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The 2022 winners and 2023 runners-up struggled throughout this season

Shashank Kishore16-May-20242:37

Aaron: Sai Sudharsan among the keys to GT’s rebuild

Gujarat Titans made a stunning run to the title in 2022 and were within a ball of defending their crown in 2023, but this season has been disappointing. After topping the group stages in the first two years, they enter the final game having already been knocked out.Was their slump down to a change of guard with their captain Hardik Pandya leaving? Have they missed Mohammed Shami? Did Shubman Gill’s form last year hide their struggles, which were amplified even more by his patchy form this time?The ripple effect of Gill’s formWhen Gill walloped a 50-ball century against Chennai Super Kings, he celebrated it with a gesture that seemed like a release of the pent-up frustration.He started the season with promise, hitting 255 runs in his first six games at a strike rate of 151.78, but form deserted him midway through. His next five, until he broke the run drought with a century, brought just 67 runs at just about a run a ball.This was in sharp contrast to last year when he made 890 runs and three hundreds. In six of the seven innings he passed fifty, he struck at over 160. His consistency, jaw-dropping strokeplay, and transformed six-hitting game – Gill’s 33 sixes were the third-most – meant him not being in India’s T20 plans was inconceivable.How times change.Gill’s mixed returns this time had a ripple effect on GT’s top order as they were the worst team in the powerplay (run rate 7.23). It didn’t help that Wriddhiman Saha, who gave them a jumpstart more often than not last year when he made 371 runs, also battled wretched form.It has been a mixed season for Shubman Gill•BCCIHis average of 15.11 this season is the lowest among all openers who have played at least nine innings in the powerplay. Saha’s absence for the CSK game led to Sai Sudharsan opening the innings, instead of playing at No. 3.Unlike Gill and Saha, Sudharsan has been consistently among the top run-getters this season, but he has been challenged in the powerplay, especially against pace. His strike rate of 114 in this phase was the lowest among batters with nine innings.Sudharsan, like Gill, upped his game by several notches in their win over CSK by hitting 103 off 51 balls. From being stuck at 28 off 23 in the powerplay, he managed a sensational acceleration through the middle overs – another bugbear for GT (they were also the slowest through that phase until this game) – helped tide over the slow start.While Sudharsan has topped 500 runs, there will be conversations around his powerplay game – something he acknowledged was a work in progress – when GT do their post-mortem.The middle-order muddleHardik hit the high notes in their first two seasons as a batter, often pushing himself to No. 4 to absorb pressure and allow the trio of David Miller, Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan to finish. He made 487 runs in 2022 and 346 in 2023. But in his absence, GT struggled to find the right balance.David Miller wasn’t at his best this time•AFP/Getty ImagesLast year, Vijay Shankar batted in ten innings for them in the middle order, hitting 301 runs. This time, he struggled for form before losing his place halfway through the season. Shahrukh Khan, a big auction pick, came into the mix only when they were already on a downward spiral.Azmatullah Omarzai, brought in to lend balance as an allrounder, didn’t have the kind of batting impact they would’ve hoped for; his four innings brought just 42 runs.Miller was given a bigger middle-order role, but he managed just one half-century this season; his struggles, particularly through the middle overs – he struck at just 123, were revealing. Tewatia, too, found it increasingly hard to force the pace, striking at 77 in the middle phase.All that accumulation in the middle didn’t translate into a big finish either and GT found themselves ranked ninth in the death overs. Being significantly behind the rest of the teams across all batting phases left their bowlers with too much to do.Of course, some of the imbalance in their XI (or XII) was down to injuries, too. Robin Minz’s absence – he’s a big-hitting wicketkeeper-batter – forced them to stick with Saha as an opener, while BR Sharath, Minz’s injury replacement, played all of one game. In all, GT used 23 players, the most by a team this season.The Shami factorShami’s hard length and pronounced seam movement was too hot to handle last year. His 17 powerplay wickets – the highest for a bowler in an IPL season – at an average of 19.41 and economy of 7.5 proved menacing. But a longer-than-usual recovery period from an ankle injury ruled him out for this season.This meant GT had to shuffle around their options, including trying Mohit Sharma, their designated death-overs bowler, in the powerplay. Sandeep Warrier, Shami’s replacement, briefly sparkled while Umesh Yadav had a stop-start season. Spencer Johnson, among their costliest auction signing, found no swing either and was taken for plenty.Mohammed Shami’s absence and Rashid Khan’s poor form hurt Gujarat Titans•AFP/Getty ImagesAll told, it is perhaps Mohit’s tailing off in the death overs that hit them hard. The side with the best death-overs economy last year, thanks in no small part to Mohit, was now being taken for plenty in the same phase.Having picked up eight wickets in his first six games at an economy of 9.39, including match-winning spells against Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mohit endured a mid-season slump. This included being carted for 73 in four wicketless overs – the most expensive figures in the IPL – against Delhi Capitals. While he returned to make an impact with 3 for 31 against CSK, their playoff chances were all but over.Rashid’s lack of biteWickets haven’t come as frequently as Rashid would’ve liked; he has picked up 12 wickets in ten matches so far this season. It’s also perhaps a sign of teams being more adventurous, with the Impact Player rule giving them more batting depth, that Rashid’s economy of 8.30 in the last two seasons is much higher than his economy of 6.59 when they won in 2022.Four times this season, the most in his IPL career, Rashid has had an economy of ten or more in a match. Also, for the first time since his IPL debut in 2017, Rashid has been wicketless in three consecutive games. Rashid has himself spoken about how a back surgery prior to the season has had its aftereffects on him.”It did initially in the first few games,” he told the . “Like, when I was bowling my wrong’un, it wasn’t going how it should, because for that I have to use my back more than for legspin. I had that nagging doubt at the back of my mind, so even if there was a bit of stiffness in my back, I would get scared.”These persistent injury woes have had a trickle-down effect on his execution, which seemed pronounced when Will Jacks hit him for 29 runs, including four sixes, in an over to help RCB to an easy win in Ahmedabad.

