How long? Well, the West Indian opener says he could be around until he’s 45

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jan-2020Chris Gayle’s love for cricket is still going strong. Having taken a break from the game towards the end of 2019, he’s back in action with the Chattogram Challengers in the BPL, and he says he will continue playing T20s for a while yet.”A lot of people still want see Chris Gayle out there in the middle,” Gayle said during a media interaction in Dhaka. “I still have that love for the game and that passion for the game as well. And I would love to carry on as long as possible.”Even in franchise cricket I am still playing a few games here and there around the globe because I still feel I have a lot to offer. The body is feeling good. And I am sure I am getting younger as days go on.”As to how long he might want to carry on, Gayle, who turned 40 in September, joked that he could keep going for five more years.”Forty-five is a good number. Yeah, we can target 45. Let’s target 45, that’s a good number.”Gayle hasn’t played a Test match since 2014, and in August he played what seemed to be – though it might not have been – his farewell ODI in Port-of-Spain. He wasn’t part of West Indies’ recent tour of India and isn’t playing the ongoing home series against Ireland, but he remains part of their T20I plans in a T20 World Cup year.He faces competition from the young faces that have recently come into the team, but he hopes he will still be part of the T20 World Cup in Australia at the end of the year.”It’d be nice. It’s open, the door’s open for a chance,” Gayle said. “We’ll see what happens. We have some bright youngsters ahead of you as well. I will leave the options open to hear back from [the selectors].”

Batsman added 118 in 19.5 overs alongside James Bracey as Lions rack up mammoth first-innings total

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2020Dan Lawrence made 190 to put continue his stellar form and put England Lions into a commanding position on the second day of their tour match against a Cricket Australia XI in Hobart.Resuming on 103 not out overnight, Lawrence put his foot down on the second morning, adding 118 in just 19.5 overs for the sixth wicket alongside James Bracey, taking him to 190 before he was eventually dismissed by Jake Lehmann’s part-time spin. Lawrence has been the standout player across the tour, his innings in this game following scores of 50*, 35 and 41 as well as six wickets in the one-day leg of the tour.Bracey made 58 before becoming Brendan Doggett’s fourth victim, while Lewis Gregory put on 78 in 13.3 overs with Craig Overton before declaring at the fall of his wicket. The total of 613 for 8 declared was the second-highest in the history of England Lions and England A sides, behind only a score of 624 for 8 declared against South Africa A in 2015.Gregory struck almost immediately with the new ball, having Caleb Jewell caught behind with the third delivery of the reply, before Sam Whiteman and Jason Sangha provided some resistance. Richard Gleeson, the Lancashire fast bowler, made the breakthrough by bowling Whiteman, but Sangha continued to frustrate the Lions with an unbroken stand of 79 with Lehmann.”I’m really proud of the boys who’ve helped us rack up this formidable total to put us in a strong position to win this match,” said Gregory. “Dom [Sibley] and Keaton [Jennings] batted beautifully yesterday, with Dan carrying on his day-one form to propel us even further today with great support from James.”I enjoyed my partnership at the end with Craig to push past the 600 mark and we’ve started well in the tough task of taking 20 Australian wickets. The next two days will be a great test for us.”

But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it motivates him to be a better cricketer

