ESPNcricinfo staff08-May-2018Mark Wood has been released by Chennai Super Kings after playing just one match in this season’s IPL, and will return to Durham to prepare for the Test series against Pakistan, which gets underway at Lord’s on May 24.Wood, who was picked up by CSK for GBP166,000 in the IPL auction, made his debut against Mumbai Indians in this year’s tournament opener at the Wankhede Stadium, but didn’t pick up a wicket in conceding 49 runs.He is now set to be made available to Durham in their Specsavers County Championship match against Derbyshire this week, as he looks to cement the Test place that he reclaimed during the recent tour of New Zealand.”The decision has been made for me to return home to England to prepare for the English summer,” Wood wrote in a post on Instagram. “Having worked so hard to get back into the test team, and because I’m not currently not in the CSK side, I am coming home to play for Durham to hopefully put my name in the hat for Test match selection.”Ben Stokes, who is playing for Rajasthan Royals, and the Bangalore Royal Challengers duo of Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali are also set to return to England in the coming days to prepare for the Pakistan Test series.

Denly collected 4 for 56 with his burgeoning legspinners to restrict Glamorgan to 274 then picked up his bat to hit an unbeaten 150 from 143 balls

ECB Reporters Network25-May-2018
ScorecardKent’s acting captain Joe Denly starred with ball and then bat to help Spitfires open their Royal London Cup win account with a four-wicket victory over Glamorgan with 11 balls to spare in Canterbury.Denly collected 4 for 56 with his burgeoning legspinners to restrict Glamorgan to 274 then picked up his bat to hit an unbeaten 150 from 143 balls, Kent’s highest individual score in 50-over cricket beating Darren Stevens’ 147 last season, to ease his team to their first south group success from three starts.Kent had made a miserable start in their pursuit of Glamorgan’s par-for-the-course total at an asking rate of 5.5 an over and soon lost Daniel Bell-Drummond, given leg before to Ruaidhri Smith – though the disgruntled batsman marched off inspecting his bat’s inside edge.After limping to 39 for 1 in the Powerplay, Kent lost opener Zak Crawley, who aimed to pull a good-length ball from Smith only to be bowled by via the bottom edge.No sooner had Spitfires posted their 100 when Heino Kuhn ran himself out. Heslipped over when backing up and was sent packing by Graham Wagg, the bowler, who struck with a direct hit to the non-striker’s end.Wagg’s cunning slower-ball enticed Sean Dickson to steer a catch to cover point, bringing in left-handed Alex Blake to form a match-defining fifth-wicket partnership in tandem with Denly.The pair added 88 in 12 overs with Denly as the major aggressor. Having picked up ducks in his first two RLODC innings of the summer, Denly cantered to a 105-ball century, reaching three figures with a six over midwicket against spinner Andrew Salter to go with is 13 boundaries.Blake’s 37-ball contribution worth 41 ended when he flashed hard against Timm van der Gugten to be caught behind, then, with 21 needed Darren Stevens was next to be hoodwinked by Wagg’s slower, off-cutter that pegged back off stump.Denly stood firm throughout, steering his side over the win line with his 19th boundary to beat his previous List A record score of 115 set against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in 2009.Fielding first after winning the toss, Kent’s leading wicket-taker Matt Henry nipped one back up the St Lawrence slope to trap Aneurin Donald leg before, but otherwise Kent’s new-ball bowlers struggled to contain Nick Selman, who unfurled a series of crisp drives that helped Glamorgan reach 47 for 1 at the end of their Powerplay.Kent’s first-change pairing of Stevens and Calum Haggett combined to stem the flow of boundaries, but Selman continued to manoeuvre the ball around nicely on the way to his maiden List A half-century from 66 balls and with six fours.With the field spread, Glamorgan’s Australian second-wicket pair of Selman and Shaun Marsh found boundaries harder to come by and were content to nudge and nurdle to rotate the strike in taking their side to 114 for 1 at the innings mid-point.The introduction of Denly’s legspin urged Marsh to try and move up a gear but, with his score on 45, the left-hander drilled to long-on where Henry parried the ball before diving from behind the rope to complete the catch and end a stand worth 102 in 23 overs.Colin Ingram upped the tempo with a six off Mitch Claydon that sailed onto a balcony of a retirement apartment, but Denly won Kent’s revenge, having the Glamorgan dangerman caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary.Henry pocketed another fine catch in the deep, running around at long-off to take a David Lloyd skier off Denly, then Claydon returned to clip Selman’s off stump with an off cutter with the right-hander eight short of his first List A ton.Denly bamboozled Chris Cooke with a shooting top-spinner, Salter lost leg stump heaving across the line to Claydon, Henry had Smith caught at extra cover, van de Gugten edged behind to give the Claydon a flattering third and Wagg holed out to cow corner off the deserving Haggett.

