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“It makes things easier for the selectors because you’ve proven yourself at a good level and under pressure,” she says

Vishal Dikshit16-Feb-2024India’s domestic players can use the upcoming second season of the WPL to make themselves known on the big stage and earn an India call-up in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup later this year, India and Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur has said.Harmanpreet, who lifted the inaugural WPL trophy as Mumbai captain last season, has led India in three T20 World Cups before. In 2018 and 2023 India made the semi-final, while in 2020 they lost in the final against Australia.With the next T20 World Cup slated for September-October later this year in Bangladesh, Harmanpreet said: “WPL is the kind of platform where domestic players will get opportunities,” at the pre-season press conference in Mumbai. “If they do well here then it means they’re kind of ready for international cricket. It makes things easier for the BCCI [selectors] because you’ve proven yourself at a good level and under pressure. If we get to see good talent and performances here, then it’ll be really good for us [Indian team] to look at such players and give them opportunities while thinking of the team for the T20 World Cup.”I think players getting such opportunities will want to grab them with both hands because if you can perform here then everyone is looking at you and your performance won’t be wasted, and you’ll get chances going ahead.”Harmanpreet cited the example of left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque who shot to fame in the maiden WPL season with 15 wickets that earned her ODI and T20I debuts later in the same year, and a maiden Test call-up as well. Ishaque first made a memorable WPL debut with figures of 4 for 11 in the opening game against Gujarat Giants, then wore the purple cap for a while in the league stage before finishing the tournament as the joint second-highest wicket-taker along with her team-mates Issy Wong and Amelia Kerr.”Last year we saw Saika do well and other players too who were picked later in the team,” Harmanpreet said. “Later on they got opportunities in the Indian team. So it’s a good platform for players because if you do well here, you can get picked [for the Indian team].”Saika Ishaque’s impressive WPL 2023 performance earned her an India spot•BCCI

As has been in the IPL, the Mumbai Indians women’s team could also create a legacy for unearthing unknown talent from domestic cricket and fast-forwarding their path to international cricket. The Mumbai set-up is known for its scouting system and their team management is banking on some more domestic spinners this time.”We’re trying to give chances to young girls in domestic cricket,” bowling coach Jhulan Goswami said. “Our scout team is working really hard to bring them here and we choose the best for our combination and all our quality cricketers. They just need a little bit of support from our end and this platform. On any day they might be a match-winning bowler. We don’t know if we’re going to make a superstar, but we give them the right platform to showcase their talent in front of everyone, and it helps Harman for the World Cup team.”

Who is the next uncapped star from Mumbai Indians?

Head coach Charlotte Edwards was also confident about the “great depth” in their squad and was hopeful of unearthing the “next Indian star for the future”. One such spinner Goswami singled out for praise was 20-year-old left-arm wristspinner Amandeep Kaur who plays domestic cricket for Haryana with Shafali Verma. Amandeep was bought for INR 10 lakh (US$ 12,000 approx.) by Mumbai at the recent auction and will be among the spin-bowling options with Ishaque, Kerr and Chloe Tryon apart from the uncapped spinners SB Keerthana (legspinning allrounder) and Sajeevan Sajana (offspinning allrounder).Amandeep was the third-highest wicket-taker in the Under-23 T20 series that finished late last year with a tally of 15 wickets from seven games and has taken 17 from 10 games in the ongoing Under-23 One-Day Trophy, in which Haryana will play the final against Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.”She has been so exciting, when we saw her in the trial,” Goswami said of Amandeep. “We don’t have many left-arm wristspinners in the country. Charlotte and me really enjoyed watching her in the trials and we signed her. She can be a big star, it’s not easy to bowl left-arm wristspin, it’s unique in women’s cricket. In the future, Harman will be happy to have her in the Indian team.”As per the women’s FTP, India are scheduled to play only two more international series before the T20 World Cup – the Asia Cup in August-September and a home T20I series against South Africa in September. The younger players will want to use the WPL as a platform to impress the selectors to earn an India call-up.

