Four teams took the intent and scoring to a new level; others might have no choice but to follow suit

Sidharth Monga27-May-2024Eight of the nine highest scores in the IPL, including the top score.Five of the six highest scores when chasing, including the highest successful chase in the IPL.Seven of the ten highest powerplays, including the top two.At 1260 from 1124, the biggest jump in number of sixes from edition to edition.Related

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All of it happened in IPL 2024. Looking at some of the staggering numbers, it would appear something broke in the balance between bat and ball this year.In the overall numbers, though, the average scoring rate went up at a similar increment as it has been doing over the last three years: 8.05 in 2021 to 8.54 in 2022 to 8.99 in 2023 to 9.56 in 2024. That’s an increase of 11.4 runs every completed innings. Now that we put it this way, it doesn’t seem as staggering as some of the high-scoring innings we have seen but it is still a significant rise in scoring rates.There have to be some actions resulting in these outcomes. We looked at intent first. ESPNcricinfo’s intent logs are robust enough to be comparable from 2021. Aggressive intent is basically a boundary attempt. It would be fair to assume the intent to score boundaries might have gone up with the introduction of the Impact Player.ESPNcricinfo LtdThree extra boundary attempts every 200 balls is not the bump in the intent we expected from such an IPL edition. The change in the intent, and indeed the efficiency of aggressive intent, has been marginal. Only 5.7 of the 11.4 incremental runs scored per innings this year over the last can be attributed to the intent this year and its efficiency.But there is one period of play that does stand out. While the overall increase in powerplay and death overs scoring rates has been marginal, overs 7 to 12 have been worth 4.26 more runs per innings.In terms of overall numbers, though, it doesn’t seem like this has been a landmark year in the way teams have approached or executed their run-scoring. That would point to flatter pitches and smaller boundaries, the latter even if marginally so. Perhaps the set of balls this year did a little less too. It did show in the later stages of the tournament where a little bit of help for the bowlers resulted in significantly lower scores.Looking at just overall numbers, though, will be a disservice to the revolutionary seasons Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC) have had. KKR broke the record for the highest average innings in a single year by 21.8 runs. The other three, too, went comfortably past the number set by RCB in 2016: 192.4. That RCB effort from 2016 remains a freak occurrence as all the other big years from single teams have come in 2023 and 2024.There is intent, and then there is intent. A subset of intent has changed massively this year. When batters are playing aggressively, they are trying to hit sixes. The first phase of six-hitting revolution that started in 2022 could enter the next phase if all teams follow this intent next year.ESPNcricinfo LtdThis is a shift that will truly begin to show across the board in the coming years provided the pitches and boundaries remain just as conducive to boundary hitting. Even if there is a brief period of revision – as there was after 2018, the highest-scoring year until then only to give way to a marginal slowdown – this increase in scoring rates will be irreversible unless the pitches and boundary sizes change. Rules like two bouncers will be superficial. Even the Impact Player has fulfilled its job: batters will remain bold even if it were to be taken away now.The batters are hitting more balls than ever – be it regular nets or range-hitting – and are getting better at hitting for longer every day. With sidearms and bowling machines and the support staff dedicated to helping batters, the physical limit on the number of balls they can hit is much higher than what the bowlers can bowl. The ceiling for improvement in bowlers is much lower. They need the help from conditions or sizes of boundaries.Which begs the question: will this T20 World Cup, starting barely a week after the IPL, be just as revolutionary in terms of scoring rates? Curiously, the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 remains the quickest of the eight held so far at 7.98 an over. The one in the West Indies, held in 2010, remains the third-slowest at 7.53.At any rate, the formats and number of teams keep changing so often that it is not wise to compare World Cups. This being the biggest World Cup yet, there are chances the first round might feature some unusually high scores, but the slower pitches in the West Indies could bring the scoring down at the business end of the tournament.If teams can go at anywhere in the vicinity of 8.5 an over Super Eights onwards in the West Indies and against international attacks, it will be incontrovertible evidence that T20 batting has turned a corner. Don’t hold your breath, though.

