Kerala sack coach P Balachandran mid-season

Kerala coach P Balachandran has been sacked midway through the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season after the state association felt the team’s performances had fallen short of expectations. Former India seamer and Kerala bowling coach Tinu Yohannan has been given the team’s charge, and M Rajagopal, the coach of the state’s Under-23 side, has been named assistant coach.There has also been a major overhaul in the team, with four players – senior batsman Robert Fernandez, wicket-keeper Nikhilesh Surendran, seamers U Manukrishnan and MD Nidheesh – being axed from the squad. Instead, five players from the Under-23 team – Fabid Farooq, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Salman Nizar, Akshay Chandran and KC Akshay – have been picked for Kerala’s remaining matches against Goa, Andhra, Tripura and Services.Kerala are one of two teams in Group C that have not yet registered a win after five rounds of the tournament, despite securing a first-innings lead in four of their five games. With 12 points, they are fifth in the standings and still in contention for a place in the knockouts, but the Kerala Cricket Association felt the time was apt for a change.”It isn’t [a kneejerk reaction]. For the last six or seven seasons, we are coming close but still missing out a place in the knockouts,” a KCA official told ESPNcricinfo. “We cannot spoil one more year.”According to the official, the association’s cricket development committee – which includes the chairman of the senior selection committee, K Jayaraman, and former cricketers KN Ananthapadmanabhan and Sunil Oasis – was not on the same page with Balachandran when it came to team selection. “Balachandran is a good human being, but we need results,” the official said. “When the junior teams are performing creditably, senior teams are not living up to their expectations. We want to reward good performances. That’s why we have brought in five youngsters.”Balachandran, who took over from Sairaj Bahutule as coach, said he was surprised by the decision. “I am not disappointed or upset though,” Balachandran said. “After the Haryana match, I got a message from the secretary [TN Ananthanarayanan] saying that my services were no longer required. I said ‘fine’. I did not ask for the reason.”Last year, our team did well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the association gave good support. I don’t have any grievance, because I have done my work. The association expected more from me which I couldn’t deliver; I keep it as simple as that.”Balachandran also admitted the signing of three professionals – Iqbal Abdulla and Bhavin Thakkar from Mumbai, and Jalaj Saxena from Madhya Pradesh – at the start of the season had possibly raised KCA’s expectations of the team.The KCA official said the decision to rope in professionals indicated the association’s desperation for a better showing this season.”We wanted an aggressive approach, that’s why we brought in some guest players,” the official said. “But, if they are going to be on the losing side all the time, it will affect their morale as well.”

