Chris Jordan hails his friend’s resilience in battling back from long-term elbow injury

Matt Roller26-May-2024Jos Buttler had repeatedly tried to play down expectations ahead of Jofra Archer’s comeback from an elbow injury but it will be hard for England’s fans not to get carried away. After 14 months away from international cricket, Archer’s smile told the story at Edgbaston: he finished with 2 for 28 from his four overs, closing out a 23-run win.Googling Archer’s name throws up the prompt ‘Will Jofra Archer return?’ and there have been times during his latest lay-off where it has seemed unlikely – not least at last year’s ODI World Cup, when his time as a travelling reserve ended less than a week after he had arrived in Mumbai due to yet another setback. He admitted on Saturday that constant rehabilitation left him feeling like “a hamster on the wheel” and hinted last month that “another stop-start year” would leave him questioning his future in the game.In that context, Archer could hardly have asked for more on his return against Pakistan on Saturday: two wickets across his four one-over spells; a top speed of 92mph/148kph; and a four-ball cameo of 12 not out, featuring a sweet straight six off Mohammad Amir. There was even an FA Cup final victory at Wembley for his beloved Manchester United, giving him bragging rights over the City-supporting Phil Salt.For Chris Jordan – his fellow Bajan, friend and mentor – Archer’s first wicket was enough to make his hairs stand on end. After an expensive opening over, which cost 15 runs at the end of the Powerplay, Archer struck with the first ball of his second: Azam Khan, Pakistan’s keeper-batter, chipped a fullish ball clocked at 90mph/145kph to short cover.”It gives goosebumps to see him take that wicket,” Jordan said. “He probably didn’t take it with the best possible delivery, but he’ll take it. He’s phenomenal: to be out of international cricket for so long and to touch 90mph and just look like he never left is awesome. And he will keep getting better with games.”Archer can appear unflappable on the field but his team-mates noticed some nerves on Saturday. “In the last six months, I feel like I’ve seen a shift in his vibe and his mindset – everything,” Jordan said. “He seemed really happy stepping on the field today; he might not have looked it, but I bet he was quite nervous… for England fans and everyone who is a fan of him, it’s great to have him back out there.”It is always a tough ask to bowl the final over of the Powerplay when the ball has stopped swinging, and Archer did little wrong in his first set of six despite conceding 15 runs. There were no looseners, his first ball clocked at 86mph/139kph; and if he overpitched slightly when Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman hit him for fours, Fakhar’s deft scoop for six was a clever shot rather than a bad ball.Perhaps Archer could have turned to his variations earlier, but they were unfurled later in his spell to good effect: Fakhar ducked under an 87mph/140kph bumper, Iftikhar Ahmed couldn’t get his legcutters or his back-of-the-hander away, while Shaheen Afridi had to dig a yorker out. Imad Wasim thought he had squeezed a low full toss away for four, but instead picked out Liam Livingstone who held onto a tumbling catch at deep point.Related

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Matthew Mott said on Wednesday that England have a clear idea of their best XI for the the T20 World Cup: with Sam Curran struggling to disguise his disappointment at being left out during a guest appearance on Sky’s commentary, the side that featured at Edgbaston could well be the one that starts the tournament against Scotland in Barbados on June 4.This was a first chance to see England’s three likely starting seamers – Archer, Jordan and Reece Topley – in action together, with Moeen Ali, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid also providing four spin options. The quicks have clear roles: Topley will primarily bowl with the new ball; Archer at both ends of the innings; and Jordan mainly towards the end.”We know how good [Archer] is, how he can change a game in a minute,” Jordan said. “Every batsman that came out, they were thinking about the bouncer straightaway. That, in itself, adds a different dynamic to the bowling attack, and some good variety as well: I’m a bit shorter, skiddier; Toppers is tall, left-arm; Jofra’s tall, right-arm; Sam’s a bit different as well. We’ve got a good mix of guys.”As the series moves onto Cardiff on Tuesday and The Oval on Thursday, the focus will simply be on Archer continuing to build up his match practice, his return giving England’s players what Jordan called “a different-level mood”. Five years ago, Archer’s late inclusion to England’s ODI squad made all the difference to the World Cup campaign that followed; now, the defending T20 champions are hoping for a repeat.

