With a bit of help from the conditions in Harare, Barinder Sran was showing what the selectors had seen in him when they included him in the squad for that Australia tour earlier this year

Karthik Krishnaswamy11-Jun-2016Full, angling across the right-hander, swinging back in.. In his first tour as an India player, in an unforgiving Australian summer, Barinder Sran may have forgotten what swing looked like or felt like. He was still in the southern hemisphere now, but five months had passed, and this was Zimbabwean winter, an early morning start, and that mysterious atmospheric alchemy had got to work on his very first ball.It curled back in, late, and Chamu Chibhabha was in no position to play it. The bowler’s angle, from left-arm over, had dragged Chibhabha’s front leg across towards the off side, searching for the off drive. Chibhabha’s front leg had now become a barrier between the incoming ball and his bat. Denied a straight-line path, he had to bring his bat around and across, and by then he was too late. The ball struck his pad, low, as he overbalanced, falling over to the off side.It was the plumbest of lbws, and only Russell Tiffin, the umpire, didn’t think so.On his first ODI tour, Sran played three matches and took three wickets at an average of 56.66 while conceding 6.45 an over. It was a series played on flat Australian pitches where 300 was an inadequate, undefendable total.In Sran’s first two matches, George Bailey scored 112 and 76 not out. Sran should have had Bailey caught behind, down the leg side, off the very first ball he bowled to him, in Perth, but the Indian fielders barely appealed, and Richard Kettleborough ruled it not out. In those two matches, Bailey scored 37 off the 26 balls he faced from Sran.In that series, Bailey was experimenting with a new, unconventional stance, with his front shoulder pointing to extra cover and his front leg further across to the off side than his back leg. It proved wildly successful, and helped him cover the left-armer’s angle particularly well, but everything was simply going across him, with no change in direction. A bit of swing back in, and Bailey might have found himself uncomfortably, and dangerously, closed off. Like Chibhabha.Or like Peter Moor, who, off the last ball of that Sran over, got into a similarly closed-off position, and missed the inswinger as he tried desperately to play across his front pad. This time Tiffin raised his finger.Fifteen years ago, India took a 22-year-old left-arm quick to Zimbabwe, for his first full tour. In two Test matches against a far better Zimbabwe side, he picked up 11 wickets at 19.72, and much of his success was the result of the ball that swerved wickedly into the right-handers.Sran is a year older than Ashish Nehra was in 2001. He isn’t as quick or as skiddy, and is at a rawer stage of his development. But here, now, with a bit of help from the conditions, he was showing what the selectors had seen in him when they included him in the squad for that Australia tour. He has a long way to go, but he sure can swing it.

England continue to have questions over their top order but a few players enhanced their reputations against Sri Lanka

