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The left-arm quick was hit for five successive final-over sixes as Rinku Singh led KKR to an improbable win

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-20233:02

Moody: Should’ve been just the single messenger talking to Dayal

One day after Gujarat Titans’ Yash Dayal conceded five sixes in the final over to Kolkata Knight Riders’ Rinku Singh, the fast bowler’s father has revealed that he was consoled in the dressing room by his team-mates, led by the captain Hardik Pandya.Dayal spoke to his father late on Sunday night after the bowler conceded the highest number of runs (31) in the final over of a chase to lose an IPL game. He said that he he struggled to grip the ball due to wet conditions.”It was a nightmare yesterday,” Chandrapal Dayal told on Monday. “They made him [Yash] sit in the centre [in the dressing room] and consoled him. Later, there was [dance, music] and they spent some light moments with him.”He told me that somehow the ball was slipping out and he was not having a proper grip on the night as he missed his yorkers. Even he tried a slower one from the back of his hand, that too was smashed.”Nothing Yash Dayal tried worked for him in that last over•BCCI

Dayal plays domestic cricket for Uttar Pradesh, the same team as Rinku – the batter’s familiarity with the bowler’s plans may have helped him chase down the improbable final-over target. Chandrapal said the episode would make his son come out stronger.”He [Rinku] just had to smash every ball and they know each other well. It may have come handy for Rinku and it was simply not his [Dayal’s] day. Many great cricketers have gone through this.”These are the moments sport is made up of. Even in life you come across failures, it’s important to stand up stronger.”Dayal missed his yorker lengths on three occasions and paid the price as Rinku hit his first three full-tosses for sixes. After that, his half-tracker was tonked over long-on while his final delivery was flat-batted down the ground for six more. While the broadcasters’ camera showed the Knight Riders celebrating deliriously after the match, they also showed Dayal on his knees, wiping his forehead and being patted on his back by his team-mates. His coach Amit Pal said that Sunday was simply not Dayal’s day.”He bowls the yorker so well but could not get one last night,” Pal told . “Maybe he was done in by pressure. Maybe it was because at the other end, there was Rinku who knows him well since their junior camp days.”Dayal was signed by the Titans before IPL 2022 and played his part in the side winning the title last season. This season, he has been expensive and wicketless, conceding 14 runs in one over in his first game, 12 runs in one over in his second game, and 69 in four overs on Sunday.

