All posts by h716a5.icu

After a back surgery that kept him out of the game for over two years, VRV Singh is on a comeback trail and determined to work through every challenge

Abhishek Purohit31-Mar-2012His deliveries still bounce as steeply as they used to when he first played for India as a chubby 21-year old in 2006. That toothy grin, broad and childlike, has not changed. He still runs in like a locomotive struggling to control its momentum as it rumbles downhill. It is hard to believe that last week’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Assam was VRV Singh’s first game for Punjab in more than four years. The Indian Test middle order had all of its four big batsmen intact four years ago. Anil Kumble was India’s Test captain. The IPL had not yet come to town. And the veteran Pankaj Dharmani was leading Punjab. India’s cricket map has been altered in four years. And VRV Singh has seen the best and worst of the life of a professional sportsman in these four years.All he had wanted to do was to bowl as fast as he could. It was said that he needed his coach to console him if he came back from a game without hitting an opposition batsman on the head. No less an authority on fast bowling than Ian Bishop, the former West Indies quick, was impressed after watching VRV Singh in his debut Test in Antigua in June 2006.And then the injuries arrived. Foot, ankle, back. VRV Singh still tried to keep going through the pain. His pace dropped, lack of match practice ruined his rhythm. He had ankle surgery in 2008, but got injured during a practice match before the Ranji Trophy in 2009, limiting him to playing for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL that year.He almost disappeared after that, playing just one match in IPL 2010. Forget India, making the Punjab team was appearing to be improbable. It was then that he made the big decision to go in for back surgery in Australia in late 2010. “Initially, the injury was not that bad. But it did not improve much and went on deteriorating,” VRV Singh said. “After IPL 2010, I played some local games to see how it went but it was not good.”A whole year would pass after the surgery, before VRV Singh would be able to resume bowling. “You cannot play around with your body in rehab,” he said. “I slowly started with exercise for my lower back and hip muscles, then started working out in the gym, then running and eventually began to bowl from two-three steps.” He resumed bowling with his normal run-up around December 2011.It was way back in March 2008 that he had last played for Punjab. That meant he was starting all over again. So the man who has played five Tests for India turned out like any other probable at the trials for the Chandigarh district team. Did he have any ego issues? He smiles at the question. “I never felt like I was an India player who now had to turn out for district-level teams. When you want to play cricket, you don’t have the option to think about such things. After I played some 15-20 games like that they picked me for the Punjab side [for the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament].” You sense he is glad – to just be back on his feet, able to do what he is good at.But the comeback process was a grind he can never forget. For nearly 18 months VRV Singh had barely touched a ball. The question did come up, but not once did he feel that he should quit the game. “Giving up on cricket was never an option. If I had wanted to do that, I would have never gone in for this surgery. After surgery, I never thought that I won’t play cricket. I always had it at the back of my mind that I want to make a comeback. The good thing is, I gave myself time to recover and didn’t hurry back.”Though the ultimate objective was quite clear, there were obviously days when the enormity of the task would get to him. And that is where the encouragement from his parents proved to be crucial. “I think family support was the main thing. My parents had the biggest role to play in my comeback. You cannot go around paying attention to negative things said about you. What matters is that you should have the support of people close to you.”There were days when I used to get frustrated with not playing or not being able to bowl. That is the time when they supported me. They told me to give myself some time, and wait till I was 100% fit and not jump in when I was, say, 90%. Little things matter, like when you are not able to bend to pick up something from the ground and they would do it for you.”

“If a player has not played for more than two years then no [IPL] franchise is going to pick him. I wasn’t depressed. I would have been depressed if I hadn’t had the surgery. I am happy that I am back to normal. After the surgery I have become mentally tougher.”

