It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world being in the same team as Brendon McCullum

Iain O'Brien20-Feb-2016This was supposed to be about Brendon McCullum: the Brendon McCullum I know.Well, you know what, I’ve written and talked so much about McCullum that this is going to be about me. I’ve had enough of Brendon, BMac, Mac, Macca, Baz, or whatever else you or I call him.He can take his chalk-like back, his over-tightened hamstrings, his gnarled, bent and busted fingers, his sleeve tattoos, his gymnastic physique, his good looks, his well-articulated pre- and post-match views, and move over. This is about me.Baz, you can take those quiet words of advice out in the middle during the battle, take the quiet hotel-bar conversations (where I might have just listened to you lot all talking, soaking it all in), and you can take all the net sessions where I feed your ego and let you pummel me to all parts. I’m sick of it. It’s my time.Remember Adelaide in 2008, Brendon? I said I’d take the spinner, I’ll shoulder the burden, and you can take the quicks. Can you remember that?”Baz, I’ll deal with [Nathan] Hauritz. It’s okay. I’ll hide you from him. You take [Brett] Lee and [Mitchell] Johnson from the other end.””No, seriously, mate, it’s okay, Hauritz is flying, he’s just got Dan [Vettori] and Tim [Southee] out, I’ll blunt him. You just hang about at the other end with me.”Can you remember this, Baz?

You oozed all the characteristics I wanted, did all the things I wanted to be able to be and do, and you appeared to not even have to try

We put on 50 for the ninth wicket. It was great that you hung about with me.Can you remember when Lee put me on my backside with a bouncer? And he then proceeded to wander down and tell me he was going to – well, you know what he said.I didn’t see you on your backside. I didn’t see your batting whites, pads and gloves covered in red dust. You sat at the other end and showboated, run a ball, 43 of the 50-run partnership (the other 7 were extras). You reached another milestone, another fifty for you. Did I complain that I got a 54-minute duck (and might I add, I nicked it and was give out lbw)? Nope. It was all about your runs in our partnership.I’m sick of it. All about bloody you.You were even there for five of my six debuts. My first-class and List A debuts, you were in the opposition. My Test, ODI and T20I debuts, you were there alongside. You’re there all the time. This is about me, not you.The only debut you weren’t there for was my first domestic T20 outing. The first time we came across each other in T20s, you didn’t last too long, did ya, Brendon? Just three balls from me and a top edge, caught, thanks.A footie genius, no doubt•Getty ImagesI remember breaking one of your fingers. A cold day at the Basin. A Test match. We were hosting the Bangladeshis. You were keeping and the ball was wobbling all over the place – that horrible wobble that happens after the ball is past the stumps. I was bowling quick, feeling great. I let one go, pitched a good length, bounced tall, past the edge, and wobbled through to you. Smashed into the end of one of your fingers and did some damage. You weren’t even man enough to tell me – you just kept quiet and soldiered on. Didn’t even make a fuss. Just gritted your teeth and got on with it. I didn’t get any credit for it. All about you.I watched you and how you went about your business. You oozed all the characteristics I wanted, did all the things I wanted to be able to be and do, and you appeared to not even have to try. If you wanted to learn a new shot, you’d go away, you’d come back and you’d have it. No doubt you probably worked your bollocks off behind closed doors, worked tirelessly until you had it sorted. That was fine for you. Pfft, all about you.I was just trying to be good enough to keep my place. I was fretting over my position in the team. Can you remember sitting in the hotel bar in Nottingham, just after we had been beaten at Old Trafford and had driven across? I’d gone okay, busted my back bowling into that horrible wind, spent all my energy, and in a low moment was worried about maybe not playing the next Test, so I asked for your opinion. What kind of assurance, what kind of a message from a senior player was “Take it out of their hands. Make sure they can’t drop you”?I mean that’s really great advice, but what about me? I wanted you to tell me, “Nah, you did really good in that last Test, your spot is safe.” It was all about you and you being all knowable and smart, being all prophetic. I just wanted some ego-boosting. Nope, all about you and the wisdom you just had to share.

