New England Women head coach wants to embrace positivity, just as the men’s team has done

Valkerie Baynes25-Nov-2022When England’s all-new, singing, dancing – well, entertaining – Men’s Test team lost to South Africa by an innings at Lord’s in August there were murmurings (outside the camp, at least) that perhaps they’d gone too hard with their aggressive approach. The message from Brendon McCullum, their recently appointed head coach who had fashioned this new way of thinking and playing, however, was that perhaps they hadn’t pushed hard enough.At the time, Jon Lewis was England’s elite men’s pace bowling coach, and very much an insider as that message was discussed in the change-room debrief, and enacted too, as England’s emphatic victories in the next two Tests swung the series 2-1.Less than a week into his new role as England Women’s Head Coach, Lewis admits many of his thoughts on his new team are those of an “outsider”, but he is already certain of a few things – one being that he wants them to play a similar brand of cricket to that which we witnessed from the men’s side over the summer.”My perception from outside was that sometimes the team plays a little safe,” Lewis tells ESPNcricinfo at the ECB’s National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough, where England Women’s white-ball squads are preparing to travel to the Caribbean for three ODIs and five T20Is against West Indies starting on December 4.”Sometimes there’s a little caution around, especially in the pressure moments of big games,” Lewis adds. “I’ll be encouraging the team to walk towards the danger, so to speak, and actually say, ‘okay, in those moments, who’s brave enough and who’s courageous enough to take the game on at that point?'”It’s something I’ve seen work incredibly well in the men’s game, around England’s white-ball team, and this summer again in the Test side. That’s part of my coaching journey I won’t ever forget, the lessons I’ve learned from that and how just a slight shift in mindset in how you approach the game of cricket can really change where the pressure is in the game.Alice Capsey and Sophia Dunkley have epitomised the new youthful approach of England’s women’s team•Getty Images”I took a lot from this summer and it basically compounded my learning from working around the white-ball team before that. Players don’t want to play safe, or don’t want to play with fear. They want to play with freedom, and they want to go and express themselves. So I’ll be encouraging the team to play that way.”Transferring pressure in games of cricket is such a fascinating thing to do, and we’re going to learn how to do that, because that’s probably something at the moment where the team is not quite as confident as it could be.”To Lewis, it’s an approach that is easily transferrable.”You don’t coach gender, you coach people,” he says. “My role immediately is to get to know the players as much as possible and then make the judgment call – and it’s up to me to make those judgment calls on a daily basis with each and every single individual – as to how you’re going to coach them.”With the England side undergoing a significant injection of youth under Lewis’ predecessor, Lisa Keightley, he might just have the perfect blend of personnel to embrace such a style of play. The likes of Alice Capsey, Freya Kemp, Issy Wong and Lauren Bell seized their opportunities over the English summer with the fearlessness that their ages – ranging from 17 to 21 – seem to command. And Lewis sees no reason to rein that in.”You’ve got to let them fly,” he says. “It’s a massive part of why I took this job on, you can see the huge amount of talent within the group, it’s incredible to see the skill level. The movement, the appetite, the energy and the balance between the younger players will push the senior players on, with the energy that they bring.”Lewis hopes that that same youthful exuberance can inspire the fans too.Inspired himself by a quote from Wayne Smith, the seasoned rugby coach whose New Zealand Women’s team defeated England in the World Cup final earlier this month: “I never thought in a hundred years that I’d be standing out in the middle of Eden Park with 40,000 people chanting ‘Black Ferns’,” Lewis hopes his team can build a similar following.”The idea I’ve got longer-term for the team is that I want them to fill stadiums,” Lewis says. “Can we, as an individual team, get people to come and watch us because they’re really entertained and they really like the skill that they see? That’s what’s happening in other sports. I’m not sure we’re quite there yet in cricket, but that’s where I want to get to.”I don’t think that’s going to happen overnight, but it might do because of the growth we see is happening and how fast things are moving. That’s the exciting bit about the job.”Some 15,000 tickets have already sold for next year’s first Ashes T20I at the 25,000-seat Edgbaston. The match follows a Test at Lord’s as part of the multi-format series, with further T20Is to be played at The Kia Oval and Lord’s and three ODIs in Bristol, Southampton and Taunton.More pressing, however, is getting to know the team well enough in the space of 10 T20Is to challenge defending champions Australia at the World Cup in South Africa in February. As reported by ESPNcricinfo, England plan to play New Zealand in a three-match pre-tournament series upon arriving in South Africa, followed by two ICC warm-ups.A group of 19 England players will fly to Antigua on Tuesday, comprising an ODI squad for three matches against West Indies before the T20 squad take on the same opposition in five games – one in Antigua followed by four in Barbados. Those T20s form an important part of World Cup preparations and will leave Lewis with plenty to think about.Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver featured at the Commonwealth Games, but took a break at the back-end of the season•Getty Images”We need to work out what our best XI is,” Lewis says. “Over the course of those 10 games, what’s our best XI? [We need to] be really clear about what each individual has to do within that best XI so when we step on the field for the first game in the World Cup, we know pretty much where we’re at.”That may change because of obviously injuries, but knowing this is our best XI, this is how we’re going to play, let’s go on to try and win a World Cup.”England played plenty of T20Is during their home international season, with the Commonwealth Games showcasing the format in between a full multi-format series against South Africa and India’s white-ball tour in September. But Heather Knight, their experienced captain, injured her hip during the first T20I against South Africa and has only just returned to full fitness after undergoing surgery. Nat Sciver led the team in Knight’s absence before taking time out to care for her mental health, and with Katherine Brunt also missing the back-end of the summer, Amy Jones took over as captain for three ODIs and three T20Is against India.And while the absence of so many senior players created a leadership vacuum at key moments of the summer, most notably a disappointing Commonwealth Games campaign, Lewis also believes that a new dynamic has been created by the newer faces on the scene.”The senior players will come back into the side and they’ll bring them some nice stability and some amazing skill level, but they’ll be around the group thinking, ‘oh, crikey, this has changed a little bit, these players are high-energy and they’re excited and they’re bubbly and they’re having the time of their lives’,” he says. “That’s exactly how I want the whole team to play, like they’re having the time of their lives.”Sciver has opted not to resume her vice-captaincy role for now while she concentrates on returning first as a player during the Caribbean tour, with a replacement as Knight’s deputy for that trip yet to be announced.And so Lewis has begun discussions with Knight about forming a broader leadership group, and is keen to include some of the younger members of the squad. Sophie Ecclestone, the vastly experienced left-arm spinner who is still only 23, deputised for Jones and would be a candidate for that group, while wicketkeeper Jones admitted at the time that captaincy wasn’t a role she coveted long-term.Sciver’s absence also shone light on an issue that threatens to become more prevalent in the women’s game, as franchise opportunities skyrocket with the addition of the Women’s IPL and PSL.As players grow increasingly willing to admit when they need a break, Knight recently raised the need to manage workloads to avoid getting to that point, and Lewis is acutely aware that that will be part of his job.”The men’s game is getting much, much better at committing to something and then pulling it out,” Lewis says. “Those conversations, my experiences of watching that play out amongst a lot of players – especially the fast-bowling group – over the last two, three, four years now, I think will help.”Lauren Winfield-Hill, with Alice Capsey, is back in the England set-up as proof that the door is never closed•Getty ImagesThe relatively short-term nature of a cricket career and a player’s earning capacity within that time-frame are issues which are compounded for women, who generally don’t make as much money as the men and whose opportunities to play, while growing, are fewer.Wong, who is only 20, recently pulled out of a planned WBBL stint with Hobart Hurricanes, and Lewis can see that happening more in the women’s game in future, although he acknowledges that they face added considerations to their male counterparts, in terms of what they’re giving up when opting out of franchise tournaments.”I don’t know how it’s going to play out and some players will get really tired,” he says. “My job is to make sure that when we come to the big moments, and every time we’re playing for England when we come to the big moments – the World Cups, the Ashes series – that we’ve got our best teams available to play all the time.”But what is also exciting about the group of players that we have now is there’s much more depth, so that does create space to bring players in and out a little bit more and be a bit more creative with selection. Part of my job will be to encourage our coaching group to grow that depth even further.”It’s a really tricky balance to create. However, I definitely think it’s possible, especially because of what’s outside of our best playing XI at the moment.”Related

