Bangladesh have failed to win a game in the last three editions of the World T20. Now as the hosts, this is their best chance yet to reverse that hoodoo in conditions that suit them best

Mohammad Isam15-Mar-2014OverviewThe nuances of T20 cricket have eluded Bangladesh, and that is reflected in their 10-match losing streak in the World T20 since 2007. Expectations, quite naturally, would remain modest, but Bangladesh should take maximum advantage of being the host nation.The known conditions in Dhaka and Chittagong, the mad support that this team possesses and the growing reputation of being a good team at home are positive factors. But they have to deal with a tricky format. Due to the new design of the World T20s, they will have to play the qualifying round against Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Nepal. On paper, Bangladesh are far ahead in terms of experience but they had slipped up against Afghanistan earlier this month in the Asia Cup, and their encounter, on the opening day, could be the group decider.The players have readily admitted their limitations in this format, particularly in the last 12 months when they have won just a single T20, against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. Their most recent T20s were against Sri Lanka in Chittagong in February, where they lost both games off the last ball.The team management and selectors have tried a few different personnel and plans in the T20s but it is quite similar to how they play in ODIs. Experience in the batting line-up and spin bowling will help them, but at the same time, they have to play in the moment, and not stick to an exact plan, a method that hasn’t worked in the past.The fact that Bangladesh hasn’t won an international match in 11 games in 2014 will also eat into their confidence but this team has done well in the past with their backs to the wall. They find themselves in that position at the start of the World T20.Key playerMushfiqur Rahim has batted at No.4 in the last 12 Twenty20s, and is as important as the start Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan will provide for the team. His captaincy has been lately criticised for looking too strait-jacketed, but it will be his handling of bowlers in the first six and last five overs that will be crucial.Surprise packageSabbir Rahman has only just made his T20 debut for Bangladesh in their last game against Sri Lanka, and gave a glimpse of how he goes about ramping the scoring rate in the last few overs. He tends to start off slowly, but he has a range of shots that would be effective for a team looking for a final flourish. He fields well too, and will be a handy addition if a space is made for him in the middle order.WeaknessBangladesh have usually started and ended poorly with the ball. They would have to find a way to stop the opposition’s onslaught in these two crucial times, and at the same time, look to end well with the bat too.World T20 historyBangladesh’s sole win has been against West Indies in 2007, in what was their first game. They were shocked by Ireland in 2009 and since then, have made early exits in the next two editions as well.Recent formThey have won just one out of their last five T20s. In 2013, they drew 1-1 in Zimbabwe but lost to New Zealand and Sri Lanka 1-0 and 2-0 at home. Unlike the lead-up to the 2012 tournament, Bangladesh hasn’t played any extra matches in this format, but their ongoing schedule should keep them well warmed up.

As Irfan Pathan makes yet another comeback to cricket after an injury break, he knows that fitness is key to how his career progresses

Kanishkaa Balachandran27-Dec-2013If one has to think of a contemporary Indian cricketer slipping off the radar due to injuries and frequent breakdowns, Irfan Pathan would immediately come to mind. After missing Baroda’s first five games of this season’s Ranji Trophy due to a rib injury, he made an understated comeback against Services, albeit as a batsman. The trend continued in the following game against Saurashtra, in Rajkot, but Irfan insists that his return is a phased one and that he will resume bowling soon.Baroda have one remaining game in the league stage but are not assured of a place in the quarter-finals. Qualification to the knockouts will be beneficial for Irfan, for he needs as much four-day cricket as possible to prove his durability in the longer formats as an allrounder. Though his comeback as a batsman has been far from electrifying, with scores of 22, 37 and a first-ball duck, Irfan is bullish he will start contributing with the ball again and regain that swing and zip that defined him as a bowler. He is taking it step by step in the nets and hopes to gradually increase his run-up.”I have started bowling in the nets, but not with full intensity. I am on a quarter to half run-up now. But I need to keep bowling in the half run-up for a few sessions now. Once I get to a full run-up, I will start bowling in the games,” Irfan said in Rajkot, after celebrating Baroda’s win over Saurashtra. “The preparation has been less but, the good thing is that I’ve started playing. I’m happy to be part of the team that won two games outright. Overall it helps your morale as well.”Though he didn’t make a meaty contribution to the victory, Irfan was his chirpy self through the game, happy to soak in his team’s commanding position. His presence was enough to draw several young fans, who made the trip to Khanderi on the outskirts of the city, waiting patiently for autographs, jostling for space by the side of the pavilion and near the team bus, hoping he would oblige. He didn’t get flustered when some teased him for getting out after making a start. Most were happy to see him back, in whichever form, and the attention around him was evident moments after his team seized victory late on the final day. During intervals in the game, he mixed around with the team staff as well, singing a Hindi film song from yesteryear. In short, he was enjoying himself.Irfan’s last appearance for India was in the World Twenty20 in 2012. Staying injury-free for long periods has been his biggest challenge and he is aware that cultivating his fitness would have to take precedence over skills if he is to make an India comeback. Which explains why he isn’t being rushed back as a bowler.”I am out of the team because of my injuries, not because of my performances,” he said. “I got a five-for in Sri Lanka [before the World T20] as well. I just want to bowl the way I did last year. My aim is to stay fit and keep taking wickets in domestic cricket. Once I do that, I’m pretty sure I will be where I belong.”Irfan hasn’t had the fortune of lasting an entire domestic season for a while now. He picked up a hamstring injury in the 2012-13 season and could only play one Ranji game. A comeback in the IPL led to a national recall for the Champions Trophy earlier this year, where he only got to play in the warm-ups. He suffered another hamstring pull which ruled him out of the West Indies tri-series and as the domestic season neared, he hurt his rib just before the one-dayers against the touring West Indies A side.He admits that the rehab period was frustrating, but said the positivity of the people around him helped him cope with every breakdown. He credited the National Cricket Academy and its rehab programme in helping him regain fitness. Last year, when he was recalled for the tour of Sri Lanka, he took the NCA staff out to dinner as a token of appreciation.”It’s a test of character and patience as well,” Irfan said, recalling the tough days. “It has tested my patience several times. When you’re in the rehab center, working out for only one hour, you end up spending a lot of time with yourself, watching the game, sometimes doing nothing.”It can be very frustrating when you’re forcefully kept out of the game. But, I’m a Pathan and Pathan’s are fighters. I just need to get fit. Other things will take care of themselves. I expect to get better match by match.”As a batsman, Irfan has been shunted around the batting order, sometimes used as a pinch-hitting opener. That has often led to confusion over his precise role in the side, but Irfan says it doesn’t bother him.”It doesn’t matter to me anymore. I learn from experience. Even when I got out yesterday [first ball] the first thing I did was to go to the nets. When these things happen at the start of the season, you don’t relax. You work on it.”I think I’m good at handling the short ball so I can bat up the order as well. I only need to work on playing the bigger shots, and I have worked on my wrist position as well when it comes to my batting. I am always ready to bat at any position, you can ask my captains.”For the moment, though, fitness is paramount, as Irfan reiterated. “Once I manage to stay fit, my performance is going to be double, be it runs or wickets.”

