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With no red-ball domestic cricket before the home series against England, players have nowhere to go to regain form and confidence

Danyal Rasool04-Sep-2024Sarfaraz Ahmed took his place behind the stumps as Abrar Ahmed came around the wicket to Shakib Al Hasan, and watched as the left-hander slapped it over cover to hit the winning runs. Pakistan had plumbed new depths, losing 2-0 to a Bangladesh side who had just achieved their greatest series win. It was Pakistan’s fifth Test defeat on the bounce, and they had extended their winless run at home to 10 Test matches.Less than 24 hours later, Sarfaraz was in Lahore. He hadn’t been called up for any kind of emergency meeting to discuss how to address that defeat. The PCB had, instead, sent for him because he was the only one of the five mentors – recently appointed at great expense – who hadn’t yet talked up the current board’s latest vanity project: the Champions Cup.So in case you wondered how seriously the PCB are taking their worst home run in Test cricket, here was Pakistan’s most experienced Test player being asked to perform pre-competition vapidities for a white-ball tournament sandwiched between Pakistan’s two home Test series this year. There will be no extended training camp before England arrive because this one-day cup finishes on September 29, eight days before the first Test starts. It is the essence of what Test captain Shan Masood called “studying science in preparation for a maths exam”.Related

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It might have been useful for Pakistan’s struggling batters – of whom there were plenty during the Bangladesh series – to drop down to domestic red-ball cricket ahead of England’s visit, but they won’t have that option. The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is not scheduled to begin until the third week of October, coinciding directly with England’s visit. While September isn’t the ideal month for four-day cricket in most of Pakistan, the QeA did begin on September 10 in 2023, a timeline that, replicated this year, would have provided for the option of competitive red-ball cricket before England arrived.But QeA seasons are like snowflakes; no two are the same. And even though the Champions Cup will perhaps be the highest quality domestic one-day competition in Pakistan, with resources being poured into and every fit Pakistan player available to play, it’s still not red-ball cricket. No matter how meticulously you study science, there’s only so much good it’ll do you in a maths examination room.Anyone who hasn’t studied maths ahead of an exam will know that sinking feeling of the numbers not adding up. Many of Pakistan’s batters were reacquainted with it over the past fortnight; five of the top seven are arguably short of form. Ahead of the biggest red-ball season for Pakistan this century, three did not play a single red-ball game. Saim Ayub managed just one, Salman Ali Agha two, Saud Shakeel three. Masood’s County Championship contract meant he was the only player with red-ball experience before this season.For all the concerns about the chasm between the calibre of Pakistani domestic and international cricket, it is notable that Pakistan’s Test middle order has been a world-leading source for runs; numbers 5-7 average 43.68 in Tests in this WTC cycle, better than batters in those positions in any other side. Two of the men in these positions – Agha and Shakeel – have the closest proximity to first-class cricket in this Pakistan side. Pakistan batters since the start of 2021 have faced a collective 12,642 domestic red balls; Agha and Shakeel alone are responsible for over a third of them (4670). Red-ball cricket – any red-ball cricket, it would appear – matters.If Shan Masood is sacked as captain, his successor will begin his tenure with two extremely challenging assignments•AFP/Getty ImagesIt should hardly surprise, then, that Pakistan’s approach of treating form like a carrier pigeon, whose return bearing good news can only be patiently awaited rather than manifested, was heavily punished by Bangladesh.The visitors, too, played no first-class cricket in the build-up months, though they are a side at a different stage in their evolution, full of experience in the batting order. Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib are the two longest-serving active Test cricketers in the world, Mominul Haque has played more Tests than any member of the Pakistan side, and only Babar Azam can beat Litton Das’ and Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s Test tallies. The repository of first-class cricket to fall back on simply isn’t there for most of Pakistan’s batters.The PCB is famous for frenetic, slapdash changes to personnel, and there may yet be more before the first ball of that England series is bowled. What will not change, though, is the number of balls Pakistan’s players face or bowl in red-ball cricket. This year’s schedule has not provided for the first-class tournament to begin until after the conclusion of the season’s fourth Test, with the only cricket to tide them over a jazzed-up domestic one-day tournament.Masood may lose his job before the England series begins, but that would make the incomer odds-on favourite to reprise Masood’s 0-5 record, with series against England at home and away in South Africa next in the schedule. Masood may linger on and end up 0-10, or close to it, but without the support for players to work on their games away from the cauldron of Test-match cricket, there is no way to stem the onrushing tidal wave.Pakistan cricket is now little more than a release valve for the dopamine hits sackings and hirings provide, which makes it the kind of crisis Pakistan cricket is least equipped to handle: one for which there is no , no workaround, no silver bullet. Pakistan’s domestic structure may be creaking, but refusing to lubricate it has been a conscious choice no recent administrator can exculpate themselves from.An official involved with the Pakistan team admitted red-ball cricket ahead of a Test series was preferable, but also that scheduling was hard work. Which it is. Not quite as hard, though, as consistently short-changing Test cricket and continuing to expect results.

