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Emotion: Bangladesh's superpower as well as kryptonite

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

They play their best cricket when riding a wave of emotion, but they also need to hang in when it is not going their way

Sidharth Monga02-Nov-20221:36

Moody: Litton aside, Bangladesh went about their power-hitting the wrong way

Litton Das has batted in 154 T20 innings. He has scored 40 or more at a strike-rate of over 150 only three times. He is still considered Bangladesh’s best bet by many. Aesthetics have a lot to do with that. When he is on song, he doesn’t look like he is incapable of anything. The pull, the cut, the cover-drive, the deft late-cut, he plays them all, and does so languidly. Yet his T20 record: average of 22.95 and strike-rate of 125.95.T20 cricket, more than any format, strips you of any leeway style might get you. If you can’t use your aesthetics to score runs, and quick runs, you are discarded. A few Bangladesh batters – whether stylish or not – fall in that category. Play on a slow pitch, neutralise the opposition’s six-hitting, and they are a dangerous team. When you are chasing 185 against India on a cold night in Adelaide, you need some six-hitting to even dream of winning.Related

  • Win or bust for Bangladesh and Pakistan, but even full points might not do

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  • 'We didn't talk about it being fair or unfair' – Shakib on resumption of play in slippery conditions

  • India survive Litton Das scare in wet Adelaide

This is when Litton stuns India. He has no choice but to come out swinging. Even when he does come out swinging, Litton doesn’t look like he is playing a single shot in anger. KL Rahul says that it is the fact that Litton is hitting good balls away without an element of slogging that has fazed the India bowlers. They have been kicked off their lengths and plans.There are quite a few Bangladesh supporters in the stands, but the silence among the Indian section is so deafening you can’t hear the Bangla cheers. Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami are all taken apart. He brings up his fifty in 21 balls. It is difficult to plan for this kind of assault from a batter with those stats. A measure of how good Litton is, that while he has scored 56 off 24 in the powerplay, his partner Najmul Hossain Shanto has managed just four off 12. Another measure of how good Litton has been is that Bangladesh are 17 runs ahead of the DLS par score when it starts raining at the end of the seventh over.

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We are in the bizarro universe now. Normally sides fielding are more reluctant to resume play in post-rain conditions. Here India are desperate to play on. On the other hand, the more it rains the better it is for Bangladesh. No more play gives them the elusive win over India in a world event. If we lose 10 overs, Bangladesh have to chase 23 in three; if we lose five, they will need 76 in eight.The ground staff keep running a rope on the ground almost through the rain break. Even before it stops raining, the big cover comes off. In all likelihood, this is just the ground staff showing confidence in the radar and getting a head start when it comes to drying the surface. It stops raining at about 9.37pm, about 40 minutes after it first started coming down. That’s a loss of two overs. You would think it would take another 20 minutes or so, a total loss of seven overs, but it is announced play will resume at 9.50pm, giving Bangladesh a further target of 85 in nine overs.As the ground gets through the final touch-ups, India look relaxed, in their huddle, regrouping after that assault. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan is seen having an animated discussion with the umpires while India captain Rohit Sharma mostly just stands and listens. Shakib is seen running his hand on the ground and showing them the water that comes up with it. Even after the umpires’ chat with the captains is done, Litton comes and has a chat with the umpires with some finger-pointing towards the ground.Bangladesh are not happy. This break has broken the momentum, but it is not long enough to help them mathematically even though the wet conditions will challenge India’s bowlers and fielders.Just to make things worse, Litton slips when running on the first ball. He injures his wrist too. He is running on the edge of the pitch, but when he is sliding in at the end of the run, he is almost on the grass next to the pitch, which takes him down. They decide against two. On the next ball, the second is properly on. This time, Litton is running on the grass and slips during the second. He doesn’t fall, but on this precise occasion, India, who almost comically couldn’t hit the wickets from close range against South Africa, manage a direct hit from the deep.Litton Das slipped while running between the wickets•ICC/Getty ImagesLitton is furious, looks back at the grass that nearly tripped him and walks off in disgust. If you are already feeling hard done by, this is enough to make you want to protest.

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This is the exchange in the early goings at Shakib’s post-match press conference.Reporter:
Shakib, smiling:Reporter:
Shakib, still smiling: Reporter:
Shakib, smile getting wider: Reporter:
Shakib doesn’t know what to say.Reporter:
Shakib: Reporter:
Shakib: Reporter:

****

Shakib at this press conference is different from the Shakib we know. The Shakib who kicks down stumps, who argues with umpires, who gets into fights with spectators, who gesticulates at the camera for spending too much time trained on him, is the voice of the reason at the end of the match.However, how he is during the match in that dugout is important. Shakib is not the only emotional person in that team. That team runs on emotion. If anybody has been to Bangladesh, they will know the country runs on emotion.Emotion is Bangladesh cricket’s superpower. And during the rain break they have probably been told they have already failed to protest about a Virat Kohli fake-fielding incident. Twice in this tournament Kohli has remonstrated with the umpires even before they have had a chance to call a no-ball. It has annoyed the fans of the opposition. Not the merits of the call, but that Kohli gets to remonstrate. Now that there has been a chance to put Kohli on the spot, both the umpires and the batters have missed it. This is where emotion would have been well spent.You can imagine it is all building up. Then there is a chance to finally put one past India after the nightmares against them: the borderline no-ball to turn it around in the 2015 World Cup, the premature celebrations in the 2016 T20 World Cup, the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka. And now they have a chance not only to beat India but also to have proper semi-final aspirations.It is all at risk, and then what happens to Litton has happened.Then one after the other, Bangladesh batters keep swinging. Some shots come off spectacularly but Bangladesh don’t need these risks. Most teams in these circumstances give themselves a few balls to get themselves in knowing no target is safe when they take it deep. Bangladesh don’t have experience of doing so. More importantly, they don’t have known six-hitters on whom they can rely to finish the game if it gets tight.They are also angry, they are emotional, and they start playing the kind of shots Litton didn’t play at all.India on the other hand are doing small things right. Their long-on is wide, almost a deep midwicket, where two slogs end up. Rahul nails that direct hit. Arshdeep gets yorkers right with that wet ball. They are a lesson in being clinical.Emotion is also Bangladesh cricket’s kryptonite.

