Also, question mark remains over Russell’s fitness after blow to the shoulder during training

The Preview by Ankur Dhawan18-Apr-20195:30

Dasgupta: Gill batting up the order can give KKR the spark

Big Picture

Kolkata Knight Riders’ over dependence on Andre Russell is no state secret. In fact, it’s more by design than accident. However, it is around the allrounder Russell that their team was built. The problem here is Russell, the bowler. He has conceded over ten runs an over, without completing his quota of four overs even once this season.Against Chennai Super Kings at home, Russell leaked 16 in a momentum-shifting third over. Wickets through the middle kept Knight Riders in the contest but the lack of a fast-bowling option against the likes of Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja hurt them in the end.Russell’s fitness remains the other issue for Knight Riders; having hobbled around and off fields earlier in the tournament, he suffered another injury scare during practice in the lead-up to Friday’s game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, but remains in contention to play. Regardless, perhaps it’s time for Knight Riders to look at Russell purely as a batsman and pick another seamer, either at the expense of a batsman or a spinner, to give themselves a better chance of restricting oppositions. Kerala seamer Sandeep Warrier could come in, should that happen.They are up against a side that knows a thing or two about losses piling up, but with playoff qualification only a distant theoretical possibility now, Royal Challengers unwittingly become the danger team you don’t want to lose to. If the threat still seems too meek, the availability of the newly signed Dale Steyn should change that, after coach Ashish Nehra described the chances of the pacer playing as “very high”.

Form guide

• Knight Riders: lost to Super Kings by five wickets, lost to Capitals by seven wickets, lost to Super Kings by seven wickets (most recent matches first)

• Royal Challengers: lost to Mumbai by five wickets, beat Kings XI by eight wickets, lost to Capitals by four wickets

In the news

Andre Russell has suffered another injury scare; he took a blow to the shoulder in practice two days before the match, and went for X-rays on match eve. While captain Dinesh Karthik confirmed that Russell remains in the team’s plans for Royal Challengers, he said a final call would be taken closer to the match. West Indies, too, would be keeping their fingers crossed on this front, given they are due to name their World Cup squad on April 23.

Previous meeting

Andre Russell belted 48 off 13 balls as Knight Riders equalled their own record of chasing the most runs in the last three overs: 53. Astonishingly, they did this with five balls to spare.

Likely XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Nithish Rana, 4 Robin Uthappa, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk, capt), 6 Shubman Gill, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Kuldeep Yadav/Sandeep Warrier, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Harry Gurney/Lockie FergusonRoyal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Parthiv Patel (wk), 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Marcus Stoinis/Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Akshdeep Nath/Shivam Dube, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 Yuzvendra Chahal, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Kulwant Khejroliya

Strategy punt

• The spin trio of Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav have struggled against left-handers this season, conceding 230 runs in 28.2 overs, with only three wickets between them. Will that tempt Royal Challengers to team-up Moeen Ali, who has been in good form, and Shimron Hetmyer, who was left out after a few early failures, in the middle order? With Marcus Stoinis hardly bowling, it might be worth giving Hetmyer a few more opportunities, regardless.
• Moeen Ali averages nearly 38 at a strike rate of 171 at No.4 in the IPL. Those are his best numbers in any position in the league, giving RCB enough reason to stick with him in that position. From Knight Riders’ point of view, Moeen has struggled most against the googly this season, dismissed thrice off the delivery that happens to be Piyush Chawla’s stock ball.
• Moeen Ali bowls 82% overs his overs in the middle (overs 7 to 15), but averages just 17 at an economy rate of 6 runs per over against left-handers in the IPL. Will Virat Kohli gamble and throw the ball to Moeen if Sunil Narine opens the batting for Knight Riders?

