ESPNcricinfo staff10-May-2015..And Mumbai Indians’ fielders were helping his cause with a few dropped catches•BCCIIt took a fantastic diving catch from Lendl Simmons to dismiss Gayle in the third over•BCCIFrom then on, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli put on 215 runs, the highest for any wicket in Twenty20 history•PTI De Villiers flayed the bowlers to all parts of the park with some classical cricket shots•BCCISlowly, more than just Sarfaraz Khan’s family started cheering for de Villiers as the ‘Mumbai-Mumbai’ chants turned to ‘AB-AB’•BCCIThe duo powered Royal Challengers to 235 for 1, the highest team total yet this season, and left Rohit Sharma and Mumbai’s team management with a lot to ponder over•BCCIA brilliant throw from Kohli and some quick glove work from Dinesh Karthik resulted in the run-out of Parthiv Patel•PTI Despite the fall of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard tried to give some life to the chase with his 24-ball 49 but got out miscuing a S Aravind delivery to Mitchell Starc at sweeper cover•BCCISimmons managed to remain unbeaten on 68 off 53 balls but had little support from the other end as Royal Challengers ran away with a 39-run win•PTI

At the helm of young teams, the contrasting leadership styles of Virat Kohli and Angelo Mathews could present a fascinating subtext to an important series in Sri Lanka

Andrew Fidel Fernando10-Aug-2015Virat Kohli, 26, strides purposefully to the crease, reputation always preceding him, collar often popped, a sharp tongue cocked, ready to return fire. Angelo Mathews, 28, ambles to the middle, impervious and imperturbable, lost somewhere in his own universe.Both are gifted batsmen, leading young teams into an important series. That is about where the similarities end.If he was a general in your army, Kohli would be the man to lead the charge on an enemy position. His blood runs hottest in attack. He has sometimes been accused of being too aggressive, but to Kohli’s ears, this is probably a compliment. He isn’t blind to the merits of defence. More likely he feels it is beneath him. He bats out of his crease on the quickest pitches in the world, against the fastest bowlers. Balls other batsmen only dare prod at, Kohli sends scorching through midwicket, wrists whipping like a sail that has caught the wind.But there is a dark side to this outlook. When Kohli keeps a full cordon in for Indian quicks after the sheen has come off the ball, you wonder if he is deluded. Some decisions are best made with a level head and a sense of detachment, but Kohli’s emotions are never far from the surface. Even publicly, he has admitted he would prefer to be less expressive.As far as poker faces go, Mathews’ is among the stoniest around. On the surface he is dull. But still waters run deep, they say, and at 28, he has already produced some of Sri Lanka’s greatest innings. He is the general you want in charge of the fortress, because when his team is outgunned, when they are tumbling into crisis, that’s when he goads the best from himself. Kohli has a famously poor record in England. Mathews has a Lord’s ton and a monumental 160 at Headingley – an innings that seems to grow in stature with each passing England Test.Mathews’ shortcomings are peculiar for someone in his 20s, though unsurprising, given the man. “Angelo has ice in his veins,” his team-mates say, but when opposition batsmen are stealing the match away and he stands inert at slip or cover, you want to prod him with a stick to see if he hasn’t frozen through. When he attacks, he attacks conventionally. He uses words like “positive” and “aggressive” whenever a microphone is set in front of him, but in reality his style seems a departure from a Sri Lankan tradition that has pioneered strategy and embraced adventure.Angelo Mathews’ leadership style has often been criticised for not being aggressive enough but as a player, his best performances so far have come in challenging situations•AFPOf the two, Mathews has the better batting average of 51.67, and is arguably the superior Test batsman, to say nothing of his expanding wit with the ball. Since the beginning of 2013, only Kumar Sangakkara has a better Test average than Mathews’ 67.59. Sangakkara would be the first to concede that his runs have come easier. When Mathews bats with an often-clueless tail, they come to sudden life. He has subdued many fires, and ignited a few as well.Kohli is fresh at India’s helm, but appears to be the more dynamic leader. Under him, there is strong, vibrant direction to India’s transition. “We want to play aggressive cricket, and we don’t mind losing that way,” is the cry from his camp. Backed by full-throated advocates like Ravi Shastri, Kohli has so far lived true to his words, even if his team has died by the sword more often than they have thrived, for now. Kohli has arrived on the island intent on playing five frontline bowlers. Talk of dumping a batsman from the top seven perhaps won’t even feature in the team meetings Mathews leads.The path ahead teems with unique challenges for each man. Mathews is expected to fashion a world-beating team out of players graduating from one of the weakest domestic leagues in cricket. Kohli is funded by the wealthiest cricket body that has ever existed, but will barely draw a breath that is not endlessly pored over and dissected. Mathews’ loved ones are of virtually no interest to the Sri Lankan public, for example. With any luck, they will never become scapegoats for his failures.They now embark on a series that will be closely followed in Sri Lanka. Local fans have lowered expectations after a poor 2015 so far, but India is the team they would really like their side to beat. Kohli and his men, meanwhile, have that embarrassing recent away record to amend.Both teams will try new things. Unknowns will search for stardom. Old hands will aim to make graceful exits. And the clash of contrary captains will play out, perhaps in the background, but always with the capacity to define the tour.

In the absence of James Anderson and with the attack being blunted it was England’s allrounder who brought the urn within reach

George Dobell at Trent Bridge07-Aug-2015It is a painful coincidence that, just as England should be – barring a miracle – clinching the Investec Ashes on Saturday, the Premier League football season will be starting once more.That brief window in the year, between football seasons, Olympic games, European and World Championships, will shut and the breath of oxygen cricket enjoys will be cut off once more. Just as the English game has something to celebrate and relish, it will go back to existing in its own little bubble. However much it has to shout about, it will not be heard above the din created by football.With so little cricket – and no live cricket – on free to air TV, it will prove desperately hard for the ECB to fulfil one of the aims of its recent planning strategy. Earlier this year, it emerged that the ECB identified the need for the game to create “folk heroes” to help it regain relevance and popularity with the mass market.That is a shame for, as England celebrate their success, they can also look forward with excitement. For while the 2013 Ashes was won by a team at the end of its life cycle, this success comes with a team at the start of one. A team that is committed to playing attractive cricket, engaging with the public and helping make the sport relevant again.And, while there are several exciting, young players in this side – Joe Root, at 24, stands out – there is an obvious potential “folk hero” in Ben Stokes.Stokes is, give or take, the cricketer that just about every young player wants to be when they first start to play the game. He bats with belligerence, he bowls with pace and his fielding is so good, you wonder if he could catch Lord Lucan.He has character, too. In an age when many sportsmen appear – in front of the media, at least – homogenised and sterile, Stokes remains just a little bit, and in the very best way, untamed. Any Australian who thought he might be intimidated by trash talk or bouncers was soon put right when Stokes, in his second Test, scored a maiden century in Perth when all about him fell away.

