All posts by h716a5.icu

Much of the talk around the series has focused on pitches, but it is Sri Lanka’s resilient middle order that has consistently thwarted Australia’s plans. It was no different in Colombo

Daniel Brettig13-Aug-2016On the eve of this match, Sri Lanka’s captain Angelo Mathews had a pointed message for those who sought to attribute his side’s series win purely to spinning pitches and Australian unfamiliarity with same. “I’m hearing that the Aussies have not played good cricket, and the wickets were poor – I mean, come on, you’ve got to grow up. We play on the same wicket.”Within minutes of Mathews saying these words, the touring press corps were invited by the Australian team to pay a visit to the centre of the SSC ground in Colombo for a close look at the latest tinder-dry pitch prepared for them. The clear implication was that the surface would once again do plenty for spin, and that it would struggle to last the distance. Another spoiler for the pacemen.But events on day one of the third Test served to underline Mathews’ point rather better than it did that of the touring team. Yes the SSC pitch was extremely dry, and yes it took spin from the very first ball delivered by Nathan Lyon. Yet the conditions were not exactly treacherous, offering little by way of variable bounce, and catered to batsmen prepared to play with application, skill and occasional moments of flair. In Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka had those batsmen.By way of quantifying how well these two played, Australia had arguably their best bowling day of the series. Runs were scored at a far less rapid rate, fields were clever but not over-attacking, and the pre-lunch spell when Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon combined artfully was as threatening as two Australian bowlers have looked together since Josh Hazlewood and Steve O’Keefe on day one at Pallekele. Lyon found a disconcerting pace with useful turn early on, though for the balance of the day his line was perhaps fractionally too straight, allowing plenty of balls to be worked around the corner.”Personally I’ve learned a lot in this series and I’m adapting,” Lyon said. “You can still see my stock off break creating chances but they just weren’t carrying to bat pad. The best way I’d describe it is I’m adapting to learning how to bowl on the subcontinent.”Jon Holland too delivered a performance much improved on his nervous showing in Galle, dropping the ball onto the right length and varying his degree of turn nicely. On the evidence he offered here, Holland deserves a more consistent commission for Victoria over the home summer, and serious consideration for India next year. If a wicket or two was missing from his analysis, it was not through a lack of chances created. Peter Nevill could not accept an edge from Dhananjaya’s groping blade in mid-afternoon, not long after a skier fell tantalisingly short of mid-on running back with the flight. A facile appeal for a return catch via the boot of silly point was laughed off.What will frustrate the Australians is the fact that Sri Lanka have been by far the more resilient of the two batting orders. A morning scoreline of 26 for 5 followed earlier starts of 67 for 5, 86 for 4, 9 for 2 and 98 for 5. Australia’s bowlers have not, all told, done a bad job, but their efforts to snuff out the Sri Lankan batting have been met by stiffening resistance with every innings since the first. Of course it was Kusal Mendis who showed the way with a series-defining hundred in Pallekele, but he has been followed by Mathews, Dhananjaya and Dilruwan Perera. It is a philosophy of Darren Lehmann that a batting line-up need only make enough runs to allow the bowlers room to take 20 wickets. Sri Lanka’s middle-order batsmen have followed it grandly.”I daresay if you look at the whole series that’s a big key in Sri Lanka being 2-0 up in the series,” Lyon said. “The ability for their batsmen to bat in partnerships and for a long period of time. We’ve all spoken about it and our batters have got their own plans to come out in this Test match and hopefully put them into play and bat for long periods. That’s Test match cricket.”Intriguingly, Australia’s selection for the Colombo Test reflected mounting discontent with the touring top order, even though Sri Lanka’s first three batsmen have been, if anything, even less productive. Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja paid a heavy price for their failures in Tests one and two, replaced by a pair of older cricketers in Moises Henriques and Shaun Marsh. These two were ostensibly the spare batsmen on tour, though Henriques is more an allrounder with precious few recent Sheffield Shield runs behind him. The methods he and Marsh offer will fascinate, given the team’s commitment to a more aggressive game has now been faced with a counterpoint from Dhananjaya and Chandimal.Lyon offered a somewhat testy response when asked about the changes. “That’s a selector’s question,” he said. “I’ve got no say in it, all I’ve got to do is support each and every one of those guys in the change room, and I’ll do that until the day I die. SOS and Mo have definitely got my support, but so do Burnsy and Uz. It’s a tough call, but that’s why the selectors get paid the big dollars.”Dropping two seemingly settled members of the Australian top six just two Test matches into a new season was a momentous decision given the need for all antipodean batsmen to learn as much as possible in these conditions. Both Burns and Khawaja may now doubt their chances of going to India in the new year, no matter how many runs they make in Australia during the summer.But the move away from the current top six had as much to do with Sri Lanka’s greater resilience as with Australian troubles with spinning surfaces. Make no mistake, this series has been won by the home team, not by their pitches.

