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Big picture – Shreyas Iyer faces his former team

Less than a year back, Shreyas Iyer led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the IPL title. On Tuesday in IPL 2025 in Mullanpur, Iyer will line up against KKR, this time as the captain of Punjab Kings (PBKS).Ahead of IPL 2025, KKR retained six players, but Iyer wasn’t in that list. A shift to a new team and his reunion with coach Ricky Ponting have helped Iyer unlock his best.In IPL 2024, Iyer had a strike rate of 146.86 and in this season, he has lifted it to 208.33, the highest among Indian batters who have faced at least 100 balls this season. Overall, only Nicholas Pooran has a higher strike rate than Iyer under this condition. Iyer has also overcome his short-ball weakness, putting the fast bowlers away.He and PBKS will be up against the best spin-bowling side so far this season. Iyer might have faced a fair bit of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy at the KKR nets, and is yet to fall to spin this season.Narine and Varun have bowled 41 of KKR’s 49 overs of spin, in a department where KKR’s average (20.62) and economy rate (6.73) are far superior to the second-best side.Overall, though, both PBKS (three wins in five matches) and KKR (three wins in six) have been inconsistent. Iyer and his former team will hope they can improve on that before it gets too late.

Form Guide

Punjab Kings LWLWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Kolkata Knight Riders WLWLW2:33

Chawla: Not the Chahal we’re used to seeing

Team news and likely XIIs

Lockie Ferguson is all but out of the IPL with an injury he picked up against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and his absence will alter PBKS’ overseas combination. They could instead play Xavier Bartlett, a frontline quick, or one of pace-bowling allrounders Azmatullah Omarzai or Aaron Hardie.Punjab Kings (probable): 1 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 2 Priyansh Arya, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Nehal Wadhera, 5 Shashank Singh, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Azmatullah Omarzai/Aaron Hardie, 9 Marco Jansen, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yash ThakurKKR are entering the contest against PBKS after consigning Chennai Super Kings to a record fifth successive defeat. Narine, Varun and Moeen Ali had a feast on a spin-friendly pitch in Chepauk, and with spinners averaging 30.12 in Mullanpur this season, PBKS, too, could be tested by the trio.Kolkata Knight Riders (probable): 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 4 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 5 Venkatesh Iyer, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Moeen Ali, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Vaibhav Arora, 12 Varun Chakravarthy

In the spotlight – Yuzvendra Chahal and Ajinkya Rahane

While KKR’s spinners have been terrific, PBKS’ Yuzvendra Chahal is yet to hit form. He has bowled 15 overs in five games, with an average of 83.50 and economy rate of 11.13. Chahal bagged at least 18 wickets every season from 2019 to 2024. He remains the highest wicket-taker in IPL history, and PBKS will bank on his experience to come good soon.Ajinkya Rahane is the only KKR batter to score 200 runs this season. CSK freed him up in 2023 and 2024, and since then, he finished as the highest run-getter at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25. Rahane’s dismissal for 61 in KKR’s chase of 239 against Lucknow Super Giants turned the game around and set them up for a narrow defeat at Eden Gardens.

The big question

PBKS spent INR 18 crore on Chahal, and another INR 4.2 crore on Glenn Maxwell. Apart from Chahal being ineffective with the ball, Maxwell has scored just 34 runs in four innings. PBKS will need them to fire if they are to progress deeper into the tournament.

Pitch and conditions

Both games played in Mullanpur this season have seen 200-plus scores batting first. Each time, the team batting first went on to successfully defend it. Don’t rule out a big total on Tuesday, when temperatures are expected to slide to 27 degrees Celsius in the evening after rising to 38 degrees in the morning.

Stats and Trivia

• The last time PBKS and KKR played each other, PBKS successfully chased a T20 record 262 at Eden Gardens. Overall, though, KKR have a clear 21-12 advantage over PBKS.
• Iyer dominates the head-to-head T20 numbers against his former IPL team-mates Narine (42 runs off 35 balls) and Varun (38 off 22). Both bowlers have dismissed Iyer once each.
• KKR are yet to register a fifty-run opening partnership in six innings. Their highest remains 46, which Quinton de Kock and Narine had added while chasing 104 in the last game against CSK.

  Quotes

  “I think Ajinkya Rahane brings a lot of calmness in the dugout. He’s the type of player that every youngster should idolise. His personality, the way he keeps himself around the game, everyone knows how he performs. Meanwhile, Shreyas has a very confident nature, executes his plans. I don’t think there’s anything lacking in either of them. But their game of play is different.”

