He is still the greatest cricketer Bangladesh has ever produced, but he might never play for the country again, whether he wants to or not

Mohammad Isam06-Nov-2024Brendon McCullum miscues one and it’s caught at mid-on. The young bowler punches the air in celebration. On that crisp afternoon of October 18, 2008 in Chittagong (now Chattogram), McCullum becomes Shakib Al Hasan’s fourth wicket of the innings. He ends with 7 for 36, Bangladesh’s best bowling figures in Tests till Taijul Islam topped it with 8 for 39 in October 2014.That feat, Shakib’s, came four weeks after Bangladesh cricket’s biggest tryst with controversy till that point. It was the 21-year-old left-armer’s seventh Test. He was just breaking in, just a cricketer. No stardom. Simpler times.Exactly 16 years later, on October 18, 2024, everything is different. Shakib is Bangladesh’s greatest cricketer ever, but he is coming to the end of a stellar career. He is the country’s best-known face, the darling of brands. That’s the good part. There is also infamy.Related

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Shakib is now, by dint of an aborted political career, an accomplice to tyranny. An enemy of the people.

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When he was in Dubai in the third week of October, getting ready to travel to Dhaka, Bangladesh’s government officials told him not to board the flight as planned. He was expected to be part of the squad against South Africa, and to retire after playing his farewell Test, the first of two in that series. But protests against his participation made it unsafe for him to go back home.The protesters, from the student group Mirpur Chhatro Janata, camped outside the Shere Bangla National Stadium, chanting slogans, holding up posters, spray-painting the stadium walls with strong words against Shakib. It was a small bunch of students but they represented widespread outrage against Shakib, who is a member of the Awami League political party, which was overthrown following a students’/people’s protest in August. Shakib hasn’t returned to Bangladesh since.The world outside Bangladesh might find all this quite unfathomable. He is a cricketing hero, after all. Just keeping this to Test cricket, Shakib has had a glittering career.He was instrumental in their first overseas Test series win, in 2009. His century was vital in Bangladesh’s win in their 100th Test match. His ten-wicket haul got them their maiden Test victory against Australia. Remember the salute to Ben Stokes after dismissing him in Bangladesh’s epochal Test win over
England in 2016? Two months ago, Shakib’s spell on the final day in Rawalpindi proved crucial in their maiden Test win over Pakistan.

The cricket-loving Bangladeshi public took a dim view of his participation in the controversial general elections. He was greeted with boos in the BPL this year – a first for Shakib, for the public had always been on his side

However, the events of July and August are still fresh in the minds of those who lived through them. Shakib has always divided opinion, but usually over cricketing matters. His joining politics changed things. He is still their best cricketer. He isn’t their hero anymore.

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Shakib’s entry into politics surprised many, given how busy his cricket calendar has been, and the fact that he didn’t live in Bangladesh anymore, having moved to New York with his family since the pandemic. He only flies back to Bangladesh to play cricket and to shoot commercials for his many endorsements.But if you are a star in Bangladesh – and they don’t come much bigger than Shakib – it’s difficult to not get into politics, and particularly to not join the Awami League. A recent study showed that 67% of lawmakers in the country are businessmen, and 90% are millionaires. In the last two general elections, the Awami League brought luminaries from various fields under their umbrella, including actors, singers and sports personalities. Former Bangladesh captains Naimur Rahman and Mashrafe Mortaza were already part of Team Awami League.Cricket is important to politicians in Bangladesh, as it is in the neighbourhood in general. The government of the day handpicked the BCB’s bosses before Nazmul Hassan became the first elected board chief in 2013. That the BCB’s directors would unanimously vote for Nazmul was never in doubt, given his political background: his father, Zillur Rahman, was the country’s president when Nazmul was the interim board president before he was elected to the position officially. Nazmul’s mother, Ivy Rahman, herself a political heavyweight in Bangladesh in the late 1990s and early 2000s, died of injuries suffered in a grenade attack at a political rally in 2004, where the intended target was Sheikh Hasina, the Awami League chief, who was the country’s prime minister till August this year.Shakib Al Hasan at an election rally in Magura earlier this year•AFP via Getty ImagesNazmul ramped up the political influence in the BCB during his 11-year reign. There were ministers, a mayor, and Sheikh Hasina’s cousins among the board directors. Second-level appointees, in the sub-committees, also had political connections and clout. During home international matches, BCB hired Awami League cadres as “security volunteers”.

