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Fans without tickets were turned away from Scotland’s World T20 match against Zimbabwe at the VCA stadium in Nagpur today, as there are no ticketing facilities available at the ground.The tickets for the match are priced at 100 rupees for the East and West stands and 200 rupees for behind the bowler’s arm (approx £1.10 and £2.20 respectively). However, many supporters were obliged to travel back to the old VCA stadium in central Nagpur to purchase their tickets, meaning that that those that chose to do so were forced to miss much of the contest.The current stadium, which was inaugurated in 2008 and has a capacity of 45,000, lies 20km outside the city centre, a journey time of approximately 40 minutes by auto-rickshaw. However, the main ticketing system remains still situated at the old venue. A VCA official said it was not possible to have ticketing at both grounds.The BCCI, who declined to comment, are in overall charge of the ticketing policy for the tournament, but the arrangements for each match are at the discretion of the individual state associations. Dharamsala, the other venue that has so far hosted matches, has chosen to sell tickets for the qualifying rounds at the gate.The VCA spokesman added that advertisements for the ticketing policy had been placed in local papers but was unable to explain why the information had not been passed on to the BCCI or ICC, so they could warn fans who were travelling in from other grounds.The atmosphere inside the stadium, which came in for heavy criticism on the opening day of the tournament, was marginally improved for today’s contest, thanks to an influx of some 250 children from nearby schools. However, approximately 100 fans remained locked out of the ground at the start of Zimbabwe’s innings. The venue is too remote to support any local pubs or cafes in which to watch the contest, or to access the ICC’s online ticket-booking service that could have resolved the issue.”We love cricket, which is why we are here even in this heat to watch Scotland take on Zimbabwe,” one group of college students from Nagpur told ESPNcricinfo. “But we can’t book online because of the network and the ticket sales are going on at the other ground. There’s so few people in, why can’t they just let us in. We are even willing to pay at the gate.”One group of Scotland fans, who encountered similar problems during Tuesday’s opening round of fixtures, including Scotland’s defeat against Afghanistan, had been mistakenly informed that they could buy their tickets at their hotel.Privately ICC officials are frustrated that common sense has not been used, especially with the already low turn out for these matches.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMustafizur Rahman produced the most economical figures of the season to restrict Kings XI Punjab to 143•BCCI

Mustafizur Rahman and David Warner produced clinical performances to pave the way for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s thumping five-wicket win against Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad. Mustafizur executed his offcutters and yorkers again to return figures of 2 for 9 – the most economical numbers of the season – as Kings XI were restricted to 143. Warner then blasted his third consecutive fifty, off just 23 balls, to effectively finish the game. Sunrisers’ third win of the season pushed them to third spot on the points table, while Kings XI were left languishing at the bottom with just one win in five games.The tone for Kings XI was set by an outswinger from Bhuvneshwar Kumar that took M Vijay’s outside edge in the third over. Manan Vohra then stabilised the innings with a flurry of boundaries, including an exquisitely-timed drive over cover for six. Just when it looked like the batsmen were wrestling back the momentum, Vohra pushed one to cover and set off for a non-existent single. Shikhar Dhawan hit the stumps and Vohra made his crease at the batsman’s end, but his bat bounced up after a full-length dive.Moises Henriques dented Kings XI further with a double-strike, removing David Miller and Glenn Maxwell in the space of five balls, the third time they have been dismissed in the same over this season. Shaun Marsh trudged along and looked set for his second successive fifty before he was undone by an offcutter from Mustafizur.However, Nikhil Naik, on IPL debut, and Axar Patel gave Kings XI a chance with a 50-run sixth-wicket stand. Axar was particularly dominant in the arc between long-on and deep midwicket – all his three sixes were hit in that area. Mustafizur, though, ensured Kings XI did not get much more with another frugal display. Fifty-four runs were scored off the last seven overs, and Mustafizur conceded just nine off three overs in that period. He brought out all his variations – offcutters, yorkers and slower bouncers – to befuddle the batsmen.In the chase, Warner and Dhawan resumed from where they left against Gujarat Lions. Dhawan pierced the cover region with two crisp drives for four in the first two overs, before Warner took over.Warner laid into Sandeep Sharma’s second over – the third of the innings – with two lofted drives over long-off. He hit six more boundaries in the remainder of the Powerplay as Sunrisers plundered 65.In the 10th over, Warner holed out to long-on for a 31-ball 59, an innings that featured seven fours and three sixes. Aditya Tare, promoted to No. 3, was run out off his first ball and Kings XI believed again.However, Dhawan and Eoin Morgan snuffed out any hope Kings XI had. Dhawan dropped anchor after Warner’s dismissal, but top-edged a length delivery from Rishi Dhawan to the keeper for 45. Morgan’s 20-ball 25 took Sunrisers within five of a comfortable win before he picked out midwicket with a jabbed pull. Eventually, Sunrisers cruised to the target with 13 balls to spare to keep their winning streak alive.

