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An opening day that was theirs to claim came crashing down as they slipped from 78 for 1 to 84 for 4

Alagappan Muthu01-Nov-2024India might somewhat justifiably believe that their struggles during this series against New Zealand were the result of circumstances coming together. The rain in Bengaluru. The toss in Pune. But the chaos in Mumbai is less easy to wish away.They were on top, picking up seven wickets for 76 runs to limit the opposition to 235, and responding to that with 78 for 1 in 17 overs on a pitch where first-innings runs will be incredibly important. Until 4.47pm on Friday, everything was going according to plan. And then, in the next five minutes, it all fell apart. Three wickets in eight legal balls, and a day that was theirs to claim was back in the balance.Related

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The Indian players in the dressing room could only look on in horror. A set batter falling to a reverse sweep with stumps approaching. A nightwatcher dismissed first ball and using up a review. A world-beater run-out going for a quick single. Morne Morkel had his head in his hands. Ravindra Jadeja didn’t have the time to react even that much.”Everything happened in ten minutes,” Jadeja said at the end of the first day’s play in Mumbai. “But it happens. It’s a team game. You cannot blame one person. Everyone makes mistakes. The next batters will have to stitch some partnership and try to get [the score] beyond 230. Only then the second innings will come into play. So it will be better if the incoming batters contribute.”New Zealand have done what few others have been able to, and hang on until the moment where the balance can shift. They showed it in Bengaluru in their first innings when Tim Southee and Rachin Ravindra added vital lower-order runs. They showed it in Pune when they toppled India from 50 for 1 to 156 all out. And they’ve shown it again, here, breaking a 53-run stand between Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal with 13 minutes to go to stumps and then topping that with the direct-hit run-out of Virat Kohli.Ajaz Patel struck twice in two balls•BCCI”You want to keep taking wickets,” Daryl Mitchell, who top-scored for New Zealand with 82, said. “It’s always nice. Look, it’s the nature of the surface and playing Test cricket over here, the ebbs and flows happen throughout the day and happy with how we hung in there while they were building a partnership, and when you get one you hopefully can get two and three.”And thats our motto, its just keep giving to the team, the way Rachin and some of the other guys chased the ball right to the boundary, that’s the stuff we always pride ourselves on. It means everyone is engaged, everyone is giving to the team, so that if we get one, hopefully we get another and its nice that it paid off tonight.”Kohli was fully kitted up when the second wicket fell, but Mohammed Siraj came out to bat instead. The nightwatcher fell first ball and burned a review trying to survive. Kohli then came in but he took on Matt Henry’s arm at mid-on and lost. Rishabh Pant came out. It was a good thing no more wickets fell because the next man in, Sarfaraz Khan, wasn’t in his whites.India have already lost this series, and are looking to avoid their first-ever home whitewash in a series of three or more Tests. They’ve been reminded of these things everywhere they’ve turned. Was their plunge into this possibly avoidable situation a sign of a team buckling under pressure? Jadeja didn’t think so.”Only the individual can tell what’s going through in his mind,” he said. “But if you are behind in the series, and such a situation comes, it feels you panicked because you are 2-0 down and committed an error. But if you are 2-0 up and the same thing happens, everyone says it happens. But if you are behind in the series, even the small things look big. Our top order has made mistakes, so the next six batters need to go close to or beyond 230. If we bat well in the first innings, things will be easier in the second.”

West Indies are in form, but Bangladesh have been boosted by the inclusion of players – like Soumya Sarkar – who took Rangpur Riders to the GSL title

Mohammad Isam07-Dec-2024Will the chatter continue in St Kitts?The cricket between the two sides was absorbing during the Test series. So, too, was the sledging. It was louder from the West Indies side as Jayden Seales had something to say to all the Bangladesh batters. He taunted Mehidy Hasan Miraz when he ducked under a bouncer. The slip cordon joined in from time to time, particularly Kevin Sinclair, who was a substitute fielder in Jamaica.Related

