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The new BBL season comes amid extensive talks about the future of the competition and what potential privatisation could look like

Tristan Lavalette13-Dec-2025The Big Bash League (BBL) is about to celebrate its 15th season. There are current BBL players not old enough to remember the Australian cricket summer without the T20 franchise competition, which grew rapidly after its inception in 2011.The BBL memorably peaked in the middle of last decade, marked by a still record tournament crowd of 80,000 for the Melbourne Derby. But an expanded length of competition in 2018, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, saw its crowds and value decline before a truncated tournament helped engineer a bounce back in recent seasons.”I’m seeing a lot of indicators that are showing it’s back at this sort of BBL 5-6 level,” Cricket Victoria chief Nick Cummins told ESPNcricinfo. “For Stars and Renegades, ticket sales are up year on year since Covid, growing at about 20-30%.”Related

• Plans being developed for NZ20 league in January 2027

• BBL privatisation and later start among recommendations

The BBL clearly remains an integral part of the cricket summer, well nestled in the school holiday period of December-January, but winds of change are in the air.While fans will be focused on the whirl of on-field action, Australian cricket power brokers will be deeply pondering whether to privatise the eight BBL clubs, a model favoured by most overseas domestic T20 leagues and other sports, and expand the tournament into neighbouring countries.Any of those changes would radically alter Australian cricket and if they happen then the BBL could soon look very different to its first 15 seasons. Amid the speculation there is a widespread belief that something will happen although nobody quite knows for sure.”Nothing is inevitable. Nothing has been ruled in or out. There is a lot of water to go under the bridge,” an administrator aware of discussions said.

Privatisation has been mooted from the beginning

Privatisation has long been contemplated, even before the franchise-based BBL started in 2011 as it pivoted from the previous domestic T20 competition contested by the six traditional state teams.”There was a delegation from Australia, including reps from Cricket Australia and the Melbourne and Sydney franchises, that visited India before the start of the BBL,” a senior administrator from an IPL franchise told ESPNcricinfo.”We were made an offer for one of those teams, but I don’t think they had really thought it through in terms of the structure and how they would bring in private investment.”That was the closest we came to considering something there. There has always been interest seeing how it has all unfolded and some of the challenges it has had.”The process involved in the Hundred has been watched closely•Matt Lewis/ECB via Getty ImagesWith then CA chief executive James Sutherland sceptical, privatisation talk fizzled away but resurfaced when the game’s coffers took a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic.The advent of cashed-up leagues in South Africa and the UAE, overlapping with the BBL season, also provided serious competition in attracting big-name players.The BBL’s standing as the second biggest T20 competition in the world after the IPL came under question, accelerating calls for private equity which have gathered steam since chair Mike Baird and chief executive Todd Greenberg have taken CA’s leadership reins in recent times.The sale of Hundred franchises in England earlier this year, with the teams valued at £975 million (AUD$2 billion), was also an eye-opening moment for Australian administrators.

Financial distribution model awaits

An independent report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was commissioned by CA to assess the current model and future structure of the BBL. BCG in July recommended CA sell minority stakes in the eight BBL clubs.There had been some hope that a final decision could be made by the end of this year, but much still needs to be thrashed out with every state having its own set of needs amid varying financial issues.The financial model for privatisation had been based around the concept of selling 49% stakes in the clubs, but it has emerged that one franchise each in Melbourne and Sydney could be entirely sold off. Selling an entire franchise would likely add major value and be particularly alluring for prospective investors.

I’m always a value buyer. So I always believe in taking something and building, that’s my goalSanjay Govil, owner of Washington Freedom

Estimates of the value of a sale have ranged between AUD$400 and AUD$800 million, according to industry sources. A potential sticking point, however, is how exactly will the money from a sale be carved out.States are waiting on the distribution model which could create an impasse. If the proceeds are divided equally, Victoria and New South Wales, who combine for half the teams in the competition, won’t be enthused.Privatisation does provide a huge opportunity for CA to repair its budget and potentially around AUD$400 million could be invested in the game – from the grassroots to ensuring the three formats of international cricket are financially sustainable.

Who are the potential investors

Potential owners are likely to mostly come from India and the US, some of whom already own T20 franchises and might want to further spread their footprint. Some IPL franchises, like the Knight Riders, have built global brands and boast satellites in various leagues.It is safe to assume that IPL owners, some of whom have been courted by CA, would be keen to rebrand BBL franchises they bought into. Perhaps foreshadowing what’s ahead, there have been prominent changes in the Hundred such as the Oval Invincibles transforming into MI London after Reliance Industries (Mumbai Indians) secured a 49 per cent stake.”If it doesn’t make business sense, we’re not going to do it but it’ll be interesting to explore if privatisation happens,” an administrator from an IPL franchise said about the BBL.Sunrisers Sydney? Changes to teams names would likely come with a new structure•BCCIAmerican tech entrepreneurs have also started to get seriously involved in cricket, spurred by the development of Major League Cricket (MLC) in the US. Having had a taste of ownership, some are keen to build a portfolio of teams.Sanjay Govil, owner of Washington Freedom which has a strategic partnership with Cricket New South Wales, secured a 50% stake in Welsh Fire as part of the Hundred sale.”Absolutely interested if there was an opportunity in the BBL. I think it would be a great opportunity, but we need to wait,” said Montreal-born Govil who grew up in India before making his fortune in the U.S.”I’m always a value buyer. So I always believe in taking something and building, that’s my goal. Like with Welsh Fire, I think retaining the local character is very important. So I’m not coming from a perspective where I would come in and want to change everything.”

Overseas expansion

Expansion of the BBL was put forward by the BCG report as an avenue worth further consideration. There has not been as much public focus on the concept, suggesting perhaps that expanding the tournament abroad might be a longer-term goal.But under a privatised BBL, an initial expansion of two further teams – one domestic and one international – is a possible route. Canberra, the nation’s capital, appears the frontrunner to build within and has the backing of Cricket ACT.

We are very interested in the BBLSingapore Cricket Association president Mahmood Gaznavi

