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Afghanistan have the habit of fluffing lines at important moments, and with the batting something of a weakness, Scotland will hope to strike early and put them under pressure

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy in Nagpur07-Mar-2016

Match facts

March 8, 2016
Start time 1500 local (0930 GMT)With bowlers like Dawlat Zadran, Afghanistan have the edge in terms of genuine pace•Chris Whiteoak

Big Picture

Since the start of 2015, Afghanistan have played 16 Twenty20 Internationals. They have won 13 of them and have the best win-loss ratio of team in the world since then.There is, of course, an asterisk next to those numbers. Afghanistan’s opponents in those 16 matches were Netherlands, United Arab Emirates (twice), Scotland, Hong Kong (three times), Papua New Guinea, Oman (four times) and Zimbabwe (four times). None of those teams features in the top ten of the ICC T20I rankings.That Afghanistan haven’t had a chance to play any of the top sides is mostly down to the way the cricket calendar is structured, and partly down to their own habit of fluffing their lines at important moments. Having begun the qualifying stage of the Asia Cup as overwhelming favourites, they promptly lost to UAE, and lost the opportunity to test themselves against India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It was reminiscent of the first round of the 2014 World T20, where defeat to Nepal ended their chances of clashing against the big boys.There should, therefore, be no complacency when Afghanistan prepare to meet Scotland, despite holding an 11-3 edge against them in their ODI and T20I meetings.It took an epic escape act, engineered by Samiullah Shenwari, for Afghanistan to sneak a win when the two sides last met in a tournament of this stature, in Dunedin during the 2015 World Cup.Scotland will start as underdogs for two reasons – the head-to-head record and the conditions. They have only won six of their 25 matches in Asia, and their seam-heavy bowling attack is unlikely to get too much help from the Nagpur pitch, which is likely to be a typically flat, subcontinental limited-overs surface rather than the minefield that hosted the India-South Africa Test in November.Afghanistan have the edge, both in terms of genuine pace, with an attack comprising Dawlat Zadran, and the recently recalled new-ball duo of Shapoor Zadran and Hamid Hassan, as well as spin, with options in Amir Hamza’s left-arm darts and Rashid Khan’s low-slung legbreaks.Afghanistan’s batting, however, remains something of a weakness, with their line-up often unable to recover from early setbacks. Scotland’s best chance, therefore, is to strike with the new ball and put the middle order under pressure.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Afghanistan WWLWW
Scotland WLWLW

In the spotlight

Majid Haq is not a part of Scotland’s squad and hasn’t been since being sent back from the 2015 World Cup for disciplinary reasons. In the absence of their leading wicket-taker in international cricket, and in conditions where spin is likely to play a crucial role, 19-year-old Mark Watt will need to make an impact with his left-arm orthodox spin.Gulbadin Naib is that rare T20 batsman who hits with immense power but hits down the ground. His talent often goes underutilised, with Afghanistan tending to send him in at No. 6 or 7. However, of late, they have toyed with batting him up the order. He made a blistering half-century the last time he batted at No. 3, only to be demoted to the lower middle order again. There is a chance, though, that Afghanistan will have a rethink come World T20: Naib batted at No. 3 in their warm-up match against Netherlands, and struck 23 off 14 balls before he was run out.

Team news

Hamid Hassan is back in Afghanistan’s squad for the first time since July 2015, and bowled his full quota of four overs against Netherlands. Whether they play both Hamid and Shapoor Zadran, who has also returned after a long spell out of the side, could depend on the pitch, with left-arm spinner Amir Hamza likely to take one of their places if turn is expected.Afghanistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 2 Noor Ali Zadran, 3 Asghar Stanikzai (capt), 4 Karim Sadiq, 5 Najibullah Zadran, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Gulbadin Naib, 8 Dawlat Zadran, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Hamid Hassan, 11 Shapoor Zadran/Amir HamzaScotland have a fairly settled line-up, and the composition of their bowling attack could depend on conditions, with the No. 7 slot looking like a toss-up between Rob Taylor’s left-arm seam and Michael Leask’s offspin.Scotland (probable): 1 Kyle Coetzer, 2 Calum MacLeod, 3 Matthew Cross (wk), 4 Matt Machan, 5 Richie Berrington, 6 Preston Mommsen (capt), 7 Michael Leask/Rob Taylor, 8 Josh Davey, 9 Safyaan Sharif, 10 Mark Watt, 11 Alasdair Evans.

