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Rajput was hired by three months ago as interim head coach, and has now secured the job on a long-term basis

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Aug-2018Zimbabwe have confirmed Lalchand Rajput’s appointment as permanent head coach of the men’s national side, three months after hiring him in interim capacity. Rajput replaces Heath Streak, who was sacked alongside his entire support staff following the failed 2019 World Cup qualifying campaign, and remains in legal dispute with Zimbabwe Cricket.ZC did not provide details on Rajput’s contract term, with a spokesperson only describing it as “long-term” but indicated Rajput would remain in charge for the 2020 World T20 and beyond. “We are targeting qualification for the next T20 and 50-over World Cup tournaments and we believe Lalchand has the pedigree and experience to build a young side and help us achieve our goals,” Tavengwa Mukuhlani, ZC chairman said.Rajput has already overseen Zimbabwe’s participation in a T20 triangular series involving Australia and Pakistan and a five-match ODI series against Pakistan. Zimbabwe lost all nine matches they played across those series but had the challenge of a depleted squad. Five big-name players – Brendan Taylor, Graeme Cremer, Sikandar Raza, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams – opted to sit out because of non-payment of salaries.Since then, ZC have been put on an ICC scheme which allows a drip-feed of funds into their system to help them manage their money and pay off substantial debt. The ICC allowed a special disbursement to cover outstanding salaries last month and four of the five players have returned to work – Raza remains uncertain of his future in Zimbabwe – and ZC have embarked on major cost-cutting.This includes the non-renewal of most staff contracts at the end of August. A small number of employees will be brought on board to ensure the domestic restart in November but there has been no confirmation of how many people ZC will hire, with Rajput being the first appointment since the new funding model was announced.So far, Rajput has no complaints with the Zimbabwean set-up and expressed his desire to get the team back on track in his time at the helm. “It is an honour and privilege to work with Zimbabwe Cricket and I am really pleased to be given this opportunity to take this team to the next level, to work hard and ensure we make a difference in the coming years,” he said.In a separate interview with ZC, Rajput said he was enthused by the return of the senior players.”The biggest challenge is that I want to get the team where it was earlier because the team has fantastic players who have done really well, to have a full squad will be excellent,” he said. “They will bring additional strength and confidence to the team. The likes of Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine – their coming back means a great deal.”Rajput’s first assignment as permanent head coach will be a limited-overs tour to South Africa at the end of the September before a two-Test, three ODI series in Bangladesh in October-November. Zimbabwe are not scheduled to play any home matches until at least July 2019.

A round of golf did not go entirely to plan for the England fast bowler

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Aug-2018Most of England’s cricketers enjoy a round of golf and James Anderson is no exception. With an extra day off after the early finish of the first Test against India it was the perfect chance to get in another 18 holes.But it did not all go according to plan for Anderson.Finding himself buried among some trees, Anderson tried to find his way back onto the fairway but smashed his shot into the root of a tree in front of him, the ball rebounding at a rate of knots straight into his face.Fortunately for Anderson there was no injury, unfortunately for him Stuart Broad happened to be filming so Anderson will never be able to live it down.Unsurprisingly Broad found it all highly amusing – although quickly assured everyone Anderson was okay.England will hope that Anderson’s swing works better in the second Test at Lord’s starting on Thursday.

He’s battled more injuries than most, and the allrounder who was touted as a future Australia captain by Justin Langer has the opportunity to take a step towards that goal