New Zealand, which boasts teams in many Australian sports leagues, is an obvious first foray abroad. Its proximity to the east coast of Australia makes it easier from a logistical sense while being attractive to broadcasters.With New Zealand being two hours ahead of Sydney and Melbourne, and five in front of Perth, having triple headers on game days could create a television bonanza.New Zealand Cricket currently runs the Super Smash, a six-team competition played by the local cricket associations.”Very supportive of expansion, New Zealand in particular,” Cummins said. “I think it’s bold and could be a game changer. Whether it stacks up and makes sense, I don’t know, but it’s interesting and expands the market.”I think New Zealand is an important part of the cricket ecosystem in this part of the world. Time zone, the market and the strong players they have are reasons why a New Zealand side would really be an asset to the BBL.”But the idea has had a lukewarm reception in New Zealand, where plans are afoot to start NZ20, a tournament comprising six privately owned franchises in January 2027.Singapore has also been mooted but discussions so far have been extremely informal. Greenberg and Baird were able to get a glimpse of Singapore’s potential during the ICC’s AGM in July, with the city-state playing host to the sport’s most powerful administrators.Availability of Australia’s Test stars has always been a challenge•Getty ImagesWith financial might and a strategic location, around four hours from Chennai by plane and in the same time zone as Western Australia, Singapore is an appealing market. Prominently, it boasts a 55,000-seat national stadium, the showpiece of the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang on the south coast of the island.The ground has the capacity to insert drop-in wickets and over the years there have been plans for the IPL, T20I and Test cricket – as a home base for Pakistan – to be played there. But no cricket games have ever been held at the stadium much to the disappointment of the many South Asian expats who live in Singapore.”We are very interested in the BBL. We can use all our links with the sports authorities, such as the national sports association, to push for cricket facilities to be available,” Singapore Cricket Association president Mahmood Gaznavi said.Having hosted many tournaments, becoming a hub for Associate cricket in South-East Asia, ESPNcricinfo has learnt that neighbouring Malaysia have pushed its case through a 30-page document to CA. But Malaysia does not boast the type of showy cricket stadia like in Singapore.Another option that could be considered is playing BBL games in some of these countries as a sort of trial before launching overseas expansion teams. It could work well with Melbourne Stars and Sydney Sixers having to perennially look elsewhere to play home matches during the MCG and SCG Tests.

Australia’s congested peak summer calendar

What separates the BBL from other major T20 franchise leagues is that it doesn’t have a clear window, but rather complements Test cricket at the height of summer. That means that Australia’s best players are not available for much of the BBL season.Owners of a privatised BBL would surely want the best Australian players in action and for the tournament to take centre stage in the peak Christmas-New Year holiday period.But the marquee Boxing Day and New Year Tests in Melbourne and Sydney mean that’s increasingly unlikely – a public uproar would erupt if those traditions were upended – creating major logistical challenges.

What’s next?

Chiefs and stakeholders are set to hold meetings through the summer. But final decisions are not expected until at least the middle of next year. There is some belief that even if privatisation does go ahead that actual changes to the competition may not happen until after the current broadcast agreement, which expires in 2030-31.Much more should be known over the next few months.

Sri Lanka’s utter humiliation of India resulted in plenty of records – favourable ones for the home team, and unwanted ones for India. Cricinfo looks at the important ones

S Rajesh26-Jul-2008

Indian cricket’s next big thing seems to be a 20-year-old from Rajkot determined to break the selectors’ door down by producing triple-hundreds on demand

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Jan-2009

Moments after Saurashtra’s dramatic victory over Karnataka, ecstatic team-mates mobbed Cheteshwar Pujara and raised him onto their shoulders. Pujara’s wonderful 112 not out had guided Saurashtra into their second Ranji semi-final in a row.” (you remember what I said?),” Shitanshu Kotak, with whom Pujara had shared a match-turning 163 partnership asked. Amid the delirium Pujara turned to his senior partner and replied, “Hats off to you.”The previous evening, chasing 325 for victory Saurashtra had lost two quick wickets and needed a further 310 on the final day. Kotak was positive. “He told me if we took some calculated risks Karnataka would not know whether to defend or attack,” Pujara said later. “That is what happened. The way he batted – especially his subtle method of attacking – I had never seen him bat that way.”Pujara himself had done something for the first time in that game. Normally, by his admission, he thinks a lot about his batting, but that day he shut his mind. “I told myself, ‘Let’s just go there and bat and not worry about how much more we need and what day of the game it is.'” The aim was to settle down, get through the first session without losing a wicket and then see what happened. What unfolded over the six-odd hours was a perfectly acted script, with Pujara performing his role as a future star.The knock against Karnataka has been a big stepping stone, he says. “The way I batted was really good for the team and for me as well. It was the best innings in my career because I was under pressure. We were underdogs and to come from behind and secure that victory was just amazing.”

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Pujara was the top-scorer in last year’s Ranji Trophy; but critics pointed to his relatively poor, sub-60 strike-rate, a bit of an anachronism in modern cricket. This year, after Saurashtra’s exit in the semi-finals, Pujara’s strike-rate read 71.45, the highest among batsmen who had played all nine games till that stage. Pujara had hit back squarely at his critics. He finished this year’s tournament with 906 runs, behind Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane in the run-scorers’ list.Though he failed to convert a good start in the semi-final, against Mumbai – he scored 39 as Saurashtra lost on first innings – Pujara remains in contention for a possible middle-order slot in the Test team. The likes of S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina may be ahead in the pecking order, based either on experience or just plain talent, but Pujara has in his favour his proven ability to make big runs.At the start of the current season he thundered two triple-hundreds inside a week with ridiculous ease in the Under-22 tournament. Before anyone could dismiss those efforts as having come at a lesser level, Pujara forced journalists and TV stations to move their radar towards Rajkot, where he cobbled together another triple, this time against Orissa. That game put both Saurashtra and Pujara back on track after Gujarat had slapped an innings defeat on them in their season opener; Pujara made only eight in that game, including a second-innings duck.After his unbeaten 302 against Orissa, where he stitched together an all-time record partnership of 520 for the fifth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja, Pujara also scored big run-a-ball hundreds in the next two games, against Punjab and Mumbai.According to Pujara everything was fine last year, but he wanted to deal with the strike-rate issue. “This year I’m more positive and it started after I played in the Under-22 matches,” he said when I met him on the eve of the quarter-final clash against Karnataka.The turnaround came during his mammoth 386 in the Under-22 tournament, where, he says, having visualised what was required for the team’s safety, he could then accelerate as needed. “We had to cross 368 to grab the vital lead for points. Once that was achieved I had the liberty to do what I wanted. On the final day I moved into one-day mode, and if there was a half-volley I would drive it.” Pujara’s vigil lasted more than 11 hours in all on that occasion.All three triple-hundreds have come on his home ground, infamous for its flat pitches. “I agree the pitches in Rajkot are batting tracks,” Pujara says. “Still, it is difficult to keep on scoring big runs. It tests your fitness as well – once you score 300 and come back and field for two more days, it is a difficult thing.”

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Pujara started playing when he was eight. His father, Arvind, would roll balls to him along the ground.Arvind, who played a bit for Saurashtra in the 1970s, focused on having his son develop a strong base to his game. “From the initial stage my father wanted me to be a good batsman with proper technique,” Pujara says.Rajkot was not quite the ideal place to achieve this goal: Pujara did not have proper cricket gear in his formative years, and there were no turf pitches (still an issue). “If you want to become a good cricketer, somehow you have to manage with what you have – whatever the conditions are you utilise those,” Pujara says.

