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Australia have now won 20 of their last 22 ODIs against West Indies at home

Sampath Bandarupalli06-Feb-2024186 Balls bowled in Canberra are the sixth-fewest for any completed men’s ODI and the fewest-ever for an ODI hosted by Australia (excluding overs-reduced matches). The previous shortest completed ODI in Australia lasted 199 balls, also played between Australia and West Indies, in 2013 in Perth.1 Xavier Bartlett is now the first Australian to bag four or more wickets in each of their first two ODIs. Only five players before Bartlett achieved this feat of claiming four-plus wicket hauls in their first two ODIs – Curtly Ambrose, Adam Hollioake, Brian Vitori, Mustafizur Rahman and Hamza Tahir.259 Balls remaining when Australia reached their target of 87 runs. It is the seventh biggest win in men’s ODIs in terms of balls remaining for any team and the biggest for Australia, bettering their win by 254 balls against USA in the 2004 Champions Trophy.Related

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1 The defeat by 259 balls is also the biggest for West Indies in men’s ODIs. Their previous biggest defeat was by 244 balls, also by Australia, who needed 9.1 overs to chase 71 in the 2013 Perth ODI.22 Consecutive men’s ODIs without a win for West Indies against Australia in Australia. Their last ODI win down under against Australia came way back in January 1997. Australia won 20 of their previous 22 home ODIs against West Indies, while another two ended without a result.12 Consecutive wins for Australia in ODI format, a streak that began during their victorious World Cup campaign. It is the joint-third longest winning streak for any team in the men’s ODI cricket.
Australia won a record 21 successive ODIs in 2003, while Sri Lanka won 13 on the trot between June and September last year.86 West Indies’ total in Canberra is their fifth-lowest total in men’s ODIs and their second-lowest against Australia, behind the 70 all-out in Perth in 2013.3.4 Overs needed for Australia to reach the 50-run mark is the fastest for them in men’s ODIs since 2002. Australia’s previous fastest team 50 in the format was off 3.5 overs against Sri Lanka in 2016 in Dambulla.

Royal Challengers blasted their highest powerplay total, after having consigned Titans to their worst showing in the phase

Sampath Bandarupalli04-May-20241 – Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 92 runs in the powerplay against Gujarat Titans were by far the most by the franchise in this phase in any IPL game. The previous highest was 79 against Kochi Tuskers Kerala in 2011 and against Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier this year. The 92 runs today also ranked joint-fifth among the highest totals in the powerplay in IPL.69 – Difference in runs between the powerplay totals of RCB (92 for 1) and Gujarat Titans (23 for 3). It is the biggest difference in powerplay totals in an IPL match, surpassing the 65-run difference for Kolkata Knight Riders (105 for 0) against RCB (40 for 3) in 2017.18 – Balls Faf du Plessis needed for his fifty. It is now the second-fastest fifty for the RCB, behind the 17-ball fifty by Chris Gayle against Pune Warriors in 2013.Related

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64 – Runs scored by du Plessis before his dismissal in the sixth over. These are the most runs scored by a batter for RCB in the powerplay in an IPL match. The previous highest was by Gayle, who scored exactly 50 runs in the powerplay on three occasions. The 64 runs by du Plessis are the sixth-most by any batter in powerplay overs in an IPL match.23 for 3 – GT’s total in the powerplay on Saturday is their lowest in the IPL. Their previous lowest was 30 for 4 against Delhi Capitals earlier this year when they were bundled out for 89. Gujarat’s 23 for 3 is also the lowest powerplay total by any team in this year’s IPL.38 – Balls remaining when RCB reached their target. It is the biggest win for any team in terms of balls to spare in the IPL when having lost six or more wickets. The previous biggest in such a case was by 34 balls for KKR, who chased down a 161-run target against Sunrisers in 14.2 overs despite losing six wickets.8 – Runs aggregated by RCB’s Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the chase. These are the second-fewest runs by a team’s Nos. 3-6 in an IPL innings. Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s 3, 4, 5 and 6 bagged ducks against Deccan Chargers in 2011.8 – Eight out of the 11 wickets taken by pacers today came off short and short-of-a-good-length deliveries – four in the GT innings and four in the RCB chase.

Coach Jon Lewis said it was “pretty brutal” to bow out this way and was seemingly frustrated at not getting to train at match venues

Firdose Moonda16-Oct-20240:35

England disappointed at lack of training at match venues

Frustrations boiled over on and off the field for England after they failed to make their first T20 World Cup semi-final in seven editions. The last time England missed out on the knockouts was in 2010, and their disappointment after a meticulously planned campaign, which included a two-week camp in Abu Dhabi and simulating being without their captain Heather Knight in a game, was on full display.As West Indies began to hunt down a target of 142 by putting on the best powerplay score of the tournament, England dropped catches and their shoulders. Although this was their last match of the group phase, it was their only one in Dubai, where they encountered the ring of fire for the first time. They put down five catches, all of West Indies opener Qiana Joseph and she went on to score a decisive, match-winning half-century.Asked whether England would have liked to have had a training session at the ground before match day, coach Jon Lewis said: “No one’s had an opportunity to train here. We’ve been training in the ICC Academy down the road.”Related

