India’s Under-19 coach has called for “even bigger praise” for the backroom staff who had to manage injuries to as many as five key players and made sure there was no knock-on effect on the team’s run to the title

Shashank Kishore in Mount Maunganui04-Feb-20182:16

India’s journey to the Under-19 title

Rahul Dravid, India’s Under-19 coach, has called for “even bigger praise” for the backroom staff who had to manage injuries to as many as five key players and made sure there was no knock-on effect on the team’s run to the title.”We have had a few injuries right through the year,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “The way they’ve managed these injuries and handled players has been thoroughly professional. I’ve been around for a long time and seen how professional athletes are managed. These under-19 boys got the best professional help from the current team of physios and trainers here and at the NCA.”Among those who were under an injury cloud in the two months leading into the World Cup were the fast bowling pair of Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi. Both men regularly clocked in excess of 140kph and impressed most with their ability to hustle batsmen with pace and get the ball to swing both ways. Nagarkoti had a shoulder injury while Mavi had suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (knee) injury.The pair spent three weeks at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru under Anand Date, the strength and conditioning trainer, and Yogesh, the physio, before being declared fit. It helped that Date and Yogesh were also part of the support staff group that travelled to New Zealand for the Under-19 World Cup.Dravid also acknowledged the importance of the “much-maligned” NCA and the support system he had at his disposal for helping overcome difficult challenges in injury management and player development.”It’s much-maligned unfortunately, but when you see Nagarkoti or Mavi bowl, when we congratulate ourselves, we should raise a glass to the NCA,” he said. “All these boys had over the course of a year have been managed very carefully. They had a couple of injuries, but the trainers and physios worked hard with them. Lot of this is team effort, it’s not just what I do, it’s also my support staff here, the backing of the NCA too.”Rahul Dravid and Prithvi Shaw share some ideas•IDI/Getty Images

Left-arm spinner Anukul Roy has a history of injuries and a stress-related issue with his ankle made him miss the Under-19 Challenger Trophy which was meant to help the selectors pick the 15 for the World Cup. He was in danger of not making the squad, and “was scared” but the team management put him at ease and backed him to be on the plane to New Zealand.Riyan Parag, the highest run-getter in the Challenger Trophy, injured his finger in India’s final tour game before the World Cup. He was the youngest member of the squad at age 16, and after an excellent tour of England in 2017, he was among those earmarked as a finisher. The team management persisted with him, giving him every chance to soak in the “moment they had worked for.””Their health and well-being came first. We wanted them to be a part of this experience and play the World Cup,” Dravid said. “For them to have the confidence that we genuinely wanted them to do it and will go out of our way to make it possible to ensure that they played this World Cup was important.””Riyan was batting so well and then broke his finger in our last practice game in Napier. We could have easily sent him home, but we took the gamble of keeping him here and managing that injury because we knew we had a bit of time and the physio was confident that he could get him right. The easiest thing for us would have been to send some of them home, but we chose to back them and support them. We chose to take those risks, huge credit to Anand Date (the trainer) and Yogesh (they physio).”Dravid then cited the case of Ishan Porel, the tall fast bowler, who injured his left heel during the opening game against Australia. Porel did not have a great run in the build-up to the World Cup, but Dravid and his staff saw something in his ability to generate steep bounce and push the batsmen back. In the nets too, he would be among the pick of the bowlers. And when it came down to the “50-50″ decision of sending him home, they decided to wait.For three hours every training day, even as Dravid, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and fielding coach Abhay Sharma would work with the rest of the team, Date and Yogesh would monitor Porel’s drills and slowly ease him back despite the risk of the injury recurring. They took the risk, and in the semi-final, Porel justified his selection with a four-wicket haul that bundled Pakistan out for their lowest score in all Under-19 World Cups.”I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Ishan yet,” Dravid said. “In the first game, he was unfortunately injured. I’m confident he too would’ve touched 140kph otherwise. It hasn’t quite worked for him, but he’s got a long road ahead. Again, the physios asked for time and were confident of working extra to have him ready.”He was distraught but giving him confidence and telling him ‘we want to help you’ made him feel great. The BCCI too gave us the confidence by flying in Aditya Thakare, who was also part of our plans during the preparation for the tournament. Knowing we’d be able to pick him in case Ishan’s injury didn’t heal helped. He spent two weeks at the back end, so this planning and injury management went a long way in helping us deliver results on the field. It’s not just about what we do on the match day, but also in the build-up to the games, I can say this was one of the best support groups to be a part of.”

