batsmen have come to bat later in an ODI innings and yet managed to make a hundred. AB de Villiers walked into bat as late as the 39th over against West Indies in 2015 when he bludgeoned the fastest ODI hundred ever. Buttler had come to the crease in the 36th over of the innings against Pakistan when he made England’s fastest ODI hundred.

Latest Point-of-Entry for a century, ODIs since 2001

Batsman Opposition Date Came in to bat atAB de Villiers WI 2015-01-18 38.4Jos Buttler PAK 2015-11-20 35.4AB de Villiers IND 2010-02-27 32.6Moeen Ali WI 2017-09-24 32.4Glenn Maxwell SL 2015-03-08 31.5By the end of his innings he had hit two more sixes off Cummins to take the tally of sixes off the bowler to five. These are the most sixes hit by an England batsman off any bowler in ODIs since 2001. Buttler hit five sixes off Anwar Ali when he got the fastest ODI hundred for England in 2015 and Dimitri Mascarenhas hit five against Yuvraj Singh in an ODI at the Oval in 2007.

Most sixes by an England batsman off a bowler in an ODI

Batsman Date Bowler SixesMoeen Ali 24 Sep 2017 Miguel Cummins 5Jost Buttler 20 Nov 2015 Anwar Ali 5Dimitri Mascarenhas 5 Sep 2007 Yuvraj Singh 5Moeen made 44 runs off 18 deliveries from Cummins at a strike rate of 244.44 – the most he made in the match against a bowler. He also tore into Holder hitting him for 27 runs off just eight balls which included three sixes. In total, the eight sixes off Cummins and Holder had come in just the space of 14 balls. Only de Villiers and Corey Anderson have taken fewer balls during the course of an innings to hit eight sixes. While de Villiers took only 11 balls to hit as many sixes in his innings against West Indies in Johannesburg, Anderson took 13 balls to hit eight sixes in his innings against the same opposition when he made what was then the fastest ODI hundred.

Least successive balls taken for 8 sixes, ODIs since 2001

Batsman Opposition Date BallsAB de Villiers WI 2015-01-18 11Corey Anderson WI 2014-01-01 13Moeen Ali WI 2017-09-24 14Moeen’s was the 16th instance of a batsman at No.7 or lower getting a hundred in ODIs. His strike-of 178.94 though is the best among those 16 innings. That strike-rate meant Moeen became the first batsman at No. 7 or lower to get an ODI century coming to bat after the 30th over.

The Australians have laughed off the Jonny Bairstow-Cameron Bancroft incident, but made full of use of it in the middle and are unlikely to stay quiet during this series

