This exciting, unpredictable opening stage of the T20 World Cup, with its feel-good stories and heartwarming heroics, has made the tournament seem like a global event

Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Jun-2024On a sticky Providence evening on June 5, Riazat Ali Shah hit a vital 33 against Papua New Guinea. Earlier in the evening, his team-mate Frank Nsubuga had taken two wickets for just four, helping reduce PNG to 77.Nsubuga and Riazat both contributed heavily to Uganda’s first World Cup win. But they had travelled wildly different paths to get here.Nsubuga came to cricket through his family. His father was a bartender at the Lugogo Cricket Club in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. When he and his brothers began messing around at the club, they developed a love for the sport. The brothers showed enough early talent that club members encouraged them to keep at it, helping out with coaching and equipment when required. Nsubuga made his debut for East Africa aged 16, and now at, 43 years old, he runs at least ten kilometres before team training starts, in order to keep himself sufficiently fit to compete with cricketers two decades younger than him.Related

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Riazat wasn’t even born when Nsubuga appeared in his first international, in 1997. And no one from Riazat’s village, tucked deep in the gloriously scenic Hunza Valley of the Karakoram range in north Pakistan, could ever have imagined the shape his life would take.Riazat came to Uganda circuitously, meeting some Ugandan-based players at an Ismai’li Games event in the UAE, who then convinced him to move his whole life there to pursue his dream of playing international cricket. He now has a player-of-the-match award in a World Cup.All through the opening stages of this tournament, we’ve encountered fascinating stories such as these. Perhaps you have been among many to have developed a crush on Saurabh Netravalkar, the Mumbai-born left-arm bowler whose Super Over delivered USA the biggest upset of the tournament , and the best result in their history – their win against Pakistan. That Netravalkar is an engineer for tech giant Oracle, and has marked himself out-of-office on Slack till June 17th, is now part of World Cup lore.In Texas, Nepal fans from all around the United States turned the Grand Prairie stadium dark blue, and were so raucous after each Nepal boundary and each Netherlands wicket that even through the TV it felt like a major final.Nepal’s fans turned Dallas blue at their first match of the 2024 T20 World Cup, against Netherlands•ICC/Getty ImagesYou imagine Nsubuga’s father wiping glasses behind the counter as he watches his kids (three of whom would play for Uganda, by the way) hit balls in the field. You imagine Netravalkar setting that out-of-office message, his bowling spikes already packed in a bag at home. You wonder what kinds of conversations are being had in school playgrounds in Kathmandu and Pokhara, about when exactly Nepal lost that match against Netherlands. And, vitally, cricket ceases to feel like a mere obsession slavered over in a handful of former British colonies, and more like a sport with a genuinely global footprint. One that is finding new stories, because for once it has made peace with the possibility that mismatches may occur, and upsets that put profitable teams (from the broadcasters’ perspective) out of the competition may also take place.There have, of course, been problems that are well-documented. The match times are nuts: if you’re watching in South Asia it feels like two tournaments are running at once, one at dawn, and one late in the evening. Some teams, Sri Lanka in particular, have complained about less-than-ideal travel arrangements. And the pitches in New York have not favoured the kinds of batting spectacles audiences have come to expect of the format.And yet it’s hard to get away from the feeling that in the early going, this World Cup has had the vibe that some of the best sporting events in the world, like the FIFA World Cups and the Olympics, capture: it has felt like a festival, a global celebration of cricket that has brought life to a greater spread of fans than many cricket World Cups past have.Even the unintended consequences are fun. In the last week, as cricket has made its most naked attempt yet to breach the US market, fierce arguments, with supporting videos, gifs, armchair biomechanics breakdowns, and good old-fashioned internet shouting have broken out on various social media platforms (X in particular) between cricket and baseball fans. The fights are essentially about which sport produces the more impressive physical feats.On the fielding front there may even be some intellectual legitimacy in making the comparison. Baseball is all over cricket when it comes to throwing, but compared to catches that cricketers routinely take, those mitts-on catches are weak. Going into the United States specifically to woo a new audience but ending up enraging them instead is also one of the most typically cricket things to happen to cricket.Helped by some upsets – USA over Pakistan, of course, but also Canada beating Full Member Ireland, and Afghanistan stomping their way through their group so far, there is a joyous anarchy here.Techie-turned-hero Saurabh Netravalkar has gone from obscurity to being one of the talking points of the World Cup•AFP via Getty ImagesEspecially joyous, and especially anarchic, because we are, unquestionably, living in the era of Big Cricket. If you haven’t clocked it, this is a business first, and an equitable sport second. Pakistan and India always play in the group stages, tournaments are designed to maximise the number of lucrative India matches, India know which semi-final they will play if they qualify, and oh, if we’re adding up ICC men’s limited-overs finals in the last ten years, seven were scheduled to be played in India, Australia, and England – the game’s three most profitable markets – and two for everywhere else (including the ongoing tournament). It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that the game’s richest sides have what constitutes a competitive advantage in ICC tournaments.Perhaps there is no stopping the inevitable march of capitalism, and India’s domination of the cricket economy. In this World Cup, no fewer than five other teams (Sri Lanka, South Africa, Scotland, Ireland, and the USA) are sponsored by Indian companies that barely sell products in foreign markets. Which means that for even established sides such as South Africa and Sri Lanka, no businesses from their own countries could match the power that companies that primarily make money in India bring to the table. It is already likely that for Sri Lanka, for example, a country of 22 million (and shrinking), the bigger market is casual Indian fans interested in Sri Lankan cricket rather than Sri Lanka fans themselves.Faced with this brutalist reality, a 20-team World Cup is life-giving. There will be time for higher-quality teams to be playing higher-quality teams. There will be, with a little luck, an intense Super Eights stage, and high-pressure semi-finals between the most elite sides that cricket has to offer. But for now, for a group stage, this is as good as it has been for a while.And if the ICC have overextended themselves in attempting to break new ground so desperately, this has to be among the more forgivable of their sins. For a change, it feels a lot more fun to be following an overambitious sport than one that has plonked itself down in familiar comforts and settled into profitable insularity.

