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Santner kept hitting the dry patch with cunning pace variations and came away with 7 for 53, which included the wicket of Kohli with a full-toss

Deivarayan Muthu25-Oct-20244:08

Santner: ‘It was a shock getting Kohli out to a full toss’

Mitchell Santner earned the nickname “Flatline” at Northern Districts, his domestic team, for his cool and relaxed demeanour. On the eve of the second Test against India in Pune, he stayed true to his nickname and warmed up with a casual kickabout before wheeling away with his left-arm fingerspin at the nets. There was an air of calmness around him even when he was engaging in some violent T20-style range-hitting towards the end of New Zealand’s training session.There were strong hints that Santner would replace one of New Zealand’s seamers on a slow, dry pitch in Pune. He would’ve been expected to do a job, even though he is only a sporadic presence in the Test team, pushed to the sidelines at home where conditions limit his skill. It might be fair to say now that he exceeded those expectations. “Flatline” peaked on Friday with a seven-wicket haul, which included a clean bowled of Virat Kohli (with a low full-toss).After going wide of the crease from left-arm around, Santner, who had originally started the second day by darting the ball into the surface, slowed his pace down to 82.6kph and had Kohli missing a swipe across the line. Kohli was shocked, as were Santner and more than 20,000 fans in Pune.Related

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“Yeah, I think I was in more of a shock getting Kohli out with a full-toss, he doesn’t usually miss those,” Santner said. “I think it was slightly slower through the air, I just tried to change it up a little bit but usually if you bowl those they go for six so, but yeah, I think there was obviously a little bit there which was nice and I think the change in pace was key today and the Indian spinners bowled pretty good areas with the change in pace.”There’s a chance that Santner might not have played this game had offspin-bowling allrounder Michael Bracewell been available for selection. Before the Pune Test, Santner had a bowling average of 42.16 and a strike rate of 91.6. He had taken some tap in the Tests against Sri Lanka in Galle and had never picked up a four-wicket haul in Test cricket, let alone a five-for. However, with a dry spot to work with, Santner kept hitting it with cunning pace variations and let the Pune pitch do the rest. He came away with 7 for 53, helping New Zealand earn a decisive first-innings lead of 103.In one over, Santner was able to hike it up to 95kph from around 75kph. Among current fingerspinners, hardly anyone varies their pace as much as he does.Virat Kohli was beaten by Mitchell Santner’s dip and drift•BCCI”I tend to do that a lot in white-ball cricket – change the pace,” Santner said. “I think today we kind of spoke about that kind of just under 90 kph [speed]. [It] looked like it was spinning and then for a period there when you went over the top it was actually bouncing a lot so we spoke about maybe going a little bit slower. But I just think at the start it was [about] kind of [bowling] fast into it and then it [the pace] kind of changed as the day went on with the pitch and I think Washi [Washington Sundar] did that as well; he did that very well.”Santner kept attacking the stumps in India’s first innings – six of his seven wickets were bowled or lbw – and he hopes to keep it just as simple in the final innings when the conditions could be even more extreme.”So, going into the next innings…trying to keep the stumps in play and hope for something similar and I think the India will probably come out maybe more aggressive and try and put us on the back foot but, you know, there’s still a job to do with the bat. Obviously the more runs we get now it makes our job with the ball a little bit easier.”Santner also credited Rangana Herath, the former Sri Lanka left-arm fingerspinner who is currently New Zealand’s spin-bowling coach, for sharing his inside knowledge on subcontinent conditions.”Yeah, Rangana been really good,” Santner said. “Obviously in Sri Lanka and now here he’s. He took wickets all over the place and yeah he was a master of that kind of change of pace and guile and working with him as a spin-bowling unit has been good, especially in conditions which are not too similar to back home.”After Santner bagged seven on Friday, he had his team-mates ruffling his hair in joy. He could give his mates and New Zealand more joy on Saturday by wrapping up their first-ever Test series win in India.

