Spinner’s captivating spell goes unrewarded as fusillade of sixes seal pulsating contest

Matt Roller29-Oct-20211:45

Moody: Asif Ali is a rare commodity

Two hours and forty-five minutes after sitting down to eat, the main course arrives. Rashid Khan stands at the top of his mark, spinning the ball from his right hand into his left. Egged on by the PA announcer, the crowd chant his name: “Rashid! Rashid!” In an hour’s time he will stand disconsolate on the outfield, in a state of disbelief after Asif Ali smokes four sixes in an over. But in the here and now, his spell is the game.Pakistan are one wicket down when Rashid comes on and have scored 72 of the 148 runs they need. This is their template with the bat: one of Mohammad Rizwan or, in this case, Babar Azam bats through, and the middle order have freedom to go hard if the rate gets out of control. Rashid has been held back to apply the squeeze, but even the best T20 bowler in the world has his work cut out in this situation.Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan’s No. 3, is 28 not out off 20 balls when Rashid starts his spell. An opener for most of his career, Fakhar has been transformed into a spin-hitter by Pakistan this year and has shown his ability in the role by carting Mohammad Nabi for four then six. He faced Rashid in the nets during the PSL this season, and has a short leg-side boundary to target.At the other end is Babar, Bobby Dazzler, Pakistan’s golden boy riding the crest of a World Cup wave. He is 35 off 30 balls, exactly where he was in the 10-wicket win against India, and is primed to slip into fourth gear. He exchanged words with Rashid during the two teams’ tense game at Headingley in 2019 and has been dismissed both times he has faced him in T20. But tonight there is no real scoring pressure, and it won’t be long before the dew takes over.

Watch cricket live on ESPN+

Sign up for ESPN+ and catch all the action from the Men’s T20 World Cup live in the US. Match highlights of Afghanistan vs Pakistan is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).

Between them, Fakhar and Babar are in control of one of Rashid’s first six balls. Fakhar inside-edges to square leg. Babar steers a single through point thanks to a misfield. Fakhar is beaten by a googly which turns like an offbreak on a fifth-day Nagpur pitch, then gets two leading edges into the covers. Babar is trapped on the pad by a googly, only for Joel Wilson’s on-field decision to be overturned. Rashid smiles wryly after realising his trademark aeroplane celebration was premature.Rashid continues his spell with 67 needed off 48 and a new batter, Mohammad Hafeez, at the non-striker’s end. Nabi has earned countless wickets in the last six years thanks to pressure built by Rashid and Fakhar is the latest, trapped lbw slog-sweeping. Hafeez knocks two singles but Babar just can’t pick which way the ball is turning: he scampers a leg bye after a googly hits the pad, miscues a hack to deep midwicket to earn himself a single and a quiet word from Rashid, edges four past Nabi at slip, and, after a glare from Rashid, miscues a booming drive back to him via the inside edge.Rashid Khan takes off in celebration, but Pakistan had the last laugh•ICC via GettyThe 15th over starts with 51 needed off 36 and by this point it is clear what Pakistan need to do: play Rashid out, and back themselves to score 40-odd runs off the four overs shared between Karim Janat and Naveen-ul-Haq, two young medium-pacers with a short side to defend and a greasy ball. Hafeez does not get this memo. He reads the googly, gets low to sweep, and is foxed by the extra bounce from Rashid’s pace. Gulbadin Naib settles under the top edge and Rashid has a wicket – his 100th in 53 T20Is, the fastest to the landmark by so far he is showboating with 20 metres left to run. But Shoaib Malik and Babar trade singles, and Pakistan have nearly seen him off.The equation ahead of Rashid’s final over, the 17th, is 38 off 24. Shane Watson, the man who played Rashid better than anyone, has given away the secret to playing him barely an hour earlier on commentary: “You don’t want to have to take a risk until he bowls his last over,” he explained. “Then, if he hasn’t got a wicket, he starts to try to take one and your scoring options are more available.” Rashid has one already, but knows he needs another. He goes searching.His first ball is a flat, fast legbreak, which Malik defends to midwicket; his second is a touch fuller, and disappears over wide long-on. Malik charges his third, picking up two to short midwicket thanks to his lack of timing, and gets out the way of a googly down the leg side which brings two free runs, escaping Mohammad Shahzad’s grasp.Babar fancies a piece and lines up a heave to leg, only for his outside edge to fly to Naveen at point, who dives forward and spills an easy chance. Rashid throws his hands up in frustration, and when Naveen misfields again to allow Malik a single off his penultimate ball, he sprays some choice words in the fielder’s direction.Related

• Can Pakistan get the real Asif Ali to show up more often?

• Rashid Khan stays match-winning class act amid worsening crisis at home

• As it happened – Afghanistan vs Pakistan, Men's T20 World Cup, Super 12s

• Asif Ali seals tricky deal for Pakistan with six spree

Rashid has one last ball to make count, with 26 needed off 19, and inevitably fires in a full, flat googly. But for once, Babar is caught up in the emotion of the night, the tension of the chase, the fervour of the atmosphere. He aims a hoick over midwicket but is beaten by pace and turn simultaneously, swivelling round to see his leg stump knocked back.Rashid has had a brutal few months, struggling to hide his despair around the humanitarian crisis back home and playing on through the turbulence of the Taliban’s takeover. He is asked political questions in three different languages in his pre-match press conference, insisting his only focus is this World Cup while 1,000 miles away, his country is in turmoil. In this moment of hope and celebration he lets out his pent-up emotion, wheeling away with wild, bulging eyes and jumping in the air with a roar.Rashid’s four overs have gone for 26 runs and leave the same number required off three overs. Somehow, thanks to this remarkable genius, Afghanistan are alive. They have hope. They are still fighting.But Rashid has learned over the course of 286 T20s that this is a cruel game, where one mistake, one moment, one misjudgment can cost you. As Babar trudges off, Asif walks in. Twelve balls, three missed yorkers and four sixes later, Rashid’s spell is a footnote – a captivating, pulsating footnote – on a night that belongs to Asif.