Stats that matter

• RCB find three of their bowlers in the top 10 on the list of most expensive bowlers at the death (overs 17-20) in the IPL since 2015 (qualification: minimum 25 overs bowled at the death). Umesh Yadav leads the way, conceding 12 runs per over, Tim Southee finds himself placed third at 11.6 runs per over, and Mohammed Siraj occupies the seventh spot at 10.7 runs per over
• KKR spinners have the second-worst bowling average this season (41.2)
• KKR spinners are the second-most expensive this season (7.9 runs per over)
• RCB have lost all five matches when they have lost the toss. KKR have lost four of five matches when they have lost the toss

Latest update comes after BCCI called it a “non-issue”; Dhoni likely to use the same gloves going forward, with the insignia covered by a tape

Nagraj Gollapudi07-Jun-2019

The ICC has rejected BCCI’s request to allow MS Dhoni to wear wicketkeeping gloves with the dagger insignia. ESPNcricinfo understands the ICC sent it its response on Friday afternoon (UK time) explaining that Dhoni had breached two clauses of the clothing and equipment regulations: one relating to display of “personal messages” and the other concerning the logo on his gloves.The latest update followed a statement by Vinod Rai, the chairman of the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators, saying that the Indian board would not escalate the matter if the ICC insisted on following the regulations but had requested for some “flexibility” on the matter. It is expected to end a story that had run through most of Friday in India’s news cycle.The ICC raised the red flag after noticing the insignia of a dagger on the back of Dhoni’s green gloves during India’s tournament opener against South Africa on June 5. Dhoni is an honorary lieutenant-colonel in the Parachute Regiment of the Indian Territorial Army. The dagger is similar to the regimental emblem.It is believed that Dhoni is likely to continue to wear the same gloves but cover the insignia with tape.ESPNcricinfo understands that, in its email to the BCCI, the ICC explained that Dhoni had violated the G1 clause in of its clothing and equipment regulations. The clause reads: “Players and team officials shall not be permitted to wear, display or otherwise convey messages through arm bands or other items affixed to clothing or equipment (“Personal Messages”) unless approved in advance by both the player or team official’s Board and the ICC Cricket Operations Department. Approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Dhoni also flouted the specific rule related to the display of logos on wicketkeeping gloves in the clothing and equipment regulations for the World Cup. The diagram in clause 19.47 shows that only two manufacturer’s identifications are allowed on the back of each glove. “No visible logos permitted other than those identified in the diagram,” the note accompanying the illustration says.Though the matter gained traction in India and even prompted the intervention of the country’s sports minister, the BCCI called it a “non-issue” earlier in the day. “We will play the game by the rules of the ICC in letter and spirit,” Rai told ESPNcricinfo. “If there is a specific norm that has to be followed, we will not break that norm. However, if there is any flexibility available, we have sought permission for the ICC to allow the player to wear the gloves.”The matter was discussed in the CoA meeting held in Mumbai on Friday, which was attended by Rai’s two other colleagues – Diana Edulji and Ravindra Thodge – as well as the BCCI chief executive officer Rahul Johri.Making the issue more complex was the Indian government’s support for Dhoni’s gloves. India’s sports minister Kiren Rijiju told the news agency ANI: “The government doesn’t intervene in affairs of sports bodies. But when the issue is related to the country’s sentiments, then the interest of the nation has to be kept in mind. I would like to request BCCI to take up the matter with ICC.”As per the rules, Dhoni would be reprimanded if he wore the gloves with the insignia on Sunday, when India face Australia in their second group match. The second offence, in case it took place within 12 months, would attract a fine of 25% of the match fee. A third offence would mean a 50% fine of the match fee, and a fourth would see the player losing 75% of his match fee.There is precedent for the ICC’s decision. In 2014, Moeen Ali was asked to remove wristbands bearing the slogans “Save Gaza” and “Free Palestine” during the third Test against India in Southampton. The ECB said Moeen’s actions were humanitarian rather than political, but the ICC’s view was that it was inappropriate for the field of play. No further action was taken. In January 2017 South Africa’s Imran Tahir was reprimanded by the ICC for a wicket celebration during a T20 match against Sri Lanka in which he revealed a t-shirt under his playing kit with an image of the late Junaid Jamshed, a one-time Pakistani pop icon and religious preacher who had died weeks before in an air crash.

The captain was also disappointed that his players could not take advantage of playing at home

ESPNcricinfo staff07-May-20194:28

Thought we had enough runs on that surface – Fleming

Chennai Super Kings had a lot of things in their favour in Qualifier 1. They were at home. They won the toss. And they had a strong core of experienced players that has been there and done that in the backend of the IPL. But a problem that’s followed them all through the 2019 season hit them once again – top-order frailty. MS Dhoni laid the blame for the defeat to Mumbai Indians squarely on his batsmen, who failed to utilise all the advantages at their disposal.”It didn’t really go our way,” he said at the presentation. “Especially the batting. Especially when you know home conditions. You have to assess very quickly how the wicket is playing. That’s the bonus of playing at home, you’ve already played six games or seven games, so you know how the wicket has played, whether it is a bit tacky, whether it is coming on or not coming on. What is a good score that we should put on the board. Those are the things I felt we didn’t do well in this game because of which we were not able to put something that would have been good to defend. I think the batting needs to get slightly better.”

