Remembering the Indian-origin batsman who played a star turn in a rare, forgotten friendly across colour lines in apartheid South Africa in 1961

Luke Alfred04-Nov-2020On the night of March 31, 1961, Amien Variawa took to his bed early. He’d been feeling poorly for days – a touch of the flu – and although there was an important game of cricket to play on the weekend, he doubted he would be fit enough to appear in it.Just as he was nodding off, a knock at the door. A delegation of team-mates and well-wishers had come round to his home in Vrededorp, Johannesburg to cheer him up. He simply must play, they pleaded, even if he was only half-fit.This was an important game, a rare friendly across the colour line against an invitation side organised by the Springbok wicketkeeper John Waite. Against them were pitted a team of Indians and black Africans, assembled by the benefactor and businessman Abdul Haque, with Variawa as their star turn. It was now or never, they said. Waite had been quoted in the local papers saying that the “non-whites” needed to show what they were made of. Haque’s men, who had been angling for the game for months, needed to step up or shut up.Variawa was quietly thrilled by the delegation’s attention. He made no promises but told them he would do his best. The following morning, at the Natalspruit Grounds, on the edge of Johannesburg’s central business district, “Doolie” Rubidge, the Haque’s XI skipper, won the toss. Variawa opened the innings with Abdul Bhamjee, who was later to become a charismatic football administrator with a love of satin shirts in infinite shades of purple.As he walked to the crease Variawa looked around him and saw that Waite hadn’t patronised his opposition by picking an under-strength side. Russell Endean, a feature of the Springbok middle order through the 1950s, was part of Waite’s team, as was the curmudgeon Sid O’Linn, who had blocked and fretted against England in 1960.There also were up-and-coming youngsters – one of them, Ali Bacher, was to make a lasting impression as the decade continued – and what looked to be a sharp opening attack made up of Jackie Botten and Ken Walter, both of whom played for South Africa in seasons to come. Haque’s men were going to be tested.

Variawa’s century in a match in which no one else scored 50 might have signalled a late flowering, but apartheid restricted opportunity and upward mobility, in cricket as in life.

The Haque XI openers managed to see off the Botten and Walter threat, but with Waite’s first change came a setback: Mike Macaulay, bowling left-arm over, snuffled Bhamjee (4) and Sayed Kimmie (3) in quick succession. Suddenly it was 26 for 2 and the gainsayers were beginning to mutter “I told you so.””I was a swing bowler,” recalls Macaulay. “Bowling on a hessian mat and a sand outfield didn’t keep the shine for very long, but while it was swinging I managed those two early wickets.”Kimmie’s dismissal to a Macaulay caught-and-bowled (there were 18 caught-and-bowleds in the match) brought young Ossie Latha, Variawa’s brother-in-law, to the wicket. He and Variawa settled in. The scoring rate accelerated when Bacher, fresh out of school, trundled through a spell of innocuous legspin at more than a run a ball.Slowly the score mounted. The healthy crowd, mainly young Indian men in suits with thin ties and a few autograph hunters in shorts, clutching their books, began to relax. Dared they hope for a big score against the whites?The match shouldn’t have been played, for it was in contravention of apartheid’s petty laws, but Waite’s influence and a sort of willed ignorance from officialdom kept the security police away. “I remember curry for lunch and a big spread,” says Macaulay. “The problem was that I’m allergic to chilli, so I couldn’t eat.”Variawa and Latha batted through the afternoon. The hundred was brought up, then the 150. Waite permed his bowlers, giving them second and third spells. Variawa, normally a punishing driver of the ball, had to be careful of the excessive bounce on the hessian mat. He reeled in his shot-making. The total rose.Latha, who made 45, went with the total on 162 after a 136-run third wicket partnership. Shortly after, Variawa brought up his century, scored in 187 minutes and containing 11 boundaries. He hardly had time to soak up the congratulations before Haque’s XI tumbled from 177 for 4 to 207 all out, Botten and Macaulay contributing to five ducks at the bottom of the card. The chilli-averse left-armer finished with figures of 5 for 38 in 16 overs.

