BAN vs AUS | Dan Christian pummels Shakib Al Hasan for five sixes in an over

KL Rahul learns 'control' from past failures, willing to 'challenge' himself with any role

KL Rahul was facing a torrid time with the bat in Test cricket and it compelled the Indian team management to drop him for the side. He had scored a brilliant century against England at the Oval, but it could serve no purpose other than to showcase his capabilities as a batsman. He was dropped from the side midway through the last tour of Australia in 2018-19 and could make a comeback only after Mayank Agarwal was concussed in the nets. But now, having made a stellar comeback with the bat in Test cricket, Rahul has said that the time away from the action and repetitive failures helped him learn how to “control’ the urge to explore all the shots in his arsenal. Speaking of the key to success in the longest format and what actually worked for him, Rahul pointed out that batsmen must be willing to “hold back” some of their shots to fight it out in tough conditions. "I used to have a lot of thoughts in my mind. I felt I could play two or three different shots for every given ball in red-ball cricket, so that was something I realised, I had to learn to control,” Rahul said in a press interaction after the end of the third day’s play in Nottingham. “Sometimes when the going gets tough or the wickets are challenging, playing against good bowlers when the ball is swinging, you have to hold back some of the shots, so those are the things, I tried to work on, or those were the learnings from when I was failing in Test cricket.” He was delighted to be able to “go out there and show a lot of discipline” with the bat against the bowling attack comprising of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson and Sam Curran. "I haven't got to play a lot of red-ball cricket but sitting outside, watching the games and watching batsmen score runs was good enough for me. I have been playing cricket, so the mental bit, like I said, in any format is it important that shot selection is spot on. I am happy that today I could go out there and show a lot of discipline, and get my team a good start and then put us in a good position." The wicket at Trent Bridge has had enough for pace bowlers through all phases of the game, irrespective of the state of the ball but Rahul refused to rate the pitch as “unplayable”. Nevertheless,, he lamented the challenges of playing Anderson and Broad on a “good wicket”. "It was a good wicket, I won't say it was unplayable, or anything, but having to play against the likes of Anderson, Broad in these conditions, is no batsman's dream, but I always wanted to," the India opener said. Rahul was reminded that his return to the playing XI was only a result of injury to Mayank Agarwal and that he could well be shifted to the middle order in case the team management decides to go in with Agarwal in the second Test. A passionate Rahul downplayed those talks and pointed out his willingness to “challenge” himself by committing to fulfil many roles he has been asked to perform for the Indian side in the past. "Look, if anything in the last two years I have learnt is that you need to be ready to do anything, I have been asked to do different roles, a lot of times and I quite enjoy doing it, so this was another opportunity for me to go out there and challenge myself," he said. Rahul could not score a century but his 84 ensured India walked away with a first-innings lead after the failure of the middle order to take control of the game situation. India were bowled out for 278 and England conceded a big lead of 95 runs. They will need the help of weather gods to turn the tide in the ongoing Test.

Restrained Rahul resurrects Test career from brink, but hold off your horses for now

