All posts by h716a5.icu

One man single-handedly carried his team’s batting, another bowled with fire of a different kind

Alagappan Muthu18-Oct-2020KL Rahul batting within himself is like a rainbow with only three colours. It’s nice but you kinda know there’s something missing.This is one of the few Indian batsmen who has a 360 degree game and when he stops the noise that clouds his head and lets his instincts take over, every part of his game levels up His timing. His balance. His shot selection.His chances of victory…Sunday was an excellent reminder – if only to Rahul himself – of why he should always go full VIBGYOR. His 77 off 51 balls was a masterpiece of attacking batting.And in simplicity.Rahul was finding the boundary once every five balls and all he seemed to be concentrating on was keeping a still head.He did give in to one luxury though. Clearing the front leg. It made him a total menace to Trent Boult. When the left-arm quick pitched up, he was lifted over cover for six. When he pulled his length back, he was whacked over midwicket four.That was one cog of the Mumbai Indians bowling machine in ruins. No wickets to the powerplay specialist.”After wicketkeeping for 20 overs, I knew that the first six overs was very crucial,” Rahul said at the presentation. “The wicket was slightly slower and we knew it would get slower after the six and they had decent spinners. It was important me and Mayank (Agarwal) give the team a good start, anywhere close to 50 or 60.”With Chris Gayle coming into the team, I have that freedom to go in the first six and get as many runs as possible because I know Chris and Pooran, I trust them to take down spinners. So yeah, Chris coming in has made my job as a batter a lot more easier.”Rahul hit six boundaries off the first 17 deliveries he faced and for the rest of his innings, he tried his utmost to make Kings XI choke-proof. He didn’t want any more crazy stuff happening to his team in a chase.Cue a 149 kph yorker that shatters his stumps and lets loose the crazy.Mohammed Shami bowled the Super Over for Kings XI Punjab•BCCIKings XI have buckled when things go even slightly off script. But in Dubai, where the script was ripped to shreds, put in a box, strapped to a rocket and sent into space, they found a man who was so profoundly clear of mind.Mohammed Shami was given five runs to defend in the Super Over. That’s nothing. That’s an inside edge for four and game over. Only the most extraordinary of bowlers could make this horrible situation work.Like one who had broken Alastair Cook off stump in two. Or one who reverse swung great big circles around the West Indies on debut. Or one who was India’s pride and joy at the 2015 World Cup as he ignored an ever worsening knee injury to keep charging in for them.Shami has not always hit those highs in franchise cricket, but with no other option, he willed himself to do something big here.Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock were waiting. Two batsmen who love getting under the ball and lofting it away.Again no margin for error.Shami put all of that aside and ran in with only one thought in mind. Hit the block hole. (“He was very clear he wanted to go six yorkers,” Rahul said)Mumbai tried everything they could to throw him off. Their captain, who is one of the cleanest hitters down the ground, was desperate enough to try scooping the ball. It was a sign that he couldn’t deal with the relentless, ferocious accuracy.No one in the history of the IPL had ever defended a single-digit score in the Super Over. Then along came Shami.

Nobody in the past 20 years has gotten an autograph from Malcolm Marshall, and nobody ever again will

Samarth Shah04-Feb-2021Among my treasured cricketing memorabilia is a tie embroidered with the Lord’s logo, a USA cricket jersey, a photo with AB de Villiers at Kingsmead and a pavilion pass to the fifth day of the 2008 Chennai Test. However, my most prized cricketing possession is a simple piece of paper with a name written on it with a blue ball-point pen. And that name is Malcolm Marshall.Marshall was the most fearsome cricketer of my youth – a nightmare for opponents and an absolute terror to behold. I never saw Dennis Lillee or Jeff Thomson live. The great West Indies pace quartet of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft was before my time. I’ve also heard that the Indian spin quartet gave visiting batsmen sleepless nights. But I never saw any of those famous spinners in action, either. Viv Richards was the most intimidating batsman of my youth. He could pummel the ball and shatter a bowler’s ego, but he wasn’t out to cause you bodily harm. Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee and Ian Botham were all tremendously skilled, but not scary. No, to me, the most intimidating cricketer of the 1980s was Marshall.It’s hard to describe to a modern cricket-viewer what a terror Marshall was. In this T20 age, with sculpted batsmen, gigantic bats and all kinds of protective gear, there really doesn’t seem to be that intimidating a bowler. Sure, they may be quicker. They are most definitely taller and stronger. But they all go at eight-an-over in the IPL. Somehow, it’s hard for a viewer to feel the palms getting clammy when batsmen are dancing down the track to fast bowlers and when the scorecard reports how many sixes a bowler has conceded. It’s a different era: there are impressive bowlers, but none that send shivers down a lay viewer’s spine.Marshall wasn’t physically intimidating. He was about the shortest West Indies fast bowler there ever was. He was athletic, but not the fittest bloke in the West Indies team, let alone in world cricket. He was quick, but there were quicker bowlers before him and there have been quicker bowlers since. He wasn’t verbally menacing. Indeed, he rarely said a word to an opponent on the field. Marshall’s intimidation was through sheer skill and attitude. It is hard to put that fear into words, but I’ll try. The fear was that if he had a ball in his hand and you had all the batting gear available on earth, he could still ping you between your eyes if he wanted to. And he often seemed like he wanted to. Mike Gatting knows what I’m talking about. If your nose was such an easy target, your wicket was simply no match for him.”There are no cricketers like those seen through 12-year-old eyes,” wrote cricketer and author Ian Peebles. I met Marshall when I was 12 years old. He was hardly seven or eight inches taller than me. I stood straight, out of sheer respect. He leaned casually against a desk, a black bag slung over his shoulder. Since we were almost level, I could look him straight in the eye. He had joyful, dancing eyes and a wide, lop-sided smile on his face. He didn’t have a ball in his hand, and I wasn’t holding a bat. There was no intimidation, even though he was the greatest fast bowler in the world and I was a gawky Indian kid.Malcolm Marshall’s autograph•ESPNcricinfo LtdHe carefully put down his bag, gently took the autograph book and pen from me with each hand, and proceeded to slowly write his name in the book. He didn’t carelessly scrawl his name. He didn’t look elsewhere as his hands moved. He looked squarely at the target. He pressed the pen firmly down on the book. No half measures: the right hand that smashed a one-handed boundary at Headingley in 1984 – one-handed because the left hand was broken and in a cast – and then took 7 for 53 with the ball didn’t do half measures.Marshall’s autograph wasn’t a scribble: his handwriting was proud and neat. The autograph was so firmly signed, I couldn’t use the next page of the book because his writing got etched on that one as well. This, too, was reminiscent of his bowling. When he blew one batsman away, the next one entered the field shell-shocked, the previous ball etched in his mind. Ravi Shastri, who once walked in to face the ball after Yashpal Sharma retired hurt, knows what I’m talking about.Marshall returned the autograph book and pen, saying, “You’re welcome,” in response to my thanks. Still smiling widely, and lop-sidedly. If his autograph was reminiscent of his bowling, his manner was its exact opposite: slow and gentle. That evening, I showed my father the autograph book, with Marshall’s name slanting across the page, much like his bowling run-up. My father ran his fingers over the two heavily stressed capital s and remarked, “He puts more effort into his autograph than you put into your cricket practices!”Years later, my sister got an autograph from the great Carnatic classical singer MS Subbulakshmi, who was over 80 years old at the time. Her autograph reminded me of Marshall’s: it was meticulously inscribed, gouging a deep rut in the paper and in a handwriting so neat that it could have been print. My sister was, to borrow a phrase, bowled over by how polite and gentle the great singer had been to a teenaged girl.A decade after he signed my autograph book, Marshall was no more. He died of colon cancer at just 41 years of age. It was so sad that the most fearsome cricketer of his era was reduced to 25 kilos in the days preceding his death. I tried to imagine what a fully-grown man weighing 25 kilos looks like. Let alone wield a cricket bat or a 5.5oz ball, I imagined he might not have been able to write his full name with a pen. Never mind immaculate control over line and length, seam and swing.Nobody in the past 20 years has gotten an autograph from the late, great Malcolm Marshall, and nobody ever will again. My drawer of memorabilia might get another t-shirt or a tie with some logo or the other. Maybe someday a picture with Sachin Tendulkar or Shane Warne might be added to it. But its most precious contents will always remain that old piece of paper with the two blue Ms pressed deep into it.

