Missed chances have cost Bangladesh repeatedly in recent times, and Friday was no exception

Mohammad Isam23-Dec-2022The expression of anguish. Head in hands. Sometimes the head is thrown back. A kick to the turf. Maybe a cuss word. On the second day of the Dhaka Test on Friday, Bangladesh missed four chances in the field during the 159-run fifth-wicket stand between Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, so all those reactions were on display.Iyer and Pant offered two chances each before they were properly set after coming together on 94 for 4. The what-if scenario here can be tough to get into, but it doesn’t need to be said that it’s best to take catches and complete stumpings, particularly when you are playing against India.Related

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Bangladesh’s bowlers are quite used to their fielders missing chances. There have been different explanations on offer for the last 12 months, and if there was a bit of improvement between 2021 and 2022, it has disappeared during this ODI and Test series against India. They have missed 15 chances in total, including eight in the ODIs.In Tests this year, Bangladesh have missed a total of 33 – of 67 – chances, counting both catches and stumpings. In terms of ratio of chances taken to missed, their 2.03 is the second-lowest among the Test teams, above only Sri Lanka’s 1.71. West Indies and England are at the other extreme, at above four chances converted for each one missed.Mushfiqur Rahim looked fairly out of position out at long-on when Rishabh Pant offered him a chance•Associated PressIn all formats this year, Bangladesh have missed 85 times, 21 more than in 2021, when their catching was especially poor at the 2021 T20 World Cup. They missed 22 chances in Tests then, compared to the 33 this year.These numbers possibly don’t matter hugely when the team is winning, but they hurt a lot when results are not going their way.On Friday, Litton Das missed a tough chance at slip when Pant, on 11, edged Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the last over before lunch. The ball went quickly, and Litton got a hand to it. Had Litton held on, it would have been just reward for the spinners bowling a tight line to Pant.Iyer then had two lives in the space of around 15 minutes when he was on 19 and 21. First, Mehidy leapt at gully to grab an edge off Taskin Ahmed, who had his tail up after removing Virat Kohli earlier in the session. Mehidy spilled the chance, and ended up slamming his nose into the ground.The big miss came from Nurul Hasan, who missed a stumping off Shakib Al Hasan’s bowling. It looked quite straightforward. The ball didn’t deviate much going towards the wicketkeeper, and Iyer was well out of his crease. But Nurul fumbled, allowing Iyer to get back to safety.Pant had another life on 59 when, in the middle of his big-hitting spell, Mushfiqur Rahim dropped him at long-on. It was a new position for Mushfiqur, who has kept wickets for most of his career. So the captain should have paid a bit more attention with Pant on strike, and on fire. Later in the day, Shakib himself would kick the turf in frustration when Mehidy couldn’t gather the ball properly at point when R Ashwin and Iyer got into in a mix-up.Shakib Al Hasan shows his frustration after a misfield from Mehidy Hasan Miraz•AFP/Getty ImagesIn the gap between the ODIs and the Test series, Bangladesh fielding coach Shane McDermott had explained the Bangladesh fielders’ mindset.”Talking about the fear factor, we think about potentially what are the repercussions of dropping a catch when the ball is in the air,” McDermott had said. “We see a lot of high balls dropped under lights, because fielders have time to think. Trying to train what we think when the ball is in the air, is a very hard task. But it can be learned.”When we drop catches under lights in critical moments, we create one of the greatest learning experiences. When the player walks off the ground, hopefully having won the game, we can easily say to them that ‘look, [missed] catches don’t lose matches.’ It is a fact. It happens quite regularly. It is a part of the game. Obviously we want to drop as few catches as possible.”As a team, if we drop a catch, our support staff and our team are gelling together really well, we are trying to keep everyone’s spirits high. Who knows, it could be someone else tomorrow to drop one. We could lose the match, but as I said before, we are very happy with the way the boys are training and committing on and off the field.”This year, Tamim Iqbal and Russell Domingo have addressed the issue once each.Tamim expressed his frustration after four dropped catches and poor ground fielding cost Bangladesh in the first ODI against Zimbabwe. Domingo was left bemused when Bangladesh dropped nine catches in five matches against Afghanistan in March this year.Bangladesh seem to suffer from a mental block on this count. Even fielders who come with a good reputation seem to suffer. And a good position, possibly, is frittered away. Perhaps it is time to take a closer, and harder, look at the problem.

Both of them scored double-centuries at Basin Reserve on Saturday, becoming just the eighth pair with two 300-plus partnerships in Test cricket

Sampath Bandarupalli18-Mar-20231 – Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls became the first pair to score double-centuries in the same Test match for New Zealand. They are now the 18th pair overall to score double-hundreds in the same Test innings. This is also the first instance of two batters scoring double-centuries in the same first-class innings in New Zealand.8 – Number of batting pairs with two 300-plus partnerships in Test cricket, including Williamson and Nicholls.ESPNcricinfo LtdThey are also the first New Zealand pair with multiple triple-century stands. Their first such partnership came in 2021 when they added 369 runs for the fourth wicket against Pakistan in Christchurch.363 – Partnership runs between Williamson and Nicholls, the fifth-highest for any wicket for New Zealand in Tests. Three of New Zealand’s top-five partnerships in Test cricket have come against Sri Lanka.Similarly, three of the top-five Test partnerships against Sri Lanka have been by New Zealand – the 363 between Williamson and Nicholls is the fourth-highest.ESPNcricinfo Ltd8124 – Runs for Williamson in Test cricket, the first player from New Zealand to complete 8000 Test runs. His current batting average of 54.89 is the fifth-highest among the 35 batters with 8000-plus runs in Test cricket.41 – Hundreds for Williamson across formats in international cricket, the most by any player for New Zealand. Williamson surpassed Ross Taylor’s 40 centuries with his innings of 215 in Wellington.ESPNcricinfo Ltd5 – Test double-centuries for Williamson at home. Only Don Bradman (7), Virat Kohli (6) and Kumar Sangakkara (6) have more in home Tests than Williamson, while Ricky Ponting also has five.9 – Out of 15 Test double-centuries scored at Basin Reserve, nine have come since 2014. No other venue had more than four individual double-centuries in Test cricket in this period.The 15 double-centuries in Wellington are also the joint-fourth-highest at a ground in Tests.

