All posts by h716a5.icu

YES Network Shakes Up Yankees Broadcasts, Drops Longtime Analyst

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The YES Network is making changes to its coverage of the Yankees.

On Wednesday, Andrew Marchand reported that longtime analyst and play-by-play announcer John Flaherty will not return next season. Flaherty had been on Yankees broadcasts for two decades following a 14-year MLB playing career.

Over the years, Flaherty served as an analyst and also hopped on the mic to do play-by-play when lead announcers Michael Kay and Ryan Ruocco were out.

Flaherty took to social media to acknowledge the news:

The 58-year-old broke into the big leagues with the Red Sox in 1992, and played for the Tigers, Padres, and Rays before joining the Yankees from 2003 to '05. He signed with the Red Sox in late 2005 but announced his retirement during spring training in 2006.

Marchand reports Kay will call 135 games in 2026, while Ruocco will call about 15. David Cone, Paul O'Neill, and Joe Girardi will all continue in their analyst roles, and the plan is for one or two of them to be on every broadcast next season.

Javed Miandad and MS Dhoni: a tale of two ageing lions

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Watching the 1996 India-Pakistan World Cup semi-final brought home the similarities between the two master ODI chasers

Sidharth Monga06-Apr-2020 the best in the business at it.” Gavaskar is quick to point out Miandad has not played for two years. When the equation gets particularly difficult, Khan, the other half of perhaps the greatest love-hate relationship in cricket, says a Miandad ten years younger would have pulled it off.However, the Indian team, the crowd, even the commentators, are not so sure. They have been at the receiving end so often they can’t breathe easy till they see the back of Miandad. And Miandad is not taking any risks. Instead Rashid Latif hits Javagal Srinath for a six and a four. In the next over, to the 53rd ball he faces, Miandad hits a straight boundary, the first of his innings. Look at his swagger now. He struts back, knocking gloves with Latif on the way. If you have lost unlosable matches to this man, this is a triggering sight, never mind that his strike rate has only now crossed 50, and the asking rate is nine.

It is the belief that they can still do it that sets them apart. It is this belief that has to one day become their downfall. It happens to the best of them

Miandad knows his presence at the end is crucial: analyse every situation, fight, take games deep is his cricketing philosophy. Once Latif falls, though, carrying as he was what two men should have been carrying, the spotlight turns on Miandad. He tries the big hits but they don’t come off. And he eventually runs himself out. A tame end to a tame last stand.Why it is so relatable is because we witnessed something similar at the World Cup last year. MS Dhoni is Miandad in many ways. He finds motivation in persecution, although he doesn’t make public shows of it. As a 50-over batter he has struck the same kind of fear in the opposition that Miandad once did. Which is why, despite being aware of his waning powers – much like Pakistan with Miandad – India invested in Dhoni at the 2019 World Cup.Just like Miandad, Dhoni was happy for others to do the hitting around him, Ravindra Jadeja in this case. They both left alone balls in tall chases, just that Dhoni did so in an era of memes. Dhoni didn’t make a comeback after an absence, but it wasn’t yet ruled out in a pre-Covid-19 world that Dhoni might come back to the IPL after chilling for a year and then go to the T20 World Cup. As things stand now, both players ended with run-outs, risks taken much sooner than they liked to take, a sign of faltering confidence in their own ability. Not before both had struck momentary fear in the opposition. Admittedly, Dhoni hadn’t deteriorated as much as Miandad. According to Hardik Pandya, he was kicking himself for not diving.To some, watching them meet an unsatisfactory end (though Dhoni hasn’t officially ended yet) might be painful, but I haven’t found myself wishing either had retired sooner. These matches are just a rite of passage. Miandad and Dhoni didn’t become the players they were by recognising defeat when they saw it. Four years before the 1996 World Cup, Miandad was not even selected – by Khan – but not only did he find a way to get into the side but also ended up as the second highest run-getter in the tournament, and his side’s highest.It is this belief that they can still do it that sets them apart. It is this belief that has to one day become their downfall. It happens to the best of them. Unlike champions, this process never gets old. RetroLive

Tentative West Indies batsmen walk into seam-and-swing trap

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With little threat of being scored off, England’s four quicks were able to chip away at will