ESPNcricinfo looks at five talking points from the England-Sri Lanka ODI series

Andrew McGlashan in Cardiff02-Jul-2016Finn not so much the attack leaderIt has been a tricky summer so far for Steven Finn. He was told by Trevor Bayliss to channel his frustrations on being withdrawn from the World T20 through injury – when Finn himself felt he was fit to play – into taking wickets. It hasn’t quite worked out that way. After an inconsistent Test series against Sri Lanka, he was talking up being the attack leader in the one-day side. It was a position he assumed last summer, but since last September against Australia he hasn’t played an ODI due to his run of injuries. Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, David Willey and Chris Jordan have all played ahead of him in this series, their ability to club a long ball – highlighted by Plunkett’s tie-sealing blow at Trent Bridge – giving England enviable batting depth. Finn, who will play for Middlesex in the Championship from Sunday, may now not be certain of his place in the Pakistan Test series once James Anderson and Ben Stokes are available. Those frustrations are likely to bubble up again.Life without StokesStokes gives England sought-after balance to their side, but they adapted well in his absence. The team’s preferred route is to chase a target and their belief is that they can hunt down anything – as was witnessed at The Oval and, in differing circumstances, when they secured a tie at Trent Bridge despite being 82 for 6, chasing 287. So, Eoin Morgan has been content to use a five-man bowling attack; Joe Root is the fill-in option but was lightly used for only three overs in the series. When fit, Stokes will return to the side and that will open up the question of who misses out. Jonny Bairstow has taken the batting role in this series – and has been outstanding in the outfield – but it could be that the philosophy of packing the batting from one to eleven means means that a five-man attack is retained.Rashid No. 1Adil Rashid is now cemented as England’s main one-day spinner if the pecking order in this series is any guide. When the ground dimensions at Bristol and Cardiff have led England to re-balance their attack with an extra quick bowler, it has been Moeen Ali who has made way for Jordan. Rashid has played every game of white-ball cricket since his England comeback against Ireland, in Dublin, last May. He began this series with two frugal displays at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston – 70 runs come off 20 overs – and though Sri Lanka then took the attack to him he did not shrunk from the challenge. His brace of wickets at The Oval played an important part in ensuring Sri Lanka could not immediately kick on after the rain break. There will also have never been a better No. 11 for England.Mendis is a gemKusal Mendis showed glimpses of his quality in the Test series and his adaptability has been on display in the one-dayers. After a slow start to the series he produced two sparkling half-centuries at Bristol and The Oval, the second of them a particularly eye-catching display as England’s bowlers were put under rare pressure, and was settling in nicely in Cardiff before being beaten by Bairstow’s bullet arm. Sri Lanka have wanted to give youth its head at the top order; coach Graham Ford is trying to oversee a rebuilding phase in the batting order and Mendis has a key role to play. That he hasn’t managed to convert into three figures on the tour will be a disappointment and was a factor among all Sri Lanka’s top order in the one-dayers.Whither Sri Lanka spinThe days of throwing Muttiah Muralitharan the ball for a match-defining 10-over spell are long gone, but even post-Murali there was an expectation to face some probing spin when playing Sri Lanka. However, now that Rangana Herath has ended his one-day career, and Sachithra Senanayake has drifted out of the scene having struggled to adapt to a remodelled action, the resources are looking thin. There is hope that legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay, who showed promise at the World T20 but was injured for this tour, could be part of the answer but it is asking a lot of him. In defence of the incumbents the pitches in this series have offered them precious little and a return to home soil may revive confidence. But, still, the numbers are not pretty from this contest. Seekkuge Prasanna finished with 1 for 234 and an economy rate of 6.62 and Suraj Randiv was shelved after one match where he went for 62 off eight overs. That Sri Lanka’s leading spinner in the series was part-timer Danushka Gunathilaka with four wickets says a lot.

India’s limited-overs captain has wanted to bat up ‘for a long time’; when he got the chance in Mohali, he played the big shots unhindered by the pressures of finishing a chase

Arun Venugopal24-Oct-20162:01

No. 4 was ideal position to express myself – Dhoni

In the movie , a teenage Dhoni persuades his coach to let him open the batting in an inter-school limited-overs match. He even convinces one of the regular openers to give up his place, and goes on to score a double-hundred. As India’s limited-overs captain, Dhoni doesn’t have to haggle for his preferred batting slot. Yet, it isn’t as simple as walking up to the coach and seeking a promotion.Considering Dhoni’s approach has always been dictated by the match situation and the team’s requirement, his decision to bat lower is easy to understand. In nine matches, between the 2015 World Cup and the start of this series, where India had batted second, they have mounted successful chases on only four occasions, of which three came against Zimbabwe.The role of a finisher could not be left to the younger batsmen, who are just settling into the side, so Dhoni found himself unable to move higher up the order. And when batting in the final overs, Dhoni admitted after the Mohali ODI, he “is losing his ability to rotate” the strike.So on Sunday evening, he walked in at No. 4, more importantly as early as the ninth over, ahead of Manish Pandey. The crowd took a few seconds to process – and then go delirious over – Dhoni’s promotion. There was nothing knee-jerk about this, and it wasn’t entirely a situation-specific decision either, like at Wankhede Stadium on April 2, 2011. Instead, it became clearer over the course of India’s chase that the decision was geared towards extracting the best out of Dhoni the batsman who, when batting lower down, feels bogged down by consequences in absence of other finishers.”We were having a conversation in the team management about the things we want to do. One of the things was for me to play free cricket,” he said after the match. “The first thing that helps [when batting at No.4] is you are only two down. It was important for me to start with a positive intent. I could have got out, but that is the risk you can afford to take if you are batting at No. 4.”On the surface, Dhoni’s innings was moulded on a familiar template – nurdles, nudges and an overall busy presence – but he also shrugged off the inertia that had built up in recent times. It was a return to the build-before-explode space he likes to operate in.He began with a rasping pull to backward square leg for one and then walked down the crease to disturb Trent Boult’s length. After having decided five deliveries were enough to find his bearings, he gave Tim Southee a furious charge and smacked him over midwicket.”At that slot [No 5 or 6], it becomes very result-oriented. That has actually hampered my batting to a great extent.”•Associated PressNew Zealand looked to attack him with the short ball, but Dhoni did not back down, even if he did not always manage to hit boundaries. He was temporarily bottled up by James Neesham and Mitchell Santner – moving from 10 off 12 balls to 13 off 24 – but once he smashed Neesham’s length ball over mid-off, things were quickly out of New Zealand’s control. The familiar lofts over the bowler’s head – Neesham and Santner were the worst affected – were duly reprised.Batting at No.4, Dhoni said, freed him up to play the big shots right from the start. “It was something that I wanted to do for a long time, but if you are batting at No.5 or No.6, and especially when your top order is batting brilliantly, you don’t get to chance to bat how you want to bat,” he said.”Often, you will get in with the last 10 or 12 overs trying to slog and trying to get as many runs as possible, or the other way round where in the 20th over maybe where you have lost five wickets and you go in to bat looking for a partnership. If it keeps happening for a long time, you don’t fluently rotate the strike. When you know there is just one batsman after you, you have to be close to 90% sure all the time when you are setting out and looking for a big hit.”At that slot it becomes very result-oriented. That has actually hampered my batting to a great extent. Going at No.4, it was important to go and play the big shots. It was the first innings I played and I got runs, but it’s not easy to come out of it so I could have taken a few more innings. So, it’s good I got runs. Personally for me also, I am not looking too much into what needs to be done. I can play the shots over the fielder and I feel that was what was needed in my batting. Today was the first day and I am hoping to continue with this.”The knock-on effect of Dhoni’s promotion was that two of the all-time best limited-overs batsmen spent maximum time at the crease. Dhoni offered his pet example of “converting one-and-a-half runs into two” while batting alongside Virat Kohli.”If I’m successful at No.4, it gives the team a bit of a liberty because I’ll try to score at a decent pace,” he said. “Even today I felt I slowed down a bit but I feel it’s important for me to keep playing the big shots. Also it gives me a chance to bat with Virat. We run between the wickets very well, we can take on the opposition fielders even the best ones. If you get a good partnership in the middle, that is 100-125, it becomes slightly easier for the batsman coming after that.”[Even today] it was a nice wicket but over the time what happened was without much dew it slowed down, so it was not easy to keep rotating the strike. I thought we adjusted very well in the middle overs because we knew there will be overs where we won’t get more than 3-4 runs per over and we knew later on we can always get overs where we can score 8-9 runs and compensate for it.”By stating that his promotion is an opportunity for youngsters to take ownership of the finishing role, Dhoni is allowing them to learn on the job. Given his utility at the top of the order, it is hard to disagree with his logic that it’s a “win-win” for everybody.

