Category: Cricket News

Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz has announced his retirement from international cricket. He will continue to play franchise cricket around the globe.

The 38-year-old left-armer, who last represented Pakistan in December 2020, has played in three ODI World Cups (2011, 2015 and 2019) and finished with 237 international wickets across 27 Tests, 91 ODIs and 36 T20Is.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to represent Pakistan on the international stage. As I bid farewell to this chapter, I am thrilled to embark on a new adventure in franchise cricket, where I hope to entertain and inspire audiences while competing against some of the best talents in the world,” said Wahab in a media release.

Wahab made his international debut for Pakistan in an ODI against Zimbabwe back in February 2008. His memorable performances include a five-wicket haul in the 2011 World Cup semifinal against India in Mohali and a fiery spell of fast bowling against Shane Watson, coming against Australia in the 2015 World Cup quarterfinal match in Adelaide.

Wahab took an indefinite break from red-ball cricket in 2019 to focus on limited-overs cricket and now finally bids goodbye to the international arena.

“I have been speaking about my retirement plans for the past two years, that 2023 is my target to retire from International cricket, and I feel comfortable now more than ever that I have served my country and National team to the best I could have.”

Defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape will host Joburg Super Kings in the opener of the 2024 season of the SA20. The second season will kick off at Gqeberha on January 10 and is scheduled to culminate with the Final a month later on February 10. Curiously, the schedule of the final week of the tournament sees a clash with South Africa’s Test series against New Zealand that begins on February 4.

Each team has been scheduled to host a home match in the opening week of the season, which will see 34 games in all played across six venues of South Africa. The Wanderers stadium will round off the opening weekend with a double-header that sees the Super Kings play host to MI Cape Town in the afternoon clash before Durban Super Giants square off against the Sunrisers.

In a departure from the opening season, the semi finals have been done away with and instead the SA20 will see the introduction of the IPL-style Playoffs — featuring two Qualifiers and an Eliminator — in the post-league phase.

All midweek clashes of this season are scheduled to begin at 17.30 local time while the games on Sunday will see an earlier 15.30 start time. Double headers will be played only on Saturdays.

“With the Season 2 auction around the corner, momentum is building and we are thrilled to announce these fixtures ,” League Commissioner, Graeme Smith said on Tuesday (August 15). “We have a jam-packed opening week of matches which will captivate fans around the country.

“We have been intentional in giving families, friends and our new fans an opportunity to watch as many matches as possible, with midweek fixtures starting from 17.30 and weekends providing prime summer evening viewing.”

A pre-season player auction is scheduled to be conducted on September 27.

Mahmudullah’s international career would appear to have hit a dead end. What was once a murmur is now a resonant noise following his omission from the Asia Cup squad. It is highly likely that the same squad will be retained for the World Cup too.

The 50-over format remained the last chance for Mahmudullah to add to his 389 international caps after he retired from Test cricket and later lost his place from the T20I squad owing to poor performanes and results as captain. Losing the T20I captaincy was an indication that his days were numbered in the shortest format despite selectors recalling the veteran for the third T20 against Zimbabwe after the tourist were hit by injuries.

But Mahmudullah’s T20 career did not progress further as he was out of the T20 set-up following the Asia Cup in 2022 as Bangladesh opted for a young core for the T20 World Cup under the leadership of Shakib al Hasan. The veteran batter, who was excluded from the ODI squad picked for the three-match ODI series against Ireland in March, could not regain his spot in the following away ODI assignment against Ireland and the home series against Afghanistan.

However, the 37-year old was seen sweating out in the recent conditioning camp to show that his fitness was not an issue given it had been a major bone of contention for the team management whenever his name was tabled up in the selection meeting.

Mahmudullah scored 17.6 in Yo-Yo test but even that wasn’t enough to impress the selection panel, who overlooked him for the Asia Cup. BCB’s selection panel, however, did come under severe criticism for their decision.

Khaled Mahmud, former team director of Bangladesh, on Tuesday (August 15) insisted that he didn’t think it was over for Mahmudullah or that the selection panel was out to prove a point to him as has been pointed out.

“Do you feel Nanno, Bashar and Razzak [members of the national selection panel] are enemies of Mahmudullah? Razzak and Riyad (Mahmudullah) played in the same team so these are all bullsh*t,” Mahmud said. “Perhaps they have a planning and I cannot ask Hathurusingha [Bangladesh head coach] why he was not picked.