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Born in District Six, Cape Town, in 1928, three years before Basil D’Oliveira, Variawa was one of three brothers, all of them cricketers.The match scorecard. Variawa was the only player to cross 50•Getty ImagesDistrict Six was a lively melting pot of races, a casbah-like area of close-knit dwellings on cobbled streets, full of banana and peanut sellers trundling their wares in handheld carts. Variawa’s father was a cotton merchant in a district of merchants and small shopkeepers, his business eventually taking him upcountry to what is called the , or countryside, in Afrikaans. It was here that a young Variawa learned his cricket in the country district leagues.The family spent time in the rural towns of Lichtenburg and Piet Retief, according to Variawa’s son, Nazeem “Jimmy” Variawa, now a school and wedding photographer in his 60s.As a young man, Variawa found himself in Johannesburg, golden city of opportunity. Here his cricket prospered. The Indian leagues were well-run, with indefatigable characters like Haque organising tours, friendlies and coaching clinics. While facilities were never luxurious – unlike, say, at the famous Wanderers club, where, fresh out of school, Macaulay started out in the tenth team and worked his way up – they were decent. For Indian players and fans alike, the game was an obsession. Such devotion inspired self-reliance. The players knew their cricket history and were nimble of mind.

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In reply to the Haque XI’s 207, Waite’s men could only muster 154 (Bacher 37; Rubidge 4 for 41) to which Haque’s team responded with a paltry 75. This left Waite’s side (effectively the Transvaal provincial side) 129 to win. They scrambled 108 and Haque’s team won by 20 runs. They were still basking in glory a couple of days later when the return fixture at the Wanderers was mysteriously cancelled.

Waite had been quoted in the local papers saying that the “non-whites” needed to show what they were made of. Haque’s men needed to step up or shut up

The ‘s Dick Whitington detected “shades of Ranjitsinhji” in Variawa. His century in a match in which no one else scored 50 might have signalled a late flowering, but apartheid restricted opportunity and upward mobility, in cricket as in life. By the time of the century against Waite’s XI, Variawa had already played for the SA Indians against the Africans in 1955, before being picked as vice-captain for the South African Indians on their tour of Rhodesia and East Africa in 1958. There he joined D’Oliveira in the SA Indian side, captaining the team in D’Oliveira’s absence during the third three-day “Test”.D’Oliveira headed off to Middleton in the Central Lancashire League in 1960, qualifying for Worcestershire in 1964, a process smoothed by him telling the county he was three years younger than he was. Latha, now 80, remembers that D’Oliveira and Tom Graveney mooted a possible trial at Worcester for Variawa in the mid-1960s but, for reasons he can’t remember, nothing came to pass. He was keen that Latha prosper, though. “Amien did try and help me get across to a club in Sussex – he was willing to put up the money, but my parents weren’t keen,” Latha says. “By that stage he must have been 35, so his time had passed, but he wanted to see me do well.”Variawa had to be content with inter-provincial tournaments and the Christmas tours Haque organised to the Cape. “[When we toured there at the end of ’62] it was the first time I saw the sea,” says Hoosain Ayob, a fast bowler and team-mate of Variawa’s. “We went to the docks. Up Table Mountain. We went to the ‘Coon Carnival’ [since renamed the Cape Minstrel Carnival] on New Year’s Eve.Ayob remembers Variawa as a man who liked the horses and a joke, and as a fine driver, offspinner and safe slip fielder in his cricket-playing avatar. “He was a good-looking man, always in a suit and tie. A bit of a charmer, although you would never find him in fights or arguments. His trademark was a white hankie, which he always wore around his neck.””Would he have played for South Africa under different circumstances?””Easy.”An article in a magazine details the rout of John Waite’s team at Natalspruit•Getty ImagesAfter his playing days were over, Variawa became a travelling salesman. During the summer, he coached cricket on weekends, driving his son Jimmy’s teams all over the Transvaal.The 1960s were the age of swanky dancehall show bands: El Rica’s Dance Band, the Five Pennies, the Santiagos, the Lyceum Combo and the Rhythm Bluebirds among them. According to Ayob, Variawa loved to dance almost as much as he loved to thunder off-drives past extra cover’s left hand. In their satin bow ties and pressed suits, the bands played standards across a wide range, including rhumbas, cha-chas and sambas. They also played , the indigenous penny whistle- and saxophone-driven music of the black South African working class.These nights were looked forward to for weeks. “Fund-raising dances and dinner dances and sporting activities were pretty much what we all did for recreation in places like Vrededorp and Pageview [Johannesburg’s equivalent of District Six] in those days,” Ayob says. “We’d all take our girlfriends or dates to the Springbok Hall or the Ritz for Friday or Saturday nights.”Dancing out to take on the best bowlers from other lands was an opportunity seldom afforded Variawa, although he continued to move smoothly across the dancehall of life as a salesman. El Rica’s rendition of “The Girl from Ipanema” remained one of his favourites. “He was some dancer,” says Ayob with a smile.Variawa’s life came to an abrupt and tragic end end on New Year’s Eve 1985, when he was involved in a head-on collision while driving with a Turkish friend on a poorly lit road outside of Azaadville, west of Johannesburg. He was 57. His story is cherished by a few but he is largely forgotten, another in the endless legion of South African cricket’s unknown soldiers.

