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Porel, Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep are showing that there is a promising future ahead for the state side

Varun Shetty in Kolkata01-Mar-2020At one point on Sunday, the broadcast displayed a graphic of Bengal’s top wicket-takers in the last 10 seasons. The most conspicuous piece of information was that for six seasons in a row before this one, it was the same man – Ashok Dinda, who was axed from the team for “indiscipline” and has played only one match in 2019-20.Consider that, and then the fact that in two-and-a-half months of Ranji cricket this season, across ten matches, not a single team has managed to score more than 250 in an innings against Bengal. Despite the absence of their foremost bowler – discounting Mohammed Shami who has played one Bengal match since January 2018 – Bengal have managed to be among the best bowling line-ups in the competition.Ishan Porel, who has worked rigorously to lose the “medium-fast” tag, and is the youngest of the bowlers at 21, is effectively the leader of the attack now. After his five-wicket haul on Sunday, he said there was never any pressure to fill Dinda’s shoes.”There is no such pressure on me because we have been bowling well [together],” Porel said. “If you see the Indian team’s attack, they generally back each other and applaud each other’s performances. The same thing we are doing here and we are getting success. The hard work we have put in over the last three or four months and before the season – those things are working in the match.”In the lead-up to the semi-final against Karnataka, coach-cum-mentor Arun Lal had repeatedly reinforced his belief that Bengal were favourites despite the presence of batsmen like KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, and Karun Nair in the opposition. That was rooted somewhat in the reality that Karnataka’s batsmen have made only one century between them all season, with only one of them averaging more than 40. But it was also a nod to Bengal’s bowling this season, particularly to their budding new combination of fast bowlers, who took all of 35.2 overs to bowl Karnataka out for 122 and grab a lead of 190 on day two.Alongside Porel, who has only played five matches in the season due to India A commitments, are 26-year-old Mukesh Kumar, and 23-year-old Akash Deep who has just made the step up from Under-23 cricket this season. Each of them has taken at least 20 wickets this season, and the dynamics of their partnership was in full display.Shahbaz Ahmed is being carried by his team-mates after taking Bengal into the knockouts•PTI The surface for this fixture, like a typical green wicket, is most rewarding when the bowling lengths are full. Porel was relentless in this regard with the new ball, and as someone who can swing the ball at a good pace, he caused immediate damage with the early wickets of R Samarth and Nair, getting them to push well in front of their bodies. The consistency was particularly impressive coming from a tall man whose natural length is just short of a good length. In contrast, Prasidh Krishna, a similar type of bowler, with similar height, hasn’t been as effective for Karnataka in the match.Bowling with him were Kumar, who held one end up by bowling 14 of the first 29 overs at a stretch, and Akash, who bowled in small, boisterous bursts to trouble batsmen with extra skid off the pitch. For bowlers of varying styles and strengths, their attacking plans stayed identical to the frontline batsmen, and they only switched to bodyline when the lower-order was exposed. Equally impressively, they got through two full hours’ work with only the lunch break to give them any rest.Porel has bowled, on average, approximately 24 overs per match this season; Mukesh is second with approximately 21 per match, and Akash averages just about 17 per match. All of them average more than left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed (just over 16 per match), who is Bengal’s highest wicket-taker for the season with 30 wickets, and offspinner Arnab Nandi (just over 13 per match) who are the other bowlers who’ve bowled more than 100 overs.”Before the season, we’ve run a lot. In a week there has been four to five sessions of running, and two-three days of strength [training],” Porel said, describing the routine that is helping him stay fast while retaining control, adding that the prospect of missing a gym session has almost become unthinkable, to the point that he was headed for one at the end of day’s play.All three fast bowlers’ fitness levels is the main reason for their consistency. But they do not lack for tactical nous either. Porel and Mukesh had largely attacked the stumps while bowling to Rahul and No. 4 KV Siddharth, who briefly stabilised Karnataka’s innings. After getting through the tough examination, Siddharth was lulled into chasing a drive outside off by Akash in his first over, and edged to slip.At the same time, Mukesh changed ends after a wicketless first spell, to the side from where he would dismiss both Rahul and Pandey with persistent fourth-stump lines. When the left-handed Devdutt Padikkal came in, Porel got him first over of a new spell by creating an angle from over the wicket. And in his next, he created the same angle by going around the wicket to get right-handed Sharath Srinivas to edge to slip. During the end, Akash set K Gowtham up to ramp one to third man.From Porel’s assessment of it, all that was a fairly straightforward day. “When we get the new ball, we go for the kill,” he said about the roles each of them decides to play. “But when it’s not happening, we try to bowl in partnerships so that we do not leak too many runs. So the main criteria is to not give away easy runs and to maintain the pressure and the plans we make during the video sessions.”We were happy to see KL Rahul batting on 23 playing 73 balls [26 off 67], because if you’re not bowling well, KL Rahul would have been on 50. So we’re quite happy.”Not long after those bowling graphics were shown on TV, Porel was having caps and pens thrown at him at the fine leg boundary – for autographs he was more than happy to give. Every time he returned to that corner, he was drawing cheers of the sort only veteran Manoj Tiwary has elicited through the game. He is strongly poised to be the next big bowling name for Bengal; but in the larger scheme, a young pace attack, and an impressive spin-bowling allrounder will excite Bengal even more. Title-winning teams are built with bowling strength, and after quite a while, it seems like Bengal can depend on more than just one name.