The 2024 tournament has produced some exciting matches albeit on dodgy pitches

Ian Chappell15-Jun-2024Two of cricket’s greatest rivalries – India vs Pakistan and Australia vs England – were played in a 24-hour period during the 2024 T20 World Cup.While these fierce rivalries still generate great excitement, the Australia vs England bout fell short of expectations, with Australia winning the T20 match comfortably. India versus Pakistan always creates hysteria and once again this was the case even in New York as there are plenty of expats from both countries living in the USA.Going into the heavyweight bout India had only lost one World Cup contest to Pakistan and that was in the T20 format in 2021.Related

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India versus Pakistan, but different

This imbalance was partly explained years ago by a decorated Indian cricketer: “Pakistan tries to impress India,” he explained, “while we are only interested in having an impact on the West.”Pakistan cricket’s previous history may also help explain India’s stranglehold in their World Cup encounters. In early 1973 the Pakistan team were described as “Panikstan” because of the suicidal nature of their 92-run loss to Australia at the MCG. They then confirmed their newly acquired nickname by losing the third Test at the SCG by 52 runs despite only chasing a moderate target of 159.The “Panikstan” moniker was to the fore again in the 2024 World Cup as Pakistan lost a crucial contest to India in New York. After manoeuvring into a strong position where they were predicted to win, Pakistan capitulated and lost a low-scoring encounter by six runs.This was yet another typical big-brother-over-little-brother victory and that syndrome has weighed heavily on Pakistan in World Cup encounters.

There’s a highly competitive cricket rivalry still to be played in the Super Eight – India vs Australia. This has become a blockbuster contest in recent years.

Yet in Toronto in 1996 the two teams mixed amicably in a series at the suitably named Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club. The five-match series was tied at two-all when one Indian player hilariously noted: “The soldiers are lined up at the border armed with rocks but they don’t know which way to throw them.”So well did India and Pakistan get on that I asked a mixed group of players, “Why do the two countries fight wars when the players socialise comfortably?”The answer was revealing and yet concerning. “We understand each other and eat similar food,” said an Indian player, “and the people generally get on well but the politicians of each country like to keep the aggro simmering.”The pitches in the USA again generated controversy, particularly the New York venue, which attracted a lot of negative publicity and proved to be difficult for batters. In many cases a score just exceeding 100 proved to be a match-winner.The USA reputation for providing dodgy pitches isn’t a recent one. In September 1999, I covered an India A vs Australia A five-match series in Los Angeles, where the respective skippers were VVS Laxman and Adam Gilchrist, both of whom went on to enjoy illustrious international careers.The pitches on that occasion could only be described as “ropey”, especially when genuine pacemen like Brett Lee operated. Dodgy pitches were accepted with a shrug of the shoulders in 1999 but, with the USA team qualifying for the Super Eight and being promoted as a viable cricket nation, this is not good enough. Mind you, USA cricket has long been wracked by organisational turmoil and this could be yet another example of the chaos that exists among their administration.While T20 pitches should never totally favour batters, there’s no excuse for surfaces that are considered dangerous.There’s a highly competitive cricket rivalry still to be played in the Super Eight – India vs Australia. This has become a blockbuster contest in recent years.Even if these two teams provide yet another exciting contest, it shouldn’t camouflage the USA problem. If cricket wants to make headway in the USA it has to vastly improve the administration and their pitches, while also convincing locally born players it’s a game worth playing.

Poor batting, uninspired leadership and lack of bowling make for forgettable return to scene of greatest win

Matt Roller26-Oct-2024Rawalpindi was the scene of Ben Stokes’ best performance as England’s captain and this week, two years on, his worst. It took his side less than 24 hours to turn a position of dominance into a nine-wicket defeat in this series decider, to which Stokes’ own contribution was 15 runs, an uncharacteristically flat performance in the field, and no overs bowled.When Stokes has made mistakes as England captain they have generally been the result of overconfidence in his convictions, as in their defeats to New Zealand in Wellington or Australia at Edgbaston. This was something different, a loss that owed primarily to England’s own limitations as Stokes seemed to run out of ideas.That was certainly true of his batting on the final day, a nine-ball cameo with another farcical ending. After seeing Noman Ali find sharp spin from the footholes in his previous over, Stokes withdrew his bat when facing a delivery that hardly turned and was struck on the inner thigh of his back leg. Not many cowboys have offered no shot at a gunfight and lived to tell the tale.Even in a desperate situation, Stokes realised that asking for a review would have been futile and simply trudged back towards the dressing room. He had found a method and stuck to it in his second innings last week, sweeping almost every ball before his bizarre bat-flinging dismissal, but this leave betrayed a total lack of conviction against Pakistan’s spinners.Stokes will be more relieved than anyone else by England’s forthcoming schedule, which does not involve a return to the subcontinent for a Test until early 2027. His career average in Asia is now 26.46, dropping to just 18.00 across 14 innings this year. Having missed England’s win in Multan, he has now lost six overseas Tests in a row: four in India, and two in Pakistan.He suggested afterwards that he could not have done anything differently: “You see how hard everyone works on all aspects of their game, and sometimes those things just don’t fall right for you.” It felt like a moment of acceptance, with Stokes effectively conceding that he is not equipped to make runs on a turning surface like this, no matter how hard he trains.Stokes was unusually flat in the field as Pakistan dominated the agenda•Getty ImagesStokes’ captaincy on England’s previous tour to Pakistan was ingenious, manufacturing 60 wickets across three Tests played on lifeless pitches – none more so than in Rawalpindi. But this week, he let the game drift away on the second afternoon: Pakistan added 167 for their final three wickets, reinforcing a familiar trend that England struggle to finish teams off.Before the lunch break, elongated for Friday prayers, Stokes had used his legspinner brilliantly, giving Rehan Ahmed an in-out field for an eight-over spell which brought the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Agha and Aamer Jamal. But Rehan was not used until the ninth over of the middle session, and struggled to find his length after a change of ends.Gus Atkinson, meanwhile, did not bowl between the end of the 70th over and the start of the 96th, in which time Pakistan added 132 for 1. When he returned, he removed centurion Saud Shakeel with his sixth ball. Stokes himself did not bowl a ball in the match: “I just didn’t feel like my bowling was going to be anywhere near as threatening as the [other] options we had.”He was unusually irritable in Multan, and went as far as apologising to his team-mates after letting out his frustrations on them following a series of fielding errors on the third day. Stokes played up the role of the toss in that defeat but could not make the same excuse in Rawalpindi. “I’m very satisfied that we lost the toss and won the match,” Shan Masood, Pakistan’s captain, said.Related

