Also, why did RCB hold Washington Sundar’s offspin back on a slow Chennai track?

Sidharth Monga09-Apr-20211:44

Daniel Vettori: No. 5 pretty low for a player of AB de Villiers’ ability

Why did Washington Sundar not bowl early on?
It’s a slow, low surface, and offspinner Washington Sundar is at Chepauk, his home ground, where he has played most of his cricket, but he hasn’t been used in the first 12 overs of the 2021 IPL opener. The most obvious reasons for this might be all the right-hand batsmen at the top of Mumbai Indians’ batting order. However, there is another trend at play here.Sundar came to prominence with his superb restrictive performances with the ball in the powerplay for Rising Pune Supergiant. Then he joined Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018 where he is not looked at as that new-ball specialist. So 2017 remains the only IPL in which he bowled more overs in the powerplay than in the middle overs.Protecting fingerspinners against right-hand batsmen makes sense, but if there is an offspinner you would back against right-hand batsmen, it is Sundar. Before he bowled the 13th over in this match, in all IPL cricket, he had a better average against right-hand batsmen than left (26.4 as against 39.22) and only a slightly worse economy rate (6.9 as against 6.83). Sure enough he took out the threatening Chris Lynn, a right-hand batsman, on 49.How the 20th over of Mumbai’s innings, bowled by Harshal Patel, went•ESPNcricinfo LtdHow did Harshal Patel outdo the Mumbai Indians hitting machinery?
Harshal Patel’s five-for was the first five-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians in all IPLs. More important than that, his bowling at the death kept Mumbai to just 25 off the last four overs, their lowest in this period since 2016. Harshal took the wickets of the designated death-overs hitters, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya, to go with Ishan Kishan, in his last three overs.Two things happened, which both had to do with the pitch in all likelihood. The ball reversed for him, and it gripped the surface too. It was probably down to a dry track. It was expected that the bowlers would go for slower balls into the surface to use both the surface and the dimensions of the ground, but the little bit of tail made Harshal even more dangerous. The Royal Challengers bowled 23 slower balls in the last five overs, which accounted for four wickets and just 29 runs.Why no Jasprit Bumrah against Glenn Maxwell?
Rohit Sharma and Mumbai Indians are big on match-ups. And here was an obvious match-up if ever there was one: Japsrit Bumrah had taken Glenn Maxwell out six times in 58 balls in T20 cricket for just 67 runs before this. Sharma usually brings Bumrah on as soon as Maxwell comes out to bat, but not on this occasion. By the time Bumrah came on to bowl to him, in the 13th over, Maxwell had scored 34 off 21, including his first six in the IPL in his last 172 balls.It is highly unlikely Sharma was not aware of the match-up. Was he trying to save Bumrah for AB de Villiers? Or did he think a slightly older ball would provide Bumrah’s slower balls more grip?It was a long wait for a Maxwell IPL six, but tonight was the night•ESPNcricinfo LtdTrent Boult or Marco Jansen, who should have bowled the 18th over of the chase?
Or should it have been Kieron Pollard?Related

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Staying with match-ups, Mumbai played themselves into an unfavourable one. Three overs to go, 34 to get, Bumrah to bowl the 19th, and two specialist bowlers to pick from either side of that. One of them a debutant, Marco Jansen, the other a veteran, Trent Boult. However, Boult to de Villiers in the IPL has not even been a contest: 16 balls, 41 runs, three sixes, four fours.You could see why Mumbai might have wanted to protect Jansen a little, though. Hope to bowl two really good overs and give him over 15 to defend in the last over. de Villiers, though, got stuck into Boult and changed his numbers to 55 off 21 balls from Boult in the IPL. The Royal Challengers now needed just 19 off the last two.Given Jansen’s lack of experience, Sharma’s hand was perhaps forced, but he did have another option: Pollard, who has bowled 33 balls to de Villiers for 33 runs and has got him out four times. Now we don’t know if Pollard is bowling-fit or not, but Sharma has tended to use him sparingly as a bowler in the past. With Hardik Pandya underarming throws from the deep on the night, Mumbai might want to look at Pollard as the sixth bowling option. Preferably not in the 18th over, though.

