Every part of his game is geared not just towards batting, but to the purpose behind it

Sidharth Monga20-Jun-2025

Yashasvi Jaiswal brought up his fifth Test hundred•PA Images/Getty Images

Yashasvi Jaiswal is insatiable. When he is training in Talegaon in Maharashtra at the Rajasthan Royals High Performance Centre, he can go through more than 100 overs of batting in one day. That’s sidearm, normal bowling, manual throwing, all by different people from different angles with little or no break. In a two-hour net session with teams he is with, he can hog one net for upwards of an hour. He has been talked into being more mindful of other players’ needs, which he has respected. So now he just waits for others to finish and takes the deliverers of balls back into the net at the end of the training.A day before the Headingley Test, after all the media work had been done, all the reels made, he was there in the corner net with net bowlers and one sidearm thrower from the team. Those who work with him worry they need to find ways to help him sustain this voracious appetite despite the lean frame, and a historic nutritional deficiency from when he grew up all alone, far away from home in Mumbai.With some batters, this obsessive nature can be detrimental, but Jaiswal has that balance right. He bats for the business of scoring runs not to perfect batting. He knows how to score runs. In a short career, he has played innings of markedly different tempo and method. As Rahul Dravid, the former India coach, told me once, Jaiswal says in almost every innings “I like scoring runs, I know how to score runs and I’ll do whatever it takes to score runs – sometimes bat aggressively, sometimes bat defensively, sometimes play from middle stump, sometimes play from outside leg stump”.Related

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England the next stop in Jaiswal's audacious journey

By the afternoon drinks break on his first day of Test cricket in England, though, Jaiswal’s obsessiveness had begun to catch up with him. The support staff gave his arm under the arm guard a rubdown. His leading arm was cramping three hours into his innings on a pleasant day in Leeds.It had already been an innings in which he had had to change his method dramatically. Jaiswal was 67 off 112 then, but he had had spurts: 19 off 20, then just 12 off 39, then 26 balls in the 40s. England weren’t great with the brand-new ball, Jaiswal had no qualms flashing at them, but when they started bowling straight at his body, his limitations on the leg side showed up.In the first 20 balls that Jaiswal faced, only two balls swung or seamed in. He relished the room and the angle away. Then they started attacking the stumps more with a leg slip in place: 24 swung in or seamed in off the next 92. Add to it Josh Tongue’s angle from around the wicket, tucking him up, hitting him on the body.Jaiswal’s control percentage was 90 in the first 20 balls, it fell to 71 for the next 92 balls. One of the reasons for low control numbers was that he kept missing the cut, but he was going so hard at it that it is hard to see how an edge would go to hand. Otherwise, he just fought through the period, keeping the pull and fend away even as Ben Stokes moved to one of the Bazball fields.Yashasvi Jaiswal loves to bat and bat and bat•AFP/Getty ImagesAnd then came the cramps. Almost unnoticed, the intent went up as he realised he couldn’t keep fighting all day. The first ball after that drinks break was also the first ball of spin. You would imagine a forward-defensive to this full ball – 4.4m in front of the stumps – from almost any other batter, but Jaiswal hung back and managed to cut it for four. A flurry of runs, not visibly hurried, followed. Tongue was upper-cut for six, Shoaib Bashir lofted back over his head. By the time he reached the 90s, Jaiswal had had medical attention three times.The third of those came after a ferocious attempt at a cut that he missed. The umpires had a quiet word with him. Probably telling him he had to make a choice: play on without regular assistance or retire. Just like that, out came two dismissive shots through the covers to reach 99. Then the single to get to a hundred in his first Tests in the West Indies, Australia and England to go with an 80 in his first in India.It wasn’t a free-flowing innings. It had phases of brilliance, spells of knuckling down, and just the sheer physical battle with himself. Only ten of the 101 runs he scored came on the leg side. The limited range of his strokes on the leg side has always been a focus, but not to this extent. He completely shelved the pull and the hook, and sweated on any room. There were periods he was denied room, but he was prepared to wait it out.It was only when he began to cramp that an element of manufacturing shots appeared. It was just exceptional understanding of how to score runs and manage risk. Managing his body and his voracious appetite for hitting balls is an aspect he will still have to look at.

