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The visitors slid to 50 for 6 after the West Indies opener’s 121 secured a 363-run first-innings lead on a 14-wicket day

The Report by Mohammad Isam05-Jul-2018
Kraigg Brathwaite forces one off the back foot•AFP

West Indies’ fast bowlers rocked Bangladesh, again, reducing them to 50 for 6 in the final hour of play on the second day. This after Kraigg Brathwaite’s seventh Test hundred secured West Indies a 363-run first-innings lead.Kemar Roach, who had wrecked Bangladesh in the first innings, did not take the field in the second because of a hamstring injury, but Shannon Gabriel blew the visitors away with sheer pace and bounce.Gabriel, fresh from a 20-wicket series against Sri Lanka, dismissed Tamim Iqbal soon after the opener had become the first Bangladesh player to 4000 Test runs. One ball after Tamim’s dismissal, Mominul Haque was bowled by a Gabriel shooter that snuck through his defences.Jason Holder, who took the new ball with Gabriel due to Roach’s absence, then plunged into the action. He kept moving the outswinger late from Liton Das, who resisted for a while, but in the seventh over, he went after another outswinger, only to edge to Brathwaite at first slip.Gabriel then blazed one past Mushfiqur Rahim’s defensive prod, with the ball cutting back after pitching on a good length. Shakib Al Hasan then became his fourth victim, squared up to one that snaked away from him. Mehidy Hasan, who had earlier bowled well to give Bangladesh something to cheer about, became Holder’s second wicket when he edged a short ball.The action wasn’t as dramatic when the hosts started the day on 201 for 2. They added 205 runs in 69.3 overs, Brathwaite leading the way with a polished ton. Having begun the day on 88, Brathwaite first took 20 balls to reach the milestone and then let the others do the bulk of the scoring.He was in control of most of his shots, however, and only offered one chance – Liton Das dropping him at leg gully when he was on 110 though it was a tough opportunity.Brathwaite added 52 runs for the third wicket with Devendra Bishoo before the nightwatchman lost his off stump to Kamrul Islam Rabbi. The second session saw West Indies lose their way to Bangladesh’s spinners. Mehidy removed Roston Chase leg-before and had Holder caught at short-leg, while Shakib took the wickets of Brathwaite, caught at cover, and had Shane Dowrich caught at silly mid-off.Roach, though, struck six fours and a six in his breezy 33, before falling leg-before to Mehidy, while Hope made 67 off 127 balls. Debutant Abu Jayed took Hope’s wicket – caught at fine leg – before removing Gabriel to wrap up the West Indies innings. Mehidy and Jayed took three wickets each while Shakib took two wickets.

The Vitality Blast quarter-final between Somerset and Nottinghamshire will be played on Monday after heavy rain resulted in a washout at Taunton

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Aug-2018The Vitality Blast quarter-final between Somerset and Nottinghamshire will be played on Monday after heavy rain resulted in a washout at Taunton.The forecast had been poor for Sunday’s fixture and the rain rarely relented before the umpires, Neil Mallender and Steve O’Shaughnessy, called off any attempts to get in a shortened match after their 4pm inspection. The game will instead start at 1pm on Monday, which is a Bank Holiday, with better weather likely to allow a full 20 overs.

Finals Day draw

• Sussex v Somerset/Notts

• Lancashire v Worcestershire

Patches of standing water were visible on the outfield as Sunday’s 3pm start time came around, and few supporters had made the journey, despite Somerset expecting a sellout crowd of 7500.Tickets will still be valid for the rescheduled game, with the club saying it would not be possible to issue refunds if play does go ahead on Monday. Sky Sports will not televise the match, because of a clash with Kia Super League Finals Day, but it will be streamed on the Somerset website.”Should the match have to take place on the reserve day then we are afraid that we would not be in a position to refund match tickets because the match will have taken place,” Somerset said in a statement on their website earlier in the day.”It would also be extremely difficult from a logistical point of view to refund the tickets and re-sell them in such a short space of time.”We understand that the match being played on the reserve day may make attending the fixture rather more difficult for some people and this is unfortunate for all concerned. However, cricket supporters are well aware of the major match protocol and the need for a reserve day within that procedure.”In the event that play is not possible on Monday, then the tie will be decided by a bowl out between the sides indoors.

