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Root has batted at No. 3 throughout the English summer but says he made a “spur of the moment decision”

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2018Joe Root, England’s captain, has insisted his decision to bat at No. 4 in the second innings in Southampton was made “for the good of the team”.Root has batted at No. 3 throughout the English summer but, having averaged just 28.54 in that time, said he made a “spur of the moment decision” to move back to the No. 4 position in which he averages 52.45.That meant a promotion for Moeen Ali, who had batted at No. 7 in the first innings. And while he scored only 9, Root described Moeen as “very excited” about the opportunity to bat up the order and suggested the move had “worked very well”. Root made 48, his highest score in six innings.”Ultimately I did it for the good of the team and to try and get the best out of myself,” Root told Sky Sports ahead of the fourth day’s play at the Ageas Bowl. “I know if I score runs we’ve got a great chance of winning the game.”It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision. We’re in a position where Moeen is in great form. He bats at No. 3 for his county, so we thought it was a good opportunity for him to go out there and play in his own manner at No. 3 for England.”I felt batting at No. 4 in this situation and getting the best out of myself would give us a better chance of getting up towards 230-250. It’s worked pretty well.”It might not have been Moeen who got runs but part of being a team is that you all play your part and the fact I’ve come down to No. 4 in this innings worked in a way.”Mo was very excited about it and it wouldn’t have been the case if he hadn’t desperate to do it. He sees himself as a top-order batter. He goes back to Worcester and bats at No. 3. He got a double-hundred last week. He was pleased to have that opportunity. It didn’t work out this time around but there’s no reason he wouldn’t be able to be successful in that position in the future.”Whether Moeen will get another chance to bat at No. 3 remains to be seen with Root declining to confirm that his move back to No. 4 would be permanent.”Whether it’s a long term thing with Mo we’ll have to wait and see,” Root said. “I tried to get the best out of myself in this situation so I put myself at No. 4. I think every situation is different.”Every now and then you might have to change things around. It’s not something that is good to do a lot – especially with your batting – but every now and then, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”While Root described the decision as “spur of the moment”, it seems it was made ahead of the third day’s play. Earlier in the summer, Root was described as having moved to No. 3 by his own choice by Ed Smith, the national selector.

Michael Carberry’s stand-off with Leicestershire has come to an end by “mutual consent”, with the former England opener now set to leave the club

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2018Michael Carberry’s stand-off with Leicestershire has come to an end by “mutual consent”, with the former England opener set to leave the club for which he hasn’t played since being axed as captain in May.Carberry, who moved to Grace Road late in the 2017 season, was named as captain last October, but lasted for less than half a season before Paul Nixon, the head coach, replaced him with Paul Horton following an internal review.Explaining his decision at the time, Nixon said that Carberry’s leadership had been “more reactive than proactive”, and that he would be taking a short break from the game.”It was a huge decision, the toughest decision of my career,” Nixon said. “Michael is a fantastic man with great integrity and is a massively valued member of this team and we are desperate to get him back. He’s going to have a little break, get his head clear and round it, and maybe it was us asking too much of him in the first place.”But he’s taken this club forward already with the things he’s done and his attitude and it was a very tough decision to make but we think the right one moving forward.”Carberry’s career had been at a crossroads when he left Hampshire after undergoing treatment for cancer in 2016. He had reportedly been considering legal action against Leicestershire, but that prospect has now been dropped.In a brief statement, the club added: “Leicestershire County Cricket Club and Michael Carberry have agreed to part company by mutual agreement.Leicestershire County Cricket Club would like to wish Michael all the very best for the future. The club will not be making any further comment.”