Ex-pat community rally round to celebrate the occasion of first Test in England since 2003

Firdose Moonda24-May-2025It is as rare for a team that loses by an innings and 45 runs to go on a celebratory lap around the ground as it is for Zimbabwe to play in England, which may be why they did it. The post-match presentation had not even happened when Zimbabwe’s squad went to meet their fans, who had spent the past three days singing the country’s traditional supporter’s songs, waving its flag and soaking in the feeling of home.Theirs is a population that is dispersed around the world, often through necessity not choice, as a collapsing economy forced people to seek opportunity abroad. The largest diaspora resides in neighbouring South Africa. The second largest? In England, where more than 100,000 Zimbabweans live. If you didn’t know any better, you’d have thought all of them were at Trent Bridge, given the reception they gave the national cricket team, who played their first Test in England in 22 years in what has been received as a symbol of new-found relevance.”We had an idea that there was going to be a lot of support for us and there’s a lot more fans out there today than there was yesterday,” Craig Ervine, Zimbabwe’s captain said at the press conference afterwards. “We can hear them singing from up in the changing room where we were sitting, and it’s pretty special.”There was almost a note of apology in Ervine’s voice. “I know losing is difficult to take, but the lap that we did shows how special the fans are for us and how much we also appreciate their support day in and day out. These are fans that haven’t had the opportunity to come and see us play for a long time and a lot of guys would have just seen us play on TV, so to watch us play live will be special for them. We also wanted to give them something to remember when they go back home.”Those memories will not be all good. After choosing to bowl first under cloudy skies, Zimbabwe’s bowlers broke records they won’t want to be reminded of. They conceded the most runs on the first day of a Test in England, which was a combination of nerves and inexperience that Ervine has already analysed and hopes they can learn from.”We weren’t really up to par,” he said. “Our big quicks probably didn’t get enough in the right area. According to the data, it was only around 40% in the six meter length. When you do get it in the right area, especially in these conditions, you ask a lot of questions of the batters and unfortunately, we couldn’t do that which then made it difficult to be able to control the scoring.”Zimbabwe took 67 for 3 on the second morning, too late to make a material difference to the total they had allowed England to get, but enough to show some fight. It was with the bat that the resilience their nation is known for started to emerge.Sean Williams salutes the crowd after his innings was ended by Shoaib Bashir•Getty ImagesBrian Bennett’s 139 – also Zimbabwe’s fastest Test hundred – was the stand-out but there were other contributions. Even though Zimbabwe followed on, there was resistance from Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza and Wessly Madhevere and Ervine was proud of their effort. “From a batting perspective, guys really, really fought hard. We got ourselves into decent positions in both innings and couldn’t really kick on,” he said.That two of the three Zimbabwe batters to go past fifty are 38 and 39 years old respectively does not worry Ervine or make him question the strength of their younger talent. Instead, it suggests there’s the opportunity for knowledge transfer between those who have been around (and Williams has been in the set-up for two decades) and those who are coming through.”It’s important to have that blend, especially in Test cricket, with the senior players and junior players,” he said. “You don’t want to put too much responsibility on the younger guys. But if you look at the maturity that Brian Bennett has bought, he’s only 21 and he’s got a bright future ahead of him.”So do Zimbabwe, at least in fixtures terms. They play six more Tests this year (two against each of South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan), all at home, where Ervine hopes they can show what they’ve learnt in tougher conditions in England.”You face the ball moving around up front, being asked questions of your technique, your defence, and then, if you get through that period, you also have to get through a short ball period so there’s lots of little challenges in there,” he said. “If you can combat those in these conditions, there’s no reason why you can’t get through those same challenges back home in familiar conditions at home.”Related

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The first four home Tests will be played in Bulawayo, which is slower and lower than England but the pace attacks of both South Africa and New Zealand will pose a similar threat. At the same time, both those sides have strong batting line-ups and Ervine would like to see his seamers perform better.”From a bowling perspective, guys will understand that they weren’t at their best,” he said. “We’ve got to get better and in conditions back home, which are possibly a little bit flatter, we’ve got to be a lot more consistent and a lot more patient. There’s a lot of things that we can take out of these things that we need to improve on, and not just talk about.”And Zimbabwe don’t have to wait too long to start showing that they’ve learnt their lesson. In nine days’ time, they play South Africa at Arundel as part of the latter’s preparations for the World Test Championship final. The extra fixture in England means Zimbabwe will have spent a month in the country and have played three red-ball matches, which has presented many opportunities to gain experience and as many to see their compatriots And it’s that that seems to matter so much.Now that the bilateral door to England is open again, Ervine hopes Zimbabwe will be back and promised when that happens, they will also be better.”The Zimbabwean fans will really appreciate that, so they don’t have to wait so long to see us play in the UK again,” he said. “And as a Zimbabwean player, there’s no better place to come and test yourself as a cricketer. Now that we’ve had a taste of what it’s like, when we come back here, hopefully it’s soon enough, we’ll be better prepared.”