Brydon Coverdale27-Nov-20171:57

Swann: Short-pitched bowling not a problem for England’s top and middle order

Whatever else comes of the Jonny Bairstow headbutt controversy, the Australians are satisfied with at least one thing: they believe it helped them win the Gabba Test.It was nearly a month ago that Cameron Bancroft was out with his Western Australia team-mates celebrating a Sheffield Shield win over Tasmania in Perth and found himself at the same venue as the England players, who had just arrived in the city for their first tour game. Bancroft on Monday described the greeting Bairstow had given him that evening as a “headbutt” and a “really weird” moment, though one that he felt lacked malicious intent.But that didn’t stop the Australians bringing the incident up while Bairstow was at the crease on the fourth day in Brisbane, where Bancroft was making his Test debut. Stump microphones picked up an Australian player referencing the headbutt while Bairstow was at the crease trying to push England towards a total that would set Australia a challenging chase. Bairstow’s dismissal, caught ramping a shot to third man for 42, was a key moment.”I think it was basically about trying to get Jonny off his game, to be honest with you,” Australia’s captain Steven Smith said after his team completed a 10-wicket win on the fifth day. “And I think it worked, with the way he got out. He got caught at third man playing a pretty ordinary stroke, to be fair. We were just trying to get in his head and it happened to work.”Bairstow was Test cricket’s second-leading run scorer in 2016, with 1470 at 58.80; only his captain Joe Root scored more runs in the calendar year. And although England have confirmed that no disciplinary action would be taken against Bairstow – “a mountain has been made out of a mole-hill,” Root said – the story has the potential to distract focus away from the cricket in the England camp at a time when they are 0-1 down in the series.On the 2013 Ashes tour of England, David Warner was suspended for two matches by Cricket Australia for an altercation with Root in a pub. Australia’s then-coach Mickey Arthur said at the time that the Australians needed to be smarter – words that were echoed on Monday by England’s coach Trevor Bayliss at the Gabba – and Arthur found himself sacked as coach before the series had even begun.”That’s part and parcel of touring England,” Arthur said in an interview at the time. “You have to be very street smart and on your game. If you’re not, the media and the ECB will have a field day with you. We have to be smarter and make sure we make the right decisions. Unfortunately some guys are learning the hard way but you hope they will get better for it.”Now the Australians find themselves on the other side of a similar situation. Smith said there was no intention from his men to have their words overheard by the stump microphones, but they have taken a consciously aggressive approach into the series. That extends to their short-pitched bowling against England’s batsmen and tail-enders, which Smith said would continue.”I think we’ve made our intentions pretty clear with how we’re going to bowl to the tail,” he said. “I think they know that as well. They can expect a bit more of a barrage I’d say … the Adelaide wicket might bring some of their bowlers into the game a little bit, but having said that it’s probably one of the quickest wickets in the country at night. We saw how effective our bowlers could be when this wicket quickened up a little bit. That’s exciting.”Smith said he saw no reason that the Bairstow incident would affect the relationships between the Australia and England players, or change the way Australia played the game.”It’s always played hard out on the field,” Smith said. “We know there’s a line that you’re not to cross. I don’t think it makes any real difference. We’re going to continue to play the same way we have, nice and aggressively.”This has been a really good week for us. I thought we played some really good cricket. We had to fight after the first couple of days and to get the result we were after is very pleasing. No doubt there’ll continue to be some good, hard, aggressive cricket played throughout this series.”For his part, Bancroft came out of the match having satisfied all questions over how he would handle the step up to Test cricket, scoring an unbeaten 82 as Australia chased down the target of 170. His was the highest fourth-innings score by any Australian debutant in Test history, and his 173-run stand with Warner the all-time best unbeaten opening partnership in a successful Test chase.”They were magnificent,” Smith said. “Cam was obviously disappointed in the first innings to miss out, but the way he came out in the second innings, he had really good plans, he left really well, played nice and straight, and put the loose ball away. Obviously Davey was playing his nice, free-flowing game at the other end. I thought they played particularly well, and to get a 10-wicket win is very satisfying.”

The latest snippets from around the English game including the arrival of the world’s biggest cricketer, how Yorkshire got it wrong and a match that Allan Donald could do without

Paul Bolton19-Jun-2018Spare a thought for South Africa batsman Theunis de Bruyn who faces the unenviable task of trying to replace Virat Kohli when Surrey play Somerset at Guildford this week.Advance ticket sales for the match were brisk when it was first announced that Kohli would be making his county debut for Surrey in the County Championship fixture.But Kohli was forced to withdraw from his short-term contract because of a neck injury sustained in the IPL leaving de Bruyn as a late and low-profile replacement.Kohli has played 66 Tests with 21 centuries and a highest score of 243, 208 one day internationals and 57 T20 internationals. De Bruyn has played five Tests – 130 runs and a top score of 48 – and two T20 internationals.So, no pressure there then for the 25-year-old Knights right hander.

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Don’t be surprised if Allan Donald, Kent’s new assistant coach, wanders into the wrong dressing room during the County Championship Division Two top-of-the-table clash against Warwickshire at Tunbridge Wells this week.The former South Africa pace bowler had a long and distinguished career as an overseas player with Warwickshire between 1987 and 2000 and then returned to Edgbaston for two spells on the coaching staff.Having resolved the visa issues which prevented him from joining Kent last season, Donald is a familiar face in unfamiliar surroundings and he admits that facing Warwickshire for the first time as a player – he played six matches for Worcestershire in 2002 – or a coach will be a something he never envisaged.”I have probably taken the John Terry approach: I don’t want to play against Warwickshire,” Donald said. I will try to treat them as just another team but I know that I played for Warwickshire for many years. I have lots of fond memories and they will never go away.”Donald spent Saturday afternoon at the Worcestershire home of Ashley Giles, his former Warwickshire team-mate and now the county’s Sports Director, watching the England v South Africa rugby international on television. No doubt Donald will reciprocate the hospitality when Giles visits Tunbridge Wells this week.Such fraternisation would have been unthinkable on the only occasion Donald played at the Nevill Ground in 1991 when Kent’s coach Daryl Foster banned his players from speaking to the opposition. The Australian’s snarling approach created tension between the teams and led to an ill-tempered contest.

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The world’s biggest cricketer is in England and coming to a county ground near year you (well, if you live in the East Midlands).Rahkeem Cornwall, the corpulent off-spinning, ahem, all-rounder from Antigua, is in the West Indies A tour party who are here for a triangular series against England Lions and India A.Cornwall, who is 6ft 5ins tall and weighs in at a whopping 22 stone, first came to prominence when he biffed a half century for a West Indies Board XI against England in a one day match in St Kitts in February 2017.Cornwall, a dead ringer for Forest Whitaker’s Idi Amin in , will be in action against England Lions at Derby on Saturday. The Lions play India A in the series opener at the same venue on Friday.

