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South Africa’s management would still welcome an inquiry into the team’s performance, after an independent review was abandoned earlier this month

Firdose Moonda30-Jun-2016South Africa’s management would still welcome an inquiry into the team’s performance, after an independent review was abandoned earlier this month. The initial investigation was due to look into the men’s, women’s and Under-19 sides’ results last summer but was called off after CSA could not agree with terms relating to the scope and cost of the operation.That meant the South Africa men’s team head coach Russell Domingo travelled to the Caribbean without the pressure of an investigation into the side’s shortcomings, but they might not be let off the hook easily. “Annually, whether the team is winning and doing well or going through a tough period like we are now, it’s important to constantly review and refresh, whether it’s the management team, coaching staff or other personnel,” Mohammed Moosajee, South Africa’s team manager said.”Like many of you in your line of business, you constantly look at how to improve and make things better, that’s what CSA wants to do. There are ongoing discussions and we are awaiting feedback from CSA board and management if and when the review will be reconstituted.”If South Africa are aiming to do an analysis, they will have to do so in the next six weeks before the 2016-17 season starts with two Tests against New Zealand. A busy six-month period follows, which includes 11 Tests, and South Africa will want to ensure they are ready to climb the rankings after tumbling from No.1 to No.6 earlier this year.Chief among their concerns would be to analyse why they remain stuck in a transition phase that started more than two years ago when Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis retired. South Africa are struggling to compensate for the experience lost in their batting line-up, the allrounder role and the leadership, which has changed hands twice since Smith stepped down.Hashim Amla was named Smith’s immediate successor, after taking a u-turn on an earlier insistence that he did not want to captain, and despite AB de Villiers’ vociferous interest in the job. Amla led the Test team in 14 matches, and started well with a series win in Sri Lanka, but his fortunes changed during South Africa’s tour of India in late 2015. After winning four, losing four and drawing six matches, Amla stepped down mid-series against England, opening the door for de Villiers to get the job. De Villiers has since been confirmed as both Test and ODI captain even as questions are raised about his tactical suitability for the roles.Having never captained at any level before international cricket, it appears to be the one thing he hasn’t come to grips with. Criticisms have mostly centered on his management of bowlers and not the impact on his own form, which dipped noticeably in the Caribbean. Despite that, South Africa’s coaches are as convinced de Villiers is the right man for the job as he is that the team management is “the best in the world”, although calls for Domingo’s head have increased. “AB is the right guy to lead us forward,” Adi Birrell, South Africa’s assistant coach said. “He has got the full backing of every player and every member of staff.”With the players and management in mutual support for each other, the only other area to look at is the structures, which include the domestic set-up. For that, CSA have a separate and ongoing review, which will examine whether the franchise system is producing enough in personnel in quality terms, to provide depth.”We need to try and get the best possible structure to get players coming through,” Birrell said. “There are a lot of players getting opportunities now and hopefully those players will come through with some experience under their belt.”South Africa have rigorous A team and Under-19 schedules, which would see players touring through varying conditions. The A side is set to travel to Zimbabwe and Australia next month while the Under-19s are currently in Sri Lanka – but the bulk of their international stars do not rub shoulders with these players. South Africa’s senior players rarely play in the franchise set-up as a consequence of a packed international schedule. Instead, they often play domestic tournaments in other countries, be it in T20 leagues or the county set-up, which Domingo had already cited as a key reason for the current slump. Whether a review can solve that problem, or more drastic action needs to be taken, remains to be seen.

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jun-2016Kagiso Rabada, sharing the new ball, struck off consecutive deliveries, including a superb yorker to scythe through Marlon Samuels’ defense•AFPDenesh Ramdin, hit on the helmet by a Rabada bouncer, was then dismissed. West Indies were reduced to 21 for 4 in the fifth over•AFPDarren Bravo, however, counterattacked and brought up a half-century off 52 balls•AFPKieron Pollard made his second fifty of the series before holing out for 62•AFPBravo pressed on to bring up his third ODI ton, and his first since August 2014•AFPHe was dismissed for 102 off 103 balls when Faf du Plessis took a tumbling catch off Chris Morris•AFPJason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite then made cameos to help West Indies post 285•AFPFast bowler Shannon Gabriel ripped through South Africa’s top order with three wickets in a lively opening burst•AFPSunil Narine then struck with his second ball to have Hashim Amla lbw for 16. South Africa were 35 for 4 by the 12th over•AFPWhen JP Duminy skewed a catch to gully for 5, South Africa tumbled to 51 for 5•AFPFarhaan Behardien offered brief resistance with 35 off 57 balls•AFPWayne Parnell and Morne Morkel delayed West Indies’ charge before South Africa were dismissed for 185 in 46 overs. West Indies will meet Australia in the final on Sunday•AFP / Getty Images

