All posts by n8rngtd.top

Sunil Narine meanwhile slammed his career-best T20 score, in his 501st game

Sampath Bandarupalli03-Apr-2024272 for 7 – Kolkata Knight Riders’ total against Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam is the second-highest total in the IPL. The highest is 277 for 3 by Sunrisers Hyderabad, just last week against Mumbai Indians.The previous highest total by Knight Riders was 245 for 6 against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2018 in Indore, while the previous highest against Capitals was 223 for 3 by Chennai Super Kings in Delhi last year.18 – Sixes hit by Knight Riders in Visakhapatnam – the most by them in an IPL innings. Their previous highest was 17 against Super Kings in 2018 and against Kings XI Punjab in 2019.3 – Number of times Sunil Narine has completed a fifty inside the powerplay in the IPL. Only David Warner (6) has more fifties inside the powerplay in the IPL. Chris Gayle also has three such fifties.88 – Knight Riders’ total in the powerplay is their second-highest in the IPL, behind the 105 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2017. It is also the highest powerplay total against Capitals and the highest by any team in IPL 2024.135 – Knight Riders’ total at the halfway stage of their innings. It is the third-highest first-ten-overs total in the IPL, behind the 148 by Sunrisers Hyderabad and 141 by Mumbai Indians during last week’s big bash.19y, 303d* – Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s age coming into the match. He is the second-youngest of the 23 players with a fifty-plus score in their maiden IPL innings behind Shreevats Goswami, who scored 52 on his IPL debut in 2008, a day after turning 19.25 – Balls Raghuvanshi needed to bring up his fifty. It is the second-fastest fifty scored in a maiden IPL innings, behind James Hopes’ 24-ball fifty on his debut in 2008.85 – Narine’s score against Capitals is the highest of his T20 career of 501 matches. Narine’s previous highest T20 score was 79 against Barbados Tridents in 2017.*Correction: A previous version of this article said Raghuvanshi was the youngest to score a half-century in his first IPL innings. He was, in fact, 19y 303d, and not 18y 303d, when he played his first IPL innings, and therefore was the second-youngest. These details have been updated in the headline and body of the article.

There was a Maxwell scare, and Cummins also had his moment, but this time Afghanistan would not be denied

Andrew McGlashan23-Jun-2024The memories of Mumbai. What role would they play? As Glenn Maxwell was finding his stride, depositing Rashid Khan over long-on, when both the spin of the ball and direction of the wind were against him, the “scars” that he had talked of from a game Rashid admitted kept him awake at night, looked like they were there for Afghanistan.Another six, straight down the ground off Gulbadin Naib, took Maxwell to his fifty and as Naib began his next over, the 15th of the innings, Australia needed 44 from 36 balls with five wickets in hand.

****

When the third ball of the match from Ashton Agar spun past the bat of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and flew through the vacant slip for four byes, there was a sense of a fascinating contest brewing on a pitch that had been all the talk in the lead-up. After three overs there had been two scoring shots off the bat, one an inside edge by Gurbaz off Josh Hazlewood, and Australia’s quicks were also extracting awkward, inconsistent bounce. But Afghanistan’s openers played it superbly; they waited and did not panic.Related

• Afghanistan better placed than Bangladesh in dash for last semi-final spot

• How Gulbadin Naib's four-for took down Australia for historic win

• Naib orchestrates Afghanistan's historic win over Australia

• Naib after historic win: 'Thank god we at last beat Australia'

• Stats – Afghanistan's maiden win against Australia in any format

The scoreboard read 11 for 0 off 3.5 overs when Gurbaz launched Pat Cummins straight down the ground for six. The next over from Hazlewood went for 12, including another Gurbaz six, and in the end, the powerplay registered a healthy 40 without loss. The running between the wickets by Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran was superb, something later Rashid singled out.The century stand, their third of the T20 World Cup 2024 and a new record, came up in the 14th over and their individual fifties followed in consecutive overs. Australia had never waited so long to take a wicket in a T20I when Marcus Stoinis eventually had Gurbaz taken in the deep – that was a rivalry which appeared to have a little bit of feeling.

****

Australia’s poor fielding display against Scotland was put down to a team who knew they were safely in the Super Eight. Saturday’s may have cost them a chance of a semi-final.Agar bowled tidily after being recalled in place of Mitchell Starc to provide another spin option, but he had a day to forget in the field. He let through a boundary at deep square leg, over-ran another at long off, and dropped a difficult, but catchable chance in the penultimate over. He wasn’t alone, although none of the chances were sitters.Ashton Agar had a forgettable day on the field•Associated PressAdam Zampa can be excused for his flying attempt at deep third when Zadran upper-cut Cummins and a return catch to Stoinis by the same batter wasn’t easy. But Matthew Wade could have stumped Gurbaz on 41 and Travis Head reached a running catch that then burst through his hands, although Rashid fell without addition.Australia were able to finish the innings on a high when Cummins claimed his second hat-trick in three days – he was denied four in four when David Warner spilled another catch in the deep – although a last-ball boundary from Mohammad Nabi took Afghanistan to 149 which always felt competitive. Mitchell Marsh later rated it 20 above par.

