Last year did provide its own versions of drama and intrigue, as well as a bit of cricket on the side, and it can be relived on a three-disc DVD set. It amounts to over three hours of action and it is certainly value for money

Andrew McGlashan21-Jan-2007England’s Summer of Cricket 2006 Dd Home Entertainment, £24.99

The English summer of 2006 was always going to have a lot to live up to; 2005 had included Bangladesh beating Australia, a tied NatWest Series final, some dazzling one-day innings by Kevin Pietersen … oh, and England regained the Ashes.But last year did provide its own versions of drama and intrigue, as well as a bit of cricket on the side, and as supporters try to wrestle their way through a bleak midwinter the season can be relived on a three-disc DVD set.It amounts to over three hours of action and it is certainly value for money. Disc one takes in the drawn Test series against Sri Lanka (yes, England really did drop nine catches at Lord’s, Pietersen really was that amazing at Edgbaston and Murali was a magician at Trent Bridge).A nice touch throughout the collection is the way Mark Nicholas gives each Test a context by reviewing and previewing the action with the help of newspaper cuttings, which means the season unfolds in front of you the same way the stories developed at the time.This approach is especially useful for the second Test series, against Pakistan, which produced enough material for a three-disc collection all of its own. Before it started there was the introduction of England’s second stand-in captain, then Monty Panesar’s hand-clapping brilliance, not to forget Mohammad Yousuf’s three-foot wide bat. But, of course, as with all great dramas the extraordinary scenes are left until the end.August 20 began like many other Test days, with England fighting hard to stay in the match. However, it ended as an unwanted piece of history. We all know the story, but just to summarise it included the words Hair, balls and Doctrove (honest, he was there too). The saga is played out in full and it once again it leaves the feeling that the whole thing could so easily have been avoided. But then this DVD would have lost one of its main selling points.The action is brought to you by Sunset and Vine, the production company which revolutionised cricket coverage with Channel 4 and has gone on to produce the Channel Five highlights package. The footage is naturally faultless, but taking the terrestrial version does mean the viewer is limited to three commentators – Nicholas, Geoff Boycott and Simon Hughes – which can get a little tiresome by the end of the seventh Test.One-day cricket isn’t forgotten with highlights of both series, plus extended versions of Sri Lanka’s incredible chase at Headingley and rare colour ed-clothing victories for England at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston. Those wins included names like Yardy, Read and Broad. Nothing like sticking to a winning side. The extra one-day highlights come on disc three, which also includes ultra-motion footage and interviews with Pietersen, Andrew Strauss and Duncan Fletcher along with stats and the Analyst.It was a mixed summer for England – three proper Test-match victories, the emergence of some talented young cricketers, but no upturn in their one-day form. However, after watching the DVDs you are left with the sense that England would head to Australia with a strong chance of retaining the Ashes. Wouldn’t they?Click here to order at Cricshop.com for £21.99

How fitting that India’s one-day triumph came exactly two months after the third day of the acrimonious Sydney Test, the eruption from where the series never recovered

