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Karnataka’s two leading fast bowlers, R Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun, will miss their next Ranji game with minor injuries

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2012Karnataka’s two leading fast bowlers, Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun, will miss their next Ranji game with minor injuries. They are being rested as a precautionary measure. Vinay is also the captain of the side. Allrounder Stuart Binny will lead the side in his absence, and young batsman Manish Pandey will be the vice-captain.This news is a dampener for Karnataka after they fought hard to come back with three points, chasing 539 for a first-innings lead on a rank turner against arch rivals Tamil Nadu in Chennai. J Abhiram, the chairman of Karnataka selectors, said the injuries were not too serious, and were expected to heal in time for the next match. Mithun has a side strain, and Vinay has a hamstring problem. “These are just grade-one injuries,” Abhiram told ESPNcricinfo. “But we don’t want to risk them so soon and make them worse, which could keep them out for a longer period.”The two join Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth and RP Singh as fast bowlers who have already had injury troubles this Ranji season. Munaf, Sreesanth and RP were injured even before the season began.Starting with the India A match against the touring English, Vinay has played first-class cricket on 11 of the last 14 days. The numbers are eight out of 11 for Mithun. The precautionary resting is similar to Ajit Agarkar’s case, who picked up a niggle in his calf, and said he would have been fit for the next game had he got a five-day break as opposed to the three days the Ranji schedule provides between matches.SL Akshay, who has played four first-class matches before, and uncapped HS Sharath and K Gowtham were called up as replacements. Karnataka’s next match is in Uttar Pradesh on November 17, where they take on a side coached by one of their own, Venkatesh Prasad. Karnataka have registered four points in their first two games.

Craig McDermott says the fact that he started out young helps him coach bowlers like Pat Cummins and James Pattinson

Daniel Brettig18-Oct-2011Craig McDermott, Australia’s bowling coach, will hark back to his teenage tearaway past to guide Pat Cummins as he presses for a place in the Test team on the tour of South Africa. McDermott made his debut for Australia in the 1984 Boxing Day Test against the West Indies at the age of 19, entering the team at a time when confidence was low and results poor. He made a strong start against Clive Lloyd’s tourists and followed it up on the 1985 Ashes tour, before enduring a few spells out of the team. Those good and bad days are now McDermott’s resource as he helps Cummins and the rest of the Australian attack plan for the three ODIs and two Tests in South Africa.”It’ll be interesting to see how he [Cummins] develops in the one-day series in South Africa after bowling well in the T20s,” McDermott told ESPNcricinfo. “It’ll be up to the selectors who they pick for our Test attack, but when we’ve got three or four blokes who can now bowl 140kph plus, it’s a big plus for us, and we’ve still got James Pattinson sitting at home in Australia who has bowled well as well.”McDermott said the empathy he felt for young fast bowlers had been useful, and noted the example of the work he had done with Pattinson as well as Cummins. In Sri Lanka, Pattinson spent a great deal of time honing his skills despite never being quite close enough to selection in the Test XI.”I think it’s been very helpful, particularly with young guys like James Pattinson,” McDermott said. “Throughout the Sri Lanka tour he trained his backside off day in, day out and didn’t really play much cricket. He’s come to South Africa and bowled very well in the T20s and is unlucky to not stay on for the Tests.”Pat Cummins has come in as an 18-year-old, so there are a lot of emotions he’s going through. He’s had some good experiences through the Champions League T20, and now we’ve just got to make sure that we bring these guys through and nurture them while getting them hard for Test and one-day cricket.”Simon Katich was the first captain to enjoy having Cummins at his disposal in first-class cricket, in three Sheffield Shield matches at the end of last summer. Katich described Cummins as “an absolute dream” for any captain, as a young bowler with rich gifts and a level head to know how to use them.”For a kid who is only 18 years of age, he has an amazing brain on him already,” Katich said. “Control-wise he knows what he’s trying to do, so from a captaincy point of view it wasn’t hard to captain him.”He can bowl good pace, he can swing it both ways, and he’s just a good young kid, so he’s got a lot going for him. We are going to miss having him around, but we knew that once he hit his straps and got opportunities we probably weren’t going to see him too much.”Cummins is blessed with the ideal, wiry physique for bowling at high speed, and Katich felt he did not need to put on much more size at all in order to be fully developed.”I don’t think he has to get much bigger. You only need to look at someone like Brett Lee; he was never huge over his career, he was strong but he didn’t have to get that bulky,” Katich said. “Pat’s the same, he’s quite lean and wiry but he’s still able to bowl at 150kph. He’s obviously got a young body but he’s done a reasonable pre-season with us, so hopefully that’ll hold him in good stead.”He’s still got a long way to go and no doubt he will admit that, but he’s a quick learner, he’s got a lot of natural skill, and he’s got a good head on his shoulders. He’s very mature for his age and he’s a smart lad, so I think he’ll be more than capable when he gets his opportunity, if he keeps learning the way he has.”