****

In November, at the Wankhede, Naveen-ul-Haq had Head caught behind second ball from around the wicket. In Kingstown on Saturday, it took him one ball more, and he did it all by himself as the stumps were splayed. In that game he then had Marsh lbw after he had cantered to 24 off 11 balls. This time a superb slower ball had the low-on-runs captain lofting a drive to mid-off after a couple of boundaries had suggested things may have turned for him.Warner, who has been in excellent touch this tournament, was starved of the strike in the powerplay and top-edged a sweep off Nabi. Australia were 32 for 3. It had been something of a surprise to see Afghanistan wait until the sixth over to use spin, it was also a surprise to see left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote, playing his first game of the tournament, bowl the seventh. Fourth ball, Maxwell reverse swept him for four and two deliveries later launched him over deep midwicket for six. Rashid’s first over only went for three, but Noor Ahmad’s cost 11. In the over before drinks, Maxwell drove Rashid through the covers with calculated precision.

****

Naib, who had been the eighth bowler handed the ball, all by the 11th over, had already removed the in-form Stoinis with a delivery that climbed off a length and trapped expert-finisher Tim David lbw with a stump-trimmer. But one figure still loomed in front of Afghanistan. Maxwell was on 59 off 39 balls.Three balls into his third over, Naib claimed one of the most significant wickets of a career which goes back to the very earliest days of Afghanistan’s evolution as a cricket nation. As Maxwell so often likes to do he, went to slice the ball through backward point but couldn’t keep it down and 19-year-old Noor, who had not been given another over, took a brilliant low catch. Maxwell let out a scream of anguish. Naib roared and flexed his muscles.Gulbadin Naib flexes his biceps after getting the big wicket of Glenn Maxwell•ICC/Getty ImagesTwo balls into the next over, Rashid removed the last specialist batter in Wade. But off the last ball of the over, the final one of Rashid’s spell, Cummins – the other half of the nightmare in Mumbai – was able to scamper a single from a misfield by Noor. Rashid made his frustrations clear. Maxwell wasn’t there, but the tension still was.Naib, who bowled his four overs straight in what will go down as one of the great T20 spells, put them a step closer when he defeated Cummins with a slower one. On the boundary Afghanistan’s bowling consultant Dwayne Bravo, who played 573 T20 matches, lived and breathed every moment. Head coach Jonathan Trott outwardly betrayed few emotions, much like when he batted, barring an occasional wrinkle of his nose.Naib had one more moment in him, diving full length to his left at cover to remove Agar. Afghanistan were one wicket away. Somehow they managed not to have enough fielders in the ring for the last ball of the 19th over so gave up a no-ball and free hit, but this one wasn’t going to slip away.Two balls into the last over, Zampa swiped Azmatullah Omarzai in the air to long-on where underneath it was Nabi, who like Naib has been there from the start. Australia were the 45th side he has won against in international cricket, and none will have been sweeter. Bravo, with a turn of pace, led the surge onto the outfield in celebration. Naib was given a piggyback off the field.

****

A defeat to Australia and Afghanistan’s ODI World Cup was over. Now a win over Bangladesh could be enough for a semi-final. At the very least, they will know the sums of what they will need to do as they play second, again in St Vincent, after the Australia-India match. Their storied cricket journey has another chapter, and more could yet follow.”I think I can sleep better now,” Rashid a few minutes after the historic moment. “I didn’t sleep the whole night [in Mumbai]. I feel like tonight because of the happiness I won’t be able to sleep.”

“Personally it feels really good because the fans, they know I’m Deepti Sharma. It’s difficult to go out in the mall or walking down some streets”

Valkerie Baynes26-Sep-2024India aren’t under pressure to win their first senior women’s World Cup title; instead, they are taking inspiration from the success of the Indian men’s team earlier this year as they head into the Women’s T20 World Cup, according to allrounder Deepti Sharma.India Women have never lifted World Cup silverware at the senior level, their Under-19 counterparts making history when they won the inaugural age-group women’s T20 title in South Africa in 2023. That was the curtain-raiser to the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, also held in South Africa, where India lost their semi-final to eventual sixth-time champions Australia.”I wouldn’t say pressure because the World Cup is a big event for each and every player, but personally I’m motivated with the men’s World Cup they took home,” Deepti told ESPNcricinfo. “We are doing a really good job throughout each and every series and every tournament and I won’t say it’s a pressure, but we will do our best.”Related

• 'Pressure is a good thing' – fit-again Shreyanka Patil looks to keep the dream run going

• Nigar Sultana wants to beat Scotland in first game and 'get into a flow'

• Harmanpreet: 'This is our best ever team at a T20 World Cup'

