All posts by h716a5.icu

The path back to the India side from injury has had a series of obstacles along the way, but Mohammed Shami is trying to navigate through them in time for the start of the World T20

Arun Venugopal in Kolkata10-Mar-2016The setting wasn’t as low-key as Mohammed Shami might have probably imagined. This was a warm-up game and yet there were at least 25,000 people at the Eden Gardens. There were several thousand more claps, whistles and screams until palms and throats gave in.This is also his home ground, a city where he made a memorable Test debut in Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell series. But there wasn’t anything about Shami on Thursday that betrayed nerves although some amount of nervous excitement would have only seemed reasonable.A spell of 4-0-30-2 against a batting line-up featuring Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels is impressive in itself but its worth is multiplied when you place it against the backdrop of what he has gone through.Shami has over the last few weeks strived to go from 80-85% fit to being fully ready. It is learnt that he bowled to the India Women’s team at the NCA nets in Bangalore to assist in their preparations for the Women’s World T20, apart from playing matches with other men’s teams where specific situations – like bowling at the death, defending a particular total or opening the attack – would be recreated.But Shami would be the first person to insist on telling false dawns apart from real ones, especially after what has happened to him over the last two months. After all, the new year had begun well for Shami. He was nearly as thrilled about flaunting his suit as being on the flight to Australia with the rest of his mates. You couldn’t grudge his just deserts. This was a man who had, after a promising beginning, spent close to a year in pain, uncertainty and the sheer frustration of his knee coming in the way of playing at the highest level.But this new silver lining would soon be gobbled up by gloomy grey clouds as Shami’s return to India was advanced by an injury to the hamstring. It’s hard to surmise what he must have felt. Roughly as excruciating would be the analogy of a man being robbed soon after earning his wages.While on one hand Shami’s inner demons must have been multiplying, the team management too would have had a tough call to make. He wasn’t a part of the Asia Cup squad as well after being deemed to have not recovered sufficiently. But that Shami was picked for the World T20 was as much a leap of faith as an educated gamble; MS Dhoni & co. him. Period.Dhoni has never been shy about his admiration for Shami’s ability to provide thrust with the new ball and finish well at the death. Bouncers, made-to-order yorkers, Shami has always delivered what his captain wanted. His return to action has only added to the considerable gains that India have made recently.

“He just wanted to go out on the park and play. He has really worked hard all this while; coming back from a knee injury is not easy for anyone, not just a bowler.”Rohit Sharma on Mohammed Shami’s return at Eden Gardens

After India had set West Indies 186 to win in Thursday’s World T20 warm-up, he went about rolling out his bouncers and yorkers, not always achieving the desired results but nevertheless persistent in his attempts. For instance, the short-pitched stuff didn’t quite work on this flat, easy-paced surface as Gayle demonstrated with a pull, one of his two boundaries off Shami.After gong for nine runs in his first over, he began his second with a short ball outside off to Marlon Samuels and got away with a single. The next delivery was quick and had Johnson Charles stuck on his crease. Shami had closed in on his sweet spot. His third ball wasn’t exactly a yorker but was fast and full. Charles’ attempt to back away and carve him over cover only resulted in a caught behind. Shami, however, erred with his last two deliveries, going too full and too short on either occasion, and Samuels cashed in with two fours.By the time Shami returned in the 16th over West Indies had lost eight batsmen and were down for the count. He stuck to a length that was slightly shorter of a full length and attacked the stumps. One such delivery had Ashley Nurse charging out of the crease and scooping the ball to deep point.Shami finished with 2-0-11-1 in his second spell. There was no sign of restricted movement or controlled operation. His run-up was easy and the momentum generated by the smoothly-swinging non-bowling arm contributed to his rhythm. Rohit Sharma paid tribute to Shami’s performance, and said he managed to do what he intended to.”He just wanted to go out on the park and play. For a bowler to not play for so long it’s never easy,” Rohit said after the match. “So he just wanted to go out and feel the conditions and feel the atmosphere, and feel [the joy of] wearing the India jersey again. He has really worked hard all this while; coming back from a knee injury is not easy for anyone, not just a bowler. But he really worked hard and looking at [the fact that] he is playing his first game he did pretty well.”He bowled bouncers, yorkers, slower ones, that’s what we expect from him. The last game he played for India, till then he did pretty well for us. He was one of the main bowlers for us and expectations will be there from him, no doubt about it.”Dhoni has recently pointed to the happy dilemma he would face should Shami be fit, with Jasprit Bumrah sealing the other paceman’s slot. Shami would then have to compete with Ashish Nehra for the second seamer’s position and there is a possibility he might not find himself in the playing XI straightaway.But for now he is unlikely to entertain such worries and would rather focus on dialing up the momentum in India’s last warm-up match against South Africa in Mumbai on Saturday. Shami sure knows a thing or two about the value of taking baby steps.

Sixteen opening partners in the IPL for Parthiv Patel. Can you get all 16 right in this quiz using the clues?

ESPNcricinfo staff01-May-2016And then there was the 17th: Unmukt Chand is also one who’s been part of a partnership for the first wicket with Parthiv Patel, but he came on to bat after one of Parthiv’s partners (not giving out an answer) retired hurt.