Hamish Marshall remembers last year’s Royal London Cup final at Lord’s, where Gloucestershire clinched a six-run victory against Surrey, as “one of the best days of cricket” he’s experienced but knows that it will be a tall order to defend the title this season.The title was Gloucestershire’s first piece of silverware since 2004 and was secured in tension-filled scenes after Surrey had started the last over needing seven off six balls with 17-year-old Sam Curran playing a fine hand. But Curran fell to the first ball of the last over and two deliveries later Gareth Batty found deep midwicket.”I remember I could feel my heart beating, thinking we were so close,” Marshall told ESPNcricinfo. “I was very nervous but David Payne had been bowling well for us so confident in him. When that catch went down Benny Howell’s throat I thought we had a really good chance. Then Jack [Taylor] took that catch – I didn’t know what I should do – I just chased the other lads. One of the best days of cricket I’ve experienced.”A man on the opposition that day, Jason Roy, remembered being left astonished as to what had happened after Surrey had subsided from 143 for 2, with Kumar Sangakkara in control before clubbing to mid-on, to being left with the last-over scramble.”Heartache. It was crazy,” Roy said. “It was one of those days when you walked off the pitch and said ‘what the hell has just happened?’ But do you know what, it was great for the game, great for Gloucestershire, they played well and were the better team on the day and that is what sport is all about.”Recalling the team’s progress through the tournament – which was anchored by Michael Klinger’s 531 runs at 106.20 before a duck in the final – Marshall picked out a run chase early in the competition against Derbyshire where the team felt events could be going their way. They needed 20 off the last over from Chesney Hughes, who bowled a no-ball off what should have been the final delivery – for having too many fielders on the leg side – and the next ball was dispatched for the match-winning boundary by Howell.”We needed 60 off four overs, then there was the no-ball. Some things went our way, but guys played good cricket,” Marshall said. “Michael was outstanding and the guys feed off that. Our two spinners, Tom Smith and Jack Taylor, played really well – Jack with the bat as well – guys played good cricket. Although Michael was outstanding others played really important roles.”Marshall knows, though, that Gloucestershire will need to keep improving to have a chance of retaining their title – and have been hit by the blow of the Man of the Match from the final, Taylor, being suspended for a suspect action – but they will trust in the methods that proved successful for them last summer.”As a group we’ll stick to what worked for us last year. Hopefully guys will have improved over the winter, but winning last year will give us a lot of confidence. But we know teams will be after us, and they’ll know us a little bit better. Like last year we’ll need a lot of guys in good nick.”As proud sponsors of the One Day Cup, Royal London is giving away match tickets to see the action live. Visit royallondoncricket.com to enter.

