Latest news with #DharamsalaTest
India Today
30-06-2025
- Sport
- India Today
Kuldeep Yadav likely to return as India consider two spinners for Edgbaston Test
India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has offered the clearest indication yet that Kuldeep Yadav could return to the playing XI for the second Test against England, with the team looking increasingly likely to field two spinners at went with a single spin option in Ravindra Jadeja at Headingley, but after a deflating defeat in the series opener, the management appears ready to tweak the combination. Kuldeep, who has a fine record against England, is firmly in the reckoning. However, Washington Sundar also remains in the frame, and the final decision may come down to the balance between batting depth and bowling is a very strong chance of playing two spinners. It's just which two we play. All three spinners are bowling very nicely. Washi's batting very nicely. So it's just which combination do we go with? All-rounder spinner or the out-and-out spinner? And obviously, you have to play the bowling all-rounder again. So there are so many different variables," said ten Doeschate. The dilemma is understandable. India were heavily reliant on Jasprit Bumrah in the first Test, with the right-arm quick picking up a brilliant five-for in the first innings but receiving little support from the rest of the attack. Shardul Thakur, who featured as the bowling all-rounder, had minimal impact - delivering just 16 overs across both innings and returning match figures of 2/78, while scoring 1 and 4 with the inclusion would bolster India's wicket-taking threat considerably. The left-arm wrist-spinner has enjoyed considerable success against England, taking 21 wickets from six Tests at an average of 22.28. He was pivotal in India's home series win earlier this year - the only blemish on England's otherwise formidable record under the Stokes-McCullum leadership. Kuldeep picked up 19 wickets from four matches in that series, including a Player of the Match performance in the Dharamsala Test with figures of 7/ impact hasn't been limited to the red-ball format. England have struggled against him in white-ball cricket too - with Kuldeep claiming eight wickets in just three T20Is against them at a miserly average of 9.62. In ODIs, he has 14 scalps from nine matches, including a career-best 6/ picking Kuldeep might force India to sacrifice some batting cushion, especially if Thakur makes way. The alternative could be Washington Sundar, who offers more with the bat but is considered less potent with the ball in overseas Doeschate also confirmed that young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is knocking on the door. The 21-year-old impressed on the Australia tour and has been working tirelessly in the nets."He's very close to getting a game. Obviously, he was fantastic in Australia - coming into the team and playing the way he did. We just felt, on balance, for the last game, we wanted to go with the bowling all-rounder. We thought Shardul was slightly ahead on the bowling front. We're looking at ways of rejigging the puzzle," the assistant coach said."So we can get a batting all-rounder in. And obviously, Nitish is our premium batting all-rounder at the moment. So I would say it's a very good chance to play this Test," he added.- EndsYou May Also Like
The Hindu
26-06-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Bairstow bowls after 11 years during County Championship match for Yorkshire
Out-of-favour England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow rolled his arm over for the first time in 11 years during a County Championship Division 1 match for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire on Wednesday. With the contest heading towards a definite draw, Bairstow, who has been named Yorkshire skipper for this season, bowled what turned out to be the final over the match. Finlay Bean, who struck a double-hundred in the first innings, took Bairstow's place behind the stumps for that solitary over, which went for six runs. This was Bairstow's second over in professional cricket. He last bowled during a County Championship match against Durham at Chester-le-Street in May 2014. Your eyes aren't playing tricks 👀 Jonny Bairstow with the ball for first time since 2014! — Yorkshire CCC (@YorkshireCCC) June 25, 2025 Both teams shared 12 points each after the run-fest that ensued at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Yorkshire replied with a mammoth 510 after Nottinghamshire posted 487 in the first innings. Bairstow, who hasn't played a Test for England since the Dharamsala Test against India in March last year, scored an 80-ball 41 in the only innings he batted. Nottinghamshire was 148 for one in its second innings when both captains agreed to a stalemate.
Hindustan Times
12-06-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
'How lonely it was...': BCCI all but confirms Karun Nair's return to XI; India's final training session hints at line-up
It wasn't just one, but a double assurance that all but confirmed Karun Nair's return to India's playing XI after nearly eight years. The middle-order batter is set to play his first match for India since the 2017 Dharamsala Test against Australia, in the upcoming five-match series against England starting June 20 at Headingley. First, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted a video on Nair with a "special message" from teammate KL Rahul. The video was captioned: "A comeback story with Karun Nair. P.S. - A special message from KL Rahul." In the clip, Rahul welcomed his former Karnataka teammate with a heartwarming message, in which he opened up about how he prepared himself for the series against England. "I've known him for a very long time and the months that he spent here in the UK playing cricket and how hard and how lonely it was and for him to be able to do all of that and come back into the Indian team. think it's special for him, for his family, and for friends like us who've seen his journey. So, like I said very inspiring as well and hopefully his experience and his learnings from playing county cricket here will hold him in good stead when he plays the Test matches here," he said. Nair played just six Test matches for India, following his debut in 2016, scoring 374 runs at 62.33, which includes a career-best knock of 303. The veteran batter, who earned his selection this time on the back of a record Ranji season, vindicated the call with a double century in the first match for India A earlier this month, followed by scores of 40 and 15 in the second game. "Feels really special. Very grateful and very fortunate to be able to get this opportunity again and really looking forward and excited to grab this opportunity with both hands," said Nair. "Not sure actually! I think I'll have to experience that feeling myself and, you know, just go out there and feel it for myself. And I'm sure there'll be a lot of feelings, ones that I can't express right now and It'll be a special feeling." With the BCCI clip almost confirming Nair's return, fans could not keep calm as they thanked the Indian board for acting on the senior batter's three-year-old appeal. In 2022, Nair had taken to social media to post, 'Dear cricket, give me one more chance.' A post shared by Team India (@indiancricketteam) If it wasn't just the BCCI clip, India's final training session before the intra-squad match in Beckenham hinted at the possible batting line-up for the series against England. India did a bit of fielding practice on Thursday, with Rishabh Pant as the wicketkeeper, while the slip cordon featured Karun Nair at first slip, followed by KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, according to a report in RevSportz. Nair is set for a return if the team goes by the slip cordon. Although his batting position is yet to be seen, with few experts reckoning he could replace Virat Kohli, who retired from Test cricket last month, at No. 4.