Nagraj Gollapudi25-Jul-2020An overcast day. Ball swinging even when 30 overs old. You didn’t need to be a cricket pundit to know it might be England’s day, especially when their four best fast bowlers were operating in tandem.Yet it was the West Indies batsmen that made it England’s day. By showing a total lack of intent. By getting intimidated in their minds even before the ball had pitched. By falling into the trap set. By forgetting they had a bat in hand to defend and strike with intent.West Indies’ batting unit is not the first one to buckle in such conditions. James Anderson can make even a Virat Kohli look like a mug. Stuart Broad can eyeball you and then send you to hell with his nip-backers. Jofra Archer, the smiling assassin, can rip you and snip you to pieces. Chris Woakes can look generous, but kill you softly with his swing.ALSO READ: Roach first West Indian to join 200-club since AmbroseAs a batsman, mentally, you are already thinking all that before you take guard. But the good and the best play the ball, not the man. That is why there are only a few greats. Steven Smith and Kohli, two modern greats, have built their aura by fighting off the mental demons. They have been vulnerable, but they have also improvised quickly.Last year Archer concussed Smith. The Australian finished the Ashes as the best batsman. It takes more than guts to succeed. It takes presence of mind.Most West Indies batsmen on day two at Old Trafford were neither bold, nor wise. Kraigg Brathwaite might have started the series playing the ball late, but here he went chasing a ball that was in the channel. John Campbell shrugged off an early mistake when he poked at a full away-swinging delivery from Anderson, but survived only because Ben Stokes spilled the catch.Campbell has had no forward stride into his strokes so far in the series. In the first two Tests, Campbell had been rooted to his crease and playing with his hands, even to fuller balls that shaped away. Broad said that he was happy because he knew he could easily lure Campbell, something he did successfully in the second Test.Campbell looked to score which allowed him to regain confidence. But as soon as Archer attacked him, Campbell succumbed meekly. Overall, of the nine balls that Archer bowled to Campbell, four were on a length, three full, one short-of-good length, and one short.That last one was the perfect short-pitched delivery, heading for Campbell’s throat when he least expected. The previous five deliveries Campbell dealt with confidently, moving towards the pitch and playing with the full face. Archer left Campbell off balance with the short delivery, just like he had opened up Roston Chase in the second innings in Southampton with a similar nasty delivery.The biggest disappointment though has been Shai Hope, recognised by none lesser than Brian Lara as one of the best talents in the Caribbean. Hope has shown no back bone in the series and he became more and more tentative and negative during his 64-ball stay, the longest by a visiting batsman. Despite standing way out of his crease, Hope rarely showed any intent. His diffidence only created an impression as if he was being suffocated by the discipline of England’s bowling. As the runs dried up, Hope’s body language became defensive and he was eventually gobbled up by and Anderson outswinger.Hope’s struggles have only created more pressure for the middle order. Even Chase, who had looked the strongest mentally, stayed rooted in the crease to a Broad delivery which he should have ideally played on the front foot, but instead ended up being caught plumb.John Campbell drives through the covers•Getty ImagesThe naturally aggressive Jermaine Blackwood paid the price for a scrambled mindset. Coming from wide of the crease, Woakes seamed in a fuller delivery on the middle stump. Blackwood, standing on leg stump, played from the crease instead of taking a forward stride and covering the line of stumps. The ball beat his flourishing bat swing to uproot middle.Late in the day, with the light weakening, Archer placed Ollie Pope at short leg in addition to the leg slip. Shane Dowrich looked nervous. Archer was intent on taking a wicket and banged a short delivery.Dowrich, slouching low, was already playing the short ball in his mind even before it had been pitched. Barring the first innings in Southampton, Dowrich has remained susceptible to the short delivery throughout the series.This ball did not even rise to his waist, but Dowrich had already closed his eyes, turned his face away and attempted to fend the ball one-handed. Luckily for him the leading edge flew high over Rory Burns at short gully. Archer smiled sarcastically in disbelief.To a large extent, West Indies’ batsmen have stayed rooted to the crease, worried by Archer’s short deliveries. This series Archer has got two wickets – Chase and Campbell – with that type of the delivery. As per ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, Archer has delivered 49 short-pitched balls giving away just 13 runs. In contrast, during last year’s Ashes, of the 172 short deliveries, Archer earned just one Australian wicket. Smith may have been concussed at Lord’s, but he showed positive intent and was not once dismissed by Archer (as he liked to point out).When West Indies did play with intent, as Jason Holder showed eventually, the pressure was on the bowler. Having been hit for three successive fours by the West Indies captain, Archer sprayed wide or over-pitched. Holder showed the value of playing bold. Archer did not like it, and between smiles exchanged a few words with the fellow Barbadian.Overall, though, West Indies batsmen did not dare on Saturday. The price could be the Wisden Trophy.

Ijaz Ahmed wasn't pretty to watch. Did that blind us to his quality as a batsman?

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We remember him for the odd stance, but there was a whole lot more to Pakistan’s axeman of the 1990s

Osman Samiuddin08-Jul-2020Come to Think of itLet’s get the gags out of the way first.There’s the Dominic Cork dismissal doing the rounds, though it’ll have to do many more rounds before anybody can make sense of it.The 1992 World Cup, where, well, Ijaz Ahmed was there. Bemused all these years later, we still ask: why? He faced 26 balls in seven matches. Which would be the most remarkable thing had it not been for the other thing, that he bowled 216. Thirty-six overs – a third of all the ODI overs he bowled in a 250-match career. Overs of what, who knows, and with an action even a mother couldn’t love. But he was there.His stance we’ll come to, though having lived through Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Steven Smith, Ahmed and his posterior-proud start barely raise an eyebrow.Let’s also kick the elephant out of the room. His name is all over the Justice Qayyum report, in nearly all the major allegations. His wife and Salim Malik’s wife are sisters. But he was not found guilty of anything and faced no sanctions. So what if he was embroiled in a cheque forgery case nearly a decade later?ALSO READ: Sidharth Monga: Was the 2007 World Cup really a disaster?Stripped of all that, you’re left with a career neatly split into two halves. The first seven years, a drifting, unfulfilled jumble; the second, whatever constitutes exactly the opposite. Mostly it is this half, from 1994, that is the business here, a time when Ahmed could claim to be all but Pakistan’s best batsman. That comes across all preposterous but it’s not. We just tend not to pay much attention to him because with the likes of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Malik and Saeed Anwar – three once-in-a-generation types – swanning around, it’s easy not to. And because there’s the first half of his career to drag his legacy down.Now that stance, which wasn’t weird as much as that it made him play weird. He really was an unusual batsman, a quality amplified by the contrasts with the trio above in particular. An accurate description was once rendered by Sanjay Manjrekar, who said Ahmed was a batsman, a description to capture the swagger and disregard he brought. There was something uncouth about his batting, a healthy unconcern for the social mores and rules of batting.Had he been playing today his game would have been dissected down to the last newton with which he hammered his bat down, waiting for the delivery. Dissected, more likely celebrated.He had two areas: one square of the wicket on the off, one square on the leg, and the rest was scenery. Every ball on off or wider, pretty much regardless of length, was cut. I say cut but would much rather call it a slap, and I’d much, much rather call it a , or a chapair: slaps in Urdu or Hindi but the pronunciation allows for so much more feeling. everywhere, in a semicircle from over the cordon all the way through extra cover.Most of everything else was an indescribable brutality through leg. He loved pulling and was effective with it, even if it always looked like he only decided at the very last millisecond to pull and then hedged his bets and tried to evade the ball as well as play it.All ten of Ijaz Ahmed’s ODI hundreds came at a run a ball or quicker•Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesThere does exist evidence of him driving, straight as well as through extra cover, but with a bottom hand so dominant, he was built to play square. Not unlike MS Dhoni, actually, with equal swagger and less foot movement forward. It was only natural, with his love of pulling and -ing, that Australia suited him to a tee. Like very few other subcontinental batsmen.Everyone can recall how good Ahmed was in – and against – Australia, at least by the headline numbers. Half of his 12 Test hundreds were made against them; half of those in Australia. The first was, for me, one of the great what-ifs. What if Geoff Marsh hadn’t pulled off a catch that everyone from your great-grandfather down to your great-grandson would be blown away by, at the MCG in 1990 (off a proper cut)? Could Ijaz have marshalled the tail to pull off a heroic chase? How different would Pakistan’s modern history in Australia look had they won that Test?But it was better than that. Only a handful of players have at least one Test hundred on every tour of Australia (from three or more tours) and Ahmed is one of them, bettered by Brian Lara, and alongside Archie MacLaren, Herbert Sutcliffe, Richie Richardson and Virat Kohli. Only Sachin Tendulkar has as many as Ahmed’s three Test hundreds in Australia through the 1990s.If you take away the 1994-95 series in Pakistan, in which he played just one Test, he made at least one century in every series he played against Australia, from 1988 all the way through to 1999. That is, right from Australia’s resurgence to deep into their golden years; against Craig McDermott, Terry Alderman, Merv Hughes, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, all of them. Not that it is any validation but for the sake of this argument, it is striking that he didn’t make Warne’s list of the top 100 cricketers of his time: even Monty Panesar made that list.That Australia record is the cornerstone of Ahmed’s career, but from 1995 – a year after his return – until 1999, he pretty much scored runs against everyone, almost everywhere (except South Africa and India), in all formats. In that time he had a more prolific Test record than even Anwar: more runs, better average, more hundreds, better conversion rate, and a better average and more hundreds than Inzamam. Most of it happened at one-down, where Inzamam and other worthies didn’t want to bat. People snigger at that Cork dismissal but Ijaz’s scores in that series after it were 76, 141, 52, 61 and 13 not out.ALSO READ: Osman Samiuddin: Is Saeed Anwar criminally underrated?He made 48, 79 and 59 in the ODIs on that tour too, which is little surprise given that he was behind only Anwar in the format in that period – and he’s probably even more underappreciated for what he did (as well as when and how) in ODIs. Three simple facts illustrate this.Every single one of his ten ODI hundreds, from the first in 1988 to the last in 1999, was made at a 100-plus strike rate. Only four other players – AB de Villiers, Jonny Bairstow, Shahid Afridi and Shimron Hetmyer – have done that (with a cut-off of five hundreds). AB’s genius is unmatched, but Ahmed is the only player on that list who finished his career before T20s had even arrived.An even better illustration of how long ago he was doing such modern things is in the table below, of all batsmen with at least ten ODI hundreds at a 100-plus strike rate. Note his debut year, the earliest on this list by a distance; by the time Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan were starting their careers, Ahmed had already made his last hundred.

