They are the only two players in Bangladesh’s squad who have toured Pakistan before, back in 2008

Mohammad Isam21-Jan-2020Mahmudullah and Tamim Iqbal are the only two cricketers in Bangladesh’s T20I squad for the three-match series in Pakistan, who have toured the country before, back in 2008.It goes without saying that in the absence Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza, a large part of the responsibility will have to be shouldered by those two.Mahmudullah, the T20I captain, has been the side’s designated big-hitter in the slog overs in the last four years, having re-engineered his batting for the shortest format with a lot of success. But in the absence of Mushfiqur, it remains to be seen if Mahmudullah will continue to hold on to that role in the middle overs.Ideally, Mahmudullah is best suited for the last six to seven overs, while Tamim is usually trusted to give the team a sound start, with the likes of Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar batting around him.Unsurprisingly, Mahmudullah believes that he and Tamim will have to take charge of the batting line-up as they have done before, but this time there is going to be a heightened sense of responsibility.”Tamim and I both feel that we have a little more responsibility,” Mahmuudllah said. “Tamim’s experience would matter a lot in the top order. He is in good rhythm, having made runs in the BPL. I will also try to fulfill my responsibilities too. My role would be to bat deep. The others are already adapting mentally that they may have to bat out of position in this series.”Bangladesh’s coach Russell Domingo has already mentioned that nearly all batsmen in the team may have to bat out of position, and Mahmudullah said that someone like Afif Hossain could get a top-order spot after he had done well as an opener for BPL champions Rajshahi Royals.”Afif played in the middle order in the last two series, but he batted well in the top order in the BPL. Some of the top or middle-order batsmen may have to bat down the order.”It is important to cope with the mentality, but I think every player knows how much effort one is giving in the match or at practice, is the most important factor.”Mahmudullah is also banking on an experienced pace attack that includes Shafiul Islam and Al-Amin Hossain, both of who performed quite well in India, as well as a revamped Mustafizur Rahman, who just took 20 wickets in the BPL. Bangladesh have also included Rubel Hossain and newcomer Hasan Mahmud in their attack. However, in a rare move, the team did not select a left-arm spinner for the squad.”Having a proper variety of pace bowlers makes a lot of difference in T20s,” Mahmudullah said. “Plus, spinners won’t really come into play in Australia (for the World T20) so you are seeing a number of pace bowlers in the squad. Rubel, Al-Amin, Shafiul and Mustafizur have done well in the BPL.”They provide variety to our bowling attack. I am not too worried about the lack of a spinner. I think probably our pace bowling attack is more experienced, and I will rely on them.”Mahmudullah also said that Bangladesh will not change their approach to the series despite Pakistan’s dismal form of late in T20Is. He believes the team’s best bet would be to utilise all the players who are in good nick with bat and ball from the BPL.”Everyone in the squad has done well in the BPL. I am confident with my team. We have to see how well we can apply ourselves in Pakistan.”Pakistan may have not played up to potential in the last few series but they are a strong side. I am sure they are concerned about their series loss to Sri Lanka. But we are focused on our game. We must utilise the number of in-form cricketers we have in the squad. If we play to our potential, we can win the series.”

The ruling comes at a particularly beneficial time for Hafeez, with the PSL just around the corner

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2020Mohammad Hafeez is free to bowl again after his bowling action passed an assessment test. The Pakistan allrounder, who has faced troubles with the legality of his bowling action throughout his career, was reported in a Vitality Blast game in August last year. An assessment at Loughborough University then concluded the bowler’s elbow extended beyond the permitted 15-degree threshold, and he was banned from bowling in the ECB competitions.However, after undergoing testing at LUMS university – also an ICC-accredited testing centre – in Lahore, an independent panel concluded his elbow did not exceed the maximum 15-degree mark, and therefore, the suspension was lifted.The ruling comes at a particularly beneficial time for Hafeez, with the PSL just around the corner. Due to agreements between international cricketing boards, the ECB ban meant he was prohibited from bowling in international games as well as competitions organised by other boards around the world, including at the PSL.Hafeez has been reported, suspended and subsequently cleared a number of times in the past six years when the ICC began to crack down on illegal bowling actions with greater frequency. But Hafeez’s problems with his bowling action go back a long way. He was first reported over 15 years ago during an ODI tri-series in Australia in 2005. In 2014, his action was reported during the Champions League T20, and then again following a Test match against New Zealand later that year. Having twice been found over the legal limit for elbow extension, Hafeez was banned from bowling for 12 months.After his ban ended, he returned to bowling after clearing a bowling test in 2016 but the issue arose again in October 2017, when he was reported during an ODI against Sri Lanka. He was suspending from bowling once more, before being cleared by Loughborough University in May 2018. A few months later, during an ODI against New Zealand, Ross Taylor implied Hafeez was bowling with a bent arm, leading then Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed to slam Taylor’s gesture “disgraceful”.

