The India spinner looks back at a fantastic 12 months, during which she won the WPL, debuted for India, and became a big favourite of selfie-hunters

Daya Sagar and Vishal Dikshit25-Sep-20243:20

Shreyanka Patil: I don’t like to lose, my fighting spirit comes from there

Shreyanka Patil will be going to the T20 World Cup after all.Two weeks ago, not long after passing a fitness test after suffering a finger injury, Patil twisted her ankle during a practice match in Bengaluru. For two days, her dream of playing in her first T20 World Cup appeared slim.While the swelling went down gradually, no decision was going to be made without looking at the scan results. Even after the results arrived and indicated no major damage, Patil was informed that there would be a “wait and watch” period before a call was taken.On Tuesday (September 24), Patil was part of the Indian contingent that flew out to the UAE for the tournament, which India are looking to win for the first time.

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Patil has had a dream run in the last 12 months. Soon after becoming the first Indian to feature in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) late last year, she made her white-ball debut for India in December. In March, she was front and centre of a victorious Women’s Premier League (WPL) campaign with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).She is just 12 T20Is old, but her reputation since the WPL ended has only grown. Her ability to bowl across different phases, particularly at the death, is a standout feature.”I was just focusing on my process,” Patil said earlier this month at a QUA brand shoot in Delhi. “I was not really thinking of what’s going to happen next. I thought I’ll just give my best whichever team I play for.”Patil, 22, broke through in WPL 2023, where RCB finished last, after two good seasons with Karnataka. This season, too, she was among the top spinners for RCB, along with Asha Sobhana, Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham, taking 13 wickets that included figures of 4 for 12 in the final.Related

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For Patil, one of the major takeaways from the WPL 2024 experience was the crowd that turned up in Bengaluru, which hosted the first leg of the season, where deafening cheers greeted captain Smriti Mandhana and her team.”This year, when we faced that crowd in Bangalore, it was just massive,” Patil said. “When we get so much from the audience, like people watching us, we want to do more, we wanted to give our best. I mean we keep doing that, but when you see people turning out and saying ‘wow, they play so well’, that’s again a plus point for all of us.”So playing with the likes of Smriti and Pez [Ellyse Perry], there are a lot of things to learn also and not just on the field but off the field. You get to learn a lot of stuff. It was amazing. That platform has really set the standards for the domestic players and for us.”Personally, for me, everyone would say, ‘she’s got the Purple Cap’, but for me it was like a rollercoaster ride because in the first half in Bangalore I couldn’t perform at my best. I was really disappointed because I like my Bangalore. So I went back and Malo [Malolan Rangarajan, RCB’s assistant coach] helped me with my bowling and then Smriti literally backed me up no matter what. So I’m very grateful to the whole management who supported me at that time and then the second half really turned out to be a good one for me.”Only two seasons old, the WPL has not only helped budding players financially but also thrown up fresh options for the Indian team management. Patil was among them, along with players like Saika Ishaque and Tanuja Kanwar; cricketing skills aside, these players also needed to pick up how to deal with the glitz and glamour of the WPL, and of being India players.Shreyanka Patil finished WPL 2024 as the Purple Cap winner•BCCI”So after the WPL, when I came back home, there were thousands of people in front of my house asking me for selfies,” Patil recalled. “They said, ‘you really did well, you were just amazing, we love your bowling, we love your smile,’ all kinds of comments. And I couldn’t stop smiling. So it was just so amazing the crowd there and I really enjoyed.”Patil also finished the WCPL as runners-up with Guyana Amazon Warriors last year. Her quick journey to the top, she said, could be down to her competitive attitude and ability to not get bogged down by pressure on the big stage.”I think it comes very naturally to me since I was a kid,” she said. “I don’t like to lose. I get up and say, ‘I’m going to try my heart out, I’m going to give it everything, no matter what’. I would love to have that fighting spirit with me always.”For me, pressure is a good thing. So when I say ‘pressure’, it’s not like I think negative or something. I feel cool under pressure because that’s what I practiced during my practice sessions as well. I put myself into those pressure situation like last two balls left, four runs to win. How am I going to bowl? So repeating those kinds of practice sessions helped me settle those nerves.”Patil will be among four spin-bowling options for India, along with Radha Yadav, Deepti Sharma and Asha, when their T20 World Cup campaign starts on October 4 against New Zealand in Dubai. Then they face Pakistan on October 6, also in Dubai. The other two teams in India’s group are Australia and Sri Lanka.Patil hasn’t played a competitive game since the Asia Cup opener, but is now relieved to have overcome the injury scares as she gets set to give her dreams of winning a World Cup a leg up.

