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There was meticulous preparation and an uncluttered mind – and only support from the man he replaced, best buddy KL Rahul

Shashank Kishore14-Jan-20193:16

Agarkar: Pant, Agarwal breakthrough stars for India

A small South Indian joint in a quiet corner of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium is the [meeting place] where five of Karnataka’s top players are chatting about life, bikes, Bengaluru’s weather, the city’s roads and, of course, cricket. At the centre of the discussion is Mayank Agarwal, India’s 295th Test cricketer.Agarwal is a cricket junkie. Minutes after arriving in Bangalore after a 14-hour flight from Australia following India’s historic series win, he was sitting with his personal coach R Muralidhar at a coffee shop at the airport, dissecting notes on what he did right and wrong during his two half-centuries, and what he needs to do going forward.Agarwal took a day off to spend time with family, and was back at the Karnataka nets, as the side prepares for the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals. To his team-mates, he is the same ‘Monkie’ who owes them a party. For Agarwal, that party will come the day Karnataka reclaim the Ranji Trophy crown.”It’s good to be back in this set up, carrying the confidence of being a Test cricketer and proving not to anyone else but yourself that you are good enough to rise to any challenge Test cricket throws at you,” Agarwal tells ESPNcricinfo as he steps aside from his mates for the interview. “It’s only when you’re in the middle, at a venue like the MCG, with 75,000 people looking down on you, where you’re all by yourself, taking guard, taking strike, I realised the actual nerves we as players often talk about after a big game.”Agarwal wasn’t part of the original Test squad for Australia. He had reason to wonder if he’ll have to put up another 2000-run season to be back in consideration again. Just not the time. With matches coming thick and fast, he was too busy to feel sorry for himself. Eventually, though, his phone rang and soon he was on a flight to join the Indian team.Mayank Agarwal goes aerial•Getty ImagesContrary to the perception that he was under-cooked going into Australia as a replacement for the injured Prithvi Shaw, Agarwal had four weeks of solid grind in New Zealand with the India A side.”We were playing a lot of games, so I really didn’t have the time to sit and brood over not being selected for the tour,” Agarwal says. “I was only focused on playing the upcoming game to the best of my ability. In my head, I’ve always been clear. Whether it’s a club game, Ranji Trophy game or an IPL game, the way I prepare mentally never changes. If a specific method works for me, there’s no reason for me to change it.”That is what Ravi (Shastri) sir also told me two days before the Boxing Day Test. He gave me the confidence that I didn’t have a reason to deviate from what had brought me success at the Ranji Trophy level. He told me ‘go and just do what you’ve been doing there’. Words like those quickly inject a lot of belief and makes things easy.”

By no means was it weird. In fact it was fitting that he was there when my moment came. Then in Sydney, we realised our dream of opening together for the country, which we spoke of as 16-year-oldsAgarwal on replacing KL Rahul and then batting with him

Once the initial welcome and the easing in was out of the way, Agarwal charted his specific training routines. He sat down with batting coach Sanjay Bangar for a one-on-one and then put to practice all that they set to achieve. Among the first things on Agarwal’s agenda was to not let Nathan Lyon dominate. This stemmed from the confidence that he could hold his own against Australia’s three big quicks; that he’ll have no trouble getting through the new-ball burst”Sanjay sir spoke to me at length about their fast bowlers, what they try and do, how they’ve been bowling and what I can do to counter that. Simultaneously, he also prepared a rough for me at practice and got people to bowl there. He would also tirelessly hurl balls at me. The focus was to get the best out of every session, and the results are a proof of that.”My plan was to look to attack and not let Lyon dominate, because he was bowling really well. We knew if we put the pressure back on him, that would help us eventually because that would increase the load on their fast bowlers. We also went through what he’d done to India’s batsmen previously. I wanted to be positive and take the attack to him. It worked well, I’d say. If you hang back and wait to play him out, he is too good a bowler, so you have to be a step ahead, so I was happy to have prepared in a specific way for him.”Mayank Agarwal defends off the back foot•Getty ImagesAnother aspect of Agarwal’s preparation was speaking with his peers about their experiences. It helped that the best man at his wedding, KL Rahul, was also in the dressing room. The two first met each other as 15-year-olds at an age-group camp and have been best friends ever since. They even opened the batting together for India at the Under-19 World Cup in 2010. Rahul was at the other end when Agarwal made his Ranji Trophy debut. The two have also batted together in the IPL.It had so far been a tradition to catch up for a meal whenever Rahul returned or was to depart for a tour. In Melbourne, it wasn’t just about the two being in the same dressing room, but about one replacing the other.”By no means was it weird. In fact it was fitting that he was there when my moment came,” Agarwal says. “It is a professional sport and it can happen that your friend replaces another, but there’s always been support and nothing else from his side. It was nice of him to calm me down and wish me well, we went out for a meal and he shared experiences of his Test debut, and how he felt while walking out of that tunnel at the MCG.