When you have experienced players in the side, that’s what you bank upon them. You’re not banking on them for extraordinary fielding. It’s just that they have to use their experience slightly moreDhoni expressing disappointment at CSK’s shot selection

The pitch at Chepaulk was a turner and there was a high degree of risk in hitting against the spin. Yet two veterans – Suresh Raina and Shane Watson – tried to do just that and lost their wickets, leaving CSK 33 for 3 at the end of the Powerplay. Still, Dhoni continued to defend his misfiring batting line-up, but was disappointed with some of the shot selection on show.”Yes, they’re the best that we’ve got. On and off, they’ve done well. If you look at [them] when they bat, they’ve done well, But on and off, in some game, they’ve pulled out a shot that’s really not on in that particular game or in that situation or in that condition. So, those are things that you need to assess. Especially, when you have experienced players in the side, that’s what you bank upon them. You’re not banking on them for extraordinary fielding. It’s just that they have to use their experience slightly more. Hopefully we’ll crack the code.”MS Dhoni warms up ahead of the toss•BCCICSK’s defence of 131 began well, but they couldn’t stem the runs well enough to put pressure on Mumbai’s long batting-line up.”I feel once you don’t have enough runs on the board, every boundary, it actually hurts you,” Dhoni said. “I feel we got off to a good start, Rohit [Sharma]’s wicket early was good, after that we kept giving boundaries, which you can’t really afford to do. It was an off game for us and it’s bad to have this kind of a game at this stage of the tournament but still the good thing is you’re top two so you get another chance. So rather than going over the wicket now you have to round the wicket. The journey becomes slightly long.”

‘He’s back as the world’s No.1 allrounder – and that’s where we think he belongs. But he’s got a point to prove to make sure everybody else believes that’

ESPNcricinfo staff26-May-2019

Thanks to the finger injury that kept him out of Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand, the recently concluded tri-series in Ireland was Shakib Al Hasan’s first taste of ODI cricket in nearly five months.He recovered from that injury in time for the IPL, but only got to play three matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the tournament. In Ireland, Shakib played an important role in Bangladesh winning their maiden non-bilateral ODI tournament, scoring two unbeaten fifties and bowling economically. Though he missed the final with a side strain, the performance was enough to move him back up to the top of the ICC rankings for ODI allrounders, 20 points clear of Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan.Shakib is fit again in the lead-up to the World Cup, and, according to Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes, is looking to prove a point.”Shakib is fine,” Rhodes told the ICC in Cardiff, after Sunday’s warm-up match against Pakistan was washed out. “He’s in a great position physically. He had a little problem in Ireland but he’s got over that and is raring to go.”He’s looking forward to a wonderful tournament. I think he’s got a bit of a point to prove and he probably thinks that as well. He seems to have been a little bit forgotten but now he’s back as the world’s No. 1 allrounder in ODI cricket – and that’s where we think he belongs.”But he’s got a point to prove to make sure everybody else believes that.”Another Bangladesh player who hasn’t been at full fitness of late is Mahmudullah, who has been playing as a specialist batsman in recent matches thanks to a shoulder issue that is keeping him from bowling his offspin. While admitting that the injury was affecting the balance of the side, Rhodes expressed confidence that Mahmudullah would be back to bowling in matches at some point during the World Cup.”Mahmudullah’s shoulder is coming along a little slowly,” Rhodes said. “I don’t think it would have been possible for him to bowl against Pakistan. We’re very optimistic that we can get him up and running for the early stages of the World Cup.”It may affect our balance slightly, but the good thing about Mahmudullah is that he doesn’t need a lot of practice to be good at bowling.”Bangladesh’s squad is among the most experienced at the World Cup, featuring five players with 175 or more ODIs under their belt.”People keep telling me that to win a world tournament you need experience,” Rhodes said. “I’m glad because we’ve got a wealth of experience there. I listen to them a lot because why wouldn’t you with that vast experience?”It will be a good thing when it gets a little tight towards the end of the group. There are 10 teams in this World Cup, but when I looked at the odds, we were ninth favourites and Afghanistan were tenth favourites – but on our day we both could beat the favourites.”There’s going to be a lot of winning and losing by all teams.”

