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The multi-format South Africa tour will keep India busy at the turn of the year, and there will be extra focus on the T20I series with a World Cup months away

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Nov-2023The India squads for the South Africa tour are set to be picked on November 30 in Delhi. In all, the tour will include three T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests. While the primary focus will be on winning in South Africa, the selection panel led by Ajit Agarkar will also look to address some of the broader selections for the T20 World Cup, which will start in June, immediately after the 2024 IPL.With India playing only six T20Is between the current home series and the T20 World Cup, ESPNcricinfo looks at some of the tough and significant questions the selectors are likely to deliberate on.Who leads at T20 WC – Rohit or Pandya?Since India lost the 2022 World Cup semi-final against England last November, Rohit Sharma has not played T20Is. In his absence, Hardik Pandya presented himself as an eligible successor to Rohit in the shortest format.However, two things happened at the ODI World Cup to force a rethink on who is best to lead India at the T20 World Cup. First, Hardik hurt his left ankle in the first half of the World Cup while trying to intercept the ball in his follow-through. A ligament tear was not detected but eventually Hardik was ruled out for two months in early November, which means he will miss the South Africa tour.The second factor was Rohit’s explosive starts at the World Cup alongside his aggressive captaincy, which led a ruthless India to 10 straight wins until Australia beat them in the final.If Rohit is able to display similar explosive intent in T20Is, it has the potential to once again set India up for big scores. Plus, Rohit’s T20 leadership acumen has never been in doubt. While Hardik earned his leadership badge by winning the IPL in 2022 with Gujarat Titans, who also made the final last season, he has never led an Indian team that has included the senior quartet of Rohit, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah. It doesn’t mean he is not capable, but the question would be who is the best captain – to provide clarity of roles as well as take tough calls under pressure.Does Kohli find a place in T20Is?Like Rohit, Kohli hasn’t played T20Is since the 2022 World Cup. However, he was the fourth-highest run-getter in the 2023 IPL, during which he scored successive centuries that took him past Chris Gayle’s tally of most tons in the tournament’s history. “A lot of people feel my T20 cricket is declining, but I don’t feel like that at all,” Kohli had said then. “I feel I am playing my best T20 cricket again.”Despite strident criticism, Kohli, who has been the Player of the Tournament at two T20 World Cups to go with the recent ODI World Cup award, has been adamant about sticking to the anchor-style batting: starting conservatively, pushing the ball into gaps in the middle overs before the explosive finish. It is an approach adopted in the past by Rohit and Rahul, with whom he formed India’s top order at the past two editions of the T20 World Cup.Among the top Indian openers in all T20 cricket, only Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit have struck at more than 130 per 100 balls in the powerplay since October 2021. It is worth mentioning here that Shubman Gill displayed much improved intent during this year’s IPL, and went at above 150 in the powerplay. In this same period, Kohli’s first 10-ball strike rate is 113.33 while Jitesh Sharma (165.54), Jaiswal (150.12) and Suryakumar Yadav (145.50) have shown more early intent.The question then for the selectors is: does Kohli fit in as the No. 3? One way for that to happen is if both openers go aggressive before Kohli adapts based on the situation. The alternative is to consider a new batter with a faster pick-up.It could not be confirmed whether Kohli will sit out the white-ball leg of the South Africa series, but even if he does, the selectors need to make their decision quickly. It would be risky to defer the decision to closer to the World Cup. If the selectors and the team management decide to move on, they ought to inform Kohli and also identify the batter they feel can replace him at No. 3.Who should be the two wicketkeeper-batters?Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Jitesh have performed or been part of the T20 squads in the past couple of years to perform that role. While Rahul played a winning hand in India reaching the ODI World Cup final recently, in T20s he has struggled with slower starts, which has stunted his team’s momentum. Also, the bigger challenge with Rahul is that he has played mainly as an opener – both for India and in the IPL – for the past several years. At the last T20 World Cup, too, it was Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik who kept wicket.Since November 2019, Rahul has not batted in the middle order in any T20 game. As a middle-order batter Rahul’s numbers read: 1223 runs in 50 innings at an average of 32.18 with a strike rate of 127.66 with two centuries. As an opener, since October 2021, Rahul has made 1802 runs in 49 innings at 41.90 with a strike rate of 132.59.While his experience and keeping skills are in no doubt, can Rahul fit in to the middle order when there are more power hitters available?If Pant was fit, he would be a favourite to make the 15. However, the BCCI has not yet given an updated timeline on Pant’s return. Even if Pant were to play in the IPL, his keeping and batting form are not guaranteed. Kishan and Jitesh, who are currently playing the T20I series against Australia, are other viable options. Kishan, though, is a top-order batter while Jitesh is a finisher, a role he has performed well for Punjab Kings. Samson, who last featured on the Ireland tour, is again a top-order batter.Who are the options for bowling allrounders (outside of Hardik)?Rahul Dravid and Rohit have both stressed on the importance of having batting depth balanced by bowling depth. That was one reason Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel were part of the original 15 for the World Cup. Both will again be part of the set of bowling allrounders the selectors will look at along with Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Chahar.While Jadeja and Axar are primarily middle-overs specialists, Chahar and Washington can make an impact in the powerplay. Both of them can also play useful batting cameos. While Washington can bat anywhere, Chahar has the capability to bat No. 8 or 9, which means Indian tail won’t be that long.Who will be Bumrah’s partners?Jasprit Bumrah and Pandya will be automatic first picks. Both can deliver in all three phases in an innings. However, the squad will need two other fast bowlers. The contenders are Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan and Chahar, who was added for the final three T20Is of the ongoing Australia series.