Lively scoring rates and sporting declarations were not sufficient to generate a result in the first unofficial Test between New Zealand A and Zimbabwe A in Harare

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2010
Scorecard Daniel Flynn’s aggressive 162 set the tone for the game•Associated Press

Lively scoring rates and sporting declarations were not sufficient to generate a result in the first unofficial Test between New Zealand A and Zimbabwe A in Harare.The hosts elected to field, and their decision was initially vindicated as the pedigree opening pair of Tim McIntosh and Peter Ingram departed cheaply on the first morning. However, Jamie How, fresh from a personally successful Champions League Twenty20 where he led Central Districts’ winless campaign, counterattacked with a stroke-filled 92 off 96 balls. Zimbabwe’s woes were complete when Daniel Flynn, who has played 16 Tests for New Zealand, went after their bowling in equally aggressive fashion. The pair added a bright 217 runs in 33.5 overs, a stand that set the tone for the rest of the match.Flynn smashed five sixes and 16 fours in his innings and was fifth man out for 162 off 175 balls. Gareth Hopkins held the lower order together with a watchful 50 as New Zealand finished with 426, scored at 4.22 runs per over. Mountaineers seamer Njabulo Ncube and the 14-ODI old Malcolm Waller chipped in with three wickets each for the home team.Unlike the visitors, Zimbabwe’s top-order batsmen did not capistalise on starts, with Steve Marillier and Vusi Sibanda falling for scores of 38 and 46. Left-arm spinner Nick Beard caused a lot of problems as the hosts stuttered to 224 for 6 on the back of Craig Ervine’s 55. Then followed a strong rearguard led by wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva, who has represented Zimbabwe in the shorter versions of the game. His fourth first-class ton, supported by Timycen Maruma’s 59 helped the hosts reduce the deficit to manageable proportions, before they declared their innings in search of a result.New Zealand’s second innings ran into early trouble, and at 65 for 4 in the second session of the third day, Zimbabwe would have nursed ambitions of forcing a win. However, they had to contend with the captain James Franklin, whose batting has come a long way in the last couple of seasons. Franklin stroked his 12th first-class ton, and Hopkins weighed in with a solid contribution once again to lead the visitors out of trouble. Franklin declared the innings closed at 280 for 5, setting the hosts a target of 342 in a little over two sessions.Tino Mawoyo launched the pursuit with his second first-class ton, an unbeaten 125 off 160 balls with 12 fours and two sixes, but a steady fall of wickets at the other end meant that Zimbabwe could never step up gears. With the score 243 for 5 after 54 overs, the game was called off, but despite the stalemate, both teams had reasons to be pleased with their efforts.

Allrounder says he has been inspired by Sreesanth’s spectacular return to the international fold

