Five fast bowlers and two spinners present them with a lot of options, but landing on the right one won’t be easy

Karthik Krishnaswamy01-Oct-20222:13

Parnell: South Africa don’t need to panic

Cricket loves a ‘good’ headache: the kind where a team has to choose between multiple options – each of them compelling – for the same role. When the T20 World Cup begins later this month, South Africa will have more than one good headache to deal with, particularly on the bowling front.Their 15 for the tournament includes five fast bowlers – two of whom are bowling allrounders – and two spinners. That isn’t an unusual number of options, but South Africa differ from some other teams in not having a clear-cut hierarchy among those options, with Kagiso Rabada perhaps the only guaranteed starter.”I think competition is good, competition for spots,” Wayne Parnell, one of the two fast-bowling allrounders in South Africa’s squad, said ahead of the second T20I against India in Guwahati. “Every single fast bowler we have is different; we have a different skillset.Related

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“I think that’s a positive for us. It also means that when we’re presented with any particular conditions, we can play a certain set of fast bowlers. So I think, personally, having the variety that we do have is actually really good.”When South Africa toured India for another T20I series this June, they tried out an unusual combination, picking six bowlers and pushing Dwaine Pretorius – one of their two allrounders – up to No. 3 as a pinch-hitter. This time around, they have stuck with five main bowling options, with Aiden Markram’s offspin providing a sixth option.Five bowlers is probably the more balanced approach, but it means choosing one more bowler to leave out.South Africa’s fast bowlers, as Parnell pointed out, are all different, and each of them prefers bowling in certain phases. This complicates selection. Given the need for batting depth, one of Parnell or Pretorius will have to play, but the former is a left-arm swing bowler who likes to bowl in the powerplay, while the latter is a predominantly second-half-of-the-innings operator.This was perhaps why South Africa, having picked Parnell for the first T20I in Thiruvananthapuram, left out Lungi Ngidi, despite his being perhaps their most impressive performer in the T20I leg of their recent tour of England. Ngidi has been a hugely improved T20 bowler over recent months, showing excellent control over his slower ball – whether it is full and at the stumps, wide and making the batter reach for the ball, or bowled into the pitch and short of a good length.But South Africa have used Ngidi largely as a top-and-tail bowler – he has only bowled one over in the middle overs in T20Is this year – and with Parnell playing, they needed a middle-overs enforcer in their attack in Thiruvananthapuram, which meant they preferred Anrich Nortje over Ngidi.At another venue, where they expect new-ball swing to be less of a factor, there is every chance South Africa could pick Ngidi and Pretorius over Parnell and Nortje.Kagiso Rabada is perhaps the only guaranteed starter among the SA bowlers, with the likes of Lungi Ngidi in the queue•ICC via GettyThere is another choice, too, that South Africa may have to consider, particularly once the World Cup begins. So far this year, Keshav Maharaj (11) and Tabraiz Shamsi (10) have played more T20Is than any other South Africa bowler, but on certain Australian pitches, the team management could be tempted to leave out one of them and play a fourth fast bowler.Which spinner makes way in that situation is another difficult choice. Shamsi is ranked No. 2 on the T20I bowlers’ rankings, but is in the middle of his worst year in the format in terms of economy. Having conceded his runs at economy rates of 7.97 and 5.72 in his two previous years, Shamsi has gone at 9.37 so far in 2022.And while Shamsi’s average is a fairly impressive 24.75, five of his 12 wickets came in one innings in Southampton where an already struggling England line-up collapsed while going after him.Maharaj has been significantly more economical than Shamsi this year, going at 8.33 per over, and has done this while bowling regularly in the powerplay – in seven out of 11 innings. Shamsi hasn’t bowled a single over in the powerplay this year.Between the two, Maharaj is by far the better lower-order batter, as he showed while top-scoring with 41 off 35 balls in Thiruvananthapuram to help South Africa recover – in a manner of speaking – from an abject 9 for 5 to an eventual 106 for 8. This could tilt the selection too.As a left-arm orthodox spinner, Maharaj turns his stock ball away from the right-hander, which should theoretically make him easier to fit into a bowling attack against most teams. Shamsi, however, turns the ball both ways, and as a wristspinner could be better suited to harder Australian pitches that offer bounce but not a great deal of grip.Decisions, decisions. Whichever way South Africa go over the two remaining T20Is in India and then the World Cup – three quicks and two spinners; four and one; or any other combination – they will have a headache to negotiate. It is a ‘good’ headache in theory, but is by no means painless.