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Sheikh Hasina was more than involved. Nazmul told stories of how, once, the then prime minister abandoned her work files to spend time on the prayer mat when Tamim Iqbal was batting in the 90s. A young cricketer once spoke of how a mild scolding from Sheikh Hasina for bowling a couple of full tosses gave him sleepless nights. When Tamim retired in 2023, Hasina’s intervention forced him to reverse the decision within 24 hours. She was at matches in Mirpur often.Shakib was one of her favourite cricketers.He reportedly showed an interest in joining the party in 2018. Mashrafe got the Narail ticket that year but Shakib was in contention for it. Apparently Sheikh Hasina told Shakib to concentrate on his cricket at the time, with the promise that he would get a ticket to contest the 2024 general elections. She kept her promise. And Shakib won. From Magura. In an election widely reported to have been rigged in favour of the Awami League.When things turned bad for the party in July-August, Shakib automatically came in the line of the people’s fire.

Only ODIs remain on Shakib’s horizon, but now that he has opted out of the Afghanistan series, the likelihood of him finishing his international career at the 2025 Champions Trophy, as he wanted, looks faint too

The cricket-loving Bangladeshi public took a dim view of his participation in the controversial general elections. He was greeted with boos in the BPL this year. That was a first for Shakib. He has, in the past, shouted at umpires and even chased one with a bat once, but the public had always been on his side. Not anymore. Especially with Shakib not returning to Bangladesh and not issuing a statement at any stage during or immediately after the revolution in the country.On July 30, while playing a Global T20 Canada match in Brampton, Shakib was heckled by Bangladeshis in the crowd. He argued with a fan who had asked him about his silence on the unrest back home. Two weeks after the fall of the Awami League government, Shakib was among 147 people against whom charges had been filed in connection with an alleged murder in Dhaka. This happened when he was playing the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.

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In an interview to aired in June this year, Shakib said that when the BCB banned him for six months for “serious misbehaviour” with the head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe in 2014, he got a fair understanding of the Bangladeshi psyche. He said that being kept away from cricket tore him apart and the first few days of his suspension were the toughest. But he learnt later how to behave with certain individuals and convinced them to reduce the ban, he said.So what has he learnt this time?Shakib Al Hasan’s fans show their support for the cricketer outside the Shere Bangla Stadium•ESPNcricinfo LtdShakib hasn’t visited Bangladesh since May this year. He was with the national team until the T20 World Cup, before linking up with teams in MLC and the Global T20 Canada. He played Tests in Pakistan and India, and in between played a county game in Taunton. He announced his retirement from Test and T20I cricket during the Kanpur Test, where he said he wished to play his last Test in Dhaka, starting October 21.Not long after, in a Facebook post, Shakib apologised for his silence during the political protests. His fans felt that that he had done what was expected of him after the tragic deaths of students and others in the country, but his detractors thought it was mere lip service.Soon after, the protesting students were back on the streets, asking the BCB to remove Shakib from the Test team. On October 18, Hasan Murad took Shakib’s place in the squad. There is still no final word about Shakib, but it is looking increasingly likely that Kanpur was his last Test match. Only ODIs remain on his horizon but now that he has opted out of the Afghanistan series, the likelihood of him finishing his international career at the 2025 Champions Trophy, as he wanted, looks faint too.Why did a giant like Shakib have such a fall? Did he deserve what has come to him? Did he invite it?Shakib willingly added the roles of politician and businessman to his primary job of celebrated sportsperson. He has given Bangladeshis several reasons to be proud of when it comes to the game, but he might have failed in other areas – as a role model, a hero, to millions in their moment of crisis. The opinion of the people might change one day, but this will remain a big part of his legacy, which he can’t shed whether he likes it or not.