Cricinfo staff30-Nov-2009Indian allrounder Irfan Pathan says he has been inspired by Sreesanth’s spectacular return to the international fold and is optimistic about making his way back into the Indian team by performing in domestic cricket.”Sreesanth has made an excellent comeback,” Irfan told ahead of Baroda’s next game in the Ranji Trophy Super League. “He was doing well in domestic matches earlier and after returning to the India team, he put up an performance which is quite inspirational. I want to make a comeback like him.”I met him before a Ranji match, I am impressed with his body language also. This kind of comeback strengthens the believe that you can also do it in same manner by improving your performance.”Returning after a gap of 19 months, Sreesanth was named Man of the Match in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Kanpur, having managed an impressive showing with the ball and helping India take a 1-0 series lead. His five-wicket haul in the first innings forced Sri Lanka to follow-on, setting up the innings-and-144-run win.Irfan said every domestic match has become of immense importance to him. “Every cricketer has to improve to cement his place in the national team. I am trying to give my best in every domestic match and hope it will get the attention of selectors.”He was downgraded from Grade B to Grade C in BCCI’s central contracts list released last week and last played a Test against South Africa in Ahmedabad in April last year, while his last ODI appearance came against Sri Lanka when India toured earlier this year. He said he had put his injury worries behind him and was in good nick with the bat as well.”I am totally fit now and bowling long spells,” Irfan said. “I have also cracked a half-century recently. It would be better had I been in the India team in this series but it’s nice to see India claiming their 100th Test victory.”Irfan predicted a tough match ahead against Group B leaders Karnataka despite home advantage. “It is going to be a very important match for us. They are the group leaders and playing well, but we are also ready to take them on at our home ground.”Over the incident in which four Baroda bowlers, including Salim Veragi, Rajesh Pawar and Sankalp Vohra were called for suspect actions, Irfan said, “This is a new system introduced by the BCCI and the umpires are only following the rules. They cannot do much about it.”

Brevis reprieve helps table-topping MICT to get out of sight in Qualifier 1

Firdose Moonda04-Feb-2025Mumbai Indians Cape Town will play in their first SA20 final after beating Paarl Royals by 39 runs in Qualifier 1 and turning around their fortunes from finishing last in both previous editions of the tournament. MICT have won five matches in a row and are running hot ahead of Saturday’s final at the Wanderers.Their yet-to-determined opposition will all be in action over the next two days with two-time defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape to play Joburg Super Kings in Wednesday’s Eliminator and the winner to take on Royals in Qualifier 2 on Thursday.While MICT’s win was comprehensive, and set up by them asking Royals to complete the highest successful chase at St George’s Park, it was not without controversy. They were 133 for 4 with a ball left in the 16th over when Dayyaan Galiem thought he had Dewald Brevis out for 16. Brevis pulled a full toss to deep backward square and an umpire review ruled the delivery a waist-high no-ball.Law 47.1 states that “any delivery, which passes or would have passed, without pitching, above waist height of the striker standing upright at the popping crease, is unfair. Whenever such a delivery is bowled, the umpire shall call and signal no ball.”Brevis’ front foot was outside the popping crease and he was not standing upright at the time of the shot but despite Paarl captain David Miller’s protests, the call stood. Brevis hit the next ball, a free-hit for six and Galiem was taken out of the attack in his next over after delivering another waist-high full toss which was judged a no-ball. That delivery also went for four. Mitch Owen completed the over, which ultimately cost 27 runs. MICT scored 60 runs in their last four overs and Brevis finished unbeaten on 44. After 15.5 overs in Paarl’s chase, their score was 136 for 6 which illustrates how impactful the no-ball and what followed was on the result.Miller was visibly upset on-field and when Galiem addressed at the post-match press conference, he confirmed that Royals did not feel the ball was high enough to be judged a no-ball. “That is obviously tight but that’s the match officials, they have to make the decisions,” he said. “it could have gone either way. We did feel like he was in a bent position and the shot was out in front of him as well, so potentially if that ball carried on going and it was in line with his body it perhaps could have been a touch lower. It was a touch and go and on another day that’s given and everything changes from there, but again I think we could have still been better in certain situations of the game.”One of those situations was Galiem’s no-ball in his next over, and he did not hesitate to acknowledge that. “I just misexecuted those two deliveries,” he said. “Such fine margins as well. I felt really confident after my first over as well and I just wanted to hit a yorker and I just didn’t want to miss on the short side. I misplaced the ball a little bit.”Rassie Van Der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton lifted MI Cape Town in the powerplay•SA20

