Despite a match-winning fifty, both Sanjay Manjrekar and Ian Bishop feel the batter could have been more aggressive

Shashank Kishore11-May-2022Ian Bishop wants him to add “another gear” to his batting. Sanjay Manjrekar felt he could have been a “bit more aggressive” when set, especially as he neared a half-century. Shubman Gill, however, felt he paced his innings exactly the way he had to on a challenging Pune surface on Wednesday against Lucknow Super Giants.There was grip and turn for the spinners, and there was something for the fast bowlers to work with, especially because it tended to get two-paced when they hit hard lengths. Hardik Pandya, the Gujarat Titans captain, may have been influenced by this as he elected to bat, and Gill “quickly realised” the need to bat through and bat long.Related

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Gill 63*, Rashid four-for lead Gujarat Titans to playoffs

Having been dropped off the very first ball he faced in the opening over, Gill batted through to make a 49-ball 63. He raised his half-century off 40 balls, and ended up with a strike rate of 128.58, the highest in the innings among batters who faced at least 20 balls. Rahul Tewatia’s cameo, a 16-ball 22 not out, gave them some impetus as Titans posted 144.ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats metrics pegged Gill’s impact runs as 74, meaning it was worth 11 more than what he finished with. His impact score overall stood at 80.36. The next best was Super Giants’ Avesh Khan, who had 67.57, courtesy his spell that accounted for the Matthew Wade and Hardik that left Titans reeling at 51 for 3 in the 10th over.”I’d like to see one more gear,” Bishop noted on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time:Out. “The traditional anchor doesn’t sit well with me. It’s just a personal thing, and I could be totally wrong. The guys I think anchor an innings well are Jos Buttler, below that a KL Rahul…guys who can go at maybe 120-125 and then tee off towards the back end and end with something over 140, maybe even 150. I don’t like a traditional guy batting through the innings, run-a-ball or just over a run-a-ball. I’m defining that for me. I’d like to see Shubman Gill have another gear to go to.”Vikram Solanki, the Titans’ Director of Cricket, looked at it slightly differently. “He was simply outstanding, wasn’t he?”, he said. “He’s a quality batsman, quality technician. He’s got a wonderful temperament. It’s no wonder that he’s so highly regarded in Indian cricket. I thought he was exemplary with his innings today. I thought he assessed the pitch very well, I thought he batted accordingly.

“The traditional anchor doesn’t sit well with me. It’s just a personal thing, and I could be totally wrong.”Ian Bishop

“I know he would’ve helped every other batter who went out to bat. It was quite difficult, and it was very evident with the scores. Our assessment of the pitch was exactly that, it was a tough pitch, and our batting would center around somebody taking responsibility around those situations, Shubman did exactly that today and showed what a high-quality player he is.”I think halfway, we knew that was a very competitive score. It was apparent that it wasn’t the easiest wicket to score on, it was difficult. Only due to Shubman’s knock, and later Rahul Tewatia who played a brilliant knock, we got to a competitive total. We took confidence from the fact that it was difficult for Lucknow to score. Our attack has been able to take wickets, so we know if we bowl like we have in the past, we’d make it difficult for them. We just felt we could put them under pressure [with the total they had].”On 40 off 32 at the 12-over mark with Titans on 76 for 3, Gill took another 10 balls to reach his half-century in the 17th over, having got through the stretch without looking for a single boundary-scoring option. Gill later explained his rationale behind the approach.”I didn’t expect the ball to seam as much as it did at the start,” he said. “It was nipping around. After that, I didn’t expect the spinners to have a bit of turn. One thing I felt was they didn’t bowl up as much. If they would’ve bowled a bit up, it would’ve been difficult. Krunal [Pandya] was keeping it a little short and being conservative. It was easy for us to maneuver the ball around, we kept on taking singles which was easy on this wicket.”It’s quite pleasing when you’re there till the end and finish off matches for the team. That’s exactly the chat I had with Gary [before the game].I told him I want to finish at least three-four matches for the team.”

New Zealand duo keep doing a job for their side

Sampath Bandarupalli24-Jun-2022482 Runs by Daryl Mitchell in this series so far, the highest for any New Zealand batter in a Test series against England. Martin Donnelly’s 462 runs were the previous highest during a four-match series in England in 1949.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 Number of New Zealand players with more runs while batting at No.5 and lower in a Test series than Mitchell’s 482 runs. Brendon McCullum amassed 535 runs in the two-match series against India in 2014, including a triple century and a double ton.5 Number of visiting players before Mitchell to score hundreds in three or more consecutive Tests in England. The last of the previous five batters was Rahul Dravid during India’s tour of England in 2002. Mitchell is also the first New Zealand batter to score hundreds in three successive Tests in England.