PCB chairman Ehsan Mani went so far as to say there was “nothing that happens in Pakistan cricket that this committee cannot look at”

Danyal Rasool26-Oct-2018A new cricketing committee will be given wide-ranging powers to oversee the state of all aspects of Pakistan cricket. It will be chaired by Mohsin Khan, and includes among its members Wasim Akram, Misbah-ul-Haq and Urooj Mumtaz. Three other former cricketers – Mudassar Nazar, Zakir Khan and Haroon Rasheed – will provide functional and administrative assistance to the committee as it carries out its work.The committee, while not allocated any decision-making power, has been handed a wide remit and will meet thrice in a year. PCB chairman Ehsan Mani went so far as to say there was “nothing that happens in Pakistan cricket that this committee cannot look at”. Subhan Ahmed, the board’s chief operating officer, said the committee will evaluate and make recommendations on the state of pitches and balls used in domestic cricket. Further duties include overseeing grade-level and women’s cricket and meeting with the head coach at least three times a year to “assess their performance and understand what their plans and goals are and guide the PCB in these aspects”. It will also oversee the performance of the national selectors and national coaches.A key power invested in the committee will be the authority to appoint members to the selection committee, but Ahmed insisted it wouldn’t be allowed to interfere in day-to-day selection matters. “The selection committee will continue to function independently from this cricket committee. They have separate roles to perform. The cricket committee has been given a remit to independently oversee various aspects.”Mohsin promised that the committee would function “without any favouritism”. “I would like to thank chairman Mani for the opportunity,” he said. “The chairman told me he wanted to form a committee that included some of the best cricketers in Pakistan’s history, and you can see that in the presence of Wasim, Misbah and Urooj Mumtaz. We will all work together on issues ranging from domestic cricket to international cricket, be it about selection, captain or coaches. We will make all our decisions on merit, without any favouritism. That is my goal, and I’m glad the chairman has given me such a fine team to work with.”Wasim Akram also thanked Mani, and said the main idea was to find the best way to help Pakistan cricket. “People have often asked me why I haven’t got involved in coaching, especially with my experience of the past 8-10 years. But it’s about finding the best way to improve Pakistan cricket, which involves improving the first-class structure. It won’t happen overnight, but with the experience of all of us, we can make a difference.”Urooj Mumtaz, the only female cricketer on the panel, said she was honoured Mani had “considered her worthy” of the appointment. “I can easily say I’ve been there from the inception of women’s cricket in Pakistan,” she said. “I feel I have a lot to offer, with how much women’s cricket I’ve played and watched. I’ve been the captain and a selector for the team at various times. We can make significant improvements to women’s cricket because there’s a great scope for improvement in that department. We want to become a force to be reckoned with, and the upcoming women’s World T20 – the first standalone women’s World T20 – signifies it’s time for us to leave our mark on the game.”The most recently retired player to be part of the committee, Misbah-ul-Haq, who is still active in the domestic circuit, said he felt he understood the problems facing domestic cricket. “It’s a good opportunity for all of us to share our ideas and make suggestions to the board. There’s a great need for improvement.”Misbah had shared video footage of squalid dressing rooms at the LCCA ground in Lahore during the first round of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy this year, sparking nation-wide criticism. It triggered a wider conversation about the need to invest in the first-class game, for which Misbah has been an ardent spokesman for several years.”The first-class cricketers are the only ones we have that will go on to represent Pakistan at international level. So we need to provide them with the requisite facilities and make domestic cricket competitive, otherwise you can never improve the standard of cricket in your country.”That I am still playing enables me to get a first-hand account of the current problems facing first-class cricketers. This speeds up the implementation process, because you don’t need to ask anyone else about the realities on the ground. We want to have a significantly improved
domestic system by the time the next Quaid-e-Azam trophy season rolls around.”It was telling most of the talk about the functioning of the committee concerned first-class cricket, the plight of which has begun to receive increasing attention over the past few years. It may be suggestive of the area most of the committee’s attention will be devoted to. The problems range anywhere from substandard pitches and the wrong types of balls used to poorly thought-out schedules that see the Quaid-e-Azam trophy pushed to the margins of the cricketing season in Pakistan. This year, the tournament began on September 1 in searing heat, the earliest it has begun since 1969.As ever with Pakistan cricket, there are motifs of a power struggle in the background. Exactly what the committee will discuss with the head coach – who they must meet at least three times a year – is not yet clear, but what is obvious is some bridges will have to be built if those discussions are to be productive. Just last week, the committee’s chair Mohsin Khan was contemptuously withering in his assessment of head coach Mickey Arthur, calling him a “stupid donkey”. Whether he can offer more constructive advice than that, or indeed whether Arthur and his coaches are willing to take it on board, will be fascinating subplots to watch out for over the coming months.