The South Australia veteran brought up his 10th first-class century to help his side wrest a first-innings advantage over New South Wales from a position of disadvantage

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2018New South Wales 256 and 1 for 61 (Hughes 32*, Cowan 16*, Winter 1-26) lead South Australia 281 (Cooper 105*, Andrews 50, Copeland 4-63) by 36 runs
ScorecardAn unbeaten century from South Australia veteran Tom Cooper helped the Redbacks claim first-innings lead over New South Wales in a tight tussle at the SCG.The Redbacks were 7 for 141 at one stage and were looking at a significant first-innings deficit. Trent Copeland had taken four of the first seven scalps for the home side. But Cooper and Tom Andrews combined for a 96-run stand to dig the Redbacks out of the mire. Andrews made his maiden first-class half-century before falling to the legspin of Daniel Fallins.Cooper looked set to be stranded but sneaked to his 10th first-class hundred when the Redbacks were nine down. Fallins finished with three wickets on his Sheffield Shield debut.Redbacks paceman Nick Winter trapped Nick Larkin early in the Blues’ second innings but Daniel Hughes and Ed Cowan saw them through to stumps without further loss. Cowan passed 10,000 first-class runs in the process.

Sam Northeast, who was given permission to speak to other counties last month by Kent, has joined Hampshire on a long-term contract

Ivo Tennant17-Feb-2018Sam Northeast, who was given permission to speak to other counties last month by Kent, has joined Hampshire on a long-term contract. At least eight clubs were keen to sign him – a greater number, it is believed, than have sought any English cricketer in the past. Northeast almost moved to the Ageas Bowl three years ago and, having been replaced as Kent captain after signalling he would not sign a new contract, now believes he has to play in the first division in order to be in contention for selection by England.At the age of 28, Northeast is approaching his peak years. A batsman in England, according to another former Kent captain, Colin Cowdrey, does not reach his prime until he is 30. So Hampshire are acquiring a proven run-scorer, one who will not be absent through Test cricket or the IPL for the time being and an individual whose family are close friends with Liam Dawson, the Hampshire allrounder, and his family. Northeast is likely to bat at No. 4, coming in after James Vince, England’s most-recent Test No. 3.Geographically, Northeast is better suited to joining Hampshire than Lancashire or Nottinghamshire, although Southampton is too far to commute from the home he bought recently in Canterbury. Essex, the county champions, were keen to sign him as well, but he was unsure where he would fit into their batting order. Joining Sussex, the closest club, and Jason Gillespie – who believed Northeast should have gone to Australia with the full Test party – would have meant remaining in the second division.So for Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, this is a fillip after the disappointment of not being granted an Ashes Test in 2023. His plans to continue developing the club and the Ageas Bowl will continue apace, also, with a proposed second hotel, possibly a boutique one, owing to the high demand on space at the Hilton. Hampshire will have to pay compensation to buy Northeast out of the remaining year of his contract, but it will not be the equivalent of his salary. An official announcement is expected next week.Kent maintain that they offered Northeast one of the best contracts in their history to stay with them beyond this season. Although the captaincy is an annual appointment, they were not prepared to allow him to remain as captain for this year unless he signed an extension. “We wanted to plan for the future and spoke to Sam for several months, but he did not want to stay,” said a spokesman.Northeast, who grew up on the Kent coast at Deal and first played for Kent when still at school, was told last year by Matt Walker, the head coach, that he was not their preferred choice of captain. Their relationship broke down irretrievably – to the extent that Northeast stayed away from the St Lawrence ground and practised instead at Beckenham. He has also been frustrated by the club’s shortage of finance – largely caused by poor management in the past – and, despite a number of talented young players on the staff, not gaining promotion.He sought a meeting last month with Simon Philip, the new chairman, but discovered that only Jamie Clifford, the chief executive who was on the cusp of leaving to join MCC, and Graham Johnson, the chairman of the cricket committee who is not standing for re-election to the main committee at the annual meeting this spring, would be present. In that Kent have to start the new season without Sam Billings, their new captain, who will be tied up with the IPL, quite apart from not having Northeast’s runs to play with, this change appears to make little sense. Billings will miss the first five or six Championship matches of the summer.In terms of the breakdown of communication and lack of information to the club’s supporters and members, this sorry episode is uncannily reminiscent of the departure of Mike Denness, the most successful captain in Kent’s history, and who had captained England, in 1976. What Kent would give now for the two trophies he won that season.

