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He also hopes to have Karunaratne, Chandimal, and Mathews’ support for 3-4 more years

Mohammad Isam03-Apr-2024It was only apt that a Sri Lankan fast bowler sealed a 2-0 series win in Chattogram. When Lahiru Kumara yorked Khaled Ahmed, it was 11.15am local time on the final day. It was always going to be a quick end to the game after Sri Lanka took seven of Bangladesh’s fourth-innings wickets on the fourth day.Kumara finished with a four-wicket haul to take their fast bowlers’ tally for the series to 33 scalps. It is the most by a Sri Lankan pace attack in a two-match Test series. The fast bowlers’ success was well complemented by a strong showing by their batters.Not only did Kamindu Mendis get adjudged Player of the Match and Player of the Series, but the team also totalled four hundreds and eight fifties. Bangladesh, on the other hand, managed only four fifties. The other big difference between the two sides was the number of batting partnerships that lasted at least 20 overs. Sri Lanka had six, and Bangladesh just the one.Related

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Apart from Kamindu, it was captain Dhananjaya de Silva who stood out with the bat. While they dominated the Sylhet Test without much support from the other batters, the issue was resolved with six of Sri Lanka’s top-seven batters reaching fifties in the first innings in Chattogram.”We are very satisfied with the win,” Dhananjaya said. “There are many areas for us to improve, and I have talked about those with the team and the coaches are working towards that. If we can learn day by day and raise our game by 1%, we can make winning a habit. When we came to Bangladesh, we know it was going to be good for the batsmen. Their idea is always to get runs. They were disappointed because they didn’t get runs in Sylhet. But they came back, and it was pretty easy for me to handle the other things.”Kamindu’s story of waiting for nearly two years before this breakthrough tour is a major highlight of this tour, but Dhananjaya said that Kamindu had to bide his team away from the Test side as better players kept him out.Kamindu Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva put on partnerships of 202 and 173 in the first Test•AFP/Getty Images

“These are the best players for Test cricket in Sri Lanka,” he said. “They’ve been performing in the domestic arena as well. Kamindu had to wait a little while. He got a fifty in his first innings, but when the replacement came in he had to go back. But he has been practicing well.”Sri Lanka are shaping up a batting unit that doesn’t necessarily have to only depend on the experienced trio of Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, and Angelo Mathews. The captain however wants them to continue for a long time, as they also help him in leading the Test side.”They have been great servants for Sri Lanka for a lot of years,” Dhananjaya said. “I don’t know how long they will play. I’d love to play with them for 3-4 years into the future. They have been performing well in the past and they have been great in these series as well.”They didn’t interfere with my captaincy. They just give me their ideas. It is very helpful in Tests, because you have to play five days. Sometimes my mind goes here and there, so getting that advice from them is very valuable.”Dhananjaya’s captaincy also stood out during this Test series. He embraced the conditions in Sylhet which favoured the fast bowlers. He said it excited him more. He also handled Bangladesh’s fast bowling well as a batter. In a more batting-friendly Chattogram, he devised tight fields to keep the Bangladesh run rate down. It worked wonders as the fast bowlers responded well too.Some also observed that Dhananjaya didn’t shy away from being a tough taskmaster with his team-mates when needed. “Sometimes you have to be a little aggressive. In a country like this where you are playing in heat, sometimes some players get lethargic.”But if in the field me or someone else dives around a little bit and makes a good stop, everyone gets a little boost. I’m trying to keep the other 10 players in the game. I’m not saying I need to be harsh, but I do think you need to have a bit of aggression when you lead,” Dhananjaya said.It has been quite a first tour as captain for Dhananjaya. He scored runs and led well but also calmed things down when the talk of rivalry surfaced during the Test series. Visibly on the field too, the teams didn’t clash in the Tests, like they did in the limited-overs series. Dhananjaya’s insistence that “it is not a rivalry” kept the situation calm, and allowed for a smoother time on and off the field.

