Landmark moment comes in front of biggest crowd and with oldest team-mate beside him

Cameron Ponsonby26-Mar-2022″Tears just came to my eyes instantaneously,” an emotional Joshua Da Silva said, just moments after bringing up his maiden Test century. “They are coming to me now, it means the most to me. Thanks to God and my parents, everybody supporting me. It means the whole world to me.”Pick any metric you want and this was a fantastic innings from Da Silva. Coming in at No.8 with the score 95 for 6, West Indies were staring at a match-losing deficit in reply to England’s 204. The early stages of his innings were restrained with just 13 runs coming off his first 86 deliveries. Fifty-three came off his next 86 as he began to open up. And then as he shepherded the final stages of the innings he returned to his shell with 34 coming off his final 85 deliveries.”I’m just batting balls,” Da Silva said at the close on day two when he was on 54 off 152 balls. “When I bat balls I know runs will come in the end, I’m not too fazed about what my strike-rate looks like. Stokesy and those guys got pretty upset with me but I’m just batting and having fun.”I love getting talk. It makes me want to go and make more runs and bat longer. It fuels me.”When Da Silva was finally given out caught behind, one ball after reaching his century, however, the talk turned to respect with each England player congratulating him on a fine innings. But in bizarre circumstances, Da Silva, who himself believed he had hit the ball, was called back to the crease on review after it turned out he made missed it. And so having left the pitch entirely, Da Silva returned. He defended his next ball straight back to Craig Overton who promptly whanged it as hard as he could back at Da Silva. England had gone from talk, to respect, to flat-out violence. And it was all Da Silva’s doing.One of the great things about individual achievements is that they are so often far from actually individual, as the joy and pride on show is shared by fans, friends and relatives alike. As Da Silva thumped the ball down the ground and to the boundary to bring up his century, his arms were just two of thousands also lifted above their heads in celebration.Related

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Back in England, a video surfaced of Johnno Gordon, Da Silva’s former captain from his time as an overseas player at Old Wimbledonians in 2017, shedding a tear as the moment arrived. The two remain close and had gone for dinner together in Barbados where Gordon had come out to support. Although, it must also be said – given that Gordon is the co-owner of the small independent cricket company Woodstock, who sponsor Da Silva – it can’t be completely ruled out that the tears of joy weren’t at the airtime his bats were getting on BT Sport.Closer to home, and Da Silva spoke of the moment being that much sweeter for having had his friend and club-mate from Trinidad Jayden Seales at the other end. Da Silva was on 65 when Seales came to the crease and, given that Seales had a first-class top score of just 7 at that point, there was little expectation that he would be adding too many more. Except from Jayden himself, of course.”Seales told me he has my back,” Da Silva said. “And I backed him 100%. He told me he is going to get me there and he did, so I can’t thank him enough for the role he played.”Da Silva is a Covid cricketer. His maiden tour was to England in 2020, the first to be played in a bubble, and so he has known no different to the restrictions in place and the lifeless and empty stadiums that have accompanied his 14-Test career so far. Support from his team-mates and from afar is all he’s known. But today he saved the best moment of his cricketing career for the first, and biggest, crowd that he will have played in front of as a West Indian.”Words can’t describe it. It’s been phenomenal, especially to have so many fans here and we have a lot of them in Grenada thankfully. To see them stand up and clap, especially for Mayers who’s been getting wickets for fun, it’s exceptional to see and be a part of.”Kyle was telling me this morning that I was going to get a hundred and how it would feel if I got one and just, words can’t describe. An exceptional feeling.”

It was the end of a rotten run of scores for the Royal Challengers batter. But did his scoring rate hurt his team in the end?

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Apr-20222:29

Vettori: Kohli innings had too many dot balls and singles between the boundaries

A nine-year-old girl was jumping up and down in the Brabourne Stadium stands. She had a placard held aloft, waiting for the TV cameras to help her tell the world that she had travelled from Telangana, roughly 700 kilometres away from Mumbai, only to watch Virat Kohli. And to see him succeed. She was one of several hundred Kohli fans in the stadium, and among thousands across India and beyond that desperately wanted Kohli to score. Score big. To put an end to the rotten run of form in which he had even collected successive golden ducks.Related

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Kohli’s facial expressions have always been somewhat exaggerated, but after every failure in the past month, he appeared more and more lost. The man whose greatest strength, arguably, is his clear head, looked confused. Royal Challengers Bangalore couldn’t drop him. The experts could not stop giving suggestions. But his fans – they would not give up. If you’ve been to any of the IPL venues on a Royal Challengers match day, you would have seen virtually every fan wearing the “Virat 18” on their backs.Having been treated to all sorts of Kohli spectacles over the years, his fans were – and are – willing to be patient. And despite 40-plus-degree (Celsius) heat on Saturday afternoon, Brabourne was abuzz an hour before toss. When Kohli walked out to take throwdowns before the game, the stands virtually shook with excitement.A bit later, bat resting on his right shoulder, Kohli walked out to open with Faf du Plessis, his body language as positive as always. He pushed the first delivery of the match, pitched on length by Mohammed Shami, toward the leg side confidently. Shami then missed his run-up twice in a row and had to re-measure it. Kohli waited patiently. The fans not so; they booed the bowler. Shami resumed, but the length was slightly full. Kohli punched a straight four and then powerfully flicked the next delivery for another easy boundary. “Kohli! Kohli! Kohli!”After facing ten balls, Kohli had 14 runs, the joint-highest this IPL for him in terms of the strike rate in his first ten-ball phase. Alzarri Joseph replaced Shami to deliver the fifth over. He started with a loosener, which Kohli flicked past midwicket for a four. Next ball was on length on the fourth stump, and Kohli took a big stride and placed his drive between short cover and wide mid-off for another four. Gujarat Titans’ skipper Hardik Pandya, who was wide at mid-off, gave up the chase almost as soon as he had started. Hardik might be carrying a niggle (he didn’t bowl on the day), but even if he had been fully fit, he would have known the chase was futile.0:35

‘Our bowlers kept it tight and didn’t allow Virat Kohli to get into his rhythm’ – Hardik Pandya

The fans had now started to dream. The numbers were on their side: Kohli averages 88 and has scored at a rate of 161 in T20s each time he got five or more boundaries in his first 20 balls. He also had 11 fifties and two hundreds in 18 such innings before Saturday.Lockie Ferguson bowled the eighth over. He has blown hot and cold in the last few matches, but he cramped Kohli for room with tight lines and his signature high pace this time. Four dots and Kohli played his second not-in-control stroke. Responding to a short-and-wide delivery, he attempted a ramp but away from the body. The outside edge, though, fell in front of the fielder at third man. Kohli was annoyed with himself, visibly, realising he could have done better, perhaps by going on the back foot and attempting a cut.In Ferguson’s next over, Kohli picked a six over long-on off a full toss. Ferguson repeated the short delivery outside off at nearly 145 kph. This time, Kohli moved closer to the line, opened the face of the bat, and steered the ball for four. “Kohli! Kohli!” You would have been forgiven for thinking Kohli was in complete control, totally dominant.But at the end of that Ferguson over, which also was the halfway stage of the innings, Kohli had 44 from 38 balls. He was striking at just over 100. He would eventually raise his bat to acknowledge the cheers upon reaching his first fifty of this IPL. But he had taken 45 deliveries to get there. Stack that up against the two best batters so far this IPL. Jos Buttler strikes in the high 150s and KL Rahul over 140. They have scored five centuries between them, taking an average of about 60 deliveries to get there.Kohli has scored 48 half-centuries in the IPL over the years and his effort today was his second slowest. More stunning is the fact that his innings strike rate of 109.43 on the day was his slowest in all T20s.Virat Kohli is bowled by Mohammed Shami after scoring 58 in 53 balls•BCCIUnderstandable. Kohli needs time to get back to his best form, which he is still searching for. But the question that both he and Royal Challengers would need to confront is: did Kohli’s scoring rate hurt the team in the end?Rajat Patidar, who hit a 29-ball 50, as well as Glenn Maxwell (33 in 18) and Mahipal Lomror (16* in eight) in the Royal Challengers innings, and then David Miller (39* in 24) and Rahul Tewatia (43* in 25) proved that the pitch was full of runs and there were no demons in it.Unless he speaks, we won’t know what was on Kohli’s mind during his innings. But if Kohli is opening the innings and aims to bat deep, he needs to score quicker.The afternoon started with the Kohli question. Tewatia and Miller grabbed the headlines in the end. But Kohli will remain the talking point as we wait to know the answer.When he picked a single to get to the half-century today, there were no exaggerated celebrations. He raised the bat in the direction of the team dugout and his family and then looked heavenwards. Then came a sigh of relief. But when the team meets to review the game, Kohli will be the first to raise his hand and acknowledge that he has work left to do. The fans will wait, with a prayer on their lips.