The incident occurred in the vicinity of a Chennai Super Kings fielder, prompting the intervention of the police in CSK’s first home match in nearly three years

Deivarayan Muthu in Chennai10-Apr-2018A group of spectators flung a pair of shoes at the edge of the boundary at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in the vicinity of Chennai Super Kings players, prompting the intervention of police in CSK’s first home match in nearly three years. The incident happened in the eighth over of the game against Kolkata Knight Riders, after which the concerned spectators were evicted from the ground and, as per reports, taken into custody.The incident followed calls, in the lead up to the game, for people to protest over the hosting of IPL games in Chennai. Several local political parties and fringe groups had called for a boycott of the IPL matches in Chennai till the lengthy Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and neighbouring state Karnataka is resolved. While there was no confirmation that the shoe-throwing incident was directly related to this issue, it was expected to be the likely cause.The group was carrying flags, which are not permitted inside the venue, and flung the shoes near Ravindra Jadeja, who was posted at the long-on boundary, and Faf du Plessis, who was seemingly carrying drinks for team-mates. CSK officials and the police subsequently intervened and diffused the tension.Hours before the start of the match, there were protests on Wallajah Road near the MA Chidambaram Stadium, albeit amid beefed-up security. Later, the toss was delayed by 13 minutes; match officials reportedly arrived late at the venue due to heavy traffic around the stadium, but play began on time.

Jos Buttler’s 82 had set Rajasthan Royals up for a bigger total than 158, but a dry pitch became progressively slower and kept Kings XI Punjab from coming anywhere close

The Report by Varun Shetty08-May-20184:23

Hogg: Rahane took the captaincy role like we know he can

Rajasthan Royals kept their tournament alive with an astute defence of 158 engineered by spinners K Gowtham and Ish Sodhi, who took a combined 3 for 25 in seven overs even as KL Rahul made a skillful unbeaten 95. Only one other Kings XI Punjab batsman got into double-figures on a pitch where the only other 30-plus score came from Royals opener Jos Buttler, whose 82 was his his fifth half-century in six of his last T20 innings as opener.Royals had elected to bat on an evening where the temperatures came close to 41 degrees Celsius, conditions that became more and more impactful through the evening and made scoring runs progressively tougher.

The thin middle order

One of the features of Rajasthan Royals’ batting this year has been a forced squeezing of regular opening batsmen into the middle order. On Tuesday, it was clear why. On dropping D’Arcy Short and Rahul Tripathi, it emerged that the best of their batting ended at No. 4 with Ben Stokes. Stuart Binny and Mahipal Lomror, the men who came in, had only played one game each before Tuesday.

Same old story

When these teams last met, only two nights ago, Royals had been sitting on 81 for 2 at the halfway stage, only to finish with 152 at the smallest IPL venue. On Tuesday, the same batsmen – Buttler and Sanju Samson – had taken them to 82 for 2 in ten overs, before the same pattern unfolded.There was, however, an attempt to bat as deep as possible. On this occasion, wary of the lack of power-hitters down the order, their third-wicket stand lasted till the 15th over. In the process, a thunderous start – where they had made 63 in the Powerplay – was undone. It was a partnership of 53 that took 48 balls, and didn’t appear a valuable addition.R Ashwin, who bowled a lot of spin in the first ten overs of Kings XI’s last two games, chose to bowl mostly pace up front on this occasion. Five of the six Powerplay overs were bowled by the seamers, and the major differences in scoring rates between the early overs and the middle phase were down to this.Buttler feasted, as he usually does, on the back-of-a-length deliveries he got early on, slapping them over the bowler and extra cover at will. He made a stunning 45 runs in the Powerplay and brought up his fifty off 27 balls; a crucial stat in retrospect, because he barely managed to go run-a-ball from that point.Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who took three wickets off four balls in the previous game, got Samson and Buttler in consecutive overs on Tuesday. Andrew Tye took three in the last over and Royals finished with 158 for 8.