He is still “speechless”, unable to believe what he and his team-mates have accomplished in Australia

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Jan-20211:41

Moody: Siraj has responded to adversity in the most mature way

Shabana Begum could not stop crying as her second son returned home after nearly six months overseas. Not too long before, the son had laid flowers on the grave of his dad, who had passed away on November 20 last year while he was on duty in Australia.The first few hours of Mohammed Siraj’s homecoming on Thursday were poignant: full of emotions, a deep sense of loss, a sense of happiness, a sense of peace, of being in the embrace of your loved ones after months of living in lockdown on one the most arduous tours in cricket.Immediately upon landing in Hyderabad at 9 am from a triumphant Australia tour, where he made his Test debut and ended as India’s highest wicket-taker, Siraj went to the graveyard in Khairatabad to pay respect to his late father Mohammed Ghouse, a former auto rickshaw driver, who passed away at the young age of 53 due to lung ailment.According to Mohammed Shafi, Siraj’s childhood friend and his first captain in gully cricket at First Lancer Cricket Club, he threw up as he spent some quiet moments at his dad’s grave. It was around 11 in the morning when Siraj reached his home. “As soon as I reached home mom started crying, but I remained strong and kept her positive,” Siraj would tell the Hyderabad media later in the afternoon.Shafi illustrates the emotions vividly. “His mummy had not seen Siraj for six months, so she started crying. Siraj told his mummy: ‘ (I’m not crying so why are you crying)?’ So she calmed down. He gave her the (strength).” (I want to have Hyderabadi breakfast),” Shafi recounts Siraj asking his mom. Begum served him “nihari and paaya”, a traditional Mughlai delicacy of meat-based stews.Mohammed Siraj at his father Mohammed Ghouse’s grave; his father died on November 20, during India’s tour of Australia•Mohammed ShafiSiraj could barely put his feet up to relax thereafter as he patiently responded to multiple back-to-back media requests over the phone. By afternoon Shafi along with Siraj’s family erected a makeshift tent outside the house in Tolichowki, a densely populated suburb in western part of Hyderabad, for the local media.Related