Varun Shetty in Bengaluru01-Sep-2018As far as injury stoppages go, Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh has racked up quite the number during his international career. Since his ODI debut in 2011, Marsh has played in a combined 90 matches across formats for Australia, far fewer than might have been expected from someone who, even seven years on, is considered one of Australia’s most talented players. As of Saturday, on the eve of Australia A’s first unofficial Test against India A in Bengaluru, their captain has missed five months of professional cricket with an ankle injury.This lay-off might have been especially frustrating for Marsh who, in the few months leading up to it, had finally begun to find his feet as a Test batsman. During Australia’s 4-0 thrashing of England in the last Ashes series, Marsh had returned from shoulder issues to make two hundreds in winning causes, on either side of a grind at Melbourne, where he batted more than three hours in Steven Smith’s company for an unbeaten 29 to draw the Test. Not long after, Marsh made an impressive 96 while batting with the lower order to set up Australia’s only win in a controversial Test series against South Africa.”Yeah I’ve had my fair share of injures to come back from,” Marsh said with a smile. “In that scenario you just lean on your past experiences, get your rehab done and get back as soon as possible. It’s been a long lay-off, five months. Fortunately for Australia, we haven’t had that much cricket compared to what we usually have, so I haven’t missed a lot of cricket.”While that is true to the extent that Australia haven’t played any Tests since South Africa, the biggest miss for Marsh was a scheduled county stint with Surrey, where he was set for a full season as an overseas professional after opting out of IPL 2018.”[Surrey] was an awesome opportunity for me that I was really looking forward to. Playing cricket over in England through the whole summer would’ve been awesome. Bowling and batting with the Duke ball, having the experience outside the cricket to live in a place other than Perth – which is a pretty small place – I was really looking forward to that opportunity. But as they say, injuries happen.”Marsh didn’t take part in the quadrangular one-day series that concluded earlier this week, with India B beating Australia A in the final, and only flew in a couple of days after it had ended. So, while he’s “bowling full tilt” and suffered no setbacks during rehab, he won’t be rolling his arm over till the second Test, which begins on September 8.With an away series against Pakistan coming up in October, Marsh is among many in the Australia A side who are looking to impress the selectors, particularly with an extra spot opening up for the first match, thanks to Matt Renshaw missing out due to a mini hamstring strain.”Apart from Renners [Renshaw] who’ll be out with a hamstring injury and be back next game, we’ve sort of got our 12 and we’ll make up our minds tomorrow.”It’s a great vibe around this group, you get a sense everybody’s hungry to perform. There’s plenty of opportunities in Australian cricket at the moment. As a team, we’ve got a focus that we want to win this little mini-series and start something as a group.”Among the many opportunities that Marsh speaks of is the leadership situation, where both in limited-overs cricket and in Tests, Australia are in a state of flux following the bans of Smith and David Warner. And with the situation as it is, Western Australia coach Justin Langer’s call to include Marsh in the Perth Test during the Ashes might have had a level of prescience. Langer had described Marsh as a future captain when he said he was “needed” for the Perth Test – where he made 181 – and while Langer couldn’t possibly have meant this early, Marsh could genuinely have an outside chance of being a national team captain some time soon. As Western Australia’s captain during their JLT Cup triumph last year, he has the experience.”It’s not something I think about too deeply. If the opportunity arrives I’ll grab it with both hands but ultimately that’s out of my hands. At the moment I’m really looking forward to captain in these conditions, which I don’t experience much playing at the WACA every second week. It’s going to be a whole new experience for me and it’s something to look forward to.”First things first is to get back playing some cricket and just enjoy being back playing, being back at work. Obviously in the Australia A series there’s a lot of time to solely focus on yourself and [try to] score runs, but ultimately, we want to create a culture in this team that we want to come here to win. Just trying to do my best to make sure that happens. For me it’s about trying to spend time out in the middle with the bat, but we want to win for Australia.”

China has long been described as a dormant superpower, but where cricket is concerned, it is clearly still in the deepest of slumbers