The Pakistan coach doesn’t want the tournament to be shortened just so it can finish in June 2021

Danyal Rasool01-Apr-2020Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has called for a “fair and equal” resolution to the World Test Championship when cricket finally resumes even if it means extending the tournament, warning that a shortened competition would fail to give a “true picture” of the standings.With cricket, like nearly all major sports and activities, forced to a grinding halt because of the coronavirus pandemic, one of the key questions is how to bring the inaugural World Test Championship, which is scheduled to run until June 2021, to an agreeable conclusion.Several series that are part of the Championship have been postponed over the past few weeks, with the scheduling and limited time-frame meaning it is virtually impossible to fulfil all the fixtures before the end date.”When we finally start moving back to normal life and cricket can resume, every side should get equal opportunities and the tournament shouldn’t be shortened,” Misbah said in a video press conference.”No matches should be struck off, even if that means prolonging the Championship. Every side should get the chance to play all the games they had scheduled in this cycle.Otherwise, you won’t get the true picture of what the rankings should have actually been and only some teams play all their games. That will disrupt the balance of the tournament. To me, it doesn’t matter if this goes beyond 2021 if that’s what it will take for everyone to get equal opportunities. That’s not a problem.”England’s three-match Test series in Sri Lanka and the second Test of Bangladesh’s series in Pakistan are among the most notable World Test Championship fixtures to be postponed, but it remains exceedingly likely most, if not all, cricket over the next few months won’t go ahead.That means England’s three-match Test series against West Indies and Pakistan are also in jeopardy, as is West Indies’ two-Test series against South Africa.The seasonal demands of Test cricket mean rescheduling these games before June 2021 is improbable, and if all games in the Championship are to be honoured, extending the tournament would appear to be the only solution. That would mean delaying the start of the second World Test Championship competition, due to start immediately after.Misbah also spoke about the challenges players faced trying to keep themselves fit while ensuring they stayed home, revealing the coaching staff were monitoring their progress through fitness watches.”All of our centrally contracted players and those in our wider pool are in complete contact with the coaching staff and the fitness trainer. We send them the training plans that we want them to follow and to keep ourselves in shape to the best of our abilities. We want to ensure when cricket resumes, the physical conditions of our players should be the same as it was before and meets the demands of international cricket.”We have groups online where we check in with players on how they think they’re doing. We share plans with them on the exercise regimen to follow even if they don’t have access to gym facilities.”Because we can’t practice on the ground, what we can do is make sure we do our homework properly. That goes both for me and the players. We look at the last couple of series we played there and how England played in the last season at home. We analyse what we can do better so as soon we get the opportunity, we hit the ground running.He did have a few choice words for Sharjeel Khan, acknowledging he had the ability to be an explosive asset in T20 cricket, but expressed disappointment with his fitness levels.”He has the strike rate you’ll need at the top of the order at the World T20, especially against pace bowling on Australian pitches. But I think Sharjeel needs to work harder. He’s emerged back onto the scene after such a long time, so the one thing he could have ensured was his fitness, the one thing he could control, was up to the mark.”If you’re serious about making a comeback, the you should have been in perfect physical shape. If he thinks he can come into the side without having made any changes, then selecting him would be an injustice to the other players. I wasn’t satisfied to see that at all. Now that there’s no cricket, he should be thinking day and night he needs to become super fit.”

