All posts by n8rngtd.top

Mumbai are in the title-clash for the first time while Himachal would look to extend their good, recent form in the domestic circuit

Shashank Kishore04-Nov-2022

Big picture

December 21, 2021 was a landmark day for Himachal Pradesh cricket. They won their first domestic title that day, upstaging star-studded Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final.On Saturday, they will have an opportunity to add another chapter to what has been a magical year. At stake is the opportunity to be crowned T20 champions when they take on Mumbai in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.It was only two seasons ago that Mumbai hit the nadir in T20 cricket, finishing last in their group. It sparked a revamp of sorts, with the team bouncing back to win the 50-over competition that followed. Red-ball success took a while, but they began playing like the Mumbai of old when they made the Ranji Trophy final earlier this year.Related

• Hrithik Shokeen becomes first Impact Player to be used in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

• Prithvi Shaw turns it on for Mumbai with blistering 134 in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

From the depths of 2020-21 to now, there’s been a massive change in their approach, amid calls for sweeping changes to their selection policies and cricket structure. Some credit should be given to Amol Muzumdar, their former captain, who has transformed a team from the ruins to one that is fighting to be the formidable force they once were.Mumbai’s batting line-up is among the most intimidating going around. Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan are determined to break selection doors down, Shreyas Iyer is hungry to prove he’s no T20 pushover, especially after being ignored for the T20 World Cup, and Yashasvi Jaiswal is fast climbing up the ladders to be among the next-in-line openers.Ajinkya Rahane, the captain, has been told in no uncertain terms he needs to score more runs in domestic cricket to be considered for India again. In that sense, every member of the batting line up has something at stake as far as their future is concerned. Saturday is a great opportunity for them to come together for one massive show of strength to help Mumbai clinch their maiden T20 crown.Himachal Pradesh will be riding on the momentum they’ve built superbly during the course of the season. From having two of their matches washed out to progressing despite knowing every game is a must-win is commendable. Theirs is a team of seasoned campaigners who have slowly built on their experience of playing together as a group for a while now.Prashant Chopra and Ankush Bains are nearly decade-old veterans, as is captain Rishi Dhawan, who continues to pick wickets and score runs season after season. That the next gen is closely being followed by IPL scouts is validation of the talent coming through.Among them are Vaibhav Arora, whose most recent IPL stint was with Punjab Kings after being picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders last year, and has bristling pace. Pankaj Jaswal was scouted by Mumbai Indians as an X-factor player who they believe can be honed to play the role Hardik Pandya did for many years.Their recent success is also a byproduct of improved infrastructure in the hilly state. From having one main ground – the HPCA Stadium in 2013 – they now have 50 turf wickets across eight centres in the state. It’s no coincidence that Himachal have continued to develop across men’s and women’s cricket because of this. The emergence of Renuka Singh as one of India Women’s frontline seamers is as much because of this as fast bowler Arora’s is.On Saturday, the accrual of all these gains could yet be on display when they play a seemingly strong Mumbai. Himachal are the underdogs without an inkling of doubt, but they’re unlikely to be perturbed by tags given to them. After all, many years ago, there weren’t many who would have even given them a chance to get this far to be a rising force in Indian domestic cricket.It’s all set up then for a fascinating contest.

Form guide

Mumbai WWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Himachal Pradesh WWWWW

In the spotlight

Prithvi Shaw is the season’s second-highest run-scorer going into the final•PTI

Prithvi Shaw is second on the tournament’s run charts, behind Delhi’s Yash Dhull, but 189 of his 321 runs have come in two innings, against relatively modest attacks (Mizoram and Assam) early in the tournament. Normally reticent, he has been vocal about his disappointment of missing the India bus and the work he’s done in terms of his fitness to warrant selection. After a brief lull, he showed signs of form during the course of a blistering 21-ball 32 that set up Mumbai’s chase in the semi-final against Vidarbha. A big knock in the final in front of the national selectors won’t be a bad way to send out a message.Among the most prolific allrounders in Indian domestic cricket, Rishi Dhawan has gone wicketless in just one of the six games Himachal have played. His 11 wickets have come at an average of 13.72 and economy of 7.19. He bowls in the early 130s, but accuracy and control over his variations, especially a potent cutter, are his USP. All these elements were a key part of his 3 for 25 that derailed Punjab in the semi-final. Can he bowl Himachal to a second title win in a short span?