“I want to say… Why World Cup is the end of Riyad? Because World Cup ends in October and there will be lot of cricket after that. If he earns 17.6 in Yo-Yo test in that case he can prepare and try for another year,” he said.

“No matter whether it is T20 or ODI World Cup whenever a player doesn’t get chance you say it is over for him. Riyad doesn’t do anything else and this [cricket is his profession]. I feel he will play domestic cricket. I was out for 10 times in my career and made a comeback 10 times so there is no point making an issue out of it,” he said.

“I won’t say I am seeing his end because still Riyad is a good fighter. There is no point to break down for getting dropped due to team combination or anything else. I agree Riyad is aging at the same time. They way he wants to fight we cannot say it’s over for him and chances might come in future. Riyad is still a contracted player of BCB and he will have that sportsman spirit and he will fight with his own self and that is the biggest thing. I think it is too early to say Riyad is finished and until he says it is over for him he will be in the pipeline because he possesses the ability to play for Bangladesh,” he said.

Mahmud added that players should know when to stop because their mindset of not leaving cricket even after aging prevents them from getting a on-ground farewell. BCB offered Mahmudullah an option to retire from T20 earlier but he refused to accept it.

“I have left cricket from the ground. I understood that my time is over and youngsters are coming. If I don’t leave, how the youngsters can come and that is a big thing. So players will have to make a decision when it is the right time and it is very difficult because I went through that phase [when I decided to quit from the game].

“Cricket was not our profession rather it was our love because we didn’t get that much money but we could leave it and I am not sure why players of this generation finds it difficult to quit and why are they afraid to take that decision,” the former national skipper concluded.

For the first time since 2003, Zimbabwe are set to tour England for a bilateral series, Zimbabwe Cricket announced on Tuesday (August 15). The two teams will play a four-day Test match from May 28-31, 2025. The venue of the match is yet to be decided.

The last time Zimbabwe had toured England, the hosts won the two-match Test series 2-0, both victories by an innings margin. Zimbabwe then went on to feature in an ODI tri-series with England, also involving South Africa.

Speaking on the decision Givemore Makoni, Managing Director of Zimbabwe Cricket, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be playing bilateral cricket in England for the first time in over two decades after we agreed to play a Test match in May 2025.

“The significance and magnitude of this tour cannot be overemphasised, and I would like to say a huge thank you to the ECB for committing to the resumption of cricketing relations between our countries that date back to the introduction of the game in Zimbabwe in the 1890s.

“The experience of playing a Test match against a top team like England is massive for the current generation of our players, coming at a time when our game as a whole is on an upward trajectory.

“This will be a historic tour for everyone involved with cricket in Zimbabwe and we are already looking forward to some exciting action on the field of play.”

Meanwhile, Richard Gould, ECB chief executive, added: “We are delighted to be able to host Zimbabwe for a men’s Test match for the first time in two decades. Zimbabwe has a proud cricket history and has produced world-class players and coaches who have enriched the game across the world.

“We are committed to developing a closer relationship with Zimbabwe Cricket and the announcement of this Test against our England men’s team is a step in that ambition.

“This summer’s Ashes series showcased all that is great about Test cricket and, while we must be mindful of the demands of world cricket’s schedule, we also want to help grow Test cricket and find opportunities to play more nations where we can.”

Australia’s Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins is targeting the series in India for his comeback after a wrist injury ruled him out of the series in South Africa. Cummins was not named in the T20I squad and will not be playing the ODIs as well even though he will be travelling to South Africa for the second leg of the tour.

“It hurt day one when I did it and it hurt a lot when I was batting, but I didn’t think it was too bad,” Cummins said of the injury. “Then with each day it got a little bit sorer so I knew it was probably bone as opposed to a muscle (issue).”

“I’ll head over to South Africa at the back-end of that leg. But we’re probably looking more at those one-dayers ahead of the World Cup. It shouldn’t be too bad. Another few weeks and it’ll be right.”

There have been suggestions that Australia might have a new captain to lead the white-ball teams after the World Cup with Cummins focussing solely on Tests. Mitchell Marsh was recently appointed T20I captain for the three-match series in South Africa and the all-rounder will be one of the favourites to lead the 50-over side as well in the absence of Cummins.

