Almost two-thirds of Dhoni’s 9000 ODI runs have come as captain and all of them with the extra responsibility of keeping

Shiva Jayaraman23-Oct-20162 Batsmen to complete 9000 runs as wicketkeepers in ODIs before MS Dhoni. Kumar Sangakkara and Adam Gilchrist are the only others to do it. Dhoni is the fastest in terms of innings having taken 244 innings, ahead of Sangakkara’s 252 and Gilchrist’s 262.1 Dhoni is the first batsman to complete 9000 runs with an average of 50 or more. Jacques Kallis’ average of 45.68, when he got to 9000 runs, was the previous highest.5 Batsmen who have taken fewer innings than Dhoni to get to 9000 ODI runs. Dhoni is the sixth-quickest to the milestone, with 244 innings, despite playing a majority of his innings at No. 4 or lower.1 There is only batsman other than Dhoni to score at least 1000 runs as wicketkeeper and captain at the time of completing 9000 ODI runs. Sangakkara had made 1654 runs with thedual responsibilities at the time of completing 9000 runs. Dhoni has made 6581 runs. More than a third of the 18507 runs made by keeper-captains in ODIs have come from Dhoni.10109 Deliveries played by Dhoni to complete 9000 runs – the third-fewest by a batsman. Gilchrist reached the landmark in 9328 deliveries. Sanath Jayasuriya took 15 deliveries fewer than Dhoni to get there.196 Sixes hit by Dhoni in ODIs; among batsmen with 9000 runs, only Chris Gayle (229 sixes) has hit more sixes at the end of the innings that took them to the 9000th run. Dhoni’s 196 sixes are the most by an India batsman, passing Sachin Tendulkar’s 195.6581 Runs scored by Dhoni as India’s ODI captain – the highest share as captain when reaching the 9000 landmark. Mohammad Azharuddin is the only other batsman to get at least half his 9000 runs while captaining in ODIs. Azharuddin had made 5147 runs as India captain at the end of the innings in which he completed 9000 runs.

Firdose Moonda journeys across the Indian Ocean to follow her team, who start the series down under with a bang

Firdose Moonda14-Nov-2016October 28

Welcome to the world of modern travel, where everything goes via the Middle East. Even the route from Cape Town to Perth. On a map, it seems the best way to get from one to the other is along a straight line through the southern hemisphere. On an airline schedule, that’s not possible. Instead, I will spend nine and a half hours going up to Dubai and then ten and a half hours going down. Add the changeover in Dubai and it means a full 24 hours of travel, and with the time differences, I will arrive two days after I left. Say what?October 29

I think today is Saturday but I’m not really sure. I feel trapped in a time warp I don’t understand.October 30

Touch down in Perth around 2am. Decide to normalise by sleeping and then force myself to get to the series launch around midday. It’s a public event, at Elizabeth Quay, which is also set-up for Diwali festivities. A decent-sized group of people has come to see the Australian and South African teams, and the players are introduced individually. Most get a cheer – David Warner and Dale Steyn louder than the others – but when Dane Vilas walks out, there is complete silence. Poor guy.October 31
Welcome to the world of modern sports media, where the press conference is the most common method of communication. We have no fewer than interviews here. Australia put up six players in an open media session, South Africa three. Our heads are swimming with quotes. The most interesting things to come out of the day are Usman Khawaja’s views on diversity and the Australian fascination with Temba Bavuma. At 1.61 metres, Bavuma is among the shorter sportsmen around and has to field several questions about how he has adapted his technique to his height. Bavuma seems a bit bewildered by the attention but answers the questions as carefully as he can.November 1
The race that stops Australia will be run today, and though I’m not in Melbourne, it’s still a big deal. I’m familiar with showstoppers like this – we in South Africa have the Met in January and the Durban July (you know when) – but the Melbourne Cup is a little different. Across Australia, people dress up as though they are at the venue itself, and at 3pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, time stands still. I haven’t quite got used to the time zone yet, and around noon I’m heading to the WACA, wondering why the streets are deserted. When I realise the gun is about to go, I get a move on and get there just in time to pop my head into the guard’s hut and see the end of the race.November 2