There was joy for Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah, who played the wreckers-in-chief

Bharath Seervi23-Oct-20203 for 4 – The Super Kings’ score after 2.5 overs. Only once has a team been four-down for a lower score: the Kochi Tuskers Kerala were four-down for two runs against the Deccan Chargers in 2011. The Super Kings’ previous lowest score at four-down was 13, also against the Mumbai Indians, at Wankhede Stadium in 2013.3 – Runs scored by the Super Kings’ top-four batsmen in the collapse, the lowest for any team in an IPL innings. The previous lowest was four runs by the Kochi Tuskers’ top four against the Chargers in 2011.ESPNcricinfo Ltd5 – Five wickets lost by the Super Kings in the powerplay, which is the first such occasion for them in the IPL. They have lost four wickets in the first six overs several times, including twice last year. Only once has a team lost more wickets in the powerplay – the Kochi Tuskers against the Chargers. The Royal Challengers Bangalore had once lost seven wickets in five overs, but that was only a five-over match because of rain.3 – Number of times the Mumbai Indians have picked up five wickets in the first six overs in the IPL. The first two instances had come in 2017, both against the Delhi Daredevils. They had taken four wickets in the first six overs against the Super Kings twice before, both in 2013 including the final that year.10 – Wickets for Trent Boult in the powerplay overs this IPL, including three in this match. He has taken three wickets more than any other bowler has in powerplays so far.1 – It was the first time Jasprit Bumrah struck twice in an over in the powerplay in the IPL. Before this game, he had taken two wickets in an over 13 times in the IPL, but those were all in the second half of the innings.3 – Instances of five of the Super Kings’ top-six batsmen getting out for single-digit scores in the IPL. Incidentally, all of them have come against the Mumbai Indians. The previous two instances were at the Wankhede in 2013 and in Chennai in 2019.

