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Kohli’s men, though, have lost back-to-back games and are still sweating on Saini’s fitness

Saurabh Somani30-Oct-2020

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Both these teams began their IPL 2020 campaigns against each other, and in some ways how they began is how their tournament has gone. The Royal Challengers Bangalore pulled off a win on the back of their bowling, having first put up a competitive score. The Sunrisers Hyderabad looked like they were making smooth progress in their chase, until a middle-order collapse did them in.At the other end of the league phase now, both teams find themselves with different equations. The Royal Challengers haven’t yet secured qualification but are still second on the points table. One win will take them through. The Sunrisers, on the other hand, need to win both their remaining games. They’ll be a bit more confident of doing that, because a match earlier, they had needed to win three in three – and against the top-three teams. The Delhi Capitals have been knocked off quite spectacularly, and the Sunrisers have to do the same against the Royal Challengers now.For the Royal Challengers, there might be a hint of worry given that they have lost two on the bounce, to the Chennai Super Kings and then the Mumbai Indians. Their batting didn’t show up in either game, emphasising the importance of AB de Villiers in the line-up. Whenever he has fired, the Royal Challengers have looked powerful. When he hasn’t, the batting has not been able to break free into impregnable totals territory for the most part.

In the news

• The Royal Challengers will be waiting on Navdeep Saini’s fitness status. The fast bowler had split the webbing of his right hand in the loss to the Super Kings. Not having Saini available forced quite a few changes for their game against Mumbai. The Royal Challengers had to bring in Dale Steyn to cover for Saini, but that also meant Moeen Ali having to sit out. Shivam Dube was brought back for Ali. Steyn didn’t have a great game against Mumbai, so Isuru Udana might come back instead of Steyn if Saini continues to be unavailable.
• The Sunrisers’ swap of Jonny Bairstow for Kane Williamson led to Wriddhiman Saha being pushed into the opener’s slot, but a circuitous route yielded a bountiful result, as Saha tore apart the Capitals, who have among the IPL’s best bowling attacks. Historically, Saha’s best position in the IPL has been to bat in the powerplay, and with Baistow not having fired as expected, Saha’s success at the top has lent much greater stability to the Sunrisers middle order with Williamson in there. The New Zealander was sorely missed when the Sunrisers crashed to a 12-run defeat against the Kings XI Punjab chasing only 127 for victory. Incidentally, the Sunrisers had crashed to a similar defeat in their first match against the Royal Challengers in IPL 2020 too, losing by 10 runs. Williamson had been absent from the XI then too, due to injury.

Likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Josh Philippe, 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 Gurkeerat Singh Mann, 6 Shivam Dube/Moeen Ali, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Isuru Udana/Navdeep Saini, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra ChahalSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2. Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Shahbaz Nadeem, 10 T Natarajan, 11 Sandeep Sharma

Previous meeting

It was both teams’ first match of IPL 2020, and the Sunrisers were 121 for 2, needing 43 runs in 4.5 overs with Bairstow on song, when Yuzvendra Chahal wrecked the middle order. Inexperience played a part in the collapse, as Sunrisers subsided to 153 all out, having lost a chase they looked in control of for large parts.The Sunrisers had gone with Mitchell Marsh as their fourth overseas player then, and he pulled up short without completing an over and hobbled out to bat at No.10. They’ve covered for Marsh with Jason Holder now, and they’ve got Williamson fit again.