England Lions tour offers opportunity to leap back into Test reckoning, three years after solitary cap

Vithushan Ehantharajah31-Oct-2025For the last few weeks, Matthew Fisher has been working out how to bowl to his good mate, Harry Brook. The pair came through the ranks at Yorkshire’s Academy a year apart. Their first meeting took place in the Headingley indoor nets, when a 14-year-old Brook played Fisher’s bouncers with annoying ease.”He played it fine, and he started pissing me off,” remembers Fisher. “So I started properly bumping him, and he still played that all right.” Fisher, 15 at the time, had already made his List A debut for Yorkshire.They will lock horns again in Lilac Hill, Perth, on November 13 when, as part of their Ashes preparations, Brook and the England Test squad will take on Fisher and the England Lions in a three-day game. With the Lions on hand to supplement the main squad, on a tour that will run alongside the first two Tests, Fisher – as the most experienced seamer in the group – knows a strong impression in that crucial warm-up match could reap immediate rewards.”In the exact setting four years ago, I bowled lovely and we saw what happened at the end of the winter,” Fisher says, referencing the Test cap he was awarded on the West Indies tour in 2022, after showcasing his skills against England for the Lions in the build-up to the 2021-22 Ashes. “So I know first-hand what bowling in those games can do.”You do have sleepless nights when you dream about bowling at my mate Brooky at the minute. It is good stuff because you’re trying to get out people who you want to impress, so it is quite good that I’m already thinking about how to get him out.”It is over three years since that one Test. Fisher took a solitary wicket – John Campbell, with his second ball – on an unforgiving Bridgetown surface. That appearance came as England sought to move on from James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Unsuccessfully, as it would turn out.England’s then-selectors had leant towards Fisher due to his high release point, as a six-foot-two seamer, and a knack of dismissing accomplished batters. It was a pre-cursor to the preferences that Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have since put front and centre of their recruitment. Unfortunately for Fisher, he spent the first Bazball summer of 2022 nursing a stress fracture of the back.Matt Fisher claimed 11 wickets for Surrey in this season’s Championship title decider against Nottinghamshire•Getty Images for Surrey CCC”I never felt like I (had the shirt) – playing one game, being on a tour, trying to follow Broad and Anderson,” admits Fisher. “I never felt like that was mine.”On the Lions trip before that trip, I felt like I was building into a Test bowler. But unfortunately you can’t control having a stress fracture sometimes. For anyone who’s had a stressie, it doesn’t just take the time for your back to heal, it’s the time to then trust your body again and think that every time you feel your back, it doesn’t have to be your worst-case scenario.”But in those two years, anything you feel you are worried, because it is such a long injury that you don’t want it to happen again. In terms of intensity and snapping through your action, you’re not quite there, which we all know – if you’re down on that – it makes you half the bowler. It has been nice to build that back up naturally. The lads in that [Ashes] squad are incredible bowlers, but it’s about being ready when an opportunity does come.”Though it’s only a Lions call-up, Fisher, at 27, sees this selection as a reward, and vindication for the moves he has made. He bulked up heading into 2023, and the following year ended what had been a life-long association with Yorkshire to sign for Surrey.Related