Joining the county that had finished bottom of Division Two for three successive seasons was always going to be a gamble but Neil Dexter’s confidence in the future has been rewarded

Jon Culley30-Jun-2016Neil Dexter’s decision to leave a county that finished runners-up in Division One last season to join the one that had finished bottom of Division Two for three seasons in a row might have seemed somewhat perverse looking from the outside.At 31, he could not afford to make the wrong choice, but he says he felt confident from the outset and after half a season in his new surroundings nothing has happened to make him question his wisdom. His contribution already includes two centuries, the second against Gloucestershire this week.Leicestershire’s tight grip on the wooden spoon did not loosen despite the euphoria last June of ending their extraordinary 37-match winless streak in four-day cricket, but they have metamorphosed this season into potential promotion contenders – 15 points off the top with a game in hand and a bedraggled season still to take shape.”It was a hard decision to leave Middlesex,” Dexter admitted. “Things were always good at Middlesex. I enjoyed my time there working with good people.”But I wanted to bat higher up the order than I had been doing with Middlesex and when I sat down with Wasim Khan and Andrew McDonald to discuss coming here they were very clear in their plans and about what they wanted to achieve.”It is a club with clear direction and I was confident that it was going to be a good move. And so far I’ve enjoyed every minute of it here.”Khan and McDonald sold their vision, too, to Essex’s Mark Pettini and Lancashire’s Paul Horton as they moved to add quality, experience and a vital winning mentality to the squad. All three have had a positive impact on the dressing room environment.”We are quite a tight knit bunch already,” Dexter said. “In terms of where we are heading and what we are trying to achieve over the next few years we are already on the right lines.”If anything we have got to where we are as a team and a club a bit quicker than I thought.”There are times when things are tough. The T20 has tested us a team but it shows how strong we are the way the team is bouncing back in the four-day stuff on the back of disappointment.”In cricketing terms, then, it has been a good move. Where Middlesex felt they could make no guarantees of a regular first-team place – even though managing director of cricket Angus Fraser was willing to talk about a new contract – Leicestershire see him as just the right fit.For Dexter, moreover, there has been an unexpected bonus in moving out of the hustle and bustle of live in London. It has reminded how much he appreciates a less frenetic way of life.”I won’t lie, I struggled at times with living in London,” he said. “I think it is a hard place, so busy from the moment you walk out of your front door and until you get out of it again you don’t realise how tough a place it is to live.”Maybe it is the way I’ve been brought up. And I started in Kent, too, where the atmosphere is a bit more relaxed.”I’ve got a young family now and having a bit more of a relaxed life and a bit more family time, time when you can get away and it actually feels like you are away from cricket – it’s really good.”What’s more, he says, Grace Road feels like a proper home ground, something that Lord’s, for all its history and its status as the ‘home of cricket’, can never really be for a Middlesex player.At Grace Road, unlike Lord’s, Dexter feels he has a permanent home•PA Photos”Don’t get me wrong, I loved my time at Middlesex and to play at Lord’s every other week is a privilege I will never forget,” he said. “But Lord’s never really felt like home. When you don’t own your own ground, you can’t ever really call it home.”Here, when you leave the ground you can leave stuff in the dressing room but at Lord’s, although the Middlesex players have lockers, you had to appreciate that the dressing rooms had to be cleaned, maybe for a charity match or something involving other teams and you couldn’t just leave your gear behind.”Inevitably, too, because the area around Lord’s isn’t the cheapest, the players live some distance away, so if you needed something at short notice you couldn’t just nip back to the ground to get it.”And you didn’t know from one day to the next where you were going to be training. Lord’s and MCC have worked really hard over the last few years to try to get the players more time in the Lord’s nets so we didn’t have to go elsewhere but it was always going to happen that you sometimes had to.”You have to accept that, though, and there are many advantages. The people at Lord’s and the Middlesex members were great to me. I left on very good terms, I still follow them closely and I wish them well.”They remember him with affection, too, as the captain of the side that won promotion as Division Two champions in 2011, which is something on his CV, along with more than 6000 runs and over 100 wickets in his first-class career, that commands respect at Grace Road, where he is only too willing to share the benefits of his experience.”People ask me about coaching and I’m not sure,” he said. “I feel I have more to contribute as a player first. But I like working one-to-one with the younger guys, just chatting to them. I love being able to pass on some experience and knowledge and it would be great if I can help them move on to the next level because they are the future of the club.”Leicestershire remain third, with the top two, Essex and Kent, about to meet at Chelmsford. Does he think their recovery can be so pronounced that in a season in which only the winners of Division Two go up they have a serious chance of promotion?”When I was at captain at Middlesex I was never one to make predictions,” he said. “You can look too far ahead sometimes. You can talk but you’ve got to back it up with actions.”All we can do is play good cricket and there are a lot of games to come. I wouldn’t like to say we can’t get promotion but I’m not going to say we will.”What is good is that as well as the matches we have won, we have been competitive most of the time and in the rain-affected games we have won a lot of sessions.”It is what happens now that counts, at the business end of the season. If you can go on a winning streak at the right time you can be away.”