Five days of hard graft in Antigua reveal the character of the combatants

Cameron Ponsonby12-Mar-2022It’s funny how things are framed. Going into this Test match, England made six changes (one enforced) from their previous XI and it was evidence of a complete reset. On the other hand, West Indies made four and captain Kraigg Brathwaite commented ahead of the game that “we’ve had these guys together for quite a long period, so it’s pretty much the same feeling in the camp”.England’s Operation Red-Ball Reset has been viewed with a healthy pinch of cynicism by many and not without justification. Why are we prioritising learning over winning? This is Test cricket not Duolingo.But there is cause for riposte. England were/are in a rut and needed to manufacture a way to create the illusion of a new beginning; they have said themselves the reset is as much mental as anything else. This plays into a phenomenon known as the Fresh Start Effect, which argues that we measure our lives through a series of arbitrary benchmarks: our childhood home, this job, or that relationship. And each time something changes, it makes it that little bit easier for us to reinvent ourselves a touch and adopt new behaviours.And so we set new year’s resolutions, start new diets on a Monday, and leave 1,177 Test wickets at home. It’s far from a guarantee of success, and can smack of desperation, but it’s a start. Digging your own starting blocks into the sand.”I’m really proud of the team,” Joe Root, England’s captain, said. “I thought the attitude throughout the whole week was just fantastic. We threw everything into the game and, to be in the position we were [at 48 for 4] after that first hour, to respond as we have done since it’s been a really pleasing performance on what turned out to be a very docile wicket, which didn’t offer a huge amount for anyone. But the way we applied ourselves and went about it was really pleasing and very encouraging going into the rest of the series.”So what have England learnt from the first Test?The major positive was Jack Leach, as he put in one of his best performances in an England shirt. The major doubt surrounding Leach beforehand was his ability to play the holding role for England when part of a four-man attack, a role he had yet to perform. But in 43 first-innings overs he went at just 1.8 rpo before performing the attacking role we know he can in the fourth innings. He may have only taken five wickets in the match but, were it not for a number of umpire’s-call decisions going against him – and one notable non-review against Jason Holder – he could well have spun England to victory.Joe Root and Nkrumah Bonner shake hands on the draw•Getty ImagesLeach has been handed more responsibility on this tour as part of a wider move by the England management to share around duties, and emphasise the new feeling of seniority among some of the more familiar faces. He’s been asked to give a team-talk; Zak Crawley gave the speech congratulating Jonny Bairstow on his century, and Bairstow himself presented his former Yorkshire team-mate Alex Lees with his cap. This is a changing room genuinely attempting to turn a page and start a new chapter.Centuries from Bairstow, Crawley and Joe Root were another major positive. The pitch may have been flat, but the runs had to be scored. And given the frailties of this England batting line-up, which were duly exposed on the opening morning, those are positives worth taking.”It’ll definitely do a lot of the guys a lot of good,” Root said. “Leach was incredible throughout the whole game, there were runs at the top of the order for Zak [Crawley], Jonny [Bairstow]’s innings and some other contributions around him as well under pressure, and the way Dan [Lawrence] played today was brilliant. It gave us the opportunity to get that declaration a little bit sooner and really give us a sniff of trying to get a few extra overs out there.However, the learnings weren’t all positive. England had the use of three new balls across two innings in this Test, and failed to pick up a single wicket. The first ten overs of West Indies’ innings were particularly bad, as Chris Woakes and Craig Overton didn’t simply fail to threaten but were positively charitable. West Indies’ hadn’t had a fifty-run opening partnership since the last time England toured in 2019, but in Antigua they went two from two.”It’s very difficult for the seamers but they held things together very well under great pressure in that first innings,” Root added. “The guys worked extremely hard and Ben [Stokes] is somewhere near his best again, which is always very exciting and very promising. So I think there’s a lot of good things to take into next week.”You look at this wicket and it wasn’t really a new-ball wicket,” Root added, insisting that the first hour of the match, in which West Indies had ripped out four prime wickets, was the exception to the rule. “It assisted the seamers more with reverse-swing so it’ll be a completely different scenario when we get down to Barbados.”Related

After ten-year wait, Nkrumah Bonner scripts a nine-hour epic

Zak Crawley makes his mark to begin his repayment of the faith

Nkrumah Bonner, Jason Holder dig for draw as Windies resist bold declaration

Mark Wood elbow injury rules him out of action in Antigua

Fewer lessons were learned for West Indies, but that’s because their players, for the most part, performed with the character – good and bad – for which they are already known. Exciting young seamer Jayden Seales was exciting; skilful Kemar Roach bowled with skill. The excellent Jason Holder was excellent, their premier batters Brathwaite and Nkrumah Bonner scored the bulk of their runs, and their wildcards, John Campbell and Jermaine Blackwood, performed as erratically as you’d expect, with both men falling to wild hacks on the final day when trying to save the game.The major question mark for West Indies will be that of their spinner Veerasammy Permaul, who went wicketless across the match and was played with ease in the second innings as England cashed in at over five runs an over. Though he performed well in Sri Lanka recently, Permaul hadn’t played a home Test since 2015, and may find himself under renewed pressure from Rakheem Cornwall for the remainder of the series. Among his many attributes, Cornwall offers more with the bat too.”England have come here to play a hard-fought series, and they’ve shown that they’re not going to lie down and give us the series,” Phil Simmons, West Indies’ head coach, said. “It was good to see the fight from them, and we know the other Test matches are going to be just as hard.”

While Harmer and Maharaj have done the bulk of the bowling for the home side, the visitors’ quicks have shared 11 wickets

Mohammad Isam03-Apr-2022The standard fare in a South Africa-Bangladesh Test match is pace, movement and bounce. It is usually the home side that has blown away these infrequent visitors with these weapons. These ingredients have, of course, been on display in the Durban Test, but it has come from the opposite direction.It is to the Bangladesh fast bowlers’ credit that they have so far outbowled South Africa’s fast bowlers. They have taken 11 wickets collectively, as Bangladesh took 20 wickets in an overseas Test for only the eighth time in their history.Related

• Elgar: Maharaj and Harmer helped us play a 'style of cricket we're not used to'