There were others who helped as well. “I have a good friend in Sydney, Surjit Singh, who supported me a lot. Also, Patrick Farhart [the Kings XI physiotherapist].”He says he has also tweaked his action to lighten the load on his body. “I have changed it a bit and worked on my back-foot landing. Earlier I used to not think much [about my action], but after the surgery I thought that if I slightly modify it to front-on from side-on then it might help make my follow-through easier and it might not [put too much pressure] on the lower body. I tried it in Chandigarh and it was getting better. I am still working on it and hopefully by the middle of this year I will get there.”For now, a haul of eight wickets in four games at an economy-rate of 6.37 was quite satisfactory as Punjab made the Syed Mushtaq Ali final. The bounce he extracted in the competition was steep, the pace decent. “The more I play, the more pace and bounce I will get. I don’t think my pace has reduced much after the surgery, it’s still the same.”Someone asked him if he was depressed at not having an IPL contract. His reply said it all. “If a player has not played for more than two years then no franchise is going to pick him. I wasn’t depressed. I would have been depressed if I hadn’t had the surgery. I am happy that I am back to normal. After the surgery I have become mentally tougher. As a fast bowler, when you undergo surgeries, it is tough.”His major concern right now is the lack of match-practice options with the domestic season having ended. “You cannot improve much in local cricket. There will be a few Punjab off-season camps before the next Ranji Trophy. I’ll keep working in the gym. But at the moment, matches [are not there].”VRV Singh is still not giving up though; he is being pro-active in dealing with this challenge. Immediately after the Syed Mushtaq Ali final he went up to his captain Harbhajan Singh and senior India fast bowler Munaf Patel to seek counsel about the best way to not only stay match fit but also mentally strong. Clearly VRV 2.0 is hungry. He does not want to lose his focus.Sometimes, you can never win. For two-and-a-half years, he could hardly play. Now when he can, there are no avenues available. But for the moment, VRV Singh is happy about just being able to bowl again. Remind him of his early days, when it was all about pace for him, and he smiles knowingly again.”I am more mature now. You are obviously wiser at 27 than when you are 21-22. I have understood my body much better now. That fire is still there [though]. It will always be there.”

Ask a Mumbai fan. He’ll tell you

Lloyd Mascarenhas07-May-2012Choice of game
Two of the biggest teams playing at a stadium I hadn’t seen before, on a Sunday evening in Mumbai, were enough reasons to book tickets as soon as they were available online. As May 6 arrived, I set out to the stadium with my fiancée, who is a die-hard Chennai Super Kings fan. As much as there was a match in the stadium, there was one between us, wearing our respective jerseys and chanting our team names.Team supported
I was born and brought up in Mumbai, hence the loyalties lie there. And since Sachin Tendulkar plays for the Mumbai Indians, it simply affirmed my choice. Last year Mumbai nearly* made it to the IPL final and won the Champions League, so winning the 2012 IPL would be a dream for die-hard fans like me who travel from one end of the city to another to watch them in action.Key performer
In a star-studded game, a relatively unknown player called Dwayne Smith took Mumbai over the line. The 14 runs of final three balls threw the crowd into a frenzy, and I think every Mumbai supporter will be hitting Google to know some more about this new sensation.One thing I’d have changed
On a hot Mumbai afternoon, a 4pm start only adds to the misery of the spectators and players. Such games are best played at night, starting at 8pm.Face-off I relished
Tendulkar v the Chennai bowlers and Malinga v Dhoni.Wow moment
A toss-up between the spectacular catch taken by Francois du Plessis to dismiss Tendulkar and the runs scored off the final three balls by Smith.Accessories
When in Mumbai and supporting Mumbai, get the Mumbai jersey and feel at home with 34,000 other supporters. I blew the horn and waved the Mumbai flag too. It was quite a sight to see over 30,000 flags being waved when Tendulkar got to his half-century.Crowd meter
The atmosphere was electric. The “Malingaaa” chant rose across the stadium when he’d run in to bowl, and the roars when Tendulkar walked out on to the field to bat would have turned a few people deaf for the next ten minutes. The Mexican waves also made the occasion feel special.Close encounter
Malinga can be titled the “Son of Mumbai” because every time he walked close to the midwicket boundary, and waved and smiled, the crowd would begin chanting “Malingaaa…. Malingaaa…. Malingaaa”.Shot of the day
Rohit Sharma’s straight six that hit the sight-screen was magnificent to watch.Entertainment
DJ Clement the official DJ for the Mumbai team kept the crowd dancing and swaying to foot-tapping house music prior to the match. Once the match began they switched to popular Bollywood tracks. In between overs, the stadium looked like a venue for a live concert. During the strategic time-out 15 young lads did an amazing b-boying act which drew applause from every soul in the stadium.Twenty20s v ODIs
T20s are convenient, compact and appeal to everyone. A good percentage of the stadium was made up by women and children, and that’s the diversity T20 has brought to cricket. I hope to watch another IPL match with my mom and sister because I am sure they’ll love it.Banner of the day
A five-year-old girl was holding up a “Raina will you marry me” poster. It had everyone in our stand in splits, and goes to show the fascination for our Indian cricketers starts early.TV v stadium
Watching a live match, and especially an IPL match, has to be on your list of “Ten things to do before you die”.Overall
It has to be a thrilling experience when you get to watch nearly 350 runs scored, 17 wickets fall, and a four off the last ball to win. Add to that some great shots, great catches and an exciting atmosphere.Marks out of ten
9, for a great show, a fantastic stadium under lights, and a last-ball. An 8pm start would have made it 10.*May 7, 2012, 0830GMT: It was incorrectly stated that Mumbai made it to the IPL final in 2011. This has been changed

