Equally important as the series sweep over Sri Lanka is that the Australians have earned back some of the respect they had lost

Daniel Brettig04-Feb-2019″Do. Don’t think … don’t hope. Do. At least you can come off and say, ‘I did this … at least I did something’.”This snatch of the former Hawthorn coach John Kennedy’s halftime speech to his players during the 1975 VFL Grand Final is one of the more celebrated pieces of sporting oratory in Australian history. At the end of a summer in which the national men’s cricket team has had to reckon without the critical talents of Steven Smith and David Warner due to their Newlands scandal bans, it was worth pondering just how much the collective led by Tim Paine and coached by Justin Langer had been able to sort effective actions from complicated thoughts, hopes and ambitions.Given the intensity and deep thought that Langer in particular has committed to the job since he took over as coach back in May last year, a fairly long list of decisions might now be put down to overthinking, however good intentioned, and also the mental drain of Test cricket:ALSO READ: Tim Paine targets Ashes glory after Sri Lanka sweepMitchell Starc bowling at first change in the Perth ODI. Aaron Finch as a Test opener. Marnus Labuschagne as a No. 3. Peter Handscomb in, then out, then in for one Test, then out again. Pace bowlers electing to pitch short with a still-new ball on day one in Sydney. Marcus Stoinis in the Test squad. Matthew Wade not batting high enough to be considered. Kurtis Patterson picked from outside the original Sri Lanka squad. Will Pucovski called up one game after returning to cricket from mental health issues and then not chosen. Glenn Maxwell not being selected at all. One (Mitchell Marsh), two (Josh Hazlewood), three (Pat Cummins), four (Travis Head) vice-captains.Through all these contentious and sometimes overwrought decisions, there was a sense of learning by trial and error, in much the same way as Cricket Australia and its rights holders unpicked the complex realities of dual broadcasts on and , alongside three radio networks all equally eager for their regular pieces of access. No two players summed this up for Australia better than Starc and Usman Khawaja, players expected to take on senior mantles in the absence of Smith and Warner but waylaid by crises of confidence, injury and distractions outside of the game.

We’ve got some really good characters, some really strong characters, and people we can build a really strong Australian cricket future onTIM PAINE

“A real lesson in a lot of the younger guys in the team (is that) Test cricket is not always easy, no matter how good you are. You have to work really hard,” Paine observed in the aftermath of the Canberra Test. “Whilst those two guys haven’t had outstanding summers or as good a summer as they would have liked, the way they went about it at training and the way they led our group in terms of effort and how you prepare to play Test cricket was great to see.”For the younger guys to see them go through a really tough period, not throw in the towel and keep working away and get the results they did in this Test was a really good lesson in perseverance. I know a lot of the young guys will really learn a lot from that.”There were differing approaches for Khawaja and Starc to reach some kind of improvement. Khawaja leaned heavily on the comfort and support of his wife Rachel while sticking more or less to the same plans and thoughts he has long held close to his batting game. He eventually found it somewhat easier to concentrate simply on the next ball in what was at best a moderately challenging situation in the third innings against a Sri Lankan team already well and truly behind in the match.Starc, meanwhile, was fortified by the support of team-mates both in public and private, but also resorted to sticking on the blinkers to avoid the myriad opinions of commentators and supporters. At the same time, he looked outside the team bubble – gilded or not – for the morsels of advice he needed to be who he always has been: an extremely fast, intimidating left-arm bowler with a hint of unpredictability. New South Wales bowling coach Andre Adams has certainly had a better week in Canberra than his national team equivalent David Saker.In Burns and Patterson, Australia have batsmen ideally suited to complement Smith and Warner in England•Getty ImagesFor Paine, the clarity Starc and Khawaja were able to find at the end of a long and largely disappointing international summer was a useful lesson in terms of the game’s mental dimensions. So often against India, the Australians appeared either distracted or harried into errors they might not have otherwise made, caused both by the quality of Virat Kohli’s team but also the weight of the occasion. Granted a simpler challenge against Sri Lanka, they were able to shape their games into more sustained and constructive displays.”When everyone is struggling in sport and cricket in particular, a lot of it is in your own head,” Paine said. “At times we’ve got to find ways to get out of our own head and Starcy was probably a pretty good example of that.”I was really proud of the way our boys rallied around Starcy and, even when he wasn’t at his best, kept reminding him of how important he is to our team and how we think he’s one of the best bowlers in the world. Eventually I think we got through to him and I thought he bowled superbly this game. I think it was a real lesson for all of us but particularly the young guys in our group.”Though there were plenty of unknowns for Australia at the start of the international season, it must be said that a final scoreline of 2-1 losers to India (somewhat flatteringly) and 2-0 victors over Sri Lanka (an accurate reflection) was a good pointer as to where Paine and Langer’s men stood. In making a couple of straightforward selection calls to include Joe Burns and Patterson on the basis of consistent performance, they were able, too, to unearth a pair of players likely to ideally complement Smith and Warner in England later this year.And if Paine and Langer both seemed exhausted by thoughts, words and deeds over the past four months, they were also content that in terms of the way the team’s players conducted themselves, they had pulled back some measure of respect from an Australian public that had so decried them in the wake of Newlands. “I’m really proud of the way we’ve gone about it,” Paine said. “We spoke at the start of the summer that our main priority was to win back the respect of our Australian public and our cricket fans.”Sitting here now, I think we’ve gone a long way to doing that. I think we’ve still got a little bit of work to do, but we’re on the right track. I couldn’t be prouder of the way our coaching staff, our support staff and our playing group have gone about things in some really difficult times, and it’s in these difficult times that you see the sort of characters that you’ve got in your group. It’s confirmed to us that we’ve got some really good characters, some really strong characters, and people we can build a really strong Australian cricket future on.”For all of Kennedy’s exhortations, the Hawthorn side of 1975 were not able to do as he asked, turning a 20-point half-time deficit to North Melbourne into a 55-point defeat. Even so, Kennedy’s message lived on, particularly after the team went on to reverse the result over the Kangaroos in 1976. It’s that sort of longer-term success that Australia will hope to get after the many travails and missteps of 2018-19.

