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ESPNcricinfo previews the game between Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya13-Apr-2011

Match facts

Thursday, April 14
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Deccan Chargers’ middle order needs to step up•AFP

Big picture

A revamped Deccan Chargers have had a tough time in this early phase of the tournament with two defeats in two games. They were beaten comfortably by Rajasthan Royals and fell short by nine runs chasing 163 against Kolkata Knight Riders. On each occasion their batting has let them down – while batting first in their opening game, they managed a modest 137 while pressure got to them in a tight chase against Kolkata. Their opponents, Royal Challengers Bangalore, began the competition on a promising note but are reeling from a humbling defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians.One team is desperate to clinch first points and ensure its campaign takes a turn for the better, the other is eager to prevent a slide after an encouraging beginning. Deccan need their foreign players, their captain Kumar Sangakkara, JP Duminy and big buy Daniel Christian to step up in the middle order, which has underachieved in each of their two games. The trio have got starts but the team has paid a price for their failure to push on.For Bangalore, AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan have kicked off well but the rest, particularly Virat Kohli, will aim for more runs. They lost Dirk Nannes early in the previous game and Mumbai Indians had no trouble chasing down 140; the rest of the bowling, including Zaheer Khan struggled, but against Deccan’s struggling batting line-up they have a chance to make amends.

Team talk

The end of the Australia-Bangladesh series means Cameron White will return to the Deccan Chargers squad but it is unlikely he will be part of the XI tomorrow. Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha bowled well in the previous game, but it’ll be interesting to see if they leave one out to accommodate someone like Harmeet Singh, who has a wonderfully deceptive slower ball, to bring some variation into their bowling.In the likely absence of Nannes, Bangalore might be prompted to rope in Nuwan Pradeep, the exciting fast-bowling prospect from Sri Lanka. Their lower order hasn’t had a chance to bat, with Cheteshwar Pujara waiting for his turn at No. 7. Could he receive a promotion ahead of Asad Pathan?Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.

In the spotlight

Shikhar Dhawan is an attractive strokemaker and Deccan bank on him to control proceedings from one end. But too often he can be flashy or concede his wicket playing a rash shot. He got a start in Deccan’s opening game, making 24 off 15, before throwing it away by holing out in the deep. He had an impressive opening IPL for Delhi in 2008, providing solidity at the top and Deccan would expect no less from him this time.Virat Kohli has scores of 24 and 12 in his two games thus far. He looked at ease in Bangalore’s opening game against Kochi Tuskers Kerala, striking some delightful fours before being trapped in front. Against Mumbai, he was kept quiet and eventually nicked one to the keeper. Along with AB, he forms the backbone of Bangalore’s batting line-up; one has stepped up, Kohli yet has to.

Prime numbers

• Pragyan Ojha is one of only two bowlers – the other being RP Singh – to pick up 50 wickets in the IPL. He’s played 46 games, averaging 22.62 though has been expensive, conceding 7.19 an over.
• Kumar Sangakkara effected 11 dismissals as wicketkeeper in the IPL last year, in 13 matches, third after Adam Gilchrist and Dinesh Karthik.
  

  The chatter

  “We need to bat smarter, make less mistakes.”

  “I think this competition is about momentum. In such a short period of time between games, if you can get on that (winning momentum), it’s going to make things a lot easier.”

West Indies’ coach is pleased with the fast bowler’s consistency during the ODI series against Ireland