World Champions carve out a 3-2 series victory over England via unconventional means

Andrew McGlashan29-Sep-2024A series bookended with victories engineered by the spinners; different XIs in every match; a change of captain for the final game; injury and illness updates on almost a daily basis: Australia had to think on their feet during the autumn tour of the UK.It appeared they may have run out of steam after a hiding at Lord’s and when England were on course for 400 in Bristol. But with a helping hand from the rough edges in an inexperienced opposition, they even ended up being able to hold back the clouds long enough.While this tour was far from the most important cricket Australia will play over the next six months, it certainly wasn’t a trip that they shelved under insignificant. Particularly for the ODIs against England they were close to full strength with an eye to the Champions Trophy – only Pat Cummins remained at home to build-up for India’s visit. Whether there is significant collateral from the last few weeks will only be known when the seriousness of Cameron Green’s back injury is determined. Cummins, Andrew McDonald and chief selector George Bailey will hope the injury run does not follow them back home.Related

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“Really proud of the fact that we did have a lot of moving parts throughout these last couple of weeks, but we had guys step up for us,” Mitchell Marsh said after sitting out the decider with soreness. “I’m sure everyone’s looking forward to getting home, a bit of a reset, we get an opportunity to play for our states then obviously it’s a huge summer.”If you had to guess where Australia would bowl the most spin ever in an ODI, Bristol on September 29 – the latest international in an English season – would probably not be top of the list. Neither, for that matter, Trent Bridge where they used almost as much. Wearing pitches at the end of a long season played a part, but it still required alertness and show of faith from Marsh and Steven Smith in the options available.In Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head they found match-changing performances from somewhat unlikely sources, although as Marsh said afterwards Head is a better bowler than often given credit for. “Every time he bowls, he seems to change the game,” Marsh said. “We are blessed to have a lot of allrounders, both pace and spin, so the more options we have with both bat and ball it gives our side great balance.”Adam Zampa’s absence at Chester-le-Street emphasised his importance to Australia’s white-ball cricket while his recovery from figures of 2.2-0-42-0 in Bristol to end with 10-0-74-2 was a show of his class that will perhaps be lost as the roadshow moves on.Aaron Hardie had an excellent tour with both bat and ball•AFPOne of the biggest gains of the series was the performance of Aaron Hardie, particularly with the ball. The injuries allowed him to have a greater role than would probably have been the case. He bowled with good pace and found significant movement, none more so than the superb delivery to knock over Will Jacks in the decider.”He’s a really good young kid and he’s learning a lot on the run, but I thought he played some really pivotal roles for us with both bat and ball throughout this series so I’m sure he’ll take a lot of confidence back home,” Marsh said. “It was an outstanding tour for him.”Matt Short’s blistering 23-ball half-century in Bristol may also prove significant. After a couple of unconverted starts earlier in the series the approaching rain meant he had to flick into T20 mode which may have brought a degree of freedom, but few can hit the ball harder or longer. He could well have put himself a step closer to the Champions Trophy – a run of three games at the top against Pakistan in November, allowing him a consistent role, wouldn’t hurt.The perhaps unlikely question that was raised during the series was Josh Inglis versus Alex Carey after the latter’s back-to-back 70s while Inglis was recovering from a quad strain. However, after the pair played together at Lord’s the answer was revealed in Bristol when Carey was left out.Although younger players had an opportunity on this tour, the Australia men’s ODI set-up remains one at the more mature end of the spectrum. The Champions Trophy in February will likely mark a 50-over endpoint for several of this generation – 2027 will be a step too far. Mitchell Starc, who swayed from the wicked inswinger to remove Harry Brook at Headingley to be taken for a record 28 off an over at Lord’s, will probably be among that group alongside Glenn Maxwell, Smith and perhaps even Marsh and Josh Hazlewood.For them, all their ODI legacies were cemented by what happened in India last year, but global tournaments, especially the 50-over variety, tend to bring out the best in Australian players. And winning when the going gets tough, as it did in England, will serve them well.

