The Bangladesh allrounder emulates New Zealand great in scoring a half-century and taking a ten-for in the same Test more than once

Gaurav Sundararaman30-Aug-201710 – Wins for Bangladesh in 101 Tests. Australia is the fifth opposition they have beaten. Zimbabwe (five times), West Indies (twice), England and Sri Lanka are the other sides they have won against. This is the second consecutive win at home for Bangladesh and the second instance of them winning two home Tests in a row.14 – Out of the 25 instances in 553 Tests where teams have lost by less than 20 runs, Australia have featured in 14 of them.0.142 – Australia’s win-loss ratio over 19 Tests in Asia this decade, the second-worst among all teams. Zimbabwe have lost all four Tests played in Asia. Australia’s two wins came against Sri Lanka (Galle, 2011) and India (Pune, 2017).2- Number of cricketers to score a half-century and take ten wickets in a match more than once. By achieving this feat in Mirpur, Shakib Al Hasan joined a rare club with Richard Hadlee. The New Zealand great did this thrice, one more than Shakib, who also became the sixth cricketer to achieve this double against Australia.5- Cricketers to have taken a ten-wicket haul in their 50th Test. Trevor Bailey, Richard Hadlee, Muttiah Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh achieved this feat before Shakib did it in Mirpur. This is Shakib’s second instance of taking ten or more wickets in a Test. Previously, he took 10 for 124 against Zimbabwe at Khulna in 2014. Shakib also got his third Man of the Match award, the most for Bangladesh in Test wins.2014 – Last time David Warner made an away hundred. He’s gone 34 innings without a century outside Australia. Only two of his 19 Test tons have come in Asia.ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 – Centuries scored by Australians in the fourth-innings of a Test in Asia. Warner joined Ricky Ponting, Bob Simpson and Mark Taylor to this feat. This is Warner’s second fourth-innings century, one less than Don Bradman. Ponting’s four second-innings centuries is the highest. Incidentally, both of Warner’s centuries have come in a losing cause.130 – Runs added by Steven Smith and David Warner for the third wicket. This is the highest stand in the fourth innings for Australia in Asia. The previous best was the 107 Smith and Mitchell Marsh added against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi in 2014.

England’s inability to crack Australia’s lower-order, or shore up their own, is the biggest indicator of the gulf between the sides

Daniel Brettig in Perth17-Dec-20170:57

Australia channeling the Mitchell Johnson ‘snowball effect’

Wickets fall fast at the WACA Ground. Australia have beaten England here in two and a half days (1998), and lost to West Indies even faster than that (1993).Even in the ground’s more recent, less lively years, the extra bounce means it is still a difficult place to start an innings, often resulting in days of free and rapid scoring that are followed by sessions in which the bowlers dominate. So when Australia gave up 3 for 12 early on the fourth day it could quite easily have been expected to be followed by another three rapid wickets and the cessation of the innings.James Anderson, after all, was moving the ball through the air and off the seam, the WACA Ground’s cracks were opening up, and Australia’s bowlers were impatient to set about England’s second innings. But instead of the procession continuing in more typical WACA fashion, a crowd of 18,688 witnessed the maintenance of a theme dictated more by the nature of this Ashes contest than the locations at which it has so far been played.Pat Cummins has so far been a thorn in England’s side when batting in each first innings, and in the company of a doughty wicketkeeper in Tim Paine he was to be one again. Despite numerous balls snaking along the ground or deviating sharply off the cracks, Cummins made it to 41 in adding 93 with Paine, extending Australia’s innings until it became their highest Ashes tally since Cardiff in 2009, while also keeping England’s fielders on their feet for another 21 frustrating overs.As a batting talent, Cummins has plenty to offer, as he has now shown in numerous pressurised situations, whether it be shovelling the winning runs off Imran Tahir at the end of his storied Johannesburg debut in 2011, hitting out in a narrow loss to Bangladesh earlier this year, or repeatedly foiling England’s attempts to push further into the Australian tail. Mitchell Starc had no qualms recently in saying he was happy for Cummins to move up the order, while the bowler himself has commented this series on his strong desire to keep England’s bowlers out in the middle for extended periods, the better to aid the overall team cause.All this is indicative of a team operating in sync, as batsmen and bowlers alike see their role as making as many runs as possible while discomforting the opposition, and of a lower order enjoying the fact that those above them are making runs that mean things are not quite so hot when it is eventually their turn to bat. When looking for areas of required improvement ahead of this Ashes series, greater effectiveness from the middle order and tail was high on the list of the coach Darren Lehmann, with the displays of Shaun and then Mitchell Marsh at No. 6 aiding Paine and in turn Cummins to contribute further.However there is another side of the lower-order tale, which involves looking across at the state of England’s bowlers with the bat. Just as surely as Cummins’ confidence has grown across the series, so too has that of Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad and James Anderson ebbed away. Moeen’s difficulties in dealing with bounce have gradually compounded against both spin and speed, while Broad and Anderson have grown increasingly hesitant about spending too much time exposed to Australia’s pacemen.Pat Cummins piles into Moeen Ali’s offspin•Getty ImagesAs a younger player, Broad was very much in the Cummins mould, showing plenty of talent for shotmaking but also a willingness to hang around. His batting peaked at the age of 24 with an extraordinary innings of 169 from No. 9, the same spot occupied by Cummins, against Pakistan at Lord’s. But time, several ugly blows including a sickener from Varun Aaron in 2014, and the mental hurdle of Australia’s greater velocity have all compounded to have him looking less and less likely to pose a problem.Anderson, meanwhile, is nowhere near as capable, but has in the past been willing to hang around when required – such as at the end of the aforementioned Cardiff match in 2009 when he and Monty Panesar secured the most fortunate of draws. Yet even when asked earlier in the series about his prospects if required to help conclude an unlikely fourth-innings chase in Adelaide, Anderson could say he was only good for around 10 runs needed.The sight of Broad and Anderson flailing about at the conclusion of England’s first innings on day two was a source of considerable satisfaction for the Australians, for it proved they had once again imposed a sense of trepidation in England’s tail that outstripped any desire to hang around for the good of the team. Certainly Josh Hazlewood saw it that way, and contrasted it directly with what Cummins had been able to provide.”We work hard on our batting all the time and I think we’ve seen Patty Cummins especially this year hang around with a batter or with the tail and score some useful runs,” Hazlewood said. “We pride ourselves on that and we’ve made their tail feel very uncomfortable and they were obviously a bit sore the day before yesterday, they didn’t want to be out there and we’ll continue to use the same method we have been. We saw with Mitchell Johnson last time it just kept snowballing as the series went on, so we’ll keep continuing to do that and hopefully have the same results.”Australia had been very eager to remind both themselves and England of 2013-14 in the lead-up to this encounter, to the extent that the captain Steven Smith said he wanted to have some of the older visiting players to be thinking “oh not this again” after their difficulties four years ago. While the personnel on both sides is different, the lower-order theme has been remarkably similar, this time personified by Cummins where last time it was largely the work of Brad Haddin, now the team’s fielding coach.At the same time, England’s dressing room conversations can only be guessed at, but the recollections of Graeme Swann give some idea of how things deteriorated in terms of how other viewed the bowlers’ attitude to batting. “[Graham] Gooch had a go at me and Broady for not scoring many runs,” Swann told the BBC.”And as Stuart pointed out very succinctly, we go in at eight and nine for a reason. If we go in at 300 for 6, we’ll get you another 100 runs. If we go in at 80 for 6 and Johnson’s only bowled three overs, we’re not, mate. And that wasn’t taken well. ‘Don’t blame our batsmen, it’s your fault, you’ve got to chip in down the order’. The wheels had fallen off: who can we blame?”Add to all this the missing heft of Ben Stokes, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that England’s lower order is not just a source of trouble for the tourists, but a symptom of wider issues within. Equally, its under-perfomance relative to Australia means that the hosts are not fretting much at all about the unseasonal rain that has descended on Perth towards the end of this Test. All available evidence suggests they need only one or two breakthroughs to quickly roll up the rest, as so much WACA Ground history dictates.

