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With lively pace, pinpoint yorkers and an appetite to learn, Basil Thampi has already caught many eyes in his young professional career

Akshay Gopalakrishnan26-Jul-2017April 18, 2017. Gujarat Lions are being battered by Royal Challengers Bangalore on their home turf, in Rajkot. Desperate for a breakthrough, Suresh Raina turns to 23-year-old Basil Thampi. The Kerala fast bowler is in his debut season. He has had a decent first spell, but now has the unenviable task of running in to a marauding Chris Gayle.His second ball is a searing yorker. Gayle tries to dig it out, but it sneaks through and misses leg stump. It spurs Thampi on. The follow-up delivery is another dart, flush on Gayle’s toes. He tries to flick but the ball curves in and pins him in front of the stumps. Thampi has his first IPL wicket, and it’s of a man who, less than an hour ago, had become the first to 10,000 runs in T20 cricket.Thampi would go on to take ten more wickets in the tournament. He finished as Lions’ second-highest wicket-taker and one of their finds in a disappointing season. It was with the yorker that he left a mark. Thampi bowled 23 of them during the IPL, second only to Lasith Malinga.A month after his IPL exploits, he was picked in India A’s limited-overs squad to tour South Africa.While that wicket of Gayle remains his most cherished one from the season, Thampi remembers especially fondly both of Lions’ matches against Mumbai Indians. In the first, at the Wankhede, he landed six inch-perfect yorkers against Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard, including in the slog overs of a tense chase. Then, in Rajkot, he bounced back from a 13-run first over to finish with 3 for 29, including two wickets in the 19th over, to take the match into the Super Over.

“What I enjoyed the most about him is that most of the time, you could see him in the present. He is not into ifs and buts”Monty Desai, Lions’ performance coach, on Thampi

Thampi created an impression during the Lions’ pre-season camp with his boldness to experiment, his keenness to ask questions, and his enthusiasm in approaching tasks. He honed his craft with Heath Streak, the bowling coach, by placing a coin in front of the stumps and trying to hit it.It was at a private camp in Bengaluru, a few months before the auction, that he caught the discerning eye of Monty Desai, Lions’ performance coach. Desai had already heard about Thampi’s pace from Sanju Samson, who also plays for Kerala, when the two worked together at Rajasthan Royals. Lions’ management had identified death-overs bowling as the biggest area of concern for the side, and to Desai, Thampi looked an asset.”Basil brings 100% intent in execution over his spell,” Desai says. “You see how players are able to rise to the occasion, and I thought Thampi was able to do that for Kerala. So many times you felt that the game was gone and his spell made a difference to the team.”He’s got hit for six off many of those yorkers in the IPL, but there was an effort that batsmen had to take to hit him because they could not take him lightly. I thought the slower ball and yorker skill was something special, and at the pace at which he bowls, it added up as a good complement.”Desai had had a glimpse of Thampi during the televised games of the inter-zonal T20 league. “At that point, myself and Hodgie [Brad Hodge] were just online, discussing pretty much every ball of his. One of the things you’re looking for is whether a player is a good student of the game. He is constantly looking to improve himself.Thampi has been a reliable performer for Kerala in domestic cricket•BCCI”What I enjoyed the most about him is that most of the time, you could see him in the present. He is not into ifs and buts. That gives a lot of confidence to the captain as well; he’s a captain’s bowler.”

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February 20, 2017. The day of the auction was a special one for Thampi for more than the obvious reasons. He had clocked 140-plus in South Zone matches, and word had spread to the Indian camp. Ahead of the first Test in Pune, Thampi received a call to join the team’s net session to help them prepare for the visiting Australians’ pace attack.”The video analyst told me, ‘Basil, you have been picked by Gujarat Lions for 85 lakhs’, and I was like, ‘Woo,'” he says with a laugh. The sum was over eight times his base price.Thampi comes from a small town called Iringole, near Perumbavoor in Kerala, where his father runs a small business selling chips. His initiation into leather-ball cricket came rather late, when he was 16. Growing up in a state that is known for its fondness for football, Thampi grew up playing that sport. It wasn’t until he watched a cricket match at a local ground that he made contact with Vishwajit Prasad, who was running the Perumbavoor Cricket Club.”Two days before a league game, they rolled out a mat in our ground. It was very green, which made me just want to go there and bowl,” he says.