Opportunities for players has never been higher but fixture clash undermines tournament

Matt Roller17-Jan-2024Laurie Evans is the fastest-scoring batter in the Big Bash League this season and blitzed 72 off 34 balls in Perth Scorchers’ final-ball defeat to Sydney Sixers on Tuesday, their final game of the regular home-and-away portion. But when Scorchers face Adelaide Strikers in Saturday’s Eliminator, he will be 9,000km away in Abu Dhabi.Evans is one of seven players who will miss the BBL’s knockout stages in order to feature in the early stages of the ILT20 in the UAE. It is a scheduling clash which leaves three Englishmen – who have a single international cap between them – as the only overseas signings left standing in Australia, and one which diminishes a season that has reinvigorated the BBL.Strikers are the worst-affected club: they will lose this season’s joint-highest wicket-taker in Jamie Overton and the third-highest run-scorer in Chris Lynn, as well as Adam Hose. Brisbane Heat will be without Sam Billings and captain Colin Munro for Friday’s Qualifier against the Sixers, who themselves will have to cope without James Vince.The principal reason does not take long to work out: the ILT20 pays players more than the BBL. “All the way through my career I’ve made a name for myself in finals and big games,” Evans said on Tuesday night. “It’s absolutely the worst time to be leaving, but I’ve got a job to do and a family to feed. It’s just the nature of the beast.”Despite a 50% increase in the BBL’s salary cap ahead of this season, the ILT20 has more financial muscle. ILT20 franchises can spend up to US$2.75 million – including two ‘wildcard’ players – on salaries for a four-week tournament, while BBL teams are capped at US$2m for a seven-week period. Put simply, players earn more money for less work.But wages are not the only consideration: most players had signed ILT20 contracts long before the BBL’s overseas draft. When Overton signed off from the Big Bash with an Instagram post on Monday, he denied a fan’s comment that Gulf Giants will pay him more. “They aren’t,” he said. “I had signed for them before I got drafted with the Strikers.”The first two overseas drafts have split opinion and have added needless uncertainty for players who would otherwise have been retained directly. Billings, for example, has spent the last two seasons with the Heat, but had to go through the uncertainty of a televised draft between them rather than simply signing a contract extension.

Some people forget that a draft literally has zero guarantee of being picked up…

All players want to play finals

— Sam Billings (@sambillings) January 16, 2024

Evans believes that there is also a “general consensus” among players that the BBL’s 44-match season could be played in a tighter timeframe: “I certainly feel that the BBL could squeeze some more games in. We’ve had a lot of downtime and I think that way, you’ll get the best players coming back over without any clashes, and get the finals done.”It’s great that I can go and play as many tournaments as I can in a year,” Evans said. “I just think you need to move with the times. You’ve seen it in England with the Hundred: they want it done inside a month and it’s a brutal schedule, but that’s the game we’re in. The 10 games [per team] is about right, but I definitely think we could shorten the start and end.”Several ILT20 franchises have the advantage of a global footprint. Evans will be aware that if his form continues in an Abu Dhabi Knight Riders shirt over the next month, it could result in contracts with their affiliates in the US (Los Angeles), the Caribbean (Trinbago) and even India (Kolkata) down the line. There is no equivalent with Scorchers.The game is at saturation point worldwide: from Friday, the BBL’s finals will compete for attention not only with the ILT20, but also the Bangladesh Premier League, the SA20 and a swathe of bilateral international series, including Australia’s Test series against a West Indies side missing several players to those leagues.The status quo is not working. Take Nicholas Pooran: he played three games in five days for Durban’s Super Giants in the first week of the SA20 but has since joined MI Emirates, whom he will briefly captain before flying to Australia for a T20I series. Players have never had so many opportunities to earn a living, and the global market has never been more competitive.Even still, the BBL remains an attractive league for overseas players: they can base themselves and their families in Australia over Christmas, play for established teams in front of engaged crowds, and earn a competitive wage while doing so. Holding onto a set of high-quality overseas players for the knockout stages should not be an impossible task.The BBL has been a major success this year, with the decision to reduce the number of games vindicated by a significant spike in crowd numbers and a compelling narrative that has sustained the league’s 13th season. But the talent drain to the UAE should remind its administrators that there is no room for complacency.