Steps down to allow independent investigation into alleged anti-semitic social media posts

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2022Azeem Akhtar, the new chair of Essex, has stepped down after just three days in the role, ahead of an independent review into his social media activity.The appointment of Akhtar, Essex’s first minority-ethnic chair, was this week hailed by the club as a “new beginning”, 12 months on from the controversial departure of the former chair, John Faragher, who continues to deny that he used racist language in a board meeting in 2017.Instead, however, the club has been plunged back into turmoil, following revelations in the Jewish Chronicle that Akhtar had ‘liked’ anti-Semitic posts on Twitter, including one that compared Israel to Nazi Germany.He had been due to take over from John Stephenson, the chief executive who has been interim chair since Faragher’s departure last November. However, Sir Stephen O’Brien, Akhtar’s deputy, will now stand in as interim.”I have taken the decision today to voluntarily step aside as chair of Essex County Cricket Club while an independent review takes place into recent matters that have been raised,” Akhtar said in a club statement.”I have made the decision to initiate this review because it is important that I as Chair and Essex County Cricket Club more widely hold ourselves to the highest standards of governance and accountability. By stepping aside, I want to show leadership and ensure the club can focus on the ongoing challenges it is tackling.”I am resolutely committed to ensuring that Essex County Cricket Club is an inclusive and welcoming environment for people of all backgrounds.”It’s a further embarrassment for Essex, who were fined £50,000 by the Cricket Discipline Commission last summer following Faragher’s departure, and were further found to have fallen “significantly short” of the diversity targets set by the ECB, which stipulated that county boards needed to feature 30% female representation and “locally representative ethnicity” by the end of April 2022. Akhtar’s departure exacerbates that shortfall.In the wake of Azeem Rafiq’s whistleblowing testimony about his treatment at Yorkshire, Essex had also been implicated in separate racism allegations, with former players Maurice Chambers, Zoheb Sharif and Jahid Ahmed all stating that they were victims of abuse during their playing days. A report on those claims is expected after the club appointed an independent QC to investigate.

Central Sparks bowled out for 83 en route to eight-wicket loss

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2021Southern Vipers 85 for 2 (Wyatt 45) beat Central Sparks 83 (Dean 5-19) by eight wicketsA confident Southern Vipers side ignited their Charlotte Edwards Cup campaign with an eight-wicket victory over Central Sparks, who were bowled out for 83 in a double-header at Edgbaston.
Charlotte Dean took five wickets for just 19 runs in an impressive restrictive bowling performance by the Vipers which sealed Sparks’ fate, despite the best efforts of Marie Kelly and Emily Arlott in their 39-run partnership.Vipers chased down the total in 13 overs, with Danni Wyatt stamping her mark on the competition, scoring 45 off 33 balls in an excellent innings to see her side to their first win.The visitors won the toss and chose to bowl and made the most of putting Sparks into bat. It was a tight start by Vipers, as Sparks reached 24 for 3 in the first seven overs. Eve Jones fell in the second over, bowled by Tara Norris, then Thea Brookes was Dean’s first victim, caught for 2 and Gwen Davies was dismissed without scoring by Georgia Elwiss.A crucial partnership between Kelly and Arlott did steady proceedings for Sparks, as they began to open up the attack and find the boundary. Although the partnership came to an end after 39 runs, with Kelly being caught for 36 as Sparks collapsed from 63 for 3 to 83 all out in the space of five overs.Elwiss took two wickets in an over, dismissing Issy Wong and Ria Fackrell, both without scoring, followed by Dean taking four wickets in 10 balls to conclude the Sparks innings. Arlott’s vital innings came to an end, caught for 22, followed by Chloe Hill trapped lbw for 14 as Clare Boycott and Hannah Baker were dismissed quickly to give Dean match winning figures of 5 for 19.Southern Vipers chased down the total of 83 in comfortable fashion, as a 66-run partnership between Wyatt and Maia Bouchier guided them to victory. Sparks looked to be off to the ideal start, as Arlott dismissed Georgia Adams in the first over, but Vipers controlled the chase to emerge victorious.

