Category Uncategorized

With the pressure “coming from all corners” and his side 57 for 5, Sarfraz Ahmed produced the sort of punchy innings that used to be his trademark

Osman Samiuddin in Abu Dhabi16-Oct-2018Sarfraz Ahmed hit seven fours, no sixes, played 129 balls, batted 195 minutes and gave zero craps in his innings of 94. That last stat is, you’ve guessed it, the most important one.See, Sarfraz Ahmed has not been a happy man. During the Asia Cup he admitted to having sleepless nights. His team weren’t winning. First they were not winning against India. Then they were not winning against Bangladesh. Then they didn’t win against Australia, Australia side which shakes your hands and probably says hello to your parents and also isn’t as good as even the 2014 side that was swept aside here.There were no runs. There were missed chances. There were reviews that should’ve been taken that weren’t. There were reviews that shouldn’t have been taken that were. There were frazzled captaincy decisions. In between the first Test and this there was a little smoke that turned into a bigger fire, a divergence in tactics with Mickey Arthur that became a dukes-out dispute between captain and coach.Brooding might be the word to describe him best over these last few weeks. He has walked around head down in practice, has bristled at press conferences where every third question has been about his captaincy, or batting, or his relationship with Arthur. Brooding is not a term that can have been used to describe him too often. He is cherubic. Chirpy. Hyper. Combative.Publicly at least he comes across as one of those guys who doesn’t invite deeper scrutiny into what might be beneath that exterior because, you suspect, there isn’t that much worth scrutinising. Not in a bad way mind, just in the way that some people are uncomplicated and no worse off for it.Sarfraz interviews as a rule, for example, will not end up in the canon of great cricket conversations. Once, in the company of a few journalists, Sarfraz spent the best part of a night talking in some detail about the cows he had been rearing for over a year for . He knows the game, no doubt, and lives for it. There’s an innovative strain in his thinking too. He’s just not the greatest expresser of it all.But brooding? Hold that pose for a bit please. There’s an ocean of emotion and context and circumstance brewing beneath that. We understand innings in all kinds of different ways, more than ever before. And there was such a Sarfraz stat in this one, from CricViz, that at one point, it was the longest innings of the year to not include a single leave. ‘Why leave when you can score a run off it instead’ isn’t but should be the bumper sticker on Sarfraz’s car.This 94 was best understood in terms of mood though; a brooding innings, as if Sarfraz was affronted by his own failures, fuelled by whatever slights and barbs he has chosen to pick from the last month, or just having to grapple with the burdens of three roles in three formats.

Yeah the pressure was there, definitely. A lot of it, coming from all corners… So there has been a bit of reliefSarfraz Ahmed

Here for sure there was some glimpse of a deeper Sarfraz at play and something beyond just the stereotype of him as a Karachi street-smart who operates best under crisis. Because this was more than just the crisis of 57 for 5 on the first morning of a Test where you’ve won the toss and the average first-innings score over the last ten Tests is 402.Superficially, if you just went by what you saw in isolation, this was Sarfraz batting once again as he did in 2014. Until very recently, that peak did not seem as distant as it has done this year, when it has suddenly seemed to belong to a different decade. This was just a second fifty in 11 innings but the thing about Sarfraz’s batting used to be that in between the landmarks there’d be innings lesser in value but equal in import. In this little run that hasn’t been the case.Especially in that bracing counter post-lunch though, this was 2014 Sarfraz where he just went with his strengths. Move around the crease, up, down and sideways; target spinners over midwicket; show your stumps and target point; trust those hands to reach out past off-stump; trust the eyes to time it. Bat as if you are floating.His manner didn’t match the sprightliness of what he was doing though. Mostly he walked around head down, trying not to let the outside in. He is one of life’s great on-field chatterers and yet today communication with his on-field partner was at a bare minimum. He clapped a sharp run once maybe whereas generally he’s of the Younis Khan school of run-appreciation (which is to clap every run, leisurely, risky or standard). A fist-bump was spotted. The acknowledgement of the fifty was cursory.And that as much he admitted, it wasn’t just 57 for 5 stoking the fires underneath him. From up above the sky was bearing down on him.”Yeah the pressure was there, definitely,” he chuckled later, more in relief than in nervousness. “A lot of it. You know it’s coming from all corners. Somebody is saying leave Test cricket, somebody is saying leave captaincy, some are saying leave him out of the team, some are saying Karachi guys are supporting him, some are saying Lahore guys are going at him.”When all this happens, you know there is a lot of pressure and it just comes from everywhere, not just one corner but all corners. So there has been a bit of relief and then to do it in a situation where you were 57 for 5 and in a really bad way.”In that sense, he said, it was as much pressure as he had faced when he got into the side in the 2015 World Cup against South Africa, as an opener. The public had gone crazy wanting him there, in place of Umar Akmal, but the management didn’t think much of him. He came out against Dale Steyn, on a fresh pitch, nervous and inspired, scored an inventive 49 and helped Pakistan to an upset win.In both situations, at his lowest ebbs, he located and trusted an urge deep inside himself, which is, perhaps, exactly what he hasn’t been doing for a while now. In moments of extreme pressure he has erred too often on the side of caution, giving a crap about too many things, whereas the truth might be that in those moments he is better off, as he was today, going the other way.