“He told me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t let the pace drop.’ That is something I have been carrying through my career”Thampi on Jeff Thomson’s advice

Thampi’s wish was fulfilled when he was invited by Vishwajit to bowl, and he immediately impressed the coach by generating bounce. Asked if he was interested in playing cricket, Thampi said yes. “He gave me shoes and a uniform. The league was starting and I took five wickets in the first match and finished as the top wicket-taker in that tournament.”Having started out playing Under-16 and Under-17 district matches, Thampi had worked his way up to the Under-19s when he started harbouring ambitions of playing for Kerala. He got there, but somewhere along the way, he was lured into walking away from the grind of sport and settling down. At 19, Thampi, playing for Swantons in Ernakulam South, sought the security of a steady income and a normal life. He did not believe cricket could provide for him and his family, and decided that he wanted to move to Dubai and start working.It took an hour-long counselling session from CM Deepak, the Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman, who referred him to Tinu Yohannan, the former India fast bowler. “He [Deepak] said to give it two more years and then do whatever you want,” Thampi says.Thampi worked with Yohannan in Chennai for about three months. He then received a call from Kerala to play in practice matches, and subsequently made it to the senior T20 team.The time in Chennai also included a fruitful stint at the MRF Pace Academy, where he was under the eyes of Glenn McGrath and M Senthilnathan, the chief coach. “Because I came from tennis-ball cricket, with my body alignment, it was difficult to bowl,” he explains. “They didn’t touch my action that much because I naturally have pace. So what they did was correct my body alignment, running technique, and I also improved my fitness.”Not all about pace: Thampi bowls a slower ball•BCCIThampi also had an encounter with Jeff Thomson during the ten-day camp. “He told me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t let the pace drop.’ That is something I have been carrying through my career, because whether it was Thomson, Tinu Yohanan, McGrath or Senthilnathan, they all told me the same thing, which was to not compromise on pace.”Thampi still works with Yohannan, trying to learn how to swing the ball, which he admits he needs to do to succeed in first-class cricket.The IPL contract has meant Thampi has seen big money fairly early in his career, but the virtues inculcated by a middle-class upbringing have helped him stay grounded. “Whatever amount I got was okay. The main thing for me was that I wanted to play. I got a good team and good team-mates. I come from a very village-type family. My friends are all from very middle-class families. No one is very rich or very poor. They are all very grounded people. I am also like that.””I think,” he adds after a pause.Thampi is also a self-admittedly shy man. But for as long as he’s on the field and has a ball in his hand, he certainly won’t be shying away from dishing out those toe-crushers.

Seventeen-year old Mumbai opener becomes just the second batsman after Smriti Mandhana to notch up a double-hundred in women’s Under-19 cricket in India

Annesha Ghosh in Aurangabad06-Nov-2017Seventeen-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues, the Mumbai U-19 captain, smashed an unbeaten 202 in the league-phase Inter-State women’s Under-19 one-day tournament on Sunday. In doing so, she became only the second player – after Maharashtra and India opener Smriti Mandhana – to notch up a double-hundred in an Under-19 fixture.While Rodrigues’ 163-ball blitz against Saurashtra at the Aurangabad District Cricket Association Ground steered her side to a 285-run victory on Sunday, her 148-ball 178 in Mumbai’s tournament-opener on earlier in the week handed Gujarat a 262-run drubbing at the same venue.Although Saurashtra, much like Gujarat, comprise one of the weakest attack of the five teams in the West Zone, Rodrigues, Mumbai’s opener, weathered an opening burst of short-ball bowling from the opposition captain Tanya Rao. Rodrigues negated the offensive with well-calculated pulls or by taking evasive action. Having set herself up, she plundered runs down the ground on her way to a 300-run second-wicket stand with Sejal Raut.”More than anything, I am happy that I got with my mom and dad around. But there’s more to be done in the crunch games,” Rodrigues told ESPNcricinfo. Her parents Ivan and Lavita often travel to watch her play. Another man, who would’ve been proud of the knock, is Tushar Arothe, the India women head coach, who was present at the venue.The Mumbai Under-19 team pose for a photograph•ESPNcricinfo LtdRodrigues dabbled in football and basketball at school. She is also a national-level hockey player. Playing multiple sports have required her to be agile and supremely fit, a factor that has been key to her heavy run-scoring ways in difficult conditions.Her fitness has aided her running between the wickets and the ability to sustain herself through a long innings. It complements her self-assured approach to the new ball and her natural ability to time the ball. “I see my game suited to that of an opener in whichever team I play for,” she said. “I plan out my innings in terms of boundaries. So if I hit 10 of them in say 30-40 balls, I know I’ve got my fifty, and that way, a hundred too.”Rodrigues made her U-19 debut at the age of 12-and-a-half during the 2012-13 season. Two years later, she broke into the Mumbai senior team. Now, she’s the vice-captain in both the one-day and T20 formats. The 2016-17 zonals, she recounts, was an “eye-opener of sorts”, for the importance of improving her fitness hit her hard and prompted an immediate enrollment at the gym.”I realised the difference between the seniors’ fitness and mine. If I have to be in the Indian team, nobody’s going to see if I’m 17 or 25. It’s only my performance that will speak for me, so my fitness has to be at par with the best.”If facing “experienced bowlers” at the NCA camp in October – for players on the selectors’ radar for the India A series – was a “huge confidence-booster”, Rodrigues said her interactions with Arothe were equally enriching. Arothe assisted her in “making a few minute but important technical changes” to her grip and backlift.And now, after clobbering the double-ton under Arothe’s watch, it may not be surprising if she gets to hone her skills under his tutelage, during the upcoming India A series later this month.

