Their collective tenacity and professionalism has helped the visitors match up to the challenge of playing the world’s No. 1 team

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Nov-2010They were of varying length and in different guises but most of the questions put to Daniel Vettori after the Hyderabad Test was drawn were born from a common sentiment: one of surprise at how a team ranked No. 8, having been humiliated in one-day internationals by Bangladesh, had managed to hold the No. 1 Test side to a 0-0 scoreline after two matches. They sought to determine whether Vettori was relieved at the results, whether New Zealand felt a sense of achievement, and whether they would spend the hour-long bus ride back to their hotel feeling satisfied and contented. The more pertinent question, though, is: how has this come to pass?The bulk of the blame from the Indian camp, and the captain MS Dhoni is the primary finger-pointer, has been slathered on the unresponsive tracks prepared at Motera and in Hyderabad. A fair share of the criticism is justified since the pitches at both venues stayed unreasonably flat on all five days and made bowling as appealing as going to the dentist. A weaker reason is the injury to India’s primary wicket-taker Zaheer Khan on the fourth day of the second Test. He would have been dangerous, but not dangerous.To not credit this New Zealand team as a whole for their collective tenacity, and the individuals comprising it for their strength in overcoming unique challenges, however, would be to ignore the fundamental reasons for their success across time and formats: their whole has always been greater than the sum of the parts.A statistic bandied about in the lead-up to the tour was that the entire New Zealand squad had fewer Test runs than Sachin Tendulkar. At present, seven New Zealand batsmen have more runs in the series than him. And they have been made in adversity.In Ahmedabad, New Zealand were in strife during their response to India’s strong first-innings total when Jesse Ryder and Kane Williamson began their partnership. Ryder was returning to Test cricket after an injury layoff, Williamson was beginning his Test career. Failure at that juncture would have been a disappointment but it would also have been understood and forgiven. In Hyderabad, the heroes were a batsman who had just made a pair, another who had been dropped for the first Test, and a third who was new to the challenges of being a Test opener.Ryder responded by batting with a calmness that had traces of Inzamam-ul-Haq to it. He is unflustered at the crease, and he has all the shots. And speed. Tim McIntosh proved he possessed the temperament to handle a struggle and play aggressively once on the other side of it. Martin Guptill spoke of the preparation he had put in to cope with Indian spin, and though his test wasn’t of the highest standard, his efforts showed. Brendon McCullum used his attacking skills in his new role to wipe out New Zealand’s deficit quicker than most would have expected, and as a result they were under extreme pressure for a shorter duration. And Williamson, whose genial celebration of his maiden century won hearts in this age of aggression, exhibited his forcefulness by striking Sreesanth for three fours in the first over of the final day. Those boundaries effectively signalled the end of India’s victory aspirations, even before Zaheer trudged off the field.”The top order came here under pressure from what had happened in Bangladesh but they’ve responded exceptionally well,” Vettori said. “Particularly the two openers in this game, Brendon in his second Test match as an opener and Tim McIntosh coming off a pair, were outstanding and really set up the platform in both innings to allow us to score some pretty good totals. So the likes of Williamson and Ryder in the first Test, and McIntosh and McCullum in this one, have really allowed us to be at our best.”The batting apart, New Zealand were also expected to struggle to take 20 wickets. They managed it in Ahmedabad, and they’ve also bowled with rigorous discipline that disrupted the pace at which India are accustomed to scoring at home. Vettori didn’t grumble about the pitches either, despite bowling a total of 142.3 overs, the most in the series. He’s toiled manfully, like a captain should, bowling until his arm is sore and has 11 wickets, again the most in the series, to show for his efforts. He granted himself the luxury of a rest when India had a jolly hit during the final session of play in Hyderabad, but has otherwise been the crux of New Zealand’s campaign.

New Zealand haven’t complained about pitches and the lack of UDRS, or made too much about adjusting to Indian conditions. They’ve played the series in wonderful spirit – heartily applauding Harbhajan’s game-changing innings and not responding to Sreesanth’s prickly behaviour

New Zealand’s pace attack – led by Chris Martin and Tim Southee – has not attempted to overachieve on these deadest of pitches. They’ve bowled to well-set fields designed to save the single and worn India’s batsmen down. An inspired spell from Martin aside, during which India crumbled to 15 for 5 at Motera, they were unlikely to cut through the most-celebrated batting line-up in the world. Instead, they relied on a relentless accuracy and it has brought them steady results. The key to New Zealand’s bowling success, however, has been their fielding and that is one discipline no one expected them to struggle in. The flying Kiwis have taken sharp catches at slip and prevented countless boundaries with precise anticipation, agile movement and a well-timed dive in the in-field. McCullum provides the energy and is at the heart of the fielding effort. On his watch, few shots get past cover.The underpinning factor that has made all this achievable, however, has been their mindset and the utter professionalism with which they prepare and play. They haven’t complained about pitches and the lack of UDRS, or made too much about adjusting to Indian conditions. They’ve played the series in wonderful spirit – heartily applauding Harbhajan’s game-changing innings and not responding to Sreesanth’s prickly behaviour. Their approach has been one of understated grit.New Zealand have now held India to draws in their last four Tests. In two of them, India had to do the surviving. Vettori’s team will still be expected to lose in Nagpur, though. If they don’t, it will be a surprise again. That is the lot of this hard-working team that has punched above its weight.