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Feb-2020Adam Zampa is four years old in international cricket, and is Australia’s first-choice white-ball spinner, but he still doesn’t feel “comfortable” at this level. Although that may not necessarily be a bad thing.”Even now I don’t feel comfortable, which is probably a good thing to be honest – same as any professional cricketer at this level,” Zampa said after Australia won the Cape Town decider to seal the T20I series against South Africa. “I probably feel the same, but I haven’t been comfortable since I’ve been playing professional cricket. So, hope it’s a good thing that keeps me driven and as I said earlier, I hope for constant improvement. As I get older, get more experience, train harder and think about the game a bit different and think about it…”Zampa and left-arm fingerspinner Ashton Agar had played central roles in Australia’s 2-1 victory. While Zampa picked up five wickets at an economy rate of 5.89, Agar emerged as the top wicket-taker in the series, with eight scalps at an economy rate of 5.66. Agar took a career-best 5 for 24 in the T20I series opener, and Zampa said he relished bowling in tandem with Agar.”I’m really confident after the Big Bash and it’s nice to bowl well in this series too, but yeah it’s probably very similar for Ash,” Zampa said. “We speak about spin bowling a lot, we speak about our roles – we do a lot of preparation on the opposition and things like that we talk about a lot. And Ash keeps getting better and better every game as well. He is still a pretty young guy too. Probably took him a little bit longer because of the [holding] role he played at Perth Scorchers for a long time. But, yeah he’s a frontline bowler now, and that’s for sure. The more he plays, the better he gets.”Zampa also put the recent success down to his chemistry with Agar off the field.”Yeah, really good combination,” he said. “The best thing is we’ve got a really good friendship, and as I said before, the way we talk about it and understand that our roles might change day in and day out. So, yeah communication is huge and preparation and as I said our friendship is really close.”Australia will now turn their focus to the three-match ODI series, which begins in Paarl on Saturday, and Zampa touched upon the challenge of adapting to ODI cricket and tuning up for the T20 World Cup at home later this year.”It actually takes a bit of adapting from T20 cricket to one-day cricket,” he said. “It’s not [similar], I don’t find it to be similar at all to be honest – yeah it’s going to be a good couple of days preparation and good confidence after this win. But, I think there is a different thought to how T20 works from one-day cricket.”Yeah, I think we’ve found a really good combination. The batting side basically picks itself and then our bowling combination is really working at the moment. So, the line-up of our team is great and if we play that team going into the T20 World Cup and keep playing the way we do, we’re going to give that a serious nudge.”Zampa had just played two T20Is when he was thrown into the previous T20 World Cup in India in 2016. Zampa, 23 then, was simply happy to be part of the tournament in which Australia exited without qualifying for the semi-finals. Four years on and armed with more experience playing for Australia and Melbourne Stars in the BBL, Zampa wants to win games in the upcoming T20 World Cup.”I was just excited to be there [in 2016] and it was disappointing to lose,” he recalled. “I just look back and think wow! I’ve played a World Cup, but I think it’s a little bit different now. I’ve got the drive to win games for Australia. I think I can help that rather than thinking I’m just happy to be there.”

India came undone in the face of a spectacular onslaught in front of an MCG crowd of 86,174

The Report by Andrew McGlashan08-Mar-2020″We haven’t played our best game of cricket yet and that’s still out there somewhere and hopefully it happens tomorrow,” Meg Lanning said on Saturday. Her team delivered in magnificent fashion, riding on the coattails of an audacious innings from Alyssa Healy, to claim a fifth T20 World Cup title with a crushing 85-run win in front of an MCG crowd of 86,174, just marginally short of a new world record for a women’s sports event.
.There were so many bigger-picture narratives about the day, but there was only one thing in the minds of the two teams for the few hours on the field. It was Australia’s day from the moment Lanning won the toss. They set the tone with the first over of both innings. Healy was dropped in an over that went for 14, making a similar statement that her husband, Mitchell Starc, who was among the thousands watching, did against New Zealand in 2015 men’s World Cup final. In the field, Megan Schutt got the better of Shafali Verma who had previously won their head-to-head hands down.That winning feeling – Meg Lanning is over the moon•AFP via Getty Images