India batted for just 52 overs in Kanpur, but just as crucial to their against-the-clock win was the fact that their bowlers picked up 20 wickets in just 121.2 overs

Alagappan Muthu01-Oct-20241:26

Manjrekar: India dished out ‘fair pitches’ and came out on top

There is always noise at a cricket ground. Horns blaring. Drums beating. The occasional flirting. “!” A lot of this is just the fans having fun. Often enough, it has no connection to what’s going on in the middle.And then he gets the ball.All of a sudden there is a hush around Green Park. They wait for him to reach the top of his mark. Tap, tap, tap comes the sound of the bat hitting the ground as Mehidy Hasan Miraz takes strike. Twenty-thousand pairs of eyes turn towards Jasprit Bumrah as he starts his run-up. The silence is about to shatter. And this time it’s not just noise. It’s music.”Whoooooohhhhhhhh” goes the crowd as Bumrah begins to accelerate. “Oooooooohhhhhh” they sigh as Mehidy reacts well and dabs the ball to point. They don’t need distractions to keep themselves occupied now. Gautam Gambhir is right. This guy has become a cultural phenomenon.Related

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Five weeks ago, Bumrah was at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology in Chennai for freshers day and they cooked for him. His reveal on stage was pretty much on par with anything the movies do with mass heroes. He was sat on a throne. It faced the wrong way. The whole place went dark. The number 93 started flashing. The whole place started to shake. The throne spun, in slow motion, and there he was, sat like a king. A sheepish one.It is because of people like Bumrah that India could believe a result was possible in Kanpur. At the start of the fourth day, the first innings was still going on. India had laid out plans to push the game forward but there were no guarantees that it would all work out. Rohit Sharma, at the post-match presentation, said they were prepared to be 200 all out. They weren’t, of course. They scored 285 and declared in 34.4 overs. Then they picked up two second-innings wickets before stumps, to add to the seven from earlier in the day. India played the fourth day full throttle. The fifth – towards the end especially – became about soaking in all that they had managed to do.R Ashwin leaves his post at mid-on to come over and put his arm around Bumrah as he returns to his mark. It looks like a very one-sided exchange. In order to make it end, Bumrah brings both his hands up, palms pressed to each other rather like how people say hello or goodbye. Ashwin doesn’t listen. He continues to hype his bowling partner. From mid-off, Axar Patel chimes in as well. Both of them clap Bumrah on right through the 37th over when it’s becoming very clear that the improbable result India had set their sights on was within reach.”Whoooooohhhhhhhh” goes the crowd as Bumrah begins to accelerate again. Mehidy is unable to deal with this one and ends up caught behind. Bumrah tests the newcomer Taijul Islam with a couple of short ones and sneaks a full one in between, and then collects his cap to walk back to his fielding position. As he looks up, he sees Ashwin slow-clapping him. He offers him a salute in return. This is a special day for India. They are doing special things. The extent to which they had beat the odds makes it all the more fun for them. They seem joyous. Mischievous.Jasprit Bumrah finished Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s resistance•Getty ImagesRishabh Pant spends the final few seconds of the drinks break hanging around by the stumps, fiddling with something. A little red light flashes. He was fiddling with the bails. He had flipped them to see if that might change India’s luck. The first hour of play had only offered one wicket. The next one yields seven. Perhaps it’s the bails that did it. Or perhaps it has something to do with Ravindra Jadeja’s introduction to the attack.He was the last bowler India turned to in every innings of this series. Bangladesh being a left-hander-heavy side might have had something to do with it. Jadeja takes one of them out with his second ball. It breaks a period of play where Bangladesh made 55 runs in 13.4 overs and heralds one where Bangladesh lose seven wickets for 55 runs. India are doing so many amazing things in this game. Scoring at almost 9 runs an over. Taking a first-innings lead in three hours of batting. Breaking the taboo of bowler vs batter match-ups.Ravindra Jadeja picked up three wickets in three overs•AFP/Getty ImagesJadeja goes on to dismiss another left-hander, Shakib Al Hasan out tamely, caught and bowled. But see, that ball, it has all the hallmarks that make it hard to face Jadeja, no matter your orientation. Sure, you’re able to hit with the turn if you’re left-handed, but he complicates that by bowling around the wicket. He creates an angle that is going against you. Also here, he managed to get the ball to dip on Shakib so all of a sudden there’s distance between a bat that is pushing forward to milk a single to long-on and the ball. That’s where all the magic happens. The dip allows for the grip that turns a shot without no risk into one that will now attract ridicule. Shakib is left in utter disbelief at what he has done; or maybe what he has been made to do. The rest of Kanpur erupts. Horns blaring. Drums beating.A Test-match win after only 52 overs of batting and 121.2 overs of bowling. That’s something to savour and savour they do.