From following the WBBL buzz from the sidelines to getting to be a part of the action, Harmanpreet Kaur, much like women’s cricket in India, has come a long way

Shashank Kishore31-Jul-2016Harmanpreet Kaur, a self-confessed social media addict, remembers being hooked to Cricket Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League page to follow all the updates of the initial stages of the inaugural season. A month later, in January 2016, she experienced the buzz from close quarters, when she toured with the Indian team for a limited-overs series.Later this year, she will get an opportunity to play in the tournament, after signing with WBBL champions Sydney Thunder for the upcoming season. The path-breaking deal makes her the first Indian cricketer, male or female, to feature in Australia’s Big Bash League.”We knew it would be big, but didn’t realise the WBBL would be such a huge hit until we got there earlier this year,” Harmanpreet told ESPNcricinfo. “Whichever venue we visited, there was a lot of talk about the tournament. That internally motivated a lot of us, and it got us thinking, ‘Right, if we do well like Australia have on the global stage, there is a possibility of an IPL-style league for women.’ In many ways, the atmosphere and the sporting culture of Australia fired us up. Our T20 series win also boosted the morale of the entire team.”Harmanpreet remembers watching the final of the inaugural WBBL from her hotel room in Adelaide, a couple of days ahead of India’s T20I series against the then Women’s World T20 champions Australia. At the team’s training session the following day, she was overwhelmed when her compatriots remarked that she was good enough to be playing in the tournament.Two days later, on Australia Day and India’s Republic Day, Harmanpreet proved why she was one of the most-improved players in the women’s circuit when her unbeaten 31-ball 46 scripted India Women’s highest chase in a T20I. Immediately after the knock, she received congratulatory messages from a number of franchises.”That was when it dawned upon us that these performances were being noticed, because when I started, women’s cricket was mainly about England, Australia and New Zealand,” she said. “On that tour, the vibe was different. Generally, foreign tours mean a quiet arrival, followed by training and matches. But this time during our tour, there was a real buzz. Television channels were seeking reactions; fans were at the ground in big numbers. We were being recognised. I think our series win there contributed towards a lot of our names being put forward on the franchise shortlists.”Harmanpreet received offers from two other franchises, including Sydney Sixers, runners-up in the inaugural season, but said money wasn’t the deciding factor. “Opportunities were what I was looking for,” she said. “With just two overseas slots for foreign players, I was looking at sides where you have a chance to make XIs on a regular basis. With Thunder having just one overseas player, I thought that’s where I could get maximum game time.”Also, Stafanie Taylor, who will be my colleague there, is someone who I hugely admire. We started our careers around the same time, and being a fellow professional, I’ve followed her a lot of late. The manner in which she has carried West Indies single-handedly has been inspirational. Both of us are allrounders, so I’m looking forward to learning from her. The prospect of playing with Australia’s best is also exciting.”Harmanpreet, who admires Australia’s aggressive style of play, picked out fitness over skill as one of the major differences between India and the other top nations. Being in a professional structure, she said, would offer an opportunity to study how different professionals go about their work.”As a team, we haven’t played for four months since the World T20, so a lot of us are using this as an opportunity to work on our fitness,” she said. “What we noticed at the tournament was, skill-wise, we are at par with the top sides. Things like running between the wickets, close-in catching, power-hitting is something we are working on.”Currently training in Pune under her personal coach, Harshal Pathak, Harmanpreet’s routine ranges from yoga and strength-training, to endurance activities such as rope walks and a cross-fit routine, apart from her four-hour net sessions. Being part of an all-women ad campaign aimed at promoting women empowerment in India, Harmanpreet says, gave her a new perspective on how much women’s cricket has grown in India.”It has grown leaps and bounds, but we aren’t able to sustain momentum,” she said. “We did well in Australia, and the momentum was carried into the World T20. There was expectation on us for the first time. Now, it’s been four months since we played. So, once again, we are back to building up to another event. Better scheduling will address that, but with the World Cup coming up next year, hopefully that will be addressed. Hopefully, a few others also playing in the WBBL will give us that much more exposure and make us a better team.”

If you got on top of an overseas pro on the field, he’d do everything to intimidate you after that. Not Fanie de Villiers

Haydn Morgan17-Sep-2016I went up against Fanie de Villiers when he played for Torquay in the Devon league in 1992. Fanie was over here trying to get fit so he could press his claim for a place in the South African team. He’d missed out on the 1992 World Cup through injury. I was a 19-year-old opening batsman at Barton Cricket Club with aspirations of playing professional cricket.Luckily the wicket at Barton was very slow. The first ball Fanie bowled to me was a loosener. First ball of the innings, half-volley, and I punched it down the ground for four. The guy I opened the batting with said to me, “For Christ’s sake, don’t wind him up.”Later in that innings Fanie tried a short ball. It didn’t get up but was on me quick. I clipped it and it went for two past square leg. That was an invitation to him to try a bit more of that because I hadn’t played it that well.But on the slow, low wicket, the short balls sat up quite nicely after that and I managed to pull a few away to the boundary.Fanie was an absolute gentleman. Unlike a lot of overseas pros I played against in league cricket, he said very little. If you hit him for four, he didn’t stand there and stare or swear at you. He’d just go back to his mark and try something else to get you out.In my experience, with some other overseas bowlers, if you did get on top of them, they’d revert to using their reputations to make a big deal of things. Rather than worry about what you had done, and any affront it might have caused him, Fanie would just focus on what he might have done wrong the previous ball to give you an opportunity to score and look to put that right the next time. A very professional attitude.