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Sep-2016Jason Roy got going with successive fours in the second over, after England were inserted•Getty ImagesAlex Hales flickered briefly before chipping Mohammad Amir to mid-on•Getty ImagesWhen Hasan Ali bowled Joe Root off an inside edge for 9, Pakistan became 64 for 2 in 9.1 overs•Getty ImagesRoy glided his way to a half-century off 49 balls…•AFP…even as Eoin Morgan lobbed a return catch to Wales-born Imad Wasim for 10•Getty ImagesAmir lifted Pakistan further when he dismissed Roy for 87 with a slower bouncer•Getty ImagesBen Stokes began slowly but settled down and exploited the short, straight boundary•Getty ImagesJonny Bairstow contributed 33 in a 55-run stand with Stokes, before ramping a catch to backward point. England were 219 for 5•AFPStokes collapsed after bottom-edging a pull onto his box, but recovered to make his career-best score – 75 off 76 balls•AFPChris Woakes dragged on as Pakistan fought back well in the final 10 overs to restrict the hosts to 302 for 9•AFPPakistan lost Sharjeel Khan early in the chase, but Azhar Ali batted positively and added 54 with Babar Azam•Getty ImagesMark Wood, though, dismissed both batsmen in the 14th over to reduce Pakistan to 77 for 3•AFPSarfraz Ahmed then injected impetus into the chase with dabs and sweeps•AFPHe found good company from Shoaib Malik and soon brought up third fifty-plus score of the series•AFPMalik got to his own fifty, his first in ODIs against England in England…•Getty Images…before debutant left-arm spinning allrounder Liam Dawson dismissed both the set batsmen. Pakistan were 256 for 5 in 40 overs•Getty ImagesMohammad Nawaz was run-out for 2, but Mohammad Rizwan and Imad gave Pakistan a consolation win with four wickets and 10 balls to spare•AFP

For the third time in their history, Pakistan managed to lose ten wickets for less than a 100 after a century-stand by the openers

Bharath Seervi29-Nov-20163 Instances of Pakistan losing all 10 wickets for less than 100 runs after their first wicket having a century stand. In this match, they lost the 10 wickets for 99 runs after the openers added 131. The previous two instances were: 122 for 0 to 216 (94 runs) against England in Dhaka in 1961-62 and 135 for 0 to 208 (73 runs) in Christchurch in 1995-96.

Pakistan losing 10 wickets for less than 100 runs after a century-stand from openers

1st wkt p’ship Final total Runs for 10 wkts Opposition Venue Date135 208 73 New Zealand Christchurch 8/12/1995122 216 94 England Dhaka 19/1/1962131 230 99 New Zealand Hamilton 25/11/201612 Number of consecutive Test series without a win for New Zealand against Pakistan before this one. The last time they won a series against Pakistan was in 1984-85. Since then, they had lost seven and drawn five. Pakistan’s last series defeat was in Sri Lanka in 2014.2013 The last time Pakistan lost three consecutive Tests – it was in a three-match series in South Africa. Before losing the two Tests in this series, they had lost against West Indies in Sharjah. Prior to this, they had lost only three Tests out of 14 since the start of 2015.5 Instances of teams losing eight or more wickets in a session to lose a Test this year. All of them have come in the last four months. Australia have suffered two such collapses.

Teams losing 8 or more wickets in a session to lose a Test this year

Team Opposition Inns Wickets Runs Day Session VenuePakistan New Zealand 4 9 72 5 3 HamiltonAustralia South Africa 3 8 40 4 1 HobartEngland Bangladesh 4 10 64 3 3 DhakaNew Zealand India 4 9 115 4 3 IndoreAustralia Sri Lanka 4 9 83 5 2 Colombo (SSC)5 New Zealand bowlers to pick up 40 or more Test wickets in a calendar year. Neil Wagner is the latest to join the list with 41 wickets in 9 Tests this year.5 Ducks for Asad Shafiq in Tests this year – the joint-most by a player batting at No.6 or higher. Shafiq is the sixth such player to bag five ducks in a year and the last of which was Mark Butcher and Mike Atherton in 1998. No Pakistan player in top-six positions has got more than three ducks in a year. Shafiq had gone 49 consecutive innings without a duck before getting these five ducks in 13 innings.11.25 Average of Pakistan’s No. 4 to No. 6 batsmen in this series – the worst for them in any Test series. In 12 innings from those three positions, only 135 runs were scored with highest of 31. Shafiq scored 56, Misbah-ul-Haq 44, Sarfraz Ahmed 19 and Younis Khan 16.1 Number of longer opening partnerships for Pakistan in terms of balls than the 360 balls between Azhar and Aslam in the fourth innings (where balls information available). The highest was also by the same pair against West Indies last month when they added 215 runs in 407 balls in Dubai. They are also the most successful pair this year with 854 runs so far.2 Number of Pakistan players to get out in 90s twice in a year. First was Inzamam-ul-Haq in 1995 and Sami Aslam this year. Aslam has gone past 50 on six occasions, but hasn’t completed a century yet. Aslam’s six 50-plus scores are the most by any Pakistan batsman this year.

Women’s cricket might have come on in leaps and bounds in recent times, but there are all too few women in charge behind the stumps