Kings needed eight from 12 balls. Mustafizur conceded only four in the 19th over and Tyagi just one in the 20th

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2021:18.1: Mustafizur to Pooran, no run. Back of a length, wider outside off. Pooran throws his bat at it to cut behind square. Misses out18.2: Mustafizur to Pooran, no run. Wide yorker. Delivers it from wide of the crease. Pooran bends his knee to drive low through cover point. But no connection18.3: Mustafizur to Pooran, 1 run. Slashed to third man who is very very fine. Wide yorker attempted, and he gets enough in the bat to get an edge. Mustafizur bowling wide of the crease again. But it’s a fair ball, not a no-ball18.4: Mustafizur to Markram, 1 run. Just past Samson! Back of a length outside leg stump. Slower ball too. Markram backs away to cut but takes an edge going across. Samson jumps to his right to take a catch, but all he can do is glove the dropped chance. However, Sakariya at short third man moves to his left to stop the four, saving his side three runs for sure18.5: Mustafizur to Pooran, 1 run. Low yorker outside off stump. Drilled to long on for one18.6: Mustafizur to Markram, 1 run. Full ball outside leg stump. Played inside out to deep extra cover for one19.1: Kartik Tyagi to Markram, no run. Full toss just outside off. Driven towards the off side but can’t beat the fielder at cover19.2: Kartik Tyagi to Markram, 1 run. Full on off. Goes for the extravagant slog through midwicket, but inside edge takes it to deep backward square leg19.3: Kartik Tyagi to Pooran, OUT. Guided….to the keeper! Overpitched just outside off. Pooran opens the bat’s face to run it down to third man. But all he has done is poked it straight to Samson. Kings need 3 off 3. And it’s a new batter facing the next delivery19.4: Kartik Tyagi to Hooda, no run. Full and wide outside off stump. Beyond the tramline too. But the umpire says its a legal ball since Hooda had walked across to the off side19.5: Kartik Tyagi to Hooda, OUT. Make that three in 1! Tyagi takes another wicket. Full and wide outside off stump. Looks to drive away from his body, and it takes an edge to Samson. The new batter will face the last ball19.6: Kartik Tyagi to Allen, no run. Kartik Tyagi, you hero! From being a teenager who won games of cricket at the U-19 World Cup in 2020, he has done a near impossible on the IPL field today. Full, wide, and Allen can’t connect with the drive. Through to Samson and Royals win by two runs after bowling five dot balls in the final over A whirlwind experience, repaying the faith his captain has shown tonight

With better options available, the 35-year-old is likely to be dropped for New Zealand’s immediate assignments

Deivarayan Muthu14-Sep-2021Colin de Grandhomme was an unsung stalwart of New Zealand’s 2019 World Cup campaign, but his form and fitness have plummeted drastically since. Form-wise, it has never been as poor as in the recent Bangladesh tour, where he scrounged scores of 1, 8, 0, 0 and 9 in the five T20Is. Left-arm fingerspinner Nasum Ahmed alone dismissed de Grandhomme four times while conceding one run off nine balls to him.In the series opener, he attempted to slog his way out of trouble, but holed out to deep square-leg – the only fielder in the outfield on the leg side in the powerplay. He was caught at the same position in the second game and was then pinned by a slower offcutter from Mohammad Saifuddin in the third. In the last two games of the series, he was clueless against the turning ball on the grippy Dhaka tracks.In the absence of a number of regulars, de Grandhomme was given the extra responsibility to bat up the order as the senior-most member in the side, but the returns were disappointing, to say the least.Related