Sanjay Manjrekar looks back at his encounters with Imran Khan and the side he led, and the Sharjah matches of the ’90s

Sanjay Manjrekar08-Jan-2018My first day of international cricket in Pakistan is one I will never forget. It was the afternoon session in Karachi, Pakistan were batting and I was fielding at mid-on. Suddenly from behind me I heard someone muttering something about ‘Kashmir’ and ‘you Indians’. I looked back to see a person in a grey Pathani suit walk past me and head towards the pitch. He had just nonchalantly walked in with a Test match going on. When he reached the pitch, he started shouting anti-India slogans – basically, telling us we shouldn’t have come on tour. As the fielding team, we didn’t know what to do, so most of us just stayed in our places hoping that the people who were supposed to take care of such matters would do their job.The umpires tried to intervene, but the man went straight for the then Indian captain, Kris Srikkanth. The next thing we saw, to our utter shock and disbelief, was Srikkanth and the man exchanging blows. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Srikkanth was now holding him by his shirt, and there was pulling and tugging from both sides. It was a streetfight, except that it was happening during a Test match, and one of the persons involved was the India Test captain.Within seconds, a few other players joined the fight. The man was surrounded by the Indian players. I don’t clearly recall who all were there but Kiran More, always the team man, definitely got involved. I found it a little funny, watching More, with his pads on, trying to kick the intruder through all the legs and bodies that had surrounded him. It was also slightly amusing that the only fallout of this was Srikkanth going off the field for a couple of overs to change his shirt after he had lost all the buttons in the scuffle. The Test match continued as if nothing had happened. If this had happened today, the series would have been called off.We now know that such an incident is no laughing matter, but this was 1989 and those were different days. Pakistan was a different country. They were also a different cricket team, unlike any other team the world had seen. We got a sample of that even before the first Test started.Both the teams were practising in the evening session when we suddenly saw the legendary leg-spinner Abdul Qadir sprinting after a man. At first we wondered if that man was with the team, but he was a random spectator, one of the hundreds who had assembled at the National Stadium to watch us train. They had wandered onto the field as our practice went on. And there was Qadir, running after him as if his life depended on it. The rest of the crowd started to watch it and enjoy it. This man was younger and fitter than Qadir, and just as Qadir would get close to him, he would suddenly change direction. The chase went on for about five minutes. Both the teams stopped doing whatever they were doing, and began to watch this spectacle: a great leg-spinner running after a fan during a practice session before a Test match.Eventually the chase came to an end when the security joined in. Maybe Qadir was allowed to have a couple of swipes at the man before they let him go. The show was over, and we went back to our practice sessions. There was nothing in the papers the next morning either. We were later told by a Pakistan player – in a hush-hush manner – that the man had pinched Qadir’s bottom during the practice session.Pakistanis were known to be emotional cricketers. At times, they resembled a dysfunctional family, constantly quarrelling but coming together when it mattered. Undoubtedly, they had exceptional talent, but they needed a patriarch to bring them all together. That patriarch was my biggest take-away from that tour. When I came back from that tour, I was dying to tell my friends about the man who had now matched, perhaps surpassed, Sunil Gavaskar as my cricket idol.The author on his way to a half-century at the Old Trafford Test in 1990•Getty ImagesI could find no fault with Imran Khan Niazi. He had me even before hello. Those were the days when the Pakistan team was notorious for fielding thirteen men against the opposition – Shakoor Rana and Khizer Hayat or any of their two local umpires providing them great support. Call them patriotic if you wish, all their success at home had an asterisk attached to it. But Imran said, ‘No more.’ And in that big series against arch rivals India, he single-handedly ensured we had neutral umpires, John Hampshire and John Holder, both from England.It became clear that Imran had the will – and the necessary influence – to make such far-reaching changes to improve the perception of his team. He wanted the world to see his team beat India without help from the umpires. He was willing to risk losing in this endeavour, but as we found out over the next four Tests, it was not easy to beat a side led by such a fierce competitor.Imran was thirty-seven years old at the time. He had lost all his pace by then, but we never felt we could target him in the field or when he was bowling or when he batted. It was absolutely incredible watching him throughout that series. I don’t recall a single moment on the field on that trip when Imran’s attention drifted away from what was happening in the centre. We could be piling on the runs, it could be a long hot day in the field, but there was not one moment where you could see him looking in the direction of the stands or seeming bored. His eyes were always focused on what was happening on the field.Things obviously didn’t go as per plan for Pakistan as we managed to draw all the four Tests of that series. Barring the last Test in Sialkot, we got flat pitches everywhere. They started off being green but went back to their natural state as the match went on. There were a lot of overs to be bowled on long, hard days. Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were the new pace sensations, but Imran knew they needed to be used sparingly as strike weapons; they had to be preserved as out-and-out quicks should be. Waqar had some fitness issues, so he played only two Tests. Imran, though, kept running in ball after ball on those flat pitches with the old ball, and sent down 185.3 overs in that series. On either side, only Wasim bowled more than Imran.It was not just the number of overs he bowled, it was his intensity that stood out. Imran was a metronome as a bowler. Primarily, he was a major in-swing bowler so his aim used to be to start wide outside off and end up on the off stump. He did that for almost every ball for the 25-30 overs he bowled every day. On the odd occasion that the ball finished on the middle stump and I was able to flick it for runs on the leg side, he would get absolutely livid with himself. I would then get to hear him utter the choicest of abuses in Punjabi and English. Even if it was just one run to square leg, the fact that he had allowed the batsman to play on the leg side was a big failure in his opinion. He was merciless on himself, and he expected the same from others.In Lahore, when I was taking a single to bring up my double-century, I could hear Imran berating the bowler for allowing me to get an easy one on the leg side. I don’t remember whether he applauded when I reached the landmark. Later in the series when Shoaib Mohammad was about to reach his landmark we had Srikkanth and More bowling.I remember there was a match where we got confused if it was a one-day international or an exhibition game. With no agreement forthcoming, one team started out playing thinking it was a serious match, and the other team played it like an exhibition match. With Imran in one of the teams, you didn’t need to guess which side took the game seriously. So we had Srikkanth clowning around with the ball, doing impressions of Qadir’s action, and Imran watching it all with a deadpan expression. After bowling a long hop at Imran, Srikkanth smiled, but Imran just stared back with a straight face.Wasim Akram: a bowling genius shaped by Imran•Getty ImagesIn the Faisalabad Test, Sachin Tendulkar got a light feather of a touch on the ball as he looked to work it off his hip. It was such a faint edge that no one appealed. Except Imran Khan, who was at mid-on. The umpire shook his head, but Imran was convinced there was some bat in that one. He kept asking his players how come they didn’t hear it. ‘ [there was definitely a sound],’ he kept saying before he reluctantly dragged his feet back to mid-on.At the end of the over, Tendulkar and I got together and he said, ‘What a guy. What sharp ears.’ He knew he had edged it. The wicketkeeper didn’t hear it, the umpire didn’t hear it, but the man at mid-on did. No one was as focused on the game as Imran was.The cricket field was a place where Imran would let himself go. Captaining a team known for rustic behaviour, he would become the biggest rascal of them all. His cursing was a big part of his cricket. We knew he studied at Oxford and spoke charmingly, but it was a sight to behold when he let it rip at himself or his team-mates in the language of the common Pakistani man. Wasim and Waqar imitate Imran brilliantly. Whenever Wasim does it, a generous dose of swear words is a big part of the script. Imran truly felt at home on a cricket field, and expressed himself without a filter.That he could connect with everyone in his team was a reason why he led Pakistan so successfully. They were a difficult side to lead. A side whose superstar batsman Javed Miandad enjoyed so much influence that he could ask for and get a flat pitch in Lahore for his hundredth Test despite his captain’s wish to play on surfaces that help his young sensational quicks.Because of the flat pitches, a typical Test for Imran would mean bowling 35-40 overs in an innings as we scored 400 or upwards. In the ten-minute break between innings, Imran – a lower-middle- order batsman – would come out all padded up to have a knock. He would repeat it in every break – lunch, tea – while his team batted. He would always have his full gear on as he came out for the knock.On occasion if my eye wandered towards the dressing rooms when Pakistan were batting, I could see Imran fooling around with either the bat or the ball as he sat in the balcony. We had one such player in our dressing room too, but he was sixteen years old and on his first international tour. Imran, meanwhile was thirty-seven, and had been an international cricketer for eighteen years by then.Imran’s methods as captain made so much sense. It may have looked crude at times but it was effective especially given Pakistan’s temperament. He could sense when a batsman was losing concentration; he would send out messages through substitutes. He could see an event before it happened and avert disasters.There was no one in the Indian team to do such things. To be fair, Sandeep Patil did that to us, but only at the Ranji level. As a commentator, I once suggested M.S. Dhoni to become more hands on, to get into the head of someone like Umesh Yadav, to use a combination of Yadav’s skill and fitness and Dhoni’s brain. For this is what I had seen Imran do from mid-on with Wasim and Waqar.The sweet smell of Sharjah success: Saleem Malik, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Javed Miandad celebrate with the Austral-Asia Cup trophy in 1990•Ben Radford/Getty ImagesThere are great stories of how Imran used to mentor the young fast bowlers. *Once, Waqar was driven past mid-on by a batsman, past Imran. Imran didn’t exactly fancy chasing the ball, which pulled up inches outside the boundary. Imran came all the way back with the ball in his hand and asked Waqar, ‘Vicky, what did you do there?’Waqar replied, ‘Skipper, I tried to bowl an inswinger to him.’ Imran threw up his arms in the air, and cried out to Waqar, ‘, ask me before you do any such thing.’A young bowler once stood at the top of his run and didn’t run in right away. After a few seconds passed, Imran shouted at him from mid-on, ‘Why aren’t you bowling?’ The reply was: ‘You didn’t tell me what to bowl.’Both Tendulkar and I were so inspired by Imran’s and then the South African way of bowling – machine-like outside the off stump and waiting for the batsmen to make mistakes – that we copied those styles when we played for Mumbai. We had an incredible time doing that. We destroyed all our opposition this way. All Mumbai bowlers bowled every ball as per our directives. They were the better for it. It was only when Ajit Agarkar came along in my last year as Mumbai captain that I felt I didn’t need to tell him anything.As with the great West Indies players, Imran wanted to play the game the right way. In 1992, we played Pakistan in a series of three matches in England to raise funds for Imran’s hospital. The first was played at Crystal Palace in London. Even though they were exhibition matches, the fervour among fans did not diminish. If anything, they got a freer hand than at international matches. There were pitch invasions and missiles. The 42-over contest was reduced to 40, and eventually 25. Pakistan needed 69 runs in 7.5 overs when their fans made another invasion, forcing the organizers to abandon the game. At the post-match presentations, Imran grabbed the microphone and announced that India had won this game and said the Pakistan fans’ behaviour was shameful.In my first personal encounter with Imran, I was afraid I had infuriated my hero similarly. This was from a Sharjah tour before we went to Pakistan in 1989. We were at the ground for an India-Pakistan match. I was taking a knock before the match when I hit a ball that went in the direction of some Pakistani journalists standing just outside the boundary. It nearly cleaned out one of them as they all ducked for cover. One of them shouted at me, ‘Play these shots in the match, not here.’I was a young hothead then, and saw this remark as one coming from someone who was part of the dominant camp in Sharjah. Pakistan were a superb side respected all over the world, and when it came to Sharjah they were the kings. Teams just turned up in Sharjah to take their beating from Pakistan. The Indian team went there twice a year, so I guess we bore the brunt more than the others. That’s why I thought that the offended journalist was being arrogant.That made me angry, and I told him he should be in the press box and not in the ground. The journalist was in no mood to step back, and we had a spat. Raman Lamba had to intervene and drag me away. The matter didn’t end there, though. At the Sharjah Cricket Stadium you have to walk through a common lounge area to get to your respective dressing rooms. As I walked back through there, one of my team-mates asked me what had happened, and I said, ‘Nothing, just some Pakistani rascal trying to act smart.’Then I felt a tap on my shoulder, and that unmistakable loud booming voice told me, ‘Don’t be so anti-Pakistani.’Months later, when I was in awe of Imran during that Pakistan tour, I was always reminded of how I had begun on the wrong foot with my hero. I wondered if Imran held that against me still. I wondered if that was the reason he swore at his bowler for letting me take the 200th run easily in Lahore. I wondered if I could ever be on friendly terms with Imran.The 1989 tour came and went. Imran didn’t speak a word to me on the field through the four Tests. Once the series was over, though, Imran was lavish in his praise for me on every public platform. I realized now that to Imran the Sharjah incident might have been so trivial he possibly didn’t even remember it. As with all great ambassadors of the game, it was good cricket that mattered to him. To get such admiration from my idol was the biggest prize for my performance in Pakistan.Our next interaction came after I had a lukewarm tour of New Zealand. The moment he saw me he asked me, ‘Why did you play Richard Hadlee off the back foot?’ He told me I played Wasim and Waqar well because I was looking to move forward all the time. While it was sound technical advice, I was just floored that my hero liked my batting enough to follow that tour and be disappointed with my failures. This was a Pakistani following the progress of an Indian and wanting him to do well.I was not the only one. This was the time Maninder Singh had developed the yips and had lost his run-up, his action, his zip. A prodigious talent with a beautiful action, Maninder was a shadow of himself now. After speaking to me, Imran headed straight to Maninder and asked him, ‘Manni, what have you done to your bowling? Why did you change your action? There is no run-up now, nothing.’Maninder tried to reason with him by saying he had lost his accuracy and had to shorten his run-up to regain the control, but Imran was having none of it. ‘If I lose my accuracy I can’t shorten my run-up,’ Imran said. ‘I will lose all my pace. This is not done. Go back to the original run-up and keep bowling at one stump, a thousand balls a day, and you will find your accuracy.’Imran was not born to be a great. He had to work hard and put himself through tremendous grind to achieve greatness. Plus, he was a generous man to boot. These are the people who have a lot of cricket wisdom to share and pass on rather than the ridiculously talented cricketers.Waqar Younis bowls in the Wills Trophy in Sharjah in October 1991, a tournament that, like many others at the venue, Pakistan won•Getty ImagesRamiz Raja once told me that if Imran had been my captain he would have never dropped me and would have ensured that I succeeded at all cost. He was that kind of a leader. If he believed in someone, he backed that player fully. Inzamam-ul-Haq was a beneficiary of Imran’s trust. Even before Imran took him to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Imran had announced to the world that they had found the next great batsman. When Inzamam failed at No. 3 in the 1992 World Cup, the thirty-nine-year-old Imran pushed himself up to No. 3 but never dropped Inzamam, who eventually won them the semi-final against New Zealand.Imran and the other seniors around him had incredible self-belief. They thought their team was second to none, no matter where they played or against whom they played. There weren’t too many around in India to do what Imran did for Inzamam.Imran also knew his players inside out. Ramiz told me how he would settle differences within the team. There was this one time when Saleem Yousuf and Javed Miandad got into a bit of a fight on the field. They were both strong characters, and neither man was willing to take a step back. During the lunch break, an upset Miandad went up to Imran and said that either Yousuf was going to stay on the tour or he was; that the team was too small for both Yousuf and him.Imran listened to him and said, ‘, Javed [Javed, you are impossible]’ Imran then laughed and left. That was it. That was the end of the fight. It was incredible. With any other captain, who knows how much this issue would have escalated. Imran, though, knew Javed well enough to handle him the way he did, and he also had the stature and the intelligence to trivialize this threat.Ramiz has often told me he never ever heard one negative thought expressed in the Pakistan dressing room during Imran’s tenure as captain. He still wonders where Imran got the confidence from to say they were going to win the World Cup the moment they landed in Australia in 1992. Even when Pakistan played West Indies, they would go in with positivity. Not one defensive word was said. He spread this positivity all around.It will forever be my regret that we had no Imran-like senior in our dressing room. Youngsters like Kiran More and Manoj Prabhakar would have gained a lot under Imran; they were the kind of players Imran backed. Ijaz Ahmed once batted conservatively at the end of an ODI innings, and came back with a score of 30-odd not out. Imran told him he would be sent back home if he put his personal interests ahead of the team ever again. In India, meanwhile, More found himself batting higher in the order against formidable attacks because more accomplished senior players chose to take the easy way out by dropping themselves down the order.Similarly, Prabhakar ended up opening with the bat in 23 of his 39 Tests. These two were also a little Pakistani when it came to temperament. Contrary to the narrative of a bitter rivalry between the India and Pakistan teams, we got along pretty well. The rivalry was more among the fans, who were in each other’s faces, and the media. In Pakistan in 1989 for over two months, there was not a single instance of any fight or a face-off between the players – except that Prabhakar and More always tried getting under the skin of Miandad, who was not one to take it lying down. The unforgettable More-Miandad incident that we saw in the 1992 World Cup was at least three years in the making.