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Though Surrey were unable to make it four County Championship titles in a row, Fisher had his most productive first-class summer to date. His 31 dismissals in 11 appearances were the second-most for the club, of which 11 came against Nottinghamshire at the Kia Oval in a thrilling title decider that Surrey lost, ultimately handing their opponents the Division One crown.”I would give all those wickets for us to have won the title, but it was nice personally to click into gear. It was out of the blue.”The chats I had, it was such a difficult decision to move. But everything I’ve moved for – and the reasons – getting selected on this is kind of why I did it.”It was to have a fresh environment, fresh coaches, fresh players – different perspectives. As we know, the strength of Yorkshire is that it thinks it knows what it’s doing, which is great. But there is also a weakness to that sometimes; there is a real DNA to Yorkshire, which is brilliant, and I am proud to have played there, proud to have been capped by Yorkshire.”I still look out for all the lads. But I think sometimes when you broaden your reach, you realise that you hadn’t thought about it like that. Going into a different gym, having gone into the same gym for 12 years, it’s kind of good. It’s been great.”That Fisher excelled during this season’s Kookaburra-ball rounds – 10 wickets in his three goes with it – undoubtedly helped his cause for a spot in Australia. Previous experience using it on Lions and development tours gave him an edge.”It’s a mindset thing for me. That was one of the conversations that we had at Surrey: yes, there’s a stigma around it in English cricket, and the pitches don’t allow for it to have good games of cricket sometimes. But it is also a case of how you become more rounded as a bowler. The purpose of what the ECB brought in and why they brought it in, we are seeing why it happened.Fisher’s early promise was hindered by a back stress fracture•Getty Images”We felt like getting tighter to the stumps was better because, if you think about the science behind it, [the ball] has to do less if you’re in tight. I definitely think that my experiences in the Lions bowling with it in the last four or five years has made me better with it. It’s one of those where, if you’re open to it, commit to it, bowl more with it, you get better at it. It’s like anything in life.”Fisher’s enhanced performances have come through a lot of hard work, and a greater appreciation of his body. Lions head coach Andrew Flintoff and men’s performance director Ed Barney have been impressed with his drive at Loughborough these past few weeks, often in as early as 7am to do strength and mobility work in the gym ahead of bowling sessions later that day.Though Fisher has always been willing to put the work in, an extra motivation came when he lost his pace bowling development contract in 2023.”Keysy [Rob Key, managing director] spoke to me at the end of that contract and said they wanted me to stand on my own two feet for a year and see how I get on. It was nice to get stuck into everything at Surrey last winter after a few winters with the Lions and get to know everyone. I feel like that really helped me settle for the summer. The goal in the back of your mind is to get picked for higher honours, so it was a nice surprise.”

If I am a good county bowler for the rest of my career, I am fine with that as a baseline. Anything else above that is perfect for what I want to achieve.Fisher on his ambitions after switching from Yorkshire to Surrey

He has enjoyed working with Flintoff, who he believes can take him from a decent county bowler to the next step. “Maybe going to a place that I’ve not been before”, as Fisher himself puts it. “What Fred is really good at is trying to get the last five or 10 per cent out of people. I think that’s something he can help me with.”He may well have to access that this winter if a further promotion comes. Friends and family have encouraged him to dream of barging his way into the Ashes squad this winter. But Fisher, through his own experiences, wants to keep his feet on the ground.”From 17 (when he made his first-class debut for Yorkshire) to 23, I was probably obsessed about playing for England. Because I achieved stuff quite young and people were talking about it, you get obsessed with it.”I have got to the point of accepting that, if I am a good county bowler for the rest of my career and hopefully win a couple of Championships with Surrey, then I am fine with that as a baseline. Anything else above that is perfect for what I want to achieve.”Accepting that as a baseline is not me not pushing boundaries to make myself better. I think it’s a healthier way of looking at it.”

The greatest England batter to ever do it finally gets it done

Vithushan Ehantharajah04-Dec-2025

Joe Root brought up his maiden hundred in Australia to carry England’s hopes•Darrian Traynor/CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images

It was the 181st delivery that Joe Root tucked around the corner. But the relief carried the weight of the 2213 leading up to that ball from Scott Boland, more than 12 years after playing – and missing – his first on an Ashes tour, at this very ground.When he walked onto the Gabba as a 22-year-old in 2013, for his first taste of pure anti-English Australiana, no thought can have been given to the present day. Root was the anointed one; a Yorkie talent far greater than what existed and what may come. He’d achieve plenty more to deserve a place among the greats, but at no point in the prophecy had we imagined his legacy could be tainted by such a specific struggle.He would not have known then what he does now, and nor would anyone have dared tell him if they had foreseen it. That for the next decade and some, Australia would have nothing for him. No glory, no joy, and still, at the time of writing, not a single Test win to savour. And up until 8:40pm local time on day one of the second Test of the 2025-26 Ashes, not one century.The shrug accompanying the celebration could not have been more ironic. “What were you worried about?” he asked a nation, and a sport. Well you, Joe, and this thing around your neck, weighing you down as you protested otherwise. Drawing you into conversations that brought out a gnarl in the still boyish grin you try to hide behind that facial hair. A box to tick that had you training for an entire day at Lilac Hill in the build-up to the series, intense enough to require breaks for lunch and tea so net bowlers could keep up with your relentless pursuit of perfection in an imperfect world.Related

