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A dry pitch – especially so in the good and full length areas – is set to be rolled out in Mohali for the third Test of the series, which India lead 1-0. The expectation is that it would be spin-friendly, like it was against South Africa last year.There was a time when fast bowlers would look forward to matches at the PCA stadium. There was a time when it was the fastest and bounciest track in the country. India’s current coach Anil Kumble was part of a few of them. He was one of Dion Nash’s six victims in 1999, when New Zealand bundled India for 83. Javagal Srinath returned the kindness with 6 for 45 in a drawn game.

Kumble on

Kohli ball-tampering allegations: As far as I am concerned, neither the umpires nor match referee never ever came to us talking about it. Even for someone like Faf du Plessis, South Africa has played exceptional cricket to beat Australia 2-0 and to be told that this ball tampering or whatever, I think it is very silly. It’s making a mountain out of a molehill.
On picking Parthiv: Parthiv has been really consistent, both in his keeping as well as batting. Yes, Rishabh [Pant] has certainly shown the exuberance and what a young cricketer can bring in. He has shown a lot of his batting skills. He has obviously got a lot of runs this season in the domestic circuit. But Parthiv was chosen for his keeping skills and his experience. Regarding Dinesh [Karthik], at the moment I don’t think Dinesh is keeping wickets for Tamil Nadu, and I am not sure why that is the case.

Courtney Walsh and Kenny Benjamin decimated India here in 1994. The report read: “Only [Navjot Singh] Sidhu was out, but [Manoj] Prabhakar was led off after one over, his nose broken by a ball from Walsh that burst through his helmet grille. That made the Indian batsmen uneasy, especially on a pitch which continued to play true; it retained some bounce to the end and the ball moved in the morning”Those days, however, are firmly in the past. The last Test played in Mohali was on a pitch that spun from day one, while in the most recent first-class match, Delhi piled on 495 in their first innings in a drawn game against Odisha..”It has certainly gone a lot slower to what it probably used to be in the 90’s,” Kumble said. “But having said that, I am someone who certainly does not give too much importance to the conditions. We need to play good cricket. I certainly believe that we played good cricket, both in Rajkot and in Vizag. That’s why we are 1-0 ahead in the series. We will have to do that again, repeat that again in Mohali, no matter what the conditions are. Like I have said over the years, I think it has certainly gone slightly slower, not necessarily the way it used to be in the early 90s.”The cooler climate would be a welcome relief for the bowlers though and there may be some sideways movement in the first half hour, but when there is so little grass on the surface, “you can’t expect it to do too much for the seamers,” said England’s Chris Woakes.As such, both sides may be tempted to continue with three spinners. India certainly had great success with Jayant Yadav, who Kumble felt had a “dream debut” in Visakhapatnam. “As a youngster coming into this team, he showed a lot of character, a lot of maturity although he was playing his first match, in the way handled batting with the lower order.”Even in the second innings, batting with Shami and getting those 30-40 runs right at the end showed a lot of maturity. The way he bowled was quite impressive. It really augurs well for Indian cricket that someone who has just come into the team has really shown that kind of a approach.”Kumble was also “very impressed” with the way India’s bowlers have handled their workloads without compromising on their disciplines. “It was not easy because they bowled close to 240 overs in Rajkot and within three days, in the last Test match, the bowlers bowled almost 200 overs,” he said. “It’s never easy going back-to-back even if you have five bowlers, but still the effort and they way the responded and the way they went about being very relentless in pursuit to go out there and win was very evident.”

