Jadeja dominated England’s batters, Axar disrupted their spinners. It added up to a fine match-winning combination in Nagpur, but what if they have to pick between them at the Champions Trophy?

Karthik Krishnaswamy06-Feb-20252:41

Manjrekar: Axar’s promotion could keep Pant out of XI

From a philosophical point of view, umpire’s call is among the most fascinating things in cricket. It lends the same ball a Schrodinger-esque duality: it could, with equal validity, be out or not out.Ravindra Jadeja got Joe Root lbw on Thursday afternoon with one such ball, and this one came with an extra layer of duality.It was a classic Jadeja dismissal, the batter beaten on the back foot by the ball turning less than expected and hurrying onto him, and ball-tracking suggested it would have gone on to clip the top of the bails. At the first level of duality, it could have been out or not out, depending on what umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan thought of it.Related

• Gill, Shreyas and Axar provide the firepower as India go 1-0 up

• Iyer cuts movie night short after late selection call: 'Went off to sleep straightaway'

• Kohli misses first ODI against England with injury

At a level beyond that, this was a ball that almost had to be an umpire’s call kind of ball to give Jadeja the chance of beating Root in this way. It was the shortest possible length that could still threaten the stumps, and perhaps the fullest possible length that could make Root go on the back foot. Any shorter, and the ball would likely have bounced over the stumps. Any shorter, and Root may have had more time to adjust to the lack of turn. Any fuller, he might have elected to get on the front foot.This was umpire’s call, and it could have been not out on another day. But in order to be out, it kind of had to be umpire’s call.This was the 15th ball Jadeja had bowled in this match, his first ODI since the World Cup final of 2023. And he was already all over it. This was the fourth time he had dismissed Root in ODIs, and the 12th time across formats. Jadeja has now dismissed Root more often than any other batter. And no spinner has dismissed Root more often.Soon after this lbw, the broadcasters played back footage from the Kochi ODI of 2013. This was the first time Root had ever batted in the format, and he made 36 before being bowled by the curly-mopped, 2013 version of Jadeja. Different hairstyle, same bowler: a skidder sneaking past the inside edge as Root unwisely aimed square of the wicket with an open bat face.

Axar and Jadeja are both allrounders who bowl left-arm orthodox and bat left-handed, but they’re very different in some ways. Jadeja is a more rounded bowler, and he’s scored Test-match runs all over the world, but in any format, in situations where you want one of them facing spin, it’s likely Axar you’d turn to.

All these years later, Root was vigilant enough to try and play him down the ground, but sometimes that makes no difference when Jadeja is hitting his lengths, attacking the stumps, and getting variable turn off the surface.On Thursday in Nagpur, Jadeja put on a masterclass of stump-to-stump bowling and finished with figures of 3 for 26 in nine overs. Bowling from around the wicket to both the right- and left-hand batters, he kept the stumps in play in hypnotically relentless manner, narrowing the batters’ shot choices, giving them a judiciously curated list of scoring options. If they wanted anything beyond that, they’d need to take chances.This was the kind of ODI pitch where there was turn, but you needed to give the ball a rip to find it. The kind of pitch where batters worried about both edges of their bat while facing Jadeja, but not necessarily when they faced Axar Patel.Their respective abilities to extract turn from this pitch, and the specific geometries of their bowling styles, also influenced the lines Jadeja and Axar were able to bowl. Axar also bowled from round the wicket to England’s left-handers, but with his wider arm at release, and with the smaller amounts of turn he was able to generate, he had less of a chance of hitting the stumps with balls pitching in line with the stumps.3:18