He wasn’t the only one to misstep. Another tactical question arose when Galiem was taken out of the attack and Royals, despite having what Miller called “enough bowlers to pick from” in the post-match television interview chose not to use Andile Phehlulwayo. On the slower St George’s Park surface, his medium-pace may have been handy, but Phehlukwayo has not bowled at all in the tournament, even though two of his three appearances have come in the absence of Lungi Ngidi.All that suggests Royals have a few selection issues to deal with as they head into the Eliminator, including how they are going to find runs with Joe Root no longer part of the squad. Root left for national duty last week and though Owen is a promising replacement, he has done more with ball than bat so far. “He is obviously just adjusting to South African conditions but he’s an amazing player, we saw what he did in Australia and we know he’s got that about him, so it’s only a matter of time,” Galiem said.The team that has time now is MICT. Victory in the qualifier means they have three days to prepare for the final, albeit one of those will be a travel day, while the other team that qualifies will only have one. They recognise that as an obvious advantage. “It would have been first prize not to play another game heading into the final. We are glad that we ticked that off,” Kagiso Rabada said. “We are not taking anything for granted.”While Paarl have lost their last three games, MICT have not lost in seven matches, including a no-result, and are living up to their hype as the franchise with some of the biggest signings. “We have always had the players, but now I think we got together.” Rabada said. “The senior group had a lot to do with it in terms of pulling everyone together. There is also a familiarity between the players. That hunger is there. The hunger has always been there, but I think we just got together more as a team to put in those crucial performances at crucial times. I think that is what is getting us over the line.”Given the run of form they’ve had, they go into Saturday’s final as favourites, irrespective of who they play, and some would say the trophy looks like theirs to lose.

The visitors recovered from 2 for 2 in the first over to post a formidable 197 for 6

Valkerie Baynes06-Dec-2023Nat Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt pulled England from the peril of 2 for 2 to give their side a 1-0 lead in the T20I series against India.Both scored rapid half-centuries in a 138-run stand from just 87 balls after Renuka Singh had reduced the visitors to 2 for 2 in the first over of the contest at Wankhede Stadium, ultimately leading England to their second-highest T20I score against India which, despite a 42-ball 52 from Shafali Verma, proved too lofty a target.Wyatt, playing her 150th T20I, made a seamless return after seven weeks off, having withdrawn from the WBBL citing the onset of fatigue at the end of the English summer. Her 75 from 47 balls contained two sixes and eight fours. Sciver-Brunt reinforced what England had been missing when she sat out their surprise 2-1 T20I series loss to Sri Lanka in September, with a 53-ball 77 which was equally crucial in the visitors’ recovery. Having bowled sparingly in the white-ball portion of the Ashes after picking up a knee injury in the Test against Australia in June, Sciver-Brunt also picked up a wicket with her second ball, bowling Smriti Mandhana for just 6.Related

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Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone – playing for the first time since undergoing surgery on a dislocated right shoulder in August – produced her best T20I spell against India with 3 for 15 from four overs. Freya Kemp, the teenage allrounder who had been playing purely as a batter since injuring her back on England’s tour of the Caribbean a year ago, chimed in with the wicket of Jemimah Rodrigues, also for single figures, as her side shook off the doubts that had pervaded their short-form game just three months ago.

Dream start for Renuka

Renuka snared two wickets in as many balls – the fourth and fifth of the match, no less – to put England in terrible trouble at 2 for 2 as Sophia Dunkley’s batting woes continued. Having missed England’s white-ball series against Sri Lanka following a lean Ashes campaign and managed just one half-century amid a string of single-figure scores at the WBBL, Dunkley returned to the starting XI at the expense of Maia Bouchier, who had held the openers’ position in her absence.But when Dunkley pressed down on the second ball she faced from Renuka, she founder herself in a tangle as the ball ricocheted off her elbow and onto the stumps. Renuka then removed Alice Capsey for a first-ball duck with a gem of a delivery that zeroed in on off stump as Capesy played inside it, only to hear the definitive clatter behind her. Sciver-Brunt survived the hat-trick ball but Renuka’s early inroads had India looking buoyant and marked a welcome return for their pace spearhead, playing her first international match since February after overcoming a stress injury.Sophie Ecclestone struck a timely blow to send back Harmanpreet Kaur•BCCI