The bat-first wicket

When Rahane elected to bat, it was only the fourth occasion on which a captain had done it this season. Ashwin seemed unsettled when asked to chase, saying it didn’t look like a pitch that would aid the team batting second.Both captains were right with their assessments, although it took some time before that came into evidence. The pitch didn’t play a part when Chris Gayle stepped out and missed a flatter one from Gowtham that went down the leg side. It wasn’t the pitch either that induced swipes across the line from both Ashwin – who came in at No. 3 – and Karun Nair, reducing Kings XI to 19 for 3.By the time the Powerplay was done, however, scoring became extremely difficult for Rahul and Akshdeep Nath. In the six overs immediately after the Powerplay, Sodhi bowled three and conceded only eight runs. Opting to hit a good length with a lot of flight as opposed to his usual preference of throwing in plenty of variations, the legspinner had the batsmen attempting a lot of ambitious heaves before they decided to play straight. Even then, he was practically unscoreable against. By the end of the 12th over, Nath and Manoj Tiwary were both gone and the score was 66.Rahul brought up his fifty with a front-foot pull through midwicket in the 14th over, but in the face of a required rate that had already hit 12, neither he nor Marcus Stoinis could find a single boundary for the next three overs.By the time Rahul had figured out a way to find the boundaries on this pitch, the chase had gotten out of hand. He hit boundaries on either side of the keeper towards the end, including two reverse-sweeps off Unadkat, and jumped from 66 to 95 in the last two overs. But the story of the night was that at the other end: the only other batsman to make double-figures for Kings XI took 16 balls to make 11.

The development adds to a state of instability in Australian cricket the midst of concurrent reviews into CA: one into the culture of the organisation and another tackling the behaviour of the men’s national team

Daniel Brettig31-May-2018Iain Roy, Cricket Australia’s head of integrity and the conductor of the rapid investigation into the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, has been summarily removed by the governing body even as reviews into its culture and conduct continue.In December 2013, Roy had been promoted to head a unit specifically created to deal with integrity issues around the game that were raised by a report into CA’s codes, policies and practices in this area by the former AFL executive Adrian Anderson. Roy’s removal took place a matter of days after the release of an Al Jazeera documentary raising questions about the involvement of Australian players in corrupt activity.However, the greater question surrounds yet another major change to the organisation amid two concurrent reviews into CA: a wider cultural review being undertaken by The Ethics Centre (which has a CA director, Michelle Tredenick, on its board), and a more focused review chaired by the former Test batsman Rick McCosker tackling the behaviour of the men’s national team. Its facilitator, Peter Collins, is a longtime paid consultant of CA.Roy’s exit, which took place on Tuesday, was a surprise to many at CA, only a week after the former Board director Kevin Roberts was promoted to the post of chief operating officer beneath the chief executive James Sutherland. The position is one that Sutherland had previously baulked at creating, but which now strongly suggests that the chairman David Peever is intent upon installing the ambitious Roberts as Sutherland’s eventual replacement.When the Newlands scandal took place, Sutherland’s first action was to send Roy and the team performance manager Pat Howard to Cape Town to conduct a code-of-conduct investigation into the events of the match. The result was Roy’s recommendation that the captain Steven Smith and his deputy David Warner be banned for 12 months for conduct contrary to the spirit of the game, and Cameron Bancroft for nine months. Smith and Bancroft were banned from taking any leadership positions in Australian cricket for 12 months, and Warner for life.Within CA, there had been a level of satisfaction about the fact that the episode had progressed from Bancroft’s appearance on the Newlands replay screen to the players’ acceptance of heavy sanctions inside two weeks. However there was the administrative wrinkle of the Western Australian Cricket Association having to approve Bancroft for club cricket participation due to its rules being different to those of New South Wales, the state of Smith and Warner.Even so, Roy’s sudden exit adds to a state of instability at CA, as priorities compete between the reviews, a goal to find an extra AUD 20 million in grassroots funding by cutting corners from the administration following last year’s failed attempt to remove a fixed-revenue percentage from the MoU with the Australian Cricketers’ Association, and the political machinations around the Board, Sutherland and senior management.Since the reviews were instituted, a swathe of staff have been removed from the recast game development portfolio, the head of marketing has left, while the Board director Bob Every quit well before his term was due to expire after a series of disagreements with Peever. In the meantime, the coach Darren Lehmann was replaced by Justin Langer on a four-year contract. Roy’s removal has only added to the appearance of an uncertain picture for the organisation, and lent weight to queries over whether the reviews are of any genuine significance.All this despite the signing of an AUD 1.18 billion broadcast rights deal with the Fox Sports and Seven networks in April, trumpeted by CA as a landmark deal in its balance between preserving a significant free-to-air presence for the game while also offering up the sort of blanket coverage of the game to be provided by Fox creating a dedicated cricket channel. How its many talking heads will address the sort of upheaval seen at CA in recent weeks remains to be seen.