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2020West Indies won the first two matches of their ODI series against Ireland in contrasting fashion, cruising to victory with 100 balls to spare in the first game, and sneaking home in a last-gasp, last-wicket, penultimate-ball finish in the second. Across those two wildly different performances, one thing remained a constant, literally: in both games, Alzarri Joseph finished with figures of 4 for 32.Joseph’s emergence as a middle-overs enforcer has been a pleasing development for West Indies in recent months. Since his return from a shoulder dislocation suffered during last year’s IPL, Joseph has taken the new ball only once in eight ODIs, with West Indies instead using his pace and height to unsettle teams and take wickets in the 11th-to-40th-over period.In those eight ODIs, Joseph has taken 14 wickets at an average of 25.21, an improvement from his average of 34.08 across his first 16 games. His economy rate, too, has dropped from 6.48 before his injury to 5.34 since his comeback.Ten of Joseph’s 14 wickets since his return have come in the middle overs, at an average of 25.50, and he’s maintained an economy rate of 4.81 in this phase of the innings.West Indies coach Phil Simmons is pleased with how Joseph has been going about his game.”Not just on the pitch, but the way he prepares and the way he talks about cricket and about bowling,” Simmons told CWI. “He seems to be maturing very quickly and it showed in the two games, in the way he bowled.”He picked out Joseph’s consistency as the most pleasing aspect of his bowling against Ireland. “I think he’s hit the areas he’s wanted to hit more often than the other bowlers in the team, and he’s come out with success.”Simmons was less impressed with West Indies’ top-order displays against Ireland. They lost five wickets while chasing 181 in the first ODI, and slipped to 148 for 7 in the second before the lower order came to their rescue in a chase of 238. Simmons felt the batsmen needed to go back to how they were approaching innings during the recent tour of India.”The batsmen need to go back to what we were doing in India and how we were putting scores together,” he said. “We were putting proper partnerships up at the top and creating a platform for the big hitters down at the bottom, and we need to make sure we do that in this coming game.”Simmons was, however, delighted with the lower order’s efforts in the second ODI, where Khary Pierre, Joseph and Sheldon Cottrell batted around Hayden Walsh, who made an unbeaten 46, to haul West Indies home.”I think it’s good to see them taking their time and batting and not coming in and looking to win the game with sixes, and they thought about how to get that 80 runs from the lower order,” Simmons said. “It was great for me to sit and watch and take heart in the fact that they understand what they need to do for this team too. It was great to see.”West Indies play their final ODI against Ireland on Sunday night in Grenada. They have retained the same squad of 14 that played the first two ODIs in Barbados.West Indies squad for third ODI: Kieron Pollard (capt), Sunil Ambris, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh

Chahar’s record six-for has put him at 42nd among bowlers, while Oman’s Zeeshan Maqsood is now the sixth-best allrounder in the world

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2019Twin half-centuries in the first two T20Is in Australia helped Babar Azam consolidate his position at the top of the men’s T20I rankings for batsmen. There was major movement just below him with Dawid Malan moving up all the way to No. 3 and Aaron Finch jumping from No. 4 to No. 2 in the latest update.Among bowlers, Deepak Chahar was the toast of town after recording the best figures in men’s T20Is – 6 for 7 – in the third T20I against Bangladesh, and while that helped him move up 88 spots to No. 42, it remains a list dominated by spinners: Rashid Khan is still at the top and only two quicks, Andile Phehlukwayo at six and Chris Jordan at ten, are in the top ten.Malan has made a brilliant start to his T20I career, scoring 458 runs at a strike rate of 156.31 in his nine games to date, with the 51-ball 103* in the fourth T20I against New Zealand his best so far. But Malan, and Finch – 37*, 17 and 52* against Pakistan – remain well behind Azam, who has 876 points to the Australian’s 807 and the Englishman’s 782. Below them in the top ten are Colin Munro, Glenn Maxwell, Hazratullah Zazai, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Martin Guptill and Eoin Morgan.Chahar’s upward movement, or the performance of the other bowlers in that series, haven’t impacted the top of that list, with Mitchell Santner, Imad Wasim, Adam Zampa and Shadab Khan below Rashid and ahead of Phehlukwayo, and Adil Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Ashton Agar also in the top ten. Santner, who picked up 11 wickets in New Zealand’s series of five matches against England, has reached the second place for the first time since climbing to the top in January 2018.The update includes the recent men’s T20 World Cup qualifiers, and his 12 wickets in the competition has lifted Scotland left-arm spinner Mark Watt 13 spots to No. 15. Among batsmen, Papua New Guinea’s Tony Ura has moved up to No. 37, one spot above Jonny Bairstow and Mohammad Naim, the Bangladesh batsman who made a name for himself after hitting a quick 81 in the last game against India. Also within the top 50 were Scotland’s Calum MacLeod (No. 44), UAE’s Muhammad Usman (No. 45) and Oman’s Jatinder Singh (No. 46).With Glenn Maxwell having taken an indefinite break from the game, Mohammad Nabi has moved to the top of the allrounders’ rankings, while in a big development, Oman’s Zeeshan Maqsood has jumped to No. 6.In the team rankings, Pakistan’s 2-0 series loss in Australia hasn’t cost them the No. 1 spot, but the difference between the two sides has been trimmed to just one point.

