All posts by n8rngtd.top

Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak has been appointed the country’s head coach, succeeding Dav Whatmore, and has been tasked with ensuring qualification for the 2019 World Cup

Firdose Moonda11-Oct-2016Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak has been appointed the country’s head coach, succeeding Dav Whatmore who was sacked in June. Streak was preferred over former team-mate Andy Blignaut and South Africans Peter Kirsten and Justin Summons, who were all interviewed for the job last Wednesday.Streak has been tasked with ensuring Zimbabwe qualify for the 2019 World Cup, and will be allowed to continue in his role as bowling coach for the Gujarat Lions in the IPL.After the announcement, Streak said: “My promise is I will leave no stone unturned in terms of our endeavour and our quest to improve the team’s performances. I believe that we have the resources here in Zimbabwe to do just that and planning is obviously going to be a major factor.”We do have a lack of cricket but I know Zimbabwe Cricket is addressing that issue at the moment. I feel that with the upcoming series [Tests against Sri Lanka and an ODI tri-series also featuring West Indies] we have some really good cricket coming up, so we can really work towards improving.”Makhaya Ntini, who was interim head coach since Whatmore’s departure and oversaw Zimbabwe’s limited-overs series against India and the two Tests against New Zealand, is expected to stay on as bowling coach while Lance Klusener will continue as batting consultant.Streak has previous experience as a head coach. He was in charge of the Bulawayo-based franchise Matabeleland Tuskers in the 2012-13 season, when they won the Logan Cup. Streak’s extensive experience in Zimbabwe also included a four-year stint as bowling coach between 2009 and 2013, under Alan Butcher. Streak was instrumental in readying Zimbabwe for their Test comeback in 2011 and nurtured some of their best bowling talent including Brian Vitori, Kyle Jarvis, and Chris Mpofu.When Streak’s contract with Zimbabwe was not renewed, he spent two years as bowling coach of Bangladesh, before moving to the IPL. He has remained committed to cricket in Zimbabwe, set up an academy in Bulawayo and also spent time doing television commentary in the country.Streak has less than three weeks to get ready for his first assignment: the two-Test series against Sri Lanka followed by the ODI tri-series which includes West Indies. Zimbabwe’s cricketers have been in training under Ntini’s watch throughout September in preparation for the series and have also played against Pakistan A.Their practice was briefly interrupted when the players embarked on a strike in protest over non-payment of match fees but they reached a resolution with ZC administrators. ZC have also finalised national contracts, although the list has not been made public.

Seamer remains optimistic about playing a part in England’s 50-over World Cup defence

Matt Roller26-Jul-2023Olly Stone has been ruled out of the Hundred with a hamstring injury but remains optimistic about his chances of being fit to play a part in England’s 50-over World Cup defence in India in October-November.Stone hoped to feature in England’s Ashes squad this summer but has been limited to a single appearance since May 4 due to a hamstring injury, suffered while playing for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship.He made a comeback in the T20 Blast on June 30, during the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, with the intention of playing some part in the fourth or fifth Tests. But he lasted only three balls before walking off the field midway through an over, and has not played since.Stone was signed on a £100,000 contract by London Spirit in March’s draft for the Hundred but has been forced to withdraw from the competition. ESPNcricinfo understands that Dan Worrall, the Australian seamer who qualifies as a local player in English domestic cricket, has been signed as a replacement.Related

• Topley on year-round franchise deals: 'Better off having a seat at the table than being left behind'