Team news

With such a short turnaround time, it’s unlikely both teams will make too many tweaks to their winning combination.Himachal (probable XI): 1 Prashant Chopra, 2 Ankush Bains (wk), 3 Abhimanyu Rana, 4 Sumeet Verma, 5 Akash Vasisht, 6 Nikhil Gangta, 7 Pankaj Jaswal, 8 Rishi Dhawan (capt), 9 Ekant Sen, 10 Mayank Dagar, 11 Vaibhav AroraMumbai (probable XI): 1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Sarfaraz Khan (wk), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Shams Mulani, 8 Tanush Kotian, 9 Tushar Deshpande, 10 Aman Hakim Khan, 11 Mohit Awasthi

Pitch and conditions

It’s the onset of winter in the far east, where the light dips sharply by 4.30pm. And so much of the game will be played under lights. That means dew will certainly play a part at some stage, impacting at least the team defending a score in the second half of the innings. This makes the toss all the more vital. Purely from a batting perspective, the surfaces have been full of runs. So, expect it to be a high-scoring contest.

Stats and trivia

• Among those who have made at least 300 runs in a single edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Prithvi Shaw’s strike rate of 183.42 in this edition is the second highest. Rishabh Pant struck at 195.71 in 2017-18.
• Himachal Pradesh have won all six completed matches they’ve played so far in the tournament (two of their games were abandoned). If they win the final, they’ll be only the fifth team after Bengal (2010-11), Uttar Pradesh (2015-16), Karnataka (2018-19) and Tamil Nadu (2020-21) to win the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy without dropping a single game.

Seamer set for comeback in South Africa after bowling only four international overs since February

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2019James Anderson has said he “doesn’t see any reason” why he shouldn’t play in the 2021-22 Ashes series as a 39-year-old despite bowling only four overs for England in the last nine months.Anderson went off after hurting his calf during the first day of first Ashes Test at Edgbaston this summer, and after a recurrence of the injury while he tried to return in time for the fourth Test, he was left out of the touring party for the ongoing series in New Zealand.He hopes to return to the squad in time for the South Africa tour that starts next month, and will travel to Potchefstroom this week, along with fellow seamers Mark Wood, Olly Stone, Craig Overton and Ollie Robinson.ALSO READ: England hopefuls head to training camps in India, SAAnderson told the that he has made technical changes during his lay-off, which he hopes will improve his longevity, including a return to the longer run-up he trialled during England’s tour of the Caribbean in the spring.”When I felt the calf go, it was in that first three or four paces of my run-up, trying to get up to speed really quickly,” he said. “Lengthening my run-up just gives me that little bit extra time to gradually build up the pace rather than pushing off too quickly and putting too much pressure on it.”I’ve changed the running technique a little bit, too, to use my legs a bit more to generate more momentum up to the crease.”Anderson has been using Manchester City’s training facilities throughout the winter in his attempts to return to fitness, and said that he had realised during his layoff that he still had the “hunger” to play Test cricket.”The biggest thing to come out of that for me was actually the hunger,” he said. “I found I had to try to get fit again because it would have been quite easy for me, especially after the third time I injured my calf trying to get ready for the Old Trafford Test, to say, ‘Sod it, I can’t do this anymore’.”I guess when you get to a certain age you start thinking about the next chapter. And people have always said to me that you just know when it’s time to finish.”But I went away that week, on holiday with the family to Corfu, just to get away from it because I was feeling quite low having worked hard to get back fit. And at the end of it, in conversation with my wife Daniella, she was like, ‘Why would you stop?'”It’s not as if I’m unfit. Getting injured is just a thing that happens and as I get older, yes, there might be the odd extra muscle injury that I’ve got to deal with. But my injury record’s been pretty good and I’m still in the top 10 bowlers in the world, even though I’ve not played for longer than six months.”Anderson also suggested that he had plenty to offer England over the next few years, not only in terms of his own performances but also through passing on his wealth of experience to the younger seamers in the side.”I know everyone’s talking about the Ashes in two years’ time, which is a long way away, and I’d be 39 by then,” he said, “but if I still feel like I do at the minute, if I keep working as hard as I am in the gym and at my game, then I don’t see any reason why I can’t make that trip.”But whether I do or I don’t, I still feel that in the near future I’ve got something to offer this team, both in performances on the field and around the group.”We’ve got young lads coming in, some fairly inexperienced players who might need some guidance. I feel like the more experience you’ve got around the group, around those younger players, the better really.”

