He has been expensive, but at the same time brings with him the ability to take wickets

Deivarayan Muthu11-Apr-2023In the absence of Dwayne Bravo, who is now Chennai Super Kings’ bowling coach, he has fronted up to bowl at the death. Then, when Super Kings lost Deepak Chahar to injury one over into the match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, he fronted up to bowl two overs in the powerplay and bowled Rohit Sharma with a beauty. With Ben Stokes and Mukesh Choudhary also injured, Tushar Deshpande has become Super Kings’ go-to seamer.Deshpande was a net bowler with Super Kings in IPL 2021 after having gone unsold at that auction. Two seasons on, Dhoni trusts him to bowl the tough overs.There’s a bit of Shardul Thakur about Deshpande. He can be expensive, but at the same time, he brings with him unpredictable variety and the ability to take wickets. Tim David walloped him for 6, 4, 6 but didn’t expect a grippy slower offcutter next ball, and ended up dragging a pull to deep midwicket. Deshpande can also crank it up to 140kph and surprise batters with extra pace.Related

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“We believe in him,” MS Dhoni said after the game against Mumbai. “Also what happens is when you’re new, you have a different sort of pressure, but if you’ve already played IPL for a few games, then it becomes like a comeback. I feel, as a cricketer, it’s one of the worst feelings to have. But he had a very good domestic season and that helped.”We have been constantly talking to him about what needs to be done. He is very good at execution, but in the last couple of games, he had bowled no-balls and that’s not a very good feeling to have. When you’re at your bowling mark, that’s something you don’t want to have in your mind. I feel he’s improving; the delivery that Rohit got out to was a fantastic delivery. So, he has that potential, he can be much more consistent and we’re just hoping that he takes that added responsibility.”Deshpande had a rough start to the IPL 2023. As the first-ever Impact Player in the IPL, he leaked 51 runs in 3.2 overs against defending champions Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad. Then, against Lucknow Super Giants at Chepauk, where he said the “crowd was so loud that I couldn’t hear anything”, he bowled an 11-ball over in the powerplay, which cost 18 runs.

“I’ve been working on yorkers. I feel it does not come naturally. Even if it comes naturally, you need to have the guts to execute that when you are under pressure”Tushar Deshpande

Deshpande has had issues with overstepping in the past too, but he put that horror over behind him and executed the best-laid plans of Bravo when he returned to bowl at the death. When he came back, Super Giants were 150 for 5 in 15 overs, chasing 218, with Nicholas Pooran on 31 off 15 balls, having just reverse-swept Ravindra Jadeja into the top-tier over point.At the time out, the message from Bravo was to bowl wide yorkers and hide them away from the reach of Pooran. Dhoni gave him three fielders on the off-side boundary – deep point, deep cover and long-off – including two of his best in Mitchell Santner and Ben Stokes. Deshpande stuck to the plan and gave up just one run off the first two balls to Pooran. He then darted another wide yorker – possibly wider than another set of stumps – and had Pooran slicing it to Stokes at long-off. Just six runs off the over to go with the wicket of Pooran. Game over for Super Giants.Deshpande admits that the yorker doesn’t come to him naturally, but he has been learning on the job from one of the best in the business. On Monday evening at the Chepauk nets, Bravo had both Deshpande and Dwaine Pretorius bowling both wide yorkers and straight yorkers under his supervision.”I think bowling at the death is something that comes with great responsibility,” Deshpande told select newspapers in Chennai. “I’ve been working on yorkers. I feel it does not come naturally. Even if it comes naturally, you need to have the guts to execute that when you are under pressure. So I feel staying in the moment helps.”MS Dhoni talks to Tushar Deshpande during the match against Lucknow Super Giants•BCCIThe yorker is arguably the hardest delivery to nail. Overpitch it, it’s a full toss. Under-pitch it, it’s a half-volley. Even if you nail it, you can disappear for runs. Deshpande has embraced that challenge.”If you’re bowling in the death, you have to accept that someday you are going to get hit,” he said. “So you need to stay in the present even if you get hit for a six off the first ball. I have the next five balls to come back in the game or take the batter out. So staying in the present and in the moment is very important, and I personally feel that the next five balls are an opportunity for a bowler to get his mark back in the game. So that is what helps while bowling at the death.”Those who have followed Deshpande in Mumbai’s cricket circles speak highly of his commitment and fortitude. Just days after he had lost his mother to cancer, Deshpande rejoined Mumbai’s squad for the 2019 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game against Delhi in Indore and bowled them to victory with figures of 4 for 19. Ajinkya Rahane, his captain at Mumbai and current team-mate at Super Kings, is also impressed with his progress.”Tushar has been bowling really well and he had a great [domestic] season for Mumbai,” Rahane said after the match against Mumbai. “Even in the match before this [game against Mumbai Indians], his comeback was really great. The first over was not up to the mark in the last game but the way he came back and the way he bowled in the death overs was really good. I’m really happy for him. [These are] still early days for him and he will learn a lot by playing matches and when you’re playing under Mahi <bhai, you’re sure that you will learn every time you’re out in the middle.”At the IPL 2022 auction, Super Kings raised their bid up to INR 7 crore to buy back Thakur, but he ultimately got away from them. They have now found another Mumbai player who can perform the role that Thakur used to do for them with the ball. Deshpande is no Thakur with the bat, but the introduction of the Impact Player rule means he need not be.