• Healy and Perry out of the Hundred; Rodrigues joins Superchargers

• Jamieson back in New Zealand squad for UAE and England T20Is

• Reece Topley on the comeback trail with World Cup call-up in his sights

Stone’s injury is not thought to be as serious as the one that ended up ruling him out of the Ashes, but it remains to be seen whether he will be fit for England’s white-ball series against New Zealand, which starts on August 30. Instead, he may target the three-match ODI series against Ireland from September 20 for a potential return.He has only played eight ODIs and one T20I, but as an out-and-out fast bowler who can regularly reach speeds in excess of 90mph/145kph, Stone is seen as an important part of England’s white-ball plans – particularly in the context of a gruelling World Cup schedule.Meanwhile, a number of New Zealand players are negotiating short-term replacement deals in the Hundred. New Zealand will tour England for four T20Is and four ODIs in August-September and NZC announced last week that Matt Henry, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi are due to be involved in the Hundred immediately the series starts.Neesham is expected to play for Oval Invincibles as a short-term replacement for Heinrich Klaasen when he is playing for South Africa against Australia, while Sodhi is likely to replace Rashid Khan at Trent Rockets during Afghanistan’s fixtures against Pakistan. Santner is expected to join Southern Brave on a short-term basis.Their deals will be confirmed later this week by the ECB. The involvement of five New Zealand men’s players – Finn Allen, Devon Conway (both Southern Brave), Adam Milne (Birmingham Phoenix), Daryl Mitchell (London Spirit) and Glenn Phillips (Welsh Fire) – has already been announced publicly.

The draft is likely to heavily tap into players who went unsold at the IPL auction

Danyal Rasool10-Dec-2024The draft for the tenth edition of the PSL will take place on January 11. The date for the draft is later than PSL drafts have historically taken place, though that is partially down to the window for the tournament being pushed back by a month; it will now take place in a four-week slot between early April and mid-May, with the PCB no longer viewing a clash with the IPL as a no-go area.While no further details of player availability have been announced, the draft is likely to heavily tap into players who went unsold at the IPL auction. One of the factors that influenced the PSL moving into the IPL’s slot was the greater degree of certainty that players not at the IPL would be available due to the near-complete lack of any international fixtures during that period.At the IPL this year, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Akeal Hosein, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid and Keshav Maharaj were among the players that went unsold, and while many may have had international commitments during the PSL’s window in other years, that will not be the case this time around.Related

• Players threaten legal action over new ECB stance on NOCs

• PCB confirms PSL expansion from 2026 with two new teams

• PSL set to go head-to-head with IPL in 2025

This does not guarantee that all those players will be available to the PSL. The England Cricket Board (ECB) is currently embroiled in a dispute with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) after they announced they would not issue NOCs for first-class cricketers to play any overseas league apart from the IPL that clashed with the domestic season. While the T20 Blast, which starts on May 29, will not clash with the PSL, the County Championship starts on April 4, and almost certainly will. What the terms of any resolution are is likely to have a significant impact upon the PSL, which has historically drawn overseas talent quite heavily from England.The move into the IPL window, which ESPNcricinfo first reported on in 2022, is one the PCB is looking to make permanent as it tries to move away from the increasingly cramped December-March window in which it operates currently, where it clashes not only with four other T20 leagues, but also a busy international cricket calendar. By contrast, moving to the April to May window means little to no Full Member international cricket and only the IPL, against which, officials acknowledge, it can’t compete but can try to co-exist with. And if, as expected, the PSL inducts two new teams from 2026, there remains potential to accommodate a longer season in that window.In the medium term, it will also help the PSL avoid being played almost entirely in Ramadan, as would have been the case in 2025. As part of the lunar calendar, Ramadan starts ten days earlier every year on the Gregorian calendar so it would clash with the PSL’s usual February-March window for the next few years. Ramadan not only affects timings of games and crowd turnout, it is also a big window for advertising; playing the PSL in Ramadan would impact advertising and sponsorship revenues for the league.The decision to switch windows was by no means one that met universal agreement. ESPNcricinfo understands a number of franchise owners were sceptical, if not outright opposed to the move at the time. However, the decision did not necessarily require the support of the franchises, with the PSL’s governing council possessing the authority to make a unilateral decision on the matter.

