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The two teams will hope to give their T20 World Cup plans a little more shape in the deciding game in Hyderabad

Alex Malcolm24-Sep-20222:55

What changes should India and Australia make for the third T20I?

Big picture

An eight-overs-a-side sprint in Nagpur ended with India levelling the T20I series 1-1 thanks to some outstanding bowling from Axar Patel and a supreme display of ball-striking from Rohit Sharma. But it’s difficult for the two sides to gain a lot from the experience on Friday, other than gleaning some insight into how to set up tactically for a rain-shortened game in the World Cup.India selected the extra batter, but Rishabh Pant was not even required, and they only needed four specialist bowlers and Hardik Pandya in an eight-over game, a luxury they can’t afford in a normal 20-overs-a-side contest. The death-overs bowling remains a question mark, although Jasprit Bumrah’s return was a welcome one, and he bowled superbly.Australia are truly experimenting on this tour with so many of their first-choice players missing. They went even further than usual in Nagpur, opting for an extra bowler for the first time since 2021, just to trial something in case the pitch played differently than expected. It did leave them a touch light on batting, though, when Axar ripped through Glenn Maxwell and Tim David.But Matthew Wade’s incredible form and Aaron Finch finding some runs are positive signs. Adam Zampa also bowled an outstanding spell to once again prove himself as one of the best legspinners in T20 cricket.However, like India, Australia have a death-overs problem. Nathan Ellis was injured and missed last night’s game, while Kane Richardson has a minor side niggle and won’t play in the final T20I in Hyderabad. In the absence of Mitchell Starc, Australia haven’t been able to trust their big guns in Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins at the death as often as they would like. They would like to find a solution to that issue ahead of the World Cup.”He’s really grown into that finishing role” – Aaron Finch on Matthew Wade•BCCI

Form guide

India WLWLL (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)

Australia LWLWW

In the spotlight

Harshal Patel has found the going tough in this series so far after being preferred to bowl some of the tough overs as India search for a solution to their dearth of death specialists. Wade, in particular, has proved a nemesis for Harshal. The dew factor in both games has not helped him execute his slower balls and yorkers under pressure either. That won’t be an issue when he gets to Australia, and slower-ball bouncers and short cutters are usually very effective on the true and dry surfaces there, especially with the large square boundaries at most venues barring Adelaide. But he and India’s management would love a good outing just to elevate the confidence levels and bed down the structure of India’s bowling unit.Whisper it quietly, but is Pat Cummins still a lock-in in Australia’s best T20I bowling unit? Notionally, it seems blasphemous to say it out loud. But his form since the start of the last IPL does pose the question. It is a small sample size of seven games but his economy rate in that time is 10.91 and he has only had one game where he has conceded less than ten runs per over. Australia’s management are confident he can find his groove given he rarely gets an extended run at T20 cricket because of his Test duties. Part of the problem is that his Test-match lengths don’t translate well in T20s, and it takes a while for him to adjust. Opposition batters feel his natural length is the perfect hitting length in T20 cricket. He executed some excellent slower-ball bouncers last night in Nagpur. He will need to sharpen his execution of those and his yorkers ahead of the World Cup.Pat Cummins showed some good slower-ball varations in the second game•BCCI

Team news

The teams should revert to a more normal setup in Hyderabad. Pant will likely make way given he wasn’t required with the bat, and India will need an extra bowler for a full game. Bhuvneshwar Kumar seems the logical choice to return. India could also consider bringing in R Ashwin for Yuzvendra Chahal.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal/R AshwinAustralia will go back to a seven-batter strategy with Josh Inglis slotting straight back into the middle order. One of Sean Abbott and Daniel Sams will make way. If Ellis is fit, he will come straight back in for the other. Australia may also be very cautious with Cummins and Hazlewood. Three games in six days, albeit one shortened by rain, and several long-haul flights is a recipe for injury. Any hint of soreness in their thoroughbreds and they will be rested. But with Richardson unavailable, they can’t rest both.Australia (probable): 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 Cameron Green, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Josh Inglis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Nathan Ellis/Daniel Sams/Sean Abbott, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood

Pitch and conditions

It’s been three years since a T20 match was held in Hyderabad. There have been no IPL matches there since 2019 and the last match was a run feast between India and West Indies. Our man at the ground says that the pitch has a nice beige tinge to it, with little or no grass in sight. It looks full of runs, so it could be another tough night for the bowlers. Virat Kohli will have fond memories walking through the gates. He averages 53.62 and strikes at 139.73 in ten matches there, including 94 not out off 50 against West Indies.The weather, warm and dry in the build-up to the weekend, has changed a bit, with dark clouds hovering on the eve of the match.3:21

Karthik on his 10 off two: I do a lot of scenario practices

Stats and trivia

• The toss may not be as important in Hyderabad. In the last 16 T20s dating back to the start of the 2018 IPL, it is eight wins each to the teams batting first and second.
• In his last four T20Is, Axar has taken eight wickets at an average of 8.62, with a strike rate of 9.7 and an economy rate of 5.3.
• In his last eight T20I innings dating back to his World Cup semi-final heroics against Pakistan in 2021, Wade has scored 228 runs (only dismissed once) with a strike rate of 178.12.
• Hazlewood is two short of 50 T20I wickets. If he gets there on Friday, in what will be his 33rd T20I, he will better Starc’s Australian record of 40 matches.

Quotes

“He can bowl in any phase of the game. That gives me an advantage to use him, especially if I have four overs of his, to use him in the powerplay. That frees up some of our fast bowlers in the middle if I want to use it. So he brings a lot to the table. This guy has been playing cricket for such a long time doing well for his franchise, India, about time he grabs these kinds of opportunity. And in the last two games, what we saw is what Axar Patel is really all about. We are just waiting to see some of his batting skills as well. “
“He’s such a calm customer at the back end of the innings there. He’s really grown into that finishing role. He’s been either at the top of the order or the bottom and I think he’s starting to do a wonderful job down there.”

Dawid Malan adds fifty to help hosts reach 286 for 4 in response to Sussex’s first-innings 216

ECB Reporters Network20-Jul-2023Adam Lyth’s excellent 115 – his second LV= Insurance County Championship century of the season – underpinned a dominant Yorkshire batting display as they seized control after two days against Sussex at Headingley.Lyth led the county’s 286 for 4 in response to Sussex’s inadequate first-innings 216 after the visitors elected to bat on a pitch they believed would get worse but has got much better.Lyth’s 31st career first-class century included 18 fours in 175 balls and was ably supported as opening partner Fin Bean made 45, South African overseas batter Ryan Rickelton 46 and England white-ball star Dawid Malan 51.Play started with Sussex advancing their first innings from 120 for 6 overnight after they struggled in bowler-friendly conditions during a shortened first day.All-rounder Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Australian overseas seamer Nathan McAndrew gave their total respectability by completing a 94-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Impressive Hudson-Prentice top-scored with 73 and McAndrew added 47.It was a sign of things to come that they batted comfortably late on day one and early on day two in advancing from 76 for 6.Matthew Fisher finished with 4 for 69 for Yorkshire, all four of his wickets coming on the opening day.Left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty claimed two of the four morning wickets including Hudson-Prentice brilliantly caught by substitute fielder Matthew Revis running back towards the long-on fence. He was on for Lyth at the time.Yorkshire clearly haven’t had things easy in Championship cricket for the last season-and-a-half.And while Lyth, dropped on 38 at second slip by James Coles, played the lead role, it is his 21-year-old opening partner Bean’s form this season which is even more pleasing as they build for the future.Even though he missed out on the big eye-catching score in this innings, Bean still went beyond 600 Championship runs for the season – a milestone Lyth later reached as well.Bean put his name in lights last summer with a remarkable 441 in a second-team Championship match at Nottinghamshire when not on contract at Headingley.It earned him an almost immediate rookie deal with the county, and only last week that was turned into a maiden two-year full professional deal following three Championship centuries in 2023.Stalwart Lyth has not had a solid opening partnership since fellow Championship-winner Alex Lees left for Durham in late 2018. Now, this Lyth and Bean alliance looks to be set in stone for a good while to come.Lyth, as ever, drove handsomely as Yorkshire confidently made inroads into Sussex’s total.At one stage, he and Bean hit five fours in seven balls off the seam of Hudson-Prentice and Henry Crocombe in the 15th and 16th overs, moving the score to 75 without loss. In fact, 76 out of Yorkshire’s first 89 runs came in boundaries.Lyth drove with more of a flourish and Bean was more compact and mechanical. The latter is not too dissimilar to the way Sir Alastair Cook bats.Lyth reached his fifty off 77 balls shortly after Bean had departed, caught at slip trying to play forcefully off the back foot against McAndrew – 94 for one in the 22nd over.But Lyth found another partner in Rickelton, who is playing his second of four Championship matches as a short-term replacement for captain Shan Masood, away on Test duty with Pakistan.Rickelton was quick on his feet in lofting Coles’ left-arm spin for six over long-off before he edged the seam of Ari Karvelas to second slip as he jammed down on a full ball.Lyth later reached his century off 157 balls but was the first of two wickets in as many overs from off-spinner Jack Carson, who helped Sussex end the day well. Lyth chipped to midwicket and George Hill edged to slip without scoring, leaving Yorkshire at 258 for four in the 63rd over.While Sussex limited the damage late on, Malan reached his fifty off 82 balls.