****

Never mind the coincidence that Bangladesh fall short by five, the same number of runs India would have been penalised had Kohli’s fake-fielding been noticed. In the fact that they come this close despite making all kinds of mistakes is a lesson. They play their best cricket when riding a wave of emotion, but they also need to hang in when it is not going their way. A lot of it comes from depth in your team, but sometimes you have to consciously keep the emotions aside. A bit like how Shakib does at the press conference to avoid controversy and fines. On the field they have to find a way to avoid it when it begins to harm them, which can admittedly be difficult when the amount of play left is as little as nine overs.

Unhurried Amanjot Kaur makes her mark on India debut

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

By making a difference on the cricket field this allrounder has already ticked off a dream, but her journey is only just starting

S Sudarshanan20-Jan-2023India were 69 for 5 in the 12th over. Four out of the top five batters had fallen for single-digit scores. On a sluggish surface, in hot and humid conditions, runs were hard to come by. And in walked allrounder Amanjot Kaur, on debut, joining the seasoned Deepti Sharma in the middle.Amanjot takes fondly to challenges. Having started playing domestic cricket for Punjab in 2017-18, she switched to Chandigarh for a couple of seasons from 2019-20 in search of more game time. In each of her two seasons there, she was among the runs even while captaining Chandigarh and chipping in with the ball. She was assured of a spot in the XI and was showing off her wares.Related

  • Amanjot, Deepti star as India begin tri-series with a win

But she wanted more. And so, in a bid to play more competitive cricket, she switched back to Punjab in 2022-23 where she picked the brains of India wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia. She scored 192 runs in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, the most for Punjab, at a strike rate in excess of 100 and then picked up eight wickets – only behind Harleen Deol’s nine – for North Zone in the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal T20 competition.A young seam-bowling allrounder, performing consistently, is hard to ignore in the Indian circuit and Amanjot received a maiden India call-up for this tri-series in South Africa ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup. It was significant given Pooja Vastrakar, India’s preferred allrounder, was still returning to full fitness following an injury that kept her out of the home series against Australia last month.And so, in her first international game, Amanjot was tasked with preventing India from getting bowled out cheaply. Understandably, she took her time to get the measure of it all and was on 7 off 13 balls at one stage. She had missed taking toll on a free hit, but she seemed unfazed. She bided her time, and then cashed in.Seamer Ayabonga Khaka was greeted in her third over with two marvelously timed cover drives. On both occasions, Khaka fed Amanjot full balls in her favoured area – outside off – for her to find the gap through the ring there. She then chipped one over fast bowler Marizanne Kapp’s head and such was the timing that it raced down the ground. She gave Khaka more special treatment in the penultimate over of the innings, hitting her for three fours.In all, Amanjot scored 22 off the ten balls she faced off Khaka and took ten of five off Kapp. She finished unbeaten on 41 off 30 balls, the second highest score in women’s cricket for India by a T20I debutant.Interacting with keeper Taniya Bhatia in the Punjab set-up helped Amanjot Kaur’s development•Getty Images”[Moving to Chandigarh] was a turning point as I gained knowledge and maturity as a batter and got the limelight,” Amanjot said after becoming only the third India women’s player to win a Player of the Match award on T20I debut. “Then I moved back to Punjab again and I wanted to take that step because I wanted to play more competitive cricket, play under seniors. There was Taniya and from her I learnt about how it is to be at the higher level and how the competition at the highest level is.”Amanjot added 76 runs for the sixth wicket with Deepti – the fourth-best in women’s T20Is – and helped India amass 44 off the last four overs. That meant India inched close to 150 and that was beyond South Africa on a surface that aided spin.”[Deepti] said I should not try to hit the ball too hard,” Amanjot said. “[The conversation was about] first to try for singles and then the boundaries will keep coming once we are set. She asked me to rein in my excitement since it was my debut and told me to stay calm and build a partnership so that the team can reach a respectable position.”Amanjot started training as a 17-year-old under coach Nagesh Gupta, primarily as a bowler. Her father enrolled her in the academy but thought her craze for cricket would fizzle out. She was set on doing something noteworthy for India in cricket though, and, seeing her dedication, her father, who was a woodwork contractor and carpenter, made some changes of his own to help her along. He quit his woodwork job and stuck to carpentry work in locations near their home so that he could drop Amanjot at training and pick her up again.”The travelling [between home and academy] was three and a half to four hours and he played a big role in managing that in 2016-17 when I had started,” Amanjot explained. “Earlier he used to undertake longer work, and used to stay at the [client’s] place and be away from home sometimes. But to pick and drop me from the academy, he left that.”Having made a stellar first impression in India’s blue, Amanjot knows her journey has only just started. But, as always, she’s up for the challenge.

Nat Sciver-Brunt: 'I've got more perspective. I can deal with things that come my way'

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

England allrounder talks about personal wellbeing and upcoming Ashes challenge

Vithushan Ehantharajah15-May-2023″I haven’t watched the interview,” Nat Sciver-Brunt says. “And I don’t really want to.”She doesn’t have to, either. She remembers the where – the Ageas Bowl – and when – after her Trent Rockets had fallen short of Southern Brave by two runs in the women’s Hundred eliminator. And she remembers everything she said.After striking three consecutive sixes in the final over before only managing a single when a boundary would have taken them over the line, Sciver-Brunt was standing on the outfield irate, exhausted and vulnerable. What began as cheery as a consolatory interview can be ended up with Sciver-Brunt opening up about her own internal battles.”I’d been feeling I was putting pressure on myself and taking on more than I could handle,” she told the BBC hosts by her side and those watching on free-to-air TV. “I need to learn how to switch off when at home, not think about what’s coming up. I find that quite hard.”A week later, Sciver-Brunt pulled out of the limited-overs series with India to focus on her mental health. It was a decision taken following conversations with England team doctor Thamindu Wedatilake.Related

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  • Mumbai Indians, the maximum team of the WPL

  • Issy Wong: 'I think it's a great time to play Australia'