****

It’s not as if Pakistan were the most cohesive unit of all time, but at least it was more fun than malice. Their turning on each other in full public view – and they did so endearingly – made them a fun side to watch. It was loud when you went out to bat against Pakistan, but the noise would be their elders sledging each other. They would quarrel with each other on the field. They were constantly at each other when Imran wasn’t near.There were no glares or shrugs of shoulders at misfields, only the choicest abuse, especially from Imran. I would be memorizing the great one-liners to repeat them to my friends once I got back – I’d imagine how thrilled they would be when I told them of how Imran behaved on the field.Miandad would constantly be in Imran’s ear with this advice or the other. Imran would at best tolerate him. I never saw Imran listen to advice from Miandad – a great in his own right – seriously. I never saw Miandad let up either. Then when it would get too much, you would hear Imran’s booming voice: ‘ Javed [You let it be, Javed. You give one advice one moment, and something completely different the next moment].’ Miandad would go back to the slip cordon muttering under his breath that things would be better if done his way.Somebody once asked Imran if Miandad’s advice ever worked for him and Pakistan at an important stage in any match. Imran’s reply was that if somebody gave you a thousand suggestions a day, one or two were bound to work.At times, it would get comical, but Pakistan knew how to win matches. That’s where India and Pakistan were different at that time. We just carried with us a lot of self-doubt and negativity when we left our shores. While we would easily lose to England in England, Pakistan would go there and hammer them. In 1992, two years after our tour of England, Pakistan came and not only thrashed England but also beat all counties outright in the side games only because there was a financial jackpot to be won if any team did that.Even when we went to Sharjah, known for its flat pitches, it seemed we were there just to accept our punishment. Indeed, Sharjah was where the India-Pakistan rivalry would grow in intensity, perhaps thanks to the Pakistani fans in Sharjah. From the moment we landed at the airport, they would be in our faces. At the hotel, at the restaurants, at the shopping centres, and in the ground where the stands were so close to the playing area it seemed they could stretch their arms and touch us. Chants of ‘, Pakistan [Long live Pakistan]’ haunted us everywhere.Other than that, especially now that I look back, playing Pakistan was not as tough as people think. All the drama and the tension, the history between the two nations, the emotion that came with the matches, were external. As players, we weren’t nearly as intense or edgy about facing off against each other as the fans were. In fact, we played against each other so many times that it eased our equation a bit.Playing Pakistan was a far easier challenge than playing England, South Africa or Australia in their backyards. For starters, you played them mostly in Asia, many times in Sharjah – the flattest pitches you could get. I don’t rate batting performances in Sharjah very highly. I once got the Man of the Series award there. It’s not something I wear as a badge of honour.HarperCollinsThere used to be a graveyard near the Sharjah Stadium. Every time we travelled to the ground, I used to wonder if the signage pointing towards the graveyard should actually point towards the ground; it was after all a graveyard for bowlers. ‘Sharjah Stadium, where great bowlers’ spirits come to die.’ I once lofted Curtly Ambrose straight over his head in Sharjah. His next ball to me was a slower ball on my pads. It was like a tiger had been reduced to eating grass. That’s what Sharjah did to bowlers, barring, of course, the Pakistani bowlers.Off the field, though, there used to be a lot of glamour in Sharjah. Film stars, pop stars and other famous and infamous faces would often be seen in the luxurious boxes. We were – at least I was – blissfully unaware of what might have gone on under the surface. All I knew back then was that India versus Pakistan was a big draw, which is why we were invited to Sharjah and to other exhibition matches over and over again.The exhibition matches were played in a light-hearted vein but would witness spurts of intense competition, often on an individual level. Take the instance of Javed Miandad and Dilip Vengsarkar – both quite similar as people, which is why they were friendly off the field. However, in one such exhibition match on the 1989 tour, Waqar bowled a lovely outswinging yorker that pitched on the base of Vengsarkar’s off stump and sent it cartwheeling. I was at the non-striker’s end, and I saw Vengsarkar was a little shaken up by the rookie’s excellent bowling.I got out shortly after, and I was having tea with Vengsarkar when Miandad walked straight towards him. And without any pleasantries, Miandad told Vengsarkar, ‘You have had a long career. There was only one thing missing: “b Waqar Younis”. You have now achieved that too.’Vengsarkar tried to ignore this taunt, but when needled further he told Miandad that he had just walked in to bat and didn’t see the ball properly. Miandad would have nothing of it, and kept on insisting that the kid was a terrific bowler. ‘He has done this to quite a few very good batsmen, so don’t feel so bad,’ Miandad said.After Miandad left, Vengsarkar conceded that Waqar was indeed a damn good bowler.Waqar was not the only young talent that emerged from those exhibition matches on that tour. The story of Tendulkar hitting Qadir out of the park is also quite well known, but I saw the best of Tendulkar in those matches when he played Wasim Akram. Perhaps Tendulkar played more freely on such occasions, considering these were not ODIs. Tendulkar versus Wasim with both at their prime is perhaps the best rivalry that never was. Those matches were not on TV, but from my ringside view I saw Tendulkar dominate Wasim. I remember how Mudassar Nazar observed during one such exhibition match – the best slog-overs bowler in the world was hit all over the park by Tendulkar quite effortlessly. Tendulkar will never boast openly, but he used to often wonder why other batsmen found Wasim so tough to play. I used to think, ‘Because you are not