ScorecardLegspinner Erin Bermingham disrupted South Africa’s chase with figures of 3 for 28•ICC/Getty Images

A patient fifty from opener Natalie Dodd and handy middle-order contributions from Amy Satterthwaite (42), Katie Perkins (34) and Sam Curtis helped New Zealand Women recover from 10 for 3 to post 208, a score they defended by 95 runs to take an unassailable 4-1 lead in the series.South Africa’s opening bowlers – Ayabonga Khaka and Marizanne Kapp, who bowled seven maidens in 18 overs between them – scythed through the top order, before an 84-run fourth-wicket stand between Satterthwaite and Dodd resuscitated the visitors. Dodd struck her maiden ODI fifty, a 107-ball 52, before she was stumped off Dane van Niekerk in the 32nd over.Despite a lack of support from the lower order, Curtis provided the impetus towards the end of the innings with 42 off 53 as New Zealand added 42 off the last five overs.Chasing 209, South Africa were left reeling at 28 for 4 by Lea Tahuhu and legspinner Erin Bermingham. Allrounder Marizanne Kapp retired hurt after she was struck on the head by a bouncer from Tahuhu and was treated for a mild concussion.Mignon du Preez scored her second fifty of the series (62) in an innings that featured five fours and a six, but received little support from the other batsmen. Captain Suzie Bates claimed the last three wickets to fall as South Africa were bowled out for 113 in 35.5 overs.

September is an unusual time to play cricket in Kolkata. The monsoon is only just winding down and grand Puja festivities are around the corner. Eden Gardens has never hosted a Test in this month. Add the freshly relaid square and the overcast, muggy weather to the mix and there is an uncertainty about what to expect from the conditions.There is less doubt about India’s combination for the second Test against New Zealand, but they have added offspinner Jayant Yadav to the squad just in case.Jayant’s inclusion as a replacement for the ill Ishant Sharma might seem odd, but it makes sense given the occasional discomfort R Ashwin bowled with in the first Test in Kanpur. Ashwin said he had gone into the match without having bowled a lot in the previous 25 days because of a corn, a painful area of thickened skin, on the middle finger of his bowling hand.”This game especially, I have a corn on my finger and I haven’t bowled a lot in the last 25 days,” Ashwin had said after the third day in Kanpur. “I’m not very happy with the way it has come out so far. I just hope that I can do better in the series.”Jayant is likely to be on stand-by if the corn proves too painful for Ashwin to play in Kolkata, but India’s coach Anil Kumble said all 15 players were available for selection. Even if Jayant doesn’t play, bowling alongside Test spinners to Test batsmen in the nets is valuable experience. Ashwin did not bowl at practice two days before the Test, but that is no indication of his fitness because others had also opted out of the optional training session.Among those who turned up, Virat Kohli practised batting against a rubber ball, presumably to get used to a bit of spongy or uneven bounce. He had failed to control a slog sweep in the second innings in Kanpur, top-edging for a catch.Shikhar Dhawan had a long net, which is indication that he will open in KL Rahul’s absence though Gautam Gambhir was brought into the squad. That much was clear because as soon as the first Test finished in Kanpur, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and Kumble arranged a practice session for Dhawan on the fifth-day pitch at Green Park.Kumble, though, welcomed Gambhir back into the squad. “I think it’s really nice to have Gautam back,” Kumble said in Kolkata. “Unfortunately Rahul got injured in the last Test match. I think for some reason something has been happening with the openers. Vijay got injured in West Indies. Now Rahul. It’s unfortunate because Rahul was batting brilliantly. Having said that, Gautam has done really well in domestic cricket. He’s part of the 15. I don’t want to give away anything with regard to team combinations.”Rohit Sharma, whose place in the side is always debated, might have earned breathing space with a half-century in the second innings in Kanpur, but Kumble has not forgotten the shot he played in the first innings to throw away a start of 35.”Generally over the last one year, we have constantly gone with five bowlers but in the last Test match we felt that four bowlers and the additional batsman was important, and that’s why Rohit came into the team at No. 6,” Kumble said. “Him batting well certainly augurs well for us. In the first innings, obviously he was disappointed with the way he got out. That’s something which he is aware of and when he played in the second innings, it was a brilliant innings.”That knock, with Jadeja in that partnership of 100-plus, was crucial as well for us to take the game away from the New Zealanders and ensure that we dominate that session. That momentum got carried over when we went on to bowl as well. So in that sense, Rohit contributing was a huge boost for not just the team, but I’m sure it would have done a lot of good for his confidence.”Whether India play five bowlers or four, and how comfortable Ashwin feels, will only be known during and after their final training session before the Test. The conditions on the eve of the match will also play an important role, though Kumble said he wasn’t worried about them.”I still haven’t had a look at the pitch,” he said. “Yes it’s early in the season, there’s been a lot of rain in the air and I hope rain doesn’t play spoilsport during the Test match. It will be a good wicket. I’ve spoken about this before the start of the series too – that whatever wicket is there, we have the squad to encounter any challenge and adapt to any conditions. So we’re not really worried too much about the pitch and what it can do, what it cannot do. We have all bases covered.”

