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Stats highlights from Brisbane as Australia completed a record-breaking seventh series win 3-0

Bharath Seervi07-Oct-202021* – Consecutive wins for Australia in ODIs, the longest streak in women’s ODIs and joint-longest in all ODIs along with the men’s streak of 21 wins in 2003. The team’s current streak began in 2018, which includes seven consecutive 3-0 bilateral series wins. Three of those were home series while the other four were away.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1.44 – Ratio of Australia’s scoring rate (5.62) and bowling economy (3.91) in their 21-win streak. On comparison, during Australia Men’s streak of 21 wins in 2003 their ratio of run rate scored and conceded was 1.24.2.17 – Ratio of batting average and bowling average for Australia in this streak. The men’s team also had a similar ratio – 2.19 – during their record streak. However, the women have scored more centuries and taken more four-wicket hauls than the men in their respective streaks.

Team Bat ave 100s Bowl ave 4-fors Ave ratioAus Women (2018-present) 42.57 10 19.61 8 2.17Aus Men (2013) 46.96 5 21.43 7 2.191131 – Runs scored by Alyssa Healy during this 21-match streak, the most among all batters. She has scored those runs at an average of 56.60 and strike-rate of 108.74. She has hit three centuries, seven fifties and struck the most sixes (17). Ellyse Perry (60.90) and Meg Lanning (57.13) are also averaging above 50, while Ashleigh Gardner has a strike-rate of 123.84.Sophie Devine walks back after her dismissal•Getty Images39 – Wickets by Jess Jonassen in 18 matches during this streak, the most from the team. She has an average of 12.64 and economy of 3.35. Megan Schutt (30 wickets at 19.56) and Perry (26 wickets at 18.80) are the others with bowling averages less than 20. Jonassen has also picked up four four-wicket hauls and a five-for during this run.6 – Wins for Australia by a margin of 150 or more runs in this period. They also have five wins by a margin of seven or more wickets. Of the 21 wins, only two were close ones – by five runs against New Zealand in Perth and by two wickets against England in Leicester. For comparison, the men’s team had five close wins during their streak, and just one win by over 150 runs.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var e in a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var t=document.getElementById(“datawrapper-chart-“+e)||document.querySelector(“iframe[src*='”+e+”‘]”);t&&(t.style.height=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][e]+”px”)}}))}();

The statistical highlights from a day that England dominated in Galle

S Rajesh15-Jan-2021168* – Joe Root’s score at the end of the second day in Galle. It is the highest by an England batsman in Sri Lanka, going past Kevin Pietersen’s 151 in Colombo in 2012. There are only three instances of an overseas captain scoring more runs in an innings in Sri Lanka: Stephen Fleming’s unbeaten knocks of 274 and 174, and Mushfiqur Rahim’s 200.ESPNcricinfo Ltd2 – Test hundreds for Root in Sri Lanka, making him the first England batsman to score more than one Test century in the country. Eleven England batsmen have a solitary hundred here.173 – The partnership between Root and Dan Lawrence, who made 73 on debut. It is England’s highest stand for any wicket in Sri Lanka, going past the Nasser Hussain-Graham Thorpe partnership of 167 for the third wicket in Kandy 20 years ago. It is also sixth-best for the fourth wicket by an overseas team in Sri Lanka.52.53 – Root’s average in Asia: he has scored 1366 runs in 15 Tests, with three hundreds. He is one of only three England batsmen to score more than 1000 runs at a 50-plus average in Asia; the other two are David Gower and Alastair Cook.ESPNcricinfo Ltd5 – Non-Asian batsmen who average more than 50 in Asia since 2010, with a 1000-run cut-off. Neither Steven Smith (1200 runs at 48) nor Kane Williamson (1545 runs at 46.81) are in this club.ESPNcricinfo Ltd73 – Lawrence’s score in his debut innings, which is exactly what Root scored on his Test debut in Nagpur eight years ago. In the last 69 years, only five England batsmen have made more runs when making their Test debut in Asia: Keaton Jennings (112 in Mumbai), Ben Foakes (107 in Galle), Cook (104* in Nagpur), Owais Shah (88 in Mumbai) and Haseeb Hameed (82 in Rajkot).

