Neil Burns assesses the Kevin Pietersen saga in the shoes of the man who tried to facilitate his talent in the England dressing room

Neil Burns14-Oct-2014Brilliant teams need an understated leader who watches the process unfold moment-to-moment and nurtures the process whilst simultaneously being able to look ahead into the distance and see the danger to ensure the ship can be steered to calmer waters whenever it is needed.Part of this is challenging the team and its individuals from getting too cosy and thus allowing a level of complacency to enter a team’s consciousness. The slippage can be subtle, but it is so destructive to the winning culture if not attended to day by day. You are effectively the team’s conscience and have to regularly hold up the mirror to show the less appealing elements of the team’s activity and responses.Demanding leader that he is, Andy Flower must have annoyed even his greatest supporters in the team at times. Leading an elite sporting environment is not a role for anyone who wants to win a popularity contest.The sadness for me is in the clarity of the black-and-white thinking KP appears to prefer. Whilst it may help his performance it would appear to hinder his ability to engage fully with people he appears to have little regard for. Being able to co-exist with all types is an important quality to have, especially with the group’s leader, whatever one’s differences.For those who wear their preferences so openly, having a disregard for others can have a detrimental effect on people feeling comfortable around them. When this happens in a team environment, long-term performance suffers.If it is ‘the main man’ (from a performance perspective) then it can intimidate others and thus become a block to an individual feeling central to the team and producing the level of performance which comes with that genuine sense of inclusion. People want to, and need to feel valued.With young players, such personalities can have an inspirational effect on performance if ‘the main man’ rates them. Unfortunately, the polar opposite is also true. That’s where great coaches and great captains step in, and work on the environment to ensure strong personalities do not overpower the team culture and its need for shared ownership.It must be a place where all voices are heard and all feelings respected for a team to grow over time into a high-performing unit, and be a caring family system.Egotistical behaviour and immaturity in many players can make elite sport a difficult environment for coaches. As a head coach, achieving all-round success within a team sport is limited by the quality of thinking held by one’s charges.With a joined up long-term development plan, players can be inculcated with a respectful culture whereby each person supports each other’s growth. This leads to a healthy learning culture that enhances a team’s chances of enjoying sustained success.Is the highly-respected Andy Flower a demanding leader who managed to extract high-level performances from his charges through skilful management of a complex group of people? Or, is Andy Flower the big problem for English cricket and the reason for its downturn as Kevin Pietersen would like people to believe?The data supports the view that the intense, passionate and determined Flower led a group of good cricketers into a world of dedication that enabled them to become very good cricketers over time. The results were aided by the outstanding contributions by some brilliant performers like Kevin, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior, and James Anderson. But could they have done it without him? History suggests not, but we will never know.Maybe the answer to the above questions would have been clearer if Andy Flower had stood down from his role after the Ashes success in 2013? If so, he would have been feted as a truly remarkable coach who transformed an international sporting team from also-rans into the world’s best team over time.Andy is a man whose precision, both in terms of planning and choice of words, created a new level of professionalism for professional cricketers in Zimbabwe (when captain) and with England (as head coach). Apparently, there was no cosying up to star players and no soft-soaping of what success in top sport required in terms of attitude and commitment. But clearly the intensity of the environment became too much for some players the longer his reign continued with England.Andy Flower coached England to the most successful period in their history•Getty ImagesShould he, as the England coach have lightened up more? Or, should the selectors have realised that players reach a stage in their careers when they can no longer commit the same energy to a role that they were prepared to when they were busy establishing themselves in the team?But, the problem is that if there are insufficient players of quality pushing to get into the team, it is a massive risk to de-select any player whose attitude and approach is on the wane, albeit subtly, in favour of an untried newcomer.Thus, what happens, is the coach remains demanding, the players get tired of his/her approach, and resentment builds in a team which they don’t reveal other than to fellow players with a similar axe to grind. Thus, the team culture gets polluted with a silent mutiny about the coach and his/her methods.Performance then suffers, and the coach gets frustrated, sometimes angry and increasingly demanding and the cycle of resentment gets worse and worse, until eventually the whole thing explodes in people’s faces. The coach feels let down because they have continued to give all they can in the best way they knew possible, and the players feel relieved that disaster may bring about a new regime.Then, because of the fall-out, any individual who is believed to have been central to the undermining of the culture then gets the blame, and takes the hit.In 2013, the signs were there that Andy Flower’s team was decaying: specific players falling out with each other; a coterie of senior players forming an unhealthy tight bond that seemed to make life difficult for outsiders; the influential captain (Andrew