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He didn’t have much to do with the ball either, bowling merely 3.4 overs across the five games. He belatedly came to bowl four of those balls after fast bowler Scott Kuggeleijn felt some discomfort in the third match. And on the field, de Grandhomme wasn’t too sharp either, dropping a simple catch offered by Liton Das when he was on 0 in the second game. The Bangladesh opener went on to make 33 off 29 balls, setting the tone for their narrow victory.Former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter and commentator Ian Smith was critical of de Grandomme’s form – or the lack thereof – in the lead-up to the final T20I. “I don’t think he’s adding anything to the mix, particularly in these conditions,” Smith said on a podcast with Mike Hesson. “He doesn’t bowl spin, he’s not scoring any runs; he’s a handy fieldsman we know that, but can I risk him on the fact that he will come off one time out of ten? I don’t think so.”Every now and then, players are not suited to conditions and when they’re not playing well enough, you give them a spell [out of the XI]. If I think on that side, I’m probably thinking Colin de Grandhomme is not going to win me a game and that’s what you want to do in limited-overs cricket – win you a game. Those scores reflect he’s not doing that, so the all-round side of the game is negated by the fact that they don’t need his type of bowling in these conditions. I’d leave him out, to be brutally honest.”ESPNcricinfo LtdHesson reasoned that de Grandhomme was someone who thrived on game-time, which he missed in the last international summer because of an ankle surgery. He did have some game-time with Southern Brave in the inaugural Hundred and got all five matches against Bangladesh, but hasn’t been able to break out of the funk yet.With Daryl Mitchell back in the side for the T20I leg of the Pakistan tour, de Grandhomme could potentially be dropped from the XI in conditions that are unlikely to be too different from those in Bangladesh. In the absence of de Grandhomme, Mitchell became New Zealand’s frontline allrounder, alongside Jimmy Neesham, in the past home summer, his vital contributions culminating in a first central contract and a T20 World Cup spot.So, is there really a way back for de Grandhomme after the ODIs in Pakistan? Probably not in the near future, with New Zealand set to fly out to India after the T20 World Cup. Batters with much tighter techniques have been ruthlessly exposed by R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in Indian conditions, after all.It helps New Zealand that they aren’t short of all-round options. Mitchell showcased his finishing skills on his first overseas tour in 2019 in Sri Lanka and now left-arm fingerspin-bowling allrounder Rachin Ravindra is slowly bedding into the set-up. Mitchell Santner’s Test stocks are weary at the moment, but the team management sees him as a future leader in white-ball cricket. de Grandhomme would still have a role to play on the green pitches in red-ball cricket in New Zealand, but the clock is ticking for the 35-year-old.

The allrounder has come off a breakout domestic summer to land himself a New Zealand central contract. Now he’s got his eye on the big prize – the T20 World Cup

Deivarayan Muthu25-Oct-2021Daryl Mitchell has his first Black Caps jumper framed on his wall at home. It shares space with his dad John Mitchell’s All Black jersey – John is a former New Zealand rugby team player and coach. Now Daryl can soon add his first World Cup jersey to the wall.With his imposing frame, Mitchell Jr wouldn’t have been out of place in the All Blacks side – he played rugby in school during winters. “I’m naturally probably a little gifted in terms of size. I should’ve probably been a rugby player [rather] than a cricketer,” he says. But those traits have served him well in cricket too, where he has built a reputation as a power-hitter.”I use my strong base and size to my advantage,” he says. “Obviously, the power side of it is one of my strengths and I try to utilise it when the opportunity arises. We’re lucky in New Zealand that we play on some pretty good wickets and can hit through the line.”In June 2020, after a decade with Northern Districts, Mitchell moved to Canterbury, and enjoyed a breakout domestic summer, winning the Plunket Shield as well as the 50-over Ford Trophy with his new team. He was also the first player to the double of 300-plus runs and ten-plus wickets in the 2020-21 Super Smash.Related