Fanie was an absolute gentleman. Unlike a lot of overseas pros I played against in league cricket, he said very little. If you hit him for four, he didn’t stand there and stare or swear

He was easily the best seam bowler I faced in the Devon league. What stood out was his accuracy. With most club bowlers, you know if you keep the good ones out, the bad ball is just around the corner. With Fanie, there were few of those.He also had that wholehearted competitiveness. Always came off the long run and always seemed to be bowling at 100%, whereas other overseas bowlers I’ve come across would take it easy from time to time.But he never stepped over that line. He respected the opposition, which doesn’t always happen when pros come into league cricket.Later in my career, when I played a bit of professional cricket, I came across quicker bowlers than Fanie. He was quick enough, but also had a range of skills, could move the ball, swing and seam it, which was different to what we’d seen before.To play against someone like that was a good testing ground for me. To go up against that kind of bowler was fantastic – very exciting, stimulating, and exactly what I needed.

England’s seven Tests in Bangladesh and India were marked by frequent collapses: some by the top order, some by the lower order and some by the entire order

Andrew McGlashan20-Dec-2016Chittagong: 62 for 5England’s seven-Test marathon began in Bangladesh’s port city and they only just managed to stay afloat. They had a narrow lead heading into their second innings which was almost squandered. Shakib Al Hasan, who had formed a twin new-ball spin attack with teenager Mehedi Hasan, claimed three including the key wicket of Joe Root. In the end, Ben Stokes’ superb 85 gave them just enough to defend but it was a warning sign of what was to come.Dhaka: 69 for 5 and 10 for 64Those warning signs that flashed in Chittagong, blared at full volume a few days later in Dhaka. In the first innings England lost the top half of their innings for 69 – after Bangladesh themselves had lost 9 for 49 – before the lower order managed to haul them to a small lead. But there was no escape second time around as they lost all ten wickets for 64 in 22.2 gruesome overs after Alastair Cook and Ben Duckett had opened with an aggressive stand of 100 in 23 overs. It all changed first ball after tea on the third evening when Mehedi speared one through Duckett. It turned into a magical afternoon for Mehedi as he secured match figures of 12 for 159 – the best by a Bangladesh bowler in Tests. It was a shock England would never really recover from.So near, yet so far: Alastair Cook was given out to the last ball of the fourth day in Vizag•AFPVisakhapatnam: 80 for 5 and 10 for 83After brief respite in Rajkot, where they pushed India hard, the worst fears about England in India started to come to fruition. In the face of India’s 455 the match was basically lost in the final session of the second day. Mohammad Shami’s pearler to Cook began the first slide, but the run out of Haseeb Hameed and Root’s carve into the deep were self-inflicted. Faced with five sessions to secure a draw, England opted for the blockathon approach as Cook and Hameed added 75 in 50 overs before a grubber trapped Hameed lbw. Then, with what became the final ball of the fourth day, Cook was lbw to Ravindra Jadeja which meant the last morning began with the vulnerable Duckett in the middle rather than their captain. Despite having eight wickets in hand there was an air of inevitably and the match ended shortly after lunch: all 10 wickets had gone in 47 overs.Mohali: 107 for 6Despite an underwhelming first innings, England were still in the contest when they removed Virat Kohli to leave India 204 for 6. But the last four wickets added 213 and England went into bat again starring at a deficit of 134 instead of somewhere near parity. Still, it was not entirely beyond the realms of possibility that India could be left with a testing chase but that notion disappeared as they fell to 78 for 4 on the third evening – the batting order having been reshuffled due to Hameed’s broken finger. They slipped further on the fourth day before a modicum of pride of restored through Hameed’s gritty defiance, but the damage – in every sense – had long since been done. And it wasn’t just spin that did them on this occasion, Shami producing a rapid new-ball burst to break the belated resistance.Chris Woakes was bowled by R Ashwin during England’s collapse in Mumbai•AFPMumbai: 6 for 15Rarely had a total of 400 been made to look so inadequate (well, at least until England outdid themselves a week later in Chennai) as Kohli made a career-best 235 alongside M Vijay’s century and Jayant Yadav’s stylish maiden hundred – India’s first by a No. 9. As in Vizag, England were eyeing parity with India 307 for 6 only for them to return to the crease 231 runs behind. They played their shots, in a forlorn hope to set India some sort of final-day target, but from the moment Stokes fell shortly before the close on the fourth day the lower order was zapped for just 15 runs as R Ashwin claimed an astonishing 6 for 7 in 37 balls.Chennai: 10 for 104 including 6 for 15Was there time for one final collapse? There sure was. At lunch on the final day in Chennai it appeared England had managed to restore a small sense of order after being pummelled for 759 by India’s batsmen. Cook and Keaton Jennings had reached the first break on 97 without loss with two sessions left to leave having shown some fight. Yet, in the end, India won with time to spare. Cook fell to his nemesis, Jadeja, for a sixth time in the series then a raft of soft shots from Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Stokes led to a swift unravelling. It was fitting that the final two wickets of the series fell in the space of four deliveries. Now all that was left was for England to collapse into the plane seats for the journey home.