Before Adelaide, India had been dismissed for 100 or fewer four times since 2000

Dustin Silgardo19-Dec-2020100 all out vs England, 2nd inns, Mumbai, 2006
Shaun Udal never played a Test after this, but in Mumbai in 2006, he produced an iconic moment with his offspin when he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar to leave India 76 for 5 in chase of 313. Udal ended with four wickets, including that of a young MS Dhoni, and England secured a 1-1 draw in the three-match series. It was always going to be a tough chase for India on a fifth-day Wankhede pitch, but their star-studded batting line-up did not even put up a fight. England’s quicks accounted for Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, and Udal did the rest. This was England’s first Test win in India since 1985.99 all out vs New Zealand, 1st inns, Hamilton, 2002
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India’s batsmen could not handle the extreme swinging conditions in New Zealand on their 2002-03 tour. In the first Test, in Wellington, they had been bowled out for 161 and 121, and in Hamilton, they failed to reach three figures in the first innings. Daryl Tuffey ripped through the top order, dismissing Sanjay Bangar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar for single-digit scores. India actually managed to claw their way back into the Test, dismissing New Zealand for 94 in their first innings, but a second collapse meant New Zealand won by four wickets.Virat Kohli’s disastrous 2014 tour of England came to an end when he nicked off yet again•Getty Images94 all out vs England, 2nd inns, The Oval, 2014
India were bruised and battered by the second innings of the fifth Test of their 2014 tour of England. After going 1-0 up in the second Test, they had been beaten soundly in Southampton and Manchester and were dismissed for 148 in the first innings at The Oval. England had responded with 486, batting India out of the Test for all practical purposes. There was little fight in the second Indian innings: Jimmy Anderson removed M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara early, Virat Kohli’s poor tour came to an end when he nicked behind yet again, and Dhoni was sent back for a duck as India were bowled out in less than 30 overs and lost by an innings and 224 runs, their third biggest defeat in Tests.76 all out vs South Africa, 1st inns, Ahmedabad, 2008
On a first-day pitch in Ahmedabad, South Africa’s quicks put in one of the finest displays of fast bowling on Indian soil as they ran through India in 20 overs. Makhaya Ntini started the collapse, dismissing Wasim Jaffer in the fourth over. Dale Steyn then got Virender Sehwag to chop on before Ntini got two more, Laxman leaving one that was angled in and Ganguly playing on. Then Steyn produced one of his best Test deliveries, getting one to seam past Dravid’s edge and hit the top of off stump. Morne Morkel got in on the act with two quick strikes before Steyn wiped up the tail to finish with 5 for 23. A double-century by AB de Villiers in South Africa’s first innings put the game beyond India.

Anderson has the most Test wickets for a fast bowler after turning 30

S Rajesh09-Feb-20211:43

Did England play spin better than India in the first Test?

6 – Consecutive wins for England in Asia, following their 3-0 and 2-0 series wins in Sri Lanka in 2018 and earlier this year. Their recent record in Asia contrasts sharply with that of South Africa, who lost their ninth Test in a row in the continent when they were beaten by Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Monday.ESPNcricinfo Ltd11 – Test wins for England in Asia since January 2010 – they have a 11-12 win-loss record in the continent during this period, which is easily the best among the non-Asian teams. No other team has won more than half the number of Tests that they have lost: New Zealand and West Indies have a win-loss ratio of 0.5. Australia have a 3-15 record during this period. In fact, England have won more Tests in India during this period (three) than all other teams put together (two).
Of the nine series England have played in Asia during this period (excluding the ongoing one in India), they have won four, lost three, and drawn two.343 – Test wickets for James Anderson after turning 30, which is the most for a fast bowler. He went past Courtney Walsh, who has 341. Among all bowlers, only three have more wickets after turning 30: Rangana Herath (398), Muttiah Muralitharan (388), and Shane Warne (386), while Anil Kumble has 343 as well.ESPNcricinfo Ltd26 – Test wins for Joe Root, which equals Michael Vaughan’s record for an England captain. Root has a 26-15 win-loss record in 47 Tests, compared to Vaughan’s 26-11 in 51 matches.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – India had lost just one home Test in their last 35 games before this one, going back to the beginning of 2013. They had won 28 games during this period, and were easily the most dominant home team in these eight years.3 – Consecutive Man-of-the-Match awards for Root – he had won the award in the two Tests in Sri Lanka as well. There are only six other instances of a player winning three or more successive awards: Muralitharan (four), Ian Botham, Wasim Akram, Kallis, Michael Hussey, and Steve Harmison.2010 – The last time India bowled more no-balls than the 27 they did in this match. That was against South Africa in Kolkata, when India bowled 29. Just two bowlers contributed to all the no-balls: Ishant Sharma (16) and Amit Mishra (13).4 – Wins in India for Anderson. Since 2000, only two other overseas players have won as many Tests in India: Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis.1999 – The last time India lost a Test in Chennai. It was an epic encounter, which Pakistan won by 12 runs. Since then, India won five out of eight Tests here before this defeat to England.

