Five takeaways from a day when Mumbai’s emerging young batting star teamed with a reliable West Indian allrounder to trump Yusuf and Kolkata in the end

Devashish Fuloria in Mumbai14-May-2015The returnees ball
Gautam Gambhir pulled out a nifty move at the toss, announcing the return of Morne Morkel and Shakib Al Hasan to the XI. Both had been first-choice players at the start of the tournament but had missed out on some games for different reasons: Morkel was rested as Kolkata Knight Riders went in with a variety of spinners and Shakib made a trip home for the Pakistan series.The selections made sense on two counts. First, the race for a playoff spot had too many contenders and Knight Riders were still a win away from confirming their berth. Second, and more importantly, Lendl Simmons had to be countered early. Mumbai Indians had been a different team since the return of Simmons, who had provided them with strong starts and had totalled four half-centuries in nine innings.Morkel, unleashed on the Mumbai Indians openers, tested Simmons with a variety of deliveries but it was the bounce that made the batsman uncomfortable. Shakib, too, was brought in as early as the third over. A run of seven overs between the two not only brought three top-order wickets, they also pushed Mumbai Indians into defensive mode. Mumbai Indians were 50 for 3 after eight overs. Knight Riders 1, Mumbai Indians 0.Hardik who?
Despite the cacophony from the speakers, a quiet prevailed the moment Sunil Narine bowled Rohit Sharma with his best slow-motion impression of a Dale Steyn delivery – the ball angling in, then turning away past the outside edge to hit the top of off. Mumbai Indians were struggling on 79 for 4 in the 12th over.A few spectators, who possibly missed Hardik Pandya’s match-winning hitting in Chennai, were pinning their hopes on a Kieron Pollard fightback while wondering why Pandya was sent ahead of Harbhajan Singh.Pollard, after a slow build, hit the first ball of the 16th over over long-on. A blitz seemed imminent. It came, but not from Pollard, who played just six balls in the last four overs. Pandya dug into Umesh Yadav, hitting the bowler for four consecutive boundaries. The best of the lot was the last one, a back-foot steer behind point off a short and rising delivery that had a stamp of Rohit Sharma’s languidness. In the next over, he effortlessly flicked Narine over cow corner for a huge hit.Lean and tall, quick, visible and energetic on the field, a stud in one ear, an expressive persona that attracts the camera to him, Pandya has the makings of another IPL star if he can keep that long handle going.Pathan Power
The giant screen inside the Wankhede Stadium flashed ‘Pathan Power’ as Yusuf Pathan smashed a half-volley from Lasith Malinga over midwicket with a brutal hit in the 19th over. That shot brought up Yusuf’s first half-century this season and only his third for Knight Riders. Fair to say those are poor numbers, but Gambhir has always backed Yusuf.Yusuf’s game at times seems limited, even for Twenty20s. He can hit half-volleys a long way but bowlers are smart enough to not feed him with those. Mumbai Indians, however, were guilty of serving him a fair few, helping the batsman find his groove. Despite losing wickets from the other end, Knight Riders would have felt confident before the last over because of Yusuf’s ultra-calm exterior.Pollard, the Mumbai man
Halfway through the chase, Knight Riders were in complete control. Mumbai Indians were being made to run around by Shakib’s pulls. The deafening screams of “Mumbaaai, Mumbai” had also died down after the 10 pm curfew. Enter Pollard. Fielding at long-on, he took it upon himself to get the crowd fired up by asking them to get behind the team.At the second strategic break, right after Andre Russell’s dismissal, Ricky Ponting was at the centre, passing on instructions to the old boys, Harbhajan Singh and Rohit Sharma. Later, Rohit said it had been decided then that if it came to it, Pollard would be the one to bowl the last over.Pollard connects with the Wankhede crowd, perhaps better than anyone else in the team. He has delivered numerous knockout punches on this ground in the past. It may not have come with the bat today, so it had to be with the ball.Others had missed it, but Pollard had not. He bowled it short, he bowled it slow and Yusuf was gone. Then a series of slower balls and Mumbai Indians were back in the play-off race.The cost of a thriller
Mumbai Indians’ fans get behind their team like no other group. They buy flags and t-shirts from the pavements outside the ground from kids not yet affiliated with Education for All, Mumbai Indians’ corporate social responsibility programme. They pay exorbitant prices for seats that leave you with a back pain because they are small and upright. The ones who want to be closest to the field pay even more but get sat behind metal meshing, always squeezing through to get a good view, but it’s probably meant to let them not miss their rush hour local train ride too much. The toilets may be leaky and the stink unbearable, but hey, isn’t the whole of Mumbai a stink-hole? They all come here for the loud music anyway. The crumbling staircases leading in and out of the premier venue just four years removed from renovations for the World Cup are possible deathtraps, but what’s a little slip when you get to see your team, blindingly blue and shiny gold, win a thriller.