• Bangladesh to lodge formal complaint with ICC against Durban Test umpiring

• Bangladesh eye South Africa success after Mount Maunganui miracle

• Mominul backs Bangladesh quicks to 'play a big role' in South Africa

• 'Four wickets doesn't mean I'm good enough at this level' – Simon Harmer

Just as out of the ordinary, however, has been South Africa’s almost total reliance on their spinners in this Test match. Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer and Dean Elgar have combined to bowl 84 overs so far, the most by South Africa’s spinners in a home Test in 57 years. Thanks to Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s efforts, the total from both sides is the highest number of overs of spin in South Africa since 1998.Harmer, playing his first Test in seven years, led the South African attack with four wickets on the second evening while Maharaj supported him with inch-perfect lengths for 37 overs, albeit wicketless. Maharaj and Harmer, who became the first spin pair to open the bowling in South Africa, then took three Bangladesh wickets within the first five overs of the fourth innings.Spin will continue to play a major role on the fifth day, and not just because of how the Kingsmead pitch has played. South Africa have a severely depleted pace attack in the absence of Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi, who are playing the IPL, and Anrich Nortje, who is injured.Bangladesh, meanwhile, have begun developing a good fast-bowling unit. They didn’t even miss Shoriful Islam, who has been critical to their recent success, as Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain and Khaled Ahmed combined brilliantly twice in the game.The role reversal has left both camps slightly bemused. South Africa batting coach Justin Sammons said the team had expected the Bangladesh fast bowlers to do well after their exploits in the ODI series, given their ability to bowl hard lengths and use reverse-swing.”It is interesting, it is quite funny actually,” Sammons said. “You’d think it will be the other way around. From our perspective, the guys have put in a lot of work against spin. We do back ourselves in turning conditions. Their seamers hit good lengths. They made scoring tough for us.”There was an expectation that their seam attack was going to be a challenge. We knew we had to bat really well against them. Their seamers bowled brilliantly in the ODI series. Their lengths were brilliant in the ODIs, and they showed that skill in this game. They also showed the ability to tail towards the end. We also can’t take anything away from Mehidy at the way he bowled. He has shown great discipline and control. We couldn’t underestimate any of their bowlers.”Simon Harmer has already bowled 43 overs and picked up five wickets in Durban•AFP/Getty ImagesBangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud said the visitors had come prepared to face a battery of fast bowling, but ended up succumbing to good bowling from the South African spin twins.”Certainly we didn’t expect it if you consider how the last few series panned out here,” he said. “We trained on bouncy and pacy pitches back in Bangladesh thinking we will obviously get those conditions here. A team however has to accept the conditions and adapt itself. We are used to spin conditions. I think [Yasir Ali] Rabbi’s run-out [in the first innings] was very costly. We may have taken the lead if he was around for a bit longer.”We didn’t execute well against their spinners. Harmer and Maharaj are really good bowlers. I don’t want to think too much about the three wickets today. We want to be as positive as possible tomorrow.”Mahmud said Bangladesh would have always picked the extra batter given Shakib Al Hasan is not around, but they don’t regret picking only one specialist spinner, and pointed out that they had picked the same combination when they had beaten New Zealand in Mount Maunganui earlier this year.”I think the bowlers came back strongly today,” Mahmud said. “Despite his shoulder injury, Taskin bowled really well today. He taped up his shoulder and took painkillers.”I don’t think we misread the conditions. They have picked three seamers and two spinners. We are missing Shakib quite a lot. Whenever he is not playing, we usually play an extra batter. We also had Taskin injured, so thankfully we picked three seamers in total. We also picked three seamers and one spinner in Mount Maunganui.”

She smashed 62 off 44, bowled a maiden in her 2 for 28 and put on a show of her electric ground fielding

Annesha Ghosh29-May-2022It’s no secret that Deandra Dottin can turn a match on its head single-handedly. And that’s usually the outcome if she clicks in just one department.But there are days when Dottin metamorphoses into a three-dimensional force of nature. What hope might the opposition have in such contests, then? Ask Velocity, whose pursuit of a maiden Women’s T20 Challenge title was thwarted by the West Indies allrounder’s chief-destroyer act for Supernovas in the final at Pune’s MCA Stadium on Saturday.Related

Sune Luus bats for expansion of T20 franchise cricket: 'Important to know different players and different conditions'

Rodrigues, Bahadur, Navgire – Takeaways from the Women's T20 Challenge

Dottin and Ecclestone bring the crown home for Supernovas

An identity crisis, and the promise of a brighter tomorrow

Women's IPL would be 'amazing for the game' – Heather Knight

All that was missing from Dottin’s phenomenal day at the office was a blinder or two to add to her electric ground fielding and match-winning returns of 62 off 44 and 2 for 28. In her best performance yet across two successive seasons and as many appearances in the final, Dottin World-Bossed her way through the ebbs and flows of a box-office encounter that ended in Supernovas clinching a four-run win in a humdinger of a finish.The numbers alone don’t entirely tell just how wily Dottin, named Player of the Match and the Series, was on the night. In the face of tight bowling from seamers Kate Cross and Ayabonga Khaka and offspinner Deepti Sharma in the powerplay, Dottin traded run-scoring pace for circumspection at the start of her innings. The result: she scored just 16 off her first 15 balls, with a solitary four, a let-off by Sneh Rana on 13, and a close shave against a DRS umpire’s call to her name.Rana’s introduction in the sixth over flicked the switch for Dottin. Two imperious sixes came off the first two balls as she found in the arc between deep midwicket and cow corner her backyard. It helped that Velocity themselves put on a brand of fielding and bowling through that phase that was more the backyard-cricket level than anything else.With Dottin receiving another lifeline on 32 and feasting on free hits off overstepping errors, it was only a matter of time before she made them pay with her first fifty of this edition. She reached the milestone off 33 balls with a disdainful six over the cow-corner fence off left-arm spinner Radha Yadav.”The game plan was to spend as much time on the crease as possible and survive the first six overs,” Dottin said after her innings, having added 73 with fellow opener Priya Punia and 58 with first-drop Harmanpreet Kaur. “Having a slow start is not always bad. You can’t always have a fast start all the time. The plan was to continue to stay and target bowlers from the end where the wind was strong.””Yeah, it’s true (that luck gave Supernovas free hits), but I wanted to cash in on one,” she said.”To be honest, it’s fun batting with Punia. We enjoy batting together. We talk a lot and give each other encouragement after each ball and each over… It was always really nice to watch Harman hit from the non-striker’s end.”

“She’s an incredible cricketer, an incredible T20 player. She’s so powerful with the bat, and then she bowls as well, and bowls really well.”Laura Wolvaardt on Deandra Dottin

With the ball, too, Dottin was a quick thinker. Bowling at a good pace – an element of her all-round game that flagged following a career-threatening shoulder surgery that pushed her to the brink of contemplating retirement in 2019 – she executed what seemed well-drawn up and batter-specific ploys.Against two of the most destructive batters in the Velocity line-up, Shafali Verma and the uncapped Kiran Navgire, she unleashed a barrage of back-of-a-length deliveries and skiddy bouncers. Cramming Shafali for room was an inswinger to have her caught behind in the third over, thanks in part also to a superb diving take by wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia.Two legal deliveries later, she pinged Navgire, fresh off a resounding 34-ball 69 a night ago, on the helmet. Visibly rattled, though medically unaffected by the rammer, Navgire played out 12 dot balls, 11 of those against Dottin alone, before being bowled by Sophie Ecclestone for a duck.Sprinkling her end-overs spell with a few surprise short deliveries also proved the perfect stratagem. No. 9 Cross, swinging wildly for her seven-ball 13 in a bid to decisively swing the momentum Velocity’s way, edged Dottin behind, unable to negotiate the pace or the spite in the delivery.”She’s an incredible cricketer, an incredible T20 player,” South Africa batter Laura Wolvaardt, whose 40-ball unbeaten 65 nearly got Velocity over the line in their chase of 166, said. “She’s so powerful with the bat, and then she bowls as well, and bowls really well.”I think she bowled really well today, especially upfront. She had a lot of change-ups and variations and was bowling bouncers and yorkers, so it was hard to predict what she was doing.”And she had a couple of different fields as well, which we don’t really see too often. So, I think it’s great the way that she plays her game and goes about it and when she is in form, like she is now, she’s very destructive.”At the presentation ceremony, Dottin described herself as a shy person by nature, an antithesis to her style of play and the self-adopted moniker, “World Boss”. As the heady Saturday night drew to a close, and the cheers of a raucous 8621-strong Pune crowd quieted, Dottin trudged along the boundary barricade near the Supernovas dugout, autographed her cap and handed it to a teen female cricketer in flannels waiting on the other side.On a night when she shattered the opposition’s dreams, giving wings to a young fan’s might have been the most Dottin way to cap it.