With a method that took them to the title last year, Essex earned a win in three days that lifts them out of relegation danger

ECB Reporters Network01-Sep-2018
ScorecardPeter Siddle took 5 for 48 with some typically accurate bowling as Essex claimed their fourth Specsavers County Championship of the season with Hampshire’s defeat by an innings and 52 runs confirmed with 14 and a half overs left on the fourth day.It was Siddle’s third five-wicket haul in six Championship appearances for Essex. He plays the last game of his stint against champions-elect Surrey, starting on Tuesday at Chelmsford, before returning to Australia.He was well supported by Simon Harmer, who alternated between his traditional haunt at the Hayes Close End and the River End, and finished with 4 for 64. He has 43 wickets this summer to follow up his 72 last year.Hampshire, losing for the fourth time this season, moved deeper into troubled waters in the lower reaches of Division One.Tom Alsop and Sam Northeast kept Essex in the field longer than they would have liked into the early evening. Northeast steadied the ship during the morning with Kyle Abbott, finally departing after 101 balls for 41. The left-handed Alsop was even more the immovable object, his innings spanning all three sessions while eking out 51 runs from 141 balls.After losing the whole of the first day to damp spots where the wicketkeepers stand, Essex managed to pull off their victory inside three days. It was reminiscent of many of the wins in last season’s title success, piling up runs in the first innings and bowling teams out twice. This was the first time this season they had managed to do so. They also took a maximum 24 points for the first time this year.Needing to take eight wickets at the start of the final day, it looked as if Essex would wrap the game in double-quick time, especially when Siddle carried on from his devastating bowling of the previous evening. He had left Hampshire 17 for 2 overnight, and reduced them further to 24 for 4 in his second over of the morning.With the second ball of the over he had Ian Holland playing on and followed four balls later when Hampshire captain James Vince was undine by a beauty, an off-cutter that sent his off-stump flying.A fifth-wicket stand of 39 ended in discord when Abbott called Northeast for a sharp single to substitute fielder Paul Walter at cover. Except Northeast didn’t move. Abbott was halfway down the wicket and applying the brakes by the time substitute wicketkeeper Michael Pepper had gathered Walter’s throw and removed the bails.Harmer kept changing ends to keep the pressure on the batsmen. He was on at the Hayes Close End to end Northeast’s stay soon after lunch. Harmer turned one away and caught the edge of the batsman’s forward prod with Varun Chopra holding on at slip.Bowling from the River End, Rilee Rossouw executed a reverse-sweep, rather out of synch with the match positon, but Harmer hit back when the South African drove into Nick Browne’s hands at short cover.Siddle had his fifth wicket when Liam Dawson got an inside edge that Pepper took one-handed going low down to his left.Alsop, who hit 99 against Nottinghamshire last week, reached his fifty with his eighth boundary off 135 balls. His three-hour vigil ended when Harmer extracted some extra bounce and Pepper juggled with the ball before finally claiming the catch in front of the wicket.Berg showed some late aggression when he put Harmer over long leg for six but Berg became Harmer’s fourth wicket when he was lbw.

The two players put on a 51-run partnership for the ninth wicket to book a spot in the final against Mumbai on Saturday