Conditions have been challenging for batters in Australia, but the fielders haven’t always supported the bowlers

S Rajesh31-Oct-2022With the fast bowlers getting the ball to bounce, swing and seam at almost all the venues, the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia hasn’t been all fun and games for the batters. The average runs per wicket in this tournament so far – after 31 matches – is 20.40, while the run rate is 7.30 per over. Both are the lowest among the eight editions so far.

Stats highlights from England’s ten-wicket win in the second semi-final against India

Sampath Bandarupalli10-Nov-2022170* The partnership between Jos Buttler and Alex Hales in the semi-final against India, the highest for any wicket in the history of the men’s T20 World Cup. The previous highest was by Rilee Rossouw and Quinton de Kock against Bangladesh in Sydney during the Super 12s of this tournament.ESPNcricinfo Ltd169 The target chased down by England in Adelaide is the joint second-highest without losing a wicket in men’s T20Is. Pakistan defeated England in pursuit of 200 without losing a wicket earlier this year in Karachi, while New Zealand also won by ten wickets chasing 169 against Pakistan in 2016.1 England became the first team to win a knockout at the men’s T20 World Cup by ten wickets. It is only the fifth instance of a team winning by ten wickets in the T20 World Cup, and the first for England. The last such result also had India on the receiving end when Pakistan chased down 152 in the 2021 edition.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 Number of partnerships for England in men’s T20Is higher than the 170-run stand between Hales and Buttler. Dawid Malan and Eoin Morgan shared 182 runs for the third wicket against New Zealand in 2019.It is also the second-highest partnership against India in men’s T20Is, behind the 174* by De Kock and David Miller in Guwahati earlier this year.1 England became the first side to win a men’s T20I at Adelaide Oval after winning the toss. Each of the previous 11 men’s T20Is at this venue was won by the team that lost the toss.ESPNcricinfo Ltd10 Consecutive wins for the chasing team in the knockouts at the men’s T20 World Cup. The last side to win a T20 World Cup knockout game while batting first was Sri Lanka in a rain-hit semi-final against West Indies in 2014.3.65 Difference in the economy rate of the spin bowlers for India and England. India’s spinners conceded 57 runs in the six overs they bowled, while England’s gave away only 41 runs in seven overs.

Bowlers need a margin for error when they have to deal with a wet ball and India’s top order gave them just that

Hemant Brar10-Jan-20231:08

Jaffer pleased with India’s aggressive batting approach

“Yesterday when we were training, the ground was flooded with dew,” Rohit Sharma said after India lost the toss in the first ODI against in Guwahati. As Sri Lanka opted to bowl, India knew the dew in the second half was going to present as big a challenge to their bowlers as the opposition batters. They knew 300 was not going to be enough; they needed something in excess of 350.Before today, the Barsapara Cricket Stadium had hosted just one ODI: India vs West Indies in 2018. Batting first, West Indies had scored 322 for 8, and India chased it down in 42.1 overs. That further dictated the need for every Indian batter show positive intent right from the start.And that’s what they did.

Watch on ESPN Player in the UK

WATCH the first India vs Sri Lanka ODI full replay

The first four balls of India’s innings were dots. On the fifth, Rohit got them off the mark with an off-driven four. And, there was no looking back.Dilshan Madushanka found swing with the new ball but for some reason pulled his length back just after one over. In that, he ended up bowling short and wide. Shubman Gill took advantage of it, cutting him for three successive fours.Gill is not among the fastest starters even in T20Is, but here he swiftly moved to 20 off 10 balls. Later in the innings, he hit a hat-trick of fours against left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage as well.At the other end, Rohit pulled a short ball from Kasun Rajitha for a six, which you would expect him to do any day of the week. However, two balls later, he skipped down the track and, despite Rajitha pitching it short, went ahead with yet another pull for another six.Rohit and Gill, opening only for the second time in ODI cricket, added 143 in 19.4 overs. The platform was set for Virat Kohli to play himself in, but he chose not to.Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill set India up for a tall total•Associated PressKohli was just six balls into his innings when he gave Dasun Shanaka the charge and flicked him through midwicket for four. He fell in the 49th over after scoring 113 off 87 balls. It felt like he was playing the anchor’s role but still struck at 129.88.During the innings break, Kohli revealed that was part of the plan: “I kind of had to bat through the innings, like I usually do in one-day cricket, but still keeping my strike rate in check [high], because we needed to get a big score as the dew is going to be a factor. I am just happy I was able to play with the tempo of the game and make sure that we got not just 340 but 370-plus.”Related

