A match riddled with political tension off the field was eventually won by a player who wasn’t going to be there when the Afghanistan captain’s gamble failed

Sidharth Monga at Headingley30-Jun-2019Wahab Riaz should be on a vacation. He wasn’t picked in Pakistan’s original 30. He wasn’t in the World Cup training camp. He wasn’t even in the XV originally named for this World Cup. Somebody in the camp told him to not book his holiday because you never know with Pakistan cricket. This is a mix of foresight and defeatism that makes Pakistan cricket. Anything can happen anytime; no player or no situation can be ruled out.Sometimes Wahab must wish he was on vacation. It is Taunton. Pakistan are wasting ideal new-ball conditions, but Wahab comes on and immediately draws an edge. Aaron Finch is dropped at slip. He comes back later to have David Warner edging to third man, and he is dropped, too.Wahab comes to field at long-on for the next over. He is received by a crowd that tries to tell him through an applause that they understand. Nobody can really. Sometimes fast bowlers don’t even know where they are between overs. They field on auto-pilot. This Wahab is angry. His heart-rate is up. He has had a catch dropped. Consolation won’t work. He has seen this movie before, at the last World Cup. Someone from the crowd gives him an elderly-sounding advice, “” [Don’t let this get you down]. Nothing has registered on Wahab, who keeps following the routine of moving with the shot, then stepping over the rope between balls and then stepping back in to field.How can he not let this get him down? At least four more catches are dropped off his bowling in the tournament, making it an average of one per game. His average after six games is 42.25 and economy rate 6.54. Even Mohammad Amir, for whom the wheel has turned this tournament, has dropped a catch off Wahab. That’s how union leaders must feel when one of their own sells out to the management.On the eve of their third must-win match in a row, Wahab has sustained a fracture at the base of the little finger on his right hand. He should not be playing, but the same foresight and pragmatism tells them they will make the decision at the ground. Before the morning warm-ups, he is asked if he can bear the pain. Wahab has a crazy decision to make: he wants to be brave but he also needs to be honest because you can’t be a liability at a crucial juncture.

****

Wahab says he wants to have a bowl before he decides. After bowling a few deliveries, Wahab tells Sarfaraz Ahmed he can commit a 100% to bowling but can’t promise the same with his batting and fielding. Sarfaraz asks him again if he can bowl. Wahab says he can. Sarfaraz doesn’t think twice. He is in. Wahab feels twice the player. That his captain wants him in desperately.Still you know where this will end up if Pakistan fail.Related

Imad Wasim and Wahab Riaz's heroics keep Pakistan alive

'He's come a long way' – Hamid Hassan's still got it, and he isn't giving it away

Wahab Riaz dreamed he would be picked for the World Cup. And then he was

Hamid Hassan is now a commentator. He is helping the term [Pashto for ‘six’] go mainstream with his excitable commentary. This is February in India, and time for shpageezas is over. The Test match is upon us. Every lunch break, Hamid changes out of his suit into training gear, and goes and works with the Afghanistan trainer and physio. He has not played an ODI since July 2016.It is easy to assume Hamid is retired. Take a look at what all he has gone through in life since 2012. Part of an ensemble Associates and Affiliates XI facing the No. 1 Test side England back in 2012, Hamid bowled an unbroken 11-over spell to get the wickets of Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott. Soon he chased a ball in vain so hard he left himself no choice but to jump over the picket fence. His right foot sailed over, but his left got stuck and he landed knee first on the sightscreen’s rail grill. It was such an almighty fall that witnesses feared for his life.Hamid had to then undergo surgery, which took all the strength out of his heavy muscular legs. With no one to guide him, Hamid overworked himself too soon in a bid to come back, bringing about another surgery. Offers started to come his way to join the ACB, but he wanted to be back. He was done, everyone said. Hamid would watch Rocky and Rambo movies, and train like them. He was not yet ready to trade the headband and the face paint for a suit and a tie.On June 29, as Wahab is going through his dilemma on whether to play or not, Hamid has decided this will be his last ODI. Nobody outside of the team knows. It is only after the lunch break when Afghanistan come out to defend 227 that you get to know through that guard of honour for Hamid. One of the faces of Afghanistan cricket is going out without fanfare, but he wants to win them one last match. This is a turning track, and he knows on such tracks his side has the best limited-overs spin attack in the world. He needs to support them.”I was very very keen and very happy,” Hamid says. “I was playing my last ODI and was in very good mood. I bowled a very good first over with pace. I was ready to go…”

****

Gulbadin Naib can read and write Urdu. He is still learning to write his own language Pashto. He was born in Pakistan. He was 11 when he realised he was an Afghan and not a Pakistani. When in India, he did interviews for written pieces in Urdu, and spoke passionately of an Afghan identity. He said he was thankful his children were growing up in Afghanistan, at home. When in front of the cameras at this World Cup, this last-minute captain of Afghanistan has not spoken Urdu at all. Except for one couplet, which we will come back to.Hamid Hasan appears to have pulled his left hamstring as Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam take a run•Getty ImagesThis tells you a lot about the geopolitics of the region. Afghans want an identity of their own. They learnt their cricket in Pakistan, but they didn’t go there out of free will. Pakistan played a big role in their being refugees. They acknowledge their past but they don’t want to be stuck with it. Current players respect that, but former ones in the media don’t. They proclaim Pakistan will “crush” Afghanistan.Back to the couplet. This one came out because Naib must not have found a translation in Pashto. He told Bangladesh, ” [We have already sunk, darlings, but we will drag you with us.]” Irony is, Bangladesh themselves fought against the imposition of Urdu (and Punjabi) when they sought freedom from Pakistan. Those lines were perhaps better reserved for those who understand Urdu.