Between the two teams, England have changed a lot more since the fourth Test last year, and India will recognise the giddiness around that

Osman Samiuddin29-Jun-2022If the Indian captain had gone down with Covid a week before a Test last summer in England, imagine the calamity. He didn’t, but an outbreak among the support staff caused enough panic for the BCCI to have the Test called off.A lot of it was to do with where the world was with the pandemic. The UK was leading a new, post-vaccine laissez-faire response by easing restrictions throughout society, but sport hadn’t caught up. Players were still in bubbles; they underwent regular PCR tests; close contacts were still being identified and told to isolate; travel was a nightmare.But some of it would also have been because the captain last summer was Virat Kohli. And such is the frenzy that accompanies Kohli, it’s quite possible that if only he had gotten Covid and no one else, the Old Trafford Test might have been cancelled anyway.Related

• Jasprit Bumrah unfazed as he prepares to take on India captaincy his own way

• Dravid says India undaunted by Bazball from resurgent England

• England vs India – the decider of a series from a different era

• WTC points table update: Is the Edgbaston Test a must-win for India?

• Four selection puzzles for India at Edgbaston

It’s a measure of how much has changed that Rohit Sharma got Covid this week and there’s no question of the Test being in danger: the only question is who replaces him, if he doesn’t recover in time. We’ve just seen the end of a series where a number of New Zealand players or staff got Covid, the England wicketkeeper got it during a Test and nobody really cared. Last summer was a different world, though it also doesn’t feel that long ago; one side effect of Covid, regardless of whether you’ve had it or not, is a distorted sense of time.Also, this is Rohit. Great batter, fine captain but not that stratosphere. He doesn’t hold the fate of entire ecosystems in his hands. He does not appear on Forbes rich lists. He is not hanging with the LeBrons, the CR7s or the Messis on a global sporting icon list. In fact, one of the most interesting things about Rohit’s appointment is that for the first time in well over a decade, an Indian captain is not obviously the biggest, most significant figure in the sport.No team is really built in the image of one man alone, but that this was in some way, until very recently, Kohli’s India is difficult to argue against. Now? There is a new coach to consider as well, a man who, albeit in a diametrically opposite way to Ravi Shastri, brings serious presence.Ordinarily, this would all be considered serious change. And it is, except it doesn’t come across that way. If Shastri brought the yang to Kohli’s yang then, instinctively, Rahul Dravid brings the yin to Rohit’s yin: two men attuned to the details and not just a big picture. Shastri, meanwhile, will end the series as a blustering, cheerleading commentator, having begun it as a blustering, cheerleading coach.1:45

Who opens and captains if Rohit Sharma can’t play at Edgbaston?

India don’t do crisis or panic, now they merely move along unperturbed. KL Rahul, second-highest run-scorer in the series, is not here. No problem, here is Mayank Agarwal, who Rahul had replaced in the first place as opener at the start of this series last year after Agarwal sustained a concussion.Many countries might bungle transitions involving their second-most prolific Test fast bowler ever, when he is still only 33. Ishant Sharma might have played his last Test and nobody appears overly concerned, or sentimental. Why would they when Mohammed Siraj is already so well established? Or when next man in could be Prasidh Krishna: tall and gangly like Ishant but quicker and bouncier, averaging less than 17 in ODIs and less than 18 in first-class cricket? R Ashwin is arguably India’s greatest spinner but will probably not play this series. And India won’t lose it. Ashwin not playing would simply underline how little has changed for India. With Rohit leading (assuming he plays), India could field as many as eight from the XI that took the series lead at The Oval.But this Test isn’t really about India, which itself is an unusual position for India to be in. This is about England. Usually, England are just some shade of England: a great orthodox batter, a charismatic allrounder, a couple of grand old seamers and seven others. They win at home, but never dominate. They don’t win that much abroad. There is always angst, about some player, about techniques, about county cricket, about the health of Tests. Boring is not the right word for it. Familiar, oddly comforting, reassuringly there, might be.The best thing about this Test is that this is not usual England. This is not another shade, it’s already half a painting. England too have a different captain and coach since the last Test of this series. They will only play four from the XI that played at The Oval. That says that a lot has changed but it doesn’t even begin to capture a fraction of it – or the speed at which it has happened.Less than a month ago they were still that England. Now they are this England and even if we can get our heads around the Covid time warp, we might struggle to explain that three months ago, seven of this England side scored 324 runs across two innings in 154 overs. In doing so, they lost by 10 wickets.If they were simply waiting to be told that this is a way to play the game, then it’s a nice reminder that words retain power, that they are consequential, especially when coming from Brendon McCullum. But without Ben Stokes’ actions, they might still have meant a lot less. Stokes has been good as captain – a revelation, even, particularly with his handling of Jack Leach – but his two dismissals in Trent Bridge and Headingley now appear as the precise moments of revelation, when The Word became The Deed.It can easily be argued they were reckless dismissals: England were still 148 behind in Trent Bridge when he fell and he left them 55 for 5 at Headingley. They probably were. But they also epitomised precisely what, presumably, he and McCullum had been instructing England to do. Run into the fear, not away from it. And if the captain was doing it, there was no excuse for others not to.India could field as many as eight of their last Test XI that appeared in England last year•Getty ImagesThe most vivid illustration of this emboldened mood is Jonny Bairstow. Last summer, at The Oval, as he was bowled – a calling card that dismissal – by Jasprit Bumrah for a four-ball duck, it was possible to ask where his Test career was going. He was in his ninth year as a Test cricketer, with decent periods but he was averaging 23 in the three years until the end of that Test. Shunted around through the middle order in that time, half his Tests as wicketkeeper-batter, half as batter, he wasn’t this, he wasn’t that, so what was he?Batting is a feeling, Kumar Sangakkara said during a recent Sky Masterclass, inadvertently landing upon the truth of Bairstow in this last month. Bairstow already had two Test hundreds this year but his last three innings (369 runs, twice out, 293 balls, 46 fours and ten sixes) means even he might struggle to remember those two.He has best understood batting as a feeling, not chained by strictures of technique or batting order or situation or even format. “Sometimes your own thoughts sabotage your ability to see the ball,” McCullum said once, years ago, articulating a purity of state athletes strive for, only knowing that the more they strive, the further away it gets and that it is attained generally by accident, not design. Rarely can Bairstow’s place in the Test side have made more sense.Jonny Bairstow has turned Test batting on its head under Mccullum and Stokes•Stu Forster/Getty ImagesJonny solved, not even county cricket seems such an intractable problem. All it needs, it turns out, is for county cricketers to start playing like England’s Test cricketers. Not the scheduling, or the pitches, or the number of counties, or the quality of the ball: just a sprinkle of this ethos from up above. Trickle-down economics has never made this much sense (to be fair, it did happen with Eoin Morgan’s white-ball revolution, but that is a different beast).India will recognise some of this giddiness. They are much further down the arc of this seismic change. Typically, they traversed it in a more considered way, but it was no less radical. Kohli did change the way India approached games, and those fundamentals are firmly established by now. They bat as we have known Test batting this century (rather than this last month). Cheteshwar Pujara is not going to reverse scoop anyone, though Rishabh Pant is a born Baz-baller.Their eureka moment happened to their bowling – and hasn’t stopped happening (Hi Umran Malik); in having a battery of strong, quick and durable bowlers; in being more capable of attack than ever before; in picking five of them. That will be the half of this contest with all the sexy in it: England’s batting against India’s bowling (and I don’t think England will let Ravindra Jadeja bowl 30-11-50-2 like he did last time).There’s probably something to be said about the contrast in coaches though nothing beyond the superficial. Suffice to say, Dravid is fully aware of the sudden, whirlwind impact of Baz-ball: he was the captain caught in the headlights all those years ago of McCullum’s era-defining 158 in the IPL opener.There is probably also a little lament to be made: last year’s series never got the end that it deserved. And this Test won’t get the series it deserves.