Strauss) retiring a year beforehand; players urinating on the pitch at The Oval after winning a third successive Ashes series as part of a victory celebration; the indifferent quality of players moving through a revolving door to replace established senior players; egotistical players wanting to receive greater recognition for being greats (in their minds) and publicly talking about team and personal legacies.If he were really smart (and also selfish) Andy Flower would have walked away from English cricket’s top job in September 2013, and protected his record.Andy Flower is a smart guy who is less concerned with image and reputation than he is doing the best job he can for his employer, and serving his family’s needs. In this way he is very similar to Gary Kirsten. They love and respect the game of cricket, and they want to help others experience a similar experience and depth of connection. They are evangelists for their sport.However, there is no doubt in my mind that spending too long a period of time as a performance manager with an international sporting team can have a detrimental effect on one’s humour, perspective and ability to relax. It can become all-consuming for those at the coalface.The more times a person sees the same thing, the less they see. Historical perspectives of individuals can become entrenched views and where the eyes were once fresh, they become tired and stop exploring the detail with a child-like curiosity. Most significantly, the team can get bored of you and your voice.Nurturing effective relationships with star players is vital for a coach in professional sport. Without the support of the senior player group, a coach is dead in the water. But sometimes, over-indulgence of a star can also become a major problem because the rest of the senior player group can feel resentful about such treatment. Perhaps that is their problem, and they need to manage their own jealousies better, but it is a difficult dynamic to manage once it develops in a team. People rarely admit to having it, but it is there.Andy Flower would seem to be the recipient of much of Kevin Pietersen’s ire in his new book, though Matt Prior seems to be reviled for positioning himself as the ultimate team man. I have always believed that unless one is in the space it is impossible to know the exact nature of the relationship between two people but clearly Kevin has had little regard for Andy’s ability as a coach from way back.The role Kevin has played in the England team has been the one of a brilliant individual. His performances have been sensational at times. In fact, without his 158 at The Oval in 2005, England would have lost the match and with it, been unable to regain the Ashes. Who knows how long that sequence would have gone on without the belief of winning them back in 2005?Kevin Pietersen made some serious allegations in his autobiography•Getty ImagesDisappointingly, Kevin seems unable to recognize the role played by Andy Flower (and some others) in the management of the group process that culminated in some exceptional team results being achieved on a consistent basis between 2009 and 2013. By Kevin suggesting his own five-year-old son could have done what Andy accomplished, reveals to me a lack of understanding on Kevin’s part about what goes into facilitating top performance in others. I find it a disrespectful comment too.Trust is a vital element in enjoying successful relationships and maybe his opinions were as a result of losing trust in key people and some of his comments were an emotional release emanating from deep scars. I certainly felt it was unfair to portray him as the bad guy because I have first-hand knowledge of some very good things he has done behind the scenes to support English cricketers.It has been the most horrible 12 months in the ECB’s history. There have been no winners.The reality is elite sport is a messy place. Individuals are driven by a desire for the spotlight, recognition, feeling valued, wanting a sense of belonging and needing some financial and emotional security because it could all end in a split second through loss of form, confidence, or fitness.Insecurity dominates most people but they are too afraid to acknowledge their human frailty in the team context and thus have to wear – to quote Dr Ken Jennings – ‘the mask of competency’, which means the reality of the issues get buried quite deep until a demanding moment brings them to the surface. When it does, they can explode like a boil being lanced and pollute the environment for longer than it takes to clean up the mess.Every team faces the need for renewal. Doing so ahead of bad times is vital if the horrors experienced by the England cricket team last year are to be avoided by others in future.The fascinating aspect of renewal for me is the unknown. How will it play out as consequence of change?
When space is created in a system, it can be fascinating to observe who has the desire to fill it. Who, despite having all the credentials to fill it ,decides to remain in their previous role? Some very good players seem unable to, or choose not to, influence the culture of the team in a more dominant manner once their more senior teammates move on.Often it is an ambitious young person who has the chutzpah to seize the moment and make a big impact on the new culture which then inspires other more established members of the group to follow their lead. For example, it was Kevin Pietersen who filled the space in 2005, despite being a debutant.In my experience, sport is not a hierarchy where people shift up one notch in an orderly fashion as a consequence of those at the top of the tree moving on. The coach’s challenge is to create an environment in which people can become exceptional.The skill for every coach is in creating a learning context that people want to be part of because they see the value in their own personal growth as well as being part of others’ development too. Ultimately, when a person/player understands that their life is about being in service to others it all becomes so much easier.Being more loving towards all is what makes the difference in life.