Find answers to all your questions about the T20 World Cup 2024. Get details on the schedule, participating teams, match timings, and more

Abhimanyu Bose27-May-2024

When is the T20 World Cup 2024 scheduled to take place?

The 2024 T20 World Cup will begin on June 1 (7.30pm local time), with co-hosts USA taking on Canada in the first game and will run till June 29. The first match will be held at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas while the final will be played in Bridgetown in Barbados.Here’s the full T20 World Cup 2024 schedule.

Where will the T20 World Cup 2024 be held?

The West Indies and the USA will co-host the T20 World Cup. This will be the first time that USA will play host to a major ICC tournament. West Indies have hosted two men’s World Cups before – one 50-over edition in 2007 and a T20 World Cup in 2010. Two women’s T20 World Cups have also been held in the Caribbean.Related

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And what are the venues where the T20 World Cup 2024 matches will be played?

The 2024 T20 World Cup will be played across nine venues. Apart from Dallas and Bridgetown, there will be matches in Providence, New York, Lauderhill, North Sound, Gros Islet, Kingstown and Tarouba.

Which teams are participating in the T20 World Cup 2024?

There are 20 T20 World Cup teams this year, the most in the history of the tournament. Apart from the hosts West Indies and USA, the eight best-placed teams from the 2022 edition also gained automatic qualification – England, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia and Netherlands. Afghanistan and Bangladesh also gained automatic qualification through their place in the men’s T20I team rankings.Ireland and Scotland made it through the European qualifier, while Canada won the Americas qualifier. Nepal and Oman progressed from the Asia qualifier, while Namibia and Uganda were the two qualifying teams from Africa. Papua New Guinea won the East Asia-Pacific qualifier.

What is the format for the T20 World Cup 2024?

The 20 teams have been divided into four groups of five teams each. These are the groups . Each team plays each other once with the top two sides from each group making it to the Super Eight stage, where there will be two groups of four teams each. The top two teams from these groups will progress to the semi-final.

Super Eights: how will the teams be grouped and seeded?

Eight teams have been allotted pre-decided seedings that they will retain for the Super Eight stage, provided they qualify. These teams, and their seedings, are:A1 – India, A2 – Pakistan
B1 – England, B2 – Australia
C1 – New Zealand, C2 – West Indies
D1 – South Africa, D2 – Sri LankaThe seedings for the other teams are not fixed. To understand it further, if D1 and D2 qualify from group D, and D2 top the group, D2 will not be given the D1 slot in the Super Eight stage despite topping the group. They will continue with the pre-decided fixtures in Super Eight that have been scheduled for D2.But if, say, D3 or D4 qualify in place of, say, D1, the qualified team will replace D1 in the Super Eight.If D3 and D4 both qualify, then the group topper will play D1’s fixtures and the team that finishes second will be allotted D2’s matches.Once the eight teams are known, they will be grouped into Super Eight as follows:Group 1: A1, B2, C1, D2
Group 2: A2, B1, C2, D1The fixtures for the Super Eight stage, starting June 19, are already listed with the teams’ seedings. No points will be carried forward from the first round to the second.

What happens if a match ends in a tie?

A Super Over will decide every tied match, and if that ends in a tie, there will be another Super Over and so on until a result is achieved.

And how are matches decided if the weather plays spoilsport?

In case of rain or bad weather in the group stage and Super Eight matches, each team will have to be able to bat at least five overs for a result to be declared. However, as was the case in the previous edition, the two semi-finals and the final will need each team to be able to bat a minimum of ten overs for a result to be possible.The 15-member Nepal squad for the T20 World Cup poses for an official photo•NurPhoto via Getty Images

What about the knockout matches, then?