On every major metric they outperformed the New Zealand and India attacks, including the short-ball strategy

Osman Samiuddin07-Jul-2022This has been the summer of England’s batting. It’s impossible to not come to that conclusion. Not only have they performed record-breaking feats, they have done so in an ultra-aggressive, impossible-to-ignore style. But this is Test cricket and as much as England have tried to bring one-day clarity to the batting side of things, one truism hasn’t changed: you don’t win Tests without taking 20 wickets. Across four Tests this summer, England have taken all 80 wickets.It was a point not lost on Ben Stokes or Joe Root after Edgbaston. “We’ve taken 80 wickets in the last four weeks and that’s not something we’ve always been able to do,” Root said, wondering perhaps why, when he was captain, they were struggling to do precisely this.Related

Stats – A marathon stand, and Bairstow's dream year

Entertainers, rockstars and dudes riff on Test cricket and bedlam ensues

Bazball broken down, it's pretty simple really

Root reinvents himself while maintaining trademark style

“A lot of credit has to go to the bowling group, four back-to-back games. Seeing Jimmy Anderson bowling bouncers at 7 o’clock at night the other day was pretty impressive, and it shows the total commitment and belief in what we’re trying to do and how we’re trying to go about bowling sides out. That’s a big improvement for us as a group, to be able to do that and set up the opportunity for us to go and chase these totals down.”The first bit of surprise is perhaps that England have outperformed with the ball two sides who made the WTC final last year, two sides currently in possession of the greatest attacks their countries have ever had (though New Zealand were ultimately hampered by the injury to Kyle Jamieson and arguably got the Neil Wagner non-selection wrong). On paper, England’s bowling attack was widely thought to be the weakest of the three, not least because of the extensive pace bowling injury list they were having to work around. As many as eight fast bowlers who might have been picked ahead of Matthew Potts are out with injuries.Yet on every major metric, they have been better than their opponents.ESPNcricinfo LtdJames Anderson is, remarkably still, pure and unadulterated James Anderson, Potts has been the season’s breakout star, Stuart Broad has had… moments, Jack Leach will always have Headingley and Stokes has mopped up behind them, hovering somewhere between and under-utilised swing bowler and an enforcer. Had it not been for Leach’s concussion at Lord’s or Anderson’s ankle niggle after Trent Bridge, England would’ve played the same attack all four Tests. No rotation, no rest, no messing around. The best attack plays, every game.Where England’s attack has really made a difference is when the ball has become older and softer. With the new ball, England’s figures are more or less identical to New Zealand’s: 16 wickets for both sides, average around 27. England have been nearly a run more economical, which in a summer about run rates, has been important. But performances with an older ball became even more significant, given that the Dukes ball has been a problem all summer, losing shape or going soft so often as to require regular change. The final day’s play at Edgbaston lasted 90 minutes, but within it the ball was changed twice.ESPNcricinfo LtdThat probably affects this data in ways that are not clear. But the gulf in averages and economy rate from overs 30-80 between England and their opponents is so vast that it is clear England did something much more right than the others. Being able to call upon Potts, Stokes and Leach (and Broad when needed) has highlighted a depth that New Zealand, for example, couldn’t match. Not bowling to their own batters has helped that economy rate – strike rates are similarly poor (83.1 for England and 85.6 for New Zealand and India combined). But for all the problems Stokes has had with no-balls, he has the best strike rate and average (44.72 and 33 respectively) during that phase of the innings.The plan with that older, softer ball has been simple: go short. Overall, England’s fast bowlers have bowled a short ball, on average, every 12 balls this series; New Zealand one every 19 balls and India one every 18.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut the majority of the short-pitched bowling has come when the ball has become old. Maybe it’s because the ball hasn’t reversed or that the pitches, like a bouncier Trent Bridge, have encouraged it. England have not been reckless with it either, specifically targeting the lower order with it. The top-of-mind Jasprit Bumrah assault on Broad (and memories of the hour of bouncers at Lord’s last summer) mean the strategy might be recalled as a dud. Why not just bowl a good length and hit the top of off?Except that bumping the lower order has proved very successful. England have picked up 15 wickets off short-pitched deliveries this summer (of which Broad, the one-time enforcer, has nearly half); 12 of the 15 have been batters at No. 8 or below and 12 of 15 have come post the 50th over.That includes the swift wrapping up of New Zealand lower order (5 for 57) in the first innings at Trent Bridge (when they looked on course to get 600-plus); more crucially, it includes the three wickets in the second innings when New Zealand were hustled out on a blameless surface to leave an imposing, rather than impossible, target. Even in what now feels like the only normal Test of the summer, the first at Lord’s, Anderson was bouncing out Jamieson and Tim Southee in the first innings.At Edgbaston, that Bumrah over apart, it worked beautifully. Three wickets in the first innings and four in the second, hurrying out India in a collapse of 7 for 92. That was the difference between a target of 450-plus and 378. The batting has still literally had to operate at an all-time level to get to those targets, but it wouldn’t have been possible in the first place without the bowling.England averaged just under 15 with the short ball, New Zealand nearly 49 and India 61. New Zealand’s strike rate with the short ball was nearly double that of England; India’s was double. Broad, Stokes and Potts were England’s main men for this plan, their short balls not only likelier to get a wicket, but as the run rate suggests, more difficult to score off.ESPNcricinfo LtdAs much as the batting had that ODI feel to it, there’s been times when England were switching to this plan that it appeared as if they were bowling the grunt overs of an ODI, just more attacking with the fields. It wasn’t the kind of late-innings Test match bowling you necessarily expect in England – as Root said, even Anderson. It didn’t look especially attractive or even – at times – well-thought out. Make no mistake though: It was. It got the job done and how.