India were runners-up at the 2020 edition in Australia and have twice reached the final of the ODI World Cup, in 2005 and 2017. It was the latter that Deepti highlighted as a watershed moment for women’s cricket in India. There, England clinched a nine-run victory before an ecstatic home crowd at Lord’s.”How we played the finals in 2017, suddenly everything was changed,” said Deepti, who was still only 19 at the time but already had 30 ODIs and three T20Is to her name. “Personally it feels really good because the fans, they know I’m Deepti Sharma. It’s difficult to go out in the mall or walking down some streets.”It’s a great feeling from the 2017 World Cup final and obviously if we win the World Cup things will really change from every perspective and each woman will want to play cricket after that, so I’m hoping for the best.”From reflecting on how her sport has changed since then, Deepti was also struck by how much progress had been made in just the past couple of years as the women’s global franchise circuit has flourished. She was speaking at The Oval last month while preparing for the Women’s Hundred eliminator with London Spirit, who went on to win the final.Deepti Sharma won the Women’s Hundred 2024 with the Heather Knight-led London Spirit•Getty ImagesHaving called international rivals Charlie Dean, Heather Knight and Sarah Glenn team-mates through the campaign, and played with Alyssa Healy, Chamari Athapaththu and Sophie Ecclestone in her second season with UP Warriorz at the WPL where she was the MVP in 2024, any mystique surrounding World Cup opponents is all but gone.Having come into the Spirit squad as a replacement for the injured Grace Harris, Deepti played eight matches, scoring 212 runs at a strike rate of 132.50 and going unbeaten five times in her six innings. She also took eight wickets at an economy rate of 6.85. Deepti was the fifth-highest run-scorer at this year’s WPL with 295 runs at a strike rate of 136.57 and she took 10 wickets at an average of 21.70 and economy rate of 7.23.And while India’s players have become even bigger stars at home, whether it be from reaching the closing stages of World Cups or their franchise appearances, it may well have made them easier for fans to identify with. Deepti felt as much when India hosted South Africa in June and July this year. Then, India suffered an early scare with a 12-run defeat in the opening T20I in Chennai having swept their ODI series in Bengaluru 3-0.Those matches were India’s last before the Women’s Asia Cup, where they were upset in the final by T20 World Cup qualifiers Sri Lanka.

“I wouldn’t say pressure because the World Cup is a big event for each and every player, but personally I’m motivated with the men’s [T20] World Cup they took home”Deepti Sharma

“The World Cup gives lot of confidence that we can do our best and small girls when they come to watch our series in India – in Bangalore, we played the South Africa series – and they were like, ‘I want autographs’ and ‘I want pictures’, so it’s great to watch them,” Deepti said. “And they said, ‘I also started playing cricket.'”We just told them, ‘don’t give up, just play your best and don’t think about the result, results will come, just express yourself’.”Despite those hiccups against South Africa and Sri Lanka, Deepti was confident heading into the World Cup, where India will start their campaign against New Zealand on October 4.”We’re quite positive as a team,” she said. “We are doing really well and we are thinking that each and every game is important, so whether we are playing any team, we are quite focused.”Should India finally triumph in Dubai on October 20, just imagine the focus on them.

Vote for the best individual Border-Gavaskar Trophy performance by an Indian in Australia since 2000

Shashank Kishore21-Oct-2024Update: This poll has ended. Sachin Tendulkar’s performance goes into the quarter-finals. Check the other polls here.ESPNcricinfo LtdSachin Tendulkar celebrates his double-century at the SCG in 2004•William West/AFP via Getty Images

Sachin Tendulkar – 241* & 60* in Sydney, 2004

Match drawn, series drawn 1-1Sachin Tendulkar’s form with the series level 1-1 hadn’t been reassuring. His cover driving had caused three dismissals in the first three Tests, and he was determined not to fall for the bait at the SCG. His 241* in the first innings – his highest Test score at the time – was a remarkable example of his discipline and ability to find a way.Tendulkar did not play the cover drive, even when the Australian bowlers offered easy temptation, and entirely cut out a faulty part of his game. He batted for more than ten hours and helped India amass 705, shutting down Australia’s hopes of a series win. His unbeaten 60 off 89 balls in the second innings was compiled with more freedom, as India pushed towards a declaration. However, a setting a target of 443 left them with too little time to take ten wickets and achieve what would have been a historic series win.Watch the highlights of these performances on the Star Sports network at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm IST, from October 22 onwards.Virender Sehwag saved the Adelaide Test for India in 2008•AFP

Virender Sehwag – 63 & 151 in Adelaide, 2008

Match drawn, India lost the series 2-1After winning in Perth, India began the final Test in Adelaide 2-1 down and Virender Sehwag gave them a cracking start, his 63 off 90 balls laying the platform for a first-innings total of 526. But Australia responded with 563 and the visitors were under fire to save the game.Sehwag was in Australia only on his captain Anil Kumble’s insistence, and he wasn’t known to be a second-innings performer. He ended up batting for nearly six hours, doing un-Sehwag things like going an entire session without a boundary, and scored his 13th century – his first in the second innings of a Test. He went through his gears, ensuring runs came despite wickets falling, to put India’s lead well out of Australia’s reach. Sehwag finished on 151; the next highest score in India’s total of 269 for 7 declared was MS Dhoni’s 20.