****

Imad Wasim can appear to be what is called a ‘burger’ in Pakistan. A rich kid with an accent, detached from the realities of the country, that’s a working definition of a ‘burger’. Imad was born in Wales, and was set for a career in medicine when called up for the Pakistan Under-19s. He does have an accent, and uses the word “mate” to address fellow brown people. Far from being spoilt, he is the kind of honest allrounder who has to consistently keep punching above his weight to stay in the side. He is a spinner who doesn’t turn the ball. He is not a lusty hitter. He is not the most athletically built. Yet he is important in the side but also dispensable. Failure in first match, and he is the one dropped.Now back in the side, Imad has taken two big wickets and is watching a crazy old match unfold at Headingley as Pakistan look to chase 228 to keep a crazy old logic-defying run going. They have lost to West Indies and India, but they have beaten tournament favourites England, got the better of South Africa and ended the unbeaten run of New Zealand to keep their campaign alive. Afghanistan should be easy then. How I laugh.Hamid walks through the guard of honour but doesn’t join his team-mates immediately. He is getting some attention from the physio before he takes the field. It is his lower back. Hamid charges in to bowl the second over of the innings. The first ball kicks off the surface; it is quick, but the extra bounce makes it look quicker. He is feeling it. He is feeling good. He is going all out. He needs to help his spinners out. In his second over, he does his hamstring.”Suddenly I don’t know what happened, second over my hamstring was totally like gone. I felt like something was broken inside my hamstring. It wasn’t my wish to go like this,” Hamid says after the match. He is limping. He has given it all. He is done. He can break down into tears any moment. He still has two small Afghan flags painted on his cheeks. Rambo at twilight.Imad Wasim won Pakistan the game from a seemingly hopeless situation•Getty ImagesSay what you will about Naib and his sudden rise to captaincy, but he is not the one to shirk responsibility. He is a bit like Imad, always having to justify his place in the side. He doesn’t have the technique to open the batting, but he is doing it. He is not the ideal death bowler, but he is doing it. He is fronting up to the press every time even as their campaign unravels with off-field drama outdoing the number of close defeats. As soon as he sees Hamid limp during his second over, Naib starts to loosen up. It is the three spinners, though, who keep doing their job. In Samiullah Shinwari, Naib finds a fourth musketeer.It is a chaotic match. The geopolitical nastiness has made it to the stands. Already people have been evicted, but the relative calm has been disturbed with Pakistan losing two quick wickets, both against the run of play, both rocks of this batting order: Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam. The only men who bring about any certainty or predictability to Pakistan are both gone.There has been a quote going around these days that is being attributed to Ricky Ponting. That Pakistan beat whomever they want, and they lose to whomever they want. It’s not Pakistan v the opposition, but Pakistan v Pakistan. It can’t be ascertained if Ponting indeed said it, but that is exactly what Pakistan have done through those two wickets.ALSO READ: The Afghan heroism of Gulbadin NaibAll bets are off now. Every dot is waking up the Afghanistan crowd. That familiar feeling is back in the Pakistan camp. Mohammad Hafeez resists the temptation to get out to a part-timer again before cutting the first ball back from Mujeeb Ur Rahman in air. Haris Sohail gets a superb ball from Rashid Khan who is as illegible right now as Farsi, Afghanistan’s other strong language. Sarfaraz Ahmed, who anchored a similar chase against Sri Lanka in the 2017 Champions Trophy, runs himself out.Suddenly Naib’s words have come back to haunt the side that understands Urdu: We have already sunk, darlings, but we will drag you with us. Afghanistan have had a shot against all Asian sides, but have heartbreakingly fallen short. Afghanistan are the heartbreak of this tournament. They are unravelling in front of our eyes, but we – hampered by language – can’t even ascertain what is happening. There is a lot of politics, that much can be said. For the sake of Rashid, of Nabi, of Mujeeb, of fighting batsmen Rahmat and Najib, for the sake of current and former captain Naib and Asghar, for the outgoing affable coach Phil Simmons, we want them to win at least one game. But do we want the win to come at the expense of the greatest story of this World Cup?This is as good a chance as any for Afghanistan, though. They are defending a total unlike other games, which is the ideal scenario for them. Except that Imad is playing the smart game out there. He doesn’t care if he has to play out four maidens from Rashid. He doesn’t care if he keeps patting Mujeeb’s carrom balls back to him. He knows Hamid is injured, and someone quicker or a lesser spinner has to bowl his quota. He wants Afghanistan to make that choice: is it a quicker bowler or part-timer Samiullah? How long can they delay that decision?Naib makes that decision in the 46th over with 46 still to get. Out of the five remaining overs, three are locked in for Rashid and Mujeeb. Naib and Samiullah are the options for the other two. Naib knows Samiullah has bowled well, but he also knows Pakistan are going to target him now. He has had the experience of bowling at the death in this tournament. It’s not ideal, but Naib brings himself on. In his mind, Naib is doing the brave thing again.Imad picks his spot first ball and helps along a low full toss – a yorker gone wrong – into the leg side for four. Naib learns his lesson, rolls his fingers over the next one, Imad miscues the attempted shot over extra cover, Asghar runs after it, this is going to be a catch. What redemption it is for Naib. He can flex his biceps again. Sweet win at last. Except Asghar over-runs it. Asghar has been running and diving after everything, he has been helping Naib out with decision-making, but he has over-run this catch. Who else but Naib and Asghar to be at the centre of this heartbreak?Wahab Riaz connects with the defining blow of the match•Getty ImagesLater in the over, an outside edge flies away for four. Naib stands in the middle of the pitch, hands on knees, unable to believe what is happening. Eighteen runs come off the over. Now Rashid and Mujeeb have only 27 to defend in the last four. In the change rooms, Hamid is struggling to keep his emotions in check. If only he could give them two more overs at this stage, he is thinking.Naib finds a way to get back into the game again. In the 47th, he swoops in on what looks like a certain two, catches Shadab Khan unawares with a smooth quick return by the stumps to run him out. Once again, Afghanistan believe. Once again, Pakistan wonder if their belief – yakeen, if you will – is actually true.This is when Wahab Riaz gets up. He slides his right hand, finger broken and swollen, into a glove. He looks skywards and tells god it is up to him to give him [honour] or [dishonour]. He grimaces every time he grips the bat hard and taps it down.Imad is perhaps still not picking Mujeeb but he has decided he is going to bat through the innings. Hardly any risk is taken as they know they have one more weaker over to go. With 16 off 11, though, Wahab finds one in his wheelhouse. Rashid has overpitched with this wrong’un. Wahab gets on a knee and has an almighty swing. Naib at deep midwicket knows he can’t get to it. There is this almighty release of emotions. Pakistan believe they have got it, Afghanistan know they have not. Rioting breaks out in stands again. Punches, rubbish, bottles, and even a rubbish bin are thrown at each other.A chaotic finish to a chaotic match. Pakistan still believe. Afghanistan hold back tears. There is for Pakistan, but by no means it is for Afghanistan. At the press conference, Imad and Naib talk about their emotions one after the other. Both have found humour. It is slightly insensitive but that’s what keeps them going. About the pitch invasion, Naib says the people love their players, their heroes. It is very difficult to locate these heroes. They want to touch them, hug them at the only place they can see them. Let them. Imad jokes about heart attacks. Days after bowling coach Azhar Mahmood did about suicides. They both ask the fans to co-exist, to watch like brothers.In the mixed media zone, Wahab and Hamid stand a few feet apart as they talk about their day. Both are talking about their pain. Wahab can look back fondly. Hamid has only regret. Wahab promises he will bear the pain and turn out against Bangladesh too. Hamid has no other ODI to look forward to, but he will get into Rambo mode and train for another year or so of T20s. He limps off into the team bus.Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to go home and have a heart attack.

Here’s how our ball-by-ball commentators saw it as Eoin Morgan cracked 17 sixes out of 25 overall

