Tom Moody appointed as Sri Lanka's Director of Cricket

How to play spinners on pitches like at Chepauk, Motera? VVS Laxman gives an insight

As the curators have started producing pitches with a lot of turns and bounce for the spinners in the last two Tests against India, the onus have been shifted from bowlers to batsmen to score big. But, the challenge of batting against quality spinners on pitches offering turn has been proven insurmountable for batsmen on either side, more so for the England batsmen who have had tough dealing with the pin-point accuracy of Axar Patel and variations and crafts of Ravichandran Ashwin. Now, one of the finest players against spin bowling, VVS Laxman has explained the different facets of batting against spin, and that how can batsmen score on tough pitches. In an interview with The Observer, Laxman has emphasized the need for good defence, which he says allows them to bat freely instead of getting worried about saving both edges of their bat. He added that a batsman who has trust in his defence will not be restless at the crease and wander out of the crease in search of a ball, whereas he will be able to focus and pick the length of the ball early to play accordingly. “You have to have belief in your defence. If you don’t, your mind is restless, shot selection becomes problematic, decision-making translates into poor footwork, into reaching towards the ball, picking the length wrongly, and that will lead to your dismissal. You will look out of place batting on these surfaces,” Laxman said to the Observer. Batsmen from either side have also been guilty of getting caught in the crease and not putting a long stride out to smother the spin. Laxman, however, believes that a longer stride can also be counterproductive if the length of the stride is too much as it will not allow batsman a leeway to play with the bat in front of the pad, instead, they will have to use both bat and pad and ultimately leading to either the threat of LBW or spooning a catch to fielders positioned very close. “If the stride is too long, the bat is behind the pad and you’re giving a chance for lbw and catch close in. Once you get the stride right and the bodyweight is transferring forward, you will automatically play with soft hands. Even if you’re beaten by the bounce at the last moment, you can adjust. Your bat and hand position should be such that, at the last moment, you can drop your wrists or take your bat up and leave the ball. Once you take a long stride, you’re locked,” Laxman said. “Once you’re comfortable with your defence, you play to save one edge, not both. On a turning track, you always play for the ball that comes in. Your bat should be vertical and you look to play back to the bowler. More often than not you won’t get bowled because you’re covering the line of the delivery,” Laxman added. There remains a lot of talk about batsman playing with the turn or against and also the advantages of the former while in general purists blame batsmen for the latter. However, in Laxman’s views, what matters is the risk to reward ratio and not the conventional wisdom and he emphasized that for a right-handed batsman, hitting a left-arm spinner over is a low-percentage, especially on pitches that offer bounce. Instead, he said, on such pitches, slog sweep works fine as a mishit will go over point, while a well-connected shot will go over midwicket for high-value. “On a turning track, hitting a left-arm spinner over extra cover is not a high percentage, because you don’t know how much it is going to grip and how much it is going to bounce. The risk of a leading edge to point is high. The slog sweep, where you’re covering the bounce, is a smarter option. If you hit hard and connect cleanly, it will go over midwicket. If you edge, it will go over point.” The fourth and final Test of the series between India and England is scheduled to start on March 04 at Motera. According to various media reports, the pitch is not going to be a lot different than the one used in the last game, but the absence of a pink ball will help batsmen after a Test that lasted only two days.

KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy's India debut under cloud

Varun Chakravarthy’s debut for the Indian national team is under doubts once again. After being snubbed for the Australia series Down Under, owing to his shoulder injury that plagues him during fielding, reports suggest that Chakravarthy might be dropped from the T20 series against England. Cricbuzz’s Vijay Tagore has reported that the 29-year-old spinner from Tamil Nadu has not done well in the new fitness standards set by the Indian team. According to the new benchmark, Indian professionals are required to complete a 2 kilometre run under 2 minutes or scored a 17.1 in the Yo-Yo test. The Tamil Nadu spinner broke into the contention for the Indian team on the back of his exemplary showing in the Indian Premier League 2020. He picked up 17 wickets from 13 matches at a strike rate of just above 18. His best showing came against eventual runner-ups Delhi Capitals where he picked up 5 wickets for just 20 runs. Cricbuzz further reported that while Chakravarthy’s throwing improved in his three months at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, his running, went for a toss. Considered a T20 specialist Chakravarthy has not represented his state team in any of the domestic competitions post the resumption of cricket in India.