His all-round ability with the ball, bat and on the field has proven invaluable throughout the series

Sidharth Monga08-Jan-2021Ravindra Jadeja replaced Virat Kohli in this Indian XI. When it was done, it seemed – and still does – a move from a side that knew its attack was thin and was picking players to cover too many bases. India were hedging their bets a bit by replacing a specialist batsman and a pure wicketkeeper with a bowler who could bat and a wicketkeeper in Rishabh Pant who could bat too.While it can be called hedging the bets, there probably wasn’t an option available to India at that time. They had lost Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, and would not want in their attack a debutant seamer and Umesh Yadav, who is not renowned for his control. They needed some bowling cover so they showed they had the courage to not reinforce the batting in a traditional way after the 36 all out in Adelaide.Ravindra Jadeja bagged 4 for 62 before also running out Steven Smith•Getty ImagesIt looked a little like England on tours of Asia, where their frontline spinners aren’t incrementally that good over the bits-and-pieces spinners to forego their batting. This was a different case, though. This was more like England playing Chris Woakes in place of a specialist batsman in Asia, which they rarely do.Related

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Six days of Test cricket later, Jadeja has scored a crucial half-century at the MCG, taken seven wickets including a four-for at the SCG at an average of 15, taken an exceptional catch to start an Australia collapse in Melbourne and also run Steven Smith out when he finally got back in the runs. Even though Jadeja has not bowled as much as the first-choice spinner R Ashwin, he has been in the game almost all the time. The impact that Jadeja has had almost makes you want to reassess the “hedge” category initially assigned to his selection.The big difference between someone like Woakes and Jadeja, though, is the vast improvement in Jadeja’s batting. He is likelier to score runs against fast bowlers than Woakes is against spinners. Jadeja is not quite a No. 5 batsman, but has begun to push from the Woakes category towards the Ben Stokes one.Since the start of 2016, only Quinton de Kock averages more than Jadeja’s 43.92 batting at No. 7 or lower. In the six Tests he has played outside Asia and the West Indies, he has averaged 45.16. Granted that Cheteshwar Pujara bats in tough periods, but since the start of 2018 Jadeja has more runs per innings than even Pujara. The big difference now is that he trusts his game and doesn’t back away and hit as he used to at the start of his career.At the press conference after day two in Sydney, Jadeja was asked if this change in approach to batting over the last 18 months or so meant he had started to think of himself as a genuine allrounder. “Not just the last 12-18 months,” Jadeja said. “Long before that – and in all three formats – I have to perform both in batting and bowling department. Since the day I have started playing, that has been my role. But it is all about getting the opportunity; whenever I have got the opportunity to score runs or take wickets, I have done that. Especially when I score runs outside India, it gets talked about more. But, according to me, I have always considered myself an allrounder.”The team management has recognised it and started to give him more responsibility. “The higher I bat, the more responsibility I take,” Jadeja said. “Batting with a batsman, you talk to them, [and] get the confidence. And most importantly, I have time to play a proper innings. If I can initially get that start with a batsman, I can play in my flow. The more I bat higher up, the better it is.”So far on the Australia tour, Ravindra Jadeja has a half-century, a four-wicket haul and some brilliant fielding to his name•Getty ImagesStill, he was batting at No. 7, which meant India were replacing a batsman with someone who was a bowler first, someone who wouldn’t ideally be playing, especially with another spinner in the XI, in Melbourne of all places. The last time two spinners played in a Test XI in Melbourne was when India went in with both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in 2007-08. The idea behind that selection was for India to choose their four best bowlers no matter the conditions.Ashwin averages 25.20 and Jadeja 24.50, but so good have India’s three quicks been that it has rarely been the case where they consider both of them to be along the four best bowlers for conditions outside Asia and the West Indies. Even when they have played two spinners in Tests outside Asia and the West Indies under this team management, the second spinner has been Kuldeep Yadav, who brings in the wristspin variety.The real merit in this selection of Jadeja has been that not playing both Ashwin and Jadeja together has been a perfectly reasonable thought process. To go against that is a bold move, one that the conditions demanded. Now it was up to Jadeja to vindicate that trust.Jadeja is a bowler who is slightly unfortunate to have operated in the times of Ashwin. With the more apparent guile of Ashwin, Jadeja’s bowing can tend to go unnoticed. His numbers are not too far behind either; in fact, his average is better. Jadeja has only one fewer Player-of-the-Match award than Ashwin, although the senior spinner has more series awards. Only ten Indians have won more Player-of-the-Match awards than Jadeja’s six. No one has a better rate than his: one every six Tests or so.It was perhaps fair that he enjoyed some luck on the crucial second day of the Sydney Test, which Australia started at 166 for 2 with the threat of batting India out of the game. There will be days when Jadeja will bowl much better than he did on this day and not end up with a wicket. Here he got four despite being cut away for four often and conceding an un-Jadeja-like 3.44 an over. This is perhaps a reward for someone who always stays in the game and keeps bowling at the wickets all the time.And in the game Jadeja well and truly was when he ran in about 25 yards for a one-handed pick-up and direct hit from about 35 yards to hit the only stump visible to him to run Smith out. He rated that higher than the wickets he took. Thanks to the extra dimension Jadeja’s inclusion has added, India too are in the game and the series.

