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Kuldeep Yadav has said bowling to MS Dhoni was challenging but he was not scared to be hit for a boundary

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Apr-20171:20

‘Wasn’t afraid of bowling to Dhoni’ – Kuldeep

Kuldeep Yadav could feel the pressure of bowling to MS Dhoni on Wednesday evening. Despite being a spinner, Kuldeep was picked by Gautam Gambhir to bowl the 18th over of Rising Pune Supergiant’s innings with Dhoni and Steven Smith in a partnership of 35 runs from 21 balls. One batsman had regained his touch of smashing sixes in the end overs and the other has not gone out of form since landing in India for the Test series.”If you are a spinner there’s always pressure on you,” Kuldeep said after the match. “As a spinner, I believe that you can put the opposition under pressure by picking wickets. Like in the last over I took two wickets and they were under pressure. Bowling the 18th over is always tough; the captain needs to believe in you for that.”Kuldeep’s first ball to Dhoni in the match, in the 16th over, had been pulled for a flat six over midwicket. In the 18th over, Kuldeep deceived Dhoni with a googly. Dhoni stepped out to get to the pitch of the ball, but it turned away, beat his bat and was stumped.”Bowling to Dhoni is always challenging and I could feel the pressure,” Kuldeep recalled. “But I wasn’t scared that he would hit me for a six or a four. I flighted the ball and I was focused on getting him out.”Three balls later, Kuldeep had Manoj Tiwary on strike, Rising Pune’s best batsman this season in terms of strike rate (with at least five innings). Kuldeep had conceded only three runs in four balls until then in the over and he had Tiwary stumped even though the batsman did not step out to hit him. Kuldeep bowled another googly, Tiwary leaned forward to tuck the ball to the leg side with the spin but the ball went the other way and Tiwary’s back foot was outside the crease.Kuldeep, however, said the conventional legspinner was still his stock delivery as he used the wrong’un and the flipper mainly to get wickets.”It (googly) is only a variation and you can use it in T20s to confuse a batsman when he is attacking,” he said. “But I really believe in my chinaman bowling rather than the wrong’un and flipper. I back my stock ball more and I’m mainly a chinaman bowler; the wrong’un is a variation you use to pick wickets or stop the runs. But my main delivery is chinaman delivery. Obviously, the wrong’un gets you wickets and the batsmen keep wondering if the ball will come in or go out, they find it difficult to pick, especially the overseas batsmen. So if you dismiss Indian batsmen like that, it’s a big boost for confidence.”Kuldeep has so far gone wicketless in just one match this IPL and has collected eight wickets, joint with team-mates Nathan Coulter-Nile and Umesh Yadav, who have had the advantage of a pacer-friendly relaid pitch at Eden Gardens.Kuldeep has had an impressive run since the beginning of the domestic season. He was the highest wicket-taker and the leading run-scorer for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy; he topped the wicket-takers charts in the Duleep Trophy too, with 17 wickets in three matches, and he shone on his Test debut with 4 for 68 against Australia in Dharamsala.”If you play the entire season and you’re highest run-getter or the highest wicket-taker, it becomes easier to play on the next level because of the momentum you are carrying,” Kuldeep said. “If you aren’t playing domestic cricket you might lack in some places. I’ve played Duleep Trophy, one-dayers, T20s, India A, so this season has been really helpful for me which is why I have a lot of confidence.”Knight Riders will play their next match against Delhi Daredevils on Friday.

