Thursday 25 February 2016

Sri Lanka vs UAE talking points: 'Slinga' Malinga's return, brittle batting and Mirpur's dodgy tracks

Watch-out for T20 World Champions Sri Lanka. They might have more than a fair share of ageing veterans in the team but they are none the worse for it as they proved in the Asia Cup T20 league encounter against minnows UAE on Thursday night.
The veteran bowlers, in fact, were the toast of the evening as they efficiently defended a small target despite the commendable efforts of UAE’s former Mumbai junior batsman Swapnil Patil (37 from 36 balls). The mix and efficiency displayed by the old warhorses also proved they are an extremely potent force in this format of the game.
The spearhead, of course, was Lasith Malinga. The ‘Slinga’ had not bowled a ball since November as a bad knee kept him out of the game. His entire bowling practice was spread over the past two days. Nobody could have guessed that though considering the skilful manner in which he despatched four key UAE batsmen.
ImageAFP_380
Watch-out for T20 World Champions Sri Lanka. AFP
His two spells had all the markings of the seasoned old professional that he is. The four overs no doubt would help him whip up the competitive juices and bring him some sort of a rhythm in the run-up to sterner games against the big guns of T20 cricket, India and Pakistan.
Malinga’s two wickets in the first spell grabbed the UAE batting line-up by their throat. Later, just when they seemed to be wriggling out of the stranglehold he packed off the last threat, Patil, with a deceptive slower one.
His haul of 4-26 puts him in the right frame of mind for the bigger battles in the coming days. The challenge though would be for the speedster to keep himself fit over the next week or so.
On the best of days, Malinga’s slinging action is a nightmare to batsmen in T20 cricket. His unusual action where the release of the ball does not come from an overhead arc but from the side is a disconcerting aspect for batsmen.
Then there is his scorching pace. He also has a deceptive bag of deliveries which includes yorkers, bouncers and slower ones that bewilders batsmen. But since Malinga is a rhythm bowler he needs everything to fall in place together.
A skilful, experienced batsman may be able to sort him out. But what chance did a team of inexperienced batters have against this lethal strike bowler? UAE batsmen allowed him to not just slip into a comfortable tempo but also get increasingly confident of doing what he does best –browbeat them.
It seems logical, therefore, that rival batsmen would target the other bowlers in Sri Lanka’s armoury.
But there is a problem. And the name of the problem (for rivals) in Rangana Herath. Another veteran, Herath too had been out of international T20 cricket for quite a while but got into his groove early in the tournament. The stocky left-arm spinner who has a low ball-release bowled with all the control and confidence of yore.
The third warhorse, Ruwan Kulashekara, moved the new ball just enough to ask questions of batsmen. He is not anywhere near the class of Malinga but is nevertheless a very handy medium pacer. He has the experience to keep the batsmen guessing with subtle variations.
Lanka’s other fast bowler, young Dushantha Chameera, is quick and could be a threat on helpful tracks.
The champions’ Achilles heel, though, is the batting. Their best batsman Dinesh Chandimal saved them from ignominy with a brilliant 50 in a low total of 129 for 8. Although he struck a decent opening partnership with Tillekaretna Dilshan, the latter never looked comfortable.
Dilshan in the past was a destroyer of fast bowling. He would come up with fearless, innovative strokes. But against the UAE on Thursday he struggled to scratch up 27 runs in the partnership of 68. If Angelo Mathews, he and the others do not quickly work up a worthwhile support to Chandimal the world champions will be in deep trouble.
The biggest talking point in the match against the UAE was not Lanka’s varied bowling or indifferent batting but the unusual bounce in Mirpur pitches.
It is difficult to understand why such pitches are being laid out for T20 matches where the thrill for spectators is in seeing batsmen pile up runs, not struggle for survival.
If the extra bounce and green top pitches were part of hosts’ to ambush stronger sides, it may not work out to plan.
On such pitches most medium pacers would be a threat and hence the matches could be decided by the team that bats sensibly. And stronger sides will inevitably have better firepower in batting.
The Asia Cup was supposed to be an appetiser for the WorldT20 event starting in India next month. But the pitches laid out for the event defeat that purpose.