Perhaps it is the resilience he had to show in the face of trying circumstances that has helped him develop large reserves of patience – on the field as well as in person. During our conversation Pujara never once rushed into his answers, giving every question due thought before saying just what he wanted to.He retains that calm posture on the field too. At the crease he is still, moves his bat and feet without fuss, and there are no mutterings aimed at self-motivation. As a batsman Pujara cuts a neat figure. He maintains a relaxed, erect posture facing the bowler. When he plays his shots the bat-swing is minimal, and he finishes with a textbook follow-through. Mostly he plays his shots along the ground, leaning into
the strokes rather than using the bottom hand. His front- and back-foot
play is sound, and he can hit some gorgeous square, off and straight-drives, as
well as pulls. If there is a weakness, it is perhaps his tendency to be tentative early on – as in the case of the late-cut that brought about his dismissal in the semi-final this year. The other, more prominent, deficiency is against the short ball. Ajit Agarkar pitched it short frequently at Chepauk and Pujara failed to get into the right position to deal with itAt the age of 12, playing for Saurashtra Under-14, Pujara scored 306 not out in nine hours against Baroda. It was his debut match, his first time out of Rajkot, first time away from his father’s vigilant eyes. “That gave me confidence that if I continue the right way I can do something.”Over the years he gained experience at the zonal cricket academy and the NCA, learning to adapt and respond to various kinds of situations and pitches.A few years ago Pujara endured the biggest loss of his life when his mother lost her battle with cancer. He put it behind him to emerge the top run-getter in the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2006, beating the likes of Rohit and up-and-coming Australian Moises Henriques, who too is vying for an international berth.Amol Muzumdar, a domestic giant, with 100-plus Ranji games over more than a decade, has seen many potential talents, but he thinks Pujara is exceptional. “Based on the first couple of balls he plays, you know he has experience behind him – of having runs behind him. He knows how to score runs,” Muzumdar says.Pujara is aiming big, but he is in no hurry. “One thing I always keep in mind is: your standard should be always high.” During the Under-19 World Cup, India’s coach, Venkatesh Prasad, shared a valuable nugget of information. “He told me, ‘If you score 100, you should ask if that century is helping the team first. And are you only good enough to score a 100 or are you good enough to score 150 in the same number of balls?'” That’s one question Pujara seems to have laid to rest.

It was an innings full of fortune and flair, bravado and borrowed time, but most importantly for Brad Haddin it was an innings crammed with runs

Brydon Coverdale at the Adelaide Oval30-Nov-2008

Brad Haddin has been adamant that he wants to leave his own mark on the Test team instead of trying to copy his unique predecessor Adam Gilchrist. Eight unremarkable appearances into his career his mark was threatening to become a blot but his 169 in Adelaide has confirmed him as Australia’s wicketkeeper of the future.It was an innings full of fortune and flair, bravado and borrowed time, but most importantly for Haddin it was an innings crammed with runs. No Australian had made a higher Test score since Ricky Ponting opened the 2006-07 Ashes series with 196 at the Gabba and for Haddin, the effort has strengthened his resolve that he must play his natural aggressive game.He and his two brothers run a fitness company and Haddin seems like he would be more comfortable with ten frenetic minutes on the speedball than an hour of sweating on the stepping machine. It’s an approach that has served him well in limited-overs cricket, where he has been considered good enough to play ODIs as a specialist batsman. It’s also a method that will bring him scrutiny at Test level, as he has discovered in his first year at the highest level.Haddin has not been terrible with the bat in his first eight Tests; although he failed to post a half-century he averaged 26.07 and that was a mark that in the pre-Gilchrist era would have been considered perfectly acceptable for the team’s gloveman. It is the style of his dismissals that brought him under the spotlight.Of the five times he was out in his debut series in the West Indies, he was caught playing attacking strokes thrice and once was lbw going for a cross-batted shot. In India his six dismissals included a mistimed drive to mid-on, a stumping when he advanced to Anil Kumble, and a catch at cover failing to pick Ishant Sharma’s slower ball. Such endings can look ugly at Test level, especially when the team needs steadiness as it did in India.By the time his first Test on home soil came around at the Gabba last week, Haddin was so nervous that he felt he was tensing up and unable to play his natural game. He began defensively and it meant that when New Zealand made the tempting bowling change to bring on the medium-pacer Jesse Ryder, Haddin’s eyes lit up and his attempted drive was edged to slip.An astute thinker on the game who has been a successful captain of New South Wales, Haddin knew the pressure was building. So when he clipped a boundary through midwicket off Tim Southee to bring up his first Test century, his excitement was understandable. Haddin swung his bat around and around, so wildly it looked like he was winding up for the hammerthrow, and a kiss of the helmet and hug from Michael Clarke completed the celebrations.The pressure was off and with his glovework also improving, Haddin was feeling at ease. He was fortunate to get to triple-figures but rarely does a batsman stroke a truly chanceless hundred. He was on 3 when he tried to hook a short ball from Chris Martin and survived the confident appeals of the New Zealanders, who thought he had nicked it behind. There were other moments of luck when balls bobbled past the stumps or were struck close to fielders, and the most obvious let-off came when Daniel Flynn dropped a sitter when Haddin chipped Daniel Vettori to mid-on when he had 72.The good fortune allowed Haddin to show his full range of strokes, something he had been unable to demonstrate before at Test level. He punched the fast bowlers for well-timed fours that raced across the expansive Adelaide Oval outfield, he used his feet to Vettori and went over the top on several occasions and when his century was safely confirmed, he let loose with a couple of sixes clubbed square off Aaron Redmond.Haddin was effective but rarely did he look like a typical Test batsman whereas his partner in a 181-run stand, Clarke, was every bit the five-day compiler. Clarke’s 110 was his fourth Test century this year and his style could not have contrasted more vividly with that of Haddin. Clarke was on 48 when Haddin came to the crease and the men reached their centuries within 14 balls of each other.The most noticeable difference was in the way they handled the indefatigable Vettori, who bowled 31.4 overs for the day. Vettori took an over-the-stumps, outside-leg line that in most situations would be viewed as defensive. To Clarke it was; he kicked the majority of the deliveries away and waited to score at the other end. To Haddin, it was a viable ploy to get him out. He was uncomfortable thrusting his pad to the ball and he could use the method for only a few balls at a time before sweeping over the top or advancing to drive.Haddin’s tactics worked on this occasion but they won’t always be successful in Test cricket. Perhaps he could learn something from the measured approach taken by Clarke, and by Michael Hussey on the second day. But maybe that’s asking Haddin to be something he is not and when a man has just made 169 in his ninth Test, it’s hard to argue against him playing his natural game. Haddin’s style of play will lead to spectacular successes and extravagant failures but if the fans and selectors appreciate him for who he is, he has every chance of leaving his own mark on the Test team.