Strategy punt

• Outside of the IPL, de Villiers has had a lot of success against Rashid Khan. But in the IPL, where Rashid has bowled to de Villiers as part of a generally strong bowling attack, it is the legspinner who has come out on top, with de Villiers taking only 17 runs off 16 balls and dismissed twice. Rashid has also had the better of Virat Kohli, with the Royal Challengers captain having taken 18 runs off 18 balls while being out once. Keeping Rashid for the men who will bat at No.3 and No.4 might be a good move for the Sunrisers.
• David Warner began IPL 2020 by batting conservatively, looking to play through the innings. While he did get 283 runs in his first eight matches, they came at a strike rate of 121.88, and a Smart Strike Rate of 116.83. In his last four games though, Warner has spoken about going “old school” and reverting to his attacking ways. His strike rate has gone to 167.03 and his Smart Strike Rate has shot up to 203.03, meaning Warner is effectively scoring almost twice as fast as he was. The quick scoring hasn’t come at the expense of runs: Warner has 152 runs in his last four games, and a much higher average (50.67 to 35.50). Continuing to be aggressive at the top seems to be the way to go for Warner.
• So how do the Royal Challengers counter Warner? Deploy Washington Sundar. He has a couple of factors going for him: he’s going to turn the ball away from Warner, he’s capable of adjusting line and length later than most bowlers, and he’s already bowled extensively in the powerplay this IPL and been among the most economical bowlers in the competition. Warner hasn’t been dismissed by Sundar, but he has taken only 22 runs off him from 22 balls faced – and it’s 20 off 20 in the powerplay. Keeping Warner quiet in the powerplay will be a significant advantage in itself, and could affect how the rest of the Sunrisers batting goes, much as it did before Warner rediscovered his free-stroking avatar.

Stats that matter

• None of these teams have gone through a season with an all-win record against the other when they’ve played at least two games, splitting wins each time. They played each other thrice in 2016, with Sunrisers beating the Royal Challengers in the IPL final.
• Of the ten IPL 2020 games played at Sharjah so far, the split between winning batting first and second is five-five. However, the last four matches at Sharjah have been won by the chasing team, with dew playing a more prominent role as the tournament has gone on too.
• Kohli has played 14 matches against the Sunrisers. He made more than 40 in six of his first seven games against them, but in the latter seven games, he has gone past 40 just once.

Top-order batsmen getting runs will be good news as the international season approaches

Firdose Moonda05-Nov-2020 Results Summary The Knights became the first team to record a win in this year’s first-class competition when they beat the Warriors by 179 runs in Bloemfontein. The match was Allan Donald’s first in charge of his home franchise and first as a head coach in South Africa.Whether the win would have been as resounding had the Warriors had a fully-fit squad to pick from is a matter of debate after six players were forced to withdraw ahead of this round of matches. As a result, the Warriors were without a significant number of their first-choice bowlers and it showed. Batting first, the Knights piled on 430 for 6, with all of their top five in the runs. In response, the Warriors managed only 158. The Knights’ 272-run lead gave them the luxury of being able to declare their second innings on just 93 for 8, setting the Warriors 366 to win. Given their first-innings effort, that was always going to be a bridge too far and they fell short by a distance.In Cape Town, the Titans came back from a first-innings deficit of 114 runs to beat the Cape Cobras by two wickets. They chased down 316 in the fourth innings of the game despite being bundled out for 150 in their first innings. The Cobras set the tone by declaring on 264 for 9 on day one, and took a big advantage into the second innings, where they scored 201. They would not have been too unhappy with setting the Titans a target over 300, but with several international batsmen and time on their side, the Titans won after lunch on the final day.Not long after that, the Dolphins joined the victory parade. They defied a rain-affected first-day to topple defending champions the Lions, who started proceedings with 258 in the first innings. If the Lions were wondering that was a middling total, the Dolphins replied with 458 for 3 declared, taking exactly the lead they would need – which was worth 200 runs – to push for an innings win. They didn’t get that, but needed just 11 runs to seal victory in a chase that lasted only 16 balls.Theunis de Bruyn plays the sweep•Associated Press