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jun-201913.5 – Rahmat Shah to Bairstow, SIX runs, pumped straight! Full and flat just outside off. Bairstow to the pitch quickly, helped by the flatter trajectory too, and a nice, sweet hit – about 85 metresWATCH on Hotstar (India only): Highlights of Eoin Morgan’s innings23.4 – Rashid Khan to Bairstow, SIX runs, full and swung away, sweetly lofted into the crowd at cow! YJB hitting his way out of trouble, clearing that front leg as soon as Rashid lobs it up26.4 – Mohammad Nabi to Bairstow, SIX runs, boshed! Smeared straight back down the ground, YJB making an early move and freeing the arms to bludgeoning effect!Eoin Morgan smashes another six as he takes the attack to Afghanistan•Getty Images31.2 – Gulbadin Naib to Morgan, SIX runs, ugh, that is a ball, Morgan waits for the long-hop to reach him and cracks it over deep midwicket! So short it had pretty much stopped by the time it got to him, loopy and spankable31.3 – Gulbadin Naib to Morgan, SIX runs, goes down the ground this time! Full and slotted high over long-on! Morgan goes BOOM-BOOM35.3 – Rashid Khan to Morgan, SIX runs, swung for six this time! No chance for Dawlat to make up for his error! Morgan nails it, going to the same part of the ground35.6 – Rashid Khan to Morgan, SIX runs, dragged down, belted into the crowd again! Second six of the over for Morgan, who isn’t going to miss out on those, short and leg side and panned!38.1 – Mohammad Nabi to Morgan, SIX runs, pummels his fifth six over midwicket to bring up his fifty! This is a woeful ball – dropped short and coming in at Morgan who quickly jumps into position and swings clean39.1 – Mujeeb Ur Rahman to Morgan, SIX runs, six number six! Just clears the midwicket fence this time. Length at middle and he gets low, right under it as he swipes across the line. ODI six number 200 as well, I’m informed40.2 – Mohammad Nabi to Morgan, SIX runs, straight over the bowler! Whew! 91 metres from Morgan. Fired in at a length from around the wicket and it’s as good as giving him throwdowns. So much width and he clubs through the line, on the rise40.3 – Mohammad Nabi to Morgan, SIX runs, and now it’s short. Morgan getting them to bowl where he wants them to bowl. Sits back for another mighty pull, a six over midwicket once againESPNcricinfo Ltd42.2 – Rashid Khan to Morgan, SIX runs, clears the front leg, clears the boundary! Once again, might as well be throwing them down in the nets now. Quick, straight, overpitched at leg stump. Makes room and drills it in long-on’s direction42.4 – Rashid Khan to Morgan, SIX runs, number 10! Short at middle stump, gets deep and pumps it over deep square with a pull!42.6 – Rashid Khan to Morgan, SIX runs, the fourth-fastest World Cup century! What a brute of an innings by Eoin Morgan. Unbelievable hitting. He’s taken on everyone, including a man considered the best legspinner when it comes to white-ball cricket. Sends him over long-on again, clearing the front leg44.1 – Rashid Khan to Root, SIX runs, I’ll have some of that says Root as he runs down the pitch, possibly premeditatedly. He’s not to the pitch but he goes through and slugs this length ball over long-on44.1 – Rashid Khan to Morgan, SIX runs, full on middle stump, gets the stride out and nails the slog sweep. Gets it over deep square. Rashid doesn’t know where to go now44.6 – Rashid Khan to Morgan, SIX runs, clears long-off. This is just…obscene. Googly, wide outside off. So much room. So much Morgan – drilled again45.3 – Dawlat Zadran to Morgan, SIX runs, looks like another! Length ball pushed across him. He makes room and checks his shot a touch after reaching out for it. Mid-off is in. This lands on the padding at the long-off boundary. He has 14 sixes46.1 – Gulbadin Naib to Morgan, SIX runs, straight. You know it! Eoin Morgan gets one more in his hitting zone. He clears the front leg and slams it flat to long-off’s leftEoin Morgan celebrates after reaching his century•Getty Images46.2 – Gulbadin Naib to Morgan, SIX runs, equals the most number of sixes hit in an ODI innings! No. 16 for Morgan. Slower ball at a length outside off. So much time as he waits on it to arrive. He’s set up for a slog and he sends it over wide long-on46.5 – Gulbadin Naib to Morgan, SIX runs, ODI world record for sixes! A century in sixes for Morgan! 17! 102 runs with 17 shots. Full and just outside off, clears the front leg and pumps it into the boundary padding behind the bowler48.1 – Rashid Khan to Ali, SIX runs, boom. Welcome back Rashid. Googly, tossed up outside off. Moeen gets the stride in and sends it flying over long-off48.6 – Rashid Khan to Ali, SIX runs, and Moeen slugs over wide long-on to tip Rashid well into the pit. The most runs EVER conceded in a World Cup match. Length at middle stump, clears the front leg and swings like there’s nothing to lose. Because there really isn’t49.4 – Dawlat Zadran to Ali, SIX runs, smoked over square leg! Gosh! Exactly the shots coaches train out of toddlers – front leg facing square leg, back leg rooted, head in the leg side, ball on the off. But those hands…phew. Clean swing as this slower ball rises up for him and he nails the connection49.5 – Dawlat Zadran to Ali, SIX runs, drilled over wide long-on! Oh boy. 25th six. Most in an innings, ever, beating England’s own record. Length ball on leg stump, gets the front leg out of the way and sends it sailing

How bad was Knight Riders’ start, and how MS Dhoni smiled sweetly and cocked a snook at cricket data

Shamya Dasgupta09-Apr-2019Chahar – the Powerplay Super KingA baby at 26 in MS Dhoni’s ‘Dad’s Army’ – otherwise known as Chennai Super Kings – Deepak Chahar is among the most important members of the team.”Under the radar” and “relatively unsung”, Stephen Fleming said of him the other day, while gushing about the paceman’s consistency, skills, and ability to tone things down for the benefit of his team. Consistency, especially in the Powerplay. No one has done more in the Powerplay in IPL matches than Chahar since the start of the 2018 season – just look at the numbers.ESPNcricinfo LtdLittle surprise then that he returned 3 for 14 in three Powerplay overs against Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday. His wickets: Chris Lynn, Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa, one in each over.For the record, he bowled 20 dot balls in his four overs on the night – including five in the 19th over of the Knight Riders innings when, admittedly, Andre Russell was farming the strike and trying to go big. That is the most number of dot balls in an IPL innings, ever.That said, Russell scored 50 not out in 44 balls to keep his fantastic sequence going – that’s 46% of Knight Riders’ runs on the night.Chepauk pitch not yet ‘a lot better’The first match of this year’s IPL pitted Chennai Super Kings against Royal Challengers Bangalore. In Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium. Batting first, Royal Challengers rolled over for 70 – they haven’t quite gotten back on their feet yet.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”It was too slow,” Dhoni had told Sanjay Manjrekar in the post-match chat then. “Definitely it needs to be a lot better than where it is right now. Even with the dew, it was still turning a bit.” He explained that 140-150 was the minimum in a T20 game, and the pitch wasn’t good enough for that.His team-mate Harbhajan, however, had disagreed. “We’re so used to watching matches on good wickets where no one complains when people score 170-180,” Harbhajan Singh, man of the match then for his 3 for 30, had said.Over two weeks on, it definitely hasn’t become . Take out Russell’s unbeaten 50 – at a strike rate of 113.63, which is much, much slower than his usual belligerent efforts – and it could have been another 70 all out.Wonder if it’s the sort of home advantage anyone wants; Dhoni certainly didn’t back on March 23, what do the fans have to say?Don’t bowl spin to Sunil Narine, unless it’s ChennaiLogic, and common sense, suggests that teams shouldn’t bowl spin to Sunil Narine early on, in the Powerplay, which is typically where he does most of his batting. Try telling that to Dhoni, though.At the toss, Dhoni was asked if he paid heed to T20 analytics before making decisions. “No, not much,” he responded with a smile. Therefore, it was no surprise that he threw the ball to Harbhajan for the second over after Chahar had sent back Lynn in the first.Harbhajan Singh accounted for Sunil Narine in the second over•BCCIBefore this game, Narine had a strike rate of 254 against spin in IPL Powerplays, and 166 against pace in the same period.But, even though Dhoni doesn’t care much for numbers, he may have remembered the Narine v Harbhajan match-up the last time they met in Chennai: one ball, one dismissal, in IPL 2018. This time, Harbhajan bowled four balls to Narine, conceded one run, and then had his man again.That left Knight Riders at 8 for 2 in two overs, and by the end of the Powerplay, they were 29 for 4 as Chahar picked up two more wickets. Not their worst Powerplay performance ever – that stands at 22 for 4, also in Chennai against Super Kings, in 2010 – but in the top (or bottom!) five.