The performances of legspinners in the World T20, led by Amit Mishra, Samuel Badree and Imran Tahir, have shown how the art has reinvented itself to meet the challenges of T20

Mohammad Isam03-Apr-20145:58

Crowe: ‘Legspin bowling reborn at World T20’

Considered the toughest skill and one that has been marginalised in recent years for being extravagant in modern cricket, legspin has fought back, finding enough practitioners to make a serious return to the big stage through this World T20. Eight of the 16 participating teams have employed legspin with varying degrees of success, and the spinners have shown just how different one can be from another.The spotlight has been on Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra and Samuel Badree, three men in their 30s, from distinctive backgrounds, who have trod difficult paths through their careers. In this tournament, they have brought their teams success, regularly troubling batsmen with variations of trajectory, pace, bounce, and of course, turn.Between them, they have bowled during every pressure point in their teams’ matches, especially the first six overs, with field restrictions, and the last few overs of wildly swinging bats.Four other teams have been happy to use legspinners as well, with less impressive results. Pakistan have always relied upon Shahid Afridi’s verve while Australia tried their luck with James Muirhead and were somewhat vindicated by the 20-year old’s promise. There has even been one mighty performance from little-known Nizakat Khan of Hong Kong, while Afghanistan’s Samiullah Shenwari and the Zimbabwean pair of Tafadzwa Kamungozi and Natsai Mushangwe were expected to be more effective. Their inclusions and importance within the bowling attack says much about how legspin has regained the faith of teams.Samuel Badree’s 4 for 15 were the best figures by a West Indies bowler in World T20•AFPTo take a look at these success stories, one has to start with Mishra. The 31-year-old has warmed benches for India the world over for several years. Despite a truckful of wickets in T20s, he had played just a solitary game for India in the format, nearly four years ago. His Asia Cup performance pulled him back into the team, and he started off with a superbly controlled spell against Pakistan, which earned him a Man-of-the-Match award.He followed it up with another against West Indies. In both games, he used a slower pace and a tossed-up trajectory that can make the connoisseur smile. He picked up two stumpings and a leg-before decision among his four dismissals. He took three wickets against Bangladesh and two more against Australia, to end the Super 10s phase with nine wickets.Badree is the only one who is set in the T20 format, having not played for West Indies in any other format. He bowls quicker than Mishra and Tahir but uses subtle variations. He took 4 for 15 against Bangladesh, weathered an attack from Australian openers to pick up two wickets, and sliced open Pakistan with three wickets.Until now, Mishra has bowled at a better average and lower economy rate than Tahir and Badree. Among the three, Tahir is the highest wicket-taker, his figures boosted by a four-wicket burst against Netherlands, when South Africa were in a tough spot.The bag of wickets would make him happy, having come after a home season in which he was dropped in Tests. In the group matches against England, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, he enforced major changes in the game with his subtle variations of flight and slick turn.When asked after the Netherlands game about this success of legspinners, Tahir took a wider look at the use of spinners, but was not ready to divulge his plans just yet.Imran Tahir: “You just need to go with a clear plan in T20 cricket. If you go half-half, it’s going to be very hard to come back. If you go for two-three boundaries.”•AFP”Any spinner can change the game,” Tahir said. “It’s been proven in T20 cricket. If you look at IPL, a lot of games are won by spinners. You just need to go with a clear plan in T20 cricket. If you go half-half, it’s going to be very hard to come back, if you go for two-three boundaries. I have a strong belief spinners play a big role in T20 cricket.”I am not going to tell you what I’ve been thinking. I’ve got clear plans on what to do to each batsmen. Thanks to the technology, we can watch with our computer analysis guy [and see] a batsman’s strong and weaker points. A clear plan, that’s the word, and back yourself.”Mishra’s spin partner, R Ashwin, spoke about how the legspinner has not been afraid of slowing his pace, and has remained effective in every situation imposed on him.”As a combination, every bowling unit benefits from each other’s success and bowling strengths,” Ashwin said. “Amit has been one of our potent forces in this tournament.”We’ve been using him in all the situations where they actually have to go for it. He doesn’t give you a lot of pace so when the batsmen are going after him, it’s a big chance because he’s going to slow it down even more.”Over the last 11 years, legspin hasn’t been used too widely in T20s. It started with Chris Schofield being picked in the England line-up for the inaugural World T20s in 2007. He was, quite understandably, overtaken by Afridi, who took 12 wickets in the tournament, and has been Pakistan’s legspin flag-bearer in T20s most of the time.Afridi took 11 wickets in the 2009 tournament, in which he was the central figure of Pakistan’s title triumph but waned thereafter, taking just four wickets in 2010 and 2012. Surprisingly Australia’s Steven Smith picked up 11 wickets in West Indies in 2010, using his entire repertoire.Afridi has remained on the periphery in this tournament, not too effective but still a force to be wary of. His captain, Mohammad Hafeez, had shown faith in him but was more impressed to see how the legspinners have not been afraid to flight the ball.”They have not been afraid to toss the ball up to the batsman, in these conditions,” Hafeez said. “It is a good thing, as spinners are a wicket-taking option in this tournament. We have Shahid Afridi who has been with us for many years, and he has been doing this job for us.”The most notable aspect of legspin in this World T20 has been the use of the skill among the first-round qualifier teams, despite some of them faring badly. Certainly, Zimbabwe’s gamble of using Kamungozi and Mushangwe in the three games didn’t quite pay off but one has to laud them for rotating between the two inexperienced bowlers.While Afghanistan would have expected better from Shenwari, Hong Kong got the most out of Nizakat in their greatest international triumph. The bowler with a Shahid Afridi-like leap bounded in against Bangladesh, picking up Mushfiqur Rahim among his three scalps in a night he and his team-mates will remember for the rest of their lives.So why exactly has legspin worked in this tournament? The answer can be found between good form leading into the tournament, the turning and skidding pitches in Dhaka and Chittagong respectively and the belief of three men: captains MS Dhoni, Faf du Plessis and Darren Sammy.It is the captain who has to give the legspinner every bit of respect, space and faith to make sure he is able to bowl four, ten or forty overs in a game of cricket. The World T20 has reinstated legspin as strong force and, as has been seen between 1990 and 2008, it can only make the game more watchable and healthier.