Manjrekar: Harshit Rana is a great wicket-taking option

And this opened up more scoring areas for England’s batters. Nowhere was this more apparent than in how often, and how effectively, they were able to sweep India’s spinners. They played variants of the sweep or reverse-sweep 10 times against Axar and scored 15 runs without losing a wicket. They also scored 15 off six such shots against Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm wristspin.Against Jadeja, however, it was a different story. They attempted three sweeps, scored one run, and lost two wickets: Jacob Bethell lbw and Adil Rashid bowled. To borrow from : come at the stump-to-stump king, you best not miss.It’s been nearly 16 years since his ODI debut, but Jadeja endures.The remarkableness of this feat became more apparent as the day wore on, and India got into their chase of 249. It became especially apparent when they lost their third wicket with 113 on the board, and sent Axar in.This was precisely the sort of situation that makes Axar so valuable. There was just one left-hand batter in India’s regular top six, and the situation called for a left-hander, with the legspinner Adil Rashid beginning to find generous amounts of turn and the left-arm spinner Bethell having just dismissed a dangerous Shreyas Iyer in Jadeja-esque manner, lbw sweeping a stump-to-stump ball.Axar and Jadeja are both allrounders who bowl left-arm orthodox and bat left-handed, but they’re very different in some ways. Jadeja is a more rounded bowler, and he’s scored Test-match runs all over the world, but in any format, in situations where you want one of them facing spin, it’s likely Axar you’d turn to.Axar Patel did the job with the bat•MB Media/Getty ImagesAnd you soon saw why. The second ball he faced from Rashid was dangled well outside off stump but dropping onto a dangerous sort of length, and Axar took on the invitation. The length made him reach for the ball, but he used his long levers expertly to control his slog-sweep, prioritising placement – there was a deep square leg but no deep midwicket – over power.Soon after, facing his eighth ball, he saw another opportunity for the slog-sweep, with Bethell on this occasion tossing one right up in his arc. This time he went with a full, unfettered bat-swing and cleared the boundary with ease.And just like that, Axar was well into his job of disrupting England’s spin plans. By the time he was bowled by a ripping Rashid legbreak, he had scored 52 off 47, put on 108 with Shubman Gill for the fourth wicket, and taken England’s spinners for 33 off 30 balls.There couldn’t have been a better illustration of the quality, and specific qualities, of India’s two left-arm-spin-bowling allrounders.This, of course, was always set up to be a game for both Jadeja and Axar: a pitch that allowed India to play three spinners, and an opposition line-up, dominated by right-hand batters, that allowed them to play two left-arm orthodox spinners.There will likely be pitches and oppositions during the upcoming Champions Trophy that will allow India to pick this combination again. There may also be times, though, when they might have to leave one of them out: either to pick Washington Sundar (or possibly even Varun Chakravarthy) or an extra fast bowler.Who do India play then? The better bowler or the more versatile batter? To quote once again: it sounds like one of them good problems.

The commentator’s iconic five-word summation of the Brisbane Test captured the essence of India’s victory against all odds

Karthik Krishnaswamy13-Dec-2024What’s your favourite commentary moment? Is it a moment of great commentary, or is it simply a great moment commentated upon? Sometimes the moment is big enough that the words don’t need to say all that much. Ravi Shastri and Ian Smith weren’t telling you anything you didn’t know when they told you that Dhoni had finished it off in style, and that England had won by the barest of margins, but the weight of the moments they described transfigured their words, turning them iconic. You probably didn’t just read them now; you heard them, in those voices.You could argue that the voices count for more than the words themselves, and that, in a job where you’re merely the garnish to what viewers can see for themselves, there’s nothing quite as valuable as the ability to convey emotion. It’s why the stints of Shastri and Smith always seem to coincide with the big finishes.Sometimes, though, a commentator goes above and beyond, and unearths a line that plays with the possibilities of language while capturing a moment’s zeitgeist. Vivek Razdan did this on January 19, 2021, when Rishabh Pant drove Josh Hazlewood down the ground at the Gabba and completed one of Test cricket’s greatest turnarounds.Related

• 'When you leave cricket, you will realise what you have done': Inside India's 2021 Gabba miracle

• Rishabh Pant: 'One of the biggest things in my life right now'