He does not have a remarkable individual record in the role and will want to take this performance as a launching pad for something special

Sidharth Monga16-Apr-20233:38

Bishop: Great to see Indian players like Shahrukh finish matches

During the innings break, M Shahrukh Khan was interviewed by the official broadcaster. He ended the interview by rubbing his hand on the grass and showing the camera “quite a bit” of dew, which had made batting easier as the game progressed. He expected a straightforward chase after the Punjab Kings bowlers – thanks in no small measure to his two-take catches at the boundary – had restricted hosts Lucknow Super Giants to 159.The ground staff must have run the rope and undertaken other dew treatments during that break, which resulted in the pitch retaining some of the difficulty at the start of the chase. Almost an hour and a half later, Shahrukh walked in with 38 runs still required in 4.1 overs and four wickets in hand.Related

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Ravi Bishnoi, for some reason underutilised by Super Giants behind the two fingerspinners Krishnappa Gowtham and Krunal Pandya, was using the bigger leg-side boundary beautifully with his natural turn in to the right-hand batters.Shahrukh does not make sense if you look at traditional metrics. He has never scored a fifty in T20 cricket. Yet this was his 24th IPL match in two seasons and a bit. He has played 45 other matches. He averages 19.02 and strikes at 130.87. His average innings is a 14-ball 19. Yet he gets picked by his state side and his IPL side regularly as a specialist batter.That is hard data. Visual data of Shahrukh suggests a batter who bats lower down the order, doesn’t get many balls to face and tends to go for it from ball one. Yet, if that doesn’t translate into cold numbers, it points towards execution inefficiency.Ball one on the night for him was from Mark Wood, who at that point had figures of 2.5-0-16-1. He had time to visualise it because the previous wicket had brought on a time-out. Shahrukh’s response was just a natural reaction to the ball. It was in the slot, it deserved to be hit, and he hit it over long-on for six. It is credit to him, and the team management, that Shahrukh had no encumbrance that might come with an unremarkable individual record.Shahrukh Khan’s 10-ball 23 sealed the win for Punjab Kings•BCCIShahrukh told the same commentators later that all he wanted was to be blank and react to the ball, which is what he trains for. “I just wanted to keep my mindset really simple,” Shahrukh said. “I just wanted to react to the ball. I think my practice is paying off. I am reacting properly at practice to each and every ball I play. That’s the reason it’s paying off here.”Shahrukh said his starting point is to hit straight, and if the ball is not there, still try to hit it but adjust accordingly. “[That’s because] I am powerful,” he said. “If I go too cheeky, I don’t think it will work for me. So, I just have one thing on my mind. I look to play straight. If anything is here and there, I try and adjust. It’s good that it’s paying off, though.”To his credit, Bishnoi – bowling the last over because he was not introduced until the 15th over – bowled such a length that Shahrukh could neither hit him down the ground nor go inside-out for five of the six balls he bowled to Shahrukh. It was to what would be the last ball of the match Shahrukh managed to go to wide long-off, the shorter side.Shahrukh’s 23 off 10 drew praise from Player of the Match, Sikandar Raza, who got frustrated with Bishnoi’s bowling and ended up holing out. “When I got out, there were a few demons in my head,” Raza said. “Credit to Shahrukh for the way he finished the game. It would have been nice to get a fifty but had we not won, I don’t think I would have felt this good. Much, much credit goes to Shahrukh for finishing the game the way he did.”It will be a moment of relief for Shahrukh that he has managed to carry his side through to a win. He has won only one Player-of-the-Match award. For an IPL team to be backing him so, Shahrukh surely has the skill and the attitude for this format? He will want to take this performance as a launching pad for something special because this format and IPL teams aren’t really known for patience.

In what might seem a paradoxical pick for India, they have six quick bowlers in their line-up – and the decision to pick them all was never really all that tough

Matt Roller07-Oct-2023When England’s selectors met at Trent Bridge in August to select their World Cup squad, a non-negotiable quickly emerged. For all India’s historic associations with spin bowling, there was a clear consensus that England should select six frontline seamers in their 15-man squad.Including those six, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, David Willey and Reece Topley (Ben Stokes is in as a specialist batter) meant a squeeze on batting spots – even if England have more allrounders than most sides. Harry Brook was initially left out, but eventually forced his way in at Jason Roy’s expense; almost any other team in the tournament would have found room for both.Related

