The New York Yankees are adding a veteran pitcher to the organization, having agreed to sign former Los Angeles Dodgers standout Kenta Maeda to a minor-league contract, according to a report from MLB Japan.

Maeda, 37, has spent the past two seasons with the Detroit Tigers, spending time in both MLB and the minor leagues. In 2025, he's made just seven appearances for the Tigers, logging a 7.88 ERA with eight strikeouts and six walks in 8.0 innings. He started 17 games last season and has a 6.09 ERA.

In his prime, Maeda was a reliable mid-rotation starter. In his best season in 2020, when he was with the Minnesota Twins, the Japan native finished as the runner-up for the American League Cy Young, losing out to Shane Bieber. That season, a shortened 60-game campaign due to the outbreak of COVID-19, he had a 2.70 ERA with 80 strikeouts and 10 walks across 66 2/3 innings and 11 starts.

It's not clear if the Yankees intend to bring Maeda to the Bronx, though he figures to start out in the minor leagues for the time being.

The players will want to play their part in making it an experience of a lifetime

Shashank Kishore in Jammu19-Feb-2020The Gandhi Science College ground in the heart of Jammu is nestled inside the 120-year-old campus of the institution formerly known as Prince of Wales College. Here, students casually stroll across the huge lawn, play cricket or football in vast open areas, eat (scrambled eggs) and drink in one of many small shacks that have set shop inside the campus. Some sit and study.In general, there’s a casual vibe. It’s a throwback to olden times. Since mobile internet is non-existent, after all, despite restrictions having been lifted, people are actually seen talking to each other.Suddenly, though, things go quiet. Somewhere close by, there are police vehicles, one can hear the sirens. Nothing to worry about – a security drill is being conducted in the campus and police vehicles, armed security officers and around 100 policemen are present, entrusted with looking after the two teams – Jammu & Kashmir and Karnataka, the Ranji Trophy quarter-final contestants. But if you wanted to see the players – Manish Pandey is the big star – you weren’t going to be denied.Irfan Pathan, the former India allrounder, continues to draw his fair share of attention and adulation. To many of the locals, he’s one of their own. Irfan is a “man of the masses”, as a J&K Cricket Association official puts it. Soon after the team finishes training, he calls the group for a mid-pitch meeting and gives them a pep talk. After they disperse, he begins his own fitness session by first doing a few stretches and then having a bat in the nets. The fans who had earlier made a beeline for Pandey are now cheering for Irfan. The security presence notwithstanding, everyone gets a slice of the players. Some even get to click selfies with their stars.ALSO READ: Mission Jammu-Kashmir – when ‘champions’ play, anything can happenJKCA is anticipating a good crowd for the historic Ranji Trophy quarter-final•Shashank Kishore/ESPNcricinfo LtdOutside the ground, different corners of the campus are being spruced up. The huge open area is dotted with pots of plants along the driveway. The fence surrounding the ground receives a fresh coat of paint. (tents) are erected in one corner to seat VIPs and former J&K players, all special invitees. The JKCA is going out of its way to ensure it’s all systems go for what their captain Parvez Rasool calls the “biggest match we are hosting”.This is still a small venue but the excitement is palpable. The main pavilion block smells of fresh paint and the players’ and match officials’ area “has never been so clean”, a local officer says. The dressing rooms, which were earlier under a tent, have been redone. Fresh massage tables have been put in place and orders have gone out for several kilogrammes of blocked ice to facilitate ice baths.Until today, the main players’ block had just two operational toilets that were in such a state that people had to hold their noses when they went in, according to a player. That’s changed. Or, as someone jokingly put it, they have been “inaugurated”.The biggest issue, however, was in installing a big enough sightscreen. Rasool says that as players, they have never been finicky of the white patch of cloth behind the bowlers’ arms. Sometimes, play has carried on even after the screens have blown away. Here, efforts are on to weld two solid frames, much bigger than usual, to accommodate for any extra covering players may need.There’s a special medical tent set up, not just for players, but for the spectators too, because they expect students and fans, in general, to turn up in large numbers. “As many as 1000 spectators can sit under tents with chairs, if we get more, we will increase it,” a venue official said.The JKCA has made every effort to spread the message it’s not often such a big game comes to Jammu and that entry is free. News that the local team is in the quarter-final only for the second time in Ranji Trophy history has found its way into living rooms as special shows have been lined up on local television.In short, you get the feeling of a big North Indian wedding, where you’re never truly set and ready until the bride and groom walk in. Many J&K players have never seen this much attention to detail previously for a home game. The grandeur, the effort to make this a spectacle, has blown them away. Now, they will want to play their part in making the spectacle an experience of a lifetime for the locals.

With the completion of an innings victory over Hampshire at Bournemouth, Glamorgan took the pennant to Wales