The players who will be taking centre stage during the Women’s Big Bash League which starts this weekend

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Nov-2018

Adelaide Strikers

Last season: 4thSuzie Bates, Sam Betts, Sarah Coyte, Sophie Devine, Eliza Doddridge, Ellie Falconer, Danielle Hazell, Tahila McGrath, Tegan McPharlin, Bridget Patterson, Katelyn Pope, Alex Price, Tabatha Saville, Megan Schutt, Amanda-Jade Wellington

Brisbane Heat

Last season: 5thJemma Barsby, Haidee Birkett, Josie Dooley, Grace Harris, Laura Harris, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Jess Jonassen, Charli Knott, Delissa Kimmince, Sune Luus, Beth Mooney, Georgia Prestwidge, Kirby Short, Courtney Sippel, Laura Wolvaardt

Hobart Hurricanes

Last season: 8thStefanie Daffara, Ash Day, Erin Fazackerley, Kate Fryett, Corinne Hall, Brooke Hepburn, Heather Knight, Smriti Mandhana, Hayley Matthews, Sasha Moloney, Rhiann O’Donnell, Meg Phillips, Veronica Pyke, Georgia Redmayne, Emma Thompson

Melbourne Renegades

Last season: 6thMaitlan Brown, Zoe Cooke, Jess Duffin, Emma Inglis, Erica Kershaw, Claire Koski, Anna Lanning, Sophie Molineux, Amy Satterthwaite, Molly Strano, Lea Tahuhu, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham, Courtney Webb, Danni Wyatt

Melbourne Stars

Last season: 7thMckinlay Blows, Kristen Beams, Elly Donald, Mignon du Preez, Georgia Elwiss, Nicole Faltum, Holly Ferling, Nicola Hancock, Alana King, Lizelle Lee, Katie Mack, Erin Osborne, Chloe Rafferty, Ange Reakes, Annabel Sutherland

Perth Scorchers

Last season: 3rdMegan Banting, Nicole Bolton, Hayleigh Brennan, Mathilda Carmichael, Piepa Cleary, Kate Cross, Lauren Ebsary, Heather Graham, Amy Jones, Emma King, Meg Lanning, Taneale Peschel, Chloe Piparo, Emily Smith, Elyse Villani

Sydney Sixers

Last season: 1stSarah Aley, Erin Burns, Stella Campbell, Lauren Cheatle, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Clara Iemma, Marizanne Kapp, Carly Leeson, Sara McGlashan, Ellyse Perry, Hayley Silver-Holmes, Lauren Smith, Dane van Niekerk, Tahlia Wilson

Sydney Thunder

Last season: 2ndSam Bates, Alex Blackwell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Rene Farrell, Maisy Gibson, Lisa Griffith, Rachael Haynes, Saskia Horley, Harmanpreet Kaur, Rachel Priest, Naomi Stalenberg, Stafanie Taylor, Rachel Trenaman, Belinda Vakarewa

He said that he had accepted Warner’s advice because he “just wanted to fit in and feel valued” in the team