The hosts are into the Super 10s, but it was with a whimper as they suffered embarrassment at the hands of Hong Kong after an awful display with the bat

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong20-Mar-2014In 1981 when Norway shocked England in a football World Cup qualifier, so excited was the late Norwegian commentator Bjørge Lillelien that he beckoned four British prime ministers, an admiral, a press baron, a boxer and a member of the Royal family in a famous outburst.Hong Kong does not have a famous cricket commentator, nor cricketers. But they have handed Bangladesh an objective lesson in how not to be overconfident after crushing two Associate nations.Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, like he has done a few times in the past, took a bit of the blame when clearly he was not the only one who played a shocking shot or showed a shocking attitude. Tamim Iqbal did not necessarily have to chop a ball homing in on off stump, neither was Shakib Al Hasan was required to slog one right into deep midwicket’s throat when Bangladesh were batting well on 85 for 3.Anamul Haque had struck three boundaries in a row but got out trying to play another attacking shot off the next ball. But Mushfiqur did not mention him, nor held Tamim or Shakib responsible.”I don’t think they were too attacking,” Mushfiqur said. “Tamim missed the line of the ball while trying to play a defensive shot. Shakib was the only set batsman in that wicket and he had the responsibility to not just keep the batting in shape but put up a competitive score.”So in that sense, he was playing well and nobody was supporting him that well. He played a good shot but it went to the fielder. I could have waited to play my shot for two or three overs. But I never expected the collapse that came after me. I was telling them in the dugout that we need a partnership in the late order. It is really disappointing because there is a way to get out. I think they are trying, but they should do it a little more willingly.”The full impact of the collapse was 7 for 23 in 5.5 overs. Bangladesh crashed from 85 for 3 in the eleventh over to be bowled out for 108 in the 17th. Mushfiqur laid the blame for the defeat on the collapse, but said Nasir Hossain was unlucky to have Al-Amin Hossain as a partner in the last five overs and suggested Farhad Reza will be dropped in the next game.Concern over Rubel finger injury

Bangladesh pace bowler Rubel Hossain will have an x-ray on his finger which he hurt while trying to catch Irfan Ahmed in the third over of Hong Kong’s innings.

He dropped the catch, and walked of screaming in pain as physio Vibhav Singh accompanied him out of the ground. Mushfiqur Rahim later said that Rubel was not in good shape.

“His finger isn’t good, he can’t hold the ball. He will have an X-ray tomorrow.”

“Nasir hasn’t been performing up to his potential but he didn’t have a batsman at the other end to support him at that stage. He could have batted naturally in the last three or four overs. He was having problem timing the ball so he was unlucky. The full blame is on the top and middle-order.”The team management thought that it would be better to pick the extra seamer in an evening game. Unfortunately he didn’t perform tonight and in the last few matches. Hopefully we will have a different combination in Dhaka where there will be different conditions.”Mushfiqur still had hopes of a turnaround in the Super 10s, to which they qualified quietly in the 14th over of the Hong Kong’s innings.”This is a very bad feeling, whether we make it to the Super 10 or not,” he said. “I could never expect such a poor batting performance from our team. But having said that, anything can happen in T20s, so I would say that we have a chance against all four big teams. If we play to our potential, we can win any day.”That day however wasn’t Thursday. With Lillelien’s spirit hovering somewhere over the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury media centre, moments after little-known Haseeb Amjad took a six off accomplished left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak to win Hong Kong the game, who could almost hear a version of the famous line 33 years ago.”We are the best in the world! We are the best in the world! We have beaten Bangladesh by two wickets in cricket!! It is completely unbelievable! We have beaten Bangladesh! Bangladesh, birthplace of minnows. Akram Khan, Aminul Islam, Minhajul Abedin, Naimur Rahman, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Salma Khatun – we have beaten them all. We have beaten them all.”

Alastair Cook, the Lord’s groundsman, and Simon Kerrigan have all been ignored while the spat between James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja takes the headlines