George Dobell14-Jun-20169.5James Anderson (21 wickets at 10.80)After a modest series in South Africa, Anderson was back to something approaching his best in more familiar conditions. Surgical in exploiting helpful conditions in the first three innings of the series, he also impressed in unhelpful conditions in the second innings in Durham. 21 wickets at 10.80 apiece is exceptional by any standards. Indeed, it was the best by an England bowler taking 20 wickets in a series since Derek Underwood claimed 24 at 9.16 in 1969. Had a strong claim to be Man of the Series.7.5Chris Woakes (105 runs at 52.50, 8 wickets at 18.75)Took the opportunity offered by the absence of Stokes with a maiden half-century and eight wickets at an average of 18.75. The quickest member of the England attack, he also demonstrated the control and skill to suggest he could be a useful member – perhaps in a supporting role – of the pack of England pace bowlers. Only Anderson and Angelo Mathews conceded fewer runs per over in the series. Conditions will not always be this helpful, but Woakes did look more comfortable for playing two Tests in succession. A very strong understudy.Jonny Bairstow (387 runs at 129.00, 19 catches)Outstanding with the bat; inconsistent with the gloves. With two centuries and an average of 129, Bairstow helped England rebuild amid those familiar top-order failings and did so at such a pace that it snatched the game away from Sri Lanka and resulted in him winning Man of the Series. A combination of his improvement, the moving ball and the excellence of England’s seamer helped him finish with 19 catches, too – a new record for an England keeper in a three-Test series – but he also missed four chances including a stumping standing-up to the spinner. Bearing in mind England’s schedule in Asia later in the year, that remains a worry. His points were awarded on the basis that he gained 9/10 for his batting and 6/10 for his keeping.Alex Hales (292 runs at 58.40)Solid progress. With three half-centuries in five innings, Hales showed greater assurance around off stump and finished the series as England’s second highest run-scorer. If there were times he took the wrong attacking options against spin, he showed he was learning from his mistakes with his innings of 94 at Lord’s. That maiden century still eludes him, but to have established himself in the side and helped England to a series win still represents a fine start to the international summer.Stuart Broad (12 wickets at 24.58)Bowled well – and sometimes without reward – in a support role. Didn’t quite have the impact of Anderson, but 12 wickets at 24.16 is very good.After passing 10,000 runs, Alastair Cook had his best Test of the series at Lord’s•Getty Images7Alastair Cook (212 runs at 70.66)A couple of not outs – both times with his score in the 40s – boosted Cook’s series average above 70. While that perhaps doesn’t fully reflect some slightly tentative batting in the opening couple of innings, any series which ends in a comfortable victory and sees him pass 10,000 Test runs can only be viewed as a success. He will be tested far more as a captain, but there were signs – not least the declaration at Lord’s and the decision to open the bowling with Woakes at the start of day three in the same match – which showed he is continuing to grow into the leadership.6Steven Finn (seven wickets at 28.14)While not absolutely at his best – he endured a disappointing second innings in Durham, in particular, and his pace is some distance from what it was – Finn still claimed seven wickets at an average of 28.14. Encouragingly, with the wicket at Durham playing ever more slowly, he dismissed a well-set opening batsman (Kashual Silva) with a short ball and seemed to be inching back towards his best at Lord’s. An improving batsman, he faced more balls than Compton or Vince in the series.5.5Moeen Ali (189 runs at 63, two wickets at 90)Contributed his highest Test score to help England to victory in Durham, but bowled only 48 overs and claimed only two wickets in a series dominated by the seamers. Still gives the impression of struggling to adapt to the demands of batting at No. 8 – he was dismissed in the second innings at Lord’s attempting to set-up the declaration and at Headingley with an odd waft – and conceded his runs at a slightly high rate of 3.75 per over.It was an unconvincing start for James Vince but deserves a longer run•Getty Images4.5Joe Root (87 runs at 21.75)With just one half-century in four innings, this was a surprisingly modest series for Root. There is some mitigation: he received an unplayable delivery in the second innings at Lord’s and only batted four times. But he will know he was guilty of a couple of poor strokes – especially in Leeds and Durham – and be frustrated at his failure to convert his 80 in the second Test into a century. Realistically, though, this was probably nothing more than a blip after a prolonged run of outstanding form.2James Vince (54 runs at 13.50)An unconvincing start. Vince averaged just 13.50 and dropped a couple of chances. It is too early to draw conclusions – he has had only four innings, after all – but batting is only likely to grow harder with Pakistan to face next. Bowled in both innings at Lord’s – leaving the ball the second time around – the suspicion is growing that England may have picked the prettiest applicant for the job rather than the best. Deserves a longer run to prove himself, though.Nick Compton (51 runs at 12.75)Given three Tests in which to prove himself, Compton was unable to take advantage and has surely now played the last international cricket of his career. Tentative footwork and hard hands were probably the manifestations of his anxiety but, having failed to reach 30 in his last 10 Test innings (one of which was a not out), he cannot really complain when the axe falls.N/ABen StokesAble to bat just once and bowl only seven overs before injury intervened, Stokes had little chance to make an impact in this series.

Stats highlights from the second day in Centurion, which South Africa dominated with bat and ball

S Rajesh28-Aug-20162 Number of times teams have scored more than 481, which was South Africa’s total here, in the first innings of a Test in Centurion. Both scores were by South Africa against West Indies – 604 for 6 declared in 2004, and 552 for 5 declared in 2014.154 Overs bowled by New Zealand in South Africa’s first innings; only eight times have they bowled more in the first innings after winning the toss and putting the opposition in. Their highest is also against South Africa: they bowled 200.1 overs in Auckland in 1999.2 Instances of the top five South Africa batsmen all scoring 50 or more in a Test innings – the only previous instance before this Test was also in Centurion, against India in 2010, when South Africa declared at 620 for 4 after bowling India out for 136. Overall in Test cricket teams have achieved this 23 times.16 Innings without a Test century for Faf du Plessis before his unbeaten 112 here. In those 16 innings he averaged 21.25, with only two half-centuries. His last hundred before this Test was in December 2014, when he made 103 against West Indies in Port Elizabeth.16.76 JP Duminy’s Test average in his last 14 innings before this one, stretching back to July 2014: he had only one half-century in this period – 55 against Zimbabwe in August 2014.95.66 Du Plessis’ average against New Zealand: in four innings against them he has scored 287 runs, including two hundreds.18.69 Neil Wagner’s bowling average in Tests in 2016: he has taken 26 wickets in five Tests, with three five-fors. Among bowlers who have taken at least ten wickets this year, only Mitchell Starc (15.16) has a better average.54 Wickets for Wagner in 11 Tests since the start of 2014; he has averaged 22.96 during this period, and taken his wickets at a strike rate of 44.2. In his first 12 Tests, he averaged 37.94 and had a strike rate of 66.6, while taking 39 wickets.10.83 Martin Guptill’s Test average in South Africa: in six innings he has scored only 65 runs, with 48 of them coming in one innings. In his other five innings, his scores are 1, 0, 1, 7 and 8.