Daniel Brettig26-Dec-2018Cameron Bancroft has confirmed for the first time that David Warner encouraged him to try to tamper with the ball in Cape Town with the tacit approval of the captain Steven Smith, leading to a scandal that saw all three banned from the game while Cricket Australia dealt with a host of cultural repercussions.The week after Smith revealed he had been aware of conversation between Warner and Bancroft about possible ball-tampering and stated “I don’t want to know about it”, thus allowing the events that followed to take place, Bancroft said that he had accepted the then vice-captain’s advice because he “just wanted to fit in and feel valued” in the team.ALSO READ: Smith opens up on Newlands ‘leadership failure’
“Dave [Warner] suggested to me to carry the action out on the ball given the situation we were in in the game and I didn’t know any better,” Bancroft told . “I didn’t know any better because I just wanted to fit in and feel valued, really – as simple as that.”For me the decision was based around my values. What I valued at the time. I valued fitting in. And I guess you hope that fitting in earns you respect and with that I guess there came a really big cost for the mistake. At the time did I know any better? No. Because I valued this thing called fitting in, fitting in with the team, with my mates, earning respect from senior players and I guess that it led to an absolutely destructive situation, emotionally, personally and I lost cricket for that period of time.”But the really, really interesting thing…I’ve asked myself this question a lot. If I had said ‘no’, what would that have meant? And the thing that I’ve inquired and thought about so often is that if I actually said ‘no’, and I went to bed that night, I had the exact same problem. I had some the problem that I had using the sandpaper on the cricket ball.”And the problem was that I would have gone to bed and I would have felt like I let everybody down. I would have felt like I’d let the team down. I would have felt like I would have hurt our chances to win the game of cricket.”I take no other responsibility but the responsibility I have on myself and my own actions because I am not a victim. I had a choice and I made a massive mistake and that is what is in my control.”Having been handed a nine-month ban by CA, as opposed to the one year penalties given to Warner and Smith, Bancroft is due to make his return to domestic ranks in the Big Bash League game between Perth Scorchers and Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston on December 30.In the intervening months he has worked to broaden himself, taking up yoga and reading widely in addition to the CA-imposed order to do community work and playing club cricket in The Northern Territory and also his home town of Perth.Towards the end of his suspension, Bancroft said that the cultural lessons of Cape Town and the subsequent Longstaff and McCosker cultural reviews would be lost on CA as an organisation if the governing body was not as honest and self-critical as he had been compelled to be.”The reason why it was painful is because the truth hurts. Maybe in that review there was some truths that were pretty hard to accept,” Bancroft said. “What does that bring? It brings an amazing opportunity to do something about it. Only Cricket Australia will know if they are being true to themselves, to be able to own up to some of those recommendations.”If they can look at themselves in the mirror and be really content and be really peaceful, and proud of the direction they’re going, that’s OK. If they aren’t, like me, that value will always come undone won’t it? It will present itself in the face to you and you’ll have to learn another lesson.”

Toby Radford and Esuan Crandon also named among coaching staff for England series

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2019Vasbert Drakes, the former West Indies allrounder, has been named as one of three assistant coaches for the forthcoming Test series against England by the interim head coach ,Richard Pybus.Drakes, who played 12 Tests and 34 ODIs between 1995 and 2004, was the head coach of West Indies women when they emulated the men’s squad in winning the 2016 World T20 in India – a tournament that Pybus oversaw in his role as Windies team director.Drakes will be working alongside the former Guyana allrounder Esuan Crandon and the former Middlesex and Sussex batsman Toby Radford, who was the men’s assistant coach during the 2012 World T20, another campaign that ended in silverware for the men’s squad.”It is an honour to be back working with West Indies cricket again,” said Drakes. “As someone who played the game at the highest level, it has always been my wish to contribute to West Indies cricket and give back to the young players.”We have a tremendous group of players here, full of ambition and hungry for success. Our role as coaches is to offer leadership and sound advice and to share knowledge and create an environment of learning. I want to see West Indies cricket grow and flourish.”Crandon, who coached the Guyana Jaguars to four consecutive Regional First-class titles, will complete the coaching set-up alongside the former Pakistan spin bowler, Mushtaq Ahmed, who will continue in his role as spin bowling consultant.”I am passionate about the game of cricket and a true supporter of West Indies cricket, so ultimately I want to make a contribution to the game in the region and see the players perform at their best,” Crandon said. “I am a calm individual and I’m here to do what is required to help the team succeed … that’s what I enjoy doing, coaching and helping others.”Pybus’ appointment as interim coach was last week ratified by CWI despite a protest from the Leewards Islands Cricket Board (LICB) who claimed that he had been “handpicked” by the CWI president, Dave Cameron after not originally appearing in the shortlist for the role.