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All ten teams have used the ICC Academy as a training base, apart from Scotland, who had a session in Sharjah early on, and India, ahead of their crunch clash against Australia. India’s training took place after the match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka on Saturday and included a middle practice. When Lewis was asked if he knew about India’s practice he said: “I didn’t know they did that. I didn’t know. India can pretty much do what they like, can’t they? Is that how it works?”An ICC spokesperson clarified to ESPNcricinfo that, “All other teams had the opportunity of training in Sharjah like India did on that day,” and it is understood no other teams asked to use the facilities at Sharjah. New Zealand and West Indies will have a practice session there on Thursday, ahead of their semi-final on Friday.England would have eyed that game as theirs, after they won their first three matches, with increasingly larger margins, but their net run-rate meant the West Indies clash was effectively a quarter-final. Lewis called it “pretty brutal” to bow out this way, particularly given the form England brought into the tournament.”I’m pretty gutted, to be honest. We’ve worked incredibly hard over a long period of time working towards this point,” he said. “We feel like we had a really good formula to come and play our best cricket out here and we haven’t done that today. And it’s really disappointing. You put a lot of time and effort and thought into the process of getting to this point, and then you put the players out on the field and you want the players to go and play their best cricket, because you know that at their best, this group of players is a really good cricket team.”Since the last T20 World Cup, where England were losing semi-finalists, they have won 21 of 28 matches, including the T20 component of the Ashes and an 11-match winning streak against New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland. Of the teams at this World Cup, only Australia, with 17 victories from 22 matches, have a better win percentage over the same period. Given those numbers, it would not be exaggerating to say that England had realistic expectations of making it out of the group stage but did not deal well with being put under real pressure in the field for the first time in the tournament.

“It seemed like maybe after six or seven overs we were starting to think, ‘Oh crikey, we’re up against it here,’ and you could see a lot of the players just starting to drift off. Especially with our energy in the field and our tempo.”Jon Lewis

After Hayley Matthews took the fight to them with 14 runs off the first over, Joseph showed a willingness to take risks with a few big hits that ended up being half-chances. She edged her first four, then got a leading edge which fell safely, then was dropped on the boundary by Sophia Dunkley, then hit a ball just over backward point, and then top-edged a sweep which did not carry to short fine. In between that, Hayley Matthews spliced a pull shot off Charlie Dean that landed in front of Danielle Gibson. England’s fielders were frantic and soon became too frazzled to hold on, even to easier opportunities. At point, Alice Capsey dropped Joseph when she skied one straight up and again at deep mid-wicket for what was a simple chance. It appeared that England’s drops were the result of things happening in fast-forward but, as Lewis pointed out, they were not the only team whose hands let them down in Dubai. “It’s obviously something that’s been reasonably common at this stadium,” he said.According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, there have been 75 catches dropped in the 20 group-stage matches, which is the most in the last four tournaments. Of those, 39 have been put down in Dubai, and 33 of those in night matches. The numbers suggest that difficulty of catching under an unusually configured circle of lights is not mere mythology and perhaps more practice at the match venue would have helped. But there was more to England’s defeat than just that set of circumstances.They unravelled in other ways too. After the powerplay, Ecclestone and Bell both bowled tight overs but Maia Bouchier put Joseph down twice in two overs. At one point, she had her head in her hands and her team-mates’ expressions gave away their disbelief. By this point, Lewis knew something was not quite right.”It’s not a reaction you want as a coach when you’re on the sidelines. It seemed like maybe after six or seven overs we were starting to think, ‘Oh crikey, we’re up against it here,’ and you could see a lot of the players just starting to drift off. Especially with our energy in the field and our tempo – we played a lot slower today.”Sarah Glenn reacts to England’s sloppy fielding•ICC/Getty ImagesLewis went out himself at the drinks break to calm things down. “I rarely go on the field after a drinks interval, but I went on today just to remind them what we’re all about as a cricket team,” he said. “They responded to that really well after the drinks break. There was a period, yeah, for three or four overs where we looked a little deflated as a side because we took some punches and when you’re on the ropes, you’re taking punches, it can be hard to keep bouncing back. But I thought they did after the drinks interval, they came back, took some wickets, got back on our plans, and actually executed much better after that point.”By then, it was all but too late. Joseph brought up fifty in the over after the break and then Bouchier dropped her again before Danni Wyatt-Hodge finally held on to one. Bouchier did not join the celebratory huddle. England also removed Matthews and Deandra Dottin, who was bowled by the player who talked up the mini-battle between them, Sophie Ecclestone, but she was too annoyed to care about bragging rights. She’d spent some of the rest of the time muttering to herself in irritation as runs flowed and she could do little to stop it.The other face like thunder was Knight’s. She was not able to join the team on the field and offered advice from the sidelines but it was not the same as calling the shots in the middle, which is something she values doing. “The reason you’ve seen emotion from Heather is that she’s really committed and really cares about England cricket and not being out there would have been incredibly frustrating for her,” Lewis said.England have gone from a team who had the knockouts in their sights to taking the early flight home, with the knowledge that they simply “weren’t at our best today.””The reality is we didn’t play well enough today and we got beaten by a better side on the day. That’s sport and that’s World Cup sport and it’s a knockout game,” Lewis said. “We knew that coming into the game, so, we’ll dig into that and we’ll work out why that is, and we’ll try and move the team forward from there.”England’s next assignment is a tour to South Africa starting next month.