‘The coach says I can’t be bowling that fast and not play in his Test team’

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jun-2020Oshane Thomas, who has been named among the reserve players for West Indies’ upcoming tour of England, is eyeing a Test debut with international cricket set to resume after a hiatus forced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Thomas, 23, has played 20 ODIs and 12 T20Is since his debut in late 2018, and picked up five-wicket hauls in both limited-overs formats. He’s set on cracking the longest format now, an ambition that Thomas said coach Phil Simmons supports.”I definitely want to play Test cricket; I want to do well in all three formats,” Thomas told the . “Test cricket is really the ultimate that everyone wants to play to be great. You don’t want to just be an average cricketer; you want to be among the greats.”Coach Phil [and I], we always have a talk. He says I can’t be bowling that fast – probably bowling the fastest in the Caribbean – and not play in his Test team.”Thomas had done well in his last outing for West Indies before cricket – and life – came to a standstill due to the coronavirus. He took 5 for 28 and 1 for 24 as West Indies swept Sri Lanka 2-0 in a T20I series in the first week of March. His performance was especially significant since it came after Thomas escaped with minor scrapes from a car crash in February.With no cricket since that Sri Lanka tour, Thomas said he has been concentrating on getting match fit, with a training camp at the Sabina Park in Jamaica.”Coming back from the Sri Lanka tour – a good series [and taking] a five-wicket haul – and then the pandemic just came into play and no cricket,” Thomas said. “Last week is my first week back bowling on a pitch. I had been doing some little bowling here and there. I’m very happy to be back bowling and I’m looking forward to playing Test cricket. It’s just up to me as a person; I just need to be fit and ready, and I should be in the Test team.”The accident and subsequent lack of cricket, interrupted by the two T20Is in Sri Lanka, has left Thomas not yet at full fitness.”I’m not going to say I’m at 100 [per cent], but I think I’m aware of where I want to be,” he said. “Only thing I’d probably be short of now is match fitness because I haven’t played for about three months now. Coming back from a car accident [in which] fortunately I just got some scrapes, but the car flipped a few times so I got jerked up here and there. Now I’m just feeling some stiffness because I just started bowling back at full speed but otherwise I’m all right.”I just want to relax, bowl, put the ball in the right areas and let the ball do the work. Even if I’m not playing I’ll be training and keeping my fitness up. If I’m not playing I want to learn as much as a can.”

They underwent a second test inside three days on Monday, following a first negative test last week

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jun-2020Pakistan’s touring party in the UK is set to get bigger after six more players who returned two successive negative Covid-19 tests became eligible to join the initial squad of 20 in Worcester.Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz all underwent a second test inside three days on Monday, following a first negative test last week. All the players are currently in isolation at a five-star hotel in Lahore and are likely to fly out later this week to England.Currently, the 18 players who returned two negatives as well as two reserve players – Musa Khan and wicketkeeper Rohail Nazir – are part of the group of 20 who flew to Manchester on a chartered plane organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The tour group also consists of 11 support-staff members. While head coach Misbah-ul-Haq flew with the squad from Lahore, bowling coach Waqar Younis and physiotherapist Cliff Deacon arrived in England from Australia and South Africa respectively.Among the players that will now join the squad, Hafeez and Riaz had earlier tested themselves at a private laboratory in the wake of their returning positive results after the first round of testing by the PCB. Although the re-test came back negative, the board didn’t consider the result valid as the tests were conducted outside the testing protocols.Meanwhile, Kashif Bhatti, Haris Rauf, Haider Ali and Imran Khan have tested positive, but are believed to be asymptomatic and are in isolation. They will be tested again in a few days, with players needing to return two negative tests to become eligible for selection.Team masseur Malang Ali has also tested positive twice while his back-up Mohammad Imran has tested positive once. Both will remain in Pakistan to finish another round of testing. The group that reached England late last week also underwent a fresh round of testing on Monday, and are awaiting their test results.The tour comprises three Test matches and three T20Is in August and September. All six games will be played behind closed doors.

