All posts by n8rngtd.top

The 25-year old fast bowler had been reported for a suspect action in December 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2018West Indies fast bowler Ronsford Beaton can resume bowling in international cricket after the ICC approved his remodelled action.Beaton was suspended from bowling earlier this year after he failed an independent assessment of his bowling action, which had been reported as suspect during an ODI against New Zealand in December 2017.On August 13, his remodelled action was re-assessed at Loughborough University in England, where the amount of elbow extension for all his deliveries was within the 15-degree limit allowed by the ICC. Beaton missed playing the CPL this year to work on his action and was replaced by Ali Khan at Trinbago Knight Riders.Match officials are still at liberty to report Beaton if they find he is not using his legal action, footage of which will be handed to them in due course.

The wicketkeeper-batsman made her maiden international fifty and followed it up with two vital catches and a stumping to deny Sri Lanka in a tight, low-scoring match

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2018Associated Press

The score of 219 has been a monkey on India’s back since their botched chase of 229 in the 2017 World Cup final. During the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, the monkey came bounding from Lord’s to Galle – this time, India were defending 219.At various points during the game, Sri Lanka looked like pulling off an impressive win and keeping the three-match series alive, but each time they ran into Taniya Bhatia. The wicketkeeper-batsman, playing only her second ODI, lifted India to a respectable total with a 66-ball 68, her maiden international half-century. She then took two vital catches and pulled off a stumping during the end overs of Sri Lanka’s chase to hand India a seven-run win.The first of those grabs came in the 42nd over. Poonam Yadav, the legspinner, had conceded only 25 off her 8 overs until then and had just broken a brisk 31-run sixth-wicket stand between Sripali Weerakkody (17 off 14) and Anushka Sanjeewani (17 off 20) with a wily run-out of the former, off her own bowling.Off the next ball, Sanjeewani unleashed an almighty sweep against a loopy legbreak, only for Bhatia to grab the faint edge that flew overhead to her left.That left Sri Lanka needing 55 from 51 balls, with three wickets in hand. Still, their lower order was far from daunted, as the No. 8 batsman Nilakshi de Silva, launched a counterattack that saw her hammer four boundaries, including two giant sixes off Yadav in the 44th over. She had trotted to 31 off only 18 balls and reduced the equation to 13 required off 18 balls with two wickets in hand.India’s discomfort was clear when captain Mithali Raj and vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur had a long discussion with medium-pacer Mansi Joshi (2 for 49) before the 48th over, her ninth. Their unease, however, was alleviated once more by Bhatia. Off the first ball of Joshi’s over, de Silva miscued a slog and sent a top-edge flying towards the short fine leg region. Bhatia turned around and covered the distance just in time, snaffling the catch with a dive forward.In the next over, Bhatia brought an end to Sri Lanka’s late flourish, stumping Inoka Ranaweera off Deepti Sharma.Bhatia’s greater contribution to India’s triumph, however, came earlier in the day after Sri Lanka had reduced the visitors to 66 for 4 in 22.3 overs after they had opted to bat first. Smriti Mandhana holed out for a run-a-ball 14, while opener Punam Raut and No. 4 batsman Harmanpreet both fell to Weerakkody’s pace.India inched towards 150 as Bhatia added 76 with Raj in an uneasy exhibition of contrasting styles. Raj spent 121 balls in scoring a slow but vital 52 – her 51st ODI fifty – while Bhatia smacked nine fours en route to her 66-ball 68. In doing so, she became the first India women player since Veda Krishnamurthy – who scored 51 on debut in 2011 – to hit a fifty in her maiden ODI innings.Bhatia found an able ally in D Hemalatha, her fellow debutant from the series opener. Hemalata was involved in two 37-run stands, first with Bhatia and then with Shikha Pandey (15 off 14) en route to a 31-ball 35.Chamari Atapattu, the Sri Lanka captain, took three lower-order wickets, including that of No. 11 Yadav off the last ball of India’s innings, to go with her 57 at the top of the order. Atapattu’s performance, however, wasn’t quite enough to haul Sri Lanka over the line.