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The first question at the media conference to Siraj concerned the demise of his dad. Siraj had travelled to the UAE last August to play the IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. From there the Indian squads moved to Australia. Confronted with a difficult question of whether to return to India and risk quarantine, Siraj opted to stay back, after discussing the issue with his family and the Indian team management.”Firstly, it was very difficult for me about dad passing away,” Siraj said. “Mentally I was depressed. When I spoke with my family (in November) they also said that fulfil the dream of dad. And I have returned having fulfilled that dream.”Siraj had a lump in his throat talking about visiting the grave. “It was very emotional considering I was not even there at the time of his death.”Ghouse would no doubt have been a proud father, had he been alive to see his son make his Test debut at the historic MCG on Boxing Day. Siraj got the opportunity only because Mohammed Shami had broken his elbow in the defeat in the first Test. Having proved his red-ball skills during his stints with India A over the past few years, the team management was confident Siraj was ready for Test cricket. India drew level in the series with a memorable win in Melbourne, courtesy the century from their captain Ajinkya Rahane, but Siraj, too, played a big hand with five-wicket match haul.After every wicket he took, Mohammed Siraj would look skywards, “dedicating it” to his father•Getty ImagesIn Sydney, Siraj had to steel himself from crowd abuse on more than one day as India fought hard to deny Australia the series lead. Siraj did not lose his head. He showed courage. That forced Australian heads to bow in shame. Opposition players like Nathan Lyon acknowledged that Siraj had set an example in reporting racist abuse. “The abuse from some in the Australian crowd made me mentally strong,” Siraj said. “The fact that I did not allow that abuse to have an effect on my game was important.”By the start of the final Test at the Gabba, Siraj had inadvertently become the leader of a bowling attack comprising mainly debutants: Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan and Washington Sundar. “Everyone trusted me. They were telling me I was bowling well and I was the leading bowler. There was pressure. It was challenging to perform with such a responsibility, but I enjoyed taking it up. I focused on building pressure on the batsman and hit the same area on the pitch. I had to ensure I did not try too hard so that would help both the team and me.”One big-pressure moment for Siraj came on the fourth afternoon when he missed a high catch in the deep off Steven Smith. Australia’s best batsman was on 42 and the lead at that point was 202. Soon after, Siraj also failed to latch on to a return catch from Cameron Green as Australia were eyeing a big total.Once again Siraj did not lose his head. He surprised Smith with lifter that hit the bat handle and flew straight into the safe hands of Rahane at gully. “Smith’s wicket was crucial. It was helpful for the team and it reduced the pressure on me.”Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur take the victory lap with their team-mates•Bradley Kanaris/Getty ImagesSiraj had already surprised Marnus Labuschagne with an equally sharp rising delivery earlier in the day in an over where he also forced a nick off Mathew Wade. “My favorite wicket is Marnus Labuschagne because it was important for us to get a wicket at that point in the match. And for me to get two wickets in the same over was important.”He might be only three-Tests old, but Siraj’s fairy tale story of being fast-tracked from gully cricket to domestic cricket to India A to international cricket is a new chapter in the crucible of Indian cricket. He is now seen as an example of how heroes can emerge from unthinkable corners.Siraj’s advice to youngsters is simple. “In life if you have to achieve something do it from your heart. (You just need the obsession to achieve anything). In success you need the and hardwork. (Hardwork never goes in vain).”Before heading to the IPL Siraj had prepared himself bowling at a single wicket. In the UAE South African bowling legend Dale Steyn, Siraj’s team-mate at the Royal Challengers, shared some tricks to get command over the outswing which the young quick utilised well on the Australian tour. Siraj now intends to continue to improve during the home series against England,”Yes, I had a good tour,” he said, “But I should continue to perform going forward. I should ensure that I do not get carried away by this performance. It sets my future, but I don’t want to get relaxed.”Siraj finished the Gabba Test with his maiden five-for. He finished as India’s best bowler (13 wickets) on the Australian Test tour despite playing only three Tests. To make one’s debut in Australia, to win a series there and to emerge as the team’s best bowler is what emerging fast men dream about. Siraj ended up living up that dream. He is still “speechless”, unable to believe what he and his team-mates had accomplished. “I always think: did this really happen? It is like a dream.”After every wicket he took, Siraj would look skywards, searching for someone very special. “Every wicket I was taking I was dedicating it to dad,” he said.Ghouse, who Siraj dearly wants to talk to is not there anymore. “Each time I perform I miss him. There are so many times I think of calling him, but then realise he is no more there. I miss him very much. (May he rest in peace in heaven).”

“The thing that impressed me the most was the method that he used,” captain Morgan said of Rana’s knock

Sidharth Monga11-Apr-20212:11

Morgan: Rana’s aggressive method impressed the most

The level of care he would have got is of course beyond the imagination of most of the country right now, but the country could possibly take some heart at this bleak time that the Man of the Match in the third game of the IPL is someone who has just beaten Covid-19.Last month, Nitish Rana became the first player in this IPL to test positive for Covid-19 with a reported vacation in Goa after having successfully participated in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy becoming the talking point. In that light, the preparation could not have been anywhere close to ideal.However, the first ball Nitish Rana got on Sunday night was a juicy wide half-volley, and he took the approach that sets the Kolkata Knight Riders apart from others: attack if you can, there are others behind you if you fail. He smacked Bhuvneshwar Kumar away for four, and set the tone for the rest of the innings.Related