The two cousins, who play for Punjab in the domestic circuit, landed contracts worth INR 4.8 crores and INR 80 lakhs each with Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians respectively

Shashank Kishore18-Dec-2018The Bollywood hit plays on a loudspeaker in the background as the phone is tossed from one person to another. “Sorry, sir. This was unexpected, everyone has suddenly started a party here,” Prabhsimran Singh, the 18-year-old Punjab wicketkeeper, says as he strains his ears to get to the other end of the telephone call. His world hasn’t quite been the same since he returned from a training session after a long Tuesday afternoon siesta.A contract worth INR 4.8 crores from Kings XI Punjab was least on his mind as he was driving home along with older cousin Anmolpreet Singh, after the three-hour nets near their family home in Patiala. Not having played first-class or T20 cricket, he didn’t even know if his name had made it to the final shortlist of 351. Four hours into the auction, he was reaching out for the phone charger amid a large gathering of friends and family who were feeding them (sweets).It wasn’t just Prabhsimran’s IPL contract they were celebrating. Just an hour earlier, Anmolpreet had been picked up for INR 80 lakhs by Mumbai Indians. The joint family then decided to throw open their house to the neighbourhood.ALSO READ: Curran and Unadkat are IPL millionaires, Hetmyer to RCBIn June, Prabhsimran channeled his frustration of not being picked for India Under-19 by hitting 298 off just 301 balls in an Under-23 inter-district game against Amritsar. He shared a double-century stand in that game with Anmolpreet. In the following month, he was called for an NCA camp and eventually was named captain of the India Under-19 side that toured Bangladesh for the Asia Cup.Prabhsimran had little idea that he was being watched closely by IPL talent scouts on television when he smashed a 33-ball half-century against Sri Lanka in Mirpur. He peppered the big square boundaries on the leg side with ease. It was only when he was called for trials that he know it was that knock which impressed teams.”I was called by Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals but I had to turn them down because I was playing the Under-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy for Punjab. “My realistic aim was to make the India Under-19 team, so I didn’t really think about the IPL. I don’t know how to react now, I’m not able to believe teams really bid so much for me. After a certain stage, I was like (man), I don’t even know how many zeroes are there!’ I was in fact more happy that Anmol had been picked, I’d started playing because of him.”In September, Prabhsimran was asked to bat at the Kings XI Punjab trials in Mohali and given two scenarios. The first entailed a chase of 100 in 10 overs, and another needing 75 off eight overs. He responded by making half-centuries off 19 and 29 balls respectively in the two instances. Mike Hesson, the head coach, gave him words of encouragement, which Prabhsimran thought was words spoken to any youngster to boost their confidence. “At that time, I thought I’ve done my best, if I’m picked, good, if I’m not picked I’ll work harder.”ALSO READ: IPL 2019 auction: The list of sold and unsold playersGrowing up in a joint family, the brothers who both turned out to be batsmen, needed someone to bowl at them. As it turned out, their fathers took turns to give them practice. When the noise would turn into a distraction for the family, the boys would quietly go out and play with the colony friends. Today, the same friends demanded both throw them a party because it was a reunion of sorts.It was only last week Prabhsimran returned from Sri Lanka after a stint with the India Emerging team that finished runners-up to the hosts. Anmolpreet, meanwhile, flew home to India last week after a stint with the India A team that played three 50-over matches in New Zealand.”His influence rubbed off on me,” Prabhsimran says. “I took to the game hearing the sound of him batting against the wall and playing. So in a way, both our journeys have come along side-by-side. When we’re at home, it’s mostly cricket talk. We also train together when we aren’t with our respective teams.”An attacking opening batsman, Anmolpreet shot into prominence during the Under-19 World Cup in 2016, where he was the Player of the Match in India’s semi-final win over Sri Lanka. He made his Ranji Trophy debut for Punjab last year and has already made three hundreds in 11 first-class matches. He finished his debut season with 753 runs at an average of 125.50″When my name came up, we stopped the car on the side of the road, and kept watching,” Anmolpreet said. “When there was an opening bid, I was relieved. It didn’t matter how much money I’d go for after that, because at this age, you want opportunities to play. At the start of the year, if someone told me I’d play for India A under Rahul Dravid and then be a part of a team having legends like Mahela Jayawardene and Sachin Tendulkar, I wouldn’t have believed it. It feels amazing.”