ScorecardAndy Carter stormed back to Trent Bridge•Getty Images

Discovering Nottinghamshire hanging around at the wrong end of the First Division is like finding the flash guy with the top-of-the-range BMW drinking in the cheapest pub in town. No matter how much you remind yourself he is loaded you can’t avoid noticing in the corner of your eye the unexpected scrambling for enough change for another bag of pork scratchings.Nottinghamshire are heading for Twenty20 finals day on Saturday. Among the most glamorous of county cricket’s limited-overs side they finally have a chance to claim a T20 trophy that has long seemed overdue. But four-day cricket is a less endearing story. It is entirely possible they could go to Edgbaston uncomfortably placed at the bottom of the Championship.Midway through this match, Hampshire lead by 180 with nine second-innings wickets intact, a position made more secure in the final session by Jimmy Adams’ unbeaten 68.”The plan now is bat and bat,” said Liam Dawson. “We’ll look to bat all day and see where it takes us.” They might be bottom but that they have the capacity to grind out a batting day is beyond doubt.A Hampshire victory would send them above Notts in the table. Such an outcome would not just cause shivers in the East Midlands. Hampshire have long presumed to be relegation fodder and a victory would cause consternation for Surrey, Lancashire and Durham. Suddenly, the First Division relegation outcome would look likely to be contested deep into September.Quite how Nottinghamshire succumbed for 245, 74 behind on first innings, must have been a mystery for their combative captain, Chris Read, whose counter-attacking, unbeaten 70, full of attractive off-side drives, prevented total calamity. It was Family Fun day at Trent Bridge but only Read seemed to want to do much colouring in. He seems to have been staving off Nottinghamshire collapses for a lifetime and, by rights, his boyish dash should have been exhausted years ago.To make matters worse, Nottinghamshire’s morning collapse, in which they lost five for 77 in decent batting conditions, was engineered by Andy Carter, whose gangling pace bowling used to be at Notts’ service until he rejected a new contract and decamped to Derbyshire at the end of last season, only to abandon that in disgust after half a season because of his lack of Championship opportunities to join Hampshire, who at that point had so many injured fast bowlers they were almost reduced to looking for solutions in a Tesco bargain bucket.Read considered a bad day with consummate understatement. One day he will surely crack, grab everybody by the throat and promptly announce his retirement. Until then he merely said: “It was a disappointing morning session and ultimately, although it was a good fightback to get to 245, we were somewhat lacking in first innings’ runs.”Andy Carter bowled nicely. We all like Andy here at Notts and we’ve fond memories of his time with us. Unfortunately for us he chose this moment to bowl a good opening spell. We’ve not batted well all season; it’s one area we are trying to improve. We are working exceptionally hard behind the scenes to put things right but again we came unstuck.”Hampshire went into the match with only Ryan McLaren taking his Championship wickets under 40s, but Carter’s debut gave them a bowler eminently capable of a hot spell or two, his Derbyshire return of six wickets for 73.33 best overlooked. An incisive pre-lunch spell underlined that as he removed three former team-mates for six runs in 12 deliveries.The nightwatchman, Jake Ball, hit his first delivery to Adam Wheater at midwicket, Riki Wessels found a bouncer from a former team-mate irresistible and holed out, fourth ball, at deep square leg, and Steven Mullaney chopped a rising delivery onto his stumps. Wessels has had an eye-catching one-day season and strange things can happen to an attacking player met by an old team-mate who bangs one in and suggests: “Go on then, try to hit that for old time’s sake.”When you need to dig in, Brendon Taylor is not your man. Neither does he immediately strike you as the sort of high-profile signing you want in a relegation battle. Since abandoning an unpredictable international career with Zimbabwe for the security of county cricket, he has produced the occasional destructive innings alongside rather too many lax dismissals to earn admiration in his new homeland.He fell to a good catch by Mason Crane at midwicket, off Gareth Berg, and soon afterwards Notts were 91 for 6 when Samit Patel was lbw, struck on the boot by Brad Wheal and hobbled off. He was the hero of Notts’ NatWest Blast quarter-final win and the crowd rose to him with great fondness, which was nice to see, but the sense will forever remain that it is impossible for Samit to cross the road without the intervention of a couple of moments of tragi-comedy.That left Read to find support from Michael Lumb – a restrained innings ending when he edged an attempted pull and became a fourth wicket for Carter – and some tail-end spanking from Luke Wood and, more unexpectedly, Imran Tahir, helped by a missed stumping off Dawson. Wood was unhinged by a short ball from McLaren which deflected off bat and helmet. Carter’s simple catch in the leg-side allowed Dawson to wrap up the innings with wickets in successive balls. Hampshire are still kicking for all they are worth.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChadwick Walton hit nine fours and five sixes in his 54-ball 97•Getty Images