Opener’s first half-century in two years shows way for West Indies in Southampton

Matt Roller10-Jul-2020Few opening batsmen would keep their place in any Test side in the world after a run of form like the one Kraigg Brathwaite has endured over the last two years. Across his last 21 innings coming into this tour, he had made a paltry 241 runs at an average a shade over 12. Despite his past success in English conditions, few would have raised questions if he had been left out.But Brathwaite’s 65 – the first half-century in international cricket since March – means that he is the top-scorer in this match after its first three days, and has put West Indies into a commanding position. He fought through to stumps under leaden skies against a fresh England attack on the second evening, and set up a platform from which the middle order could build on the third morning.While many would have lost faith in Brathwaite’s ability during his barren run – his most recent half-century came some 729 days ago – his captain, Jason Holder, gave him full support. The pair have always been close: they were born one year apart and grew up playing together in Barbados, while Brathwaite was one of the players that Holder backed with a long run of games in the difficult early days of his captaincy.ALSO READ: Brathwaite, Dowrich steer WI into position of strength“I’ve played all my cricket with Kraigg: we came through youth cricket together, we play at the same club, so I know Kraigg Brathwaite inside out,” Holder said on the second evening. “Obviously he hasn’t got the runs he’d have wanted in the recent past but I know that he’s shaping towards something really special.”I always judge how well he’s playing by how well he’s leaving the ball, and I think his judgment so far on tour has been impeccable. I have no doubts about his ability or what he can produce.”There are times when a close relationship between a captain and a player can be a curse, not least when the player is backed despite a loss of form. Kieran Powell, the opening batsman who was omitted from the touring party entirely despite a strong run in first-class cricket, alluded to that in an Instagram post on Wednesday.Powell posted a screenshot of a table from ESPNcricinfo’s Live Report of West Indies’ Test averages since the 2017 tour, writing alongside: “One is just left to wonder what the numbers would be if I’d have had the same amount of innings as others who continue to be offered opportunity after opportunity… interesting indeed.”But Holder will feel vindicated for his faith in Brathwaite after this start to the series. His determined innings set things up for those lower down, and put miles into the bowlers’ legs, just as Holder had asked.”Me and Jase have been playing [together] from Under-11s,” Brathwaite smiled in his post-match press conference. “I know his game, he knows my game well. Just being around each other, we can obviously share ideas, opinions that we may see. Having him around is always good. And having his support? That’s always a good feeling as well.”Kraigg Brathwaite celebrates his half-century•Getty Images

When he bats somewhere approaching his best, Brathwaite demonstrates old-school Test-match virtues: soaking up balls, playing the ball late under his eyes, and adjusting his technique based on the conditions he faces. Few will need reminding of his success in England on the 2017 tour, when his scores of 134 and 95 set up the famous win at Headingley, while his regular stints in county cricket have helped him devise a method that works against the moving ball.”Playing here in 2017 and playing some county games, [I’ve found] the ball tends to do something throughout the day,” he said. “I think playing the ball as late as possible is always key for me, whether it’s the new ball or the old ball.”[England] is a place where you’re never in, in a sense. I don’t really like not to play the ball late, even outside England, that’s something that I really work hard on, but especially here playing it late is key.”Holder had used Brathwaite’s contribution to the win against England at home 18 months ago as an example of how he had managed to help his side, even when the runs weren’t flowing. In that series, Brathwaite made 138 runs at 27.60, but crucially managed to face more balls than anyone else on either side.”I think he batted as well as I’d seen him bat in a very long time,” Holder said. “He got plenty of starts in that series but just hadn’t been able to convert them.”He’s our highest-capped player at present, and that should tell you the calibre of player he is for West Indies. I just want him to keep in his zone, keep moving well and keep judging the ball well. I know a big score is around the corner for him.”