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In the new year, Lewis plans to venture to the regions to fully explore the talent on offer there, with a view to expanding the pool of England players.He wouldn’t have had to look too far last season to see the exploits of Lauren Winfield-Hill, the 32-year-old opening batter who was dropped midway through the 50-over World Cup in March and lost her ECB central contract for the coming year.Winfield-Hill has forced her way back into the T20I squad for the first time since early 2020 with some impressive performances for two-time Hundred champions Oval Invincibles, after kicking off Northern Diamonds’ Charlotte Edwards Cup campaign with a 51-ball 96. She also topped the averages in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, including a player-of-the-match performance as Diamonds won the final in a thriller.And while Lewis wasn’t involved in selection for the Caribbean tour, Winfield-Hill’s return sends a message not only to any youngsters hoping to achieve higher honours, but to those who might have thought their time has passed.”The door isn’t closed to anyone,” Lewis says. “If you put in performances like Lauren has over the past year and showed her appetite for run scoring and, more importantly I think, the way she’s gone about scoring her runs, that’s a message that I would like to get out to all the players out there: I’m really open to anyone coming into this squad… If you work hard enough and you perform well enough the door is always open.”

Who will they pick as the third spinner? And will Ishan Kishan or KS Bharat keep wicket?

Karthik Krishnaswamy07-Feb-20234:24

Ravi Shastri wants India to select Kuldeep and the better wicketkeeper

Rohit Sharma, ______, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, ______, Ravindra Jadeja, ______, ______, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, ______.Six players seem to be near certainties in India’s XI for the first Test against Australia in Nagpur. The other five slots, however, could cause raging debates, with compelling options available to fill all of them. Here are the choices facing India’s team management.

Who takes Shreyas Iyer’s place?

Iyer has only played seven Tests, but he’s become a key middle-order player on turning tracks. With both him and Rishabh Pant – who along with Ravindra Jadeja are the only three India batters (minimum 5 innings) to average above 50 in Asia since the start of 2021 – absent, India have a big hole to fill in the middle order.Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav are the prime candidates to replace Iyer, and both make persuasive cases for selection. Gill has four hundreds, including an ODI double-ton, in his last seven innings for India, and even if he made all those runs in white-ball cricket, he made them in the manner of a special, once-in-a-generation talent announcing his coming of age. It’s hard to keep out someone in that kind of form.Related

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Suryakumar hasn’t played Test cricket, and his selection in the squad came largely on the back of what he’s done in T20s. Where batters who typically get picked to play Test cricket for India break through with first-class averages in the high 50s or 60s, Suryakumar only averages 45.93 after 74 matches. But his is a wildcard selection, with India probably looking at him as a potential gamechanger in low-scoring Tests on turning pitches. In the last Ranji Trophy game he played, in December, Suryakumar scored a 107-ball 95 when Mumbai were bowled out for 230 by Saurashtra. Eight of the ten wickets in that innings, and 31 of the 40 in the match, fell to spin. If India reckon the Nagpur pitch will behave similarly, they could well decide to take the Suryakumar gamble.

Who opens with Rohit Sharma?

If India do play Suryakumar, they’ll have a seriously tricky decision to make at the top of the order. Rohit Sharma will return after missing both Tests in Bangladesh with a thumb injury, which means one of the two openers who played on that tour will either have to move down the order or sit out.One of them was Gill, who scored a maiden Test hundred in the first Test in Chattogram. The other was KL Rahul, whose four innings on the tour brought him scores of 22, 23, 10 and 2.Rahul, however, captained India in those two Tests, in Rohit’s absence, and is the designated vice-captain for the first two Tests of this series. It would be a massive call for India to leave Rahul out, but it seems like the only way they can play both Gill and Suryakumar, if they’re looking to go in that direction.

Who should keep wicket?

Pant’s absence is the biggest hole in India’s line-up, and neither wicketkeeper in their squad is really a like-for-like replacement. No other keeper in the world is, to be fair.Over the last two years, Pant has performed two key roles for India. He’s played game-changing innings in every kind of crisis situation, against all kinds of bowling on all kinds of pitches, and he’s done this while turning himself into a world-class keeper. India were happy to play Wriddhiman Saha ahead of Pant in home Tests when they felt he wasn’t yet good enough with the gloves, particularly to spin bowling, and he worked on that side of his game and improved it beyond recognition.When India choose their keeper for Nagpur, therefore, they’ll place a lot of emphasis on his keeping skills, and this means KS Bharat – who has been Pant’s understudy for a year now, ever since India phased out Saha – is likely to make his Test debut ahead of Ishan Kishan.Kishan’s attacking approach and left-handedness – two characteristics he shares with Pant – would make him a tempting option for India, nonetheless, and he might have pushed extremely hard for selection if he had a strong white-ball series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand in January. As it happened, though, he went past 20 only once in nine ODI and T20I innings, and also gave the impression that he needed to improve his glovework.

Ashwin, Jadeja and who?

“It’s pretty dry. Particularly one end that I think will take a bit of spin, particularly the left-arm spinner spinning it back into our left-handers. There’s a section there that’s quite dry. Other than that, I can’t really get a good gauge on it.”I don’t think there will be a heap of bounce in the wicket. I think for the seamers it will be quite skiddy and maybe a bit of up-and-down movement as the game goes on. The cracks felt quite loose. We’ll wait and see when we get out there.”These were the thoughts Steven Smith voiced on Tuesday about the Nagpur pitch.Who’s the first bowler you’d pick on a dry pitch promising sharp turn, with a particularly dry section made for left-arm orthodox spinners to aim at outside the left-hand batters’ off stump, against a top order packed with left-handers?You might say Ravindra Jadeja, but if you had Axar Patel in your squad, you’d probably pick him too.It feels almost certain that India will pick Axar alongside Jadeja and R Ashwin, even if their ex-coach Ravi Shastri feels Kuldeep Yadav should get a go instead. Shastri’s reason for backing Kuldeep, however, is sound – if India happen to bowl first, and if there doesn’t turn out to be a great deal of help for the spinners on day one, Kuldeep would be likelier than any of the three finger-spinners to get something out of the pitch.It’s exactly what Kuldeep did in his most recent Test match, getting significantly more turn out of a flat Chattogram pitch than any of the five other spinners – all fingerspinners – playing that game, and picking up five wickets in Bangladesh’s first innings to give India a 254-run lead.The decision could, in the end, hinge on India’s reading of the pitch – given what Smith said, Axar seems likelier to play. There’s a small chance that they could pick both, and play four spinners and just the one quick, but that might be overkill even on a square turner.