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No individual English milestone has carried more weight on one man and, by proxy, everyone around him. An entire discourse has now shifted with a fourth century this year, and tenth since the start of 2024. Maybe the next thing to hit him with was that this century came against an Australia without Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and, for their own peculiar reasons, Nathan Lyon. Good luck to them.Batting is a selfish pursuit that benefits the team. And yet Root’s 40th Test century nourished the people behind the players, the ones allowed to show the emotion, as they did when his 11th boundary skipped over the sponge at fine third. “Go ball!” shouted Ben Stokes as it sped away off the turf, before holding back the tears.Stokes has felt Root’s travails in Australia too keenly, perhaps. They were both maiden Ashes tourists for the disastrous ’13-14 series, before Stokes watched on from afar as Root copped it hard in ’17-18. Stokes made an early return from a mental health break in ’21-22 to not leave his mate in the lurch again. Desperate to help out, the pair clashed under the strain of Covid-19 and a second successive 4-0 defeat. Of all the things Stokes has overseen as captain, perhaps this day, when Test cricket’s second-highest run-scorer, well, scored some more runs, might be the one to fill him with the most pride.It might even be the perfect microcosm of Root’s life in Australia. They gunned for him as a kid and still gun for him now, knowing this is the last time they will get to do so on their own patch. They had him for 0 and 8 in Perth. They could have had him on 2 in Brisbane, at the end of the third over, when Steve Smith could only parry a tough chance off Mitchell Starc. They still do not have him on 135, nor England, who closed on 325 for 9.Therein lies another familiar thread through Root’s career: often he has been the man with solutions in a sea of confusion. For so long, the adult in the room, and especially more so now in a team full of bright talents with dim moments. At times throughout his career – and in moments here – those around him do not seem attuned to the gravity with which he is operating. Like Michael Caine in the most popular interpretation of Charles Dickens’ – he can often seem a serious man among carefree muppets.There were familiar passages of Root getting through periods that felled others, beginning with his arrival. A throwback to bad old days – many of them during Root’s time as captain – when he would walk out to the middle far earlier than he’d have liked. This, to face the 16th delivery of the match at 5 for 2, was his third-earliest entry into an innings in Australia. The other two times – at the WACA (second ball) and in Adelaide (10th) – came in the ’13-14 series, when he was a No. 3, and both in the fourth innings.That he survived Starc’s devastating early burst that felled Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope owed as much to luck as to an ingrained understanding that even the best players have to simply hold on. The edge and plays-and-misses broadcast the anxiety. Movements were awkward, the usually crisp shapes of body and bat notably frayed, as if he had two left feet and the two right ones for hands.For all the understandable maligning of Zak Crawley, his dominance in the initial 117-stand that lifted England off the floor – the opener with 71 of them – allowed Root to operate in his slipstream. By the time Crawley had fallen victim to the short-ball ploy, Root, on 41, was ticking; walking at Boland to change his length into driveable treats. A gloved pull off Brendan Doggett beyond Alex Carey was soon replaced by swivelled ones with rolled wrists.Joe Root brought out his scoop in a crucial last-wicket stand•Darrian Traynor/CA/Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesThe knuckling down during the period when the artificial lights clicked into gear as the sun set was equally impressive, if ultimately unnerving alongside Harry Brook’s chaotic energy. Carey stood up to squeeze Root with narrow fields and a metronomic Michael Neser sitting in on a wicket-to-wicket line.Brook’s comical drive at Starc – the first ball he had faced from the only bowler carrying any real threat – was followed by Root keeping schtum, scoring 5 off 18 deliveries from the left-hander in a 59-ball boundary-less sequence that was broken by yet another crisp drive down the ground off Boland. Now that, kids, is how you absorb pressure and then put it back on the bowlers.Arguably Root’s most impressive response was to not respond at all to the mix-up that ran-out Stokes. The skipper called quickly without hesitation, but also not realising Josh Inglis had the legs and hands to sprint and swoop. Had Root trusted his captain, he’d have been the one seen off for 77 and England’s innings would have collapsed terminally.It was in the midst of the 5 for 54 cascade that Root notched his sought-after landmark. And it was hard not to surmise from his venture into outlandish shot-making with Jofra Archer through to stumps – nailing his second reverse scoop off Boland (having botched the first off Starc) for his first six in Australia – that this was a man liberated. Amid the glee as Smith tried to kill the day off by taking the pink ball to the corner was a 61-run stand that lifted England merrily from a distinctly sub-par 264 for 9.All the talk leading into the series was that it was not about Root, but no England success on this tour would be on the agenda without him. And so it has played out.While Matthew Hayden’s naked walk across the MCG has been kiboshed – much to his own relief – England’s Ashes are still alive. And Joe Root’s legacy has not been saved but reinforced. The greatest England batter to ever do it finally got it done.