This and more from last week at the Women’s Big Bash League

Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins12-Jan-20173:36

Lemon: Sixers only side to lock themselves at the top

Unequal over-rate penalties only get half the pointThis time of the season you tend to look at the top of the ladder, but down the bottom things are getting funky. Two points for a win, one for a no-result, so how do the Melbourne Renegades have four wins and 7.5 points?The Adelaide Strikers have three wins and two washouts for eight points, same as the Sydney Thunder after four wins and a washout. Meaning the Strikers are ahead of and level with two teams that have won more games.The answer lies in low over rates, which in the WBBL costs points. The Renegades lost half a point for one late over against the Perth Scorchers on December 29, then the Sydney Thunder lost a whole point for two overs against the Brisbane Heat on January 2.While half a point may not sound stiff, in this structure it’s as good as being stripped of a whole win. Even with a vastly superior net run rate, the 0.5 penalty will drop a team behind any other with the same points. There is effectively no difference between a one-over penalty and a four-over penalty.And in an even competition like the WBBL, where as many as half-a-dozen teams could end on the same number of points, that apparent slap on the wrist could see a team drop from hosting a final to missing out altogether.The law-and-order enthusiasts among us will say, “Easy, just don’t break the rules.” But the other key point here is the double standard between the two Big Bashes.No points are docked in the men’s competition. Players are fined and captains suspended. Obviously fines aren’t appropriate in the WBBL given its cricketers are paid a relatively paltry sum for their season’s work, so another mechanism was sought. But a points penalty deeply distorts the integrity of the competition for a minor offence, something the men’s BBL is not subject to.This is on top of the fact that men’s games go far longer – bigger run-ups, more runners, and often a Versailles Treaty between captain, bowler, and five fielders between deliveries. As in international cricket, a penalty involving points or runs may be the most effective way to ensure compliance. But as well as Big Bash authorities coming up with a method to enforce their rules, they have to make it consistent between competitions.Sixers plan a million ways to win Depth. It may not be everything in T20 cricket, but it is almost. Those who have cultivated enough ways to win can do it when their biggest guns misfire. This is the story of the Sydney Sixers, now two games clear with seven wins after doing the double over both the Strikers and the Scorchers.Sure enough Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy did what they do best at different stages, especially when laying the base to chase down the Scorchers at the SCG. But more significant was the other fixture when they both failed. It wasn’t the first time Ashleigh Gardner has got the Sixers out of strife, clobbering 40 in 23 balls in a brisk stand of 69 with New Zealand’s Sara McGlashan (36) for what proved a winning score of 136.Gardner moved to fourth on the WBBL runs list, after being named the inaugural Women’s Emerging Player of the Year by the Australian Cricket Media Association.Meanwhile Sarah Aley continued to bowl consistently, and the orthodox spin of Lauren Smith was crucial in both encounters against the Scorchers, nabbing a couple of wickets first time, then wonderful figures of 4 for 13 in their SCG win.This versatility will be tested in the final four group games, with key seamer Marizanne Kapp and allrounder Dane van Niekerk lost to South African international commitments.Alyssa Healy’s performances, along with Ellyse Perry, have sure helped the Sixers along•Getty ImagesI see a Beth Mooney risingAt least that’s what Beth Mooney might have sung about her last 12 months, if indeed she’s any good on the karaoke stick. A stellar first WBBL vaulted the Brisbane Heat wicketkeeper into the national squad for the World T20, but she floated around the order, was slotted below senior teammates with poorer records, and played as an outfielder with Alyssa Healy taking the gloves.This confusion led into a Kia Super League season that started with a duck, then yielded scores of 9, 17, 18, and 56. A sequence progressing in the right order, granted, but not one that flattered an overseas professional. That run continued into this season, starting WBBL with scores of 0, 4 and 6.Then abruptly it clicked. Within six innings she had 67* against the Scorchers, 55 against the Stars, a double of 34 and then 75* against the Thunder, finishing with 78* to post a score well beyond the Hurricanes.All of that has vaulted the Heat’s stopper to second on the run-scorers list, only behind Meg Lanning. Healy will monopolise the Australia women’s gig for some time to come, but Mooney is firmly established as the next in line.When she’s not striking with the bat, Heather Knight chips in with partnership-breaking wickets•Getty ImagesApple Isle gives Hobart a fresh startThe Hobart Hurricanes are an underdog favourite given their lack of Australian representatives, but their season risked grinding to a halt over a winless holiday period.But they bounced back in style on returning home – their 171 against the Thunder was highest score in this year’s tournament. England captain Heather Knight was in front of the queue, slamming 47 in 29 balls. Significant too was the return of Amy Satterthwaite from New Zealand with an unbeaten 32 from 23 balls at the death, and then a couple of wickets.In Hobart, they knew the importance of removing the red-hot Mooney. Julie Hunter won her edge for one, before Bajan wunderkind Hayley Matthews claimed the season’s first five-wicket haul to leave 123 for victory. Keeper Georgia Redmayne knocked that off with ease to end on 64 not out, after being plucked from Sydney club cricket earlier this season.40 down, 15 to goIn the regular season, that is. Western Australia’s picturesque Lilac Hill is where the Strikers and the Stars will visit the Scorchers, while the Heat host the Renegades in Brisbane, the Sixers face the Hurricanes in Sydney, before the Hurricanes host the Thunder in Hobart.At no stage this season have defending champions the Sydney Thunder stitched together two wins on the bounce. They’ll have to now, or they’ll miss the post-season altogether.