Kuldeep breaks into the bowlers’ top 10 rankings for the first time, rising to sixth place

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jul-2018Joe Root’s Man of the Series-winning performance in the ODIs against India has seen him vault to a career-best second spot in the ICC’s ODI rankings for batsmen. Root made 3, 113 not out and 100 not out in the three matches. His century in the third game was his 13th in ODIs, an England record.Virat Kohli ended up with his first bilateral ODI series defeat as captain, but his own good form meant he climbed to a career-high 911 points, 93 clear of the second-placed Root. Kohli scored 75, 45 and 71 in the series. His points tally is the sixth-best of all time and the highest since Dean Jones hit 918 points in March 1991. The highest points tally remains Viv Richards’ 935, achieved in December 1985.ICC ODI batsmen rankings as on July 18, 2018•ESPNcricinfo

Kuldeep Yadav was the other big gainer after the series, breaking into the top 10 for the first time to sit in sixth spot in the bowling charts. Kuldeep took nine wickets in the series, including 6 for 25 in the first ODI. He had begun the T20I series that preceded the ODIs with 5 for 24, and has now also been named in India’s squad for the first three Tests.Yuzvendra Chahal meanwhile, dropped two places but remained in the top 10 while Jasprit Bumrah, who sat out the series with injury, retained his top spot in the bowlers’ rankings.England’s 2-1 series win also helped them widen the gap at the top of the table, moving to 127 points, six clear of India’s 121.

George Dobell at Old Trafford02-Jul-20181:24

Morgan ready to experiment with batting line-up

It’s not just that Australia are currently lacking half a first-choice team due to injury and suspension, and it’s not just that India are currently rated No. 2 in the ICC’s ODI and IT20 rankings. There’s little doubt that, after a 6-0 start to the white-ball leg of England’s home summer, the true examination of their limited-overs progress is just about to begin.After all, this India side contains at least two of the best batsmen in limited-overs history – certainly Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni qualify in that category – and a bowling attack that contains an enduring source of heartbreak for England teams: good-quality spin bowling – in particular wrist-spin.If that sounds like an exaggeration, consider the last time these teams met in this format. On that occasion we were treated to a batting collapse to rate with some of the most dramatic in England’s history (and the competition for that accolade is pretty stiff) when, confronted with the potent mix of a demanding target (203) and a good leg-spinner (in Yuzvendra Chahal), they lost eight wickets for eight runs on the way to a 75-run loss.To make matters worse – for England, anyway – both these limited-overs series are set to be played in conditions that should encourage spin and negate any advantage England might have had from ‘home’ conditions. With the country in the middle of an unusually hot and dry spell – by English standards, anyway – the surfaces encountered in this series (and probably the Test series that follows) might be expected to assist spin more than normal. The distinctive smell of burning wood – there are two major moorland fires near Manchester – provides an even greater sense that this first match might as well be taking place in an Indian city.”Generally, it is a different challenge when you play against subcontinent teams,” England’s captain, Eoin Morgan, said. “It normally exposes sides like ourselves, South Africa and Australia to spin and reverse swing: different challenges to that we are normally used to. But we are in the middle of our summer and we have played a lot of cricket. Hopefully we will be able to deal with it”The weather normally has a big impact on the pitch that’s produced. The grounds we go to in the T20 series normally take a bit [of spin] as well.”Like everything, if you play against a side with good players and you focus on one or two of them, say the spinners, it’s more than likely it’s the seamers who will actually get the wickets. It can have a completely different impact if you focus on two guys too much within a team. They are a strong side and have other components to their game. It’s going to be a difficult challenge.”There are reasons for optimism from an England perspective. For a start, they are a better side than many of those that preceded them and they are, after overwhelming Australia home and away, playing joyful, confident cricket.Perhaps more importantly, the sense of mystery that once accompanied them in any series against overseas sides – and India in particular – has been diluted by exposure to the IPL. Ten of this squad (including the injured Ben Stokes and Tom Curran) have IPL experience and one of them (Moeen Ali) played alongside Chahal for RCB.Yuzvendra Chahal was among the wickets once again•Getty Images