P.S. Sachin Tendulkar still rules the Wankhede. As the camera focused on Amitabh Bachhan, the actor, being interviewed on the sidelines, out went a roar. But the moment it moved to the tiny man standing next to the tall actor, it rose to deafening levels. “Saaachin, Sachin,” still echoes.

Results on the field have remained inconsistent, but Delhi Daredevils have the ingredients in place for a bigger push next season

Arun Venugopal16-May-20153:54

We need to find a winning culture – Duminy

Tournament overview

Ahead of IPL 2015, Delhi Daredevils had more than one challenge confronting them. Firstly, they had to up their game on the field. After two consecutive years of finishing last, Delhi Daredevils’ big buys had misfired in 2014. Secondly, with the team not being taken seriously enough as a championship contender, their profile needed a boost.The owners decided to do something about it and made a statement of intent four months ahead of IPL 2015 by offloading 13 players, including Kevin Pietersen, Ross Taylor, Dinesh Karthik and M Vijay.With their purse fattened they splurged money on Yuvraj Singh, the costliest buy in the auction at Rs 16 crore, as much to strengthen their squad as to attract advertisers, perhaps more of the latter than the former. There were other big investments in the form of Angelo Mathews (Rs 7.5 crore), Zaheer Khan (Rs 4 crore), Amit Mishra (Rs 3.5 crore), Shreyas Iyer (Rs 2.6 crore) and Gurinder Sandhu (Rs 1.7 crore).As Daredevils’ campaign winds down, they will perhaps have mixed feelings. If they were to strictly go by the bottomline – Daredevils will finish seventh – then things haven’t improved a great deal.But a closer look would reveal that they have made incremental gains to their performances and, with a bit of luck, could have been placed higher. What also hurt them was their inability to string together consistently good performances, their graph an alternating pattern of wins and losses. Captain JP Duminy conceded that his team fell short when it came to closing out games.

High Point

Going into the season, Daredevils had an embarrassing record to set straight, that of losing nine IPL matches in a row, and two last-ball defeats, against Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, made it 11 on the trot. The long-awaited win finally came against Kings XI Punjab, with Mayank Agarwal and Yuvraj Singh scoring fifties. They followed it up with a four-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad courtesy Duminy’s all-round performance. That was the only instance of Daredevils winning two consecutive games.Shreyas Iyer has justified his Rs. 2.6 crore price tag with over 400 runs in his debut season•BCCI

Low Point

At the end of eight games, Daredevils, after crushing Kings XI Punjab by nine wickets, had won four and lost as many. They were in with a decent shout of qualifying for the playoffs at that point, but then went off the boil, losing four games in a row. Daredevils also suffered a 10-wicket defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore after being bowled out for 95.