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) start in IPL 2025 has opened the rare possibility of starting the season with three straight wins, a feat they’ve achieved only once, in 2021. Ahead of their first home game of the year, team director Mo Babat emphasised the importance of a “statement start,” even if their record at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium has been patchy over the last two years.”We’ve definitely tried to focus in those first couple of games at making a statement start,” Bobat said ahead of Wednesday’s match against Gujarat Titans (GT). “Because going to two big teams [Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings] with good and proud home records is a good challenge. So, we use that as something to motivate the group. Similarly, we want to come back here [Chinnaswamy] and motivate the group to put on a show in front of their own fans.”One issue of RCB at home has been their bowling performances, despite trying to build a strong bowling core every year. Bobat, though, feels the line-up for this season is different.Related

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“We’ve recruited a team that we think is pretty powerful, with the batting line-up which we hope can exploit those batting conditions,” he said. “And we think we’ve got a bowling attack that’s particularly skillful and that can deal with the challenge of bowling here. Attacking here but also defending here.”So that’s been our focus from the moment we started trying to assemble our squad. And the way we played in the first two games, we’re building good confidence in those two areas with our powerful batting and skillful bowling.”Hazlewood has been RCB’s star performer with the ball•Associated Press

This season, RCB have been thrown a scheduling challenge: they don’t play two consecutive home games until the league phase ends. Bobat does not think it is an issue, but stressed on the importance of keeping his players fresh during the stretch of seven games across 22 days in the middle. Two senior fast bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood, will be carefully handled. Bhuvneshwar missed the opener due to a minor niggle, while Hazlewood has only just recovered from a hip injury after battling side strain and calf issues during Australia’s Test summer.”He [Bhuvneshwar] probably could have played that first game if we really wanted him to, but we didn’t want to put him at risk,” Bobat said. “Josh came off the back of an injury with Cricket Australia, but they managed that pretty conservatively and then handed him over to us and we finished that rehab here. So, they’re both in a good place now.”It’s likely we’re going to have to think about keeping players fresh through the middle. I think that’s obvious. But right now, every game is important, so we’re not thinking too far ahead. We’ll take it on a day by day, week by week basis.”If you look at us, relative to probably other teams, we’ve not had too many soft-tissue injuries. [We aim to] try and keep them on the park because we know how good they are. If they end up needing a bit of a rest, we’re pretty relaxed about that too, because we’ve got a really good squad.”While the strong start has excited fans, Bobat emphasised on a single-minded focus on the next game. “We feel like we’ve got clarity on our strongest team,” he said. “If we play to our potential, the results take care of themselves. And you’ve just got to repeat that for 14 group games. And hopefully with some knockout games. We don’t really look beyond that.”

‘Patidar has been very impressive’

Rajat Patidar’s leadership in his debut season as IPL captain has also impressed Bobat, touching upon his authentic personality and tactical strength.”The main thing you want to see from any leader or captain is typically that they continue to let their personality come across. And I think he’s done that really well,” Bobat said. “We don’t want him to become a captain and be anybody else. We want him to be himself so, very calm, inwardly and outwardly. He rarely, if ever, takes a backward step. And we’ve seen that with his batting, particularly against CSK. Every time we lost wickets he continued to throw punches, which was really good.”And he seems to have coped with all the other stuff that comes with captaincy really well as well in some busy times. So, at the minute I think he’s been excellent. He’s done everything I hoped and expected him to be. We know it’s early days.”There’s a lot of cricket left to be played. And no doubt we’ll have some challenges at some point in the season. That’ll be a time where we’ve really got to be there to support him. But at the minute he’s been very impressive.”

Heather Knight has left her role as England Women’s captain, a day after Jon Lewis was sacked as head coach.Knight, 34, captained England 199 times over her nine-year tenure, and departs as part of an on-going review of the team’s 16-0 Women’s Ashes defeat to Australia earlier this year. That had been preceded by a disappointing group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup in October. She will remain available for England selection.Appointed in June 2016 following the removal of Charlotte Edwards as captain, Knight led England to a famous home World Cup victory in 2017, and two other ICC tournament finals in 2018 and 2022. However, following recent disappointments, the ECB have decided to move in a different direction. Knight’s successor will be appointed shortly.In a statement released on Saturday, Clare Connor, ECB managing director of England Women and and deputy chief executive officer, said: “Heather has been an outstanding leader as England Women’s Captain. She has led the team by example as a role model off the pitch, and through the runs she has scored on it – often in the toughest conditions.”Heather has enjoyed many highlights as England captain. I particularly remember the century she scored in the Ashes Test at Canberra in 2022 where her individual brilliance nearly helped the team pull off a famous win. It was an innings of great skill and great heart.”She led the team brilliantly to win a World Cup on home turf, creating memories we will never forget. That magical day at Lord’s acted as a catalyst for so much of the growth we have seen for women’s and girls’ cricket in the years since.Jon Lewis and Heather Knight both paid the price for England’s recent shortcomings•PA Images via Getty Images