A long-time team-mate remembers growing up and playing with the offspin legend – who gave little indication he would be one

Abhinav Mukund20-Dec-2024I first met Ashwin when I was six and he nine, rocking up on his dad’s Hero Honda CD100. He was big for his age. We were under the tutelage of CS Umapathy, who was a disciplined man. When 6am practice started, for batters it would be all about one thing – judging length. Half-volley: drive. Good length: defence. Short: back foot. It was as monotonous as the wax-on-wax-off drill, but it was our morning routine every day.I didn’t pay much heed to Ash then. We were all just regular kids playing cricket because we loved it. The next time I saw him was at an Under-12 tournament in his school. He was injured and was, in fact, the scorer when I made my first-ever hundred in school cricket. It is a vivid memory because I celebrated once on 90-odd and then I heard applause about ten or so runs later. It was then I realised the scorer had messed up the numbers. My team-mates were relieved I’d completed my hundred and did not throw it away after the first celebration.Ashwin went to a school that was known to produce academically accomplished students. I thought at the time that he was done playing the sport because of his injury and was now focusing on his studies. Little did I know! Mostly I remember thinking, “Couldn’t he have scored properly?”Related

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We were in the same school in 2004-05. He was in Grade 11 and I in Grade 8. He was a much bigger boy then, who was just coming back from a serious injury. We opened the batting together. He was taller than most boys in that age group and was a very good player of short-pitched bowling, and the matting wickets helped his play. His cuts and pulls were so good. I thought to myself that maybe it was his dad’s fondness for Gundappa Viswanath showing up. Chennai dads have for long been united in their professed love for Vishy. “Play the cut like him!” Ashwin’s and my dad’s generation was no different. Still, I didn’t think Ashwin would go on to be a professional cricketer, because there was nothing extraordinary about his game.Back then he would hardly bowl due to his injury, just some part-time offspin, and we already had two good offspinners playing for our team.But we had a problem. St Bede’s, our school, was close to the beach, and it was extremely windy in the afternoon. The faster bowlers would struggle to control the swing in the first 15 overs and we would just leak extras because of it.So we came up with a temporary fix. Throw the ball to Ash, who would come in with his Harbhajan Singh bowling action, with six fielders on the off side – three behind square for the cut. Not a single ball would turn, but they would drift away at pace. It was impossible for schoolkids to get bat on, and if they did, they would find the cordon of three fielders near point. It was a great strategy for our school team: we found success with Ash at the top, and the other two offies would finish off the middle and death. But even so I thought, “How can an offie who doesn’t turn a single ball make it big?” There is a great bit in his book about this time.We graduated from school and met once again as opponents in league cricket. It was a young Alwarpet side he turned up for, led by D Vasu, another man who could bowl pace and spin. Ashwin got five in that game, but we were a rookie side. The ball was turning, though, and he had his own action by then. I started to take him a bit seriously as he was batting at No. 4 for this team and also churning out those five-fors.

I would be begging Ashwin to turn the temperature up and volume down, so I could sleep. “Please Ash, match ” Things would be quieter for a few minutes and then he would burst out laughing at a scene in the film, much to my annoyance