“I haven’t thought about it too much to be honest,” Cummins said on the ODI captaincy post the World Cup. “We will play this World Cup and then assess it after that. The good thing is we’ve got a few options. (Marsh) is probably the most obvious one if he’s doing the T20s as well.”

The pacer reserved special praise for Marsh, who has staged a remarkable return to the national side across formats recently that included a century in his comeback Test recently. “He’s always been a huge member of the team, a real leader,” Cummins said. “As a captain, that’s what you want, a guy that’s going out there, taking the game on, someone we can all get behind. Off the field, he’s just a great people-person. His energy’s infectious, he’s great to hang around with, always good fun.”

Wanindu Hasaranga, the Sri Lankan legspinning all-rounder, has announced his retirement from Test cricket in order to prolong his limited overs career, Sri Lanka Cricket announced on Tuesday (August 15).

“We will accept his decision and are confident that Hasaranga will be a vital part of our white-ball program going forward,” Ashley De Silva, the CEO of SLC, said in a statement.

A regular in Sri Lanka’s limited overs side – having played 48 ODIs and 58 T20Is – and a sought-after player in franchise cricket, Hasaranga has played only four Tests and picked four wickets, apart from scoring a half-century. Having made his debut against South Africa in 2020, his last Test appearance came in April 2021 against Bangladesh.

In first-class cricket, he has scored three centuries and picked up 102 wickets in 44 matches.

The hosts and governing bodies of the World Cup, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC), have decided to release tickets for non-India games before making India game tickets accessible. This approach, it is understood, arises from concerns that the ticketing website might experience crashes if online counters for all games are simultaneously opened. This potential issue largely stems from the immense demand for India’s matches.

This scenario is not without precedent. In the preceding edition of the 50-over World Cup held in England in 2019, the demand for tickets to India’s matches was so overwhelming that technical glitches caused the website to crash. The substantial influx of fans attempting to access the website resulted in its malfunctioning.

An insider shared, “The staggered sale approach is designed to handle the expected surge in demand efficiently. It’s the most effective way to manage the system for the benefit of the fans.”

In a recent statement, the ICC explained that to accommodate the anticipated demand for tickets and to ensure a fair opportunity for as many fans as possible to witness the world’s premier players in action, ticket sales would occur in phases.

For the India games, tickets for matches against Australia in Chennai (on October 8), Afghanistan in Delhi (on October 11), and Bangladesh in Pune (on October 19) will be made available on August 31, prior to the complete sale of tickets for non-India games. Among the remaining sis India games, tickets for the New Zealand match in Dharamsala (on October 22), the England match in Lucknow (on October 29), and the Sri Lanka match in Mumbai (on November 2) can be accessed on September 2.

Tickets for the matches against South Africa in Kolkata (on November) and the Netherlands in Bengaluru (on November) will be offered on September 2. Lastly, for the highly anticipated India-Pakistan clash in Ahmedabad on October 14, tickets will be up for grabs on September 3. Fans have been encouraged to register for tickets beginning August 15.

Despite queries, Book My Show, the ticketing partner, did not provide any response regarding this strategy of staggered and phased sale.

Timeline for the ticket sale:

August 25: Non-India warm-up matches and all non-India event matches

August 30: India matches at Guwahati and Trivandrum

August 31: India matches at Chennai, Delhi, and Pune

September 1: India matches at Dharamsala, Lucknow, and Mumbai

September 2: India matches at Bengaluru, Kolkata

September 3: India match at Ahmedabad

September 15: Semifinals and Final

South Africa have handed maiden T20I call-ups to Dewald Brevis, Donnovan Ferreira, Gerald Coetzee and Matthew Breetzke for the forthcoming three-match home series against Australia. The 15-member squad has notable absentees in the form of Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller as well as the fast bowling pair of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, who will all be available for the five ODIs that follow and serve as tune-up for the World Cup in India.

Brevis, 20, will be available for both the white-ball series, underscoring his rapid progress since topping the run charts at the ICC Under-19 World Cup of 2022. He has since featured in T20 leagues around the world, including at the IPL where he plies his trade for five-time champions Mumbai Indians. The right-handed batter also currently holds the record for the highest individual domestic T20 score in South Africa, a 57-ball 162 he struck at last season’s CSA T20 challenge.

Meanwhile, left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon in the Test series against West Indies in March, is expected to be available for the second and third T20Is and work towards peak fitness in the ODIs that follow.

