Playing India in India is the ultimate challenge: Daryl Mitchell

The Ashes | Gabba Test, Day 1: Australia's new era begins by flaring up of England's age-old problems

There was a lot of build up pertaining to the new era of Australian cricket with Pat Cummins at the helm of affairs as pace bowling captain while the Joe Root had raised the antcipiation calling the Ashes series the defining phase of his captaincy. Clearly, both the leaders had a different context and meaning to their success in the series but all those of words of new era and legacy defining moments were shut down by the age-old problems of England batting and perpetual brilliance of Australian pace attack. Joe Root had said that England were coming off with an inspiration from India’s win at the Gabba last summer but little did he know that for India to achieve their feat, they put up remarkable fight both with the bat and the ball. His time was clearly not up for it with the bat and if not for the rain-curtailed day, their bowling might and determination would have also come in picture. Starc is back with trademark first over wicket Taking wicket through bowled or LBW with his toecrushers on the very first ball of the game or innings have been the highlight of Mitchell Starc over the years. It was there in the last summer as well but it soon disappeared after the first two Tests. His place was under scrutiny and people advocated Jhye Richardon introduction into the playing XI but only to find complete ignorance from his bowler partner and now the leader. Rory Burns, with all his messed up footwork, played all around a leg stump half volley on the first ball of the game and he committed a cardinal sin of missing a Starc’s swinging delivery. The Aussies were up and running and Starc roared in celebration to possible mute some of the prominent voices present at the Gabba who were calling for his ouster from the side. No mercy from relentless Hazlewood Dawid Malan was promoted at the top of the order based on his success over the last Ashes tour when he scored a phenomenal century at the WACA. However, the pitch and weather conditions were completely different from that WACA surface and he also had to deal with a lot smarter set of bowlers than the Australians were four years back. Hazlewood has been known for bowling in the channel in and around off stump and the script could not have been any different from him on the first day of the Ashes. He was at Malan with his back of a length delivery and the left-hander for his credit, did not look entirely out of place while looking to attack through the off side. However, Hazlewood was eager to offer him more back of a length stuff outside his off stump after realising the fact that he was eager to play a lot of deliveries outside off in search of runs. The bowler won the battle in the end and it did not take too long for the Australia’s accurate man to deliver a big blow to England that forced Joe Root to the crease when the ball was new and there was plenty of movement available. Before this innings, Hazlewood had snaffled England captain on seven occasions and he has been victim of Australia’s set up game in the past as well. He must have been aware of the line of attack Australians but scuh was Hazlewood’s accuracy that eh was helpless. He bowled back of length just at the off stump line and allowed natural variations to take place and Root was quite unsure of his footwork on the front foot or the backfoot and then in the end came the delivery that nipped away off the seam to take the outside edge of his bat and David Warner did not do the sin of dropping Joe Root before he could get set. Just what was Root thinking while deciding to bat first? There are question marks over the technique of your opening batsmen against moving balls. The pitch has been covered for a long time and weather conditions are helpful for swing and seam bowling. You have two very good bowlers to maximise the conditions in Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson, who have played with batsmen in similar conditions back home. And, what you decide to do? Bat first. England have been guilty of playing ahead of their times in the recent past and the trend has not stopped even in this series. Anderson was rested from the game to keep him fresh and prepared for the second Test but did England overlook how tough it gets to stop an Australian side after a big win at Gabba? He doesn’t need to reflect on the captaincy of his predecessors as the las series only would give him enough idea about how important it is to stop Australia at the Gabba. Andrew Staruss and his company won the Ashes in 2010-11 only after they contained the Ricky Ponting and his men in Brisbane. May be, England were worried about batting last on the pitch where a lot of cracks could appear to make their life immensely difficult but if they could bank on Woakes, Robinson and Wood to put Australia on the edge on the first day, their life would not have been much different. Now, England have just 147 runs on the board and are pushed against the wall to have a say in the future course of the game. They need their bowlers to bowl out of their skin to dismiss an Australian batting lineup comprising of David Warner, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne to bring them back in the game.