Sixteen months ago, they were involved in a sledging tirade during an Ashes battle. Now, they’re opening the batting together and smashing records

Hemant Brar in Hyderabad31-Mar-2019Just over 16 months ago, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow were in the cauldron of an Ashes battle. During the first Test at the Gabba, the stump mic picked up Warner telling Bairstow “you shouldn’t headbutt our mates” in response to Bairstow’s head contact with Cameron Bancroft at a pub in Perth. This verbal volley riled Bairstow up and he was dismissed soon after while attempting an uppercut. In the third Test at Perth, Bairstow celebrated reaching his century by headbutting his helmet.Now in 2019, in another Ashes year, Bairstow walks out to open with Warner. What do they do? They break IPL records, by putting together three successive century stands.Against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, they added 118 in 12.5 overs with Warner making a bruising 53-ball 85. Bairstow played second fiddle with a 35-ball 39. In the next game, the duo went on to add 110 in just 9.4 overs against Rajasthan Royals at Hyderabad to orchestrate a 199-run chase – the highest successful chase for Sunrisers in the IPL.Once again Warner led the way with a 37-ball 69, but this time Bairstow too struck at a strike rate of 160, scoring 45 off 28. At one point during their stand, Warner had faced 18 balls with Bairstow being on strike for just three balls, and then when the ball count for Warner was 27, Bairstow’s was still seven. In both games, Warner took first strike.”Me and Jonny have partnered quite well since Kolkata,” Warner would say after the game. “There have been a few hiccups with him trying to get off the mark, I have been hogging the strike a little bit.”Their stand paved the way for Sunrisers’ victory after they had started with a loss against Knight Riders. Until then it was Warner who hogged the limelight by scoring runs like he was never away from cricket. One wondered if he had hired Shane Warne’s scriptwriter.Until then Bairstow was to Warner what Robin is to Batman. However, it wasn’t to be the case for long. On Sunday, Virat Kohli tossed the ball to Moeen Ali after winning the toss. It’s not like Warner has any weakness against offspin. On the contrary, no fingerspinner (except Sunil Narine, who isn’t a traditional offspinner) has dismissed him in the Powerplay in the IPL since 2011.Still, perhaps to be on the safer side, Bairstow took first strike, and swiped the second ball of the over for four. Moeen ended up conceding 14. In the next over, Warner lofted Umesh Yadav’s first ball over long-on for a six. The pair took off once again as Sunrisers walloped to 59 in the Powerplay. After eight overs, both batsmen were neck to neck, Warner on 35 off 23 and Bairstow 36 off 25.In his next eight balls, Bairstow struck three sixes and two fours and raced to 67 off 34 at the halfway stage. It’s not often that Warner is the mellower of the two batsmen in a century stand. Though he was striking at a healthy 146, it paled in comparison to Bairstow’s 197. The two added 185, the highest opening stand in the IPL. En route Bairstow brought up his hundred off 52 balls, resulting in Warner embracing him in a hug. In the final over of the innings, Warner too reached the landmark, taking just two balls more than his partner.After Sunrisers’ innings, it was Bairstow who handed Warner the Orange Cap for becoming the leading run-scorer of the season. When Kevin Pietersen interviewed the duo, Warner – still catching his breath – didn’t forget to praise Bairstow’s knock, giving a pat on the latter’s shoulder. “Twelve months have done me well,” Warner said. “I am [feeling] nice and refreshed, but what a terrific innings by Jonny. Fantastic partnership by both of us there.”Bairstow was quick to return the favour. “Fantastic to bat in the middle with him [Warner],” he said. “He is a fantastic player and has done [well] for a long, long time. That’s why he has got the Orange Cap.”The understanding between the unlikely pair was on display throughout the innings. While Bairstow scored 90 of his 114 runs in boundaries, he ran ten twos and 20 singles for his partner as Warner exploited the long square boundaries by consistently nudging the ball in the gaps.With the World Cup just two months away, and the Ashes to follow soon after, these two would once again be competing against each other. But for now, they are busy pushing each other, helping each other out, and enjoying each other’s success as if it’s their own. And to borrow from the movie , who knows it might prove to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Even India’s spinners were outbowled by their South African counterparts