Commenting on the selections, white-ball head coach Rob Walter said: “We are looking for opportunities to grow our base of players, and the T20I series against Australia is a perfect chance to give some of the rising cricketers in the country the chance to show us what they are capable of.

“For this reason, we have included players such as Dewald, Donovan and Matthew. These are guys that have been performing consistently week in and week out domestically so we are now looking forward to seeing what they can do at the next level. They also possess a particular skill set that fits into the way we are looking to play the game moving forward.

“We are also happy to welcome back Keshav. He has made significant progress and is ahead of where we expected him to be at this point in time with his recovery and so we’ve included him in the squads to give him the best chance to be available for selection for the World Cup squad.

“If by some chance he’s not ready to play in the second and third T20Is, he will then be replaced in the squad and then we’ll set our target on the ODI series, which is even more important to us just a month out from the World Cup.”

The three T20Is against Australia will be played in Durban starting August 30. The five-match ODI series will feature two games at Bloemfontein (September 7 and 9) and one each at Potchefstroom (September 12), Centurion (September 15) and Johannesburg (September 17).

T20I Squad: Aiden Markram (c), Temba Bavuma, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Gerald Coetzee, Donovan Ferreira, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Sisanda Magala , Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs , Lizaad Williams and Rassie van der Dussen.

ODI Squad:Temba Bavuma (c), Dewald Brevis, Gerald Coetzee , Quinton de Kock , Bjorn Fortuin , Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen , Heinrich Klaasen, Sisanda Magala, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller , Lungi Ngidi , Anrich Nortje , Tabraiz Shamsi , Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada , Tristan Stubbs and Rassie van der Dussen .

England fast bowler Steven Finn has announced his retirement from professional cricket on Monday (August 14). Finn suffered a knee injury in 2023 and hasn’t played a game in red-ball cricket in over a year.

“Today I am retiring from all forms of cricket with immediate effect,” Finn said in a statement. “I have been fighting a battle with my body for the last 12 months and have admitted defeat to it. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to play cricket as my vocation since I made my debut for Middlesex in 2005. The journey hasn’t always been smooth, but I have loved it nonetheless.

“To have played 125 games for England, including 36 tests, far surpassed what I dreamed of. I retire with some amazing memories with England, Middlesex and Sussex, shared with fantastic people. Those will live with me forever.”

Making his first-class debut for Middlesex in 2005, Finn broke into the national side and played his first Test against Bangladesh in 2010 before making his ODI bow the following year. He picked up 125 wickets in 36 Tests and managed to win the Ashes thrice in his career. In ODI cricket, he picked up 102 wickets in just 69 games and played in the 2015 World Cup as well.

Having played for Middlesex for the major part of his career, Finn made the move to Sussex in 2022 and played 19 matches before getting injured. He did make a comeback earlier this month in a One-Day cup game against Durham but had to leave the field after bowling just four overs. The 34-year-old also went on to feature in 21 T20Is but his final appearance in national colours came in the 50-over format in 2017 just before the Champions Trophy.

“I have had the real pleasure of watching him develop from a young bowler in the pathway to being three times Ashes winner,” Sussex Head Coach, Paul Farbrace said. “In our short time together here at Hove, Steven has been an outstanding role model, a top professional and above all a fantastic person.

“Over the next few weeks and months, I’m sure he will look back on his career with great pride and reflect on his huge contribution to the game. At this time there is huge disappointment that he can’t continue his career having worked so hard to get back to full fitness.”

Shaheen Afridi, arguably one of the world’s finest white-ball bowlers, has joined Desert Vipers for the second season of ILT20. The left-arm fast bowler is poised to team up with the Vipers on a three-year contract. The second edition of the league is scheduled to commence on January 13, 2024.

Afridi, 23, holds an impressive record having accumulated a total of 239 wickets over 27 Test matches, 36 ODIs, and 52 T20 Internationals. He becomes the first Pakistani player to be signed by an IL franchise.

Notably, the same franchise attempted to sign a few Pakistan players last year; however, due to various reasons such as the denial of the NOC by the Pakistan Cricket Board or unavailability, those attempts did not materialise. The other five franchise in the six-team league have desisted from signing a Pakistani player.