Southern Brave fall short after three wickets in seven balls derails chase

Matt Roller18-Aug-2024Saqib Mahmood put two years of injury hell behind him at Lord’s, winning the Hundred final for Oval Invincibles with a devastating spell of reverse-swing. With Southern Brave’s chase of 148 in the balance, Mahmood removed Leus du Plooy, Kieron Pollard and Laurie Evans to take 3 for 1 in seven balls, a timely reminder of his talents on the biggest stage in English domestic cricket.It meant the Hundred’s best team won their second successive title, as the Invincibles’ men of 2023-24 matched their women’s achievement of 2021-22 by retaining the trophy. That they had retained Mahmood despite him missing consecutive seasons with back stress fractures confirmed their success in building the clearest identity of any side in the men’s competition.They have not quite lived up to their moniker, but the Invincibles have lost only three games across the last two seasons. Sam Billings and Tom Moody, their captain and coach, have built their team around three allrounders – Will Jacks and the Curran brothers – in the top seven, giving them unrivalled balance.”Saqib Mahmood came and changed the game with that set of 10. That was a turning point,” Billings said. “It’s been a real team effort throughout, probably even better than last year… Your career goes past very quickly and these are the nights to really remember and cherish, as a group of mates as much as colleagues. Winning trophies is what it’s all about.”

Mahmood’s England reminder

The Invincibles can boast the Hundred’s most prolific spin attack, with 34 wickets between them this season after Adam Zampa, Nathan Sowter and Jacks snared four more in Sunday’s final, in front of a full house at Lord’s.Zampa made a crucial breakthrough in his second set of five, bowling Alex Davies with a googly for 35 off 23 following a bright start in the Powerplay. Having himself set the game up for the Invincibles with 37 off 22 balls, Jacks then roared in celebration after dismissing the season’s leading run-scorer in James Vince, bowled looking to hack leg-side.Will Jacks claimed the wicket of James Vince•Getty Images

But after Evans tucked into Zampa, slog-sweeping consecutive balls for four and six, the Brave needed a manageable 53 off 30 with seven wickets in hand. Du Plooy launched Mahmood past Dawid Malan’s sprawling dive at extra cover, but backed away to the following ball and lost his leg stump as Mahmood went full and straight.Mahmood had the old ball moving both ways and stayed on for a second consecutive set of five from the Nursery End after three dots to Pollard. Fresh from a breather at the strategic timeout, Mahmood went full and straight to smash Pollard on the knee roll, then had Evans chipping to short cover to leave the chase in disarray.With Australia touring in September for three T20Is and five ODIs, Mahmood’s impact will have nudged England’s selectors. He has not played international cricket since March 2023 and would not have featured in Sunday’s final if Spencer Johnson had been fit, but looked back towards his brilliant best.Chris Jordan, fresh from a match-winning hand in the ‘Super Five’ which decided Saturday’s eliminator, was the Brave’s final hope. When Zampa, the season’s joint-highest wicket-taker with 19, cleaned him up third-ball, the Invincibles’ name was on the trophy once again.Jordan Cox kept Oval Invincibles pressing towards a big total•Getty Images