He fought himself every day he spent out of the team, now he walks down to the fastest bowlers. The reborn India opener opens up

Interview by Sidharth Monga28-Sep-2009Starting in Sri Lanka last year, the way you have played, do you think that’s the best you can get?
If someone had told me in Sri Lanka that this is what I would achieve in the next year, in all three forms of the game, I would have taken it hands down.Do you remember the days spent out of the team?
More than the time I have spent with the team, I remember the time out of it. There were sleepless nights. There were times when nothing went my way. I do remember all of that. That’s what keeps me on my toes. That’s what helps me concentrate on each and every game.Did you feel angry or frustrated?
At one point, when I didn’t make the 2007 World Cup squad, I was very, very frustrated. Then I became very hard on myself. Whenever I used to go to the nets, or when I trained in the gym, I was very hard on myself. I couldn’t sleep, I used to think a lot. Very, very desperate to make a comeback.What would you do when you got angry during those days?
One good thing that I always had is, these angry periods make me mentally tougher. They make me work harder, rather than just sit down and think, “Oh, I am not going to make a comeback, oh, things are not going to happen for me.”When something inside you says, “I don’t want to go to the gym today,” what do you do?
When I got dropped for the World Cup, there were times I didn’t want to play anymore. I didn’t want to practise. I couldn’t motivate myself. Then I said, “Look what are the options?” Cricket is the only option. Whether I play happily or sadly, it’s still all I have. There are not a lot of things I am good at. Then you motivate yourself again. If you have to do this, may as well do it happily.What did you do when you were told you were not going to the World Cup?
That was the worst night. I got dropped during the West Indies series in Goa. Then the next series they were playing was more or less a decided team for the World Cup. After that, when the team went to West Indies, I was playing Deodhar Trophy. That was one of the few times I couldn’t concentrate because I was really frustrated, and I was really emotionally down because I wanted to play the World Cup, which I haven’t done yet.Once you are dropped, you go back to playing Ranji again. What do you feel?
Ask any batsman what gives him maximum satisfaction. It’s scoring runs, whether it’s Ranji Trophy or any form of the game. When you get back to your room, knowing that you have scored a hundred, it gives you satisfaction. Whenever I would go back to Ranji Trophy, my hunger for runs had always increased.Did you ever think your chance had come and gone?
Oh, I did. I still remember when I was making my comeback after the World Cup, when I went to Bangladesh. I felt that if I didn’t perform on that tour, people would say, “He has got enough opportunities and he has not performed, let’s look beyond him.” Because obviously no one remembers how many comebacks I had made, and how many matches I played after making comebacks. But I managed to score a hundred there.Was that innings?
No. After that hundred I still had some lows. I didn’t score runs in Ireland against South Africa, and I didn’t start off well against England in England.

“After I was dropped for the World Cup, there were times I didn’t want to play anymore. I said, “Look what are the options?” Cricket is the only option. Whether I play happily or sadly, it’s still all I have. There are not a lot of things I am good at”

You once said “I was too hard on myself. I wasn’t too relaxed and it used to tie me up in knots.” I believe Gary Kirsten helped you with the insecurity you felt over being dropped. What exactly did he do?
Gary told me how much quality I brought to the side. “You are the one who can anchor the innings, and at the same time you can attack.” When you get to know this from a person who has played 100 Tests and who is the coach, then you tell yourself, “Look, you are equally important.” That has made me comfortable. Earlier no one ever told me what importance I brought to the side. I always used to feel, what I am doing in this side anyone else can do. Now I realise I have my own role.One such innings was the World Twenty20 final. We had such a great side but I got the most runs in the tournament. South Africa, the first time I was playing there. Also, when we went to Sri Lanka and I scored 300 runs, against Murali and Mendis. That’s when I realised I was equally important.You need to feel loved and told you are important?
Everyone does. You need to have that good atmosphere, and that’s what has been happening over the last one-and-a-half years. That’s why the team has been doing well, because the atmosphere in the dressing room and around us has been fantastic. Everyone has his own importance.Does that mean you were not comfortable during your earlier stints with the team?
Then I used to feel that there is a huge gap between me and other players. Initially I used to try and copy them. Maybe getting dropped teaches you more things than when you are doing well. One thing I realised was that everyone is different. You can’t compare two human beings.Are you an introvert?
Depends on who I am with. Lots of people think I am an introvert. But when I am comfortable with people, I am the only one who talks. If you ask Viru [Virender Sehwag], Munna [Munaf Patel], Ishant [Sharma], Amit [Mishra], they will tell you, when we are together, I am the only guy talking. You ask others, they say, he doesn’t talk. I need to be comfortable with people.And so goes your reputation: that you play well when you are in your comfort zone. Take you slightly out, say put you with a team of players you are not friendly with, it gets difficult. Is that true?
That’s true for any cricketer. They need to be in that comfort zone. If you ask any batsman, they want to be in the right frame of mind. How relaxed they are shows in their performance. In the last year and a half, I have been in that comfort zone whenever I have played for India.”Sometimes you want to get into an argument with a bowler so that you can concentrate harder and get grittier “•AFPHow true is this angry-young-man image that you have?
I used to be very angry. It’s not the anger but passion that comes out when I am playing. I really want to do well. I used to be very short-tempered, very impatient, earlier. I guess I am still very impatient. If I have decided to do something, I want to do it now. If I ask someone else to do something, I want that person to do it at that point of time. That’s the way I have always been. If I want to go to the gym right now, I want to go right now. I don’t want to wait.Do you let what people say affect you? Is it difficult to not let that bother you?
That was one big mistake I made. Maybe that’s why I used to be under pressure to perform each and every time. Because I used to bother about what people were saying.On the field you are such a competitive, positive, aggressive player. How come you let all these negatives come into your system?
In a country like India, when you know there is so much competition, and the kind of experiences I have had in the past, it has always made me insecure. Because I didn’t get the India cap that easily. When I made my Test debut I had already scored 5000 runs in domestic cricket. It wasn’t that I just scored one or two hundreds and got my Test call. I worked very hard. So I was always so hard on myself, saying that this is the only opportunity I have. If I don’t score runs, I don’t want to go to the domestic circuit again and start off from zero. All those 5000 runs would go to waste.You must have made technical changes too?
There was a time when I was a big lbw candidate. I have worked hard on it with Mr Parthasarathi Sharma. He helped me a lot in this thing, when my head used to fall. There was one exercise I used to do without holding the bat. I used to take my head towards the ball. Someone used to throw the ball from a shorter distance and I used to just play with my pads so that my head didn’t fall but went in the same direction where the ball is coming from. So the head stays still. Once your head falls, the front leg starts going across. This and a couple other exercises and I stopped shuffling.How did you start walking down the wicket towards fast bowlers?
Before we went to Sri Lanka, when they came here, Chaminda Vaas had got me lbw three or four times. So I knew I had to tackle him. He knew my weaknesses well, he had put me through my worst Test series. So one way to tackle it was walk down the crease. It came instinctively, to get rid of that lbw thing. So that I am far more in front of the crease, so that I am covering the swing, and sometimes even outside the line of off. It worked, so I thought why not continue with it.There was a time when you were suspect outside off; now it has become your strength.
What happens is, a lot has to again do with my security in this side. Technique can take you till one level, international cricket is all about how mentally strong and how mentally relaxed you are. Sometimes your instincts take over and you are not in control of your body and your mind. Sometimes you are desperate to score runs, you are so desperate to get out of that zone that you tend to chase the ball. When you are mentally relaxed, when you feel you belong, you try and play the ball late and closer to the body. Everything has to do with your mindset.Then came the phase of the fifties. Did you ever think you were wasting your best years by not getting centuries?
In Sri Lanka I scored three fifties. Against Australia in Mohali I remember I got out for 67, and when I was walking back there was talk behind my back that I was good only for fifties. There was talk in the media also that I was not able to get hundreds. It was always at the back of my mind. For any cricketer this can become a mental block. You start feeling there is something wrong with the concentration.