Glad I got to see Pujara in his real batting zone, it was great fun to spend time with him at the crease. Both of us don’t like to switch off while at the crease

“We sat for a good two-three hours at a restaurant and spoke cricket. I could take a lot out of what we spoke, there’s lots to learn about his batting. He is the kind who when he gets runs, gets them in heaps. I’ve followed a lot of his good habits to get the kind of runs I did in the previous season. So, I was actually very relaxed and ready for my moment when it finally came. Then in Sydney, we realised our dream of opening together for the country, which we spoke of as 16-year-olds. So it was a reflection of many sweet memories on the flight home. The biggest, of course, was holding that trophy aloft. Words can’t describe what we all went through that day in Sydney.”While meticulous preparation played a part in his solid initiation, Agarwal’s big takeaway was batting alongside Cheteshwar Pujara. The pair were engaged in a half-century stand in Melbourne and a century stand in Sydney. Agarwal referred to Pujara’s zone a number of times, explaining how at times watching him train and bat gave him the impression of watching someone “in love with batting to the core”.”The way he sticks to his strengths and has undivided attention towards the next ball is a big lesson for any young batsman,” Agarwal says. “He can grind attacks expertly, but the manner in which he makes the shift from defence to attack at the slightest signs of the bowlers switching off was amazing to see. Glad I got to see Pujara in his real batting zone, it was great fun to spend time with him at the crease. Both of us don’t like to switch off while at the crease, so we kept passing on information about how the wicket was behaving or what the bowlers were trying to do, what we should to do be a step ahead. It was a great learning experience.”

Hashim Amla is slowing down after a long and illustrious career; JP Duminy is just threatening to fulfil his potential. But, with AB de Villiers waiting in the wings, both men need a big score

Firdose Moonda at Port Elizabeth26-Dec-2016One man is the most experienced batsman in his team’s line-up, the scorer of his country’s highest individual Test score, the calm in almost every storm South Africa have faced in the last decade. Things should come easily for him.The other man is only a year younger than the first. He played a crucial hand in his team winning their first series in Australia eight years ago, but has only played a little over a third the number of matches. He was dropped, then injured – almost career-threateningly so when he ruptured an Achilles tendon four years ago – and has been under scrutiny ever since. Things have often been difficult for him.But on the opening day of the home Test summer, it was Hashim Amla who battled and JP Duminy who cruised through an absorbing period of play that could prove crucial to both their Test futures.

Bold move to bat first – Duminy

Batting first: It was a bold move to bat first on the wicket that we had today but I thought it was a positive one. The way Dean and Stephen started was exceptional. We got quite a few starts but unfortunately we didn’t capitalise on it. We probably lost two too many at the end of the day.
His own start: You can get ahead of yourself. I had a few half volleys to put away and you can get ahead of yourself in some way. I needed to come back and focus on the next ball. What was good was Hashim on the other side. He kept reminding me to just focus on the next ball.
The shot that got him dismissed: It seems a bit soft. I had a game plan against Herath and the execution wasn’t good. I don’t think I will change too many things in terms of what I was thinking.
Amla’s struggle: It was quite tough. But the demeanor Hash [has], it looks like nothing phases him. That’s the strength of the man. We have all been through certain stages. He is a quality player and I am sure there is a big hundred around the corner.
How many South Africa need: If we can battle our way to 400, that will stand us in good stead.

For Amla, it was the chance to find form after a lean tour of Australia and he could not have asked for a better situation. Not only did Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar make their first century stand as a partnership, they also put on the first hundred-plus opening stand in Port Elizabeth since readmission. They gave South Africa their best start at the venue in since 1970. Having lacked a proper platform in the recent past, Amla had a concrete one.His main challenge this time was not the circumstances, but rather a seam bowler. Just like cricket should be. Suranga Lakmal’s post lunch spell was as probing as his morning one, but more penetrative because he found swing and he tested Amla in the channel outside off stump. Perhaps the only thing Lakmal didn’t do was make Amla play enough. He left seven off the first ten deliveries he faced from Lakmal, defended the 11th and was off the mark from the 12th, which was the 23d delivery Amla faced overall.The dots don’t really matter, neither do the 28 minutes it took Amla to get going, but the cat-and-mouse scramble did. Amla had to fight, he had to trust his judgment, he had to ignore the fact that, when Duminy arrived at the crease, he did it with a flourish: a crisp cover drive off the same bowler who had so hampered his batting partner.