The WICB has taken legal advice in response to calls for a forensic audit

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Sep-2016The WICB has taken legal advice in response to calls for a forensic audit, claiming that it could carry the “suggestion of wrongdoing”. Terming the calls to carry out the forensic audit by six former board officials as “serious allegations”, the WICB has said that it is consulting Anthony Astaphan, a senior counsel in Dominica, for his advice and recommendations.”The Board has been advised that in a number of instances the call for a forensic audit carries the suggestion of wrong doing and misappropriation of WICB funds by present members of the WICB,” the WICB said in a media release, issued on Thursday. “Additionally, it suggests the auditors are either incompetent or complicit. These allegations are completely false, and seriously damaging to the reputation of the WICB, its members, and auditors.”The WICB has therefore decided that these are serious allegations and has referred the matter to Senior Counsel, Anthony Astaphan of Dominica, for his advice and recommendations.”Last week six former WICB officials – Ken Gordon, Pat Rousseau, Anthony Deyal, Charles Wilkin, Bruce Aanensen and Imran Khan – claimed that the current board administration under Dave Cameron has seemingly become “untouchable”, and not doing anything would lead to the “inevitable demise” of cricket in the Caribbean. As a remedy, the six men urged CARICOM to conduct a forensic audit to save West Indies cricket from “absolute and total downfall”.The WICB said the six men had ignored the facts. “These calls for a forensic audit by the former officials are without any basis in fact, and importantly, notwithstanding, that these former officials are aware that the WICB has for many years retained internal and external auditors.”As it pointed out last week, the WICB repeated once again today that the board’s internal and external audits are done and authorised by a pair of global consultants – PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG respectively. The release also noted that all the WICB accounts are published by or available from the WICB on all its platforms, including the board’s website where the reports are available.The WICB said that the allegations “appear triggered not by fact or evidence but an emotional reaction” to its response to the CARICOM sub-committee on cricket. Members of the sub-committee have repeatedly suggested the dissolution of WICB as a starting point to bring back Caribbean cricket to its glory days.

Delhi’s bowlers shot out the opposition for 86 within 25 overs to win by an innings and book their team’s spot in the title bout

Arun Venugopal in Pune19-Dec-2017Gautam Gambhir plays through the off side•AFP

On a day when fast bowlers on both the sides produced game-altering spells, it was Bengal’s freefall with the bat that had them plummet to a defeat by an innings and 26 runs in Pune. After Mohammed Shami’s 6 for 122 limited Delhi’s lead to 112 runs, Delhi’s bowlers shot the opposition out for 86 within 25 overs to book their team’s spot in the final. Bengal’s batting line-up was spliced open by Navdeep Saini and Kulwant Khejroliya, who relied as much on their red-hot pace as the batsmen’s muddled thinking as they helped themselves to four wickets each. All of Saini’s dismissals – Sudip Chatterjee, captain Manoj Tiwary, Aamir Gani and B Amit – were bowled. Saini knocked over Gani and Amit off successive deliveries that registered speeds of 140 kph and 144 kph respectively. He finished with seven wickets in the match.While Saini and Khejroliya spearheaded Delhi’s raid, it was Vikas Tokas who set it up with Abhishek Raman’s dismissal in the third over. Bowling from wide of the crease, Tokas slanted one in and Raman, beaten for pace, was pinged on his back leg and adjudged lbw. “Beaten for pace” soon became a recurring theme, as Bengal slipped from 32 for 1 to 44 for 5. Much as Saini and Khejroliya were threatening, Bengal didn’t do themselves any favours. Abhimanyu Easwaran was let off twice – on 6 and 13 – when first Saini put down a simple caught and bowled chance and then Kunal Chandela dropped him at midwicket. But Easwaran returned the gift by pulling one straight to Chandela off the next delivery, and froze in disbelief.Saini then broke through Sudip’s defence to clean him up. While a delivery that kept low could be held up as a mitigating factor in his case, there could possibly be no reasonable explanation for Writtick Chatterjee’s run-out. Having completed an easy single, Tiwary set off for the second after the throw at the non-striker’s end headed towards the fielder backing up at square leg. Even as Writtick yelled out a loud “no”, Tiwary kept going and Writtick eventually sacrificed his wicket. A little over two overs later, Anustup Majumdar nicked one down the leg side, which was followed by Tiwary being knocked over by a scorching Saini delivery that straightened after pitching on the fuller side of length to clatter into the top of off.Seven overs later, Bengal’s innings had come to an end, with Shami unbeaten on 13, probably wondering why he was faced with the situation he found himself in. He had good reason to feel aggrieved considering his part in keeping Bengal in the match with blistering spells on either side of lunch. He bowled 39 overs in the innings – the most by a Delhi bowler. In the morning, Shami put the second new ball to good use almost right away, pegging Nitish Rana in front of the stumps. Rana was a touch unlucky though, as the ball had pitched outside leg stump. Ashok Dinda matched Shami’s act by having Delhi captain Rishabh Pant lbw in the next over. With Delhi having slipped to 281 for 5, it looked like they would fail to capitalise on the advances made on Monday.However, Himmat Singh (60 off 115 balls) ensured that the lower order wouldn’t fold easily. He first put on 47 with Manan Sharma, who made 34 off 33 balls, before raising a 56-run stand with Tokas, who gritted out 10 off 51 balls. The defining feature of their batting was the spunk they displayed in the face of some scorching short-pitched bowling from Dinda and Shami. The batsmen ducked and weaved awkwardly and even got hit, but refused to give in. In the face of such bowling, you can bat for long enough to be bruised in the quest for runs or wilt cheaply as a unit – Delhi and Bengal represented both ends of the spectrum.