ScorecardChris Rushworth was on song at Chester-le-Street•Getty Images

Ben Stokes made only five on his surprise return to action for Durham in the NatWest T20 Blast match against Yorkshire at Chester-le-Street.Cleared early in the day by the ECB to play purely as a batsman as he recovers from his knee operation, he cracked Adam Lyth’s first ball off the back foot to short extra cover.It was parried upwards by Kane Williamson, who dived to cling on one-handed just before the ball fell to ground.Yorkshire’s T20 inadequacies were exposed as they were all out for 134 with three balls unused and Durham were 68 for 3 after 9.5 overs when a storm ended play.Durham won by six runs on the Duckworth / Lewis calculations, which would not have been the case had Ryan Pringle not picked up two runs when he was dropped at long-off by Gary Ballance four balls before the storm broke.Gordon Muchall drove the final ball of Azeem Rafiq’s over for a straight four to make sure Durham stayed ahead of the rate to pick up their third win from seven.Yorkshire, again without their five England men, have won one and remain bottom of the group.Despite 43 in 24 balls from opener Alex Lees and a sensible 48 from Jack Leaning, Yorkshire kept losing wickets to rash strokes.Lyth smashed the first ball through the covers for four but in his next 17 balls Chris Rushworth took two for five.Lyth went down the pitch swinging wildly and was bowled, and Rushworth’s third over was a wicket maiden. Williamson tried to break the shackles by attempting a scoop, only to lose his leg stump.Lees made only three off his first 11 balls, then hammered 34 off the next nine with three fours and a leg-side six off Paul Coughlin followed by four fours off Usman Arshad.Lees hit his eighth four off Scott Borthwick but then drove the leg-spinner to long-on, where Michael Richardson held a brilliant catch.Ben Stokes fell for five on his comeback•Getty Images

Rushworth returned for his final over in the 17th and held on to a steepler from Rafiq to finish with three for 14.Mark Stoneman got the reply off to a swift start with 25 off 17 balls, which included a big six pulled in front of mid-wicket off Bresnan.But when he drove Rafiq to long-off and Stokes followed straight afterwards Durham were struggling on 38 for three with lightning flashing nearby.Pringle swept left-arm spinner Karl Carver for six on the way to 20 off 15 balls. Muchall, making his first senior appearance of the season, was on ten when the heavy rain arrived.

Nisar Uddin Ahmed Kazal, the president of Victoria Sporting Club, has stopped his players from meeting BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury to discuss the non-payment of their dues for the Dhaka Premier League. The players were supposed to have been paid 60% of their fees by this stage of the league, but most have only received between 15% and 30%, ESPNcricinfo understands.The players wanted to meet Chowdhury to ask if the BCB would step in and pay them in case their club failed to. Having prevented the meeting, Nisar said the payments would be made by Wednesday, after the team’s match against Legends of Rupganj.”I have told the players that the payment will be made tonight and tomorrow,” Nisar told ESPNcricinfo. “We will make sure they are given their due amount. Sometimes, players have a lot of demand. If, for some reason, the club fails to make payment, the BCB is supposed to clear that payment.”At the start of the season, the BCB had said 30% of players’ payments would be made before the league started, a further 30% by the end of the first phase, and the last 40% within six weeks after the end of the Super League phase.The payment schedule was made after the player draft. The BCB also said it would take bank guarantees from the clubs to ensure payment for all players.”This payment is our livelihood,” a Victoria player said. “Eid is coming up, but we don’t know if we are going to get paid. I have been paid less than 25% after the fifth game of the first phase. Our official told us that if they can’t pay us, the BCB will definitely pay us. So, we wanted to ask the BCB high-ups when that payment may come. But then our official has now guaranteed that we will get our due amount up to this point.”