A clash with the Test schedule was expected to rule players out of the new tournament but ESPNcricinfo understands space will be made

George Dobell14-Jul-2018Leading England players look likely to be available to play in some games in English domestic cricket’s new tournament The 100.There had been fears that England’s best-known players – the likes of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Joe Root – would be unavailable for the ECB’s flagship new tournament as they were likely to be on duty with the Test team.But ESPNcricinfo understands that, such is the desire of all involved to find some space in the busy schedule, they are likely to be available for the first couple of games in the tournament’s first year – 2020 – and the final.That is a significant boost for the ECB. They had previously faced the prospect of either not being able to use the players for marketing purposes or being accused of cynicism if they used them in the knowledge they would not be available. While they have long stated the aim of the competition is to attract a new audience to the sport, the availability of the best – and probably best-known – players can only be an advantage.Details of plans for The 100 remain unclear. The ECB hopes that a new working party – chaired by Clare Connor, the director of England Women’s cricket, and meeting for the first time in Loughborough next week – will be able to finalise them in the coming weeks. Among the issues to be discussed is how the 100-ball innings can be divided into overs without complication and in a way that is acceptable to players. The possibility of a 10-ball over appears to have diminished following player resistance.It is understood, however, the group will only consider proposals built on the 100-ball principle. So while the Professional Cricketers’ Association maintain their hope that the new tournament could be played in the T20 format, it seems a majority of the counties and the ECB executive are adamant it should not.

England’s top-scorer in a first innings that was blown away insisted the team will “dust themselves down” after a “very poor day”

Melinda Farrell at Trent Bridge19-Aug-20181:17

Time for England to eradicate collapses – Buttler

Jos Buttler was at a loss to explain yet another batting collapse after a dismal day for England at Trent Bridge. England were bowled out in the space of a session – after a promising start by Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings, losing all ten wickets between lunch and tea in conditions that favoured the swing of Hardik Pandya, in particular.Buttler’s swashbuckling 39 off 32 deliveries, as he farmed the strike with James Anderson for a 33-run tenth-wicket partnership, staved off the spectre of a follow-on but that was of little comfort as England saw the match slip away from them as quickly as the wickets tumbled.”We’ve had a poor day today, very disappointing, but we’ll dust ourselves down and come back hard tomorrow,” Buttler said. “It’s important we can recognise why it’s happened and improve.”When we’ve got that momentum, when we’ve been bowling, it felt like we were going to take a wicket every ball.”It comes down to how can you wrestle back the initiative – maybe with a counter-attacking style or someone trying to sit in and be a bit of a limpet for an hour and ride that session out. But obviously we weren’t good enough to do that today.”But while Buttler praised the work ethic of his team he was unable to explain the cause of England’s frequent collapses: the folding of England’s top order has become a far too familiar sight and in the past two years they have been bowled out in a session on three occasions – Mirpur, Auckland and now Trent Bridge.”It comes down to the guys working hard, being disciplined, practice, all of the above,” Buttler said. “Rightly, people say it’s been happening too often – which it has. Guys have got to improve. We know that as a side – to get to where we want to go, we need to eradicate these collapses.”The key is trying not to make the same mistakes. You can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again, whether that’s as an individual or as a team. If there’s an obvious weakness as an individual, you need to work on it – or as a team, is there a similar thing we need to make sure it’s not happening?”There’s no magic answer, I don’t think, apart from hard work.While Buttler admitted there were robust and “honest conversations” within the dressing room, he described the atmosphere as “fantastic”, despite the recurring collapses.”The group gel well together, there’s a real good feel about it. We’re not getting the results but it’s not for a lack of trying.”Experience tells you there is no magic key to getting things right. Nobody’s perfect and there’s human error – we’ve got to be better. Everyone is striving to be the best they can, it’s not for a lack of trying. We’ve played some very good cricket during this series, we are 2-0 up, we’ve had a very bad day but we will come back hard. We will keep fighting.”

Jadhav is set to return to action for the first time since suffering a hamstring tear on the opening day of IPL 2018

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Aug-2018Kedar Jadhav is set to return to action for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury on the opening day of IPL 2018. Jadhav has been included in the India B squad for the ongoing Quadrangular series also involving Australia A, South Africa A and India A.Jadhav replaces Ricky Bhui in the India B squad. There is a change in India A’s squad as well, with Ambati Rayudu coming in to replace Siddhesh Lad. Lad and Bhui have been released to allow them to play for India Red and India Blue respectively in the Duleep Trophy.Jadhav was a regular in India’s ODI team until suffering a grade 2 hamstring tear while batting for Chennai Super Kings against Mumbai Indians on April 7. The injury ruled him out of the remainder of the IPL season, and also left him out of contention for India’s tours of Ireland and England.Rayudu was originally part of India’s ODI squad for the England tour, but was left out after failing a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Having last played for India as part of a second-string team that toured Zimbabwe in 2016, Rayudu had forced his way back with a prolific IPL season in which he scored 602 runs at an average of 43.00 and a strike rate of 149.75.August 25, GMT 1506 The story had earlier said Jadhav would play for India A and Rayudu for India B. The error has been rectified.

Sam Robson. Remember him on the list of former England openers? He has just made his first century of the season

ECB Reporters Network18-Sep-20181:55

Yorkshire edge towards safety

ScorecardSam Robson’s first century of the season saw Middlesex get the better of the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match with Derbyshire at Lord’s.The former England opener ended a run drought with 134 – becoming Middlesex’s first century maker since May 6.Max Holden (96 not out) was also closing in on a first century in Middlesex colours as the hosts finished an enthralling day at 350 for 8, only the second time this season they have realised a fourth batting point.But late in the day veteran seamer Tony Palladino (4-66) bowled the visitors back into contention with a spell of 4- for 3 in 15 balls.Given Middlesex’s struggles with the bat this season it was no surprise to see them stuck in under cloudy skies for the sixth time in seven red-ball games at HQ this season.Understandably then it was a nervy start – 20 balls and the odd play and miss passed before the first run clicked up on the board.Robson broke the shackles with two fours in an over off Palladino – the second boundary appearing to lift a season-load of weight from his shoulders as thereafter he settled down to play with increasing assurance.At the other end, left-hander Nick Gubbins found life more of a struggle, a spate of cameos having left him short of confidence.Nevertheless, the pair compiled only their third half-century opening stand of the season, reaching 64 before Hardus Viljoen made the breakthrough trapping Gubbins lbw.Sam Robson eases one through the covers•Getty Images

It would be the visitors’ only wicket of the morning session as Robson moved smoothly to 50 off 83 balls with nine boundaries, ably supported by Stevie Eskinazi who had the honour of receiving his county cap at the start of the lunch interval.There would be no 50 to accompany the honour, the South African-born wicketkeeper/batsman falling for 35, lbw to spinner Matthew Critchley.Skipper Dawid Malan was next to go, a skittish innings of 16 ending when he aimed an ill-advised hook at Viljoen, the ball arrowing its way to the safe hands of Luis Reece at long-leg.His dismissal more often than not this season would have heralded a collapse, but youngster Holden came in and looked composed from his first ball and as a result he and Robson regained the initiative.Robson’s hundred arrived courtesy of a single to mid-on in the last over before tea, the applause from the Middlesex faithful seeing him raise his bat in delight and relief in equal measure.The pair played with increasing authority at the start of the final session, raising the 250 – a figure reached only once previously in the first innings by the Lord’s tenants this season.The century stand came at almost a run a minute and Holden’s 50 arrived shortly afterwards complete with six boundaries.The dizzy heights of 300 were in sight when Palladino new ball in hand changed the complexion of the day. A devastating spell began when he found the edge of Robson’s bat ending an otherwise chanceless innings and a stand of 132. Tail-up Palladino struck again with his next ball, new man Robbie White get a thinner edge to Gary Wilson at first slip.James Harris survived the hat-trick ball only to depart in Palladino’s next over, trapped on the back foot.The hosts had subsided from 298-3 to 304-6 but Palladino wasn’t finished yet, getting another lbw shout upheld to remove Martin Andersson.
With the ball now doing plenty Holden was given a life when Wilson shelled a chance at first slip off Lockie Ferguson.That scare survived, Middlesex briefly steadied the ship until James Fuller, having just hit Ferguson for six top-edged the next ball down to Critchley at third man.Ethan Bamber though helped raise the 350 and kept alive hopes of a Holden century in the morning.

A lack of practice games for India ahead of the World T20, which starts on November 9, is the reason why a full-strength squad has been named for an A team series

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2018All 15 members of the India’s women’s World T20 squad have been named in an India A squad that will face Australia A in a three-match series later this month. The games have been scheduled in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex, and India A will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy.

Schedule

• 1st T20 – October 22, BKC Mumbai

• 2nd T20 – October 24, BKC Mumbai

• 3rd T20 – October 26, BKC Mumbai

A lack of practice games for India ahead of the World T20, which starts on November 9, is the reason why a full-strength squad has been named for an A team series. India were originally scheduled to play T20Is against West Indies later this month but with that series recently cancelled, these games against Australia A are their final chance of playing competitive cricket before leaving for the Caribbean. The players are already in Mumbai, participating in a 10-day camp as a build-up to the global event.India A squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Anuja Patil, Ekta Bisht, D Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy

The allrounder aggravated a recurring back injury during the warm-up match against India in Guyana, and left the field after bowling just five balls

Melinda Farrell in Guyana08-Nov-2018England’s senior allrounder Katherine Brunt broke down while bowling her first competitive over since aggravating a recurring back injury, leaving her almost certain to miss England’s opening match of the Women’s World T20. Brunt will be assessed on Thursday and England are desperately hoping the injury won’t rule her out for the entire tournament.Brunt was brought into the attack in the eighth over of England’s final warm-up match against India at Providence Stadium but was able to complete just five deliveries before leaving the field in obvious discomfort.The 33-year-old has been dogged by back problems in recent years but the current issue is a recurrence of the injury she sustained during the Women’s Big Bash League last year. Brunt has been in an uphill race to recover ahead of the World T20 since aggravating her back in September. And while England had only tentative hopes she would be fit for their opening match against Sri Lanka on Saturday they were prepared to give her every chance to prove her fitness.But, bowling off a shortened run-up, Brunt was clearly struggling before she walked off, and while head coach Mark Robinson said he wouldn’t rule her out of the tournament before she was assessed tomorrow, Brunt’s own frustrated and emotional demeanour spoke volumes.”It didn’t look great at that point, did it?” Robinson said. “She hasn’t been able to take any part in the competition so far, she’s been practising, and today was a game to get her up and running. She’s on a reduced run-up. It’s hard for us, she’s an important player.”Two of the players that bat in our top five in the summer are out. We’ve prepared for that as well, something we have to take on the chin, back the other players.”I think it was a bit of a shock in there as well, from her point of work. She’s an emotional girl anyway. She put a lot into trying to get out today and she played, and suddenly she feels like she’s going into spasms as such. And you’ve got NZ watching, you’ve got the press with the cameraman, everything going on, a lot of emotion, so that’s where we need to take stock and see where we are.”England’s plans without Brunt centre around two of three debutants in the squad who are hardly like-for-like replacements for the seaming allrounder. Linsey Smith is a left-arm spinner – although she has bowled seam in the past – while Sophia Dunkley is a middle-order batsman who bowls part-time legspin. Smith has been particularly impressive in the warm-up fixtures and appears to be the most likely replacement for Brunt against Sri Lanka in Saint Lucia.”You can’t replace Katherine because she bats and bowls,” Robinson said. “We haven’t got a genuine allrounder who can do that role so we’re going to have to pick either a bowler or we have to pick a batter. So we’re going to have to go in with four bowlers and your Nat [Sciver] and Heather [Knight] and if Dunks [Sophia Dunkley] is playing and Dani Wyatt to fill in, or we go five specialist bowlers and we play six batsmen and that’s your dilemma. We planned that she might not make it but we had to give her every chance.”England finished 11 runs short of India’s total in the final warm-up for both sides before the tournament begins on Friday. Harmanpreet Kaur was in imperious form for India, smiting 62 off 32 deliveries in setting England 145 for victory. But despite a sprightly half-century from Dani Wyatt, England struggled to get India’s spinners away.”We’ve had three games over here since July,” Robinson said. “Tonight was really, really good. We played West Indies in front of 4000 people, that was really good as well. South Africa was a quite convincing win. Tonight was a great learner for us. Their spinners outbowled us. They bowled into the wicket and protected the short boundary.”We bowled all length and got hit, gave the batter a chance to hit over somebody’s head, which you can’t do in these conditions. It shows here that if you bowl back of a length as a spinner, with leg side back, it’s old-fashioned women’s cricket, it’s hard to clear the boundary.”