South Africa’s batsmen will all be disappointed with their failure to convert starts and their shot selection. None more so than Duminy

Duminy rolled out the cover drive twice in Lakmal’s next over and again in the over after that. In between, he unleashed a scything cut behind point. Off the first 14 balls he faced, Duminy collected 21 runs, five boundaries and a solitary single. By the time he had faced 23 balls, he had added three more fours. They were all picture-perfect: high-elbowed, straight bat, complete control.Amla had to wait 55 deliveries before he could say the same. He came down the track to meet Rangana Herath, rolled his wrists and found the gap at mid-on. It was a shot that could have changed Amla’s day but this time it was a false dawn. He did not go on to settle, Lakmal kept him in his firing line and the caution he showed early in his innings was abandoned. Amla’s innings ended when he hung his bat out and got a thick edge to Dinesh Chandimal behind the stumps. He would have been disappointed with how he allowed himself to be worked over, as well as his eventual shot selection. So would most of his team-mates.After making a point about trying to find batting consistency in this series, South Africa’s batsmen will all be disappointed with their failure to convert starts and their shot selection. None more so than Duminy.Having played so confidently through the off side and down the ground, Duminy changed his game plan against Herath and wanted to sweep. He missed a slog-sweep before the tea break, was cut in half by Lakmal twice afterwards, and then missed another sweep which crashed into his front pad. He reviewed, without success, and with the knowledge that he had thrown away a chance at a hundred. Anything less cannot be considered good enough, not at this stage of his career anyway.Duminy has only scored one hundred in his last 22 innings, dating back to July 2014. Recently he has been given the additional responsibility of batting at No.4 and that move has shown signs of paying off, especially today. He looked more at ease than anyone else and he was scoring quickly. A milestone seemed there for the taking.For Amla, it was completely the opposite. Even getting to fifty would have taken a struggle but Amla would have known the struggle was necessary. He has gone 10 innings without a century and seven without a fifty. The questions have started, he has yet to provide the answers. There are questions facing Duminy too, which followed him for the two years between his Galle and Perth hundreds and will start up again, especially when AB de Villiers regains fitness.When de Villiers is available, he will slot straight back into the XI and there don’t seem to be any arguments against that. Even Coach Russell Domingo provided a reminder of the permanence of de Villiers, pre-series, when he stressed that “someone will have to make way”.Is that someone going to be Amla, whose stellar career has started to lose some of its shine, particularly away from home? Is that someone going to be Duminy, who could end up with an unfulfilled potential? Or is that someone going to be someone else? And if someone else, then who?

Group C in the Ranji Trophy may feature relegated teams but isn’t short on big names. Here are five players to watch in the tournament

Nikhil Kalro25-Sep-2015Ravindra Jadeja (Saurashtra)
Jadeja’s extended lean international form resulted in his exclusion from India’s limited-overs squads against South Africa. He is still on the selectors’ radar, but will have to earn his spot back in the squad through consistent performances in the Ranji Trophy, a tournament he last played back in 2012. In that season, Jadeja compiled two triple-centuries and picked up 24 wickets in five games. Saurashtra, who finished last in Group B in the 2014-15 season with only one win in eight games, will also need Jadeja to fire.Sanju Samson (Kerala)
After being called up to the limited overs’ squad for the England tour, Samson pushed himself closer to international selection with an impressive 2014-15 Ranji season followed by a good tournament for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. Eventually, he was picked to replace the injured Ambati Rayudu in India’s T20 squad against Zimbabwe, and was handed a debut in the second T20, where he scored a 24-ball 19 in a losing cause. Since then, he has played List A matches for India A as a wicketkeeper, even though he does not keep wicket for Kerala. The highlight for Samson in 2014-15 was the double-century he scored against Services, which played a significant hand in Kerala’s only win in the Ranji Trophy season.Rishi Dhawan (Himachal Pradesh)
An integral member of Himachal Pradesh’s first-class outfit, Dhawan has come into contention for India through his handy all-round ability, a skill that India need, according to Sandeep Patil, the chairman of selectors. Dhawan was the fifth-highest wicket-taker in the 2014-15 season with 40 wickets in eight games, and also chipped in with the bat, scoring three consecutive fifties. He was rewarded with a spot in India A’s limited-overs squads in the tri-series against South Africa A and Australia A, and against Bangladesh A.Varun Aaron (Jharkhand)