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Stokes made clear that two months of rehabilitation from his hamstring tear had taken a lot out of him. “It’s felt like a very long tour,” he said. “Coming out here to try to get fit for the first Test, not fit for that, get fit for the second Test, played that, straight to the third…” It is not the Stokes way, but he might have been better served, physically and mentally, by missing the tour entirely.He finds himself at an interesting juncture. Stokes confirmed at the start of this tour that he has signed a new central contract, but has declined to say whether he will enter the upcoming IPL auction or whether he will return to Pakistan in February for the Champions Trophy. He has built his 2024 solely around Tests, but has so far averaged 24.66 with the bat and taken six wickets.Stokes seemed reluctant to introspect after the defeat, instead throwing forward to England’s upcoming tour to New Zealand. “The great thing about cricket’s schedule is the challenges that cricket throws at you,” he said. “You’ll be faced with one, you try to overcome that, but then very quickly, we’ve got another challenge in two or three weeks’ time, which is in New Zealand.”It is all very well trying to move on quickly, and England will not play in conditions like these at any stage in the next two years. But when Stokes reflects on these defeats, he will look not only at England’s familiar deficiencies when it comes to both playing and bowling spin, but his own shortcomings as captain.

The wicketkeeper-batter has been adamant about “failing or succeeding on my own terms” and against Bangladesh his method paid off

Hemant Brar13-Oct-20243:31

Samson: I’ve been thinking I can hit six sixes in an over

It is not often that Suryakumar Yadav ends up playing second fiddle on a day he scores 75 off 35 balls. But such was Sanju Samson’s knock in the third T20I against Bangladesh. Opening the innings in Hyderabad, a city that has given India two of its most stylish batters, Samson scored 111 off 47 in an exhibition of sublime hitting.It was the second-fastest T20I hundred for India, off 40 balls, and paved the way for their highest total in the format, 297 for 6. An on-song Samson makes batting look effortless, and it was no different on Saturday. Apart from that, it was also a masterclass in using the crease.Facing Taskin Ahmed in the second over, Samson stepped towards the leg side, gave himself room and drove the full and straight delivery through covers for four. For the next ball, Taskin shortened his length and straightened his line even more. Samson once again backed away and punched him inside out for four.With two more boundaries off the next two deliveries, Samson took 16 from Taskin’s first over. In the previous game, the fast bowler needed to complete all his four overs to give away that many.After messing with Taskin’s line, Samson used his footwork to toy with Mustafizur Rahman’s length. Against a slower ball, he took a couple of short steps down the pitch and hit it for a straight six. In Mustafizur’s next over, Samson went deep in his crease and, off the back foot, lofted a length ball over extra cover for another six. Even though Suryakumar showed his 360-degree range from the other end, this was arguably the shot of the day.Samson did not have to use much footwork against Rishad Hossain; the legspinner himself erred in length. He started the tenth over of the innings with a dot, but his next four deliveries were too full and Samson nonchalantly launched them down the ground for four sixes. For the final ball, Rishad went around the wicket. It made little difference as Samson pulled it over deep midwicket to make it five in a row.0:56