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“I just saw the ball was in my slot, and I went after it,” Rana said on Star Sports when receiving his Man-of-the-Match award. “I have only one thing in my mind when I bat: if the ball is in my half, I have to try to convert it into a boundary.”Rana converted 13 of those into boundaries in his 56-ball 80, impressing his captain Eoin Morgan, who along with coach Brendon McCullum have to be the most positive leadership group in a cricket set-up. When you impress such a champion of aggressive cricket with your approach – never mind the results – you must have done something right.”Delighted for Nitish,” Morgan said at the post-match press conference. “Obviously a match-winning innings. The thing that impressed me the most today was the method that he used. He played really aggressively, and always took a positive option, which really did set up our batting innings. Rahul [Tripathi] played extremely well, which allowed our lower middle order [to play with freedom], one of whom came off today in Dinesh Karthik, so I am delighted for Nitish.”Rana and Tripathi added 93 runs in 50 legal deliveries, all of them in the dreaded middle overs on a dry and slow track. Thanks to that onslaught, the blip in the end – just 42 runs in the last five overs – wasn’t enough to restrict the Knight Riders to a par total. It was only after they were dismissed that the difficult nature of the pitch became apparent.”Just catching up really,” Morgan said when asked what the conversations were like once Rana came out of isolation. “[He was] delighted to be out of quarantine and have a negative report. Then when he joined the squad, getting back to playing in the camp, netting and then batting in the practice match as well, his game [was] in really good touch. We witnessed it today on a wicket that wasn’t as good as he made it look to bat on. We are delighted for him.”What might have been a challenging pitch for the others possibly took out an aspect that challenges Rana. Teams have looked to go quick and short at him with impressive results, but the pitch didn’t have that kind of pace nor did the Sunrisers Hyderabad have that kind of bowlers. The Knight Riders’ next match is on the same square: Rana will be keen to end the pattern in his last six IPL innings: 0, 81, 0, 87, 0 and now 80.

While striking at close to 10 runs an over against spin, Glenn Maxwell has carried RCB to par or above-par totals on tricky pitches

