Notwithstanding Suresh Raina’s utility in ODIs, he has never quite been a full-fledged match-winner. MS Dhoni will hope Raina can change that in his new role at No 6

Alagappan Muthu in Mirpur25-Jun-20150:47

‘I would love to bat up the order’ – Raina

India found themselves the villain in Mirpur owing to factors beyond the players’ control. Based on their performances though, which were well within their purview, the visitors ended up more Wile E Coyote than Lex Luthor. Bumbling, unthreatening and repeatedly falling for the same trick. And Bangladesh have sped away, beep-beeping.Meanwhile, MS Dhoni has undergone an Acme redesign and bats at No. 4 now. The last time he’d come in that early was in 2012, but it seems that will become the norm now for India. And by default, that leaves Suresh Raina, to front up as finisher. He is a team man, with the requisite power, the range of strokes and 217 ODIs’ worth of knowledge to put into the job. In the third game, under threat of a whitewash, the plan finally worked.Raina was brought in during the 44th over. A first-ball block for courtesy, the second smashed over cover and he retained strike for the next over with a single off the last ball. Rubel Hossain helped out when the yorker slipped into a full toss and was pasted over the midwicket boundary. Mashrafe Mortaza found a length closer to the blockhole, but Raina dipped low and tapped it past third man. The presence of mind to convert every opportunity is a usually a skill, but to a No. 6 batsman it is the job description.The late thrust he provided aided India’s victory in Mirpur, but people would have forgiven him had he not been able to do so. There were only 30-odd balls left in the innings. You often need luck to swing a game with that little wiggle room. And Raina did well with what he had to work with last night, but if he were to continue batting down the order for a good length of time, he’ll need to be just as good when the situation demands him to last longer and score bigger.In the 187 innings Raina has played, only 40 times has he faced more than 50 balls. Admittedly, he wouldn’t get to play as many balls now but it does indicate that he is a nervous starter. A painful-looking mass of leather climbing up to your face will inspire weak knees. But perhaps batting at No. 6 might inadvertently help him. The ball would have gotten softer and the threat of the short ball is be diminished.India could have done with a longer innings from Raina in the first two ODIs – a mistake he owned up to yesterday – and is looking to rectify.Dhoni, the one who has masterminded this batting order shuffle, would certainly hope it pans out alright: “For the longer term, it’s very important for us to see who can bat well at No.6 and 7, even maybe No. 5. That was the reason why I pushed Raina down,” Dhoni said. “He has been successful at that slot, which means if I go up, there has to be somebody who is experienced enough to bat at that number.”It’s very difficult, you can’t just go out there and play the big shot because you don’t really have as many batsmen behind you. Maybe an opener, when he plays a big shot, he thinks twice. But if you are at 6 or 7, you have to think three times. Or you don’t think at all because you are not worried about anything else.”Besides his batting, Raina is part of the clean-up crew that brings control back whenever India feel it is slipping. Either with his tight offspin – he bowled 20 overs at an economy of 4.95 in this series – or by his antics in the field. His alertness was responsible for running a dangerous Soumya Sarkar out in the first ODI and lend India some respite after a rollicking opening stand.All of that adds to his potential as an all-round cricketer. But he hasn’t yet become a full-fledged match-winner.

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jul-2015Sachith Pathirana brought Sri Lanka back into the game with two wickets on debut. Milinda Siriwardana got the wicket of Babar Azam as Pakistan fell to 96 for 3•AFPAzhar Ali and Shoaib Malik resurrected Pakistan’s innings with an 83-run stand, both making half-centuries•AFPShoaib Malik was dismissed in the 37th over for 51 and two more quick wickets followed as Pakistan were soon 217 for 6 in the 43rd over.•AFPMohammad Rizwan made the third half-century of the innings as Pakistan surged to 287 for 8 – scoring 88 runs off the last 10 overs•AFPKusal Perera blitzed the Pakistan attack from the outset, smashing a 17-ball half-century – the second-fastest in ODIs and joint-fastest for Sri Lanka•AFPThe opening stand was 92 in just 50 balls before Kusal was caught for 68, but Tillakaratne Dilshan carried the chase for a while with a measured innings•AFPDilshan and Upul Tharanga added 48 for the second wicket before Tharanga was bowled for 28 in the 19th over•AFPSri Lanka lost a clump of wickets, including that of Dilshan, as 155 for 2 soon turned to 159 for 5•AFPHowever, the hosts’ lower middle-order contributed with handy cameos as Sri Lanka completed a tough chase with two wickets and 11 balls remaining•AFP

Yorkshire have won their second successive County Championship. Do you think their first-choice XI would beat the Rest of England?

