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B Indrajith and Washington Sundar led Tamil Nadu’s fightback against Mumbai, while Rajat Patidar and Harpreet Singh Bhatia shored up Madhya Pradesh against Tripura

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2017Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari (302*) slammed his maiden triple-hundred and propelled his team to 584 for 5, before declaring the innings against Odisha in Vizianagaram. Resuming on 278 for 2, Vihari put on a 208-run stand with Ricky Bhui (100) and deflated Odisha, who had to wait 43.3 overs for their first wicket of the day. During the course of his 456-ball knock, Vihari smashed 29 fours and two sixes and added 159 to his overnight score. This was Vihari’s 13th first-class ton and second consecutive score of 150 or more.Bhui, meanwhile, brought up his fourth first-class hundred before Odisha captain Govinda Poddar trapped him lbw in the 134th over. In the next over, seamer Suryakant Pradhan dismissed D Ravi Teja to pick up his second wicket, but nothing was going to stop Vihari’s march. Odisha suffered an early jolt in their first innings when left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt had opener Natraj Behera lbw in the fourth over. Sandeep Pattanaik and Poddar, however, ensured there was no further damage as Odisha went to stumps at 32 for 1.B Indrajith (105*) and Washington Sundar (69) mounted a rescue effort with a fifth-wicket partnership of 157 runs to lift Tamil Nadu from 69 for 4 to 239 for 5 by stumps against Mumbai. Indrajith’s sixth first-class hundred, which included 12 fours, stood out as much for its elegance as its risk-free nature. While he mostly preferred to hit down the ground, he wasn’t averse to playing the horizontal shots on either side. Giving him useful company was Sundar, who drove and cut confidently, and responded swiftly to his partner’s calls for tight singles. Sundar, however, fell with 6.2 overs left in the day, after a half-hearted pull off Dhawal Kulkarni found deep square leg.Mumbai had hit the ground running in the morning with some quick wickets after being bowled out for 374. Seamer Akash Parkar cleaned up captain Abhinav Mukund in the fourth over before M Vijay (11) was caught behind by left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil in the 11th over. Mumbai captain Aditya Tare juggled the ball on a few occasions before snaffling it.After Kaushik Gandhi fell three overs later, Vijay Shankar, who had recovered from an injury scare to pick up his fourth wicket in the morning, looked to have settled down in the company of Indrajith. However, he gave Gohil the charge in the 25th over and was stumped. Indrajith, though, remained steady and took Tamil Nadu to safety in the company of R Ashwin.A 62-run partnership between opener Bishal Ghosh (65) and Gurinder Singh, who smashed a 55-ball 57, helped Tripura finish on 220 against Madhya Pradesh in Agartala after tottering on 88 for 6 at one stage.Tripura’s bowlers then reduced Madhya Pradesh to 200 for 7 to set up an interesting battle for the first-innings lead. Ishwar Pandey and Ankit Sharma finished with three wickets each for Madhya Pradesh. In their reply, Madhya Pradesh got off to a shaky start, as they lost opener Wasim Ahmed and Shubham Sharma inside the first 10 overs. With Naman Ojha (8) and captain Devendra Bundela (3), too, falling cheaply, it was left to opener Rajat Patidar (79) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (70) to resuscitate the innings with a 104-run alliance for the fifth wicket.However, Gurinder trapped Patidar in front with his left-arm spin in the 52nd over before Ankit Sharma and Bhatia were dismissed in quick succession.

It’s too early to judge but Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer’s average of 88.50 is the best for an Indian pair who’ve opened at least five times in Tests

George Binoy28-Jul-2007

Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik survived James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom’s testing opening spells, and posted 147 for the opening wicket on the second day at Trent Bridge. It was a partnership that beat the odds, for India’s openers have had a horrendous record in England in the last three decades. The last time India had a first-wicket partnership of more than 100 in England was when Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan added 213 at The Oval in 1979. Since then, the openers had added more than 50 only five times in 29 innings with Kris Srikkanth and Gavaskar’s 64 at Leeds in 1986 being the highest.India have a history of makeshift opening pairs and Jaffer, the specialist, and Karthik, who averaged 56 in six innings as opener before Trent Bridge, are a relatively new combination. They began impressively, adding 153 against South Africa at Cape Town in January and since they’ve put on 0, 0, 175*, 18, 38 and 147. It’s too early to judge but Karthik and Jaffer’s average of 88.50 is the best for an Indian pair who’ve opened at least five times in Tests.You cannot fault an opening stand that produces 147 but Karthik and Jaffer had large doses of luck on the second day at Trent Bridge. England’s fast bowlers swung and seamed the new ball considerably and both openers played and missed regularly. In fact, Karthik and Jaffer had a higher in-control percentage – that is, they middled the ball more regularly – at Lord’s, where India lost their first wicket on 18 and 38 in the two innings.