Stokes bowled beautifully, swinging the ball a prodigious distance, while also showing admirable control, stamina and pace

“We did see that,” Stokes said with a chuckle, when asked about Steven Smith’s pre-series comment about England “not getting close” to Australia. “But hopefully we’re going to win the Ashes tomorrow.” His unspoken message was simple: talk is cheap.He has, at times, seemed a bit daft. There was the incident where he punched a locker in Barbados, the time he was sent home from a Lions tour for embracing the nightlife a little too enthusiastically, and a couple of times when bowlers have provoked him into some unwise strokes.So he has needed to grow up, but not change. For it is Stokes’ fearlessness that renders him special. It is his love for the heat of battle and his desire to be involved when others might go missing.England have had many cautious, percentage cricketers. They have had many players who put the ball in good areas, bat with patience and field tidily. And that is just fine. They are useful skills.But Stokes is priceless. And he is the other sort. He is the sort that will disregard caution, relish the fight and, on his day, turn games in a session with bat or ball. And if it goes spectacularly wrong sometimes – and it will – it is a price worth paying as he will unsettle opponents and, given exposure, inspire another generation of supporters to the game in much the manner that Ian Botham once did. It would be folly to try and change him. England have a gem. It would be wretched if the schedule or the media or the expectation changed him.He appears to relish responsibility. Since he was promoted to the No. 6 position, at the start of the summer, he has averaged 41.40 (despite just five runs in his last three innings) with one match-defining century (against New Zealand) and three other half-centuries. His strike rate of 77.52 might have been deemed decent in limited-overs cricket not so long ago; now it helps demoralise opposition in Tests and speed games away from them. In the months before that, after the end of the Ashes in Australia and when he batted at No. 7 or lower, he averaged just 8.66.Similarly, here, he rose to the challenge with the ball. With James Anderson absent and both Mark Wood and Steven Finn lacking rhythm, England needed Stokes to deliver. By the time he was thrown the ball, the Australia opening pair had posted 50 and the attack, with Moeen Ali again struggling, was starting to look thin. The absence of Anderson was, for the first time in the game, starting to hurt.But Stokes bowled beautifully. Swinging the ball a prodigious distance, he also showed admirable control – conceding just over two an over despite an attacking field of four slips and a gully – impressive stamina – his first spell last for 11 overs – and decent pace, as he reached 89.9 mph at his peak. At one stage, he claimed three wickets in 13 balls – three of Australia’s top four – and two balls later, took a sharp, low catch at short cover-point to account for Smith.While his stock ball is an inswinger that evokes faint memories of Imran Khan – such a delivery accounted for Peter Nevill, leaving one that swung sharply to trap him in front of middle – he also has the ability, on a good day, to move the ball away from the right-hander, thereby creating confusion and uncertainty in the batsman’s mind.It is probably relevant, though, that four of his victims were left-handers. While two, Shaun Marsh and Chris Rogers, were drawn into playing at balls leaving them, Mitchell Johnson was simply unfortunate to receive a straight one that demanded a stroke and swung late enough to take the edge.Ben Stokes finally made the breakthrough after an 113-run opening stand•Getty ImagesPerhaps Stokes’ strength, and the extra pace that provides, earned the wicket of David Warner. Attempting a short-arm pull, he seemed hurried and could only manage a top edge.His figures do not flatter him. While his bowling average in the series was nudging 100 before this Test, he has suffered more than most from dropped chances this summer – Ian Bell has now dropped four catches off Stokes in the slips – and bowled some selfless spells in tough conditions in the Caribbean so Anderson and Broad could be spared. This haul might be regarded as overdue reward for his work. He already has only one fewer five-wicket haul in Test cricket than Andrew Flintoff.”I’ve always been able to swing the ball,” Stokes said. “But I’ve never had the chance to bowl for England when the conditions are so in favour of swing. I play my cricket at Durham, where the ball swings, so I felt comfortable. It was good to get a bit more responsibility, really.”It was fitting that he should provide such a performance in the match that seals the Ashes, too. England’s balance – their ability to bat down to No. 8 and field a five-man attack – might well be seen as the difference between the team. Stokes has played a huge role in providing that.Good allrounders change everything. It was Flintoff’s period of excellence that helped Michael Vaughan lead England to the Ashes in 2005. And it was Botham’s excellence that helped cement Mike Brearley’s reputation as one of the great captains. Alastair Cook now has a player that balances his side and can excel in all disciplines. He has a game-changer.If England could only find a way to get Stokes on to more TV screens, he could make a difference far beyond defining the result of matches.

On a pitch that threw up a puff of dust from the first ball, 17-year-old Ishan Kishan’s remarkable clarity of thought almost negated Saurashtra’s strategy

