Mountains of first-class runs and not a chance, then asked to play against the moving ball in England

Osman Samiuddin14-Aug-2020Wait 10 years, 259 days. Play 12,742 balls of first-class cricket. Average 56 in that time. All for this punchline: in the time it took you to read those sentences but not fully digest those numbers, it’s already over. Four balls, one contact between bat and ball, zero runs. Life is cruel and still it has nothing on the cruelty of batting. Who better to know this than Fawad Alam?For it to be on referral too, because there’s nothing quite like the DRS to prolong and accentuate the torture of batting. What else but something as unforgiving as batting could, after all, accommodate a state in between life and death? Exhale out relief on being given not out. Inhale in nerves upon referral. No chance to exhale. It’s over. He wasn’t even there long enough for Sky Sports to do the inevitable Third Man ostensibly on his stance but really as an excuse to watch some classic Shivnarine Chanderpaul footage.That stance itself feels like a cruel twist now. If you put it against the stance from his earliest days, it could be two different batsmen. He used to have a little shuffle across but remained more or less side on before, still unexplained, the guard became this open invitation for a brawl. Even then it was fine hidden away in deepest, darkest domestic cricket, sighted occasionally on Quaid-e-Azam trophy streams. Now it’s out there for eternity and no matter what runs he scores in the second innings, or however many more Test innings he plays, it consigns him forever to pop up in a listicle on weird stances (we’ll do one most probably).ALSO READ: Asad Shafiq and Fawad Alam: A tale of intertwined destinies
That will accompany the other listicles he’s destined to appear in, on long-suffering domestic toilers (done that already) or on records pages for the longest gaps between appearances (ditto). A career of 17 years and counting, reduced to three lists. And the memes won’t stop for a while yet. Cruel doesn’t begin to describe it.He was on a hiding to nothing coming in at the fall of Asad Shafiq’s wicket and in contributing zero to a partnership of three with Babar Azam. The latter is a generational talent, the former the guy who really could’ve been, both of whom the manner in which they score compensates to some degree for the number of runs they score. Pure, pristine techniques, every shot a picture. And here is Alam. The minute he arrived, cricket orthodoxy blew up: how can he play at this level with a stance like that? The minute he left, it continued blowing up: see, he can’t play at this level taking guard like that.Fawad Alam was out lbw on review•Visionhaus/Getty ImagesAll those years, his best years, that he couldn’t get in because there was nowhere to get in to with Pakistan’s middle order. Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq and Shafiq had the absolute run of those surfaces in the UAE. All those years of bounty, eventually the return of Tests to Pakistan and he gets a call-up in England.And after his captain chooses to bat first, the weather conspires against that decision. This Test has been preceded by days of unbearable heat and unflinching sunshine only to welcome Alam back with muggy, overcast skies, heavier with the threat of rain than actual rain. A day on which 126 for 5 is about par for most sides, let alone Pakistan, and every run seems to have been edged to third man. Against an English attack currently so deep they’re literally drawing straws to see who sits out a Test. No Jofra today, no matter, here’s a leftie who looks seven but swings it mean like the expression on his face when he runs in.Sam Curran might’ve actually been relief but Alam started against Stuart Broad whose stock ball these days is simply the one that gets the left-hander – any left-hander – out. There’s cockfights in this world that are not as cruel as this.

After missing 88(!) Test matches, Fawad Alam is a part of Pakistan's Test XI again

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 13, 2020

Three balls from Broad, the best result of which for Alam is a toss-up between all three: the nervy jab at the first, the leave-alone of the second, or being beaten square by the third. Alam’s fourth ball is from Chris Woakes who, for this fleeting moment in our existence post Old Trafford, is the best allrounder in England and given that the actual best allrounder in England is the best allrounder in the world, means he’s not to be trifled with.It’s the last ball Alam plays and even physics is not his friend. It’s slanting across him as it lands, and even though it straightens marginally to beat his inside edge, it’s close to being umpire’s call on where it pitched and close to being umpire’s call on where it hit the stumps. Nearly 11 years and undone not just by a computer but by millimetres.As parting insult, as he’s struck, he looks like a combination of a batsman winded by a hit on the box and bowled by a grubber. A bad day to be Fawad Alam, a great day to be a meme.