The first semi-final and the final have reserve days but the second semi-final doesn’t, as there is only a day’s gap between that match and the final.A total of 250 minutes of additional time is available for each semi-final. The first semi-final, on June 26, will have an extra 60 minutes at the end of the day’s play and a further 190 minutes the next day on June, starting from 2pm local time. The second semi-final, on June 27, will have 250 minutes available on the scheduled day since it doesn’t have a reserve day.The final has a reserve day on June 30, with the hours of play scheduled for 10.30am local time, and a maximum of 190 minutes extra on both days.In case of the first semi-final and the final, if the match is shortened (say, to ten overs per side) and it starts on the scheduled day but cannot be completed that day because of weather interruptions, it will resume on the reserve day as the same shortened game from where play was abandoned on the previous day.India will play the second semi-final should they reach the knockouts.

What happens if the semi-finals and/or final are abandoned?

If weather conditions do not allow a semi-final to be completed, the team that finished first in their group in the Super Eight stage will progress to the final. The same rule will be applicable if the Super Over after a tied semi-final is also not possible because of poor weather.If the final (or the Super Over after a tied final) is abandoned because of poor weather, the two teams will be declared joint winners.

Which teams have previously won the men’s T20 World Cup?

Seven teams have previously won the men’s T20 World Cup. India won the inaugural edition in 2007, while West Indies and England are the only teams to win it twice. England are also the defending champions.Here is the full list of winners:2007 – India
2009 – Pakistan
2010 – England
2012 – West Indies
2014 – Sri Lanka
2016 – West Indies
2021 – Australia
2022 – England

How can I follow live scores and updates for the T20 World Cup 2024?

Apart from the various TV channels and streaming sites that will broadcast the T20 World Cup live, you can follow ball-by-ball action on ESPNcricinfo. You can also keep a tab of the matches on our live scores page.

Where can I watch the T20 World Cup 2024 live?

The T20 World Cup can be followed live in the following places around the world:India – Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar*
Pakistan – PTV and Ten Sports
USA and Canada – WillowTV
West Indies – ESPN Caribbean and ESPN Play Caribbean app
England – Sky Sports and digitally via the SkyGO, NOW and Sky Sports App
Australia and New Zealand – Prime Video in Australia and Sky Sport NZ in New Zealand
South Africa, Uganda, and Namibia – SuperSport and its app
UAE and the entire MENA region – STARZPLAY, with broadcast coverage on CricLife MAX and CricLife MAX2 in the UAE
Sri Lanka – Maharaja TV*

He had a career that achieved more than most and still left you wanting more, which is sometimes just fine

Vithushan Ehantharajah08-Sep-2024Loosely, Sunday’s retirement was Moeen Ali’s third in as many years. But this one, at the age of 37, a week after he, as white ball vice-captain, was left out of both ODI and T20I squads, carries a weight of finality.Test retirement at the end of the 2021 summer was seemingly on a whim before he was parachuted into the 2023 Ashes to cover for Jack Leach as the spinner, then Ollie Pope as No. 3, after which he said he was done for good. All while a staple in the limited overs set-up.It is a weight that has been lifted off the story. Because though Moeen will still be traipsing about the franchise circuit, his England career, outright, is done. Now, a decade after this whole ride began, it is time to get off and remember what was.The glorious cover drive, the pull shot, the flight, the drift, the turn. The way he made the game look effortlessly easy, which lent itself to almost widespread infuriation during the periods of underperformance. He was a role model, and not just for the British Muslim community but the wider working classes.Related