The spinner explains he decided not to take a domestic contract with WA to maximise playing opportunities globally while he remains intent on playing for Australia

Alex Malcolm20-Apr-2024Ashton Agar has become the latest Australian player to make the bold decision to become a freelance global gun-for-hire, and he couldn’t be more excited about it.But the 30-year-old says he remains committed to trying to play for Australia in all three formats, including Test cricket, and playing domestic cricket for Western Australia when he’s available despite opting not to sign a state contract for 2024-25.The decision was made following lengthy and collaborative consultations with WA’s general manager of high performance Kade Harvey, WA coach Adam Voges, Australia coach Andrew McDonald and chairman of selectors George Bailey after Agar did not receive a Cricket Australia contract for 2024-25.Related

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It was driven partly by the lack of cricket Agar played at the back end of last summer following the BBL. He found himself playing just three Marsh Cup games and grade cricket after the BBL finished in late January, as Corey Rocchiccioli had established himself as WA’s No.1 Sheffield Shield spinner.Agar did briefly head to South Africa to try and play as a replacement player in the SA20 but did not get an opportunity, before his contract with CA and WA meant he was required to return for the end of the Marsh Cup.Not taking a domestic deal for next summer will free him up to play overseas during the Australian domestic season given he won’t be under contract, as tournaments such as the SA20, the ILT20, the PSL and the BPL all fall in the summer window.”The timing was right,” Agar told ESPNcricinfo. “There’s a lot of things that have been taken into account here. Obviously coming off my Cricket Australia contract and not playing the last couple of games for WA in the red-ball space and just assessing the cricket landscape over the last couple of years and seeing the way that cricket is trending and the way my cricket has been trending, this decision just made a lot of sense to me.”To not take a state contract gives me the flexibility to take opportunities that may pop up around the world.”It allows me to still play for Western Australia. But it doesn’t lock me into just playing state cricket. And I think as someone with aspirations to play at the highest level, which is international cricket, for as long as possible, playing cricket as much as you can is the only thing that gets you there.”WA will still support Agar in terms of allowing him to be part of their squad when he is in Perth. He will have access to the facilities, coaches and medical staff, which is something he is incredibly grateful for.

“Playing for Australia doesn’t mean you have to have a state contract at that time. You just need to be putting your best foot forward for whichever team you’re playing for.”Ashton Agar is committed to play for Australia despite not taking a WA contract

He would also still be eligible for an upgraded state contract if he plays four Marsh Cup games and will still put his hand up to play Shield cricket if the opportunity arises.”My chats with Kade Harvey and Adam Voges have been that whilst I’m not going to be a WA-contracted player, when I’m available to play one-day cricket, I’ll still play one-day cricket for WA and they will support me as a WA cricketer,” Agar said.”I’ve been told I’m going to have that support network around me and I’m super grateful to Western Australia for allowing me to still have that privilege. That means a hell of a lot.”I think the beauty of this decision, it allows me to be available for everything. Obviously, if there’s a white-ball [franchise] opportunity that comes up I’m able to take that now. But if there isn’t and I am available to play a Shield game for WA, of course I would take that opportunity. This decision is all about playing as much cricket as possible.”Agar feels no ill will towards Rocchiccioli’s rise, especially after the offspinner has spoken emotionally and glowingly of Agar’s influence on his own career. Despite making the choice to go freelance, Agar still wants to help the younger generation of WA spin bowling talent when he’s around.”I really love that role of trying to mentor guys like Corey Rocchiccioli, like Hamish McKenzie and even Cooper Connolly to an extent as well,” Agar said. “It’s something that’s really exciting for me.”Agar has taken inspiration from Tim David who has forged an exceptional freelance career without holding an Australian domestic contract. David has become a staple of Australia’s T20I side even after being allowed to miss what would have been his first series for Australia in early 2022 to fulfil a contract in the PSL.Australia’s current selection panel have shown they have no issues picking players who aren’t part of the domestic system, with David making his ODI debut last year having played just one Marsh Cup game.Agar’s situation, however, is more akin to that of Matthew Wade who was able to mix Shield and Marsh Cup commitments for Tasmania in recent years with franchise opportunities, while still being part of Australia’s T20I team including being a stand-in captain.The selectors have also shown they are prepared to pick white-ball specialists for Test tours in certain conditions without playing Shield cricket. Glenn Maxwell was called up for the Sri Lanka tour in 2022 without playing Shield cricket and was very close to playing. Maxwell would likely have been on the India Test tour last year had he not broken his leg and he remains in the frame for the Sri Lanka Test tour next year despite not playing any Shield cricket last summer.Ashton Agar in his delivery stride•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaAgar has not played a first-class match since his last Test in January 2023. He did go on the tour of India but came home after not being selected for the first two Tests to get some games in for WA ahead of the ODI series. Rocchiccioli’s emergence has made it difficult to find opportunities since.Whilst Agar understands the realities of the decision to go freelance, he is confident that he would not be precluded from selection for an overseas Test tour even if he was not playing Shield cricket.”My chats with Andrew McDonald and George Bailey have all been about playing as much cricket as possible,” Agar said. “Playing for Australia doesn’t mean you have to have a state contract at that time. You just need to be putting your best foot forward for whichever team you’re playing for.”Taking this step probably means I’m going to be playing a bit more white-ball cricket than red-ball cricket. And that’s just the reality of this decision. But the Australian selectors have shown over recent history that they’re willing to pick guys based on conditions and that’s a really exciting thing.”If there was a subcontinent tour and my skillset was required, and I was playing well at the time, then I think maybe I still would be a chance for that and that’s quite an exciting proposition regardless of how much red-ball cricket I’ve played at the time.”Agar is essentially betting on himself and is invigorated about exploring what opportunities could come his way. He is currently preparing for the T20 World Cup at home in Australia and appears set to be part of Australia’s 15-man squad as the second spinner alongside Adam Zampa. He did explore flying to India to train with an IPL franchise but the travel schedules of the teams made it too difficult.He is hopeful of potentially signing an MLC or Hundred deal for later in the year but now also has the flexibility to sign deals in the SA20, ILT20, BPL or PSL either side of his BBL deal with Perth Scorchers.Agar has taken inspiration from watching Sunil Narine batting at this year’s IPL•Cricket Australia via Getty ImagesHe is also working hard on his batting with personal batting coach Viv Paver and WA’s batting coach Beau Casson to become a true allrounder in T20 cricket. Agar’s batting potential has been evident since his stunning 98 on Test debut in 2013. His best BBL innings, 68 off 34 in 2016, came batting at No. 5 and he has even opened the batting for his country in two T20Is in 2022, as Australia looked for ways to find him a role in the top seven to give them a fifth specialist bowler in the XI.He said he learned a lot from that experience and has taken inspiration from watching Sunil Narine’s late-career batting renaissance in the IPL this season.”I love seeing him opening the batting and playing with such freedom,” Agar said. “I think we’ve actually got quite similar bat swings. Getting that opportunity would probably be the next step. Having a real crack at the top of the order would be something I’d love to do. But there’s a hell of a lot of work that has to go in into that.”I really think I can bring value to teams with the bat. But it’s up to me to keep putting in the work. This opportunity now gives me the chance to specialise a little bit more: take it away from the red-ball style of batting and really get specific on what I need to do to be a really effective hitter in white-ball cricket all throughout the order.”