The numbers paint a picture of a team far ahead of the rest of the pack – and not just in this edition

Shiva Jayaraman11-Nov-2020Kieron Pollard hailed the Mumbai Indians as the best T20 franchise in the world after they won the IPL for a record fifth time. It may have sounded like hyperbole in an emotional moment, but Mumbai’s achievements arguably back Pollard’s assertion. Mumbai have seven titles, and are only one short of Sialkot Stallions, who are the most successful T20 team ever with eight titles. In addition to the five IPL titles, Mumbai have won the Champions League T20 twice.It’s not only the number of titles that define Mumbai’s supremacy over their competitors. It’s the manner in which they have demolished the field in the last couple of seasons – and specifically in IPL 2020 – that underlines how they are a cut above the others. For the second successive year, they blanked the losing finalist – the second-best team in the competition – by a 4-0 margin in the season (they beat Chennai Super Kings 4-0 on their way to the title in 2019).ESPNcricinfo LtdRarely has any team ticked so many boxes in any season of the IPL as Mumbai have in this season. Their Indian batsmen were among the runs, their overseas fast bowlers got them wickets, their allrounders chipped in, the spinners applied the squeeze at important stages and their captain turned up when it really mattered.Mumbai’s all-round performance is borne out by their overall batting and bowling numbers: their scoring rate in the season was 9.08 runs an over – half a run more than the next best team – but they conceded runs at the rate of 7.94 runs an over only. The difference of 1.14 runs per over between their scoring rate and the rate at which they conceded runs is the highest for any team from any season in the IPL’s 13-year long history. No other team has scored over a run per over more than what they have conceded in any season. The closest anyone came was back in the inaugural season in 2008, when Rajasthan Royals won the title and the T20 format was very much in its infancy. The Royals scored at 8.74 runs per over that year, and conceded at 7.90 for a difference of 0.85.ESPNcricinfo LtdMumbai’s scoring rate was half a run higher than the next-best team largely owing to the fact that their batsmen managed to hit more sixes than other teams in the season. At 137 sixes, they hit 32 more than the Royals, who were the next best. Even in terms of balls taken to hit every six, Mumbai took two deliveries fewer than the Royals did. Incredibly, they took half as many deliveries to hit a six on an average as the Royal Challengers Bangalore – the bottom-placed team on that parameter this season.Mumbai’s death-overs hitting was clearly a cut above the rest, one of the factors that added significantly to the distance between them and the competition. In the first 16 overs of the innings, Mumbai’s batsmen hit a six every 17.5 balls on average, but in the death overs that was cut to almost a third, with a six hit every 5.9 balls. No other team came close to this power-hitting. In fact, Mumbai’s death-overs batting this season has been the best ever in the IPL by any team: they scored runs at 13.2 per over at the death from overs 17 to 20, where no other team has topped 13 in any IPL season. Mumbai found the boundary every 3.2 deliveries on average at the death, also the best for any team in a season.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhile their death-overs hitting set Mumbai apart from the rest in batting, their wicket-taking in the powerplay was the differentiating factor with the ball. The Delhi Capitals pacers matched Mumbai’s on the wickets count, but were well behind on taking wickets in the powerplay, where losing wickets has a much greater impact than at the back end of an innings. Led by Trent Boult, the Mumbai pacers took 28 wickets in the first six overs at an average of 19.85 apiece. In comparison, the Capitals’ pacers took just 13 wickets at 45.76 and were languishing among the bottom teams on this measure. The Sunrisers Hyderabad had the next best pace unit in the powerplay in terms of bowling average, but weren’t a patch on Mumbai given they conceded 12 runs more for every wicket. Overall, Mumbai were clearly the best with the ball in the powerplay, taking 31 wickets. They also did it at an economy rate of 6.92, the only team to go below seven this season in the powerplay.One of the defining contributions for Mumbai came from their uncapped Indian batsmen, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, who scored 996 runs together at an average of 47.4 and a strike rate of 145.4. No team has had their uncapped Indian batsmen performing at this level in the past in any IPL season. With a cut-off of 500 runs, no team has had their Indian uncapped batsmen average above 40 or strike above 140 in any season.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe stability provided by Mumbai’s Indian contingent meant that they didn’t need too many changes in their XI. Their changes were either due to injury or were tactical. Dhawal Kulkarni got a game against the Sunrisers when Mumbai rested Jasprit Bumrah, Boult and Hardik Pandya. Even including Kulkarni, Mumbai ended up using just 15 players. This equals the second-fewest players used by any team in the IPL in a season.ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster tool illustrates the extent to which Mumbai dominated the field this year. It provides a way to express every victory in terms of runs – whether winning batting first or second. This is done by estimating the total a successful chasing team would have got if they had completed their innings (either by getting bowled out or by completing the stipulated overs). According to the Forecaster, the median margin for Mumbai in every game this season – win or loss – was +24.5. That means the team performed at a level where they were beating oppositions by this margin per game, on average. The only other team that had a positive value for this measure this season were the Sunrisers, whose median margin was +2 runs. The Capitals’ margin of 0 shows how far ahead of the rest of the teams Mumbai were this season.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Plenty to ponder as England weigh up their XI for the pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad

George Dobell23-Feb-2021Despite a chastening defeat in last week’s second Test, England sense a real opportunity to reclaim the series lead in Ahmedabad, due to the prospect of a day-night Test playing to their seam-bowling strengths. But dare they presume too much about a venue that has never hosted a Test before?Two spinners or one?
This is the biggest question occupying England’s team management ahead of this game. While they are confident the pink ball (and the slightly more grassy pitch provided to accommodate it) will provide more assistance to seam bowlers, they are still playing a Test in Ahmedabad. Under that live grass is the more familiar dry red soil which suggests there will, sooner or later, be assistance for the spinners, too. For that reason, England will not make a final decision about their XI until after their final training session, which is under lights on Tuesday evening.The form of Dom Bess may be relevant here. For, while England may be facing this selection dilemma in any circumstances, you suspect that, were Moeen Ali available for this game, he would play. But Bess struggled with his length in Chennai – in particular, with a series of full-tosses – so there may be just a hint of trepidation about picking him for another Test at this stage. Put simply, if part of Bess’ role is to bowl dry, England may feel they can achieve that better with another seamer.”One thing we could improve with the ball was the amount of times we couldn’t quite string a maiden together or bowl six balls at one batter,” Root said on Tuesday. “We’ve still got to look to build pressure for long periods of time, try to squeeze the game, make it very difficult for guys to score freely and score boundaries, and by doing that build pressure at one end and on one batter to try to force an error.”Joe Root, Jofra Archer and Rory Burns warm up during England’s practice session•BCCIBut Leach will play?
Yes, Leach will play. After a tricky 14 months or so in which Leach has been seriously unwell and Bess has been favoured as the solitary spinner in England, he is back in the side and established as first-choice. In English conditions, where spin could play a less prominent role and the spinner’s batting may be deemed more important, that could change. But for now, Leach is England’s No. 1.So who would the extra seamer be?
Chris Woakes has been a non-playing member of this tour party for every one of the four Tests to date and is due to go home next week. But this could be his moment. While his overseas record with the ball is modest, the usage of the pink ball – and the increased opportunities it appears to bring for conventional swing bowling – may be key. Equally, although it’s a small sample size, evidence from England’s tours to New Zealand and South Africa suggested Woakes had found a way to be effective without the use of the Dukes ball or English pitches.But his batting may be as important as his bowling in this scenario. Unless he plays, England could be facing the prospect of one of Leach or Jofra Archer batting at No. 8. That’s a tail which would make a Diplodocus feel self-conscious.Ben Stokes at training in Ahmedabad’s new stadium•BCCIDon’t England already have three seamers in their side?Yes, they do. It seems to get over-looked a little at present, but Ben Stokes has 159 Test wickets and, unlike James Anderson or Stuart Broad, he has a Test five-for (in Mohali in 2016) in India. But Stokes has only bowled 12 overs in the series to date and has not bowled more than six in an innings since July. While England say he is fit, he doesn’t seem to have been able to build up the volume of overs to be relied upon as the bowling force he has been in the past. In an ideal world, though, this is the exact scenario in which a top-quality all-rounder proves their worth: allowing a team to hedge their bets with selection as they know they have all bases covered.Could Broad return?
It’s possible but it seems unlikely. While Stokes said that Broad was among the England seamers “licking their lips” at the prospect of using the pink ball under lights, it seems he may be frustrated. You could make a decent case to play him ahead of Woakes, but Broad’s declining powers as a batsman count against him. Equally, you could make a case for him to play ahead of Archer, particularly if Stokes is able to provide the pace bowling that he has in the past. But England regard Archer’s skills – not just his pace, but his movement – as a point of difference. Many of Broad’s qualities – not least his control – can be provided by Anderson. And, don’t forget this is the first of another couple of back-to-back Tests. It fits with England’s recent policy to keep Broad fresh for the final Test.What about the top-order batting?
The return to fitness of Zak Crawley and the return to the tour of Jonny Bairstow has given England options at the top of the order. That is almost certain to mean Dan Lawrence – who has averaged 9.66 in his three most recent Tests – will make way for Bairstow at No.3, who looked assured in Sri Lanka prior to his break from the tour (though without reaching 50 in any of his four innings).Related