George Dobell16-Jul-20149:27

Chappell: Administrators let on-field exchanges go too far

Simon Kerrigan’s return to the England squad has been paid little attention•Getty ImagesIt tells you everything you need to know about the mood in the England camp that, during their captain’s pre-match press conference, the media officer stepped in to request questions on any subject other than the alleged altercation between James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja. For the first time in many months, England would have preferred to talk about Kevin Pietersen, Shane Warne, Piers Morgan et al. than an incident that could result in the suspension of one of their players for up to four Tests.It is far from the first time that England have irritated their opposition to a disproportionate level. Maybe it is their sledging, maybe it is their media, maybe it is the perception of their hubris or maybe they are even innocent victims, but the England side is universally unpopular almost across the globe. Sri Lanka is the latest example of a team who were infuriated by their tactics. You might even call the latest issue a case of Jadeja-vu.To some extent, England may revel in such a reputation. They may claim that it unsettles their opponents and goads them into reckless moments.But there is equal evidence to suggest it goads them into career-best performances. Just consider Angelo Mathews at Headingley, George Bailey at Perth and Marlon Samuels at Trent Bridge. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that much of England’s on-field behaviour is not just posturing, but self-defeating posturing.It need not be this way. Don Bradman seemed to have managed to concentrate without picking a fight with the bowlers; Joel Garner seemed to have been able to maintain a tight line and length without sledging; Malcolm Marshall seemed to make the ball swing without whispering in the ear of the batsmen. It is a fallacy to suggest the best players need to engage in the orchestrated appeals, the theatrical displays of disappointment, the sledging and posturing. And it makes no difference and provides no excuse that most other modern sides do it. The game can be better than that.There were moments, towards the end of the Headingley Test between England and Sri Lanka, which showed this. Moeen Ali, apparently serenely calm despite the fact that he was batting to save a Test and his own career, never for a moment became embroiled in the argument between Joe Root and the Sri Lanka team. Moeen did not ask to change his gloves in an attempt to play for time. He did not ask for extra water breaks or pretend that he was distracted by movement behind the bowler’s arm. He played each ball on its merits, asked for no quarter and, when he had given his all and the match was lost, accepted and reciprocated the handshakes and congratulations. It does not make him weak. It is the way it should be.England have not always gained the credit they deserved. There were, for a couple of years around 2010-2011, a very fine team. But it would be nice if they could make their supporters proud not just with their results, but with the way they conduct themselves on the pitch. The two need not conflict.Alastair Cook’s form has endured little scrutiny ahead of the second Test•PA PhotosNone of this means that Anderson is guilty, of course. While he has often chuntered and growled, he has never crossed the line into physical contact. It may well be relevant that the stairs up to the dressing rooms at Trent Bridge are unusually narrow. Either way it is regrettable for the game as a whole that this matter cannot be resolved by the two men shaking hands and moving on. It is what adults do.But actually this whole incident – dis-Gracegate as nobody is calling it – might have been a welcome distraction for several people connected with the England team.For a start, Alastair Cook was not forced to spend the day before the game defending his grim run of recent form. Not once did anyone ask him to justify the fact that he has now had 25 Test innings since registering a century. Not once did he have to justify his average of 13.85 in 2014. He looked, as he looked at the end of the Trent Bridge Test, noticeably more relaxed than he has for some time.The groundsman, Mick Hunt, might also have enjoyed the relative lack of attention. After three Test pitches this summer that have done little to help the home attack, there is some pressure on Hunt to provide the surface his country requires of him. But Hunt is an independent fellow and usually provides the sort of flat, slow pitch that chief executives prefer to spectators or England fast bowlers.Though after the debacle of Trent Bridge, and despite all the usual protestations to the contrary, there are signs that England may have persuaded Hunt into something approaching a compromise. All recent evidence suggests the pitch will be flat but, as of Wednesday afternoon, it still had a relatively long covering of green grass and was not under the normal hover cover but a sheet. One conclusion would be that Hunt is trying to retain a bit more moisture in the surface to at least try and avoid a scenario where the pitch dries out too much. There will surely be a little more pace and carry than at Trent Bridge and little assistance to spin bowlers. It will still be good for batting.In the furore over Anderson and Jadeja, it might also have gone unnoticed that Steven Finn was back with the England squad. Finn, who has not played Test cricket for more than a year, is not a formal part of the squad, but was invited to bowl at the team in the nets to both encourage him along the road of recovery and to assess how he is bowling. Cook, whom Finn beat several times, can only have been impressed, though in truth, Finn still has some way to go before he recovers the confidence, rhythm and venom that briefly threatened to turn him into a top international bowler. But he is getting there.Most of all, the distraction allowed Simon Kerrigan, the 25-year-old left-arm spinner, a relatively quiet return to the England squad. Everyone knows that he endured a horrid Test debut. But it might also be remembered that he helped bowl Lancashire to a Championship title in 2011 and that, with his relative pace and turn, he has the weapons to succeed at the highest level. He did not do himself justice on debut and, if he plays at Lord’s, he may find it tough to shine on this pitch. But he will remain a viable prospect for the future.

Zaheer Khan talks about the frustrations of missing the England tour, rehab, and his performances in South Africa and New Zealand

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi01-Jul-2014You are eight Tests away from becoming only the second Indian fast bowler to have played 100 Tests. Do you fancy getting there?
It definitely will be a big achievement, but I have not really planned my career around it. Injuries have played a big part in my career, right from 2004. I have always enjoyed just playing the game rather than chasing some number. Even now nothing has changed. I am doing everything possible to get back on the field. So if 100 Tests happen, it would be well and good but it is not something I am bothered by.But keeping in my mind those injuries, would it not feel like an achievement if you were to reach that landmark?
Keeping in mind the kind of injuries I have faced, what I have achieved so far is in itself a great achievement. I am happy with whatever my career and my life have offered me so far.What is the latest on the injury?
I have a tear in the tendon in a lateral muscle on the left side. Because it is a tendon injury it takes its own time to heal. I am told I am only the second bowler to get this kind of an injury. I am right now working on recovering, strengthening and fitness. The timeline given to me was about ten to 12 weeks from the date of injury. Right now I have finished six weeks.Your coach Sudhir Naik feared this injury might be the end of your career, considering you are not getting any younger. How did you react to hearing that?
There have been a lot of injuries I have faced in my career which were quite serious. Every time I get into such a situation, the best thing has been to check the progress of the recovery and control the controllables. Right now it is no different. I first have to get back to bowling. That is the key, but that is still a considerable while away. I have not held a ball after picking up the injury. I am still [going to take] about four weeks before I start bowling.I have to see how my body is responding. It is about how I’m feeling in terms of my bowling – whether I am able to bowl exactly the way I want to bowl, whether I’m able to meet my expectations in terms of bowling.So I respect him [Naik]. I respect his opinion. Right now I am in no position to say anything more. If you are 35 then obviously there will be more questions asked than when you are 25 or 27. The important thing is to keep working on what you believe in. Ultimately it is about performing: if you are able to match the expectations and fulfil the demands that come from playing at the highest level of cricket, then the rest should take care of itself.Before the IPL you played back-to-back Test series in South Africa and New Zealand on your comeback to the Indian team after a year. How would you analyse your bowling?
I was very happy with the way India performed in those two series. Out of the four Tests, we were in a winning position in three. I was very happy with the way I dealt with the workload, and that was possible only due to the routines I was following and putting in a lot of effort to make sure that I was getting strong. There has been a lot of scrutiny [of my bowling] but keeping up with that kind of workload I felt I did a very good job.I was also impressed by someone like Mohammed Shami, who was able to perform the pace bowler’s role very nicely. For a successful bowling unit you require a bowler with very good pace, like Shami, and that helped me cope with my workload. You need a balanced bowling attack. You can’t have bowlers with similar styles. It was a perfect combination we had, I felt. Ishant [Sharma], being a very tall guy, adds that extra bounce on helpful pitches. If conditions are suitable for swing, I come in and also bring experience. And Shami is a very versatile bowler. He is still young, but you need that raw pace with good direction and he provides that. So Shami and Ishant have made my job easier.