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The on-field umpires spoke to captain Kraigg Brathwaite a few times, and even told the players to calm down. Later, the ICC fined Seales for his send-off to Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Sinclair for not listening to the umpires and continuing to talk.Bangladesh, for their part, weren’t as animated as the home side, but they did have the odd one-liner to share from time to time.The West Indians looked like they lost a bit of focus on the job at hand as a result of all the talk, and might not take the same route in the ODIs. In any case, after the Test win in Jamaica, Bangladesh should now have a few replies ready.West Indies are in form even if their captain isn’tThe first priority for West Indies would be to continue their good showing in ODIs after the series win against England recently.Shai Hope leads a side that has a good batting line-up and an impressive pace battery. They have included the uncapped Amir Jangoo, who was the top run-getter in the recent Super50 ODI tournament. Justin Greaves, who made three centuries in a row in the competition, returns to the ODI setup, too.But Hope, the highest-ranked ODI batter of the two sets of players, needs to return to ODI form, having averaged 29.28 this year. This comes after several good years – in 2023, he made 824 runs at an average of 68.66. Keacy Carty has shown form for West Indies in ODIs this year, while left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie is their leading wicket-taker.West Indies’ batting line-up is full of power-hitters. Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis will be expected to provide the big hits, while Roston Chase usually holds together the middle-order. Shamar Joseph and Matthew Forde are nursing injuries, with Marquino Mindley and Jediah Blades replacing them and providing fast-bowling cover.Mehidy Hasan Miraz will lead Bangladesh in the West Indies ODIs as well•Athelstan BellamyNew Bangladesh, but is it improved Bangladesh?Bangladesh need to carry the positives from their Test win in Jamaica into the ODIs. This is especially important as they have a side devoid of most of their experienced players. Shakib Al Hasan continues to be out, while Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mustafizur Rahman haven’t made it to the West Indies either – Shanto and Mushfiqur are recovering from injuries while Mustafizur has taken time off for personal reasons.Mehidy will continue as the captain with the likes of Taskin Ahmed, Jaker Ali and Litton Das from the Test side also part of the ODI squad. Soumya Sarkar’s performed in the Global Super League in Guyana should also give the team confidence – Soumya was the Player of the Tournament – and Player of the Match in the final for his 86 – as he finished as the tournament’s top-scorer. Rishad Hossain and Afif Hossain – also part of the Rangpur Riders’ trophy-winning side – are in the squad too.Bangladesh will have Taskin, Shoriful Islam, Nahid Rana and Hasan Mahmud from the Test pace attack. Tanzim Hasan will come from the GSL where he played for the Guayana Amazon Warriors side. Nasum Ahmed and Mehidy will take charge of the spin department, while Mahmudullah will add experience in the batting line-up that also includes Tanzid Hasan and Parvez Hossain.International cricket returns to St Kitts after two yearsBangladesh would have happy memories of Warner Park in St Kitts, having won two out of their four completed international matches at the venue.This will be the first international match in St Kitts since August 2022. Incidentally, the last ODI played at the venue was also between the same two sides, while there have been a handful of CPL and first-class matches held here this year.The three ODIs are on December 8, 10 and 12. The weather is mostly dry but there’s a forecast of some rain during the second ODI.

An opener making a comeback against the odds galvanised his partner as Bangladesh put on their first century stand for the first wicket since December 2022