Paul Edwards07-May-2020August 24, 1948
Scorecard”That’s out, and we’ve won the Championship,” said Dai Davies when Charlie Knott was leg before wicket to Johnnie Clay at Bournemouth in August 1948. Davies was quite correct in both respects, of course, but the rich spice of this famous story is that he was the umpire sending Knott on his way and thereby sealing Glamorgan’s first title. The official later protested he had merely raised his finger but there were plenty of witnesses and Knott confirmed that Davies was the guilty – some might say ‘innocent’ – party.It is a fine tale, charmingly suited to one of the grander and more unlikely triumphs in the Championship’s history. Glamorgan had never finished higher than sixth in any of their 21 previous seasons, some of which had seen the county struggle to survive, let alone prosper. So no one blamed Llanelli-born Davies in the slightest. He had played for Glamorgan in the 1920s when the county had needed to run whist drives and dances in order to soothe the imbalance in the books. He was also a regular in the 1930s when the county’s finishing position in the 17-team table was in double figures far more consistently than some of their batsmen. Moreover, he was only one of thousands of Welshmen at Dean Park that Tuesday afternoon. Many supporters had booked holidays on the South Coast and some had been among the ten thousand or so who watched Glamorgan beat Surrey at the Arms Park in their previous game.There were other respects in which this was a deeply Welsh success. No county has the same national responsibilities as Glamorgan and it was therefore fitting that the players who won the title came from most areas of Wales. The skipper, Wilf Wooller, whose leadership was a mixture of brotherhood and bollockings, was born in Rhos-on-Sea; Willie Jones, whose two double-centuries in the space of ten June days set up victories against Kent and Essex, hailed from Carmarthen; Clay was from Usk, while the side’s most stylish batsman, Gilbert Parkhouse, had his home in Swansea. The offspinner Len Muncer, who took 139 Championship wickets in 1948, and the strike bowler Norman “Pete” Hever, who picked up 77, may have been vital recruits from Middlesex but it was only to be expected that victory over Hampshire would be followed by emotional anthems from the valleys. This was a hymns and arias day, no matter that Max Boyce was still a toddler in Glynneath. Never had genteel Dean Park radiated with quite so much .ALSO READ: The greatest Championship finish of them all?“Our leading cricketers nowadays rarely seem addicted to song,” noted John Arlott drily in 1975. “But anyone who heard the Glamorgan team burst into ‘Land of My Fathers’ after they won the Championship at Bournemouth in 1948 would have thought they were a male-voice choir.”It was just a shame that Allan Watkins missed the game against Hampshire after injuring his shoulder in the final Ashes Test at The Oval. Indeed, Watkins only heard news of Glamorgan’s vital game against Surrey from the stop press scores in the hourly editions of London’s evening papers. “Nobody spoke to me,” said Watkins after his first experience of an England dressing room. “There was no joy in the side at all.” This was particularly noticeable, of course, given that Glamorgan’s dressing room at this time was filled with noise and argument, most if it involving Wooller. In fairness to his England colleagues, Watkins might have realised that Arthur Morris and Ray Lindwall generally did little for their opponents’ joie de vivre.None of which overly concerned Glamorgan’s players as they travelled to Dean Park, knowing that if they beat Hampshire and neither Surrey nor Yorkshire achieved victories, they would be champions. Glamorgan had won that previous game against Surrey in Cardiff by an innings after Wooller had shrewdly opted to bat first on a wet pitch and let his opponents make what they could of Clay on a drying one. The answer was not very much. Surrey were not quite the power in the land they were to become a few years later and Clay – shades of Arthur Mailey – returned match figures of 10 for 66.Wilf Wooller batting at Lord’s•PA Images Archive/Getty ImagesIt was still very much the era of three-day cricket on uncovered pitches. If you had a useful attack, the loss of six hours’ play did not end any chance of a result. So even when only 10 minutes’ cricket was possible on Saturday at Bournemouth, Glamorgan supporters had reason to hope something could be conjured. It was also a more God-fearing era, albeit most Glamorgan fielders found facing Wooller when they had dropped a catch to be a sufficient Day of Judgement. But Sunday remained a day of rest, not that many people noticed the difference in Bournemouth. So the Welsh supporters thronged the chapels and prayed for resilient batsmen and deadly spinners in that order.Someone may have been listening. Fifties from Emrys Davies, Arnold Dyson and Willie Jones allowed Glamorgan to post 315 all out on Monday and Wooller exhorted his men to their greatest efforts in the hour or so that remained. “We want five of them out tonight,” he told them, “We’ve got to get after them, I want to hear the ball hit Haydn [Davies]’s gloves every time you return it whether they run or not.” A brilliant short-leg catch by Parkhouse disposed of Neville Rogers in Wooller’s second over and Hampshire ended the day six down. It was entirely typical of Glamorgan’s cricket during a summer in which the skipper had demanded his players become the best fielding side in the land.”He’d always seen fielding as a prerequisite of success,” wrote David Foot of Wooller. “His intrepid leg-side fields brought a new fashion to county cricket. The forward, square and backward short legs seemed to hold on to everything, without flinching. Wooller led by example in the forward position, wearing the bruises like a Pontypool prop’s battle-scars. In some respects, he never spiritually divided the two games [rugby and cricket]. They were both physical, quite apart from the additional subtleties of cricket that he readily acknowledged; both were about courage and stuffing the opposition.”Chickens apart, “stuffing” was not really Bournemouth’s style but Glamorgan did it to Hampshire all the same. “Hang on to Yorkshire, we can win here,” read the telegram Wooller sent to George Woodhouse, his Somerset counterpart, at Taunton. “We will beat Yorkshire. Good luck!” was the reply. As it turned out, the match at the County Ground was drawn but that made no difference to Glamorgan. Asked to follow on 231 runs behind, the home side managed only 116 in the second innings, Clay taking 6 for 48. At Lord’s Middlesex dispatched Surrey by an innings and Glamorgan were champions.Amid the fizz and frolics the long moment of triumph was not lost on Clay; nor did it ever lose its significance. Glamorgan’s success was wreathed in rich emotional contexts and many of them involved him. In 1948 Clay was the 50-year-old honorary secretary of the club. In the post-war team photograph he looks more like a prudent treasurer, which was precisely the role he had undertaken in 1933 when his beloved county was on its uppers. Before that, of course, he had played for Glamorgan during 1921, its first year in the Championship. In that season he had been a fast-medium swing bowler in a struggling side; later he decided his height and build were better suited to the slow stuff.Allan Watkins•PA Images Archive/Getty Images”In what dark winter shed or sunny autumn field he practised and perfected this mutation, I do not know,” wrote RC Robertson-Glasgow. “Perhaps it was a throwback to schooldays and ballistic experiments against forbidden walls. Perhaps some slow bowler had taken a wicket and Clay, weary of his own fast-medium strivings and envious of the other’s facile success, put those long fingers round the ball, trundled down a vast off-break, and saw the light.”Clay had been cajoled by Wooller into playing five games in 1948; he took 27 wickets. Another spinner, the left-armer Stan Trick, could only be spared from his father’s garage for seven matches, but he dismissed 36 batsmen, 22 of them in the two games at Swansea. It was all so very Glamorgan, as was the welcome the team received at Cardiff General Station when they returned late that Tuesday evening and found thousands waiting to greet them. Wooller had already gone to London to play for the Gentlemen of England against Australia but Clay, urbane and thoughtful, offered other speeches to follow those he had made at Dean Park.”This victory for Glamorgan will do a lot of good not only for cricket generally but for similar counties like Warwickshire and Hampshire,” he said. “No longer is the Championship the monopoly of the few.”It was a wise saying albeit not a completely accurate prediction. Glamorgan had become only the third county outside the so-called Big Six (Surrey, Middlesex, Kent, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire) to win the title. They followed Warwickshire in 1911 and Derbyshire in 1936, whose successes were, if anything, even more unlikely than Glamorgan’s. It would be another 13 years before a tenth county, Hampshire, joined the list but Wooller’s men had shown the way. Probably none of which troubled them late that August evening as they hightailed it to the Cardiff Athletic Club, where the celebrations continued. indeed. Match from the Day

Rohit Sharma reflects on the influence of coach Vasudev Paranjape on his formative years and how it continues to define him as a cricketer today