England seamer set to return to Asian Test conditions for first time in eight years

Matt Roller06-Oct-2024It is a phrase that most athletes use as a form of humble-brag, deferring to their impressive statistics to avoid sounding arrogant. Last year, Chris Woakes defied convention: “My away record speaks for itself,” he said, while conceding that his overseas Test career was probably over. With 36 wickets at 51.88 in 20 away Tests, he had a point.Yet 15 months later, Woakes finds himself preparing not only to play in England’s first Test against Pakistan, but to lead their bowling attack. He will have to battle scorching-hot conditions in Multan from Monday, where he will play his first away Test in two-and-a-half years and his first in Asia since 2016.It is a situation that few would have predicted when England last toured Pakistan two years ago, with James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood all thriving and Stuart Broad missing on paternity leave. But Anderson and Broad have retired, Robinson has been sidelined and Wood is injured – leaving Woakes recalled as the unlikely spearhead.Before Woakes travelled to Pakistan, he rowed back on some of his previous self-analysis, telling the that he believed some of the criticism of his overseas record had been unduly harsh in tone. “I know what I’m capable of,” he said. “The fact I’ve been selected suggests I’m pretty good and from a knowledge perspective, I have a wealth of it – more so now than ever in my career.”Related

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England’s rationale for selecting Woakes is multi-faceted. His inclusion is recognition of his performance in their home summer, and comes with the belief – or hope – that he is a more complete bowler than when he last toured. It is also priceless from a team construction perspective: in Ben Stokes’ absence, he is the only viable No. 7 in a team with five bowlers.Perhaps balance is the most relevant consideration. In India earlier this year, Stokes’ availability only as a specialist batter left England in a bind: without a bowling option in their squad who was a realistic option at No. 7, they had to compromise somewhere. Their batter-heavy balance left them so reliant on Joe Root’s offspin early in the series that his output with the bat suffered.Woakes had a lean series with the bat in England’s most recent series against Sri Lanka, averaging 9.20. He is probably one spot higher than ideal at No. 7, but his role is often about partnership batting and allowing the top six to maintain their natural tempo: stands of 106 and 52 with Jamie Smith this summer underlined his value in a hinge position.He will also continue to open the bowling – a role which should suit him much better than the one he has filled in the majority of his away Tests, as a change bowler behind Anderson and Broad. “He’ll get the opportunity with the new ball over here, which is something that he should enjoy a lot more,” Brendon McCullum, England’s coach, said on Sunday.

We’ve heard it said that the ICC has been reduced to an event management firm, but is it even that now?

Osman Samiuddin20-Dec-2024First of all, a round of applause for cricket for finally ending what seemed at first to be the saga with no end but which quickly became the saga that if nobody cared much about it, might just go away. Second of all, everyone involved can claim a win. The PCB has its equitable and just agreement, the sense that it is being treated as an equal with the biggest board in the game. The BCCI is not going to play in Pakistan, which is what it has wanted from the off. The ICC has a tournament, and all members their ensuing revenues from it. We all get our tournament and perhaps, somewhere down the line, a triangular or quadrangular series involving both India and Pakistan.Third – and realest – of all, though, better make that a really slow handclap for cricket. If anyone thinks the outcome of this entire sorry drama is a win – least of all for cricket – then it is not the game’s interests they have at heart, no matter how much they tell us otherwise.Consider the ICC. Their perfunctory statement on the resolution is, by one count, six paragraphs long. By another, less generous, count, it is actually six sentences long, two of which spell out the decision and two being space fillers about a schedule that will come soon and about how many teams will take part. That’s it. Six sentences, with no explanation or context as to why there is a statement in the first place. Why do we need a hybrid model, ICC, when the tournament was awarded three years ago to Pakistan as the sole hosts? And how come this arrangement will last until at least 2027?Related