The game against Pakistan will give Ricky Ponting an indication of where his men sit

Brydon Coverdale in Colombo18-Mar-2011A delayed flight, a midnight arrival at their hotel in Colombo and one afternoon training session on Friday might seem like a rushed preparation for Australia’s match against Pakistan on Saturday. In fact, their build-up has been anything but hurried. Ricky Ponting’s men have spent more than a month travelling around India and Sri Lanka, but in between rounds of golf and elephant rides, they’ve hardly got out of second gear on the field.So far, they haven’t needed to, and they enter Saturday’s game unbeaten and with first place in Group A there for the taking. Wins over Zimbabwe and a lacklustre New Zealand were followed a fortnight later by victories against Kenya and Canada. At times their opponents have surprised them with fireworks but overall it has been a slow burn, dampened by the wash-out against Sri Lanka, which was poised to be their first major challenge.Meanwhile, Pakistan have spent a month in Sri Lanka, stumbling once when Ross Taylor took a liking to the short boundaries in Pallekele, but otherwise steering themselves through to the quarter-finals with relative comfort, including a win over the home team. All that this match will determine is who Pakistan and Australia face in their first knockout game, and whether they play it in Colombo, Dhaka or Ahmedabad. But it will also give Ponting an indication of where his men sit.”We really do start to feel that the tournament is kicking off now,” Ponting said. “We’ve had our games along the way and the other big game we had in our pool matches was the game against Sri Lanka, which was washed out, unfortunately. We’ve been really excited about playing this game against Pakistan for quite a while.”During those longer breaks, we’ve trained exceptionally hard and trained very, very well. We just haven’t had the continuity we would have liked with our games. But we got a couple of good results in Bangalore last week. At this stage we’re the only undefeated team in the tournament, which is nice for us, but I think we’ll get a better feel tomorrow at the end of the game for just where we’re at and how well we’re placed in this World Cup.”The Australians will fancy their attack against Pakistan, who have been bowled out for 184 by Canada and 192 by New Zealand in their past three games. But the big challenge will be overcoming a Pakistan bowling group led by Umar Gul, with his swinging yorkers, and the captain Shahid Afridi, who is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament.The last time the teams met in an ODI, Afridi stuck the ball in his mouth. This time, he’ll be looking for bite off the pitch and at the Premadasa, where even Steven Smith was turning the ball sharply before the rain came against Sri Lanka, Afridi could be a handful.”He has been the standout bowler, wickets-wise, in the tournament so far,” Ponting said. “He tends to control the middle of their bowling innings particularly well. He doesn’t go for a lot of runs, either, which is probably the main reason he’s taken the amount of wickets that he has. He builds up pressure, and if he builds up pressure from his end you can guarantee that the guy at the other end is more likely to strike and take wickets as well. That was one of the big things we spoke about this morning, making sure we play him well.”They’ve got a number of match-winning players in their team. If you look through their better-performed player through the tournament so far, you’d look at Afridi and Gul as the two guys who have been their standout players. We know we’re going to have to play those guys well tomorrow if we want to win the game. They’re a dangerous side. They proved that last time they played Sri Lanka here at this venue, how good a side they can be.”Pakistan were also the last team to beat Australia in a World Cup match, at Headingley in 1999, and Ponting’s men have now extended their streak to 34 games without a loss. Making it 35 will be their toughest challenge so far in this tournament, but after a month in second gear, they’ll be pleased to finally put the foot down.