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But during the month-long saga over which player would miss out, there was never any serious consideration given to the idea it would be a fast bowler.”We’d have loved a couple more spots to get another batter and a spare spinner in,” Luke Wright, part of England’s selection panel, admitted. “It pushes another position out of the squad.”But with a lot of travel and a lot of games in a short space of time, we are aware that with some of the injury risks our bowlers have, we need that cover,” Wright said. “It gives us a chance to rotate the bowlers as needs be through a long tournament. The chance of having all those bowlers in the XI, playing all the games, all the way through is very slim.”Rob Ahmun, the England cricket board’s head of performance science and medicine (top right) at a training session: “[W]e try not to get lost – it’s not the data making the decisions”•Surjeet Yadav/AFP/Getty ImagesEngland landed in Guwahati last Thursday for their warm-up games, and over the next 35-odd days, they will have played nine group games in eight different cities, with a flight after each one. It is a brutal schedule; India, the hosts, are the only other team who do not play consecutive games in the same city at least once.”This will be a real significant task for the lads, especially given the schedule we’ve got,” said Rob Ahmun, the ECB’s head of performance science and medicine. “There’ll be multiple flights and everything that comes with travelling in India, the actual physical demands of the game, and environmental challenges as well.”England’s players will have to adapt quickly: after Thursday’s tournament opener in the heat of Ahmedabad, they fly north to Dharamsala, where the stadium is nearly 1500 metres above sea level and the temperature will be nearly 20 degrees cooler.Four years ago, England’s success at home owed at least in part to their players’ fitness. Nearly two years before the tournament, the ECB formed a working group comprising assistant coach Paul Farbrace, psychologist David Young, medical services lead Ben Langley, and strength and conditioning (S&C) coach Phil Scott. “We wanted to make sure everyone came in fresh, mentally and physically,” Langley said.England only used 13 players across that 2019 tournament but a similarly packed schedule like this in this year’s World Cup – albeit with no internal flights – took plenty out of the squad: Eoin Morgan suffered a back spasm against West Indies. Roy missed three games with a calf strain. Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer had pain-killing injections to manage shoulder and side injuries.Mark Wood trains in a GPS vest. The ECB’s studies show England players ran nearly twice as much in 2019 World Cup games as against regular ODIs•Getty ImagesWood – who strained his side with three balls left in his spell in the final – and Woakes both look back at photographs from that epic game and laugh at how skinny they were. “I’m thin anyway, but that World Cup took so much out of us,” Wood said. “Everyone was tired, carrying niggles; we’d put in such a huge effort.”It is no surprise that they looked slim. Last year, the University of Essex published research in collaboration with the ECB that revealed “a notable physical transformation” in England’s cricketers between 2014 and 2020, one “that has likely resulted in an increase in lean mass and aerobic capacity”.The ECB’s data, collected from GPS units worn by players, suggests that their total sprinting distance – defined as metres covered at a speed of at least 20kph – increases by 50-100% for most players between a bilateral ODI and a World Cup match. “And Woody had something like a 300% increase in his total volume of high-intensity sprint metres,” Ahmun adds.Just like cricket itself, sports science has been transformed by data. “When I started, we didn’t have access to anything like what we do now,” Ahmun said. “But we try not to get lost in it: it’s not the data making the decisions. You can quite easily fall into that trap and say, ‘He’s bowled too many overs’, but bearing the human element in mind is vitally important.”He ain’t heavy, he’s my masseur: Jos Buttler gives Mark Saxby a boost during the 2019 World Cup win celebrations•Getty ImagesAll of England’s long-term planning for 2019 was “designed to get the lads to peak for that final”, Ahmun said. “And they probably did: two of the fittest lads in the squad, Stokes and [Jos] Buttler were the two out there when it mattered, and in that Super Over.” Langley said it was a source of pride that “come the final, everyone was available for selection”.Under Andrew Strauss’ management, England made a point of taking a long-term approach – one that was inspired by Cricket Australia’s management of their “big three” quicks: Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. “If you don’t have a dedicated team focusing on bespoke planning, you just get drawn into the game-by-game, series-by-series approach,” Langley said.All six of the fast bowlers whom England have taken to India have spent time out of the game through serious injuries in the last three years – as has Archer, a travelling reserve who hopes to make his comeback from injury in the latter stages of the World Cup. Willey, who has the best long-term fitness record of the seamers, believes his inclusion owed, at least in part, to his durability.”Me staying fit, touch wood, is probably an asset to the group with guys who sometimes struggle with niggles,” Willey said last month, before engaging in some horseplay: “Call me a donkey if you want, but [on] a tough trip, you just might need a donkey. They keep going, donkeys, don’t they?”Resist this: Jofra Archer gets some strength training in with S&C coach Phil Scott•Getty ImagesThe ECB’s research suggests that 50-over cricket is the most physically demanding format. “You’ll cover anywhere from 12-15km in a day, with a significant proportion of that at high speed,” Ahmun explains. “Players always say if they haven’t played a 50-over game for a little while, it’s a rude awakening when they get back to it. And T20 is only making 50-over cricket faster.”England’s players have been preparing for India all year, but their focused build-up started in their series against New Zealand last month. They started taking probiotics two weeks before travelling in order to mitigate disease and were joined in that series by Charlie Binns, an ECB nutritionist.During the World Cup, ICC limits on personnel mean that England’s science and medicine team will be relatively lean, comprising Craig de Weymarn (physio), Andy Mitchell (S&C), Mark Saxby (massage therapist) and Rob Young (team doctor). As with players, IPL experience among backroom staff is considered helpful, and encouraged by the ECB. Young has spent several seasons working with Rajasthan Royals, while team manager Wayne Bentley fulfils the same role at Kolkata Knight Riders.Saxby – and Mahesh Aarya, a local massage therapist who has been enlisted for the tournament – will be particularly important on travel days. “We’ll have massage on hand whenever we arrive at a new hotel,” Ahmun says, “just to help players get over sitting around cramped up for four or five hours.” Langley, who joined Mumbai Indians earlier this year after 15 years with the ECB, believes flights are the “toughest bits” of a home-and-away IPL season.England will go from the heat of Ahmedabad to the cool mountain surrounds of Dharamsala in their first two games•ICC/Getty ImagesThe prohibitive cost of charter flights means teams often travel on commercial airlines: England’s squad travelled in economy class on a flight from Mumbai to Guwahati last week. Langley said: “At the IPL, we had some big tall fast bowlers like Cameron Green: quite often, they were sitting in economy seats that just had a little bit more legroom.”Ahmun said: “Reece Topley is 6ft 8in; if he sits in a normal seat on a plane, the lad’s knees are up by his ears. What the schedule tends to be is, they’ll play a game, go about their recovery practices, and then the following morning it’ll be up and then transfer. We always want the lads to be as active as possible on the day following the game to get their bloodflow going, so flying is probably the last thing the body needs.”When Rob Key joined the ECB as managing director of men’s cricket last year, he quickly introduced separate management teams for the red- and white-ball squads, which has extended to backroom staff. It means a slightly lighter workload – even if the World Cup is followed almost immediately by a month in the Caribbean.”They will be available 24/7 for the guys during the World Cup,” Langley says. “They will be flat out, working the whole time.” If England’s decision to lean towards seam pays off over the next seven weeks, it will owe plenty to the team behind the team.

Two 25-year-olds come to watch an MLC game to just knock off a bucket list item, only to return home as cricket fans

Peter Della Penna17-Jul-2023The national anthem had just finished playing at the Grand Prairie Stadium, and night three of Major League Cricket in Texas was moments away from the first ball. As the players took the field, a pair of 25-year-olds with a Jacob deGrom Texas Rangers jersey and a Ronald Acuna Jr. Atlanta Braves jersey walked with cups of beer in their hands toward their seats on the north side of the stadium.”Never been [to a cricket match and we’re] sports guys so I was like we might as well go watch it one time, go watch some ball and stick,” Parker Janse, who played shortstop and second base for the Stephen F Austin University college baseball team in Nacogdoches – known as the Lumberjacks – said. “I live in Dallas, it’s on the way home. We’ll stop by for the cricket for a little bit.”Janse, along with his dad Kevin – a Dallas police officer – and friend Jeremy Rodriguez, a former team-mate at Stephen F. Austin who is now on the coaching staff for the baseball team as the director of analytics and player development, were along for the ride. Earlier in the day, Janse paid US $325 for seats in the fourth row behind home plate as a birthday gift for his dad to watch the Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Guardians 2-0. The game ended at 5.35pm, plenty of time to drive seven miles towards Dallas and stop off to buy a $30 ticket at the Grand Prairie Stadium to see San Francisco Unicorns take on Seattle Orcas.Related