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Sep-2015See how Yorkshire compares with the Rest of England, and take the poll below.

Ravindra Jadeja is back in India’s Test side, and has shown signs in the Ranji Trophy that his troubled shoulder has recovered enough to give his bowling the fizz that, allied to his accuracy, makes him deadly on turning pitches

Sidharth Monga19-Oct-2015Most of the times these days in Rajkot, Ravindra Jadeja is found in his Saurashtra Cricket Association tracksuit and a turban-like cloth tied around his head. It is not the turban Rajputs wear. It is the cloth he took with him to the , a village in Kutch desert that houses the temple of , the deity the Jadejas worship. He walked nearly 350km, his father, a few relatives, a truck full of supplies and cooks, in tow. They would walk around 40km every night, stopping for rest at various places along the way. The cloth is what you spread in front of the deity, asking for her blessings.Jadeja keeps the cloth with him everywhere he goes. He wears it to the ground, trades it for sporting headgear when playing, and comes back with the cloth tied around his head like a turban. He wears it when he goes out. He wears it when he goes home to Jamnagar, 80km from Rajkot. Ask him about the cloth, and he holds it with arms outstretched, as if in , a prayer, and says he took it to the , and now likes to keep it with him.There is no explanation for mostly being seen in the tracksuit, but that is how he has been since the season has begun. He has often been the last person leaving the Saurashtra nets. Even when the nets were called off for a day after they beat Jharkhand in two days. This is a season full of back-to-back matches, but it has been difficult to drag Jadeja off the cricket field in the searing heat of Rajkot. He has taken 24 wickets in the four innings he has bowled in, in 97 overs. Lest it be said he has done so on tailor-made turners, Jadeja has himself scored 91 and 58 in the only two chances he has had to bat.It has been near impossible to take the ball out of his hand. He has bowled unbroken spells of 27.1, 25, 19.5 and 25 overs. Jaydev Shah, his captain, tells his coach Shitanshu Kotak, “I ask him if he wants rest, and he responds, “No, I will get them out and then we can rest for longer.” At the end of each of his four spells, he has taken the balls with him, written his figures on them, the date and the opposition, and kept them for posterity. “When I build my new house, I will showcase them there,” he says.There has been, in his demeanour, in the way he talks, a sort of assuredness that his comeback into the Indian team is around the corner, and that he wants to record this process for a future telling. He doesn’t want that telling done now, though. “I don’t want to say ‘I am ready’ or ‘Look I am doing well’,” he says. “Let the 24 wickets in two matches do that.” This is two days after the end of the match against Jharkhand, a time when international players rush out of the small-town Ranji venues. Jadeja, though, has been camping in Rajkot with his Ranji team-mates.The one reason why Jadeja possibly feels certain of making a comeback is because he feels he is regaining the control that was his hallmark. That control, the ability to bowl on the same spot with slight pace variation every now and then, was why Jadeja became so valued as a Test player, especially on Indian pitches, which have of late begun to assist spinners a lot more than they in the 2000s. In the only full Test series Jadeja played in India, he picked up 24 wickets at 17.45.That Jadeja lost that control was down to the shoulder injury he acquired in Australia. He played the World Cup through pain, but it was plain he was not the same bowler. “It’s not about just putting it there on the spot,” Jadeja says. “I was not being able to do so with action on it.” Jadeja’s bowling is mostly about the action the shoulder puts on the ball. In bowling long spells he has shown the shoulder looks good now, and the ball is getting there with action on it.A week before going to Rajkot, Jadeja was in Bangalore, bowling against a Bangladesh A side that lost to both India A and a second-choice Karnataka side. He wasn’t putting as much shoulder into the ball as he did in Rajkot. Was it the turning pitch that seduced him into doing so? Was it the Group C batsmen who let him bowl with the control that is his prized possession? Was it just the shoulder injury that limited him as a bowler or was it that international batsmen had wizened to his ways and were not letting him bowl the way he wants to?Some of these answers will be found in November, when there is every chance he will play as the third spinner, and perform the allrounder role Stuart Binny played in Colombo, where the ball seamed a little. At his best, Jadeja has shown he can be as good as R Ashwin on turning tracks. They formed a deadly team against Australia at home. Add the old-fashioned legspin of Amit Mishra to the mix, and India have a potentially delightful spin combination to combat some of the best travellers and players of spin in the world. Now it is up to Jadeja to be at his best and fittest.