SA spinner Aaron Phangiso reported for suspect action; doubtful for ICC World T20

Johannesburg: South Africa spinner Aaron Phangiso has been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action during a domestic 50-over match, the country's cricket board said today.
The 32-year-old, who has been included in the Proteas squad for the ICC World Twenty20 2016, has been reported after helping his domestic side Highveld Lions into the final of South Africa's provincial 50-over competition on Wednesday when he took 2/38 in eight overs.
File photo of Aaron Phangiso. Getty Images
File photo of Aaron Phangiso. Getty Images
"Aaron Phangiso of the bizhub Highveld Lions has been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action during the Momentum One-Day Cup match against the Warriors at Bidvest Wanderers, Johannesburg, on 24 February 2016," the Cricket South Africa (CSA) said in a statement.
"Phangiso's action will now be scrutinised further in accordance with the CSA Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions. He is required to undergo independent analysis by a member of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists and is permitted to continue bowling until the results of the testing are known," the CSA said.
Reports said that Phangiso, who has played 16 ODIs and nine T20Is, is expected to be tested tomorrow at the ICC-accredited High Performance Academy at the University of Pretoria.
Fourteen days after that test, an ICC-appointed specialist will furnish the body with written report which will determine whether Phangiso's action is legal or not, according to a report.
The time frame for his testing means that Phangiso's performance in the World T20 could be affected. Even if he is tested immediately, the 14-day period for the analysis would only conclude on 10 March. He will hope that he is cleared before South Africa open their World Twenty20 campaign against England in Mumbai on 18 March.
Changes to squads are allowed until 8 March, which may see South Africa's selectors look for another back-up spinner to Imran Tahir.
It is the latest setback for Phangiso, who early this year was prevented from boarding an international flight following South Africa's ODI series win in India because he was drunk and disorderly and CSA had subsequently handed him an unknown sanction.
This week, Phangiso had to apologise for being caught on camera pretending to sniff an unknown substance off his leg during South Africa's T20 against England at the Wanderers.

Ex-WWE star 'The Great Khali' severly injured during wrestling event in Uttarakhand

Dehradun: Former WWE wrestler Dalip Singh Rana, better known by his ring name 'The Great Khali', suffered a severe head injury during the Continental Wrestling Entertainment show at Haldwani, Uttarakhand.
Khali sustained a head injury last night during the first show of 'The Great Khali Returns Series' while fighting against foreign wrestlers — Mike Knox and Brody Steel — at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Gaula Par, Haldwani. The doctors suspect that Khali has suffered injuries to his chest as well but the exact nature of injuries are yet to be known.
File photo of 'The Great Khali'. Getty Images
File photo of 'The Great Khali'. Getty Images
"Khali has been under observation and tests are being conducted on him to know whether he has suffered injuries to his chest as well," one of the organisers of 'The Great Khali Returns Series' told PTI.
After Khali sustained severe head injuries, he was airlifted from Haldwani this morning and bought to a speciality hospital in Dehradun.
Khali received seven stitches on his head last night before being flown to Uttarakhand capital. The second show of this series is scheduled to be held here on February 28.
Khali was crowned the World Heavyweight Champion in 2007.

Ex-WWE star 'The Great Khali' severly injured during wrestling event in Uttarakhand

Dehradun: Former WWE wrestler Dalip Singh Rana, better known by his ring name 'The Great Khali', suffered a severe head injury during the Continental Wrestling Entertainment show at Haldwani, Uttarakhand.
Khali sustained a head injury last night during the first show of 'The Great Khali Returns Series' while fighting against foreign wrestlers — Mike Knox and Brody Steel — at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Gaula Par, Haldwani. The doctors suspect that Khali has suffered injuries to his chest as well but the exact nature of injuries are yet to be known.
File photo of 'The Great Khali'. Getty Images
File photo of 'The Great Khali'. Getty Images
"Khali has been under observation and tests are being conducted on him to know whether he has suffered injuries to his chest as well," one of the organisers of 'The Great Khali Returns Series' told PTI.
After Khali sustained severe head injuries, he was airlifted from Haldwani this morning and bought to a speciality hospital in Dehradun.
Khali received seven stitches on his head last night before being flown to Uttarakhand capital. The second show of this series is scheduled to be held here on February 28.
Khali was crowned the World Heavyweight Champion in 2007.

Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma took his lifeline against Bangladesh, powering India to a near-perfect win

Based on where one's allegiance lies, fans of India and Bangladesh will remember the 2015 World Cup quarter-final for different reasons. Fans of the men in blue will fondly recollect an ODI masterclass from Rohit Sharma, ably supported by Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja and a clinical bowling effort to get the opposition all-out for the seventh consecutive innings in the tournament.
Bangladesh fans, on the other hand, will remember it for one thing and one thing only -- the full-toss that had Rohit 'caught' and was wrongly ruled ‘no-ball’ by Aleem Dar.
Rohit made 47 runs off the next 25 balls he faced, en route a World Cup century.
That decision left Bangladesh fans fuming.
PTI
Rohit was doing what he does best -- get his eye in and make the start count. PTI
Back at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka for the Asia Cup T20 tournament opener, Rohit got yet another lifeline, before turning on the style to help his side to a match-winning total. He scored exactly 50 per cent of India's total of 166. And this time around, the Bangladesh Tigers have only themselves to blame.
Shakib al Hasan, Bangladesh's star all-rounder, put down a straight-forward chance at point when Rohit was batting -- grafting hard, to be precise -- on 21 off 28 balls.
Not often in cricket can you point to one moment in a match and say : 'Yes, that decided the result.' This, however, was one such incident. That over from Taskin Ahmed, the 11th of India's innings, was without doubt the turning point of the match.
India went from 52 for 3 after 10 overs to 166 for 6 in 20. Rohit scored 62 of those off 26 balls on his way to a match-winning 83 off 54 deliveries. It was as if that drop by Shakib had turned on a switch inside Rohit's head.
Off the next five balls he faced, Rohit's innings went like this: 4 (a perfectly timed square cut past third-man), 6 (a delightful lofted cut shot over point), 4 (a delicate dab to third man), 2 (a pleasing extra-cover drive), and 4 (a swivelled pull past fine leg).
He did not turn back. He was in hit-every-ball mode. And not just mindless slogs, this was Rohit at his calculating best -- picking spots around the ground, lofting it into empty spaces in the outfield, clearing fielders on the boundary rope.
Rohit was doing what he does best in limited over internationals for India -- get his eye in and make the start count.
There was one remarkable shot that stood out. The ball after he reached his 11th T20I half-century, Rohit went down on his knees rather early to a full-ball from Shakib, almost 'yorking' himself. But such was his form on the night, he dug it out from beneath his chin with very little fuss, and powered it between two deep fielders to find the square-leg fence. Pure class.
Much like he did at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last March, Rohit played an innings of calculated aggression after taking his time to settle in. The pitch in Dhaka, a green-top, was a surprise to everyone but the Indian team would have had a knowing smile on their faces, as it resembled the track in Pune for the first T20I against Sri Lanka earlier this month.
The mindless batting on that track, where MS Dhoni's team failed to re-calibrate the par score and lost wickets in heaps, must have flashed across their minds.
Well, at least on Rohit's mind. Despite Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, and Suresh Raina falling to very similar rash batting as in Pune, Rohit stood steady at one end and alongside Yuvraj Singh, arrested the early slide. The 55-run stand between the two provided India the license to go after the bowling in the final 10 overs -- a clear indication of lessons being learned from the Pune debacle.
Yuvraj might have made only 15 runs, and his form must be a concern for Dhoni, but on the night it was a crucial partnership.
A partnership that set up an explosive finale from Rohit and India's emerging T20 rockstar, Hardik Pandya. The two put on 61 runs in 27 balls, exhibiting a breathtaking array of big shots. On a pitch where 140 would have been par, India finished with 166.
"I think overall, the wicket was difficult. Once you bat 20 overs and score 160, it might look like the wicket was a little easy. But I still feel that Rohit's batting was special. We required a partnership," Dhoni said after the match.
"When Hardik went in, he started playing the big shots. At that time, Rohit made sure that he got a little more strike and he himself will be there till the end.
“He used the pace of the bowler...I feel that was the kind of batting that was really needed and because of which Hardik could also express himself. We got those extra 15-20 runs. Otherwise we thought that 140 would be a very good score," Dhoni added.
With Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah snuffing out any possibility of a fiery start from Bangladesh, India had the match in the bag, nice and early, thanks to a clinical -- and remarkably symmetrical -- bowling effort. Four of the five Indian bowlers Dhoni employed finished with figures of 23 runs in four overs. If only Ravindra Jadeja had not bowled those two wides, it would have been a perfect five.
It was, however, a near-perfect win for Dhoni to start off the Asia Cup campaign. That's now six wins in seven matches for his well-settled unit, and who better than Pakistan to test the strength of this Indian team, as the bitter rivals prepare to take the field on Saturday.