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“Anytime you move to a new environment, you have a whole new group of players you get to learn from and become best mates with,” Mitchell says. “I was honoured to play for Northern Districts for ten years and grow up alongside Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee and Kane Williamson, and learn off them. But for me to be able to go to Canterbury and to be the main allrounder there, to try to win games and play with the likes of Tom Latham and Matt Henry, it was a really refreshing stage of my career. We were lucky to win two trophies out of three in domestic cricket last year and hopefully we can keep doing that in the future.”It also spurred him to international success across formats. He scored his maiden Test hundred, against Pakistan in Christchurch in January this year, and followed it up with his maiden ODI century against Bangladesh in March. It culminated in his first New Zealand central contract and a spot in the T20 World Cup squad.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”I haven’t focused on anything specifically,” Mitchell says. “I guess just having that dominant allrounder role with Canterbury at the start of the summer, in the Super Smash, Plunket Shield, and then to be able to take it to New Zealand, whether it’s Test cricket or the white-ball stuff. Just being able to have a more dominant role with bat and ball. For me, it’s the most important thing, trying to win games for the team, and that sort of allows my personal ambitions to take care of itself.”Mitchell has built on his reputation of being a power-hitter in the New Zealand team, and more recently in the Vitality T20 Blast he struck at nearly 145 for Middlesex. The slow and low conditions in the UAE at the T20 World Cup, however, could seriously challenge his big-hitting skills. Mitchell says it’s not something he’s worried about, no matter where he slots in the line-up.”I pride my ability to be able to adapt to whatever position that I have to bat at – No. 3-4 or in the middle or late overs,” he says. “Especially in international cricket, you need to be able to adjust to different situations and different scenarios at any batting position from No. 1 to 7. It’s never the same every innings.”He has often fronted up to bowl at the death for both Northern Districts and Canterbury in domestic cricket. His yorkers have been difficult to get away in the Super Smash, and now he is working on adding to his variations.”I didn’t do a hell of a lot [of death bowling] at the start of my career,” Mitchell says. “It’s something I pushed for a few years. It doesn’t come off every day. It’s high-risk, high-reward stuff, but when it comes off, you win games of cricket for your team. It brings out the passionate side of me, which I enjoy.Mitchell picked up ten wickets in the 2020-21 Super Smash, and racked up 374 runs•Getty Images”We have to constantly keep adjusting to different surfaces and conditions. You can’t be a one-trick pony these days in international cricket. All of the boys in New Zealand pride themselves on adjusting to whatever situation we need to, and we make sure we try and practise those to have all the bases covered as much as we can. It doesn’t always come off, but if you prepare well, you give yourself the best chance.”During the England tour earlier this year, Mitchell caught up with his father who was the England rugby team’s defence coach until the Autumn Series. John has now moved to a new role with the Wasps Rugby backroom. Before Mitchell Jr began playing regularly for New Zealand, he also had a stint with Waikato Rugby Union as their assistant strength and conditioning coach, a role that made him understand that there’s life beyond cricket.”I think it’s very important to have interests outside of the game, otherwise you sort of get consumed by cricket the whole time,” he says. “So for me to be able to go to Waikato Rugby for a couple of years as an assistant trainer… It’s potentially a role I sort of want to get into post cricket, so to be able to see how they go about their day-to-day as professional athletes is pretty interesting.”You just can’t take rugby out of the Mitchells, and the son has played much of his cricket in his father’s shadow, but this World Cup is his chance to carve out his own identity. The job at hand won’t be easy, though. New Zealand, and Mitchell, will have to contend with India and Pakistan in Group Two.”Obviously, it will be a challenging pool,” he says, “to get through that and win those games, you give yourself a chance to win the big prize, which is what we are looking forward to. So, anytime you play for New Zealand you want to win games for sure.”

They will sometimes miss an edge or two, and sometimes it will happen in clumps, but that doesn’t make a bad umpire

Sidharth Monga05-Dec-20213:16

Vettori: It was fairly obvious Kohli had nicked it

When TV commentators and fans start to psychoanalyse umpires, you know it is a declaration day. It can be tough to watch for a spectator, but any top-level sport is a competitive pursuit first and through that it becomes a spectacle. It is a spectacle because it is competitive, and not competitive because it is a spectacle.