• Stats – India breach the Gabba fortress

• India have created the greatest moment in their Test history

• The Gabba result has done justice to the game we love

If you were watching the Hindi feed, this is what you heard when the ball rolled into the boundary cushion at long-off: Gabba Seldom have five words said so much.No one had beaten Australia at the Gabba in 31 Tests over 32 years. In the closing stages of the previous Test match, in Sydney, Australia captain Tim Paine had shown his frustration at his team’s inability to turn 1-1 into 2-1 by reminding India’s match-saving sixth-wicket pair that they had to come to this fortress next. “See you at the Gabba, mate.”Poetry in emotion: Razdan’s years of study paid off with the perfect denouement is a weighty, richly textured Urdu-Hindi word whose meaning lies somewhere between – and somewhere outside, too – arrogance, conceit, condescension, disdain, pride and vanity. With that one bit of alliteration, Razdan took in both the gravitas of Australia’s Gabba record and the hubris of Paine’s taunt: the Gabba’s now lay shattered.Razdan says the words came to him spontaneously, in the release of all the emotion built up over the preceding weeks: 36 all out in Adelaide followed by the departure of India’s captain; the comeback in Melbourne; the draw in Sydney sealed by a pair battling a torn hamstring and a bad back; the decimation of India’s bowling attack by injury, and the improbable competitiveness of the ragtag unit that took the field in Brisbane.”Each and every day, each and every game, there were so many different people who were coming up and raising their hand and showing that sort of character, and what they were made of,” Razdan says. “So these emotions were building over time, over all those days and Test matches. By the time we got to the fifth day of that final Test match, needing more than 300 runs, with so many things said against that team, the emotions were so high.”The way everything transpired, it was as if we were living on a different planet. And this was a time when the entire world was going through the Covid pandemic, so those emotions were also somewhere inside that. People are suffering, you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. In that sort of environment, when somebody comes up like this and does what they did, it was unbelievable.”I am a big believer in destiny and I’m so grateful that I was doing that stint and I was there on the mic on that day, and luckily, with the blessing of the almighty, those particular words came to me. They weren’t words, they were a feeling and an emotion.”An unheralded Pant became the hero of India’s unlikely win•Patrick Hamilton/AFP/Getty ImagesMoments later, Razdan let himself go once more as the producers cut to shots of India’s players embracing the hero of their run chase. It’s hard to imagine, now, that Pant started the series out of India’s XI, with Wriddhiman Saha preferred in Adelaide. It’s even more unimaginable that it was a reasonable choice then, given the challenge of the pink ball under lights and how far ahead Saha was of Pant as a pure keeper. Pant faced severe scrutiny over his keeping once he came into the side, and for all the runs he scored, his methods came in for widespread criticism whenever he was dismissed, even when he made 97 in Sydney.As Pant soaked in the winning feeling, Razdan ventriloquised: “There are virtues within me, shortcomings too. Ask yourself, seeker, what is it you want from me?”Lines like this speak of the decades of work Razdan put in to carve a niche for himself in a career he fell into, in some ways. He speaks English with an easy fluency that betrays his education at Delhi’s St Columba’s School, which includes Rahul Gandhi and Shahrukh Khan among its alumni. Hindi commentary wasn’t necessarily the obvious career path after Razdan’s fast-bowling days were done.”I’m a Kashmiri Pandit, and Hindi is my mother tongue,” Razdan says. “And my mom comes from UP, she comes from Lucknow. As a child, there were certain lines she always used to throw at me, you know? ” – you are telling someone to do certain things in a certain way, and you yourself are not able to do it. So my mom used to throw these lines at me, and I was always fascinated.”When I grew up, I never knew I’ll get into this line [of work], so once I started commentary, and then Hindi commentary came in in a big way, I started trying to speak to my mom – ‘Tell me all these lines that you heard as a child growing up in Lucknow.’ And it got me more interested in it.Into the breach: after India’s 2021 triumph, West Indies tore down Fortress Gabba earlier this year•Chris Hyde/Cricket Australia/Getty Images”Then I started reading, reading a lot. The poets of repute during that time, Mirza Ghalib, [Allama] Iqbal, all of them. The other thing that excited me was, these are certain lines or certain phrases being used over the years for portraying different emotions. How can I relate it to my sport? That is where the challenge came. So then I had to really go deep, study it, make my own adjustments, make my own lines, make my own rhymes. And over a period of time I kept writing them, kept writing them.”And that day, you know, the situation was such that it just brought out the best, because once you start studying it, you start saying these lines, you keep remembering them. Then you know when is the apt moment to use which line.”Razdan’s most famous line has gone on to transcend its moment in unimaginable ways. It has even been voiced by Shamar Joseph, that other recent stormer of Australia’s citadel. The line also portended a downgrade in the status of Brisbane, which was for so long the intimidating first port of call for visiting teams; it is now no longer Australia’s preferred venue for the start of their home season.As another Gabba Test begins, then, one thing is certain. Whether Australia win or lose, the is gone.

The legspinner wasn’t required during Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign but is now the second-leading wicket-taker in the WBBL

Tristan Lavalette20-Nov-2024After being benched through the recent Women’s T20 World Cup, watching on helplessly as Australia’s title hopes fell apart on the spin-friendly surfaces in the UAE, Alana King seemingly has a point to prove.Her eye-catching numbers in the WBBL suggest this is a determined cricketer wanting to make a statement to the national hierarchy.Bowling with a lot of energy, spinning the ball hard in trademark style, King has taken 17 wickets from eight matches to be the fulcrum of an inconsistent Perth Scorchers side fighting for a finals berth.To be clear, there is natural disappointment at her omission in the UAE, which extended an absence in the format that stretches back to the previous World Cup in South Africa. “Not playing a game, obviously it was disappointing. But it’s a pretty tough team to break into,” King told ESPNcricinfo. “It was tough watching, but I still trained really hard.”Related