  • Katherine Sciver-Brunt retires from international cricket after 19-year career

Fast-forward to present day and she is all the better for it. She returned to international action for the tour of the West Indies at the end of 2022, then into a high-profile start to 2023 with the T20 World Cup and inaugural WPL as a marquee £320,000 signing for Mumbai Indians. Even with all that, she finds herself as level as she ever has been. Which is as good a time as any to reflect on those words live on television last summer. The first time those beyond a select few knew something was wrong.”It was probably the first interview in the month I had been able to get through without crying,” she says. “It was a difficult time to describe how I was feeling. It was part of the journey, I guess.”She admits there was an element of catharsis to that Hail Mary knock of 72 from 36 deliveries. “I felt maybe a third of the way through if I don’t start doing something know I won’t get close. I guess it was probably part and parcel of how I was feeling mentally and how it came out on the pitch.”It was her second high-profile, high-class near miss in the space of nine months, following an absurd 148 not out in defeat to Australia in the 50-over World Cup final earlier that year. That was part of a rammed 2022: starting in the southern hemisphere with an Ashes in Australia and then the World Cup in New Zealand, both subject to Covid-19 restrictions. Prior to the Hundred was an all-format series with South Africa followed by the Commonwealth Games in the home summer. Close to breaking point, time away from the game was a necessity.”The break was something I felt I needed because of the six months to year before that. Everything was not built up, but it did get on top of me a little bit. Just being able to have that and say I needed to go home from that tour and be at home and just try and feel normal again.”It wasn’t necessarily a long-standing thing. It was a circumstance a little bit on the back of touring with Covid [restrictions] and the six months before that moment just all was so busy and there was no time to reflect on anything and put things to bed. You are on to the next thing.”Together with her wife, Katherine Sciver-Brunt, who retired from England duty last month, she did all the things she had been putting off. “Normal things” like mowing the lawn and taking the dog for a walk. The menial tasks that give athletes grounding and a healthier perspective on what they have around them and what is truly important.

“It is just whether we can do it in the pressure moments. Because we don’t get put under pressure unless we play Australia, really, consistently”Nat Sciver-Brunt on facing Australia for the Ashes

She also devised ways to improve and sustain her mental-wellbeing, particularly when it came to assessing on-field matters, such as the gut-wrenching finish to the Commonwealth Games. With Heather Knight injured, Sciver-Brunt captained England to the bronze medal match, where they lost to New Zealand. As an allrounder driven by a “fine, I’ll do it myself” attitude, it was a bitter pill she struggled to swallow as a leader.”I spoke to a clinical psychologist a couple of times and tried to reflect on the Commonwealth Games and how that went and how that affected me, which is probably the main trigger for needing to go home,” she says. “Since then, I haven’t spoken to her but felt like I have got a bit more perspective from it and am able to, not recover from things, but just deal with things that come my way.”I have reflected a lot of with our England team psychologist as well and checked in with her quite a bit before and during the South Africa trip [for the T20 World Cup], voicing the expectations and how I thought it was going to go during the WPL and what would happen if I didn’t perform.”I guess just really voicing what you are actually feeling. So many people say that it is better to talk, which it is. Even I can relate that to batting. When you are batting in a pair and in your mind you think I am going to do this or that but if I don’t say it I will probably do it instinctively and things will happen out of my control.”That last bit might be the hardest for Sciver-Brunt to deal with. Because throughout her career, she has been the one looked upon to deliver glory. Not just for England. She led the line as Mumbai Indians won the WPL, scoring 332 runs – the second most in the competition – and taking 10 wickets. Those performances, she says, came from “feeling in a good place” with cricket.”And, as a person as well, being really happy,” she adds. “I didn’t have to dwell on it too much. I didn’t have to think about that, just concentrate on the cricket.”I guess for me I have probably put that expectation on myself for a lot longer than you have been saying it [that she is a match-winner]. That has been the role I want to play. I want to be in the difficult moments and affect the game every time I am touching the ball or whatever it is. It is probably a little bit my own fault as well. That is just the way I want to play. It seemed to work most times but not all.”That Sciver-Brunt is so open about all this is vital given her position at the forefront of women’s cricket’s rapid evolution. With the WPL, she admits to trepidation before it all got going. Even off-field duties, such as the scale of media and marketing requests cricket in India brings, took a bit of getting used to.Sciver-Brunt was one of the stars of Mumbai Indians’ WPL win•BCCI”It was a little different to England where the sponsors get a two-hour or three-hour appearance with some players. I did an advert for suncream in which I was understanding Hindi ,” she says, smiling.”Playing the actual cricket, it did feel like you were taking part in something really big and something different. I think because the way the crowds work. Playing at home [in England], in front of a crowd that really want you to do well and politely clap other things that happen in a game – whereas [in India] you have Mumbai chants versus whatever other team it is. Everyone is going with so much loudness and passion and everything.”Even if she still can’t fathom just how spectacular the first edition of the WPL was, the money has landed in her bank account to confirm as much. While no big spender – “a bit tight,” as she puts it – she has bought herself a new phone and a watch. She also has a new Apple watch, though that was a gift from Nita Ambani, co-owner of Mumbai Indians.On the horizon is a multi-format Ashes series, starting on June 22 with a five-day Test match at Trent Bridge. Sciver-Brunt will be integral to England’s hopes of beating Australia in such a series for the first time since her maiden tour in 2013-14.The squad, she says, are in a good place. A group in transition have now had the best part of a year to gauge the responsibilities they must now carry forward. But can they close the gap on the holders and dual World Cup champions? How does she rate England’s chances of beating one of the most complete sides in history? She is understandably cautious.”We haven’t played Australia in the last two big tournaments,” she says. “[But] since the Ashes before the 50-over World Cup [won 12-4 by Australia], in my mind, I have felt closer than I have before, in terms of skill for me.”It is just whether we can do it in the pressure moments. Because we don’t get put under pressure unless we play Australia, really, consistently.”As for herself, Sciver-Brunt is optimistic whatever the stresses and strains of the summer, the coping mechanisms established along with an open dialogue with England head coach Jon Lewis will hold her in good stead.”For this immediate time, I guess I have been communicating with the England staff and working how best to get me ready for the Test match for the Ashes and the rest of the summer and being in a good position for that.”For me that doesn’t mean playing cricket right away. We hardly get windows where you can work on your strength, work on your fitness, something in your technique. We have to hold on to them when you can get them. Lewy [Lewis] has been very supportive in that and being able to have that time to work on that to benefit me and the team later in the year.”More open and just as settled, Sciver-Brunt’s best days could well be in front of her. That is only good news for England and cricket as a whole.