Plays of the Day from the first ODI between England and Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl

Alan Gardner at the Ageas Bowl24-Aug-2016The comeback
It has been a while since Mark Wood took that distinctive sprint-relay starting position at the top of his mark in international cricket. Fit again to play for England after a 10-month absence, his first delivery was clocked at 90.5mph and thudded into Sharjeel Khan’s pads as he hung back on the crease; the next drew him forwards and zipped past the outside edge. Sharjeel would not be cowed, rifling a pull for four and picking up another boundary inside-edged past his stumps; but Wood’s gears were now oiled, his speed pushing 93mph, and he struck in his third over, a feathered edge on another attempted pull. Wood had his first England wicket since Mohammad Hafeez nicked to slip in the Dubai Test last October.The spinner
There had been some talk of England playing Liam Dawson, the local boy, as their third spinner at the Ageas Bowl but in the end they settled for three quicks alongside Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali. But it was neither of the established slow bowlers that Eoin Morgan turned to after the Powerplay, with Joe Root thrown the ball instead. Root had bowled only three overs in his previous 13 ODIs but settled into a four-over spell that included the wicket of Hafeez, carelessly sweeping to deep backward square – Root’s first since the World Cup game against Scotland in Christchurch last year.The failed review I
The hot technology topic in this series is the decision by the ICC to trial front-foot no-balls being called by the third umpire – but the wait goes on for that slice of history. Instead, the early stages of Pakistan’s innings were marked by gambles with the DRS. Sharjeel seemed to think he had not hit the ball but Snickometer detected a faint edge; that burned review then came back to singe Babar Azam, when a clear inside edge was not detected by Simon Fry, who gave him out lbw off Rashid. With no reviews left, Azam had to lump it.The failed review II
England also lost their one recourse to the DRS when reviewing a not-out lbw decision against Hafeez in the 10th over. Liam Plunkett’s delivery was judged to be only clipping leg stump, although it might have been overturned under the forthcoming change to the guidelines for umpire’s call and lbws, which will increase the area in which half the ball must be deemed to be hitting the stumps from October 1.The dismissal
Mohammad Amir quickly marked out Alex Hales as something of a red-ball rabbit during the Test series, removing him in four innings out of eight and constantly making demands on the opener’s judgement outside off stump. An early slash for four through the covers against the less frolicsome white ball suggested Hales was more at home back in this format – he has three ODI hundreds in the last year – but the very next ball, Amir found the outside edge of Hales’ bat, only for it to fall short of second slip. Three overs later, Hales steered Umar Gul to slip as if offering catching practice and the search for some form continued.The salvo
Gul made his ODI comeback after more than a year out of the side in Dublin last week, picking up 3 for 23 in a gentle workout, and it was quickly apparent that Jason Roy was keen to make his acquaintance. Gul’s second ball was only slightly leg-side but that was enough for Roy to whip it wristily away in front of square; the fourth was again too straight and again squired though midwicket; the fifth even more respectable but creamed off the back foot with fast hands and a straight bat through cover point, only a couple of yards to the left of the fielder but giving him no chance. Welcome to West End.The drop
Roy suffered a dizzy spell a few overs into the chase but, after being attended to by the physio, he decided to carry on. Shortly after, he top-edged a hurried pull high towards square leg off Amir and looked set to be given a break to collect his thoughts. However, despite Gul being perfectly placed to take the catch, Sarfraz Ahmed raced enthusiastically to his left, cap flying off his head as he gazed skywards and made clear it was all his. But the ball swirled a little, Sarfraz only got fingertips to a diving effort and Amir had suffered to latest drop of a luckless summer, in which at least seven chances had gone down off his bowling. The dizziness was catching.The captain’s call
England were costing along at 158 for 2 in the 28th over, with Root adding a measured half-century to follow Roy’s pyrotechnics, when Eoin Morgan decided to liven things up. A dab into the covers off Amir was met with an immediate call of a single, only for Azhar to race in, collect the ball on the bounce and throw down the stumps with Root well short of his ground. The captain’s call had met with a captain’s response.

From being pulled up for a suspect bowling action earlier this year, the 17-year old has rebounded to become the youngest player to take a five-wicket haul in T20s

Mohammad Isam03-Dec-2016Until Saturday afternoon, Afif Hossain was a virtual unknown who had trained with the Rajshahi Kings franchise in Mirpur. A few coaches and local scouts knew him from the group of Under-19 players who are training for the upcoming Asia Cup, which will be held in Sri Lanka later this month. It took Afif only four overs to announce himself on the big stage.Primarily an opening batsman, Afif claimed 5 for 21 with his offspin for Rajshahi against Chittagong Vikings in the Bangladesh Premier League, becoming the first Bangladeshi to pick up a five-wicket haul on T20 debut. At 17 years and 72 days, he also became the youngest bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul in T20s.Brought into the attack in the fifth over, after Rajshahi opted to bowl, he was taken for back-to-back fours by Jahurul Islam, but Afif had the batsman leg-before off the third ball, umpire Nadir Shah giving Jahurul out despite an inside edge.In his next over, Afif bowled Chris Gayle with a full-length delivery for 5 off 15 balls, and let out a huge roar. Afif then took the wickets of Zakir Hasan, caught brilliantly by a diving Sabbir Rahman, and Saqlain Sajib and Imran Khan to complete his five-for.”Wait till you see him bat,” one of Afif’s teammates said, soon after he had finished his four overs.Afif, who recently made three tall scores in Under-19 practice matches, is a big-hitter. His coaches vouch for his batting talent, one of them even went on to say Afif reminded him of a young Tamim Iqbal.Afif, born in September 1999 in Khulna, is a student of the BKSP, Bangladesh’s premier sports institute that has produced many international cricketers including Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan.During the Dhaka First Division Cricket League last year, Afif managed only two wickets in seven matches for his school BKSP.He had been pulled up by the BCB for a suspect bowling action earlier this year, before getting it cleared in September.After the BPL he will re-join the Bangladesh Under-19 set-up to prepare for the Asia Cup. Afif will now be the most well-known member of the Under-19 side.