“Shaheen is undeniably a player of world-class caliber who has left a significant impact not only on Pakistan cricket but also on every team he’s represented in recent times,” commented Tom Moody, the Director of Cricket for the Vipers. “His prowess as a pace bowler has dismantled numerous top-order batsmen, and his exceptional leadership skills will undoubtedly enhance the value of the Desert Vipers going forward. We are delighted to have secured a player of his stature, someone highly esteemed in the world of cricket,” Moody further added.

Afridi expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “I am thrilled to be a part of the Desert Vipers. I am aware of the considerable number of Pakistani cricket fans in the UAE, and I am hopeful that they will wholeheartedly support our team throughout the upcoming ILT20 tournament.”

More to follow…

Rahul Dravid, the Indian men’s head coach, admitted that there is a need to have some batting depth in the side, an aspect of the game where India hasn’t caught up with the rest of the top cricketing teams. The lack of batting depth came exposed for the side during the recently-concluded series against West Indies. Even as Dravid announced that the team for the T20I series is vastly different from the one that would be playing in the World Cup, the concerns around that aspect of the game don’t change much.

Arshdeep Singh, who was used as India’s No 8 in the fifth T20I, has rarely had too many opportunities with the bat in international cricket and has an IPL strike rate of 67.57. Kuldeep Yadav, the most established batter among India’s last-four, has a T20I strike rate of 77.95, which itself is significantly better than No 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, who scores at 46.15. Their numbers aren’t any more discussion-worthy in 50-over cricket either.

Twice in five games of the T20I series, the lower order was tasked with having to make an impact with the bat. And barring an odd 7-ball 12 by Arshdeep Singh in the first match, there were no noteworthy contributions. The issue was just as concerning in the ODI series that preceded, with the lower order having to bat in the second ODI, but unable to help the cause.

“Our squad (for the world cup) will be a little different to what we have here,” Dravid said after India’s loss in the fifth T20I, on Sunday. “In terms of the squad that we had here, it didn’t allow us the flexibility to have the combination to allow us to make the changes. Going forward, we will have to look at certain areas where we can get better.

“Finding depth in our batting is an area that we are trying to address and do as best as we possibly can. But that’s certainly an area that we need to look at, how we can not weaken our bowling attack but have a certain depth in our batting that can go deeper. As the game is going on, the scores are becoming bigger and bigger.

“If you look at the West Indies, they had Alzarri Joseph coming at No 11. He can hit a mean ball. There are sides that have depth, we have challenges on that front. We need to work on that. It’s certainly a series that has shown us that we need to build on that depth.”

The three-format West Indies tour possibly didn’t go the way India would’ve hoped for, with several missed opportunities. One of the two Test matches was drawn due to rain and cost the visitors crucial points in the WTC cycle. The three-match ODI series went down to the decider and the five-match T20I series was lost. Dravid expressed disappointment at the eventual result but suggested that there were some valuable lessons learned through the course of the tour.

“You get into any series wanting to win it, that’s the first thing that we wanted to do,” he said. “We didn’t tick that off. We didn’t win the series, that was a disappointment. Other than that, there were some young guys we wanted to try out, wanted to give them opportunities in the series. We gave a few debuts in the series. There were other people as well that we trialled out in different combinations. From that perspective, there were some positives, some tick marks from some of the players. We can look forward to the future with a lot of hope.

“Here (in T20Is) we did well to come from 2-0 down, but we couldn’t close out the series. We did a few mistakes today. Through all five games, we made some mistakes, in the first couple of games and even today. We didn’t bat as well as we could have. But that can happen. It’s a young team a developing team. There are going to be times when there would be a few ups and downs. Of course, we are disappointed. We would have wanted to get the right result. To come from 0-2 down would have been special. Credit to the West Indies, they are a good T20 side. Playing in their home conditions, they played particularly well.

“We tried to do a few things (in the ODI series) with the World Cup and the Asia Cup coming up. The goals of that (ODI series) were slightly different from what we wanted to achieve, and glad there were some important lessons from that one-day series and got the right result.”

One of the biggest takeaways from the West Indies tour, according to Dravid, were the performances of the debutants – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma and Mukesh Kumar. Jaiswal marked his entry into international cricket with a century on Test debut. He followed it up with a blistering 84* in the fourth T20I. Tilak, on the other hand, finished as the highest run-getter in the T20I series, scoring 173 runs at a strike rate of more than 140.