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Where does that leave Rory Burns?
Sitting precariously, you would think. Not so long ago, there was talk of him emerging as a future England captain and he looked to be on the brink of establishing himself in this side. You wonder how he reflects on his first-innings dismissal in the first Test in Chennai. Having got himself in on the flattest of surfaces, he had every chance to convert his start into a significant innings. Instead, he attempted a reverse-sweep – a shot he has rarely played in Test cricket – and departed for 33. Had he made a century there, this discussion wouldn’t be happening. But since the start of August he has played five Tests (eight innings) and averaged just 9.75. With Ravi Ashwin and Ishant Sharma especially effective against left-handers, there is a case for replacing him with Crawley.”It’s been quite tricky for everyone,” Root said. “But in particular the lefties against Ashwin because of how skilful he is, how good his record has been against our left-handers, and in world cricket against any left-handed batters.”Crawley has hardly made an irresistible case for selection himself, though. He had a top-score of just 13 from four innings in Sri Lanka and looked as if he had plenty to learn about combatting spin in such conditions. For that reason, the team management may decide to give Burns one more chance. Crawley is seen a major developing talent, though, and it’s not impossible he could replace Burns. Dom Sibley, having found himself under pressure only a few weeks ago, has emerged as England’s first-choice Test opener.

Joe Root fronts up, but ECB is to blame for end to seven-year home record

George Dobell13-Jun-2021There was to be no miracle. Even before the clock on the Thwaite scoreboard at Edgbaston had ticked round to 11 o’clock, England’s second innings had been ended. And a target of 38 in a minimum of 177 overs was never likely to test New Zealand.Before noon, they had completed their first Test series win in England since 1999 (and their third in all) and England had succumbed to their first home Test series defeat since 2014. New Zealand were, indisputably, the better side. India and Australia will be, figuratively at least, licking their lips.It is inevitable at such a moment that we will look for quick fixes. And it’s true that the form of senior players such as Joe Root (whose top-score was 42) and James Anderson (who took three wickets in the series; none of them with a new ball) did nothing to help. Equally, a well-balanced side would no doubt have included a spinner. But that’s not what cost England in this match.No, England’s problems are more substantial than that. And they basically come down to this: if you take one brick out of a dam it will probably hold. If you take two, three or even four it might well hold. But when you start removing foundations, you risk the viability of the entire structure. Eventually, the dam breaks.That’s what’s happened in England cricket. Instead of nurturing and protecting our County Championship, we have squeezed it into the margins of the season and robbed it of many of its best players. We have played it in conditions which bear little relation to Test cricket in the rest of the world and in circumstances where spinners and fast bowlers become close to irrelevant.Meanwhile, we have pushed a generation of experienced county performers into premature retirement by introducing incentives for young players; we have encouraged the government to end the Kolpak influence and we have made it ever more difficult to make overseas signings. Our best Test players have been encouraged to pursue opportunities in T20 cricket ahead of sharing their wisdom in county cricket or working at their games against the red, moving ballAt the same time, we’ve given the prime weeks of summer to