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Remarkably, it is the only statement the ICC has made since November 9, when the BCCI first informed the ICC that India were not going to travel to Pakistan. Not a single statement about the uncertainty around one of their premier events, a tournament essentially held hostage by two of their biggest members who together form their events’ biggest rivalry. There’s Stockholm Syndrome and then there’s this.It used to be said, a little disparagingly in the years after Malcolm Speed was forced out as CEO, that the ICC had become a mere event management company and was no longer a global governing body. What, then, might it be left as these days, given its lack of management of the 2023 World Cup and then the fallout from the T20 World Cup this year? An event management company that is no longer managing events at all, or at least not managing them very well?If you conclude that this is down to a complete absence of leadership, or the total subjugation of the ICC to the game’s strongest constituents, then you would not be entirely wrong. But I think a more illuminating insight can be drawn from Greg Barclay’s recent interview with the , in which the outgoing chair deploys a curiously detached gaze on the game, as if he were a fond – but mere – observer, with no real skin in it. The game’s a mess, isn’t it? Lost a bit of perspective, hasn’t it? Sure hope Jay Shah uses India to grow the game and not put it under the yoke of India. Gee, somebody should really do something about all this. Er, who’s going to tell him, guys?And so, in this reflection, the ICC has stood aside and shrugged, watching the game not grow but grow more unruly, pulled here, pushed there, stretched out so that it loses all shape and meaning. Yep, it’s a mess, fellas. Yep, there’s challenges. If only somebody would do something about it.

It used to be said the ICC had become a mere event management company. What, then, might it be left as these days, given its lack of management of the 2023 World Cup and the fallout from the T20 World Cup this year? An event management company that is no longer managing events at all, or at least not managing them very well?

If there’s a smidgen of sympathy here, it’s because the ICC has been wedged in between in this anti-romance between the BCCI and PCB. Nothing brings out the worst in either board than having to deal with the other. And this time the charade that the wrangling is anything other than a proxy for their governments to point-score has been especially risible.Mohsin Naqvi has repeatedly argued that politics and sport should not be mixed. At the best of times this is a reductive line. For Naqvi, concurrently, the incumbent PCB chair and Pakistan’s interior minister (and an especially influential one) it’s a supremely disingenuous line to push. To the extent that it feels like it’s pure trolling.In India, meanwhile, cricket is to politics as smoke is to mirrors, which, given the BCCI secretary had a direct line to the sitting home minister, was something. The BCCI said it was the government not allowing the team to travel. The government didn’t say anything. Until one day, in response to a question, the ministry of external affairs referred to a BCCI statement on the decision. The BCCI, said the spokesperson, had cited security concerns in Pakistan and so was unlikely to send the team there.Umm, what now?The BCCI had made no statement at all, then or now; had, in fact, made clear the decision was in their hands: Rajiv Shukla, the forever BCCI grandee, once said to the media the decision was not the board’s. That was half the problem, that the PCB wanted to know from the BCCI (and not the ICC) why it wasn’t going to send its team, and what the Indian government had said. And security concerns? A security plan had been presented and no objections raised at an ICC meeting in October. None of the eight Full Members who have travelled to Pakistan since 2019 have raised any issues, nor the teams who are actually in the Champions Trophy.And in the middle of this impasse, Jay Shah ascended (or should that be was demoted?) to the ICC chair. One day he was fighting for the BCCI’s interests. The next, a switch was flicked and he was meant to be fighting for the ICC’s interests. It’s quite the to-do list to have left on the last day of your old job to pick up on the first day of your new job. It was entirely fitting. This is, after all, a members’ body in which members routinely do things that undermine the members’ body, and then, as members of said members’ body, bemoan those undermining actions.Still, at least everyone won. Only, if this is what cricket winning feels like, may we never find out how cricket losing feels.

Now that it has brought in the money, the upcoming Hundred season has missed a chance to begin the healing process