Surrey wicketkeeper opts to hone white-ball skills rather than be involved on tour of India

Matt Roller16-Jan-2024When England Lions line up against India A at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday, one player will be conspicuous by his absence. Jamie Smith hit a 71-ball century in the Lions’ most recent first-class match against Sri Lanka in the spring, but will be 1000 miles away from Ahmedabad preparing for the ILT20 in the UAE.Smith, a Surrey academy product, made his ODI debut in September and is widely considered to be a future England Test wicketkeeper. His record-breaking hundred for the Lions last year earned him rave reviews from Ian Bell, the Lions’ batting coach, and was enough to catch Ben Stokes’ eye while England were on tour in New Zealand.But rather than spending a second successive winter with the Lions, he has opted to fulfil a contract with Gulf Giants, where he will play under former England coach Andy Flower. It is a decision that many would interpret as a statement of priorities, but Smith himself is clear that it will help him achieve his ambition to be a three-format international cricketer.Related

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The ECB management are fully supportive. Smith spoke to Mo Bobat, the board’s departing performance director, before committing to the ILT20 and Rob Key, England’s managing director, is also on board. “It was a very open conversation between us,” Smith told ESPNcricinfo. “It wasn’t a case of ‘you can’t do this’ or ‘you have to do that’.”There’s always going to be a couple of conversations: my main goal is to play Test cricket for England and I don’t want to be blacklisted, but that was never the case and that was reassuring. I want to become a three-format player and I just felt at this time, I’ve probably had more experience in first-class cricket.”Smith has played more T20s (59) than first-class matches (50) but has not had a consistent role, batting everywhere from No. 1-9 in Surrey’s Blast side. “I’m a relative novice in terms of my T20 game,” he said. “I want to get more experience and a bit more exposure against quality overseas players, and expand my game that way.”The ECB were very supportive. I think they appreciate that I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on my red-ball stuff in the last few years. Last November, I was on the Lions camp in Dubai, had Christmas off then went over to Sri Lanka and was into the [county] season. There was no actual time spent practising any white-ball skills.”I was back into red-ball cricket, all the way through to the Blast and the schedule is so hectic. I finished our last Championship game [in May] and we were playing in the Blast straightaway. At the end of the year you always write down little things you want to explore and work on, but there just wasn’t actually any time I could dedicate to that.”

“I want to go out and be proactive in red-ball cricket, put people under pressure. In the past there has been a misconception that you’re only a white-ball player or a red-ball player. You have to look at the bigger picture”

But Smith believes that playing franchise cricket will not only help his T20 game. “I want to go out and be proactive in red-ball cricket anyway, and put people under pressure,” he said. “In the past there has been a misconception that you’re only a white-ball player or a red-ball player, you have to look at the bigger picture.”Whether you’re on a Lions tour or in a franchise competition, you’re still playing games of cricket against high-quality, experienced players and you’re still trying to better yourself. I’d say my T20 game is very similar to my red-ball game and to me, it’s just about batting and improving – whatever environment that is in.”Smith is also conscious that franchises can be fickle. “There’s a limited window when you can get picked up. There are two or three competitions going on at the same time in January and February, then you’ve got the PSL and then ultimately the IPL, which is another aspiration a bit further down the line.”Without putting your name in the hat, you see how people are nowadays: you can just get moved on. There’s so many players out there, and if you don’t start taking a few of these opportunities up then all of a sudden, they will pass you by and there’ll be other players that will go past you.”Smith had his most prolific Championship season in 2023 as Surrey won their second title in a row, averaging 40.88 with two hundreds from No. 4. “I’d had a few goes in the past and people told me, ‘you might struggle with the moving ball’ but this time I made it my own,” he said. “And we came away with another trophy.”He also thrived in his first full season of the Hundred, batting at No. 3 for Birmingham Phoenix after he was picked up for £50,000 in the draft. “They gave me so much confidence. My role was clear from the get-go: you’re not scared of failing because you know you’ll be given the opportunity.”But the highlight of Smith’s summer came at Trent Bridge in September, when he made his England debut as part of a second-string ODI squad that beat Ireland 1-0 in a rain-affected series. “It was an incredibly proud moment for me, and for my family,” he said. “It gave me a snippet of what is hopefully to come.”You want to play in all three formats but to tick off one, nobody can take that away from you.” The second and third ticks are unlikely to be too far away.

Also, what kind of an over is a “smudger”?

