Moeen Ali created a bit of history with his feat at The Oval. Can you figure out which of these facts are correct?

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jul-2017

As Thiruvananthapuram gears up to host its first T20I, a flashback to visits by international teams in the past

Biju Parameswaran 06-Nov-2017Even though Thiruvananthapuram was never a serious landmark in India’s cricketing map, it was host to some interesting matches in the 1980s, including a couple of international ones. The University Stadium in the locality of Palayam, with a seating capacity of 20,000, was the closest to a cricketing ground the city had.The West Indians are said to have played a match in the city as far back as in 1961. Their legendary opening batsman Conrad Hunte hit Kerala’s fastest bowler so far out of the park that the ball was never retrieved. I was a sixth grade student at the city’s St. Joseph’s school when England, under Keith Fletcher, toured India in 1981. The only remarkable event of that dull six-Test series was a double century by Gundappa Viswanath in Madras. The Englishmen visited Thiruvananthapuram to play a friendly one-day match against the state team. Seeing the news headline “MCC vs. Kerala Chief Minister’s XI”, I naively believed that Kerala’s chief minister, Mr EK Nayanar, would pad up and play!The year 1983 saw India progress from also-rans to world champions. West Indies, under a 39-year-old Clive Lloyd, toured India and humiliated us 3-0 in Tests and 5-0 in the ODIs to avenge the loss at Lord’s. Midway through the tour they came down to Thiruvananthapuram to take on the India Under-22s, led by Manoj Prabhakar. West Indies rested Gordon Greenidge, Lloyd and keeper Jeff Dujon. Malcolm Marshall, India’s wrecker-in-chief in the Tests, was 12th man. Batting first, India U-22s ran up a tidy score, thanks to a century by opener Jignesh Sanghani. West Indies started their reply on the second morning, with Haynes and Richardson going hammer and tongs. The much-awaited batsman, Viv Richards with his famous swagger, came in at six down, minus his trademark maroon cap. He did not last long as the spinning guiles of a skinny 18-year-old lad called WV Raman got him on 1. Raman, who took five wickets that day, went on to make a mark as a first-class batsman and represented India. Fireworks for the day were courtesy the lanky Winston Davis, who smashed three consecutive sixes off a clueless Avinash Kumar. The crowd was on its feet. Davis offered front-footed defensive prods to the next three balls. Michael Holding got on his knees and casually flicked a bowler over the ropes, and Marshall, beyond the boundary, provided comic relief by running to catch it. The match ended in an anti-climax as the visitors, leading by 82, hurriedly left to catch their flight to the next venue.A Wills Trophy one-day quarter-final between Haryana and Baroda was staged here in February 1984. Haryana, led by the medical practitioner Ravinder Chadha, and boasting of Chetan Sharma and Rajinder Goel in their ranks, beat Baroda, with bespectacled veterans in captain Anshuman Gaekwad and Surinder Amarnath, as well as to-be India keeper Kiran More, by 17 runs. Sharma mankaded an impetuous non-striker in Vinit Wadkar. Saad Jung top-scored for Haryana with 84. A nephew of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, he gave up cricket early and later took on wildlife conservation.Cricket reached fever pitch when the first ever ODI in the city was announced, between India and Australia on 1st October 1984. India were led by Sunil Gavaskar; Australia by Kim Hughes. The umpires in that match were the portly Swaroop Kishen, the first umpire to be awarded the Padma Shri -India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, and VK Ramaswamy. The ‘pace pitch’ of the University Stadium was exploited to the hilt by Carl Rackemann, bowling from the Museum End, and Geoff Lawson from the Church End. The opening pair of Ghulam Parkar and Surinder Khanna, also India’s keeper, found the going tough. The batsmen struggled and India folded up in 37 overs. But one man stood out like a majestic warrior with a gem of a knock. When Dilip “Colonel” Vengsarkar, got out for 77, the stadium rose and applauded. The second-highest score in India’s 175 was Sandeep Patil’s 16. Tom Hogan scalped four wickets. Kapil Dev trapped Kepler Wessels lbw in Australia’s reply. Allan Border joined Graeme Wood and a mix-up during a run had him flat on the pitch with his clothes soiled. The crowd cheered every ball of Kapil and Chetan Sharma as the duo sent down a maiden each. Rain intervened in the eighth over, with the visitors 29 for 1. The match was abandoned.A one-dayer finally did play to its full in Thiruvananthapuram in 1988. India, bolstered by Kris Srikkanth’s century – he was dropped in the first over – and Mohinder Amarnath’s fifty, scored 239 in 45 overs but lost to West Indies , who surpassed it losing just Gordon Greenidge, who belted 84 with five sixes. The captains were Ravi Shastri and Richards. This was ten days after the ‘Hirwani Test.’ Phil Simmons scored his first ODI hundred. This time too, the rain gods showered their blessings, but thankfully after the match was over. One of the umpires that day was V Vikramraju, who two years earlier had given Maninder Singh leg-before to herald the second tie in Test history, in Madras.A long 29 years have sped by since Thiruvananthapuram last hosted an international cricket match. Fittingly, it is a T20I, the rage since a decade now, which will mark this new beginning. As Thiruvananthapuram’s sporting fraternity eagerly awaits the India-New Zealand decider, I too can’t wait to see Virat Kohli take on Tim Southee firing on all cylinders from the Technopark End.

From six wickets on his Ashes debut to his form and confidence disintegrating, Steven Finn’s career against Australia has encompassed a full range of emotions

