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Everton have had a busy 2025 summer transfer window so far. David Moyes’ side are looking to build on the momentum they garnered at the back end of last season, with the dawn of a new era upon the club. They are, of course, set to move into the Hill Dickinson Stadium next season.

One of the players they are pursuing, and seem close to signing, is Fulham right-back Kenny Tete. BBC Sport report that the Toffees are ‘close to securing a deal’ to sign the Dutchman on a free transfer from the Cottagers, with his contract set to expire this summer.

Another player they are after is French striker Thierno Barry, with talks intensifying this week. The Toffees are also linked with a midfielder who could perfectly complement the centre-forward.

Everton's next target after Barry

It is looking like a deal to sign Tete is on track to be completed before long, and one that would see them sign Barry might not be too far behind. They are reportedly in talks for the Villarreal star, who has a £40m release clause.

That’s according to a recent report from The i Paper. Barry is not the only young talent the newspaper has linked the Toffees with. They have reportedly ‘registered an interest’ in signing Manchester City attacking midfielder James McAtee.

It seems like the talented young number 10 will be made available for sale this summer, and Everton could pounce as a result. The Manchester Evening News confirmed at the end of May that he is ‘set to leave’ the Etihad Stadium, and will be available for a fee of around £25m.

Everton's new look attack with Barry and McAtee

After a couple of successful seasons on loan at Sheffield United, McAtee was given a deserved chance in the City first team last season, but struggled for any real game time. However, when he did get the opportunity, he certainly left an impression, particularly on Pep Guardiola, who described him as a “special” talent.

The 22-year-old, who came through City’s esteemed academy, scored seven goals in his 27 appearances last season. However, he played just 936 minutes in all competitions, leaving him with just 10.4 full 90-minute games on average.

For the Blades during his two loan spells in 2022/23 and 2023/24, McAtee was a standout player. He played 75 games for the club, scoring 14 times and grabbing eight assists. Six of those goal involvements came in the Premier League, including a sublime strike against Brentford.

McAtee has been a creative force throughout his career, both in youth and professional football. Once described as being “simply too good” by scout Jacek Kulig, he could well be playing as a number 10 behind Barry at the Hill Dickinson Stadium if both deals get over the line, where Everton fans could see that creativity shine.

The Villarreal number 15, who is an international for France at U21 level, certainly impressed in the 2024/25 campaign for the Yellow Submarine. He scored 19 goals and grabbed four assists in 41 games.

Barry knows exactly where the back of the net is, and with McAtee’s ability to fashion chances, they could form a dangerous combination. Indeed, the stats from the Man City star’s three seasons at professional level show just how exciting he can be as an attacking midfielder.

According to Sofascore, the 22-year-old, who was born in Salford, averaged 1.8 key passes for the Blades in his first campaign. He maintained a similar level when they got promoted, playing 1.4 key passes in 2023/24, and chalking up 0.8 for City last term, without much involvement.

Goals

0.4

0.2

0.7

Assists

1.8

1.4

0.8

Big chances created

0.3

0.2

0.2

Dribbles completed

1.9

1.8

0.7

Tackles and interceptions

1.8

2

1.3

Expected goal involvements

N/A

0.24

0.38

Therefore, McAtee could make Barry completely unplayable if the pair are to unite on the Blue half of Merseyside next season. The Frenchman is clinical in front of goal, and with the creativity of the Man City youngster behind him, he could hit whole new heights.

The 22-year-old has not had much of an opportunity for City, but has shown exactly how good he can be when the chance to play has arisen. With regular football and a clinical striker ahead of him at Everton, he could excel at the Toffees.

Huge upgrade on Beto: Everton in talks to sign "elite" big-money striker

Everton will be looking for improved output in front of goal next season

ByJoe Nuttall Jun 25, 2025

Brian Lara Cricket Academy pitch comes in for sharp criticism from observers and participants after wildly misbehaving in Afghanistan vs South Africa semi-final

Sidharth Monga27-Jun-20244:14

Moody, Flower on Tarouba pitch: ‘Dangerous’, ‘not good enough’

The first two balls of the chase summed up the conditions in which the first semi-final of the 2024 T20 World Cup was played. The first ball practically rolled along the ground, and the next one reared off a similar length. The pitch at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy came in for sharp criticism from observers, but participants in the match had to be careful not to come across as either making excuses or downplaying their achievements, depending on which camp they were in. However, they still ended up making an unflattering assessment of it.”I don’t want to get myself into trouble and I don’t want to come across as bitter or it being a case of sour grapes,” Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said when asked what he made of the pitch, “but that’s not the pitch that you want to have a match, a semi-final of a World Cup, on plain and simple. It should be a fair contest. I’m not saying it should be flat completely with no spin and no seam movement, but I’m saying you shouldn’t have batsmen worrying about going forward and the ball flying over their head. You should be confident in your foot movement and being able to hit through the line or use your skills.”T20 is about attacking and about scoring runs and taking wickets, not looking to survive. If the opposition bowled well and got to a position where they bowled very, very well and it’s through skill, then that’s fine and then it’s about adapting to that. But once the ball starts misbehaving and rolling… if we had bowled as straight as South Africa had, I think you would have seen a very interesting second half as well. South Africa bowled well, used the conditions, and showed our boys what it’s capable of. But it just didn’t go our way tonight.”Related