Spinner involved in six dismissals as Spitfires inflict Somerset’s 11th T20 defeat at Canterbury

David Hopps20-Jul-2019There was a time not so long ago when Kent would have virtually lost this match before they started such was their dearth of key batting personnel. But signs are growing that these days Kent cricket is made of sterner stuff. They posted a reasonably competitive score and then delighted in the sight of Imran Qayyum, their left-arm spinner, having the night of his life.Somerset’s pursuit of 166 for victory was abruptly stilled in a remarkable sequence in which they lost six wickets for 20 runs in 25 balls and Qayyum was involved in all of them with five wickets and a run out. His return of 5 for 21 was a reward for his perseverance in a career where he failed to make the grade with three counties and only made his debut for Kent at 23.Somerset are second in the Championship, won the Royal London Cup, and took their opening match in the Blast with a confident run chase against Glamorgan in Cardiff. There has even been talk of a treble. But when they succumbed to a 41-run defeat it represented their 11th successive loss in T20 at Canterbury. Whatever it is, it can’t be the noise of the crowd; they are a bit guilty cheering and hollering in Kent.Qayyum showed good changes of pace on a wicket offering a little turn. His first wicket silenced the batsman who seemed most capable of strutting to victory – the highly-talented and long-limbed Tom Banton out for 28 when he holed out at long off for 28. There were two wickets in his second over: Peter Trego sweeping to deep backward square where Jordan Cox, an 18-year-old debutant, held a slick catch, diving forward, and produced a quicker, flatter one to bowl James Hildreth.The run out of Tom Lammonby, another debutant, followed in the next over when Lammonby pushed the ball gently into the leg side, but did not share the enthusiasm of his captain, Tom Abell for a second run, Qayyum dashing from backward square to slide and return the ball to the wicketkeeper.Before Somerset could digest the consequences of that there were two more wickets in the spinner’s next over as Roelof van der Merwe fell to a leading edge and Abell chopped a ball down by his feet and Ollie Robinson stumped him with alacrity.With Somerset 74 for 7 after 11, the match was as good as won, but the Overton twins cobbled together a decent response before their partnership of 31 ended in the sort of comical fashion that might have come straight out of the script of Stan and Ollie. It will certainly go straight into Overton folklore.The malarkey began when Mohammad Nabi held an excellent catch at deep midwicket, balancing balletically on his right foot a tiny distance from the rope. The only question for the umpires was whether he had touched the rope (he hadn’t), which in other words meant it was either six or out. That salient fact seemed lost on the Overtons. One of them imagined a chance to keep running, the other responded enthusiastically to the idea and they dashed three of the more pointless runs in cricket history while everybody else stood around and awaited the TV replays.Qayyum had been the star performer, but there is pace, too, in this Kent attack in the presence of Adam Milne and Hardus Viljoen and that will serve them well. Viljoen took the vital wicket of Pakistan’s Babar Azam.The Wurzels, Somerset’s “Scrumpy and Western” band, had penned a 30-second ditty to mark the arrival of Azam in the West Country. “With a gurt big strick I’ll knock ’em down,” the lyrcis predicted. It didn’t pan out like that: he made 7, showing one moment of quality when he whipped Hardus Viljoen over mid-on before the next ball cleaned him up like a Combine Harvester rushing through a wheat field.Injuries had cut deep into Kent’s batting resources. The captain, Sam Billings, will be out for another fortnight after dislocating his shoulder in April, the regular stand-in captain, Joe Denly, was away on a training weekend with the England Test squad ahead of the Ireland Test and Heino Kuhn, who had been identified as the next captain in line, was absent because of concussion protocols having been hit in the neck by Fidel Edwards during last week’s Championship draw with Hampshire.But Daniel Bell-Drummond, captain No. 4, was blessed by a skilful and confident T20 debut by Robinson, who struck 53 from 49 balls and, at 20, looked entirely at home until he became one of three victims to van der Merwe. When Billings returns, it will not immediately be to take the gloves, so Robinson has the chance to prosper and his fluent straight six against Jerome Taylor was one of the shots of the night.Alongside him in a third-wicket stand of 61 in 37 balls, Nabi made light of Kent’s batting losses. He relished his opportunity to bat at No 4, including four sixes in his 34. Max Waller got him, the ball after he had been launched into the pavilion, but he had settled Kent into the contest. Twenty runs light was the common assumption, but Qayyum changed that in a matter of minutes.