Who are the teams? What is the format? Matches to look forward to? Find answers to all of that here

S Sudarshanan29-Sep-2022An Asia Cup? Another one?
Yes, the men had their time under the sun in the UAE, and it is now time for the women to take centre stage.Oh! And where is it being held?
Bangladesh will play host to all matches, which will be held at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. It is the first time women’s international matches are being played in the country since Pakistan’s tour in October 2018. It is also the first time since the 2014 T20 World Cup that Sylhet will play host to women’s internationals.Tell me more. Which are the teams? What is the format?
The Women’s Asia Cup was first held in the T20 format in 2012. The last edition was in 2018, while the one to be originally held in Bangladesh in 2020 was first postponed to 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic before being cancelled altogether. So finally, 2022 will see the fourth edition of the T20 Asia Cup, and eighth including the four 50-over contests in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008.Related

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This time, the competition will see seven teams vying for the trophy. India, Pakistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, UAE and hosts Bangladesh will take on each other in a round-robin format. Each team will play six matches, with the top four qualifying for the two semi-finals, thus making it the longest Asia Cup for women. In the last two editions – featuring six teams each – the top two teams in the league stage directly played the final.Also, UAE will be making their first appearance in the competition, having beaten hosts Malaysia in the final of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Women’s T20 Championship, the qualifying event for the tournament proper.India and Pakistan meet on October 7•ICC via Getty ImagesWhen is it starting, and what are the timings?
It is a 15-day tournament, with Bangladesh taking on Thailand in the opener on October 1. India then play Sri Lanka in the afternoon game on the same day. The morning matches start at 9am local time, while the afternoon games begin at 1.30pm local time.Who are the defending champions? And who has won the Asia Cup the most times?
Bangladesh are the current Asia Cup holders, having beaten India in a tight final in Kuala Lumpur in 2018.As for dominance, India have won two out of the three T20 versions of the Asia Cup and all four four 50-over versions. That’s 30 victories in 32 games.Any specific matches to look forward to in 2022?
If it is an Asia Cup, then India vs Pakistan becomes inevitable. The two teams meet on October 7. Among the other fixtures, Pakistan vs Sri Lanka four days later could be interesting. They have so far played each other 16 times in T20Is, with Pakistan holding a 9-6 edge (5-0 since 31 March 2018). One game was washed out in 2013.Thailand beat Sri Lanka in 2018, and gave Pakistan a scare in the T20 World Cup in 2020•Getty ImagesBut before all of that, expect Sri Lanka vs Thailand on October 4 to also be eye-catching. Both teams have played each other only once – in the last Asia Cup in 2018 – with Thailand upsetting their opponents in what was their first win over a Full Member. Moreover, since this August, Sri Lanka have played only two T20Is compared to Thailand’s eight.In 2020, playing their first ever World Cup, Thailand gave Pakistan a scare before rain ruined their hopes of a win. That was the last time the two teams had met, so who knows, come October 6 this year, there could be a surprise in store.Can you tell me a bit about each of the squads?
Jemimah Rodrigues returns to the Indian side after missing the tour of England due to injury. Richa Ghosh, who made a comeback in England after being dropped from the Commonwealth Games, is also in the mix. These two could be key in the middle order, as Renuka Singh spearheads the seam attack.Pakistan, meanwhile, suffered a setback as promising fast bowler Fatima Sana was ruled out after twisting her ankle during the CPL earlier this month. But their squad still has a solid and experienced core in captain Bismah Maroof, and allrounders Nida Dar and Aliya Riaz. Add the young Ayesha Naseem, and Pakistan become a proper force to reckon with.Nigar Sultana is in good form, while Fargana Hoque also bolsters Bangladesh•ICC via Getty ImagesBangladesh, who enter the Asia Cup with great momentum after winning the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier last week, have been bolstered by the addition of Jahanara Alam and Fargana Hoque. Meanwhile, their captain Nigar Sultana comes into the Asia Cup after scoring 180 runs – the most for Bangladesh – in the qualifiers.Sri Lanka’s team could yet again be reliant on Chamari Athapaththu, especially with the young Vishmi Gunaratne out due to a stress fracture of her back. Spinners Inoka Ranaweera and Oshadi Ranasinghe could be key to their success with the ball, while with the bat, their middle order might revolve around Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama.Thailand have made their third straight Asia Cup, and would be hungry for success, especially after their fourth-place finish in the T20 World Cup qualifiers. Natthakan Chantham, Nattaya Boochatham and Chanida Sutthiruang are high among their players to watch out for.After going down to UAE in the final of the ACC T20 Championship, Malaysia blanked Singapore 3-0 in the Saudari Cup, as Elsa Hunter led the spoils with the bat. Her strike rate of 135 was by far the best among both teams, and alongside captain Winifred Duraisingam and deputy Mas Elysa, Hunter could be key to Malaysia’s fortunes. Right-arm seamer Sasha Azmi has also been in good form, and was part of the last edition of the Asia Cup.UAE, on the other hand, have played 28 T20Is since 2021 – the most among all participating sides in the Asia Cup – and have won 20 of those, including beating an in-form Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup qualifier. Esha Oza, Theertha Satish, Kavisha Egodage and captain Chaya Mughal form the heart of their Asia Cup squad.Many of the UAE and Malaysia players also had the experience of rubbing shoulders with several star players in women’s cricket at the inaugural FairBreak Invitational tournament held in the UAE this May.