Legspinners look back at Shane Warne's ball of the century: 'That delivery will always be the pinnacle'

King remains sidelined from Australia's T20I plans

King channels Warne as Rockets blast off at Headingley

Schutt stars as Strikers dent Scorchers' finals hopes

King, however, doesn’t hold grudges even though it would be tempting to ponder what could have been. It’s not hard to envisage her sharp legspin, with King having that unparalleled ability to really rip it like her hero Shane Warne, and general exuberance sparking a wheezing Australian team at the business end of the T20 World Cup.”There’s nothing to prove. I think the Australian selectors and the coaching staff know what I’m capable of doing,” King said.Itching to return to the field, King didn’t have to wait long with the WBBL season starting just a week after the T20 World Cup. Any resentment she may have felt in the previous weeks were gone. Playing with seemingly a permanent smile, King kept it simple.”For me, it was more so just getting back out there and having fun,” she said. “I play cricket because I have fun no matter what colours I’m putting on. I was just excited to get out on the park and play with my team-mates.”I’m back doing what I love doing, and that’s ripping a few leggies. It’s not all carefree, but I took a pretty easy approach to the WBBL to be honest.”King started the season in style with a three-wicket haul as Scorchers successfully defended 122 for 8 against Melbourne Stars at the WACA. It was the blueprint for Scorchers’ early season success as King’s composure under pressure helped her team defend several low totals.King has been the go-to for skipper Sophie Devine with her flexibility at bowling through the phases proving invaluable. She opened the bowling on one occasion, while King has been clutch at the death underlined by a career best 5 for 16 to stifle Brisbane Heat’s chase of 143 at the WACA.

The commentary box has been marveling at Alana King's bowling last night, so the truck decided to put this split screen togetherpic.twitter.com/6vcka89cPl

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) January 3, 2024

“I just want to keep getting better with my skill-set and getting exposed to different situations and stages of the game,” she said. “This isn’t just about the Scorchers, this is hopefully going to help me for Australia if they need me for certain roles or to bowl in specific phases.”I’m getting exposed to that in the WBBL and hopefully that can translate into giving me more options in the Aussie colours.”King has been particularly outstanding at the WACA, a ground traditionally regarded as a graveyard for spinners. But the surface’s extra bounce can be beneficial for spinners, particularly taller bowlers like Western Australia men’s offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli who has dominated on the ground for several seasons.

It’s been a little bit challenging, but that’s the way T20 cricket works. You’ve got to be adaptable and the best bowlers adapt the quickestAlana King on having a tougher time on the road

The fairly diminutive King has seemingly mastered WACA conditions at her adopted home ground having made the move to the country’s west coast four years ago. She has taken 11 wickets at an average of just 5.36 in three WBBL matches at the ground this season as Scorchers successfully defended scores of 122, 142 and 108.Among her repertoire, King cunningly loops the ball high in the air leading to baffled batters often misjudging off the wicket. “I’m not a tall person by any means, so having that extra bit of bounce has helped me get different modes of dismissals,” King said. “It’s helped bring the slip into play a bit more and getting a few caught and bowls because the batters are probably not used to the bounce that I’m getting over there. I absolutely love bowling at the WACA.”Being in the WA and Scorchers set-up has also given her access to WA men’s spin coach, and former Test wristspinner, Beau Casson, who has become a mentor. “We make sure that I’m having good rhythm through the crease, that’s probably the biggest one,” King said. “We just make sure that my alignment is all going towards the target.”Just making sure that all my preparation is what I need it to be to feel fresh, feel good, and everything is smooth when I’m going into a game.”Perth Scorchers face a fight to reach finals: “We know our best can beat any team. The vibes are still high.”•Getty ImagesKing, mirroring her team, has had less success on flatter east coast surfaces. She had the unflattering figures of 1 for 89 across a three-game swing against Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder, where batters were more comfortable taking her on. King did rebound with 3 for 29 off four overs to rein in Adelaide Strikers at Karen Rolton Oval.”I hold myself to pretty high standards in making sure that I keep going back to a length that I’m comfortable bowling,” King said. “It’s been a little bit challenging, but that’s the way T20 cricket works. You’ve got to be adaptable and the best bowlers adapt the quickest. That’s what I’m trying to do.”King’s stellar WBBL season should see her in the frame to return to international cricket with Australia playing three-match ODI series against India next month, followed by a tour of New Zealand, before the Ashes begins in January and culminates with a day-night Test match at the MCG.”It was obviously quite a quick turnaround between the World Cup and WBBL, so we haven’t reviewed the World Cup yet as a group,” King said. “But Dan Marsh [Australia assistant coach] has been in contact with me. He’s been happy. He sends me messages and bowling reports from every game, so the feedback has been good.”King also has her sights on the upcoming auction of the Women’s Premier League, which she has yet to crack previously. “I’d love to be part of it. From what I hear, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great tournament,” she said. “But that’s out of my control. What will be, will be.”In the meantime, King is focused on lifting a slumping Scorchers into the finals. “We’ve shown that we can be a team to be reckoned with,” she said. “We know our best can beat any team. The vibes are still high.”