South Africa had plans for Virat Kohli, but they unravelled as he raced to a 52nd ODI century

Alagappan Muthu30-Nov-20254:46

Takeaways – Kohli in comfort zone; Jansen, Kuldeep and Rana sparkle

It’s there. He builds it every time he gets up to bat. The bubble. Inside it, he’s king.South Africa had a plan to break into it. In the first 10 overs, they had their fielders right up. Mid-on, mid-off and cover were 10 yards in from the 30 yard circle. The idea was to cut off the singles that fuel his risk-free run-scoring.It fell apart. Because reality inside Virat Kohli’s bubble and reality outside it are often different. From inside, he could see that the pitch had the pace to hit through the line. From inside, he could see the bowlers were spraying it around. From inside, he could see other options to score runs.Sixes. He had two of them as part of his first 10 scoring shots.An entire career’s worth of information went straight down the drain for South Africa with less than an hour on the clock. Kohli was playing his 294th innings in ODIs. Only twice has his sixes count risen as high as two inside the first 25 balls. And never when batting first.Related

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Ranchi 2025 joined Jaipur 2013 and Pune 2017. The other two were chases. Australia and England had put on 350-plus and he ran them down with a vengeance. South Africa dared him in other ways. At least their fielders did. The bowlers were out of sync.In the first 10 overs, when Marco Jansen, Nandre Burger, Corbin Bosch and Ottneil Baartman hit a good length, they gave up only 29 runs at a strike rate of 66. When they missed it, they were thrashed for 51 at a strike rate of 243.Kohli made a play. He got India ahead of the game. From there, the reality inside his bubble dictated the reality outside of it. The only accommodation he made was for his batting partner.In the 14th over, Kohli nudged one to midwicket, waited for the ball to pass the fielder, then knowing it was a slower delivery that he had hit softly to one of the longer boundaries, he began sprinting. He believed there was three. Rohit Sharma knew he believed there was three too. That’s why he had his hand up even as he brought his bat down to complete the second run. Sunday marked the 20th time they put on a hundred-run partnership. Only Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have more.Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli shared a 136-run stand•AFP/Getty ImagesSouth Africa began to pull the run rate back in the middle overs. They found their lengths against Ruturaj Gaikwad and Washington Sundar and by doing that they managed to starve the set batter of strike. The third and fourth-wicket stands were 55 balls long. Kohli faced only 22 of them and hit just one four. The other end managed one six. The crowd got antsy. They were here to watch Kohli at home in India blue for the first time since February. They wanted the century.Kohli didn’t bat an eyelid. He did other things. Run between the wickets so hard the picture seemed incomplete without smoke flying off his heels. Practice chopping an imaginary short ball down onto the pitch so that the next time he faced one, it bounced over Dewald Brevis still close in at point. Note the gaps in the field and expend only the energy needed to find them.That’s how he moved from 94 to 98. Midwicket was up. Square leg was back. The ball was dug in and though it didn’t climb it was cramping him for room. Kohli was now so cozy inside his bubble that he arranged his body for a short-arm jab with a horizontal bat, knowing the outfield would take care of the rest.On 99, he took his guard again. Stretched his back out – finally a sign of what this innings against quality opposition was taking out of him. Recognised the ball wasn’t there. And just kept it out. By now the crowd was going wild… because everyone was blocking everyone else’s shot. Eventually, the glide to the deep third boundary, the jump, the punch, the scream, the kiss of his wedding ring and the raise of his bat all began to flood social media.It was a beautiful moment. No. 52. The only one Kohli spent outside his bubble. It is sacred to him. Especially now. He wants to make the 2027 World Cup. But he’s 37. That number – as much as any other from his legendary ODI career – looms large enough that every innings he plays from now until the squad is picked could be scrutinised. Even though the selectors have said otherwise.The surest way Kohli can realise his goal is to prove over and over that even in the twilight of his career he is twice the player anybody else is. He ticked that box on Sunday evening. And it will need ticking again. The pressure that must bring feels unimaginable. The way he ignores it and just goes about his business is incredible.