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan05-Mar-2008

Just moments after what was arguably his finest hour, Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a poignant and deeply symbolic gesture. “?” (Who’s the youngest?) he asked when the team assembled on the podium to pose with the CB Series trophy. Nothing could have summed up India’s triumph better, underpinning the value of the untried and untested. The sight of little Piyush Chawla, the youngest member, holding the trophy aloft captured the theme of the series.It marked the end of a highly-charged tour littered with controversy. How fitting that the one-day triumph came exactly two months after the third day of the acrimonious Sydney Test, the eruption whose effects were felt through the series. But the Indian team did in splendid manner, swinging in Perth, fighting in Adelaide and shattering expectations through the one-day series. Leaving aside the first Test and one-off Twenty20 – both in Melbourne – they were competitive in every match.The self-belief was evident through the tour. Dhoni grinned when asked about his side doing the unthinkable. “How higher would you take expectations? First tell me that.” Eight of the finalists hadn’t played a one-dayer in Australia before this trip and Manoj Tiwary was yet to debut. Here were a bunch of lambs ready for the slaughter.India rode on experience during the Test series. Batsmen had responded because they had been in similar positions before; bowlers had fought back because, in Anil Kumble’s words, “we’ve played enough cricket to know that a Test match can change very quickly”.The one-day series squad was picked amid controversy. Rohit Sharma and Robin Uthappa were included despite doing very little in the domestic circuit. Sourav Ganguly was jettisoned. Rahul Dravid was ignored. And a couple of selectors let it be known privately that it was a team picked at Dhoni’s behest.India don’t rebuild too well, partly because teams haven’t been granted enough latitude through the demanding phases. Youngsters have often been thrown in the deep, only for poor results to mess up the successions plan.Greg Chappell’s plan to put together a young side backfired when the losses piled up. Ditto in 1999, when a few greenhorns were tried in Australia, only to have their careers derailed. Youngsters fresh from domestic cricket have often found the transition too rough. A string of demoralising defeats – like in South Africa late in 2006 – would have blurred the selectors’ vision.Where would the runs come from? Who had the technique to counter the swinging ball? Who could guide a chase? Didn’t this side have too many chinks? What this side did have, though, was balance. Often they played five bowlers, a luxury that often tilts the way teams play. For the last few years, India’s one-day side has relied on an in-form Irfan Pathan, not so much for what he contributes but the options that open up with him in the side.Agility on the field helped. No way would India have competed in the giant Australian arenas with a sluggish side. Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik didn’t get a game but the energy levels perked up when they were on as substitutes. Tiwary made a couple of fine saves in the final and Chawla held his nerve to pouch a smart catch in the dying stages.The fielders backed up what was a sustained bowling effort. An outstanding strike bowler (Ishant Sharma) was complemented by a duo who stuck to the basics (Pathan and Harbhajan Singh). Praveen Kumar and Chawla held their nerve in the final while Sreesanth and Munaf Patel did their bit when called upon. They swung it in daylight and swung it more under floodlights. They were up against a wobbly top order, with Australia’s batsmen not at the peak of their confidence, but the Indian bowlers ensured that they stayed there.

The batsmen didn’t shine as bright – and it needed the mastery of Sachin Tendulkar to carry them through the finals – but the signs were promising. Every one of the batting line-up showed the willingness to change his game. Rohit carved out responsible fifties in the league phase before charging along in the first final; Uthappa blitzed a fifty in Sydney before patiently laying a platform in the final.Gautam Gambhir showed he could rip upper-cuts with the mightiest of biffs and charged spinners ferociously. Importantly he backed himself when under the hammer. Don’t forget Pathan’s cameos, both in the top and lower order.More than anything don’t forget Dhoni. He’s copped the blame for backing players – picking Tiwary on a ‘gut’ feel, sticking to Yuvraj despite the lean patch, throwing newcomers in the deep end – but struck gold. After going down to Australia in Adelaide he insisted that Yuvraj would play every match; a match-winning 76 was to justify his faith two days later.Within six months of being handed captaincy Dhoni has won the World Twenty20, beaten Pakistan and claimed the CB Series. He’s injected a sense of fearlessness and backed youngsters all the way. Eight years ago, from the rubble of the match-fixing scandal, another Indian captain began his tenure similarly. It was hailed as a new dawn. What an irony that Ganguly’s one-day career is all but over with Dhoni’s side beginning a mouth-watering new chapter.

At the WACA, they say, batsmen can leave alone balls pitched at a good length. Some tellable pitchside tales from Wild West Perth