Andrew Fernando03-Feb-2011Waqar Younis hinted that Shahid Afridi would be named Pakistan’s captain for the World Cup following their 41 run victory over New Zealand at Seddon Park. Pakistan are the only team who have not named their captain for the tournament that starts in 17 days, and Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s Test captain, were believed to be the frontrunners for the position.When asked whether he believed Afridi would retain the captaincy following a successful one day series in New Zealand, Waqar responded: “It’s a difficult question but I think so – let’s just put it that way.”Waqar had been issued a show cause notice by the PCB asking him to explain his remarks after he had claimed that it “would have been better” if the selectors had named a captain along with the final squad and that not doing so “would only lead to issues.”Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan also weighed in on the issue, backing Afridi as captain after he led the side to their first one-day series victory since 2008, claiming that Afridi “deserves to get the World Cup captaincy as a reward.” The victory in Hamilton saw Pakistan take a decisive 3-1 lead in the series with one match yet to played at Eden Park on Saturday.Both Afridi and Misbah have put in strong claims to the captaincy through a string of impressive performances in the series. Afridi has performed solidly with the ball, bowling tidy middle over spells and making crucial breakthroughs to keep New Zealand in check, while his swashbuckling 65 from 25 deliveries in Christchurch put the game out of reach of the opposition. Misbah meanwhile has notched up 203 runs in four innings at an average of 67.66 and has provided stability to the middle order. His perfectly paced 93 in Napier guided Pakistan to victory in a close run-chase and earned him the man-of-the-match award.Waqar praised his side for their allround performance in the victory in Hamilton as the batsmen put up a competitive total and the bowlers made regular breakthroughs to keep New Zealand under pressure during their chase. “It was a very professional approach by the Pakistanis in the entire game, not only just the batting and bowling. In the field we were pretty sharp, we held our catches, we broke the partnerships, so spot on in all departments.”The series against New Zealand is the eighth bi-lateral series and twelfth one-day trophy overall since their last series win and Waqar claimed it meant a lot to the team to finally get a win on the board. It was also Pakistan’s first one day series win in New Zealand since 1994. “It’s been a while. We’ve come very close to winning series and the Asia cup recently. We played good cricket but unfortunately we didn’t win anything and that’s why the boys were excited and they enjoyed it. We haven’t won anything for a long while in New Zealand in the one-dayers, so it’s definitely pleasing for everyone.”Nineteen year old opener Ahmed Shehzad played a scintillating innings at the top for the visitors, scoring 115 from 109 balls to set up the Pakistan innings, scoring his maiden one day hundred in the process. The innings was particularly impressive for its variety of strokeplay, as Shehzad unleashed a dazzling array of shots to entertain the Hamilton crowd. Twice Shehzad scooped James Franklin over the shoulder for four with fine leg in the circle and he also made room to crash a full Scott Styris delivery over the covers. His knock also included three majestic straight sixes off Hamish Bennett.”That’s where we’ve been struggling; our top order hasn’t been clicking,” Waqar said. “Ahmed Shehzad played an outstanding knock. He took his time and he made full use of a beautiful pitch to bat on. And then the middle order and late middle order chipped in and put up partnerships.”Waqar Younis claimed Pakistan would look to wrap up the series 4-1 on Saturday to further boost the side’s confidence ahead of the World Cup.”It’s important to keep the momentum and finish with a win so when it comes to the World Cup we are all nice and ready and pumped up.”

Current interim coach Floyd Reifer also shortlisted after six candidates were interviewed by a CWI panel