Only two points currently separate the four teams from fourth to seventh spots

S Rajesh16-May-2022Delhi Capitals: Mat 13, Pts 14, NRR 0.255
Delhi Capitals’ comfortable 17-run win against Punjab Kings is good news for them, but not so encouraging for all the other teams trying to sneak into the playoffs. Capitals’ net run rate, which was already a healthy 0.210, has gone up to 0.255, but the runs that Kings scored towards the end means that there is still a chance for other teams to catch up, should there be an NRR scramble for the last spot.From Capitals’ point of view, the equation is simple: win the last game against Mumbai Indians on Saturday, and qualify for sure. Even if they lose and stay on 14, they will have a fair chance to qualify if Royal Challengers Bangalore lose to Gujarat Titans. However, if it comes down to NRR, they aren’t yet safe.If Capitals lose their last game by 30 runs (chasing 171), their NRR will fall to 0.123. Currently, Kolkata Knight Riders are on 0.160, so a win by any margin in their last game will keep them above 0.123. If Capitals lose by 15 runs, their NRR will be 0.179. Thus, Capitals could still be on a sticky wicket if they lose to Mumbai. They play their last game after Knight Riders, though, so they will know the equation before they get into that game on Saturday.Punjab Kings: Mat 13, Pts 12, NRR -0.043
Kings’ qualification chances have taken a severe beating with the loss to Capitals. Their NRR has slid into negative space, and even a 40-run win against Sunrisers in their last game (after scoring 170) will only improve it to 0.112. However, big victory margins have been common in the last few games – in seven of the last 12, the winning margin has been greater than 50 runs, while another win came with 31 balls to spare – which should give the Kings some hope.They also play the last game of the league stage, which means they’ll know if they have a chance at all, and exactly what they need to do. Obviously, if Capitals or Royal Challengers win their last match and move to 16 points, then Kings will be knocked out.Royal Challengers Bangalore: Mat 13, Pts 14, NRR -0.323
Royal Challengers will need Capitals to lose their last game to stand a chance of qualifying. Even if Royal Challengers score 200 and win their last game by 100 runs, their NRR will only improve to 0.071. Capitals will be well ahead of that if they win by any margin.And if both these teams lose and stay on 14, Capitals will have to lose by an absurdly high margin for their NRR to slip below that of Royal Challengers. For instances, if Royals Challengers lose by one run, Capitals will have to lose by around 150 (depending on the exact scores).In other words, Royal Challengers will have to win their last game, against table-toppers Titans, and hope that Capitals lose theirs against bottom-of-the-table Mumbai.Kolkata Knight Riders: Mat 13, Pts 12, NRR 0.160
Knight Riders still have a chance of qualifying if they win their last game, and if Capitals and Royal Challengers lose theirs. As mentioned earlier, their relatively healthy NRR means that they are best placed to capitalise if those two teams slip up.Sunrisers Hyderabad: Mat 12, Pts 10, NRR -0.270
Even if Sunrisers score 170 and win each of their last two games by 40 runs, their NRR will only improve to 0.056. Capitals will have to lose by around 48 runs for their NRR to drop below that. It looks highly unlikely that Sunrisers will progress further in the tournament, but they could do worse than pull off a big win against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday, and keep their slim hopes alive.

Maiden half-century provides silver lining despite India’s emphatic win

Valkerie Baynes14-Sep-2022India and England have both found something they’ve been looking for ahead of their deciding T20I in Bristol on Thursday.For the visitors it was victory to draw level at 1-1, built on the back of Sneh Rana’s 3 for 24 and Smriti Mandhana’s unbeaten 79 which overhauled a modest target of 143 in Derby on Tuesday night. For England it was a rarer discovery, a left-handed teenager who made history with her maiden international half-century.Freya Kemp became the youngest England player, female or male, to score fifty in a T20I, at 17 years and 145 days, and the second-youngest to reach the milestone for England in international cricket after Sarah Taylor.Picked as a left-arm seamer earlier in the summer, she had shown hints of what she was capable of with the bat in domestic cricket. Kemp’s 24 off 16 formed part of a crucial 45-run partnership with Georgia Adams as Southern Brave defeated Oval Invincibles during this year’s Hundred, and she scored 14 off six in Brave’s victory over London Spirit.In her debut season in the Charlotte Edwards Cup, she was Vipers’ second-highest wicket-taker behind Charlie Dean with nine at 17.66 and an economy rate of 6.11. Her 21 not out off 13 balls in an unbroken 45-run stand with Dean for the sixth wicket as Vipers beat Lightning early in their title campaign was another indication of her batting abilities.But none of it quite added up to the impression she made in Derby. Kemp cleared the rope three times in her unbeaten 51 from 37 balls against India alongside her three fours and, in an England batting line-up stacked with right-handers, her presence in the lower middle-order can add another dimension.”She’s a cool character, nothing really fazes her,” said England’s vastly experienced left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone. “She has a 25-year-old head on herself. It’s really nice to see her do well – I’m so pleased for her.”When we’re playing against a team with a left-hand-right-hand combination – like Smriti, for example – it’s so hard to bowl at. It’s great to have a left-hander in our squad, and it’s nice to have her in the nets to bowl at, to be honest.”England lost their other left-arm seamer who bats left-handed, Tash Farrant, to a stress fracture at the start of the summer.Ecclestone, who bats right-handed, played a match-shaping knock last time England were in Derby, her unbeaten 33 – including 26 off the final over of the innings setting up victory against South Africa in July before her 2 for 24 helped seal a 3-0 series sweep. That match also marked Kemp’s international debut and she slotted right in with an important 2 for 18 as England embarked on their succession planning by introducing a clutch of youngsters to their ranks.In the absence of the resting Katherine Brunt, injured Heather Knight and Nat Sciver, who withdrew from England’s pre-series camp in Durham for mental-health reasons, those youngsters have had to take on added responsibilities.Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur added an unbroken 69 runs for the third wicket to take India home•ECB via Getty ImagesAhead of a crunch match in Bristol, Ecclestone backed the likes of Kemp, fellow teenager Alice Capsey and young seamer Lauren Bell to keep playing their part, but said it was crucial that England retain the fun factor despite the fact the series is in the balance.”I think it’s massive to keep enjoying ourselves,” Ecclestone said. “When we’re enjoying our cricket, we’re amazing. That gives us the best chance of us winning.”I think they need to take a bit more responsibility. The young ones can come in and get told what to do a little bit, so it’s quite nice for them to have a little bit of their own responsibility over their fields and how they bowl.”Kemp put on 65 runs with Maia Bouchier on Tuesday evening to lift England from a dire predicament at 54 for 5. As it turned out, it wasn’t enough and the home side will have to find a way to revert to their success in the first game. There, legspinner Sarah Glenn set them up with a career-best four-for to restrict India to 132 for 7 and a more solid batting display saw them home, led by Sophia Dunkley’s 61 not out.Related

