Coming back after a 42-day break from cricket, he was India’s joint top-scorer without ever finding his fluency

Shashank Kishore28-Aug-2022The noise levels had soared by several decibels as Virat Kohli walked out to bat, third ball of India’s chase. As he stood marking his guard, the giant screen played a package of his imperious cover-driving against Mohammad Amir during the 2016 Asia Cup. Kohli took a fleeting glance at it before settling into his stance.As the first delivery tailed in, he left it alone, trusting the bounce. He looked at the spot from where the ball had lifted, giving it a wry smile. The surface was a little tacky. There was grip if the bowlers were willing to dig it in, like Hardik Pandya had done during Pakistan’s innings. Ravindra Jadeja had got it to turn sharply from leg to off. With India chasing only 148, maybe this was Kohli’s opportunity to dig in and not go after the bowling straightaway, despite the chatter around intent and India’s new batting template.Related

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Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli: one flies as the other fights

Kohli was returning from a month-long break where he hadn’t picked up a bat. His ferocious intensity can lift the team. It can lift the entire stadium. As it did when he was among the first players to bound out to the nets in India’s first training session four days ago.Starting Wednesday, whatever he’s done on the field has been closely captured, reeled, storied, and shared widely: his towering hits, his exchanges with Babar Azam, his 50-metre sprints, the goals he’s scored in warm-up football.On Sunday too, he was among the first to walk out for India’s pre-match routines. The pleasantries with the opponents were done. He was a picture of concentration amid the noise. He took throwdowns initially, and then proceeded towards the boundary edge to take some catches. Within 10 minutes, Kohli was in and out. He wasn’t going to drain himself in the afternoon heat.It was a big occasion. His 100th T20I. He was about to become only the second player, after Ross Taylor, to play as many games in all three formats. Rahul Dravid invited Kohli to give the team a pep talk. He spoke passionately, and the huddle dispersed with a chorus of claps. With that, Kohli’s comeback was officially underway.He had played just four T20Is this year prior to this game. He hasn’t been a part of India’s changing template consistently, and so there’s this matter of having to buy into the philosophy, and then fit into it, which can be easier said than done. Perhaps it would have been a cakewalk for the Kohli of 2016, when he could flick on a switch and kill chases with ridiculous ease. Or blast his way out of the blocks while batting first and smash both pace and spin.Back to the present, though.It’s the second ball of his innings. Kohli’s instincts draw him into a drive. Except the ball isn’t quite there and it hits the seam and nips away. By the time Kohli has played the ball, he knows he’s in trouble, but a diving Fakhar Zaman grasses the chance at slip to the collective despair of the western block of the stadium, which is dominated by Pakistan fans in green.You begin to imagine what could have been had the chance been taken. ‘Kohli out for duck after opening up about mental-health struggles’? ‘Kohli’s much-anticipated return ends in damp squib’? There was potential for an explosion of headlines, memes and judgments. But luck has smiled on Kohli and he gets off strike next ball with a nudge to fine leg. He is off the mark.Virat Kohli slowed down against spin before chipping Mohammad Nawaz straight to long-off•AFP/Getty ImagesNow he’s up against Shahnawaz Dahani, the reason why Pakistan are defending 147 rather than 135. Kohli plays out three dots and then mistimes a lofted hit that plonks into the outfield after beating mid-off. Dahani is quick and zippy, and Kohli hasn’t managed to get him away. Whether he feels it or not, you feel the pressure.Square leg is in, and fine leg is out. The short ball could be coming, and it does. Kohli belts out a roar after getting into excellent position to wallop it to the midwicket boundary. He’s up and running.Or is he? Next ball, Kohli gets a thick inside edge. On another night, this may have rolled onto the stumps. Tonight it rolls down to short fine leg. India, 10 for 1 after two overs, have made a nervy start.It remains that way. KL Rahul is gone, Rohit Sharma is scratchy. In the next over, Kohli top-edges Haris Rauf for six over the keeper’s head. More luck. Surely it’s his night?Kohli is chewing gum, smiling, fist-bumping Rohit. The ball isn’t always flying where he wants it to, but he’s still in the contest. There’s a sliced drive over backward point off Dahani in the fifth over. He had been looking to go over cover only for his bat to turn in his hands.Multiple times over the last two years, Kohli has played imperious innings that haven’t lasted as long as they promised to. This innings is promising to be different – scratchy but enduring. But then he flicks a switch and plays a majestic flat-batted pull over wide mid-on. He stands and admires the shot until the ball crosses the boundary, and turns back to look at the replay on the giant screen. He’s nailed it off the sweetest spot on his bat.It’s been a perfectly imperfect Kohli knock – hard to categorise in any way.But in some respects, we’ve seen this innings before. At the end of the powerplay, he’s batting on 29 off 24. Then the spinners come on and the fields spread. Against Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, he scores 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1. In that time, India lose Rohit. A seemingly straightforward chase is turning rather tricky.Then Kohli steps out, and chips Nawaz straight to long-off. Just like that, his stay is over. A perfectly imperfect end to a perfectly imperfect innings.