This final one shows the difference in strike rate between him and all the other batsmen in the games in which he scored hundreds. The company he is in speaks for itself – he wasn’t playing different matches to the others, he was playing different eras.

Finding himself in unexpected company on unusual lists was Ahmed’s thing. The reason, ultimately, that he didn’t end up with higher averages, more runs, or a shinier place in the pantheon is evidenced in one final list: exactly a third of all of his international dismissals were for under 10, the fourth-highest percentage of all time (among batsmen in the top seven with a cut-off of at least 300 international innings). Once he was in, he was in, but boy was he a candidate for not getting in in the first place.The company here is eclectic: behind Shahid Afridi, Kapil Dev and Grant Flower, and ahead of Marlon Samuels. Two allrounders, a batsman from a historically weak side, and, in Samuels, an all-time enigma. In the final reckoning, who’s to argue Ijaz doesn’t fit right in here as well?Come to Think of it

Damien Wright: 'You've got to be able to throw a few curveballs at the other teams, get ahead of the game'

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The Punjab Kings’ bowling coach talks about their newest recruits, finding balance in their attack, and their objectives for this IPL

Interview by Varun Shetty08-Apr-2021Damien Wright’s coaching has taken him all around the world, but this year will be his first at the IPL, as bowling coach for the Punjab Kings. He talks about his approach to analytics, and working with fellow-Australian IPL debutants Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson.Are you generally a coach who uses a lot of analytics and data?
If it’s at your disposal, I think it’s very important. I don’t think it’s for all coaches and all players, but for me, I like to make a lot of notes, and take a lot of data down. It just helps you to look at areas to improve, and also what sort of attack we’re going to have. We’ve got some good options, so it allows you to go, “Oh at this ground we can go this way” and whatnot. So it is very useful.Is death bowling one of those key areas? Only the Rajasthan Royals had a worse record in the death overs last season.
Last year, in Abu Dhabi, it was a little bit different in regards to conditions. We’re back in India now, and we have one of the greatest bowlers in the world, Mohammed Shami, in our team, who’s very helpful with that sort of information. It can help new [players like] Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson, [to know] about grounds and things like that. But yeah it was an area we had to improve, and it’s certainly no secret what we’re trying to do in our training. We’re also going to have options, with the two I just mentioned and Chris Jordan’s been such a fantastic cricketer for a number of years now. He’s also got so much experience in that area and will probably take a major role in that.Related