The day before a big Test series is a usually a frenzy of last-minute previews. We wind down with a traditional barbeque at a local journalist’s home. Our hosts’ daughter is doing a project on the Democratic Republic of Congo and I offer to help. “How often do you go back to Africa?” she asks me. “I live there,” I tell her, as her eyes widen in disbelief.The author models her Hobart Hurricanes swag (added bonus: not likely to fall afoul of the dress code at the WACA)•Telford ViceNovember 3
South Africa stumble through the first day on a pitch with better bounce and carry than I have seen in months. Later we all stumble around on a walking tour, organised by Tourism Western Australia. The idea is to roam the laneways to discover how Perth is Melbournising, and stop at bars along the way. Our guide has the remarkable ability to talk to us while walking backwards. She doesn’t lose her step once, not even on St George’s Terrace, said to be the windiest street in the southern hemisphere. At our second and last stop, our holiday-making UK colleague Andrew McGlashan joins us.November 4
There’s an awful feeling when Steyn goes down, clutching his shoulder, with a look on his face worse than when he left the field against India and England last summer. I suspect it’s serious but first need to turn attention to the remarkable comeback the rest of South Africa’s attack are staging. At the end of the day we discover Steyn will be out of action for at least six months.November 5
It is due to be 37 degrees today, so I choose a simple T-shirt-style dress to wear. When I arrive at the WACA, at the gate the media use (which is also the members’ gate), security staff stop me. My dress is too short. The members’ dress code dictates that dresses must sit no more than 5cm above the knee. I’m quite sure mine is not shorter than that, but they disagree. After a protracted discussion – during which one woman is told she isn’t allowed in because the straps on her top are too thin – I am admitted but told not to leave the press box through the day. Inevitably I have to and am warned a second time. Another journalist tweets about it and a social-media storm erupts.That evening I see Steyn waiting for an Uber in the city centre. He has just got off a train from visiting his uncle in a suburb about 40 minutes away. He admits his shoulder is “very sore” and says he is resigned to a lengthy period on the sidelines and that he is not going to try and rush back. He will leave Perth tomorrow night, so won’t see the result, which looks headed South Africa’s way.November 6
I pick a dress that extends to my ankles today, but my colleague Melinda Farrell doesn’t. She also bares her shoulders. She is reprimanded at the gate, and now that the rest of the press pack know about the issue, another social-media storm erupts. To the WACA’s credit, their stadium manager visits us and apologises profusely. He assures us we both look fine.November 7
I wear pants today but am stopped at the gate yet again. “No thongs allowed,” says the staff member. I present the media argument again. I am let in. This time, both Melinda and I receive an email apology from the WACA CEO. She says the members’ code will be reviewed and the ground wants to bring about change. We didn’t enjoy the attention over our choice of clothing but we’re pleased we’ve achieved something. South Africa have too – the series lead. Given how far they had fallen last summer, their dominance is unexpected.November 8
Hobart is the only destination on this tour that I’ve not been to before, so I am particularly looking forward to being there. It’s Australia’s second oldest city and one with an extensive convict history. I’ve just finished reading Alex Haley’s , and I want to find something similar but Australian. I’ve been recommended by Marcus Clarke and I make it my mission to track it down – if I can ever feel my fingers again; it’s cold in Hobart.If it swims in the sea, we’ll eat it•Firdose Moonda/ESPNcricinfo LtdNovember 9
I was warned to expect less than summery conditions in Hobart but I didn’t anticipate a wind so icy it threatens to freeze the blood in my veins. Not to make this all about my wardrobe but I need more clothes. Cricket Tasmania’s digital-media manager, Michelle Cooling, offers to lend me some. Among them is a Hobart Hurricanes hoodie. She’s got a fan for life.November 10
Still haven’t managed to get to a bookshop but I am enjoying learning about the local food. Melinda takes me to Mure’s, a seafood establishment on the harbour, where we splash out on all the region’s delicacies. Oysters done four ways, scallops, white fish, even a dessert of chocolate tarts. It’s definitely among the best meals I’ve ever eaten.November 11
A cannon being towed by a Ute rolls past on my morning run, headed to the Anzac Parade. It’s Remembrance Day. The colonial history is more marked here than anywhere else in Australia I’ve seen, especially in the architecture. The Queen Victoria Clock Tower, now home to the General Post Office, was built by public subscription and has become one of my favourite landmarks.November 12
There’s no rain yet but Australia are drowned anyway. Vernon Philander rolls back the years and takes 5 for 21. It’s an even better performance than on his debut. After suffering torn ankle ligaments last season, he seems to have regained confidence and become even better than what we thought was his best. As I leave the ground, I see the Australian team bus, driven by Nathan Lyon, pull up next to Philander, who is walking to the South African bus. Lyon rolls down the window and congratulates Philander. Sportsmanship is still alive.November 13
The expected rain is finally here, and as the day progresses, it only gets heavier. When we arrive at the ground, the teams have not even turned up. We know it’s only a matter of time before play is called off. It happens at 2pm. I squeeze in a trip to the Hobart Book Shop and pick up a copy of Clarke’s book. I’m reminded that this time last year I was in Bangalore, covering the washout that was AB de Villiers’ 100th Test. “Nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain.”

More stats that’ll make you wonder how you did without them for so long. Starring a glittering cast of Kohli, Cook, Ashwin and others

Andy Zaltzman15-Dec-2016While India and England prepare for the final Test of what has been an unusually gripping and competitive one-sided clobbering, here is your next batch of pre-Christmas stats. This series has certainly been one of the most closely fought clobberings I can remember, involving, last week in Mumbai, a fascinating match that began with three days of classic, momentum-shifting, undulating cricketing tug of war, and ended with rampant, high-skilled Indian dominance, and a baffling display of white-flag English batting. Should anyone ever write an instruction manual entitled , this match would be Example A. Further examples would not be required.Four years ago at the Wankhede, as India subsided rapidly to defeat against England’s spinners, Virat Kohli had clonked a filthy Graeme Swann full toss straight to mid-off in what will always remain a compelling challenger for Worst Shot of the Third Millennium, a shot of such complete mistiming that it made a noise reminiscent of a catapulted tortoise landing on the roof of a cheap wooden shed. If memory serves. This time, he created a masterpiece of the art of batsmanship, a performance of such near-flawless technical and tactical brilliance that England could have bowled him a hand grenade disguised as a Rubik’s Cube and he would have defused it, solved it, signed it, and deposited it effortlessly to the extra-cover boundary. R Ashwin’s gradual hypnosis of England’s batsmen completed the Test’s transformation: from level pegging on the judges’ scorecards to Rocky Marciano pummelling the daylights out of a stuffed toy penguin.Stats time.15 December
It has been another odd year for England in the Test arena, a cocktail of personal and collective successes and failures. In their intensive 31-Test deluge since April 2015, they have (a) won an Ashes, (b) drawn three series in which they had held a lead, (c) triumphed in South Africa, and (d) failed to construct a sequence of more than three matches without defeat. This constitutes England’s longest period without a four-match unbeaten run since 1997-2000.16 December
As has been widely noted, England were only the third side to lose by an innings after scoring at least 400 batting first. There have only been three more instances of a team scoring 375 or more and losing by an innings. Mumbai illustrated how a first-innings score of around 400 is no longer the platform for success (or at least, the platform for avoiding failure) that it once was.This millennium, teams batting first and scoring between 380 and 420 (inclusive) have won 26, lost 23, and drawn 16. Before the year 2000, such a first-innings score led to 54 victories, only ten defeats, and 59 draws.A 400-ish opening innings has become sub-par in Asia, where since December 2009, teams batting first and scoring between 380 and 430 have won two, lost nine and drawn five; against India in their home conditions, the record is: played six, lost six.17 December
Today is Ashwin day. The Chennai Conjuror’s fifth wicket in Mumbai made him the first player to achieve a 200-run, 20-wicket series double since Andrew Flintoff and Shane Warne in the 2005 Ashes.Ravindra Jadeja needs 27 runs and four wickets in Chennai to join the list, and provide the fourth instance of two players on the same side registering a 200-20 double series (after Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock for South Africa in West Indies, 2001; Ian Botham and Geoff Miller, England in Australia 1978-79; and Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, Australia v West Indies 1951-52). (If you want another impending potential stat to keep an eye out for during the fifth Test, if Jadeja scores those 27 runs, and Jayant Yadav takes one more wicket, India will become only the third team in Test history to have three players score 200 runs and take ten wickets in a series, after Australia in the 1907-08 [Warwick Armstrong, Charlie Macartney, Monty Noble], and Australia again in the West Indies in 1955 [Ron Archer, Richie Benaud, Keith Miller].)Ashwin needs 11 runs to register the eighth 250-run-25-wicket double in a series, and the first since Botham in the 1985 Ashes. (There have been some near-misses. Warne fell short by one run in 2005, and Flintoff by one wicket; Imran Khan was three runs away against India in 1982-83; Malcolm Marshall needed six more runs in India in 1983-84; and Tony Greig took 24 wickets to go with his 430 runs in the West Indies in 1973-74.)Ashwin is also 61 runs and three wickets away from the fourth ever 300-30 series double. He would follow Botham in 1981 against Australia, Benaud for Australia in South Africa in 1957-58, and Benaud’s baggy-green predecessor George Giffen, in the 1894-95 Ashes.