A senior ticket collector at the New Delhi Railway Station, Sangwan sent Kohli’s off stump cartwheeling for 6

Daya Sagar31-Jan-2025On Friday, when the second day of the Delhi vs Railways Ranji Trophy match began, the fans were waiting eagerly for a Delhi wicket so that they could see their hero, Virat Kohli, bat. But Delhi’s overnight batters Sanat Sangwan and Yash Dhull made them wait for an hour. During their 67-run partnership for the second wicket, the spectators kept getting impatient and kept demanding a wicket from the Railways bowlers.However, when their wait ended, the joy did not last long. After only 23 minutes and 15 balls in the middle, Kohli was back in the pavilion for 6. This was a disappointing end to Kohli’s first innings in the Ranji Trophy after 12 years, and the stadium, which was reverberating with chants of “Kohli, Kohli… RCB, RCB” a while back was now completely silent.The man responsible for this was Railways’ right-arm fast bowler Himanshu Sangwan. Posted as a senior ticket collector at the New Delhi Railway Station, Sangwan bowled a good-length ball to Kohli. The batter took a step forward to drive it down the ground but the ball came in, beat his inside edge, and sent his off stump cartwheeling. Just one ball before this, Kohli had nailed the same shot off a similar length. Not this time.Related

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In the previous over, Kunal Yadav had beaten Kohli outside off stump on two successive deliveries. Perhaps to avoid that, Kohli charged at Sangwan and lost his wicket in the process. It was undoubtedly the biggest wicket of Sangwan’s career, and he celebrated it by punching the air and clenching his teeth.”We did not have any special plan for Kohli,” Sangwan said after the day’s play. “Since all Delhi batters play aggressive cricket, our plan was to bowl in the channel. If you do not give runs to an aggressive batter, he will try a big shot and get out. Perhaps the same happened with him.”Talking about his reaction after the wicket, Sangwan said: “That was my natural celebration. If you have seen me playing before, I always celebrate my wicket like this. I did not do anything different there.”Sangwan, 29, was born in Charkhi Dadri, Haryana. But his father’s job meant he spent his childhood in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. Like most Indian boys, he has been playing cricket since childhood, but in 2008, when Virat Kohli’s team won the Under-19 World Cup, he was very impressed by fast bowler Pradeep Sangwan, the guy with the same surname as him, and started dreaming of becoming a fast bowler like him.To focus on cricket, he moved from Jhunjhunu to his uncle’s place in Najafgarh, Delhi and started taking coaching there. Incidentally, Pradeep also hails from Najafgarh.After playing school and club cricket for four-five years, Sangwan was selected in Delhi’s Under-19 team and made his debut with Rishabh Pant in the 2013 Vinoo Mankad Trophy. In that 50-over game, he took 1 for 30 from eight overs. But after that, he was never selected for Delhi’s junior or senior team.Disappointed by this, Sangwan decided to play for his home state Haryana. He played district and university cricket there for about three-four years but did not get a chance in senior cricket.During this time, Sangwan got a job in Indian Railways as a ticket collector through sports quota. In 2018-19, he represented Railways in the Under-23 CK Nayudu Trophy, where he took 37 wickets in seven matches at an average of 18.21. That earned him a place in the senior team for the next season.Since then, Sangwan has been a key part of Railways’ bowling attack. Before the match against Delhi, he had 77 wickets in 23 first-class matches at an average of 19.92. His tally includes international names such as Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarawal, Prithvi Shaw and Ishan Kishan. Apart from this, he has taken 21 wickets in 17 List A matches and five in seven T20s.”When I was not getting any opportunity, Railways supported me,” Sangwan said. They gave me chances, so my first priority is the Railways team. It is nothing like I had to prove something to Delhi for not giving me a chance.”

The league has morphed into a mature, austere version that suits it better than the glamour and grandeur it initially aimed for

Danyal Rasool09-Apr-2025A decade is never not a milestone, but it can also be an awkward period of time to draw any conclusions from. It’s probably a bit too late to begin evaluating whether you have made the right career choice, and hopefully too early to determine if you have got enough by way of retirement savings. It’s often best looked at through the softened sepia tint of hindsight, which has its own gentle way of smoothing out the roughest edges of circumstance, superimposing melancholy contentment where raw pain once existed. That might make any objective assessment difficult, but it’s always deeply personal.As Pakistan’s own T20 competition hits that milestone, what to make of it remains elusive, and personal. The Pakistan Super League launched its own official song for the tournament a few days out from its start, predictably drawing strong opinions on ultimately inconsequential promotional filler. The slogan it came up with – X – could perhaps be characterised the same way, though, corny pun aside, it gets something fundamental about this tournament right. This is an X to be interpreted rather than solved, with the PSL choosing to focus on the sense of belonging and connection with Pakistan, not the glamour or any delusions of grandeur that, at present, are hard to seriously keep up in Pakistan cricket.Much as the PSL would like to stand out as an independent entity, its fanbase is primarily Pakistan cricket’s fanbase, and the league starts at a time when Pakistan’s worn-down supporters have flitted from hope to disappointment and heartbreak in six months of non-stop international cricket. It’s impossible to say this is the nadir, but it does feel Pakistan appear to have left no stone unturned in their search. Stop-gap solutions for structural problems, the hounding out of high-profile coaching staff they had spent a fortune chasing, the appointments and sackings of captains on an almost monthly basis all culminated in an embarrassing early exit in a Champions Trophy they hosted before three weeks of humbling defeats in New Zealand rubbed salt into their wounds.Related