Bangladesh’s biggest player will be missing from the team’s official World Cup picture – and all because he’d left the ground before the photo session

Mohammad Isam29-Apr-2019Bangladesh’s biggest player will be missing from the team’s official World Cup picture – and all because he’d left the ground before the photo session took place. It’s left the picture with a legend-sized hole and also left the BCB president fairly angry about it.Shakib Al Hasan, who had arrived in Dhaka on Sunday and had come to the Shere Bangla National Stadium to report to the team management, apparently left before the team gathered for the photo on the outfield. BCB president Nazmul Hassan said that he came to know Shakib was informed of the team’s schedule on what was officially the final day of training in Dhaka, before the team’s departure for Dublin, to play a tri-series against Ireland and West Indies, on May 1. And with the players getting Tuesday off, the BCB had crammed all their programmes, including the captain’s press conference, team lunch with the president and directors, the photo sessions and other commercial-related work for Monday.”It is disappointing, what else can I say?” Hassan said. “It was the team’s photo session. I came and asked about him. I didn’t know he had arrived last night. I called him, and he said he is going to come to my house at night. I said to him to come to the ground. He said I have already left. I asked everyone here, and they said Shakib was informed of the photo session. He didn’t turn up for training but we hoped for his presence in the photo session. But he wasn’t here.”I think the rest of the team is used to it. What else can I say? I think it is his misfortune that he couldn’t be in the team photo before the team leaves for the World Cup. There’s no question about [giving him too much leeway]. The team is leaving day after tomorrow, so we don’t want to talk too much about it. But it is definitely disappointing.”Shakib didn’t respond to ESPNcricinfo’s message regarding the BCB chief’s reaction.Despite having some run-ins with the BCB on several other issues, Shakib is not known to have missed any official team photos or similar affairs in the past.

Tyson Fury's reported purse for the Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight title fight in Saudi Arabia is set to rival Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr salary.

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Fury to face Usyk in Saudi Arabia clashBritish boxer to receive huge purse for fightSet to rival Ronaldo's Al-Nassr salaryGetty Images WHAT HAPPENED?

According to talkSPORT BET, Fury will earn around £115 million ($145m) for undisputed world heavyweight boxing title fight with the Ukrainian on Saturday. That is not too far shy of Ronaldo's eye-watering salary of £131m ($166m) per 10-month season for the Saudi Pro League side.

AdvertisementTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Ronaldo is one of the richest athletes on the planet. The 39-year-old has played for many of the biggest teams on the planet and has won much of the sport's biggest trophies. His wealth has only increased since moving to Saudi Arabia and it is clear as time goes by, other sports stars will cash in on the funds available in the Gulf state – such as Fury.

talkSPORTDID YOU KNOW?

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani is the next nearest rival to the British boxer, pocketing around £36.3m ($46m) across the 2024 MLB season – just a third of Fury’s payout. Just behind him is Formula One champion and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who will receive £35.5m ($45m) for this season.

WHAT NEXT?

Ronaldo, who is a big boxing fan and may be at Fury's fight with Usyk on Saturday evening, will be in action for Al-Nassr on Friday evening at home to league leaders Al-Hilal in a top of the table clash. The visitors are 12 points ahead of Ronaldo's team heading into the game.