Ashwin’s gradual hypnosis of England’s batsmen completed the Test’s transformation: from level pegging on the judges’ scorecards to Rocky Marciano pummelling the daylights out of a stuffed toy penguin

His two six-wicket innings in Mumbai made Ashwin only the fourth player ever, and the second since the First World War, with three 50-plus scores and three five-wicket hauls in a series. Giffen’s 1894-95 Ashes was the first instance; England’s Frank Foster achieved the feat in the 1911-12 Ashes; and Botham in the 1981 Ashes, when he also crammed in 12 catches, three ducks, a resignation/sacking from the captaincy, and a heroic beard, into his hectic schedule.With his half-century in the third Test, in Mohali, Ashwin had already become only the second player to make five 50-plus scores and take five five-wicket hauls in a year. Daniel Vettori had five of each in 2008. Ashwin has eight five-fors, and needs one more five-for to equal the record for a year of nine (jointly held by Malcolm Marshall in 1984, and Muttiah Muralitharan in 2006). His two six-fors in Mumbai tied Murali’s 2006 record of six six-wicket hauls in a year.Enough Ashwin stats. He has had, unquestionably, a good year. A better year than, for example, David Cameron or Hillary Clinton. Albeit in rather different circumstances.18 December
In Mumbai, Moeen Ali (2 for 174) and Adil Rashid (4 for 192) provided only the 11th instance of two bowlers conceding 170 or more in the same innings, and the first in which the bowlers have been English. The last six of these 11 have all taken place in Asia. None of the previous ten had featured an attack with six front-line bowlers.It was also:(a) The first time for 23 years that two England bowlers have bowled 50 overs in an innings. Mark Ilott, in his second Test, and Martin Bicknell, on debut, were the victims on the previous occasion, at Headingley in 1993, as Australia piled up 653 for 4 declared, which, at the time, was considered a slightly disappointing score for the baggy greens in an Ashes Test. If I remember correctly. Some measure of vengeance for Ashwin, one of the two Indians to bowl 50 overs in Kolkata four years ago, along with Pragyan Ojha. And…(b) The third time since 1965, and the eighth time ever, that seven England bowlers have bowled ten or more overs in an innings.19 December
India, from 307 for 6, added 324 more runs before England could finally leave the field and start thinking about how nice it would have been to take a couple more catches. This was the 13th time a team has added 300 or more for its last four wickets, and the first either by India or in India.20 December
Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli, batting behind an unsettled opening partnership, and ahead of a malfunctioning five and six, have combined for 845 first-innings runs at an average of 105 (Pujara has made 341, Kohli 504). This is the most first-innings runs ever scored by India’s three and four in a Test series. The all-time record Most First-Innings Series Runs by a Team’s Numbers Three and Four – 1095, by the 1930 Australians in England (Don Bradman 842, Alan Kippax 239, Alan Fairfax 14) – is just about within sight.”Bradmanesque, moi?”•AFP21 December
Kohli Day. If Kohli makes 40 in either innings in Chennai, he will be the first player to make seven scores of 40 or more in a series since Nasser Hussain in the 1998-99 Ashes, since when there have been 18 other instances of a player scoring 40 six times.In 2016, Kohli currently has 1200 Test runs at an average of 80.0, 739 ODI runs at 92.3, and 641 T20I runs at 106.8. Only one player has ever returned a year tally of 600 or more runs at an average of at least 70 in two formats – Hashim Amla, who in 2010 made 1249 at 78.0 in Tests and 1058 at 75.5 in ODIs, and in 2012, 1064 at 70.9 in Tests and 678 at 84.7 in one-dayers. Even a pair in Chennai will leave Kohli averaging over 70 in all three formats this year.His overall all-format international tally for 2016 is currently 2580 at 88.9. Kohli could deliberately smash his stumps down first ball in both innings in the final Test and still finish the year as the only player to have made more than 2000 international runs in a year at an average of more than 80. Only three others have made even 1250 runs at 80-plus in a year – Garry Sobers (1299 at 144.3 in 1958), Sachin Tendulkar (1766 at 84.0 in 2010) and Viv Richards (1926 at 91.7 in 1976). Illustrious company.22 December
This Asian winter, Alastair Cook has faced 580 balls of spin in six Tests, been dismissed 11 times – once every 53 balls – and scored 265 runs, for an average against spin of 24.1. In his previous 21 Tests in Asia, spaced over seven separate winters, Cook had scored 1422 for 21 against spin, averaging 67.7.On his previous three tours of India, he made 592 for 6 against spin, and was dismissed once every 222 balls. Between them, Muttiah Muralitharan, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, the three leading wicket-takers in Tests on the world’s largest continent, with more than 1300 wickets on their home landmass between them, dismissed him once in 112 overs in Asia. The old certainties have been chipped away from his batting, for now at least, by two months of unrelenting high-class tweakery.23 December
Discover your own stat, and write it indelible ink on your screen in the space provided below.