Sidharth Monga in Rajkot08-Oct-2015The Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground in Rajkot is now a relic, hosting Ranji Trophy matches only because there is an ODI to be played in Rajkot in 10 days time. This stadium has witnessed some exciting batting, though. Viv Richards had scored 100 off 77 balls with seven sixes and seven fours here. Virender Sehwag looted 114 off 82 in a chase of 300 against West Indies in 2002 before he, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara scored hundreds in a 400-meets-400 ODI. Sourav Ganguly, during the fractious days of Indian cricket, began his comeback with a Duleep Trophy hundred here. Not to mention the thousands of runs Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja have scored here to press cases for their national selection.Not many will not laugh at the suggestion that Ishan Kishan’s 87 on day one of a Group C Ranji Trophy match is being spoken of in the same breath. “Ishan Kishan, who?” will be the first question. Kishan is Jharkhand’s 5’6″ 17-year-old left-hand opening batsman and wicketkeeper. He was recently in Bangalore for India’s Under-19 camp. He is yet to score a first-class, List A or Twenty20 hundred. In fact, his strike rate in T20 is under 100.Now why is an 87 important? Saurashtra has two ways of playing cricket. Prepare a flat pitch and score a lot of runs through Pujara and Jadeja, and then unleash the master of metronome on the opposition. If they lose the toss on these pitches they still find ways of scoring runs batting second. The other way is to not water the pitch, prepare a Bunsen and unleash the king of quick turn, Jadeja, again. There is no breathing space for opposition batsmen, especially those in Group C. Tripura experienced it last week, losing in two days and a session. They are very few who can trip Saurashtra into the ditch they dig.For this match Saurashtra opted for the second method. The Bunsen. Underprepared. Powdery. Throwing up puffs of dust from ball one. “A “, a Jharkhand official remarked. A farm. Ploughed farm. “”, wrestling ground, it is generally called. The ball is “turning like a power steering”, it was observed. When Kishan – facing first ball of the match – scratched his guard, dust flew, and he saw Saurashtra fielders laugh at him. It will be interesting to see how the BCCI match referee sees this pitch: substandard, because it was turning from day one, or just a result-oriented okay pitch because it wasn’t really “dangerous”. It was also going to be interesting to see how Jharkhand deal with it and escape the Tripura-like fate?

Kishan was not going to roll over like Tripura did. He jumped out of the crease first ball, reached the pitch of the ball and went over mid-on. Saurashtra were a little stunned. Next ball he did it again. A wide long-on went back, and he went over that man for six. The Jharkhand players sitting on the sidelines were abuzz. “”, “”.

The first step towards doing so is to win the toss, but still you have to score runs first up. If you don’t, Jadeja can bowl all day long and still get you. When Jharkhand checked in into their hotel in Rajkot, Tripura players were yet to leave and told the Jharkhand side not to let the spinners settle, a mistake they made. On such pitches you have to do unto others they do unto you, as wrestler Steve Austin used to profess. The ball rears up on such pitches, well, like a rattlesnake. Saurashtra went in for doing unto Jharkhand as early as the fifth over. They began with the other Jadeja, Dharmendrasinh. He, too, bowls left-arm spin. He took the four wickets that Ravindra didn’t take in the second innings of the last match.Kishan was not going to roll over like Tripura did. He jumped out of the crease first ball, reached the pitch of the ball and went over mid-on. Saurashtra were a little stunned. Next ball he did it again. A wide long-on went back, and he went over that man for six. The Jharkhand players sitting on the sidelines were abuzz. “”, “”. Chhotey because Kishan is a wee fellow and the youngest in the side. “” the noun for verb “” directly translates to a collision. Attack them, confront them, collide with them. Don’t cower. “Even the seniors were not asking me to play carefully today,” Kishan said. “They knew against spin I can hit like a madman.”Before Kishan could face him, the bigger Jadeja had already taken a wicket. Kishan got another shot at Dharmendrasinh before he faced Ravindra. Dharmendrasinh began the next over with a long-on and deep midwicket in place. They were telling Kishan to go for it if he felt he was good enough. Kishan was. He was right out of the crease and down to the pitch of the ball twice in his second over, and cleared the fielder at deep midwicket with ease on both occasions. The key was a big and decisive first stride. And then came the sweet connection.To do it against Dharmendrasinh is one thing, against Ravindra quite another. Ravindra is stronger, bowls flatter and draws more turn. This is obviously early days, but Kishan has an amazing clarity of thought. Some might again laugh at the comparison, but it is almost Sehwag-like. He has no qualms in saying “seam-weam” I don’t understand, but he was picking Ravindra easily. “I was picking him from his grip,” Kishan said. “When he split the fingers on the ball I knew he was going to go slower and try to turn it from outside off. When he went up regularly, I knew he was going to fire it in.”So I went by line. When it was straight I felt it was in my reach, and I stepped out and hit. When it was that wider delivery, I played it properly.” If he was going to get out, he was going to get out on his terms. Before that, though, he would be laughed at once again.Jadeja bowled that split-finger delivery early on, which turned and bounced, and Kishan was almost on the floor, trying to cover the line somehow, and fended in front of his face. Ravindra and friends laughed, and mock-gestured among themselves as if playing a bouncer from a quick. The Jharkhand bench went, “.” Collide with them.Collide Kishan did next ball. Down the pitch decisively, he cleared mid-on. Jadeja responded by sending long-on and midwicket back, suspecting Kishan had only one gear. What a good gear he had, if he indeed had only one. Out of the crease again, managing to get under darts from Ravindra, he cleared midwicket and long-on in successive deliveries. The second went out of the ground. Kishan’s fifty came up in the 12th over, out of a team score of 64 for 2.The hitting didn’t stop although Kishan admitted he was beaten in the flight in two of his eight sixes. He went ahead with the shots, and made sweet connections still. “” [He had dragged the length back.] When Kishan finally miscued for the first time, he had reached 87, off just 69 balls, out of a team score of 120, hitting eight sixes and four fours. Jaydev Unadkat got under the ball, shouted out “mine”, and perhaps knew this was the big catch, went up with fingers pointing up, and let it slip. He stuck out a hand to catch the rebound, and the relief on his face was palpable. This 17-year-old was pushing Saurashtra into the ditch they had dug for Jharkhand.Ravindra ran towards Unadkat. The whole Saurashtra team assembled. Jadeja broke the huddle and patted the back of Kishan, which is not a common sight in the highly competitive world of domestic cricket. Not bad for someone who was laughed at even before he faced the first ball. Jharkhand went on to duly collapse for 168, and their spinners provided too many long hops and full tosses to Saurashtra to let them take a 35-run lead, which can prove crucial on this pitch where spinners have taken 19 wickets on the first day.There is a remarkable un-coached freshness to this Patna kid who had to move to Ranchi because the BCCI until this year didn’t recognise Bihar cricket. He may or may not repeat such efforts in the future, but with the Under-19 World Cup coming up, and with Rahul Dravid to be the coach of that side, he might just get the perfect coach to show him to pick “seam-weam” and how to build bigger innings.