How both teams deal with the conditions on Monday will be pivotal in a game that could be key to deciding how Group B finishes

Firdose Moonda06-Oct-2024Lack of pace is expected to be the biggest challenge facing both England and South Africa in their key Group B clash in Sharjah on Monday. Both teams are one from one so far and the game could be key to deciding how the pool finishes but, on the evidence of the opening week in Sharjah, it could be heavy going.In four matches played at the venue, no team has crossed 120 and the average first innings score is 111.50. Run-scoring has been made particularly difficult by the slowness of the surface and the size of the outfield. With square boundaries of 63 and 57 metres on Saturday (which will vary slightly on Monday, depending on which pitch is being played on), finding the boundary has proven tough too and the numbers prove it. So far, in four matches, there have been 56 fours and five sixes hit in Sharjah across four matches, compared to 79 in Dubai so far.Sri Lanka have played both their matches in Sharjah, failed to cross 100 on both occasions and without being overly critical of the surface their captain Chamari Athapaththu explained her concerns. “I feel our batters need some good pace and bounce. Then, they perform really well. Because they don’t have big muscle power, they time the ball and in these conditions, it’s a bit hard to do that,” Athapaththu said after Sri Lanka’s second loss on Saturday. “The outfield is too slow and this is a big ground, so too hard to score sixes and boundaries.”Related

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Athapaththu pointed out that it wasn’t plain-sailing for their opposition either, especially Australia, who hit 10 fours in their chase of 94 but no sixes. “Even Australia, I saw them struggle. They have good power-hitters, but even they struggled because of the bounce,” Athapaththu said. “It’s a low-bounce track, so it’s hard to clear the rope. We have to rotate the strike, that is the most important thing. [About] 120-130 is a good score on these tracks.”But running between the wickets has also been difficult, with the heat making it difficult for players to keep their intensity up, but they’ve tried. Sharjah has seen 87 twos, in contrast to Dubai’s 69, and that comes with some risk. There have been four run-outs in Sharjah and two in Dubai. England already know run-scoring is going to be a slog.The other thing both England and South Africa will want to think about is how many seamers to include in their XI. England have already shown their hand by playing all four frontline spinners in the squad in their opener against Bangladesh and using them to their full capacity. They each bowled their full quota of four overs and that meant they only had one seamer in operation in Nat Sciver-Brunt.South Africa could learn from that, especially as they already have two seam-bowling allrounders who could be picked as batters. Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk bat at No. 3 and 6 or 7 respectively and will provide the pace options so they may consider sacrificing the accuracy of Ayabonga Khaka for an extra spin in legspinner Seshnie Naidu.Or maybe not, if they listen to Australia’s Megan Schutt, whose haul of 3 for 12 against Sri Lanka was the most economical among seam bowlers at the venue so far. “There was actually a little bit more bounce and carry in my first over than what I thought there was going to be, so that was a nice surprise to have a slip in there early. But taking the pace off, I think we always knew it was going to be effective over here. And as the game progressed, it did get lower and slower,” Schutt said. “It’ll be really interesting to see the spinners take hold a little bit more, but I think pace still has a big important role to play, and being able to move the ball early is still what I’m going to try and do, and it’s just about adapting to conditions if that doesn’t happen.”

” We don’t want to leave it for the last game. We want to make sure we win all our games and guarantee that spot in the semi-final.”South Africa’s Tazmin Brits

Either way, as Heather Knight said in the post-match presentations, after England’s victory over Bangladesh, play as a whole may be a bit of a slog. “It is not going to be beautiful or sexy in these conditions,” as Knight put it.South Africa may argue that a lot of their cricket in the lead-up to this tournament has not been sexy. After reaching last year’s final, they only won one out of seven series in the lead-up to this World Cup and that one was on a last-minute trip to Pakistan before this tournament. Contrastingly, England have been all about attractive cricket, with victories in five of their seven series between the end of the last World Cup and the start of this one. But as South Africa scarred them at Newlands last February, they know they have to be wary – especially after the way South Africa opened this tournament with a ten-wicket win over West Indies. “South Africa had a convincing game. They are competitive and bring fire and passion,” Knight said.Being a team that comes from the country often called the best never to have won a World Cup, South Africa, for their part, just want to keep being convincing. “We’ve got a big game against England and as everyone knows, that’s always a tough one,” Tazmin Brits said. “But we don’t want to leave it for the last game. We want to make sure we win all our games and guarantee that spot in the semi-final.”