Dileep Premachandran16-Jan-2008

Home is where the bounce is: The WACA was a track tailormade for Ambrose © Getty Images
To understand just how frightening the WACA used to be for batsmen, you only have to watch the footage of Curtly Ambrose and Ian Bishop in their prime in 1992-93. Australia had been denied a first series win in a generation in Adelaide, and the teams had come to Perth all square. And although Australia lost Justin Langer early, caught behind off Bishop, they were pretty handily placed at 58 for 1 when the match and series went pear-shaped. Again, it was Bishop, targetting Steve Waugh’s body, and the diffident glance was taken by Junior Murray.The initial incisions may have had a Trinidadian flavour to them, but it was all Antiguan aggression after that. Ambrose had enjoyed a stellar series, beating Malcolm Marshall’s record for most wickets in a series against Australia, and with the flick of an imaginary switch, he produced one of the great spells of fast bowling seen anywhere.Mark Waugh nicked one behind, and David Boon was helpless against one that lifted off a good length. When Allan Border was squared up and caught behind first ball, the innings was in disarray. But Ambrose was far from done. Of the seven wickets he took, conceding just one run, six were caught by the keeper or the slip cordon. The seventh, Merv Hughes, perished to an ambitious hoick that was taken at cover.It wasn’t the fastest spell you’ll ever see, but it was an object lesson in what length to bowl on the fastest pitch in the world. Ambrose was never too short, and his height and the steepling bounce meant that even balls that landed on a driving length were too hot for batsmen to handle.After Australia succumbed just before lunch on the third day, the curator was sacked. It was West Indies’ fourth win in four attempts at the WACA, and it was small wonder that Border used to regard Perth games against the men in maroon caps as an away fixture.The next match West Indies played here would mark the end of an era. They arrived having lost a series in Australia for the first time since 1975-76, but there would be one final sting in the tale from the last of the great assembly line of the Caribbean quicks.Only Mark Waugh and Michael Bevan offered resistance as Ambrose and Bishop again triggered a slide to get Australia all out for 243. In reply, Brian Lara produced one of his greatest Test hundreds, the equal of his glorious 277 at the SCG four years previously. His 132 was the difference between the sides, and by the time Australia wiped off the deficit, they were eight wickets down.This time, the destroyer in chief was another legend, Courtney Walsh, who ignored a hamstring injury to bowl 20 overs on the trot for his five wickets. West Indies haven’t won a game in Australia since, and the game is immeasurably poorer for their decline.The first sign of their years of plenty, when they were almost invincible, had also been glimpsed at the WACA in Greg Chappell’s first series as Australian captain. Australia had won comfortably in Brisbane, and Ian Chappell’s scintillating 156 gave them a decent total of 329 on a lightning-fast pitch in Perth.At least, it appeared decent until Roy Fredericks went to work. Kid Cement, as Fredericks was known for his courage against fast bowling, got away with a miscued hook for six off Dennis Lillee, and there was seldom a false stroke afterwards as a four-pronged attack of Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Gary Gilmour and Max Walker was put through the mincer. Fredericks hooked, pulled, cut and drove with awesome power and imperious timing on his way to 169 from 145 balls. Such was the awe it inspired that Clive Lloyd’s regal 149 (off just 186 balls) became almost an afterthought. Viv Richards, who made just 12 himself, called it a “privilege” to be there, to witness the best innings that he ever saw.

Kid Cement: Roy Fredericks is cheered off by the Australians as they go in for a tea break © The Cricketer International
Greg Chappell’s take on it is slightly different. “Fredericks played very well, but to be fair we bowled badly,” he says. “We were too short most of the time and too wide the rest. It was a very good pitch for fast bowlers, hard and well grassed, but good for the batsmen too if you gave them room or length to work with. The West Indies didn’t give us the room and their extra bounce made it difficult. It was the perfect wicket for their combo of shot making and tall, fast bowlers.”They were too good over the three to four days of the Test. Ian Chappell was the only one who batted well for us and his innings was probably the better of the two, because he was made to work harder than we made Fredericks work. We couldn’t have bowled more to suit him if we had tried.”Australia would win the four remaining Test matches, though, with West Indies unable to cope with the pace barrage, the sledging and what Richards called blatantly racist abuse from sections of the crowds. Chappell, though, regards that 5-1 series win as one of the high points of Australia’s cricket history, though he qualifies it by saying: “I think the series we drew with them in the West Indies during WSC [World Series Cricket] when their bowling was more mature would rank as highly.”As for India, this has seldom been a happy hunting ground. It’s 16 years since they last played here, a one-sided match remembered only for the bright kernel of hope to emerge from the embers of a defeat triggered by one of cricket’s quintessential journeymen. “Ripping through a line up containing the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev and Mohammed Azharuddin takes some doing,” says Michael Whitney, looking back on his 7 for 27 from 12.1 overs that pushed India to a 300-run defeat after Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Navjot Singh Sidhu had put on 82 for the first wicket in the second innings.Tendulkar still regards that first-innings 114 (161 balls) as one of his finest hundreds, and those who have watched him since 1989 would find it hard to pick a knock that has eclipsed it. Kiran More, who added 81 for the ninth wicket with him, had the best view in the house. “For any batsman to play at Perth for the first time is not easy,” he says. “He played some shots straight through the covers off the back foot. On that pitch, if you play on the back foot, most of the shots go square and fine, but he was playing through extra cover and cover. Sachin’s a short person, and those shots are difficult to play, but he was doing it so easily.”The best assessment of Tendulkar’s masterpiece came from an Australian with a gift for the pithy phrase. Merv Hughes’ language may usually have been colourful, even blue, but he was spot on when he turned to Border and said: “This little prick’s going to get more runs than you, AB.”