“All the three guys who made their debuts for us in the series, stood up,” Dravid said. “Whether it was Yashasvi Jaiswal in that game; he played a really good innings in the fourth game at the top of the order, and showed his ability. He has shown us what he can do in the IPL and it’s nice that he could replicate that in the international scene. Tilak Varma was very good coming in the midde order, he came in at some really difficult situations. But every time played with a lot of intent, played very positively, looked to move the game along, fielded brilliantly throughout the series, and bowled one or two overs as well. So really positive signs from Tilak. Having a left hander in the middle does make a difference against some of the attacks that we are playing against.”

He also reserved special praise for Mukesh, who has been fast-tracked into the national side and handed debut across all three formats. He played in nine out of 10 games on the tour and returned with as many wickets, at a reasonable economy rate, often bowling the tough overs.

“He (Mukesh) acquainted himself really well. He bowled in the death, some times he was called upon to bowl some really difficult overs against some really powerful, hard-hitting batsmen. There are some really good positives from the guys who made their debuts for us. Hopefully, they will take some positives from the series and keep learning as they go forward. They will be going to Ireland, to get a few more opportunities in the T20 format. The more opportunities they get, the better and better they will get.”

England haven’t given up on the possibility of fielding two heroes from their ODI World Cup win from four years ago, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, during their title defence in India later this year. Stokes gave up the 50-over format last year citing the ‘increasing demands of international cricket on his body’ while Archer has been laid low by recurrence of the stress fracture on his elbow.

The men’s team’s national selectors will announce a provisional 18-member squad this Tuesday and white-ball coach Matthew Mott has expressed hope that both big-match players could yet be available. While Archer has resumed bowling in the nets after being ruled out of the Ashes series, there is a intrigue over the Stokes’ status, with Mott even happy to have a proven match-winner like him in a batting-only capacity given his recent concerns with the knee.

And retirement u-turns in England may just be in vogue with Moeen Ali temporarily returning to Test cricket on Stokes’ request. The talismanic all-rounder will be at the receiving end of a similar call.

“Jos [Buttler] will probably lead the way on that communication, but Ben’s pretty straight with all of us. We will see if he’s keen,” Mott told Daily Mail. “There has not been a clear direction on what he’s going to do yet, but we are still hopeful. I’ve always said his bowling would be a bonus, but just look at what he brings with the bat, even in the field.

“Watching him throughout the whole Ashes series, he had such a great presence. He’s done it for years when it comes to performing in one-day cricket and so he’s an invaluable commodity.”

There is more hope that Archer will be available to make that trip to India despite his injury setback. The 28-year-old fast bowler showed no signs of rust earlier this year during his first return from injury claiming career-best ODI figures of 6/40 against South Africa in just his second game back. He also operated at near peak levels with regards to pace in the series in Bangladesh and alongside Mark Wood will offer England much-needed air-speed to defeat batters on what should be batting friendly wickets in India.

“It would be a big ask for him to play every game, so we would have to target specific ones, but we are big on ball speed for India, we feel like that’s a really important asset for us to have out there and it will be good to see Mark Wood, who had such an impact in the Ashes, do the same with the white ball.

“The thing about pace like that is it’s not just the immediate impact of unsettling or making opponents feel uncomfortable, it’s the whole aura that it creates around the team. Look at Wood’s impact at the back end of the Ashes. Everyone else on that field fed off his energy and what he brought.

“If you can upset top orders and deny the big hundred-makers, that goes a really long way to winning games over there. If you look at the way India play, they set their stall out to make sure people are ‘in’ at the 40-over mark and therefore able to score 100-plus during the last 10 – and that is very hard to stop,” Mott said.

England will announce their squad this week but will have time until September 28 as per ICC regulations to prune their squad down to 15. That’ll give them sufficient time to assess the pair’s readiness for the marquee event.

Yashasvi Jaiswal can do no wrong at the moment. After a successful initiation to Test cricket, he brought up his maiden T20I fifty during his unbeaten 84 off 51 in the fourth T20I against West Indies in Florida.

It was only Yashasvi’s second T20I game but he hardly played like it, shifting the gears of his game like a veteran and rotating the strike shrewdly during his record 165-run opening stand with Shubman Gill. So Jaiswal was quick off the blocks early while Gill settled into his innings and then played the second fiddle once Gill found his timing; and all that before making sure that he was there till the end in what had felt like a tricky run-chase at the halfway mark.