Jacks sets Invincibles up

The Invincibles recovered from 34 for 5 during their comeback win over Manchester Originals in last year’s final, but made a serene start this time around thanks to Jacks. He raced to 31 off 14 balls with early sixes off Jofra Archer, Craig Overton and Akeal Hosein, and was then given a reprieve when Pollard dropped a straightforward chance at long-on.Archer, playing at Lord’s for the first time since his Test debut during the 2019 Ashes, looked sharp with the new ball, with Jacks top-edging a short ball into his helmet. He had Malan caught at deep midwicket for 7 and Tymal Mills removed his opening partner Jacks seven balls later for 37, his full toss slipping under the bat and crashing into middle and off stumps.Sam Curran and Jordan Cox added 46 for the third wicket, but Hosein then sparked a mini-collapse during a set of 10 consecutive balls delivered from different ends. Curran skied to cover, Billings played around a straight one, and Donovan Ferreira holed out to Pollard on the long-on boundary. When Cox top-edged Mills’ short ball through to Alex Davies, the Invincibles had lost 4 for 9.Tom Curran, the star of their 2023 triumph, crashed 24 off 11 balls to keep the innings moving – including one outrageous punch for six over extra cover off Archer – before falling to an excellent catch from James Coles at deep square leg, and Tom Lammonby added 16 from No. 8 in only his third innings of the season. Their 147 looked just above par – and so it proved.

He remains suspended from bowling in top-flight cricket with Bangladesh’s selection for the Champions Trophy imminent

Mohammad Isam12-Jan-2025Shakib Al Hasan has failed a test of his bowling action for the second time after being suspended from bowling in top-flight domestic and international cricket. This latest independent re-assessment of his action took place at the Sri Ramachandra Centre for Sports Science in Chennai last month.Shakib’s suspension will remain in place, as a result. “Consequently, the player’s existing suspension from bowling in international cricket following the initial independent assessment at the testing centre of Loughborough University in the UK, also remains in place,” the BCB said in a statement on Saturday. “A successful reassessment is required for the bowling suspension to be lifted.Related

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“While Shakib is currently unable to bowl, he is eligible to continue playing as a batsman in all forms of domestic and international cricket.”Shakib had failed his first test at the UK’s Loughborough University late last year, after he was reported for a suspect action during an English county match in September. This prompted the ECB’s action to suspend him, and, in accordance with clause 11.3 of the ICC’s regulations for illegal bowling actions, his suspension was automatically recognised and enforced by the ICC in international cricket and by all national cricket federations in their respective domestic competitions.The continued suspension is likely to have an impact on Bangladesh’s squad for the Champions Trophy in February-March, although BCB president Faruque Ahmed said on January 3 that he desired Shakib back in the team. It was also reported recently that Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto gave his nod to the BCB regarding Shakib’s ODI return. The BCB has announced it will announce the Bangladesh squad on Sunday noon.Shakib has been out of international cricket since the two-match Test tour of India in September-October 2024. Following that tour, he could not travel back to Bangladesh in the face of student protests. Shakib had been a member of parliament in the Awami League government, which fell from power on August 5, in the face of a student-led revolution in Bangladesh.Shakib last played for Bangladesh in the two Tests against India, and his last ODI came during the 2023 World Cup.