After having spent a better part of the last seven years on the fringes, the Haryana legspinner is finally graduating from being a short-format option to an all-weather bowler

Arun Venugopal12-Nov-2016Yuzvendra Chahal has built a reputation of being an efficient T20 bowler in the IPL, but making Haryana’s first XI in the Ranji Trophy was a struggle until recently. He debuted in 2009, but it’s only now that he’s finally getting game time, because the side’s two frontline spinners – Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav – are away on national duty. The legspinner has grabbed the opportunity and is currently the third highest-wicket taker in the tournament with 26 scalps.”The responsibility of being the frontline spinner is a good thing because I was mostly branded as a one-day and T20 bowler,” he tells ESPNcricinfo. “It was challenging at the start, but there was a lot of self-belief because I have done well from the IPL (he was Royal Challengers Bangalore’s highest wicket-taker this season) to the Zimbabwe tour with the Indian team. The confidence that comes with playing for India shows in your performance. It is also satisfying to deliver for your captain, coach and the team in the absence of our two big spinners.”At the IPL, Chahal has largely been used as an attacking option by Virat Kohli, and he has delivered most times. At the domestic level, however, his challenges have been to remain consistent through the course of long spells, something he hasn’t been used to, but has learnt on the job. Former India legspinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan said on commentary recently that Chahal was among the country’s best legspinners, and praised Chahal for not overdoing his variations. Chahal attributes the disciplined approach to greater “maturity and awareness.””It’s about my line and length again. When you bottle up the scoring, you put pressure on the batsmen because he has to score runs ultimately,” Chahal, who has played three matches or more in a season just once, in 2011-12, explains. “You have to continuously keep bowling on a spot. There comes a time when you know that the batsmen is about to try something, and that’s when you use your variation and try to deceive him.”You can’t try too hard for wickets in [multiple] days cricket because your patience is constantly tested here. For your part, you need to test the batsmen’s patience. First, I need to patiently settle down into a good line and length in my first spell, and then try my variations. Often you go wicketless for 20 overs, but by the time you come to the end of your spell you have five wickets in 30 overs.”Chahal calls IPL 2014, where he picked up 12 wickets from 14 games, a turning point in his career. He followed up that season with 23 wickets in 2015. This season, he was the tournament’s second-highest wicket-taker behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar. “In the IPL, I go for wickets a lot more. If you see, I have been hit for two big sixes, but I’ve come back to get the batsmen out,” he says. “Leg-spinners are by nature wicket-taking bowlers, and that was what I was told to do by my coaches there, although tactics depended on the game’s situation as well.”Chahal is grateful to RCB coach Daniel Vettori for his technical guidance•BCCIChahal’s is a classical action. He hasn’t been intimidated by the small boundaries at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where his franchise plays its home games, and has instead derived satisfaction at picking wickets despite the obvious disadvantage. “It’s not really about the ground,” he says. “If you bowl well then regardless of the size of the ground you will get wickets, if you bowl badly it will go for a six.”When somebody hits me for a six I don’t look to bowl faster. My strength is to induce the drive by flighting the ball. Virat [Kohli] would support me a lot on the field. It wasn’t like he would get flustered when you are hit for a six; the way he saw it was if the ball went for a six it went off a good ball with the batsmen playing a good shot.”Much of his confidence, he says, is a product of bowling to the likes of Kohli, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson and Chris Gayle in the nets. Frequent conversations with them have helped Chahal get an insight into the minds of world-class batsmen. “Often when you plan what to bowl to them and when they aren’t able to hit you then you know this length is right,” he says. “They would keep telling me if I had to shorten my length or flight the ball more or less. Whenever I bowled to Gayle I would bowl well wide outside off, and work out that if he isn’t able to hit me then I can try this against Warner and the likes.”Chahal is also grateful to coach Daniel Vettori for his technical guidance. “During the IPL, he would immediately tell me when my body was falling over or if my stride was getting longer or if I was rushing through my run up,” he says. “Even recently when I was playing the KSCA tournament I told him about the one or two no balls I bowled. He told me either my stride was getting longer or I was running a touch faster. I communicate with him on Whatsapp all the time.”During the IPL I would watch videos with Vettori sir, Allan Donald sir and Bharath Arun sir and find out a batsman’s strong areas. If somebody plays well through the covers, the idea is to not let him bowl a drive-able length, and for a batsman who sweeps well we would set fields accordingly.”As a result of constantly engaging with the game’s greats, Chahal says there was not much nervousness when he made his international debut in Zimbabwe. He did himself no discredit with six wickets from three ODIs, including a man-of-the-match in his second game, and finished with three scalps in as many T20Is. Chahal says the bonding within the Indian camp made learning a lot more fun.”Mahi [MS Dhoni] would come and we would all play FIFA together [on the Playstation]. Then we would all gather together for dinner and order food from Indian restaurants,” he says. “We also went to watch a movie. So it was a pretty good thing, because we were together not only on the field, but also off it.”Bonding aside, what has he learnt from Dhoni? “Mahi bhai reads both the pitch and the batsmen very well from behind the stumps,” he says. “If I bowled short, he would tell me I could bowl outside [off stump] and vary my pace a bit. If he spotted something he would alert me, ‘yeh batsman kuch karne waala hai abhi’ (The batsman is going to try something now). If I bowl four to five balls well he would say ‘yeh achcha hai, chalne do (this is good, don’t try anything else).”Chahal’s long-term ambition is to play Test cricket, but is aware of the need to turn in consistent performances over a length of time. “There will be lean patches, but it is important to recover from it quickly,” he says. “This is in some ways my first season and I hope I can perform well and take Haryana into the Elite division [Groups A and B]. That’s my primary focus for now.”