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He won the Ashes in 2015 – the last time England held the urn – and has two World Cup winners medals as a vital cog in Eoin Morgan’s machine that achieved ODI and T20 successes in 2019 and 2022, respectively. And it speaks of Moeen’s character that Sunday’s announcement came with a clear message that the time was right for the team to move on from him, not the other way around.Alastair Cook, Moeen’s captain for 37 of his 68 Tests, regards him as the most selfless player he lined up alongside. Stuart Broad, who played with Moeen for all but nine of those caps, simply referred to him as his favourite team-mate.There is another thing about Moeen that does not matter but still counts: he was cool. And not “cool because he has a great beard” or “cool because he laces inside out over point”. But cool in the way cool is meant to be. A disposition rather than an act.It is little things like somehow being a cult hero and yet adored by everyone you have ever played with, despite the fact cricket is the kind of sport where the two do not go hand in hand. Even last summer, when the England team went crazy for bucket hats, they were all in agreement that Moeen – who flipped the brim to fashion it into a trilby – wore it best. Wisely, none of them tried to copy him, appreciating the fact they simply did not have the capacity to pull off the look.Moeen was a role model, not just for the British Muslim community, but the wider working classes•Philip Brown/Getty ImagesIt’s also the big things, like dropping into an Ashes, batting No. 3, and being the primary spinner despite a slit in your finger that you fix by – checks notes – bathing it in honey. Being a soothing comfort to watch when on full flow out in the middle, or having a knack for skewering tension in a dressing room, which is no mean feat.We might as well stick with that 2023 series against Australia, because it really is the perfect microcosm of his career. Ben Stokes dropped him an SOS “Ashes?” text, and he replied initially with “LOL”, before confirming his attendance officially during a meeting with Stokes and managing director Rob Key, which he arrived at armed with a bag of Sam’s Chicken. Duty called and Moeen answered, though not before getting a chicken burger.He averaged 25.71 with the bat, 51.44 with the ball, yet had a strangely profound influence on matters. There were only nine wickets, but that included Travis Head three times, Marnus Labuschagne twice, as well as Mitchell Marsh and Steven Smith. And arguably his biggest contribution with the bat – probably pipping the 54 struck in a 121-run stand with Zak Crawley in the first innings of the fourth Test in Manchester – came while waiting for his turn to bat in the third Test at Headingley.”Harry Brook played a drive and got out for 3 batting at No. 3,” Broad recalled while speaking to Moeen on Sky Sports at lunch on day three at the Kia Oval. “I was sat next to you, and you’re a bit like ‘I’m not sure I like Brooky at three’ and you went straight to Baz [Brendon McCullum] and went, ‘Baz, let me go three – I’ll go three, get Brooky back to where he scores his runs. I don’t care if I snick off, I’ll go and try and blaze the new ball but get me up at three. Let me take the responsibility.'”Brook, who was at first drop in that innings after Pope injured his shoulder at Lord’s, went on to score 75 from No. 5 on the final day as England chased down 251 to save the series and get on the board on their way to a 2-2 series draw. “And you had such a natural selflessness to you,” mused Broad.

“The glorious cover drive, the pull shot, the flight, the drift, the turn. The way he made the game look effortlessly easy, which lent itself to almost widespread infuriation during the periods of underperformance”

Moeen almost shrugged off the thanks. “A lot of the time, whatever the team needs, I’m prepared to do that.”That brief period of Moeen in the time of Bazball carried a hint of sadness as he walked off at The Oval. You wonder how he would have fared had he played the guts of his Test career under McCullum’s stewardship.At the same time, he was very much of his era. And though this is usually the point in a tribute piece where you sneak in the flaws, Moeen’s entire career was punctuated by frustration. He certainly wasn’t clutch enough and there was no legitimate reason why he did not make more of his batting talent. That he only has five Test centuries is ludicrous and, ultimately, a blight on him rather than anyone else – as is the Test average of 28.12.Yet, his 204 wickets put him behind only Derek Underwood and Graeme Swann as England’s most productive spinner. Only 17 other players in the history of Test cricket have scored 3000 runs and taken 200 wickets. And even in an era when England’s white-ball batting stocks are through the roof, he still possesses the team’s fastest T20I half-century at 16 balls.Moeen’s was a career that achieved more than most and still left you wanting more. Sometimes, even in a sport wedded to numbers, leaving people wanting more is just fine.