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South Africa have played in dodgy conditions throughout: be it the underprepared and untested drop-ins of New York, or the excessive spin in Kingstown, or this brute with both excessive uneven bounce and seam movement. Aiden Markram, the South Africa captain, was asked the same question. “Yeah, I mean T20 cricket as a whole, you want entertainment,” Markram said. “The wickets that we’ve had throughout the competition have been pretty challenging. Tonight’s wicket was pretty challenging once again. It’s hard to say that a wicket is not good because it can’t just always be a batter’s game, but I think if we reflect back on this wicket, we’ll probably be pretty happy that we’re not playing here again.”If the winning team makes it sound like it has made it out of a game of Russian roulette unscathed and can’t wait to leave town, you know something has gone wrong. Tom Moody, speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s analysis show Timeout, said this track was not fit for any game of cricket, leave alone a World Cup semi-final. “I don’t think you would want to see [this kind of a pitch] in any game,” Moody said. “You want a fair contest between bat and ball, and I’m not advocating we need to have surfaces for 200-plus but for one, you need consistent bounce. That’s the most important thing. Any batter will hold their hand up and say that’s the most important thing. If you’ve got one ball that’s hitting the toe of your bat [and] one that you’re feeling you’re going to punch with your gloves [from] the same length, that is a very difficult challenge to combat.”If you’ve got sideways movement or swing or spin, that’s a different challenge but at least there’s some sort of consistency and you can come up with some sort of strategy or method to combat that. Look, I don’t think that was good enough. I actually covered two games in Trinidad at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy [as a broadcast commentator] and the surface was pretty similar. You see the crazy paving – if I could put it that way – where a lot of dense grass was gathered around those cracks and you could tell that that was the thing that promoted the inconsistency of bounce.”Andy Flower, also speaking on Timeout, agreed. “Those conditions were simply not good enough,” he said. “The pitch was so very, very tough for any batsman to play on. We saw some interesting visual shots from above the square and a couple of commentators referenced this being a brand-new pitch; perhaps they could’ve used a pitch that had been used previously [in this World Cup] and therefore you could [go in] knowing it produces a certain type of bounce, something more consistent and predictable. But those shots showed the crazy paving-type effect, and those blocks and the cracks around those blocks produced the wild variance in bounce and, as a batter, you’re trying to predict where the ball is going to be. You want to meet it somewhere near the middle of the bat at least. On this pitch, it was almost impossible to do that on any consistent basis.”I thought it was actually a little bit dangerous. A couple of balls flew off a length around shoulder, neck, chin-height from the South African quicks. And one of them flew over Quinton de Kock, the keeper’s head and gloves, for four byes. I was pleased that no one got hurt. We got a similar pitch in New York in the early part of the competition, which wasn’t good enough for international-quality quicks. And then we saw it again today and it produced a complete mismatch.”The track at Brian Lara Cricket Academy has previously produced scores of 40 all out, 78 all out and 95 all out in this World Cup. There has been only one decent contest possible, when West Indies narrowly defended 149, but even in that match they were 30 for 5 at one stage.Trinidad is home to one of the legendary cricket venues, Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, but it didn’t host a single World Cup match, losing out to this newer, practically untested venue that made its international debut in men’s cricket less than two years ago.

The summer transfer window is officially open for business in a bizarre change that sees Chelsea able to make signings between now and the tenth of June.

With the Club World Cup being played between the middle of June and the middle of July, a new transfer window has opened to give teams a chance to bolster their squads for the tournament before the second and main transfer window opens up.

Chelsea are already putting work in to improve Enzo Maresca’s options heading into the competition in America, with Liam Delap closing in on a move to Stamford Bridge.

Journalist Ben Jacobs reports that the England U21 international started his medical on Monday with the club ahead of a move from Ipswich Town.

The £30m release clause in his contract with the Tractor Boys potentially made this an easier deal than it could have otherwise been, as they did not have to negotiate and haggle with the Championship side.

Whereas, other signings this summer may be harder to get over the line due to the competition for top talent, as was the case when they signed Eden Hazard back in 2012.

How Chelsea won the race for Eden Hazard

In the summer of 2012, there was a race on to sign the Belgium international from Lille after he had delivered 20 goals and 18 assists in 38 matches in Ligue 1 during the 2011/12 campaign.

Due to his incredible form with Lille in France, Hazard was one of the hottest young prospects in European football, which meant that there was plenty of interest in his services, but it was Chelsea who landed his signature.

The Belgian starlet explained his decision, saying: “When they won the Champions League I told myself, ‘Why not Chelsea?’ There was a struggle between Chelsea and [Manchester] United but, for me, Chelsea has the best project. It’s a wonderful club.”

His comments show that the club’s success, beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, played a significant role in his decision to make the move to Stamford Bridge, instead of joining Manchester United.