Adam Milne and Tom Latham have promised much, but they must use this opportunity in Sri Lanka if they are to help New Zealand overcome a slump

Andrew Fernando in Pallekele29-Oct-2012In his second over in international cricket, Adam Milne clocked 151 kilometres an hour. At 18, he had perhaps brewed more hype at home than even Daniel Vettori had enjoyed when he first arrived in international cricket as a teenager. Slim and almost pencil-like, with a willowy run-up and a wind up and release that was nearly liquid, it was not difficult to see what all the excitement was about. As countless fast bowling coaches have said, you can teach swing and seam, but you can’t teach pace.Tom Latham debuted just over a year later, and he too had already been earmarked, at 19. He didn’t have a mountain of domestic runs behind him, as Kane Williamson did at a similar age, but he did have a startling range of strokes and the power to make them count. In his second ODI, he proved he was as adept at the shuffle-and-paddle past fine leg off the medium pace bowlers, as he was at the bludgeoned slog sweep off the spinners.Now both men are 20, and are being invested in. Captain Ross Taylor has hinted Milne will be unleashed at Pallekele in the Twenty20 on Tuesday. He only bowled one over in the World Twenty20, but with the stakes much lower in a bilateral series, New Zealand can afford to blood their tearaway, particularly on a track as fast and bouncy as can be found on the subcontinent. Martin Guptill, meanwhile, sits out the limited-overs leg so that Latham can assume his favoured role of facing the new ball – a luxury he has not had so far in his international career.”We’re trying to give everyone a go in the next three matches, but that depends on a couple of things,” Taylor said on the eve of the tour opener. “Tom Latham will be given the job of opening the innings. Being a left-hander, he gives us that flexibility and change up the top.”Despite an encouraging first series against Zimbabwe, Latham’s talent has only been visible in brief glimpses since. Against West Indies in July, he was uncharacteristically circumspect, striking at less than 50 and scoring poorly as a result. Perhaps beginning his innings against good quality spin hindered him. Openers, it is said, are a breed apart, and at his age, the lower middle-order must have seemed alien. He has not yet acquired the versatility to suddenly become a finisher. Latham will not have the same excuse in Sri Lanka, though. With the hosts also blooding a new fast bowler in Shaminda Eranga, who will likely take the new ball in the first Twenty20, Latham can compete on more even terms.”He has had a lot of success at the top of the innings as well, through age group cricket,” Taylor said. “A lot of new players come in to the middle order where it can be a little tough to manipulate the field. If Tom opens, the field will be in and the ball will be hard and it gives him the opportunity to hit through the line and hit over the top.”Milne’s returns have also been disappointing, despite his promise. His cheapest spell from four Twenty20s is no wicket for 46 from four overs. Too often he bowls too short, and at his pace, even the mishits barrel to the fence or sail over it. There are good balls amid the tripe, but even at 150 kph, Milne’s present inconsistency is unacceptable at international level.He couldn’t ask for a better mentor than New Zealand’s last true fast bowler. If it was not obvious that Shane Bond’s pace was allied with considerable fast-bowling acumen during his career, he has surely made his brilliance clear during insightful stints in the commentary box. Bond knew that pace and intimidation alone would not bother top-level batsmen, and developed one of the best inswingers in the game. Milne has been introduced to international cricket much earlier than Bond was, but if he doesn’t mature as quickly as he has risen through the system, he risks squandering his potential.There is some elusive ingredient missing currently missing from New Zealand’s set up. The talent is there, and now with Bond on board, they also seem to have a capable team of coaches. But there has not been a spark to set off that concoction, no catalyst to spur them out of mediocrity. For all their promise, Latham and Milne have played like boys so far. If they devote themselves to learning their craft and take the chances being afforded them, perhaps they can grow into the men that bring New Zealand out of the darkness.

The long and winding road that Imran Tahir travelled from Pakistan to England to South Africa is in danger of becoming a dead end.