Flowing off drives, crisp back-foot drives, crunching pulls, ramps over third man – Shubman Gill showed his range of strokes in Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-202135* off 36 balls, MCG, 2nd inns
In his first Test innings, at the MCG, Gill had some close calls early but then counterattacked to score 45. In the second innings, with India chasing just 70, Gill took charge from the off. He started with a couple of perfectly timed off drives before showing off his back-foot play, finishing with seven boundaries in 36 balls.50 off 101 balls, SCG, 1st inns
In Sydney, Australia put up 338, and Gill begun India’s response with a half-century that included eight boundaries. His back-foot drive was a thing of beauty, and he timed a couple of pull shots perfectly. Against Nathan Lyon, he was comfortable: he took big front-foot strides to get to the pitch and was not afraid to cover-drive against the turn. His control percentage was 92, remarkable against one of the best attacks in Test cricket.91 off 146 balls, Gabba, 2nd inns
The last day of the series left India with a steep chase of 328. It may have been easier to look at it as three sessions to bat out, but Gill followed his attacking instincts. When Australia tried to bounce him, he played some beautiful hooks and ramps, taking 14 runs off one Mitchell Starc over. His control percentage in this innings, on a fifth-day pitch, was an astounding 95.2 and, though he fell short of a century, his innings set up a famous win.

Watto announces himself as an MVP allrounder

Sruthi Ravindranath23-Apr-20214:41

Gautam Gambhir, Farveez Maharoof and Dinesh Karthik on Watson’s performance

We polled our staff for their picks of the top ten best batting, bowling and all-round performances in the IPL through its history. Here’s No. 5Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils, 2008“He lost a bit of the edge in the last few games but today he was absolutely fantastic and showed his class. He’s a fantastic all-round cricketer and good enough to be in the Australian team.” – Shane Warne, Rajasthan Royals captainTwenty-six-year-old Shane Watson had endured a tough year. Though he was touted as one of the most promising allrounders in Australia, frequent injuries had left a perpetual question mark over his international future. Then came the 2008 IPL and in those 44 days Watson found his range. One performance showed he had it in him to become T20 allrounder.The Rajasthan Royals, seen as underdogs for their low-budget approach, had become the side to beat as the inaugural IPL season progressed. While lesser-known players put their hands up at crucial moments, most of the Royals’ campaign had been built around Watson. Coming into the semi-final, against the Delhi Daredevils, he was in tremendous form: 392 runs and 13 wickets in 13 games.In the semi-final, he cranked it up a notch. Such was Watson’s performance that the Wankhede crowd rose to its feet to chant his – yes, an Australian’s – name.Shane Watson all but finished the game in his first three overs with the ball•BCCIThe Royals were put in to bat and the openers took them to 65 in seven overs before Watson arrived at the crease with the intention to maintain momentum through the middle overs. He stuck to the brief for the first ten balls, hitting just one boundary. “It took me a few balls to understand the wicket and the bounce, but after that I got into the rhythm,” he said later.Watson then unveiled beast mode. In the 11th over, which brought 21 runs, he hit the inexperienced Yo Mahesh for a four and two humungous sixes on the leg side. With adept timing and footwork, he went after specific bowlers, swinging through square leg and midwicket. He took on legspinner Amit Mishra, who lured him with teasing flight, by getting under a delivery and dispatching it for six over midwicket.His 29-ball 52, combined with Yusuf Pathan’s final flourish, took the Royals to 192. By no means was this an easy target, though with Gautam Gambhir – the tournament’s second highest run scorer – and Virender Sehwag in the opposition, you couldn’t rule out an even contest.No, the chase was not on, considering the kind of day Watson was having.