The fascinating back stories of Riyan Parag, Mahipal Lomror and Prashant Chopra – and how they’re living the dream with the best in the game

Shashank Kishore in Jaipur22-Apr-2019Mahipal Lomror comes from Nagaur, a town in Rajasthan. The highway from Nagaur to Ajmer passes Kota, a town famous for its tutorial centres, where students come from all around to prepare for exams to gain entrance to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology. Most of the ones not academically inclined turn to music or farming. Cricket is an afterthought in Nagaur.There is just one proper multi-purpose ground in the town, mostly unused because there is no real culture of kids playing, a rarity in India. Watching the IPL on TV is mostly a no-no, because it eats into study time.Lomror, now 19, knew he wouldn’t make it big from there. He had to keep batting by himself because other kids wouldn’t turn up to play, fearing a parental scolding. At the ground, there was one cricket net, where Mukesh Prajapath was the coach. Prajapath felt the youngster had to shift base to Jaipur, and that’s where Lomror carved an identity for himself.In 2016, he was part of the Indian team that finished runners-up to West Indies at the Under-19 World Cup. In age-group cricket, he was the other half of a deadly combine with Rishabh Pant, who played for Rajasthan during his Under-14 and Under-16 days. Lomror and Pant were hailed as the ‘Jai and Viru’ (a reference to , the iconic Hindi film), and did most things together before they went their own ways – Lomror stayed on in Rajasthan, Pant shifted to Delhi.

You see these guys on TV, and suddenly they’re your mates. You’re awestruck. Last year, Jos came up to me and broke the ice. That’s when I became more confident. This season when Smudge (Steven Smith) arrived, we took the same cab to training.PRASHANT CHOPRA

As a 14-year-old, Lomror took the bowling apart in a club match against a Mumbai side to impress Chandrakant Pandit, the former India wicketkeeper and an old-school coach who is among the most successful in the country. Lomror was called ‘Junior Gayle’ at the time. Today, still in his teens, he captains Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy. He is also the only player from the state in the Rajasthan Royals’ roster at the moment.He trains with Ben Stokes, shares bowling videos with Shane Warne, and enjoys all the facilities he didn’t have when he started out. Yet, when he returns home to Nagaur, his mother’s first question is: “It’s good you’re on TV, but when will you get a stable job?””I’m a cricketer because of my grandmother,” he tells ESPNcricinfo. “As a 12-year-old, when my father and coach decided I had to move to Jaipur to pursue cricket, she moved with me and gave me emotional support. I owe this journey to her.”The chat with Jos Buttler that changed Prashant Chopra’s attitude
Prashant Chopra grew up in Solan, a town bordering Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. His father Shiv was a coach at the Sports Authority of India and the family lived in government housing, with all facilities at their disposal. His father’s job took him to New Delhi and Chandigarh, where he continued to train at better-than-average facilities.Prashant Chopra takes Jos Buttler for a spin•Rajasthan Royals”During MS Dhoni’s early years as captain, he trained often at Delhi’s National Stadium, where I spent most of my time. That inspired me,” Chopra says. At 18, he would return from Australia as an Under-19 World Cup winner (in 2012), where he’d formed a fearsome opening combination with Unmukt Chand. When he returned to his village, it took him half a day just to oblige the stream of well-wishers. He was primed for bigger things. They haven’t come yet.But, today, he is a hero in Himachal Pradesh first-class cricket. Only one batsman – BB Nimbalkar – has scored more runs in a day in Ranji Trophy history than Chopra’s 271. His itch to be a part of the IPL ended when Royals signed him in 2018. There, though, he has largely been in the reserves, but is soaking in every bit of time and opportunity he can get to learn from Jos Buttler. At 26, Chopra’s best years are ahead of him.”Last year, when I joined the camp, I was hesitant,” Chopra says. “You see these guys on TV, and suddenly they’re your mates. You’re awestruck. Last year, Jos came up to me and broke the ice. That’s when I became more confident. This season, when Smudge (Steven Smith) arrived, we took the same cab to training. I hadn’t met him before, but I spoke all along the way to the stadium. If you can get their time, you never know what you would get out of the interaction.”Golden words from those who have played at the highest level can’t be bad, the ideas they have are different, and that could help me further in my game.”Before that, for three years following the Under-19 World Cup win in 2012, Chopra expected an IPL call, but it didn’t come. In 2017, instead of “wasting time at home and watching IPL on TV” he decided to play 50-overs cricket in Bangladesh, in the Dhaka Premier League. It taught him to be responsible.”Bangladesh has a good limited-overs set up, a number of international players were there. I was a professional there, so that gives you a sense of responsibility,” he says. “Till then, I wasn’t that responsible. It didn’t come naturally to me at Himachal because we had Robin Bist and Paras Dogra. That experience of being responsible and carrying the batting in Bangladesh helped.”

There’s a vast difference between watching from the dugout and being in the middle. When I stepped out to bat, I was under a lot of pressure. A lot was at stake. Jos, Stokesy were all trying to calm me, but you feel pressure.RIYAN PARAG