And why he scored more impact points than Jasprit Bumrah despite the latter’s seemingly superior figures

ESPNcricinfo stats team01-Oct-2020Rahul Chahar’s 2 for 26 and not Kieron Pollard’s 47 off 20 was the most impactful performance of the match between the Mumbai Indians and the Kings XI Punjab, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats.The Mumbai Indians won the match rather comfortably, by 48 runs, after putting up 191 for 4. Hardik Pandya also went after the Kings XI’s less-than-demanding death bowling and, with Krunal yet to come, Smart Stats reckons that Mumbai would’ve put up a big enough total to make it difficult for Kings XI even if Pollard hadn’t contributed as many as he did. So, Pollard’s innings earns him 104.7 impact points, marginally lower than Chahar’s 110.1.Chahar, the young legspinner, took the all-important wickets of the Kings XI captain KL Rahul and the dangerous Glenn Maxwell while the game was still alive, snuffing out any chances of the Kings XI making a match out of it. In addition, Chahar’s four overs went for just 26 runs, earning him impact points for his economy rate as well.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma got the third-highest impact score in the match for his 45-ball 70 and Jasprit Bumrah was at No. 4 for with 93.6 impact points. But why did Bumrah, who also took two wickets and was more economical than Chahar with an economy of 4.5 runs an over, get less value for his performance?That is because in a one-to-one comparison, Chahar’s wickets of Rahul and Maxwell were of much more value that Bumrah’s two wickets of Mayank Agarwal and James Neesham. Moreover, Neesham was dismissed when the match was almost out of the Kings XI’s hands with the asking rate climbing to almost 20 runs an over and an inexperienced lower-middle order to follow. The improbability of the chase being successful at that point was part of the reason for Bumrah’s economical bowling towards the end not fetching him that many impact points.Click here to know more about Smart Stats.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Aggression against spin and a calculated approach to the chase set up a famous Ireland win

Matt Roller at the Ageas Bowl04-Aug-2020A partnership of 214 in 32.4 overs in any run chase is pretty good, not least against the world champions in their own backyard. Both Andy Balbirnie and Paul Stirling had inked their names into Irish cricket’s history books long ago, but they double-underlined them with thick marker pen at the Ageas Bowl.Coming into this series, Stirling and Balbirnie had scored two-fifths of Ireland’s ODI runs since the start of 2018. Stirling averaged 45 in wins and 36 in defeats; Balbirnie’s disparity was even more stark, at 56 and 26 respectively.In the first ODI, both were out within 2.1 overs batting first, and with them went their chances as Ireland slumped to 28 for 5. Things were little better in the second, with Stirling slashing to backward point and Balbirnie suffering what he labelled a “brain fade”, steering behind as he pulled out of a cut shot to James Vince’s medium pace.ALSO READ: Stirling, Balbirnie set up famous Ireland chaseParticularly crucial was their ability to attack against spin. In the first two ODIs, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid had come on against an exposed middle order who had little choice but to play tentatively, nudging them around at a paltry 3.26 runs per over.But Balbirnie and Stirling, the experienced heads, are both exceptional players of spin bowling, averaging 48 and 102 against spinners in ODIs over the last two years. Both have had to overcome struggles against one Afghan spinner in particular – Stirling against Rashid Khan, Balbirnie against Mujeeb Ur Rahman – but constant exposure on difficult pitches has forced both to improve.”That’s one of the benefits of playing Afghanistan so often,” Balbirnie said coming into the series. “You get the opportunity to play against world-class spinners on a regular basis, you learn different things and learn how to play them in different scenarios.”We play a lot of cricket in those conditions,” he added on Tuesday. “We have qualifiers in the UAE, and then wickets in Ireland tend to spin, so you need to learn to play them well. It’s something that we’ve done quite well. As long as we continue to take the positive option, I’ll be happy.”ESPNcricinfo LtdWhere Rashid had previously eased into a rhythm, on this occasion Stirling heaved two of his first ten balls for leg-side sixes. Balbirnie swept hard either side of square, too, piercing the gap between the two sweepers off Ali time and again.Ali brought back the seamers to stymie the flow of runs, and managed to dry up the boundaries. Stirling nudged Curran off the pads for one to bring up his hundred off 96 balls, barely celebrating with the job only half-done.Balbirnie, meanwhile, rotated brilliantly. Only 48 of his 113 runs came in boundaries, and he was generally more than happy to push ones and twos to the four men out; Stirling pounded the empty stands, and got off strike when he could.”Adil Rashid is such an important bowler to this England team,” Balbirnie said. “He’s a world-class operator. We knew that he was a threat, but we didn’t want to see him off and sit back to him – we wanted to play positively.”That’s the way Paul plays his cricket, and I was happy to just play along with him and play to my strengths rather than playing out of my game. He’s a great communicator out there. We always talk to each other and see where our options are.”Stirling has been a wild thing for much of his career; a top-order firestarter who burned bright, but rarely long. As he has grown older and wiser, he has reined in his attacking instincts and his returns have burgeoned as a result: until the end of 2016, he averaged 32.90 with a strike rate of 92; between then and the start of this series, those figures were 42.70 and 80.While it would be wrong to paint this as a lesson in moderation – he was given two lives courtesy of James Vince, and scored the bulk of his runs through midwicket – Stirling clearly knew that the task lay on his shoulders. His hundred celebration was a picture of restraint, sheepishly raising his bat with Balbirnie encouraging him to acknowledge the dressing room’s applause more than he had.His record against England had never been particularly impressive – 195 runs in 10 ODI innings previously – and during lockdown had told ESPNcricinfo that he thought results would be secondary in this series. “It’ll be almost trying to put on a show,” he said.Andy Balbirnie notched up his sixth century in ODIs•AFP via Getty ImagesWith nine fours and six sixes to his name, there was no question that he did that. He hit Rashid for three of them, but reserved special treatment for Willey, carting him for 37 runs from the 26 balls he faced. The only criticism could be that both centurions fell within three overs of each other, but with Kevin O’Brien’s cool head at No. 5, that proved not to be a problem.”I love batting with Paul,” Balbirnie said. “He’s my favourite player to bat with. When he’s in that sort of mood, you can go under the radar a bit. He’s a huge asset.”Balbirnie himself deserves much of the credit for this win. He took the call to drop his predecessor, William Porterfield, ahead of the series, and stuck with his youth policy even after moderate returns in the first two games; in the field, he was attacking throughout, bringing men into catching positions whenever a wicket fell.But with the bat, he has come into his own in the last two-and-a-half years. His average since the start of 2018 is now 41.4, with six hundreds to his name. Ireland could not ask for a better man to lead them forward into this new era.

