All posts by n8rngtd.top

The veteran keeper, who won Euro 2016 with Portugal, has played for Sporting CP, AS Roma, Wolverhampton, Atalanta, and Al Ain

• Played in the Club World Cup with Al Ain
• Only featured in six matches last season with Atalanta
• Pumas are seeking a veteran presence between the posts

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  After missing out on Keylor Navas, Pumas UNAM are turning their attention to veteran Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio, who famously helped Portugal win the Euro 2016 title.

  According to , negotiations are advanced and Patricio is close to becoming the club’s new signing for the remainder of the Apertura 2025 season.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  While Patricio may not have the same profile as Navas, the 37-year-old brings a wealth of experience, having played more than 100 matches for the Portuguese national team and featured for clubs such as Sporting CP, Wolverhampton, Roma, and most recently Atalanta, where he only made six appearances last season.

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  DID YOU KNOW?

  Patricio featured at the Club World Cup with Al Ain, conceding six goals in just two matches. Despite some skepticism among fans about his age and recent form, the club hopes his leadership and international pedigree can provide much-needed stability in goal.

  Pumas are finalizing the last details to complete the transfer and aim to bring him to Mexico City as soon as possible.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR PUMAS?

  Pumas will host Pachuca Sunday in Matchday 2 of the Apertura 2025, and the deal with Patricio could be wrapped up just in time.

Akash Deep recounts the story of his journey from a no-cricket background in Bihar to the highest level

PTI10-Feb-2024Akash Deep had just finished bowling a spell during Bengal’s Ranji Trophy game against Kerala in Thumba and was manning the boundary line, when everyone in the Bengal dressing room started clapping in unison and congratulating him. He had just received his maiden call-up to the India Test squad, for the last three matches against England, a reward for his performances in red-ball cricket for Bengal and India A over the past season.”I was hopeful that in the near future I might get a Test call-up if I keep performing but I didn’t expect that it would come by the third match itself,” Akash Deep tells PTI from his hotel room in Thumba.For 27-year-old Akash Deep, it was the latest step up in a career that started with him being a star tennis-ball allrounder in Durgapur in Bengal, before he graduated to playing first-division cricket in Kolkata, followed by the Under-23s and then first-class cricket. Along the way, he has played in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore, too.Related

• India vs England, round three: scores level, stakes high

• The Bengal fast-bowling revolution

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If someone had told Akash Deep, then the 15-year-old son of government school teacher in Bihar’s Sasaram, that he would have a career in cricket, he himself would have laughed it off.”In Bihar [suspended by the BCCI at the time], there was no platform and especially from the place where I came from, Sasaram, playing cricket was a crime,” Akash Deep says. “Lots of parents would ask their children not to mingle with Akash as he only plays cricket and your studies would go for a toss.”But I don’t blame them. What would you have achieved playing cricket in a place like that? You would be wasting time and not even become a cricketer, and also ignore academics. Your future would be ruined and they were worried. So, were my parents.”As for Akash Deep’s father, he wanted his son to appear for exams that would get him a government job.”Appear for Bihar police constable’s exams or at least try for state government’s Class IV staff [peons], my father used to say,” Akash Deep says. “He would fill up those government job application forms and I would go for exams and come back submitting blank forms. In my mind, while cricket was my passion, I just wanted to be happy and never thought about making it a career.”Things changed when tragedy struck, not once but twice, within six months.His father died first, followed by his elder brother, who left behind two young daughters.”My father and my brother died within six months. I had nothing to lose, and the motivation was that I had to take care of the family,” Akash Deep says. A friend helped him join a club in Durgapur but the money he earned came from playing tennis-ball cricket.”I would play proper leather-ball matches for my club, but initially there was no money. So three to four days a month, I would play tennis-ball matches around the district and earn Rs 6000 per day. So I would earn 20,000 per month, which helped me run my expenses.Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep, both fast bowlers from Bengal, are in the India Test squad•Cricket Association of Bengal

“I never had any fixed coach. Saurasish Lahiri (current Bengal assistant coach), Arun Lal sir, Rano sir [Ranadeb Bose], all have helped me from time to time, and whatever I could learn, I have learnt.”