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Sep-2015Adil Rashid removed Burns with a full toss after an opening stand worth 76•Getty ImagesDavid Warner played with a little more caution but still went to a half-century from 57 balls•PA PhotosRashid got Warner shortly after, however, and continued to chip away at Australia’s middle order•Getty ImagesMark Wood had Glenn Maxwell caught down the leg side…•Getty Images…and the run-out of Shane Watson left Australia in trouble at 193 for 6•PA PhotosHowever, Matt Wade’s punchy, unbeaten 71 from 50 balls dragged Australia up to a total of 305 for 6•PA PhotosJason Roy made his maiden international half-century as England got off to a good start in reply•Getty ImagesAlex Hales had fallen with the score on 70 and Roy then went in Maxwell’s first over for 67•Getty ImagesJames Taylor was bowled for 49 as England’s innings began to hit the buffers•Getty ImagesWatson removed Taylor and he also got rid of the key wicket of Eoin Morgan•Getty ImagesTwo wickets in two balls from Nathan Coulter-Nile effectively sealed England’s fate•Getty Images

Axar Patel has come into his own as an ODI bowler, but Ravindra Jadeja’s irrepressible form means India’s selectors have a tough job on their hands

Shashank Kishore12-Dec-2015Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel have similar bowling styles. Yet, they are very different. Jadeja has a cyclic function and delivers unfailingly like a timed machine. He likes to use his angles depending on how responsive the pitch is, and relies on his drift. Axar, meanwhile, has a steady approach to the crease and releases the ball from a good height. A flatter trajectory is his preferred mode of operation and banks on extra bounce.When Axar was handed an ODI debut after an impressive IPL 2014, he was seen as a like-for-like replacement Jadeja and his international career, for large parts, has coincided with Jadeja’s shoulder injury that led to a dip in form and eventual ouster from the team in June.Since then Axar has enhanced his reputation as a handy left-arm spinner who can bowl his full quota, even if his batting hasn’t come along as much as it was expected to, in the limited opportunities. But Jadeja’s irrepressible form for Saurashtra in first-class cricket and a stellar Test comeback against South Africa means he is once again knocking on the doors of the limited-overs squad.The latest chapter in this fascinating battle within a battle unfolded on Friday during the league phase of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Axar topped off a crafty bowling spell of 10-0-30-2 with an unbeaten cameo to see Gujarat home in their tournament opener against Jharkhand in Alur. It earned him the Man of the Match, but more important were the variations he seemed to have brought into his repertoire.Axar is largely perceived to be a run-containing bowler who darts the ball in. But on a pitch that did not offer much bite, there was a conscious effort to slow it down and deceive the batsman in the air. Parthiv Patel, his captain, summed it up nicely when he said playing long-form cricket meant Axar simply couldn’t afford to be one-dimensional, and had to adapt.Jadeja was having a ball as well, some 1500 kilometres away in Rajkot, by first cracking a 117-ball 134 and then picking up two wickets as Saurashtra won a thriller against Madhya Pradesh. The two events were as different as chalk is to cheese, but brought out a pertinent question about who held the edge if it boiled down to the two tussling for one spot.Axar Patel has come into his own this past limited-overs season•Associated PressBefore the 2015 World Cup, Dhoni was emphatic when he said Jadeja had the edge over Axar because of experience in overseas conditions and better batting skills. But that changed when Jadeja hurt his shoulder. The fizz went missing in his bowling and his diffidence with the bat meant the selectors ran out of time and patience. The gap between him and Axar had narrowed so much that Jadeja wasn’t even part of a second-string squad that toured Zimbabwe for a limited-overs series in July-August.Since Jadeja was last left out, Axar has played in seven out of the eight ODIs India have played. In between, he was also part of the India A squad that played two four-day fixtures against South Africa, even returning figures of 6-6-0-4 in a match-winning effort. He had held his own in the recently-concluded ODI series against South Africa as well, even as Harbhajan Singh, playing in R Ashwin’s absence because of an injury, and Amit Mishra, were the strike bowlers.Meanwhile, Jadeja picked up a mind-boggling six successive five-wicket hauls and 37 wickets in three Ranji Trophy games to force his way back into the Test squad. As if to prove his job wasn’t to just taking wickets, he also made 91 and 58 on rank turners in Rajkot to further strengthen his case. It meant the selectors couldn’t ignore him anymore. And the comeback couldn’t have gone smoother. Four Tests yielded 23 wickets that included two five-wicket hauls. Two crucial knocks of 38 and 34 in Mohali and Nagpur respectively also showcased his improved technique and resolve, unlike in the past where his Test batting has been either hit or miss.Fair to say then that Axar hasn’t put a foot wrong, but the weight of Jadeja’s performances across formats are simply too hard to ignore. With Ashwin a certainty and Mishra’s successful second-coming as an ODI bowler, the selectors face a healthy dilemma involving their two left-arm spinning allrounders. Or maybe, there could be a place for both of them, after all.