Hemant Brar21-Jan-20221:36

Pant: India didn’t get enugh wickets in middle overs

Jasprit Bumrah is a world-class bowler – both in Test cricket and in the limited-overs versions. But in the last couple of years, he has lacked the potency with the new ball in ODIs. Since the 2019 World Cup, he has picked up just one powerplay wicket in 43 overs across 11 innings.Bhuvneshwar Kumar hasn’t fared much better: in the same period, he has three powerplay wickets from 41 overs.That has resulted in India being by far the worst bowling side in the first ten overs. Since the last World Cup, their bowlers have picked up only ten powerplay wickets in 23 ODIs. They have also given away 5.74 runs an over – the most by any team – and their bowling average of 132.10 is more than double that of the next worst (Zimbabwe’s 63.45). In comparison, India’s opponents in those games picked up 24 wickets in 22 innings at an average of 53.00 and an economy rate of 5.78.Stand-in captain KL Rahul was asked before the South Africa series if that concern was addressed in team meetings. “We have talked about this and we have some ideas, some plans, and we want to try those in the coming series,” he said. “That will give us an indication about whether we’re doing things right, and if our strategies or tactics are right.”Clearly, whatever India tried didn’t work as their new-ball woes haunted them again during the second ODI in Paarl. Chasing 288, South Africa cruised to 66 for no loss in the first ten overs. On a surface that was supposed to make batting difficult in the second innings, they registered their highest successful chase since 2017.Apart from the sub-par returns with the new ball, what has hurt India in this series is the lack of a third wicket-taking fast bowler in the playing XI.In the absence of Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, they are forced to play both Venkatesh Iyer and Shardul Thakur, leaving no place for someone like Mohammed Siraj. But they are caught between a rock and a hard place. They need someone from the top six to chip in with a few overs if a regular bowler goes for too many or, worse, breaks down. And the importance of Thakur’s batting was highlighted today, as without him, India would have struggled to cross 275.2:41