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Akash Deep has 103 wickets from 29 first-class games and in two four-day games against England Lions recently, he took 11 wickets, including two four-wicket hauls.”Inswing is my stock delivery, but at this level, you need to have outswing and reverse swing and more importantly need to control the swing,” he says. “I was in the ODI squad in South Africa and realised that more than skill, at this level, it is more about mental strength of being able to execute plans under pressure.”At the India Test squad, Akash Deep will have for company Mukesh Kumar, another Bengal quick bowler.”This is a matter of pride that myself and Mukesh will be in the Indian dressing room together in a Test team,” Akash Deep says. “Bengal is our state and it has given us everything. This national call-up is my way of showing my gratitude to Bengal.”

Virender Sehwag proved once again that he isn’t only a fairweather batsman

On the ball with S Rajesh and Arun Gopalakrishnan15-Oct-2005The conditions were perfect for seam and swing bowling, the pitch was an excellent one for spinners, and Australia had champion bowlers to exploit both. All that didn’t matter one bit to Virender Sehwag, though, who came up with another characteristically flamboyant knock. He had an especially good time against Brett Lee and Shane Watson, blasting 57 off the 50 balls he played from them. Glenn McGrath went for 13 from 16, while the spinners were far more effective in stopping his runs, going for only six from 16. And Sehwag’s scoring rate off good-length balls from the fast bowlers is a fair indication of his mind-set at the crease.The wagon-wheel shows Sehwag’s strength square of the off side. Of the 14 fours he hit in his innings, 12 came in the arc between third man and cover.Sehwag’s 76 lifted his first-innings stats to 2718 runs from 37 tries at an average of 73.46. Eighteen of his 20 fifty-plus scores in Tests have been in the first innings. In the second innings he averages a paltry 25.66, a stat he’ll surely have the opportunity to improve upon over the next couple of days.McGrath continued his stranglehold over Rahul Dravid. Since September 2001, McGrath has bowled 156 deliveries to Dravid, conceded 24 runs, and dismissed him thrice – that’s an average of eight runs per wicket, and less than a run per over.

Sachin Tendulkar’s 11,000 runs have come in 223 innings, and he becomes the third player in the club, after Allan Border and Brian Lara

S Rajesh28-Jul-2007Sachin Tendulkar has had his share of problems against Monty Panesar, which is why it was probably fitting that he brought up his 11,000th Test run off him, driving him through the covers for four to move from 23 to 27. That shot took Tendulkar’s tally to 11,002, next only to Brian Lara and Allan Border in the list of highest run-getters in Tests. Tendulkar has reached the milestone in 223 innings, which is 36 fewer than the number Border needed, but ten more than Lara’s 213. However, Tendulkar’s average of 55.43 is more than Border’s (51.00) and Lara’s (54.04) immediately after the innings in which they reached the landmark. (If Tendulkar gets out without adding to his 57, his average will be 55.16.)Tendulkar hasn’t been in the greatest form of late, but over the years he has given spectators plenty of champagne moments. The table below charts his progress to 11,000 runs: his best period was in the late 1990s – it took him only 38 Tests to move from 4000 to 8000. His last 1000 runs have come at a slower pace, taking him 17 Tests (28 innings).

*As Tendulkar’s career summary shows, one of the highlights of his career has been his consistency against all teams and in all conditions. He averages 54.15 against Australia, and more than 50 against all teams except New Zealand (48.27), Pakistan (39.91) and South Africa (36.42). His record across continents is pretty good too, with the average dropping below 40 only in Africa (39.81).The below lists the best batsmen against Australia in the period in which they have been the most dominant side. Among batsmen who’ve played at least ten Tests against them since 1990, only Kevin Pietersen has a better record, and the difference is marginal.

The presence of other batting giants like Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly has meant that Tendulkar has forged some excellent partnerships over these 18 years. His 97-run stand with Dravid at Trent Bridge took their overall partnership tally to 5009, which is the third-highest among all pairs, and the highest for a non-opening pair. (Greenidge and Haynes top the list with 6482, while Hayden and Langer are next with 6081.)