Kyle Abbott has produced one of the most economical figures by a fast bowler at the Adelaide Oval in the last 50 years

Shiva Jayaraman25-Nov-201672.07 Usman Khawaja’s batting average while scoring 937 runs in Tests in Australia. His 138 not out in this innings is his fourth hundred in ten Tests at home. Khawaja is the first Australia batsman to make a hundred in his first innings as an opener in Tests since David Boon made 123 at the same venue against India in 1985-86.12.37 Khawaja’s batting average as an opener in first-class matches in Australia before this innings. He had made just 99 runs from eight innings with a highest of 28.1992 Last time an Australia debutant at No. 5 failed to score at least a half-century. Damien Martyn had made 36 and 15 on debut against West Indies at the Gabba in 1992-93. Peter Handscomb is the sixth such Australia batsman since then to make at least a fifty on debut.13.00 Kyle Abbott’s bowling average in this series. Among overseas fast bowlers who have taken at least ten wickets in any Test series in Australia, Abbott’s average is the third-best and the best since Richard Hadlee took 33 wickets at 12.15 apiece in the Trans-Tasman Trophy in 1985-86.1.52 Abbott’s economy rate in this innings – currently the second-best among quick bowlers to have bowled at least 25 overs in a Test innings at the Adelaide Oval in the last 50 years. Abbott has sent down 25 overs so far in this innings and has conceded just 38 runs. Khawaja’s 16 runs off 46 balls are the most any Australia batsman has scored off him in this innings.

Kyle Abbott v Australia batsmen, 1st inns, Adelaide Test

Batsman Conc Balls Eco DisUsman Khawaja 16 46 2.08 0Matt Renshaw 0 27 0.00 1David Warner 5 18 1.66 1Steven Smith 4 15 1.60 0Peter Handscomb 12 20 3.60 1Nic Maddinson 0 11 0.00 0Mitchell Starc 1 13 0.46 02009 Last time before Nic Maddinson an Australia debutant at No. 6 or higher got a duck on debut in Tests. Phillip Hughes had scored a duck against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2008-09.0 Wickets by bowlers in the second session. Australia made 100 runs in the session and lost the wicket of Steven Smith to a run-out. This was only the second session in day-night Tests when bowlers failed to take a single wicket. Pakistan had scored 81 for 0 in the first session of the Dubai Test against West Indies earlier this year.