Sciver-Brunt, Wyatt steady things

Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt brought the home side back down to earth with their third-wicket stand to build England’s recovery to 140 for 3 by the time Wyatt advanced to debutant left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque and was stumped by Richa Ghosh. Wyatt should have been out moments after bringing up her half-century, but Pooja Vastrakar dropped a sitter at long-on off India’s other debutant, offspinner Shreyanka Patil. Two balls earlier, Shreyanka put down a low return catch off Sciver-Brunt, on 45 at the time. Both chances bookended Wyatt’s thundering six over long-off, her second maximum. Shreyanka eventually grabbed her first wicket, deceiving England captain Heather Knight with a full, straight delivery that crashed into off stump.Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt had raised the tempo right after the halfway point of the innings and Sciver-Brunt rammed home the advantage as she plundered four fours off one Vastrakar over, which went for 19 in all. It took Renuka’s return to the attack to remove Sciver-Brunt in the penultimate over, enticing an edge which Ghosh collected via an excellent dive to her right, ending an excellent knock which included 13 fours. Harmanpreet Kaur kept faith with Shreyanka to deliver the last over and she conceded 16 from it before Jemimah Rodrigues took a catch just inside the deep midwicket boundary to remove Amy Jones after a neat nine-ball cameo worth 23 on the final ball with England falling just shy of the 200-mark which had looked so out of reach in the opening stage of the match.

She’s baaaaack

England had been understandably non-committal about the chances of Ecclestone playing this match, with captain Heather Knight and legspinner Sarah Glenn giving away nothing in their pre-match press conferences other than that they were keeping a close eye on her. It was hard to take your eyes off the world’s leading spin bowler in a devastating comeback from the injury to her non-bowling shoulder, suffered while warming up for a Hundred match. Just as Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt had increased the pressure on the hosts after the mid-innings drinks break, so too did Ecclestone, removing Harmanpreet with the second ball after the pause, a length delivery right on the stumps which Harmanpreet shaped to cut but managed only to chop on.Shafali was assertive, particularly early in her innings, and she hit three of her nine boundaries off one Sciver-Brunt over. But she didn’t have support from her team-mates and, when Ecclestone and Glenn combined to remover her, swinging wildly at one Ecclestone tossed up on off stump and picking out Glenn at backward point, the home crowd went quiet. Another one tossed up on off did for Kanika Ahuja as Sciver-Brunt took the catch in the 19th over. Glenn chimed in with 1 for 25 from her four overs and, while India were left to rue a ragged fielding performance, England’s victory was nothing short of clinical after their early stutter.

“I’m eager to get going, it’s a fresh start for me at a new club which is very exciting”

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Aug-2022Marchant de Lange, the South African fast bowler, has signed a three-year deal with Gloucestershire as a local player.De Lange, 31, played two Tests, four ODIs and six T20Is for South Africa between 2011 and 2016, but has been playing county cricket regularly over the last six years. He initially signed for Glamorgan as a local player through a spousal visa, but joined Somerset on a two-year deal from the end of the 2020 season after changes to registration rules after Brexit saw him become an overseas player.Related

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He was a popular player in Somerset’s dressing room but has only shown glimpses of his best during two seasons in Taunton. He took 18 wickets as they reached the Blast final in 2021 but has been a peripheral figure this year.De Lange also impressed in the first season of the Hundred, taking the competition’s first five-wicket haul for Trent Rockets last year, but has been kept out of their side by Daniel Sams so far this season.”De Lange is currently registered as an overseas player but it is anticipated that he will qualify as an English domestic player ahead of the start of next season,” Gloucestershire said in a club statement.The move is a significant boost for Gloucestershire, who have lost three key short-form players in recent weeks, in Benny Howell (to Hampshire), Ryan Higgins (to Middlesex) and Ian Cockbain (released).”I am very excited to have committed my long term future with the club,” de Lange said in a statement. “I really look forward to working with Dale Benkenstein [the head coach] as we have a mutual goal for the future of Gloucestershire.”I’m eager to get going, it’s a fresh start for me at a new club which is very exciting. I want to help Gloucestershire challenge for silverware and I also want to pass on advice and help the young players who are coming through the ranks.”Steve Snell, Gloucestershire’s performance director, said, “I feel Marchant will add a point of difference with his extreme pace and career record of taking a high volume of wickets. Marchant will add significant firepower to our squad with the ball, and I believe he will be a figure of positive influence in and around the dressing room.”Andy Hurry, Somerset’s director of cricket, said, “Marchant played a big role in us reaching the Vitality Blast Final in 2021. However, first XI opportunities across the formats have been limited for him this summer. Moving forward, we are not in a position to guarantee him first-team cricket and we therefore completely understand his desire to seek competitive opportunities elsewhere.”