Seven records India smashed against Bangladesh

After the fifth six, Samson did a little fist pump. Later, he revealed the reason for it. “From the last two years, I have been thinking I can hit six sixes in an over,” he said. “Accordingly, I have been working with my mentor, Raiphi Gomez, and telling myself that four-five sixes in an over are possible and I should do something like that. So I have been practising and visualising it and I am very grateful it happened today.”In an innings that featured 11 fours and eight sixes, Samson’s most violent act was the celebration after his fifty: an air punch with full might to release the pent-up frustration of years.Samson’s has been a story of unfulfilled potential. In a T20I career that started in 2015 with a lot of promise, he had played only 32 matches before this one. In those, he scored 483 runs at an average of 19.32 and a strike rate of 132.69.There are two ways to look at it. First, he never got a proper run to settle in and perform at his best. Second, he did not make use of the chances he got. Even in the IPL, he had failed to do justice to his talent. He would start with a bang but fizzle out way too soon.Things, however, changed with IPL 2024, where he finished fifth on the batting charts, scoring 531 runs at an average of 48.27 and a strike rate of 153.46. As a result, he was picked in India’s squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup. But with Rishabh Pant being the first-choice wicketkeeper, he spent the whole tournament on the bench.After the World Cup, Samson toured Zimbabwe with a second-string Indian side and scored 58 off 45 balls in the fifth T20I. But when he fetched two ducks in his next two outings in Sri Lanka, he knew he was running out of chances.Sanju Samson: I wanted to perform. I wanted to show what I was capable of•BCCI”When you are playing for the country and you fail in a couple of games, you know pressure is there,” Samson said. “And I have to be honest, . I wanted to perform. I wanted to show what I was capable of.”The captain [Suryakumar] and the coach [Gautam Gambhir] kept telling me, ‘We know what type of talent you have, and we back you, no matter what.’ Not only in words but also in action. I was a bit doubtful after a couple of ducks in Sri Lanka if I would get a chance in the next series. But they backed me in this series.”Another thing the team management did was inform Samson well in advance about his new role.”The leadership group – Surya, Gautam and [assistant coach] Abhishek Nayar – told me three weeks before this series that I would be opening the innings. That gave me time for proper preparation. I went to the RR [Rajasthan Royals] academy and faced lots and lots of new-ball bowlers. So I was coming in this series 10% more ready than any other series.”Samson looked in good touch in the first T20I too but fell for 29 off 19 after miscuing one to deep midwicket. While walking back, he screamed in anger. Given India were chasing only 128, he could have knocked a few around and got to a fifty. But that would have been against the team’s ethos and his own character.”It can get very tricky – playing for India is not an easy thing,” he said. “When you have those failures, it’s easier to go back and say, okay, I should make some runs for myself in the next game. But I like to be myself. And I know what I am as a person, as a character.”For me, it’s all about people, it’s all about my friends, it’s all about my team. I like to go out and succeed or fail in my own way. That is what I have stuck to right from the time I started playing this game. It’s all about knowing your game, knowing your character. It’s all about being true to yourself.”His approach has finally brought success. With his hundred, he has at least turned the page, if not started a new chapter.

Whether his demotion to No. 7 was down to his own poor form, or an opponent-specific tactic, it has raised more questions than answers

Karthik Krishnaswamy22-Apr-20255:51

Knight on Pant batting at No. 7: It is ‘bizarre’

What were Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) thinking, on Tuesday night against Delhi Capitals (DC), when they pushed Rishabh Pant so far down the order that he batted outside the top six for the first time in the IPL since his debut season in 2016? What was Pant’s role in making this decision, as LSG’s captain?In a short, post-match interview with the broadcaster after LSG had lost the IPL 2025 match by eight wickets in Lucknow, Pant’s explanation was a terse one: “[The] idea was to capitalise. We sent [Abdul] Samad
to capitalise on a wicket like that, but after that [David] Miller came in, and we just really got stuck in the wicket, but eventually these are the things we’ve got to figure out and try to find our best combination going forward.”That statement calls for a little bit of unpacking. First, it was Samad who walked in at No. 4, Pant’s usual position, when LSG lost their second wicket in the 12th over. Perhaps what Pant meant by “capitalise” was that LSG were looking for quick runs, and felt that Samad – who had scored 20 off 11 balls and an unbeaten 30 off 10 in LSG’s last two games – could provide them some of those at that stage.Related

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There were signs already that this was an old-ball pitch, with the extent of reverse swing and grip for slower balls increasing as LSG’s innings progressed. With that in mind, LSG may have been looking to send Samad in when there was still a good chance of the ball coming on to the bat.The move didn’t come off on the day, with Samad caught and bowled by Mukesh Kumar for two off eight balls. Pant didn’t come out at the fall of Samad’s wicket either, or at the fall of the next wicket later in the same over, the 14th of LSG’s innings, when Mukesh bowled Mitchell Marsh with a yorker.David Miller walked in at No. 5, and he was followed to the crease by Ayush Badoni, who came off the substitutes’ bench for the second match running. It was also the second match in a row where LSG had used a batter as their Impact Player even though they batted first. Typically, teams name a batting-heavy starting XI if they bat first and replace one of their batters with a bowler.Badoni had come off the bench to score a crucial 34-ball 50 in LSG’s previous game against Rajasthan Royals (RR). In that game, he batted at No. 5 when LSG lost their third wicket – of Pant – in their eighth over. LSG may have felt then that they needed someone to come in and steady their innings and give their end-overs hitters more favourable entry points.In this match, Badoni came in with just six overs remaining. As it happened, he made a strong contribution, his 21-ball 36 giving LSG a bit of impetus at the death even as Miller – who made an unbeaten 14 off 15 balls – struggled at the other end.With the Miller-Badoni partnership stretching into the final over, Pant finally came to the crease with just two balls remaining. He tried to manufacture boundaries off both balls, but didn’t put bat to ball against either, with Mukesh bowling him as he attempted a reverse-scoop off the final ball.Pant has endured a difficult IPL 2025, and came into Tuesday’s game having scored just 106 runs in 108 balls across seven innings. This, perhaps, may have led him to demote himself – if he took the decision – behind batters in better form.His long-time Test-match team-mate Cheteshwar Pujara, however, was having none of it. “I genuinely don’t know what the thought process was,” he said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut. “There’s no doubt he should be batting up the order. He’s trying to do what MS Dhoni does, but he’s nowhere near [Dhoni’s age].5:50

‘An under-pressure captain affects the whole team’

“I still feel he’s someone who should be batting in the middle overs, between [overs] six and 15. He’s not a finisher, and he shouldn’t be doing the job of a finisher.”Pujara’s co-panelist Nick Knight, the former England opener, felt he could accept the reasons for the move, but didn’t like the optics.”I’ve not really a problem with Badoni batting at four-five,” Knight said. “I see some rationale in that, because I think he’s playing well, and I think he’s more likely to score runs than Rishabh Pant. There’s the problem. Samad you could probably say the same, he’s more likely to score runs than Rishabh Pant. David Miller, you could say the same.”When you look at the decision-making, perhaps in rationale it makes some sense. Where I don’t like it at all is it just doesn’t look very good. There is your captain, sliding, going backwards in the batting order when you really need him to step up. He’s the one that’s going to be standing up and talking in front of your team, he’s the one who’s leading you out there. He’s your leader, and it just doesn’t look great when the leader is going the other way.”From that perspective that’s my problem, because I would agree – Badoni is probably more likely to score runs, etc etc. It doesn’t look right.”A second-order glance at Pant’s IPL 2025 numbers throws up a more specific reason for his demotion: a tactical retreat against spin. Coming into Tuesday’s game, he had struggled against both styles of bowling, but while he had managed a strike rate of 117.46 against pace, he had gone at just 71.11 against spin.2:29

Why is Rishabh Pant more successful in Tests than T20s?