On the national radarPerhaps the best news for the new national selector Victor Mpitsang was that top-order batsmen performed well. Dean Elgar’s hundred made up more than two-thirds of the Titans’ first-innings total, while Theunis de Bruyn’s 127 took the Titans to victory.De Bruyn was dropped for last summer’s Tests but could force his way back in with form this season. Aiden Markram and Pieter Malan, two others competing for the openers’ role, could only manage scores of 2 and 48, and 51 and 1, respectively. Worryingly, Rassie van der Dussen’s returns were just 1 and 10 and Temba Bavuma, who was also captaining his franchise, made 43 and 25. Keegan Petersen, who trained with the South African squad last summer, made a strong case with his 173 for the Dolphins against the Lions.None of South Africa’s frontline Test bowlers were in action at home with all of them occupied at the IPL, but spinner Keshav Maharaj showed his ability to close out games. He opened the bowling for the Dolphins in the Lions’ second innings and took 6 for 101 to bowl his team to a win. George Linde, who made his Test debut in India last year, took nine wickets for the Cobras to become the early leader on the wicket charts, followed by Tabraiz Shamsi and Maharaj with seven wickets each, making the top three bowlers after round one all spinners.International allrounders Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius were in action, with Pretorius carrying a heavier bowling load. He bowled first change for the Lions – after Beuran Hendricks and Sisanda Magala – and delivered 21 overs, which brought him 1 for 44. Phehlukwayo only bowled in the Lions’ first innings and sent down 13 overs, with a return of 1 for 49.Reeza Hendricks gets behind the line•Getty Images

Top performers The Knights’ Jacques Snyman became the first batsman to score a century in this first-class competition before lunch since Rilee Rossouw did it back in 2010 to register his first century at the franchise level. His opening partner Matthew Kleinveldt scored 73, as Raynard van Tonder got 85 at No. 3.Also at the top of the order, Sarel Erwee’s 199 set the Dolphins up for their big win. Reeza Hendricks made 76 for the Lions and although the Warriors did not have much success with the bat, Matthew Breetzke’s 77 at the top of the order also sent a message to the selectors. In the middle order, Kyle Verreynne’s second-innings 85 for the Cobras stood out in an otherwise lean scorecard.Lizaad Williams, who moved upcountry from the Cape this season, is the leading seam bowler after the first round with six wickets. He took 4 for 51 in the Cobras’ first innings and 2 for 23 in the second to finish with an average of 12.33.

“It’s disappointing when you drop catches, and we didn’t take the review on Williamson”

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Dec-2020A “mature” Shaheen Afridi was left “disappointed” with Pakistan’s fielding on day one of the Mount Maunganui Test, as the team dropped three catches against New Zealand, failing to take full advantage of their decision to bowl first.Pakistan started the day strongly, reducing the hosts to 13 for 2 inside 11 overs, but could only pick up one more wicket till the end of play, as New Zealand ended with 222. Afridi returned figures of 3 for 55, while the other five bowlers, including the experienced Mohammad Abbas and Yasir Shah, all went wicketless. Pakistan will be particularly frustrated considering how well they did to squeeze the flow of runs, but allowed the momentum to slip away as two catches off Naseem Shah were put down, while Haris Sohail dropped a relatively straight catch at slips, off Afridi. Pakistan also missed a review on a potential Kane Williamson lbw, denying them the chance to have a go at New Zealand’s middle order.

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“They batted hard but I am 100% frustrated by the dropped catches. It’s disappointing when you drop catches, and we didn’t take the review (on Williamson),” Afridi said. “We did try to get wickets early on with new balls and took two wickets but if you don’t take catches it will be difficult. It’s a part of the game but if you need to win matches you have to take catches and have to improve the fielding. They know how to play in their conditions so it is tough, but the ball is still new and tomorrow we will come hard to take wickets as early as possible.”Ross Taylor, who became the most capped player for New Zealand, was playing Afridi for the second time in his career and acknowledged the progress the fast bowler had made since making his debut as an 18-year-old in Abu Dhabi two years ago. Overall, Afridi has dismissed Taylor twice in three innings, bowling 32 dot balls and conceding just 31 runs. Afridi and Abbas shared the major chunk of the workload on Saturday, bowling a combined 41 overs.”I think when we first played him, obviously I think it was his first test. He is lot more mature now and the way he’s trying to set you up, I think it’s quite often a left-arm ball that doesn’t necessarily swing back as much. But I thought, you know, when the ball was 50 overs old, he was still swinging. He picked and choose when to use it.”He’s got a slippery bumper, you know, he’s only going to get better. And I’m sure he’s going to enjoy obviously this wicket. But in Christchurch as well. And I think, you know, Pakistan, they’re going to see a very, very good bowler in years to come.”