“Heather is passionate about inspiring young girls to play cricket and to playing her part in making our sport gender-balanced. She is a powerful role model to young professional female players and to recreational players alike. Having started her England career as an amateur, she has always understood the important connection between the England team and the grassroots game.”Knight said: “Captaining my country for the last nine years has been the biggest honour of my life and I will look back on my tenure with an enormous sense of pride. I have loved the challenge of leading the team, but all good things come to an end and it’s time for me to go back into the ranks and focus on being the best batter and teammate that I can be for the team.”Winning the ICC Women’s World Cup on home turf at Lord’s in 2017 will always be a huge highlight, but being a part of the huge steps forward made in the women’s game off the pitch brings me just as much pride.”Thank you to all the players and staff, who have given it everything along the way – especially Mark, Lisa and Jon, three head coaches that I’ve loved working with. The people make the job.”Thank you to the fans that have supported me and the team through the highs and the lows. Finally, to my friends, family and long-suffering partner Tim, you live the journey with me and I wouldn’t be here without your support.”I have loved being England Captain, it’s been the most rewarding period of my career, but for now I’m excited to focus on my batting and supporting the team and the new captain in the best way I can.”Knight made her England debut in 2010 and ten years later became the first England men’s or women’s player to score an international century in all three formats of the game.Richard Gould, ECB Chief Executive Officer, said: “I’m immensely thankful for everything Heather has given in her time as Captain. The World Cup win and the thrilling 2023 Women’s Ashes will live long in the memory.”Heather’s influence as Captain has extended far beyond her impact on the pitch. Through her leadership and dedication, she has inspired many women and girls to get involved in the sport, fuelling the transformation of women’s cricket we have seen since 2016.”As one of the world’s best batters, I look forward to watching Heather play on for England for many years to come.”During Knight’s time as captain she was also one of the team’s most consistent run-scorers across all formats. In 2022, she became the first English woman to register centuries in all three formats, with Tammy Beaumont joining her as the second the following year.Her replacement as captain is likely to be sourced from a limited pool of would-be successors. Vice-captain and star allrounder Nat Sciver-Brunt stated earlier this year she would be open to leadership, having deputised for Knight on 12 previous occasions, winning nine of them.Wicketkeeper Amy Jones is another option, but admitted the role “does not come naturally” to her. She has previous captaincy experience with Birmingham Phoenix in the first edition of the women’s Hundred.Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone could also be an option given she was part of a four-pronged leadership group headed by Knight for the recent Ashes, which also included Sciver-Brunt and Jones. Offspinner Charlie Dean is another who has been earmarked as a future leader.

Left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann has been cleared to bowl in international cricket by the ICC. He had been reported for a suspect action following the two-Test series in Sri Lanka where he had picked up 16 wickets in the series as Australia won 2-0.Kuhmemann, who had never previously been reported in a professional career dating back to 2017, was tested in Brisbane and learnt of the outcome on Wednesday.”He…underwent an independent bowling assessment at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane on 15 February, where it was revealed that the amount of elbow extension for all his deliveries was within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC Illegal Bowling Regulations,” an ICC statement said.Related

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Kuhnemann could have continued playing domestic cricket while his action was assessed although the thumb he dislocated during the BBL has kept him out of action since. It is not known yet if he will be fit in time for Tasmania’s next Sheffield Shield game against Queensland in Hobart from March 6. He is a strong chance of being selected for the Test tour of West Indies in June and July.During the testing process, Kuhnemann went through a session that lasted more than one hour, where he was asked to bowl at a similar speed and with similar revolutions to what he did in the second Test in Galle. ICC experts were at hand to observe the proceedings as Kuhnemann bowled, wearing markers on his body and surrounded by several high-speed cameras and a 3D motion analysis system.”We are pleased for Matt that this matter is now resolved,” Ben Oliver, CA executive general manager national teams said in a statement. “It has been a challenging period for Matt, however he has carried himself exceptionally well.”He has had the full support of Australian cricket and he can now move forward to the next phase of his international career with great confidence.”Not long after he had been reported, his Australia team-mates rallied behind him, with Steven Smith, Australia’s captain in Pat Cummins’ absence, saying, “It’s come as a bit of a surprise to me. He has been playing for eight years in professional cricket and nothing has been said in that amount of time.”I am thinking of him, at present, he has to go through the process. We’re confident he will pass. He will go through that process back home. We wish him all the best.”Kuhnemann has taken 25 wickets in five Tests at 22.20.