Chris Tremlett has been England’s best fast bowler so far in the second Test. He bowled predominantly on a good length or just short of a length and got the ball to bounce sharply. India scored 109 runs off 29 overs between lunch and tea but the batsmen managed to score only 15 runs off Tremlett’s eight overs, while Anderson and Sidebottom’s economy-rates during this session were five and 4.60 respectively.Anderson and Sidebottom were England’s most effective bowlers at Lord’s but their swing has produced no wickets so far at Trent Bridge. In the first innings at Lord’s, Anderson not only took 5 for 42, but also built immense pressure with his economy rate of 1.72. The difference so far at Trent Bridge has been a positive approach from the Indians compared to Lord’s, and a little bit of luck.More stats from the second day

The victory was set up by a trio of half-centuries from Ibrahim Zadran, Ikram Ali Khil, and Darwish Rasooli, to set up an imposing total of 284 for 7

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2018Ikram Ali Khil gets off his feet to play a shot during his innings of 55•Getty Images

Reigning Under-19 Asia Cup champions Afghanistan reprised their regional success on a global stage at the World Cup in New Zealand, defeating Sri Lanka by 32 runs on DLS Method in Whangerei. Having already beaten Pakistan in Group D, Afghanistan clinched a place in the quarter-finals for the second time in their history, having done it in 2014 in the UAE before losing to eventual champions South Africa.The success for Afghanistan is also a 180-degree turn from the 2016 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, when they were similarly placed in a group with Pakistan and Sri Lanka but were defeated by both sides.

SL’s Kalana Perera out injured

Sri Lanka Cricket has named Thilan Wallekamkanamge as a replacement for left-arm spinner Kalana Perera, who has been ruled out of the World Cup with an ankle injury. Perera had hurt his ankle during a training session on January 16 in Whangarei.

Wednesday’s victory was set up by a trio of half-centuries from Ibrahim Zadran (86 off 112 balls), Ikram Ali Khil (55 off 89 balls), and Darwish Rasooli (63 off 44 balls) to set up an imposing total of 284 for 7. The chase was in the balance when rain arrived after 24 overs with Sri Lanka 108 for 3. A revised target of 127 off the final 14 overs was set when play resumed, and the required run rate jumped from 6.80 to nearly ten an over.Afghanistan’s bowlers seized on this to successfully apply pressure. Captain Naveen-ul-Haq snared two wickets in the first four overs after play resumed, including the well-set Jehan Daniel for Sri Lanka’s eventual top score of 48. Naveen finished with 4 for 35 in eight overs and also effected a run-out.Afghanistan play Ireland in their final Group D match. Sri Lanka play Pakistan with the winner joining Afghanistan in the quarter-finals. A tie or a washout would also put Pakistan into the knockouts due to the net run rate tiebreaker.

Stuart Robertson, the ECB marketing man who devised Twenty20, speaks to Andrew McGlashan

Andrew McGlashan13-Sep-2007

The first ICC World Twenty20 is a satisfying time for Stuart Robertson. Back in 2000, as the head marketing man at the ECB, Robertson was set the daunting task of trying to bring more people through the gates to watch English domestic cricket. Test matches and one-day internationals were routinely sold out, even when England weren’t winning, but county matches really were for one man and his dog.The idea he came up with is what we now know as the Twenty20 game. Seven years and 9000 km later, the Wanderers, Newlands and Kingsmead are guaranteed sell-outs to watch some of the biggest names in cricket at the first world championship in the new format.”The key is, it’s such a simple format,” Robertson, who now works for Hampshire, told Cricinfo. “It’s not rocket science and that’s the beauty of it. I wasn’t surprised how quickly the game took off in England, but the international growth was a bit more unexpected, especially the pace at which other countries introduced it into their fixtures.”Twenty20 made its debut in the 2003 English season, and that winter South Africa introduced Pro20. Two years later Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all made room in their domestic calendars for a competition. Since then, New Zealand have also joined in, while Stanford 20/20 sparked popular interest in the Caribbean and has now been incorporated into the official WICB season. Even India, who have a stubborn love-affair with the 50-over game, yielded to pressure and played a domestic Twenty20 tournament last year, although the reception was lukewarm. Cracking that market remains the game’s major challenge.”The data we had was fairly black and white,” said Robertson. “Across the board, attendances were down 20 per cent over five years when the project began in 2000-01. My job was to put together a report, looking in detail at how to bring people back through the gates, but importantly, doing it from a consumer perspective. There had been plenty of committees set up to look at the issue in the past, but they’d involved former players and county chairmen whose findings were not always in the spectators’ interests.