This was one of the greatest comebacks in the history of cricket – against the best the world had, in four straight knockout games

Jarrod Kimber at The Oval18-Jun-20172:54

Dravid: Fakhar has potential to dominate white-ball cricket

A Pakistan fielder is hovering above the Oval turf. He’s launched himself towards a ball that has been smashed to backward point. He grabs the ball in one take while still completely horizontal. If this were another team, this would just be modern fielding, but the distance covered, the athleticism, the grace, the execution, it all seems completely foreign when in Pakistan green.Shadab Khan is an 18-year-old in an ICC final fielding in the most prominent place on the ground in a team that started the tournament with balls going through there like they were on a silver platter. And he’s flying.

****

Jasprit Bumrah starts the fourth over with a wide down the leg side. But he more than makes up for it next ball when a length ball outside off stump takes the edge of Fakhar Zaman and is caught behind. Zaman is walking off, the man who has changed the Pakistan top order from an old woman pushing a shopping trolley to a rally car flying around bends dangerously. This was justification for India bowling first, ending the new opening partnership that has rattled the last three opponents, and upsetting the way Pakistan win. But then Zaman is stopped, and there is good reason for it. Bumrah has overstepped.Zaman hits a four the second ball after his reprieve, an inside edge past his stumps. He has got seven runs; five of them have come between his hands and the stumps. At the other end, Azhar Ali slaps a straight pull down the ground like it’s what he is known for, like he hasn’t just found the ODI form of his life in the last week.Bumrah bowls another wide, in the match he’ll finish with three no-balls and five wides. The opening partnership that he didn’t break will put on more than a hundred runs.

****

Both men are standing at the same end. It is a scene so frequent in Pakistan cricket that it feels like it is part of their game plan. Azhar flicks a ball off his pads, he takes off for a safe single, and for some unknown reason, Zaman doesn’t run. Bumrah gets to the ball in a dive, gets up a bit slowly, and throws the ball back to MS Dhoni, who casually takes the bails off. India missed the first five run-out attempts they made (Azhar should have been out at least twice), so to be sure, the clinical mind of Dhoni takes the bails off, then pauses, before taking the entire stumps out of the ground.Pakistan’s great start is over, and that first real pang of panic has come through. For the next two overs, there are only six runs, as the Indian spinners, who have been struggling to get back on top, build pressure.Zaman doesn’t like dot balls, they sicken him. So he starts hitting the ball everywhere. A six goes deep into the OCS Stand. He leans back on the next one and slashes it wide of point, and then launches one over cover when they change the field. The next ball he runs down the wicket, looks like he is going to fall over, and then plays a Happy Gilmore-style swipe over long-on. He follows up with a beautiful shot through cover, and then an edge through a vacant slip. It’s 33 runs in two overs. The Indian pressure bubble is popped, spat on and mocked.Zaman might not have been in the squad if Sharjeel Khan had been available. If Ahmed Shehzad had made runs, Zaman might not be in the team, and here he is, smashing his third straight attack in his third straight knockout game.Zaman’s innings is full of edges, a collection of pull and hook shots that he either edges, gloves or lets be hit on his helmet, disastrous running between the wickets, and the odd moment of magic with timing that shouldn’t come from the technique that produced it. Despite the luck, the most amazing thing is that belief he has in himself. It might be a guy in his fourth game, but it looks like a guy who has been doing this for ten years and doesn’t fear failure. India v Pakistan, hundreds of millions watching every ball, and he’s like a club cricketer who has raced there from work and wants to have some fun.One hundred and fourteen runs from 106 balls of pure, crazy match-winning fun.

A great yorker gets through Mohammad Hafeez and bounces back onto the stumps. There are other days when something like this would have left Pakistan fans in utter despair; now they are laughing.Some fans did despair when as Pakistan were approaching the death overs, Hafeez – with his career strike rate of not enough – came out to bat. Hafeez is a quality player, but like many allrounders he has struggled because he has rarely been good enough with bat or ball, and therefore he always looks like he underperforms when he’s quite useful. But a death slogger? That’s surely too much. Pakistan have performed miracles just to get this far, in this game, and this tournament, but this, no.A bailout or a bail-in? Mohammad Hafeez helped Pakistan add 91 in the last ten overs•Getty ImagesFirst ball: four. And not just a four, but a four past a long-off who was out there to stop it. Fourth ball: four. Moves across his crease to smartly sweep it fine. Seventh ball: four. This time he smashes the quick out to deep midwicket. Fifteenth ball: four. Oh, come on now. Eighteenth ball: six. Is this a dream, is he going to wake up and be disappointed that it’s still the morning before the match? Twenty-second ball: six. No, enough, what the hell?And then the ball hit the stumps, the bail jumped, the ball bounced back several metres, but the bails didn’t light up, the bails didn’t come off, Hafeez is not out. Pakistan laughs, not at him, with him. Even the bails are supporting Pakistan.Against Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he launches a six straight. No one has hit Bhuvi today, he’s been the one India bowler to star, and now Hafeez, who didn’t look in the right position, who isn’t known for sixes off quicks, is slapping him down the ground to finish the innings.Mohammad Hafeez has made 57 not out from 37 balls. It is unbelievable. Pakistan have made 338. It is unbelievable.

****

Mohammad Amir is bowling to Rohit Sharma, and behind him are 338 runs. Rohit could, on the best of days, make 264 of them on his own. The first ball takes the inside edge, crashes into the pad and limps out in front of a tentative-looking Rohit, who thinks about a run before a flying Amir comes to show his masculine power. The next ball Rohit leaves alone as if it’s too dangerous for him to be involved with. Off the third, he is out. Struck straight in front, with a ball pitching somewhere near leg stump.Pakistan go crazy in the middle, and the Indian openers have a mid-pitch chat about whether they should review. They never even get to the review bit, the umpire tells them they took too long. India are so rattled they can’t even decide on a review.This has been Hasan Ali’s tournament. He kept Pakistan in it for two games, before claiming a win in the semi-final as well. But today is Mohammad Amir’s day. You could smell it in the confusion of India. The ball is curving and he is prowling.