Andrew Miller13-Mar-2025“Are you a Gladiator? Do you have the will and the skill?”At the age of 42, but still with the body of a Greek god, James Anderson would probably answer “yes” to both of those questions, whether he was pushing off from the sightscreen at Old Trafford or from a giant hamster-ball launcher in a Saturday night gameshow.Never mind that the Hundred might prefer to be seen in loftier company, English cricket’s chosen prime-time offering has more than a few traits in common with “Gladiators”, ITV’s eponymous hit which pitches plucky members of the public against a range of beefcakes in a series of taxing athletic pursuits.Kids love both concepts, by all accounts, even if more established sports fans tend to view them, at best, with indifference and, at worst, disdain or outright loathing. And the strides towards gender parity have been a key aspect of the appeal, with the men’s and women’s competitions in both cases having equal and interchangeable merit (if not, in the Hundred’s case, equal pay just yet).Dare one say it, however, grumpy has-beens have long been a central plank of Gladiators’ success. Fans of the original series in the 1990s had “Wolf” as the original pantomime baddie, while the modern-day villain is the taciturn, tantrum-prone “Viper” (alongside the engagingly egomanicial “Legend”). At least London Spirit have got David Warner lined up for 2025, but you can see where this one’s going, can’t you?Yes, Anderson’s enduring heart to be a winner made not the blindest bit of difference in Wednesday night’s Hundred draft. For the fifth time (and, given what’s at stake from next year onwards, let’s fervently hope the final time), the tournament’s organisers again failed to work out whether it is sport or entertainment that they will be overseeing in the prime weeks of the English summer.Should we care that an England legend, who hasn’t played a professional T20 fixture in more than a decade, has just been snubbed by a tournament that was last month valued at approximately £2 billion? Your answer depends on what you think the ECB ought to be getting out of the Hundred this summer, seeing as it has already got exactly what the tournament was created for.Wolf (left) and Cobra pose ahead of the original series of Gladiators in 1992•Getty ImagesAs England’s stake in a fragmenting international market, the Hundred has fulfilled its purpose admirably. At an operational level, however, the ECB has consistently struggled to pitch it in a manner appropriate to the sport that they already serve. The tournament, they have long said, is not aimed at cricket’s established fans, which would be fine in principle, were it not for the contempt with which that insistence had been burnished, and the collateral damage it has caused along the way, particularly in hastening the decline of the very international game that, by design, it is there to replace.As such, every new season has been a bundle of contradictions, at one level or another, but this year’s competition doesn’t even seem to be aimed at future fans either. Who knows what the Hundred will look like from 2026 onwards, when IPL team-names begin to oust the competition’s existing brands, and the kits start to get a makeover – including, it is proposed, a garish MCC egg-and-bacon strip to replace London Spirit’s existing Tyrells’ blue. Vikram Banjeree, the Hundred’s MD, recently admitted the competition needed more “tribalism” to gain proper traction with its fans, but in the rapacious world of financially focused sports leagues, the only constant is change.The draft itself rather confirmed the impression that this year’s tournament will be an unusually listless exercise. Where once the player selection process had been envisioned as an appointment-to-view Sunday evening event on Sky Sports, this year’s version wasn’t even deemed worthy of a fixed YouTube camera. Instead, contracts worth up to £200,000 a pop were drip-fed through a tournament-run live blog on a half-hour delay, without so much as a peep behind the curtain to whet any wider media interest. No doubt the Silicon Valley tech bros were especially entranced by the spectacle.Beyond the immediate confusion, however, there are still wider issues that the Hundred still isn’t making any attempt to address. In the build-up to the draft, a preview piece on BBC Sport (a tournament partner, remember) was inundated with the usual vitriol: “Couldn’t care less” … “pantomime time” … “a joke competition” … “just ever-changing teams of random individuals, picked like in a school playground …” and so it went on.Of course, the ECB is entitled to show off its swag-bag as a pointed rejoinder, but there’s no way that anyone who cares for cricket in this country can just close their ears to the hatred, and pretend it will all just go away now that the money is rolling in. The bad blood is real and lasting, and a rapprochement seems no closer to fruition.Related