The Sunrisers opening batsman is likely to have been traded for Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Oct-2018Eleven years since he made his IPL debut with Delhi Daredevils, Shikhar Dhawan is set to play for his home team again in 2019. ESPNcricinfo understands that the batsman is likely to have been traded by Sunrisers Hyderabad in exchange for three players – Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem.Sunrisers had chosen not to retain Dhawan ahead of last year’s auction, where the franchise paid INR 5.2 crore (approx USD 820,000) to buy him back. Since then, there have been murmurs about him being unhappy about his price tag, which eventually led to Sunrisers releasing him through the trade. Since Daredevils had bought the trio of Shankar (INR 3.2 cr), Nadeem (INR 3.2 cr) and Abhishek (INR 55 lakhs) for a total of INR 6.95 crore, Sunrisers would need to pay the balance amount in cash.Dhawan last played for Daredevils in the first season of the IPL in 2008. Then he moved to Mumbai for a couple of years and finally arrived in Hyderabad, initially playing for Deccan Chargers for a year before joining Sunrisers in 2013.Dhawan has been the leading run-scorer for Sunrisers with a tally of 2768 from 91 innings at an average of 35.03 and strike-rate of 125.13. In the 2018 IPL, he made 497 runs at 35.50. His smart strike-rate was 142.82, better than his normal strike-rate of 136.91.Although regular captain David Warner was the force behind Sunrisers’ IPL win in 2016, Dhawan also played a key role at the top of the order. In fact, the Warner-Dhawan combine (2357) is the third-most prolific pairing behind Chris Gayle-Virat Kohli (2787) and AB de Villiers-Kohli (2525)In case the deal does go through – both franchises have been tight-lipped, making no public comment – it remains to be seen whether Daredevils have gained much from it, having released three allrounders, all Indians, two of whom (Shankar and Nadeem) are frequent first-choice picks in the XI.The Dhawan deal is the second big trade ahead of the next IPL auction, scheduled for December 16. Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier released South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock to Mumbai Indians in a money-only trade, which involves a franchise selling the player in exchange for money, as opposed to swapping him for another player.The other trade in the first trading window was RCB releasing Mandeep Singh to Kings XI Punjab in exchange for Australian allrounder Marcus Stoinis.

In an email to the BCCI top brass, India’s senior-most player has hit out at coach Ramesh Powar and CoA member Diana Edulji

Nagraj Gollapudi27-Nov-2018Mithali Raj has accused India women head coach Ramesh Powar and former captain Diana Edulji – a member of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) supervising the BCCI’s operations – of leaving her “deflated, depressed and let down” with their actions during the recently concluded World T20 in the Caribbean.Raj, who was controversially left out of the starting XI in India’s eight-wicket semi-final loss to England, has also termed India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s decision to support her exclusion “baffling and hurtful”.

“Nothing against Harman”

Ever since Mithali Raj was dropped for the World T20 semi-final against England, there have been murmurs that India’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur does not get along with her senior team-mate. After the game, Harmanpreet had said, “We were going with a winning combination. We did really well against Australia. And that is the reason we just wanted to go with the same combination.”
In her email, Raj called Harmanpreet’s decision “hurtful”, but said she was still optimistic of sorting out any differences via a face-to-face meeting.
“I have nothing against the T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur except for the fact that her call to support the decision of the coach to leave me out of the eleven was baffling and hurtful,” Raj said in the email. “I wanted to win the world cup for my country and it hurts me because we lost a golden opportunity. But I am of the opinion that Harman and I are senior players and our issues, if any, should be sorted out by the two of us by sitting across the table.
“As India’s 50-over captain, I value Harman as one of our best players and will always want to ensure that the two of us perform our best for India.”