Bangladesh have never had someone like Nahid Rana before, and must do everything they can to make sure he stays the course

Mohammad Isam02-Sep-2024Nahid Rana runs in like the wind from the Pavilion End at the Rawalpindi Stadium. He releases the ball like a catapult, from high up – he is 6’2″ after all. The 140kph deliveries thud into Litton Das’ gloves behind the stumps.It’s still scorching hot in Rawalpindi. There are barely 100 people in the stands. Rana, like so many other fast bowlers from the subcontinent, is used to bowling in empty stadiums. Rawalpindi, home of perhaps the most famous “express” in cricket, is no different. On this dull Monday morning, it’s possibly worse.But as Rana bowls, a sense of expectation seems to spread through the Bangladesh fielders. They are enjoying this. Taskin Ahmed, standing at fine leg, sports a broad smile. The batters are being hurried ball after ball. By a Bangladeshi fast bowler. If one ball tests the outside edge, the next is at the throat. It is thrilling. It’s not like anyone who has ever bowled for Bangladesh. It’s like the end of a long wait. The stands should have had more people.

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Rana touches 150kph on a few occasions. He had crossed 150 on his Test debut against Sri Lanka. He is not entirely an unknown for Pakistan – they have seen him a fair bit in the last two weeks. But – you might have heard this before – “pace is pace, yaar”.Related

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He strikes with his third ball. Shan Masood’s enterprise outside the off stump from earlier in the morning costs him – Rana’s extra pace rushes him into the stroke.Babar Azam had faced Rana just before Masood’s dismissal, but first ball of his next over, Babar’s forward press takes the outside edge. It’s a poor choice of shot. The edge goes to Shadman Islam at first slip.The same fielder, though, drops Mohammad Rizwan next ball. It would have been a golden duck for the in-form batter, a regulation chance. Rana has his hands on his head. There’s more reward waiting for him, though. First in the form of Saud Shakeel, who is caught behind for two in Rana’s next over.Pakistan’s captain. Their most celebrated batter. A batter averaging 61.55 before this Test. Bangladesh had plans for all three, and they all centred on Rana rattling them with pace. On the day, Rana sent them all back in his first three overs.He doesn’t celebrate much after any of the wickets. He walks to the fielders with a smile on his face, a very retro feel. It also feels a bit out of place – this is Rawalpindi, of all places.Pakistan are languishing, and Raza continues to bowl fast and testing lines against Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha. He steams in at Rizwan, who pulls out at the last moment due to movement behind the sight screen. Rana rushes back with a bouncer next ball. It hits Rizwan on the side of the helmet. Taskin has a word or two from fine leg. Hasan Mahmud mimics Litton’s stance when he is keeping to Rana. The other slip fielders muffle a laughter. Litton throws a laugh at Mahmud. The Bangladeshis are loving it. At 86 for 6, lunch couldn’t have come quicker for the home side.