Mohammad Isam29-Apr-2025A century stand between Bangladesh’s openers was a long-forgotten promise in Test cricket. Opening pairs have come thick and fast, and, since their milestone Test series win in Pakistan last year, had contributed very little to their team’s totals. The selectors have gone through many options and have scratched their heads over the lack of candidates in domestic cricket.They had, however, ignored one batter for a long time. Anamul Haque isn’t perhaps the most obvious choice given the enigmatic international career he’s had since his debut in 2012. He has been a domestic giant, however, piling up numbers that most openers in the country have struggled to match, even those who have played for Bangladesh in recent years. He is the leading run-getter among openers in the 2024-25 domestic first-class season, and he remains an outstanding performer even if you put together runs from all formats.There are, however, complications surrounding Anamul’s name. Many consider him to be too flashy on social media. He also led a players’ revolt against the owners of his BPL team after they stopped paying the players. Anamul and a few other players also then posed with cash when some payments were finally made.There’s the more legitimate question mark of Anamul’s inconsistency at the highest level, of course, but that can be placed against many of his peers in and around the Bangladesh side too.Bangladesh’s recent struggles to find a strong opening pair in Test cricket can be summed up by the fact that the 118 that Anamul and Shadman Islam put on against Zimbabwe in Chattogram was their first century stand for the first wicket since December 2022. Of the 33 opening stands in between, only two even crossed the half-century mark.Shadman then went on to score 120. It was the first century from a Bangladesh opener since Zakir Hasan’s 100 against India in December 2022, also in Chattogram.Anamul himself made a nominal contribution in Bangladesh’s scorecard on the second day of this Chattogram Test. He made a bigger impact than the scorecard would suggest, though. Anamul batted with a smidgen more positivity than Bangladesh’s recent openers have done. He was a little troubled by short balls in the early stages, but also adjusted quickly to playing the Zimbabwe quicks off the back foot. Anamul was also alert to the possibility of the quick single, which was definitely a distinction between him and Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who tends to rely a lot on hitting boundaries in his strong areas.Anamul’s approach rubbed off on Shadman too. He scored exacly twice what Anamul did (39) during their 118-run stand. In recent Tests, Shadman had tended to get stuck early in his innings, but looked far more assured here, every time he looked for runs. His off-side strokeplay was notable for the ease with which he found the gaps, and his straight-driving easy on the eye. Shadman too found regular ones and twos, especially with Zimbabwe stacking their slip cordon against both openers.Shadman Islam scored his second Test hundred•MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via GettyShadman’s freewheeling batting continued after Anamul’s departure, as he added 76 for the second wicket with Mominul Haque. It was the best Bangladesh’s top-order batting had looked in several months.”I didn’t change anything [as an opener],” Shadman said after the day’s play. “I usually play according to the merit of the ball. I don’t really go out with a lot of plans in my mind. As openers we stuck to our plan. I think we didn’t get a big partnership for a long time but we can make things better in the future.”I felt [Anamul Haque] Bijoy was comfortable in his stay. He didn’t really struggle in the middle. He was connecting the ball quite well. He is a very experienced cricketer. He is always scoring runs. He provided a good start. He was looking good, but he was unfortunate to get out.”That Anamul was playing at all was a bit of a surprise. It wasn’t because Anamul wasn’t scoring runs in domestic cricket. On the contrary, he is the second highest run-getter in Bangladesh in all formats since his last Test three years ago, with 4962 runs at an average of 43.91, with 13 centuries – a hugely significant number from a Bangladesh perspective, with the next-best on that list having scored only eight in that time.Seven of Anamul’s centuries have come in an extraordinary 2024-25 season, which has brought him 2146 runs at 51.09.It’s usually extremely difficult for a Bangladeshi cricketer dropped from the national team, particularly if they are beyond a certain age, to make a comeback. At 32, Anamul had shown the hunger to score runs day in and day out at the domestic level, and made himself impossible to ignore. While Bangladesh were losing the first Test in Sylhet, Anamul was scoring back-to-back hundreds for Gazi Group in the Dhaka Premier Division, virtually forcing the selectors to recall him.Bangladesh aren’t known for giving players a long rope, however, so having made it back, Anamul will know he’ll have to keep scoring runs to keep hold of his hard-won slot.

The people that matter have seen Shubman Gill grow as a leader over the past two years. Now, he must prove them right

Sidharth Monga24-May-20257:44

Chopra: Gill as Test captain an ‘investment of faith’

When England came to India at the start of 2024, India were looking at the start of a transition. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin, all similarly aged, were not going to be around forever. The series started with a defeat, but India rallied to win 4-1. A young man, a promising batter averaging 31 after 20 Tests and playing for his spot in the side, rose to the occasion and scored two centuries.At the end of the series, coach Rahul Dravid told the selectors that he had seen leadership potential in Shubman Gill. Despite being at a sensitive point in his own career, Gill showed the willingness to be involved in planning, took interest in others’ games, and displayed an even temperament. They also saw that he cared for Test cricket. He had yet to captain Gujarat Titans (GT) even. He had not been a captain at the Under-19 level. He had led Punjab in the Ranji Trophy in only one match.In the year-and-a-half since, the selectors have noticed Gill grow as a leader. Working with the astute Ashish Nehra at GT, he has only become more confident and assertive.Related