Raj laid bare her feelings in an email on Tuesday to the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and the BCCI general manager, cricket operations and women’s cricket, Saba Karim. Raj sent the email a day after meeting Johri and Karim in Mumbai to discuss the fallout of the controversy concerning her exclusion from the World T20 semi-final. Among others who met Johri and Karim on Monday were Harmanpreet and team manager Trupti Bhattacharya.In the email, accessed by ESPNcricinfo, the majority of Raj’s ire is directed at Powar, the former Mumbai and India offspinner who took over as the India women head coach in July, after Tushar Arothe’s resignation.According to Raj, Powar revealed “small signs” of what she alleged was “unfair and discriminatory” behaviour towards her as soon as the India squad landed in the West Indies.Raj, who has opened the batting across formats for the past several years, was pushed down the order in India’s tournament opener against New Zealand. According to Raj, Powar told her the move was made in order to increase India’s batting depth.Raj says she approached Sudha Shah, the national selector on tour, after Powar told her she wouldn’t open. On the morning of the next game, against Pakistan, Powar told her she would open. Raj opened against Pakistan and Ireland, and scored half-centuries in both games.Raj reaching out to the selectors, according to her email, changed Powar’s behaviour towards her.”For instance, walking off if I am sitting anywhere around, watching in the nets when others bat but choosing to walk away when I am batting in nets, if I try to go up to him to talk to start looking into his phone and keep walking. It was embarrassing and very evident to everyone that I was being humiliated.”Raj says she approached Bhattacharya to resolve the issue, and that the team manager arranged for a meeting between player and coach. During the meeting, Raj said, Powar was conciliatory and even apologised to her. “In front of the manager at numerous instances he agreed to his fault. (Yes, it was my mistake. I should not have done that).”India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and coach Ramesh Powar at the pre-departure press meet•Annesha Ghosh

Nonetheless, the email goes on to detail, the troubles with the coach would continue. “He would not even acknowledge me. To him I didn’t exist in the team. If I was around he would immediately move away from the scene, if I looked to wish him he would deliberately start looking in other direction.”He continued to behave badly as I have already informed you yesterday. It appeared to me that for him the meeting had hurt his ego.”Raj injured her knee during the match against Ireland and missed India’s final group game, against Australia. Raj says Powar told her “not to come to the ground” for that match, and – after she asked the manager to intervene – “not to step out of the dressing room” for its duration. Then, Raj says Powar called her onto the ground to join her team-mates in a victory lap.Raj’s knee recovered in time for the semi-final, but she says it was evident days before the match that Powar had made up his mind to leave her out. Raj says she was paired up with the lower-middle-order batsmen in the nets, and made to face part-time bowlers. “The kind of practice given to a player who is not in your scheme of things in a key match.”Powar, according to Raj, did not reveal the playing XI on the eve of the semi-final, a move she found “unusual”. “It is when Harman walked to toss, he came running to me and said that they were going with the same team. It meant the whole team knew who were playing and it was just me who was not aware.”Raj said she was left with no choice but to approach Johri and Karim because the episode had left her “utterly dejected and depressed”.”For the first time in a 20 year long career I felt deflated, depressed and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence.”When contacted by ESPNcricinfo, Powar refused to comment on the matter.Raj also said she felt let down by Edulji, her former Railways and India captain, who had said it was not the CoA’s “headache” to interfere in the controversy surrounding the semi-final, or any other decision of the team management.Raj said Edulji’s comments were a sign of “brazen support” for her being dropped, which left her “deeply distressed” only because the pair had spoken during the tournament.”Thereafter her statement saying ‘selection is not the COA’s headache’ is like suggesting there is no system of cheques (sic) and balances and anyone can do anything and get away because they have the backing of people in power.”The fact that the media gained access to Raj’s mail, meanwhile, has perturbed Amitabh Choudhary, the BCCI’s acting secretary. He emailed Johri and Karim, with the subject line “LEAKAGE OF REPORT”.”It is clear that the contents are extremely damaging to certain individual persons and therefore to the BCCI,” Choudhary’s email said. “Please let me know the facts of the case at the earliest.”

Former Pakistan allrounder echoes Eoin Morgan’s view that the format’s quickfire nature would appeal to a much wider audience