The 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season wasn’t particularly impressive for Chopra. He managed just 343 runs in 12 innings. When he joined the Royals camp, he was a low on confidence. This was when an interaction with Buttler changed his outlook, the hour spent with the Englishman “easily the most memorable interaction” he’s had as a professional cricketer.”I asked him ‘what do you do when you’re down and out, but still have to bat?’ He said: ‘When you get into the field, give the impression that you own this place’. He also said for us Indians, cricket is a big thing, we’re emotional about it, but for the overseas players it’s just a profession. He said, ‘Cricket is just a game, when you’re home, you have a family waiting for you. Be relaxed, express yourself on the field.’ He said even if he didn’t play another game of cricket, he’d walk away happy without any regrets, because there’s much more to life.”That opened my mind, to just enjoy cricket and not take it as pressure. Sometimes people have so much expectations on you, you have expectations of yourself that you stop enjoying your life. This chat really helped me. Now, when I face a bowler, I only see the ball, not his reputation.”His father played against MS Dhoni, Riyan Parag is doing it now
For Riyan Parag, cricket was an obvious career choice. His mother, Mithoo, was a national swimming champion, but he chose to follow his father, Parag Das, who represented Assam and Railways during the course of a 15-year career. As a youngster – he is still only 17 – in Guwahati, he grew up on a generous diet of throwdowns at the end of his father’s training sessions.As a 14-year-old, he could have been the youngest first-class debutant in India, but for the Assam selectors, who weren’t on the same page as the state’s then coach Sanath Kumar. Now Parag, like Chopra, is an Under-19 World Cup winner, has broken into his state’s first-class set up, and is the third youngest to feature in the IPL.Many years ago, his father and Dhoni featured in Railways’ tournaments together in Kharagpur and Guwahati. They even finished top of the run-charts for their department in the Inter-Railways competitions in Nagpur in 2004, just before his India debut. They have also played against each other in the Ranji Trophy, when Dhoni turned up for Bihar several years ago. On Parag’s IPL debut, Dhoni was keeping wicket and captaining the opposition.Riyan Parag takes on Steven Smith – the baby of the team is also one of the biggest pranksters•ESPNcricinfo LtdOff the field, Parag jokes with Steven Smith, beats him at table tennis, banters with Ish Sodhi, and teaches Hindi words to Liam Livingstone. To him, Smith is a “buddy” and Stokes a “legend”. Both have plenty of time for him and quite like being around the team’s prankster, and youngest member. Fun and games aside, he’s even shared a match-winning partnership with Smith, who has been impressed by his talent.”He’s a terrific young kid,” Smith said of Riyan after their win over Mumbai Indians in Jaipur. “He works very hard, he’s a fit and strong young kid. The way he batted, even in the first game that he played, he taught a lot of the experienced players a few lessons, including myself.”For Riyan, it’s a learning curve, and that’s all that matters. “My only motto at the IPL is to enjoy the tournament, not feel intimidated, not be afraid of asking questions, develop bonds with my team-mates and keep learning every day,” he says. “So that when you’re back home, you reflect on these learnings and get better so that the next time you’re back, you’re a better person.””Bat like you’re playing cricket”
While they haven’t been regulars in the XI, Lomror, Chopra and Riyan have utilised the IPL experience to learn and polish their skills, both at cricket and at life. One of Chopra’s biggest learnings has been moving from being a reluctant speaker to an outgoing person.As Chopra explains his mental make-up, Lomror is listening intently. At one point, he wishes to step in, but holds back. When the talk drifts to ‘there’s life outside cricket’, he pipes in: “But it’s different for those who have given up everything for cricket, including living with family and moving away from their home town.”The rise of cricketers from small towns in India, none more famous than Dhoni, has been a remarkable, and much discussed, story. And the non-urban upbringing is evident in Lomror’s approach to the game.”When you have so many challenges at every step, you think differently,” Lomror says – he is responding to a question on playing with a constant threat of everything going pear-shaped in Rajasthan cricket. He has even had to put together camps, not just take part in them – including just five days before the start of the 2018-19 domestic season. He’s had to fight for nets, training balls, training gear, caps, water bottles, ice packs. The list goes on.At Royals, he’s keen to find out the human side of the superstars, how they prepare, how to put off-field worries on the backburner. “It’s good to ask them (the stars) what I can do to get into the XI,” he says. “They’ve been helpful. To be part of any IPL team is a privilege for a domestic player. With IPL, you always learn to work through failures and success.”This you can’t get playing for your state, because the experience of spending time with the overseas players doesn’t come just like that. I’m just treating it as a learning experience.”Riyan Parag hits into the leg side•BCCIAll along, Riyan has one eye on the pool contest between Smith and Shreyas Gopal, going on right behind where we sit. He is confident, and carries himself comfortably, like he is among his class-mates in school. In fact, in his first outing on IPL debut, those were Stokes’ instructions to him: “Bat like you’re playing gully cricket, and think you’re batting with you best buddy at the other end.”Yet, the maturity in his thoughts and actions shine through. Two days after joining the Royals camp, he spoke to the team management and returned home to write two of his Class XII board exams, before flying back to Mumbai. Most others in his place would have hesitated to put in the request.His parents had considered sending him to Leicester to play academy matches hosted by his father’s friend Anshuman Bhagawati, a former Assam player, and his wife Sonia Odedra, the former England women’s international. As it turned out, he was the last player picked up at this year’s auction. The Leicester plans had to change.”I was told my role is in the middle order, as a finisher,” Riyan says. “So I’m just working on batting deep, developing my skills and handling pressure. Everyone has skills but those who execute under pressure become a good player. I’m working on that with Amol Muzumdar sir (the batting coach).”There’s a vast difference between watching from the dugout and being in the middle. You don’t feel pressure when you’re watching from the outside. When I stepped out to bat, I was under a lot of pressure. A lot was at stake. Jos, Stokesy were all trying to calm me, but you feel pressure. Just handling pressure moments, taking it like a normal match. Facing Imran Tahir first ball was something else. But thanks to him for that full toss (laughs), I got my first boundary and I calmed down after that.”The mental demands of the game aside, Riyan has also found a calling in mystery spin. At the Under-19 World Cup, a finger injury in his left hand meant he couldn’t bat. He worked on his secondary skill and developed as an offspinner, until another art caught his fancy.”The World Cup injury was heartbreaking. I missed two weeks of the tournament, but Rahul (Dravid) sir had full faith in me and said I could play if I withstood the pain. My left hand was taped, but my right hand was fine, so I worked on my bowling then. Those little bowling contributions were handy at the Under-19 World Cup. I saw Mujeeb Ur Rahman bowl it at the tournament and he was all over the batsmen.”Then I started watching more and more videos, and kept practising in my room. I talk a lot to Ish Sodhi about legbreaks, wristspin. He’s such an experienced guy, and is very happy to give me tips. One thing my dad told me: ‘make yourself free, don’t hesitate to ask questions’. I’ve asked a lot of questions. A few more days, hopefully I can ask more questions.”

Two No. 11s given the job of holding down an end while their batting partners led improbable chases from the other end

Andrew Fidel Fernando31-Aug-2019On a warm weekend afternoon, a left-hand No. 5 batsman is on a fourth-innings warpath for the ages. There are fearsome quicks tearing in – bowlers who together form one of the most lethal attacks on the planet. They are breaking like waves but they can’t quench this inferno. The batsman is cuttting, hacking, driving and reverse-bludgeoning his way through incredible odds. On the leg side, it’s open season. The area beyond the boundary is bombarded repeatedly. From the ground first, and later, thrillingly, from the air.Heartbeats around the planet have quickened on his account. Shallow breaths are being drawn all through the stadium. But although he is batting better than he (or perhaps anyone) ever has, late in the piece, he must endure a moment of utter helplessness.His partner, a No. 11 batsman, is sprinting full-pelt towards the non-striker’s, head down, arm jerking the bat from side to side. Behind the wicket, a fielder gets the ball to hand and makes the throw. The No. 5 watches its trajectory. As he does, he begins to fear that it has all been for nothing. That history will go unmade. That records will remain un-tumbled. His team-mate, surely, is miles out.But on the afternoon of a mighty cricketing miracle, here was a little one, prodding the big one along on its way. In Leeds, Nathan Lyon is back behind the stumps but fumbles the throw, his hands cupping only Headingley’s electric air as he moves them towards the stumps to effect what would have been a run-out to go 2-0 up. In Durban, a Faf du Plessis throw that could have ended Sri Lanka’s game is skipping away on the Kingsmead turf all the way to the boundary.For Vishwa Fernando it means survival, but also, five completely unexpected runs. He had edged that ball just short of third slip.For Jack Leach it means his panic will not cost England the Ashes.Two tailenders playing vital supporting roles in two of the most remarkable passages of cricket this century. Vishwa scoring 6 not out, and Leach 1, putting on 78 and 76 for the last wicket respectively. These are the highest fourth-innings tenth-wicket stands in victories. They both happened to come in 300-plus chases, six months apart. From among the many staggering figures, none is more consequential to the No. 11s than the number of balls faced.Vishwa: 27. Leach: 17.Balls that their No. 5 partners, in their otherworldly form, could do nothing but watch.