Former England fast bowler on a new diversity and inclusion initiative at Middlesex

Andrew Miller06-Apr-2021Norman Cowans, the first West Indies-born fast bowler to play Test cricket for England, hopes that a new initiative from his former county Middlesex can help to reignite a passion for the game in the inner-city London communities where he learnt the sport as a teenager.Cowans, who played 19 Tests and 23 ODIs between 1982 to 1985, was an integral member of the most successful Middlesex team of all time, as well as its most ethnically representative. During his 13 years at the club, he helped secure ten trophies, including four County Championships, and claimed 532 first-class wickets in that period at 22.57.Alongside his fellow England cricketers, Roland Butcher, Wilf Slack and Neil Williams, as well as the West Indies fast bowler, Wayne Daniel, Cowans frequently took the field for Middlesex as one of five black cricketers – a ratio that reflects the ethnic mix of such boroughs as Haringey, Harrow and Brent that fall squarely within the club’s catchment area.And it is those parts of London that Middlesex will be reaching out to with their new Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, as they seek to address the decline of interest in cricket among black communities since the heyday of the 1980s, and address the biases – conscious or unconscious – within the county’s structure that have contributed to that drop-off.”Middlesex is one of the most diverse counties around, and for many, many years the club was very successful,” Cowans told ESPNcricinfo. “We want to try and bring that diversity back to the county, by reaching out to different communities, and making them feel more a part of the club.”When I was playing, back in the day, we had five black guys in the team, plus Raj Maru who was Asian. We had a very diverse team, and it encouraged others to come forward and think, ‘yeah, we can be part of that team as well’.”Obviously, since then, there’s been a decline in diversity, and Middlesex has realised that we need to reach back into those communities and make them feel more welcome, because the talent is always out there. They just need a pathway, and a feeling that they too can belong, and that there are no barriers to what they can achieve.”A series of roadshows are planned in 2021, which will take the club out to community centres throughout North-West and East London to renew those neglected ties, while the club will also promote a Thursday-evening T20 competition from 2022 onwards that will be open to all clubs in the county, with an equivalent competition for schools too.Norman Cowans in action against New Zealand in 1983•Getty Images”Sometimes cricket can look a bit snobbish and expensive,” Cowans said. “Football is so much cheaper, guys can just get a ball, have a kick-around, work on their skills, and they might get spotted by a coach while playing in a park on a Sunday.”It’s not so easy for cricket. Just the cost of the equipment can put people off, let alone the facilities. So we’re looking to try and address that, and provide some funding for people who are less fortunate, rather than those who went to private schools where everything was paid for. It makes a huge difference, because that’s what will get the talent coming through.”Cowans knows from personal experience how quickly a passion for the game can take hold, having managed to persuade his maths teacher to lay on lunchtime lessons at his school in North London in the 1970s. Within a couple of years, the team that he helped set up was good enough to reach the finals of the Harrow Schools competition, and his pathway into the game was set.However, Cowans also acknowledged that, to grow up in a Caribbean community in the 1980s, with West Indies the pre-eminent team in the world, and Test matches available on free-to-air TV, also had a huge impact on his interest in the sport.”If people see themselves being represented in the media, it just feels more attainable and accessible,” he said. “Kids love to imitate their heroes, so to actually see successful people on TV looking like yourself, they are bound to think they can do that as well.”And that was the example I felt when Roland Butcher played for England,” Cowans added, recalling his pride at watching his Middlesex team-mate become England’s first black Test cricketer, at Bridgetown in 1981.”I said to myself, if Roland can do it, I can as well, because if you had the talent, there was no barrier at Middlesex. Mike Brearley was captain when I started, and he was very encouraging to players with ability. No matter your age, colour or creed, you would be in the team.”Cowans’ own England career started with a flourish the following year, with a starring role in England’s thrilling three-run victory over Australia at Melbourne in 1982-83, but it would end abruptly in the summer of 1985, when – after managing a long-term hernia issue – he was dropped after the first Test of that summer’s Ashes series in spite of England’s five-wicket win.”It’s a mystery to me why my international career was not prolonged,” he said. “But what can you do about it? I know that I was good enough and maybe should have played ahead of many other guys. But that was the way things were in those days.Related

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“I played one Test against Australia in 1985, which we won, and I was dropped and never played again, which is ridiculous. All that experience wasted.”But I am very proud of what I’ve achieved in the opportunities that I was given,” he added. “I was proud of going to Australia as an unknown, and helping England to win a Test match. I took a five-wicket haul in Pakistan, which was a great experience, and I played in all of the Test matches in India in 1984-85, which was one of my most satisfying tours. We were given no price but came back to win 2-1.”I remember coming off the pitch in the first Test in Mumbai. Kapil Dev came up to me and said, ‘Norman, West Indies were over here in the series before this. The way you bowled today, you were as fast as any of them’. To get that from Kapil Dev, that’s good enough for me.”I think people recognise that you have to look after the players more now. And fast bowlers, when they tell you they are injured, you really need to investigate it. Because you want them to maintain their pace.”In spite of the brevity of his England career, Cowans knows that he made a lasting impact for the British Caribbean community, and paved the way for several players who would go on to be household names throughout the 1990s.”I remember Devon Malcolm telling me how he came up and asked for my autograph when I was playing against Yorkshire at Abbeydale Park,” Cowans said. “‘When I saw you playing for England,’ he told me, ‘I thought I could do it too.'””It has a knock-on effect. And it’s the same at counties and in communities in club cricket. If people are encouraging youngsters to take part in the sport, they will feel they belong to the club. We want to roll this back across the county, and give kids the opportunity to progress.”

