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The injury to Ashish Nehra has put the Indian team management in a dilemma over who should be his replacement for the World Cup final against Sri Lanka

Nagraj Gollapudi 01-Apr-2011The injury to Ashish Nehra has put the Indian team management in a dilemma over who should be his replacement for the World Cup final against Sri Lanka. The likely choices are Sreesanth and R Ashwin, but MS Dhoni said that he was yet to make up his mind on whether to go for a third seamer, or play two seamers and an extra spinner.”That is a tricky one,” Dhoni said 24 hours before the final. “If you see the Mumbai track there is a bit of pace and bounce for the seamers initially. Also if there is reverse swing going on, the third seamer can have an impact on the game. At the same time if the three seamers are bowling well I can easily manoeuvre the bowling.”According to Dhoni, playing only two seamers along with four spinners including part-timers did not afford him the same flexibility. Yet, on the two occasions India adopted that strategy, they won: in the final group match against West Indies, and in the quarter-final victory over Australia.”If one of the fast bowlers has an off-day it gets difficult,” Dhoni said. “Still we should not forget that, in whatever opportunities Ashwin has got so far he has done really well. We have confidence in him. But we have not thought out our bowling combination yet.”Dhoni disagreed that playing Sreesanth – who leaked 53 runs in five overs in his only game – would be a gamble. “He is one player who gets excited when it comes to big games,” Dhoni said. “If he is playing he will be in a good frame of mind. Sree is one character who can swing the ball and get you early wickets. It would be an exciting choice we would need to make.”But he did admit that being a volatile character, Sreesanth could easily disappoint. “The only person who can control Sreesanth is Sreesanth,” he said. “It is beyond my control and I don’t think too much about.”Dhoni, however, clarified that Sreesanth’s unpredictability was not the reason behind him not featuring in India’s campaign after the opening game against Bangladesh. Dhoni said that India had played the line-ups most suited to the conditions in the knockout matches, and Sreesanth did not fit in with the requirements. “It has been unfortunate that we could not give him any further chances after the first match where he did not bowl that badly,” Dhoni said. “But after that we gave chances to quite a few other individuals, which was needed at that point. After the last match in the group stages we have fielded the best XI, which suited the conditions.”Going by the two league games played here, the Wankhede pitch has proved beneficial to teams batting first. In the first of those games, New Zealand made 358 against Canada after being put in to bat. Four days later Kumar Sangakkara’s century helped Sri Lanka set a challenging target of 265 against New Zealand, who were flattened by the trickery of Muttiah Muralitharan. Dhoni was certain Muralitharan would play tomorrow despite fitness worries, and he believed the teams would prefer to bat first. “Being the final, more often than not most of the teams would love to bat first, put runs on the board and put pressure on the opposition,” he said. “You might see the wicket getting slower as the game progresses. There will not be too much of a difference apart from handling the pressure which might be more in the second innings compared to the first.”

The former Victoria fast bowler, David Saker, has been named as England’s new bowling coach, after a lengthy search for a replacement for Ottis Gibson, who took charge of West Indies in February this year

Cricinfo staff08-Apr-2010The former Victoria fast bowler, David Saker, has been named as England’s new bowling coach, after a lengthy search for a replacement for Ottis Gibson, who took charge of West Indies in February this year. Saker joins the ECB following a six-year tenure as assistant coach of Victoria, the state he represented at first-class level on 49 occasions.In his role as Victoria assistant coach, Saker helped to guide the team to the past two Sheffield Shield titles, as well as four domestic Twenty20 tiles in the past five years. He served as head coach of the Delhi Daredevils during last year’s Champions League, following an assistant coach’s role with the franchise throughout the initial two seasons of the IPL.Saker, 43, debuted for Victoria in 1994 before going on to play 23 first-class matches for Tasmania from 2000-2004. He returned to Victoria in the role of assistant coach and co-ordinator of Cricket Victoria’s high performance unit, working closely with the likes of Australian internationals Peter Siddle, Dirk Nannes, Clint McKay and Andrew McDonald.It is expected that Saker will link up with the England team in time for the forthcoming ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean at the end of the month. “I’ve long held ambitions of coaching at international level so the prospect of working with the England team is something I’m very much looking forward to and excited by,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed my time as assistant coach with the Bushrangers and I’m now aiming to take my coaching to the next level with the England team.Saker’s duties will include guiding the fortunes of the established frontline bowlers, Stuart Broad and James Anderson, as well as working on the development of young prospects such as Steven Finn, Ajmal Shahzad and Chris Woakes.”I believe I can offer the England bowlers a great deal and oversee their development at the highest level,” he said. “This role will be challenging but there’s no question I’m looking forward to working with the impressive crop of bowlers currently in and around the England team.”England’s head coach, Andy Flower, said: “David has a wealth of playing and coaching experience and will be a valuable addition to the England set-up. His record with Victoria in recent times is second to none and he has managed the development of a number of top-class fast bowlers.”We were sorry to see Ottis Gibson leave the position but we believe we’ve found an excellent successor and look forward to David joining us in the lead up to what will be an exciting and challenging year ahead.”Saker was selected from a shortlist of five candidates – including Allan Donald, who worked with the England team briefly in 2007; the former Australian fast bowler, Craig McDermott; Dougie Brown, the Warwickshire assistant coach, and Stuart Barnes, a bowling coach at Gloucestershire and the ECB academy. His appointment means that Bruce French, who works with England’s wicketkeepers, is the only regular member of the coaching staff with an English background.Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, said: “We’re pleased to appoint David Saker as England fast bowling coach after an exhaustive recruitment process that included a number of world-class candidates. David’s credentials are exceptional and we believe we’ve secured an outstanding bowling coach who’ll take up a vital full-time role within the England team management.”