BJ Watling’s successor plays fire-fighter then fire-starter to reduce first-innings deficit

Vithushan Ehantharajah17-Feb-2023Brendon McCullum goes above and beyond to underplay his impression on this England team, particularly when it comes to tactical matters. But on day four of the second Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge last summer, he couldn’t hide. Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes were pointing right at him.Broad bowled the ball. Stokes, stationed around the corner at a deep backward square leg position on the 45, took the catch. Tom Blundell, off the back of 106 in the first innings, had to go for 24. McCullum had noted England hadn’t really gone short to the New Zealand wicketkeeper, and noticed he also liked a swivel after making contact to guide the ball behind square. If they could extract a bit of extra bounce on the right line, he could easily hit it through the air.Hey presto, Broad found the channel and Stokes didn’t have to move an inch. And a batter who had been a thorn in their side – Blundell finished the three-match series with 383 runs at an average of 76.60 – was seen off with ease. The two involved turned to the balcony and pointed at their head coach, whose face-obscuring combination of cap and sunglasses were now utterly redundant.A short-ball plan with an unconventional field is nothing new with this England team, but this was one of the first instances of it coming off. When Stokes brought himself on to open the second session on day two of this Test in Mount Maunganui, the hosts trailing by 187 with five first-innings wickets remaining and a pink Kookaburra not playing ball, few were surprised by the field.Nine Tests on from Nottingham, the doubling up along the sightlines of midwicket, square leg and fine leg have been normalised. But there was one different between what was set for the two batters. All behind square for Devon Conway were on the fence. Blundell, however, had an old friend lurking on the 45.There was no reacquaintance. Though Conway’s field had a whiff of preservation, he would be the man to succumb, reaching high and wide outside off stump and tamely diverting to Ollie Pope close in at square leg. The opener had gone for 77, New Zealand – 158 for 6 – seemingly on their way to a first-innings deficit that could prove terminal.That it didn’t was squarely thanks to Blundell, who by then had already decided he was in it for the long haul. He arrived to the crease at 83 for 5 after Daryl Mitchell, a man with whom he combined for 538 runs in that 2022 series for an average 107.6 per stand, had fallen for a duck. This time it was all on him.Blundell acknowledges the ovation for his hundred•Getty ImagesThough stumps came with England 98 ahead early in their second innings, his 138 runs were a godsend, closely followed by the dismissals of Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley in the final hour’s play. Blundell should have made it three by taking charge when Nighthawk Stuart Broad skied his second ball. Nevertheless, his fifth Test century is why New Zealand aren’t lagging further behind.Did he pack away the pull shot? Quite the opposite: 67 scored off the 58 short deliveries faced, making up 48 per cent of his runs. That’s above his average across 13 fifty-plus scores (41 