He has the ability to bat at any tempo and he showed an ability to overcome difficult batting conditions

Deivarayan Muthu26-Jan-20252:01

Tilak Varma’s finishing reminds Manjrekar of MS Dhoni

An Indian No.3 picks up Jofra Archer over long leg for six in T20I cricket. One of the fastest bowlers in the world is left stunned. The shot leaves jaws on the floor.It happened in 2021 in Ahmedabad. History repeated itself four years later in Chennai. Except the No.3 wasn’t Suryakumar Yadav this time. Tilak Varma did SKY things – like owning the spaces behind square – and added his own touch.The odds were stacked against Tilak: Archer and company clocked speeds north of 150kph, Adil Rashid was getting the ball to rip, wickets kept tumbling around him and the Chepauk pitch was not conductive to strokeplay. This unbeaten 72 off 55 balls was a coming of age innings. India’s regular No.3 in T20Is and captain Suryakumar was so impressed that he bowed down to Tilak after he nervelessly finished a chase of 166 with four balls to spare. Tilak also bowed down to Suryakumar before they exchanged hugs, with the Chepauk crowd cheering on India’s No.3s.The mood at the start of the chase was very different. Archer and Wood had ripped out Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson with 148kph rockets. Everyone held their breath when a similar rapid delivery from Wood beat Tilak on the hook and whooshed past his head. Everyone except Tilak. He still kept throwing punches. With the black-soil Chepauk track playing true to its nature and slowing down, he understood that he had to maximise the powerplay.Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav bow down to each other after India’s thrilling win•BCCITilak manufactured swinging room, exposed his stumps, and violently cracked Archer over point for four to start the fifth over. Then, when Archer slanted into into his pads next ball, he unleashed that pick-up shot over long leg for six. Two balls later, when Archer aimed for Tilak’s head, he spliced him over the keeper’s head for six more in a thrilling sequence. In all, Tilak took Archer for 30 off nine balls – no other batter has scored more runs off Archer in a T20 innings. In the end, Archer was left nursing his worst T20 figures: 4-0-60-1.Related

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“If you see I want to target [England’s] best bowlers,” Tilak said at his post-match press conference. ‘If you take on their best bowlers, other bowlers will be under pressure. So, [even] when the wickets are falling, I want to take their best bowler. It’s easier for the [batter] at the other end also. So I backed myself and I took chances against him. And also whatever shots I have scored for Archer, I have worked in the nets. Mentally I was ready for that. So, it has given me a good result.”Tilak’s ultra-aggression would’ve even made England coach Brendon McCullum proud, but he was prepared to dial it down after India suffered a middle-order slide. With the surface also offering more grip and turn to the spinners in the second innings, Tilak sat back and saw off Rashid, England’s lone specialist spinner.In Rashid’s last over, Tilak farmed the strike and dealt with the first five balls before leaving the No. 9, Arshdeep Singh, just the bare minimum to do. Though Arshdeep holed out the next ball, Tilak stayed cool, farmed the strike again and got the job done along with No.10 Ravi Bishnoi.2:56

Tilak: I was only thinking of batting till the end

“I know I can play both types [of innings],” Tilak said. “I can hit with a good strike rate and also at 6 or 7 [runs per over], I can bat at a higher strike rate. That is what I have discussed with Gautam [Gambhir] sir in the last match. He said that you can play with a good strike rate over 10 [an over] also and below 10 [an over] also. When team requires, you should be flexible and I got the chance to prove it in this game.”I said that I will be playing till the end. And that is what Gautam sir also said during the drinks break. He said that it is a time that you can show the people that you can play both the innings. So, I said that whatever happens I will be staying till the end and I want to finish the game.”Tilak shifted up the gears and did finish the chase in grand style with a drilled four through the covers off a slower variation from Jamie Overton. Coming off back-to-back T20I hundreds on fairly flat pitches in South Africa, this innings, in tougher conditions to see off a chase that required thought and nuance, showed that Tilak might be a Swiss army knife of a batter. Versatile, adaptable and powerful.With Tilak also acing the No.3 role – he has scores of 72*, 120*, 107* in his last three innings there – he gives India the option of maintaining a left-right combination, if Abhishek falls early, and holding Suryakumar back. And if India can’t find room for Washington Sundar once the first-choice players return from injury, Tilak can pitch in with his occasional offspin and fill that hole as well.Tilak is only 22, but he’s already opened up endless possibilities for India in T20Is