Which fast bowlers should play?

Mohammed Shami is almost certain to start, if fit. He has a phenomenal record in India – 67 wickets in 18 Tests at an average of 21.28 – and his skiddiness could be a major wicket-taking threat if there’s low bounce to exploit.Umesh Yadav is a similar bowler with a similar record in India – 98 wickets at 25.16 – and Nagpur happens to be his home ground in domestic cricket. India, however, have preferred Mohammed Siraj to Umesh most times when they’ve had to make that choice, and it feels like they might in this match too, particularly given how good Siraj is against left-hand batters. If Australia pick both Matt Renshaw and Ashton Agar, they will have as many as six left-handers in their top eight.Jaydev Unadkat, the other seamer in India’s squad, seems unlikely to feature in Nagpur, unless illness or injury paves his way for selection. He could offer a point of difference as a left-arm quick if he plays, and also help in creating a rough outside the right-handers’ off stump for Ashwin to bowl into.

They seem to have become a team driven by big names as much as by success, and results have inevitably suffered

Matt Roller09-Apr-20233:30

Moody: Huge gulf between superstars and the other players at Mumbai

From 100 yards away, the golden letters and numbers on the back of Mumbai Indians’ royal-blue shirts are almost impossible to read. Perhaps that is the point: at this franchise, most players’ identities are obvious from the stands of the Wankhede Stadium. If they are not, then they are not worth knowing.No squad in the IPL is as skewed towards star power as Mumbai’s. Their seven highest earners are on a combined INR 85 crore (USD 10.4 million approx), nearly 90 percent of the salary cap. Their eleven lowest earners are on INR 20 lakh (USD 24,000) each, the league’s minimum wage. They have superstars and squad players, with almost nothing in between.On Saturday night, two of those superstars were missing. It had been apparent for some time that the IPL’s most successful franchise would have to make do without Jasprit Bumrah, the leader of their bowling attack, in 2023; news that Jofra Archer, their other big-name bowler, had picked up a niggle meant that their fixture against Chennai Super Kings was always likely to be a challenge.Related