Worcestershire’s Daryl Mitchell has been elected as the new chairman of the Professional Cricketers’ Association

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2017Worcestershire’s Daryl Mitchell has been elected as the new chairman of the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA). He succeeds Mark Wallace, who steps down after four years having completed the maximum two terms.Mitchell has already flagged the ECB’s plans for a new city-based T20 competition to be introduced in 2020 as a major issue to be tackled by the PCA under his chairmanship.”There is going to be big change ahead, not just for English domestic cricket but also on the world stage. These are interesting times,” Mitchell said.”There is talk of a franchise Twenty20 competition and it would be good to be involved in the discussions surrounding that. It’s important that the questions of our 400-plus members about how it will all work are answered and that was the crux of my manifesto.”Mitchell won a ballot of current county players ahead of four other candidates: Graham Onions, Paul Horton, James Hildreth and Steven Crook. He will serve for the next two years, with the appointment due to be ratified at the PCA’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.”It was pretty competitive and there were some really good lads who went for it, so to be elected by your peers from other clubs is very pleasing,” Mitchell said.”It’s a prestigious role and it has been done very well in recent years by Vikram Solanki, who I know from his time at Worcestershire, and then Mark Wallace, who has done a fantastic job over the last four years. It’s a big role and a big honour and I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead.”I have been involved with the PCA as a county representative since 2009 so I know about the fantastic work that they do. I have enjoyed being involved as a representative so this is the next step really. I want to try to get involved at the coal face of the organisation.”Mitchell, 33, has been a Worcestershire player for over a decade and served as captain until the end of last season, when he was removed from the position in acrimonious circumstances.He is the third Worcestershire player to become PCA chairman after Tim Curtis (1989-96) and Solanki (2009-13) and he will link up with another former county team-mate, David Leatherdale, the PCA chief executive who previously held the same role at New Road.”Daryl has been a PCA county representative for more than seven years and has a wealth of knowledge of the county game at all levels,” Leatherdale said.”He is undoubtedly held in high regard by players across the whole country as today’s appointment shows and, combined with his experience as the players’ representative on the ECB cricket committee, he will bring a great deal to the role of PCA Chairman. I very much look forward to working with Daryl again over the coming years.”Mitchell takes charge in the PCA’s 50th anniversary season. Wallace, the former Glamorgan wicketkeeper, last week announced his retirement to become a PCA Personal Development Manager.