Andrew Miller10-Oct-2018Nepal 29 for 0 (Bhandari 24*) beat China 26 (Lamichhane 3-4, Regmi 3-5) by ten wickets
ScorecardChina has long been described as a dormant superpower, but where cricket is concerned, it is clearly still in the deepest of slumbers.It took their next-door neighbours Nepal just 1.5 overs to hunt down a miniscule total of 26, as China slumped to their fifth defeat out of five in the ICC’s latest regional qualifier for the next World T20 in 2020.With a population of approximately 1.5 billion people, China has a burgeoning and focussed interest in global sporting prowess – from their hosting of the 2008 Olympics to the recent relaunch of the super-rich China Super League, they aim to create a GBP500 billion dollar sports industry by 2025.But where cricket is concerned, China remains way off the pace – despite the best endeavours of the former Bangladesh captain, Aminul Islam, who described himself as the “Neil Armstrong of Chinese cricket” when he was appointed by the Asian Cricket Council a decade ago oversee the growth of the game in the country.”We are putting extra effort into China, because without China, cricket is not a global sport,” Aminul told ESPNcricinfo back in 2010. On the current evidence, the sport will remain a second-class citizen for some years to come.In today’s non-contest, just one Chinese batsman, Hong Jiang Yan reached double figures – opening the batting he made 11 from 27 balls, having made scores of 1, 0, 1 and 1 in his first four outings of the tournament.Seven of their players made ducks, two of them falling to Nepal’s star of the show, the 18-year-old legspinner, Sandeep Lamichhane, who returned the stunning figures of 3 for 4 in four overs to take his tally for the tournament to 20 wickets in 17 overs at an average of 2.05.In reply, Nepal’s openers galloped to their total in an 11-ball flurry – with Binod Bhandari clobbering 24 of those in eight deliveries, with three fours and a six.Nepal have now won five games out of five, with a top-of-the-table showdown to come against Singapore on Friday. Both sides have already secured their progression to next year’s WT20 Asian finals, with Nepal sealing their berth with their 117-run win over Bhutan on Tuesday.For China, it’s back to the drawing board – although they have one last outing to come against Malaysia on Friday. And given that Malaysia themselves reduced Myanmar to 9 for 8 in another extraordinary contest on Tuesday, the portents are great.On the plus side, China still have time to get their ambitions in order before these beatings take on any official status. The ICC recently announced that all T20Is would be given full international status, but effective only from January 1, 2019.Fortunately, that edict won’t be extended to 50-over contests, in which China’s record is no better. In April 2017, they lost by 390 runs to Saudi Arabia after being bowled out for 28 in a World League Qualifier.

Wellington overcame a middle-order collapse, and a threat from Otago seamers, to scramble to a three-wicket win with eight balls to spare in the final

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2018Wellington overcame a middle-order collapse, and a late threat from Otago seamers, to scramble to a three-wicket win with eight balls to spare in the final of the Ford Trophy in Dunedin.Wellington lost four wickets for 31 runs in the middle of their chase of 235, following which Malcolm Nofal and Peter Younghusband put on a 118-run stand to take Wellington closer to the finish. But their wickets within a space of 4.1 overs put them on the back seat again, and with 23 required off 22 balls from then, Lauchie Johns and Ollie Newton saw through the rest of the chase in the next 15 balls.Opting to bat, Otago lost their openers to medium-pacer Newton within the first seven overs. But it was captain Hamish Bennett (4 for 46) who caused the major damage in the ninth over, as he put himself on a hat-trick after dismissing Nathan Smith and Shawn Hicks off consecutive balls. Although Anaru Kitchen denied him the chance to become the first bowler in the team’s List A history to bag a hat-trick, Bennett bowled him off the very next ball, leaving Otago reeling at 39 for 5 by the 10th over.Michael Rippon then took charge and eased the nerves for Otago with a 112-ball 82. Christi Viljoen then joined him for an eighth-wicket stand of 146 before Bennett came back in the 48th over to dismiss Rippon. Viljoen and Jacob Duffy provided the final flourish with 29 runs in the last two overs, as the former finished on the highest score by a No. 9 batsman in Ford Trophy history.In reply, Wellington were put under pressure early in the chase, as they lost the big wickets of Andrew Fletcher and Michael Pollard inside the first 10 overs, following which Rippon and Duffy razed through the middle order. Despite losing Nofal on 73, and with Smith and Duffly stifling the scoring from both ends, the Wellington tail fought hard to take their team to their eighth Ford Trophy title.

Diana Edulji, one half of the CoA, revealed that the BCCI had “broken rules” while appointing Ravi Shastri as a replacement for former India coach Anil Kumble