Armaan Jaffer and Sarfaraz Khan joined in the fun as Mumbai ended day one in a commanding position

Himanshu Agrawal06-Jun-2022You don’t have to watch Suved Parkar for long to be reminded of Ajinkya Rahane.There is the elbow guard, of course, but also the chin nudging the raised left shoulder while watching the bowler run in. And on Monday, the resemblance perhaps seemed even greater because it was Rahane’s birthday. But beyond the mannerisms, there’s the shared characteristic – the understated calm. Debut first-class century in the bag, Parkar took off his helmet off and raised his bat to the dressing room, no big show. Otherwise, too, he radiated equanimity.Parkar had arrived at the crease when Mumbai were 64 for 2, with both openers surrendering good starts. His first ask was to see out the eight balls that remained until lunch. He got a single. Easily done.For company, Parkar had the young – and also inexperienced – Armaan Jaffer. Initially, they focused on steadying the ship. So Uttarakhand captain Jay Bista, no stranger to being around Mumbai batters who can grind the opposition to the ground, to direct Akash Madhwal to shift to a short-ball strategy; 20 overs into the innings, he stationed a leg gully, a backward short-leg, a fine leg and a deep square-leg, while getting Madhwal to operate from around the wicket to both right-hand batters.Madhwal banged it in short. Jaffer and Parkar were being cramped for room, but they managed to keep the ball down each time Madhwal got one to climb at them. There was no apparent discomfort, and in the 23rd over, Jaffer pulled Madhwal to the deep square-leg boundary. That put an end to the short-ball barrage plan.Spin was introduced for the first time after 24 overs, and when left-armer Swapnil Singh dropped one short from around the wicket, Jaffer pulled him for six, with the ball threatening to land on a car parked beyond the boundary.Century-makers Darfaraz Khan and Suved Parkar have a mid-pitch conference•ESPNcricinfo LtdThis was a partnership built on the foundation of blocks and leaves, but every now and then came a shot of aggression. If Jaffer creamed a cover drive and punch-flicked a back-of-a-length ball wide of mid-on, Parkar opened his bat face deftly to pick up a boundary behind square.Both rode their luck on the way. On 35, a drive away from the body from Jaffer, found the outside edge only for the ball to evade first slip’s reach. There was no one at second slip. In the next over – the 36th of Mumbai’s innings – Swapnil tumbled to his left and dropped a catch off his own bowling when Parkar was on 18. With only six first-class matches for Jaffer before this one and none for Parkar, this was just the fortune they needed to be brave.At the start of the 43rd over, when their stand was worth 75 in 164 balls, Jaffer and Parkar shifted gears. The next three overs, bowled by Dikshanshu Negi and Mayank Mishra, brought 31 runs, as Jaffer pulled, lofted and drove, while Parkar twice went over the bowler’s head and cleared the straight boundary.Jaffer crossed fifty in the process; he had earlier smashed 125 in Mumbai’s innings win against Odisha in the group stage. Another quiet phase followed, after which Jaffer ended up edging Deepak Dhapola to second slip for 60. That ended a partnership of 112 in 37.2 overs.It was just the cue for another to begin.Sarfaraz Khan arrived at the crease and clattered three boundaries in his first seven balls. Not influenced, Parkar continued to tick the scoreboard over, playing his own game at his own tempo.After that frenetic start, Sarfaraz quietened down as Uttarakhand’s discipline improved over the next dozen or so overs. But for how long can you really keep Sarfaraz quiet? From 24 off 50 balls, he raced to his half-century, scoring 26 off the next 23 balls.At the other end, having busied himself with the task of accumulating singles and ensuring Mumbai didn’t lose their way, Parkar faced Madhwal when on 94. Madhwal pitched short and wide of off, and Parkar rose on his toes and punched to beat deep backward point to his left to move to 98. Three balls later, Madhwal went full and on the stumps, and Parkar clipped it wide of mid-on; or, more precisely, drove it wide of mid-on, with the full face of the bat meeting the ball right under his nose. Another little flash of Rahane, in the way the ball sped off his bat despite there being little to no follow-through.Sarfaraz Khan has scored 620 runs this season, at an average of 155.00, and he shows no signs of stopping•PTI Mid-on gave up the chase, and just beyond the boundary, Mumbai’s players rose to their feet. Off came Parkar’s helmet, and up went his bat.Four overs later, Parkar walked off the field, unbeaten on 104 off 218 balls. With him was Sarfaraz, batting on 69 off 104. The two of them and Jaffer had put Mumbai in a commanding position at 304 for 3.Jaffer is often remembered as his uncle Wasim’s nephew; but as he did as a 13-year-old back in 2010, he could yet smash records with the sort of skill and temperament he displayed against Uttarakhand.Sarfaraz, another schools-cricket prodigy back in the day, came into this game with scores of 275, 63, 48 and 165 in his four previous Ranji Trophy innings. By the end of the day’s play, he had 620 runs for the season – at an average of 155.00 – and was only four runs away from displacing Chetan Bist on top of the season’s run charts.By scoring a century on first-class debut for Mumbai, Parkar emulated a feat Rahane had achieved 14 years ago. Rahane apart, Parkar joined a list featuring Sachin Tendulkar, his captain Prithvi Shaw, and his coach Amol Muzumdar, among others.If he felt he’d done something special, he didn’t show it. “There is nothing different, you just have to show patience,” was how he summed it up.Parkar is only 21, while Jaffer is 23 and Sarfaraz 24. Who knows what the future holds?

The UP fast bowler talks about his skill development, support from his family, his IPL growth, and more

Vishal Dikshit and Nikhil Sharma16-Jun-2022Yash Dayal is a fearless bowler, and he loves bowling the bouncer. On his IPL debut against Rajasthan Royals, he was smashed for two fours and a six in the space of four balls by an in-form Jos Buttler, but Dayal didn’t hold back and banged in another bouncer. He couldn’t get Buttler out, but he was not going down meekly in this battle.Nearly 10 days later, Gujarat Titans were defending 156 against Kolkata Knight Riders, and again, the left-arm quick resorted to his bouncers. He had already dismissed Shreyas Iyer and Rinku Singh, and when Andre Russell took strike, Dayal sent down three bouncers in a row to one of the most feared batters in T20 cricket. The first one Russell ducked under, the second was edged for four, and the third got Russell in an awkward position when he fended to fine leg, but Dayal had overstepped.Related

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“I will be competitive and aggressive even if the batsman is going after me, there won’t be any change in that,” Dayal told ESPNcricinfo before the Ranji Trophy semi-finals. “Backing yourself is very important. A lot of things can come to mind [while bowling], but I try to back my instincts as much as possible. Then I bowl what is my strength, like a bouncer or yorker… balls I have confidence in, and I have mastered. I try to bowl those when things aren’t working properly like when I’ve been struck for a few boundaries in an over.”I was obviously nervous [on IPL debut], but I was not looking at the batsman. I was just focusing on what to bowl. I knew there would be pressure. He [Buttler] hit one boundary, then another, and I was not thinking that Jos Buttler is batting, but which is my best ball that can get him out. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. And I was not worrying too much about what if he hits me, how many people are watching this game, etc. I just thought it’s a game, it may or may not go in my favour, but I must focus on doing my best.”I knew the bouncer is my strength. Whether it’s Jos Buttler or Andre Russell, I try to bowl my best ball and that happened too when I got Russell out, but it was a no-ball. At that time, I felt like I had committed a crime. I felt horrible. The captain and senior players motivated me, they said, ‘focus on the coming overs, it’s not like he can’t get out again.’ But at the same time, I was feeling horrible, thinking what have I done?”