CSK move to third on the points table but are tied with four other sides on ten points

Sidharth Monga28-Apr-20243:51

Finch: Gaikwad stays consistent despite fickle nature of T20s

Call them conservative, but Chennai Super Kings successfully backed their method despite not being able to defend 210 in their previous home match against Lucknow Super Giants. The power-packed Sunrisers Hyderabad’s drought in Chennai – they have never beaten CSK at Chepauk – continued as they fell short comprehensively despite batting in dewy conditions.The slowest team in the first two overs and the third-slowest in the powerplay, CSK looked like they were playing the same game again: lose the toss (their eighth lost toss in nine matches), lay a cautious platform, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad scoring around about a hundred, Shivam Dube pushing them over 200… But then it changed in the second innings. CSK must have figured they had got done in by excessive dew, a special innings from Marcus Stoinis and some ordinary fielding from themselves the other night, a combination of events that won’t be repeated every night.On Sunday, it wasn’t repeated, after Tushar Deshpande rocked SRH with three wickets in the powerplay. Both Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma found the sweeper on the off side. The big win took CSK from sixth to third on the points table, tied on points with SRH and LSG. SRH were left with questions around their chasing methods: they have lost only one when defending but won only one when chasing. Their run rate when chasing falls three points from their 11.74 in the first innings, and the average comes down from nearly 40 to 23.Conservative Super KingsThe CSK openers made only one boundary attempt in the first two overs, and then gradually pushed up, largely thanks to expert gap-finding by Gaikwad. The first eight overs brought CSK just 67 runs, out of which Gaikwad scored 44 off 25 with seven fours.Ruturaj Gaikwad got to a 27-ball fifty with a six•BCCI

The middle-overs pressCSK went the first 10 overs of the last match without a six. Here, they hit the first at the start of the ninth over when Daryl Mitchell welcomed Pat Cummins to the bowling crease by off-driving a slower ball over mid-off. In the same over, Gaikwad repeated the dose to get to 51 off 27. CSK’s other end, including extras, had got just 31 off 27 till that point.However, Mitchell joined the party now, and played a part in keeping CSK going even as Gaikwad managed just 10 off the next 10. In that period, Mitchell made his way to fifty off 29 before holing out to leave CSK at 126 for 3 in 13.3 overs.The finishShivam Dube continued his exceptional season despite good defensive bowling from SRH. He ended up with 39 off 20, hitting four sixes and a four. Gaikwad found a second wind, taking 29 in 10 balls immediately after Mitchell’s dismissal. Towards the end, though, he was gassed and kept mis-hitting everything. The mis-hits kept falling safe, bringing down his strike rate. The 19th over, bowled by Jaydev Unadkat, brought no boundary.MS Dhoni whipped a first-ball four•BCCI

MS Dhoni came out for a customary 5 off 2, and Dube ended with a huge six, but the question remained: had CSK done the right thing by playing in identical fashion to the other night?The Deshpande blitzUnlike CSK, Travis Head began with a boundary first ball and a six off the first ball of the next over. Abhishek Sharma matched him with a six off his own. Deshpande, though, came back with a wide slower ball, which Head could send only as far as the sweeper on the off side. Impact Player Anmolpreet Singh fell first ball with a leading edge to one that shaped away.In his next over, Deshpande had Abhishek caught by the sweeper on the off side again. Abhishek and Head have not put up unbelievable numbers without taking fielders on, but they will be slightly disappointed they both found one of the only two men out.The middle-overs squeezeThis is where CSK changed their fortunes as compared to the last match. LSG didn’t let the CSK spinners bowl in the last match, especially with the dew. Here Ravindra Jadeja got into his work. He conceded just one boundary in his four overs, bowled on the trot. He and Mustafizur Rahman managed to find just enough grip from the surface. A frustrated Nitish Reddy top-edged a short ball from Jadeja before Matheesha Pathirana broke the stump camera with a laser-guided middle-stump yorker to Aiden Markram.CSK were right. There wasn’t to be a repeat of a special chase as they closed out efficiently for a 78-run win.

USA captain feels beating Pakistan in the World Cup is “going to open many doors for us”

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jun-20242:08

Rapid Fire Review: Where does this rank among the greatest upsets?