When the Kia Super League launches on Saturday with a clash between the Yorkshire Diamonds and Loughborough Lightning, Headingley will showcase a raft of intriguing – and exciting – contests. Yorkshire and England’s fiery Katherine Brunt will resume her long-standing contest with the brilliant Ellyse Perry, aided by the insight of Perry’s New South Wales captain and Australian vice-captain Alex Blackwell. Following on from an outstanding summer with the bat for her country, Lauren Winfield will go head-to-head with England team-mate Georgia Elwiss and face one of New Zealand’s best all-rounders in Sophie Devine.There is much to anticipate in this watershed competition. Never has there been such a concentration of elite female players in a domestic tournament – the KSL has six teams compared to Australia’s eight in the Women’s BBL. Each side contains three internationals, three England contracted players and two England Academy signings. The even spread of talent should make for tight contests and a competitive league that displays the best skills the women’s game has to offer.On Sunday at the Ageas Bowl, former England captain and legend of the women’s game, Charlotte Edwards, will call on her Southern Vipers cohorts – New Zealand captain and Wisden’s Women’s Cricketer of the Year, Suzie Bates, and one of the most explosive T20 batsmen in the women’s game, fellow New Zealander Sara McGlashan – to tackle a Surrey Stars line up boasting Nat Sciver, hot off blasting the fastest ever 50 in a women’s ODI – and Marizanne Kapp, the outstanding South African allrounder.And yet, six months after the inaugural WBBL in Australia surpassed all expectations to become a massive success, drawing unprecedented crowds, television audiences and mainstream media coverage, there is a sense this competition will be low key in comparison. No matches will be televised and only a limited number – seven in total – will be broadcast on BBC radio. In a month during which England’s men continue their Test series against Pakistan and the Olympics takes centre stage in Rio there is a danger the competition could fly so far under the sporting radar it may struggle to register with the mainstream sports media.It is, perhaps, unfair to expect the KSL to deliver the same success as the WBBL. The Australian competition piggy-backed on the men’s competition, with the marketing, merchandise and fan-base already put in place by five years of the BBL, which has itself been a roaring success in the Australian sporting landscape. England, with its internal prevaricating over the make-up of a men’s domestic T20 tournament which has limited television coverage, has had to start from scratch with new teams and no established fan base to leverage.In many ways the ECB is now trying to overcome many years of neglect by those formerly in charge of women’s domestic cricket. There has been no strong pyramid structure, as there has been in Australia. Instead, the focus has been on developing international players through the high-performance academy based at Loughborough. This top-heavy approach is at least partly responsible for the environment that required such a significant shake up in the national side this year; the lack of players forcing their way into the England side through outstanding performances in the county game meant there was stagnation at the top.Consider the difference in the advent of professional contracts: when Cricket Australia started paying modest full-time wages to the Southern Stars in 2013, they also set aside money for players contracted to each of the six state associations. The domestic 50-over and T20 competitions were already well established and supported, with the T20 final regularly broadcast before the men’s final as a double header. By the time the WBBL was launched, it wasn’t a success just because it could leverage the success of the BBL; the standard of play was lifted by the fact the domestic players were coming into their third season of being semi-professional.When the ECB announced central contracts – a huge and welcome step for the advancement of female cricketers – in the summer of 2014, there was no investment at the next level; it remained an unwieldy and bloated amateur competition, in which players had limited training opportunities and often had to pay for extra net sessions, training kits and transport to matches. After Edwards returned from playing domestic cricket in Australia, during the 2014-15 season, she spoke openly about how the level of professionalism in the state competition had been a revelation and was miles ahead of the county competition.Ellyse Perry will be one of the star names on show over the next few weeks•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Even now, the difference in payments for domestic players is notable. Unlike CA, the ECB doesn’t publish the amount it pays players, but ESPNcricinfo understands that while the retainers for internationals are comparable to the WBBL – where all players received between AUD $3000 and $10,000 for that competition in year one, in addition to the $7000 they received for the domestic ODI competition – the non-contracted players in the KSL will be paid a match fee of around £150 plus basic expenses.The biggest difference lies in broadcasting. Cricket Australia had enough confidence in the players and their product to pay free-to-air broadcaster, Ten, around AUD $500,000 to offset the production costs of televising six group matches and the final as double-headers. Initially, the matches were shown on Ten’s second digital channel but they drew such big audiences that Ten executives moved some matches to their main channel, which proved an unprecedented success, and decided to additionally broadcast both semi-finals, at their own cost. It was a classic case of putting prominent real estate in a shop-window and letting the audience decide whether or not to buy. They bought beyond all expectations.There is some doubt whether the same level of confidence exists in England. Organisers have been racing against the clock to pull