Ashish Nehra was like a blessing to me. Even if I was leaking runs, the team management saw my intent and backed me for that and played me till the final. And I tried my best in every gameDayal on support from Nehra and Gujarat Titans

Dayal, 24, had played fewer than 15 T20 games when he came into the IPL and is currently playing only his 16th first-class game, the Ranji Trophy semi-final for Uttar Pradesh against Mumbai. His aggressive attitude might have leaked a few runs too many – his economy rate was 9.25 after nine IPL games for 11 wickets – but it also fetched him some big wickets: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock, among others. Dayal believes he has come out of the tournament a much-improved bowler, having been under the tutelage of the former India left-arm quick Ashish Nehra, who is the head coach of Titans.”Ashish Nehra backed me a lot from the beginning,” Dayal says. “Earlier I used to try a lot of different things and experiment. But Ashish sir taught me that one must be centered and focused, and taught me some basic plans to follow without taking too much pressure and not being harsh on yourself. It’s a very competitive level of cricket so you must be smart too.”With his ability to swing the new ball and ace the slower ones and cutters, Dayal quickly became Mohammed Shami’s settled new-ball partner at Titans. Nehra, whose hands-on methods have been credited by several players for Titans’ success, had done his homework on Dayal. He knew what work was needed on him, and held separate net sessions to hone the bowler’s skills.”[He taught me] seam position for outswing, how to position the hand if you’re bowling inswing,” Dayal says, listing his learnings from Nehra. “He made me work on control a lot. He said how you deliver and execute is crucial, like how you bowl to the openers initially, what’s your plan for them, different plans for death overs.”Despite his high economy rate through the IPL, the Titans management, Dayal says, backed him and captain Hardik Pandya let him take his own decisions on the field, which further boosted his confidence.”Ashish Nehra was like a blessing to me,” Dayal says. “Even if I was leaking runs, the team management saw my intent and backed me for that and played me till the final. And I tried my best in every game.”He [Hardik] is very calm and confident, and he knows what to do at what point of the game. He is a bowler’s captain. If you have confidence in yourself, he lets you take your own decisions. That further boosts the confidence of a bowler. I would say he is the best captain I have played under.”Dayal (first from right, bottom row) was an IPL winner in his debut season•PTI Dayal was not a completely unknown entity when he was among the many uncapped players in the IPL mega auction this year. He had collected 14 wickets in seven games of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2021-22 at an economy rate of just 3.77, the best in the team. He had already made a name for himself after his first-class debut season in 2018-19 which saw him bag as many as 30 wickets at an impressive average of 24.70 in the Ranji Trophy.As a left-arm quick, a new-ball bowler who could bowl around 135-140 kph, and possessing variations like the knuckleball and the yorker, Dayal was fast-tracked into the India squad as a net bowler in January-February this year for the home series against West Indies. Straight from domestic cricket, Dayal was now rubbing shoulders with some of the best in the world.”Rahul Dravid sir [head coach] spoke to me at times, but Paras Mhambrey [bowling coach] spoke to me the most,” Dayal recalls. “He took a lot of interest and spoke to me after every ball I’d bowl in the nets, where to bowl to what kind of batsman, what kind of variations to use etc.”

My father has helped a lot in teaching how to shine [the ball] when it gets old, how to maintain it to reverse.Yash Dayal

Dayal was new to the dressing room, but he was familiar with most of the bowling tricks already. The outswinger to right-hand batters came naturally to him, he says, and he wanted to work on the one that comes in. He had already picked up the knuckleball from TV and YouTube and honed it further with his UP senior Bhuvneshwar Kumar. With a repertoire of deliveries very few possess at such a young age, he arrived in Ahmedabad to join the India squad.”I squared up Ishan Kishan once and one other time I beat Mayank Agarwal, piercing the gap between his bat and pad when he tried to defend,” Dayal remembers with glee about his highlights in the nets. He says there wasn’t a single batter in the nets he did not beat or dismiss, either bowled or caught behind. His big weapon was the inswinger, which was once his weak point.Dayal, as a result, was already on the wishlist of a few franchises in the IPL auction. Three teams bid for him and his value shot up from his base price of INR 20 lakh to the eventual INR 3.2 crore that Titans paid for him.Dayal comes from a humble socio-economic background in Prayagraj in UP. Born to an accountant and a housewife, Dayal learned the tricks of the trade from his father, who was a right-arm fast bowler in local cricket tournaments.”My father has helped a lot in teaching how to shine [the ball] when it gets old, how to maintain it to reverse,” Dayal says of his teens when he idolised Zaheer Khan while watching him on TV and indulging in videos of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis on the internet.”I would wonder if doing such skillful things would be possible. Then I started watching their videos closely, my father helped a lot, and I started practising. Gradually there was a lot of progress and even now I haven’t mastered reverse swing. I’m still learning how to get better at it.”Dayal senior realised the potential in his son and took him to Bishop Johnson School in Prayagraj to be coached by Ghulam Murtaza, father of the UP left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza. Perhaps realizing that learning from only one coach wouldn’t be enough, he started taking his son to the city’s A division league, to compete against much older players, and to different coaches across the city.While Dayal was getting rejected in Under-14, 16 and 19 trials, he kept honing his skills and fitness. The door finally opened when he broke into the UP Under-23 squad in 2017-18, and he made his senior-level debut in the same season.Nearly four years down the line, Dayal is a regular in the UP squad now, an IPL winner, and on the fringes of the India squad. Until he breaks into that squad too, he wants to “keep working hard, keep training, and keep bowling.”

He and Bumrah started off as tennis-ball bowlers in matches of six to eight overs in Gujarat. Friday night was not too different for them

Sidharth Monga24-Sep-20223:21

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When the two had finished bowling, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel, born a month apart in Gujarat, started reminiscing their childhood where they started off as tennis-ball bowlers in matches of six to eight overs.Axar told Bumrah that the eight-over shootout against Australia in Nagpur reminded him of the childhood: “Full feel aaya [it felt exactly the same]. It is death overs from ball one: batters come and swing without regard for their wicket.”Add the Pandya brothers to the list, and you have four contemporary players who took the unconventional route. Sunil Gavaskar holds a theory about Gujarat cricket that the Gujarati people have an immense love for the game of cricket, but they are also practical people. For long it remained the pursuit of the royalty; the common Gujarati got into cricket only when the parents could see a professional future for their kids.Related

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And it trickled all the way down to local tournaments where the prize money would be good, and where the talented kids could be guns for hire and make decent amounts of money. Once the love and the enterprise met, the whole state of Gujarat – and not just the cities of Ahmedabad and Jamnagar – became a force to be reckoned with.At the heart of it for most Gujarati cricketers are these tennis-ball games of extremely crunched action.Not that it matters to Axar what the length of the match is. He is used to bowling in the powerplays, and the truncated match was no different for him. It could be a patronising observation from an outsider but Axar himself says his is a simple game with the ball: don’t leave the stumps, stay out of the hitting arc, and don’t get too upset if a good ball is hit for a boundary.In the eight-over shootout in Nagpur, Axar Patel’s two overs – one of them in the powerplay – went for only 13 runs•Getty ImagesIn this match, Axar started in the powerplay with long-on and midwicket back. Immediately the batters started to give themselves room, hoping to hit with the turn, but Axar bowled either arm balls or cross seam, which meant the turner would be the change-up delivery. His control of length was as good as ever.In his second and his last over, Axar even managed to bowl four straight dots at the left-hand batter Matthew Wade. Wade tried to move around, and tried both kinds of sweep, but Axar didn’t waver off his areas: flat and into the stumps.Axar’s two overs for 13 runs – one of them in the powerplay – registered just 3.42 smart runs conceded on ESPNcricinfo’s superstats. Adam Zampa trumped Axar on total impact with his one extra wicket and also because the other Australian bowlers around him got carted, but it was Axar’s spell that set the game up.Axar has come into the side because of injury to Ravindra Jadeja, but it has been apparent over the last two to three years that he is a significantly better bowler in the shortest format than Jadeja. It is Jadeja’s batting that kept Axar out; and now that he is in, Axar has a job to do with the bat too.Delhi Capitals gave him the finisher’s role this IPL, and at India he is being used as the cheap wicket to pinch-hit and also give Dinesh Karthik a more suitable entry point. Axar says he has been practicing for just that in the nets: brief and high-impact innings.As Gavaskar will tell you, if you show a cricket-loving Gujarati a payoff at the end of it, there is no telling how far they will go.