Showbiz, stardom, sixes – they are all here. A little over a year ago Kevin Pietersen etched his name into English cricket history with his Ashes-sealing 158 at The Oval

Andrew McGlashan17-Sep-2006

Kevin Pietersen: Crossing the Boundary by Kevin Pietersen (Ebury Press) £18.99


Showbiz, stardom, sixes – they are all here. A little over a year ago Kevin Pietersen etched his name into English cricket history with his Ashes-sealing 158 at The Oval. It was inevitable the book would follow and the only surprise is that it has taken him a year to join the likes of Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff on the shelves.There wouldn’t be a book if it wasn’t for the events of last year but it isn’t just about his Ashes – although he could surely have managed it – and that is a saving grace. There are only so many times you can read Test accounts from the eyes of the players. All the ‘togetherness’, ‘bonding’ and ‘mateship’ can become too much.In the past year Pietersen has talked so much about the Ashes that there isn’t an awful lot of new information he adds about the dramatic events of Edgbaston, Old Trafford and the rest. There are some nice touches, such as when he acted as Geoff Boycott’s taxi driver in Edgbaston and admitted: “Boy, I was willing that journey to come to an end…” but there is a forced feeling with some of added statistics. Much of the book does sound like Pietersen – brash, bold, and cocky – but a line such as “In fact, the only other England side to go unchanged throughout a whole Ashes series was Arthur Shrewsbury’s side in 1884-85…” is probably not one of his most common chat-up lines.The whole Pietersen story is about risk taking. Nowadays it is all about risks with the bat – thumping Brett Lee baseball-style down the ground, or reverse-sweeping Muttiah Muralitharan for six – but his England career may never have happened if he hadn’t taken the risk of leaving South Africa. The tales of his early life, from schools cricket to provincial cricket, are eye-opening and make you wonder how South Africa can afford to lose a talent such as Pietersen; he won’t be the last.Sections of this book have already made the news, especially his less-than complementary remarks about Graeme Smith and Pietersen certainly doesn’t hold back. He has plenty to say about his acrimonious departure from Nottinghamshire and his decision to play on despite losing respect for the captain, Jason Gallian, and coach, Mick Newell. It is another example of Pietersen’s single-minded determination to get where he knew he belonged.Each chapter is finished by someone writing about Pietersen, from Stuart MacGill to Ashley Giles and even a brief offering from Duncan Fletcher. Some are depressingly matey (Ian Botham) but others seem slightly odd (Shahid Afridi on his Faisalabad pitch twirl). They are overdone – a few dotted throughout the book would have been fine, and basically all confirm how wonderful he is – even Boycott doesn’t go beyond a veiled criticism.Whereas the Ashes, and to a lesser extent the tours of India and Pakistan, were about ‘Team England’, the cricketing focus turns back to Pietersen himself for the start of the 2006 season. Slightly unfortunately the final series in the book is the draw against Sri Lanka and he is left to consider his own efforts rather than England’s failure to nail the opposition.For a person with such a macho image, Pietersen opens up his tender side when talking about Jessica Taylor – his popstar fiancée, who is only marginally higher up the ladder of celebrity anonymity – and much of the final chapter is devoted to how she has ‘completed’ him.Whatever Pietersen does will appeal to the general public and there is a decent blend of lifestyle and cricket within the pages to keep a wide audience happy, although if you’re looking for humility that isn’t part of the KP package. For those who can’t get enough of him he signs off with ‘the best is yet to come’. That’ll be for the second book, then the third, then the film deal.

When Sanath Jayasuriya took the field for the second ODI against England in Dambulla, he became the first cricketer to play 400 ODIs

Cricinfo staff04-Oct-2007When Sanath Jayasuriya took the field for the second ODI against England in Dambulla, he became the first cricketer to play 400 ODIs. Close on Jayasuriya’s heels is Sachin Tendulkar, who is on 397, but has five more matches to play in the ongoing series against Australia. Tendulkar is the only active international player to have made his debut before Jayasuriya, both having done so in 1989.Jayasuriya’s exploits at the top of the order and his handy left-arm spin bowling has been particularly effective in the shorter version of the game: they have helped him amass over 12,000 runs and bag more than 300 wickets.

Twenty-two of Jaysuriya’s 25 hundreds in ODIs have come in winning causes, and his record in victories indicate his match-winning ability. He’s been Man of the Match on 45 occasions; only Sachin Tendulkar, with 55, has more.