limited-overs tournaments and prioritised white-ball success. Young batters have been encouraged to learn short-format skills and excel at performing in conditions where the pitches are perfect and the white-ball hardly leaves the straight. They can afford to be mediocre in the first-class game. Attack has been prioritised over defence.Joe Root has fronted up for England’s failures on and off the field, but the ECB has been silent•PA Photos/Getty ImagesTechnical coaching has been replaced by something very close to cheerleading – correcting a player’s technique is believed to undermine their confidence, though less than failing at international level, you would have thought – and a scouting system has been introduced which has led to such gems as Jason Roy opening and James Bracey keeping in Test cricket. Really, whoever thought those were good ideas needs to be in a different line of work.English cricket might have been able to withstand one or two of these errors. But in combination, they have decimated the competition which develops Test players. For it’s not one or two top-order batters who have failed. It’s a generation of them. And when that happens, you have to look at the system. Finally, the dam has broken.England has, in the past, masked some of these issues with an ability to utilise home advantage. For just as only very fine teams win Test series away in India or Australia, it has tended to be only very fine teams who win away in England.But the current management have decided to try to do things differently. In an attempt, essentially, to prepare for the Ashes, they have challenged their players to perform in conditions where they can expect far less assistance from the Dukes ball and seaming surfaces. They have basically unpicked something that works in the hope of building back better.That is not by any means an unreasonable tactic. It may even be viewed as brave and ambitious. But there is not another country in the world who would spurn home advantage in the same way. England are becoming terrifically generous hosts.Related

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It was telling that it was Root who appeared before the media after this defeat. Just as it was telling that it has been Root (or other members of the playing and coaching staff) who has been obliged to answer questions about the Ollie Robinson affair, a rest-and-rotation policy over which he has little control, or a million other issues.Root was in an impossible position here, really. But he defended his team, he took responsibility for underperforming personally and he refused to hide behind excuses. Some will never take to Root’s style – his soft voice, his refusal to roar and his inclination towards consensus- but there are different ways to lead. Root really wasn’t dealt a fistful of aces with this team.And that’s relevant. For while Eoin Morgan is about to have his strongest squad – injuries permitting – for a second successive T20I series, Root has probably not had his strongest squad available to him since the first Test of the series against Pakistan at the start of August. That’s 11 Tests ago. England’s priorities are very clear.In contrast to Root, Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, hasn’t given an open press conference this year. For any National Governing Body, that seems odd. For one which is currently introducing a new format of the game; contesting allegations of institutional racism, and wrestling with the issue of historic social media posts which demonstrate the sexist and racist attitudes which pervaded in the past, it feels inappropriate. Now is the time for some accountability in English cricket.So let us not quibble over whether Jack Leach should have played at Edgbaston or whether England’s slip cordon is standing at the correct angle. The problems go far deeper than that.

