Brendon McCullum’s farewell to international cricket at the second Test in Christchurch will be a “pretty sad” moment, according to fast bowler Trent Boult

Brydon Coverdale17-Feb-20162:10

‘Australia had the best of the conditions in Wellington’ – Boult

Brendon McCullum’s farewell to international cricket at the second Test in Christchurch will be a “pretty sad” moment, according to fast bowler Trent Boult, who credited McCullum with uniting the nation behind their cricket team.There was no shortage of emotion at McCullum’s 100th and penultimate Test in Wellington, but expect that only to increase when the New Zealanders walk out onto Hagley Oval on Saturday. There will be a special cap presentation to McCullum ahead of the match, although there will be no fairytale ending after Australia’s victory in Wellington, which meant the best New Zealand can do is draw the series.”I think there was a lot of emotion in this one [in Wellington] to be honest,” Boult said on Wednesday. “But his last one – it’s going to be pretty sad, to be honest. Everyone has played with him for that long and he’s good mates with everyone in the team. We’re all looking forward to running out with him for the last time.”He’s changed the game, in a way. The way the New Zealanders have got behind cricket, behind the team, is because of him and his style of play, his attacking captaincy. He’s going to be sorely missed. We’ll look forward to running out with him one last time and then I’m sure he’s left the team in good hands.”Boult is one of the many players in the New Zealand team who has thrived under the captaincy of McCullum, rising to No.1 in the ODI rankings and currently sitting at No.8 on the ICC’s Test list. He debuted in Test cricket in Australia in 2011 and a year later McCullum was named captain alongside the new coach Mike Hesson.”You can put it down to a lot of things, but he’s a true leader and everyone looks up to him in the team,” Boult said of his own success. “I owe a lot to him, to be honest. He is going to be sorely missed.”New Zealand would like nothing better than to send McCullum off into retirement with a Test victory in Christchurch, where they hope they will find a greener pitch than the one that was served up at the Basin Reserve. There was some seam movement on the first morning but there was little for the rest of the Test, although Australia’s fast men surprised New Zealand by finding reverse swing in the second innings.”We didn’t get it to go at all,” Boult said. “They got it to go nicely. We could learn a thing or two from them in regards to if nothing is happening on a flat wicket, then how valuable reverse swing is. They did that nicely, but I’m not sure how much we’ll see of that down at Hagley.”It’s not something we do often see [in New Zealand]. They got it to go nicely and it worked very effectively for them. We’ll have to learn from that and understand that when things aren’t happening or there’s no wickets on a flat wicket, you’ve got to look at other measures. I think they did that very nicely. It was pretty surprising.”This will be just the second Test played at Hagley Oval, the other one in December 2014 having provided New Zealand with an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka after the hosts put on 441 in the first innings. McCullum made 195 in that match and Boult took seven wickets, including three in the first innings when Sri Lanka were rolled for 138.”I think the wicket here [in Wellington] was a good wicket, but as a bowler I’d love to see it a lot greener of course as well,” Boult said. “That way you can get a lot more seam off the wicket. It’s going to be interesting to see what we get down there [in Christchurch] but I’m sure it will have a tinge of green as well.”New Zealand will be without fast bowler Doug Bracewell at Hagley Oval, after he was ruled out with a shoulder injury. Neil Wagner and Matt Henry are both in the squad and available to be called on to replace Bracewell.

The 2016 edition of the IPL will begin on April 9, when defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on new entrants Rising Pune Supergiants at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Mar-2016The 2016 edition of the IPL will begin on April 9, when defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on new entrants Rising Pune Supergiants at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The final, too, will be played at the Wankhede Stadium on May 29.The Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune will host the home games of new franchise Rising Pune Supergiants, while the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot will be the home stadium of Gujarat Lions. This year’s edition will not see any afternoon games (1600 IST start) on weekdays.Apart from the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur will host two home games of Delhi Daredevils. The VCA Stadium in Nagpur will host three home games for Kings XI Punjab, apart from their usual home ground in Mohali.