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Not many players get a second chance at Yorkshire, but Jonny Tattersall has done just that and it seems to be working out remarkably well.Tattersall’s career-best 89 against Hampshire in the Royal London Cup semi-final passed largely without comment as James Vince’s superbly-crafted 171 ensured a heavy Yorkshire defeat, but it further rewarded his refusal to take no for an answer.Tattersall was first released by Yorkshire in 2015 but rebuilt his career with two winters in Australia plus spells with Lincolnshire and Derbyshire 2nd XI before undertaking what he has described as “a cheeky career switch” and following his father and brother by taking up wicketkeeping.Now with Jonny Bairstow “never here,” in the words of Yorkshire’s coach Andrew Gale and the well-liked Andrew Hodd retiring at the end of the season, Tattersall has a great opportunity to make strides, too, in the red ball format which he regards as his strength.Tattersall follows Azeem Rafiq as a recent example of a player who has caused Yorkshire to have a rethink. Clearly the county’s reputation for never admitting they are wrong is becoming more outdated with every year..

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Essex have given James Foster, their former England wicketkeeper, permission to miss three weeks of the county season to develop his coaching career in the inaugural Canadian Global T20 League.Foster has been appointed assistant coach of the Vancouver Knights where he will link up with former Essex bowling coach Donovan Miller.The Vancouver squad includes Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Tim Southee and Bermuda left-hander Kamau Leverock, who has been trialling with Nottinghamshire recently.Foster, who spent time coaching in the Bangladesh Premier League during the winter, will be in Canada from June 28 to July 17.

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When is a British-qualified player an overseas player? The answer is when they play Premier League club cricket.Ryan Sidebottom, the former Victoria seamer, plays county cricket for Warwickshire as a domestic-qualified player on a British passport but different registration regulations apply in league cricket. As Sidebottom is not qualified to play international cricket for England he can only play club cricket as an overseas player.This anomaly came to light recently when Sidebottom wanted to play some club cricket to speed his recovery from a side strain but was told that he could only sign for a club that did not already have an overseas player. Barnt Green of the Birmingham & District Premier League were able to accommodate him.

A short explainer on who Navdeep Saini is, what his attributes are, and his performances leading to his call-up to India’s Test squad against Afghanistan

Akshay Gopalakrishnan11-Jun-2018Who is Navdeep Saini?A tall right-arm quick who hits speeds upwards of 140kph, Navdeep Saini broke into the Delhi squad in the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy at the age of 21. Saini’s sharp pace has attracted the attention of the national selectors for some time now, and his credentials were further validated when he had his breakout first-class season in 2017-18.Hailing from Karnal in Haryana, Saini had a tough initiation into cricket owing mainly to his financially poor background. Not being able to afford coaching at a cricket academy, Saini grew up playing tennis-ball tournaments and used the cash rewards from his success there to enroll into the Karnal Premier League, a tournament conducted by the Dehi seamer Sumit Narwal. It was Narwal who spotted potential in Saini and brought him to Delhi.Saini earned an India A cap for the tour of South Africa in 2017 and returned seven wickets in two matches. He was then selected to play in the Duleep Trophy the following month and also turned out against New Zealand A at home.What is his bowling style?Saini has both the physical and technical attributes that make a successful fast bowler. He is tall and wiry, has a quick run-up and even quicker arm-speed. The jump is a product of a sharp trigger movement and he can manage subtle variations with his supple wrists. Saini’s early experience of bowling with tennis balls programmed him to perfect the yorker. As a result, his trajectories can be pretty deceptive: batsmen often stay back because of his height, but Saini largely bowls on the fuller side of a good length. In addition to skidding the ball into the batsman’s body, he can also reverse it.What is his claim to fame?Saini was one of the driving forces of Delhi’s march to the final of the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy, where he was their highest wicket-taker with 34 scalps. But his defining performance came in the semi-final of the tournament, against Bengal. Mohammed Shami, the man Saini replaces in the Test squad, had produced a six-wicket haul that had kept Delhi’s first-innings lead to 112. With just the third day in progress, many results seemed possible. But Saini shut out the game in under a session, snaring 4 for 35 to send Bengal packing for 86 and consign them to an innings defeat. Saini cut through the heart of the Bengal batting, taking out Sudip Chatterjee and Manoj Tiwary, before adding the wickets of Aamir Gani and B Amit. He followed it up with a five-wicket haul in the final, but Delhi succumbed to a superior Vidarbha attack.Recent performancesSaini hasn’t done anything substantial since the high of the Ranji season. He took eight wickets in six matches, including a four-wicket haul, in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. He had a quiet Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, taking four wickets in as many matches as Delhi made the final, but gave away just 84 runs in 15 overs. He also made the India A squad in the Deodhar Trophy and the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup.Saini’s domestic exploits drew the attention of the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling coach Ashish Nehra, and fetched him an IPL contract worth 468000 USD approx (INR 3 crore). However, he did not get a game in IPL 2018. Most recently, he was named in the India A squad for the four-day game against England Lions in Worcester in July.