Hefty total backed up by four-fors for D’Oliveira, Brown

ECB Reporters Network02-Jun-2023Worcestershire 226 for 5 (Bracewell 55, Hose 51*) beat Nottinghamshire 170 (Hales 71, D’Oliveira 4-11 Brown 4-25) by 56 runsWorcestershire Rapids made it four wins from four matches in the Vitality Blast after their 226 for five – the second highest total in their history in the T20 format – proved way too many for North Group rivals Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge, who lost by 56 runs.Michael Bracewell (55), Adam Hose (51 not out), Brett D’Oliveira (44) and Jack Haynes (42) were the chief beneficiaries as a depleted Outlaws attack were largely taken apart after opting to bowl first on a good pitch, only skipper Steven Mullaney (two for 28) emerging with credit as injured trio Jake Ball, Olly Stone and Luke Fletcher were badly missed.Nott coach Peter Moores admitted: “We are struggling without three frontline bowlers and that hurt us tonight. Having said that we didn’t play well, which is frustrating because we lost control of the game right from the start. Steven Mullaney and Matt Carter bowled well on a really good pitch but the other lads didn’t quite get it right.”Alex Hales led a positive powerplay on the way to 71 from 35 balls and Shaheen Afridi provided some late excitement with four sixes in the same over but with D’Oliveira claiming a career-best four for 11 from his two overs of leg spin and Pat Brown four for 25 the Outlaws, who would have needed to make their biggest score chasing, were never really contenders.Rapids piled up a massive 87 without loss in the six powerplay overs, D’Oliveira setting the pace with 44 from 20 balls, Bracewell not far behind with 38 from 17. Both cleared the ropes twice.The pair put on 98 in 41 balls for the first wicket, although Bracewell had a let-off on six when chipping Afridi to short midwicket, where Colin Munro stretched an arm above his head but could only push the ball behind him. That came during an eventful over that saw the Pakistan star visibly aggrieved over a no-ball call for having too many fielders outside the ring, his mood not helped when the extra ball flew off the edge of Bracewell’s bat for four.A breakthrough for the Outlaws arrived when D’Oliveira holed out to deep square leg off Samit Patel in the seventh over, after which two wickets in consecutive overs hinted at a fightback as Bracewell was bowled making room to cut and Mitchell Santner, back from the IPL to start a third stint with the Rapids, gave Mullaney an easy caught-and-bowled.But at 125 for three in the 11th, Jack Haynes was joined by Adam Hose to add another 53 from 22 balls, the former cracking a couple of slog-swept maximums before Matt Montgomery completed a fine catch on the run at deep extra cover to end his progress on 42 from 25 balls.Mullaney, easily the pick of the Outlaws bowlers, conceded only two from the 17th but the last three overs saw Afridi and Conor McKerr surrender another 41 for the solitary wicket of Kashif Ali as Hose finished 51 not out from 27 balls with three fours and four sixes, two off McKerr in the penultimate over and an audacious scoop for another off Afridi in the last.Needing more than 11 runs per over to go close to the Rapids’ total, the Outlaws were comfortably ahead of that with 76 on the board from the powerplay, although they lost one of their key weapons when Joe Clarke, after an escape on 17, was caught at short fine leg for 25 off 16 balls.Hales was finding the gaps in the field with ominous regularity, reaching his third fifty of this season’s Blast in 21 balls with two sixes, carved over extra cover off Adam Finch and off-spinner Bracewell, as well as seven fours, but a couple of tight overs from Bracewell and Santner’s left-arm spin brought the first element of scoreboard pressure and yielded a dividend for the Rapids when their former team-mate Colin Munro, another who might have done some serious damage, skied one off Brown to be caught at long on.Two more wickets lost in the next over, as new Montgomery and Tom Moores both found fielders in their efforts to put the pressure back on the visiting side against D’Oliveira’s leg spin, left the Outlaws 99 for four after 10 overs with Hales seemingly now their only hope of making a game of it.But he lost more partners when Bracewell bowled Lyndon James and Mullaney was caught on the extra cover boundary by a diving Hose off D’Oliveira, Hales departing in the same over, throwing everything into a similar shot but falling to a superb catch, again by Hose, who parried the ball above the rope and caught it as it dropped.Afridi’s four sixes off one Bracewell over provided a flurry of late entertainment but he, Samit Patel and Matt Carter predictably perished in their desperate pursuit of runs as the Outlaws were bowled out for 170 in the 19th over.

Ben Sanderson, Jack White put on 70 for ninth wicket but Daniel Bell-Drummond had Kent in command

ECB Reporters Network28-Jun-2023Kent’s spinners finally overcame a late flourish from the Northamptonshire tail to wrap up an innings victory at Wantage Road and climb to eighth place in the LV= Insurance County Championship Division One table.Joe Denly claimed four wickets and Hamidullah Qadri three as the home side were bowled out for 369 despite an entertaining ninth-wicket stand of 70 between Ben Sanderson and Jack White.The Northamptonshire pair both registered career-best performances in first-class cricket, with Sanderson hitting 46 before White, batting at No. 10, hammered a maiden half-century from 68 balls.He was last man out for 59 to seal Kent’s first Championship victory since the opening round of the campaign, when they defeated the same opponents by seven wickets at Canterbury.As they had done for most of the previous afternoon, Kent initially kept faith with an all-spin attack – which paid off after just 10 balls when Denly had Saif Zaib snapped up at short leg without adding to his overnight 43.Tom Taylor displayed attacking intent, clubbing both Denly and Jack Leaning to the leg-side boundary and Lewis McManus attempted to follow suit as he latched onto a long hop from Qadri, only to pick out the square leg fielder.Taylor found an unexpected ally in Sanderson, who batted with freedom and rattled up a string of boundaries in their lively partnership of 38, prompting Kent to take the new ball and entrust it to their seamers.It made little difference to Sanderson, who thrashed Arshdeep Singh twice to the cover fence, but Wes Agar duly provided the breakthrough – albeit in unusual fashion, deflecting Sanderson’s drive onto the stumps to run out Taylor at the non-striker’s end.However, the eighth-wicket partnership was surpassed by the ninth, with White slamming Denly back over his head for four and unveiling a rarely seen range of shots, including the reverse sweep, to lift Northamptonshire beyond 300.Sanderson stroked Denly for a couple on the leg-side to bring up the 50 partnership – and the highest score of his 15-year county career – but he missed the opportunity of a maiden half-century, taking a swing at Qadri and edging behind.White, however, made no such mistake, dispatching the leg-spinner cleanly over the top for a boundary to bring up his personal landmark before Denly finally had him caught behind to seal Kent’s success.