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As a coach are you partial to fast bowlers?
() Yeah I have to say I probably am, a little bit.I do love working with the spinners. It’s such a great thing to experience over here, working with legspin, offspin, all of that. You see the ball move so much more in India than it does in my home conditions in Australia. I’ve had some great chats already with M Ashwin. [Ravi] Bishnoi is a young and enthusiastic guy who bowls a bit different to Ashwin – so it’s learning as you go with that stuff. But we’ve got Anil Kumble [director of cricket operations] here as a coach, so I think if I need to talk to anyone about some areas of spin bowling, I’ve probably got the best in the business to help me out.You’ve been coaching for about ten years now. Have you coached in these conditions before? What are the challenges, especially with fast bowling?
I’ve come over and played a few times in India but I’ve also coached in the Champions League Trophy in 2014, with Hobart Hurricanes. I was head coach at the time, and we had a pretty successful campaign – we made it through to the last four and KKR knocked us out. It certainly is challenging, with fast bowling in particular. I think the ball in conditions here can swing a lot up front, at night, in humidity, so that’s something we’ve got to really utilise as a weapon.Mohammad Shami (right) and Ravi Bishnoi (left) were the top two wicket-takers for the Punjab Kings last season with 20 and 12 apiece, while Chris Jordan picked up nine•BCCIBut the other difficult part is a lot of dew. That is very common over here. We’ve trained at night a couple of times and you can already see how wet the ball gets and how difficult it is sometimes for the bowlers to hold it. They’re the little challenges for the pace bowlers.You played a fair bit of T20 towards the back end of your career. T20 looks a lot different these days. What does a modern coach in this format have to do to evolve?
I don’t look at it like it’s really hard. It’s exciting, the game’s evolving all the time. I think we’re seeing so many different [versions] of even the shorter formats, you know? You’ve got the ten-over [T10] competition in Dubai, and The Hundred about to begin over in England. You’ve got to come up with your message and your styles and things that are going to work for you.Funnily enough, we had a chat with Anil at training yesterday and we had a game situation, centre-wicket if you like, and the good old yorker is still a pretty good delivery. The game might be getting shorter and changing more, but if you can show that you can execute your skills when you’re put in those situations, it’s pretty much all it comes down to.What makes the ideal T20 bowler?
It can be broken down to the key areas of the game. There’s bowlers that are really fired up in the powerplay – that’s a very difficult time to bowl. Through the middle you’ve got your allrounders generally and spin bowlers that are able to hold things [together]. And the death, that’s the part where you have to have the execution on song, to be able to nail yorkers, or if you’ve got a very good slower bouncer, to get that right. It’s such a game of chess as it goes down.Ideally you’ve got to have somebody like Shami up front, swinging the new ball. And Jhye, specifically in those areas where the ball moves through the air. I think it’s really important to swing the new ball. In the middle you can have some good-quality spinners. Someone like Riley for us is a fantastic addition, to have that raw pace and to be able to take wickets. It’s really important to take wickets at every phase. And then at the end you want the best yorker bowler – [Lasith] Malinga, who’s unbelievable, has shown us how to do it over so many years. Somebody like that, ideally, in your perfect team.I can’t quite explain the exact bowler that I want – probably want about four of them! They’re all a little about those specific skills, if you know what I mean.From a coaching perspective, how do you train for something like that? Do bowlers specifically train for the phases they’re good at?
You still have your good old-fashioned nets, for people to get ready to play the game. We’re very lucky with the set-up we have over here to prepare our players. Plenty of wickets – there’s centre wickets, there’s tired wickets, all sorts of stuff. You have a big group of people you’re training with, and specific training sessions as well. We’ve done a lot of game scenarios, different set-ups – chasing, defending – depending on what it is.Arshdeep Singh played eight of 14 IPL matches for the Punjab Kings last year, taking nine wickets. Wright thinks he has a “huge future” ahead of him•BCCIWhat you really want is for them all to be able to bowl in those periods when required, or needed. It’s not just, you know, someone’s going to play a part up front and that’s it. It might be a key area that you’re very good at [bowling at the start], and we’re going to improve you through the middle and at the end, if that’s the case, or the other way round. If you’re able to do that, then you can have a very balanced attack going into your tournament and you can throw the ball to anyone at any given time.The other teams are analysing your [attack] as well, so you’ve got to be able to throw a few curveballs, get ahead of the game a little bit and try to upset their rhythm and hang on as long as you can in a 20-over match.Is it hard getting that sort of a rapport when it’s a short tournament?
Yeah it is, but at the IPL you’re mixing with the best in the world. And they’re all so used to being in these environments now, in this format, and going from one to the other. And what I’ve seen so far in training has been absolutely brilliant. They’ve come out of Test matches against England into one-dayers… just seeing the great players come back, they’re more than capable of going from format to format within a day or a night. It’s quite impressive. Richardson and Meredith are first-timers. Richardson is potentially going to lead the attack in his first season in the IPL.
It’s good, it’s healthy competition too. In the auction they [the management] did a marvellous job in regards to where they needed a bit of strike power, and support for Shami. He was sort of the sole man last year, did an awesome job and you know he’s going to perform for you throughout this tournament. He just needs a bit of support from other fast bowlers to help him and I thought the two signings were terrific.I know Riley really well. Jhye I’ve seen progress through the Big Bash to play for Australia. So he’s going to bring great skills. I think the conditions here are going to suit both of them. I’m keen to see how they go, because I think they’ll really shine in this tournament.Could you tell us a bit about both of them, starting with Richardson?
What’s really good about Jhye is that in specific roles for the teams he plays with – certainly with the [Perth] Scorchers, and he’s done a bit of it with Australia as well – he bowls the really tough overs. He’s asked to bowl up front with the new ball, then he’s asked to bowl in the different powerplays [in the BBL] – he’s bowling one of those overs already, and then he comes back and bowls one at the death. And his numbers are exceptional for somebody who has to do that every game. He knows his role and is able to execute. But he does swing the ball both ways, and that’s a hell of a weapon to have. He’s got a terrific slower ball and when he wants to bowl a bouncer, it’s a pretty good one. We’re really grateful and lucky that we’ve got him.Jhye Richardson was the BBL’s leading wicket-taker of the 2020-21 season. “He’s got a terrific slower ball and when he wants to bowl a bouncer, it’s a pretty good one,” Wright says•Getty Images Meredith is probably thought of as a tearaway fast bowler. Does he have a lot of variations?
I’ve known Riley a long time. I coached him from his rookie seasons back when I was in Tasmania, and he was always destined to play at the highest level. It was very exciting to see a young fast bowler coming through the Tassie ranks – he was fast and had plenty of skill.It’s been done really well back in Tassie, how they actually progressed his cricket. He was well managed from the very start by Stewart Williamson, who is a great physio back at home. And that’s paid off beautifully for Riley and he’s doing really well, not just for the [Hobart] Hurricanes but for Australia. His tour of New Zealand was outstanding.He bowls at a good pace. He really knows one way, which is to attack. That’s probably one of the areas we’ll talk to him about, on what we’re going to do at the death or if he does bowl up front. He’s pretty comfortable doing so, but it’s probably the end of the innings where he’s going to have to work a little bit harder. But he brings so much in regards to exactly what we wanted, which is a bit of firepower.What are the other strengths of this bowling unit?
The best way to describe this unit is, it’s versatile, very flexible. A lot of options, a lot of different ways we could go about things, and I think that’s the first time – certainly over the last couple of years – that we’ve been able to do that. There’s a chance to go all-out, strike with fast bowling, or to pull it back with spin options with an allrounder.It’s a well-balanced attack. [Apart from the] two we talked about [Richardson and Riley], there’s also Chris Jordan, who’s such a dynamic fielder, can hit the ball out of the ground late in the innings and also bowl a fantastic yorker. I’m really excited about the different ways we could go with our attack, supporting our No. 1 man Shami up front.You also have guys like Arshdeep Singh and Ishan Porel. Who from the domestic bunch has impressed you?
Arshdeep has just arrived; he was in quarantine for a while. But I had a centre-wicket bowl with him, just him and I, last night, and mate, he was fantastic. I think having a left-armer in your attack is also a big tick. I’m really impressed already with the one or two sessions we’ve had so far – he’s got a huge future ahead of him.Riley Meredith was “always destined to play at the highest level”•Getty ImagesI think Ishan as well, we’ve had a good week together and he’s a terrific young fella who is keen to do well. You want people, young kids, who are really willing to work hard to get there. He’s bowled with good pace at training so far, good aggression.And Darshan [Nalkande], he’s a quality little allrounder. He’s another one who’s a bit hungry. You can tell from his eyes he’s keen to play, and if his opportunity comes, I know that he’ll grab it as well. Those three in particular have been great to work with.Would you say the fast bowlers are going to be carrying a major part of Punjab’s bowling this season?
It’s a hard one. We’re stacked in that regard – we’ve got a quality pace attack now, with all the guys we’ve mentioned. That’s actually quite a nice place to be. But watching our legspinners bowl – I’ve taken the mitt to them – they’ve had terrific tournaments last year, both Bish and Ashwin. So we’ve got some quality spinners as well. I wouldn’t say we’re certainly going to go all pace. We can play to any conditions, and we’ve got a nice, balanced attack to choose from.What would a successful season look like for you, personally, in your first time here?
Every team comes here wanting to win. So that is the benchmark. But for us, success would certainly be to make the semi-finals, the last four. I think they were unlucky last year to miss out by a game. And you can tell they’re really hungry to make amends for that.I think that’s great – to experience a little bit of disappointment and then to do what they’ve done in the auction and get it right. I think we’re going to see some exciting times from the Punjab Kings. I believe that’s where we want to go first. We want to get into that last four, and that would, for me, be the bare minimum that we want to achieve. And then, from there, let’s hope we can create a bit of history.Have you ever worked with anyone on this staff before?
I’ve had a little bit to do with Andy Flower over the years, crossed paths with him. I’ve never with Andy before but we know each other well, so that was handy. It’s always nice to have somebody you’re familiar with. But I can say that getting involved with this team and this group, feels like I’ve known these guys for a long time. So that’s credit to Anil and his staff, and all the players we have here.