Mohammad Amir opens up about his impending return to the highest level of the game, and what his exile taught him

Interview by Umar Farooq05-Jan-2016How do you feel after being selected for the national side again?

Getting a second chance is unbelievable, and as a Muslim I thank Allah for creating another opportunity for me. I do believe in second chances.The feeling inside me can’t be explained. I know what I have gone through, and it isn’t easy for me ahead. It’s a tough task and I am obviously a different Amir this time since my previous stint. My previous span of cricket is all over. It’s a new start for me. I have to achieve more as a person, let alone the cricketing goals.Did you believe you could return?

To be honest, I almost quit, as there were moments that discouraged me from playing cricket again. I had serious thoughts that I shouldn’t be playing cricket and that I should just part myself from it, but my family and some close friends kept me awake and motivated me. My family never let me down, otherwise I thought that five years being away from cricket are a lot and I wouldn’t be the same as before.What made you believe?
I started to feel rusty and thought my skills as a bowler had faded away after five years. I didn’t know if I would be accepted back or not, and I didn’t want to wait that long. I even considered resuming my studies. For a while I was distracted because I wasn’t playing cricket, so nothing was making sense and I could have lost faith easily, but like I said, my family and my legal team kept me alive and motivated and made me believe in my return.The way I was backed by ICC and PCB – the support was amazing, otherwise I couldn’t have made it. The road map they made for me to become a better person left all negative thoughts behind. Through the rehabilitation programme I managed to reach out to youngsters and share my experiences. That gave me a reason to stay on course.

“Money is important but it is not everything. After all, in the last five years I didn’t die starving”

Do you get the feeling you are being pushed back into cricket hastily and you need more time?
No, I don’t think that. This might be the case if wasn’t playing cricket at all but I have been back in the system for almost a year now. Played club cricket, selected for Grade 2 cricket, played domestic cricket from scratch, played first-class cricket, and then went to the BPL, so I am comfortable with all this. There is plenty of cricket under my belt and I feel ready for international cricket.Do you think you can win back the trust you lost?

I don’t know about the future and nobody knows what will happen next. As a professional sportsman I can only give my best shot to win it back. I know it is a slow process and I will definitely win it back with my performance. I am not saying or even thinking that I will come and just prevail at once within one or two matches, but I surely have to be on top of my game to win everything. I am determined to do this for the fans who stood by me, and I have to do it for them because now it’s all about their pride and I will be the guardian of their trust.Why should people trust you again?