Hazard, of course, then went on to produce 110 goals and 88 assists in 352 appearances in all competitions for the Blues during his time in England, before signing for Real Madrid in 2019.

This proves that he was a player who was well worth putting the effort in to beat other clubs to his signature that summer, because he went on to deliver goals and assists at an exceptional rate in the Premier League over seven years.

Chelsea could find a Hazard repeat this summer, now, by winning the race to sign another highly-rated young forward from one of Europe’s major leagues.

Chelsea leading race to sign £84m forward

BILD reporter Christian Falk, speaking to Caught Offside, has revealed that Chelsea are leading the race to sign Eintracht Frankfurt talent Hugo Ekitike in the summer transfer window.

The German journalist claims that the Blues are already in talks with the player’s representatives about a move to Stamford Bridge, and that they could soon seriously pursue a deal for the striker.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

Falk told CaughtOffside: “Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal were previously considered the top favourites for Hugo Ekitiké. But the three-man competition has now turned into a two-club battle.

“At the moment, Chelsea, who qualified for the Champions League in fourth place, hold the best cards in the Ekitiké poker. Chelsea are already in dialogue with the player’s side and could soon get serious.”

This latest update suggests that Chelsea are the frontrunners to sign Ekitike, who is reportedly valued at around £84m, in the coming weeks, despite interest from two other top teams in England.

Why signing Hugo Ekitike could be an Eden Hazard repeat

The Blues could be getting flashbacks of their deal to sign Hazard because it would be another move for a highly-rated young European talent amid competition from some of the best teams around, and it would be off the back of winning another European trophy.

Ekitike’s quality also suggests that the potential is there for him to follow in the Belgian’s footsteps to become a star for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge for many years to come if they can get a deal over the line for his services this summer.

The 22-year-old starlet ended the 2024/25 campaign with a return of 22 goals and 12 assists in all competitions for Eintracht Frankfurt, which is not entirely dissimilar to Hazard’s haul of 20 goals and 18 assists for Lille before his move to England.

Writer Sam McGuire described Ekitike as a “shot monster” and a “genuine goal threat”, and those comments are backed up by the France U21 international’s output in the Bundesliga this season.

As you can see in the table above, Ekitike ranked incredibly highly among his positional peers in the division for taking shots, finding the target with his shots, and generating high-quality chances.

A non-penalty xG of 0.18 per shot also shows that he takes high-quality shots in front of goal, rather than being wasteful with long-range or low-value efforts.

Ekitike’s haul of 22 goals for Frankfurt also means that he scored at least seven more goals than every player in the Chelsea squad in all competitions, which suggests that he could immediately improve Maresca’s team by offering a huge threat at the top end of the pitch next season.

The next Ashley Cole: Chelsea 'advancing talks' to sign "immense" £46m star

Chelsea are keen to sign a defender or two this summer

By
Ross Kilvington

May 31, 2025

Cole Palmer ended the campaign as the top scorer with 15 goals to his name, and the Blues could now repeat their Hazard blinder by signing this French star to be their main man in front of goal for many years to come.

Mohamed Salah has been Liverpool’s shining light under Arne Slot this season, undoubtedly playing a crucial role in the success they’ve enjoyed within the Premier League.

The Egyptian forward has registered a staggering tally of 56 combined goals and assists across all competitions, certainly being the club’s biggest threat in attacking areas.

The 32-year-old recently put pen to paper over a new two-year deal at Anfield, taking him to the summer of 2027 – a move that is undoubtedly a huge boost to the side.

However, given the fact that he’s edging closer to the back end of his professional career, the hierarchy needs to hand the manager the funds to land added threats within attacking areas.

With the summer window rapidly approaching, the manager has wasted no time in identifying targets to improve his squad, with moves already being made to secure a deal for new forward options.

An update on Liverpool’s hunt for new attackers this summer

A new striker will undoubtedly be top of Liverpool’s shopping list this summer, with Viktor Gyokeres one of the names emerging on their shortlist over the last few days.

The Swede has been shortlisted as a potential addition at the top end of the pitch, but could face keen interest from other Premier League sides such as Arsenal and Manchester United.

However, he’s not the only attacker who’s appeared on their radar as of late, with Victor Osimhen the latest player who’s of interest to the Reds, according to TBR.

The 26-year-old has been high up on the club’s list of targets, with the report claiming that work has already been done behind the scenes to sign the Nigerian this summer.

It also states that the Napoli star, who’s spending the year on loan at Galatasaray, wants a move to England and currently has a £60m release clause in his deal with the Serie A outfit.

Why Liverpool’s £60m target is the dream Isak alternative

With the summer window rapidly approaching, Liverpool have wasted no time in identifying targets, with Alexander Isak a name who’s constantly been linked with a switch to Merseyside.

The 25-year-old has been in tremendous form within the Premier League this season, registering a staggering 23 goals in his 32 appearances to date – with only Salah scoring more in England’s top-flight.

His goalscoring record has undoubtedly led to huge interest from the Reds, but the Magpies’ £150m asking price on his shoulders has set them back in their pursuit of his signature.