This pattern had held true even during his one sizeable innings of the season, a 49-ball 63 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). In that innings, he had scored 18 off 23 balls against the spinners and 45 off 26 against the faster bowlers. The bulk of the damage he had done against the quicks had come late in LSG’s innings. Batting on 40 off 39 at the start of the 18th over, Pant had hit three sixes in his next ten balls, off the pace of Matheesha Pathirana and Khaleel Ahmed.And so, like a number of batters have done before him in the IPL – including fellow keeper-batters Dinesh Karthik and Dhoni – Pant on Tuesday may have been looking to hold himself back with match-ups in mind, with DC still having two overs of Kuldeep Yadav left when Badoni joined Miller. That Pant ended up getting to face just two balls wasn’t in his control; the partnership between Miller and Badoni ended up consuming 34 balls.For all that, though, there’s one major difference between the cases of Karthik or Dhoni for a delayed entry point and that of Pant. Karthik and Dhoni have been finishers for most of their T20 careers, and for large parts of those careers were deemed to be pace-hitting specialists. Pant has mostly batted through the middle overs, and for much of his career has been a brilliant, unconventional hitter of spin.Of late, though, his output against spin has dwindled. Pant had strike rates of 147 or more against that style of bowling in each of his first four IPL seasons. Since 2020, he has gone at sub-120 strike rates in four out of five seasons, including the current one.Pant is just 27, though, and may yet have time on his side to reverse this downturn against spin; Karthik and Dhoni were in their mid-to-late 30s by the time they became pigeonholed as pace-hitters. It’s unlikely Pant sees himself in the finisher’s role in the long term anyway, given the damage his style of play – involving manipulation of fields and hitting the ball in unusual areas – can cause through the middle overs.A top-order role, in fact, is perhaps better suited to Pant’s strengths if he’s looking to avoid a confrontation with spin, or to face it on slightly easier terms, with powerplay field restrictions on his side. But with LSG boasting one of the most in-form opening partnerships of IPL 2025 in Marsh and Aiden Markram, and with their No. 3 Nicholas Pooran in exceptional form and sitting second on the Orange Cap standings, there perhaps isn’t a top-order slot for Pant to occupy without causing what he and the team management may feel is unnecessary disruption.Rishabh Pant came in at No. 7, and was bowled second ball•Associated PressSo the move down to a finisher’s role may be an entirely temporary one tailored to the circumstances LSG and Pant are currently in. It may even just be opponent-specific. In this match against DC, Pant may have felt he was likelier to contribute meaningfully if he avoided a showdown with one of the tournament’s best spinners in Kuldeep. It’s instructive that the one other time he demoted himself in this manner – in LSG’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 8, when he eventually didn’t bat at all – was against another of the IPL’s better spin-bowling teams.There may have been enough reasons, then, for Pant to have held himself back as he did on Tuesday, but one puzzling question still remains: why use Badoni as Impact sub when he could have been part of the starting XI, and allowed LSG to bring in a bowler later in the game? This question has carried a particular sense of urgency in LSG’s last two games, when their bench has included the exciting, 150kph-breaching Mayank Yadav, who is nearing a highly anticipated return from back and toe injuries that have kept him out of action since October 2024.The answer, perhaps, is that LSG don’t feel Mayank is as yet fit to bowl his full four-over quota, and that they have started their last two games with a five-bowler XI with the idea of potentially bringing Mayank on for a one- or two-over burst if they got through the first half of their match without needing to bolster their batting. That, however, didn’t happen either against RR or DC.

The NZ allrounder speaks about growing up in a cricketing family, the challenge of bowling offspin to right-handers, and the planning that helps the team take down bigger oppositions

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Mar-202521:24

The evolution of New Zealand cricket – Tim Southee has the story

There are so many New Zealand cricketers and Plunket Shield cricketers from the Bracewell family. What was it like to grow up around all that?
Yeah, I think it was inspiring to know that your family members have played for New Zealand. For me, it was an interesting one. I grew up down in Dunedin which is quite far from the rest of my family. All the rest of my family were up north.We saw them for Christmas holidays or school holidays every now and again, but we were kind of removed from the family in many respects. I have a brother and sister, and we played a lot of backyard cricket and rugby and things like that. Dad [Mark Bracewell] was a school teacher, so he coached our First XI and First XV (rugby) teams.I idolised my dad growing up and he taught me a lot of the values of how he thought the game should be played. That’s probably the most inspirational part for me – he instilled the right way to play cricket, and sport in general.There must have been some epic backyard cricket games when you all got together for Christmas – some crazy ones where so many people who had played for New Zealand were involved…
I think we came together very rarely as a family but when we did, sport was obviously what brought us close. We played a lot of forceback which is a rugby-kicking game. Cricket battles were particularly intense. One thing we all like to do is be competitive and I think that shines through when you watch any of us play.We like to play as part of a team and really compete as a team. That’s one thing that as a family we pride ourselves on as being good team-mates and trying our best for the team. I guess that comes from a love of rugby and cricket.Every good backyard cricket game has one or two people who never think they’re out, who think that everything that hits the legs are lbws. Who were those kinds of people in your big family games?
I think my brother and I used to have some really good battles. We would always end in a fight at some point around a dubious lbw decision or caught behind. I swear that I used to walk when I hit it, but he would argue on the contrary.They were great games. He’s three years older than me, so he was always challenging me and a lot more skilful than I was and bigger than I was. I never really won many of the arguments as I was growing up.I think part of having to deal with an umpire’s decision and just getting on with it comes from those battles with my brother in the backyard.Related