Pakistan’s batting line-up, which had mis-fired frequently in recent matches, finally came together in their first match of the World T20 2016 to overpower Bangladesh by 55 runs

The Report by Mohammad Isam16-Mar-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:28

Chappell: Afridi looked relaxed when he came to bat

Pakistan’s batting line-up, which had misfired frequently in recent matches, finally came together in their first match of the World T20 2016 to overpower Bangladesh by 55 runs. Fifties from Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez, and Shahid Afridi’s 19-ball 49 propelled Pakistan to 201 for 5, a total which proved too steep for a side that had beaten them in their last two T20I encounters. This was only the second time Pakistan scored more than 200 in a T20 international, and the previous instance – in April 2008 – was also against Bangladesh.Pakistan opted to bat first and, right from the start, kept their foot on the gas. They took 18 runs in three separate overs and failed to hit a four or a six in only two overs in their innings – the 9th and 14th – bowled by Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman. Pakistan’s opening pair of Shehzad and Sharjeel Khan was the fourth the side have tried out in T20Is this year, and Sharjeel set the tone, smashing two sixes and a four off Al-Amin Hossain in the second over.Sharjeel fell in the next over to Arafat Sunny but Hafeez walked in and found his groove immediately, with a straight six down the ground off his second ball. Shehzad, who had struck a serene cover drive off Taskin Ahmed in the first over, then pushed the same bowler through midwicket, before pasting Sunny over extra-cover. His first three fours were pleasing shots, even as Hafeez blasted boundaries down the ground.By the end of the Powerplay, Hafeez and Shehzad had similar scores before the latter pulled away and raced to his fifty off 35 balls. Shehzad fell in the 14th over, pulling Sabbir to the deep midwicket fielder for 52 off 39 balls with eight fours. His wicket ended a 95-run, second-wicket partnership that, through a combination of big hits and clever strike rotation, did not let the Bangladesh fielders relax.Afridi promoted himself to No 4 to take advantage of the start. After Hafeez had reached his fifty in the 15th over, bowled by Mashrafe Mortaza, Afridi smacked two fours and a six off consecutive balls to produce an 18-run over. The pair took another 18 runs off Al-Amin’s next over, with Hafeez striking two fours and Afridi a straight six.Hafeez fell for 64 off 42 balls, immediately after striking his seventh four. He was caught brilliantly by Soumya Sarkar at the deep midwicket boundary. The fielder grabbed the ball close to the boundary rope; the momentum took him over the line so he lobbed the ball in the air, came back on to the field and completed the catch. The agile effort was the only solace for Bangladesh in the first innings.Afridi unfurled the big shots in the overs that followed, including a four and a six off Shakib in the penultimate over. He went into the last over on 49 off 18 balls, on the brink of the record for the fastest fifty by a Pakistan batsman in T20Is, but he holed out to the deep square leg fielder and, in the process, also missed his first T20I half-century since June 2012.Sarkar’s joy from that smart catch was short-lived as Mohammad Amir uprooted his off stump on the third ball of their chase. Sabbir Rahman, who started off with a sweetly timed four past point, made sure, however, that Bangladesh didn’t fall off quickly. He struck fours off Amir and Wahab Riaz through the off side, but fell in the final Powerplay over, bowled by an Afridi delivery that came on with the arm.Tamim had sent the first ball of that Afridi over for a six into the stands beyond midwicket and in the next over, he lifted Malik over extra-cover for another six. His third attempt at clearing the boundary, however, ended up as a simple catch to Imad Wasim at midwicket. Tamim has been Bangladesh’s best batsman in the tournament so far and his dismissal for a 20-ball 24 snuffed out most of Bangladesh’s hopes of chasing 202.Bangladesh have never made more than 87 runs in the last ten overs of a successful T20I chase, so getting 133 today was well beyond their reach. The pressure of an asking rate of over 13 got to Mahmudullah, who played a slog-sweep to Sharjeel at deep square leg in the 11th over, and Bangladesh slid further.Shakib was still at the crease but from a position of 71 for 4, he had to tackle the Pakistan attack as well as Mushfiqur Rahim’s frustrating batting at the other end. Between the 11th and 17th overs, Mushfiqur played and missed plenty of times. In two separate overs, Shakib struck a four off the first ball but Mushfiqur couldn’t score off the remaining deliveries. Mushfiqur also did not turn as much of the strike over to Shakib and the required run rate soared out of their reach. Mushfiqur became Amir’s second wicket in the 17th over.Shakib had been dropped by Shehzad at midwicket on 33 and he went on to reach his sixth T20I fifty in the last over.