Top of the class

When Shreyas Iyer was signed for Rs 2.6 crore, there was disbelief and curiosity in equal measure. Iyer, Mumbai’s highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, was an investment that appeared to appreciate as the season went on. One of the best young players of IPL 2015, Iyer, 20, is comfortably the leading run-getter for Daredevils with 419 runs* at an average of 34.91, including four fifties.Despite the impressive numbers, Iyer admitted his preparation wasn’t ideal ahead of the IPL. “I wasn’t prepared as I didn’t know where I’ll bat,” Iyer told ESPNcricinfo. “The preparation was not the best but I took the confidence of a good Ranji season.”

Flop buy

At the other end of the spectrum is Yuvraj Singh, who didn’t do much justice to his price tag. He managed 237 runs at 19.75 and didn’t do much with the ball either.

Tip for 2016

Daredevils have in the past been guilty of changing the core of their team too often. This time, as Duminy said, Daredevils are on the “right track”, and have the building blocks in place for next year. If they can ensure continuity and put together some consistent performances, the results might not remain elusive for too long.

Dale Steyn sported a headband in the Test series against Bangladesh. Who’s your favourite bowler with a headband?

31-Jul-2015

Stats highlights from the third ODI between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Colombo

S Rajesh19-Jul-2015135 – The margin of victory, Pakistan’s second-best in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. The biggest margin, of 146 runs, was also at the Premadasa, in 2009, when Pakistan scored 321 and then bowled Sri Lanka out for 175. It’s the fourth-best for Pakistan against Sri Lanka at any venue. It’s also Sri Lanka’s third-highest margin of defeat in a home ODI.24-11 The win-loss record for teams batting first in day-night ODIs at the Premadasa since the beginning of 2005. The last six day-night games here have all been won by the team batting first.5-11 Sri Lanka’s win-loss record when chasing in day-night ODIs at the Premadasa since 2005; when batting first, their record is 11-4.316 Pakistan’s total, their second-highest against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Their best is 321, six years ago at the same ground, in a match they won by 146 runs.1 Number of times Pakistan’s top six have all scored at least 35 – this was the first such instance. It’s only the third time their top five have all topped 40; the previous two were both in 2005.93 Runs scored by Pakistan in their last ten overs, their second-highest against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Their best is 107, at Premadasa, in the match in which they scored 321.7 Number of times Lasith Malinga has conceded 80 or more runs in an ODI. It was his fourth such instance in a home ODI, and his first against Pakistan. Five of those seven instances have occurred since the beginning of 2012. Malinga’s most expensive figures in an ODI are 1 for 96 in 7.4 overs against India in Hobart in 2012.8 Fifty-plus opening stands for Pakistan in ODIs in 2015, the joint-highest this year, along with Sri Lanka. Pakistan’s average opening stand of 56.27 is the best among all teams in 2015.77 Sarfraz Ahmed’s score, his second 50-plus score in 34 ODI innings. Three of his four highest ODI scores have come in 2015. His highest remains an unbeaten 101 against Ireland in the 2015 World Cup.

A young Cricket Australia XI, introduced to offer opportunities, has failed miserably in the first two games of the Matador Cup without any experienced figures to guide them through