The numbers

67 Percentage (12 out of 18) of Watson’s deliveries that were on the shorter side, which shows he executed the bowling plans to perfection on the day

5 Number of Player-of-the-Match awards Watson got in the 2008 IPL season. He also finished as Player of the Tournament for his 472 runs and 17 wickets

138.64 Watson’s Total Impact – the sum of his batting and bowling impacts – in the match. Daredevils’ Farveez Maharoof, who picked up three wickets in the match, had the second highest of 78.24 points

His opening spell pretty much decided the game. Gauging the amount of bounce the surface offered, Watson kept his length short and beat the batters with pace. In his first two overs, he got Sehwag to top-edge a catch to deep square leg and beat Gambhir repeatedly before having him caught at cover. In Watson’s third over, Shikhar Dhawan pulled a back-of-a-length delivery straight to the fielder at square leg. With 3-0-10-3, the Daredevils’ chase was all but over and they were eventually skittled out for 87.Such was Watson’s impact in the match that his 52 runs were worth 64.03 Smart Runs, and his strike rate of 179 translated to a Smart Strike Rate of 220. His economy of 3.33 in the match was 2.6 in terms of Smart Economy.This performance helped Watson revive his international career, and right as T20 cricket took root, he established himself as a complete, two-in-one player in the format.The Greatest IPL performances 2008-2020

Hundred players won’t be involved with Lancashire sticking by core from group stage

Paul Edwards16-Sep-2022It probably reveals something about the skewed priorities currently afflicting English cricket that the ECB’s designation of the Royal London Cup as “a development competition” was generally regarded as a downgrading, if not a plain admission of second-class status. What other sport would look down on the process of helping young players refine their skills?But of course, the media, whether established, social or anti-social, followed their leader. The 2021 Royal London would be a “second-team” competition and no one would watch the matches.Then the cricket got under way and supporters of the 18 counties began to turn up in decent numbers. Nothing to rival the Hundred, of course, but many members were more interested in seeing their youngsters for the first time than in watching well-known names play an unloved format for teams with which they could not identify. The result was that last season’s Royal London was something of an unexpected success and Glamorgan’s victory in the final, which was achieved without their Hundred players, was widely welcomed. This year’s competition has achieved something similar – matches at outgrounds have been especially popular – so much so that anyone wanting to play the group matches at the start of next season should consider what will be lost in terms of spectacle and opportunity.Certainly Keaton Jennings, who will lead Lancashire in Saturday’s final at Trent Bridge, has enjoyed both his fresh responsibilities and the company of players for whom every game is still a journey into a new world.Related

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“I’ve loved the captaincy, it’s been good fun and it would be lovely if we could bring home some silverware,” he said. “I’ve spoken to the younger players as a group and we’ve talked about somebody sticking their hand up to win a game. And when you look at our record this season, someone has generally done that, whether it was George Lavelle with that unbeaten 61 against Northamptonshire at Blackpool or George Balderson taking two vital wickets at Hove.”You can be critical of the way George Lavelle has got out at times but the way he has played has changed the momentum of games. Our young players are changing the direction of matches, not always with centuries or with five-wicket returns, but with vital contributions nevertheless. That exposure has been absolutely brilliant for them and there will soon come a first-class game, maybe a Roses match, in which that exposure will help them.”Many of the young Lancastrians got their opportunities because several players – Phil Salt, Luke Wood, Richard Gleeson, Liam Livingstone, Tom Hartley, Matt Parkinson – were playing in the Hundred. However, none of the newly disenfranchised six will play against Kent, although three of them are with England anyway and Livingstone is injured. But Lancashire’s coaching staff also had to be changed when Glen Chapple and Carl Crowe were seconded to the Manchester Originals. Graham Onions, Karl Krikken and Craig White all took on new roles and will also be involved at Nottingham.