A dramatic slide handed Sri Lanka a match Pakistan had no business losing, and it’s likely the visitors lost the game in the mind rather than on the pitch

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Colombo17-Jun-2012Misbah-ul-Haq couldn’t offer any explanation as to why Pakistan combusted, converting what appeared to be a walkover into an embarrassing defeat. It must have been hard enough digesting the numbers – seven wickets fell for 13 runs inside four overs – and worse would have been the realisation that the collapse actually began with his wicket. Pakistan weren’t supposed to lose this game. With 81 needed off 78, two set batsmen at the crease and eight more to come – including their most experienced at No.6 – it would have taken a lot to bet against them winning. The pressure created by one sharp catch in the infield followed by a bouncer barrage, though, resulted in Pakistan’s crumble.What is more glaring in Pakistan’s defeat is the fact that they cannot hide behind the excuse of being a batsman short. A heavy defeat in the second ODI at Pallekele exposed an imbalance in their line-up, so they sought to rectify that by dropping a seamer and bringing in another batsman. With at least two batsmen struggling for form, including Misbah, it was imperative they played seven batsmen apart from the keeper.Spare a thought for Azhar Ali. A half-century in a format he wasn’t associated with at the start of his career invariably ends up in a losing cause, due to no apparent fault of his own. True, he may never find himself in the league of swashbuckling openers, but that wasn’t the role intended for him in the first place, as his captain reiterated on this tour. As a grafter, he was meant to be the pivot around which others would bat. For the second time in three games, he was ditched by his more experienced colleagues. For the second time, a hard-fought fifty was drowned in defeat.Misbah didn’t extend any excuses. “Having played so many batsmen, each of them realise their responsibilities. We needed a run-a-ball and the batsmen should have taken more responsibility but they didn’t,” Misbah said. “We took it for granted that we had the match in our hands.”While together, Azhar and Misbah had adopted a conservative approach towards the target of 244, grafting the singles and dispatching the odd bad delivery to the boundary. The pair had added 99 – the bulk of it during the non-Powerplay overs – but as it happened, the period in which the field restrictions became mandatory also coincided with Pakistan’s slide.Predictably, the Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene had saved his best bowler, Lasith Malinga, for the batting Powerplay. Pakistan took six off his first over in that spell, but in the following over – the 37th – an incident hampered Azhar’s chances of batting through. Turning back at the crease to avoid a run out, he pulled a calf muscle, and with no runners allowed, the pair had to look for boundaries.Misbah tried exactly that but fell to a sharp catch at mid-off by Kulasekara. Malinga then softened Umar Akmal up with three consecutive bouncers, and the batsman appeared jolted by that barrage. Kulasekara cleverly pitched it up the following over and had Akmal chasing and edging to the keeper. Suffice to say though that Akmal botched yet another opportunity to guide his team home.A wobbly Younis Khan, dropped to No.6 owing to his poor form, also fell edging in a freakish over from Thisara Perera that included a hat-trick and a run-out. Shahid Afridi fell to the poorest shot in that maniacal period, before the pressure got to Sarfraz Ahmed, who steered the hat-trick ball to slip. Sri Lanka were within touching distance of avenging two famous collapses in Sharjah, in 1999 and 2011.It wouldn’t be fair to blame the Pakistan captain for the collapse as there was enough competency in the batting to follow. Misbah admitted his players lost the game in the mind. “It was a simple equation. We should have achieved it easily, without taking risks,” Misbah said. “In my view the batsmen need to have a compact technique in conditions in Sri Lanka, where the ball swings and seams a bit. We need to be mentally strong.”Misbah also defended demoting Younis to No.6, given his average of 44 in 28 innings in that position. “He was struggling at the top. My form too was poor so I promoted myself to No. 4. Asad Shafiq is playing well. Even in Sri Lankan conditions, you need experience even at the bottom. He [Younis] has played at No.6 before, so we pushed him down.”Not for the first time on tour, Misbah admitted that the fielding was a let-down. He refrained from singling out individuals, saying he hoped none of those mistakes will be repeated. Besides the collapse, the other sore point was that this was Pakistan’s 15th defeat in 18 chases of 240-plus in the last three years.Now 1-2 down in the series with a must-win final game on Monday, Pakistan would hope this collapse was just an aberration in their recent impressive head-to-head record against Sri Lanka. Public memory is short, and Pakistan would hope it remains that way.