Three-member panel also laid partial blame on Ihsanullah himself for “non-compliance with the prescribed rehabilitation plan”

Danyal Rasool02-May-2024The PCB’s chief medical officer Dr Sohail Saleem has quit after a damning independent report criticised “delays in the diagnosis of [fast bowler] Ihsanullah’s injury and inappropriate prescription of treatment”.Ihsanullah, who was injured last April and remains out with what was initially an elbow injury, did not have his right elbow pain treated, addressed and operated on appropriately, and never received the formal rehabilitation process required by his condition. These were the conclusions reached by the committee in a judgment that lays bare the extent of medical failure at the PCB over an extended period of time, particularly with respect to its treatment of injured fast bowlers.The report, comprised by an independent three-member panel, also laid partial blame on Ihsanullah himself for “non-compliance with the prescribed rehabilitation plan” even as it concluded that the plan itself was inadequate. Crucially, the panel concluded that Ihsanullah’s return to cricket remains a prospect of the distant future, recommending “aggressive physiotherapy of the right shoulder and elbow” and possible surgery if he does not recover in the 12 months.Related

• Ihsanullah's injury treatment puts PCB's medical department under scanner yet again

The report, however, reserves its most trenchant criticism for Dr Saleem, and the treatment plan Ihsanullah was eventually put under. It stated that Ihsanullah’s surgery was “planned hurriedly”, lacking specialist review and preoperative assessment. It also stated that the surgeon Dr Saleem recommended for the procedure “lacked academics and experience in the field”, calling the choice “inappropriate”.”Postoperatively, Mr Ihsanullah was not fully compliant to the rehabilitation protocols as alleged by the PCB officials,” the report said. “He continues to have medial elbow pain along with shoulder dyskinesia. He has significant elbow stiffness for which surgery is not advised currently as per advice of national and international appropriate experts in the specialty shoulder and elbow.”However, we strongly believe that in view of the talent possessed by Ihsanullah, he be physically assessed on his arrival to Pakistan whereby an appropriate rehabilitation plan be developed in a multidisciplinary fashion, including consideration of hydrodilation and the same be implemented to provide the best chance to the player to live up to his potential again.”Dr Saleem’s resignation was announced as part of the official statement the PCB issued after the conclusion of the report into the injuries of Ihsanullah was made public. It brings an ignominious end to Dr Saleem’s second stint as the PCB’s chief medical officer; he quit in 2021 after an unsuccessful attempt by the PCB at holding a PSL season in a Covid-19 bubble in 2021, before being brought back to the cricket board under Najam Sethi’s chairmanship in early 2023.There was little by way of information regarding Ihsanullah’s injury for nearly a full year after it happened last April. The issue was brought back into the spotlight after Multan Sultans owner Ali Tareen took to Twitter last month to reveal it was Sultans and not the PCB who bore the brunt of his living expenses while he recovered, saying they would also arrange for Ihsanullah to travel to England later this month “to be assessed by a world-renowned surgeon”.He told ESPNcricinfo at the time the PCB’s medical department failed to pick up an elbow fracture in the scans they conducted, and subsequently put him on a training regimen that included regular bowling and gym work before a serious injury had been conclusively ruled out.The comments put the PCB’s medical department under the scanner once more, with the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi promising an independent inquiry. At the time, Dr Saleem spoke to ESPNcricinfo, admitting a “delay” in Ihsanullah’s diagnosis, but maintaining there was “no mishandling”.That version has been decisively rejected by the committee’s conclusions. Dr Saleem did say Ihsanullah was not compliant with the rehabilitation process, a rare point of agreement between the outgoing chief medical officer and the committee’s report, though a number of players, and coaching and management staff, have privately expressed to ESPNcricinfo that there existed a trust deficit between several players and Dr Saleem.In the last two years, multiple Pakistan fast bowlers have suffered lengthy injury layoffs. In July 2022, when Shaheen Shah Afridi suffered a knee ligament injury, it was also initially undiagnosed. He attended camps and travelled with the team for a month, before flying to the UK while paying for himself and staying in a two-star hotel as he sought independent treatment. It was only after Shahid Afridi complained publicly that the PCB said they would cover all of Shaheen’s expenses.Naseem Shah was known to be managing a back and shoulder complaint that caused him discomfort in the build-up to his right shoulder injury, which happened two months after Afridi was injured, and caused a six-month lay-off. That led to Naseem missing the World Cup and the Australia tour that followed.The report was commissioned by Naqvi, who was elected PCB chairman in February. It was also tasked with investigating the injury-related absences of fast bowlers Arshad Iqbal and Zeeshan Zameer, as well as women’s batter Shawal Zulfiqar. The committee recommended a two-month rehabilitation programme for Iqbal, examination by a foot and ankle specialist for Zameer, and a CT scan of the right shoulder for Zulfiqar.

The bilateral tour will be Ireland’s first to Bangladesh since 2008

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2023Ireland will play their first Test match against Bangladesh during their tour of the country in March and April, a visit that also includes three ODIs and three T20Is. It is Ireland’s first bilateral tour of Bangladesh since 2008.Ireland are scheduled to arrive on March 12 and, after a practice match, they will play three ODIs in Sylhet on March 18, 20 and 23. The teams then move to Chattogram for three T20Is on March 27, 29 and 31. These series follows six white-ball matches against England at home, making March quite a busy month for Bangladesh. The one-off Test against Ireland will be played in Dhaka between April 4 and 8.Ireland have played only three Test matches, the last of which was in 2019, and Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said they were keen to make a comeback in the format.”We are delighted to confirm Ireland men’s seven-match, multi-format tour of Bangladesh – and thank the BCB for their cooperation and support in agreeing this month-long tour,” Deutrom said. “Since the two sides first met in 1997, there has been a great on-field rivalry formed and we look forward to what looks set to be another competitive series.”Of particular interest to players and fans alike will no doubt be the last fixture on the schedule – the match marks Ireland’s return to playing Test cricket. It will undoubtedly be a challenging experience in Asian conditions for our squad, but it will be invaluable to our players’ development knowing that we will be playing a great deal of cricket in Asia over coming years.”BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said the series was a reaffirmation of Bangladesh’s “commitment to the ICC FTP”.”Ireland’s visit to Bangladesh is another exciting event in our home season after the series against India and England,” Chowdhury said. “The BCB and Cricket Ireland have a cordial and strong relationship and the two boards have worked very closely to arrange this bilateral tour despite the challenges of a busy international calendar. This is also a statement of the BCB’s commitment to the ICC FTP.”Bangladesh are also scheduled to tour Ireland in May.

The 30-year-old batter hasn’t been a regular in the longest format, having played the last of his eight Tests in December 2018

Madushka Balasuriya08-Jan-2022Danushka Gunathilaka has retired from Test cricket at the age of 30, Sri Lanka Cricket has made public, confirming that the batter “will now be focusing on the shorter formats”. The update comes close on the heels of another 30-year-old batter, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, announcing his decision to quit all international cricket.Gunathilaka’s call to quit the longest format is unsurprising. He hasn’t played a Test since 2018, with his eight appearances bringing him 299 runs. He hit two half-centuries, with a best of 61. His limited-overs career, however, has been more fruitful. In 44 ODIs, he has scored 1520 runs at an average of 36.19, while in T20Is, he has 568 runs in 30 matches at a strike rate of 121.62.Those numbers might have been a bit higher had it not been for Gunathilaka’s frequent run-ins with the SLC over disciplinary issues. Since his international debut towards the end of 2015, Gunathilaka has served three separate suspensions, the latest of which came last year for breaching biobubble protocols – along with Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella – while on tour in England. That earned the three of them one-year bans, which, though, were lifted yesterday, six months early. He had previously been suspended for breaking a team curfew and showing an indifferent attitude to training.The fact that he remained in the national frame despite these infractions speaks of the left-hander’s potential. He most recently scored a blistering half-century in the Lanka Premier League final, and he had top-scored in the tournament’s inaugural edition in 2020 too.As for Rajapaksa, he had cited “familial obligations” for his decision to end his career after just a bit over two years at the international level, in which he played five ODIs and 18 T20Is.