****

If at first you don’t succeed…Pakistan rue dropping Virat Kohli, but not for long•Getty ImagesZaman is on his hands and knees, face in the turf. He wasn’t involved in the last delivery, but he’s devastated by what happened to it.Amir was working over Virat Kohli; he had already beaten the inside edge, he’d already got a leading edge. Kohli might have been King Kohli last match, but at times in this tournament he’s looked like he did on his disastrous tour of England a few years ago. Like outside off stump is a death trap. So when Amir takes his edge, and a simple catch floats through to slip, it all looks perfect.The ultimate redemption for Amir, taking Kohli the captain, the ODI megastar, the biggest swinging chaser in cricket. And then Azhar drops the catch.Amir is angry, Pakistan are upset and Zaman is distraught. One ball later Zaman is not on the ground, he’s on the shoulders of Amir. This leading edge goes to Shadab, who doesn’t need to fly to stand out, just take the catch. In the space of two balls, Pakistan have shown their entire life story. Amir is redeemed, Pakistan are on top, Kohli is gone.

****

When Kedar Jadhav hit the ball straight up in the air for a few seconds – an eternity in Pakistan cricket – the entire ground was silent. A full house, two massive nations at home on TV, radio, apps and websites, all silent as one. And then the catch was taken and it wasn’t quiet again.That was the last partnership between two batsmen. If India had any hope left, it left with Jadhav, but more importantly, if Pakistan had any panic left, it also left with him.

****

When Faheem Ashraf was out against Sri Lanka, Pakistan needed 75 runs to win, to stay in the tournament, and they probably shouldn’t have got them. Sri Lanka may have had an undermanned bowling attack, but they were so on top that the last three wickets should have been a formality.At this point in the tournament, Pakistan had a 1-1 record, they had made 445 runs, losing 20 wickets, and scoring at 4.90 runs an over. From that point onwards they made 628 runs for six wickets at over six runs an over. Jekyll, Hyde. Pakistan, Pakistan.But to just start at being seven wickets down against Sri Lanka, or even when they lost to India would be way too simple. They were terrible in ODI cricket for so long that they almost didn’t qualify for this tournament. Pakistan, former World Cup and World T20 winners and No. 1 Test team, put off a bilateral series against Zimbabwe to ensure they could qualify. That wasn’t all; they also lost two players before this series because of a corruption investigation. And then lost another player because he wasn’t fit enough.So the No. 8-ranked team, with three of their squad not here, lost the first game to India by a million runs. They had to face up against the No. 1 team in ODI cricket in a knockout game straight after. They were seven wickets down against the team with the worst record and they practically had their bags packed and were contacting the airline, asking for an aisle seat. They had to play a semi-final against the favourites of the tournament, in the favourites’ home. And then after all that, slaughter, rain, chance and skill, they then had to front up against India in the final.They made South Africa fall apart when it was supposed to be them, they made Sri Lanka panic when it was them who usually panic, they pushed past England the way England pushed past them, and they smashed India out of the game in the exact way India were supposed to smash them.This is one of the greatest comebacks in the history of cricket. It wasn’t a comeback in one game, or against one opponent, it was against the best the world had, in four straight knockout games. They were lucky to get here, luckier to stay, and then once they found their feet, they were as glorious as Pakistan one-day cricket can be.Hey, Pakistan of 1992, look what these boys have done.<p align="center" style="margin-top:20px; margin-bottom:20px;">****

Shadab to Yuvraj Singh. The youngest player to ever play in an ICC final up against the man who had played in more ICC finals than Shadab’s entire nation, and also won more ICC tournaments than them. And he’s facing some kid, a PSL fad with a tricky wrong’un who may fade away from cricket just as quick as he arrived in it.Shadab Khan was sure Yuvraj Singh was lbw, and he was right•Getty ImagesYuvraj has overcome cancer and has been a middle-order player for 17 years in one of the greatest batting line-ups in cricket. Sure, this game was tough, his top order was gone, but if he made it through to the 40th over with a batsman to spare, he could still give this a big shake. At his best Yuvraj doesn’t hit the ball, it bounces off his aura with the timing of a million of Shastri’s tracer bullets. A couple of overs back he started slapping Hafeez around, hitting three boundaries, in what were the first real blows of India back on Pakistan.A day before Shadab turned two, Yuvraj made his debut for India. The first ball is simply turned into the leg side. Yuvraj takes a single. The next ball he faces is on a good length outside off stump. When it lands, a small part of the pitch is dislodged, and Yuvraj flashes at it. But Yuvraj doesn’t see that it’s the wrong’un. This warrior who has been there and seen it all has been done over by this kid’s wrong’uns. The ball ends in the gloves of Sarfraz Ahmed. The hands that, as it turns out, are the safest in cricket right now. In more ways than one.At Edgbaston, Shadab bowled a wrong’un to Yuvraj, who sliced it straight to long-off. It was an absolute sitter. Yuvraj was 8 off 8, India were 205 for 2 after 38.4 overs. Yuvraj hit 45 off his next 24 balls, India made 118 from the next 9.2 overs.This time Shadab follows up the wrong’un with a ripping legbreak. Shadab appeals, but the umpire says no. Yuvraj is forward, front elbow up, bat straight, watching the ball trickle out safely on the offside. It’s a dot ball. But Shadab is not having the disappointment, he’s striding down the wicket pointing, demanding his captain review the decision. No, not again, this is his wicket, his man, he has him, it’s now his time. Sarfraz trusts him, as he has trusted his entire team. How he trusted three debutants, a young squad, a few discarded journeymen and even a teenager to field at point. Sarfraz is right, Shadab is right, Yuvraj is gone.The Pakistan teenage legspinner won his battle against an Indian ODI champion. Because Pakistan were flying today.

Stats highlights from India’s win in Dharamsala, a victory that sealed the series for them