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Mumbai started brilliantly, racing to 61 for 1 after the powerplay. Rohit Sharma threw his hands at the ball when Super Kings’ seamers offered him width, the capacity crowd roaring in celebration at each of his four boundaries. Akash Ambani watched on from his plush leather sofa in the stands; Sachin Tendulkar smiled in the dugout.After Rohit was cleaned up by Tushar Deshpande, Ishan Kishan took over. He had struck three boundaries off Sisanda Magala’s first four balls and then slapped down the ground for consecutive fours, his sweat-drenched forearms glistening under the floodlights. And then, as the field spread… nothing.In the space of 16 balls, Mumbai lost four wickets for 12 runs, collapsing spectacularly against Super Kings’ left-arm spinners. Mitchell Santner and Ravindra Jadeja bowled with skill and guile, varying their pace and extracting just a hint of turn. There was an unfortunate element to two of those wickets: the ball Suryakumar Yadav gloved behind was sliding some way past leg stump, while Jadeja’s catch off his own bowling to remove Cameron Green was a freak dismissal.ESPNcricinfo LtdYet from that moment on, there was an unmistakable sense of inevitability around Mumbai’s defeat. For the second game in a row, they were a long way short with the bat, scraping up to a total of 157. Shorn of their two star bowlers, their attack never stood a chance of defending it, even against a Super Kings batting line-up missing Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali through injury and illness respectively.It is worth dwelling on the make-up of that attack. Mumbai opened the bowling with two left-arm seamers: one of them made his professional T20 debut last weekend, aged 25; the other was traded from Royal Challengers Bangalore during the off-season. Their change seamer has taken six wickets in his T20 career. Their two fingerspinners are base-price rookies. Their frontline legspinner is a 34-year-old, who went unsold last season even as two new teams were added to the league.Mumbai were taken to pieces in the powerplay, not by Ruturaj Gaikwad or Devon Conway but by Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane is a stylish batter with international pedigree, but went into this game having made nine appearances across the past two IPL seasons, only once passing 30. As he took Arshad to pieces, plundering 23 runs from his second over, Rahane exposed Mumbai’s attack for what it was.Two games into the season, Mumbai are in a mess. They have overcome bad starts before, and the nature of this format is that if a couple of their big names find form simultaneously, they could go on a winning streak that takes them into the play-offs and beyond. But it is harder than it has been previously to see that happening.If this fixture really is Indian cricket’s answer to El Clásico, the meeting of its biggest and best clubs, then Mumbai are in their galácticos era, signing the biggest names in the sport simply to prove that they can, just as Real Madrid did soon after the turn of the century.Rohit Sharma has his head down•BCCIIt is a phase unwittingly personified by Green, who was signed for INR 17.5 crore at December’s auction and has now been thrown into the IPL with huge expectations on him. The only previous time he has played a full season was as a 20-year-old, when he averaged 15 and didn’t bowl a ball for Perth Scorchers.Green is a phenomenal talent, who will doubtless dominate at international level for years to come – but was he really the player Mumbai needed? His two innings of note in this format were as an opener, where Mumbai already have an established pair; with the ball, he is being asked to learn on the job.Ahead of the auction, Mumbai needed domestic bowlers to complement Archer and Bumrah; in their absence, they need them even more now. Ignoring that obvious hole in their squad to throw their money at Green was like adding another layer of gold paint to a Bentley without an engine.More pertinently, it was a signing that would not have been countenanced by the Mumbai of old; a franchise that almost never overpaid for a player, who stuck to a clear set of principles in constructing a balanced squad with depth in every area. Somewhere along the way, they seem to have become a team driven by celebrity as much by success. Results, inevitably, have suffered.Three seasons ago, Mumbai strolled effortlessly to a second consecutive title and their third in four years with a side so strong that it was hard to see how they would ever fade. On Saturday night, they lost for the 12th time in their last 16 games. There is still time for them to climb back to those old heights this season, but it has been a precipitous fall.

Both are blinding individual talents, but only one of them has the strength of a team’s cohesion backing him

Alagappan Muthu21-May-20235:13

Runorder: Ravi Shastri wants Hardik to be India’s full-time T20I captain

Twenty-five seconds into stoppage time in extra time. Neymar has the ball.Thirty-five seconds into stoppage time in extra time. Brazil have the goal.Despite the best efforts of a ticking clock and a low block, he found a way through.A one-two with Rodrygo 30 yards out. Then another with Lucas Paquetá as he makes his run into Croatia’s box. He beats the last defender. He rounds the goalkeeper. And he scores.A place in the World Cup semi-final was his. And then it wasn’t.Lucknow Super Giants need 39 off 45 with nine wickets in hand.Hardik Pandya had top-scored in the first innings with 66 off 50. The highest score by a visiting batter on the toughest pitch in the IPL. And it looked like it wasn’t going to matter all that much.For the third time in four nights, he was going to lose. Until he didn’t.Mohammed Shami bowls a sublime 19th over. Mohit Sharma follows him and produces four wickets in four deliveries.From being unable to defend six runs a ball, Gujarat Titans had gone and defended less than six runs an over.”Maybe,” Hardik said at the presentation, “this was god is telling us that no it’s okay. I’m not always gonna take from you guys. I’m gonna give you something back as well.”Hardik Pandya: “A lot of people counted David Miller out but for us he was always a match-winner from the time we bought him at the auction”•BCCIDivine intervention aside, that World Cup game and this IPL game have another thing in common. They tell the story of how even blindingly talented individuals need a team backing them up.Neymar can’t do much to fix his situation. In football, players are brought in on the orders of a coach or at the whim of the owner. He is neither.In cricket, it’s different. Hardik has more power in his hands and, though it is still very early, he is starting to build something special. If he goes all the way again, like he did in 2022, he will become the first man in IPL history to win back-to-back titles with two different franchises.It feels remarkable that only four years ago, he was on a talk show where he was so impressed with himself he forgot he was being all kinds of wrong. Back then, Hardik possessed a rare gift. He could come in and hit the very first ball he faced for six. And that opened doors he would have only dreamed of growing up in a small town in Gujarat. This one led straight to infamy.People don’t follow a show-off, but that is a big part of who Hardik is. It actually enables him to be that most fabled of all things. A man for the big occasion. The first time he ever bowled a 20th over in defence of a total, he won India a World Cup game with impossible odds. But that’s the fun part. When you go hunting for glory, you will be confronted by failure. Repeatedly. You have to be strong enough – remain driven enough – to get up every time you are knocked down.Hardik is. Neymar, too. But only one of them has had the chance to build a team for himself.David Miller was an IPL outcast in 2022. In the previous five years, he had made 494 runs, with only two fifties, at an average of 26 and a strike rate of 117. Only two – of 10 – franchises showed any interest in him when his name came up for auction. He maintained that his stats – especially in the two seasons before joining Titans – were not so much a reflection of his ability but a consequence of uncertainty. He didn’t know where – or if – he even fit in.A few months after Rajasthan Royals passed him over when the price hit INR 3 crore, Miller was out there on the field, beating them to a pulp. At the end of it all, when he had 68 runs in 38 balls with three fours, five sixes and a place in the final, he was asked what had changed, and he said, “I think opportunity firstly. I have been given a good role and a good extensive run in the team. I felt extremely backed from the onset.”These are Hardik’s words from that night. “It kind of shows if you show love and importance to an individual player, he can flourish and how. A lot of people counted David Miller out but for us he was always a match-winner from the time we bought him at the auction. What he did today we always expected from him. But for us it was important to give him the importance, give him that love and give him the clarity as to what we expect from him. And if he fails, it’s okay; it’s just a game.”3:37