KL Rahul stood out for India on the first day of the Bengaluru Test, and he showed how he could change gears against spinners, especially with wickets falling around him

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Bengaluru04-Mar-2017In the nets in the lead-up to the Bengaluru Test, KL Rahul was sweeping and reverse-sweeping pretty much every second ball of spin he faced. It was only to be expected, therefore, that he would try to sweep Nathan Lyon in his first over on the first morning of the Test, and reverse-sweep him in his next over. He ended up missing the sweep and sending the reverse ballooning off the back of his bat towards the vacant – and soon-to-be filled – leg-slip area.KL Rahul on…

Bengaluru pitch
“I think this is pretty much the same wicket we get for Ranji Trophy. Maybe the cracks start to open up at the end of the second day or the third day. But here the wicket was pretty dry and the cracks were prominent. Their bowlers, especially when Starc bowls from over the wicket, creates that rough for Lyon which helps them get that spin and bounce.”
Why it became difficult for India to score
“Once the spinners came on I felt that the wicket was a little damp in the first session. That’s why they were getting some spin and the ball was holding to the wicket. To drive or to go over the top wasn’t really easy. Once the ball got older and there was more rough outside the off stump, Lyon exploits the rough. He kept bowling there consistently and got some purchase out of the wicket.”
Nathan Lyon
“It gets a little difficult to play him if he starts getting some spin and bounce. He was very consistent, kept putting the ball there and kept asking questions. He got the rewards this innings.”
Ashwin potentially emulating Lyon
“That’s the only way we are looking at this match. The cracks are opening up and it’s only getting harder to bat on this wicket. We know Ash is a top-class bowler and once he gets a couple of wickets and gets into that rhythm then he is going to run through the Australian batting line-up, which we are very confident of.”

Lunch was approaching and Rahul, having just entered the forties, was looking a little edgy. On 30, he had been dropped by a diving Peter Handscomb at short mid-off, when he looked to drive Steve O’Keefe and ended up – not for the first time – playing well out in front of his body.India, at that point, were in a relatively solid position, their score 61 for 1 when Rahul played that miscued reverse-sweep. Either side of lunch, however, Lyon sent back Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli and India were far less secure at 88 for 3.Around this point, Rahul changed his approach against the spinners. He shelved the drive, and, barring one lap-sweep that he middled to present a half-chance to leg slip, the sweep as well, and began trusting his defence far more. With both spinners protecting the boundaries towards the direction of their turn, he was content to pick up singles to the deep fielders.It was about the most comfortable that India looked all day. Rahul added 30 with Ajinkya Rahane and 38 with Karun Nair, stumpings terminating both partnerships just as they were promising to grow into serious proportions.”That’s been my responsibility and the gameplan in the last six to eight months. As soon as the spinner comes on, it’s important for an opening batsman to not let him settle. So that’s what I tried to do,” Rahul said at the end of the day’s play, when asked about the thinking behind his change of approach. “The wicket was a little damp so [Lyon] was getting a lot of bounce.”I felt like if I swept I could get the top edge. They had the fielders back right from the first ball. We couldn’t really get the big hits or boundaries. So I looked to play time and tire out the bowlers. We were getting singles pretty easily when I was with Ajinkya and then when Karun came in. Strike was being rotated and we were getting three to four runs [an over] without any risk. That’s when I decided that I’ll be happy with the singles and maybe then they will pull the fielders in and I can take a chance. But that didn’t happen because we kept losing wickets at regular intervals.”KL Rahul fell short of yet another milestone falling on 90 trying to take the spinners on•AFPRahul may have had cause to feel miffed at how Rahane and Nair – who looked more fluent than pretty much every other Indian batsman while scoring 26 off 39 balls – were dismissed, but he was philosophical about it.”Karun and Ajinkya looked set, they were batting on 20 each, and looked set,” Rahul said. “We were getting runs quite easily. Our game plan was to attack the spinners whenever we could but sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. We have to take it in our stride and come back stronger.”Kohli’s dismissal was another point of debate – for the second time in successive innings, he was out not offering a shot to a spinner, this time lbw to Lyon, struck in front of middle stump.”Virat’s ball didn’t spin as much,” Rahul said. “The whole over it was spinning and bouncing and that ball went straight, which can happen.”In the end, Rahul fell ten short of a hundred when, running out of partners, he decided to go after the spinners and spooned Lyon to mid-off. By then, however, he had shown he was capable of batting at more than one gear. He hit eight fours in scoring 48 off 93 balls before lunch, and only one more while scoring a further 42 runs off 112 balls.The two phases of Rahul’s innings seemed like a reverse-chronological microcosm of his career so far: the all-format dasher turning back the clock and transforming into the technically correct, patient accumulator of his early years. At this point in his career, Rahul is still finding the balance between the two approaches, but innings such as this one – or his 158 in Jamaica or his 199 in Chennai – hint at the fully formed batsman he promises to grow into.