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2019Desmond Haynes and Phil Simmons are in the race to be the next full-time head coach of the West Indies men’s team, along with interim coach Floyd Reifer, Cricket West Indies revealed on Wednesday. The three men were shortlisted after six candidates took part in interviews conducted by a CWI panel; there will now be a round of final interviews, to be completed by October 11.”Critical areas discussed [with the candidates] were applications of cricket specific experience, technical knowledge, performance planning process, performance measurement, performance-driven culture and also CWI’s core values of passion, accountability, respect, integrity and team excellence,” a statement on the CWI website said.The interview panel was led by CWI vice-president Kishore Shallow, with director of cricket Jimmy Adams, human resources manager Oneka Martin-Bird, independent director Debra Coryat-Patton and UK-based coaching educator Gordon Lord the other members.”I am pleased to see such high-quality West Indian talent and experience in the shortlisted candidates for the Head Coach position,” Ricky Skerritt, the CWI president, said. “I believe that any one of the three finalists would be an excellent choice as head coach, and I wish them every success at the final stage of interviews.”West Indies have been without a full-time coach since the CWI management led by Ricky Skerritt ended Richard Pybus’ stint in the post in April this year – just weeks before the World Cup – following a review of the team’s coaching and selection policies. Reifer, who led West Indies briefly in 2009 during a period of crisis, was handed the reins, but in an interim capacity, and has been at the helm since.Under Reifer, West Indies started with two wins against Ireland and three losses to Bangladesh (including in the final) of the triangular ODI series in Dublin before putting in an underwhelming performance at the World Cup. After that, they hosted India in an all-format series and went down 3-0, 2-0 (with one games washed out) and 2-0 in the T20Is, ODIs and Tests respectively.Haynes, the legendary opening batsman who scored 7487 runs in 116 Tests and 8648 runs in 238 ODIs during an international career that ran from 1978 to 1994, has worked as a batting consultant with the team before. And Simmons, also a former opening batsman, was West Indies’ head coach before being sacked in September 2016 after a rocky stint. He worked with the Afghanistan team after that before being removed from the position after the 2019 World Cup.Apart from the appointment of the men’s head coach, CWI also confirmed the start of the recruitment process for selectors of the men’s, women’s, boys’ and girls’ teams. The process is scheduled for completion by October 18.

Former Everton striker Marcus Bent has exclusively told Football FanCast that he’s unsure whether the Toffees should offer Josh King a new contract.

The Canadian international made the switch to Merseyside on a short-term deal until the end of the season, but has struggled for the Blues, featuring for just 117 minutes and failing to score in eight Premier League appearances, and is yet to start a single league match.

Coupling in King’s goal-shy spell at Bournemouth earlier this season, the former Manchester United frontman has failed to score in the league, with his only three competitive goals coming in the FA Cup.

King has previously shown his ability to score goals in the topflight, but Bent, who netted seven across two campaigns at Goodison Park, said it’s down to Ancelotti.

He told Football FanCast:

“The team’s not been consistent, so it’s hard for him to be consistent, but when he is shining he’s played really well.

“To give him a new contract on the basis of what he’s been doing this season, the board and Carlo have got to go away and think about who they’re going to bring in, and if they can replace him with someone. That’s a hard one to answer because he’s a big part of the squad.”

King will be hoping to get more minutes when the Toffees face Brighton and Hove Albion on Monday night.

Manchester United midfielder Fred has admitted that he would rather Leeds United be without Raphinha for this weekend’s Premier League clash.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side host the Red Devils on Sunday afternoon as the latest chapter in the clubs’ long rivalry is written. Leeds are full of confidence after beating Manchester City and drawing with Liverpool, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s second-placed team now in their sights.

Raphinha is out of the game, however, having failed to recover from an injury picked in the victory away to Pep Guardiola’s Man City earlier in the month.

[freshpress-quiz id=“351040″]

Fred doesn’t want to face Raphinha

Speaking to Manchester United’s official website, Fred admitted that he would rather not face his fellow Brazilian at Elland Road, simply because of the talent the 24-year-old possesses. The midfielder said:

“Bruno’s been talking about Raphinha ever since he arrived. They played together at Sporting.
“He’s a great player having an amazing season and a lot of clubs have their eye on him. I met him recently, great guy, excellent player but…I hope he won’t be lining up against us!
“I wish him a quick recovery and a lot of success in his career. He’s a stand-out star player for Leeds so, of course, it’s better for us if he’s not on the pitch.
“If he does play, we’ll look to mark him carefully and work on our game-plan as best as possible. We’ll try to nullify his threat to come out on top in this game.”