Ireland played many more dots and took far fewer singles, but Kevin O’Brien’s power-hitting made all of that redundant

S Rajesh03-Mar-2011When Ireland had slumped to 113 for 5 for 25, the overwhelming feeling was one of resignation, as another lesser team seemed to be going down without much of a fight. At the same stage of their innings, England had scored 31 more runs, and lost three fewer wickets. Ireland’s asking rate at that stage was 8.60, and they needed to sustain that rate over 25 overs, with only the bottom five wickets at their disposal. Impossible? Most would have thought so, but obviously Kevin O’Brien and Co didn’t.What transpired in the last 25 was truly incredible, as Ireland scored at a run rate of 8.93, and lost only two wickets while doing so, in the process achieving the highest successful run-chase in World Cup history. In the batting Powerplay, Ireland scored 62 without losing a wicket, which is the second-highest score in batting Powerplays in this World Cup, next to Pakistan’s 70 for 1 in their one-sided match against Kenya.Kevin O’Brien blasted the fastest World Cup century, and he didn’t just edge past the earlier record; he utterly demolished it, bettering Matthew Hayden’s mark by 16 deliveries. In fact, only five batsmen have scored a quicker century in the entire history of one-day internationals.Overall, the contrast between the manner in which the two teams batted couldn’t have been greater. England preferred to accumulate steadily (if such a term can be used for a total of 327). They scored only 134 runs in boundaries, and instead ran plenty of singles (131) and played very few dot balls (119).Ireland’s method was the complete opposite: they ran 47 fewer singles, and played out 37 more dot balls. In a normal game, a difference of that magnitude in doing the basics would have proved decisive. O’Brien, though, had the skill and the power to strike boundaries at will, and that made up for all the other flaws in the run-chase. Ireland scored 52 more runs in boundaries than England – an unusually large difference in such a close game – and that, ultimately, was the more important statistic than dot balls and singles.

ScoreDot ballsSingles2s/ 3s4s/ 6sEngland – First 25 overs144 for 2744911/ 112/ 3Ireland – First 25 overs113 for 594403/ 011/ 2England – Last 25 overs183 for 645827/ 014/ 2Ireland – Last 25 overs216 for 2624410/ 022/ 7England – 50 overs327 for 811913118/ 126/ 5Ireland – 49.1 overs329 for 71568413/ 033/ 9Ireland’s 329 is also the highest total by a non-Test-playing team against a Test-playing side. Kenya scored 347 for 3 against Bangladesh in Nairobi, but that was in 1997, before Bangladesh made their Test debut. O’Brien was obviously the hero, but he got excellent support from Alex Cusack and John Mooney, who earlier became the first Irish bowler to take four wickets in a World Cup match. Despite that, Ireland conceded more than 300 for the first time in World Cups, but that only gave O’Brien an opportunity to show his class. The match total of 656 is the third-highest in World Cup history, only 20 short of the record.For England, there is plenty to worry about before their next game, against South Africa. They have been at the receiving end of two of the largest totals made by Associates in ODIs: a little more than a week back, they conceded 292 against Netherlands. Between these two matches, England also conceded 338 against India, which means they’ve gone for a grand total of 959 runs in three matches, despite having played only one of the top teams in their group. Their total runs conceded is easily the highest among all the teams in this World Cup, while their economy rate (if it can be called that) of 6.43 is marginally worse than India’s 6.21.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Pune Warriors in Chennai

Firdose Moonda25-Apr-2011The slow runner
M Vijay seemed determined to get run out at the start of the innings. First, he took his time getting to the other end of the pitch when Michael Hussey had tipped the ball to Jesse Ryder at point. The very next ball, Vijay played the ball to Alfonso Thomas at short fine leg and was halfway down the track when he decided against the run. Both times, a direct-hit would have had him out. On the third occasion, Vijay steered the ball to short third man and was slow off the blocks to complete the run. He would have been well short but the throw was wide.The return
Manish Pandey made his comeback to the IPL after a four-match ban and although he only scored 12 with the bat, he announced his return in style on the field. He was standing on the long-on boundary when Michael Hussey sent the ball sailing his way. It looked destined to go over the rope and Pandey had to reach up to take the catch. Not only did he manage to snatch the ball out of the air, but he was well aware of his position in relation to the rope. He could easily have backpedalled over the fence but was in total control of the catch. Pandey made a name for himself with a century for Royal Challengers Bangalore in Centurion during the second season of the IPL.The wet spot
Jesse Ryder probably did not intend to sabotage Chennai’s bowlers but he did when he sent a six into a damp patch. R Ashwin was showing signs of turn but Ryder didn’t care. He came down the track, paid little attention to the turn and smacked the ball for six. He went over Ashwin’s head, over the sightscreen and into a puddle of water. Fans tried to coax the ball out of the wet spot and eventually did but it had got fairly damp. The slippery spot made no difference because the next ball, Ryder was bowled by Ashwin, who seemed to be gripping the ball just fine.The apologies
Ashwin wasn’t affected by the wet ball, but Albie Morkel, who had to handle it next, certainly was. He was enjoying showing off his bouncer, but accidentally bowled a beamer at Robin Uthappa, as the ball slipped out of his hand. If it wasn’t misdirected down leg it would have taken Uthappa’s head off. Dhoni could only get a brush of a glove to it and the batsmen took a bye. Dhoni apologised for not saving the single, Morkel apologised, to the umpire and to Uthappa, who accepted graciously.The flying fielder
Shadab Jakati was brought back for this match but his most memorable act was not while bowling. He summed up Chennai’s strong performance in the field with a diving catch. Yuvraj Singh picked up a length ball from Albie Morkel, which he should have put into the stands but only managed to stab at with the toe end of his bat. The ball was still on its way for four, through extra cover, when a leaping Jakati emerged to intercept its path. He had dived full stretch to his left, got both hands to the ball and ended Yuvraj’s time at the crease.