Taylor has created herself a portfolio of superb leg-side stumpings including two this season

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-2018Adam Gilchrist rates England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor the best in the world across all formats of the game.Responding to a question in a interview during the ODI in Durham, Gilchrist highlighted Taylor’s work up to the stumps which has regularly been world-class.Taylor has created herself a portfolio of superb leg-side stumpings, alongside other examples of outstanding glovework, including two this season one of which was a breath-taking effort to remove Dane van Niekerk when she gathered a half volley from pace bowler Katherine Brunt.”I tweeted, no longer than a week ago, that she is the best wicketkeeper in the world at the moment – male or female,” Gilchrist said. “She’s done some work over the years in the Big Bash in Australia and with social media now you can see these little snippets.
“It’s a pretty bold statement, because there are a lot of fine wicketkeepers around – Alyssa Healy is another from the women’s game, just so skilful with soft hands effecting these leg-side stumpings.”[They] spend so much time up to the stumps with a little less pace on the ball in the women’s game [and are] so skilful, I’ve seen a lot and a couple in the internationals over the last week or two have been brilliant pieces of work.”

Scotland mark their return to action after World Cup elimination with a historicvictory over England

Andrew Miller10-Jun-20180:42

‘I was running around crazy as soon as the finger went up’ – Sharif

Scotland’s final-wicket hero, Safyaan Sharif, said that his team’s actions spoke louder than any words could, as they marked their return to competitive action after the heartbreak of World Cup elimination with a historic, and nerve-shredding, victory over England at The Grange.Sharif, who nailed England’s last man, Mark Wood, with a pinpoint yorker to seal a six-run win, insisted that the jubilation of the achievement – in front of an ecstatic home crowd, many of whom joined in a good-natured pitch invasion at the moment of victory – atoned for the misery of their decisive five-run defeat against West Indies in the World Cup qualifiers in Harare in March, when a contentious lbw decision effectively sealed their exclusion from next year’s ten-team World Cup.”Definitely it does,” Sharif told Sky Sports. “I mean England’s a brilliant side, everyone knows that, and to get a victory, scoring 370 against a top quality side, means the world to Scotland, so well done once again.”I’m not going to say anything,” Sharif added, when asked if the achievement sent a message to those at the ICC who decided to reduce the size of the World Cup. “They’ll have seen it all today so hopefully they’ll click onto that.””It was just an incredible effort from the lads, they’ve just proven once again that they are capable of playing at this standard, and they did really well throughout the innings. Up top, it was tough in the second half but we managed to pull things back and did the job, so really… I’m lost for words, I don’t know what to say.”Kyle Coetzer, Scotland’s captain, echoed Sharif’s sentiments, particularly in light of their successful bounce-back from the disappointment in Harare.”I was extremely proud first of all, but it is a trait we are starting to get very, very good at,” he said. “With ball in hand, we’ve been very good over the last few years, and especially coming off the back of Zimbabwe, this being our first game of the year, it’s been an outstanding performance.”Look, 371 played 365, it’s an outstanding game, bowlers found it hard on a flat wicket with small boundaries, but it’s great to be this side of the fence.”In spite of the tough conditions for bowling, Sharif said that he had backed his burgeoning ability at the death, particularly having obtained some reverse swing late in the innings.Safyaan Sharif sprints off after the final wicket to seal a historic maiden win over England•Peter Della Penna

“I just knew if I bowl the right line and hit my yorker, it’s going to tail [in], and luckily once again I managed to hit that yorker and got that wicket, which was an absolutely great feeling to get over the line,” he said.”Definitely, I’ve been working hard on [reverse swing] towards the end of an innings and we managed to get that wicket there. It’s unbelievable.Coetzer admitted that there had been moments during England’s run-chase, particularly when Jonny Bairstow was teeing off during an outstanding hundred, that he had been powerless to respond.”Especially in the first Powerplay, when you’re only allowed two guys out, literally whenever we moved a fielder, he hit it somewhere else,” Coetzer said. “He’s obviously in fine form, he struck the ball cleanly from the start of his innings. Basically I was just hoping he mishit one, and thankfully that happened.”We knew it was tough,” Sharif added. “The wicket was good, it was a fast outfield, we just needed to keep bashing our lengths, keep mixing it up and we’ll get the wickets, and luckily we did.”It means a lot to the crowd and a lot to us. We’ve been waiting so long for this victory and we managed to do that today with the positive attitude that the lads brought into the game, so well done.”