His importance to Sri Lanka’s fortunes can be gauged by the fact that he is Sri Lanka’s leading run-getter in Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals.Jayasuriya’s career summary indicates that he feasted against Bangladesh, England and India, but he hasn’t enjoyed as much success against Australia or South Africa, averaging in the early 20s against both. Surprisingly, he has done reasonably well in Australia and South Africa, but has struggled against both those teams when playing at home.As a bowler he has excellent numbers against West Indies and New Zealand, while Bangladesh have struggled to figure him out as well.Jayasuriya is 38 years old now, but age has not deterred him, and since 2006 he’s the third-highest run-getter for Sri Lanka in ODIs. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are the only ones ahead of him, indicating that despite having proven talent in their ranks, the team still relies heavily on Jayasuriya.

The Indian Premier League’s finale will feature the team that started off like a express train, and another that has enjoyed the smoothest ride through the six weeks

Dileep Premachandran31-May-2008

And so it is that the Indian Premier League’s finale will feature the team that started off like an express train, and another that has enjoyed the smoothest ride through the six weeks. The wheels threatened to come off for the Chennai Super Kings after that 4-0 start, but they regrouped from the loss of their Australian contingent to stitch together the victories that have taken Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the threshold of another major Twenty20 triumph. The Rajasthan Royals were hammered in their opening game, but have since scripted the sort of fairytale that Eric the Eel and other underdogs could only dream about. Both demolished their semi-final opponents, and there will be no shortage of confidence on either side as two of the most intuitive leaders in the game face off for the sport’s richest prize.After thumping the Delhi Daredevils to take their deserved place in the final, Shane Warne had appeared quite indifferent when he was asked which team he would prefer to face. There was little doubt though that he expected it to be Kings XI Punjab. After all, of all the teams in the IPL, they had been most adept at absorbing pressure. The chase against Delhi in a game decided by Duckworth/Lewis had been timed to perfection, and they had also enjoyed a thrilling last-ball win against the Mumbai Indians.But with Chennai reprising their early-season form, there was nothing majestic about the men from Punjab. With the stakes higher than ever, they took the pressure as well as a Coke can would a hobnailed boot. The established internationals like Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene were the main culprits, and Dhoni could afford to stick to the tried-and-tested script after initially springing a surprise by throwing the new ball Muttiah Muralitharan’s way.It helped that his pace bowlers were absolutely outstanding. On a pitch that offered plenty of bounce, Makhaya Ntini was always going to be a factor, and so it proved. But it was Manpreet Gony, the son of Punjab in Chennai yellow, that took the vital wickets of Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj, bowling a maiden along the way. Throughout the tournament, his accuracy and consistency have been eye-catching, and in favourable conditions, he excelled by not getting carried away.Gony and Ntini, supported splendidly by the ever-impressive Albie Morkel, will face their sternest test against a Rajasthan team that has already beaten them twice. Graeme Smith’s muscular hitting may be missing, but in Kamran Akmal, Warne has a replacement who certainly doesn’t lack flair or hitting ability. Shane Watson will be desperate to emphasise his most-valuable-player status in the game that matters most, while Swapnil Asnodkar and Niraj Patel will be encouraged to adapt the no-fear approach that has served them so well thus far.

The key to the contest will be Rajasthan’s bowling, the most varied and effective in the competition. Sohail Tanvir has been the best new-ball bowler on view, while the heavy ball that Watson bowls was far too much for Delhi’s star-studded batting to cope with. Siddharth Trivedi’s changes of pace have been tough to get away, while Munaf Patel has eased back into the national reckoning with the accuracy that first caught the eye.And then, there’s Warne, the piper calling the tune. The rave reviews that his captaincy has earned have slightly obscured the fact that he also has 19 wickets for the tournament. On a helpful pitch, like the one he got in the semi-final, no one can rip a legbreak quite like he does. The straighter one has also fetched him wickets, as has the aura that appears to intimidate some batsmen even before they settle into the stance.Both teams have got superb performances out of their Indian contingents. Suresh Raina, S Badrinath and the remodelled L Balaji have excelled for Chennai, while Warne has inspired top-drawer efforts from Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf, Trivedi and Asnodkar. Warne was insistent that it was the seven Indian players who were the real key to success. “You expect the four foreign guys to do a job,” he said. “But it’s the local players that can be the difference between winning and losing.”Dhoni, who has led India to victory at the World Twenty20 and in the CB
Series, has had a charmed life as leader so far. But in Warne, he’s up against perhaps the greatest big-match player there’s ever been. It should be some contest.