The home side showed a big heart in a stirring second session and seemed to be shutting the door on defeat in the evening before Harbhajan Singh intervened

Sriram Veera at Windsor Park09-Jul-2011″Sort of a dope on the ropes, letting Foreman swing away but, like in the picture, hit nothing but air,” was how the boxing photographer George Kalinsky called Mohammad Ali’s technique. You could say that about West Indies today, especially in that stirring second session where they showed a big heart. It was a raucous final session too; they seemed to be firmly shutting the doors on defeat but Harbhajan Singh, who was on top of his art throughout the day, opened the door ajar for a fascinating finish on the final day. Shivnarine Chanderpaul wedged himself in the way of victory and so much potential drama awaits us tomorrow.The intensity today was crackling and it was cricket, lovely cricket. The afternoon session was taut with pressure, skill, increasing claustrophobia, a dropped catch, and the eventual release of the jail-break moment. The evening was filled with rambunctiousness and high drama.It’s to that afternoon session that we will return first. India hustled superbly, Harbhajan was buzzing and Munaf Patel had a plan, Kirk Edwards gritted it out and Chanderpaul hung on to his dear life as West Indies deployed rope-a-dope. They just couldn’t finish the whole routine in the end as Harbhajan threw a sucker punch.The afternoon was high drama. It’s when the game was hanging on the edge, swaying towards India. Perhaps, an early finish was on cards, you wondered then. The context provided more drama. Edwards is a debutant, who was given wrongly out in the first innings. He seemed iffy against the short ball. He seemed almost strokeless in the afternoon initially. And then there was Chanderpaul, the last senior standing in this West Indies team with doomsday clouds hovering over him. It had threatened to rain in the morning but luckily, the sun was out by the noon. We had the best crowd of the Test series today. There were quite a few Indian fans, probably down from the US, hollering cheerfully at one corner. Around them and across them, at the grass mound, the West Indians sat under umbrellas, shielding themselves from the sun. The drama began to unravel.Chances of a West Indian survival looked bleak. Harbhajan had tasted blood early when he lured Darren Bravo, shaken by a big turning leaping off break, to lob the next delivery to deepish wide mid-off where a man was placed exactly for that. Adrian Barath’s iffy technique to seaming deliveries outside off had already consumed him by then.India attacked with a combination of Harbhajan and Munaf. Late in the first session, against Harbhajan, Edwards had shown a reluctance to get on to the front foot. And so Harbhajan started the second with full deliveries just outside off but Edwards started to stretch forward. Harbhajan shifted to plan B, a path shown by Edwards himself by displaying a slight vulnerability in tackling offbreaks bouncing towards his hips. Harbhajan packed the close-in leg-side field and let rip. Edwards continued to waft at them but managed to wrist them down away from waiting palms.Edwards did this through the day actually. First he would leave a door slightly ajar with a hint of a weakness, slowly correct it later and then firmly shut that trap. It was the same against Munaf who started with full-length deliveries outside off. Edwards groped at a few. Once, the ball cut past the edge and bounded off the thigh. Edwards soon started to leave expertly and block the deliveries in line with the stumps. Munaf shifted to his plan B – bowl bouncers. Edwards pulled the initial couple weakly – one flew off the top edge, one just about lobbed past square-leg and so Munaf persisted. India persisted. Edwards started to arch back better, but still a touch hesitantly, and play them. By the end, he was pulling them ferociously to the boundary. The crowd roared. The flags started to wave and they had a ball, egging on the debutant, in the final session.Harbhajan Singh’s late double-strike snapped the West Indian resistance•AFPMeanwhile, Chanderpaul was waging his own war. He was acutely uncomfortable against Harbhajan initially and Munaf was making him feel claustrophobic with the just-outside-off line. He pushed, prodded, stabbed against Harbhajan. The offbreaks leaped, some floated across with scrambled seam, a few lifted to hit the thigh, a few turned past the edge and all along there were nearly five men crowding him with their shadows and stares.The rope-a-dope continued. And it nearly ended in the last over before tea when Chanderpaul stabbed a bouncing offbreak from Harbhajan to right of first slip where Rahul Dravid dropped a catch, which he would have swallowed on better days. Harbhajan took his hat and walked away to the dressing room. Dravid kept shaking his head as he strode off. That was the jail-break moment.Post-tea Edwards had turned rambunctious. The crowd lapped it up in great delight. He pulled the seamers, moved down the track to Harbhajan, lapped the part-time spinners and had a ball. Chanderpaul cut, square drove and kept up his with nip-and-tuck routine.One further tense moment awaited Edwards when, on 99, he pushed a delivery towards Harbhajan and ran for his life. For his hundred. Chanderpaul wasn’t responding. Edwards froze. Harbhajan picked the ball and let rip and it travelled past Edwards – wonder what his heart-rate would have been at that moment – but it was wide of the stumps and an advancing MS Dhoni couldn’t collect it too. Tension gave way to relief. He dropped his bat as he reached the other end. The relief turned into joy. He lifted his helmet and held his hands high in the air. All that afternoon caution and struggle had paid off.Finally, West Indies batsmen were showing some heart. Finally, there was some just reward for that West Indian bowling unit, led by the admirable Fidel Edwards. And just when the bowlers might have eased back in the chair, Harbhajan charged India ahead.He saw Dravid spill another chance, a much tougher one this time, off the back off Edwards’ bat and moving diagonally across Dhoni, he witnessed an edge wobble past the lunging short-leg before he induced a fatal edge. Immediately, he swooped in for the kill and removed Marlon Samuels, who chose to dangerously hang back to full deliveries and was wrongly given out to a delivery that was missing the off stump. Harbhajan, who has so many critics railing against him, would have earned some admirers today.Harbhajan has pushed India right on top here and has raised the possibility of a tricky little chase on the final afternoon of the series. However, today was a day that West Indies fans would look back with some fondness. A debutant sparkling with a hundred and a veteran admired by many and frowned upon by some, rediscovering himself in the moment of crisis. It wasn’t just a smoke screen in the present-day Babylon. There was indeed some fire after all. India, though, seem to have the fire-extinguisher. Tomorrow will tell.