Rohit Sharma01-Oct-2020Cricket Drona: For the Love of Vasu Paranjape (Penguin eBury Press)I remember very clearly when I met Vasoo Sir [Vasudeo Paranjape] for the first time. There was an under-17 camp at Wankhede Stadium, and out of the thirty probables only fifteen were going to make it to the team. When you’re a kid trying to make your mark in Mumbai cricket, you’re more focused on what you have to do at a trial than on learning about people who are watching you. I knew they were all respected coaches, especially Vasoo Sir, but I had no clue about what cricket he had played or which players he had mentored.Soon after, Vasoo Sir was in conversation with Pravin Amre, who was the chairman of the Junior Selection Committee; he was telling him about me. When Amre Sir started to talk to me about Vasoo Sir and explained who he was and what he had done for Mumbai cricket, I was dazed. I realized that this was a massive opportunity for me. Here was a man whose knowledge of cricket was amazing, and whose mind bordered on cricket-crazy, and I had a chance to absorb what I could. I decided to make the most of this opportunity – to learn, to glean as much as I possibly could from Sir. This was my big moment!Though he mainly had to focus on the playing eleven, I kept trying to find some excuse to be near him and talk to him. Actually, I just wanted him to talk, so I could listen and learn. Remember, we come from the Bombay school of cricket. There is a standard that has been set and these are the people who have done it before us – they played with legends and won everything, every season.He watched me during one of my net sessions at Wankhede, and then something happened. He went to the captain and said, ‘We need to get this kid into the team. You figure out your combination and all that. I won’t interfere. But this boy needs to play. Work with me.’Prashant Naik, who was the captain, came to me. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I don’t know anything about you and I’ve not heard much about you either, but Vasoo Sir says you have to play. So you’re playing tomorrow.’When I scored a century in an under-17 game in Baroda, I remember Vasoo Sir talking to Kiran More about me. Vasoo Sir saw some spark in me, and he always made it a point to push my case.I got to learn from him how to approach batting in different situations. He always told us: ‘No two situations are the same. Try and read the game – where you are, what you can do for your team and the situation your team is in. Learn this as soon as you can because now is the time to learn, not when you are playing for Bombay or India.’

He protected us from everything. He got negative feedback from selectors, officials, journalists and others, but he just kept it all to himself. When he came to us, he never mentioned a word. It was all batting, bowling, fielding, solving problems.

In so many of my innings for India, there have been instances when I have thought of something that Sir had told me all those years ago and applied that to the present game.When I first met him, I had only played one season of junior cricket. I had no concept of playing for Mumbai or India. But here was this person telling me what I should do, urging me to take small steps ahead. Young players sometimes get overawed and forget that the big things happen only if you do small things perfectly. This is something he always did, as I later realised.When speaking to young players, he knew how to get them to move forward, one step at a time. There is no point telling youngsters about bigger goals at that early a stage in their careers, and he understood that. This is what you call a helping hand. This is just what young sportspersons need.When I go out to the middle, I remember the things Vasoo Sir told me back then. Things like: as a batsman or a captain, if you can’t read the situation, the team is already in trouble; if you’re the boss, you have to walk out like you mean it, otherwise the shoulders of those who follow you will droop.He treated all of us like his own children, not as cricketers. We never felt that we were training under a coach. He was more like a father figure to us. He never uttered an aggressive word, projected no negativity. We lost games, there were people who did not perform consistently, but he never spoke to them harshly. He was always polite and friendly, and that’s what you need at that age. I was lucky to have played under him.I felt no pressure despite the fact that I was playing in the Mumbai atmosphere. All our lives we had been told that if you don’t win the title, it’s not a successful season. We were always reminded of the high standards set by those who came before us. All of us had to play with that in mind. But I can confidently tell you that not for one moment did we feel any pressure from the management, coach or selectors, and that was because of Vasoo Sir. He would speak to all of them, listening carefully to what they had to say and then tell them, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.’He protected us from everything. He got negative feedback from selectors, officials, journalists and others, but he just kept it all to himself. We also heard these things. But when he came to us, he never mentioned a word. It was all batting, bowling, fielding, solving problems.Paranjape knew how to get young players to move ahead one step at a time, by setting small, achievable goalsIt’s very important to be able to demonstrate a skill, especially to younger guys, when they’re just not getting it. The worst thing is for the coach to send the wrong message. If a player does not understand, Vasoo Sir would not let him go. If he had to pick up a bat and get in the nets to show the player just how something should be done, he would do that.Our team was the Mumbai gang. But Vasoo Sir could talk to us in Hindi, English, Gujarati and obviously Marathi. Apart from those, he could also speak other languages: fielding, batting and bowling. Everyone got what they needed from him, whether it was information or technical input.Even today, I look forward to any message from Vasoo Sir. Jatin, who has always been around, is my bridge. I always ask him, ‘Anything?’ I know Vasoo Sir watches my games when he can and, trust me, any input he gives me is gold dust. After every innings I wait to hear from him, and if he can’t get through to me because I’m travelling, I wait for Jatin to get in touch.I blossomed as a cricketer in that one season with Vasoo Sir. Whether we won or lost, he would sit us around and talk about the game. After these sessions, we let it all go and went to sleep with a light mind, shedding the baggage and thinking about what we needed and wanted to do the next day. He freed my mind, allowed me to dream about playing for India and showed me the steps I had to take to get there. That’s what Vasoo Sir does to a cricketer.When I look back, I realise how shrewdly Sir had forged the path that led me to the world stage of cricket. I was not from a big club or a big school or a college team. I was an outlier. But Sir’s recommendations to Pravin Amre, Kiran More and Dilip Vengsarkar got people talking about me, and I delivered on that promise. Without Sir by my side in those early years, I would not have been able to achieve as much as I fortunately have.