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“Before this morning, nothing,” Janse said, when asked what he knew about cricket, other than that he also had an ex-girlfriend whose surname was Cricket. “We watched a few YouTube videos to get us ready for it. Kind of like a bucket list thing. We love all sports. We’re all in with the Orcas. Save the Orcas! They were handing these flags out [at the entrance gates] so it just solidified that we were going for them. We didn’t know who was playing until we walked in.””That’s not true,” Rodriguez cut in. “I texted you and said it was the Unicorns and the Orcas.””I thought that was a joke.””I was being dead serious.””I did not realise that it was actually the Unicorns vs the Orcas.””You wanna know something crazy?” Rodriguez, who is originally from Houston but now lives in Nacogdoches, 180 miles southeast of Grand Prairie, asked. “When we played baseball, we played here at the Airhogs Stadium before it became a cricket place. We used to play here a lot, actually. There used to be a swimming pool over there.” Rodriguez pointed to an area behind what used to be the outfield fence where part of the original entertainment zone, including a pool, had been removed to accommodate the renovation of the facility for cricket.A few minutes into play, Quinton de Kock tried to flick over the leg side and was bowled, drawing the first reaction out of Janse.”Ohhhh! A wicket! He’s out!” Janse shouted.”That’s our guy though,” Rodriguez shouted back. “We’re on the Orcas. So that’s not very exciting… We also know how to read the scoreboard now. Nine runs for one out for Seattle right now. The bowlers get six pitches and then they have to rotate.”A few minutes later, Orcas were back on track as Nauman Anwar hit a four back down the ground off Carmi le Roux straight towards Janse and Rodriguez.MLC staffer Christopher White shows a cricket ball for new fans and former college baseball players Jeremy Rodriguez and Parker Janse to get a feel of•Peter Della Penna”Ohhh, that’s gonna bounce over the fence. That’s gonna be four!” Janse shouted as he grabbed his Orcas flag and started waving it vigorously. “That’s four! How do you make an Orca sound? Arrrrr Arrrr Arrrr!!!” As Tajinder Singh Dhillon went to retrieve the ball near the boundary rope, Janse broke out the baseball fan-style trash talk. “Hey Dhillon! Probably wish you were on the Orcas, huh pal!”After a brisk start though, Anwar got out to a short ball he struggled to fend away, popping it up tamely to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade. Rodriguez didn’t hold back with his disappointment while looking at the replay on the stadium’s giant video board.”Oh, look at that checked swing, Jesus Christ,” Rodriguez blurted out before screaming towards Anwar walking off, “Hey! If you’re gonna swing the bat, swing it! Let’s go!””He got jammed!” Janse argued.”I don’t care if he got jammed. Get your bat through the zone and let it rip!”In the eighth over, cricket’s two newest fans were busy heckling Unicorns fielder Chaitanya Bishnoi. He was wearing jersey number 10 and was being shuffled around moving from deep fine leg to being asked to come back to field inside the 30-yard circle at short fine leg. “Ohhh… he is lost! Get this guy a map! Get this guy a map!” Janse shouted.But then Janse and Rodriguez saw something they had never come across on a baseball field. Shehan Jayasuriya walked across his stumps to play a ramped flick wide of the wicketkeeper for four. Initially, Janse and Rodriguez were slightly confused as Janse proclaimed, “I thought it was a foul ball to the backstop, but it’s four runs.” Then the replay of the shot was shown from the stump cam angle, eliciting a greater reaction.”Oh, my god. That was electric! That was electric!” Janse shouted before praising Jayasuriya’s shot selection further. “That’s situational hitting. He knew that number 10 was lost. He heard me tell him to get a map, so he knew that it was open out here.”At the end of the eighth over, Marcus Stoinis, wearing jersey number 17 for Unicorns, arrived nearby to field on the long-off boundary. Janse and Rodriguez didn’t hesitate to engage him.

“It’s quite a personal stadium in terms of like you can interact with the crowd. The crowd feels close, and you can hear what they’re saying and stuff like that, so it’s good to have a chat.”Marcus Stoinis

“Seventeen, I need your bicep curl routine,” Janse shouted. “That’s a hammer curl guy. You do a lot of hammers, a lotta hammer curls.”Stoinis couldn’t help but crack a smile before making the hammer curl motion while looking at Janse and Rodriguez, prompting the latter to scream, “Yeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!””I can tell you’re rippin the hammer curls,” Janse shouted out again before turning to Rodriguez with further analysis. “He’s 100% jacked. He’s humongous. He would eat me.”A short while after this exchange, two MLC employees came by to say hello to these passionate and boisterous first-time fans. They were Christopher White, brother of Unicorns squad member David White, and Zubin Surkari. When Janse and Rodriguez were informed that Surkari’s most famous cricket moment was being hit in the box by a 95 mph full toss from Shaun Tait when Canada played Australia in the 2011 World Cup in India, Janse went straight to his phone to look it up on YouTube.Rodriguez: “Oh my god. You look in agony! You’re in so much pain.”Janse: “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh…. Oh my god. I’m so sorry! Ohhhhhhhhh….”Rodriguez: “Are you friends with that guy?”Surkari: “He bought me a beer afterward.”Rodriguez: “How many sixes did you hit off him?”Surkari: “I was out next ball.”