You know those double-hundreds, and that triple, Baz? Where was that when I was still playing? You’ve left me feeling horribly jealous of the guys who got to share those moments, those celebrations, with you

Sometimes as a radio commentator you have to do a whole T20 by yourself. No other voice. There was a case like this last summer, at Edgbaston, Birmingham. All about me, for once. The whole BBC broadcast and just my voice. A chance to really own a broadcast, make it mine, showcase my talents. And guess what? Brendon Bloody McCullum makes it all about himself, again. He goes and equals his own previous best T20 score of 158.One hundred and fifty bloody eight. From just 64 balls. The highest score in the competition ever, and second best ever in all T20 history. Eleven bloody sixes and 13 damned fours. How is one person supposed to find enough words, have a vast enough lexicon, to describe that? Yeah, thanks for that Brendon. All about you. Again.And one more, while I’m here. You went and allowed the New Zealand team to just play. You went and gave them the freedom to play without fear. The way you had made a name for yourself. You didn’t mould them into a squad of mini Bazes, you made them into better versions of themselves. How unselfish can you be? You went and shared all your experience, your ideas, and your feelings, and turned the team into almost world champions.Oh, wait. Hold on. Damn, you’ve done it again. I’ve gone and made this all about you.And you know what, it should be.What a player. What a guy. What a privilege it was to have shared memories with you and for you to have had an influence on my career.One thing I am disappointed about, though – you know those double-hundreds, and that triple, Baz? Where was that when I was still playing? You’ve left me feeling horribly jealous of the guys who got to share those moments, those celebrations, with you. I would have happily got a bottle of Sauv at the bar and had a glass and a half with you.You did leave me with one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on a cricket park, though. Remember Daren Powell bowling to you – well, not quite bowling to you – in Napier? Oh, how we laughed…

Mohammad Nabi, who plays for the Quetta Gladiators in the PSL, wants to take the lessons from his interactions with stalwarts like Viv Richards and Kevin Pietersen to youngsters in Afghanistan

Nagraj Gollapudi in Dubai05-Feb-2016It was December 22. The second day of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) draft was taking place in Lahore. Afghanistan were going to start their limited-overs series against Zimbabwe in three days in Sharjah. Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi was sitting with the rest of his team-mates in his room in Dubai, closely following the draft. Nabi was one of three Afghanistan players listed in the Silver category at the draft (fast bowler Shapoor Zardan and batsman Samiullah Shenwari were the other two).”I was watching it on TV. It was the last round of the silver category. Considering I was not picked in the first three rounds I was a little upset,” Nabi says, sitting at the team hotel on Friday, recollecting the events. “I thought I would not be picked in the last round. I had, in fact, spoken to Peshawar Zalmi’s owner Javed Afridi. He had promised me he would pick me. But then Quetta Gladiators picked me and I was damn happy,” Nabi says with a smile. [pride] is a word Nabi uses a lot during our half-hour conversation. “I am proud both for myself and for Afghanistan that I am playing in the PSL. It is a big thing,” the 31-year-old, says. This will be his second Twenty20 franchise-based tournament, having played a couple of seasons in the Bangladesh Premier League, where he has represented Sylhet Royals and the Rangpur Riders.Nabi, though, admits the PSL is special: apart from everything else he gets to play alongside his one-time idol Kevin Pietersen. “He is my favourite player. Yeh mere liye fakhr ki baat hain [This is a matter of pride for me]. I am lucky because he was my hero once and now I am playing with him in the same team,” Nabi says.Incidentally Nabi’s fascination for Pietersen started when he bowled against the former England batsman in the nets while playing for the MCC Young Cricketers in the summers of 2006 and 2007. “I bowled a lot at him, but it was very difficult to get him out. He was such a confident player,” Nabi says.Neither has Nabi reminded Pietersen nor does the latter recollect the young Afghan player who bowled at him at nets. “I don’t blame him because even I would have forgotten, especially considering we are so busy with our training and nets and it is easy to forget. But he remains my favourite.”Nabi still recollects fondly the way Pietersen dealt with Australia legspinner Shane Warne in the 2005 Ashes, his shot selection, his confidence in sweeping at will and just playing gung-ho cricket throughout the series. Pietersen continues to influence Nabi’s thinking.On Thursday, in the PSL opener against Islamabad United, Pietersen suggested to Nabi, who is an offspinner, a few field changes, especially against Misbah-ul-Haq. “I was bowling against Misbah with a short midwicket. Misbah was playing the reverse [sweep] a lot. So [Pietersen] suggested that why not vacate the midwicket area and add an extra point fielder. I agreed and we had a short thirdman and a point. And that helped,” Nabi says.Nabi also earned a pat on the back from his hero for taking three catches in the Islamabad innings. “He told me ‘You have safe hands, mate,'” Nabi says happily.Then there is the Gladiators mentor Sir Viv Richards, with whom Nabi is still getting acquainted. “He was surprised that an Afghanistan cricketer was in PSL,” Nabi says, widening his eyes. Richards was curious to know more about Afghanistan cricket then. “I told him we had won our last ODI series and T20 series against Zimbabwe. He was shocked. I told him Afghanistan cricket has improved a lot and we are in the top-10 in ODI cricket. [He was very happy]. He said more talent should emerge from Afghanistan.” Such interactions with great players, Nabi stresses, will not just help him, but also the careers of young Afghanistan players.An established hero himself, when he is back home in Kabul, Nabi is thronged by fans – old and young – asking him to share his insights, experiences and delights of playing the game. “So whatever little I can learn from all the big players in PSL I can then take it to Afghanistan. It is a big thing because if they open up and share from their heart, then I can keep that with me for life. I can then tell our players in Afghanistan this is what is international cricket.”My fans love me. When I go to our academy in Kabul the junior players respect me. If the two or three things Pietersen said, two or three things Viv Richards told me, if I can take those to the youngsters and share them, it would only help Afghanistan cricket.”There is one more thing Nabi is curious to understand which he wants to ask the pair of Pietersen and Richards: how to deal with pressure. “I want to know from these big players how to handle pressure. As I go into the field there is pressure at least the first few balls. I want to learn, as I feel it is important. Top-level cricket is all about handling pressure and if I can manage that, it would reflect in my individual game and my leadership.”