Firdose Moonda at Adelaide Oval25-Nov-2012When Imran Tahir left the field after the first day of the Adelaide Test, he had already conceded the most runs for any bowler who had delivered more than 20 overs in a Test. He produced spells as pleasing to the eye as a discarded banana peel: torn open, limp and greyed-over with near-rot.In the South African change-room, all assistant coach Russell Domingo thought was appropriate to do was give Tahir a hug. Why scold him when it was so obvious he had been sub-standard? Why embarrass him when he managed that all by himself in front of thousands in the ground and millions on their couches? Tahir apparently told Domingo he would try to be better next time.Think what you may about his ability but it’s very difficult not to feel sorry for Tahir, especially because of the irony of those words. By the end of both innings he had got far worse and at times, as his repertoire of full tosses and long hops conveyed, desperately so.Whether or not the Australian dossier was in action, their batsmen continued to attack Tahir as it said they would. He continued to fire it in flat. As a result, he did not get the same bounce from the surface that Nathan Lyon was able to extract later on.In the second innings, Tahir thought he had earned a consolation wicket but his nasty habit of overstepping meant he only had himself to blame for being denied. He got so much wrong that when he was brought on in the 68th over to bowl at the Australian tail, the Adelaide Oval crowd cheered in jest.He was not even spared by timing. Michael Clarke declared at the end of a Tahir over when he had conceded one run more than the previous worst ever Test figures. Tahir’s 0 for 260 in the match is the most expensive without taking a wicket, one run worse than Khan Mohammed’s in 1958. It’s not a record Tahir will want to be reminded of in future.For a confident and proud man, to have been reduced to such ignominy will hurt. Before the match, Graeme Smith said adding Tahir to the XI was a no-brainer for team management. They did not even consider the left-armer Robin Peterson as an option. “Imran is our frontline spinner and we back him,” Smith said. To have a conviction so strong placed in you and not live up to it can only be damaging.Tahir has been shunned by many viewers of this Test but will likely not receive the same treatment from his team. Morne Morkel was sincere when he said he felt “so sorry” for Tahir because “he has been working really hard”. Morkel believes Tahir’s big haul is “around the corner.”Faf du Plessis spent many seasons with Tahir at the Titans and had the same reaction. “We back Immi 100%. I’ve played a lot of cricket with him and I am not just saying this because it’s what you should say about a team-mate. I know what he can do,” du Plessis said. “I am a legspinner too and I know sometimes your hand feels like a claw when you try and grip the ball. He is a fantastic spinner and I back him to the hilt.”Tahir will need support like that especially because the winding road he travelled from Pakistan to England to South Africa to live a dream now looks like a dead end. In a broader sense though, his long-term inclusion and impact on the balance of the South African side will have to be questioned.Since making his debut 11 Tests ago, Tahir’s contribution has been minimal. He also has not had much opportunity to make a significant impact. In matches at home, in New Zealand and England he did not once have a surface which suited his skills. Still there were occasions when he got wickets at important times, like his dismissal of Matt Prior at The Oval and Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s against England.He added to the dressing-room culture in a positive way. His enthusiasm could never be questioned. He visibly improved his fielding and batting when he was told to and his passionate wicket-taking celebrations, while rare, were special.The attack was heralded as the best in the world with him in it, because he provided another option. Instead of South Africa’s stock spinner, usually someone whose main role was to dry up an end, Tahir was also tasked with attacking. The issue came in because with everyone in the unit being an attacking bowler, one of them had to get attacked back. That one was Tahir.A holding bowler is a much under-rated concept but in the Adelaide Test South Africa could have used one. Even when the quicks were bowling with some control, Tahir still conceded at more than six runs to the over. It left South African fans harking back to the days of Paul Harris or baying for the inclusion Peterson instead.Harris was often disparaged as nothing more than mediocre but he played an important part in South Africa’s building to No.1. Control is not glamorous but it is necessary and Harris proved that. With it being unlikely that Harris will have a second coming – he does not even have a national contract anymore – Peterson could come into the frame as an immediate replacement.It would mean a rethink of the strategy that saw a change in South Africa’s spin mindset. In some ways, it could even be a reversal of that strategy. Since Tahir was earmarked for bigger things, aggressive-minded spinners across the franchise system saw themselves as in with more of a chance.Simon Harmer from the Warriors was the leading wicket-taker in last season’s first-class competition and Roelof van der Merwe fancied himself for a recall. Now players like Aaron Phangiso who routinely concedes under four an over in Twenty20s could be turned to while South Africa decides how to balance pace and spin.As for Tahir, all may not be lost. While his performance in Adelaide will be remembered with the same sniggers as Peterson’s 28 in one over from Brian Lara’s bat, he will probably not be thrown out just yet. He will, however, be told to make noticeable improvements if he hopes to stay there for much longer. Nathan Lyon had this advice for him: “Everyone has a nightmare, but the way you come out of it is important.”