Both Steven Smith and Ravindra Jadeja had tried the wrong discipline in international cricket, and had been ridiculed for it. They are at the peak of their careers now. Who will come up on top this series?

Sidharth Monga in Pune22-Feb-2017One of the enduring images of Australia’s last tour of India was Steven Smith facing up to Ravindra Jadeja. In another world, it might have been Jadeja facing up to Smith.People have been building up the similarities between Smith and Virat Kohli, but it’s Jadeja that Smith shares a stronger connection with. Smith was once upon a time supposed to be the next Shane Warne when he made his Test debut as a legspinner against Pakistan and batted at No. 8. Jadeja had scored three triple-centuries in first-class cricket. India had tried to make him bat high in limited-overs cricket. Both Smith and Jadeja had tried the wrong discipline in international cricket, and had been ridiculed for it. In fact Jadeja’s recent Test debut had come on the back those triple-centuries. There were even memes when he struggled with the bat against England.In the 2012-13 series between India and Australia, though, the teams finally realised Smith was primarily a batsman and Jadeja a bowler. Four years later, Smith averages 60 with the bat, and Jadeja is only marginally behind the world’s No. 1 bowler, R Ashwin, on the ICC rankings. Their transformation has made for two of the loveliest stories in cricket over the last four years.Jadeja will now have Smith in his sights, for four years ago he helped start a pattern. Smith’s comeback began in in the third Test of the series as a No. 5 batsman. He scored an impressive 92 before Pragyan Ojha ripped one past his bat to have him stumped. In the next Test, on a rank turner in Delhi, Smith padded up to Jadeja, only to watch the ball go straight on to peg back his stumps. When you get beaten on either edge in such a short period, doubt is bound to creep in.In seven Tests in Asia, Smith has fallen to spin 13 times. Eight of those wickets have been to left-arm spin. On three of those occasions he has been stumped, but on the other five he been either lbw or bowled. That is the dismissal that plays with your mind. Add another one to that list when Yasir Shah got him lbw with a legbreak that didn’t turn. The balls that don’t turn, or the unpredictable amount of turn on the ball after it pitches, gives batsmen little time to adjust off the pitch. That is the biggest challenge for batsmen coming to Asia.Steven Smith was stumped for 92 by Pragyan Ojha in the 2013 Mohali Test•BCCI”I think that’s one of the big challenges of playing spin bowling in Asia is the uncertainty of what the ball’s sort of going to do off the pitch,” Smith said. “Playing spin in Australia, the bounce and the spin is generally pretty consistent. It’s here where there is uncertainties that we can become unstuck as a batter.”The plan obviously has been to make sure you don’t get beaten by the straighter ball. If the ball turns as expected and takes the outside edge, so be it, but the one that doesn’t turn shouldn’t beat your inside edge. “For us it’s ensuring we have a plan to play against the spin of [R] Ashwin, Jadeja and the other spinner that they are going to choose tomorrow,” Smith said. “It’s making sure that you have a plan in place for getting out a certain way almost. You have to be willing to give something up and take out one side of the bat. That’s my view of playing spin bowling. Everyone’s different but the guys have worked hard to develop plans.”Taking out the lbw or bowled is not that simple, though. For once you start playing inside the line, you expose your outside edge and also at times the off stump to ones that might turn sharply. You have to be prepared to cop that and hope you get enough runs before that happens.Smith went on to confirm that “most of the times” you can’t pick the straighter one out of the hand, unlike a legspinner’s googly. If Jadeja is listening, he must be smiling. He has been the No. 2 to Ashwin, both in the ICC rankings and in the Test team, but he has made it a bit of a habit to go after the captain or the No. 1 batsman of the opposition. In the last series against Australia, he dismissed captain Michael Clarke five times out of the six he got out. Against England this season, he took out Alastair Cook six times. When South Africa came to India in 2015-16, he planted several doubts in the heads of two of their batsmen, captain Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis, flattening their stumps as they padded up.It’s the captain again. Smith has had his problems with left-arm spin. If there is any doubt, Jadeja exposes it ruthlessly with his accuracy and his relentlessness. These are two careers that are at their peak after they began to mend almost simultaneously. Over the coming month or so, one of them could hit a temporary bump.