Bharath Seervi28-Mar-20173 Teams holding series titles against all other Test sides at the same point of time. India, with this series win, hold trophies against all Test teams. The first two teams to achieve this were Australia and South Africa. Australia managed this feat first time when they won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2004-05 in India and again after winning the Ashes 2006-07. South Africa achieved it after they won in Australia in 2012-13.4 Instances of India going on to win a series after losing the first Test. Two of those have been against Australia – this series and the 2000-01 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The other two were: against England in 1972-73 and in Sri Lanka in 2015. The series result was 2-1 in all these cases. The last time Australia lost a series after winning the first match was in the 2005 Ashes. Click here for all teams winning a series by coming from behind.It’s the fourth time India have come back to win the series after losing the first Test•ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 Consecutive series wins for India against Australia at home, since losing the 2004-05 series. India have lost only once to Australia in the last 10 series at home.4 Consecutive series defeats for Australia in Asia. Before this, they lost the 2012-13 series in India, in 2014-15 in the UAE and in 2016 in Sri Lanka. In those three series, though, they had lost all the nine Tests played, compared to this series in which they won one and drew one. Before these four series, they won five of their previous seven series in the subcontinent; the two they lost in that period were both in India.10 Wins for India in the 2016-17 season, the joint second-most by any team in a season. Australia had won 11 out of 12 in the 2005-06 season and 10 in 10 in 1999-00. The previous most wins for India were five each in 2004-05, 2009-10 and 2012-13.1982 The last time an India batsman scored six or more 50-plus scores in a Test series, before KL Rahul in this series. Mohinder Amarnath against West Indies in 1982-83 was the last to do so. Only Sunil Gavaskar, in his debut series in 1970-71 in the West Indies, has had a longer such run for India. The last batsman to do this against Australia was Graham Gooch in the Ashes in 1993.3 Man-of-the-Match awards for Ravindra Jadeja this season – the joint-most for India. Virat Kohli also got three such awards. No one else got more than one. But Jadeja is the only one to receive one such award in each of the three major series – against New Zealand, England and Australia. This was Jadeja’s fifth Man of the Match award and maiden Man of the Series award.2 Number of batsmen to score more 50-plus scores in a four-match series than Rahul’s six. Patsy Hendren did it in the West Indies in 1929-30 and Gavaskar in 1970-71. They batted eight innings to Rahul’s seven.140.74 Ajinkya Rahane’s strike rate in his unbeaten 27-ball 38 – his highest in any Test innings. His scoring rate is also the second-highest for an India batsman in the fourth innings of a Test batting 25 balls or more.2 Number of Steven Smith’s centuries that have come in losing cause in Tests. Both have come in the last Tests of the series – in Sri Lanka last year and in this match. Out of his 20 centuries, Australia have won on 13 occasions and five have been drawn.

Stats highlights from the fourth ODI between West Indies and India in North Sound, where MS Dhoni crawled to a 108-ball half-century and Jason Holder bagged his maiden ODI five-for

Bharath Seervi03-Jul-2017108 Balls taken by MS Dhoni to reach to his fifty – the slowest by any India batsman in ODIs since 2001. It was also Dhoni’s slowest fifty, beating the 88 balls he took to get there against Pakistan at Eden Gardens in 2013. Dhoni’s crawling innings came to end when India required 14 off seven balls.54 Runs scored by India between the 21st and 40th overs, including just one boundary. In those 20 overs, the most productive over was of five runs, the 39th over. Dhoni had faced more than half the deliveries in that phase and scored at the lowest strike rate – 36.92 (24 runs off 65 balls). Only thrice since 2001, India scored fewer runs in that phase in an ODI. West Indies had scored 88 runs in that phase.

Batsman 0s 4s 6s Runs Balls SRMS Dhoni 44 0 0 24 65 36.92Ajinkya Rahane 18 0 0 14 31 45.16Kedar Jadhav 8 0 0 10 14 71.42Hardik Pandya 8 1 0 5 10 50.0047.36 Dhoni’s strike rate – 54 off 114 – the lowest in the 149 innings in which he has scored 25 or more runs. His previous slowest 25-plus run innings was 38 off 75, at a rate of 50.66, against New Zealand in Dambulla in 2010.2006 The last time West Indies batted complete 50 overs and scored fewer than 200 runs – 198 for 9 against India in Kingston. They had won that game by two runs. Since falling short by one run in that game, it was the first time India failed to chase a target of less than 200 runs in a completed ODI.1998 The last time India failed to chase a target of 190 or less in ODIs. They were all out for 163 chasing 172 against Sri Lanka in Colombo (SSC) in a 36-over contest. Overall, this is the 10th-smallest target India have failed to achieve in their ODI history.3.68 The run rate of this match – 367 runs in 99.4 overs – the lowest in any ODI in the last five years in which more than 95 overs were played. In the West Indies, this is the fourth-slowest ODI ever, with 95-plus overs bowled.5/27 Jason Holder’s figures – his maiden five-wicket haul in an ODI career of 62 matches. Before this, none of the West Indies players in the current squad had a five-wicket haul. He is the third West Indies captain after Viv Richards (twice) and Dwayne Bravo to take a five-for. Against India, Greg Chappell and Shaun Pollock are the other captains with five-fors.3-10 West Indies’ win-loss record in ODIs in North Sound. Incidentally, two of those three wins have come against India, in four games. They had won by 103 runs against India in 2011. Their win-loss ratio of 0.3 is the worst among 12 home venues that hosted 5 or more games.11 Consecutive ODIs without a 50-plus opening stand for West Indies, before Kyle Hope and Ewin Lewis added 57 in this game. Their openers lasted for 17.2 overs – the most in 53 ODIs since 2014. However, their last seven wickets added only 68 runs and they ended only on 189.

New Zealand have brought a reshuffled batting order to India and at the first time of asking they produced a memorable chase to defy the Mumbai heat