Most of the attention on Thursday was on Afghanistan who were making their debut in Test cricket, but the opening batsman demanded his own spotlight

Bharath Seervi14-Jun-2018Most of the attention on Thursday was on Afghanistan who were making their debut in Test cricket, but Shikhar Dhawan demanded his own spotlight, becoming the first Indian batsman, and sixth overall, to score a century before lunch on the first day of a Test match. He joined Victor Trumper, Charles Macartney, Don Bradman, Majid Khan and David Warner in achieving this unique distinction. The first three instances took place before the Second World War, which means Dhawan is only the third player to score 100 in the first session of a Test in last 80 years. He went to lunch on 104 off 91 balls with 19 fours and 3 sixes. He ran only 10 of his runs.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe previous record for highest score by an India batsman in the first session of a Test was 99 runs by Virender Sehwag against West Indies in Gros Islet in 2006. Sehwag occupies three of the top five spots on this list, which is made complete by Farokh Engineer, who scored 94 runs before lunch, also against West Indies, in Chennai in 1966-67.

Habit of hundred in a session
Scoring over 100 runs in a session is nothing new for Dhawan. He did so on debut, against Australia in 2012-13, scoring 106 runs in the second session of the third day. And last year, against Sri Lanka, he smashed 126 runs in the second session of first day in Galle. Only Don Bradman – six times – has scored 100-plus runs in a session on more occasions than Dhawan. Trumper, Wally Hammond and Sehwag have also done it three times.

Dhawan’s rapid big knocks
Dhawan usually plays big knocks at rapid pace. His strike-rate across seven centuries in Test cricket is a staggering 82.79. Among 38 batsmen who have scored five or more centuries since the start of 2013, only Brendon McCullum (84.79) has a higher strike-rate when he makes a century. Overall, only a handful of players have a higher bat quicker when making hundreds: Shahid Afridi (97.67), Adam Gilchrist (96.64), Kapil Dev (91.18), Warner (84.46) and Sehwag (83.49).ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Five ODIs to remember, courtesy Australia and South Africa

Liam Brickhill03-Nov-2018″It’s always interesting when South Africa play against Australia,” said Dale Steyn in the lead-up to the opening ODI of the series between the two teams that begins on Sunday, and he’s largely right. Australia and South Africa have combined to produce classic encounters across all formats, and that’s particularly true in the annals of one-day cricket. They shared in World Cup semi-final, undeniably the greatest World Cup semi to date, going neck and neck in a tie at Edgbaston in 1999. As they gear up for three important ODIs in the lead-up to another World Cup in England 20 years later, we look back at five other times when the fierce competition between them has produced truly absorbing one-day cricket.Getty ImagesMiracle at the Bullring
Seven years after that Edgbaston semi-final came a match that was even more astonishing than its famous forebear. Edgbaston had seen 426 runs and 10 wickets across two innings resulting in the first ever World Cup tie; the first innings at the Wanderers brought a world record 434 runs all on its own, while in the second South Africa buried the ghosts of ’99 to script a scarcely believable victory by one wicket, with one ball to spare, amid a thunderous Bullring atmosphere. Herschelle Gibbs bettered Ricky Ponting’s 164 with the innings of his life, a sublime 175 from 111 balls, but it all came down to the final over, just as it had done at Edgbaston. In a grandstand finish, Brett Lee removed Andrew Hall with just two needed, No. 11 Makhaya Ntini brought the teams level, and Mark Boucher sealed the result with a punch over mid-on.An indoor tie in Melbourne