The New Zealand allrounder on his preparation ahead of a gruelling Test schedule, the country’s domestic depth, and more

Deivarayan Muthu03-Sep-2024Coming off a steady diet of white-ball cricket over the past six months, New Zealand allrounder Rachin Ravindra has ramped up his red-ball preparation for the upcoming Tests in India and Sri Lanka.Ravindra, and his good friend Ben Sears, the young tearaway, arrived in Chennai earlier this week for a short camp before they link up with the rest of the New Zealand Test side that will depart from Auckland on September 4 to Greater Noida for the one-off Test against Afghanistan, which begins on September 9. This will be followed by a two-match Test series in Sri Lanka before New Zealand return to India to play three more Tests later this year.Prior to visiting India, Ravindra was part of red-ball winter camps at home along with a number of other New Zealand and New Zealand A players.Related

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“As a group, we have had some good camps together,” Ravindra said during a media interaction at the Chennai Super Kings high-performance centre in Chennai. “Two camps in the Mount [Maunganui], Tauranga and we’ve had a camp in Christchurch and Lincoln. The wickets have been really good. We’ve been able to get around to each other after being away, especially the Test team being away as a group for a little while.”So, it’s been good to be together and have that bonding and prepare for conditions that we might face over in the subcontinent. It’s been a great few days here in Chennai, being able to acclimatise ourselves a little bit in terms of the red soil and black soil, stuff [pitches] that we might face. It’s been quite enjoyable.”Ravindra has already had considerable success in India across formats. On Test debut in Kanpur in November 2021, he soaked up 91 balls, scoring an unbeaten 18 to help New Zealand salvage a draw against a strong India spin attack comprising R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Then, during the 2023 ODI World Cup, he emerged as the breakout star, and more recently this year, he played some sparkling cameos for CSK in his maiden IPL stint. Ravindra hopes to tap into those experiences and challenge India again later this year.”I think whenever you play India in a three-match Test series, it’s always going to be difficult,” he said. “I think it shows how good they are as a team around the world, especially at home in the red-ball format. It’s obviously going to be tough and the stuff that we learnt from the last series, we’ll look to take it here.Rachin Ravindra trains at the Super Kings Academy in Chennai•Super Kings Academy”Three different venues – Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai – and three different surfaces, so it’s going to pose different challenges. They’re a world-class team for a reason and hopefully we can give them a run for their money. But also recognising that’s still a month away, we have still got three Tests ahead of us before that, first against Afghanistan, then two against Sri Lanka, so that’s all very important. In the context of the World Test Championship, every game is important. That’s the mindset we’re going to be taking into it.”With New Zealand set to face spin-heavy attacks in both India and Sri Lanka, Ravindra has urged his team-mates to have an “open mind” and find their own ways to counter the slower bowlers.”It’s a completely different challenge,” Ravindra said. “When you look at the way the guys from the subcontinent bat, the way they hold their shape for longer in the lower positions they get into, I think as cricketers from the western side of the world, we’re still trying to incorporate that into our spin games. It’s about having an open mind to all that and stuff, but it’s also still important for us to remember what we do well as a team and players. It’s about being able to take bits from the experiences we’ve had and ultimately back ourselves and trust our plan.”Ravindra has had an eventful few months, in the lead-up to these Test tours. In July, playing for Washington Freedom, he won the Major League Cricket (MLC) title in the USA with Ricky Ponting as coach and emerged as the most successful spinner in the tournament, with 12 wickets in six innings at an average of 6.08 and economy rate of 4.81. Only his Washington team-mate Saurabh Netravalkar had more wickets than him in the tournament. Also in July, he earned his first New Zealand central contract.”I guess being able to share a dressing room with Trav [Travis Head], Smudge [Steven Smith] and Maxi [Glenn Maxwell] and Marco [Jansen],… we had an unbelievable team and locals too,” Ravindra said. “It was just being able to take experience from them and learning from them; how they prepare and how confident they are in their own games. Ricky Ponting – having someone like that in the dressing room is amazing. You talk about great players, some of the greatest players of all time and he’s right up there, so being able to see his intensity and his competitiveness was cool to see.”I’m very lucky to have been part of some great teams recently, MLC, Chennai Super Kings and obviously Black Caps. With great support staff, learning from those guys, Huss [Mike Hussey], Flem [Stephen Fleming], Rutu [Ruturaj Gaikwad], Jinks [Ajinkya Rahane], all those guys.”Rachin Ravindra reunites with his former Wellington coach Sriram Krishnamurthy in Chennai•Super Kings Academy