Such a price tag has led to links to Osimhen this summer, with the Nigerian the perfect alternative to Isak if the hierarchy isn’t willing to fork out such a transfer fee.

When comparing their respective stats from the ongoing campaign, the Galatasaray loanee has managed to match or outperform him in numerous key areas, potentially being a superb option for Slot’s side.

The Nigerian, who’s been labelled “sensational” by The Overlap’s tactical analyst, has botched the same number of combined goals and assists to date, whilst managing to register more shots on target per 90 – highlighting his attacking threat in the final third.

He’s also managed to get more of his efforts on target, offering Slot a clinical option in his attempts to retain the club’s Premier League title during 2025/26.

Osimhen currently sits as the top goalscorer in the Turkish Süper Lig, highlighting his qualities in front of goal, handing the Reds the needed threat alongside Salah in the front three.

1. Victor Osimhen

24

2. Krzysztof Piatek

21

3. Simon Banza

19

4. Youssef En-Nesryi

16

5. Ali Sowe

15

There’s no denying that supporters will want Isak to be their main talisman next season, but his reported £150m price tag is simply unrealistic, with a move elsewhere allowing for investment elsewhere.

The Napoli star has the ability to thrive at Anfield, potentially being a better option given the difference in stats, subsequently ending their long-standing pursuit of a new forward on Merseyside.

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ByAngus Sinclair May 7, 2025

Fulham are now keen on signing a full-back who has a tempting release clause, but there is set to be competition for his signature from West Ham United, according to Sky Sports Germany.

Cottagers stepping up summer transfer plans

The Cottagers are on course to record another solid finish in the Premier League, under the helm of Marco Silva, and they have picked up some very impressive results along the way, most notably defeating champions elect Liverpool 3-2 earlier this month.

The only thing that may prevent Silva’s side from qualifying for Europe is a lack of consistency, having dropped points against the likes of Ipswich Town and West Ham United, while the 1-0 loss at AFC Bournemouth last time out could also be costly.

As such, Silva may feel some new additions are needed this summer, and targets have been identified in a number of positions, recently reigniting the interest in AC Milan forward Samuel Chukwueze, who was on the verge of a move to Craven Cottage last winter.

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Panathinaikos striker Fotis Ioannadis has also been identified as a target, but there is a feeling the west Londoners could miss out, with Sporting CP also in the race for his signature.

Not only are Fulham looking to strengthen their attack, but they may also bring in a new left-back this summer, with a report from Sky Sports Germany revealing they have now joined the race for Werder Bremen defender Felix Agu.

The 25-year-old is being closely monitored by the Cottagers, having put in some impressive performances in the Bundesliga this season, but they are not the only English club in the picture.

West Ham are also keen on signing Agu, and the Premier League duo could be tempted by the appealing release clause of just €8m -€10m (£6.9m – £8.5m) included in his contract with the German club, which is set to expire at the end of May.

Fulham’s upcoming Premier League fixtures

Date

Chelsea (h)

April 20th

Southampton (a)

April 26th

Aston Villa (a)

May 3rd

Everton (h)

May 10th

Brentford (a)

May 18th

"Talented" Agu could excel in Premier League

There are clear signs the 25-year-old could now be ready to make the jump to the Premier League, having been lauded as “one of the best full-backs” in the Bundesliga by journalist Oma Akatugba last month.

The Werder Bremen star has made 17 appearances in the Bundesliga, displaying his attacking prowess by picking up three goals and one assist, and he ranks in the 94th percentile for non-penalty goals per 90 over the past year.

Silva already has a top-quality option at left-back in Antonee Robinson, but there has been speculation over the American’s future, and Agu’s ability on the front foot indicates he could be a like-for-like replacement.

Not only that, but the “talented” defender is also extremely versatile, having played at both left-back and right-back throughout his career, as well as further forward, so he could be a fantastic addition to the squad at just £6.9m – £8.5m, regardless of whether Robinson leaves.

Three things hurt India considerably in the three-match spin-fest at the Premadasa: their luck at the toss, their execution of the sweep, and their resource deployment

Sidharth Monga09-Aug-2024India have just lost an ODI series in what can objectively be termed pretty extreme conditions. In no bilateral ODI series of three matches or fewer have so many wickets fallen to spin: 43 out of 54, which also includes three run-outs, leaving just eight for the quicks. Only once has more spin been employed in a three-match ODI series, back in 1997-98 when Zimbabwe toured Sri Lanka.ESPNcricinfo LtdHaving not won an ODI series against India since 1997, having lost the T20Is 3-0, Sri Lanka took a calculated risk. They were missing a handful of their first-choice quicks because of injuries, and did what they needed to do to make the ODIs competitive. They prepared pitches that would offer appreciable turn and natural variation to spin bowlers, and enjoyed a bit of luck in winning all three tosses and getting the best of batting conditions.At any other venue, batting first in a day-night game is fraught with danger because dew can handicap spinners in the evening, but this is where the R Premedasa Stadium’s history is worth knowing. There was a time not long ago when it used to be impossible to chase in day-night matches at this venue, dew or no dew. The stadium was built in low-lying marshy land, and the underlying moisture would come up to the surface of the pitch in the evening, giving fast bowlers a significant advantage.Related