Somerset host Lancashire in quarter-final at world’s highest-scoring T20 venue

Matt Roller25-Aug-2021Roll up, roll up and see The Beast. Shane Warne’s moniker for Liam Livingstone is yet to catch on but it will be only a matter of time before it does if his monstrous six-hitting form continues, not least with the T20 World Cup looming in the middle distance.Livingstone’s travelling roadshow has had stops in Southampton, Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds and north London over the last month, which has seen him become the Hundred’s leading run-scorer, top six-hitter and poster boy. He has already hit 78 sixes in 2021 and will never have a better chance of joining Andre Russell (2019) and Chris Gayle (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017) in the elite club of T20 hitters to have scaled Mount 100 in a calendar year.His next stop is Taunton – the highest-scoring T20 venue in not only the country, but the world – for Lancashire’s Vitality Blast quarter-final against Somerset on Thursday night. The pitches are flat and the boundaries are barely 70 metres long in any direction. The average scoring rate of 8.92 runs per over is unmatched and Somerset’s group game against Middlesex this year was the only time in the 19 seasons of domestic T20 cricket there that they have defended a score below 170 on home soil.Leading T20 six-hitters in 2021•ESPNcricinfo LtdLivingstone has played a solitary innings in a Taunton T20, a skittish 16 off 18 balls on England debut four years ago as South Africa closed out a narrow win. It is the sort of innings it is near-impossible to imagine him playing now: he is averaging 45.69 with a strike rate of 156.52 in T20s this year and on the rare occasions that he has failed, it has been early on rather than after chewing up balls.He insists the biggest factor has been a shift in mindset but has also put in the hard yards. Whereas once he would have been given a run in the England side, he was summarily dropped from the T20I side after two games and only returned four years later at the age of 27, by which stage he was near enough the finished article. He has played 97 T20s for eight teams in the last two-and-a-half years, travelling the world to give himself exposure to different roles and conditions across the franchise circuit, and has taken a keen interest in the technical aspects of his batting.”Going around the different leagues and travelling the world isn’t always easy,” he said last week. “It’s not always the glitz and glamour that people think it is but that hard work is paying off for me. It’s been a breakthrough couple of months and the biggest thing is that I don’t have too many expectations on myself anymore. I go out each game making sure that I’m taking it all in and knowing that this doesn’t last forever.”I used to swing as hard as I could but hopefully I’ve grown up a little bit. I’m a bit more experienced and I’m trying to become more consistent at hitting sixes, which I have done over the past year. It’s such a valuable thing to have in your armoury and it’s something that’s set me up to be able to be picked up in the PSL, the Big Bash or wherever it is around the world.”He made a key technical change before England’s washed-out ODI against Sri Lanka in Bristol, working with Paul Collingwood and Marcus Trescothick in the indoor school, narrowing his six-hitting base to allow his back hip to drive through. The result was a record-breaking 42-ball hundred against Pakistan in only his sixth T20I and he has not looked back in the weeks since.”I used to lose a lot of my power with too wide a base, so I’ve narrowed it a bit,” he explained during a recent six-hitting masterclass with Sky Sports. “We did loads of sessions going into that self-isolation period and as soon as I came out of it, it worked perfectly.”My biggest thing nowadays is making sure that I have a strong base and if I’m balanced, I have the ability to use my back hip which gives me a lot of power. I’m making sure that I’m not losing my front foot too much, which means I lose the back hip and then all of sudden lose my power.”Related

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Livingstone’s impressive balls-per-six ratio was cited as the main reason he was picked up by Rajasthan Royals in the 2018 IPL auction and he is aware that it makes him stand out. “We talk about being able to hit big sixes as an entertainment thing because it’s great fun but it’s also a great thing to have: you can back yourself to clear an 80-metre boundary with a long-on in, rather than just being able to clear a 30-yard circle for a one-bounce four.”There is added pressure on Livingstone to perform on Thursday night because Lancashire are suffering an availability crisis: Keaton Jennings (calf), Richard Gleeson (back) and Luke Wood (side strain) are all expected to miss out while Jos Buttler is on England Test duty, Finn Allen is self-isolating in Bangladesh and Saqib Mahmood will stay at Headingley as Covid/concussion cover despite missing out on selection. They will also have to overcome their struggles on the road, having lost five out of their six away games in the group stage.But in current form he will prove hard to stop. Livingstone is in a rare purple patch were no situation seems insurmountable when he is at the crease: in the Hundred final, his freak run-out from the cover boundary saw him dismissed for 46 off 19 balls and meant the end of Birmingham Phoenix’s hopes with a single throw. Perhaps Will Smeed and Tom Abell have picked up a flaw after sharing a dressing room with him for the last month; if not, they could be in for a long night.

The Delhi Capitals yorker specialist talks about his rapport with Rishabh Pant, earning Ricky Ponting’s praise, and some key wickets he has taken this season

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi12-Oct-20213:52

‘It’s good for me that the team management, especially Rishabh, has belief in me’

Avesh Khan was the most expensive Delhi Capitals bowler in their qualifier against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday, taking one wicket for 47 runs. Though he still is the second highest wicket-taker this season, that innings pushed his season economy rate to 7.50. Before the game he was the only bowler among the top five wicket-takers this season under 7 on ER, and he has been key in Capitals making the playoffs and finishing on top of the points table at the end of the league phase. In this conversation, which took place on October 7, Avesh opens up about his bowling mind.You have been with Delhi Capitals since 2017, but this is the first season where you have played every match. That confidence of playing every game is big, isn’t it?
Yes. The budding players who want to play for India look at the IPL as a doorway. So this year, having got the opportunity in every game has given me added confidence. Every year I would prepare with the mindset that I would play from the first match, but unfortunately I did not get chances. Last two years I got one match each. This season [Kagiso] Rabada and [Anrich] Nortje were not available for the first two matches and Ishant [Sharma] was injured. Then Rishabh [Pant] trusted me, so my aim was, if I am getting a chance from the first match, I should grab it wholeheartedly, and bring out a performance which will help the team win.We have lost only three matches out of 13 [at the time of the interview] and those too have been close defeats. None of those was one-sided.Related