like other batsmen, Sachin.’Because Tendulkar had captured the imagination of the cricket world, and because I had had a good series, we would be recognized anywhere we went. I had seen a lot of Pakistan players wear a certain kind of sandal – especially Imran – and I had to buy them. So at the end of the tour, both of us went to a market in Peshawar. We reached a narrow street lined up on both sides with just sandal shops. As we looked in a few stores, word spread that we were there. The street soon filled up with hundreds of people, all gaping at us. I have mixed feelings about that experience. It was nice to see the effect we were having on people, and it was our first real experience of what it was like to be famous, but at the time I’d felt a little vulnerable because I had seen the hostility from Pakistan fans in Sharjah. Here, though, they just looked at us, two India cricketers, in awe. Nobody hassled us. I got my sandals, I liked them a lot, and I didn’t have to pay for them.Imperfect07:50:42 GMT, January 8, 2018: *The original said this incident was from Pakistan’s tour of England in 1990, which is incorrect

England took a deep-creased approach to India’s mystery spinner, and it paid enough dividends to draw them level in the series

Nagraj Gollapudi at Cardiff06-Jul-2018England turned to Merlyn in the search for answers as to how to play India’s mystery spinner Kuldeep Yadav, whose five-for had left most of England’s batsmen dumbfounded at Old Trafford. They set their spin-bowling machine to feed them the various contortions with which Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal, the legspinner, had bamboozled them in the first T20I.But the doubts lingered. Merlyn can feed you all those variations, but could England’s batsmen read the Indian spinners from their wrist? They could not, at least not convincingly. But there was no shame. Even Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni struggled against Adil Rashid, who had the former stumped brilliantly.However the main reason that England succeeded today, against Kuldeep especially, was that they played him deep in the crease or used their feet to meet the pitch of the ball. No one did this better than Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow, two men who were left severely embarrassed in Manchester. Hales had been bowled trying to sweep on leg stump in the midst of a tortuous innings. Bairstow failed to read his first-ball wrong’un and was stumped.Variations apart, Kuldeep’s strength has been that he gives a lot of flight to the delivery. He makes life difficult for the batsman by bowling as slow as possible. If the batsman fails to read his hand, and tries to lunge forward from his crease, he is always asking for trouble. If he tries to sweep more in hope than with belief, it can still hurt him.However, today, Hales and Bairstow stayed back and reaped their rewards. After intensive work with their coaching think tank, lead by acting head coach Paul Farbrace, the pair understood that if Kuldeep continued to bowl slowly, they could negate any variation by waiting for the ball to come at them. On the occasions when he fired his quicker one into the pads (which comes in at around 65mph compared to his usual 55mph stock balls), they could negotiate that just as well on the back foot.It proved to be a good plan and it irritated Kuldeep. When Bairstow came in to bat, Kuldeep was into his third over. Unlike at Old Trafford, where he stood at the top of the batting crease, Bairstow stood at the back today. Kuldeep challenged him to come forward, but Bairstow managed to negotiate him without much fuss. By the time Kuldeep came back for his final over, England needed 39 runs from the final four overs.Frustrated by Bairstow’s strategy, Kuldeep changed his own and flighted the ball slightly fuller. Bairstow pounced fiercely on the opportunity and swept successive sixes to put England within reach of the target. Kohli, who was standing on the deep square leg boundary, was left frustrated as he urged his spinner to push the ball in further and not allow the batsman the room to sweep him.Kohli admitted the main reason for the defeat was the way England dealt with Kuldeep. Chahal said England were more focussed against Kuldeep and took their chances when they arose. “They played him with more attention. They choose which ball to hit or not. The risks they took against him [Kuldeep] were very calculated. They did not attack him in the first three overs.”Going wicketless after a five-for will no doubt hurt Kuldeep, especially when his fellow spinners continued to find success. He now knows England can play him. What stands in his favour is he has had a few similar experiences in the IPL in the past two years. His strength still remains in varying his pace. And if the pitch is dry, slow and turning – any of the three or a combination of either – Kuldeep becomes a dangerous opponent. And when he does, England will SOS for Merlyn once again.

The BCB will look up to him to rouse younger players, who have struggled in the last two years, in his second coming as Test captain

Mohammad Isam03-Jul-2018The day before Sunrisers Hyderabad’s penultimate league game in IPL 2018, Shakib Al Hasan was his usual self. It was a good time for him, with his team having qualified for the playoffs and his position in it stronger than ever. The Dehradun nightmare that would snowball into a mini-crisis in Bangladesh cricket, one that would need his steady hands to manoeuvre, was still three weeks away.In conversations with Shakib, his disinterest seems easily visible, and because of that, there is an underlying need to rush through things. This particular phone conversation, though, began with calm and measured answers. Shakib is famously impatient with interviewers, but those close to him frequently speak of how engaging he can be.In press conferences, he often starts with clipped, one-word responses. So when I broached the topic of his return to Test captaincy after seven years, the answer was typically Shakib. “I am not excited to be honest with you. I think it should be an easier challenge than before because of how the team is doing these days.”In fact, Shakib never gets excited about anything on the field. This demeanour – he often uses deadpan expressions defence mechanisms – has become a trademark in his public life.