Why have Gujarat Titans been so successful so quickly?

Man management. Gut feel. And faith. All part of the dark art of captaincy.Hardik sought out players who were themselves seeking someone to believe in them. He gave them the chance they’d always wanted, the support that had been so hard to come by and that bound them to him; made them work miracles for him.Rahul Tewatia had to slog through seven IPL seasons to cobble the 48 matches he had to his name before Titans came for him. Now, even though he barely gets to bowl, and barely gets to bat, he walks in to work every day knowing he is an indispensable part of a champion side. “Every time we’d be in a tough situation,” he said, “Hardik would say, ‘Oh I know that Tewu will finish the job for us’. What more do you need when the captain shows such confidence in you?”Tewatia, Josh Little, Noor Ahmad, Vijay Shankar. They’ve been stuck in the margins, having to do their thing in relative obscurity. They were forged by the hunger to prove themselves on a bigger stage. They need this. They hunt this. They’re not great players by themselves, but Titans didn’t need greats. They already had that in Rashid Khan. They just needed people who could play off him. They needed parts to make a whole. Nobody believed they could win in 2022. Now here they are two (or maybe three) games away from going back-to-back.Hardik appears to understand that captaincy isn’t just about the ideas you take onto the field but the ideals you stand for. It isn’t a particularly difficult lesson to learn. All you have to do is spend some time watching your plans fall apart. And when they do, the only thing that stands between you and defeat are your team-mates and their willingness to put everything on the line.Hardik has that now. He is Neymar as Neymar could rarely be. A tattooed badass who does the sexiest thing in his sport (hitting sixes and dribbling respectively) with the strength of cohesion behind him.It won’t be long before India go all in.Hardik spent his formative years under MS Dhoni. He shaped the most successful franchise in IPL history alongside Rohit Sharma. Soon, he could walk the path of Kapil Dev. Maybe, one day, this fast-bowling allrounder will stand up there on the Lord’s balcony too, the world in his hands.

Babar Azam’s team have been in India for a little over a week and they’ve been well looked after ahead of their World Cup opener

Shashank Kishore05-Oct-2023As the Pakistan team bus zooms into the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad, their motorcade of armed police jeeps containing a few hundred security personnel quickly swing into action. They spread themselves across the outdoor nets area within a blink of an eye, just before the team comes out to train.Behind the police jeeps, there’s a van full of trained commandos that makes a swift entry. As they disembark, their chief issues orders detailing the areas they will survey and the activities they have to carry out. A local liaison officer is then briefed by the security chief, and plans are relayed across walkie-talkies to various department heads around the venue.It’s not hard to understand why security is so elaborate. There’s body frisking at every entry point; those with a valid pass only have it slightly better than many others, and fans making a beeline outside the gates to catch a glimpse of the players, or those trying to get hold of tickets, are kept out.Even before the Pakistan team emerges from the dressing room, three armed guards station themselves besides the perimeter of the nets area, while six others are at the entrance of the main pavilion block as Babar Azam strides out with his team after a slip catching drill inside the main ground.Related