the elements of the tournament together in a short time frame; subsequently the announcement of the teams and the schedule was late enough to make it difficult to guarantee the presence of international stars when initial conversations over broadcasters began. There is certainly not the budget allocated to offer Sky the same kind of deal CA offered Ten to ensure coverage or live stream matches. The final won’t be televised as it falls on the reserve day after the T20 Blast Finals Day, with Sky reportedly unable to commit outside broadcast facilities to cover both, if the need should arise.Instead, Sky will produce a behind-the-scenes feature programme and have at least some single camera highlights from certain matches. Despite this being a new competition, the ECB’s rights deal with Sky prevents anyone else from broadcasting the games, but their digital arm also plans to make some highlights available and will have a single HD camera at every game. In any case, no games can currently be broadcast on television or radio from Loughborough, because of the lack of infrastructure.The ECB has also, perhaps, missed the opportunity to aggressively promote the game in its inaugural season through double-headers. While the KSL starts during the final stages of the T20 Blast, it could have been launched with double-headers in the final group matches of the men’s competition and continued with more shared fixtures in the qualifiers. Instead, Lancashire Thunder will play a warm-up match against Loughborough at Old Trafford before Lancashire Lightning host the Birmingham Bears – although, as the women’s match starts five and a half hours before the men’s it is a stretch to refer to it as a true double-bill.In the same way that Queen and Bob Dylan built their fan base by supporting Mott the Hoople and Joan Baez on tour, being a support act is a proven and respectable vehicle to finding a new audience. Double-headers were a major factor in stimulating interest in the WBBL, drawing crowds of up to 12,000. Birmingham, perhaps stung into action after they failed to win their bid for a KSL team, hosted a heavily promoted double-header recently at which, reportedly, almost 3000 fans stayed on at Edgbaston to watch the women’s match.What the competition does have on its side, on top of some of the world’s best female talent, is an English fan base that’s traditionally far more willing to embrace the women’s game than Australian cricket fans. Women’s internationals have drawn encouraging and enthusiastic crowds in recent years and around 1500 tickets have already been sold for the Western Force’s first match at Taunton. If all the games draw four-figure crowds, then the KSL will be deemed a huge success.There’s more on the way, too, as the complete overhaul of women’s domestic cricket in England continues. Next year a new 50-over domestic competition in May and June will lead in to the Women’s World Cup with the KSL to follow and there are plans to stage double-headers and broadcast matches on Sky. It is an exciting time for the women’s game and, despite the obstacles, this tournament represents a massive step forward in it’s professionalism and promotion.Ultimately, as in the WBBL and the World T20 in India, it is the players who will drive the tournament’s success. The shop window may be smaller, they may not have the waterfront real estate, but the opportunity is there for their talent to shine through.

Jos Buttler has admitted England’s players have been forced to think about issues they have not previously considered, after the tour to Bangladesh was given the go-ahead but with the option remaining open for individuals to decide if they would travel.Late on Thursday evening, the ECB confirmed that the tour – scheduled to start on September 30 – would proceed, following the security assessment undertaken earlier this month. The one-day squad, plus Alastair Cook, were briefed at the team hotel in London with the players making use of the time to ask a significant number of questions.The squads for the tour will only be named after the current series against Pakistan is completed, so the question of whether any players will pull out may remain unclear for a couple of weeks. Buttler would be a certain selection for the one-day leg of the trip, but would not comment on whether he would tour despite describing the meeting as “positive”.”There are things that people have probably never even considered before about cricket, and things people probably didn’t realise went on for every single tour we go on,” he said. “They are normally never privy to these conversations behind the scenes.”It’s probably new ground for a lot of people, some guys in the meeting – Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook – were part of the team that went back to India in 2008 so have been in this situation before and probably know how to deal with it. But it’s new ground for people and it’s important we try to deal with it the best we can.”It was a positive meeting with lots of information to digest. All you can say is it’s something you have to digest. It’s tricky for us at the moment, we’ve got a game tomorrow and international cricket needs your full focus to perform well.”Buttler would not divulge details of what was discussed at the team hotel but indicated there had been a reassuring level of information from Reg Dickason, the ECB’s head of security, PCA chief executive David Leatherdale, head of operations John Carr and team director Strauss.However, Buttler was keen not to take his focus off the second one-day international against Pakistan at Lord’s on Saturday.”It was a private meeting, there was a lot of information. As a player you felt there was a great duty of care from the board and a lot has been considered which was put across to the players,” Buttler said. “There was lot to digest which is tough to do mid-series – there’s no good time for these things to happen – but they have to be discussed. It’s paramount we are as professional as we can be and think about it when we can, but 11am tomorrow is not the time.”