This is tricky. If anyone says you are bad, this means he wants you to be good. I am here to be good and I want to be good. If they say I have done bad then they should also give me a chance to change myself. I need their support and I will prove to them that I am a changed person.I chose cricket and I know people madly in love with cricket got hurt and they now should trust me only because I want to repay them by watching me performing. I want them to trust me because they had something because of me, and I want to give them back with my whole heart and soul.How have you changed?
My vision of life has changed and now I am more positive. Obviously I am five years older, but I am still in my early 20s and I have experienced a lot at such an age. It was a tough time and during this ban I really learned about life in bad times. At times when everything is good, you enjoy your peak, but you are sometimes not able to differentiate between right and wrong – everything seems to be good even if you know it’s bad. So this is what I have learnt. I am more focused now towards my goals.”If I don’t have the courage to face the crowd, then I shouldn’t be coming back. I have to handle the pressure”•AFPWhat thoughts went through your mind while serving your punishment?
Anger, of course. It’s natural, and as a fast bowler it’s in the blood. But yes, they were very frustrating years, though with time I became more positive, and at the end of the day the support from everyone around me kept me focused and never let me be carried away by negative thoughts.How did it feel when Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali stood against your reintegration?
Everyone has their opinion and I respect that. It’s their right to express whatever they felt and I am not hurt at all. You can’t push and force people to do what they don’t want to do. If things need to change it has to be gradual. Whatever they said, it was their opinion and I believe if there are issues, it should be addressed, discussed. But credit should be given to the board as they intervened to unite us all together.In the camp I met everyone and I am happy they all heard me, and I am lucky they understood me, and now the atmosphere is good around me. I think it’s more of a communication gap. Five years are a lot. I think when you mix with them and talk to them, they automatically see that you are a changed person, so I think with time, things will be good to great.How do you feel about being in a team or playing environment where some of your team-mates are against you?

They are not against me and I’d like to believe that. It’s their opinion and what I can say about it is, it’s their right to accept me or not. You might understand that sometimes even in a home, a mother or father might tend to favour one child or the other in the family, so I am not worried about it. With time it will be covered.

“I almost quit, as there were moments that discouraged me from playing cricket again”

Do you think the punishment you went through was fair for what you did?
I never challenged the ICC verdict. This means I accepted my punishment. It is mentioned in Islamic law that you have got to be punished if you commit a mistake. What is important is that I have learnt my lesson. Now I wish no one gets into the sort of trouble that I was in.What is your philosophy about money now?

Money is important but it is not everything. After all, in the last five years I didn’t die starving. We as professionals earn money and obviously I will play cricket for Pakistan and I will earn money because nobody is working for free, but what is more important is the trust of people. Money will come but it’s the lost time that will not come back, and it’s not money that wins you trust.Do you think you are ready for your second chance?
As a professional, you have to adjust in every situation. You become a legend only when you know your goal, role and situations. It will be tough and definitely there will be immense pressure on me when I come out onto the ground again. But I know what the requirements are and I have made up my mind. If I don’t have the courage to face the crowd, then I shouldn’t be coming back. I have to handle the pressure and I know I can do it.So you want to be a legend in cricket?
I don’t set big goals. I believe in setting small goals and achieving them, and then at the end of the day when you collect them, it becomes big. If I manage to play another eight to 10 years of cricket then I might end up in the category.On Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali: “It’s their right to express whatever they felt and I am not hurt at all”•AFPDo you think you were a little arrogant on the field when you dismissed Mohammad Hafeez in the BPL?

My attitude is restricted to the ground. As a fast bowler you’ve got to have aggression, otherwise you don’t deserve to be a fast bowler. In the field you don’t have friends and buddies because you have to give 100% effort.You are being purchased in the leagues, they are giving you respect, and this is all for what? This is for performance. They want your skills and your wholehearted efforts in the field, and regardless of whether you are playing against your own countryman, you’ve got to be serious and keep yourself up in the field. A fast bowler should be like this.Tell us a little about your ongoing development as a fast bowler.

I think I clocked 145kph in the BPL and my average speed was about 142kph. For a fast bowler, rhythm is important, and the more I bowl, the more I will open myself. After five years I have come with a fresh body, and I have played ample cricket to get into tempo before being selected for the New Zealand series. And if I bowled at 144-145kph in Bangladesh this means that will go up in conditions like New Zealand, where pitches are helpful for bowlers. So I am satisfied with my bowling.Did you follow cricket throughout the five years?

I followed cricket throughout. Learnt a lot watching it. In fact, you learn a lot by watching it on TV because you observe it very closely. Cricket obviously has changed in the last five years, become faster in every format. Teams are scoring 350-plus runs in Tests in a day. In ODI cricket, two new balls from both ends is another change fast bowlers have to adjust and adapt to, but to me the basics haven’t changed, they never will, so I have covered my basics and the rest I have to just handle the situation according to the format.Would you understand if some around England cricket do not forgive you?