Vishal Dikshit at Wankhede Stadium22-Oct-20174:49

Chris Harris: Latham’s game against spin took pressure off Taylor

Such have been New Zealand’s struggles to plug their batting-order holes in recent times that they have had to take some audacious decisions for this series against India. Given the skewed odds of beating India in India these days, New Zealand were left to find a new opening partner for Martin Guptill and even fill the gaping middle-order cracks.To deal with the first issue, they picked Colin Munro – Guptill’s fourth opening partner after Tom Latham, Dean Brownlie, and Luke Ronchi, since Brendon McCullum’s last ODI. In his ODI career of 24 matches until Sunday, Munro had never opened before. For the No. 5 spot left vacant by Neil Broom’s poor form in the Champions Trophy, New Zealand pushed Latham down from his opening position; a batsman who did not even get a game in the Champions Trophy.Latham is a solid batsman, without doubt, but he began the year with scores of 7, 0, 0, 2 and 0 before heading to Ireland for the tri-series also involving Bangladesh where he regained form but then lost his position. It meant, for the series against India, New Zealand had decided to add inexperience to the top order and some uncertainty in the middle. They were clearly hedging strongly on their Nos. 3 and 4 – Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor – although Latham’s warm-up form, where he made 59 and 108, at least meant he went into the series with confidence.”With that [new] line-up we know we can attack at the top and it does put the onus on the bowlers to perform and Munro did a great job,” Taylor said. “To bring Tom in here, he was one of our best batters last tour and with him with the extra keeping responsibility, it might be quite tough to come out in that situation and open the batting. But for positions five and six, we’ve been searching for a bit of consistency and Tom, not only in the new role as keeper but to bat at five, to score a very successful fifty, hundred and hundred, hopefully he can continue that and the balance of our side improves with Tom batting at five.”Latham, like Taylor explained, brought with him the familiarity of batting in Indian conditions as he had accumulated 438 runs last year in the Test and ODI series, including five half-centuries, and ended with a respectable average of 44. But those were all scored as opener. Now pushed down, could he cope with the prospect of playing a lot more spin in the middle overs?To overcome that, he did not do anything extravagant. Most of his runs off the spinners came from either back in the crease or off the front foot, and, most important, the sweep shot which he employed both with and against the spin. His highest scoring area was behind square on the leg side that fetched him 30 runs, 26 of them coming off the sweep. He swept and reverse swept off 20 balls in all and scored as many as 35 runs off them; that’s a remarkable strike rate of 175 against the wristspinners.”He employed the sweep shot over here last time in the Test matches and did it to good effect,” Taylor said. “Indian batsmen have very quick feet when they play spin and traditionally, us New Zealanders aren’t as nimble on our feet. With the sweep shot we’re able to put pressure on the bowler and adjust their lengths and I thought he did that outstandingly well. I told him to reverse sweep and he did it, and he kept doing it. So, I hope he keeps that up because he said he had never done it in a game, he practiced it a lot but it was nice for him to get some success out of that shot today.”Taylor’s numbers from the India tour last year were nothing he could take confidence from. In 11 innings across the three Tests and five ODIs, he managed only 208 runs, including three ducks, at an uninspiring average of 19. For this series, Taylor knew he had to resort to new tactics with the bat, such as not employing the pulls and slog-sweeps most of the time. In this match, he used the cut to good effect; the shot fetched him 18 runs as he collected 28 in all behind square on the off side.”I’ve had a conscious effort – I’ve come here many a times before whether it’s international cricket or IPL – that I’m not getting any younger and just wanted a bit of a push and just had a bit more intent I think,” Taylor said. “Through those middle stages in the past, you take up a few too many dot balls so I’ve taken a conscious effort of being a bit busier in the crease, work on a few shots and open up the off side. Tom and I got some runs in the warm-up game and it was nice to bring that form into Wankhede today.”While Latham struck a fifty and Taylor scored 34 in the first warm-up, they stitched a partnership of 166 for the fourth wicket in the second warm-up, going on to score centuries each at more than run a ball. That Munro opened in both matches, and Taylor and Latham batted at Nos 4 and 5 respectively meant they were already set in their roles coming into the first ODI.To prepare for this series, New Zealand also arrived a good 10 days before the opening ODI, spending all of those in Mumbai to acclimatise themselves with the heat and humidity. The real test came on Sunday when they had to field first for 50 overs in the heat of over 30 degrees and the humidity that crossed 70%. It took a toll on Colin de Grandhomme in the first half of the match, when he vomited on the field in the middle of his fourth over. Once it was New Zealand’s turn to bat, the reserve players ran out with towels and hydrating resources every few overs so that the heat would not get to the batsmen. Taylor even suggested that the weather was more challenging than the task of chasing 281.”I think it was more the humidity and the heat,” he said. “Having to field out there for over three and a half hours, we knew we had to get off to a good start and try and negate their spinners. Traditionally, New Zealand come here and struggle up front in our innings. Being able to rotate the strike in the right-left combination with Tom worked. You’ve got to give credit to the bowlers as well, it was pretty warm out there and Boulty bowled outstandingly well.”The New Zealand management must be credited for taking such brave decisions in a three-match series. With a victory to their name already, it means the pressure is now on the hosts to win both matches or they will lose their first series at home in two years.

How they would handle their middle order was a question that cropped up as soon as they lost the services of Steven Smith. They are yet to find the answer, even as a spot in the playoffs slips further away

Varun Shetty in Indore07-May-20181:58

‘We need more partnerships’ – Bahutule

Rajasthan Royals have inched closer to having no chance of making the playoffs this year – another loss would be almost certain disqualification – without coming close to sorting out their middle order. On Sunday, the Royal’s crashed from 81 for 2 in ten overs to a below-par 152 for 9 at the Holkar Stadium, the smallest ground across the tournament, best known for that match last year when Mumbai Indians chased down 199 with more than four overs to spare. During the middle phase of the innings, between the seventh and 15th over, Royals lost 4 for 65.It was a potential problem that surfaced well before the tournament began, with the news of Steven Smith’s ban. Now it’s becoming more and more likely that the plan was not to work around his absence, but to change the plan entirely.A straight swap with replacement batsman Heinrich Klaasen might have, at best, posed the problem of whether he should be ahead of or behind Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes in the batting order. Instead, Royals have spiralled down a pattern of changing the line-up around so much that it’s hard to tell – perhaps even for their own players – who is going to show up when.On the face of it, the biggest beneficiary has been D’Arcy Short, who might not have been a regular in the XI with Smith coming in at No. 3 after the expected first-choice opening stand of Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi. Short has been scoring at five runs per over in the Powerplay this season, returns that would not have earned too many other openers six chances in the IPL. He has never played as a non-opener in 31 T20 innings, so it’s the other openers in the team – and Royals have plenty of those on their roster – who have had to move. To the extent that Jos Buttler, who isn’t a frontline T20 opener, has become their best option at the top.After the loss on Sunday, spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule said that “overall” Royals’ batting had been all right. The problem, he said, was the lack of partnerships.”The batting obviously has been very inconsistent,” Bahutule said. “Buttler has been batting really well. It’s just that we really needed to get this batting going. We didn’t have a partnership and we lost a lot of wickets between the 11th and the 15th over. When you don’t have a lot of partnerships going in the T20s it makes it difficult. We have been inconsistent with the batting but it’s just that we have been 20 runs short – the final total we got today. Overall it’s been good from the batting point of view.”BCCIOn close inspection, that is hardly the case. Only one team has scored slower than Royals during the middle overs and that is Sunrisers Hyderabad (7.41), a traditionally top-heavy team who focus on making sure one of the top three bats as deep as possible. Kings XI Punjab match Royals’ scoring rate during that phase with 7.71, but is also a top-heavy team that makes its highest impact in the Powerplay.The big differentiator between Royals and those two teams is the wickets. Royals have lost 30 in nine innings during that phase and average 20.06 per wicket, far behind Kings XI’s 24 wickets at 24.79.Royals aren’t setting alight the Powerplays or the death-overs phase either, with middling numbers for both. Even if there has been anything good about their batting, it doesn’t go past individual efforts from Samson or Buttler.”As I said earlier, partnerships are important. We have good players. We have Jos opening now, we have Stokes and Tripathi. Sanju also has been batting well. It’s just that one big partnership of 50 runs changes everything and that has not happened consistently,” Bahutule said. “That has been the area where we have been working on.”Royals’ biggest partnerships for the four wickets after the opening stand this season have all involved Samson. Three of those have come in winning causes (two in the same game, in fact), so there is merit in saying that the partnerships are where Royals seem to be losing it. But how do they fix that?Stokes has had an ordinary season, with 160 runs in nine innings. An out-of-position Tripathi, despite some chances up the order, is struggling with 99 runs in nine innings and their most successful opener, Rahane, cannot open if Buttler is also opening.The option to drop Short and play Klaasen at No. 5 opens a hole at No. 6 that can only be plugged by Stuart Binny, Jatin Saxena or Prashant Chopra, who is also an opener. And the same thing happens if Short is replaced by an overseas bowler. Are they, then, willing to have K Gowtham bat at No. 6? Or handing that responsibility to the very young Mahipal Lomror or Aryaman Birla?With a required win-rate of a 100%, they might not have enough time to even think about it. Whichever way you look at it, the lack of depth in both the playing XI and in the squad – despite several replacement opportunities – are red flags that should have been picked up on much sooner. For now, all they can do is hope that at least two-thirds of their three most expensive players will have five good days together.