****

Vishwa was born in Colombo, which is host to three active Test venues (the most for any city). Leach was born in Taunton, where the biggest landmark by far is the cricket ground. Although this suggests they should both have an affinity for the game, it doesn’t follow that they should be good at batting, because they aren’t. Vishwa has played 78 first-class innings and has a top score of 35. Leach hit 92 in a Test against Ireland this month when he was beaten a bunch of times and dropped twice, but if you remove the Test runs from his record, he averages less than 12 at first-class level as well. Neither is particularly well-equipped to play quicks aiming projectiles at their heads traveling at over 140kph, but here they are, in a fourth innings, when pitches are at their most treacherous, facing down outstanding attacks; fighting. Both are wearing arm guards – equipment favoured by the barely competent.That either of them is even here is down partly to luck, but also to great resolve. Vishwa, a victim of an atrocious domestic system that produces pitches essentially designed to force quicks to quit the game, averages 31.13 in first-class cricket. And he was only here in Durban because no fewer than three frontline Sri Lanka quicks were injured and he just happened to be fit at the time, despite injuries having plagued his own career. He had never bowled or batted in South Africa before this match.It’s (almost) over: Jack Leach survives a mad scramble and a run-out attempt•Getty ImagesLeach was also in the England team as a sort of replacement – for an out-of-sorts and decommissioned Moeen Ali. But he had battled through his own separate life challenges to be hanging off that second rung. He was forced to remodel his action when it was found to be suspect. A year earlier, he had also cracked his skull after fainting in the bathroom. Most of all, Leach has been living for at least half his life with Crohn’s disease, a bowel disease that can lead to pain, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition.”It’s something I’m always battling with a little bit, even if I am very lucky to not be affected as badly as some people can be,” he had said recently. “If I was having a bad day with the ball, it would be nice to be able to blame it on the Crohn’s, but I’ve never done that. If there’s a day when I’m struggling, I know how to fight through.”If Leach and Vishwa had to strive to be part of this game, though, those struggles were mostly to do with their bowling. At Kingsmead and Headingley, both had performed their primary roles satisfactorily (Vishwa, in fact, had excelled, taking 8 for 133 in the game), but it was with the bat that their fortitude was most required.Only in cricket are players wildly unsuited to a certain challenge required to confront their weaknesses for the good of their team. Bowlers, who bother themselves with largely physical exertions, are forced to attempt defensive batting – a mainly technical endeavour. Such was the plight of these No. 11s. Only a few games into their careers on the strength of their bowling, they were made to bat in the toughest situations Test cricket could possibly summon.

****

With Leach, it is the image that remains. Stood at the non-striker’s end, helmet off, bald-headed, he cleans his spectacles with a cloth he has drawn from his pocket. He is wearing his numbered whites and that very thick arm guard in front of a baying Headingley crowd that has cheered his every dot ball like a boundary, but in this moment he could be everyman anywhere. A turtle-necked librarian preparing to read to a room full of ten-year-olds. A store manager readying himself for a difficult customer. A student in jeans about to sit an exam. “I have to make sure the glasses are clean because I’d really regret it if they were smudged,” he would later say, but is he also taking a few extra seconds to compose himself? His body obviously coursing with adrenaline towards the end of that chase, is he making time to take a few extra breaths?With Vishwa, it is the words. “Baya venna epa,” he says to Kusal Perera during the course of their partnership. “Mama angen hari gahannang”. Don’t worry because I’ll hit the ball with my body, if with nothing else.On a Kingsmead track on which Perera himself had been clanged on the helmet twice – by Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier – earlier in the day, Vishwa manages to avoid getting hit, but nevertheless puts his body on the line, never once backing off, managing always to get bat to the full deliveries that followed the bouncers. When South Africa take the second new ball and Steyn starts swinging it, Vishwa plays, misses and edges, but never flashes.”I wasn’t afraid I would get hit – only that I’d lose my wicket,” he says two days later.”What Vishwa said gave me a lot of strength,” Perera later reflects. “I don’t know the number of balls he faced. But they were worth more than my runs.”At Headingley, months later, in an absurdly a similar match situation, orchestrating a near-identical heist, England’s No. 5, Ben Stokes, is barely able to watch several of the last deliveries Leach must survive. He is, crouching, folded up like an armadillo – this colossus astride the crease when he is on strike, almost in the foetal position when he is not. The bounce at Headingley is not like it had been at Kingsmead, but the bowlers are still breathing fire, and Leach and his unsmudged spectacles duck, sway and miss their way through the worst of it. Like Vishwa, he is single-minded in his defence – no runs, really, required of his bat. He has one job. He is doing it.And then it comes. The single. The one intentional run each of these tailenders would make. Leach tucks Pat Cummins around the corner after Stokes had failed to retain strike late in the previous over; Vishwa fends one from Steyn square on the leg side, and the ball dribbles away, into space.Moment’s later England’s hero would crack Cummins through the covers. Sri Lanka’s would smoke Steyn up into the leg-side bank, keep the strike, then steer Rabada past slip for the winning runs. One No. 5 would punch the air as a euphoric stadium erupted. The other would raise his arms having ended a three-month drought for his team. But then who cares what they did? This is not for them.This is for Leach and for Vishwa: a pair of the unlikeliest survivors, tethered improbably by fate, running those frenzied, freeing singles, six months and the length of two continents apart – the end of two epic shifts of courage.

And was England’s 67 at Leeds their lowest total in an Ashes Test?