Aaron’s stop-start career has largely been down to frequent injuries and inconsistency at the highest level. He was so impressive after his first overseas Test series that his services were acquired by Durham for a two-match stint. Although known to clock 150 kmph, the volume of runs he conceded has resulted in his exclusion on more than a few occasions. He took 11 wickets in three games in last year’s Ranji Trophy and also claimed a six-for against Karnataka in the Irani Cup. With the steadily rising depth of India’s bowling crop, Aaron will look to produce eye-catching performances in the Ranji Trophy and retain his spot in the Test squad.Parvez Rasool (Jammu & Kashmir)
Rasool has led Jammu & Kashmir in all formats on the domestic circuit but has struggled to make an impact with his performances in recent times. He scored his sixth first-class century against Baroda last season, but his previous five-for came in J&K’s final match of the 2013-14 competition. He has played an ODI in 2014 and has been on the fringes of the A side for a while now, and a solid domestic season will be a significant step towards national selection.

Debutant Taskin Ahmed injected Bangladesh’s attack with some much-needed pace, and worked well in partnership with Mashrafe Mortaza to sink India’s line-up

Mohammad Isam17-Jun-2014Bangladesh’s elaborate pace plan was realised when Taskin Ahmed exerted himself on the India batsmen. His five-wicket haul on ODI debut was a bonus. The real highlight for Bangladesh was his extra yard of pace, something they have yearned for a long time. That made the major difference.The absence of a speed gun would mean the key numbers behind Bangladesh’s best bowling performance on ODI debut cannot be accurately recalled in the future, but there is little doubt about Taskin’s impact on the batsmen. Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Cheteshwar Pujara, Stuart Binny and Amit Mishra were all undone by unexpected zip, which was amplified by a pitch that was livelier than the usual Mirpur tracks.The day before the game, new coach Chandika Hathurusingha and bowling coach Heath Streak spent a lot of time looking at the pitch. A bit later on, pacers Rubel Hossain, Shahadat Hossain and Sajedul Islam bowled in the nets although none of them are part of the 15-man squad. The new coaches must have realised that this track would aid extra pace and hence, Taskin was summoned and given his cherished ODI debut.He started off in the sixth over but within two deliveries, they had to go off for a long rain break. Two and a half hours later, he restarted with a wide. Uthappa drove him immediately when he pitched up, so Taskin went back to the shorter length and was rewarded in his second over. That is Taskin’s usual length, given his height and high-arm action. His action is modeled slightly on one of his heroes, Morne Morkel, as he extends himself vertically to bring down a swift arm.Today, he also showed how well he can move the ball by pushing the ball further up, catching Ambati Rayudu at the start of his third over. What helped Taskin was Mashrafe Mortaza’s continued control. The senior bowler has lost almost all his pace of youth, but he invariably remains accurate with the new ball. Here Mortaza, aided by the helpful surface and heavy overhead conditions, used his guile to repeatedly test the India batsmen outside the off stump.Mortaza, too, would have appreciated the help from the other end, as Taskin kept the pressure on. Throughout the year, Bangladesh hasn’t had two bowlers from both ends putting pressure on the batsmen. Regularly, one bowler would do well but the pressure would be off from the other end as boundary balls would be readily available. It happened in the first ODI as well, when Mortaza bowled well but Al-Amin Hossain and Ziaur Rahman provided little assistance.Taskin repeated the fuller length in his fifth over, this time to Pujara. He bowled 13 deliveries to him, most of them shorter deliveries. The fuller length cut back into Pujara, struck him on the back leg, and got him out leg-before.Mortaza continued from the other end, troubling with legcutters and movement to either side of the batsmen. He took two wickets, both leg-befores when he brought the ball back into the batsmen – Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha – and beat them with his inswing.And for the first time since his debut last year, Al-Amin bowled a spell in international cricket with the purpose of taking wickets and not just avoiding getting hit. His second spell was all about attacking the stumps and making the batsmen play the ball. He was rewarded with one wicket, going between Akshar Patel’s bat and pad.It was a complete bowling performance from Bangladesh. But it didn’t really matter in the end. Their batsmen could not even score 106 runs.