The Pakistan left-armer talks about his time at the T20 Blast, and his batting ambitions

Interview by Matt Roller07-Oct-2020Pakistan left-arm spinner Imad Wasim played nine Vitality T20 Blast matches for champions Nottinghamshire this season, taking eight wickets at an economy of 7.21. In this interview, he talks about becoming a new-ball bowler, developing a new delivery, and wanting to be recognised as an allrounder.You arrived in England in June ahead of the Test series and won’t go home until October. How have the last few months been for you?
It’s been great. I worked really hard during the Covid lockdown, so it feels like it’s paying off. I have family with me for this part of the trip, . It was tough for three months not having my family around, but it is what it is for everyone, so no complaints. I’m going back home next week to play domestic cricket – I’m missing a couple of games of the National T20 Cup but then will join my team [Northern], so I’m looking forward to playing that. And then the PSL knockouts – it’s going to be a really tough four or five months, but I’m excited to be back in Pakistan.You’ve had a strong season for Nottinghamshire, with Dan Christian using you as a new-ball bowler in the powerplay. Have you enjoyed it?
It’s been a really good season, my second year with Nottinghamshire. Dan is a really good captain. He’s been playing for a long time and he’s got a good head on his shoulders. He’s used me in different conditions and at different times, depending on the situation and the opposition, but it’s been spot on.You have become one of the world’s most experienced T20 spinners over the last five years. How did that role come about?
When I was playing domestic cricket, sometimes I would bowl an over in the powerplay – the fourth or the fifth. But when I became captain of my domestic team, it came to my mind that I should bowl the first over as well. And in first-class cricket, I would sometimes take the second new ball. It started like that and I was getting wickets regularly, so I thought: why shouldn’t I do that with the white ball as well? I started doing it in white-ball cricket and it paid off. In international cricket they gave me the new ball because I’d had a great Pakistan A tour bowling with the new ball [in 2015 against Sri Lanka]. And from there, you become a new-ball specialist just like that.

“I am an allrounder. I’m ranked No. 3 in the world [in ODIs]. I don’t want to be considered a bowler. I just want to become a allrounder”

What are the keys to successfully bowling spin in the powerplay?
With the new ball, you can’t defend. You just have to attack. You try to take wickets early on to put the opposition on the back foot straightaway. If you try to defend, they’ll get away in the powerplay – if not against you then against the other bowlers. So my role is just to go out and attack in the first couple of overs I bowl and to pick up wickets. I don’t worry too much about the runs. The next two overs, you’re looking for defence as well, depending on the situation. But with the new ball, I just try to hit the stumps and leave the rest to the batsmen. If they play a good shot, they play a good shot, but for me, it’s a “you miss, I hit” kind of thing.Even when you don’t take wickets, your economy rate is generally very good. Does that help you create pressure at the other end?
Definitely. Partnerships are the most important thing in cricket – batting or bowling. When you’re out there, your partner has to understand your game as well. Wherever I go, most teams think I’m an aggressive option, so the other bowler might think differently, which is a very good thing. I don’t think there are many aggressive spinners in the powerplay. After the powerplay, yes, there are a lot of aggressive spinners, but in the powerplay, there aren’t a lot around the world, so I’m really happy that teams think I am one of them.Do you think batsmen have started to attack you less, knowing your success in that role, and are instead starting to play you out?
Not really. You make your game plan against any bowler, of course, but the number one thing you should do as a bowler is focus on your strength. Don’t worry about what the opposition will do too much. Just stick to your strength and see how it goes from there. Obviously there will be times when you get smacked, but if you stick to your strength, you’ll be successful 60 or 70 times out of 100, which is a very good ratio in international cricket. My advice: don’t do anything different if something is working for you. For me, that is to take wickets and be aggressive.ESPNcricinfo LtdInside the powerplay, do you think lines and lengths are more important than actually trying to spin the ball?
With the new ball, I try to take the pace off, but don’t try to spin the ball. It’s really hard with the new ball, especially with only two fielders out. I get my basics right. After six overs, I’ll start to spin the ball – and I’m developing a new ball, which hopefully you’ll see next time I play international cricket if I keep working hard on it. I want to learn new balls that make me a different kind of a bowler outside the powerplay.There is more analysis available than ever in T20 cricket in particular. Some players spend hours developing specific plans based on an opponent’s strengths. Are you one of them?
I really don’t care about what’s happening outside of me. Because I’ve played a lot of international cricket, I know what opening batsmen’s strengths and weaknesses are, but I don’t think about that much. I just go out there and bowl. I have my processes, my repetitions, and I don’t worry about the batsmen. If they hit me, they hit me, but I want them to hit me with a good shot rather than me giving them a bad ball. You have to respect good shots, which do happen, but I just try to do one thing with the new ball: hit the stumps.When you were growing up, you would have watched Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis opening the bowling for Pakistan. Did you ever think that would be something you would do?
Never. I never expected it, or even thought about that in my life. Even in franchise cricket – I never expected it. God has given me this. It’s not something spinners usually do.You were stuck down at No. 8 or No. 9 for most of the T20 Blast with Nottinghamshire, and your record with the bat is much better in 50-over cricket than in T20.
I don’t think I’ve got the opportunities I want. I got them in the World Cup. In one-day cricket I’ve had the opportunities and my performances have been not bad. I’m really happy in one-day cricket with where I am, but I want to express myself more. I have more to give my country with the bat. There have been glimpses in world cricket of me doing good things as an allrounder, but in T20, I haven’t got the opportunities like that anywhere in the world. I’m really working hard on my batting. Someday I could win a big game with my batting and then people will start thinking about me as an allrounder in T20 as well as one-day cricket. I’m really hungry to score runs for my country and for franchise teams.So you consider yourself Imad Wasim, Pakistan allrounder, not Imad Wasim, Pakistan bowler?
No, no, no! I am an allrounder. I’m ranked No. 3 in the world [in ODIs]. I don’t want to be considered a bowler. I just want to become a allrounder. I’m working hard and the rest is up to God. Whenever God decides to give me fame as a batsman, just like in bowling, it will happen, .

Mohammad Amir, Usman Shinwari, Laurie Evans among overseas players to make the XI

Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Dec-2020After 23 matches, the Jaffna Stallions came out as the inaugural Lanka Premier League champions. Here, ESPNcricinfo picks the team of the tournament.Danushka GunathilakaNo batsman was anywhere near as good. Gunathilaka made 187 more runs than the next-highest run-scorer in the league, and repeatedly dragged the Galle Gladiators to respectable totals in the league stage. What was especially impressive about his batting was his decision to tailor it to this particular tournament. He noticed early on that the outfield at Sooriyawewa was spectacularly fast, and that the boundaries were short. So he decided to focus on hitting fours, rather than take on deep fielders. His tally of 67 fours is by a huge distance the highest in the tournament, with Dinesh Chandimal’s 35 the next best. He only hit eight sixes. Nine other batsmen hit more, without getting close to his run tally.Niroshan Dickwella (wk) (He had a slow start with the bat, but found his touch in the middle of the tournament, and made strong contributions in each of his last five outings, hitting two fifties through that run. Kusal Perera and Chandimal also had decent tournaments with the bat, but Dickwella was the best wicketkeeper on show – his sharp stumping of Shoaib Malik in the semi-final a particular highlight.Laurie Evans Evans produced three big innings, including the league’s only century – his dazzling 108 off 65 against a strong Stallions attack (which was only missing Usman Shinwari from the frontline crew). He seemed to be hitting serious form just as the knockouts approached, but was injured for the semi-final, which his team failed to win. Although he mostly opened for the Colombo Kings, he is used to batting No. 3 for his Blast team. He was good in the field throughout.Dasun Shanaka Shanaka’s batting provided the Dambulla Viiking early momentum, and though he only struck two fifties, he continued to make a substantial impact in the death overs. He has become more of a batting allrounder in the last few years, which sets up fascinating competition for white-ball places with Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews. Shanaka also marshalled the spin-heavy bowling resources at the Viiking’s disposal nicely through the latter half of the tournament. He was expensive with the ball at times, but he is the tournament’s third-highest run-scorer.Thisara Perera Without question the most brutal finisher in the LPL, with 19 sixes, and the best strike rate of anyone, with more than 75 runs. He very nearly made a T20 hundred from No. 7, when he bludgeoned 97 not out off 44 balls against the Viiking early in the tournament. He went cold with the bat through the back-end of the league stage, but rebounded spectacularly for the final, clobbering 39 off 14 balls. His bowling was sporadically useful through the campaign.Andre Russell hit a 14-ball half-century early in the tournament•LPLAndre Russell Unsurprisingly, Russell produced the most devastating and most memorable innings of the LPL, when he came in to open a rain-reduced five-over match, and stomped around like a giant at a kindergarten, bludgeoning six fours and nine sixes in a 19-ball 65 not out. He didn’t play any other big innings with the bat, though there were a few death-overs bursts. He was more consistent with the ball, but with his fitness still a concern, he didn’t bowl every match.Asela Gunaratne (nine wickets, economy rate 7.53, 168 runs, strike rate 141)The only Kandy Tuskers player to make this side, Gunaratne was not only miserly through the middle overs with his right-arm schmooglies (official terminology for his style of bowling), he also frequently claimed wickets. He hit one half-century as well, and very narrowly beats out Dhananjaya de Silva and Samit Patel out for this spot.Wanindu Hasaranga The best bowler in the tournament by both wickets and economy rate (by a distance), and despite Gunathilaka’s batting heroics, a straightforward choice for the LPL’s MVP. Hasaranga bowled in ten innings, and did not fail to take a wicket in any – even the rain-curtailed match in which he bowled just one over. His legbreaks were accurate, his googly was frequently devastating, and there was even the odd, dangerous flipper. He only once conceded more than 30 in his four overs, and even then, he gave away just 31. With the bat, he played a number of decent cameos, including a 41 off 23 against the Kings. His fielding was mostly excellent.Dhananjaya Lakshan Largely unknown before the LPL, 22-year-old Lakshan made a huge impression with the substantial inswing he generated to the right-hander when the ball was moving, but perhaps more impressively, the back-of-the-hand slower balls he was able to deliver consistently and accurately. He also picked up at least one wicket every time he bowled, and in fact claimed the best figures of the final with 3 for 36. His 31 not out off 23 balls helped take Gladiators home in the semi-final.Dhananjaya Lakshan picked up 13 wickets in the tournament•AFPMohammad Amir It was Amir’s 5 for 26 (the only five-wicket haul in the tournament) that helped jump-start the Gladiators’ ailing campaign, and set them on course for a place in the final. Amir was especially good when the ball was swinging, as usual, but also effective when it was not, after the Gladiators found two local seamers – Nuwan Thushara and Dhananjaya Lakshan – to support him. He was at the receiving end of some bad catching, or his wicket tally would have been higher. As a result, he also provided some of the LPL’s most memorable angry looks.Usman Shinwari (nine wickets, economy rate 7.52)Good through the middle overs and the death, and possessed of a mean bouncer, Shinwari was a vital component of the Stallions’ championship run, without drawing a lot of attention to himself. He began the tournament with successive three-wicket hauls, and made important contributions through the rest of the campaign, largely coming to the bowling crease through the back half of the innings. Also effected two superb direct-hit run outs in the semi-final.

You don’t do what he did to James Anderson. But then, you’re not Rishabh Pant.

Karthik Krishnaswamy05-Mar-20213:20

#AskMatchDay: Is Pant’s reverse lap the most extraordinary shot in Test cricket?

There’s audacity, and there’s plain disrespect.Rishabh Pant was five years and 72 days old when James Anderson made his England debut.On Friday afternoon in Ahmedabad, Anderson, 38 years and 218 days old and bowling as well as ever, had figures of 17-11-19-2 when he ran in to bowl with an unsullied second new ball. Pant, 23 years and 152 days old, ran down the pitch and smoked him over mid-off, finishing with his back leg in the flamingo position.You don’t do that to Anderson. You don’t do that to Anderson bowling with a new ball. But you aren’t Rishabh Pant.Related

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To the next ball, Pant took a massive stride forward, perhaps even before Anderson had released. The length was perhaps short of good length, and the line was wide outside off. He was in no position to play that ball, but that’s a problem for other batsmen. For Pant, it was simply a ball he could wallop through cover point, even if it meant he had to reach out with arms at full stretch and address the ball with a flat-bat, topspin slap.At the start of Anderson’s next over, Pant was batting on 89. Perhaps this would bring a measure of restraint to his batting, you might have thought. Particularly since his last eight Test innings had included two dismissals in the 90s, and an unbeaten 89.Restraint? Pant reverse-swept Anderson from the line of the stumps, falling away to the leg side as he did so, and watched the ball fly over the leaping first slip fielder.It was audacious, it was gloriously disrespectful, and it was in every way what we’ve come to expect from Pant.In time, we’ll get used to all the other bits too, because it’s taken more than just edge-of-the-seat shot-making for Pant to average upwards of 60 in these last two series he’s played, against strong bowling attacks in mostly bowler-friendly conditions.Rishabh Pant cuts behind point•Getty ImagesThrough that tour of Australia and this series against England, we’ve begun to understand the logic that underpins nearly every Pant innings. It’s often a logic entirely his own, such as when he decides the best way to deal with the ball turning and jumping out of the rough is to try and hit it for six, repeatedly, even with long-on an deep midwicket back and with India miles away from saving the follow-on.But sometimes, as on Friday, the logic is far more straightforward. This innings was as close as he has ever come to batting like a typical No. 6. The slap-happy finish will live long in the memory, but the build-up was utterly sedate, by his standards, and brilliantly calculated.When Pant walked in, India were 80 for 4, and trailed by 125 on an unusual sort of pitch where there was help for the spinners but also enough to interest the quicker bowlers, with the odd ball seaming or stopping on the batsman or kicking up awkwardly. The old ball was swinging too, and Anderson had exploited this expertly to remove Ajinkya Rahane with what turned out to be the last ball before lunch.Twelve overs after Pant’s entry, Rohit Sharma was out for 49 off 144 balls. He faced 90 balls from England’s fast bowlers and scored 19 runs off them. This was a batsman who came into this game with a series strike rate of 80.98 against fast bowling. The conditions clearly weren’t made for flat-bat drives through the covers. Not just yet, anyway. Pant would have to bide his time. He’d have to take 28 balls to get into double figures.But there were clear incentives in front of him.England had picked only four bowlers, and one of them, Ben Stokes, was an allrounder who had only bowled 15 overs across the first three Tests. They weren’t trusting one of their two spinners, Dom Bess, to bowl a proper bowler’s share of overs.Pant came to the crease in the 26th over of the morning. Anderson was in his seventh over of the day. Stokes had bowled 10 already. Jack Leach, England’s main spinner, had bowled seven. Bess had only bowled two.Pant had arrived at a delicate moment for India. But he had also arrived at a moment when England’s meagre resources were beginning to get stretched, in the hottest stretch of a 38-degree day in Ahmedabad.6:53