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For a budding player, if you are getting to play from the first match, the confidence is different because you are one of the main players in the team. You are then not playing to make a spot for yourself but to make the team win. You are playing to perform because if you perform and the team wins then personally it is good for you for future matches.In our first match, against Chennai, I did well and then my rhythm was good and I continued. I did not overthink. Mentally I was stable and focused on going match by match, along with the bowling plans for the opposition batsmen. Slowly I have now started bowling in the slog [overs], and also in the powerplay.Let’s talk about that first match against Chennai and the wicket of MS Dhoni, which you took with the second ball you bowled to him. It was on a hard length outside off, and he ended up pulling it on to his stumps.
When Mahi walked in, Rishabh told me to bring in the mid-on and mid-off. He said if he [Dhoni] hits you over them, that is fine, but don’t pitch fuller, bowl your length. At first I disagreed with him and asked him not to bring in five fielders and leave only four inside [the 30-yard circle], but he insisted. So I did that and the second ball, he [Dhoni] attempted to hit over when he saw both fielders [mid-on and mid-off] inside the circle. He had not played for a while, and Rishabh took advantage of that and we got the wicket.You got Dhoni once again in the repeat match in Dubai recently with a similar ball.
Once again I had a chat with Rishabh. Basically he said to pitch a hard length and let him [Dhoni] hit from there because it is tough to do that. And that is what I did and he edged.”If I get hit in my first two overs, I can come back, I can get wickets and bring the team back, because in IPL the game changes every over”•BCCIThree of the balls you bowled to Ambati Rayudu in the rest of that over were fast and full outside off stump. Tell us a bit about the plan there.
I had already had a chat before the over with Rishabh about bowling wide yorkers. For Mahi the plan was different. For Rayudu , he told me he would set the field and then point out what delivery to bowl. Against Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja], I wanted to use the long boundary on the on side. I told Rishabh that since Jaddu was in good touch, he could make use of pace, so I would go for the slower delivery. He took a single. Then Rishabh told me that Rayudu will try to hit you on the leg stump, using the pace, so he said to set the field for the wide yorker and bowl that.Now when I am at the top of my bowling mark, I only think of executing the ball I have in mind. I do not think about what shot the batsman will play, whether he will sweep or play the lap shot. I don’t have any apprehensions. I back my instincts and focus always on the ball I want to bowl.Can you talk about the Hardik Pandya wicket in the game before the CSK one? The field was set for the wide yorker but you surprised him with a 143kph straight yorker and got him bowled.
In that match the ball was reversing a bit and I took advantage. If you see it again, you will see the ball starts from the fourth stump as it leaves my hand and then swings into his legs before tailing into his leg stump.In my third over [16th of the innings] I had noticed that the ball was swinging late, and I beat Krunal [Pandya] on two deliveries. We can’t apply saliva, but I used sweat to make it swing. In the death overs if the ball swings even a bit, it affects the batsman’s timing. And I know that I can take advantage with my ability to get reverse swing. That was my intention.In the team meeting Ponting asked Rabada, Nortje and me what was our plan for Hardik. I said, if I bowl against Hardik , I will bowl to take his wicket. In such a situation to be defensive is difficult because he is such a good hitter and if I miss the length, he can hit me for six or four. We needed to go for the wicket because the next over [20th] Ashwin was going to bowl.ESPNcricinfo LtdWould you say that Hardik Pandya wicket was your most enjoyable one this IPL?
Yes, I enjoyed that wicket a lot. When I watch the video, I get a very good feeling – I have bowled a good ball, a yorker. In the first half of this IPL, I was bowling yorkers and giving four-six runs an over, but I was not getting wickets. So when I see a ball that makes an impact – you bowl a yorker and the batsman is bowled – that feel was different.Harshal Patel and you are the leading wicket-takers so far this IPL. Both of you bowl at the death and bowl a large number of yorkers in this phase. Clearly you have worked on how to bowl the yorker, especially at death.
It depends on what the match situation demands. For example, in my third over [against Mumbai] I did not bowl so many yorkers but in the last over I bowled four [including the Hardik Pandya wicket ball]. Also, it was Sharjah, where the wicket is slow, so you can mix slower balls with yorkers and slow bouncers. But on flat wickets, yorkers are very necessary – like in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, where it is pretty flat. If you bowl slower and it does not grip the surface on those wickets, the batsman has time to hit the ball.You have bowled the 20th over six times [and once more since the interview], the most for your team this year. You must feel proud that the team trusts you to bowl at the death?
It is good for me that the team management, especially Rishabh, has belief in me. I give full credit to him.Our plans are very clear. For example, if I want to bowl a stump yorker at Rayudu , he might refuse and say, “Bowl wide yorkers.” I don’t argue with him. I want to become a flexible bowler who can talk with the captain and listen to him. We have played together since our Under-19 days. We sit together – Rishabh, Axar [Patel] and me – and discuss matches late into the night. From behind the wicket he makes a signal and I understand what he wants and then I focus on executing the ball. Our conversations are very clear. All this is not visible on TV. When I stand at the top of my run-up I look at him, not the batsman. What he [Pant] is thinking, what ball he wants me to deliver. If he says nothing, I go with the ball I want.With Rishabh Pant: “When I stand at the top of my run-up I look at [Pant], not the batsman”•BCCIAmay Khurasiya, your mentor, told one of my colleagues in an interview: “When you come back consistently after getting hit, you start becoming a good bowler.” Do you agree?
The last match [vs Super Kings in the league stage] is a good example. I did not feel like I bowled as well as I usually do. There was room for improvement. Amay sir is right. If you look at the match, I had gone for 32 runs in my first three overs. I did not think about myself at that point when I went for the final over. I wanted to ensure the opposition should not score more than 140 runs. They were about 132 after 19 overs. James Hopes [Capitals bowling coach] has repeatedly said that you might go for no runs in three overs, but you still need to focus on bowling that one last crucial over. And I was bowling that crucial over, the last over. We won that match in the last over. If I had given 10-15 extra runs, they could have made 145-150 and the result could have been different.I had removed from my mind that I had gone for 32 runs in three overs. If I thought, “Today is not my day, I am being hit for runs, I am not bowling well”, then that would have been wrong. I would have been in a negative mindset. But I only told myself, I have just this one over left and the fewer runs I give, it will restrict our target and benefit my team. I gave only four runs. I felt pretty good.In the past I would have been thinking about the early overs of the spell, where I might have gone for runs, and that would have had an effect on the later overs. So that over against Chennai, where I managed to restrict them, has helped with my mental confidence. I learned a lot from that experience – if I get hit in my first two overs, I can come back, I can get wickets and bring the team back, because in IPL the game changes every over.Against Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier in the season, the game ended in a Super Over. You were hit for a four and six at the start of the sixth over, but you responded well.
It was a low-scoring game. Jonny Bairstow is someone who wants to make full use of the powerplay and attacks straightaway. That six was pretty good. The sound that came off his bat – as a bowler you are a bit stunned. Still, my aim was to get his wicket somehow. The pitch was on the slower side, so I bowled a slower delivery and he missed his timing and was out [caught at mid-on]. I knew that the more pace I gave him, the quicker he would hit. So I cut down on pace and got his wicket.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the past Rabada had delivered the Super Over for Capitals. Now Pant and Ponting have confidence in you too.
The backing of the team, especially the coach and captain, is important. But I also want to say this: you can’t judge a player in one or two matches. You have to give a player a minimum of four-five matches to judge whether he has the capacity to perform. Earlier in the season Rishabh told me he would give me two-three matches and it would be upon me to grab the opportunity.After the match against Kolkata Knight Riders where you took 3 for 13, Ponting in the post-match dressing-room briefing said you are no more an “unsung hero” but are rather a “sung” hero. Did that make you feel proud?
He knows me for four years now. After the third match this season, he said: “You are the unsung hero.” In the KKR match I got a wicket in my first over, and then I got Dinesh Karthik’s wicket in the next over. I felt good listening to him compliment me in front of everyone.You get goosebumps listening to him. He talks about what you are playing for: for pride, to win, for yourself, for your team members. On match day he puts his hands on both my shoulders and says: “Keep it simple. Do your thing.”Ponting hands out badges in the dressing room to reward players for their efforts on the field, regardless of the result. How many have you got so far?
In five matches in the second half so far this IPL, three badges, and in the first half, in the eight matches I got five badges.