Captain Bavuma and head coach Conrad are happy for curators to prepare the pitches as they would like

Firdose Moonda25-Nov-2024It’s a stereotype as common as they come: go to the subcontinent and expect to be spun out, come to South Africa and watch your head (and all your other belongings – but that’s a different conversation). Except this time.South Africa will not prepare green tops for their four must-win Test matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan this summer.Despite what gut instincts may say about the best way for them to maximise home advantage and even though they are playing Sri Lanka at venues where they lost five years ago, South Africa will leave it to individual ground staff to and hope for fair surfaces for their matches.Related

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“We’re not at liberty to instruct the groundsmen to prepare what we’d like. We just try to play on whatever has been prepared,” Temba Bavuma, South Africa’s captain said in Pretoria, where the team held their preparation camp before traveling to Durban for the first Test. “And there’s not a lot of concern from my side where we are playing Sri Lanka. Obviously Sri Lanka will be confident in those two venues because they were successful but we’re not going to ask for specific conditions”Sri Lanka beat South Africa in Durban and Gqeberha in 2019 but lost the next series in 2020-21, when they were beset by a spate of injuries. But that 2019 series was the first time a subcontinent side had beaten South Africa in a home series, which some say makes the decision to go back to those venues curious. Durban, in particular, has been a difficult place for South Africa in the last 15 years. Since March 2009, South Africa have played 10 Tests at Kingsmead and lost seven, including two each to Sri Lanka (their first Test win in the country came in 2011), Australia and England and one to India. Their last outing was in March 2022, when they beat Bangladesh by 220 runs, at the end of the Covid-19 restrictions, with a side that was depleted by the absence of IPL-bound players, which made up most of the first-choice attack.But Test coach Shukri Conrad is not buying into the talk that the coastal venues are more suited to subcontinent teams and wants to reclaim them as places South Africa consider their own. “You can’t play all your cricket at Centurion and the Wanderers,” he said earlier this month, referring to the Highveld venues which do give pace bowlers the edge. “We’ve got a fan base in Durban. We’ve got a fan base in Gqeberha and we’re looking forward to playing Test matches there.”Like Bavuma, he does not expect the groundstaff to prepare anything other than what is usually expected of them. “We just want good cricketing wickets,” he said. “That’s all I can ask for.”Keshav Maharaj is expected to play an important role in South Africa’s upcoming home Tests•AFP/Getty ImagesSo what might that be?First up, at Kingsmead, Durban’s long-serving groundsman Wilson Ngobese will retire at the end of this year and has been handing over the reins to his successor Wonderboy Khanyile. Along with former Newlands and Wanderers groundsman Evan Flint, a prodigy of Ngobese’s, who has been working in Kwa-Zulu Natal as a consultant, they have prepared the Test pitch together. It should be livelier than it is for domestic matches, where the local team, the Dolphins tend to prefer it slower and lower.”I was in conversation with Evan and it’ll be one of the new wickets and Evan guarantees me there’ll be some good pace,” Conrad said. “Domestically, they prepare it to spin because of the strength of their bowlers so I think the Dolphins go out deliberately preparing spinning wickets.”That is in stark contrast to the messaging of five years ago when, under Ottis Gibson, South Africa’s groundstaff were instructed to prepare green-tops, particularly for a 2017-18 series against India. The Wanderers got it so badly wrong that the pitch was rated poor and they were handed three demerit points, which have since expired. Gibson wanted to maximise the advantage an attack of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi could give South Africa, at the expense of their batters. South Africa’s ability to score big runs diminished to the point that between January 2018 and December 2021, only West Indies (among teams in the World Test Championship) had fewer centurions.The second Test at St George’s Park could see plenty of movement off the seam and perhaps even reverse swing come into play. “If you look at the records domestically, [Warriors allrounder] Beyers Swanepoel, for example, takes a host of wickets there,” Conrad said. Swanepoel has 52 first-class wickets from nine matches at the venue at an average of 14.44. “It can be very favourable for seamers as well.”It is also known to take turn later on, and South Africa back their first-choice left-arm spinner, Keshav Maharaj, to take centre stage. “You want spin later on in the game and why we play arguably one of the best spinners in the world in Keshav in our side,” Conrad said.South Africa have also included spin-bowling allrounder Senuran Muthusamy, who took a career-best 4 for 45 in Bangladesh last month, in the squad but have no room for offspinner Dane Piedt or wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, which suggests that even if there is turn, they’re not expecting it to be that big.All the discussion over home advantage is pressing because of what is at stake for the hosts. South Africa need to win all four of their remaining matches to guarantee a place in the World Test Championship final. They could still get there with three wins but would be dependent on other results. Either way, their fate lies in their own hands and they don’t plan on putting it in conditions.