Steven Lynch28-May-2024Calvin Harrison bowled an over in a county match the other day that was described as a “smudger”. What does this mean? asked Bill Dunmore from England
That over by the Nottinghamshire legspinner Calvin Harrison came during their Championship match against Hampshire at Trent Bridge last week. It was the 48th over of Hampshire’s second innings, near the end of the match. The first delivery went for five wides, then the subsequent balls went for three, two, six, four and one, before the final delivery was a dot. Every ball of the over thus had a different outcome: this unusual event is apparently known on the county circuit as a “Smudger”, after the former Middlesex opener Mike “MJ” Smith. He was a tall batter, with an unusual movement across the crease as the bowler delivered, and played five one-day internationals for England in 1973 and 1974.After his playing career, Smith became Middlesex’s scorer, and apparently recorded an over like this in one game. According to Martin Briggs, a regular on the Ask Steven Facebook page: “He noticed one such over when scoring a county match years ago and thereafter was forever on the lookout for another. He was apparently held in great affection on the circuit, and county scorers named that kind of over after him, ‘Smudger’ being a common nickname for a Smith. I think I heard the story from Derbyshire’s former scorer John Brown.”Such overs are obviously difficult to spot, but I asked the Melbourne statistician Charles Davis whether his wondrous international database could throw up any other examples. This is not a definitive list, but he did discover a few: “In India’s ODI against Pakistan in Mohali in April 1999, an over by Virender Sehwag – who was making his debut – included (not in order) a dot ball, three singles, a single off a no-ball (two on to the total), a delivery that went for three wides, a four, a four off a no-ball (five runs for the total), and a six. I haven’t found any six-delivery overs in Tests or ODIs that contained 012345 or 123456, but there a few with 012346 (not in that order). However, the strangest such over must surely have come in Bombay(now Mumbai) in 1951-52, when the 44th over of India’s first innings, bowled by England’s Brian Statham, read 4, 0, 1, 2, 3… 8.”Harshal Patel won the purple cap for the second time this year. Has anyone else won it twice? asked Mahendra Sunderam from India
Harshal Patel took 24 wickets for Punjab Kings in this year’s IPL, to take the purple cap for the most wickets by a handy margin. Patel also won it in 2021, when he picked up 32 wickets (the joint-most in any IPL season) for Royal Challengers Bangalore.This award has been shared around quite a lot: since the first IPL in 2008, only two others have won it twice. Bhuvneshwar Kumar did it in successive years for Sunrisers, with 23 wickets in 2016 and 23 in 2017, while Dwayne Bravo topped the tables with 32 in 2013 and 26 in 2015 for Chennai Super Kings.Turning to the batters, Virat Kohli has won the orange cap for the most runs in the IPL season for the second time; he also came out on top in 2016 with 973 runs, the overall record for any season. Chris Gayle also topped the list twice, for RCB in 2011 and 2012, but David Warner has done it three times (2015, 2017 and 2019, all for Sunrisers). For the overall list of most runs in an IPL season, click here.Who has been out for a duck most often in Tests? asked Richard Sullivan from England
Top of the pile here is the West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh, who was out without scoring in 43 of his 185 innings, 61 of which were not out. Second is Stuart Broad, who was dismissed for nought 39 times (244 innings, 41 not-outs). But the leader in percentage terms, at least among the men with most ducks in Tests, is the New Zealander Chris Martin, who was dismissed 52 times, 36 of those without scoring (he also had a creditable 52 not-outs). Martin also bagged seven pairs in Tests – no-one else has more than four.Leading the way for ducks in men’s ODIs is the prolific Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya with 34, not far ahead of the Pakistan pair of Shahid Afridi (30) and Wasim Akram (28), and Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene (also 28). In T20Is, Ireland’sPaul Stirling has so far bagged 13 ducks, ahead of four men with 12.In women’s ODIs, Jhulan Goswami of India collected 18 ducks, while England’s Charlotte Edwards had 16. . And in women’s T20s, Danni Wyatt of England has to date bagged 17 ducks, four more than Suzie Bates of New Zealand and Malaysia’s Winifred Duraisingam.Shakib Al Hasan (left) has the most wickets in T20 World Cups while Virat Kohli (right) has the most runs•Associated PressWith the next T20 World Cup tournament fast approaching, who has scored the most runs and taken the most wickets in them over the years? asked Christopher Glass from Australia
The leaders in these two tables are both likely to add to their tallies in the forthcoming T20 World Cup. Virat Kohli leads the way “>for the batters, with 1141. The only other man over 1000 is Mahela Jayawardene (1016). Rohit Sharma goes into the 2024 tournament with 963.The leading wicket-taker in T20 World Cups is Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh, with 47 (like Rohit, Shakib played in all eight previous editions of this tournament). Shahid Afridi comes next with 39, one ahead of Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, but the next man on the list who should feature in 2024 is another Sri Lankan, Wanindu Hasaranga, with 31.I was amazed that the United States beat Bangladesh the other day. Have they ever beaten a Test nation before? asked Jay Morrison from the United States
Before upsetting Bangladesh last week at Prairie View in Houston, Texas, the United States men’s team had won 36 previous official internationals – but only one of them was against a Test-playing nation. The USA defeated Ireland by 26 runs in a T20 match in Lauderhill (Florida) in December 2021.Just to show it was no fluke, the USA followed up their win over Bangladesh by coming out on top in the second game as well, to clinch the series, another first for them against a Test nation.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Also, who was the fastest bowler to 300 Test wickets by time?