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So India chose to bat on in order to deny New Zealand even the slightest of sniffs and to not lose the advantage of bowling last. They could have enforced a follow-on, and probably would have finished the Test by now, but they have nowhere to go after finishing early. They will be stuck in the bubble for the South Africa tour anyway so why not make sure you take the extra day and be absolutely ruthless?Besides, India had a couple of batters who could do with some time out in the middle. Plus, Axar Patel said at the end of the day’s play that they used their batting innings to simulate a fourth-innings chase on a turning pitch out in the centre.It doesn’t make for engaging viewing especially when the opposition doesn’t have the bowlers to compete in these conditions. Will Somerville, one of the four specialists that New Zealand played in both Tests, has gone wicketkless in the series. Only seven bowlers in the history of the game have conceded more runs in a series without taking a wicket.In such circumstances, except for those personally invested in the runs, say, Virat Kohli scores, spectators find it difficult to stay engaged. So out comes the usual punching bag, the umpires. Not that the umpires weren’t pilloried before Covid-19, but the latest fad is to criticise home umpires because the authorities deem flying in neutral umpires unnecessary during the pandemic. This is the worst slander of professionals in an era where they are professionally evaluated. It is ludicrous to imagine an umpire will carry a bias in front of all high-res, high frame-rate cameras, which can curtail his own career.The umpires have been in the spotlight in Mumbai•BCCIIf there can be a bias, it won’t even be visible to those who build such lazy narratives. The bias can be in the conducting of the game, in how much they let someone sledge, whom they pull up for bad behaviour, how much they let a team play in wet conditions etc. Even bad light doesn’t fall under such bias because it is objectively measured. Aside from the odd off-the-record murmur, there hasn’t been a big issue on this front either.Unfortunately, former cricketers, often known to be at odds with umpires when they played, are at the forefront of this vilification. During this Test, for example, Shane Warne picked out one isolated few-seconds-long clip of the Kohli lbw in the first innings and ruled it “simply not-out”. He went on to suggest that third umpires frequently misinterpret the technology without ever considering the possibility that it could have been pad-bat-pad. After all, there was a point when the bat was slightly behind the pad and UltraEdge still picked up a sound signature. In the second innings, when the bat was merely an inch or two further ahead, Kohli was ruled not out in near-identical circumstances.The same people disregard technology when it comes to low catches because technology hasn’t played Test cricket and those who have played Test cricket know that every low catch is out even though there is new evidence on display.Before you know, 20 media organisations are quoting Warne and the umpire is not allowed to defend himself. Even when he does, it never really sticks. Kumar Dharmasena, an excellent umpire, a former ICC Umpire of the Year, provided an excellent explanation for his umpiring error in the 2019 World Cup final. In public perception, it was firstly assumed that a professional of such high acclaim didn’t even remember the overthrows law.India belt out what turned out to be a successful appeal against Will Young•BCCIDespite Dharamsena explaining that it was physically impossible to know where the two running batters were in relation to each other at the exact moment when the fielder released the ball from 60 yards away, people ignored another playing condition and asked him why he could not check with the third umpire. The issue here is that playing conditions allow umpires to check only dismissals and boundary saves with the third umpire. That the MCC rewrote the law was an admission it could not be enforced in the form that it was.Just do a search on any platform for “Dharmasena final”, and you will know how much we care about the actual profession of umpiring and the process of decision-making, which is why one of the dominant discourses on a slow day was about the umpires in this series when they haven’t really been bad. They will sometimes miss an edge or two, and sometimes it will happen in clumps, but that doesn’t make a bad umpire. Moreover, we have DRS to eliminate those these days.You watch out for those who make bigger, conceptual errors, such as this. There are certain lbw calls that are of concern: basically those where it’s physically not possible for the ball to strike a batter within the stumps and also hit the stumps. If you falter on these, it might suggest you get affected by other things such as the strength of an appeal.There was only one call in this series that was remotely close to this category when R Ashwin got a decision with a big offbreak that hit Will Young on the front foot, a rarest of rare dismissals in cricket. However, the low bounce probably clouded everyone to the point that even the batter didn’t review it. There have been marginal lbws missed by the umpires in this Test that didn’t even elicit a decent appeal from the bowlers. It is because three sets of professionals out there didn’t think it was out, and high-res super slow-motion replays showed the ball to be missing the edge or kissing the boot on the way to the inside edge. To use them to beat up umpires is an unfair battle that they can never hope to win.There are many things that are wrong with the umpiring discourse, which will take way more than this space (you can do worse than to read this), but a slow day is a good time to remind yourself of how good the umpires today are and to remember to use the same empathy we use for the athlete when we come across the occasional error.

