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The former India batter is presently the team mentor at KKR in IPL 2024

Nagraj Gollapudi17-May-2024Former India batter Gautam Gambhir is on top of the BCCI’s wishlist to take up the position of India men’s head coach after Rahul Dravid’s term ends at the conclusion of the 2024 T20 World Cup in June.ESPNcricinfo has learned Gambhir, who is currently the mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, has been contacted by the BCCI to gauge his interest in the job, and further discussions are expected after KKR complete their IPL 2024 campaign. However, the deadline for applying for the India head coach job is May 27, a day after the IPL final.Dravid, it is learnt, has communicated to the BCCI his decision not to seek another tenure. VVS Laxman, who had been expected to succeed Dravid, had made himself unavailable last year due to personal reasons.While Gambhir, 42, has no experience of coaching at international or domestic level, he has been in charge of the coaching staff at two IPL franchises. He was the mentor at Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022 and 2023 – they qualified for the playoffs in both seasons – before joining KKR for the 2024 season, where they will finish the league stage on top of the points table. Gambhir’s move to KKR for IPL 2024 was unexpected but it is learned he was persuaded to become the team’s mentor by the franchise’s principal owner Shah Rukh Khan.Related

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Gambhir was part of India’s T20 World Cup triumph in 2007 and the ODI World Cup victory in 2011. He captained KKR for seven IPL seasons from 2011 to 2017, and they qualified for the playoffs five times and won two titles in 2012 and 2014 under his leadership. They also reached the final of the defunct Champions League T20 in 2014.Last week, the BCCI posted an advertisement seeking applications for the position of India men’s head coach. The job, the BCCI said, would be for all three formats for a duration of three and a half years starting from July 2024 until December 2027.Dravid had begun his two-year term as India’s head coach after the 2021 T20 World Cup. His stint was supposed to end after the 2023 ODI World Cup in November last year, but he agreed to an extension until the end of the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be played in West Indies and the USA in June.

DC finally rise from the bottom after winning four of their last five games

Vishal Dikshit06-May-20233:08

Moody: Salt a brave player who doesn’t fear for his wicket

The Delhi Capitals’ batting might has turned up a little late in the tournament but they gave their home crowd a dazzling display of boundary hitting, the centerpiece of which was Phil Salt’s 87 off 45 balls, to finish off a chase of 182 against RCB with 20 balls to spare.After three ducks and only one score over 10 in his last five T20 innings, Salt sent five of his six sixes over the leg-side boundary during at assault that featured a lot of horizontal-bat shots. The Capitals chase got going with their first half-century opening stand of the season, and Salt kept attacking to bring the asking rate under six in almost no time. They raced to 70 in the powerplay, 115 at the halfway mark with Salt’s 28-ball fifty, before plundering 24 runs off a Harshal Patel over to reduce the chase to 32 off 42 balls.Salt was eventually bowled for 87 but his eight fours and six sixes helped Capitals beat RCB for the first time in three years. It was Capitals’ fourth win in their last five games, and lifted them off the bottom of the table.

DC’s best powerplay

The Capitals chase was unlike any of their batting displays this season. David Warner began with two fours off the first three balls from Mohammed Siraj, before sweeping Wanindu Hasaranga’s first ball for six in the fourth over. In between, Salt took on Josh Hazlewood for two fours before a feisty fifth over from Siraj.Salt top-edged the first ball for six over the wicketkeeper, slapped the second one over cover and into the stands, and then flicked one bounce into the square-leg boundary. Siraj responded with a bouncer that was called wide and there followed a heated conversation between the bowler and the batter, and some animated finger-pointing from Siraj towards both Salt and Warner.Warner skied a catch off Hazlewood for 22 off 14 in the last over of the powerplay but Mitchell Marsh ended the over with a big six over midwicket and an edged four to power Capitals to 70 after six overs. They might not have got so much had Dinesh Karthik held on to a tough chance from Salt – an inside edge off Hasaranga – in the fourth over.It got heated between Phil Salt and Mohammed Siraj•Associated Press