Firdose Moonda16-Feb-2017It is 2017. A woman is in charge of the country with the largest economy in Europe. A woman was, till last month, chair of the African Union Commission. The CEO of General Motors is a woman, another heads Pepsico, and a third leads IBM. Women do everything from construction work to firefighting, but a female umpire has yet to officiate in a high-profile men’s match.Why? Well, it’s professional sport and male-dominated professional sport, so what do we really expect? These things take time.Female football referees are only just starting to become familiar sights, especially in South America, and in 2015, both the NFL and England’s RFU added their first female officials. Cricket is also taking small steps. Women have officiated in the Women’s World T20 Qualifier in 2015, and then in the main event in 2016. This month the ICC announced that four female umpires would stand at the Women’s World Cup qualifier in Sri Lanka, with a view to them progressing to the Women’s World Cup later this year.The baby steps may seem condescending but it follows the structures the ICC has in place for all umpires, regardless of gender. As a member-driven organisation, the ICC relies on domestic umpire programmes to feed their panels. The more female umpires member countries have in their systems, the more female umpires the ICC will have at its disposal. The problem is that there just aren’t that many going around.In Australia, where there are 9168 active umpires, a little over 3% (278) are women. South Africa has close to 50 female umpires. Numbers elsewhere around the world are similarly low. Simon Taufel, who worked with the BCCI’s international umpires panel, and the next three rungs, said to ESPNcricinfo that there were no female umpires among the top 110 officials that he had come into contact with in India.So is it simply that female umpires, like female journalists in sport, are a small but growing number, or are they actively choosing not to become involved in a profession they feel will discriminate against them? Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

“When compared to their male colleagues, there is a lot more pressure on a female official to get everything right because they are so easily identified and criticised”Sean Easey, CA match-officials manager

“Females seem reluctant to get involved and that is something that we are trying to change,” Sean Easey, the match-officials manager at Cricket Australia said. “There is a traditionally male-dominated environment in cricket, and the reality is that female officials subsequently stand out from their peers. For example, when compared to their male colleagues, there is a lot more pressure on a female official to get everything right because they are so easily identified and criticised. That will change as the ratio of male to female umpires improves, but it will take time.”Kathy Cross would know. She is the most experienced member of the four the ICC has chosen to stand in the Women’s World Cup qualifier, and the first woman umpire on the ICC’s Associate and Affiliate Panel, which she was appointed to in 2014. That made her eligible to officiate in World Cricket League matches from Division Three to Six, and she has since stood in a Division Five and Four event. She has also been involved in three women’s World Cups and has presided over 39 women’s ODIs and 16 T20s.Cross’ journey to the middle was much longer than that of many others, primarily because she only found a means to participate in cricket after she was married, with children.”I was always interested in cricket but could not play the game in my early years because I went to a girls’ school, which did not have a cricket team,” she said. “It was only after my marriage that I got interested in cricket as my husband and three children – two boys and a girl – used to play at the club level. We supported our children and I started playing at the age of 30. I played women’s local club matches for close to ten years.”By chance, the vice-principal of a college where Cross used to volunteer asked her whether she would like to go to an umpires’ meeting “to have a better learning of the laws of cricket”, and she agreed. She moved from playing to umpiring after 40 and then things sped up a touch. Cross had only been umpiring for a year when one of the umpire trainers suggested she try to become involved in the 2000 Women’s World Cup, which was being held in New Zealand.Although Cross did not stand in that tournament, she was in the background and quickly moved on to her first “big match” – a domestic women’s game between Canterbury and Central Districts. She has since overseen much bigger events, including a Women’s World T20, and admits there is a difference between officiating in a men’s match and a women’s.Sue Redfern (left) and Jacqueline Williams (right) were the first female umpires to stand in a men’s ICC tournament match, when they officiated in the Nigeria v Oman ICC World Cricket League Division Five game in May 2016•Peter Della Penna”In the men’s match, the ball comes down a lot faster. Everything is a lot quicker. Watching the ball is much different,” she said.There are also elements that are the same. “Women are not fast but play the game with the same intensity.” Doubtless that means it requires the same concentration and the same presence of mind to make the best decisions in the moment.Although Cross dreams of standing in a Test match, be it a men’s or women’s fixture, just like any other umpire, she feels “that is a long way away because women umpires will need a lot of experience before they can get there”.For a start, they would need to graduate to the ICC international panel, and Cross is not the only one to suggest it will take several more years, if not decades, before that happens. There is evidence to show how slow the progress has been. At member level, female umpires are battling to make an impact even in top-tier domestic matches of either gender.Most umpires stand in club matches, men’s or women’s, and need to do their time there for seasons before progressing to age-group tournaments, provincial or state games, and eventually international matches. Australia have had two female umpires standing in men’s matches: at Under-17 and in the Futures League – the 2nd XI competition. They have also had women performing third-umpire roles in the one-day tournament and in the Big Bash League. In South Africa, the highest-ranked female umpire officiated at the U-15 week, and although there was a woman who progressed further – to the U-19 week, club championships and the Varsity Cup – she left cricket to pursue other interests.

Although Cross dreams of standing in a Test match, be it a men’s or women’s fixture, just like any other umpire, she feels “that is a long way away because women umpires will need a lot of experience before they can get there”

Acceleration programmes are in place among some members. In South Africa, for example, they target the unearthing of umpires from disadvantaged backgrounds. CSA is also in the process of appointing umpire coaches, who will, among other things, focus on female recruitment. But like the women’s game at large, it will need time to develop.It has been scientifically proven that men’s reaction times are faster than women’s. Given that umpires occasionally have to take evasive action and are in constant danger of being hit, this would have a bearing on how many female umpires are put in charge of men’s matches, although all the organisations interviewed, including the ICC, maintained that anyone who displays the qualities of an international umpire will be promoted regardless of gender.CSA has found that there is a correlation between the number of woman playing the game and those who progress to umpiring. “For want of not making excuses, the fact that women’s cricket is in its fledgling stage, when compared to men’s cricket, contributes to the lower numbers in the associations,” Karl Hurter, CSA’s national match-officials administrator said. “As we see the number of leagues and the number of teams participating in those leagues grow, we expect that there will be an element of natural advancement, from playing to umpiring. Even on the male side, it is seldom that we have someone who has never played the game wanting to take up umpiring.”It is not essential that umpires have played at any level, but it does help add some weight to their cause. “Having some playing experience does help a match official within the sport,” Taufel said. “The umpire should have a better ‘feel’ for the game, have a greater understanding of what the game expects in officiating terms, and is better placed to demonstrate humility and empathy with what the players go through.”Playing experience is not essential when an umpire starts their career but is an advantage, and having played the higher levels of the game does assist with receiving a higher level of initial credibility with the players and other stakeholders. Having said that, just because you have played the game for a long time or at a high level will not mean you will be a good umpire. It is a very different discipline to playing.”And in 2017, we should all know that.

