England appoint Trescothick as batting coach; Jeetan Patel, Jon Lewis to coach spinners, pacers

IND vs ENG: Already battered by spin, England expect another turner in 4th Test

Since the first day of the second Test between India and England when balls started turning viciously off the pitch, along with a chunk of the surface, there has not been any day without talks surrounding the nature of the pitch. Experts opinions are divided but are tilted more towards the point of calling the pitches in the last two games as poor as they argue that the balls started turning way too much too early in the game. If the stern examination of batsmen, especially the Englihsmen was not done enough in the second Test, the addition of Pink Ball in the third Test only deepened the crisis for the batsmen, and this time the effect was seen on both side of the aisle. Although the groundsmen came under the attack from the press and former players, especially from England, any hope of respite for the tourists is unlikely. The sight of a huge challenge looming is not lost on the England camp and they recognise the fact that the pitch in the fourth Test will offer nothing but turn and bounce, and that too as much as it did in the last two Tests. Addressing a virtual press conference on Sunday, wicketkeeper Foakes admitted the tourist camp is expecting the pitch to play a similar role as it did in the last game, and they are in search of ‘ways’ to challenge the hosts in ‘challenging conditions. "I was at training today and from the look of it, I think it'll be pretty similar. I don't think we're concerned. We know what we're going to get and I guess they're pushing their conditions to the extremities. We know it's going to spin considerably from ball one so it's about trying to find a way to play well in those conditions and understand they're going to be challenging,” Foakes said in a virtual press conference. England were battered in the last two games by the Indian spinners on spin-friendly pitches, but there is no short of optimism and enthusiasm in the England camps and they recognise the prospect of ‘awesome achievement’ if they go on to win the final Test of the series. Foakes said that the England side has become richer in terms of playing on surfaces as in the last two Tests and hence are banking on having a positive attitude and clear-headed approach to deal with the full and final challenge of the series. Foakes said that being in a positive frame of mind helps batsmen get out of cluttered mind and they can bring about a change with a different gameplan after gaining experience in the last two games. "Firstly not getting too down ourselves after the last couple of innings. Trying to keep a positive, clear mindset because when you're struggling your judgement can get clouded and things can go badly. It's about trying to keep a clear mind, stick to the gameplans and be slightly more positive at times if the situation dictates, but trying to come up with a gameplan that potentially works on that surface now we've had the experience of what it was like in the last game,” Fokaes added. "We're still in a position to draw in India... we are in with a chance of a pretty awesome achievement if we win this last one. It's going to be difficult knowing the kind of surface we're going to play on but we have just got to be better than we were in the last game." Foakes was brought into the England team after Jos Buttler was sent back home as per the rotation policy by the team management and the gloveman had a two-pronged challenge to face in the second Test. He had to be vigilant and agile behind the stumps while standing up to the stumps against spinners, while with the bat in hand, he had to provide solidity to the lower order batting on pitches he now rates as the hardest ones he has kept wickets on. He also weighed on the options batsmen had on those pitches in terms of putting their wickets on the line in pursuit of runs as the help spinners were extracting turn and bounce suitable for fifth-day pitches from the first ball itself. "From playing on the last two pitches I've never seen turn like that. They almost feel like day-five pitches from ball one and it's understanding we are going to get out at times and it's making peace with a certain way of getting out if it means we can score runs,” Foakes added on the challenge of keeping and batting on pitches at Chepauk and Motera. "The last two games have been the hardest pitches I've kept on. They've been challenging and the last game, I think it was to do with the pink ball, the amount it was skidding on or spun, I'd probably never experienced a wicket like that before. So it was a good challenge to keep on and I guess it was one I enjoyed.” "Any time it's done as much as it has been you're always in the game. It's just about trying to do as solid a job as possible and trying to impact the game by stealing a wicket or a stumping - that's my goal." Foakes had started his Test career against Sri Lanka in 2018 and batted supremely against spinners to score a splendid century on debut. He was later dropped by the England team in a bid to accommodate Jos Buttler who offered a bit more flamboyance and match-winning innings with the bat in Tests. He has looked good with the bat against Indian spinners and also been terrific with the gloves against spinners. However, fate appears to be similar as Buttler will come back to replace him after coming back from the break. But, for Foakes, the focus has always been on the three games he had to contribute towards England’s chances in India, and not on the bigger picture about his own prospects in the England team setup. "The way I've mentally approached the games is it's three more opportunities to play for England and I'll try and do as well as I can," Foakes said. "I'm purely looking at how I can do well in the next game rather than the bigger picture." The fourth and final game of the series will be played at the same venue where the third Test between the sides was played. India will be hopeful of a similar pitch to keep their spinners interested in the game, while England will be looking for different ways of countering spin and bounce off the surface from Indian spinners.