“Gary [Kirsten] told me how much importance and quality I brought to the side. ‘You are the one who can anchor the innings, and at the same time you can attack.’ When you get to know this from a person who has played 100 Tests and who is the coach, then you realise, ‘Look, even you are equally important’ “

What was the immediate feeling at getting that hundred in the second innings? Relief?
Absolutely. I was very relieved. Because I wanted to prove to myself I could get a hundred. Once I did that, I got a double in the next innings.You were on 67 in Delhi when you elbowed Shane Watson. Was it a big moment for you as a batsman that your concentration didn’t suffer and you went on to get a double?
Whenever the situation becomes tough, whenever I get into an argument with someone, I become tougher, more determined. I concentrate harder. Then I don’t want to lose my wicket. For me, sometimes during Test cricket I start feeling a bit loose, too relaxed. Your concentration is not at the highest level. Sometimes you want to get into an argument with a bowler so that you can concentrate harder and get grittier.Do you look back at Watson incident and say, “Maybe I went too far”?
Absolutely. I should have behaved more maturely because of the kind of good form I was in. If India had lost the Nagpur Test, I would have taken all the blame. Because the kind of form I was in, I should have played the fourth Test. And because when you are in good nick, you want to take the team through. Not just do your bit and relax. At no point should anybody be allowed to let his team down.Now that you’ve grown older, more successful and mature, can you draw a line and say, “This is being hard on myself, and this is being too hard”?
I try and do that. But it takes a lot of effort. Because the way you have been brought up, the way you have played your cricket, it doesn’t change in one or two years. It has to be a very conscious effort. It takes a very, very hard effort to change it.What is it about your upbringing that makes you this way?
In the Under-14 days I was the highest run-getter, and I didn’t go to the World Cup. I was the highest run-getter in Under-19 and I still didn’t make it to the Under-19 World Cup. Ranji Trophy, I got an 83 in the second match I played and I got dropped again. The insecurities started from there. That was the age when a person would want to enjoy his cricket, but that was not the case with me. I always thought that if I didn’t perform well I would not get the next game. Be it Under-14, Under-16, Under-19, Ranji Trophy. That’s the way I have been brought up. It has got into my system.You have opened with Tendulkar, Sehwag, Ganguly. How is it different with them?
Sehwag is my favourite player. He is the best, most dangerous. Opening with him is completely different, because the kind of understanding and comfort I have with him is tremendous. Whenever I go onto the field and I have Sehwag at the other end, it gives me a lot of confidence. No doubts about that. He has been one of my very good friends.Can he sense when you are down?
There were times, when I was making my comeback, that I just walked up to him and said that I was very nervous. He always says something that lifts you. I am not shy of walking up to him and saying, “I am nervous.” I remember in the first innings in Napier that I wasn’t batting well at all. I was struggling against James Franklin. He [Sehwag] walked up to me and told me, do this and things might work. He also realises sometimes that I am struggling mentally, or struggling against a certain bowler. And I don’t mind walking up to him and asking him to take strike against a certain bowler.”We try and sing songs, we try and crack jokes. Opening is the most difficult part. Most times we end up singing the same song”•AFPWhat did he tell you in Sri Lanka?
He said, just concentrate. It’s just a matter of couple of minutes. Try and play within yourself. One thing he told me in New Zealand when I was struggling: try and think about God, try and take your mind off for a bit.First of all we are very relaxed. We try and sing songs, we try and crack jokes. Because as you know, opening is the most difficult part. When you are playing the new ball, you have to try to get each other relaxed. Share light moments, talk something out of cricket. Those are things we have done. Most of the times we end up singing the same song.There was a time when you took his place. Did your friendship change at all? I mean, before, you used to be out and he in, now it was the other way round.
My friendship is not because of only cricket – it’s far beyond it. If I am outside the team and he is in, I will always wish he keeps scoring runs and helps India win. Friendship is not just about playing together, it goes beyond.You spoke about Napier. Was that the finest you have played?
That’s the best I have played because of my concentration, because I had to play out of my skin. Being an impatient guy, even off the field, I would always look to score runs and score them quickly. Sometimes I panic if runs are not coming. So I had to play out of my skin, out of my comfort zone, it was a big achievement for me.You had Viru calling you the best opener since Gavaskar, you had Sachin, Laxman, Rahul, all praising you generously after that innings. Still insecure?
Yes they are, it’s very difficult to get that out of my system. Now I have added my own expectation because I have done reasonably well in the last one and a half years. Two years ago, if I got one fifty in a three-match series I would be happy, but now it’s very difficult sometimes.Is it possible to not be hard on yourself?
I would love to go easy, because it exhausts you. You stop enjoying. You don’t play your natural game. You are only looking to score at any cost. But that’s the way I have been brought up. Can’t help it.

It is a strangely conflicted mixture of rigorous self-denial and cathartic violence that make up Tendulkar’s craft

Mukul Kesavan14-Nov-2009Batsmen aren’t remembered only for their shots; you remember them for their mannerisms, their stance, their physical presence. I remember Sunil Gavaskar for the military snap with which he shouldered arms, both pads together, bat raised high. I can’t recall him shaping to play and then withdrawing the bat: there was a clean, lucid certainty to everything he did, which made him great classical batsman of our time. I remember him for the compact grace that informed his presence at the crease, from taking guard to settling into his stance.Sachin Tendulkar is different. He’s about as tall as Gavaskar; they’re both Bombay batsmen, and compared to someone like Brian Lara, Tendulkar seems correct, even orthodox, but he and Gavaskar are chalk and cheese. Tendulkar can produce the most wonderful shots but you wouldn’t call him a beautiful batsman. Graceful he is not, in any conventional reading of the term. His most repetitive tic at the crease has been described by the writer Ruchir Joshi as his “signature crotch yank as he adjusts his abdomen guard”. He can look oddly clumsy for a great batsman: when the ball keeps low, Tendulkar will jack-knife into an exaggerated half-squat, like someone who has just discovered that he urgently needs to go. When he plays forward, he is correct but always in a slightly over-produced way: his defensive play just lacks the clockwork economy of Gavaskar’s technique. In any case, with Tendulkar the ratio of bat to body makes it hard for him to look pretty: he’s so small and the bat’s so big that it looks more like an accomplice than an instrument. VVS Laxman, long and languid, pulls and hooks in his easy upright way; when Tendulkar pulls, he looks like a small enforcer with a big cosh.Tendulkar has a claim to being the greatest batsman in the world because he is that rare thing: an original. Gavaskar at his best used to make the classical prescriptions come to life; Tendulkar’s genius lies in the impossible shots he hits off perfectly good balls. Not impossible in the sense of outrageous and chancy: men like Sanath Jayasuriya own that corner of the market; no, impossible because he hits shots mortal cricketers wouldn’t attempt, and because he makes those shots look safe, even plausible, when they are not.I have in mind the range of off-drives he plays to balls pitched on a good length or short of a good length without much width on offer. He seems to stand up straight without doing much with his front foot. The bat comes down in a little arc and then stops well short of a follow-through. The scene ends with incredulous bowler staring at Tendulkar and cover fielder trotting off on peon duty, resigned to this game of fetch. Something similar happens with that attenuated straight-drive that shaves the stumps at the bowler’s end on the way to the boundary. It’s not the straightness of it (straight drives, after all, are meant to be hit straight!) but the lack of obvious effort or risk that makes the shot a bowler-killer. When Lara hits you straight, the bat describes such a flamboyant arc that it’s like being lashed with a whip; Tendulkar’s down-the-wicket shot is more like being heavily nudged by a barn door. When he hits that straight drive, his bat is at once shield and bludgeon, and as the ball speeds past the blameless bowler, Tendulkar must seem both irresistible force and immovable object.And then there are those other shots: the upper-cuff over slips and gully, the inside-out shot driven through, or over, cover; the paddle-sweep hit so perpendicularly that it finishes as a reverse straight-drive completed on one knee; the pull off the front foot hit brutally over midwicket; the trajectory-defying flick that turns the ball on the off stump or outside, through midwicket – what these strokes have in common is that they are difficult and dangerous shots, methodically and safely played. That’s why bowlers in their follow-through sometimes stare at Tendulkar as if he had grown another head: he makes unlikely shots look reasonable. It’s this straight-bat magic that got Graeme Hick to turn out to captain his county, Worcestershire, against India in an unimportant tour match once: he said he just wanted to stand at slip and watch Tendulkar play.