Durham head coach James Franklin told his players they needed to show more resilience after slipping to defeat in each of their first two Championship matches. They were a while ago, and in the meantime Durham were unlucky not to reach the knock-out stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup. He may conclude after this, though, that the message is not yet hitting home.He defined resilience as the ability to maintain concentration and focus, something they have been able to master for short periods in the 50-over game but appear to find more difficult when the requirement is to stay in that mode for hours rather than minutes.This match has been a case in point. Had they been able to turn the screw after Riki Wessels was out on the second evening, at which point Worcestershire were 236 for 6, with the new ball about to become available, it might have been a different story.Instead, they allowed Ross Whiteley and the lower order to plunder runs so effectively that a 37-run deficit turned into a 117-run lead before the last four wickets were prised out. Worcestershire, 321 for 6 overnight, won the morning session comfortably, the innings closing just before lunch with Durham already looking at a draw as their best possible outcome.But if that were not enough to have a coach shaking his head, they lost the next session comprehensively too, five wickets down before tea and still seven runs in arrears.Charlie Morris, his tail up after his 6 for 53 in the first innings, struck the first blow, trapping Alex Lees in front with a full delivery, his route back to the pavilion soon followed by Cameron Steel, who looked round at his off stump in some puzzlement at how his forward defence had failed to cover it.Cameron Bancroft, given the benefit of the doubt on two when Joe Leach was certain he had him leg before, responded aggressively with four quick boundaries, three of them off Ed Barnard in a uncharacteristically loose spell at first change.It was not long, though, before even the captain was guilty of a lapse, a touch of indecision against Josh Tongue costing him when the ball squirted on to his stumps off an inside edge.Tongue could do with some luck this year. Successful enough the last two summers to be on the England Lions radar, he has been twice named in winter tour squads only to be forced out by injury, the latest a stress fracture in his left foot that denied him a trip to play Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.That wicket broke a stand worth 49 between Bancroft and Gareth Harte before Harte fell to an excellent piece of work by Ben Cox, standing up to Barnard and executing a leg-side stumping that was so sharp it could have been planned.Tongue then struck twice more, bowling Ned Eckersley just before tea and finding the edge to have Jack Burnham caught behind just afterwards. Tongue took six wickets in Worcestershire’s win at Leicester in their opening match. Ashley Giles, the England director of cricket, was on the ground, and though he was not here on a scouting mission it would have been unusual for him to take no notice of what was happening on the field.At that moment, the possibility of a three-day result loomed until a fightback of sorts occurred, with Liam Trevaskis, a 20-year-old left-arm spinner who made a half-century in his last Championship outing against Sussex at Chester-le-Street, leading the way.He could not quite repeat the feat this time, but it took Worcestershire more than two hours to dislodge him for 47, which was the kind of resistance Franklin would doubtless have liked to see a little higher up the order.Trevaskis was another victim for Tongue, who followed up by yorking Matt Salisbury first ball to finish with 5 for 37. Leach finished things off by having Rushworth caught behind, leaving Worcestershire to chase 81 to win on the last day.There is a bit of rain in the forecast, but not as much as Durham would like. The defeat, when it is confirmed, will be their fifth in the row in Championship cricket.

Brighton have confirmed that manager Roberto De Zerbi will leave the club at the end of the season.

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• De Zerbi to leave Brighton after Man Utd clash
• Likely to join Bayer Munich next season
• Guided the Seagulls to highest league finish

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Premier League club announced on Saturday that the club's clash against Manchester United on May 19 will be the final game of the Italian coach. The 44-year-old took charge of the Seagulls in September 2022 after Graham Potter left for Chelsea. Under his tutelage, the club finished sixth in the 2022-23 campaign – their highest-ever top-flight finish and also reached the round of 16 of the Europa League.

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• Getty
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  De Zerbi has been linked with a move to several clubs, however, Christian Falk reports that he could head to Germany and join Bayern Munich ahead of the 2024-25 season. Bayern sporting Max Eberl has reportedly identified the Brighton coach as his first choice to appoint as Thomas Tuchel's replacement.

• WHAT ROBERTO DE ZERBI SAID

  Speaking to the club's official website, the outgoing Brighton boss said: "I am very sad to be leaving Brighton, but I am very proud of what my players and staff have achieved with the support of everyone at the club and our amazing fans in the past two historical seasons. We have agreed to end my time at Brighton so that the club and I can continue to work in the way that suits each of us best, following our own ideas and visions, as well as our work and human values.

  "I have really enjoyed an intense and challenging two years working in the Premier League, not least competing in four major competitions this season. Leaving now provides me with time to take a break before deciding on my future plans."

• Getty
  

  WHAT NEXT FOR BRIGHTON?

  The Seagulls, who have won just once in their last nine league outings, will aim to end the season with a win and give a fitting farewell to their manager on Sunday against United at Amex Stadium.