“If you are going to tell me I have become slow, it is not going to register because what matter to me is the variations, control over line and length, and to set up the batsman”

Those two series were really very good for me overall. I felt that I had actually set the platform after having not played for a year. I achieved what I was looking for in those four Test matches.Which spell or performance in those four comeback Tests was most satisfying for you?
Jo’burg was a very crucial Test. We got them out pretty cheaply and were able to take the lead. That was important, to set that tone. In the second innings we batted well and were on top and controlling the match. So that performance, where I took four wickets in my first Test on my comeback, was fulfilling.That was a test for me in terms of fitness. I have always felt that it is not about how you bowl on the first day of Test matches but [about] the next day, when you back it up. I could feel I had gone from one level to the next when I came back on the third morning and I took three wickets in a spell. It was similar in New Zealand, where, with the new ball in the second innings of the Wellington Test, I got three wickets in a spell.That is what I have been known for: when I get going, I pick up two or three in a spell. And that is what makes you different from others. It is important that you can make that kind of impact.Despite such performances, a popular, possibly hasty, judgement that was delivered was that Zaheer is no longer that quick. He seems tired at times in his second and third spells.
Ultimately what you show in the wickets column and how you have created an impact on the game is what matters. To me it does not matter what pace I’m bowling at. If I am able to create that impact when things are going my way – when the conditions are suiting me and I’m able to take three wickets in a seven-over spell – that is what I look for.In terms of pace, since 2006, when I cut short my run-up, I have always focused on variations, in terms of swing and adding that element of surprise. Pace has never been the most important criteria for me. Obviously you cannot be bowling at 125kph, but if I am able to bowl at 135 with variations and have control over line and length it is equivalent to bowling as quick as 140kph. I have focused on speed-up variations: if I am bowling at an average speed of 131-133kph, suddenly I spike it to 138kph. The odd ball has proved crucial.I have never been an out-and-out fast bowler, at least after 2006. So there is no reason I should be chasing the 140kph mark when I am 35 years old.Rahul Dravid said in February: “I would hate to see Zaheer Khan end his career bowling 120-125 kph and limp away from international cricket. He has done a great job to get himself fit for these two series and to be fair, he has bowled well in patches, he has bowled consistently.” Dravid was your captain and you were his go-to man at one point. How would you respond to that viewpoint?
I do not feel there is any need to respond. I know that even if you wake me up from my sleep, I am going to bowl in the 133kph range. There is a basic pace a bowler has and it is natural. Sometimes a speed gun can be deceptive. My rhythm might be good and the ball might be nicely hitting the gloves of the wicketkeeper but the speed gun might not actually show all that. People will have opinions and everyone looks at things differently. For me the joy of playing cricket is the high [I get] when I am bowling. I know I still have time. At the moment I have work to do with regards to fitness. That has been the case right throughout my career. It is no different at this moment.Is pace really that important at all times to succeed?
It is important. If you can bowl at 150kph, nothing like it. But it is important to be consistent and there are other things that matter too. Just pace alone cannot get you wickets. It is a whole package – there are bowlers who are clicking 145kph, but if they are not consistent with their line and length and not pitching in the right areas, then it will not help. Pace is the basic need, but it is not everything.It depends on what kind of pace you are talking about. If you are saying I was bowling at 145 consistently and I am bowling 130 now, then that is a big difference. But when I was bowling 136 and now I am bowling at 134, it is not too big a difference in terms of the reaction time for the batsman. So if you are going to tell me I have become slow, it is not going to register, because what matters to me is the variations, control over line and length, and to set up the batsman.There is also this view that India cannot play more than three fast bowlers at a time, especially on dry, flat pitches.
It all depends on the conditions we are playing, the kind of team we want to field, the kind of strategy the team has. So there is no thumb rule with regards to what is a good combination.”It is time Ishant stepped into the leadership role”•AFPClearly the team management still retains belief in you. MS Dhoni and Duncan Fletcher have voiced their support at all times. But have they or the national selectors had a word with you in terms of their expectations?
In New Zealand it was communicated to me that I would have an important role to play on the England tour, which is a big series. We knew it was a long tour so I had to put in all the work and be careful in picking up my workload, keeping in mind the England series. It is unfortunate that I have been forced to miss out. But the key right now is for me to meet my expectations.Do you feel it is important for the selectors to reveal their plans to a senior player like you?
Yes. And most of the times that communication has been there. I have always maintained that the more I play, the better I get. In my last four Test matches I was improving match by match and I reached a point where I once again became confident in terms of bowling a lot of overs, staying injury-free, and being able to deal with the workload. So I was looking forward to the England tour. But unfortunately you do not have control over injuries. When you suffer an injury, you have to take your time. If you rush, it will not help.Do you reckon you are still fit to play ODIs?
I am open to it. The World Cup is a special tournament and it is everyone’s dream to be part of the Indian team. But it is still a long way away. Right now, am I fit to bowl? I am not. Things will unfold for me. The Champions League T20 is the first step towards proving I am fit and on top of my game.How much are you going to miss the England tour?
I have been working towards this tour for the last year. I was focusing on Test matches. Even through the IPL, my routines were [related to] working towards the England tour. Considering all that, it was disappointing to miss out. I just hope that the Indian team does well on English soil.What will be the biggest challenge for India’s fast bowlers in England, and what is the key to staying strong across five Tests?
If you hit a good rhythm, a series like this is the best thing that can happen to a bowler. [My advice would be to] play as much as possible. It is important to get the confidence of bowling in those conditions and the two practice matches are crucial for the bowling unit to get used to the conditions and to bowl in the right areas.In your absence, who is the best equipped to take the lead role?