The pitches at the Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville have provided the batsmen with stern tests; winning the World Cup will come down to who handles these tricky conditions best in the tournament’s home straight

George Binoy in Townsville22-Aug-2012After his 49 against South Africa, which helped put Australia in the final of the Under-19 World Cup, Kurtis Patterson said the experience of batting on the pitches at Tony Ireland Stadium “can only improve your game, whether you get out or not”. The three surfaces at the primary venue of the tournament have not been batting-friendly; they weren’t at the start, when Australia played England two weeks ago, and the one going to be used for the second semi-final between India and New Zealand isn’t likely to be either.India have played three matches here and their batsmen still haven’t come to grips with it. To be fair, very few have. Against West Indies, India were restricted to 166 for 8 and lost; against Zimbabwe they made 261, but at one stage were in danger of scoring much fewer after a strong start; in the quarter-final against Pakistan they chased down 137 with one wicket in hand.New Zealand played one match at Tony Ireland during the quadrangular series in April, but Thursday’s semi-final will be their first match here during the World Cup. While India’s batsmen have the opportunity to learn from prior experience, they also have to overcome with any lingering doubts. New Zealand will just have to play it by ear.Every team – apart from England against Nepal and Pakistan, rather inexplicably, against India – has wanted to bowl first at this venue. The new balls have swung prodigiously, seamed and bounced. India’s Sandeep Sharma has bent it, perhaps, the most. An early wicket, often two and sometimes three, has become routine. The start of the second innings has been much the same, but teams chasing small targets have the luxury of forgetting the run-rate and battling it out. Batting becomes relatively easier after 20 overs, but it’s still the sort of track where a batsman is never really in. The challenge for teams has been to get that far without mortal wounds.A lot of innings have followed a familiar trend: early wickets, a period of recovery, more wickets as the set batsmen try to shift gears, and a slump at the end as the new batsmen don’t have time to assess the conditions. There isn’t a formula to succeed in such a testing environment. Each batsman has to find his own method, and there have been some contrasting ones on show.South Africa’s opener Chad Bowes survived the new ball in the quarters and semi-final by predominantly playing straight. However, he was dismissed on 46 in both innings, when he was looking to push the scoring rate. India’s Unmukt Chand was extremely watchful in the group game against West Indies, ducking, weaving and defending for an hour and a half to score 22, before he edged to the wicketkeeper. Against Zimbabwe, Chand attacked successfully from the start, scoring 78 off 85 balls, but a similar approach against Pakistan ended in a duck off his sixth ball.A couple of Australian batsmen came through in the chase against South Africa. After the customary two early wickets, Cameron Bancroft and Patterson adopted different styles to pursue the target of 192. Bancroft was solid, taking few risks and running urgently between the wickets. Patterson was aggressive, hitting over the infield when he could. His approach was fraught with danger; he was dropped twice and nearly run out, but got lucky on the day. Bancroft, despite his caution, edged one and was dropped as well.”I think it was a real tough wicket to score on,” Bancroft said after that semi-final. “I reckon you have just got to guts it out for the first ten or 12 overs and after that, the scoring was always going to be a lot easier.”Patterson, who had a 95-run stand with Bancroft, offered a different perspective: “It’s one of those wickets where, I think, if you sort of try and hang around then you can get yourself in trouble. I was just hoping to go out there and be as positive as I could. It paid off.”Chand had tried to approach the chase against Pakistan similarly, thinking a quick start would be decisive in a small chase, but failed to execute his plan. “One hundred and thirty seven is not a big target, I never thought that this could happen, that we’d lose nine wickets to score those runs,” he said. “Because the wicket was flatter in the second innings, and all the fielders were up, a few boundaries could have eased the chase totally, that was what was on my mind.”I don’t think I’ll do the same thing again. I’ll probably try to hang in there and play as much as I can. You need to see off the new ball. If you don’t lose early wickets, then that’s a great bonus for the batting side. Two-three runs an over is good enough in the first 10-15 overs, if you have wickets in hand.”Having failed or succeeded, the batsmen who’ve been challenged by the conditions in Townsville will leave the World Cup with valuable experience. They’ve had their defensive and attacking techniques subjected to a torrid examination, their patience tested, and their assessment of what is a good total put on trial. All of them will go back home and work on their shortcomings to become better players in the future. But it’s the ones who adapt best in the next week that are likely to take the World Cup back with them.

With 619 on the board for New Zealand, the third day was going to be one where the pitch would be taken out of the equation. It was going to be a day decided by mental and physical battles