With the current lot of IPL games being played in these two cities, the ability to deal with the conditions there is to the fore

Aakash Chopra20-Apr-2021Strokemaking is one of the top attractions of T20 cricket and so curators usually look to prepare pitches that are a little skewed in favour of the batters. While some argue that there should always be a fair contest between bat and ball, the dynamics of a T20 game demand that bowlers need to look elsewhere than the pitch for allies.Scoreboard pressure is as real as the ball swinging in the air or turning off the surface, and must be used to your advantage. Of course, nobody wants a featherbed for a surface at a really small ground. A lot of people tell you that the watching public, at home or in the stadium, loves only big hits but the fact is that too much of anything isn’t good. In a bat versus bat contest, cricket often loses.This IPL has already produced some very interesting surfaces and the trend is likely to continue. With only six venues hosting the entire tournament and only two being used during any given block of about two weeks, the chances of pitches adding a new element to the contests are high. When there are back-to-back matches over two consecutive days at the same venue, the curator might try his best to have two similar pitches ready but it’s a lot easier said than done because he doesn’t really have the option to use the pitches that are off to one side or the other. And the ones close to the central playing surface attract heavy traffic and so are bound to have a lot of wear and tear.How do you counter challenging surfaces in a T20 game? Obviously the challenge is different on different surfaces. The pitch in Chennai has been slowing down radically as games progress, and that makes it toughest to bat during the last five overs there. On the contrary, the green and moist pitch at the Wankhede Stadium is toughest to bat on in the first six overs, while the ball is new.Since the challenges are different, they need to be countered differently too. In Chennai, you need to start the innings assuming that run-scoring is going to get tougher with every passing over, and that makes it important to play high-risk cricket up front.You must attack from the get-go, and while you should still choose the areas you want to target, there’s merit in stretching the envelope a little in the first six overs. After that, the focus must switch to rotating the strike as much possible, and perhaps, waiting for short-pitched deliveries for boundary shots. Once the ball gets old in Chennai, it’s very difficult to hit boundaries off the front foot without taking a significant amount of risk. Of course that risk must be taken once in a while but if you have gotten off to a flier and have managed to rotate the strike in the middle overs, you won’t be forced to manufacture these shots all the time.On a seaming Wankhede deck, batters must allow the ball to come to them•BCCI/IPLChepauk is a reasonably big ground and it may not be a bad idea to chip the ball over the fielders inside the circle to create opportunities for twos – that’s something we haven’t seen very often thus far in the tournament.It must be acknowledged that all of this is much easier said than done, for a game of cricket will invariably find a narrative of its own.As for the first six overs at the Wankhede Stadium, on a night when the ball is seaming around, you ought to dip into your Test batting repertoire and momentarily forget that it’s a T20 game and that Mumbai is a high-scoring ground. Our game demands that one must always respect the conditions, and if you don’t just because it’s a different format, you’re likely to fail.The swinging-seaming ball must be encountered with caution and care. Don’t play big, booming drives on the up. Instead, allow the ball to come to you.T20 cricket has changed the mindsets of a lot of bowlers and many feel obliged to try a couple of variations in any given over. Often it’s the change of pace on a surface good for batting, but even on a bowler-friendly surface, they tend to change the line and length a couple of times in an over, and that’s the opportunity you must wait for and seize.If there are no easy opportunities to score, you must bide your time and back yourself to make up for the lost time in the overs to follow. The toughest thing for a goalkeeper while saving a penalty shot is to stand still and hold his ground instead of anticipating and diving to one side, but there’s enough evidence to suggest that his best chance of pulling off a save is to not move till the ball has been kicked. A batter letting a couple of deliveries go to the wicketkeeper in a T20 game is akin to standing still for a goalkeeper, but on a seamer-friendly pitch that might be the best thing you as a batter could do to help yourself and the team.Once again, like it was the case for the strategy to succeed in Chennai, this too is easier said than done here.