Captain’s innings rescues home side from 62 for 5 as Nottinghamshire bow out

ECB Reporters Network07-Jul-2023Lewis Gregory and Ben Green batted Somerset into Finals Day of the Vitality Blast as the hosts completed a thrilling five-wicket victory over Notts Outlaws at Taunton.The Outlaws posted what looked a below par total of 157 for 6 after winning the toss, Matthew Montgomery top-scoring with 51 off 38 balls, Imad Wasim cracking 31 not out off 15 and Samit Patel contributing 30. Craig Overton claimed 2 for 23, while legspinner Ish Sodhi conceded only 22 from four overs.Somerset lost five wickets by the midway point of their reply before Gregory and Green put together an unbroken partnership of 96 to see their side to Edgbaston with three balls to spare.A big moment in the game came as early as the fourth delivery, Notts opener Alex Hales advancing to Overton and making room for a big shot, only to have his stumps scattered. Overton soon followed up by having the dangerous Colin Munro brilliantly caught by the back-peddling Matt Henry at mid-off.Henry then had Joe Clarke pouched at midwicket by Overton to make it 17 for 3 and although Montgomery and Patel took boundaries off the sixth over, bowled by Jack Brooks, the Outlaws ended the powerplay on 37 for 3.Patel pulled a six off Gregory as 14 came off the ninth over. He and Montgomery had taken their stand to 69 when the 13th over saw Patel bowled trying to swing Gregory into the leg side.Montgomery survived a tough chance to Tom Abell in the outfield to bring up his half-century, but the next ball saw him sky another catch and Overton made no mistake running in from long-off.Tom Moores was caught at short fine-leg off Gregory and after Sodhi’s economic contribution, it was left to Wasim and skipper Steven Mullaney to boost a meagre Notts total with some clean hitting in the final overs. Wasim struck a six and two fours in his entertaining cameo, but the Outlaws looked to face an uphill battle at the halfway stage.Their spirits were lifted when Tom Banton was caught behind reverse-sweeping off the first ball of the second over of Somerset’s innings, sent down by Wasim, the umpire’s decision of not out being reversed after a referral. It was 9 for 2 when the left-arm spinner completed a double-wicket maiden by clean bowling Tom Kohler-Cadmore for a duck.Smeed responded by hitting boundaries off the first three balls of Wasim’s second over. Abell produced three sweetly-struck fours of his own as the pair took Somerset to 44 for 2 by the end of the powerplay. The pair had added 46 when Abell played a ball from Calvin Harrison into the leg side and Smeed called for a second run, only to fall short as Hales produced a fast throw to the bowler’s end.Soon afterwards, Sean Dickson fell lbw to Harrison reverse-sweeping and Abell walked after under-edging a catch behind in the same over. At the halfway stage of their innings, Somerset were 62 for 5.The experienced Gregory then took charge, clearing the ropes off Patel twice and Wasim as he and Green, who smashed Harrison over long-on for six, repaired the damage in style, bringing up a half-century stand off 35 balls.Thirty were needed off the last three overs. Gregory brought a packed crowd to their feet with a six over midwicket off Wasim and went to a brilliant 32-ball fifty with another maximum over long-off in the penultimate over, delivered by Jake Ball, to finally break Notts’ resistance.With three needed, Green appeared to be dropped at cover off Fletcher. But it was a no-ball and the resulting free hit was dispatched for the winning runs.