The reactions on Twitter following Pakistan’s close three-wicket win over Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jun-2017Chasing 237, Pakistan’s semi-final hopes were looking up when they were 92 for 1. It started fading as the slide began: 92 for 2… 95 for 3… 110 for 4… 131 for 5… 137 for 6… and eventually 162 for 7. But Sarfraz Ahmed, their captain, and Mohammad Amir combined to see them home, much to the delight of their supporters.

What a wonderful performance from Sarfraz and Amir. Stunning batting under serious pressure. Well done Pakistan Zindabad

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) June 12, 2017

Congratulations Pakistan! This is how cornered tigers fight. Well played @SarfarazA_54. Pakistan all the way! #SLvPAK #CT17

— Inzamam ul Haq (@InziTheLegend) June 12, 2017

#CT2017 @TheRealPCB awww talk about kaboom! Drama galore in Cardiff Congrats to the skipper & Amir of the Green Machine' #ripperPakistan

— Danny Morrison (@SteelyDan66) June 12, 2017

It was such a roller coaster ride. Incredible effort from the entire team but @SarfarazA_54 knock was the cherry on the top. #SLvPAK #CT17

— Mushtaq Ahmed (@Mushy_online) June 12, 2017

Good to see Pakistan team into semi finals brilliant allround performance by @iamamirofficial & congrats to debutant Fahim Ashraf.good luck

— Kamran Akmal (@KamiAkmal23) June 12, 2017

Wow great inng by the skipper @SarfarazA_54 well supported by @iamamirofficial.its all abt believe,good luck for the semi final

— sohail tanveer (@sohailmalik614) June 12, 2017

Great win! Congratulations to all @SarfarazA_54 @RealPCB_Live #ChampionsTrophy2017 #SrivsPak

— Umar Akmal (@Umar96Akmal) June 12, 2017

@SarfarazA_54 you Beauty!!!!
Congratulations Pakistan #PAKvsSL

— Muhammad Wasim (@MuhammadWasim77) June 12, 2017

Before his composure with the bat, Mohammad Amir had begun the slide in Sri Lanka’s innings, removing the two set batsmen in Angelo Mathews and Niroshan Dickwella.

This victory is for the nation. This victory is for Pakistan. Nothing can beat you when you play with vigour,… https://t.co/R9GqwTmXTT

— Mohammad Amir (@iamamirofficial) June 12, 2017

Sri Lanka would rue the chances they missed on the field.

Disappointing loss. At the end forget @OfficialSLC batting or bowling the fielding let the team down badly. It was there to be won.

— Kumar Sangakkara (@KumarSanga2) June 12, 2017

Like I said at the start it was important to nail the basics for @OfficialSLC to win.

— Kumar Sangakkara (@KumarSanga2) June 12, 2017

Great fight back by the bowlers led by Lasith Malinga and @Angelo69Mathews. @OfficialSLC will be thinking for sure about what might've been

— Kumar Sangakkara (@KumarSanga2) June 12, 2017

Disappointing loss today for @OfficialSLC hard to take that all in. @TheRealPCB took there chances and got over the line.

— Allan Donald (@AllanDonald33) June 12, 2017

Lasith Malinga tried his best to fashion a win but his efforts seemed futile as Sarfraz Ahmed was dropped twice in six balls off his bowling.

Malinga's great strength was bowled and lbw. With reduced pace, has to rely on fielders and has been let down very badly

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) June 12, 2017

Catches win matches might be cliche….but it still holds true. Don't believe me? Ask Sri Lanka and Malinga. #CT17 #PakvSA

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) June 12, 2017

Malinga was the key match winner when SL had that great run in global events. He might not play in 2019. Didn’t deserve to go out like this.

— Andrew F Fernando (@andrewffernando) June 12, 2017

Was Sri Lanka’s performance one of the worst seen on the field in recent times?

Sri Lanka's players can now wash the butter off their fingers. Haven't seen such nervousness, so many mistakes in an ODI

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) June 12, 2017

Great match,but Sri Lanka pathetic in the field. One of the worst fielding performances ever at International level. Congrats Pak.#PAKvSL

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) June 12, 2017

The win extended Pakistan’s dominance over Sri Lanka in big tournaments.

Pakistan have beaten Sri Lanka in 10 out of 11 games in ICC ODI tournaments. Seven out of seven in WCs. Three out of four in CTs. #CT17

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) June 12, 2017

The match was surely the best in the group phase of a tournament that had too many lacklustre contests.

There isn't a dull moment when Pakistan is playing cricket…ICC should consider charging more for their games. Too much excitement. #CT17

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) June 12, 2017

CONGRATS PAKISTAN!!

Retweet if u had any mini heart attacks whilst watching Pak today!!! #PAKvSL

— Maz Bonafide (@MazBONAFIDE) June 12, 2017

Time for apologies?

All those who abused the PCB and Team Pakistan last week should say SORRY.

— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) June 12, 2017

Pakistan meet hosts England, one of the tournament favourites, in the semi-finals. Will it again be their day?