Pitch and conditions

The strip laid out for the India-South Africa Test in November earned the VCA Stadium an official warning from the ICC. It’s unlikely that the surfaces hosting the World T20 games will provide the spinners remotely as much assistance. ODI totals at the ground are a more reliable indicator of what to expect – in 14 innings, teams have crossed 290 ten times.

Stats and trivia

• Mohammad Shahzad (1145 runs in T20Is) has scored more than twice as many runs as Afghanistan’s second-highest T20I run-getter, Asghar Stanikzai (552).
• Afghanistan have a 5-0 record against Scotland in T20Is.

Round-up of the Group C Ranji Trophy matches on December 1, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2015
ScorecardRobin Bist was one of the 11 batsmen to fall to a left-arm spinner in Malappuram•PTI

Malappuram gave tough competition to Dindigul by seeing the fall of 20 wickets, which ended with Himachal Pradesh taking a 60-run lead against Kerala, thanks to six wickets from left-arm spinner Rahul Singh. That dented the hosts’ chances of topping the Group C table, as they are placed second right now, behind Saurashtra, and HP are fourth.Opting to bat, Kerala started losing wickets from the fifth over as Rishi Dhawan dismissed their top three batsmen for 32 runs. Sanju Samson (25) resisted by surviving for nearly two hours but wickets fell around him as Rahul ran through the middle and lower order, that included two wickets in the 20th over and two off consecutive deliveries in the 34th over. Kerala lost seven wickets for 29 runs before K Monish’s unbeaten 16 off 40 balls helped them cross 100 and they were bowled out for 103. Rahul finished with 6 for 19, his second five-for in first-class cricket, and Dhawan ended with 3 for 24.HP took a lead with rather ease, being 123 for 3 at one point as opener Prashant Chopra led the way with 40 runs. But Monish’s left-arm spin dismissed the openers and HP started losing wickets in a heap after they crossed 150. Monish and Akshay Chandran, also a left-arm spinner, hurt the visitors’ middle order before offspinner Fabid Ahmed took the last two wickets to end with 3 for 12 from 4.5 overs, and Monish ended with 3 for 60 to end the innings on 163. HP lost their last six wickets for 12 runs.
ScorecardJharkhand looked set to take first-innings lead by bowling out Hyderabad for 145 on the first day at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Three wickets each from Jaskaran Singh, Kaushal Singh and Shahbaz Nadeem helped Jharkhand in taking the last six wickets for 30 runs, and they finished the day on 31 for 1, trailing by 114 runs.Put in to bat, Hyderabad saw their top three batsmen getting starts before Jharkhand’s pacers struck. Bavanaka Sandeep (39) and Himalay Agarwal (20) forged a stand of 31 runs to take the score past 100 for the loss of four wickets only to see a lower-order collapse. Once Himalay was dismissed by Kaushal, Hyderabad saw their last five batsmen score only 13 runs together to squander the start they had.Jharkhand lost Sumit Kumar for 13 in the 11 overs they faced, and Shiv Gautam and Anand Singh were unbeaten on 14 and 4 respectively. Earlier, Jharkhand medium-pacer Rahul Shukla injured himself while bowling the 44th over and his over was completed by Jaskaran. Shukla came back later on to bowl.
ScorecardTable-toppers of Group C, Saurashtra, got into the lead with eight wickets in hand after bowling out Jammu & Kashmir for 138 in Jammu. Medium-pacer Saurya Sanandiya’s five wickets were responsible for rocking J&K’s top order as they survived less than 50 overs before Saurashtra ended the day on a comfortable 150 for 2.Once J&K were put in to bat, they lost their top three wickets to Sanandiya in the first 12 overs. The next three batsmen – Ian Dev Singh (29), Parvez Rassool (21) and Aamir Aziz (32) – helped the team but they lost three quick wickets to be reduced to 66 for 6. Aziz led them past 100 but they were soon bowled out because of regular fall of wickets. Sanandiya finished with 5 for 53, his first five-for in first-class cricket, and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Kamlesh Makvana took two each.Saurashtra got a strong start with an opening stand of 84 between Abi Barot (36) and Sagar Jogiyani (41). Both fell within the space of six runs before Arpit Vasavada (31*) and Sheldon Jackson (35*) steered them with an unbroken stand of 60 runs.
ScorecardRajat Paliwal’s fourth century of the season – 147* – steered Services to a respectable 282 for 5 against Tripura in Agartala. Medium-pacer Rana Dutta put Services in a spot of bother at 33 for 3 before Paliwal’s hundred helped the visitors build partnerships to lead them to a comfortable position.Dutta first broke the opening stand, after Services were asked to bat, and then struck twice in the 14th over with the wickets of Anshul Gupta and Amit Pachhara. That brought together Vikas Hathwala (38) and Paliwal who put on 72 runs to stall the fall of wickets. Hathwala was also removed by Dutta, on the score of 105, and Paliwal then stitched a useful stand of 53 runs with YashPal Singh (18). Paliwal brought up his 12th first-class hundred as Yashpal fell too, and Paliwal and Devender Lochab took them towards 300 with an unborken partnership of 124 runs before bad light cut the day short by 14 overs. Paliwal struck 19 fours and three sixes during the day, and Dutta took 4 for 53.