Delhi Capitals appoint parent brand JSW as principal sponsor after Daikin pulls out

Varun Shetty21-Aug-2020Delhi Capitals have announced that the JSW Group will be their new principal sponsor for IPL 2020 as it emerges that the challenges of retaining sponsorship value in a pandemic-hit economy have not stopped at just the BCCI. Daikin Air-Conditioning, which had been the principal sponsor for the Delhi franchise since 2015, has pulled out. The JSW Group is a conglomerate that owns JSW Sports, which is the joint-owner of Delhi Capitals.In a release, chairman of Delhi Capitals and managing director of JSW Group, Parth Jindal said that the deal will help JSW’s brand visibility and that “there are few properties that garner the viewership of the IPL.”The value of that viewership was reflected in 2017, when Vivo bought the IPL title rights at a 454% bump in value from the previous sponsor. But it had to pull out a couple of weeks ago due to political tensions between India and China and subsequently, the BCCI had to award rights of this IPL edition at nearly half of this year’s INR 440 crore value to Dream11.These discounts to sponsors are seemingly a challenge for franchises as well.In an interview with earlier this week, Jindal had said that the JSW Group got a “slight discount” over Daikin “because of no ticket sales [and] no meet-and-greets” with the players. He said that component of sponsorship value was coming down and re-negotiations were on – anywhere between 15-20%.”From a commercial standpoint, with Vivo going out and no fans coming into the stadium, franchisees are waiting for clarity on how much of that amount will be compensated by BCCI,” Jindal said. “But it’s very likely that a major chunk of each franchise’s losses will get compensated by the BCCI. There will be a slight commercial impact, but I don’t think more than 10% compared to last year. If the BCCI doesn’t compensate, there will be a significant loss to each franchise, about a 30% drop in revenues. But we do believe the BCCI will do something for the franchisees.”ALSO READ: Lasith Malinga set to miss initial part of IPL in UAEThe likelihood of the IPL being played behind closed doors will mean the absence of what brands call stadium activations – interactive experiences for fans at stadiums – and has already forced franchises to rethink and innovate on the digital front.”[Playing behind closed doors means] straightaway the ticket revenues are affected, your food and beverage revenue is affected, the merchandising sales at the stadium is affected. The challenge to us is – how do you activate the sponsors? Are there ways in which you can compensate for this?” Venky Mysore, CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders, said on ESPNcricinfo’s Stump Mic podcast in May.”We are re-imagining our businesses. From that perspective, what I know is already happening is that the world is consuming more content than before. This is a fact. That’s great news. How do we take some of these changes and harness it in a way that would benefit our business? And therefore can we come up with some innovative ideas? I think if we channel our energies the right way, we will. That’s why I’m very optimistic.”Jindal echoed similar sentiments in his interview with , saying that he expected this year’s IPL’s viewership to be the highest ever and there’s “only a limited amount of Netflix and Hotstar one can watch”. The chief executive of Kings XI Punjab, Satish Menon, said they were being pushed to adopt technology to bring value to their sponsors as well, and told ESPNcricinfo that there was no reason to be upset about the business challenges around the tournament.”That is the situation. You’ve got to live with the situation,” Menon said. “We’re still providing entertainment through the television. So I’m sure our spectators and our fans will love this, so I see no reason why anybody should be upset about this.”Menon’s thoughts are along the lines of Royal Challengers Bangalore chairman Sanjeev Churiwala’s, who suggested that the IPL happening itself was an ideal scenario for them.”We have not paid too much attention to the revenue and sponsorship side. At the moment, the discussion is how we can enable the IPL to happen in the first place. We were facing a binary position – IPL versus no IPL. At least now an IPL is happening,” Churiwala said during RCB’s pre-departure conference on Thursday.Even though BCCI has not yet taken any firm decision on whether crowds would be allowed during the IPL in the UAE, the Emirates Cricket Board is optimistic that fans could be present in the second half subject to permission from the UAE government as well as IPL.The change in IPL title sponsorship value is likely to affect the revenue pool that is shared by the eight franchises, but the broad mood around the IPL remains that this version of the tournament is better than not having one at all. At the very least, that seems to be the board’s position, with president Sourav Ganguly saying that Vivo’s dropping out was merely a “blip” for the BCCI that has a strong enough legacy to not be affected.For now, the franchises seem satisfied with that despite battling tensions on their various revenue streams.