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In the decade before the 2011 World Cup, 32 of the 45 day-night matches at the Premadasa were won by sides winning the toss. Before that World Cup, though, the playing surface was raised by three-and-a-half feet, and it did the trick. Sri Lanka chased successfully in their quarter-final and semi-final. The relevance of this history lesson now is that if you make a dry track, you need not worry about it getting better to bat on with the evening moisture or dew playing a significant role.Sri Lanka got their strategy right, had the rub of the green, and bowled superbly despite India getting off to three quick starts, thanks almost exclusively to Rohit Sharma, and defeated a side that had gone unbeaten through last year’s World Cup before the final, and one that had been dominating Sri Lanka in recent years.ESPNcricinfo LtdWe don’t have the HawkEye data to back it up, but the commentators suggested that it turned more and more as the matches progressed, and it does bear out in the batters’ output against spin. However, there seems to have been a clear difference between the sides in terms of approach. Sri Lanka seemed to be more conservative against spin while India looked to attack them more. It gave India a slightly better scoring rate but hurt them significantly with the wickets lost.In his analysis of his team’s batting, Rohit made an interesting point. He said India didn’t play the sweep shot as often or as well as Sri Lanka did. His observation was spot-on on both counts. Not only did Sri Lanka employ the various varieties of sweep more often, they also fared much better when they did. There is a good reason why India didn’t try it as often: they a lost a wicket on every fifth attempt.ESPNcricinfo LtdIf played well, the sweep brings more than just the immediate runs scored. It makes the fielding captain defend more areas of the field, opening up spaces elsewhere. That is particularly true if you play the reverse-sweep well. The threat of the reverse-sweep can force captains to deploy a deep point and open up the extra-cover region. It also messes with the spinners’ length.Historically, India haven’t been the greatest of sweepers. Improving on all kinds of sweep was the endeavour when Rahul Dravid and Rohit led the side. As with all things, there is a delicate balance: you improve on this new shot but don’t disregard your traditional strength, which is to get to the pitch of the ball or go right back. That India weren’t excellent on that front in this series is something that will concern them, especially Virat Kohli, who was twice caught on the front foot without getting anywhere close to the ball, giving him little chance to recover against the ball that didn’t turn.ESPNcricinfo LtdThese numbers don’t automatically make India a poor team against spin. Over the same period since 2019, India have the best average against spin in ODIs and only England and South Africa have scored quicker than them. Nor do those numbers necessarily make them the best batting unit against spin. It probably suggests that when there is appreciable assistance for spinners, India perhaps don’t do enough to force the opposition bowlers out of their comfort zones. This is something Rohit has said India will continue to work on.The one other thing that stood about India’s series loss was their less-than-optimal use of bowling resources. Even that possibly came down to their obsession with keeping a seam-bowling allrounder ready should Hardik Pandya not be available. That is possibly why they persisted with Shivam Dube through the series when the conditions called for a spin-bowling allrounder in Riyan Parag. Sri Lanka’s spinners, then, not only fared better but also bowled a lot more than India’s: 81.1% of their team’s overs to India’s 65.3. Some of this might have been down to there being more assistance for spinners in the second innings but the make-up of India’s XI perhaps also had something to do with their willingness to pay a short-term price for what they believe is a long-term pursuit.

Now a senior in Karnataka’s squad, he’s keen to pass on his learnings to the next generation and help his team end their wait for silverware