Anyone could have seen this Champions Trophy imbroglio coming, but cricket’s governing body did not

Nagraj Gollapudi18-Nov-2024We are here again. Not for the first time and probably not the last.With under 100 days to go for the 2025 Champions Trophy, scheduled in Pakistan, the ICC has still not formally announced the dates for the tournament. The schedule, too, has not been finalised. Why? India, one of the eight participating countries, will not travel to Pakistan – a decision taken by the Indian government, according to the BCCI in its communication to the ICC.We have been here, not once but twice, as recently as 2023. Take your memory back to last year’s Asia Cup and ODI World Cup and you will see a similar pattern. In the first instance, the PCB was forced to loosen its stance that the event would be held solely in Pakistan after the BCCI said India did not have permission from their government to travel across the border. Eventually it was Pakistan, the hosts, who ended up boarding flights to and from Sri Lanka, where India played all their matches, including the final. At the World Cup, the PCB pushed to get the ICC to adopt the hybrid model, but Pakistan eventually travelled to India. They travelled, it has since emerged, despite deep reservations within the Pakistan government.Twelve months later we are once again in familiar territory: the BCCI has made its move, comfortably standing in one corner, arms folded. At the opposite end, the PCB stands steadfast, refusing to blink or budge. The ICC, in theory the adjudicator, remains tight-lipped. It is a shambolic situation.Related

• The resolution of the India-Pakistan Champions Trophy standoff was a win? Not by a long shot

• Outgoing ICC chair Barclay blames members' 'self-interest' for congested cricket calendar

• Champions Trophy: PCB promises to do 'what's best for Pakistan cricket'

• India withdraw from T20 Blind Cricket World Cup in Pakistan

• PCB chief on Champions Trophy: 'I still have positive expectations'

Who actually gains from this brinkmanship? That is only part of the question. The more important question, though, one that never gets asked properly is: who is responsible for this standoff? Unequivocally the answer is the ICC, the game’s governing body, which has once again escaped scrutiny. To be precise, the ICC leadership: the ICC board.In November 2021 the ICC board allocated hosting rights for various global events in the 2024-31 rights cycle to several boards. The PCB, which had bid for two events, was allocated the 2025 Champions Trophy. The ICC board approved the hosts based on recommendations drawn up by a smaller working group that included Sourav Ganguly, then the BCCI president, and Ehsan Mani, the former PCB chair and ICC head. That ICC board was headed by Greg Barclay. Ganguly, one would assume, had the backing of the Indian board, whose secretary was Jay Shah (who takes charge as ICC chairman from December 1).Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president at the time, was part of the working group that drew up recommendations to the ICC board when it awarded Pakistan the Champions Trophy hosting rights•BCCIAs a reminder, the ICC board comprises directors who represent the 12 Full Members, along with an independent director, three directors representing the Associates, and the ICC chairman and CEO. So this was a collective call. If there was even a single voice of caution three years ago when it came to allotting the Champions Trophy to Pakistan, details of it have never emerged. Did nobody see this coming? Maybe they did but opted to look down or the other way instead?In the fraught political climate that has existed between the two neighbours since the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008, you didn’t need to be a fortune-teller to raise a red flag about whether India would actually travel to Pakistan in 2025. More than one person involved in the bids allocation process said that one reason the ICC board believed conditions might be favourable for India to visit for the Champions Trophy was if Pakistan went to India for the 2023 World Cup – which they did. And once they did, the PCB must have assumed India would reciprocate.However, in a professional environment, you need accountability instead of relying on good faith. Why did the ICC, in 2021, not attach a few conditions when it allotted the Champions Trophy to Pakistan, starting with an official timeline including deadlines, with one specifically for the BCCI: communicate well in advance to the ICC whether India would travel to Pakistan? Such a hard stop could have been put in, say, a year before the actual event. In the absence of any such cutoff, the BCCI’s first communication to the ICC that India would not travel was relayed around November 6. That is just over three months before the scheduled start of the tournament on February 19.

More than one person involved in the bids allocation process said that one reason the ICC board believed conditions might be favourable for India to visit for the Champions Trophy was if Pakistan went to India for the 2023 World Cup – which they did

But more crucially, what plan was in place to deal with the outcome that was always likely? In a perfect and equitable world, global tournaments could go ahead without teams that are unable to participate in the prescribed way, but no ICC tournament is commercially tenable without India’s participation, a fact that was emphatically underlined during the last broadcast deal. Why wasn’t a hybrid option part of the contingency plan if India failed to travel to Pakistan? Or was it assumed that the PCB would once again fall in line and acquiesce to a hybrid model?As it turns out and as was pointed out to them recently by a senior official from an overseas board, the PCB might have a little leverage by dint of their team being part of the most watched and most lucrative match in an ICC event. It might have been unacceptable to the PCB to accept the hosting rights with a hybrid option attached as a contingency. But it would have been the most pragmatic and clear-minded approach, since it is beyond the ICC to persuade the Indian government to allow the Indian team to travel to Pakistan. Instead, the ICC leadership has opted to kick the problem down the road, hoping it will somehow resolve itself.In our increasingly divided and divisive world, strong leadership is required to maintain equilibrium. The ICC board in the past has shown it is capable of doing that. Now it needs bold solutions for the future.