With the selections for his first England touring squad, Ed Smith has given the Test team options galore in their attempts to finally win away

Andrew Miller22-Sep-20182:09

Burns’ consistency across seasons merited Test elevation – Ed Smith

It is to Ed Smith’s credit as both a selector and a communicator that you can see how his cogs have whirred in naming his first overseas Test tour party, but also how those moving parts might continue to rotate now that he has retreated to the sidelines having handed 16 names over to the whims of the England team management.The first England Test squad since the retirement of Alastair Cook was never destined to be a simple pick. Never mind replacing the country’s all-time leading run-scorer, there’s also the issue of addressing England’s miserable recent overseas record which, by the time the first Test in Galle gets underway on November 6, will consist of nine defeats, three draws and no wins in the preceding 24 months.And yet, Smith has placed pragmatism at the forefront of every aspect of his selection, and offered plausible justifications for each and every pick (even Keaton Jennings, the outstandingly contentious name, “conformed to the average”, Smith claimed, in a tough season for opening batsmen).Quibbles are inevitable but overall it is a squad that manages to dodge the criticisms that more recent tour parties have attracted. Namely, that a handful of randoms have been tossed into a salad of optimism, and expected to succeed overseas where almost every party for the past five years has not.Smith’s summer selections may have been sprinkled with a touch of funk, as first Jos Buttler and then Adil Rashid were brought back into the fold to provide moments of unequivocal impact. But this time around, he has set out to offer options rather than immediate answers – and to that end, Joe Denly, back in the England fold for the first time in nearly a decade, is perhaps the most option-laden of them all.Joe Denly has developed his legspin as a handy bowling option•Getty ImagesAdmittedly, the way that Smith was talking about his former Kent team-mate – “fantastic athlete”, “brilliant mover”, “touch of class” – you’d have been forgiven for thinking that England had just unearthed the sport’s next . Denly, for all that he has enjoyed a fantastic couple of seasons with Kent, is nothing of the sort: he is a 32-year-old in the midst of a second wind who admitted to Sky Sports yesterday that he feared his “chances had gone” before receiving the call that has the potential to transform his career.But in terms of versatility, Denly has a real chance to be the player that this particular England team is crying out for – a pliable professional with an ever-improving second string as a legspinner, who may be able to help a squad with extraordinary depth to unlock its potential on a more regular basis.”Joe Denly is there as a cricketer,” said Smith, when asked what role he had been picked to fulfil. “They are all there as cricketers … his job is to positively contribute to games of cricket.”It was not as glib a response as it may seem on paper, for the sense is that England are moving towards an era of ever-greater flexibility in their Test ranks.In fact, it was notable how Smith corrected himself when discussing the team’s options at the top of the order: after initially talking of “three people capable of batting at the top”, he changed that to “three people who have opened the batting a lot, as there are more people capable of opening the batting who haven’t done it”. Which begs the question, could the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali (inevitably) or even Chris Woakes be considered as candidates if England want to spread their all-round assets further up the order to ease their congestion in the middle?After all, this is a team with more allrounders than it sometimes knows what to do with, and while Smith may have been guilty of wisdom after the event when he insisted that England’s happy habit of crucial tail-end runs had been “a strategy all through the summer”, there’s no denying the benefits of selecting players who can contribute in whatever role they are assigned.