The India captain certainly can’t be blamed for not having a sense of occasion or timing, and he stepped up on the biggest stage of all

Sidharth Monga at the Wankhede Stadium03-Apr-2011MS Dhoni had just sent the Wankhede Stadium into delirium by upper-cutting Thisara Perera for a six over point. That made it 37 required off 41, with six wickets in hand and the World Cup in sight. He dabbed the next ball towards point, took a couple of steps and stopped, and then hared across, realising Yuvraj Singh had come too far down. The single was completed, everything seemed all right, but Dhoni smashed his pad with his bat. The thud was so loud it could be heard from near the sightscreen, despite all the noise from the stands, where the crowd was going crazy.It is rare that Dhoni makes such shows of emotion. The one other notable time he did so was during an IPL game in Dharamsala, when he upper-cut his own helmeted face after he had just hit the winning six. He had felt under pressure then. The pressure he will have been under coming into this final is quite perceivable. Before Saturday he had managed just 150 runs in seven innings. He had also made a few unpopular calls as captain during the course of the tournament. And after a poor finish to their bowling effort in this match, and an ordinary start batting, India’s World Cup dream was coming apart.When Virat Kohli fell to a fabulous return catch by Tillakaratne Dilshan, the seemingly out-of-form captain promoted himself ahead of the eventual Man of the Tournament. It was a sensible move. As Dhoni himself said later, he wanted to split the cluster of left-hand batsmen in India’s middle order, but he also thinks he reads Muttiah Muralitharan’s doosra better than the others in that middle order.Sense or no sense, it was a risky move. “It was a big decision,” Dhoni said later. “I knew that if I promoted myself and didn’t score runs I would be asked why I couldn’t stay back.” Even though Dhoni has become a much safer captain than he was at the start of his captaincy, he still has it in him to come up with inspired moves in big games.Just making the move was not enough this time, though. He had to go out himself and make the move work. Dhoni certainly can’t be blamed for not having a sense of occasion or timing. On the night of the big final, out came the calculating Dhoni, the perfect mix of caution and aggression, strong as an ox, fast as a hare, the same batsman who, not long ago, was quite deservingly the No. 1 in ODIs.During that golden period which took him to the top of the rankings, Dhoni instinctively knew how he’d have to react in any situation. He could absorb pressure, he could accumulate, he could explode. The last year hasn’t been that good, but a World Cup final is not a bad time at all for a reprise.On the eve of the final, all Dhoni practised in the nets was hitting big sixes. He batted on the pitch adjacent to the one used for the match, and kept smashing bowlers towards Marine Drive. That was not what was required in the actual match, and Dhoni knew that. When he came in to bat, the required run rate was headed towards six, but it also needed to be maintained for 28.2 overs. It would require a lot of ones and twos, and the loose balls would need to be punished wholesomely.No loose ball went unpunished once Dhoni was set. He did take his time getting set, and relied on Gambhir to maintain the momentum. He was itching to charge down to the part-time offspin of Dilshan, but didn’t want to take the risk. In his head the rate was worked out. For the first 10 overs of his stay Dhoni didn’t hit a single boundary. Then Muttiah Muralitharan pitched short, and in his own special way Dhoni managed to punch it powerfully enough to beat sweeper cover. That shot alone kept the rate in check, accounting for all of Dhoni’s first four boundaries.It takes more than just timing to beat the sweeper cover with shots along the ground in the middle overs. That seems like a safe route to go to, but it generally only provides singles or twos. Dhoni, though, gives those punches a solid whack; the power is generated as his massive legs rock back. In between, he and his India A partner from the start of their respective careers, Gambhir, ran well, ever alert to overthrows and misfields.Once Gambhir tired, Dhoni took over the responsibility of scoring. In the time that Gambhir moved from 87 to 97, Dhoni went from 29 to 60. A perfect transition was taking place when Gambhir got out. Dhoni took some more responsibility then, waiting for the batting Powerplay, but not risking taking it earlier. He knows better by now. It began with India needing 30 off 30, and a good over from Lasith Malinga made it 27 from 24.Now another Dhoni special surfaced: the drag-flick-like shot that he plays with a much-defined bottom hand and an extravagant flick of his wrists, keeping the ball along the ground but imparting immense power. Three bottom-handed blows, and the game was over. The stylist in Dhoni, though, remains. With five required, he almost pulled Yuvraj out of his crease to get on strike.And then he put his pre-match practice to use, lofting Nuwan Kulasekara for the match-winning, hell-raising six. India’s World Cup began on Dhoni’s terms; how could the end be different?

Yuvraj Singh has had to be strong to get past a difficult 2010; to get past a stomach bug that hampered him during his hundred in Chennai; to carry a failing middle order. It’s time for the rest of the team to hang tough too