It had not just been about Healy with the bat. Beth Mooney, who was also dropped on 8, finished as the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 259 at 64.75 after an expertly-paced 78 of 54 balls to ensure the opening stand was built on even if India clawed things back somewhat in the final five overs.That was the only period where the contest was even close. After Verma’s early departure things quickly got worse for India when Taniya Bhatia was forced to retire hurt after a blow on the neck (and was later subbed out with concussion) and before the end of the fourth over both Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandana had picked out mid-on against left-arm spin. All that was left was for Australia to finish the job.Powerplay statementAgainst the first ball of the final Healy came down the pitch against Deepti Sharma and swung a boundary through midwicket. The same could easily have happened the next two deliveries as well as Sharma took until her fourth delivery to pitch the ball. Then came a moment India will rue for a long time when Healy drilled a chance to cover where Verma shelled it. Another boundary, driven beautifully through the covers, signed off the first over which cost 14 runs. Even that early in the match it felt like a huge swing towards Australia. After two overs Healy had five boundaries and though she only added one more in the next four, by the end of the powerplay Australia had a firm grip at 49 for 0.Healy’s awesome strikingImmediately after the fielding restrictions were relaxed, India turned to their trump card on Poonam Yadav. Her first delivery was a perfectly decent googly that was nudged into the off side by Mooney. It might sound like a very small moment, but that was the delivery that caused so many problems in the opening match at the Sydney Showground. Australia’s strong start meant they could also sit on her somewhat, especially when the carnage continued at the other end. Healy was taking things to a new level. Two consecutive sixes straight down the ground off Rajeshwari Gayakwad – the first 83 metres – powered her towards a 30-ball fifty, the fastest by a male or female in any ICC global limited-overs final. Even better was to follow, though, when she launched three consecutive sixes off Shikha Pandey, the third of them a drive over cover that was eye-poppingly brilliant.Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney rode their luck to give Australia a great start•Getty Images

Mooney trademark inningsMooney’s innings summed up so much about her career: overshadowed, for a large period, by a team-mate but when you look she has top-scored with a defining innings. She was the perfect foil for Healy’s early onslaught, feeding the strike to her partner as often as she could although not without some eye-catching shots of her own. When Healy fell, picking out long-on trying for a sixth six, Mooney went to a 41-ball half-century and followed it with a pristine inside-out cover drive off Radha Yadav. To India’s credit, they did not completely fall apart. Sharma struck twice in her last over to exact a modicum of revenge by claiming Lanning and Ash Gardner. Having started the last five overs with nine wickets in hand they only brought 42 runs.Schutt fires back, India foldSchutt’s first over the tournament, against India, went for 16 as Verma took hold of her. “Clearly, I don’t think I’m the best match-up to those two in the powerplay, they find me easy to play,” she said after the semi-final. It was a very different story this time. Verma laid down the gauntlet with a wonderful lofted drive first ball, only for it to plug in the outfield, but two balls later edged a back-of-a-length delivery with Healy following her runs with a superb catch up to the stumps. The first three bowlers used by Australia – Schutt, Jess Jonassen and Sophie Molineux – all struck in their opening overs. It was complete dominance.Finishing touchesHarmanpreet Kaur has done some magnificent things against Australia, but this has not been a great tournament for her and it ended with a slog-sweep that found deep midwicket to leave India 30 for 4. It was another wicket for Jonassen who, like Mooney, is such a key part of the team but does not always get the airtime of others. Australia could easily have drifted through the closing overs, but their fielding and catching was a final statement of how they peaked when it mattered. Mission accomplished.

The matches had been scheduled for early August but were always doubtful

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jun-2020Zimbabwe’s three-match ODI tour of Australia in early August has been postponed due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19.Although the series, which was set to be played in northern Australia, had been included in the schedule put out last month it was always unlikely it would take place.A range of issues have prevented the games from being played including the short length of the series, the significant bio-security measures that would need to be implemented prior to August, and concern for the health and safety of players, match officials, and volunteers.Speaking earlier this month Justin Langer indicated the matches were not on his radar when he spoke about getting the players ready for a potential return to action in September with the possibility of a rescheduled limited-overs tour to England.The matches were due to be played on August 9, 12, and 15 although only the third game had a venue confirmed with Townsville. It is the first full home series Australia have lost due to Covid-19 although the final two ODIs against New Zealand in March were cancelled after the opening game of the series was played behind closed doors at the SCG. Their Test tour to Bangladesh in June was also postponed.Outside of the 2015 World Cup it would have been Zimbabwe’s first visit to Australia since taking part in a tri-series in 2004 and Cricket Australia said they were committed to finding a future slot for the matches. Since Covid-19 struck, Zimbabwe have also lost series against Ireland, Afghanistan and India.”While we are disappointed to postpone the series, CA and ZC agree that in the best interest of players, match officials, volunteers as well as our fans, that this is the most practical and sensible decision,” CA’s interim chief executive Nick Hockley said. “We are committed to working with Zimbabwe Cricket on alternative dates to reschedule.”Acting Zimbabwe Cricket Managing Director, Givemore Makoni, said: “We were excited about facing Australia but, given the circumstances, deferring the tour was the only option. We are, however, looking forward to the rescheduling of the series as soon as practically possible.”There are ongoing discussions between CA and the ECB about Australia travelling in September for the ODI and T20I matches that were originally scheduled for July. The next scheduled home cricket for the men’s team is two T20I series against West Indies and India in early October although they are also likely to be moved if, as expected, the T20 World Cup is postponed.