The way we’ve set up, we have quite a few permutations. This summer we were playing four seamers and two spinners. You would expect that to change in Sri LankaEd Smith, England national selector

“I don’t see it as a problem if you are good at more than one thing,” Smith said. “If you are in the side as a batter and you are also a good bowler, that’s all upside, that’s not a failure of selection. If you are in the side as a bowler and also get runs, that’s not a failure of selection.”And to that end, you sense that Denly will be grateful to perform whatever task is asked of him – whether that is to make his Test debut as an opener if Jennings (or Rory Burns) is not trusted to front up at Galle, or to slot in at No. 3 – his more habitual role for Kent in recent seasons – if Moeen’s latest foray up the order is curtailed for whatever reason.”I’ve batted in all positions and I think that’s probably helped my selection,” Denly said. “I started my career as an opening bat and moved down to No. 3; I’ve batted at No. 4 as well.”I think that’s what I’ve got to do; I’ve got to prepare to bat in all those positions and, hopefully, if selected in a game I can take that chance at whatever number that is.”Smith added: “The way we’ve set up as a team, we have quite a few permutations. This summer we were playing four seamers and two spinners at the end, having started off with four [seamers] and one [spinner]. You’d expect those proportions to change in Sri Lanka. And we have the capacity to [change].”That they do, with a Test line-up that could well include, as Smith emphasised, “a front line legspinner [Rashid], a frontline offspinner [Moeen], a frontline left-arm orthodox [Jack Leach], plus an effective part-time legspinner [Denly] and a decent part-time offspinner [Joe Root].”Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali back together in whites•Getty ImagesSimilarly England’s seam options include three genuine allrounders in Woakes, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran, as well as the new kid on the block, Olly Stone, whose ability to bowl at 90mph had been a secondary consideration, Smith claimed, behind the fact that his 37 wickets for Warwickshire this season had come at 12.27 with a strike-rate of 22.2.”It’s a bonus, the fact he’s got that pace. He’s not there just because he’s fast, he’s there because he’s doing a really good job. If it doesn’t fit into the best squad, an approximation to that that isn’t as good as someone who is a ‘conventional cricketer’.”Questions will abound as the Sri Lanka series progresses. Is there really room, for example, for both of England’s veterans, James Anderson and (especially) Stuart Broad, given the need to balance batting depth with bowling options? And might Ollie Pope (the “spare batsman for No. 4 downwards”) have been better off touring with the Lions rather than gathering dust in the nets?But overall, it’s a squad which ought to offer England’s management the right sort of headache as they attempt to mould a unit that can win at last overseas. And that, as far as the selection process goes, is about as much as one can ask for.

With the new ball, the pacer has recorded the best economy rate, and smart economy, among all bowlers so far this season

Annesha Ghosh in Mumbai02-Apr-2019If you were to list Chennai Super Kings’ standout performers so far in IPL 2019, chances are you will point out the obvious names: MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo and, to some extent, Imran Tahir.But Deepak Chahar’s contribution to Super Kings’ three wins in three games this season has been immense. It is, however, possible that in the afterglow of the end-overs brilliance of the Dhonis and the Bravos, Chahar’s feats haven’t registered quite as strongly as they might have otherwise.It has to do with how Dhoni uses Chahar, as a frontline bowler who doesn’t bowl in the death. With the field restrictions in play, he has bowled unbroken spells up front in all three matches. The result? Chahar has returned the best economy rate – 4.66 – and smart economy figures – 2.1 – so far this season.Most balls bowled by any bowler in IPL 2018•ESPNcricinfo LtdChahar holds the distinction of sending down the most deliveries in the first six overs since the start of the 2018 season – in which he took 10 wickets in 12 matches. He impressed with his ability to swing the ball under lights, which subsequently earned him the India cap – he has played one ODI and one T20I to date.Interestingly, while he is a better strike force, while also maintaining an excellent economy rate, in the first six overs, his economy actually becomes even better between overs seven and 11. But that’s not his best period in terms of picking up wickets.Where MS Dhoni bowls Deepak Chahar•ESPNcricinfo LtdOn the subject of wickets, Chahar didn’t have any while conceding 17 runs in Super Kings’ season opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore. In the last two matches, though, he struck thrice at the expense of only 39 runs his eight overs. His victims: Ajinkya Rahane, and the in-form pair of Sanju Samson and Prithvi Shaw. Impressive, right?For Stephen Fleming, the Super Kings head coach, the “relatively unsung” Chahar’s formidable showings this season haven’t come as a surprise. Fleming had, after all, observed the pace bowler from close quarters in the 2016 and 2017 seasons when they were both part of Rising Pune Supergiant, and he knew what the paceman can and cannot do.”He’s been with me for four years now and his development has been excellent,” Fleming said in Mumbai on Tuesday, ahead of Super Kings’ match against Mumbai Indians. “He’s always been a very skilful player, but in some ways, has been reducing his skills down to know what to deliver at the right time.