****

A few overs later, new batter Shimron Hetmyer skied a chance over short third where Haris Rauf, wearing jersey number 97 for Unicorns, backpedalled but couldn’t hold on to a chance. As the ball was in the air, Janse could see it was going to be a tough one.”You’re not catching that…. Told you! Ohhhhhhh…. Butterfingers!” Janse shouted. “Lay off the chicken wings there 97!””Ninety-seven in speed, zero in ball skills!” Rodriguez layered on top. “It was a can of corn. All he had to do is lay out.”In the next over, Stoinis was back fielding on the long-off boundary where he ran to his right to make an athletic stop, drawing more praise.”That’s great fielding there, 17,” Janse shouted. “Yes, sir! Way to push through the ball. Yes, sir! Hammer curls! Hammmeerrrrr currrrrrlsssssss!!!”Yo 17! How many sixes you got in you today?! Five, four?””Hopefully a few!” Stoinis shouted back in between a few laughs.”I think that means four in Australian,” Rodriguez said. “He’s gotta be my favorite player. He’s 17. Hammer curls. He’s sick. He’s ripped out of his mind. You know what? I think he just requested a trade to the Orcas. He’ll be on the Orcas by the end of the week. Is there a trade deadline coming up? Don’t worry, he’s gonna be there.”Marcus Stoinis: ‘It’s great that the American crew are getting engaged with cricket’•SportzpicsA quick Google search on the phone revealed that Stoinis was nicknamed “Oil”, allegedly because his Australian team-mates caught him greasing up tanning oil in the mirror. It only endeared him to Janse and Rodriguez even more as they watched him run from long-on to long-off, pulling double-duty fielding on the straight boundary alternating between overs.”I love this guy. I love him so much,” Janse said. “He’s the center fielder, basically. That’s Mike Trout. Their best fielder and hits with some ammo. So, he’s our favourite player. We’re 100% gonna watch his highlights when we get home.”Janse and Rodriguez watched Stoinis bowl the 17th over, cheering on by shouting “Oil! Oilllllll!!” as they got up and walked next to the sightscreen before leaving to go home for the night. After looking to just knock off a bucket list item, they want to come to the stadium and watch more cricket in the future. Stoinis and Unicorns may have lost on the night, but he won two new Texan cricket fans.”It was a few good interactions,” Stoinis told ESPNcricinfo after the game when asked about his particular exchanges with Janse and Rodriguez. “A bit of the usual sort of gym questions, bicep questions and that sort of stuff. So it was good fun, good energy and good supporters. This was much less hostile. This was good banter. Usually, it’s a passionate supporter from the other team in the other country. It’s quite a personal stadium in terms of like you can interact with the crowd. The crowd feels close, and you can hear what they’re saying and stuff like that, so it’s good to have a chat with a few of the fans.”I just think it’s great that the American crew are getting engaged with it, and they obviously understand pretty quickly how the sport is going. Even just talking to a few of the security guys, they were loving it. I asked one of them if their mates would be interested in watching cricket and if they’d come down to these games and they said ‘absolutely’. So it was nice. It feels like it’s being received well. It’s exciting for cricket to be played in the US, so hopefully, more and more people come and check it out.”

Fast bowler proud to seal Headingley Test in partnership with travel buddy Chris Woakes

Vithushan Ehantharajah10-Jul-20231:53

Ehantharajah: Wood was close to perfect in Leeds

When England travel overseas, their seating plans are done in alphabetical order. As such, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood end up sitting next to each other.Wood is an incredibly nervous flyer. So much so that, on internal flights on smaller planes, Woakes has often held his hand during take-offs and landings to keep his mate at ease.They also bring treats for each other on tour. Wood makes sure to pack Woakes’ favourite chocolate digestives, and Woakes returns the favour with Ferrero Rochers. It’s worth pointing out that the exchange of treats does not happen immediately, only when one senses the other needs some home comforts.During the Headingley Test – each man’s first appearance of this Ashes series – they drove into the ground together all week. And on Sunday, these two best of friends reinforced their bond with a stand of 24 from 14 balls in the contest’s fraught closing moments. Together they hauled England over the line by three wickets to leave the scoreline 2-1 in Australia’s favour with two Tests to play.Both have their own individual joys to take from a gripping third Test. Woakes’ 32 not out in the chase after taking six for 141 across the two innings marked a stellar comeback, having played what he feared might have been his last Test on the tour of the Caribbean in March 2022.For Wood, it was as close as he has come in 28 caps to the perfect performance. A sentiment made official when he was given the player-of-the-match award for the first time in a home Test.The Durham quick took five for 34 on day one, including a blistering four-over spell in which he did not drop under 91mph, the fastest delivery registering at 96.5mph and Usman Khawaja’s leg stump taken out with one at 95mph. An eight-ball cameo for 24 after lunch on day two reignited England’s first innings – and got Ben Stokes’ juices pumping in the process – to ensure Australia only led by 26 going into their second innings, having at one stage looked good for a 100-plus advantage.In the end, that lead was only extended to 250 partly due to Wood’s second-innings two for 66. He capped it all off with a similarly thrilling 16 off eight deliveries, including a momentum-shifting six off Pat Cummins – his fourth of the game – to help England home.Even with all that to himself, the Durham quick (or should that be allrounder?) could not help bring Woakes into the frame when discussing his emotions.”One of the best feelings I’ve had,” Wood said of being out there at the end for victory. “I’ve been in that position a lot where I’ve lost the game, that’s the first time I’ve been able to bat to win the game.”Especially being there with Woakesy. We’ve car-shared all week, we’ve got a lucky car [parking] space, we’ve promised that we’d get runs and wickets. I think we will park in the same place every time we turn up here.”Wood’s thunderbolts with the ball exceeded expectations, particularly given he missed Lord’s because of an issue with a right elbow that was operated on twice last summer. But it was the batting that stole the show. His 40 runs across the match came at a strike-rate of 250. The first of the 16 balls he faced, at the start of the second session on day two, was a bouncer from Mitchell Starc. He hooked it into the stands at midwicket.Wood’s express pace will be a key weapon going into the series climax•Getty ImagesEagled-eyed viewers will have spotted Wood using a new set of bats this summer, having swapped brands from New Balance to SG. Though he was happy with the initial batch delivered to him, he found them slightly too heavy. When the replacements arrived he thought they were too light. It turns out they were just right.It’s worth noting, Wood’s six boundaries were not fortuitous swings of a wispier blade. Prior to that first ball from Starc, he had spent the lunch interval in the indoor nets with Paul Collingwood, bracing himself for a short-pitch assault. It has been a common tactic this series and Wood himself had indulged it to nab a fourth-career five-for the day before. He rightly figured Australia’s quicks would be eager to take their revenge. The preparation, both during and in the lead-up to this match, has paid off handsomely.”All I’ve done is practise bouncers for two weeks,” he revealed. “I haven’t practised anything pitched up – that’s genuine. Colly has been slinging those yellow balls. They sting but don’t hurt. You get used to playing the shot, getting in strong positions, and waiting as much as I can to do well.”It fills me with great pride to say I can do well against Australia. Look at facing Cummins and Starc. One, it’s not easy. Two, it’s really intimidating. They’re bowling fast, they get good bounce. More often than not they come out on top. Luckily this time, it’s the one out of 100 I’ve managed to get through.”Related

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Whether Wood will be able to go again for the fourth Test at Emirates Old Trafford remains to be seen. Though he has stitched consecutive matches together recently, with two back-to-back in Pakistan last winter and three on the bounce at the end of the 2021-22 Ashes, England will be understandably cautious, even though a nine-day gap offers a grace period.Having sent down 28.4 overs after subsisting primarily on four-over bursts – his previous match before this one had been on April 15 for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL – much will depend how Wood’s body, and especially the elbow, react. There are also wounds on his forearms from repeatedly falling over in his follow-through, but those are less of a concern.Ben Stokes will be desperate to utilise him for the two remaining matches given how instrumental his pace has been in keeping the Ashes alive. The man himself is unsure.”I will speak to the physio, but I imagine I will bowl once or twice, a couple of gym sessions, maybe some running, but it won’t be too drastic. I have to let the body recover. It’s my first game in a very, very long time, especially in Test cricket. Off the back of bowling four overs, and I didn’t do too much of that either. I will let the body recover, get myself in a good space, let the wounds recover, and get myself up for the next one. “As ever, there is willing. Asked if he could crank it up once more and test the limits of the speed gun, Woodanswered unequivocally.”Absolutely. Lightning strikes twice, eh?”