The Report by Hemant Brar18-Oct-2018Pawan Negi plays on the leg side•PTI

Navdeep Saini’s four-wicket haul and Pawan Negi’s unbeaten 39 helped Delhi sneak into the final of Vijay Hazare Trophy in a low-scoring thriller against Jharkhand. Chasing 200, Delhi were cruising at 123 for 4 at one stage, but Jharkhand bounced back with quick wickets to make it 149 for 8. Eventually, it took an unbeaten 51-run stand for the ninth wicket between Negi and Saini to secure Delhi’s victory with only two balls to spare.Saini’s 4 for 30 had helped Delhi bowl Jharkhand out for 199. It could have been worse for Jharkhand had Virat Singh not scored a fighting 91-ball 71 to help them recover from 85 for 6. The left-hand batsman stitched two crucial partnerships – 55 with Shahbaz Nadeem for the seventh wicket and 44 with Rahul Shukla for the ninth – as the last four wickets contributed 114.In response, Delhi started positively, with Unmukt Chand hitting Varun Aaron for four boundaries in eight balls, but he fell off the next one, trying to hit out again. Gambhir and Shorey steadied the innings – helped in part by a hamstring injury to Shuka. The new-ball bowler left the field having bowled only six deliveries.Having got past fifty, Delhi were pegged back again as part-time medium-pacer Anand Singh removed Shorey for 15. Then Gambhir was wrongly given out caught-behind down the leg side with replays showing the ball had only brushed the pad. Two overs later, Anand had Himmat Singh stumped, thanks to captain Ishan Kishan’s skill to dislodge the bails just when the batsman lifted his foot. Delhi were suddenly 87 for 4.Rana and Pranshu Vijayran got together and put on a 36-run fifth-wicket stand even as Kishan – with two left-hand batsmen in the middle – held back his left-arm spinners Nadeem and Anukul Roy.However, it was Nadeem who tilted the game in Jharkhand’s favour by having Rana caught at first slip for 39. Wickets kept tumbling after that and when Roy removed Lalit Yadav, Delhi were eight down and they still needed 51 more for victory.What worked in their favour was that there were still 73 balls left in the game, which allowed Negi and Saini to calmly inch them towards the target. With three needed from the last over, Jaskaran Singh gave Jharkhand one last hope by bowling two dot balls. But Negi slogged the third over midwicket for a couple to level the scores before he carved the next over the covers to book Delhi’s spot in the final, against Mumbai, on Saturday.In the morning, Saini and Khejroliya had Jharkhand on the back foot right from the start – literally and figuratively. They used the short ball to good effect, surprising the batsmen regularly with skiddy bounce.Saini dismissed the in-form Kishan for a duck in the first over of the match. The opener came down the track but couldn’t reach to the pitch of the ball and ended up edging it behind.Khejroliya too was rewarded for some disciplined bowling. Shasheem Rathour tried to put him off his length by charging at him, only to sky the ball to extra cover where Himmat back-pedaled to take a comfortable catch.Saini was taken off after a four-over spell but sensing the pressure building up, Gambhir brought him back in the 12th over. The fast bowler repaid his captain’s trust by dismissing Saurabh Tiwary and reduced Jharkhand to 35 for 3. Kumar Deobrat didn’t last long either and feathered a Saini bouncer to the wicketkeeper Chand.Anand tried to hold the innings together and struck some delectable boundaries in between. But it was the lack of strike-rotation that was hurting Jharkhand. And when Anand too departed for an 80-ball 36 – nicking one off Khejroliya – Jharkhand were struggling at 74 for 5.Nadeem then joined hands with Virat and the two started dealing in singles. Khejroliya was reintroduced in the 34th over, but Virat welcomed him with successive fours. He and Nadeem took the side to 140 before Nadeem was bowled by Rana for 29. Virat was the last man dismissed in the penultimate over. However, he could take Jharkhand only to a competitive total, and not a match-winning one.

Gayle admitted that the constant travel does takes its toll and added, hinting at the resolution of his defamation case, that he was hoping for things to get easier for him personally