Everyone struggles after starting very well. Then they keep improving and also keep struggling. When a player goes through five years of this, things start to become easy for him

Barring a couple of incidents in 2014 when his conduct was woeful, Shakib has maintained the type of dignity that is required from the country’s biggest superstar. That is why the BCB president and directors have offered him a second stint as Test captain. They will expect him to spread his inner calm out to the rest of the side, particularly among the younger players who, for the last two years, have struggled to take their game forward.Shakib’s path to greatness as an allrounder too presents a lesson for his team-mates, particularly in this age of constant analysis and technology. Not only has he been able to stay relevant in both international and franchise T20 cricket, but he has evolved as a cricketer, keeping himself fit, willing, and hungry for over a decade.His most recent challenge – before the Afghanistan T20Is – was to ensure a regular spot in the Sunrisers’ playing XI in IPL 2018. He had been a regular at Kolkata Knight Riders since 2011, so to be jettisoned ahead of this year’s auction must have been difficult. But when Sunrisers picked him and then gave him a regular place in the XI, it was up to Shakib to show he deserved that faith.”Motivation grows from new challenges,” he said. “I can’t exactly pinpoint what were the particular challenges [in the IPL] this year but I had to adjust to a new team.”I am thankful to the franchise owners for picking me, and to the coaching staff for giving me confidence when the tournament started. With so many overseas players in the squad, getting an opportunity is a big deal. I had to make use of the opportunity but getting it was important. Tom [Moody] is someone I will thank, because of how he helped me.”Shakib was confident that the young Bangladesh players would not suffer a lapse in their own motivation levels after a difficult 24 months. But since he said that in this interview, the likes of Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar and Mosaddek Hossain have struggled against Afghanistan, while Mustafizur Rahman’s negligent treatment of an injury has irked the BCB.”I think all of us have gone through this phase,” Shakib said. “Everyone struggles after starting very well. Then they keep improving and also keep struggling. When a player goes through five years of this, things start to become easy for him.”As captain, Shakib wants to build an attack that can sustain its quality for long periods. Pace bowling in particular, has been a worry for Bangladesh in Test cricket.”It is hard to pinpoint who will be successful,” he said. “Our fast bowlers have struggled both at home and away from home. I don’t remember the last bowler to take a five-wicket haul. I think that’s an area for big improvement. Our spinners have been successful when conditions have suited them, so that’s what our pace bowlers have to do. I think the BCB is working towards it by organising fast-bowling camps, which I feel may help.”

A battling half-century from 170 balls was shown in a more positive light after Moeen Ali’s team-mates had failed to emulate him

Melinda Farrell07-Sep-20181:08

Thought ‘this is meant to be’ when Cook was dropped – Moeen

It’s safe to say Moeen Ali wouldn’t often be compared to Geoffrey Boycott. But that’s just what his team-mates called him in the tea-break during his half-century off 170 balls. It was an innings full of plays-and-misses, but it was hardly the only one, as England collapsed in familiar fashion following Alastair Cook’s dismissal after lunch.”I probably wasn’t good enough to nick them,” said Moeen. “When I went into tea, the guys were calling me Geoffrey Boycott, then they came in, played and missed their first ball, and I was pretty happy with that.”I just tried to take it a ball at a time. I thought they bowled really well. The wicket was quite slow, but the ball was always doing something, so I just tried to stay as patient as I could. The Indian bowlers didn’t give me a lot to hit. So I just tried to bat. I don’t always play like that, but we were in a decent position.”Moeen’s strike rate of 29.41 on the first day at The Oval was well below his Test career strike rate of 52.33 and, in between the customary gorgeous drives, his struggle with the moving ball in the hands of a clinical India bowling attack was evident both to the eye and by the numbers. Including his dismissal, he missed or edged the ball a total of 43 times. Mohammed Shami was a particular challenge: he beat Moeen’s bat four times in one over and 18 times overall.”You’re always hoping to let them bowl and bowl,” said Moeen. “But they just kept coming, bowling same pace, same areas. It was one of the best bowling attacks I’ve faced. They were just always, consistently there.”While there were plenty of close shaves (hopefully something he never considers in real life), Moeen admitted he took a different approach for this week, having more time to prepare for batting at No.3 than the matter of hours’ notice he was given before the fourth Test in Southampton.”I prepared different this week than I would have done previously, a bit more newer ball,” said Moeen. “It just gives you time to get your mind around batting No.3 for England.”I’ve not done it much for England before, and we’ve tried people – not just three but four, five – and I don’t see why I can’t bat there or do the job. I just go out and try to play according to the situation. I bat No.3 for Worcester, managed to score some runs there this year. So why not? Just go out and play the same way.”Moeen is likely to keep the job for the Sri Lanka tour but whether or not he is a stop-gap or a long-term solution remains to be seen. He has batted for England in every position from 1 to 9 – and, remarkably, has now shared in fifty-run partnerships for every wicket from 1 to 9 as well – and his willingness to play anywhere for the team can be a con as much as it is a pro for the allrounder.”It’s a good thing because there’s times when you can balance the team out, and for that reason you get into the side probably before most of the other guys. But there’s times also when you just feel you want a set batting position in the side.”For now, at least, it seems he will be given that certainty.

ESPNcricinfo’s team of the tournament for the inaugural edition of the Mazansi Super League