“That has a big impact,” Morgan said. “When I was coming through to the international team, playing against somebody like a Chris Gayle for instance, who you’d built up as quite a significant player in the game, you felt a million miles away from that, whereas our guys are rubbing shoulders with the best, competing and doing quite well.”I think our experience of playing in the IPL is of benefit to us. It exposes our players to the biggest competition in the world. We had nine players picked up in the auction, with 13 eventually going including replacement players, which is the most we’ve ever had. It’s great experience and exposure for our players, but it also shows where we are at as a team.”Whatever happens over the next few weeks, England’s eyes will remain – in this format, at least – upon the next World T20 tournament in Australia in late 2020. Gone are the days of using the format to take a look at players with a view to the ODI side and gone are the days of resting players with a view to keeping them fresh for Test cricket. With a global event on the horizon – albeit distant at present – the format will take greater precedence.That was a point confirmed by Morgan ahead of the series. As well as stating he would like to continue as captain to that World T20 tournament, he said England would continue to tinker with their line-up – and batting order, in particular – with a view to finding their optimum strategy over the next 12 months or so.”I’d love to do it [the captaincy],” Morgan said. “2020 [and the World T20] is where all our plans are going in this format.”You will see more experimentation [in this series]. I think we have to be open to what might be the best combination down the line. I don’t think here and now that making a solid decision and sticking with it for the next two years is productive or healthy. We have to be as adaptable as we can be, going forward with one eye on the World T20 in Australia. And we have also the Big Bash: some of our guys might go down there and absolutely tear it up. So you have to be open-minded.”Two men who are clearly in with a chance of selection are Reece Topley and Matt Fisher. Both were considered for selection for this squad once it become clear that Tom Curran was not fully fit. Fisher, aged 20, has long been thought of as a promising player and made his Championship debut for Yorkshire aged just 17, while Topley has recently recovered from a stress fracture of the back and was overlooked for Hampshire’s team that won Saturday’s Royal London One-day Cup final.Ultimately, the England management raised some eyebrows with the decision to select a batsman – Dawid Malan – to replace a bowler (Curran). But they reasoned that allowing Topley and Fisher to play for England Lions against India A may be more beneficial than calling them to Old Trafford with little realistic prospect of playing.

A greater belief and ability to seize the momentum, based on a strong pace attack, gives the India captain confidence the team can avoid a repeat of 2014