All the numbers from the PBKS vs KKR game, which set new records for low totals in the IPL

Sampath Bandarupalli15-Apr-20256:18

Pressure or complacency – why did KKR collapse?

111 – The total Punjab Kings (PBKS) successfully defended against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Tuesday, the lowest in the IPL (excluding shortened matches). The previous lowest was 116 for 9 by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) against Kings XI Punjab (now PBKS) in Durban during the 2009 edition.In the previous fixture between these two teams in IPL 2024, PBKS chased down 262 at Eden Gardens, which was the highest successful chase in the IPL.5 – IPL matches where both teams were bowled out, including the PBKS-KKR game. Two of the four other games also featured KKR, but they won those.ESPNcricinfo Ltd95 – KKR’s total in the chase is their joint-third-lowest in the IPL, and the first time they have been bowled out for under 100 since 2009. It is also the third-lowest total in the IPL by any team against PBKS and the lowest since 2017.95 – KKR’s total is the joint-lowest by any team in the IPL to feature a half-century stand. Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi added 55 for the third wicket. In 2009, KKR were bowled out for 95 against Mumbai Indians (MI) despite a 54-run stand between Brad Hodge and Sourav Ganguly for the third wicket.97.94 – KKR’s win probability as per ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster at the end of the ninth over of the chase, when the strategic time out was taken. They needed 41 runs in eleven overs with seven wickets in hand at that stage. They lost all those, adding only 24 more.8 – Four-plus wicket hauls for Yuzvendra Chahal in the IPL, the joint-highest in the IPL alongside Sunil Narine.Three of those eight hauls by Chahal have come against KKR, including a five-for. Narine has three four-plus wicket hauls against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).Yuzvendra Chahal returned to form in grand style•Getty Images2-12 – PBKS’ win-loss record at home across IPL 2023 and 2024. They have won two of their three home games so far this season.36 – Wickets for Narine in the IPL against PBKS, the most by any bowler against an opponent, going past Umesh Yadav’s tally of 35, also against PBKS.15.3 – Overs PBKS batted on Tuesday, the fewest by any team in the IPL after electing to bat first (excluding shortened matches). The previous fewest was 17.2 overs by Pune Warriors against MI in 2011.KKR were also bowled out in 15.1 overs, making it only the third men’s T20 where both teams were all out in 16 or fewer overs.

Stats highlights from the Champions Trophy match between India and Bangladesh in Dubai