Lancashire fast bowler faced possibility of retirement due to injury before maiden call-up

Matt Roller01-Jul-2022On Thursday afternoon, Richard Gleeson saw a WhatsApp notification pop up on his phone. Matthew Mott, England’s white-ball coach, had sent him a message saying, “I’m going to give you a ring.” Gleeson turned to his wife, Laura, and said, in a state of shock: “I think I’m about to get picked for England.”He was right. Gleeson, an uncapped 34-year-old seamer, has been named in England’s 14-man T20I squad to play India next week and with three games in four days putting heavy demands on their seamers, he is highly likely to make his debut. It would be the crowning moment of an improbable comeback story: only eight months ago, he wondered if he would ever play professionally again.Gleeson is one of the game’s late developers. For most of his adult life, he played club cricket for Blackpool and minor counties for Cumberland and became a coach at the Lancashire Cricket Board after a series of unglamorous jobs. At 27, he was trialling with Northamptonshire and earned a first-class debut against the touring Australians; the following year, on a pay-as-you-play deal, he was a key man in their T20 Blast title-winning side.Related

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His ability to bowl yorkers at good pace made him stand out and his upwards trajectory continued. He played for the England Lions in early 2018, moved to Lancashire at the end of that season and appeared in the Bangladesh Premier League, the Big Bash and the Abu Dhabi T10. When England needed standby bowlers for their white-ball squads in the Covid summer of 2020, he travelled to the Ageas Bowl as a reserve.But when he returned to Lancashire, things started to unravel. On the morning before a four-day game, he felt a sharp pain in his lower back – “absolute agony, like being stabbed repeatedly” – and scans diagnosed a stress fracture, caused in no small part by the first lockdown of the pandemic which had left him unable to train.His back was effectively being held together by a single piece of cartilage and he spent the whole winter in rehab, working his way back to fitness. The following summer, he played the first game of the Blast, conceded 21 runs in his only over, and could barely move the next day due to the pain of bowling. He returned for the quarter-final defeat against Somerset but was only “around 70% healed” and was again expensive.Gleeson went for another scan in December, knowing that bad news would probably prove terminal for his career. After all, his contract with Lancashire had already expired: “I was basically unemployed for two months,” he recalls. “I didn’t know what was going to happen – or if I was going to play cricket again. That thought had definitely crept into my mind.”But when I had the scan, the fracture was 100% united, which the specialists had said was the best-case scenario.” Lancashire offered him another contract, initially just for the T20 Blast. “There were no guarantees that I’d get back out on the park and it could be that if I bowled again it would flare up, so it was almost like a suck-it and-see-contract.”In fact, that contract expires in two weeks’ time – but there are no longer the same concerns about whether another will follow. After taking 20 wickets in 12 games in the Blast this year, the joint-most by an England-qualified bowler, Gleeson hopes to win a contract in next week’s wildcard draft for the Hundred, and will soon sit down with Lancashire to discuss his future. But first, he has an England series to think about.England have generally used slower-ball bowlers at the death in short-form cricket of late, but are looking at Gleeson as an old-school, yorker option who can hit the blockhole more often than not. “The one area in our white-ball stuff where we’re looking for options is at the death,” Jos Buttler, England’s new captain, said on Friday.Gleeson is the joint-leading wicket-taker in the Blast this summer•MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

“He bowls some excellent yorkers and watching him in the Blast this year, he’s bowled brilliantly. It was quite an easy selection… everyone was unanimous on that. We certainly see that death-bowling area as somewhere he can use his expertise.”Gleeson has thrived at the death in the Blast, closing out a tie and a one-run win in the two televised Roses games, while against Durham he took a superb 4 for 19, with all four wickets clean bowled.”Obviously if you do things on TV, it gets people talking,” he says. “I’ve had the responsibility of bowling in the powerplay and at the death and I relish the big moments. Dane [Vilas] has entrusted me with that responsibility with Saqib [Mahmood] being out.”I think I’ve done quite well and stepped up to it. If I’m nailing my yorker, it’s obviously a difficult ball to get away, no matter what time of the game. That’s been a big part of it, but you have to be clever with it as well and use it at the right time.”And he has thrived this season while juggling his new commitments at Myerscough College in Preston, where he has been teaching a BTEC cricket course. He has even had to ask for “a little bit of leave” after his England call-up to miss a CPD (Continuing Professional Development) training day which clashes with the India series.He has taken an unusual route but next week, Gleeson will find himself bowling to some of the biggest names in cricket in Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya. His outlook is simple: “They’re all human, at the end of the day. I’ll just go out there, relish it and do the same thing I have all season. If it’s good enough, it’s good enough.”