Liam Brickhill03-Dec-2018Chris Gayle said it was “good to be back” in South Africa, having jetted back to the country and into Jozi Stars’ Mzansi Super League squad after missing the last five matches while he was away playing for Kerala Knights in the T10 League.Gayle was in Sharjah in October for the Afghanistan Premier League, and had played in Jozi Stars’ Mzansi Super League opener before leaving for the UAE. Yesterday he flew back from the T10 league, to a T20 tournament in another country, South Africa. Gayle admitted that the constant travel does takes its toll and added, hinting at the resolution of his defamation case, that he was hoping for things to get easier for him personally.”In the future, I’m looking forward to things being a bit more simpler for me, from a personal point of view,” Gayle said. “It’s not so easy, to be honest with you. Especially at this age as well. You jump on a flight, and then you jump on a cricket field. But in a way you manage yourself, and I have a great team that keeps the body ready to perform up to standard and I’ve been doing this for years.”You make the necessary adjustment as quickly as possible, and take it from there. It’s not a big issue. It’s not a big concern for me at this point in time to be honest.”Stars had lost the opener, but have since won three out of five games thanks to Reeza Hendricks’ back-to-back centuries, and are currently in third place on the points table. “I think the Jozi Stars are starting to peak at the right time. It’s good to have a win under our belt last night. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, up against the top guns. Hopefully we can continue the winning ways.””I’d love Hendricks to make it three in a row,” added Gayle. “That would be nice to see. Two centuries back to back is always good, and coming in in such good form as well. He knows the conditions well. I’m looking forward to opening the batting with him.”With his form, maybe he can actually take a bit of pressure off me. You guys keep mentioning my name, but it’s Hendricks you should be wary of. I’ll try and get a good start with him. Just enjoy the moment with him as well.”Stars coach Enoch Nkwe welcomed Gayle back to the squad. “He’s our international marquee player and a very important member of the squad,” said Nkwe. “We’re very happy to have him back. I know the dressing room is very excited. We’re looking forward to having him on the field.”

Opener smashes 25-ball 46 in a rain-shortened game to set the tone for the bowlers in a nine-over shootout

The Report by Shashank Kishore28-Nov-2018LatinContent/Getty Images

A frustrating rain-filled evening in Durban eventually turned joyful for Paarl Rocks as they lifted themselves off the bottom of the points table.Paarl were denied their regular complement of overs, thanks to as many as three interruptions. The third break that lasted close to an hour reduced the contest to nine-overs-a-side.Progressing serenely at 47 without loss in 5.4 overs before the third rain interval, opener Henry Davids teed off in style to hit two fours and a six off the first four deliveries upon resumption. Paarl smashed 51 off the remaining 3.2 overs to finish on 98 for 2, with the target then re-calibrated to 113. This proved 32 too many for the home team.Durban Heat lost Hashim Amla off the first delivery in their chase, Temba Bavuma off the fifth and Heinrich Klaasen off the fifteenth. That, right there, was game over.Bjorn Fortuin, the left-arm spinner, was the hero with the ball. He removed Amla with a slider that drifted in to trap him in front of middle and leg as he played all around it. Bavuma toe-ended a slap to Faf du Plessis at cover, while Klaasen mistimed a heave to midwicket off David Wiese.David Miller blasted 22, but it looked like he was just one mishit away from doom and gloom. When he fell, it soon soon became a question of reducing the margin of defeat to ensure the net-run-rate didn’t take a massive dent.Durban managed just four boundaries in the first four overs. On the night, this simply wasn’t good enough.Among the positives they’ll want to look forward with hope was the return of designated captain Albie Morkel. Initially unsure of playing because of a niggle, Morkel returned after scans on his right wrist allayed fears of an injury.In his previous outing prior to the rain-off fixture, Morkel copped a blow at the non-striker’s end when Vernon Philander smacked the ball back ferociously to hit him while taking evasive action. This forced him to retire hurt. On Wednesday, the second ball he faced was a fierce front-of-square pull that showed the injury wasn’t as serious as initially perceived to be.However, on the face of an ever-escalating run rate, Morkel managed just the one six in his nine-ball stay, eventually caught behind trying to cut Tabraiz Shamsi, who brought out the ‘telephone’ celebration by removing his right boot, dusting the sole off before bringing it to his hear as if to say ‘hello’ to the dressing room.It was that kind of night for Paarl, there was little or no pressure for the bowlers halfway into the innings. Philander briefly thrilled with his big hits, but the result seemed a foregone conclusion.