It is Ishant. He has played the most number of matches and he has been around for a while. It is time he steps into that role. For Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and Shami, it is their first [Test] tour to England, so they will look to Ishant and Joe Dawes for inputs.

Having worked on his action during his time out of the side, R Ashwin has achieved encouraging results with a more side-on release

Sidharth Monga01-Sep-2014R Ashwin didn’t get to play much part in this tour until the fourth Test. You could see him sitting in the balcony, reading a book, the earwig radio on, waving to the commentators acknowledging he is listening to them. When not in front of the camera, though, he spent a lot of time bowling in the nets. Not at the batsmen. Just at the stumps. Session after session. Dropped after India failed to win in Johannesburg late last year, he was a bowler on the mend. You got a feeling he was trying to rediscover himself as a spinner. He says he bowled without a batsman to better understand what the ball could do for him, and not “serve” the batsman. Long sleeves were gone, variations were gone, these were just pure offbreaks ball after ball.Ashwin got his chance in the last two Tests, where it was impossible to judge his comeback purely by results: India batted so poorly bowlers couldn’t have given a proper account of themselves. During the ODIs, with India in the contest, Ashwin has got five wickets for 77 runs at an economy of 4, and has a Man-of-the-Match award. It could be seen, though, that the ball was coming out all right in the Tests. There was some drift, some dip, but no runs or pressure to play with. On the eve of the fourth ODI, Ashwin said he could sense he was on to something even during the Tests.”Even at The Oval I thought I was bowling really well,” Ashwin said. “Initially when I started [the comeback] I was a little rusty. But there has been a considerable amount of work that has gone into it. Fifty-55 days of good work. Before that I was working with [Bharat] Arun [now the India bowling coach too] back in Chennai. It has been at least about two months of work on my bowling. We have been trying to get me sorted with my action. Thankfully results are happening, that’s the good thing.”R Ashwin says he has felt good about his bowling since the Oval Test•Getty ImagesAshwin said one of the most important changes he has made during his time out of the team is no not make big changes. “I used to make bigger changes with my action between formats,” Ashwin said. “Now I am trying to make it as subtle as possible. Chatted with my coach back home. With Sunil [Subramaniam, his initial coach]. What we thought was, this action could be efficient in all formats. We have been trying to move from being a little side-on to semi side-on, and being front on if the format demands.”Ashwin said earlier too that during the Tests the focus was on becoming more side-on, and thus more classical. In ODIs, though, he said he waits to feel good before moving more side-on. “I try to be [front-on] when I start [in the ODIs],” Ashwin said. “Then once I start pinning it down, and when I feel comfortable, I play around a little. Getting a little accurate as the format comes through and if the rhythm is all right try [to] move side-on as the spell goes on to extract more from the wicket.”An offspinner becomes more and more front-on when he starts to rely on too many variations. A doosra or a carrom ball is nearly impossible to bowl with a side-on action. It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation now. Has he reduced relying on variations now that he is more side-on or has he become more side-on because he has made a conscious effort to reduce his reliance on variations? Ashwin himself remains a touch sensitive when the topic of variations comes up.”Using variations is something very condition- or situation-based for me,” Ashwin said. “It is not like I put it back in locker and close it out. If it is something I feel like using I will use it. Sometimes it gets to me when people say, ‘Oh he overused it.’ For all you know I am someone who goes by the exact numbers and stats. If I know I haven’t used it and people go on and on about it, I get a little mad. That is not the case here.”Ashwin does feel he is in a good place mentally with his bowling now. “Feels really fresh,” he said. “Having worked on it, and it is a belief that I had to induce in myself. Which is quite easy for me when I am convinced with something. I got convinced quickly with what I was doing, and from there on it was about sticking with it. Sometimes the results come quickly, sometimes they don’t. I am someone who will persevere with it if I have bought into it. I did buy into this. What’s happened now is I am really confident of extracting as much as I can from the wicket.”

This diligently researched book is a comprehensive account of all matches of the World Cup, laced with long-forgotten factoids

Russell Jackson27-Sep-2014In , Mark Browning and James Grapsas set out on the Herculean task of chronicling every single fixture in the tournament’s history in a way that is exhaustive but not exhausting. For the most part they keep the run rate ticking along nicely in this, the fifth edition of their weighty and authoritative tome.The theme here is tune in, turn on and nerd out. Each match comes complete with a scorecard and detailed match report, many of which sparkle with overlooked and long-forgotten details. Each preliminary game is given equal weighting in approximate quantity of information, if not enthusiasm. It couldn’t have been an easy task making anything interesting of the 1987 Australians going through the motions against Zimbabwe in Cuttack, but soon Bruce Reid is cracking Andy Waller (appearing here as “Chris”, his middle name) on the bridge of the nose and you’re back in the game.As a primer to the upcoming 2015 tournament, it’s full of the kind of trainspottery factoids vital to ensuring readers don’t doze off. I can see myself using this as a reference text, revisiting many of the match reports. Thanks to Browning and Grapsas’ eye for detail and colour, many entries pop with quirky tidbits. They have also called upon the first-hand accounts of players to supplement their diligent research.We find out that the East Africa wicketkeeper Hamish McLeod was a Slazenger sales rep from Zambia, that Wasim Akram considered the memorable 1992 group photo shoot aboard the HMAS Canberra “a shambles” and the cost of the black-tie launch dinner “immoral”, and then you wince at the story of UAE’s captain Sultan Zarawani striding out to face Allan Donald without a helmet in his side’s first game of the 1996 event and promptly getting sconed first ball.The downsides are a little beyond the control of the authors. Rodney Hogg’s foreword, slightly bizarre to anyone familiar with his usual stream of consciousness, reads like a particularly bland Wikipedia entry and sits at odds with the narrative flourishes on display elsewhere. A tournament as rich in visual stimuli as the World Cup might also have benefited from some photos, but I guess that’s not the point of this endeavour.This type of book, which has been perhaps unfairly sidelined by the broader brushstrokes of online resources, is something of an anachronism this late in the millennium but it’s still a welcome addition to the groaning shelves of us diehards who don’t mind swigging the hard stuff straight and often. Nothing worthwhile is overlooked.