Stats: Shardul Thakur's dream day, Suyash Sharma's memorable debut, and more

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

From 89 for 5, Thakur and Rinku Singh added 103, the third-highest stand for sixth or lower wicket in IPL

Sampath Bandarupalli06-Apr-2023204 for 7 Kolkata Knight Riders’ total against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the highest IPL total for a team after they lost their first five wickets inside the score of 100. The previous highest was also by Knight Riders, who made 202 from 31 for 5 against Chennai Super Kings in 2021.ESPNcricinfo Ltd103 Partnership runs between Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh, the third-highest stand for the sixth or a lower wicket in the IPL. Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu had an unbeaten 122-run stand – also against Royal Challengers in 2012 – while David Hussey and Wriddhiman Saha added 104 against Kings XI Punjab in 2008.9 Wickets for Knight Riders’ spinners in the match. These are the most wickets for a team’s spinners in an IPL innings. The previous most was eight wickets by Super Kings’ spinners on three instances.68 Thakur’s score while coming to bat at five down. It is the joint second-highest individual score while batting at No. 7 or lower in the IPL. Andre Russell scored an unbeaten 88 against Super Kings batting at No. 7 in 2018, while Dwayne Bravo struck 68 at No. 8 against Mumbai Indians in the same season.13.53 Knight Riders’ run rate after losing their fifth wicket at the score of 89 as they added 115 runs from the last 8.3 overs. Only once a team scored at a higher run rate after losing their fifth wicket inside 100 runs on the board in the IPL (where they batted for at least five overs). Mumbai had a run rate of 13.83 after they lost their fifth wicket at 46 against the erstwhile Kings XI Punjab in 2015.3 for 30 Suyash Sharma’s bowling figures are the second best for a spinner on IPL debut, behind Mayank Markande’s 3 for 23 against Super Kings in 2018. Suyash’s 3 for 30 are also the sixth-best bowling figures for an Indian on IPL debut.

23 Instances of Royal Challengers conceding 200-plus totals in all T20s, the joint-most by any team alongside Somerset. Royal Challengers have conceded 200-plus on 21 occasions in the IPL, the second most after Punjab Kings (22).

All eyes on India's finisher in Women's T20Is against Bangladesh

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Here are three areas that the team will likely focus on during the three-match series starting July 9

S Sudarshanan07-Jul-2023Four months after their last international outing, India will take on Bangladesh in a three-match women’s T20I series in Mirpur starting July 9. India went down narrowly to Australia in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup but were close to figuring out their best balance in short-form cricket. Some of those players have not made it to this tour though, the most notable absences in the bowling department.While a series against their neighbours might be low-key given the strengths of the sides, India have a few tough assignments in the year ahead with England and Australia slated to tour the country apart from possible participation in the Asian Games. Here are a few areas that the T20I series in Bangladesh would allow India to focus on.

Yastika Bhatia and the wicketkeeper’s slot

In the absence of Richa Ghosh, Yastika and Assam’s Uma Chetry are the wicketkeeping options India will have in Mirpur. In the past – like during the Commonwealth Games (CWG) – Yastika has played as the primary wicketkeeper, batted in the top three in six out of her ten T20I innings. She also had success in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) for champions Mumbai Indians as their primary wicketkeeper who opened the batting.Related

  • Yastika: 'Playing World Cups showed me what I need to do better'

  • How India women are working towards getting better

  • Renuka, Richa, Shikha left out of India squads for Bangladesh tour

  • Bangladesh drop Jahanara, Fargana for T20Is against India

Chetry, on the other hand, was Assam’s second-highest scorer in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy last season. She batted at No. 4 throughout the competition, scoring 120 runs at a strike-rate of 88.88.India have previously pushed the likes of Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur down a spot down to accommodate Yastika. But this series could be a very good chance to actually try Yastika in the lower-middle order and see if she has what it takes to succeed in that role.

All eyes on the finisher

In the CWG final as well as the T20 World Cup semi-final, India were done in by the lack of power-hitting options. Save for the CWG, Ghosh has been a regular presence in India’s lower-middle order. But in her absence from this touring party, India will need the likes of Pooja Vastrakar, Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma to step up.Deepti took on a similar role in the WPL for UP Warriorz – batting at Nos. 5, 6 and 7 – and finished with a strike rate of 83.33 from 108 balls faced. Vastrakar on the other hand got few chances given the batting might of Mumbai but had a strike rate of 144.89 to show across four innings.

Spotlight on unheralded bowlers

India have had either Radha Yadav or Rajeshwari Gayakwad in their XI in 86 of the 94 T20Is since February 2018. With both missing, India have two uncapped left-arm spinners in 20-year-old Anusha Bareddy and 25-year-old Rashi Kanojiya – both of whom were not part of the WPL – to choose from.Kanojiya has been in the fringes of selection and was part of the Harmanpreet-led Supernovas’ title-winning side in the Women’s T20 Challenge in 2022. She has been a consistent performer for Uttar Pradesh in the domestic circuit and is coming off a productive season in 2022-23, where she picked up 19 wickets. Anusha, who plays for Andhra, was part of the Emerging Teams Asia Cup.The absence of Renuka Singh, who missed out due to injury, allows left-arm seamer Monica Patel, returning for the first time since 2021, to make an impression again. It is also a chance for Meghna Singh, who has slipped down the pecking order and found no takers in the WPL, to provide a reminder of her abilities ahead of big-ticket games in the year ahead.

Pakistan fight the good fight as bluster gives way to pragmatism

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Was this the Pakistan Way? Maybe not, but it was certainly a way to stay competitive two days into a Perth Test

Danyal Rasool15-Dec-20234:47

Rasool: Pakistan still have all to play for in Perth

“Where’s the Bazball, mate?”It was a familiar refrain in the Perth press centre as Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq crawled their way through the second half of the day with all the urgency of a beach tourist on a Sunday morning. It took Pakistan 50 balls to go past the 14 runs that Australia had scored in the first over of the Test match. Imam-ul-Haq got off the mark with a couple off his fourth delivery, but it was another hour and a half before he scored his next run. David Warner had brought up his half-century off 41 balls on Day 1; Pakistan needed 26 overs to inch up to theirs. Spectators watching this, from a side that had promised to play an exciting brand of cricket to attract spectators to Test cricket, may have been justified in feeling they were shortchanged.Related