Andrew McGlashan07-Oct-20171:12

The winners and losers from England’s contract shake-up

Ashes debutFinn arrived at The Gabba in 2010 with an impressive 32 wickets from his eight Tests and took his place as one of three quicks alongside James Anderson and Stuart Broad. His first Ashes wicket came on the second day when he stooped low to grab a return catch off Simon Katich before adding Michael Clarke with a short delivery. He took some punishment during the mammoth stand of 307 between Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin, but once that partnership was broken he cleaned up the lower order to finish with 6 for 125 – a career-best.Wickets, but too many runsHaving toiled hard in Adelaide when England were reduced to two frontline quicks following an injury to Broad, Finn continued to show his wicket-taking ability in Perth but his lack of control became too much for the management who put a premium on keeping the run-rate down. Finn conceded more than five-an-over at the WACA as Australia levelled the series and was then dropped for Melbourne with Tim Bresnan preferred. The move paid dividends as Bresnan’s brisk seam bowling and reverse swing was central to two thumping innings victories as England retained the Ashes in style. Finn would play just three Tests in the next 18 months.The start of problemsBy the time of the next Ashes series in 2013, Finn was again a central part of the pace attack. He had returned solidly against South Africa the previous year – although his habit of kicking the stumps, which Graeme Smith made a fuss over, started to sow seeds of doubt – bowled well during England’s famous victory at Kolkata then claimed 18 wickets in five Tests against New Zealand. But things did not go well at Trent Bridge – scene of a nail-biting 14-run win for England – as he claimed just two wickets and was taken at close to five an over. In the second innings Haddin eyed Finn as a weak link and plundered 20 off a two-over spell which set England’s nerves jangling.UnselectableFinn was included for the away leg of the back-to-back Ashes, but it was a horrid tour from start to finish. His warm-up form was poor and he was never really close to selection. Even as the series disintegrated around England, the selectors tried every option except him. Early in the one-day leg the limited-overs coach Ashley Giles said Finn was “not selectable” and the decision was made that he was better off heading home for a break away from the game, then a period rebuilding his form and confidence with Middlesex.The comebackAs though fate played a hand, Finn’s Test comeback came against Australia – two years after his previous outing. It was a memorable occasion. Finn removed Steven Smith in his first over back and would add Clarke in the first innings. On the second day things were even better as he tore the heart out of Australia’s middle order on his way to a career-best 6 for 79 which put England on course for victory and a 2-1 series lead. The following winter he was often the pick of the attack in South Africa but struggled for consistency during the 2016 home season against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.Another chanceFinn has played just one Test in the past year – a wicketless affair in Dhaka when England were beaten by Bangladesh for the first time – and slipped down the pace pecking order behind Jake Ball, Toby Roland-Jones and Mark Wood. However, in the same breath he was dropped from England’s list of central contracts but called into the Ashes squad following Ben Stokes indiscretions.Injury strikesFinn stood a decent chance of playing the first Test in Brisbane, with far more experience than Ball (three Tests) and the uncapped Craig Overton. However, he never got a chance to show what he could do on his return to Australia. After hurting his knee batting in the nets before England’s opening tour match, he was ruled out of the series with torn cartilage and is set to return home to face the possibility of surgery.*November 7, 0900 GMT – Story updated after Finn ruled out of tour

Holt, who learnt the basics of wicketkeeping from Alyssa Healy, hopes to inspire the next generation as he pursues his dream of wearing the Baggy Green one day

Shashank Kishore in Queenstown22-Jan-2018It is common to see an upcoming wicketkeeper being an understudy or a protege of an established stumper. However, for that protégé to be male and the mentor to be a female cricketer is perhaps unprecedented. This makes the story of Baxter Holt, Australia’s Under-19 wicketkeeper, even more interesting.As a 14-year old, Holt learnt the basics of wicketkeeping from Alyssa Healy, Australia women’s first-choice keeper. What started as a one-off session facilitated by Holt’s family friend four years ago turned out to be the start of a fruitful association that he values as he reflects on his journey from Sydney to the Under-19 World Cup to New Zealand.”One of my family friends had her contact and we organised a single session through that one day,” Holt tells ESPNcricinfo. “That sort of grew into two sessions, three sessions, and so on. It was me going through simple basics that you need at 13 or 14. It was a bit on technique. She is one person who won’t tell you to change something if you’re doing it right. If I was wrong, she would step in and say this is what I should be doing.”She has done a great job for the Southern Stars, been there done it and is still doing it. Her high quality is testament to her. The way she was able to get the points across and inform me, a 13-14-year-old kid, was very big, and it’s a testament to her.”This period also coincided with Holt dealing with not being picked for his junior school team and subsequently the age-group sides in Sydney. “Through all the age-group championships for my state back home and then the national championships, I thought I did enough, only to be told I hadn’t made the cut,” he says. “Going back home, I thought if it was still worth it or if there was something I could do to get better. So, to end up where I am today is amazing.”Apart from Healy, Holt also benefited from the mentorship of Rod Hokin, his school coach, whom he became associated with purely by accident because he was obligated to play for the school, and not for the club he had registered with, in local tournaments in Sydney.”I was originally at Northern Districts Cricket Club, playing green shield (the Under-16 competition) and age-group cricket. Because I went to a private school – Kings School – I had to play for them. In hindsight, that was the best thing to happen to me because I met Rob Hokins. Kings having the best facilities for cricket also helped me in those initial years.” Today, Holt plays for the Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club.”I trained a lot smarter [with him], as you hear a lot of people say. I worked on game situations. I no longer went to the nets to just hit balls. I went in with specific focus to every net session and if I did not achieve it, I felt it was a waste of time. So every session I went to, I wanted it to be better than the previous one. That mindset each time allowed me to get better and better.”Like any other teenager, Holt has had to make some sacrifices early in life, like giving up a social life with friends. He doesn’t attend too many parties, and prefers to spend time working on his game. When time management became an issue in school, he chose to study something he was passionate about.”There were a lot of sacrifices I had to make. School was really good to allow me to use their facilities for training. From 7.30am to 3.30pm in the afternoon, I was at school. Then from 3.30 to 7.30 at night, I was invariably at the nets. It’s all worth it when you’re sitting here and playing for the country.”Holt is pursuing a bachelors degree in sports science from the University of Technology and Science in Sydney. “Since I was passionate about sport, I thought I may as well end up getting into Sports Science,” he says. “I got good marks luckily in my Year 12 to make the grade to university. It’s a part-time degree that gives me the flexibility to finish it over a bigger span, at the same time allow me to give time to my cricket.”As he speaks, Holts’ priorities and clarity of thought stand out. He wants to be a reliable keeper, focusing on his technique and work ethic behind the stumps without losing sight of the need to also work on his batting.”I think keeping is a sort of a thing that if you do enough, you can progressively become better over the years,” he says. “Batting is such a complex and complicated skill. I put in more hours on my batting than my keeping, but I put enough in my keeping so that I keep getting better and better. The likes of Kumar Sangakkara, MS Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist have reshaped our roles. But my aim is to keep to the best of my abilities and then later hold an end up or score runs if needed to.”Holt is a key member of Australia’s current Under-19 side, but admits to have taken a while to get comfortable being around two high-profile coaches, Ryan Harris and Chris Rogers. “For the first few days, it was uncomfortable,” he laughs. “You always looked up to them. It felt like ‘wow, am I really in the same room as them?’ As we spent time together, it felt like they’re just another person who have come around this way just like we are now. They’ve shared their cricket journey, their experiences, and how they came up through the ranks. That is absolutely motivating.”Holt also hopes to inspire the next generation, even as he continues to pursue his dream of wearing the Baggy Green one day. “Gilchrist was my idol growing up. I wanted to play top-level cricket like him and inspire a generation like he did, not just to influence young male cricketers but female cricketers as well,” he says. “Then as his career ended, the likes of Brad Haddin too had a big influence. The way he carried himself, particularly towards the end of his career when his daughter was ill, is testament to his character.”