PSL 6: Winless Quetta’ fight for survival face Islamabad hurdle

Sarfaraz Ahmed might have shown all his emotions on the field. He might have played brilliantly with the bat. But all this has still not been able to get his team to win as bowlers have faltered continuously to let down the skipper. Another thing that has not gone in favour of Sarfaraz is that he hasn’t been able to win even a single toss in the tournament so far. Now that his team face Islamabad United, who faced their first defeat in the PSL in their last game against Peshawar Zalmi, all these things need to fall in place for the Gladiators. While this is going to be their first clash in the PSL this year, over the years, Quetta have dominated the side from the capital. In their last six meetings, the men in purple have defeated the Sherus from Islamabad five times including in their last meeting in PSL 2020. However this year Quetta haven’t looked in their own, giving an opportunity for Islamabad to fight back and improve their records. Quetta in search of sense to put in their bowlers' head Apart from the team batting second winning the game, the other thing that has been consistent in PSL 6 is Quetta bowlers their head in the death overs. The suggestion of changing the bowlers wouldn’t do much good either as almost all the bowlers have had the same fate in the death. Only a calm talk with them by the management alongside the skipper Sarafarz can do some magic. Some calmness needs to be put through Sarafaraz’ head as well. He seems to lose his calm very early in the game and goes all animated disturbing the bowler’s frame of mind. He too needs to calm down and like a good captain, get a plan made in the dressing room and try to execute it on the field instead of haplessly shouting at the troops. Few changes would most likely be seen in the Quetta fold with Usman Shinwari making way for Naseem Shah and Tom Banton making a comeback. Islamabad searching form for skipper Shadab Khan The skipper of United, Shadab Khan really hasn’t found form in this edition, either with the bat or with the ball. Primarily a bowling all-rounder, Shadan has been batting up the order in this season, albeit without much success as he has only scored 11 runs in the last three innings. Bowling wise too he has had only had one wicket in three games so far. Once he is in form, most of the problems that Islamabad has been facing in batting, prominent being nobody being able to bat responsibly after Alex Hales’ departure would most likely be solved. The introduction of Fawad Ahmed and Paul Stirling didn’t work out in the last game and if Gregory regains fitness before this game, he would most likely be back in place of Fawad to add more balance to the batting unit. Islamabad United vs Quetta Gladiators: Match Details Match Number- 12 Date and Time: 01 March 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 07:00 pm PST, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: National Stadium Karachi Broadcast and Live Stream: Sony SIX, Sony LIV Pitch Report The pitch for this game would be the same as used in the Karachi vs Lahore game and thus it might be a bit on the slower side, at least for the first few overs of the first innings. Later on, with dew settling in, the ball would start coming on to the bat nicely and it would soon turn into a graveyard fo the bowlers as the NSK has always been. Weather and Toss Karachi leg of the PSL has been fortunate enough to have ideal weather for playing cricket. The temperatures, even during day games, have generally been in the low thirties and high twenties. There is dew no doubt, but apart from that, with no rain and no heatwave, it has helped viewers enjoying to their fullest. The weather is likely to remain the same in this game as well. As far as Toss is concerned, the skipper winning the toss would do the same that he has been doing for the past 11 games, bowl first. Probable XI Islamabad United Philip Salt (wk), Alex Hales, Paul Stirling, Shadab Khan (c), Faheem Ashraf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Fawad Ahmed/ Lewis Gregory, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jr Quetta Gladiators Faf du Plessis, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c & wk), Tom Banton, Azam Khan, Saim Ayub, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Nawaz, Zahid Mahmood, Dale Steyn, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah Dream XI / Fantasy XI Sarfaraz Ahmed (vc & wk), Asif Ali, Alex Hales (c) Faf du Plessis, Mohammad Nawaz, Ben Cutting, Faheem Ashraf, Lewis Gregory, Zahid Mahmood, Dale Steyn, Hasan Ali

Virat Kohli explains Jasprit Bumrah's leave ahead of final Test match against England

Jasprit Bumrah's request for leave owing to ‘personal reasons’ came as a big surprise to the viewers of the game. Considering he was playing his debut home series in the longest format, the shocker of a request got amplified over social media, given India’s top-ranked pacer was allowed to bowl just six overs in the pink-ball Test. Post India’s 10-wicket victory in the day-night game, the Board of Control for Cricket in India in a release stated that Bumrah was not going to be a part of the fourth Test match squad. "Jasprit Bumrah made a request to BCCI to be released from India’s squad ahead of the fourth Test owing to personal reasons. Accordingly, the fast bowler has been released and he will not be available for selection for the fourth Test," BCCI wrote. Clearing the air around the situation, Virat Kohli in a chat with the official broadcaster shed some light on the lead up to the decision and stated how Bumrah mentioned his workload management in the third Test. “Bumrah said I'm getting workload management while playing the game and Ishi said 'I'm playing my hundredth game and not getting a bowl’,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation. In comparison to Indian spinners’ 68 overs the duo of Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah bowled a combined total of 11 overs in the game. Notably, the pacers were not given a single over in the second innings as the spinners feasted on the English batting line-up who were bundled out for a meagre 81, their lowest score against India. Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel bowled 15 overs each (2nd innings) while Washington Sundar was lucky to bowl four deliveries in the entire game. “Eventually, he (Washington Sundar) was happy that he got three balls in the whole game. He didn't get any with the bat also - poor guy. Bizarre game - I've never been part of a Test match where things have moved so quickly,” Kohli added. India are set to take on England for one last scheduled Test match from 4-8 March to be hosted at the refurbished Motera stadium in Ahmedabad which is expected to be played on another square turner. Reports have suggested that Bumrah was granted leave keeping the packed upcoming schedule in mind, where the players are scheduled to play in the IPL, T20 World Cup, England away series and potentially the ICC Test Championship Final.