  • Shan Masood steps out of the shade in his newest avatar

  • Pakistan's top order digs deep after Marsh sparkles with 90

But it’s election season in Pakistan, so there’s naturally a big difference between the promises that are made and the ones that can be kept. Besides, no one in the Pakistan camp had mentioned Bazball in the lead-up to the Test. There was plenty of big talk from captain Shan Masood about the Pakistan Way on the day before, and while that has been shorthanded into a synonym for England’s self-professed style of play, Pakistan’s own “exciting brand of cricket”, as Masood called it, remains very much in its embryonic stage. At this point, its entire lifespan constitutes two Test matches in Galle and Colombo. And while a fortnight in Sri Lanka might sound like a good time, it’s probably best not to treat it like a petri dish for a cricketing philosophy.What Pakistan are doing here is rather more important than providing quick and easy dopamine hits. Masood might have emphasised the value of playing attractive cricket that helps Pakistan secure more Tests against opposition like Australia, but brief cameos and heavy defeats are unlikely to aid that cause. Against Australia’s near-flawless four-pronged attack on a surface much spicier than Australia’s first innings score and Pakistan’s insipid bowling suggested, Shafique and Imam understood they were better off playing the ball in front of them than the press conference that that happened 48 hours ago.The 17,666 that showed up at the Optus Stadium – a larger crowd than Day 1 – began to get restless as Shafique and Imam ground away. They created their own entertainment, tossing beach balls around, occasionally cheering if one made it onto the playing surface. The applause was especially loud when Mitchell Marsh, Australia’s star on Friday and the only West Australian in the current eleven, got anywhere near the ball.Ravi Shastri was moved to comment that he was impressed by Abdullah Shafique’s resolute display•Getty Images”It’s a pretty standard West Australian wicket,” Marsh, whose swashbuckling 90 was the closest this crowd came to watching the Pakistan Way, said. “You bowl in the right area, you’ll get the nicks, but if you miss your lines you can smack it around.”Australia’s bowlers didn’t miss their lines. They were quicker, more accurate, and found more movement than Pakistan’s fast bowlers, and produced enough quality to have broken through on a luckier day. But at the same time, Pakistan’s openers refused to give them a quarter. Ravi Shastri, working on the game, declared himself especially impressed by Shafique in particular. Pakistan don’t need anyone telling them how special Shafique has the potential to be, but a badge of approval from someone who knows a thing or two about successful recent tours of Australia doesn’t hurt.Another person who recognises good bowling knows why the openers played as they did. “The three Australian quicks are extremely experienced, as is Nathan Lyon,” Pakistan fast bowling coach Umar Gul said. “They know how to play Test cricket and how to bowl. The conditions were tough and we have to credit the Australian bowlers, they bowled with great consistency and discipline. If they’d had a bit more luck we might have lost one or two more wickets. We have to trust the people in the middle to assess the situation and bat accordingly. Every side has a way to tackle the opposition, and the way we batted today produced a good enough result.”Pakistan might have campaigned from the radical progressive wing of the party during the build-up campaign, but in government under Masood, they’ve switched to the pragmatic centre. The openers were sent out to do a job, see off Australia’s most prolific fast bowling triumvirate, and few could argue they didn’t succeed on that front. Since ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball records began, only once has a Pakistan opening partnership in Australia survived for longer than the 218 balls Shafique and Imam stared down. It’s by no means the biggest opening partnership, in terms of runs, that Pakistan have ever put on here, but they recognised a simple fact: there was no way to win the Test this evening, but plenty of ways to lose it.Shan Masood backed up his pre-match talk with a positive innings of 30•Getty ImagesBut the captain promised excitement, and team director Mohammad Hafeez guaranteed Pakistan would take Nathan Lyon on. The leadership group was happy to stick to its promise. The second ball Shan faced, he danced down the track and heaved Lyon over mid-on for four. It’s worth remembering that Masood’s personal belligerence pre-dates Pakistan’s attempt to rebrand themselves, so it was little surprise he was sticking to a method that somehow culminated in his being handed the national captaincy.It didn’t come without risks, but even Australia were pushed into the odd defensive change, with Pat Cummins sending mid-off to the boundary when Lyon bowled to Masood, offering up the option of an easy single Masood regularly availed. Even Imam began to be roused from his scoring slumber, carving a boundary off Lyon and coming down the track suggestively to the ones flighted up. He clobbered one into his captains back (insert your own joke about not turning your back to a teammate as Pakistan captain) and hammered Mitchell Starc past backward point when he missed his line.Pakistan bowled Australia out in a little over a session on day two and lost one wicket in the best part of 50 overs, a better day than Pakistan enjoyed on all of their previous tour. But before the day was out, Masood’s wicket came, as it often tends to after an all-too-short period of excitement. He averages a shade over 28 in a decade of international cricket, and he’d reached 30; the glass ceiling he can seemingly never breach continues to tie him down no matter what else changes. An expansive drive, a faint edge, a heartbeat on UltraEdge, and Pakistan’s new captain was taken out of the contest.But thanks to the way Pakistan batted, that could not yet be said of the team. It wouldn’t be Pakistan if there wasn’t some goalpost-shifting around what the Pakistan Way truly means, but for a team that has only known hurt and heartbreak in Australia, being competitive two days into a Perth Test is excitement enough on its own. For when, after all, did the radical progressives ever get a chance to remain in power in Pakistan?

A landmark Test for England, Pope, Hartley and reverse-sweeps

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Ashwin and Jadeja, meanwhile, endured a struggle in their 50th Test together

Sampath Bandarupalli28-Jan-20242:31

Direct Hit: What made Tom Hartley so effective in the second innings?

2 Previous instances of India losing Test matches after taking a 100-plus first-innings lead. They lost to Sri Lanka in Galle after conceding a 192-run lead in 2015, while England overcame a 132-run first-innings deficit in Birmingham in 2022.65 The previous highest first-innings deficit that a team had overturned to win a Test match against India in India: Australia in Madras (now Chennai) in 1964.Related