Victoria a turned a likely deficit into a lead then claimed early wickets to set up the chance of victory

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Apr-2021Henry Hunt held South Australia’s faltering third innings together after Sam Harper’s first century for Victoria gave the hosts an unexpected first innings lead in the Sheffield Shield match at Junction Oval in Melbourne.Resuming 132 runs behind with just three wickets remaining, Harper fashioned stands of 54 with Mitch Perry, 88 with debutant Todd Murphy and 28 with the last man Jon Holland to allow Victoria to regain the upper hand against the lowly Redbacks, assured of finishing bottom of the Sheffield Shield table for the fourth consecutive season.Harper was on 91 when the ninth wicket fell but moved to his century with a scoop and a ramp over the slips then a scampered single to mid-on.As if conforming to this trend, SA’s second innings began with a rush of dispirited exits, as Jake Weatherald, Liam Scott, captain Travis Head and Alex Carey all departed inside the first 20 overs. Carey’s dismissal, top edging a reverse sweep to backward point after being tied down by Holland, was particularly galling.At that point, a three-day finish was not out of the question, but Hunt found allies in Harry Nielsen and Jake Lehmann to at least ensure that the Redbacks would have something to bowl at in the last innings of Chadd Sayers’ long and reliable domestic career on the final day.

The allrounder smacked 56 off 46 to steer a thrilling chase in a rain-shortened match in the Vijay Hazare semi-final