per cent), and considerably higher than the 28 (Trent Bridge) and 24.5 per cent (against Australia at the MCG) in his two previous three-figure scores.”I love it when it’s short,” smiled Blundell in his press conference, like a chicken who’d been left with the grain. “It works into my wheelhouse a little bit. It felt like when they went bumper plan, we were able to score rather than when they were just hitting nice length it was actually quite hard to score at times. It’s something I pride myself on, playing the short ball.”Of course, it wasn’t all short and it wasn’t quite freewheeling. His first 50 took 96 deliveries, by which point the score was 195 for 7. It was only when Tim Southee fell (247 for 9) that he finally put his foot on the accelerator.The very next over (72nd) was taken for 14: a flat six over midwicket, before finishing with a brace of fours through cover and midwicket. After No. 11 Blair Tickner played out a maiden, a dodgy hack then a deft dab to fine leg moved him to a crisp 100 from 143. From that moment on, he says his aim was simple: “Hit the ball to the moon”.Blundell celebrates his hundred with Blair Tickner•AFP/Getty ImagesThe one that came closest ended up nestling in the hands of James Anderson for a caught-and-bowled to end the innings just 19 behind. The final stand finished on 59, Tickner chipping in with 3 not out off 24 balls thanks largely to Blundell’s protection and advice to “line up nice and straight”. He said: “For him [Tickner] to do that was bloody amazing.”That last-wicket partnership sums Blundell up. You can generally split wicketkeeper-batters into two types: fire-fighters and fire-starters. And while some closer to one side of than spectrum than the other, few sit as close to the middle as Blundell. He is, ultimately, a facilitator.Analysing his method and charting his rise is one of the same given it is almost entirely forged by his experiences. Since a debut in December 2017 – and a century at the first time of asking – it took him three years to earn five caps. Caps four to 11 saw him operate as an opener – a hundred in the first Test of that run, too, against Australia in the 2019 Boxing Day Test – before dropping back to the middle order which he jokes suited him just fine.It’s worth noting here that he used to be an off-spinning allrounder. And it’s especially neat that he fulfilled that role for Colchester and East Essex Cricket Club in the Shepherd Neame Essex League in 2012. Their keeper at the time? England’s Ben Foakes. It was only in the period between then and returning to the club in 2013 he took up the gloves full time.Even the last week, in which he and his partner had their second child – Freddie – offered a bit of extra clarity, even if it prevented him from picking up a bat in between. He was one of the marooned five as the squad arrived in dribs and drabs in the lead-up to this first of two Tests.None of this is a route to success at the top level, even if Blundell described a lot of it as “great”. But the stop-start beginnings allowed him to work out what he needed to do to thrive. So when BJ Watling (fire-fighter) retired after the World Test Championship victory over in the English summer of 2021, the player and person he was could not have been better aligned to what New Zealand needed him to be.Related