Five key factors in Kings XI Punjab’s six-wicket win over Rising Pune Supergiants in Mohali

Sidharth Monga17-Apr-2016The tossDavid Miller and Glenn Maxwell were under fire coming into this match, and thus the whole Kings XI Punjab batting was under pressure. They had two problems. The pitches have been on the slower side, and fielding sides have kept their best bowlers for just after the Powerplay, a time when these two find themselves batting. In Kings XI’s two defeats, both fell in the same over trying to play attacking shots. The other problem is that at Kings XI, they are not part of the kind of formidable batting line-ups they play in at international level, where they can afford to be carefree. Here they have to carry a line-up. Miller, though, said they couldn’t afford to get too bogged down.In these circumstances, the first thing Kings XI Punjab needed for a turnaround was to chase. To have a target in mind when batting. To take advantage of slowing teams down beforehand. Maxwell showed in the end that he relished not having to assess the conditions and work towards a total.Teams often use the cliché that they are not bothered about what the other team is up to, but it makes sense at times not to let them do what they are dying to do. In the nine matches before this, sides fielding first had won. The coin went up, MS Dhoni called right and for a moment Miller, who had flicked the coin, would have thought, “here we go again”. Then he heard Dhoni say his side wanted to bat. At the same venue in the World T20, Dhoni’s India had beaten Australia chasing, but perhaps the afternoon start, perhaps the dryness of the pitch, made Rising Pune Supergiants opt to bat.Seam for SandeepThe Powerplays in Mohali had produced 52 for 0, 59 for 1, 52 for 0 and 55 for 0 for sides batting first in the last four games: one in this IPL and three in the World T20. So while Kings XI might have made an error in introducing spin early – Axar Patel and Pardeep Sahu conceded 25 in their two overs – the Powerplay score of 49 for 1 wasn’t that bad an effort. That was down to the seam movement Sandeep Sharma extracted at his home ground. On a dry pitch and an abrasive outfield, that seam movement is available all too briefly, but in his first spell of 3-0-17-1 Sandeep made full use of it. Ajinkya Rahane was repeatedly cramped for room and, at 10 for 0, played an un-Rahane-like slog to get bowled. Kings XI could now work at pulling Supergiants back.Thisara Perera’s promotionKings XI might have been slightly fortunate in dismissing Kevin Pietersen – a half-volley flicked straight to midwicket to end a 55-run partnership with Faf du Plessis – but it appeared as though more good fortune awaited them when Thisara Perera, a surprise selection in the first place, came in ahead of Steven Smith and MS Dhoni. Playing his first match for his sixth IPL franchise, Perera came in with hardly any batting form. In his last nine innings, he had passed 20 only once, and has reached a stage where his runs are considered a bit of a bonus by Sri Lanka. The idea could have been to split the right-hand batsmen – Supergiants’ top six is comprised of right-hand batsmen – but Perera is no more than a pinch hitter. On a pitch that began to get difficult once the Powerplay gets done with, Supergiants might have been better served by a proper batsman looking to play a long innings. Perera’s 2.1-over stay yielded only 11 runs for the team and made a big contribution towards generating momentum for Kings XI.Du Plessis or not to du Plessis“Superb” was the often-repeated adjective in the commentary box when describing Faf du Plessis’ 53-ball 67, every time a sponsored package of replays of his shots was played. Du Plessis’ knock looked spectacular because he played it in searing heat and under physical duress. However, this was the slowest half-century batting first in this IPL, played at a strike rate of 126.41 and consuming 53 balls. The team went at 126.67, and at 129.56 while he was in the middle, which was practically the whole innings. When you get the best of the conditions – hard ball, fresh pitch, seven fielders in the circle – it is your responsibility to make the big contribution batting first. When Pietersen got out, du Plessis was 33 off 22, a strike rate of 166.67, but got terribly stuck on a slowing pitch. His physical struggle meant quite a few twos were cut down to one. Steven Smith tried his best to take charge – at one point du Plessis had faced only seven balls in a set of five overs – but Supergiants never got that lift towards the end.It can be a dilemma when a batsman is struggling physically and loses timing as the overs race by. He can start swinging for the hills – cricket is yet to become so innovative that struggling batsmen step on the wicket – but his ego keeps telling him he can overcome this patch. Du Plessis tried a mix of both – big hits, the old-fashioned grind – but in the end “superb” was too generous a description of his effort.Mohit at the endMohit Sharma was brought back in the 18th over. He had two left. All the eggs were in his basket now. Kings XI had already done a good job, restricting Supergiants to 131 for 3 in 17 overs, but there was a late kick brewing. The 17th over had gone for 15. Mohit, though, read the conditions perfectly. He knew the pitch and the outfield were dry. He said the idea was to not become predictable, and bowl his slower ones into the pitch. His wickets of Smith, du Plessis and Dhoni in those last two overs, which went for just 12 runs, were the final blow for Supergiants’ innings. The key was to be unpredictable, and not just bowl slower balls. He got Dhoni with an attempted yorker. One of Dhoni’s preferred players at Chennai Super Kings had done his new side in.