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These guards with dark glasses have their backs to the action. They’re so seasoned that they don’t flinch or move a muscle, even when someone with the ferocious ball-striking capabilities of Iftikhar Ahmed, or Ifti as the team calls him affectionately, goes about his business. As he has a hit, repeatedly swinging big to the chorus of ‘played, yaar’ from team director Mickey Arthur, the sound of ball on bat echoes around the concrete stadium.As Pakistan go about training, the intense security seems overwhelming to the bystander watching from afar. But if you’re wondering whether Pakistan feel the same way, remember that they play under heavy security when hosting international teams at home. They’ve taken the protection in their stride at the World Cup, with smiles on faces amid the warm hospitality they’ve received in Hyderabad.At the ground, organisers have gone out of their way to procure many more kilos of ice than originally requested for, and the chef has tailored local delicacies to the taste of the players. This is i, Hyderabadi style, where food is an integral part of the conversation. Generous cups of Irani chai and diet Karachi biscuits – a local delicacy – are served, apart from dishes curated by the team trainer to ensure players aren’t loading themselves up prior to a training session or match.Back at the hotel, the Pakistani players have an entire floor to themselves, cut-off from the general public, and a dedicated set of staff to cater to the team’s needs. There’s a separate dining area, a cordoned off swimming pool that’s kept open beyond usual hours to accommodate late recovery requests, and round-the-clock security that makes arrangements for the team if they want to head out.Four nights ago, the entire team visited Jewel of Nizam, near the famous Golconda Fort, for dinner. A section of the route was turned into a green channel to facilitate smooth movement. On their plate were different varieties of kebabs, biryani and lots of spicy local food. and were favourites. It was Pakistan’s first and only outing since arriving in India.Mohammad Bashir might be the only Pakistani fan at their opening game against Netherlands in Hyderabad•Mohammad BashirOnly a week ago, there was so much uncertainty around Pakistan’s journey to India. Visa delays had prompted the team to cancel a training trip to Dubai. Now, those teething troubles have been long forgotten and the team appeared at ease with their environment. The only hint of regret, from Babar at the captain’s event in Ahmedabad on the eve of the tournament opener, was the absence of Pakistani fans.Babar has been asked several times about the welcome his team received in India. How the airport came to life as news spread that Pakistan had arrived. Babar has said he’s been surprised, not just on arrival but also at their warm-up games.”To be honest, we also heard that,” he said, when asked if the team thought they’d receive a hostile reception. “But since the time we arrived in Hyderabad, the kind of hospitality we’ve received and the kind of welcome we had from the airport to the hotel … even in the last match at the ground we felt very good.”On Friday, Babar will be able to hear shouts of ‘Pakistan jeetega’ and ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ from an elderly gentleman, 66-year-old Mohammad Bashir, who is a bit of an anomaly in Hyderabad. He’s perhaps a lone ranger, the only Pakistani fan in the city.Bashir is from Karachi, but he’s been able to make it in time for their first game against Netherlands only because he’s a now a US citizen. He’s been traveling to World Cups since 2011 and has quite a rapport with several Indian players, including MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. Bashir has several photos with them and their families, and says Dhoni and Rohit regularly give him tickets for ICC events. Bashir says while he isn’t as familiar with the current Pakistan players, he’s excited to watch Babar and Mohammad Rizwan “do something special” at the World Cup.In June, much against his doctor’s wishes, he decided to travel to India to watch the tournament. All he knew then was that he would be based in Hyderabad, the hometown of his wife, Rafia. To many, Bashir has already become a familiar face around the ground. He cheers for the players, waves the Pakistan flag passionately, and belts out chants that resonate loudly around the ground.He’s mighty impressed with the ” Hyderabad has given him. It’s likely the Pakistan team will share the sentiment when they reflect on this World Cup campaign many years later.

Our correspondents from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka put on their selector hats and pick their composite Asia Cup XIs

26-Aug-202314:49

Does your favourite player figure in ESPNcricinfo’s Asia Cup XI?

Andrew Fidel Fernando
There’s a bunch of players that pick themselves in a current Asian XI. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Rashid Khan, Shaheen Afridi and Shakib Al Hasan. Consistent, proven across conditions, dynamic – you get it. (Although, whether there is room for that many egos on the team bus is another question.) Charith Asalanka is there because the guy averages 44.54 and strikes at 93.28 at No. 5, which is a more specialised position in ODIs these days.Litton Das gets the nod ahead of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Kusal Mendis, for having been more consistent than both.And in a team full of mostly-proven ODI performers, you needed a bolter. Maheesh Theekshana is that guy – capable of delivering tight powerplay overs, operating through the middle period, and shutting down charges at the death. He’s got 36 wickets in 22 innings, with an economy rate of 4.34. Sure, most of his ODI opponents have been on the weaker end of the spectrum, but in T20s he’s bossed the best too.Related