Peter Nevill has defended his delayed stumping of Dimuth Karunaratne on day four of the Colombo Test match, while Sri Lanka have indicated they would have done the same

Daniel Brettig16-Aug-2016Australia’s wicketkeeper Peter Nevill has defended his delayed stumping of Dimuth Karunaratne on day four of the Colombo Test match, while Sri Lanka have indicated they would have done the same.Nevill successfully appealed for Karunaratne’s wicket after hovering with his glove next to the stumps as he waited for the batsman to switch his feet and momentarily leave the crease, following a Nathan Lyon delivery that had beaten the bat.The dismissal was cause for a range of reactions, with some questioning the dismissal’s acceptability in the spirit of cricket. However, Nevill had absolutely no qualms about claiming the wicket, saying it reflected the simple reality that batsmen needed to stay in their crease.”I thought he was going to move his foot out of his crease and he did,” Nevill said. “You might’ve seen on the footage, I had my hand right by the stumps waiting for that to happen, and it did happen and just worked out well that the timing was just right that it was out.”Well there’s always people who are going to say something like that [it went against the spirit of the game] but I don’t think it’s contrary to the spirit of cricket. If you don’t want to get stumped stay in your crease. You can sort of see, a shifting of weight and you’re expecting the back foot to come up. That’s the hunch I had and that’s what happened. Just managed to get the bails off in time.”Nevill said he had been able to dismiss a batsman in that manner at least once before, in a second XI match. Footage of other similar dismissals effected by Alec Stewart against Brian Lara and Sri Lanka’s Romesh Kaluwitharana against Darren Lehmann emerged over the course of the day.”It’s happened a few times, in a second XI game in Australia there was one where the guy jumped after he played his shot,” Nevill said. “I know Hadds [Brad Haddin] has tried to do it a million times as well, so I think that’s rubbed off on me.”Sri Lanka batsman Kaushal Silva said his side would take the opportunity if roles were reversed. “We don’t know if we will get a chance to effect that kind of dismissal, but if we do, we would have to take that opportunity,” he said. “I don’t see it as a wrong thing. But you can’t also take wickets in a way that is against the spirit of the sport. That said, there’s no problem if it’s done the right way.”

Kings are better placed, but neither team can afford more slip-ups if they want to stay afloat

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-2023

Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals have no option but to win each of their last three games to finish on 14 points, and then hope that several other results fall in place for them to qualify. One way for that to happen is if Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians win most of their games, leaving the other teams on 12 or 13 points. Then Capitals can qualify even without net run-rate coming into play.However, a defeat on Saturday will eliminate them from the tournament.

Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings have one extra win compared to Capitals in as many games. That means they can still go up to 16 points, which could be enough for direct qualification without getting caught up in NRR complications. However, depending on how other results go, they could miss out despite getting to 16.If they lose to Capitals, Kings will have to win their last two, finish on 14, and then hope that several other results go their way to help them qualify. That could happen if Titans and Super Kings win most of their matches, leaving other teams on 14 to battle it out for two spots. That means Kings will have to focus on their victory margins as well, given they currently have a very negative NRR.

A conflict of interest has been removed and a former Rio Tinto executive hired in a major restructure of Cricket Australia’s management this week, ESPNcricinfo has learned

Daniel Brettig03-Feb-2017A conflict of interest has been removed and a former Rio Tinto executive hired in a major restructure of Cricket Australia’s management this week, ESPNcricinfo has learned.Following a raft of departures from the game’s Jolimont headquarters in recent times, the chief executive James Sutherland has informed staff of a new senior management model that constitutes the biggest changes to cricket’s day-to-day operations down under in five years.Chief among the changes is the creation of a new public affairs department overseeing communications, government relations and infrastructure, to be led by the former Rio Tinto executive Mark O’Neill, who had also served as an advisor to the former Prime Minister Paul Keating. O’Neill previously worked alongside the current CA chairman David Peever when he was Rio Tinto’s managing director in Australia.Ben Amarfio, formerly the head of communications, digital and marketing, has been moved to head the commercial wing of the game, a role left vacant by the departure of Mike McKenna to oversee Perth’s new stadium. Amarfio will still oversee CA’s digital arm and broadcast rights but will no longer be in charge of communications, a combination that had proven problematic as a conflict between growing CA’s website and working openly and effectively with other media.