Our correspondent spends the evening of the tournament final in a Mumbai pub and comes away enlightened

Srinath Sripath23-May-2017″You think it will rain a lot tonight? Putting team for fantasy”My Whatsapp buzzes about ten minutes ahead of the knockout clash between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. Many time zones behind, it is 10am in Ohio, where an Indian friend is applying the finishing touches to his fantasy league team for the day. He has played IPL fantasy for the best part of the season, though he does not support any of the teams in the actual tournament. For him it is about competing with his office colleagues, and in many ways, he has followed the tournament and its players a lot closer than he would have while backing a real-life side.”You have 17,500 points? Then I’m super waste, just 16k here. Couldn’t wake up at 6am on weekends to make changes sometimes.”Fantasy leagues are a big deal in franchise and club sport around the world, and it’s no different in the IPL. This year the commentators regularly promoted the official fantasy league on air, talking about over half a million people playing on the official site alone. Given there are multiple auctions, and team line-ups change all the time, it would be safe to say that people support teams because they contain their favoured individual stars more than they support the teams themselves as a whole. That, though, is an easy generalisation that ignores the sheer diversity of the species straitjacketed under the term “IPL fan”.

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Nobody likes being labelled an IPL fan. You were either a cricket fan from before the tournament’s time or you are a recent convert, just in it for two months of entertainment. In CLR James terms, “what do they know of cricket who only IPL know?” is a sentiment that is never far away when you’re discussing the tournament with hardcore cricket fans.

The IPL is hard to avoid, if you consider the many ways it has made its way into every Indian’s life

A few weeks ago, while out for a Sunday lunch at a restaurant with a group of friends, there was a large screen showing the 4pm IPL game live. As I mumbled about a poor shot, a lady friend said, “Why are you making us watch this shit just because it’s work for you, ?” But having claimed to not watch it at all, she could not resist when talk drifted to Royal Challengers Bangalore, the franchise from her city of residence. “They won against Gujarat, no? Yeah, I think I saw that.”The IPL is hard to avoid, if you consider the many ways it has made its way into every Indian’s life. Out on a Saturday evening? You can’t miss the screen. Want to start a conversation with people at work? Look no further than last night’s game. The latest food-tech app discount code? Just predict who wins tonight and take it. In fact, if you live in urban or semi-urban India, you are likely to know someone playing IPL match-result predictor or fantasy cricket every day. The game around the game has never been bigger in India, and every other person is invested in one way or another.James Astill, who wrote , about cricket in modern India a few years ago, concluded the book with a visit to Dharavi, a famous slum district in Mumbai, to find out who was watching the IPL there. Ravi Shastri’s voice echoed through alleys “so narrow and overbuilt they were almost tunnels”, and Astill estimated one in three huts was watching the IPL. It is a number that is only likely to have increased since 2013, when the book was published.

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Sameer, a young man in his mid-20s, works close to where I live, in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. Every evening as I go past his barber shop, he is on his phone, or his PC, watching a five-minute-delayed stream of the match. I ask him who he supports, and he is quick to point out that he is more of a “Big Bass” fan than he is of the IPL. He is talking of Australia’s Big Bash League.The IPL has attracted a wide array of demographic groups•Getty ImagesSameer follows the IPL, he says, before adding that he is supporting Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians this year. Why the BBL, though? He says he loves it because all the big hitters play there, by which, I soon find out, he is referring to Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum and AB de Villiers (who has not played in the Big Bash). He knows all these men through the IPL, and yet, for him, being seen as a Big Bash fan is prized higher. The IPL’s many scandals over the years are partly to blame, and fans like Sameer still make casual accusations that something is amiss in the IPL even now.He goes on to explain how he enjoys watching Australia and South Africa play ODIs, and the slugfest that is the Ashes. It is the only Test series he watches, due to the (swagger) with which both teams battle each other over a long period. All this after a typical, nonchalant remark, distancing himself from Test cricket: ” time ” (Who has so much time?)

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If T20 cricket has helped attract the time-starved fan in the metropolis, it has given birth to whole new cultures outside it. At a Mumbai resto-pub screening the IPL final, a group of five, spanning three generations of cricket fans, is seated next to our table.Parimal and his friend Chinmay are here en route to a holiday in Coorg, accompanied by their children and the latter’s father-in-law. The two are practising doctors in Surat and say they follow the game no matter where they are, including through evening shifts treating outpatients at their clinic.