Sidharth Monga in Napier28-Mar-2009Tea break on the third day. Chris Martin had just nicked out Yuvraj Singh. Both teams went off McLean Park to rest, but two men stayed out, bowling to one of the assistant coaches who wore a baseball glove. Martin and James Franklin had smelled blood, and they didn’t want to let their meal cool down in the shade. It was just one part of the lesson that the No. 8 Test team in the world handed out to the one aspiring to be No. 1 – a lesson on how to bowl and field on flat pitches.With 619 on the board for New Zealand, the third day was going to be one where the pitch would be taken out of the equation. It was going to be a day decided by mental and physical battles.The pitch was the same batting beauty as on the first two days, but India needed to play with a free mind, not under the pressure of the New Zealand score. The hosts knew there would be partnerships, given the quality of the Indian batting line-up and the pitch, but they would need to be smart, with the ball and in the field, and not relent.In the mind and in the body, New Zealand were fresher than their opponents. While India seemed to have made their minds up that this match would be a draw as early as on the first day, New Zealand persisted even during India’s batting onslaughts. They didn’t attack unwisely, though. The field placements were not too different from those used by India. Daniel Vettori started the day with a sweeper-cover, and employed one almost throughout. But the fielders were alert and ready to help out the bowlers when they needed them the most.When Sachin Tendulkar took apart Jeetan Patel for 14 in one over, the offspinner was not taken out of the attack. He bowled a smart drifter first ball next over, and got his reward. Before that the fast bowlers had busted their gut, keeping Rahul Dravid on the defensive with short-pitch balls that pinned him to the crease.”[It was] just a tough grind,” Martin said later. “The results showed the discipline that we bowled with today. Sachin and dravid were batting really well at the start of the day. So we had to keep plugging away at them during those phases of the game.”For two hours or so after Tendulkar fell, Dravid and VVS Laxman looked inseparable. The legend seemed to be repeating itself; the second-most prolific fifth-wicket pair in Tests was churning out the runs again.It would have been tempting for the bowlers to give up then. No one would have complained, for Dravid and Laxman have brought the best attacks down to their knees. But the bowlers stuck to their disciplines in the middle session. Some of the wristy shots that Laxman played today can be demoralising, but the bowlers just kept bowling to their fields. The first 25 overs of the middle session cost only 55. Vettori even bowled one over with the wicketkeeper standing down the leg side. The deficit, despite close to two-thirds of a day of good batting, still read 373.Test cricket is as much about persisting for long periods as it is about seizing the precise moment. Jesse Ryder, in his first over, provided New Zealand with that moment, drawing a false shot from Dravid, and Vettori seized it. Twelve balls had to be bowled with the old ball, and Vettori couldn’t have been more eager to take the new ball once it became due.Martin charged in, the most aggressive he has looked all series, sensing that a tentative Yuvraj Singh was there for the taking. And then Yuvraj edged. The difference between the two teams over the last three days became most apparent: when Zaheer Khan had created an opportunity soon after Ross Taylor’s wicket, Yuvraj dropped James Franklin. New Zealand held on to every opportunity after that, and India gave them plenty. In the end, eight wickets in a day was more than what New Zealand had expected when the day began, but they fully deserved those rewards. “It’s quite difficult to picture getting eight wickets on that pitch in a day,” Martin said. “For us to actually end up with that result is something we weren’t expecting at the start of the day.”India received criticism over the last two days for employing defensive fields too early but New Zealand’s fields weren’t too different. They even bowled restrictive lines at times. Their aggression lay within. They seemed to know when to raise the intensity. No doubt they were helped by a mountain of runs that they could lean against.Zaheer had said yesterday that the Indian bowlers had done the best they could. If he had watched New Zealand operate in the field today, he would have seen a lesson or two for India’s attack, especially when nothing was going their way.

Atletico Madrid are set to meet with Chelsea in an effort to speed up talks as they look to sign Renato Veiga this summer.

• Atleti keen on Veiga
• Defender impressed on loan at Juve
• Blues want to replace with Hato

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Chelsea have been splashing the cash once again this season but are looking to combat their purchases with a number of sales – including Veiga's to Atletico Madrid. The Blues are believed to want £40-45million for the young defender, a price Atleti have so far been reluctant to meet. However, the Spanish side have scheduled a new round of talks in an effort to find a breakthrough and get a deal over the line.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Should Chelsea manage to offload Veiga for a reasonable price, it would open the door for them to sign Jorrel Hato from Ajax. The Blues have opened talks with the Dutch club, who value their defender at £60m.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Veiga spent the second half of the 2025-26 campaign on loan at Juventus, where he made 13 Serie A appearances. He only joined Chelsea a year ago but is already set to be moved up with the Premier League side aiming higher.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR VEIGA?

  Veiga may have to wait a little while longer to get his move away from London, as Atleti continue to drive Chelsea's price down. Their interest comes after failing to lure Tottenham centre-back Cristian Romero to the club, with Spurs refusing to enter negotiations over a deal.