He is still “speechless”, unable to believe what he and his team-mates have accomplished in Australia

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Jan-20211:41

Moody: Siraj has responded to adversity in the most mature way

Shabana Begum could not stop crying as her second son returned home after nearly six months overseas. Not too long before, the son had laid flowers on the grave of his dad, who had passed away on November 20 last year while he was on duty in Australia.The first few hours of Mohammed Siraj’s homecoming on Thursday were poignant: full of emotions, a deep sense of loss, a sense of happiness, a sense of peace, of being in the embrace of your loved ones after months of living in lockdown on one the most arduous tours in cricket.Immediately upon landing in Hyderabad at 9 am from a triumphant Australia tour, where he made his Test debut and ended as India’s highest wicket-taker, Siraj went to the graveyard in Khairatabad to pay respect to his late father Mohammed Ghouse, a former auto rickshaw driver, who passed away at the young age of 53 due to lung ailment.According to Mohammed Shafi, Siraj’s childhood friend and his first captain in gully cricket at First Lancer Cricket Club, he threw up as he spent some quiet moments at his dad’s grave. It was around 11 in the morning when Siraj reached his home. “As soon as I reached home mom started crying, but I remained strong and kept her positive,” Siraj would tell the Hyderabad media later in the afternoon.Shafi illustrates the emotions vividly. “His mummy had not seen Siraj for six months, so she started crying. Siraj told his mummy: ‘ (I’m not crying so why are you crying)?’ So she calmed down. He gave her the (strength).” (I want to have Hyderabadi breakfast),” Shafi recounts Siraj asking his mom. Begum served him “nihari and paaya”, a traditional Mughlai delicacy of meat-based stews.Mohammed Siraj at his father Mohammed Ghouse’s grave; his father died on November 20, during India’s tour of Australia•Mohammed ShafiSiraj could barely put his feet up to relax thereafter as he patiently responded to multiple back-to-back media requests over the phone. By afternoon Shafi along with Siraj’s family erected a makeshift tent outside the house in Tolichowki, a densely populated suburb in western part of Hyderabad, for the local media.Related