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Maybe it’s easy to cling too tightly to the past, and miss the bigger picture. Elsewhere in this week’s sporting news, the Manchester United Supporters Trust couldn’t help but sound like stick-in-the-muds when failing to get giddily excited about Old Trafford’s extraordinary expansion plans. No doubt their concerns about ticket prices and in-stadium atmosphere have merit, but lads … can’t you just look at that £2 billion’s worth of real-estate investment and be happy for once?But, while snubbing Anderson’s advances could be seen as a statement of sporting seriousness as the Hundred prepares for its loaded new future, it does seem odd – in these remarkable circumstances – to pass over the appeal of one man who could, at the very least, have given cricket’s disenfranchised masses a reason to tune in and pass judgement on their own terms.Anderson played his first T20 match way back in July 2004, in the format’s second season, and a full year before its first international fixture. But it’s not as though he’s been a stranger to the Hundred’s new demographics, with his guest slots as a BBC summariser and numerous matchday masterclasses. His Tailenders’ podcast sidekicks, Felix White and Greg James, were even co-opted onto Oval Invincibles’ board in the lead-up to the equity sale.Yes, Anderson will still be toiling away on the county circuit for another season yet, but that fact in itself merely exacerbates the sense of a heritage spurned – a fair few fans may pop into Lord’s from April 4 to watch him open the county season with Lancashire, and he may even feature in his first 50-over game in six years when the One-Day Cup takes place in the Hundred’s immense shadow in August.But surely there would have been merit in a one-season deal for a grand old man who just wants to be able to flame out on his own terms, and provide a last bit of entertainment along the way. It would have been a vehicle, if nothing else, to lure a few of the unconverted through the gates – maybe even with their kids in tow, flushed with memories of what it was like to be young and starry-eyed – and begin some sort of a healing process before the true upheaval begins next year.After all, as Gladiators has shown over the course of its 33-year span, good clean family fun doesn’t have to be so goddamn divisive.

Alan Gardner, Andrew Miller and Vithushan Ehantharajah sit down to discuss England’s new white-ball era and the upcoming Tests against India

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2025England secured the T20I series with a game to spare with victory at Bristol on Sunday, having previously won the ODIs against West Indies 3-0. On this week’s Switch, Alan Gardner was joined by Andrew Miller and Vish Ehantharajah to discuss the start of Harry Brook’s white-ball captaincy. Topics for discussion included Jos Buttler’s return to form, Jamie Smith opening and the balance of the T20I attack. Also on the menu: England’s Test squad announcement ahead of the India series.

He has played just 12 Tests for South Africa in all these years, but away from the limelight, Simon Harmer has put together a truly remarkable body of work

Sampath Bandarupalli23-Oct-20254 – Harmer is only the fourth South Africa player to claim 1000 wickets in first-class cricket. Charlie Llewellyn (1013), Mike Procter (1417) and Allan Donald (1216) were the ones to get there before him.2 – Only two players who made their first-class debuts in the 21st century have taken 1000 wickets in the format. Harmer, whose first-class debut was in November 2009, and James Anderson, who had made his debut in May 2002. His milestone 1000th wicket came in July 2021. Anderson was also the last of the 216 bowlers to reach 1000 first-class wickets before Harmer.Related

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Harmer is the only bowler in the world with over 900 wickets since his first-class debut, with Malinda Pushpakumara’s 874 being the next best.514 – Wickets for Harmer in first-class cricket in England. Of those, 513 have come for Essex, all since 2017, and one for South Africa in a Test in 2022. Harmer is the only bowler with 500-plus first-class wickets in England since 2017, with Kyle Abbott’s 442 being the next highest.Harmer’s 35 five-fors and ten ten-wicket match hauls are also the most by any bowler in England in this period.Not to forget, Harmer has 453 wickets at home in South Africa, the second-highest since his first-class debut, behind only Shaun von Berg (522).Simon Harmer is an Essex legend, with 513 wickets for them in first-class cricket•Getty Images58 – Five-wicket hauls for Harmer in first-class cricket. Only Pushpakumara (80) and Gayan Sirisoma (61) have more five-fors than Harmer since his first-class debut in November 2009. R Ashwin (51) is the only other bowler with 50-plus five-fors in this period.Harmer’s effort in the Rawalpindi Test was his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket outside of England and South Africa, where he has 35 and 22 respectively. Harmer, however, has played only 11 first-class matches outside those two countries.331 – Wickets for Harmer in Chelmsford, the home ground of his county team, Essex. Only one bowler has taken more first-class wickets at a ground in the last 20 years – 374 by Tim Murtagh at Lord’s.Harmer has 27 five-wicket hauls across the 58 matches he played in Chelmsford, the most by a bowler at a venue in the last 20 years. Harmer has taken ten-plus wickets in a game on ten occasions at the venue, which is also the most.20 – Right-arm offspinners with 1000-plus wickets in first-class cricket before Harmer. Robert Croft was the last offspinner to reach 1000 wickets, having got there in 2007. (Twenty other players with 1000 FC wickets had multiple bowling styles throughout their careers, with right-arm off-break being one of them)55,618 – Balls that Harmer has bowled in his first-class career so far. Only one other player has bowled over 50,000 balls in the format since his debut – Nathan Lyon (55,790).