Australia

Related

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If Australia win the Sydney Test against India, they are through to the WTC final regardless of results in Sri Lanka – if Australia were to win in Sydney but lose both Tests in their upcoming series in Sri Lanka, they would finish on 57.02 percentage points to India’s 50 and Sri Lanka’s 53.85.A draw in Sydney will keep them ahead of India, but it would leave the door open for Sri Lanka to sneak through; if Australia were to draw in Sydney but lose both Tests in Sri Lanka, they would finish on 53.51, while Sri Lanka would climb up to 53.85.If Australia were to lose in Sydney, they would need one win in Sri Lanka to qualify. A 1-1 verdict in Sri Lanka after losing in Sydney would leave Australia on 57.02 to India’s 55.26. If Australia draw both Tests in Sri Lanka after losing in Sydney, India and Australia will be level on 55.26, but India will qualify on the basis of having won more series in this WTC cycle.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

India

India need to win in Sydney to stay in contention for the WTC final. A win would take India to 55.26, which would be enough for them to finish second if Australia were to achieve no more than two draws in Sri Lanka. As mentioned above, if Australia draw both Tests, they will finish level with India on percentage, but India will qualify with more series wins in this cycle. If Australia lose 1-0, they will drop to 53.51, and Sri Lanka will finish with 48.72 (with a 1-0 win).However, if India only manage a draw, they will drop to 51.75 and will be out of the WTC final race. That is because even if Australia were to lose both Tests in Sri Lanka after drawing in Sydney, they would finish on 53.51, while Sri Lanka would climb up to 53.85.

Sri Lanka

The only way Sri Lanka can qualify is if the Sydney Test ends in a draw and they then beat Australia 2-0. In that case, Sri Lanka, on 53.85, would finish above Australia (53.51) and India (51.75).If India win in Sydney, they will knock Sri Lanka out. Australia, also, will certainly finish ahead of Sri Lanka if they go to 3-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

It looked like it would be a run fest, but then it evolved into a low-scoring thriller. In a shapeshifting T20I in Sydney, Australia adapted better than Pakistan, holding their nerve to defend a modest total of 147 and edging to a 13-run victory, which gave them the T20I series.Spencer Johnson was the star of the show with 5 for 26, taking wickets at the top and the end and keeping Pakistan penned in, but he had plenty of support from his mates in a disciplined bowling effort. It was matched by a first innings where six batters reached double-figures, the clump of cameos ensuring the batters gave their bowlers enough to work with.Pakistan looked like they were on track for a hammering when Australia reached 50 in 3.1 overs – the fastest they have ever got to the mark in a T20I. But Pakistan, led inevitably by Haris Rauf, hit back through the middle overs. However, their fielding lapses proved costly, and in a game of fine margins, that proved to be one of the points of difference between the sides.They will also rue their lack of intent early on with the bat. Pakistan limped along for the first half of the innings and left themselves too much to do at the back end. Usman Khan – who scored his first T20I half-century – and Irfan Khan made a fist of it to get within 13 runs of victory, but just couldn’t do enough to undo the damage of the first part of the innings.Australia made sure they did just enough things better than Pakistan, and on that count, ended up worthy winners.Matthew Short played his part in giving Australia a rollicking start•Getty Images

The flight, and the uncontrolled descent

Australia began the game as if they had drawn inspiration from India’s batting show against South Africa on Friday. Shaheen Afridi was bowling into the arc as if feeding a slot machine, and Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk were only too happy to oblige. Naseem Shah similarly failed to keep it out of the arc, and 15 balls into the game, Australia had sped along to 47, having hit five fours and three sixes already.As Pakistan have learnt over the white-ball tour, when in doubt, give Rauf the ball, and that worked the charm again. He was the only man who could arrest the slide, and it didn’t take him long. A pacy bouncer that Fraser-McGurk couldn’t get on top off and slogged to the cover fielder punctured Australia, before a leading edge sent Josh Inglis on his way.Abbas Afridi – who bowled beautifully all innings – struck with the slower ball to dispatch Short, and suddenly, it turned into an even contest. After the first 15 balls of the powerplay had leaked 47 wicketless runs, the last 21 balls saw just 14 scored, with Australia’s top three back.Haris Rauf struck twice in an over to check Australia’s rapid start•Getty Images