Records tumble as Siraj makes merry in Colombo, in the third-shortest completed match in men’s ODIs

Sampath Bandarupalli17-Sep-202350 – Sri Lanka’s total in Colombo is the lowest by any team against India in men’s ODIs. The previous lowest was Bangladesh’s 58 all out in 2014 in Mirpur.1 – Number of totals by Sri Lanka lower than 50 in men’s ODI. Their lowest is 43 all out against South Africa in the 2012 Paarl ODI. It is also the second lowest total in men’s ODIs in Sri Lanka, behind Zimbabwe’s 38 all out in 2001.Lowest totals for Sri Lanka in ODIs•ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – Sri Lanka’s 50 all out is also the lowest score by any team in a men’s ODI final. The previous lowest was India’s 54 against Sri Lanka in the 2000 Champions Trophy final.6 for 21 – Siraj’s bowling figures against Sri Lanka are now the second-best for any bowler in the men’s ODI Asia Cup. Ajantha Mendis’ 6 for 16 against India during the 2008 final remain the best figures.3 – Number of bowlers with better figures in a men’s ODI final than Siraj. Only Aaqib Javed – 7 for 37 against India in 1991 – has managed to take more than six wickets in a men’s ODI final. Siraj’s 6 for 21 are also the fourth-best figures by an Indian bowler in men’s ODIs.16 – Number of balls needed for Siraj to complete his five-wicket haul, the joint-fastest in men’s ODIs where ball-by-ball data is available. Chaminda Vaas took 16 balls for his first five wickets in a 2003 World Cup game against Bangladesh, while USA’s Ali Khan also took a five-for in 16 balls against Jersey earlier this year.Quickest five-wicket hauls in men’s ODIs•ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 – Number of wickets for Siraj in the third over of Sri Lanka’s innings. He is now the first Indian bowler to take four wickets in an over in men’s internationals (where ball-by-ball data is available). Only three other bowlers have picked up four wickets in an over in men’s ODIs since 2002 – Vaas against Bangladesh in 2003, Mohammad Sami against New Zealand in 2003 and Adil Rashid against West Indies in 2019.15.2 – Number of overs batted by Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final. This is the second-shortest all-out innings for a Full Member nation in men’s ODIs. The shortest is by Zimbabwe, who were bowled out for 54 in 13.5 overs against Afghanistan in 2017. Overall, this ranks fifth in the shortest innings ever in men’s ODIs.12 – Sri Lanka’s score at the fall of the sixth wicket. Only once has a team lost their sixth wicket at a lower score in men’s ODIs – 10 by Canada against Netherlands in 2013. Canada also lost their sixth wicket at the score of 12 against Sri Lanka in 2003.129 – Total number of balls the Asia Cup final lasted – the third-shortest completed match in men’s ODIs. The 2020 Kirtipur ODI between Nepal and USA lasted only 104 balls, while the ODI between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in 2001 in Colombo lasted 120 balls.263 – Number of balls remaining when India reached the 51-run target, making it their biggest win in men’s ODI in terms of balls to spare and the biggest win by any team against Sri Lanka. It is also the sixth-biggest win for any team in terms of balls to spare in men’s ODIs.

His Test debut in Perth came against all logic, but Aamer Jamal learnt his lessons quickly and finished as Pakistan’s best bowler

Danyal Rasool19-Dec-2023The days in the lead-up to the Perth Test featured a fair bit of uncertainty around the Pakistan bowling attack. The options were limited, but even so, the side they put out was surprising.There was no spinner. Mohammad Hafeez later – after the Test – said the only available option, Noman Ali, had an injury. Fast bowler Mohammad Wasim was considered too risky a prospect for red-ball cricket despite looking sharp in the nets, and instead of buying into Hasan Ali’s highs, Pakistan opted to shrink away, looking at his lows. It meant there were two new names on the team sheet: Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad. Medium-fast seamers, really – not once did either touch 140kph on the speed gun in the Test match.Expecting such an inexperienced bowling attack to take 20 Australian wickets in Perth would have gone against history. Of the ten times visiting sides have achieved the feat in the city, six involved the great fast-bowling attacks of West Indies and South Africa, a further two the ascendant India side of more recent vintage, and only once – New Zealand in 1985 – has it been done without a specialist spinner in the XI.Related