The exclusion hurt him, but it gave him a break that he perhaps needed after two years of carrying an intense workload. Now he’s back, and back to his best

Sidharth Monga06-Apr-20251:31

Rayudu: Siraj’s comeback since India omission has been amazing

Mohammed Siraj had been doing well for India in both limited-overs formats for some time when he was left out of their squad for the Champions Trophy. Even in Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, Siraj didn’t find a place in the 15-man squad. India wanted a left-arm quick, a tall, into-the-pitch bowler, and the expected conditions put a premium on the extra spinner. There was only one spot left for the traditional seam bowler, which went to Mohammed Shami, who was returning from injury.India were looking for someone who could run through a side when he got on a roll. Siraj had been doing this in 2023, but had gradually become a steady bowler since then. He didn’t have out-and-out bad days, but he didn’t run away with big hauls either. As any proud competitor, Siraj was upset by this exclusion coming hot on the heels of a release from his beloved IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).”To be honest, at the start, I couldn’t digest it,” Siraj said after his second straight Player-of-the-Match performance in IPL 2025, for Gujarat Titans (GT) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Put together international cricket and the IPL, and he won two in all of 2024. Now he has two in four days.Related

• Rayudu: Sai Kishore 'as good as anybody' in the Indian team

• Siraj, Gill and Washington hand Sunrisers fourth successive defeat

• Vettori: 'We understand the ramifications of losing four in a row'

• Nearly man Washington makes rare opportunity count

It will not quite be fair to call his exclusion a blessing in disguise, because there is no guarantee Siraj wouldn’t have done well in the Champions Trophy, but the break it gave him seems to have done him good. Through that break, Siraj followed the classic arc of struggling to come to terms with it before putting in the hard work to try and come back better.”I reached a point when I had to convince my mind that my cricket is not over,” Siraj said. “That I have bigger plans. Okay, this [Champions Trophy] was not in my destiny, but what can I do now? I got my mindset right, I worked on my fitness. I was playing non-stop, so I didn’t have time to reflect on what mistakes had crept into my game. So I worked on it. Now I am enjoying my bowling. The body is fresh, I am not overthinking, I am staying in the present.”It is important to remember that as Shami and Bumrah grappled with fitness issues, Siraj was the one constant in India’s team. He was perhaps denied the break that fast bowlers need to carry out running repairs. Since the start of 2023, only Ravindra Jadeja has bowled more overs for India than Siraj.Mohammed Siraj won his second Player of the Match award in a row•AFP/Getty ImagesNow Siraj already has more powerplay wickets in this IPL – six – than he managed in the entirety of the 2024 season. Again, just looking at wickets is neither accurate nor fair when it comes to T20. It’s his control that has been impressive. In this game – played on a slow and low pitch – Siraj bowled three straight overs in the powerplay. Only five deliveries went fuller than good length. Three of them were just a fact-finding mission in the first over.Once he knew there was no swing, Siraj bowled almost robotically to capitalise on the lack of pace in the pitch. There was no anxiety to go looking for wickets. The result was 11 dot balls to Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, and both their wickets.With the old ball, Siraj drew a hint of reverse swing – he acknowledged the use of saliva to maintain the ball – which has been reinstated in this IPL – helped him pick up two more wickets at the death.In his last game, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Siraj started the match with a sharp bouncer that nearly got Phil Salt out first ball. Only a handful of games in the 18 years of the IPL have started with a short ball bowled in anger. That Siraj was sharp enough from the get-go to bowl one with both venom and direction perhaps said something about his state of mind and body. There is perhaps a freshness to Siraj that makes a case for regular breaks. But now that Siraj finds himself on a roll, GT – and India? – won’t want to miss a thing.

They started the season with 287 for 3 against RCB, and ended it with 278 for 3 against KKR

ESPNcricinfo staff25-May-2025

287 for 5 – SRH vs RCB, Bengaluru, 2024

At the Chinnaswamy Stadium, boundaries rained down as SRH redefined T20 brutality, obliterating their own record from earlier in the season to post a staggering 287 for 3. Travis Head led the charge with a career-best 102 off 41, Heinrich Klaasen pummelled 67 off 31, and Abdul Samad applied the finishing touches with an unbeaten 37 off just 10 balls. That helped SRH win the contest by 25 runs.

286 for 6 – SRH vs RR, Hyderabad, 2025

The big question heading into IPL 2025 was whether the first 300-plus total would be scored. SRH, the favourites to do so, came tantalizingly close and fell 14 short. The top five collectively faced 118 balls, and not one of them struck below 200. On his SRH debut, Ishan Kishan added to the fireworks, smashing his maiden IPL ton.

278 for 3 – SRH vs KKR, Delhi, 2025

SRH began IPL 2025 by smashing the second-highest total in IPL history, but then their big-hitters fell away dramatically and last-year’s runners-up were the third team to crash out of the race for the playoffs. However, they ended the season in trademark style, by clobbering KKR for 278 runs in Delhi, the third highest total in IPL history. Abhishek Sharma made 32 off 16, Travis Head 76 off 40, but Heinrich Klaasen was the show-stopper with 105 not out off 39 balls – the joint third-fastest hundred in IPL history.

277 for 3 – SRH vs MI, Hyderabad, 2024

The carnage in Hyderabad resulted in an 11-year-old IPL record falling, RCB’s seemingly-insurmountable 263 for 5 from 2013 fell by the wayside thanks to a breathtaking, collective show from the SRH batters. Klaasen spearheaded the carnage with an unbeaten 80 off 34, while Head and Abhishek Sharma blasted rapid fifties. Mumbai Indians gave a spirited chase but lost steam, falling short by 31 runs.