Stats highlights from the second day of the Pallekele Test

Bishen Jeswant04-Jul-20151:09

By the Numbers – Azhar surpasses Younis, Yasir joins Warne

3388 Runs scored by Azhar Ali in Tests in the last five years, the most for any Pakistan batsman. He has scored more runs than Misbah-ul-Haq (2933) and Younis Khan (3383).1001 Runs scored by Younis Khan in Sri Lanka, making him the first Pakistan batsman to hit 1000 runs in Sri Lanka. The only other overseas batsman to have scored 1000 Test runs in Sri Lanka is Sachin Tendulkar (1155).9 Years since Younis Khan was last run out in a Test – versus West Indies in Karachi in 2006. He was run out after scoring three runs in the first innings of this Test.6 Times Younis has been run out in Tests, the third most for any Pakistan batsman. The only Pakistan players to be run out more often are Javed Miandad (8) and Wasim Akram (7).7 Consecutive 300-plus first innings scores for Sri Lanka against Pakistan at home before failing to do so today. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 278 in the first innings of this Test.2 Visiting bowlers who have taken three or more five-wicket hauls during a Test series in Sri Lanka – Shane Warne and Yasir Shah. Yasir has taken a five-wicket haul in each of the three Tests this series – 7 for 76 in the first, 6 for 96 in the second and 5 for 78 in the third.10 50-plus scores for Sarfraz Ahmed in Tests, making him the fourth Pakistan keeper to post 10 or more 50-plus scores. The other keepers to do this are Kamran Akmal (18), Moin Khan (18) and Imtiaz Ahmed (14). Sarfraz’s batting average is by far the best among these four.

India had no answer to the Sri Lankan bowlers at the death, particularly Lasith Malinga, whose wide yorkers were worth their weight in gold

Alan Gardner in Mirpur06-Apr-20143:56

Cullinan: SL brought out their best game on big day

At the end of the 15th over, India were 95 for 2. They had erected a platform, Virat Kohli feverishly throwing up scaffolding while Yuvraj Singh pulled on his overalls and got ready to go to work. Nuwan Kulasekara bowled the next over and Kohli rattled 14 off the first three deliveries, as India moved friskily into three figures. Keep going at that sort of rate and they would set a useful 160-odd, enough to put the pressure on to a Sri Lanka batting attack that has developed a few creaks.Kohli finished the over on 70 from 50 balls. He would end the innings being run out for 77 from 58. The last four overs of the India innings dragged them under like a dead weight. Yuvraj never got going, and practically played a match-losing knock, as Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga and Sachithra Senanayake colluded in a T20 closing spell for the ages. Kumar Sangakkara, whose unbeaten half-century clinched the match, said he had never seen anything like it.If Quentin Tarantino’s film was about cricket, it would star Malinga bowling the final overs. He is Sri Lanka’s life assurance policy. Here he filled the 18th and 20th with yorker after yorker, mostly wide, occasionally trying to play the xylophone on the batsman’s toes, all virtually unhittable. Yuvraj poked and prodded; at the other end Kohli twiddled and fumed. MS Dhoni could barely touch him, either, while two of the runs that did come at the end were byes, when even Sangakkara was foxed.Lasith Malinga donned the cloak and scythe to put India’s chances to bed•ICCYuvraj had already taken three balls to get off strike to Senanayake in the 17th, then Kohli was kept down to two singles from the remaining two balls. Twice Malinga sneaked dipping full-bungers past Yuvraj, as Sri Lanka ticked up the deliveries without conceding a boundary.Malinga had the triple burden of captaincy, expectation and the memory of 2012. “Past is past,” he said dismissively afterwards, when asked about the final against West Indies two years ago, when his second over was taken for 21 and his third 19. Flamed by Marlon Samuels, he ended with figures of 0 for 54. This time he was wicketless again, but not trophyless. Past is past, now.With 12 balls to go, Kulasekara returned, changing ends. Yuvraj spooned a full toss to long-off, who must have considered whether dropping it and allowing the batsmen to run two was a better option than taking the catch. India had lost their lead balloon but the gravitational forces were by now too strong. This is supposed to be the time of the innings that bowlers lose the thread and completely unspool; instead, Kulasekara targeted the inner edge of the tramlines unerringly and tightened the game even further.Malinga bowled a wide in the final over, almost as if out of pity. Dhoni couldn’t hit the first three legitimate balls, one of which slowed down to flirt with off stump on its way through. Kohli finally managed to get on strike for the last delivery of the innings, having faced just seven of the preceding 23. No boundaries had been scored and none would be. Worse, Kohli was dismissed by a direct hit trying to squeeze one last concession out of Malinga. Four overs, 13 singles, a two, two byes, a leg bye and a wide.Sangakkara had one word for the display: “immaculate”. It denied India a score approaching competitive, somehow managing to vacuum-wrap the Man of the Tournament and neuter his team-mates. Kohli had a medal hung round his neck come the end but not the one he wanted; Yuvraj had an albatross.”Those last four overs were immaculate,” Sangakkara said, “I haven’t seen four overs like that bowled to a guy on 70-something off 50 balls and to a guy like MS Dhoni who can hit any ball out of the park, for them not to be able to get bat on ball for four overs, 24 balls, that just goes to show the quality of our bowling attack and the hard work that they’ve done, the planning before this game and how we executed that. I think that really set up the win, chasing 130, you’d take that any day on any wicket but to restrict a side like that we needed something special and our bowlers produced it.”Faced with India’s prince and one of their grand old dukes, Malinga, Kulasekara and Senanayake thought nothing of deference. Afterwards, it was Dhoni who had to pay tribute. “You should give credit to the Sri Lankan bowlers,” he said. “They executed their plan brilliantly. They were looking for wide yorkers and all the balls were perfect wide yorkers. I think they only bowled one wide, other than that they were right on mark, which made it all the more difficult for our batsmen to score freely.”Two years ago in Colombo, West Indies resuscitated their chances in the latter stages to set Sri Lanka a target that was beyond their reach. This time around, fittingly, it was Malinga with the hooded cloak and scythe, and India’s chances that were put to rest.