Daniel Brettig07-Oct-20153:34

‘CA XI going to struggle but has lot of potential’ – Starc

So many writers in recent times have been offered unpaid work “offering great exposure” that a joke has emerged about said freelancers dying of said exposure. The line sprung to mind over the past three days in the first two matches for the Cricket Australia XI in the Matador Cup, beaten out of sight by New South Wales on Monday then razed still more brutally by Victoria on Wednesday – all in the name of “exposure at this level”.It had been the Bushrangers coach David Saker who first raised public concerns about such beatings being detrimental to a collective of young talents unaccompanied by players of significant first-class experience. Saker’s worries were brushed off by the national talent manager Greg Chappell, who predicted the tyros would be very competitive and “likely” to win a couple of games.Chappell’s long-time advocacy of youth, often to the expense of more seasoned players, was made manifest in the abortive Futures League experiment of five years ago. But even that competition afforded the young teams a sprinkling of experience to guide them. This time around the CA XI is bereft of even that kind of guidance, with only the opener Marcus Harris having played more than a handful of games for his state.This is not to say that more senior pros are unavailable. The reshuffling of Cup squads due to the cancellation of the Bangladesh tour left the likes of Ben Rohrer and Jon Wells without their former places, while South Australia had left out Mark Cosgrove from the team.Cosgrove has just completed a successful northern summer with Leicestershire, where he has found not only run-making form but also personal discipline as a result of fatherhood and a senior role with the Foxes. Might it not have been useful to have him around to walk younger players through their first few overs against the likes of James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc, while also telling tales of his wayward, wasted younger days over dinner?There is an Australian precedent for a team composed entirely of stripling talent embarrassing far more travelled opposition. In 1994 the Cricket Academy team shepherded by Rod Marsh beat Mike Atherton’s England tourists twice in as many days at North Sydney Oval. At the time it was seen as proof of English cricket’s poverty, but later years were to prove that Australia’s talent stocks were at this point in unusually strong shape.What is more usual is for young players to face plenty of hard knocks and second thoughts in competition against older men in club and state tournaments. The truly outstanding youngsters – think Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke or Steven Smith here – will find their way through the system through a combination of advocacy and performance, but most others will take longer to find themselves.Chappell has always been eager to fast-track this process in the belief it will uncover more great players than the traditional way, but evidence of this is scant. To reason that more young players will emerge as outstanding simply through opportunities freely given on the basis of age group is a calculation that lacks nuance for the way so much learning is done, not only in cricket but in life.More prevalent is the kind of scenario glimpsed at Hurstville two days ago, on the same pitch the CA XI would be bowled out for 79 upon. Travis Head is a young identified talent as both batsman and leader, but he has learned to smooth the rough edges of his game by playing alongside older men, not just against them. Head’s reflections on how the gap-finding, field-manipulating Callum Ferguson had helped him add finesse to his favoured power game are worth taking note of.For their part, the CA XI are adamant they don’t need any extra help. Their leader William Bosisto is a former Australia Under-19 captain and a polished speaker, something he showed when asked whether some more senior cricketers should be drafted in alongside him. “I’ve heard people say ‘do you need an experienced player in your line-up’,” he said.”I guess that would be one approach but I think the whole idea of having the Cricket Australia XI in the tournament is to give 11 young guys exposure and see what it’s like at this level and see what we have to improve to be competitive. From a personal perspective I know I’ve learned lots of the last two days about where I need to get to be able to dominate at this level and I think that’s invaluable exposure.”There’s no point sitting around in the change room dwelling on today’s performance or Monday’s performance. We came up against two strong sides and we didn’t perform anywhere near as we expected ourselves to or as we would have liked, but the chat was straightaway about moving forward and we play Tasmania on Saturday, so we’re looking for ways we can get better and be competitive against Tasmania.”Cricket teams are generally chosen with their performance in mind. The CA XI has been picked for reasons of exposure instead, and it is now abundantly clear that this approach has created a crucible that only the most resilient young men will find a way to survive in. They are being offered no quarter by the opposition, and precious little advice on how to counter that. Some will work it out for themselves, some will not.Whether they can improve enough over the next few weeks to close the vast margins of their first two games, as per Chappell’s prediction, remains to be seen. But something else to ponder is how many of these young men will be chewed up and spat out of the game by the experience, then never seen in Australian colours again.