The left-hander’s boundary-laden assault gave Heat an improbable victory from 21 for 4, after AB de Villiers’ unbeaten 93 had lifted the Spartans to 188

The Report by Akshay Gopalakrishnan12-Dec-2018There were two no-balls, two dropped catches, and two breathtaking innings, each playing a decisive part as the league stage of the 2018-19 Mzansi Super League ended with a stunning chase at Centurion.First, a no-ball from Kyle Abbott paved the way for a masterpiece from AB de Villiers. Abbott’s transgression gave a second wind to an innings that should have ended on 22 off 21 balls. Instead, de Villiers raced to an unbeaten 93 off 52. It meant that Heat, ready to tighten the choke were instead left to scale down a colossal 189.Then came the second special knock of the evening. Heat were meandering in the chase. They had lost four wickets inside the first five overs. At the 15-over mark, they required 67 off 30 balls and were six down. Spartans were on course. De Villiers’ effort wasn’t to go waste. He was going to have a memorable end to the season – which had been a quiet one, both with the bat and as captain of the side.But Albie Morkel was lurking. He was waiting. For the right moment. The right bowler. That arrived in the form of Rory Kleinveldt in the 18th over. Heat needed 41 off 18 balls. Morkel swung wildly at the third ball of the over. He found an outside edge that flew past to the left of the keeper. It was the shot that opened the gates. Fourth ball: on a length and swung over midwicket; fifth ball: too full outside off and tonked over long-on; even a yorker, the last ball of the over, was squeezed away with force sufficient to beat deep backward point diving to his left. With 24 coming off that over, for the first time during the chase, the pressure was on the Spartans.With 17 needed off 12, it came down to who would blink first. Then, de Villiers put down Morkel. It was a tough chance. Morkel had received one on the pads. He swung with the angle and whipped it forcefully. De Villiers flew to his right at short fine leg, but the ball wouldn’t stick on. Three balls later, a six off a yorker gone wrong rubbed salt into the wounds and narrowed the equation to six off seven.With five to defend, Eldred Hawken began in excellent fashion, giving away just three singles in the first four balls. And then came the second big no-ball of the match, when Abbott drilled Hawken straight into the hands of cover. Instead of bringing a new man out, Abbott stayed on, and the scores were level. Abbott drilled the next ball down the ground for a single, and his own no-ball earlier in the night was forgotten.Earlier, it was Abbott’s no-ball that awoke the beast within de Villiers. Until Wednesday, de Villiers had endured an unusually low-key tournament, with four single-digit scores in nine innings. The indifferent form continued into his last game of the season. But after the life, de Villiers was a different batsman.Immediately, he began taking the toll, slashing wildly at the free-hit delivery and sending an outside edge flying to the third man boundary. Thereafter, Abbott unravelled quite spectacularly. Ball after the free-hit: overpitched outside the off stump and nailed through extra cover. Abbott even did the right thing for once, firing in a yorker outside off, only for de Villiers to get an inside edge down to fine leg. In between the two, Morne van Wyk let one slip through his legs for four byes. Abbott then sent down a second no-ball, and de Villiers had another four off the free-hit, with a mow over cover.Back-to-back sixes off Heinrich Klaasen in the next over, which went for 18, gave de Villiers a 29-ball fifty and further reinforced his unrelenting mood. Keshav Maharaj, who had returned 3-0-16-2 was given a hostile send-off, de Villiers clattering him for a four and a six in his last. By then, de Villiers was back to doing what he usually does best: moving around the crease, maintaining a steady base, and unfurling trademark improvisations behind square on either side of the wicket.Only Rashid Khan managed to gain a measure of restraint against de Villiers. But his figures were somewhat upset as Heat’s day of overthrows and dropped catches ended with Khaya Zondo dropping an easy de Villiers offering at the cover boundary and letting it go through for four off the innings’ last ball. In a game of such narrow margins, it could have cost Heat on another night.