High-scoring first innings allied to rain made for a low-key finish to Div Two clash

ECB Reporters NetworkChris Dent’s 21st first-class century proved the highlight of a low-key final day as the LV= Insurance County Championship match between Gloucestershire and Glamorgan at Cheltenham ended in an inevitable draw.With so much time having been lost to rain, including a third-day washout, there were only bonus points to play for as Gloucestershire advanced their first innings from an overnight 134 for one to 402 for six before declaring.Experienced opener Dent led the way with an assured 113, off 206 balls, with 15 fours, while Ollie Price contributed 84, Miles Hammond 57 and James Bracey 60 not out. Leg-spinner Mitch Swepson claimed three of the wickets, but at a cost of 142 runs from his 37 overs.By the time the players shook hands at 4.50pm, Glamorgan had made 62 without loss in their second innings. They took 12 points from the game, while Gloucestershire had to settle for 11 and remain without a win in the Championship this season.Dent was unbeaten on 61 overnight, with Price on 49. The pair extended their second-wicket stand to the century mark before a Price boundary to third-man off Timm van der Gugten took him to fifty off 123 balls, with seven fours.Soon both batters were capitalising on the true pitch, Price producing an exquisite on-drive for four off James Harris and Dent matching it with a sweetly-timed cover drive to the boundary off van der Gugten.The partnership had been extended to 171 when Price was caught behind trying to force a delivery from Swepson through the off side. He stood crestfallen at the error, having hit 16 fours, knowing a great chance of a hundred had slipped away.Dent brought up his first ton of the season with a two to square leg off Harris, having faced 190 deliveries, and added a further 13 to his score before miscuing a drive off Zain ul-Hussain to Harris at mid-on.By then Hammond had signalled his intention to up the scoring rate with 4 fours in moving to 17. He was joined by debutant Joe Phillips and together they took the score to 261 for three at lunch.Cornishman Phillips had reached 17 in his maiden first class innings when falling victim to the second new ball, bowled looking to pull a delivery from Andy Gorvin. He had faced 42 balls and hit 3 fours.Bracey brought the 300 up by getting off the mark with a square driven boundary off Gorvin before Hammond moved to fifty off 78 balls, with eight boundaries. It was 337 for five when he top-edged an attempted pull off Harris and Colin Ingram pouched a simple catch at mid-off.Tom Price made only 16 before being pinned lbw on the back-foot by Swepson, but Bracey progressed serenely to the eighth half-century of the match, having faced 62 balls and cracked 8 fours.There was some strange cricket as tea approached, Zafar Gohar leaving the last ball before the interval with Gloucestershire needing just two runs for a fourth batting point. They had to face three more balls after the break before Bracey brought up the 400 and declared immediately, which meant another ten-minute interruption to play.The home side then set about avoiding a penalty for a slow over-rate, which was plus four at the end of the Glamorgan first innings. Spinners Gohar and Price were given the new ball and fielders scampered between overs, playing catch-up.Gloucestershire rattled through 16 overs in 39 minutes to make sure they claimed their full entitlement of points and it seemed almost incidental that Glamorgan openers ul Hussan and David Lloyd produced an array of attacking shots in the late afternoon sunshine.Lloyd was unbeaten on 38 and ul Hassan 24 when the second declaration of the day ended a game ruined by the wet weather.

Pakistan have called up Shahnawaz Dahani and Zaman Khan as back-ups for the injured duo

Danyal Rasool11-Sep-2023Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah’s participation in the rest of the Asia Cup is in doubt after they picked up injuries during the Super Four game against India in Colombo over Sunday and Monday.ESPNcricinfo understands that the fast bowlers are almost certain to miss Pakistan’s next game, against Sri Lanka on Thursday, and they are also uncertain for the final – should Pakistan get there.Pakistan have called up Shahnawaz Dahani and Zaman Khan as back-ups for the injured duo. The PCB has, however, made it clear that Rauf and Naseem have not been ruled out of the tournament and would remain under the observation of the team’s medical panel.”This is only a precautionary measure keeping in mind the fitness and well-being of the players ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup next month,” a PCB media statement said. “Haris and Naseem will continue to remain under the observation of the team’s medical panel. The team management will only request replacement from the ACC technical committee if Naseem or Haris are ruled out for the next seven days.”Rauf felt “a little discomfort in his right flank” on Sunday, which prevented him from taking the field on Monday, while Naseem went off in the 49th over of India’s innings on the reserve day with an injury to his bowling shoulder. Neither batted in Pakistan’s chase, which ended on 128, giving India a 228-run win.It capped a poor two days for Pakistan, during which all three premier fast bowlers – Shaheen Shah Afridi the third – went off the field nursing injuries at some point or other.Pakistan found themselves outplayed in all departments right from the outset, with India amassing 356 for 2 in their 50 overs across two days. Pakistan were never in the hunt in their chase, losing regular wickets and collapsing either side of a lengthy rain break on Monday.