After their win over Pakistan, USA captain Monank Patel said they should have finished the game in the regular time instead of taking it to the Super Over.Chasing 160, USA needed 56 from the last seven overs with Monank and Andries Gous well set. But Monank got out on the very next ball, allowing Pakistan to make a comeback and tie the game.”When I got out, we were still in the game,” Monank said after the match, “and I thought we should have finished the game and we should have never gone to Super Over. But the way we kept our nerves and in the Super Over particularly, scoring 18 runs itself gave us a big upper hand to defend the target.”Related

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Apart from those last few overs, everything else went as per the plan for USA, right from winning the toss.”The plan was to win the toss and bowl first,” Monank said. “And we knew initially first half an hour it would help pace bowlers and the way we kept them quiet and took the crucial wickets in the powerplay, it helped really well. And yeah, 160 on this wicket with one side short boundary, I felt we were always in the game.”For the Super Over, USA went with left-arm seamer Saurabh Netravalkar instead of Ali Khan, who is arguably more used to bowling at the death. It proved to be the right choice as Netravalkar conceded only 13.”The plan was we wanted to make sure that we utilise the conditions,” Monank said. “And the condition was a left-arm bowler bowling cutters and wide yorkers with left-arm over angle going out. Ali Khan usually attacks the stumps, but we wanted to make sure that we make them play outside off stump. And for a left-armer, the angle helps. Saurabh had had a good day, and I backed him.”1:05

Monank Patel praises USA bowlers for historic win over Pakistan

Before the World Cup, USA had beaten Bangladesh 2-1 in a three-match home T20I series. In the World Cup opener, they beat Canada and now have two wins in two games. Their remaining matches are against India and Ireland. One more victory will put them in contention for the Super 8. But Monank is not thinking too far ahead.”We know what we have worked and what capability we have,” he said. “And we just focus on the particular game. And we don’t want to keep our emotions too high or low. We’ll make sure that whatever the win today is, we’ll enjoy it and make sure that next day we come fresh.”We want to focus on one game at a time. And our focus would be on playing against India now. We don’t even want to think about the Ireland right now. Super 8 is far ahead.”But Monank agreed beating Pakistan was a big achievement that could open many doors for them.”I am happy with the win, playing against Pakistan for the first time in the World Cup and beating them it was an unbelievable performance from our side,” he said. “So yeah, I would say it’s a big day for Team USA and for the USA cricket community too.”Of course, beating Pakistan in the World Cup is going to open many doors for us. Obviously hosting the World Cup in USA and performing here as a team, it helps us to grow the cricket in USA.”

Leicestershire’s quarter-final hopes dented as Hose sets up Rapids win

ECB Reporters Network11-Jul-2024Worcestershire Rapids ended a run of seven successive defeats in the Vitality Blast and dealt a blow to Leicestershire’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages with a 16-run victory at New Road.Worcestershire achieved their highest score of the season thanks chiefly to Adam Hose’s 63 off just 39 balls, beating last weekend’s previous best of 181for four versus Lancashire Lightning at Emirates Old Trafford.The Leicestershire spinners, Lewis Goldworthy and Rehan Ahmed, both bowled excellent spells which gave them combined figures of 8-0-45-3 before Hose’s late onslaught.But their powerful batting top order line-up was blown away by Tom Taylor and youngster Harry Darley as they were reduced to 28 for 5.Louis Kimber revived Leicestershire’s hopes with their fastest-ever T20 fifty off 21 balls including five sixes in a two-over spell and he and Ben Cox added 85 in eight overs.But his dismissal for 53 ended their hopes of a remarkable win against the odds despite Ben going onto complete a fine 50 off 35 balls. Matthew Waite cleaned up the innings with a stream of late wickets including Cox in the final over for 55 to give him a career-best Blast return of 5 for 21.The injury-hit Rapids have lost several games by tight margins but this was a convincing performance whereas Leicestershire have now gone four games without a win courtesy of two defeats, a tie and a wash-out.Adam Hose top-scored for the Rapids•Getty Images