For many Indians across North America, the three-match All-Star series has turned into a chance for a pilgrimage – partly to watch legendary cricketers playing but mostly to see one man

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan 08-Nov-2015For Rahul Shrivatsav, a 38-year-old catering director in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the events of February 28 and March 1, 2003, are etched in his head. He was holidaying in Florida, celebrating his first wedding anniversary, but his mind was fixated on spending the night in a local Pakistani restaurant, to watch India play Pakistan in the World Cup.”I tried everything I could to convince my wife that I had to watch Sachin play that game,” he says, “but she said, ‘No, our anniversary is more important.'”Twelve-and-a-half years later Shrivatsav’s wife, Sarah, surprised him by booking a ticket for the first All-Star game in Citi Field in New York – an event that required him to take a one-and-a-half hour flight one way.”You have been feeling bad about 2003 for all these years,” she told him. “If you don’t go now, you will feel bad forever.”When Shrivatsav arrived at Citi Field on Saturday and caught a glimpse of Tendulkar gearing up – the first time he had seen Tendulkar in the flesh since 2001 – he broke down.”I didn’t even realise I was crying initially,” he says. “But then I thought, it would actually be a shock if I didn’t cry.”‘He is moving on from his father’s death by doing what he does best. Why can’t I do the same? Why can’t I too put my mother’s death behind and make her proud’ – Rahul Shrivatsav•Rahul ShrivatsavShrivatsav moved out of India in 1997, first to Australia then to the US. From the time he moved out, he is certain he has seen “almost every ball that Sachin faced in international cricket on TV or online” – mostly live but occasionally recorded “because sometimes one has to work also.”Over the last few years Shrivatsav has maintained a daily log on Facebook and Snapchat – “I want to document how I feel at different points of my day: when I run, when I cook, when I travel.” There is an update every hour or so – “sometimes more sometimes less” – and when he revisits the log every few days he finds most of his updates have a reference to Tendulkar.”If I ever write my memoir,” he says, “it will actually be Sachin’s memoir.”***For many Indians across North America, the three-match All-Star series has turned into a chance for a pilgrimage – partly to watch legendary cricketers playing but mostly to see one man. A group of engineers from Toronto, another group of graduate students from State College in Pennsylvania, an IT consultant from Connecticut, an assistant professor from North Carolina: all undertaking journeys (in cars or flights) to be in Citi Field, for Sachin.For some, who moved to the US in the 1990s, Tendulkar was first a gaping absence. The internet was at its infancy and unless you invested in a satellite dish of your own, it was close to impossible to watch international cricket live. Every trip to India was a chance to hoard VHS tapes (on which relatives had recorded international games, especially ones with Tendulkar’s dazzling knocks) and, later, Video CDs. Graduate students ravaged college libraries for Indian newspapers and magazines; some caught scores on BBC’s radio service; others called home during important games – with extra money they had saved up through the month – to find out if Tendulkar was still batting, how he was batting and why nobody was lending support.

If they were all not there applauding every little thing I did I would not have got even one-tenth the satisfaction and happiness that I have got in my lifeSachin Tendulkar on his fans

Sometime in the early 2000s the internet provided them a new lease of life. But not without its own challenges: connections were unreliable, streams were hard to find and a number of games weren’t telecast live. For graduate students, their best bet was to make a trip to their computer labs (mostly late at night) and take in the action in low volume. College work took a backseat. Sleep patterns went for a toss. And often, after a three-match or five-match series, the body was jet-lagged for a few days. Social life? What’s that?All through these years – studying in small towns in the US, shivering through icy winters, acclimating oneself with the accent, the food and limited (and often nonexistent) public transport – there was one unchanging factor: they had watched Tendulkar batting when they had lived in India; they were watching Tendulkar batting when living in the US. They had gone nuts watching his cover drive when back home – holding the follow-through for that millisecond longer, as if posing for the cameras, then nodding his head. They were watching the same cover drive – same tock, same pose, same nod – when living abroad. Life was variable; Tendulkar was constant.***Rohan Shirwaiker (right), an assistant professor in North Carolina State University, lost sleep watching Sachin and Amit Goda (left) has a friend who has a friend who taught Sachin how to tie a tie•Siddartha VaidyanathanRohan Shirwaiker, a 32-year-old assistant professor in North Carolina State University, drove ten hours to get to Citi Field on Saturday for his first sighting of Tendulkar in ten years. A few minutes before the game, he was “terribly nervous”, still coming to terms with the fact that he is within touching distance of “him”.Over the last ten years Shirwaiker estimates that he has slept on fewer nights than he has not. “It’s Sachin, man,” he says with a blush. “You have to stay up. In the mornings, my students tell me, ‘Sir, we fell asleep but we knew you would tell us about all that happened.'”On March 30, 2011, Shirwaiker was scheduled to attend a job interview in Florida. “I requested them if I could postpone it because India were playing Pakistan in the World Cup semi-final in Mohali on the same day. They said no. So I cancelled my flight and booked another one a few hours later, so that I could see as much of the game as possible. I couldn’t see the whole match but Sachin’s innings, I saw.”Does he think he played a small part in India’s win by delaying his flight? He blushes again but quickly adds, “One of my wife’s relatives once took a restroom break when Tendulkar reached a hundred. So from then on, every time Sachin was in the 90s we used to request that relative to take a restroom break.”Shirwaiker was at the game with his friend, Amit Goda, a 32-year-old chemical engineer based in New Jersey. They are part of a Whatsapp group that discusses cricket “but before he retired, mostly Sachin”. Goda has a friend whose friend apparently taught Tendulkar to tie a tie. This may sound like a useless bit of information but in the Tendulkar universe this is an essential tidbit: everybody has a friend (or a friend’s friend or a friend’s friend’s friend) who has a connection with Tendulkar. Usually, the farther you get from the man, the more interesting is the yarn.***Ankur Jhaveri (right) and Ayush Gupta (left) at the Cricket All-Stars game in New York•Siddartha VaidyanathanTendulkar has friends who moved to the US in the 1990s. He kept in touch with some of them – “many of them have become big doctors and big businessmen now,” he told ESPNcricinfo – and is aware of the lengths they have gone to watch him bat over the years. “My friends would invariably tell me, ‘We sat in a big group and watched you bat.'” Some would fly to watch him live. Some others would send a kind word via email.Tendulkar may be playing cricket in the US for the first time but he has always known that the expatriate population has been tracking him like a hawk. “Their support has given me the strength to go out there and perform,” he says. “If they were all not there applauding every little thing I did I would not have got even one-tenth the satisfaction and happiness that I have got in my life. All the good moments have been multiplied many-fold thanks to them. The reason to come here is to get them to come to stadiums and to watch us play.”

