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Two young Mumbai batsmen were at the heart of what captain Aditya Tare called an “intelligent chase” on the final day against Railways

Arun Venugopal in Mumbai18-Nov-2015Two young Mumbai batsmen were at the heart of what captain Aditya Tare called an “intelligent chase” on the final day against Railways. Tare called the six-wicket win, Mumbai’s third outright, the most important one of their season yet, given that the competition was nearing the knockout phase. What has, however, heartened him more is the responsibility shouldered by Shreyas Iyer and Akhil Herwadkar, whose 143-run partnership for the second wicket set up Mumbai’s pursuit of 295 in 70 overs.Iyer’s arrival to the crease was hastened by the departure of debutant Jay Bista in the fifth over, but there was not the slightest hint of a nervy beginning as he instantly eased into rhythm. It was this quality of Iyer’s that drew most praise from his captain. “I feel very comfortable when Iyer is batting at the other end, because he is always the one who takes on the opposition and makes things easier,” Tare said.Iyer had to contend with plenty of spin bowling – of the 64 overs that Railways bowled, only 10 involved seamers – but he leveraged his reach optimally to hit against the spin. His arrival immediately resulted in fewer men close in, and Iyer was clever enough to exploit that, pinching quick twos whenever he could not send a ball soaring over the fence. His streetsmartness coupled with obvious potential didn’t escape the attention of Railways captain Mahesh Rawat, who reckoned Iyer was “very near” to making the national side.Tare, for his part, said Iyer’s approach opened up opportunities for other batsmen. “When he is there the field is always spread and he also makes the batsman coming in comfortable because he is quite positive in his mind. So he passes on that sort of energy,” Tare said.Iyer’s energy found the right collaborative force in Herwadkar’s calmness, and a barter of their individual strengths resulted in a potent combination. Herwadkar, who was off key in the first few games, has produced scores of 58, 67, 58, 75 and 145 in his last five innings. When Mumbai, according to Tare, had “faltered” against legspinner Karn Sharma in the first innings and were in danger of conceding the lead, Herwadkar grinded out a big hundred and handed his team a useful cushion.Herwadkar approach, though, was considerably less cautious in the second innings, even as he switched seamlessly between defence and offence.”Exceptional,” Tare said when asked about Herwadkar’s progress. “I thought this was the best he had played so far in his short first-class career. He is taking responsibilities, growing into a good opening batsman.”He is quite positive and likes to hit the ball. In the top we need someone who can take the opposition on the back foot. He is very talented; if he stays long he is going to score runs. If he knows that he is going to be a terrific player for Mumbai.”After making last-minute dashes to the knockout stages in recent years, Mumbai have managed early form this season. Tare, however, believed the tournament began only in the last-eights, and he would be looking at Iyer and Herwadkar as Mumbai’s prime enforcers.

Kieron Pollard’s unbeaten 59 and Robin Peterson’s 3 for 13 set up a 17-run win for defending champions Barbados Tridents over Jamaica Tallawahs at Sabina Park in Kingston

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKieron Pollard struck five fours and three sixes during his unbeaten 37-ball 59•Caribbean Premier League

Kieron Pollard’s unbeaten 59 and Robin Peterson’s 3 for 13 set up a 17-run win for defending champions Barbados Tridents over Jamaica Tallawahs at Sabina Park. More importantly, the victory – Tridents’ fifth of the season – helped them pull clear of Tallawahs by two points at the top of the table.Tridents chose to bat and put on an opening stand of 31 before Jerome Taylor dismissed Dilshan Munaweera in the fifth over. Tridents lost three wickets for 33 runs during the middle overs and fell to 64 for 4, but Pollard and Jason Holder led a recovery be adding 58 runs for the fifth wicket, taking the team past 120. Pollard struck five fours and three sixes for his fifty, the batsman’s second of the season. Andre Russell dismissed Holder and Navin Stewart in the 19th over to leave the visitors on 124 for 6, but the final over of Tridents’ innings yielded 22 runs, with Pollard slamming two sixes and a four. His blitz meant that Tallawahs needed 147 for the win.However, the hosts’ chase did not begin well, as Ravi Rampaul dismissed the tournament’s top run-getter Chris Gayle early to end an 18-run opening partnership. Peterson then spun Tallawahs into further trouble, picking up the wickets of Chris Lynn, Mahela Jayawardene and Jermaine Blackwood all in the fifth over to reduce the team to 36 for 4.Chadwick Walton and Nkrumah Bonner revived the chase with a 67-run stand for the fifth wicket, but with the fall of Walton’s wicket in the 16th over, Tallawahs chances of a win were dented. Holder then dismissed Andre Russell and Rusty Theron in the 18th over to all but seal the game.