Steven Lynch29-Oct-2024New Zealand have just won a Test series in India. Have they ever done that before, and how often have India been whitewashed at home? asked Michael O’Sullivan from New Zealand
New Zealand had never previously won any of their 12 Test series in India, and indeed had won only two previous Tests there – in Nagpur in October 1969, and in Mumbai in November 1988. That first win enabled them to draw the series 1-1, and a two-match rubber in 2003-04 was drawn 0-0; India won the other ten. New Zealand have done much better at home, winning six series (and ten Tests overall).India might have lost the series after their defeat in Pune, but there’s still another Test to come so it’s too early to talk about a whitewash. The only time they have ever lost every match of a series (more than one Test) at home was in 1999-2000, when South Africa won both matches. They did lose three-match series 2-0 to England in 1933-34 (the first Tests in India), Australia in 1956-57 and West Indies in 1966-67. As this list shows, India have lost three matches in five longer series at home, which included 3-0 defeats to West Indies in 1958-59 (five Tests) and 1983-84 (six).I saw that Kagiso Rabada was the fastest to reach 300 Test wickets in terms of balls bowled, but who got there fastest by time? asked Andy Johnson from England
You’re right that Kagiso Rabada was the fastest to reach 300 Test wickets by balls bowled – he got there when he dismissed Mushfiqur Rahim during South Africa’s recent Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur. That wicket came with Rabada’s 11,817th legal delivery in a Test, 132.3 overs quicker than Waqar Younis (12,602), who himself was three balls quicker than Dale Steyn.The fastest in terms of time was Shane Warne, who got there in six years and three days from his debut against India in Sydney in January 1992. R Ashwin ran Warne close, reaching 300 in November 2017, six years and 21 days after his debut. Rabada played his first Test in November 2015, so is well down this particular list, in 15th place.Was Zimbabwe’s 344 the other day a T20 international record? asked Burton Mugambwa from Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe ran up 344 for 4 in their match against Gambia in Nairobi last week, during the African qualifying tournament for the next T20 World Cup. It was not only the highest in a T20 international, but the biggest in any senior men’s T20 match, beating Nepal’s 314 for 3 against Mongolia in the Asian Games in Hangzhou (China) in September 2023. As mentioned two weeks ago in this column, there have been higher totals in women’s T20 internationals.Zimbabwe won by 290 runs, another record for men’s T20s, beating Nepal’s 273 in the match mentioned above. Argentina’s women won successive games against Chile in October 2023 by 364, 281 and 311 runs.Sikandar Raza reached his century – Zimbabwe’s first in T20s – against Gambia in just 33 balls, putting him joint-second in men’s T20 internationals behind Sahil Chauhan’s 27-ball onslaught for Estonia against Cyprus in Episkopi in June 2024. That’s also the fastest in all men’s T20 matches.Sydney Barnes’ 189 wickets came in just 27 Tests, an average of seven wickets a Test•PA PhotosPrabath Jayasuriya currently has 97 wickets in 16 Tests – that’s more than six a match. Has anyone else had a higher average? asked Nishantha de Silva from Sri Lanka
Slow left-armer Prabath Jayasuriya currently averages 6.06 wickets per Test, a rate he’ll have to sustain for a long time to stay ahead of Muthiah Muralidaran, who took 800 wickets in his 133-Test career, at the rate of 6.01 per match.Leading the way is the great England bowler Sydney Barnes, who took 189 wickets in just 27 Tests, an average of exactly seven per match. Among those who took 50 or more Test wickets, the only others above six are three 19th-century bowlers in Jack Ferris (6.77 wickets per Test), Tom Richardson (6.28) and George Lohmann (6.22). Lohmann is the only man to have more wickets after 16 Tests (101) than Jayasuriya’s 97.The only other current bowler who averages more than five wickets per Test is R Ashwin, who stood at 5.12 per match after the second Test against New Zealand in Pune.Saim Ayub opened the batting and the bowling in Rawalpindi. How often has this happened in a Test? asked Abdul Hameed Majeed from Pakistan
Offspinner Saim Ayub took the new ball for Pakistan in the third Test against England in Rawalpindi – a one-over spell before Noman Ali returned! He’d earlier opened the batting, and became the 70th man to do both in the same Test. There are now 154 instances in all, and two Indian allrounders lead the way: Manoj Prabhakar did it no fewer than 22 times, and ML Jaisimha 13. Next come Pakistan’s Mudassar Nazar (nine times) and Abid Ali of India (six).The most recent instance before Saim Ayub was by Solomon Mire, for Zimbabwe against West Indies in Bulawayo late in 2017; the previous year Dilruwan Perera did it for Sri Lanka against Australia in Colombo. Perhaps the most surprising name on the list is another Indian, Budhi Kunderan, against England at Edgbaston in July 1967 – he was usually a wicketkeeper!Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The leader of South Africa’s bowling attack talks about the team’s philosophy, and how he approaches his own bowling