Nobody likes being labelled an IPL fan. In CLR James terms, “what do they know of cricket who only IPL know?” is a sentiment that is never far away

As the tournament song plays on TV, one of their children sings along, loud enough to turn heads at the tables around them. It is Adit, Chinmay’s son, a “walking vocabulary of cricket” according to his grandfather, by which I infer he is referring to an encyclopaedia. A Virat Kohli fan, Adit remembers stats and trivia from international cricket and IPL alike, spewing them out regularly as the game wears on. At one point, while I speak to his dad, he pipes up to say, “Papa is a fan of Yuvraj Singh, with whom I share my birthday on December 12.”Grandfather and grandson play their own version of fantasy cricket, in which each picks three players who could star in a particular game, and cheers them on, wishing the other’s picks fail. When Jaydev Unadkat takes a stunning return catch, the old man exults with a clichéd headline of an expression: “Unadkat on fire!” There is silence from his grandson sitting across from him. He waits until his man Krunal Pandya fires late in the innings, clenching his fist as grandpa chugs his drink.This fan demographic is new to me and dents my carefully built stereotypes about IPL watchers. The next detail to hit me shatters them all.Parimal and Chinmay’s families and friends often travel all the way from Surat to Mumbai and Pune to watch their favourite cricketers play in the IPL, they say. Why, just last week some of them came down to watch the Pune side play one of their last games. They need to plan in advance, considering it’s a 300-plus kilometre trek one way, but they always find ways around it.From my carefully curated Twitter timeline, which I often wrongly perceive as a microcosm of the world, I only knew of people travelling to faraway cities to watch Test matches and World Cup fixtures. I now have a new insight into how smaller towns in India follow T20.Five minutes earlier, they probably couldn’t have cared less•Getty ImagesIt is a demographic the tournament’s organisers seem to understand well, seeing how they have created “fan parks” in these towns, where people come together in large numbers to watch public screenings of the game. A quick search on Instagram testifies to the success of the move, revealing a seemingly never-ending stream of selfies and panoramic imagery from these venues.

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Ten years on, apart from bringing new, younger fans into the fold, the IPL has seen multiple cricket-crazy populations grow old with it. Those of us for whom waking up to Australia time was normal when India toured there, those of us who travelled overnight to watch ODIs in big cities, all while cherishing our own memories of playing and watching the game together growing up in the same town, or amid close-knit, like-minded groups in a college hostel, have now lived through what feels like an entire generation of players making it through multiple editions of the IPL, drifting into their cricketing sunset and coming back as commentators.Two such friends from junior college, Brijesh and Manoj, are sitting a small beer snake away from the family table. It is the first time in more than eight years that they have got together, to cheer for Mumbai Indians in the IPL final.Through the match, they do what all passionate fans in their teens and early twenties do – swear liberally when a chance goes down, reminisce about the good old days, when life used to be simpler, and cheer loudly when their side eventually wins, without giving a bleeping bleep about being in a public setting.While neither of them has gone to a stadium to watch an IPL game, because getting tickets is a hassle, both make it a point to plan their work schedules so as to be home on time for every Mumbai Indians match. This is Mumbai, where they have long commutes back from work, but as they say, it is just what needs to be done. If nothing, there is always a live stream or ball-by-ball commentary to follow while on the go.

Ten years on, apart from bringing new, younger fans into the fold, the IPL has seen multiple cricket-crazy populations grow old with it

Both were fantasy cricket aficionados till last year, but not any more. Nowadays it is just casual match predictor games with their colleagues at work, betting on stuff like large bottles of soft drinks and lunch treats every week.What about international cricket? “Of course . In fact, even now when England played India, we were at the Wankhede,” says Brijesh, who works in Navi Mumbai as a mechanical engineer. He and Manoj started following the IPL in college, when they picked their favourite India player and started supporting his franchise: Rohit Sharma was just a promising young batsman then, shining in the Commonwealth Bank series in Australia, and his stylish cricket on that tour caught their eye.

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The final moves towards a close finish, and as every ball of the last over is played out, the crowd swells around the television screens. By the time we get to the last ball, doors open from every part of the restaurant – chefs, bartenders, managers, they are all now in, watching. As Mumbai sneak to their third IPL title, there is a loud cheer, almost in unison, from those who couldn’t be bothered about it just minutes ago.The densely populated room now contains members of the tournament’s diverse fan bases – a few diehard loyalists, and some who travel long distances to watch their heroes in flesh and blood; mostly it is filled with those who claim not to watch, not to care much, except when a thriller presents itself, as it does often in this format.Across the country, large screens are surrounded by people looking up anxiously. Everything comes to a standstill, and a brief moment of collective emotion engulfs previously empty public spaces. It is a tournament for everyone, and yet, a tournament almost no one wants to claim as their own.

How well do you know your IPL stars? Who’s playing where this year? Take our poll to find out

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Apr-2017Just tell us which team each of these cricketers will represent in IPL 2017.