The key thing is how we’ll be able to sustain this level of performance, and whether the powers-that-be are at all keen on seeing the oldest and most exciting form of the game survive!

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013

A moment of celebration, but the work’s just begun© Associated Press

So it’s happened at long last. After more than 77 years of bashing it about with the Big Boys, at a time when India have won a whopping 101 Test matches in all, making the yearly win ratio a princely 1.31, they’re officially recognised as the No.1 team in the world. News channels, particularly some of the infamously hyperbole-centric Hindi ones, proclaimed the day as the biggest ever in the history of Indian cricket. And somewhere I personally longed for the good old days (even by the standards of a 27-year-old, the heydays of Test cricket do appear eons ago).Days when Test cricket was what it was meant to be. That thrill of waking up on the Rest Day, with a Test match evenly poised and all results possible, made it a cracking talking point with classmates at school. Days when the four-yearly World Cup was just that – a four-yearly carnival that came and went and was dutifully followed for the time when it was on (note that World Cups back then didn’t seem to start one March and appear to finish the following December!). Days when Indians routinely lost matches abroad, but there was always a silver lining in every defeat; watching them on grainy old television sets or hearing the commentary on radio while sipping hot coffee at 4:30 in the morning just made the extra effort of doing so worth its while. Days when India were Tigers At Home. Make no mistake about it. Raju would bowl like Warne, and Kumble was like Laker at Old Trafford. And the odd occasion when these gentlemen had an off-day, Srinath was lurking around to feast on hapless foreign teams on an uneven fifth-day track.Actually, these are better times for an Indian cricket fan. They’ve seen the financial muscle develop over the last 16 years (I always cite the 1993 home series against England as a starting point) but now they appear to have the cricketing nous to go with it. Sachin Tendulkar was a champion back then, and he is one even today. The difference is in the quality of those around him. Back then the only other mercurial genius they queued up to watch was Hyderabad’s Mohammed Azharuddin. Sanjay Manjrekar and, for a brief while, Vinod Kambli, proved to be middle-order mainstays. And there was a reinvented maverick at the top of the order from the North: Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was perhaps the first cricketer in the world to welcome Shane Warne to the bowling crease in a Test by dancing down the track and smacking him back over his head for six. There still is a Deccan classicist (VVS Laxman), the mainstays are more solid than they were back then (Rahul Dravid has won more matches with his broad blade than both Manjrekar and Kambli combined) and in Virender Sehwag, we have an opener who can instil fear in the minds of the best bowlers in the world, spin or pace!And then there is MS Dhoni. The bowling could be better, and indeed that is the one department that needs to pull its weight if we have to have any chance of competing with top teams like Australia and South Africa on a regular basis. Specifically the spinners came a cropper in this series, and barring a few debatable decisions that went his way, Harbhajan Singh would probably have been a massive weak link in the bowling attack at crucial times. All said and done, this is just the beginning. Its perhaps unfamiliar territory for most of us Indian cricket fans (say when was the last time we had a captain whose Test record read 10 played, seven won, three drawn?) but we’re not complaining.The key thing is how we’ll be able to sustain this level of performance, and whether the powers-that-be are at all keen on seeing the oldest and most exciting form of the game survive!