Playing international cricket after two months, Hardik batted as if he had never been away and also chipped in with the ball

Deivarayan Muthu10-Dec-20251:28

Why did it feel like Hardik batted on a different pitch?

Abhishek Sharma crumpled to the floor after an inducker from Marco Jansen stopped on him and smacked him on his midriff. Tilak Varma swished and missed. Both Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav popped up catches to infielders without any timing.The dampness and slowness in the Cuttack surface made every India batter look silly except Hardik Pandya. On a difficult pitch where even South Africa’s batters struggled later in the evening, Hardik conquered the conditions and proved to be the difference-maker, clattering an unbeaten 59 off 28 balls, with four sixes. The entire South African batting line-up failed to top his tally of sixes, though the conditions seemingly turned friendlier for batting in the chase.Hardik had been away from international cricket for over two months with a quadricep injury. However, he batted as if he had never been away. He started with two no-look sixes in his first four balls and never looked back.Related

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Hardik has turned six-hitting into an art where he hardly ever mis-hits, and times the ball beautifully with the stillest of heads and smoothest of bat-swings. Even on this damp pitch. Against both spin and pace. Dale Steyn, who was doing commentary, said he was “frightened for his life.”Anrich Nortje may have experienced a similar feeling when Hardik charged at him and brutally belted a 149kph delivery straight past him. Then when Nortje banged one into the deck at a similar rapid pace, Hardik coolly ramped it over deep third for six more. It was his 100th T20I six – he became the fourth Indian to the landmark in men’s T20Is after Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar and Virat Kohli.”I mean, I had to back my shots,” Hardik said after winning the Player-of-the-Match award. “At the same point of time, I realised that the wicket had a bit of spice. I had to be a little bit gutsy and it was more about timing the ball and not trying to break the ball. Yeah, I was very satisfied with the way I was batting.”Hardik Pandya celebrates his fifty•Getty ImagesWhen Hardik had walked out to bat at 78 for 4 in the 12th over, India were staring at a below-par total. He somehow made a bad situation better for India by carrying them to 175 for 6. Then, with the ball, he turned a great situation even greater by having David Miller nicking behind off the inside edge for 1. South Africa eventually folded for 74, their lowest T20I total.The presence of a fit Hardik opens up endless possibilities for India. He could slot in anywhere in the middle order and ensure batting depth all the way down to No. 8. With the ball, he allows India to have six genuine bowling options, including three attacking ones – on Tuesday, it was Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy. On drier pitches, Kuldeep could come in place of Arshdeep and Hardik could take the new ball. Since the start of 2024, India have won 26 of their 29 T20Is outright with Hardik in the side. Without him, India have nine wins, two losses and two ties.”As a cricketer, I don’t think I have ever been fussy about what roles I have in the game,” he said. “I’ve always been very motivated all the time to make sure that it does not matter what Hardik Pandya wants; it matters what India wants. And whenever I get opportunities, I come and try to do my best.