Chadwick Walton slammed 97 as Jamaica Tallawahs beat Barbados Tridents by 36 runs in a rain-affected fixture in Kingston to qualify for the final of CPL 2016.After rain lashed down on Kingston for over an hour to reduce the match to an 18-overs-a-side affair, Tallawahs amassed 195 for 5, largely thanks to a second-wicket stand of 127 between Walton and Kumar Sangakkara, who made a 31-ball 50.In reply, Tridents slipped to 55 for 4 in the eighth over, before Nicholas Pooran mounted a spirited fightback, bringing up the fastest half-century this season, off 23 balls. But as the asking rate crept up to over 15 runs an over less than halfway into the chase, Tridents were left with no option but to go for broke. They were bowled out for 159 in the final over.”Winning the toss was a good decision, but we didn’t bowl well, and so we deserve to be on the losing side,” Tridents captain Kieron Pollard said after the match. “You can’t bowl contrary to what your plans are and still end up winning. We have had a few guys injured, but we can’t use that as an excuse. Guys who get an opportunity should show why they deserve to be in the XI. We can’t slip up going into the business end. Hopefully this is another learning experience for us and we’ll look to fight another day.”Tridents had an early boost when Ravi Rampaul removed Chris Gayle in the third over of the match. For the next hour, though, they came under Walton’s wheel. The opener, who had topped 20 just once this season, struck nine fours and five sixes over the course of his 54-ball knock, before being caught at long-on in an attempt to clear the ropes and bring up his maiden T20 century.Andre Russell, promoted to No. 4, was out first ball to David Wiese, but Rovman Powell lent the finishing touches with one four and four sixes in his unbeaten 14-ball 34 as Tallawahs smashed 44 off the last three overs.Tridents came out swinging and lost their openers – Shai Hope and Ahmed Shehzad – inside five overs as Dale Steyn and Andre Russell got among the wickets. Pacer Timroy Allen then struck twin blows, including that of Shoaib Malik, to leave Tridents in tatters at 55 for 4.Pooran and Pollard kept the innings ticking along, before the pressure of bringing out the big shots resulted in Pollard falling into the short-ball trap set by Steyn. Two balls later, Steyn had his 200th T20 wicket when fellow South African David Wiese chipped one to Gayle at midwicket to leave Tridents at 90 for 6.Pooran then muscled his way to six meaty sixes before his run-out deflated Tridents’ chase. Steyn finished with 4 for 27 as Tallawahs secured a final berth in front of adoring home fans. The visitors, meanwhile, slipped to their third loss in seven matches.