He was called up to the Ranji side towards the end of 2006 and led Tamil Nadu to a famous win over Baroda in a must-win game when we were fighting relegation. The TN team was going through a transition at that point, after several players went to the Indian Cricket League. They handed over captaincy to Ash for the MJ Gopalan Trophy game against Sri Lanka. He had just played four first-class games till then, and this match was one where five of us, myself included, were making our first-class debuts. We got hammered by a strong Sri Lankan side by an innings, but what stood out for me in that game was how Ashwin had matured into a thinking offspinner, one who wasn’t scared to innovate. Michael Vandort was an unusually tall opener – he would plant his front foot forward and block the good balls. For him, Ashwin placed me at an unconventional silly point/mid-off very close to the pitch, and Vandort ended up blocking one straight into my hands. It was the beginning of a fruitful partnership with Ashwin for me under the helmet.By 2008 we had become team-mates in club cricket, turning out for Vijay CC. The three years from 2008 through 2010 were some of the best we had as a club. Looking back, I was thankful I never had to face him anywhere other than in the nets – not then and not at other times in my career.We were room-mates as well, when playing for TN during that period. I remember once we were playing a semi-final in Nagpur against UP, and the night before the game, Ashwin pulled his diary out and had a long conversation with his mother about his plans for the next day. Once the clock struck eight, the TV went on, and he settled down to his favourite routine: watching the 8pm Tamil movie on TV. The AC would be on full blast, and between that and the loud noise of the TV, I would be begging Ashwin to turn the temperature up and volume down, so I could sleep. “Please Ash, match ” [There is a game tomorrow.] Things would be quieter for a few minutes and then he would burst out laughing at a scene in the film, much to my annoyance. He was always the good student who was over-prepared for a game and wanted to take it easy the day before the game by going through his movie routine.That actually got him in trouble quite a lot. He just wouldn’t show up for the optional practice sessions the day before the game. For a young cricketer, that kind of thing gets you questioned about your work ethic, and can be interpreted as slacking off. Ash wouldn’t budge despite all that. His only response would be: question me if I don’t perform in the game. This says so much about his stubbornness and will to perform. I don’t think any cricketer I have seen in the last decade was always on the “could be benched” list throughout his career like he was.Eventually when Ash became captain, he would turn up for optional practice sessions to help the other guys out but never for himself. And his brain was in overdrive throughout. You could never keep him quiet.During long bus rides when travelling for the Ranji Trophy, he was always a back bencher. He would put together a bunch of guys and play a ridiculous game called Mafia – a simple game of deduction, where he would be the moderator and watch the action unfold.I also remember during our early years in club cricket, sitting in the dressing room with him and he would bring a pen and a paper and we would do these mock auction picks and drafts for every IPL team, and plot how the sides would balance out.The boys in yellow: Ashwin, Srikkanth Anirudha, Mukund and Robin Uthappa (from left) in CSK yellow in 2012•Prashant Bhoot/SportzpicsThat restless intelligence means he never fails to surprise you every time you speak to him. For instance, I called him during the last IPL and he went on for 45 minutes about neural networks and AI and how it was making an impact in the shortest form of the game. He texted me just before the auction, sending me ESPNcricinfo’s Impact numbers list split for the two halves of the IPL season.His many interests have created multiple avatars. There is the cricketer who keeps his notes handy, the guy who runs a YouTube channel, the coach at his academy, and I am sure he keeps up to date on the latest movies while every now and then enjoying an old classic at 8pm. (I’m glad he didn’t take up cricket scoring, though!)About three months ago, Dinesh Karthik, Ashwin’s dad and I were chatting, watching the Test at Chepauk. India were 144 for 6 against Bangladesh when Ash walked in, and you could suddenly see some tension working its way across his face. DK and I said to his dad, “Uncle, this is your son’s day. If he hangs around, he is definitely going to score big.” And it wasn’t said lightly. Ash at Chepauk brings his A game, and he is at his best when batting on red-soil pitches, which suit his natural game of cut and pull. I thought to myself then of how the D Stand crowd of future generations might talk about the innings the way our dads used to talk about the great GRV’s 97 not out.I met him after that Test, in which he made his fastest Test hundred with his family watching from the stands. I ordered a cup of coffee and his wife ordered a coconut water for him. I teased him, saying, “Do you need the electrolytes, old man?” He just smirked before going back to asking his daughters about their day. They said the best part was how their dad looked up to them when he celebrated the hundred. You could tell that meant more to Ashwin than the century itself – that family time meant more to him than achievements on the field, which is why I know he has been thinking about retiring for months now, and it wasn’t a hasty decision. No journey to the top is easy but I know his life has been tougher than most, both physically and mentally. The many long days spent in hotel rooms alone with his thoughts will have influenced his decision to call time.I’ll say again that I never expected Ashwin to become what he is today. He wasn’t genetically gifted like an Usain Bolt or a Michael Phelps. He was just a middle-class boy who had the smarts to become a doctor or an accountant – or the engineer he eventually became. He had no business becoming an elite athlete and one of the best at that. It meant taking the road less travelled, using every inch of an advantage he could get, and trying to innovate and adapt all the time. I said this once on commentary: R Ashwin is like your latest smartphone; his software is always up to date.Speaking of phones, his ringtone for the longest time was a Tamil song that went “” Which loosely translates to: I am going ever upwards, the earth is under my feet. Quite apt now, looking back at his career. Ashwin is a flagbearer for millions of middle-class boys and girls in the country who aren’t hugely physically or technically gifted, telling them to make the most of what they have by working hard and smart; to follow their dreams and achieve greatness.We grew up idolising movie stars in Tamil Nadu and a common first-day ritual for any big movie there is a , borrowed from a religious ritual where a deity is bathed in milk. Only, in this case, it is a life-size cutout of the movie star that is bathed in milk. I am sure there is one waiting for Ash as he embarks now on a journey with CSK.