Transfer Tavern take

There is no denying that Raphinha’s absence comes as a huge blow for Leeds, considering that the Brazilian has been one of their standout players this season. Not only has he delivered end product, chipping in with six goals and six assists in the league, but he creates space for teammates, due to the opposition focusing so much on stopping him.

Leeds still earned a draw against Liverpool without Raphinha, however, showing that they can get by without him, with Helder Costa potentially keeping his place for the visit of the Red Devils on Sunday.

In other news, one pundit has been talking up Leeds’ potential move for an established international player. Read more here.

Leicester City return to Premier League action on Thursday as they host relegation-threatened West Bromwich Albion at the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes come into the game on a high having reached the FA Cup final against Southampton last time out at Wembley.

Now, as Brendan Rodgers sets his sights on a UEFA Champions League place once again, how many changes could he make to the team that defeated the Saints?

We are expecting just two alterations from the Northern Irishman for the clash against the Baggies.

Kasper Schmeichel will, of course, continue in goal having not missed a Premier League match since the conclusion of the 2018/19 season.

The defence should also remain unchanged with Jonny Evans, Wesley Fofana and Caglar Soyuncu assembling a formidable back three. The latter came through his return at Wembley unscathed so will have no problem in playing once again.

However, there should be one slight chance further forward. Wing-back Ricardo Pereira could only play an hour of the FA Cup semi-final after “taking a blow” to his calf according to Rodgers. With the Portuguese continuing his comeback from a long-term injury, he might not be risked against West Bromwich Albion, giving Marc Albrighton the opportunity to start.

This would see Timothy Castagne moved over to the left-hand side.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-leicester-city-news%2c-transfer-rumours-and-more-soumare-soyuncu-edouard-jakupovic-lookman” title=”Latest Leicester City news, transfer rumours and more…”]

Rodgers’ midfield should have somewhat of a familiar look to it. Youri Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi are going to continue their partnership.

However, Ayoze Perez might well drop out for James Maddison with the latter having made a cameo appearance at Wembley on Sunday. He already has ten goals and 11 assists this season so will be hoping to add to that record against the Baggies.

Elsewhere, the Leicester frontline should stay the same. Kelechi Iheanacho continued his hot form with the winning goal against Southampton and is sure to start.

Jamie Vardy, despite being a prime candidate for a place on the bench, is also likely to be included from the off by Rodgers having hit six goals in nine Premier League career appearances against West Brom.

AND in more news, take a look at which striker Leicester must sign in the summer…

Former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan believes Raphinha will be fit to face Liverpool on Monday night, as the midfielder has had plenty of time to train at Thorp Arch this week.

The Whites face one of their most intriguing games of the season on Monday night, as the Premier League champions head to Elland Road.

The 2020/21 campaign hasn’t panned out the way many expected for the Reds, but they remain a top class side who have won their last three league matches.

Leeds will need to be somewhere close to their best in order to pick up a positive result, meaning key players being available is vital.

[freshpress-quiz id=“351040″]

Raphinha tipped to start against Liverpool

Raphinha left the pitch injured in stoppage time in the stunning 2-1 win away to Manchester City, making him a doubt for the game, but Whelan told Football Insider that he believes the Brazilian will start, claiming that he will have been light training all week at Thorp Arch:

“I am expecting him to shake it off. I mean, these are the games that big players love to play in. He has had a good week of recovery time and treatment. He has probably done light training, I would imagine, as well.

“I cannot, for the life of me, think of a game that he would rather play in. A Monday night game against Liverpool, the champions of the Premier League.

“It’s a game where he wants to go out there and prove himself again.”

Transfer Tavern take

Raphinha has arguably been Leeds’ Player of the Year, scoring six goals and registering the same number of assists in the league, as well as catching the eye with his dribbling skills and unpredictable nature.

The 24-year-old being passed fit would be a major positive for Bielsa, allowing him to cause Andy Robertson problems, with the Scot not at his best this season.

The threat that Raphinha poses could also make the left-back hesitant to go forward, especially with no Virgil van Dijk around to cover him, therefore costing Liverpool an attacking threat as well.

In other news, a former Premier League defender has explained why he thinks one Leeds player is ‘lucky’. Read more here.