Barny Read30-Nov-2018Former Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi has put his weight behind T10 cricket, saying the new format could be cricket’s gateway into the Olympics. Afridi, playing in his second season of the T10 League with the Pakhtoons, said he has been greatly encouraged by the league’s growth and sees ten-over cricket as the perfect format for introducing a wider audience to the game.”I think this is the best cricket you can introduce in the Olympic Games,” Afridi told ESPNcricinfo. “I think you can take the game there and show the world what cricket is all about. I think this is the perfect format to introduce cricket and we are all enjoying it, which is the main thing.”England’s Eoin Morgan had endorsed a similar view during the inaugural season of the T10 League last year, stating that T10 cricket was easiest on the eye.”I think T10 could be something you could potentially propose to an Olympic committee,” Morgan had told ESPNcricinfo. “When you look at the T20 game, it goes on for a little bit longer, so if you are talking about playing a role in the Olympics then you’d probably have ten teams or more and that would probably last five or six weeks. But a ten-over league could be done in about eight days which could be right.”Following shortly after ICC’s bid for a women’s cricket event at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Afridi’s comments could particularly add to ICC’s ambition for cricket to feature in the Olympics.The one and only time cricket took place in the Olympics was back in 1900, when Great Britain beat France to claim gold. More than 118 years on, Afridi is of the opinion that T10 might just be the key to unlocking cricket’s participation in sport’s pinnacle global event.In the meantime, Afridi said, cricket itself will benefit from T10’s existence.”It’s quick fire, a big test of bowlers. Batsmen can show their skills and I saw myself some great innings, some great skills, some great shots,” said Afridi of T10’s greatest selling points. “I think cricket will change with [T10]. Even T20 and one-day cricket will change with this cricket. I think you can take it [around the world] definitely because of the time,” Afridi said.

Australia are currently scheduled to play five ODIs against Pakistan in the UAE in March

George Dobell20-Dec-2018Wasim Khan, the incoming managing director of the PCB, hopes that Australia can be persuaded to return to Pakistan for the first time in more than 20 years in the early months of 2019.Australia, who last played in Pakistan in late 1998, are currently scheduled to play five ODIs against Pakistan in the UAE in March. But Wasim is keen to ensure any perceived security gaps are closed so that Australia can be persuaded to play matches in Pakistan at the start of that series in an attempt to bring regular international cricket back to the country.”I will ask the question,” Wasim told ESPNcricinfo. “We will continue to offer them the highest level security and, if they have any concerns, we will act to meet them.”Pakistan have been obliged to play the vast majority of their international cricket in the UAE since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team convoy in Lahore in March 2009. While Zimbabwe played some limited-overs games in Lahore in 2015, Sri Lanka returned for a one-off T20I in 2017 and there have also been appearances by a World XI (2017) and West Indies (2018), the return of Australia would mark a significant step in the nation’s rehabilitation as a cricketing venue.Wasim will also invite an MCC team to tour the country in the coming months – it is understood the subject has already been broached with the MCC chief executive Guy Lavender – and invite county teams to use the excellent academy facility in Lahore as part of their pre-season training plans.Leicestershire, where Wasim remains chief executive until the end of January, are the obvious candidates. They currently have no pre-season trips planned in 2019, with Wasim accepting that such a visit may have to be sponsored by the PCB.A few PSL matches have also returned to Pakistan over the last couple of years, with a number of foreign players involved. Eight fixtures are due to be staged there, split between Karachi and Lahore, in the 2018 season, which starts in February.”It will probably be a process of baby steps,” Wasim continued. “I need to sit down with other boards and ask them: where are the gaps in our plans that worry you? What can we do to assure you? What will it take to get you to come back? I want to hear what concerns they have and find a way of meeting them.”We have excellent facilities. We have a great passion for the game. If we can get more foreign players coming to Pakistan more often, hopefully we can normalise playing in the country again.”

The series is now level at 1-1 after the team’s revival from 46 for 5 in the 11th over

