India’s sorry tale in England and Ireland — Where have the orthodox p…

Just around a few months ago, India were crowned the T20 World Champions. From that defining moment, the Indian T20I side have slipped to five straight losses, with one game being abandoned. Barring a few players who have been either rested or injured, the nucleus of the side has more or less remained the same. Yet, the Indian batting unit has looked bereft of confidence and skill. catcrossgame.com

So, what could be bottlenecks for the defending World Champions? It could be about lack of adaptability while playing in slightly different conditions. On the surface, it isn’t as if the decks in England have offered appreciable movement off the seam. All that we have seen is a hint of extra bounce. The truth be said the conditions in Bristol, the venue for the fourth T20I, was the best of all the pitches that we have witnessed on the UK tour so far. Unfortunately, from an Indian perspective, the top order once more collapsed while facing hard-length offerings and short deliveries from Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue.

The initial school of thought could be that the Indian batters needed to play out the England pace duo of Tongue and Archer and subsequently, take more risks while facing the spinners. However, the shortest format of the game demands a batting unit to have the required arsenal to take advantage of the scoring opportunities. In that respect, the Indian batters don’t seem to have enough shots in the locker room to counter the England Powerplay bowlers in their own den.

Consider the following dismissals in the fourth game in Bristol: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi cleared the front leg and tried to slog Jofra Archer but couldn’t only spoon a catch via the top edge. Ishan Kishan attempted a half pull or half slog and was dismissed. Tilak Varma danced down the track to a slower short one in order to slash it via point but to no avail. Washington Sundar attempted the pull stroke but found the fielder at fine leg to perfection. In the 13th over, Shivam Dube cleared the front leg to thwack Sam Curran but could only connect with thin air. The last bit of information isn’t related to a dismissal, but when a batter isn’t able to land a shot against a 125 kph short ball, then it is a problem that requires attention.

Peel the outside coating of the above-mentioned scalps further and zoom in on Vaibhav’s wicket. When the left-hand batter aimed to slog across the line, the hands were placed down and then it went higher. For a moment, just scroll through your old coaching manual, and it would observe, ‘get your hands nice and high’ while attempting a pull stroke against the short ball.

Undoubtedly, Vaibhav has the raw attributes to tonk plenty of sixes. But going forward, he probably has to work on upgrading certain aspects of his game. The way Vaibhav bats is merely a microcosm of how some of his senior teammates have tackled hard length from the opposition ranks. No wonder, the Indian batters had a strike rate of less than 120 in Ireland. And in the present series in England, it is hovering around just 100. In a nutshell, the Indian batters don’t seem to possess the pull and cut to counter the tactics of Archer and Tongue.

One of the hallmarks of cricket is how a set of players successfully acclimatise to different conditions. Although in modern-day T20s most of the conditions are homogenous in nature, there are small differences in how cricket is played across frontiers. It is safe to say that the Indian batters’ shortcomings have come to the fore in England. The worrying part from India’s point of view is that the next T20 World Cup is in the Southern Hemisphere and one can expect relatively more bounce in comparison to England.

The post India’s sorry tale in England and Ireland — Where have the orthodox pulls and cuts disappeared? appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.

The India U-19 team succumbed to a one-wicket loss against Sri Lanka U-19 in the third and final Youth ODI here, losing the series 1-2 as a result.

After being sent in to bat, VK Vineeth (131) powered India to 290-8 in 50 overs. However, SL’s Chamika Heenatigala (84 not out) steered his side home in a nervy chase.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Former England captain Ben Stokes took a light-hearted jibe at reports that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had summoned the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) over the release of video footage of his retirement speech.

The ECB released a video showing Stokes informing his team-mates of his decision to retire inside the dressing room.

According to a report in The Telegraph, the ICC has reportedly accused the ECB of breaching its anti-corruption rules.

Reacting to the report on social media, Stokes wrote: “Sack him …”

The viral video was shared on social media before the tea break even though play in the Test match was still underway.

Several reports claim the ICC has sent a letter to the ECB, raising concerns that publishing the dressing-room footage may have violated the Players’ and Match Officials’ Areas (PMOA) minimum standards, which are part of the governing body’s anti-corruption regulations.

Under Article 2.2.11, the use of fixed or temporary cameras, along with any other recording devices, inside team dressing rooms for the purpose of capturing or broadcasting video or audio is prohibited.

Stokes’ response suggested he was joking about the situation, seemingly implying that, having retired from international cricket, he was beyond the reach of any disciplinary action from the sport’s governing authorities.

The post Ben Stokes Mocks Report of ICC Move Against ECB appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.