Denmark motivated to win for absent captain Pedersen

Fast bowler Amjad Khan has dedicated Denmark’s four-wicket win over USA on Wednesday at WCL Division Four to captain Michael Pedersen, who left Los Angeles to go back to Denmark on Tuesday night after receiving word that his mother had been involved in an accident.”It’s a win that we’d like to dedicate to Michael really because he had to go home for family reasons,” Amjad told ESPNcricinfo after the win. “It’s something that affected us all and it’s our captain that we lost so we wanted to win for him. We haven’t really lost to the US in [50-over] tournament cricket so we were quite confident going into it. But for us it was to make sure that now that Michael is home, we do right by him and we dedicate this win to him.”It was a significant bounce back win for Denmark after losing to previously winless Bermuda by 38 runs on Tuesday. A day later, they handed the tournament hosts their first loss – Denmark’s sixth straight win over USA in one-day cricket at ICC tournaments dating back to 2001 – thanks in large part to a brilliant bowling effort spearheaded by Amjad, the former England Test representative.Amjad’s ability to achieve reverse swing in his final four overs at the death resulted in 1 for 12 during that spell and overall figures of 1 for 35 in ten overs. At the other end, Aftab Ahmed bowled a magnificent final over into the wind with a 55-yard straight boundary at his back, taking 3 for 1 off the last six balls to hold USA to 261 for 9. Over the course of the final four overs, Denmark bowled 13 dot balls including the wickets while restricting USA to 17 runs, which gave them a huge lift heading into the innings break according to Amjad.”We’re pretty clear on our death plans and it’s something we work really well on,” Amjad said. “We’ve got a quartet of seamers and all of us have done a lot of death bowling. If you’re bowling at the death and you hit your areas, it doesn’t really matter how big the boundary is. I think Aftab and myself we just took the boundaries out of it and just executed our skill.”I think we hit our yorkers really well and held the pace back on the right occasions. I think that was really the background for our success there. It’s the first time we’ve been really tested at the death and it was great to see the boys executing our skills really well.”Though USA entered the final four overs at 244 for 6, they struggled to get a big partnership going throughout the day. USA’s best stand was produced by Nicholas Standford and Timroy Allen who added 77 runs for the sixth wicket. Amjad says Denmark’s ability to disrupt partnerships throughout the day to prevent momentum from building was also a significant factor in the win and it allowed them to get off to an aggressive start in their chase.”We thought they could have got 30 more,” Amjad said. “We were excellent at the death but we never felt they got away from us. We were always getting wickets. Everyone chipped in at the right times and we did feel 260 was gettable. Short boundaries and it a nicely paced wicket, it wasn’t turning a whole lot and there wasn’t much in it for the seamers. We decided that we were going to be positive, get off to a good start and then coasted home from there. Today everything went according to plan.”Denmark’s two other wins have been by fairly comfortable margins – 114 runs over Italy and six wickets against Jersey with 7.5 overs to spare – and Amjad says coming back from the loss to Bermuda was a big confidence boost that he feels will set them up for a strong performance against Oman in the final round of group play. The winner will clinch promotion to Division Three but if Denmark loses they will need a lot of mathematical help from other results to give them a chance of also being promoted on the net run rate tiebreaker.”We had a bit of a blip against Bermuda but I think the confidence has been pretty high and this victory boosts the confidence even more,” Amjad said. “I think the guys know we need to focus on our skill. The main difference today was that our pace bowlers bowled with more skill than they did. We varied our pace better and we moved the ball consistently.”I believe we’re one of the most skillful teams in this competition, especially with the ball. For me as a captain, I’ll tell everyone to relax and have a good day off but then do our skills again and I’m sure we’ll finish on top.”

ICC to make DRS presentation to BCCI

In a fresh attempt to convince the BCCI, ICC general manager Geoff Allardice will travel to India next week to carry out a presentation on the Decision Review System (DRS). India are the only team to have not subscribed to the DRS after being the first to experiment with it, in 2008.The BCCI’s reluctance is well known and recent board presidents – from N Srinivasan to Shashank Manohar to Anurag Thakur now – have expressed the same reservation on the referral system: that unless technology is 100% perfect, India will not use the DRS.The ICC has consistently called for a uniform referral system to be used by all teams. In July, ICC chief executive David Richardson had revealed that its cricket committee and chief executives’ committee wanted the ICC to take “more control” of the DRS.Incidentally, the ICC cricket committee’s head is Anil Kumble, also the current India coach. Kumble and Allardice have witnessed the research carried out by a team of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who were last year asked by the ICC to independently assess the performance of the technologies that are part of the DRS: ball tracking and edge detection. The MIT team gave a detailed presentation to the ICC cricket committee during the annual conference in June.Allardice is likely to highlight the MIT research during his presentation, which is likely to be attended by the top brass as well as key officials of the BCCI. The key point that Allardice will drive home is how the DRS and its various components have become more reliable since the system’s inception in 2008.It is understood that the ICC wanted to do this presentation earlier, but a convenient time could not be worked out. “They wanted to showcase improvements that have been made after the MIT research,” a BCCI official said. “This is something they have been wanting to share for quite some time. We need to wait and see what are the improvements exactly, considering DRS is made up of two to three elements.”India’s upcoming home Test series comprise five matches against England followed by a one-off Test against Bangladesh, before ending the season with a four-Test series against Australia. It is understood both BCCI and ECB have not worked on the MoU for the series so far and hence it is too premature, officials pointed out, to speculate whether the DRS would be used or not.The BCCI official was not sure whether senior Indian team members like MS Dhoni and Test captain Virat Kohli, along with Kumble, will attend the meeting considering they were busy with the ODI series against New Zealand.During his reign Dhoni never categorically expressed his opinion on the DRS. In contrast, Kohli has consistently said he is open to the referral system.