Durbar Rajshahi, meanwhile, became the first team to not field an overseas players after they boycotted a game over non-payment issues

Mohammad Isam02-Feb-2025Chittagong Kings’ second-place finish in the BPL points table was the biggest surprise at the end of the tournament’s league phase. They had to win at least two out of their last three games this week, and they ended up winning all three: against Rangpur Riders, Sylhet Strikers and Fortune Barishal.They set up the first qualifier with Barishal, who topped the table with 18 points. Khulna Tigers meanwhile won the race to qualify as the fourth team, after beating Rangpur and Dhaka Capitals in their last two league matches. They were equal on 12 points with Durbar Rajshahi, but Khulna had the superior net run rate.In the eliminator match, Khulna will take on Rangpur who lost their way after making an impressive start to the season. Rangpur lost their last four matches after winning eight in a row. Rajshahi, Dhaka and Sylhet are out.

Best batter: Mohammad Naim

Mohammad Naim had the most impact as a batter after his century guided Khulna to a crucial win against Rangpur. Naim pummeled an unbeaten 111 off 62 balls, including seven fours and eight sixes.Dawid Malan was also in great form for Barishal, hitting a couple of sixties this week and an unbeaten 16-ball 37.What would be most encouraging for the Champions Trophy-bound Bangladesh team, is the form of Tanzid Hasan and Parvez Hossain Emon. They played some destructive knocks this week, with Tanzid hammering seven sixes in his 58 off 37 balls against Khulna. He finished the tournament with 485 runs at a 141.39 strike-rate, and hit 36 sixes – the most by a Bangladeshi batter in the BPL. He also finished the league stage as the tournament’s leading run-scorer.Parvez’s 75 off 41 balls against Barishal included a four and eight sixes, which helped Chittagong to a score of 206.Khaled Ahmed returned a four-wicket haul against Sylhet Strikers•Chittagong Kings

Best bowler: Faheem Ashraf

Faheem Ashraf’s resurgence, including figures of 5 for 7 against Sylhet, played a huge role in his Pakistan return to the Champions Trophy side. He now has 20 wickets for Barishal, second only to Taskin Ahmed who finished the competition with 25 wickets at an average of 12.04.Chittagong got the full service of their local pacers when Shoriful Islam and Khaled Ahmed both took four-wicket hauls against Sylhet. Left-arm quick Mrittunjoy Chowdhury took four wickets against Rangpur, while offspinner SM Meherob also registered a crucial four-wicket haul against Sylhet.

Unusual plays

Rajshahi became the first team to play without overseas players, breaking the BPL’s rule in the process. Their overseas players refused to appear against Rangpur on January 26, after the team owners missed several pay deadlines.Barishal bowled out Dhaka for just 73 runs, the lowest total in this edition, beating Rajshahi’s 80 all out against Chittagong.Chittagong meanwhile were at the other end of the batting scales, becoming the first team to get four 200-plus scores in the league phase. They also struck 17 sixes in their last game against Barishal, breaking their own franchise record in the season.Akif Javed has taken 19 wickets at an average of 14•Rangpur Riders

Starlets who caught the eye

Akif Javed, the uncapped Pakistani left-arm fast bowler, was the most impressive young player during the league stage. He has taken 19 wickets averaging 14, with an economy rate below seven.Mahidul Islam Ankon and Shamim Hossain were impressive young big-hitters, with high strike-rates having scored more than 200 runs lower down the order. Tanzid had already caught the eye with his big scoring in the top order while fast bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib was Sylhet’s only shining light.

The CSK allrounder talks about the reception he has received in the league, and his ambitions to play the Ashes and the T20 World Cup

Matt Roller24-Apr-2025Jamie Overton tends to spend April in leafy Kennington, keeping a low profile in the early weeks of the County Championship season. This year, even a 500-yard walk down the road from a hotel to a café is enough to prompt countless requests for selfies.”I don’t really get noticed in London,” Overton says from Mumbai, midway through his first IPL season with Chennai Super Kings. “Everyone just goes about their business. But cricket is just so big over here that everyone recognises who you are… You can’t go out too much without 30 or 40 people coming up to you, asking for pictures. It’s a different world.”For Chennai, doubly so. After eight group games, they sit dead last with only two wins, but their “Yellow Army” has been as visible as ever, dominating the stands even at away fixtures in Guwahati, Mullanpur and Lucknow. MS Dhoni, who has resumed the captaincy with Ruturaj Gaikwad injured, still attracts a unique following at the age of 43.Related

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“I messaged my dad and my agent after the first home game. I was like, ‘You have to come out and experience MS walking out to the middle,'” Overton says. “[Ravindra] Jadeja got run-out… and you had a home crowd cheering for someone to get run-out. I’ve watched Premier League games, plenty of other sports events, and there’s nothing else like that noise.”Until this year, Overton’s only experience of India was an England Lions tour in early 2019. But after also touring with England’s white-ball team early this year, he is growing accustomed to travelling between huge cities and spending most of his time in hotels. With games and training sessions under floodlights, he is “still on English time” despite the 4.5-hour difference.Overton has played three games to date in an unfamiliar role: a hard-hitting finisher and hard-length fast bowler elsewhere on the T20 circuit, he has only faced seven balls to date and has bowled four of his six overs in the powerplay. “I’m trying to find a way to do it,” he says. “The last three years, I’ve not bowled in the powerplay at all… It’s been a bit different.”But he is determined to make use of the opportunity to train in Indian conditions, after struggling against spin in an England shirt earlier this year. He has worked closely with Rajiv Kumar, CSK’s “batting guru”, adjusting his technique to counter the lower bounce, and has been watching Dhoni from close quarters.