Shashank Kishore07-Feb-2023R Samarth is an oasis of calm. It wasn’t this way until recently. Before, cricket was on his mind all the time but ahead of the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy, he learnt to let things go and focus on being “in the moment”. As opposed to worrying about why he was left out that one time or why certain things didn’t come to him when he thought they ought to have.Three months on from the start of the season, Samarth is happy he made that mental shift. If Karnataka find themselves two wins away from their first Ranji title since 2014-15, and their eighth overall, it’s because Samarth, like several others, has played a key role.On Wednesday, Karnataka begin their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Saurashtra at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Without KL Rahul, who is away on national duty, and Karun Nair, who has been dropped, Samarth has had to shoulder much of the batting responsibility, and has notched up 659 runs in 12 innings, the second-most for the team behind Mayank Agarwal’s 686. His tally includes three centuries and two half-centuries.”Earlier, I used to think about cricket all the time,” Samarth tells ESPNcricinfo. “Then I started to realise that I’d drain out midway through. That is when I thought I had to learn to switch on and switch off, else you will burn out. It’s also something that comes with a lot of experience and understanding about your game.”Now, I de-stress by watching a lot of movies or even playing games online or on my PlayStation. It helps bring in a bit of a balance, whether you’ve had a good day or a bad day. Understanding this has helped bring about a change in the way I think about my game, successes and failures.”Samarth, who turned 30 last month, is at a stage in his career where he isn’t worried about competition. Five years ago, he was among the top three openers in the country outside the Test squad. He was an India A regular too, but a poor 2018-19 Ranji season, when he managed just 168 runs in 13 innings, set him back.He hasn’t played for India A since, and has seen several players leapfrog him. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Prithvi Shaw have been dominating the scene from Mumbai, Abhimanyu Easwaran’s made a mark through his performances for Bengal. Then there’s his own colleague, Devdutt Padikkal, who made an early impression in his debut season.Samarth accepts there’s a lot more he could have achieved, but doesn’t want to be weighed down by the baggage of the past.”Most definitely, that was important lesson in my life,” he says of the drop in form. “That taught me you can’t take anything for granted. It was just that in those six-seven games that I didn’t get runs, and those games were crucial as it made a huge impact on my graph. If I’d carried on and done well in that one season that I didn’t do well, it would’ve made a lot of difference.”How does he look at his current run of form in light of everything that has happened since?”Personally, I’m very happy with the way the season has gone,” he says. “At the start of the season, I realised that if I have to make a statement, I have to score big hundreds and a good number of hundreds, and get a lot of runs over the span of the league phase. That was in my head. That hunger to do better, I probably had a lot more of it this season.”That hunger, Samarth says, has also come about because of healthy competition within his team. He’s seen Rahul and Agarwal pile on the runs to make the cut for India, learnt from Nair and Manish Pandey, and now, as a senior, is trying to nurture the next set of players like Vishal Onat, Padikkal and Nikin Jose.”We keep pushing each other,” he says. “When you see one of us get runs, it pushes you and motivates you to get better. We push each other, all of them are quality players. We’ve all grown up together [Agarwal, Pandey, Nair], get along really well. We help each other out, that’s one massive plus in the Karnataka dressing room.”Samarth made his debut in 2013-14, when Karnataka went on to win the first of their two back-to-back Ranji crowns. Now, nearly a decade later, he’s the backbone of this team that is yearning to add to their silverware. For Samarth, life has come full circle.”As a vice-captain, it’s really important for me to be able to contribute to the team in terms of strategy and tactics,” he says. The onus is on us as senior batters to lead the way. That said, I’m not under any pressure as such.”My role hasn’t changed but in terms of experience, I feel I am in a better position to help the younger players coming through, and that comes with confidence in your own game and abilities, which is where I am at this point.”When I entered the dressing room for the first time, I immediately saw guys like Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar, Robin Uthappa, Stuart Binny, Manish Pandey, Ganesh Satish – some of them legends. Playing with them was unreal. I was taken aback by that level of professionalism. All these guys had the mindset to play for the country, and here I was thinking I’d achieved something massive by just making my debut.”I realised then that the extra hours you put in, that relentless pursuit, that drive – all those things make a massive difference. So I talk to my colleagues now about that feeling and how you deal with it. End of the day, we all grow together as players and it’s important to be able to give back to the team as an experienced player.”Samarth is already a Ranji Trophy winner. But piloting his team to the title in 2022-23, as a senior, would give him bigger satisfaction.”That would be the icing on the cake. It would be the ultimate crowning glory.”

The Indian historian and former board administrator talks about the conflicts of interest and cronyism infecting the game in the country today

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi28-Nov-20205:24

Ramachandra Guha: ‘Ganguly has capitulated’