The batter had remained in Australia since his arrest last November

AAP28-Sep-2023Sri Lanka batter Danushka Gunathilaka has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a Tinder date through the act of “stealthing”.Judge Sarah Huggett acquitted the 32-year-old as he sat at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Thursday listening to the decision. He said he was looking forward to returning to playing after his acquittal.”The evidence establishes that there was no opportunity for the accused to remove the condom during intercourse because that intercourse was continuous,” the judge said in handing down the verdict.Judge Huggett found the complainant, who cannot be legally named, appeared to be an intelligent, calm and responsive witness who did not deliberately give false evidence.However, at times the woman gave the impression she was “motivated by a desire to paint the cricketer in an unfavourable light”, the judge said.”I find that the evidence regarding the complaint far from supports the complainant. Rather it undermines the reliability of her evidence.”The cricketer’s defence team signalled he will apply for the Crown to pay his legal costs of defending the allegation.Outside court, Gunathilaka thanked his lawyers, parents and others who supported him during what he described as a very hard 11 months.”I’m happy my life is normal again,” he said. “I can’t wait to go back and play cricket.”Gunathilaka and the woman matched on the dating app and met for drinks at Opera Bar in November 2022 before having pizza together in the Sydney CBD and then catching a ferry to the woman’s eastern suburbs home.Police initially brought four charges against Gunathilaka, who was arrested at the Hyatt Regency hours before the Sri Lankan cricket team was due to fly out of the country. Prosecutors later dropped three of those charges.In statements to police and the court, the woman accused the batsman of various acts of aggression and violence such as slapping her buttocks, forcefully kissing her and bruising her lips and choking her during sex.There was no suggestion by prosecutors at trial that any of these acts constituted an offence, although the woman in her evidence said the sex was non-consensual.Gunathilaka always maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent relating to the cricketer’s alleged “stealthing”, or removing his condom during sex without the woman’s consent.During the judge-alone trial, defence lawyers questioned the credibility of the complainant, claiming her story shifted over time and that she edited her version of events to paint Gunathilaka as an aggressive person.Judge Huggett also heard evidence from two of the woman’s friends who described her as fragile and distraught the day after the cricketer attended her home.Police officers who spoke to the woman were also questioned about the way they handled the case, including omitting crucial details, throwing out notes and potentially contaminating witnesses.Judge Huggett on Thursday described the conduct of police in prosecuting Gunathilaka as “very concerning” and “far from satisfactory”.Gunathilaka has been on bail during the trial but was unable to play international cricket or return to his hometown of Colombo.

Chelmsford to play host to two fixtures as club seeks to reduce overheads of outgrounds

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2023Middlesex will play two of their home fixtures in next year’s Vitality Blast at Essex’s home ground of Chelmsford, in a bid to alleviate the growing financial pressures on the club.Middlesex, which leases its primary venue, Lord’s, from MCC, has recently used Radlett Cricket Club and Merchant Taylors’ School near Watford as its preferred outgrounds.However, with the club embroiled in a long-running legal dispute with its former chief executive Richard Goatley, and having been fined £150,000 for financial mismanagement by the ECB in September (£100,000 of which was suspended until October 2025), the current CEO Andrew Cornish has confirmed further cost-cutting measures.”We have gone to lengths to be transparent and open with our members when discussing the financial position the club is in, and moving forwards we need to continue to take every step we can to ensure we remain rigorous in our control of the club’s costs,” Cornish said in a statement on Middlesex’s website.”The cost of setting up the infrastructure of an out-ground venue is a significant liability the club has historically had to factor into our financial model every year – increasingly so in recent seasons with the enhancements we have made to the member experience at out-ground matches.”As a consequence, Middlesex will play home fixtures at Chelmsford against Kent on May 31, and against Gloucestershire on July 18, as well as a third visit to face Essex on June 2, for which they will be the away team. They are due to play one Blast fixture at Radlett against Hampshire on July 6, as well as a brace of One-Day Cup games in August when Lord’s will be in use for the Hundred.”As we continue to scrutinise every cost the club incurs, out-ground set-up costs stand out as an area which we could make a significant positive impact on,” Cornish added.”We have, as a result, been in discussion with our friends at Essex, who have been very receptive to the idea of hosting us at the Cloud County Ground for two of our Blast matches this year.”