Plays of the day from the IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Lions, in Hyderabad

Karthik Krishnaswamy06-May-2016Play, miss, repeat
Thousands of insects buzzed around the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium when the match began, and at the end of it, while picking up the Player-of-the-Match award, Bhuvneshwar Kumar said he must have consumed three or four of them, inadvertently. But the insects were a symptom of the overcast weather in Hyderabad, and where there is heavy cloud, there is swing. And where there is swing, Bhuvneshwar is king.When India met West Indies at the World T20 two years ago, Bhuvneshwar beat Dwayne Smith with the first two balls of the match. Now he did even better: he began with outswing, inswing outswing, outswing, and Smith didn’t put bat to any of them. The second ball produced a loud lbw appeal, as Smith fell over while trying to flick, but the ball had swung too much to hit the stumps.The swoop
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s seamers were all over the Gujarat Lions batsmen, and Mustafizur Rahman’s arrival had only made things worse for them. He should have had a wicket with his first ball, but Shikhar Dhawan, backtracking from backward point, put down a skier to let off Brendon McCullum.There would be no such luck for Dinesh Karthik three balls later, when he looked to push Mustafizur through mid-on. He was playing against Mustafizur’s angle, and against his left-arm spinner-esque break off the pitch, which opened him up and caused the ball to shoot towards backward point. It was going well wide of Kane Williamson, and to his left, but he threw himself at the ball, his feet further above the ground than his hand when it made contact with white leather, and came up with ball in hand and a confused expression on his face.Williamson wasn’t sure he had caught the ball cleanly, but replays showed he had, with his palm and fingers getting under the ball to cup it just in time.Finch, in by less than an inch
It was the last ball of Lions innings, and Aaron Finch – batting on 49 – was on strike. Bhuvneshwar finished a fruitful day of bowling with a leg-stump yorker, and Finch squeezed it away into the leg side, not too far from Deepak Hooda at deep midwicket. He probably would have settled for a single at any other time in the innings, but this was the last ball. He sprinted hard for the first, turned and ran even harder for the second. He hurtled home at full stretch, just as Naman Ojha collected the throw and removed the bails.The third umpire looked at replays from every possible direction, and it seemed he could rule it either way. Was the tip of Finch’s bat on the line or – a millimeter or two – past it? The third umpire went with not out, Finch finished unbeaten on 51 and Sunrisers reached 126. It could have been one hell of a moment in a closer match than this one.Super sopper, super stopper
Sunrisers were 54 for 2 after nine overs of their chase, and needed 73 off 66 balls, on a difficult, often two-paced pitch. A strategic time-out had just ended. With Dwayne Bravo about to begin a potentially decisive spell, a bit of tension joined the bugs in the air around the stadium. Bravo walked to the top of his run-up, and just stood there. The countdown had ended, but the time-out wasn’t over just yet. A couple of Super Soppers, which had come out to clear a bit of dew from the outfield, had come to a grinding halt inside the boundary. The ground-staff appeared, harried looks on their faces, and after a couple of shoves got the hulking machines to rumble out of the playing area.