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It is fitting Watling’s career-best (205) came at Bay Oval against England back in 2019, just as Blundell’s has in 2023. The difference between those knocks acknowledges where those respective New Zealand teams were and are in their life cycle. Watling’s set up an innings victory. Blundell’s, at this juncture, might only have delayed defeat.This is very much a New Zealand team in transition, through reasons ranging from a golden generation moving on or into their final years and a cricket’s rapidly expanding ecosystem diminishing their pull on their own players. Which is all the more reason to cherish Blundell.Underlining his value is the fact Friday’s knock puts him up top, ahead of Tom Latham, as the country’s leading run-scorer since the World Test Championship final. At 32, Blundell’s gratitude at where he is right now is matched by New Zealand’s gratitude that he is where he is right now.

The opener’s unbeaten 81 propelled New Zealand to the tournament’s highest score so far

Firdose Moonda18-Feb-2023From carding the two lowest totals at this T20 World Cup – and their own second and fourth lowest score overall – New Zealand went on to post the tournament’s highest score in their resounding comeback win over Bangladesh.They were a batting line-up transformed from the one that was shot out for 76 and then 67 thanks largely to their experienced opener, Suzie Bates, who was dismissed for two ducks in the first two matches but scored an unbeaten 81 against Bangladesh. Truth be told, she was pleased to just get one run.Related

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“I joked in the bus today about having one goal in the game and that was getting off the mark,” Bates said, laughing after the game. “So when I got off the mark on the first ball I looked up to the dugout and it was a nice feeling.”Bates spent a significant amount of time in the nets on Thursday’s optional training session, working more on the feeling of being out in the middle than her technique. “As soon as I hit the first ball, I was like ‘oh these are nice nets’. It was good pace and bounce, so that helped after two low scores,” she said. “I just wanted to bat and bat and we had lots of young bowlers running in. I was just getting in the zone of just batting in the nets, knowing that I wanted to spend time out in the middle.”Bates batted through New Zealand’s innings and found her timing early on when she drove Marufa Akter wide of mid-on and also beat the deep midwicket fielder. She went on to tease fielders at long-on, deep midwicket again and fine leg as she found gaps and drilled the ball through them. Importantly, she also stayed away from the cross-batted shots that had been her undoing in the previous games and concentrated on “playing straight for longer”, which worked well on a pitch with more pace and bounce than New Zealand got in Paarl.”It felt like you got value for shots, so it allowed me to just stand still and play my natural game,” Bates said. “A lesson is that that’s probably when I’m at my best. [In] the first two games, I was taking the high risk early or playing across the line. That’s not when I’m at my best. It was nice to talk about that as a batting group and me leading from the front after a tough start.”Suzie Bates was just happy to get off the mark after two consecutive ducks•Getty ImagesThe conversations came after both Bates and captain Sophie Devine were left “pretty distraught” with their back-to-back defeats and “sort of tried to get together to work out how we were going to move forward as leaders of this team”.While they knew “some of our young girls just take it all in their stride”, Bates admitted that she and Devine are among those who “take it a bit harder” because they know how much is expected of them given their experience. It’s also that experience that led them to formulate a plan to go back to their own game ahead of this match against Bangladesh.”Yesterday, Dean Brownlie, the batting coach, showed us some footage of the Bangladesh bowlers but then we kind of stopped that and said ‘okay how do we want to play? And when are we at our best?’ And that was almost that bully mentality that we’re strong girls and hitting hard and straight down the ground, early in our innings, is how we all play at our best. So we just talked about what we were going to do,” Bates said.It worked for Bernadine Bezuidenhout, who opened the batting with Bates and was outscoring her in the initial phase, and for Maddy Green, who finished unbeaten on 44 off 20 balls but Devine, batting at No.4, went scoreless for the second time. Still, Bates credited her with being the fulcrum of the turnaround.”It’s been really hard for her but it’s amazing that she’s actually playing. She had a stress fracture in her foot, so for her to do the hard work to get here is kind of unbelievable but then she’s not been able to perform. She’s had such limited cricket so it’s sort of understandable,” Bates said. “She picked herself back up as a leader. The energy around the group when we started training was brilliant.”Suzie Bates and Maddy Green propelled New Zealand•ICC/Getty ImagesDevine’s dry sense of humour may also have helped New Zealand not take themselves too seriously as they entered their third group match, even with the knowledge that anything less than a big win would guarantee them an early flight home. After New Zealand’s second defeat, Devine joked that they would have to score around 8,000 runs and skittle Bangladesh and Sri Lanka out for 20 to stand a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals, but the situation is not that dire. Their 71-run win has improved their net run rate from -4.3 to -.1.5, which is still worse than Sri Lanka’s -0.19 but not by all that much.If South Africa lose to Australia and beat Bangladesh, and New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by a big enough margin, they may be able to sneak into the knockouts and back to the ground that Bates said is in her “top three” in the world – Cape Town.”Coming here to train and just looking up at the mountains, it’s absolutely stunning and gives you perspective. You sort of take a moment. And you’re like, how lucky are we that we get to play in these beautiful places,” she said. “We’d love to play again here but unfortunately the schedule doesn’t allow.”Then she realised that it could. “Oh yeah, the semi-final, sorry! Yeah we’re still in it.”