“I messaged my dad and my agent after the first home game. I was like, ‘You have to come out and experience MS [Dhoni] walking out to the middle'”

“He holds the bat quite low with his hands, whereas I’m more an English or Australian version, with quite high hands,” Overton explains. “The spinners don’t get as much bounce [in India] so I’m trying to be a bit lower, with my hands a bit more relaxed, so I can keep my head really close to the ball… I feel like I’m in a good place with my batting.”Those improvements may come in particularly useful early next year, when Overton will hope to be part of England’s squad for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. It was about 12 months ago that a stress fracture of the back denied him a place at the 2024 edition, prompting a spell on the sidelines.”I’m in a better place now for being injured,” he reflects. “It actually gave me time to reassess what I need to do with my health.” He had struggled to manage his diet during a winter on the franchise circuit and sought advice from Surrey’s nutritionist Ollie Whiteman; six months later, he had shed 10kg.It is a change that Overton believes could help him extend his career. “When I’m bowling, I put seven or eight times my body weight through my knees and my back every ball. Taking 10kg off… If you’re playing a four-day game and bowling 30 overs, that is a hell of a lot of difference in the strain you’re putting on your body.”The mention of four-day cricket underlines that Overton retains ambitions across formats – for now, at least. He turned 31 this month and concedes that he may be having “some different conversations” in two years’ time but hopes to return to red-ball cricket at some stage this year and believes he could thrive on Australian pitches if selected for the Ashes this winter.In six white-ball games for England in India earlier this year, Overton took nine wickets at an economy of 8.27•Getty Images”Ashes cricket is probably the pinnacle for English players, and I feel like I’ve got a decent record on Australian pitches,” he says. “It probably suits my game more than wickets back in England – but I’m not expecting anything. I need to play red-ball cricket to give myself a chance of being there, so we’ll just see where we get to when I’m back home.”His home season is likely to start with T20Is and ODIs against West Indies and will be dominated by white-ball cricket – including the Hundred, where he was the top pick at March’s draft. “There’s not many bowlers that play all three formats now. I’ve obviously had issues with my body, so the first thing is to make sure that’s in the right spot before going into anything.”I bowled ten overs in the Afghanistan game [at the Champions Trophy], but I’ve not bowled more than that in a day since last April. It’s going to take a lot to get the body back to those bowling workloads, and we’ll just see where we go and play it by ear. It’s a short career, so you’ve got to maximise it while keeping your body in a good place.”But those conversations will come down the line, with Overton soaking in his first IPL experience in the here and now. “Any person’s dream is to travel the world doing what they love doing and I’m fulfilling that at the moment. I’m grateful for whatever I’m doing. Hopefully, it goes on for a lot longer.”

Some results have been good and some not so, but young C Andre Siddarth, now a part of South Zone for the Duleep Trophy final, has his priorities and roadmap in place

Deivarayan Muthu09-Sep-2025The last domestic season was one of highs for Tamil Nadu teenager C Andre Siddarth. In his maiden Ranji Trophy season, he played a vital role in Tamil Nadu’s run to the knockouts, scoring 612 runs in 12 innings at an average of 68. At 18, he was the second-youngest player, behind Vaibhav Suryavanshi, to be picked in the IPL 2025 auction, earning a deal with Chennai Super Kings (CSK).Before that, in late 2024, he had also made his maiden appearance for India Under-19s in Dubai. His strong form in the previous Ranji season has now earned him a maiden Duleep Trophy call-up. Siddarth, who turned 19 last month, isn’t satisfied, though, and is hungry for more.”I think I had a really good [2024-25] season,” Siddarth said at the CSK High Performance Academy ground on the sidelines of the pre-season Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai. “My takeaway was that at my age I had scored 600 runs. I was happy about it and [also] kind of disappointed. I knew that I had scored five fifties, but if I had scored two-three hundreds, I would have been more satisfied. Still, I’m kind of disappointed from last season.”Related

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While Siddarth didn’t get a game for CSK at IPL 2025, a chat with his captain MS Dhoni during a training session rekindled the hunger to score big.”While we were at the Wankhede [Stadium in Mumbai] during our team practice, he [Dhoni] just told me one thing: ‘stay calm’,” Siddarth said. “I thought everyone says that. But he explained to me that while being calm, one thing that is important is trying to keep your mind blank. Keeping your mind blank is very tough and if you’re not in form or not on song, it’s really tough.”So, it’s about mental strength and you need to be hungry enough. I can’t be satisfied. For example, I got a 111 against Maharashtra [in the Buchi Babu tournament]. I was not satisfied. I wanted to make it a double-hundred that day.”With the experienced Vijay Shankar moving from Tamil Nadu to Tripura, Siddarth might be entrusted with more responsibility in the middle order this season. He has tuned up by working with former India players Robin Singh [consultant] and T Kumaran, the state side’s new bowling coach, at the TNCA academy.”Around a month back, we had a camp at the TNCA. I trained with Robin Singh and T Kumaran sir and it has improved my game,” Siddarth said. They have told me certain stuff that I have to improve and it has been reflecting in my game. It involved all three aspects – batting, fitness and fielding.”