Chris Lynn’s run of injury misfortune continued during the tri-series final at Auckland, after he suffered a dislocated right shoulder while diving in the field

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2018Chris Lynn looks set to be ruled out of the Pakistan Super League, and will return to Brisbane for further assessment, after suffering a dislocated right shoulder while diving in the field during Australia’s T20 Tri-Series final victory over New Zealand.It was another cruel stroke of injury misfortune for Lynn, who left the field midway through the ninth over of New Zealand’s innings after attempting to intercept a clip through midwicket from Ross Taylor. Sprinting to his left, he reached for the ball with his right arm, in an apparent attempt to protect his troublesome left shoulder, on which he has undergone three bouts of surgery in recent seasons.However, he appeared to jar his right arm on the turf, and it was later confirmed that he had popped the shoulder out of its socket. Although the team medical staff were able to put the joint back into place, he took no further part in the match after being sent for a scan.”Chris dislocated his right shoulder after landing awkwardly on it when fielding the ball,” said Australia’s physio, Alex Kountouris. “His shoulder was able to be put back into place at the ground and he was consequently sent for X-Rays which revealed no major bone injury.”At this stage Chris will not travel to the Pakistan Super League in Dubai. He will return to Brisbane to undergo further scans and assessment and from there we will have a better understanding of the ongoing management, along with the return-to-play timeframes.”Lynn had previously said he would avoid diving in the field in a bid to prevent any further shoulder problems.”It’s something that’s played on my mind for about four years,” he said. “Let’s go one step at a time – I want to dive, there’s no doubt about that, I want to do well and contribute. But at the moment, I don’t want to have another setback because I feel like I’m making good ground.”Lynn had been due to travel to Dubai imminently to take part in Lahore Qalandars’ first match of the Pakistan Super League, on Friday, against Multan Sultans. The Qalandars will be hoping Lynn’s injury is not serious, considering the explosive Australian was their first pick at the PSL draft.Another franchise that will be anxiously hoping for a swift recovery for Lynn is Kolkata Knight Riders. Lynn was the Knight Riders’ most expensive buy at the IPL auction last month, fetching $1.5m. The team is yet to announce its captain and Lynn was one of the names on the shortlist.

Najam Sethi, the PCB chairman, has announced that the matches will be played on April 1, 2 and 3

Umar Farooq in Dubai11-Mar-2018

West Indies are set to become the latest international team to tour Pakistan. Najam Sethi, the PCB chairman, has announced that they will visit the country for a series of three T20Is, all of them to be played in Karachi. *These matches were originally scheduled for April 1, 2 and 4 but the final one has been pulled forward by a day so as not to clash with the death anniversary of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.These will be the first international matches in Karachi since the 2009 attacks on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore brought international cricket in Pakistan to a virtual halt. Pakistan have played nearly all their “home” matches in the UAE since then. There has been a slow trickle of international teams returning to Pakistan since 2015, with Zimbabwe, a World XI, and most recently Sri Lanka making short visits for limited-overs games, but all of them were confined to the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore. Karachi is also set to host the final of the ongoing Pakistan Super League.”I have been working day and night to conclude an agreement with West Indies which I have just finalised an hour ago,” Sethi said. “Good news is that West Indies will play three games, on [April, 1, 2 and 3], but these matches will be played in Karachi. They will not play in Lahore but in Karachi. That is how we intend to put Karachi back on the cricket map once again. The PSL final, and now three more games for Karachi as per routine. Karachi people should welcome this.”Sethi said Reg Dickason, the ICC’s security consultant, would visit Karachi during the PSL final to look at the security arrangements for the series.”Reg DIckason and his men will be here during the PSL final and we have contracted them to oversee the West Indies games as well,” Sethi said. “Their expert will stay back for seven days and conduct the security for West Indies series. This is part of our agreement with the West Indies board. This will be a one-off series, since, as I told you before, it will be a loss-making enterprise. The idea wasn’t to make money; it was to bring cricket back, so this is a step in that direction.”We have a separate agreement with the West Indies in which we are exploring a tri-lateral series including Pakistan, West Indies and one other country, which will be played in the USA over next five years. The details about the venues, dates, financial model will be discussed later but in principle it has decided that three countries will play in the USA.”Sethi had last year announced a five-year plan that involved the West Indies touring Pakistan every year until 2022, but in January walked back on that claim due to the costs involved.*

The Super Kings allrounder was fully aware that his bowling had counted for a lot too, even though he had stunned the Wankhede crowd primarily with a match-winning 30-ball 68