The two matches which begin in late January are shaping as a potential decider in the race for the World Test Championship final

Alex Malcolm29-Oct-2024With Todd Murphy and Corey Rocchiccioli about to audition with Australia A for a berth on the Sri Lanka Test tour in January, former Test spinner Steve O’Keefe is urging Cricket Australia to pull spin candidates out of the BBL as early as possible to prepare for the series while the window for the Test players’ involvement in the league could narrow even further if the series dates are earlier than expected.While the immediate focus is on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the associated tussle for a top-order batting slot, Australia’s selectors already have Sri Lanka in mind. The two-Test series could be vital to their World Test Championship final hopes, particularly after India’s defeat at home to New Zealand.Murphy and Rocchiccioli are getting an early chance to book a spot with the two Australia A matches against India A in Mackay and Melbourne. The pair will play one game each and when each offspinner doesn’t feature they will each spend time with Australia’s ODI squad to work one-on-one with bowling coach and former New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori.Related

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Australia had thought the first Sri Lanka Test might begin on January 29 but there is a possibility it could start as early as January 26 with the dates still being finalised between the two boards. It is understood the hierarchy wants a 10-day preparation period for overseas Test tours and could fly to the UAE or Oman for a pre-series camp. If the first Test were to start on January 26, it would mean the Australia tourists could be pulled out of the BBL by January 15.Murphy plays for Sydney Sixers and another contender, Matt Kuhnemann, is a key part of Brisbane Heat’s attack. Rocchiccioli does not currently have a BBL deal but was with Melbourne Stars last season and could yet be picked up.Regardless of exact tour dates and who is selected, O’Keefe believes early red-ball preparation is vital. He cited his own experience in India in February 2017 as an example of how important it was to have a long red-ball lead-in. O’Keefe opted not to play in the BBL at all after playing the Sydney Test. His decision to spend six straight weeks bowling with a red ball before the first Test in India paid huge dividends as he bagged 12 for 70 in Pune.”I pulled out of the last six games of the Big Bash that season because I just said, no, this is not the way that I’m going to be bowling over there,” O’Keefe told ESPNcricinfo. “And I copped a bit of criticism. I remember a couple of coaches coming out saying, well, you’re going to get slogged in India you may as well practice in the Big Bash.”I deliberately took that time off, went and played grade cricket, played a Second XI game just to get used to bowling with the red ball. I think if we’re really going to be serious about the young spinners going over there, whoever is going to accompany Nathan [Lyon], is the Big Bash the best preparation?”I’d be encouraging the selectors to let these spinners be going earlier and then I’d be encouraging those spinners to practice with a red ball in between Big Bash games.”It’s two completely different ways of bowling. In essence, sometimes in Big Bash cricket you’re bowling your six worst deliveries to a batter, and then you’re going to be seven to ten days later asked to be landing it on a tea towel for 40 overs straight.”It’s a change for batters as well. The way that you mitigate that is muscle memory, and you need to practice it.”The BBL planned for a clear window for Australia’s Test players to feature between the end of the five-Test India series, which finishes on January 7, and the start of the Sri Lanka series. However, there were already concerns within CA’s high-performance unit about the Test players involvement given their workloads coming out of what is expected to be a gruelling series. There is also concern about the physical and technical preparation for Sri Lanka, with both Tests likely to be played on sharp-turning pitches in Galle.Matthew Kuhnemann is one of the few left-arm options for Australia•Getty ImagesAustralia have recent experience of how difficult it can be for a spinner to prepare for a subcontinent tour while playing in the BBL. In 2023, Ashton Agar played the New Year’s Test against South Africa before returning to play five games for Perth Scorchers. He then had just 19 days, including a camp in Sydney and another in Bengaluru, to prepare for a Test series in India and was unable to find the consistency required to be selected before being flown home. Australia brought Kuhnemann over at short notice, but he had at least bowled 44 overs in a Sheffield Shield game after the BBL before making his Test debut.”It’s tough, because you’re coming out of Big Bash which is bowling cross-seam, cut shots and yorkers, and leg stump [line] into I need to land the ball on a similar spot consistently and allow the wicket to do the work for me,” O’Keefe said.”In Australia, we’re looking for overspin, because it’s a different game. Over there you need to be able to bowl that square spinner, which if doesn’t spin it hits a shiny side, slides on and you get an lbw. But that same ball can hit the same spot and then spin past the outside edge of a right-hand batter [for a left-arm orthodox]. Is that easy to do? I think it takes a bit of practice. But knowing what Matt bowls, and watching him bowl, I think he’s already got it in his armoury. I think Todd Murphy’s got it in his armoury.”I’ve watched Corey bowl. I think he’s got it as well. But you need to go and bowl a lot of it over there. So the preparation that these guys will have hopefully is a month, but I reckon you need a couple of weeks of going over and consistently bowling it. In Australia, you might bowl it once every two overs, over there you’ve got be bowling it 10 times out of 12 balls.”The selectors are investing in Cooper Connolly for his bowling as well as his batting•Getty ImagesThe selectors haven’t picked a specialist left-arm orthodox against India A although Cooper Connolly will play as an allrounder. The value of a left-armer in those conditions has been highlighted by the success of Mitchell Santner against India last week and Prabath Jayasuriya both against New Zealand in September, and Australia in 2022 when he took 12 wickets on Test debut to square the series 1-1.Australia did not take a left-arm orthodox spinner to Sri Lanka in 2022 with legspinner Mitchell Swepson partnering Lyon alongside two quicks, with the support of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne.Chair of selectors George Bailey spoke on Monday of his panel’s desire to find players who bowl left-arm fingerspin for future subcontinent tours.”Happy to very much publicly throw it out there that it’s an incredible skill set in the subcontinent,” he said. “We’ve seen that for many years. Realistically, there’s not a huge amount of players in domestic cricket at the moment that are doing it. It’s something that we’re looking to continue to expose. It’s certainly one of the reasons why we’re excited about Cooper Connolly and his journey.”It’s still very much a work in progress with his left-arm spin. But [beyond] Matt Kuhnemann, Ash Agar, there’s just not a great many players who can do it. We know we’re going to have plenty of subcontinent tours, plenty of Tests where that skill set would be highly desirable. So [we] encourage anyone who’s got that up their sleeve to work hard at it.”