NDTV
12-05-2025
- Sport
- NDTV
Rohit Sharma's Test Journey: An Average Middle-Order Batter To A Fine Opener
Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket and bid farewell to a fine career which was divided into two distinct halves. He was a very mediocre middle-order batter for the first 27 matches of his Test career with a batting average of just under 40. However, just like in ODI cricket, his fortunes changed dramatically when he was pushed to open for the country. From the Visakhapatnam Test of 2019 till the Dharamsala Test of 2024, Rohit - the Test batter averaged 50 and was not only one of the premier openers in the world but also the leading batter for India in the format. The Struggle Outside India Rohit had a great start to his Test career with two hundreds in his first two appearances for India - against West Indies in Kolkata and Mumbai - but then witnessed a major slump in whites for India. He scored just 1585 runs in his first 27 Tests at an average of 39.6. Rohit had a very high Failure Rate of almost 50% and crossed the three-figure mark on just one more occasion in this time-frame - against Sri Lanka in Nagpur in 2017 - four years after his debut! Although he still had outstanding returns at home, Rohit had shocking numbers outside India scoring just 816 runs in 18 away Tests at an average of 26.3. He did not have a ton outside the country. Though a modern great in limited-overs' cricket, he was at the crossroads of his long-form career and time was running out fast for Rohit - the batter. The Vizag Twin Tons Rohit had a horrendous tour of South Africa and that was followed by a tough tour Down Under. The clamour for seeing him out of the Test XI increased. With his career in the doldrums, Rohit was pushed to open for India as the very last resort. It turned out to be a masterstroke. Rohit made the opportunity count and how! He smashed a ton in both the innings of the series opener against South Africa in Vizag, becoming the sixth Indian batter to achieve the unique feat. The stunning performance gave rise to Rohit Sharma - the Test opener - and unleashed another chapter for India in Test cricket. The Domination as Test Opener From the Vizag Test in October, 2019 till the end of the home series against England in Dharamsala in March, 2024, Rohit - the Test opener - rose to new heights and was amongst the premier top-order batters in the world! He was the leading run-scorer amongst all openers in the world in this time-frame and piled on 2552 runs in 32 matches at an average of 50.03 with nine centuries and 7 fifties. Amongst the 15 openers who scored at least 1000 runs in a minimum of 10 Tests played in this period, only Dimuth Karunaratne (52.4) had a higher batting average than Rohit during this period. No opening batter recorded more tons than Rohit's 9 in these four and a half years. Timing & Context of Performances Rohit's rise as a Test opener coincided with a turbulent time for the Big 3 of India in the format. Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane had a poor run in 2020 and 2021. Kohli had an average of 26.1, Pujara - 26.2 and Rahane - 25 in this period and the onus was on Rohit to step up and make it count. Rohit towered above all other Indian batters in this time-frame (2020-2021) scoring 906 runs in just 11 Tests at an average of 47.68! His 161 off just 231 deliveries England in Chennai in 2021 (India were 0-1 down in the series) is widely rated amongst the greatest hundreds by any batter on Indian soil. Rohit played 20 Tests at home between Vizag, 2019 and Dharamsala, 2024 and hammered 1633 runs at an average of 54.43 and strike rate of 65.4. No Indian scored more runs than Rohit at home in this time-frame. The rate at which he scored his runs was also significant as not only did it demoralized the opposition bowlers but also created enough time for the Indian bowlers to bowl the opposition out twice. The Overseas Transformation While Rohit always had a fine record in India, the big change in his Test career came in his overseas performances. He scored 919 runs in 12 Tests at an average of 43.76 with two centuries and five fifties away from India in this period. From his opening partnership with Shubman Gill in Brisbane and Sydney to his 83 in the massive win at Lord's to finally recording his first overseas hundred - in the Oval Test of September 2021, Rohit the opener grew in stature and contributed to some of India's most significant wins away from home during this period. Rohit suffered a major dip in his form in the last eight Tests of his career and scored just 164 runs in 15 innings at an average of 10.93. These included two home Tests against Bangladesh and three against New Zealand and three away Tests in Australia. However, his most significant achievement in the longest format was the contribution he made as opener - raising his game, under pressure when the chips were down for India in the period between October, 2019 and March, 2024 - a period when most of the other Indian batters struggled, Rohit rose to the occasion and scored tough runs when his team needed him the most. And that is his biggest legacy to Indian Test cricket!