Nagraj Gollapudi at the Ageas Bowl29-Aug-2018When MS Dhoni’s India arrived at Southampton in 2014, the visitors’ dressing room was brimming with confidence and belief. India were leading 1-0 in the five-match Test series going into the third match. The lead had come at Lord’s in the second Test, a memorable result for India: Ajinkya Rahane cracked a century; Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma grabbed career-best figures in an innings; and Lord’s was entranced by Ravindra Jadeja’s cavalier half-century, which he celebrated with a sword dance.England captain Alastair Cook’s career was on the line when he went to toss at the Ageas Bowl. Early on he edged Pankaj Singh. Unfortunately for India, Jadeja spilled an easy catch in the slips. The story after that is well known: Cook scored a gritty 95, England won that Test and the next two. India were wounded.Four years on, India have returned to Southampton. Although Joe Root’s England lead the series 2-1, Virat Kohli’s India feel they have the momentum after a crushing victory at Trent Bridge achieved with a collective effort similar to that Lord’s win in 2014. And Kohli believes India hold the edge with two Tests to go.That belief comes from the way India have adapted and learned from situations. At Edgbaston and Lord’s all the batsmen, barring Kohli, failed to show any application to survive the conditions and England’s bowling plans. Their slip fielders frustrated the fast bowlers by spilling catches.But at Trent Bridge the openers wiped the sheen off the Dukes ball, the partnerships prospered, the fast bowlers dominated, the debutant wicketkeeper and the slips held onto the catches nicely and the captain continued with his good form with the bat. India entered Nottingham with a series defeat a realistic possibility. They left Nottingham with a series-levelling victory in Southampton a realistic possibility.Kohli picked out the one crucial difference between the India side of 2014 and now is how the players have seized the situation in a match.”Last time around I can’t really pinpoint as to what we did wrong or maybe England played much better than us,” he said. “We probably didn’t have the experience to capitalise on the lead is how I see things four years down the line. Right now we understand that we are in a very exciting position to have gained momentum at the right time in the series, and to have played like that when 2-0 down when everyone thought that it is going to be a clean sweep or we are going to be rolled over. But we understood how we are playing and how we have been playing for the last few months and it was just about capitalising on the big moments during the Test match.”The other significant difference between the two India teams is the current fast bowling attack. Ishant Sharma has bowled and behaved as the captain of the attack. Mohammed Shami has built the pressure with high pace and fuller lengths. Jasprit Bumrah, in his first match of the series, created angles that bamboozled England. Hardik Pandya, too, stepped up his pace and displayed his bowling smartness, wrapping up England’s middle order in a spell of 29 balls in the first innings at Trent Bridge. India’s fast men now have a grip over the England batsmen.”They’ve been bowling well as a unit which is the most exciting thing for me as a captain and for the whole team,” Kohli said. “Be it a spell or bowling in a partnership, we feel happy when we are at the ground, at slips or even outside. It gives us happiness when we see our bowlers rushing the opposite batsmen. The game remains in balance and doesn’t shift completely to one side. We don’t think we are at a disadvantage when it comes to pace bowling. We think we are equal to any team in the world and if we play well, we can win anywhere.”Despite the self-confidence Kohli was well aware that India still can lose the series if they let their focus slip so they cannot afford to sit back now. “As cricketers we understand when the Test match goes away from you and we spoke about recognising that and making sure that we are relentless and ruthless in terms of capitalising on those important moments which we did in Nottingham.”But also to understand that we will have to do that two more times for us to achieve the goal that we want to. And not be satisfied with one victory, because if Nottingham was hard work this is going to be even harder. England would want to come back strongly. We understand that and we will have to be even better with what we did in Nottingham to be able to get results our way.”

Pakistan A take on Australia in a four-day game starting on Saturday in Dubai

Umar Farooq25-Sep-2018The Pakistan A squad due to face Australia in a four-day game that starts on Saturday will not feature any spinners. Given the series proper will in all likelihood have spinners playing a huge part, it was a squad that raised eyebrows. ESPNcricinfo understands it stems from a desire to deny Australia game time against quality spin ahead of the Test series.Asad Shafiq will lead the Pakistan A squad against a full-strength Australia at the ICC academy in Dubai. The 14-man squad also includes returning fast bowlers Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali, both of whom have been out of national contention.The apparent wish to deny Australia game time against quality spinners stems from the role they will invariably play once the Test matches start. In their previous outing in the UAE in 2014, Pakistan’s spinners had 26 wickets: Zulfiqar Babar, the left-arm spinner, bagged 14 while Yasir Shah picked up 12 in the two-Test series. The Australia spin duo was far less effective, with Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe picking up a combined seven wickets.The Australians, however, have former Indian cricketer and now consultant with Australia Sridharan Sriram to help them on the spin front, and Sriram brought along two Indian spinners – Pardeep Sahu and KK Jiyas – to help Australia train. While they may not have the profile of Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah – both are uncapped at national level – they seemingly provided valuable practise to the Australian players as they prepared for the Test series in Dubai.Australia appear to understand the value of spinners in the UAE, having brought along a sizeable contingent of slow bowlers. Along with Nathan Lyon, left-armers Ashton Agar and Jon Holland are also part of the squad, and allrounder-legspinner Marnus Labuschagne is also part of the side. Travis Head could also serve as a part-time spin option.Pakistan A squad: Sami Aslam, Abid Ali, Iftokhar Ahmed, Asad Shafiq (capt), Usman Saluahuddin, Saad Ali, Agha Salman, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Waqas Maqsood, Aamer Yamin, Umaid Asif, Saud Shakeel