Could the two WTC finalists be any more excited?

Alan Gardner15-Jun-2021Here we go again, then. The hoopla, the hype, the patriotic fervour. The hopes of millions carried on the shoulders of millionaires, heroes dressed in white, cheered off in pursuit of glory and a coveted piece of silverware. The entourage, the WAGs, the swirl of social content. The nagging fear that it will all come unstuck, followed by bitter recriminations, dressing-room splits, trial by media.That’s right, we are, of course, talking about India’s bid to bring it home in the World Test Championship final, as the oldest format’s newest format rolls in to sweep Euro 2020 off the UK back pages – much to the relief of England’s cricketers, who have now got twice as much cover for their failings after they began the meticulously planned long run in to the 2021-22 Ashes with a crushing defeat at home to New Zealand.Already the atmosphere is building around the event, with kids flocking to buy Test flannels and recreate their favourite moments from the WTC league stage on TikTok. That added context was all the game needed, and you can sense the anticipation among those involved too – as Virat Kohli explained a few months ago.Related

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“If you want me to be brutally honest, it might work for teams who are not that motivated to play Test cricket. Teams like us, who are motivated to play Test cricket and want to win Test matches and keep Indian cricket team at the top of the world in Test cricket, we have no issues whatsoever, whether it’s a World Test Championship or not. I think for teams like us, it’s only a distraction when you start thinking of the World Test Championship.”Okay, so it’s not for everyone – even the captain of one of the sides involved (though this was said before India qualified, so it can perhaps be categorised as “mind games”). But at least the ICC managed to come up with a way of pitting the two best teams against each, despite the obvious issues caused by the pandemic, right? Let’s ask, Ravi Shastri.”Please don’t shift the goal posts. You have got more points than any other team in the world, 360 at that time, and suddenly there’s a percentage system where you go from number one to number three in a week. We’ve have had to dig deep. We’ve had to go down every hole that’s needed to find water and we found it. We put ourselves in the final of the World Test Championship, the biggest trophy in the world, with 520 points.”Well, look, Shaz, they had to do . Now can we at least just sit down and enjo…”Ideally, in the long run, if they want to persist with the Test Championship, a best-of-three final will be ideal. As a culmination of two and a half years of cricket around the globe. Going forward, best of three will be ideal, but we have got to finish it as quickly as possible because the FTP will start all over again.”So there you have it: the WTC was a complicated distraction that both bored and infuriated its participants, but would nevertheless benefit from having more games (hahaha, have you seen the calendar?). Baddiel and Skinner are right now heading into the studio with the Bharat Army to lay all that down in a seminally catchy pop tune which will echo on the terraces at IPL matches for years to come.

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Speaking of the WTC, New Zealand look to be in good form after completing their warm-ups against some local enthusiasts and competition winners. As we’ve touched on before, those mild-looking Kiwis are actually monsters and they handed out another cheerily ruthless mauling at Edgbaston. After the carnage on day three, England coach Chris Silverwood attempted the traditional hunt for some positives. “You look at how New Zealand have played this game, they have given us a lesson on what it takes to be number one in the world,” he said – which sounded a bit like a pygmy shrew looking to pick up tips from a saltwater crocodile on how to become an apex predator. But perhaps the greatest indication that Kane Williamson’s men are untouchable was that they made six changes for the second Test but still managed to avoid any criticism for disrespecting a weaker opponent.