Which players currently hold the orange and purple caps in the 2023 IPL?

ESPNcricinfo staffUpdated on 27-May-2023Who is the orange cap holder in the 2023 IPL?Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill may not have ended up winning the title, but he finished as the highest scorer of the tournament, with 890 runs. Gill overtook Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis late in the season to take the orange cap. Du Plessis finished on 830 runs, in second place. Devon Conway of title winners Chennai Super Kings, who made 47 in the final, ended with 672 runs, which places him third, and Virat Kohli, also of RCB, is in fourth, with 639 runs. Gill is the only player with three hundreds this season; Kohli has two.The other seven century-makers of this season are Yashasvi Jaiswal of Rajasthan Royals, Suryakumar Yadav of Mumbai Indians, Cameron Green, also of MI; Prabhsimran Singh of Punjab Kings; Harry Brook and Heinrich Klaasen of Sunrisers Hyderabad; and Venkatesh Iyer of Kolkata Knight Riders.In addition to the top four run-makers, four other batters scored over 500 runs this season: Jaiswal; Suryakumar (605); Conway’s opening partner, Ruturaj Gaikwad (590); and Delhi Capitals captain David Warner (516). The top strike rate among batters to have scored at least 150 runs this season is 183, by Glenn Maxwell of RCB.Rinku Singh of KKR is at No. 9 on the run-makers’ list, with 474 runs. Ishan Kishan of MI rounds out the top ten with 454.Here’s the full list of the top scorers in the 2023 IPL.Who is the purple cap holder in the 2023 IPL?Gujarat Titans seamer Mohammed Shami finished the season as the leading wicket-taker, with 28 wickets at an economy of 8.03. His team-mates Rashid Khan and Mohit Sharma (who took three wickets in the final) follow, tied on 27 wickets apiece; Mohit has the better economy rate of the two, 8.17. The three bowlers accounted for 83 wickets among them.Mumbai Indians legspinner Piyush Chawla is in fourth place, with 22 wickets from 16 games. In fifth place, with 21 wickets each are Yuzvendra Chahal (Rajasthan Royals) and CSK fast bowler Tushar Deshpande.Varun Chakravarthy of KKR and Ravindra Jadeja of CSK follow with 20 each, and then come two bowlers tied on 19 – Matheesha Pathirana of CSK, who took 2 for 44 in the final, and seamer Mohammed Siraj of RCB. Siraj is the most economical bowler in the top ten, with 7.50 runs per over.Four five-fors have been taken this season – by LSG fast bowler Mark Wood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar of SRH, Akash Madhwal of Mumbai Indians, and Mohit Sharma of Titans in the Qualifier against Mumbai.Here’s the full list of the top wicket-takers in the 2023 IPL.