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You mentioned that your dad instilled some values about how he thought the game should be played. Could you just talk a little bit about that?
He always wanted me to play fair and hard, with a smile on my face, I think. He never pressured me to go play professional sports or anything like that. He just wanted me to enjoy it and have fun.I think I saw a lot of other parents growing up putting a lot of pressure on their children to perform, whereas our conversations were all around did you have fun and that sort of thing. I think that for me puts sport in perspective a little bit. At the end of the day, it’s just a game that we’re playing and it’s not life or death what we’re doing. But if you can enjoy it and accept that there’s going to be hard times and there’s going to be good times and not try and ride the highs and lows too much then hopefully your performance will stay nice and consistent. Making sure that you’re having fun and doing what you love is super important for any young kid out there.Watching this New Zealand team over the last 10 years a lot of those values that you’re talking about seem very much part of the team DNA. Did that upbringing set you up to fit into this team culture?
Absolutely. It’s definitely something that we focus on as a team is not getting too high or too low and just taking it as it comes. I think Mitch Santner, in particular in this tournament, has been amazing at keeping the team nice and calm and not getting overawed by a situation, but also understanding that there’s important moments and we need to try and win those moments. It’s been a really enjoyable team to be a part of and I think part of the reason for that is it so closely aligns with how I enjoy playing the game as well.We’ve got a special group together for this tournament and everyone’s really enjoying each other’s company and having a lot of fun out on the field. Part of the reason is you’re having a bit of success, but I think even if we weren’t having the success on the field, we’d still be having a lot of fun and enjoying each other’s company anyway.Bracewell: “We’ve got a special group together for this tournament and everyone’s really enjoying each other’s company and having a lot of fun out on the field”•ICC/Getty ImagesIf you look at the tournament history over the last 10 years, New Zealand has had an incredible run of getting to semis and finals against what you’d say are much better-resourced teams. How do you feel those values interact with the way you guys are able to take down those oppositions?
It’s almost a bit of the Kiwi way. Kiwi ingenuity is a real thing. You just try to find a way and everyone mucks in. When we shake some of the opposition’s hands and you see how many support staff, they have with them it’s quite overwhelming at times – the amount of people and staff that these opposition teams have.I think that’s a real strength of our group. Everyone has to muck in. You have to give someone throwdowns at the end of training when you’re done to make sure that they’re well prepared. I think you learn a lot about someone else’s game by doing those little things. Everyone in our team is willing to help out and make sure that we’re all ready to go. I think that creates a really great bond between the team.I guess that puts us in good stead when we’re in those tough situations as well. We really understand each other’s game. If you’ve thrown balls to someone for a number of years and then you’re in a tough situation and you understand their game, then you can offer them a little bit more advice than perhaps if you’re relying on support staff or other people to help in those situations. I think it’s actually a real strength of ours.We’re not under-resourced because we’ve got great coaches, but I guess everyone having to muck in and do their little bit gives us a really good understanding of each other’s games.It sounds like you’re saying that there’s a lot of knowledge in the way that New Zealand do things. When you’re playing a better-resourced opposition, is there a hunger to learn about their game as well and to use your strategy really effectively?
I think there’s no secret that we leave no stone unturned. The homework that we do and the preparation that we do leading into games is really important. The communication around how the conditions are on that game is a huge focus for us. I’m sure other teams do that as well. But for us it’s trying to understand how the wicket’s playing and then playing accordingly.We’ve got guys who have played all around the world in different conditions. We rely heavily on guys like Kane [Williamson] and Mitch and Matt Henry to pass on their knowledge of playing in these different conditions, to help us figure out a way to particularly bowl on these surfaces. We’ve got a sprinkle of youth and experience throughout the batting order.Those conversations don’t stop with the batters either. We’re constantly talking about how we can attack different things. I think the value of friendship-based cricket is what we’re seeing in our team as well where guys have played all around the world and with and against high quality international players. You sort of pick their brains around what they’re doing and then try to take that back to the New Zealand team as well.

“We rely heavily on guys like Kane and Mitch and Matt Henry to pass on their knowledge of playing in these different conditions”Bracewell on the knowledge sharing that happens in the New Zealand dressing room

Have there been any plans or strategies that you’ve come up with as a group that you can’t believe worked as well as they did?
I wouldn’t say they’re ground-breakingly different strategies to what any other team is using. I think there’s one thing having the strategy and that’s having the ability to be able to execute on that strategy.I guess Matt Henry’s a really good example of that. We’ve obviously played on wickets in Pakistan and Dubai that aren’t super seamer-friendly, but he always seems to find a way to exploit a batsman’s technique or whatever it is. He just has a funny knack of picking up key wickets at key times.I think he’s one in particular that’s led our bowling attack in this campaign. His ability to get the ball to move sideways off unresponsive wickets is pretty amazing. You look at the way he got Shubman Gill out in Dubai in our last game when bowlers weren’t really getting a lot of movement off the wicket as one example.1:07

What makes New Zealand handle emotions better than other teams?