272 for 7 – KKR vs DC, Vishakhapatnam, 2024

A rampaging Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batting unit laid down an early marker for a season of run-fests with a commanding demolition of Delhi Capitals (DC). Sunil Narine blazed 85 off 39, Angkrish Raghuvanshi kept pace with 54 off 27, and Andre Russell provided the finishing fireworks with 41 off 19. Only Ishant Sharma’s tight final over, conceding just eight runs, stopped KKR from climbing even higher on this list.

266 for 7 – SRH vs DC, Delhi, 2024

SRH ventured where no team had gone before in a T20 powerplay. Head and Abhishek blazed their way to a jaw-dropping 125 for no loss in six overs. At that point, 300 looked like a terrifyingly real possibility. But with the field restrictions lifted, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel pulled things back, bringing SRH’s innings down to more earthly realms. Shahbaz Ahmed’s unbeaten 59 off 29 balls, however, still powered them past 260.

This relationship has always sent sparks flying in pivotal World Cup moments. What does Navi Mumbai have in store for us?

Sruthi Ravindranath29-Oct-2025When Harmanpreet Kaur tore Australia’s bowling apart with a sensational unbeaten 171 off 115 balls in the Derby semi-final of the 2017 World Cup, she did more than win India a match. She tore a hole in Australia’s cloak of invincibility. It remains one of the greatest innings ever played in a knockout game, and it marked the turning point of women’s cricket in India.That innings even changed Australia a little bit.”Look, I’ve forgotten a lot about the game, but you guys are pretty, pretty good at putting it on the telly at every opportunity possible, so it brings back the memory a little bit,” Alyssa Healy said before Australia’s league-stage meeting with India at this World Cup. “But we’ve spoken a lot about how it’s just drove us to rethink our standards and the way we wanted to approach our cricket. It made us rethink what we were doing and how we could do it better. And I think we’ve been really successful since that point.”It isn’t surprising, then, that whenever India and Australia have met in a global tournament since that day, one question has always hung in the air: what will Harmanpreet do this time?Harmanpreet cannot believe her luck: the heartbreaking run-out in Cape Town•ICC/Getty ImagesEight years on, that question still defines her. Between Derby and Thursday’s semi-final in Navi Mumbai, the journey of Harmanpreet and India in World Cups has been one of agonising near-misses. Whenever these have involved Australia, Harmanpreet has been front and centre.In the T20 World Cup semi-final in Cape Town, her 52 was set to become a career-defining innings, as she batted through illness and set India up for what looked like a famous chase. All until a freak run-out with her bat stuck in the pitch. At the post-match presentation, Harmanpreet wore sunglasses to hide her tears.Then came Sharjah, October 2024, where India met Australia again, this time with a semi-final berth hanging in the balance. Batting on 52 with India needing 14, Harmanpreet nudged a single off the first ball of the final over, and watched helplessly as four wickets tumbled in the next five balls. India had fallen short once more.In the years since that 171*, Harmanpreet has remained an exceptional ODI batter, averaging 38.73 and striking at 85.71 – both improvements on her career figures – while scoring five hundreds and 13 fifties in 80 innings. Yet, the conversation almost always circles back to Australia, against whom she seems to reserve her most memorable performances in ICC tournaments. She has scored more runs against them than any other opposition in both ODI and T20 World Cups, but Derby only showed how rare it is for one player to bend a result to her will. Since that match, India have won only two of their seven matches against Australia in ICC events.Sharjah, 2024. Another missed opportunity for Harmanpreet and India•ICC/Getty ImagesLeadership has added another layer to Harmanpreet’s story. Since taking over as India’s full-time white-ball captain in 2022, she has led the team through a transition from a group of bright but incomplete parts to one with more battle-hardened depth than ever, but for whom the ultimate prize has always seemed just out of reach.That prize is now two games away.This World Cup has been a patchy one for India, who stumbled to three successive losses after a bright start, all of them tight and therefore viewed from outside as avoidable and indicative of tactical and temperamental cracks. Questions arose over the team’s balance. Harmanpreet’s own form was up-and-down, intensifying the scrutiny around her decision-making. Her dismissals seemed like opportunities lost, particularly the late dab straight to short third, on 70, at a pivotal moment of India’s chase against England.But India are in the semi-finals now, and the sense of occasion feels heavier than ever. Here is another shot at breaking free of a cycle of close losses, this time in a home World Cup. For Harmanpreet, now 36, this could well be the final ODI World Cup. And perhaps the final World Cup showdown with the opposition that has defined her legacy.It’s India vs Australia, and the eternal question hangs in the air once more: what will Harmanpreet do?

The ESPNcricinfo team of the tournament has players from five countries – find out if your top pick made the squad of 12 or not

Yash Jha03-Nov-20258:05

‘What dream? We’re living it’

Getty Images

Smriti Mandhana

So rich was Mandhana’s vein of form coming into the competition that a quiet start – 54 runs in the first three outings – had left viewers perplexed. But she dialled things up once the big games arrived: 80 versus Australia, 88 versus England, and 109 in the high-stakes clash against New Zealand. She added 45 in the final to finish with the highest tally for an Indian in a women’s World Cup.AFP/Getty Images

Laura Wolvaardt (capt)

Wolvaardt, too, had a slow start, but more than made up for lost time, scoring 30 or more in seven consecutive matches – including half-centuries in wins against India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – and then hit centuries in both knockouts. Her 101 in the final versus India may have ended in a losing cause, but the 169 against England to take South Africa to their maiden ODI World Cup final will go down as one of the all-time great performances. Her tally is, by some distance, the highest at an edition of the ODI World Cup.Getty Images