A field of dreams for Sohaib Maqsood

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

An international recall and tournament-winning innings on the same day continued a remarkable resurgence

Danyal Rasool25-Jun-2021A security guard saluted before the rusty metal gate creaked open, and the traffic barrier moved aside to let the SUV pass. We were ushered through several acres of private farmland and then it came into view: a field with the grass cut very short. Clearly, this patch of land wasn’t meant to grow any kind of crop.It was a full-sized cricket ground, and the host was an influential local businessman in Multan clearly eager to show off his pride and joy. A 40-over game was underway, a number of the cricketers were seasoned veterans of the Pakistan domestic scene in search of a game while the 2020 edition of the Pakistan Super League was underway. This was weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic brought world sport – and much else – to a standstill, and while we idly lazed about the ground watching the game, the businessman said something that stood out. “Sohaib Maqsood plays here from time to time,” he beamed proudly.You couldn’t help wonder what Maqsood might have made of his career as he enjoyed a casual hit at this ground. Unlike the players we were watching, Maqsood was a Pakistan international who had played 46 white-ball internationals for Pakistan, someone whose exploits had been witnessed by crowds at the Wanderers and the Gabba, Eden Park and Sharjah. It was difficult not to feel that while Maqsood’s presence here might be a feather in the businessman’s cap, the reverse was very much not true. Maqsood playing here – it just didn’t fit.It’s everything he’s done in the time since that explains why it sounded out of place. On a whirlwind day that saw him called up to the national side in fortuitous circumstances for the first time in five years, Maqsood smashed 65 off 35 balls in the PSL final, leading his native Multan Sultans to their first title.Related

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He came out to bat around the halfway mark, but it was his presence in the dugout that allowed Shan Masood and Mohammad Rizwan to spend the first eight overs anchoring their way through an innings that really should have taken off by then. Rizwan was struggling for rhythm while Masood managed just four runs off his first eleven deliveries, and by the numbers, Peshawar Zalmi were well on top at that stage, having stifled the openers during the Powerplay.But there’s a reason Sultans’ openers bat the way they do, why they have more 50-plus partnerships than any other franchise all season. They can afford to be cautious in the Powerplay because when they look across to the dug-out Maqsood is padded up, raring to go in the form of his life. Only two batters have more runs in the tournament, with no one in the top seven matching his strike rate.

For a player who, on his day looks like everything comes easy to him, Maqsood knows of the grind that follows when runs dry up, the phone stops ringing and relationships sour

Few of his team-mates need to take risks because Maqsood will take more than his fair share, all without looking like he is. And when he came in to replace Masood in the ninth over, he delivered what he had promised he would: a big fat strike rate.Maqsood and Rilee Rossouw combined for a 98-run partnership that came in 44 balls, pushing what appeared to be a 170-run target to one in excess of 200. Maqsood set things going by clobbering 17 off Wahab Riaz in a glorious innings that showcased the full range of his shotmaking ability. There was the mid-off punch off the Zalmi captain that got things going, and the hoick over midwicket which tends to travel the furthest distance. There were wristy drives, and paddles past fine leg. And the magnum opus, the inside out drive over extra cover for six he appears to execute with perfection against pace and spin with equal effortlessness.This was the player that drew breathless comparisons to Inzamam-ul-Haq when he first put on Pakistan colours in 2013. He excited Pakistan supporters because he seemed to be everything they lacked in T20 cricket, a power hitter who doubled as a quality batter. Now he finds himself on a plane to England and the West Indies for two T20I series ahead of the T20 World Cup as Pakistan continue to search for a big hitter up top. The changes in Pakistan cricket can be hard to keep track of, but some things really do always stay the same.