England coach wants players to keep in touch as they exchange one bio-secure environment for another

Andrew Miller17-Sep-2020England’s IPL-bound players have been cautioned by Chris Silverwood, their head coach, to keep checking in with the management to guard against burn-out, as they prepare to swap a summer of bio-secure bubbles in England for another seven-week stint in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah between September 19 and November 10A total of 10 England players will feature in this year’s competition, which gets underway in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, including seven of the men who were involved in the recent T20I and ODI series against Australia.Eoin Morgan, the England captain, will be linking up with Kolkata Knight Riders, alongside Tom Banton, while Jos Buttler, Tom Curran and Jofra Archer are headed for Rajasthan Royals’ bubble, where they will be joined by Australia’s captain Steve Smith, and potentially Ben Stokes as well, although he is currently in New Zealand for personal reasons.ALSO READ: England should be proud of ensuring show did go on – SilverwoodMoeen Ali (Bangalore), Jonny Bairstow (Sunrisers) and Sam Curran (Super Kings) are among the other England players who picked up deals for this year’s tournament. They are among a total of 21 IPL-bound players – including ten members of the Australian camp – who will land in the UAE on a specially chartered flight from Manchester on Thursday evening, before splitting off into their respective franchises.And speaking in the wake of England’s three-wicket defeat in the third ODI at Emirates Old Trafford – where Australia claimed the series 2-1 – Silverwood said he was realistic about both the financial and the competitive imperatives of taking part in such a competition, but encouraged his players to exercise caution.”It’s their decision really … but we’ll have to keep an eye on them,” he said. “Obviously, the contracts are good for them but equally as well we’re looking forward at a T20 World Cup. The more high-class T20 they can play will be a good thing for us.””The one thing that I have encouraged is that they keep talking to us; we need to make sure that they don’t burn out as well.”Morgan has already spoken positively about joining his KKR team-mates at their beach-fronted hotel in the UAE – which promises a more pleasant lifestyle than the pitch-side hotels in Manchester and Southampton.Nevertheless, Silverwood remains cautious about his players’ welfare – not least that of Archer, who is due to link up with Rajasthan Royals this week, but has hinted that he will pull out of the Big Bash in Australia, after acknowledging the mental toll that a total of three months in the England bubble had taken on him.Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer will be heading to the IPL straight from England’s bio-bubble•Getty Images

While England were careful to manage their players’ welfare as best they could – with Buttler, for instance, missing the third T20I to spend his 30th birthday with his family – Archer was the one player to be sanctioned for a breach of protocol during the summer, after he made an unauthorised stop-over at his home in Brighton during the West Indies Test series.And after Archer hinted that he had found the white-ball leg of his summer more enjoyable than his time in the Test camps against West Indies and Pakistan, Silverwood acknowledged it would be important to find ways to keep such a key player geed up across formats.”Jofra’s found being locked up difficult at times,” he said. “He’s not the only player, there’s been quite a few. We have to do it and I’m very proud of how the guys have dealt with it.”It’s a juggling act of keeping people fresh in the mind,” Silverwood added. “When people have asked to get out of the bubble, we’ve got them out. We said we would and we have. It’s a case of making sure we don’t burn people out.”We’ve mixed up the coaches so they work with different people. A change of personnel, fresh voices, new ideas keeping things fresh and new opportunities for our county coaches to make their mark and see how we do things.”That mixing-up of coaches included Graham Thorpe, Silverwood’s assistant, taking charge of the white-ball squad against Ireland and Pakistan. That situation may have to be repeated at stages in the winter, Silverwood acknowledged, because it is not immediately clear how England’s itinerary will look when it is finalised in the coming weeks.Their planned white-ball tour of South Africa in December is already in jeopardy, while the exact dates of their Test series against India and Sri Lanka in the new year yet to be confirmed.”It’s been strange times, no doubt about it,” Silverwood said. “Things aren’t going to change in a rush [so] it may be we have to take that step again. One of the things I’ve enjoyed is the fact my assistant coaches have got to lead the team as well, and I’ve had opportunities to step back and watch from a distance. That’s a positive.”