“I feel it’s just a start, I need to keep doing it, keep building it and keep milking the innings. I am happy today but I need to make sure that I am ready for tomorrow also,” said Jaiswal after India’s nine-wicket win.

Having taken to international cricket like duck to water, Jaiswal spoke about his “process” after his unbeaten innings.

“I keep telling myself that I trust, I believe, and I will keep doing that. And what can I do for doing that? I need to work hard, I need to be disciplined, I eat well, I sleep well, I practice hard and I go and talk with my seniors. We have an amazing bunch of seniors, the legends. The way they talk to us, Rohit bhaiya, Virat bhaiya, Hardik bhaiya and even Surya bhaiya, the way they talk and that experience… I just try to share their experience and make sure that I’m learning and listening to them, the experience they have been carrying from a long time and the way they have handled themselves in situations. And of course Rahul sir.

“The experience is around there. We just need to work and make sure that I’m aware of all the information and try to express it in my game. That is all I think about and, of course, after cricket I really work hard on my fitness, the diet, recovery and sleep, food, everything is important. I guess that’s why I believe in my process a lot; if my processes are right, results will come.”

Gill and Yashasvi, in the short time they have batted together, have looked the part as India’s opening combination but Jaiswal is not reading too much into comparisons with the Rohit Sharma-Shikhar Dhawan partnership.

“I don’t know about that. What they have done is, they have been amazing. We can just go out there and keep doing what we have been doing and expressing ourselves.”

Fortunately, Jaiswal is likely to get another opportunity in less than 24 hours to try and strengthen his candidacy at the top of the order. It will be a decider after all and what better stage to do it than this.

Bangladesh Head Coach Chandika Hathurusingha feels manipulating volume and intensity while designing training sessions can help players peak at the right time as he believes training hard all the time won’t reap benefits.

On August 12 following the announcement of Bangladesh’s Asia Cup squad, Hathurusingha began his preparation for the tournament with a match scenario practice session. On August 13 and 14, the national cricketers will train for six hours focusing on three things – skill, team focus and fitness before getting a break on August 15.

The players will follow the same routine on August 16 and 17 but the duration will be for only four hours before getting rest for two days while from August 20 they will have practice sessions for three hours for three days on a trot before having a break and later have two days practice for three hours before completing their preparation phase in Bangladesh ahead of the Asia Cup.

Before the start of the skill camp under Hathurusingha, BCB had a conditioning camp where 32 cricketers went through high intensity fitness training to prepare them for the upcoming international assignments.

Hathurusingha tried to explain their plan before designing a training session ahead of any tournament or a bilateral series recently to Cricbuzz and insisted that they emphasized on having balanced sessions, unlike the past when teams were seen sweating it out for longer periods of time.

“When we have a training session, we plan in a way that we put volume a little bit early like the bowlers bowling a little bit more and the emphasis on fitness is little bit more but then closer to the game we reduce the volume and intensity,” said Hathurusingha.

“It’s called tapering. We don’t train much we don’t do long sessions but the players do what they want to do and that is very close to the game and that’s the best way to get the players to peak for the game not training hard, hard, hard, hard,” he said.

“When we do match scenario its very high intensity, the volume is not much because you are playing the match but intensity is very high because playing in a match scenario you bowl as you do in a match and bat as a match. Then closer to the game we just tail it off (volume of practice). You manipulate volume and intensity in a way that players peak at the right time,” he said adding that in his second stint he finds that the cricketers are well aware what kind of training they want to do.

“Most of them know what they want to do and how they want to train. There are some new guys when they come into the system because they are new probably we guide them a little bit but more players know their game and their responsibility for their own training,” he said.

Hathurusingha added that they need to understand the importance of mental health in modern day cricket. Currently, Australian sports psychologist Dr Phil Jauncey, who worked with Bangladesh earlier as well during Hathurusingha’s first tenure, is having a look at the national cricketers to see where they stand as far physiological development is concerned.

Earlier in June, Psychologist Alan Brown arrived at Dhaka to enhance the mental strength of the cricketers ahead of the home series against Afghanistan. In his two week tenure, Brown worked with the Bangladeshi cricketers mental aspects focusing on enhancing their mental resilience, motivation, and teamwork.

Hathurusingha admitted that in this part of the world it is seen as a taboo talking about mental health and urges that they need to come out of it as everyone can go through low phases mentally in life.