A new book uses the context around the retirement of India’s biggest cricketer as grounds for further exploration

Samir Chopra31-Jan-2015Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell, in November 2013, was quite easily Indian cricket’s event of the year. It was also, quite possibly, a rather distinctive event in cricket’s history. A special Test series – against West Indies – was arranged by the BCCI, and the 200th and final Test of Tendulkar’s career was scheduled for the Wankhede in Mumbai. For most Indian cricket fans, the country’s favourite cricketing son deserved no less than this deliberate and elaborate goodbye, in the company of his family and at the ground that was his de-facto cricketing home.Tendulkar did not score a century in his last innings, but neither did he score a duck. He delivered a moving farewell speech, bringing tears to the eyes of many who saw it, and then, after the obligatory lap of the stadium, surrounded by a small army of photographers, board officials, security men and various hangers-on, he rode off into the sunset, leaving behind him the memories of a 25-year career. For some – including this writer – his retirement had come two years too late, but there was no doubt that when it did happen, the man at the centre of it all handled it with as much dignity as could be mustered in the midst of the spectacle that it was destined to be.Tendulkar’s last Test, and the context surrounding it, is the subject of Dilip D’Souza’s entertaining little book, . In it, D’Souza uses a close look at action on the pitch as a foundation and scaffolding for brief but wide-ranging looks at a host of topics: the financial power of Indian cricket, the BCCI’s domination of world cricket administration, the political resonances of cricket in Mumbai, including its relationship with the notorious (political party) the Shiv Sena, the decline of West Indies cricket, the obsession with statistics that is the hallmark of the cricket tragic, the peculiar and particular fascination Indian cricket fans have had with Tendulkar over the course of his long and distinguished career.The cricket is, of course, centre stage in D’Souza’s writing – perhaps a little too much even – but our understanding of the cricket action he describes is considerably enhanced by its being embedded in the issues he raises. It lends meaning to what could be a meaningless activity – the knocking around of ball by bat. The action we see on a ground is but the bare tip of an iceberg. There is finance, there is politics, there is economics, there are interpersonal relationships, there are cultural conventions; the sporting action reflects these myriad influences to those who play close attention.D’Souza is an experienced journalist who has often cast a critical glance at many aspects of modern Indian life in his writings over the years, and he brings the descriptive and analytical skills he has acquired over the course of his career to this foray into writing on cricket. The result is a book that will entertain the fan who wants to read about cricket action but also educate those who want to know more about what makes Indian cricket – and its fans and players – the distinctive cultural phenomena that they most certainly are.Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar
By Dilip D’Souza
Random House India, 254 pages
Rs 194 (paperback)

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the first ODI between New Zealand and Pakistan in Wellington

Andrew Fidel Fernando31-Jan-2015The exit tuneThe news of Haris Sohail’s unfortunate run-in with what the batsman believed to be ghosts, in Christchurch, has now traveled around the globe, even making a splash in the USA. True or not, it will now be a tale he will find tough to live down, as the Westpac Stadium DJ proved. Sohail played well for his 23, but when he was dismissed in the 24th over, he walked back to the dressing room to the theme song from the Ghostbusters film.The recallYounis Khan failed to make a significant the two warm-up matches, and when he slashed Kyle Mills in the air to third man in the seventh over, he thought he was out for 1. Younis was on his way back to the dressing room when he heard the umpires asking him to wait. Replays found Mills had not landed his foot behind the line, and a no-ball and a run was awarded, and the wicket reversed. A free-hit was also given, but though Ahmed Shehzad received a knee-high full toss, he chose to just bunt it into the legside.The fraternal telepathyBrendon and Nathan McCullum played countless games of indoor cricket growing up, and in the 25th over, produced a piece of fielding that might have been more at home on a cricket court than a field. Tearing after a ball Haris had hit between mid on and midwicket, Brendon caught up to it just outside the 30-yard circle, and employed a reverse-scoop, as he dove over the ball. Brendon was sending the ball behind him, but his brother, who had been at midwicket, was in the perfect position to catch the ball and return it to the keeper. Most teams would have conceded at least two for that shot, but the McCullums only gave away a single.The insanity by osmosisNever one to suffer a run-rate below four an over, Shahid Afridi came in at 127 for 6 and thumped his first ball over cover for four. He continued to aim big swipes at virtually every ball, and perhaps it was seeing Afridi play with such a cavalier spirit, that inspired Misbah-ul-Haq to do the same. Misbah had been 58 from 86 balls and needed only to turn the strike over to Afridi at the other end, but in the 42nd over, he tried to smash a full Grant Elliott ball over the deep midwicket rope, and picked out the fielder there instead.

Pakistan have never beaten India in a World Cup match, and while they are not at their strongest, their opponents have been in dire form. Can Misbah-ul-Haq’s side overcome jitters to triumph at a packed Adelaide Oval?