With World Cup preparations in full swing, Pakistan have, as expected, named a young, second-string squad

Danyal Rasool24-Aug-2023Qasim Akram will captain Pakistan at the Asian Games, where the men’s team will play for a gold medal in – T20 – cricket between September 28 and October 7 in Hangzhou, China. With World Cup preparations in full swing, Pakistan have, as expected, named a young, second-string squad, with Asif Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir among the highest-profile names.Neither the captain, Akram, nor the vice-captain, have played international cricket for Pakistan in a squad where only eight out of 15 players have. Much of the squad’s recent playing time has come with the Shaheens, with whom eight players from this squad toured Zimbabwe for two four-day games and six 50-over games, before triumphing in the ACC Emerging Cup in Sri Lanka last month, and later finishing as runners-up in a T20 tournament in Darwin.Pakistan will enter the tournament at the quarter-final stage, which means their first game will take place in early October, with the final set for October 7.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Cricket has been played at the Asian Games twice before – at Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014. Bangladesh won the first edition with Sri Lanka emerging triumphant the second time. Afghanistan were runners-up on both occasions. Pakistan did not feature in 2014, and finished as bronze medallists in their only appearance in 2010.They will also field a women’s team at this edition of the Games. That squad, led by Nida Dar, was announced in July. The women’s competition at the Games will be played before the men’s commences.

Pakistan men’s squad for the Asian Games:

Qasim Akram (capt), Omair Bin Yousuf, Aamir Jamal, Arafat Minhas, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mirza Tahir Baig, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Akhlaq (wk), Rohail Nazir (wk), Shahnawaz Dahani, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Qadir

The No. 3 batter struck the fastest PSL 2024 century and deflated Kings in the first innings

Associated Press04-Mar-2024Usman Khan hit the fastest century so far in this season’s Pakistan Super League to lead Multan Sultans into the playoffs with a 20-run win over Karachi Kings on Sunday.The Sultans continued their dominant run, securing its sixth win in seven games. They top the standings with 12 points, while fifth-place Karachi has just two wins from six games.Pakistan-born Usman, who now plays for the United Arab Emirates, smashed 106 not out off 58 balls after reaching his ton in 56 deliveries. Captain Mohammad Rizwan contributed 58 in Multan’s imposing 189 for 3 after choosing to bat first.The Kings never looked a threat before reaching 169 for 7 in 20 overs and losing their third straight home game. Skipper Shan Masood got clean bowled for 36 off 29 balls by the tournament’s leading wicket-taker Usama Mir (2-29). Legspinner Mir stretched his wickets tally to 15. Fast bowler Mohammad Ali, who took 1 for 40, has 14.Usman and Rizwan exploited some wayward Kings bowling, sharing a second-wicket stand of 148 off 93 balls. Rizwan was caught at mid-off soon after completing his half-century before Usman reached his ton with a pulled six against Mir Hamza in the last over.The Kings’ overseas signings Tim Seifert (1) and James Vince (7) fell inside the batting powerplay.Shoaib Malik top-scored for his team with 38 before holing out at long off in the 12th over and the Kings had plenty of soft dismissals in the run-chase.

Allrounder will return to UK after jarring his knee in the field on debut in Rawalpindi

Vithushan Ehantharajah05-Dec-2022England allrounder Liam Livingstone has been ruled out of the ongoing Test series with Pakistan after sustaining a right knee injury during the first Test.Livingstone, who was making his debut in the format, jarred his knee while fielding a ball on the boundary on day two, after England had posted 657 in their first innings. He remained off the field for all of Pakistan’s first innings, but did bat in England’s second effort, scoring an unbeaten 7 but looking in clear discomfort as he hobbled between the wickets. He scored 9 in the first innings and did not bowl.A scan on Sunday morning (day four) revealed the extent of the damage. He will now return to the UK on Tuesday and begin a rehabilitation programme under the supervision of the ECB and the Lancashire medical teams.Related

