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.

He seemed to be out of favour in limited-overs by mid-2017, but a door that appeared shut is now a window full of possibilities

Saurabh Somani18-Nov-20211:12

Daniel Vettori: Ashwin’s skill helped him set Chapman and Phillips up

Since India’s tour of England which began in August, the team has played four Tests and six T20Is, including the first game of the ongoing series against New Zealand. If told at the start that R Ashwin would feature in four of those international games, how many people would have predicted zero Tests and four T20Is?Ashwin, a bonafide candidate in discussions of an all-time India Test XI, has suddenly got a new lease of life in white-ball cricket. A door that appeared slammed shut after mid-2017 is now a window full of possibilities.Not that the white-ball skills were lacking. In the IPL, Ashwin regularly showed how effective he could still be in limited-overs cricket. IPL 2018, the first one since his limited-overs exile, was a decent outing. But from IPL 2019 onwards, Ashwin has been among the top bowlers in the most competitive T20 league on the planet. He’s done it with guile, nous and a fine control. The door might have appeared shut, but Ashwin kept knocking on it.Related

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It is the mark of a good team that there will always be quality players on the outside, hungry to get in. Ashwin was one of those players for India’s limited-overs teams in the recent past. It is also the mark of a good player that once in, he’ll make himself difficult to dislodge. When Washington Sundar’s injury meant he wouldn’t be there for the T20 World Cup, that opportunity came Ashwin’s way. It wouldn’t have, if he hadn’t stacked up the performances he did leading up to that. And once back, Ashwin has bowled his full quota of 16 overs in four T20Is, taking 8 wickets and giving up runs at just 5.375 per over.More than the limited sample size of his recent T20Is, it is the IPL that reveals Ashwin’s value and effectiveness.The middle overs of T20 cricket are spinners’ bastions, but a bowler versatile enough to be effective elsewhere is gold-dust. Since IPL 2019, no spinner has bowled more in the powerplay than Ashwin’s 38 overs. Not coincidentally, no one has taken more than the 10 wickets Ashwin has in the powerplay in this period either. In the middle overs, Ashwin has taken 22 wickets, which seems at first glance a tad less for 105.5 overs bowled, especially when set against fellow spinners like Rahul Chahar (37 wickets in 128 overs), Yuzvendra Chahal (50 wickets in 127.1 overs) or Varun Chakravarthy (27 wickets in 84 overs). However, Ashwin’s role has often been to enforce control for his team, and he’s been excellent at doing that. Ashwin remains a bowler who seeks wickets, but he does so while also keeping one foot on the opposition’s run-rate.What the bare figures don’t account for, is Ashwin’s impact even when it comes to wicket-taking. That is something Smart Stats brings into focus, with an algorithm that takes into account the quality of batter dismissed, and the match situation in which the bowler operates and assigns a value to a wicket in accordance with that. In IPLs since 2019, Ashwin has the difference between the Smart Wickets he’s taken and the conventional ones. He has 35 wickets in 42 innings, but in terms of Smart Wickets, the figure is 50.1. Among spinners, only Chahal has a bigger difference in that time frame, with his 57 wickets worth 74.27 Smart Wickets. Ashwin’s strikes have had game-changing impact, because he’s gotten top order batters early. And he’s done it while keeping the runs in check too.R Ashwin (left) has made himself difficult to dislodge from the T20I team•BCCIHe illustrated exactly those qualities against New Zealand. Brought on for his first over within the powerplay, he gave up only six runs. In his second over, immediately after Martin Guptill and Mark Chapman had taken 15 off Deepak Chahar, he conceded seven runs. And that too, was because bowling first and one over in the powerplay meant he had to suss the pace of the pitch by degrees.”It is kind of tricky, right, in a T20 game, how much do you toss it up? When do you toss it up? The windows for attacking the batsmen are pretty less, so you need to find them and then deliver those balls,” Ashwin would tell host broadcaster Star after the game. “Line and length, you can’t miss much of it.”Identifying the right pace is always a challenge when you’re bowling first in a T20 game. I bowled my first over inside the powerplay, so the pockets of change of pace had to be much lesser than what you did later on in the game. Identifying that pace took a little bit of time for me. I probably slowed it down once or twice in the first two overs I bowled, and then I realised if you slowed the ball down the purchase was better on this pitch.”By his first two overs, Ashwin had figured out that slowing the ball through the air and landing it correctly would get him more bite. And when he was brought back for his final over – the 14th of the innings – he did what he often has, prising out wickets to cause an inflexion point in the game. Chapman was done in by a classical off-break, while Glenn Phillips got a carom ball that pinned him in front after two off-breaks. New Zealand had lost two wickets, one of a set batter who was accelerating and another of a big-hitter who could have wrecked India’s death overs.Guptill, who lashed 70 from 42 balls in New Zealand’s total, summed up the difficulty of facing Ashwin in reply to a question from ESPNcricinfo. “He’s a wily bowler, got a great control of his line and length,” Guptill said. “And he just doesn’t bowl bad balls. I don’t remember him bowling any bad balls. He’s just very difficult to get away. His change of pace is so subtle and so well controlled, he’s just very hard to get away.”The T20 success for Ashwin is not unexpected, given the pedigree he has shown. He also gave a teaser of what could be coming New Zealand’s way on this tour, bowling a more classical pace of off-spin and finding bite in the surface. If he could do it with a white ball, given only four overs, what might Ashwin do with a red ball, with more overs and more purchase, with wickets to make up for after having sat out four Test matches?