He’s worked around just being quite simple with his method rather than all this and all that and all the skills that he’s gotCoach Fleming on Chahar

“In particular, his bowling has been very good [this season]. [He] swung a little bit in the last game. He’s relatively unsung, but his performance to date has been very good. The key thing for him has been consistency.”Clarity of thought and a willingness to exercise restraint, stressed Fleming, have abetted Chahar’s evolution as a potent force in the IPL, and his determination to stick to the plan outlined for him by the support staff has made a big difference.Fleming said, “The bowling coaches, with Eric Simons (bowling consultant) and [Lakshmipathy] Balaji (bowling coach), he’s worked around just being quite simple with his method rather than all this and all that and all the skills that he’s got. He’s now a lot smarter with the options he uses.”Apart from his impressive run with the ball, there is also his less-analysed (and -utilised) skills with the bat in hand.In last season’s final league-stage fixture – yes, one more cricket match that ended with a Dhoni six! – a big blow to Kings XI Punjab’s playoff hopes came from an unlikely quarter: sent in at No. 6, ahead of Dhoni, Chahar smashed three sixes on his way to a 20-ball 39 that ensured his side ended on a high.The rationale behind promoting Chahar (and Harbhajan Singh) in that game, as the captain had explained, was to create “a bit of chaos” and negate the swing on offer for the bowling side.”If you see the bowling line-up, it was swinging a bit. In a game like this, you want to take a lot of wickets while it is swinging. So with Bhajji and Chahar going in – it creates a bit of chaos,” Dhoni said at the time. “With proper batsmen the bowlers are consistent; somehow to lower-order players they try the bouncers, off-cutters, etc.”But that may well have been a one-off exercise.”I want Deepak to fly under the radar… He’s been consistent with the ball,” Fleming said. “Look, I don’t want to see him with the bat. I don’t see him come out as a pinch-hitter again. But him at No. 8 is a talent not many have seen but he’s a very good player.”As long as can do his job with the ball, like he has been, it should stand both the player and his team in good stead.

R Sridhar, India’s fielding coach, explains how and why India have become a top fielding unit

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi20-Jun-2019After losing the Champions Trophy final in 2017 the Indian team management led by its captain, Virat Kohli, and the selectors, drew up a list of key changes they needed to make to prepare for the World Cup, 24 months away.Replacing fingerspinners with wristspinners was top priority. The second item was fitness and fielding. India were lacking on both fronts and Kohli wanted a fielding unit that was not just agile but also capable of making a difference. The current fielding side may not be spectacular, but they are competitive. As their fielding coach, R Sridhar, says in the following interview, there is barely a fielder to hide.What are the major changes in India’s fielding since the 2017 Champions Trophy? What areas did you identify as key for the World Cup?
In the very first match of the 2017 Champions Trophy we were off the boil. We won the game by a margin, but we dropped a few catches. After we lost to Sri Lanka, the game against South Africa became a virtual quarter-final. In that match we outfielded South Africa. Hardik [Pandya] ran out AB de Villiers, and [Jasprit] Bumrah also ran out someone. We fielded brilliantly.So the main takeaway for me was: how can there be such a big difference between our good day and our bad day? There onwards my endeavour has been to reduce that gap.I always tell the players that on the good days if you execute at 99-100% then on your bad days you execute at 96-97% and not drop to 86% in terms of conversion rate. So it was about attaining that consistency in the last two years.Also on the priority list was working on the athleticism and agility of the players. We wanted them to cut the angles, stop those twos into ones.Has fitness helped the Indian players improve their attitude towards fielding?
It has given them the confidence, surely.In January 2017 I had a chat with Virat [Kohli] about how we just don’t quantify what we do as a fielding team. So we set up some processes where each ball is recorded. We have a competition every series on who ends up as the best fielder, which is arrived at through a rating and points system. We have categorised catches as grade one, two, three, each earning a set number of points. Every run saved earns the player a quarter of a point, too.

“You ignore fielding technique at your own peril. You got to be close to the basics. You can’t deviate from basics and become a champion fielder. Why is MS Dhoni a champion?”

