Dhoni wants better Powerplay bowling

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Happy with how we bowled in last eight overs - Dhoni

MS Dhoni, the India captain, has called for improvement while bowling in the first six overs and has asked his bowlers to assess conditions quickly, to determine what a competitive spell is ahead of the second T20 international against West Indies in Florida on Sunday.

India had conceded the third highest T20I total - 245 - in the first game on Saturday morning but then chased superbly, only to fall short by one run. West Indies had built their score on a rollicking opening stand between Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis - 126 in 9.3 overs.

"I felt the way the boys performed overall was very good," Dhoni said after the game. "If we can improve how we bowl in the first six overs - in fact it was the first 12 overs where we gave away too many runs."

Dhoni said there needed to be quicker recognition from the bowlers to adjust their game plans when it became clear that the pristine batting pitch was suiting the West Indies" hyper-aggressive approach spearheaded by Charles, who struck 79 off 33 b***s.

"Immediately, as a bowler, what you have to do is you have to assess the conditions and change your game plan to some extent," Dhoni said. "Normally you think on a good wicket if I"m bowling four overs, if I even get hit for 40 runs and get one or two wickets, it"s good enough. So you have to quickly assess what is a good bowling analysis on this wicket. Maybe the way everybody got hit, it seemed like a four-over 50 [runs], and if you get a couple of wickets or more you are in the plus."

The bulk of India"s chasing was done by KL Rahul, who scored 110 off 51 b***s, his maiden T20I hundred in only his fourth game. He said he hoped to "go from strength to strength".

"It is very disappointing to be on the losing side but what"s good to see is that we did not give up half way through," Rahul told the BCCI website. "The West Indies had put up a big total for us to chase and what we spoke in the dressing room was to try to take the game as long as we could and the way everyone came and approached this innings was very good to see Happy with the approach, but disappointed with the result."

Rahul and Dhoni put on 107 in 8.1 overs for the fourth wicket, the partnership ending off the final ball of the game, which Dhoni edged to short third man when India needed two to win. Rahul said the game could have "gone anywhere".

"As soon as he [Dhoni] came in, I knew that he would make me run a lot," Rahul said. "I was already tired by the time he came, but he kept on pushing me and like I said we just kept things simple out there in the middle. We required 13 runs an over. He said that even if we get 11-12 runs till the sixteenth over, it was ok and we could go big in the last couple of overs. We were favouring one end and hit sixes on that side and we knew that they did not have overs left from their main bowlers in the death. That was the plan and we just kept hitting well, kept connecting. We got 11-12 runs easily in an over. Just unfortunate it was one of those days when the game could"ve gone anywhere."

India are currently second on the ICC"s T20I rankings, with West Indies third. They will swap positions if West Indies win on Sunday and take the series 2-0. Their new T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite said Saturday"s win and the manner in which it was achieved reaffirmed that the reigning World T20 champions were the top T20 side in world cricket.

"We became world champions and now we"re here to defend that and show that we are number one in the world and show why we are," Brathwaite said. "The rankings say that we"re number three and the plan is for us to go out tomorrow, give another big effort for the last, go 2-0 up, win the series and move to number two in the rankings."

ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/west-indies-v-india-2016/content/story/1051103.html

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Australia A bowlers set up crushing win

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Australia A 2 for 136 (Lynn 56*, Maxwell 46*) beat South Africa A 134 (Zondo 40, Boyce 4-21, Richardson 2-11) by 8 wicketsScorecard and ball-by-ball details

Glenn Maxwell chipped in with bat and ball to earn the Man-of-the-Match award in Australia A"s big win Gallo Images

Australia A bundled out South Africa A for 134 in Mackay, and then romped to an eight-wicket win with more than 30 overs to spare. The victory left them second on the points table, in position to push for a berth in the final against India A.

After Australia A opted to bowl, Chris Tremain swiftly set about justifying that decision with the early wickets of Heino Kuhn and Theunis de Bruyn, reducing South Africa A to 2 for 18 in the seventh over.

Khaya Zondo (40) and David Miller (25) rebuilt with a 53-run partnership, but they were dismissed within four overs of each other to leave South Africa A in trouble again. The trouble was compounded soon when Kane Richardson had Dane Vilas and Dwaine Pretorius caught behind for single-digit scores as the tourists were tottering at 6 for 88. Qaasim Adams (27) and Andile Phehlukwayo (22) provided the second partnership of any substance, putting on 36 off 52 for the seventh wicket.

But Cameron Boyce ensured that the rebuilding phase did not last too long. The last four wickets fell in the space of 10 runs to Boyce"s legspin as South Africa A were bowled out in 42.1 overs.

Much like South Africa A, the hosts lost their openers early and found themselves 2 for 32 in the sixth over. Thereafter, though, captain Chris Lynn and Glenn Maxwell made short work of the chase, sharing an unbeaten third-wicket stand of 104 off 79 to take Australia A past the target in the 19th over. Lynn ended with 56 off 51, while Maxwell scored a blistering 46 off 31 to add to his fine bowling analysis of 1 for 36 off 10 overs.

The result meant South Africa A needed a bonus point win in their last league match, against National Performance Squad, to have any chance of making the final.

ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/1051107.html

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Jayawardene praise for "special" England batting performance

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Jayawardene: It was something special

Mahela Jayawardene has praised the character shown by England"s young batsmen after they pulled off the second-highest successful run chase in T20 internationals. Led by Joe Root"s 83 from 44 b***s, England achieved a target of 230 to beat South Africa with two b***s to spare in Mumbai and Jayawardene, who has been working with the team as a batting consultant, called it a "special" performance.

Jayawardene, who was part of the Sri Lanka side that won the previous World T20 in 2014, has now concluded his part-time role with England and joined ESPNcricinfo"s Match Day analysis line-up, and he played down his part in their success.