Tendulkar has a claim to being the greatest batsman in the world because he is that rare thing: an original. Gavaskar at his best used to make the classical prescriptions come to life; Tendulkar’s genius lies in the impossible shots he hits off perfectly good balls

Tendulkar’s remarkable repertoire of shots, his style of play, grows out of a particular temperament and a peculiar talent. Tendulkar himself has often said that he is by nature an attacking batsman. This is true, but in itself it tells us little about what makes him special. Jayasuriya is an attacking batsman by instinct, as are Ricky Ponting and that cheerful murderer, Adam Gilchrist; and they’re very different from Tendulkar. Gilchrist, on present form, is the best batsman in the world. With a batting average over 60 and a strike-rate that makes bowlers feel they’re bowling in the highlights segment of the evening news, Gilchrist on form can make Tendulkar look low-key. The difference between the two isn’t one of talent – indeed, if Gilchrist can bat like this and stay at 60-plus, he and not Tendulkar will be remembered as the great turn-of-the-century batsman. The difference is temperamental. Gilchrist bats in a wholly carefree way; coming in at six or seven in Test matches, he subjects all bowlers, in every situation, to his brand of assault and battery. Perhaps it has to do with the confidence of coming in low in the batting order of a great team; perhaps being a wicketkeeper-batsman with more than one string to his bow frees him from the fear of failure. Whatever it is, it makes his demeanour at the crease very different from Tendulkar’s.No Indian cricketer, not Tendulkar, not even the inimitable Kapil Dev, has survived cricketing glory in this country over a whole career without becoming careworn, and Tendulkar isn’t a product of the Bombay school of batsmanship for nothing. However different they may be from each other, the great Bombay batsmen have distrusted extravagance or flourish. Like Gilchrist, Tendulkar will, most times, try to impose himself on the bowling; unlike him, he will discriminate between bowlers, change his game to suit the moment, come up with novelties like a grandmaster discovering a new wrinkle in an old gambit.In the first Test of India’s last [2001] tour to South Africa, Tendulkar hit one of the great hundreds of recent years. At the start of that innings, he hit Makhaya Ntini for 16 runs in an over, with three boundaries. One of these was tipped over slips simply because there was no third man. It seemed a zero percentage play given how many slips there were, but it became the trademark shot of that particular innings. They kept bowling short outside the off stump to him, and he kept cuffing the ball in the air down to third man for four. And he did this, as he does everything, in a calculated, methodical way, and in so doing he made a bizarre shot seem like business as usual. Right through this masterful knock, Tendulkar continuously showed intent, an aggression unalloyed by doggedness or care. It was a rare moment in his recent career where we were allowed to see genius expressing itself unburdened by responsibility.Tendulkar padded-up is usually a mass of inhibitions. His face is carefully inexpressive, but through the visor you can see his eyeballs virtually disappearing into his skull, so massively concentrated is he through an innings. In the course of every long innings he plays, you can see the tension build and then find release in shot-making. The weight of responsibility, the fear of letting his side and his country down, will sometimes have him leaving every ball bowled an inch outside the off stump alone, as he did against Glenn McGrath in Australia [1999] before exploding into a flurry of shots once he was set. That innings was cruelly terminated by an umpire (this happens to Tendulkar a lot – not many umpires want to give genius the benefit of doubt) but most innings he plays are a bit like that one – his runs come in clusters, not in a steady stream; his innings are made up of explosive episodes.Jardine and Bradman all over again: Hussain gives Tendulkar the eye•Laurence Griffiths/Getty ImagesUnlike Gavaskar, inevitability isn’t the hallmark of a long innings by Tendulkar. A century by him is an odd mixture of calm and storm. His greatest innings, of course, specially his hundreds in one-day matches, are simply single, long, violent spasms. They have become rarer, those extended bursts of berserker brilliance, because he is too much the Bombay batsman to be recklessly prodigal. So sometimes you’ll see him curb his shot-making, mainly in the interest of the team but also because he wants to prove to himself and to his audience that he can play with puritanical self-denial. The perfect example of a knock like this was his century in Chennai during the third Test against the Australians the last time they toured India. It was a dour, unlovely innings, all Bombay solidity, but it won India the match.So much for temperament; what is Tendulkar’s special talent? Every bowler who has ever sent down an over to him says the same thing when asked for a sound byte on what makes Tendulkar arguably the best batsman in the contemporary game. To a man, they say this: “He picks up the length of the ball earlier than any one in the modern game, so he has more time than his peers to make the shot.” There is such unanimity on this that it must be true. Till a year-and-a-half ago, Tendulkar used the time that his eye bought him in the cause of aggression. He would get into position early for that perpendicular paddle-sweep, skip down the wicket for the lofted drive over straight mid-on, or advance while making room to drive a spinner inside-out over extra cover. His batting average soared, and it took the combined efforts of McGrath, Australian umpiring, and some wretched luck (the miraculous catch that Ponting took at the Wankhede Stadium off Tendulkar’s pull after it ricocheted off short leg’s back is a prime example) to bring him down to earth.Even so, his career Test average had risen to 58 and was threatening to touch 60 when Nasser Hussain came to town. Hussain had a plan for Tendulkar, a plan of great simplicity. The way to keep Tendulkar from scoring runs was to bowl wide of him. Karl Marx memorably said that everything in history happened twice: first as tragedy and the second time as farce. Well, in this replay of leg theory, a boy born in Madras played Douglas Jardine, a left-arm spinner stood in for Harold Larwood, and Tendulkar, against his will, was cast as Don Bradman. Amazingly, the ploy sort of worked: it frustrated Tendulkar to the extent of getting him stumped for the first time in his Test career. And the reason it worked was this: Tendulkar tried to wait the bowlers out as Gavaskar might have done, but this game of patience and attrition didn’t come naturally to him. At the same time, being a Bombay batsman and not being Gilchrist, he hated the thought of being forced into unorthodoxy and extravagance. It was the same story in the first Test of the current tour [2002] to England, when run-saving sweeper fielders and cynically wide bowling goaded him into error. In between these two contests with England was a run of single-digit scores during the tour of the West Indies. No permanent damage was done, as the fine 92 in the Trent Bridge Test showed, but his dismissal in the nineties will have dimmed his aura a watt or two.Right now, Tendulkar is a great batsman who doesn’t scare the opposition. It’s as if the fact that he sees the ball so early has begun to work against him: he has almost too much time to play the ball and he uses it to think and fret instead of using it to attack the bowling. There is a tense pre-meditation to his play these days, which is different from the calculated aggression we used to see earlier. Viv Richards said after Tendulkar’s failures on the tour of the Caribbean that Tendulkar didn’t seem to be enjoying his cricket. Perhaps he is right. Perhaps the master should learn from his protégé: perhaps Tendulkar could take a leaf out of Virender Sehwag’s carefree book. He could stop being Atlas and just go with the flow.