Since his comeback from a stress fracture in early 2020, his shorter deliveries have not brought as much reward

Shiva Jayaraman09-Jan-2022That was the ESPNcricinfo ball-by-ball commentary when Jasprit Bumrah hit Dean Elgar with a bouncer in the Johannesburg Test.You would have expected no less from Bumrah on a pitch with as much up-and-down bounce as that one. Over the past few years, Bumrah has troubled many batters in a similar manner, courtesy his hyper-extended elbow and delayed release point.Of course, Bumrah is much more than his freak anatomy. He is smart. He is incredibly skilled. If you are in any doubt, watch his slow yorker to Shaun Marsh at the MCG in 2018. Or his spell in the second innings of the Antigua Test in 2018, where he took 5 for 7, swinging the ball both ways. With an action tailor-made to swing the ball in to right handers, he had learnt to make the ball leave them in the air as well. In just two years of playing Test cricket. Most bowlers take years to swing the ball both ways.However, something is amiss at the moment.Related

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After all, you don’t expect a bowler of Bumrah’s calibre to not take a single wicket from 17 overs on a pitch with as much uneven bounce as in Johannesburg, especially in the second innings. He did beat the bat often enough to have picked up more wickets. But he didn’t. All he got was one wicket in the whole Test from 38 overs? And he is a bowler who strikes every 50 balls.But a bit of digging gives us surprising results. Of the seven fast bowlers in the Johannesburg Test – barring Mohammed Siraj who hurt his hamstring in the first innings and didn’t bowl at full pelt thereafter – Bumrah caused the least trouble to batters with deliveries that were pitched shorter than good length. According to ESPNcricinfo’s length data, Bumrah induced false shots in 20 balls out of the 101 (19.8%) he bowled on short or short-of-good-length areas in the Test. Shardul Thakur comes in next, inducing false shots 22% of the time. Mohammed Shami was at 23.5%. Expectedly, the South Africa bowlers were a lot more difficult to handle with their higher points of release owing to their heights.The more surprising fact was that this Test wasn’t an exception for Bumrah.Ever since his comeback after the stress fracture in February 2020, Bumrah has been less threatening with his short balls according to our data. Prior to the injury, Bumrah induced false shots off 26.3% of deliveries that he pitched shorter than on good length against batters in the top seven in Tests. Since his return, that percentage has come down to 17%. That’s a drop of a whopping 35.4% – from troubling top-order batters once every 3.8 balls before injury to once every 5.9 balls since. The trendline in the chart below shows how his short balls have become increasingly less threatening. The inflection point – to apply the term loosely – came in the first Test on his return from injury, in Wellington. This was the least he has troubled batters with short balls – only three out 39 he bowled shorter than good length troubled the batters. Perhaps the pitch was flat and perhaps Bumrah, understandably so, wasn’t at his best.

India’s safety-first batting approach has cost them in the recent past, but the 23-year-old promises more aggression

Shashank Kishore04-Feb-2022And so, the Indian cricket caravan rolls. From one bubble to another. As you would expect in these times, every team needs Covid contingencies in place. India will hope to have not just back-up plans but possibly a new batting template to ODIs, especially with the 2023 World Cup approaching.With Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan all but automatic picks in a fully-fit XI for now – they’re fourth among all-time opening pairs in terms of runs and second in terms of century partnerships – it’s a great opportunity to build a back-up opening pool and give them three straight games.Ideally, Dhawan’s absence due to Covid, and KL Rahul’s to family commitments, for the series opener against West Indies on Sunday in Ahmedabad, should’ve been a deserving opportunity for Ruturaj Gaikwad. The 25-year-old has been in prolific form across formats. Since starring in a title-winning IPL run with Chennai Super Kings, he’s racked up 603 runs, including four hundreds, at the Vijay Hazare Trophy in November-December last year.Related