Some of India’s finest wins have come with Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni in harness at the crease. At Cuttack they rolled back the years to extraordinary effect

Vishal Dikshit at Cuttack19-Jan-20171:25

Between Yuvraj’s previous two ODI centuries

It’s the kind of script filmmakers write to earn big bucks from box-office collections. It’s how sequels are often written, only to ride on the success of the original. To offer the viewers for the second, third, or nth time a glimpse of what they’ve relished in the past, maybe many years ago. To ride only that wave of nostalgia.Hordes of Indian fans – wearing India jerseys with ‘Virat’ on the back – thronged the Barabati Stadium on Thursday to witness what they hoped would be another such sequel. Another hundred from Virat Kohli, another thrilling chase in India’s favour.The first familiar sight they witnessed wasn’t one that they could relish – Chris Woakes’ incisive opening spell that stifled India’s top order on a small ground and a flat pitch. The difference, though, was Kohli’s early return to the pavilion after facing five deliveries.India were 25 for 3 when MS Dhoni joined Yuvraj Singh. What are they doing in this sequel? One is back in the squad only to add experience in the middle order ahead of the Champions Trophy; the other wants to bat more freely after relinquishing the captaincy.Yuvraj had shown glimpses of his scintillating timing in the first warm-up in Mumbai and from the second ball he had faced in the first ODI – pulling a short one over the midwicket boundary. On Thursday, there was no deep midwicket when he faced Jake Ball in the eighth over. A flick off the pads, a pull from outside off and a wristy flick fetched him three fours. Was he back? Hang on, he was only just beginning.Dhoni, at the other end, absorbed Woakes’ penetrative spell. He blocked the straight ball, he left plenty outside off and saw off two maidens before Woakes was taken off. This was not what the fans had come to watch.But it was a flat pitch with a quick outfield. Loose deliveries would come eventually. Bowlers would have to change. In the 11th over, Yuvraj twice drove Liam Plunkett – stylish and clean hitting all along the ground. He was scoring at more than run a ball. Was he back? Shhh!MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh were partners during some of India’s most defining victories•AFPIn the background, where he often hogs space, Dhoni was playing out dots and picking off the odd boundary. Finally, he unfurled a scything cut over point and the ball reached the fence before the fielder’s neck could turn.The pair were winding the clock back. Any fans who had bought ice creams on this hot day to cool themselves after Kohli’s dismissal soon found them melting into their hands. Two old friends were catching up on old times in mesmerising fashion. No-one dared blink.When, in the 17th over, Yuvraj squirted a single down to third man to bring up their fifty stand, it was their first as a partnership since the 2011 World Cup final. Oh, nostalgia! On came the spin of Moeen Ali, out stepped Dhoni to hammer a drive straight past the bowler for four. Ben Stokes offered room time and again; Yuvraj, in his vintage style, lofted him over long-off with a high elbow for a spectacular six, staying still at the end of the followthrough with his eyes tracing the path of the ball. He had crossed fifty.Rohit Sharma tweeted: “Yuvraj and Dhoni looking good out in the middle. Are we in for a vintage Dhoni/Yuvi partnership”. The stand went past 100, the pair exchanged glove-punches, just as they have done numerous times in the past.Memories came swarming back – how the pair had aced chases against Pakistan back in 2006 and again in 2007, the same year in which Yuvraj had clubbed six sixes in an over in the inaugural World T20 and Dhoni had cheered him with a beaming smile from the non-striker’s end. In 2011, when Dhoni pinged the winning six in the World Cup final, Yuvraj held his arms high at the non-striker’s end.”We always have been batting together since he started his career,” Yuvraj said after the match. “Mahi and me have played a lot of games for India. The camaraderie is always there. I think we have a lot of understanding when we bat together. Running between the wickets is always good. I hope it works in the future as well.”Yuvraj’s century was his first since that 2011 World Cup, against West Indies in Chennai, and yes, Dhoni had been there to congratulate him at the other end on that occasion too.He completed the single and celebrated – no Warner-esque leap, no vehement emotion like the old times. He simply opened his arms and looked to the heavens, almost in slow motion, as if he wanted to pause the match there and soak it in for a few minutes.Yuvraj scored his first hundred in six years•Associated PressA hundred after nearly six years. Oh, nostalgia! He finally removed his helmet; he was wearing a bandana, and a beard too. No, it was not the old Yuvraj. This version looked like an old warrior returning to unfinished business, à la Tom Cruise in . Some stories don’t need a sequel.”It feels great, it’s been a while since I got a hundred,” he said. “I came back after recovering from cancer, the first two-three years were very hard. There was a time when I was wondering whether to continue or not to continue. I think a lot of people have helped me throughout this journey. So, never giving up is my theory. So I never gave up, kept working hard.”Self-confidence is always there when you have the backing of the team and captain. I think Virat has shown a lot of trust in me and it was very important for me that people in the dressing room trust me. I’ve been batting well in the domestic season. And I’ve been hitting the ball really well. I wanted to make it big on my day.”In this age of reverse sweeps, switch hits, scoops and 360-degree batting, Yuvraj and Dhoni brought out their vintage shots one after the other. They were doing it after watching their team-mates, who have flourished under Yuvraj and Dhoni, walk back for low scores, but this was a demonstration of how to restore hope.Ten years previously, the pair had instilled belief in India’s line-up that totals of 280 to 300 were chaseable; now they were showing how 350-plus totals could be made from 25 for 3. Yuvraj was belting boundaries off short balls, so often his nemesis in the past. Not today, because England’s bowlers were not cramping him up for room; most of the deliveries were outside off or too much on leg, helping him open his arms and swing the bat the way he loves.Before long, Yuvraj was using his straight and sponsor-less bat to drill a flat six over long-off. He had bettered his career-best ODI score with those classic shots. It is as if memories of him batting in his prime had been waiting all these years for that one day when they could all flood the minds of Indian fans again. And so they did; the crowd was going berserk, Kohli had been forgotten. Emotional tweets started popping up from old team-mates and former opposition players, in both awe and praise.Three overs later, Dhoni clubbed a full toss high into the Cuttack sky. Would it sail over the boundary? No, it smacked into the Spidercam, the crowd let out an “ohhhh” as dead ball was called. Had it been a six, it would have taken him to 99. No problem, one ball later, he opened up to smite the ball high to the top-most stand over long-on in typical Dhoni style. It is reminiscent of his six to win India the World Cup final. We are familiar with this warrior too, à la .Both men fell in the last 10 overs of India’s innings. But had they been dismissed in the first 10, critics would have questioned what Yuvraj was doing in a side that needed youngsters, and why Dhoni was still taking up a place in the XI, despite being unsure about playing the next World Cup.But then, who wallows in nostalgia while watching a sequel with new protagonists?