Club confirm departure of Jared Warner to Gloucestershire on damp second day

ECB Reporters Network07-Sep-2020The second day of Yorkshire’s final-round Bob Willis Trophy clash between against Leicestershire was washed out without a ball bowled at Headingley, damaging their hopes of reaching the competition’s five-day Lord’s final.Second in the North Group and five points behind Derbyshire prior to this fixture, Yorkshire need to finish top of the group and then as one of the best two group winners to advance to the showpiece final on September 23.Heavy morning rain forced an early lunch at 12.15pm before another burst meant the postponement of a planned 2pm start. Umpires Peter Hartley and James Middlebrook later inspected in dry but gloomy conditions shortly after 4pm and deemed the outfield unplayable.Only 60.3 overs have been bowled across the two days, with Yorkshire 36 for 2 in reply to Leicestershire’s first-innings 124.That means that so far across the White Rose county’s three home games in the North Group, they have lost a little over 450 overs combined.”It’s been frustrating for the last three games if we’re being honest,” Richard Pyrah, Yorkshire’s bowling coach, said. “We won the first two games away with the next three at home, where we play well. But we’ve not played more than two days in either of the last two games added to the rain this week.”We’ve had a good start in this game and wanted to drive it home. We’ve still got time, fingers crossed, so we’ll see what happens. With the way the league tables are, we’ll have to bat well tomorrow to give ourselves a chance. If we do bat well, we’ll still be in a really good position to win the game on day four.”There’s a little bit in the pitch, and it’s been under cover all day today, so we’ll have to work hard tomorrow morning to set it up.”Meanwhile, Yorkshire have confirmed the departure of young seamer Jared Warner, who has joined Gloucestershire, following the switch made by Josh Shaw last year.”It feels amazing to have signed for Gloucestershire and I can’t wait to get started,” Warner said. “As a bowler my main strength is my pace, and I’d like to think this can complement the current Gloucestershire bowling attack nicely.”It wasn’t an easy decision to leave Yorkshire, but I feel the opportunity to go to Gloucestershire and hopefully play regular first-team cricket there is the best decision for myself and the development of my career going forward.”

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.

Nick Winter, who showed an ability to swing the Dukes ball, impressed for South Australia with three wickets as Victoria ended the second day still 131 runs behind

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2018
Getty Images

Cameron White led Victoria’s reply but the young left-arm paceman Nick Winter impressed for South Australia on day two of the Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval. Peter Handscomb, in Australia’s squad for the tour to South Africa, was dismissed for a duck.Victoria made a strong start against the South Australia bowlers as Marcus Harris and Travis Dean added 114 for the first wicket in response to SA’s total of 379 either side of the lunch interval.However Winter, who showed an ability to swing the Dukes ball, persisted and was rewarded with the first three wickets of the innings. These included Handscomb, dragging a full delivery onto his stumps after it swung back just enough to beat the middle of the bat.Eamonn Vines helped White steady the innings before he was pinned lbw by Tom Cooper’s part-time offspin, and Matthew Short fell to Joe Mennie before stumps were taken, with Victoria still 131 runs in deficit.

The ECB has announced final squads for the inaugural North v South series next March, with the likes of Mark Wood, Steven Finn and James Vince given opportunities to press claims for England selection in the three 50-over matches