Ten years ago it was anathema, but now the ECB is effectively paying its players to take part

Tim Wigmore10-Apr-20185:36

‘New generation in England more interested in T20’ – Swann

In February 2008, Dimitri Mascarenhas was in New Zealand for a limited-overs series with England when a number flashed up on his phone. It was Shane Warne, who had just been signed by Rajasthan Royals as their captain in the inaugural IPL auction.”It was completely out the blue,” Mascarenhas recalls. “Warnie said, ‘Do you want to come?’ I was like, ‘Absolutely, yeah.'”The second IPL auction, for players unwanted in the first or who had not entered before, was in a few weeks. To enter, Mascarenhas needed Hampshire, his county and primary employers – who had just made him their new captain – to agree.”There was a lot of resistance,” Mascarenhas recalls. Eventually Hampshire let him enter the auction, and then take part in the inaugural IPL – but only for two weeks of their choosing, which entailed missing as little county cricket as possible.”It wasn’t ideal. Warnie wanted me to go for the whole thing. Initially I wanted to go for the whole thing as well. But I understood that from Hampshire’s point of view, losing their captain from the first two months of the season wasn’t great. We came to a compromise which suited both.” And so Mascarenhas became a quiet revolutionary. He became the first Englishman to sign up to the IPL when he joined Rajasthan for US$100,000 in the March 11 auction – though, as his deal was pro rata, he only received a fraction of that.Mascarenhas played just a solitary game in the first season of the IPL, but dismissed AB de Villiers in that match, helping Rajasthan beat Delhi Daredevils. “He just tried to hit me into the leg side and it went straight up into the air to Warnie. That was a pretty good scalp. I’ll take that any day of the week.”Stats current to April 9, 2018. Not including players who haven’t played a game yet. Highest price fetched by a player in any auction is listed•ESPNcricinfo LtdCompared to his T20 experience in county cricket, “The IPL was totally different – 50,000 Indians, who are just more passionate than any nation you can imagine about cricket, just screaming and shouting the whole time. The noise was just relentless. It was a proper atmosphere.”The first English player to play in the IPL – I count myself lucky to have had that opportunity. I always called for more English players playing straight away. They could only benefit from that experience.”In his first year in India, Mascarenhas remembers it was serious cricket “but there was definitely some fun to be had along the way. There were a lot of parties after every game – it was an amazing spectacle.” By 2010, “there was a sense of becoming more professional off the field as well as on the field”.For a long time, the initial opposition to Mascarenhas going to Rajasthan was an emblem of England’s relationship with the IPL. While every other Full Member – even Pakistan, who sent eight players to the 2008 tournament – embraced the realities of the tournament, England remained steadfast in their opposition.Two months after the IPL began, Giles Clarke welcomed Allen Stanford and his Stanford-emblazoned helicopter – it was actually rented, and just had his company logo painted on – onto the outfield at Lord’s.England were deeply suspicious of the IPL, yet they were not oblivious to it, recognising how it transformed the economic incentives in the sport. Hence the appeal of Stanford, who with his promise of an annual $20 million winner-takes-all match, could allow England’s centrally contracted cricketers to enjoy riches to rival the IPL without actually playing in it. While India and South Africa, reportedly his first two choices, rejected his offer, Clarke and the ECB welcomed it. Later in 2008, England were eviscerated in the 20-20 for 20 match at Stanford’s private ground in Antigua; three months later, Stanford was sentenced to 110 years imprisonment for fraud in the US.Kevin Pietersen’s desire to play in the IPL contributed to his eventual exit from the England side, but it also helped convince the England management that IPL experience was vital for its players•Getty ImagesYet, long after Stanford was behind bars, England’s disapproval of the IPL remained. In 2009, the ECB only brokered a compromise with their centrally contracted players in January, allowing them to appear in the first three weeks of the tournament. As Clarke had explained, “What would be said if a centrally contracted player was allowed to go to the IPL, then got injured and couldn’t play in the Ashes?”Clarke’s prophesy proved correct. Two Tests into the home Ashes, Kevin Pietersen was injured, and his achilles problem in part blamed on his IPL involvement.The truce between England’s players and board remained uneasy. Like the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, which rendered war between states illegal, the deal had the sense of sounding brilliant in theory but less well suited to real life. England’s players could play for a short period each year, and would be increasingly well remunerated by the board for internationals. County players needed their counties – who would receive 1% of their county salaries back for each of the first 21 days they were away, and then 0.7% each thereafter – to agree. (Before 2012, the IPL teams in question reimbursed the counties, but since then it is the players themselves.) Some counties only let players enter the auction at a high price: in 2014, Nottinghamshire stipulated that Alex Hales and Samit Patel needed to receive a bid of at least $400,000 to be allowed to go. Some players chose to enter for a high fee, because otherwise they could actually lose money, taking into account reimbursing their counties.For England’s players, the terms of the deal became less appealing as IPL franchises became savvier: with sides valuing continuity and cohesiveness, the notion of recruiting England players for a mere few weeks, and having them invariably miss the tournament playoffs, became less attractive.In a sense the bargain also became less advantageous for the ECB: while they had the financial heft to keep their internationals on side, the IPL relegated the first Test series of England’s summer to a B-list event, with the IPL either depriving their best opponents of practice time in English conditions, or increasingly leading to star visiting players missing the series altogether.Naturally it was Pietersen who exposed these fissures, in the summer of 2012. First, he said that the IPL’s struggles in England were “down to a lot of jealousy”. Then he retired from both forms of limited-overs international cricket in 2012; he had wanted to retire from ODIs only, but his contract prevented him from doing so. After his offer to return to play all forms – but only if he could play the entire 2013 IPL, missing two Tests against New Zealand – was rejected, Pietersen sent the notorious texts about Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss to South African players during the series.Jason Roy being largely confined to the Gujarat Lions bench last season hasn’t discouraged other England players from wanting to participate in the IPL•BCCIYet the central irony of England’s relationship with the IPL is that it is Strauss, more than anyone else, who has embraced the Pietersen line: the more England players who can play in the IPL, the better – not just for financial reasons but also for their professional development, and ultimately for the good of the England team. And so, after Strauss was appointed as director of England cricket, confronting the detritus of their performance in the 2015 World Cup, he took the avowed view that playing in the IPL would not merely be tolerated, it would be actively encouraged.When England played their first game since the 2015 World Cup, in Dublin, their captain, Eoin Morgan, was playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad instead. Strauss reasoned that, for England to be more successful in tournament cricket, their players needed more IPL experience.On occasion, IPL experience appears more impediment than benefit. Last year Jason Roy went to the IPL as England’s potential tournament winner in the Champions Trophy. He left it having played only three games – including one batting at six, which felt like using Mesut Ozil at right-back – and with his form disintegrating in the wake of a lack of game time, was dropped during the Champions Trophy.Still, even this chastening experience did nothing to deter England from embracing the IPL with ever more gusto. The new Future Tours Programme, from 2020, will minimise England’s internationals in May – thereby making England’s players available for the entirety of the tournament, and hence far more attractive to franchises. Counties – even Surrey, which is by far the wealthiest – feel powerless to prevent their players joining the IPL, even as replacements in the final days before the county season begins. County cricket in April and May is now, in effect, played only by those not deemed good enough to win an IPL deal.Rather than the ECB, it is the counties themselves who are now fighting to quell the IPL’s influence: a rearguard to protect their own relevance and not become glorified feeder clubs for IPL franchises. This year, for the first time ever, a full 11 England cricketers are featuring in the IPL, with David Willey, who left a Yorkshire pre-season friendly midway through, on the brink of becoming the 12th.Two years ago Sam Billings entered the IPL auction at Strauss’ encouragement. He received such a low fee – Rs 30 lakhs (approximately US$ 46,000) – that, when taking into account reimbursing Kent, Billings was  from his IPL experience. Strauss used the ECB’s coffers to reimburse Billings.Where once the ECB dissuaded their players from taking part in the IPL, now it was actively paying them to do so. Nothing better embodies how England’s attitudes towards the competition have been transformed. Yet it is this very rapprochement that has made the counties increasingly vulnerable to being plundered by the IPL. Whether counties will accept their subservient position to the league or can chart a different course is one of the burning questions in the English game – and with England players increasingly attractive, one that has never felt so urgent.