Harmanpreet Kaur put together a magnificent century, capped off by stunning late acceleration, in a near-perfect batting display

S Sudarshanan22-Sep-2022The wide-eyed, wry smile perhaps told a tale.Harmanpreet Kaur had just managed a last-minute crouch, enough to connect a pull off a short ball from Lauren Bell that barely rose knee high. So good was the contact that it beat deep square leg to her right. The reaction was telling because she was bowled by a Sarah Glenn delivery that stayed low in the first T20I against England. But on Wednesday, the India captain was set, having already faced 46 balls until that point, and was up to the task.A flurry of cuts, pulls, slog-sweeps and scythes over the off side followed as Harmanpreet lit up Canterbury with some scintillating strokes to finish unbeaten on a monumental 143, thereby taking India to 333 for 5, which eventually proved 88 too many for England. It was India’s second score over 300 in ODIs this year, following the 317 for 8 against West Indies in the World Cup earlier this year.In fact, two of India’s four 300-plus totals in ODIs have come in 2022. And both of them have a common thread – a Harmanpreet century combined with a three-figure fourth-wicket stand.Related

Harmanpreet 143*, Renuka four-for help India to unassailable 2-0 lead

Harmanpreet: 'Victory sets up fitting farewell for Jhulan Goswami at Lord's'

Harmanpreet walked out to bat after Yastika Bhatia’s dismissal and soon saw a well-set Smriti Mandhana depart, leaving India at 99 for 3 at the start of the 19th over. At the time, it seemed as if yet again, India’s batting would let them down after the toss had gone against them. It had happened more recently in the T20I series decider and also in the World Cup against England.With Harmanpreet though, there’s now a sense of this being team, especially after assuming the captaincy across formats post Mithali Raj’s retirement. She commands more authority – not that she did not earlier – and the players seem to rally behind their fearless leader. And so, in company of Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet set about with the rebuilding task. India could score only 24 runs in the next seven overs as Harmanpreet guided Deol, who was playing just her sixth ODI. The run rate, that was well over five when the pair got together, dipped below 4.75.Deol likes to play the long game – get in early, get set and then accelerate, much like she had showed during the Senior Women’s One Day Challenger earlier in the year. Having crawled to 18 off 36, Deol tried breaking the shackles by stepping down to Kate Cross but only managing to chip one over mid-on, before truly doing so with a dab past backward point for four.She then showed her wares against spin – carting offspinner Charlie Dean inside-out over cover before slinking down and depositing left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone into the sightscreen – then notching up her maiden half-century in ODIs. In the interim, Harmanpreet used the crease well to flick Bell through midwicket before a slog sweep over the same region brought up her second successive fifty-plus score. In the 12 overs leading up to Deol’s dismissal, India had managed to score 76.Highest individual scores for India in women’s ODIs•ESPNcricinfo LtdWhile Harmanpreet’s first fifty came off 64 balls, the next fifty runs took only 36 balls coming. She picked the lengths early and almost made England bowl to her plans by using the crease well. Full and wide outside off, get across and smack it over the bowler; slower length ball outside off, move across and swipe it through square leg; full and fast on off, get down to paddle it to fine leg or nail the cover drive. Debutant Freya Kemp’s back of the hand slower balls were dealt with by making room and slicing over the infield to exploit the arc from extra cover to backward point.It was as if Harmanpreet was finding the boundaries at will. She scored her last 43 runs off just 11 balls with India managing 62 off the last three overs. Her unbeaten 24-ball 71-run stand with Deepti Sharma was the quickest in women’s ODIs where data is available. Kemp’s 11-ball penultimate over went for 26 and Harmanpreet scored 18 off her 19-run last over.”I just wanted to spend some time on the wicket because today’s wicket was not easy to bat on in the first innings,” she said after the match. “I wanted to keep watching the ball and play accordingly. I didn’t try too many shots [early on]. It is important to read the wicket and be there. Being there is more important because I know if I take more balls initially I can easily cover up in the end.”It was the 113-run fourth-wicket partnership between Harmanpreet and Deol that enabled them to score 121 in the last ten overs against England.”After the partnership with Harleen, we got the rhythm we wanted and I just backed myself after that,” she said. “We knew even if we scored 300, it could be chaseable given England’s batting line-up. That’s why we were looking for maximum runs in the last five-six overs.”Whoever was coming in to bat with me, I was giving them the message that if they could find boundaries, fine, otherwise keep rotating the strike. Scoring more than 300 was very important for us.”At the end of it all, Harmanpreet ensured that she – and the entire team – could afford more than just a wry smile as they head to Lord’s for the series finale with an aim to give veteran fast bowler Jhulan Goswami a fitting farewell.

“We knew West Indies possessed some of the best T20 players,” former coach says on how they went about their business ten years ago