Can Jupiter take down the Sun, in front of over 100,000 hyper-partisan fans in blue?

Andrew Fidel Fernando18-Nov-20236:59

Moody: Being safe and conservative won’t work against Rohit

Big picture: The team of this tournament vs the team that tends to win these tournaments

It feels a little like we are in the eye of the cyclone. Over the last few weeks, this World Cup had become a furious whirl of irresistible narratives. There was Virat Kohli’s tenacious run to 50 ODI hundreds, Glenn Maxwell’s fastest World Cup hundred, then that manic 201* against Afghanistan, a timed-out dismissal sparking major controversy, New Zealand pushing the big teams close but not quite making it, Pakistan’s exit setting off major reshuffles at home, Sri Lanka nosediving into a deep administrative and cricketing ravine, Bangladesh engaging in some soul-searching of their own, and Afghanistan orchestrating the most captivating campaign of the tournament but disovering there is a ceiling for them still.Sadly some of this has overshadowed the news that umpire Kumar Dharmasena is launching his own perfume.Related

• Australia do Australia things, without the scowl or the snarl

• Rahul Dravid and the World Cup arc of redemption

• How the pieces of the jigsaw fell in place for incredible India

• Australia's road to the final: Problematic preparation and early losses to winning eight in a row

• India vs Australia – Win the powerplay, win the World Cup?

In the cyclone’s eye, because this tournament deserves a dramatic finish, and the stage seems set for one. The final really does feel like the culmination of all the events since October 5. For a start, there can be no doubt these are the best teams of the competition. India have dominated the tournament so far to such an extent that their average winning margin batting first is 175 runs, and on average they have won with 64.4 balls to spare while chasing. Only Australia’s stomping march to the 2007 World Cup final rivals these numbers.Australia had found themselves bottom of the table after two matches, thanks partly to India having eased to victory in these teams’ tournament opener. But they have since put together a sequence of eight victories. Where India have tended to crush their oppositions from the outset, Australia have had major scares to survive (like being 91 for 7 chasing 292 against Afghanistan), white-hot spells to see out (like Tabraiz Shamsi in the semi-final), determined opposition chases to weather (like New Zealand’s in Dharamsala).Rather than being wearied by these intense passages of play, Australia have perhaps been tempered by them. As they had lost series to South Africa and India in the lead-in to this tournament, they had not been favourites on current form, anyway. On top of which theirs has been an imperfect campaign: Mitchell Starc only really came good in the semi-final, Steven Smith has not hit top gear, powerplay wickets have sometimes been in short supply.India have been as close to perfect as you could imagine. Twice they’ve bowled out oppositions for below 80. Of the five times they’ve batted first, they surpassed 350 on three occasions, and got 326 for 5 on another. Their fielding has been exemplary. Four of their top five have hit hundreds over the course of the campaign, and the other – Shubman Gill – still averages 50 and has struck at 108.02.They have also fed off, rather than been overwhelmed by, their roaring home crowds, Virat Kohli directing entire stadiums like an orchestra conductor. In fact, watching India in their grand stadiums in this World Cup has at times felt like a grand, synchronous performance – every instrument in tune, every voice in perfect pitch, all the broader forces acting on the match advancing the march toward’s India’s glory.If there is one team that might not be daunted by more than 100,000 fans in the biggest stadium the sport has, however, it is Australia. Pat Cummins has suggested as much: they will embrace the silence that has tended to fill stadiums when India wickets have fallen, or an opposition has hit a boundary. Many in their team have been part of World Cup finals before, and many have won. Five members of the likely Australia XI were in the 2015 World Cup final, and a few others still won the T20 World Cup in 2021.And perhaps being battle-tested counts for something too. If the game gets close, Australia have had more recent experience in such situations, and have a long-term history in keeping themselves sharp and collected. For all the data that has now swept cricket, this is still a game played by human beings ruled at times by emotion.Still, will India even let Australia get close? So far in this World Cup, India have been like the sun, and Australia like Jupiter – the next-most massive body in the solar system, but dwarfed still by the greater celestial body.