The rationale behind his dipping strike rate is not clear, but he would want to try and find a way out

Shashank Kishore12-Apr-20224:49

Is Hardik Pandya’s batting position dictating his approach in IPL 2022?

When Virat Kohli said one “can’t create overnight what Hardik Pandya brings at No. 6” last October, he was referring to his middle-order power-hitting specifically. Over time, Hardik has been able to marry this ball-striking with the game-smarts that have made him a feared white-ball destroyer.Hardik, who has largely batted in the lower middle order, has notched up the seventh-most number of sixes in the IPL since 2017, with 92 hits.Related

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This fearless hitting was witnessed during the Champions Trophy final in 2017, where Hardik swatted six sixes against spin – almost immediately from the get-go – to make a whirlwind 43-ball 76 in a crumbling chase. We have seen that in Australia, where his finishing act – a 22-ball 42 – in a 195-chase helping India seal the T20I series in December 2020. He has done it numerous times for Mumbai Indians in the IPL.So, what makes Hardik tick? When in full flow, He can line up his scoring zones with a touch of brutality to his game. His powerful wrists and bottom-handed power have added different scoring zones to his repertoire. He can scythe wide yorkers behind point with the same efficacy as playing a helicopter to a yorker-length delivery.But so far this season, this version of Hardik hasn’t yet surfaced. His 141 runs in four innings this season have come at a strike rate of 122.60. This pales in comparison to his overall strike rate of 150.5 in the IPL. In the death overs, specifically, he strikes overall at a mind-boggling 187.60.This time around, Hardik has tried to take his innings deep, before trying to pull off a late jailbreak. This hasn’t worked, like it didn’t on Monday night against Sunrisers Hyderabad when he remained unbeaten on a 42-ball 50, with Gujarat Titans “finishing seven to 10 runs short” by his own admission.Barring the one knock against Punjab Kings where he made 18 off 27, Hardik has largely looked to build an innings. At Mumbai Indians, the presence of enforcers in Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, and at times Kieron Pollard, left him with a clear mandate: of going out to take down attacks.2:15

Is No. 4 Hardik Pandya’s best position?

At Titans, it’s easy to assume it’s perhaps the added captaincy responsibility that is making him restrictive in his approach. But there could be a bigger factor at play: the auction. Titans made a splash when they signed Shubham Gill and Rashid Khan along with Hardik as their core group of players, but the batting is still thin on experience.Abhinav Manohar is a middle-order finisher, who hadn’t played a single T20 game until six months ago. B Sai Sudharsan has been picked on the back of one prolific Tamil Nadu Premier League season. It makes for a great story to tell how the franchise has backed two new players to rise to the occasion, but when it affects the overall batting dynamics, it’s hard not to look at the fault lines.Both Manohar and Sudharsan are now playing the role of enforcers. While Gill has been in scintillating touch, Matthew Wade has managed just 56 runs in four innings. Vijay Shankar, a batter they would’ve hoped a lot more from, finds himself out of the mix, firstly because of injury and then due to team combination.The top order isn’t brimming with alternatives either. Hardik’s move up to No. 4 has meant leaving the role he dearly loves to the likes of David Miller and Rahul Tewatia. There is one problem, though. Miller is not the same player that he has been. Since IPL 2016, Miller has the second-lowest strike rate among 59 batters who have faced over 500 balls,For Hardik, as a young captain, this can be a massive sacrifice, but it boils down to a lack of options. With only one other young batter in Rahmanullah Gurbaz to potentially fill in, the dearth of options may have fired Hardik to be a pillar at 4.Hardik’s captaincy mantra has revolved around “taking pressure off youngsters and asking them to play freely.” What freedom does he enjoy? It’s quite striking to look at the significant dip in strike rates of first-time Indian captains in the IPL as compared to the previous two seasons. Hardik’s dip from 151.67 in the previous two seasons to 122.6 currently is the biggest.As the season enters the second half and pitches tire, average scores could come down. Spinners may have a bigger say. The dew factor could be negligible, and Hardik may have to re-look at his approach.Even though it might not be his most ideal role, as a team man, one can understand his rationale behind doing it. But he would want to try and find a way out.

Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but the home side missed the bit about seizing the moment

Danyal Rasool25-Mar-2022It began before that controversial dismissal of Azhar Ali after a resilient opening session in Lahore, on the final day of this Test series. It began before the third-day collapse, the worst-ever five-wicket capitulation in Pakistan’s Test history. It began before the third Test began, before Pakistan conceded a 408-run lead in Karachi, before this landmark home Test series against Australia even kicked off.The wheels of Australia’s first Test series win in Asia for a decade were greased several months earlier; the actual cricket merely confirmed what became increasingly apparent as the series wore on.Related