India and Tamil Nadu seamer L Balaji will retire from first-class and List A cricket, but has said he will be available for smaller T20 leagues.Balaji will meet TNCA president N Srinivasan later this evening to formally announce his retirement. The TNCA, it is learnt, is keen for Balaji to be bowling coach for the 2016-17 domestic season, a role he also fulfilled in the 2015-16 season. Balaji is expected to take a call after discussing the terms of his contract during his meeting with Srinivasan.”I have taken a decision on not playing senior-level cricket any longer in any format. I have asked the TNCA to not pick me for the Tamil Nadu team this season,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I am still looking to continue playing the smaller leagues, but let’s see how it goes.”Balaji, 34, made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu in the 2001-02 season, against the Colombo District Cricket Association, and took 37 wickets in his maiden first-class season in India. The following season, he finished as the joint highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy in 2002-03, with 47 dismissals, and went on to make a Test debut in October 2003 against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.Overall, Balaji played 106 first-class matches, taking 330 wickets at an average of 26.10, with 16 five-fors and four ten-wicket hauls. In List A cricket, his record stands at 145 wickets in 100 matches at an average of 29.35. He also captained Tamil Nadu for three seasons – from 2011-12 to 2013-14, with the side reaching the Ranji Trophy final in 2011-12.Balaji picked the spell against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy semifinal in 2002-03 as one of his favourites in his first-class career. Balaji took 5 for 49 in the second innings, and seven in the match, to help Tamil Nadu beat Delhi by 132 runs. “I think I have been part of some very interesting matches,” he said. “I picked up a five-for in the second innings against a team that featured three, four Test players like Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Aakash Chopra. My spell of 6 for 24 against Bengal in 2008-09 [Ranji Trophy quarter-final] was also very special.”His last first-class appearance came in the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy final, in which Karnataka beat Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs. Before the 2015-16 season, Balaji was named bowling coach and was also picked as a player, though he did not eventually play any first-class matches in the season. His appearances for Tamil Nadu in 2015-16 were limited to four one-day matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.Since then, Balaji has only played in the inaugural Tamil Nadu Premier League T20 tournament, where he has taken eight wickets so far for Albert TUTI Patriots.Balaji played eight Tests between 2003 and 2005, picking up 27 wickets at an average of 37.18. His best performances in Tests came against Pakistan in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. On the tour of Pakistan in 2004, Balaji took 12 wickets in the three-Test series, including a haul of 7 for 171 in the decisive Rawalpindi Test, which India won to claim the series 2-1.The following year, when Pakistan toured India, Balaji was among the wickets again, ending with 14 wickets in three matches. This included a match haul of nine in the first Test in Mohali, where he also claimed his only five-for in the format.Balaji also played 29 ODIs between November 2002 and August 2005, before suffering a career-threatening stress fracture for which he underwent back surgery. He eventually made a comeback to the Indian side after being picked for the ODIs in Sri Lanka in early 2009, but played only one match in the series.Despite his international career remaining ridden with injuries, Balaji said he was fortunate to having played alongside his childhood heroes. “To play alongside bigger brothers like Zaheer [Khan], Ashish [Nehra], Harbhajan [Singh] and Yuvi [Yuvraj Singh]… they have always been looking after me,” he said. “Also playing with the six legends – Viru [Virender Sehwag ], Sourav [Ganguly], Anil [Kumble] bhai, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman – was a dream come true.”I am very indebted to my seniors from my state; I have learnt a lot from every cricketer I have played and interacted with. The TNCA has been very supportive, especially when I had a surgery, and N Srinivasan, especially, backed me. Of course, I am indebted to my family, my wife, my sisters, and my friends, without whom I wouldn’t have made this level from being a tennis-ball cricketer.”I have made the physio’s job and the doctor’s job very tough for a few years, so I would like to thank them for helping me come out of a career-threatening injury. I kept them busy for sometime, and in the end made good friends in a different field.”