There has been very little clarity around the situation that has led from Anil Kumble’s sacking as India coach to Ravi Shastri’s appointment to the position, suggesting the BCCI is still averse to transparency

Sidharth Monga12-Jul-20175:30

Kalra: Apparent disagreement among panel on Shastri’s appointment

Hours before the cricket advisory committee (CAC) arrived at a decision, one TV channel jumped the gun and announced Ravi Shastri as the new India coach. At that point, the BCCI was in a meeting at Taj Mahal hotel in central Delhi. This meeting – originally called to find some sort of consensus on adopting parts of the Lodha Committee reforms – had lost all value once a few state associations decided to boycott in protest. It was just a glorified tea party now.When the “news” broke, phones started ringing inside the meeting, letting the BCCI know that the BCCI had announced a new coach. In a different scenario, the BCCI might have taken this seriously, even issued a rejoinder perhaps, but on Tuesday, one member inside the meeting room joked, ” BCCI [Which BCCI made the announcement]?” And, as they sipped on their tea, everybody laughed.Had this not been real, it could have been a scene straight of , the legendary film and razor-sharp satire on Indian politics and power. The camera zooms out, the laughter slowly fades away, and the next scene begins with the narrator asking: “Which BCCI indeed?”The BCCI of its CEO Rahul Johri, who was caught napping or chose to sleep as the trouble between Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble kept on brewing? The BCCI of the Committee of Administrators (CoA), who can choose to ignore problems by arguing their mandate is to impose reforms, and can pick and choose issues to meddle in? The BCCI of acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, who couldn’t see any smoke when the house that Kumble built was being burnt down? The BCCI of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which is riddled with conflicts of interests, granted an ambiguous power to recommend a coach but with no responsibility to try to make it work? Or the BCCI of Kohli, whose wish finally prevailed in getting Shastri as the coach?Whichever version it might be, the BCCI has slowly slipped back to having no accountability, doing away with press conferences to announce squads or coaches, and dealing in releases as clear as the water that collects on Indian roads during the monsoon.The BCCI were caught napping by the dispute between Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli•AFPFor example, in its official world, the BCCI still wants everyone to believe that it was Kumble who decided to leave even when the CAC had “endorsed” an extension for him, as its release dated June 20 and titled “Anil Kumble withdraws” says. What it won’t tell you is that the extension was only for the West Indies tour, and even that was yet to be accepted by the BCCI, and more importantly, Kohli. In other words, they tried to say Kumble was leaving and they were helpless, whereas, in fact, Kumble jumped before he would have been pushed.No one in the CAC thought it fit to clarify. This is the committee that couldn’t find the time, will or wherewithal to sit alone with Kumble and Kohli during the Champions Trophy: just the cricketers sitting down and trying to resolve an issue between a coach that three legends had subverted process to appoint less than a year ago, and a captain they have faith in. Through the whole fiasco, there was not one meeting between just the five of Kohli, Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.You live, you learn, you’d think. Perhaps the lesson was learnt. The same CAC now wanted to sit down with Kohli and tell him, in the words of one of its members Ganguly, that he “needs to understand how coaches also operate”. Perhaps someone in the committee wanted to let Kohli know he wasn’t being granted his wish because he can’t so openly choose the coach; a wish that one of the aforementioned BCCIs had already started fulfilling by extending the deadline for applications.This, according to the board, was being done to encourage those who didn’t apply because of Kumble’s presence in the process because he seemed certain to get another go. A more laughable reason could not be possible; everybody knew Kumble was not going to continue from the day the BCCI began the smear campaign against him through selective leaks.Be that as it may, it seemed the CAC now was going the independent way. Ganguly suggested, a day before the eventual announcement, that there was disagreement over the coach, and that they needed time to thrash it out with Kohli, that there was still time, and that they were happy to wait for Kohli to come back from his holiday and make up their collective minds. And then suddenly, the CoA got into action, and asked the board – as various officials confirmed – to announce the coach “as soon as possible”.Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar, who make up the Cricket Advisory Committee, appointed Rahul Dravid as batting consultant on overseas toursWhy didn’t the CoA react with similar alacrity to the issues that Ramachandra Guha, a former member, kept raising? Why is the CoA not consistent about what its priorities are? What was the blinding hurry, as if in a pre-GST discount sale, to get a new coach? Or was it that a member of the CAC sought help from the CoA because he feared his favoured candidate could miss out if time passed?And how obediently have the BCCI and CAC listened to this order from the CoA, even though their other directives regarding reforms have been brazenly ignored. In the end, the pre-fixed result was arrived at. But, like parents who might let their stubborn little one on an adventure ride provided they had adult supervision, the CAC went ahead and appointed two more men as support staff, two men they played their cricket with.Since when did it become the mandate of the CAC to choose the new coach’s support staff? If the CAC was going to choose, would it not have been ideal to invite applications for the bowling coach? You wonder what responsibility Shastri is left with now, apart from what Kohli likes him for. An unwritten convention is to give the coach the first right to recommend the support he wants to work with, so that you know in no unclear terms who is at the wheel. So many superstars in one leadership team – and a big one at that – is recipe for disaster. The CoA has patted the CAC on its back instead of asking them why there was no process followed in selecting the support staff.Since we began with political satire, it is only fair we go back to the greatest political satire written in India, . In this novel, a records clerk and a villager fail to agree on the amount that should be the bribe for a document the villager needs. Personal insults follow. Eventually the clerk turns all honest, “Now I don’t need a bribe. Whatever has to happen will happen through the due process.” The villager ultimately never gets that document because nobody other than the clerk knows the process.In the village of Indian cricket, “process” is a similar well that those inside draw from. If Kumble has to be appointed to keep Shastri out, it is done through a process. If Kumble has to be kicked out, the BCCI does it through a process. When the captain is asked about it, he hides behind a process, knowing well that his previous coach Duncan Fletcher got an extension without a process. If a pre-fixed coach has to be appointed, the BCCI alters the process. If the team loses on the field, it focuses on the process and not the result. Not wanting to follow the Supreme Court order too is a process. In the process the BCCI has even out-processed the CoA, one of whom has dabbled successfully in Indian bureaucracy, where all processes come to worship.