Form guide

India WWWWW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
Australia WWWWW2:12

Kumble: ‘Don’t see toss being that much of a factor’

In the spotlight

Mohammed Shami has played six matches in this tournament, having only come into the team post Hardik Pandya’s exit. He’s since taken a tournament-high 23 wickets at 9.13, with an economy rate of 5.01. Three times he’s taken five wickets, and once he’s taken four. There are excellent reasons to put Jasprit Bumrah’s name down on the team sheet first, but in terms of wicket-seekers, there has been no bowler better than Shami, constantly coming at the stumps, often muddling batters’ brains to such an extent that they are forced to play wild shots. Shami is also part of the reason why India – who very arguably have the best pace attack of the competition (that they have the best overall attack is more widely accepted) – can prosper on any kind of deck, even the low, slow ones. The Ahmedabad pitch for this game is a used deck. You have to expect Shami wickets.Pat Cummins has the chance to join the Australian pantheon of World-Cup-winning captains, something he will obviously savour. But for the neutral cricket lover, there is a more exclusive, and perhaps more impressive list: fast-bowling World-Cup-winning captains, of whom there are only two – Imran Khan and Kapil Dev.Cummins has had a decent tournament, but perhaps not for the reasons you’d expect. He’s averaged 37 with the ball, with an economy rate of 6.05. His more memorable contributions have been with the bat. He batted out 68 balls against Afghanistan so Maxwell could play innings, and on Thursday, his 14 not out against South Africa was an important contribution in a string of important contributions that saw Australia through to the final. When he has taken wickets, though, they have tended to be important ones – the dismissal of centurion David Miller in that semi-final a case in point.If there is a criticism to be made here, perhaps it’s that he’s occasionally been too rigid with his captaincy. Why not bowl out Josh Hazlewood when he’s had such spectacular first and second spells, against South Africa, for example? Why give Mitchell Starc the vital last over against New Zealand, when Starc had had struggled in that game? And yet also, he has also embodied the resilience his team has shown since going 2-0 down early.

Pitch and conditions

This is the same track that was used for the India-Pakistan match in the second week of the World Cup, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be a low-scoring match. Cummins has said he doesn’t have any issues with it and there is an extended story on the surface here.There may be some dew to contend with, however. With there being an early winter nip in the air in the evenings, the dropping of temperature after sunset may make for a soggy ball, though there is also a chemical sprayed on the grass to mitigate the dew’s effects.There is no rain forecast. The temperature will be in the low 30 degrees celsius range in the hottest parts of the day.

Team news

There has been no indication from either team that their semi-final XIs will need any tinkering with. India, certainly, seem to have their set XI.India (likely): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Mohammed Shami, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Mohammed Siraj.Australia may think about bringing Marcus Stoinis into the team ahead of Marnus Labuschagne, but against an attack of India’s quality, Labuschagne may be the choice again, as it was in the semi-final.Australia (likely): 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Marnus Labuschagne, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Josh Inglis (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Stats and trivia

• Six of the likely players across the two teams have played in a World Cup final before (Kohli, Warner, Smith, Maxwell, Starc, Hazlewood). They all won their first final.
• Jasprit Bumrah is ranked only joint fifth in terms of wicket-takers this World Cup, with 18 dismissals. But his economy rate is 3.98. To find a better economy rate on the wicket takers’ list, you have to scroll all the way down to 78th, to R Ashwin, who took a single wicket and went at 3.4 runs an over in the one match he played.
• Mitchell Starc is third on the all-time World Cup wicket-takers’ list, with 62 to his name. But he will need six wickets to match Muttiah Muralitharan, the second-highest wicket taker behind Glenn McGrath.
• Mohammed Shami, meanwhile, is already India’s most-successful World Cup wicket taker, and will surpass two bona-fide ODI greats on the list if he takes three wickets. Shami is currently on 54 World Cup dismissals, Wasim Akram (fifth on the overall list) had 55, and Lasith Malinga finished on 56.