If it is not your day, it is likely it won’t be your evening either. On the first day of the Kolkata Test, New Zealand woke up to the news that Kane Williamson’s illness had not subsided, and that he was not going to play. Some fans might have thought a new captain might at least win the toss. The new captain, Ross Taylor, thought he had, but reality struck immediately. Match referee David Boon told him Virat Kohli had. “It was a commemorative coin,” Taylor said suggesting he didn’t quite get the “head” and “tail” on the coin right. “Thought I’d won it. Then Boonie said Kohli had won.”For a while it did seem like a good toss to lose as the bowlers picked up early wickets, but once the Indian lower order took them across 300, it was always going to be a losing battle for New Zealand. The toss here didn’t play that big a part, though. Taylor agreed. “[Would have been] nice to bat first but don’t think that would’ve had made too much difference,” Taylor said. “They put us under pressure at times, and we weren’t able to sustain it with the bat.”India’s first-innings score gave them a 112-run lead, which meant New Zealand couldn’t afford to attack for too long even when they had India down at 43 for 4 and 106 for 6 in the second innings. “I’d hark back to being 100 runs behind in that first innings,” Taylor said when asked of a third straight failure to run through India’s tail. “In hindsight it would have been nice to score a few more runs and if India were 3 for 40 and their lead wasn’t as much. Any time you are playing catch up from that far behind, there is a lot of what-ifs.”We could go through every session. At the end of the day we were beaten by a better side. Our pacemen were definitely positive and even the way [Mitchell] Santner and Jeets [Jeetan Patel] bowled. Jeets coming in, wasn’t easy [for him] after only being in the country for a day and a half. To bowl as well as he did in that first innings and score some valuable runs, [without which] we could have been even further behind the eight ball. Yes we are disappointed, we’ve got to take the positives and hopefully we can play better in the next match.”One of the positives was their bowling, which improved from Kanpur. “The bowlers fought throughout and that’s something we can take to Indore,” Taylor said. “It was pretty hot and humid out there. I liked the way they kept trucking in asking for the ball and the hostility they bowled with sometimes. We’re seen as a friendly team and still are, but as a fast bowler you need a bit of mongrel. So for Henners [Matt Henry], who hasn’t played for a while, to come and get six wickets on that wicket was good. We’re still fizzing to go for Indore, hopefully we can play some fear-free cricket to put India under pressure.”Taylor rued not being competitive for long enough. “Winning key moments was important,” Taylor said. “The way Saha came out in both innings when the game was in balance, those two fifties put us on the back foot. Rohit’s innings was outstanding but full credit to our bowlers running in. A similar wicket would be good and hopefully Kane can win the toss.”There was at least that bit of good news for New Zealand. Williamson came to Eden Gardens on the fourth day, and has shown signs he might be ready for the Indore Test, which begins on Saturday. “Anytime you have your skipper and best player out it is disappointing,” Taylor said, “but there has been times when Kane hasn’t played one-day internationals and this probably isn’t going to be the last time, with injuries; the team has to step up.”We can’t rely on Kane all the time. It was good to see him walking about [today]. I’m sure he’ll be a bit lethargic over the next couple of days; it’s still pretty tiring losing a few kilos and being stuck inside. But there are positive signs he’ll be ready for the next match, and it will obviously be good for the team to have our skipper back.”Losing a few kilos is not just Williamson’s concern. He might have been down with fever, but the others have never played Test cricket in such heat and humidity. These are some of the earliest Tests in an India season. The summer temperatures have hardly started to go down. It has taken a toll on New Zealand, which can partly explain some of their failures to get the tail out.”Definitely up with hottest test series I’ve been part of,” Taylor said. “A lot of their bowlers and batsmen were tired too. Pretty hot and humid. [In an] ideal world, [we would] send players [early] and get exposure. Comes down to funding but lucky some players come into IPL who mix and mingle with the stars of today to get knowledge.”Kohli says it’s cooler in Indore so I’m happy.”