Buoyant Pakistan look to ride winning momentum

Match facts

October 2, Sharjah
Start time 1500 local (1100 GMT)Babar Azam is part of a young brigade that has driven Pakistan’s recent success•Getty Images

Big picture

A change of formats has not brought a change in fortune for a faltering West Indies side. Having been blanked out in the T20I series, they lost the first ODI in Sharjah by 111 runs. While West Indies continued to struggle to get enough runs on the board in spin-friendly UAE conditions, Pakistan would be cheered that many of their younger players are at the forefront of the winning momentum they are starting to build.Among those young guns is 21-year-old top-order batsman Babar Azam, who stroked his maiden international century in the first ODI. Opener Sharjeel Khan and left-arm spinners Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz are other less experienced players who have shown signs that they may have bright careers ahead of them. For the time being, they are fueling Pakistan’s progress and West Indies’ demise in a tour that has so far been utterly one-sided.For West Indies, one of the main stumbling blocks has been their failure to put up competitive totals on tracks that are not conducive to their free-spirited, big-hitting game. As captain Jason Holder acknowledged, they need to rotate the strike better and show the application to build an innings.A win in the second ODI would seal the three-match series for Pakistan, but there is more riding on it than that. A 3-0 series victory for Pakistan would displace West Indies from the No. 8 position in the ODI rankings. As both teams eye direct qualification for the 2019 World Cup (for which they would need to be in the top eight on September 30, 2017) such encounters acquire added significance.

Form guide

Pakistan WWLLL (completed matches, most recent first)
West Indies LLWLL

In the spotlight

In the opening ODI, Pakistan captain Azhar Ali nicked the first ball of the match, and his first of the tour, to depart for a golden duck. Azhar, who averages 38.69 in 26 ODIs as captain, will be under mounting pressure to prove that he can juggle the responsibilities of captaincy and opening the batting. At issue is not just whether he can churn out enough runs, but whether he can do so at a strike rate in tune with the new brand of cricket that coach Mickey Arthur wants to inculcate in his charges. Given that Azhar had earlier declined the PCB’s request to relinquish the captaincy and focus on his batting, he would doubtless feel he has a point to prove.While Holder has spoken of the need for his batsmen to play spin better, he would also want more from his own lead spinner, Sunil Narine. After going wicketless in the T20I series, Narine returned figures of 1 for 58 in 10 overs in the first ODI. He was outbowled not only by team-mate Sulieman Benn but also by Pakistan’s far less experienced spinners. If it is unrealistic to expect West Indies’ batsmen to dramatically improve against spin overnight, then at least a better showing by Narine could narrow the gap between the sides.

Team news

Umar Akmal must be itching to break back into the ODI side, but Pakistan are unlikely to change their winning combination as they seek to build consistency and stability in their limited-overs set-up.Pakistan (possible): 1 Azhar Ali (capt), 2 Sharjeel Khan, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 6 Mohammad Rizwan, 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Hasan AliIn West Indies’ continuing quest for top-order runs, they may consider replacing the scratchy Kraigg Brathwaite, who made his ODI debut in the first match, with Jonathan Carter or Evin Lewis. The rest of the XI is not expected to change much.West Indies (possible): 1 Evin Lewis/Jonathan Carter, 2 Johnson Charles, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Jason Holder (capt.), 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Sulieman Benn, 11 Shannon Gabriel

Pitch and conditions

Nearly 80 minutes were lost due to a floodlight failure during the first ODI. With Sharjah set to host the second match as well, it is hoped that those issues have been adequately tackled. The weather has been consistently hot and the pitch is likely to be similar in nature to that of the first match. Expect a flat, batting-friendly surface with assistance on offer for disciplined spin bowling. Given the afternoon heat, bowling first might be best avoided.

Stats and trivia

  • Kieron Pollard is one match short of completing 100 ODI appearances for West Indies. He has played 99 matches, scoring 2256 at 25.93 and picking up 49 wickets at 38.63
  • Four of Pakistan’s six biggest ODI wins against West Indies (in terms of runs) have come in Sharjah. Friday’s 111-run win was their fourth largest.
  • Sharjeel Khan has a strike rate of 150 in ODIs in 2016, the best among batsmen who have scored 150-plus runs this year. He has scored 306 off 204 balls in seven innings.

Quotes

“I have had the experience of playing in Sharjah, and it worked well for me to score a maiden hundred. What I did was just to stay till the end and get as many runs as I could; the coach had asked me to play my natural game.”
“Spin has played a heavy part in our downfall. We need to find a way to tick over the scoreboard then maximise our boundary options. We need to buckle down better against spin.”

