Sports
RCB rope in Hasaranga and Chameera for IPL
The Sri Lankan pair of Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera, as well as Australia’s Singapore-born Tim David, have joined Royal Challengers Bangalore for the second part of IPL 2021. The franchise has also zeroed in on George Garton, the left-arm quick who played a major part in Southern Brave becoming the first-ever champions of the Hundred. ESPNcricinfo understands that Garton’s inclusion is only pending approval from the IPL governing council.
While those are the additions, some players will be missed too: New Zealanders Finn Allen and Scott Kuggeleijn, and the Australians Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams and Adam Zampa.
That aside, there’s been a change at the top among the coaching staff, with Simon Katich stepping down from his position as head coach, and Mike Hesson, at present the director of cricket operations, taking on the additional responsibility of filling in for Katich.
“Some significant changes in our playing squad, from an overseas perspective, due to player unavailability and, indeed, a reshaping of our overseas contingent,” Hesson explained in a press interaction on Saturday. “Finn Allen and Scott Kuggeleijn have been selected for New Zealand tours, and they won’t be part of RCB. Kane Richardson has made himself unavailable, as has Daniel Sams, so the balance of our squad has changed dramatically. So we have obviously gone about making purchases during the replacement window, which opened up about four or five days ago. A lot of preparation has gone into that.”
Hasaranga coming on board is the big news on that front. The 24-year-old legspin-bowling allrounder has been making heads turn in recent times, and certainly made an impression, especially with the ball, when India went to Sri Lanka in July for a limited-overs series, with a three-for in the second ODI and seven wickets – including a 4 for 9 – to top the bowling charts in the three T20Is. At the end of that series, Hasaranga was placed second among T20I bowlers in the ICC rankings.
“One thing we can say is we have replaced Adam Zampa with Wanindu Hasaranga. Certainly delighted to have Hasaranga on board,” Hesson said. “He gives us some balance, obviously from a wristspin point of view and also plenty of batting capability.”
Chameera has also been among the wickets in what is a second coming of sorts for him in international cricket, with a bagful of wickets in England in June and then against India at home. As for David, apart from being among the runs in the Big Bash League, he had a good feel of the conditions in the subcontinent during his time with the Lahore Qalandars, scoring 180 runs at an average of 45 and a strike rate of 166.66 in PSL 2021.
“Chameera, another [from] the Sri Lankan contingent, he is bowling extremely well at the moment. I know him well, having coached against him. He’s got genuine pace and also his white-ball game has developed significantly over the last few years,” Hesson said. “With Finn Allen leaving, we have decided to strengthen our middle-order possibilities, in terms of options, so Tim David has joined our squad.
“He is currently part of the Southern Brave [at the Hundred], he has been performing for Surrey and also Hobart Hurricanes in recent times – a power player who could become a straight swap for either [Glenn] Maxwell or AB de Villiers if required, also gives us other options throughout the order.
“We also have one [more] spot to fill, which we will be looking to do in the coming days. Yeah, it’s been a busy period of time to be able to get that squad together, but delighted with the group we’ve got. Wanindu, Chameera and Tim David are certainly some high-quality players that will add to the likes of AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson and Daniel Christian. So that’s seven of our eight overseas contingent.”
Katich steps down because of
“personal reasons”
Along with the tweaks in playing personnel, there was also the big update – though Rajesh Menon, vice president and team head, called it a “small change” – about Katich, who had replaced Gary Kirsten as head coach after the 2019 season.
“Simon Katich, the head coach of RCB, has decided to step down as on date, mainly due to personal reasons, and we, as management, support his decision and completely back him on this,” Menon said. “As per the [franchise’s] business continuity plan, Mike Hesson will step in and discharge the duties of head coach until end of this tournament.”
Team to reach Dubai on August 29
With the squad members (mostly) identified, it’s time to get the travel schedule in place. While captain Virat Kohli and pacer Mohammed Siraj are in England for the ongoing Test series and will follow the national team’s schedule, the rest will leave for the UAE – RCB will be put up in Dubai – on August 29, some from India, and the rest from wherever they are stationed at the time.
“The Indian players, minus the players in England, support staff and the team management, will be assembling in Bangalore today. Following which, we will undergo a seven-day quarantine in Bangalore, and we will have three Covid tests during this seven-day quarantine,” Menon said. “The team will depart via chartered flight on August 29, in the afternoon. Once we land in the UAE, again we will have a six-day hard quarantine, and the testing protocol as per BCCI.
“As for the overseas players and support staff, they will be coming in on August 29 and they will also undergo six days of quarantine there. Once we are all clear, we will be on the field and we will have a clear practice schedule which Mike and the [coaching] team will draw up.”
The second leg of the IPL will begin in the UAE on September 19. RCB will resume their season on September 20, against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Royal Challengers have been one of the most followed teams in the IPL over the years, and have made the final four on six occasions, finishing runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016. After that last second-place finish, though, they had a terrible run, finishing eighth, sixth and eighth – among eight teams – before bouncing back in 2020, when they finished fourth.
This year has been a pleasant change. Before the positive Covid-19 cases in a number of team set-ups forced the authorities to postpone IPL 2021 (and, later, move it to the UAE), the Royal Challengers had won five of their seven games, and were in third place – behind the Delhi Capitals and the Chennai Super Kings.
Hesson said the key for the team, in their bid to keep up the good run of results, would be to “reaffirm the key components of why we were successful; things didn’t just happen by accident, we were able to have the right people performing the right roles at key times.”
While the 2014 edition of the IPL was also split between the UAE and India because of the general elections that year, this is the first instance of the tournament being interrupted by a gap of more than four months. Disruptive for the teams, yes, but as Hesson agreed, a chance to reboot and sort out whatever flaws might be there.
“When sides have looked at the replacement window, they would have looked at the conditions that we are likely to face in the UAE, and even within the three venues (Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah), there are some subtle differences there. I guess it gives you a chance to reflect and just reconfigure the structure of your side, whether that’s a change in balance or in personnel or match-ups,” Hesson said. “Every side has just had a chance to make sure they know the conditions well and they have selected a squad that’s going to give them the best chance, and we’re certainly no different.” (ESPN)
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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