Keeper overhauls Sarah Taylor’s dismissals record after rescuing England with bat

Valkerie Baynes11-May-2024For a long while, Amy Jones had to content with the notion that she’d been born in the “wrong generation”, as perennial understudy to Sarah Taylor, regarded as one of the world’s greatest wicketkeepers.And while it has been Jones’s time since Taylor’s retirement in 2019, she crossed a significant milestone on Saturday during a Player-of-the-Match performance in England’s 53-run win over Pakistan at Edgbaston in the first of three T20Is.It was a dream 100th international in the format for Jones at her home ground, her 37 runs helping rescue the hosts from a dire 11 for 4 after 17 balls of the match and her four catches taking her to 75 dismissals for England Women, past Taylor’s record of 74.”Sarah is a brilliant wicketkeeper and someone I looked up to massively and I think someone who’s inspired a lot of the keepers in England, so that’s a cool stat,” Jones said after the match.Related

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“I wondered if I was ever going to get the gloves. I think there was a long period there where, yeah, ‘wrong generation’ was thrown around a lot and it didn’t quite click with just the batting on its own.”Jones’s batting certainly clicked during England’s recent tour of New Zealand with scores of 92 not out, 48 and 50 in the three ODIs following a lean run in the five-match T20I series. That turnaround, she said, had been the result of a fresh mental approach and she has managed to maintain her form, despite considerable hype around this match, in front of a crowd of more than 12,000.With her side reeling in the face of some impressive bowling from seamer Waheeda Akhtar and left-arm spinner Saida Iqbal, Jones’s 27-ball knock proved crucial in a 67-run stand with captain Heather Knight, who fell one run short of a half-century. Both could only watch as Dani Gibson struck an unbeaten 41, her international career-best, while sharing an unbroken stand worth 44 with Sophie Ecclestone to see England to a respectable total of 163 for 6.Amy Jones and Heather Knight stabilised England after early wickets•PA Photos/Getty ImagesJones had played a similar role in a losing cause during the Ashes last year at the same ground, her 21-ball 40 not out giving England something to defend after another shaky start, while her unbeaten 36 helped seal victory against South Africa here during the Commonwealth Games in 2022.Leg-spinner Sarah Glenn took her best international figures of 4 for 12 to ensure Pakistan were bowled out for 110, giving England victory even if the margin flattered them somewhat after such a poor start with the bat and the ball. Pakistan began their run-chase brightly via Sadaf Shamas in particular, before losing their last eight wickets for 44 runs.Jones admitted to feeling “under a bit of pressure” as she walked out to bat at No. 6 before settling into the rebuilding task with Knight. And those initial nerves weren’t helped by the attention surrounding her milestone match.”I don’t know if the first game of the summer gets me a bit as well, to be honest, every year,” she said. “I was a bit nervous this morning around the hotel and then once you get going it sort of fizzles out. But I’ve had a lot of attention, which is not my favourite, but I’ve appreciated the love. So yeah, a little bit of extra nerves I’d say.”We won comfortably in the end but we were challenged at different moments and quite a lot of the start, so lots of learnings and it’s good, not a straightforward win, so lots to take from it.”The series continues with T20s in Northampton on Friday and Leeds on Sunday before a three-match ODI series.