They had gone nuts watching his cover drive when back home. They were watching the same cover drive when living abroad. Life was variable; Tendulkar was constant.

And turn up they did. Mayank Jhaveri, a 23-year-old IT consultant, flew in from Connecticut. His cousin, Ankur Jhaveri, an engineer, drove from Toronto. Ankur’s friend Ayush Gupta, another engineer, says he might have thought twice about coming if Tendulkar wasn’t there but “there was no question once he was here. No question.”Back in 1997 Shrivatsav, the catering director from Ann Arbor, lost his mother. He also lost his passion for cricket and entered a downward spiral. He still watched Tendulkar batting but the rest of the time, he was “moping around, grieving, lost”. Then came the World Cup in 1999, a time when Tendulkar had to fly back home owing to the death of his father.”And then he came back and played that game against Kenya,” says Shrivatsav, his eyes enlarged. “Now that was a huge turning point in my life. I told myself, ‘Look at Sachin. He is moving on from his father’s death by doing what he does best. Why can’t I do the same? Why can’t I too put my mother’s death behind and make her proud.”The moment when Tendulkar looked up the skies in Bristol, after completing his century against Kenya, was a moment that Shrivatsav says he can never forget. “Every time I see that image or that match, I burst into tears. It was a great moment, I tell you. A great, great moment.”

A controversial start followed by repeated batting meltdowns meant even a lion-hearted performance from Mohammad Amir wasn’t enough to save Chittagong Vikings some skin

Mohammad Isam08-Dec-2015 Tournament overview
What ultimately cost Chittagong Vikings were the four defeats in a row after they won their first game against the Sylhet Super Stars. Two of those losses were at their home ground, after which they beat Sylhet again. But at no stage did they look like a team in contention.Much depended on Tamim Iqbal right from the outset, and remained that way till the end. Whenever Tamim made runs at the top, Chittagong looked a threat. His partnership with Tillakaratne Dilshan – they put together three fifty plus stands and a century stand that resulted in a 10-wicket win – was one of the highlights of their campaign. While the flagbearers stood up, the likes of Anamul Haque, Asif Ahmed, Ziaur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed couldn’t perform up to the level expected of the local players. If that was bad enough, worse was how the Akmal brothers – Umar and Kamran – Saeed Ajmal and Elton Chigumbura fared.Tamim was left disappointed after they lost to Dhaka Dynamites on Tuesday by 45 runs, and repeated a phrase he used earlier in the competition: “We can buy players, but not performances.” This has been the theme of Chittagong right from the start, where they lost to Rangpur Riders despite ruling much of the game. They won the next game on the back of a needless controversy and then went on to lose to Comilla Victorians, Dhaka Dynamites, Barisal Bulls and Rangpur in consecutive matches. There seemed to be very little that they could have done other than hope that Tamim scores and Mohammad Amir get them out of tough situations with the ball, which he did to an extent.Their fielding too was poor at times, something that cost Asif his place in the team. Naeem Islam did a job with the bat and occasionally with the ball but it was never enough.High point
Chittagong were at the receiving end of one of the worst controversies in the BPL, when the Sylhet franchise sent Ravi Bopara and Josh Cobb to play without naming them in the playing XI at the toss. The fiasco took over an hour to solve and it got uglier as Tamim later alleged that one of the Sylhet owners abused him during the stand-off. But to his credit, Tamim played a handy knock and Chittagong held on to clinch a thriller.Low point
Their most uninspiring performance was when they were bowled out for 92 against Dhaka Dynamites. The collapse started when Tamim was wrongfully given out caught down the leg side, a blow from which they could not recover. Naeem played the sort of anchor role, 29 off 38, that had no place in a T20.Top of the class
Mohammad Amir was always going to be a much-talked about acquisition considering the BPL was to be his first tournament out of Pakistan since being allowed to play cricket after a five-year spot-fixing ban. His performance for Chittagong – 14 wickets at an average of 12.64 from nine games – has given the PCB reason enough to get him to play for Pakistan A and perhaps the senior side shortly. His most memorable wickets were be the yorker to Misbah-ul-Haq in the first match and the late outswinger that took Shahid Afridi’s off-bail and the ball slamming into the sightscreen.Under-par performer
Anamul Haque was Chittagong’s first draft pick back in October. But his 114 runs in the eight innings hardly paid back the faith shown in him by the franchise owners and the team management. He started off with scores of 36 and 39 not out in the first three games but made scores of 1, 12, 14, 0 and 9 in the remainder of the tournament. There was concern before the tournament about his adaptability, and he did little to change that perception.Tip for 2016
Apart from Tamim Iqbal and Shafiul Islam, none of Chittagong’s local players did well in the tournament. Their collection of overseas players should also have been a bit more about performers and less about reputations. Despite the early exit, the franchise owners DBL Group are said to be interested to build this team next season and beyond, while Tamim too has said that he wants to play for this team. A better approach to team selection would be paramount.

Wriddhiman Saha has slowly started settling into the India Test line-up, showing fight with the bat and sharp keeping skills