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There’s never a perfect time for such a leadership change. In hindsight, the selectors should perhaps have appointed Gill as vice-captain during the Bangladesh Tests last year. He would have had an apprenticeship of two home series – New Zealand the other – before going to Australia where Rohit didn’t start because of the birth of his child. Then again, who could have predicted a downfall in Rohit so sharp that he would drop himself during the Australia tour?The one thing that could have been predicted was that Jasprit Bumrah as captain was a risk for Bumrah himself. Being captain requires him to play every Test, which ended up in a breakdown in Australia India don’t want to risk again. Bumrah the bowler is too valuable to be doing that.It could be argued that Gill should not have started his captaincy stint on such a tough tour, but the selectors have been clear about two things. The captain should come from the best XI. That eliminated Rohit. Nor did they want to look back for a stop-gap arrangement in KL Rahul and/or Kohli.Given Bumrah’s fitness issues, it came down to Gill and Rishabh Pant, two of India’s best Test batters in the last five years. It came down to a judgement call. Pant is coming back from a big accident. He has exceeded expectations by playing ten Tests in a row. But the selectors want to be careful with him. His own game is not in a great place either.ESPNcricinfo LtdThat’s an argument that can be made about Gill as well. He averages 35.05 after 32 Tests.This is where you have to trust the selectors beyond just numbers. They see potential and a high ceiling, which Gill has shown in ODIs. Scratch a little beyond the raw numbers, and you see the difficult conditions Gill has batted in. In Tests involving him, the overall average of all top-six batters has been 32.92. So he has been among the better batters in his time.This stage of Indian Test cricket is not too different to 2013, 2014 and 2015. Kohli took over the captaincy with pretty similar pedigree. He was 26, Gill is 25. He had played 29 Tests and averaged 39.46. He had had a horrible tour of England, which he needed to get over. He was an accomplished future ODI all-time great, Gill is an accomplished future ODI all-time great. Kohli had had two seasons as a full-time IPL captain at the time.Kohli had the support of the hype machine in Ravi Shastri, who shielded him when shielding was needed and propped him up when propping up was needed. Kohli’s best years as captain coincided with the Committee of Administrators running the BCCI, which reduced the need for politicking. He also had the blessings of MS Dhoni, who made the transition smooth. Gill will not have these luxuries.On the shoulders of Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant will rest the immediate future of India’s Test cricket•Associated PressKohli, though, had an uncertain start. He didn’t know if Dhoni, the full-time captain, would play or not. And then Dhoni retired mid-series in Australia. Gill has had a proper induction into the job. He was sounded out at some point during the IPL after which has had meetings with the selectors practically as the captain of the team. They see clarity of thought in what he wants for Indian cricket and how he intends to go about it.Now it is up to Gill to chart his own path. He has to decide whether India continue playing the bob-each-way cricket they played in Australia or if they revert to chasing 20 wickets as cheaply as possible. He has to decide whether he continues to bat at No. 3 or whether he takes the No. 4 position that has belonged to the best batter of the side for the best part of more than the last three decades. More importantly, he needs to score big runs, which nobody can do for him.Kohli scored four hundreds on that Australia tour in 2014-15, which established his authority as the captain. Gill can get help with captaincy, but he has to score his runs.These are challenging times, but these are also exciting times. Both for Indian cricket and Gill.