Sidharth Monga06-Oct-2021This is the first time since 2011 that Royal Challengers Bangalore have qualified for the playoffs in just 12 matches. It is all the more incredible because seven of these 12 matches have been played on surfaces that are historically their weakness: slow, low-scoring tracks of Chennai, Sharjah and Dubai. They have won six of those seven matches, losing one to the renowned masters of these conditions, Chennai Super Kings.That defeat happens to be the only match that has not followed a pattern. A quick start, a slowdown in the first half of the middle overs, and then Glenn Maxwell. During this defeat, the opening stand went on for too long, Maxwell didn’t get time to make an impact and scored just 11 off nine, and RCB lost. His lowest score in the other six is 39; other five are all half-centuries. In three of the wins, Maxwell has been Player of the Match.In these seven matches, Maxwell has scored 350 runs at 9.25 an over while the average scoring rate, including extras, has been 7.49. Take out Maxwell’s contribution, and RCB themselves have gone at 7.42 an over.It is, admittedly, a disingenuous stat to take out a team’s best performer and say the numbers of the rest are as bad as the others, but the point is that other teams have not managed to find anyone as capable of rising above the conditions for as long as Maxwell. Jonny Bairstow, Suryakumar Yadav and Ruturaj Gaikwad have gone at better than eight an over, but scored fewer runs – 211, 211 and 184. In that category, RCB’s AB de Villiers has scored 175 but at 10.29 an over.Unlike Bairstow and Gaikwad, Maxwell has turned games around in the middle overs, scoring at 8.4 an over as against the 7.44 overall. This has allowed de Villiers, who has been RCB’s constant saviour, to almost become a specialist death-overs plunderer. If Harshal Patel was the missing link in RCB’s attack for these conditions, Maxwell has completed their batting. Depending on how you look at it, Maxwell has either allowed Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal a slowdown period after the Powerplay or he has been bailing them out after the openers have dug them a hole.To make your mind up on that, you only need to look at their intent. Kohli and Paddikal have both been attacking in the Powerplay, but have almost gone into ceasefire after before Padikkal starts to attack in the second half of the middle overs. It points to a team plan of making sure there is a basic fighting score ensured before Maxwell is sent in to do his thing. The only time that partnership between Paddikal and Kohli went on for too long, they lost.Against spin, Maxwell has scored 216 runs at a rate of 9.45 an over•BCCIMaxwell has scored 216 runs against spin at 9.45 an over. Impressively, Gaikwad has scored two more runs at 9.41 an over. No other batter has been this good against spin, which is a key weapon in the middle overs on these pitches. It has probably helped that RCB have given Maxwell a fixed role at No. 4 who bats with around 10 overs remaining. He says it helps that his role with Australia is quite similar.Just like a bowler is additionally pleased at economical figures on a flat track, Maxwell will be pleased he is having this season on difficult tracks for batting. He is also succeeding at what is a consistent challenge in T20 cricket: batting first and taking your team to a par-plus total. Only two batters – both openers – have scored more runs than Maxwell when batting first this IPL, but his smart runs and smart strike rate – ESPNcricinfo’s metric that provides context to runs and wickets against match situation and bowling faced – has a bigger jump over his actual runs and strike rate than others. De Villiers, Ambati Rayudu and Suryakumar have had similar impact but have also scored more than a 100 runs fewer than Maxwell.Maxwell’s form on these pitches is of great importance because wherever they finish in the table, to win the IPL, RCB will have to win either of two matches in Dubai or two in Sharjah and one in Dubai. They are all slow conditions that Maxwell has already conquered. Already Maxwell’s 2021 (407 runs at a strike-rate of 145.35 in low-scoring conditions) is rivalling 2014 (552 at 187.75 in high-scoring conditions) as his best IPL. Maxwell has anywhere between three and five matches to go to try to make this his best IPL. And a World Cup to follow in similar conditions.Maxwell has succeeded through his own unique methods. In Dubai, he has used reverse hits to use the shorter side of the boundary. In Sharjah, he has used more conventional power as the boundaries are already short. On slower pitches, he feels, you get that extra time to line up the reverse hits.This is a mind that is completely original. Around a year after that 2014 IPL, when the 2015 World Cup was about to start, Australia were showing a glimpse of their powerful line-up in the tri-series that preceded. On a tough WACA pitch in the final, Maxwell took Australia from 60 for 4 to 278 with 95 off 98. In the press conference, he was asked if having similar big hitters around him helped take some pressure off.Maxwell raised his eyebrow and shot back, “I don’t think anyone is like me. If you find a replica, I would love to meet him and ask, ‘Why?'” Even after the press conference, he kept on with the conversation: “Let me know if you find someone like me,” he said. “He might need to see a few of my clips first.”Six years on, Maxwell has been through ups and downs that have made him dismantle his game and build it again. That confidence has taken many a beating. In this IPL, though, he has done things – switch-hits off spinners and reverse ramps off pacers for sixes – that have reminded of that 2015 proclamation, “I don’t think anyone is like me.”

All the numbers from India’s lower-order’s fightback in Colombo

Sampath Bandarupalli21-Jul-202169* Deepak Chahar’s score while batting at No.8 in the second ODI against Sri Lanka. Ravindra Jadeja’s 77 against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in 2019 is the only higher ODI score by an Indian batting at No.8 or lower.9* Consecutive series wins for India against Sri Lanka in ODIs. Only Pakistan against Zimbabwe (11*) and India against West Indies (10*) have won more ODI series in succession against one opponent.ESPNcricinfo Ltd84 The partnership between Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, which is now the second-highest for the eighth wicket for India in ODIs, behind the 100* between MS Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar against Sri Lanka in 2017.123 Runs contributed by India’s Nos.7 and below in this match. Only once have they scored more runs in an India ODI win – 129 against Zimbabwe in 2002.2 Previous instances of India winning after needing to score 160 or more when five down in an ODI chase. They were 160 runs from their target on Tuesday at the fall of Hardik Pandya’s wicket. India had needed 180 when they were five down against England in the 2002 NatWest Trophy final, and 160 when they had lost half their side against Zimbabwe in 2005.93 ODI wins for India over Sri Lanka, the most for any team against an opponent in this format. Australia have won 92 ODIs against New Zealand, and Pakistan have also won 92 against Sri Lanka.ESPNcricinfo Ltd276 Target chased down by India in this match, their second-highest successful chase in an ODI in Sri Lanka. They chased down 287 against the hosts in 2012, also in Colombo under lights. India’s 276-run chase is also the third-highest by any team in day-night ODI matches in Sri Lanka.