A look some of the replacement players in recent IPL seasons who have exceeded expectations, and how!

Omkar Mankame07-Apr-20251:28

What makes Shardul Thakur effective?

Shardul Thakur | LSG, IPL 2025

After eight straight seasons in the IPL, Shardul Thakur went unsold at the auction prior to IPL 2025. He made a statement in the last Ranji Trophy season, taking 29 wickets in six matches and also hitting a hundred and three fifties. He was scheduled to play county cricket with Essex when LSG asked him to replace the injured Mohsin Khan. It was on the cards – Thakur had been training with LSG before the season. He took six wickets in the first two matches of the season, even winning the Player-of-the-Match award in LSG’s win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). While his 1 for 40 against Mumbai Indians (MI) might not look spectacular, he conceded just seven runs in the 19th over, giving his team the clear edge in a tense finish.

Phil Salt | KKR, IPL 2024

Along with Sunil Narine, Phil Salt was responsible for getting Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) off to blazing starts in their victorious IPL 2024 campaign. He hit 296 of his 435 runs inside the powerplay, at a strike rate of 185.00. Salt finished the season as KKR’s second-highest run-getter and played a critical role in taking them to the playoffs, after which he had to leave for England duty. All after going unsold at the auction and only getting in because Jason Roy had pulled out.Jake Fraser-McGurk faced just 141 balls but finished as Delhi Capitals’ third-highest run-getter with 330 runs•Getty Images

Jake Fraser-McGurk | DC, IPL 2024

Rarely has an overseas youngster made an impact on an IPL season as quickly as Jake Fraser-McGurk did in IPL 2024. The 22-year-old Australian was picked by Delhi Capitals (DC) two weeks into the season as a replacement for the injured Lungi Ngidi – a batter for a bowler – and he swiftly cornered all the attention. He faced all of 141 balls in the nine matches that he played in the season and still finished as DC’s third-highest run-getter with 330 runs at a barely believable strike rate of 234.04.

Sandeep Sharma | RR, IPL 2023

Seamer Sandeep Sharma, the IPL veteran, had gone unsold at the 2023 auction but found himself with Rajasthan Royals (RR) because Prasidh Krishna had been ruled out with a back injury. In only his second game back, against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), he defended five runs off the final ball against MS Dhoni. He had an even better season with the ball in 2024, where he picked up 13 wickets in 11 appearances at an economy of 8.18, and was among RR’s six retentions ahead of IPL 2025.Rajat Patidar has taken over as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after becoming an integral part of their make-up since 2022•Associated Press

Rajat Patidar | RCB, IPL 2022

Rajat Patidar, the current RCB captain, was let go after just four games in IPL 2021 and went unsold at the following mega auction. But midway through IPL 2022, he returned to the squad as an injury replacement for Luvnith Sisodia, and hasn’t looked back since. Patidar scored 333 runs in eight matches that season, including a stunning century in the Eliminator. After sitting out the next edition owing to a heel injury, Patidar bounced back with a strong IPL 2024 and was named RCB captain ahead of this year’s campaign.