Not for Maqsood they don’t, though. This was a player who was unofficially written off by Pakistan, consigned to the burgeoning scrapheap of talent cast aside for a great diversity of reasons. There were rumours about discontent with his attitude, while several coaches and selectors were understood to be less than impressed by the care he was taking of his body. “Fitness issues” became the catch-all explanation for his exclusion, with Pakistan appearing resigned to having lost him for good.But in the past year, from being hidden away in private grounds behind barricaded metal gates, Maqsood was surfacing once more. Picked for the Southern Punjab side in the National T20 Cup, he had a blast, finishing third in the runs charts, his strike-rate of 167.94 superior to anyone in the top five. It included a barmy chase that saw Maqsood at his magnificent best as he smashed a 29-ball 81 as his side ran down a chase of 166 in 10.4 overs to qualify for the final. The PSL draft was weeks away, and, as it was on the pitch, Maqsood’s timing couldn’t be better.”I took a break from red-ball cricket and worked on my skills,” Maqsood said after being named the Player of the Match in the final. “Form plays a big role, though, because when you’re in form, your mind works better and you make more assured decisions. I don’t want to do anything different in England and West Indies, and just keep repeating what has made me successful here. I want to take responsibility and hopefully the results will follow.”Maqsood has never been to England with the Pakistan side, but that’s not just why the tour that follows feels somewhat like the start of a new career for the 34-year old. 2016, the last time he played international cricket, feels a world away, especially so in Pakistan cricket. For a player who, on his day looks like everything comes easy to him, Maqsood knows of the grind that follows when runs dry up, the phone stops ringing and relationships sour.Much more significantly, he understands what it takes to scrap his way back, spending time in gyms and obscure cricket grounds no one gets to see. All for nights like these, when you can hardly look anywhere else. How’s that for attitude?

Australia ace their balancing act as David Warner, Aaron Finch cut loose

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Fifth-bowler gamble gives openers confidence to go for their shots from outset

Matt Roller28-Oct-2021Australia made a significant change to their strategy on the eve of the T20 World Cup, confirming their intentions to move away from picking five specialist bowlers and instead back their allrounders to cover off four overs between them.The move appeared to work well in their opening game of the tournament against South Africa: Glenn Maxwell took 1 for 24 in his four overs before Matthew Wade finished things off with an unbeaten cameo of 15 off 10 balls from No. 7. Justin Langer, their head coach, said it had been “a very, very difficult selection” and hinted the balance could change later in the competition, but they remained unchanged against Sri Lanka.In their second game, by contrast, their batting-heavy strategy came under pressure. Sri Lanka’s batters were ruthless: Charith Asalanka demonstrated their desire to take down the ‘fifth’ bowler by slog-sweeping Maxwell’s first ball for six, and all told, Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis leaked 51 runs between them in four wicketless overs.Watch cricket live on ESPN+

Sign up for ESPN+ and catch all the action from the Men’s T20 World Cup live in the US. Match highlights of Australia vs Sri Lanka is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).

The flipside was that the cushion of an extra batter allowed Australia’s top order to play more aggressively, as evidenced by Aaron Finch and David Warner taking 63 runs off the six Powerplay overs; while Mitchell Marsh, Stoinis and Wade were not required with the bat, the top order could go harder as a consequence of their presence in the middle order.”It does [allow us to go harder],” Warner said in his post-match press conference. “It’s dictated by the wickets we’re playing on as well. You’re going to have to have those runners in the middle, especially when you come up against an attack with three spinners like we did today. You’ve got to have that balance so you can go hard at the top and then mix it around in the middle. We’ve got some firepower.”Warner pointed to Maxwell’s success in Australia’s opening game as evidence that their batting-heavy strategy could work. He also hinted that the pitch for their next fixture on Saturday night against England could have “more bounce and carry”, though it remains to be seen if that will lead to a shift in their balance.”If you look at Maxi last game, he obviously did a good job,” Warner said. “These are the match-ups that happen. This happens in a game of Twenty20. Either way, you’re going to have to pick one of them.”For us to have that all-round option as well with Mitch Marsh, Maxi and Stoin – we know they’re not specialist bowlers, but they do a job and they do a great one. These wickets at the moment – I think the other one we’re playing on looks like it’s going to have a bit more bounce and carry and come on nice. This wicket was a tad slow.”It’s about identifying with Finchy, when he’s out there, which bowlers you want to go with. They [Maxwell and Stoinis] did go for a little bit tonight together, but we’re not too worried at all.”

Can MS Dhoni help Virat Kohli clinch elusive global title in T20I captaincy swansong?

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Will the team management risk playing Hardik Pandya as a specialist batter?

Nagraj Gollapudi19-Oct-2021Big pictureThe T20 World Cup will be Virat Kohli’s last in the format as India captain, and also the farewell campaign for Ravi Shastri as the head coach. The BCCI has already pencilled in Rahul Dravid as the next head coach, but before starting on the succession planning, there’s a World Cup to be won.The seriousness on that front can be seen in the appointment of MS Dhoni as the mentor of the team exclusively for the tournament. In a briefing this week, Kohli welcomed Dhoni’s presence, saying that it would not only boost the morale in dressing room but also have tangible benefits for players, since Dhoni can help with “intricate details of where the game is going” and that everyone can, as a result, “improve by that 1 or 2%”. Dhoni will, therefore, be a part of the think tank, work on the tactics board with Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shastri.Related