Not quite. Teams’ performance outside World Cup years doesn’t really align with performance closer to the world events

Sampath Bandarupalli21-Oct-2021Top teams and their record in T20 World Cup cycles
India and Pakistan will start their campaign in the men’s T20 World Cup 2021 as the teams with the most wins since the previous tournament, in 2016. In terms of win-loss ratios, Afghanistan, who turned into a Full-Member nation in mid-2017, are the best while West Indies, the defending champions, are the worst among the eight teams to have directly qualified for the Super-12s, with a ratio of 0.66.Different approaches for different teams in non-World-Cup years
Looking at stats from the last decade for how teams have fared in T20Is immediately preceding, and during, a World Cup, compared to periods when the World Cup is not around the corner, is interesting. Some teams have tended to experiment with their line-ups and rest their top players in T20Is unless a World Cup is imminent, while others have had a more consistent approach. To an extent, that has also depended on how many all-format players a team has in their T20I first XI.West Indies have consistently proved that their record in non-World-Cup years is no indication of how good their team really is. Seldom do they field a full-strength team, with all the T20 heavyweights in the XI. Since crashing out from the 2010 World T20 at home, West Indies have played 118 T20I games, of which only 26 have had all of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard in the XI; 11 of those 26 games were in 2021, as preparation for what could be those players’ last appearance in a T20 World Cup.Since the end of 2010 World T20, West Indies have had a win-loss ratio of 1.555 in T20Is around T20 World Cups (we have considered matches since January 1 in years in which World Cups were hosted, till the final of the tournament), which drops to 0.589 in the periods not around World Cups. Pakistan and England go the opposite way: their records are much better in non-World-Cup years. Pakistan’s 93 matches in non-World-Cup years is also easily the highest among all teams; no other team has played more than 72 (India).ESPNcricinfo LtdEngland’s strong record between World Cups can be explained by the fact that they field their T20 specialists consistently. Since the 2016 World Cup, England have played 50 T20Is, of which Eoin Morgan, their captain, has featured in 45. Their death-overs specialist Chris Jordan had missed only two games in this period.However, their relatively poor record in World Cup years is also down to the fact that the last three tournaments – in 2012, 2014 and 2016 – have all been held in Asia, in conditions that aren’t the most conducive for England’s players. They have tried to fix that recently by having their T20 stars play in the IPL as much as possible. More than half of the current squad have played in the UAE, which hosted the 2020 IPL and the second half of the 2021 one.Australia, much like West Indies, do without the services of their star players in this format regularly due to players’ preference for other formats and the Australian policy of workload management. However, unlike West Indies, who have several players involved in top leagues around the world, the Australians have much less exposure to top-level T20 cricket in different conditions. Some Australian players do not play even their own league, the BBL.Australia have usually tried a large pool of players, and struggled to find the right combination for the big tournament. That happened before the 2014 and 2016 World Cups, and might in 2021 too: in the last five years, they have played 58 T20I matches, but only five players featured in more than half of them – Aaron Finch (48), Adam Zampa (44), Alex Carey (38), Glenn Maxwell (38) and Ashton Agar (37). Carey failed to make the World Cup squad ahead of Josh Inglis, who hasn’t yet played a T20 international.

For only the second time in T20s, a team went with four left-arm seamers in their XI, but the strategy worked wonders for Namibia

Deivarayan Muthu28-Oct-20212:43

Borren: Bit of technical frailty at the start from Scotland

The Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi is cut off from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. However, there was an air of excitement around the first match of Wednesday’s double-header, with Bangladesh facing pre-tournament favourites and holders of the 50-over world title England. The food joints were buzzing, as were the merchandise stalls, on a hot afternoon. Bangladesh fans even broke into jigs at the little picket fence enclosures on the grass banks when opener Liton Das cracked back-to-back fours.Once England smashed Bangladesh, though, a huge chunk of the crowd dispersed, missing a rip-roaring opening sequence from Namibia left-arm quick Ruben Trumpelmann later in the evening. The 23-year-old struck three times against Scotland in the first over, thrilling a handful of Namibia supporters who had stayed back to watch their side keep their World Cup dream alive.Related