Nagraj Gollapudi and Sidharth Monga11-Dec-2018The controversial chapter in Indian cricket concerning Anil Kumble stepping down last year as the head coach has been reopened with Diana Edulji, one half of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), saying the BCCI had “broken rules” while appointing Ravi Shastri as a replacement. Edulji said that Virat Kohli, the India captain, constantly sent messages to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri about Kumble, which eventually lead to Kumble’s resignation.Kumble stepped down as India head coach a year into the job after he was told by the BCCI that Kohli had “reservations” with his style of coaching and over him continuing in the role.Kumble’s contract was a year-long one, till the 2017 Champions Trophy. The BCCI had already advertised the job in late May, just as India landed in England for the Champions Trophy. Kumble was one of the six applicants after the BCCI said he would be a “direct entry”. The entire process was overseen by the CoA and the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. At the behest of the CoA, the CAC met Kohli to patch up the differences amicably, but failed.Nonetheless, the CAC informed the BCCI that Kumble was its preferred choice. Consequently, the BCCI extended the deadline and that is when Shastri applied and was finalised as the head coach till 2019 World Cup.Edulji has now said that the entire selection process was fraught. Edulji’s revelations come as part of her disagreement with Vinod Rai over the appointment of an ad-hoc committee to pick the India women’s team head coach. While senior players like the T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana requested the CoA and BCCI to continue with the interim coach Ramesh Powar, Rai said players cannot pick coaching staff through votes.Miffed at that comment, Edulji pointed to the example of Kohli playing the decision-maker during Kumble’s standing down. “Virat did not accede to Kumble continuing in spite of CAC saying so then why not these two players get what they feel is best for the team,” Edulji wrote to Rai in an email sent on Monday. The email, seen by ESPNcricinfo, was also marked to the three BCCI office-bearers along with several BCCI top management. “I see nothing wrong in women cricketers writing emails reg the coach,” Edulji wrote. “They were truthful in expressing their views unlike Virat who frequently sent sms’s to the CEO on which you acted and there was a change in the Coach.”There also I had objected and my dissent is recorded when the timelines were extended for someone to apply as he didn’t apply in time. Mr. Kumble a legend in his own right was subjected to loss of face and made to look like a villain, he was gracious enough to move on for which I respect him. There also rules were broken and I had raised objections back then.”In his response, Rai admitted Kohli’s hand. “Yes- there were differences between Virat and Kumble. As a consequence of that Kumble stepped back.”

Fakhar Zaman, who was nursing an injured knee before the tour, batted for the tourists before stumps on the first day in Benoni

The Report by Liam Brickhill19-Dec-2018The touring Pakistanis eased into the first playing day in South Africa, against a young but talented CSA Invitation XI riding on captain Marques Ackerman’s hundred to declare at 318 for 7 in Benoni. There was a wicket apiece for Mohammad Amir and Hasan Ali, while Faheem Ashraf picked up two and Azhar Ali’s part-time legbreaks yielded 2 for 19.With Pakistan sweating on the match fitness of Shadab Khan and Mohammad Abbas, neither bowled a ball on the fist day. Opening batsman Fakhar Zaman is also not quite at 100%, having aggravated a knee injury picked up in October, but he came out to bat in Pakistan’s innings, suggesting he may have completed his rehabilitation sooner than expected. He and Imam-ul-Haq successfully negotiated the 18 balls bowled in Pakistan’s innings before stumps.In the absence of Shadab and Abbas, the four-pronged pace attack of Amir, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan and Faheem was given a good workout, all bowling between 12 and 16 overs each. They went about their work watched by around a hundred spectators at the ground.Led by the 22-year-old Ackerman, the Invitation XI team are all 25 or under, but there is certainly talent within their youthful ranks. Opening batsman Joshua Richards narrowly missed out on a hundred the day before his 20th birthday, scoring 98, but Ackerman went to his own century in the 85th over of the day, declaring the innings immediately after he raised his ton by punching Amir through extra cover for his 14th four.With scores of 100, 118, 132, 1, 4* and 145 leading up to this game, Richards was within touching distance of his fifth hundred in seven innings when he fell against the run of play earlier. Richards and Neil Brand had collected 87 runs in an opening stand that stretched to 26 overs before Brand was trapped in front of his stumps for 38 by Amir.Having perhaps bowled a little within themselves in the morning session, Pakistan’s quicks operated with a little more vim after lunch, and Tshepang Dithole was caught behind off Faheem soon after the interval. Matthew Breetzke, who was named South Africa Under-19 Cricketer of the Year at CSA’s annual awards in June, added a breezy 24 from 28 deliveries with three fours and a six before he aimed a wild swipe at Haris Sohail’s left-arm spin and was caught off a top edge at short third man.Ackerman and Richards then came together to add 38 for the fourth wicket, and with Richards closing in on his ton, Azhar was brought on for a twirl. His first delivery caught Richards by surprise, an attempted cut resulting only in an edge that was snaffled by Asad Shafiq.While Pakistan struck repeatedly at the other end, Hasan disturbing Onke Nyaku’s stumps and Faheem quickly repeating the treatment against Rivaldo Moonsamy, Ackerman marched on to his hundred. He got to the mark from the 132nd delivery he faced, prompting the declaration before Imam and Fakhar ended the first day without further drama.