Does the Test series win in Pakistan take the cake… or will it be a past glory?

Dustin Silgardo04-Sep-2024

It’s because of the presidential elections, which means a travel day for Sri Lanka players and officials to go and vote

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2024Are the players just being lazy?
In an era in which even four-day Tests feel like a hard-sell, it does seem weird to have a match that stretches across six days. But no, the reason is that Sri Lanka is holding its presidential election on Saturday. These are the first major polls since the country overthrew its last president in 2022, and so kind of a big deal.And while the New Zealand players are free to relax at any of Galle’s beaches, most Sri Lanka players will be traveling to their electorate to vote. While this is simple enough for someone like Kamindu Mendis – a Galle local – it does represent a challenge for many others.The team is in fact organising a bus for those voting in Colombo, soon after play on Friday. They are expected to vote on Saturday morning and return. Some players must travel even further. Asitha Fernando is going to his electorate near his hometown Katuneriya, roughly 175 kilometres from Galle. Others, such as Lahiru Kumara, will go all the way to Kandy, about 225 km away.In addition to the players, many groundstaff, journalists, commentators, match officials, and board staff will also travel to vote.Couldn’t they have scheduled the Test around the election?
Not really. The Tests were being planned long before the election date was announced. And as New Zealand have a tight playing schedule – this series sandwiched between stints in India – the schedulers say the clash was pretty much unavoidable. Though, given the New Zealand vs Afghanistan match that was supposed to be played in Greater Noida did not see a single ball bowled, perhaps in retrospect they could have rocked up to Sri Lanka a few days earlier.Has this ever happened before?
Rest days were actually pretty common in Tests, right into the 1990s, so this is far from unprecedented (there’s a fact to throw at people who say cricketers had it tougher in decades gone by). In fact, it’s not even unprecedented for Test matches to take a break for an election – the same thing happened in 2008, to allow for Bangladesh’s parliamentary polls that year, also against Sri Lanka. That was the most recent rest day in the game.If the game goes till Monday, won’t it effectively be a day six pitch?
They will, of course, cover the Galle surface and keep it under wraps on Saturday, to prevent the sun and wind from drying it out.Perhaps the players will be fresher as a result?
Again, not really, in the medium term at least. What the boards have actually done is steal a “rest day” from in between the first and second Tests, and plonked it on September 21.There are only two free days between scheduled day five of the first Test, and day one of the second Test. This means there are 10 scheduled Test-match days in a 13-day period, which is normal for a two-Test series.They have been spared having to travel to another venue, however. The second Test will also be played in Galle.

Following ankle surgery and a knee issue, the 34-year old restated his class with 5 for 53 against Bangladesh