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Apart from some wayward bowling and a placid surface – though some balls came slower off it, making it difficult to time – India were also helped by poor fielding. Sri Lanka dropped Kohli twice, on 52 and 81. There were a few misfields too.Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul too played quick hands, scoring 28 off 24 and 39 off 29 respectively. In fact, all of India’s top six had strike rates above 110. It was only the third time in ODI cricket that a team’s top six achieved that.What makes India’s effort even more remarkable was the fact they were playing with a long tail – Axar Patel was slotted at No. 7, followed by four bowlers. Perhaps that’s why they held back a little when Iyer got out in the 30th over. For the next 34 balls, there was no boundary.Once Rahul ended the drought with a four in the 35th over, the next five overs saw six fours and two sixes. And even though India managed only 79 in the last ten, and 17 in the last three, the intent shown earlier meant they finished with 373 for 7, which proved to be 67 too many for Sri Lanka.Both Rohit and Kohli had also spoken about how a big total would give their bowlers the cushion to try out how they want to bowl with a wet ball. That was in preparation for the upcoming ODI World Cup, which is to be played in India. But with the anti-dew spray seemingly doing its job, they were forced to wait for the next opportunity.

And how many players have scored an ODI double-hundred only to end up on the losing side?

Steven Lynch07-Feb-2023England had more sixes than fours in their innings against South Africa the other day. How often has this happened? asked Oli Hanson from the UK
England hit 19 sixes and “only” 16 fours in in the third ODI against South Africa in Kimberley last week. This was the 21st time an ODI innings had contained more sixes than fours, but 346 for 7 was the third-highest total involved. England still lead the way, as their 397 for 6 against Afghanistan at Old Trafford during the 2019 World Cup included 25 sixes (a record 17 by Eoin Morgan) and 21 fours. West Indies’ 360 for 8 against England in Bridgetown in 2018-19 included 23 sixes (12 by Chris Gayle) and 21 fours. Pakistan’s 239 for 8 against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 1999-2000 contained ten sixes – but only eight fours.There were 15 bowlers used in one of the recent T20Is between India and New Zealand – was this a record? asked Sumesh Gopalakrishnan from India
The match you’re talking about was the second T20I in Lucknow last month, when New Zealand used eight bowlers and India seven. This was actually the 30th instance of 15 bowlers in a T20I. There have been five cases of 16, and one of 17 – in the match between Botswana (who used eight bowlers) and St Helena (nine) in Kigali (Rwanda) in November 2022.There are two cases of 16, and several more of 15, in women’s T20Is.Mumbai beat Uttarakhand by 725 runs in a recent Ranji Trophy match. Was this the largest margin of victory in any first-class match? asked Niranjit Singh from India
The match you’re talking about was a Ranji Trophy quarter-final in Alur last June: Mumbai declared twice at 647 for 8 and 261 for 3, and skittled Uttarakhand for 114 and 69. It was a record for the biggest victory by runs in a first-class game, beating 685 runs by New South Wales against Queensland in Sydney in 1929-30, in the match in which Don Bradman scored 452 not out. England beat Australia by 675 runs in a Test in Brisbane the previous season (Bradman’s Test debut, as it happens).However, there have been higher defeats by an innings margin, the highest an innings and 851 by Pakistan Railways (910 for 6 declared) against Dera Ismail Khan (32 and 27) in Lahore in 1964-65. It’s not an exact science, but if you consider “an innings” as being the usual follow-on target of 200 runs, there have been six other margins greater than Mumbai’s 725-run triumph, including England’s by an innings and 579 over Australia at The Oval in 1938.Shubman Gill is the latest batter to complete the set of hundreds in all three formats, but KL Rahul got there the fastest, in 20 innings•AFP/Getty ImagesShubman Gill recently became the 22nd player to hit a century in all three international formats. It only took him 40 matches. Has anyone done it quicker, or when younger? asked Alexander Thomas from England
Shubman Gill completed his complete set of centuries in the three formats with a 63-ball 126 not out against New Zealand in Ahmedabad last week. It was his 52nd innings, in his 40th full international – but another Indian batter competed his set in just 20 innings: KL Rahul, who scored centuries in his second Test (in Sydney in January 2015), first ODI (in Harare in June 2016) and fourth T20I (in Lauderhill in August 2016).Mohammad Rizwan took 70 innings to score a century in all three formats, Ahmed Shehzad 76, and Dawid Malan 81. Shehzad, who was 22 when he completed his set in March 2014, was the only one younger than 23-year-old Gill.Has anyone scored a double-century in an ODI but ended up on the losing side? asked Deon Chetty from South Africa
There have now been ten double-centuries in ODIs and, not surprisingly perhaps, all of them led to victories. The highest score that wasn’t enough to prevent defeat is 194 not out, by Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry, against Bangladesh in Bulawayo in August 2009. Fakhar Zaman hit 193 for Pakistan against South Africa in Johannesburg in April 2021, but still ended up losing. For the list of the highest individual scores in ODI defeats, click here.The highest in a tie is Andrew Strauss’ 158 for England against India in Bengaluru during the 2011 World Cup. Virat Kohli made 157 not out when India tied with West Indies in Visakhapatnam in 2018-19.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