Zimbabwe will want better efforts from their seniors to keep the series alive

The preview by Mohammad Isam02-Mar-2020

Big picture

Riding high on confidence, Bangladesh will look to wrap up the ODI series against Zimbabwe in Sylhet. Liton Das and Mohammad Saifuddin provided the spark in the series opener , where the focus was largely on captain Mashrafe Mortaza. But the Mortaza retirement circus didn’t derail Bangladesh because they batted with a plan.Tamim Iqbal and Das provided a decent start before Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mohammad Mithun carried on to pile on a big score. Saifuddin burst through with the bat in the end, and later with the new ball, before Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan and Mortaza kept the visitors in check.Zimbabwe, however, never looked like a team prepared to beat the home side. They were dealt two blows before the game when Craig Ervine was out with flu and Sean Williams didn’t arrive from Harare early enough. It could have been a motivating factor for new captain Chamu Chibhabha. Instead, the bowling lacked penetration and everything went downhill from there.Only Wesley Madhevere, the 19-year old debutant, batted with some purpose while the rest of the line-up simply caved not only to the pressure of runs, but also in their lack of belief that they could chase the score. Williams, Ervine, Sikandar Raza and Brendan Taylor must provide a better showing in the second ODI, but Chibhabha should also ensure that he has a bowling unit that can threaten the home side.

Form guide

Bangladesh WLLLL
Zimbabwe LLLLL

In the spotlight

Liton Das batted smoothly in the first ODI with admittedly limited strokeplay. He reached his second century in international cricket and although against a much weaker attack, Das will certainly be seeking consistency in the rest of the series.Sean Williams’ return will be a boost to the Zimbabwe middle-order•AFP

Zimbabwe must be desperate for Sean Williams to return to their line-up. Williams is the new Test captain, who missed out on the one-off Test in Dhaka due to the birth of their child. Williams not only brings experience, but also a form of stability on slow pitches that he has mastered over many years of playing in Bangladesh.

Team news

Das suffered cramps during his century while Mohammad Saifuddin is being closely monitored after returning from a back injury, but both are going to play in the second game.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Liton Das, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mohammad Mithun, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mohammad Saifuddin, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 10 Taijul Islam, 11 Mustafizur RahmanTinashe Kamunhukamwe and Regis Chakabva are likely to make way for Craig Ervine and Sean Williams, which will bolster Zimbabwe’s middle order greatly. Williams’ ten overs will also be handy in Sylhet.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Chamu Chibhabha (capt), 2 Craig Ervine, 3 Wesley Madhevere, 4 Brendan Taylor (wk), 5 Sean Williams, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Tinotenda Mutombodzi, 8 Donald Tiripano, 9 Ainsley Ndlovu, 10 Chris Mpofu, 11 Carl Mumba

Pitch and conditions

Bangladesh’s 300-plus score is typical fare on the straw-coloured Sylhet pitch, but there was also swing on offer. The weather is to remain fair, with bright skies around the tea gardens.

Stats and trivia

With his second wicket in the first ODI, Mashrafe Mortaza became the fifth captain to take 100 ODI wickets, after Wasim Akram, Shaun Pollock, Imran Khan and Jason Holder.Zimbabwe batting coach Stuart Matsikenyeri was named one of the substitute fielders as Craig Ervine had the flu and Sean Williams flew in late from Harare.

Quotes

“Hopefully I can bring a bit of energy and calmness. Craig Ervine is getting there too, so he will be ready to play. I also think good decisions over a long period of time is crucial. Guys like Brendan and Raza play a massive role in our team. Having them firing is going to be extremely important for us.”

Her absence leaves the England team thinner on their spin stocks after Laura Marsh had also pulled up injured earlier

Annesha Ghosh26-Feb-2019England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone has been ruled out of the remainder of the tour of India after fracturing the fifth metacarpal on her right hand during a warm-up session ahead of the second ODI on Monday.Ecclestone, who will fly home and not return for the tour of Sri Lanka, was not part of a select group of players who trained at Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. This was a result of scans revealing the extent of her injury after the second ODI, with Ecclestone going wicketless while conceding 31 runs in seven overs as England lost by seven wickets. England thus are still searching for their maiden bilateral series win in India.Ecclestone, however, was, the pick of the England bowlers in the tour opener, taking 2 for 27 in a losing cause, picking up the wickets of Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma.The 19-year-old Ecclestone is the second spinner England have lost to injury on this tour, after Laura Marsh, the offspinner, sustained a side strain ahead of the first ODI.”Yes, we lost the option of the ball going away from the left-handers with Laura picking up the injury,” captain Heather Knight had said after the loss on Monday. “Yeah, [her absence] potentially cost us a little bit. Losing Laura was a big disappointment for us.”Marsh was picked as a like-for-like replacement for the now-retired Danielle Hazell, but missed the first two games, and is unlikely to return for the third. She is, however, expected to recover in time for the ODI series in Sri Lanka.With Ecclestone and Marsh ruled out, England are left with only two frontline spinners in their squad: left-armer Alex Hartley and legspinning-allrounder Sophia Dunkley, who has yet to play a game in this series. However, left-arm spinner Linsey Smith, who is not officially part of the ODI squad but has been accompanying the team with a view to acclimatising to the conditions ahead of the T20I series, will be available for selection for the third ODI.A replacement for Ecclestone, meanwhile, will be named after the third and final ODI on Thursday.In December 2018, another promising young left-arm spinner, Kirstie Gordon, was ruled out of action with a stress fracture of her lower back after she made a promising start to her England career with vital contributions to England’s runners-up finish in the T20 World Cup in November.