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That is the backdrop to the tenth anniversary of a league that deserves better. It has become a financial lifeline for the PCB over the years, one of the few brands associated with Pakistan that has actually appreciated in value. It laid the groundwork for Pakistan’s international isolation to end, and has inculcated a sense of regional identity that was never possible in the domestic first-class structure due to perpetual rejigging. Now, perhaps, it is also an escape if you want to watch Pakistan cricket without the sadness that watching Pakistan cricket evokes in so many.The danger of stagnation, though, is ever-present, and, with all six franchises up for rebidding at the end of its tenth year, potentially existential. The most dominant theme in the build-up week of the tournament, tellingly, has been a constantly escalating attack on the management of the PSL by one of the franchise owners. Multan Sultans’ Ali Tareen accused the PCB of letting the league embrace mediocrity, sparking a contretemps with Karachi Kings owner Salman Iqbal, who accused Tareen of “ridiculing and disrespecting” the league. They would later de-escalate, but it has shone a spotlight on how insecurities and fears about the future of the PSL run right to the top.No cricketer possibly did as much for the PSL – and Pakistan cricket – as Darren Sammy did•AFP via Getty ImagesThe PSL appears to have accepted that days of the league attracting the hottest properties in franchise cricket are behind them. The first pick for the first two seasons of the draft were Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum; this year it was Daryl Mitchell, last year David Willey. The glut of T20 leagues in a window the PSL believed it had to itself saw it constricted from either side when the UAE’s ILT20 and South Africa’s IPL-owners-backed SA20 popped up in the January-February window, drawing talent away. At the other end, the ever-expanding IPL began to spread into March, further reducing the PSL’s breathing space.As a result, the PSL made official what had been a de facto reality for several seasons, accepting its status as a second-tier league and moving directly into the IPL window. This change may not be permanent, and it divided opinion among the franchise owners, but operating in the IPL’s slipstream all but ended any issues around international clashes. While past seasons involved multiple late withdrawals, the replacement draft this time around comprised just two new picks, as just about every player who went unpicked at the IPL was available to the PSL.In its second season at the launch ceremony, the then PCB chairman unveiled the Spirit Trophy for the PSL, which, the official claim went, included 50,000 double-pointed Swarovski crystals. It took, the PCB’s website said, “inspiration from the brilliance of the universe”.Lahore Qalandars winning back-to-back PSL titles buoyed the city•AFP/Getty ImagesThat sort of vapid optimism of the early seasons has dulled, and, as the league bids farewell to its first decade, the pragmatism of middle age has replaced it. The aspiration for the PSL to become a global glamour brand never seemed tenable, but it has carved its way into Pakistan’s cultural identity. No one is pretending it will compete for international eyeballs while games clash directly with the IPL, but there is a recognition Pakistan was never doing this for anyone else, just for Pakistan.And a decade leaves memories Pakistan fans may cling to as a crutch in these unhappy times. Lahore’s overwhelming gratitude when Daren Sammy’s million-dollar smile lit up the Gaddafi Stadium for the first time in 2017 remains one of cricket’s most iconic recent days. So were Kings’ dismantling of arch-nemesis Lahore Qalandars at the National Stadium, Lahore’s emotions overflowing when they went back-to-back after years of propping up the table.It is perhaps the purest and least problematic fun to be had in Pakistan, something cricket fans may want more of, not less, as the international side recedes in relevance at the top end of the global game. Qalandars will take on Islamabad United – two sides as diametrically opposed as you’ll find anywhere in the franchise game – on the opening day. Perhaps, Kings have finally got it right this time under David Warner. Maybe Sultans will stop losing finals. None of it will make a cosmic difference large enough to suggest any inspiration from the brilliance of the universe. It is, after all, everyone’s ” X”. Not a bad way to end a decade.