Sidharth Monga in Delhi30-Nov-2015MS Dhoni was many things. He was an awkward batsman, a resigned Test captain, a reluctant diver towards first slip, but he was also a joy to watch when he kept wicket to spinners. It will take another freak of nature to start collecting sharply turning deliveries without any give, a reverse follow-through if you will. The one second he saved when managing to complete a take without taking his gloves back to absorb the impact put him miles ahead of any wicketkeeper of spin-bowling.To add to the pure joy of Dhoni’s keeping was his running commentary that could be heard through the stump mic – his wisecracks, his big-brotherly admonishments. Once when Ravindra Jadeja* was not flighting the ball, Dhoni said, “I have not called Pujara to gully to clap and encourage you. He is there to take a catch.” Equally legendary was “Sree, there is no girlfriend there” to Sreesanth who had wandered away from his fielding position. To Jadeja he would often say “can bowl from here, too” when he needed a change of an angle. Dhoni’s readings of a batsman’s mind when facing spin used to be immaculate.When Dhoni announced his retirement from Tests, in a shock email from the BCCI minutes after he had finished a post-match press conference, we knew these were what we would miss the most about Dhoni. The no-give takes and the mouth. And there was going to be no point trying to emulate him. Those hands and the mind that worked that mouth were unique.To the team, though, when playing in Asia – where India were likely to play close to 20 Tests in a row – his batting, which enabled them to play five bowlers, was equally, if not more, important. The first time Dhoni moved to No. 6 in a home Test, though, was not part of a plan. It was enforced upon him by short-sighted selection. The squad given to Dhoni included only six batsmen. When one of them – VVS Laxman – fell ill, Rohit Sharma was hastily called up. When Rohit injured himself in the warm-ups before the toss, Wriddhiman Saha, reputed to be the best pure keeper in the country, had to play as a specialist batsman. He scored 0 and 36 as India lost by an innings and six runs. Thus began a journey of a player who looked dead set to be a nearly man.Saha’s next Test came two years later, and the next more than two-and-a-half years later. Both because of Dhoni’s absence: due to a suspension and then injury. Both in Adelaide. In that second Adelaide Test, in December last year, he came in to bat in the final innings with under 100 required, five wickets in hand and Virat Kohli still unbeaten. We don’t know what the plan was, but it seemed that Saha – an IPL centurion now – was to go for quick runs while Kohli would try to stay till the end. After getting in for the first six balls, he hit Nathan Lyon for a six and a four. All of a sudden India needed just 65 with five wickets in hand for an incredible Test win.Adrenalin must have flown. He was running away with the Test against the best bowler on offer. Another six and the target would be under 60. Twelve per remaining wicket. How tempting to go for it after you have already done so twice. Saha did so. Bowled. Dhoni was back for the next Test. Who knew when the next Test would be?The next Test came soon enough with Dhoni’s retirement, and in his sixth and seventh matches – both in Sri Lanka – Saha scored crucial fifties to now, finally at the age of 30, start cementing a place in the Test side. A spot many felt he was born for, but was unfortunate in having been born in the same era as Dhoni. In the photo with the trophy from that series, though, you won’t see Saha. Instead you will spot a beaming Naman Ojha, who had to be brought mid-series to replace the injured Saha and had responded with a sprightly 35. Had Saha again found a way to be only nearly there? For you never knew with this side, what with its preference for quick runs.Saha got his chance for Mohali. In fact he was the only wicketkeeper named in the squad. He didn’t make Mohali. On the eve of the Test as the rest of the squad went into the nets, Saha sat with a doctor, getting his blood pressure examined. A pill came out. It was popped. Saha went back into the change room. The spring wasn’t quite there in his step. A Bengali journalist asked him what the matter was. Saha didn’t say much. The journalist asked, “Jor [fever]?” Saha said, “Jor type.”That no replacement was called up was a good sign. Then Saha took field. For those who believe in signs, something extremely significant happened when India bowled the first time round. India had scored only 201. South Africa had started shakily on the first evening, but now Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar had added 76. We were reaching a stage where another half an hour of Amla could have meant South Africa getting into a comfortable position. Amla was trusting his defence. He was managing to stay back to counter the unexpected movement or inconsistent bounce off the pitch.Then Amla jumped out of the crease to try to get to the pitch of R Ashwin’s delivery, but the ball dipped on him and bounced alarmingly. Saha rose but the gloves failed to follow the ball. For that brief moment – it is funny how much can happen in a little moment – you thought how Dhoni would have managed, but the ball hit Saha’s chest and fell on the stumps. That ball could have gone anywhere, Amla could have scored more or had a partnership with de Villiers, but he was stumped. All the years of mixed fortune had evaporated in that one moment, well before South Africa had been psychologically damaged for good.Two Tests later Saha was back in Nagpur, back where it had nearly begun, against the same opposition. This time, though, he did what only three batsmen managed on an extremely difficult surface: bat out 100 balls. Towards the end of the Test he rose beautifully with a turning ball down the leg side to take a deflection off the glove. Umpire Ian Gould, a wicketkeeper himself, was impressed too, perhaps the closest we can get to the fabled reaction of “wonderful” from the square-leg umpire to a leg-side stumping from Jack Blackham. In 123 overs of keeping on that surface Saha conceded just five byes. Dane Vilas let 23 go through.Saha is not going to run away with games with the bat like Dhoni did, but he has shown he is going to fight just as much with the bat in hand. He cannot even dream of being as entertaining near the stump mic as Dhoni was. In fact, all he can be heard saying is “lubhly, lubhly”. He is not as flashy with the stumpings either. But now that Saha seems to have settled in the team, there is still a joy to how he reacts to sharply turning deliveries, puffs of dusts and moving batsmen notwithstanding. The nearly man is finally embedded.
*Bowler’s name corrected from Pragyan Ojha to Ravindra Jadeja

The Wanderers has a history of producing result-orientated Test cricket and for England there is the tantalising prospect of being able to secure a series victory

Andrew McGlashan10-Jan-2016After their short break following the second Test in Cape Town, England’s players will return to the day job on Monday as they begin preparations for the third Test at the Wanderers with the chance at a second series victory in South Africa since readmission.They will need to spend the three days ahead of the series resumption adjusting to the new challenges posed by cricket on the Highveld, where the thinner atmosphere allows the ball to travel further and faster, while also pushing the physical endurance of the players – especially the bowlers – in the middle.England, who arrived on Sunday, landed into a region in the midst of a drought. Temperatures had soared to record highs on Friday in Johannesburg (38 degrees) and Pretoria (42.5 degrees). After the bowlers’ toil in Newlands – although from England’s point of view some of that was self-inflicted with fielding errors – they will hope that the hot weather does not mean the Wanderers surface loses the characteristics which make it a result-orientated venue.Although perhaps of limited value, the evidence of the two first-class matches played at the ground in the Sunfoil Series this season – both within the last month – suggests that an even contest between bat and ball should still be on offer. Both games have been victories for the side batting first, the highest team total in eight innings has been 316 for 8 and seamers have taken 61 of the 72 wickets to fall.The Wanderers has not staged a Test for more than two years, when India were the visitors, and although it was a draw it was an epic contest where South Africa finished on 450 for 7 having been set 458. Results are the norm at the ground; before that 2013 match the previous drawn encounter against New Zealand in 2000 with three days ruined by rain. The last draw without significant weather intervention was in 1997.England’s Test matches at the Wanderers have produced some famous moments: Michael Atherton’s unbeaten 185 in 1995 when he and Jack Russell achieved one of the game’s great escapes, being 2 for 4 inside three overs in 1999 against a rampant Allan Donald and in 2005 when Matthew Hoggard and Marcus Trescothick combined to earn England one of their finest overseas victories.The most recent meeting between the teams in Johannesburg was a slightly more prosaic affair as South Africa surged to an innings-and-74-run series-levelling victory in 2010. England arrived following the Christmas-New Year period where, like this time, they had achieved victory in Durban and drawn in Cape Town, although the Newlands encounter on that occasion was an emotionally-fraught nine-wicket down survival.Having also saved the first Test of that 2009-10 series by the skin of their teeth at Centurion, England looked drained during the final encounter and could not cope with Dale Steyn – who is battling to be fit for this Test – and Morne Morkel on the opening day. The pair shared eight wickets in the first innings and 14 across the match as only Paul Collingwood with a second-innings 71 passed fifty. If the series is 1-1 after the Wanderers this time it will set up a terrific conclusion at Centurion, but England will not want to take it that far.