Jemimah Rodrigues

Speaking of iffy beginnings… Rodrigues found herself on the bench three weeks into her maiden ODI World Cup, after two ducks and two 30s. She celebrated her return – and a promotion to No. 3 – with a sparkling 76 not out off 55 balls versus New Zealand, before the career-defining 127 not out to end Australia’s reign with a record chase in the semi-finals.ICC/Getty Images

Marizanne Kapp

Continuing the trend of peaking at the right time was Kapp, whose first big contribution (aside from a chase-stabilising half-century against Bangladesh) came in the sixth game of the campaign: 68 not out off 43 balls followed by three new-ball wickets against Pakistan. She then demolished England’s hopes of chasing 320 in the semi-final with a double-strike in the first over, finishing with 5 for 20, having earlier chipped in with a 33-ball 42.Getty Images

Annabel Sutherland

Sutherland’s consistent mastery at the death, fuelled by a lethal back-of-the-hand slower ball, meant she was the joint-highest wicket-taker before the final. She started with a three-for against New Zealand, triggered an Indian collapse with 5 for 40 in Visakhapatnam, and added another three versus England – a game where she also had her only significant outing with the bat.Getty Images

Ashleigh Gardner

Prior to 2025, the World Cup had seen only three hundreds from batters coming in at No. 5 or lower; Gardner hit two in this edition, both stunning recovery acts. She turned 128 for 5 into 326 against New Zealand by smashing 115 off 83 balls, and then turned a tricky chase versus England into a cakewalk – Australia were 68 for 4 in pursuit of 245 – with 104* off 73. There was a fifty in the semis too, and she chipped in with the ball all along.ICC/Getty Images

Richa Ghosh (wk)

Ghosh takes the wicketkeeping gloves in our team owing to her finishing prowess. She was the tournament’s fastest scorer as well as its highest six-hitter. Her unbeaten 20-ball 35 pushed India closer to 250 against Pakistan in Colombo; she played cameos in both the games versus Australia, including a handy 16-ball 26 in the record semi-final chase; she added 34 off 24 in the title clash against South Africa, and her 94 off 77 against the same opponents was an early contender for the knock of the tournament…AFP/Getty Images

Nadine de Klerk

Deepti’s tournament started with a fifty and a three-for, and ended with a fifty and a five-for – the first such achievement in any World Cup final, women’s or men’s. The leading wicket-taker of the tournament, Deepti became the first player to do the double of 200+ runs and 15+ wickets in an edition of the women’s ODI World Cup. The Player of the Tournament recipient also contributed a four-for and fifty in the loss to England, and injected vital momentum in the semi-final chase against Australia with a 17-ball 24.Getty Images

Alana King

King delivered the spell of the tournament, claiming the first seven-for in World Cup history, to bamboozle South Africa in Indore. But don’t discount the rest of her tournament: two key wickets in the opener versus New Zealand, miserly returns against Bangladesh (2 for 18) and England (1 for 20), and the first fifty from a No. 10 in a women’s white-ball international to stitch a rescue act against Pakistan.ICC/Getty Images

Sophie Ecclestone

Ecclestone began the tournament playing second fiddle to fellow slow left-arm spinner Linsey Smith’s hero act against South Africa, but finished as strongly as ever. She proved too strong for Bangladesh (3 for 24) and Sri Lanka (4 for 17), and despite tougher outings in Indore, and an injury scare ahead of the semi-final, she was England’s standout performer in the defeat to South Africa with 4 for 44.ICC/Getty Images

12th: Sophie Devine

In the final chapter of an illustrious ODI career, Devine was the lone star of New Zealand’s campaign, top-scoring in defeats to Australia (112) and South Africa (85), and scoring 63 in the win over Bangladesh. That meant Devine had 260 runs after three outings, but New Zealand didn’t bat for another two weeks, and Devine didn’t get a perfect swansong with low scores against India and England.

New Zealand’s player of the series talks about making the best of extreme conditions, using his time in the reserves to prepare, and being part of the side’s biggest success

Interview by Deivarayan Muthu07-Nov-20243:25

‘Hopefully what we’ve achieved can inspire young kids watching at home’

Will Young has spent much of his international career as a reserve batter and it was supposed to be no different when New Zealand began their six-Test subcontinent expedition this year. After the one-off match against Afghanistan was called off without a ball being bowled, Young ran the drinks in Sri Lanka. But after an injury to Kane Williamson, Young seamlessly slotted into the No. 3 role and ran the show with the bat against India in India. He dovetailed attacking strokes into his defence beautifully, including the sweep and reverse sweep, and was the top scorer for his side, with 244 runs. It earned him the Player-of-the-Series award as New Zealand completed a near-unthinkable 3-0 whitewash of India. Young spoke about how he prepared for the India tour, despite not being a certain starter, and countered spin in conditions that were extreme at various stagesIt’s been a few days since the epic 3-0 series win against India. Has it sunk in for you?
Yeah, I think it slowly is. We’ve got time to obviously celebrate with the boys and the support staff after the win, but to check your phone and see the messages and the love and support that’s come from back home has been incredible. So yeah, it’s certainly starting to sink in. Our time here has come to an end, unfortunately. It’s been an incredible few weeks, but now on to new things or having a bit of a rest.After the Pune Test, Glenn Phillips said there was some rowdy singing in the team bus. What were the post-match celebrations like in Pune and Mumbai?
Yes, the bus ride was fun, especially after the Pune Test, when it was longer from the ground to the hotel. GP [Glenn Phillips] was singing and dancing up and down the aisle. The celebrations continued when we got to the hotel and we just enjoyed each other’s company. Obviously a few speeches from the coach and captain and things like that. But it’s starting to sink in. I think when you relax and have a drink with your team-mates, that’s when you start to really reflect on what we’ve just achieved. And those are really special times that we’ll remember for a long, long time.Related