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And at the time of writing, Haris Rauf just got 5 for 18 on a Sri Lankan deck. So he’s hard to ignore.Fidel’s Asia Cup XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Litton Das (wk), 3 Babar Azam, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Shakib Al Hasan 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Haris RaufSidharth Monga
Only those players selected for the Asia Cup have been considered. Shakib Al Hasan and Shreyas Iyer are interchangeable in the order; the middle order is flexible anyway. My fantasy team, my rules: batters don’t play out of position, overall career and potential trump current form, which has been used only as a tiebreaker. The players selected are self-explanatory so it is more important to note who missed out narrowly:
– Virat Kohli does not bat in the middle order or at the top, so he loses out to Babar Azam at No. 3 on current form (the tiebreaker);
– Wanindu Hasaranga and Shadab Khan are superb legspin allrounders, but we already have Rashid Khan. Either of the two could easily get into side as the No. 7 too, but my batting allrounders need to give me variety as bowlers, which is why I have picked Shakib, who bowls left-arm spin, and Hardik, who bowls pace;
– Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Taskin Ahmed are three fast bowlers who challenge Siraj’s position, but Siraj has great current form. Don’t @ me. You couldn’t even if you wanted to.Sidharth’s Asia Cup XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Shreyas Iyer, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Jasprit BumrahDanyal Rasool
This is probably not the best XI you could carve out of the talent pool this continent has to offer, but then again, Asia Cup squads have always been more about having fun. If you want cold, hard, calculations and considered decisions after parsing through reams of data and Excel spreadsheets, this tournament is not your spirit animal.This is a squad where current form trumps legendary status – which, for example, is why Jasprit Bumrah doesn’t round out the attack. The incessant talk of Virat Kohli’s decline imperilled his place briefly, but I’d also like to use social media while preserving my mental health. Also, his recent ODI form actually is extremely good. Following the frenzy of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rohit Sharma’s liquid elegance, and the reliability of Babar Azam, Kohli can have the platform he likes from which to launch.Form is also why Shakib Al Hasan misses out for Charith Asalanka – though genuine quality middle-order batters are surprisingly hard to find these days. Wanindu Hasaranga and Hardik Pandya provide both attacking impetus with the bat and quality all-round options. And once these superstars set you a total, good luck chasing it down against that bowling line-up.Oh, and Rashid Khan to captain, because I’m not keen on picking between one of Babar and Kohli, despite the latter not having led India since March 2021.Danyal’s Asia Cup XI: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Wanindu Hasaranga, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Naseem Shah, 11 Haris RaufMohammad Isam
There are many contenders for the opening spots but the prospect of watching Ishan Kishan and Fakhar Zaman batting together is compelling. Despite both being left-handers, they will attack different lengths. And watching them, you wonder what they would say to each other in the middle. The next two batters select themselves but then comes Charith Asalanka, who averages 50-plus after the 30th over in the last two years.Shadab Khan and Rashid Khan add all-round depth to the batting, and are part of an attack comprising Mohammed Siraj, Taskin Ahmed and Naseem Shah.Isam’s Asia Cup XI: 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Babar Azam, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Shakib Al Hasan, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Mohammed Siraj

The No. 8 slot, the third spinner, and the fourth seamer are set to be the other contentious topics when the selectors pick the squad for the tournament

Shashank Kishore10-Aug-20232:11

Wasim Jaffer: Tilak Varma can be fast-tracked into ODIs for Asia Cup

How close are Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul to full fitness and selection? Do India take a punt on Tilak Varma based on his spectacular batting form in the T20Is against West Indies, or do they back Suryakumar Yadav despite his “really bad” ODI numbers?Does Ishan Kishan play the dual role of back-up wicketkeeper and reserve batter? Who among Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur and Yuzvendra Chahal misses out? What about Prasidh Krishna, who lines up for an international comeback after more than a year?These are some of the key questions for the Ajit Agarkar-led senior men’s selection committee to address when they convene to pick India’s Asia Cup squad. Ideally, their squad for this tournament would lay down the blueprint for the 15 they pick for the World Cup, but India’s situation at present is far from ideal. Two first-choice players haven’t yet been passed fit. Two others will be making a comeback during the Ireland T20Is after a substantial gap.Related

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This is perhaps why it’s entirely possible the selectors could look at naming a bigger pool for the Asia Cup that begins on August 30, before narrowing down on their World Cup squad, which needs to be named by September 5.

A straightforward top seven in an ideal world

Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli pick themselves in the top three. Iyer and Rahul slot in at four and five, followed by Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja to complete the top seven.In such a scenario, the only consideration for the selectors will be to identify back-ups in the batting department. But because there are still question marks over Iyer and Rahul, this isn’t as straightforward as it should be. If Rahul doesn’t recover from his thigh injury, Kishan will likely come in as the frontline wicketkeeper. If Iyer isn’t yet fit after rehabilitation from back surgery, the selectors will need to identify a middle-order back-up.

Firdose Moonda and Valkerie Baynes look ahead to the decisive ODIs and discuss who’s been in form

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jul-2023With three ODIs left, one – or all – of which will decide the Women’s Ashes, Valkerie Baynes and Firdose Moonda take a look at who’s been in form and what’s in store next as the series moves to Bristol, Southampton and Taunton.