With Shakib and Mahmudullah retiring, Bangladesh need to find a way to keep up with the curve in the shortest format

Mohammad Isam11-Oct-2024Find a replacement for ShakibWell, it’s near impossible to do as much as Shakib did. He is their most skilled bowler in the format, apart from being a middle-order mainstay. Not to mention the experience and cricket nous. Bangladesh currently don’t have a middle-order batter who can bowl four overs – not many teams do.Mehidy Hasan Miraz has played T20Is as a batting allrounder, batting lower down the order and bowling a few overs. But Mehidy’s bowling isn’t suited to T20s, so going into Bangladesh’s next T20I assignments, they will need two cricketers to replace Shakib. And even that is easier said than done.ESPNcricinfo LtdRethink the Mahmudullah roleIn his T20I retirement announcement, Mahmudullah named a few batters who could potentially replace him, but Bangladesh might as well rethink their whole middle-order line-up.They have to find cricketers who can tackle the modern needs of T20 batting. This is one area where Bangladesh haven’t moved fast at all. Mahmudullah was definitely their first batter who changed his game to suit the requirement of batting from overs 14 to 20, but even that style of batting is fast looking outdated – when at his best, between 2016 and 2019, Mahmudullah raised his strike rate from 103.78 to 132.33, but it came down to 110.20 in the last four years.How quickly can Bangladesh find the right player? They don’t play a lot of domestic T20s, and the BCB is usually reluctant to give NOCs for overseas leagues.Rony Talukdar had a good time in T20Is but wasn’t persisted with•AFP/Getty ImagesWhere is the next Tamim?Bangladesh have employed 17 different openers since Tamim’s last T20I, in March 2020. He announced his retirement in 2022, having already taken a break from the format in the previous year so that Mohammad Naim and Litton Das could settle in. It didn’t work, as Bangladesh have rotated their openers with Litton being the only constant.Only Rony Talukdar stood out in 2023, when he had a strike rate of 141.95 in nine innings, but he wasn’t given a longer rope. Tanzid Hasan and Parvez Hossain Emon are the current openers alongside Litton, who is also struggling in India. Interestingly, Tamim himself remains the only performing opener in the country, finishing the last BPL as the highest run-getter even as he led Fortune Barishal to their maiden title.Towhid Hridoy has shown what he can do in the middle order•Getty ImagesHridoy steps into Mushfiqur’s roleWhen Mushfiqur retired from T20Is two years ago, Towhid Hridoy made an impressive entry into the side. He had a strong BPL season, and followed it up with quick runs batting mostly at No. 4 – Mushfiqur’s preferred batting position throughout his T20I career. It was the ideal handover between two batters, but the Bangladesh team management moved Hridoy around so much in the ODI side that he appears to have lost his T20 mojo too.Hridoy’s shot-making is proof that if given his own place in the middle order – ideally No. 4 – he can add stability to what is often a shaky batting order, but also take his innings deep. It took Mushfiqur years to fathom this role in T20Is. Hridoy might not need that long, but the team management needs to get the plan right.Tanzim Hasan has become Bangladesh’s perfect third seamer in T20Is•ICC/Getty ImagesMashrafe replaced as bowler, not as captainBangladesh’s fast bowlers have become match-winners in the last three years. They have adjusted well to the three formats, with Mustafizur Rahman considered their best T20 bowler of all time. Taskin Ahmed has also grown in leaps and bounds, while Tanzim Hasan has acted as the perfect third seamer, particularly in helpful conditions.So Bangladesh have succeeded in replacing Mashrafe – who retired from T20Is seven years ago – the fast bowler. But they haven’t found a captain as good as Mashrafe. Najmul. Hossain Shanto is clearly struggling in T20Is. He is a new, and young, captain, and has been given charge of all three teams. Splitting up the captaincy looks like a viable option, but they need someone who commands the dressing room’s full respect. If they can find that person, maybe they will also get back Shanto the batter at his best.

Zimbabwe’s towering fast-bowling totem talks about his recent form, taking on Bazball and the chance to make history

Alan Gardner19-May-2025Blessing Muzarabani smiles a lot. He smiles when asked about the UK weather, which he knows well from two seasons as a Kolpak signing with Northamptonshire. He smiles when talking about the prospect of bowling to England’s little-and-large opening pair, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley. He smiles when we come to the question of his own height, which ESPNcricinfo has wrongly recorded as 6ft 6in. “I’m six foot eight, actually,” he grins.Does he enjoy using that towering advantage to intimidate batters? Another smile. “My greatest weapon is my height,” he says, before alluding to the temptation to pitch the ball short: “Sometimes I get carried away.” You can’t imagine that Curtly Ambrose or Courtney Walsh, two of the fast bowlers that Muzarabani modelled himself on growing up, would admit quite so readily to overdoing it.But Muzarabani is used to having to go about things differently. Zimbabwe do not have a great fast-bowling lineage to call on, in the way West Indies do. Muzarabani has had to travel the world to learn his trade, from a gangly youth at the Takashinga Club in Harare, via his time in Northampton – one of the least-glamorous stops on England’s county circuit – to proving himself in Test venues as far flung as Bulawayo and Belfast, Abu Dhabi and Sylhet.Related