England have been nowhere near India all series, and the way they have been outplayed in the middle overs has a lot to do with it

Sidharth Monga12-Feb-2025During the last ODI of a dismal tour for England, commentators Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen made stinging criticism of their attitude based on non-facts. With another team, there would have been outrage from fans, and possibly cricketers themselves. There wasn’t any here possibly because England’s performance through the series has suggested a team that has not been in the nets at all.So any achievement against such a team has to be taken with caution, but India have displayed here a new brand of ODI cricket they want to play. Every change in leadership brings new ideas, and this transition from Rahul Dravid to Gautam Gambhir suggests India want to make middle overs the point of difference.If you break this series down, the two sides have been quite close to each other during the first powerplay. India scored 200 runs and lost three wickets in the three first powerplays, while England scored 236 and lost two extra wickets. The death overs were not even relevant because India killed all three games off in the middle overs. India took more wickets in fewer balls while being more economical in the middle overs.ESPNcricinfo LtdEven as a captain, Gambhir had a liking for spin. In one series that he captained India in, Gambhir used R Ashwin for the batting powerplay overs back when batting teams could choose a set of five overs at any time from overs 11 to 40 as a powerplay. At Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), he used spin liberally. His stamp is all over India’s move from a 4-2 attack to a 3-3 attack. And, at least one of those spinners has to be a point-of-difference spinner in either Kuldeep Yadav or Varun Chakravarthy.This plan is fit for purpose till at least the Champions Trophy 2025 after which there might be a reset in order as the ODI World Cup 2027 will be played in different conditions in South Africa. It has also resulted in a last-minute change to the squad for the Champions Trophy with India foregoing a reserve batter for the mystery spin of Varun.”The only reason was, we wanted another wicket-taking option in the middle,” Gambhir said of the late change. “And we know what Varun brings to the table. We know that Varun can be a massive threat with a lot of teams who haven’t played him. He could be an x-factor as well. I’m not going to say that he’s going to start, and all that stuff, but it’s always good to have a strong bowl line-up because we know that if we can actually get those wickets in the middle, it’s always going to be an advantage. Otherwise, we know that Yashasvi Jaiswal has got a fabulous future ahead. It’s just that we could only pick 15.”Gautam Gambhir interacts with Rohit Sharma at the training session•Associated PressEven with the specialist fast bowlers, in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, India have trusted someone who is best suited for the middle overs. Harshit Rana is tall, bowls hard lengths, and thus extracts unevenness from surfaces. He has replaced in India’s plans Prasidh Krishna, who unfortunately was often unfit when he would have got his chances. Rana is also a better batter.”If you try to manage and squeeze in wickets in those middle overs, it gives you a chance to not worry so much about the death overs,” Rohit Sharma said after the second match. “When you look at this format, people talk about up front and the death, but the middle overs are very very crucial. That is where we squeezed in, took wickets in the middle. That’s how you stop the run-scoring.”Related

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With the bat too, especially in chases, the onus seems to be on finishing games early as opposed to taking them deep. That translates to continued impetus during the middle overs. Shreyas Iyer responded to crisis with a counterattack in the first match, Rohit killed the second one off, and Virat Kohli, who usually drops anchor, showed intent to sweep and hit sixes against offspin when batting first in the third ODI.Again, as a batter, Gambhir never wanted chases to go into the final few overs, which can be a bit of a lottery. That and MS Dhoni’s were the two different schools of chasing that co-existed in India’s limited-overs sides for a while. Gambhir once even said in a press conference that a match that Dhoni tied should never have gone to the last over.Of course, it will not always be this easy. You can’t have your way with every team. England were especially ordinary against spin, failing to score at five an over without taking risks. The versatility of India’s personnel and their strategies will be tested when they come up against stronger opposition, but you can see what India are thinking: use resources other teams don’t usually come up against and you have plenty of.

Who are the players unavailable? And what have been the key takeaways?

Hemant Brar28-May-20253:45

Moody: ‘A clear gap’ in GT’s middle order

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Players unavailable for playoffs: Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Lungi NgidiReplacements: Mayank Agarwal, Tim Seifert, Blessing MuzarabaniKey takeaway: Tim David sat out of RCB’s last league game with a hamstring injury and remains “a work in progress”, according to team mentor and batting coach Dinesh Karthik. Among those who have scored at least 100 runs this season, David has the sixth-highest strike rate (185.14). If he stays unavailable, it will rob RCB of the lower-middle-order firepower. Can Liam Livingstone, who has a strike rate of 126.08 this season, up his game in David’s absence?On the bright side, Josh Hazlewood is likely to be available for Qualifier 1. He has been outstanding both in the powerplay and at the death. RCB’s flawless away record this season – seven wins in seven matches – should also boost their confidence.Related

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• GT bowlers 'losing form at the wrong time'

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Likely best XII: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Tim David/Liam Livingstone, 8 Romario Shephard, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Yash Dayal, 11 Josh Hazlewood, 12 Suyash Sharma

Gujarat Titans

Players unavailable for playoffs: Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Glenn PhillipsReplacements: Kusal Mendis, Dasun ShanakaKey takeaway: Shubman Gill, B Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler have scored almost 73% of GT’s bat runs. Therefore, Buttler’s unavailability leaves a massive hole for Kusal Mendis to fill. Another concern for GT is Rashid Khan’s form. No matter what parameter you look at – average, strike rate or economy – he is having his worst IPL season. In 14 games, he has picked up just nine wickets at an economy rate of 9.47. He has been hit for 31 sixes, the joint-most for any bowler in an IPL season.Likely best XII: 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Kusal Mendis (wk), 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 M Shahrukh Khan, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Gerald Coetzee, 9 Arshad Khan, 10 R Sai Kishore, 11 Mohammed Siraj, 12 Prasidh KrishnaPunjab Kings sealed their top-two spot with a win against MI•Associated Press