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide13-Feb-20154:29

Dravid: Mohammad Irfan will challenge India’s batsmen

Pakistan are nervous. Real nervous.So nervous that a group of players who missed the team’s evening curfew by 45 minutes earlier in the tour are on their last warning for misbehaviour on this trip.So nervous that a usually gregarious team has been clammed up from talking formally to the media until the captain Misbah-ul-Haq speaks as obligated on Saturday.So nervous that at their main nets session on Friday morning only a handful of towering blows were aimed at the bowlers, as the batsmen worked fastidiously on their techniques lest anyone be made to look silly against India on Sunday.In all this there are signs that Pakistan may be too keyed up for this match, a contest no less an authority than Wasim Akram believes will dictate which of his homeland or India will find the confidence and resolution to make a genuine bid for the World Cup over the next six weeks. But it may also speak of an earnest attempt to find the sort of focus and purpose that only occasionally settles on a Pakistan line-up, as it so memorably did in 1992.Through the team can be sensed a familiar refrain: let’s just get through Sunday, then things will get easier. Given the shape of their draw, it is a sensible conclusion.In 2011, the meeting with India was saved for the semi-finals. In 1999 it was the Super Sixes, in 1996 the quarter-finals. The two times they met in the group stages were in 2003 and back in 1992, the last time the tournament took place down under. Then it was at an SCG more sparsely populated than Adelaide will be. Javed Miandad made the newspapers for his theatrical imitation of Kiran More’s appealing, but India won. The result had no bearing on the outcome of what would become Pakistan’s Cup.There are other reasons for Pakistani optimism. India have been operating on what feels like one cylinder for most of their lengthy Australian tour. Only this week against Afghanistan did they finally manage to win a match. As MS Dhoni has freely admitted, his team have a longer tail than he would like, while their bowling has never suggested it will scale any sort of heights down under. The onus is on Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and company to score anything and everything.It should not be forgotten either that Pakistan were victorious when last these two sides met in an ODI, at the Asia Cup in Dhaka a little less than a year ago. India were Dhoni-less if not quite rudderless, and Shahid Afridi grasped his moment to turn an equation of nine to win from four balls into three runs in credit with two deliveries to spare. That result was celebrated as an example of the sort of crazed beauty inherent in Pakistan cricket, but there are some steadier hands who may play a role in Adelaide.While many have commented at the relative weakness of Pakistan’s bowling attack when lined up against those assembled for previous World Cups, they have in Yasir Shah the best legspinner in the tournament – unless Imran Tahir lands everything in its right place. Shane Warne was impressed by Yasir’s work against Australia in Test matches last October, and his combination of bounce, spin and accuracy should find sympathetic responses from antipodean pitches, much as Mushtaq Ahmed did 23 years ago.In the batting order, Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal form the sort of middle-order hinge likely to swing plenty of matches towards their side, allowing Afridi the license to play without any thoughts beyond where he can deposit the next ball. What is needed primarily is a little more solidity at the top of the order, a task not beyond the capability of Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad and certainly well within the repertoire of Younis Khan. Shehzad was struck on the forearm during nets on Friday, but scans have cleared him of anything more than bruising.Of course the size of the occasion will be daunting. Just to make sure Adelaide Oval will be full to bursting, World Cup organisers released an extra 3000 tickets to those on a lengthy waiting list for the match on Friday, and watched them disappear in minutes. Nary a hotel room nor flight into Adelaide is available at anything less than the most exorbitant rate imaginable, while the television audience for the game will doubtless set new records.So Pakistan had good reason to be nervous as they prepared, but no more so than India. All they need now is Sunday.

Deivarayan Muthu27-Mar-2015Attack-first approach: New Zealand’s strategy to contain runs? Get wickets. The field shown in the picture was not at the start of the innings nor was it with the opposition in shambles – it was in the 14th over of the semi-final as New Zealand relentlessly attacked, even when the option was there to spread the field.•ICCTrent Boult: Need a wicket right now? Call Boult. His mastery of swing and his consistency have played a pivotal part in New Zealand’s progress. On his way to toppling Geoff Allott’s New Zealand World Cup record of 20 wickets, Boult took 5 for 27, studded by a spell of 5-3-3-5, in the trans-Tasman tussle in Auckland. Boult has bowled out six times in eight matches compared to Tim Southee’s three and Daniel Vettori’s four and has six wickets more than Southee and Vettori, who are level with 15.•Getty ImagesIntensity in the field: … And the bowlers have been backed up by some sharp fielding. McCullum has led by example there as well, often leaping, sliding, diving, flinging and prowling at the covers. Vettori also stepped up and matched McCullum’s reflexes when he backpedalled, leapt and pulled off a stunning one-handed catch to dismiss Marlon Samuels in the quarter-final against West Indies.•Getty ImagesBowling depth and readiness: Adam Milne picked up only five wickets in six matches, but his extra pace and lift meant he was preferred over the experienced Kyle Mills and Mitchell McClenaghan, New Zealand’s most successful ODI bowler in the last three years. Even when Milne sustained a heel injury ahead of the semi-final, New Zealand went for the rookie Matt Henry, who wasn’t even in the World Cup squad a couple of days before the big game. McCullum explained the selection: “We have just gone for the aggressive option. A wicket-taking option. Best first-change option. When in doubt, go for the aggressive option.”•Getty Images