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The fruits of those labours are beginning to appear. Across four Test appearances in 2025, Muzarabani has taken 26 wickets at 18.61 – more than half of his career tally of 51. In the first three of those matches, he claimed innings figures of 6 for 95 (against Afghanistan in Bulawayo), 7 for 58 (against Ireland in Bulawayo) and 6 for 73 (against Bangladesh in Sylhet), making him the first pace bowler to take hauls of six-plus wickets in three consecutive Tests since Malcolm Marshall in 1988. The only other quicks to achieve the feat are Imran Khan and, in the 19th century, George Lohmann and Tom Richardson.Although that run came to an end in Chattogram, Muzarabani has already shot up to eighth on the all-time list for Zimbabwe. With another seven Tests scheduled in a bumper calendar year, he could well catch Ray Price (80) and end it behind only the peerless Heath Streak (216) for his country. Becoming only the second Zimbabwean to take 100 Test wickets is a realistic goal.”Yes, that’s a great thing,” he says. “Because I feel like Test wickets are really hard to get, actually, so getting 100 wickets is a big achievement for any fast bowler. That would be really special. I’m working through my processes and everything that happens, of course, we work hard to make sure those things happen. But, as well, I’m not really looking at wickets.”Contributing to victories, as Muzarabani did for only the second time in his 12-Test career in Sylhet, is the priority. “That is something that I would really love to do, to make that impact for the team, get those big wickets, so we can win more often. This is a big journey, playing against big teams. But, of course, I can’t be worried about what I’m going to do, thinking too much about it. The goal is just to win more games.”

“In T20 leagues, you learn a lot of things. You meet new people every day. You have to try to understand the captain that you’re working with. Of course, it’s not every captain that will believe in you, so you have to prove your point and try to improve yourself”

Whether sought after or not, wickets have come in a flood since his return to playing Test cricket for the first time in three years in mid-2024. No Zimbabwean who has taken 10 wickets can get close to Muzarabani’s career average (21.84) and strike rate (43.70), not even Streak. For his recent success, he credits the work put in with Zimbabwe’s bowling coach, former South Africa international Charl Langeveldt.”I’m really just enjoying my Test cricket. Working with my bowling coach, it’s about understanding the lengths to bowl in Test cricket. I feel like the more I play, the more I understand how I get my wickets. [Langeveldt] is the guy who has been working with me on my lengths and all the skills that I’m trying to use. He’s been really helpful in the things he’s saying.”While growing up in Zimbabwe honed his ability to “hit the deck” rather than look for swing, Muzarabani is well aware from his time with Northamptonshire of the importance of trying to pitch the ball up in English conditions. “For me, it’s about bowling a touch fuller. Yes, of course, my natural length can work, but also you have to be much fuller [to make the ball move].”Especially with me being tall, you can get carried away. In England the pitches are slower, sometimes when you bowl back of a length, guys can pull you and take you on. But the swing is something that can make you lose your control, so you have to find a balance. I learned a lot [in county cricket].”Muzarabani has played at Trent Bridge before, albeit only in pre-season for Northants six years ago. The ground’s reputation for swing (it is the English venue where James Anderson, with 73 wickets at 19.23, has the lowest average) has faded over the last few years, but Zimbabwe will hope for at least some bounce, allowing Muzarabani to operate at his favoured “ribcage length”.That, of course, will differ markedly for England’s opening pair of Crawley (tall, long levers, loves to drive) and Duckett (short, punchy, quick to pull and cut). Muzarabani knows the latter from his Northants days, although they barely overlapped before Duckett made Trent Bridge his home with Nottinghamshire. He knows both will look to take him on, but will lean on his own new-ball partner, the shorter, stockier Richard Ngarava, who has been Muzarabani’s counterpoint as a left-arm swing bowler since their days coming through together with Takashinga.Muzarabani spent two seasons at Northamptonshire on a Kolpak deal•Getty Images”It’s great bowling with Richie, we pick each other up. When it’s not going our way, we tend to communicate. When my head is going down, he will come to me, he knows my action. We were both playing together when we were really young, 9 or 10. So you know what to say because we know each other.”Just as important as a swift appraisal of conditions may be Muzarabani’s recent experience in franchise T20 cricket, which has seen him feature in the CPL, PSL and ILT20 – with a potential IPL debut on the way. Playing regularly overseas has added to his durability and skill set; against England’s Bazballers, with Crawley and Duckett in the vanguard, he knows he will need to have his wits about him.”To be honest, they [England] play almost like T20 sometimes. So for me, I’m trying to figure out the plan because they are not often going to get caught defending. It’s just more like backing yourself and being positive, because those guys are some of the best in the world. You can’t be worried about what they are going to do. You just have to worry about your lengths and your field.”In the leagues, you learn a lot of things. You meet new people every day. You have to try to understand the captain that you’re working with. Of course, it’s not every captain that will believe in you, so you have to prove your point and try to improve yourself. So I feel like it is good. You’re not in your comfort zone, but you have to learn. I feel like it’s something that’s really helping with my awareness and my T20 cricket.”With the red ball, he will fall back on a simple mantra: “Just hit your length. You can’t start thinking about those guys [what they are going to do], you get confused. Just trust yourself and trust your lengths.”Learning how to make the best of his natural advantages while overcoming the disadvantages – notably economic – of his background, it has been a significant journey for Muzarabani to get to this point. At 28, he should be at the peak of his powers as a fast bowler, and he is relishing the opportunity provided by Zimbabwe’s current glut of Test fixtures.”Playing for your country is always the best feeling, because you are representing your family. Of course, playing franchise cricket, you have extra money and you see the world, you get experience. But the first thing is always playing for your country. For me, that’s the number one thing.”Walking out at Trent Bridge next Thursday for Zimbabwe’s first Test match against England since 2003 will be, he says, “the greatest feeling ever for me and for the team. I’m just looking forward to showing everyone what we can do. It’s just a dream come true, for sure, getting to play [England in England]. No doubt that everyone is excited for the opportunity.”We believe we can actually cause an upset. I believe we are all good enough to really put on a good show. So I’m sure if we just come in and then do everything that we have to do, we are doing everything right, we’re going to come out in a good position in the game.”