“We looked at why people weren’t coming to the games and there was a key theme: accessibility. This was a physical reason – the timings of the matches; people at work couldn’t get to the games during the day. But there was a cultural, social aspect as well. A lot of people said: ‘I thought you had to be a member to go a game.'”Robertson and his team identified key groups of people who were barely registering in the county game; women, the 16-35 age group, and young families with children. “We needed a product that would be attractive to them, and asked if there was a game that took less than three hours, would they come to that? The overwhelming response was that they would, so we went back to the counties and in 2001 it went to a vote of the First Class Forum. It was passed 11-7 in favour and that was the start of Twenty20.”It wasn’t a faultless progression from idea to inception. As the voting suggests, the format didn’t gain wholehearted support, although Robertson was confident from the outset that the early misgivings could be overcome. “There was scepticism before and after the start of the tournament, but the great thing was that once it got off the ground, everyone got behind it. Even those who voted against the proposal initially didn’t stand back and say they wouldn’t embrace it.”The advantage was that virtually all the commercial and marketing men
could see the potential that Twenty20 had, but it was the chairmen – brought up in slightly different eras – who offered the early obstacles. Once Twenty20 was voted in, the marketing men could hardly wait to get working on it.”

It wasn’t only off the field that Twenty20 found itself struggling for recognition. During its first season, players didn’t quite know what to make of it, having been brought up on a diet of 50-over and four-day cricket. “From the playing side there was certainly a feeling in the first year that it was a bit of hit-and-giggle, and a few teams didn’t take it seriously,” said Robertson. “I spent a lot of time speaking and giving presentations on it through the PCA [Professional Cricketers’ Association] and slowly the mood changed.”Sometimes the early misgivings actually came from the international players who were used to playing in front of full houses and weren’t sure it could be replicated on the domestic level. But for the young, upcoming players performing in front of six or seven thousand people it was a totally new experience. It’s what being a professional sportsman was all about.”The question now is, how far can Twenty20 go? The ICC has put a limit on the number of international matches in a year and Robertson agrees the current level “is just about right” with a match or two against each touring side, and the World Cup. But he doesn’t support the view that there’s a danger of overload, especially at domestic level. “It’s been such a success. Why shouldn’t there be more of it? In England I certainly think there is scope for a tournament to run throughout the season, maybe on Friday nights, rather than just the two-week period in midsummer.”One enticing prospect is the idea of a Champions League-style Twenty20 league where the top domestic teams from each country play each other. “It certainly would be interesting,” said Robertson. It might sound slightly far-fetched at the moment, but so did the ICC World Twenty20 five years ago.

Bismah Maroof and Sidra Ameen ensured Pakistan aced their chase against Bangladesh, beating them by nine wickets with over three overs to spare in Delhi

The Report by Mohammad Isam24-Mar-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBismah Maroof and Sidra Ameen put on a record-breaking partnership for Pakistan•IDI/Getty Images

Bismah Maroof and Sidra Ameen ensured Pakistan aced their chase against Bangladesh, beating them by nine wickets with over three overs to spare in Delhi. The second-wicket pair added 99 runs in their unbroken partnership, Pakistan’s highest in World T20s for any wicket and best for the second wicket in T20Is.Ameen made 53 off 48 balls while Maroof struck five fours in her 43 after coming to bat at No. 3. They ensured Pakistan remained in contention for the knockouts. On four points from three games, they have a match against England in hand; a win in that game will put them directly in the semis should West Indies lose their final game to India; if both Pakistan and West Indies win, it will be a three-way tie with England on six points and come down to net run rate. Even if Pakistan lose their final group game, they might still go through if West Indies are defeated by a big enough margin on their last group game. As of now, West Indies’ NRR is better than Pakistan’s.Bangladesh bowed out of the competition having lost four out of four group matches. They have a lot to improve on overall in their cricket, but this evening in Delhi they managed an early breakthrough in their defence of 113, Salma Khatun removing Nahida Khan in the second over after she struck her for two fours. But Ameen, who started off with a beautiful pull shot off the Bangladesh captain Jahanara Alam, hardly put a foot wrong.The boundaries did not come often for her and Maroof, but the pair was steady and Ameen broke a dearth of big shots with two consecutive fours in the tenth over that brought the required rate plummeting down to below five. Maroof smashed her five boundaries between the 12th and 15th overs, including three on the trot between long-on and midwicket off Rumana Ahmed.In the field, Pakistan were at times clumsy but still effected four run-outs – a couple of these were due to wicketkeeper Sidra Nawaz’s great collection around the stumps. Bangladesh, though, reached their second highest score batting first in T20s – 113 for 9 in 20 overs. Fargana Hoque top scored with 36 off 37 balls with two fours that came through a smack to midwicket and a heave over long-on.She shared a 43-run third wicket stand with opener Sharmin Akhter, who made 19 off 34 balls. The pair batted for 9.1 overs, ensuring Bangladesh got past the 50-run mark. But once Sharmin fell in the 14th over, through a soft dismissal when she swept Sana Mir to Nida Dar at short fine leg, Pakistan took control.Nigar Sultana was run out for a duck while attempting a second run in the following over before Anam Amin had Rumana play on to give her second wicket in the 16th over. Fahima Khatun and Fargana were Bangladesh’s second and third run-out victims, before Lata Mondal smacked the slow legspin of Maroof for two consecutive fours in the penultimate over. In the end, that proved to be not near enough to overcome Pakistan.