Though Australia have made day-night Tests work, conditions, dew and the pink ball’s inconsistent movement continue to limit the format’s wider appeal

Andrew McGlashan02-Dec-20257:36

Are England prepared for Brisbane pink-ball challenge?

Ten years ago last week, Martin Guptill faced up against Mitchell Starc at Adelaide Oval for the first ball in day-night Test. What played out was a gripping, low-scoring encounter, including a dose controversy, which Australia won by three wickets. The crowds flocked in, and TV ratings were huge.Seen as a way to boost attendance and attractive to broadcasters, day-night Tests had been an evolution talked about since the early 2000s. There had been a plan to stage a 2010 Test between England and Bangladesh under lights at Lord’s but it would take another five years of negotiations and domestic trials for it to come to fruition. An AU$1 million bonus helped sweeten the deal when Australia and New Zealand took the field.James Sutherland, the former Cricket Australia CEO, had been one of the catalysts behind bringing day-night Tests to life. When India declined a pink-ball Test on the 2018-19 tour, citing the fact they had yet to play any, he said: “It’s the way of the future and India may or may not come around to that idea for this tour but I still believe it’s the way of the future. I think everyone in world cricket knows that.”Related

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India have since played five, including two in Adelaide, but the upcoming pink-ball Test at the Gabba will be just the 24th in the men’s game overall, of which more than half (13) have been staged in Australia. While Brisbane is the venue this week, Adelaide Oval has become the ‘home’ of the pink-ball Test. It remains a central part of the Australian cricket calendar, but the format hasn’t changed the game globally the way that may have first been envisaged.”In Australia, why it works is we have great weather at this time of year in the summer, with world-class stadiums and facilities and excellent flood lighting,” Joel Morrison, Executive General Manager, Events & Operations at Cricket Australia told ESPNcricinfo. “And ultimately there’s been significant investment over a long period of time in optimising the pink ball and the wickets to best support the day-night format in Australian conditions.”I think the fact that it is now a staple of the Australian summer means that people know there is always a day-night Test match being played, so they can rely upon that when we’re playing at home. Then just the unique nature of Test cricket under lights, there’s something quite special about seeing players in whites under lights with big crowds and the pink ball. It really just gives a great point of difference to the game and is a great example of how the game of Test cricket over its history has continued to evolve and it’s quite a unique spectacle.””So those elements coming together mean we’ve got a recipe that works very effectively in Australian conditions. We see big crowds turning up to because they’re more accessible, and it is also validated by a strong viewership for those games, which helps promote Test cricket.”Why day-night Tests haven’t workedWhat has become clear over the years is that you need a particular set of conditions to come together to make for an ideal day-night scenario: limited impact from dew, a pitch that helps the pink ball – which has been an ongoing challenge to perfect – retain a degree of hardness for longer, but does not combine to make conditions unplayable, and a climate that provides reasonable assurance of warm evenings.England staged one game in 2017 against West Indies at Edgbaston where the night sessions were cold (a British summer doesn’t guarantee warmth) and the crowd had thinned out by the end. Writing in his column, Alastair Cook, who made 243 in that match, also said the longer twilight in the UK, with the sun setting late on summer nights, extended the period where the ball dominated.Alastair Cook drives in the evening sunlight at Edgbaston during the pink-ball Test•Getty ImagesSouth Africa tried one in 2017 against Zimbabwe which ended in two days. For a period after that the country’s challenging power situation – which often involved load-shedding – made it impractical. It’s uncertain if they will revisit it.In India, the dew was an issue, and concerns over the ball. Sri Lanka’s three main Test grounds – SSC, P Sara and Galle – don’t have lights (although the SSC soon will) and Pallekele is too wet for parts of the year. Pakistan were keen on them in the UAE but have not explored it since bringing international cricket back home.Having been part of the first, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) were initially keen but have only hosted two, the first of which saw England bowled out for 58 inside the first session. Not all their boutique venues have lights. In West Indies, which had initially been thought of as a prime market, the pink Dukes ball has swayed things too far in the way of the bowlers.Former England captain Michael Atherton sat on the MCC World Cricket Committee when the day-night format was initially being discussed. “The whole point was to play them in places where the crowds are struggling somewhere like, say Bridgetown where Test crowds have not been great, but it goes dark early, it’s warm and it’s obvious you can play and get people in after work,” he said on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast. “This Ashes Test at the Gabba would be sold out anyway and the notion that they are going to play that 150th Test anniversary Test [between Australia and England] in 2027 under lights is complete nonsense.”