Punjab Kings

Players unavailable for playoffs: Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell, Lockie FergusonReplacements: Kyle Jamieson, Mitchell OwenKey takeaway: PBKS’ biggest strength this season has been their Indian core, be it in the batting department or bowling. That said, Marco Jansen’s absence will take away some sting from their bowling and lower-order batting. Can Kyle Jamieson step into those shoes? Yuzvendra Chahal missed the last two league games because of an issue with his right wrist but he is expected to be available for the playoffs.Likely best XII: 1 Priyansh Arya, 2 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 3 Josh Inglis, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Nehal Wadhera, 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Azmatullah Omarzai, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Harpreet Brar, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yuzvendra Chahal

Mumbai Indians

Players unavailable for playoffs: Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton, Corbin Bosch, Vignesh PuthurReplacements: Jonny Bairstow, Charith Asalanka, Richard Gleeson, Raghu SharmaKey takeaway: Despite losing two of their last three games, MI remain a formidable unit. Moreover, Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks’ unavailability should not affect them much. Jonny Bairstow can replace Rickelton at the top of the order and behind the stumps. To cover up for Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav can move up to No. 3 and one of Charith Asalanka and Bevon Jacobs can slot in the middle order. Asalanka can also chip in with his offspin if required.Likely best XII: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Charith Asalanka/Bevon Jacobs, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Naman Dhir, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Karn Sharma

Member of the last successful men’s Ashes tour reflects on the harsh lessons he learned down under

Vithushan Ehantharajah12-Nov-2025Steven Finn knows what it is like to find yourself in the goldfish bowl of an Ashes tour. The parochial crowds, the unrelenting media circus. Even the barbs of a single Western Australian punter stick with you.”We were playing this warm-up game in Perth, England versus Western Australia in the 2010-11 Ashes, and there was this one fella sledging us the whole time,” Finn tells ESPNcricinfo. “He was one of the few spectators in.”I didn’t bowl particularly well, and he singled me out for stick, screaming and shouting, telling us it was a long summer and that we were going to get pumped.”During the third Test in Perth at the WACA, I took wickets but didn’t bowl particularly well. We got [Mitchell] Johnson-ed in that game. And there he was again, still going.”I’d go down to fine leg and he’d be screaming: ‘you were rubbish then and you’re rubbish now’. I got Phil Hughes out in the second innings, caught in the slips by Colly [Paul Collingwood] and gave him a big shush.”Related

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It remains, to Finn’s mind, the only time he had reacted to someone in the crowd like that. “I imagine he’ll be waiting for me to tell me I’m a rubbish broadcaster in the first Test this time around.”It is 15 years since England’s last series victory in Australia, when Finn kept a daily tour diary. Though a diligent note taker, it was the first time he had regularly documented his thoughts, something which he reprised on the 2013-14 tour. “The Ashes is just that bit different to any other cricket you play as an English player. The fact that I only kept diaries on those tours is probably a nod towards that as well.”They were, on the face of it, contrasting series. England left Australia with the urn for the first time since 1986-87, and then returned to suffer an ignominious 5-0 defeat. For Finn, however, both were about unique struggles of mind and body.Having taken 14 wickets at 33.14 in the first three Tests of 2010-11, he was benched for Tim Bresnan. Unused in 2013-14, lost in his own battles with his bowling, one-day coach Ashley Giles sent him home from the limited-overs series that followed deeming him “not selectable”.As such, Finn’s autobiography , which leans on both diaries – and is cowritten by ESPNcricinfo’s Matt Roller – is about a 36-capped Test fast bowler revisiting those moments introspectively. A very personal journey back in time led by the Ghost of Ashes past.

“If I was back in that moment again, I would say to myself, even though I’d been dropped for those last two games, soak this up and embrace enjoying what you’ve achieved here and what the team’s achieved because it’s monumental”Steven Finn on memories of 2010-11