Rohit Sharma – I don’t want anyone get upset when Pant gets out playing shots

Those resources had done exceptionally well to restrict India to 56 for 3 in the first 25.5 overs of the day. But there were two more sessions to go, and six more wickets to take, against an India line-up featuring three spin-bowling allrounders at Nos. 7, 8 and 9.By the time England got their next breakthrough, Rohit trapped in front by Stokes’ reverse-swing, they had used up five more overs from Anderson, and brought Stokes on for another spell. They hadn’t yet bowled Leach at Pant, possibly fearing the damage he could do against left-arm spin. So while Pant had to survive a nervy early period against Anderson, he only had to face Bess – who struggled all day to find his length – and the part-time offspin of Joe Root from the other end.By the time India were six down, Stokes had bowled 15 overs in the day, and Pant had moved to 30. The second new ball was 21.5 overs away, which meant at least another hour’s rest for the quicks.This was where India’s batting depth came to the fore. It was like India’s 2018 tour of England in reverse. The visitors had worked their socks off to get into a position of strength, but the home team’s batting simply wouldn’t end. For Sam Curran, substitute Washington Sundar. Another left-hand batsman, blessed with the same crisp timing and an even sounder technique.Sundar and Pant came together with India trailing by 59, but you wouldn’t have guessed it looking at the tone of the game during the early part of their partnership. Bess and Root sent down the first five overs after tea, with plenty of protection on the boundary when Pant was on strike. This was understandable, but it allowed him to get off strike whenever he wished to. He only faced seven balls in those five overs, allowing Sundar to get his eye in against England’s two least threatening bowlers.By the time Leach returned to the attack, the ball was 67 overs old, and was no longer zipping off the track like it had done during his first spell of the day. By the time a tired Stokes returned with five overs to go for the new ball, India’s deficit was down to nine runs. Sundar was batting on 24, and Pant on 55, off 90 balls.Pant would go on to score 46 off his next 28 balls. He was done waiting and watching. He was done respecting the bowling, the situation, and his elders.

Cook and Westley back young batsman to build on impressive Test debut campaign

Andrew Miller31-Mar-2021After the challenge of withstanding R Ashwin and Axar Patel on an Ahmedabad dustbowl, it will be back to a trial by seam and swing for Dan Lawrence next week, as Essex begin their defence of both the County Championship and the Bob Willis Trophy with a season-opening encounter against Worcestershire at Chelmsford.But while Lawrence’s profile may have gone up several notches during a tough debut tour of Sri Lanka and India, the man himself says his appetite has merely been whetted by his experiences this winter.And, having bookended the trip with hard-fought fifties in his first and last outings at Galle and Ahmedabad respectively, Lawrence believes he’s proved to himself, first and foremost, that he belongs at the highest level, and is hungry to get another bite of the action as soon as possible.”It’s hard to know for sure, because it feels different when you are batting yourself to when you actually watch it back,” Lawrence said. “But I did actually [feel like I belonged]. I really enjoyed it. It’s something I always wanted to do, and I really relished the challenge all winter.His debut came in the first Test of England’s winter, against Sri Lanka at Galle, where he was presented with his cap by his former Essex captain, James Foster, and immediately showed his mettle with a gritty innings of 73 in support of his England captain and double-centurion, Joe Root. Lawrence then held his nerve in the second innings, to seal an anxious run-chase in partnership with Jonny Bairstow, to complete a hugely composed first outing for England.”It’s quite a big one for me, to get the monkey off the back and actually play a Test match is something I’ve always wanted to achieve,” he said. “I’ve had a little taste of it and hopefully I can carry on playing.”It’s obviously completely different conditions, coming back from playing in Asia all winter, with the ball nibbling at Chelmsford in mid-April. But I’m really hoping I can get loads of runs on the board at the start of the year, help Essex win some more trophies, and push my case to play the first Test this summer.”In the final analysis, Lawrence’s figures from his maiden England winter don’t especially stand out – 248 runs at 27.55 in five Tests and ten innings show promise rather than fulfilment. But, having been shunted around the order – as high as No.3 and as low as No.7 – to fit with England’s evolving plans on an arduous tour, he now knows, without much doubt, that there aren’t many harder places than Asia for a young English batsman to succeed.”If I’m selected for England, I’ll bat anywhere, and I’ve said that before,” he said. “But I’ve accepted that I don’t think cricket can get more challenging than what I experienced in those Test matches in India and Sri Lanka.”Playing in England, you don’t face a lot of quality spin, because it’s not really needed. So it’s lovely to be challenged against that and to be able to deal with the pressure, just knowing that if things do get really tough, that I’ve actually got a plan, and the sort of tempo and a mindset that hopefully can work at Test level.”Dan Lawrence is still only 23, but very much a senior player within Essex’s ranks•Getty ImagesThe next step for any young England player is often the hardest – second-season syndrome has afflicted many rising stars in the past. But after a two-week break at the end of the India tour, Lawrence was back in the nets at Chelmsford last week, and has thrown himself into Essex’s pre-season with a vigour that has reassured the senior batsmen around him that a big follow-up to his winter exploits is on the cards.One man who knows better than anyone about such heightened expectations is Sir Alastair Cook, whose own breakthrough winter came in India in 2005-06, with a century on debut in Nagpur aged 21.”He’s in a quite a hard spot because he’s so desperate to play for England, you can worry about all kinds of stuff which are totally out of your control,” Cook said. “Ultimately, he needs to make sure his focus is on the next ball. If he does that, which I’m sure he will, everything else will take care of itself.”He’s in a good space with his game, coming back from India, and mentally he seems in a good spot too,” Cook added. “He’s hit probably the most balls out of any batsman coming back, and he’s been doing extra sessions too, all the hard graft which will only bode well for him.”Just because he’s played for England, that doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to score runs, it’s not as easy as that. There are some very good bowlers in county cricket that know what they’re doing, and he knows that too. But he looks in a good space, and that can only be a good thing for Essex. We’ve got a guy who’s desperate for higher honours, and knows that he needs to score runs to get there.”The one thing that Lawrence can be sure of is that further success for Essex will earn the recognition he craves, given that the club is the pre-eminent force in county cricket at the moment – thanks to two County Championship titles in 2017 and 2019, and last season’s success in “The Bob” when Covid-19 forced a rejig of the season.Related