Misbah-ul-Haq became the first batsman with three scores of 99 in Test cricket. How good is your knowledge of 99s in international cricket?

ESPNcricinfo staff03-May-2017

What Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan team-mates have to say on the pair

Danyal Rasool and Umar Farooq10-May-2017Azhar Ali”When Misbah took over as captain, it was a low point in Pakistan cricket. At that time, we were fighting to regain our very dignity and Misbah kept impressing upon us that we had to earn back the faith of our supporters. In the next seven years, we saw tough times but his leadership helped us through them. The one thing that was very important to him was that, whatever the outcome, we must give our absolute best. I personally took that advice to heart and it simply wouldn’t have been possible to achieve what we did without Misbah.”His own demeanour is an example in itself. He is mentally calm and has nerves of steel. It is hard to explain in words how important he was in soothing the nerves of everyone when we were under pressure.”Younis might appear different, but his work ethic is just exemplary. When I was starting off in cricket, I saw how he set about working on his game, how he trained, how he maintained his fitness and what he did in the nets and I thought, ‘This person is worth following.’ Watching him play when you’re at the other end, you learn so much, but at the same town, he doesn’t bombard you with advice, letting you play your game instead. Only if he feels you’ve made a big mistake or you’re struggling badly will he come up and talk to you. And obviously his achievements speak for themselves. That’s what has earned him global respect.”For us, it’s hard to register that they won’t be in the dressing room after this series; we can’t imagine life without them. We were just so surprised at them retiring because they’re still so fit, perhaps the fittest players in our squad. We are very emotional too, just the thought that the dressing room will be without them feels strange, and will do so for a while.”Asad Shafiq: ‘Their behaviour with the junior players is exemplary’•Getty ImagesAsad Shafiq”Under Misbah’s captaincy, the atmosphere in the dressing room has always been wonderful. In situations where regular people would panic, Misbah does not, and this is his biggest strength. His behaviour with junior players is exemplary and I am lucky to have played under him.”In fact, both Misbah and Younis’ role in my career is very important. When as a junior player you come to the team, you have been watching players like Misbah and Younis for a few years. Initially, you are nervous around them, because there is a culture – especially in Pakistan – that the difference between junior and senior players is very keenly felt. But their behaviour with the junior players is exemplary. Things that I would have learned in five-six years if Misbah and Younis hadn’t been around, I ended up learning in two-three years. Not just me, but all the junior players who have come into the team have benefited as both batsmen and human beings.”The experience of batting with them has also been so much fun. When I had good partnerships with them, I learned about how to mould my batting according to various conditions and the other sides’ strengths. I can’t say who I’ll miss more, because both players’ services are extraordinary. Both have won a number of matches for Pakistan. We will have to work extra-hard to fill up the space that will be left by their departure.”Sarfraz Ahmed: ‘Whenever the team had difficulties, Misbah led the team from the front’•ICCSarfraz Ahmed”The dressing room atmosphere was great under Misbah. I learnt a lot from him and I really like the way he leads. He reads the game in a very calm, composed manner. He is great at understanding how to take the players along with him and get the best out of them.”The experience of batting with Younis is amazing. I haven’t had too many partnerships with him, but what is great about him is he rotates the strike very well, and guides you along. He keeps giving good advice and whoever bats with him say they enjoyed it.”We will of course miss both of them deeply. As you can see, they have been the backbone of our Test team for the last six years. Whenever the team had difficulties, Misbah led the team from the front. Younis used to bat at No. 4, and Misbah at No. 5, so it will affect our Test team a lot when they’re gone. When we came to the team, we used to learn from the way they conducted themselves, and we’ll miss all of that.”They give all of us young players advice: me, Azhar, Shan [Masood], Babar [Azam], Ahmed Shehzad. They keep telling us to take care of our fitness. They say we should conduct practice