Steven Smith interspersed an effective tap-and-run routine with creative big shots to direct Rising Pune Supergiants’ batting effort against Gujarat Lions

Arun Venugopal in Pune30-Apr-2016Steven Smith’s batting can look like a revved-up remix of a Michael Bevan special. Revisit a Smith innings and you will find that your brain hasn’t registered many breathtaking shots – all you may see are images on loop of his restless twitching at the crease, wristy bunts to the leg side and borderline-crazy running. But when you look up the scorecard, there’s a dandy 54-ball 101 staring you down in all its cold authority. How cool is that?Against Gujarat Lions, Smith only had to wait till the third over to unleash his coolness. When he joined Ajinkya Rahane, his fellow busy accumulator at Rajasthan Royals in the past, Rising Pune Supergiants were scoring at a below-par rate. It took Smith only two overs to crank it up. After flicking a first-ball four and loosening up with a few singles, he shot out of the crease to bash the medium pace of Praveen Kumar through the covers. Next ball, Praveen attempted to swing it in to catch him out on the shuffle, but couldn’t beat Smith’s late leg glance, which gave him four more.Smith broke his tap-and-run routine again in the next over by charging seamer Dhawal Kulkarni, who spotted the movement early and bowled a slower ball wide of off. But Smith waited and, with his back leg in the air, stretched out to give the ball a meaty thunk. Four more to the score. From 22 for 1 in four overs, Supergiants had reeled in 26 more in two overs to end the Powerplay at 48 for 1.

Steven Smith on Pune’s bowling.

“I thought we were a bit disappointing with the way we bowled. I think we chopped and changed a little bit too much, rather than being nice and patient and hitting a good line and length, and making them go after the good balls. Any time you do that your chances of taking a wicket [increase] and if you take a wicket up top when you’re chasing 195, it makes things very difficult.”
On Supergiants’ two wins coming in away games
“Usually it’s the other way around isn’t it? In a tournament like this it doesn’t really matter where you play; it’s about going out there on any given day, giving it your all. It’s obviously about winning more to get yourself into that top four and, at the moment, we’re not doing that and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Rahane, meanwhile, was on 23 off 23 balls and might well have stagnated under pressure, or hit out rashly, had Smith not taken it upon himself to ensure the run flow remained fluent. Supergiants scored 37 in the next four overs, despite the field being spread and only three boundaries hit. There were only four dot balls in this period, as Smith pushed himself and Rahane to race through for singles and twos, mostly after cleverly placed dabs and nudges to the leg side – overall, 39 of Smith’s runs came in this fashion.Smith did enjoy a bit of good luck in the tenth over when debutant chinaman bowler Shivil Kaushik overstepped while forcing Smith to sweep one on to his stumps. Smith merrily carted the free-hit over long-off for six; the no-ball, he said, switched him to attack mode.”Probably around [that] point when I said to Rahane, ‘I will go [after the bowling] and you keep batting as you are doing,'” Smith said. “It was nice batting with Ajinkya. He is very quick between the wickets. That’s the kind of player I like to bat with. I like to hit the gaps and run ones and twos.”Lions’ captain Suresh Raina then engaged his death-over specialists – Dwayne Bravo and James Faulkner. Smith was Jackie Chan-esque in response, slipping in a boundary amid a sequence of singles like a punch following pokes to the eye. In the 13th over, he swivelled into a sweep-hoick to put away Faulkner’s slower one for six, before clipping the next ball – a low full toss – wide of long-on and bolting with two runs in mind. Under pressure to prevent the double, Ravindra Jadeja failed to gather the ball which hurried to the fence.While he shuffled around to the seamers, Smith remained still in the crease against slow men Jadeja and Kaushik, getting underneath their fuller deliveries to dispatch them for three straight sixes. All the while he never missed an opportunity to pinch a run, which explained why he finished with just 10 dots. Even when Rahane was about to be run out after backing up too far, Smith was ready for the overthrow in case Bravo missed the stumps. He and Rahane formed a dynamic pairing at long-off and long-on as well but, unfortunately for him, like Virat Kohli, his first T20 century coincided with a mediocre bowling effort from his team.