For Sri Lanka, on a flat, dry surface that offered little assistance to their trio of seamers, it was the dependable Suranga Lakmal who fared the best

The Report by Madushka Balasuriya27-Jan-2020Sean Williams produced a consummate captain’s knock, scoring his second Test century, and Zimbabwe, with cameos from Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza, seized control of proceedings on the first day of the second Harare Test. While Williams’ dismissal in the final hour of play gave a slightly more balanced look to proceedings, the hosts still ended the day on 352 for 6 with Regis Chakabva and debutant Tinotenda Mutombodzi at the crease, their partnership unbeaten on 28.For Sri Lanka, on a flat, dry surface that offered little assistance to their trio of seamers, it was the dependable Suranga Lakmal that was nevertheless the catalyst for their most incisive period of play, as he ended the day with two wickets. Dhananjaya de Silva too picked up a pair.Williams was aided for a majority of his stay by Raza, the pair coming together with Zimbabwe in a spot of bother at 133 for 4. Lakmal’s probing lines and ability to seam the ball both ways caused them a few problems early on, but once they weathered that storm they found runs easier to come by. Both Williams and Raza utilised the sweep to good effect, while they were also unafraid to use their feet to smother spin and play down the ground.It helped that early on in their partnership – which would eventually yield 159 runs – Lasith Embuldeniya was forced off the field, having copped a blow on his bowling hand attempting to take a difficult chance offered up by Raza. Embuldeniya would later return to bowl, seemingly without much discomfort.During this period, it was Williams who was by far the more aggressive of the two, regularly using his feat against the spinners, with the nature of the pitch such that anything full was there to be driven. Williams lofted Embuldeniya down the ground for six more than once in this manner.Raza for his part was more selective. Though an entertaining period of play did see him attempt a series of pulls off Lahiru Kumara to varying degrees of success, culminating in one being creamed for six over the midwicket boundary.It was Kumara, however, that got the last laugh, as one pull too many saw Raza find an onrushing Angelo Mathews in the deep, who completed a good diving catch.Williams though would continue to hold firm putting on 32 more runs with Chakabva, before a tired attempt at a slog sweep against Dhananjaya saw his stumps rattled, bringing a disappointing end to what had been an outstanding innings.Brendan Taylor sweeps one fine•Associated Press

Earlier, Brendan Taylor’s run-a-ball 62 had resurrected Zimbabwe’s innings after they had crawled to 50 for 2 at the end of the 20th over, in danger of squandering the best of the batting conditions. Off just his sixth delivery Taylor signalled his intent, coming down the track to Embuldeniya, and lofting him for six over long-off.On a pitch that had shown some bite and turn, most of the Zimbabwean batters had for the most part done well to prevent Sri Lanka’s spinners from settling. It was first Craig Ervine, then Taylor, and eventually Williams who took it upon themselves to play the role of aggressor, either coming down the track, sweeping or cutting.It didn’t help Sri Lanka’s cause that the pitch seemed to slow quite a bit as the day wore on with the seamers gradually losing their potency. It raised the question as to whether the think tank had missed a trick in choosing to bring in an extra seamer in Vishwa Fernando, as opposed to the spin of Lakshan Sandakan.It also looked to be a concerted plan from Zimbabwe to target Sri Lanka’s spinners – and Embuldeniya in particular – as Ervine, in his brief cameo had also launched the young left-arm spinner down the ground for six and a four.Ervine had looked in good touch, but was dismissed after failing to read a slider from Dhananjaya that caught the inside edge of his bat on the way to short leg.Prince Masvaure had nicked a wide one from Kumara through to the keeper, to give Sri Lanka their first breakthrough of the day.Despite the fall of wickets, Taylor would proceed to sweep and reverse sweep frequently as Zimbabwe continued their counter-attack. This tactic, though, may well have been his downfall had the umpire not failed to spot Taylor gloving a reverse sweep to the keeper when he was on 7. With DRS not available for this series, Zimbabwe’s most experienced player survived.Taylor fell shortly after the lunch interval, when Lakmal was causing all sorts of trouble. Unerring in his examination of the area outside off stump, Lakmal would tail a fuller delivery in towards leg stump, catching Taylor flush on the pads.Kevin Kasuza, meanwhile, had looked uncertain throughout his innings, which ended with an ill-advised leave off Lakmal as the ball to jagged back in from outside off and hit the top of off stump.At that point Sri Lanka’s bowlers would’ve been looking to scythe through Zimbabwe’s middle order, but Williams and Raza had other ideas.