Andrew Fidel Fernando20-Feb-20251:41

Kumble: Shami used the cutter to great effect

Eventually we all get old and the body just ain’t what it used to be. The joints feel weird in rooms where the air conditioning is too strong. You twinge an oblique muscle reaching for the remote. You dislocate a kneecap and make up a story about how you did it playing football, when really you had slipped in the shower.And where sleep used to be the thing that fixed your ailments, at some point in your 30s, your body decides there is a correct way and an incorrect way to sleep, and man, you had better not mess it up because otherwise your neck is going to pay for it for a week.Mohammed Shami has been coming to terms with these truths over the past 14 months too. He’s in his mid-30s, which is about the age at which the body’s natural unclehood starts to set in.The difference is that his is a body that bowls fast at the elite level, which, you know, is one of the most impressive things a human body can do. And Shami was doing this already-impressive thing especially impressively.Few bowlers have ever had a tournament like Shami’s 2023 World Cup. He rolled up part-way through it, scythed through 24 batters in seven matches, and averaged 10.70 in India’s run to the final. His right ankle, it turns out, was hurting him right through those spells. Just as he was hitting some of the greatest rhythm of his life that body had begun to let him down. The Achilles tendon needed surgery.Could another ICC tournament bend to Shami’s whim?•Associated PressThere is something profoundly humanising about fast bowlers confronting their physical fragility. Dale Steyn, one of cricket’s most menacing figures ever, said he would “have a little cry” and “throw [his] toys around the cot a little bit” when the injuries piled up towards the end of his career. Shami wasn’t admitting to tantrums, but he too used the language of childhood to describe his recovery process. “It felt like I was starting over, like a toddler learning how to walk,” he said of putting his surgery-addled foot on the ground for the first time.You could be one of the finest quicks your country has produced. You could have thrilled hundreds of millions with spectacular World Cup spells, and turned Ben Stokes into a brain-melted mess as a stadium roared for you in Lucknow. But you go to enough hospitals, see enough X-rays and MRI scans, have enough medical professionals comment on swelling, bleeding, ruptures, bone stress, etc, and it is hammered into you that you are a skin-bag filled with bones, flesh, organs, blood, plus some extras, just like the person who is slipping in the shower and dislocating their knee. What a distance to fall.And what a distance to travel to return to where your body once had been. Fast-bowling fitness is not like batting fitness, or even spin-bowling fitness. Your workload will almost always be more taxing than any other kind of cricketer in the team. Your knees not only have to climb or descend stairs, they have to withstand several times your body weight with each delivery, and you likely have to repeat that dozens of times a day. Part-way through his Achilles recovery, his left knee – the one right-arm bowlers put the most stress on – gave way, substantially extending his recovery period.Related

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There is some understanding here, and in this India team, there appears to be a lot of space for Shami to be less than what he used to be, at least while he’s feeling his way back into the game. “All we wanted with Shami was to get back to wearing Indian colours more than anything else,” Rohit Sharma said of Shami’s comeback in the recent England series, in which his returns were middling. “Whether he took wickets or not was completely immaterial to us.”But wickets are not immaterial to top-quality bowlers. In professional sports, the goodwill you have earned with your team only lasts so long. At some point, there had to be some big numbers in that wickets’ column. Such is his quality as a bowler, it didn’t take long for Shami to get there.Many of the Shami hallmarks were there in this spell. The ball seamed viciously early on, Soumya Sarkar not quite the mess Stokes had been, but this may only be because he faced just five deliveries from Shami, one which jagged back at him and found the inside edge, followed by KL Rahul’s gloves. Shami was mostly moving it in one direction on Thursday, and it was the outside edge of the right-hand batters he tested. One of those awayseamers soon kissed Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s bat, and Shubman Gill snaffled the chance in the cordon.This was not premium Shami. There were errors in length. There were occasional strayings too far down the off side with the new ball. But in between the messy deliveries, Shami also played the hits. When he came back at the death, there were wide, full deliveries with the off side stacked, decent slower ones, the occasional bouncer, and three further wickets to complete the five-wicket haul. The consistency wasn’t quite there. The rhythm wasn’t 100% back. But his best balls – yeah, there were plenty of those – had survived the surgery, and the arduous trek back to fast-bowling fitness.From doubt and rehab to elation and relief•Getty Images”Those 14 months were very tough because you have to do the same things again and again, those things pinch you and you feel the pain 24 hours a day,” he said. “Every person wants to continue their good form, but you can never say for how long such things continue. I always ask myself if I’m satisfied with my performances according to my role. Especially in ICC events, I know that even if I leak plenty of runs, I should at least try to get some wickets.”Ideally, Jasprit Bumrah would have been here to ease his return, but he’s confronting his own fragility right now. There is no question that, particularly in Asian conditions, they make each other greater.But India play every one of their games in Dubai, the cricket world in constant thrall of the money their board brings in. If Thursday’s track was anything to go by, the pitches in Dubai are likely to be similar for the rest of the tournament. As they had been in heavy use during the ILT20, these essentially are pitches that are described as “tired” – as if it is the pitch’s job to summon the energy to rush the ball on to the batter – and these ones are feeling a bit of a nap coming on.What this really means is that there is likely to be less bounce for the duration of the tournament in Dubai. The ball is likely to be a little slower, and occasionally it will skid. What we are describing, essentially, are the perfect conditions for Shami.Whether all that will play out remains to be seen. For now, this is enough. Shami is back. His skin-bag of flesh, bones, blood, and guts is doing the thing we are used to watching it do. And we are in the earliest days yet, but he is, at this moment the highest wicket-taker in another big ODI tournament.