Umran Malik | SRH, IPL 2021

Umran Malik had played just one List A match and one T20 when he joined SRH as a short-term Covid-time replacement for T Natarajan. He got his chance only after SRH were out of the playoffs’ race but made an immediate impact by clocking 150kph on his IPL debut. Despite playing just three games, he was retained by SRH ahead of IPL 2022. Umran showcased his full potential that season with 22 wickets and even clocked 156.9kph – the fastest delivery by an Indian bowler in the tournament.

WPL could allow these players to regain their spots, or enter India’s white-ball set-up in a home ODI World Cup year

S Sudarshanan10-Feb-2025Shafali Verma (Delhi Capitals)Shafali returned to domestic cricket after being dropped by India last November. She was the leading run-getter in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy (527 runs, 152.31 strike rate, 75.29 average) and the Senior Women’s One Day Challenger Trophy (414 runs, 145.26 strike rate, 82.80 average). Few batters can attack the ball at the top of the order like Shafali does, and at DC, she has forged a successful opening partnership with Meg Lanning. Consistently with the bat could help Shafali seal an India comeback with a tour of England in July and then for the ODI World Cup at home to come.”To be honest, the past few months have been tough for me,” she said in a DC media release. “My father suffered a heart attack, and just a couple of days later, I was dropped from the ODI squad. I’ve realised that my job is to score runs whenever I get the opportunity, and that’s where I want to focus. The only thing in my control is my preparation. If I train well and score runs, I know I can come back stronger.”Related

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Arundhati Reddy (Delhi Capitals)Reddy was dropped from the India side despite making decent returns. She bagged seven wickets at the T20 World Cup last year, the joint-most for India. Then she played just one match on India’s dismal tour of Australia, where she picked up 4 for 26 in Perth although India lost the ODIs 3-0. It was Reddy’s WPL 2024 show with the ball for DC that had enabled her to make a national comeback.She can move the ball both ways and has the ability to bowl a mean yorker. A return to familiar comforts of the WPL could help. With Pooja Vastrakar under an injury cloud, India could use a seam-bowling allrounder like Reddy in the side.Kashvee Gautam (Gujarat Giants)Gautam had first made headlines when she picked up ten wickets in an innings, including a hat-trick, for Chandigarh in an Under-19 one-dayer in 2020. Then, in December 2023, she was selected by GG for a record INR 2 crore at the auction. But an injury had ruled her out of WPL 2024. Gautam made a successful comeback in the domestic one-dayers earlier this season. A fast-bowling-allrounder, she can hit the deck hard and bowl at high speeds, a quality which India seemed to lack in the ODIs in Australia as well as in a few home games last season.During the 2024-25 domestic season, Saika Ishaque worked on her fitness and fielding skills•BCCISaika Ishaque (Mumbai Indians)Since the last ODI World Cup in 2022, India have tried six left-arm spinners, with none being able to cement their spots. While a good show with the ball for DC in WPL 2023 – ten wickets in nine matches, third-most for them – allowed Radha Yadav to make a comeback, a similar showing from Ishaque could help her add to her four international caps.During the 2024-25 domestic season, Ishaque worked on her fitness and fielding skills while captaining Bengal to a runners-up finish in both white-ball domestic competitions. She also returned 17 wickets in the one-dayers, and 13 wickets in the T20s, both the most for Bengal.Raghvi Bist (Royal Challengers Bengaluru)A hard-hitting middle-order batter who bowls seam, Bist could well force herself into the reckoning for the World Cup if she has a memorable maiden season in the WPL. Bist has been vocal about her love for hitting sixes and helped Uttarakhand make the final of both the domestic T20s and the one-dayers in 2023-24. In 2024-25, along with Nandini Kashyap, who will play for DC, Bist helped Uttarakhand to the quarter-final of the T20 competition. There she scored 158 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 129.50, and hit five sixes. Bist even bowls medium pace with a wrong-footed action.Injuries haven’t helped Yastika Bhatia’s cause•Getty ImagesYastika Bhatia (Mumbai Indians)The presence of a big-hitting finisher like Richa Ghosh may provide little or no scope for another wicketkeeper-batter in India’s XI, but injuries haven’t helped Bhatia’s cause either. She played the three ODIs against New Zealand at home last October, but injured her wrist during her maiden WBBL stint afterwards, causing her to miss the tour of Australia.Bhatia was not picked for the subsequent home series against West Indies and Ireland though she was fit, and was part of the Senior Women’s One Day Challenger Trophy instead. Harleen Deol is the incumbent No. 3 for India, but Bhatia’s ability to get off to quick starts could help her case. Bhatia’s road to reclaiming her spot in the national side, at least as a back-up wicketkeeper, could pass through WPL 2025, where she will face some of the world’s best bowlers while opening the batting for MI.