Sreshth Shah in Bengaluru23-Oct-2019In a match shortened to 40-overs a side, Tamil Nadu beat Gujarat by five wickets in a nervy encounter in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20 semi-final, to set up a title clash against Karnataka.Chasing 178 for victory, Tamil Nadu were 96 for 5 but Shahrukh Khan’s 56* off 46 balls saw them pull through with an over to spare, enthralling the handful of neutral fans who turned up at the Just Cricket Academy Ground on the outskirts of Bengaluru.Both teams had star-studded line-ups. R Ashwin, fresh off India’s Test series win over South Africa, flew in on Tuesday to join the Tamil Nadu squad for the semi-final. He had M Vijay, Washington Sundar, Abhinav Mukund and captain Dinesh Karthik in his side. Gujarat, too, had their share of India cap-holders, with Axar Patel and Piyush Chawla being led by Parthiv Patel. Gujarat needed a win, while Tamil Nadu needed anything but a defeat. A no-result would have put Tamil Nadu into the final, with the tournament rules stating that head to head results would be the tie-breaker if both sides had an equal number of wins coming into a knockout match, and Tamil Nadu had beaten Gujarat when both teams faced each other in the league stages in Group C.Unsurprisingly then, Karthik chose to field first on winning the toss, with one eye on the grey clouds in the distance.The clouds remained all day, but the rain didn’t arrive, as the match began at 10.30am, an hour and a half after the scheduled start.Priyank Panchal and Parthiv, the Gujarat openers, have been their two most dependable top-order batsmen over the last few years. Their solid opening partnerships had led Gujarat to nine wins in ten matches in the tournament thus far. Before the game, the only time both Gujarat openers failed was in the defeat against Tamil Nadu. So when they both fell inside the fifth over to Ashwin and Washington respectively, it seemed that Tamil Nadu had taken an early stranglehold on the match. A brief partnership of 45 between No. 3 Bhargav Merai (20) and No. 4 Dhruv Raval (40) then followed, which helped Gujarat negate the early damage done by the Tamil Nadu spinners, but a middle-order collapse once again handed Tamil Nadu the advantage.M Mohammed was the wrecker-in-chief during the middle overs. After Merai fell to T Natarajan, Mohammed struck off his first delivery to dismiss Raval when he edged a drive to the slip cordon. In the same spell, Manpreet Juneja (12) and Karan Patel (4) fell victim to Mohammed’s nippy deliveries. By the time Karan was out in the 21st over, Gujarat were tottering at 102 for 6.The handful of spectators kept switching their support from one team to the other, almost as if one moment they wanted nothing more than to see a heavyweight clash between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the final, but the next they realised they’d much rather see a proper contest right now than sometime in the future and began screaming for Axar Patel to push Gujarat towards a respectable total.In Chawla’s company, Axar added 23 for the seventh wicket. The eighth-wicket stand with Roosh Kalaria lasted only six balls, but in No. 10 Chintan Gaja, Axar found someone with whom he could bat out the full 40 overs. Together they made 26 runs but Axar perished for 37 trying to clear the long-on boundary. Gujarat’s tenth-wicket partnership still had 3.2 overs to bat, and with Gaja leading the way, they added 18 more to finish on 177 for 9.Tamil Nadu’s chase began poorly, with Vijay chopping Gaja onto his stumps for 3. Axar and Kalaria bowled a tight spell with the new ball, allowing Tamil Nadu to score only 25 runs in the first eight overs. Axar then struck as No. 3 B Aparajith guided an attempted cut into Parthiv’s gloves to rock Tamil Nadu further, but just like the Gujarat innings, a rescue effort from the third-wicket partnership followed. Abhinav had survived the tricky period with the new ball, and he opened up in No. 4 Karthik’s company. The experienced duo motored along in a 45-run third-wicket stand to bring the game into the balance, as Abhinav held up one end and Karthik took on the boundary riders. But the wickets of both set batsmen, on either side of Vijay Shankar’s dismissal, gave Gujarat the look-in they needed. With 15 overs to go on a surface that was two-paced all day, Tamil Nadu, with two new batsmen at the crease, needed 81 to qualify for the final.By now, Tamil Nadu had slipped behind the VJD par and some nervous moments followed as the skies turned dark once again. But there was no inclement weather. Instead, there was a storm from Shahrukh’s bat.With his partner Washington nudging the ball around for singles (twos were difficult because of the ground’s dimensions), Shahrukh took on the other Gujarat bowlers, first slapping Kalaria to point for four before depositing Chawla’s googly over long-on. That brought the crowd – by now, prepared for a Tamil Nadu defeat – back to life, with the batting team needing 27 off 24 balls. Over the next two overs, Shahrukh guided Axar to the third-man boundary and followed it with a flat-batted six off Kalaria over long-off to bring the equation to 11 off the final two overs.In the penultimate over, Washington thumped a four off the first ball, after which Shahrukh drilled a full toss over long-off to seal Tamil Nadu’s win. Such was the fervour during the final stages of the chase that Shahrukh didn’t even acknowledge his half-century till the end of the game.The result means that Tamil Nadu have reached a domestic final for the first time since 2016/2017.

England and India are still chasing top-order stability in the last stop of the tour, and Cook’s international career

The Preview by Deivarayan Muthu06-Sep-2018

Big Picture

When the Test series began in England, there were murmurs about this Indian side being well equipped to end their horror overseas run – they had last won a Test series outside Asia and the Caribbean in 2009.After India had lost the first two Tests and then bounced back to stun England at Trent Bridge, there were murmurs of a Bradman-esque comeback: from a 2-0 deficit to a 3-2 series victory. Then, when it mattered the most in a one-innings shootout at Ageas Bowl, India’s premier spinner R Ashwin struggled to loop the ball into the rough on a bone-dry pitch that was more MA Chidambaram Stadium than Ageas Bowl. The killer blow then came when the batting line-up folded against Moeen Ali, again. All-new series. Same-old story for India.The series is dead now, but this is by no means the deadest of dead rubbers. Alastair Cook, who made his Test debut against India in 2006, is set to bow out of international cricket against the same team. Since the retirement of Andrew Strauss, in 2012, the England selectors have been endlessly searching for the other opener. Post-Oval, their problems will be doubled. And what’s with Joe Root’s reluctance to bat at No. 3? Word has it, Moeen Ali will continue at one-down at The Oval.India’s top order is in no healthy shape either. KL Rahul hasn’t produced an innings of note and has looked as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs against the inswinger. He has been dismissed bowled or lbw in six of his eight Test innings here. Shikhar Dhawan has shown greater restraint outside off, and has moved into double figures in each of his six innings, but hasn’t passed 44. So, will 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw, who has been racking up runs and records in domestic cricket and A games, make his international debut at The Oval?The visitors could also be pondering handing a debut to Andhra batsman Hanuma Vihari, who, like Shaw, has been prolific in domestic cricket and has the experience of playing club cricket in England. And if Wednesday’s net session is anything to go by, Ravindra Jadeja could get his first international game on tour, in place of Ashwin.