Pakistan sloppy in the field, again

Pakistan tend to take one of their most famous characteristics each game, and turn the dial up to 11. Sometimes it’s the unpredictability, at other times it’s the fast bowling. Today, they went for the comic ineptitude in the field they have picked up a reputation for.The warning signs were there from the first over, which was when Naseem made a mess of a Fraser-McGurk top edge, and it only got worse from there.Salman Agha put Marcus Stoinis down off Rauf, while Shaheen reprieved Glenn Maxwell off Sufiyan Muqeem in the eighth over. Rauf made a mess of an effort in the field off Naseem that went for four, while Babar Azam put Tim David down before the batter went on to get ten runs off the next three balls. Those were just the highlights and, in a low-scoring game, it all counted.Mohammad Rizwan struggled during his 26-ball 16•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Pakistan’s no-power play

Pakistan looked at the way Australia had been dragged back and perhaps thought “this won’t happen to us”. It didn’t, because they never got going at the front end of the innings in the first place. They did lose Babar (pick-up flick to deep square leg) and Sahibzada Farhan (pull straight to deep midwicket) to careless shots, but for much of the first nine overs, there were scarcely any attempts to hit a boundary.Mohammad Rizwan struggled through an especially curious innings where he was either happy with dot balls or poked the ball away for singles. It wasn’t until the tenth over that a boundary off the bat was finally struck as Rizwan cleared his front leg and slog swept Johnson over cow corner to pick up four.But Rizwan attempted the same shot off the next ball, only to miscue it for David to take a superb catch diving forward. By this time, the asking rate was approaching ten, and Pakistan’s top order had written cheques they unfairly expected their lower order to honour.Usman Khan battled hard to give Pakistan a chance•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Johnson brilliance

When Johnson began the innings with a wide down leg side that went for five, and followed it up with a wide outside off that would have done the same had first slip not done brilliantly, any comparisons with the other Johnson, Mitchell, would have only pertained to the phase in his career that spawned the unfortunate “he bowls to the left, he bowls to the right” chant. But it took the South Australian no time to turn his fortunes around, controlling his high pace and exploiting sideways movement beautifully to rip through Pakistan.Farhan’s soft dismissal was only the beginning, and Pakistan were dented during the middle overs, and that proved telling.Rizwan fell in Johnson’s return spell before Salman fell the very next ball, leaving Pakistan’s ultra-long tail one wicket away from being exposed. When Usman and Irfan put up a 58-run stand, it was once again Johnson who struck, taking two more in an over when his extra pace saw Usman smear a pull into the air before Abbas was dispatched in similar fashion. It allowed Adam Zampa’s double-wicket over effectively seal the game despite Irfan’s presence.

Bangladesh’s batters were under the scanner after South Africa completed a seven-wicket win on the fourth morning of the Dhaka Test. The top four contributed 105 runs in the match, their worst showing this year. Bangladesh’s collapse on the first day of the match haunted them for the rest of it, with only the lower order, led by Mehidy Hasan Miraz, ensuring that there wasn’t an innings defeat.Mehidy, whose 97 in the second innings forced South Africa to bat again, said that the pitch and the conditions were to their liking and even the toss went their way but the top-order’s failure on the first day took them out of the contest too early and there was no coming back.”Everything was in our favour as we won the toss and decided to bat first,” Mehidy said. “It is hard to bat on the fourth day on this wicket so we prepared ourselves in that way. We couldn’t score runs, unfortunately. If we could have scored our second innings runs in the first… We were in the back foot in the first innings. We were bowled out before the second session on the first day. 106 all out. First innings runs are very important in Test cricket.”Related