Stats highlights from the third day’s play between England and India in Edgbaston

Sampath Bandarupalli04-Jul-2025

Jamie Smith made the top score by an England wicketkeeper•ECB via Getty Images

184* – Jamie Smith’s score against India at Edgbaston is the highest by an England wicketkeeper in Test cricket, surpassing Alex Stewart’s 173 against New Zealand in Auckland in 1997.Smith’s unbeaten 184 is also the highest score for England from No. 7 or lower and the highest against India from those positions.He began his innings on the third morning and brought up his century before lunch, off just 80 balls – the joint-third-fastest hundred for England, and the fastest in Tests between England and India. The previous quickest was by Kapil Dev off 86 balls in Kanpur in 1982.303 – The partnership between Harry Brook (158) and Smith at Edgbaston – England’s second-highest for the sixth wicket . They are only the ninth pair with a 300-plus stand for the sixth wicket in Tests.6 – Number of batters out for a duck in England’s first innings at Edgbaston, the most for England in an innings. It’s the second time India have dismissed six batters for ducks in Test cricket.ESPNcricinfo Ltd407 – England’s total at Edgbaston is the lowest for an all-out innings that had a 300-plus partnership. The previous lowest was 431 by West Indies against Australia in Kingston in 1999.England’s score is also the lowest for an innings with two batters making 150-plus scores. The previous lowest was 414 by West Indies against England in Georgetown in 1968.On the other hand, their total is the highest among the nine innings containing six ducks. Only once has a team scored more than 400 despite five (or more) ducks – 429 by South Africa against Bangladesh in 2008.ESPNcricinfo Ltd10 – Wickets taken by India’s new-ball bowlers Akash Deep (4 for 88) and Mohammed Siraj (6 for 70) – only the fourth time an Indian new-ball pair has achieved this feat. All of the previous three instances involved Kapil Dev, and the last of those came when he took nine out of ten wickets against West Indies in Ahmedabad in 1983.3 – Number of 300-plus partnerships involving Brook in Tests – the first England batter to achieve that. Joe Root was Brook’s partner in his previous two triple-century partnerships.40 – Innings that Yashasvi Jaiswal took to complete 2000 Test runs. He’s the joint-fastest to reach the milestone for India, level with Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag.

Small errors, non-traditional dismissals, another collapse, and India had lost another opportunity to make losing this Test improbable

Sidharth Monga12-Jul-20251:30

Manjrekar: ‘The grind’ a great facet of Jadeja’s batting evolution

For a moment if you forget the last session of the day is always longer, at drinks in the middle session of the Saturday of Lord’s we reached the halfway point of the series. Two Tests, two days and 1.5 sessions in, India had scored 2139 runs and lost 41 wickets, making it an average of 52.17 and scoring rate of 4.17 per over. They had conceded 1903 runs and taken 45 wickets at 42.29 apiece and 4.21 per over. They had kept England in the field for 513 overs and had themselves bowled just 452.5This kind of superiority is usually enough to win Test series. And it can be argued India ought to have been even more superior on these numbers because India had been better on control numbers. India’s bowlers had drawn false shots to 17.76% of the deliveries they had bowled as against England’s 12.45%.Account for regulation amounts of luck going England’s way, but you would still expect India to be ahead of England at the halfway point of the series. Instead, the series scoreline read 1-1, and the first innings of this Test was England 387 all out vs India 290 for 5. Somehow India had contrived to be only just level, playing catch-up really considering they had to bat last on what started as an aged pitch during what is among the hottest Tests played at Lord’s.Related