Amid the novelty of cricket played in winter, under the roof of the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, South Africa and Australia reprised what would become familiar roles with their second tie in six meetings. Indeed, the teams added to their unique shared narrative with what ESPNcricinfo’s match report called “a spectacular result at a spectacular venue on a spectacularly peculiar night of sport in Melbourne”. South Africa reached a respectable 226 for 8 in the first innings, a score underpinned by a typically feisty fifth-wicket stand of 87 between Jonty Rhodes and Mark Boucher. Australia had reached 146 for 2 in the 34th over before Nicky Boje and Lance Klusener sparked South Africa’s fightback with the ball, but the masterstroke was skipper Shaun Pollock’s decision to introduce Andrew Hall as a specialist death bowler as late as the 45th over of the innings. In three overs of unerring accuracy, Hall removed Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan for his first two international wickets and gave away just eight runs. In an electric atmosphere soaked up by the 35,724 people present, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie pinched two fours in the final over but Pollock held his nerve, running Gillespie out off his own bowling and, with two needed off the final ball, denied Australia with a pinpoint yorker. The tie tilted the momentum in the series, and South Africa won the final game by eight runs as, fittingly, the series spoils were shared 1-1.Two years, three ties
South Africa were still hunting their first win of the series going into the third match of five in Potchefstroom in 2002. They seemed to have virtually settled the result when a fired-up Makhaya Ntini nipped out Shane Watson, Andy Bichel and Brett Lee in successive overs and Australia slipped to 223 for 9 in pursuit of the hosts’ 259 for 7, but Jimmy Maher and a 20-year-old Nathan Hauritz brought the teams to yet another pulsating tie – remarkably, their third in a space of just over two years. The pair came together in the 46th over with 37 still required for victory and played with remarkable nerve to set themselves 19 to win off the last two overs and 11 off the last. A high full toss from Jacques Kallis, called no-ball and hit for three by Maher, left Australia needing seven off six balls and five tense tip-and-run singles followed until two were required off the last ball. Maher had paced his innings almost perfectly with 43 from 32, but crucially he was unable to retain the strike for the final delivery. Mark Boucher came up to the stumps but was swiftly sent back by Kallis, who radared in at Hauritz’ toes to keep the teams level once again.Steven Smith comes of age
Heading into the home summer in 2014, Steven Smith was a key player in Australia’s Test side but did not yet have a clear role in the one-day outfit and started the series against South Africa out of the side. An incredible hundred in one of Australia’s finest chases changed all that. Australia had dipped to what was effectively 6 for 98, with Nathan Coulter-Nile’s hamstring injury meaning he was unlikely to bat, when Smith was joined by Matthew Wade at the crease. Together they added 121 for the sixth wicket, reversing the pressure on South Africa. Smith took his team to the brink, and brought up his second ODI hundred, and though he didn’t quite last the distance, South Africa’s 267 for 8 was chased down with an over to spare. Remarkably, this was the first time Australia had beaten South Africa in an ODI at the MCG, Smith ending their jinx and launching his own batting renaissance. Starting from that home summer, Smith averaged 71.46 over the 2014-15 season, and then extended his good run in the years that followed.Hayden’s World-Cup blitzkrieg
South Africa beat Australia in their first ever World-Cup match against them in 1992, but the Australians have otherwise bossed most of their encounters at world tournaments – the Edgbaston tie notwithstanding. At the 2007 World Cup, South Africa went into their group game against Australia having bullied Scotland and Netherlands with displays of power-hitting, but in St Kitts Matthew Hayden gave them a taste of their own medicine. He blitzkrieged a 66-ball hundred – the fastest in World Cup history – as Australia racked up their third 300-plus total in a row, but their aura of invincibility seemed to have been punctured when Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers launched South Africa’s chase with a rollicking 160-run opening stand. Three events halted the frenetic chase: Shane Watson’s throw to run out de Villiers for 92, Jacques Kallis’ laboured effort from No. 3, and the cramps that took the vim out of Smith’s belligerent innings. Chasing Australia’s 377, South Africa had history in their grasp when they rocketed past 200 in the 29th over with just one wicket down, but they collapsed to 294 all out and Australia marched inexorably on to lift the World Cup for the third time in a row. Hayden not only left the ground as the fastest scorer of a World Cup hundred, but he was also granted honorary St Kitts citizenship and a life membership at the Royal St Kitts Golf Club.