Faced with an England team who love to attack, Misbah-ul-Haq applied the handbrake to their ambitions with two sessions of dour attritional dot-ball cricket

Jarrod Kimber at Edgbaston06-Aug-2016Misbah is jogging. Well, it looks like jogging. He has bent legs, and his arms are pumping in the way of a jog, it is just that he isn’t really going anywhere. Jonny Bairstow’s cover drive has disappeared into the boundary triangle several seconds earlier. But Misbah’s effort to retrieve it is pretty slow. When he finally arrives at the ball, he slowly picks it up and then turns back holding it. Now he is not jogging; he is walking. He will walk all the way back to his position at mid off, there is no bound in his stride, there is no attempt at getting back into place quickly, he just walks until he is in place, and the next ball commences.Welcome to the Misbah grind.The last session on day three became party time for England. Alastair Cook was scoring at a Sehwag-ian rate, Alex Hales was as comfortable as he has been at any point in this series, Pakistan lost their lead and mojo. Mickey Arthur was not shy in being disappointed about his bowlers, and he was right. If they had a plan, they didn’t stick to it. Only Mohammad Amir bowled well, with Rahat Ali and Sohail Khan struggling to maintain any pressure.One more session like that and England would be setting a quick total that would give them enough runs and time to lead the series 2-1. But that isn’t how the cricket went today. Because Misbah.Pakistan’s bowlers weren’t just told to bowl in the channel outside off, they were told to move their entire lives there. And not just to an urban area with quick links back to the stumps, but to go way, way out into the sticks, as far from the stumps as possible. The pitch map of the seamers in the morning session was part of a concerted effort to do as Misbah asked. It worked. Both Hales and Cook were out reaching for the ball. Cook was reaching so much his bat was probably lost being that far from off stump.Many captains faced with a player such as James Vince, fighting for his place, fighting to not cover-drive to second slip, would have packed the cordon, left cover wide open and encouraged the drive. Misbah packed the offside boundary and kept two slips and no gully. He was backing Vince to play through the off side regardless of the field – and considering the line, it made sense. Misbah’s form of attack is a slow mental penetration of the batsman, to beat him, you have to be more patient than he is. If Misbah the batsman ever faced up to Misbah the captain, time would stop.Yasir Shah and Rahat combined for 28 consecutive dot balls. Rahat was the king of this tactic. He started with a few that were too straight, one was hit to fine leg, another offered a stolen single on the open leg side. When he got his line right, England stopped scoring off him. Completely. Seventeen straight dot balls to Joe Root resulted in an edge to slip, and another Mohammad Hafeez drop. It was a catch that could have changed the entire match. Instead, like much of what Hafeez has touched this tour, it ended in disappointment for Pakistan.Sohail allowed 14 runs from a six-over spell with the new ball, Amir bowled five overs for six runs at one stage, Yasir bowled around the wicket to defensive fields going for well under three an over for most of the day and Rahat bowled five straight maidens. They did what Misbah asked for, and England went from their happy-hour funzone of 120 runs in 35 overs last night to 142 runs in 55 overs before tea today.Misbah had his sweepers out. When there are only two, he feels naked. The catchers rarely exceeded two either, no matter how little time had elapsed since each wicket. The commentators and fans showed their frustrations as normal, and Misbah attacked through defence as usual. It was Misbah’s funkless grind, it wasn’t for impatient armchair captains, it was to improve Pakistan’s position in the game.His problem, however, was that England were prepared to wait, and wait, and then boom. Bairstow and Moeen Ali were the last two who waited, and then all that pressure, all that grind, quickly faded away. It was the lack of the fifth bowler, it was the fielders getting tired, it was Bairstow’s strokeplay, it was Yasir’s lack of control, it didn’t matter, it was a partnership of 132 from 165 balls.Misbah’s funkless grind was beat.Maybe, had the Root catch been taken, maybe, had Yasir been in better form, maybe, had the ball reversed, maybe. But a whole day of grind from Pakistan had made them slightly more likely to draw, and slightly less likely to lose, or win.There will be people who see it as right or wrong. This is how Pakistan always play under Misbah. They grind.