A round-up of the Dhaka Premier League matches played on May 14, 2016

Mohammad Isam14-May-2016Mashrafe Mortaza slammed a 50-ball century, the fastest by a Bangladeshi in List A cricket, in Kalabagan Krira Chakra‘s 21-run win over Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in Fatullah.Shakib Al Hasan’s 63-ball century against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 2009 was the previous fastest List A century by a Bangladeshi. Mashrafe’s feat is now placed third among the fastest List A centuries hit in Bangladesh, behind Brain Lara’s 45-ball-effort against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 1999 and Brendan Taylor’s 46-ball effort for Prime Bank Cricket Club against Kalabagan Cricket Academy in Rajshahi in 2013.Mashrafe smashed 11 sixes, the second highest by a batsman in List A cricket in Bangladesh. A majority of his sixes came in the arc between deep midwicket and long-on. Shane Watson struck 15 sixes during his 185 not out off 96 balls in Mirpur in 2011. Mashrafe’s 11 sixes are the most by a batsman in the Dhaka Premier League, after the tournament was given List A status in 2013.Kalabagan were reduced to 169 for 4 by the 36th over when Mashrafe walked out to bat. He cracked four sixes by the time he reached 50 off 35 balls. Mashrafe kicked into higher gear when he hit seamer Muktar Ali for three sixes in the 46th over. He then crashed four sixes off left-arm spinner Wahidul Alam, including three on the trot, in the 48th over.Mashrafe needed only 15 balls to move from fifty to hundred before he was dismissed in the penultimate over of Kalabagan’s innings. Opener Jashimuddin, Hamilton Masakadza, and Tasamul Haque made useful contributions as their team surged to 316 for 7.Mashrafe then struck in the first over of the chase, having Mahbulul Karim caught by Abdur Razzak for a three-ball duck. Abdullah Al Mamun and Sohag Gazi added 71 runs for the second wicket but the partnership ended when Masakadza removed Abdullah for 40 in the 13th over. Masakadza went on to cut through Dhanmondi’s batting line-up with figures of 4 for 37. Late fifties from Zabid Hossain and Muktar to add to 49 off 27 balls from No.11 Alam gave Kalabagan a scare. But they eventually scraped to their second win in six games.Shahriar Nafees struck his first List A ton after nine years, as Brothers Union sent Cricket Coaching School to their sixth consecutive defeat. This time CCS lost by 38 runs.Having been inserted, Brothers, led by Nafees’ 134 off 147 balls, posted 253 for 6. Nafees struck 14 fours and five sixes, having reached 100 off 132 balls. He put on 108 for the first wicket with Imrul Kayes, who made 49, and 60 for the fourth wicket with Zakir Hasan. Nafees’ knock was ended by left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed in the last over of Brothers’ innings.CCS then had a shaky start to the chase, losing both openers by the ninth over. Saif Hassan and Salman Hossain added 139 for the third wicket. However, both fell in quick succession and the lower-middle order crumbled. CCS were ultimately bowled out for 215 in 47.2 overs.Gazi Group Cricketers picked up their fourth win after beating Kalabagan Cricket Academy by eight wickets at the BKSP-3 ground.Batting first, KCA were shot out for 186 in 47.3 overs with legspinner Alok Kapali taking his maiden five-for in List A cricket. He finished with figures of 5 for 44, including a maiden. Jatin Saxena top-scored for KCA with 44 while Mahmudul Hasan contributed 41.Gazi Group then reached the target in 40.2 overs with Shamsur Rahman leading the way with an unbeaten 95 off 120 balls, including eight fours and three sixes. Anamul Haque, Mehedi Hasan, and Saeed Anwar jnr made cameos to assist Shamsur.

Montu Datta, the match referee of the halted Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club v Abahani Limited DPL Super League match, has said that he has not submitted his report to the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis

Mohammad Isam14-Jun-2016Montu Datta, the match referee of the halted Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club v Abahani Limited DPL Super League match, has said that he has not submitted his report to the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis, the BCB standing committee that runs the tournament. He said that he only sent them an email containing his version of the events that transpired on June 12.The match was halted on Sunday when on-field umpires Gazi Sohel and Tanvir Ahmed walked off the field citing “illness” as the reason, after the Abahani players and fans protested when umpire Tanvir adjudged Raqibul Hasan not out following an appeal for stumping in the 16th over of Doleshwar’s innings. The umpires consulted with Datta and subsequently left the field. The match was not played on the reserve day, Monday.CCDM’s Dhaka Premier League coordinator Amin Khan had claimed on Monday that Datta had submitted his report which effectively postponed the game as it was not held on the reserve day too. Amin said that Datta only mentioned that the umpires cited illness as the reason to not conduct the match and did not write anything about any team, players or supporters using abusive language or threatening the umpires.But Datta said the match referee’s report is based on the umpires’ report which has not been submitted to him yet. He further said that both reports had to be submitted only after the match was completed.”How can I submit my match report before the game is completed?” Datta said. “Until the match is completed you cannot really propose any action against anyone. You cannot take anyone to task without a hearing and if we had completed the match today [Monday] we could have followed the steps required to implement our verdict.”What I gave [to the CCDM] wasn’t a report. I sent them an email telling them what had happened on Sunday. At the time of sending them the mail, the umpires hadn’t even submitted their report. How can a match referee prepare his report when the umpires haven’t given theirs?”Datta also said that his report would also include what the umpires had written about Tamim Iqbal, who was seen arguing with Sohel after the stumping appeal.