Eye-catching innings in defeat augurs well as opener reaffirms his potential for England

Aadam Patel27-Jan-2022After the English summer, Tom Banton took a much-needed break from the game to “live a bit of a social life” and “see friends and family”. More than a year of quarantines and bubble fatigue had taken its toll and Banton insisted that he needed some time away from cricket.Such was the mental effect that, in Abu Dhabi in November, Banton admitted that he hadn’t done anything cricket-related throughout the whole of October. In Bridgetown in January, he was back in England colours, over a year after his last England appearance, showing exactly why England had given him a debut before his 21st birthday.After a disappointing dismissal in the first T20I for just four, Banton failed to capitalise on a good start in the second T20I as he reverse-swept his way to 25 before stunning a drive straight back to Fabian Allen. Such was the quality of Banton’s strokeplay that Mark Butcher on commentary stated that his reverse sweep “comes almost as naturally as a forward defence would have come to Geoffrey Boycott”.On Wednesday evening in Barbados, a fine innings of 73 off 39 deliveries – his highest in an England shirt thus far – nearly helped England pull off an improbable chase of 225 after Rovman Powell’s pyrotechnics at Kensington Oval. It was a bittersweet feeling for the 23-year-old as his superb knock, which included six sixes, ultimately came in a losing cause. For Banton, just being back in England colours is a feeling unlike any other.”Getting the chance to walk out at Kensington Oval in front of a full house… it’s probably just the best feeling in the world,” Banton said. “It’s just so good to be here, playing for England is what everyone wants to do and doing it in front of a full house was amazing.”With Sam Billings out due to illness, Banton was handed the gloves and perhaps had the best ticket in the house to witness Powell hit his first ever T20 century, as West Indies posted 224 for 5, the highest T20I score at Kensington Oval (England’s reply of 204 for 9 came in at second).As much as he was impressed with the way the hosts batted, Banton admitted that England must execute their plans better with the ball if they want to win the series. England’s bowlers are currently ranked 11th from all the ICC Member nations in terms of T20I economy rate at the death.Tom Banton: “There was an option to go to Pakistan after this, but I’m going to go home and make sure I’m ready for the summer”•Getty ImagesHe said: “They’re such good strikers of the cricket ball. I remember I was keeping last night and just seeing how far they hit it, it was pretty scary to be honest. I think maybe we just have to be a little bit clever with our bowling plans. I think the bowlers had great ideas, but they probably didn’t execute as well.”Speaking after Paul Collingwood’s frank assessment of bubble life. Banton agreed with the view of England’s stand-in coach for the Caribbean tour, and admitted that he, himself, had struggled with the experience.”I think people won’t actually understand it till they’ve done it,” Banton said. “I remember having to go to IPL in Abu Dhabi and having to isolate myself for eight days in my hotel room and then I was allowed out. After a time, it just takes its toll. I was like, ‘I want to be able to also live my life and not just be stuck in a hotel. I want to see my friends and be at home, see my family, as well as playing cricket.’ Just in the end, it was too much for me.”Related

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He added that for his own mental health, pulling out of the Big Bash last year “was the best thing to do” and that after his own experiences over the past two years, he is now making reasoned decisions that allow him to play cricket, enjoy the game and also provide him with sufficient time to spend with his friends and family.Banton has not entered the IPL auction after he was released by Kolkata Knight Riders last season and also declined the opportunity to play in the PSL, after a torrid experience last season where he contracted Covid-19, which led to 10 days of isolation in Karachi, followed by 10 more back home.”There was an option to go to Pakistan after this trip, but I’m just going to go home and make sure I’m ready for the English summer,” Banton said.Asked about whether those decisions were made with a focus on red-ball cricket, Banton believes that it is the right route for him to take at this time of his career, although the IPL is a pathway which he’d still like to go down in the future.”I think it is, but I don’t think it really matters what colour of ball it is, it’s just important for me now to keep playing and also I’ll be in England and I’ll be at home – I won’t be sat in a hotel the whole time so I’ll be able to go out and live a normal life as well.”If I’d have gone to the IPL, I probably wouldn’t have played. But yeah, that’s still one of the things I want to do all the time, to go to the IPL, but I think at the moment it’s the right decision for me to stay at home.”