Paul Farbrace conceded that England don’t have the bowlers to compete on flat wickets, but refused to criticise the efforts of his team

George Dobell in Perth16-Dec-2017It tells you everything you need to know about England’s fortunes that, in one of the driest cities in the world, their best chance of achieving the draw that would sustain their Ashes campaign is the hope of rain.Australia scored 346 runs for the loss of just one wicket on the third day as England’s attack was rendered impotent by some fine batting and a flat pitch. The Australia lead is already 146 and there is plenty of power to add. If Australia win the game, they will regain the Ashes by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. But if England gain a draw, they can still retain the urn if they win the last two matches by virtue of the holding them at present.But despite the chastening nature of the day, Paul Farbrace had no criticism for the England bowlers. Instead the England assistant coach, a man brought out to explain such grim days for England with such regularity you wonder whether he should carry a scythe, praised their efforts but conceded the English system was not producing spin or pace bowlers required for such conditions. He also suggested that a lack of ruthlessness with the bat on day two had allowed Australia back into the game.The problem, he concluded, was that England simply don’t have the bowlers to unlock strong batting line-ups on flat pitches.”There’s always something for our bowlers in England,” Farbrace said. “A little bit of swing or a little bit of movement off the surface. We saw that in Adelaide when there was a little bit of swing or movement off the surface, we have high quality bowlers who can exploit those conditions.Craig Overton is caught in a tangle near the boundary•Associated Press

“But when it comes to flatter pitches, we don’t have that express pace. And we haven’t got the highest quality of magical spin. On flat wickets like this in Australia you need to be able to bowl 90-plus mph to have a chance of making a difference. They have a group of high-quality bowlers to do so.”I’m not being critical of our bowlers. I’m being honest. We don’t have bowlers bowling 90mph-plus in our set-up and we don’t have too many waiting in the wings to come in. And one or two that do bowl that pace can only bowl four-over spells. So they’re not exactly ideal for Test cricket.”We need to find those quick bowlers. And yes, in the long term, something needs to be done.”It has been an exceptionally tough day for our bowlers. But we feel we have managed to get stuck in and compete as hard as possible. In the field we have tried our best to back the bowlers up. I don’t think we have been flat, or lacking effort. On that wicket, we just haven’t got anything else to offer.”What can we do? We have tried various ideas and plans. The majority of ways we have of taking wickets with the attack we have is to be monotonous with line and length, and we have tried that. They have been very honest, toiled away with what they have got and on that flat surface they’ve found it exceptionally hard work.”Despite the scorecard, Farbrace hinted that the turning point of the match came when England let slip a strong foundation with the bat. England were well poised at 368 for 4 before a collapse saw the last six wickets fall for the addition of just 35 runs.”When you get yourself into a position where you can go on and make 550 and compete in the game…” Farbrace said. “And it’s been a pattern in this series. We have got in good positions and we have either not been good enough or they have been better and taken the initiative away.”It was very disappointing to be in a position where 550 looked a good score for us. It does knock the stuffing out of you a bit.”Two blokes played out of their boots and got us from 140 for 4 to 400 but it’s shown that it wasn’t enough. The two today have shown that, when you get in, you have to be greedy and go on and get big scores. That’s what the best teams do and we haven’t been able to do that.”But Farbrace insisted the Ashes had not gone and called upon England to show “some guts and determination” over the last couple of days.”It’s going to be tough,” he said. “We have to believe we can fight hard over the next two days and make sure there’s still a contest to keep going.”We’ve got to show some guts and determination. We’ve got to fight as hard as we possibly can. And if we get into a position where we were in the first innings, we have to make sure we capitalise on it.”