Steven Lynch27-Aug-2019I’m still trying to make sense of that last day at Headingley – and wondered how many teams have won a Test after being dismissed for less than 100 in their first innings? asked William Johnson from England
Following that amazing performance at the weekend, there have now been 16 all-out totals of under 100 that were still enough to win a Test (ignoring the declarations and forfeitures in the match between South Africa and England in Centurion in 1999-2000). England had warmed up by doing the same just a month previously, beating Ireland after being skittled for 85 on the first morning at Lord’s. Only three of these totals – all more than 130 years ago – were lower than England’s 67 at Headingley. In the first Test in Sydney in 1886-87, England won despite being shot out for 45 in the first innings (they made 184 in the second; Australia were out for 119 and 97). Australia won at Lord’s in 1888 despite being rolled for 60 in their first innings (a record 27 wickets tumbled on the second day), while at The Oval in 1882, in the match that spawned the Ashes, Australia won after being shot out for 63 in their second innings.Was England’s 67 at Leeds their lowest total in an Ashes Test? asked Ibrahim Kamara from Sierra Leone
England’s catastrophic collapse to 67 all out at Headingley last week was their lowest in an Ashes Test for 71 years – they were bundled out for 52 by Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller at The Oval in 1948, on the first day of Don Bradman’s final Test match.In all, England have had 11 smaller totals than last week’s 67. Seven of the others were against Australia, including their lowest of all – 45 in Sydney in 1886-87, in a match they went on to win by 13 runs.Joe Denly was the only Englishman to reach double figures at Leeds. Was this a record? asked Michael Horton from England
England have had five previous innings in which only one batsman reached double figures, the most recent being against West Indies in Kingston in 2008-09, when Andrew Flintoff (24) made nearly half a miserable total of 51. There has only been one completed Test innings which contained 11 single-figure scores: when South Africa were skittled for 30 by England at Edgbaston in 1924, the highest score was 7, by their captain Herbie Taylor.Denly’s effort did set one record, though: 12 is the lowest score to be the highest of a completed England innings. The previous lowest came during a total of 99 against Australia in Sydney in 1901-02, when both Willie Quaife and Gilbert Jessop made 15. That was equalled against South Africa at Lord’s in 1998, when Nasser Hussain also made 15 of England’s 110 – an innings which, remarkably, contained six double-figure scores.Joe Denly’s tortured 12 was the highest individual score – and the only double-digit one – in England’s first innings at Headingley•Getty ImagesWas Don Bradman the oldest to score a hundred in an Ashes Test? asked Ian Hugo from Nigeria
Don Bradman was about a month short of his 40th birthday when he scored his 19th and last Ashes century – an unbeaten 173 – as Australia reached 404 for 3 to winon the final day at Headingley in 1948.Seven players have scored Ashes hundreds when older than Bradman; all were over 40 except Graham Gooch, who was nine days short when he made 120 for England at Trent Bridge in 1993. The oldest of all was Jack Hobbs, who made five Ashes centuries when over 42, including 142 in Melbourne in 1928-29 when he was 46. The others were Patsy Hendren (aged 45 in 1934), Warren Bardsley (43 in 1926), Warwick Armstrong (three in 1920-21, when 41), Geoff Boycott (40 in 1981) and Charles Macartney (three in 1926, aged 40).Bradman was only 20 when he made his first Test century, 112 against England in Melbourne in 1928-29. Only four others have reached three figures in the Ashes at a younger age: Archie Jackson (19, also in 1928-29), Neil Harvey (19 in 1948), Doug Walters (19 in 1965-66, and another a fortnight later after turning 20), and Denis Compton (20 in 1938).Australia had seven left-handed batsman at Headingley. Was this a record? asked T Krishna Reddy from India
Australia’s seven left-handers in last week’s third Test at Headingley equalled the national record: they also fielded seven against Sri Lanka in Sydney in 2012-13 (David Warner, Ed Cowan, Phillip Hughes, Mike Hussey, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc), and in three successive Tests in 2016-17 – Warner, Wade, Starc, Usman Khawaja, Matt Renshaw, Nic Maddinson and Josh Hazlewood against South Africa in Adelaide, then against Pakistan in Brisbane and in Melbourne.The overall record is eight left-handers in the same Test side, which was achieved by West Indies in two Tests during 2000 – against Pakistan in Georgetown in May, and against England at The Oval in August – and by England against Australia in Sydney in 2013-14.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

First win in six attempts is vindication for new regime, but that’s not the whole story for South Africa

Firdose Moonda in Centurion29-Dec-2019It’s too easy to say that this is what happens when you get successful former players involved. It’s too easy to say that this performance was engineered by Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis, too easy to believe that the stardust from the greats sprinkled over the next generation and produced self-belief, and too easy to put the five defeats that preceded this win down to a coaching staff was that was disconnected with its job, either because they were facing ultimatums like Ottis Gibson or facing the impossible like Enoch Nkwe. But there was nothing easy about this win.It came after minimal, but intense, preparation. With two debutants in the side. Under pressure from sections of the country who believed the new regime represented only a small elite. Against the backdrop of an administration in chaos and debt. It came from a herd of wounded buffaloes, some more badly injured than others. All still desperately proud. And it came to the sounds of Shosholoza – the anthem sung by the mine-workers from Zimbabwe which has become the sound of both struggle and success – a fitting combination since that is what South Africa have been through.2019 has been an annus horribilis for South African cricket, on the field and off it. The problems seemed to be bottomless until two weeks ago, when a structural overhaul promised a new dawn. Of course, that was immediately followed by fears it would be false, especially when Dean Elgar was strangled down the leg side with the first ball of the home summer.At 111 for 5, the line-up hinted that the more things change, the more they stay the same but then the lower-order rallied. A first-innings lead and a target over 350 at a venue where 251 is the highest successful chase took South Africa to the brink of safety but it was the way they bowled on a tense final day was the strongest suggestion that the team is turning. South Africa need to spend the rest of the series aiming for the full circle.It will start with selection. At SuperSport Park, South Africa got their balance right with two allrounders, which gave them five frontline bowlers and eight batsmen. The second allrounder, Dwaine Pretorius played a key role in the victory. He featured in an 87-run sixth-wicket stand with Quinton de Kock in the first innings which ensured South Africa reached a par score and then set the tone for the victory push on the final morning by ensuring South Africa kept the pressure on an England team whose memories of Headingley and miracles are still fresh.Anrich Nortje roars in celebration after dismissing Jofra Archer•Associated PressIn the morning session, South Africa conceded at a rate of two runs an over, and took two wickets thanks to Pretorius and his partner Anrich Nortje, who were instrumental in tightening the cord. Pretorius was the unlikely aggressor and used the short ball to good effect, with some help from a surface on which the bounce has become more inconsistent and unpredictable. He hit Joe Denly on the glove with a ball that kicked up, then rapped him on the front pad with a ball that was pitched up and clipping leg stump for umpire’s call. When Ben Stokes arrived, Pretorius kept him quiet with a fuller length, bowling on fourth and fifth stump and forced Stokes to defend.On the other end, Nortje turned the heat up, especially against the England captain. He struck Joe Root, first on the bottom hand with a ball that spat up, and then on the top wrist, where there is less protection. Nortje’s pace hovered around the 145kph mark consistently – and once touched 148kph – while maintaining a tight line. Between them, their 10 overs cost 23 runs. It was the “investment session” South Africa needed and it brought the afternoon’s rewards in which seven wickets fell for 64 runs, including six for 46 in 12 overs with the new ball. While Kagiso Rabada was the man with the most wickets, the supporting roles of Nortje and Pretorius cannot be underestimated. The match was won by a collective that was made up of the right kinds of players.While team composition can be credited with some aspects of this victory, attitude was responsible for the rest of it and will be crucial to the way South Africa approach the rest of the series. The ability to go for the kill was thought to have been eroded from South Africa’s cricketing DNA.After they lost a series to Sri Lanka at home and were whitewashed in India, it was difficult to see any fight in the side. They had, by Faf du Plessis own admission, lost confidence and belief. They were going through the motions, hoping, but not really knowing how they would land on their feet. And they didn’t.ALSO READ: South Africa end Test drought with 107-run winAt home, Kusal Perera played one of the two best innings of the year to make history; in India, du Plessis lost all the tosses and his batsmen were victims to India’s seamers long before the spinners had a say. South Africa were sitting ducks, allowing cricket to be played around them. There was little in the way of initiative or imagination.That changed today. Keshav Maharaj was kept on against Ben Stokes despite being hit for three fours off the second over of his spell. In his third over, Stokes played on and South Africa had broken through. That moment changed the game, and South Africa knew it. Stokes played the second of those two innings of 2019, with his match-winning century at Headingley. It was eerily aligned that then, he walked out to bat with 218 needed. Today, the situation was the same. South Africa were first-hand witnesses to Perera, they did not want to have to be on the receiving end of another effort like that.With Maharaj opening the door, the quicks burst through and the smallest crowd of the four days, only 4,844 people attended, started to celebrate something they have waited most of the year for: a Test-match win. They drowned out the travelling supporters, whose cries of “Rooooooooot” were the most audible through the day and reminded the English that, while they have the Barmy Army and Jerusalem, South Africa’s own promised land is here, at SuperSport Park.They have not lost at the ground in more than five years, since February 2014, and have lost just two Tests in 25 at this venue all told. There was nowhere else for them to take the first steps into their new era. Difficult steps. They’ll hope it gets easier from here.