Finn ranks himself as his own worst critic, even now as a commentator and pundit for both BBC and TNT, who he will be working for this winter. “The way that my mind works, I’m very good at focusing on the things that I’m not doing well and that I’m not very good at. If I’m broadcasting and I stumble on one word I don’t quite make my point as succinctly as I’d like to.”He was especially unkind to himself both as a 21-year-old on that maiden Ashes tour, and at 24, in an unforgiving environment, succumbing to tears in the dressing room as he lost his love for the game. With the benefit of experience and hindsight, how would Finn, 36, have dealt his younger selves?”I think in ’10-11 I’d have tried to help myself see the bigger picture. I was really disappointed that I didn’t play the fourth and fifth Test, so I maybe didn’t feel as much a part of the team at that stage of the series.”When I look back on it now 15 years later, I’m so proud that I played three Tests in that series because we won the Ashes away for the first time in a long time. And it was the right decision by the way – to bring Bresnan in, he bowled amazingly. But if I was back in that moment again, I would say to myself, even though I’d been dropped for those last two games, soak this up and embrace enjoying what you’ve achieved here and what the team’s achieved because it’s monumental.”In 2013-14, I would encourage myself to take a step back, allow yourself to be removed from everything that you’re doing. Being so focused on trying your hardest, chasing something the whole time – it meant that all my bad habits and all my intrusive thoughts just compounded across that tour. I’d say to myself, it’s okay to just take a small step back and try and remember the good things that you’re doing as opposed to always remembering the bad things.”Finn has become a respected broadcaster post playing career•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesIt would take Finn a year to get back to his best. The labour of building himself back up with the help of his then Middlesex bowling coach Richard Johnson allowing him to return in the home 2015 Ashes. He took eight wickets in his comeback at Edgbaston, including 6 for 79 in the second innings, leading to 12 in the series at 22.50.Liberated by comfort, encouraged by those around him, it was no surprise he was back in the groove. Nor that he regards the current environment of the England Test team cultivated by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum as one he would have thrived in.To that end, he sees parallels with his 2010-11 cohort and what this current set-up are looking to achieve when the first Ashes Test kicks off in Perth next week.”I think in 2010-11, and I reflect on it in the book, we went there and when you get off the plane, scrub your boots, get cameras in your face and it’s like, ‘oh my God, you’re gonna get hammered, you’re gonna get battered, we’re gonna smash you five-nil!’ But then when you stand up to Australia in that moment and push back like we did in the second innings of that first Test in Brisbane… it would’ve been easy for us to fall like a pack of cards and then we’re off on that negative cycle again. But in that second innings, we broke the cycle by puffing our chest out.”Collectively as a team, we stood there, and said, ‘we’re going nowhere’. We were clearly a fantastic team, but we looked to embrace being in Australia. We didn’t hide away; we’d go to restaurants, we’d go to a bar and have a drink. We just embraced being there and being in what is an amazing country. It’s the best tour.”I think that this England, led by Ben Stokes, will have that attitude going into this series. Even if Australia do try and blow the house down, I don’t think England will let it fall. I think they’ll have the mentality to come back from those tough moments within games, which is not something that we can say of the teams that have toured there since 2010-11.” by Steven Finn (Orion Publishing Co) is available to buy now geni.us/AshesFiles

In years past, Arsenal fans would have to watch an England team full of players from Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.

It was a damming indictment of where the club was at that time, but over the last four or five years, things have changed.

It’s not unusual to see three or four of Mikel Arteta’s players in the Three Lions squad these days, and few from the white side of North London, which might explain the team’s uptick in quality and performances.

Thursday was another example of how important Arsenal have become for the national team, with Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze scoring the goals and Declan Rice marshalling the midfield.

There is no sign of this relationship between club and country slowing down either, especially as Hale End could be brewing England’s next superstar, who could follow in the footsteps of Rice and Saka.

Rice and Saka's England careers

So, while Arsenal fans would love to take the credit for moulding Rice into one of England’s most important players, West Ham United should get more of the credit.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

After all, he made his debut for the Three Lions in 2019, while playing for the East Londoners, and was still a Hammer for the Euros in 2021 and the World Cup the following year.

However, he has arguably become more instrumental to the national side since his move to the Emirates, and wore the captain’s armband for the first time in March 2024.

So far, the all-action midfielder has won 71 senior caps for England, in which he’s scored six goals and provided six assists and nine of those goal involvements have come since his £105m in the summer of 2023.

Now, an England star Arsenal can take full credit for is, of course, Saka, who is Hale End’s greatest product in a generation.

The 24-year-old made his debut for the national team against Wales in October 2020 and has since gone on to amass an impressive tally of 47 caps, in which he has scored 14 goals, provided nine assists and been named England’s Player of the Year twice in succession.

Moreover, he has played a significant role for the country in every major tournament since, despite receiving horrific abuse after the 2021 Euros final.

In all, so long as they remain fit, Rice and Saka should, and will, be two of the first names on Thomas Tuchel’s teamsheet at the World Cup, and in a few years, they could be joined by another Arsenal star, someone who could even surpass them in importance.

Arsenal's next England star

While the likes of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly are surely going to become regular starters for England, the Hale End gem who could well become a superstar for Tuchel and Co is Max Dowman.

Despite still being just 15 years old, the teenager has been one of the most talked-about players at Arsenal this season, although for those in the know, he has been a subject of interest for longer than that.

For example, in September of last year, respected talent scout Jacek Kulig boldly proclaimed him as the “most exciting prospect” he had seen “since Lamine Yamal.”

As if that wasn’t praise enough, just a couple of months later, Hale End expert Will Balsam called him “the biggest talent in England” and described him as “one of the greatest footballing brains that’s ever come through Hale End.”

Now, while that all sounds somewhat hyperbolic, and perhaps to an extent it is, it’s not hard to see where they were coming from, considering he was just 14 at the time and destroying defenders in the U18S and even the U21S that season.

For example, he ended last season with a tally of 19 goals and five assists in 23 appearances, totalling 1945 minutes, which comes out to an average of 1.04 goal involvements per match, or one every 81.04 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, this saw him included in the club’s pre-season tour, where he made his first appearance in front of the fans against a physical Newcastle United side, but instead of shying away, he, in the words of analyst Ben Mattinson, started “humiliating Premier League players.”