Saurashtra stalwart Shitanshu Kotak on his image as a stonewaller, initiation into first-class cricket and conquering the mighty Bombay attack of the 1990s

As told to Sidharth Monga14-Oct-2015I remember the journey to my first match more vividly than my Ranji Trophy debut. Ranji Trophy was the thing then. Of course the ultimate achievement was to play for India, but Ranji was the big step up from limited-overs and Under-19 cricket.In 1992, though, I had had a bumper Under-19 season. We won four zonal matches, and I scored 400 runs in them. We used to get more matches only if we qualified for the next round, and for the first time, Saurashtra Under-19 had qualified.I might have scored runs in Under-19, but I was still not being allowed to bat higher than No. 7 in the inter-district matches. In the final, though, I got my opportunity. Rajkot had to bat an awkward half an hour before stumps. We lost two wickets in two overs, and there was a sense of panic in the dressing room. A senior asked me to pad up. I was not quite the nightwatchman but for the seniors I was doing precisely that job. I somehow managed to survive that evening, and refused to get out the next day.Now that I had scored 140 in the districts final they were forced to pick me in the Ranji squad at least. I think Niranjan Shah – the president and patriarch of Saurashtra Cricket Association – had a role to play in it. After that districts final he came up to me, congratulated me, and told me my performances weren’t going unnoticed.It was not easy breaking into that Saurashtra squad as a specialist batsman. We had Nilesh Odedra, Sudhir Tanna, Bimal Jadeja, Atul Pandya and Brij Dutta. The other reason why it was difficult to break in was the zonal system. We used to get only four matches. If we wanted to play more, we had to qualify to the Super League. We were a weak team, and hardly used to qualify.Two matches came and went, but I was nowhere near making my debut. The third one was against the much-feared Bombay. In the lead-up to the match I was taken aside and told, “Look we have some issues with openers. We might give you a chance to open the innings this match. They have Salil Ankola, Abey Kuruvilla and Raju Kulkarni. Only one zonal match is left, and we have no chance of qualifying for the Super League. So now if you fail and get dropped, we don’t want you to go around blaming us for making you open. We are not forcing you to open.”I didn’t think twice. I said I will open. Luckily, on the eve of the match, Brij Dutta came down with typhoid and they didn’t shuffle with the openers. They asked me to bat at No. 5, and I was relieved. I was now going to play for Saurashtra. On my scooter I lugged the kit and reached Rajkot Municipal Ground – formally known as Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground – and got ready for the match. Bombay didn’t play Kuruvilla. We won the toss, elected to bat on a flat pitch, but Ankola and Sanjay Patil had us down at 26 for 3 in no time. It would become 35 for 4 soon, but before that I got my first taste of first-class cricket.I clearly remember the first ball I faced was from Ankola. It was outside off, and I let it go. Now I was an awkward batsman. Over my career I earned the reputation for being a dour batsman who played at very few deliveries. The only catch was, I was strong off the pads. The second ball, Ankola tried to bowl straight at the stumps. It is a blur now. I brought down the bat, and closed the face. And the ball absolutely flew to fine leg for four. I had played some pace bowling until then, but I realised then that this was serious cricket.I played cautiously, saw Ankola off, and scored 76, although that was not enough to give us a lead. However, I couldn’t be dropped for the next match. It began a string of seven consecutive Ranji matches in which I scored at least fifty in at least one innings of the match. It was in my eighth match, two years later, against Maharashtra, that I failed to score even one fifty, getting out for 28 and 24. Two matches later, against Baroda, I scored my first century.

Inspired by the film, the book of the same name looks at the rise of a West Indies team alongside the life of its immigrant people in Britain