Chennai clash will be first Test match on UK terrestrial TV since the 2005 Ashes

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2021Test cricket is set to return to free-to-air television in the UK for the first time in more than 15 years, after Channel 4 struck a deal with Star Sports, the global rights holders, to broadcast England’s Test series against India.The four-match series, which begins in Chennai on Friday, will be the first Tests to be shown by a terrestrial broadcaster in the UK since Channel 4 themselves hosted the fifth and final match of the 2005 Ashes.However, the broadcaster did make a return to cricket in a one-off capacity for the 2019 World Cup final, when England’s thrilling Super Over victory over New Zealand at Lord’s attracted 15.4 million viewers over the course of the day.Subsequent ECB research suggested that a third of that figure was watching cricket for the first time, and with the UK currently under national lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Channel 4 are understood to be confident of attracting significant interest in a series that will be on air from 4am until past midday – and also features a day-night fixture that will begin at 9am UK time.Channel 4’s Chief Content Officer Ian Katz said: “This is fantastic news for all cricket fans in the UK. It’s been a long 16-year wait for the return of live Test cricket to free to air television but it couldn’t have come at a better time. What better antidote to the lockdown blues than an England Test series in sunny India.”Channel 4’s Head of Sport Pete Andrews and Penny Mills, Head of Sports Rights, led the broadcaster’s negotiations to secure the deal.Andrews added: “We’re delighted to be showing live Test cricket on Channel 4 again and given the recent performances of both sides this series is set to be a cracker. We’re thrilled to have struck this deal with Star Sports.”Aside from the last Ashes series in Australia in 2017-18, which was shown on BT Sport, this will be the first overseas England Test not to have been shown on Sky Sports since their coverage of England cricket began on the tour of the Caribbean in 1989-90.Channel 4 will take the world live feed commentary from Star, and is expected to announce its studio presentation team in due course.

PCB has also negotiated tie-ups in North America, the Caribbean, Africa and New Zealand

Umar Farooq22-Jan-2021Despite a shrinking broadcast market, the PCB has managed to secure a three-year deal to televise all home internationals and the Pakistan Super League in the UK with Sky Sports. Having already signed a landmark deal with state broadcaster Pakistan Television (PTV) to take care of the local market, they have also negotiated tie-ups in North America (Willow TV), the Caribbean (Flow Sports), Africa (Supersport) and New Zealand (Sky Sport),The PCB’s focus now shifts to finding a suitable party that will air their matches in the biggest region for cricket viewership – South Asia; mainly India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Discussions with potential broadcasters are already underway in the region – and in Australia and the Middle East as well – but ESPNcricinfo understands that if they fail to secure a deal, they may go with the open streaming services available in the respective countries. Through it all though, the PCB will retain sole control of the entire production and will only provide a feed to the broadcaster.Pakistan’s broadcast deals for the next three years•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“The PCB had worked in close collaboration with its international media rights consultant Colgan Bauer and carried out a stringent analysis of each market,” a press release from the board said. “This included devising rights packaging and processes to enhance competition and quality broadcasters from all markets.”The PTV deal – estimated to yield USD 200 million – and those with other broadcasters around the world ends a period of uncertainty for the board. They had struck their previous two deals with Ten Sports, owned by Sony Pictures Sports Network. But with political ties strained between Pakistan and India, it has been more difficult to negotiate this time, the PCB ultimately missing out on a major broadcaster with wider global reach. So they are looking at other options.