24 December
Invent your own stat. This is the post-truth world of 2016. Make something up about a player you like whose numbers do not quite stack up, or insert yourself into a list of all-time greats.Happy Cricketstmas.

A clever batting display and three crucial wickets featured in Ben Stokes’ return to Kolkata – a venue that hasn’t been kind to the England allrounder in the past

Vishal Dikshit at Eden Gardens23-Jan-2017Coming back to Eden Gardens was a “mixed bag” for Jason Roy after the World T20 final loss to West Indies here last year. Finding a word for Ben Stokes’ feelings would be a tougher task.The pressure on him and England would not have come close in comparison on Sunday, but Eden Gardens produced another thriller, things going down to the last ball of the match. Flashbacks of the loss to West Indies would have come storming back, especially when Kedar Jadhav struck the first ball of the final over for a six off Chris Woakes.Stokes, who had bowled the last over in the World T20 final, had finished his quota of overs earlier on Sunday. Captain Eoin Morgan later said that had nothing to do with last year’s memories, and Stokes’ bowling did prove so. Once Hardik Pandya and Jadhav narrowed the equation to 47 runs needed off 30 balls, Stokes came on for his last two overs. Pandya had been swinging his bat in unorthodox fashion, and England needed it to stop. Stokes brought out pace variations, the full and wide deliveries, and on the third ball of the 46th over, he sent down a straightforward length delivery angled for the middle stump. Pandya swung for the hills again, and the ball crashed into top of middle. A first-ball yorker welcomed Ravindra Jadeja from Stokes, and with more deliveries aimed at the stumps, he conceded only four runs in the over. This made Morgan bowl Stokes out immediately instead of saving him for the end.When Woakes conceded 16 runs in the next over, the pressure was back on England; India needed 27 from 18. Stokes continued to use pace variations with good-length deliveries and didn’t allow Jadhav to target his preferred cover boundary. He conceded only four runs in the over, dismissed Ashwin, and the equation was now 23 from 12 balls – more in England’s favour.”The plan was pretty obvious with what we wanted to do; we just wanted to try and get them to hitting to one side of the field and change up,” Stokes said after the match. “There was always something in the wicket throughout the whole innings, so even just trying to smash a hard length rather than going out and out with yorkers was still a good wicket-taking option because it was so hard to hit cleanly through the ball. Under lights the ball seems to be sticking in the wicket a bit, the slower ball also helps. We had a few options in a few different deliveries. We set the field correctly with what we wanted to do.”Stokes had leaked 79 runs in nine overs during the second ODI, punished particularly by Yuvraj Singh on a small ground and flat pitch in Cuttack. Stokes made much better use of the seamer-friendly track in Kolkata and bowled smarter variations, but he still thinks there is room for improvement.Ben Stokes’ 57 not out was his second half-century of the ODI series•Associated Press”It’s nice to come out here and perform decently I think in alien conditions,” he said. “There’s still improvement [to be made, things] I want to correct with the ball. I’ve been very expensive over the last many series’ we’ve been playing. Consistency is the thing I’m trying to work on, because any sign of a bad ball and the top players in the world are going to pounce on it and punish you, which has been shown not just by our bowling but our batsmen have managed to do that to the Indian bowlers as well. Consistency with the bowling hopefully will come, but it’s not through lack of trying and hard work.”It was in his first spell though that he got the prize wicket of India’s chase master Virat Kohli with a delivery that has undone the India captain often – full and wide outside off, making him chase it with hard hands. And when Stokes did that, Kohli edged the ball to Jos Buttler and was dismissed even before the halfway mark.During their batting innings too, England needed Stokes. Pandya had choked the flow of runs with the wickets of Morgan, Buttler and Jonny Bairstow in the space of nine overs and, on 237 for 5, England still had nearly nine overs left to play.Stokes displayed audacious batting – he belted Ashwin over long-on on the ninth ball of his innings even with a player at long-on in place for that shot. But he also had to demonstrate clever batting. England do possess a lot of depth in their line-up but going for strokes in the death overs on this pitch was not going to be easy. A team would rather have a batsman shepherd the tail, rather than leave everything to the tail on a tricky pitch.When England were six down, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who impressed with his death bowling in Cuttack, returned. His signature accuracy was to be watched out for, and as expected he didn’t waver much. Stokes, though, was almost one step ahead. He stamped his authority with a six off the first ball of the 46th over, again over long-on. Bhuvneshwar replied with a yorker. Next ball, anticipating another yorker, Stokes came down and converted the dipping delivery into a low full toss and crunched it straight down, beating the long-on fielder for four. Bhuvneshwar replied with another yorker, this one took Stokes’ edge but it fell just short of MS Dhoni. If boundaries were not easy to get, there were other ways to collect runs. Stokes played shrewd cricket by placing the ball in the gaps on the next two balls for two couples. Even though Bhuvneshwar had not bowled a bad over, the over’s tally read 16.In Bhuvneshwar’s next over too, Stokes steered a yorker to the third-man boundary and brought up a half-century in his 50th ODI. Morgan believed Stokes still has more to offer.”I reckon he’s got more in the tank. He’s an incredible player to have in the side, I always say it’s a luxury to have a player like him in your team,” Morgan said. “He gives you everything he has got on the day, which is a lot. And we don’t take that for granted.”Stokes stayed till the end of the innings, unbeaten on 57, making sure England got past the 300 mark comfortably. Nearly four hours later, even as India got past 300, Stokes again played a crucial role to ensure the hosts did not go into the T20 series with the confidence of a whitewash.