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Mehidy said that Bangladesh’s batters must improve their decision-making out in the middle. Mahmudul Hasan Joy was the only member from the top four to make any kind of contribution (30 and 40). Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto failed in both innings. However, each of those three players still have at least one recent innings of note under their belt. Shadman scored a crucial 93 in the first Test against Pakistan, while Mominul scored a century in Bangladesh’s previous Test in Kanpur. Shanto made 82 in the Chennai Test.”I think decision-making is an important aspect [of batting],” Mehidy said. “We would do better as a team if the top order starts contributing again. We did it in Pakistan where the top four were contributing to the total. When the openers start well, it makes life easier for the rest of the batters. When the No. 5 and 6 batters are playing against the new ball, life becomes hard. We are working on how to improve the top order. I am hopeful that we will figure out where to improve in the coming matches.”Batters have to take more responsibility. Lack of runs on the board makes life difficult for the bowlers. We bowled well despite all the pressure. Taijul [Islam] bowled really well. We discussed that not all the batters will score every day. But at least three or four batters should turn their starts into big ones.”Mehidy is leading Bangladesh’s batting charts in this World Test Championship cycle.”I always try to enjoy pressure situations,” he said while trying to explain his success. “I see it as an opportunity to become a hero. I am happy to be making use of opportunities. I bat in a difficult position. I know that if I bat well from my position, the team may do well. If I don’t do well, the team won’t get a result. I am mentally trying to prepare myself to score runs. I am always trying to get better. I started with a 1.5 batting average. I have improved quite a bit now.”I have worked at batting against the new ball because sometimes I have to bat against the second new ball. I have worked on surviving as a batter, how to score runs and then how to dominate the bowlers. I have shared my thoughts with those who are less experienced in the dressing room, just like my seniors shared ideas with me.”Mehidy, however, isn’t keen on the comparison with Shakib Al Hasan, who was supposed to play his farewell Test in Dhaka. He said that he is trying to get a few years of consistency going before accepting such lofty accolades.”Everyone says I will take Shakib ‘s place. He is a legend who has achieved a lot over 17 years. He batted higher up the order. He has been scoring runs since early in his career. I have started scoring runs consistently in the last one or two years. I bat at No. 7 or 8. Shakib is in his place, I am in my place. I think it’s best not to compare us,” Mehidy said.Bangladesh have four days’ time to do some soul searching ahead of the Chattogram Test. The batters haven’t contributed much this year, but they have one last opportunity to get a score in familiar conditions before they hit the road for assignments in the UAE and the West Indies in the next couple of months.

India fast bowler Mohammed Shami is now “100%” pain-free and wants to play one or two Ranji Trophy games to try and be fit for the tour of Australia that will start at the end of November. Shami is on the road to recovery after sustaining an ankle injury that has kept him out of action since the ODI World Cup final last year, and was seen bowling full tilt at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday after the first Test between India and New Zealand.Shami said that was the first time he had bowled with a full run-up since his recovery.”It felt great yesterday because I had been bowling with half a run-up on and off since I can’t put too much stress on my body,” he said during an event organised by Eugenix Hair Sciences in Gurugram. “Yesterday, we decided that I would bowl properly, and I gave my 100%. It felt great, [and] the results are good. Hopefully, I’ll be back on track soon.”Related