Sony India gets rights to Pakistan cricket

The PCB has also announced that Sony Pictures Network India has won the broadcast rights to Pakistan’s home series for three years. The deal is inclusive of internationals played in the country, and the PSL.
“Through this deal, cricket fans in South Asia will be able to follow and enjoy high-quality cricket action in Pakistan across all formats,” PCB chief executive Wasim Khan said of the deal.

“Despite the challenging Covid-19 times, these remain incredibly exciting times for Pakistan cricket,” PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan said. “The homecoming of all cricket has attracted leading sport broadcast partners to place Pakistan cricket on their networks which, in turn, will provide enhanced access to our fans and supporters across the world to follow and stay connected with us.”This is a huge achievement for the PCB, not only in terms of succeeding in taking cricket to our global fans through these popular networks but to also maximise and exploit our media rights to ensure we continue to invest in our player welfare and development as well as cricketing infrastructure. The interest of these global sport networks also reflects that Pakistan cricket remains an attractive product for the international broadcasters. We now need to make our product bigger and stronger so that we can extend these partnerships and relationship beyond 2023.”Pakistan has a packed home season at home starting with the South Africa Tests from January 26 followed by the sixth edition of PSL with 34 matches. As the year goes on, they are also set to host New Zealand (white-ball), England (men’s and women’s T20Is) and West Indies (white-ball). And in 2022, Australia is due for a full tour with England and New Zealand returning for Test and ODI series. The 2023 calendar is still being chalked out.

Joe Root resists temptation to pair Broad and Anderson with heavy itinerary still to come

Matt Roller12-Feb-2021England will make a call between the pace of Olly Stone and the control of Chris Woakes as they decide on an XI for the second Test in Chennai, with Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad and Ben Foakes confirmed as replacements for Dom Bess, James Anderson and Jos Buttler.
Joe Root named a 12-man squad in his press conference on Friday morning, with the decision as to which seamer comes into the side to replace the injured Jofra Archer to be made after England’s training session. Stone, who is the quickest available bowler in England’s squad, can hit speeds in excess of 90mph/145kph and is the closest like-for-like replacement for Archer, while Woakes would lengthen their batting line-up and provide greater control.With Buttler returning home as part of England’s rotation policy and Archer ruled out with an elbow injury, England were forced to make at least two changes. And Root confirmed that they would make four: Anderson has been rested ahead of the day-night Test in Ahmedabad, and Bess has been dropped after an inconsistent showing in the first Test. Stone has not played for England in any format since his Test debut against Ireland in July 2019, while Woakes is yet to make an appearance this winter after playing five out of six home Tests last summer.”There’s two different ways we can go,” Root said. “We can have the same balance [in the] side in terms of straight like-for-like swaps with Stone and Broad coming in for Archer and Anderson, or Woakes could come into things as well which adds to the batting and obviously gives us a huge amount of control with the ball.”We will make those decisions off the back of today, look at the wicket, get a bit more information a day out, and either way it looks like we have a very strong squad on this wicket.”Root admitted that he had been tempted to back Anderson to play what would have been his third Test in four weeks following his devastating spell of reverse-swing bowling on the final day of the first Test, but said that his omission was a reflection of England’s desire to keep him fit for the rest of the series.Anderson had vowed to put his “name in the hat” for selection in the second Test after his match-winning efforts in the first, but England have instead opted to continue their ploy of fielding only one of him and Broad in a single side this winter.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“”It gives him [Anderson] the best opportunity to be fit and available for those last two games,” Root said. “Everyone’s heart was in favour of him being available for this game but also you have to look at the bigger picture and ideally if he is available for two of the last three, that is a huge asset for us [with] the way he is bowling and his reputation, as well as his numbers and the way he has performed in recent games.”While it may come as a surprise to see England make four changes on the back of a dominant 227-run win in the first Test, Root said that it demonstrated their depth and their desire to be proactive rather than reactive in ensuring that their bowlers remain fresh throughout the tour.”It’s really important that we go into every game with the attack that we think is best going to exploit 20 wickets [sic] and get the best out of the surface. Whether that comes down to freshness, or making sure that over a series, guys are going to get through with the quick turnaround and the amount of workload that there is in this part of the world… you have to factor everything into it.Related