Abhishek Nayar, a five-time Ranji Trophy winner, talks about the players he hero-worshipped as a youngster and the breezy irreverence of Mumbai’s current generation

Abhishek Nayar09-Nov-2017 (Mumbai should be seen in your eyes. It should reflect in your eyes that you play for Mumbai)Amol Muzumdar opened my eyes straight away. Amol was the epitome of the school of cricket Mumbai has been famous for for decades. When I heard that for the first time I did not understand what he was saying.Then I thought it bloody means I have to bring that spirit to the game. I have to make that difference when everyone feels nothing is happening. Amol, Nilesh [Nilesh Kulkarni], Sai [Sairaj Bahutule], Ramesh Powar – all these guys used to just kill the domestic circuit. During the days we heard tales about how sometimes Nilesh was like Courtney Walsh was bowling left-arm spin and getting that kind of bounce. How Sai and co. would pack off Saurashtra in three days. It was unreal to watch them destroy the opposition in tandem.These guys would walk in to the game with an attitude that was ruthless. (It is a four-day match. By lunch on the fourth day, we should finish the game, have biryani, and go home.)” And all you heard in the dressing room was: we have to win the Ranji Trophy. Not winning the next match or something. It was always about winning the tournament.For youngsters like me and others of my batch we just had blind faith in what seniors like Amol and Nilesh would say and do. We were just in awe of these guys. We youngsters would talk about how Amol would stand at silly point without a helmet or how Nilesh could consistently hit the handle of the bat with his left-arm spin. We just wanted to live up to their expectations and hopefully fulfill ours.If you look at the Mumbai dressing room now it is full of youngsters. When I entered the dressing room I was sharing it with guys who were used to winning, dominating the domestic circuit. It was about how I could do something to play the next match, how I can survive in the dressing room.The pressure was not just from the seniors but also the pressure of just doing well. If you did not win it outright then the feeling was you had not had the best game. Winning outright, at least at the Wankhede, running through an opponent was the norm.

These guys would walk in to the game with an attitude that was ruthless. ” (It is a four-day match. By lunch on the fourth day, we should finish the game, have biryani, and go home.)”

Acceptance in a dressing room is always important and earning respect of your teammates in Mumbai is very difficult. My first year was truly baptism by fire, but it hardened me and has taken me where I am today. My first year was not the best. I had got three consecutive ducks so I was not expecting to win any friends. Two of the ducks in the same match as a nightwatchman, in our final league match against Maharashtra, which they won outright. By the second year Pravin sir [Pravin Amre] had taken over as the coach and he supported me.But the turning point for came when Ajit Agarkar gave a glowing compliment having seen me play against Rajasthan at Wankhede. I had scored an attractive 86 and picked up five wickets in the match. Ajit liked what he saw of me and told Milind Rege sir (selector) that “this guy is a very good player. Where was he all this time?”We won that season and Amol, who was the captain, started believing in me and told me that my attitude would take me a long way and I had played a role in Mumbai winning the title. Guys like Amol and Nilesh actually brought the best out of me. I got that drive to perform because I was asked difficult questions by my seniors. It taught me what it takes to play for Mumbai and perform and rub shoulders with the best.Today I have won the Ranji Trophy five times. I know I now belong. It took years of toil. I am now a senior in the Mumbai dressing room, which is completely different to the ones I was part of previously.I was overawed by my seniors, like I said, but today’s youngsters, as much as they respect me, are not overburdened by the legacy created by hundreds of Mumbai players in the past. A Prithvi Shaw can easily crack a joke and be cool with it. In our last match, in Odisha, Prithvi was my roommate. Usually it is Shreyas [Shreyas Iyer], but he was away playing the New Zealand T20 series. So one of the nights Prithvi, feeling cold, moved from his single bed into my bed. Another night I was forced to go and sleep on his bed since I was pushed halfway out of my bed.After so many years of playing I have developed a sort of limp in my walk. Prithvi is not shy to point it out and joke, ” (Your time is up).” It is a different breed now.Getty ImagesWhen I shared a room with Nilesh during my younger days, I remember how it was left spic and span. I would not even touch the remote. (quietly) I used to sit. Once Amol picked me up from the DY Patil Stadium and took me to the Mumbai Cricket Association office and I was telling the town about it for the rest of the day.But now that hero worship is not there. They do want to play for the pride of Mumbai, but the youngsters today want to kind of set their own legacy. They want to create a name, brand, destiny. A Shreyas Iyer, a Siddhesh Lad, a Shardul Thakur – they do want to listen what Amol, Nilesh and others did in the past, but they want to win trophies for Mumbai, score 1000 runs in a season, they want to have their names in the record books. That is what this era believes in. That is brilliant and I encourage such a mindset.It does scare me sometimes, the freedom with which they play. A lot of times I heard them saying ” (Hit out)” I have to laugh out. I have to tell them that I have done what you are doing, but someone has to oversee, guide and arrest them from getting carried away.Times might be changing, but one thing I am confident about is some of these young men will in their own flamboyant way take Mumbai cricket forward. It is a good bunch of players with different talents. There is Akhil Herwadkar, a hardworking, player who will do everything for the team, a contrast to the flair and sort of arrogance of Shreyas and Prithvi; there is Siddhesh Lad, slowly becoming a crisis man; there is Aditya Tare, the captain, a perfect role model, who will give youngsters the space, but can bring back the old school attitude to reign them in.My message to the young lot is simple: respect the game and respect your talent. A lot of these guys in the Mumbai team are so talented, but at times they take it for granted. In the past an Amol Muzumdar or a Nilesh Kulkarni optimised his talent to the hilt. Hard work, work ethic, the attitude they walked into the ground with, you could never question them ever.That is what I tell these youngsters: never take this team and what is done in the past for granted. Because when you wear the Mumbai Lions on your chest there is more to it than just going there and showing off that you can score a hundred, but that double or triple that the team requires. You do what the team needs. And Mumbai always want to win.