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At this stage, England have yet to make a decision on whether to call up a replacement. A destructive batter in the shorter formats, Livingstone’s main selling point on this tour was his spin capabilities, offering legspin and offspin options to the team. Will Jacks, drafted into the XI for this Test at the very last minute following illness to Ben Foakes, took 6 for 161 with offies of his own on debut. Meanwhile, Leicestershire’s Rehan Ahmed offers an exciting albeit raw option as a legspinning allrounder.Fast bowler Mark Wood, also with the squad, seems the most likely to replace Livingstone in the XI in the short term. The second Test at Multan, which begins on Friday, is expected to play out on a similar docile surface. The Durham quick’s lightning pace will no doubt be a boost provided he can return to match sharpness in the next few days after missing the opening Test with a hip injury.

Sunrisers made 277, the highest ever total in IPL history, and Mumbai, just as incredibly, fell only 31 short

S Sudarshanan27-Mar-20241:43

Moody: Head set the tone, and Sunrisers just didn’t look back

Sixes were being hit for fun. Runs were flowing at a breakneck pace. You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking you were watching a video game. The carnage in Hyderabad resulted in an 11-year-old IPL record falling, RCB’s seemingly insurmountable total of 263 from 2013 falling by the wayside thanks to a breathtaking, collective show from the Sunrisers Hyderabad batters. They notched up the highest total in the 16-year history of the IPL – 277 for 3 – but then, just as incredibly, Mumbai Indians almost paid them back with the same coin, their batters coming out with a nothing-to-lose attitude. Eventually, they ran out of steam and finished on 246 for 5, the highest IPL total in a losing cause.Travis Head set the pace on the night, striking an 18-ball half-century, the fastest for SRH in the IPL. His record lasted roughly four overs, Abhishek Sharma slamming a 16-ball fifty to relegate him to No. 2. An hour after that, Heinrich Klaasen cut loose to seemingly bat MI out of the contest. But the sixes kept rolling off the Mumbai bats too, helping them keep up with the asking rate for most of the chase, eventually falling only 31 short.Related

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Never were more runs scored in a men’s T20 match (523). Never were most sixes hit in a men’s T20 (38). At the end of the close to four-hour six-fest, only two bowlers returned with an economy rate of under ten an over.

The perfect Head-start

Head, in for Marco Jansen, continued from where he had left off on his previous tour of India. He was off the mark with a four off IPL debutant Kwena Maphaka, the 17-year-old who played for South Africa at the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year. Head was given a life when Tim David dropped him at mid-off off Hardik Pandya’s first ball. But there was no looking back from there.Head smacked two fours and two sixes in a 22-run Maphaka over before hitting two fours and a six off Gerald Coetzee in an over that went for 23 to end the powerplay. Head had scored 59 of the 81 SRH made in the first six overs. In his next over, though, Coetzee bowled a short and wide one, which the batter could only carve to deep backward point.

Abhishek shows his mettle

Head’s inclusion in the XI meant Abhishek had to move down the order, and he walked in at No. 3 after Mayank Agarwal fell in the fifth over. Abhishek got going with a pull off Coetzee and then meted out a special treatment to the legspin Piyush Chawla, hitting him for three sixes in an over. That helped SRH notch up their 100 in just seven overs, their second-fastest in the IPL.Abhishek also tore into Maphaka’s third over, hitting him for a sequence of 4, 6, 6, 4 to complete his fifty and snatch the record from Head. The key was how early he picked the length of the bowlers. He hit seven sixes in his 23-ball stay for 63 runs, before heaving a half-tracker that Chawla fired in seam-up at 112.8kph straight to deep midwicket.Heinrich Klaasen hit another rampaging half-century•AP Photo / Mahesh Kumar