From Neeraj Narayanan, India

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013
The greatest Indian No.3•AFPOnce upon a time, much before Cricinfo became essential to our lives, there was a delightful magazine for all us cricket lovers known as the . It was’94 or ’95, two years since the game had surged through my veins and made me its seduced captive. Since my neighbourhood only had older bullies who never let me bat or bowl, right after I’d reach home from school, I would run to the porch as soon as I was done with the pesky business of lunch.Holding my bat with the right hand, I’d throw a ball onto the wall with the left, and before it ricocheted off the wall and reached me, I would swiftly grasp the bat with both hands and launch into a drive through covers, rather two broken cactus pots. That day, the first time I missed a shot, I declared Manoj Prabhakar clean bowled by Craig Mcdermott. But instead of letting in Sanjay Manjrekar to bat next at three, I carefully scribbled a relatively obscure name, “Rahul Dravid”, in my notebook scorecard.That week’s edition had a picture of the same man as one of the top run-getters in the Ranji circuit. An 11-year old’s intuition told me that he would play for India one day, and mostly I put him at three because he looked handsome in the photograph. He was frowning because the sun hit his face, but he still looked handsome. Sixteen years later, the same man stood in Centurion, with 12,000 international Test runs to his name.The next day, however, every single newspaper in India only chose to speak about Sachin Tendulkar’s ton, how he missed his father still, how he went for coaching to Shivaji Park, and a hundred other anecdotes that every Tendulkar lover knows by heart. The third-highest run-scorer in Tests, the man who would arguably have been India’s greatest bat if not for the boy the whole country was busy lauding, did not even have a mention. Dravid’s greatness, however, is not limited to his runs. It is a potpourri of character, hard work and a genuinely good heart.A month earlier, the two same men stood at either end of the pitch, two runs away from sealing a 2-0 scoreline against the visiting Australians. For years, the single largest complaint against Tendulkar, unfair as it is, has been his apparent inability to be there at the end and take India to victory. An over before, we were all glued to our sets and wondered whether he would finish it off with a six to silence his detractors, if he would uproot a stump and run with it like a child when we won, and a million other things.But now Dravid was on strike and would, of course, finish it off himself. Just like he did seven years back, hitting that trademark square-cut boundary to give India their first victory in Australia in 22 years. But we all want Tendulkar to do everything, don’t we? As we sat there watching Mitchell Johnson bowl to Rahul, we prayed he leave every ball alone and strangely he did. The next over Tendulkar won the match for India, took off his helmet, raised both his hands to exult with uncharacteristic emotion, and smiled.We will never know if Dravid did so intentionally, letting his more-celebrated team-mate have his moment, but it is a tribute to his character and image that we are inclined to believe so. If intentional, it was a selfless act, by a man who has been renowned for the same (remember donning the keeper’s gloves so that India could play both Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif?), and it shamed us for wanting Tendulkar to score those runs.One day Dravid will retire, but he will take away with him a bit of what is left of the gentlemanliness that the game tries to still portray as its unique element. One day Dravid will retire but he will take away with him that beautiful square cut – wrists as supple and turning like Zorro’s, toes rising sweetly in sync with the pace of the approaching ball, standing perfectly tall, majestic and most importantly in control, before whacking the cherry disdainfully through backward point.When Dravid retires, the nation will lose the greatest No.3 to have ever graced it, and writers will mourn saying that the media never gave him his due. But don’t blame the media, for grace will never overcome the charms of boyish appeal or even spitting fire, traits his best mates Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly so regularly exhibited in that enviable Indian middle order. But when Dravid retires, that middle order and also the Indian XI will lose its most handsome face, something that we all wrongly assumed was handed over by God, but in truth, which came about by the virtues he imbibed in his soul as he grew up.

Plays of the day from the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in Kolkata

Sidharth Monga26-May-2013The hello
Chennai Super Kings had done half their job when they got Mumbai Indians’ No. 6 in as early as the 10th over, but the warning was immediate lest they relax. Kieron Pollard came in, defended a length ball outside off, on the up, and it flew off the bat, straight of mid-off for four. It was a sign of things to come.The field
MS Dhoni does go with a very straight mid-off for Pollard, a practice he began in the 2010 IPL final, but tonight he took it to next extreme. On this night, Suresh Raina, the mid-off, stood right next to the bowler as he began his run. One move to his right, and Raina would have been invisible to Pollard because that would have taken him right behind the umpire.The placement
In the 17th over of the Mumbai innings, Pollard drove hard at a delivery from Chris Morris. It turned out to be a slower ball, and Pollard was way early into the shot. The bat slipped out of his hand, and flew nearly as far as the ball did. However, there was no midwicket this time, and nobody was hurt.The kiss
Later in the same over, Pollard pulled Morris away for four, which the bowler didn’t like. Or perhaps he liked it in particular because after fielding the next ball in his follow-through Morris blew a kiss at Pollard. The batsman blew a kiss back to Morris. Phone numbers weren’t exchanged.The reluctant batsman
Dhoni doesn’t like batting in the first 10 overs. He took that obsession to an extent where S Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja were all sent ahead of him. Mumbai gladly kept taking the wickets, and Dhoni had to eventually come out to bat in the seventh over. The asking rate was nearing nine by now.The send-off
In an earlier sledging contest, M Vijay had told Mitchell Johnson to “take it easy, man” after hitting a four. Johnson, though, came back with a bouncer aimed right at the throat during the second spell, and all Vijay managed was a top edge. Johnson didn’t take it easy this time, man, and celebrated in Vijay’s face.