Leicestershire received a treble boost with captain Peter Handscomb (shoulder), Rehan (concussion) and leading wicket-taker Scott Currie (Injury niggle) all returning to the side.Hanscomb won the toss and put the Rapids into bat and Jimmy Neesham made the first breakthrough when Brett D’Oliveira sliced his shot into the hands of third man. Kashif Ali got into his stride with four and a massive six over backward square leg off successive balls from Josh Hull.Josh Cobb inside edged Mike for four but was then caught down the leg side by former Worcestershire keeper Cox off the same bowler. The Rapids reached 61 for 2 in the powerplay but then Gareth Roderick made room to hit Rehan through the off side and was bowled.Kashif, having hit Goldsworthy for a straight six, was given out lbw next ball aiming a blow to the legside. His 41 came off 25 balls with two sixes and three fours. Ethan Brookes also perished aiming to hit Goldsworthy to leg and was bowled but Hose looked in good form and kept the scoreboard moving at a decent rate for the Rapids.Ed Pollock fell to a good catch over his shoulder at long off by Kimber off Currie who next ball trapped Waite lbw as Worcestershire lost momentum. But Hose ensured a sizeable total with a series of big hits as he completed a 33-ball half-century before on 63 he was caught by Cox attempting to scoop Neesham.When Leicestershire replied Rishi Patel, the competition’s leading scorer with 400 runs, was bowled for a duck driving at Taylor. There was joy then for Darley with his first Blast wicket as Rehan sliced the ball to Brookes at wide third. Darley then bowled a wide but his second legitimate ball accounted for Handscomb who clipped straight to Pollock atmid wicket to leave the Foxes 9 for 3.There was no let-up for the visitors and Taylor struck again as Sol Budinger went for a big hit and was caught behind and Waite then disposed of Neesham in the same manner. Then came the remarkable hitting from Kimber to revive the Foxes; chances before he holed out to Cobb in the covers off Brookes.Two wickets in two balls from Waite ensured there would be no late heroics from Leicestershire as he got rid of Mike and Goldsworthy. He struck twice more in the final over in sending back Cox and Currie to complete his five-for.

Overall, 14 English players will be part of BBL 14, with Bangladesh legspinner Rishad Hossain also in the mix

S Sudarshanan01-Sep-2024Ben Duckett and Laurie Evans were among a host of England players drafted in for the 14th edition of the Big Bash League (BBL). Duckett, who had played for Brisbane Heat in 2021-22, was the first pick for Melbourne Stars (platinum category), while Perth Scorchers opted to not use their retention pick for Laurie Evans, who was selected by Melbourne Renegades.Renegades, who had pick No. 2, originally chose James Vince, but Sydney Sixers used the retention pick to get their opener back despite him not being available for the full season. Sixers, who were last in the order of the picks for the first two rounds, allotted a gold category for West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein, whom they had pre-signed though he is available for only seven games. Evans aside, Renegades also drafted Jacob Bethell, the England batter who has earned a maiden call-up for the white-ball series against Australia later this month.Shai Hope was selected for the first time in the competition. He was Hobart Hurricanes’ pick in the platinum category, with the influence of head coach Ricky Ponting – who was at Delhi Capitals in the same capacity at IPL 2024 and worked with Hope – on show. Chris Jordan, who Hurricanes pre-signed for two years, was also allotted the platinum category while Bangladesh legspinner Rishad Hossain rounded up their draft. Rishad made his international debut last year and established himself in Bangladesh’s T20I set-up, and the BBL will be his first T20 competition outside of the Bangladesh Premier League.Related

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Defending champions Heat managed to get back their tall, left-arm fast bowler Paul Walter back in the second round after they pre-signed Colin Munro in the platinum category. Sussex and Trent Rockets batter Tom Alsop was in for his BBL debut, rounding up their picks. Apart from Duckett, Stars also selected Pakistan legspinner Usama Mir and assigned a second player to the platinum category in Tom Curran, with whom they had inked a two-year deal.Adelaide Strikers, who had pre-signed Ollie Pope in the golden category, drafted allrounder Jamie Overton in the platinum category and West Indies allrounder Fabian Allen in the third round. Sydney Thunder allocated the platinum category to their pre-signing Sam Billings and drafted in New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson (also platinum) and West Indies finisher Sherfane Rutherford (silver).As many as seven teams passed on making picks across the last two rounds, but Scorchers went a bit left-field. Lancashire wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Hurst, who opened the batting with Phil Salt in the men’s Hundred for Manchester Originals after Jos Buttler’s injury, scoring 149 runs at a strike rate of 161.95, was signed, and Keaton Jennings was Scorchers’ last pick of the evening. Minutes later, Sixers drafted in Yorkshire legspinner Jafer Chohan as their final player. He had picked up 17 wickets in the T20 Blast this year.Overall, 14 English players will be part of BBL 14.