The duo combined to pick up 7 for 37 before Liam Livingstone took Karachi Kings to victory in the final over, courtesy the only six of the match

The Report by Danyal Rasool04-Mar-2019

Usman Shinwari celebrates a wicket•PSL

How the game played outIn what has been a fairly evenly contested PSL tournament, there was one team that stood out, if that is the best way to put it: Multan Sultans. They stood out as being not quite at the same level as the others, and on a day they needed a big performance to stay alive, they put in one that merely drove the point further home. Becoming just the second team in PSL history to fail to hit a six across a completed innings, they limped to 118 for 7, never able to get the innings on track for anything close to a par score.That one fast bowler and one spinner from Karachi Kings registered their best bowling figures of the season didn’t help Sultans’ cause either. Usman Shinwari and Umer Khan’s combined figures read 8-0-37-7.As is the case with several low-scoring games, this one became a bit of a nervy scrap towards the end, particularly after Mohammad Abbas bowled a spotless double-wicket maiden to dislodge Colin Ingram and Iftikhar Ahmed. Until then, the chase had been a stroll, Liam Livingstone and Ingram’s 46-run partnership for the third wicket getting Kings close. But with new life breathed into Sultans, Shoaib Malik’s men conjured up the discipline they had lacked in the field for much of the tournament and made Kings’ life as difficult as possible. Kings themselves didn’t help their cause, almost forgetting about strike rotation in a frenzy to get the job done.Sultans won that passage of play, even taking the match to the final over, but the lacklustre display up to that point had done too much damage to afford them a final stay of execution in the tournament. Livingstone brought up his fifty, and the Kings victory, with a six over deep midwicket with four balls to go, ensuring the one game Sultans play in Pakistan will have little tournament relevance for them.Turning pointWith Sultans 75 for 3 and Malik accompanying Hammad Azam in the 14th over, they had some semblance of a platform to make up for the lost time. But Umer ensured there would be no such launchpad for the batsmen, removing Malik and Dan Christian in the same over.Star of the dayShinwari wasn’t going to play the match until Mohammad Amir was forced out after his mother was taken ill. But such is the depth Pakistan enjoy in the fast-bowling department that Shinwari put in a display that made one wonder why he wasn’t the first name on the team sheet. Cranking up the pace, bowling almost every ball close to 145kph, he wrecked the Sultans top order, knocking back the stumps of Umar Siddiq and Johnson Charles. He wasn’t done, though, and returned to take two more wickets with the final two balls of his spell at the death, this time spelling the end for Hammad Azam and Mohammad Irfan. His 4 for 15 meant he made a strong case for a place in the first-choice XI, no matter who is available for the remainder of the tournament.The big missThe PSL has had its share of low-scoring games, but this was a particularly odd one in one respect. Sultans’ innings was just the second in the history of the PSL without a single six over 20 overs. But amazingly enough, Kings – who had until now been the only team to suffer that fate – failed to clear the ropes right until the final delivery of the match when Livingstone lifted legspinner Mohammad Irfan over deep midwicket for the only six of the match. The crowd may have seen a thriller, but they came within a whisker of sitting through that rarest of T20s: the one without a six.Where the teams standSultans became the first team to be eliminated, having managed just two wins from nine games. Kings bolstered their chances of qualification for the playoffs, having split their eight matches right down the middle, placing them fourth above Lahore Qalandars and Sultans.