Firdose Moonda04-Nov-2024Kagiso Rabada doesn’t get too excited about being the most lethal bowler in the 300-wickets club, or about his other records, because all he wants to do is play for South Africa.”Every kid dreams of playing for South Africa and that was my dream,” Rabada says from Chattogram, where South Africa won their first series in the subcontinent since the start of his career. “My dream was to represent South Africa and to be the best and to be a part of winning South African cricket teams. Along the way, you don’t really think about stats.”Except one number: 0.That’s how many times South Africa have won a World Cup, and like so many who have gone before him, Rabada says it’s what he most wants to achieve. “I just want to win the World Cup. That’s literally my dream. So, hopefully, I don’t have any other metrics really.”Rabada was part of South Africa’s disastrous 2019 ODI World Cup campaign and the much better 2023 one, in which they reached the semi-finals. He has also played in four T20 World Cups, and experienced exiting after the group stage three times before South Africa pulled off an eight-match unbeaten run to reach this year’s final. He described the current group of players as having found a “sweet spot” between experience and youth without being haunted by the ghosts of greats gone by.Related

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When Dean Elgar played his final Test earlier this year, he was the last player of a South Africa side that had been ranked No. 1 in Tests. His exit may also have been the last in a steady stream of big-name retirements that began with Mark Boucher in 2012. Back then Rabada was a schoolkid with stars in his eyes. Three years later, he was an international, in the side in place of an injured Morne Morkel, and playing a Test alongside Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander. Three years after that, in March 2018, as the other three struggled with fitness concerns, he found himself the leader of the attack in a home series against Australia, which South Africa won 3-1.Throughout, Rabada has had the opportunity to play alongside a range of bowlers, from the ones he idolised to ones he grew up with. It is with this current generation that he feels the most settled.”Those guys [Steyn, Philander, Morkel] were my heroes growing up and I played with them. And now I’m playing with guys I played with at school, so there’s more familiarity because we grew up together – played against each other at school, played together at the provincial level, at Under-19…”Rabada went to school with Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder, who is three years his junior. He won the 2014 U-19 World Cup under the leadership of Aiden Markram. Lungi Ngidi and Kyle Verreynne were among the top performers in the national schools weeks in 2013 and 2014. All of them now represent the country. “We play for each other,” Rabada says.After he won the Player-of-the-Series award in Bangladesh for his 14 wickets at an average of nine, Rabada first showered praise on the batters for giving the bowlers over 500 runs to work with in Chattogram. And even though their coach, Shukri Conrad, wasn’t convinced about enforcing the follow-on, Markram, the captain, was certain that Rabada, who had taken a five-for in the first innings, was fresh enough to have another go at Bangladesh. As it turned out, South Africa’s spinners did the job the second time round, but the point holds that Markram would likely have batted again if he did not believe the leader of his attack could do the job, which speaks to Rabada’s continued importance to the side and the significance of managing his workload.”Pace is important but you need the skill with the pace. When you combine the two, you can become very lethal. The older you get, the harder you have to work”•Matthew Lewis/ICC/Getty ImagesThis year Rabada was rested from white-ball series in the UAE to focus on Test preparation, and he will similarly sit out the four-match T20I series against India to get ready for the home Test summer.By his own admission, more of that needs to happen to prolong his time at the top level. “I’m not getting any younger, and with the amount of cricket that’s being played, you have to think about it in terms of finding periods when you’re going to rest in order to be the most effective you can be.”But he does not put his success down to that alone. “It speaks to hard work,” he says.Over the last few years Rabada’s work has been less about speed and more about skill. He regularly swings and reverse-swings the ball, and always seems to know when to bowl with the most intensity. He identifies the new ball and periods just before or after a break as being times when he has to be particularly switched on.”Pace is important but you need the skill with the pace. When you combine the two, you can become very lethal. In Test cricket, you have to maintain the pace, but when it’s not there, you obviously have to be a bit crafty because, especially in the subcontinent, it’s hot. Obviously you want to really make an impact with the new ball. It’s about being consistent with it and bowling at a good pace. The older you get, the harder you have to work. You won’t get away with what you got away with when you were younger.”If Rabada sounds older than his 29 years, that’s because in Test cricket terms, he probably is – with 66 caps across nine years, he is the most experienced player in the side. In that time, while he has experienced highs like beating Australia home and away, he has also seen South Africa go from No. 1 to No. 7 on the rankings.”Of course, there were times where I was like, ‘Man, what’s going on here?’ But then in the morning, you wake up and you just have to front up. People go through that on the daily, but as players, we have a spotlight on us. Everyone’s going to comment on whatever we do. There have been times in my career when I’ve been disappointed, but it becomes worth it when you do achieve what you want to achieve.”Some would say being back at No.1 on the ICC’s rankings for Test bowlers, having occupied that spot for most of 2018 and 2019, is one kind of achievement, but it’s not Rabada’s favourite one. “If I was No. 5 or No. 3 and we’re winning, then I’m really happy. If I’m No. 1, I’m even more happy, but as long as we’re winning – that’s the major thing for me. It’s not about being No.1 the world, it’s all about the process and being obsessed with that. I know it sounds so cliché, but cliché is a kind of reality.”He acknowledges that his numbers do have some effect on him in that “they motivate me, but I’m not fixated on them”. Then he goes back to his original mantra: that as long as the team is winning, that means more than anything else, and there are still a few big things he wants them to win. “I’m happy with it [the No. 1 Test bowling ranking], but I’m not going to think about it too much. The work continues.”