How the BBL draft played out

Melbourne Stars: Ben Duckett (platinum), Tom Curran (pre-signed, platinum), Usama Mir (silver)
Melbourne Renegades: Laurie Evans (platinum), Jacob Bethell (gold), Tim Seifert (pre-signed, gold)
Sydney Thunder: Lockie Ferguson (platinum), Sam Billings (pre-signed, platinum), Sherfane Rutherford (silver)
Hobart Hurricanes: Shai Hope (platinum), Chris Jordan (pre-signed, platinum), Rishad Hossain (bronze)
Adelaide Strikers: Jamie Overton (platinum), Ollie Pope (pre-signed, gold), Fabian Allen (silver)
Brisbane Heat: Colin Munro (pre-signed, platinum), Paul Walter (gold), Tom Alsop (bronze)
Perth Scorchers: Finn Allen (pre-signed, platinum), Matthew Hurst (silver), Keaton Jennings (bronze)
Sydney Sixers: James Vince (retained, platinum), Akeal Hosein (pre-signed, gold), Jafer Chohan (bronze)

Speaking ahead of the Duleep Trophy opener, he also said that he hasn’t “reached his expectations” as a Test player yet

Himanshu Agrawal04-Sep-2024Shubman Gill has said working on his “defensive game” helped him turn his Test fortunes around against England earlier this year.Before heading into the home series against England, Gill’s average in Tests was 30.59. But batting at No. 3 across the five games, he hit 452 runs in nine innings, at an average of 56.50. That included two centuries and half-centuries each, as he overturned a run of low scores in the format. Returning to first-class cricket for the first time since then, Gill will be leading India A at the Duleep Trophy opener on Thursday.”I worked on my defence a little bit more, especially against the spinners,” Gill said at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where his side will face India B in the Duleep Trophy. “Playing on turning tracks, if you are not able to have that confidence in your defence [then it disturbs your game]. If you’re playing on a turning track, you should be able to defend a lot more. [It is] then you play scoring shots.Related

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“And with more T20 [cricket], and playing on, I wouldn’t say flat tracks, but [on] batting-friendly tracks – [and] more in the white-ball [games] – I feel it takes away a little bit of your defensive game over a period of time. So that was my focus in the England series.”After scoring 104 in the second innings of the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam, he revealed he had asked the team management to push him down to No. 3 instead of playing as an opener, a position where he had batted 29 times.Despite the returns against England, Gill acknowledged that he is not quite there yet as a Test player, and that he intended to make up for it. India play ten Tests over the next four months, starting with two against Bangladesh from September 19.”Yes, definitely, I haven’t reached my expectations yet,” he said. “But we have ten Test matches ahead of us back-to-back. So hopefully after these ten Test matches, I will be able to meet my expectations.”

Gill: As captain, ‘you should understand your players a lot more’

Gill said that he never felt any “extra pressure” being part of the India leadership group, as the added responsibility required him to know more about his team-mates.Over the last few months, Gill has had plenty of leadership opportunities. That run started when he captained Gujarat Titans in the IPL after Hardik Pandya went back to Mumbai Indians. Gill then led India in five T20Is against Zimbabwe, after Rohit Sharma had retired from the format and several other senior players were rested.India reversed a 0-1 scoreline to beat the hosts 4-1, after which Gill had said that captaincy “brings out the best in me”. He was even named vice-captain for the T20Is and ODIs against Sri Lanka that followed.”My role as a batsman doesn’t really change,” Gill said. “Even if I am the captain or the vice-captain, the aim is to get runs and make my team win, [and] contribute in any way possible.”If you are the captain or the vice-captain, then you should be able to understand your players a lot more rather than when you are just a player. Sometimes, it happens that you have played with a lot of [these] players since childhood. You have played a lot of age-group cricket [together]. So, obviously, you are already connected, and so it is more fun to play with them.”And if you are enjoying your role in the captaincy, it is very important to lead with performance. So if you are getting all these things, then you enjoy everything.”