An analysis of individual batting and bowling performances in the World Twenty20 2012

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan09-Oct-2012Marlon Samuels is the best batsman of the World Twenty20 2012 according to ESPNcricinfo’s performance analysis•Associated PressMarlon Samuels, the Man of the Match in the World Twenty20 final, and Ajantha Mendis, the highest wicket-taker in the tournament, have emerged the best batsman and bowler according to ESPNcricinfo’s analysis of individual performances in the World Twenty20 2012. Samuels, who has been consistent across all formats in the last year, extended his run through the tournament and ended it as West Indies’ highest run-getter (third overall). Mendis, who had struggled with injuries in the last few months, started the tournament with an extraordinary performance against Zimbabwe and ended it with 4 for 12 in the final against West Indies. The study also ranked Brendon McCullum’s superb 123 against Bangladesh as the best batting display and Mendis’ six-wicket haul against Zimbabwe as the best bowling performance.McCullum became the first batsman to score two centuries in Twenty20 internationals when he smashed the Bangladesh attack in New Zealand’s opening game. In a game where the other batsmen managed to score at just over a run a ball, McCullum’s strike rate of 212.06 stood out. Samuels rescued West Indies in the final after they were struggling at 14 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay. His effort is ranked high not just because of the strike rate (139.28) in a low-scoring game but also because the runs came against a high-quality Sri Lankan attack in a crunch game. Luke Wright figures twice in the top ten for his knocks of 76 against New Zealand and 99 against Afghanistan. Two other stand-out performances (both in defeats) in the top ten include Eoin Morgan’s 71 against West Indies and Faf du Plessis’ 65 against India in the final Super Eights game. Watson, the Player of the Tournament, did not make it to the top ten but ended with two performances in the top 15. It is interesting to note that apart from the West Indies (three in top ten), no batsman from the other three semi-finalists features in the top ten.

Top ten batting performances in World Twenty20 2012

BatsmanTeamOppositionRunsBalls facedPointsBrendon McCullumNew ZealandBangladesh1235873.07Marlon SamuelsWest IndiesSri Lanka785661.73Luke WrightEnglandNew Zealand764353.96Shakib Al HasanBangladeshPakistan845452.77Eoin MorganEnglandWest Indies713650.56Chris GayleWest IndiesAustralia754148.18Virat KohliIndiaPakistan786147.82Faf du PlessisSouth AfricaIndia653844.50Luke WrightEnglandAfghanistan995544.28Johnson CharlesWest IndiesEngland845643.80Mendis’ 6 for 8 is certainly not a surprise at the top. Although the performance did not come against a higher-ranked team, the economy rate (2.00) and strike rate (4.00) are phenomenal. Mendis figures in second position too for his 4 for 12 against West Indies in the final. His wickets included those of the dangerous Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, who had both combined to put the game beyond Australia in the semi-final. Harbhajan Singh’s four-wicket haul against England was one of the few bright spots for India in an otherwise disappointing tournament. Two West Indian bowlers slot in at four and five. Ravi Rampaul bowled an aggressive spell in the semi-final against Australia and finished with figures of 3 for 16 that included the wickets of Cameron White and David Hussey. Sunil Narine conceded just nine runs off his 3.4 overs in the final and dismissed Mahela Jayawardene before returning to halt Sri Lanka’s fightback by picking up the wicket of Nuwan Kulasekara. Lasith Malinga, who went for 54 runs off his four overs in the final, had a below-par tournament by his standards. However, his performance against England (5 for 31), which is ranked ninth, stood out because all five of his wickets were those of top-seven batsmen.