“It [playing in the Duleep Trophy] is not on my mind right now, but it would be a good feeling for anyone. In my mind, it is about how I can improve and rectify my flaws. Because I know that more than the Duleep Trophy, representing my state is more important for me. And winning the Ranji Trophy is more important”

Siddarth is just eight first-class games old, but has displayed the gears and temperament to tailor his batting according to the situation in red-ball cricket.”I personally believe that the mental aspect of the game is more important than any skill,” he said. “I have been putting myself in difficult situations in practice and in my fitness or fielding. I think it has been reflecting in my matches recently. [At my club game], I played and batted 30 balls with [No. 11] Sandeep Warrier at AM Jain [college ground in Chennai].”I had to defend and save the game at the time. Against Maharashtra [at the Buchi Babu tournament], I knew that I had to attack. [Against Jammu and Kashmir], I had a situation where I had to just play for the team. Now I know that I have been equipped enough to take it to the Ranji Trophy.”After his IPL stint with CSK, Siddarth moved to his new TNPL team, Lyca Kovai Kings, but endured a difficult season, managing only 131 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 107.37. He has taken that in his stride and feels he has learnt to ride the lows along with the highs.C Andre Siddarth feels he has learnt to ride the lows along with the highs•ACC”Yes, I didn’t have a good TNPL,” he said. “But it was a matter of just time and I figured it out. I am really grateful for the experience. My fitness, fielding and even my batting has improved a lot since [the training sessions at CSK]. If I think too much about downs, I can’t grow as a cricketer and grow as a person. That’s what I think personally.”Two days after turning out for Tamil Nadu in the Buchi Babu final against Hyderabad in Chennai, Siddarth will join the South Zone side for the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru. While playing in the Duleep final will tick another box for Siddarth, his main goal is to help Tamil Nadu win the Ranji Trophy.”It [Playing in the Duleep Trophy] would be a good feeling for anyone,” Siddarth said. “In my mind, it is about how I can improve and rectify my flaws. Because I know that more than the Duleep Trophy, representing my state is more important for me and winning the Ranji Trophy is more important.”Tamil Nadu is still a powerhouse in domestic cricket. In the past two-three years, we have been qualifying [for the knockouts]. I think that this year, we can lift the cup. Winning trophies for Tamil Nadu – that’s the main thing I want to do.”

India’s 2025-26 season kicks off with a visit by West Indies in October

Abhijato Sensarma29-Sep-20253:28

What does the squad for the WI Tests tell us?

So West Indies are playing Test cricket in India?Yes, and the double-take is justified. Probably. It’s been exactly seven years since West Indies last toured the country for a Test series, way back in October 2018.The first Test starts in Ahmedabad on October 2 and the second one is in Delhi on October 10. The matches start at 9.30 am local time.Should I bother tuning in?Yes! With World Test Championship points in play, every game matters. India’s results in the home series against West Indies, followed by South Africa, will be crucial to their chances of making it to the final at Lord’s in two years’ time.Woah, slow down… remind me how the WTC works again?Ah, yes. The format has befuddled some of the best cricketing minds of our times.Now in its fourth edition, the format remains the same. Each team plays six series over a two-year cycle – three at home, three away. They get 12 points for a win, six for a draw, and none for a loss. Also, in case of over-rate offences, one point is deducted for each over they are deemed to be behind in the final match tally.The points they win are then converted to a percentage total, based on the overall points available to them, and this percentage-based ranking determines the top two teams, who play the final. All quite simple, really.Umm, sure… Remind me how India and West Indies are doing, again?India are third on the table, with 46.67 percentage points. Their first assignment was an all-timer of a Test series in England, which they drew 2-2. The draw still leaves them needing strong showings across the four home Tests this season to guarantee a good position on the table.West Indies are ranked sixth but that’s only because the three teams below them have not played any Tests in the new cycle. They lost 3-0 at home to Australia in what was an all-timer of a drubbing too. They were dismissed for 27 in the final Test, which led to an emergency meeting of the who’s who of Caribbean cricket.6:18