Ravindra: ‘Hard to crystal-ball gaze but we’re ready for transition’

With Ross Taylor, BJ Watling and Neil Wagner retiring, and Trent Boult recently ending his T20 World Cup career and making only sporadic appearances for New Zealand since becoming a free agent, New Zealand are in transition across formats. Ravindra talked up New Zealand’s domestic depth and backed the fringe players to make the step up to international cricket in the near future.”I think it’s always going to be tough when you have world-class players – [Trent] Boult, Nossy [Kane Williamson], Timmy [Tim Southee] and the likes [of] boys coming in recently, Dev [Devon Conway], Daryl [Mitchell], it happens, and I think the beauty of it is, New Zealand… we’re a competitive nation, and the structure in terms of domestic cricket, and the pathway system is really good. There’s a lot of guys playing for New Zealand at the moment, who’ve gone through the New Zealand A pathway, and learnt a lot from that too, and I think our domestic cricket is very good too.”I think the beauty of having a competitive team is that guys in the lower level down are always trying to get better. It’s hard to crystal-ball gaze, and see what’s going to happen, but I guess hopefully we’re all ready for it. We can all continue contributing to the team, and understand that yes, the quality of players is still there, but it’s important how we treat this environment and how we keep driving it forward, and keep it a great place to play.”Rachin Ravindra won MLC 2024 under Ricky Ponting at Washington Freedom•MLC

Playing for NZ is Ravindra’s priority

While the cricketing landscape is changing in New Zealand, with a number of international and domestic players knocking back their central contracts to pursue franchise T20 opportunities, Ravindra insisted that his top priority right now is to play for New Zealand.”I think I can only speak for my situation and right now I’m still very young in my career,” he said. “For me playing for New Zealand at the moment is what I see fit for myself, and everyone’s got their own decisions to make. We all respect that and I think that’s the beauty of our team, our environment and our culture. We all have that mutual respect and love, so everyone’s situations are different and it’s hard to judge everyone based on that. We’ll see where it takes us, but as of now I guess we just deal with what’s in front of us and it’s these Tests.”

Smarts? Check. Innovation? Check. Banter? Yes sir. It was all so familiar that it took until he brought up three figures for the reality of his arduous comeback to sink in

Alagappan Muthu21-Sep-2024This was a really chill day in Chennai. Literally – some people had come in wearing winter caps – and figuratively.India were already 308 runs ahead. Bangladesh didn’t exactly see the point of being active participants in this Test anymore. In a weird way, it made sense. This game was deep in declaration territory. Might as well preserve their bowlers for the next one. Or maybe they were worried about the over rate. In any case, under overcast skies, after early-morning rain, on a fast-bowling pitch (though there wasn’t as much movement as earlier), Mehidy Hasan Miraz delivered twice as many overs as any of his team-mates in the morning session of day three. The spread-out fields added to the batters’ sense of comfort. They were walking singles.Related