It’s not just the home advantage. Ashwin has constantly added new layers to his skillset right through his career

Karthik Krishnaswamy11-Feb-20232:53

Can Warner overcome the Ashwin challenge?

Australia’s offspinners took eight wickets in Nagpur. So did R Ashwin.But where Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy bowled a combined 96 overs to take those eight wickets, Ashwin took his in a mere 27.5 overs.In strike-rate terms, that’s a wicket every 72 balls versus a wicket every 21 balls.Related

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It may have deteriorated over time and become especially challenging to bat on by the time Australia began their second innings, but Lyon, Murphy and Ashwin bowled on the same pitch. Why, then, did Ashwin look so devastating, and Australia’s offspinners so much more manageable?Home advantage is a big part of the answer, of course. Ashwin knew the conditions intimately, and had a feel for them. Where Australia’s spinners had a broad idea of how they needed to bowl on Indian pitches, Ashwin was able to quickly figure out how to bowl on Indian pitch, and quickly make the granular adjustments he needed to make, having played on others similar to this during his previous 51 Tests and 94 first-class games in India.Lyon, meanwhile, was playing his eighth Test and 10th first-class game in India, and Murphy was making his maiden first-class appearance in the country.On Saturday, Ashwin made a visible effort to bowl full and invite drives from the Australian batters. It was clear right from the first over he bowled, when Usman Khawaja drove a half-volley for four, and edged to slip three balls later when Ashwin got a similar-looking ball to dip on him and turn viciously.After the match, India’s ex-head coach Ravi Shastri quizzed Ashwin about the fuller lengths on Star Sports.”Ravi , I thought this wicket was pretty slow,” Ashwin said. “Like I’ve been saying all through this Test match, the wicket has been really slow and you need to get the batsmen driving on this. [It’s] not one of those pitches where you might get the gloves ripping up to short leg and silly point.”So I thought giving them one or two balls to drive was a good way for me to lure them into shots, and probably induce the other half of the bat as well. So I just felt this was one of those pitches, because of the carry and the bounce that seemed to be a little low.”The intention to lure batters into drives was evident in Ashwin’s fields as well. To David Warner, for instance, he pulled his mid-off two-thirds of the way back to the boundary, signalling that a pushed or driven single was available to him if he wanted it. By inviting Warner to look for that single, Ashwin hoped to draw his bat away from his body and increase his chances of being beaten on either edge.Ashwin had to bowl fuller to be able to draw these errors, but he also had the luxury of a big India lead, which allowed him to pay the price of the odd half-volley while looking to hit that dangerous area just short of a driving length.R Ashwin became the fastest Indian to 450 Test wickets`•BCCIIt wasn’t as if Australia’s offspinners hadn’t tried to bowl full. They did, and Rohit Sharma drove Lyon for three fours through the off side during the final session of day one. But Australia had been bowled out for 177, and Lyon and Murphy didn’t have the cushion of runs that would have allowed them to keep trying that attacking length. On day two, they plugged away on a good length and were part of a collectively disciplined Australian display that at one stage threatened to keep India to a manageable lead.It didn’t happen, but Australia’s choices with the ball were forced on them by their low total, and their spinners tried to make the best of what they had to play with.But there was something slightly mechanical about how Lyon and Murphy plugged away as well, as if they were following an instruction manual on how to bowl on Indian pitches. Ashwin varied his pace a lot more, even venturing into the low 80s on occasion – Lyon and Murphy seldom dropped below 90kph – and seemed to try different things against different batters. It was that feel thing again.And while Ashwin got to bowl to far more left-hand batters than his Australian counterparts, Lyon and Murphy made more of an impression on India’s right-hand batters than they did against Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. They kept the runs down, conceding just 83 off the 253 balls they bowled to the two left-hand batters, but took just one wicket in those 253 balls.They were tiring by the time they bowled to Jadeja and especially Axar, but this was still a pitch with plenty of turn and natural variation to exploit.For all that, Murphy’s performance was one of the best by a first-timer in India – never mind a debutant – over the last decade or so. To bowl 47 overs and go at less than three an over were impressive enough feats, given he had only played seven first-class games before coming on this tour; that he took seven wickets was remarkable.Lyon, a bowler on his third Test tour of India, bowled 49 overs and took just one wicket. Of all the performances that made up Australia’s defeat in Nagpur, perhaps none would disappoint their team management as much as Lyon’s. As in his last Test match before this tour, against South Africa in Sydney, where he took two wickets in 55 overs in a rain-affected draw, his bowling commanded respect from the opposition but didn’t look like much of a wicket threat. The common thread between Sydney and Nagpur? A lack of bounce.In an era where DRS has made fingerspinners target bowled and lbw more than ever, Lyon is something of a throwback, his wicket-taking threat directly proportional to the bounce on offer. The 2016-17 tour of India was a case in point. Lyon played a largely supporting role to Steve O’Keefe in Australia’s unexpected win on a Pune dustbowl, where sharp turn and natural variation were the main threats rather than bounce, and he bowled only 46 overs to O’Keefe’s 77 – while conceding nearly a run an over more – in the drawn third Test on a slow and low surface in Ranchi.