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So breaking that long-term duck in Australia – there was little hope.Except Jamal doesn’t think that way, especially not while in Australia.Seven years ago, he had pitched up on these shores after failing to break into the first-class system following a stint with the Under-19s in Pakistan. Opportunity had presented itself on the other side of the country from Perth in Hawkesbury, where he played grade cricket for six months.Unable to afford accommodation, he put up at the home of brothers Pat and Chris Lawrence, his Hawkesbury team-mates. Despite the cultural and geographical differences, they would have recognised the three had in common one important thing: a love for the game and a desire to pursue it.The seven years since have involved many further sacrifices from Jamal. He returned to Pakistan in the hopes of winning selection to an Under-23 squad, and took to working as a taxi driver to continue to fund his cricketing dreams. It got better. He was called up to the T20I side during England’s visit for seven T20Is last year, somewhat contentiously because he hadn’t played much T20 cricket at the time, and the little he’d played had seen him concede at 9.17 an over. He wasn’t a serious candidate for selection to the T20 World Cup in Australia the following month, either.But what he lacked in numbers, he made up for with heart and nerve, just about keeping it together to keep a charging Moeen Ali at bay; tasked with defending 14 in the final over, he allowed England just eight, bowling four dot balls. He played the next match and leaked 30 in two overs, only returning when, with Pakistan’s first-choice team at the World Cup, they sent a second XI of sorts to the Asian Games. It was probably just as well that the eyes were on Hyderabad rather than Hangzhou, though. A horror over at the death from Jamal saw him concede 23 in five balls against Afghanistan, which knocked Pakistan out of the tournament in the semi-final.ESPNcricinfo LtdThose performances can keep players out of the national set-up for significant periods of time, so when Jamal made his Test debut barely ten weeks later, he wasn’t going to quibble over whether the moment was just right, or whether the pitch suited him. As he told Channel 7, this wasn’t the first time he was in a corner. “There’s always hope,” Jamal had said.Because Jamal recognises better than most people that nothing is inevitable.But he began the day looking every inch the nervous starter, his captain Shan Masood using him for two short spells before turning away for much of the first day. Jamal had tried to do the right things, the sort of things you’re supposed to do in Perth. Land it on a length. Go full in pursuit of swing. But the pace wasn’t there and, in truth, neither was the quality Jamal can showcase at his best. It hadn’t worked.No bother. Evidence suggests Jamal feels that just because something doesn’t work doesn’t mean you have failed. It’s merely time to try something else. This time, he put fielders out on the boundary and began banging them in short. It wasn’t pretty, but cricketing success isn’t often found on well-lit boulevards on high streets. There will be dark alleys and dingy streets. Sometimes you will wonder if you are coming out the other side. But Jamal has a tendency to find his way. Before the day was done, he had removed Travis Head, as well as the game’s only centurion, David Warner.He declared later that day that Pakistan’s goal was to remove Australia’s last five inside the first hour the following morning. That didn’t age quite so well when Pakistan failed to take a wicket in the first hour.4:28

‘Pakistan don’t have the belief to beat Australia here’

However, Jamal hadn’t bowled at all in that hour.In his first over, he cleaned up Alex Carey up with one of the deliveries of the Test match. It angled in from around the wicket, drifting slightly before landing on middle and off before seaming away from the outside edge and knocking off stump back without disturbing the other bail. This was the extra you need in Perth, and the heights Jamal backs himself to hit.His confidence up, he kept going, his pace much higher than it was the previous day. Much higher, indeed, than any other Pakistan fast bowler. While Mohammad Hafeez pointedly referred to “the senior bowlers” having a poor Test match, and questions mark around Shaheen Shah Afridi’s pace, Jamal was extending every muscle fibre to get more out of his body. He took six of the final seven wickets, becoming just the second Pakistani debutant to return a six-for in Australia. And though the first day saw him spray the ball around slightly, experience – and a narrow margin for error – made Jamal a fast learner. Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood bowl hard lengths outside off stump, so he will too! Off 78 such balls, he allowed just 31 runs and picked up four wickets.None of this, though, was close to enough, as Australia made emphatically clear when they blew Pakistan away on the fourth evening, demonstrating the gulf in quality between the sides – at least in those conditions – and showing how much Jamal and Shahzad still have to learn. Jamal and Shahzad had merely been the warm-up acts to the Australian maestros – scruffy kids in fancy restaurants who aren’t quite sure they belong, while Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are ordering hors-d’œuvres.It will take Pakistan plenty of time to come close to that level, but if they fell well short it was not for want of trying. And while much of the discourse around Pakistan has labelled them no-hopers in Australia over this summer, former Hawkesbury club cricketer and taxi driver Aamer Jamal knows there’s no such thing. .

Pakistan’s new T20 captain is fully focused on the World Cup less than six months away

Danyal Rasool11-Jan-2024A day after arriving in New Zealand, Shaheen Afridi’s T20 side were greeted with a Powhiri – a Maori welcoming ceremony – at a marae, a traditional meeting ground. It was the first time a visiting team had been invited alongside the New Zealand cricket team onto a marae as part of a traditional welcome. The pictures that went out painted a picture of mutual respect and familiarity for two teams that, by the time this series is over, will have played each other 27 times in the last 15 months.And the newly anointed Pakistan T20I captain extended that spirit of respecting and honouring his own predecessor – as well as his vice-captain – to the pre-match press conference, saying Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were “the best opening pair” for Pakistan. At the same time, though, he suggested that did not mean his side weren’t open to changes, and suggested Pakistan were still working out their best combination ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup.”Babar and Rizwan remain the best opening pair for Pakistan,” Shaheen said. “We have 17 matches ahead of the World Cup to look at our combination. We’ll make tweaks to see which player is best suited to which position. When we go to England we’ll know what the best position is. There will be changes perhaps but by the time the team goes to England, we hope to know exactly what our best playing XI is and where they’re playing.”Related