I wanted to make fielding more competitive, motivate the players and put fielding under the microscope. Having a comprehensive database leading into the World Cup would come in handy, I felt. Virat was keen straightaway.Can you expand a bit more, with numbers?
In 2017 we played about 28 ODIs. Guys like MS [Dhoni] played 28, Virat played 25, Rohit 21, Kedar [Jadhav] played 24. In total we [recorded that we] saved 442 runs, missed 147 runs, took 122 catches, missed 23, carried out and missed 25 run-outs each. MS took 26 catches, completed 13 stumpings while missing two.In 2018 MS did not miss any of the ten stumping opportunities in the 20 matches India played. Overall Indian fielders saved 315 runs and gave away 107. They completed 92 catches and missed out on 20. Rohit [Sharma] was one of the best fielders, saving 31 runs, letting just one run go, and he took all 11 catches that came his way.ALSO READ: India’s fielding upsurge moves beyond the usual suspects I log data every ball, and then we interpret it. For example between over numbers X and Z [Ravindra] Jadeja fielded only, say, five balls. Why? Why was he not standing in the hot zone?What is the hot zone?
Those are areas where the ball is likely to go, based upon the batsman’s strengths, where he has been getting his runs, the bowler’s game plan and where he is going to bowl.Do you rate catches on difficulty?
We have this points system where we grade catches. Grade one is a straightforward catch that comes to you and earns you one point. Grade two, which gets you two points, is where the fielder needs to move and is under pressure. Grade three are half-chances – nobody will complain if you don’t take it, but if you do, it is a game changer. You get four points for a grade three catch. If you drop a straightforward catch, you lose two points. If you drop a grade two, you lose one point from the series kitty. No points are deducted for dropping grade three catches.”Virat is somebody who comes to practice and works very hard, but Jaddu just comes there and makes fielding look so easy”•Getty ImagesOverall, how do you assess a fielder?
There are five main parameters I log data on – interception (clean, fumble, misfield); throws (good, direct hit, off target); catches (grade one, two, three); run-outs (direct hits or run-outs with assists); runs (saved, given).Using all that data, the net productivity (PR) of a player is calculated. That is the ratio of success to other outcomes, including on-field errors. Higher the productivity ratio, better the impact the player has had on the field.The net PR is calculated at the end of the innings. Say X player fields 24 balls and he picks 21 up cleanly but fumbles three. Then PR is 21 divided by 24, which is 0.87. Similarly, calculations are made for throws and catches. I communicate to the squad by putting on our WhatsApp group the names of the best fielders – who saved the most runs, who took more runs, what was each one’s PR and such.ALSO READ: Kohli’s India, a scary machineWould you say the yo-yo test has helped India improve as a fielding unit?
Hundred per cent. The yo-yo test is a comprehensive assessment of your energy systems. Cricket is played over six-plus hours and is an explosive sport. It tests your endurance levels, elasticity, etc.If the player is able to clear the mandatory [qualifying] level in the yo-yo test, he not only has the confidence of being fit but is also aware of the fact that he can do it repeatedly. So if he has to chase three to four balls back to back – like running in from the deep to save two runs, then running to his right saving two runs, followed by running to his left, taking a catch – he can do it easily.The fielder then has the confidence and fitness to get his breath back in 20 seconds and again be on his toes and give 100% the next ball. What it does is keep the intensity of the team really high and inspire the other fielders. Fitter fielders mean faster fielders. Faster fielders mean saving more runs.

“Chahal is a work in progress. He is working hard, but it is just that his hands are very, very small”

What has also helped is the fitness revolution that [Shankar] Basu [India team trainer] brought in. He started personalised programmes individually for players. We also now have the GPS device that players wear, which helps us accumulate data on every player. This data allows me to figure out the day before the match what kind of drills each player needs – which fielder needs high-speed running, which fielder needs to just focus on reaction time and direct hits. It helps us keep the player fresher for the main event.Would you say the Indian fielders’ baseline competency has improved considerably since the yo-yo test was introduced?
I would think so. Take, for instance, Kedar. When he first came into the team to what he is today, his fitness levels have gone up so much. He is now more athletic and saving more runs than before. In the Asia Cup last year he had a net productivity of 1. He fielded 97 balls in six matches, and 60 throws were on target, three were off target, without a single fumble. He ended up saving 17 runs.ALSO READ: Ravindra Jadeja a worthy senior statesmanAt the 2017 Champions Trophy, his productivity was 0.92. He played five games, fielded 17 balls. If he fielded only 17 balls in five games that means he was standing in positions where the ball was not likely to come. And 15 months later he fielded 90-plus balls, which means he was fielding in the hot zone.Overall who has been the best Indian fielder since the 2017 Champions Trophy?
It is neck and neck. Jaddu is running Virat very close now, although Jaddu has played fewer matches. But since Asia Cup, Jaddu has been giving Virat a run for his money.What makes Jadeja a good fielder?
I told him, “You can do a Colin Bland, man”. I tell him, ” stump ticket show ” [We can sell tickets to watch you hitting one stump.]””I tell Jadeja: we can sell tickets to watch you hitting a single stump”•AFPHe is very, very natural. Doesn’t do much. He comes, he practises very little. I ask him what intensity he wants to go at, and he will say “full out”. He will do direct hits and take catches on the boundary line. He is just naturally so quick. He amazes me.Virat is somebody who comes to practice and works very hard, but Jaddu just comes there and makes fielding look so easy. I have always said that: Jaddu makes a difficult play look easy, whereas I have seen a lot of fielders around the world who make easy plays look difficult. In fact, in 2018, when he returned to ODIs, he played just nine matches but saved 30 runs, while conceding only three runs, with an overall PR of 0.99.Do you reckon Jadeja might have sometimes made it to the team over a senior spinner like R Ashwin purely because of his fielding?
I will be lying to myself if I say no. Fielding was a clincher for Jaddu. Ash [Ashwin] was brilliant in the IPL as a bowler. But in terms of selection, fielding is more than a one per-center.Who are three gun fielders globally, other than Jadeja?
Among those who are currently playing, it would be Glenn Maxwell, Virat and de Villiers in no particular order.What about those who are not natural athletes? Take Bumrah, who fields in crucial positions like short fine leg or short third man.
From the day he first came in, to today, the difference is chalk and cheese. There has been a massive improvement in his fielding purely because of his attitude. In 2016, when he made his debut, he was an absolute novice. In 2017, Bumrah, who played 23 matches, converted the maximum number of run-outs for India – six. So he is a much improved fielder. He is a good catcher in the deep. He has a rocket arm. The throw gets even faster if his previous over has not gone very well! His diving skills are not great. There is a little bit of work we need to do on his throwing technique, but he has improved a lot.Do India have any fielders to hide in the field?
Maybe one. He is a work in progress. He is working hard, but it is just that his hands are very, very small.