Kylian Mbappe tore the net with a bullet opener to extend Paris Saint-Germain's aggregate lead against Real Sociedad in the Champions League last-16.

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• Mbappe took just 15 minutes to score the opener
• Found the net from an acute angle
• The net got damaged as the ball went in

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The French forward received the ball near the touchline and after showing quick feet to Igor Zubeldia he rifled away a shot towards goal from a tight angle. The ball flew in through the far post and such was the power behind it, that the net got damaged.

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• WATCH THE CLIP

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  English referee Michael Oliver had to pause play for a while as he was informed on the radio that the ball had damaged the net. PSG had been excellent in the first half as they not only strangled the opposition with their incessant pressure in attack but also kept things tight at the back to completely stifle the hosts.

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• WHAT NEXT?

  PSG lead the tie by a three-goal margin and if Mbappe is allowed to play the full 90 minutes, then the margin could get only bigger. Of course, Luis Enrique attracted the forward's ire by substituting him during his side's last game against Monaco.

Thomas Frank was pleased with Brentford's performance against Chelsea as he claimed his side "battered" the Blues in the second half.

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• Frank responds to Brentford fans' jeering
• Claimed they 'battered' Chelsea
• Brentford and Chelsea played out a 2-2 draw

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Brentford held Chelsea to an exciting 2-2 draw on Saturday in a Premier League clash at Gtech Community Stadium. Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring for the Blues but the Bees responded strongly in the second thanks to goals from Mads Roerslev and Yoane Wissa. Axel Disasi then netted the equaliser to secure a point for the visitors.

  Frank was left impressed by his team's performance, especially in the second half as he claimed that they "battered" giants Chelsea and could have sealed all three points from the game.

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• WHAT THOMAS FRANK SAID

  Speaking to reporters after the match, Frank said, "I would have loved three points. It was a relatively even game in terms of chances. I’m very pleased with the response from the players. I asked about a bounce-back mentality. Especially after a bad performance against West Ham. That was not us. It’s very rare we don’t put a performance in.

  "Today I must say, impressive. When we got promoted, Chelsea won the Champions League (on the same day). They have done quite well in terms of renewing their squad. We played a game where we had seven of our key players out and it was a strong side they put out. The way I think the way we battered them second half was fantastic and extremely impressive. I’m a very proud head coach today because I think the players have been fantastic this week."

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  Despite an impressive result against a team like Chelsea, Frank and his men were jeered by a section of the home fans which left the manager perplexed as he said, "You know what, I thought I heard that as well. Is that true? I would like to personally speak to the ones who boo. Is that support? We are talking about Brentford against Chelsea, one of the biggest clubs in the world, 1-0 down. I know I can’t swear but what the…"

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  The Bees will be next seen in action against Arsenal on March 9 in the Premier League while two days later, Mauricio Pochettino's side take on Newcastle United.

The news over recent days has focused on England players choosing to give up the first-class game, but Surrey’s Stuart Meaker has taken a step in the opposite direction