Stats highlights from the fourth ODI between Australia and India in Canberra where the hosts stretched their undefeated home streak to 19 matches on the trot

Bharath Seervi20-Jan-201619 Consecutive ODIs without defeat for Australia at home – 18 wins and a no-result. They last lost to South Africa in November 2014 at the WACA. West Indies had a run of 18 home games without defeat from 1986 to 1990 and Sri Lanka 17 from 1996 to 1998.1 Australian bowler with a five-for when the opposition made more than 300 before Kane Richardson. Nathan Bracken had taken 5 for 67 at the Wanderers when South Africa chased 434 in 2005-06. Richardson’s 5 for 68 in this match are his best figures in ODIs and it is also the first time a bowler has taken a five-for at the Manuka Oval in eight ODIs.671 Runs scored in the match, the third-highest ever for an ODI in Australia. The top spot in this list also came recently, when the hosts and Sri Lanka tallied 688 runs in 2015. This is the 13th instance when both teams have made 300-plus totals in an ODI in Australia. Six of them have come in the last two years, and three in this series. India’s total of 323 is the fourth-highest by a team batting second in ODIs in Australia.162 Innings Virat Kohli has taken to score 25 ODI centuries making him the fastest to the mark and by some distance too. The old record was held by Sachin Tendulkar – 234 innings in 1998. Three other batsmen have at least 25 centuries in ODIs: Ricky Ponting (279 innings), Sanath Jayasuriya (373) and Kumar Sangakkara (378). This was Kohli’s fifth century against Australia in ODIs, the third-most by a batsman after Tendulkar (nine) and Desmond Haynes (six). With this century, Kohli now has nine centuries across all formats in Australia – five in Tests and four in ODIs. He equals Jack Hobbs and David Gower’s record for most centuries by visiting a batsman in Australia.2 Australia batsmen who have scored 2000 ODI runs in fewer innings than Aaron Finch’s 54 – David Boon (52) and Matthew Hayden (53). Greg Chappell and George Bailey also got to the mark in 54 innings. Steven Smith completed his 2000th ODI run in this match too, playing his 55th innings. Finch scored his seventh ODI century in this match. Among Australia openers, only four have scored more.187 Runs added by Finch and David Warner for the first wicket – Australia’s second-highest opening stand in ODIs against India, after the 212-run partnership between Boon and Geoff Marsh in Jaipur, in 1986.212 Partnership for the second wicket between Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan, the third-highest for any wicket against Australia in Australia; the second, third and fourth on the list have all been by Indian pairs. It was also the second-highest partnership in a chase that ended in defeat. The highest, also by India, is 223 between Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja in Colombo (RPS) in 1997. Sri Lanka won that game by two runs. Kohli has now been involved in eight double-century stands, the most by any player going past Ponting and Upul Tharanga, who have seven each.131.33 Australia’s average opening stand at the Manuka Oval in Canberra from three innings. Warner and Finch, who put on 187 today, had added 118 against South Africa in 2014-15 while Finch and Watson combined for 89 runs against West Indies in 2012-13. In 13 innings at this venue, visiting teams’ opening partnerships have averaged 33.84, with three fifties including the 65 runs put on by Rohit and Dhawan in this match.0 Dismissals in 90s for Warner in his international career, before his 93 in this innings. He has got to the 90s 21 times in his international career prior to today’s match, and converted them into centuries on 20 occasions – 16 in Tests and four in ODIs. He was 90 not out once in a T20I against Sri Lanka at the SCG in January 2013.16 Wickets lost in the match after the 35th over – the most that have fallen after this cut-off in ODIs since 2002. Both the teams lost their second wicket on 37.3; while Australia managed to score 128 runs at 10.10 sine then, India were could add only 46 runs for their last eight wickets.74 Balls taken by India to reach 100 in this ODI – second-fastest by any team against Australia since 2002. The fastest came in 68 balls by New Zealand at the Gabba in February 2009, a 22-over ODI interrupted by rain.72 Innings taken by Dhawan to complete 3000 ODI runs – fewest by an India batsman beating Kohli, who did it in 75 innings. Only Hashim Amla (57 innings) and Viv Richards (69 innings) have been faster, while Gordon Greenidge and Gary Kirsten also took 72 innings. Dhawan is also the second-quickest to nine ODI centuries in terms of innings; only Amla (52 innings) has scored as many in fewer innings. Click here for the list of fastest batsmen to 3000 ODI runs.77 Runs conceded by Ishant Sharma in the match – most by an India bowler in an ODI in Australia, beating Debasis Mohanty’s 76 runs against Pakistan in Hobart in January 2000. Ishant’s 4 for 77 is the third-most expensive four-wicket haul in ODIs. Richardson’s 5 for 68 in the second innings is the joint-fourth expensive five-wicket haul in ODIs.2 Times, including India in this match, a team has been bowled out in an ODI after losing their second wicket at a score of 250 or more. India were the team on the receiving end in the other instance as well: against South Africa in the 2011 World Cup. They were 267 for 2 in Nagpur and collapsed to 296 all out. India lost their last eight wickets for 46 runs in last 12 overs in this ODI, which is the fourth-lowest aggregate by those wickets in an ODI for India.3 Instances of a team failing to chase a target despite having two centuries in the innings, including this match. And India have been involved in all of them. Azharuddin and Jadeja’s tons went in vain against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 1997 while Zimbabwe’s Stuart Carlisle and Sean Ervine felt the sting against India in Adelaide in 2003-04.