“He is really a disruptive technology because his skills are just as applicable to these times as they were to the last years of the 20th century. To watch him go about his business with such pleasure is amazing”Keaton Jennings on Darren Stevens

Other faces will be more familiar to Jennings, most notably, perhaps, Luke Wells, whose century in the second innings of the Roses match was a perfect example of what happens when a T20 mentality is grafted on to the pure technique of an intelligent cricketer. Wells’ 124 off 82 balls included 11 fours and half a dozen sixes, three of the latter being struck in the fourth, sixth and seventh overs of the innings off Ben Coad and Jordan Thompson. A repeat against Kent would do Wells’ skipper very well indeed but his century was really only the latest manifestation of the change in the batting allrounder’s cricket since he left Sussex in 2020. And Jennings’ enjoyment of the innings was enhanced by the fact that he was sitting on his bat 22 yards away watching the show.”I haven’t seen a first-class innings like that for a long time,” Jennings said. “It was controlled, it was calculated and it was executed beautifully. Luke just said ‘I’m just going to play and I’ll see what happens.’ My role was to face as few balls as possible and get him on strike.”Luke was already a good player at Sussex and now he’s a really good player who has gone from strength to strength. The change has been good in that he’s challenged himself to be the best he can be very single day. You can see in his gym work that he’s different gravy to what he was two or three seasons ago and he’s maybe added a few years onto his career.”But another player who has added something like a decade onto his career – and, if he is to be believed, isn’t finished yet – will be strolling out for Kent having already ensured that Lancashire are being viewed as the red meanies in this year’s Royal London Cup. Perhaps 90% of those watching the final will be hoping 46-year-old Darren Stevens ends up on the winning side, and were the circumstances different, you get the feeling that Jennings would be amongst them.”I’ve played against Stevo quite a bit and he’s got me out quite a few times as well,” he said. “For me, his biggest attribute is his ability to change over time and adapt his skillset to learn, grow and get better. He’s done that over three generations of cricketers across a 25-year career and that shows a level of skill, a hunger and a drive to get better.”He’s really a disruptive technology because his skills are just as applicable to these times as they were to the last years of the 20th century. To watch a guy go about his business with such pleasure is amazing.”

The defending champions need some crucial replacements after trading out a couple of players

Abhimanyu Bose21-Dec-20225:12

Who should replace Lockie Ferguson at Gujarat Titans?

Who they’ve got
Gujarat Titans, the defending IPL champions, released only six players ahead of this mini-auction and, rather unsurprisingly, have kept the majority of their title-winning squad intact.Follow the 2023 IPL auction LIVE

You can watch the auction live in India on Star Sports, and follow live analysis with Tom Moody, Ian Bishop, Wasim Jaffer and Stuart Binny right here on ESPNcricinfo.

Current squad: Hardik Pandya (capt), Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, B Sai Sudharshan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, Pradeep Sangwan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, Yash DayalWhat they have to play with
The Titans have a total purse of INR 19.25 crore (USD 2.3 million approx.), and seven slots to fill, including three overseas slots.What they need
A fast bowler. They traded Lockie Ferguson to Kolkata Knight Riders and will need a replacement, as head coach Ashish Nehra said earlier this month. Another Indian quick will also help, because they would want a back-up for Yash Dayal. Not to forget Hardik Pandya’s workload management. Having released Jason Roy and traded Rahmanullah Gurbaz to Knight Riders, Gujarat would also want to bring in a top-order batter, who can either open or come in at No. 3. And a fast-bowling allrounder, but with only Rajasthan Royals (INR 13.2 crore), Royal Challengers Bangalore (INR 8.75 crore) and Knight Riders (INR 7.05 crore) left with smaller purses than them, they may end up being out-bidded for the big names (think Sam Curran, Cameron Green, Ben Stokes) in that category.The likely targets
Sam Curran would be a perfect fit, adding batting depth while also replacing Ferguson as a frontline quick. However, he will be in high demand and teams like Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings have plenty left in their purse and could break the bank for him.Reece Topley, a tall left-arm quick with a deadly yorker, will add to the team’s arsenal and might be easier to get than some others. Titans could target him as a like-for-like replacement for Ferguson.Jaydev Unadkat has a history of being expensive, but he brings with him a wealth of experience as well as form and confidence. He led his domestic side Saurashtra to the domestic 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy title this month, and also got a Test recall for India’s ongoing tour of Bangladesh.Mayank Agarwal is likely to be the most sought-after Indian batter in the auction. He would fit into the Titans top order, but they will face stiff competition from several teams.And why not Kane Williamson? He was released by Sunrisers and could become Titans’ glue at the top of the order. He can open the innings or play at No. 3.