ScorecardLuke Wells was in the runs for Sussex•Getty Images

Luke Wells and Ben Brown both made big hundreds as Sussex piled on the runs against Glamorgan on the third day of their Specsavers County Championship match at Hove.Wells scored 181 and Brown an undefeated 159 as they shared a partnership of 294 in 73.1 overs, the second-highest for the fifth wicket in Sussex’s history.But a turgid pitch still looks like being the only winner. After declaring with a first-innings lead of 217 on 552 for five, Steve Magoffintrapped Nick Selman lbw in the seventh over but Mark Wallace and nightwatchman Owen Morgan saw Glamorgan to 30 for one at stumps, 187 behind.Glamorgan paid a heavy price for handing Wells a life on 56 when he was missed at second slip by Aneurin Donald off Tim van der Gugten. He didn’t offer a chance thereafter as he reached his third hundred of the season.Brown gave him excellent support as he rediscovered the form which brought him 1,031 Championship runs in Division One last season, but their task was made easier by a surface on which batting was relatively straightforward.Glamorgan plugged away but their fast-bowling spearhead Michael Hogan was restricted to 10 overs as he continued to recover from mild concussion when he was hit on the helmet on the second day.Graham Wagg did remove Luke Wright for 19 when the Sussex captain lost his off stump playing no shot but Sussex accumulated remorselessly after that as Wells and Brown set a new record for any wicket against Glamorgan, beating the 281 by John Langridge and Harry Parks at Eastbourne in 1938.Wells guided van der Gugten through the vacant slip area for his 10th four to reach his century and Brown got to his off the last ball before tea when he cut slow left-armer Morgan to the point boundary.As Wells inevitably tired towards the end of an innings which ended four minutes short of seven hours, Brown upped the tempo after tea as Sussex sped towards their declaration.A dab to the third-man fence took him to 150 for only the second time in his career. Wells then struck a straight six – only the 16th of his career – before offering a sharp return catch to Morgan off the next ball. Wells’ 181 came off343 balls and he also hit 18 fours.Brown’s 159 not out was only four short of his career best and came off 225 balls with 15 fours and a maximum.With skipper Jacques Rudolph nursing a badly bruised hand, Glamorgan’s 46-year-old coach Robert Croft was among five substitute fielders employed.

ScorecardMax Waller finished with 4 for 33 as Hampshire slumped to 133 all out•Getty Images