He’s doing a Master’s in English while also making headlines for Mumbai Indians

Nagraj Gollapudi28-Mar-20251:26

‘A breath of fresh air’ – Varun Aaron on Vignesh Puthur

Sunil Puthur did not go to work between Monday and Wednesday this week. His wife, Bindu, and he had to stay at home in Perinthalmanna, a town in Malappuram district in north-central Kerala – state and local media had been parked outside their house ever since their only son, Vignesh Puthur, made an impactful IPL 2025 debut, picking up three wickets in his first match for Mumbai Indians (MI) against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) last Sunday.”The local media in Kerala swamped the house from as early as 7am until evening,” Sunil tells ESPNcricinfo over the phone on Wednesday. While it’s common for families of cricketers to turn the watching experience into an event for the community, especially when the player is little-known, Sunil and Bindu opted to watch Vignesh’s debut at home by themselves. But the next morning, they were happy to share their feelings about it in interviews to the media, their eyes welling up on more than one occasion.Part of that emotion has to do with the sacrifices the family has made to ensure Vignesh got all the support he needed to grow in cricket.Related

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About a decade ago, Sunil gave up running an agency for a popular biscuit brand in order to drive an auto-rickshaw, largely to ferry Vignesh to his cricket training.”He is my only son, and I wanted to support him to the best of my ability,” Sunil says. “The only thing I wanted to do was to ensure I supported his decision to pursue cricket.”

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When Vignesh was ten, one of his friends took him to the Perinthalmanna Cricket Academy, run by CG Vijayakumar, who took up coaching at the behest of his mentor, Vasoo Paranjape, the famed Mumbai-based coach. Vijayakumar saw that Vignesh was a fast learner.”His movements were just natural in everything he did,” says Vijayakumar, who continues to stay in touch with Vignesh. “In the first few months, I could see his rubbery wrists. In six months, his loading, follow-through, and the way he imparted spin [on the ball] already made him a good unit. In a year, he had started to bowl a googly, too, slowly.”By the time he was 14, Vignesh joined the Kerala Cricket Association academy, where he went up the ranks before playing for the state in the Under-14 and U-19 categories, and later for the Kerala U-23 team in invitational tournaments. While he is yet to play for Kerala in domestic cricket, a pathway opened up for Vignesh when MI called him for IPL trials last year after he was spotted by former India fast bowler TA Sekar, who was scouting for the franchise in Thiruvananthapuram.

“He had a very good action. He was flighting the ball well, and spinning both ways. I always go for a good technique and [see] if a bowler has variations. I observed both of those before recommending him for trials”TA Sekar on his first impression of Vignesh Puthur

Vignesh had not been on Sekar’s list of players to watch out for, but his trained eye, from his years working as a bowling coach, national selector, and team director, picked up the quality of Puthur’s action.At the trials, held before the mega IPL auction in November, Vignesh impressed the MI leadership group, and when the franchise bought him uncontested for INR 30 lakh, there was understandable joy in the Puthur household.Left-arm wristspin is a rare art and remains a bit of a mystery to batters. Kuldeep Yadav’s success in the IPL and for India is evidence that such a skillset can win you matches. In 2023, MI had picked another left-arm wristspinner, Raghav Goyal from Haryana, but he only played one match.”He had a very good action,” Sekar says about Vignesh. “He was flighting the ball well, and spinning both ways. I always go for a good technique and [see] if a bowler has variations. I observed both of those factors during the two matches I saw Vignesh in before recommending him for trials.”At the trials, Vignesh bowled with a bit more zip, was accurate, and showed he had a good googly, too.MI sent Vignesh, who turned 24 earlier this month, to South Africa earlier this year to hone his skills by bowling in the nets to the MI Cape Town batters in the SA20 league. Before IPL 2025, Vignesh also played in the DY Patil T20 Invitations Trophy in Navi Mumbai, where the domestic Indian players in the MI ranks usually feature. That experience might have come in handy on his IPL debut.Vignesh Puthur is mobbed by his Mumbai Indians team-mates after taking a wicket•AFP/Getty ImagesMI lost the match, but Vignesh’s three-wicket haul, with the scalps of CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube and Deepak Hooda – all of them internationals – impressed everyone and earned him a pat on the shoulder from MS Dhoni after the game.The big positive for Vignesh, who is simultaneously pursuing his MA in English, was that he did not seem overwhelmed by the occasion at any stage, and was confident about what he was doing in front a packed Chepauk.Sekar saw that as well. “In his first big match, in front a really big crowd, he held his own and was deceiving batters in the air.”Dube’s wicket was a classic example. CSK retained the left-hand batter specifically for his ability to demolish spin, but Vignesh lured Dube out with his flight and then the dip did not allow the batter the space to create power and he was caught on the straight boundary.