From being taken down by Mohammad Shahzad to winning the rematch and helping topple England, Mark Watt is on the rise

Peter Della Penna07-May-2019Of the many heroes in Scotland’s famous victory over England at the Grange, Calum MacLeod stole most of the headlines for his unbeaten 140 while Safyaan Sharif’s agape jaw while running away towards point after trapping Mark Wood for the match-ending wicket was the iconic image captured by many photographers on the day.But there was another hidden hero on the afternoon, someone who has flown under the radar somewhat while emerging as a key cog in Scotland’s bowling attack: left-arm spinner Mark Watt. On a day when boundaries were dragged in at least five metres to make room for Sky TV’s temporary camera scaffolding, and boundary-striking was rampant, Watt took 3 for 55 in a pivotal spell that helped turn the tide in the field.”I think a performance like that on that ground and on those boundaries, as nice as it was for me to walk away with the runs, it’s probably a lot harder to go for under six an over on that wicket,” MacLeod said of his team-mate’s effort. “So I think he gained a lot of confidence from that. He has taken things from that game and realised what other top spinners do and worked on his variations. He’s not got big change-ups but he tries subtle variations and I think he’s improved a lot on that in 50-over cricket where he can bowl a bit longer.ALSO READ: Preview – Hassan winds back clock to face Scotland“He is somebody who wants a challenge, will put his hand up and bowl tough overs. As a spinner, he’s got to be brave enough to do that. If you watch some of his best performances, he’ll tie people down but he’s not afraid to change his pace to get wickets. The wicket he got Moeen Ali out against England last year, that was quite a brave ball to toss it up to Moeen who was hitting it really well. It was almost six or out and Mark was good enough and smart enough to do it.”The role he played on that day at the Grange is not something Watt could have dreamed of after picking up the game as a 13-year-old.****”Jason Roy is one of the best white-ball players there is and I got him, Moeen Ali and Sam Billings out,” Watt tells ESPNcricinfo ahead of the start of Scotland’s international home season. “I think if you said that to me a few years ago when I was playing at Leith in a public park with people walking through the match on the footpath, I would have bitten your hand off to bowl at the No. 1 team, never mind getting three key players out.”Watt isn’t kidding. Forced to give up football as an aspiring left back in Edinburgh after suffering from Osgood-Schlatter’s disease, a developmental condition in adolescents affecting the knees, Watt followed his dad to cricket on Saturday mornings at Leith Franklin CC.”It has a public footpath walking through the middle at cover,” Watt says with a grin. “So you’d have to stop the game while people walk through the park. All my cousins still slag me off saying, ‘Who plays cricket in Scotland?’ Especially with all my schoolmates as well, but I don’t really mind it. They’re working in an office and I’m out in sunny countries.”It wasn’t long before Watt walked off the Leith footpath to greener pastures, first with Heriot’s CC in Scotland’s premier division. In his first season there as a 16-year-old, he helped them win the 2012 Scottish Cup Final over Watsonians with 1 for 30 in a 10-over spell, though it didn’t immediately dawn on him the significance of his precocious talent.