Three-day Tests became the norm, their best batsman continued to struggle, obligatory near misses featured, and they lost talent to ICL

Utpal Shuvro26-Dec-2008

On the first day of their cricket in 2008, Bangladesh were bowled out for 137, and New Zealand scored 156 for 4. January 4 in Dunedin summed up Bangladesh’s year.With a start like this, we wondered how it would end. The answer will be known to us on the last day of the year, the last day of the Mirpur Test against Sri Lanka. The fourth day of the Test will be a rest day – a phenomenon seen after years – because of general elections. The joke doing the rounds is that the authorities need not have bothered: a Bangladesh Test usually ends in three days.Should this Test prove to be the exception to the rule and run the course, it will be seen as a big achievement for Bangladesh. Which, given that they have been in Test cricket for eight years, makes it clear that Bangladesh clearly haven’t been able to get to where they should have.There may, of course, be objections to this assertion from Bangladesh players. The captain, Mohammad Ashraful, might want to remind us of the home series against New Zealand in October. Not because Bangladesh actually drew a Test – rain had a bigger role to play in that Mirpur draw. Ashraful will instead talk about the first Test of the series, when they entertained thoughts of a victory till tea on the last day. While they eventually lost, the victory in the first ODI, and the chance they had of winning the next two will be the happiest memories for Bangladesh cricket in 2008.Outside this is perennial despair. Apart from that victory against New Zealand, Bangladesh won four of the 26 ODIs they played, but those wins came against Ireland and UAE, which is not compatible with the promises of the previous year. Bangladesh have not been able to live up to the expectations raised by their performance in the 2007 World Cup, where they beat India, got to the Super Eights and beat South Africa there, and assumed their place, though temporarily, among cricket’s respectable teams. They haven’t threatened to occupy that seat again.The Test year has been great fun. Bangladesh have played eight Tests (before the start of the series against Sri Lanka) – all against New Zealand and South Africa, both home and away. The performances at home and away have been completely different. New Zealand were made to sweat for their series win in October. Even against South Africa in the first Test in Mirpur, in February, Bangladesh could dream of a victory. But the four away Tests featured abject surrender. The only match that lasted more than three days was in Bloemfontein, and that was because of the weather.One could say Bangladesh have raised far more questions than they have answered. Jamie Siddons, their coach, who was given the responsibility of the national side in 2007, initially seemed all at sea. He has often expressed despair at the standard of Bangladesh domestic cricket and at the practice facilities of Dhaka’s top clubs. But changing that is beyond him, which, perhaps was what made him announce that, whatever the state of domestic cricket, he would work on the players in the national team, and make Bangladesh a good team in two years.

Whether Siddons will be able to live up to his promise is something we shall have to wait and see. It may seem a bit too ambitious to some – after all, the national team is not an island cast off from the rest of the cricketing structure, merely the culmination of it.The biggest news in Bangladesh cricket, however, took place off the field: 14 top players signing up with the unauthorised ICL. When the news broke in September, there was major upheaval in Bangladesh cricket. The 14 included six players contracted to the BCB: Bangladesh’s recently retired captain and most successful batsman, Habibul Bashar; experienced hands Aftab Ahmed, Shahriar Nafees and Alok Kapali; and other promising youngsters. In keeping with other cricket boards, the BCB banned these 14 players from playing any kind of cricket in Bangladesh for 10 years. That might have made the BCCI happy, but it was a big jolt for Bangladesh cricket. Consequently the inexperienced national side is now even more inexperienced. The magical performances by Kapali, Aftab and Nafees for Dhaka Warriors, their ICL side, has just rubbed salt into the wounds.The regret of losing these good cricketers to the ICL and that of losing to New Zealand pale in front of the biggest regret: another year has passed and Bangladesh has made little progress.Fading star
He’s only 24. It may seem surprising, and also a bit harsh, to look at Ashraful as a fading star, but he makes the cut because of his year-long presentation of boundless despair, of a serial squandering of talent. His average in 15 innings in eight Tests was 10.6; he scored 159 runs with a highest of 35. The one-day scenario is slightly better, but even there his average is only 29.39; when matches against Ireland and UAE are excluded, it falls to 22.15. He is the best batsman in the side, and now the captain, which makes his failure more significant. Siddons actually advised Ashraful to quit the captaincy during the Australia tour, but unlike in the case of Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell, that didn’t blow up into a major storm, even after Siddons revealed it to journalists.