BAN vs PAK | 2nd Test, Day 5: Tigers sinking every hour, lose two crucial wickets in second session

Bangladesh have no one but themselves to blame for the position they found themselves in the last session of the fifth and last day of the second Test against Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka. In the last session, they need to play out at least 37 overs with only four wickets in hand and they are still training by 66 runs following on in their second innings. The situation could have been better had their batters shown a bit of patience and perseverance. While they were bowled out for 87 in the first innings in reply to Pakistan’s 300-4 declared, but in the second innings, the hopes were still alive when Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim were batting. The two got together when Bangladesh were in all sort of trouble at 25-4 in only the ninth over following on. But the two put up a valiant 73 run stand and were looking to steer the home team to a draw just when Liton’s lapse in concentration resulted in him hitting a half-tracker straight to Fawad Alam at deep mid-wicket. Rahim then got together with Shakib Al Hasan, the top scorer from the first inning and the two senior statesmen of the team put together 49 runs and most importantly played out 19 overs. But once again, rather than the bowling or fielding putting any pressure, it was the batsmen at fault. Shakib ran for a quick single and though Rahim dived to save himself, his bat was lifted in the air even as he crossed the popping crease when bails were removed by wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan. On first look it didn’t look out and even the appeal looked like a formality, the umpire was not interested in going to the third umpire, but Rizwan’s insistence meant that he had to. In replays, it was confirmed to be out and a frustrated Rahim walked out of the stadium on 48 as Teat was called. At the time of writing this, the Tigers were 159-6 with Shaikb and all-rounder Mehidy Hasan at the crease and still 32 overs to be bowled.

Rewarding ground staff, old ritual in Indian cricket

Recently, former India captain and the new head coach Rahul Dravid had rewarded the Green Park Stadium’s ground staff a sum of Rs 35,000 for preparing a sporting pitch after the conclusion of the first Test against New Zealand. Later, the Indian team rewarded Rs 35,000 to the Wankhede Stadium ground staff after the second Test. The instances of the Indian players and the team’s generosity have been there in the past too. Re-calling something of similar sorts, Mahesh who was Eden Gardens’ head groundsman for 25 years had taken care of the pitches at the Bangabandhu Stadium against all odds. “The final-eve witnessed a downpour and when I reached Bangabandhu Stadium early in the morning on the day of the final of ICC Knockout Trophy, the ground resembled a large swimming pool. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials had given up. I asked for some extra buckets and additional manpower to do what looked like an impossible job. The stadium’s drainage wasn’t perfect. Things had to be done manually,” Mahesh, now 70-plus, recalls for The Indian Express. “The secretary of the BCB gave me a hug and tucked a 100-dollar bill in my pocket,” he said. Mahesh and his colleagues have been rewarded by the Indian players after the domestic matches too. “Teams gave us bakshish after domestic matches as well,” he said. Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium curator Pankaj Babu revealed that while the curators supervise the pitch and the ground preparations, it is the ground staff that does the main job. “See, we supervise pitch and ground preparations. But ground staff does the main job. Players know that and hence reward them. This has been happening for long. Sometimes, even foreign teams have done it,” he said.

Selectors not yet ready to take a call on Virat Kohli's ODI captaincy before South Africa tour

Right from the day India were eliminated from the group stage of the T20 World Cup, which was Virat Kohli’s last assignment as the leader of the T20I side, the debate of whether he should be the captain of even the ODI format has picked up the pace. There are ideas supporting full-time captaincy to Rohit Shara of both the white-ball formats while leaving only the Test cricket for Virat Kohli to oversee but the other school of thought contest the idea citing lack of time between now and the next ODI World Cup scheduled to take place in 2023. There is no easy answer to those questions and it seems even the national selectors are finding it tough to reach a conclusion on this contentious issue that has a far-reaching impact on those players and the Indian team. There were reports that Kohli will be stripped of his leadership duties from ODIs and Rohit will be elevated for the role as early as in the series against South Africa starting next month. The selectors, however, are not in hurry and they are looking to bide their time and have a comprehensive discussion with Kohli over his batting and overall feelings over leading the side. “The ODI captaincy is a sensitive issue. There is a school of thought that Rohit Sharma should be given charge of all white-ball cricket after being appointed the T20I captain. But for that, the selectors need to sit with Virat Kohli and know where he stands with his batting. The situation will have to be discussed with Rohit too because he is also seeking clarity on his role,” TOI quoted a BCCI source as saying. If Kohli is relieved of his leadership role, India will be looking towards an uncharted territory of full-fledged split captaincy which has been a popular and successful theme with the Indian side. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli tried to do so for a couple of years before Dhoni left the job for Kohli to have full control over with his ideas and imagination and hence it would be fascinating to see how the trio of Rahul Dravid, Kohli and Rohit Sharma bring about the next phase of transition in Indian cricket.