Aaron on Bumrah pick: India not taking any chances after NZ drubbing

What happened the last time these two teams met in India?The results were quite one-sided in the 2018 series – India won the first Test by an innings and 272 runs, the second one by ten wickets. In fact, the last time West Indies defeated India either home or away was in… 2002.The 2018 series also came when India were in the middle of a dominant home run. They didn’t lose a single series from 2013 to 2024.Something happened in 2024, didn’t it…Yes: the infamous 3-0 loss to New Zealand at home. That result re-contextualises this entire series. India will be looking to prove that it was an aberration, but their side is still recovering from the fallout of those events. Former captain Rohit Sharma, their long-term No. 4 Virat Kohli, as well as the first name on the team sheet at home, R Ashwin, have all retired.Right. Ashwin won’t be around for this oneYes – it is quite the loss, too. Since his debut in 2011, Ashwin did not miss a single one of the 65 Tests India played at home. His impact across all these games – 383 wickets at an average of 21.57 – will be tough to replace.But India have a promising spin trio lined up for the West Indies series. It might finally be time for Kuldeep Yadav to get an extended run in the side. He has 56 wickets at 22.16 but sat out all five Tests against England. Axar Patel wasn’t in that squad altogether but will play a prominent role with his proven all-round ability at home. Washington Sundar will look to match him, having already shown quality with the bat.Leading them all will be Ravindra Jadeja, nearing his 15th year in Test cricket and the vice-captain of the side in the absence of the injured Rishabh Pant.2:05

Is there a role for Nitish Kumar Reddy in home Tests?

How does the rest of India’s squad look?Despite gaining crucial experience in England, this is still quite a new-look side. Shubman Gill will lead India for the first time on home soil. He’s coming off a record-breaking run-spree in England, with four centuries, one of which he turned into a double. Pant is out, still recovering from the fractured left foot he sustained in Manchester. Dhruv Jurel is likely to take up the wicketkeeping duties, while N Jagadeesan slots into the squad after having flown to England as the back-up keeper for the final Test.Karun Nair finds himself outside the Test side after scoring just one fifty in eight innings in England. The selectors say that Devdutt Padikkal “offers more” at this stage.How about West Indies?They are looking for a reboot after the Australia defeat as well, reflected in how they have dropped their former captain and 100-Test veteran, Kraigg Brathwaite. Alick Athanaze and Tagenarine Chanderpaul have been recalled, with their ability to play spin being a crucial factor in the decision.Shai Hope made it back to the Test side for the first time since 2021 during the Australia series, but will be looking to improve on a performance where he scored 118 runs at 18.83 across six innings.That said, for West Indies to be competitive against India, they will need their own spinners to come good. Vice-captain Jomel Warrican and left-arm spinner Khary Pierre and captain Roston Chase have a big job ahead of them.A 2-0 clean sweep still seems like the most probable outcome, no?It is certainly a mismatch. However, West Indies will know that this is the most vulnerable India have been at home for a long time. They’ve lost their stalwarts. Their No. 3 – Sai Sudharsan – is still a work in progress. Jasprit Bumrah may be rested for the first Test given it starts just three days after the Asia Cup final. There are opportunities for an upset.ESPNcricinfo will be covering every moment of the series, so stay tuned.

The PCB was meeting in Lahore, the players were told not to leave the hotel, and there was uncertainty until quite late over the fate of Pakistan’s game against UAE

Shashank Kishore17-Sep-20254:11

Suryakumar: ‘A few things in life are ahead of sportsman spirit’

To grasp the full extent of the chaos that engulfed Pakistan’s final Group A match against UAE in Dubai on Wednesday, you needed to be in three places at once.At the team hotel in Marina, where uncertainty lingered until the last minute over whether the Pakistan players would leave for the venue as scheduled at 4.30 pm local time. They didn’t.At the Dubai International Stadium in Sports City, a 40-minute drive from the hotel, where the UAE players had arrived on time at 5pm but were unsure of whether they were going to play. The buzz of Pakistan possibly boycotting the game had begun to get louder.And at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) headquarters in Lahore, some 1900km away, where its chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also happens to be Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief, was in a meeting with two former board chairmen – Ramiz Raja and Najam Sethi – to discuss their next move. There was an initial announcement that the game would be delayed by an hour “for now”. That meant the toss at 7pm and the start at 7.30 pm.While trying to keep up with the deepening intrigue, there was more unfolding at the venue. The man with whom the PCB had a problem – Zimbabwean match referee Andy Pycroft – appeared shortly after 5 pm, only to make a beeline for the exit and to the ICC headquarters a five-minute drive away. The PCB wanted him out; the ICC wasn’t budging.Related

• Pakistan cancel pre-match press conference before India game

• Pycroft given just a few minutes' notice ahead of India-Pakistan handshake-gate

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• PCB clears Pakistan to play UAE; says Pycroft apologised