And which Indian Test bowler has sent down the most overs after age 35?

Steven Lynch02-Sep-2025Mackay in Australia hosted a one-day international again recently for the first time in 33 years. Was this a record gap for a single venue? asked Karthik Ramanan from India
The Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay staged two matches in Australia’s recent off-season white-ball series against South Africa. The ground – formerly known as Harrup Park – had previously held just one men’s international, the match between India and Sri Lanka during the 1992 World Cup. That one lasted only two balls before it rained, so the locals had to wait a long time for some meaningful cricket (men’s, anyway; the ground has staged five women’s white-ball internationals).The 33-year gap between men’s internationals is the second longest for any ground, and the identity of the first one is a bit of a surprise, considering the ground concerned had held its country’s first Test: it’s St George’s Park in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), which saw no international cricket between Tests against England in February 1914 and March 1949, a gap of more than 35 years.Mackay lies second, but there’s another slight surprise in third place: Edgbaston in Birmingham did not have an international match for nearly 28 years between 1929 and 1957. There were only Test matches back then, so no opportunities for occasional ODIs or T20Is.The Bulawayo Athletic Club in Zimbabwe went more than 25 years without staging a men’s international (1992-2018), while Essex’s County Ground in Chelmsford went almost 24 years without one between the 1999 World Cup and Ireland’s transplanted home series against Bangladesh in May 2023.I noticed in On This Day that Richard Illingworth scored 13 in both innings of his Test debut. I’m assuming that two ducks is the most common such double, but what’s the highest? asked David Cohen from Australia
Ten men managed a higher debut double than Richard Illingworth’s brace of 13s against West Indies at Trent Bridge in July 1991. Highest of all was two 36s, by South Africa’s Dan Taylor against England in Durban in February 1914. Dan was the younger brother of Herbie Taylor, one of South Africa’s early greats, and their captain in that series.Syed Abid Ali of India and Bangladesh’s Soumya Sarkar both scored twin 33s on debut, while in the 19th century Bernard Tancred made two 29s in South Africa’s very first Test, against England in Port Elizabeth in March 1889. The England pair of Arthur Carr and Mark Ramprakash both started their Test careers with two scores of 27.You’re right that a pair of ducks is the most frequent (and most unwanted) debut double: in all, 46 men and nine women have suffered this fate.Who has bowled the most overs among Indian Test fast bowlers after 35 years of age? And who has taken the most wickets? asked Chetan Mishra from New Zealand
The fact is there haven’t been many Indian fast bowlers aged 35 or more: top of the list is Lala Amarnath, with 28 wickets, followed by Zaheer Khan with 16 and Umesh Yadav with 12. Amarnath bowled the equivalent of 503 overs, Zaheer 195.3, and Yadav 124. Vijay Hazare bowled the equivalent of 199 overs at a fairly modest pace, and took only nine wickets.If you lump in all Indian bowlers then Anil Kumble leads the way with 154 wickets after turning 35, while R Ashwin took 114 (note that this could exclude wickets taken in matches during which the player celebrated his 35th birthday).Among pace bowlers worldwide, James Anderson took the remarkable total of 224 Test wickets after his 35th birthday, while Courtney Walsh had 180 and Richard Hadlee 116.Lala Amarnath sent down about 503 overs and took 28 wickets after turning 35•Getty ImagesWhich Test ground (which has staged more than ten matches) has the highest average runs per wicket? I’m thinking Adelaide Oval… or perhaps somewhere in Pakistan? asked Andrew Dowling from China
An interesting question, and your first guess is not far off: as this list shows, Adelaide Oval lies seventh overall, with an average of 35.07 runs per wicket, and it has staged many more Tests than the grounds above it – 83 so far, with Georgetown’s Bourda Oval (36.26) next of those higher up, with 30 matches.On top overall is the Antigua Recreation Ground, with an average of 38.47 runs per wicket from 22 Tests: next comes McLean Park in Napier, which just scrapes in with ten Tests, in which the average is 37.99. After Bourda (and not including Adelaide), there’s a run of subcontinental grounds: Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium (36.07), Mohali (35.7), Chattogram (35.16), Lahore (35.05), Kanpur (34.9), Delhi (34.86), the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo (34.73), Rawalpindi (34.71) and Ahmedabad’s Modi Stadium (34.5). The top English ground is Trent Bridge in Nottingham at 32.55.I gather from Wisden that Shane Warne dismissed 236 different batsmen in his career. Is this a record? asked N Ravikanth from India
I suppose this is the opposite to last week’s question about the bowler with the most unique wickets. You’re right that Shane Warne dismissed 236 different batters in Tests, but the list is headed – as you might expect – by the overall leading wicket-taker, Muthiah Muralidaran. He’s clearly fond of round numbers, as he took 800 wickets in all, made up of 300 different opponents.Warne actually lies fourth on this list, also behind Anil Kumble, who dismissed 264 different batters, and James Anderson (263). He’s just ahead of Stuart Broad (234).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