Sharda Ugra at the MA Chidambaram Stadium20-Mar-2011Yuvraj Singh spent the best part of the last year climbing out of a trough. He was dropped from the Test and one-day teams, was struggling with fitness and injury, and found his career crash landing. Had he been younger, Yuvraj once said, he may even have considered giving up the game. Within the course of this last month, he is fast approaching what could become his finest hour as a one-day cricketer. Strangely, that does not even depend on how far the Indian team goes in the World Cup because if India looks around their dressing room to identify its most improved cricketer in 2011, it would have to be him.If the team were to pick their totem for the kind of cricketer they need as their sport’s biggest event goes into its most oxygen-depleting stage, it would also have to be Yuvraj again.Other than the opening game, every match won by India at this World Cup has featured their heavy-hitting, loose-limbed, floating middle-order man as Man of the Match. Ireland and Holland may not be the strongest of opposition, but without Yuvraj, India would have floundered, both with runs and wickets.Against West Indies, in the gorgeously renovated Chepauk, India needed an emphatic performance in their last group game, and their 80-run win was led by Yuvraj’s first one-day century since July 2009. The century did not contain Yuvraj’s signature big shots crashing around the ground like waves on the nearby Marina. It was a slow, long, quiet haul, the hundred buttressed by two dropped catches (at 9 and 13), 45 humble singles, stomach cramps, retching and the dehydrating demands of an intestinal bug.In the latter half of his innings, Yuvraj began to squat on his haunches; the hardships focussed his mind to a point where he found a way to push on. Two sixes in 123 balls is docile by his standards, but he clung onto the big picture: bat till the end.It meant keeping the ball on the ground and making the most of having come in at No. 4. “I wanted to get to the 100 mark because this was the opportunity, batting at no. 4,” he said afterwards. He began his media conference by sinking an entire bottle of Gatorade down his throat, and then making wisecracks. At No. 5, Yuvraj said, he never faced enough deliveries to hit his way to three-figures. “I just wanted to bat till the end today … I just wanted to get to the 100 mark, because it’s been a while.”Yuvraj must look around the dressing room and realise that, in this World Cup, it has been an alarming while since India’s middle order has showed up as a collective unit that can build from his singular performances in the tournament. With Sachin Tendulkar walking off early and Virender Sehwag sitting out the West Indies match due to a nagging knee injury, this was the best stage for the next clutch of batsmen – Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and the captain MS Dhoni himself – to treat this particular game as a stage on which to make a statement, rather than merely show off their skill.The batting order suited everyone in the line-up; the team didn’t have to choose between Raina and Yusuf Pathan in the XI, Gambhir could open, and Kohli could bat at No. 3 and have 49 overs in which to “express” himself. Kohli’s two-hour innings, in which he scored 59 off 76 balls, was promising. He built a 122-run partnership in which he gave Yuvraj large swathes of the strike. Yet Kohli’s departure, caused by a missed attempt at a cross-batted shot against the probing and incisive Ravi Rampaul, with 18 overs left to play and his older partner visibly struggling, was a moment that makes coaches want to bang their heads in bathrooms.Ever since they battered Bangladesh’s bowling attack in Mirpur, India seems to have picked the 40th over as the moment their line-up must go down in spectacular flames. In Mirpur, they added 94 in their last 10 overs for the loss of two wickets. After returning home though, they have gone in the opposite direction. In Bangalore against England, India scored 91 runs for the loss of seven wickets from the 40th to the innings close; against South Africa, they managed 28 for 8, and against West Indies, on Sunday, they got 56 for 7.In the previous three matches, it was believed India had taken the batting Powerplay too early; they took it from the 35th to the 39th over against Bangladesh, from 37 to 41 against England, and 39 to 43 against South Africa. Against West Indies, they left it for the very end, and still it trapped them, as they failed to bat out their full quota of overs. Little appeared to have changed since the weeks post Mirpur, yet one thing did: for the first time since the first match of the World Cup, India won big.Their flailing middle order must now realise they have run out of all room for what the tennis folk call unforced errors. Yuvraj was replying to a question about crowd support, but produced what could be a handy dressing room speech to his middle-order partners going into the knockout phase. “You are playing the World Cup quarter-finals for your country. This is the moment of your life. This is the moment you live for as a cricketer.”During his annus horribilius, he said he had hung onto an idea: that tough people outlast tough times. Well, at least now the batting around Yuvraj knows what they need to do to push this team through the World Cup. Be like him. Keep hanging tougher.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the match between Mumbai Indians and Cape Cobras

Nitin Sundar at the Chinnaswamy Stadium30-Sep-2011The reunion
You wouldn’t have ever caught Douglas Jardine and Don Bradman sharing a beer together. You will never see Dennis Lillee and Javed Miandad exchange pleasantries. You will never catch Steve Waugh sending Curtly Ambrose Christmas greetings. But if you were at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, you would have seen Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh batting together, for the first time since they became team-mates at the IPL auction. Harbhajan swaggered out to the crease the fall of Kieron Pollard’s wicket, had a quiet word with Symonds and got ready for a bat. The crowd didn’t seem to realise the gravity of the situation but, more incredibly, even the protagonists went about their business without any ado. Have they really buried the hatchet, and put behind them a dispute that nearly split the cricketing world wide open? Or, are they just incredible actors who know how to turn on their game-faces when the flashlights are on, irrespective of what they feel deep down? Either way, Bradman and Jardine wouldn’t have approved.The ball retriever
The Chinnaswamy Stadium is used to seeing more than its share of balls being lost, thanks to home boy Chris Gayle’s monster blows landing outside the park. Today, Aiden Blizzard made a ball disappear for a while without even hitting a six. In the third over of the match, he backed away and cut Dale Steyn powerfully behind point for four. The ball bounced away and sought refuge under the sparsely populated seats behind one of the platforms erected for the cheerleaders. Twenty20 cricket moves at a pace so furious that within moments, the fourth umpire CK Nandan was summoned to bring in a replacement ball. Herschelle Gibbs was more persistent, though, and managed to retrieve the original with some help from the people near the outfield.The bumpy landing
JP Duminy could do no wrong with the ball in Cape Cobras’ previous game when he picked 4 for 20 against the Chennai Super Kings. Life came a full circle for him when he ran into Sarul Kanwar in his first over today. Kanwar skipped down the pitch to the third ball and blasted it over midwicket for a six, before driving past a lazy Charl Langeveldt, and sweeping for boundaries. Duminy was clearly rattled, bowled two wides as well to put the over’s damages at 17 runs. One day you deceive spin-killers like Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina, and on another day you are taken apart by a man without a reputation. What was that cliché involving cricket and levellers?The (near) ice-breaker
Duminy hit back in his second over to get rid of Ambati Rayudu, but normal service resumed in his third. He generously flighted his first ball to Kieron Pollard who leaned forward and launched it into orbit with a menacing lofted drive. If he had hit it any straighter, the scribes covering the game would have been showered with shattered glass. Time stood still for a fleeting moment as heads in the press box turned to the right, partly in awe, and partly in genuine fear. As it transpired, the missile missed the edge of the glass enclosure by a few metres, and the inmates let out a collective sigh of relief.