India A remain in contention to finish on top of the table heading into the final round

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Sep-2024India A bounced back from a first-round defeat to record a 186-run win over the Shreyas Iyer-led India D to remain in contention to finish on top of the table heading into the final round of the 2024-25 Duleep Trophy.Having set India D a target of 488, they were made to toil for 82 overs to earn an outright, with Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian playing key roles with the ball, picking up seven wickets between them. Mulani was named Player of the Match for his four wickets in the match along with his crucial first-innings 89 that helped India A set up the game.Resuming on 62 for 1, Bhui drove the innings and brought up his 18th first-class hundred, but none of the other batters managed to play out time. Iyer and Sanju Samson, both of whom missed out in the first innings, made 41 and 40 respectively.Bhui and Yash Dubey put on 100 for the second wicket as India D’s pursuit to secure a draw received a massive leg up. But the run out of Dubey followed by Devdutt Padikkal’s dismissal on 1 off Shams Mulani set them back.Iyer and Samson were typically adventurous and batted with flair, at no point looking to rein their natural game. Iyer became Mulani’s second victim when he was bowled. That wicket opened the floodgates for his Mumbai team-mate Kotian to get into the thick of things. Kotian ended up with a four-for as he sliced through the lower order to seal victory in the final session.India A’s other notable performers included 32-year-old Railways batter Pratham Singh and Hyderabad batter Tilak Varma, both of whom slammed hundreds to set up a declaration late on the third day.

The UAE, due to its proximity to Pakistan, likely to be the frontrunner in case of a hybrid model

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Nov-2024The BCCI has informed the ICC that India will not travel to Pakistan to participate in the 2025 Champions Trophy. ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCCI told the ICC it had been advised by the Indian government not to send the team to Pakistan. The eight-team Champions Trophy is scheduled to be played at three venues in Pakistan between February 19 and March 9 but this development means the ICC and the PCB will need to activate a contingency plan, likely involving a hybrid model where teams will shuttle between Pakistan and a second venue.That will not be straightforward as on Friday, the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi had ruled out using a hybrid model – or even that any discussion of it had taken place. But ESPNcricinfo understands that various contingency plans had been chalked out some months ago in case the hybrid model was adopted. While there are a few countries shortlisted, it is understood the UAE, due to its proximity to Pakistan, is likely to be the frontrunner. Sri Lanka, too, is on the shortlist.The ICC was informed of the BCCI stance earlier this week, though it could not be confirmed whether the BCCI had orally communicated its decision. It is possible the ICC is looking for written communication before it can relay that to the PCB. Naqvi had insisted on Friday that the PCB would need “in writing” any objections the BCCI had and if so, then he would need to discuss it with his government before any final decision was taken.ESPNcricinfo has sought responses from the ICC, the PCB and the BCCI on the developments.Naqvi’s stance on Friday was notably more unequivocal than it has been on the issue, insisting the PCB was not “prepared to accept” the hybrid model. He referred to “great gestures” the PCB had made previously, in the team travelling to India to play in the ODI World Cup in 2023, despite India refusing to travel to Pakistan for the preceding Asia Cup. That tournament eventually adopted a hybrid model, with the latter stages played in Sri Lanka. He also made clear that any future travel to India by Pakistan would not be a given and would be a government decision.The Champions Trophy will feature eight teams, with two groups of four followed by semi-finals and a final. The competing teams are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa. Monday, November 11, will mark 100 days until the start of the event, although the schedule and ticketing details are yet to be announced. ESPNcricinfo has also been told that a schedule-announcement event in Lahore next week is likely to be postponed because of these developments.As a result of fraught political ties between the two countries, India have not travelled to Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup despite the latter playing several ICC events in India including the 2023 World Cup. The sides have played just one bilateral series since then, a white-ball tour Pakistan made in 2012-13.

Gillespie is due to head to South Africa in the coming days for the two-match Test series

Danyal Rasool12-Dec-2024Pakistan Test head coach Jason Gillespie is considering his options after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decided not to renew his assistant coach Tim Nielsen’s contract for Pakistan’s upcoming Test tour of South Africa.Nielsen, who was appointed in August this year, officially designated as the “high-performance red-ball coach”, had seen his contract run out; it was up for renewal after Pakistan’s tour of Australia, and he had been waiting to hear about a decision on an extension. He told ESPNcricinfo he felt he was “making good progress” with the team and was fully committed to the Test series against South Africa and West Indies, but that the PCB had told him his services were no longer required.It is understood that PCB did not inform Gillespie ahead of time he would no longer have his assistant coach by his side in South Africa, a decision that has left him extremely unimpressed. That he wasn’t consulted beforehand appears to be the most significant catalyst for his irritation, and fits in with a wider pattern of Gillespie’s roles and authority being steadily eroded over the last few months.Related