Statuesque stats from Southampton for y’all pleasure

Andy Zaltzman05-Sep-2018CHOOSE YOUR OWN MATCH REPORTEngland secured a gripping series victory in the fourth Test in Southampton…(a) against the universe’s No. 1-ranked Test team.
(b) against a side who had lost their previous seven away series outside the spin-friendly comforts of Asia and the Caribbean.
(c) against a team who will be haunted for some or all of eternity by their harrowing failure to close out at least one of two manageable chases in a series they could easily have won.India’s bowlers…(a) put them in a position to win three of the four Tests so far, with superb collective displays of swing and seam, and well-executed plans.
(b) went slightly off the boil at key moments, at least twice more than would have been ideal.
(c) will probably regret not spending a little bit more time practising their batting – the collective series average of their Nos. 9 to 11 (4.00) is the currently fourth worst ever by any touring side in a series in England, while their Nos. 6 to 11 have managed to average a flaccidly unimpressive 11.05. With one Test remaining, this is the worst of the 58 touring teams who have played a series of four or more Tests in England since the Second World War, and the second worst by India in any series, beaten only by the 10.05 they managed in their 2002-03 defeat in a two-Test contest in New Zealand.England will be delighted…(a) by the staggeringly granite-stomached performance of Sam Curran (see below), the returning tweakery of Moeen Ali, the enduring wizardry of James Anderson, and the reawakening of Stuart Broad as a match-shaping force.
(b) that they have got away with it, frankly, despite their top four functioning as effectively as a watermelon in a Most Cuboid Object competition – their current collective series average of 18.92 is the third-lowest such figure in the 223 series of three or more Tests that England have played, although they will be expected to bat their way off that incompetently built podium at The Oval.
(c) that no one has suggested having a toss for the choice of ball, as well as whether to bat or bowl first, in Test cricket (or that Duke might like to work on developing a ball that does a little bit less, and Kookaburra on a ball that does a considerable amount more).England captain Joe Root…(a) has proved he has the leadership nous and mettle for the Test arena, holding his nerve under intense pressure in two brilliantly managed defences of small targets.
(b) must be up all night worrying about whether he can ever recover his world-beating form with the bat while enduring the pressures of captaincy.
(c) has already sent a letter to Father Christmas asking for some new opening batsmen.
(d) is slightly perplexed that there have not been more wild nationwide celebrations about the fact that his team have just become the first since England in 1981 to successfully defend a target of 250 or fewer twice in a series, and only the second to do so since the 1950s.Virat Kohli’s batting mantra for this series: “2014 never happened”•Getty ImagesHis Indian counterpart, Virat Kohli, meanwhile…(a) has shown incredible discipline not only in his batsmanship, but also in managing to refrain from standing on the dressing-room balcony and shouting, “For heaven’s sake, were none of the rest of you paying attention four years ago?”
(b) has been seen scouring eBay for a time machine, to go back to June and make Jasprit Bumrah wear a magic protective thumb gauntlet in the T20 against Ireland.
(c) would probably have been delighted had a wizened old soothsayer predicted that India’s top four wickets would average 43% more per partnership than England’s (33.37 to 23.25).
(d) must be wondering what further depths of incompetence India’s lower order are contemplating – India’s 5th to 10th wicket partnerships have averaged 16.51, to England’s 30.94.The England selectors will be particularly relieved…(a) that Man of the Match Moeen Ali scored crucial runs, became the first England bowler to take a five-for as the sixth bowler (or later) in an innings since Phil Edmonds against Australia in 1975.
(b) that Alastair Cook, by calling time on a monumental career after a prolonged slump, which has seen him reach 50 only five times in his last 42 Test innings, dating back to November 2016, has spared them at least one very awkward decision for the forthcoming winter tours.
(c) that Keaton Jennings chiselled out some highly valuable runs in the second innings, but had the decency to get out for 36, thus keeping alive the dream that this could be the first ever five-Test series in which no opening batsman has reached 50. (The lowest previously, in 168 series of five or more Tests, is three.)THE END.Well done.***With the series now decided, all eyes naturally turn to the statistics, and there are some potential numerical nuggets waiting to unearth themselves in South London.Virat Kohli needs 56 runs to make 600 in a series for the fourth time
Kohli, currently on 544 runs for the series, more than twice as many as the second-most prolific batsman, Jos Buttler (260). If Kohli reaches the 600-mark, he will move into a clear second place behind Don Bradman in the Most 600-Run Series List. The Unstoppable Australian Run RobotTM topped 600 six times. Kohli is currently tied for second place with an illustrious trio of left-handers – Neil Harvey, Garry Sobers, and Brian Lara – and only 11 other players have reached that milestone twice in their careers (although Cook could join them if he makes a fairy-tale 491 not out in his valedictory Test innings).Fourteen different players have made 600 runs in a losing series – at The Oval, Kohli could become the first of these to do so twice, having made 692 runs in Australia in 2014-15.To give further context to Kohli’s achievement, Sachin Tendulkar never reached the 500-run mark in a series (although he only played in three five-Test rubbers, and ten four-Test series). Viv Richards did not reach 500 in a series in the last 15 years of his Test career (despite playing 12 series of five or more matches in that time). Geoff Boycott and David Gower had only one 500-run series each. Four 600-run series would be a truly extraordinary achievement.Joe Root: in talks with several football