Sad that ‘world class’ Harbhajan is sidelined by Indian team management: Saqlain Mushtaq


Mirpur: Practitioners of the same art do have fellow feelings and no wonder pioneer of 'doosra' Saqlain Mushtaq feels sad about the manner in which the senior India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been sidelined by the team management.
While he terms Ravichandran Ashwin as a "world class bowler", he feels that Harbhajan not getting a single start during the last seven T20 internationals is "not doing the bowler's confidence any good".
"I am afraid that Indian cricket board and team management's treatment to Harbhajan has not been great. He was a world class bowler and is still a world class bowler. The emergence of Ashwin doesn't mean that you drop Harbhajan or put him under tremendous pressure," Saqlain told PTI during an interaction.
File photo of Harbhajan Singh. AFP
File photo of Harbhajan Singh. AFP
The 39-year-old Saqlain, who has 208 Test and 288 ODI wickets, said dropping a top-grade performer according to convenience is not the best example to set.
"Look from the time he got dropped (in 2011), he has made three comebacks which meant that when you needed him, you picked him and when the need was over, you dumped him. So the pressure that you have created on him, you have already
negated his past achievements.
"But what logically should have been done is that when his graph was going down, one should have given him a short break and brought him back. He should have been the first choice spinner supported by Ashwin. Instead you put self doubts in him and now made him the third or fourth choice spinner in the side," Saqlain did not mince words while explaining.
He feels when a player is making comeback, he is shaky and one needs to give him the confidence that he would be back to his best.
"In my 10 years for Pakistan, I have seen legends being dropped due to form or injury and after they came back, in first two or three matches, their confidence looked to have been shaken. But after five or six matches, their rhythm came back.
"Let me be very clear, even if Bhajji has 100 percent potential, he will not be able to perform because you people have made him feel like a No 4. At the end, players are only human with same kind of feelings and emotions. A good performance is emotion-driven. If you are in a good space mentally, your graph will go up and vice versa," Saqlain said.

Sad that ‘world class’ Harbhajan is sidelined by Indian team management: Saqlain Mushtaq


Mirpur: Practitioners of the same art do have fellow feelings and no wonder pioneer of 'doosra' Saqlain Mushtaq feels sad about the manner in which the senior India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been sidelined by the team management.
While he terms Ravichandran Ashwin as a "world class bowler", he feels that Harbhajan not getting a single start during the last seven T20 internationals is "not doing the bowler's confidence any good".
"I am afraid that Indian cricket board and team management's treatment to Harbhajan has not been great. He was a world class bowler and is still a world class bowler. The emergence of Ashwin doesn't mean that you drop Harbhajan or put him under tremendous pressure," Saqlain told PTI during an interaction.
File photo of Harbhajan Singh. AFP
File photo of Harbhajan Singh. AFP
The 39-year-old Saqlain, who has 208 Test and 288 ODI wickets, said dropping a top-grade performer according to convenience is not the best example to set.
"Look from the time he got dropped (in 2011), he has made three comebacks which meant that when you needed him, you picked him and when the need was over, you dumped him. So the pressure that you have created on him, you have already
negated his past achievements.
"But what logically should have been done is that when his graph was going down, one should have given him a short break and brought him back. He should have been the first choice spinner supported by Ashwin. Instead you put self doubts in him and now made him the third or fourth choice spinner in the side," Saqlain did not mince words while explaining.
He feels when a player is making comeback, he is shaky and one needs to give him the confidence that he would be back to his best.
"In my 10 years for Pakistan, I have seen legends being dropped due to form or injury and after they came back, in first two or three matches, their confidence looked to have been shaken. But after five or six matches, their rhythm came back.
"Let me be very clear, even if Bhajji has 100 percent potential, he will not be able to perform because you people have made him feel like a No 4. At the end, players are only human with same kind of feelings and emotions. A good performance is emotion-driven. If you are in a good space mentally, your graph will go up and vice versa," Saqlain said.