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One clear advantage for India, though, is that all the players are accustomed to the conditions in the UAE – last year’s IPL was played there in its entirety, while the second half of the 2021 edition was here there between September and October too. Many of the members of the squad, like KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja and quite a few others have played key roles for their franchises in the UAE in this period, and there is a lot of class all around – the quick men are Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, and there is the quality of R Ashwin and the mystery of Varun Chakravarthy in the spin department.Kohli would want to end his stint as T20I – even T20, for that matter – leader by winning a global tournament. He remains the team’s best batter. He has expressed his pride in creating a legacy that he feels will last long. Now to add some big-time success to that legacy.Recent formSince losing the home series against Australia 2-0 before the 2019 ODI World Cup, India were unbeaten in eight series in a row, till the run came to an end in July when a second-string – and Covid-19-hit – India lost 2-1 in Sri Lanka. But that series allowed India to test their bench strength, which has swelled since 2016, when the last T20 World Cup was played. Since that World Cup, India have played 72 matches and won 45, for a win percentage of 66 – an indicator of their dominance.Is Hardik Pandya good enough to make the XI if he can’t bowl?•BCCIBattingAcceleration in the middle overs is something has been proven to be vital in T20 cricket. Since 2019, England’s run rate in the middle overs has been the best at 8.72 followed by New Zealand (8.62), South Africa (8.25) and Pakistan (8.12). India, who are fifth on this list, have scored at 7.93 in this phase. On paper Suryakumar Yadav or Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, potentially the middle order that will line up, are high-impact batters, but they were far from fluent during the IPL.But with Kohli deciding to bat at No. 3, India will likely have Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul at the top and will hope they provide robust beginnings. These are their three best batters, so expect one of them to aim to play deep into the innings. If they are able to set the pace, then the middle order gets going, followed by Ravindra Jadeja, who will combine with Pandya as the finisher, this is a line-up that can cause severe damage.This batting line-up can also cover-up for any lack of depth, in case India decide to field three spinners.BowlingBy picking four frontline spinners alongside three fast men, India have made it clear that they feel the slower bowlers would make the difference. And it is a good mix too. There is a wristspinner (Rahul Chahar), two experienced fingerspinners (Ashwin and Jadeja), and a mystery spinner (Chakravarthy). Will India be bold enough to adopt a three-spinner strategy then? Unlikely, unless the conditions are like in Sharjah during the latest IPL. Playing three spinners also shrinks India’s batting depth, so Chakravarthy might well be the top pick alongside Jadeja, especially for the middle overs.The other question is, who will be India’s second specialist fast man, with Bumrah the No. 1. Bhuvneshwar has vast experience and skills, but fitness and form have not been his friends. Shami has been one of the most improved seamers in recent years, especially at the death. It could be a happy headache for India.Ravindra Jadeja has been spectacular for India, with ball and bat•Cricket Australia via Getty ImagesPlayer to watchSince 2020, Jadeja has an average of 55.71 and a strike rate of 207.44 with the bat in the death overs in all T20s. Measured in terms of average (at least 150 deliveries in this period), Jadeja’s average is one point behind David Miller (56). In terms of strike rate, Jadeja is behind only AB de Villiers (226.01), Kieron Pollard (223.46) and Andre Russell (208.16). While the power-hitting pair of Pant and Hardik Pandya have struggled for consistency, Jadeja has been a high-impact finisher.Key questionCan Hardik play purely as a batter? He struggled with a back niggle during the second half of the IPL this year, and it is understood that the problem surfaced after he pushed himself hard in training prior to the tournament. Consequently, he missed Mumbai Indians’ first two matches in the second leg and did not bowl for the second IPL in a row. Even with the bat, he had a rough time.While he has retained his spot in India’s 15, will the team management back him to perform as a specialist batter? Not to forget, Hardik did play as a batter last December in Australia and won the Player of the Series award.Likely XI KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (capt), Suryakumar Yadav/Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami/Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Depth, variety give Lucknow Super Giants formidable first XI

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

A lack of bench strength, especially with the bat, could be a weakness over a long season

Sreshth Shah20-Mar-2022Potential first XI1 KL Rahul (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Marcus Stoinis, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Jason Holder, 8 K Gowtham, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Dushmantha ChameeraAvailabilitySigned for INR 7.5 crore at the auction, England quick Mark Wood has been ruled out of the entire season with an elbow injury sustained in the West Indies. The team has named the Australian slower-ball specialist Andrew Tye as his replacement. Marcus Stoinis, Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers are also expected to be available only after the first week of the IPL due to their respective national commitments.BattingQuinton de Kock can be aggressive in the powerplay and can play the long innings too. But whether KL Rahul chooses to anchor or go all-out is the big question.Related

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With Manish Pandey, who has gone a strike rate of 127.52 in the last three IPL seasons, likely to slot in at No. 3, Rahul could possibly be the second powerplay attacker alongside de Kock, leaving Pandey to hold one end up if an early wicket falls.In Stoinis and Deepak Hooda, Lucknow Super Giants have players who can attack from ball one, and a left-hand option in Krunal Pandya along with Holder to cap off the batting order gives Super Giants the flexibility to exploit any available match-up. A deep line-up could also allow the likes of Rahul and Pandey to go harder at the top than they did at their earlier franchises, which both suffered from a lack of depth.As the season progresses, and depending on how the team balances out, Stoinis could also open the batting – as he did with Delhi Capitals as a one-off, and has regularly done with Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.But that’s about it for the batting. Beyond the first-choice players, Super Giants lack solid back-up options other than Evin Lewis. He could be a like-for-like switch for de Kock since Rahul can keep wickets. The other choices are Mayers, who has T20 strike rate of 116 and is an unknown IPL quantity, and Manan Vohra, who generally bats at top of the order, an area where Super Giants are well-stocked.ESPNcricinfo LtdBowlingSuper Giants’ bowling options might make other teams envious. They have eight bowlers in their potential first XI. Avesh Khan and Dushmantha Chameera bring pace, Holder offers control and poses problems with his high release point, Stoinis bowls cutters that can be useful at the death, and there is a smorgasbord of spin options with wristspinner Ravi Bishnoi, offspinner K Gowtham, left-arm spinner Krunal and the part-time offbreaks of Hooda.Beyond the first XI, Indian quick Ankit Rajpoot is a like-for-like replacement for the Sri Lankan Chameera, in case Super Giants want to bring in an extra overseas batter like Lewis or Mayers. Tye’s pace variations, meanwhile, make him a useful option on slower pitches.Shahbaz Nadeem is another experienced left-arm spin option, while left-arm seamer Mohsin Khan from Uttar Pradesh, who has spent considerable time with Mumbai Indians, could offer something different. He has an impressive average of 19.33 and an economy rate of 7.08 in 26 T20 games.Ravi Bishnoi, who has now made his India debut, was the emerging player of the tournament in IPL 2020•BCCIYoung player to watch out forAt 21, wristspinner Bishnoi is the most exciting young prospect in the team, and one who has a realistic chance of being a regular in the XI. He was given a massive boost of confidence after being retained pre-auction for INR 4 crore, and is now part of India’s T20I squad too, and won the Player-of-the-Match award on international debut.Last season, he went for 25 runs or fewer – in four-over spells – in six of his seven outings for Punjab Kings, and his quick-arm mix of predominantly googlies with the odd legbreak thrown in makes him hard to put away. He attacks the right-handers’ stumps, and uses his wrong’un to make left-handers reach for the ball and take the leg side out of the equation.Bishnoi was the emerging player of the tournament in IPL 2020, his first season, and is a livewire on the field.Coaching staffAndy Flower (head coach), Vijay Dahiya (assistant coach), Gautam Gambhir (mentor) and Andy Bichel (bowling coach)Poll