Salt’s boundary bonanza

Salt was on 35 off 17 at the time and he threw his bat at anything wayward: wide balls disappeared over cover, short ones were pulled disdainfully, and a few edges also raced to the boundary.Marsh holed out off a full toss but the attack on RCB’s bowlers did not abate. Salt began the 13th over, from Harshal, with a six over the leg side and Rilee Rossouw smashed two more down the ground, before a misfield on the long-off boundary from Suyash Prabhudessai made it 24 runs off the over.Salt belted out two more boundaries before falling to Karn Sharma and Rossouw ended the game in the 17th over with his third six.

Kohli and Du Plessis solid but not spectacular

After RCB chose to bat on what was considered to be a slow pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Virat Kohli started by playing nine dot balls in the first three overs, but also found the boundary in each of them.RCB got a boost when Faf du Plessis struck Mukesh Kumar for three fours in the fifth over before he hit Khaleel Ahmed for a straight six and a four to make it 51 from the powerplay.

Marsh goes bang, bang

Kohli and du Plessis batted into the 11th over of the innings, when Marsh had du Plessis caught slapping a short and wide slower ball to deep point. He then had Glenn Maxwell caught first ball to reduce RCB to 82 for 2. Kohli was on 36 of 31 at the other end, and the run rate dipped slightly.

Mahipal Lomror lifts RCB

Mahipal Lomror raised the tempo of RCB’s innings quickly. He pulled his fifth ball for six off Kuldeep Yadav, and used the reverse-sweep and the loft down the ground to find the boundary, before pulling Marsh for another six to lift the run rate over eight an over.Kohli, meanwhile, found short fine leg for 55 off 46 and RCB were 137 for 3 with four overs left. Lomror didn’t get a lot of support and ended up doing most of the hitting himself. His two fours off Ishant Sharma, an edge for four off Khaleel, along with Dinesh Karthik’s six helped RCB collect 29 runs from the 17th and 18th overs. Mukesh then nailed a few yorkers and Khaleel used his cutters to keep RCB to 15 off the last two. Kohli said he thought 181 was a good score during the innings break, but the Capitals ran down the target with ease.

In 2022, Suryakumar Yadav scored 1164 runs in 31 T20I innings at a strike rate of 187.43

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2023Suryakumar Yadav has been named the T20I Cricketer of the Year for 2022 by the ICC in its annual awards.In the 2022 calendar year, Suryakumar scored 1164 runs in 31 T20I innings, with a strike rate of 187.43 and average of 46.56, with two centuries and nine half-centuries. This included a sequence of three back-to-back half-centuries in September-October, in matches against Australia and South Africa.Overall, he has 1578 runs from 43 T20I innings, since making his debut in the format in March 2021, at a strike rate of 180.34 and average of 46.41, with three centuries and 13 half-centuries.Suryakumar became just the second batter to make more than 1000 runs in a calendar year in 2022 and ended the year as the highest run-getter in the format, while also becoming the No. 1 T20I batter in the world when he went past Mohammad Rizwan in early November.In 2022, Suryakumar also hit 68 sixes in T20Is, the most by an individual in a year.The three centuries Suryakumar now has against his name puts him in joint-second place for century-makers in T20Is, behind Rohit Sharma’s four, with Colin Munro and Glenn Maxwell the only other batters from Full-Member teams to score three.The ICC recognition came after Suryakumar was one of three Indians in ICC’s T20I team of the year, alongside Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya. India failed to make the title round at the 2022 T20 World Cup, losing in the semi-final to England by ten wickets, but Suryakumar had an outstanding tournament individually. He finished third on the run-scorers’ chart, with 239 runs in six innings, behind Kohli (296 in six innings) and Max O’Dowd (242 runs in eight innings). Suryakumar scored his runs at a strike rate of 189.68, the best by a specialist batter, and hit three half-centuries.