Cricket Australia executive management team

• Game and market development- Andrew Ingleton

• Team performance – Pat Howard

• Events and leagues – Anthony Everard (acting)

• Broadcast, digital and commercial – Ben Amarfio

• Public affairs – Mark O’Neill

• Strategy and people – Kevin Roberts

• Chief financial officer – Todd Shand

• General counsel and company secretary – Christine Harman

Operations, meanwhile, will for now be the responsibility of Anthony Everard, who has been a vigorous and visible presence for CA as the head of the burgeoning Big Bash League and Women’s Big Bash League. In his email to staff, Sutherland said this area had been renamed from operations to events and leagues, with a replacement for the had of events and operations Chris Loftus-Hills (who joined McKenna in Perth) to be advertised shortly.The longtime head of finance, Kate Banozic, was another departure from CA late last year. Sutherland faced questions about the behaviour of some of his executives over summer, including allegations that Amarfio had been acting as an agent for the former Nine commentator James Brayshaw in talks for new roles with broadcasters.At the time, Sutherland stated that the matter would be dealt with internally. “Look I don’t think it’s right that one of our staff was acting as an agent, but let’s just say they’re things we’ll deal with behind closed doors at Cricket Australia,” Sutherland said in December. “I don’t think this is the place to be talking about that any further.”There were also reports that one senior executive had raised the ire of other staff by having his female personal assistant cook him hot breakfasts and lunches at Jolimont, an arrangement that flew in the face of CA’s efforts to promote inclusiveness and advance the cause of women as players and spectators.At a recent meeting of board directors, the Cricket New South Wales chairman John Warn and chief executive Andrew Jones made a presentation where the pair described how they had changed the culture and output of the state association following a dramatic power struggle at board level four years ago.CA’s senior management structure was last overhauled in early 2012, when the system of executive general managers replaced the previous senior management team. Those changes pre-dated the board’s move from state-appointed delegates to an independent board of directors later in 2012. Peever was among the first independent directors announced at that year’s AGM – the appointment of one of his former colleagues to CA management does not appear to have been a coincidence.

Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of the Asia Cup T20 after failing to fully recover from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the limited-overs series inn Australia last month

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Feb-2016Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of the Asia Cup T20 after failing to fully recover from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the limited-overs series in Australia last month. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been named as his replacement.Shami sustained the injury at a training session in Australia, and missed two warm-up games before flying back home. While he was originally said to be out for “four to six” weeks, the medical staff have decided to give him more time to recover from the Grade II injury to his left hamstring.Despite the lack of match practice, the selectors had indicated their willingness in waiting for Shami to recover, with Sandeep Patil, the chairman of selectors, saying that he hoped to test his match fitness during the Asia Cup. “We have good time for making a call on Shami. He has been one of our best bowlers. He has recovered, he has started bowling. That’s what I can say at the moment,” Patil had said while picking the squad for the Asia Cup and the World T20.Before the departure for Australia, India captain MS Dhoni had also insisted Shami was part of his plans for the World T20, which for India begins against New Zealand in Nagpur on March 15.Shami’s last international outing was during the World Cup, when he played through injury and pain, after which he underwent surgery and then rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. He was then named among the 30 probables for a preparatory camp ahead of the South Africa series in October, but could not regain full fitness for the international matches.Once fit, Shami played four matches for Bengal – two in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in December and two in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January.