Their weakness is the middle order which puts the pressure of scoring on their opening pair of Gurbaz and Ibrahim

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Feb-2025How do they look?Having accounted for Pakistan and England among the major teams at the 2023 ODI World Cup, followed by a historic run to the semi-finals in the 2024 T20 World Cup – where they beat Australia and New Zealand – Afghanistan enter the Champions Trophy as strong contenders to make the semi-finals. Such a prediction is backed by their recent record in bilateral ODIs (see below) which highlights their rich form.What’s in their favour is the familiarity of the terrain: Afghanistan play all three group matches in Pakistan (Karachi and Lahore) where spin will play a critical role. Despite the back injury that ruled out their mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar, the leading wicket-taker for them since the 2023 World Cup, Afghanistan possess a rich variety and balance of slow bowlers led by the experienced Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi along with the youthful left-arm pairing of Noor Ahmad and Nangeyalia Kharote.Related

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If there is a weakness, it is the middle order (see below) where Afghanistan have dawdled and struggled, which puts pressure on the opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, their two best batters in the last three years.Who are their first-round opponents?Feb 21 – Afghanistan vs South Africa, Karachi
Feb 26 – Afghanistan vs England, Lahore
Feb 28 – Afghanistan vs Australia, LahoreBest XI1 Ibrahim Zadran, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Gulbadin Naib, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Noor Ahmad/Nangeyalia Kharote, 10 Naveed Zadran, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi
Rest of the squad: Sediqullah Atal, Ikram Alikhil, Fareed AhmadESPNcricinfo LtdPlayers to watchAt 40, Mohammad Nabi, who has said that he will retire from ODIs after this tournament, is the oldest player in the Champions Trophy. Incredibly, since April 2009, when Afghanistan started playing ODIs, Nabi has played all but five of their 175 matches. Having played every role possible for Afghanistan – he was the captain, he is the second-highest wicket-taker and run-scorer, a leading allrounder and mentor to the players – Nabi wouldn’t mind signing out on a high.Like Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, 33, has been a veteran of Afghanistan cricket who started playing for the country from the ICC Division 5 in 2008. An extremely fit allrounder, Naib recently was a key architect in Dubai Capitals winning the ILT20. Among the top-six run-scorers in that tournament, Naib hit the third-highest sixes (19). Such an aggressive mindset could see Naib playing the critical role of the finisher for Afghanistan.Key statsAfghanistan have a chronic soft underbelly problem. In the 2023 ODI World Cup, their middle order (Nos. 4-7) scored the least number of runs (849 off 1001 balls) at a weak strike rate of about 85, despite being mid-table in terms of average (40.42). At the 2024 T20 World Cup, their Nos. 3-7 had a combined tally of 360 runs at an average of 12.Recent ODI formSince the 2023 World Cup Afghanistan have won four out of their five bilateral series. This included beating South Africa 2-1 in the UAE, which was the first time Afghanistan had got the better of a top-five opponent in the ICC ODI rankings.Champions Trophy historyAfghanistan have never featured in the tournament before.

She has changed her game, and the five-match T20I series in England could be Shafali’s way back into the ODI side in a World Cup year

S Sudarshanan27-Jun-2025This will be Shafali Verma’s third tour of England, but a lot has changed since the previous ones. For starters, she is not a teenager anymore.When Shafali first toured England for the multi-format series in 2021, she was only a T20I cricketer. She made her debut in ODIs and Test cricket on that tour. Around the time of the England tour – for the Commonwealth Games followed by the bilateral series – in 2022, India were happy with the high-impact knocks she produced despite her inconsistency. It was a risk-versus-reward trade-off that worked for both India and Shafali.Cut to mid-2025, and Shafali has just earned a recall to the T20I side and is still out of favour in ODIs in a home World Cup year. After India crashed out in the league stage of the T20 World Cup 2024, Shafali’s place in the team seemed untenable. Not that India found other batters who could attack from get-go like she could – there aren’t many who can do it anywhere in the world, let alone in India. She was dropped anyway.Related

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In hindsight, the timing of her exclusion perhaps worked well for Shafali, in that she was able to play the whole of the 50-over domestic competitions. She captained Haryana to a quarter-final finish in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy and topped the run-scoring charts – 527 runs at an average above 75 and a strike rate of 152.31. Only one other batter (Kiran Navgire) batted at a higher strike rate in the entire competition, but she scored only 116.Shafali then played the Senior Women’s One Day Challenger Trophy, a competition in which best performers in the one-dayers are picked by the national selectors. She topped the charts there, too, as captain of Team A – 414 runs at an average of 82.80 and a strike rate of 145.26. She had scored close to 200 runs more than the next best, and no one else scored at a higher pace in the competition.In WPL 2025, Shafali was the leading run-scorer for runners-up Delhi Capitals (DC) – and fourth-best overall – and she could no longer be left out of India’s T20I side. That India played only one T20I series since her axing did not matter, they have their premier opener back as the road to the 2026 T20 World Cup starts.But what has changed in Shafali’s game in the intervening period? How is she scoring with such regularity, which she couldn’t earlier?