The tournament was originally scheduled to run from July 30 to August 22

Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Jul-2021The Lanka Premier League has been postponed until at least late November, thanks largely to competing cricket tournaments or series being scheduled for the original window. The second edition of the LPL was supposed to run from July 30 to August 22.According to tournament director Ravin Wickramaratne, the announcement of the Kashmir Premier League (set to run from August 6 to 17), the CPL (which requires players to be free from August 12), the ECB’s The Hundred (which runs from July 21 to August 21), and another possible international series involving Bangladesh, have forced the LPL tournament organisers to rethink their timing.The first edition of the LPL featured a significant number of Pakistan players, but occasionally, teams were unable to field four foreign players. The unavailability of Pakistan and West Indies players in particular, would seriously hamper the Sri Lankan league.The LPL is also fighting fires on the franchise front. They have officially terminated two of the five franchises that took part last year, Dambulla Viiking and Colombo Kings both being cut from the second edition.A third franchise, Jaffna Stallions, are also on thin ice according to tournament organisers. They claim that Stallions’ owners have not been forthcoming with the Know Your Client (KYC) details that franchises are required to provide in order to be vetted by the ICC, while the franchise has also not been prompt with payments to the tournament organisers. Stallions, meanwhile, contend that they have been unwilling to make payments to the league with so much uncertainty surrounding the second edition’s timing. Stallions had won last year’s tournament.A postponement to November would mean that the tournament will be played soon after the T20 World Cup. It also means the island’s north-east monsoon is likely to be in operation. Last year’s edition was also played in November, but was only occasionally hampered by the weather.

With a backlift borrowed from Steven Smith, he rode his luck thrice en route to his maiden Test half-century on debut

Andrew McGlashan in Sydney05-Jan-2020So rushed was Glenn Phillips’ call-up to the New Zealand squad that he didn’t have a numbered shirt when he took the field on the opening day. Dragged off the beach, having almost missed the phone call from selector Gavin Larsen, and racing through traffic to catch a plane across the Tasman, he was making his debut 12 hours later when Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls were laid out by the flu.The team liaison helped get shirts printed up and by the second session, Phillips had ’23’ on his back. On the third day, he earned a more significant number, 52, in his first Test innings. It has become a tour of accidental success for New Zealand’s batting, which has, on the whole, been overwhelmed by Australia’s bowling. This innings was the first time Australia had been forced to take the second new ball in the series as Phillips followed Tom Blundell’s rearguard century at the MCG in giving them momentary relief from the disappointments.”Everyone gets called up a different way and mine was a little more entertaining than others,” Phillips said. “It certainly gives me a story to tell the kids and grandkids one day.”ALSO READ: Report – Australia pull ahead after Lyon, Cummins bowl New Zealand outHe rode his luck. Nathan Lyon twice spilled return catches, with Phillips on 2 and 17, while he was also caught at deep square-leg off a James Pattinson no-ball, on 28. But there was enough evidence of his pedigree and the development from someone previously regarded as a T20 player – he made his international debut in the format in 2017 – to a much more rounded all-format player.The numbers had started to come in domestic cricket where he was the third-highest run-scorer in last season’s Plunket Shield – 610 runs at 76.25 – and there was a century for New Zealand A against England in November.After walking in following the loss of two wickets in three balls, and given the early life by Lyon, his first Test boundary was a powerful pull off the spinner. Two more consecutive boundaries came off Lyon then against the second new ball he produced a pristine straight drive off Mitchell Starc and a pull for six off Pat Cummins before another swivel-pull took him to fifty off 113 balls.Glenn Phillips celebrates his fifty on debut•Getty Images