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But what was baffling was the Indian spinners being outbowled by their South African counterparts on a pitch that resembled one from back home. The last time India visited South Africa, in 2017-18, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal had wreaked havoc. They topped the bowling charts, picking up 33 wickets at a combined average of 15.09 to help India win the six-match ODI series 5-1.This time, with Kuldeep out of form and favour, and Chahal not at his best, India struggled to take wickets in the middle overs too. R Ashwin, playing his first ODI series since June 2017, wasn’t very effective either.In the first ODI, Chahal and Ashwin had combined figures of 1 for 106 from 20 overs, while Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi and Aiden Markram had 4 for 124 from 26 overs. On Friday, the Chahal-Ashwin combo went for 1 for 115 from their 20 overs, while Maharaj, Shamsi and Markram picked up 4 for 143 from 26.In the first match, Ashwin started by flighting the ball but soon switched to a flatter trajectory, which neither stopped runs nor fetched wickets. Chahal bowled a few good deliveries but also erred in line from time to time. The South African batters, especially Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma, cashed in on it, using sweep as their main weapon.Today, Ashwin was introduced into the attack as soon as the fourth over after Quinton de Kock took Bhuvneshwar apart. He started in the same manner, tossing the ball up and even bowling a maiden to Janneman Malan. In his third over, he produced a stumping chance but Rishabh Pant fluffed it. To rub it in, de Kock, the man reprieved, hit the next ball for a six and went on to score 78 off 66 balls, setting the platform for a series-clinching victory.Chahal bowled a little better, picking up 1 for 47, but it wasn’t good enough.”I think they [the South African spinners] were a little more consistent in their lines and lengths,” Pant said after the match. “Yes, our spin unit could have done a little better but you have to see we are playing one-dayers after a long time, we are just getting used to the momentum of the 50-over cricket. So there are lots of factors we can talk about. Hopefully, we can correct all these mistakes in the coming matches.”

No clear favourites and the vast range of conditions in India mean the 2023 edition is deliciously set up to intrigue – but there remain some things that have brought teams success of late. Here’s a rundown

Sidharth Monga04-Oct-20232:08

What will this World Cup be remembered for?

Not on boundary countback. This World Cup will not be won that way, given the change in rules.That low blow out of the way, this is an intriguing World Cup not least because it is the most open one since Australia started making a mockery of the tournament in 2003. Because of this even field, the vast range of conditions in India, the unavailability of teams’ best XIs at various points in the years between the World Cups, and the recency of trends, it is extremely difficult to bridge the gap between cricket the story and cricket the sport.Still there are certain things that can inform our understanding of what the teams are trying to do to win matches in this World Cup. For starters, they are not bowling spin early. There’s a good reason for it. The new white ball seems to be doing more. More so in India. And for longer. What used to be some shape for one or two overs is now considerable seam and swing for about eight overs in India.Related