“Everyone can go through it (mental fatigue) and even you if you think you are a tough guy maybe not and sometimes we don’t know. Even I am getting cranky sometime maybe too much for me so I need to go and lie down or have a shower just to cool down. So mental thing is not a sickness and you need to understand how you react to different situations,” said Hathurusingha.

“Every other big teams have mental conditioning coaches travel with the team full time (to help the cricketers cope with the mental pressure of modern day cricket),” he concluded.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (84*) and Shubhman Gill’s (77) record-setting 165-run partnership levelled the ongoing five-match T20I series for India against West Indies with a commanding 9-wicket win in Florida, setting up a Sunday decider. The openers put on the joint highest opening partnership for India to help overhaul the 179-run target with three overs and nine wickets to spare.

The early attack

It was short-lived but Kyle Mayers’ seven-ball cameo of 17 gave West Indies a brisk start. On a wicket conducive to strokeplay, Mayers got off the mark with a straight six down the ground and finished the over with a four, foiling India’s ploy to open with Axar Patel’s spin.

Arshdeep Singh ended the threat early, but Brandon King and Shai Hope took charge. Hope went from 3 off his first six balls to hitting two fours and a six in the next five deliveries he faced, while King sent two sailing over long-on fence to set the platform for the West Indies innings.

India claw back

Hit for a six the previous ball, Arshdeep hurled one full and wide, forcing King to reach out. All the West Indies opener could manage was an edge to the left of short third man, where Kuldeep completed a fine low catch. With the ball in hand, the wrist-spinner then got rid of the in-form Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell with googlies in the space of five balls, reducing West Indies to 57 for 4 by the end of the seventh over.

Hope, Hetmyer rebuild

The quick 49-run stand for the fifth wicket had West Indies crossing the 100-run mark in the 12th over. Yuzvendra Chahal had to be taken off the attack after Hope, playing his first game of the series, hacked a six and a four straight down the ground. Hetmyer, at the other end, meted out similar treatment to Hardik Pandya in an expensive 14-run over.

While Hope fell for 45, trying to get his fifty with a glory shot, a mini collapse of 3 for 17 ensued. However, Hetmyer kept the fight going. Mukesh Kumar and Kuldeep were both hit for a six each by the rampaging Hetmyer, who scored his fourth T20I fifty off just 35 balls. West Indies managed to add 57 off the last five overs, of which Hetmyer plundered 33 in just 15 deliveries.

Jaiswal and Gill school Windies

Jaiswal led the early charge opening and closing the overs from Obed McCoy and Jason Holder in the powerplay with fours. Gill joined in with a lovely short-arm jab into the midwicket stands and Jaiswal brought up a dominating half-century stand with back to back fours off Romario Shepherd as India began with a strong 10 RPO.

Gill, who had played more the second fiddle thus far, ended the powerplay with an expensive 16-run over that included two sixes off Odean Smith. West Indies were forced into frequent bowling changes but despite a minor slowdown after the Powerplay, India’s 100 came up at the halfway mark in their chase. Gill reached his fifty first, off 30 balls, and two balls later, Jaiswal became the fourth youngest Indian to hit a T20I half-century, also off 30 deliveries.

Upping the ante, Jaiswal mostly dealt in sixes thereafter – Akeal Hosein, Smith, McCoy all came in the firing line – bringing up the 150 stand in the process by the end of the 14th over. The 165-run stand broke a plethora of records – the highest partnership for India for any wicket against West Indies, the all-time highest opening partnership against the Caribbean side and also the joint-highest for India in T20Is.

Shepherd claims a consolation wicket

Just after the young opening stand broke and set a bunch of records, Romario Shepherd put an end to the successful alliance. Gill flicked a full delivery on the pads straight to deep midwicket fielder, falling for 47-ball 77 but the result of the game was already a foregone conclusion. A statement nine-wicket win – the highest successful chase in Florida’s limited international hosting experience – helped India draw level in the series after being 0-2 behind.

The decider will be played on Sunday (August 9) at the same venue.

Brief scores: West Indies 178/8 in 20 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 61, Shai Hope 45; Arshdeep 3-38, Kuldeep 2-26) lost to india 179/1 in 17 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 84*, Shubman Gill 77; Romaro Shepherd 1-35) by 9 wickets.