Karnataka, who only took one point from their opening game, look to jump-start their season against a Bengal side desperate to shake off a winless 2014-15

Vishal Dikshit in Bangalore07-Oct-2015The moods of the two sides that will clash at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium starting Thursday were reflected in their respective captains’ demeanor when they arrived for the pre-match press conferences. Bengal’s Manoj Tiwary seemed tentative when he walked in, wishing the reporters “good afternoon”, getting no response, and speaking softly even in the absence of a microphone. Karnataka’s Vinay Kumar strutted in confidently, in flip-flops, like the leader of a side that has been winning domestic tournaments one after another. Well, they have been.After a winless 2014-15 season, Bengal start this year’s campaign against the defending champions. With a home record of three wins and two draws last season, Karnataka will be hungry to roar back after a disappointing opening match away from home against recently-promoted Assam. Even though Karnataka conceded the first-innings lead in the drawn match, Vinay said he wasn’t worried, and was looking forward rather than backwards.”Sometimes it happens, we need to come back strongly,” he said. “Many teams may give up after scoring 180 and they concede 250-300, but we fought really well. It happens but I won’t think much about that game. We need to forget about it and move forward. Last year also it happened, we conceded first-innings lead twice.”Bengal have their own battles to fight – they were nearly relegated last season, wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha was injured until recently, there were pre-season controversies during a preparatory tour of Sri Lanka, and some captaincy friction before Tiwary took the mantle. Tiwary will be challenged to get the best out of his individual players as well as make the team click as a unit. Only one Bengal bowler – Ashok Dinda – took more than 15 wickets last season, and no regular bowler averaged under 30. The batsmen will have better numbers to fall back on – three of them accumulated over 400 runs each and four averaged over 40 last time – but Tiwary said bringing out a collective batting performance would be his biggest task.”For us, it’s always the batting unit that is a bigger concern,” Tiwary said. “Our bowling department has done really well over the last couple of years, we have world-class bowlers. It’s just that as a batting unit we have not clicked together which normally leads to our downfall. Having said that, this season has been very different. VVS Laxman, as batting consultant, has helped to work on the basics of our batsmen. He’s been spending a lot of time with them, lots of videos he has done with the players. I’m very sure the difference will be seen here.”Bengal will be relieved they have a fully fit squad now, including Saha, and apart from Laxman’s services, Tiwary said the presence of other former players also gave the side a confidence-booster ahead of the season.”We have worked on our work ethic, we have put in more time than usual,” he said. “With the arrival of Sairaj [Bahutule as head coach], it’s helping a lot. In the fielding department we’ve got Joydeep Mukherjee and in the bowling department we have got Ranadeb Bose so all that experience is coming handy for all of us.”[Bahutule] has also brought in the culture of Mumbai as they have won many trophies so he knows what are the things to be done to cross that hurdle. We, as a team, did great in patches. Last year was not very good for us but before that we reached semi-finals. We were not able to work on our game to cross the line. He knows the areas we need to work on, reach the finals and be the champions.”Karnataka, unlike their opponents, are still carrying an injury. KL Rahul is recovering from his quadriceps injury and is likely to take another week before playing his next match. But Vinay said their batting had enough quality to cope, and in conjunction with a potent bowling attack, the side had enough strengths to focus on without dwelling on Bengal’s weaknesses.”We have a very good bowling side, one of the best in India,” Vinay said. “In batting also we have Karun Nair, Manish Pandey, and some of them have this year played for India. Robin [Uthappa] and KL are there, Samarth got a hundred in the last game.”Apart form those familiar names, Vinay Kumar also spoke highly of their new prospect, the left-arm spinner J Suchith – already known to IPL fans – who made his first-class debut against Bangladesh A last month with figures of 6 for 60 in the second innings.”He bowled really well,” Vinay Kumar said. “He’s a good prospect as he can bat, bowl and he’s a very good fielder. He’s an overall package actually and we can definitely expect performances from him that can help us win the games.”