Stats highlights from the third day’s play at Dubai

Shiva Jayaraman25-Oct-2013 Younis Khan’s catch to dismiss Morne Morkel was his 95th in Tests – the highest by a Pakistan fielder in Tests . His catch to dismiss Graeme Smith earlier in the innings had equalled the record held by Javed Miandad, who took 94 catches in his Test-career. Click here for a list of fielders with most catches in Tests. This was Saeed Ajmal’s ninth five-wicket haul of his Test-career and his second against South Africa, but he was made to work for it. Ajmal bowled 55.5 overs in this innings, the most he has bowled in an innings in Tests. The 418-run lead that Pakistan conceded in the first innings was their second-highest ever in Tests while batting first. The 462-run lead conceded by them against West Indies in the famous Test in Jamaica in 1958 – in which Garry Sobers hit a then record-365 – is the highest they have ever conceded in the first innings while batting first. The 1958 series against West Indies also produced the highest first-innings lead conceded by Pakistan, overall, in Tests – they ended up trailing West Indies by 473 runs in Bridgetown in the first innings. Khurram Manzoor’s pair in this Test was the seventh by a Pakistan opener in Tests. The last time a Pakistan opener got a pair in a Test was Taufeeq Umar against Australia in Sharjah in 2002. The match against Australia in 2002 in Sharjah was also the previous occasion of Pakistan losing their first wicket without adding a run on the board in both the innings of a Test, before today. Including this match, there have been five such instances for Pakistan in Tests. Pakistan’s second innings was the eighth instance of both their openers getting out for a duck in an innings in Tests. This was the second such instance in 2013 – the previous instance also came against South Africa, earlier this year in Cape Town. Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers ended their partnership on 338 runs – this is the highest fifth-wicket partnership against Pakistan in Tests. They beat the 327-run partnership put on by Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting in Perth in 1999.

Qualification scenarios for teams in Group C of the Ranji Trophy 2013-14

Alagappan Muthu29-Dec-2013Himachal Pradesh put up a spirited show, but will not qualify for the quarter-finals•ESPNcricinfoPoints and tie-breaker

Innings victory or win by 10 wickets – 7 (for winners) and 0 (for losers)

Other outright wins – 6 and 0

First-innings lead in a draw – 3 and 1

First innings not completed – 1 and 1

If teams are equal on points at the end of the league, the number of wins will be the first tie-breaker. If that is also equal, the quotient is taken into account. A team’s quotient is arrived at by a set of divisions: runs scored against wickets lost divided by runs conceded against wickets taken.

Maharashtra –
Their place at the top of the table is not quite airtight yet, though qualification is almost certain. Maharashtra’s final match is against seventh-placed Assam and all they need to progress is to avoid defeat. For them to get knocked out, things have to go badly wrong: they should lose, J&K – who are on their heels with 25 points – should win and Goa should get a bonus-point victory over Andhra.Jammu & Kashmir –
They have one more win – four from seven matches – than Maharashtra but with two losses, they are in second place. Their final match is against Tripura, who have only one point in the season so far. They will fancy their chances of an outright win, which will guarantee qualification. A draw after taking the first-innings lead will take them to 28 points, which will not be enough if Goa take seven points from their last match. It will come down to the quotient if Goa get six points, and J&K three.Goa –
The dark horse in this race, their bid for the quarter-finals hinges on a win in their final match. They do have the advantage of hosting their last match, but their opponents, Andhra have been beaten only once in the season. It could become a straight fight with J&K for the second qualifying spot, but the permutations will come into play only if Goa win outright.Kerala –
An outside chance of finishing in the top two, Kerala need an outright win in their final game and would need several favourable results elsewhere as well. Both J&K and Goa will have to lose their final match and remain stagnant on the points table, for Kerala to leapfrog them into second place.

Group C table

Teams Mat Won Lost Tied Draw Aban Pts Quotient For Against

Maharashtra 7 3 0 0 4 0 29 1.824 3845/65 3697/114 Jammu & Kashmir 7 4 2 0 1 0 25 0.977 3299/111 3285/108 Himachal Pradesh 8 3 3 0 2 0 24 1.164 3530/111 3523/129 Goa 7 3 1 0 3 0 22 0.933 3302/98 3646/101 Kerala 7 2 2 0 3 0 19 0.938 3088/114 3204/111 Hyderabad (India) 7 1 0 0 6 0 18 1.148 3567/73 3321/78 Andhra 7 1 1 0 5 0 14 1.124 2939/91 2989/104 Assam 7 1 3 0 3 0 14 0.799 3173/104 3053/80 Tripura 7 0 6 0 1 0 1 0.542 2958/128 2983/70