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And Lawrence knows, from the manner in which the club has nurtured its young players in the past, that he’ll be given all the support he needs to take his next steps, both in his England development and in graduating to a more senior status within the county as well.”We’ve got really good things going on at the club at the moment, with a brilliant mix of younger and older players, and a really good management and support staff,” Lawrence said. “We’ve got a formula that’s proven, and we know how to win a lot of games of cricket, so I’m really excited to get stuck in with the boys.”It’s not only with me, but a lot of the older guys do try their utmost to help out any young players coming through,” he added. “With the atmosphere that we have at this club, and being a really close knit group, and a really honest group, it really allows young players to develop quicker than they would at other counties. They know where they stand with us and we really try our best to get around them.”So if any young batter or bowler needs any help, it wouldn’t only be me, but I think everyone would be queuing up to help them, and I think that’s a big part of why we are so successful.”Tom Westley, Lawrence’s captain and de facto house-mate, now that the pair are living in the same bubble, shares Cook’s belief in the progress of their young team-mate.”He knows his game, he’s mature,” Westley said. “Even though he’s young, he has been around for a while. But he’s a stand-up guy and he’s an outstanding professional cricketer.”It has been very refreshing, with him coming back. He’s not a guy who’s going to be complacent, he injects energy and positivity into the squad, and wants to get better himself – even if it’s a warm-up game, he wants to score hundreds. He wants to go to the indoor school to work on his own game, he’s a role model for younger cricketers on how they should go about their cricket, and I think he will slot in like normal.”With Dan, I’ve always said it’s more a matter of when he’ll play for England, and when he will be successful, rather than if.”He’s had a taste. And I hope, and think, he will be successful for England for a number of years. And if he is, that’s going to be good for Essex. He’s very level-headed, he knows how hard it can be, and that there will be ups and downs, but the one thing he has got is complete confidence in his ability.”And already it seems that Lawrence’s game brain is in gear for the new season. He captained the side during their pre-season outing against Lancashire last week, and with a pair of exploratory visits to the middle he feels sufficiently grooved to take what’s coming in an extended run of early-season Championship fixtures.”I got myself in trouble [in the past] with thinking too far ahead,” he said. “So now I’m really focused on taking it game by game and helping Essex win games of cricket. Whether that’s batting a long time or whether it’s the team needing me to score quick runs, it’s about making sure my process and training is right before each game and see where it leads me.”

Being bowled out for 32 against Tasmania, along with IPL absences, heralded a new-look top order

Daniel Brettig14-Apr-2021One of the most famous sporting victories of recent history was the curse-breaking campaign of the 2016 Chicago Cubs to win the Major League baseball club’s first World Series in more than a century. It was built largely upon a formula of marrying up a young and dynamic batting and fielding line-up to a seasoned and powerful pitching roster: young hitters, old pitchers.That formula is not a million miles from the one that New South Wales will take into this week’s Sheffield Shield final. The success or otherwise of the approach will likely give pause to other states at a time when Australian cricket is looking ever more fervently for a fresh batting generation to replenish the huge gaps likely to be left by the likes of David Warner and Steven Smith in coming years.It was only a matter of weeks ago that Mark Taylor, the former Australian captain and longtime New South Wales and Cricket Australia board director, raised alarms about what he perceived to be a lack of batting talent coming through in the nation’s most populous state. “It would mean our Test side just won’t be as good, there’s no doubt about that,” Taylor told the . “The way the numbers in Australia stack up, it’s the responsibility of the two big states to produce their share. If they don’t, chances are Australian cricket will struggle.”Based on the look of the batting order selected for a humiliating Shield defeat to Tasmania, in which the Blues were shot out for 32, Taylor might have had some valid queries: of the top seven, only the recently recalled Jason Sangha was under the age of 25, and none of Daniel Hughes (32), Nick Larkin (30), Daniel Solway (25) or captain Peter Nevill (35) were anywhere near Australian calculations. Of the group, only Kurtis Patterson could realistically have ambitions for the Test team, and faint ones at that based on recent returns.Related

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Taylor’s assertions were met with an unusual level of umbrage from within the state system, not so much for what he had observed at Shield level but for what has been steadily bubbling underneath. There is a wellspring of batting promise among young cricketers in New South Wales, the counter-argument went, they just haven’t been picked yet.Perhaps, then, the Tasmanian humiliation and Taylor’s response were necessary evils for the Blues. As much as Larkin and Solway had earned their chances through steady accumulation at grade level, they also struggled to become consistently high scorers for their state, something that Hughes had at least managed to achieve. At the same time, Nevill’s decision to withdraw from the remainder of the Shield to be present for the birth of his first child, and Moises Henriques’ IPL deal, created additional spots for youth.