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Rana isn’t done yet. He returns for a short second spell after lunch, drawing Salman’s edge once. Najmul Hossain Shanto brings him back for a third spell as soon as Abrar Ahmed is on strike in the 42nd over. Rana removes the No. 10 quickly, but can’t get his fifth wicket. Mahmud, who has bowled superbly since the third evening, completes his five-for instead.Hasan has been Bangladesh’s best fast bowler across the two Tests. Shoriful Islam was disciplined in the first Test (before missing the second with an injury), and Taskin has been the leader of the attack in the second Test. But Rana is at the centre of the story. And not just for this performance. His pace has been significantly higher than anyone else’s.In general, the Bangladesh bowling attack has been better than Pakistan’s throughout the series. In this Test, Khurram Shahzad and Amir Hamza reduced Bangladesh to 26 for 6 in the first innings, but couldn’t complete the job. Like Mahmud and Rana did on the fourth day. They showed that they either have better skills or better execution. What Rana, playing just his third Test, did well was to marry his pace with great lines and lengths.Nahid Rana – head and shoulders above the rest•AFP/Getty ImagesAnd all of this from a fast bowler who first picked up the red ball just four years ago.Rana took up cricket seriously when his brother put him in a cricket academy in 2020, shortly after his college was done. He made his first-class debut in October 2021, following it up with a 32 wickets in the following season. Rana and Sumon Khan had both taken 30-plus wickets in the 2022-23 National Cricket League, a first for fast bowlers in the domestic first-class tournament in more than 11 years.

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Rana, 21, is a new phenomenon in Bangladesh cricket. An out-and-out fast bowler who can bowl fast consistently, for long periods. Rana’s BPL debut was erratic, but he showed off his pace in every appearance. Not since Taskin had a Bangladeshi fast bowler rocked up at the BPL with this type of pace.Pace bowling has never quite been Bangladesh’s . Going back in history, Daulat Uz Zaman represented East Pakistan in the Pakistan domestic first-class competitions in the 1960s and 1970s and was known to be fast. Jahangir Shah Badsha was a well-known pace bowler but by the time he made his ODI debut, he was in his mid-30s. Mashrafe Mortaza had good pace in the early part of his career but injuries took their toll. Shahadat Hossain took four of the first six five-wicket hauls in Tests for Bangladesh fast bowlers, but his career went off the rails soon. Rubel Hossain at times bowled quick, but he was better with the white ball. Rana, so far, has looked like the real deal.But there are reasons to be cautious too. Robiul Islam took 15 wickets in two Tests against Zimbabwe in 2013, but faded away quickly. Ebadot Hossain took a stunning six-wicket haul in that famous win in Mount Maunganui, and showed general improvement after that, but hasn’t played since December 2022 because of a long-term injury.Rana will have plenty of advice coming his way but he should know he is special. He is Bangladesh’s fastest bowler ever. Fitness and health are key. The most crucial thing for a Bangladeshi star-in-the-making is to stay in the straight and narrow. Rana can’t be spoilt. And for the new dispensation in charge at the BCB, it will be their responsibility to keep him fresh, and let him bowl fast.

He’s young, very fast and very exciting, and South Africa are hoping he does the groundwork in Cape Town for a long and successful career

Firdose Moonda02-Jan-2025Kwena Maphaka does not need to think of himself as being “on trial” when he becomes the youngest Test debutant for South Africa at Newlands on Friday. Maphaka will be 18 years and 270 days old at the time, not yet in possession of his final school results (which come out in about ten days’ time) and has just three first-class matches to his name.”We know what his talent is about,” Temba Bavuma, South Africa’s Test captain, said on the eve of the game against Pakistan.Those who watched the white-ball matches against Pakistan, where Maphaka reached speeds above 150kph, already know about some of it. Maphaka’s raw pace was on display when he hit Babar Azam on the glove in the third ODI and then rushed him into a pull shot off the next ball which Babar played to short midwicket. The match before that, his athletic instincts were on full display when he leapt up in his follow through to take a sharp catch to dismiss Mohammad Rizwan. He picked up 4 for 72 in that game.Related