Pant or Vijay; Jadeja or Khaleel – final chance for MSK Prasad’s selection panel to firm up their World Cup probables

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Feb-2019Before the cricket world turns its gaze IPL-wards starting March 23, there is one key limited-overs series that India will play, at home, against Australia. Comprising two T20Is and five ODIS, it starts on February 23 and runs through March 13. India, as the senior selection committee chairman MSK Prasad said recently, have nearly sealed the 15 World Cup spots. There is “one odd” berth left to fill and plenty of players vying for it.On Friday, Prasad’s panel will meet in Mumbai to pick the squads for the Australian series, giving a possible hint at the player(s) that are likely to travel to England.Going by form and experience, 13 men pick themselves up: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. That leaves two spots to firm up.Specialist batsman or allrounder?If the selectors and the team management opt to go with a fourth specialist fast bowler – like Khaleel Ahmed – that leaves one seat vacant.Could it be KL Rahul’s? He was being looked at a back-up opener or, given his talent and ability to score quickly, a makeshift middle-order bat. Then came a dip in form and the suspension for his behavior on an Indian talk show.KL Rahul reverse pulls the ball•Associated Press

Rahul has since returned to playing and has scored two eighty-plus scores in the ongoing unofficial Tests against the England Lions. But will runs against an A team be enough to push him up the pecking order, especially considering Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar have been doing it in international cricket?Pant might have made his name with his explosive batting, but what has impressed the selectors and team management is his composure. Following a good run with India A last year, he struck a very polished hundred in the New Year’s Test against Australia in Sydney.The advantage of picking Pant is that he can be the floater in the line-up – a man for all situations. The one factor that goes against him is experience – he’s played only three ODIs – but as Prasad pointed out recently, his fearlessness makes him hard to ignore.If the selectors feel Pant is too big a gamble, the other batsman they are likely to consider is Vijay. He replaced Hardik Pandya, who too was suspended during the Australia series, and played the Melbourne ODI. Then, he featured in three of the five ODIs and all the three T20Is in New Zealand, where he was pushed up to the No. 3 position. Is that an indication the Indian team management see him as a batsman who, if needed, can bowl a bit?Vijay Shankar brings out a lofted shot•AFP/Getty

Vijay has a solid technique, plays with a high elbow and has the ability to clear the boundary without using a lot of muscle. During the final ODI of the New Zealand series, he played the lead role to pick India out of the pits from 18 for 4 with a 98-run fifth-wicket partnership with Rayudu. That performance, on a seaming track, when the opposition was on top, could prove pivotal. Not least because India won the game. Also man-to-man, Vijay is a better fielder than Pant.The one other batsman the selectors might just consider is Ajinkya Rahane, who helped Mumbai win the Vijay Hazare Trophy last year. But his strike-rate – 77 in 11 innings since being dropped from the Indian ODI side – is likely to work against him.Extra specialist fast bowler or bowling allrounder?Ravindra Jadeja and Khaleel Ahmed have been a regular part of the Indian ODI set-up since September 2018.Jadeja returned to the fold having sat out for more than year between the West Indies tour in 2017 and the Asia Cup last year. Since then, he has taken 16 wickets from 11 matches, including two four-wicket hauls. There was nothing spectacular with the bat, but Jadeja is the second-most experienced player behind Dhoni, having featured in seven ICC tournaments. He was integral to India’s Champions Trophy success in 2013, held in England, and finished as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker. If the English summer is anything like last year, Jadeja’s fingerspin will definitely prove an asset, especially as pitches become weary at the back-end of the World Cup.Khaleel Ahmed celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

The other option for the selectors is picking a fourth specialist fast bowler. Two contenders for that position right now are Khaleel and Umesh Yadav but it is not clear whether Umesh would be fit in time for the Australian series after being forced to skip the Irani Cup due to an injury sustained while playing the Ranji Trophy final.As a left-arm fast bowler, Khaleel brings a whole new dimension to the bowling attack. India have tried him out in each of their limited-overs assignments since the Asia Cup and he has done fairly well – 11 wickets from eight matches. If he can crank up his pace and keep it around 140 kph consistently, he’ll make the selectors job even harder.This Australia series gives Prasad’s panel – and indeed the players too – one last chance before April comes and India have to pick their World Cup 15.