Do you think England have one bad batting day in them and Pakistan one good one? #CT17

— Bazid Khan (@bazidkhan81) June 12, 2017

Australia’s 2-1 series defeat in India has plenty of echoes from history; various sides have responded to such hard-fought results in starkly contrasting manners

Daniel Brettig29-Mar-2017A fledgling team wins a shattering early victory over the world’s No. 1 side, then fights them all the way to the deciding Test of the series, where they fall mentally and physically to earth, frustratingly short of a seismic result. The script of Australia’s narrowly failed Indian campaign has been played out at other times in Test history, with a signal lesson: longer-term success is far from guaranteed.Perhaps the greatest parallel for Steven Smith’s team sits with the England side that ventured to the Caribbean in 1989-90 for a meeting with Viv Richards’ seemingly unbeatable West Indies. Preparing judiciously and selecting a team for the expected conditions under the stolid leadership of Graham Gooch, England beat the hosts at their own pace-oriented game on a rapid pitch in Jamaica to start the series, and fell only narrowly to a 2-1 defeat by the end.As Wisden noted: “The essential weakness of any statistical record is that it can reflect neither circumstance nor injustice. A potted summary of England’s Test series in the Caribbean, early in 1990, indicates merely that they lost 2-1, with one match drawn and the other abandoned. In years to come, that stark scoreline may be read to mean that England did slightly better than anticipated. The truth of the matter is that at worst they merited a shared series, and at best an unimaginable upset of the world champions of Test Cricket.”For a team that, like Smith’s, had suffered enormous humiliation just a matter of months before – the 4-0 Ashes hiding of 1989 – this seemed a new dawn under Gooch, with a gaggle of young players eager to work hard after the fashion of their captain. Yet the success that followed was fleeting at best; a firm home summer against New Zealand and India followed by another pasting in Australia the following winter. England would not defeat the West Indies for another decade, and left the Ashes in Australian hands until 2005.One reason for England’s struggles was that the single-minded approach taken to the West Indies tour was not effectively followed up in terms of structure or philosophy. England team selection and talent identification remained shambolic for years afterwards, despite plenty of efforts to change things by Gooch and his successor Michael Atherton. By the time England did start to get things right, Gooch had long since passed into retirement.The other pathway for a team that gets close to victory over the world’s best is that followed by Australia three years after the 1990 series. Allan Border’s men got within two runs of pinching the Frank Worrell Trophy from Richie Richardson’s team in Australia in 1992-93, before falling short by that familiar 2-1 margin. Instead of falling back like England, they followed up, and under a new captain in Mark Taylor were able to win in the Caribbean in 1995 to set-up their own decade ofdominance. That series, also 2-1, began with a strong opening win, a subsequent West Indian challenge, then a commanding Australian performance in the decider.David Warner’s poor form away from home continued on the tour of India•AFPLike Gooch, and Smith, Taylor had the rough outline of how to win, and a fair idea of the areas in which his team had to improve. Positive batting that refused to be cowed by West Indian intimidation; sharp and aggressive fielding; and a combination of disciplined pace bowling and wrist spin. Australia lost in January 1993 largely because they were unable to assert themselves from a position of dominance, a symptom of self-belief that still had some growing to do.Unlike Gooch’s England, Smith and the coach Darren Lehmann have a sound and well-resourced Australian cricket system to support the team, and the thorough Dubai preparation for this India tour is likely to be replicated on future Asian visits. Like Taylor, Smith will have a potent bowling attack at his disposal for years to come, personified by the ample pace and variety of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson, with worthy support from Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe where applicable.The challenge ahead for Smith is two-fold. Broadly, he must find a way to ensure his team make the most of the sorts of opportunities presented in India. This is a mental hurdle above all else: no-one gave the Australians a chance of toppling India in this series and, in the moments where they genuinely could have done, it appeared that they did not quite believe it either.A more confident and seasoned team would not have blinked on days two and three in Bengaluru, nor day three in Dharamsala. The stand between Mark and Steve Waugh in Jamaica in 1995, right when that series could have swung either way, is the sort of display Smith’s men could not quite conjure against India. Finding that sort of mental fortitude at the end of a long series, when bodies and minds are tired, was a task beyond a young team, but something to aim for in future contests.More pointedly, Smith and Lehmann need to sit down with several of their team and work out the best approach they can take to contribute to victories at home or away. Chief among these is the vice-captain David Warner, whose failure to offer the sort of runs Smith managed should be cause for plenty of introspection.After Ranchi, Warner remarked that his overseas troubles were merely a statistical quirk, but an unbroken wait of nearly three years for a hundred away from home speaks pretty loudly to the contrary. Smith stated before the series that both captain and deputy needed to make big runs for Australia to be a chance. It was one of several prescient observations.There is one example of which Warner can take note: Nathan Lyon. After last year’s ignoble Sri Lanka tour, Lyon was far from assured of even being selected for India, let alone playing all four Tests. At the same time he was fighting to maintain his place with gradually improving displays over the home summer, Lyon worked assiduously on plans and techniques for India, all of which he would showcase in holding his own against his opposite number R Ashwin over the four Tests. When Lehmann said of Lyon’s Dharamsala spell that it was “the best I have ever seen him bowl for Australia”, the praise was both rich and deserved.So for Warner and Australia the way ahead is clear. Whether or not the 2017 India tour is seen as the start of a drive to sustained success, a la Border/Taylor, or simply an anomalous near-miss, per Gooch, will depend largely on how closely they choose to follow it.