clubs about conducting a session on target defence•Getty ImagesFurthermore, another half-century would make Kohli the first visiting batsman to reach 50 six times in a series in England since Brian Lara in 1995 (a six-Test series), and the first to do so in a five-Test series here since Keith Stackpole in 1972.In 2011, after the futile magnificence of Rahul Dravid’s three sumptuous and defiant centuries for MS Dhoni’s whitewashed India against a superb English attack, I compiled a Defeated Heroes XI in a pair of blog postings on this site, comprising players who have had a personally glorious series in a heartily beaten team. Kohli is putting together an extremely strong bid for selection.He has almost papered over the chasmic faults in the Indian batting line-up. He has been at the wicket for 23 hours 17 minutes. Another hour in Birmingham and Southampton, and India would probably be 3-1 up. (M Vijay batted almost 25 hours in the 2014 series – his failure this time has been arguably the most costly of India’s many and varied batting failures.)Sam Curran needs 65 runs to break the all-time record for most runs in a series batting at No. 8 or lower
Curran has made 251 runs so far, already the ninth-highest series aggregate for runs scored when batting at No. 8 or lower. Harbhajan Singh’s record (315, for India in the three-Test home series against New Zealand in November 2010) is within sight, as is Moeen’s Most-Runs-Batting-In-The-Bottom-Four-In-A-Series-For-England figure of 293, made in the 2015 Ashes. Curran has already tied Shaun Pollock’s series record of four scores of 40 or more batting at No. 8 or lower (against West Indies in 2000-01).If Curran reaches 40 again at The Oval, he will tie the record for most 40-plus scores in a series by an England player batting six or lower, held by Bairstow (v Pakistan in 2016) and Flintoff (three times), which would be a tidy performance by a No. 8. Who is in his debut summer. At the age of 20. And who was left out of the one of the Tests. In a low-scoring series. In which he has twice come to the wicket with the score at 86 for 6, and made match-defining scores of 63 and 78. Not to mention the 46 vital runs made in the second innings in Southampton when England were in effect 151 for 6 in their second innings. All against an attack including a 300-wicket offspinner who averages less than 20 against left-handers. Without even factoring in that he has been the last wicket to fall in all five of England’s innings in the three Tests he has played in, four of which dismissals were self-sacrifices in the cause of the team.Another potential Curran milestone
Another 31 runs would take Curran past Jack Crawford’s record for most runs in a series by an England player under the age of 21 (he made 281 in South Africa in 1905-06). A pair of double-centuries would bring him close to George Headley’s world record for runs in a Test series by an Under-21 batsman (703, against England in 1929-30).I’m not finished with him yet
If the Surrey allrounder takes two wickets on his home ground, he will become the second player in Test history to score 250 runs and take ten wickets in a series before his 21st birthday – Kapil Dev (329 runs, 17 wickets, against West Indies in 1978-79) was the first. Seven of Curran’s eight wickets so far have been top-seven batsmen, the other was Ashwin, batting at No. 8.If England hand the wicketkeeping gloves to Alastair Cook, this will become the first series in England in which five different designated wicketkeepers have played
Both sides have changed their wicketkeeper, making this the first series in England to feature four different designated wicketkeepers since Pakistan’s tour in 1996 (Jack Russell and Alec Stewart for England; Rashid Latif and Moin Khan for Pakistan).The difference in run-scoring by the two sides’ glovemen has been one of the decisive factors in the series. Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant have scrabbled together 64 questionable runs in eight innings – their combined series average of 8.0 is the lowest by Indian keepers since 1985 (five innings minimum).Bairstow and Buttler have made 296 in seven innings with the dagger by the names on the scorecard. If you include the 106 Buttler made after taking over the gloves for the last 66 overs of India’s second innings in Nottingham, England have a 402-64 advantage in Runs By Keepers.

He has one of the highest T20 strike rates of all time but Birmingham Bears opener Ed Pollock is enjoying his anonymity – at least for now

David Hopps20-Jul-2018The Fastest Batsman in the World. With Twenty20’s popularity established globally, that should be a title worth having, but as yet it’s never quite caught on. Cricket’s No. 1 gunslinger, Ed Pollock, is yet to cause much consternation on the streets of Birmingham never mind turn himself into a household name in Melbourne and Mumbai.Edgbaston might be the home of Twenty20 Finals Day, but Pollock is only in his second season at Birmingham Bears and even in his home city he remains largely anonymous. “I can walk round the centre of Birmingham without any danger of anybody recognising me,” he said. “I’m happy with that.”For cricket’s rapid-fire brigade, it has always been so. It’s a given that fast scoring is essential in T20, but somehow those who score fastest of all never quite get the attention, as if they are regarded as warm-up acts, lightweight entertainers before the real batsmen of substance – the ones with the big averages and big reputations – get to the crease.But bowling attacks in the Vitality Blast have reason to quail. Pollock is shooting during his brief career at the Bears at a strike rate of 188.34 – faster than any batsman to have faced 150 balls in T20 – in a city that seems to make a habit of it.Alongside Pollock, in the Bears’ middle order, the New Zealander Colin de Grandhomme has long been a fixture in the world’s leading T20 strike rates, yet for a player with such an outstanding record he remains remarkably unsung. And Heath Streak, the Zimbabwean, was also not shy of hitting the boundary boards when he played for Warwickshire – their previous T20 guise – in Twenty20’s early days in England between 2004-07 yet he was just regarded as a bowler with the capacity for a big hit.