Plays of the day from the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians

Rachna Shetty19-Apr-2015The silent protest
What does a player do after a warning by an umpire to cut down on chatter to the batsman? Pipe down. Unless you’re Kieron Pollard. Asked by the umpire to put a stop to his chattering at the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen, Pollard deployed a method more common at protest marches around the world than on a cricket field – he put a duct tape over his mouth. By the time he came on to bowl the last over of the match, the tape had been taken off.The overs that went on, and on, and on…
Dropped catches had plagued Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians in their previous games. In this game, in addition to the catches, it was the extras conceded. Iqbal Abdulla bowled an eight-ball over during Mumbai Indians’ innings but he was outdone by Mumbai Indians’ bowlers. Mitchell McClenaghan began the side’s defence of 209 with a nine-ball over that included two wides, a no-ball and a dropped catch. Jasprit Bumrah began his spell with a 10-ball over that had four successive wides at the start.The chance that went abegging
The second ball of a 210-run chase. A short of a length ball from McCleanghan sat up and Chris Gayle took a thwack at it. The ball flew straight to Lendl Simmons at cover. Perhaps thrown off by the speed at which it came, Simmons spilled the chance. Rohit Sharma was on his knees in despair, Gayle had a blank look on his face and Simmons could only offer a sheepish smile.Collision, chaos, comedy
With the openers gone after a slow start, Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik had some catching up to do. Karthik drove a ball off Hardik Pandya to sweeper cover and the batsmen set off for two. After completing the first single, both of them turned and started running on the same side of the pitch, realised that, then started running diagonally and collided. Fortunately for them, Mumbai Indians missed the run-out chance but Kohli was not amused.

Mumbai Indians don’t lack for resources to pull off a second IPL trophy and here are five of them that they would hope to fire at Eden Gardens against Chennai Super Kings

Nagraj Gollapudi in Kolkata23-May-20153:16

Butcher: The force is with Mumbai

The soldier
At training, Lasith Malinga was knocking the base of the stumps at training with his pin-point yorkers. There was no run-up though, just slinging that arm from the crease. Barely about 10 deliveries in, he stopped. That was enough for him. Malinga is ready for the final.In two IPL finals Mumbai have played, he went wicketless, 0-33 in 2010 when they lost, and 2 for 22 in 2013 when they became champions. Despite all the questions posed about his fitness and speed, Malinga has soldiered on with unerring accuracy and a smile.This season Malinga has taken even more responsibility, assisting Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma with the right field placements, and has even been insistent at times considering his experience in working out a batsman’s strengths and weaknesses.Malinga’s presence has motivated his bowling partners. New Zealand seamer Mitchell McCleneghan has been given the freedom to operate in his aggressive fashion and the pair have been one the most dominant new-ball combinations this season.The leader
If Rohit Sharma scores 15 runs in the final, he will become only the second batsmen after Virat Kohli to score 500-plus runs against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.His battle with R Ashwin is likely to be key to the outcome of the match. In 11 innings, Rohit has been tied down to 51 runs from 70 balls and been dismissed once as well. He will take heart from being back in a venue he likes – the last time Rohit played at Eden Gardens, he missed out on a century by just two runs, against Kolkata Knight Riders in the tournament opener.On the eve of the final, his second as the captain, Rohit sat quietly and observed Ponting administer drills at the training nets about 50 metres away. Despite the distance, Rohit kept a close eye on proceedings. Known to get emotional in tense situations, here he was sitting alone in a corner away from the dugout. His batting has not performed to the desired standards, but it is clear Rohit wants to win.The power hitter(s)
In Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya, Mumbai have the firepower to accelerate in the final six overs.Pollard is the main threat for in addition to his quiver including brute strength, he has added a coating of patience to his bow. He showed he can come in early and bat deep in a must-win game against Knight Riders. He stuck to his captain’s instructions of knuckling down and although 33 not out from 38 balls does not say much on paper, it was one of the major reasons Mumbai finished as winners.Pandya has acknowledged Pollard’s contribution in helping him stay strong and pick the right moment and the right ball and right shot to ease off the pressure. It is too early to predict Pandya’s future, but for the moment he has the support of his seniors including Mumbai coach Ricky Ponting. If the two Mr Ps decide to tango, Super Kings will not have an easy night.The talisman
Eden Gardens is where Harbhajan Singh has scripted historic Test victories for India. He lost his place to Ashwin two years ago but has come back for the one-off Test against Bangladesh. The final will be another opportunity for Harbhajan to prove who the best spinner in the IPL is.He has been impressive, finding drift and delivering at a slower pace which has made him an attacking option this season. A far cry from the defensive lines he resorted to in the past when batsman took him on. His twin dismissals of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni in a single over in the first Qualifier put Mumbai in the final straightaway. Harbhajan and Mumbai would be happy with an encore.The architect
Mumbai will be waging this battle on behalf of Ricky Ponting, who has never lost a big final in his playing days. Speak to any Mumbai player and he will tell you that their coach has inspired him within a matter of seconds. Ponting’s message has been clear from the outset: put yourself on the line not just for yourself, but for your team-mates also. Successful Australian teams built a strong bond under strong leaders like Ponting and he is at it again in the Mumbai dressing room.MS Dhoni is known for his strategy but Ponting will be alert to the Super Kings captain’s every move. Ponting v Dhoni. Super Sunday at the Eden does not get better.