High point
If one must pick a zenith, it was probably the home series against New Zealand. The seven-wicket win in the first ODI is perhaps Bangladesh’s most comprehensive win against any big team. After the series, Siddons expressed regret that Bangladesh had missed a chance to win both legs of the series. That is true: in the second ODI, Bangladesh lost a golden opportunity after bowling New Zealand out for 212. In the first Test, too, a win was theirs for the taking after they set New Zealand 317 to chase. If Bangladesh couldn’t do it, it was due less to New Zealand’s good batting than to the lack of self-belief.What 2009 holds
The new year will begin with the second Test against Sri Lanka. They might expect something special of Ashraful, who has scored three of his four Test centuries against Sri Lanka and whose average against them is 18 runs higher than his career average. The Test series will be followed by a tri-series that includes Zimbabwe as the third team, and it will be a huge setback if Bangladesh can’t make it to the final. There is also a tour of West Indies later in the year, which, given the state of West Indies cricket, makes the prospect of an upset not impossible.

West Indies depend hugely for their wickets on Fidel Edwards

Tony Cozier17-May-2009It’s becoming habitual and a real cause for worry just when West Indies appeared to be on a gradual upward curve. England’s 569 for 6 was their fourth declared first-innings total over 540 in the last five Tests between the teams, following their 566 for 9 at the ARG, 600 for 6 at Kensington and 546 for 6 at Queen’s Park Oval in the preceding series.It is a sequence created, in part, by bland pitches and faulty catching. Both featured prominently again here with the usually reliable Denesh Ramadin, clearly favouring a painful right hand sustained in the first Test, enduring a horrid time. But just as significant is the bowling’s general lack of penetration and control and, in this match, its indiscipline.They combine to progressively diminish confidence, a vital element for any sporting team, especially one with a record as shaky as the present West Indies. They now depend hugely for their wickets on Fidel Edwards. His record of eight innings returns of five wickets or more in 42 Tests are proof of his effectiveness.Like so many bowlers with an unconventional action he doesn’t always get it right. So it was here when he sprayed the ball around, sent down 14 no-balls and, strangely, reserved his hostility for the night-watchman, James Anderson, rather than those at the top of the order on the first morning. Normally, such a strike bowler would be reserved for short bursts. Yesterday, Chris Gayle kept him going for just over an hour and a half covering 11 consecutive overs – 12 counting his no-balls. It was a case of overkill.At their best, he and Jerome Taylor make a formidable pace combination but Taylor has not been himself since his awesome 5 for 11 spell at Sabina Park in February that sent England tumbling to 51 all out and defeat. The hip complaint that eventually kept him out of the final Test in the Caribbean might be the cause. His rhythm is not the same and his speed is correspondingly down. The West Indies need the real Jerome Taylor back.Lionel Baker, still feeling his way at the highest level, is short of the pace and without the swing to discomfort international batsmen on true surfaces. There may come a time when he more regularly produces the sharp, perfectly pitched off-cutter that knocked back Ravi Bopara’s off-stump late on the first day. At the moment, there are too many loose deliveries in his repertoire.
There is a case for another bowler of genuine pace and hostility, in other words Nelon Pascal. He was chosen for this tour for experience and, from all reports, has been decidedly fast and aggressive in the lead-up matches.At last, Sulieman Benn has convinced wary selectors that there is a need for the diversity of spin. His height gives him the advantage of bounce and he is varying his pace and flight and introducing his arm ball with increasing certainty. A recognition that his role on unresponsive surfaces such as those he encountered in the Caribbean outside of Sabina and here is principally containment would add to his value.Of course, they would all be seen to better advantage and totals would be kept to manageable proportions with the cooperation of their keeper and fielders. More chances were missed yesterday, six in all increasing the number in just two Tests to a dozen. It was a repeat of the Barbados Test when England’s 660 for 6 would have been no more than 350 had the catches stuck.No wonder Ravi Bopara and others have prospered. They can expect no such generosity from Australia later in the season, the series for which England regards this as a warm-up.