• Smriti Mandhana: 'I'll be thinking about pulling out of WBBL'

• Captaincy takes Amy Jones right out of her comfort zone

• Sarah Glenn reaches second spot in ICC women's T20I bowling rankings, closes in on Ecclestone

• Smriti Mandhana 79* sees India run down England to level series

“We would have liked 20 or 30 more on the board,” Ecclestone admitted on Tuesday. “Hopefully next time we can go out and get a series win. It was amazing to see Kempy and Bouch bat so well together, which is great to see for the future.”For India, their latest performance represents a vast improvement on their showing in Durham, where they struggled with the bat and were ragged in the field as England overhauled their target with ease to win by nine wickets.Mandhana, who made 23 in the first match, was pleased her side had turned things around to remain in contention. “After the last match we needed to come back stronger and level the series,” she told Sky Sports. “I found my touch back, timing the ball the way I want to. You go out as an opener and try to give your team a good start.”Now all eyes turn to who’s going to finish the best.Meanwhile, the ECB has confirmed that the points for next week’s rounds of Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy matches will be shared, after a decision was made to cancel the games due to a clash with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. With the final at Lord’s scheduled for September 25, it was decided there was not enough room in the calendar for a re-arrangement.

The superstar from the T20 league circuit is all but certain to play the three T20Is against India next week

Andrew McGlashan17-Sep-2022There has been a lot of talk about what Tim David be able to do in an Australia shirt. Next week we will get the first chance to see what he do.It was always likely these three games in India would provide David the chance to make a debut for his second international team – he has played 14 T20Is for Singapore – but the injuries to Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis have made it all but certain.Related

Smith to bat at No. 3 in India T20Is in Mitch Marsh's absence

Australia challenged to 'find a way' to fit Tim David in

Tim David earns Australia call for T20 World Cup

Being a finisher was never 'a sole focus' for Tim David

Ponting: Tim David 'could actually win you a World Cup'

By the time the World Cup comes around in a month’s time, David could have eight matches for Australia under his belt with series against West Indies and England to follow.But David’s is a strange entry into Australian colours because he’s been up in lights on the big stage for some time already, yet apart from his two-month stint in the BBL, he is outside of the Australian cricket system. The way the sport’s landscape is rapidly changing, he is unlikely to be the last to take this path. Some of his new team-mates are still to be introduced.”I look forward to meeting him,” said Mitchell Starc, who will now have to wait until next month having sat out the India trip. “He’s obviously plied his trade around the world in different leagues. He’s got his opportunity now in the World Cup squad.”Think we’ll see more and more players [emerge] in that fashion. Certainly the next generation I’m sure we’ll see it more and more with more opportunities in different leagues, that’s just the way cricket seems to be heading at the minute.”I’m much the same as [the public], I’ve seen him on TV. Obviously that power and what he brings to the table to any team he plays for and now he has a chance to do that on the international stage.”David’s body of work produced during his globe-trotting cannot be doubted. Of teams he has played more than two games for since December 2020 (when his T20 league career started to take off with Hobart Hurricanes) his lowest strike-rate is 143.92 with St Lucia Kings in the CPL. His strike-rate of 216.27 for Mumbai Indians in the last IPL made a mockery of him being left out during that competition.That latter figure also suggests he should not have too many concerns adapting to the conditions over the next week in India. The quality of the bowling may be a different challenge given that there is rarely a weaker link that is sometimes the case in franchise cricket, but he has a good grounding.”One of the rare things he has which there isn’t a whole lot of in Australia is just raw power,” Glenn Maxwell said. “He’s able to muscle the ball, much in the same way Stoinis and Mitch Marsh do it. He’s probably developed his game a little bit over the last two years where he’s got a bit more off-side [shots] so he’s not a one-dimensional hitter, he’s able to clear the boundary in different areas. He does it against spin and quicks which is something that’s really impressive and something that impressed me during the IPL as well watching him go about his business.”However, in terms of David’s position in the team, it’s what comes after India that is most interesting. Assuming that Marsh and Stoinis are both fit come the World Cup there remains a decision to be made as to how he fits into the final XI.4:48

Hodge: Australia shouldn’t look back from this point when it comes to Tim David

Despite being able to shed his tag of “Mr Fix It”, Steven Smith would appear the most vulnerable (setting aside, for a moment, the ramifications of Aaron Finch’s poor form extending through the next few weeks).”I feel like when I’m playing good T20 cricket, I’m in that team for sure,” Smith said during the recent one-day series against Zimbabwe. “The role that I’ve been given the last couple of years is the ‘Mr Fix It’ role and that tag’s been taken away from me now. I can just take the game on and if I want to smack someone for six first ball, then I’m able to do that freely.”Whether that is really his game, though, is the question. While not a completely fair comparison given their roles, in 200 T20 innings Smith has hit 130 sixes and in 119 innings David has already struck 165.There remains a feeling that Australia like having Smith in their line-up. So if they keep him and swap David for a more like-for-like player, the only option would be Stoinis, who helped win the World Cup semi-final against Pakistan last year and has since struck at 162.50 in T20Is. He can also provide some overs if needed.A lean return in these three matches against India should not dampen David’s chances of playing the World Cup, either. But if he replicates the type of innings he has already shown around the globe, then he will be even harder to leave out than it already looks.