Our correspondent heads to the city of his childhood, via MS Dhoni’s home town

Arun Venugopal28-May-2015May 20
Early-morning flight. Panic attack. With my system having tuned itself to ignoring alarm clocks for years now, I make a mental note not to sleep the night before. Despite every effort, nod off at around 4am. Thankfully the cab driver’s persistent phone calls wake me up.Exit Ranchi airport to sound of trumpets and drums. Like to believe the welcome is meant for me, but discover it is a group of people shouting political party slogans and waving flags. Reach the hotel. Head out to the JSCA International Stadium in a bit. Or so I think.The autorickshaw driver is halfway into ferrying me to the hockey stadium before we hurriedly discuss what a cricket stadium means. I am told I should ask for “Dhurva Stadium”. Look for the West Gate to exchange my e-ticket for the real deal. The walk proves long and the search seems endless. I finally set my eyes on an unfinished building with a hole-in-the-wall counter. It bears the sign “Box Office”.The stadium is a charming, modern structure with grass embankments mimicking the ones in South African stadiums. Take in the expansive dressing rooms. Meet MS Dhoni’s coach, Chanchal Bhattacharya. Am now armed with a few Dhoni anecdotes.No transport in sight. More walking to do. Trudge along for about five kilometres on a road lit only by the stadium’s floodlights. Finally a gentleman responds to my request for a lift. “You only need to wave your hand to get a lift in Ranchi,” he says. He asks me what I do.”I am a journalist here for the cricket.””Where do you work?””ESPNcricinfo.””Is that a news channel?”The hole-in-the-wall ticket counter at the JSCA Stadium•ESPNcricinfo LtdMay 21
Make another visit to the stadium. Chennai Super Kings have arrived to train. There are only about 50 policemen and a few journalists gathered to watch. A pre-game press conference is scheduled as well. No surprises seeing Stephen Fleming walk in. He has over the years become the de facto team representative at media interactions.Get back to the hotel squeezed in the front seat of an auto along with three other men, driver included. Listen to a couple of drunks jabber away incoherently behind me.May 22
Game day. Chennai Super Kings v Royal Challengers Bangalore. Expectedly more fans in yellow than red. Auto driver points to a road that apparently leads to Dhoni’s house, and says: “He must be sleeping at home now.”Roads leading to the stadium are clogged with humanity and automobiles. No signposts telling us where to enter or exit. Finally, upon reaching the South Gate, I am, along with a few hundred people, shoved in like cement into a mixer.Meet a couple of Americans, Sam and Bob, who are curious to watch a game of cricket after spending hours on the internet reading up on it. We swap notes on the parallels between cricket and baseball. They seem particularly fascinated by fast bowlers knocking stumps out of the ground, and wonder how they might fare as baseball pitchers.They are amused by the dancing cheerleaders, firecrackers going off after wickets, and the DJ prompting crowds to scream their lungs out. “Gee, it’s just like what happens back home. People in stadiums are always told when to cheer,” Sam says.May 23
My last day in Ranchi. Try out some local street food. The grows on you; it’s a dry ball of wheat served with tomato paste, tamarind water and onions. Wash it down with a porridge of , perhaps the best comfort drink I have had in some time.Dread the seven-hour flight to Kolkata via to New Delhi. Meet Mandeep Singh of Royal Challengers at the airport. He calls Daniel Vettori a “class [chap]. [He is always calm].” Admits to having been worried initially about Virat Kohli’s infamous temper. “But he was fine actually. He shows his passion on the field, but was generally pretty calm.”May 24
In Kolkata. The city where I spent the first eight years of my life. The city I haven’t visited once since I left in 1996. Flush with memories, many of which are connected with the sights and smells of the city. Filled with regret at having forgotten all the Bengali I knew.Go back to the house I once lived in. On Palm Avenue. Ballygunge. Astonished that things haven’t changed one bit. Not the small bylanes. Or the even smaller pathway where I would embarrass myself attempting to play cricket. Can’t meet my childhood friends, who are out of town.Focus back on cricket. The big final, or is it really? Mumbai Indians dismantle Super Kings in a hopelessly dull game. The sticky, hot mess that is the Kolkata weather makes things seem worse than they are. The full house at Eden Gardens, clearly bored and tired, only makes sporadic noises. Have to contend with incessant chatter between two siblings seated behind me about the Big Bang theory, matter and no matter. Nightmares of my miserable time with physics at school return.Street Hawk: Dhoni hits the road in Ranchi•PTI May 25
Try to get an appointment for an interview with Jagmohan Dalmiya. Call his number and mistake his voice for someone else’s. He patiently explains that it is indeed him. There have been reports about him being unwell. Assures me he is okay now. The interview, though, will have to wait.May 26
Visit the Victoria Memorial. Simply blown away by its sheer magnificence and the coming together of architectural styles. Not much of a shopper, but platform purchases at the Esplanade are fulfilling, as are long walks along the Rabindra Sarobar.May 27
Go to Dakshineshwar, in the North 24 Parganas District. Another fond childhood memory. The ferry ride on the Hooghly River to Belur Math reignites a long-forgotten thrill.Off to Gariahat to visit my alma mater. Again, hasn’t changed one bit. The same box-like structure with a liberal spray of red and yellow paint.Go back to the Palm Avenue house. Second time lucky as my friends are in town, and a long evening is spent nursing Cartoon Network-filled memories of two decades ago. Walk past the house of a distinguished erstwhile neighbour, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the former chief minister of West Bengal.Happy that most things on my list are ticked, but no clue about my first crush at school. Next time.