I think time will tell. But I know when they see me playing they will see good things, and I hope they will accept me. Playing cricket in England is what I am looking forward to in my career ahead, and I would love to bowl at Lord’s again. Fans, no matter where they are, in Pakistan or England or wherever, they were hurt, I know that, and the most important goal is to win them all.

Picking singles and twos are as vital to a T20 strategy as boundaries, and the series against Zimbabwe so far has shown it’s an area that Bangladesh need to work on

Mohammad Isam in Khulna17-Jan-2016Bangladesh were hardly challenged in the second T20I in Khulna as they crushed Zimbabwe by 42 runs. The win leaves them free to experiment more in the remaining two matches, with no risk of losing the four-match series. There was, however, an old problem that continued to dog the home side.Of Bangladesh’s 167 runs, 69 came in singles and twos while they scored 92 off boundaries. The opening partnership of Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar played out 18 dot balls and took eight singles in their 45-run stand that ended in 5.5 overs; they could not score off nearly half the balls they played in that stand.At No. 3, Sabbir Rahman was at the crease for 14.1 overs but faced only 30 balls for his 43. He contributed six runs to the 30-run second-wicket partnership with Soumya and nine to the 39-run unbroken fourth-wicket stand with Shakib Al Hasan. It was only in the partnership with Mushfiqur Rahim that Sabbir got a bit more of the strike.Against Zimbabwe in November last year, Anamul Haque’s 51-ball 47 had reportedly drawn criticism from the team management, as he continued to bat at a lower strike rate. Anamul is not a part of the current T20 set-up even as Bangladesh have looked to fill up their batting order with batsmen who start quickly, in an effort to address a problem seen across ODIs and T20s.The inclusion of Shuvagata Hom and Nurul Hasan for the first two T20s in Khulna, Sabbir Rahman’s promotion, and the sidelining of Imrul Kayes from the playing XI are all indications that the coach Chandika Hathurusingha wants busy batsmen who can find gaps upon arrival at the crease.In the last 12 months, on an average 53.7% of Bangladesh’s runs have come off boundaries. In the first match of this series, nearly half of their runs came in fours and sixes. While it is key to look for boundaries in T20s, it is not the only strategy. Picking singles and twos are as vital to building a big total in T20s as they are in ODIs. So when Tamim and Soumya were playing attractive shots in the second match, the score didn’t rise accordingly.When taking regular ones and twos, a batting side ensures that the fielders are in two minds whether they should be holding back on top of the circle and at the boundary rope, or walk in to save the ones and twos. When the opposite happens, however, the bowling side always has a chance. Zimbabwe had periods of play in the second match when they tied a batsman down at one end but their own lack of experience did not help them.Towards the end, as Shakib failed to connect many balls, it looked as if he could have given the strike back to the more set Sabbir, and this may have helped Bangladesh move past 180.Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said that they are focusing on improving on lack of singles in their batting approach, which he felt had to be covered through fours and sixes.”In T20 cricket, it is difficult to play a perfect match,” Mashrafe said. “There are times when singles don’t come and you have to play boundaries to cover the score. But if you can take as many singles it is good, especially when the odd boundary is already coming. That’s an area which we are focusing on.”Since Bangladesh are in the process of learning more about their T20 abilities, they should keep in mind the importance of taking singles and twos. Explosive batsmen are important, but these small percentages will help them stay ahead of the opposition.