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Cricket is not often short on controversies – already this month we’ve had the stink around Ollie Robinson’s Twitter droppings, plus Shakib Al Hasan taking up karate during a DPL match – but what we have lacked until recently is player YouTube channels to help explain it all. Well out in front is R Ashwin, though the Light Roller’s Tamil is a little rusty, so we don’t often tune in, and now following in his wake comes Usman Khawaja – maker of one of the great 37s on Test debut and a man not afraid to give Justin Langer some backatcha in the Australia dressing room (at least until he was dropped). As you might imagine, given his Pakistani origins and experiences as the first Muslim to play for Australia, Khawaja speaks eloquently in his six-minute video about Robinson and prejudice in the game. On Shakib “losing his c**p”, well, he spends most of the time giggling to himself, which is an understandable response. Either way, Uzzy the Oracle should be worth a follow.

The left-arm spinner’s contest with Abid Ali made for wonderful viewing; it was even, and only after 110 balls did the Pakistan batter falter

Mohammad Isam28-Nov-2021As Taijul Islam walked to his bowling mark, there was a big cheer, some clapping of hands and some chatter, and a lot of buzz among the Bangladesh players. And why not? He had picked up four wickets, including that of century-maker Abid Ali, and the Bangladesh players were expecting more from him. He didn’t disappoint, finishing with 7 for 116, his ninth five-wicket haul in Tests.Related

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Taijul picked up almost all of the big wickets. And the pressure he created on the second day of the Chattogram Test played its part in Mehidy Hasan Miraz nailing Babar Azam cheaply. Taijul himself was rampant in the first two sessions of the day, and his contest with Abid made for gripping viewing: Abid scored slowest against Taijul when compared to the other bowlers, and though he did hit the left-arm spinner for three fours and a six and the lbw decision was a marginal one too, it was a testament to Taijul’s patience. He had bowled 110 deliveries to Abid before getting rid of him.”The wicket wasn’t all that friendly for spinners. Taijul was successful because of his consistency, patience, accuracy and discipline,” Bangladesh’s spin-bowling coach Sohel Islam said afterwards. “We didn’t take any wickets yesterday but we were still in the game. We bowled similarly today. We wanted to be accurate, create a bowling partnership and prey on the batsman’s patience. We stuck to our plans.”Partly because of his quiet and unflashy exterior, Taijul has always flown under the radar somewhat. He has always been tagged a Test specialist, and finds himself in and out of the white-ball squads. He hardly plays Tests abroad. But in Test matches at home, the plan is usually to hand him the ball as soon as possible. And he rarely fails to deliver: he has an average of 26.39 at home.When he does, though, he cops a fair bit of blame. Like after the losses to Afghanistan and West Indies. He wasn’t too effective in Sri Lanka earlier this year either. He was then passed over for the one-off Test in Zimbabwe in July, keeping him out of international cricket for six months.

“I have one role when Shakib is playing, and another when he is not playing. Since he isn’t playing, I have to manage the wicket-taker’s role as well as maintaining economy”Taijul Islam

At one stage in between, he tried to tweak his bowling action, making it similar to that of Daniel Vettori, who was Bangladesh’s spin-bowling coach at the time. But he reverted to his own action soon enough. What didn’t change was his attitude.”I like courageous guys like Taijul,” Sohel said. “He thought that he needed to take a bit of a risk to get to the next stage of his career. He showed guts by trying something like that [change of action] at this stage of his career. I think it is a sign of a big player. His new action would never have caused him a big problem in any case. His old action was stored in his muscle memory.”Taijul, among the top-flight players who regularly plays domestic first-class cricket, came into this game on the back of a ten-wicket haul in the National Cricket League. A quiet contributor, sometimes with the bat too, and at least on one occasion on the field, Taijul will probably find himself playing a more central role in the bowling line-up as Shakib Al Hasan’s career reaches its final stages.”I have one role when Shakib is playing, and another when he is not playing. Since he isn’t playing, I had to assume his role. I have to manage the wicket-taker’s role as well as maintaining economy,” Taijul said. “Regardless of whether I am playing NCL or any other tournament, I try to stick to my process when I am preparing for Tests.”Taijul has now delivered again, giving Bangladesh a good chance of beating Pakistan. In a cricket team with so many spots where more consistent performers would be welcome, the stability Taijul provides is invaluable. He has a big heart. He has great control over his craft. What he might need is more support from the management, and be part of the bigger plan.