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Like Dhawan, Gaikwad too will have to miss out after testing positive for Covid-19. And so, it’s time to spin the roulette. The selectors have drafted in Ishan Kishan and Mayank Agarwal into the squad as replacements; one of them is likely to open with Rohit in the first ODI in Ahmedabad on Sunday.Is this a big deal at all, you may wonder. Perhaps not. But it could be the spot that gives India options, considering Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Rahul, who has had most success in ODIs in the middle order, are definite shoo-ins. For the better part of the decade, the daredevilry that once was at the top of the order has given way to a more safety-first approach, where setting a platform has been prioritised – both while batting first and in chases.In recent years, this approach has come with the knowledge of having Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja as designated finishers. For the moment, both players are missing. Jadeja is recovering from a knee injury, and Hardik hasn’t yet been pressed into service because he isn’t fully ready to bowl yet. With Shreyas Iyer also absent due to Covid, India’s lower-middle order, at least for the series opener, could comprise, Suryakumar Yadav, a debutant in Deepak Hooda, Shardul Thakur, and the bowlers. This, of course, doesn’t influence who opens with Rohit.Let’s first look at Agarwal, who will soon turn 31. He has featured in five ODIs, across two stints, scoring 86 runs, including a highest of 32. Agarwal has spent a better part of the last 12 months in various bubbles, having played five Tests (two at home against New Zealand, three away in South Africa). At the IPL, he’s gotten off the blocks faster than Rahul. He’s been so prolific that Punjab Kings have retained him ahead of the IPL auction. Agarwal started off as a white-ball dasher before he traded some of the flamboyance for the hard grind to cut it in red-ball cricket.Then there’s Kishan, who is eight years younger than Agarwal and has a penchant to go after the bowling from get-go. He is fearless, loves to take the attack to the bowlers, even if it may have at times earned the wrath of Mahela Jayawardene, who coached him at Mumbai Indians. At other times, this very trait has been a matter of celebration.Mayank Agarwal has been drafted into India’s ODI squad after four other players tested positive for Covid-19•PTI India’s method of building an ODI innings had been set in stone for so long that when Kishan suddenly came along and jumped out of the crease to wallop the first ball he faced in ODI cricket in Sri Lanka for a six, and then rocked back to crash his second through extra cover for four, many were pleasantly surprised. Without digging deep into stats and data, for the moment, it’s not hard to infer the take-it-easy way isn’t Kishan’s – not in red-ball cricket, definitely not in the shorter formats.It was nearly a year ago that he made his T20I debut in Ahmedabad, and flicked Jofra Archer off his pads for four off his first ball, and then whacked Ben Stokes into the stands over deep square leg. Against spin, he was particularly merciless against Adil Rashid. His dominating presence at the crease takes pressure off the other batter.He’s done this at the IPL over the years, batting at different positions, and not necessarily as an opener. The genesis of his game is simple: it’s one without half-measures, different to Dhawan or Rohit’s motto of gathering steam. Kishan is a rocket launcher, both against pace and spin. Against them, he strikes at 92 in List-A cricket and 133 in T20s. While these aren’t a guarantee for success, at least the approach is worth a shot.India’s batters have been vocal about their own approaches, often pointing to how the old method has brought them success. Sure, the slow-build-finish-strong approach has delivered success for India in plenty of bilateral series, but teams are remembered by performances in global tournaments, which India haven’t won since the 2013 Champions Trophy.This approach could also leave a team susceptible in a chase, like it did for India in the 2019 World Cup game against England, where they managed just 28 runs the first 10 overs, apart from playing out 42 dots, in pursuit of 338. And so when a dasher, who is looking to break the mould one way or the other comes along, having scored heaps of runs against world-class bowlers in the IPL and for India A, it remains to be seen if the team management is tempted to give him a run. Rahul Dravid, the coach, has seen plenty of Kishan, as he has of Pant, Washington Sundar and many others. Will he take a punt now on Kishan?There will, of course, be a question of how they should balance the XI when Rahul returns. In any case, Rahul’s recent success at No. 5 points to his ability to switch seamlessly, so this could also be a chance at sealing that position with the World Cup in mind.The IPL is often hailed for that standout line “where talent meets opportunity.” And the slew of illnesses, as unfortunate as they are, have given India a chance to promote that punch line in this series.