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In October, he was removed from the selection panel for the Test side and said he was now merely a “matchday strategist”. There was limited communication between the player and the board since the end of Pakistan’s white-ball series in Australia, where he coached the side on an interim basis after Gary Kirsten quit.Gillespie’s anger is understood to partly stem from what he felt was a great rapport Nielsen had developed with the players, a point he had made more than once in public. It is believed both Gillespie and Nielsen consider the fact that Nielsen is not based in Pakistan as the reason his contract hasn’t been extended, though, as Nielsen confirmed, he would have been available for the upcoming two tours in their entirety.While it is understood the PCB has not yet made a decision on any potential replacement for Nielsen, the current administration has sought to replace overseas coaches it appointed earlier in the year with Pakistan-based ones. The PCB has, in the past, attributed not spending enough time in Pakistan as a reason for their dissatisfaction with overseas coaches, most notably in the case of Gary Kirsten, who quit in October. Gillespie, though has always maintained he has met his contractual obligations in that regard.Aqib Javed, who was part of the selection panel, and retains his place on it, was appointed head coach of the white-ball side on an interim basis until the Champions Trophy last month. The PCB did initially ask Gillespie to take up that role, but without an accompanying financial offer to reflect the increased scope of his role. It was another factor that led to relations between the board and the head coach being strained, with the latest development bringing those simmering tensions to a boil.Jason Gillespie’s future in the role was already in doubt after he was removed from the selection panel•Associated Press

While it is understood Gillespie has not ruled out the possibility of walking away before the series against South Africa, the terms upon which his stint at the PCB ends remain crucially important in what happens next. If the PCB decides to sack him, they could potentially be on the hook for paying out the vast majority of what remains of his contract, which runs till mid-2026. Should he resign of his own accord, that payout is significantly lower.ESPNcricinfo reported last month on the uncertainty surrounding Gillespie’s future. The PCB put out a statement denying his job was under immediate threat, reaffirming that Gillespie would be Pakistan coach for the two Test matches against South Africa, but pointedly declined to commit to stating that he would see out the remainder of his contract.Gillespie is scheduled to travel to South Africa from his home in Australia on December 13. Pakistan play the first Test in Centurion on December 26, with the second in Cape Town starting on January 3.ESPNcricinfo has reached out to the PCB for comment, but has not received a response.

After the spinners limited England to 132, India’s batters aced the chase to go 1-0 up

Vithushan Ehantharajah22-Jan-20251:34

Manjrekar: India’s spinners made it impossible for England to recover

India brutally cast aside England in the first T20I at Eden Gardens, as Abhishek Sharma’s 79 from just 34 deliveries munched a meagre target of 133 with 43 balls to spare.Abhishek’s third 50-plus score in the format capped an accomplished all-round performance from India. A combination of Arshdeep Singh’s 2 for 17 up top and Varun Chakravarthy’s 3 for 23 through the middle accounted for England for 132, scuppering their attempts to mark Brendon McCullum’s first match in charge in the format with the attacking verve he craves.But for Jos Buttler’s 68 – his 26th T20I fifty – things could have been worse. Buttler’s evening had begun by losing a crucial toss to Suryakumar Yadav. With the 7pm start in Kolkata, moisture was in the air throughout, and dew a factor in the first innings itself. Both captains wanted to bowl, and only one got the chance.Related

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Arshdeep made the best of the conditions, removing openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett in his first 11 deliveries. Those dismissals took the left-arm seamer to 97 wickets in T20Is, leapfrogging Yuzvendra Chahal as India’s top wicket-taker in the format.By the time Buttler departed in the 17th over, he had provided 68 out of the 109 on the board, with Harry Brook the only batter to reach double-figures before Jofra Archer pitched in with 12 from No. 9.Brook’s 17 was part of a stand of 48 with Buttler, the vice-captain and captain setting about a rebuild that was ended by Varun’s googlies. Varun bowled Brook and Liam Livingstone in the space of three deliveries to turn England back to rubble. His third was Buttler, holing out to deep square-leg.Whatever little jeopardy there was in the chase, was restricted to just the fifth over, when Archer removed both Sanju Samson – who had done the early running – and Suryakumar for a duck in four deliveries. Archer, who bowled his four overs on the bounce having opened the innings, was comfortably the pick of England’s bowlers with 2 for 21. By contrast, Gus Atkinson was taken apart for 38 runs across his two overs, with his first blitzed for 22 by Samson.The onus was then on Abhishek, who was put down by Adil Rashid on 29 off 16. He would bring up his half-century just four balls later.Though Rashid eventually got his man, India had all but established a 1-0 lead in this five-match series by then. A top-edged four from Tilak Varma off Mark Wood’s bouncer off the penultimate ball of the 13th over confirmed it.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Arshdeep Singh sets the tone