It did not take long from the moment he marked his guard for the first time in Test cricket for an eye-catching comparison to gain plenty of interest: an uncanny similarity to Steven Smith’s technique. Phillips said that some of it was coincidental, but that the backlift had been borrowed.”I used to shuffle across every second or third ball, then over the winter I just struggled to move my feet one day and decided to do it every ball and it brought a little more rhythm to my technique,” he explained. “I did take one thing out of Smudgers’ [Smith’s] technique where his bat goes way out from his body. For me, when I brought my shoulders back into line everything came down a bit more central, as opposed when I first started with [the bat] straight behind me it would pop out the other side and I’d get into trouble between the gate.”Two deliveries after the fifty, however, and the fourth chance Australia had to remove him went into the scoreboard when Cummins produced a beauty that nipped back through the gate to take off stump. “Obviously something in the universe was saying after 50, you’ve got no more chances, mate. It’s just been that sort of lucky day, lucky couple of days,” he said. “Things swing both ways. Today, it swung my way. I wish I could have gone on a little bit longer with that luck but as I said, one slight mistake and that’s all it takes to end your innings at this level. For a Test debut, other than potentially getting a hundred, it’s not a half bad start.”While Phillips more than held his own, it was a case of what might have been for the rest of the New Zealand’s top order with five others falling between 20 and 49. Blundell was bowled through his legs, Jeet Raval had played well following his illness before being pinned lbw by Lyon; Tom Latham drove loosely to mid-on and Ross Taylor was trapped in front to remain 21 short of becoming New Zealand’s highest Test run-scorer. The most exasperating dismissal, though, belonged to Colin de Grandhomme who was run out coming back for a second when he took on Matthew Wade’s arm at deep square leg.They managed to edge past 250 for the first time in the series as Matt Henry had his broken thumb targeted by Mitchell Starc before Lyon completed his first home ground five-wicket haul. When Australia, unsurprisingly, did not enforce the follow-on it meant that come Monday New Zealand will have fielded on all 12 days of the series.Although there has been some small improvement over the last two innings, the batting has just not been able to withstand the sustained pressure from Australia. At some point on the fourth day – weather permitting – they will begin their final innings in pursuit of a draw which will need more than one piece of personal success to achieve.

England captain will continue to build towards Test summer by turning out against Lancashire in Blackpool

ESPNcricinfo staff14-May-2024Ben Stokes will make his first appearance for Durham in the County Championship since May 2022 against Lancashire this week as he steps up his return as an allrounder.The England Test captain’s last competitive match came in the final match of the tour of India at the start of March. Having pulled out of the IPL, Stokes subsequently made himself unavailable for next month’s T20 World Cup to ensure he can play a full part in the Test summer, with bat and ball, following surgery in November to clear out a troublesome left knee that prevented him from doing the latter.With almost two months to go before the first Test against West Indies, which begins at Lord’s on July 10, Stokes will begin his tune-up at Blackpool on Friday. With Durham sitting fifth in Division One with one win and three draws, head coach Ryan Campbell was understandably buoyed by the influence Stokes’ will have on his squad and the competition as a whole.Related