The biggest day of the Irish cricket season arrives, and nearly becomes the most memorable one for its fans

Jim Gallagher18-Jun-2010The game
This was the big game of the Irish summer. Matches with Full Members are few and far between – when we get them, we need to prove that our team can compete, and that we can support them.Player watch
The Australian players who fielded in front of us – Nathan Hauritz, Ryan Harris and Clint McKay – were brilliant. Anybody who asked for an autograph got one, and the players’ sense of humour and ability to engage with the crowd ensured that we all enjoyed the day.Shot of the day
Not one shot, more an approach by the Ireland opening batsmen. They had already bowled and fielded like champions and needed to bat like champions too. In the first 12 overs, Ireland scored at seven an over. We dared to dream…Crowd meter
Since it was the biggest occasion of the cricket season, the stands were obviously packed. We sang, we cheered, many dressed up. Despite the unseasonal weather (hot sun, SPF50 required) we had our fair share of cavemen, sailors and crocodiles.Fielding moment
Early in the day, one of the Australian batsmen was rude enough to slap one into the bar queue down by the nets’ end. As the ball arrived, several hands raised to catch it. It sailed past many senior cricketers and was grassed. Mind you, not a drop was spilt.Overall
This is just me, but I reckon the Aussies were worried. Imagine you’re an Irish cricket fan. Imagine you get to watch, in amazing sunshine, your team compete with the world champions. Imagine you get to see this surrounded by your friends, all shouting for Ireland. Imagine that we could have beaten them. Statistically, at one point, we should have. Possibly, we could have. Imagine… one day. We’re incredibly proud of our team. Clontarf is a wonderful venue and the members rose to the challenge of putting on such an important match wonderfully.

Bangladesh celebrated their victory against Ireland as though they’d won more than one cricket match, but the significance went beyond a single result

Sidharth Monga in Mirpur25-Feb-2011Press conferences in today’s media-trained sport don’t usually give much of an insight into the players’ mindset. There’s generally too much of ‘the right areas’ and ‘playing the ball on its merits’. For the last two weeks or so, Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s young captain, tactically not one of the best going around but a brave man for his age, has been trying to cover himself in a veil of dispassion. All his press conferences in the build-up to the World Cup – its first match, its first match’s aftermath, its second match – have been all about disciplines and basics and the like.After they finally won one game, however, Shakib, and his two team-mates, Tamim Iqbal and Shafiul Islam, lifted that veil. Minutes after they had gone on a victory lap – yes, after having beaten Ireland – the three came to address the media. Shakib being the captain, Tamim inexplicably being Man of the Match, and Shafiul because Tamim and Shakib thought he should have been Man of the Match.Shakib’s answers today went past two lines for the first time in the last two weeks. Tamim, like a back-bencher in a class, hid behind an energy-drink bottle and kept making fun of whatever he was making fun of. Whenever one person answered a question, the other two would be busy whispering jokes to each other. The national cricketers were back to being kids again; they aren’t too much older in reality, either. Many jokes were cracked in Bangla in those 20 minutes. This press conference, the victory lap, said a lot about the release they felt.”It wasn’t really a victory lap,” Shakib said. “Just showed our feelings. They [the people] have supported us throughout the two matches. Even the time we come for practice, people are on the streets. They just wait for us and wish us good luck. I thought it was our responsibility to show some respect to them as well.”More than respect and feelings, Bangladesh now knew they could show people their faces. That will be a big relief for a group that can’t be the best team to support: they give up chases once Tamim gets out, and they often bat first without plan or brains. Yet they have had this unimaginably crazy support for the last two weeks.And then there has been pressure of having made unpopular and stern, but well-meaning, decisions. It’s no secret that the team management has put its foot down in leaving Mashrafe Mortaza out of the side for the World Cup, because of his fitness problems, against the wishes of those in the board who like to use the popular sentiment. Then they dropped Mohammad Ashraful, again the galleries’ hero who disappoints much too often, for the first game. These are not decisions typical of Bangladesh cricket. The other day Shakib was asked in a press conference, “It seems you don’t like seniors. Why?”All that, combined with the beyond-saturation coverage of the World Cup on TV and in newspapers, plays on players’ minds. When you have a game like Bangladesh had against India – don’t be fooled by the 283 runs they scored, not for one ball did they look like they were competing – you perhaps start thinking of repercussions too. Repercussions, should you not do well, happen in the subcontinent at the end of every World Cup.A lot was pent up coming into this game against Ireland. The kids had looked old and rugged against India. They badly needed to express themselves, there had been too much of right areas, the Bangladeshi cricketers needed to let themselves go. Out came a trigger-happy batting side. All they managed was mindless cricket. It reminded you of what Dav Whatmore said of their cricket when he left them four years ago.”The lack of basic knowledge is a bit staggering really,” Whatmore had said then. “When these young cricketers were growing up in youth cricket, they weren’t told about the basics of cricket.” They were at it again. When they knew 250 would be a daunting total on this slow and low track, they kept getting out to adventurous shots, worst of them being sweeps from well outside off, against the turn of a left-arm spinner. Whether it was pressure or lack of cricketing sense, this was the crazy Bangladesh we know: one-fifths individual brilliance, four-fifths collective implosion.In their defence, though, they came out a brave side. That’s their strength. When they have team-mates by their side, when they can let their army of spinners apply a choke hold to the opposition, when most importantly they have 25,000 behind them in the stadium, and many more thousands waiting outside.They dived, they caught, they bowled stump to stump. They celebrated every Ireland wicket – batsmen with little experience of playing on low and slow tracks – as if they had just claimed Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. Ashraful, who by his own standards managed a stunningly poor shot to get out for 1, reacted as if he had scored a goal in a World Cup final when he dismissed Andrew White, who didn’t look at home against spin bowling of any kind.It might have put neutrals off, but Bangladesh needed to let it out. Defeat to Ireland would have crushed them. The tension was getting released with every step they took towards a first win. It culminated in that victory lap – not really a victory lap, Shakib will point out. Now that they have bitten this bullet, they should not be so muddled in their heads in the coming games, but if their batsmen are as suicidal as they were today, they will find teams who are not as obliging as Ireland were.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the IPL match between Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Delhi Daredevils