Nicholas Hogg03-Oct-2015A gust of fine rain swept across The Oval, forcing the Northants batters and Surrey fielders to make a dash for the pavilion. It was the penultimate day of the English domestic season, the fag end of summer, when the cricket lover is already slipping hopelessly into nostalgia. Even the muted TV screen hanging from the roof was lamenting for seasons past, running one of those “Heroes of Yesteryear” type documentaries on Richard Hadlee. A few us watched, the sunny shots of his cantering approach to the crease, shirt sleeves rolled up, and the smooth action delivering the inevitable off-stump line and perfect length delivery.And when that highlights reel came to an end, I looked back across the damp outfield to the patch of sunlight beyond the rooftops of South London, and thought about the foreword to Simon Lister’s superb new book, . On the very first page Clive Lloyd recalls leaning on his bat at the non-striker’s end at The Oval “and inhaling the exuberant buzz that only a West Indian cricket crowd far from home can create”.Inspired by the film of the same title, Lister has expanded the narrative of West Indies cricket by using the footage not broadcast by director Stevan Riley and interviewing the fans, players and their families, to document a history that lays claim to be the “definitive story of the greatest team sport has ever known”.Spectators swarm Clive Lloyd after his century at The Oval, 1973•PA PhotosI might have been too young to appreciate the rambunctious West Indies supporters of the 1970s and ’80s, but through Lister’s interviews with those fans who turned the prosaic seats of The Oval into a Caribbean carnival, and his portraits of the early pioneers of West Indies cricket – Charles Ollivierre, George Headley, Learie Constantine, Frank Worrell and Garfield Sobers – readers can understand what Lloyd meant when he looked to the packed stands and questioned: “How could we not try and do our best?”Lister follows the West Indian exodus to Britain in the 1950s, highlighting the lack of a warm welcome for most of the new arrivals from the Caribbean. Many landed on damp shores to find their dreams of a better life living in cramped and cold rooms. A nonplussed public generally treated them with a contempt ranging from bemusement to verbal and physical abuse. Writing in his 1954 book , Constantine lamented that it was “hard to make it understood by white people how much we resent – and fear – this perpetual undercurrent of jeering, this ingrained belief in the white mind that the coloured man, woman or child is a matter for mirth”.From the 1950s onwards the number of Caribbean fans at West Indies games increased. Matches became a focal point for a community to identify with its roots. In the crowd, amid the music, food and language of a colony long abused by the Empire, was solidarity. On the first day of the Trent Bridge Test in 1976, Lister notes that the had the power.

Fire in Babylon: How the West Indies cricket team brought a people to its feet
by Simon Lister
Yellow Jersey
352 pages (hardback)

Irking the Australians, swinging out the English, and a sprinkling of batting records. ESPNcricinfo recounts 10 fine performances from Zaheer Khan’s celebrated India career