You came to spin bowling fairly late in life. Did you have any advice from your uncle John or any of the Bracewell clan around making that move?
I speak quite regularly with John around bowling and the philosophy of it. I think a lot of what we talk about is how you can train to improve. I don’t have the years of experience of bowling in a lot of games, so it’s about how can I keep learning even when I’m at training. It’s about how you can maximise your learning opportunities in any situation. That’s been hugely beneficial for me. Whether it’s a net session or things like that, seeing where the ball is going and understanding how different balls are played and how the ball reacts on different surfaces and just trying to learn from every moment that you can has been huge advice for me from John. He’s been hugely helpful.It’s extremely unusual for New Zealand to have as many spin options in an XI. It probably never has happened in a New Zealand team. What is it like to have all these guys, Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips – everybody able to contribute and have a big spin-bowling core?
It’s been awesome. We bounce heaps of ideas off each other. We’re all keen to keep improving and we lean on Mitch Santner a lot for that. He’s obviously the most experienced and the best bowler out of us. We’re all trying to pick his brains and he’s done it for a number of years.The way that he does it – he’s a different style. He tends to take the pace off the ball. Glenn and I both bowl offspin but we’re quite different offspinners. I’m a bit taller and get a bit more bounce whereas he brings the stumps into play a lot more. Rachin and Mitch are left-arm orthodox spinners but also very different in the way they approach things.Even though we’ve got two left-arm orthodox and two offspinners, we’re all very different. I think that really helps. We definitely talk a lot about what the conditions are like and what ball is hardest to hit but we also approach the game quite differently in the way that we play. We all have that batting element as well which is hugely beneficial to the balance of our side too.Michael Bracewell began his career as a batter and back-up wicketkeeper before he reinvented himself as an offspinner•ICC via Getty ImagesIs there something specifically that you’ve learnt from any of the other three guys that you can point to and say I wouldn’t have learnt that if it wasn’t for picking this person’s brain?
I’ve spoken to Mitch a lot about varying pace and how he does it. The subtleties of that is one thing that sets him apart in world cricket. His ability to change his pace without changing his action at all – it’s just in the subtleties of his wrist and I think that’s something that I’ve learnt from, trying to be a bit more unpredictable.Growing up in New Zealand you have to be able to beat guys in the air because the wickets don’t offer a lot of assistance in terms of sideways movement, so we’re usually pretty good at being able to change our pace but I guess trying to make it as hard for the batters to read it as possible is the challenge.In this tournament specifically is there a spell or a wicket you’re especially fond of?
I’ve enjoyed bowling in Pakistan to be honest. I think the difference is that because I’m quite tall I get quite a lot of bounce and often I’m over top of the stumps or the ball sits in the wicket a little bit whereas the wickets over there seem to not bounce quite as much so I’m bringing the stumps into play a lot more. That’s something that I’m going to have to be able to adapt to [for the final in Dubai] is the different length that you have to bowl over here that the ball sits in the wicket a little bit more, so you have to be slightly fuller and bring the stumps into play a bit more.I think that’s the great challenge of international cricket – you play in different parts of the world, and it can even be in the same tournament that you’re playing in two quite different places to bowl, so you have to be quick to learn. I think the experience that we had playing here against India a week ago will certainly put us in good stead for that. We’re the lucky team that’s had to play them already, so you get an idea of what the conditions are like in Dubai.Michael Bracewell: “I think the value of friendship-based cricket is what we’re seeing in our team”•Getty ImagesA lot’s been said about your economy rates and your ability to bowl dots. What do you attribute that to?
I think I’ve just tried to keep it really simple – just try to keep the stumps in play and not let the batters free their arms.I guess a lot’s made of right-handers wanting to target offspin, so it’s been a cool challenge bowling to a lot of right handers and trying to keep them quiet. I feel like I’ve got a pretty decent method of trying to get a couple of dot balls in an over and maybe that means you go for a few more boundaries if you’re a bit loose.I don’t have a lot of variation. I can’t spin the ball the other way or things like that, so I think that keeps my gameplan pretty simple. I can’t imagine how these mystery spinners stand at the top of their mark and decide what ball to bowl because they’ve got so many good balls to bowl. The simplicity probably helps me in a way. I can either try to bowl it fast or slow but it’s all going the same way so there’s not too many options at the top of my mark to figure out what I’m trying to do. Maybe that’s super helpful.You mentioned all four of you have a slightly different style, do you have quite well-defined roles in terms of what you’re trying to do at which stage of an innings?
Yeah, I think one thing we’re all trying to do is find a way to take wickets. We’ve seen that if teams in one-day cricket have wickets coming at the back end it’s very hard to stop teams.A lot of that for me, and I guess for Rachin and Glenn, is if we can build pressure then hopefully the wickets will come, whereas I think Mitch is probably a bit more adept at being able to take those wicket-taking balls. He bowls spectacular balls that get really good batters out, so his style of taking wickets is a little bit different to ours but as a unit if we can build pressure then hopefully we can lure some batters into some false shots and make it easier for the fast bowlers coming into the back end.

“Mitch Santner, in particular in this tournament, has been amazing at keeping the team nice and calm”Bracewell on his captain

Is it strange for you that in this tournament especially there has been a lot of focus on your offspin, when offspin is the last thing you picked up in your cricket? Is it something you’d ever have expected a few years back?
Absolutely not. If you told me that I was going to be an offspinning allrounder even three years ago, I would have said you were crazy. But I really enjoy bowling, and I enjoy the challenge of learning and trying to get better and I think it’s definitely helped. I’ve always thought of myself as a batsman, so I’ve never really put too much pressure on my bowling.Whether I have a good day or a bad day with the ball I’ll get annoyed if I don’t score runs. Maybe it helps to take the pressure off my batting a little bit, but I still very much see myself as a batter who bowls and I think that mindset has helped my bowling. If I’m getting hit around, I don’t find it to be the end of the world, though I take it very seriously and take pride in my performance.I don’t think it’s something that will change as well. It’s a funny situation – being a batter my whole life. It’s just hard to shake that feeling of you hang your hat on whether you score runs or not.I don’t really know how to describe it. I completely understand that I’m playing as a bowler and my batting is a bonus, but it’s still what I hold dear to my heart is my batting. I wouldn’t have it any other way to be honest.It’s your first big final with the New Zealand team. Is it the biggest game of your life so far?
Yeah, it definitely is. It’s a funny feeling. In the days leading up to the semi-final, I was a little bit nervous. But then when I got into the game it was just another game of cricket. I was just completely trying to immerse myself in the process of playing the game and doing what I do and what I love. I think that certainly helped. After the game I thought that experience was amazing and it’s very cool to look back on. I was very proud that I didn’t overthink the situation.2:40

What explains New Zealand’s consistency in ICC events?