Shubman made the highest score by an India captain in Tests, as well as the highest by an India batter outside Asia

Sampath Bandarupalli03-Jul-2025

Shubman Gill now has the highest Test score by an India batter in England•Getty Images

269 – Shubman Gill’s score in the second Test against England at Edgbaston, the highest by an India captain in Tests, surpassing Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 254 against South Africa in Pune in 2019.Gill’s 269 is also the highest by an India batter in Tests outside Asia. Sachin Tendulkar’s 241 not out at the SCG in 2004 was the previous highest.It is also the third-highest score by an India batter in away Tests, behind Virender Sehwag’s 309 in Multan and Rahul Dravid’s 270 in Rawalpindi on the tour of Pakistan in 2004.Only two Indians had scored double-hundreds in men’s Tests in England before him – 221 by Sunil Gavaskar in 1979 and 217 by Rahul Dravid in 2002, both at The Oval.Overall, Gill’s 269 is the seventh-highest score for India in Tests.ESPNcricinfo Ltd93.28 – Gill’s control percentage during his 269 at Edgbaston. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball logs, only two batters have had a higher control percentage while scoring a hundred in men’s Tests in England since 2006 – 96.45 % by Ian Bell during his 119* against Sri Lanka in 2011, and 94.6 % by Jamie Smith during his 111 against Sri Lanka last year.Related

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2 – Visiting batters with double-hundreds at Edgbaston in Tests before Gill. Graeme Smith scored 277 in 2003, while Zaheer Abbas scored 274 in 1971. Gill’s 269 is the eighth-highest score by a visiting batter in Tests in England.7 – Number of batters, including Gill, with hundreds in their first two Tests as captain. Three of the previous six were Indians – Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli. Jackie McGlew, Alastair Cook and Steven Smith are the others.5 – Batters with double-hundreds in both Tests and ODIs. Gill joins a list dominated by Indians – Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle.4 – Scores higher than Gill’s 269 after being put into bat by the opposition. It is the highest for India.376 – Runs India scored after the fall of Nitish Kumar Reddy at Edgbaston – the most they have added for the last five wickets in a Test innings.3 – Number of 200-plus partnerships involving Ravindra Jadeja for the sixth (or lower) wicket in Tests. Only Adam Gilchrist (six), BJ Watling (five) and MS Dhoni (four) have been part of more such stands. Two of Jadeja’s three such stands have come at Edgbaston.7 – Yashasvi Jaiswal has a 50-plus score in each of his seven Tests against England. Viv Richards and Mark Taylor also had a 50-plus score in each of their first seven Tests against England.

“You can’t let it chew you up’ – Shams Mulani has done it for Mumbai year after year and will continue to, whether or not higher honours come his way

Shashank Kishore22-Nov-2025There’s a growing perception in Indian cricket that Ranji Trophy success alone isn’t enough to break into the Test team. IPL performances are seen as proof of temperament under pressure. But what does a player do when the IPL call doesn’t come?Ask Shams Mulani, who has neither been an IPL regular nor made the India A cut, seemingly due to intense competition, with all of Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar and R Sai Kishore performing exceedingly well.Mulani’s record, though, is mighty impressive. Since 2022, no bowler in the country has taken more Ranji Trophy wickets than him: 198 at 21.92, with 16 five-fors and three ten-fors. The next best, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, has 157.In this period, Mulani has also been a regular performer in white-ball cricket – most notably in a key role in Mumbai’s maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali (T20) Trophy triumph in 2022-23, where he picked up 16 wickets in ten matches. Yet, despite this unmatched consistency, the IPL door has never really opened for Mulani, who has played all of two matches for Mumbai Indians.Related

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“You’re providing a service, bringing a skillset, and if there’s no demand, you just keep plugging away,” Mulani tells ESPNcricinfo. “The IPL is a great stage, but if you’re not playing there, you can’t let it chew you up. It’s easy to obsess over what you don’t have. I prefer to take pride in being a Mumbai cricketer, where nothing comes easy and you learn to enjoy the struggle.”It’s this mindset Mulani will carry into the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy next week, joining hundreds of hopefuls vying for visibility ahead of the auction.

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Mulani wasn’t supposed to get this far. He barely made age-group sides and spent nearly two seasons on the fringes before debuting for Mumbai in all three formats in 2018. “When you don’t expect something and it happens, the happiness is different,” he says. “But playing for Mumbai comes with pressure. That pressure drives me.”Along the way, he has also learned to live with the noise and the scrutiny that invariably follows. “One bad game, even one bad session, and people are talking about you by evening. I’ve heard people say, ‘he’s done’ or ‘he doesn’t have it anymore’ [like in the knockouts phase of 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy when he was dropped]. I try to stay calm and stick to my routine. Five-for or failure, nothing changes that.”That routine includes never skipping training. “Big players come with a purpose. They do things like clockwork. I’ve adopted that mindset. First optional session or second, I’m there. I hate missing it even if it’s optional.”Mulani has come through the first leg of the 2025-26 Ranji season with the same relentless sense of purpose. After five games, he is third on the wicket-takers’ list and central to Mumbai’s rise to the top of Elite Group C.