Multiple surgeries and a loss of form and confidence pushed him into the shadows, but he has used T20 assiduously and will return for Tasmania this week

Daniel Brettig22-Feb-2017A trivia question. Of currently active Australian cricketers, who has the highest batting average in India?Steven Smith? Nope. David Warner? Nope. Matthew Wade? Nope. Glenn Maxwell? Not even close.Believe it or not, the holder of this garland is actually Tim Paine. Two Tests, 183 runs at 45.75, two fifties and a top score of 92. All made in 2010, the year he made his Test debut at Lord’s alongside a younger, pudgier Smith. The time Paine spent batting and keeping wicket in India are among his most treasured memories; his method in the middle disarmingly simple.”I blocked a lot, I waited for a cut, I pulled, and I certainly didn’t sweep,” Paine told ESPNcricinfo. “My plan against the spinners was to play off the back foot more than the front foot. I just found that it took the guys in close out of the play a little bit and made it a bit easier for me to rotate strike rather than to lunge and run at them, which is something I’m not all that good at.”I just played deep in the crease, and if I got one that I could hit off one step, I tried to hit it hard, otherwise I just tried to work the ball around off the back foot and play with soft hands. It was hard work but really enjoyable.”I found wicketkeeping, in particular, to be great fun over there. Up to the stumps when it’s turning that much, you’re always in the game, and that’s the best way to be when you’re wicketkeeping.”You hear a lot about how hard it’s going to be, and it certainly is, but I think people can get too caught up in it sometimes. Cricket’s a simple game and it’s about backing your strengths with both bat and gloves and sticking to your game plan. The guys that do that have success and the guys who can do it for the longest will do really well. It’s a place where you’ve really got to accept the challenge and enjoy the challenge.”All these words sound like wise counsel for Australia’s tourists in the first Test against India in Pune, and certainly Paine would give a lot for the chance to take part alongside them. The main reason he isn’t playing dates back to the same year he played his four Test matches, and the format, ironically enough, in which Paine is currently representing his country at home against Sri Lanka – T20.A broken right index finger in the short-lived Australian Cricketers Association All-Stars fixture that had been devised as a launch for the home summer led to no fewer than seven sets of surgery, a loss of confidence, and ultimately the loss of his spot in the Tasmanian Sheffield Shield side. It all began to unravel at a time when Paine was being talked about as a future leader of the Australian side – which he now recalls with a rueful half-chuckle.”I remember I was being touted as a future captain for about a week or two, I think, back then,” he said. “It was a lot of fun, playing Test cricket at that stage with some of the great players Australia’s had was really exciting for me at that age, and unfortunately things didn’t pan out in the next couple of years after that and I had a bit of a battle the last few years.”Paine has had seven surgeries to repair a broken finger•AFPEven after the initial break, Paine remained very much in the national selectors’ thoughts. He served as vice-captain of the T20 team under Cameron White in early 2011, and then toured England with Australia A the following year. But the horrible, repetitious cycle of injury, rehabilitation, rushed return and fresh injury left him struggling even to make a fist with his right hand, let alone use it to hold a bat or glove a flying cricket ball.As the surgeries mounted, Paine came close to quitting. “I did think about it, I was forced to think about it,” he said. “I think I had six or seven operations in the end, so it was getting to the stage where if it didn’t work out, it was something I had to look at. But luckily enough, I found a good surgeon in Sydney, and after the seventh one I haven’t had another one since. I certainly never wanted to but at one stage it wasn’t going to be out of the question that I couldn’t play.”Eventually the sequence ended, but it was to be followed by a more fundamental problem. Paine, always a well-spoken and organised character, found himself struggling to make a run. “Batting, in particular, is really a mental game, and when you lose that confidence, it can be really hard work. I lost mine for quite a while, so that was difficult,” he said. “It’s a funny feeling. I was honestly walking out to bat at times not knowing where I would score a run or how I’d score a run.”When someone’s coming back from injury, there’s always a bit of chat about it along the lines of ‘Let’s get some around his finger’ or that sort of stuff. But with my batting that was only affecting me for the first few hits when I came back, then after that I wasn’t really thinking about my finger. It was purely a loss of form and of confidence.”When it gets like that, it becomes pretty hard work, and then from that there were times when I didn’t even want to play. I certainly wasn’t enjoying playing cricket, so it just snowballed from that. It can be really hard work to try to go play cricket day in, day out when you’re thinking like that.”All the while, the game moved on around Paine. His fellow Tasmanian Matthew Wade was elevated to the Test team, Brad Haddin dropped out of the picture and then returned, and others like Peter Nevill and Sam Whiteman emerged. In Tasmania the signing of the young Jake Doran put further pressure on Paine’s place, which he lost altogether at the start of this summer.T20 helped Paine emerge from the shadows•Getty ImagesWhat remained was T20, a format Paine had worked at assiduously since the early days of being shunted as low as possible in the order due to a lack of power. “My T20 stuff started maybe a year or two before I played for Australia,” he said. “I was always a smaller player, playing for Tasmania when I was young, so I always found myself in T20 cricket down the order, batting seven or eight, and if it got to the last few overs I’d tend to slide down even further and the bowlers would come ahead of me.”One morning in North Hobart I caught up with Tim Coyle for a coffee and he said, ‘We’re going to have a look at you opening the batting.’ It was a game against NSW, where I got 50 pretty quickly and just found it suited my style of play. It wasn’t anything I had to change so much, but me being smaller, the ball coming onto the bat and the field coming in, someone who couldn’t hit too many sixes but could hit fours, it was a good fit for me and the team.”Paine’s consistency with bat and gloves for Hobart Hurricanes led to another Australian call-up, six years after his last. But he is equally excited by a return to Tasmania colours later this week, at a time when the state side is still coming to terms with the dismissal of the coach and former captain Dan Marsh from his mentoring role.”We did have quite a successful era there but we’ve had a high turnover of players and staff,” Paine said. “While we still think we’ve got a better team than what we’ve done in the last few years, we just haven’t played well enough unfortunately. Things look to be changing down there, which is unfortunate but also exciting at the same time. Now being an older guy and being back in the squad, I’ve certainly tried to help some of our younger guys and looking forward to playing with them this week.”Another twist lies ahead for Paine – Wade having indicated his desire to return home to Tasmania and thus claim the gloves whenever he is not playing for Australia. But Paine remains committed to the cause of his state and his country, even hopeful that one day he might be able to add to those runs made so doggedly in India seven years ago.”I’ve got to play well in these last three games first and foremost, otherwise where I’m playing won’t be up to me,” he said. “But the last 12 months I’ve been playing well again and if you play well enough for long enough you’ll get opportunities at all levels.”