A defeat overseas on a sluggish pitch was a familiar situation that brought familiar words from Michael Clarke, but the Australians have to do more than talk

Daniel Brettig in Cardiff11-Jul-20154:01

Five things we learned from Cardiff

Oh what Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon would have given for a mere 11 overs to save this Test. When speaking about erasing the memories of Cardiff 2009, Australia’s cricketers did not quite have this scenario in mind. Not only were they beaten, they were obliterated.An England side still finding their way with a new coach in tow will gain as much confidence from this result as Australia did in Brisbane 19 months ago. An Australian team who had been confident, if not outright haughty, are left to ruminate on a very evident mortality.It will be acknowledged that they could have bowled better and, on the first morning, caught better. Brad Haddin will forever be clutching Joe Root’s edge with two gloves in his sleep, having failed to do so when it mattered. Nevertheless, this was a batting calamity, a collective failure of such magnitude as to match Lord’s two years ago, another week when the top six showed all the survival instinct of lemmings.They would do well to run their eyes over these words from Michael Clarke before the match. He laid out, more or less, what would be required of the batsmen in English climes.”Once you get in as batsman over here, you have to go on and make a big score,” he said. “You’re never out of the game as a bowler, there’s always something there – whether it’s the slope at Lord’s or you get some overhead conditions, or you take the second new ball, there’s always an opportunity with the Dukes ball. So as a batter you need to know that. In Australia when you feel like you’re batting well and get to 40 and 50, things become a little bit easier. Sometimes here it’s not the case, you’ve got to work your backside off for your whole innings.”Clarke has uttered similar words at other times, from the 2013 India tour and the visit to England that followed it, to a match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth and a two-Test sojourn in the UAE against Pakistan. The words come easily, and Clarke clearly knows them instinctively. But whatever the reason, the actions that should flow from them do not.Australia’s batsmen did not work their backsides off in either innings at Cardiff. On the second day they made a passing effort, getting established and pushing through the early period before relaxing into a rhythm and getting themselves out. On the fourth day, faced with a record Ashes target, they did not even do that. Like the crayon lodged somewhere up Homer Simpson’s nose, there is something that repeatedly affects Australian cognitive function on pitches such as Cardiff’s, and against bowling that requires a measured response.Part of it is a belief that pitches such as these are not a true test of their skill, and that the way the game is best played on them is a version of cricket they would rather not engage with. This was certainly true of Australia’s bowling on the opening day, when the desire of Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson to see the ball flying through to Haddin saw them offer Root far too much short stuff, a diet on which he completely changed the complexion of the morning. Peter Siddle had looked Australia’s best bowler for this surface in the two training days before the match, but at selection time he was thought inferior to others with more Antipodean methods.With a more balanced bowling attack England showed, in a quite exhilarating fashion at times, that slow surfaces must not always be associated with stodgy, risk averse play. In 2009 and 2013, the ways of Andy Flower had England playing the percentages with conditions in their favour.This time they allied their conditional knowhow to courageous, inventive and intelligent cricket, of the kind Trevor Bayliss used to be a part of with the NSW teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The mentality was aggressive, and the game kept moving, but the cricket was smart rather than foolhardy. One exemplar of this was Ben Stokes, who played a pair of positive and influential innings while also playing an understated but important role with the ball – his dismissal of Adam Voges via variation off the pitch was Australia’s point of no return.Stokes’ opposite number was rather more problematic for Australia. By the time of what was surely Shane Watson’s last lbw review Passion play, the match had well and truly gone. But his Australian method, plonking the front foot down the wicket and not allowing himself room to combat any movement or variation, speaks as bluntly of bowling machines and flint-hard pitches as anything else in Clarke’s team.Much like in the first innings, numerous batsmen played shots untempered by any sense of the match situation, nor the plans of the bowlers to outsmart them. Clarke’s vague waft at Stuart Broad will not be appearing on any of his highlight reels, and Haddin’s mow at Moeen Ali rivalled his infamous slash during the 2011 Cape Town Test.Clarke said batting for long innings was all about hunger. If so, then his team showed little interest in being fed at all. “The hardest part about batting is getting to 20 or 30,” he said. “Once you get there you’ve got to have that hunger inside you to want to go on and make a big score. Once you get to 50 turn it into 80, once you get to 80 turn it into 100 and look to make a big hundred.”But that’s the game as well. You get a good ball whether you’re on zero or you’re on 50 it can get you out. It’s the hardest part about batting. When you’re in form cash in, when you’re out of form find a way to scratch your backside off to get in form. I think the shot selection wasn’t as good as it needs to be. The fact that we all got starts especially in our first innings we need to have more discipline there. At least one, maybe two of those guys – me in particular – we need to go on and make a big score.”There’s nothing wrong with these words. Like those Clarke said before the match they make perfect sense. But they are just words, and for a long time now Australia’s words have not matched their actions on foreign surfaces. To win an Ashes series in England for the first time since 2001, and to do so from behind for the first time since 1997, Clarke’s men have to show a hunger that goes beyond the homilies.