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2019Dipendra Singh Airee spared Nepal’s blushes with an unbeaten 47 as Nepal snuck past UAE by four wickets in a low-scoring thriller at ICC Academy in Dubai.Dipendra helped rescue the side after a top-order collapse left Nepal at 46 for 5 in the 11th over chasing a target of 108. But a crucial 55-run stand with Pawan Sarraf took the game into the final over. Sarraf fell off the first ball of the 20th, caught at long-on, but Dipendra crossed with the ball in the air to be on strike for the following delivery. He promptly drove the bowler Zahoor Khan for six down the ground to level the scores before a slash over backward point clinched victory with three balls to spare in front of 1000 roaring Nepalese supporters.Victory seemed assured for Nepal at the innings break but they nearly threw away the opportunity to level the series with several loose shots. Captain Paras Khadka miscued a drive to cover point off the second ball of the chase to fall for a golden duck to Mohammad Naveed. Pradeep Airee then cut Amir Hayat to the same region in the following over to make it 9 for 2.Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla fell defending down the wrong line to left-arm spinner Sultan Ahmed before two more sloppy dismissals put Nepal in a further hole. Karan KC, promoted to No. 3 as a pinch-hitter, did a reasonable job clubbing two fours and a six to reach 20 before he was bowled slogging Imran Haider’s legspin. Sundeep Jora, who had scored his maiden half-century on T20I debut a day earlier, drove Sultan to long-on for 1 on the first ball of the 11th to put half of Nepal’s line-up back in the dugout.But Dipendra held firm and found a willing ally in Sarraf. UAE had an opportunity to break the stand at 59 for 5 in the 14th when Sarraf turned down a single to backward point, but a rushed throw missed the stumps at the non-striker’s end by a long way with Dipendra still five yards short. On 15 at the time, UAE paid dearly as Dipendra saw Nepal home.The low target for Nepal was set up after another exceptional bowling effort spearheaded by Sompal Kami. The fast bowler struck twice in the space of four balls in his opening two overs, getting Ashfaq Ahmed to sky a catch to Malla running in from mid-off before Ghulam Shabber’s attempted cut resulted in a caught behind.Sandeep Lamichhane was on a hat-trick after striking on the final two balls of the Powerplay, getting Shaiman Anwar driving to point before Muhammad Usman edged his first ball to slip to make it 35 for 4. Seamer Abinash Bohara also produced a solid spell with his whippy action to take three wickets in the middle overs to keep UAE pinned back. Opener CP Rizwan battled until the 19th over to make 44 off 43 balls, but only two others reached double-figures for UAE.The two sides play the third and final match of the series at ICC Academy on Sunday.

Sri Lanka lost their ninth wicket while still 78 off their target. The left-hand batsman scored 67 of them all by himself

The Report by Liam Brickhill16-Feb-20196:08

‘Kusal Perera’s innings will be talked about for years to come’ – Russel Arnold

A see-sawing Test match reached an incredible finale on the fourth afternoon at Kingsmead as Kusal Perera and Vishwa Fernando put on a record-breaking 10th wicket stand to see their team home in an atmosphere of almost unbearable tension.Sri Lanka’s last pair came together with 78 still needed and victory virtually assured for South Africa, but as Vishwa clung limpet-like to the crease Perera slugged, slapped and swiped his way to the target. Along the way, both men reached their highest Test scores – Perera finishing on 153, while Vishwa’s more modest – but no less vital in the final analysis – contribution was 6 not out.South Africa’s bowling plans were stymied by the absence of Vernon Philander, who tweaked his hamstring in the field yesterday and sat the fourth day out. But they should have had as many options as they needed to win the Test, having played five specialist bowlers. Indeed, it looked like South Africa would not miss Philander when, in the space of six overs, Keshav Maharaj scythed through Dhananjaya de Silva, Suranga Lakmal and Kasun Rajitha, and Duanne Olivier’s bouncers quickly bullied Lasith Embuldeniya from the crease.That brought Vishwa to the middle and from the moment he got there, he was entirely focused on survival. He faced 22 balls before he got off the mark, but an otherwise shotless Vishwa knew his only job was to only survive. At the other end, with so many runs needed and so much time left in the Test, it seemed the best that Perera might hope for was to reach his hundred.He already had 86 to his name when Vishwa joined him at the crease, and a loft for six over wide long on off Maharaj took him into the 90s. A reverse sweep off the same bowler took him to 99, and a quick single brought the ton. At that point, Sri Lanka still needed 64, and Perera indicated that he clearly didn’t think the job was done yet by farming the strike superbly and picking his opportunities to attack and push the score forward.Kusal Perera showed guts in tough conditions•Getty Images