The Rajasthan Royals are now out after fading away in a steep chase

Saurabh Somani01-Nov-20202:10

Bishop: Cummins has kept doing the right things even if he wasn’t getting wickets

Both the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals had come into this game knowing it was not just must-win, but they needed to win it with a big margin to get some playoff security. Both teams showed the intent to go hard, and maximise their chances, but it was the Knight Riders who came out smiling at the end, having romped to a 60-run victory that vaulted them from last place in the points table to fourth, and knocked the Royals out.The margin of the win meant their net run rate had lifted to -0.214, within touching distance of the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Delhi Capitals, with all three teams on 14 points. A big enough loss for either of those two, when they face off on Monday, could see the losing team slip below the Knight Riders, an important cushion should qualification come down to net run rates. The first game on Sunday had already seen the Kings XI Punjab crash out with a defeat to the Chennai Super Kings, smoothening the way further for the Knight Riders.Intent was shown before the game itself, when the Knight Riders included a still not fully fit Andre Russell for this match. The thinking was evident: with the season on the line, you need one of T20’s best players in the XI.Eoin Morgan led the way with the bat, while Pat Cummins was devastating with the ball, as the Knight Riders won crucial passages of play handsomely. Morgan had come in at 74 for 3, after a double-wicket over, and paced his innings to a nicety. He expertly picked the bowlers to target, and bludgeoned his way to his highest IPL score. The unbeaten 68 off 35 he scored was also his first half-century of IPL 2020. The Morgan blitz took the Knight Riders to 191 for 7, a total well in excess of what they looked like getting more than halfway into the innings.Pat Cummins sent back Ben Stokes and Steven Smith in the same over•BCCI

The Royals innings began at breakneck speed but their unravelling was equally swift. The first five legal balls brought 19 runs, the next 4.1 overs produced 18 for 5 – four of those wickets going to Cummins. It was only the fourth time ever that a bowler had taken four or more wickets in an IPL powerplay. In seven of their last eight games, the Knight Riders had gone wicketless in the powerplay, and as if to revert to the mean, they got five on Sunday. Morgan took the aggressive option and bowled Cummins for three overs in the powerplay, and was amply rewarded for it. Cummins shrugged off those 19 runs he conceded first up to eventually end with 4 for 34.Archer at one end, runs at the otherThe match began in familiar fashion for the Royals. Jofra Archer was quick, hostile, accurate at one end. The runs leaked from the other. Archer’s first spell read 2-0-3-1 but the Knight Riders still had 55 for 1 in the powerplay, with Shubman Gill in his new avatar as an aggressive opener leading the way. Gill carted the other bowlers around as the Knight Riders shrugged off the first-over dismissal of Nitish Rana to continue to hit out against all bowlers save Archer, with the rest offering ample waywardness in line and length.Steven Smith also erred in giving Shreyas Gopal the fourth over, when pace might have been more suited and with the Royals having enough options. Gopal’s over went for 17 runs and the control Archer had given them first up disappeared. Later on, Smith would also call on Gopal when Russell was new to the crease – again with pace options available since the Royals had six frontline bowlers – and that over went for 21 after a middle-overs lull.Tewatia strikesRahul Tewatia continued to enhance his reputation as one of the stars of this tournament with a canny spell in the middle overs that dragged the Royals into the game for a while. He didn’t rip the ball a great deal, but kept it flat and on difficult-to-hit lengths. He also kept it out of the strike zone of the batsmen, denying them room to free their arms. He struck twice in the ninth over to get a fluent Gill and then the promoted Sunil Narine for a duck. Later on, he took the important wicket of Dinesh Karthik, who chipped tamely to short midwicket, finishing with 3 for 25 in his four overs, bowled on the trot. When he was done, the Knight Riders had been reined in to 100 for 5 in 13 overs after a quick start.Eoin Morgan was at his explosive best•BCCI

Morgan’s blitzHe had been busy at the crease since his entry, though he had to temper his aggression against good bowling by Tewatia, while also setting himself up for launching in the death overs. Still, Morgan hadn’t let a scoring opportunity go, looking to attack even through the middle overs. The re-entry of Gopal for the 14th over opened the sluice gates, as Morgan smashed two fours and two sixes. Russell then showed some of his prime hitting form, even taking Archer for a six after an edged four. Though Russell was out for an 11-ball 25, Morgan stayed on, taking down England team-mate Ben Stokes in a massive 19th over that yielded 24 runs.Cummins runs through the top orderThe first ball of the chase was picked up for six over fine leg, the second was a big wide down leg. Stokes hit an audacious ramped six off the fourth and suddenly the Royals were flying. They were brought thudding to earth rapidly though. Cummins ended his first over with Robin Uthappa flicked to deep backward square leg, and from that point on, the Knight Riders stayed on top.Stokes was taken behind when Karthik leapt to his left to pluck the ball out of the air in one of the catches of the season, Smith was bowled off the inside edge and Riyan Parag was too late on a short ball that got big on him to glove it behind. In between, Shivam Mavi moved one off the seam to have Sanju Samson poking it behind.Jos Buttler fought for a while, and Tewatia tried to do what he could, but 37 for 5 in five overs, the Royals needed a miracle, and that didn’t materialise.