Former South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Nic Pothas has been appointed Sri Lanka’s fielding coach, and will begin the role on August 8, a board release said

Andrew Fidel Fernando29-Jul-2016Former South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Nic Pothas has been appointed Sri Lanka’s fielding coach, and will begin the role on August 8, a board release said. Pothas had most recently been the academy director at Leicestershire County, and was the cricket director at Guernsey in the past.”Our last few outings are showing a marked improvement in the batting and bowling, however our fielding has been letting us down,” SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala said. “Pothas joining the support team already in place will give the necessary boost to this important area.”We always believe in engaging the best professional advice and technical support for our national team, and this appointment is one such positive step.”Pothas is the Sumathipala administration’s third high-profile appointment to the coaching system, to follow head coach Graham Ford and high-performance manager Simon Willis. Both Pothas and SLC thanked Leicesershire county for releasing him from his county contract.”I will forever be grateful to Leicestershire County Cricket Club for the opportunity to join at an exciting time,” Pothas said. “But the opportunity to be involved in the game at the highest level is not one that I could pass up.”A long-time Hampshire player, Pothas scored over 11,000 runs and effected 659 dismissals in 218 first-class games. He also played three ODIs for South Africa in 2000.

Notts Outlaws secured their place in the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals with a six-wicket win over Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston

ECB Reporters Network22-Jul-2016
ScorecardIan Bell top-scored for Birmingham with 80 not out from 55 balls•Getty Images

Notts Outlaws secured their place in the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals with a six-wicket win over Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston.The Outlaws are through with a game to spare and assured a home quarter-final after a solid all-round display but Birmingham have work still to do to reach the last eight.After their fourth defeat in five North Group games, the Bears must now win their last match, away to Lancashire Lightning next Friday, to be sure of going through.Put in, Birmingham accelerated after a slow start to amass 172 for 2, built around a stand of 116 in 79 balls from Ian Bell (80 from 55 balls) and Will Porterfield (61 not out from 44).Notts’ chase was given a sound platform by Michael Lumb (34 from 25) and Riki Wessels (37 from 28). Dan Christian (37 from 23) kept up the momentum and Greg Smith (52 not out from 31), improvised brilliantly to see them home with five balls to spare.Birmingham made a sedate start with the first three overs yielding 11 singles and five dot balls. Bell upped the ante with two sixes in four balls from Harry Gurney and Jake Ball but the latter struck back by trapping Sam Hain lbw.Birmingham reached halfway on only 66 for 1, Samit Patel having bowled three overs for 20 and, as Bell and Porterfield sought to accelerate, the spinner returned to deliver the 15th over for just three off the bat.Bell reached his half-century from 42 balls with four sixes and, curiously, no fours and Porterfield followed to his from 37 balls (four fours, two sixes). Their stand equalled the Bears’ T20 second-wicket record, (116, set by Jim Troughton and Darren Maddy against Northants Steelbacks at Edgbaston in 2010) before Bell chipped Harry Gurney to mid-on.Porterfield ended with an unbeaten 61 but, with quite a short boundary on one side, it was a target that Notts fancied.
Wessels, dropped on 7 by Bell at mid-off off Rikki Clarke, and Lumb added 74 in 52 balls before both perished in three balls from Keith Barker, Lumb blazing to extra-cover and Wessels hoisting to mid-off.Tight overs from Clarke and Jeetan Patel kept Birmingham in the game and Notts started the last six overs needing 61. However, Christian made a big dent in the required rate with two sixes and a four off Ateeq Javid and Smith timed the pursuit to perfection to take his side over the line with a 30-ball half-century.