Klaasen, Markram add finishing touches

With nine overs to go and two right-hand batters in the middle, Hardik Pandya sensed an opportunity to get left-arm spinner Shams Mulani in the game. That played into the hands of Klaasen, though, who is a spin-basher. In T20s since January 2022, no batter who has faced at least 500 balls had a higher strike rate against spin than Klaasen’s 174.38 before the start of the game.True to form, he smacked Mulani over long-off to get his rhythm going. Klaasen then hit a six each off Hardik and Jasprit Bumrah as SRH crossed 200 in the 15th over. Aiden Markram, at the other end, hit a six and a four but was happy to give the strike to his South Africa team-mate. Klaasen brought up his fifty off 22 balls, which was only the third quickest on the night.Klaasen hit two successive sixes in the last over bowled by Mulani to take Sunrisers past RCB’s record score. SRH added 63 in the last four overs to post the fourth-highest total in all men’s T20s.

Mumbai lose their fizz

Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan kicked off Mumbai’s reply in fine fashion. Rohit muscled Bhuvneshwar Kumar down the ground before hitting Jaydev Unadkat – brought in for T Natarajan, who had a niggle – for back-to-back sixes. Kishan meanwhile took 23 off Bhuvneshwar’s second over, hitting him for a four and three sixes. Kishan then slogged Shahbaz Ahmed to deep midwicket, but Rohit kept going.He whipped Pat Cummins’ second ball over midwicket before miscuing a pull to fall for 26 off just 12. Only twice in the IPL has Rohit scored more – 37 in April 2015 vs RCB, and 27 in May 2015 vs Chennai Super Kings – off the first 12 balls he faced.Naman Dhir and Tilak Varma also kept Mumbai abreast with the required rate. They found boundaries regularly, with Tilak leading the charge, and added 84 off 37 for the third wicket. But once they fell within 21 balls of each other, MI lost momentum. David managed to hit a few into the stands, but by then it was too late.

Farbrace recruits veteran seamer and reliable allrounder for 2024 season

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-2023Chris Wright, Leicestershire’s veteran seamer, will join Sussex from the start of the 2024 season on a two-year contract, with Lancashire allrounder Danny Lamb also making the move to the south coast.Wright, who turns 38 next month, has claimed 567 wickets at 32.30 in a 196-match first-class career that has spanned 20 seasons. His best innings figures of 7 for 53 came against Gloucestershire at Bristol in 2021.He will be available for all formats for Sussex, having picked up 174 domestic white-ball wickets in his career. This season, he has found a strong vein of form with the bat as well, averaging 56.8 in 10 innings in the County Championship. This includes twin scores of 66 not out and 40 not out in a memorable win against Yorkshire at Headingley.”I am delighted to be joining Sussex for the 2024 season and beyond,” Wright said. “I have long admired the club and am looking forward to contributing to its future success.”Speaking to Paul Farbrace [head coach] and having played against the team a number of times I am excited to be joining such a talented and ambitious group. Hopefully, I will take lots of wickets and provide some valuable experience to the team.”Farbrace added: “I’m delighted that Chris has committed the next two seasons to joining our project at Hove. He is a vastly experienced cricketer who will bring skill, experience, and a huge passion for the game.”Chris is someone I have admired for a long time, and his quality with the ball will be fantastic for our developing team and will help us to win matches.”Sussex will be the fifth county of Wright’s first-class career, following earlier stints at Essex and Middlesex, as well as a successful period at Warwickshire between 2011 and 2018, where he helped win the County Championship in 2012.Related

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Lamb, meanwhile, joins on a three-year deal. “I’m extremely excited for the opportunity,” he said. “A brilliant new challenge and one which I feel has come at the right stage in my career.”I’ve always enjoyed playing against Sussex and at Hove. I like what Sussex are about and the vision for the future with Paul Farbrace at the helm of a young ambitious squad. I can’t wait to get going and I look forward to contributing to the team in all formats.”Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket, said: “Danny has found first-team opportunities limited over the last couple of years, so we completely understand the decision he’s made moving to Sussex. We wish him all the best for the next stage of his career.”A medium-paced allrounder, Lamb has an impressive record across formats but has struggled for game-time at Lancashire this year and has recently been playing for Gloucestershire on loan.