When Naqvi finally posted on social media around 5.45pm that he had instructed the Pakistan team to leave the hotel for the stadium, doubts still lingered over the start time of the match. Organisers had been told 7.30pm but the local liaison team was warned by police that clearing traffic at such short notice was impossible given the weekday rush after 6pm. And it wasn’t until after the team departed for the stadium that there was confirmation that Pycroft would officiate the game.Mohsin Naqvi finally gave the Pakistan team the go-ahead to play UAE•Associated PressAs the politics played out, television news teams pursued the team, broadcasting Pakistan’s 40-minute bus ride to the ground. At 6.25pm, the players eventually arrived at the venue, by which time their opponents UAE had finished their drills, held a team meeting, and were waiting for toss time.While most Pakistan players headed straight for a brief warm-up, the team manager Naved Akram Cheema, captain Salman Agha and coach Mike Hesson attended a closed-door meeting with Pycroft.Soon after, the PCB circulated a muted video clip to Pakistani media of the team management talking to Pycroft. In an accompanying statement issued minutes before the 7pm toss, the PCB claimed Pycroft had apologised for “miscommunication” that led to the handshake-gate incident during Pakistan’s game against India on Sunday.The development diffused the tension that had built up over the last 24 hours, with Pakistan cancelling their pre-match press conference on Tuesday evening, and the PCB issuing a statement later that night that it was reviewing the team’s participation in the Asia Cup.By the time the Pakistan and UAE players finally walked out for the anthems on Wednesday night, the must-win contest that was about to begin to secure passage to the Super Four felt secondary to all that had gone before.

Shohei Ohtani took to the mound on Saturday against the Giants on the team's Bobblehead Day for MLB legend Barry Bonds.

Bonds was in attendance at the game to take part in the festivities around him and his bobblehead. Everyone wanted their hands on a bobblehead as fans lined up outside Oracle Park for a chance to take home one of the 20,000 available. But, it wasn't just fans wanted to take home the souvenir—Ohtani made sure he got to grab one, too.

Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow shared the fun story of Ohtani securing a Bonds bobblehead when appearing on KNBR's show this week. Someone with Ohtani after the game went up to a group of Giants workers who happened to be collecting the leftover bobbleheads after the game. Ohtani apparently wanted one of the bobbleheads, so the guy he was with asked a worker if he could grab one.

“He wanted the Barry Bonds bobblehead,” Krukow said. “Isn’t that a cool story?”

It's understandable why Ohtani would want a Bonds bobblehead—the guy's a legend of the sport. But, the way he went about securing one was pretty funny.

Ohtani walked away with two wins on Saturday. The Dodgers won 2-1 over the Giants, and the pitcher/designated hitter got his bobblehead.

On day three of the Galle Test, Herath, New Zealand’s bowling consultant, hatched a plan with Ajaz Patel to get rid of his former team-mate

Andrew Fidel Fernando20-Sep-2024Dimuth Karunaratne is one of cricket’s great nerds. He is also the one of the great openers of his era, and among the most prolific Test batters Sri Lanka has had.Rangana Herath is a massive cricket nerd as well, if in a slightly different way than Karunaratne. He is the most prolific left-arm bowler in Test cricket’s history.The two have played 47 Tests together. Herath has even captained Karunaratne in five of them. And on day three of the ongoing Galle Test, Herath, a bowling consultant for New Zealand, helped bring about Karunaratne’s downfall. This, at least, is the charge that Karunaratne is levelling (playfully) at his former team-mate.Let’s look at some facts.The background
Karunaratne is an outstanding player of spin bowling, and is quite fond of batting in Galle. Of his 7092 Test runs, more than 27% have come at this venue. Partly this is a function of Sri Lanka playing a lot of matches here – 21% of Karunaratne’s innings have been in Galle.Related

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Although he is a reluctant sweeper and reverse-sweeper, he has both of these shots in his repertoire. Against spin, he whips through the legside frequently, and goes back to chop it between point and cover just as often.”I love it when it turns here,” Karunaratne said about one of the most reliably spin-friendly venues on the planet. “With the way I play, and the options I take, it’s much easier for me when it turns.”Herath, meanwhile, is a spectacular reader of opposition batters’ mindset and intentions. We’re not trying to be mean. But had you ever expected him to be a 433-wicket bowler?The act
Not long after tea on day three, Herath came down the steps from the visitors’ dressing room to talk to Ajaz Patel. Karunaratne says it was soon after lunch, but he’d barely swept the ball before lunch, so it couldn’t have been.Here he is describing the situation, but just getting the timing wrong. For the record, Karunaratne was 72 off 109 at tea.”After lunch? Or maybe it was just before lunch? No, it was after lunch,” Karunaratne said. “At that time, Rangana aiya came down to the ground and gave a message to Ajaz Patel. It was after that they changed the field and the set-up against me.”They brought square leg up for me, and set the kind of field that we had set for Tom Latham. So when you have that field, you know as a batter that if you get the sweep slightly wrong, it can go up in the air and square leg can catch it, or short fine leg can catch it. It’s with that mentality that Rangana aiya would have told them to do that.”The result
Not long after tea, Patel sent down a sweepable delivery, Karunaratne got low and tried to sweep it square, but cleanly missed. The ball stayed low, snuck under his shot, and clattered into the stumps.”I had a little doubt in my head – maybe the sweep will go badly,” Karunaratne said. “These things happen. When the opposition has somebody who knows about how we play, they will share those things. So I was playing with that in my head, and that’s why I couldn’t pick that line, and I tried to sweep the ball too hard.”It’s true. Karunaratne very rarely gets out sweeping. But then he is up against not just Patel, a fine bowler all on his own terms, but also the intellect of Herath, who has more than 100 wickets at this ground.Karunaratne was out for 83, which at this stage of his career, feels like too low a score. He has spoken about wanting to get to 20 centuries. He is still stuck on 16.But he was hustled out of his 17th. And you can almost bet good money on him meeting up with the architect of his downfall and the pair talking it through, when life, and coaching contracts, allows for such a thing.