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The latest slip-up came after India had vowed not to gift wickets in the aftermath of the Headingley defeat where they endured collapses of 7 for 41 and 6 for 31 to bowling that didn’t call for them. They showed the corrections at Edgbaston, kept England in the field for 234 overs and levelled the series.At Lord’s, India batted with similar resolve, got into positions of strength through a 141-run partnership between KL Rahul and the injured Rishabh Pant, but found a new skittish way to let England back in.Rahul, having never scored two centuries in a series, started the last over before lunch on 97, got a short and wide ball, but cut it straight to the sweeper. Just for perspective – and not to suggest it was bothering Rahul – Kumar Sangakkara on air had just finished saying how he hated going into breaks just short of a milestone. He said he would have been looking for a boundary.Rahul’s non-striker, Pant, was more disappointed. He seemed more invested in Rahul’s century. He could be heard on stump mic: “It was a bad ball, deserved four.” Rahul said he did go for it, but found the fielder. The unspoken was spoken now. The two now had the milestone on their mind. Pant looked to manipulate a single off the next two balls, and on the second, the two just looked up at each other and set off.They had survived a whole session of the best England had to throw at them including a bouncer barrage, Rahul serenely, Pant slightly more entertainingly despite having to look after his injured digit. And then a three-way nightmare came together: a milestone jeopardy, a quick single and the Ben Stokes juju. It was such a poorly judged single that Stokes had a choice of ends to go for.Chris Woakes had Ravindra Jadeja caught down the leg side•Getty ImagesIndia had once again found a newer non-traditional way to lose a Test wicket to a Stokes-led piece. They have been doing this since Hyderabad at the start of the home series in 2023-24.Imagine playing the superior cricket through the series, and struggling to avoid trailing in the series halfway into it. When Ravindra Jadeja was joined by Nitish Kumar Reddy, India were 133 behind.Jadeja is just the man you want to see at such a time. Please don’t do a double take. He is the most old-school batter in the Indian line-up. So old-school he hasn’t changed his technique to allow for DRS. He still defends spin with bat beside the pad. He just reacts to what is bowled at him.And still for about the next half hour, India didn’t enjoy the calm Jadeja should bring to the middle. Borne mostly out of Jadeja’s propensity to take two or three steps down the pitch every time his bat touches the ball, it was another spell of skittish and frantic play that could have got India into trouble.Desperately due some luck, India miraculously avoided any run out. Not every lesson has to be as harsh as the Headingley one. Jadeja’s serenity took over. He was only the fourth batter in the Test to be in control of 100 balls or more. At a control rate of 91%, this innings was as good as any played in the match. Coming at the stage that it did, it sent a message if it needed repeating: if you are good enough, in these conditions you can thrive even if you take just what is offered.And then, with ascendency in sight, the juju struck again. There had been a period of wide and dry bowling from England, understandably so, the new ball had been seen off, and just when India might have started to think of forcing the issue, Jadeja tickled one down the leg side. Another non-traditional dismissal, another collapse, and India had lost another opportunity to make losing this Test improbable.At the end of the day’s play, India averaged 48.6 with the bat at 3.97 per over, England 42.33 and 4.19 per over. And yet, England were two ahead with all their second-innings wickets in hand in the third Test and the series 1-1. With temperatures rising both in the air and on the pitch, India will be counting the costs of their small errors here and there.

He is the youngest to score a T20I century for South Africa, and also made the highest T20I score against Australia

Namooh Shah12-Aug-2025

Dewald Brevis’ 41-ball century was the second-fastest by a South African in T20Is•AFP/Getty Images

218 for 7 – South Africa’s total in the second T20I against Australia in Darwin is their highest against Australia, going past 204 for 7 in Johannesburg in 2016.125* – Dewald Brevis’ score in Darwin is the highest for South Africa in T20Is, bettering Faf du Plessis’ 119 against West Indies in Johannesburg in 2015.Brevis’ performance is also the highest in a T20I in Australia; the previous best was Shane Watson’s 124 against India in Sydney in 2016.22y 105d – Brevis’ age, making him the youngest South African to score a century in T20Is. Richard Levi was 24 years and 36 days old when he scored a hundred against New Zealand in 2012.Dewald Brevis has the highest score by a South Africa batter in T20Is•ESPNcricinfo Ltd41 – Number of balls Brevis took to reach his hundred, the second fastest for South Africa in T20Is. David Miller scored a 35-ball hundred against Bangladesh in 2017.Brevis is the first batter to score a T20I hundred against Australia in Australia. He also has the highest T20I score against Australia, a record previously held by Ruturaj Gaikwad.161 – Runs added by South Africa after the fall of the third wicket, the most they have added in a T20I. Brevis and Tristan Stubbs added 126 runs for the fourth wicket against Australia in Darwin, with Brevis scoring 91 of those runs.1 for 56 – Josh Hazlewood’s figures in the second T20I against South Africa; his most expensive in T20Is.