Also: what is the record for the most ducks in a first-class innings?

Steven Lynch01-Mar-2022Yash Dhull played his first first-class match last week, and made 113 in both innings. Has this happened before? asked Sanjit Srivastava from Canada, and many others

In his first match since leading India to victory over England in the Under-19 World Cup in Antigua, the exciting Delhi prospect Yash Dhull marked his first-class debut by scoring 113 and 113 not out against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy in Guwahati.Dhull is the ninth to score twin centuries on his first-class debut, but the first of those to make the same score in both innings. The previous record for a debutant was two scores of 56, by Bert “Poddy” Davie for Tasmania against Victoria in Launceston in February 1922, almost exactly 100 years before Dhull’s effort.Overall, there had been 24 previous instances of a player making the same score of 100 or more in both innings of a first-class game. The highest such double is 146 (run out) and 146 (not out), by John Langridge for Sussex against Derbyshire in Worthing in 1949. The highest in Tests is a brace of 105s by Duleep Mendis for Sri Lanka against India in Madras in 1982-83.Who was the first man to score two centuries in the same Test? asked David Johnson from Ireland

Scoring two centuries in a Test has become relatively commonplace (it has been achieved 87 times now) but the first instance – and the only one in the first 45 years of Test cricket – was by the durable Australian Warren Bardsley, who made 136 and 130 for Australia against England at The Oval in 1909. Seventeen years later, aged 43, Bardsley carried his bat for 193 against England at Lord’s.In the first innings of a recent Ranji Trophy match, five Mumbai batters were out for ducks – was this a record? asked Siddharth from India

Mumbai’s five duck-makers in the first innings of their match against Goa in Ahmedabad last week might be relieved to know they are well short of the record. There are many instances of six ducks in an innings (the most recent by Sussex – who still totalled 300 – against Derbyshire in Hove last September), and 34 cases of seven, the most recent by Sui Southern Gas against Multan in Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in Multan in September 2018.But there are eight first-class innings that contained eight ducks, most of them in the far-distant past. The most recent of these came in July 1942, when Barbados skittled Trinidad for 16 in Bridgetown, with medium-pacer Derek Sealy taking 8 for 8. Trinidad’s openers made 13 between them, but all the other batters were out for 0, apart from Gerry Gomez who remained undefeated with 3.The previous instance of eight ducks in an innings came during a famous County Championship match in 1922, when Warwickshire dismissed Hampshire for 15 at Edgbaston: Hampshire followed on, made 521, and won by 155 runs.Hazratullah Zazai’s 236-run stand with Usman Ghani against Ireland is the highest partnership for the first wicket in a T20 match•Getty ImagesMultan Sultans had two hundred partnerships in their innings in a recent Pakistan Super League match. How rare is this? asked Sheraz Muzafar from Pakistan

In the match you’re talking about, for Multan Sultans against Quetta Gladiators in the PSL in Lahore last month, Mohammad Rizwan put on 119 for the first wicket with Shan Masood, then 103 for the second with the South African Rilee Rossouw, who clouted 71 from 26 balls. This was the 12th occasion that a senior T20 innings had contained two separate hundred partnerships.Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers put on 229 for RCB in an IPL game in 2016. Is this the highest in any T20 match? asked Peter Manford from England

That partnership of 229 came for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Gujarat Lions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2016; Virat Kohli hit 109, and AB de Villiers 129 not out. It’s the overall IPL record, and the highest for the second wicket in all T20s – but there has been one higher opening partnership. For Afghanistan against Ireland in a T20I in Dehradun in February 2019, Hazratullah Zazai (162 not out, with 16 sixes) and Usman Ghani (73) put on 236 for the first wicket.In all, there have been 15 partnerships of 200 or more in senior T20 cricket, three of them in international matches.And there’s an update to one of last week’s questions, from Sameeranga Patwari from India

“Regarding the question about the most runs added after the loss of the fifth wicket, in one-day internationals the highest is actually 267, by New Zealand against Sri Lanka in Dunedin in January 2015. They were on the back foot at 93 for 5, but recovered to 360 for 5 – so added 267 – mainly thanks to the No. 7 Luke Ronchi, who scored 170 not out.”This is correct, so I’m sorry for misleading everyone last week – I must have entered something incorrectly when I did the search for ODIs. There was another instance higher than the two I mentioned: in Chennai in June 2007, the Asian XI were 72 for 5 against Africa, before Mahela Jayawardene (107) and MS Dhoni (139 not out), lifted them to 331 for 8. For what I believe is now the correct list, click here.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

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.

Also, how much does Virat Kohli need to score in the second innings (if he is dismissed) to keep his average above 50?

ESPNcricinfo stats team12-Mar-202216 Wickets that fell on the opening day of the Bengaluru Test, the most ever on day one of a day-night Test. The previous highest was 13, on four different instances, including the two previous day-night Tests in India, against Bangladesh in Kolkata, and against England in Ahmedabad.