My first ball went for four and I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s happening again.’ But thankfully I got through itWatt on his rematch with Mohammad Shahzad

“I didn’t actually know who I was bowling to,” Watt said. “Dewald Nel, who had played for Scotland and [former captain] Craig Wright, who then gave me my first cap. I was bowling well and my team-mates were coming up to me saying, ‘You’re gonna be playing Under-19 cricket for Scotland.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ They were like, ‘That’s Under-19s coach Craig Wright you’re bowling at.’ I was like, ‘Oh right, that’s cool.’ But I never really thought much of it and just got on with it.”Not only was Watt oblivious to his own talent, but also the opportunities it could afford him. Before the end of the 2013 summer, Wright indeed approached Watt’s father to ask about his availability, aware that there could be a possible clash with some holiday plans Watt had made with his schoolmates.”My dad told me in the car on the way home, ‘You’ve been asked to play in an Under-19 World Cup Qualifier in the Netherlands to qualify to go to Dubai. Do you want to play or do you want to go on this holiday?’ I was like, ‘I wanna go on the holiday with all my mates!’ It was in Malaga. He was like, ‘Maybe put your thinking hat on and see what happens. I think you should go to the World Cup Qualifiers.'”I remember telling my mates, letting them down gently. ‘Lads, I can’t make it.’ But thankfully I think I made the right decision because that’s what kind of kicked me on. After winning that qualifying tournament and doing pretty well, that’s when I thought I can make something out of this.”As a 17-year-old Watt excelled at the regional qualifier to clinch a spot for Scotland U-19s in the UAE the following year, taking eight wickets in five matches at an average of 12.13, which included almost absurd figures of 10-8-2-2 against Guernsey U-19s and 4 for 20 in a key victory over Ireland U-19s. He claimed five more scalps at the Under-19 World Cup in the UAE facing stiff competition in the group stage against Pakistan and India.”Sarfaraz Khan just took me to all parts and I hadn’t seen anything like it,” Watt said. “Kuldeep Yadav got a hat-trick against us as well and I was like, ‘This is next level stuff.’ But I think for them to shine against us and to see how they’ve kicked on in their career, if Scotland were given more opportunities and games to play, I wonder would we be closer to them?”Still, that was nothing like the challenge he eventually faced when he received a baptism of fire as an 18-year-old at the T20 World Cup Qualifier in the summer of 2015 against a rampaging Mohammad Shahzad.****”I got dropped straight after that game for a while,” Watt says of the match in which a belligerent Shahzad belted him for four sixes in his first over, eventually ending with figures of 0 for 41 in two overs. “I thought that’s my opportunity done and I would have to wait quite a while to get another opportunity. I didn’t think I would be starting in the World Cup in India, never mind opening the bowling first game against the same team.”Having debuted earlier in the summer against Ireland, Watt had a promising start to the T20 World Cup Qualifier, taking 3 for 28 in the opening match against UAE. Two matches later came the carnage at the hands of Shahzad and he was dropped for the rest of the event. But then-head coach Grant Bradburn helped rebuild his confidence with a peer-pressure drill in a winter training session.