Abhishek Purohit30-Apr-2011The desperation
Virender Sehwag wanted to win today. He really did. Apart from his grit with the bat, his reactions betrayed his desperation on at least two occasions. After having already expressed reservations over the pitch at the toss, Sehwag was exasperated on seeing his apprehensions come true when David Warner was bowled with one that kept low. Immediately, Sehwag raised both his arms questioningly towards the umpire to lodge his protest. Later, when Delhi had recovered somewhat, Yogesh Nagar was run out, being a touch slow to go for the second. Sehwag’s reaction? He threw his bat away in anger.The quick makeover
Kochi had left a hint of green on the Nehru Stadium track against Deccan Chargers. Ishant Sharma seamed and bounced his way to three wickets in his first over, took two more in his second, and effectively finished the game with Kochi at 11 for 6. Kochi took the lesson to remove all traces of green a bit too seriously, and what emerged was a dry wicket that kept terribly low, making batting a lottery for all except Sehwag.Warner decided to go back to Sreesanth’s first delivery, and to his horror, it went under his waft to strike the off stump. Warner’s plight was nothing compared to what happened next. Naman Ojha went forward to what he thought was a normal length delivery. But the ball hit the pitch and rolled along to strike him on the boot, in front of leg stump. Kochi were to suffer as well. Parthiv Patel was bowled by one from Irfan Pathan that barely left the ground, and swore in disgust as we walked off.What goes around …
Sreesanth had the pitch to thank for both his wickets, so he had nothing to complain about when Roelof van der Merwe did him in with one that shooted along the ground to hit the base of off stump. He could only manage to appear incredulous, which was the way to go for most batsmen at the mercy of the treacherous strip.The quick move-on
Irfan was in a hurry to lay his hands on the ball and cash in on the surface. So much that he did not even wait for the Delhi innings to get over. Even as a run-out appeal against him was referred to the third umpire off the last ball of the innings, Irfan took his pads off, grabbed hold of the ball and started doing mock run-ups. The effort wasn’t in vain as he grabbed two early wickets.

Tino Mawoyo could not read Saeed Ajmal’s doosra, from the hand or off the pitch, but managed to survive several of them and steer Zimbabwe through the first day

Firdose Moonda in Bulawayo01-Sep-2011It’s hard to pick a winner in the battle between skill and patience, but when it occurred in Bulawayo, between Saeed Ajmal and Tino Mawoyo, patience won. Despite Ajmal’s ability to bowl an unreadable doosra, Mawoyo’s resolve to struggle on – in illiterate fashion at times – helped him defy the spinner and steer Zimbabwe through the first day.Ajmal was introduced in the 17th over, after the fast bowlers Sohail Khan, Aizaz Cheema and Junaid Khan failed to have any impact. The trio had tried everything – to move the ball away, to move it in, to keep it straight, to pitch it up, to pitch it short, to pitch on a length. Nothing had worked. Vusi Sibanda had pulled, even when it wasn’t there to pull, while Mawoyo had watched, though Pakistan were hoping he would take his eye off the ball and do something rash.Pakistan’s bowlers were probably wondering why their captain Misbah-ul-Haq had put them through this: tough toil on a batsman’s track, with only one frontline spinner against a line-up that struggles against turn. Ajmal had to be the difference, and he was. He started with a delivery that turned sharply into Sibanda’s pads and immediately found the right length – too short to drive, not short enough to pull. And when he delivered the doosra, he went from being just problematic to perilous for Zimbabwe.Mawoyo was baffled by his first doosra. He played for turn into him and edged wide of the slips as it moved away. The result was a boundary but it had Mawoyo rattled. With that delivery, swords had been drawn. Mine is sharp, said Ajmal, knowing that his ability with the ball was superior to Mawyoyo’s with the bat. Mine is strong, replied Mawoyo, readying himself for a long resistance that would help him survive but never get the better of Ajmal.Sibanda had no such shield against the doosra and was out in Ajmal’s next over. See that, Mawoyo, you’re next, Ajmal seemed to say and he bowled several doosras to him. Just prior to Sibanda’s dismissal, Mawoyo, again, had no clue and was beaten. In Ajmal’s next over, he was hit on the pad. The next doosra Mawoyo faced resulted in a leading edge and the following one struck him on the pad again.Junaid, meanwhile, bowled four consecutive maiden overs after lunch, three of them to Mawoyo. Stifled by Junaid and troubled by Ajmal, Mawoyo almost gave up. He played a hook off Junaid and mistimed it, but Sohail fumbled the top edge at long leg. I’m still here, Saeed, Mawoyo implied, and the contest resumed.Mawoyo was able to smoke an extra-cover drive off Ajmal before Brendan Taylor was lbw to a delivery that turned impressively. Then, Tatenda Taibu arrived, with his reputation for playing spin well, and he was able to pick the doosra immediately. Mawoyo watched him do it, and got beaten. He watched Taibu to do it again and got an outside edge for four. Another edge bounced short of second slip and he also survived a confident lbw appeal. As lunch melted into tea, Mawoyo was dissolving against the doosra. Just enough of him remained intact, though, to survive the day.Ajmal was reminiscent of another offspinner, Saqlain Mushtaq, who decimated the Zimbabwe line-up the previous time Pakistan played a Test in Bulawayo. That was in November 2002 and Saqlain took 10 wickets in the match – 7 for 66 in the first innings and 3 for 89 in the second.That day, Alistair Campbell was the closest thing to a Mawoyo, scoring 46 and 62, forming the biggest partnerships for Zimbabwe in a losing cause. Campbell sat on the pavilion roof watching Mawoyo and remembered how he also had no clue what to do against the doosra.”There’s hardly anybody in the world that can bowl that delivery and we hadn’t seen it before in Zimbabwe,” he said. “It’s difficult to play because the guys that bowl it are world-class.”Did he think Ajmal today was similar to Saqlain almost ten years ago? “Saqlain was a bit more of a twinkle-toes, he ran a little faster, but they have same way of pausing a little just before they deliver the ball,” he said. “It was tough.”It appeared to be tougher for Mawoyo, who scored slowly for most of the day. The only shot of any authority off Ajmal was a loft over mid-off that bounced once before crossing the boundary. My patience beats your skill, is what that stroke said.