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Babar and Rizwan’s pairing in T20s has been a point of keenest debate for followers of Pakistan cricket, with the main question surrounding whether the enormity of runs they score up top can compensate for a strike rate not quite as explosive as modern T20 cricket demands. That debate has been lent further fuel by the emergence of two firebrand hitters in Saim Ayub and Mohammad Haris who can take their place. While Haris is not part of this series, Ayub is expected to feature heavily, potentially lining up with Rizwan as opener.Shaheen insisted Babar dropping down the order did not mean Pakistan valued him any less, dismissing the idea he was struggling with the bat. “I don’t think Babar’s form is bad. He’s the best, and he’s scored so many runs I don’t even know anymore. A few innings make no difference. As a player and a captain, he’s performed well for Pakistan. He’s always our best player.”The other notable point of interest for Shaheen concerns his own workload, with the T20 captain saying he had missed the third Test against Australia earlier this month because the medical team deemed the chances of an injury too significant to play him in a game that was inconsequential to the series.With Australia having taken a 2-0 lead, Shaheen had bowled 99.2 overs across that period, far more than any other bowler from either side. Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez said Shaheen’s body was sore, and could not be risked, though the decision did come in for heavy criticism from several former Pakistan legends, most notably Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.Shaheen Afridi bowled nearly 100 overs in the first two Tests against Australia•Icon Sportswire/Getty Images”I played Tests after a few months and played two Tests,” Shaheen said. “Test cricket is not easy – I bowled 100 [99.2] overs. My body was sore and there was a chance of injury, so I think the team management and medical panel decided I should take a rest – they didn’t want to see me injured again.”Test cricket is my first priority. Everyone loves Test cricket. When I start[ed] my cricket journey, I played T20Is and ODI. My older brother [Riaz Afridi] who played one Test for Pakistan said, ‘when you play Test cricket, you’re a proper cricketer’. My first goal is always to prioritise Test cricket. That’s the first priority for every cricketer. When you play the shorter format, it’s easier on your body.”I’m fit now. I bowled too much in the two Tests and the fatigue was immense. If we had the opportunity to win the series, I believe I would have played, because I love Test cricket and it is my priority.”But the need to nurse Shaheen back to a higher level of fitness – his pace continues to hover in the early 130s kph since he returned from his previous injury (knee) – also means he is unlikely to play each of the five T20Is Pakistan play in New Zealand. “I do not want to miss any game, but what the body requirements is [are] means there might be challenges. I want to play every game for my country.”The more immediate challenge, though, concerns the dimensions at Eden Park in Auckland, where the sides play the first T20I against New Zealand. The ground is a multi-purpose venue, its other most notable function being playing host to the All Blacks, New Zealand’s rugby side. The shape of the ground means the straight boundaries are famously short; the shortest distance from batter to rope can be as little as 45m. It is something Shaheen, a bowler who likes to pitch it up and look for swing, is keenly aware of, and hinted at a change of tactic.”The straight boundary is very small, to be honest, not easy [to defend]. For me, I like to bowl full so it’s tough. The square boundary is bigger so we’ll adjust our team plan to that. But it’s not easy for fast bowlers; we’ll see what fast bowlers in the past have done so we’ll do our best.”For me this is an exciting challenge and a proud moment. It’s not easy, a new challenge. We have a good track record against New Zealand but they’re an excellent T20 side.”Earlier in the day, Kane Williamson and Afridi unveiled the series trophy at Albert Park, the spot where the flower guardians encircle the central fountain – the place for the photoshoot. Williamson sat down for his press conference before Afridi, with New Zealand making sure he wrapped up to not keep Afridi waiting for too long. The familiarity with which the two greeted one another is indicative of the frequency with which their paths cross, but the traditional welcome Pakistan received reminded Afridi of a time when he was in New Zealand during his Under-19 days.”That [the welcome] was a really good experience,” Afridi said, his face lighting up at the memory. “We had a similar welcome at the 2018 World Cup when we came here. I wasn’t in the team then, but as a touring group we really liked it. It was an awesome experience this time, too, we enjoyed it. Thank you to New Zealand Cricket and to all of New Zealand.”Afridi isn’t just in the team now, but very much the main character. And while that brings with it burdens and claustrophobic expectations in Pakistan, kicking it off with a powhiri at Orakei marae is a friendlier reception than he will get some days.

“If someone wants to axe you, you might as well go and throw your bat,” he says after his place in the side has been under scrutiny this season

Deivarayan Muthu20-Jan-2024Tamil Nadu’s N Jagadeesan had a record-breaking 2022-23 Vijay Hazare Trophy, but he suddenly fell off the radar. He was no longer the state team’s first-choice keeper in the most recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and failed to make the IPL 2024 auction shortlist.Then, after a quiet Vijay Hazare Trophy this season, he was demoted down the order in the Ranji Trophy. He batted at Nos. 7 and 8 in Tamil Nadu’s Ranji opener against Gujarat in Valsad. But, despite the recent setbacks, Jagadeesan refuses to take a backward step. Returning to the top of the order at his hometown Coimbatore, Jagadeesan cracked an unbeaten 245 off 402 balls – his maiden first-class double-century and the highest score by a Tamil Nadu keeper in the Ranji Trophy – against Railways. Jagadeesan’s predecessor Dinesh Karthik had previously scored 213 against Uttar Pradesh back in 2008-09.”It was definitely a big mental battle, to be honest. Because things are not the same like last year,” Jagadeesan said after the first day’s play. “The coach is different, everybody is different. So, people have different opinions and can be a bit judgmental at times, but I was very clear in my head, saying I shouldn’t take anything personally.”It was just up to me and no one else. It was to be as clear as possible because two tournaments have just gone by. It was just about going and expressing myself and not worrying about getting dropped or not scoring runs. Might as well get dropped by showing intent.”Jagadeesan understands that it is his strength to bat with attacking enterprise. He has a wide range of shots in his repertoire – he once stunned Shane Watson with a switch-hit at an IPL trial with Royal Challengers Bangalore – and doesn’t want to hold himself back. All up, he hit 25 fours and four sixes against Railways.

“Two tournaments have just gone by and there’s nothing more to lose than to worry about things that are uncontrollable. Playing defensive, tight or [stubborn] – that’s not my game as well. If someone wants to axe you, you might as well go and throw your bat”N Jagadeesan

“My mindset was pretty clear,” he said. “It was to have intent from ball one. I mean you need to put the bowler under pressure. If you’re able to put some fielders on the boundary line, singles and doubles get easier. Once you start running hard, there will always be two different batters playing the bowler. So, the chances of getting runs are a lot more.”Jagadeesan insisted that he will continue to bat in similar fashion, though his place in the side has been under scrutiny since the start of this domestic season.”To be honest, after last year, since the first match of this season, I don’t know for what reason there was an axe on my head,” he said. “Two tournaments have just gone by and there’s nothing more to lose than to worry about things that are uncontrollable. Playing defensive, tight or (stubborn) – that’s not my game as well. If someone wants to axe you, you might as well go and throw your bat.”Was Jagadeesan surprised by the IPL snub? “No, not really,” he said. “It was pretty clear – they (Tamil Nadu) didn’t make me start in the T20 tournament (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy). I also made up my mind saying even if I don’t get picked, there’s nobody in the world who is going to stop me from playing cricket. I started playing the game because I love the sport and it doesn’t matter which level you play at. No matter what, I am still going to play cricket.”In their last game against Tripura, Tamil Nadu had two rookies opening the batting, with B Sai Sudharsan away with the India A team and Jagadeesan sliding down the order. Jagadeesan’s return to the top gives Tamil Nadu’s batting line-up more experience and stability. Though Jagadeesan is ready to bat anywhere for the team, his preference is to open and front up against the new ball.”I think that (batting down the order) is what the team needed at the time. So, I was happy to be at that position as well,” he said. “Even now the team wanted me to open, so I’m really happy about that but given a choice I’d like to bat up [the order]. I was really happy and thanks to Sai [Kishore, Tamil Nadu captain] for making me open.”As an opener, it (the challenge) is always there when you face the new ball. When it (day’s play) starts at 9.30 [am], the wicket is also fresh, and the bowlers are fresh. Everybody is fresh, so I think it was very important for me to make sure that I had my focus 100% and it was also an opportunity for me to do something up the order. I was keen on focusing on each and every ball and staying committed to each and every ball.”Jagadeesan’s daddy hundred at his hometown – where he has “literally grown up” – has set Tamil Nadu up for their first outright win, which could shake up the Group C points table.