Sampath Bandarupalli and Namooh Shah20-Feb-20255126 – Number of balls Mohammed Shami took to take 200 ODI wickets, the fewest for any bowler, beating Mitchell Starc’s record of 5240 balls. In terms of matches played, Shami is joint-second fastest with Saqlain Mushtaq on 104 ODIs, while Starc took his 200th wicket in his 102nd ODI.261 – Innings in which Rohit Sharma completed 11,000 ODI runs. He is the second quickest among the ten batters to reach that milestone, behind Virat Kohli, who got there in 222 innings. Rohit took 11,868 balls to score 11,000 runs, only behind Kohli’s 11831 balls.ESPNcricinfo Ltd156 – Catches taken by Virat Kohli in ODIs, the joint-most as a fielder for India, equal with Mohammad Azharuddin. Overall, only Mahela Jayawardene (218) and Ricky Ponting (160) have taken more catches as a fielder in ODIs.5476 – Balls bowled by Kuldeep Yadav in ODIs before bowling his first front-foot no-ball, in his first over against Bangladesh. Kuldeep had played 108 ODIs before Thursday but had never overstepped.51 – Innings that Shubman Gill needed to score his eighth ODI century, the fewest for any India batter. Shikhar Dhawan was the previous fastest to eight ODI tons, needing 57 innings. Gill has 2688 runs so far in his ODI career, the most by any batter after 51 innings, bettering Hashim Amla’s 2538.ESPNcricinfo Ltd5th – Innings in which India did not take a wicket in the middle overs (11-40) of a men’s ODI since 2002. It is also the only fifth time Bangladesh batted through the middle overs without losing a wicket. India, however, restricted Bangladesh to only 126 runs in those 30 overs.154 – The partnership between Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali, Bangladesh’s highest for any wicket against India in men’s ODIs. It is also the highest sixth-wicket partnership for Bangladesh and the highest against India.10 – Catches dropped by Rohit Sharma in ODIs since the start of 2023, as per the ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball logs, the second most after Tom Latham (11). Rohit’s catching efficiency in that period is 54.55%, having taken only 12 out of 22 chances. It is the lowest among the 26 fielders with 20-plus catching chances in men’s ODIs since 2023.ESPNcricinfo Ltd8 – Wickets taken by India’s pacers on Thursday in the 21.4 overs they bowled while going at 4.80 runs per over. In contrast, the Bangladesh pacers took only two wickets in the 26.3 overs they bowled and were expensive as well: economy rate 5.88.Their spinners, however, tied down the India batters, with an economy rate of 3.75 in the 20 overs they bowled. India’s spinners went at 4.39 runs per over.30 – Difference in the powerplay totals of India and Bangladesh on Thursday, and it played a significant role in the match result. India scored 69 runs in their first ten overs for the loss of one wicket, while Bangladesh scored only 39 and lost half their side.Bangladesh bowlers restricted the India batters in the middle overs, conceding only 120 runs and taking three wickets. During the same phase, Bangladesh did not lose a wicket but scored only six runs more than India.60 – Wickets for Shami across ICC ODI tournaments (World Cups and Champions Trophies), the most by any bowler for India, surpassing Zaheer Khan’s 59.

Eight talking points from India’s first Test squad of the post-Rohit, post-Kohli era

Sidharth Monga24-May-20251:19

Agarkar on Gill: ‘We’ve taken feedback from a lot of people’

This is a landmark selection for India. This is the first time since the tour of South Africa in 2013-14, India’s first series after Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement, that they embark on a big tour looking to create future superstars. There will naturally be plenty of questions. Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of selectors, answered them all. Well, most of them.Related

• 'Very grateful and fortunate' – Karun Nair on second chance at Test cricket

• Sai Sudharsan: Feels 'surreal' to be part of India's Test squad

• Shubman Gill unveiled as India's new Test captain, Pant his deputy

• Sai Sudharsan, Arshdeep and Karun Nair in India's Test squad for England tour

• Confident and assertive, Gill must now chart his own path

What will the top four look like?

Everyone is eager to know how India’s batting will line up now that all four of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are out, but that is a decision the selectors will leave to the team management of captain Shubman Gill, coach Gautam Gambhir and vice-captain Rishabh Pant. It does seem likely that Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul will open with B Sai Sudharsan to follow at No. 3 and Gill to take Kohli’s No. 4 position.

Why no Shami?

Mohammed Shami played the Champions Trophy, and is playing the IPL, but his last Test was the WTC final in 2023. Since then he has played only one first-class match, in November 2024. He was just not fit for the strains of Test cricket.”We’ve sort of been trying to get him fit for the series, of course, but he’s had a little bit of a setback over the last week or so,” Agarkar said. “He’s got some MRIs done. I don’t think he was going to be able to play five Tests, and at the moment I don’t think his workload is where it needs to be. It is just the medical guys who’ve told us that he’s been ruled out of this series. We were hoping that he’s available for some part of the series at least, but if he’s not fit at the moment it’s very difficult to keep waiting.”India’s Test win at Perth came under Jasprit Bumrah’s captaincy•AFP/Getty Images

Why not Bumrah as captain?India’s only win of their 2024-25 tour of Australia, in Perth, came under Jasprit Bumrah, who also captained in Sydney when Rohit left himself out, but a stress reaction in his back meant he was unable to complete that Test, his fifth in a five-match series. That injury caused him to miss nearly five months of cricket.India don’t want to lose Bumrah the bowler when striving to get him to captain, which would mean he plays every Test. Plus the medical staff has advised the selectors that Bumrah is unlikely to be able to play all five Tests in England.”He is more important to us as a player,” Agarkar said. “We want him fit. There’s always that extra burden when you’re leading and managing 15-16 other people. There’s a lot that it takes out of you. We’d rather have him bowling as well as he does than putting that extra burden on him. He is aware of it. We’ve had a chat with him, and he’s okay with it. He knows where his body’s at at the moment, and he’d rather look after himself and be bowling-fit.”