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15 Test wins for England against India in India, the most by any team, surpassing the 14 by West Indies and Australia.28 Margin of India’s defeat in Hyderabad is their fourth-narrowest by runs in men’s Tests. Their narrowest defeat while chasing in the fourth innings is by 12 runs against Pakistan at Chepauk in 1999.6 Bowlers to take a seven-wicket haul on Test debut for England, including Tom Hartley. Dominic Cork’s 7 for 43 against West Indies in the 1995 Lord’s Test was the last such effort.
Hartley is also the second England bowler with a seven-for on debut in India, after John Lever, who took 7 for 46 in Delhi in 1976.7 for 62 Hartley’s bowling figures are the second-best on Test debut for an England spinner. James Langridge bagged 7 for 56 against West Indies in Manchester in 1933.Never before have so many runs come from the reverse-sweep in a Test match•BCCI6 Bowlers to bag seven-plus wickets on debut in the fourth innings of a men’s Test before Hartley. The last of the previous six was Lance Klusener, who took 8 for 64 in 1996, also against India at the Eden Gardens.190 First-innings deficit that England overcame to win in Hyderabad is the third-highest by them in Tests. They overhauled 261 in Sydney in 1894 and 227 in Leeds in 1981, both against Australia while following on. (England also won after conceding a 248-run lead against South Africa in Centurion in 2000, where both teams forfeited/declared one of their innings)196 Ollie Pope’s score is the highest in the second innings for England against India in India, surpassing Alastair Cook’s 176 in Ahmedabad in 2012. The 196 by Pope is also the fourth highest for any visiting batter in the second innings against India in India.413 Runs collectively conceded by R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in Hyderabad are the second-most in any of the 50 Test matches they have played together. They conceded 437 runs for 14 wickets against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2017.72 Runs scored by England off reverse sweeps in the match are the most by any team in a Test match against spinners since 2015 (as per ESPNCricinfo’s ball-by-ball logs). England batters played 50 reverse sweeps against India’s spinners, hitting them for 14 fours, which are also the most by any team in a Test match.2012 The last instance of England losing the first Test of a series in Asia, against India in Ahmedabad. The current series against India is the eighth for England in Asia since then, of which they won the first match in six series.

Stats – Sunrisers Hyderabad break their own record for highest-ever IPL total

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Their 287 for 3 was also the second highest in all men’s T20 cricket, and included the most sixes in an IPL innings

Sampath Bandarupalli15-Apr-2024287 for 3 – Sunrisers Hyderabad’s total against Royal Challengers Bengaluru is the highest in the history of the IPL, bettering the 277 for 3 they posted against Mumbai Indians three weeks ago.1 – Number of men’s T20 totals higher than Sunrisers’ 287 for 3. The only one higher is 314 for 3 by Nepal against Mongolia in the Asian Games.549 – Runs scored by Sunrisers and Royal Challengers on Monday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium – the most
for any
T20 match. The previous highest match aggregate for a T20 game was 523 runs between Sunrisers and Mumbai Indians earlier this
season in Hyderabad.Related

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22 – Sixes hit by the Sunrisers’ batters against RCB are the most by any team in an innings in the IPL. They broke the record held by Royal Challengers for their 21 sixes against Pune Warriors in 2013, also in Bengaluru.38 – Sixes hit in Bengaluru – the joint-most in any T20 match, equalling the record set by Sunrisers and Mumbai during their face-off in Hyderabad earlier this season.81 – Boundaries hit by both teams on Monday, also the joint-most for a T20 match, equalling the record held by South Africa and West Indies in Centurion in 2023.262 for 7 – Royal Challengers’ total against Sunrisers is now the highest in a losing cause by any team in T20 cricket. The previous highest was 258 for 5 by West Indies against South Africa in Centurion in 2023.39 – Balls Travis Head needed for his hundred is the fourth-fastest in the history of the IPL. Chris Gayle’s 30-ball century at the same venue in 2013 against Pune Warriors is the fastest-ever.The 39-ball ton by Head is also the fastest for Sunrisers, bettering David Warner’s 43-ball effort against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – Sunrisers became the first team with multiple 250-plus totals in the IPL, before RCB became the second during the course of their innings. Surrey (3), Yorkshire (2), Czech Republic (2) and Somerset (2) are the other teams with multiple 250-plus totals in all T20s.4 – All four pace bowlers of RCB conceded 50-plus runs in Sunrisers’ innings – Reece Topley (68), Yash Dayal (51), Lockie Ferguson (52) and Vijaykumar Vyshak (64). It is the first-ever instance of four players conceding 50-plus runs in the same innings in men’s T20 cricket. In the IPL, before this game, no more than two bowlers had conceded 50-plus runs in the same innings.4 – Four fifty-plus partnerships in Sunrisers’ innings, including a century opening stand. It is only the second instance of four fifty-plus partnerships in a T20 innings. Kolkata Knight Riders had 50-plus stands for each of their first four wickets on the opening night of the IPL in 2008, also against RCB in Bengaluru.7 – Number of fifty-plus partnerships in total on Monday in Bengaluru. No T20 match had had more than five 50-plus stands previously.13 – Hundreds conceded by RCB in the IPL – the most by any team, going one ahead of Mumbai Indians (12). The Bengaluru franchise now has conceded 15 T20 hundreds, the joint-most in the format, alongside Kent and Northamptonshire.76 – Runs by Sunrisers in the powerplay on Monday is their third-highest of this IPL alone, behind the 81 against Mumbai Indians and 77 against Chennai Super Kings. They are now the first team with three powerplay totals of 75-plus runs in the same IPL season.14.6 – Overs needed for Sunrisers to reach the 200-run mark. It is the third-quickest team 200 in the IPL. Sunrisers needed 14.4 overs to reach 200 in their match against Mumbai Indians earlier this season. However, the fastest is off 14.1 overs by RCB in a 15-over game in 2016 against Kings XI Punjab, also in Bengaluru.

Can Najmul Hossain Shanto pilot a successful World Cup campaign for Bangladesh?

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He has proved himself a clear-headed captain, able to manage the many personalities in the country’s cricket, but he’s currently staring down the biggest test of his captaincy

Mohammad Isam29-May-2024Delhi, November 6, 2023. Sri Lanka are 135 for 4 against Bangladesh when Angelo Mathews saunters in looking at his helmet strap. Najmul Hossain Shanto notices something that will change cricketing relations between the two sides forever. He tells his captain, Shakib Al Hasan, that if he were to appeal, Mathews could be dismissed timed-out. Shakib does a double take but then goes to umpire Marais Erasmus. The rest is history.It takes courage to stand up in the hierarchical inner world of Bangladesh cricket, and it was perhaps a sign of Shanto’s burgeoning confidence and his leadership qualities that Shakib was open to taking inputs from him. Shanto improved significantly in 2023, emerging from a five-year slump in which he was barely hanging on to his place in the team. He also grew in stature in the side, first by becoming a reliable No. 3, and by the time the Delhi game came around, ascendinging to the vice-captaincy.In 2023 he scored 1650 runs at an average of 42.30, a stark jump in his stocks, compared to the 1603 runs at 22.90 he made between 2017 and the end of 2022.Related