Even though I was getting the ball before him, he was coming up to me in the nets and helping me with what I could do betterWatt on former team-mate Con de Lange

“Grant had a lot of faith in me,” Watt said. “We had a drill training indoors and he said, ‘Everyone line up. You need to nominate one bowler who is gonna hit middle stump out of the ground and every time he misses, you have to run a five. And the bowler is not allowed to run if he misses. If he gets it, everyone is allowed to go home.'”He asked, ‘Who wants to bowl it?’ No one put their hand up. He kept staring at me and I kept avoiding eye contact but he kept staring at me so I said, ‘Okay, I’ll bowl it.’ All the boys were like, ‘Really?’ I went up and smashed it first time and he was like, ‘Right. Everyone go home. Well done Watty.’ I was like, ‘Jeez, he really believes in me.’ It was a weird moment on a weeknight indoor training in January before the T20 World Cup.”Regardless of how much faith Bradburn and captain Preston Mommsen had in him, Watt says he was “absolutely terrified” when he walked to the top of his mark to bowl the first ball, to Shahzad again, in Nagpur.”Being that it was on Sky, telling all my mates to go and watch it and then realising at the top of my mark what’s happened before, ‘Is this gonna happen again?’ And my first ball went for four. So I was like, ‘Oh no, it’s happening again.’ But thankfully I got through it. My figures weren’t too bad. They weren’t amazing, 1 for 30. But just that mental block of having Shahzad pump me out of the attack and being dropped to come back, I took a lot from that.”That one wicket also happened to be Shahzad, caught at long-on, which further helped Watt exorcise some of his mental demons. The redemption propelled his confidence to new heights and he claimed figures of 2 for 21 against Zimbabwe and 1 for 21 vs Hong Kong in the remaining matches during the group stage. Watt also gives a huge amount of credit to the late Con de Lange, Scotland’s senior spinner in the squad as someone who gave him invaluable support and guidance.Mark Watt celebrates the dismissal of Mohammad Shahzad with team-mates•AFP”After every game, we’d have a small group reviewing each other’s performances, me, Con and [Michael] Leasky,” Watt said. “He talked about the way he bowled and what he could do better. Just listening to him and the way he saw the game was an absolutely massive help for me.”When we came to India, I was playing ahead of him but he came up to me and was like, ‘You’re definitely the man for this and can do this.’ Even though I was getting the ball before him, he was coming up to me in the nets and helping me with what I could do better, a lot of it with field placings. He was very on the ball and switched on and helped me a lot with that. Con was a massive help to me.”Despite regularly being one of the youngest players in the Scotland squad since his debut, Watt’s outward confidence is something that has stood out and helped him mature quickly in the team environment. It’s one of the things that MacLeod, who Watt refers to as his ‘dad’ in the team, says has helped endear Watt to his team-mates and made him such a feisty competitor on the field.”The first time I played against him or even met him, he got me out sweeping and then the next morning at training he walked past me with a smile on his face and said to me, ‘Are you gonna work on your sweeping today?'” MacLeod said. “He puts you under pressure to keep working. I thought he’s got quite a lot of character, especially for a spinner who doesn’t spin the ball huge amounts.”Watt’s growing stature is getting him noticed outside of Scotland too. After the England win, he was signed for the rest of the summer for Lancashire in their white-ball teams. Though he wasn’t retained for 2019, Watt landed on his feet on the eve of the season with Derbyshire, collecting six wickets in their Royal London Cup campaign. And he no longer needs his dad to help nudge him into passing up fun times with his mates to keep an eye on a burgeoning professional career playing a key role in Scotland’s push for Full Member status.”After the England game, I had a trip planned down to watch England against India at Edgbaston with a few of the boys from Heriot’s, just have a few beers, watch that and relax for a few days because I had zero cricket,” Watt said. “As I was going to the bar, I got a call from a number I didn’t recognise. I said ‘Hello’ and he said, ‘It’s Glen Chapple from Lancashire. Would you be interested in coming to training tomorrow at 9am at Old Trafford?’ It was the first day of the Test match and I was like, ‘Ughhh’. I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be there.'”I came back to the boys and said, ‘Sorry guys, I’m gonna have to go back and get some cricket stuff. I’m going to Old Trafford tomorrow. Enjoy the beers.’ A couple weeks later I was playing at Edgbaston against Warwickshire. I was like, ‘I was sat up there watching a Test match a few weeks ago and now I’m on the pitch bowling at Ian Bell.’ It’s quite surreal.”

