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England seamer impresses on comeback after Dane Paterson, James Pattinson share all 10

ECB Reporters Network27-Jul-2022Nottinghamshire 240 and 284 for 7 (Hameed 94, James 56, Robinson 3-55) lead Sussex 143 (Paterson 5-43, Pattinson 5-56) by 381 runsEngland’s Ollie Robinson increased his wickets haul to seven in the match but Nottinghamshire were in full control at the halfway stage of their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Sussex.Robinson proved deadly with the new ball for the second time, reducing the Division Two leaders to 40 for 3 in their second innings. But after Haseeb Hameed made 94 and Lyndon James 56, Nottinghamshire finished on 284 for 7, with a lead of 381.Earlier, Nottinghamshire pace bowlers James Pattinson and Dane Paterson finished with five wickets each as Sussex, who sit next to bottom of the table, were bowled out for 143 in reply to Nottinghamshire’s first innings 240.To add to their woes, any points take from this match – they have three thus far – may be lost, as they stand at minus six on their over-rate.Nottinghamshire needed just under an hour first thing to take the final five Sussex wickets, the key breakthrough coming in the sixth over when Paterson trapped Cheteshwar Pujara with an inswinging ball that was too good even for a player of the Indian Test star’s calibre.His wicket, ending a partnership worth 71, more than compensated the South African bowler for a chance missed earlier when Archie Lenham, the 18-year-old son of Neil Lenham and grandson of Les, who had battled courageously alongside Pujara in the face of a high class attack, was put down at second slip.With Pujara gone, Paterson and Pattinson ripped through the remainder so quickly that all five wickets fell for 23 runs in the space of 34 deliveries.Pattinson removed Lenham for a gutsy 31, the youngster looking disappointed to be given out leg before after the ball rolled away to third slip. Robinson was strangled down the leg side, prompting Luke Fletcher to appear alongside Pattinson to congratulate him on his first five-wicket haul of the season.Not to be outdone, Paterson knocked out Sean Hunt’s off stump before having Ari Karvelas plainly leg-before to finish with 5 for 43, Pattinson having taken 5 for 56.As on day one of a breathtakingly fast-moving contest, Robinson came up with a superb opening spell as Sussex, trailing by 97 on first innings, made early inroads.Again, his fourth and fifth overs were productive as Ben Slater, Ben Duckett and Joe Clarke departed in the space of six deliveries, the last-named pair without scoring.Slater went after a short ball with little chance of controlling the shot and was caught at fine leg. Duckett was caught behind off an inside edge before Clarke, offering no shot, was lbw to a ball that kept low.If they had winkelled out Hameed at that point, Sussex might have felt they were back in the contest but the sometime England opener, closing on 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the first time since his sensational breakthrough year at Lancashire in 2016, looked in splendid touch.A superbly timed straight drive for four in Robinson’s opening over was evidence of that and by the time he pulled Brad Currie to the fence for his ninth boundary he had 50 from 71 balls. Having seen the back of Robinson for a while, he and James added 138 in 33 overs.Hameed missed out on a hundred when a ball from Hunt, the 20-year-old left-armer, nipped away to have him caught behind. In his best spell of the match, Hunt also dismissed James, lbw trying to work him to leg.Currie removed Tom Moores shortly after tea with another delivery that found the edge and Steven Mullaney, whose 70 was the key innings in Nottinghamshire’s first innings, added another 42 before he was leg before sweeping another 18-year-old, the left-arm spinner.Pattinson and Liam Patterson-White added 34 before bad light brought the close forward by two overs.

Wicketkeeper-batter embraces challenge against India after show of faith from Nat Sciver

Valkerie Baynes12-Sep-2022Amy Jones is the first to admit that captaincy doesn’t come naturally to her.So when she was thrust into the role on the international stage because Nat Sciver had chosen to step away for mental health reasons, it was Sciver who initially helped convince her she could do it.”It’s definitely not something I’ve been gunning for quietly for a while at all,” grinned Jones on the eve of Tuesday’s second T20I against India in Derby. “But when I was having chats with Nat, sort of getting an inkling that she might go home, we did have a conversation where we were like, ‘this could be you, Amy,’ and it was very daunting.”I’d say on the pitch, definitely not something that comes naturally to me. I like to lead off the pitch in my own way, how I go about things, but when it comes to being vocal and speaking in front of the group or management of the game, all of this is all pretty new to me.”But, after leading England to a resounding nine-wicket win in the first match on a damp evening in Durham on Saturday, Jones – the wicketkeeper-batter who is set to make her 150th appearance for England in Thursday’s third fixture in Bristol – admitted she rather enjoyed herself.”One of the most pleasing things about the other night was just how everyone came together,” she said. “They know it’s not natural for me, but everyone’s been really supportive and just helped whenever they can. So it was, yeah, I’d go as far to say I enjoyed it, actually.”England announced last Thursday that Sciver had withdrawn from both white-ball series with India and returned home from the team’s camp in Durham to focus on her mental health and wellbeing. Sciver, who had been standing in for injured regular captain Heather Knight since July, said that she was “very emotionally fatigued” after a busy nine months which included an Ashes tour of Australia, the World Cup in New Zealand, a home series with South Africa and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where the host nation finished a disappointing fourth.”She’s one of my closest friends as well as a team-mate,” Jones said. “The first couple of days in Durham, she obviously wasn’t herself.”So when she did, with the help of our support staff, decide that she shouldn’t be there, I think it was almost a relief for me as a friend to know that she was going to go back home and get herself right before she joins back up with us, so definitely the right decision for her and everyone’s right behind her.”Related

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• Katherine Brunt rested for India series as Lauren Bell earns T20I call-up

• Sciver pulls out of India series to 'focus on mental health and wellbeing'

• Sarah Glenn, Sophia Dunkley set up crushing England win over India

Jones felt she had Sciver’s full support in taking on the captaincy, as well as that of Sciver’s wife, Katherine Brunt, who is being rested from the T20Is and subsequent three-match ODI series with India.”She was being really reassuring, she said I’d do a great job,” Jones said of Sciver. “And Katherine has also messaged me as well and they’ve been very supportive. It felt like they thought I was the right person, which definitely gave me a bit of confidence.”Jones captained Birmingham Phoenix through the inaugural season of the Hundred last year before the arrival of Sophie Devine, the New Zealand skipper, at the franchise this year.”For me, it was daunting, purely because I did a year at the Hundred obviously and nothing either side of that, so it’s just the unknown really,” Jones said. “That’s what I was stressing about the most leading up to the game.”It’s obviously a lot of responsibility and with a young side… I wasn’t sure if some of the bowlers would need more help than they did, but everyone just really stepped up, knew their game, and it was a lot simpler than I thought.”In the absence of three senior players, Jones was hugely impressed with her side’s performance on Saturday, particularly leg-spinner Sarah Glenn, who took a career-best 4 for 23, including three of India’s top four in Shafali Verma, Dayalan Hemalatha and Harmanpreet Kaur.”Leading into this, missing three key players for us, it would have been easy for us to sort of go into our shell in that first game with a bit less confidence,” Jones said. “It just really felt like everyone came together and stood up in a time where we could have gone the other way, so that was really pleasing.”It was definitely a challenge. I was very nervous. I think for the couple days leading up to it, it was a lot of thinking and it’s quite hard to switch off. But now, having played the first one, I can relax a bit more and know that we can get through a game and with the girls helping you it just made it so much easier.”Alice Davidson-Richards was called into the England squad for the remainder of the T20I series as cover for allrounder Sciver. The squad – and captain – for the ODIs starting on Sunday at Hove is yet to be named.”I’m not sure I’d be throwing my hat in the ring,” Jones said. “I think fifty overs is a whole other ball game. But, in saying that, obviously if they think I’m the right person for it then it’s something I would never turn down.”I’m happy just to focus on the T20s now. As always, I would never turned down an opportunity like that, but I’m definitely doing just a little stand-in.”

Having broken a run of 1021 days without a century for India, Virat Kohli was elated and grateful – and a tad surprised to have ended this phase in the shortest format

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Sep-2022″I feel very blessed, very grateful right now. Last two and a half years have taught me a lot. I’m going to turn 34 in November, so celebrations [on getting to landmarks] are all [a thing of] the past. I have put a lot of things in perspective and, actually, I was a bit shocked because this was the format I least expected a century to come in any time soon, but it’s all God’s blessings. I have been working hard and this was just a moment which was very special for me and the team as well.Related

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“It [the thoughts running through his head] was an accumulation of a lot of things. As I said, when I came back into the team [after a break], the team’s been really open and welcoming and helpful, given me space to work on my game. I know there was a lot of stuff going on on the outside but they really kept my perspective right.”And I kissed my ring [on a chain around his neck] in the celebration as well. You see me standing here like this right now because [of] all the things that have been put in perspective [and] have been done by one person, who stood by me through all these difficult times – that’s [his wife] Anushka [Sharma] and this hundred is specially dedicated to her and our little daughter Vamika as well.”As I said, [it helps] when you have someone next to you putting the things in right perspective like I have [had], and Anushka has been by my side through all these times…”Time away from the game taught me a lot of things, when I came back I wasn’t desperate. I was grateful for what God blessed me [with] before. People were talking about me not getting a hundred but I looked at how much he has given me already, so that really calmed me down, that relaxed me, I was just happy to come back.”Six weeks off, I was refreshed, I understood after taking a break how tired actually I was mentally and physically. Your competitiveness doesn’t allow you to take that call, but I think it was a blessing in disguise for me. I wanted to be the best version of myself for the team, and when I came here, when I started playing in the nets, I felt like my old rhythm was coming back. It was just about getting those performances in the middle again.”

Thailand head coach says the side will continue to play “aggressive” cricket irrespective of their opponents

Mohammad Isam06-Oct-2022Thailand captain Naruemol Chaiwai felt that her side had fun and executed their well-thought-out plans to complete a four-wicket win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup in Sylhet. There are seven spots between the two sides in the ICC T20I rankings, making it a major upset, but Thailand’s approach throughout the match was one of maturity.”We are very happy with the win. Pakistan is a strong side. They are a top-class team,” Chaiwai said after the match. “We played cricket with happiness. We wanted to have fun in the ground. As you saw, it came automatically.”She said that the difference between this win and the last two games was how they could execute their plans against Pakistan. She praised the bowlers for restricting their much stronger opponents to 116 for 5 in 20 overs.”We went with our same plan as we had in the last two games,” Chaiwai said. “We didn’t execute them well in those games, but today we were more focused. The bowling and batting sides did pretty well. The bowlers bowled in the correct line and length. We also put the fielders in the right positions. Outfield was slow too so they couldn’t hit the big shots.”Thailand hean coach Harshal Pathak credited the batters, particularly Player of the Match Natthakan Chantham. She anchored the innings with her 51-ball 61 that contained five fours and two sixes, her last six bringing up the half-century. He also thanked Rosenan Kanoh for holding her nerve against Diana Baig in the final over.”The batters did the job, especially Nathakan who took the game till the end,” Pathak said after the win. “She fell a bit short but she set up the game. It was very well finished by Rose. Her contribution was very important. She finished the game at a crucial stage against a world-class bowler. It is very heartening for me as a coach that we have been preparing for these situations. We are slowly coming up.”I believe that we are sticking to the plans and looking to execute them, which will take us forward. Right now we are able to do it about three to four times in ten games. As a coach, I am looking at seven to eight times.”Related

• Chantham leads the way as Thailand pull off stunning upset win over Pakistan

Pakistan opener Sidra Ameen, who scored 56 in 64 balls in the first innings, was visibly upset at the press conference, but didn’t want to give up on all the confidence that her side had gathered in their victories in the first two games of the Asia Cup.”It is an upset for us,” Ameen said. “Our efforts weren’t enough in the way we played. They deserved the win. We didn’t bat according to the plan. We were short by 10-20 runs. We didn’t also bowl in the right areas. They batted well, so credit goes to them.”Ups and downs are a part of life as a player. Definitely we as a unit are hurt. But, we are looking towards the upcoming matches. We have two or three matches left so we can bounce back.”Thailand coach Pathak said that his side will always look to play aggressively regardless of the opposition, and is hopeful that they can pull off bigger results in the future with this approach.”Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t. The more we try to play this type of cricket, we will be able to get mastery in it over time,” Pathak said. “As long as we have the intent to play aggressive cricket, that’s very important. The competition gives you the happiness.”Pathak didn’t quite give up hope of a last-four finish, but was more inclined to look into the next game against UAE. “We have matches left against UAE, Malaysia and India. We will look to play good cricket. We set up the match really well today. The powerplay was very important. I think matches are going to be won in the powerplays on this ground. The smarter team is going to do well over here.”

The legspinner will make his first first-class appearance since 2019 if selected against Victoria

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2022Adam Zampa is in line to make his first Sheffield Shield appearance since 2019 and have a chance to push a claim for a spot on the Test tour of India after being named in New South Wales’ squad to face Victoria in Melbourne.Zampa has not played first-class cricket since moving back to New South Wales two years ago but a window has opened up for him to feature in one game before the Shield breaks for the BBL.There is a chance that he will be considered as a left-field option for the Test series in India during February and March, although he will only have the one game to showcase his long-form skills.”My dream is still to play Test cricket,” Zampa told before the third ODI against England in Melbourne last week. “I feel like my game’s evolved over the last few years, it’s just about the workload and seeing how my body will cope. I’d love to throw my hat in the ring [for the India tour].”Zampa’s overall first-class record is modest with 105 wickets at 48.26 from 38 matches, the last of which came for South Australia against Western Australia in late 2019. He made his first-class debut for New South Wales in 2012, taking five wickets in the match against Queensland.Mitchell Swepson has been Australia’s legspinner on their last two overseas tours to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, so far taking 10 wickets at 45.80 in four outings.”It’s rare that Adam is available for Sheffield Shield, given his taxing white ball schedule but he has this week free and has always maintained his desire to play red-ball cricket,” New South Wales’ head of male cricket Michael Klinger said. “For us to be able to bring in a player of his calibre and experience is a welcome one.”Offspinner Todd Murphy and left-armer Ashton Agar, who both played for the Prime Minister’s XI against West Indies in Canberra, are also in the frame. Agar would have played the Tests in Sri Lanka if he had not suffered a side strain

“We’ll keep an eye on what we need to do as a team, where we need to improve, and see how it comes along for us,” says India’s captain

Himanshu Agrawal03-Dec-20222:15

Rohit Sharma: ‘Impossible to always play with your best 15’

As per the ICC’S Future Tours Programme, India have six bilateral series – including the one in Bangladesh starting on Sunday – and an Asia Cup to plan for next year’s World Cup.Multiple members of the squad in Bangladesh are touring the country for the first time as India continue to expand their player base. Things are being set in motion but, the captain Rohit Sharma, insisted it was also important to focus on the present.Related

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“Every time you play a game, it is preparation for something that is going to come in the future,” he said. “But the World Cup is still eight to nine months [away] from now. We can’t think so far ahead. But yeah, we’ll keep an eye on what we need to do as a team, where we need to improve, and see how it comes along for us.”I believe it’s very important for us not to start thinking about so many things – the World Cup, the combination, this guy or that guy. Me and coach [Rahul Dravid] have a fair idea as to what we want to do, and we’ll narrow it down once we get closer to the World Cup. But [for now] we just want to play good cricket until the World Cup.”Amidst an upcoming global tournament lies the challenge of changing formats and a clutter of cricket, which often makes it difficult to ensure the availability of best players for each series, irrespective of the opposition.The last time India fielded a full-strength ODI side was during the England tour in July. Since then, they have played three-match series against West Indies, Zimbabwe, South Africa and New Zealand, but every time it was with a second-string team. This squad in Bangladesh, though, is a lot closer to India’s first 15. It’s only missing Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Yuzvendra Chahal, who are rested, and Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami, who are injured.”People need to understand at times that we rest players,” Rohit said, “Give them a break. It’s [done] only to manage the workload keeping the bigger picture in mind. Cricket is not going to stop; there’s always going to be lots of cricket. But we have to manage ourselves and our players. You want your best players to play all the time, and with higher intensity. So it’s important to manage them.””The freshness of the players is also important. A lot of the guys have been on the road since before the World Cup. We played two series at home against Australia and South Africa, and we travelled straight to the World Cup from there. Some of the guys went to New Zealand, so they’ve been out for virtually two-and-a-half months.”With just four days between two assignments on opposite ends of the world, only six of the players that India took to New Zealand are part of this Bangladesh tour. A seventh was added only when Umran Malik replaced Shami, with India now looking to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat where two matches were washed out.

Sophie Devine, Harmanpreet Kaur, Meg Lanning and Heather Knight on how the players plan to deal with this “awkward” situation

Firdose Moonda04-Feb-2023The world’s elite female cricketers will have to find a way to manage their expectations and emotions when the Women’s T20 World Cup collides with the Women’s Premier League auction on February 13. About 45 players (including the entire Indian squad) competing in the ICC tournament, which starts on Friday, could be picked in the WPL. Up to seven overseas players, of which one must be from an Associate nation, can be picked per team and all of them could enjoy the biggest payday of their careers. Understandably, there will be some distraction.”It’s the elephant in the room,” Sophie Devine, the New Zealand captain, said at the T20 World Cup captains’ pressers. “It’s a really unique experience. It’s enormous. You talk about glass ceilings and I think the WPL is going to be the next stage. I am really excited about it. As female cricketers, this is something we have never been through before. On every scale, it’s going to be awkward. That’s the word we have spoken about.”The difficulties could come from the amount of money on offer, which has not been seen in the women’s game before. The WPL teams will have a purse of INR 12 crore (US $1.46 million approx.) – which is around eight times smaller than the last men’s IPL purse of INR 95 crore (US $11.5 million approx.) – but promises to hand some players a substantial financial boost. Conversely, it will also let others down.Related

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“Some people are going to get picked up; some people won’t,” Devine said. “And you are going to get a value attached to what you are worth which, as human beings, is not the nicest [thing], to be perfectly honest. But it’s also a job and it’s what we’ve put our names in for.”Devine called it an “enormous step for women’s cricket”, but admitted that one would be “naive to think that it’s not going to be a distraction”. New Zealand would have played their tournament opener two days before the auction and will be gearing up for their second match on the auction day. How the players deal with that, Devine said, is “going to be up to each individual”.Australia, who are New Zealand’s opponents on February 11, are not in action on the auction day and are looking forward to following the event while also hoping to avoid being overly attached to any outcomes.”Personally, I’m really excited about it and I know the girls are as well,” Meg Lanning, the Australia captain, said. “We are focusing on what we are trying to do here, which is the most important thing. There’s no right or wrong way to go about it. Everyone will deal with it as they wish.”We’ve spoken as a team about letting people deal with it how they feel is best because, as Sophie said, it’s a little bit awkward and it’s just trying to embrace that and understand that it’s actually a really exciting time and you don’t have a lot of control over it. We’ve just got to wait and see.”All eyes will, of course, be on the Indian players who will play Pakistan on the eve of the auction, which remains their immediate concern. “Before that [the auction], we have a very important game and we are just going to focus on that,” India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said.But she could not avoid mentioning the magnitude of the auction, for Indian players in particular. “It’s a really big day for all of us because we have been waiting for years and years now. The next two or three months are very important for women’s cricket. We have seen how the WBBL and the Hundred have helped their countries improve their cricket. Hopefully, the same will happen for our country.”Harmanpreet, who has played in the Kia Super League, WBBL and Hundred, said she was looking forward to seeing young Indian talent share the dressing room with overseas stars.”That is something which has a very different feeling. When I got that opportunity, it was the biggest life-changing moment. Other girls will also experience this. It will be a great opportunity to improve cricket and grow the game.”Before any of that happens, India want to double up on their trophy count after their Under-19 women’s team won the inaugural age-group World Cup last week. “The World Cup is more important than anything else,” Harmanpreet said. “Our focus is on the ICC trophy. These things will keep coming, and as a player, you know what’s important for you and how you need to keep your focus. We are all mature enough and know what is important for us.”Harmanpreet Kaur: “When I got that opportunity [to share the dressing room with overseas players, it was the biggest life-changing moment”•Getty Images

International cricket could retain pride of place in the women’s game, according to England’s skipper Heather Knight, who has recently completed a masters degree in leadership in sport. Knight’s dissertation focused on the rise of franchise cricket and though she hasn’t “got my grade yet so I don’t know if it’s going to be any good so I could be talking rubbish”, she hopes that the women’s game can find a “nice dynamic between the franchise leagues and international cricket”.Knight pointed to the men’s game, where clashes between franchise and international duty are becoming more common, and said that while she supports the growth of leagues she hopes the women’s game can find a “sweet spot” to balance them with bilateral series.”Franchise cricket and these tournaments are a really good thing but what’s the dynamic to make international cricket and domestic cricket thrive? That’s the sweet spot,” she said. “You’ve seen in the men’s game, [franchises] started to take over a little bit. I think in the women’s game you can have a really nice dynamic between the franchise leagues and international cricket. International cricket needs a bit of help to be able to do that but it’s a hugely exciting time. I am hugely excited for the future of the game and the opportunities that are developing not just for players. You see Rachael Haynes has been picked as a coach and I think a lot of where the game has got to, and those past players and how they’ve contributed to where the game is at.”Like Devine, Lanning and Harmanpreet, Knight also couldn’t hide her enthusiasm for the WPL and believed it would change the landscape of the women’s game. “It’s an exciting time in women’s cricket and things are changing very fast,” she said. “There are lots of franchise competitions popping up. and it’s going to create a really interesting dynamic. I think it’s absolutely brilliant for the game. The women’s IPL is going to be a complete game-changer. The money that’s going to come in and the perceptions of the women’s game around the world as well – other boards will look at it and think they’ve got to catch up here.”I really hope this accelerates the shift in a lot of different countries.”