India have produced fast bowlers who are good and those who are great, but never before have they produced an entire line-up that has the makings of being fearsome

Nagraj Gollapudi in Southampton30-Aug-2018The soul of fast bowling is pace. Yet the backbone of fast bowling has always been control. Accuracy. Consistency. These three are intangibles, which a fast bowler learns as he runs in at different venues, in both hostile and hospitable conditions. During the course of this improvisation the fast bowler becomes a good seamer, moving up to very good in some cases, and dominant in others. And when a team is blessed with more than one dominant fast bowler, the pace battery – as was portrayed richly by Clive Lloyd’s quartet during the dominance of West Indies in the 1970s and ’80s – becomes fearsome.Never before could you describe Indian fast bowling as fearsome. Kapil Dev was an outstanding talent who ploughed a lonely furrow. Zaheer Khan, too, was exceptional, especially with the old ball during the latter part of his career. But not fearsome. As far as quartets went, India never went beyond the spinners – Bishan Bedi, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan.But India are the No. 1 Test team in the world at present and, increasingly so, the fast bowlers are playing a dominant role as Virat Kohli’s team aims to win more overseas. The current Indian pace attack, comprising Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has just recovered from injury, is steadily becoming a fearsome unit. They are not yet as fearsome as the Australian and South African contingents but as the ongoing England series has shown, this Indian unit can sting.India’s fast bowlers have clocked better and better speeds throughout this series against England. They have managed to swing the ball more than at any other time in their careers. Importantly, during the course of the series, all the main fast bowlers have fine-tuned their strengths, as Ishant and Bumrah did in the first session on Thursday to throttle England’s top order.You need to just check some of the responses of England’s batsmen to understand the pressure they were put under. Keaton Jennings played an explosive inswinger from Bumrah as if he was trying to avoid stepping over a landmine; Joe Root lost his balance and nearly fell over attempting to counter late swing from Ishant; Alastair Cook said “ooh” more than once as he was constantly being squared up by Ishant; Jonny Bairstow appeared to be batting blindfolded as Ishant beat his defence effortlessly with deliveries that curved through the wide gap between bat and pad and had Rishabh Pant throw himself about. Stokes widened his eyes in disbelief at the pronounced and acute movement Shami was getting to beat his outside edge, pitching full, at 89mph.Ishant Sharma loads up at the top of his pre-delivery jump•Getty ImagesAlthough Ishant, who took his 250th wicket today, remains the head boy of the bowling group, it was Bumrah, whose incisive breakthroughs early had hurt England at Trent Bridge, who hurt them again in the first session today. Since his Test debut in South Africa, Bumrah has continued to be the X-factor. Yes, his bowling action has played a significant role, but an equally crucial element of his success is his fast-bowling nous.Ten minutes into the morning and he had sent back his first victim with a mental gash that Jennings might need to visit a psychologist to sort out. It was a proper set-up. The first three deliveries of his second over, Bumrah pitched all three on good length, moved all three away, which Jennings left alone. The fourth delivery, Bumrah pushed the length fuller. The line remained the same. The ball, upon pitching, swerved in sharply. Jennings had no idea it was an incoming delivery. He had already decided to leave it. He was stunned by the movement. It was a stunning delivery. As a post-mortem of the wicket later showed, Bumrah had directed the seam towards leg slip.Watching from the balcony, knees up, one man might have applauded the set-up – James Anderson. Never a bad thing to learn from the masters. The thing that Indians have learnt from Anderson is discipline. With every match they have probed the batsmen. They have become more assured. Gone are the days when MS Dhoni would direct traffic. Kohli might micro-manage the field, but the fast bowlers take care of the bowling plans. The numbers are proving them right. The strike rate of the Indian pacers this series – 44.2 – is the best by any overseas team in England since the one-off Centenary Test of 1980.How has this Indian pace attack shown such sharp progress? The biggest factor is their fitness. That is the biggest change in culture from the past. Being fit has allowed the bowlers to hit optimum speeds and allowed them to bowl long spells, as Bumrah showed this morning with eight good overs in his first stint. Being fit has helped bowlers to come back with fresh energy in each spell.Every bowler has shown the patience and understanding to bowl to a situation. The bad habits that accompanied them in the past, especially of erring in line and length, have been reduced. Take Ishant. In this series, while bowling during the first 15 overs of an innings, he has bowled more full deliveries than back of a length, a weakness that till recently seemed incurable.India now possess a group of fast bowlers that can hurt the opposition in different ways. But by no means are they complete. As the expectations grow with every series, the challenges will grow. Can they maintain their good form in Australia later this year? A weak England batting line-up, both vulnerable and fragile, has added to the character and weight of the Indian fast bowling unit. Can they maintain the stranglehold in the face of big partnerships? Can they attack and defend and show controlled aggression, a hallmark of good fast-bowling attacks?On evidence so far this series, they have the skills and the temperament. Despite Sam Curran’s impressive rearguard – for the second time this series – India might end day one thinking they have the edge in the match. And that is courtesy India’s pace line-up, which has been both crude and shrewd.