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The first question at the media conference to Siraj concerned the demise of his dad. Siraj had travelled to the UAE last August to play the IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. From there the Indian squads moved to Australia. Confronted with a difficult question of whether to return to India and risk quarantine, Siraj opted to stay back, after discussing the issue with his family and the Indian team management.”Firstly, it was very difficult for me about dad passing away,” Siraj said. “Mentally I was depressed. When I spoke with my family (in November) they also said that fulfil the dream of dad. And I have returned having fulfilled that dream.”Siraj had a lump in his throat talking about visiting the grave. “It was very emotional considering I was not even there at the time of his death.”Ghouse would no doubt have been a proud father, had he been alive to see his son make his Test debut at the historic MCG on Boxing Day. Siraj got the opportunity only because Mohammed Shami had broken his elbow in the defeat in the first Test. Having proved his red-ball skills during his stints with India A over the past few years, the team management was confident Siraj was ready for Test cricket. India drew level in the series with a memorable win in Melbourne, courtesy the century from their captain Ajinkya Rahane, but Siraj, too, played a big hand with five-wicket match haul.After every wicket he took, Mohammed Siraj would look skywards, “dedicating it” to his father•Getty ImagesIn Sydney, Siraj had to steel himself from crowd abuse on more than one day as India fought hard to deny Australia the series lead. Siraj did not lose his head. He showed courage. That forced Australian heads to bow in shame. Opposition players like Nathan Lyon acknowledged that Siraj had set an example in reporting racist abuse. “The abuse from some in the Australian crowd made me mentally strong,” Siraj said. “The fact that I did not allow that abuse to have an effect on my game was important.”By the start of the final Test at the Gabba, Siraj had inadvertently become the leader of a bowling attack comprising mainly debutants: Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan and Washington Sundar. “Everyone trusted me. They were telling me I was bowling well and I was the leading bowler. There was pressure. It was challenging to perform with such a responsibility, but I enjoyed taking it up. I focused on building pressure on the batsman and hit the same area on the pitch. I had to ensure I did not try too hard so that would help both the team and me.”One big-pressure moment for Siraj came on the fourth afternoon when he missed a high catch in the deep off Steven Smith. Australia’s best batsman was on 42 and the lead at that point was 202. Soon after, Siraj also failed to latch on to a return catch from Cameron Green as Australia were eyeing a big total.Once again Siraj did not lose his head. He surprised Smith with lifter that hit the bat handle and flew straight into the safe hands of Rahane at gully. “Smith’s wicket was crucial. It was helpful for the team and it reduced the pressure on me.”Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur take the victory lap with their team-mates•Bradley Kanaris/Getty ImagesSiraj had already surprised Marnus Labuschagne with an equally sharp rising delivery earlier in the day in an over where he also forced a nick off Mathew Wade. “My favorite wicket is Marnus Labuschagne because it was important for us to get a wicket at that point in the match. And for me to get two wickets in the same over was important.”He might be only three-Tests old, but Siraj’s fairy tale story of being fast-tracked from gully cricket to domestic cricket to India A to international cricket is a new chapter in the crucible of Indian cricket. He is now seen as an example of how heroes can emerge from unthinkable corners.Siraj’s advice to youngsters is simple. “In life if you have to achieve something do it from your heart. (You just need the obsession to achieve anything). In success you need the and hardwork. (Hardwork never goes in vain).”Before heading to the IPL Siraj had prepared himself bowling at a single wicket. In the UAE South African bowling legend Dale Steyn, Siraj’s team-mate at the Royal Challengers, shared some tricks to get command over the outswing which the young quick utilised well on the Australian tour. Siraj now intends to continue to improve during the home series against England,”Yes, I had a good tour,” he said, “But I should continue to perform going forward. I should ensure that I do not get carried away by this performance. It sets my future, but I don’t want to get relaxed.”Siraj finished the Gabba Test with his maiden five-for. He finished as India’s best bowler (13 wickets) on the Australian Test tour despite playing only three Tests. To make one’s debut in Australia, to win a series there and to emerge as the team’s best bowler is what emerging fast men dream about. Siraj ended up living up that dream. He is still “speechless”, unable to believe what he and his team-mates had accomplished. “I always think: did this really happen? It is like a dream.”After every wicket he took, Siraj would look skywards, searching for someone very special. “Every wicket I was taking I was dedicating it to dad,” he said.Ghouse, who Siraj dearly wants to talk to is not there anymore. “Each time I perform I miss him. There are so many times I think of calling him, but then realise he is no more there. I miss him very much. (May he rest in peace in heaven).”