He took only one, but what a wicket to take

Brydon Coverdale17-Feb-2016″He’ll be the answer to a trivia question one day.” You’ve probably heard that phrase in cricket a few times. Usually it would a boring, irrelevant question whose answer nobody would know or care to know. Take it from somebody who takes their quizzing seriously: trivial does not equal trivia. But with the man standing in front of me, it is different. He the answer to a trivia question, and quite an interesting one at that.When Richard Hadlee took 9 for 52 against Australia at the Gabba in 1985, who took the other wicket?It was not Martin Snedden or Ewen Chatfield, the other pace bowlers who played in that match. It was not the offspinner John Bracewell; he came into the team only later in the series, on the turning SCG pitch. It was not one of the part-timers, Martin Crowe or Jeremy Coney. No, the answer to this trivia question, and probably the least recognisable face at the 30-year reunion of that team at the Basin Reserve over the past week, is Vaughan Brown.If you haven’t heard of Brown, that is no surprise. He was an offspinning allrounder who made his debut in that famous victory in Brisbane. He also played the second Test, in Sydney, but those were the only two Tests of his career. And the wicket that denied Hadlee his ten-for was Brown’s only Test wicket. And, just to add another fascinating element to the story, the man who took the catch that gave Brown this wicket was Hadlee himself.”He could have opened his mouth and caught it,” Brown says. “The media would have rubbished him [if he’d dropped it] because it was such an easy catch.”Maybe, maybe not. You can find the match highlights on YouTube, and when you get to the part where Geoff Lawson goes for a mighty slog off Brown, you will note that Hadlee takes the catch only after running back from midwicket, with the flight of the ball. To be truthful, he made a somewhat challenging catch look much easier than it was. In doing so, Hadlee left Australia at 9 for 179, and ended his own run of eight wickets in the innings.He came back to take the last, though, when Bob Holland could only push a catch to short leg. And the man who was under the helmet to take the chance and give Hadlee his ninth wicket for the innings? Vaughan Brown. The same man whose one and only Test wicket prevented Hadlee from having a shot at the greatest figures in Test history, which to this day remain Jim Laker’s 10 for 53 against Australia in 1956.”It wasn’t until later on that I realised,” Brown says. “I didn’t know there was a world record at stake for him.”But Brown, now 56, is quick to point out that he could have actually ended Hadlee’s streak of wickets even earlier, when John Wright put down a chance. “People don’t realise that Wrighty dropped a catch off me a couple of overs beforehand,” Brown says. “But I have to give Mr Lawson his dues, because everyone knows that John Wright can’t catch a ball on the boundary.”At the Basin Reserve during the New Zealand-Australia Test over the past week, most members of the team that achieved that historic series win over Australia on that tour 30 years ago were present for their first proper reunion. There were a few absentees – the ill Martin Crowe, the ICC match referee Jeff Crowe, and the Wellington coach Bruce Edgar – but most of the players were there.”I was just the baby of the team who used to clean their shoes and just do my job, and a hell of a nervous one at that,” Brown says. “It was great to be part of, in hindsight – such a memorable thing. It hasn’t happened since. I think everyone thought this current team might’ve done it before Christmas, and that didn’t happen.”Brown was an allrounder rather than an out-and-out bowler – he batted at No. 7 in that Brisbane Test, ahead of Hadlee – but 190 first-class wickets at 28.97 tell of his bowling ability. But he holds up his right hand to show one of the problems he faced: his fingers are distinctly stubby, not the typical long digits you expect on the hand of a spinner.”Look at these fingers: these are not spinning fingers,” Brown says. “We went down to Adelaide pre-Test and Ashley Mallett was there. Ashley was a well-known, fantastic bowler, the guys said, ‘Go and have a session with him.’ Ashley was trying to get me to bowl a straight ball, which is literally bowling against the seam.

“I was petrified. When I bowled, my hands were sweating. It was humid, admittedly, but I was so nervous it wasn’t funny”Vaughan Brown

“Ashley has got big fingers. I said, ‘I’ve got a problem, mine are half the length of yours, so I can’t do it.’ I used to flight the ball a lot more. I had a lot of competition with Braces, who had massive fingers and would just rip it. I relied a lot more on flight than him.”Hence the wicket-taking delivery to Lawson was tossed up somewhat, and Australia’s No. 8 was beaten in flight.”I was petrified,” Brown says. “When I bowled, my hands were sweating. It was humid, admittedly, but I was so nervous it wasn’t funny. Fortunately the guys encouraged me and supported me.”[Lawson] was nervous and the other batsmen were nervous as well, because we had them on the back foot, so it creates opportunities. You’ve got to seize them. Carpe diem – seize the day.”Of course, Hadlee has often been asked about his part in the dismissal, and the one that got away because of the catch that didn’t. On that same YouTube video that features the match highlights, there is an interview between Richie Benaud and Hadlee, in which the fast bowler is asked about the catch.”People have often said to me, ‘Why didn’t you drop it?'” Hadlee says in that clip. “I said, ‘The game of cricket is not like that. You take every chance that you can.’ It was significant for Vaughan Brown, of course, because that was his first ever Test wicket.”First and only. Just 430 short of Hadlee’s tally. Whereas Hadlee only strengthened his status as a great of the game, Brown slipped off the international cricket radar and back to a regular working life in sales and marketing with Air New Zealand. But he remembers with great fondness his part in the Gabba Test, and in a series that remains arguably the high point of New Zealand’s cricket history.”You’ve got to be honest about it, the Australian team wasn’t strong,” he says. “They had challenges. We had a pretty good all-round team, if you look at what everyone has achieved. To get that win, and then the second Test in Sydney – we knew it was turning and they brought Braces across. It’s just like prey with wildlife, when there’s a weakness there, you go for it, and we knew Australia were at that level.”I remember we got a dozen bottles of wine from the minister of tourism, and [New Zealand businessman] Sir Ron Brierley sent another dozen… The boys were certainly enjoying it, because a lot of them had been playing cricket for a long, long time, and this was a very special time for them.”And for Brown. After the series there was the typical camaraderie between the Australians and New Zealanders, and some swapping of equipment. In a suitcase at home, Brown still has Holland’s baggy green cap and jersey. Thirty years on, he is happy with the part he played in a slice of New Zealand cricket history, even if Hadlee occasionally gives him a light-hearted ribbing about taking wicket.And, of course, he remains the answer to a trivia question: “I’m still on a card game and on bottle tops – ‘Who was that other person?'”