Paarl Rocks did well to pull back with the ball but their chase never got going

The Report by Liam Brickhill30-Nov-2018Heino Kuhn’s second fifty of the competition and cheap wickets for JT Smuts and Sisanda Magala set up a 48-run victory for Nelson Mandela Bay Giants over Paarl Rocks at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth. Kuhn was the fulcrum around which Giants’ innings turned, with three of the top five also making 20s, and all of the top order keeping their strike rate at a run-a-ball or better before a mini-collapse kept them to 168 for 9.Despite Aiden Markram’s fifty, that proved to be plenty with Smuts leading an excellent performance from Giants’ spinners with 3 for 17. Magala also chipped in with 3 for 17 to clean up the tail as Rocks were bowled out for 120.Rocks burst out of the blocks in their chase, but after Junior Dala rattled Henry Davids’ stumps via the inside edge and Chris Morris deceived Faf du Plessis with a canny slower ball in the Powerplay, the spinners squeezed the middle overs, drying up the boundaries. Markram,
who had launched the innings with three quick boundaries off the seamers, should have been stumped off Aaron Phangiso in the seventh over, but wicketkeeper Rudi Second couldn’t collect cleanly when the batsman was out of his ground.While Markram motored on towards his fifty, Giants chipped away at the other end. Smuts brought himself on in the ninth over and struck with his second delivery to remove Vaughn van Jaarsveld, nipping a 23-run stand in the bud. Smuts conceded just four runs in that first over, but he was even more incisive in his second.Smuts tumbled to his left to hold a catch off his own bowling to get rid of Patrick Kruger, and then struck the decisive blow when Markram holed out to deep midwicket immediately after bringing up a 38-ball fifty. Smuts had 3 for 7, Rocks were rudderless at 79 for 5, and the required rate was over 11.With the required rate continuing to balloon with every dot, the Giants seamers returned to close the chase down at the death. Magala rushed David Wiese to have him caught behind off the glove, and then had Mangaliso Mosehle chipping to mid-off. With Fortuin skying Morris to long-on, Rocks were 115 for 8 and Giants were in sight of a bonus point.For that, they had to keep Rocks to 134 or less, and Tahir made the job a little easier when Dane Paterson top-edged a sweep in the 19th over. With the St George’s Park brass band in full flow, and cheered on by loyal spectators, Magala wrapped up the win with his third wicket, bowling Tshepo Moreki around his legs with a slower ball. The victory solidified Giants’ position on the points table, putting them just a point behind leaders Cape Town Blitz.Rocks were limp with the bat in conditions that the home side, lead by the experienced Smuts, read perfectly. They weren’t at their best in the field either, spilling three chances. Kuhn and Christiaan Jonker were both dropped in the course of their 70-run fourth wicket stand, as was Ben Duckett early on.Giants stormed through the Powerplay at nine an over, despite the loss of Marco Marais and Duckett, but it wasn’t until Kuhn and Jonker came together in the eighth over that they were able to build a partnership of any significant substance.Aided by the lapses in the field, they collected regular boundaries, with Kuhn playing the sweep to particularly good effect against both spin and seam. Both also hit sixes out of the ground, and the fourth umpire had to run out twice with replacement balls. Kuhn brought up the fifty stand in the 14th over by hitting Dane Paterson over the roof of the stands beyond square leg, and Giants had a perfect platform when they reached 140 for 3 in the 15th over with both batsmen well set.The Rocks seamers struck back to seize the initiative, with Wiese and Paterson executing their yorkers to perfection. The last five overs brought six wickets and just 28 runs, and Giants stumbled a little in reaching what seemed a gettable total. But the home bowling attack never let the match out of their grasp, and Giants’ fourth win of the league was their biggest so far, and came with a bonus point.

Michael Klinger led from the front as Gloucestershire clinched a nail-biting four-wicket NatWest T20 Blast win over Somerset with one ball to spare under the Bristol floodlights.