Five Bangladesh bowlers found to have illegal actions

The BCB’s bowling action review committee has deemed five bowlers as having illegal bowling actions but didn’t suspend them immediately. Five others were given the clean chit by the committee, three weeks after all ten bowlers, who were reported for suspect actions during the 2016 Dhaka Premier League, completed their assessment in Mirpur.Left-arm spinners Faisal Hossain and Amit Kumar, and off-spinners Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Sharifullah and Asif Ahmed are still allowed to play domestic cricket till November 15 this year, but they must complete the bowling action reassessment by this date to have any chance to play after that. During this time, they are free to play while the BCB will pay for their remedial work and reassessment.But there was good news for left-arm spinners Moinul Islam and Naeem Islam jnr, and offspinner Sanjit Saha, whose actions were found to be legal by the committee, and are eligible to bowl.Meanwhile, left-arm spinner Rezaul Karim has been allowed to bowl all deliveries except his arm ball, while pace bowler Mohammad Saifuddin is not allowed to bowl his slower delivery. If they bowl the illegal variations, the umpire can rule it a no-ball, according to the committee’s decision.

New Zealand take charge of Test with 412-run lead

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:01

By The Numbers – Taylor and Watling’s day out

Ross Taylor and BJ Watling took 299 and 172 deliveries respectively to rack up 173* and 107 – their second hundreds against Zimbabwe – and build an advantage New Zealand may have considered unassailable. Tim Southee and Trent Boult took four Zimbabwean wickets for 10 runs in the space of 18 balls, and likely ensure the 412-run lead is more than enough.Zimbabwe’s top order were blown away by swing and teetered on 17 for 4. Given their first-innings collapse, a three-day finish seemed imminent. But Craig Ervine equalled his highest Test score – 49 – and formed partnerships with Sikandar Raza and Graeme Cremer to allow the hosts to live to fight another day.Taking the match into the fourth day was Zimbabwe’s second small success after they removed nightwatchman Ish Sodhi in the second over of the day. They did not see the back of another New Zealand batsman until 15 minutes after tea, when Watling dragged Raza to deep square leg. By then, the New Zealand wicketkeeper had a century, Taylor had 173* and their partnership – a chanceless stand headlined by crisp cuts, powerful pulls and careful strike rotation – had reached 253.On its own, it was worth 89 runs more than Zimbabwe’s first-innings total. Combined with the 79-run opening stand, the 156 runs Tom Latham and Kane Williamson added for the second wicket, and other small contributions, it put the match beyond Zimbabwe, who were kept under the Bulawayo sun for 166.5 overs.Their second new ball was under six overs old when the day began and Donald Tiripano and Michael Chinouya started promisingly with it. Both showed marked improvement from their second-day performances and made the batsmen play at more deliveries by tightening their lines. Chinouya reaped some reward when Sodhi played an uncertain drive and edged to substitute wicketkeeper Brian Chari.Sensing an opportunity to get into New Zealand’s lower order, the pair tried the short ball but without the pace or the discipline to back it up, it was wasted. Too often, they offered their deliveries with width, allowing the batsmen to cut. Other balls were misdirected and invited the pull, a shot both Taylor and Watling played comfortably. Their ease against the short ball only highlighted Zimbabwe’s deficiencies when faced with the same.With the seamers struggling, Graeme Cremer brought himself on. He did not manage as much of the turn and bounce he got on the second day, but Taylor and Watling were still cautious against him.It was only towards the end of the first session, when heavy legs caused Zimbabwe’s fielders to make several fumbles, that the pair upped the scoring rate. Taylor took on the more aggressive role and showed his authority against Cremer while Watling hung back and rotated strike. By lunch, the lead was over 250 and the pair well settled.They returned after the break to deal for another careful five overs before opening up. The next 15 overs brought 61 runs at over four runs per over. In that time, Taylor brought up his century with a signature square cut. His second fifty only took him 83 balls, compared to his first for which he faced 108.Watling went into the tea break on 95 and brought up his century four overs later with a top-edge off a pull – the shot he had played so comfortably through his innings. The pair were given some freedom to bat on but managed only one more shot in anger before Watling holed out and Williamson called his men in, leaving Zimbabwe with a tough task to make New Zealand bat again.They decided to take on the challenge head on and played their strongest hand by promoting their most experienced batsman Hamilton Masakadza to open. Brian Chari, who does not keep regularly and spent five sessions behind the stumps doing the job, was given some time to recover but he did not have too long.Masakadza drove the first ball he faced for four but then edged the third, which moved away from him, to first slip to end a disappointing Test for him. Chari was in at No.3 and handled the first five balls he faced before a Boult inswinger snuck through the bat-pad gap and took out his off stump.Chamu Chibhabha also failed to handle Boult’s movement and poked at one that moved away to give Taylor a second catch, low and to his left. With his next ball, Boult angled it in to Prince Masvaure, who was hit on the pad in front of middle stump.Sikandar Raza sliced the hat-trick ball through the covers for four and settled Zimbabwe’s nerves somewhat. Raza and Ervine took a totally different approach to what may be expected from a side on the back foot, and played an aggressive range of strokes. They scored at 7.8 runs to the over and swiped their bats at anything, be it full or short. Raza fell on his sword when he top-edged a short ball and walked off before the catch was taken.With news that Regis Chakbva and Sean Williams, neither of whom fielded at all because of illness, will be available to bat on the fourth day, Ervine will be hopeful of reaching a milestone and more, even if in vain.