And who is the youngest player to feature in the IPL?

Steven Lynch01-May-2018Is Mujeeb Ur Rahman the youngest overseas player to feature in the IPL? asked Qadir Ahmed from Pakistan
The Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman was born on March 28, 2001, and so was only 11 days past his 17th birthday when he made his debut for Kings XI Punjab against Delhi Daredevils in Chandigarh on April 8 this year. That doesn’t just make him the youngest overseas player in the IPL (a record formerly held by the Australian allrounder Mitchell Marsh, at 18 years 170 days in 2010), but the youngest from anywhere.Mujeeb took the overall record from Sarfaraz Khan, who was aged 17 years 177 days when he made his IPL debut, for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Chennai Super Kings in Bengaluru in 2015. Four other 17-year-olds have appeared in the IPL: Pradeep Sangwan (for Delhi Daredevils in 2008), Washington Sundar and Rahul Chahar (both for Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017), and Ishan Kishan (Gujarat Lions 2016).The oldest man to appear in the IPL is the Australian spinner Brad Hogg, who was 45 years 92 days old when he played his last match for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2016. Praveen Tambe (43), Muttiah Muralitharan (42), Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist (41), Sanath Jayasuriya, Rahul Dravid, Azhar Mahmood and Sachin Tendulkar (40) all played when they were over 40 years of age. Tendulkar’s last IPL match, in Mumbai in 2013, came 19 days after his 40th birthday.Is it true that Frank Worrell’s batting average never went below 50 until his final Test? asked Craig Lewis from Barbados
The great West Indian batsman Sir Frank Worrell played 51 Tests, and finished with a batting average of 49.48 after being bowled by Brian Statham for 9 in his final match, at The Oval in 1963. Before that his average had been 50.01.After his first two Tests – against England in 1947-48 – brought innings of 97, 28 not out and 131 not out, Worrell had an average of 256. Not surprisingly it dropped a little after that, but it was still over 70 after 14 matches (by the end of West Indies’ tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1951-52). It remained over 50 almost throughout the rest of his career – but did dip just below that during the first two matches of India’s tour of the Caribbean in 1961-62. A duck in the first Test, in Port-of-Spain, took him to a career-low 49.79. An innings of 58 in the next Test took it back to 49.91, then 77 in Bridgetown got the average back above 50, where it stayed until his final Test, by which time Worrell was 39. For his averages throughout his Test career, click here.The only two players who maintained a batting average of over 50 throughout their Test careers were Herbert Sutcliffe of England, whose lowest was his final mark of 60.73, and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad (a lowest of 51.75).Australia’s 209 for 4 against England last month is the highest innings total in a women’s T20I•AFPWas Australia’s 209 the other day the highest total in a women’s T20 international? asked Jamie Stewart from Canada
Australia’s 209 for 4 against England in Mumbai last month was indeed the highest score in women’s T20Is. The only other total above 200 is South Africa’s 205 for 1 against the Netherlands in Potchefstroom in October 2010. Then comes England’s 199 for 3, to overhaul India’s 198 for 4 in Mumbai last month (six days before Australia’s record). Not surprisingly, that match, which featured 397 runs in all, had the highest aggregate for any women’s T20I.I wondered who the leading allrounder was in men’s T20 internationals – has anyone yet scored 500 runs and taken 50 wickets? asked David Powell from England
At the moment there are six men who have reached both 500 runs and 50 wickets in T20Is. The man nearest to the 1000-run/100-wicket double is Shahid Afridi: he’s the leading wicket-taker overall, with 97, and also scored 1405 runs – but he played the last of his 98 matches in March 2016.The others to have done it are Dwayne Bravo of West Indies (1142 runs and 52 wickets), Mohammad Nabi of Afghanistan (961 runs and 61 wickets), Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien (702 runs and 54 wickets), Thisara Perera of Sri Lanka (959 runs and 50 wickets), and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan (1237 runs and 75 wickets)Will the ECB’s new 100-ball competition require a whole new set of statistical records? asked Martin Sanders from England
I imagine it will: I can almost see some of the technical boffins in ESPNcricinfo’s offices scratching their heads about it even now, especially how to cope with the idea of a ten-ball over. (Bowlers everywhere are presumably doing the same.)I suppose it might be possible to lump the figures together with the T20 ones, perhaps calling it “short-form” or some similar name. The existing List A figures, after all, include matches played over a variety of innings lengths. In England alone there have been regular competitions over 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 overs (and even 65 in the earliest days of the Gillette Cup), and all these are treated as one format for stats purposes.