West Indies captain Jason Holder felt the gulf between the region’s first-class structure and the international level stood exposed, as they lost the third Test by 237 runs

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-2016Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, felt the gulf between the region’s first-class structure and the international level stood exposed, as they lost by 237 runs in Gros Islet to concede the four-Test series to India with one match still to play.”It is going to be difficult. Test match cricket is very different from our first-class cricket at this point of time. I have had the privilege to play first-class cricket and I’ve also had the privilege to play Test cricket and I can see a vast disparity between the two,” he said. “It is a situation where many of us coming to international cricket and are trying to learn on our job. It is definitely not easy, but it is something that we are faced with and I hope the guys can learn quickly.”Hope that our guys’ bodies are accustomed to the workloads of international cricket because it is far different from first-class cricket. For instance you get a first-class game where a fast bowler hardly bowls the amount of overs we have bowled in this series. For the last five to 10 years we have had spinners dominating first-class cricket in terms of wickets taken. So it is a transition that we have to try to open up and adjust to as quickly as possible. It is by no means easy and sometimes we don’t make it easy for ourselves.”West Indies, who had to bat out a minimum of 87 overs to save the Test, were bowled out for 108 in just 47.3 overs, with just one batsman – Darren Bravo – crossing 20. They had fared only marginally better in the first innings, being bowled out for 225 after being handily placed at 202 for 3 at one stage.”We haven’t been able to put up reasonable first-innings totals which have hampered us in the recent past. If you don’t put up a good first-innings total, then you are chasing the game,” Holder said. “We need to knuckle down. As batsmen, we need to be accountable for our actions. At the top, predominantly, we haven’t been consistent; not getting starts we’ve been looking for.”Asked to elaborate on the batting struggle, Holder said it was simply a case of being too overcautious at times, apart from failing to learn from their mistakes in the first innings. “I think the difference from here to Jamaica is that we also spent time but we didn’t score,” he said. “I think most of the batsmen have spent some time initially but they haven’t tick over the scoreboard as well as we would like. I can’t speak for every batsman and it is a situation where each batsman needs to cope, how we are going to score and how we are going to occupy the crease. So sitting here is difficult to answer but all I can say is that the responsibility is on the batsmen at the present time.”Holder emphasised the need to string together patches of domination before looking at bigger goals, something the team did sporadically in Jamaica, and then on the first two days in St Lucia before things slipped away from them.”At the beginning of the series, I made very clear that we need to show signs of improvement. We have had a really tough tour in Australia in terms of our bowling and I have seen significant improvements in terms of our bowling,” Holder said. “We have been inconsistent with the bat for quite a while now. You have to make steps forward and you just can’t leap. As a baby you need to crawl before you can walk.”Definitely winning is a priority but we need to put ourselves in position to win games but the only way we can do that is by taking 20 wickets and at least putting up a very good first innings total in terms of securing the draw and then push for win. But we haven’t been able to put ourselves in those situations, to be quite frank. I think, moving forward, we need to be more consistent in terms of getting those first-innings total, 350-plus, obviously taking 10 wickets up front and coming back and taking the other 10. I think that’s the direction in which we need to move towards.”

India opener Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the third Test against New Zealand in Indore starting October 8 due to a fractured finger that could take at least 15 days to heal

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-20161:19

What’s changed since Gambhir last Test?

India opener Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the third and final Test against New Zealand in Indore starting October 8 due to a “very minor fracture” on his left thumb that could take at least 15 days to heal. As a result Gautam Gambhir, who had been drafted into the squad after KL Rahul was injured during the Kanpur Test, is in line to play in the XI after a gap of two years.Karun Nair, the middle order batsman, has been drafted into the squad as a reinforcement.Dhawan, who made 1 and 17 in Kolkata, injured himself while batting on the third day, when he was struck twice on the thumb by Trent Boult. “Shikhar has a very minor fracture on his hand. He is under observations, and he has been advised 15 days’ rest,” India’s media manager Nishant Arora said. “So he is ruled out for the next Test match. The selectors have been informed.”Nair, Karnataka’s second-highest run-getter in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy, made his international debut during the limited-overs series in Zimbabwe in June. He was more recently part of the India A squad that toured Australia for a tri-series and two first-class matches. However, it is likely that Gambhir could return following a good showing in the Duleep Trophy, in which he made 356 runs in five innings with four half-centuries.Gambhir’s last Test was during India’s 1-3 series loss in England in 2014, when he aggregated 25 runs in four innings. That series, too, was a comeback for him, as he was dropped in 2012 and missed all India’s Tests in 2013 due to a sharp decline in form.Gambhir, 34, has 4046 Test runs at 42.58 with nine centuries and 21 half-centuries. The last of Gambhir’s nine Test tons came against Bangladesh in Chittagong in January 2010, when he made 116.