Why Arshdeep Singh?

From the squad that went to Australia, Harshit Rana has been replaced by Arshdeep Singh. While Rana has the physical ingredients needed for a Test bowler, he showed on his debut tour that he didn’t have the control that he will perhaps acquire with a couple of full seasons of first-class cricket.Arshdeep has not played a lot of first-class cricket in recent months – only five matches across the 2024-25 domestic season, three in the Duleep Trophy and two in the Ranji Trophy – but he brings the experience of five County Championship matches for Kent in 2023. As a left-arm swing bowler, he also brings a point of difference to the squad.”He’s had a little bit of experience of county cricket as well,” Agarkar said. “Obviously plays every game that is available in domestic cricket. We’ve watched him, tall guy with the Dukes ball. There’s [left-arm] variety but there’s also body of work in red-ball cricket, and he’s been in decent form over the last couple of years. He’s just a quality bowler. We needed five seamers because Booms [Bumrah] is unlikely to play all five Test matches so we needed adequate cover. This provides us with a little bit of variety as well.”2:39

Agarkar: Karun’s experience was factor in selection

What has Sarfaraz done wrong?

Sarfaraz Khan scored twin half-centuries in his debut Test, and stroked his way to 150 in Bengaluru as India fought a big deficit. He averages 37.10 after six Tests. He didn’t get to play in Australia at all, however, and that perhaps is a signal that the team management has sent to the selectors, who have now picked a more experienced middle-order batter in Karun Nair.”Sometimes we just have to make those decisions,” Agarkar said. “Sarfaraz did play the three Test matches [against New Zealand] in India. I know he got a hundred in the first Test, didn’t get runs [after that] and missed out in Australia. Sometimes those are decisions which the team management takes. Whether it’s fair on somebody or unfair on someone, those are the choices that you make in the best interest of the team.”At the moment, we felt Karun has put up heaps of runs over the last couple of seasons. He’s played a little bit of Test cricket early in his career, has played a bit of county cricket. We feel that he’s batting well enough. Also now with Virat not there, clearly lacking a little bit of experience in the batting. Jaiswal is touring [England] for the first time. I know Gill has played one Test match [there]. It’s only KL and Pant who have played a series there before. So we felt Nair’s experience could help. Sometimes it is going to be unfair on somebody else but eventually you’ve got to make choices.”How does Thakur fit in?When India went to Australia late last year, Shardul Thakur was making a comeback from a surgery and didn’t have the bowling workload under his belt to get selected. When fit, he can provide balance by being the fourth seamer who can bat at No. 8. Through the Australia tour, India struggled because none of their three allrounders – Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar – could be used as a wicket-taking bowler in those conditions.”Shardul is a bowling allrounder,” Agarkar said. “With the way sometimes the team is structured, you need that seam-bowling option who can bat a bit. Nitish Reddy showed what he can do with the bat [in Australia], but yeah, he’s a batting allrounder at this point. Hopefully his bowling keeps coming on as well.”B Sai Sudharsan scored a century against Australia A at Mackay in October 2024•Getty ImagesDid Sai Sudharsan get picked on IPL form?Sai Sudharsan does seem to have an underwhelming first-class record: 29 matches and average under 40. Having said that, he has excited almost everyone who knows batting. He has a hundred against the touring England Lions and one when playing away against Australia A. He has a county hundred as well, albeit on a flat Trent Bridge track.”Last year when England Lions came, he played the A tour,” Agarkar said. “I watched it. He got runs there as well so it’s not like he’s not got runs in red-ball cricket. We’ve not picked him because of IPL. We’ve known he’s a terrific red-ball player. He’s shown the right temperament and seems to have the game to succeed at the top level. Once he plays we’ll probably get to know a bit better, but seems to have the goods. I don’t think his IPL performances have made us pick him for Test cricket. We’ve been looking at him for a while, at least since I’ve been here, for a couple of years, but there’s never been any place in the team to pick [new] guys. Now that we’ve had this opportunity [he] certainly deserves it.”So what does the starting XI for Headingley on June 20 look like?It is too early to say because the team management also looks at how players are going in the nets, but we can take an educated guess.1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 B Sai Sudharsan, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Karun Nair, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur/Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj.The choice between Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav comes down to the conditions. If the pitch is not expected to help spin at all, it might be better to have a fourth seamer at No. 8. If there is spin expected, it is important to resist the temptation of playing a spinner just for his batting ability. If India do feel the need to play Washington Sundar or Nitish Reddy, it is ideal to do so at the expense of a batter.