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja all have a wealth of experience in pressure situations, but they had no answer for Sri Lankan aggression at The Oval

Nagraj Gollapudi at The Oval 08-Jun-2017India’s bowling attack is one of the best in the tournament. Their bowling is their strength for a change. That was the reading and verdict of pundits, opposition captains and even India captain Virat Kohli. The variety in the Indian fast bowling attack coupled with the experienced spin pair of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja contributed to such a conclusion.India’s fast bowling contingent comprising Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami was effective in all the matches played before Thursday – in the two warm-ups (against New Zealand and Bangladesh) and their first group tie, against Pakistan. Despite not getting any swing, these bowlers used their experience, pace and variations to dominate the opposition thoroughly.On Thursday, though, a young and daring opponent dominated India. On the eve of the contest, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews had said the pressure was on India. Having set a good enough target, Kohli would have been confident of his bowlers finishing off the job.Then how did India get rattled in the end? In fact, they got rattled by the pair of Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis, who scored with freedom, and put Sri Lanka in a winning frame of mind by the halfway stage. Neither batsman backed off throughout their long partnership. Having seen Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma stitch a strong alliance in the morning, the Sri Lanka pair was aware there was no devil in the pitch despite it wearing a faintly greenish tinge.But the most important thing Gunathilaka and Mendis did was impose themselves straightaway. Gunathalika, upright in his posture, firm grip, played eye-catching strokes. He wisely utilised the pace of the Indian quicks to his benefit. At the other end, Mendis did not hesitate to throw the kitchen sink at anything – be it an over-pitched delivery or a wider one away from his body. No doubt such a display threw some ungainly edges, even a couple of chances, but Mendis kept getting away.The boldness of the duo only added pressure on the Indian medium-pacers. Sri Lanka also had a plan for Jadeja, the lone specialist spinner after India opted to bench Ashwin for the second match in a row. The plan was simply to attack Jadeja as much as they could. With the ball not taking any spin and the pitch remaining hard, Jadeja found it difficult to stop them. It did not help that he bowled lengths that allowed Mendis and then Kusal Perera to sweep, pull and charge with abandon.Another bowler that was dominated was Pandya, who pitched fuller more often than to his captain’s liking. Gunathilaka took a step forward to club Pandya for a six over deep midwicket to bring up his half-century.Hands on heads was a familiar sight for India’s bowlers, who struggled to take wickets against Sri Lanka•Getty ImagesGunathalika and Mendis could only be stopped by spectacular run-outs by the Indian fielders. But Mathews and Kusal took the momentum forward with another bright partnership. As the match entered the final bend, Kusal limping back to the change room after retiring hurt might have given a fresh wave of hope in the Indian hearts.The first few balls Asela Gunaratne played certainly gave some anxious moments to Mathews. But the third ball he faced from Umesh was pitched short, enough to take a step back and pull it for a six. Gunaratne would continue to hurt India just the way the other Sri Lankan batsmen did. He also regaled the minority Lankan presence at the ground with his breathtaking strokeplay: like sweeping Bumrah over backward square leg for a six.According to Kohli, the absence of any swing did not affect the fast bowlers. It was just the fact that Sri Lanka’s batsmen remained positive throughout, a strategy India have used often to numb oppositions.”The good thing that they did was they did not lose wickets, and they kept getting a strike, which we as a team have done so many times,” Kohli said after the defeat. “Sometimes teams are going to come up and do that against you, and sometimes you literally can’t do anything in the game. When we got those two run-outs, we thought we can get a couple of wickets now. But, again, those guys came in and played their shots, and it came off well.”You try to find ways to get people out, but it doesn’t happen. If you have a couple of guys with off days in between, you can’t go in with eight bowling options. You literally have five or six with a part-timer. In any case, you play two spinners, or you play four seamers.”Kohli did say that with Jadeja and Pandya off colour, he had to resort to bowling himself along with the part-time offspin of Kedar Jadhav on a pitch that was dry.”Yeah, if two guys aren’t able to execute their lines, it does become difficult. Me and Kedar chipped in with our overs, and the game pulled back at that stage. But then, again, everyone came out and played positive cricket from their team.”Bhuvneshwar, Umesh, Bumrah, Pandya and Jadeja – all these men have at different times over the years handled pressure situations, especially in the IPL. But against Sri Lanka they could not.”Our bowlers also bowled decently well,” Kohli said. “If batsmen come out and play like that and everyone plays well, you have to give credit to the opposition as well. We’re not invincible.”

Both the Indian and Australian teams were applauded on Twitter following a hard-fought Test series

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Mar-2017Sachin Tendulkar didn’t hide his delight at India reclaiming the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, while others too congratulated India on the 2-1 series win.

Indiaaa Indiaaa Indiaaa Indiaaa!!!! #IndVAus pic.twitter.com/legRgX9JSk

— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 28, 2017

Congrats to India on a wonderful series win, it was a great series to watch. Well done to the Inexperienced Aussies too who fought hard !

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) March 28, 2017

Ps India is the hardest place to win, only 2 bad sessions cost the young inexperienced Aussie team the series. Congrats again India

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) March 28, 2017

Brilliant series congratulations to both teams, ultimately India proved too strong. @CricketAus can be very proud of their performance.

— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) March 28, 2017

Do what's right, the right way and at the right time and Team India did that beautifully throughout this season. Brilliant work lads @Bcci

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) March 28, 2017

Congrats on the series win India. Well played Well fought throughout series Aus. A great series to watch #INDvAUS #fire #passion

— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) March 28, 2017

True champions let their game do all the talking!
Congratulations #TeamIndia on sealing a deserved series win! #IndvAus pic.twitter.com/bDbP5li6Jn

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) March 28, 2017

Well done #TeamIndia! Great win. Congratulations on the series win! #IndvAus

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) March 28, 2017

Super series and great result for team India…@BCCI

— parthiv patel (@parthiv9) March 28, 2017

THAT was the knockout punch!!! What a series win. CONGRATULATIONS #TeamIndia @BCCI @anilkumble1074 @imVkohli

— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) March 28, 2017

Very proud of our lads in India- they fought very hard.
Well done to India on their win.
Great test series.#INDvAUS

— Jason Gillespie (@dizzy259) March 28, 2017

It's been a incredible season!Grateful to be part of such a magnificent team @anilkumble1074 @ImSanjayBangar @BCCI pic.twitter.com/W453COBdFU

— R SRIDHAR (@coach_rsridhar) March 28, 2017

Brilliantly competitive series..Congratulations to the Indian cricket team on a terrific series win! #INDvAUS

— Ajit Agarkar (@imAagarkar) March 28, 2017

Cracking series out in India. Congrats to India on 2-1 victory …Formidable at home

— David 'Bumble' Lloyd (@BumbleCricket) March 28, 2017

How will this Indian side fare overseas?