Stats highlights from Bangladesh’s historic ODI win against India in Mirpur

Bishen Jeswant21-Jun-20151:37

Insights – Bangladesh complete 10 straight home wins

10 Successive ODI wins for Bangladesh at home – five against Zimbabwe, three against Pakistan, and two against India.5 Number of ODI wins for Bangladesh against India, in 31 games. Among the top ten sides, Bangladesh have won more often against West Indies (seven out of 28) and New Zealand (eight out of 25). (Click here for their ODI record against each opposition.)93 Bangladesh’s current points tally on the ICC rankings table. Even if they lose the next game against India, and all three against South Africa, they will still be on 90 points, which is ahead of West Indies’ 88.11 Wickets taken by Mustafizur Rahman in his first two ODIs, the most by any bowler in ODI history. Mustafizur took 5 for 50 in his first ODI and 6 for 43 in the second. The only other bowler to take two five-wicket hauls in his first two ODIs was Zimbabwe’s Brian Vitori, with 5 for 30 and 5 for 20 against Bangladesh in 2011.6-43 Mustafizur’s figures in the second ODI, the third-best by any Bangladesh bowler in ODIs. The only other Bangladesh bowlers to take six-wicket hauls are Mashrafe Mortaza (6 for 26 against Kenya, 2006) and Rubel Hossain (6 for 26 against New Zealand, 2013).36 Fifity-plus scores for Shakib-Al-Hasan in ODIs, which equals the record for Bangladesh. Tamim Iqbal has 36 such scores as well. Both have played 145 ODI innings.7 Number of 50-plus scores in ODIs for Shakib against India, from 13 innings. The only team against whom he has more 50-plus scores is Zimbabwe – nine from 39 innings.3 Number of times India have been bowled out for 200 or less against Bangladesh, the second-most for a top-eight side. West Indies have suffered this fate four times. Each of India’s three instances have come when batting first, which is the most for any top-eight side.2 Number of times Nasir Hossain has bowled his full quota of 10 overs in an ODI, against New Zealand in 2013 and India in this game. Nasir conceded exactly 33 runs on both occasions, but was wicketless against New Zealand while he picked up two wickets against India.3 Ducks by Indian batsmen in this ODI, the joint-most for them in an ODI against Bangladesh. The only previous instance of three Indian batsmen scoring ducks against Bangladesh was in Port-of-Spain during the 2007 World Cup.