He once again came so close to sealing his place in popular legend, but it was not meant to be

Sidharth Monga14-Jul-2025

Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja and Ben Stokes added so much to this Test match•Getty Images

Ravindra Jadeja is a cricketer’s cricketer. Barring certain freakish geniuses, he is the first name many want on their team sheet. He is a solid, dependable player who contributes in many different ways.Everything he does – barring wielding his bat like a sword which can break weaker wrists – looks effortless and repeatable. As a bowler, he can hit the good length straight out of the bed, and can keep hitting it until he draws water out of the ground. He is a sensational fielder in the outfield.As a batter, Jadeja doesn’t need to premeditate or make trigger movements. A lot of it is just physical gifts that he has honed and trained. He hardly ever looks hurried. His batting is pure. He just reacts to what is bowled, as coaches teach you at grass roots levels. If it is short, go back. If it is full, go forward. If it is wide, leave it alone. Score off bad balls, keep good balls out.Related

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For years now, Jadeja has been the premier allrounder in the most demanding format of the game. He is also perhaps the closest to being an allrounder in the classic sense of the word. He can be genuinely picked as a specialist top-six batter in almost all conditions. He can be selected as a bowler alone in most conditions, barring ones that make it impossible for spinners to bowl in.Since Jadeja’s debut, only five men have bowled more deliveries in Test cricket. His batting took time to come along, but he is averaging 42.01 since 2018, the year in which he scored his first century. That is in the top 20 among those who have scored at least 2000 runs in this period.Yet, to the casual observer, Jadeja hasn’t delivered that one memorable performance to remember him by. It is the curse of being so good. When you win, you win big. His countless five-fors and runs at home are completely taken for granted in popular memory largely because they are not done in the epic matches that – no offence to him – Ben Stokes does, for example. Or Andrew Flintoff before him.This Test at Lord’s – a venue where Jadeja scored 68 priceless but chancy runs 11 years ago and clinched the match-winning run-out – was an opportunity for him to finally give storytellers a story to back his numbers with. He is just what this young, inexperienced unit needs. Just someone old-school to drive home the advantage they are capable of getting.Ravindra Jadeja notched up a fourth straight half-century•Getty ImagesThis was Jadeja’s fourth straight half-century. At a time when it was not easy to think straight, he calmed India down with his solid batting. When he went in, India had almost lost the match. Yet again, a Test they had been the better team for longer periods in. When Jadeja went to lunch, he had lost Nitish Kumar Reddy, the last recognised batter he had. India still needed 81 runs for the win. He scored 61 of the 99 runs that came while he was at the wicket. He faced over 30 overs out of the 55 bowled in that time.Jadeja is so old-school and so naturally gifted that he has not had to constantly upgrade himself. Sometimes it frustrates those who watch him. He still defends spin with his bat beside the pad, something that has been erased from the game with DRS taking over. Still, his basics are so good that he is one of the best Test players going around.It is this strength that can become a slight weakness at times. Let’s firstly get it clear that Lord’s doesn’t really have pockets to hit twos into. The square is lush, and it is not easy to use the bowler’s pace to run the ball behind square. The balls are soft; even Rishabh Pant doesn’t charge against the old ones because there is no guarantee they will travel.So once England set defensive fields for Jadeja, he was handcuffed. He doesn’t play the reverse sweeps and the ramps and the kind. With traditional shots, it was difficult to find gaps in the spread-out field for twos to transfer the pressure back on