Interview by Danyal Rasool16-Oct-2022You took over what is now seen as a golden generation in West Indies’ T20 cricket. Was that obvious to you at the time?
We had to recognise that we had probably the best T20 players in the world, even if they were individuals. Then we had to try to find a way to get them to play together to be successful. And between myself and Daren Sammy [then-captain], we managed to do that.I had started in 2010 with the West Indies, and very early in 2010 we had a [T20] World Cup in the Caribbean where we got to the quarter-finals [Super Eights]. But when you look at what West Indian players were doing in franchise tournaments around the world, we knew West Indies possessed some of the best T20 players in the world. The greatest challenge for West Indies was always whether we could come together and play as a team; and that was our greatest success as well.Can you talk about the tactics for that tournament, especially around spin in the powerplay?
We looked at the players we had, and right from the outset we had this strategy where we decided that when we’re playing against western teams like England, Australia or South Africa, we were going to go spin-heavy. But we felt like the Asian teams would be able to [play] spin very well. Against them, we were going to use the likes of Fidel Edwards’ extra pace.Samuel Badree didn’t start the tournament, but once he got into team and bowled up front even on a bad day, he would go for [only] 28 runs. We knew he bowled very accurately upfront, spun it in, and skidded it into the pads. So we put him to bowl at the top of the order once he got into the team in every situation. So whether he gets a wicket or not, he can take four overs out of a game for under 30 runs at the front part of the game. That was a massive plus for us.Then we also had Sunil Narine, who at the time was probably along with Badree the best spinner in the world. So we had eight overs taken care of which we knew were not going to go for many runs. And then we just fit them around some other guys. Chris Gayle bowled, as did Marlon Samuels. We needed to put those guys in the best position and the best places in the team to be successful.How did you get the best out of Samuels, who hit 78 in the final?
When you look at what Marlon’s done in World Cups, you can understand the personality. He’s been Man of the Match in two [T20] World Cup finals. We lost in the semi-final to Sri Lanka in the 2014 [T20] World Cup when the game was rained out. But Marlon was in at the time when the rain came. We strongly believe Marlon would have found a way to get West Indies over the line because that’s what he thrives on; he thrives on being the man.”If you’re the opposition’s best player, he wants to go toe to toe with you” – Gibson praised Marlon Samuels, who won West Indies T20 World Cup finals in 2012 and 2016•Getty ImagesWhen we played in 2012, we had long conversations and team meetings about Lasith Malinga. Marlon would be the one person who would say, “If you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best”. That was always his attitude. The innings he played against Malinga in that game was absolutely outstanding. Just this signifies him as a person.If you’re the opposition’s best player, he wants to go toe to toe with you because he wants to prove that he is also the best player in our team. He’s the sort of character you just have to give free rein [to] because he’s capable of changing the game, and he wants to be a game changer – especially in those big moments.Is he someone who might lack motivation if the stage isn’t big enough for his liking, and more likely to come to the fore for the bigger occasion?
100%. The bigger the opposition, the more he sticks his chest out and walks with confidence. He’s ready to take on that challenge. In the lead up to that tournament, we played some practice games where there’s probably no point playing them and he didn’t really see any value to them. There’s nothing to get his juices flowing, but then you see what he did against England in 2016 [by hitting 85*] on the grandest stage of all. That’s where he thrives.But squad harmony is important in general. We were very flexible with the team, but we were also very upfront and told the guys what the plans were. If you move a guy from No. 6 and put him in at No. 3, then you need to clue the guy at three in so he doesn’t throw his toys out of the pram. For example, if we had the opportunity to move Andre Russell up for a quick injection, then everyone needs to be on the same page.How did West Indies manage to turn around a horror start in that 2012 World Cup final?
We were under massive pressure. We only got 40 runs in the first ten overs, and Marlon was still in. Sri Lanka beat us in the first round [Super Eights] quite easily, but we had got 140 [129] on a good pitch. But the pitch that we played the final on was not the same pitch, and I said to Sammy, “If we can get up to 140 – if we get the same score we got in the first round – we’ll win the game”.And then the bowlers executed their plan beautifully. The way that Ravi Rampaul got [Tillakaratne] Dilshan out, we had spoken about that ball going a little bit wider of the crease and angling in. One of the other key points in the game was that Sri Lanka might have cruised to the victory, but it started to drizzle a little bit and they realised they were behind the required rate. They tried to really go for it, and that’s when the momentum shifted in our favour.We had the likes of Narine, Sammy and Marlon to bowl overs, and once Sri Lanka lost those key guys, it became insurmountable. Once they lost Mahela and Sanga that was massive for us, and that was perhaps the turning point in the game and what helped us to get the victory.”When West Indies play a tournament in India, it would feel like it’s a home game” – Gibson says of their triumph in 2016•AFPWhen you think of West Indies’ T20 game, you think of the big hitters. But West Indies had bowled Australia and Sri Lanka out in the semi-final and final for 131 and 101, respectively. Did the bowling win that World Cup?
Yeah, perhaps. One of the things we really focused on was helping the players to understand it’s not going to be what we call in the Caribbean a one-man show. It’s not going to be one person winning game after game. It’s going to be a whole team or squad effort. Various people performed at various different times.When the game was on the line, somebody stood up – whether it was in the batting with Marlon, or the way Chris and Kieron Pollard took on the Australian bowlers – or how Badree stood up against them with the ball. Different bowlers stood up at different times, and even Russell, who didn’t really do a great lot in that tournament, made some contributions when the time came.When I look back at that tournament, the greatest satisfaction was how the squad came together to really put in performances when they were needed to get the team over the line and win the T20 World Cup for the first time in our history. That was the first World Cup we won since 1979, so that was obviously massive for the whole nation.Having won in both 2012 and 2016, what is it about Asia that made West Indies so successful in T20 World Cups?
You look at the conditions in the Caribbean – especially the wickets – and some of them are very similar to Asian wickets. West Indies were heavily reliant on spin. In that tournament in 2012, we had the two best spinners in the tournament in Narine and Badree. And in 2016 [by which time Phil Simmons was coach], Badree was still playing. West Indies still had quality spinners that could control the game.But the other fundamental thing is that all the West Indies players are world stars in India. Chris and Bravo, everywhere they go in India [where the T20 World Cup was played in 2016], every venue, the crowd is singing their names even though they’re playing against India. That’s the extent of their popularity there.So when West Indies play a tournament in India, it would feel like it’s a home game to a lot of the West Indian players. They are very comfortable in those conditions nowadays. The guys feed off that, and that gives them an advantage when they walk onto cricket fields all over India.West Indies got most of those stars back together for the 2021 World Cup, but it didn’t quite work out. Why do you think that was?
T20 cricket is so fast-moving. You have to decide how you’re going to win games. T20 games are also won in the field. If your squad is ageing, then that will catch up with you. That squad was an ageing squad. And while experience matters, the game changes very quickly, and you have to be able to keep moving your squad along with the game.Gibson backs West Indies in 2022: “In people like Nicholas Pooran and Jason Holder, we have world-class players”•IDI via Getty ImagesWest Indies were once dominant in Tests and ODIs, and now that’s no longer the case. They were also dominant in T20Is in the last decade, and now that’s no longer the case. Is there a worry this decline could also be long-term?
No, I don’t think so. I think what they did in recent World Cups can be done again. West Indies needed personnel changes – which have obviously happened – but then perhaps the strategy also needs to change. They need to look at whether they are getting the best out of the players they have, because in people like Nicholas Pooran and Jason Holder, we have world-class players.I feel like West Indies is at that stage at the moment where they need to relook the strategy that they’re using with the personnel that they have right now. I still feel like they have fantastic T20 players who can be world-class. And when it comes to T20 World Cups, you can never discount West Indies – I don’t believe so.Shimron Hetmyer was axed from this year’s T20 World Cup squad for indiscipline. So was it challenging for you too to manage West Indies, and how difficult is it to keep international players happy in the age of T20s?
The way things are now in T20 cricket around the world right now is tricky. Not just for West Indies, but most sports where if a guy is playing in all the T20 tournaments around the world, he’s making far more money than your home board can pay him. You have to manage that very carefully. You have to see the person’s value to you and how that person can help you win.So you have to be able to be flexible to let that person go and play certain tournaments, to make their money, and to give them the comfort of providing for their family. Hopefully that person then understands that when they come back to you, they’re committed to what you’re trying to do. That’s always been the balance before for West Indies to strike.It’s always been said in the West Indies that people are not committed, but people have to provide for their families. We have to give and take in that situation so that we can get the best for each other. And ultimately when the person walks on to the field for West Indies and their mind is in the right place, they will give their all for West Indies. That’s the balancing act you have to have not just in the West Indies, but all over the world.According to you, what sort of shape are West Indies in for this World Cup?
They’ve got world-class players. Hopefully they can find a way to come together as a group and understand how each person needs to play their part. I feel like they’ve got a great chance. Like I said, you can you can never discount West Indies.