Plays of the day from the tri-series match between Australia and South Africa in St Kitts

Brydon Coverdale12-Jun-2016The worry
David Warner’s century was the difference in the match, but the Australians had a concern late in South Africa’s chase when Warner left the field with a finger injury. Fielding at backward point, Warner dived, attempting to snare a tough catch off JP Duminy’s bat, but the ball flew through his hands, hurting the top of his left index finger on the way. He left the field to have the finger iced and was expected to be assessed over the next day.The off-field drop
In January, Glenn Maxwell was voted Australia’s ODI Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal night in Melbourne. But a lean patch with the bat cost him his place for this game. Maxwell had fallen for a duck in the first match against West Indies and 3 against South Africa in Guyana, and his last five ODI innings read 0, 6, 0, 0, 3. He was replaced in this match by George Bailey and it was the first time since November 19, 2014, that Maxwell had been dropped from Australia’s ODI team. Since then Australia had played 32 games and Maxwell had played 31, missing just once due to injury.The on-field drop
Usually, AB de Villiers makes cricket look about as difficult as eating a sandwich. So it was rather a surprise to see him spill a simple chance when Usman Khawaja top-edged off Imran Tahir. South Africa’s captain positioned himself comfortably under the ball only to see it bounce off his hands to the turf, a life for Khawaja on 56. Fortunately for de Villiers, Khawaja made only three more runs before another top-edge was taken by Hashim Amla.The delay
Sometimes cricket does itself no favours. Only three overs had been bowled in the match when a sightscreen malfunction led to a quarter-hour delay, just another in the long line of sightscreen-related interruptions that are part of international cricket nowadays. Eventually play restarted and Warner showed his concentration had not waned by immediately clubbing a cut for four.

Stats highlights from a mammoth stand for Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy 2016-17

Bharath Seervi14-Oct-20162 The unbroken 594-run stand between Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne in this match is the second-biggest partnership in the history of first-class cricket. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene had added 624 runs against South Africa in a Test in Colombo in 2006. Click here for highest partnerships in first-class cricket.577 The previous biggest stand in the Ranji Trophy, between Vijay Hazare and Gul Mohammad for Baroda versus Holkar in the final of 1946-47. Gugale and Bawne’s stand is only the fourth in excess of 500 runs in Ranji Trophy history.6 Higher scores in Ranji Trophy than Gugale’s unbeaten 351 runs. The only higher score by a Maharashtra batsman is 443 not out by BB Nimbalkar, which is the only quadruple century in Ranji cricket. The only two higher scores by captains in the tournament than this knock from Gugale are Sanjay Manjrekar’s 377 and Vijay Merchant’s 359 not out. Click here for the highest individual scores in first-class cricket.

4 Instances of two batsmen scoring 250 or more in the same innings in the Ranji Trophy; Gugale and Bawne’s is the fourth. The last such occasion was Saurashtra against Gujarat in 2012-13, when Ravindra Jadeja made an unbeaten 303 and Sagar Jogiyani 282.