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“We’re looking to kickstart our season and we’re looking forward to welcoming England captain Ben Stokes back into our team for the first time – it will be absolutely awesome,” Campbell told BBC Radio Newcastle.”I suggest if you’ve got a few days over the weekend you get down to Blackpool and watch the great Ben Stokes return for Durham.”Players always want to play against the best players in the competition. To have one of those players in our own team to show us the way, his experiences, it’s unbelievable.”Suddenly, there’s an air of excitement around the place just because he walks in the room.”Stokes, 32, played all five matches of England’s 4-1 loss in India, but only bowled in the final Test. He removed Rohit Sharma with his very first delivery, eventually bowling just five overs.Having initially ruled himself out of bowling on the trip, such was the speed of his recovery behind the scenes that he decided to turn his arm over in Dharamsala. He subsequently left the tour with his sights set on building his bowling back up, not least because England struggled to balance their team without a seam-bowling allrounder.Though Stokes has had time off, he has ticked over with his bowling, slowly increasing the intensity of sessions with six Tests to come this summer – three against Sri Lanka after the West Indies series – and tours of Pakistan and New Zealand before the end of the year. Speaking to the BBC’s podcast on Monday, men’s managing director Rob Key said he was encouraged by Stokes’ progress.”Ben in particular is feeling, for the first time in quite some time, that he is bowling pain free, and is able to bowl almost, straight away, into his top end speed,” Key said. “And he’s not having to go through pain barriers all the time to do it. I think he feels liberated by the fact the knee op has been a success and he feels he can now look to this part of his career being able to do both things, which is always a big thing for an allrounder.”It’s one thing if you’re batting; if you fail with the bat you feel you can contribute with the ball. If you take one of those away, it becomes a trickier game for allrounders.”The trip to Blackpool is one of four red-ball matches for Durham that Stokes could play between now and the first West Indies Test. It is still to be determined whether he will be available for Durham’s Vitality Blast campaign, which begins on May 30. Whether with the red or white ball, Stokes and the England management will aim to ensure he has the necessary overs under his belt before the Test summer begins.”Even Ben Stokes, as indestructible as we always think he is, he needs to build up slowly and then hopefully peak at just the right time to go on and not have to worry,” said Key.”Because it’s not just about your back, your knee and the knee you had operated on – you just lose that bit of resilience and robustness that bowling requires. I don’t think there’s any other force you can put your body through like what it does when you bowl, so he just needs to build up into that again.”

Likely to meet with NSW’s Lee Germon this week to work through questions raised about last week’s offer

Daniel Brettig21-Jul-2020Freed from uncertainty around the postponement of the T20 World Cup, Cricket Australia’s interim chief executive Nick Hockley is confident of resolving the financial impasse with the governing body’s state association owners that ultimately played a large part in costing predecessor Kevin Roberts his job.While the dissenting associations of New South Wales and Queensland last week rejected CA’s new proposal for pre-emptive cuts to be replaced by quarterly reductions based on any actual revenue shortfalls this summer, Hockley and the CA chairman Earl Eddings have remained in open dialogue with the states, a process that now has more time to play out now the status of the ICC tournament has been made clear.Hockley is believed to be meeting with his NSW counterpart Lee Germon this week to work through the questions raised about last week’s CA offer. The major sticking point is likely to have been that while the replacing of distribution cuts based on forecasts with reductions taking into account actual revenue was welcome to the states, the proposal also raised the level of risk for the states to the same as that being accepted by CA itself – a 25% reduction in grants if CA revenues were 25% down.The previous proposal only saw the states part with 25% of their annual distribution if CA’s revenue as down by 50%. Nevertheless, Hockley said the model proposed last week had not been couched as a fait accompli, discussions had been productive and a “sensible way out” was likely for both parties. “We certainly sought feedback,” Hockley said. “We are having some really constructive discussions and it’s a very different approach.”Previously what was proposed was, if you like, pre-emptive reductions ahead of what had actually happened. Whereas the model we are looking at now is very, very different. It’s a completely transparent model based on what actually does transpire this summer. Whilst we have been lucky that the virus has hit in our off season, there are still a whole range of outcomes. It’s going to be really complicated. What the model we are discussing at the moment is based on actuals and not forecasts.”It’s a flexible model that varies depending on how revenues are actually impacted in the future. On that basis, it’s really the whole of Australian cricket all working together.”Getty Images