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Vignesh’s parents as well as Vijayakumar say that he is a quiet person who likes his own company more than anyone else’s. Bindu, in a chat with PTI this week, said that her son was emotional in the hours leading up to his debut. “He called us around midnight after the match and then again he called after an hour. He was so happy. I have never seen him so happy. We also could not sleep because of our happiness.”Sunil hopes that Vignesh can continue his schooling in cricket at MI. “MI are a good team. We want Vignesh to keep moving forward at the franchise.”

They have been giving us less and less time at the crease together in this format, the one whose limits they have most stretched

Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Mar-20253:05

Will Kohli’s chasing form influence NZ’s decision at the toss?

It felt like the final scene of a beloved show, whose characters you have watched grow and change for a decade and plenty. Virat Kohli strode to the crease, every sinew bristling with purpose. Rohit Sharma leaned on his bat and watched Kohli come, almost inert.They batted 2.5 overs together in the Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia, Rohit making seven off ten balls in Kohli’s company, Kohli gleaning five off seven. Too short a time to savour their co-gianthood. Barely a glimpse into the interplay between two men who have defined so much about Indian cricket, and by extension the game in the latest age.In fact, they have been giving us less and less time at the crease together in this format, the one whose limits they have most stretched. That Kohli will be regarded the greatest chaser in its history has been beyond obvious for years. Rohit is the architect of its most gargantuan innings, that 264 at Eden Gardens still feeling like a fever dream a decade later.Related

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But in the last five years, they have made no more than 436 runs in each other’s company. ODIs are infrequently played now, of course, but in that time, Rohit has made almost five times as many runs (2019) with Shubman Gill. Even Kohli has had more productive partnerships with Gill (913), as well as with Shreyas Iyer (1181) and KL Rahul (913).Partly this is down to Rohit spinning off in a new direction. Where Kohli continues to impose himself on the middle and late overs when form allows, Rohit has become almost exclusively a powerplay artisan, frequently gone before Kohli arrives, and interested only in continuing to hack at the bowling rather than build an old-school block-by-block innings even when he isn’t. It’s worth repeating that the guy who specialises in hitting 60-odd off 40-odd balls was once thought to be an unstoppable six-hitting monster only he had spent 60 to 70 balls at the crease.Kohli’s feet have touched the ground in other formats. In Tests, he has even skidded along for some time, like a regular mortal. He still loves those big numbers against his name, of course, propelled forever by that internal fire that burns like a neutron star. And in ODIs, he is, still, largely managing them – his average of 52.56 over the past five years not much worse than his overall numbers, his strike rate almost exactly where it always had been. Their spending less time at the crease together is not really doing.Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the ODI giants•BCCIAnd yet, although the Kohli-Rohit Venn diagram overlap is shrinking, they are both still there, very clearly driven by the pursuit of India’s success. In this tournament, Kohli has led two chases – against Pakistan and Australia, hitting 100 not out and 84. It had been Rohit’s 41 off 36, against Bangladesh, however, that had bought India’s middle order the time to arrest a middle-overs mini-collapse (they lost 3 for 22 at one point) on a difficult surface. This is exactly what these Rohit innings are meant to do – ease the progress of the remainder of that top order. Rohit prides himself on his sparkling support acts. It fits that although he wears leadership more lightly than Kohli ever did, he is the World Cup-winning captain out of the two of them.In Tuesday’s semi-final, their most intense moment together came in the field sometime during the middle overs, when Kuldeep Yadav yanked his hand away at the non-striker’s end, instead of cleanly receiving Kohli’s bounce-throw from the outfield, and Kohli and Rohit, standing in the distance either side of the bowler, raised their voices simultaneously to give poor Kuldeep an acerbic surround-sound bollocking. They might not be putting up the numbers they used to in each other’s company, but this much at least they do together.2:19

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And their numbers once were genuinely awesome. Until March 7, 2020, Kohli and Rohit had made 4878 runs in partnership, a figure surpassed for India only by the legendary opening combination of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Their partnership brought India 65.04 runs on average, which is way better even than Tendulkar-Ganguly (47.55). In fact, the pity in that era was that Kohli and Rohit didn’t find enough occasions in which it was possible for them to dovetail as batters. They had played 176 ODIs together through that period but batted together only 80 times.There is, additionally, this consideration: the Rohit-Kohli relationship does not immediately feel like one of the greatest bromances ever told. Not that there has ever been obvious friction. But the relationship has not conformed to a model others have set down – one artist, and one technician, sharing an elemental bond. Just in this century, and just in South Asia, we have had Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, and the 2001 epic by which their careers will always be partly remembered. There was also Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, who smiled at each other across a dressing room one day and knew straightaway they were destined to sell very expensive crab together (they did also score some runs). Kohli-Rohit has never threatened to be sappy, but then who cares, also? Theirs is primarily a professional relationship. They have made each other greater for India – of that, there is no question.Though each of these batters clearly have more left in them, it feels like we have left the best Rohit+Kohli years behind. Which makes the rare occasions on which they bat together all the sweeter – two eagles circling on the same thermal, each acutely aware of the other, but not directly interacting, nor ever getting in the other’s way. One day, not long from now, we will look up, and they will be gone.