A urine sample provided by Shohidul contained Clomifene, which is on the WADA’s prohibited list

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jul-2022The ICC has banned Bangladesh fast bowler Shohidul Islam for 10 months for failing a dope test in March. Shohidul, who admitted to breaching Article 2.1 of the ICC Anti-Doping Code and accepted the suspension, will be available from March 28 next year, after his sentence was backdated to May 28, the date of his acceptance of the voluntary provisional suspension.According to the ICC media release, Shohidul had provided a urine sample in an out-of-competition testing programme in Dhaka on March 4. The sample contained Clomifene, which according to the governing body is a specified substance under WADA’s prohibited list and is prohibited both in-competition and out-of-competition.ESPNcricinfo has learned that the prohibited substance was found in a medicine that Shohidul had taken, prescribed by his own doctor, earlier this year.In making the decision, the ICC accepted that Shohidul had “demonstrated no significant fault or negligence, having inadvertently ingested the prohibited substance which was contained in a medicine he had been legitimately prescribed for therapeutic reasons.”The ICC added that Shohidul was able to satisfy that he had “no intention to enhance his sporting performance by using prohibited substances. However, Shohidul accepted that he had failed to satisfy the high levels of personal responsibility incumbent upon him as an international cricketer subject to anti-doping rules.”Shohidul, who made his only T20I appearance against Pakistan last year in Dhaka, has been part of several Bangladesh squads over the last 18 months. He has taken 93 wickets and scored one century from 35 first-class matches, apart from his 69 wickets from 46 T20s. Earlier this year, he was hailed after bowling Comilla Victorians to their third BPL title. Shohidul is considered one of the bright fast-bowling prospects in Bangladesh.

‘Every time I get onto the field, the aim is to contribute to the team’s success in whichever way I can’

Annesha Ghosh02-Jul-20211:41

Shikha Pandey -‘We are working towards playing a fearless brand of cricket’

Shikha Pandey is eyeing better all-round returns on the tour of England following her performance with the ball in the second ODI, where she picked up 9-1-34-1, her economy the best among the Indian attack.Though India lost the match, Pandey was pivotal to setting the tone of India’s attempt to defend 221 and the bowling unit’s much-improved performance. She gave away just two runs in her first two overs, including a maiden, and got the ball to hoop early, causing discomfort to Tammy Beaumont, the in-form England opener.Heading into the third and final ODI in Worcester on Saturday, which then leads into the three-match T20I series, Pandey, 32, was hopeful to build on her outing in the second ODI in Taunton.”Not setting long-term goals,” Pandey said when asked about the all-round role she may be expected to play in the 2022 ODI World Cup. “That’s not really something that works for me, so [I’m] just setting short-term goals. For me it’s one session, one spell, one ball at a time when I’m going in to bowl. I think I have found some rhythm back in the second game, so just going to go ahead, follow the basics and keep doing all I can.

Mithali Raj set to play third ODI

The India captain had not fielded in the second ODI on Wednesday after suffering from neck pain, with Harmanpreet Kaur leading the side. On Friday, Pandey said, “Mithali di is all well. She has been assessed by the medical staff, [physio] Tracy [Fernandes] ma’am…” The BCCI later tweeted, “Captain @M_Raj03 has recovered and is training with the girls as we prepare for the 3rd WODI tomorrow here at New Road, Worcester,” with photos of Raj training with the team.

“As a bowling allrounder, I am, yes, supposed to be scoring runs and every time I get onto the field, the aim is to contribute to the team’s success in whichever way I can. There are goals being set but at a very short-term basis; no long-term goals in mind. So, it’s just the game tomorrow and bowl well and in case I get to bat, probably score better and contribute a lot more with the bat.”The solitary wicket – of opener Lauren Winfield-Hill – Pandey took in Taunton was also her first one on the tour.Winfield-Hill’s dismissal was as much a result of Pandey’s ability to entice a set batter into prodding at an away-going delivery as it was of Taniya Bhatia’s deft work with the gloves. Standing up to the two seamers, Jhulan Goswami and Pandey, Bhatia, in sparkling form throughout the series effecting four dismissals in three innings, snagged the faintest of edges to dismiss Winfield-Hill for 42.”Firstly, I am huge fan of Taniya,” Pandey said. “The kind of keeping, standing up to the stumps to medium pacers is not an easy job and the way she stood up to us, even with the new ball, is amazing. You can count on your fingers the number of keepers that can do that in international cricket. So, firstly, it’s commendable what she is doing for us.Related