Before England were choked through the middle by a three-pronged spin attack, they were clipped up top by the lone Indian full-time quick. Since debuting in 2022, Arshdeep has been a new-ball banker for India’s shortest format. Consistently devastating and devastatingly consistent.It was fitting that on the night he became India’s leading T20I wicket-taker, he reinforced his credentials as one of the format’s leading seamers in an opening three-over spell of 2 for 10. Movement away and up off a good length did for Salt, who could only sky a leading edge, and it was followed by nip the other way that left the left-handed Duckett for a similar demise.Of those initial 18 deliveries, a remarkable 12 were dots, which saw him get the better of Buttler and Brook without reward. On another day, their feelers outside off stump may have resulted in edges, bringing more joy Arshdeep’s way. But rather than bemoan missing out on those extra notches in the wicket column, he seemed happy enough with his work, having opened the door for his spinners.Jos Buttler top-scored for England with 68 off 44 balls•Getty Images

Familiar failings

There is no shame in falling to India’s spinners in any format, least of all when they are operating at home. But there was a haunting familiarity about England’s failure at Eden Gardens – and it has nothing to do with what happened here in that final in 2016.Eight years on from that heartbreak, England were roughed up in 2024’s semi-final in Guyana, as Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja combined to take 6 for 58 from 11 overs. Only Axar remained this time around, but the results were about the same – 12 overs of web-spinning prising out five for the concession of just 67.It is easy to say the likes of Brook, Livingstone and Jacob Bethell should have taken cues from Buttler, particularly his ability to pick length. But Buttler’s vast IPL experience and superior ability makes that hard to replicate. Credit belongs to the bowlers, particularly Varun.Despite the grass on the surface, the spinner was unperturbed. His IPL nous came to the fore at a ground where he has taken 24 wickets at 22.20 from 16 appearances.A holding pattern of deliveries just short of a length kept the ball out of hitting arcs, and he was not pre-occupied with spinning the ball past the edge – even though he beat the insides of Brook’s and Livingstone’s bats. “Bowling sidespin, I cannot beat batsmen with sidespin. The only way I can beat batsmen with bounce,” Varun, as he nursed a deserved Player-of-the-Match award, said. Perhaps most galling for England is he rated his display a humble “seven out of ten”.Nitish Kumar Reddy took a running, tumbling catch to send back Jos Buttler•AFP/Getty Images

India’s cleaner hands

Bethell’s drop of Abhishek, charging in from deep midwicket, tracking the ball all the way only to see it spill through his hands as he dived forward, did not matter.A ball later, Abhishek was caught at longoff. An over later, India had confirmed their win. But the sight of one of England’s best fielders fall short in that moment highlighted the gap between the two fielding efforts on Wednesday evening.It would have been one hell of a take, but still not the best of the night. That honour belonged to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who pulled off a tougher version of Bethell’s effort, sprinting in at a greater rate of knots and intercepting the ball so close to the ground that the umpires asked for a second look. Buttler, whose charge was halted by that brilliance, had already made it back to the dugout when the television umpire finally gave it the all-clear.Despite playing no part with bat or ball, Reddy got plenty of airtime, taking a simpler catch to remove Jamie Overton and scurrying about the deep on a one-man mission to restrict England’s boundary count. That endeavour was matched by those in the ring, with Rinku Singh setting the tone when he claimed a leading edge off Duckett that required him to sprint back from cover with one eye over his shoulder.Of course, Bethell’s drop was not even the worst off Abhishek. Rashid’s was a far simpler caught-and-bowled chance. The legspinner was duly punished when the left-hand batter blitzed three boundaries – the last two sixes over midwicket, then straight down the ground – off the remainder of his over. England’s heads dropped – a nod to the nourishing effect of taking your catches.