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It all started when Trumpelmann swerved one in sharply from over the wicket, tucked up George Munsey and had him chopping on for a first-ball duck. Trumpelmann let out a primeval roar, with his team-mates and the Namibia fans rallying around him.Trumpelmann then thumped out a hard length and angled it away from the right-handed Callum McLeod, having him feathering behind for a duck as well. Richie Berrington, who was captaining Scotland in the injury-enforced absence of Kyle Coetzer, was then pinned lbw by a full, fast inswinger. Bang. Bang. Bang. Trumpelmann roared once again and moments later wicketkeeper Zane Green jumped onto his back.This was only the fourth time in 1371 T20Is that a bowler had taken three wickets in the first over of a men’s T20I innings. Sure, Trumpelmann has a big inswinger, but it is his high-arm action and ability to skid the ball off the pitch that makes life more difficult for batters in these UAE conditions.ESPNcricinfo LtdTrumpelmann’s 3-0-11-3 helped Namibia restrict Scotland to 22 for 4 by the end of the powerplay. The damage proved irreparable despite Michael Leask’s 27-ball 44 from No.6. When Trumpelmann came back for the 15th over, he showed his range: bowling from wide of the crease, bowling cutters into the pitch and capping his spell with a wide yorker that squeezed underneath Chris Greaves’ bat.Scotland’s attack struck back to run Namibia close in a slim chance of 110, but it was Trumpelmann’s tone-setting spell that headlined the evening. It couldn’t have been any better and JJ Smit, who sealed victory with an unbeaten 32 off 23 balls, agreed with it at the post-match press conference.”That was something special – to take three wickets in the opening over,” Smit said. “We had them on the back foot from the first over. We can’t ask for more and we enjoyed that (laughs).”Watch cricket live on ESPN+

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Trumpelmann was born in Durban, grew up in Pretoria, and worked his way up age-group cricket at the Northerns. Albie Morkel, the former South Africa allrounder and current Namibia assistant coach, then convinced him to make a career for himself at Namibia. Trumpelmann’s father was born in Windhoek, which makes him eligible to play for Namibia, but that shift amid Covid-19 was tricky.”Yeah, I think it’s his father that is from Namibia. He actually took a while to get his Namibian passport,” Smit said. “Rocking up and down, he came to Namibia to get his passport and Covid happened and he was stuck there for eight months. So, yeah, but he finally got it and he can play for us. So, we enjoy it and we enjoy having him in the team.”Smit also spoke highly of Morkel’s contribution towards Namibia’s progress. “Albie’s contribution has been massive and brings that calmness to the team,” he said. “Our coach [Pierre de Bruyn] is a bit fiery and spicy. Albie is cool and calm like you can remember from the IPL and South African days. He’s experienced and just his calmness… I keep saying calm, but he’s really calm. He makes a lot of jokes and keeps us all involved.”When Smit was applying the finishing touches to the chase, every run drew cheers from the Namibian fans in the crowd. What’s the team’s message to them?”We’re so thankful for them. It cost them a lot of money to be here,” Smit said. “So, we are thankful and they mean the world to us and even the support back home. All the messages everyday… my phone doesn’t stop, so I don’t want to be in Ruben’s shoes tonight (laughs).”Namibia are playing their first-ever major tournament, but they are not here to make up the numbers, Smit insisted. Having won three successive matches against Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland, they believe that they can go deep into the tournament. They will next run into Afghanistan at the same venue on October 31.”I think if we qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup, there’s going to be a massive uproar in the cricket world,” Smit said. ” Like we know we can, it’s possible; we’re here at the Super 12s, and we’re enjoying it. We all believe we’re going to be here. For the next game, it’s just playing their spin well and their seamers. I don’t think we should just focus on their spinners – obviously they have three of the best spinners in the world – but the seamers are also highly ranked and come with a bit of pace.”Smit had also done his bit with the ball, as did fellow left-armers Jan Frylink and Bernard Scholtz. Michael van Lingen also pitched in with one over. It’s very rare that a team has four left-arm seamers in their XI at any level of cricket. So rare that only once before Wednesday has a team had four left-arm seamers bowling in a T20 innings – Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Shinwari, Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz for Northern vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2020. Were Scotland caught napping by the pack of left-armers?”Look, I think they bowled extremely well upfront, ” Berrington said. “A first over like that makes it pretty hard to recover. Showed a lot of faith in the middle overs there, just unfortunate we couldn’t get enough runs on the board to give a chance in the second innings.”Left turned out to be perfectly right for Trumpelmann and co.