Chandika Hathurusingha wants to expand Bangladesh’s pool of players ahead of the ODI World Cup, to be played later in the year, but doesn’t want to do it at the cost of the ODI series against Ireland. He also stressed that it’s certainly not the end of the road for Mahmudullah, who has been rested for the first two ODIs against Ireland.Hathurusingha, who started his latest – second – stint with Bangladesh with a 3-0 T20I series win over England last week, said that he wanted to give the fringe players – batters Yasir Ali, Towhid Hridoy and Rony Talukdar, and bowlers Nasum Ahmed and Shoriful Islam – a chance to express themselves.”They can play with the freedom with which they play local cricket,” Hathurusingha said ahead of the first ODI of the series, which is not part of the ODI Super League. “We have seen what they can do in local tournaments, which is how we picked them. Their performance and ability to bat a certain way, their records against pace and spin… we are giving them the mental confidence so that they can do it in the international level. We are looking at who has that character to do the role in the international level.Related

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• Taskin: 'I told myself, whether I break or I die, I will wear the red and green jersey again'

• Tamim: Bangladesh 'should tour Australia, England more'

“Regardless of winning or losing, I look at different things like character, how they handle situations in the middle, who stands up under pressure. Performance can go up and down. [Jos] Buttler is the best batter in the world in white-ball cricket, [but] we really put him under pressure [in the T20Is]. We were very happy with our attitude, body language and fielding. Even if we lost both series, if I see those things, I know that going forward, we are in the right direction.”Bangladesh’s next ODI series, also against Ireland, is part of the Super League, and they are also scheduled to play ODI series against Afghanistan and New Zealand, apart from the Asia Cup, before the World Cup in India in October-November.

Is Mahmudullah in the mix for the ODI World Cup?

Does Mahmudullah have a chance of featuring in those games?He has been rested, Hathurusingha pointed out, and didn’t want to be drawn into a discussion about Mahmudullah’s future.”I don’t think he is past his prime,” Hathurusingha said. “We are trying to expand our pool of players before the World Cup. In case something happens close to the World Cup, we want to have enough players that we have seen and can trust to do a role. We are rushed to do that as we have only 15 matches before the World Cup. We are trying to give opportunities to players we think can do the role. [Mahmudullah] Riyad is still in the mix.”Riyad has done enough. He has a lot of experience. We know what he can bring. We want some other players to get up to the mark at the international level. Not just skill-wise. It is about seeing whether they have the character to do the (role) at this level. It doesn’t mean that if that guy perform well, Mahmudullah is finished. He is still in our plans.”Hathurusingha expected the fast bowlers, who were so influential against England recently, to get some assistance in Sylhet, where the three Ireland ODIs would be played.”It looks like a good wicket to bat on,” Hathurusingha said. “There’s enough for the fast bowlers and spinners here too. I always rate our spinners. They are very tactically savvy and skillful. But this time my fast bowlers have come in leaps and bounds. I am very happy with that as well.”Beating England, though they were missing key players, in the T20I series was a big result for Bangladesh•AFP/Getty Images

Taskin and Mustafizur will have their workloads managed

Hasan Mahmud was particularly impressive in the T20Is, standing out with the way he handled pressure at the death. In the first game, he conceded just five runs in two overs towards the end to stifle England. He didn’t take any wickets in the third game, but Hathurusingha said that his dismissal of Buttler in the second T20I was another crucial contribution.”The way [Mahmud] handled the pressure overs in the three ODIs was very impressive,” Hathurusingha said. “He opened the game for us in the second T20I by getting Buttler out. If I look at the game within the game, it allowed us to bring [Mehidy Hasan] Miraz into the game. The wicket brought all their left-handers. If Buttler was still there, it would have been a different kind of a game in the end.”The games within the game are very important. I am looking for people to stand up and do things. They get confidence out of doing these things regularly. Team get confident about their role and trust them to do things. Fizz’s [Mustafizur Rahman’s] two big overs changed the momentum in the third T20I.”Hathurusingha said that like the batting group, the fast bowlers – especially Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur – would also be rotated.”We want to manage him [Taskin], one of our strike bowlers. He is a world-class bowler. He bowled as quick as anyone in that series,” Hathurusingha said. “We want to manage him and Fizz. There’s a lot of cricket coming up. It will also allow us to give more game time to the other fast bowlers as well.”We are trying to expand our bowling unit. Taijul [Islam] is our No. 1 Test bowler. He bowled really well in the ODIs against England. We know he is ready. We wanted to give Nasum a go, to see how he goes. If he also does well, we have two guys ready leading up to the World Cup.”

Chelsea, Arsenal, the Orlando Pride and the London City Lionesses have all broken the world record in 2025 alone, as spending in the women's game grows

As women's football continues to grow worldwide, the sport's transfer record does too. In fact, in 2025 alone, the world-record fee has been broken no fewer than four times. It means that the money Chelsea parted with back in the summer of 2020 to sign Pernille Harder for the greatest fee in the history of the women's game is now some way down the list of the most expensive transfers, not even inside the top 25.