Both teams are coming off losses in their most recent match, and both have six points from five games so far

The Preview by Varun Shetty07-Apr-20196:47

Can hosts Kings XI tame Sunrisers?

Big picture

Sunrisers Hyderabad have the reputation of being a model franchise. They also possess a middle order that has long had the reputation of being their weakest link. Heading into their next fixture against Kings XI Punjab at Mohali, these two dimensions will be in focus: will the franchise’s ethos, built on balance and positivity, help them come back from a humiliating 40-run defeat chasing 137, like it has in the past? Or will we see a more deadpan reaction, a reshuffle and fortification of the batting beyond their blockbuster opening pair? They’re close to the halfway point of seven matches in the season, the fixtures around which the tone for the final stages is set – that frenzied, volatile period during which certain teams specialise in sneaking in and rattling the favourites.Kings XI have often been that team in the IPL, but have begun this season looking much better than a late-doors spoilsport. They have six points from five games, but have only really been below-par on one occasion, when they doled out schoolboy errors to lose by 28 runs to Kolkata Knight Riders.

Form guide

Kings XI: Lost to Super Kings by 22 runs, beat Capitals by 14 runs, beat Mumbai by eight wickets
Sunrisers: Lost to Mumbai by 40 runs, beat Capitals by five wickets, beat Royal Challengers by 118 runs

Both teams have the same number of points in the same number of games, and are both coming in after losses. Are Kings XI overachieving? Are Sunrisers underachieving? That assessment will have to wait till after this game, which will divide the table into an eight-point chunk and a six-point chunk.Siddarth Kaul looks on in awe as Rashid Khan spins a different kind of ball•BCCI

Previous meeting

When they last met, Sunrisers’ top order failed and a Manish Pandey fifty took them to 132 for 6. Ankit Rajpoot took 5 for 14, and was Man of the Match, but his individual effort was overshadowed by Sunrisers collective bowling effort as Kings XI lost by 13 runs.

Likely XIs

Kings XI Punjab 1 KL Rahul (wk), 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Sarfaraz Khan, 5 David Miller, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 Sam Curran, 8 R Ashwin (capt), 9 M Ashwin, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Mujeeb Ur Rahman/Hardus Viljoen/Andrew TyeSunrisers Hyderabad 1 David Warner, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Vijay Shankar, 4 Manish Pandey/Ricky Bhui, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar (capt), 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 Siddarth KaulSarfaraz Khan plays through the off-side•BCCI

Strategy punt

• R Ashwin likes bowling in the Powerplay, especially to left-handers. This is unlikely to change despite David Warner’s excellent record in Powerplays against spin – only one dismissal since 2016. However, if he’s paired with Sam Curran with the new ball, they could cause trouble to both openers. Warner averages 30 – his lowest – and has been out five times to left-arm seamers in the phase, while Bairstow has only 39 runs off 36 balls against spin.
• Manish Pandey is among the highest-paid players at Sunrisers and has been given a long rope by the management, as one of their elite domestic players. But his form has been on the decline since the start of 2018 and they could be well-served by giving him some time off.
• Rashid Khan has taken four wickets in five games, a below-par strike-rate for him. Sunrisers could get more wickets from him by leaving some of his overs for the slog overs where batsmen don’t have the luxury of playing him out. All his wickets this season have come in the 16-20 overs phase.