"To be honest, I haven"t done much," he said. "When you work with a talented group of players, and when they do something like that, everyone thinks you had a huge role to play but I"ve really enjoyed working with the England boys, they"re a young team with not much experience in international T20s but they want to play a brand of cricket which they have been playing for 12 months and they are still finding their way.

"It was a great win last night, I really enjoyed it. In the dressing room it was nervous moments at points and at the halfway mark obviously everyone was disappointed. But they showed a lot of character to regroup and go out and the way they played was something special."

A former Sri Lanka captain, Jayawardene retired from international cricket for good after last year"s World Cup and first worked with England on their tour of the UAE before returning for the World T20. His relationship with the coach, Trevor Bayliss, goes back to their time together with Sri Lanka and Jayawardene credited the Australian with helping to change England"s approach.

While chasing down 230 requires a capacity for powerful ball-striking, Jayawardene identified the "smartness" of Root and the captain, Eoin Morgan, as a key factor, as well as a degree of freedom and flexibility that has allowed the rest of the top six - openers Jason Roy and Alex Hales, as well as Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler - to flourish.

"This is something that they have developed since Trevor Bayliss has taken over, they have put a lot of emphasis on white-ball cricket, not just T20 but one-day cricket as well," Jayawardene said. "They"ve managed to get a group of young cricketers, looking towards the next 50-over World Cup as well. It"s not just power hitting, the way Joe batted in that middle period and the way Buttler controlled a tough situation when they lost Morgan. They"re still finding ways of doing things, they definitely have the power if they need to use it but [they are] trying to be much more structured going about things.

"They have given licence to Jason because that"s the way he bats, Alex Hales still hasn"t really found his rhythm but he showed something yesterday. They can use Stokes anywhere because the flexibility is there, he plays pace and spin well. What they have got is the smartness of Joe Root and Eoin Morgan, who"s got the experience of playing in the subcontinent, in that middle. Jos Buttler has been in great form as well, so they"ve got six batsmen who can change a game and they do bat deep as well, so they"ve got the freedom to go out and express themselves."

While acknowledging there would be challenges ahead if England were to progress, Jayawardene was impressed by the players" willingness to improve. Chief among them is Root, described by Morgan as "the most complete batsmen we"ve ever had". Despite having played just 14 T20I innings - and 39 in the shortest format overall - he has become central to their World T20 plans and Jayawardene was impressed by his attitude to batting, calling him a "very skillful cricketer and a very bright cricketer as well".

"He wants to learn new things and to evolve as a cricketer," Jayawardene said. "What you have to understand is that Joe hasn"t played that much T20 cricket, he hasn"t had that much experience of playing in the subcontinent, he"s still finding his way.

"So for him to go out in a tough situation - probably the situation dictated the way he had to play, started slowly but to keep up with the run rate he had to be innovative. But he just kept his cool, made sure the guys around him do a bit of work as well, so when you look at the bigger concept, he"s the guy that England would want to do that kind of role for them in this tournament."

Jayawardene added: "[He is a] good all-round cricketer, there are about four-five young good players in this tournament that everyone is going to look out for and he is one of them."

ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-world-twenty20-2016/content/story/985807.html

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Jadeja"s beam from the deep

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India v Pakistan, Asia Cup, Mirpur February 27, 2016

Plays of the day from the Asia Cup match between India and Pakistan in Mirpur

Mohammad Amir was swinging the ball in, and the Indian batsmen out AFP

The out-of-control bat

India did not have to wait too long to remove Khurram Manzoor after he survived gloving Ashish Nehra to the wicketkeeper. In the sixth over, he was sold down the river by Shoaib Malik, who, after pushing the ball towards cover, took a few steps and suddenly said no. Manzoor, in his attempt to get back to the non-striker"s end, lost control of his bat and by the time Virat Kohli struck with the direct hit, Manzoor was trying to run back without the bat in his hand.

The beam from the deep

Ravindra Jadeja ran in from deep midwicket in the eighth over and with one swoop he collected the slowly-moving ball and rocketed it to MS Dhoni. The throw was so flat and accurate that the India captain just had to knock down the stumps. Shahid Afridi, who had made the mistake of trying for a second run against one of the quickest Indian fielders with his team in shambles already, was short by quite a distance despite the dive.

The late dip

Ajinkya Rahane, who replaced the injured opener Shikhar Dhawan, saw Rohit Sharma fall to a sharp Mohammad Amir inswinger. Rahane had a chance to get a boundary off the first ball he faced as it was a wide down the leg side. He may have rued missing that because the next one that came his way was another late-moving inswinger that trapped him right in front. He tried to play it on the leg side but Amir"s delivery did not swing so much that it would have alluded the umpire into thinking that it was going down leg. It moved just enough and late enough to give Pakistan a perfect start while defending just 83.

The last shot

Pakistan"s last shot at any chance to put India under more pressure was in Amir"s last over, only the seventh of the innings. But Kohli played out the over with efficiency. He struck him for two fours before keeping him at bay until the last ball, which was bowled at 141 kph. Kohli quietly played it towards point and India had averted their last threat.

The glove

Manzoor was on 10 when he tried to scoop Ashish Nehra. The ball took his glove on the way to Dhoni but the umpire Sharfuddoula did not agree with the long, vociferous and repeated appeals from the bowler. Replays revealed a thickish touch from Manzoor"s glove before it landed in the keeper"s gloves. Kohli expressed his anger but it wasn"t clear towards whom and later Dhoni spoke to Sharfuddoula though it wasn"t clear if he was talking about the touch of the glove or how he had taken the catch, or something else.

Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo"s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84

ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/asia-cup-2015-16/content/story/977043.html

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