“As I look ahead, winning matches for Mumbai is what I train for. Anything else – any other team, any other setting – will just be a by-product”Shams Mulani

He revels in being Mumbai’s crisis man, and the season opener in Srinagar offered a reminder. After Mumbai’s top order was blown away by Auqib Nabi – 70 for 5 – in the second innings, Mulani’s gritty 41 dragged them to 181 and set Jammu & Kashmir a target of 243. He then produced a career-best 7 for 46 to secure a tense 35-run win, just when a second straight loss to J&K loomed. Amid the euphoria of that dramatic win, his first-innings 91, which set up the game, almost seemed like a footnote.”The main thing for me is getting a feel of the game,” he says. “Once I get that, I start visualising wickets. In Srinagar, the pitch was helping fast bowlers, so I didn’t get much in the first innings. But on the evening of day three, I told my room-mate Akash Anand, ‘I feel like tomorrow I’m going to change the game’. He wasn’t convinced. But I just had that feeling.”Two weeks ago in the fourth round, against Himachal Pradesh, he rescued Mumbai from 73 for 4 with a vital 69 and returned on the final day to take five wickets and finish the job. This ability to wheel away tirelessly is the result of years of work. “I played Ranji for years as a very different bowler,” he explains. “My mentality was simple: don’t give runs, control the game.”

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Everything changed when he began working with Amol Muzumdar in mid-2021 when Muzumdar was appointed Mumbai coach. “He really challenged me. He said containment alone wouldn’t take me to the next level. We debated a lot. He had his ideas, I had mine, and we found a middle ground. That shift helped massively.”Mulani ended the 2021-22 season with 45 wickets in six matches as Mumbai reached the final. “My mindset changed, and that happened because Amol backed me completely. Even now, Omkar Salvi [head coach] and Dhawal Kulkarni [bowling coach] keep pushing me.”And what changed technically?”I’ve always bowled left-arm around the wicket, running in straight. But most left-armers cut across the crease or go more side-on for angles,” Mulani says. “Before the season, Amol wanted me to try that. I was sceptical. I’d bowled the same way for years. But he told me, ‘don’t worry, I back you’.”They had an agreement: start spells with the new angle, return to his natural method later if it didn’t work.Shams Mulani is someone Mumbai trust to bail them out of tricky situations, even with the bat•PTI “It took a month to convince me. But once it settled, it felt really good. The ball came out faster, with more nip and bite. Being slightly more side-on helps create the angle and makes the ball carry off the pitch. The balance – not fully side-on, not fully straight – has made a big difference.”Another big shift has been fitness.”That’s played a huge role,” he says. “I’ve trained for five years with Vishal Chitarkar. He knows my body inside out. How fatigue affects me, how I should recover. We worked a lot on endurance, especially on the muscles that tire late in the day.”But training only takes you so far. In 95% humidity, in blazing heat, it’s willpower. You can give up and say you’re tired, but then you remind yourself the team needs you. Last year in the [Ranji Trophy] semi-final, I bowled 44 overs in the second innings. After 25, it was pure willpower. That ability to keep going has developed over time.”Over these years, Mulani has also fought to change perceptions. Early on, he was boxed in as a white-ball bowler. Now, his red-ball success has seen him being typecast at the other extreme. The younger Mulani might have been bothered; the 28-year-old version is not.”As I look ahead, winning matches for Mumbai is what I train for,” he says. “Anything else – any other team, any other setting – will just be a by-product.”If bigger doors open, Mulani will walk in. If they don’t, he’ll keep knocking on them the way he knows: one grinding spell, one hard run, one Mumbai win at a time.

Overlooked in selection but unplayable on the field, his left-arm spin upstaged the pacers and put Central Zone in command of the final

Ashish Pant11-Sep-2025When Central Zone captain Rajat Patidar won the toss in the Duleep Trophy final, he was clear in his decision to bowl first. “Very simple,” he said at the toss. “There are overcast conditions, it is a fresh wicket and has a good grass cover on it.”It had rained relentlessly in and around Bengaluru for most of Wednesday evening, which kept the surface at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence under covers. There was a thick band of cloud overhead on the morning of the final and the pitch had a greenish tinge to it.But despite the favourable conditions, none of the three Central Zone fast bowlers, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen and Aditya Thakare were incisive enough. There was lateral movement both off the surface and in the air. They got the occasional plays-and-misses and lbw appeals, but the consistency was missing. The South Zone openers, Tanmay Agarwal and Mohit Kale, also to their credit, left the ball reasonably well.Related