In mid of one of the many rain breaks on the second day of the Test, the series’ broadcaster Sony Network ran a split-screen to compare the batting stance of KL Rahul in the 2018 tour of England to the one in the ongoing first Test match. Bucking the trend of batsmen showing different stances and movement in the batting crease in the frame which shows their current and successful time at the crease, there were no visible changes in Rahul’s stance. His coach also reiterated the point that he did not make a lot of changes to his technique following a prolonged snub from India’s Test playing XI. But, did he really not make any changes to his batting from his last stint with India at the top of the order to the first innings of the Nottingham Test? No, he did make a massive improvement in his batting, but that changed came in his mind and ways to play the ball albeit it could not be shown on the split-screen. Like all analyses done in hindsight, this piece should also offer a caveat, and hence all of these improvements by Rahul could have worst nothing he would have been unlucky. The English bowling attack is capable of producing unplayable deliveries and he could well have found himself against one of them very early in the innings, and obituaries of his career would have started to be reiterating. But, the decorated bowling attack erred in their line and length of the attack late on the second day with the new ball and it allowed Rahul some breathing space while returning to the longest format of the game. Coming back to the improvement in mind, what did Rahul do differently than he was doing on the last tour of England which was a disaster except for the last innings of the series at the Oval. Rahul was calm at the batting crease and he shed the eagerness to play or push the ball like on the last tour. He was taking his bat way too ahead of his pad and the trio of Anderson, Broad, and Chris Woakes made the best advantage of the gap between bat and his pads. There was no gap this time around as the right-hander was watchful of the balls around the off stump. He played deliveries very late and sometimes so late that it appeared emulating Kane Williamson’s style of leaving and playing the ball. Go back to the last ball of the 59th over bowled by Stuart Broad as England heard a sound and took a review. The replay showed there was daylight between Rahul’s bat and the ball, but what it highlighted was how late he was while playing the ball, and watchful was he while taking off his bat from the line of the delivery just at the last moment. He batted with utmost awareness of where was his off stump and played with mastery of hiding the bat behind his pads after making a forward press. Anderson, in particular, lured him to many fuller balls outside off stump which could have been despatched to the boundary if he was willing to take the bait. However, he showed immense calm and never lost sight of the big picture and let all those half opportunities, fraught with risk go. He played as many as 213 balls with control before finally getting lured into playing a drive off Anderson and walked off dejected. But, did all those leaves outside off stump mean that he completely shut down the door of scoring through the off side. No, he did not do that either and waited ingeniously for his opportunities. He took a particular liking to Sam Curran and defeated him many times in the battle of eagerness. The left armer was desperate to search for the swing and offered him many deliveries in his half, and Rahul despatched all of them to the boundary to keep the runs flowing from his bat. In a way, his 84 did showcase a glimpse of both Kane Williamson when he was leaving the ball just at the late seconds, and Virat Kohli, when he was pouncing on the scoring opportunity when English bowlers offered him half volleys. Rahul’s career was in dire straits and he could have made his way back into the playing XI only in case if the team management would decide to move on from Ajinkya Rahane or some mishaps occurrence in the side. After initially going out of favour by the team management, Rahul’s fortunes dwindled with the emergence of many challengers for the opening slot such as Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal, the man he, fortunately, replaced in this Test match. However, his technique and ability were not lost on the team management and they made a choice of trying him in the middle order, and they were reluctant to use him at the top of the order even when the team suffered the exclusion of Gill on this tour. He was not to play this Test if Mohammed Siraj would not have hit Agarwal in his head and concussed him. But as the opportunity came his way to be back at the top of the order, he ensured to remind the team management and his critics that the Indian batting order is stronger with him in it rather than out of it. He also established why he deserves more chances than others, and that is why it was the right decision by the team management to have him in the mix. After the innings of 84, he has opened the selection pandora box for the team management and they have their task cut out to choose one among him and Agarwal for the second Test. If the team management will follow the past precedents set by Virat Kohli, Agarwal would be back in the team as Ajinkya Rahane once swiftly replaced Karun Nair although the latter had scored a marvellous triple hundred against England. However, Rahane’s had an upper hand because he was always a certain part of the playing XI while none of Agarwal and Rahul would have been the frontrunners in the first place if Gill would have been fit to play. The tour can still go awry for Rahul and the last tour of England 2018 serves good enough proof that he is capable of pulling off some remarkable innings based on his talent. However, he has appeared to be a lot calmer in mind and stronger in restraint to not waste a golden start to the series. He has resurrected his career that appeared to be on the brink of sliding into oblivion, but there are a lot of works remaining to be done if the team management decides to put their weight behind him going forward if he wants to cement his place back in the playing XI.

ENG vs IND | 1st Test: Rain likely to play spoilsport on Day 4

The rain might play a spoilsport on Day 4 of the first Test between India and England in Nottingham. The stumps were taken early on the third day as well due to rain. Earlier, India had taken the first innings lead after scoring 278 in reply to England’s 183. The visitors rode on some fine batting from KL Rahul who notched up 84 during the course and valuable contributions made by the tail. Mohammed Shami chipped in with 13 off 20, Jasprit Bumrah struck 28 off 34 that included three boundaries and a maximum and Mohammed Siraj remained unbeaten at 7 off 8 before the team was bundled out. For England, it was Ollie Robinson and James Anderson who picked up wickets. Robinson bagged a five-wicket haul while Anderson picked up four wickets. Robinson’s wickets included the dismissals of Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shami and Bumrah. With his four-fer, Anderson also became the third highest wicket-taker in Test cricket as he picked up his 620th wicket during the course, surpassing Anil Kumble who has 610 scalps to his name. The home side was 25/0, trailing India by 70 runs when the stumps were called with Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley at the crease.

4th T20I Preview: Series won, Bangladesh to explore depth; Australia to fight for pride

Bangladesh have been on a roll in this bilateral tie against Australia after winning the first three T20Is of the five-match series to take an unassailable 3-0 lead at home. Defending a modest total of 127, the home side etched a win by 10 runs in the third clash to continue dominance in the series. While Bangladesh have shown some mettle in the series, Australia on the other hand have been struggling with form in the T20Is. The Aussie team has suffered defeats in their last five series in the T20 format. The only positive that came for them in the last encounter was Nathan Ellis’ hattrick. Ellis created history after becoming the first bowler to bag a hat trick in T20I debut. The visitors have faced some issues both on and off the field for quite sometime now. While they have missed the services of some key players like Glenn Maxwell and David Warner, their form especially with the bat hasn’t been really great. Barring Mitchell Marsh, no batsman has really gone all guns blazing in the recent past which has eventually resulted in defeat for Australia in yet another series away from home. The visiting team will now be looking for some consolation as they take the field on Saturday in Dhaka in the fourth T20I. Match Details Bangladesh vs Australia, 4th T20I Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur Date & Time: August 7th, 5:30 PM IST and 5:00 PM Local Time Live Streaming: Fancode Pitch Report The pitch might have something on offer for the bowlers and it would get slow as the game progresses. There hasn’t been any high-scoring game until now in the series. So, if you win the toss, bat first. Probable XI Bangladesh: Mohammad Naim Sheikh, Soumya Sarkar / Mosaddek Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah (c), Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mahedi Hasan, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed Australia: Ben McDermott, Matthew Wade (c & wk), Mitchell Marsh, Moises Henriques, Alex Carey, Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Daniel Christian / Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood Fantasy XI Alex Carey, Moises Henriques, Mahmudullah, Ben McDermott, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mitchell Marsh (vc), Afif Hossain, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed