Left-arm spinner shines at a time when the tour had threatened to come off the rails for his team

Andrew McGlashan01-Mar-20232:11

Chappell: Kuhnemann learnt from the second Test and bowled better

Whatever way Matt Kuhnemann’s Test career goes from here, he’s going to have some good stories to tell.While the first Test of this series was taking place he was playing for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield. Then he jumps on a plane and a few days later is making his debut in Delhi and taking the new ball. Virat Kohli becomes his first Test wicket.On the first day in Indore he held the ball aloft as he walked from the field, barely two-and-a-half hours after India’s innings had started, with the extraordinary figures of 5 for 16 from nine overs – a first-class career-best. His dad had reached the ground just in time to see the fifth wicket after lunch having missed the first session.Related

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At times Australia have tied themselves in knots over their desire to have a left-arm spinner in the side and their handling of Ashton Agar was a curious sequence of his events. When Mitchell Swepson is available for Queensland, Kuhnemann can’t make their Sheffield Shield side, but he was ideal for this devilish surface, which has even left India unimpressed with how much it offered on day one, and he troubled the right-handers in what was an uplifting performance for Australia on a tour that had threatened to come off the rails.”It’s been a whirlwind,” Kuhnemann said of the rapid elevation, whose ODI debut came in similar fashion in Sri Lanka last year. “Like every night I’m sort of just pinching myself. Even today just sitting in the change room, just looking around speaking to [Mitchell] Starcy and Nathan Lyon and thinking this is unreal, just be able to do this. To even go out there and play with Steve Smith and all these other players and contribute to the team, it’s really awesome.”Kuhnemann played a key role in getting Australia into this game after heads could have gone down. They lost the toss on a bone-dry pitch then saw Rohit Sharma nick the cover off the first ball of the game, only they didn’t review. When replays showed, somewhat surprisingly, that India’s captain had also survived an lbw in the same over, Smith could have been forgiven for worrying how events would transpire.Matt Kuhnemann picked up his first five-wicket haul in Tests•BCCIIt was vital for Australia’s peace of mind that they removed Rohit without too much damage after the missed reviews. Smith turned to spin in the sixth over after the brief, rare sight of two quicks in operation as the recalled duo of Starc and Cameron Green took the new ball. There is little chance of either of them being over-bowled on their comebacks.Kuhnemann’s third ball spun sharply past Rohit’s edge and the next turned and bounced to defeat a slog sweep. The straight boundaries at the Holkar Stadium are enticingly short and Rohit could not resist, skipping down and being defeated by more huge spin to present Alex Carey a stumping.In his next over, Kuhnemann produced a perfect left-arm spinner’s dismissal when he drew a skittish Shubman Gill forward and found the outside edge. It felt like every ball could be a wicket-taking opportunity. Two deliveries after dismissing Gill, Kuhnemann produced one that was full at leg stump and spun square past Kohli.On a pitch turning more than anything he had seen before, he kept it simple and let the surface play the tricks. “Nathan Lyon was excellent out there,” Kuhnemann said. “Even after a couple of wickets he said don’t get ahead of yourself, just think about bowling that ball…he was great for me. Not every day you get these wickets like so enjoy them, it’s very different to what we get back home in Australia.”Meanwhile, there was little Cheteshwar Pujara could do about his delivery from Lyon which spun sharply and kept low. Given the conditions, Kohli was constructing a superb innings before he was dismissed by Todd Murphy for the third time in the series, an offbreak straightening perfectly from round the wicket to win the lbw.It was a little surprising when Kuhnemann was taken out of the attack with figures of 5-0-13-3 – Shreyas Iyer having dragged on – although Smith was proactive in switching the spinners around depending on the right and left-hand batters. But after lunch his fourth wicket came when R Ashwin edged a full delivery, and the fifth arrived when one skidded into Umesh Yadav’s pads.Although it’s all relative in an innings that lasted 33.2 overs of which he bowled nine, Kuhnemann said he had implemented some subtle changes as the ball got older having watched how Ravindra Jadeja operated in Delhi.”I’m a massive fan of Jadeja and Ashwin so watched how they have bowled in the last few years,” he said. “The way [Jadeja] uses his crease and probably the biggest thing I picked up in Delhi is that he brings his length back a little bit when the ball gets a little bit older. That’s probably the main thing I brought into this Test. Don’t want to get full especially on a wicket that stays low, being consistent on that five-six metre length.”By stumps, Jadeja himself had four to his name – all Australia’s wickets to fall – to take his series haul to 21, and with India bowling last he could yet be the left-arm spinner to have the decisive say on this game. However, Australia are well placed to prevent that happening. It would be a remarkable turnaround, and Kuhnemann would be a big part of the story.

Also: what’s the quickest an ODI target has been chased down in terms of scoring rate?

Steven Lynch21-Mar-2023Australia knocked off their target in the second ODI at 11 an over – was this the fastest such rate in a win? asked Murray Greenfield from Australia

Australia passed their target of 118 in Visakhapatnam at the weekend in just 11 overs, at a scoring rate of exactly 11.Only three targets have been overhauled at a faster rate in all ODIs. Top of the list is New Zealand’s demolition of Bangladesh in Queenstown on New Year’s Eve in 2007: a modest target 93 of was knocked off in just six overs – that’s a rate of 15.83 an over – with Brendon McCullum hitting 80 not out while Jamie How contributed seven.New Zealand lie second on the list as well, scoring 118 for 0 at 14.16 an over to beat Sri Lanka in Christchurch in 2015-16. And six days before Australia’s recent onslaught, Nepal went at 13.04 an over in defeating Papua New Guinea in Kirtipur. The World Cup record was set in Wellington in February 2015, when New Zealand hurtled to their target against England at 10.13 an over.India lost in Visakhapatnam with 234 balls to spare, their heaviest defeat by that yardstick, beating a defeat with 212 balls to spare by New Zealand in Hamilton in 2018-19. For that list, click here.Temba Bavuma recently made his second Test century, in his 97th innings, 88 innings after his first. Has any other player had a bigger gap between Test centuries? asked Jeremy Bourke from Australia

You’re right that Temba Bavuma’s second Test century for South Africa – his 172 against West Indies in Johannesburg earlier this month – came 88 innings after his first, an unbeaten 102 against England in Cape Town in January 2016.Only one man has had a longer gap between Test hundreds: there were 92 innings between the New Zealand wicketkeeper Adam Parore’s first ton (100 not out against West Indies in Christchurch in 1994-95) and his second (110 vs Australia in Perth in 2001-02).Another South African, Mark Boucher, had 73 innings between Test centuries; Pakistan’s Moin Khan had a gap of 69 innings, and Mahmudullah of Bangladesh 68.The longest time gap between Test centuries is almost 14 years by Australia’s Warren Bardsley, between 1912 (164 against South Africa at Lord’s) and 1926 (when he carried his bat for 193 against England, also at Lord’s, when he was 43).India’s first six partnerships on the fourth Test were all of 50 or more – has this ever happened in a Test before? asked Jeevan Malhotra from India

India’s innings in Ahmedabad earlier this month was actually the third time a Test innings had started with six successive partnerships of 50 or more. The first occasion was in Australia’s first innings in the famous tied Test in Brisbane in 1960-61, and it happened again in Pakistan’s first innings against Bangladesh in Khulna in 2015.There are 17 instances of the first five wickets all producing partnership of 50 or more.Polly Umrigar is the only other allrounder apart from Vinoo Mankad to complete the set of a fifty, 150 and a five-wicket haul in the same match•William Vanderson/Getty ImagesHas any allrounder scored a fifty, a 150 and taken a five-wicket haul in the same Test, apart from Vinoo Mankad at Lord’s in 1952? asked Raghav Manickam from India

That remarkable performance by India’s Vinoo Mankad – 72 and 184, either side of taking 5 for 196 in 73 overs at Lord’s in 1952 – has been matched only once – by another Indian, Polly Umrigar, who scored 56 and 172 not out after taking 5 for 107 against West Indies in Port-of-Spain in 1961-62. Ian Botham just missed out, with 50, 149 not out and 6 for 95 for England against Australia at Headingley in 1981. There have been five other instances of a player scoring a hundred, a half-century and taking a five-for in the same Test. And there are two cases of this in women’s Tests, both by England’s Enid Bakewell – 114, 5 for 56 and 66 not out ­against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1968-69, and 68, 112 not out and 7 for 61 against West Indies at Edgbaston in 1979.Regarding last week’s question about people who made their first-class debuts in a Test, I thought Parthiv Patel did this? Should he be on that list? asked Mahendra Bhasin from India, among others

The Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel played the first of his eventual 25 Tests at Trent Bridge in 2002, when he was only 17. That was actually his tenth first-class match – but what was unusual was that none of the previous nine had come in India, which makes him unique among Indian Test players.Parthiv made his first-class debut for India A in South Africa in 2001-02, and had also played in Sri Lanka and England before his Test debut. On returning home he had one first-class match before playing his first Test in India, against West Indies in Mumbai: at that point he had still not appeared in the Ranji Trophy (he did not play in it until 2004-05, his 45th match).The Indian statistician Pushkar Pushp tells me that Parthiv is one of only four men to make their Test debut for India before appearing in the Ranji Trophy, since the tournament started in 1934-35, following Ramesh “Buck” Divecha (1951-52), Budhi Kunderan (1959-60) and Vivek Razdan, who made his first-class debut for the Rest of India in the Irani Cup match against Ranji champions Delhi in Bombay (now Mumbai) in November 1989, and was selected for the upcoming tour of Pakistan, and had one further match there before playing in the second Test in Faisalabad, just 20 days after his first-class debut.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

They haven’t been in action since April, and have rested some players for the Australia T20Is, but Shamsi backs them to hit the ground running

Firdose Moonda28-Aug-2023A colder-than-normal winter in South Africa was accompanied by a quieter-than-normal cricket schedule which saw both the national men’s and women’s side out of action for several months. This week, with spring on the horizon, they’re back.The women, who have not played since reaching the T20 World Cup final in February, are in Pakistan for their first tour to that country while the men, who have been on a break since early April, take on Australia at home.It’s the start of an important period for both sides: a rebuilding phase for the women, who have lost senior players to retirement and a rebirth for the men’s team, after they finished last summer on a high under new support staff and now stack up for the ODI World Cup. In the months they’ve been inactive as national teams, some of their players have plied their trade in leagues around the world while others have balanced between taking a break and attending training camps and now, they say they’re ready to begin again.Even though South Africa’s international stocks are no longer as high as they once were – the men are ranked fifth in T20Is and sixth in ODIs – with ICC events every year, they have their eyes on at least one of the big prizes. And this time, they believe they are building the depth required for major tournament success and will start by testing that against the team who have historically pushed all their buttons: Australia.Related

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South Africa are resting key personnel from the curtain-raising T20Is. None of Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Heinrich Klaasen or Wayne Parnell will play in the three-match series, with Dewald Brevis, Donovan Ferreira and Matthew Breetzke in line for debuts. Given that those three have already made their names on the T20 franchise circuit, Tabraiz Shamsi was bullish when asked if they were going into the next series as second best.”Why would the South African cricket team be underdogs against anybody?” Shamsi replied. “Look at the quality in our change room, look at the quality of players we have and even though we’ve rested a few senior players, the guys who have come in are not weak links. Absolutely not. No matter who the opposition is, no matter how good they are, we respect them but we are not underdogs against any team in the world.”Assuming South Africa are going in undercooked is not entirely incorrect, especially against the backdrop of what their opposition have been doing. While South Africa were out of action, Australia (albeit not all the members of the T20I squad) were involved in one of the most intense English summers in recent memory. They competed in the World Test Championship final, and beat India, and then retained the Ashes with a 2-2 draw. While Shamsi would never discount the advantage of regular, competitive cricket, he pointed out that it does not always mean better preparation.”There’re pros and cons as we can see with the Australians, who have been playing a lot of cricket,” he said. “They’ve got a number of guys with injury concerns where we don’t necessarily have that sort of problem.”Pat Cummins, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc and, most recently, Glenn Maxwell will all miss the T20Is with varying degrees of injuries while South Africa boast a fully fit and firing group that has been “put through our paces”, as Shamsi put it.”We’ve been working very hard,” he said. “Honestly, these dark circles under the eyes, they are not natural. We are well prepared.”Though it was hard to tell through a Zoom screen (yes, that’s still a thing), Shamsi did not look particularly tired, but cut a lean figure as a testament to the training he has been doing. He has also had some recent game time in the Lanka Premier League, where he finished as the joint third-highest wicket-taker in conditions which he hopes could mirror those at the World Cup in India.Tabraiz Shamsi made a splash in the Lanka Premier League with his left-arm wristspin•SLC”It was really nice to go to Sri Lanka and play a little bit in the subcontinent,” he said. “In terms of being game-ready, it definitely helps that I have played quite a lot of games in the last month.”What that means for his role in the national side remains to be seen. Though Shamsi had established himself as the premier spinner in the white-ball side throughout 2021 and 2022, he lost ground to Keshav Maharaj more recently, But Maharaj ruptured his Achilles in March and was expected to be out for the rest of the year. He has made a quicker-than-expected recovery and has been included in the squad along with Shamsi and Bjorn Fortuin. It is expected that only two of the three will make it to the World Cup, though Shamsi does not have any certainty on it just yet.”I’m not too sure,” he said. “We are going to see what happens with the make-up of the squad. But I just want to say, it’s a massive effort that Keshav has put in with his recovery. It normally takes about eight or nine months to recover from something like that. So that’s a huge credit to him and the medical staff that has helped him to recover. We are looking forward to having him back on the park and doing the magic that he does.”A call on whether Maharaj plays in the second and third T20I will be taken later this week, with the ODI series a priority. Though the T20Is are clearly experimental at this stage, Shamsi still described playing in them as a “responsibility” and said the results matter. “We don’t want to think too far ahead and look at the World Cup because we have eight international games ahead of that. I’m sure people won’t be happy if we lose eight games in a row,” he joked.Especially not against Australia.”Any opportunity you get to play, if it goes well for you, there’re a lot of positives you can take from it and even if a game or two doesn’t go your way, you learn from it,” he said. “You pick up on points and mistakes that you’ve made so that you can ensure that come the big, crunch games in the World Cup, you don’t repeat the mistakes. Australians like to play hard and so do we. It’s going to be spicy, it’s going to be exciting and that’s the way we like to play our cricket as well.”

Several key themes emerged, some predicted, some not, from the second edition of the BBL overseas draft

Alex Malcolm04-Sep-2023

Availability wasn’t a major worry

All the talk coming into the draft was that BBL clubs would prioritise the availability of overseas players above all else to the point where several clubs hinted they would only take ILT20 players who could play all 10 home and away games, instead of players signed up for the SA20 that starts earlier in January, or players who were likely to have international duty during the BBL. That situation did not eventuate.Rashid Khan and Quinton de Kock were both taken in the first four picks despite not being available beyond January 5 while England’s Test tour of India in mid-January did not prove a major deterrent with Harry Brook, Zak Crawley and Rehan Ahmed all snapped up. Tom Curran, Chris Jordan and Haris Rauf could also be called away for international limited-overs duties, and yet all three were taken in the first nine picks. Clubs appeared happy to take the best players on offer and will back themselves to find replacements if and when they need them.Related

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Three clubs only take two overseas

The WBBL draft was plagued by passes in the third and fourth rounds as seven of the eight clubs only took two overseas players due to the bespoke direct nomination rule. There was a similar spate of passes in the BBL draft despite no such rule being in play. But clubs were allowed to take only two overseas and then sign a third at a later stage, provided the player had nominated for the draft. Melbourne Renegades, Perth Scorchers and Sydney Thunder all took this option. The major reason for only taking two players is flexibility.One of the negatives of the draft from a club perspective is that they are locked into signing a player in September when so much can change in terms of injuries and availability between now and the start of the tournament in December. The negative from the BBL’s perspective is the later rounds of the draft can fall flat when there are more passes than expected. It may be something the BBL needs to look at next year.James Vince still got to the Sixers despite being available to be poached•Getty Images

Loyalty remains valued despite retention being tested

There were two intriguing storylines into the draft with Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat both set to be severely tested by other clubs given they could only use one retention pick. Sixers had three retention options among the platinum players in Curran, Jordan and James Vince. Hobart Hurricanes tested Sixers’ mettle early using pick three on Curran knowing they could get one of the others. Sixers bit straight away, retaining Curran. Hurricanes then took Jordan, filling their need for a bowling allrounder. It left one of the BBL’s most consistent overseas performers in Vince up for grabs to any club who wanted him for 10 straight picks. But no one took him, and Sixers were able to pick him at pick 14.Similarly, there was pre-draft talk of a club potentially trying to force Heat to choose between Colin Munro and Sam Billings. In the end, Heat didn’t have to use their retention pick on either. Billings was actually available to Hurricanes at pick 11 but they opted for Heat’s other retention pick in Sam Hain and Heat let him go, then took Billings with pick 15.Eight players – Vince, Munro, Billings, Rauf, Adam Hose, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Alex Hales, and Laurie Evans – returned to their previous club without a retention pick needed. Only two were used to retain Rashid and Curran, and only four players – Hain, Jordan, Brook and Crawley – were selected by a new club. Despite the BBL wanting more player movement, loyalty, familiarity, and culture remain strong forces among the BBL clubs in selecting overseas players.

Hundred is the BBL’s major overseas recruiting farm

The two competitions are closely linked with so many Australian administrators, coaches and players working across both competitions. It should be no surprise then that so many of this year’s draftees have come from the Hundred. Eighteen of the 21 players drafted played in the Hundred including eight from the two finalists, Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals. Player of the tournament Jamie Overton will make his BBL debut this year after being shrewdly selected by Strikers.Zaman Khan was a surprise selection at pick 13•Getty ImagesPakistan gems still sought-after commoditiesPakistan players have long been attractive prospects for BBL clubs and quite often it is those just under the international radar that are the most sought after following the success of Rauf. Two more get to follow in his footsteps in Zaman Khan and Usama Mir although unlike Rauf, both have already played international cricket and have been appearing in a number of leagues around the world this year alone. Stars are hoping Mir will fill the huge spin hole they have and become a cult hero bowling his fast legspin at the MCG, while Thunder have added Zaman. Thunder’s selection was especially bold at pick 13 given the number of high-quality fast bowlers available.American Anderson not a forgotten manHurricanes’ head of strategy Ricky Ponting said moments after selecting Corey Anderson that he was “a forgotten man” in global cricket. The former New Zealand allrounder has not played an official T20 since August 2020 having not featured in international cricket for New Zealand since 2018 after announcing his intention to qualify for USA. But Anderson, 32, has re-emerged this year in Major League Cricket for San Francisco Unicorns, a team run by Cricket Victoria and coached by former Australia allrounder Shane Watson, who is a close friend of Ponting.Hurricanes captain Matthew Wade also played with Anderson and witnessed firsthand his stunning 91 not out off 52 balls where he torched a MI New York attack featuring Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult and Kieron Pollard. That was enough for Hurricanes to take him with their third pick and they hope he can replicate those feats on the small dimensions of Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

The visitors were flying at 153 for 4. Then came the miraculous slide

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jan-2024

33.1 Ngidi to Rahul, OUT

There’s the edge! Loose shot from Rahul and it’s Ngidi’s extra bounce that’s done the trick. Rahul couldn’t resist going for that upper cut the moment he saw this short and wide but the ball just got a tad big on him. Rahul only managed the faintest of edges through to the keeper.

33.2 Ngidi to Jadeja, no run

Jadeja gets besides the line and fends this short of length delivery into the off side.

33.3 Ngidi to Jadeja, OUT

Two in the over and it’s the extra bounce that’s felled Jadeja! This is dug in short, the ball ducks back in alarmingly to catch Jadeja by surprise, he isn’t able to keep this down, tries to weave out of the way but the ball pops up off the glove as Jansen takes a good low catch at gully.

33.4 Ngidi to Bumrah, no run

Squared up but manages to defend as he gets behind the line.India’s fall of wickets•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

33.5 Ngidi to Bumrah, OUT

That’s three in the over for South Africa and they’ve come storming back. Dug in short, Bumrah can’t get behind the line, is caught in two minds and the steep bounce has its say as the ball balloons off the shoulder of the bat to gully.

33.6 Ngidi to Siraj, no run

Rises with the bounce and defends. Triple-wicket over.

34.1 Rabada to Kohli, no run

Beaten. A length ball just outside off. Kohli goes for the drive and misses.

34.2 Rabada to Kohli, OUT

Kohli too departs! A length ball in the channel. He pushes at it tentatively, gets an outside edge that goes low to second slip where Markram completes a tumbling catch. Kohli is waiting near the boundary line; looks like they are checking if the catch was clean. It was.

34.3 Rabada to Prasidh, no run

Full outside off. Steered towards backward point.

34.4 Rabada to Prasidh, OUT

Chaos. Chaos. A run-out now. A full ball around off. Prasidh pushes it towards mid-on. Siraj sets off for a single but Burger from short midwicket intercepts the ball. Prasidh sends Siraj back but it’s of no use. Burger takes a few steps towards the stumps and flicks the ball onto them to find Siraj short.

34.5 Rabada to Prasidh, OUT

It’s all over. India have lost their last six wickets without adding another run. Full outside off. Mukesh hangs his bat out, gets an outside edge and Markram from second slip pouches another, diving across to his left and getting both hands to it.

A special infographic looking back at R Ashwin’s special Test career

ESPNcricinfo stats team, Mathew Varghese, Illustration by Girish TS16-Feb-2024ESPNcricinfo Ltd

One of England’s most combative cricketers reaches a milestone that reflects the pride he brought to his cricket

Vithushan Ehantharajah04-Mar-2024It will be 150 days between Jonny Bairstow’s 100th ODI cap and his 100th in Tests this Thursday for the final match of England’s tour of India. Both will have come in Dharamsala, which feels particularly apt.This, after all, is a vibrant town teeming with lost souls desperate to find themselves. There is an unavoidable spirituality to the place, whether you believe in such things or not. Its roads wind awkwardly towards the summit of the Himalayas, featuring constant flirtations with obstacles – bleating or otherwise – and cliff edges that either stymy your progress or put you off altogether. All punctuated by flashes of jaw-dropping wonder.For Bairstow, 100 ODIs were a recognition of brilliance. The 100 Tests, however, are a measure of spirit. He will join 16 other Englishman to have reached that mark, including Ben Stokes who got there last month. With all due respect to them, few, if any, have wanted it more. And only when you start to unpack that assertion do you really get a sense of the “who” and “why” of Bairstow, and “what” he has meant to English cricket.This, after all, was the kid given first dibs on the Test scene among his long-standing peers – six months before Joe Root, 18 before Stokes. Root was to be the reliable runscorer, Stokes the explosive character. Bairstow was deemed to be both.The debut series against West Indies at the start of the 2012 summer came and went. But it was his fourth cap, at Lord’s against South Africa, that got people dreaming of what this furious 21-year-old could become. A brutal 95 gave England a slim first-innings lead against the most complete attack of the modern era. A 54 in the second threatened an unlikely chase. All while one of the best English Test teams in generations was in the early stages of collapsing in on itself.The numbers show that Bairstow’s early promise did not come to fruition. Of the English Test batters in the 100-cap bracket, his average of 36.42 is the lowest. Even if he does mark the occasion with a 13th century – who could rule that out? – that figure too will be lowest among the select few, with Ian Botham just in front on 14.Bairstow has made a series of starts on the India tour, but has yet to push on•Getty ImagesAt the same time, Bairstow has found himself at the vanguard of the English game in two very different eras, like a havoc-wreaking time traveller. In 2016, he set calendar year records for the most runs by any wicketkeeper of any nationality (1,470) and affected more dismissals (70) than the lot of them. Six years later in 2022, his four centuries and 681 runs in a single summer launched a thrilling cult.Had Bairstow not been English, with such a volume of Test cricket available to him, he might not have had a chance to reach this landmark. Through reasons pertaining to form, role and injury, he has missed 51 Tests since debuting almost 12 years ago. By contrast, Kane Williamson, who debuted in November 2010, will only reach his century in the second Test against Australia next week, having missed just 11.There have been a few “what if” moments along the way. A tough period averaging 27.98 against the red ball between 2017 and 2019 coincided with a three-year run in which he cemented his status as a generational white-ball opener, with nine ODI hundreds among 2,403 runs scored at a strike rate of 108.24. The scales of technique balanced too far one way, in particular his propensity to open up his stance for those powerplay launches through the covers, but Bairstow is a world champion for it.The severe leg break at the end of the 2022 summer that required nine pins and a wire going through his ankle cost him six Tests, nine months and perhaps a shot at legendary status. As for the wicketkeeping conundrum – how long have you got?The battle for the gloves has been a constant sticking point, and Bairstow has worn each snub personally. Most chastening was at the start of the 2018 season, when national selector Ed Smith made the understandable decision to shoehorn Jos Buttler into the side. Soon enough, Buttler was keeping.Jonny Bairstow’s century in Sri Lanka in 2018 was a classic of its genre•Getty ImagesThe jostling with Ben Foakes has been a different dynamic. Foakes is one of the best glovemen England have ever been able to call on, but with enough lacking in his batting to allow Bairstow to seize his role last summer upon his return from injury. Chances were missed, the Ashes were drawn, and there are many who reasonably equate the two together. It is also true that England’s indecision means none of the three have done themselves justice.The link between Bairstow’s desire to keep wicket and his late father is unavoidable. David Bairstow also performed the role for Yorkshire and England, and the similarities between the two are particularly striking. From the eyes, Jonny carrying forward David’s nickname, “Bluey”, to their approach to the game. Cricket writer David Hopps described Bairstow senior’s batting as “chest-juttingly confrontational, as if forever driven forth by an imagined slight, from a selector or a southerner, a team-mate or a journalist”. He may as well have been talking about Jonny.Of course, not all of Jonny’s slights have been imagined, and few have perfected the “F*** you!” knock with such vendetta-ridden precision. Right down to staring down entire press boxes, leaving those within them grateful of the thick glass, but unsure if he might proceed to hack away at the foundations with his bat.That rage, fleeting as it is, stems from a long-held belief that people do not rate his talents, which could not be further from the truth. But the idea that he is fuelled by proving people wrong, even his team-mates’ occasional comments that winding him up before sending him out onto the field gets the best out of him, is a tad reductive. He is a player unwittingly defined by broad extrapolations.The tragedy of David’s suicide – Jonny, aged eight, returned home to find him with his mother, Janet, and sister, Becky – is often linked to an emotional yet bloody-minded career. But it has been one cultivated by love, thanks to an incredibly tightknit family, held together by Janet.Her strength through it all, especially two battles with breast cancer – the first at the time of David’s passing – has made Jonny the man he is. Thursday’s celebrations will be alongside those loved ones, which now include his partner Megan and their first child, along with a throng of close friends. No doubt when the cap presentation takes place, there will be a look to the heavens, as there was nine years ago in Cape Town after that maiden Test century, towards the one who cannot be there. Even thousands of miles away from home, home will be right there with him.It would be foolish not to entertain the sentimentality of all this. Appreciating the emotion of Bairstow has always been the quickest route to knowing the person. He craves reassurance, a vulnerability McCullum saw first-hand early in his tenure when, a week after striking 136 off 92 deliveries against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, Bairstow asked his coach how he should approach the next innings. McCullum scoffed at the mere idea of doing anything differently, ordering him to sit next to him and go through his Sudoku book to keep out of his own head.The Headingley crowd erupts as Bairstow ignites Bazball in the summer of 2022•Associated PressSuch comfort-giving has not been a one-way street. The first of Bairstow’s 12 Test hundreds came in the midst of a 399-run stand with Stokes, who finished on a career-best 258 from 198 balls and still credits his partner’s role in allowing him to go wilder than he ever thought possible. It’s not for nothing that Stokes acknowledges the touchpaper for his 2019 epic at Headingley was lit in the 86-run stand with Bairstow that had the hero of that piece as second-fiddle. Would Bazball even be a thing without Bairstow?Even as someone who wears disappointment so personally, Bairstow remains acutely aware of the things that count. Team-mates closest to him note how perceptive he is to their moods, particularly when they are not quite themselves and in need of a pick-up.When Bairstow had a scheduling conflict with a close friend’s wedding in Chepstow and Mark Wood’s in Northumberland, he saw no conflict at all. After the first celebration, Bairstow left south-east Wales at 1am, driving through the night to the north-east of England, arriving at 6:30am, getting an hour’s sleep before freshening up and donning a new suit for his team-mate’s big day.He is generous, too, whether hosting barbecues on the eve of Headingley internationals stocked with all the meat, booze and cigars you could want, or gifting souvenirs to fans, whether gloves, bats or simply time. On many occasions on this tour of India, he has broken security protocol and indulged local fans and hotel staff with selfies.Related

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None of this changes the fact we are in the endgame of Bairstow as a Test cricketer. This is a number’s game in a high-performance industry, and at the back-end of a challenging series, this England team may need to move on to reach the next level.Even so, Bairstow joins an exclusive club having given so much to so many. He has been responsible for the kind of days England fans will hold dear forever. He has even contributed with absurdities ranging from bumping heads with Cameron Bancroft – one of the more hilariously overblown Ashes stoushes – to carrying off a Just Stop Oil protestor at Lord’s under one arm. All while treating Test cricket and his career with a heart that resonates the world over.Jonny Bairstow is, and always will be, a protagonist of English cricket at a time when it was thrilling and still trying to work out what it wanted to be. And when he has finished, when those who grew with him have grown old too, there may be some sadness that the memories Bairstow elicited were locked in those moments.His part in that journey will, ultimately, be his legacy. You cannot argue against the numbers but, geez, you just had to be there. To experience the best of him, and how he stirred souls simply by doing something he loved.Fundamentally, is that not what life, let alone cricket, is all about?

Since his IPL debut in 2008, Karthik has missed only two games, and scored 1000-plus runs for two teams

Sampath Bandarupalli23-May-2024257 Dinesh Karthik retires from the IPL as the second-most capped player of the league, alongside Rohit Sharma with 257 appearances, and only behind MS Dhoni’s 264.2 Karthik is the second-most prolific wicketkeeper in the history of the IPL with 174 dismissals, behind Dhoni’s 190. Karthik has 137 catches and 37 stumpings in the IPL with the gloves, both behind Dhoni’s 148 catches and 42 stumpings.4097 Runs by Karthik while batting at No. 4 or lower in the IPL are the second-most behind Dhoni’s 5047. Karthik batted at No. 4 or lower in 204 innings, and at No. 3 on 30 occasions but never opened the batting.1565 Runs scored by Karthik during the death overs (17-20) in the IPL. Only Dhoni (2786) and Kieron Pollard (1708) have scored more runs during this phase in the IPL. Karthik scored those runs at a strike rate of 186.97, and hit 91 sixes across the 837 balls faced.

Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Vaughan, Wasim Akram were among many who paid tribute to the English maestro

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2024

Hey Jimmy!

You've bowled the fans over with that incredible 22-year spell. Here's a little wish as you bid goodbye.

It has been a joy to watch you bowl – with that action, speed, accuracy, swing and fitness. You've inspired generations with your game.

Wish you a wonderful life… pic.twitter.com/ETp2e6qIQ1

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 12, 2024