Is this where an era ended? Under a blanket of heavy cloud, on a damp and miserable day in Taunton, Hampshire’s age of dominance in T20 cricket in England has been left on the brink of collapse after their badly out-of-form batting line-up collided with a superb Somerset bowling performance on the way to a crushing six-wicket defeat.The loss leaves Hampshire’s 2016 NatWest T20 Blast season in tatters. With just one win from seven matches they are rooted to the bottom of the South Group and will require a dramatic turnaround to extend their record and reach a seventh consecutive Finals Day. “The weather has been pretty grey and miserable, it’s rained pretty much most of the game and our performance wasn’t much better really,” summarised Hampshire’s dejected coach Giles White at the end of the match.Beneath thick clouds and with rain forecast there was a serious possibility that this match would not be played. As it was the weather delayed the start, interrupted the first innings and threatened to end Somerset’s early, but in amongst persistent rainfall a match was completed to satisfy a near sell-out crowd in Taunton.With the possibility of a reduced-overs second innings and a favourable Duckworth-Lewis-Stern target, Somerset captain Jim Allenby had no hesitation in opting to bowl first after winning the toss. Having sweated under the covers all morning and only given 25 minutes to breathe before the match, the pitch displayed some zippy bounce early on.Despite the return of Michael Carberry from a wrist injury and James Vince from international duty, Hampshire appeared unsettled by the helpful bowling conditions and some tight lines from Somerset’s seamers to record their worst Powerplay of the season: 35 for 3. All three wickets, a run out on T20 debut for Tom Alsop, who replaced the dropped Jimmy Adams, a lazy uppercut straight to the fielder at third man from Carberry and a loose flat-footed drive from Vince were emblematic of a top-order lacking in form and confidence.With the Powerplay over Somerset shifted strategy and began taking pace off the ball, working together in pairs. First it was Allenby and Peter Trego; bowling tight, stump-to-stump lines they cramped Adam Wheater and Liam Dawson for room and conceded just nine in the two overs immediately after the Powerplay. It was the introduction of spinner Max Waller, however, that tightened the noose around Hampshire’s neck.With Wheater clearly keen to remain proactive he advanced down the pitch to Waller’s fourth delivery, but the legspinner saw him coming and fired it fast down the leg side where Ryan Davies snaffled a sharp take and whisked the bails off before Wheater could make it back. When Will Smith, promoted up the order to help rebuild, was trapped lbw first ball by a quicker delivery, Hampshire were reeling at 56 for 5.It was at stages such as these that Hampshire teams of years gone by would find a way out of trouble. No such rescue act was possible today. The dismissal of Sean Ervine, who has captained this season in the absence of Vince, charging furiously down the pitch for a huge heave to Waller before being stumped by some distance, was sadly fitting. Excluding his 56 against Kent, Ervine has scored 15 runs in his five other innings this season.Shahid Afridi and Dawson briefly threatened to elevate Hampshire towards a respectable total, striking a handful of boundaries between them, but faced with a powerful Somerset batting order at a high-scoring venue they couldn’t afford to hold back. Waller preyed on such reckless attack and completed an impressive four-wicket haul when he bowled Afridi with a quicker delivery that skidded on. Waller now boasts an average of 15.70 against Hampshire in T20 cricket.Moments after Dawson was run out for 46 the players were forced from the field for half an hour by the persistent rain. When they returned Darren Sammy and Gareth Berg missed more than they hit as they tried desperately to squeeze some extra runs from a tired and bedraggled innings. Overton matched Waller’s four-wicket haul when he removed the pair in the penultimate over, wrapping up Hampshire’s innings for 133 and with nine balls to spare.The target was never going to be enough for Somerset, especially with Hampshire having to cope with a wet ball, and after the erratic Tino Best conceded more than 10% of Somerset’s target from his first five legitimate deliveries there was an inevitability about the remainder of the contest that even the two Powerplay wickets of Allenby and Trego couldn’t dissipate.A hardy Taunton crowd who endured the poor weather were rewarded for their fortitude as Chris Gayle, in his last match for Somerset this season, and Mahela Jayawardene forged a partnership of steel and silk, clubbing and gliding their respective ways towards 52 and 45 not out and guiding Somerset to a valuable victory that keeps them within touching distance of the leading pack in the South Group.

India are 1-0 down against South Africa, with only one day remaining of their two-Test series, and the best they can hope is for the scoreline to remain 1-0. Going into the fifth day in Guwahati, India are 27 for 2. They are chasing an all-but-impossible target of 549.A series loss against South Africa will be India’s second in their previous three home series. Last year, they suffered an unprecedented 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand, which ended a proud run of 17 straight home-series wins over a 12-year period.In this scenario, allrounder Ravindra Jadeja suggested that saving the Guwahati Test would be a “win-win situation” for India. Jadeja used the English phrase, and it must be noted that it isn’t his first language.”We will have to bat well, take it session by session,” Jadeja said. “If we don’t give a wicket in the first session, then there will obviously be pressure on the bowlers, that they need to bowl us out. For us, that will be the win-win situation – if we can bat out the full day tomorrow. For us, it’ll be as good as a winning situation.”Related