Keira Walsh took Harder's place and moved to the top of that list in the summer of 2022, but her transfer from Manchester City to Barcelona is not even in the top 10 anymore, with the England midfielder herself actually part of a more expensive deal in January 2025, when she moved back to England to join Chelsea.

So, what are the most lucrative transfers in the history of women's football? GOAL breaks down the most expensive deals the sport has seen to date…

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  15Kika Nazareth (Benfica to Barcelona)

  Another huge signing Barcelona made in the summer of 2024, Kika had become arguably the best player in Portugal before moving to Catalunya. Debuting for Benfica at 16 years old, she was 21 when Barca came in and paid just under €500,000 (£424,000/$538,000) to sign her. The young forward is continuing her exciting development nicely with the reigning European champions.

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  14Mayra Ramirez (Levante to Chelsea)

  When Chelsea got the news that star striker Sam Kerr had suffered a cruel ACL injury in the first few days of 2024, they made a statement by making a big move in the January transfer window that would help make up for her absence. For a fee of €450,000 (£384,000/$486,000), the Blues signed Mayra Ramirez from Levante, after her impressive return of 22 goals in 38 games for the Spanish side.

  Ramirez's arrival became all the more important when Mia Fishel, signed as a back-up to Kerr, went down with the same injury shortly after the transfer window closed. Indeed, on the final day of the WSL's 2023-24 season, it was the January arrival who put in a title-winning performance as Chelsea beat Man Utd to retain their league title.

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  13Priscila (Internacional to Club America)

  The only transfer on this list which includes a non-American or European club as the buyer, Priscila completed a move from Brazilian club Internacional to Mexican side Club America in 2024 for a fee of $497,000 (£378,000). While the transfer fee converts to a smaller one than Ramirez's in some currencies, it was ranked as a more expensive move than the Chelsea striker's in FIFA's global transfer report for 2024.

  Priscila had only just celebrated her 20th birthday when the transfer went through but she is handling the pressure that comes with such a high-profile move well and scoring prolifically for America.

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  12Lily Yohannes (Ajax to Lyon)

  It was no surprise when Lily Yohannes completed a transfer that landed her a spot on this list. The teenage midfielder exploded onto the Champions League scene in the 2023-24 season, starring for Ajax as they reached an historic quarter-final, and that helped put her back on the United States' radar, after she had seen limited action in the youth national teams. Indeed, a senior debut wasn't too far away, with the question suddenly when, rather than if, she would get a big move away from Ajax.

  That came in the summer of 2025 when, despite heavy links to Chelsea, Yohannes joined eight-time European champions Lyon in a deal worth €450,000 (£390,000 / $525,000). She was only 18 years old when the deal went through.

انتقد هاني رمزي مدرب منتخب مصر الأسبق، الأداء الذي ظهر به الأهلي خلال مباراة الفريق الأخيرة أمام غزل المحلة والتي انتهت بالتعادل السلبي ضمن منافسات بطولة الدوري المصري.

وقال هاني رمزي في تصريحات تلفزيونية عبر قناة النهار: “الأهلي قدم مباراة سيئة، فلا ينبغي أن يغرينا الاستحواذ، ولماذا رحل كريم الدبيس الأساسي، رغم وجود مشاكل في مركز الظهير الأيسر؟، ثم تم الاعتماد على كريم فؤاد العائد من إصابة الرباط الصليبي”.

وأردف: “لا توجد أفكار واضحة لدى المدير الفني، ولا توجد جملة تكتيكية محددة تكررت أكثر من مرة، وأحمل المسؤولية الأكبر لـ ريبيرو، مع وجود مسؤولية على اللاعبين أيضًا”.

وتابع: “يبدو أن حسين الشحات محبط، ولا يظهر رغبة قوية أو يحاول القيام بكل شيء بمفرده، وديانج كان أفضل لاعب في الأهلي اليوم، لكن هناك أخطاء واضحة على المستوى التكتيكي”.

طالع | عامر عامر يوجه رسالة لـ محمد الشناوي.. ويصرح: تعادل المحلة أمام الأهلي أمر جيد

واستطرد: “إمكانيات لاعبي الأهلي تتطلب مديرًا فنيًا قادرًا على إخراج أفضل ما لدى كل لاعب، ويجب على محمد يوسف عقد جلسة مع كل لاعب”.

وأتم: “ريبيرو خاض 6 مباريات، فاز في واحدة فقط، وهذا أمر مقلق، إذا استمر الوضع على نفس المنوال لمباراتين إضافيتين، يجب اتخاذ قرار، لا نريد تكرار الأخطاء ذاتها، خاصة مع تزايد الضغوط في الفترة المقبلة”.