Shreyas Iyer, however, is yet to get a clearance from the NCA as he continues his recovery from a back issue

Nagraj Gollapudi31-Jan-2023Ravindra Jadeja, who tested his match-fitness with a successful return to action in the Ranji Trophy, is set to join the India Test squad in Nagpur this week ahead of the first Test against Australia, which begins on February 9. Shreyas Iyer, however, is yet to get a fitness clearance as he continues his recovery from a stiff back at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.Related

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Playing for Saurashtra in their final group-stage match against Tamil Nadu last week in Chennai, Jadeja bowled 41.1 overs and bagged a seven-for in the second innings, restoring in him the confidence he said he was after, having not played any cricket since undergoing surgery in his right knee in September. Jadeja, who was included in India’s Test squad subject to clearing fitness tests, said after that performance that he was hopeful and “good to go” for the Australia series.To monitor Jadeja’s fitness closely, one of the BCCI’s physios travelled with him. Jadeja is now back at the NCA to wrap up his final round of fitness tests. The one-off Test against England in Birmingham in July 2022 was the last time Jadeja played a Test match. He experienced discomfort in his right knee, which has troubled him over the years, while playing in the Asia Cup in late August.Shreyas Iyer is a frontrunner for a middle-order spot against Australia if he gets his fitness clearance•AFP/Getty Images

The knee surgery meant Jadeja missed out on selection for the T20 World Cup. Although he was named in the squad for two-Test tour of Bangladesh, his selection was subject to fitness, and he was eventually ruled out. With his rehab getting extended, he was also ruled out of the white-ball home series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. But having got the green light from the NCA, the selectors felt Jadeja could play in the Ranji Trophy to determine his fitness for the Australia series.

Iyer in race against time to prove fitness

Iyer, who was ruled out of the recent ODI series against New Zealand with a stiff back, has to spend a little more time at the NCA before getting his fitness clearance. It is understood Iyer was given an injection recently at the NCA to help combat swelling in his lower back.If he gets his clearance, Iyer is a frontrunner for a middle-order slot against Australia, as an incumbent who averaged 101.00 in India’s last series, the two-Test tour of Bangladesh in December. Other contenders include Suryakumar Yadav, who is yet to make his Test debut, and possibly Shubman Gill in case India open with Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.It is learned that Iyer remains optimistic and is on course towards being declared fit, but the BCCI’s medical staff want to be certain he has no pain in his back before he is cleared to travel to Nagpur and join India’s preparatory camp, which begins on February 2.

He put up a 125-run stand with Faheem Ashraf, ambushing Kings in a game they had been dominating from the start