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The run rate was under two an over but with the three quicks going wicketless in their opening spells, Patidar switched to spin, bringing on left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya in the 16th over.Kale, on 9 off 49 balls at the time, thought this was his chance to score. Kartikeya’s final ball of his first over was a gentle tossed-up delivery at 87.3kph, pitching on middle and going on with the arm. Kale’s T20 instincts took over as he eyed a cross-batted swipe. But he missed and saw his middle stump pegged back. A few overs later, Kartikeya sent back left-hander R Smaran with a similar ball. A flighted delivery on middle, which Smaran tried to hoick across the line, managed a top-edge and square leg took an easy catch.Kartikeya then delivered what was arguably the ball of the day. From around the wicket, he pitched a flighted delivery on leg stump, got it to dip and then spun it sharply past South Zone captain Mohammed Azharuddeen, turning him into an S and rattling his stumps.On the opening morning of the Duleep Trophy final, where the fast bowlers were expected to do the damage, South Zone’s top-order had been wrecked by Kartikeya. And he did so by just bowling orthodox left-arm spin and landing the ball in the right areas. By lunch on the opening day, South Zone had been reduced to 64 to 4.”When I saw the wicket, I thought I might not get any help in the beginning because it was the first day,” Kartikeya said after the first day’s play. “I just wanted to land the ball in the right areas and not leak any easy runs.”I realised that keeping a tight economy rate should be my top priority, so that the batter comes under pressure and makes mistakes. I just wanted to do my basics right and not try too much. My main aim was to bowl with patience, because that will eventually benefit us.”With his Madhya Pradesh team-mate Saransh Jain also joining in on the wicket-taking fun, Central Zone ran through the South Zone batting unit. Kartikeya picked one more wicket, trapping Gurjapneet Singh lbw, to finish with 4 for 53 in 21 overs. By tea on the opening day, South Zone had been bowled out for 149.Kumar Kartikeya struck thrice in the first session of the final•PTI Two years ago, Kartikeya was the architect of MP’s maiden Ranji Trophy title win, finishing as their leading wicket-taker with 32 wickets. He followed it up with another 30-plus wicket season in 2022-23 and finished the 2023-24 season with 41 wickets.His 2024-25 Ranji Trophy numbers were also decent: 28 wickets in six matches, but with the emergence of Harsh Dubey and Manav Suthar, two left-arm spin allrounders, Kartikeya was pushed down the pecking order. He didn’t make it to the original Central Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy and only got a chance in the final with Dubey and Suthar leaving for India A’s series against Australia A.But instead of sulking at not being picked in the initial squad, Kartikeya is “taking this as an opportunity”.”I have no control over the selection of the team, but I have control over my bowling, and I want to do that well,” Kartikeya said. “I was waiting for this chance for a long time. My mindset was clear that whenever I bowl, be it at the start, middle or end, I have to pick wickets.”A traditional left-arm fingerspinner, Kartikeya added legspin to his bowling arsenal around three years back. He initially used it only in white-ball cricket, but in the last two years, he has started to bowl the legbreak in red-ball cricket. He bowled a few legbreaks on Thursday as well, and while he didn’t get a wicket, he knows “if nothing is working, I also have the legspin in my armoury.””Legspin is a useful tool to have on any surface,” Kartikeya says. “I get a lot of benefit from that. Earlier, I used to bowl legspin only in white-ball cricket, but in the last two years, I have started bowling legspin in red ball cricket. Whenever I get a flat track, where left-arm spin is not that useful, I bowl legspin.”Central Zone have won the Duleep Trophy just once, in 2014 against South Zone. Incidentally, it was a left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza, who fashioned their title win with seven wickets. Eleven years later, another left-arm spinner has helped Central Zone gain the upper hand on the first day. Can he lead them to a second Duleep Trophy title?

Glasgow Rangers are concerned about Youssef Chermiti and could let him leave in January for another Europa League side.

Chermiti's time at Rangers so far after £8m transfer

Things haven’t gone to plan for Chermiti at Ibrox so far following his £8m move from Everton in the summer, making him the club’s second most expensive signing in history.

1

Tore Andre Flo

£12m

Chelsea

2000

2

Youssef Chermiti

£8m

Everton

2025

3

Ryan Kent

£7m

Liverpool

2019

4

Michael Ball

£6.5m

Everton

2001

5

Mikel Arteta

£6m

Barcelona

2002

On £30,000-a-week, Chermiti has scored just one goal for the Gers, coming in Danny Rohl’s first Scottish Premiership win in charge against Kilmarnock.

Both supporters and those inside Ibrox were ideally hoping for more from the forward following glowing praise from ex-manager Russell Martin back in September.

“It’s a long-term investment for the football club, I think it will be a brilliant investment for the football club. I think he’ll do extremely well for us. There won’t be any expectation on him in here, I’m sure externally maybe that changes.

“He wants to learn, he wants to grow and he wants to help the team. Youssef has tools that you’d really want in a number nine. Good athleticism. Great kid. Wants to learn. Brilliant record at youth level.

“He hasn’t really had the chance he probably wanted at first-team level yet. Obviously in the toughest league in the world as well.

“We’ll judge him on here and now and what he does for us. We’re really excited to have him in because he’s a seriously talented player and also there was a lot of interest throughout Europe in top leagues for him.”

Rangers star was forgotten under Martin, now he'll be Rohl's own Braga

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Chermiti’s is contracted in Glasgow until 2029 and so far, he has made £300,000 in wages, working out at £60,000-a-week for every start he has made for the club in the 10 weeks he has been at Ibrox.

Rangers concerned and could loan Chermiti to Europa League side

Now according to a report from Ibrox News, Rangers have been left concerned with Chermiti’s performances and could now loan him out in January.

Europa League side Braga are eyeing up a temporary deal for the forward in the New Year, whereas clubs in Turkey could also make a move.

Should Chermiti leave Scotland for the second half of the 2025/26 season, Rohl would be left with Bojan Miovski and Danilo as his centre-forward options.

The 49ers Enterprises may then need to recruit another attacker in the winter window, and right now, the £8m fee on Chermiti isn’t looking like a smart piece of business.

Danny Rohl now orders Rangers to make three January signings, priority revealed

Allrounder Cameron Green suffered low grade side soreness and will miss the entire series in order to rehabilitate before WA’s next Shield match on October 28

Alex Malcolm17-Oct-2025Australia have copped another major injury blow with Cameron Green ruled out of the ODI series against India with low grade side soreness, which could have significant implications for the upcoming Ashes.The 26-year-old Green was ruled out of the series on Friday with Marnus Labuschagne called into the squad to replace him. Labuschagne will fly from Adelaide at the completion of the Sheffield Shield match on Saturday night to join Australia’s squad in Perth ahead of the first ODI on Sunday.Green had only just returned to competitive bowling following back surgery last year, and missed the T20I tour of New Zealand to play in the opening Shield round for Western Australia against New South Wales in Perth last week. He was due to bowl eight overs in the match but only bowled four, and took a wicket – he was not allowed to bowl on consecutive days by Cricket Australia’s medical staff when Western Australia were unable to bat long enough in their first innings to allow for a full day’s rest between four-over spells.Related

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Labuschagne dropped from Australia ODI squad