Mar 25 The piece was updated after Andrew Tye was named as Mark Wood’s replacement.

IPL set for blockbuster media rights deal for 2023-27 cycle

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Bidding will be held via e-auction for the first time. Disney Star, Sony, Reliance are among the bidders in the fray

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Jun-2022When is the e-auction?
The IPL has decided to carry out the bidding for the first time via the e-auction. It is scheduled to start at 11am IST in Mumbai on Sunday, June 12. There is no end date and the IPL has kept the option open for the e-auction spilling over into the next day(s). The auction will carry on until the bids are exhausted.What is the shelf life of the rights?
The rights cycle spans for five IPL seasons: from 2023 to 2027.What is an e-auction?
In an e-auction, bids are filed by companies through an online portal. Unlike a close-bid auction process, which the IPL followed in 2017, in an e-auction, potential companies file incremental bids till the other competitors drop out. The highest bidder left gets awarded the ownership of the rights.How will the e-auction work?
The highest bids across categories will be flashed live simultaneously on screen. The potential bidders will need to file the highest amount they would want to pay (per match) for each package. The names of the bidders will not be revealed so as to ensure rivals cannot bump up prices.How many packages are there?
There are four packages: A, B, C and D. Package A consists solely of TV rights for the Indian subcontinent only. Package B caters to digital rights only and exclusively for the Indian subcontinent. Package C contains digital rights for a special bouquet of matches, including the playoffs, for the Indian subcontinent only. Package D, which comprises rights for the Rest of the World for both TV and digital, is divided into two sub-categories: combined ROW or five individual regions.What matches comprise Package C?
Package C comprises ‘Special Package’ matches. The number of matches in this package, the IPL has said, will vary depending on the total number of matches in the season. If the IPL comprises 74 matches (like IPL 2022), the Special Package will have 18 matches. If there are more than 74 matches in a season, then the Special Package matches will rise in steps of two for every additional 10 matches. So if there are 84 matches in a season, then the Special Package matches will be 20 and if the tournament has 94 games, then the Special Package will have 22 matches. The IPL has also pointed out that in case the season comprises less than 74 matches, the number of games in the Special Package will be determined proportionally.This Special Package includes: the tournament opener, weekend evening matches, and the four playoffs, including the final. While the opening match and the playoffs will be mandatory, the IPL will determine the number and which of the evening matches from the double-headers will be included, based on the total number of games in a season.How does the bidding process work?
Each of the four packages has a separate per match base price. Bidders will need to list their quote on a per match basis. Once the highest bid is determined for individual packages, the cumulative base price amount for five years will be calculated.*What is the base price per match for each package?For Package A the per match base price is INR 49 crore (USD 6.3 million approx.). For Package B it is INR 33 crore (USD 4.2 million approx.) per match. For Package C it is INR 16 crore (USD 2.05 million approx.) per match. For Package D it is INR 3 crore (USD 390,000 approx.) per match. So the cumulative base price for Package A will be: 74 x 49 crore x 5 (seasons) = 18,130 crore (USD 2.33 billion approx). For Package B the base price will be INR 12,210 crore (USD 1.57 billion approx). For Package C the base price will be INR 1440 crore (USD 184.3 million) if the number of matches is 74 per season. For Package D it will be INR 1,110 crore (USD 142.8 million approx).Will all packages go up for bidding simultaneously?
Bids for Packages A and B will be submitted together. Once the winning bids for both packages are determined, bids will be submitted simultaneously for C and D.Can you bid for more than one package?
Yes, a bidder can contest for different packages. However, the winners of Packages A and B will have additional bidding advantages. The winner of Package A can enter into a bidding contest with the highest bidder for Package B (explained below) and the winner of Package B can similarly get into a bidding contest with the highest bidders for Packages C and D.The IPL has given the incentive for winners of individual categories to match the winning bids for different packages. For example, the Package A winner will get the automatic choice to offer a bid more than the highest bid for Package B within a stipulated time. The winner of Package A and the highest bidder for Package B will then lock themselves into a contest until a winner is determined.This will be followed by bidding for Package C. The winner of Package B will have the right to offer a bid more than the highest bid for Package C and both parties will then enter another contest by pitching incremental bids. Similarly, the winner of Package B can also tussle with the highest bidder for Package D.Who are the major bidders?
All the major broadcasting giants, including Disney Star, Sony, Zee and Viacom are in the fray along with Reliance.How much were the rights worth in the last cycle?
In 2017 Star India paid a record sum of INR 16,347.5 crore (US$ 2.55 billion approx. then) to bag the IPL rights for five years (2018-22). It was the biggest media rights deal in cricket and was 158% more than the amount paid for previous IPL rights cycle. Star had won the IPL rights on the basis of its global consolidated bid which was INR 528.5 crore (only 3.34%) more than the sum of all the highest bids for each category (INR 15,819.51 crore).
*July 11, GMT 1430 This story was updated with new base price per match for each broadcast package

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