Sreshth Shah and Liam Brickhill17-Dec-20181. Quinton de Kock (wk)(412 runs in eight innings, strike rate 169.54)
He joined the season two games late, but once he arrived, de Kock went full throttle. He set the tone with a 36-ball 74 in his second game, followed it up with a 55-ball 108 and finished the league stage with 93 and 86 not out to hand Cape Town Blitz a direct-entry into the MSL 2018 final.He failed in the final, however, out for only 5, but nonetheless finished the season as the joint-second-highest run-scorer and struck the most fours (45). He was declared the season’s Most Valuable Player.2. Gihahn Cloete (330 runs in ten innings, strike rate 113.79)
The Tshwane Spartans opener was the team’s aggregator and he played the role well. He was the season’s fourth-highest run-scorer, usually opting to anchor the Spartans innings. But he switched it up on one occasion, clattering 80 off 49 deliveries to help Spartans post the season’s first 200-plus score.On difficult surfaces, Cloete held his own. His 43-ball 55 against Durban Heat and 59-ball 65 against Nelson Mandela Bay Giants kept Spartans in the hunt for a play-off spot, before the team’s chances fizzled away. Cloete struck 38 fours, second only to de Kock, and cleared the rope five times. He also won the Fielder of the Tournament.3. Reeza Hendricks (412 runs in nine innings, strike rate 142.56)
Four consecutive fifty-plus scores – including back-to-back hundreds – from Reeza Hendricks helped Jozi Stars catapult into the play-off spots.After getting a duck against Cape Town Blitz, Hendricks found his groove, first hitting 55 against Spartans, cracking the season’s first ton off just 51 balls, and following it up with an unbeaten 108. He capped off the run with 79 against Blitz. Hendricks failed to cross fifty after that, but those four innings in the middle of the season secured Stars’ top-two finish in the league stage.Rassie van der Dussen and Dane Vilas celebrate their title win•MSL4. Rassie van der Dussen (469 runs in ten innings, strike rate 138.75)
When Hendricks’ form dipped, up came Rassie van der Dussen to fill the void. He was consistent in the Stars middle order, either helping the team tick along in the middle overs and accelerate towards the end. He finished as the season’s highest run-scorer on the back of his four half-centuries and remained unbeaten for Stars in their last three matches with scores of 83*, 96* and 59*.It has been a landmark year for van der Dussen, who also finished as the season’s highest six-hitter (23).5. Faf du Plessis (capt.) (318 runs in eight innings, strike rate 156.65)
Paarl Rocks’ standout batsman, the South Africa captain reminded everyone why experience counts. He batted just eight times, having arrived late from the tour of Australia, but struck four fifties to lift Rocks into the final play-off spot. Du Plessis’ importance in the side was underlined by the fact that Aiden Markram’s 156 runs were the team’s second-highest aggregate.The Rocks were behind the qualifying mark for most of the season, but du Plessis’ knocks of 76*, 61 and 61 towards the back end helped them sneak into the eliminator. Du Plessis struck just seven sixes all season, showing everyone how old-fashioned batting can still fetch rewards in the shortest format.6. Daniel Christian (196 runs in 10 innings, strike-rate 194.05, eight wickets in 11 innings)
One of two overseas players. The Australian allrounder has been a regular in T20 tournaments around the world. For Stars, he made a niche at No. 6, finishing several innings strongly with the bat while also chipping in with the ball. He hit 16 sixes and eight fours off the 101 deliveries he faced, meaning that his boundary/ball ratio was an impressive 4.21. Christian also took 4 for 22 against league-leaders Blitz just before the season ended, inflicting on them the second of three league-stage defeats.7. Jeevan Mendis (16 wickets in nine innings, bowling strike rate 12.00)
The Sri Lankan finished as the highest wicket-taker among spinners. He was especially brutal at the start of season for Spartans, when teams were still getting a measure of par totals. He was perilous with the wrong’un, and his drift and turn helped him thrive on slow surfaces. Before Rashid Khan arrived in South Africa, most eyeballs were glued to Mendis’ guile.Mendis’ wristspin earned him a wicket in all but two games, and he took a two or more wickets in five matches. In a rain-hit contest against the Giants, Mendis’ 4 for 22 spun a web around the opposition.Nono Pongolo takes off in celebration after hitting two sixes to win the match•Mzansi Super League8. Kagiso Rabada (13 wickets in nine innings, economy 6.73)
The rapid Rabada was one of two Stars bowlers to wreck havoc in the MSL 2018. He hunted in pairs with Duanne Olivier and finished third among wickets taken by fast bowlers.Rabada ensured Stars kept taking wickets in the Powerplay, and when the opposition seemed to get on top of Stars in some games, Rabada was swiftly introduced by the captain Dane Vilas to steer his team out of trouble. Against Giants, he conceded only eight runs in four overs.9. Nono Pongolo (10 wickets in seven innings, bowling strike rate 9.40)
A week before the tournament began, Pongolo was signed up to be a commentator with a local broadcaster, but a change of heart resulted in a change of fortunes for the 29-year-old bowler.In only his second outing with the bat, Pongolo was Stars’ hero against Durban Heat, when he helped the champions make an unlikely 14 runs off the game’s last two deliveries to complete a remarkable come-from-behind victory. And if one thought that Pongolo’s success was a flash in the pan, he delivered in the second-last league game again, securing Stars’ playoff qualification against Spartans with the season’s best bowling figures of 6 for 20.10. Duanne Olivier (20 wickets in nine innings, bowling strike rate 10.00)
The season’s highest wicket-taker and the primary reason behind Stars’ success, Duanne Olivier found rewards for his partner Rabada’s tight bowling from the other end.He took at least two wickets in all matches but one, and his hard lengths with the new ball made scoring difficult. During the death, Olivier’s control over his variations flummoxed batsmen who looked to force the scoring. In the final, Olivier’s 2 for 32 dismantled the Blitz top order, and ensured they could not score more than 113. Olivier was declared Bowler of the Tournament.11. Lutho Sipamla (16 wickets in ten innings, bowling strike rate 13.80)
The 20-year-old Spartans fast bowler was difficult to contend with. He took four three-wicket hauls in the league stage, but lack of assistance from the rest of his team meant that Spartans lost three of those games.Sipamla’s pinpoint yorkers and fast bouncers stood out in particular, along with a cool head when batsmen looked to take him on. His captain AB de Villiers believes Sipamla has “all the credentials to become a serious fast bowler for South Africa in the future.” Before the start of the tournament, Sipamla didn’t even believe he’d be in the Spartans starting XI, let alone the team of the season.

Bangladesh are in World-Cup mode. Zimbabwe are happy to get a spot of Test cricket, but are unlikely to prove the sturdiest of opponents. What do the teams or Test cricket gain out of this series?