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When asked if he was pain-free now, having undergone surgery in February, Shami said, “100%”. Shami has exactly a month to try and be fit for the first Test against Australia beginning on November 22.”The Australia series is still far away,” he said. “The only thing I want to focus on is how to keep myself fit, and how strong I can be before going there. I know what kind of an attack we want for that Test series, so it’s better I spend some more time on the ground before going. If I get fit and I get a gap of eight to ten days, then it’s better I play one or two domestic matches before going to Australia.”I don’t know when I can play next, but the day I feel comfortable about bowling 20-30 overs and I get the nod from the doctors, I’ll run to play a match. I want to spend as much time as I can on the ground before going for the Australia series.”I don’t want such a thing that I clear my fitness here and something happens to me there. That’s not what I want. I want to be strong while leaving from here so that there are no issues there.”Shami represents Bengal in domestic cricket and their next Ranji Trophy fixture might be too soon for him to play, beginning October 26 at home. Their two subsequent games after that are from November 6 against Karnataka in Bengaluru and from November 13 in Indore against Madhya Pradesh, which will mark the end of the first leg of the red-ball tournament. If Shami does regain match fitness next month, he could also aim to play the three-day warm-up game slotted between India and India A in Perth before the first Test starts in the same city.Shami had similarly spent months off the field immediately after the 2015 World Cup when an ankle injury troubled him and he had missed the IPL that year too, like in 2024. Having not played a single game in nearly a year, Shami said the one thing such injuries had taught him was patience.”Don’t get frustrated and focus as much as you can on fitness and game,” he said about spending months off the field. “It’s very difficult to come back on track after an injury so patience is the biggest thing. Injuries teach you patience and that makes your skill purer.”Fitness is the main thing [you have to focus on in recovery]. You shouldn’t doubt your skill and talent when you’re away because certain things are built in you. I agree you need something like rhythm but your skill will never leave you. It’s your fitness you have to fight for.”Shami had played a crucial role in India’s first-ever Test series win in Australia in 2018-19, when he bagged 16 wickets in four matches at 26.18, finishing behind only Jasprit Bumrah’s tally of 21 wickets among fast bowlers in that series. He played just the first Test, in Adelaide, when India toured next in 2020-21 before he returned home with an injury. India went on to win that series with several other players also injured, and fielded a nearly second-string side in Brisbane to take home the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.Shami said India’s pace attack, which also features Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, instils fear in the opposition because of the pace and variety the three bowlers offer.”We have worked as a unit since 2014,” Shami said. “India never had three bowlers at a time who could bowl over 140kph. Maybe two at max. Now we even have some on the bench who can bowl 145kph. Every opponent waits for one easy kind of bowler, but that’s how you create fear that all our bowlers are 145kph and have different kind of skills. And we showed how to fight when we toured overseas. Earlier we used to be on the safe side or our pace attack wasn’t that aggressive. This generation knows how to pay it back.”To pick India’s pace attack for the five Tests, India could also choose from the pool of Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dayal, Navdeep Saini and Khaleel Ahmed who have all been picked for an India A side that will play two four-day games starting October 31 (Mackay) and November 7 (Melbourne) before the three-day game against India in Perth.Whether he is able to make it to Australia or not, Shami said if there is “bounce on some wickets, there’s nothing better for our pace attack. We just need some runs on the board which our bowlers can defend.”

Brydon Carse has thanked the England management for keeping their faith in him, after he returned to the international game following a three-month gambling ban.Earlier this year, Carse was given a 16-month suspension from cricket, with 13 of those suspended, after it was discovered that he had placed over 300 bets on matches between 2017 and 2019.There was no indication nor accusation that Carse was involved in fixing, but the bets – which included Durham matches he was not playing in – were a significant breach of regulations.At the start of the summer, Carse had been on the brink of becoming an England regular and was one of 15 players to be awarded a two-year central contract. That he has been immediately recalled to the set-up after his ban is over is a further sign of the belief that England have in the 29-year-old.”They’ve been incredibly supportive over the last period of time,” Carse said. “It’s been brilliant [to be back playing]. The last three weeks have been very pleasing for me to be back playing. A couple of weeks ago I was back with Durham and now I’ve joined the England set-up and all I’ve had from everyone is full backing and full support. I’m just looking forward to playing as much cricket in an England shirt as possible going forward.”Rob Key’s been very communicative with me and everyone around the support structure has given me everything that I’ve needed to, to get back playing.”The current England regime are big fans of Carse. Despite his relatively modest domestic numbers, the management believe Carse has many of the attributes that are key to finding success at the international level. As a result, he recently received a maiden Test call-up for the tour of Pakistan, to go along with his presence in both white-ball squads.”I’m making sure I bowl enough overs in training to keep my loads up,” Carse said of his preparations for the upcoming Test tour. “But the way the schedule is now, I’m fully focused on white-ball and the adjustments will be done in Pakistan when I land on October 2.”The mantra that England are trying to play their Test cricket is probably shifting, and they’re trying to play a couple of bowlers that can bowl with extra pace. So if you’re asking what my role is going to be in Pakistan, it’s going be short, sharp bursts and to get the ball to reverse.”Brydon Carse was banned for three months for betting irregularities•Getty Images

Carse’s role has been the source of much debate during his short England career, with comparisons to his Durham predecessor and white-ball middle-overs specialist Liam Plunkett made regularly.”The only time I hear about that role is in the media,” Carse said of the comparisons. “I’m not getting told that by the coaches or fellow team-mates. It’s not something I’ve really thought about.”Carse, who made the first of his 16 ODI appearances back in 2021, is yet to take the new ball for England and has exclusively bowled as first change. But while the message to Carse of what is required from him has been consistent, the messenger hasn’t. Despite playing only 16 ODIs for England, he has played under five captains: Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley and Harry Brook.”I’m not going to rule out bowling in the powerplay,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of good spells in the powerplay in these 50-over games so far. And if I can come back [later in the innings] and take wickets for the team – you know, [Saturday] I was probably a little bit expensive to what I would’ve liked – but ultimately I’m going to try and take wickets because that’s my role.”Related