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Those who watched the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year might have seen all this coming. On some of South Africa’s less lively pitches, Maphaka picked up 21 wickets at an eyepopping average of 9.71. South Africa lost in the semi-final but Maphaka’s haul was not overtaken and he was named Player of the Tournament.But there was one person who knew even before this year’s age-group tournament that Maphaka’s talent was extraordinary: South Africa’s Test coach Shukri Conrad. While working as national U-19 coach a couple of years ago, he remembers “seeing Kwena at the camp and I said to the selectors, ‘This kid’s going with us to the World Cup’. Everybody jumped up and said, ‘what are you talking about? He’s 15 years old’,” Conrad told ESPNcricinfo two days before the match. “I said to them that we might not reap the rewards at this World Cup but we’re definitely going to reap the rewards down the line.”Maphaka was part of the South Africa squad that travelled to the U-19 World Cup in the Caribbean in 2022. He played three matches and took seven wickets and also had the opportunity to be mentored by the man who would become South Africa’s Test coach a year later. Then, Conrad included Maphaka in a South Africa A squad that toured Sri Lanka in June 2023. Maphaka made his first-class debut on that trip, before he had even played a domestic red-ball match, under Conrad’s watch. So it’s hardly surprising that Conrad brought Maphaka into the squad as soon as he had the opportunity to: once his school examinations were over (which is the reason he did not go on the away Test tours) and there was a vacancy in the attack.

“He seems like he wants to be the man for the team. He has the characteristics to at least to fulfil his potential. And I guess for us it’s to support him and make him feel free to continue being the person that he is”Temba Bavuma on Kwena Maphaka

With Gerald Coetzee and Wiaan Mulder injured at Kingsmead, Maphaka was brought into the Test squad in the Sri Lanka series but did not play at St George’s Park. Dane Paterson, a slower bowler who moves the ball off the seam, was preferred. Paterson took seven wickets and retained his place for Boxing Day, where allrounder Corbin Bosch debuted. But now, with Mulder back in and carded to bat as high as No. 3, Bosch has dropped out and though Paterson is desperately unlucky to miss out after 13 wickets in his last two Tests, the circumstances are ideal for Maphaka to debut.”Kwena selection is on potential, more than anything. But obviously, he exudes talent and we wanted to go with an extra bit of pace as well,” Bavuma explained. “Unfortunately, a guy like Dane Paterson, who has been superb for us, misses out. So we’re quite excited for Kwena – also considering the fact that we’ve got a series on the line. We want to give an opportunity to a young guy, when there’s a consequence to it. Whatever happens from his point of view, from a performance point of view, it’ll put him in good stead.”On eve of the match, it sounded like he may even be entrusted with the new ball alongside Kagiso Rabada. “I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to running in with KG over the next five days,” Bavuma said. “We’re super excited for the young talent.”ESPNcricinfo LtdAs captain, Bavuma will look to balance giving Maphaka a licence to simply do his thing with ensuring that he learns as much as possible from the experience. The message is that there is no pressure on him, but there is the opportunity to lay the groundwork for a long and successful career.”With a guy like Kwena, you want to allow him to be as free as he can. You want to allow him to continue being the Kwena he is and to allow the exuberance of youth to come out,” Bavuma said. “More specifically with him, it’s a case of Kwena running and bowling as quickly as you can, allowing him to kind of just spread his wings. Obviously with him, he doesn’t have the foundation. A lot of us played first-class cricket, we were able to fail, come back and find a way. He’s just going to have to learn quite quickly but he has the talent that will make it a little bit easier for him. Also, he’s not on trial in this game. We know what his talent is about.”Though Bavuma has not played a red-ball game with Maphaka before, they have shared the international stage in two ODIs and have trained together. From what Bavuma has seen, Maphaka “seems to have a good understanding of his game, especially at his age; he is a strong competitor as well and you can see it in all the other things that we do, even playing soccer”.”He seems like he wants to be the man for the team,” Bavuma said. “He has the characteristics to at least to fulfil his potential. And I guess for us it’s to support him and make him feel free to continue being the person that he is.”