Plays of the day from the World T20 match between Bangladesh and Pakistan

Mohammad Isam16-Mar-20162:17

Brilliant Pakistan thrash Bangladesh

The fine judgement
Bangladesh needed something special in the field to lift themselves when Pakistan were batting, and that effort came in the 17th over from Soumya Sarkar. Running to his left at deep midwicket he first kept Mohammad Hafeez’s slog sweep in play by catching it and lobbing it up in the air. Then after bringing himself back inside the rope, Soumya waited for the ball to come down and completed the catch. It was a stunning take that showed impeccable judgement under pressure.The misjudgement
The second ball of the match saw Sharjeel Khan miscue a pull shot off Taskin Ahmed, perhaps beaten by extra pace. But the ball ballooned towards mid-on where Tamim Iqbal first came forward and then had to turn and backtrack. By that time, the ball had thudded into the ground. It will not be counted as a dropped chance but it was a chance for Bangladesh nevertheless, and a costly one given how Sharjeel went after Al-Amin Hossain in the next over.The missed milestone
Umar Akmal holds the record for Pakistan’s fastest T20I fifty off 21 balls but with three balls remaining in the Pakistan innings, Shahid Afridi, who was on 49 off 18 balls, had a shot at claiming that record. All he needed was a single, but when he got the strike back from Shoaib Malik, Afridi swung hard at Taskin Ahmed and found Mahmudullah at deep midwicket. Apart from the record, Afridi missed out on his first T20I fifty since June 2012; he has hit four fifties in all at this level.The shoe slips off
In the eighth over of Bangladesh’s chase, Shakib Al Hasan was trying to take a single, after playing the ball towards third man, from where Ahmed Shehzad came running in. Tamim quickly sent Shakib back, but in the ensuing confusion, the latter lost his shoe. The batsman had enough time to return to the crease, however, as Shehzad had also slipped while collecting the ball. Afridi courteously offered the shoe back to Shakib, who had a big smile on his face.

No Indian batsman in the Kings XI line-up is close to threatening a spot in the T20I team, and it showed in the way they tied themselves in a mess in the middle overs against Gujarat Lions

Sidharth Monga in Mohali11-Apr-20161:26

‘Bravo’s spell was the turning point’ – Finch

Two yorkers. One fast, one slow. Both at the base of the stumps. Glenn Maxwell and David Miller gone. It will be tempting to surmise that Dwayne Bravo, rightly being hailed as arguably the best bowler in this IPL, won Gujarat Lions the match in one over, but it is important to also look at events that led to this big over and those that followed it. Kings XI Punjab’s Indian batsmen – not one of them is anywhere close to threatening a spot in the Indian T20I side – will have to take a lot of the blame.M Vijay and Manan Vohra got off to a dream start with the new ball coming on to the bat, when all that was required to do was clear the infield. In T20 cricket, especially on Indian pitches, the bowling side is not overly bothered by these kind of starts, so long as the batsmen are going at under 10 an over. The best bowlers are saved for the overs immediately after the Powerplay. This is when lesser T20 batsmen get stuck.There is no time for batsmen to relax in a T20 game. If you do have a slow period in the middle, you better trust your game as much as Virat Kohli does, and you better be that good. If you cannot hit boundaries, you should be able to keep working the twos and be able to go at a strike-rate of about 120 before you can open up again. As they got stuck into Sarabjit Ladda and Pradeep Sangwan, Vijay and Vohra took Kings XI to 52 for 0 in six overs. Then, Gujarat Lions went to their best bowlers: Ravindra Jadeja and Bravo.In the sixth over, Vijay hit his final boundary. Until then Vijay batted beautifully, his flicks languid, his drives free-flowing. Even opponent Aaron Finch said for some time it was beautiful to watch. In T20s, though, there is not much room for the niceties of the high elbow.Vijay eventually fell in the 11th over, trying to hit Jadeja inside-out – a low-percentage shot unless you are playing with a wet ball or on a perfectly flat surface. Vijay scored 10 off the last 14 balls he faced. Vohra enjoyed some luck in a slow start – he was dropped early by Bravo – but he too relied just on the big shots, and perished to the wily Jadeja. Ajinkya Rahane faces criticism for similar dismissals in T20Is.By the time Miller and Maxwell came together, Kings XI had fallen behind on a pitch where 190 was about par. They were ideally the men to be doing the big hitting at the end, but were obliged to look for those big ones earlier than they would have wanted. That task was made even more difficult because they came up against Gujarat’s best bowler, Bravo.Just before Miller was done in by the Bravo slower one, the field had changed. Midwicket had gone back, and third man had come in. It was apparent Bravo was going to bowl a slower ball. This was also the last ball of the over. Who knows if, in another circumstance, Miller would have just looked to pick a single? A proper batsman should not be getting so befuddled by a slower ball when it has been telegraphed.What followed was a reminder that Wriddhiman Saha, despite being a plucky Test batsman and despite one great IPL season, is a limited T20 batsman, especially when the field has been spread out. His 20 off 25 was one of the prime reasons Kings XI fell 30 short of a par score. They now have a problem at hand. Their Indian batsmen will have to pull their weight, and their two big star batsmen will have to pull themselves out of an ordinary run of form.