“Jaddu is very, very natural. Doesn’t do much. He comes, he practices very little. I ask him what intensity he wants to go at, and he will say ‘full out'”

Who is that?
[Yuzvendra] Chahal. He has very, very thin fingers. There is hardly anything to absorb the pace and intensity with which the ball comes.So how do you make him a safe fielder?
He is a good ground fielder and has a terrific arm. He slides and dives well at the boundary, and is a reasonably good chaser too. His arm can be very deceptive.The only challenge is catching. He does not make a good cup with his hands. The skeletal fingers don’t help either. He is not a bad catcher; he just drops catches off his own bowling.Since 2017 leading up to the Australian series in India in 2019, Chahal missed nine catches [eight off his own bowling and one in the outfield]. Having said that, I want to highlight that he has had injuries – three or four fractures to his fingers on both hands. But he is resilient. He bounced back well in the Australian series recently in India where he was very safe. With him, we train with tennis balls, soft balls, so he can absorb them [catches] better.Earlier you spoke about how a fielder’s positions are determined by who the batsman is. Let us say you are setting the field against Jos Buttler. Who are the men in key positions?
Say, if the plan is to bowl yorkers, Buttler is someone who is going to move around [the crease] and play over short fine leg, so your good fielders might have to be behind. He is going to either slash it through gully or he is going to move inside the line of the ball and ramp it over towards fine leg. If you are bowling slower deliveries and asking him to stretch and go over cover or extra cover then I will have my best fielders in those positions.A lot depends on how the bowlers adapt to the pitch on match day. We speak to the bowlers and remind them about the bowling plans and make sure the right fielders are in the right positions. And to do that, we have MS behind the stumps. He makes sure that happens.”Chahal is not a bad catcher, he just drops catches off his own bowling”•Associated PressDhoni is himself a superb fielder. Does he do keeping drills?
He does one drill. He just asks someone to throw the ball at a plastic spring stump, so the ball just deviates and he catches it as a nick. That is one drill he does before every game. Sometimes he might join slip catching, too.Has there been a moment where a player came to you to say thanks, making you feel satisfied and happy about your contribution?
KL [Rahul] said thanks after last year’s tour in the UK. Kuldeep [Yadav], too, recently. It feels good. KL had mind-boggling numbers during the tour of England last summer. In the entire tour he dropped just one catch, which burst through his hands in the final Test. His catch conversion rate was 93%. He had 31.25 points on that tour [the highest], and also saved 11 runs in the series.Is there any area that Indian fielders need to improve in?
I would like more direct hits. There is no particular reason we are not good [at it] because we practise a lot. It is not that we have been bad; we’ve been a little inconsistent. In certain games we hit the stumps five times, but in the next game we have ten shies at the stumps and we don’t hit even once. So the consistency of hitting the stumps needs to improve.Athleticism has improved. Speed and agility has improved. The ability to create an opportunity has improved. Having created that we should be able to convert it [more often].How do you rate India as a fielding unit in this World Cup?
We have seven guys who played the last edition. These guys will have the experience, they read the game better, they understand the angles better, they are keen to be more involved. Jaddu, Virat, Vijay Shankar, Hardik can set the field on fire. We have a combination of guys who are very smart and safe catchers, and a few guys who are agile and athletic.