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At Headingley, Carse claimed the wicket of Travis Head before picking up Aaron Hardie and Mitchell Starc in consecutive deliveries to leave Australia at that stage 216 for 8. Despite the wickets, however, Carse was otherwise expensive, conceding 75 runs from his ten overs. It was a marked improvement, however, as his final four overs went for just 12 runs, his figures at one stage reading 6-0-63-1.”I probably struggled with a little bit of rhythm in my first spell. But coming back and picking up those two crucial wickets to stem the flow of the game at the time. I just kept trucking in and ultimately I think it’s a day where I can take a few positives from the outcome, some good, some not so good.”There’s no hiding the fact that a lot of the players in that group don’t play a lot of 50-over cricket and that’s just the structure around English cricket now with the Hundred.”But I think there’s players in that group that have had very good T20 careers up to date and there’s some up-and-coming players where it’s just about adapting to the certain situations quicker. I think that’s probably what we haven’t done in these first two games, adapting to situations. But there’s three games now to really try and turn that around quickly.”

Michael Pepper added a maiden first-class century to two hundreds in this season’s T20 Blast to put Essex in command of their Vitality County Championship match against Worcestershire.The 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman had only passed fifty once before this summer, and his previous highest red-ball score of 92 came three years ago at Durham, but his unbeaten 125-ball 112 turned the tide in Essex’s favour as they seek to end a run of three games without a win.Pepper was joined at 227 for 7 by Shane Snater (53) and the pair put on 136 in 26 runs to not only overhaul Worcestershire’s 266 but lay the foundations for a 138-run first-innings lead. Tom Westley had set the ball rolling with 68 from 126 balls before he became the first of Amar Virdi’s three wickets for 126 in a marathon 37.4-over spell. Ethan Brookes also picked up three wickets before Worcestershire reduced the deficit by two runs without loss in five overs in the evening.Before the game was effectively taken away from them, Brookes had been an unlikely terminator of Essex’s serene second-wicket partnership that had put on 65 in 13 overs after the loss of Dean Elgar to the last ball of day one. Brookes had never taken a first-class wicket before he broke Robin Das’s middle-stump with a bit of extra pace followed by a jubilant running leap into the air.The 23-year-old seamer did not have long to wait for his second as Jordan Cox, released by England the day before to play for Essex, showed the first real attacking intent in his uncharacteristically obdurate 21-ball innings when he drove uppishly to short midwicket.Brett D’Oliveira brought himself on for an over before lunch and with his third ball had Matt Critchley lunging forward before being rapped fatally on his front pad.Westley settled into an innings that mixed abandon with caution before reaching his fifty from 95 balls. Early on he hit three fours in an over from Tom Taylor, two off his legs through midwicket and the third driven crisply through extra cover. Yet he managed only two more boundaries in reaching his fourth half-century of the season.The Essex captain had put on 55 with Paul Walter when he received a delivery from Virdi that jumped up and caught the edge of his bat before ending in Gareth Roderick’s gloves. Six balls later, Walter’s forceful knock was over when he slashed Logan van Beek to slip the ball after chipping him over extra cover for his fifth four.Brookes returned for a cameo in which he strangled Simon Harmer down legside to claim a third wicket in only his seventh over of the innings. The majority of the heavy lifting was done by the loaned-in pair Virdi and van Beek, who bowled nearly 60 of the 107.4 overs Essex faced.Essex overtook Worcestershire’s first-innings 266 soon after the new-ball had been taken and shortly before Pepper and Shane Snater chalked up their first fifty partnership in 12 overs – 22 runs coming in the first three overs of the new Kookaburra – their second fifty spanning a further 11 overs. At one point they needed just six overs to move from 300 to 350 as the tempo increased.Pepper is renown for his 360-degree game and outrageous shots in the short form, but his most audacious effort was when he chopped Joe Leach over slip’s head to the third-man boundary. The majority of his runs were orthodox shots, mainly between extra cover and cover points. Snater went past fifty from 73 balls with successive fours off van Beek but fell next ball when beaten for pace. Sam Cook batted freely before Virdi got one past his defences.Pepper scampered a two off Brookes to reach three-figures from 116 balls and celebrated with a further 10 runs from the next three balls, including a six high over midwicket. Jamie Porter hung around long enough to see the centurion over the line before he was Virdi’s third victim.