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Dec-2016The ECB has announced final squads for the inaugural North v South series next March, with Mark Wood, Steven Finn and James Vince among those given opportunities to press their claims for England selection in the three 50-over matches.Wood is currently working back to fitness after a third ankle operation in the space of 12 months, having briefly impressed in an England shirt during the ODI series with Pakistan at the end of the summer. His ability to operate at 90mph could make him a key weapon when England challenge for the Champions Trophy next June.Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, said they were hopeful Wood could also be fit for the ODI tour to West Indies in February.”There is a chance he may make the West Indies squad,” Farbrace said. “But for someone like Finny, who has missed out on his place in one-day cricket in recent series, it’s a great opportunity for him to show what he can do and get himself into the one-day side. There’s others – [Dawid] Malan, [Sam] Northeast, people who have been very successful in county cricket who perhaps haven’t had the opportunity, this is a great chance for them.”Vince played all three ODIs on the recent tour of Bangladesh but was dropped from the squad to tour India next month, while Finn’s last limited-overs appearance came in 2015. Vince will captain the South XI and Keaton Jennings will lead the North. Four members of each squad have already been selected via the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s MVP ranking system.Jennings and Ben Duckett, who both made senior England debuts this winter, are joined by Liam Dawson, Tim Bresnan and Harry Gurney as the other capped players involved. Two young legspinners, in Mason Crane and Josh Poysden, have also been included in the 13-man squads.”For all the players selected, the North versus South series is a platform to make an impression,” England’s national selector, James Whitaker, said. “As Andrew Strauss said when he introduced the series before the start of the 2016 season, we see it as an important addition to our selection process in 50-over cricket, ahead of the two major global events we are staging over the next three summers – the Champions Trophy next year and the World Cup in 2019.”With the calibre of the squads we have selected, we are confident there will be an intense and high-quality level of competition that allows us to assess players who are currently just outside the England squad, and their ability to perform at that higher level.”Farbrace will coach the South side while England’s bowling coach, Ottis Gibson, will take charge of the North. Both were involved in selection, while Trevor Bayliss, England’s head coach, will attend the matches.”The key thing is to give people outside of the current one-day set-up the opportunity to place for England,” Farbrace said. “With an eye on the 2019 World Cup in England, we’re trying to make sure that white-ball cricket has the same importance as red-ball cricket. It’s a brilliant opportunity for players in county cricket who otherwise wouldn’t have been selected.”What we’re saying is, the Lions is one route and county cricket is certainly another route. When people come through the Lions, you know they’ve come through a grounding between county cricket and international cricket, but also there are people capable of coming directly from county cricket. There are some very good county players… So you want the routes to be varied, not just one line into the England team.”Eight members of the Lions squad announced earlier this week for the one-day series against Sri Lanka A in March have been included – Jennings, Joe Clarke, Liam Livingstone, Poysden, Tom Alsop, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Ben Foakes and Tom Curran – while a number of promising players outside the performance programmes, such as Sam Hain, Jack Leaning and Richard Gleeson have also earned call-ups.The squads will gather in Dubai ahead of warm-up matches on March 15. The three-match North v South series will then take place in Dubai, on March 17 and 19, and Abu Dhabi, on March 21.North squad: Keaton Jennings (Durham, capt), Ben Duckett (Northamptonshire*), Sam Hain (Warwickshire), Joe Clarke (Worcestershire), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Jack Leaning (Yorkshire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire*), Josh Poysden (Warwickshire), Graeme White (Northamptonshire*), Mark Wood (Durham), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Richard Gleeson (Northamptonshire), Harry Gurney (Nottinghamshire*)South squad: James Vince (Hampshire, capt), Daniel Bell-Drummond (Kent), Tom Alsop (Hampshire), Dawid Malan (Middlesex), Sam Northeast (Kent), Liam Dawson (Hampshire*), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Lewis Gregory (Somerset*), Tim Groenewald (Somerset*), Matt Coles (Kent*), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Mason Crane (Hampshire)*PCA MVP rankings selection

South Africa received an unexpected hand to give them a shot at saving the Bangalore Test

The Report by Sidharth Monga15-Nov-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Persistent rain kept the pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium under covers on the second day•BCCI

South Africa received an unexpected hand to give them a shot at saving the Bangalore Test. Well it wasn’t entirely unexpected, in that it had been raining in Bangalore leading in to the Test and the cyclonic activity around India’s east coast had promised more rain, but a steady drizzle since morning to wash out the whole of second day’s play was unexpected.That was arguably the first good news for South Africa in the Test series. After they psyched themselves up on a turning surface in Mohali, they lost Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander to injury, and then were bowled out for 214 on the first day after being asked to bat first. The Bangalore pitch was a normal day-one India track, but they managed to lose eight wickets to spin.India, who had knocked off 80 runs on the first evening, were now looking for quick runs to get into lead. They will feel frustrated by the rain, not least because thunderstorms have been predicted for the third and fourth days of the Test too.