Collapses, snail-paced innings, and unfit conditions were the story in the Group C games of Ranji Trophy 2016-17 played on November 5, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2016Mayank Dagar and Pankaj Jaiswal took seven wickets between them as Himachal Pradesh bowled Jammu & Kashmir out for 162 on the first day in Ranchi.Parvez Rasool, who took over the captaincy from Mithun Manhas, won the toss and elected to bat. Jaiswal removed opener Umar Nissar in the second over, before 19-year-old spinner Dagar broke a second-wicket partnership of 47 to reduce J&K to 49 for 2. Jaiswal was involved in three of the next four wickets to fall, as he ran out Puneet Bisht for 12, and removed Parvez Rasool and Ram Dayal to leave J&K at 111 for 6.Opener Shubham Khajuria, who scored a century in the last match, scored 48 and was the last batsman to be dismissed, having retired mid-way through his innings. Mithun Manhas (18), who had also retired, was the ninth wicket to fall. Both of them got out to Dagar, who took the last three wickets to finish with 4 for 33.Himachal lost openers Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra on the way to 58 for 2 at stumps.Services scored at under two runs per over as they went into stumps at 170 for 3 against Andhra in Indore.On a day that only three wickets fell, it will he hard to believe a bowler had been on a hat-trick, but Cheepurapalli Stephen did remove Services captain Soumik Chatterjee and Ravi Chauhan in successive deliveries in the 23rd over, leaving Services at 19 for 2.However, opener Anshul Gupta, who scored 72 off 268, put on 140 for the third wicket with Shamsher Yadav, who survived the hat-trick ball, to steady Services’ innings. Gupta fell to the part-time legspin of DB Ravi Teja with the score on 159. From that point, Services scored only 11 runs in the last 25.2 overs. Yadav was unbeaten on 60 off 22o balls.Haryana overcame two passages of losing wickets for no addition of runs to end the day on 227 for 8 against Kerala in Jaipur. They lost their second and third wickets on the score of 53 before going from 104 for 3 to 104 for 6.After being put in, Haryana lost opener Shubham Rohilla in the third over. Nitin Saini put on 44 for the second wicket with Chaitanya Bishnoi before both of them fell to debutant medium-pacer Venugopalan Vinod Kumar.Vinod Kumar then broke a 51-run partnership for the fourth wicket when he got rid of Rajat Paliwal. Sandeep Warrier removed Mohit Hooda and Harshal Patel in the next over, and Haryana had lost three wickets in 11 balls.Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 51 as he put on 50 with Yuzvendra Chahal, 34 with Mohit Sharma and an unbroken 39 with Sanjay Pahal to take Haryana to 227 at stumps. Warrier ended the day with 4 for 59, and Vinod Kumar finished with 3 for 37.Only 38.3 overs were bowled in the match between Chhattisgarh and Goa in Cuttack because of a wet outfield. Amandeep Khare scored an unbeaten half-century to lead Chhattisgarh to 103 for 2 at stumps.There was no play until lunch after Goa won the toss and elected to field. When play began, they removed debutant Abhishek Singh for a duck in the third over. A second-wicket partnership of 76 between opener Sahil Gupta and Khare ended when Gupta was run out with the score on 81. Returning skipper Mohammad Kaif joined Khare to ensure no more damage before play was called off.Damage, though, was caused to medium-pacer Felix Alemao, who slipped in his follow-through and had to be taken off on a stretcher after bowling 5.5 overs.Play was abandoned for the day in the match between Hyderabad and Tripura in Delhi as smog made it impossible for players to take the field.