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Oct-2015India take the fast lane, finally
October 2000: Zaheer Khan bursts onto the international scene with a searing but smart spell of fast bowling in a famous victory against Australia in the ICC KnockOut. He outwits batsmen with inch-perfect yorkers – including a ball to the usually unflappable Steve Waugh that becomes part of Indian cricket folklore – and, alongside the other new boy Yuvraj Singh, puts India into the semis.Can he bat too?
December 2000: Zaheer exhibits his big-hitting ability early in his career against Zimbabwe as he wallops a 11-ball 32 from No. 10, which includes four sixes in the 50th over off Henry Olonga.Teaming up with Venky
August 2001: Combines with Venkatesh Prasad to bowl Sri Lanka out for 221 in the second innings of the second Test in Kandy, paving the way for a series-levelling victory. He picks up seven wickets in the match overall, early signs of the influence he would have on responsive overseas Test tracks.It was payback time for India’s torrid preceding tour of New Zealand at World Cup 2003•Getty ImagesNew Zealand duck out of the World Cup
March 2003: Delivers a hostile spell of swing bowling to eliminate New Zealand from the 2003 World Cup in Centurion, his victims including Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle, both for ducks in the first over of the game. New Zealand don’t recover from the early assault and India progress to the semi-finals.Making Australia hop
December 2003: After a difficult first day on tour down in Australia, Zaheer leads India’s fightback. The hosts go from 262 for 2 to 323 all out in Brisbane as Zaheer runs through the middle order on his way to a third Test five-for, and the pace is set for a compelling series.Set a record with the bat? Check•FARJANA K. GODHULY/Getty ImagesYes, he can bat
December 2004: Zaheer walks in with the score at 393 for 9, with Sachin Tendulkar on 191 at the other end in Dhaka. The score reads 526 when he is out, with Tendulkar on 248 and himself on 75. He sticks around to see Tendulkar past his double-century and then has some fun, striking 10 fours and two sixes in his knock – at the time, the highest score by a No. 11, and his 133-run stand with Tendulkar, the second-highest 10th-wicket stand in Tests.Turning England to jelly
July 2007: In Nottingham, he produces a masterclass in swing bowling to give India just their fifth Test win in England, and an eventually decisive series lead. Zaheer shows that he can keep his head amid distractions too – his second-innings five-for follows the infamous jelly bean incident – and his match haul of 48-15-134-9 earns him the Man of the Match in one of India’s most celebrated victories.Giving it back to Australia
October 2008: Zaheer gets the better of Matthew Hayden in in Bangalore, dismissing him twice, including a duck in the first over of the game. He is not done with Australia, or Hayden. He frustrates the visitors further with an unbeaten fifty and, after the game is drawn, irks them even more by declaring in the media that “Australia can’t take 20 wickets”. In the following game he shows India can, claiming three wickets in four balls on the final morning to secure a 320-run win before attending a hearing with the match referee for his send off to – who else but – Hayden.When Zaheer had the better of Haydos…•Getty ImagesA bag of tricks in Durban
Durban 2010: Who said you need tearaway pace to succeed? Zaheer, over a career plagued by injury, showed cricketing nous will do, too. In Durban, he boggles South African minds with variety, getting the ball to angle in and deviate away time and again. Zaheer claims the wickets of both openers, Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen, as well as that of Ashwell Prince to ensure India’s first-innings score of 205 is more than enough for them to register an elusive victory on South African soil.On top of the world
World Cup 2011: A tournament Zaheer tags his ”greatest cricketing moment”. He finishes its joint-highest wicket taker with 21 wickets at an average of 18.76. Among his several exploits, he scripts a stunning turnaround in a stunning game in Bangalore: England are cruising towards the target of 339 at 281 for 2 in the 43rd, when Zaheer triggers a slide by taking out both the set batsmen in two balls – including one of those searing, swinging yorkers to get centurion Andrew Strauss lbw. The result? India hold on for a tie.

New Zealand were made to labour for their wickets throughout the Test, so in many ways it fit that a man such as Neil Wagner made the pivotal play on day five