Stats that matter

• Chris Gayle has fallen four times in eight innings to Sandeep Sharma and has only managed a strike rate of 107.4 against the swing bowler.
• Sunrisers’ middle order (4-6) has contributed less than half the runs as the top order (1-3) since the start of IPL 2018; that’s 26.4% in comparison to 60.52%.
• Kings XI have been the quickest-scoring team in the middle overs this season – they strike at 9.1 per over between overs 7 and 15, whereas Sunrisers score at 8.2. Both of them have scored at 9.4 in the slog overs, but Sunrisers have been far ahead of Kings XI’s 7.4 in the Powerplay with 9.4.
• For batsmen facing at least 250 balls, Manish Pandey has the worst average – 22.78 – and boundary rate – 10.3 balls per boundary – since IPL 2018.

Soumya’s record double-century in the Dhaka Premier League will give the batsman confidence ahead of the World Cup, says Tamim

Mohammad Isam in Dhaka24-Apr-2019Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das, both talked up as among the most talented top-order batsmen in Bangladesh, have been frustratingly inconsistent in their international careers so far. With the World Cup coming up, Tamim Iqbal, the senior opening batsman, is hoping the two youngsters grab their chances as best as they can, first in the tri-series in Ireland and then at the showpiece event.The only time Liton has really shown his ability was at last year’s Asia Cup final, in which he dominated India’s bowling to make 121 as Bangladesh went down off the last ball. Soumya made a sound start in 2015 but has had to mostly fight for his place in the ODI team since 2016. Earlier this year, he made a maiden Test hundred, against New Zealand in Hamilton, and yesterday, he became the first Bangladeshi to score a List A double-hundred.Tamim said that a score like the unbeaten 208, which came in a crucial Dhaka Premier League game for Abahani Limited on Tuesday, was bound to give Soumya confidence ahead of the bigger challenges. The batsman was having an ordinary time in the league, having scored just 197 runs in 11 innings, but hit 106 and then the record double-ton in Abahani’s last two matches.”It is a great achievement to become the first Bangladeshi to score a (List A) double-hundred,” Tamim said on Wednesday. “Although we will play in completely different conditions and against vastly different bowling attacks (when on tour), scoring runs is still a positive. It will give him confidence, regardless of where he has scored these runs. If he had made 10 and 5 in his last two innings, it would have left a percentage of doubt in his mind.”But now he knows he has scored the runs, and how he has done it. When you are in bad form, you forget how to score runs. Therefore, it is very positive for him that he has two big knocks before going to Ireland.”Since the 2015 World Cup, Tamim has had five different opening partners in ODIs: Soumya, Liton, Imrul Kayes, Anamul Haque and Mohammad Mithun. When Tamim was out with injuries occasionally in the last two years, Bangladesh used five different opening pairs. There is currently no word on who should open with Tamim in a best-case scenario, but it will be one of Soumya and Liton, the only other openers in the World Cup squad.Liton Das goes downtown•Getty Images

But while Soumya has shown that he has some form on his side, Liton followed up his poor New Zealand tour with only two fifties in eight DPL outings for Mohammedan Sporting Club. Tamim, however, felt that both batsmen could fulfil their potential in the coming months.”A regular opening partnership means that the two know each other’s game quite well,” he said. “For example, if I am hitting the fielder, he needs to take that extra chance. I can do the same if the other batsman is struggling.”But if somebody is not settled at the crease or in the team, it’s very unfair to go and tell him, ‘brother, now you take the risks’. But I am confident that Liton and Soumya have enough chances, and I am sure this is the right time to show the world how good they are.”
Tamim agreed that Bangladesh were still waiting to identify their ideal opening pair, which every successful cricket team must possess.”It happens in every profession where your colleague of 20 years, for example, will know how you operate, and what you like and dislike. There was always understanding between some of the best opening pairs in the world like Hayden-Gilchrist, Ganguly-Tendulkar or Sehwag-Tendulkar,” Tamim said. “If you look back at those games, they seem to be having fun in the middle and they each knew what the other wants.”We haven’t had that opportunity yet but those two who have been picked in the World Cup squad, I am sure they can represent Bangladesh for the next 10-15 years. I feel this is the best time for them to perform.”