Great win by @BCCI. A perfectly balanced side and ability to exploit pitches with both pace and spin. A team capable of winning anywhere

— Kumar Sangakkara (@KumarSanga2) March 28, 2017

India captain Virat Kohli called it the best series win of his tenure, and many others felt the cricket was exciting to watch.

Gee I hope the Ashes will be as keenly fought out as this India v Aust Series! Doubt it as the pitches are too flat for batsmen! #India

— Dean Jones (@ProfDeano) March 28, 2017

End of a very good test https://t.co/U5oLzDOHp6 to both teams for playing some magnificent cricket.Well done India. Love test cricket

— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) March 28, 2017

Great test series to watch India v Australia.. Some incredible cricket from both sides. Well done India on the series win 2-1.. #cricket

— Damien Martyn (@damienmartyn) March 28, 2017

The most gripping series I've watched for a long time! Credit to both teams, India too strong when it counted! Bring on the next 1 #IndvAus

— Michael Slater (@mj_slats) March 28, 2017

It's been a grand home season for India and what a joy that the best was saved for the last. Test cricket, come back soon.

— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) March 28, 2017

What a terrific series though. Probably the best I've watched in India since 2001. Great comeback from India after the Pune debacle.#IndvAus

— Dileep Premachandran (@SpiceBoxofEarth) March 28, 2017

And there was some banter as well.

So much for the head of the snake huh?!! Eat ur words @NathLyon421 .#TeamIndia #IndvAus #bulliesgotbullied @BCCI

— Robin Aiyuda Uthappa (@robbieuthappa) March 28, 2017

R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara played all 13 Tests in the long home season for India.

Congratulations Team India! Good end to a long long season. Get back home now @ashwinravi99

— Prithi Ashwin (@prithinarayanan) March 28, 2017

End of a great great season for India. 10-1 and two draws in the 13 home tests. The pace bowlers have been the unsung heroes for me.

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) March 28, 2017

Eric Simons, a member of the panel that recommended Ottis Gibson as South Africa’s head coach, also said building a healthy relationship with captain Faf du Plessis factored into his appointment

Firdose Moonda14-Sep-2017A coach with experience of winning a global tournament, while also building a strong connection with Faf du Plessis were the two main reasons behind Ottis Gibson’s appointment as South Africa’s head coach. Gibson was recommended by a CSA-convened panel that included two former national coaches, Gary Kirsten and Eric Simons, who decided Gibson’s clarity of thought made him the right candidate to take over. Gibson also won the World T20 in 2012 with West Indies.”He is going to bring a fresh outlook. He has got a lot of experience now,” Simons told ESPNcricinfo at the official unveiling of the Stellenbosch Kings franchise, where he is assistant coach. “He has coached at a number of levels. He has coached West Indies, where he ended up losing his job, and I think in that process as a coach, you end up learning a lot. .”Ottis is a very detailed coach. We asked a lot of questions about him – what is he like, what is his style is and we obviously need to marry the relationship, not only with him and the team but especially with the captain. I think they are going to fit well together from that perspective. Ottis is a good thinker, a good planner of the game and I think that’s what Faf likes. He likes that information.”Earlier this week, before Gibson’s arrival in South Africa, du Plessis was confirmed as South Africa’s captain in all three formats after being given the ODI reins. That means du Plessis will likely take South Africa to the 2019 World Cup, a trophy they are desperate to win.To have a a coach who understands that need is essential. Even though du Plessis and many other current players gave Russell Domingo – the only coach under whom South Africa have won a World Cup knockout game – their vote of confidence, the panel felt a change in thinking, and specifically a foreign coach with experience was necessary.”It was not just a case of picking the person, you also have to marry what’s needed. We are not far away from an ICC tournament, although it may feel far away. Ottis has been there, he has won a tournament, and he has been part of a professional set up. So he emerged as the right person,” Simons said.”We wanted someone with international experience, someone that is going to bring fresh ideas and look at things from a different perspective. You’ve seen teams that have done that. Mickey Arthur has worked well in Pakistan, Gary Kirsten did it in India, an outsider. Sometimes being able to look at it from a different perspective is refreshing. We have had a really mature and clear-thinking captain in Faf and I think what Ottis is going to bring to Faf is going to be very good.”Gibson was not among the initial applicants for the South African job, which included Lions’ Geoffrey Toyana, who has won four trophies in five seasons. He was considered the front-runner but was head-hunted after CSA were understood to be unconvinced by the candidates that had put themselves in contention. As a result, the panel missed their deadline.They were initially due to put forward their preferred name at a CSA board meeting on July 21. It emerged a week later, in a report, during the third Test against England that Gibson had been approached. He was only confirmed as coach later in August once his release from his ECB contract, where he was employed as bowling coach, was secured. Gibson is scheduled to arrive in South Africa next Monday, giving him 10 days to prepare for his first assignment against Bangladesh.”It was a very good process. Everybody started on an equal footing,” Simons said. “With coaches, we hire them when we shouldn’t and fire them when we should hire them. Ottis has walked a very good path as a coach. In speaking to him and the players around him, he was very honest about what he has learnt and what he has become. That was a part of it and the other part is that we think he is going to be very good for Faf.”