An excerpt from a new book on the rise of women’s cricket in Pakistan chronicles the side’s first appearance at a Women’s World Cup

Aayush Puthran25-Aug-2022Unveiling Jazbaa”Pakistan have won the World Cup just by turning up here.”It was a bizarre announcement by Brijmohan Lall Munjal, the founder of Hero MotoCorp – principal sponsors of the 1997 World Cup – while welcoming the neighbouring country during the tournament’s opening ceremony in New Delhi. For a team which had only just entered the world of international cricket and had the most unpromising of results, the description bemused many. But those who were aware of what had transpired en route to their arrival in India’s capital weren’t surprised. Shaiza Khan, the Pakistan women’s captain, and her team had, despite everything, escaped Pakistan after being put on the Exit Control List – a tool used by the government to restrict criminals charged with grave crimes.Shaiza’s team may have returned from their first cricket tour with massive defeats, but their act of touring abroad and playing cricket under the banner of Pakistan had gained them a great deal of media coverage. It flustered the two groups in Lahore – headed by Tahira Hameed and Shirin Javed, respectively – who had aspired to achieve what Shaiza eventually did by taking her team for an international tour to New Zealand in a relatively short span of time. The factions, who had fought each other over two decades for the title of the PWCA, had now turned their sights on Shaiza, giving the Lahore vs Karachi tussle in Pakistani cricket a different turn.Together, the three groups could have mustered ample financial and political clout to advance women’s cricket in Pakistan. Instead, it turned into a battle of egos, with all three using their respective resources against each other.Related

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“In Lahore, it was only a specific class of women who played cricket,” Afia Salam, the journalist, notes. “Shaiza and Sharmeen weren’t playing with their own class of women in Karachi. They were playing with women who didn’t have the opportunities elsewhere, who wouldn’t have been able to play cricket on their own. That’s the difference.”With Shirin Javed having family links to influential people in the PCB, many resources from the Pakistan board were not forthcoming for the PWCCA. As a result, the latter was unable to gain easy access to established coaches. Even those who supported them in spirit refused to help them in an official capacity due to the fear of missing out on opportunities which would come along with the PCB.One of the solutions Shaiza came up with was to look outside Pakistan. Having witnessed first-hand the quality of cricket being played by the women in Australia and New Zealand, she was convinced that a female coach from one of these two countries would be invaluable for the team. So they called the Australian Cricket Board.
Jodie Davis, a 30-year-old Canberra cricketer, who had captained her club side against the touring Pakistan team earlier in the year, was approached for the role by the Australian Sports Commission in July 1997. Davis had coaching experience with the Australian Institute of Sport, and it had been nearly a decade since she had played for the country. It was an enticing offer to make the step up to coach a national team. “I agreed straightaway without understanding what I was getting into,” she says.

“There were times when we would book training sessions and the PWCA would turn up instead, and there would be a confrontation. At one point, they even tried to steal our uniforms”Jodie Davis, Pakistan women’s coach at the 1997 World Cup

It didn’t take much time for her to realise that Australia and Pakistan were not just geographically far apart but culturally distant as well. It had taken her three months from giving her verbal agreement to landing in Pakistan, largely due to the financial constraints. Barring her airfare, food and accommodation, there weren’t any financial perks to the job. “They wanted me to come over immediately. That was something I couldn’t do because there was no pay involved and I had a job here, which was paying for the house,” she explains.However, she began her preparation for the new assignment long before she received any payment, sending day-to-day plans for each week. She prepared cards, laminated them and sent photographs to help the players understand her drills and training methods. The routine was structured – start easy and get harder. Since at that time she was also serving as batting coach for her housemate, Australia cricketer Bronwyn Calver, she knew that the challenge with the Pakistan team was going to be different. “The programme that I sent over was basic. There was no point trying to jump down the track and getting them to prepare similarly to the Australians.”When she eventually arrived in Pakistan, in October 1997, just over two months before the World Cup, she came with a bag full of cricketing goods donated by the Australian team. Christina Matthews, the Australia wicketkeeper, provided the slip-catch cradle, while others chipped in with balls and other training gear.Davis was serious about cricket and so were the Khan sisters, who picked her up at the airport and drove straight to the training ground at the army ground barracks in Lahore. On a flat piece of land, with no grass or nets, Jodie couldn’t spot a cricket field. But with most grounds either not available for the team to use or with their prices quadrupled to discourage them, it was the only place where they could practise.From the nearly 40 girls who assembled, Jodie’s first task was to play selector and identify the best squad for the World Cup. Which was a struggle, to say the least. Several players had turned up in traditional outfits and sandals for practice. “It turned out, they hadn’t even been training before I arrived,” she notes in disappointment. “I found my programme in the corner of the lounge room. They hadn’t even opened it.”The welcome wasn’t what she had expected, but it offered her a foretaste of the more dramatic events that were to follow. It also gave her an idea of why training for the World Cup wasn’t the only challenge they were up against. During a selection trial that the PWCCA had planned to organise at Kinnaird College, members of the PWCA got into a physical altercation with them.”There was some pushing and shoving, and stuff was thrown at us from the outside,” Jodie recalls. “I was taller and more imposing than most of the players, so Sharmeen and I tended to be the muscle when these sorts of events occurred. Both groups were quite fiery.”With the possibility of playing a World Cup in sight, the battle to hold the rights to the name of Pakistan women’s cricket team stepped up a level between the groups from Karachi and Lahore. The two groups from Lahore, who were already fighting over the title of PWCA, now had to contest another rival in the form of Shaiza in Karachi. With the aid of the PCB, the PWCA started to rope in sponsors and announced in the media that the team assembled by them would represent Pakistan at the World Cup.Captains of all 11 teams line up before the World Cup•Courtesy of Kiran Baluch”There were times when we would book training sessions and they would turn up there instead,” Jodie reveals. “There would be a confrontation. At one point the PWCA even tried to steal our uniforms. Shaiza was paranoid that they were spying or stealing or trying to undermine the team.”The PWCA were constantly emailing the IWCC to say they were the official team and wanted details of the World Cup travel and team arrangements. The poor World Cup organisers were very confused, and Shaiza spent lots of time trying to ensure the PWCA didn’t succeed. The PWCA had photos of their “team” and boasted in the media that they were going to the World Cup.”The PWCA hadn’t just boasted, they had prepared a team, named a squad and booked their tickets for India. More importantly, they had even got hold of the names of those in the squad that Shaiza was going to take to the World Cup and resorted to despicably underhanded tactics to prevent them leaving the country.Three days before Shaiza and her team were to leave Lahore for New Delhi for the tournament, she was informed by people close to her at the airport that the members of her team had been put on an Exit Control List. However, poor governmental administration meant the list had only reached the airport in Lahore. Shaiza was certain that an escape route from Karachi was still possible. Fearing that the visas from the Indian High Commission office in Islamabad wouldn’t reach them in time, she left for the national capital while the rest of the team made a quick dash to Karachi.Davis, though, didn’t have permission to travel to Karachi. Following the murder of two US consular officials there in 1995 – communications technician Gary Durrell and secretary Jackie Van Landingham, who were killed in their car by unidentified gunmen – the city was identified as unsafe by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. “I was a bit nervous about that,” she explains, but left with no option, she joined the team.”In Karachi, since it was also the weekend, we knew that they wouldn’t be able to get us on Exit Control,” Kiran Baluch, the vice-captain, recalls. But then another obstacle confronted them. When they reached Karachi airport and tried to book their flights, they discovered that the only available one leaving for India was a small aircraft, which had room for just 33 passengers running at full capacity.Sharmeen, Kiran and Maliha Hussain began another mad dash – to the control tower, to the head office of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), and back to the airport, using the World Cup invitation from India in a desperate plea with PIA to replace the aircraft. “They eventually changed to a bigger plane and issued us tickets,” says Kiran. “Once we were on board, the captain announced that we were going for the World Cup and everyone on the flight cheered for us and wished us well.”As they soon found out, though, they weren’t the only ones to reach India. Tahira Hameed had turned up with Khawaja Parvez Masood, a cricket enthusiast who worked in the administrative department of Aitchinson College. So did the PWCA’s Shirin Javed, Azra Parveen and Bushra Aitzaz. All trying to make a case for being the rightful representatives of Team Pakistan.Brijmohan Lall Munjal was flanked on the dais by Anuradha Dutta, secretary of the Women’s Cricket Association of India, when all 11 participating teams lined up in symmetrical rows for the inauguration of the tournament. Since the PWCCA was the only body affiliated with the International Women’s Cricket Council, the governing body for the women’s sport at the time, Shaiza’s team stood in the row reserved for Pakistan, dressed in green blazers and white shirts.