A second pulled six, off Olivier and onto the grass banks, helped Perera to surpass his previous Test best and, with the new ball two overs away, a drive out to the cover sweeper for two brought the runs required under 50. Faf du Plessis delayed his team’s use of the new ball for five deliveries after it had become available until they had Vishwa on strike, but a hooping Steyn outswinger was too good for him to get close to. And when he was back on strike, Perera sensed his chance to keep the scoreboard ticking over against the hard, new cherry.South Africa’s nerves began to fray when Dean Elgar missed a shy that would have run Vishwa out, and Perera took the stand beyond 50 – and the target to just 23 – with a mighty mow off Steyn that sent the ball arcing into the stands beyond midwicket. A top edge off Rabada brought a fourth six, and his fifth – off Steyn – left Sri Lanka needing just seven. Some scampering took them down to just a shot away from glory, and Perera held his nerve to the last, steering a length delivery past slip and down to the vacant third-man boundary to complete one of the most remarkable Test chases of all time.Such superlatives seemed a long way away when South Africa snapped what had become a troublesome 96-run stand between Perera and Dhananjaya after lunch, Maharaj rushing one through Dhananjaya’s sweep to trap him in front of his stumps even as he looked set to reach his fifty. When Suranga Lakmal edged the very next ball to slip, Embuldeniya gloved an Olivier bouncer, and Rajitha played outside one to be given out lbw, it seemed Sri Lanka and Perera had flattered to deceive.Perera, though, had other ideas. He had also helped his team recover from an earlier stutter when they had slipped from 110 for 3 to 110 for 5 in the course of one Steyn over. Shouldering extra burden in Philander’s absence, Steyn first broke through a stubborn 56-run stand by finding Oshada Fernando’s outside edge for 37. Niroshan Dickwella chipped a return catch back to him two balls later, and South Africa’s thoughts must have turned to a push for victory on either side of the lunch interval.Perera and Dhananjaya’s stand revived the chase thereafter, but it was the historic partnership between Perera and Vishwa which took Sri Lanka home, and it is that stand for which this match will be most remembered for. This was only the third time a 300-plus total has been chased at Kingsmead, and only the second time that has happened since the turn of the millennium. Thanks to Perera’s superhuman efforts, and Vishwa’s defiance and luck, Sri Lanka will head into the second Test at Port Elizabeth with a 1-0 series lead. A draw there and they will be the first Asian side to win a Test series in South Africa.

England batsman gives first in-depth interview since controversy in IPL opening fixture

George Dobell in Jaipur03-Apr-20192:27

Buttler’s mankading overshadows Punjab’s win

Jos Buttler believes it was “probably the wrong decision” to give him out in Rajasthan Royals’ first game of the IPL season but feels the current wording of the Laws governing run-outs at the non-striker’s end is “wishy-washy” and requires further clarification.Buttler was run-out backing-up – or Mankaded, as it is often termed – by the Kings XI Punjab captain R Ashwin at a crucial moment of a match that Rajasthan went on to lose. And, while he accepts there has to be a place for such dismissals in the game, Buttler feels the dismissal set “a bad precedent at the start of the tournament”.In his first in-depth interview since the incident, Buttler also admitted the incident had proved “distracting” in subsequent days and played on his mind in his two next innings. But he insisted he was now “relaxed” about the episode and adamant that, having already been dismissed in that fashion in an ODI against Sri Lanka in 2014, he would “make sure it never happens again”.”Of course a Mankading has to be in the Laws of the game because a batsman can’t just run halfway down the pitch trying to get a headstart,” Buttler told ESPNcricinfo. “But I do think, the way the law is written, there is a bit of a grey area in that saying ‘when a bowler is expected to release the ball’. That is a bit of a wishy-washy statement.”The current wording of Law 41.16 states: “If the non-striker is out of his/her ground at any time from the moment the ball comes into play until the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the non-striker is liable to be run out.”In the case of Buttler’s dismissal, that key phrase “expected release” was a major factor in his downfall. Ashwin, the bowler at the time, approached the crease in normal fashion, but at no stage raised his arm to deliver the ball and instead seemed to pause while Buttler backed-up out of the crease before dislodging the bails. An MCC official subsequently told ESPNcricinfo, they “felt the pause was just too long and therefore not within the spirit of cricket.”While Buttler is reluctant to argue his case on the basis of the spirit of cricket – “it’s different for everyone, isn’t it?” he says – he does suggest there is at least some ambiguity as regards the specific Law.”If you look at the footage, probably the wrong decision was made because at the time he was expected to release the ball I was in my crease,” Buttler said.Jos Buttler and R Ashwin have an exchange after the mankading incident•AFP