West Indies had their own struggles on a tough day in Barbados, but Australia’s next-gen batting remains a long-term gamble

Andrew McGlashan26-Jun-20253:33

Shamar Joseph: ‘One of the best deliveries I’ve bowled in my life’

Things may yet turn out alright on the night for Australia in Barbados in terms of the result – although that remains far from certain – but the opening day of the series shone a further light on the task of reshaping the top order with an eye to the future.Firstly, a qualifier: these were not comfortable batting conditions. Travis Head, who produced the most dominant innings, said that Australia had been taken by surprise with how tough they were, but Jayden Seales suggested West Indies had an inkling of what to expect after the pre-series training camp here.Still, Australia’s 22 for 3 – and a later collapse of 7 for 69 – followed on from the difficulties they had in the World Test Championship final against South Africa when they couldn’t find a way through tricky periods. West Indies had struggles of their own, but it was a reminder that the next generation of Australia batting could be a longer-term project riddled with uncertainties.Related

'Enough chances being created' – quicks could call the shots on third day in Barbados too

Seales, Shamar scythe through Australia before quicks return fire

Cummins backs Green as 'long-term' No. 3 amid Australia's batting reset

You only need to show Shamar Joseph an Australia batting line-up for him to put on a display. He had not quite hit the heights of the Gabba since that heady day (although, after his struggles in England last year, the numbers had been far from dire) but this brought back memories of Brisbane.His opening spell, and specifically the dismissal of Sam Konstas, set the tone for a well-planned West Indies bowling performance which held its nerve as Head and Usman Khawaja forged the best stand of the day, 89 runs, although it could have been better with safer catching.Konstas was beautifully set-up by Joseph, falling in a manner that has been seen before at Australia Under-19 level and in his early domestic days with the ball shaping back at him.”I think I set it up perfect towards him; a few outswingers, and then get the ball to nip back, because he’s just looking to get beaten outside off and then to nip back through the gate,” Joseph told ESPN’s , while speaking of the importance of the work he had put since the white-ball tour of the UK.Cameron Green lasted just 21 balls•Associated PressJoseph followed by giving Cameron Green a working over at No. 3, having him dropped second ball in the gully before he edged low to second slip. Ahead of the match, Pat Cummins said he saw Green as a long-term option at No. 3 but, while he’s had some tough conditions to face – firstly Kagiso Rabada at Lord’s and now another good pace attack – he will need a more convincing second innings to quieten the debate.The best of the lot, though, was saved for Beau Webster who was completely turned around by a magnificent delivery that took the top of the stumps. “That’s probably one of the best deliveries I’ve ever bowled,” Joseph said.Without Steven Smith (albeit temporarily) and Marnus Labuschagne, this batting order is without nearly 15,000 Test runs and it was something West Indies had taken note of.”We spoke about it,” Seales said. “We knew that coming into the Caribbean, pitches are a lot slower than what they were accustomed to in Australia. And especially this pitch, with the grass being how it is and the colour of the pitch, we knew that there was vulnerability within the batting line-up and more so with the pitch, so we just tried our best to exploit it.”

‘I don’t think there’s one solid way of going about things on those sort of wickets. You’ve just got to double down on your plan and your blueprint and what you play best’Travis Head

It took Australia 16 overs – and three wickets – to find the boundary, but Head defended the approach of the top order, backing each player to work out their own method.”I thought Usman applied himself really well in the partnership and batted completely different to what I did, and both were as effective as each other,” he said. “Guys will want to learn, you always want to try to adapt to the conditions the best way we can. We battled hard against a really quality attack, so on another day, you hope you get through it.””I don’t think there’s one solid way of going about things on those sort of wickets. You’ve just got to double down on your plan and your blueprint and what you play best. Naturally, I like to try and put as much pressure back on and there’s going to be times where it works and not.”Seales, who had claimed his first wicket when he removed the recalled Josh Inglis to a pull shot, was able to beat his team-mate to a five-wicket haul. He termed it the “most special” of the three he has bagged because he never quite felt at his best, but ensured Joseph took the acclaim as he left the field.”I think that’s what opened the game right up for us,” he said of Joseph’s early spell. “Blowing away the top order is the most important thing in Test cricket and then that made it a lot easier for us in the middle and in the back end of the innings.”Between them, their nine wickets left Australia needing the bowlers to keep them in the contest which, for the final 20 overs of the day, they did commendably as they so often have. But all eyes will be on that top order again come the second innings.