Newcastle United have bounced back from Alexander Isak’s troubling departure this summer with ease.

Banking Eddie Howe’s Toon an eye-watering £125m when ditching Tyneside for Liverpool, it’s clear that Isak wasn’t cut out for the pressures of such an expensive move straight away, with only one goal coming his way at Anfield to date.

On the contrary, Nick Woltemade – who entered the building in a last-ditch summer move for £69m – has looked ready-made for the pressures of being Newcastle’s main marksman from minute one of his arrival, with the goalscoring prowess he became known for in the Bundesliga immediately following him to English shores.

Woltemade's fantastic start at Newcastle

Often, it takes a goalscoring machine from a European league plenty of time to settle into their groove when getting used to what is expected of them in the Premier League.

In Woltemade’s case, however, the goals have just continued to flow, with the 6-foot-6 menace joining Howe’s ranks off the back of a blistering 17-goal season on the books of Stuttgart.

In total, Woltemade already has five goals next to his name from just ten Newcastle appearances, with journalist Zach Lowy’s previous billing of the Bremen-born striker as being a “ridiculous” finisher of chances clear for all to see at St James’ Park.

Indeed, the 23-year-old’s four-goal tally in the Premier League alone means his goalscoring frequency in the daunting division sits at every 120 minutes, as the number 27 goes about trying to immortalise himself in the Newcastle hall-of-fame as one of their most devastatingly effective centre-forwards.

It will, of course, take a superhuman effort from Woltemade to ever reach Alan Shearer’s venomous levels in front of goal, with a record-breaking 260 Premier League strikes next to the Magpies icon’s name.

But, he could be on his way to becoming even more clinical if he lines up with this Newcastle assist king more often, with the pair ready to cause widespread havoc together to push their side further up the early league standings.

The Newcastle star who can make Woltemade even better

It’s safe to say that the Germany international is blessed with who he has around him in the attacking positions on Tyneside, with Anthony Gordon capable of bursting into life at a moment’s notice as one of Howe’s many livewires down the left wing, having accumulated 24 assists to date at Newcastle.

Yet, despite this impressive track record, it’s actually Jacob Murphy who might well be the attacking teammate that can take Woltemade to new heights, despite often being thought of as an under-the-radar “unsung hero” at the Premier League giants, according to journalist Scott Wilson.

It’s clear from taking one glance at the table above that Murphy is the sort of presence that excels when he’s made to feed off scraps, with just 752 minutes of action handed to him this season, resulting in the 30-year-old attacker still being able to pick up a standout four goal contributions.

He would even get the ball rolling for his team last time out against Fulham when he finished under pressure to seal a one-goal lead, with more starts surely coming his way, having been labelled as being “in the form of his life” after his lively afternoon against the Cottagers by Newcastle-based blog Mouth of the Tyne.

But, away from his assured nature to fire this fierce effort past Bernd Leno last time out, it’s also his ability to be an effective partner for a lethal striker that will be music to Woltemade’s ears as he attempts to become even deadlier in England.

A large portion of Isak’s 62 goals in Newcastle black and white would come about off the back of a Murphy assist – 11 to be exact – with the German, therefore, hopeful of reaching this tally, and even eclipsing it, knowing he has the “outstanding” number 23, as he was once labelled by ex-Toon forward Craig Bellamy, next to him supplying him with chances galore.

With Anthony Elanga also in reserve, Woltemade should not find it tricky whatsoever in his bid to become the next Shearer-shaped talisman, having already scored four in his first six league games for the Magpies.

For comparison, Shearer’s start to 1996/97 saw him score three times from his first six top-flight appearances for the Tynesiders – albeit while then reaching seven from just his first ten league outings.

Woltemade is then on the right track, with a new fan favourite having emerged at St James’.

Move over Woltemade: Howe has unearthed a new “game-changer” at Newcastle

Newcastle United have unearthed a new game-changer, and it’s not Nick Woltemade.

By
Kelan Sarson

Oct 26, 2025