Dizzying circumstances for Hockley, in which he took over from Roberts in June and had to deal with the T20 World Cup, preparations for next summer and disputes with the states and the Australian Cricketers Association, provide some mitigating factors in terms of the level of detail he has quickly had to get his head around. “We’ve got a lot more recent financial information. We will take a call on that information. I think there’s some further discussions to be had,” he said.”Certainly there’s a lot of good support from the majority of states and territories. What we’re trying to do is collectively work through the situation in a very transparent manner based on what actually happens and work through it as a team. I don’t think you can compare the previous situation, which was all about crystal-balling with the new model, where we will only take a hit if Australian cricket takes a hit. If we don’t, then in many ways, we would be exceptionally fortunate with our friends in the northern hemisphere but also our friends in the winter codes.”Certainly, there is relief at CA that the T20 World Cup rescheduling means there is one large agenda item that has been dealt with, allowing for greater focus on the states and the coming season.”We were all searching for clarity. When I talk to the team, I do talk about clarity and getting certainty in this environment is not always possible, but certainly being clear about what is certain and what isn’t is very important,” Hockley said. “There’s no doubt as we are working through the plans this summer and the contingency planning, it’s just massively, massively complex. We have been watching closely how the ECB have delivered their international series against West Indies. Everything has evolved in ensuring biosecurity around that.”Equally we are looking at and working very closely with and getting great knowledge sharing with the Australian sports, be it AFL, rugby league, netball, who’ve just moved their competitions. The complexity is not lost on us. What is different for cricket is, whereas some of the winter codes you have a singular league, we’ve got between now and through the summer, an overseas international tour outbound potentially to England. We’re then bringing international teams in, both women’s and men’s, we’ve got two domestic leagues in the WBBL and the BBL.”And then we’ve got all of the additional cricket competitions. Whereas the other sports are focused on a singular league, we’ve got this sort of portfolio of cricket across the different formats. That brings with it its own massive set of complexities.”

The two-Test series, which will begin on February 4 in Tauranga, will currently clash with the latter stages of the SA20

Firdose Moonda19-Jul-2023The increasing encroachment of T20 leagues on the international calendar could force South Africa to seek a postponement or field a second-string side on next year’s tour to New Zealand. The two-Test series, which will begin on February 4 in Tauranga, will clash with the latter stages of the SA20, South Africa’s T20 franchise competition, and will present Cricket South Africa (CSA) with a conundrum over player availability.A significant proportion of South Africa’s Test players, including captain Temba Bavuma, new Durban Super Giants captain Keshav Maharaj and the entire frontline pace pack – Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen – are contracted to teams in the SA20 and will either have to miss parts of the tournament or opt out of the Tests, with the latter more likely.Although South Africa’s players are contractually bound to both CSA and the SA20, CSA has guaranteed the SA20 first rights to the players over the January window and as such, the players will be obliged to play for their franchises rather than the national team. It is, therefore, almost certain that South Africa will have to send a makeshift Test side to New Zealand. CSA’s CEO Pholetsi Moseki told ESPNcricinfo that the organisation will have a better idea of which players are available for the Tests, “after the SA20 mini-auction in September,” and that they are still trying to have the New Zealand Tests moved.The 2023-2027 FTP, which was made public in August last year, had South Africa scheduled to play two Tests in New Zealand in February 2024. NZC announced the fixtures this week which confirmed matches from February 4 to 17. Given the distance and time difference, CSA plans to send their Test squad to New Zealand about a week in advance, which will be around January 28 but would have preferred to send them at least a week later, at the conclusion of the SA20.The SA20 will begin in the week of January 7, after India’s tour to South Africa, and should end around February 4. Ideally, CSA would have wanted the New Zealand Tests to be held from mid-February, but NZC was unable to accede to that because they are also due to host Australia, whose players need to be free by late March for the IPL. The three T20I and two-Test series against Australia runs from February 21 to March 12, while the IPL is understood to be pencilled in for after March 20 at the earliest.South Africa forfeited the three ODIs against Australia earlier this year to play in the SA20 instead•SA20