Social historian Ramachandra Guha can easily cast a spell on the listener with his deep knowledge and his spontaneity. Guha, who was briefly, in 2017, a member of the Committee of Administrators appointed by the Supreme Court of India to oversee reforms in the BCCI, has written a cricket memoir, that traces his relationship with the sport from the time he was four. He says it will be his last cricket book, but as he reveals in the following interview, he will continue his love affair with the game – despite the way it is administered in India.This is your first cricket book in nearly two decades, after was published in 2002. Why did you decide to write it now?
Two things. One, I wanted to pay tribute to my uncle Dorai, my first cricketing mentor and an exemplary coach and lover of the game, who is still active at the age of 84, running his club. I knew at some stage I would like to pay tribute to him.Paying tribute to people I admire, respect, have been influenced by, is something I have done through my writing career. I have written about environmentalists, scholars, biographers, civil liberties activists. So I also wanted to write about this cricketer [Dorai] who had inspired me.And I did my stint at the board. That kind of completed the journey from cricket-mad boy through player and writer and spectator to actually being inside the belly of the beast. So I thought that the arc is complete and maybe I should write a book.ALSO READ: ‘BCCI amendments, if permitted, will mean ridiculing the Supreme Court’ In the book you have defined four types of superstars: 1. Crooks who consort with and pimp for bigger non-cricket-playing crooks. 2. Those who are willing and keen to practise conflict of interest explicitly. 3. Those who will try to be on the right side of the law but stay absolutely silent on […] those in categories 1 and 2. 4. Those who are themselves clean and also question those in categories 1 and 2.” Bishan Bedi, you say, is the only one you can think of in that last category. Why is that?
Because he is a person of enormous character, integrity and principle. He never equivocates, he never makes excuses. And he calls it as it is. These kinds of people are rare in public life in India. They are rare in the film world, they are rare in the business world, and virtually invisible in politics. They are rare also in journalism, if you go by the ways in which editors in Delhi, for many years, have been intrigued with politicians, sought Rajya Sabha seats or favours, houses for themselves…To find someone like Bishan Bedi, who is ramrod straight in his conduct, in any sphere of public life in India today is increasingly rare. He is also an incredibly generous man. When I first met him, at my uncle’s house for dinner, he gave a cricket bat to my uncle – because he never wants to take freebies.Bishan always has given back much more to youngsters he has nurtured. He is very blunt, he is abrasive, like me. He makes enemies because he sometimes says things in an indiscreet or impolite way. But it’s really the quality and calibre of his character that compels admiration in me today. When I was young, it was the art and beauty of his spin bowling. Today, it’s the kind of man he is.Ramachandra Guha: “In India, there is a temptation to cosy up to who’s powerful. Maybe it’s to do with a deep flaw in our national character”•Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times/Getty ImagesYou write that the superstar culture “that afflicts the BCCI means that the more famous the player (former or present) the more leeway he is allowed in violating norms and procedures”. How does that start?
Your question compels me to reflect on a time when players had too little power. When Bedi once gave a television interview where he said some sarcastic things, he was banned for a [Test] match in Bangalore in 1974. Players had to get more power, they had to get organised, they had to be noticed, they had to be paid properly, which took a very long time. The generation of Bedi and [Sunil] Gavaskar was not really paid well till the fag end of their careers.But now to elevate them into demigods and icons… one of the things I talk about is [Virat] Kohli and [Anil] Kumble and their rift [Kumble was forced to step down as coach after the 2017 Champions Trophy]. How essentially Kohli had a veto over who could be his coach, which is not the case in any sporting team anywhere.[MS] Dhoni had decided: I’m not going to play Test cricket. He was only playing one-day cricket. And I said [in the CoA] that he should not get a [Grade] A contract. Simple. That contract is for people who play throughout the year. He has said, “I’m not playing Test cricket.” Fine. That’s his choice and he can be picked for the shorter form if he is good enough. [They said] “No, we are too scared to demote him from A to B.” And more than the board, the CoA, appointed by the Supreme Court, chaired by a senior IAS officer, was too scared. I thought it was hugely, hugely problematic. So I protested about it while I was there. And when I got nowhere, I wrote about it.Is it the fans who create this culture?
Of course. They venerate cricketers. That’s fine. Cricketers do things that they cannot do. It’s the administrators who have to have a sense of balance and proportion. And not just with cricketing superstars who are active but also superstars who are retired. Again, to go back to one of the examples I talk about in my book: that [Rahul] Dravid could have an IPL contract, but other coaches in the NCA couldn’t. Now, you can’t have double standards like this. Cricket is supposed to be played with a straight bat.It is not Dravid’s fault. He just used the rules as they existed for him. It was the fault of the BCCI management that it created this kind of division and caste system within cricketers, within coaches, within umpires, within commentators. It offended my ethical sensibilities. So I protested.In the past, players had no power and today they have a disproportionate amount of it•Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty ImagesYou recently told that “N Srinivasan and Amit Shah are effectively running Indian cricket today”.
It is true.Are they really running the board?
Yeah, that’s my sense. Along with their sons and daughters and sycophants. That’s what it is. And [Sourav] Ganguly [the BCCI president] has capitulated. I mean, there are things he should not be doing, given his extraordinary playing record and his credibility, whether he should be practising this shocking conflict of interest. The kind of example it sets is abysmal. I say this with some sadness because I admired Ganguly as a cricketer and as a captain. I’m glad I’m out of it and I’m just a fan again. I can just enjoy the game and not bother about the murkiness within the administration.Things were meant to change under Ganguly.