They aren’t playing enough cricket at the domestic level, so when players make the leap to internationals they flounder

Firdose Moonda20-Oct-2011The most noticeable thing about Brendan Taylor is his smile. It is not particularly radiant and his teeth are not quite pearly white, but even as Brendon McCullum was making a mockery of Taylor’s bowling attack in the Twenty20s in Harare, the smile stood out.After nine international defeats in three series, the fact that Taylor could muster more than a grimace was impressive. That he could show a cheeky grin seemed a sign that there is still belief in Zimbabwe cricket despite their stumble as they try to step up to the big stage.Their fairytale has not turned sour yet, since their sensational return to Test cricket in August, but it appears to be headed that way. For now they have reached a familiar plateau. With defeat piling upon defeat Zimbabwe have to look at their failures in context. Some of them are creditable losses and others just plain losses. The second T20 against New Zealand was one of the former: Zimbabwe batted to within 34 runs of their visitors’ total, with an intent that was missing from previous showings. The first T20 was the other kind, where Zimbabwe were inept in all three departments and were rightly crushed by 10 wickets.”We’ve shown we can perform, we know we can do it, but we just have to be more consistent,” Ray Price, Zimbabwe’s stalwart spinner, told ESPNcricinfo. It is not a groundbreaking thought, but it is exactly what Zimbabwe have to work on as they aim to become more than just the “Johnny Fontanes of cricket”, as one respected cricket journalist labelled them.Zimbabwe’s talent is obvious but it needs to be refined. In the domestic competition they have performers who excel. Gary Balance scored a double-hundred for the MidWest Rhinos two weeks ago. Michael Chinouya started the season with a five-for for the Rhinos. And Forster Mutizwa, who is in the national squad, got 164 for the Mashonaland Eagles, but his average needs improvement in international cricket. A persisting problem has been the gap players have to jump when they take the step up from domestic to international cricket.Price thinks Zimbabwe need to play more A team tours. “When I was coming up, I spent a lot of time on A tours, playing with guys who were much older than me,” he said. “I remember an A tour to Sri Lanka that we went on in the late ’90s. We lost every game. They had guys like Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera in the squad, and it was such an eye-opener. I wondered if I was good enough to play international cricket, and it made me work so much harder.”Zimbabwe played three unofficial Tests against New Zealand A in 2010 and two against Australia A this year, but lack of funds means they cannot send their A team to play in other countries. “Our A team don’t travel enough,” Price said. “But we were so happy to have New Zealand A play against us, not just from an on-field experience but off the field too. We could talk to them and learn from them.”Price is known for his engaging and interactive personality. During Pakistan’s recent visit to Zimbabwe, he was often spotted chatting to Saeed Ajmal on the sidelines and said he picked up a lot of tips. Though he is the senior-most player in the Zimbabwe squad, Price wants to keep absorbing knowledge so that he has more of it to give. “I think if you stop learning, you may as well stop playing. I am really close to all the bowlers in our set-up, not just the spinners. I even like to share ideas with Brendan, and sometimes I am chirping in his ear so much, he has to ask me to move away.”The one area Price cannot dispense any insight into is batting, and he feels that’s where Zimbabwe are struggling the most. “We’ve got a very young batting line-up. When you looked at Pakistan, for example, they had Younis Khan batting with Azhar Ali, and I could hear that he was helping him along. Our most experienced batsman is probably Tatenda Taibu, and he is only 28.”Zimbabwe’s batting woes have cost them more games than their bowling has, and they have often over-compensated for their tendency to collapse by crawling along with little purpose.

“We’ve never been a team that wins series. We’ve always been a team that beats sides from time to time, and so even just one victory will bring back a lot of confidence”Dave Houghton

Dave Houghton, the former Zimbabwe captain who coaches the local Tuskers franchise and Derbyshire, said the lack of Test cricket is one of the main factors for the side’s fragile batting. “We’ve been on a diet of one-day and now T20 cricket, and in those formats every aspect of your game is scrutinised. Usually you have to score off every ball. You are always under pressure. When that happens and you lose two wickets, there is panic. If batsmen had more time to get in, have a look around and settle, they could build confidence.”Although Zimbabwe play four-day cricket, and did even during their six-year Test exile, Houghton thinks it has not done enough for the batsmen to be able to adapt to international cricket. Franchises play eight matches a season, which Houghton says does not give them enough practice in the long run or help develop any sort of consistency.”If you look at batsmen like AB de Villiers or Jacques Kallis, when they have a good season, they score runs in almost every game,” Houghton said. “With one of our players, they may have one good contribution in a series. But we need more.”Lack of cricket appears to a problem throughout the set-up. Former New Zealand allrounder Chris Harris, who coaches the country’s Under-19 side, said even at the school level players are not exposed to the game often enough. “They play six to 10 games a season, so the administrators and I have tried to organise mid-week games and matches at local clubs to get more cricket in.”He is, though, heartened by the number of youngsters interested in the game and said Zimbabweans from all walks of life are taking up cricket. Harris worked with the senior national team on their fielding prior to the New Zealand series and said the attitude in the squad was upbeat and positive. “It’s exciting times in Zimbabwe cricket and there is a real feeling that people want to improve.”Motivation remains one of Zimbabwe’s biggest assets, and everyone from Price to Houghton agrees that it will keep them pushing to get better. “If you can’t motivate yourself to play for your country then you shouldn’t be playing at all,” Price said.Because Zimbabwe have usually been the underdogs, Houghton does not think their losing streak will dent them irreparably. “We’ve never been a team that wins series. We’ve always been a team that beats sides from time to time, and so even just one victory will bring back a lot of confidence.”