CSA has also asked NZC to consider hosting the Tests during the IPL, in April, which would impact player availability for both sides, but this request could not be accommodated. Both CSA and NZC have players contracted to the IPL, though in South Africa’s case it is far fewer than those who will be involved at the SA20. CSA maintains that they are still trying to find an alternative window to propose to NZC but “if you look at the FTP – there’s nowhere to move the matches because we need to complete the WTC cycle by 2025,” Moseki said.Asked if South Africa, who only play two-Test series for the entire 2023-2025 WTC cycle, would consider forfeiting the matches, Moseki said they “want to avoid cancelling matches because we are aware of our bilateral obligations,” but also admitted “the SA20 is too important,” to jeopardise. The SA20 turned a profit in its first year and CSA is hedging the game’s financial future on the event which is why they have reneged on an international before. South Africa did not play three ODIs against Australia earlier this year in order to launch the SA20 with all their players available and as such, put themselves in a tough position on the World Cup Super League table.Despite making that concession, the first season of the SA20 still faced scheduling difficulties. A World Cup Super League series against England had to be sandwiched into the tournament window and it had to move out of the Cape Town, Paarl and Port Elizabeth in order for those venues to ready themselves for the Women’s T20 World Cup. As a result, the SA20 started off in the Western and Eastern Cape before fixtures were held up-country and on the east coast, and took an eight-day break after 22 matches to accommodate for the England ODIs.The organisers were hoping for a smoother schedule this time around but, because of the clash with the New Zealand series, will have to wait until 2025 for that. Moseki said CSA has ensured there are no future issues in the SA20 window for the remainder of the ongoing FTP. However, South Africa are due to host Pakistan for two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is deep into January in 2025, West Indies for five T20Is in January 2026 and England for three Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is in early 2027.NZC has been contacted for comment.

Four wickets from Muzarabani and a fighting 67 from Raza couldn’t prevent Zimbabwe from sinking to a 60-run defeat

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jun-2022Four senior players made defining contributions as Afghanistan began the ODI leg of their Zimbabwe tour with a 60-run victory in Harare.Sent in, Afghanistan overcame a poor start to post a solid 276, with Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi putting on 181 to lay the platform and Rashid Khan adding the finishing touches with an unbeaten 39 off 17 balls.Zimbabwe made a reasonable start to their chase, with the debutant opener Innocent Kaia and captain, Craig Ervine, putting on 61 to steer them to 66 for 1 in the 15th over. Afghanistan’s spinners, however, dictated terms thereafter, as Rashid and Mohammad Nabi led a relentless middle-overs strangle. From the start of the 17th over to the end of the 40th, Zimbabwe scored just 93 runs at a rate of 3.8 per over, while losing four wickets – all to the offspin of Nabi. Their required rate ballooned from 6.09 to 11.10 in this period, and though Sikandar Raza (67 off 78) extended Zimbabwe’s fight, their chances of victory had all but vanished. Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out off the last ball of their innings.That Afghanistan would end the match as comfortable winners was hardly a given when they limped to 38 for 2. Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara made tidy starts with the new ball, with the former dismissing Ibrahim Zadran in the seventh over, before the debutant Tanaka Chivanga came on as first change in the 11th over and struck with his fifth ball, having Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught at second slip.Blessing Muzarabani picked up four wickets•AFP/Getty Images

But Rahmat and Shahidi wrested the momentum away from the home team with the highest partnership by an Afghanistan pair against Zimbabwe, and the fourth-highest in Afghanistan’s ODI history. They didn’t force the pace too much early on, with the innings run rate still below four an over by the end of the 38th – by which time Wessley Madhevere had given Rahmat a life, dropping him off Ryan Burl’s legspin when he was batting on 42.Then came a burst of scoring, as Rahmat and Shahidi clattered 69 runs in 6.2 overs before Muzarabani broke the partnership in the 45th over, having Rahmat caught behind six short of what would have been his sixth ODI hundred.Then, in his next over, Muzarabani denied Shahidi what would have been his maiden ODI hundred, getting him to top-edge a slog to third man when he was on 88. When Nabi fell two balls later, Afghanistan may have feared that their end-overs charge was deflating.But they would have their flourish at the finish, as Rashid dominated an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 42 off 21 balls, smashing four sixes and two fours in an unbeaten 17-ball 39*, while Najibullah Zadran at the other end only got to face only four balls.