Out of the Indian team for three years, Varun honed his craft to come back stronger and stake a claim in the first-choice team

Ashish Pant11-Nov-20241:31

Varun: ‘Last three years were very tough’

Varun Chakravarthy’s life has all the basics of a solid biopic. His journey from wannabe cricketer to architect to IPL star to India international to being out of the team for three years… The next part – the redemption – is turning out to be just as intriguing.Since making a comeback to the Indian team, Varun has completely flipped the narrative. In his first six T20Is, he had managed just two wickets; in his next five, he has 13 at an average of 8.84 and a strike rate 9.2. On Sunday, he added another must-read chapter to his story as he ripped through the South Africa batting to pick up a career-best 5 for 17, almost taking India to an unlikely win – on his son’s second birthday, no less.When Varun came on to bowl in the sixth over in Gqeberha, South Africa were 33 for 1, more than a decent start for a team chasing 125. It took him two balls to change the equation. Aiden Markram, who has endured a woeful run of form in T20Is this year, missed a googly and saw the top of his off stump pegged back. It began a sequence of 19 balls that South Africa struggled to find answers to.Related

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Suryakumar: 'If Test comeback has to happen, it will happen'

Samson of 2024 meets Rohit of 2013

He breached the defences of three more batters, all with well-disguised wrong’uns, and had Heinrich Klaasen, arguably South Africa’s best player of spin, caught playing an attacking shot for the second time in as many games. On a surface that had pace, bounce and carry, Varun had the South Africa batters in a tangle with turn. It was hardly massive turn, far from it, but just enough to beat the bat.What stood out was his accuracy. He’s always had the variations, but here he was also very tight with his lines. According to ESPNcricinfo’s logs, 50% of the balls he bowled would have hit the stumps, and he fetched four wickets with those. He kept the ball on a length and thereabouts, bringing his subtle variations into play.Varun also varied his pace well. The ball to dismiss Reeza Hendricks pitched and skidded on to smash into middle and leg. To Klaasen, he slowed down his pace, baiting the batter into going for a big shot.By the time Varun was done, South Africa’s target of 125 felt a fair distance away. It was not enough for India to eke out a win, but he gave South Africa plenty to ponder.But what’s changed in the three years that Varun was out of the Indian side?”I had to go to the drawing board and check out all my videos and what I figured out was that I was bowling side-spin, and it was not working out in the higher level, so I had to change everything about my bowling,” Varun told the host broadcaster after the game. “It took me two years and I started bowling that in the local leagues, TNPL, Syed Mushtaq Ali [Trophy], Vijay Hazare [Trophy] and IPL also. It worked out there, so I’ve started bowling it in the international stage and it’s working out for me.”His new choice, overspin, Varun says has helped him get more bite from surfaces. It’s also assisted him in getting a lot more dip, which was visible in a lot of the dismissals on Sunday. Varun admits being out of the international scene for three years was tough, but it has also helped him hone his craft better.Varun Chakravarthy picked up five wickets on Sunday, four of them bowled•AFP/Getty Images”The only thing I could do [through the tough period] was play lots of cricket,” he said. “I started playing a lot of the domestic leagues in India and that definitely helped me understand my game better and that’s what helped me.”Varun’s international return has come on the back of two stellar IPL seasons where he picked a combined 41 wickets in 28 innings for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He also worked with Gautam Gambhir, the current India head coach who was the mentor of KKR in IPL 2024.”We played the Bangladesh tour and he [Gambhir] was coaching the team and we spoke a lot and he gave me a lot of role clarity,” Varun said. “He told me even if you go for 30, 40 runs, it doesn’t matter. All you have to look is to pick wickets. So that’s your role in the team.”More than confidence, I would say I’m more focusing towards clarity and that’s helping me more right now. Sometimes I feel confidence can lead me to a wrong direction and can make me believe that I can do something which is impossible. So I feel focusing on clarity is better. I’ve focused on that more.”Varun 2.0 is different in one other way: the celebrations. He barely broke into a smile earlier. But on Sunday, there was the odd fist pump, and there was a bit more vigour to the high-fives.The redemption chapter is off to a strong start. He probably still needs a few more consistent numbers to make a strong case in India’s full-strength T20I side, but such performances are likely to make him stay in contention.

Current and former stars of the game took to social media to react to the 14-year-old opener’s century against GT

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2025

Vaibhav’s fearless approach, bat speed, picking the length early, and transferring the energy behind the ball was the recipe behind a fabulous innings.

End result: 101 runs off 38 balls.

Well played!!pic.twitter.com/MvJLUfpHmn

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) April 28, 2025