England. It was almost a situation of taking it one run an over, provided the Nos. 10 and 11 hold their end up for one or two balls every over.Ravindra Jadeja held his own after India lost three wickets early•Getty ImagesJadeja, though, was prepared to do it in singles. He clearly calculated these were not conditions where he could take the risk. He had the discipline and the physical strength to keep turning up over after over, and back himself to be the last man standing. He kept the sword celebration aside when he reached fifty.What started as just a “let’s see how far we can get” ended up as a heartbreakingly close defeat. Jadeja came this close to sealing his place in popular legend. A story mothers would tell their babies on their laps. It was not to be. His strengths brought him close. They perhaps kept him from attaining the ultimate win. People will argue whether he should have taken risks. There is no straight answer.Jadeja didn’t show much emotion when the ball wickedly bounced onto the leg stump off a seemingly solid defensive shot from Mohammed Siraj, who was on his haunches and almost injured himself punching his bat. As if asking it, “What did I do to deserve this?”A lot in life is about turning up. About being there. With equanimity. Jadeja has faced a lot of heartbreak in his life, including the World Cup semi-final six years ago in this country when he again nearly won India a lost match. Jadeja knows more than most about the value of turning up. His team has been the better team over way more time than their opposition in the series. Yet, they find themselves behind 2-1. If India need any inspiration to turn up and repeat doing the good stuff in Manchester, all they need to do is look at Jadeja.

Coach Sammy feels they either have to bat longer or bat faster. But in the first Test they could do neither

Andrew McGlashan28-Jun-20250:47

Hazlewood tears through West Indies’ top order

Try to bat longer or try to bat quicker: that appears to be West Indies’ inner battle as they attempt to find a way to give their potent pace attack enough runs to make themselves competitive.The bowlers could not have done much more at Kensington Oval in the first Test. The game was evenly poised heading into the third day, but they were not backed up by their fielders, with seven catches going down, while the batters found Australia’s quicks too much to handle. They have bemoaned umpiring decisions that went against them – and they didn’t get the rub of the green – but the fragility in the new-look order leaves a lot for the bowlers to make up.West Indies had the lowest collective batting average (20.96) and lowest run rate (3.13) of the last World Test Championship cycle. The previous two years, they were second-lowest by average and comfortably the slowest by scoring rate.Related

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Sammy 'looking for some clarity' as contentious TV umpiring decisions pile up

Chase calls out 'so many questionable calls' in Barbados Test

These are not new problems, and captain Roston Chase conceded “we are not the best batting side” after the Barbados defeat, but he and coach Daren Sammy are trying to formulate a model that can work. They are not setting their sights massively high, in part due to the bowling strength and also the nature of the surfaces. As was shown prior to the WTC final this month, the trend is for Test matches to be getting faster and shorter.”We just need to find ways of getting at least 250 runs or 300 runs with the bowling line-up that we have,” Chase said. “I think once we can do that regularly, we will become a competitive side. It’s just for us to sit and talk and come up with ideas and ways that we can get that 250.”The way this side has been selected suggests an attempt to try and score quicker, although their overall run rate of 3.45 in the first Test was inflated by Shamar Joseph’s late dash. Brandon King, who unfurled some pleasing drives in the first innings, has forged his career predominantly against the white ball and earned his Test call-up after playing just four games in this season’s four-day championship, where he averaged 30.25.