The Renegades had expected Nabi to be available for the finals if the club made it that far

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2019Melbourne Renegades have suffered a big blow ahead of their BBL semi-final against Sydney Sixers with Afghanistan calling Mohammad Nabi back for a training camp.The Renegades had expected Nabi to be available for the finals if the club made it that far, but a camp ahead of the series against Ireland later this month will now take precedence.It leaves them without a key allrounder with Nabi having played an important role in the middle order and with his offspin which has often been used in the Powerplay. He has taken eight wickets in the competition with an economy rate of 7.38 alongside being the team’s third-highest run-scorer with 228 in 13 innings.”We’re disappointed to lose a player on the eve of the finals series but we understand the rules around international call ups and know there can be some unpredictability around when players are called into camp,” head coach Andrew McDonald said.”Nabi has been a valuable contributor throughout the season and his skills with bat and ball as well as leadership abilities will be missed. We are proud of the way we have been able to cover the absence of key players throughout the season and we’re confident in the depth of our squad. There is now an exciting opportunity for someone to come into the team and play an important role for us.”One option the Renegades could use to replace Nabi’s batting is to recall Cameron White who is expected to have recovered from a hamstring injury. However, White would not be able to cover Nabi’s overs.It has yet to be confirmed where the second semi-final will be hosted, but the likely scenario is that the Renegades will be away at the SCG unless there is a significant drop in the Sixers’ net run-rate in their final match against Melbourne Stars.

Sabbir Rahman’s maiden ODI hundred was the only source of joy for the visitors as they went down by 88 runs

The Report by Mohammad Isam19-Feb-2019New Zealand completed a 3-0 whitewash of Bangladesh after trouncing them by 88 runs in the third ODI in Dunedin. The visitors hardly had an answer with the bat as Tim Southee took 6 for 65 in his comeback ODI, or the ball, as the home side put them to the sword in good batting conditions earlier in the day.Sabbir Rahman’s maiden ODI hundred was the only source of joy for the visitors. The knock of 102 rounded off a decent comeback in this ODI series for Sabbir, following a three-week reduction in his six-month suspension that allowed him to be here in the first place.

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Earlier, New Zealand’s 330 for six, after being sent into bat, was built around half-centuries from Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls and Tom Latham, before Southee, back into the ODI fold after a considerable gap, led the bowling with a superb opening burst, and a fine finish.He first removed Tamim Iqbal, who finished a horrid ODI series with a duck off the second ball of the chase. His departure off a horrid shot was followed by one from Soumya Sarkar, who, with his feet rooted to the crease, missed Southee’s late inswinger in the first over itself. Liton Das once again made just one, for the third game in a row, falling lbw to Southee in his second over.Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah threatened to steer Bangladesh to a semblance of respectability but just when they appeared to have got their eye in, both fell to poor shots. Mushfiqur, already troubled by a rib injury and a nasty blow to the fingers in the innings, top-edged Trent Boult to third-man. Mahmudullah followed suit, as he top-edged Colin de Grandhomme to deep square-leg; Colin Munro taking both catches.From 61 for five in the 15th over, Mohammad Saifuddin and Sabbir got things in order with a 101-run sixth-wicket stand. Sabbir stroked the ball confidently through the covers and point, in addition to pulling with good control. He was dropped in the 11th over when Lockie Ferguson parried one over the ropes at fine-leg, but that hiccup apart, he batted smoothly to hit 12 fours and two sixes in his 110-ball effort.Sabbir Rahman looks to pull towards the leg side•Getty Images