635/2 Maharashtra’s total – the fourth-highest in first-class matches where teams have lost two or fewer wickets. The highest total in this bracket is the West Indians’ 682 for 2 against Leicestershire in 1950.455 The previous highest partnership for any wicket for Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy – between BB Nimbalkar and Kamal Bhandarkar against Kathiawar at Pune Club Ground in 1948-49.53.88 Bawne’s average for Maharashtra in first-class matches – the best by any player for Maharashtra since his debut in 2007. He has made 12 centuries for Maharashtra, which is also the joint-most by any batsman for them since his debut. Kedar Jadhav has also made 12 centuries in this period. This innings of 258 not out is Bawne’s first double-century of his first-class career.3 Centuries for Gugale in his first-class career of 18 matches, including this one. All the three centuries have been of more than 150 runs. His previous two centuries were 174 and 154. He has aggregated 679 runs from the three innings where he scored a century; in his 27 other innings, he has 695 runs with five fifties.7 Captains to score triple-centuries in the Ranji Trophy. Gugale became the seventh captain to achieve this. The last captain to score a triple-hundred in Ranji Trophy was Haryana’s Sunny Singh who made 312 against Madhya Pradesh in Indore in 2009-10. Three of the seven triple-centuries by captains in the tournament have been at the Wankhede Stadium.0 Triple-centuries against Delhi prior to Gugale’s in this match. The highest score versus Delhi was 297 by Punjab’s Bhupinder Singh at the Feroz Shah Kotla in 1994-95. Bawne’s 258 not out also features at number six in highest individual scores against Delhi.

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Oct-2016It was an awful piece of judgement from such an experienced batsman•Associated PressAdil Rashid also struck as Bangladesh continued to lose their way•Associated PressBen Stokes had been the catalyst late on the second day and continued a masterful display of reverse swing•Associated PressStokes wrapped up the innings when Kamrul Islam Rabbi judged the wrong one to leave•Associated PressHowever, after a steady start, England quickly lost top-order wickets – Alastair Cook the first when he edged low to slip•Getty ImagesMehedi Hasan claimed the seventh wicket of his debut Test•Getty ImagesShakib tried to make amends for his earlier shot with two wickets before lunch•AFPMoeen Ali helped to steady England’s innings before falling for 14…•AFP…he was well caught off a sweep by Mushfiqur Rahim to leave England 62 for 5•Getty ImagesBut Stokes followed his fine bowling with a mature and sensible half-century•AFPHe was joined in a crucial sixth-wicket stand by Jonny Bairstow, who broke Andy Flower’s record for runs by a wicketkeeper in a year•AFPStokes unleashed some powerful shots as England took control•Getty ImagesKamrul Islam Rabbi claimed Bairstow as his first Test wicket•AFP

Or you could just get addicted to our Twitter round-up

Alex Bowden30-Sep-2016Yes, it’s the latest instalment of ESPNcricinfo’s Twitter round-up. Settle down as we tackle all the most pressing questions of our times.

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To be served with spam, no doubt.

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Ain’t no flirting like automated flirting from an account littered with dodgy affiliate links.Quick check on Kevin Pietersen. He’s been working hard of late. Is he resting yet?

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He’ll be resting soon, though.

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Flavoured lager. Favoured tipple of both underage drinkers and grown men who are almost certainly being paid to feign enthusiasm.He’s not the only one with beer on his mind either.

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More beer. Although after winning the County Championship, it seems unlikely this night was as quiet as Warne’s.

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This Jack Brooks selfie after the Professional Cricketers’ Association Awards appears to tell a similar story.

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A large part of the art of the selfie is the justification for taking one. You can’t just do it for no reason. Like Brooks, you have to provide some sort of half-decent excuse.

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Other meals are also available.

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One of the best excuses for a selfie is, of course, that you’re on some form of transport. Virat Kohli knows this.

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And the form of transport most likely to elicit a selfie is an aeroplane.We’ve no idea why. It just is.

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It’s like Hashim Amla says.

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Finally, somewhere in the world there is always a cricketer complaining about air travel.

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Beats a Neil Diamond documentary, we suppose.

Like in the first Test, rain stalled New Zealand’s batting momentum and the middle order bore the brunt of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s nagging accuracy in gloomy conditions in Kolkata

Sidharth Monga in Kolkata01-Oct-2016The first ball of the 28th over of New Zealand’s innings took off from nowhere to beat Ross Taylor’s cut. This, at around quarter past four, was only the 15th ball after the rain break. The pitch had stayed under covers for more than two hours, and was now beginning to misbehave. To make matters worse, Taylor seemed to suggest he couldn’t see the ball clearly enough. The next ball nipped back in, took Taylor’s inside edge and went for four. Taylor’s eyes widened again and the head shook. Umpire Rod Tucker moved in from square leg, stood on the pitch, used his light metre, and found the light to be good enough.Virat Kohli saw both these occurrences. This new-ball pitch was behaving differently under floodlights for whatever reason, and there was uncertainty in Taylor’s mind and his eye. Sensing his moment, Kohli removed Ravindra Jadeja, who had broken a partnership just before the rain break. He went to the man who can extract every ounce of assistance from the pitch and expose every bit of uncertainty in the batsman: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who said he had told himself before the start of the match that he needed to take a home five-for now that he had got a helpful pitch.Luke Ronchi on …