Mushfiqur and Liton were set at the crease when they played iffy shots to get themselves out and give West Indies the advantage

Mohammad Isam13-Feb-2021There are moments when it is hard to differentiate between the past and the present of the Bangladesh team. In many facets, they have improved considerably but every so often comes a phase of play that brings into question all the progress they’ve made in the last ten years.Seeing Mushfiqur Rahim’s dismissal at a critical point during the third day’s play of the second Test against West Indies, took the mind back to a dismissal in a similarly tense situation more than nine years ago, in another Dhaka Test against the same opponents.Bangladesh needed to survive the last day of that 2011 game, with seven wickets in hand. The chase of a target of 508 was out of the question, so it was left to Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur to lead the survival act. After about 18 overs of solidity, Shakib jumped outside off stump and top-edged a scoop off Daren Sammy. Shivnarine Chanderpaul caught him easily at slip.Bangladesh were bowled out within the next 12 overs, losing the Test by 229 runs.On Saturday in this game, Mushfiqur (54 of 105) played a reverse sweep that hit the toe of the bat, and looped to cover. Bangladesh had lost Mohammad Mithun in the first hour. Mushfiqur is the most experienced Test batsman in Bangladesh’s history, and often bats like it. But the choice of shot was questionable. Mushfiqur, Shakib and Tamim Iqbal remain as important to Bangladesh’s batting line-up as they were a decade ago, which is why Mushfiqur’s manner of dismissal was odd.However, this wasn’t the first time he had got out to a soft dismissal in Tests. During the 2017 Hyderabad Test, Mushfiqur stood between India and Bangladesh’s lower order on the last day. After batting for more than an hour, he was caught at mid-off trying to hit R Ashwin down the ground. A month later in Galle, his dismissal – two balls after lunch on the fifth day with five wickets in hand – precipitated a fast collapse against Sri Lanka. He had tickled Lakshan Sandakan down the legside to be caught behind.Given Mushfiqur’s experience, skill, and technical standing, his conversion rate – seven centuries and 22 fifties – is also below par. He has has also been dismissed between 40 and 69 on 28 occasions, 17 of them caught.Despite Mushfiqur’s dismissal with 55 still required to avoid the follow-on, the home side managed to do it through a 126-run seventh-wicket stand between Liton Das (71 off 133) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (57 off 140). Bangladesh went through the day’s middle session without conceding any wickets.Liton Das helped Bangladesh recover, but he fell trying to sweep, which changed the game once more•AFP via Getty ImagesBut shortly after tea, Liton’s attempt at a lap-sweep was intercepted by a proactive Jermaine Blackwood, who ran across towards legslip from slip, to complete the catch. With another set batsman falling to a risky shot, Bangladesh lost their remaining three wickets for another 15 runs, giving away a 113-run first-innings lead.Liton, 26, has seven fifties in 21 Tests, but hasn’t scored a century yet, an odd return for someone often talked up as the best batsman of his generation.There’s a reason set batsmen have more to lose than the one who has just come to bat. A set batsman has already invested a lot in the middle. He will be able to make better decisions because he has also got acquainted with the pitch and the overhead conditions and how the outfield is also playing out. He has familiarised himself with the opposition’s bowling attack, and whether a particular bowler is trying something different.Given how Mushfiqur had negotiated West Indies for nearly three hours since the second evening, and Liton for three hours and 34 minutes on the third day, how they got dismissed will come into sharp focus.It is how the game plays out these days. A great innings can be forgotten quickly, replaced by when, how and what they did to get out. Both Mushfiqur and Liton have one more chance to set the record straight in this game. In a fourth-innings chase or a fight for survival, they will need to be more judicious with their shot selection.

Will Rahul retain his spot? Will Kishan open again? Does Dhawan have an outside chance?

Varun Shetty17-Mar-20212:26

What’s ailing KL Rahul?

India have depth in their squad for this series as far as their opening options are concerned. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were touted as India’s current first-choice pair by captain Virat Kohli, with Shikhar Dhawan and Ishan Kishan offering left-handed choices. All four of them have had at least a game so far, with Rahul being the constant across the three matches. His poor form, however, has meant that India haven’t gone past the first few overs without losing a wicket in each match. In two of those cases, their powerplay scores have ended up being among their four slowest ever: 22 for 3 in the first game, and 24 for 3 on Tuesday.With only two games’ room to experiment on team structure before the T20 World Cup in October, will they make changes to the opening combination? Here are some options:Related

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Although they were said to be first choice, the two only came together in the third match. Their stats together suggest they are India’s most destructive opening pair ever in this format (minimum two partnerships): 565 runs together in 12 innings at a scoring rate of 9.65 per over. Two of those innings have had century stands, including India’s record 165.It’s plain to see why India would consider them their first-choice pair, but will they continue to back Rahul as he goes through a lean phase? Since the start of 2018, only four batsmen have more T20 runs than Rahul – Babar Azam, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, and Aaron Finch. But India’s need to try out new options and cement a third opener for the T20 World Cup might go against him for now.