Leicestershire’s early inroads thwarted as match takes place at Worcester’s New Road

ECB Reporters Network01-Aug-2020Lancashire 265 for 6 (Vilas 90, Croft 63) v Leicestershire A fifth wicket partnership of 130 between Dane Vilas and Steven Croft helped Lancashire recover after being reduced to 97 for 4 shortly after lunch on the opening day of their Bob Willis Trophy match against Leicestershire at Blackfinch New Road.Captain Vilas led the way for Lancashire, hitting 14 fours in going to 90 off 126 deliveries before edging a drive off the bowling of Tom Taylor to slip, where Hassan Azad hung on to the chance. It was redemption of sorts for Azad, who failed to pick up an earlier chance given by Vilas off the same bowler when he scored just 28.The morning had seen Leicestershire make Lancashire’s batsmen work hard for their runs after Vilas had won the toss and chosen to bat.Both sides fielded debutants. Batsman Ben Slater, signed on two weeks’ loan from Nottinghamshire, made his first start for the Foxes, while all-rounder George Balderson and bowlers Tom Hartley and Ed Moulton made their first start for Lancashire – the first time Lancashire had given three men a debut in the same match since 2002.Taylor made an early breakthrough, trapping opener Keaton Jennings leg before wicket with a full delivery that swung back in to the left-hander.Alex Davies and Josh Bohannon put together a partnership of 39 for the second wicket before Davies, who had hit five boundaries in moving on to 21, mistimed a pull at a sharp delivery from left-arm seamer Dieter Klein. The ball looped towards midwicket where George Rhodes took a fine low catch two-handed to his right.Klein then bowled Rob Jones with a quick yorker that swung back in to hit the right-hander’s off-stump, and then had Bohannon caught down the leg-side by wicket-keeper Harry Swindells, gloving an attempted pull at a short ball after playing impressively in going to 44.Lancashire looked to be in trouble, but Vilas led the fightback in typically belligerent style. The experienced Croft played the ideal supporting innings, but having reached his own half-century, was surprisingly dismissed shortly before the close when he went back to a delivery from off-spinner Colin Ackermann and was given out leg before wicket.Before the game started, everyone on the ground participated in a minute’s applause to pay tribute to those affected by the Covid pandemic. The players also took a knee to emphasise their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

White-ball captain got to interact with fringe players and was greatly impressed by them