The trophy unveiled for the Pakistan-Australia T20I series caught the attention of many. But does it take the biscuit when it comes to cricket trophies?

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2018
Is there a gem of a trophy that we failed to spot? Mail us at [email protected].

A look back at February in cricket tells us everything we need to know about the near future

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Mar-2019The chaos harnessers
Sri Lanka’s greatest results have largely been unexpected. They won the 1996 World Cup as rank outsiders, at a time when their cricket board had less than US$6000 at its disposal. In 2014 they won a World T20 after dropping their captain halfway through the tournament, while simultaneously in the midst of a contracts standoff with their board. This month, arguably their greatest Test series victory ever was achieved despite such a gigantic list of handicaps that it would take the entire word count of this column to list them all.To just dip our toes, though: captain Dinesh Chandimal had been dropped, their best batsman (Angelo Mathews) and three of their top four fast bowlers were injured, and their coach was convinced his bosses were trying to fire him, largely due to a series of humiliating losses.Three months out from the World Cup, Sri Lanka are ranked eighth in ODIs and haven’t won a series in that format since the Triassic, so on the surface it would seem they don’t have much of a chance, right? But what if the selectors and board worked proactively to create as much chaos as possible – something they are already pretty good at? Come the World Cup in June, Chandimal should be repeatedly appointed captain, only to be sacked just before every toss, SLC officials should start fist fights in the president’s boxes, and the coach should be dangled by the feet from the dressing-room balcony for the duration of all of Sri Lanka’s games.ALSO READ: The briefing: How to apologise: a primer for cricketersThese pros ain’t loyal
As if suffering one of the great upsets of all time wasn’t enough for South Africa, they have also now been stabbed in the back by one of their promising talents. Fast bowler Duanne Olivier, who has 48 Test wickets at 19.25, has signed a Kolpak deal with Yorkshire, and will no longer be available for South Africa despite Cricket South Africa having offered him a two-year contract.Olivier seems to have been keen to get a county deal during the UK’s ongoing going-out-of-business sale (aka Brexit), but there is also a beautiful story here. The last time Sri Lanka toured South Africa, it was Kyle Abbott’s Kolpak deal that was revealed mid-series, and it was only then that a spot was freed up in the XI for Olivier to make his Test debut in the match. Could it be that somewhere in South Africa’s domestic system there are other young players busting their guts, week in week out, just yearning for the chance to wear that protea on their chests, just so they can very quickly turn around and deface it as soon as they start getting noticed?South African team: a stepping stone to make it to the big leagues of county cricket•Getty ImagesStrong Yorkshire, strong England
“Strong Yorkshire, strong England,” is an adage that has been more or less incessantly on the lips of generations of Yorkshire fans. It is difficult to tell if this is actually true, but now, as Yorkshire are strengthening themselves by stealing players from other international sides, no one can deny they are at least making England stronger by comparison.That good game lovin’
Spare a thought for Sanath Jayasuriya, who has been banned for two years on the back of corruption-related charges, which he says he accepted “for the love of the sport of cricket”, because fighting the case would have used up valuable ICC resources. It is great to see that he is taking such a principled stance here. Sure, he was accused of making political selections to the national team during two stints as chief selector, was booed out of that job in 2017, and failed to hand over his phone to the ICC’s anti-corruption unit, then got his story mixed up until eventually he was forced to use the “I had sex tapes on that device” defence, but at least he is not the kind of monster who would drive up the ICC’s legal costs.The question
Ahead of England’s first ODI in India, a reporter asked captain Heather Knight “how much confidence [her team] took from the England men” who had won an ODI in Barbados the previous day. Having essentially been asked if her team had a higher chance of winning because a completely separate team won on a different continent, Knight answered: “None at all. We’re here to answer questions about women’s cricket.” Which begs the further question – when can women cricketers expect just the same media treatment as the men? When can they, for example, expect to not have to face insensitive questions, but merely the stupid ones their male counterparts face all the time, such as “Are you disappointed to lose?” and “What do you want to do in this series – win, lose or draw?”Next month on the Briefing
– A county updates its motto. “Strong South Africa. Strong Yorkshire.”- SLC hires arsonist to set dressing room alight during games. “Will really fire up the boys.”