Form guide

England WLWWW (last five Tests, most recent first)
India LWLLW

In the spotlight

Sam Curran has played only five innings in this series, but only Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler have made more runs than him. A bulk of Curran’s 251 runs have come when his team has been been in a mess. His blazing 65-ball 63 hauled England from 86 for 6 to 180 in Birmingham and he staged a similar rescue act with the bat in England’s series-clinching victory in Southampton. As for his bowling, he has found sharp swing into India’s right-handers, his awkward angle making things even more difficult for the batsmen. Whatever happens at The Oval, Curran, arguably, will be remembered as the player of the summer for England.Undoubtedly, Virat Kohli has been the player of the summer for India. After managing only 134 runs in 10 innings in 2014, while getting out to James Anderson four times, the India captain has firmly put the boot on the other foot four years later, with 544 runs so far in two innings fewer. And he hasn’t been dismissed by Anderson in this series though every other England bowler has reeled him in. Kohli v Anderson: who will win round five?Getty Images

Team news

Jonny Bairstow, who had played the Southampton Test as a specialist batsman after fracturing a finger while taking a catch behind the stumps at Trent Bridge, is now fit enough to take back wicketkeeping duties from Jos Buttler. England have named an unchanged XI, which means the recalled pair of Chris Woakes and Ollie Pope will sit out.England: 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Keaton Jennings, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jos Buttler, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James AndersonKohli named an unchanged team for successive Tests for the first time ever at Ageas Bowl, but it’s time to spin the wheel again. India are likely to beef up their batting with the inclusion of Vihari at the expense of an allrounder in Hardik Pandya, who has played all of India’s Tests in the overseas cycle so far, starting with his debut in Sri Lanka last year. Jadeja, meanwhile, is likely to play his first overseas Test since the SSC game in August 2017.India (probable): 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Hanuma Vihari/Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja/R Ashwin, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Pitch and conditions

There was some live, green grass on the pitch on the eve of the Test match, but it seemed dry underneath – possibly the reason why England have chosen to stick with two spinners. Expect some of the grass to come off before the toss, leaving the captain winning the toss to make the easy decision of batting first. The weather is likely to be fair on day one, with more overcast conditions expected later in the match.

Stats and Trivia

• Kohli needs 56 runs to make 600 in a series for the fourth time. He needs 88 runs to surpass Mohammad Yousuf’s tally of 631 and own the record for most runs in a Test series in England.
• Cook needs one run to 1000 Test runs at The Oval. Having made over 1000 Test runs at Lord’s, Cook is in line to become the second England player – after Graham Gooch – to reach 1000 Test runs at two different venues.
• Ishant Sharma is four wickets away from becoming the top wicket-taker for India in Tests in England. Kapil Dev currently leads the list with 43 wickets in 13 Tests while Ishant has 40 wickets in 11 games.
• Stuart Broad needs four wickets to become the fourth-highest wicket-taker among seamers in Test cricket. His team-mate Anderson, Glenn McGrath, Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee are ahead of him currently.
• England’s lower order (Nos. 7-11) has contributed 697 runs in this series as opposed to India’s lower-order tally of 351.
• Cook will join Andrew Flintoff, Michael Clarke and Chris Rogers in officially retiring from international cricket at The Oval.