T20 gunslingers (min. 150 balls)

• Ed Pollock Runs 388 Balls faced 206 Strike rate 188.34

• Suresh Kumar Runs 284 BF 158 SR 179.74

• Kuldeep Raval Runs 346 BF 202 SR 171.28

• Heath Streak Runs 333 BF 196 SR 169.89

• K Gowtham Runs 436 BF 258 SR 168.99

• Colin de Grandhomme Runs 2534 BF 1515 SR 167.85

Birmingham is a phlegmatic city, not much given to self-promotion.Even Pollock himself sounds unsure of the merit of his achievement, one which going into Friday’s Blast fixtures amounted to 14 innings and 206 balls, 64 of which he has clattered to the boundary with an air of infinite politeness.It is as if he is wary of the quote from the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu: “The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.” When it comes to forging a cricketing career, even the fastest scorers of all want to play the long game.”People see me as a T20 cricketer but I definitely want to play all three formats,” Pollock said. “Why wouldn’t I? I’m 23. It doesn’t make sense to rule myself out this early. The reason I haven’t played any first team in four-day stuff is that I just haven’t scored the runs to warrant it. Others like Matt Lamb, Dom Sibley and Adam Hose are ahead of me. T20 is purely where I have been successful so far.”There tends to be a correlation between really high strike rates and people averaging 15-20. Luckily I’m a bit higher. A high strike rate means I’m probably doing my role but I’d happily sacrifice my strike rate going down a bit if I start averaging 40-odd and getting a hundred or two. I’d be disappointed if I had this high strike rate and averaged 10. What’s the point of scoring 10 quickly?”Ask for a shot that stands out in Pollock’s brief, flaring career and his mind dwells upon last season’s Blast quarter-final at The Oval. Vithushan Ehantharajah, for ESPNcricinfo, referred to “the outlandish batting of left-hander Ed Pollock who, barring the pale complexion and boy-band curtains, put on a passable Sanath Jayasuriya impression with some devastating boundaries over square leg.”It was only 24 off 10 balls, but it set Birmingham on course for a record chase. Pollock’s greatest personal pleasure in a heated game was a slog-swept six over square leg off Jade Dernbach.”As I hit that I thought ‘Oh wow, I’ve no idea how I’ve done that’. And I looked up and the ball was miles in the sky. I thought that’s the biggest six I had ever hit. He said a few unflattering comments. It didn’t help that the first ball had been a bit shorter and I’d top-edged it over the keeper for four.”I love that feeling when you middle that ball and it comes off the bat. Very rarely do you get that feeling of perfection, where everything feels easy and you play a shot and go ‘I don’t know how I have done that.’ That’s why I play.”

I don’t take risks on menus – I’m steak every time. I know what I like. Safe stuff, I’m not that adventurousEd Pollock

Not that such pleasure should be mistaken as complacency. Pollock’s main enthusiasm was reserved for his team-mate de Grandhomme, who last week struck Imran Tahir, Durham’s South Africa legspinner, for four successive sixes. In Pollock’s eyes, de Grandhomme is appropriately named.”He’s ridiculous. The last match when he hit Tahir for four sixes in a row; that for me was pure excitement. He has played 155 T20 matches, I have managed 12.”I get the easiest job in T20. Brand new white ball: I think I have faced only three balls that have swung, they hardly do anything; if the bowlers spin it, it skids on. The pitch is generally amazing – having grown up on club pitches that can be a bit slow, coming to Edgbaston is paradise – and then they only have two fielders outside the circle. Basically the 30-yard circle is my boundary for the first six overs.”Colin’s job is different altogether: coming out in the second half of the innings, fielders already out. He is clearing ropes; I am just plinking them over the top and letting them run away for four.”If Hollywood commissioned a film about the fastest batsman in the world, one imagines he would live life on the edge: fast cars, wild pursuits, a rebellious and destructive childhood, and pills of uncertain origin popped down while staring blankly into a bathroom mirror.Pollock would not recognise himself if that was so. He studied economics at Durham University because he calculated it was the right degree to do for a potential career and struggled to balance his commitment to the course with his cricket and his social life: cricket was just a bit of fun with no thoughts that it might develop into his livelihood. Success at Barnt Green in the Birmingham League and in the Minor Counties with Herefordshire persuaded him otherwise.He comes from a family of accountants and suggests that background explains why he is risk averse. He likes his life, and his cricket, to be “thoroughly ticked off”.”I didn’t do risky lads holidays, I was playing cricket. It was very much ‘get away with the family’. I don’t take risks on menus – I’m steak every time. I know what I like. Safe stuff, I’m not that adventurous.”He hears like everybody that when Brendon McCullum came over to the Blast, he didn’t train, he just played golf. He reads that Aaron Finch has used a break between matches to go with his wife to Berlin. He imagines, presumably, that Chris Gayle had some fun down in Somerset. Life is different for an organised, young English professional, just setting out on his career – even one with the fastest strike rate in the world.”My version is I’d rather spend two or three hours in the nets and have a hit with the coach. I do my preparations. It’s just not worth me winging it.”In any case, he does not regard his all-guns-blazing approach to batting as anything outlandish.Ed Pollock gave Birmingham a flying start•Getty Images”It depends what you perceive as risk,” he said. “For me, hitting a fast bowler back over his head I no longer perceive as risk because I have practised it so much I know nine times out of ten I’ll manage to clear the infield. Apart from when I occasionally sweep a seamer – I don’t know where that comes from – every shot I play is a shot I’ve practised a hell of a lot. I tick off every shot I reckon I’m likely to play on the bowling machine and just drill it until it’s muscle memory so I can go out there and trust my instincts.”The massive risk for me is reverse sweeping because I’ve never really practised it so when I do it in a game you know there’s some trouble going on. But if a guy bumps me and there’s a deep square I don’t regard that as a risk because I know nine times out of ten I will connect with it and a new ball will fly over the boundary. I’ve practised enough to execute the shot.”Nine out of 10 is okay?”Nine times six is 54? I’m doing my job then.”As any accountant should remind him, that rather presumes the tenth time is always at the end of the sequence.Cricket’s fastest gun even has a cricket notebook in which he reflects on his training and plans for the following day. It is like discovering that Billy the Kid wrote poetry.He thinks back to his first taste of county opposition, at Durham University, when Cameron Steel, now at Durham, saw how tense he was and asked if he was all right. “I was very nervous and felt out of my depth. My feet wouldn’t move.”Influenced by a McCullum video masterclass, he works hard to get his body as relaxed as possible. “If I trust my instincts to react, my body will do the right thing.”A second season has brought new challenges. He went into Friday’s match with only 105 runs in five innings, his strike rate careering ahead at 238.64. His coaches must ponder whether talk of tweaking his tempo would be beneficial or destructive. And the word around the circuit is to test him out with spin from the outset. He knows it, and refers to it with the slightest hint of self-consciousness.”I can now tell they are coming with a plan to me,” he said. “Last year it was very much just go with their bog-standard plan and then when I came off they would be scrambling round, ‘try this, try this’. Now very much it’s, I’m on strike and they know exactly where they’re going, they’ve got a plan. A lot of counties are opening with spin against me. But I hit Samit Patel for two sixes in the first over against Notts the other night. Essentially it’s all a game isn’t it?”