Quotes

“The crowd’s obviously going to be very one-sided but it’s also in sport there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that’s the aim for us tomorrow.”
Australia captain Pat Cummins on playing in a packed Ahmedabad stadium“We know the expectations, and the pressure, and the criticism. This is not just now, this has been happening since game number one. We have tried to maintain that calmness around the dressing room. Even on the field, when there is a situation where we have been put under pressure, we try to stay calm and just react to that pressure.”
India captain Rohit Sharma on the immense expectation on his team.

“What I hope is we win and my performance is crucial to it”

Danyal Rasool28-Dec-2023Despite a couple of late wickets, Pakistan’s shoulders had dropped by the time stumps were called, but Mir Hamza didn’t let the disappointment of the final session sully memories he will carry for the rest of his career. Coming out just after lunch, he had followed up two strikes from Shaheen Shah Afridi with the wickets of David Warner and Travis Head in successive balls, the latter a near-unplayable inswinging delivery that cleaned Head up for a golden duck.No wonder, then, that his face broke out into the broadest of grins when looking back upon the moment a few hours later.”It was a dream for me to play at the MCG against one of the best teams, and to provide us two breakthroughs in one over,” Hamza said at the post-match press conference after the third day’s play. “I was telling myself I have to prove myself if I want to play international cricket for my country. If you look at my last few matches, I bowled well but didn’t take wickets. So I wanted to change that.Related

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“Since the match started, I tried to keep things simple because there’s something in the pitch for fast bowlers. It’s seaming and swinging. I thought if I can swing the ball, I’ll have a great opportunity because the batter isn’t set at the time. I thought that way and believed Travis Head was waiting for my outswinger, but I brought it back in. It was my favourite Test dismissal.”At the time, Pakistan were riding very high. Australia were reeling at 16 for 4, the lowest total upon which they’ve lost four wickets at home since South Africa had taken the first four for just eight runs in Hobart in 2016. The lead was a precarious 70 at the time, and Pakistan believed they were in with a sniff.And though a mix of poor catching, poor fortune and a sensational counterattack from Mitchell Marsh meant Australia had comfortably reassumed the ascendancy by stumps, Hamza was instrumental in ensuring Pakistan retained a fighting interest in the contest. He was the man to break the 153-run fifth-wicket stand between Marsh and Steven Smith by drawing another outside edge from Marsh that Salman Ali Agha clung on to, before Afridi followed up with Smith’s wicket, with the hosts leading by 241.”We are still in the game, and we think we’ll get stronger,” he said. “The new ball will swing in any conditions – as it did for me – but there is something in the pitch. If you see the body language of our boys, it is very positive. We will try to get wickets as soon as possible. We are in the game.”Part of the reason Mir Hamza has struggled to break in is his lack of pace•Getty Images

Hamza needs to make no apologies for beaming after the day, because he knows how rarely these moments come around, and how hard fought they can be. He played six years of first-class cricket before getting his first opportunity in Test cricket in 2018, only to be dropped after one Test. It was to be another four years before the second chance came knocking around; and another two indifferent games later, he was out of the side once more.Then in the first Test of this Australia tour, Pakistan preferred to give two fast bowlers a debut in Perth rather than give Hamza a run. His three Tests apart, Hamza has played 103 first-class games, and taken 418 wickets across 11 years and nearly 19,500 deliveries.So while it may be an exaggeration to call the two balls that rattled Warner and Head’s stumps one-in-a-million moments, terming them one in ten thousand is no statistical exaggeration. Part of the reason Hamza has struggled to break in is his lack of pace, with Pakistan always likely to prefer high pace when taking selection into account. Here at the MCG, Hamza’s speeds were a constant point of focus, largely registering in the 120ks. Hamza, though, knows what he is.”Bowlers know about their quality. Some bowlers are known for seam and swing, and others for pace,” he said. “What matters is that you disrupt the batter – whether you do it with seam and swing, or whether you do it with swing doesn’t matter. Our aim is to win, and we’ve taken 16 wickets. We’ll try and take 20 as soon as possible, and come out with the win. This will be memorable if we win the Test, and what I hope is we win and my performance is crucial to it.”And while reality may fall somewhat short of that ambition, there’s little doubt that Hamza’s performance has ensured Pakistan can do for one more night what Hamza has done for a decade: keeping a dream alive.