“At the time I was really disappointed with it. I didn’t like the style of it. I just thought it was a bad precedent at the start of the tournament. For the tournament itself. It was a really disappointing way to start the tournament.”So, I didn’t like what happened and I didn’t agree with it, but what can you do? After a day or so I was pretty relaxed about it and I’ll make sure it never happens again. It won’t happen again.”The incident appeared to play on Buttler’s mind. He had made six half-centuries in his seven previous IPL innings at the time of his dismissal, but subsequently suffered two single-figure scores against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings. He returned to form with an innings of 59 from 43 balls on Tuesday, however, and feels he has now moved on from the episode.”What was more disappointing is that suddenly, over the next two games, I found myself being really conscious of it and it is quite distracting,” he said. “It is so rare that you’re not normally thinking about it. I must be the only person to get out twice in that way.”It distracted me for the next couple of games which is why it was nice to get some runs in the win and get back to thinking about batting and not worrying about how I back up at the non-striker’s end.”In fact, Buttler is not the only man to be dismissed twice in such a way. Vinoo Mankad, after whom the dismissal is colloquially known, dismissed the Australian Bill Brown twice in such fashion in 1947-48. But while Buttler claims to be one of a dwindling number of “walkers” in the game – batsmen who do not wait for the umpire’s decision if they have edged a ball to the keeper – he accepts the sport is full of grey areas that might, at times, be hard to define, and hopes that professional players remain mindful of their responsibility as “role models to young kids”.”I do generally walk,” he said. “That is something else where the spirit of cricket is involved. Is it in the spirit of cricket to not walk? Most people’s take is that the umpire’s there to make a decision and that is how it should be.”I’d hope, whether it was a written thing or not, that players – as custodians of the game, role models to young kids and professional people – would carry themselves in a certain way.”Buttler received another useful reminder about his impact on the next generation of spectators in recent days. An email from his sister to the BBC show Tailenders jogged memories of an incident, almost 20 years ago, when a request for an autograph was declined by a prominent England player of the time. At a stage when he finds himself handling almost endless demands for selfies, it was a reminder of the disappointment that declining such a request could cause.”It’s hard to satisfy all requests for selfies,” Buttler said. “But it is useful to remember that experience. To someone it could be a great moment. It can be quite meaningful. So I’ll try to remember that when I get a bit annoyed with it. And it doesn’t take two seconds, really.”

The contracts of Ravi Shastri and his coaching staff, who were appointed in July 2017, will expire after the World Cup

Nagraj Gollapudi19-Mar-2019With the World Cup fast approaching, the question of whether Ravi Shastri and the rest of the Indian coaching staff will get an extension is becoming significant. The contracts of Shastri and his deputies, who were appointed in July 2017, will expire after the World Cup.ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCCI will advertise for the job soon, with the interview process likely to be conducted during the two-week window after the World Cup, which ends on July 14, and before India’s tour of West Indies which is scheduled to start late July.It is believed that based on the review of the pool of candidates, the BCCI will take a call on whether to appoint an interim coaching staff for the West Indies tour or whether to allow an extension to Shastri and his team comprising Sanjay Bangar (assistant coach), Bharat Arun (bowling coach) and R Sridhar (fielding coach).It is also understood that the BCCI will once again approach the three-man Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to shortlist the candidates, carry out the interviews and make the final choice. It is likely that Shastri will be a direct entry into the final pool of candidates, assuming the BCCI follows the exact process put in place in 2017, when Anil Kumble’s one-year tenure as Indian coach came to an end.Back then, the Committee of Administrators (CoA), which has been overseeing the BCCI, stated that Kumble would be a “direct entry” into the final shortlist, but he still re-applied. The CAC said Kumble remained their preferred choice, but he resigned in controversial circumstances after being told by the BCCI that India’s captain Virat Kohli had “reservations” over his “style” and did not want him “to continue” as head coach.Shastri then entered into the fray and emerged as the winner from a five-man shortlist which also included former India batsman Virender Sehwag. Under his watch, Shastri has seen India climb to No. 1 in the Test rankings including winning an epic Test series in Australia recently, an achievement he considers to be greater than winning the 1983 World Cup. Kohli has credited Shastri for playing a significant role in his growth both as a batsman and as a captain.