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That’s why you will see bowling teams attacking wholeheartedly in the early exchanges. More so when they are defending, because under floodlights – and before the dew kicks in – is the best time to bowl in India these days. The average cost of a wicket in the first ten overs in matches between the sides playing this World Cup has been 31 and 32 the last two years. In 2019, it was 41. The last time the new-ball bowlers had so much for two years in a row was way back in 2005 and 2006.It is great that most teams are blessed with some pretty good seam and swing bowlers who can make use of the new ball. It will be interesting to see if the batters will look to be watchful or counterattack, as we saw Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill do in their second Asia Cup match against Pakistan after they struggled in the first.India and Australia, in fact, have been leading the way against the new ball in recent times. No side has scored as quickly in the first ten overs across the past year or so as Australia and India have: 7.26 and 6.61, respectively.Not leaving it late in the big chasesIf they are chasing a big total, expect the batters to meet fire with fire. Himanish Ganjoo, cricket analyst and an ESPNcricinfo contributor, has worked out that teams of late are not leaving themselves too much to do in tall chases. There is strong data to support it. Since 2016, in successful chases of above 300, the run rate of the winning side has tended to remain uniform, while the sides batting first have tended to increase their run rate only gradually.The middle overs are where England seem to be making up for sedate starts with the bat•Getty ImagesIt perhaps flies in the face of conventional understanding that anything is possible with wickets in hand in the last 20 overs. In fact, teams batting second have been okay with losing wickets if they can keep abreast with the asking rate: looking at high totals, the first three wickets of sides batting first contribute 60% of the runs, but only about half in the second innings. The sixth and seventh wickets play a bigger role in chases, which is probably why you see sides valuing depth so much.If this informs a chasing strategy, is there something to be gleaned by the fielding side too? In the lead-up the World Cup, I asked Ian Bishop and Tom Moody if it would be smart to try to choke early through spin, and then have seam bowlers operating when the dew is in and the asking rate is high. They both went for the conventional wisdom: wickets. Go for what will get you wickets. If the recent trend of the ball gripping in the second innings continues, it will only support the conventional wisdom.Win the middle overs – a key to successAs ever, teams that do better in the middle overs tend to win. That’s why you see batters like Virat Kohli press more in the middle overs than they did before. That’s why you see focus on point-of-difference bowlers who can pick up wickets through the middle overs. These are the overs where England seem to be making up for sedate starts with the bat, and after non-penetrative new-ball spells. Their spinners have a decent strike rate, the fourth-best between the two World Cups.Pakistan might have the best pace attack, but they need to make up for lukewarm numbers of their spinners•Getty ImagesIt might not show in the numbers because the two haven’t played that much together, but two highly uncommon bowlers in Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah give India a big advantage in the middle overs. And still they might have cause for concern if the pitches keep offering spinners some grip: their batters have not been great against fingerspin.If India and Australia are great in the early goings, they can stutter in the middle overs. England and South Africa are superb from 11 to 50, but they are not the best with – and against – the new ball. Pakistan might have the best pace attack, but they need to make up for lukewarm numbers of their spinners, and also the middle order.The difficult pitches worked a treat for the 2019 World Cup, but it was also a predictable World Cup in terms of tactics: stable start, mid-overs press, extreme pace, and wristspin. This one is more deliciously set up in its unpredictability and the variety of tactics available, especially given how much the conditions tend to change through the course of a match in India.Keep your eyes and ears open. It’s going to be a wild one.

Derby stood host to three double-centurions in the second round

Sampath Bandarupalli18-Apr-20221 Tom Haines (243) and Cheteshwar Pujara (201*) became the first pair to score double-centuries in the same first-class innings while following-on. They are also the first pair with double-hundreds in the same first-class innings for Sussex since Ted Bowley (228) and Maurice Tate (203) in 1921 against Northamptonshire.2 Pujara became only the second Indian to score a double-century in the County Championship. Mohammad Azharuddin was the first, having scored 212 against Leicestershire in 1991 and 205 against Durham in 1994, both for Derbyshire. Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi also had four double-hundreds in County Cricket, but were scored while he was a Test cricketer for England.ESPNcricinfo Ltd52 First-class innings without a hundred for Pujara before the unbeaten double-ton for Sussex. His last first-class century was scored in January 2020 when he made 248 against Karnataka. Between his recent two hundreds, Pujara scored 1518 runs in the format at an average of 30.36 with 14 fifties.14 Number of first-class double-centuries for Pujara, the most by an Asian player. He has now surpassed Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 13 double-tons. Only eight batters had more first-class double-hundreds than Pujara. No active player other than Pujara has even scored ten double-tons.1 Pujara’s 14 double-centuries in first-class cricket are also the most by any player in the format since the start of the 21st century. Sangakkara held the record previously as all his 13 double-tons came between 2002 and 2017.201* Pujara also recorded the highest individual score on the first-class debut for Sussex. The previous highest score on debut for Sussex was 152 by Joe Gatting against Cambridge UCCE in 2009.239 Shan Masood’s score during the Derbyshire’s first innings. It is the highest individual score by a Pakistan player in the County Championship. The previous highest was 230* by Zaheer Abbas for Gloucestershire against Kent in 1976.