There is a Test series to win, and another to follow, but minds are starting to drift towards the Ashes series and the questions still looming over England

David Hopps at Old Trafford03-Aug-2017Just add water. If the recipe for Ashes success is as simple as that then Joe Root’s England side will find all the sustenance they need in the final Test of the series against South Africa.Weeks of incessant rain in Manchester have left the outfield saturated and the pitch an unknown quantity. It is here that England must first strive to secure their first home series win against South Africa for 19 years, but as they do so preparation for the Ashes will never be far from anybody’s mind.Such is the state of the Old Trafford outfield that Root embraced suggestions that fielders might have to tread warily lest they picked up the sort of injury that put Simon Jones out of the Ashes series in Brisbane in 2002 when he ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament.Last year, the same concerns were raised because the outfield had been heavily sanded after concerts at Old Trafford by Beyonce and Rihanna. This time there have been no pop stars on show quite so close to the match, although the outfield is doing a decent impression of Wet Wet Wet.”It is about being street-smart with it,” Root said. “The outfield is not going to be 100% and we will have to be quite clever about things. It is difficult to tell people not to play with 100% in Test cricket.”Whether they go about it slightly differently is up to them. It is definitely important they are made aware of it and there are no unnecessary injuries that occur.”England might be 2-1 up in the series, but they do not yet have a settled Ashes line-up that they can imagine slapping down on the match referee’s table ahead of the first Test in Brisbane on November 23.Of the two batting debutants at The Oval, Tom Westley has made a good first impression at No. 3 and now must cement that impression both here and in the three Tests against the West Indies later in the summer. Dawid Malan has much more to prove after his dominant off-side game did not reap rewards at The Oval. There also remain significant question marks over Keaton Jennings as Alastair Cook’s opening partner.Dawid Malan will hope for another chance after a lean start to his Test career•Getty ImagesRoot accepts that “it is very difficult to work out” precisely what England’s best line-up is and hopes “over time that should become a little bit clearer.” One pragmatic argument for playing an extra batsman, and again omitting Liam Dawson, is that at least it leaves room for more Ashes batting auditions. The unsettled weather, in any case, suggests that Dawson will not force his way back into a side that won so impressively in south London.”I think from this series there are a few guys who have really stood up and put their name in the hat for the future,” Root said.”It is all about backing up performances. You know what it is like: sometimes you can have a really tough series and all of a sudden the scrutiny is on you. That is the world of Test cricket unfortunately and it is about trying to be as consistent as you can.”The majority of the top 7 or 8 is pretty settled so that is nice to know. Ideally you want to get the other slots nailed on so. We have to make sure we are doing everything we can to give those guys the best chance to nail those spots down.”Root was doing a lot of nailing down in his captain’s media conference. Some wonder whether his discussions with England’s coach, Trevor Bayliss, over the balance of England’s side in the Ashes could yet become a bed of nails.Bayliss makes no secret of his belief that England are better balanced with the likes of Dawson – or even Adil Rashid – in the top eight. Root was granted an extra batsman at The Oval and the upshot was a 239-run win, but he might press his case more vehemently on Australian pitches.

Root on DRS

“At times in the first two games I was maybe slightly emotional and went with what I wanted the decision to be rather than necessarily seeing for what he was. It is so difficult to make some of the calls.
“You have got to try to remember that they are there for the howlers and not there to try to burgle a wicket. That is something over time that I will hopefully get better at.”

“Early on in my captaincy I am trying to find out what I want and what works and what’s going to be the most successful formula moving forward,” Root said. “I suppose it’s very difficult to use Test matches as experiments but it’s important to find out what works early on so you have the opportunity to be more consistent and more successful.”You are trying to get the balance right between that consistency and making sure that we are playing a side that suits the surface that we come up against. Moving forward that is something we will have to get nailed down before we go to Australia. Hopefully we will stumble across it very quickly.”One aspect of England’s performances in the last two years has been their relative weakness when batting second, and facing a substantial opposition score. It would be no bad thing in road-testing the development of their side for that to happen in Manchester.Root suggested that, in an odd sort of way, this had happened at The Oval, with the need to respond arising not from a large opposition score but the hammering they had taken in the media for their reckless batting approach at Trent Bridge.”It’s a slightly different response because it is not a response to a score set by the opposition, but we wanted to set things right and respond to the mistakes we had made in the previous game. It’s important that we drive that forward and it’s not just a one-off thing.”England’s resolve grew from the first-day example set by Cook. “A lot of that was down to the example Cooky set at the top of the order: – he played with a lot of determination and grit,” Root recognised.At Old Trafford, where it will be an optimistic batsman who imagines the sun beating down on a golden surface, it is down to others to capture that mood.

Stats highlights from the one-off T20 International between India and West Indies at Kingston

Gaurav Sundararaman09-Jul-20173 Number of batsmen to score more than one century in T20Is. Evin Lewis joined Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum to achieve this rare feat. Both centuries by Lewis have come against India. Previously he scored 100 last year in Florida while batting first.2 Number of scores higher than the 125* made by Lewis in T20Is. Aaron Finch is at the top of the list for his 156 against England at the Ageas Bowl in 2013 while Glenn Maxwell made 145* against Sri Lanka last year in Pallekele. The previous highest score for West Indies in T20Is was held by Chris Gayle with his 117 against South Africa in the first match of the 2007 World T20.125 Highest score in a chase in T20Is. Lewis went past the 122 scored by Hong Kong’s Babar Hayat against Oman in the 2016 Asia Cup. This was also the highest score by any batsmen against India in T20Is going past Shane Watson’s 124 in Sydney in 2016.12 Number of sixes hit by Lewis in his unbeaten 125. This is the third highest number of sixes in an innings in T20Is – Finch has the most with 14 struck in his 156 – and the second most in a chase. Lewis also broke his own record of scoring the most number of sixes against India in a T20I. He scored nine against India last year during his century in Florida.153 Highest target successfully chased by West Indies at home before today’s game, coming against England at Bridgetown in 2014. West Indies chased 190 in 18.3 overs making it their most successful chase at home. This is also the second highest chase for any team in the Caribbean behind only Michael Hussey’s 2010 World T20 semi-final classic for Australia to beat Pakistan at St Lucia.47 Runs scored by Lewis in the Powerplay. This is the second highest for any batsman against India in the Powerplay. Previously, Johnson Charles made 51 runs in Florida last year.3 Consecutive wins for West Indies against India in T20Is. They beat India in the World T20 semifinal and in Florida last year. They now have a 5-2 head-to-head lead over India.