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After a point, Rishabh Pant couldn’t take it anymore. “,” he cried out, beseeching Bangladesh to make a change. “. One fielder here. Midwicket.” He’s been out of Test cricket for two years. He must have missed it a lot. Enough that on the third day of his comeback, he started playing not just for his team but the opposition as well.A Pant century is never short of highlights and this one was no different. There were so many scoop shots, and a crowd that is used to the culture of repeat viewings – you need to schedule some soul searching if you’re a Chennaite and you’ve watched a major movie just once – really appreciated that. There was also a straight six which he only managed by letting his bottom hand go off the bat. He played that once in the IPL three years ago, against Chennai Super Kings in Dubai, and Matthew Hayden on commentary dispelled the notion that the ball clearing the boundary was a fluke.He has all the party tricks, but he can do soft hands too•AFP/Getty Images”He’s nowhere near that. Now if he had two hands on his bat, that wouldn’t have gone half-way to the boundary. But he actually gets the extension through his hands which carries the bat out in front of him, and therefore he gets the distance towards the short side of the ground, granted, but what a shot!”Pant’s scoops have the same counterintuitive quality about them. He is perfectly happy to stay in line with the ball. Other players – like Jos Buttler for example – make an effort to get outside of it because the biggest thing preventing them from accessing that gap at fine leg is their own body. Pant just bends his torso away at the last instant and clearly that’s more than enough. He has an instinctive understanding of shot-making mechanics and that knowledge seems to be expanding.When he made 39 on the first day of the Chepauk Test, and the conditions were considerably harder to bat in, Pant thrived by playing the ball with really soft hands. It is easy to forget – because of his inextricable association with all things outlandish (like making his name as a babysitter first, batter later) – that he has this skill too. At the Gabba in 2021, he was content with just one boundary off his first 48 balls. He had a reason to bat that way. A Test match was on the line. Here, there were no big-picture constraints. He was 30 off 65 because he was being thorough. It is possible he might be growing out of his impulse-driven strokeplay phase.Why two hands when one will do?•BCCIThe fun that followed – Pant scored 19 off his first 39 balls against spin, then 64 off his last 48 – kept the crowd on their feet, and Shubman Gill on his toes. They had to celebrate a lot of boundaries and each time Pant seemed to insist on a routine. Two punches of the glove and, simultaneously, two taps of the bat. It resembled the secret handshake between Troy and Abed, from the hit series Community, and looked pretty cool but…”I was telling him to not to [do that],” Gill said, “Because I’m playing with a bat that I played the England series [with]. My bat is quite old actually. And he was hitting my bat so hard, I was telling him you know, I’m trying to save my bat. And if he didn’t middle it while in the middle, he would say no let’s do it again. I was like, bro, calm down.”There’s a chance that India have discovered a fun new partnership to follow with one of their old ones watching on with great interest. Rohit Sharma was sat in the dressing room, waiting for it. Virat Kohli had hit the nets at lunch, but he made sure to be back for it. Pant brought “it” with an effortless push to long-off. He only needed one more for his century. Gill thought he’d settle for that and soak in the moment. But Pant insisted on the second. Then he walked off to the side just a little. He must have had so many complicated feelings. Maybe his mind even went to that night on December 30, 2022. To come back from that, alive, is a lot to take in. To be good enough to play cricket again is a lot to take in. To score a hundred in his first Test back?Those two or three seconds just before he raised his bat, when the reality of what he’d done set in on Pant, might be one of the only known stretches of time in which he has ever looked overwhelmed.

Bangladesh conceded 297 as a horror series drew to an end, leaving them with plenty to ponder