ECB Reporters Network17-Jun-2016
ScorecardMichael Klinger was again Gloucestershire’s saviour•Clint Hughes/PA Photos

Michael Klinger led from the front as Gloucestershire clinched a nail-biting four-wicket NatWest T20 Blast win over Somerset with one ball to spare under the Bristol floodlights.The skipper hit 60 in a low-scoring contest to guide his side to 160 for six in front of a large partisan crowd. Roelof van der Merwe took three for 16 from four overs to ensure a close contest.After rain had delayed the start until 7.05pm, Somerset posted 158 for five, Chris Gayle top-scoring with 40. Benny Howell picked up two for 29, while Tom Smith and Kieran Noema-Barnett combined well in mid-innings to restrict the scoring rate.It didn’t look enough, but a see-saw contest ensued before Gareth Roderick hit the penultimate ball from Yasir Arafat for a boundary.The match began with the unusual sight of Gayle playing out a maiden from Matt Taylor. But soon the West Indian was giving an 11,000 crowd, the biggest ever for a domestic match at the ground, a taste of what they had come to see.Having taken nine balls to get off the mark, Gayle blasted 6 fours and two big sixes off Liam Norwell and Andrew Tye before skying Noema-Barnett to extra cover where Michael Klinger took an excellent catch in the seventh over.”It was a fantastic atmosphere and I want to thank all our supporters who turned out to make it such a memorable evening,” Klinger said later. “If Chris Gayle had hung around for a few more overs it might have been a different story. When he skied that ball into the lights and I got underneath it I was praying I didn’t drop it.”Thanks largely to Gayle, Somerset reached 55 by the end of the six-over powerplay. But from then on their innings lost momentum as Noema-Barnett and left-arm spinner Smith, who took a brilliant caught and bowled to dismiss the dangerous Peter Trego, stemmed the flow of boundaries.At the halfway stage the visitors were 83 for two. But Jim Allenby (27) fell to a catch at short fine leg, Mahela Jayawardene looked sadly out of touch in making 24 and Johann Myburgh quickly followed him back to the pavilion in the same Howell over.It took a late assault from Lewis Gregory (23 not out) and Roelof van der Merwe (18 not out) to get Somerset to a competitive score, which still looked below par.Gloucestershire’s reply got off to a disastrous start as Hamish Marshall pushed only half forward to the first ball and was bowled through the gate by Yasir Arafat.Klinger and Ian Cockbain took the score to 40 in the sixth over before the latter, on 23, carelessly pulled a short ball from Jamie Overton straight to Gregory at deep square.Chris Dent (22) helped Klinger add 63 before being bowled advancing to hit van der Merwe in the 13th over by which time Gloucestershire required only 56.Klinger went to his half-century off 36 balls, with 4 fours and a six, offering a reassuring presence throughout. Benny Howell fell cheaply to the excellent van der Merwe, who followed up by having Noema-Barnett caught at long-off in the same over.Somerset must have rued leaving out leg-spinner Max Waller as their quicker bowlers proved easier to hit. But they kept chipping away and finally got rid of Klinger, bowled by Gregory aiming a big hit after a change of ball.Gloucestershire required 30 off the last three overs, with four wickets in hand. Arafat and Gregory did their bit and 14 were still needed as Arafat’s first delivery of the final over was hit for a straight six by Tye.That changed everything and Gloucestershire edged home.

India’s captain Virat Kohli said he had no problem with pitches like the one in Nagpur, calling them preferable to flat decks that produced 500-plus totals

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Nagpur27-Nov-20152:21

Kohli denies ‘undue home advantage’