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-2020Players on the fringes of the South African men’s team were afforded an opportunity to integrate with senior stars at the recently completed culture camp. The squad of 32 included the 16 contracted members of the national side as well as the High-Performance unit and the white-ball captain Quinton de Kock highlighted exactly why it was important for them to mingle.”In this environment, even though you’re contracted, it doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed to play,” he said in a CSA press release on Thursday. “So I think it was important that the up and coming players needed to be there with the squad. This is professional sport and we’re trying to play the best team that we can. If a younger guy is performing and he gets an opportunity, it doesn’t help that he hasn’t been here and he doesn’t know anything.”We’ve seen what they’ve done in the franchise system and we know there’s a potential future for them in the team, so it was important for them to come here. It was great to learn some views from the younger guys and help them understand the situation with the Proteas and how we want to go about things.”South African cricket has recently been waylaid by stories of racial tension. This culture camp, which took place at Kruger National Park earlier this month, was a way to address that tension and at the end of it, it was decided that the South African team should never again be a place where players experience isolation or feel unable to express their feelings, and should foster respect, belonging and empathy. In service of that, their “Protea Fire” identity has been put on hold.”I think it’s been really good,” de Kock said. “We’ve had a lot of good chats which I think the team needed. Everyone is leaving feeling a lot better about the environment and about themselves. A lot of guys got things off their back. We feel a lot more comfortable as a team going forward, which was needed… we’re excited about going into the future now.”We are human and we make mistakes,” he continued. “We’re trying to get better in what we’re doing in our professions, that’s why we got together. I can’t promise results but I can promise that we’ll get better and we are learning, which will give us the best chance of getting better results.”Players who attended the camp: Aiden Markram, Andile Phehlukwayo, Anrich Nortje, Beuran Hendricks, Bjorn Fortuin, Daryn Dupavillon, David Miller, Dean Elgar, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Glenton Stuurman, Heinrich Klaasen, Janneman Malan, Jon-Jon Smuts, Junior Dala, Kagiso Rabada, Keegan Petersen, Keshav Maharaj, Kyle Verryenne, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Pieter Malan, Pite Van Biljon, Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks, Rudi Second, Senuran Muthusamy, Sisanda Magala, Tabraiz Shamsi, Temba Bavuma, Zubayr Hamza, Theunis de Bruyn.Faf du Plessis was unable to join the team due to the birth of his second daughter, Zoey.

CSA has also made fresh appointments for bowling lead, academy lead and U-19 coach

Firdose Moonda10-Sep-2020Neil McKenzie has been appointed South Africa’s “high performance batting lead” and will work across the men’s, women’s, Under-19 and academy structures. McKenzie, who resigned as Bangladesh’s batting coach last month was named alongside bowling lead Vincent Barnes, national academy lead Malibongwe Maketa and Under-19 coach Shukri Conrad, as CSA added to the number of employees under director of cricket Graeme Smith’s portfolio.The new appointments mean CSA is unlikely to make use of consultants in the coaching structures, thereby avoiding controversy over its affirmative action policy. Last week, CSA confirmed that they would look to engage people of colour in consultancy roles in an attempt to redress racial discrimination. Their stance attracted a complaint from the Institute of Race Relations, who wrote to the ICC alleging government interference in the running of the board. That letter has been received but has not been acted on yet and, since then, CSA has clarified that the policy is not set in stone and announced the appointment of two white coaches and three coaches of colour.On Tuesday, Dillon du Preez was unveiled as the women’s national team’s assistant coach and two days later, McKenzie’s new role has also been revealed. This will be his second stint with South Africa, after working with them under Russell Domingo for a year from 2016.While McKenzie will not work exclusively with the men’s national team, it is likely he will have a significant presence there because the side currently does not have a permanent batting coach. Jacques Kallis was in the job as a consultant over the 2019-20 summer but has not been re-engaged. McKenzie will also be involved with developing batsmen in the pipeline and believes his experience in the subcontinent will allow him to help more batsmen.”I was with Bangladesh for two years and went to the World Cup with Bangladesh, so I have come back more rounded as a coach. I’m looking forward to doing my bit,” McKenzie said.Barnes, who was previously South Africa’s assistant coach and has since worked in the High Performance Structure, will mirror McKenzie from a bowling perspective. Because Charl Langeveldt is permanently with the national men’s team as their bowling coach, Barnes is more likely to work with players in the national academy and with Maketa in the A team.ALSO READ: South Africa players demand CSA action before ‘the game we love may be irreparably damaged’Maketa, who is the only black African appointment, is also a former national assistant coach, having worked under Ottis Gibson between 2017 and 2019. When Gibson’s contract was not renewed, Maketa found himself out of a job too and was only brought back into the system when Smith asked him to work with the Under-19 side ahead of this year’s World Cup.That brings Maketa back to senior cricket where his international experience will be called on to help players prepare to make the step up to the national side. “Malibongwe is quite an experienced coach with a Proteas background and a high level of franchise experience, and it’s important that a guy like that is working across our next-best talent. He will also be assisting the national women’s team where and when his expertise will be required,” Smith said.At the Under-19 level, Conrad, who has coached the Cobras and the Lions franchises, the National Academy and the Uganda national team, takes over from Lawrence Mahatlane, who in turn has left for Uganda. Under Mahatlane, the Under-19 team finished eighth at this year’s World Cup, a dizzying fall from winning the tournament in 2014.”I like Shukri’s style – he’s old-school, he’s to the point and gets the job done,” Smith said. “I think at that level, his coaching expertise and knowledge of the game are going to be key. The other thing is talent identification, I think that’s a real strength of Shukri’s ability as a coach and he’s got good support in the form of scouts.”The only outstanding role left to be filled is that of national convenor of selectors. Interviews were conducted in April and the incumbent Linda Zondi is among the candidates who are being considered.