Much before Hardik Pandya’s meaty blows with the bat, the Mumbai Indians fast-bowling unit scripted Royal Challengers Bangalore’s undoing. Here’s a recap

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai16-Apr-20192:09

Five reasons why Mumbai beat Royal Challengers

It’s fair to say that Hardik Pandya’s final few blows sealed Mumbai Indians’ win on Monday night. But the fact that the hosts were chasing a modest-looking score at Wankhede Stadium was down to their pace attack that had done the damage early on.Royal Challengers Bangalore were restricted to 171 for 7 because Mumbai’s fast bowlers kept them from scoring freely with their accurate lengths and pace variations. Here’s how the pace attack fared on their home pitch:Jason BehrendorffThe first time these two teams met this season, Jasprit Bumrah had dismissed Virat Kohli with a short ball. When Behrendorff opened the bowling on Monday and bowled to Kohli, he had a deep point and deep square-leg in place. Even before Kohli had taken strike, Behrendorff had bowled a good length with his first ball, pinning Parthiv Patel right in front but an inside edge saved him.On the first ball of his second over, Behrendorff banged in a short-of-length delivery on middle, got it to nip in and the wide gap that Kohli leaves between his bat and pad led to an inside edge and an easy catch for the wicketkeeper. Kohli was gone for 8.After his first two overs, Behrendorff had 2-0-14-1, but he ended with 4-0-49-1 after bowling a bit too short to Parthiv and conceding 17 in the 16th over. What Rohit Sharma may want to do in their remaining matches is finish Behrendorff’s quota within the first ten overs because he is not known for his death bowling.Jason Behrendorff is pumped after getting a wicket•BCCILasith MalingaComing in for the injured Alzarri Joseph, Malinga opened from the other end, and even though he bowled a touch fuller than Behrendorff, his accuracy and swing meant he conceded only five runs in the second over of the match. Malinga later returned to the attack when AB de Villiers had settled down.He aimed for the stumps with length deliveries in the 13th over. He went for a short ball on the third delivery – whether by mistake or experiment – that went for four, and quickly responded with a yorker and more of length deliveries. Two overs for 16 runs.The drama came in his last two overs – the 18th and 20th of the innings. He pushed Royal Challengers on the back foot with his trademark slower deliveries that dismissed a well-set Moeen Ali for 50 and the dangerous Marcus Stoinis for a duck. With de Villiers run out with four balls to go in the innings, Malinga toyed with the lower order, sending down more slower balls and taking two more wickets to end with 4 for 31 and the Player-of-the-Match award.Hardik Pandya completes his bowling action•BCCIJasprit Bumrah If Malinga snuffed out Royal Challengers with his flurry of wickets, Bumrah strangled them early on with an economical spell that hardly had any loose deliveries. As soon as he was introduced, Bumrah sent down a maiden by bowling according to his field; his lengths were accurate as ever – he knew straightaway that bowling just short of good length would reap great dividends on this ground. He swung the ball late and beat the batsmen as many as eight times in his first two overs in the Powerplay. He had even brought in two slips in the sixth over as there was a hint of swing, and he conceded just four runs in his first two overs.When he returned at the death, Bumrah was either going for the block hole or the skiddy short-of-length area, which had worked the entire innings for Mumbai. Again, a boundary-less over and only eight off the 17th over. In the 19th over, a couple of low full tosses were dispatched through the covers by de Villiers, but Bumrah replied with a pin-point yorker through de Villiers’ legs, following it up with a bouncer that hit the batsman on the side of the helmet. Bumrah finished with 4-1-22-0, and played the biggest role in tying Royal Challengers down.Hardik PandyaHardik has been leaking too many runs in the death overs so Rohit used him smartly by introducing him as soon as the Powerplay ended, for three overs on the trot. In those, Hardik showed how well he knows the Wankhede track. After five length deliveries in the seventh over, he slipped in a ball that was only slightly slower – at 124.4kmh – just short of good length, which got extra bounce and took Parthiv’s bat shoulder for a catch to point.He conceded only five runs off eight balls to left-handers Moeen and Parthiv combined and, in a disciplined bowling show, he was hit for only two boundaries by de Villiers – an inside edge for four and a top-edged pull for six. Despite those strokes of bad luck for him, Hardik finished with 3-0-21-1.”We bowled pretty well with the new ball, I think we were better at that part,” Hardik said at the press conference after the match. “Our bowling unit has bowlers who can swing the ball and get some purchase from the wicket, and we hit the right areas, and we were getting the movement from the wicket which was important for us.”When Mumbai’s chase started, the Royal Challengers bowlers bowled either too short or too full and the difference in the Powerplay scores (45 and 67) could have been the difference in the end.