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai08-Apr-20181:44

Coach’s Diary: CSK need explosive openers

About 20 minutes after winning the match for Chennai Super Kings with a flurry of sixes in the dying moments of what looked like a losing cause, Dwayne Bravo was asked in the post-match press conference about his strategy in the death overs against Mumbai Indians. Bravo asked the journalist a question in reply: “While batting or bowling?”Bravo was fully aware that his bowling had counted for a lot, too, even though he had stunned the Wankhede crowd primarily with a 30-ball 68. He came out to bat when Super Kings were reeling at 75 for 5 with the asking rate nearing 12. But his barrage of boundaries in the end snatched a win from the hosts.”[While batting] I wasn’t thinking much actually, I was just trying my best to bat till the last over,” he said. “I thought that if I bat deep and till the end, we have a good chance of winning the game because Wankhede is a ground where if you miss your length and yorkers, the ball can travel. So you mistime a few, a few edges go your way and the bowling team is always under pressure because margin for error is so small in this format, you miss your yorker by an inch, it can go for six as you can see tonight.”When I reached 50, I didn’t even raise my bat. I knew the job wasn’t finished, there was still a long way to go. I was in a zone. I was just focusing on trying to get the game done for my team. I was disappointed that I was out in the last over. But I played the innings that put my team in a position to win. I am just happy that I was able to contribute with the bat. It has been a while that I haven’t been able to make runs with the bat. This one will always be special to me.”It was just my day, I’ll take that. It’s always good to start any tournament with a win and this is a special win for us personally because our fans have been so loyal to us and they waited for this opportunity and people in Chennai and throughout India as well, our CSK fans and our captain MS [Dhoni].”Bravo’s task became stiffer and stiffer as each over went by. He watched Kedar Jadhav walk back with an injury, he saw Deepak Chahar dance down to be foxed by debutant Mayank Markande’s googly, and then witnessed soon Harbhajan Singh and Mark Wood hole out in the quest for some desperate boundaries.An elated CSK dugout burst into ecstacy as Kedar Jadhav hit the winning runs•BCCI

Ultimately, it was down to Bravo when Imran Tahir gave him strike in the 18th over and Super Kings needed 46 from only 17 deliveries. Two sixes and a four in that over against Mitchell McClenaghan and three sixes in the next off Jasprit Bumrah, another death-overs specialist, brought it down to seven from the last over.”I just wanted to stay still, keep my eyes on the ball, have a good swing,” Bravo explained. “Here at Wankhede the ball travels every time you miss the length. Just get a good contact and the ball will go. Those two overs, we needed 15 an over. So, at some point, I had to take a chance and it worked off. Anytime you hit a boundary, whether it is a six or a four, automatically the bowler is under pressure.”I know how you feel as a bowler when your first ball goes for a boundary. No matter how good a bowler you are, in these tense moments if you’re put under pressure, you tend to fumble. Again, I was hitting the ball nicely in the nets. I had the confidence and the belief that I can win the game despite losing wickets. I can bat deep. Can’t forget Jadhav, who came back and showed a lot of fight and a lot of guts. To hit that six is a special, special moment. From thereon, we had the game.”Much before that, Bravo had quietly curbed Mumbai to 165 for 4 by conceding only eight runs in two of their last three overs. Bravo clearly said performing in the death overs, with the bat or ball, was his “specialised” role in the team and a lot of planning and training went behind it.”I think it’s a challenge for me,” he spoke of bowling in the end. “I mark myself against the best in the world so in moments like this is where it really matters and I don’t enjoy bowling when there’s not much pressure on. When there’s pressure I need to focus a lot more and in the nets, I prepare very well when I bowl to guys like MS and Suresh [Raina] and these guys, who are good hitters. Even when I’m playing for West Indies, I bowl to [Andre] Rusell and [Kieron] Pollard and those guys so it gave me confidence.”I don’t just turn up in a game and it happens naturally. I prepare in the nets, I make sure I’m executing my yorkers properly so whenever I call on those special deliveries, I deliver more often. Tonight was a little tougher because I bowled the last three overs and the skipper asked me if I’m able to do it and of course I said ‘yes’. And again, bowling to these guys is a big challenge, I embrace it, I enjoy it and tonight was just my night.”Bravo was not only helping Super Kings return on a good note in the IPL, he was himself returning to the league after a two-year gap after missing last year’s edition with a hamstring injury. Since then, he has played three tournaments – the CPL, BPL and BBL – before returning with the yellow jersey. Now 34 and having undergone plenty of rehabilitation, Bravo said he had to be “careful” with his workload.”Well, it’s on my mind in terms of I had to be more careful and I’m no longer 24 like how I used to be before so I have to be very cautious,” he said. “I started very slow and just needed to get momentum going into the game. But as you can see, as the game picked up especially in the later stages, this is where I’m more specialised and this is where the team needs me the most at the close of the game. The captain showed faith in me and this is basically my role in CSK team to finish off games with the ball. Each game now I’ve to make sure I can cover properly, we travel now and fitness is very important but I have a very good medical team and I’m happy that we won tonight’s game.”