Ballance injury scare ahead of first Test

Gary Ballance’s Test return is in doubt because of a groin injury which caused him to miss Yorkshire’s NatWest T20 Blast tie in Derby on Sunday.Ballance was a surprise call-up for England’s squad for the first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s after striking a defiant century – his first of the season – in Yorkshire’s defeat against the new Championship leaders Middlesex at Scarborough.He will now be closely monitored by England’s medical team ahead of the Test and, although he is making confident noises about his fitness, Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, warned that his recovery could not entirely be taken for granted.Moxon said: “Gary’s got a bit of a tight groin which he sustained on Friday in the T20 against Birmingham. At this stage, we don’t know whether he will be fit for the Test, but he may be okay.”Jason Gillespie, Yorkshire’s coach, was a touch more optimistic, suggesting Ballance’s absence was just precautionary: “He just pulled up a little bit stiff after Friday – I don’t see any problem,” he said.Ballance was brought back into the Test fold for the first time in a year, inviting further examination of a technique which was unravelling towards the end of his first spell in the Test side but which he has insisted is adequate and refused to adjust to any great extent.

Gayle, bowlers thwart Patriots for narrow win

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThree key wickets from fast bowler Kesrick Williams and tight bowling in the middle overs helped Jamaica Tallawahs stave off St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for a five-run win in their CPL 2016 match in Basseterre. Tallawahs were also aided by a brisk fifty from captain Chris Gayle, who struck 51 off 36 balls, to help set Patriots a target of 154.Patriots overcame the early loss of Evin Lewis in their chase with two substantial partnerships for the second and third wickets. Faf du Plessis, who struck 27 off 29 balls, was the common factor, sharing 39 for the second wicket with Lendl Simmons and then playing a foil to Jonathan Carter in a rapid partnership of 43 that came off 28 balls. Carter’s 18-ball 27 included two sixes, and the pair helped Patriots narrow the equation down to 62 off 48 balls.Their slump began at this stage. Carter and du Plessis fell in successive overs and Tallawahs choked the runs by conceding 26 between the 15th and 19th overs. Williams dismissed Thisara Perera and Brad Hodge in the 18th over and Dale Steyn got rid of Carlos Brathwaite for 1 at the start of the 19th over to leave Patriots needing 30 off the last six balls. Despite three consecutive sixes from wicketkeeper Devon Thomas, Patriots could only muster 24 runs. Williams, who played his first T20 since January 2013, ended with 3 for 23, while the rest of the Tallawahs attack, except Timroy Allen, took a wicket each.The Tallawahs’ innings was given direction by Gayle before Andre Russell provided a late flourish. Gayle paired with Kumar Sangakkara to add 48 runs for the second wicket, after Chadwick Walton fell in the first over for 3. By the time Gayle was dismissed, he had struck four fours and three sixes in his 51, but quick wickets in the middle overs had left Tallawahs at a shaky 109 for 5 in the 16th over. Russell provided the impetus with an unbeaten 34 off 20 deliveries. He slammed two sixes and a four in an 18-run over bowled by Krishmar Santokie and helped Tallawahs add 44 in the last four overs to climb to 153.