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“It’s a few, small, little things we noticed on the field that if the England batters are standing way too outside the crease and I’m the swing bowler, so my swing gets negated,” Pandey said, elaborating on the thinking that prompted Bhatia to stand up to the stumps. “There are pretty practical decisions being taken on the ground that we need to get them to play from the crease and that’s how Taniya comes in.”I think the first wicket we got yesterday [of Beaumont, being bowled by Goswami], Taniya standing up to the stumps made a huge difference. So, firstly, Taniya is doing a great job for us and it’s just about responding to the situations on the field.”After the loss in the first ODI, captain Mithali Raj had called for the Indian seam attack to take more responsibility and support Goswami, the pace spearhead, better. Pandey said the seamers’ improved performance in the second match was down mainly to having drawn up more well-defined plans.Shikha Pandey – “I have found some rhythm back in the second game, so just going to go ahead, follow the basics and keep doing all I can”•Associated Press

“[After the first match] We just sat down and spoke about what we are capable of and backing out strengths and having clearer plans in place and just going by them and not looking too much for the wickets and just keeping it tight,” Pandey said. “That was what was said: to keep our plans simple and going about our business early in the innings.”I think we did pretty well in all departments in the second game and we are catching up,” she said. “Considering this is a multi-format series, we know going ahead if we win all four games we can still win it.”We are not really gauging ourselves against them; it’s just about backing ourselves, and we know as a team we are a very good team and when we play to our strengths, we have a good day and we know we can beat any team in the world. We are just backing ourselves and looking forward to the next game and not thinking too about much about what has happened.”Head coach Ramesh Powar, she said, had also played a part in keeping the team’s morale up.”He has backed us a lot,” Pandey said. “Even after the second game, the talk in the dressing room was very positive. He has always said if we play to our potential, to what our strengths are, we can beat any team in the world. He has got full confidence in us and he backs us as a group. I mean, what else do we need? As a coach he has been very helpful in all three departments. He has backed us a lot.”Shikha Pandey heaves a sigh of relief after picking up Lauren Winfield-Hill’s wicket•Getty Images

India’s first-innings totals so far in the series – 201 and 221 – have hardly been a challenge to the England line-up. Aside from Raj and Shafali Verma, no other India batter has been able to make an imprint on the scoring substantially. However, Pandey said the onus to win the team a match was as much the batters’ responsibility as it was of the bowling contingent’s.”I wouldn’t say batting is the main concern,” she said. “At the very outset, I can give you a player’s perspective. When I get into a game, we think about all three aspects of the game together. So if the batters cannot get us runs, it’s us, the bowlers, the bowling unit, we need to fight hard and back the batters. I wouldn’t say it is one department of the game that’s lacking.”If we can get all the three [departments clicking] together on the day, we will be doing well. Thinking too much about what has happened is not really going to help us, so just thinking ahead about what we can do as a team together. Whatever runs the batters score, the bowlers have to defend it and whatever runs the bowlers initially get the other team to score, the batting team has to go chase it.”

A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy Group C matches on October 16, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Oct-2015
ScorecardLegspinner Muzzaffaruddin Khalid built on seamer Raushan Raj’s first-innings heroics to help Services thrash Jammu & Kashmir by nine wickets inside two days in Jammu. Khalid claimed seven second-innings scalps, leaving Services with a mere 18 to chase, which they did in 3.3 overs. Earlier in the day Services had stretched their first-innings lead to 144, with Yashpal Singh completing a half-century. With their backs to the wall, J&K could manage only 161, with opener Shubham Khajuria making the sole contribution of any note with 51.
ScorecardTripura hurtled towards a big defeat against Goa in Porvorim, ending day two 56 runs behind with just four wickets in hand – effectively three, since captain Abhijit Dey will not bat in the second innings. Dey had dislocated shoulder while fielding earlier in the day, as Goa accumulated 257 in reply to Tripura’s first-innings 61. Goa’s total was built by double-digit contributions from all their top seven, the top scorer being Darshan Misal with 62. Much like their batting effort, the bowlers too shared the workload while dismantling Tripura the second time around, with all five of their bowlers who sent down four or more overs striking.
ScorecardA five-for from Varun Aaron put Jharkhand on top in Malappuram. The India fast bowler took 5 for 23 to topple Kerala for 148 in response to Jharkhand’s 202, before the visitors got to 47 for 2 in their second innings. Amid Aaron’s destruction – only three batsmen got into double-digits and the tail could not contribute a single run – only middle-order man Rohan Prem could get to a fifty, making 52 off 106. Run outs did not help Kerala’s cause either, with two batsmen, including captain Sanju Samson, being caught short of the crease.
ScorecardThe runs continued to flow in Dharamsala, with Hyderabad piling up 434 before Himachal got to 84 for no loss by stumps. Tanmay Agarwal, not out on 104 overnight, added another 14 to his total before being run out. But a string of significant contributions from the lower middle order meant the visitors got past 400. Balchander Anirudh and Kolla Sumanth hit half-centuries, while Ashish Reddy made a brisk 42 from No. 9. In reply, Himachal openers Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra got stuck in, Bains getting to a fifty before the close. The hosts will hope they stick around for a while yet on day three.