Both teams begin the new season with rejuvenation on their minds, and both have been hurt by injuries to key fast bowlers

The Preview by Akshay Gopalakrishnan07-Apr-20184:35

KKR have enough opening options – Agarkar

Big pictureWhen Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore walk out on Sunday, both sides will be conspicuously lacking a familiar left-handed opener. Royal Challengers let go of Chris Gayle, perhaps their biggest match-winner ever, ahead of the January auction, and Knight Riders did the same with Gautam Gambhir, their captain for seven seasons in which they won two titles.If these events show us anything, it’s how unpredictable this league, and by extension the format, can be. Just in 2016, Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers captain, called out Sarfaraz Khan for his fielding and fitness. And yet, he was one of three players retained, alongside AB de Villiers and Kohli himself. This is a slightly different RCB line-up. After falling flat in 2017, when they finished last, they seem to have made amends with smart buys aimed at remedying their over-reliance on the top order. They will also be served well by domestic talents who have successfully transitioned to international cricket, such as Yuzvendra Chahal.Knight Riders have endured three seasons without a trophy, and have sought to address that by appointing a new captain in Dinesh Karthik, who is in the middle of a late career renaissance of sorts. Karthik, who has a wealth of leadership experience in domestic cricket, recently earned a recall to the Indian side and responded by playing probably the defining innings of his career: all signs of a man high on confidence and at peace with his game. Not a bad way to start.In the newsMitchell Starc has been ruled out of the tournament with a tibial bone stress fracture in his right leg, and the Knight Riders coach Jacques Kallis has pinned his faith on Tom Curran, the bowling allrounder from England, to fill in ably. There were also doubts surrounding Chris Lynn and Andre Russell, who pulled out of the PSL due to injuries, and Sunil Narine, who was reported for a suspect action in the same tournament. But the Knight Riders management has assured fans that all three will be available for the opener.Nathan Coulter-Nile, who was Knight Riders’ second-highest wicket-taker last season, will miss the opportunity of taking on his former franchise. As he has continues to recover from a back stress fracture, Coulter-Nile has been withdrawn from the Royal Challengers squad and replaced by Corey Anderson.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The likely XIsKolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Dinesh Karthik (capt, wk), 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Piyush Chawla, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Tom Curran, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Shivam Mavi/Kamlesh NagarkotiRoyal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Brendon McCullum/Quinton de Kock, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Sarfaraz Khan, 6 Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Navdeep SainiStrategy puntDinesh Karthik would do well to unleash Piyush Chawla at the Royal Challengers line-up. De Villiers has an appalling record against the legspinner in IPL: 43 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 97.7, while being dismissed four times. McCullum fares even worse, averaging 8.00 and striking at 80 while also being dismissed four times in eight innings. That’s two of the opposition’s most dangerous batsmen.Stats that matter Sixteen out of 26 matches at the Eden Gardens in T20Is and IPL since 2015 have been won by the chasing team: a strong case for bowling first. Sunil Narine has increasingly proven his utility as a batsman in recent years. His effectiveness shoots up significantly when he’s facing spin. Since IPL 2015, Narine has averaged 17.2 against pace and struck at 145.8. Against spin, the corresponding numbers are 29.5 and 226.9. Both teams are relatively evenly matched at the Eden Gardens. In their five most recent meetings at this venue, Knight Riders hold a marginal 3-2 edge. However, Knight Riders have won all their three matches batting first, while RCB have chased down totals for both their victories. While Dinesh Karthik is solid in the middle overs and a blazing finisher, he has trouble getting going in the Powerplay. Since the 2015 IPL, Karthik has batted 16 times in the first six overs and faced 63 deliveries for a strike rate of 92.1. If Knight Riders win on Sunday, they will tie Chennai Super Kings for 41 home victories – the second-highest among all IPL teams.1:19

RCB: The perennial bridesmaids

Fantasy picks First, the obvious choices: Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. You’d have to be brave and perhaps foolish to leave either out. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are coming off a bumper limited-overs tour of South Africa. They took 33 wickets between them in six matches and averaged 13.88 and 16.37 respectively. Royal Challengers struggled at the death in the last IPL, losing an average of three wickets per innings in the last five overs, and scoring at just 8.64 per over. Kuldeep was the most successful spinner at the death last year, taking seven wickets and conceding a boundary once every 6.67 deliveries.Quotes”Unfortunately Starc got injured but we have got a replacement in [Tom] Curran. We look forward to some exciting stuff from Tom who should stand up and play a big role in the absence of Mitchell.”