Pakistan, Afghanistan and UAE to play T20I tri-series in Sharjah ahead of Asia Cup

Afghanistan, Pakistan and UAE will get more matches to prepare for the men’s T20 Asia Cup when they compete in a T20 tri-series hosted by the Emirates Cricket Board in Sharjah in August-September.The Asia Cup runs from September 9 to 28, also in the UAE.As such, based on the ICC’s future tours programme, Pakistan were expected to host Afghanistan for three T20Is in the window that has now been allotted to the tri-series.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Each team will play the other twice in the round-robin stage of the tournament, with the top two contesting the final. All the games will be played from 7pm local time. Pakistan are the highest-ranked side among the three on the ICC rankings at No. 8, with Afghanistan at No. 9, and UAE at No. 14.Pakistan are currently engaged in a bilateral white-ball series, where they have won the first game, against West Indies, and play their first match of the Asia Cup, against Oman on September 12. Afghanistan have not played a T20I since their bilateral series in Zimbabwe at the end of last year, and play their opening match of the Asia Cup, against Hong Kong on September 9.Both the teams qualified directly for the T20 World Cup in 2026, to be played in India and Sri Lanka – Afghanistan as one of the top-seven teams (excluding the hosts) in the previous T20 World Cup and Pakistan based on their ranking on the ICC table at the cut-off date of June 30, 2024. UAE, meanwhile, have not yet confirmed their spot at the World Cup. They have to go through the Asia-East Asia and Pacific qualifiers, to be played in Oman from October 8 to 17, to get there if they can.

Gambhir: All fast bowlers, including Bumrah, are fit for Oval Test

India coach Gautam Gambhir has confirmed India have a whole quota of fit fast bowlers to select from for The Oval Test, which they need to win to level the series. Equally significantly, Gambhir didn’t rule out the possibility of Jasprit Bumrah playing a fourth Test after he had said he was good to play only three in the lead-up to the series.Bumrah, whose pace was down at Old Trafford, which could also have to do with a soft outfield and loose foot holes, has had time to put his feet up since before lunch on day four of this Test. The fifth and final Test begins on Thursday.India came into the third Test crippled with injuries to Arshdeep Singh (bowling hand) and Akash Deep (groin), and general fatigue for Mohammed Siraj. They had to call in reinforcements from India in Anshul Kamboj, who played ahead of Prasidh Krishna.Related

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“All the fast bowlers are fit,” Gambhir said after India’s 143-over batting effort to secure a draw at Old Trafford and stay alive in the series. “There are no injury concerns.”That also includes Bumrah, but his case is different. He is not playing only three Tests because of any injury, but instead for workload management purposes so that he prevents further injuries after his stress reaction earlier in the year. That stress reaction had kept him out for five months. Gambhir was asked if that workload prescription was still set in stone with a series still on the line.”We haven’t had any conversation around the combination for the last Test,” Gambhir replied. “No decision has been made on whether Jasprit Bumrah will play or not. Ultimately, whoever plays, they will try and do the job for the country.”2:09

Manjrekar: ‘Warriors’ keep sprouting for India when needed

Gambhir: ‘Absolutely up’ for series finale

Gambhir said this India team was an inexperienced side and the results needed to be seen in that light. But he also said that reason doesn’t change the scoreline of the series. He also didn’t want to get carried away with the achievement of drawing at Old Trafford.”You are asking someone who only believes in results,” Gambhir said. “I’ve said that in the past as well, that I believe in results. We are still 2-1 down in the series. This is the Indian team. Yes there is inexperience but this is still the best Indian team right now. So for me, I think we are still down 2-1. And hopefully we can try and make it 2-2. That’s going to be a good achievement.”When you are put under pressure, and you end up batting five sessions, I think that’s great character. Anything that you do in these conditions, when you are put under pressure and you come out of those pressure moments, it is always a great feeling, and it just ends up giving a lot of confidence in the dressing room as well.”And I’m sure going into The Oval, we will be high on confidence, but we can’t take anything for granted. I think it’s going to be a new game, it’s going to be against a strong England side, and we absolutely will be up for it.”

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