Saurashtra stutter to 58 for 5 in their second innings, still 148 runs away from the target

The Report by Shamya Dasgupta06-Feb-2019Last ball of the ninth over of the Saurashtra second innings. Cheteshwar Pujara leans forward to defend a flighted delivery from Aditya Sarwate on off and middle. He plays for the turn from the left-arm spinner, but there isn’t any, and he is trapped plumb in front for a five-ball duck.Sarwate sets off, his team-mates in hot pursuit while also high-fiving each other, before he stops and lets out a roar. It is, after all, the big moment, and Sarwate has done it two times in two innings.He has done much more than that, actually. After picking up five wickets in the Saurashtra first innings, Sarwate winkled out three top Saurashtra batsmen inside nine overs, leaving them 22 for three in a chase of 206. First-innings centurion Snell Patel – check. Harvik Desai – check. And Pujara, the big fish – check. Not ideal from Saurashtra’s point of view as they looked to avoid making it three final losses in seven seasons, but perfect for Vidarbha, the defending champions.It got worse for Saurashtra as Arpit Vasavada was done in by Umesh Yadav’s pace, sending a regulation catch behind the stumps. Then Sheldon Jackson, very early in his innings, stepped out to Akshay Wakhare and attempted to send the ball out of Jamtha. The ball kept low, and snaked it to hit the stumps.Vishvaraj Jadeja, composed but not overly cautious so far in his innings, went to stumps unbeaten on 23, and had for company Kamlesh Makvana on two.Dharmendrasinh Jadeja completed a six-wicket haul•PTI

Earlier, after they started on 55 for two, Vidarbha batted two sessions, added 145 runs, and lost their eight remaining wickets, four of them to Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, who completed a six-for in the process.Ganesh Satish and Wasim Jaffer were in the middle when proceedings began, but Dharmendrasinh found Jaffer’s edge in the eighth over of the morning with one that didn’t bounce much, and substitute wicketkeeper Avi Barot pouched the catch.The scoreboard read 71 for three at that stage, and it was 73 for five in almost no time as Dharmendrasinh trapped Satish in front for 35 and Jaydev Unadkat got a full-pitched delivery to straighten and go past Akshay Wadkar’s defensive prod and hit timber.Vidarbha needed a fightback, and they got a bit of it from Mohit Kale and Akshay Karnewar, the two adding 32 runs before Makvana caught Karnewar’s edge on the drive and Desai clung on at slip.Kale battled on to make a valuable 38 on a pitch that was turning big by that stage, but the big contribution came from Sarwate, who top-scored in the innings with 49 before becoming the last wicket to fall, having given himself and his bowling mates more to bowl at than looked likely at one stage.Umesh also chipped in with a 12-ball 15 as the last three Vidarbha wickets added 66 runs – it has been a trend in the game, the last three wickets had put up 116 in Vidarbha’s first dig and 123 in Saurashtra’s reply. Saurashtra will hope Vishvaraj and Makvana, and next-man Prerak Mankad, don’t leave the tail with too much to do, but it might well be the case if Sarwate & Co. have it their way on the fifth morning.

The India women vice-captain didn’t show up for training on Wednesday, having sustained an ankle injury

Annesha Ghosh in Mumbai20-Feb-2019India women ODI vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series against England in Mumbai with an ankle injury. Harmanpreet who trained on Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium, missed the practice session on Wednesday. She will be replaced by batting allrounder Harleen Deol, who played for Board President’s XI in Monday’s warm-up match against a full-strength England side. The ODI series, part of the ICC Women’s Championship’s second cycle, begins on Friday.

England tour of India

• Three ODIs: February 22, 25 and 28

• Three T20Is: March 4, 7 and 9

ESPNcricinfo understands Harmanpreet sustained the injury a few days ago when she was in Patiala, where she trains under coach Munish Bali. Harmanpreet took part in the fielding sessions with the Indian team on Tuesday, to assess if she was comfortable running about. Harmanpreet, however, is understood to have not been feeling fully fit, and scans later revealed a grade-2 tear in the left ankle. She will fly to Bengaluru for a consultation at the National Cricket Academy, where the severity of her injury will be assessed further.No decision on her participation in the three-match T20I series, to be played in Guwahati, has been made yet. However, in the event of Harmanpreet, the T20I captain, being unable to recover in time, her deputy Smriti Mandhana is likely to lead the side.Harmanpreet’s injury comes off the back of her forgettable run in the recently concluded tour of New Zealand, where she made 21 in the only innings she played in the ODI series, which India won 2-1. In the T20I series that followed, her returns of 17, 5 and 2 compounded India’s batting woes in a 3-0 whitewash.Deol’s maiden national call-up, meanwhile, comes on the back of an impressive showing in the Challenger Trophy last month and more recently in the warm-up game against England on Monday, where she struck four boundaries in her 29-ball 21 before being run out by Natalie Sciver. During India’s botched defence of 158 in the warm-up game, she gave away 40 in her four overs of offspin. An opening batsman who also doubles up as a middle-order option, Deol had played a vital role in Himachal Pradesh’s run to the semi-finals in the inter-state one-day tournament last year.