Over the years, Dhoni has passed on his wisdom to Hardik. Can he use the same to trump the old master on Friday?

Shashank Kishore30-Mar-2023The nets arena at Motera’s practice ground is quite a walk from the main practice square of the Narendra Modi Stadium. On Thursday evening, shortly before 5pm, security personnel had been stationed around the perimeter of the nets area as venue managers readied a yellow carpet at the entrance of the Chennai Super Kings dressing room.Within minutes of the Super Kings team bus arriving, there was chaos as the news spread. In the middle of the main stadium, lensmen who were trying to capture the lighting of the grand stage set up for a glitzy opening ceremony, with sunlight filtering through one of the gaps in the stands, could have given track-and-field aspirants a run for their money at that very moment.The reason behind their dash? They all wanted to get a perfect shot of MS Dhoni getting out of the team bus and walking into the nets area. What followed next was the whirr of a few hundred shutter clicks to capture Dhoni’s entry. Except Dhoni wasn’t on the team bus. He had arrived an hour earlier for the captains’ meeting and photoshoot, and was already done with some light warm-ups indoors.Related

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After the crowd had dispersed, he casually sauntered into the nets area and put his arm around Gary Kirsten, the Gujarat Giants’ mentor. Ashish Nehra soon joined them for some laughs. A few handshakes and high-fives later, Dhoni quietly went towards the main ground, where Hardik Pandya was seated beside Shivam Mavi, Rahul Tewatia, Abhinav Manohar, Shubman Gill and Alzarri Joseph, and was having a long chat.Then as they dispersed to their respective nets on either side of the centre wicket, Hardik and Dhoni briefly crossed paths again.On one side was the fierce intensity of a captain who had led his side to the title in their very first season. On the other was the calmness of the grand old veteran, who will turn 42 in three months. His side had finished ninth last season but he was resonating vibes of someone who has seen it all but is fully comfortable in the space he is in, ahead of possibly one last dance.As Dhoni stood in the middle, crouching low and doing some lower-body drills, Hardik ran in and bowled, took outfield catches, and offered words of advice to his younger team-mates. Later, he played the role of an umpire to have a ringside view of his bowlers.Youngsters have often turned to Dhoni for advice and he too has always been there for them•PTI Then as the rain started to come down, Dhoni yelped from afar towards Hardik as they started to walk off. Watching all this from the outside, you couldn’t help but think of how Hardik has gradually stepped into Dhoni’s footsteps.When a raw Hardik made his debut in 2016, Dhoni was at the front and centre of Indian cricket. He had stood with Hardik at the top of his bowling mark to give instructions and advice ahead of that final over against Bangladesh during the 2016 T20 World Cup game in Bangalore. Just like Hardik does for his young Indian bowlers now.Dhoni was always there for his younger players, who would invariably turn to him for guidance. Ask Kuldeep Yadav or Ravindra Jadeja. Or an unheralded Mohit Sharma, who burst through to have the IPL of his life in 2013. Or Mukesh Choudhary last year.Somewhere along the way, with Hardik, this mentor-mentee relationship evolved into one between an elder and younger brothers. To the extent that Hardik would often be seeking life lessons from Dhoni. It’s said when Hardik found himself in a soup over comments made on a TV chat show, it was Dhoni who told Hardik to not become a recluse and switch off from all forms of social media.The Hardik we see today is a calmer version of the person that burst onto the scene. And it isn’t just the off-field attributes of Dhoni that he seems to be embodied. On the field, Hardik has been instinctive. But at the same time, he has also been calculative and has thrown himself into tough situations to shield younger players and give them a little bit of cushion.Like when he opened the bowling against New Zealand to allow a slightly off-rhythm Arshdeep Singh to settle in. Or promoting himself to No. 4 and doing the bulk of the heavy lifting, even if it meant having to go against his natural game of hitting sixes.0:46