Asif Iqbal lay in a Birmingham hospital recovering from a haemorrhoid operation, something I wouldn’t know were it not for Browning and Grapsas. It’s also possible that I didn’t need quite that much detail, but that’s actually a great charm of this book

Each tournament is given a thorough introduction and later a post-mortem that’s perhaps a little short (incredible as that may seem in a 549-page epic), but the detail is always rich and this volume could well serve as the definitive argument-settler when it comes to World Cup encounters.In regards to the prose, I detected throughout that one of the authors is perhaps more content to pat a few defensive strokes back to the bowler, where the other takes a longer blade to the attack, sometimes within the one essay. Thus, Ted Dexter is “semi-eccentric”, Tony Greig wears “silly gloves”, Ian Chappell’s side is “slightly rough-edged”, and the Headingley wicket for the 1975 semi-final “rather strange”, whereas Andy Roberts is a “cold, unsmiling assassin”, and that same Chappell side boasts “a pre-punk image in their disdain of certain conventions”.Sometimes those stylistic disparities meet in the middle with mixed results (“Gilmour wore a long-sleeved jumper to keep out the chilly wind, yet he immediately warmed to his task”). A question mark might well have “hung over Clive Lloyd’s groin”, but putting it like that conjured unintended mental images, and surely only Alan Partridge would describe a Mike Denness/Chris Old partnership as “batting mayhem”. Still, many of the more intentional attempts to entertain readers come off the middle of the bat.It’s a beautiful thing, the World Cup. What’s not to love about a tournament in which Clive Lloyd was once dismissed, decided his team was beyond salvation against Pakistan, and proceeded to hit the ales, unaware West Indies would pull off a one-wicket win? The result also provided a healthy payday for Lloyd’s accountant Gordon Andrews, who plunged £150 on West Indies at 66-1. Imran Khan had missed that game, taking exams at Oxford, and his captain Asif Iqbal lay in a Birmingham hospital recovering from a haemorrhoid operation, something I wouldn’t know were it not for Browning and Grapsas. It’s also possible that I didn’t need quite that much detail, but that’s actually a great charm of this book.When I think of the World Cup, my mind’s eye conjures crystal-clear footage of Martin Crowe and Mark Greatbatch on the rampage in Napier during the 1992 tournament, which is my favourite for the entirely subjective reason that it was the first I watched on TV and the uniforms were brilliant. What this book does is fill all the gaps, particularly for the tournaments that occurred before my time. Raking up memories of Aamer Sohail, Brian McMillan, Eddo Brandes and Ken Rutherford is just the icing on the cake.I noted that the stats for the original 1999 edition of the book were compiled by Mark Browning’s son Ben, who, my own research reveals, is a member of Australian electro band Cut Copy. I guess that would make him Australia’s only noteworthy rock star/cricket statistician. Given the man hours the authors have logged creating this labour of love, I’m sure they’d appreciate such attention to detail.A Complete History of World Cup Cricket
by Mark Browning and James Grapsas
New Holland Publishers
560 pages, A$17.52 (paperback)

The numbers confirm that this is Australia’s worst bowling performance in their 137-year Test history. By a huge margin.

Brydon Coverdale in Abu Dhabi02-Nov-2014There is no delicate way to put this. Australia’s bowling in the UAE has been the team’s worst ever in a series. That is not subjective hyperbole but measurable fact. And here are the numbers that confirm it.Before this tour, Australia had played 210 Test series. Their worst collective bowling average for any one of those series came when India toured in 1985-86 and drew all three Tests. Allan Border’s men claimed 26 victims at an average of 62.46 per wicket.Pretty bad, huh? Well, get this.In the UAE, the Australian bowlers have collectively picked up 20 wickets across the series at an average of 80.15 per wicket. Never in their 137-year Test history have Australia leaked so many runs per wicket in a series, including one-off Tests. Never have they even come close.It is nearly twice as bad as when they were crushed 4-0 last year in India, where each breakthrough cost them 43.80 runs. It is worse than India’s worst, than Pakistan’s worst, than England’s worst, than West Indies’ worst, and much worse than South Africa’s worst. They have been so toothless it is hard to imagine they ever had teeth at all.Perhaps a caveat is required here, for the bowlers did create more than 20 chances. Australia’s fielding throughout the two Tests has been poor. Half-chances have gone down and so have easy ones. On the fourth day in Abu Dhabi, Misbah-ul-Haq equalled the record for the fastest hundred in Test history, having been reprieved on 4 when Peter Siddle grassed a straightforward chance at cover.Phillip Hughes fumbled another simple one at gully later on, to give Azhar Ali a life on 68. By then, such errors hardly mattered, other than to allow Azhar to register a century in each innings of a Test. But it was the continuation of a trend. Chances went down in Dubai, chances went down in Abu Dhabi.Chris Rogers, Alex Doolan, Brad Haddin, David Warner, Steven Smith, Siddle, Hughes – they all missed catches, some easy, some hard. Warner also missed a stumping when filling in for Haddin behind the stumps. It would not quite be accurate to say Australia missed more chances than they took, but they weren’t far off. It was quite an initiation for fielding coach Greg Blewett.But so many runs were conceded that even five more wickets wouldn’t have stopped this being Australia’s worst bowling in a series. Siddle took two at 108.50. Nathan Lyon got three at 140.66. Mitchell Starc had two at 71.00. Steve O’Keefe claimed four at 54.75. Steven Smith winkled out three at 48.33. The only bowler who could boast figures considered acceptable was Mitchell Johnson, whose six wickets came at 29.50.A sore left hip stopped him taking the field after lunch on the fourth day in Abu Dhabi. The team doctor and physio didn’t seem too worried about Johnson, and you’d hardly have blamed him if he just gave up and said he wasn’t going out there again. It was his birthday, after all. The series has been hard work on surfaces that offered little pace and bounce, but Johnson’s speed meant he could still threaten.Robbed of any appreciable swing or seam, Siddle’s wicket column became as barren as the Arabian Desert. Starc has not played first-class cricket for 14 months, and looked like it. Mitchell Marsh went wicketless and failed to find the reverse swing that would likely have been a feature of Shane Watson’s bowling, had he been fit. Who’d have thought Australia would miss Watson’s bowling this much?Pakistan’s bowlers got the ball to reverse, and their spinners were also far more effective than Australia’s slow bowlers. Part of that was down to Australia’s woeful batting, and it is hard to separate the two aspects of Australia’s game because of that. But Pakistan’s two frontline spinners, Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah, together took more wickets in the series than Australia’s entire attack.Lyon, turning the ball into Pakistan’s exclusively right-handed batting line-up, needed to tempt the batsmen wide of off stump more often instead of using a straighter line. In Dubai, he went for 60 runs through the off side and 163 through leg. In Abu Dhabi it was 64 through off and 138 through leg. It has been a difficult 2014 for Lyon, but there has been no tougher month than this.Of course, the bowlers are not the only ones at fault. David Warner is the only batsman certain to finish the series with a pass mark. The Argus report after the 2010-11 Ashes nadir found, more or less, that Australia couldn’t bat, bowl or field. The same could be said of their efforts in the UAE. But taking their wickets at an average of 80 is not just bad, it is history-making bad.”I want to take 20 wickets,” Michael Clarke said before this series began. He meant in a Test, not a series.

As Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara prepare for their final ODI together at home, the aspects of their partnership that will be celebrated the most will be their humility and altruism

Andrew Fidel Fernando15-Dec-2014Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene are shooting stills for a clothing sponsor in April, when the photographer asks Sangakkara to stand behind his friend and pose as if helping him into a jacket. Both men get into position. Upon realising how intimate the shot would turn out, they begin to cringe aloud.”With what people say about us already, imagine what it will be like when this goes up on a billboard,” Jayawardene says. Laughing, Sangakkara takes the gag further: “Maybe for the next one I could be undressing Mahela.”This is what their world has come to. A world in which they have so many matches, net and gym sessions, speaking engagements, sponsored photo shoots, business ventures and family occasions together, that they meet virtually every day. A world in which the depth of their friendship is a point of mild embarrassment for them and their families. A world in which Mahela-Sanga slash fiction now exists.As the nation readies to witness their final match together at home, on Tuesday, the men themselves can’t complain they didn’t ask for it. United in battles in Sri Lanka, against administrators, as they have been on the field, at each end of the pitch, or at keeper and slip, Jayawardene and Sangakkara have lived out perhaps the greatest cricket bromance of all time.On the surface, they are a classic buddy-cop duo, opposites in so many ways, yet profoundly in sync at an elemental level. Jayawardene is well-organised and punctual in his personal life, while Sangakkara is habitually half an hour late to appointments, meetings and sponsor events – a trait he shares with most others on the island.At the crease, it’s Jayawardene who is on Sri Lankan time. So delicate is that cut, and so sleepy is that cover drive, that he seems to hit the ball half an hour after it has been delivered. At the other end, Sangakkara is all business, straight lines and optimum angles; the Vitruvian man of cricket. He drills one to deep cover for a single, then watches his friend, the batting Picasso, transition from classical to surreal, sometimes within an innings, other times inside an over, however the mood strikes.Their achievements together are so immense, though, that even the buddy-cop analogy doesn’t quite do them justice. The biggest-ever Test partnership is theirs. They have also shared 36 century stands, across all formats, among numerous other records. Did Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker ever beat up 624 triad thugs in one scene? Did Mel Gibson and Danny Glover ever take down three dozen kingpins? Starsky and Hutch didn’t co-own a seafood joint either. So sure are Sangakkara and Jayawardene of the success of their partnership that, in a country notorious for its crooked politics, they named their restaurant the Ministry of Crab. The food is as delicious as their batting. The prices, many Colombars complain, are nearly ludicrous enough to match the state of the nation’s governance.Perhaps two such dissimilar people should not be so in tune with each other, but in over 14 years together at the top level now, there are only rumours of minor rifts between the two. The most serious of these appears to have happened in 2007, when then-captain Jayawardene was going through such a lean ODI spell, he had wanted to drop himself from the side. Sangakkara had staunchly opposed this. That was the extent of the “fight”.In the weeks leading up to Jayawardene’s Test retirement this year, each cricketer was in turn asked whom they thought was the better batsman. Jayawardene said this: “Sanga has been so consistent, that over the past six years you have to say he has gone past me, definitely.” Sangakkara responded with the following: “In my mind, there’s never been any doubt as to who is the better player, and it’s not me. Maiya makes those runs that really count, and takes pressure off the rest of the top order so well.” Surely, it is this kind of one-upmanship that turns their relationship from sweet to sickly saccharine. If a couple in your acquaintance said things like this to each other in public, you would want to punch them both in the face.They think alike, their team-mates say of them, but miniscule moments of cricketing candour perhaps best reveal why they click so well together. Between them, Jayawardene and Sangakkara have hit 12 tons and 29 half-centuries across formats this year. Yet the milestones that brought them most visible joy weren’t their own. Jayawardene’s surprise bear-hug to Sangakkara at Lord’s warmed the cockles of even the stoniest hearts, in May. Four months before that, Kumar Sangakkara hit 424 runs in Chittagong, but had been more elated when Kaushal Silva got to triple figures opposite him in the game before that.In a culture that values humility and altruism more than many, these are the snapshots the public will treasure, that will ensure the memory of their great stand endures long after their careers have ended, because while they have come to mean plenty to each other, little else means as much to their nation as Sri Lanka’s brothers-in-arms.