“He looks like he’s got energy, faster arm action and now he’s got the skill to take over,” Daniel Vettori on Kuldeep’s return to form

Sruthi Ravindranath29-Apr-20223:18

What is Kuldeep Yadav doing differently this season?

The renaissance continues: he has added new dimensions to his bowling, he has been more confident, and he has been producing match-winning spells. Kuldeep Yadav had wrecked his former team Kolkata Knight Riders earlier in the season, and on Thursday he did it again, finishing with superb figures of 4 for 14 in three overs to restrict them to 146.He continues to show why he deserves to be part of India’s T20 World Cup plans, putting his success down to him becoming “mentally strong” and having “clearer plans”.”I have probably become a better bowler [than before],” Kuldeep told host broadcaster Star Sports after the match. “However, one thing is certain that I have become a lot stronger mentally. When you fail in life, you think, ‘Where can I improve?’ You learn from your mistakes when you face failure in life. I have worked on it, and now I have no fear of failure.”Related

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Kuldeep picked up his second four-wicket haul of this season, taking his tally to 17 wickets. In his first over, he had debutant Baba Indrajith caught at long-on, before trapping Sunil Narine lbw with the very next ball. He came back in the 14th over to dismiss Shreyas Iyer and then set up Andre Russell to get him out for a three-ball duck.”I liked the wicket of Russell because I set him up well,” he said. “I first went around the wicket and then returned to bowl over the wicket. Then I went back to bowl around the wicket and bowled a bit wider. That was my plan. He played out two dots, and then I knew he would step out for a shot. So I perfectly planned for that, and it [the wicket] was an important wicket for us.”This kind of planning – without overthinking – is what has led to Kuldeep having his “best IPL season yet”. He was not too worried when he went wicketless while conceding 40 in three overs in the last match against Rajasthan Royals. But that has not always hasn’t been the case, he admitted.Until IPL 2019, Kuldeep was Knight Riders’ go-to wicket-taker, averaging 19.43 with an economy rate of 7.32. In 2020, he picked one wicket in five games and was eventually dropped. Kuldeep didn’t make the Knight Riders’ starting XI in the first half of the 2021 season either, and was then sidelined with a knee injury for the second.Kuldeep Yadav: “I’ve become a lot clearer with my plans. I’ve backed my skill”•BCCIWorrying about giving away too many runs is no longer an issue this time around because he has always found ways to come back.”I’m enjoying bowling, and I’ve become a lot clearer with my plans,” Kuldeep said. “I don’t think too much about what the batter will do, I have also given away some runs. I’ve backed my skill. I’ve stuck to my lengths too, though it’s not always been perfect.”But that’s what happens in T20. But my focus has been on bowling good lengths. When I get a wicket upfront then it just gives me more confidence [for the rest of the game].”But what is it that has sparked his turnaround this season?He has been bowling a lot quicker – his average speed has gone from 81.9kph in the IPL till 2021 to 86.6kph this season – and has also managed to put more revs on the ball. Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori believes these things have also helped Kuldeep bring more energy into his action.”More revs mean your hand position and your release point [are better] and the more energy you bring to the crease,” Vettori told ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time:Out. “The great Shane Warne talked about how your energy at the crease shows how much spin you get in the ball – you need a quick arm speed, and then your subtleties and nuance come from your wrist position.””Looks like Kuldeep has got the energy, a faster arm action, and now he has got the skill to take over because of that base. It’s also the release point. It’s about bowling fast with more revolutions on it, and you see the seam position.”