“Once we were on board the plane, the captain announced that we were going for the World Cup and everyone on the flight cheered for us and wished us well”Kiran Baluch, Pakistan vice-captain at the 1997 tournament

It was the first time the cricketing world, outside of Australia and New Zealand, had caught a glimpse of the Pakistan team.Chander Shekhar Luthra, a journalist with , who covered the team extensively during the tournament, recalls, “We didn’t know what the Pakistan women’s team would be like. We assumed they would be coming from orthodox families, some of them possibly even wearing burkhas. We were so wrong. They were well spoken, well exposed, liberal and knowledgeable women. Their lifestyles were ahead of their time. Beyond their lives and cricket, we even ended up discussing the works of Salman Rushdie.”Nooshin Al Khadeer, who played for the Karnataka state side against the team as a 14-year-old in the warm-up match before the World Cup, was awestruck when she came across Shaiza during a dinner party at the Capitol Hotel in Bangalore. “That was the first time I had seen a woman smoke. When all the players were introduced to the team, we learned that she was the captain of Pakistan. It was quite fascinating, I thought she was pretty cool.”Purnima Rao, who played for India in that World Cup, and was equally ignorant about the Pakistan women’s backgrounds, added, “They looked extremely confident.” That confidence was palpable to her because Shaiza genuinely assumed the team was good enough to make a mark, if not to beat a couple of teams and qualify for the knockouts.Pakistan were scheduled in Group A, alongside Australia, England, South Africa, Denmark and Ireland – of whom the top four would qualify. She assumed her team had enough skill to outdo Denmark, and possibly give a tough fight to Ireland and South Africa. Her optimism wasn’t quite in sync with that of her coach, though.”Shaiza had probably talked it up,” Davis believes. “When she was speaking to the media, her father, and the PCB, she said, ‘We’ll win games, and our aim is to make the quarter-finals.’ Her expectations were high and she voiced it.”A harsh reality check came before the tournament opener, when they lost a practice match against Karnataka in Mandya, which was attended by a crowd of almost 27,000. Pakistan were humbled by the state side on a matting pitch. “It was all too foreign for them,” Davis notes. There wasn’t a lot of quality at her disposal. Kiran and Shaiza had the technique to stay [at the crease], and Sharmeen was a powerful hitter. Maliha Hussain could contribute too – with both bat and ball. But that’s all there was in the batting department. Sharmeen was the chief medium-pacer, while Shaiza and Kiran provided spin options. Nazia Nazir and Sadia Bano were the other players who, in Davis’ words, “could bowl on the pitch”.She went on to add, “Nazia wasn’t bad, Sadia wasn’t too good.” Most of the others were just making up the numbers. Sixteen-year-old Asma Farzand was handling wicketkeeping duties, since she had the strongest legs and most coordinated movements and wasn’t one of the seven bowling options in the team. Their limitations were soon exposed.Barbara Daniels on her way to 142 not out. England made 376, but Pakistan also registered their highest total of the tournament against them, 146•Craig Prentiss/Allsport/Getty ImagesTheir campaign began against Denmark, the team against whom Pakistan believed they had their best chance of winning. However, when they were put in to bat, they were rolled for 65 after little more than two hours of play. Shaiza, who had walked out to bat at the fall of the second wicket, remained unbeaten but on only 11, as the last six batters were dismissed without scoring. Denmark’s attack was largely filled with medium-pacers. The Pakistan batters had to make the pace for their shots. Past the top four, there weren’t many who could do that. Even as the new-ball pair were played out safely, Susanne Nielsen and Janni Jonsson combined to pick up seven wickets. To add to Pakistan’s woes, Sharmeen, Nazia and Asma were run-out.Denmark took nearly as much time to chase down the small total but lost just two wickets in the process, both picked up by Kiran. Shaiza conceded only 18 runs from her ten-over spell, nine of which were wides, making up the majority of the 14 wides bowled in the innings. The defeat might have made a few holes in Shaiza’s inflated hopes but it gave a more realistic idea of where the team stood. Six players from her side were making their debuts, while there were no international newcomers for Denmark. Regardless of the fact that Denmark were a low-ranked team, they had been a part of international cricket since 1989.After their tame surrender against the weakest opposition, Pakistan stood no chance against the next opponent: England, the defending champions, the favourites, and the joint powerhouse of women’s cricket. With only a day’s break between the two games, the players had to travel three hours to Bangalore before catching a flight to Hyderabad and then taking an eight-hour bus ride to Vijayawada. It was already a hectic travel day, which was only made worse by an eight-hour delay to the flight. Having landed late at night, the players had sleep to catch up on, but also a near 300-kilometre bus ride before they reached their destination. To make matters worse, the driver tried to make up time by speeding on the rough roads, and the journey was so hair-raising that few managed to rest. Not surprisingly, even the view of the lush, picturesque Indira Gandhi Stadium framed by rolling hills didn’t do much to stimulate them the next day.That they were not match-prepared was ultimately immaterial as the contest was always going to be heavily one-sided. One of the Pakistan players overheard the English cricketers telling their bus driver to arrive at lunchtime, so confident were they that the contest would be wrapped up by then. It was probably a fair assessment, but it riled the Pakistan team and when Shaiza won the toss, she elected to field.The English batters thrived against Pakistan’s inexperienced bowling attack. Janette Brittin and Barbara Daniels scored centuries, sharing a 203-run stand for the second wicket as England amassed 376 for 2. Fatigue from the hectic travel and low fitness levels meant that several Pakistan players suffered injuries in the course of their 50-over stay on the field. It got so bad that they eventually ran out of substitutes and Davis had to take the field.

“It doesn’t matter what happens to these girls for the rest of their lives, they have all worn the Pakistan cap, and have memories of playing cricket against the likes of Belinda Clark and Cathryn Fitzpatrick. You can’t take these things away from them”Jodie Davis