ESPNcricinfo looks ahead to the prospects of Bengal in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy season

06-Oct-2015

Bengal

Manoj Tiwary is back as Bengal captain•PTI

Where they finished last season
Second from the bottom in Group A with no wins. Bengal barely managed to avoid relegation, thanks to Wriddhiman Saha’s resolute 92 in their final game of the season against Madhya Pradesh.Big Picture
The last time Bengal secured the Ranji title was when Sourav Ganguly made his first-class debut in the final in 1989-90. In the silver-jubilee year of the landmark, has taken charge of the Cricket Association of Bengal.The previous season, which came after a creditable semi-final finish in 2013-14, was a big low. Manoj Tiwary, who has been entrusted with captaincy again, will be keen to spark a turnaround. Bengal have been bolstered by the arrival of Pragyan Ojha, who had impressed in the A games against Australia after having remodeled his action.”Murali sir [Muttiah Muralitharan] told me to keep things simple and keep bowling. He is as an inspiration… he just told me to keep bowling to improve myself. It is a simple message, yet very powerful,” Ojha told ESPNcricinfo.He will head up a revamped spin department, which includes former U-19 offspinner Aamir Gani with usual suspects Ashok Dinda and Veer Pratap Singh manning the pace attack.Naved Ahmed, who has played club cricket in West Bengal for close to a decade, gets a break. He is among the four uncapped players in the squad at first-class level.After making two half-centuries in the first two Tests in Sri Lanka, Saha missed the third because of a hamstring injury. But he has recovered and with Naman Ojha breathing down his neck, Saha will look to sharpen both his fitness and form ahead of the home Test series against South Africa.Players to watch
Pragyan Ojha
One of the most high-profile transfers of the season. Ojha, who has moved from Hyderabad, lends experience and variety to an attack, which looks well-rounded now, at least on paper.Coaching staff
Former India legspinner Sairaj Bahutule has replaced Ashok Malhotra as head coach. There had been reports of friction in the side during the pre-season tour to Sri Lanka, after which Laxmi Shukla decided to step down from the captaincy. It will be interesting to see how Bahutule builds the team.Sairaj Bahutule (head coach), Kamalesh Jain (physio), Goutam Deb (trainer), Gautam Sarkar (video analyst), Ranadeb Bose (bowling coach), Joydeep Mukherjee (fielding coach), VVS Laxman (batting consultant), Muttiah Muralitharan (spin consultant)Preparation
The Bengal set-up toured Sri Lanka for a fortnight, where they played against the Sri Lanka development and academy squads.Team news
Saurasish Lahiri, who captained Bengal in the Buchi Babu tournament in August, is a notable absentee. An offspinner who can bat a bit lower down the order, Lahiri had sealed Bengal’s passage to the Ranji knockouts in 2013-14 with a seven-for against Tamil Nadu.Squad
Manoj Tiwary (capt), Parthasarathi Bhattacharjee, Abhishek Das, Aamir Gani, Naved Ahmed, Veer Pratap Singh, Sourav Sarkar, Laxmi Shukla, Mukesh Kumar, Sudip Chatterjee, Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha, Shreevats Goswami, Wriddhiman Saha, Pankaj ShawIn their own words
“We want to have a positive mindset and take it one game at a time. Ojha has been bowling well, he is working really hard, and that helps our bowling attack.”

Gujarat

Gujarat’s Jasprit Bumrah last played a first-class match in July 2014•Getty Images