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When Ramiz Raja became PCB chairman in September 2021, he immediately appointed Matthew Hayden, an Australian with no prior elite coaching experience, as Pakistan’s batting coach for the T20 World Cup. A few months on, Ramiz said he wouldn’t rest until Pakistan beat Australia in Australia. He told ESPNcricinfo last month Pakistan couldn’t afford to play into the hands of the Australians by preparing spicy pitches, going on to say “This is Australia, not South Africa or Sri Lanka”, two sides Pakistan have recently played against – and beaten – in Test series at home.Australia may be very good, but since the start of 2008, and before this series, they had won three out of their 28 Tests in Asia, losing 17. (South Africa, whom Ramiz had slightly sneeringly dismissed, won six of 26 in the same period, losing 13).But Pakistan’s obsession with everything about Australian cricket – their mentality, their fitness, their aggression, their first-class structure – has almost bordered on the creepy for some time now. Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but don’t be surprised when placing someone on a pedestal creates an inferiority complex. So when Australia actually did turn up, any development that threw Pakistan’s plans out of sync sent them panicking.And in Pakistan cricket, a plan that relies on everything being in sync is no plan at all. Faheem Ashraf and Haris Rauf became unavailable the day before the first Test, spooking Pakistan so much they effectively scratched off the first Test, preparing a surface that produced crushingly soporific cricket. Bizarrely, Ramiz prepared a video statement the day after the Test ended, defending the decision to put out a pitch like that, while claiming that Pakistani pitches had been substandard for some time anyway.On day four in Lahore, Pakistan seemed content to wait for a declaration they hoped would come later rather than sooner•AFP/Getty ImagesThe first day of the following Test in Karachi, a ground Pakistan have been so dominant at they’ve lost just two of 44 Test matches, Pakistan were so spooked by Australia’s run rate that Babar Azam opted against putting on the fast bowlers in search of reverse-swing after tea.Instead, Nauman Ali and Sajid Khan operated unbroken for 22 overs, and when they were finally replaced, Azhar and Babar came on to bowl rather than the quicks. It helped Australia pile on a total that yielded a 408-run lead, forcing Pakistan to block out nearly 172 overs to escape their former fortress with a draw. Hopes that Pakistan might try and attack the target were briefly raised, but Babar admitted it was never a possibility Pakistan seriously considered.Ramiz produced another video; it wasn’t quite clear why, but he felt adamant the great escape provided Pakistan a “big boost” for the final Test. By now, though, Pakistan were unsure whether to stick or twist, and failed to appreciate the value of balancing their middle order. Australia had resolved the problem of sneaking in an extra bowler by demoting Josh Hazlewood to the bench; they did not tinker with allrounder Cameron Green. Despite Pakistan’s seeming conviction that Australian cricket can do little wrong, this was an occasion where Pakistan refused to learn from Australia’s experience, and dumped Faheem Ashraf when they wanted to bring in Naseem Shah.While the outpouring of goodwill between the two sides has left this series slightly bereft of the edge that so distinguishes Australia, it did not blur the visitors’ clarity of thought. On the fourth day in Lahore, after Australia had exploited the long tail Pakistan had inflicted upon themselves, it was down to Pat Cummins’ side to move the game forward once more with a declaration that kept his side in the hunt for a series win. It came so early it seemed to take even Pakistan by surprise. (The home side, for context, never declared at all in Rawalpindi on the final day, preferring instead to rack up 252 without loss rather than give themselves – and Australia – the faintest glimmer.) There were 121 overs still left in the game; Pakistan needed just 2.90 per over to snatch a series win themselves.Neither Cummins nor his side seemed particularly worried about that possibility; Usman Khawaja was especially dismissive of Pakistan’s chances overnight despite Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique’s promising opening stand. “Personally, I think we declared at the right time,” he said after day four. “I’m always of the belief that you want to leave yourself more time and not run out of time rather than trying to be too worried about them scoring the runs. [We’re] not too worried about Pakistan chasing the total.”Australia’s handling of Cameron Green contrasted markedly with Pakistan’s of Faheem Ashraf•AFP/Getty ImagesFor 14 days Pakistan had given Australia little reason to fear them, offering every indication that if they needed to make a move, it would involve stepping back rather than forward. Aside from that final day in Rawalpindi, Pakistan hadn’t once scored more than three runs per over in an innings; there was little chance, Australia felt, of that changing on the most consequential, pressure-laden day of the series. Even on the penultimate day, Pakistan had long given up trying to bowl Australia out, content to wait for a declaration they hoped would come later rather than sooner.The series might not have been vintage, but the metaphoric resonance of the final day in Lahore was poignant. Australia, given the chance, attacked. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc exploited the reverse-swing as it arrived, fashionably late, in the warm March Lahore sunshine. Nathan Lyon, enjoying his best day of the series, worked on the rough to land blow after blow to Pakistan’s defence.And it was no more than a defence, really. Pakistan scored 63 in a 33-over first session, each run a welcome byproduct of defensive necessity rather than the result of active pursuit. Like Pindi, like Karachi, Pakistan didn’t want to lose to Australia, while Australia didn’t want to leave Pakistan empty-handed.There were plenty of replica shirts from Pakistan’s iconic 1992 World Cup campaign on show in the crowd at the Gaddafi. That was little surprise on this final day of the series, coinciding as it did with the 30th anniversary of Pakistan’s World Cup final win over England in Australia. As in 1992, Pakistan had been cornered all series. Unlike in that fateful tournament that hangs around Pakistan’s necks like both medal and albatross, though, they discovered in Lahore that they had finally run out of road.Pakistan have now gone three successive Tests without a win in Asia. At least one aspect of learning from Australia is going to plan, after all.

The offspinner’s double-wicket over derailed Pakistan’s innings in Birmingham

S Sudarshanan31-Jul-2022Edgbaston had perhaps never been this full for a women’s cricket match not involving England.Though official attendance numbers were not available, Indian, Pakistani and neutral fans flocked in the thousands to witness this iconic rivalry for the first time at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. And the high-stakes only added to the occasion: after losing their opening games, both India and Pakistan needed to win to stay in the hunt for a medal.Offspinner Sneh Rana had not been picked for India’s first group game against Australia. She sat on the bench and watched Grace Harris and then Ashleigh Gardner pull off an incredible rescue act by attacking India’s spinners.Against arch-rivals Pakistan, Rana was one of two changes that India made to their XI. Her inclusion proved to be crucial. Rana took 2 for 15 in four overs in India’s eight-wicket win against Pakistan, bowling 11 dot balls and conceding only one boundary. It was her over that turned the game decisively India’s way.After Iram Javed had fallen early, Muneeba Ali and Bismah Maroof had put Pakistan back on track, bringing up their 50-run stand off 40 deliveries in a rain-reduced contest of 18 overs per side.That’s when Rana was brought on to bowl by her captain Harmanpreet Kaur and her guile proved too much for Pakistan’s set batters.Related