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Dunedin14-Dec-2015″Workhorse” is how Brendon McCullum described Neil Wagner before the Test. New Zealand then strapped four seamers to their plough on a generally lifeless Dunedin surface, but each quick had his specific role. Tim Southee and Trent Boult are the shiny-coated thoroughbreds, operating from sleek run-ups and liquid velvet bowling actions. In comparison, Wagner is one of those plodding, thick-set horses with fur around their ankles and a perpetually morose expression. He was left in the stable during New Zealand’s recent tour of Australia. This may partially explain the morose look. He also lives in Dunedin.On the fifth morning, when Sri Lanka began to surge – Dinesh Chandimal slap-happy behind point, Angelo Mathews turning the strike over – Wagner began to till a furrow on leg stump. In his second over of the day, a short one at Mathews’ throat was ducked under. The next one took the shoulder of the bat and whistled by leg gully for four.It was having got the batsman fearful of two close catchers on the legside that Wagner slipped in the surprise. Mathews attempted to pad away the full, swinging delivery next over, and wound up granting safe passage to the ball, through the arch of his splayed legs. He would later say the ball hit his pad and simply “rolled” into the woodwork. This is like saying the Titanic merely brushed the iceberg; that Poland had just been tickled by the Nazis. The only things actually rolling was middle stump, which had been uprooted, and maybe fans watching the dismissal, splitting their sides.”I thought it was beautifully set up,” Brendon McCullum later said of that breakthrough. “It was a sustained period when Wags was trying to go in around the rib cage, to try and get Angelo off the ball. Angelo’s such a world-class player, you can’t just run in and try and hit off top of off stump to him because he’s so adaptable and he’s got such a strong defence as well.”It was a plan we wanted play out, and when he started walking across his stumps a little bit, Wags decided that at some stage he was going to try and bowl the miracle ball to hit the base of leg stump. In the end it split his defence.”After that breakthrough, Wagner’s furrow grew to a channel, then a river, which Sri Lanka were washed out to sea in. Wagner helped muzzle Dinesh Chandimal, before he was out at the other end, padding away a delivery from Mitchell Santner. Kithuruwan Vithanage chanced his blade for 38 balls, but was gone before lunch. Boult came back to knock out a feisty Sri Lanka lower order, yet it had been Wagner who unlocked the victory.New Zealand were made to labour for their wickets throughout the Test, so in many ways it fit that a man such as Wagner made the pivotal play on day five. In all, they bowled 212.3 overs in the Test, without a specialist spinner. The new-ball bowlers swung it a little, but Doug Bracewell delivered economy, and Wagner nearly bowled himself into his hometown dirt. The effort was collective. Southee picked up New Zealand’s best figures in the innings, with 3 for 52, but to find a less impressive “best analysis” for a New Zealand bowler in wins, you would have to go back to 2009.”I thought Doug bowled absolutely brilliantly throughout the test match and all through Australia as well,” McCullum said, of Bracewell, who also had two catches spilt. “He just hasn’t got the rewards at the moment, but I’m sure he will get them soon.”In their last home series, also against Sri Lanka, New Zealand’s big-name players dominated. McCullum plundered 195, Boult and Southee scythed through the top order, and Williamson finished with the series’ highest score. In this Test, the hosts’ lower profile players have made critical contributions. Mathews is the owner of one of the world’s best defensive techniques, but on day five, the workhorse brought down the barn door.

With the Lodha committee set to submit its recommendations to the Supreme Court on Monday, ESPNcricinfo answers some frequently asked questions pertaining to the panel and its investigation

Nagraj Gollapudi02-Jan-2016What is the Lodha committee?The Lodha committee, which comprises three members, was constituted by the Supreme Court in January 2015 while hearing various cases related to the IPL 2013 corruption scandal, including the public interest litigation filed by the Cricket Association of Bihar. RM Lodha, former chief justice of India, along with former Supreme Court justices Ashok Bhan and RV Raveendran are the three members of the panel.What was the brief for the panel?Along with determining the quantum of punishment for the accused in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal (which was out last July), the Lodha Committee was also asked by the Supreme Court to examine and make suitable recommendations to the BCCI “for such reforms in its practices and procedures and such amendments in the memorandum of Association, rules and regulations as may be considered necessary and proper on matters set out by the court.”What will happen on Monday?Along with submitting its report to the Supreme Court, the panel will also concurrently hand over a copy of its report to the BCCI for its perusal.Who will be the judges hearing the case?The report would be submitted to the court. It is not known exactly which judge(s) will hear the case, but it is likely that TS Thakur, chief justice of India, and justice Ibrahaim Kalifullah, the two-judge bench which heard most of the 2013 case, might give out the final order on the case.Will the recommendations be binding upon the BCCI?The panel would submit the recommendations to the court, which has the powers to decide which part(s) of the report would be binding upon the BCCI.Is there anything else the panel might submit?The Lodha committee was also asked by the court to examine the role of former IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman “into his activities” related to his role in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal. The court asked the committee to “impose a suitable punishment” upon Raman on behalf of BCCI if he was found guilty.Raman was named in the Mudgal panel report in 2014, which revealed that he knew “a contact of a bookie and contacted him eight times in one season”, but claimed to be “unaware of his connection with betting activities”.The report also said that Raman received information about Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra betting, but did not act on it. Meiyappan and Kundra were banned for life after they were found guilty by the Lodha committee.