Where they finished last season
Fourth in Group BBig picture
Last season, mere decimal points separated Gujarat from a place in the knockouts. Vidarbha, who qualified in third place from Group B, finished with 24 points and a quotient of 1.468. Gujarat finished with 24 points and a quotient of 0.965.For Gujarat, it was a reflection of all the missed opportunities over the course of a season that was equally encouraging and frustrating – Rajasthan held on for a draw against them, with two wickets remaining; Punjab and Maharashtra escaped with draws despite being made to follow-on; Vidarbha beat them after conceding a first-innings lead.As a new season begins, Gujarat will have the same question to answer: do they have the quality, individually and as a collective, to make those crunch moments count and step up from mid-table to challenge for knockout spots?Perhaps it was this question that prompted them to sign-up RP Singh, who will lead a pace attack that looks potent on paper with Rush Kalaria and Jasprit Bumrah. Axar Patel will miss the beginning of the season while he is away with India’s limited-overs side, but the team will not lack in the spin department, with coach Hitesh Majumdar indicating that Hardik Patel is a capable like-for-like option as a left-arm spinner. The squad also contains the veteran offspinner Ramesh Powar.”We’ve got a very good bowling side,” Majumdar says. “Teams will think twice about preparing bowling-friendly wickets against us.”On the batting front, Gujarat might need someone to step up and have a genuinely outstanding season, unlike last season. Six of their batsmen scored one century each, and only one of them went on to make 150. Majumdar recognises the issue, and says he wants his batsmen to show a greater appetite for runs. “Those who are getting 400-500 runs in a season, we need them to stretch it to 700 or 800.”Players to watch
After two stellar Ranji Trophy seasons, Manpreet Juneja found a place in the India A side, and showed he belonged with scores of 193, 84 and 70 against New Zealand A and West Indies A in September 2013. Just when he should have been pushing on for bigger things, his domestic form plummeted – he made 100 runs in nine innings, at an average of 11.11, in the 2013-14 Ranji season, and played only four matches in 2014-15, scoring 137 runs at 27.40. Despite that, he averages over 50 in first-class cricket, and Gujarat will hope he has rediscovered his best form ahead of the new season.Having missed out on the whole of the 2014-15 Ranji season with a knee injury, Jasprit Bumrah will be raring to return to long-form cricket for the first time since July 2014, when he was part of the India A side touring Australia. Bumrah is tall and asks questions with his angle, bounce and awkward action. If he’s fit and firing alongside RP Singh and Kalaria, Gujarat might have a more-than-handy pace attack this season.Coaching staff
Hitesh Majumdar (coach), Soham Desai (trainer), Parthav Patel (physio), Vijay Patel (coach in charge of overseeing senior and age-group teams).Preparation
In the pre-season, Gujarat sent teams to the KSCA tournament in Karnataka, the Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai and the Bhausaheb Nimbalkar tournament in Pune. Coach Hitesh Majumdar says rotating their squad gave the selectors a chance to test out a number of players.Squad
Parthiv Patel (capt & wk), Mehul Patel, Rohit Dahiya, Priyank Panchal, Rujul Bhatt, Jasprit Bumrah, Samit Gohel, Manpreet Juneja, Rush Kalaria, Bhargav Merai, Hardik Patel, Niraj Patel, Smit Patel, Ramesh Powar, RP Singh, Venugopal Rao.In their own words
“We have been playing with the same group of players for the last three years, and they have gelled well. This time we are expecting results. We just need to cross that line.”

Michael Clarke has confirmed that he will move up the order from his customary No.5 position after Australia’s shambolic display in both innings in Hyderabad

Brydon Coverdale 05-Mar-2013Michael Clarke has confirmed that he will move up the order from his customary No. 5 position after Australia’s shambolic display in both innings in Hyderabad. Clarke is the joint leading run-scorer in the series with 268, the same tally as India’s captain MS Dhoni, and more than double scored by any other member of Australia’s top six.He scored 130 in the first innings in Chennai and followed that with 91 on the first day in Hyderabad but neither effort could prevent a heavy defeat. Despite his outstanding form since taking over the captaincy in 2011, Clarke has steadfastly remained at No. 5, but given the struggles of Phillip Hughes and Shane Watson at Nos. 3 and 4 in this series, that will change for the third Test.”I think I have no choice,” Clarke said after the innings loss in Hyderabad. “Again, it hasn’t been about me, it’s about trying to do what’s best for the team, and I think now, especially in these conditions, I have to bat higher.”When asked if that would mean first drop or second drop, Clarke said: “I’ve got nine days to work it out. Wherever I can go and put some runs on the board to help the team.”Although Ed Cowan showed some signs during the second innings that he had learnt from his first three efforts and occupied the crease for nearly three hours, the rest of the batting order collapsed. So far in this series Watson has made 28, 17, 23 and 9; Hughes has scored 6, 0, 19 and 0; Cowan has managed 29, 32, 4 and 44 and Warner has tallied 59, 23, 6 and 26.”I don’t think picking your batting order can revolve around one person, the team needs the team to play well,” Clarke said. “We need our top six batters to be scoring runs, we need our four, five or six bowlers to be taking wickets. It can’t be about one person. I’ve never played cricket that way and I don’t want this team to go to that.”We have enough talent, but we have to get better, every single one of us. I would have liked more runs in the first innings and more runs today in the second innings, so I have work to do as well. I don’t want it to be about the individuals, I want it to be about the whole team improving.