Netherlands were 167 for 5. They had never chased a target as big as 291 in ODI cricket. Fast forward to the 49th over and they were gifted the winning run off a wide

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jun-2019

Zimbabwe came into this game after getting a proper beating. But nearly all of their key players stood up to change the narrative. Sikandar Raza played finisher to perfection, making 85 off only 68 balls and remaining unbeaten so that the effort of his team-mates higher up the order – Craig Ervine scored 84 and Brendan Taylor struck a fifty as well – yielded a solid total. At the innings break, 290 for 6 looked a winning score. And that perception only grew when Sean Williams too four wickets with his left-arm spin.Netherlands were 167 for 5 in the 33rd over. They had never chased a target as big as this in ODI cricket before. But fast forward to the 49th and they were gifted the winning run off a wide.Much of the recovery had already been done, with Roelof van der Merwe striking a composed 57 off 54 balls and the wicketkeeper Scott Edwards keeping pace despite scoring only three boundaries in his unbeaten 44. Eventually though that sixth-wicket partnership at nearly run a ball gave way to one that was pure mayhem.The Netherlands captain Pieter Seelaar came out with the equation reading 62 off 42 balls and completely broke the game. He faced only 15 deliveries but sent six of them to the boundary to ensure his team set a new national record.A big chase usually needs a good opening stand and Netherlands had that too. Tobias Visee, who will be opening the batting with Chris Gayle at the Global T20 Canada, batted in a matter befitting that as he whacked 41 off only 33 balls. His partner, Max O’Dowd who scored a half-century on debut on Wednesday followed it up with another, but when he fell to Williams, the game seemed to tilt towards Zimbabwe and the series was set to be shared 1-1.Then everything changed.

With a total of just 224 to defend Virat Kohli admitted the dressing had “doubts” about what would happen. The India captain was also honest about their batting not going to according to plan because some of his men had played “horizontal” bat shots on a pitch that demanded they play straight.On a sunny Saturday, Kohli had no qualms in electing to bat and wanted to put up a score well above 250. But as the game progressed, and the slow nature of the pitch and a quality Afghanistan attack challenged the Indian batsmen, Kohli said they had to recalculate.”You expect yourself to win the toss and put up big runs on the board,” Kohli told the host broadcaster after India’s narrow 11-run win, wrapped up by a Mohammad Shami hat-trick off the penultimate ball of the match. “Then you see the nature of the pitch slowing down drastically with three wrist spinners [Rashid Khan, Rahmat Shah and Mujeeb Ur Rahman]. We thought 250-260 would have been par, but 270 would have been outstanding effort.”Watch on Hotstar (India only): Highlights of Kohli’s fiftyBarring Kohli, who made his third half-century of the World Cup, every other Indian batsman struggled to find rhythm. Rohit Sharma was clueless against the carom ball from Mujeeb. KL Rahul abruptly played a reverse sweep and paid the price. Vijay Shankar attempted a sweep, tempted by the empty area at fine leg, but was lbw. MS Dhoni’s dot-ball kitty swelled once again before he charged Rashid in desperation and was stumped. Kedar Jadhav played a scrappy and unconvincing innings.Virat Kohli pulls one away•Getty Images

Only Kohli displayed dominance over the bowlers as he rotated strike with ease before he cut a ball that bounced sharply and took his leading edge. Kohli admitted India’s shot selection was not good on the day.”As soon as I went in I understood the pace of the pitch. I thought cross-batted shots are not on on this pitch at all. You’ve got to play with a straight bat [and because of that] I was able to rotate strike. Our shot selection could have been much better – a lot of horizontal bat shot costs us a lot of wickets. You can’t really take the game away from the opposition, you’ll have to respect the pace of the pitch and knock the ball around for ones and twos and work yourself into an innings. But once you lose wickets on a pitch like that with three quality wristspinners…””They really put some pressure on us in the middle overs. A team like Afghanistan who have a lot of talent doesn’t let you play the way you want to play.”What then was India’s plan at the innings break? Kohli said it was to have the “collective belief” and the bowling attack showed plenty, led by Jasprit Bumrah, Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal. “At halfway mark, we did have some sort of doubts in our minds [about] what’s going to happen in the game, but everyone had belief in the change room. Everyone had collective belief that we can win this one.”This game was way more important for us. It didn’t go as planned, but when things don’t go your way you need to show character and bounce back and fight till the last ball. That shows the character of our team.”