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In her second over, Rana’s flight and variations of length accounted for Maroof – the Pakistan skipper was lbw attempting a sweep. And with her final delivery of that over, Rana flighted the ball around middle stump and got it to dip and land on a good length. Muneeba had her weight forward, and the deception in flight induced a chip back to the bowler. And just like that, Rana had changed the game in one over.She could have had a third wicket off the final ball of her spell, if not for the on-field umpire’s call of not out. Aliya Riaz was hit on the front pad after missing a flick, but on review the ball-tracker showed that the impact stayed with the umpire’s decision.Rana has produced such game-changing performances before. Earlier this year in the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand, Rana scored her maiden ODI half-century to rescue India from a precarious situation against Pakistan, before returning her ODI best of 4 for 30 against Bangladesh a few games later.During India’s tour of England last year, head coach Ramesh Powar had proclaimed that Rana was “the find of this series,” after she picked up four wickets and scored an unbeaten 80 in the drawn one-off Test, followed by an all-round effort in the third ODI. She was identified as a key allrounder in the national set-up but, strangely, has played only five of 12 T20Is since June 2021.Among Indian bowlers who have bowled at least ten overs in T20Is since June last year, Rana has the third-best economy rate, and the best among spinners. Having toiled away on the domestic circuit, Rana brought to the highest level the skillset that served her well while playing for and leading Railways.Under Railways head coach and former India offspinner Nooshin Al Khadeer’s guidance, Rana’s bowling and fitness had improved significantly. And when she was rested from the tour of Sri Lanka last month, Rana headed to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru to work on her fitness some more and be best prepared for the Commonwealth Games.She had to wait one game to get her opportunity in Birmingham, and when she got her chance against Pakistan, Rana made it count. India play Barbados next on August 3, and Rana has done more than enough to be a shoo-in for that crucial game.

Trent Rockets stick to Andy Flower blueprint to cap strong season with Hundred silverware

Matt Roller03-Sep-2022Lewis Gregory pierced the gap in the covers and raised his arm in the air. Luke Wood sprinted through towards the pavilion, throwing his bat, then helmet into the night sky. Their team-mates raced onto the Lord’s outfield, engulfing the ninth-wicket pair that had dragged Trent Rockets across the line in a nip-and-tuck final, one that played out more like a 40-over slow-burner than a 100-ball thrash.Rockets had lift-off, and their head coach Andy Flower stood up in the dugout to breathe a sigh of relief. They had made life difficult for themselves in pursuit of 121 on a sticky, two-paced pitch but the squad that he had constructed and polished over the last 16 months had come good just when it needed to.Most of Rockets’ success in 2022 had owed to their opening partnership, Alex Hales and Dawid Malan, who finished the season with 48.7% of the team’s runs off the bat between them. But in the final, they managed a combined 27 off 26 balls.Related

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Hales miscued Josh Little to cover looking for a fast start, and Malan was reminded why he decided to avoid playing his home games on this ground when he left Middlesex for Yorkshire three years ago, struggling for fluency on an end-of-season pitch before falling to a leading edge off Paul Walter.Instead, this victory relied on Rockets’ depth and versatility. Throughout this tournament, they have fielded a side featuring six frontline bowling options and a batting line-up with Wood, a man with two first-class hundreds to his name, coming in at No. 10. In the field against Originals, Rockets used six bowlers, each of whom bowled at least two sets of five; in the chase, six batters reached double figures, but nobody made as many as 20.A wealth of allrounders has been a key feature of Flower’s sides since his first forays into the franchise circuit. “The ideal is to bat deep,” he explained to ESPNcricinfo. “There’s no doubt that when a batting unit looks down the order and sees that you bat to No. 9 or 10, you feel a greater sense of freedom to attack. And the ideal is to have six bowling options… it gives the captain maximum flexibility with his tactical game.”Flower’s teams invariably have variety in their bowling options. Rockets are no different: on Saturday night, they picked two left-arm seamers including one out-and-out quick in Wood, two right-arm seamers, a left-arm spinner and an offspinner. Unusually, they were without a wristspinner, with Rashid Khan (Asia Cup) and Tabraiz Shamsi (CPL) both unavailable, but Gregory’s smart, simple captaincy made things work.Sam Cook, whose 4 for 18 won him the match award, said: “The number of allrounders we’ve got is unique. We’ve lost a couple of players – Rash and Shamsi – but the depth of squad that we’ve got means that someone like Matt Carter, who probably slid under the radar tonight, has come into the biggest game in the tournament and nailed his skills.”That’s been the biggest strength of our squad this tournament, the depth. It’s testament to the squad and the recruitment done before the tournament: we had Lewis walking in at No. 8, a bloke with the ability to hit the best bowlers in the world out of the park. That’s quite a luxury.”Samit Patel gleefully celebrates a wicket•Getty ImagesThere is a simplicity that has underpins most of Rockets’ decision-making. Whenever possible, they look to create a left-right partnership between their batters – Colin Munro has batted as low as No. 6 – and with the ball, they ensure their spinners bowl to favourable match-ups whenever possible. In the final, Carter bowled 15 of his 20 balls to left-handers, with Samit Patel bowling 10 of his 15 to right-handers.Coaches and analysts are regularly criticised for an apparent obsession with those principles, but Flower’s success – his teams invariably reach the knockout stages of whichever competition they are playing in, from CPL to IPL, PSL to T10 – suggests they are rest on sound logic: Gregory’s game-changing six off Richard Gleeson, turning an equation of 11 off 5 into 5 off 4, was whipped over the short leg-side boundary.The reputation of being an intense coach that Flower earned during his England tenure has been hard to shake despite his success on the franchise circuit; shortly after the winning runs were struck, he found himself stood next to Kevin Pietersen on Sky Sports with a microphone in his hand, gently being ribbed by Eoin Morgan about his penchant for team meetings.But it is clear that Flower has evolved. “He’s chilled out in his old age, you see,” Gregory said, laughing. “You guys got him when he was a taskmaster.” Cook said he had become “a bit of a comedian” during the Hundred. “He’s had the boys laughing a lot. He doesn’t say a lot, but when he speaks, you know to listen.”Flower admitted to some doubts after the final. “I thought we might have thrown it away,” he said. “Those guys [Hales and Malan] have been brilliant up top… with them not scoring big runs and some of the other guys chipping in, it’s quite pleasing that it was a team effort.”In the franchise era, the profile of coaches has never been higher. This was primarily a triumph for Rockets, the best team in the men’s Hundred with seven wins out of nine – but it was also a victory for Flowerball.