The two teams are scheduled to play a World Test Championship series in Sri Lanka starting October 23

Mohammad Isam14-Sep-2020Disagreements over Covid-19 protocols continue to dog Bangladesh’s World Test Championship series in Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to begin in late October. Last week, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) that the Bangladesh players would need to be in quarantine for one week upon landing in the island, before being able to train.SLC has now increased the quarantine period to 14 days, and BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said it won’t be possible for his players to be confined to their hotel rooms for that long. Immediately after the BCB had spelled out its stance, Sri Lanka’s sports minister Namal Rajapaksa tweeted that he has asked the SLC to consult the Covid task force to reconsider the matter.After an emergency board meeting, Hassan said that they had been working on a schedule with a seven-day quarantine in mind. But a 14-day period would mean that the Bangladesh Test squad, all of whom haven’t played a competitive match in six months, will get just one week to prepare for the first Test scheduled on October 23.”We cannot play World Test Championships with these term and conditions,” Hassan said. “Until their letter yesterday, both boards were having discussions along the lines of a seven-day quarantine,” Hassan said. “But now their terms and conditions are nowhere near those discussions, and neither are they anything close to what other countries hosting cricket in the pandemic are doing. There are three or seven-day quarantines in those places where the players can either train among themselves or use the gym.Hassan said that the SLC’s limiting of their entourage, while at the same time refusing to give them net bowlers, would be further troubling for the touring side.”[SLC] have told us that our players can’t even step out of the hotel room. Not even for food. They have also chosen Dambulla as the venue for the initial training camp which would leave us isolated in any case. They can have the domestic league with so many players nationwide but we have to face such tough restrictions. I have found out that other teams haven’t faced such conditions. We are astounded.” When the tour was first agreed upon, the BCB had planned to send their High Performance team over as well so that they can play the Test team and help them prepare over the first two weeks of their tour. The BCB would bear all costs even if it meant at least a 60-member contingent traveling together from Dhaka, and then returning from Colombo, after both teams’ tour ends in mid-November. Bangladesh’s first two practice matches were also scheduled against the HP side, after which the SLC was supposed to take over and host one practice match before the Test series. But the SLC was handed these stricter conditions by the country’s health authorities this week, which they conveyed to the BCB.”Seeing that they started domestic cricket, we informed the SLC that we are coming with a big squad so that we can have our training camp there,” Hasan said. “But they will not allow us to train when our players have been inactive for seven months. They won’t even let us take net bowlers and neither are they going to provide us with any net bowlers. How can we play World Test Championship without any training? So it is not possible for us.”Bangladesh were scheduled to leave for Colombo on September 27, with the first Test slated to begin on October 23.

While not mathematically out of the race yet, Dhoni’s team faces a tough road to make the playoffs

Debayan Sen22-Oct-20208:40

Should Chennai make wholesale changes? Do Mumbai need Pattinson back?

Big picture

Captain MS Dhoni and head coach Stephen Fleming may have sounded unusually downbeat after Chennai Super Kings put in a below-par performance in their previous match against Rajasthan Royals, but mathematically the Super Kings are still in the race to maintain their record of qualifying for the playoffs every season. This despite losing the services of allrounder Dwayne Bravo to injury, and with Dhoni’s selection choices coming under fire from various quarters. The fact that even three wins from their four remaining games could just sneak them into the top four – provided other results go their way – should give them the necessary spark with the death of the round robin games approaching.ALSO READ: Fantasy-team suggestions for Super Kings vs MumbaiTheir immediate opponents Mumbai Indians have suffered a couple of hiccups along the way, but look on course to making the playoffs yet again. They have had an extra day’s rest compared to the Super Kings, and considering the drama of their epic encounter with the Kings XI Punjab, they would be thankful for it. Captain Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan appeared to suffer injuries during Sunday’s match, and their non-availability might not be such a bad thing. With just 13 players used from their roster yet, Mumbai wouldn’t mind valuable match practice for those having warmed the bench thus far, especially looking at the business end of the tournament.