Pakistan Cricket Board doctors have said Saeed Ajmal is “fully fit” and not suffering from a hernia, as initially feared

Umar Farooq03-Apr-2013Pakistan Cricket Board doctors have said Saeed Ajmal is “fully fit” and not suffering from a hernia, as initially feared. Ajmal had been suffering from pain in his lower abdomen, suspecting he had a hernia, but a recent assessment by the PCB’s panel of doctors have cleared him. The panel had suggested he meet with a sports hernia specialist in either England or Australia to get further clarification.”As far as his hernia is concerned, doctors have ruled out this possibility after consulting his reports,” a PCB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. “He is resting at the moment and is fully fit to play any upcoming series.”Ajmal, 35, has been suffering from mild pain in his lower abdomen for the last two months and was suspected to have sustained a hernia. After the South Africa tour, he was unavailable for almost the entirety of the Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup. He featured in the final against Sialkot Stallions, after doctors had cleared him to play.Pakistan’s next major assignment is the ICC Champions Trophy in England in June, with a few ODIs scheduled prior in Scotland and Ireland. Ajmal however, in any case, is available for selection.The PCB’s doctors have been criticised for their handling of player fitness and injury issues. Last year, before the India tour, Harris Sohail twisted his ankle during a training camp at Gaddafi Stadium, but after an initial assessment, was cleared to travel with the team. He returned without playing any match on the India tour, but was retained for the South Africa Test series, where he redeveloped a strain in his ankle, and was subsequently sent home without playing.

Virender Sehwag has clarified he needed rest due to back spasms and dismissed doubts over the reasons behind his exclusion from the Asia Cup squad

Nagraj Gollapudi01-Mar-2012Virender Sehwag has dispelled speculation over him being “rested” for the Asia Cup, saying he had explained his medical condition to the chairman of the selectors Kris Srikkanth ahead of the selection meeting to pick the squad for the tournament.”I have back spasms. I need some rest. I have never kept my team management in the dark as far as fitness is concerned,” Sehwag told , after his name did not feature in the 15-member squad announced on Tuesday.Srikkanth had said Sehwag was rested based on the fitness report and recommendation of the Indian team’s physiotherapist. The word ‘rested’ was interpreted by many as a euphemism for being dropped, given Sehwag had failed during the Test series in Australia and managed only 65 runs in five matches during the CB Series.But Srikkanth strongly denied the rumours and even lost this cool during the media briefing . Sehwag, too, made it clear that his injury was genuine. “My injury is open for everyone to see. I have never hidden my injury before, or fitness problems. Even my shoulder operation was planned after consulting the then coach Gary Kirsten and skipper MS Dhoni,” Sehwag said.A BCCI official said it was incorrect to blame on selectors for copping out over the ‘resting’ of Sehwag. He pointed out that Srikkanth’s panel had, in the past, taken bold decisions like dropping Yuvraj Singh during the home Test series against Australia, months before the World Cup, and leaving Harbhajan Singh out after his loss of form during the tour of England last year.”The media and critics said the selectors did not have the guts to say he [Sehwag] is dropped. I don’t think that is true,” the official explained. “If they wanted to unconditionally drop him, the selectors would have done that. They had dropped Yuvraj Singh four months before the World Cup. Then they dropped Harbhajan Singh after the England tour last year. They could have easily done so with Sehwag, too, now in case they wanted to.”The decision to rest Sehwag, the board official pointed out, was taken keeping in mind the long-term repercussions of playing with an injury. “Sehwag was suffering from spasms, had shoulder pains and was also was having migraine. There was no option but to give him a break.”When asked if Sehwag’s concerns about his fitness would be undermined should he play the CB series finals in the event of India’s qualification, the official didn’t think so. “If at all he goes ahead and plays the final and smacks a hundred it does not mean his body and mind does not need a break,” the official said. According to him, a majority of elite cricketers are “literally stitched up together” to be fit to play, and the physio has worked hard to keep Sehwag fit on the tour of Australia.