sessions with intensity. I always stood behind the wicket with Younis Khan in the slip cordon, and we talked about what to do if a batsman wasn’t getting out. What they have taught us, we will do our best to implement.”Shan Masood on his partnership with Younis Khan in a record chase in Pallekele, 2015: ‘I would describe it as my childhood dream’•AFPShan Masood”We are lucky to have Misbah and Younis in our dressing room. We probably will not realise the significance of this thing but in the next four or five years, when we look back, we will feel the importance of sharing the dressing room with them. Both of them have played a big role not only on the field but off the field as well. They have helped even with the small things like managing your kit bag, managing your work ethics and how to be organised overall in training. In my career so far, I have never seen such organised players.”The [Palekelle innings with Younis Khan] is something that will remain with me for rest of my life. I would describe it as my childhood dream. It was just the other day that I was watching highlights of it and it still gives me goosebumps. When I reflect back on that particular innings, for me it’s hard to describe because there was not much going through my mind in terms of emotions. I was just going along with the flow but if I look back it right now, everything that I wanted was coming off. How Pakistan was able to create history, how massive that chase was… It makes me happy that I was able to contribute alongside Younis.”The best piece of advice Misbah gave me was prior to the Pallekele Test. I was dejected for two reasons. One, we had lost the earlier Test and two, I thought that this would be another tour where I go back without playing a game. But Misbah asked me my age. When I told him I was 25, he said at the same age he hadn’t played any first-class cricket as he was completing his degree. The point he was trying to make was that I needed to trust myself, be patient and keep working as hard as possible and things would eventually fall into place. It’s not a short-term thing, it’s a long-term goal and you need to keep believing and keep going back to it again and again. The way he has done this is similar, he talked about a lot of obstacles in his life and he has been very patient about it and now he is reaping the rewards.”As for Younis, whatever he says is short and to the point. Overall, it’s like he has given me a dictionary on how to conduct yourself as a cricketer. So he is a big influence on my short international career, my domestic cricket and, hopefully, when he fades away I can stick to those things he taught me and my performances can reflect all those things.”Ahmed Shehzad: ‘This series will be an emotional series for all of us because these two players are the pride of our nation’•AFPAhmed Shehzad”Of course they are the senior-most players in our team and we all look up to them and we all try to learn whatever we can from them. They are different individuals. If you talk about Younis, I was lucky to spend my early days with him at Habib Bank Limited in domestic cricket. He is one player I admire a lot both on and off the field. So I consider myself lucky to be sharing a dressing room with him.”Misbah, similarly, has been phenomenal. He took the team to the No. 1 position after things were so bad when he got the captaincy. Since then, the way he led the side is remarkable. Now after seven to eight years, he is saying goodbye to cricket, and that is a tough thing to swallow. His contribution will be remembered. Whenever we needed him, he would be there for us. I have learnt a lot from heart-to-heart talks with him and we are definitely going to miss him a lot.”The most important advice Younis gave was to be yourself, always believe, don’t try to hold back from taking risks because taking risks is something which takes you above everything. Life is all about taking risks and not being afraid. While batting, Younis never disturbs you as he wants you to play according to your own plan. He doesn’t talk too much on the field but talks to you off the field instead.”Misbah always says we should take sensible decisions. Think twice before you take any call about your life or cricketing career. This is advice that I always kept close to my heart.”This series will be an emotional series for all of us because these two players are the pride of our nation. They are the two strong pillars of the Pakistan team. So I am going to miss everything they have given us, all small incidents in hotel rooms, on the field, in dressing rooms, all good and bad memories, wins and losses. Whatever we shared together all these years will be missed and remain in our hearts forever.”