While Jitesh Sharma and Shubman Gill seem set to take over from Samson, the choice at No. 8 seems a lot less clear-cut

Shashank Kishore08-Sep-20252:54

Morkel: ‘Kuldeep knows how to get himself ready for T20 cricket’

Dubai presents teams with a unique challenge, in that no one is always certain of what the surface will throw up.The main venue has been off-limits for training sessions, so India have had to train at the nearby ICC Academy to acclimatise in the energy-sapping heat. On Monday, after completing a two-hour nets session, they made a quick hop over to the Dubai International Stadium to get a feel of the conditions for the first time. And to hit the ground running, they had their fielding session there, just to be able to get used to the outfield and the stadium’s trademark ring-of-fire floodlights, and to have a look at the pitch, which bowling coach Morne Morkel had heard “had a greenish tinge”.This unique prospect of not training at the ground they will play at has led India to explore all possibilities as far as their combination goes ahead of their Asia Cup opener against UAE on Wednesday. Morkel wasn’t going to spell out the plans, of course, but the training session threw up a few hints.Related

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First up, it seems somewhat clear that Jitesh Sharma is winning the race to be India’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter. And that means vice-captain Shubman Gill, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Monday, and who last played a T20I in July 2024, is set to slot back in at the top of the order alongside Abhishek Sharma.Sanju Samson, whose roles Jitesh and Gill appear set to take over, auditioned for a middle-order role during a short stint in the Kerala Cricket League (KCL), perhaps to show he can fit in wherever the team needs him to. But he was largely a bystander during Monday’s session. Across three stints since India started training on September 5, he probably donned the keeping gloves for all of five minutes, and mostly batted towards the end of each session.The other slot India are pondering is the No. 8. Do they strengthen their batting by playing an allrounder like Shivam Dube, who has bowled a fair bit in the nets, or do they get Arshdeep Singh or Harshit Rana to partner Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball and have Hardik Pandya as their third seamer? Over the course of the past few days, the work the team management has put into their sixth-bowler options, including Abhishek, has been noticeable.

“In terms of planning at the moment, we will be covering all bases and then we’ll make a decision obviously on match day”Morne Morkel

“I’m always pushing for allrounders to work hard on both skills,” Morkel said. “Sometimes guys can get a little bit naughty and practice or focus just on one skill. But here, in this environment, we want to leave no stone unturned.”On the day, we’re going to need somebody to do the work for us and conditions might favour him [Dube] more than somebody else. So, for us, it’s about being professional. It’s about taking that responsibility of putting quality work in there.”The more guys that can give the captain options, that is obviously a great position to have. Yes, we will have our frontline guys that we can attack [with]. But if we can keep on developing guys, part-time guys to do a job, it gives us so many more options in terms of combinations for selection.”With the No. 8 slot up for debate, Harshit Rana (R) is a candidate to partner Hardik Pandya (L) and Jasprit Bumrah in the seam attack•AFP/Getty ImagesDuring the Champions Trophy in March, when they played all their matches in Dubai, India weren’t averse to playing four spinners, with Mohammed Shami as the lone specialist seamer and Hardik as the all-round option. This allowed India to play both Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav in their XI. That was in ODIs, of course, where India had a failsafe in Ravindra Jadeja at No. 8. Jadeja is retired from T20Is, leaving India with no such luxuries.”I think when the Champions Trophy was played at that time, there was a lot of cricket on the surfaces here and they looked a little bit tired,” Morkel said. “Tonight [Monday] we will have a first look at the surface. And I believe there’s quite a bit of a grass covering on the square.”So we’ll have a good idea going into the first game in terms of what is sort of a better way to go. But in terms of planning at the moment, we will be covering all bases and then we’ll make a decision obviously on match day.”Given the heat factor, the team will likely have an optional session on Tuesday. India will have the chance to train once more after the UAE game, in the lead-up to their match against Pakistan on September 14.

Here’s how former cricketers reacted to India’s miraculous victory against Australia in the semi-final

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2025

Fabulous victory!

Well done @JemiRodrigues and @ImHarmanpreet for leading from the front. Shree Charani and @Deepti_Sharma06, you kept the game alive with the ball.

Keep the tricolour flying high. pic.twitter.com/cUfEPwcQXn

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 30, 2025