Shahid Afridi's age confusion continues to amaze fans

Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi’s tweet on his birthday has attracted some controversy. Afridi who celebrates his birthday on March 1 thanked fans and family and made a revelation about his age that he has turned 44 in a tweet. “Thank you very much for all the lovely birthday wishes - 44 today! My family and my fans are my biggest assets. Really enjoying my stint with Multan and hope to produce match winning performances for all MS fans,” his tweet read. Now when he has revealed his real age, it does dismantle him from certain records and one of these is being the youngest player to score a hundred in ODI cricket. Afridi scored the then fastest ODI ton after he completed his century in 37 balls against Sri Lanka in Nairobi in 1996. He eventually scored 102 off 40 deliveries before getting out. The right-handed batsman was supposed to be 16 years and 217 days old when he notched up the hundred. But after his own admission about his age now, Afridi would have been 19 years 217 days old when he had scored this century against the Lankan lions. This means that he is not the youngest batsman to score a century in ODI cricket. Infact, Afghanistan's Usman Ghani should now hold this record who was 17 years and 242 days old when he struck 118 in 143 balls against Zimbabwe back in 2014. Afridi’s record of the fastest ODI century was taken over by New Zealand’s Corey Anderson who notched up the 100-run mark in 36 balls against West Indies in 2014. Later, this record was broken by South Africa’s AB de Villiers who scored a completed a hundred in just 31 balls against the Caribbean team in 2015.

He's been the pinnacle of the game for a while: Maxwell on Kohli

Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was snapped by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a sum of Rs. 14.25 Cr during the IPL 2021 mini auctions. RCB’s decision received mixed reactions from the fans and the pundits but the Aussie all-rounder is looking forward to playing under skipper Virat Kohli. "It [RCB stint] is going to be next level. He's been the pinnacle of the game for a while as a multi-format player from Tests all the way to T20s," Maxwell told AAP. "He's been able to adapt his game, dominate for a long period of time and deal with the Indian pressure of being their captain and their best player. I am looking forward to watching him go about his work, not just in games but in training, and hopefully tapping into some of the leadership stuff and try and learn off him," he added. The right-handed all-rounder also talked about the way Kohli supported his decision of taking a break for sometime due to mental health issues in 2019. "He's been a solid backer of my stance. In a way he probably understood a lot of the things that I was going through ... a lot of expectation and pressure, which I'm sure he can relate to," Maxwell said.

Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin achieve career-best ICC Test rankings

The results of the last two Test matches between India and England have impacted the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings massively as the top performers have jumped on the rankings while others have slid down. Top scorer from either side in the last two Tests--Rohit Sharma has jumped to his all-time high position on the ICC Rankings for batsmen in Tests. He has jumped to the eighth position with 742 rating points, which is 20 more than his previous best of 722 points attained in 2019. He had scored a magnificent 161 runs in the first innings of the second Test against England to set up the game for India on a pitch that was offering a lot of assistance to spinners. Rohit has replaced his teammate and India’s number in Tests--Chetehswar Pujara, who unusually has gone two consecutive Tests with a string of low scores on Indian pitches, at the eighth position. Pujara has slid to 10th position on the ICC Rankings that also includes Indian skipper Virat Kohli at the number five position. On the ICC Rankings for bowlers in Tests, spinners from both sides have made significant gains. Man of the match with an 11-wicket haul in the last Test, Axar Patel has leapfrogged 30 positions to reach the 38th position on the rankings table. On the other hand, Ravichandran Ashwin made an inroad into the ranking above him and jumped four places to the third position, only behind Australia’s Pat Cummins and New Zealand’s Neil Wagner. English spinner Jack Leach has not been able to win Tests for his team in the last two games against India, but his own performances have been tremendous. He has jumped three places to breach the list of top-30 bowlers on the ICC Rankings. Meanwhile, the ICC has also notified that the rankings system will be made a weekly-updating system starting in March 2021. According to the weekly system, the men’s rankings table will be updated every Wednesdays at 08h00 GMT for all formats of the game, and all the performances till every Tuesdays will be considered. For the women’s game, the rankings will be updated every Tuesdays at 08h00 GMT and similarly to the men’s rankings, all performances till the previous day will be considered. The ICC said that the first change in the rankings s per the new system will be made on March 2 (Tuesday) for women’s cricket while for men’s cricket, the first change will be on March 3 (Wednesday).