The match has been rescheduled twice in the last 48 hours, mainly due to some technical problems with one of the light towers. It will now start at 12.30pm local time

The Preview by Mohammad Isam16-Dec-2018

Big Picture

With both Bangladesh and West Indies looking to get their preparations into gear for next year’s World Cup, one wonders what context a T20I series holds for them and the fans. What will they do with these three matches?Yet for West Indies, the T20Is offer some hope on an otherwise difficult tour. They need to take full advantage of their favoured format to find some sort of form in Bangladesh. The visitors have won only one match so far, the second ODI in Dhaka, having been trounced 2-0 in the Test series, and 2-1 in the ODIs. Shai Hope has been their stand-out performer but the other batsmen have been below par. Among the bowlers, Oshane Thomas looked fiery at times but he was, shockingly, “rested” from the third ODI.For Bangladesh, the series is important for players like Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Mohammad Saifuddin, among others. It is becoming far more important for these players – apart from the experienced ones like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah – to have match-winning performances. If not as big a role as the senior quartet, they should look to make telling contributions, at least.The match has been rescheduled twice in the last 48 hours, mainly due to technical problems with one of the light towers. It will now start at 12.30pm local time, but a forecast of rain could end up playing a bigger role in the selection of the XI.

Form guide

Bangladesh WWLLL (last five T20Is, most recent first)
West Indies LLLLLALSO READ: Bangladesh’s need for cooler heads and a better top order

In the spotlight

Liton Das did well against West Indies in the previous T20I series between the two sides, but throwing away his wicket after a good start is becoming an issue. His tendency to hit boundaries in the first few overs has often been followed by a sudden dismissal with a cross-batted shot.Shai Hope‘s ODI form is one of the few things West Indies can rely on as they head into this series. He may not be the most aggressive batsman but Hope’s tenacity means that West Indies have some stability at the crease, even as they would want the other batsmen to forge partnerships.

Team news

Rubel Hossain and Nazmul Islam will be in consideration, but only if Bangladesh want to leave out one genuine batsman. Shakib also received a foot injury during nets, and received treatment for it.Bangladesh: (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Liton Das, 3 Soumya Sarkar, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 6 Mohammad Mithun, 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Mohammad Saifuddin, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Mustafizur RahmanEvin Lewis will slot into the opening position while allrounder Sherfane Rutherford also offers a batting option. Kesrick Williams, who has returned to the T20I squad, could be a handy bowler, having done well in the Bangladesh Premier League.West Indies (probable): 1 Evin Lewis, 2 Shai Hope, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Shimron Hetmyer 5 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 6 Nicholas Pooran, 7 Carlos Brathwaite (capt), 8 Fabian Allen, 9 Keemo Paul, 10 Khary Pierre, 11 Oshane Thomas

Pitch and conditions

The track will likely be batting friendly, although there could be some early help for spinners. A drizzle is forecast, so the toss may be crucial, too.

Stats and trivia

• West Indies have won only two out of their 12 T20Is this year, while Bangladesh have won four out of their 13 games.
• Denesh Ramdin is the only player in the West Indies squad with more than 50 T20I appearances.