Former Australia allrounder explains what the visitors need to do, to not only survive but also thrive in India

Alex Malcolm05-Feb-20232:11

India’s unparalleled home dominance

Australia’s batters are trying to cram for the India exam during a nearly week-long training camp in Bengaluru. The test of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel on a spinning surface likely awaits them in Nagpur.It’s an exam former Australia allrounder Shane Watson has faced before. One he freely admits he was challenged by. He went on four Test tours of India and scored a hundred in Mohali. That was in 2010 facing Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha as an opener at the peak of his powers.Ashwin and Jadeja in 2013, batting in the middle order on some rank turners, was an entirely different proposition. If Watson had his time again, he would think differently and play differently.Related

Cameron Green unlikely to play first Test against India

Ravindra Jadeja 'hadn't felt the sun for about five months'

Battles to watch: Lyon vs Pujara and Kohli, and Ashwin vs Warner and Smith

Will Todd Murphy get a chance to shine in India?

India vs Australia: one classic after the other

“One thing I didn’t really do [in India] was just accept what I had at that moment in time, instead of trying to be someone else,” Watson told ESPNcricinfo. “I was thinking, ‘Should I use my feet this time to get out and cover the ball from spinning or should I sit deep in the crease’, instead of going, ‘Well this is what I’ve got right now, and this is the best way for me to try and have success.'”For me, it was going away from using cross-bat shots off the back foot in particular, which is one of my strengths outside of turning conditions.”Using a straight bat to be able to hit off the back foot through the off side or the leg side. I wish I had got that through my head and then developed that instinct earlier because it’s much lower risk. All the good players, especially from India, very rarely do they use cross-bat shots, especially for a pull shot. They’ll hit it with a straight bat to be able to hit it through the leg side.”Ravindra Jadeja has just returned from a long injury lay-off with a seven-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy•PTI Jadeja looms large over Australia’s right-handers Watson fell to Jadeja’s left-arm spin in Delhi during the 2013 series, when Jadeja snared seven wickets in the match, and has played with him at Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Watson believes Jadeja’s pace and unrelenting accuracy make him a huge threat to both edges in turning conditions.”Facing him when the ball is turning compared to when the ball is not turning is just chalk and cheese,” Watson said. “It’s like you’re facing a different bowler when the ball is turning because he’s flatter, he’s faster, he’s accurate all the time. He’s always at the stumps.”One will turn or one will skid through. He’s very hard to be able to work through as a right-hander, to find a method that’s going to not just survive but also score runs.Obviously Australia has got some really good players of spin in there with Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. They’ve got a number of lefties as well which will negate Jadeja a bit more with the ball just turning in. If I had my time again, I would definitely play with a straighter bat to Jadeja.”Axar Patel has taken 39 wickets in six home Tests•BCCIAxar is a known unknown to Australia Axar has terrorised visiting Test teams in India with his variety of left-arm spin since bursting onto the scene against England in 2021. No Australian has faced him in Test cricket yet. Watson faced Axar in the IPL and found him a different proposition to Jadeja, yet equally uncomfortable.”Axar’s angle is what makes him really hard to line up,” Watson said. “I didn’t face him in Test cricket but I always found him really difficult to play even in T20 cricket because of his release point. He’s not low round arm, but he’s round arm and he bowls from quite wide on the crease, and with the angle that the ball comes in I was never able to really line it up. And then if the ball is turning it just seems like the ball is turning a lot more because of the angle.”It’s different to Jadeja because Jadeja is normally a bit closer to the stumps and he doesn’t create as much angle with the ball coming into the right-hander from his release point.”Axar is at the stumps all the time. It’s going to be pretty challenging. He’s a fair bit taller and his release point is still pretty high. But you don’t feel like his bounce is a threat as much because he does get balls to skid through.”The guys playing are going to have to get used to that angle and find a way to be able to line that up. Once the guys line it up they’ll be okay, but it can take a bit of time to work that out.”Ashwin’s amazing skill an ever-present challenge Australia will have at least four left-handers in the top seven. They could possibly play five if Cameron Green isn’t passed fit and Matt Renshaw retains his place at No.6 after returning to Test cricket in Australia’s previous match against South Africa in SydneyIn Watson’s experience, Ashwin’s skill level and control makes him dangerous against Australia’s right-handers as well, especially if there is bounce and sharp turn.R Ashwin has 50 wickets in eight Tests against Australia in India•AFP via Getty Images”It’s a bit easier as a right-hander but when the ball is turning and sort of jumping out of either the rough or the fresh part of the wicket, he’s relentless,” Watson said. “He hardly gives you a free ball to be able to score off.”He’s incredibly skilled. It’s not just getting the ball spinning with the occasional one that’s not going to turn. He’s got a lot of variations through his flight and pace that he still can land exactly where he wants. So even as a right-hander, when the ball’s not turning that much it’s a much easier challenge. I just batted on off stump and hit straight to the leg side knowing that unless one really explodes and I get caught at bat-pad, I’m not really exposed to that.”Whereas when the ball is turning, coming back into my stumps, it’s much more challenging to be able to try and cover that ball coming in when there’s plenty of guys around the bat.”Proactivity is the key Watson admits he didn’t need to be that proactive during his Mohali century because of the quality of the surface.”It was a really nice wicket,” Watson said. “The ball didn’t really turn much. I was facing a lot of Harbhajan Singh in that innings and I was able to be really patient. It was quite a slow hundred. At that moment in time, I wasn’t being proactive against spin, I was just waiting for a loose ball.”It makes it easier when it’s a truer wicket. Whereas the other times I’ve been in India, even in the first session there’s been times where the ball has spun out of the fresh part of the wicket, which makes more opportunities for the bowler to get you out. But it’s also harder to just try and be patient and wait for a loose ball because you’re really just a sitting duck waiting for them to get you out.”While Watson is an advocate for Australia’s batters to find their own method and stick to it, he believes the blueprint is there from the way some of his team-mates played on past tours to India.”The guys who have done it the best are the ones who are either really quick on their feet and get down and cover the spin, and or they’re really good at just getting back and allowing the ball to spin and then playing the ball,” Watson said.”I think of Damien Martyn who did incredibly well in that 2004 series, especially in Chennai where he played back and allowed the ball to spin. I think about Matt Hayden’s transformation as a player of spin where he’d either sweep or as soon as the ball was slightly flighted he would use his feet and hit dead straight. Michael Clarke was a great player of spin. His ability to be able to use his feet to get out when the ball was slightly flighted, then when it wasn’t to get back deep in his crease to let the ball spin, those are the guys who had the most success when the ball was turning quite extreme.”They’ve got a good method but they are proactive to be able to get off strike, get down the other end, but also put pressure on the bowler.”But being proactive all the time, every ball in Test matches, it takes a lot out of you physically but especially mentally because you’ve got to be really sharp all the time.”