Top ten bowling performances in World Twenty20 2012

BowlerTeamOppositionWicketsRuns concededPointsAjantha MendisSri LankaZimbabwe6858.62Ajantha MendisSri LankaWest Indies41256.67Harbhajan SinghIndiaEngland41254.28Ravi RampaulWest IndiesAustralia31650.59Sunil NarineWest IndiesSri Lanka3949.24Xavier DohertyAustraliaSouth Africa32047.44Steve FinnEnglandNew Zealand31647.00Ajantha MendisSri LankaWest Indies21245.70Lasith MalingaSri LankaEngland53144.50Pat CumminsAustraliaIndia21643.97Samuels scored three half-centuries in the tournament and ended with 230 runs. None of his knocks, however, was as crucial as his stunning performance in the final which lifted West Indies from a hopeless 32 for 2 at the end of ten overs to a competitive 137 at the end of 20 overs. Gayle, who comes in second, hit the most sixes in the tournament (16). In the semi-final against Australia, he played a highly responsible knock batting through the 20 overs pushing West Indies to a huge total of 205. Watson was in exceptional form early in the tournament, winning four consecutive Man-of-the-Match awards. He ended the tournament as the top run-scorer (249 runs) but came up short in the last two matches against Pakistan and West Indies. McCullum, the highest run-getter In Twenty20 internationals comes in fourth ahead of Virat Kohli, who was India’s best batsman by a distance. The top ten is rounded off by Michael Hussey, who was dismissed only twice in five innings in the tournament while scoring 155 runs.

Top ten batsmen overall in the World Twenty20 2012 (min 100 runs)

BatsmanInningsRunsAverageStrike ratePointsMarlon Samuels623038.33132.9426.16Chris Gayle622244.40150.0024.32Shane Watson624949.80150.0023.24Brendon McCullum521242.40159.3922.97Virat Kohli518546.25122.5120.49Luke Wright519348.25169.2920.36Mahela Jayawardene724340.50116.2617.91Ross Taylor514749.00145.5416.98Suresh Raina411036.66126.4315.90Michael Hussey515577.50123.0115.81With 15 wickets at an average of 9.80 and economy rate of 6.12, Mendis ended the tournament as the best bowler. Narine, who came in second, had an even better economy rate (5.63) than Mendis but did not pick up wickets with the same regularity. Samuel Badree, who is third, played a vital role for West Indies in the latter stages of the tournament ending with a healthy economy rate of 5.56. Fifth-placed Watson’s all-round skills were on display throughout the tournament as he finished with 11 wickets at an average of 16.00. Raza Hasan, Pakistan’s left-arm spinner, maintained an exceptional economy rate of just 4.93 despite operating during the Powerplay overs. The top-ten list is completed by Saeed Ajmal, the leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 internationals, and Dale Steyn, who had the best economy rate (4.82) among all bowlers who bowled 15 or more overs in the tournament.

Top ten bowlers overall in World Twenty20 2012 (min 15 overs bowled)

BowlerMatchesWicketsAverageEconomy ratePointsAjantha Mendis6159.806.1235.65Sunil Narine7915.445.6327.90Samuel Badree4422.255.5627.53Steve Finn5815.376.1527.22Shane Watson61116.007.3325.94Raza Hasan4324.664.9325.83Graeme Swann5716.716.1525.27Mitchell Starc61016.406.8324.64Saeed Ajmal6918.116.7923.42Dale Steyn5613.664.8223.07For the performance analysis of Twenty20 internationals, click here.