Since then, he has made his Premier League debut, become the youngest ever starter for Arsenal, and broke the record as the youngest player in Champions League history.

In other words, the Hale Ender is looking like a generational talent, and he’s already making his impact felt on the international scene as well.

Even though he’s not turning 16 until New Year’s Eve, the Chelmsford-born gem is already a regular feature for England’s U19S, making six appearances for them, in which he’s scored one goal and provided two assists.

With his incredible performances, it feels like a matter of when, not if, he is handed his first senior England cap.

Ultimately, Saka and Rice are currently two of England’s most important players, but in a few years from now, Dowman could be up there with them, if not more important.

Carragher gave Arsenal star a grilling last season, now he's undroppable

The international star has rediscovered his form for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal this season.

By
Jack Salveson Holmes

Nov 14, 2025

Pep Guardiola has been backed to see out the remainder of his Manchester City contract despite talk of him leaving the club next summer. The former Barcelona boss signed a new deal until 2027 at the end of last year but new reports claim he may leave the Etihad early. Now, an ex-City star has poured cold water on such speculation, while outlining why Guardiola is a better tactician than Arsenal's Mikel Arteta.

• Guardiola plans to stop after Man City

  In late July, Guardiola was quizzed about his City future, despite him having two years left on his deal. 

  He told GQ Hype: "I know that after this stage with City I'm going to stop, that's for sure, it's decided, more than decided. I'm going to leave after this stage with City, because I need to stop and focus on myself, on my body."

  In October, he quipped that he will "think" about a break in 2035, but jokes aside, the former midfielder is focusing on tasting success this season.

  "At the moment, I think I have the energy with my players to simply make a better season than last season. This is my target. I am never sitting here at the start of November and December and going to say we are going to win this or that," he said. "I see things that we are doing much better than last season and in every game, we are a little bit better. There is the margin that we can do better in many aspects and that gives me the energy that it's not job done. It's completely unfinished business. That's why I am here."

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  Guardiola 'enjoying this rebuild'

  Earlier this week, The Times reported that Guardiola was considering stepping away from the Citizens at the end of the campaign. But ex-player Paul Dickov cannot see that happening, especially as his side have their tails up once more after overseeing big changes in his squad. Moreover, the ex-Bayern Munich coach said he feels "the energy is back" at City following his 1000th game as a manager, which ended in a 3-0 win over Liverpool.

  He told Best Betting Bonuses, "He signed on for this season and next, and few people expected that. So I think he’ll do that, at least. Looking at Pep, even in the Club World Cup in the summer and the beginning of the season, he looks as enthusiastic and as driven as he was when he first came to the club. I think he's really enjoying this rebuild, getting these new players in, and getting them to play how he wants them to. They’re improving all the time. I'm not saying it looks like he's got his mojo back. I don't think that ever left, but he looks as fresh and as driven as he was from the first day he walked in the club, which is fantastic for everyone associated with Man City Football Club. Because it's not just the team. The atmosphere around the training ground, the staff, it's just a fantastic place to go into. Pep creates that environment for them all to do the best they can all the time." 

• Guardiola backed over Arteta

  Despite Arsenal sitting four points clear of City at the top of the Premier League table, Dickov thinks that Guardiola is still the best in the business in terms of coaching.

  He added, "Obviously, with my blue-tinted glasses on, I still think he's the best. I think he showed that in the game against Liverpool. City with and without the ball tactically were so much better than Liverpool. I think Pep looked at the midfield with the three that they have in it and they tweaked it a little bit. Rayan Cherki coming in from the right, Nunes pushing right on the wingers, with Nico O’Reilly and Jeremy Doku on the left, the players were coming off the line and the Liverpool players could not work out how they were getting outnumbered in the middle of the pitch. I just thought it was a tactical master class from Pep yesterday. A lot of people are saying that Pep's plan A is playing out from the back. He's showing this season that at times we need to go longer to [Erling] Haaland and go from there, that’s what we’ll do. But I thought yesterday the players – the players have got to go out there and execute the plan as well as they can – deserve credit. I thought from a tactical point of view, I thought it was top, top class and it shows that Pep still got it.

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  Guardiola to switch up tactics?

  This season in particular, Premier League sides have utilised the long throw with good effect. It appears the English top-flight is, once again, valuing the importance of set pieces but Dickov doesn't think Guardiola's side will follow suit. 

  "I don't think they've got anybody that can throw it that far, actually. Otherwise I'm pretty sure that they would have looked at it, because the one thing Pep does is make sure there's no stone unturned in what he does and the detail that he does. I think City is the only club that's not used long throws at all this season. I'm pretty sure if he thought it was going to benefit the team, he’d do it," he said. "But Pep does like to control the ball. The long throw-ins are great, but you've got to make sure that if you don't get the first contact, you've got to pick up the second balls. He might see that as a way of losing possession, and losing control of the game. So maybe that's another reason why he's not done it, because he loves his teams to have the ball. He loves to be in control of the game and sometimes with long throws, it can disrupt that a little bit."