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Impressed by his form last year, the BCB made him captain shortly after Bangladesh’s disastrous 2023 World Cup. Shanto’s comeback from the doldrums of five years had impressed some in the board, but the BCB also wanted to take the pulse of the Bangladesh dressing room by placing a new captain in charge and seeing how the senior cricketers, especially, responded.Appointing a captain outside of Bangladesh’s big five – Shakib, Tamim, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim – has been problematic over the years. Mominul Haque led them to the miraculous Mt Maunganui Test win against New Zealand but within six months he was out, unable to handle the pressure. Litton Das captained Bangladesh to the ODI series win against India in 2022, but he then admitted to the BCB that he was not looking forward to leading long-term.Shanto’s stopgap captaincy in the Tests and white-ball matches against New Zealand last year even impressed their taskmaster coach Chandika Hathurusinghe. Subsequently the BCB appointed Shanto full-time captain in all formats earlier this year.Mischief managed: Shanto’s shrewd eye for detail caused Angelo Mathews’ timed-out dismissal in the 2023 ODI World Cup•Associated PressHis leadership credentials were tested hard just a week before the T20 World Cup, when Bangladesh played USA for the first time and lost the T20I series 2-1. Shanto’s batting form had taken a dip, and coupled with the loss, the pressure is well and truly on him to turn things around, and fast, for the team.

****

We meet on a relatively mild morning in Dhaka, the day after Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe in the fourth T20I in Mirpur earlier this month. I mention to Shanto his save on the boundary in the 19th over that ultimately made the difference for his side. He couldn’t hold on to Blessing Muzarabani’s lofted shot towards wide long-off, but his boundary-line juggling saved at least four runs. Bangladesh won by five.Shanto doesn’t quite agree with me and quickly changes the topic, a subtle reinforcement of his “team first” mantra.”The team culture is better now,” he says when I ask how his team-mates have reacted to his captaincy. “I think it is important for everyone to know that when we lose a match these days, we don’t go down emotionally. In the same way, when we win these days, we don’t jump high into the sky. We try to evaluate how we can play better even after we win the game. We also try to pick the positives when we lose.”This is how we are trying to grow the team culture in the last six or seven months. I think every player tries to help each other. For example, you will always see Taskin [Ahmed] helping the other bowlers. Even someone as young as Rishad [Hossain] tries to help the senior team-mates in the field.”Shanto looks up to Shakib and MS Dhoni, two very different captains, as his leadership role models.”I like Shakib ‘s captaincy. He is very attacking, taking brave decisions. I think it has helped me as a captain so far. I have been successful emulating him in many ways.Shanto has the confidence of famously hard-to-please coach Chandika Hathurusinghe•AFP/Getty Images”I also admire MS Dhoni’s captaincy. From what I could see on TV, he is very calm in tough moments. I don’t know what goes on inside him. He makes clear decisions. They could be right or wrong, but he makes them calmly.”Shanto learned the value of having a calm head on one’s shoulders in the World Cup last year. Apart from leading the side for a couple of games due to an injury to Shakib, Shanto’s form took a hit as the team management shuffled him and everyone else around in the batting order in a madcap strategy.”I think a captain has to remain calm at these big events. People will have huge expectations, so without focusing on those things, I want to focus on motivating my team. I also have to look to contribute as a batter. It will take the team to a better position if I can execute the plans without thinking too much,” he says.He is also trying to keep his batting and captaincy separate, which is easier said than done, especially in a high-pressure environment like Bangladesh cricket.”When I am batting out there, I think like a batter. I don’t think that I have to score all the runs just because I am the captain. I feel like a captain when I am fielding: who to bowl at what time. I also have to handle a lot of things off the field. I am enjoying those responsibilities,” he says.Challenges came early in Shanto’s life. Khaled Mashud, the former Bangladesh captain, first saw Shanto as a 12-year-old in the nets at his cricket academy in Rajshahi.”He had a tough time travelling every day,” Mashud says. “He lived far away. He used to cycle for two or three kilometres from his home to reach the main road, where he left the cycle in a shop. From there he would take the bus to come to Rajshahi city. And then he needed an auto-rickshaw ride to get to the academy.”He never missed a day of practice, come rain or shine. He was very hardworking and talented from a very young age.”I have loved watching Shanto grow into such a good cricketer. He has made lots of sacrifices. He has given his all to come to this stage. I want to see him become a top-level performer who has a long career. I think he has it in him. He is aware of the arithmetic of scoring runs.”Shanto seems to have successfully navigated the challenges of captaining a team of big-name players•AFP/Getty ImagesAfter his time under Mashud’s tutelage, Shanto spent the last eight years working with Khaled Mahmud, another former Bangladesh captain and the coach of Abahani Limited, for whom Shanto has been playing in the Dhaka Premier League since 2016.Mahmud thinks Shanto is a once-in-a-generation cricketer in the mould of Michael Hussey.”I call him a full-time cricketer,” he says. “He doesn’t think about anything other than cricket. He always wants to improve. He is a calm, sensible person. He keeps things under control. He is captaincy material.”Shanto spends hours in the nets under the watchful eyes of Mahmud at the Shere Bangla National Stadium and listens to his advice keenly. During his lean years from 2018 to 2021, Mahmud championed him to the BCB and to Bangladesh’s team management.”He has to work much harder to express himself fully. Captaining Bangladesh is not easy. I always tell him that he has to make his own decisions,” Mahmud says. “The coach will only play a supporting role. At the end of the day, it will be your decision that counts. If you make a wrong decision, you can reconcile it with yourself. If the coach or someone else is heavily involved, you won’t be able to.”He is a confident guy, but consistency is becoming a hurdle for him. I spoke to him recently. I told him that it looks like you are in a lot of hurry in the middle. It is not written anywhere that you have to hit a six every ball in T20s.”When Shanto’s form dipped between 2018 and 2022, Mahmud was impressed by how he kept hitting the nets and sharpening his fielding.”It was such a tough time for him, the way he was trolled on social media. I used to tell him that you have to prove it in the middle. He vowed to come back strongly. He trained hard on his skills and fitness. He is a gun fielder and a fast mover on the ground. I think those tough times really made him the cricketer he is today,” says Mahmud.Shanto knows exactly when the tide turned for him – at the 2022 T20 World Cup, where he struck two fifties. No one else saw it as a major achievement at the time, but for Shanto it meant the world. His training methods were finally yielding results.Shanto made 71 against Zimbabwe and 54 against Pakistan in the 2022 T20 World Cup, which he sees as a turning point in his career after a years-long batting slump•ICC via Getty”I wasn’t that confident before the T20 World Cup. I worked very hard on my skills and they improved a lot. Once I realised that, it gave me confidence. I changed my thought process, which helped me do well in that tournament.”When I was playing in the World Cup, I got positive results. If it hadn’t been that way, it would have been difficult. The most important thing is to keep improving my skills. It gives a better mentality. I can believe in myself,” he says.Shanto’s opposite number during the Zimbabwe series, Sikandar Raza, a keen observer of Bangladesh cricket, says Shanto needs support to build himself into his captaincy. Interestingly the Bangladesh captain is the player Raza has bowled to the most in T20Is.”Every captain has their ideology and philosophy,” says Raza “If I have the wellbeing of everyone in my team at heart, then my captaincy will become easier. If I am only thinking about myself, captaincy is hard.”I hope Bangladesh give him time. Allow him to make mistakes. He has won some series, he has lost some series. That’s how a captain is formed. His personal performance will play a huge role in him making the right decisions.”Mashud, who led Bangladesh during some of their worst times, famously the 2003 World Cup, believes Shanto will be best served if he enjoys the upcoming challenge of the T20 World Cup.”Bangladesh captaincy, or captaincy in any team for that matter, is tough when you don’t have the right soldiers,” Mashud says. “It is not like Shanto is leading a team like India. He has to lead like he has nothing to lose but also enjoy his time in the middle. The likes of [Towhid] Hridoy, Tanzid [Hasan] and Rishad can suddenly become match-winners. Shanto should look to best utilise them. He shouldn’t worry too much about what people are saying or what’s happening outside.”Ahead of his biggest assignment, Shanto reflects on his early days in Rajshahi. He believes that getting out of his neighbourhood to become a cricketer was an achievement in itself, but as he rose rapidly through the age-group ranks and into the world of international cricket, his goals got bigger.”I wouldn’t have reached where I have without Allah’s blessings. Where I grew up, nobody had any idea that cricket could be taken up as a profession. You have to love the game and then you have to do hard work with honesty. I faced a lot of noise from people around me in my early days. They didn’t trust me, or believe in me. I had to practise correctly and work hard every day. I believed in myself strongly. If a cricketer does these things, they can do even better than me,” he says.