Mohammad Isam in Sylhet02-Nov-2018Just how important is the Sylhet Test for Bangladesh and Zimbabwe?If you look beyond the freshness of Sylhet being a new venue and the excitement of the locals to host their maiden Test, the context around the Test series is hard to spot.The World Cup, now seven months away, is front and centre in Bangladesh’s overall strategy. Every player performance in the just-concluded ODI series was linked to who will get the coveted World Cup ticket. The importance of the series was justified, at least for Bangladesh who had to work quite hard to ensure they were part of the eight automatic qualifiers. Now, the players will appreciate all the game time they can get in the lead-up to the showpiece event, whatever the format – be it to impress or to fine-tune.Zimbabwe’s situation is worse, or given their narrative, emptier. Having slipped under the radar in Test cricket in the last few years, these two Tests in Sylhet and Dhaka will be their only matches in the format in 2018. They last played a Test in December last year, when they lasted two days of a four-day experimental contest. Their next assignment is scheduled to be in India, some five months from now. Add to that the fact that they will not be at World Cup 2019, and you know their players will not be complaining about the questionable context of any series they get the chance to be involved in.Of course it is hard to blame the Zimbabwe cricketers for their lot. Their absence from next year’s World Cup and the lack of Tests are the endpoint of the many and varied problems that have compounded over the years. Observers have felt a gradual move away from Tests almost to the point that the format is played ceremonially.Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza put a positive spin to their plight, saying it would be easy to motivate his troops as they see the Test match as an opportunity. “We would like to play a lot more Test cricket but we don’t, so it is easier to motivate the guys,” he said. “It is easy to just tell them to go out there and put in everything. We don’t get these opportunities often.”We have to take this opportunity with both hands, and just go and play our best cricket. We have a long break before our next Test series, so it is even more motivation to put in as much as possible now, to take this opportunity.”The home side is not in such a dire state. Bangladesh are fresh off three ODI assignments in which they enhanced their reputation. The 2-1 win in the West Indies ODI series in July, reaching the Asia Cup final and crushing Zimbabwe 3-0 last week have all constituted to a great summer of limited-overs cricket. It is being viewed as the right type of take-off as they head into the World Cup.Mahmudullah, the Test captain standing in in place of the injured Shakib Al Hasan, said that the World Cup is definitely on their minds, but improving their Test record this year, particularly after their West Indies debacle, is also necessary. “The World Cup is knocking on the door, but we didn’t do well in the West Indies in our last Test series,” he said. “This is a wonderful opportunity to win two Tests by using our home conditions. This is our primary target.”We can do well in a Test if we can achieve small goals. We are now thinking about this Test; the World Cup is a different format, and we will think about it when the time comes.”Despite everything the captains say, there’s no denying, many cricket fans will probably choose to ignore this series. Bangladesh playing Zimbabwe in Test cricket presumably does not offer the most mouth-watering of contests. And the lack of context in Test cricket has a major effect on lower-ranked cricket nations in the long term. The changing cricket culture towards shorter formats has a big impact on these nations; with more and more players attracted more towards the relatively cash-rich and popular overseas T20 leagues – and in Bangladesh’s case ODI cricket – it shrinks the player base.It is harder for Zimbabwe who have to reshape their entire policy to work towards the 2023 World Cup. Test cricket should have a bigger role to play in player development but, with fewer Tests being played and the lack of funds overall, interest in cricket shrinks to just the T20 bandwagon.Holding this game in Sylhet is certainly a positive move. A large crowd is expected at the picturesque ground, located amidst rolling tea gardens. So at least there will be atmosphere.But what do the players get out of doing well in this Test series?Will it be a contest?Will there be context?

Bangladesh have won two multi-nation tournaments this year already. But the World T20 will be a different challenge with West Indies, England and South Africa in their group

Vishal Dikshit07-Nov-20184:53

The rise and rise of Bangladesh women

Squad list

Salma Khatun (capt), Rumana Ahmed, Jahanara Alam, Fargana Haque, Khadija Tul Kubra, Fahima Khatun, Ayesha Rahman, Shamima Sultana (wk), Nahida Akter, Panna Ghosh, Ritu Moni, Sanjida Islam, Nigar Sultana, Lata Mondal, Sharmin Akter Supta. Stand-by: Sharmin Sultana, Surya Azmin, Shaila Sharmin, Sultana Khatun

World T20 pedigree

In only their second World T20 two years ago in India, Bangladesh ought to have improved following wins against Sri Lanka and Ireland during the 2014 edition at home. Instead, they returned winless and dejected after losing to the hosts, England, West Indies and Pakistan. More than the defeats, the margins must have saddened them – 72 runs, 36 runs, 49 runs and nine wickets.They carried that form into 2018 too, after a T20I drought in 2017, losing four straight matches against South Africa and Sri Lanka. And then came the dramatic turnaround. They beat higher-ranked teams like Pakistan and India on their way to their maiden Asia Cup crown (by beating India again) with their unbeaten streak in five matches.If that wasn’t enough, they then went to the Netherlands for the World T20 Qualifiers and won that title too. They topped Group A with a net run rate of over three, they bowled out the hosts for 42, they skittled UAE for 39, and did not let any team score over 100 against them in the entire tournament. In impressive all-round performances, they saw more batsmen contributing consistently instead of relying on only one or two names.Barring their recent 3-0 series loss to Pakistan at home, their phenomenal form this year will give them heaps of confidence going into the World T20.

Recent T20I form

Bangladesh have finished two multi-nation tournaments unbeaten this year – the Asia Cup and the World T20 Qualifiers. They also beat Ireland 2-1 in a bilateral series in the summer, but big losses in the recent series against Pakistan could be a cause for concern. If they can bring their big-tournament form and vigour back, they could easily surprise some heavyweights again.Raton Gomes

The captain and coach

Salma Khatun is synonymous with the Bangladesh women’s cricket team, having been around for more than a decade. She climbed to No. 1 in the ICC women’s allrounder rankings in 2015, and became so popular that she was featured in billboards around the country. She called it the “greatest moment” of her life when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spotted her in one of those billboards and mentioned her while stating how women in Bangladesh aren’t too far behind men.Salma has taken 44 wickets in 53 T20Is with her accurate offspin, conceding runs at 4.91 per over. She was at the crease when Bangladesh completed the Asia Cup triumph against India, quite appropriate given her stature in the team.Bangladesh’s turnaround in form this year has come soon after former India wicketkeeper Anju Jain took over as the coach in May, replacing former England allrounder David Capel. Jain is a Level-B certified BCCI coach and has extensively taken part in exchange programmes with Cricket Australia. She previously coached India at the 2012 Women’s World T20 and the 2013 World Cup. She is also the second India woman cricketer to land the Bangladesh job, after Mamta Maben. Her aim is to make Bangladesh one of the top four sides in the world.

Best players

Rumana Ahmed is a batting allrounder who bowls handy legspin. In the Asia Cup final, her two wickets and 23 runs were pivotal to get Bangladesh to their maiden international trophy, as well as earn her the Player-of-the-Match award. She continued her good form during the World T20 Qualifiers in Netherlands, and in the home series against Pakistan in October.Earlier in 2018, Rumana spent time in Brisbane during the Women’s Big Bash League, where she attended training sessions with Stuart MacGill. After she lost two of her bats she was given during that trip, she sought Tamim Iqbal’s help and he duly obliged, presenting her with a bat ahead of the Asia Cup campaign. Already the ODI captain, Rumana is seen as the future of Bangladesh women’s cricket because of her performance and humility.Khadija Tul Kubra recently became the fourth Bangladeshi bowler, after Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman, to take a six-wicket haul in an ODI. Her figures of 6 for 20 helped Bangladesh win at least one game against Pakistan in Cox’s Bazar, after they conceded the T20I series meekly.Kubra hails from Bogra where she learned offspin under the revolutionary coach Muslim Uddin, who used meagre means to teach girls how to play cricket and produced several international cricketers. An accurate bowler, Kubra is currently Bangladesh’s leading ODI wicket-taker in women’s cricket, having also taken 33 wickets in T20Is.

Where will they finish

Placed in Group A along with West Indies, England, Sri Lanka and South Africa, Bangladesh will have to pull their A game from the first match itself against the hosts. They may eye Sri Lanka again to get a win under their belt, like they did in 2014, but they will have to win consistently to edge out one of the bigger names for a semi-final berth. Given the pedigree in the line-ups of defending champions West Indies, and last year’s World Cup semi-finalists England and South Africa, Bangladesh’s target of ensuring “we don’t have to play the qualifiers anymore,” according to the coach may prove harder than it appears.With additional inputs from Mohammad Isam