“The reason that he’s able to extract a lot from the pitch is because of the skillset that he has. And obviously he’s a very studious guy, likes to keep working on his game, likes to understand his game and take it to the next level, that is what he is”Rohit Sharma on R Ashwin

When bounce became a factor, Lyon became an entirely different bowler.On day one in Bengaluru on that tour, the combination of early moisture in the topsoil and Mitchell Starc’s follow-through at the other end gave him footmarks to work with, and he made the ball turn and jump out of them to take eight wickets. In the fourth Test on a Dharamsala trampoline, his first-innings five-for gave Australia a genuine chance of victory before India’s lower order and bowlers snatched it away.Whenever the conditions were somewhat reminiscent of Australia, Lyon was exceedingly dangerous. On pitches where bowled and lbw were likelier modes of dismissal than bat-pad catches or edges flying to slip, his threat was greatly diminished.Lyon’s record in India reflects this duality: he has three five-fors in eight Tests, but he averages 33.31. Ashwin averages 21.78 in the eight Tests Lyon has played in India.Ashwin, meanwhile, has played 10 Tests in Australia, where he’s taken 39 wickets at 42.15. Not very impressive, you might think, but in those ten Tests, Lyon has taken 32 wickets at 42.40. Ashwin’s performances in Australia have improved with each tour, to the extent that he has outbowled Lyon on India’s last two tours in 2018-19 and 2020-21, averaging 27.50 to Lyon’s 37.83.Ashwin did this not by trying to bowl like Lyon, but by finding ways to make his own style work in Australian conditions. He has constantly added new layers to his skillset right through his career, experimenting even when the world has told him not to fix something that isn’t broken, and it’s this quality that Rohit picked out when asked, during his post-match press conference, why Ashwin was able to get so much more out of this Nagpur pitch than Australia’s offspinners.”Ash has played so much cricket in India,” Rohit said. “He’s closing in on playing 100 Test matches now, and I’m pretty sure he’s played more Test matches in India, and not to forget his first-class games as well, before he made his debut, so a lot of cricket, a lot of overs have gone into his skills, for him to do what he’s doing now.”To be able to extract something out of the pitch is not easy, unless you have that experience, and having that idea as to what you need to bowl on certain kind of pitches – and obviously he’s got so much skill as well. He can bowl that carrom ball, he can bowl that slider, that topspinner as well, the guy’s got everything.”The reason that he’s able to extract a lot from the pitch is because of the skillset that he has. And obviously he’s a very studious guy, likes to keep working on his game, likes to understand his game and take it to the next level, that is what he is.”If you see him, he’s getting better and better as you see him every time. He looks a different bowler, looks – I wouldn’t say improved bowler, because he was always a good bowler – but he looks a different bowler every time he plays Test cricket. That is what good cricketers do, they try and up their game and try and reach that next level.”Lyon has done this too, of course. He is a far, far better bowler in Indian conditions now than the one MS Dhoni tonked around the park a decade ago in Chennai. But where Lyon is now a better version of the same bowler, more or less, the Ashwin of 2023 is unrecognisably different to the bowler who dominated that 2012-13 series. This, in essence, is what separates them.