England were only chasing 206, but it looked like they were out of it until a spectacular century from Jos Buttler

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jun-2018

Well played @josbuttler

— Faf Du Plessis (@faf1307) June 24, 2018

This is exactly why England are the best ODI side in the world at the minute! A side full of match winners, character and determination! +Buttler is on a different level at the minute#ENGvAUS #Buttler

— James Taylor (@jamestaylor20) June 24, 2018

He has played some remarkable innings for England but this one by @josbuttler Tops the list …. #ENGvAUS #Whitewash

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 24, 2018

The greatest thing @englandcricket would have taken from today is knowing they can win from 114-8. Incredible @josbuttler#findaway #thatwinningfeeling

— Isa Guha (@isaguha) June 24, 2018

What a win for @englandcricket! @josbuttler just gets better and better!!
Good to see England on the right side of a 5-0 result!! #engvaus

— James Anderson (@jimmy9) June 24, 2018

There’s been plenty but that is ⁦@josbuttler⁩ greatest ⁦@englandcricket⁩ knock without doubt!!! How to soak up the pressure, a lesson to young and old!!! #skill #balls #inattheend #batsmanscurrency #pride pic.twitter.com/6o2ojofvKN

— Neil Fairbrother (@Harv366) June 24, 2018

What an incredible finish by @ECB_cricket when they were written off. Take a bow @josbuttler that was special #ENGVAUS

— Brendan Taylor (@BrendanTaylor86) June 24, 2018

This guy is something else.
Amazing achievement throughout the series. So much fun playing with this team.@englandcricket pic.twitter.com/O6eWTOB56V

— Moeen Ali (@MoeenAli) June 24, 2018

What a hero @josbuttler !! pic.twitter.com/U50FBtXuJc

— Haseeb Hameed (@HaseebHameed97) June 24, 2018

Jos Buttler you are a freak (very good)

— Ben Duckett (@BenDuckett1) June 24, 2018

Thriller. An outstanding effort from England to beat the Aussies 5-0. Even though Australia were missing quite a few players, really loved the ruthlessness of this England side. Top effort today from @josbuttler for the magnificent 100 today#ENGvAUS

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) June 24, 2018

Imagine being THAT good. Unreal @josbuttler!!! well done @englandcricket #5Nil

— Kate Cross (@katecross16) June 24, 2018

For an eight-year period until October 2015, South Africa were the best touring side in Asia. They have now slid to being the worst, with their stats against spin especially dire

S Rajesh24-Jul-2018South Africa’s resistance in the last innings of their Sri Lankan tour salvaged some pride, but it still left them with a 2-0 series defeat, and some uncomfortable questions regarding their batting in Asia. There used to be a time when South Africa were by far the best touring side to Asia: between October 2007 and October 2015, they had a 7-3 win-loss record in 17 Tests, and played eight series without losing any, winning three and drawing five. Since then, it has all gone a bit pear-shaped for them: on their last two tours, they have lost five out of six Tests, their only draw coming in a rain-affected game in Bangalore in 2015.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe conditions have admittedly been difficult for their batsmen in both these series, with the pitches offering plenty of assistance to spinners in India and in Sri Lanka. While South Africa’s batsmen scored 26 hundreds in 17 Tests during their golden period in Asia, they managed only one in their last six.And then there is also the toss factor. South Africa have lost the toss in each of their last six Tests in Asia. This has meant they have had the toughest of the batting conditions, and also perhaps explains why Faf du Plessis has been so vocal in his appeal to do away with the toss in Test cricket. In the 17 Tests in the 2007-15 period, they won 11 tosses, but they also won three Tests when they lost the toss: in Ahmedabad and in Dhaka in 2008, and in Dubai in 2013. They drew the other three, and averaged 40.84 in those six games when they lost the toss.Despite the efforts of Theunis de Bruyn and Temba Bavuma in the fourth innings at the SSC, South Africa still finished the series with a batting average of 14.52, their second-lowest since readmission in series in which their batsmen have batted at least 30 times. Till that sixth-wicket partnership, they were in serious danger of ending up with a lower average than the paltry 13.75 they managed in India in 2015-16. (The next lowest, 21.98, also happened earlier this year, when India toured South Africa.)ESPNcricinfo LtdIn terms of balls per dismissal, South Africa’s rate of losing a wicket every 30.9 deliveries is their worst since readmission. Even during their struggle in India in 2015-16, they still managed to survive 41.5 deliveries per dismissal.

Fewest balls per wkt for SA in a series since readmission (Min 30 inns)

Series Balls Wkts Balls/wktSA in SL, 2018 1236 40 30.90SA in Ind, 2015-16 2907 70 41.53Ind in SA, 2017-18 2757 60 45.95SA in Eng, 2017 3687 79 46.67Aus in SA, 2005-06 2974 60 49.57Till this current slide, South Africa were the best batting team in Asia among the top teams from outside the subcontinent. Of late, though, they have become the worst.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe major problem in these two series is quite obvious: the inability of South Africa’s batsmen to tackle spin bowling. In six Tests in these series, opposition spinners have taken 98 South African wickets at an average of 13.13; in the period between 2007 and 2015, opposition spinners had conceded almost three times as many runs – 37.50 – per South African wicket.It is clear that the pitches have generally been tougher in these six Tests than on previous tours, but then South Africa’s spinners have been unable to exploit them to the same extent. Between 2007 and 2015, South Africa’s spinners averaged 38.74 runs per wicket, which is similar to what opposition spinners averaged against their batsmen. In the last couple of series, South Africa’s spinners have averaged 27.57, while their batsmen have scored less than half as many runs per dismissal against opposition spinners.In that winning period, South Africa could also rely more on their fast bowlers to deliver the wickets: they averaged 28.54 in the 2007-15 period in Asia, which was excellent given the overall averages in that period. In the last three years that average is 29.96, which, though relatively unchanged in absolute terms, hasn’t been good enough given the increased potency of opposition spinners.