Capitals also need to make a choice between the two Colins – Ingram and Munro – ahead of the Qualifier 2

Varun Shetty in Visakhapatnam09-May-2019The Vijay questionM Vijay played the first game this season as an opener and top-scored with 38 when Super Kings folded for 109 chasing 156 against Mumbai Indians. In his second game, also against Mumbai in the first qualifier, Vijay batted at No. 4, having come in as a replacement for Kedar Jadhav. Once again, he did a decent job given the conditions, but is there merit in playing him in the middle order again when he essentially played the same role that Ambati Rayudu could also have played?Only four of Vijay’s 158 IPL innings have been as a non-opener, and he’s made 45 runs in total, performances that are far removed from his record as an opener. Super Kings have often not needed to bat deep this season when MS Dhoni comes in, so if they’ve lost faith in Dhruv Shorey as a middle-order batsman, there may be a case to bring in someone like Karn Sharma, who offers both a better strike rate late in the innings and an extra spin-bowling option on a sticky wicket.Will we see Santner?Carrying on from the Vijay question, there is another more alluring possibility: Mitchell Santner. Santner has emerged as a potent finisher in limited-overs cricket over the last 18 months and even finished the job for Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals this season. He offers the same skill set as Karn, but is arguably the much better option.One limitation with the Santner route, of course, is that he’s an overseas player. More significantly, Super Kings would have to think about dropping Shane Watson, something they have consistently avoided this season even as the batsman has gone through a prolonged run of bad form. Watson has unflattering numbers against the Capitals spinners: an average of 14.4 against Amit Mishra, who has dismissed him five times in 11 innings, and an average of 6.7 against Axar Patel, who has dismissed him five times in six innings.Will they finally be convinced to leave him out, so that Vijay could stay on in the opening role? The last time a similar question was asked, the answer was a negative.Mitchell Santner pulls•BCCIBoult or Morris?Trent Boult was the choice to replace Kagiso Rabada when he left with an injury, but he has had an up and down run so far. He’s taken three wickets in four games, and while it is unfair to expect the same strike rates as Rabada (25 wickets in 12 games), the gap has been further extended by his returns in the slog overs, including a few games ago against Dhoni.Historically, Boult is in the top ten among bowlers with the poorest economy rates in the last four overs of an IPL game. His strengths are swinging the new ball and using his angle to set batsmen up, but even in the Powerplays, Boult has surprisingly meagre returns when he plays in the IPL, with an average of 53.7 and only nine wickets from 32 innings. Those career trends have shown up in this IPL season as well.Will Capitals then be tempted to bring back Chris Morris?Morris has flown under the radar this season, but he is their second-highest wicket-taker with 13 in nine matches. He’s also among the best death bowlers in the league this year, taking ten of his wickets in that phase at an economy of 8.7. He brings both, an identical strike rate to Rabada’s, and a better record at the back end. Not to mention, Capitals would much prefer him batting in the last overs than Mishra or Boult. Is there a very obvious swap to be made here, or will Boult be backed?The ColinsColin Ingram is the most experienced middle-order batsman available to the Capitals right now, but they chose to leave him out from the Eliminator to bring in Colin Munro. Ingram is a good player of spin, so for Capitals to chance that against Sunrisers Hyderabad was brave. There was precedent, though. Munro’s best innings of the season, 40, came against Sunrisers earlier in the season, when he had come in for Ingram.So will it be a case of reverting to Ingram? Munro has fallen to spin in all three innings this season, and Super Kings have the quality in that department, backed by a smart captain, to cause him problems. On the other hand, Ingram hasn’t gone past 20 in his last six innings. Will they be more cautious and count on Ingram’s more conservative game to show up and solidify their innings? Or will they take a chance on Munro coming in late enough that the seamers are in action?

In recent times, Indian pitches have offered less home advantage than most pitches in the world. Yet, Kohli’s men have found a way to dominate by outlasting the opposition

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Ranchi16-Oct-2019Since the start of 2016, India’s spinners have collectively averaged 25.32 in Test matches at home. Visiting spinners in India, in the same period, have taken their wickets at 51.18, or more than twice the cost.

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For spinners, India is simultaneously the best place and the worst place in the world to bowl in.