In the news

• The 2020 season remains the only time when Dhoni is yet to register a score of 50 or more while his average of 27.30 is his lowest for the Super Kings in any season. Dhoni’s strike rate of 125 is also the second lowest for the franchise – he had struck 372 runs at 122 in 2015 – and with the middle order a weak link for the Super Kings, Dhoni hitting form is not just crucial but also imperative for their playoffs hopes to stay alive.
• If Mumbai choose to rest Rohit, Kieron Pollard can step into the role of captain, as he has in the past for them. This can also allow Chris Lynn and Dhawal Kulkarni – both unused so far – to play at the expense of a foreign seamer. Pollard’s form with the bat has been key for Mumbai’s continued form this season. After falling to Lungi Ngidi for 18 in the first match of the season, he has rattled up 190 more runs at a strike rate of 211 in six innings without being dismissed. Owing to Pollard, Mumbai average 10.60 in the last 10 overs while batting, and have smashed 20 or more runs in an over at the death for as many as seven times.

Previous meeting

It was the very first game of the season in Abu Dhabi. Dhoni used his resources expertly to ensure no Mumbai batsman scored more than 42, as all his bowlers chipped in with wickets and restricted the defending champions to 162. Despite early jitters, Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis spearheaded the Super Kings’ reply to bring them their first win against Mumbai following a 4-0 wipeout last season.

Likely XIs

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Shane Watson, 3 N Jagadeesan/Ruturaj Gaikwad, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 MS Dhoni (capt and wk), 6 Sam Curran, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Karn Sharma/KM Asif, 11 Josh Hazlewood/Imran TahirMumbai Indians: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt)/Chris Lynn, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Ishan Kishan/Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Nathan Coulter-Nile/Dhawal Kulkarni, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Strategy punts

• The Super Kings promoted Sam Curran to open the batting against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, and while they won that match, his strike rate of 108 at the top pales in comparison to the 219 he was going at previously this season. Curran also strikes at 190 against spin, as opposed to 127 against pace.
• Similarly, Ravindra Jadeja currently averages 48.50 and strikes at 164, both being his best returns with the bat in an IPL. Curran and Jadeja can both be employed as floaters – especially keeping the smaller boundaries of Sharjah in mind – to motor along in the middle overs.
• Typically, Mumbai use one over of Jasprit Bumrah in the powerplay and another around the 11th or 12th over mark, before holding back two overs for the death. However, his recent form has been terrific – his average and economy have dipped to 11.50 and 5.80 in the last four matches, as opposed to 25.1 and 8.80 in the first five. Besides, his match-ups with Shane Watson (who averages 23.5 and strikes at 87), Dhoni (average 15.7 and strike rate 92) and Curran (dismissed both times they’ve met while averaging seven) could encourage a break from the norm and more overs in the first half of the innings.

Stats that matter

• Matches in Sharjah have followed no set pattern that the teams can go by. If the first four games produced an average first innings total of 219 with four successive teams batting first and crossing 200, that number has dipped to 182 and zero respectively, in the four matches that have followed. Similarly, the economy rate for spinners went from 10.5 in the first four matches to 7.5 in the four played since.
• This will be the 200th T20 match for the Super Kings, who have 118 wins from 199 games till now. They will join Mumbai, the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders as teams with 200 T20 matches, with only Mumbai (126) having won more matches.
• Dhoni needs one six to reach 200 sixes as captain in the IPL.
• Bumrah needs three wickets to reach 100 wickets in the IPL and 200 in all T20s.
• Krunal Pandya needs 27 runs to reach 1000 IPL runs.