“I realised that the wicket had a bit of spice. I had to be a little bit gutsy and it was more about timing the ball and not trying to break the ball”

“Some days are good, some days are not. But at the same point of time, it’s the mindset which helps me. And I think it’s been [the same way] throughout my cricketing career. I’ve always tried to put my team first, the nation first and whichever team I have played for. I think that’s my biggest USP and that’s what has always helped me.”Hardik’s absence leaves India scrambling for balance, though there’s no dearth of white-ball talent in the country. For example, in the 2023 ODI World Cup, an ankle injury to Hardik messed with India’s combination. They had to make two changes with Suryakumar coming in as a batter and Mohammed Shami replacing Shardul Thakur. India were forced to compromise on batting depth, with Shami slotting in at No. 8. It didn’t work out for them in the end.It didn’t work out for India more recently this October when they were shot out for 125 in Hardik’s absence in the Melbourne T20I.Tuesday’s game in Cuttack reminded everyone that everything works out for India when Hardik is fit and that they are unbeatable when he is both fit and firing.

The India allrounder said working on his mindset and fitness had helped him maintain his superb form in 2025

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-20255:13

Jadeja on vice-captaincy, batting higher and playing without Ashwin

It was his 50th home Test, but the first one Ravindra Jadeja was playing without his long-time spin partner R Ashwin, who retired from international cricket last December. It was an unusual experience, but it made no difference as far as the impact Jadeja was able to make on the match. He scored an unbeaten 104, his sixth Test hundred, and took four second-innings wickets as India wrapped up victory over West Indies by an innings and 140 runs inside eight sessions in Ahmedabad.Among the factors behind India winning so commandingly was the strength of their spin attack even without Ashwin, with Jadeja bowling alongside Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar, and with Axar Patel on the bench.”Obviously we do miss him,” Jadeja said after the Test, when asked how Ashwin’s absence felt. “Ash has contributed so much to Indian cricket, been a match-winner for so many years.”I was playing a [Test] match in India without Ash for the first time, so sometimes I did find myself thinking, yeah, Ash will come on and bowl, and then realising he isn’t there. But Kuldeep and Washy have already played so many matches, and we can’t call them youngsters, but it was a different combination.”In the future you will ask, Jaddu isn’t here, and someone else will be there. This is inevitable, and it will keep happening, but it feels good to contribute to the team.”Related

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Jadeja’s performance in Ahmedabad left him tantalisingly close to the double of 4000 runs and 300 wickets in Test cricket. He needs only 10 runs to become the fourth member of that particular club, and membership to an even more exclusive club — 5000 runs and 400 wickets, which presently only includes Kapil Dev — could also be within reach.”You’re putting pressure on me now,” Jadeja joked when asked about this. “I’ll have to start thinking about how to score 1000 more runs and take 60-70 more wickets.”At this stage I’m enjoying my cricket. I’m not thinking about records or milestones. I’m just working on my fitness and enjoying my cricket. Whenever I’m at home I always work on my fitness so that I just continue doing what I’ve been doing [for] so many years, so that’s about it.”At 36, Ravindra Jadeja is still sprightly on the field•Associated PressThe century in Ahmedabad extended a sensational 2025 with the bat for Jadeja. So far this year, he has scored 659 runs in seven Tests at an average of 82.37, with two hundreds and five fifties, with 516 of those runs coming in a series of remarkable consistency in England, which included a stretch of eight innings with six 50-plus scores.”I’ve worked on my batting — I’ve made some changes both mentally and skill-wise,” Jadeja said. “I used to have a different mindset before, in my batting, but I’ve made a few changes now.”Part of this, he said, came from regularly batting up the order. Since the start of 2023, he has batted 22 times at Nos. 5 and 6 in 40 innings.”If you get the chance to bat up the order, you definitely bat with a different mindset,” he said. “I’ve batted at No. 8 and 9 in Test matches before, and that comes with a different mindset, and if you bat with that mindset you can end up playing a loose shot and getting out.”I’ve also batted at No. 5 and 6, and that comes with a different mindset. You are aware of the responsibility you have to build partnerships with whichever batsman you are batting with. That has definitely made a difference.At 36, Jadeja is showing no perceptible signs of slowing down; he prowls the outfield as athletically as ever, and he has been largely injury-free since getting through a frustrating period in 2021-23 when injuries repeatedly kept him away from action.”Injuries can happen anytime,” he said. “There is no guarantee, and no precautions you can take [against them]. If you’re giving your 100% on the ground, you could have to dive anytime or put in an effort for a catch or a run-out.”Luckily, by god’s grace, I haven’t been injured that much and I work a lot on my fitness. I don’t put up a lot of videos of what all I do on social media, but I do it. And it has been making a difference on the ground, and it feels good that I’m able to give my 100% at this age, and it doesn’t feel like my fitness level is going down, so it puts me in a good frame of mind.”On being asked to expand on his fitness routines and whether that included monitoring his sleep cycles, Jadeja burst into laughter. “I keep it simple,” he said. “Not 8-9 hours, sometimes I sleep for longer too, and if I’m [enjoying my evening] I might sleep less too. But on a serious note, when matches are approaching, I know when to start my training, when to change my food intake. I have a very good idea of my body and what it needs and in what state it is in at any time.”