Whether New Zealand start bowling differently to India’s tail
Well, we shouldn’t. Because India bat very deep and they have got batsmen the whole way down that can make runs. So realistically we have got to bowl the same to every person. Jadeja coming in at 8 or 9, he’s a dangerous player to have there. Bhuvneshwar, he can bat as well. We just have to make sure whatever our plans are, we stick to them. And not get frustrated if we are hit for some boundaries, or if they stick around for a length of time.
Whether the bowlers succeeded in doing that
Not as much as you want them to. Obviously they have been making runs toward the end that are making the difference. Today, they were 240 overnight and 300 whatever. That’s a big chunk of runs from the last three wickets. So that’s something we have to improve on to stay in this Test or win the series going forward. So hopefully tomorrow we can do the same thing with our tail. Make some runs and those will be very valuable runs in the situation.

In these conditions Bhuvneshwar knew what to do. In West Indies, at times, he bowled to 8-1 fields without conceding any runs into the leg side. Here, against a better batting unit, Bhuvneshwar asked for a 7-2 field, but the idea was clear – make Taylor play almost everything with the light fading. No easy leaves. The first ball that Bhuvneshwar bowled was on a length, outside off, and Taylor had to play the angle. The seam took the edge, and Taylor walked back shaking his head.Kohli got into the act, got the small crowd that stayed back to keep getting louder and put pressure on the batsmen. With his accuracy and an upright seam, Bhuvneshwar provided the batsmen no respite. Shami kept pounding in aggressively. India knew they had nothing to lose in this little period of play. Whatever time they would get under the lights was a bonus, and their fast bowlers could go all out without having to worry about recovering.Not before long Bhuvneshwar’s accuracy worked again. In two balls, he removed Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry. New Zealand had lost Luke Ronchi to a rough call, a non-turning delivery from Jadeja that was sliding down leg, to what turned out to be the last ball before the rain break, but this period of play was a body blow. New Zealand had nowhere to go. Even India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha reached in for a bit of sympathy for New Zealand batsmen, saying the ball started doing things under the lights and that it is difficult to see the ball properly when you have just come out.There was no ambiguity in what was happening, though. Not in Luke Ronchi’s mind at least. At the end of day one, the umpires had told New Zealand they couldn’t continue bowling pace. New Zealand opted not to bowl spin, and the umpires took the players off. The light metre is just a guideline under the ICC playing conditions, but the convention is for the first reading to become a benchmark for the rest of the match. On succeeding days, there is generally no play when light dips to that reading. It is also assumed that the side batting at that time was made to bat in better light so play can’t be called off until the light becomes just as dim.Ronchi was fine with that arrangement. “I’m assuming it was exactly the same case as it was yesterday,” Ronchi said. “I think the umpires, when it gets to a certain point of light level or reading or whatever it is, that’s sort of like the starting point for when seamers can bowl and when the spinners have to bowl, when you have the option. Whatever it was, it was the umpire’s decision really.”Ronchi was aware of Taylor’s displeasure with the light, but he said people react differently when they get out. About the two previous deliveries when Taylor seemed to suggest difficulty in seeing the ball clearly, Ronchi said the decision was still the umpire’s.”It’s still the same,” Ronchi said. “It is the umpire’s decision really. There’s nothing we can do about it. We could say something and make the umpires have a look at it. In the end of it all, it is the umpire’s decision. So we go with whatever they are saying.”Ronchi was similarly philosophical about two rough lbw calls in three innings in this series. “It’s cricket,” Ronchi said. “I think I got away with one against Jadeja today (an earlier lbw shout that looked out). You can’t complain. It’s going to happen lot of times. You get some good ones, you are going to get away with some. You just turn up and keep going along. Keep staying positive and hit the ball like you want to hit the ball and stuff like that. Get as many runs as possible. That’s how it goes.”There was only a small bit of ambiguity in the light-metre benchmarks. It is possible that light deteriorated dramatically on day one and gradually on day two. So a marginally better reading on day two compared to that of day one does not necessarily mean that the light was good enough for New Zealand to bat on. That might be just splitting hairs. And as Ronchi said, the final call is the umpire’s.