Mumbai’s victory in the Ranji final epitomises the bloody-mindedness and never-say-die attitude that makes them the behemoths of Indian domestic cricket

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Jan-2010Finally Mumbai lived up to the hype. Tirelessly, relentlessly their supporters have played up Mumbai’s penchant for a fight, which they believe brings out the (bloody-minded) character honed on the of India’s commercial capital. Indeed it was that characteristic that guided Mumbai to their 39th Ranji title.In Mysore, on each of the four days, the locals flocked to the venue in huge numbers, baying for the blood of 11 visiting gladiators. But every day Mumbai found a man or two to stand up and silence the enemy.Vinayak Samant’s defiance on the first day restored parity after the visitors were bleeding at 106 for 6 at one stage. Aavishkar Salvi then spearheaded a spirited comeback on the following day to puncture Karnataka with his first five-for in the season. On the third, Abhishek Nayar and Dhawal Kulkarni joined forces to stonewall the rampaging hosts and raise a match-turning 95-run association for the sixth-wicket which bolstered Mumbai’s overall lead. Finally, on festive Thursday, Ajit Agarkar and Kulkarni were at their hostile best with the second new ball as they held their nerve at crucial moments to take their side to victory.Yet it was not a straightforward march. To go with the hard times, Mumbai suffered setbacks regularly. The year had started with Mumbai losing an important senior in Amol Muzumdar, when their former captain decided to move to Assam; Wasim Jaffer lost the toss in all the league games; crucial players like Rohit Sharma were missed in the semi-finals and final; injuries forced Ramesh Powar and Nayar to sit out during the middle stage of the campaign. It was a period where the defending champions struggled and could not notch a solitary outright victory in seven attempts.But the mighty always seem to have luck on their side and so it was with Mumbai. After they earned enough points to qualify for the knockouts, they ran into a Plate team (Haryana) in the quarter-finals and then recovered from a shaky start against Delhi in the semi-finals to make their second straight final.In the last five years Mumbai have won the crown three times but their reign has been erratic. However they have always remained the team to beat even though fresh and spirited contenders like Uttar Pradesh, Saurashtra, and this year, Karnataka have emerged.Throughout, the guiding lights have been the experienced hands. At the top of the tree is the calming influence of Jaffer. He might be a simple, reserved man on the outside, but Jaffer can get the message across with his plain-speak. Over the years as a captain he has grown tactically too – the move to push Kulkarni up the order when Mumbai were down on their knees on the second day at 51 for 5 proved to be a masterstroke as the batsman went on to score 87, his maiden half-century, to bring his side back into the game.In the past, Jaffer has been accused of being aloof on the field, and not aggressive in his captaincy. But in the last two days the otherwise phlegmatic Jaffer was at his most animated. He rushed repeatedly to the bowlers to discuss and adjust field settings, shuffled in his bunker at the slips nervously, and celebrated warmly with his team-mates whenever a wicket fell. Probably it was the needle in the contest that brought him alive. The same could hold true for the rest of his team that brought out their best, when the pressure of the big game was on.Agarkar, lying low for the most of the season, hit back aggressively with hostile and telling spells in both innings of the final. He was visibly rattled by the controversial run-out decision that sent him back in the first innings, but he put the disappointment behind him admirably and bowled with control.He deserved to take the last wicket which fetched him a five-for, and raise his arm victoriously and ceremoniously, much to the angst of the locals. He was supported well by Kulkarni, who too, looked like he had lost his mojo after ending as the highest wicket-taker last year. Innocuous throughout the season, his batting efforts seemed to rejuvenate Kulkarni, who bowled accurate and tight spells to support his senior mate.As the year progressed the other growing concern for Mumbai was the failure of the top and middle-order. The onus was on Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane – the top two batsmen last year. But even their consistency dipped; various opening combinations were tried without success. The failure of Sahil Kukreja and Sushant Marathe even forced Jaffer to open the innings in the final two matches. Though Onkar Khanvilkar and Nayar cracked some stubborn knocks they were never consistent. If not for the tenacity of the lower order, Mumbai’s journey could have met a premature end.By no means were battle-scarred Mumbai the most attractive side in the tournament. Unlike Karnataka, who had Abhimanyu Mithun or Manish Pandey, Mumbai did not showcase any enterprising youngster apart from Harmeet Singh, the 16-year-old left-arm spinner who is participating in the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand. What made Mumbai triumph was their dogged determination to fight until the very end, despite their limitations.