Pandya: I took all the tips from Dhoni when we played together

Last year, for example, Hardik’s strike rate of 152.54 in the last four overs was the third-lowest for him in any IPL season. But that was because he was playing the role of an anchor, allowing the likes of Tewatia and David Miller to do the finishing.”I don’t mind playing the role that, somewhere down the line, Mahi used to play,” Hardik had said in February, during the white-ball series against New Zealand. “When he was around, I was young and hitting all around the park. But since he is gone, all of a sudden, that responsibility is on me. I don’t mind that. We are getting the results. It’s okay if I have to play a little slow.”I’ve always enjoyed hitting sixes. But that’s life; I’ve to evolve. I’ve believed in partnerships and want to give my batting partner and team some assurance and calmness that I’m there. I’ve played more games than any of these guys; I’ve learned how to accept and swallow pressure and make sure everything is calm.”It’s this calmness from their captain that Titans are feeding off. “Hardik isn’t closed-off, available to all the players at all times during the season,” Vikram Solanki, Titans’ team director, said. “He was a very mature captain last year, he took to captaincy very naturally. It was apparent he is a deep thinker of the game. You think of him as a character and personality, it plays through in the way he plays. He led with a lot of positivity and energy, and had a lot of time for people.”When Hardik steps onto the field to lead Titans in the opening game, he will know Dhoni will have a trick or two up his sleeve. The Hardik of a few years ago may have been consumed by that very thought. This version of Hardik is likely to soak it in with a smile and simply make plans on the fly to give Dhoni the slip, just like Dhoni did to the big crowd and lensmen who had made a beeline for him earlier in the evening.

A contingent of around 200 Nepal fans made the largely empty stadium feel like a full house

S Sudarshanan05-Sep-2023Stand on the eastern grass banks of the Pallekele stadium and close your eyes, it feels like a full house. The decibel levels rise as the bowler runs in, with cheers accompanying each boundary or a dropped catch. India are quite used to this in a cricket match. Only, this time it was not for them.Pallekele is a quaint town about ten kilometres away from Kandy. The roads leading to the cricket stadium are two-way and winding, which restricts the speed you can drive at. Travel is not the easiest and as a result, the queues for security checks aren’t serpentine for the men’s Asia Cup.Add to that forecast for rain, the prospect of India playing in the vicinity, and Nepal squaring off against them for the first time in international cricket, was not enticing enough for the fans in Kandy on a Monday afternoon. But a contingent of around 200 fans clad in Nepal’s jersey had walked in and took their spots in different stands. And their presence was unmissable once the action began.Related

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A group of about 75 Nepal fans square on the leg side from the broadcast end were creating the atmosphere and revelling in it. In the sixth over of the match, opener Kushal Bhurtel played a straight punch to split mid-off and mid-on. The fans ran to their right, in the direction the ball had been hit. The next ball was pulled way over long leg. The direction didn’t matter; the fans yet again had their running shoes on.A 45-year-old in the group matched an 11-year-old for energy. All of them in the contingent were from Kathmandu. The cricket match was a stop in the week-long educational tour of Sri Lanka organised by Rajarshi Gurukul.”We have a yearly trip and this time we are in Sri Lanka,” Rajeem Dhungel, an economics teacher who was managing the kids, said. “The most exciting thing for us is the historic match between Nepal and India.”The songs – by Nepal’s one of the greatest bands Nepathya – and – the fastest Nepali song to 20 million YouTube views – proved to be perfect for the group to groove to. The cherry on top was Nepal had raced away to a rollicking start: 53 for 0 in nine overs.Even the subsequent wickets, and rain, did not dampen the spirits of the fans. And they were given reason to cheer their throats out when Aasif Sheikh completed his half-century and then when Sompal Kami hit a 56-ball 48 to delay the end of the innings. It was as if the players gave every fan more reasons to cheer for them.The stands largely wore a deserted look. If not for the Nepal fans, an India game would have had an unusually quiet look to it. Not always are India fans outnumbered. And not always is an India win just a footnote.