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2018The news over recent days has focused on England players choosing to give up the first-class game, but Surrey’s Stuart Meaker has taken a step in the opposite direction by signing to play for Auckland in the Plunket Shield during March, as part of his preparations for the Championship season.Meaker, who has been capped four times and toured New Zealand with England in 2013, has a reputation as one of the quickest bowlers in county cricket. He was approached after Surrey team-mate Sam Curran, who played T20 for Auckland during the Super Smash, recommended him, and could play in four rounds of New Zealand’s domestic competition.”Auckland came in on the recommendation of Sam Curran, who was out there,” Meaker said. “They said have you got anyone that bowls reasonable gas and can come and play a few first-class games for us towards the end of the season. So they asked me to pop down and looks like I’m going off there for the whole of March.”Meaker has been given permission to miss Surrey’s pre-season tour to Dubai in March, and hopes to benefit from playing first-class cricket in the run-up to the season. Surrey are not in action in the opening round of the Championship, waiting until April 20 before starting against Hampshire.With Adil Rashid and Alex Hales making headlines over the last week by opting out of Championship cricket for their counties, Meaker’s decision to go abroad to focus on his red-ball game is something of a counterpoint.”It’s a good build-up toward the start of the season,” he said. “Sometimes guys go away and play club cricket in Australia, this is just a step further than that, going off and playing some four-day games, getting some overs under my belt. That does unfortunately mean I miss out on pre-season tours and games, but there’s nothing quite like playing in an actual competitive four-day game to get you ready for the start of the year.”I’ve been out there before with the England team, quite few years ago. We were set up in Auckland and that was my first experience of cricket in New Zealand. They had a really good set-up, really good facilities. It’s just a chance to play some different cricket at a historic club.”Although his England prospects have receded, partly through injuries, Meaker is still only 29 and likely to be in contention across all three formats for Surrey.

Colin Munro, the New Zealand allrounder, has become the latest international cricketer to shelve his red-ball career to focus on the white-ball

Andrew McGlashan08-Mar-2018Colin Munro, the New Zealand allrounder, has become the latest international cricketer to shelve his red-ball career to focus on the white ball saying that his “passion” for the longer format has diminished.Munro, 30, played one Test for New Zealand in 2013 but has now established himself in the ODI and T20 sides at the top of the order. He has scored three T20I hundreds, the most by any player.Despite holding a first-class average of 51.58, it was unlikely that Munro would have forced his way back into Test contention.He will continue to play 50- and 20-over cricket at both domestic and international level. Last year pace bowler Mitchell McClenaghan opted out of a New Zealand central contract so he was free to take up T20 deals around the world, but Munro remains committed to international cricket with the 2019 World Cup a particular focus.”It would be fair to say that my focus hasn’t been on four-day cricket this season and my passion for that format of the game isn’t what it once was,” Munro said. “I’m still 100% committed to playing for the Blackcaps and Auckland Aces in the shorter formats and have some big goals I’d like to achieve in the next couple of years.”Obviously with the World Cup next year I’d love to give myself the best chance of making that squad and that’s where my main focus is.”Munro admitted he would have liked to have played more than his one Test – which came against South Africa in Port Elizabeth – but he was starting to have issues with his body which made first-class cricket tough.”I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to play more Test cricket in that time but you look at the guys who have come and made a real go of it. I’ve given a fair crack to first-class cricket and now it’s a change of focus, I want to be part of that World Cup squad”Being classed as more a batting allrounder I don’t think the body is was it was a couple of years ago. I’ve carried a few niggles through this home summer. It wasn’t like I could run and bowl 15-20 overs, even though I’m medium-slow.”Munro put his thoughts past former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, now his mentor, but it was very much is own choice. “I had chats with him a little while ago and he said he can’t make the decision for me, it comes down to what’s best for me and my family.”Last month, England pair Alex Hales and Adil Rashid opted to take up white-ball only contracts with their counties.Meanwhile, Tom Latham and Martin Guptill will captain two New Zealand XI sides against England in their warm-up matches in Hamilton between March 14 and 17. The four days of cricket will be split between two with a pink ball under lights to prepare for the day-night Test at Eden Park and two in daytime conditions.New Zealand will use those matches as a chance for a number of their Test players to tune up ahead of the two-match series although the frontline pace bowlers will have a separate camp in Mount Maunganui. NZ XI squad – Two-day pink-ball match: Tom Latham (capt), Tom Blundell, Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, Scott Kuggeleijn, Henry Nicholls, Seth Rance, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Nathan Smith, Ish Sodhi, George WorkerNZ XI squad – Two-day red-ball match: Martin Guptill (capt), Logan van Beek, Tom Blundell, Doug Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Scott Kuggeleijn, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, George Worker