The two-time IPL-winning captain feels the India skipper isn’t shrewd or tactically smart enough to lead in the T20 league

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Mar-2019Gautam Gambhir has questioned Virat Kohli’s tactical nous in the lead-up to the latest edition of the IPL, a tournament Kohli’s side Royal Challengers Bangalore have never won. Gambhir said Kohli should be thankful that his IPL franchise has not sacked him as captain despite his continued failure to win them a title. Gambhir won two titles as captain for Kolkata Knight Riders; as India’s vice-captain, he impressed whenever he stepped in to lead in MS Dhoni’s absence.

The evolution of IPL tactics – batting

Why have RCB never won the IPL? Were 2010-11 CSK ahead of their time?
Listen to Part 1 of our podcast ahead of IPL 2019

On Star Sports’ show ‘Game Plan’, Gambhir identified the lack of quality bowlers in the Bangalore side as the main reason for their failure to win an IPL, and didn’t hold back when asked to analyse Kohli as captain. “Still a long way to go,” Gambhir said of Kohli’s captaincy. “I don’t see him as a shrewd captain. I don’t see him as a tactful captain [tactician]. And he hasn’t won the IPL. So ultimately, a captain is only as good as his record.”There are people who have won the trophy three times. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. So I think he has a long way to go. You cannot compare him to someone like Rohit or Dhoni at this stage because he has been part of RCB, and captaining RCB for the last seven to eight years, and he has been very lucky and should be thanking the franchise that they stuck with him because not many captains have got such a long rope where they haven’t won a tournament.”ALSO READ: RCB look strong as ever, but might struggle with team balanceUnder Kohli, Bangalore have won 44 and lost 47 matches. He took over the captaincy full-time in 2012; in seven seasons under Kohli, they have progressed to the play-offs on just two occasions. In recent years, the Royal Challengers have featured the most star-studded batting line-ups in all IPL, and in 2016, Kohli himself broke all records by scoring 973 runs, with Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers not far behind. Yet, the title has eluded them.Kohli recently blamed poor decision-making for the team’s failures. “The failure lies where decisions aren’t made properly,” Kohli said. “If I sit here and say our luck was bad, that won’t be right. You make your own luck, and if you make poor decisions and the other team makes good ones, you will lose. When we played big matches too, our decision-making wasn’t right. When your decision-making is spot on and balanced, those teams win the IPL. The teams that are more relaxed, don’t take the pressure too much, and take good decisions in pressure moments – they should get the credit for winning.”When Gambhir said Kohli should be thankful he has held on to the captaincy, he possibly alluded to the IPL’s evolution into a tournament that has less space for sentiment than international cricket.Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils/Capitals remain the only sides without a title, but Bangalore are the only ones to have shown faith in their leadership.The Delhi franchise has even changed the name of the team for the upcoming season. However, Sourav Ganguly, former India captain, has suggested that consistency leads to success and not the other way around. “I believe in consistency,” Ganguly, who was recently unveiled as the Delhi Capitals advisor, said at a franchise event.”This format requires a clear head and free-hitting. I am a firm believer in consistency and keeping players together. Chennai Super Kings has succeeded with that policy. Mumbai Indians have succeeded with that policy. I am a firm believer in that policy.”If you talk about Virat Kohli and keeping him as a captain, just look at what he has done. What he has done with the bat in every format of the game. Absolute champion. And he deserves to be captain of RCB for whatever period of time. I am sure he will turn it around.”