Again, I go back to what I said about Bedi: people of principle are rare in any walk of life. And in India, particularly, there is a temptation for fame, for glory, to cosy up to who’s powerful. It’s very, very, very sad, but it happens. Maybe it’s something to do with a deep flaw in our national character, that we lack a backbone in these matters.In the book, where you address the topic across two chapters, as well as during your tenure in the CoA, you say you were frustrated by how deep the roots of conflict of interest have grown, not just in the BCCI and state associations but also across the player fraternity. Why is it so difficult for both administrators and players, some of whom are former greats, to understand conflict?
Because it’s ubiquitous and everybody is practising it. [He’s doing it, so I’ll also do it. What’s the big deal?] It’s hard to resist, you know, especially [when] the moral compass of people around you is so low that you just kind of go along with it.ALSO READ: Eight takeaways from Guha’s resignation letterSunil Gavaskar is another person who you said had multiple conflict of interests.
To Dravid’s credit, he saw the point and gave up his Delhi Daredevils contract relatively quickly. He exploited the rules as they were and once I protested and it became public, he realised that he had probably erred and done a wrong thing. Maybe Ganguly could have learned from Dravid in what he’s doing now. Cleaning up Indian cricket is a lost cause.In 2018, the Supreme Court modified its original order of 2016, passed by Chief Justice TS Thakur concerning the Lodha reforms. In 2019, immediately after taking over, Ganguly’s administration asked the court to relax key reforms, which would virtually wipe out the reforms. Is it now the responsibility of the court to decisively put the lid on the case?I’m not losing any sleep. Cricket lovers have to live with a corrupt and nepotistic board. We should just move on and enjoy the cricket.In the book, you say you write on history for a living and on cricket to live. Can you tell us a bit more about that?
When I started writing this book, I had just finished the second volume of my Gandhi biography. It’s a thousand pages long, inundated with millions of footnotes. And when you write a properly researched work of history, you have to have your sources at hand. So you compile a paragraph, which is based on material you gather, and then you have to scrupulously footnote that paragraph. One paragraph may be drawn from four different sources – a newspaper, an archival document, a book – and you have to put all that in.Fourth Estate IndiaWhereas I wanted to write this freely and spontaneously. I could only do that in the form of cricket memoir. So that’s how it happened. I wanted a release from densely footnoted, closely argued, scrupulously researched scholarly work. And this came as a kind of liberation.You call yourself a cricket fanatic. For me, on reading the book, it’s the romantic in you that comes to life.
Yeah, I think I am more a romantic than a fanatic. I’m cricket-obsessed. I’ve been cricket-obsessed all my life, but more in a romantic way; “fanatic” may be slightly wrong because that assumes you always want your team to win. And that’s certainly not the case with me anymore.You write in the book about a fanboy moment you had: “On this evening I did something I almost never do – take a selfie, with Bishan Bedi and the coach of the Indian team, Anil Kumble.” Can you recount that incident?
It was the BCCI’s annual function. One of the few things I was able to do in my brief tenure at the board was accomplished on that day: to have [Padmakar] Shivalkar and [Rajinder] Goel, two great left-arm spinners, get the CK Nayudu [Lifetime Achievement] Award – the first time a non-Test cricketer had been honoured. And also to have Shanta Rangaswamy get the first Lifetime Achievement Award for Women.So it was a happy occasion. It was in my home town [Bengaluru]. Bishan had come from Delhi. Kumble was then the coach of the [Indian] team. I know Bishan well and Anil a little bit. I don’t know that many cricketers, actually. All these years writing about the game, my only friend is really Bishan Bedi, apart from Arun Lal, who was my college captain.Kumble, of course, would admire Bishan as a kind of [chief] of Indian spin bowling. I saw them and I said I’ll take a selfie. What I don’t mention is that the selfie was taken by Anil, because he is technologically much more sophisticated than either Bishan or me. He took that selfie very artfully, which I would not have been able to do. It came out nicely. It is the only photograph in the book.Ramachandra Guha (centre) with Anil Kumble (left) and Bishan Bedi at the 2017 BCCI Awards•Getty ImagesI am a partisan of bowlers and of spin bowlers. For me, Kumble has always been underappreciated as a cricketer. To win a Test match you need to take 20 wickets. And, arguably, Kumble has therefore won more Test matches than Sachin Tendulkar. As I again say in the book, in 1999, when Tendulkar was about to be replaced as captain, they should really have had Kumble – he is a masterful cricketing mind, but there is a prejudice against bowlers. So in a sense, [the photo was with] someone who was a generation older than me, Bedi, and someone of a generation younger than me, Kumble – both cricketers I admire, both with big hearts, and both spin bowlers, as I was myself.That’s why the caption says: “two great spin bowlers and another” – kind of implying I was a spin bowler, but a rather ordinary one.Is it true that this possibly could be your last cricket book?
Almost certainly. It would be, because I really have nothing else to say. This is a kind of cricketing autobiography and it has covered a lot. This is my fourth cricket book. I will watch the game. I will appreciate it.Why don’t more Indian cricketers write books?
I think Dravid has a great book in him because he is a thinking cricketer. So might Kumble. But my suspicion is, Kumble will not write a book. Dravid just might. He could write a book called . Bedi could have written a book because he is an intelligent person. He writes interesting articles, including on politics and public life. By the way, books don’t sell. That’s another reason. Occasionally, cricketers have thought, I will write a book and I will make Rs 30-40 lakhs (about US$50,000) on it. But cricket books don’t really make that much money.

The Los Angeles Angels will be under new field management for the foreseeable future.

Angels manager Ron Washington will step away from the team indefinitely for health reasons, Los Angeles told reporters Friday afternoon via Sam Blum of . Washington, 73, has managed the Angels for the past two seasons.

Taking over as acting manager will be bench coach Ray Montgomery, a former right fielder and pinch hitter for the Houston Astros.

As a manager, Washington is primarily known for his stint with the Texas Rangers from 2007 to '14. He guided the Rangers to their first two pennants in 2010 and 2011, and remains that club's all-time winningest skipper.

Washington played 10 seasons in MLB with five teams from 1977 to 1989—most notably the Minnesota Twins.

This year, Los Angeles has a 36-38 record. The Angels currently sit 6.5 games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West division race.