“Her power game is natural, no one hits sixes at will like her in the women’s game. I told her to not leave behind the qualities that have brought her here. She is a different cricketer, I selected her for the first time based on that”DC assistant coach and former India chief selector Hemlata Kala

“She has worked on keeping herself cool,” DC assistant coach Hemlata Kala told ESPNcricinfo. “In the WPL, she tried to play longer innings and not getting out inside the powerplay.”Everyone said she only bats for 10-15 overs [in one-day cricket]. But she batted for longer in [the domestic] one-dayers, struck back-to-back hundreds. Even in multi-day (Senior Women’s Multi-Day Challenger Trophy) she played well. She has now consistently started playing longer innings. It is not that she didn’t do it before – she has hit 130-140 in Under-23 cricket. She has the ability, but in T20s she tries to make best use of the powerplay.”Former India international Kala was the chief selector when Shafali, aged 15, made her international debut. Apart from being with DC, Kala was also part of the coaching staff for teams in the one-day and multi-day Challenger Trophy and witnessed the damage Shafali could inflict as an opposition player.”I keep telling her, no one has the mindset she has – of hitting sixes from ball one,” Kala said. “Whenever I talk to her, I tell her, ‘don’t leave your game’. Her power game is natural, no one hits sixes at will like her in the women’s game. I told her to not leave behind the qualities that have brought her here. She is a different cricketer, I selected her for the first time based on that.”Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol have been in India’s top-three in ODIs in the recent past•SLCConsciously, though, Kala also instilled in Shafali the importance of rotating strike and not getting bogged down while going for big hits. She has worked on finding gaps when the field spreads.”As you all know, my starts are good but building an innings has been an issue,” Shafali had said earlier this year. “But now, I am focusing on how to get those singles, how to build the innings, how to do well for the team.”Some of that was on display in the WPL, where she did not seem desperate to power deliveries away. She showed restraint even in the powerplay. But she did not let it affect her overall strike rate (152.76 in 2025 vs 156.85 in 2024) much.The five-match T20I series in England could be Shafali’s way back into the ODI side. After the three games in England, India have one more series before the World Cup – a three-ODI series against Australia at home. Whether Shafali makes it there and what the implications on the other top-order batters – Pratika Rawal has been the ODI opener and Harleen Deol the No. 3 – is anybody’s guess.Third time could indeed be a charm for Shafali.

So far this season, Marcus Stoinis has played nine games, faced 65 balls and bowled only 13.1 overs, but with some players leaving, he might have more to do in the IPL 2025 playoffs

Hemant Brar25-May-20251:18

Moody: Stoinis the icing on the cake for PBKS

The story of Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) success in IPL 2025 revolves around how their Indian batters have stood up. Before Saturday, five of them had over 250 runs at strike rates above 150. No other team in any IPL season has had such a record. What has made it even more impressive is that four of them are uncapped in international cricket.Their boom, and the composition of the side, has resulted in Marcus Stoinis batting largely at No. 7. This is a completely different role to the one he played for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) last season, when he scored 258 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 154.49 from No. 3. While Stoinis has played the finisher’s role for Australia, he has mostly batted at No. 5 there too. In fact, before this IPL season, he had batted at No. 7 or lower only ten times across 316 T20s.That said, Stoinis has lapped up his new role. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), he blitzed 34 not out off just 11 balls. Against LSG, he applied the finishing touches with 15 not out off five. Both times striking at 300 or more.Related

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On Saturday, playing against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Jaipur, he was at it again. He came out to bat in the 16th over with PBKS 144 for 5. They needed another impactful knock and Stoinis did not disappoint. Off the first four legal deliveries he faced, he crunched two sixes and a four and dented Mukesh Kumar’s figures. Having conceded only 24 in his first three overs, the seamer finished with 1 for 49.Stoinis was on 18 when Mohit Sharma dropped him at deep square-leg off Kuldeep Yadav. When Mohit came to bowl the 19th over, Stoinis rubbed it in by tonking two sixes and two fours. In all, he scored 44 not out off 16 balls and powered PBKS to 206 for 8.This was Stoinis’ first game after returning from Australia. During the break between innings, he was asked if he had nets sessions when the tournament was suspended for a week.2:33