South Africa’s batsmen, led by a typically sublime Jacques Kallis, got in a good day of batting practice ahead of the Test series, on the second and final day of the tour game in Nagpur

Cricinfo staff03-Feb-2010
Scorecard
With the prospects of a result out of the picture, the South African batsmen ensured that they got their eye in, leading up to sterner tests in the Test series•Associated Press

They may have got just two days of warm-up cricket, but the South Africans made the most of it in Nagpur. All their major batsmen got a decent hit, and none of them looked in obvious discomfort in adjusting to the conditions. Jacques Kallis got his tour off to a rollicking start, scoring a fifty in about 40 minutes and drawing the few spectators into generous applause as he walked off, unbeaten, to give the rest of the batsmen a look-in.Kallis acknowledged the cheers with a semi-raise of the bat, but there were no half measures in his batting. Before him, Ashwell Prince, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla took time to settle in. Prince and Amla started off in extremely cautious fashion. Defence, defence, defence first and attack later seemed to be the order of the day, and all three got good scores by going through the routine. Prince looked the least comfortable of the lot, but was never in trouble.Kallis had none of the inhibitions that the top three had, in opening up against a friendly bowling attack. The best quality of his batting – judging the length earlier than most other batsmen do – was on ample display. It was as if he read the length from the bowlers’ minds. When the spinners, R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla, bowled full, he danced down the track and went either straight down the ground or inside out. He didn’t mind the slog-sweep either. The quicker men – Abhimanyu Mithun, R Vinay Kumar, Manpreet Gony and Umesh Yadav – didn’t escape the square-drive, the cut, and the pull. He came in to bat minutes before lunch, and 34 minutes after the interval he had brought up his fifty with a lovely straight lofted six, his third, off Chawla. The next ball he cut away for four, bringing up 50 runs in boundaries alone.Thereafter Kallis tried to change the length and manufacture strokes by walking down the track to fast bowlers, but was beaten on a couple of occasions, attempting pull shots. Satisfied with his day’s work, he walked off, letting his team-mates have their only hit in the middle before the Test that begins on Saturday.Amla, who indulged in his favourite flicks, cover-drives and square-cuts, after a circumspect start, was the next man to retire not out. By then, though, he had overtaken Kallis’ score, and the South Africans had reached 236 for 2. That brought AB de Villiers and JP Duminy to the middle when the spinners were on. It was ideal practice for them as most of the times during the Test series, they will be expected to walk in with spinners in operation. By the same token, the top order got a hit against the quick men, followed by some spin.Chawla, who had missed most of the first session because of fever, and had then been on the wrong side of Kallis, came back well to dismiss de Villiers and Duminy on either side of tea, after they had both looked solid in scoring 27 and 39 respectively. Chawla went on to dismiss Johan Botha and Wayne Parnell in quick succession before Dale Steyn provided further entertainment to the 50-odd people at the ground, who had originally come to see local boy Yadav bowl.Steyn tucked into Ashwin’s innocuous offspin, hitting four sixes, three of them in one over. Going for the fifth, he was caught at long-on by Vinay, and a satisfied Smith chose to declare the innings closed at eight down. Steyn proceeded to hug Vinay and Manish Pandey, both his Royal Challengers Bangalore team-mates, and the South Africans thanked their opponents for a good practice match. Parthiv Patel hung around with Mark Boucher, gleaning some wicketkeeping tips. It was followed by a loud and raucous football match among the South Africans. Their faces were of men who were content with having made as much use as possible of a short warm-up match leading into a tough Test series.