Australia’s newest ODI and T20I squad member has impressed everyone who has seen him from junior cricket to Sheffield Shield level

Alex Malcolm29-Oct-2020The sky is the limit for Australian cricket’s rising star Cameron Green, according to former Australia Under-19 coach and current Victoria coach Chris Rogers.Green, 21, was named in Australia’s 18-man white-ball squad to face India on the back of a stunning 12 months in Sheffield Shield cricket, where he’s scored 929 runs at 84.45 in nine games including four centuries, although he hasn’t played many List A 50-over or T20 cricket and has only scored one half-century in 22 matches across both formats.Former Cricket Australia talent manager Greg Chappell told earlier this week that “he is the best young player I’ve seen since Ricky Ponting”. He had been bullish about Green when he was at the National Performance Centre in 2018 where Rogers was working as a batting coach and took very little convincing of his talent.”The thing with Cam is he picked things up so quickly, little instructions or tips that he would adapt into his game really, really quickly,” Rogers said. “So it hasn’t been surprising how well he’s been able to do things like that. What has been surprising is the fact that he can bat for such a long period of time.”That is quite extraordinary for a young man developing that skill to be able to face 450 balls is off the charts. That’s unbelievable really. If he can continue to do things like that then the sky is the limit.”Ponting played 26 Sheffield Shield matches before he made his ODI debut for Australia in February 1995 as a 20-year-old. He had scored 2,358 Shield runs at 54.84 with nine centuries 100s and nine half-centuries. He added two more centuries before his Test debut later that year. Ponting had a similarly mediocre List A record prior to his debut having scored just one half-century in 21 matches for Tasmania and Australia A yet he went on to become Australia’s all-time leading run-scorer in both Test and ODI cricket.Much has been made about Green’s bowling ability given he already has two five-wicket hauls in first-class cricket but he hasn’t bowled in a game since November last year due to ongoing back issues. He is hoping to bowl in this week’s Shield game against Tasmania.Rogers believes Green’s bowling could be his second string despite popular opinion.”I think his bowling could be on a par, but that’s just saying how good his batting is,” he said. “It’s interesting because when he does bowl, it looks effortless and it’s fast and it’s bouncy and he can swing the ball out, so he’s obviously got every attribute but it obviously puts a lot of pressure on his back. Hopefully, he can sort that because if he can, you’ll see quite an incredible cricketer.”There’s a lot of pressure on him, but it will be up to him how he continues to develop.”Western Australia team-mate Sam Whiteman wasn’t surprised by Chappell’s comments about Green, but he did not think the hype would affect him.”It’s probably spot on,” Whiteman said. “I think Greeny is a guy that can tune a lot of information out. Yeah, there’s a lot of pressure to that comment but he’s fortunate he’s got a big group around him here to guide him and stick him to what he’s doing now. Because clearly, it’s working.”Whiteman shared a 173-run stand with Green during his marathon innings of 197 against New South Wales last week.The Blues threw everything at Green during that innings and he remained unflustered and determined to bat for as long as he possibly could.”I think that’s the most impressive thing about Greeny is when he gets in, he bats for long periods of time,” Whiteman said. “You could see the other day when he got out just before 200 he was shattered.”When he first came in a lot of sides would go the short stuff and guys watching probably thought that was his one weakness but credit to him, he’s worked hard at. Like you saw the other day he rode it out for 20-30 overs, picking the right ball to pull. He definitely deserves that selection. Everyone is pumped for him. What a great opportunity.”