Joe Root battled through a cold to register an unbeaten century on his first day as England captain. It was an unyielding illustration of the drive he will bring to the job

George Dobell at Lord's06-Jul-2017At 5.45pm, Joe Root ran a three.He was 153 not out at the time and had been batting for the best part of five and a half hours.They weren’t even his runs. Moeen Ali had hit the ball – the harsh would say edged the ball – down to third man off Keshav Maharaj and looked happy to accept two.But Root is hungry. Greedy, even. He is desperate to revive the fortunes of this team – his team – and he pushed for that three as if this was the final over of a T20 game.It wasn’t perhaps the most eye-catching moment of this innings. It didn’t draw the applause of the back-foot drive in the final moments of the day that would have pleased any of the greats who have batted at this grand old ground; it wasn’t as dismissive as the flick through midwicket from off stump that told Theunis de Bruyn what he thought of his bowling; it wasn’t as authoritative as the lofted drive for six off Maharaj.But as a statement, as an example, it was perfect. Root doesn’t want his England team just to flash and flail; he wants them to have the hunger to run threes for one another late in the day. He doesn’t want them to be satisfied with a decent day. He wants them to win.As he put it, revealingly, at the close of play: “It’s a good start; but that’s all it is: a start.”We probably shouldn’t be surprised. He picked a team that might, in some ways, be considered mean. He might have gone for Adil Rashid as his spinner, but he reasoned that Rashid bowls too many four-balls and, with runs hard to come by at times in Test cricket, England couldn’t afford such profligacy. Instead he went for Liam Dawson, who will resent every single scored off him.Defensive? It depends how you define the word. Dawson won’t bowl many unplayable balls, but he’ll give away nothing and make life much harder for batsmen than England sometimes have of late. There’s an aggression of sorts in that.This was, in many ways, a golden day for Root. A day he’ll remember forever and a day he described as “a dream” afterwards.How could it have been bettered? On his first day as England captain, he won the toss at a full, sun-soaked Lord’s, he made his 12th Test century and, in front of his father, grandfather and son, registered the highest score made by an England skipper in his first innings in charge. It’s the stuff he would have imagined when playing in the garden as a boy. It doesn’t get any better.Joe Root was dropped in the gully on 16 by JP Duminy•Getty ImagesMore importantly, he earned his side a strong position. On a much-improved Lord’s surface – a surface offering the bowlers enough assistance to keep them (and spectators) interested even with an older ball – he rescued England from a precarious 76 for 4 to a situation where they plundered 175 from 35 overs in the final session. There is a lot of work ahead, but they’re in pole position here.And it’s all the more remarkable for the fact that Root was suffering from a cold. His voice was broken and husky after play – all those Churchillian speeches, he joked – and he admitted to waking “groggy” and wearing a jumper throughout a warm day. He actually wore three layers and took on fluids at every opportunity – as he “wanted to sweat the cold out”. He looked exhausted by stumps; though not so exhausted he couldn’t have run another three.”There was nothing going to stop me trying to enjoy the day,” he said. “It’s an amazing opportunity and privilege to be England captain. A little cold wasn’t going to get in the way.”If anything, it may have helped me concentrate out there. I knew I wasn’t 100 percent so needed to work really hard to get through it and make the most of the start I got.”None of this should mask the faults in England’s performance. They were, yet again, three-down dangerously early – the 23rd time in their 64 most recent Test innings they had lost their third wicket with the score on 55 or fewer – and they were four-down before lunch. Had the substitute fielder, Aiden Markram, been on the fence (as he surely should have been) when Root had 5 and top-edged a hook to long-leg, or JP Duminy, at gully, held on to a relatively simple chance offered by Root on 16, England “might have been bowled out for 200″ as Vernon Philander put it. While this was a day to celebrate and enjoy, no dispassionate analysis should ignore the fact that, to some extent, South Africa let England off the hook.Let’s imagine, too, the reaction had Root’s pull landed in the hands of Markram. England would have been 24 for 3 and England’s new captain might have been branded reckless. On such moments are matches, and sometimes careers, defined.As it was, nearly everything fell Root’s way. The match situation – by the time he came to the crease, less than half-an-hour from the start of play, England had lost both openers and the ball was nipping around devilishly – ruled out (almost) any chance of complacency and South Africa’s cricket was, at times, uncharacteristically shoddy.He admitted he had never previously been reprieved by a spinner bowling a no-ball (as he was here after an apparent stumping on 149) and that, when he top-edged that pull, he had started to walk back to the pavilion.”I was walking back,” he said. “I thought I’d hit it straight to him. And that [the no-ball] has never happened to me against a spinner. It’s a nice feeling to get that call back when you know you’ve made a glaring error.”But luck was on my side today. It could have been very different but when you do get lives in Test cricket you have to make the most of them. Getting dropped, chipping someone on the boundary and getting a reprieve as well… it all just sort of seemed to fall into place today.”It sure did. And it will have taken the pressure off Root for future innings. There will be no statistics about how long it has been since he has failed to register a century, or anything like that. Other England batsmen have started well – his three immediate predecessors, Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen, also recorded centuries in their first Tests as England captain – and that has been no guarantee of future success. But he can, to some extent at least, relax into the job now.”There was a little bit of relief,” he said. “You want to tick it off early. More than anything, I walked out to bat feeling the same as I have done previously for England. I was quite surprised how normal I felt when I got out there. I like to think it’s in my nature to go out and see the situation and play accordingly.”Most of all, he set an example for his team.”Early on as captain you want to try and set the example,” he said. “You’re trying to get messages across to the guys but you need to show them that you’re willing to do those things yourself.”It is very special. You obviously want to start well as captain and you want to set the example. You’ve been harping on at the lads about how you want them to approach their cricket and you want to make sure you go out and do exactly as you have been preaching about.”He sure did that.