A lack of outright wins suggests a weakness in Tamil Nadu’s bowling. But, as their captain points out, they have taken 20 wickets three times this season; perhaps fielding and the weather are their real enemies

Kanishkaa Balachandran31-Dec-2011In the past few seasons, Tamil Nadu have been the Ranji Trophy’s nearly-men. A bunch of recognisable faces with varying levels of international experience have marked them out as title contenders. Yet, silverware has eluded them. The team that possesses one of the strongest batting line-ups on the domestic circuit has lacked the killer punch needed to produce more outright wins. While the batting has looked in rude health, the bowling has lacked the same kind of consistency, owing to the relatively inexperienced combination.In five completed games this season (their opening game against Baroda was washed out), Tamil Nadu managed just one outright win amid four draws. Their unbeaten run gave them a seat in the quarter-finals, where they will meet Maharashtra, who qualified from the Plate league. As they prepare for the match in Chennai on January 2, the team will be looking to redress the balance between bat and ball. Their new captain, L Balaji, has painted a positive picture of the team’s bowling resources, which he says have performed creditably despite the lack of outright wins.”As a captain we’re definitely looking at enforcing outright wins,” Balaji told ESPNcricinfo. “For that, you need 20 wickets. We have actually achieved that a bit (this season) and in the few matches we missed out, we missed it by a whisker.”Against Haryana, we took ten wickets on the fourth day and brought the game back, and we almost chased the target down. Against Delhi, we took 20 wickets but we lost out due to bad weather. There are positives. We achieved the 20-wicket mark in three games. As a captain, it’s a positive sign that the wickets are being shared by all.”Statistics can be misleading. Since the 2009-10 season, Tamil Nadu have played out 16 draws and managed only four wins. What that doesn’t reveal, though, is that at least four games in 2010-11 were affected by rain and their season opener this year, against Baroda in Chennai, was washed out. There have been times, though, when the side has fallen short in seizing crucial opportunities, as the former Tamil Nadu batsman VB Chandrasekar, now a leading commentator on domestic cricket, pointed out last season.WV Raman, who coached Tamil Nadu for four seasons before moving to Bengal last year, presided over the team’s rebuilding stage after the ICL defections. Raman said the bowling is a concern for his former team, which is missing its best bowler, R Ashwin, who has been on national duty since the Ranji season began. Balaji himself has been out of national reckoning for a few years now, but remains the team’s spearhead.”Ranji Trophy is all about a side being able to put runs on the board. But the fact that there is only one outright victory and five draws is an indication that their bowling needs to be looked at,” Raman told ESPNcricinfo’s audio show The Chatter (which will be published on January 1). “They’ve got a few youngsters in the side as well. In the past, there have been instances where Tamil Nadu haven’t been able to restrict the opponents even after scoring 450 or 500.”In Tamil Nadu’s defence, the new-look attack has as many as four playersin their debut season: medium-pacer J Kaushik, and spinners B Aparajith, M Rangarajan and Rahil Shah. Medium-pacer Yo Mahesh leads the team’s wickets-chart with 19, while Balaji, spinner R Aushik Srinivas and Kaushik have taken 15 each.None of those bowlers figure in the top ten wicket-takers this season, but Balaji said performances will improve with time. He singled out Kaushik for making a good impression in his debut season.”Kaushik and Yomi (Yo Mahesh) have shown a lot of character,” Balaji said. “They have shared most of the wickets. We’ve had quite a few youngsters and it adds a lot of variety. We’ve given opportunities to the youngsters who have done well in league cricket and they have risen to the challenge. We know that we should not stagnate, and instead look towards the next level.”Raman said the fielding was another thing that had upset the team’s progress. “The biggest concern for them will be their catching because it’s been very patchy from what I hear and from what I saw in the Bengal game,” Raman said. “If they get that right, their bowlers will be made to look twice as good as they are.”Balaji acknowledged that the team needs to sharpen their fielding. “We have a good fielding coach, M Sanjay, who has been working hard on close catching,” Balaji said. “I accept we need to improve. We know what aspects we are falling behind in and need to catch up on.”The re-laid pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai has often been on the slower side, which could be one of the reasons for the number of draws. However, Balaji was pleased with the pitch for the previous match, against Madhya Pradesh, which ended in a draw, with Tamil Nadu progressing thanks to first-innings points.”It [the pitch] was satisfying for me because it had all the flavours. It had a bit of moisture that helped the fast bowlers. We’re not asking for green tops but sporting wickets where there’s something for everyone. That will keep the momentum going. I was very happy with that pitch and that is good for Tamil Nadu cricket.”While the inexperienced bowling attack may still be a concern ahead of the knockout rounds, the fact that they have taken 20 wickets three times should give Tamil Nadu confidence. All they need is better cooperation from the weather and fielders.