ScorecardA career-best performance by England fast bowler Mark Wood was not enough to give Durham victory as Derbyshire held out for a draw in the Division Two match at Derby.Wood, who left the IPL only a week ago, showed he is ready for next week’s First Test against Pakistan by taking 6 for 46 in 23 overs but determined batting from Derbyshire’s lower order kept Durham at bay.After wicketkeeper Daryn Smit batted 80 minutes for 34, Tony Palladino and Ravi Rampaul dug in for nine overs to take Derbyshire to 279 for 9, a lead of 186 when the players shook hands at 5.05pm.England selector Mick Newell watched Wood for a second time in the match and he would have been impressed by his rhythm and pace during two pre-lunch spells.Paul Collingwood, Durham’s captain, said of Wood;s comeback: “We needed something special and Woody provides that with his international class. We got the ball reversing and as soon as it starts reversing, he wants that ball in his hand and he was exceptional.”Wood was always likely to be the biggest threat to Derbyshire’s chances of batting out for a draw and he made the first breakthrough when Luis Reece chopped onto his stumps in the 12th over of the day.Ben Slater and Wayne Madsen added 55 but Wood switched to the Racecourse End to remove them both in consecutive overs.Madsen was unable to avoid a lifting delivery and was caught behind for 32 and Slater was smartly snared at short leg for 42 with Derbyshire only four runs in front.A good morning for Durham got even better in the last over before lunch when Alex Hughes tried to leave a ball from Cameron Steel and was caught behind to leave Derbyshire only 21 ahead at the interval.Durham were frustrated after lunch as Billy Godleman and Matt Critchley added 63 in 17 overs until Steel had Critchley caught behind for 40 and James Weighell moved one away in the next over to have Godleman taken at first slip.Hardus Viljoen dispatched Steel over wide long on for six but when Wood was recalled, he edged a drive to second slip and the fast bowler celebrated his fifth wicket after tea when Smit pushed at one and was well caught by Stuart Poynter.Duanne Olivier was caught behind for his fourth duck in five innings but with Wood visibly tiring, Palladino and Rampaul added 37 runs to dash Durham’s hopes.

Vanuatu kept their slim hopes of avoiding relegation alive with the four-wicket win while also eliminating Bermuda’s chances at promotion

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Kuala Lumpur03-May-2018Player-coach Shane Deitz top-scored – with an unbeaten 114-ball 71 over Bermuda – for the third time in four matches since his international debut at the start of WCL Division Four. Dietz’s maiden half-century propelled Vanuatu to a four-wicket win – their first win in the tournament – and kept alive their slim hopes of avoiding relegation.After their disastrous decision to bat second on a wearing track, Bermuda opted to go the other way on Thursday. But the slipped to 24 for 3 inside the Powerplay. The big scalp in that bunch was Kamau Leverock, who decimated Jersey with a belligerent 28-ball half-century.Dion Stovell, who took four wickets on Wednesday, teamed with captain Terryn Fray to grind out a 110-run stand across 32.1 overs to get Bermuda back into the match. But Nalin Nipiko’s medium pace broke the stand in the 38th over and new-ball bowler Patrick Matautaava returned at the death to claim three more wickets, including Fray for 77 to finish with 4 for 41.Bermuda began their defence of 181 with spin and Stovell struck on his fifth delivery to claim Jonathon Dunn leg before. Matautaava was dismissed for 10 as his nightmarish tournament with the bat continued. And in walked Deitz. The former South Australian wicketkeeper added 54 for the third wicket with Joshua Rasu (31 off 67 balls) before Leverock and Stovell struck six balls apart to remove Rasu and then captain Andrew Mansale.Deitz held firm, and with nuggety contributions from Nipiko (26 off 34 balls), Ronald Tari (15 off 39 balls) and Trevor Langa (13 not out off 25 balls) along the way, Vanuatu sealed victory with an over to spare and also put an end to Bermuda’s chances of promotion.