Saifuddin, too, looked the part, as he accumulated runs, relying on ones and twos in his 63-ball 44, which included four boundaries.Southee removed Mashrafe Mortaza, Mehidy Hasan and Sabbir, the last wicket to fall, to take his second haul of six or more wickets in ODIs. Incidentally, his other such effort – 7 for 33 against England – came on the same date, exactly four years ago at the 2015 World Cup.By contrast, New Zealand’s batting effort was a tutorial on how to build an ODI innings. Despite the loss of Munro in the fifth over, Martin Guptill and Nicholls got them out of trouble, before Nicholls and Taylor followed up on the good work to put on 92 runs for the third wicket and give New Zealand a platform to launch in the final 20 overs.Taylor scored most of his runs in front of the wicket, while Nicholls got most of his boundaries square of the wicket on both sides. Latham then struck a quickfire 59 with three sixes over the leg-side and two fours through the covers.He was also involved in a 55-run fourth-wicket stand with Taylor, who top scored with 69, and a 65-run fifth-wicket stand with James Neesham, which took only 6.4 overs. Neesham and de Grandhomme made 37 each, the latter getting them in just 15 balls with two sixes and four fours.Along with Mitchell Santner, de Grandhomme added 46 runs in the last 3.3 overs to get New Zealand to a score beyond Bangladesh’s reach.Bangladesh’s bowling attack continued to unravel with Mustafizur Rahman, considered their most reliable bowler, conceding 93 runs in his ten overs. Saifuddin and Mehidy offered control, as they conceded runs at less than five for 20 overs, but the lack of penetration in these conditions was evident.

The arrival of the Australians – Stoinis and Coulter-Nile for Royal Challengers and Turner for Royals – should give both the sides extra options

The Preview by Sreshth Shah01-Apr-2019

Big picture

For Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, the only way is up. Now, with both sides having lost three in three, the IPL faces the prospect of having one side winless well into the second week.Royals have been in winning positions in each of their three games, but have lost the plot when they have looked like seizing the advantage.Take their first match when, for the most part, Royals were behind the eight-ball against Kings XI Punjab. Then, when the game seemed to be in Royals’ grasp, a batting collapse led to Kings XI stealing a win. In Hyderabad, not many gave Royals a chance against the fiery Sunrisers bowling attack. But they posted nearly 200 on a difficult batting track, only to lose the match with an over to spare.

Form guide (most recent match first)

Royals: Lost to Super Kings by eight runs, lost to Sunrisers by five wickets, lost to Kings XI by 14 runs
RCB: Lost to Sunrisers by 118 runs, lost to Mumbai by six runs, lost to Super Kings by seven wickets

On Sunday, the Royals’ template was pretty much the same. Chennai Super Kings entered the match as favourites, but were promptly reduced to 28 for 3. It looked like Royals would keep Super Kings down to a manageable total, but then MS Dhoni blew them away. Then, later in the chase, Ben Stokes’ dismissal turned the game against them with Royals needing only a dozen off the final over.On the other side, Royal Challengers have been beaten soundly in two of their three games. As always, relying heavily on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers has not paid off, and the side’s been all out twice already. Their pace-bowling unit, and bits-and-pieces allrounders, have not instilled fear in any side. This is where the arrival of a few Australians from the UAE will help.Both captains have faced the heat. Kohli has been criticised for not being able to get the campaign on the road and missing the mark with his XIs, and Ajinkya Rahane for under-bowling spin in sluggish Chennai.

In the news

There are no injury concerns for either side, and both teams will be boosted by the arrival of the Australian contingent from the UAE. Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile will link up with Royal Challengers, while Royals now have Ashton Turner available.

Likely XIs

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Rahul Tripathi, 5 Steven Smith, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 K Gowtham, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Varun AaronRoyal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Marcus Stoinis, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Prayas Ray Burman, 8 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammad Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Strategy punt

• Royal Challengers should look to slot in Coulter-Nile straightaway. In IPL 2017, his bowling average of 15.20 was behind only those of Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Moreover, he could solve RCB’s death-over woes, as he has an average of 14.40 in this period, with a ball-per-wicket ratio of 11.30.
• There’s also a case to open the batting with Stoinis. In BBL 2018-19, Stoinis crunched four half-centuries from the opener’s spot, averaging 62.40 in ten games. Since 2018, Stoinis has averaged nearly 50 as an opener, compared to averages of 5.30 as No. 3, 21.10 as No. 4 and 23.40 as No. 5. Stoinis’ addition will also bolster their bowling, adding a sixth option to an attack that does need some variety.
• Royals should bowl K Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal to Kohli and de Villiers. Since IPL 2018, de Villiers falls to offbreak once every five deliveries and is dismissed by a legspinner’s googly once every 6.50 balls. For Kohli, too, both bowlers could pose problems. Since IPL 2018, his strike rate to the googly is only 85.7, and his strike rate against offspin (75.0) is even poorer.

Stats that matter