“Kuldeep has recognised that to be successful in this format, ‘I too have to add a little bit of pace to the ball and be able to spin it'”Ian Bishop on Kuldeep’s success this season

“It felt like during the last opportunity he tried to buy wickets, and that maybe [was] a product of Narine being a certainty and [Varun] Chakravarthy coming into the team. ‘I have got to make the most of this opportunity because If I don’t do something, I’m going to be out of the team.'”Now he seems more settled – he is obviously the first choice for Delhi and he is forcing his case for being back in the Indian team. It’s all about what he’s done and how he’s improved as a bowler.”Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop also believes that Kuldeep bringing in that extra dimension of adding pace has brought him success this season.”Virat Kohli, the captain [of India] at that time, wanted him [Yuzvendra Chahal] to bowl with more pace as wristspinners in world cricket have done. The Rashid Khans, the Imran Tahirs were bowling quicker through the air.”Kuldeep has recognised that in order to be successful in this format ‘I too have to add a little bit of pace to the ball and be able to spin it’. So whether that’s been a deliberate effort [or not], I think that was good planning. And to see him bowl with more pace is actually working.”Chahal and Kuldeep were once a crucial part of India’s white-ball plans before falling out of favour due to inconsistent performances. They both have now made strong cases: Chahal is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with Kuldeep right behind. But there is no competition between the two, at least according to the latter.”He is like my elder brother, and he has given me encouragement,” Kuldeep said. “He used to talk to me constantly even when I was injured. I sincerely wish that he got the Purple Cap.”

Blast record-holder targets more success with Notts as tournament’s 20th season draws near

Matt Roller11-May-2022Samit Patel is the second-highest wicket-taker in the history of English domestic T20 cricket as the Vitality Blast approaches its 20th season, an achievement that must have seemed implausible to him in his first experience of the format.In the inaugural year of what was the Twenty20 Cup, Patel made 10 not out off 13 balls on his T20 debut for Nottinghamshire against Leicestershire at Trent Bridge and two days later was thrown the ball for the first time in a televised game against Yorkshire at Headingley.”I was still at school at the time and I was telling everyone at school to watch me,” Patel recalls. “But then my first-ever ball in T20 cricket was a no-ball. It went for six. And the free hit went for six too so I’d bowled one ball for 14.” Michael Lumb, his future team-mate, went after him and took his only over for 28 runs; even in the days before ‘match-ups’ had entered common parlance, bowling left-arm spin to a set left-handed batter was a dangerous game.”No-one knew how to play T20 cricket in that first year,” Patel says. “We didn’t know what a good score was, we didn’t know which players to use. No-one knew anything: teams were trying pinch-hitters, anything they could think of. We just didn’t know: it felt like a trial, really.”It was just a case of ‘try and get as many as you can, save a few wickets for the back end’ and off we went. From a bowling point of view, it was ‘if in doubt, bowl yorkers’ – no slower balls, no bouncers. Nobody knew how to play it so there was no planning at all.”A fresh-faced Samit Patel during T20 cricket’s third season•Getty ImagesPatel’s own experience was shaped by Notts’ struggles: they won five of their first 18 games across the first three T20 seasons, failing to reach the knockout stages until their run to the final in 2006. “We probably prioritised red-ball cricket a little bit too much but that was just the thing to do back in the day,” he reflects.The contrast is stark with a side that has now won more T20 games (128) than any other county and reached the knockout stages in each of the last six seasons, winning the title in 2017 and 2020. Patel has been a constant, and along with Ravi Bopara will be one of only two players to appear in each of the first 20 seasons of English domestic T20 cricket, following Gareth Batty and Rikki Clarke’s retirements. Last year, he became the first man in the tournament’s history to play 200 games.”Who’d have thought that I’d play 20 years of T20 cricket? It’s pretty special, to be honest,” he says. “To play in every year of the Blast for the same county has been unreal. I’ve been very fortunate. T20 has given guys a chance to fly around the world, meet new friends and make a difference: it’s been great for English cricket.”