• There's a madness to Daryl Mitchell's methods against spin

• Mitch Hay waits to shine in the Sri Lankan sun

• The New Zealand prodigy who had to wait his turn

• Williamson to miss early part of India series with a groin strain

• Mitchell: 'We're just a bunch of Kiwis taking on the world'

What was it like to have the trust of the team management to slot into that crucial No. 3 position, especially in conditions that were often extreme?
I think that’s the nature of being a reserve batsman: you’ve got to be prepared to bat anywhere in the top five. And obviously, No. 3 is a pivotal role. But you could argue that all batting positions in the top five are pivotal at different stages of the game. So I had to prepare in a way that I felt ready and confident to take the opportunity. And the lead-up to the tour was really good. We had some good camps in New Zealand before we came over [to the subcontinent].And then it was just on a game-by-game basis, assessing how Kane’s going back home. And obviously it didn’t improve enough for him to fly over. So it meant that I could play the whole series, which was really nice for me, personally.The accidental tourist: Will Young finished as New Zealand’s second-highest run scorer on their tour of India•Indranil Mukherjee/Getty ImagesWe also had a week in Noida [for the Afghanistan Test]. And although the outfield was really wet, we could still train on the block there. And then obviously, in Galle, there’s spinning conditions there as well. So I had a good amount of time in the nets, preparing and watching the guys go about their work and having conversations about what works and what doesn’t. You start to piece it all together. And by the time I came to India, I felt prepared to take on this opportunity.You went from facing James Anderson in swinging conditions in Southport to facing up to R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar on turners in India. Talk us through the prep that helped you adapt.
In that Lancashire game, Nathan Lyon also played, so it wasn’t a bad bowling attack. To be honest, it [success against spin] has been a long time in the making. We toured here in 2021 and we had a two-Test match series, in Kanpur and Mumbai, and the batting group that’s here is largely the same as the one three years ago.So I suppose if you look at it with a wider lens, you can say that we’ve been learning since then. There’s been lots of tours to the subcontinent, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and even some spinning surfaces at home at times. We were always keen to learn and adapt and grow as batsmen.I suppose leading up to this particular series and this particular chunk of six games in the subcontinent, it was really important that we got our heads around what does work and doesn’t work. And at times it is experimental and at times it’s backing your method and having the courage to do so for a long period of time. It’s just nice that it’s all come together, especially after the hurt of the Sri Lankan series. To put it all together on the biggest of stages here in India was really pleasing as a whole batting unit.You had Rangana Herath and Michael Bracewell bowl to you a fair bit in the Galle nets when you didn’t make it to the XI. How did those sessions benefit you in India?
Yeah, Rangana still loves bowling. He bowled a lot in the nets, not just to me but to a lot of the boys. And I guess because he’s so accurate, if you want to work on a particular shot, he can put it there for you.And he’s very complimentary and he gets around you when you get it right. Obviously Michael Bracewell – affectionately known as Beastie – he’s also a really handy bowler to face in the nets. And the conditions in Galle were nice to test out different styles of play and different methods.The final cut: Young hits the winning runs in the first Test in Bengaluru•BCCISo that was awesome to have, those couple of weeks with those guys, as well as the batting coach, Luke Ronchi, who was throwing a bit of offspin. Glenn Phillips is always keen to bowl. So there was plenty of guys to call upon and to get some volume in leading into the series.Was the sweep one of those shots you worked on during those sessions? You came away as New Zealand’s most prolific player of the sweep, including the reverse, in this series
Yes, as I said before, some of your training at times can be experimental. And I suppose the reverse sweep and the hard sweep in front of square is something that I’ve had to add to my locker.I thought it might come in handy at certain times over here, especially when conditions get gnarly and you don’t have the field that you want to bat against. You can take a risk to sweep in different ways so that the field changes, and then you might feel a little bit more comfortable. So yeah, it’s certainly been something I’ve been working on for a long, long time. And it’s nice for it to come off at times over here when it was needed.You also have another Sri Lankan connection: you worked with Mahela Jayawardene when he came to New Zealand to play for Central Stags. Do you often chat to him about your batting as well?
I haven’t spoken to Mahela in a long time now but back in my formative years, a younger, more impressionable self was playing with Mahela. It was in the T20 format. He came over for two full seasons and played with us. And he was just incredible.He scored a hell of a lot of runs. He loved playing golf and he loved talking batting. So myself and some other guys in the batting group got around him and just tried to pick his brains as much as we could. But yeah, just awesome to see a master at work.