The young Blues batters will take the field in the knowledge that the bowling attack alongside them, likely to feature Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Trent Copeland and Sean Abbott, is extremely well versed at pressuring opponents with the benefit of runs on the board

The New South Wales selectors had already shown some degree of interest in the future arc of the national team by elevating Pat Cummins to the domestic limited-overs captaincy ahead of Smith. It was a call effectively indicating their preference for who they would like to see named national captain whenever the time comes for Tim Paine to surrender his post – most likely after next summer’s Ashes series, as commentary roles and the release of a memoir await him.At the same time, the Tasmania defeat forced a pivot to a far more less experienced batting line-up for the final Shield game against Queensland with a place in the final still to secure. Out went Larkin, Solway and Nevill; in came Matthew Gilkes, Jack Edwards, Lachlan Hearne and Baxter Holt as wicketkeeper. Of this group, Edwards (to turn 21 on the final day of the final) has already been heavily invested in, while Hearne (20) and Holt (21) have been growing ever more impatient for chances to show their wares.In Wollongong, Gilkes, Edwards, Hearne and Holt all showed signs of promise, while Sangha responded to greater seniority in the line-up by composing arguably the best century of his young career. The Blues might still have faded to defeat at the hands of Mitchell Swepson if not for a rain-ruined final day of the game, but they at least go into the competition decider with a few more first-innings runs behind them against essentially the same bowling attack they must face again.The new breed: Jack Edwards, Lachlan Hearne, Jason Sangha•Getty ImagesIn between Shield games, of course, 20-year-old Edwards sculpted a century of his own on the domestic limited-overs final at Bankstown to guide the Blues to a 12th one-day title, and will now hope to emulate the feat in the long-form final. The young Blues batters will take the field in the knowledge that the bowling attack alongside them, likely to feature Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Trent Copeland and Sean Abbott, is extremely well versed at pressuring opponents with the benefit of runs on the board.Queensland have much the more travelled batting line-up of the two sides, featuring no less than four Test players in Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw and the captain Usman Khawaja. But it is the performances of young bats in Shield finals that the selectors will be looking most keenly for – think of Justin Langer in 1992, Michael Bevan in 1994, Adam Gilchrist in 1996 or Andrew Symonds and Simon Katich in 1999, all preludes to substantial international careers.”We’ve got so much talent in our batting ranks, so pleasing to see Jack do what he did the other day, to see the way Matt Gilkes and Jason Sangha played the last Shield game against these guys,” Patterson said. “That’ll give them the world of confidence going into this game. It’s certainly on myself and Dan Hughes as the two older guys in the group to make sure we do our part and play our roles, but while those other guys are young, most of them have enough experience now and they’ve got a lot of confidence in their games.”So the balance of the New South Wales side for the Shield final might have been a case of circumstances as much as design, but it has at least provided the game’s decision-makers with some new talents to assess on the biggest stage short of a Test match. It has also followed, if loosely, the formula of those drought-breaking Chicago Cubs.

A look at the Deccan Chargers’ fairytale ride through ESPNcricinfo’s T20 stats metrics

Sampath Bandarupalli22-May-2021All-round Symonds proves to be the MVP
The Deccan Chargers started IPL 2009 with four consecutive victories, two more than what they managed in 2008. But things went downhill after that with the Chargers suffering a hat-trick of losses before they beat the Mumbai Indians. With six matches left in the league phase, Andrew Symonds joined the Chargers, boosting the team in all departments.ESPNcricinfo LtdDespite winning only two of their last six league matches, the Chargers went on to lift their maiden title. Symonds came to the rescue in the final against the Royal Challengers Bangalore with a 21-ball 33 and the wickets of Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli in the 15th over when the required rate was well under eight per over.His all-round show in the final was valued at 127.09 impact points, the highest for the Chargers as per ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats. Even in the semi-final against a star-studded Delhi Daredevils, Symonds gave away only 20 runs in three overs and dismissed Virender Sehwag. Symonds earned 541.59 impact points through the tournament and was ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats MVP for securing 67.7 points per game.ESPNcricinfo LtdSymonds scored 249 runs at a strike rate of 150 in the eight matches he played. With the ball, he struck seven times and had an economy rate of 6.66. On four occasions he had an economy rate of under six. Matthew Hayden, the orange cap winner, is second on our MVP list. He scored 572 runs from only 12 matches, earning a total impact score of 743.93 and a per-match impact of 62.52.Another player from the Chennai Super Kings, Suresh Raina, occupies third place with an average of 55.61 points per game. Raina scored 434 runs and claimed seven wickets to have a total impact score of 772.97 points, the highest for any player in IPL 2009. Two members from the title-winning team, Adam Gilchrist and Dwayne Smith complete the top five for the tournament.ESPNcricinfo LtdSmith, like Symonds, played only eight matches but had several impactful knocks. He had four scores of 35 or more, all of them coming at a strike rate of over 145. In one of the games, he conceded only 25 runs in four overs while bowling to the likes of Sehwag, AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik. The entry of Symonds ruined Smith’s chances of making it to the XI as Herschelle Gibbs and Ryan Harris took up the other two overseas spots.Gilchrist’s surge in Smart Runs
The top five run-getters of IPL 2009 retain their position when it comes to the Smart Runs leaderboard for the season, though the difference between the runs and Smart Runs varies. Hayden, who was consistent throughout the tournament, ended up as the only player to breach the 500-run mark. In terms of Smart Runs, though, two batters breached the 600 mark. Hayden’s Smart Runs tally of 663.36 was 91 more than his actual 572 runs.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe gap for Gilchrist was 113 runs – 495 actual runs versus 608.13 Smart Runs, thanks to his exploits at the top. His strike rate in the tournament read 152.30, the highest among players to have faced at least 150 balls. Gilchrist, the actual Player of the Tournament, often wrested the advantage in the powerplay with his aggression: he scored 382 runs during this phase, more than 100 clear of the next best, while striking at 165.36.Indian bowlers dominate Smart Wickets leaderboard
RP Singh won the purple cap for his 23 wickets, two more than Anil Kumble who took a four-for in the final. Singh was also the topper in terms of Smart Wickets, but the gap between them was much narrower. Kumble’s bowling effort in the final was worth a six-wicket haul as per Smart Stats, which gave him a slender lead over Singh before the Royal Challengers’ chase but Singh eventually overtook Kumble. The seamer’s 23 wickets were worth 25.78 Smart Wickets and his 11 powerplay wickets were the joint-most by any player in the tournament.ESPNcricinfo LtdKumble picked up 16 wickets of the top six batters. He bowled effectively in all three phases, providing the breakthroughs alongside an excellent economy rate of a run a ball. This helped Kumble in attaining the highest bowling impact (623.49) and the highest bowling rating (38.97) of the tournament as per Smart Stats. While only two players took 20 or more wickets in the tournament, Smart Stats adjusts it to five players with 20-plus Smart Wickets including four Indians.ESPNcricinfo LtdPragyan Ojha, whose 16 out of 18 wickets were of the top six batters, earned 23.79 Smart Wickets. Ashish Nehra, who had nine wickets of opening batters in his 19 tournament scalps, finished with 23.18 Smart Wickets. The 15 wickets of Dirk Nannes were worth 20.82 Smart Wickets as 14 of his actual wickets were of top-order batters, with eight of them coming in the powerplays.