It wasn’t easy, but Chelsea managed to get over the line against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday night.

Enzo Maresca’s side managed to get themselves ahead of the Old Gold just five minutes into the game, and looked completely out of sight by half-time.

However, the West Londoners found themselves in a real scrap halfway through the second 45, and were it not for a wonder goal from Jamie Gittens, they might not still be in the League Cup.

However, while there were a few players who let themselves down in the second period, the biggest disappointment for the Blues was Liam Delap, and if he’s not careful, the Englishman could see himself replaced next season.

Delap's diabolical night

After spending the last two months out with a hamstring injury, Delap finally made his return to first-team action against Wolves.

Chalkboard

The former Ipswich Town star came on for Estevao in the 61st minute, and it would be fair to say he more than made his mark, just not in the way he would have wanted.

In the 79th minute, he received a yellow card for pushing a Wolves player and arguing with the referee, which at the time was a foolish thing to do.

However, just seven minutes later, the Englishman did something even stupider and elbowed Emmanuel Agbadou in the head, which unsurprisingly saw him receive a second yellow and get sent off.

It was a true horror show from the striker, as he wasn’t even able to have a single shot before being sent off.

Speaking after the match, Maresca didn’t hold back, describing the incident as “embarrassing” and “very stupid.”

Such a response might sound harsh, but given the state of the game and the nature of the cards, it is hard to disagree with the Italian.

Delap will surely be desperate to make amends when he returns, although he might have to do more than that, as come next season, Maresca will have another forward in the squad who could be a significant upgrade on the Englishman.

Chelsea's future Delap upgrade

With Nicolas Jackson at Bayern Munich and Joao Pedro playing better behind a striker, there aren’t too many options for replacing Delap this season.

However, that will not be the case next year, as Strasbourg star Emanuel Emegha will be making his way to Chelsea in the summer.

The Dutchman might not be a particularly well-known name in England at the moment, but he’s been playing well in France for a couple of years now and looks like he could make a real impact at Stamford Bridge.

For example, in his first season with the Ligue 1 outfit, the 22-year-old managed to rack up a tally of nine goals and two assists in 31 appearances, totalling 2226 minutes.

However, last season he did even better, ending the campaign with an impressive haul of 14 goals and three assists in 29 appearances, totalling just 2408 minutes.

In comparison, Delap managed to score 12 goals and provide two assists in 40 appearances, totalling 2670 minutes, for the Tractor Boys.

Unfortunately, the “simply phenomenal” centre-forward, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, is currently injured. However, before his injury, he looked set for his best season to date, scoring four goals and providing two assists in just six appearances, totalling 384 minutes.

Appearances

66

Starts

56

Minutes

5018′

Goals

27

Assists

7

Goal Involvements per Match

0.51

Minutes per Goal Involvement

147.58′

Ultimately, not only does Emegha have a better record than Delap, but he has also never received a red card; therefore, he could be a real upgrade for Chelsea next year.

Not Estevao: Chelsea star looks like Palmer 2.0 after Wolves "masterclass"

The exciting ace made all the difference for Maresca and Chelsea vs Wolves.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Oct 30, 2025