Also, Babar Azam’s career average has gone above 40 for the first time since 2016

S Rajesh22-Dec-20192 – Instances of the top-four batsmen scoring hundreds in a Test innings. Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali and Babar Azam all got their milestones against Sri Lanka in the second Test in Karachi. The only previous instance of this was in 2007, when India’s top four – Dinesh Karthik, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar – scored centuries against Bangladesh in the first innings of the Mirpur Test. This, though, was the first such instance of it in a second innings, where there have only been four previous instances of three centurions among the top-four batsmen.ESPNcricinfo Ltd503 – Runs added by Pakistan’s first three wickets, which is Pakistan’s fourth-highest in a Test innings. Their highest is also against Sri Lanka – 555 – in Faisalabad in 1985, when Qasim Umar and Javed Miandad both got double-hundreds and added 397 for the third wicket. The three higher aggregates were all in the team’s first innings, though; in the second innings, there are only two instances of any team adding more runs for the first three wickets. The highest is also against Sri Lanka – 615 by New Zealand in 1991 – when Martin Crowe made 299 and Andrew Jones 186.ESPNcricinfo Ltd527 – The total runs scored by Pakistan’s first four batsmen, which is the fourth-highest for them. Their highest is 535 against India in 1983, but the more memorable effort was in 1958 in Barbados, when Hanif Mohammad scored a monumental 337 to avert defeat after Pakistan were forced to follow on.42.67 – Babar’s career average. It is the first time his average has gone above 40 since his third Test in 2016. At the end of 2017, Babar averaged 23.75 after 11 Tests. In the last two years, he has upped his game significantly, scoring 1232 runs – 616 each in 2018 and 2019 – at an average of 61.60. That average is the highest among the 14 batsmen who have scored 1000-plus Test runs in the last two years.

In recent years, the Saudi Pro League has lured a number of superstars to play their football in the Middle East, with big money on offer.

Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the first big names to make the move to Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr in 2023 and the Portuguese icon now picks up an eye-watering £178m per season.

Messi, Mbappe and Dembele rejected billions in Saudi Pro League contracts

Some big money has been turned down over the years.

ByCharlie Smith Jul 19, 2025

Some star players have turned down moves to the Saudi Pro League, including Lionel Messi, Bruno Fernandes and Kylian Mbappe. However, the likes of Neymar, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante swapped some of the best clubs in Europe for Saudi Arabia.

Darwin Nunez is the latest to do so, heading to Al-Hilal from Liverpool in a transfer worth an initial €53m. But where does he rank on a list of the 10 most expensive Saudi Pro League transfers of all-time?

Player

From

To

Fee

Neymar

PSG

Al-Hilal

€90m

Jhon Duran

Aston Villa

Al-Nassr

€77m

Mateo Retegui

Atalanta

Al-Qadsiah

€68.25m

Moussa Diaby

Aston Villa

Al-Nassr

€60m

Malcom

Zenit

Al-Hilal

€60m

Otavio

FC Porto

Al-Nassr

€60m

Ruben Neves

Wolves

Al-Hilal

€55m

Darwin Nunez

Liverpool

Al-Hilal

€53m

Aleksandar Mitrovic

Fulham

Al-Hilal

€52.6m

Galeno

FC Porto

Al-Ahli

€50m

10 Galeno €50m to Al-Ahli

Brazilian winger Galeno swapped FC Porto for Al-Ahli in 2025 in a deal worth €50m.

Arguably at the peak of his powers at the age of 27 when swapping Portugal for Saudi Arabia, Galeno helped Al-Ahli win the first-ever AFC Champions League Elite title, scoring in the final against Kawasaki Frontale.

9 Aleksandar Mitrovic €52.6m to Al-Hilal

Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored goals everywhere he has been during his career, and after starring in England for eight years with Newcastle United and Fulham, caught the attention of Al-Hilal.

In 2023 they decided to pay those at Craven Cottage €52.6m for the Serbian striker, who has gone on to average more than a goal or an assist each game. Mitrovic helped Al-Hilal win a league title in 2023/24 and the Saudi Cup.

8 Darwin Nunez €53m to Al-Hilal

Looking likely to be Mitrovic’s replacement at Al-Hilal in 2025 is Darwin Nunez.

The former Liverpool striker was hit and miss at Anfield after costing the Reds £85m, with Arne Slot and those on Merseyside deciding to cash in halfway through a six-year deal.

7 Ruben Neves €55m to Al-Hilal

Al-Hilal have been big spenders in recent years and also splashed the cash on midfielder Ruben Neves in 2023.

The Portugal midfielder followed his national teammate Ronaldo to the Saudi Pro League, paying Premier League side Wolves €55m.

6 Otavio €60m to Al-Nassr

Another Portuguese star who headed to the Middle East in 2023 was Otavio, with Al-Nassr triggering his €60m release clause in his FC Porto contract.

Playing alongside Ronaldo in attack, the winger has made close to 100 appearances for Al-Nassr and is under contract until 2026.

5 Malcom €60m to Al-Hilal

Malcom cost Barcelona more than €40m in 2018, however, after selling the Brazilian winger to Zenit Saint Petersburg, he was then on the move again in 2023, joining Al-Hilal.

Still on the books in 2025, Malcom has won one Saudi League title, one Saudi Cup and two Saudi Super Cups.

4 Moussa Diaby €60m to Al-Ittihad

Despite signing the likes of Benzema, Kante and Fabinho in recent years, Al-Ittihad’s most expensive signing is Moussa Diaby.

Costing €60m from Aston Villa in 2024, Diaby has turned into an assist machine for Al-Ittihad, registering 16 in his first Al-Ittihad season.

3 Mateo Retegui €68.25m to Al-Qadsiah

After finishing fourth in the 2024/25 Saudi Pro League, Al-Qadsiah splashed the cash and broke their transfer record by signing striker Mateo Retegui from Atalanta.

Looking to topple the likes of Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr, Retegui joins Al-Qadsiah after scoring 25 Serie A goals in 24/25.

2 Jhon Duran €77m to Al-Nassr

Like Diaby, Aston Villa also sold Jhon Duran for big-money to the Saudi Pro League, with Al-Nassr briefly partnering the Colombian alongside Ronaldo.

They paid a club-record €77m for the forward, however, Duran was loaned out to Turkish side Fenerbahce for the 2025/26 season.

1 Neymar €90m to Al-Hilal

Topping the charts as the most expensive Saudi Pro League transfer of all time is Neymar, who cost Al-Hilal €90m from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.

Unfortunately for Neymar and Al-Hilal, the Brazilian suffered a serious injury shortly after joining and never starred in Saudi Arabia, making just seven appearances for the club.

He left in 2025 after having his contract terminated, returning to Santos.

Games

7

Goals

1

Assists

3

Minutes played

428