Quotes

“They keep surprising me by coming up with some great performances. Now we have got some continuity with regards to winning series, so wonderful news for Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes
“[West Indies] just need to know the method of winning more consistently.”
West Indies assistant coach Mushtaq Ahmed

Tim Paine, meanwhile, said he enjoys watching Kohli play, and felt he ‘brings out the competitive spirit in a lot of people, which is great’

Sidharth Monga in Perth18-Dec-20182:50

Did not have any problem with my dismissal – Kohli

The mutually-agreed-upon line in this series seems to be drawn at swearing, and despite all the hype around the chatter between the two teams, the two captains are happy with each other’s behaviour. Since the third day, which featured Virat Kohli’s displeasure at the contentious low catch that dismissed him and his banter with Tim Paine later in the day, the clamour for the next exchange has reached a fever pitch, ending with the host broadcaster advertising a clip of Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja having an animated discussion as a sign of all not being well within the Indian camp.Jasprit Bumrah had said after the third day’s play that India were surprised that the soft signal, in the case of the low catch to dismiss Kohli, was out, but Kohli seemed to have gotten over it by the end of the match. “I don’t think I showed any displeasure at the dismissal at all,” Kohli said. “A call was made on the field, and that’s it. It was done. Australia played better cricket than us, and they deserved to win.”Kohli’s reading of the banter was plain: “As long as there is no swearing, the line doesn’t get crossed. That’s it.”In one of the exchanges, when the umpires tried to restrain him and Kohli, Paine was heard telling the umpires it was just conversation, and that there was nothing wrong with that. Paine reiterated that, and seemed to agree with Kohli that as long as nobody swore or got personal, it was fine. “That is the main part. I don’t think the amount of it matters, it’s the nature of it and the language,” Paine said. “What is said is important, not how much.”A lot was said, or possibly observed, because everybody is on the lookout. Kohli told Paine he was staring at 2-0 if he messed up when batting in the second innings. He also allegedly told Paine he was the best player in the world, and Paine just a stand-in captain, a claim denied to ESPNcricinfo by Indian team management. In retort, Kohli was reminded he was batting last, “big head”. M Vijay was asked how could he possibly like Kohli “as a bloke”. A lot of it went on, but neither side has reported any personal abuse on the field.”I don’t think we did touch to be honest,” Paine said of the near chest-bump. “It got pretty close. But it is what it is. It was a highly competitive Test match from both teams. There’s a lot on the line, and both teams desperately want to win, and sometimes that stuff happens.”When Paine was dismissed on the fourth afternoon, he turned back to look as he walked back, but he clarified there had been no send-off. “I actually had spoken about a crack to KL Rahul about two minutes before I got out, so he said did that came off it,” Paine said. “Nothing, not a send-off.”Things heated up between Virat Kohli and Tim Paine in the first session•Getty Images

Paine dismissed the idea that it might be annoying to play against Kohli, who loves, and sometimes goes looking for, a confrontation. “Not to me, I love it,” Paine said. “I enjoy watching him, I always have. I think he brings out the competitive spirit in a lot of people, which is great, and I’m sure it was great to watch.”One of the underlying threads of the chatter is the medium through which it has reached homes. The scrutiny from the cameras and the stump mics seems unparalleled. The invasiveness can sometimes affect how players behave, and also play. Kohli said there was no threat of that happening to him.”As long as there is no swearing out there on the field and there is no personal attacks, the line doesn’t get crossed,” Kohli said. “There is banter going on. Even at Adelaide there was banter here and there… it’s Test cricket at the end of the day, it has to be competitive. You can’t say that people aren’t going to try and get you out in any way possible at all.”With the stump mics and cameras and all these things, honestly when the bowler is bowling you aren’t thinking whether the stump mic is on or the camera is on or not. And when you are facing that ball, literally there is no one in the stadium apart from you and that ball. So, these things are totally irrelevant, and you are actually not aware of them when you are on the field. It’s never bothered me, it’s never been something that’s of importance to me to be honest. For me it’s irrelevant.”For all the talk of banter, this is perhaps the best-natured Australia-India series Kohli has been a part of. “Nothing compared to 2014 to be honest,” Kohli said. “But look, it stays on the field whatever happens. In competitive spirit it stays on the field, I am not going to go into details but to be honest it’s not of importance for me to speak on and it’s something that’s done. We are looking forward to Melbourne now.”Whatever happens, at the end of the series, there will be a beer or 35 shared between the sides at the end of the series. At least there will be an invite from the Australian side. “Tonight ? No,” Paine said, when asked if the custom was to invite the opposition for beers after every Test. “We definitely will after the series. That’s always been the thing that has happened, and will always be the case.”