The Test career of Crawley’s mentor, Rob Key, serves as a cautionary tale

George Dobell06-Jan-2021Zak Crawley isn’t really the sort to go in for tubthumping, nor would he ever claim to be the one and only. But he has insisted he doesn’t want to be remembered as a “one-hit wonder” as he heads into England’s series in Sri Lanka looking to build on his breakthrough as a Test cricketer.Crawley’s most recent Test innings was a monumental 267 against Pakistan, his maiden international hundred. It was an innings of both class and enormity that seemed to announce him, at 22, as a major new talent on the world stage, but while Crawley admitted he took confidence from the performance, he said that he still has a lot to do to secure a long-term place in the side.That’s understandable, for Crawley’s mentor is the former Kent batsman, Rob Key. And while Key looked to have secured his place in the England side for the foreseeable future when he scored 221 against West Indies at Lord’s in 2004, just six months and six Tests later, he was dropped and never recalled. It would prove to be his only Test hundred.Related

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• Crawley eyes white-ball chance after breakthrough Test year

“I took a lot of confidence from that,” Crawley said of his double hundred, speaking after England had trained for the first time since arriving in Sri Lanka. “You never really know you can score a Test hundred until you get one. It’s kind of a monkey on your back until you get it. Now I know I can, and hopefully I can build on that.”I’ve always had belief in my own ability and that I might be able to play for England and play at Test level one day. But I wouldn’t have thought it could happen this fast. I’ve loved every minute of it. I’m very happy.”But it is very early days and I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder, get a big score and then fade away. Hopefully I can secure my place and I’m not going to be living off that innings for too long. I’ve plenty more runs to score to secure my place in the side.”It’s more than one innings Crawley has to build upon, though. He also started the aborted Sri Lanka tour at the start of 2020 in impressive style, scoring a century in a warm-up match. While he played down the achievement – he said it was a very flat wicket – it surely bodes well that he was able to prosper in hot and humid conditions, in addition to the fact that he has a Test double century against an attack including the legspinner Yasir Shah.He also credited previous tours in helping him gain the required experience. “The pitches when we came here last year were very good for batting,” he said. “But I certainly enjoyed the two weeks here. I loved Sri Lanka – it’s a great country – and in cricket that is half the battle. When you’re in a good place like that it’s easier to play well.”I’ve been to India twice on Kent academy trips and Sri Lanka once before on an academy trip. And then obviously I came to Sri Lanka last March. So I’ve done quite a bit of work on playing spin.”It’s mainly been about working on my defence. The ball doesn’t spin as much in England and maybe spins differently, so our defences aren’t quite as tight as they need to be naturally. And that’s something we need to work on. A strong defence comes in handy and gives you a chance to attack later down the line.Zak Crawley heads for the nets as England train for the first time on their tour of Sri Lanka•ECB

“Yasir is a great bowler and I managed to play him quite well. That did give me quite a bit of confidence.”It seems Crawley will have to adapt to a slightly different position on this tour, though. Having started to settle in at No. 3, the absence of Rory Burns – on paternity leave – means it is likely Crawley will be promoted to open. Despite having spent much of his time at Kent as an opener, he admitted he would prefer to stay at No. 3.”I would say No. 3 is my favoured position,” he said. “When I was young I wanted to bat three and all my heroes batted three. Then I got a good score at three.”I quite like the way it worked. I had a little chance to think about the innings before I went in. But it means a lot to play for England and if they want me to open then I will open. I see the top four as all pretty similar roles, to be honest. I’m happy to bat in any of those positions. But if I get a choice then maybe I’d bat three.”Wherever he ends up batting, you suspect Crawley’s calm head, dedication to his craft and hunger for success will go a long way to assuring him a long career. There’s something of the eye of the tiger about him that suggests he’ll be no flash in the pan.