Moody: Young Indian players thrive under Shreyas’ captaincy

“I actually didn’t,” he replied. “Unfortunately, I had a bout of Covid when I got back – it was a nice welcome home. So I rested up and came back here.”What has worked for Stoinis in this new role is his ability to take down fast bowlers. Since the start of 2023, he has a strike rate of 151.95 against pace. Against spin, it drops to 128.30. When he comes out at No. 7, typically, the fast bowlers are in operation.”It is always a bit different when you go out in the end and you go in that one mode,” he said. “But I think it was really good for me out there. I was surprised they didn’t bowl more slower balls when I was setting up… because I felt they were holding [in the pitch].”In a way, it was a familiar situation for Stoinis, who had played a similar innings for DC against PBKS (then Kings XI Punjab) in Dubai in 2020. Batting at No. 6, he had scored 53 off 21. Then bowling the final over of the chase, with Punjab needing 13 from six balls and then one from the last three, Stoinis pushed the match into the Super Over, where DC won.3:09

Should PBKS be concerned about their bowling?

On Saturday, too, he was tasked to bowl the 20th over. But DC took only three balls to score the required eight runs. Stoinis finished with 1.3-0-21-0. With Azmatullah Omarzai also going for 46 from his four wicketless overs, PBKS could not defend what their captain Shreyas Iyer later called an above-par score.But this is the bargain PBKS have made. By playing both Stoinis and Omarzai, they get Marco Jansen batting at No. 9 and Harpreet Brar at No. 10. While this weakens their bowling somewhat, it allows them to go as hard with the bat as they do, even when they are losing wickets. That’s how they have posted seven 200-plus totals in nine innings when batting first.Another factor in their loss against DC was Yuzvendra Chahal’s absence. According to head coach Sunil Joshi, Chahal was “rested” because of a “small niggle”. His replacement, Praveen Dubey, bowled only two overs, in which he went for 20. Had Chahal been fit, Omarzai and Stoinis might not have had to bowl six overs.So far this season, Stoinis has played nine games, faced 65 balls and bowled only 13.1 overs. But from here on, he may have to play a bigger role. Jansen will not be available anymore as he gets ready for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. If Josh Inglis also leaves – he is Australia’s reserve wicketkeeper for that final – Stoinis will have to shoulder more responsibility. The good news for PBKS is he seems to be primed for that challenge.

Duckett and Crawley pile on the runs while Stokes continues to do Stokes things

Sampath Bandarupalli24-Jul-2025

Fractured foot or not, Rishabh Pant was still able to hit sixes•Getty Images

6 – The number of 350-plus totals for India in this five-match series so far, the most by them in a Test series. Only one team before India have had six 350-plus totals in a Test series – Australia, in three different Ashes series: 1920-21, 1948, and 1989.90 – Sixes hit by Rishabh Pant in Test cricket, the joint-most by any batter for India, alongside Virender Sehwag. Pant has hit 38 of those against England, the second-most by any batter against an opponent in Tests, behind Ben Stokes’ 39 against Australia.Getty Images1035 – Runs scored by Pant in Tests in England. He is the first visiting wicketkeeper-batter to complete 1,000 Test runs in any country. Pant’s 879 runs in Australia are the second-most in this list.Pant, in this series so far, has scored 479 runs, the most by any wicketkeeper-batter in a Test series in England. Overall, only five wicketkeeper-batters have scored more runs than Pant in a Test series.4 – Number of 150-plus stands between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett in Tests. No other opening pair has had more than one 150-plus partnership in Tests since December 2022 (when Crawley and Duckett paired for the first time).They are also only the third opening pair with multiple 150-plus partnerships in a Test series against India, having added 188 earlier in the Leeds Test.5.18 – The scoring rate during the Crawley-Duckett stand was the second highest for a century opening stand in Tests against India. The highest is 5.51 by David Warner and Ed Cowan, when they added 214 in only 38.5 overs in Perth in 2012. (Complete data for overs in partnerships is available since 1998)Ben Stokes finished with 5 for 72 in his 24 overs•Getty Images1 – Stokes claimed his maiden five-wicket haul as England Test captain and also his first in this format since September 2017.He has picked up 16 wickets so far in the four Tests, which is the highest for him in a Test series, and the 129 overs he has bowled so far are also the most.8 – Consecutive Test matches without a fifty-plus score by a No. 3 for India, before B Sai Sudharsan’s 61 in this Test. The previous instance of no fifty-plus scores by India’s No. 3s across eight successive Tests was between 1999 and 2000.Shubman Gill’s 90 against New Zealand at Wankhede was the previous fifty by a No. 3 for India. Karun Nair’s 40 at Lord’s was the highest score by an India No. 3 in the 16 innings. Only once did India have a longer streak without a fifty-plus score from their No. 3s – 17 innings between 1959 and 1961.