Danyal Rasool03-Mar-2023A remarkable counter-attacking knock from Azam Khan ambushed Karachi Kings, snatching a win away from them in a game they had been dominating from the start. Islamabad United’s middle order batter smashed an unbeaten 72 off 41, putting up a 125-run stand with Faheem Ashraf and helping seal a six-wicket win. The loss put Kings on the brink of elimination.United had never chased a target in excess of 200 before, so when Kings put up 201, thanks in large part to another outstanding knock from their captain Imad Wasim, their batters were up against it. They started brightly, as United always do, but Mohammad Amir struck early to remove Colin Munro, and despite a cameo from Alex Hales, Aamer Yamin cleaned him up with the last ball of the powerplay. Rassie van der Dussen saw one stay low against him from Tabraiz Shamsi, and all of a sudden, United were three down at the halfway stage, and the asking rate had crept above 12.But Azam had decimated Quetta Gladiators a week earlier, and while he was at the crease, United were in it. He slapped Imad Wasim for a four and a six in the 11th over – there had been no boundaries scored in the previous four. It got United up and running again. A pair of sixes off Shamsi in the next saw the asking rate creep under 12.Faheem provided support, if not too many runs, from the other end, but Karachi were growing desperate for a breakthrough. That showed, in particular, in the face of Amir, who appealed incessantly for far-fetched lbw calls, and burned both Karachi reviews with reckless abandon. The muddled thinking was obvious when, having run out of reviews, Amir frantically signalled for another one on yet another unrealistic shout, only to be reminded that wasn’t an option.But there was nothing clouding Azam’s judgment now. He came and went past 50 with a huge six off Yamin, and boundaries came in every over from the 11th to the last. When Faheem finally did join the party with a six in the penultimate over, United looked to have secured the points, before a six and a four from Asif Ali made it official.That meant this was yet another game that saw Imad amass runs in a match-losing cause. United had put Karachi on the back foot after an enterprising powerplay where Adam Rossington and Tayyab Tahir combined for 61 in the first six. Rumman Raees, Tom Curran and Hasan Ali each picked up a wicket early on, and Faheem joined in soon after to leave the lower middle order needing to salvage a tricky situation once more.It was Imad who answered the call of his team once more, a heroic one-man stand for a team that has come to rely on them. He helped Kings plunder 82 from the final six almost single-handedly, deploying an outstanding array of shots he never quite seemed to possess before this league, and certainly never strung together in such short order. The reverse sweeps off pace, the hooks and aerial drives were all incredibly productive, and the bowlers watched as Imad lay waste to what United thought was an encouraging first ten.There was even unselfishness towards the end as he refused to farm the strike in pursuit of a hundred, content to finish with an unbeaten 92. But, in what has become a familiar refrain this season, Imad might not have deserved to lose, but not enough of his team-mates deserved to win.

Delhi Capitals’ assistant coach believes that Warner’s fearless mindset will get bring him back to his best

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Apr-20232:50

Tait: Warner seemed ‘pretty frustrated’

Shane Watson, Delhi Capitals’ assistant coach, has said he will be “blown away” if David Warner, the franchise’s under-fire captain, doesn’t “set the IPL alight” in the rest of the season after struggling for rhythm in the first four games.Warner is the second-highest run-scorer in IPL 2023 and has hit three half-centuries in four games, but has scored at a sluggish strike rate of 114.83 and is yet to hit a single six this season.Warner punched his bat in frustration upon reaching a 43-ball half-century during Delhi’s loss to Mumbai Indians on Monday night, their fourth defeat out of four this season. But Watson stressed that he had shown a “more fearless mindset” during that innings, and said that he was “so close” to recapturing his best form.Related

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“The other night, Dave [Warner] definitely had a [much] more fearless mindset with the way he was batting,” Watson said on the podcast. “He was taking the game on… yes, he missed a few balls that in the past he would have hit for four or six, he’s mis-hit a couple of balls, but that’s all part of Dave just working through the technical side of his game.”That’s also part of my role as well, as a coach. Because I know Dave so well from batting with him and playing with him, there’s one or two little things that I know he’ll get right over the next couple of days and I’ll be blown away if he doesn’t – yes, he’s been scoring runs, but from a scoring perspective – if he doesn’t set the IPL alight from now on, knowing that he’s so close.”He’s batting very nicely. He’s just mis-hitting some balls that he’d normally hit for four or six. Once you do that, once you start really finding the middle of your bat, then your scoring rate just goes through the roof.”Warner became the fastest man to reach 6,000 runs in his IPL career during Delhi’s defeat to Rajasthan Royals, and Watson said that his stellar record in the competition underlined his ability. “His strike rate across his career in the IPL is nearly 140,” he said. “He’s been a great player in the IPL for a long period of time.”He added that Warner had been “working through” a “challenging inner battle” in the first three games of the season, grappling with whether or not to take risks as wickets fell at the other end. “It goes against a lot of the things that you’re taught as a kid growing up,” Watson said. “You lose a wicket, you’ve got to establish a partnership – even in T20 cricket – for five or six balls.”But then, if you do that and you keep losing wickets after five or six balls, before you know it, you’re three overs down and you’ve just been rotating ones to try and build a partnership. Dave was just working through that himself in the first few games.”Delhi play their next game away against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday afternoon, and will have Mitchell Marsh available again after he missed their last two games due to his wedding back home in Australia.”It’s never perfect when you lose your first four games,” Watson said, “but that is the beauty of having someone with the skill of Ricky Ponting as a coach, and just his understanding of people. That’s the beauty of being a coach, to be able to help the guys where they need it.”These are the times when you really see the true colours of people and coaches, when things aren’t going well. It’s a true sign of character: how you can work through the little things that are not going how we want them to, to turn them around and be more consistent.”