For years now, he has sent mixed messages about his availability for South Africa while turning out for T20 leagues all around the world

Firdose Moonda07-Jun-2019This did not start on the eve of South Africa’s World Cup squad announcement. It did not start at the IPL, when AB de Villiers is supposed to have approached Faf du Plessis with the suggestion of returning to the national side. It did not start with the fallout after the Champions Trophy two years ago, when de Villiers reluctantly let go of the ODI captaincy after du Plessis emerged as a better captaincy option, or even when he took a year-long sabbatical from Test cricket that year. This started seven years ago, in the UK.In Taunton, hours after Mark Boucher suffered the eye injury that ended his career and without consultation with the selectors or anyone else in an administrative capacity back home, the South Africa team camp announced that de Villiers would keep wicket. This seemed a reasonable response to an emergency situation; also South Africa were fortunate that they had someone with de Villiers’ varied skill set to call on. But it was a rushed call and its repercussions are still being felt.ALSO READ: AB de Villiers sought World Cup recall, SA team management said noThe two main learnings that emerged from that decision were about the presence and power of a clique of senior players – which Herschelle Gibbs identified in a biography no one took seriously – and a disregard for the importance of transformation. Thami Tsolekile had been contracted as Boucher’s successor in the lead-up to the tour and arrived eventually, but only to carry drinks. We can analyse the statistical merit of de Villiers over Tsolekile (and it will be a no-contest in de Villiers’ favour) but we also have to look at the bigger picture. In the years after that, South African cricket was forced by its administrators to adhere to targets, most notably in a World Cup semi-final (which affected de Villiers’ deeply) as well as by the country’s government, which could have been avoided had the need to change been embraced earlier.Ultimately, both those events contributed to how de Villiers’ situation with the national team turned out in the years that followed.Some days he wanted to be the next Adam Gilchrist – and he had the ability to be that and more. On others, a chronic back problem prevented him from crouching behind the stumps. Between 2012 and late 2015, when Quinton de Kock took a firm grip on the gloves, de Villiers swayed between wanting to play the dual role of wicketkeeper and key batsman to complaining that he was overburdened and would contemplate early retirement (a story that broke during the Boxing Day Test against England in December 2015). When de Villiers did both jobs, he thrived. He averaged 57.41 when keeping wicket, compared to 50.66 overall. That he could do it was never in doubt; whether he wanted to, whether he felt he needed to, or was forced to, is.Then, there were some days he wanted to captain the side, while on others he was happy being led. De Villiers first threw his unequivocal support behind Hashim Amla when Amla was made Test captain following Graeme Smith’s retirement, and later said in an interview that he had wanted the job. When Amla stepped down a year and a half later and de Villiers was made captain, injury prevented him from leading at first but then he willingly took that sabbatical from Test cricket, which meant he never served as the official, permanently appointed captain. But to his credit, when he saw how du Plessis led the team in Australia in late 2016, he stepped aside, though his desire to be part of a senior group never dimmed.Eventually, there were some days when de Villiers wanted to play and others when he didn’t. Like many players, when he started a family, de Villiers wanted more time off, which was understandable. He also wanted more money, so the IPL was an obvious choice. But then he used some of his rest period to dabble in the CPL while still playing for South Africa in 2016, which sent confusing messages about where his priorities lay.ALSO READ: ‘Decision based on principle; had to be fair to the team’ – CSA selector on turning down de VilliersPlaying international sport at the highest level for more than ten years is tough and de Villiers said so many times. What he never explained was why he found it so much easier to travel to T20 leagues, leaving his young family at home. For that answer, we need to turn to the 2015 World Cup semi-final, where de Villiers was forced to pick a half-fit Vernon Philander in his XI. Of all the players who were let down that day, de Villiers seemed to take it the hardest. That was the World Cup he thought South Africa would win, and he was the one to lead them there.After that incident, de Villiers picked and chose more regularly. After headline-grabbing his way through the England Tests at home in the 2015-16 summer, he opted out of the 2017 Test series against New Zealand and England, which South Africa lost. He came back for a home series against India in 2017-18, and then was the major contributor to a victory in a Test series over Australia, South Africa’s first at home. They may never have achieved that if not for de Villiers.Some days de Villers wanted to lead, other days he was happy to be led•AFPThe combination of frustration with de Villiers for choosing when he wanted to play, and fascination at his ability to justify his choices by performing when he did play became confusing. Should South Africa be angry with him for being selective? Grateful to him for turning up when he did? Accommodating to his needs?It’s difficult to know the right answer because in the middle of all this CSA have also been putting out other fires. The combination of the country’s frail economy and the pressures of their transformation targets took its toll on other players, and a Kolpak exodus saw them lose men who could also be in the World Cup squad today.One of them, Kyle Abbott, walked away, having just established a regular place in the squad. He was at the Hampshire Bowl to greet them before their match against India this week, on the same day Dale Steyn was ruled out of the tournament. Abbott laughed when jokes were made about whether he could be called up (he can’t) but these things are not so funny anymore. South African cricket can’t afford more crises, especially in the face of a T20 competition that has not quite set the world alight, and financial losses that are erasing vast amounts of their cash reserves. On the whole, confidence in the way CSA runs the game is at all-time low, and de Villiers was one of the people who felt that earliest.ALSO WATCH: AB de Villiers: country v club (2016)Considering that the South African Cricketers’ Association is taking CSA to court over its decision to restructure the domestic system, de Villiers is not the only player with concerns, but he is one of the few who can do something about it.In May 2018, he took the most drastic route he could and retired, saying so via an Instagram video. He also revealed that the World Cup was no longer a burning ambition, but the whispers that he still wanted the trophy never went away.In October last year, when the first rumours that de Villiers was considering a comeback surfaced, he quashed them. “That is not true,” de Villiers replied to a message I sent asking him if the World Cup was in his sights. He reiterated that shortly after, when preparing for South Africa’s Mzansi Super League. “There is no comeback. I’m very, very happy with where I’m at in my life. I don’t want to confuse anybody, especially not the [Proteas] team. It will be very selfish and arrogant of me to throw statements around that I’m keen to play a World Cup.”So de Villiers knew, more than six months before the World Cup, that changing his mind would be disruptive. But still, he could not resist.Now there is disruption when the team is at its lowest, one defeat away from an almost certain early exit from the tournament, one senior bowler on the plane home, one junior bowler still nursing injury, and now with one major sideshow on their hands that could lead to a complete unravelling.In some ways, you can’t blame de Villiers for wanting to be involved, especially given the state of the current side. But you can only wonder how he managed to misread the team dynamic so spectacularly that he thought the door was still open for him. In the end, his numbers will ensure he remains a cricketing great. But his legacy will be defined not only by his excellence but also his indecisiveness. It’s worth remembering that both of those were a long time in the making.

Ahead of Sunday’s meeting to pick the India squads for the West Indies tour, we look at all the issues that might occupy the selectors’ minds