Pakistan await their date with mediocrity as familiar tale unfolds in Multan

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

England are batting big, and fast, and a jittery third innings is now a matter of when, not if

Danyal Rasool09-Oct-2024Like an aeroplane taking off or a group of suspiciously adult-looking teenagers getting on a roller-coaster in a film, you know where this is going. Pakistan are about to take on a similarly innocuous task when, having had their fill, England finally turn it back over to them at some point tomorrow. They have to see off one of England’s weakest bowling attacks on one of their most placid surfaces.But, unlike this Test match, let’s get to the point: Pakistan have found a way to take conditions out of the equation when contriving to collapse in the third innings. No side has a lower average third-innings score this year, and Pakistan’s tell the story of their year; 115, 172 and 146. Sydney, Rawalpindi, Rawalpindi. Played three, lost three.Josh Hazlewood blew them away in Sydney as Pakistan frittered away a narrow lead. That may have hardly have been surprising, but Bangladesh used Pakistan’s susceptibility at that stage of an game as a template to carve a path to victory. The danger of preparing a flat wicket to bat first on is that side is often the only one who can possibly lose as the match approaches its dénouement. It’s a vulnerable position to get to, and, like a film from that aforementioned series, every situation suddenly appears laced with danger.Related

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The denunciations of the surface have already begun, but Pakistan would do well not get caught up in them. When Naseem Shah – the pick of Pakistan’s bowlers without reward today – vented his frustrations about the lack of fast-bowling assistance from the pitch during the first Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, it was difficult to take issue with anything he said. But Pakistan followed up by collapsing in a heap two sessions later and handed Bangladesh a ten-wicket win. Turns out you don’t need much help from the surface for wickets if you’re dancing down the ground having failed to make contact, or skying straight deliveries into the air.With two days to go, England are 64 runs behind with seven wickets still in hand, one of which involves an unbeaten 243-run partnership. They will soon leave Pakistan’s 556 in the rearview mirror in the heat and dust of Multan; Joe Root has already overtaken Alastair Cook, and with his fourth hundred in as many matches in Pakistan, Harry Brook has gone past Imran Khan. Having found a way to force 10 wickets out of an at-least-equally moribund Rawalpindi surface in just over a day in 2022, they will have nearly twice as much time in Multan this week. The potential to exploit any demons that may have begun to appear, either on this sun-baked surface or within Pakistani batters’ minds, is ripe.Shaheen Shah Afridi’s morning dismissal of Zak Crawley felt a world away from their close-of-play position•Getty Images”We’re still about 60 runs in front,” Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie said at the close of play. “We suspect England’s approach will be to bat and try to get a lead before having a crack at us. That seems to be their game-plan. However, we can’t control how they play; we can only focus on our own performance.”Knowledge of England’s game-plan, though, is not necessarily a hedge against its prevention. Pakistan have known they’re on a nearly four-year winless Test home streak, after all, but they’re no sooner to ending it.Salman Ali Agha said yesterday he was confident the cracks would “open up wide” on the final two days. Jack Leach – who was part of the side that manufactured that remarkable Pindi win in 2022 – and Shoaib Bashir may be interested to know that. Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique’s return to form is only an innings old, and Babar Azam’s quest continues. And while Masood has repeatedly pointed to the winning positions Pakistan have reached in his time as captain, Pakistan need to take similar responsibility for the fact that, on every single occasion that has happened, they have dismounted those positions of advantage into the abyss of defeat.Once more, the hosts find themselves in a situation where the bore draw that snaps their losing run – the bare minimum Pakistan’s supporters should expect given the conditions and the opposition’s bowling quality – can only be achieved with the sort of grit they have failed to muster in any of the three Tests they have played so far this year.As the series will confirm, even mediocrity can be a difficult bar to clear.

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