Four months ago de Lange was unheard of, but since then he has starred in a Test, shown steel in a final-over showdown, and landed himself an IPL contract

Firdose Moonda27-Feb-2012Of the options available to AB de Villiers to bowl the last over of the third Twenty20 against New Zealand in Auckland, Marchant de Lange was the most risky. The 21-year-old was playing his third 20-over game, had six runs to defend, and had conceded 33 in his previous three overs.Wayne Parnell, Albie Morkel and JP Duminy all had overs available, and Parnell had proved himself at the end of an innings before. Still, de Villiers gave the ball to de Lange, who nervously helped set his field and accepted bits of advice from Morne Morkel on the way to the top of his mark.Whatever was said worked. His first ball was full and resulted in a single. The second was short and wide, but miraculously a dot. The third was a wicket, so was the fifth. Sandwiched in between was another dot. And then came the mistake: a no-ball off what should have been the last delivery, which gave New Zealand a second stab at a match that had looked gone. They got no closer, though: de Lange fired it in full outside off, nowhere near Tim Southee’s massive swing. South Africa won the match and the series.de Lange has made an impression in every format he has appeared in thus far. All the signs indicate he will do the same if he plays in the Test series against New Zealand, his first away from home, and then in the IPL. His ability to steal the headlines suggests a driven young man with big plans.”I truly believe Marchant has got it, he has big-match temperament,” de Villiers said. It’s a phrase flippantly thrown around when referring to players from other countries, but for a South African in a pressure situation, the compliment was gold dust. And for someone whom the cricket world had not even heard of four months ago, it was an entire brick of the stuff.Before November, de Lange was a young, wide-eyed hopeful who had played 12 first-class matches. Eight of them were for the Easterns, an amateur, provincial team, the other four for his franchise, the Titans.Word from the top tier of the domestic structure was that he was quick – some said quicker than Morne Morkel – but raw. After being discovered in his late teens in the mining town of Tzaneen, de Lange had little opportunity to be polished into the finished article. Although he attended the Northerns’ Academy (another amateur union, which together with the Easterns makes up the Titans franchise) he missed out on representing South Africa at age-group level, specifically Under-19, because of stress fractures to both his ankles.”It was extremely painful,” de Lange said. For the first time since he was introduced to the task of being interviewed, his voice did not come out with the usual boom of excitement. “I had to start everything again, everything from walking to running. It was not nice at all.”But start again he did, and he now has a more philosophical view about what could have been a career-ending period. “You know, injuries come and go but if you’ve got a strong mind and you get it fixed as quickly as possible then it’s okay.” The wounds didn’t heal as quickly as de Lange may have wanted, but they eventually did, in time for him to accept an offer from the Titans to move to one of their main centres in Benoni. There he played for a popular local club, CBC Boksburg, and eventually for the amateur team.His speed earned him a trip to Bangladesh with the national academy in April and May last year, where his most notable performance was a five-wicket haul in one of the 50-over matches. It was his first venture out of South Africa.Going from the endless open roads of the Limpopo province to the endlessly cluttered ones of Dhaka was a surprise. “At first it was a bit of a shock. There was a big difference to home and there were a lot of people,” de Lange said, the boombox back in full force. “But I think I am quite an adaptable person. It was interesting. The people were very passionate and I enjoyed it.”On returning home, he made his first big splash. Former national coach and current selector Corrie van Zyl saw him in a franchise match and called newly appointed bowling coach Allan Donald to tell him he had found someone worth keeping an eye on for the future.

“He gets it in good areas most of the time, and when he gets it a little short he gets away with it because of extra pace. He also has good variations and can take the pace off the ball, but the key is not to overload him with information”Allan Donald, South Africa’s bowling coach

The future came just weeks later. de Lange was included in South Africa’s A squad to trouble the visiting Australians on a pitch in Potchefstroom prepared to favour pace. He bowled with internationals such as Vernon Philander and Parnell and stood out for a five-wicket haul fashioned out of pure pace and bounce. Some Australian players told the Kolkata Knight Riders about him. “This guy is bowling fireballs,” they said.Within three months of that match de Lange had breathed fire in a Test, in which he became the most successful debutant of 2011. He also secured an IPL contract, a relatively small one of US$50,000, but across the two-year period it makes him close to a millionaire in rand terms.Apart from the money, the contract will introduce de Lange to a world of cricket that previously may only have existed in his dreams. Already he has spoken of the honour of playing with stars he watched on television, like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. At Kolkata, he will be coached by Wasim Akram and will bowl with Brett Lee, which he is looking forward to.For some it’s over-exposure, especially since the franchise de Lange is joining has the added glam factor of Shah Rukh Khan and Bollywood. But de Lange is unfazed. “I’ve watched some Bollywood,” he said. “But I think I will need to get a little more clued up on that.”Donald will want de Lange’s IPL stint to provide an education in shorter-format bowling, because the young bowler has precious little experience of it, having played only 20 limited-overs matches in his career.”Strategies in ODIs and Tests are obviously different and he has a lot to learn,” Donald said. “He is naturally quick but he does not have a consistent natural length yet. That will come. He gets it in good areas most of the time and when he gets it a little short, he gets away with it because of extra pace. He also has good variations and can take the pace off the ball, but the key is not to overload him with information.”de Lange say he has learnt more in the last few months than in his entire cricket career to date, most of it from Donald. “He really wants you to improve as a bowler, and he has got time for us always,” de Lange said. For him to pick up tips from other sources will be equally valuable, and Kolkata have expressed a desire to develop bowlers. “We have been very focused on identifying talent, hopefully before others do,” Venky Mysore, the Kolkata chief executive, said. The franchise picked James Pattinson before Australia did and although they did not get de Lange that quickly, they hope to help him get better while benefiting from his obvious skill.While fears of excessive bowling mount, Donald believes de Lange’s fast track into international cricket has been perfectly timed. “I am so excited for him,” Donald said. “It’s massive exposure.”