He was unlikely to bowl in the first two ODIs against India but was continuing to build his loads with a view to bowling more overs in round three of the Shield, which starts on October 28. He was going to be rested from the third and final ODI in Sydney and was also going to miss the T20I series that follows in order to play in the third and fourth rounds of the Shield to prepare for the Ashes.Green pulled up sore after bowling at training this week and will undergo a short rehabilitation period with the hope that he can still play and bowl in Western Australia’s third Shield game against South Australia at the WACA starting in 11 days’ time.The injury is a concern for Australia, who had been banking on Green being fully fit to bowl without any restrictions in the Ashes. Australia are already sweating on the fitness of Test skipper Pat Cummins, who said earlier this week he was “less likely than likely” to play in the first Test against England starting November 21 in Perth.Australia’s other Test allrounder Beau Webster is also carrying an injury concern at the moment, having missed the opening two Shield matches for Tasmania after rolling his ankle at training two weeks ago. But it is understood that CA has been ultra cautious with him and that he will be fit for Tasmania’s next Shield game on October 28.Marnus Labuschagne has been in prolific early-season form•Getty Images”I’m sure he’s going alright, he’s in good hands,” Travis Head said. “We’ll work through it, like anything else with guys who have some injuries. We’ve got Josh [Inglis] in the same position as well.”I don’t think it will have any impact on the Ashes. It’s more disappointing that he’s not here at the moment for the next three games, so he’ll work through that.I I don’t think it’s too serious, so probably more precautionary leading into the next five weeks.”Green’s injury has shorn Australia’s ODI team of yet another first-choice player. He made 118 not out off 55 balls in Australia’s last ODI, against South Africa in August.World Cup-winning skipper Cummins is unavailable for the entire India series, while wicketkeeper Josh Inglis will miss at least the first two ODIs as he recovers from a calf strain.Adam Zampa is missing the Perth ODI to remain at home in northern New South Wales with his pregnant wife. Alex Carey, who is normally in Australia’s first-choice ODI XI as a specialist bat and is also the back-up wicketkeeper to Inglis, is also missing the first ODI in Perth to prioritise playing the Shield match between South Australia and Queensland in Adelaide as part of his Ashes preparation.Labuschagne has been recalled to the ODI squad after peeling off 159, his fourth century in five domestic innings. Labuschagne was dropped from the ODI squad ahead of the India series after lean returns over the last 12 months. But he has been the form player in the One-Day Cup for Queensland since posting scores of 130 off 118 against Victoria and 105 off 91 against Tasmania.

Bayern Munich are racing to extend Dayot Upamecano's contract, with sporting director Christoph Freund calling it the club's "main goal". The defender is in the final months of his deal, and reports claim Real Madrid have opened talks for a free transfer ahead of next season, which comes as no surprise to the German club's director.

Freund confirms 'main goal' to extend Upamecano deal

The 27-year-old defender's contract at the Allianz Arena is set to expire on 30 June. With the France international now in the final year of his deal, he will be eligible to sign a pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs in less than two months.

This precarious situation has reportedly alerted Europe's elite, including Real Madrid and Liverpool, forcing Bayern to accelerate negotiations. The public confirmation from Freund comes after president Herbert Hainer recently emphasised the club's hope that Upamecano will sign a new deal.

"It's no secret that our main goal is to extend Upamecano's contract," Freund said in a press conference. "It's also not surprising that many clubs, I don't know which ones, are interested in Upamecano because he's simply performing really, really well, is a great guy, and one of the best centre-backs in the world."

Freund noted that the player's current form, which has seen him make 19 appearances across all competitions this season, is a sign of his contentment in Munich.

The French international feels "very, very comfortable," Freund added, stating that is evident in "the energy he exudes" on the field.

However, the sporting director conceded that an agreement is not imminent, stating: "We are in talks, but there is nothing new to report at the moment."

AdvertisementGetty ImagesReal Madrid 'open talks' for 2026 free transfer

The pressure on Bayern is mounting, with reports claiming that Real Madrid have already opened discussions with Upamecano's representatives regarding a free transfer in the summer of 2026.

Los Blancos have reportedly made defensive reinforcement a top priority. With uncertainty surrounding the long-term futures of David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger, the club are seeking a new leader for their backline.

Upamecano is seen as a perfect fit for this next-generation blueprint, possessing Champions League experience and familiarity with Real Madrid's strong French contingent, which includes Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga. His commanding performance in Bayern's 2-1 Champions League victory over Paris Saint-Germain is said to have solidified Madrid's interest.

Kahn slams 'very weak' negotiating position

The situation has drawn sharp criticism from Bayern legend Oliver Kahn, who blasted the club for allowing a key player to enter the final year of his contract.

"The way he's playing now, at the very highest level, it's not just going to be expensive, not just very expensive, it's going to be very, very expensive for Bayern," Kahn told

The former CEO questioned the club's foresight, placing the blame for their difficult negotiating stance squarely on the board.

“The question that always arises is: why did you let Dayot Upamecano enter the final year of his contract in the first place?” Kahn said. “The only explanation is that Bayern weren't so happy with him a year or two ago. Now he's performing at the top of his game. When you're in the final year of a contract, you're in a very bad position as a club unless you pay a lot of money.”

Reports suggest those demands are high, with the defender allegedly seeking a salary of around €15 million per year plus a significant signing bonus.

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Upamecano's resurgence under Kompany fuels interest

Upamecano's exceptional form, which has triggered this contract race, is widely credited to new manager Vincent Kompany. After struggling for consistency under previous bosses Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel, the Frenchman has thrived under the former Manchester City captain.

The defender, who joined from RB Leipzig in 2021 for €42.5m, has publicly praised Kompany's influence.

"We all watched him when we were young; he was a legend for Belgium and Manchester City," Upamecano said in a recent interview. "He was a very aggressive defender in duels, a leader on the pitch too, a good example for me. He helps me a lot; we do a lot of videos, he talks to me about my positioning. With him, it's always very intense.”