Deivarayan Muthu19-Jul-2019It might still be July 14 for you, but, hey, the World Cup is over. After being bested by New Zealand in the semi-finals, India will get back on the international grind when they tour the Caribbean for six limited-overs games and two Tests, starting with the first T20I on August 3.The MSK Prasad-led selection committee will meet on Sunday to pick the squads, and they will deliberate over a number of issues. On the Test front, there could be a toss-up between a fit-again Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant. There’s also the question of life after MS Dhoni, and the eternal issue of the ODI middle order. ESPNcricinfo runs its eye over these and other pressing issues likely to be discussed at the selection meeting.The Dhoni debate: will he or won’t he?
He no longer has the explosive power he once had. Although he made a fifty in the semi-final against New Zealand, Kane Williamson kept him on a leash by unleashing tearaway Lockie Ferguson and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner at him. There were some uncharacteristic fumbles from Dhoni behind the stumps, too. Pant has been earmarked as India’s next limited-overs wicketkeeper. But the big question is, with the selectors likely to rest Virat Kohli for the limited-overs leg, will Dhoni be around to mentor Pant and help him bed into his role? Or is the great finisher indeed ?Contenders for No. 4
Head coach Ravi Shastri admitted that the absence of a “solid” middle-order batsman hurt India’s World Cup campaign. Vijay Shankar, the designated No. 4 for the World Cup, exited the tournament midway because of a toe injury and is undergoing rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru along with opener Shikhar Dhawan. ESPNcricinfo understands that Vijay hasn’t been passed fit yet, and Pant, who flickered briefly in the World Cup semi-final, might get a longer stint at No. 4. A fresh set of players is likely to enter the race in the Caribbean, including current India A captain Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill.Getty ImagesA few days before the selectors get together to pick the squad, Pandey made a statement with an 87-ball hundred in North Sound that fashioned a series-clinching 148-run victory for India A. Prior to his India A stint, Pandey was among the runs in the middle order for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and Karnataka in the 20-overs Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.Iyer, who is adept at rotating the strike in the middle overs, is also in the mix. He opened the India A tour with 77 in Coolidge and narrowly fell short of another half-century in the third one-dayer. Then, there’s the exciting Gill, who was part of India’s limited-overs squad in New Zealand earlier this year. If Dhawan isn’t fit enough, Gill can open, too, something he is doing for India A in the West Indies with two consecutive half-centuries.Identifying the next line of seamers
India’s gun fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are likely to be rested for the limited-overs leg of the tour. This gives the selectors and team management the opportunity to identify the next line of fast bowlers. Left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed, who fell out of favour with the national selectors after the New Zealand tour, is back in contention after impressing with his hard lengths and variations in the IPL. He followed it up with the wickets of John Campbell, Shane Dowrich and Roston Chase in the first one-dayer against West Indies A.Delhi fast bowler Navdeep Saini, who hit speeds north of 145kph in the IPL where he plays for Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, might get his first crack at international cricket. Khaleel and Saini bowled in the nets during India’s World Cup journey before heading to the Caribbean to play for India A, which means the selectors have had ample time to consider their worth.BCCIDeepak Chahar, who was among the standbys for the World Cup, along with Saini and Ishant Sharma, is also on the radar. Chahar was impressive in the IPL where he plays for Chennai Super Kings and the selectors could want him in the T20I squad keeping in mind the T20 World Cup next year.Who will be the Test openers?
KL Rahul and his childhood friend Mayank Agarwal are set to be India’s first-choice Test openers. Prithvi Shaw is currently recovering from a hip injury he sustained during the Mumbai T20 league in May. Dhawan and M Vijay are no longer in frame for Test selection, and the selectors are now keen to keen to test out the fringe players. Gujarat’s Priyank Panchal and Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran have been pushing their cases for the third opener’s position with strong performances in Ranji Trophy as well as for India A. Panchal was the fourth-highest scorer in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy, averaging nearly 60 with 898 runs in 17 innings, ushering Gujarat to the quarter-finals.After making an unbeaten 201 against Punjab in Ranji Trophy in January this year, Easwaran produced another double-century against an international-quality Sri Lanka attack comprising Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Akila Dananjaya and Lakshan Sandakan in Belgaum in May. Or you never know, Hanuma Vihari, who has a tight technique, could be bumped up to the top again. He did blunt the new ball in last year’s Boxing Day Test at the MCG.Can Saha find a spot as the second wicketkeeper?Saha had established himself as India’s first-choice Test wicketkeeper during the 2016 tour to the Caribbean, but a spate of injuries has kept him out of international action for more than a year. He has not played a first-class game since the Cape Town Test in January 2018, and his absence has coincided with Pant’s rise in overseas Tests. Pant enjoyed a breakout tour of Australia and subsequently bagged a Grade A contract. The selectors are likely to pick both the keepers for the upcoming tour, but who will be No. 1 when the first Test begins in North Sound on August 22?

The perennial back-up man has an opportunity to build his resume in the T20Is against Sri Lanka