Spinners have had plenty of help from the pitches during India’s Test series against South Africa, and the extent of the help they have had has been the topic of a fair few debates. Some have felt batting has been a lottery, others that batsmen from both sides have made them look worse than they actually are.At the end of the third Test in Nagpur, India had wrapped up their second straight Test series win, and ended South Africa’s nine-year unbeaten run away from home. They were impressive achievements, but the bulk of the questions posed to Virat Kohli at his post-match press conference were about the pitch.Kohli said he had no problem with pitches like the one in Nagpur, calling them preferable to flat decks that produced 500-plus totals.”It is not a policy [to play on such pitches], it is the conditions that you get in India. Otherwise you will just play Test matches which will get you 500 runs in an innings. You don’t create bowlers like that, you don’t win Test matches like that. The key is to win Test matches.”I have said this before, wherever you go to play in the world, you’ve got to be prepared to face those conditions and tune your game accordingly. Today was a classic example of two guys [Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis] applying themselves and showing that it can be done. I don’t know why is there so much hype created around the issue.”There are a lot of people writing a lot of things about the pitch. ‘It should not be like this’, or ‘it is turning too much’, people sitting somewhere else and speaking about the pitch in India. I think it is just a matter of mindset where people are just giving their opinions and they are free to do so. I don’t feel that way, we have never complained when we had challenging conditions and won’t complain in the future either.”We have tried to improve our game, it is always a matter of us not having the technique or us not having the mental strength to cope with conditions away from home. But when these sorts of things happen, everybody starts talking about how it is an undue home advantage. In the last few years if you see the stats of any team they are dominating at home and that is how Test cricket has gone. Whoever has won away from home is the No. 1 or No. 2 side in the world. I think that takes a lot of character and that won’t happen every time.”South Africa hadn’t lost in nine years and it is very hard to maintain that sort of record. Credit to them, they have not lost an away series for nine years but I would give credit to our boys for putting equal amount of pressure in the course of these three Test matches and actually win the series. I don’t see anything more or less to it.”Virat Kohli – “Wherever you go to play in the world, you’ve got to be prepared to face those conditions and tune your game accordingly”•BCCI

According to Kohli, India’s batsmen could themselves have dealt with the conditions better.”I would not like to comment on what the opposition did not do,” he said. “Us as a batting unit, and I said this in Mohali as well, we haven’t applied ourselves properly. One or two batsmen have but I think to play well consistently you have to apply as a batsman so we are talking of four guys out of six. But that’s not what happened and it has been two-odd guys every innings and that does not get you to a big total.”We have still been able to get to 220-225-odd three times out of four but as I said, if two guys apply themselves and the rest don’t, then things don’t go as planned. I am talking about our batting group. Even on turning pitches, if you apply yourself and if you are determined to dig in and play a game that is not natural to you, you can score runs.”Our batsmen did that in Mohali and Vijay got a decent start in the first innings [in Nagpur]. Pujara played well, in the second innings Shikhar got 40-odd, so everyone showed that runs can be scored. It was more a case of batsmen making mistakes rather than the ball doing some crazy things out in the middle. I think it was more of a mental thing which needed more application.”Playing in similar conditions, Kohli said, would help India’s batsmen improve their game against spin – which some experts felt had deteriorated when they lost the first Test on their tour to Sri Lanka in August.”As I said, these are the conditions that you get in India,” he said. “When we collapsed in Galle, someone was saying that we have improved our fast-bowling play but we don’t how to play spin. And now we are playing on spin-friendly wickets and this is the problem as well. I don’t know where we find the balance.”We as a team feel we have to improve our play against spin as well. These are the conditions we get in subcontinent and we have to play a lot of Test matches [in the subcontinent] in future as well. So, as a team in future, this is a learning phase as well for us. We need to step up our game in order to win Test matches like we have done this time.”Kohli said he did not mind continuing to play on pitches like the one on Nagpur, even if it meant his batting record, and those of the rest of India’s top order, suffered as a consequence.”I don’t mind compromising on [batsmen’s] averages as long as we are winning Test matches,” he said. “I think that’s our main concern, we are not playing for records, we are not playing for numbers or averages. Let’s not get into that matter. Yeah, that’s all there is to it. In Sri Lanka our performances weren’t that great with the bat but we still won the series. It’s the bowlers who are going to win you Test matches, as simple as that.”If you don’t take 20 wickets, you can have an average of 55, it doesn’t matter. These small contributions and team winning are more important rather than having an average of 50 and above and bowlers not being able to take wickets. I think you need to find an appropriate balance and sometime small contributions are more important than the big hundreds that we get in Test cricket.”