Comparing South Africa and opposition spinners in Asia

Bowlers Oct ’07-’15: Wkts Ave Nov ’15 onwards: Wkts AveSA spinners 78 38.74 54 27.57Opp spinners 144 37.50 98 13.13The one batsman whose fall encapsulates South Africa’s decline is Hashim Amla. He played 16 out of 17 Tests in Asia between October 2007 and 2015, and scored seven hundreds in 26 innings at an average of 73.00; in 11 innings since November 2015, he has a highest score of 43, and averages 14.36. That, in a nutshell, explains South Africa’s recent dire results in Asia.

Hashim Amla’s Test stats in Asia

Period Tests Runs Ave 100s/50sOct ’07 – Oct ’15 16 1606 73.00 7/5Nov ’15 onwards 6 158 14.36 0/0

A list of players who have moved franchises and those that have been released ahead of the 2019 IPL player auction

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2018Royal Challengers Bangalore
In: Marcus Stoinis
Out: Quinton de Kock, Mandeep Singh, Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes, Corey Anderson, Sarfraz Khan
Retained: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Nathan Coulter-Nile
Salary cap available: 18.15 croresRCB traded South Africa wicketkeeper de Kock to Mumbai Indians in a cash deal – Mumbai Indians paid them the INR 2.8 crore (USD 437,000) RCB had bought de Kock for in the 2018 auction. They also traded batsman Mandeep (INR 1.4 crore, USD 218,000) to Kings XI Punjab for Australia allrounder Stoinis (INR 6.2 crore, USD 968,000).Mumbai Indians
In: Quinton de Kock
Out: Mustafizur Rahman, Pat Cummins, Akila Dananjaya, JP Duminy, Saurabh Tiwary, Tajinder Singh, Mohsin Khan, Pradeep Sangwan, MD Nidheesh, Sharad Lumba
Retained: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Anukul Roy, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Evin Lewis, Kieron Pollard, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Jason Behrendorff
Salary cap available: 11.15 croresMumbai bought de Kock from RCB and to offset the deal, released Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur (INR 2.2 crore, USD 343,000) and Sri Lankan offspinner Dananjaya (INR 50 lakh, USD 78,000), who played just one match in the 2018 season. They also released Australia fast bowler Cummins (INR 5.4 crore, USD 843,000) – Australia players are expected to play a limited role in IPL 2019, with Cricket Australia outlining plans to have their players prepare for the World Cup by playing ODIs and being available for the pre-tournament camp.Delhi Daredevils
In: Shikhar Dhawan
Out: Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Gurkeerat Mann, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammad Shami, Dan Christian, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala, Naman Ojha
Retained: Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Manjot Kalra, Colin Munro, Chris Morris, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Harshal Patel, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Sandeep Lamichhane, Avesh Khan
Salary cap available: 25.50 croresIn a deal involving both trades and cash, Delhi Daredevils brought in local player Dhawan (INR 5.2 crore, USD 812,000) from Sunrisers Hyderabad and in return gave them allrounder Shankar (INR 3.2 crore, USD 500,000), under-19 batsman Abhishek Sharma (INR 55 lakh, USD 85,000), who impressed with an innings of 46 not out off 19 balls last season, and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (INR 3.2 crore, USD 500,000).Since the combined value of those players was more than Dhawan’s, Sunrisers had to pay Daredevils an extra INR 1.75 crore (273,000). Dhawan was released by Sunrisers after a six-year stint with the team because he was unhappy with his auction price.Sunrisers Hyderabad
In: Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem
Out: Shikhar Dhawan, Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha, Chris Jordan, Carlos Brathwaite, Alex Hales, Bipul Sharma, Syed Mehdi Hasan
Retained: David Warner, Yusuf Pathan, Rashid Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, Billy Stanlake, Kane Williamson, Mohammad Nabi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, T Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Basil Thampi, Deepak Hooda
Salary cap available: 9.70 croresIn addition to the Dhawan trade, Sunrisers released eight other players whose combined worth is INR 9.8 crore (USD 1.53 million). Among them was Alex Hales, who was moderately successful as an opener last season, Brathwaite, who played the final, Jordan, who is known as a specialist death bowler, and Wriddhiman Saha, who has been out with a long-term injury sustained during the last IPL season.Chennai Super Kings
In: None
Out: Mark Wood, Kanishk Seth, Kshitiz Sharma
Retained: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, M Vijay, Shane Watson, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, David Willey, Dwayne Bravo, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Sam Billings, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Dhruv Shorey, N Jagadeesan, Shardul Thakur, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi
Salary cap available: 8.40 croresMark Wood, who cost INR 1.5 crore (USD 234,000), played just one game last season for CSK and conceded 49 runs in four overs. He was released along with two uncapped players. Super Kings retained both New Zealand allrounder Mitchell Santner, who missed the 2018 season due to a knee injury, and his replacement David Willey, who featured in just three games for them during the season.Kolkata Knight Riders
In: None
Out: Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Tom Curran, Cameron Delport, Javon Searles, Ishank Jaggi, Apoorv Wankhade, Vinay Kumar
Retained: Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna
Salary cap available: 15.20 croresStarc has missed the previous two IPL seasons – in 2017, he parted ways with RCB to focus on international cricket and in 2018, after being bought by KKR for INR 9.4 crore (USD 1.47mn), he was ruled out due to injury. KKR have decided to release him. They also retained pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti, who was injured last season and didn’t play a game, and his replacement, Prasidh Krishna.Kings XI Punjab
In: Mandeep Singh
Out: Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Aaron Finch, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Sran, Yuvraj Singh, Ben Dwarshuis, Manoj Tiwary, Akshdeep Nath, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar
Retained: Chris Gayle, David Miller, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, R Ashwin, Ankit Rajpoot, Andrew Tye, Mujeeb ur Rahman
Salary cap available: 36.20 croresKings XI had retained Axar Patel before the big auction in 2018, but opted to let him go this time. Other significant releases include Yuvraj Singh, who was picked in the starting XI at the beginning of last season but was benched later on due to failures, Manoj Tiwary and Mohit Sharma.Rajasthan Royals
In: None
Out: Jaydev Unadkat, Anureet Singh, Ankit Sharma, Jatin Saxena, D’Arcy Short, Ben Laughlin
Retained: Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi, Ajinkya Rahane, K Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, S Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mahipal Lomror
Salary cap available: 20.95 croresThe release of Jaydev Unadkat came after Rajasthan bid INR 11.5 crore for him at the 2018 auction. Unadkat had an underwhelming season, getting 11 wickets in 15 matches, with an economy rate of 7.80.