“This Ashes Test at the Gabba would be sold out anyway and the notion that they are going to play that 150th Test anniversary Test [between Australia and England] in 2027 under lights is a complete nonsense.”Atherton

The point about whether the Ashes series a day-night Test was brought up by Joe Root this week. For Australia’s players, even those who hold some reservations, it has just become part of the summer. Having a match every season has naturally meant they have been able to adjust.”I mean, would I prefer to play red ball over pink ball? Probably,” Marnus Labuschagne, the leading run-scorer in pink-ball Test cricket, said. “Just because you play it more, you’re used to the colour of the ball. There’s a few intricate things about the pink ball that make it a bit of a different game. But I think as with anything when it first came along everyone was like, no we just want red ball, [but] it’s become something that traditionally Australia have been very good at.”A bowlers’ game, but not alwaysLeading into this Test in Brisbane, Stuart Broad, who played in seven day-night Tests was concerned it could become a “lottery.” There has not been a single draw in day-night Test cricket. The average length of a match has been approximately 264 overs. For comparison, the average length of a result red-ball Test in the last ten years has been approximately 300 overs, so the difference isn’t vast. In Australia it narrows even more: 287 overs vs 309.There have been some Tests on the extreme shorter end of the scale: India beat England in two days in Ahmedabad when the spinners proved unstoppable. Root claimed 5 for 8 and Axar Patel skidded the ball through the visitors. As previously mentioned, South Africa dismantled Zimbabwe in quick time in Gqeberha. More recently, West Indies were rolled for 27 by Starc and Scott Boland in Jamaica, a match that used the pink Dukes ball, perhaps for the final time.But for all the focus on the ball in day-night Tests, which now has a black seam rather than a white one, the pitch plays a decisive role and runs have been possible: David Warner and Azhar Ali have scored triple centuries. Naturally, the individual statistics are heavily weighted towards Australians. Labuschagne has made 958 runs at 63.86 with four centuries.Mitchell Starc has 81 wickets with the pink ball at 17.08•Getty Images”I don’t really know why my record has been good against a pink ball, but it’s something that I have enjoyed,” he said. “It’s obviously got its challenges because it provides so much opportunity at different times. You have to change your game, you have to adapt and there’s certain times where there’s a bit of [a lull] and then there’s certain times where the game speeds up.”Starc is the king of the format with the ball having claimed 81 wickets at 17.08 including 6 for 9 in his last outing in Jamaica. There is some irony to that given Starc was strongly opposed to the format when it began, although he has mellowed somewhat these days. “It’s good for the record,” he joked at Sabina Park.”You don’t want to overdo what it is,” he added after the extraordinary haul in his 100th Test. “I think it’s a great product in Adelaide. I think there’s a spot for it. You just look at how it’s been picked up by Adelaide and the public there. It’s certainly a fantastic week to be a part of there when it’s a pink-ball test. It’s not this year. I’m still a traditionalist, so I still very much love the red-ball game. I’ve grown to see a place for it in the calendar.”Alongside the format’s inaugural outing in Adelaide, two of the closest Tests have come at the Gabba. In 2016-17, Pakistan were within touching distance of chasing down a world-record 490 thanks to a magnificent fourth-innings century from Asad Shafiq and a surface that knocked the life out of the ball. Then two seasons ago, West Indies pulled off an eight-run heist when Shamar Joseph tore through Australia.Whether this week’s match can produce a finish to match either of those remains to be seen but, while a decade on Australia remains a bastion for the format, it feels like the prospects of the day-night game being revolutionary for the Test cricket have passed.