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• All the things Root did right against India's spinners in Chennai

• Crawley out of first two Tests against India with wrist sprain

“We’ve seen since Covid that the number of injuries has probably gone up around world cricket, and we’re trying to stay ahead of that and look after our players, and make sure that guys can get through a Test match and keep adding [to the side], not seeing performances dip off throughout. When you’ve got guys on the sidelines like Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali coming into this game, proven performers in Test cricket, that’s an exciting place to be.”Someone like Stoney, he hasn’t played a huge amount of cricket but has so much potential and excitement about what he can bring to the fore. It’s taken a huge amount of time to build this squad up, but now we’ve got the opportunity to utilise it all and to have that freshness going into games like this. They’ve got a great chance now to show what they can do in an England shirt.”Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood both arrived back in India on Friday, having flown home to rest after the series in Sri Lanka, but Sam Curran has been given a few extra days of down-time. Root confirmed that Foakes will keep wicket in the rest of the series barring injury, and that Bairstow will be considered exclusively as a specialist batsman.Root also said that he expects Archer to be “fully fit and ready to go for the rest of the series” after missing the second Test, and predicted that Ben Stokes would have a bigger role to play with the ball in the second Test after getting through 10 overs across both innings of the first.”He can provide that aggression and it looks like he’s getting fitter and stronger the more he gets into the tour,” Root said. “We had to be quite smart about him in the last game – he looked a bit uncomfortable at times – but the more and more he bowled in each spell he looked more comfortable.”I think he will go from strength to strength as you normally see from Ben – the more he gets into a series the more you get from him. You can bet that in those big moments, he will be the one asking for the ball, trying to change things and make a real impact. It is very exciting that there is more from him to come.”

Says his only mistake was not to report a corrupt approach, and he was never involved in “these things”

Peter Della Penna16-Mar-2021Mohammad Naveed, the former UAE captain, has declared his intention to begin a fight to restore his reputation after the ICC handed down an eight-year ban to both Naveed, 33, and his team-mate Shaiman Anwar, 42, for breaching the ICC’s anti-corruption code. Naveed will be 40 by the time the ban, which is back-dated to his provisional suspension date of October 16, 2019, is due to end.It effectively means his career as a professional cricketer is over unless the ban is overturned. Naveed took to Twitter shortly after the sentence was announced on Tuesday to swing back at the ICC for the penalty handed out to him.”Played my Cricket with sincerity from an associate player reached rank 10 cz I always performed for my passion and respect,” Naveed tweeted. “Just one mistake not reported corrupt approach but never involved in these things. Witnesses and all people from these things said m [sic] not involved.”So my request to all. I will fight for my right and honor don’t want leave Cricket with bad words. According to all things m [sic] not involved and Management asked me to accept and get 3 year ban how can banned 8 years sorry but as attack bowler will fight.”In reply to a tweet from ICC ACU coordinator of investigations Steve Richardson linking to the ICC’s announcement of the eight-year ban, Naveed replied, “You have any proof against me please show.” Naveed responded to Paul Radley of the , who has worked as a beat reporter covering the UAE national team for more than a decade.”I want open media tribunal,” Naveed wrote. “If they have proof just show on media openly I am a fighter as I always bowl in pressure will face every thing. Don’t want to leave my cricket with bad and dirty way. All other players in the world are getting 2 year 3 year ban after accepting everything even I havnt [sic] done bad.”Anwar also tweeted for the first time in close to a year in Tuesday night. Like Naveed, he also sought to criticize the ICC’s decision despite the evidence against him.”It’s totally unfair decision we are getting punishment on those which are not happened,” Anwar wrote. “As associated players imagine who can offer us a big money.”