India’s last five wickets added just 31 runs, after a similar collapse in the first innings, to keep England in the hunt

Matt Roller23-Jun-2025

Josh Tongue took three wickets in one over•Getty Images

Josh Tongue was nonplussed by Ben Stokes’ “rabbit pie” celebration, but his demolition of India’s lower order has kept England’s hopes alive at Headingley. Tongue took 4 for 7 to wrap up the first innings and then struck three times in four balls on day four, living up to his nickname of “the mop”, given to him by his Nottinghamshire team-mate Ben Duckett after repeatedly cleaning up tailenders at county level.Tongue admitted before the third day’s play that he had been unaware why Stokes had celebrated his first-innings dismissal of Prasidh Krishna by mimicking eating until he saw a tweet by Stuart Broad which explained he was “eating rabbit pie”. He has twice knocked over India’s tail in Leeds to emerge with match figures of 7 for 158.England have repeatedly struggled to finish teams off under Stokes’ captaincy: since he took over three years ago, only Pakistan have a worse record when bowling for the last three wickets. In the reverse series 18 months ago, India’s lower order regularly frustrated England, with three eighth-wicket partnerships between 75 and 80.Related

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But Tongue’s pace, height and beyond-perpendicular action have proved a lethal combination in Leeds, with India twice collapsing from positions of strength. He found himself on a hat-trick on Monday evening after Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj were caught behind the wicket, and while Jasprit Bumrah kept his first ball out, he chopped his second onto middle stump.India’s Nos. 8-11 have managed just nine runs between them in the match, despite the selection of Thakur as a bowling allrounder. Thakur was the first of Tongue’s three victims in the second innings after nicking off to Stokes in the first, and has so far played a bit-part role in the match after bowling six wicketless overs for 38.”We felt like if we got to their lower order quickly, we could get through them,” Tongue said. “I don’t mind bowling at the tail: you’ve got a good opportunity to take wickets. All I tried to do was to hit the pitch hard. I felt like I got more out of the pitch when I did that; I thought when I went that tad fuller, it was nicer for the batters to get on the front foot and drive me.”

Tongue missed the whole of the 2024 summer through injury, and said that he was proud to have returned to Test cricket after a long period on the sidelines. England have long admired his ability to bowl at speeds approaching 90mph/145kph on a consistent basis, and to nip the ball in off the seam, and his success against the tail has relied on those qualities.He also joked that he would adopt Duckett’s nickname for him. “I’ve done it twice now, so I might have to start calling myself that [the mop],” Tongue said. “When they were batting, it flattened out, and it was quite hard work in the wind. We stuck to our task, trying to hit the pitch as hard as we could to get something out of it, and thankfully, we got the wickets.”KL Rahul, whose dismissal for 137 was the first wicket of a collapse of 6 for 33, said that India “wanted at least 40 or 50 runs more” than they managed. “I don’t look at it as the lower order being from a different squad: they’re still from our squad, they’re still trying their best,” he said. “Everyone’s putting in a lot of work in the nets, and sometimes it doesn’t happen.1:32

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“Before the series, the chat as a group was how could we get 350 and 400 runs every time we go out to bat? The positive is that we’ve been able to do that… Yes, there’s learnings, and a few of the batters, if they can come good, that 350 can become 450 and 500, and that’s ideally what a batting group would want. But we’ll take the runs that we’ve got in this innings.”The total lack of contribution from India’s tail was further laid bare by England’s partnerships of 49 (Harry Brook and Chris Woakes) and 55 (Woakes and Brydon Carse) for the seventh and eighth wickets in their first innings, both at better than a run a ball. Where England’s last five wickets added 189, India’s have managed to put on 24 and 31.Ollie Pope said on Sunday evening that England’s lower-order runs had struck a psychological blow. “[A lead of] 40 or 50, just from a mindset, might have given them a little bit more confidence, knowing that they’ve got that headstart almost; playing the game from an even playing field is quite important.”But more significantly, they ensured that the fourth-innings target did not grow out of control: instead, after Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley saw off the final half hour, England require 350 in 90 overs on the final day at a venue when four of the last six Tests have seen successful fourth-innings chases of 250 or more.

England beat NZ in a rain-affected T20I series, but all the talk remains about the upcoming Ashes. Andrew McGlashan joins Alan Gardner and Andrew Miller with the latest from down under

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2025England clinched their T20I series against New Zealand 1-0 after another washout in Auckland, with attention now turning to the ODIs – and the Ashes campaign beyond. On this week’s pod, Alan Gardner was joined by Andrew Miller and Andrew McGlashan to discuss the development of Harry Brook’s T20 side as well as the latest news from Australia, including an update on Pat Cummins’ fitness and Marnus Labuschagne pushing for a Test return.