I think if you can get into that frame of mind where you’re just really excited about trying to do the simple things well then that’s going to put us in good stead and hopefully the years of mental skills and things like that that we’ve practised over and over again kick in tomorrow. It does just become another game with a little bit more on the line. It does sound really boring, but it’s just doing that process over and over again. The final is just another distraction that tries to take you away from that process so if you cannot let the distractions get in the way and focus on the right things, then you should be able to put in a good performance.Have you had conversations with your dad through the course of the tournament?
We always exchange a few messages and he’s super proud of watching me play and I think the one thing that he enjoys is seeing the smile on my face when I’m out there playing. It’s very cool to get those messages from him, and how much he’s enjoying watching from home.I think the time difference isn’t great so they’re sleeping in quite a bit and staying up quite late, but I don’t think they’d have it any other way. It’s super cool having them follow my career and it’s great that they’re so proud of me and I guess the thing that I enjoy is trying to play the game in the right way and hopefully they can see that through the TV.Has there been any advice or does he leave you to your own devices now?
No no, he’s always been really good at that. He won’t offer too much but he’ll know the right time to say something. He’s been awesome.

Also, a look at Dasun Shanaka’s totally normal day of playing first-class and 20-over cricket in two different countries

Alan Gardner17-Feb-2025Firstly, an apology. Regular readers of this semi-humorous monthly column (don’t be shy) might have noticed a particular stance with regard to the Hundred. Namely that it is a faintly ludicrous wheeze, T20 simplified to the point of being confusing, a garishly marketed cuckoo in the nest of English cricket. In short, not all that it is cracked up to be.But – kerching! – we’ve seen the light. Or at least the dollar signs. Clearly the noble goal of flogging crisps to schoolchildren is also an extremely valuable one, after the far-sighted impresarios funding cricket’s march into a glorious future of year-round T20 league action agreed to line the ECB’s coffers to the tune of half a billion quid, essentially for the right to rename Northern Popchips as Sunrisers Headingley (an ironic name if ever there was one).Truly we live in remarkable times, where even the calm and reasonable advice of Lalit Modi isn’t enough to steer the IPL’s finest away from another T20 investment honeypot. English cricket’s controversial start-up has successfully lured in the venture capitalists, and the game is now richer than Croesus – aka almost as valuable as a single IPL franchise. If that means Derbyshire can afford to renovate the toilet blocks at the County Ground, so much the better.Sure, there could be a downside. And not just because Trent Rockets’ player roster is now in the hands of Todd Boehly. When private equity drops fat stacks, it usually does so with a nose for return on investment. How do you drive up the value of a product that has already been priced beyond most observers’ wildest estimations? It probably won’t come through selling a truckload of MI Oval merch on its own.In the wake of a bunch of Silicon Valley fanboys splurging nearly £150 million for one of the least-winningest (men’s) teams in the Hundred, Lord’s-based London Spirit – which is certainly one way to jump the queue for an MCC membership – Mike Atherton described the ECB’s sudden windfall as “a bet on the sport of cricket”. Which, given the game’s long and colourful association with the gambling industry, is certainly appropriate – if not altogether encouraging.Still, the direction of travel was clear, and English cricket needed to get on board. But it reminds the Light Roller, if you’ll permit a slight retreat into our former pessimism, of an old New Yorker cartoon in which a businessman in a tatty-looking suit addresses some children huddled around a fire in an apocalyptic wasteland: “Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders.”Dasun Shanaka: he don’t like cricket, he love it•AFP/Getty Images

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For those worrying that the Hundred sell-off has taken us a step closer to T20-leagues-mageddon and the end of international cricket as we know it – relax, bro, the ICC has got you. Not only did the governing body create the World Test Championship after a mere decade of prevaricating, they are actually planning on it. Y’know, so that generations to come can enjoy the gift to humanity that is Test cricket. At least we assume that’s what ECB chair Richard Thompson was saying when he spoke on the subject earlier this month. “It is fully understood that the current structure does not work in the way it should,” he said. “The World Test Championship should be fairer and more competitive. It is going to change to ensure it always encourages the best teams to reach the final and encourages other nations that want to play Tests to play Tests.” Yes, it definitely sounds like they have only good intentions – and aren’t just planning to rig it so the Big Three get to play each other more and upstarts like South Africa don’t reach the final at the expense of wholly more deserving teams (example: India). Right? Right???

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Such is the clash between red- and white-ball cricket nowadays that some players are taking radical steps to fit both into the schedule – see Dasun Shanaka’s much-publicised feat of playing a first-class match and a T20 in the same day. The fact that one was in Colombo and the other in Dubai might have presented a problem for some but not Shanaka, who whizzed off early from SSC’s fixture against Moors. “SLC and the club knew I had to leave,” Shanaka said, explaining how he had coincidentally also sustained a concussion, but one that wasn’t so bad he couldn’t get on a flight and turn out in the ILT20 later in the day. And the doctor was practically on the way to the airport. And his Dubai Capitals kit was already in the car. Plus, he also had a lot of air miles that were about to expire. See, it all makes complete sense. You’d have to have been hit on the head to think otherwise.