While some of Australia’s former players have cautioned the current crop against too much talk in the upcoming Tests, Vernon Philander warned things won’t always stay genteel from the South African side, especially not when they are up against it.”There’s going to be a time when a partnership will develop and it will require one or two bowlers to put up their hands and get a bit ugly and make things uncomfortable,” Philander said.When those times come, Philander seems ready to put himself at the forefront. “That tests your character, it’s a part of Test cricket and testing your skills – you need to get out there and win that moment for your team. It’s going to be fun.”For Philander, it may also be personal. He is perhaps more highly regarded at home than in Australia, – as was also the case when he toured England – despite his eight-for on debut against Australia in Cape Town in the match in which they were bowled out for 47. The Australians want to see him do that in Australia, just like the English wanted to see him to do it England.Then, he responded by taking seven wickets at Lord’s, including 5 for 30 in the second innings, to win the Test and the mace and signed off with a line that is still repeated in South African circles: “Stats don’t lie,” he said, when asked what he would like to say the English after that day.They don’t, and Philander’s numbers against Australia could do with some improving. In seven Tests against them, Philander has taken 35 wickets at an average of 30.24, much higher than his overall average of 22.09. In the past two series against them – 2012 and 2014 – he has taken only 11 wickets at 51.00.His powers are considered to have waned since he became the fastest bowler in over a century to 100 Test wickets and the injury that kept him out of most of last summer has not helped him restore his reputation. On this tour, Philander has everything to prove but pre-series, he chose to play that down.”It’s very important for me personally and it’s also important for us as a unit,” Philander said. “We’ve got to take 20 wickets and as long as I play my part in taking 20 wickets in a Test match, then I’ll be happy.”His first chance at doing that will be on the surface that could offer the most assistance. The WACA is set to have something in it for the seamers, as the Gabba was expected to four years ago. Then, looks were deceiving and the all-pace attack Philander was part of backfired so he is being cautious about whether South Africa will go guns blazing this time. “We’ve always had three seamers with a spinner and a part-timer and we’re pretty used to that,” he said.But with the pace pack at their disposal – Dale Steyn, fit-again Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada, Kyle Abbott and Philander – it will be difficult to decide which two must sit out. And if they do opt for a four-pronged attack, Philander’s advice to his team-mates is not to get too excited by the surface.”The simpler you keep it, the better it becomes,” he said. “You can get carried away by the pace and bounce but for seamers you need to be ultra-disciplined here.”Control is something Philander has built his game on. He is known for being able to hit the area outside off for over after over, and only move the ball off the seam slightly. That is likely to be his line of attack in this series.It’s not as emphatic as Steyn’s swing or Rabada’s pace and in many ways, it is indicative of the bowler Philander is. He does not get throbbing veins or send the speed gun above 150kph, he does not have much to say about the opposition except that they are the “11 individuals who are the best in Australia at the moment and we’ve to to respect that for what they are,” and he does not have much to say to them either.Unlike Steyn he did not name a target or threaten to sink an entire side. He just mentioned that he is capable of not being a nice guy too, if he has to.”Moments are going to get heated,” he said, “but you as a person have to be stay calm and collected.”