Kallis was a colossus among the modern giants that shaped South Africa’s cricket since readmission. Few will surpass him

Brian Carpenter02-Jan-2014Newlands, in early January, with the sun shining out of an azure sky, is a sight for the ages. People have photographed it, people have written about it, people have loved it. In the isolation years those of us growing up in the old Test countries would read about it, imagine it. The oaks, Table Mountain, endless sunshine. Players – some forgotten, some never known – playing out their days in the Currie Cup. Pollock, Procter, Richards, Barlow, van der Bijl, Fotheringham, McKenzie, Hobson, Kirsten. Hard cricket, sure, but an ever-present sense of denied fulfilment. Memories of the world at their feet, Lawry’s Australia humiliated – and then nothing.Early January, 1996. The early year sky is unnaturally blue which, for someone brought up in northern Europe, is slightly spooky, and it is hot. God, it is hot. And I am ill. Stomach trouble, brought from the UK, sunburn from Port Elizabeth and a streaming cold, caught on the Western Cape.Just get through the match. It will not take long, as England will lose inside three days. Years later, if people mention Dave Richardson or Paul Adams (fortunately they rarely do) it makes me shudder. Memories of that time and place do the same to Ray Illingworth, to Devon Malcolm, to others. England, wasted in Australia, have it bad now, but that was a grim time.Jacques Kallis, 20, comes on to bowl. It is the first time I have taken any notice of him. He made his debut at Durban two weeks before but the game was ruined by rain and he barely got off the mark. People are talking about him, but only as a batsman. I have no idea that he can bowl.Kallis here is slimmer than the barrel-chested figure of his later years, and he has all his own hair. He bowls four economical overs, high side of medium pace, robust, muscular action, bounce. It sticks in the mind.From that day on, Kallis is around. For the first year or two he struggles, then the century comes at Melbourne. The rest is history.For a long time people underestimate him. With his subdued personality he can seem a little too mechanical and unemotional. People do not warm to him. His batting (people say) lacks a signature, lacks defining elegance, lacks really big scores. Kallis (people say) is too one-paced, Kallis is not alive to the situation. Kallis is this; Kallis is that. All the while, though, Kallis is making runs. There is a bloodless technical perfection to his batting in the way there always was with Martin Crowe, but this does not mean that he is unworthy of greatness. Gradually he builds his reputation like an innings, brick by brick.He is also – although sometimes with reluctance – taking wickets. There is always bounce, sometimes there is genuine pace. When conditions help and the muse is with him, as at Headingley in 2003, there is movement and what old English pros call ‘a heavy ball’.When he is not making runs or taking wickets, he stands at slip and catches everything.For those that remember Sobers, Kallis has one particular fault. He is not and will never be Sobers. This is of course true in all ways but it doesn’t matter. Every generation is territorial about its heroes, but comparison of players from different eras is ultimately meaningless and demeans those who try to score points through it. I can feel old around cricket these days, but I hardly saw Sobers. Through a young child’s eyes in 1973 and then a cover drive from the Gods in a charity game at The Oval nine years later. I am happy to accept that Sobers was better, but he was a different player in a different time. Gideon Haigh said this week that Sobers was ‘a cavalier among roundheads’ while Kallis was ‘a roundhead among cavaliers’, and, while this is open to discussion, there is plenty enough truth there. Statistics are of little relevance in such an argument, but if you want to go there, well, Kallis’ immense figures stand proudly against those of anyone else who has ever played the game.When I was in South Africa in late 1995 and early 1996, the country was changing rapidly, both on the cricket field and far away from it. As the post-isolation era developed at Newlands, and Kingsmead and at the Wanderers, Kallis was at its heart. Young, and not as visibly or as showily as Rhodes, or with the pace and vitality of Donald, but he was there. Lately, in the era of Steyn and de Villiers, and of Smith, and of Philander, he is still there. Like Tendulkar he has outlived one epoch and seen his side into another. It somehow seems appropriate that they should retire within a few weeks of each other.In this there is a sense of the passing of cricket history. This is an old, old game, and these are two of the best players it has ever produced. But it should not necessarily be a source of sadness. In the age of T20 the fabric and context of the game is shifting like sand, but it will still produce players to rank with any that have gone before. From Kallis’ final game there is Steyn, there is de Villiers, and there could in the future be Pujara and Kohli.Few, though, will ever be better than Jacques Kallis.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line