Mohammad Isam13-Oct-20240:56

Seven records India smashed against Bangladesh

Mahmudullah took one final crack towards long-on, only for Riyan Parag to intercept the shot a few yards inside the rope. His long-time team-mate Tamim Iqbal was on air to pay him a tribute as he walked back to the Hyderabad dressing room. Earlier in the day, the Bangladesh players had presented Mahmudullah with a crest to mark his T20I retirement. By the time he got out, the visitors required 168 runs at 31.11 per over. India’s 297 for 6 is the second-highest men’s T20 total of all time. Not everyone from the shell-shocked Bangladesh dugout stood up to applaud him as he crossed the rope.Mahmudullah departs the Bangladesh T20I team at a troubled time. India have dismantled them in their first bilateral series in the format since their underwhelming T20 World Cup campaign earlier in the year. The difference between the two sides was not just that of the world champions and another team. It was worse. India played the high-risk, high-reward game, a version of T20 batting that gets refined almost every month. Bangladesh are lagging behind, playing an archaic form of T20 cricket.India’s margins of victory in the three matches are evidence enough of this gulf. They won with 49 balls remaining in Gwalior, and then by 86 runs in Delhi and finally 133 runs in Hyderabad. The last game on Saturday was a fiasco for Bangladesh. Sanju Samson struck a 40-ball century, sharing a 173-run second wicket stand with captain Suryakumar Yadav. The innings included 25 fours and 22 sixes, adding up to 232 runs, setting a new world record for most runs from boundaries in a T20I innings.Tanzim Hasan Sakib got an early wicket but went for plenty of runs•BCCIThe fast bowlers couldn’t repeat their Delhi performance, conceding 169 runs in 12 overs. Taskin Ahmed could only smile as he was carted around. Tanzim Hasan removed Abhishek Sharma in his first over, but then got hit for half a dozen sixes. Mustafizur Rahman couldn’t stem the flow of runs despite having the most experience at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, among the Bangladesh bowlers, having played nine IPL games there.Related

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Legspinner Rishad Hossain was hammered for 30 runs in his second over, while Mahedi Hasan’s darts made him the most economical bowler on the night for them, still going at 11.25.Bangladesh also messed up a few chances, chiefly the run-out opportunity in the 18th over. Parag and Hardik Pandya were both at the striker’s end. Wicketkeeper Litton Das had plenty of time to effect the dismissal but his throw at the non-strikers’ end was poor. It went right over the bowler, Mustafizur’s head, and led to a misfield from the Najmul Hossain Shanto backing up from mid-off. India ended up getting the single. Shanto slammed the ball in disgust.For all that though, it is really Bangladesh’s batting that has led them down into the doldrums. The 164 for 7 they made on Saturday was their best day of the series and yet they were 133 runs short of India’s total. The top order couldn’t put together one decent partnership. Litton Das and Shanto batted poorly, throwing away their wickets after initial bursts of boundaries. Newcomer Parvez Hossain Emon has a lot to work on. Bangladesh have nothing in the way of a viable opening partnership. And without that foundation the rest of their line-up is shapeless.Litton Das made 42 in 25 before being dismissed by Ravi Bishnoi•BCCI”A big score becomes easier to get with runs from the top order, at least till No. 4,” Hridoy, who made 63 off 42 balls, said in Hyderabad. “I think we have to improve as a batting group. It has been happening for a long time now. We are hopeful that we can take lessons from this series. We have lacked in every department. We didn’t bowl well or bat well in every game. We have a lot to improve. We don’t play in these [batting-friendly] wickets. You have seen that too. This is not an excuse, but the more we play on these wickets, we will get more used to [them].”Shanto and Taskin have raised similar concerns but Hridoy went further. “Most of our players can’t read wickets,” he said. “We play most of our matches in Mirpur [where spin plays a dominant role] and sometimes in Chittagong. If we keep playing on good wickets, we won’t change overnight, but we will slowly improve.”I wouldn’t say that our standard is too low. We were competing against a very strong side. They are T20 world champions. They are ahead of us in terms of skills, and they know their home conditions. I think we are a good side but we need to know how to play better on flat wickets.”The 3-0 loss against India was Bangladesh’s third bilateral series defeat this year. They have also lost to Sri Lanka at home and USA in Texas. They did poorly in the T20 World Cup. The big question now is whether Bangladesh will continue to play T20s in this manner or are they looking for a longer discussion about playing the game differently?

No bowler before Jasprit Bumrah has got to 200 wickets with an average of less than 20

Shubh Agarwal29-Dec-2024For a bowler whose Test career is laden with breathtaking dismissals, Jasprit Bumrah’s 200th wicket was relatively tame – Travis Head flicking straight to midwicket. Bumrah, however, got to the landmark with incredible numbers, reiterating his status as one of the greatest bowlers.Of the 85 bowlers to have taken 200-plus Test wickets, 12 got there in fewer games than Bumrah, who was playing his 44th Test at the MCG.