Even though victory was impossible, they did achieve one objective – England were kept in the game beyond lunch. Sharmeen and Maliha, who had bowled 19 overs between them earlier in the day, put up strong resistance with the bat, stitching together a slow 67-run stand. At one point Sharmeen even tonked Melissa Reynard and Karen Smithies for three sixes. Those two batters fell in quick succession to Reynard, but Kiran and Shaiza continued the defiance. Pakistan managed to score 146, losing by 230 runs. But more importantly, they had shown the steel to bat out their entire quota of overs.”That game was our highlight of the World Cup,” Jodie admits. “For a team that’s out on the field after only three or four hours of sleep, having lost to Denmark and then conceding 376 runs, running around… to bat out 50 overs and lose only three wickets against a team like England was quite an achievement. On top of that, we hit their fast bowlers for sixes. That was the pinnacle.”The confidence gained from that showing wouldn’t last long, though, as two days later in Hyderabad they came up against the other tournament favourites, Australia. Shaiza had the luck of the toss again. However, this time, she chose to bat. Three of the top four batters registered ducks. Sharmeen, who was the only one to get off the mark, made one run. Kiran Ahtazaz, who was making her debut, was the only player to get into double digits, top-scoring with an unbeaten 11. Pakistan folded for 27 in less than 14 overs. Australia chased down the total in 37 balls, losing only Zoe Goss in the process, run-out for a duck.With ample time remaining after the game, the Pakistan players took advantage of the net facilities available at the stadium to train. Any access to quality net training was gold dust, especially since they needed to beat South Africa in their next encounter to keep any hopes alive of securing a place in the quarter-finals. With a day’s rest, they headed off on another long journey to Baroda, more than 1000 kilometres away in the western part of India.The extra practice didn’t help much. Pakistan produced a more disciplined bowling performance, reducing South Africa to 100 for 4 at one stage, but a counterattacking 63-ball 74 not out by Ally Kuylaars lower down the order propelled South Africa to 258 for 7, a total way beyond what Pakistan had managed till then. Much of South Africa’s score was also helped by a generous offering of wide deliveries – 46 in total, with all six bowlers contributing to it.However, Sharmeen and Maliha put on an 84-run stand for the opening wicket, helping Pakistan to a strong start. While the latter had crawled to 16 in 76 balls, Sharmeen had blazed away to 48. Once the duo was separated, the rest of the order crumbled. The remaining nine batters added only seven runs as Pakistan folded for 109.The defeat dashed their hopes of going any further in the tournament, but given all the promises Shaiza had made in Pakistan, a victory against Ireland was much needed when they headed north to the wintry climes of Gurgaon’s Karnail Singh Stadium for their last match of the competition.The desire to win, however, struggled to fuel their energy levels. They were a tired bunch by then. “We had 16 flights in 22 days,” says Davis. “A lot of these girls had never been away from home, never flown. They were missing their families. They were carrying sores, niggles and injuries. They weren’t used to playing every day, and we were training every day. There was no recovery facility. We didn’t have a physio or a masseur. They weren’t used to exercise or injuries. Against England, they were on the field as they scored 360. That’s a long time chasing the ball. They didn’t have any previous experience of that sort of pain, and it was difficult to work out whether some of them had a serious injury or were just experiencing extreme muscle soreness.”Polaris Publishing LtdIreland were equally determined to secure a crucial victory against what was, by then, their easiest opposition, to qualify for the quarter-finals ahead of Denmark. Put in to bat, skipper Miriam Grealey scored a half-century, and Catherine O’Neill and Clare O’Leary made handy contributions, scoring 45 and 48 not out respectively, as Ireland posted 242 for 7. Barring Maliha, who batted for nearly an hour and a half for a 69-ball 11, none of the Pakistan batters provided resistance. O’Neill returned figures of 4 for 10 to cap an excellent all-round display, and Ireland won by 182 runs.”To go home with no wins was disappointing,” the Pakistan coach admits. “If they had played against the other teams the way they played against England, then we would’ve had a chance. But it didn’t happen.”Shaiza, Sharmeen, Kiran, Maliha and Meher [Minwala] stayed in India till the end of the tournament, while the rest of the players flew back home after the Ireland match. In a meeting between the three Pakistani groups and the IWCC on 26 December, it was noted that since Shaiza’s group had an affiliation with the international body, only it could represent Pakistan going forward. Davis’ tenure with the team came to an end and she tagged along with the Australian side through the Christmas period before flying home with them.”The Pakistan team looked, for all practical purposes, like a real cricket team,” Davis says with hindsight. “They had the whites, the cricket gear, even though it was all borrowed from Shaiza and Sharmeen. To get anywhere close to looking like a cricket team was where it started for them. Five or six girls, who were pulled out of the countryside, had to get permission from their fathers to play. The parents thought that there was no point in sending their daughters to play cricket. For those girls, getting trips in the country, flying overseas and staying in hotels – they would’ve never experienced that in their lives before. Every week that we would train, more girls kept turning up, wanting to train with us, wanting to be a part of the team, right up to until when we left for the World Cup. There were proud fathers bringing them along, wanting them to play for Pakistan.”For the girls who had a bit more life experience, that World Cup was a highlight of their cricket career. But for those other girls, those who would’ve otherwise only married and had kids, to travel to India and play for their country, it probably changed their lives. It was more than just cricket. It doesn’t matter what happens to them for the rest of their lives, they have all worn the Pakistan cap, the uniforms, and have memories of playing cricket against the likes of Belinda Clark and Cathryn Fitzpatrick. You can’t take these things away from them. Pakistan now have a very competitive team, good athletes, and more players have come in as the game has progressed. The class of 1997 laid it out for them.”If they’d waited for 11 good players to start a team, they would have never got there. They just had to get it going and it all started with two sisters.”

By making a difference on the cricket field this allrounder has already ticked off a dream, but her journey is only just starting

S Sudarshanan20-Jan-2023India were 69 for 5 in the 12th over. Four out of the top five batters had fallen for single-digit scores. On a sluggish surface, in hot and humid conditions, runs were hard to come by. And in walked allrounder Amanjot Kaur, on debut, joining the seasoned Deepti Sharma in the middle.Amanjot takes fondly to challenges. Having started playing domestic cricket for Punjab in 2017-18, she switched to Chandigarh for a couple of seasons from 2019-20 in search of more game time. In each of her two seasons there, she was among the runs even while captaining Chandigarh and chipping in with the ball. She was assured of a spot in the XI and was showing off her wares.Related

Amanjot, Deepti star as India begin tri-series with a win

But she wanted more. And so, in a bid to play more competitive cricket, she switched back to Punjab in 2022-23 where she picked the brains of India wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia. She scored 192 runs in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, the most for Punjab, at a strike rate in excess of 100 and then picked up eight wickets – only behind Harleen Deol’s nine – for North Zone in the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal T20 competition.A young seam-bowling allrounder, performing consistently, is hard to ignore in the Indian circuit and Amanjot received a maiden India call-up for this tri-series in South Africa ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup. It was significant given Pooja Vastrakar, India’s preferred allrounder, was still returning to full fitness following an injury that kept her out of the home series against Australia last month.And so, in her first international game, Amanjot was tasked with preventing India from getting bowled out cheaply. Understandably, she took her time to get the measure of it all and was on 7 off 13 balls at one stage. She had missed taking toll on a free hit, but she seemed unfazed. She bided her time, and then cashed in.Seamer Ayabonga Khaka was greeted in her third over with two marvelously timed cover drives. On both occasions, Khaka fed Amanjot full balls in her favoured area – outside off – for her to find the gap through the ring there. She then chipped one over fast bowler Marizanne Kapp’s head and such was the timing that it raced down the ground. She gave Khaka more special treatment in the penultimate over of the innings, hitting her for three fours.In all, Amanjot scored 22 off the ten balls she faced off Khaka and took ten of five off Kapp. She finished unbeaten on 41 off 30 balls, the second highest score in women’s cricket for India by a T20I debutant.Interacting with keeper Taniya Bhatia in the Punjab set-up helped Amanjot Kaur’s development•Getty Images”[Moving to Chandigarh] was a turning point as I gained knowledge and maturity as a batter and got the limelight,” Amanjot said after becoming only the third India women’s player to win a Player of the Match award on T20I debut. “Then I moved back to Punjab again and I wanted to take that step because I wanted to play more competitive cricket, play under seniors. There was Taniya and from her I learnt about how it is to be at the higher level and how the competition at the highest level is.”Amanjot added 76 runs for the sixth wicket with Deepti – the fourth-best in women’s T20Is – and helped India amass 44 off the last four overs. That meant India inched close to 150 and that was beyond South Africa on a surface that aided spin.”[Deepti] said I should not try to hit the ball too hard,” Amanjot said. “[The conversation was about] first to try for singles and then the boundaries will keep coming once we are set. She asked me to rein in my excitement since it was my debut and told me to stay calm and build a partnership so that the team can reach a respectable position.”Amanjot started training as a 17-year-old under coach Nagesh Gupta, primarily as a bowler. Her father enrolled her in the academy but thought her craze for cricket would fizzle out. She was set on doing something noteworthy for India in cricket though, and, seeing her dedication, her father, who was a woodwork contractor and carpenter, made some changes of his own to help her along. He quit his woodwork job and stuck to carpentry work in locations near their home so that he could drop Amanjot at training and pick her up again.”The travelling [between home and academy] was three and a half to four hours and he played a big role in managing that in 2016-17 when I had started,” Amanjot explained. “Earlier he used to undertake longer work, and used to stay at the [client’s] place and be away from home sometimes. But to pick and drop me from the academy, he left that.”Having made a stellar first impression in India’s blue, Amanjot knows her journey has only just started. But, as always, she’s up for the challenge.

Also, the Christchurch thriller was only the second instance of a team reaching their target on the final ball of a Test match

Sampath Bandarupalli13-Mar-20230 – Balls remaining when New Zealand reached their target against Sri Lanka in Christchurch. This was only the second instance of a team reaching their target on the final ball of a Test match. England completed their chase of 128 against South Africa in Durban in 1948 on the last possible ball of the Test. England needed eight runs to win in the final over (eight-ball overs were in effect), which they achieved with a leg bye on the last ball.