Deivarayan Muthu03-Jan-2020Shardul Thakur has been desperate for game-time in top-fight cricket for a while, and might finally be getting somewhere with that wish.After getting a solitary IPL game during his three-season stint at Kings XI Punjab, Thakur was released from the squad midway through the 2016 season. A frustrated Thakur took to Twitter and posted: “Will play a semifinal t20 game tomorrow for my club payyade sc..playing a game after 2 months..ipl has done wonders .. Certainly”.Thakur then became a semi-regular at Rising Pune Supergiant and Chennai Super Kings, but hasn’t got enough games to prove himself in international cricket since breaking into India’s Test squad in May 2016. This is partly down to his history of injuries and the incredible depth on India’s pace front.He wasn’t initially supposed to be part of India’s most recent ODI series against West Indies, but an injury to Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the eve of the opener in Chennai paved a way back for the 28-year old.ALSO READ: Spotlight on returning Bumrah, Sri Lankan young ‘unsThakur got in for the second and third ODIs and although he travelled for runs in both games, he showed he could surprise batsmen with his pace – or the lack of it. He broke a fiery 135-run stand between Nicholas Pooran and Kieron Pollard by fooling Pooran with a slower offcutter. In addition to the offcutter, Thakur has a variety of bouncers and the knuckle ball in his repertoire.Plus, Thakur can bat, like he showed in that tight chase in the ODI series decider in Cuttack. With an Ajit Agarkar-esque bat-swing, Thakur rattled off 17 from six balls and even had his captain Virat Kohli off his seat, celebrating wildly in the dressing room. Earlier, in the 2014 Ranji Trophy, Thakur had cracked 87 off 100 balls on a seaming track in Kanpur to win the game for Mumbai.”I was part of the team before, somehow I couldn’t fit into the playing XI,” Thakur had told the . “I played a game in South Africa, later played two games in Sri Lanka. [In] Asia Cup I played one game, I have got breaks between games. [The] positive thing is that I was part of the winning cause. Hopefully, I will get more chances in future. Every cricketer waits for a day like this. This doesn’t happen overnight, a lot of hardwork goes into this. This time it was batting, I hope next time it is bowling.”Thakur had been part of India’s limited-overs plans in the Asia Cup in September 2018, but a groin strain sidelined him from that tournament. He managed to recover in time to make his Test debut against West Indies in Hyderabad the next month. However, that was limited to a mere ten balls after his front leg buckled upon landing in his second over, and sent him for a lengthy rehab.Shardul Thakur took a superb catch off his own bowling to send back Krunal Pandya•BCCIThakur’s injury-enforced absence coincided with the rapid emergence of Deepak Chahar and re-emergence of Mohammed Shami in white-ball cricket. Thakur isn’t really in consideration for the Test side now, but with both Chahar (injured) and Shami (rested) missing from India’s limited-overs squads for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka and Australia, he could get a chance to make a name for himself.He is a name already, of course. Apart from stellar performances for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, most recently in the IPL 2019 final he bounced out both Quinton de Kock and Krunal Pandya for Super Kings with slippery short deliveries. While de Kock was caught behind by MS Dhoni, Thakur himself tore to his left and completed a sprawling return catch near the square-leg region to get rid of Pandya. It ended in heartbreak, though. With the final coming down to two needed off the last ball, Thakur was trapped by a vintage slower dipping yorker from Lasith Malinga.A surgery on his troublesome foot and warming the bench for the T20Is at home against Bangladesh followed, but Thakur was back in the mix for the ODIs against West Indies.Chahar has more tricks up his sleeve – and reportedly Stephen Fleming had picked him as a batting allrounder for Rising Pune for IPL 2016. But, now, he is likely to be out of action till March-April 2020, according to chief selector MSK Prasad.Navdeep Saini can crank it up to speeds north of 140kph, but he’s a proper tail-ender, who bats at No. 11 for Delhi. So, Thakur comes the closest to being a like-for-like swap for Chahar. Well, who knows if Thakur can chalk up a few match-winning spells here, and land a few blows with the bat there, he can even be in contention for the New Zealand tour.Thakur, however, is no stranger to this stop-gap role, having done it for Mumbai in domestic cricket. He had said as much, when he was filling in for the rested seniors in the Nidahas T20I tri-series in 2018.”If other senior bowlers are missing from the team, then I have to step up,” Thakur had said in Sri Lanka. “I have done this previously for other teams that I have played for. I have come in place of Zaheer Khan, Dhawal Kulkarni and Ajit Agarkar while playing for Mumbai. I had to step up in that role. When senior bowlers are rested, I have to step up and fill that role to lead the pace attack.”Thakur is now likely to get the game-time against Sri Lanka that he has been searching for, but whether he can turn the Cuttack cameo into a substantial role remains to be seen.

Bangladesh keeper-batsman Liton Das talks about how he has come to understand his batting better over the last year

Interview by Mohammad Isam16-Jan-2020There’s no doubt about Liton Das’ batting talent, but after four years of representing Bangladesh (he was dropped for nearly two of those), he still averages under 25 in every format and has only one international hundred to his name. He dazzled with a 69-ball unbeaten 94 against West Indies at the 2019 World Cup, but the big scores have been few and far between. In this interview, conducted during the Bangladesh Premier League, where he has made three fifties in 13 matches for Rajshahi Royals, Das talks about how his approach to batting has changed over the last year.Do you feel you are batting better in this season of the BPL?
I think I’m slightly more consistent in this BPL than in previous editions, but I can’t convert the big scores. I struggled to make big scores in the past but I had been hoping to play better cricket this time around. If I take calculated risks, be a little more patient, I will have more chance to be successful.You have forged the tournament’s best partnership, opening with Afif Hossain.
I am enjoying the partnership with Afif. He starts off in an attacking mode, which eases the pressure off me. I may get ten off ten balls while Afif reaches 15, 17 or 22 off his first ten. I can catch up from that point. When he struggles, I try to cover the scoring. It’s important in partnerships that both of us are reading the situation perfectly.Have you made any significant adjustment to your T20 batting style?
In the last three BPL seasons, I thought the only thing to do in T20s is to hit out. I’d end up taking 17 or 18 runs in an over but also get out in the same over. I think my maturity is better now. I have figured out that I can score runs even if I bat normally. I can have more scoring opportunities in the Powerplay if I just time the ball properly.