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This series has flipped the script on India’s previous home series against South Africa in 2019, which they won 3-0. Jadeja suggested South Africa hadn’t done too much differently between that tour and this one, other than winning tosses. India won all three tosses in 2019, and South Africa have won both this time.”I don’t find any difference from what we played against them in 2019,” Jadeja said. “I think they almost have the same squad. In cricket, I feel it’s all about timing. It starts from winning the toss. If we would have won the toss on this wicket, then we would have been in a good situation right now. But that’s part and parcel [of the game]. So, now, [it’s about] what comes next – that is, day five. We have to play good cricket and we have to trust our defence. That’s the key. If we play out day five, then, as I said, it’s a win-win situation for us.”Jadeja was an integral member of India’s teams through their 12-year winning run in home Test series. When asked how difficult it has been to go through India’s ongoing period of negative results at home, Jadeja said it was simply a challenge he and his team-mates had to accept.”See, it’s not difficult. In cricket, it’s always about the situation,” he said. “If you are 312-315 runs ahead in the game, then any batsman can come and play freely. They’re not thinking about spin or bounce, or how the wicket is. But when you’re 300 runs behind and you have to go out and play out a day, defend through it, and know you have a 550-run target, and you know the ball is turning and bouncing, that plays on the mind more.R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were crucial to India’s unbeaten 12-year run at home•BCCI

“We’ve also been [in winning situations]. Like, from 2012 to 2024, in 12 years we did not lose a series at home. In that time, we’ve handle these situations well. But the time was such that we won a lot of tosses and we scored big in the first innings. We’ve beaten oppositions by an innings. It has happened a lot of times.”The more you play cricket, the more new experiences you have. So as cricketers, me and the team, it is a challenge we accept. We will not deny it, and ask why we are having to play in this situation. If it has come, we as players have to take the positives and move on from it. Our attitude will be positive and it will help the team. All the individuals will look to give their 100%.”Whichever batter goes to bat tomorrow will look to give their best. But sometimes, even if you don’t succeed, you learn from [the situation] and know the mistakes you’ve made, and what you can improve on in such a situation again.”India have been in transition over the last year or so having lost a number of senior players. Jadeja felt going through a difficult time like this would help the young players in the team learn and grow,”Look, for the youngsters in the team, I think this is a learning phase. Their career is just starting. In international cricket, no matter what format you play, it’s not easy. No matter what format you play, it’s always a little challenging. So, in India, when a situation like this happens, and you play 3-4 youngsters in the team, it feels like the whole team is young and inexperienced. And that gets highlighted.”But when India wins in home conditions, people think it’s not a big deal. You have to win anyway. So people think that if you win a series in India, it’s not a big deal. But if you lose a series in India, it becomes a very big deal. But even the team that comes here and plays against is representing their country.”So that’s the beauty of cricket, there’s always a surprise. Something new happens year by year. So, for a youngster, it’s a learning phase. If they handle this situation well, they will become mature as players, and India’s future will be better.”

Sanju Samson fought a lone battle by scoring 73* off 56 balls as Kerala limped to 119 against Andhra in Lucknow. But KS Bharat killed the chase by smashing a rapid 53 off 28 balls, and taking his side to victory with seven wickets and eight overs to spare. Samson, who is likely to open the batting for India against South Africa if Shubman Gill isn’t fit, carried his bat after opening the innings and losing one partner after another.Kerala were 79 for 7 in the 17th over, with the highest partnership until then being 17 for the seventh wicket. But Samson got enough support from No. 9 Biju Narayanan to add an unbeaten 40, as Kerala huffed and puffed to a small total. The next highest score after Samson’s was MD Nidheesh’s 13, and Bharat ensured there was no contest, having smashed his fifty within the first nine overs. Ashwin Hebbar (27) and Pyla Avinash (20) also played their parts to hand Andhra their fifth win in six games.

Vyshak, Padikkal star but Saurashtra win thriller

Vijaykumar Vyshak got 3 for 28, and nearly sealed the game with bat in hand. However, Karnataka lost to Saurashtra by one run in a thrilling finish in Ahmedabad. Chasing 179, Karnataka were reduced to 49 for 3 in the seventh over, before Devdutt Padikkal and Ravichandran Smaran added 54. Ankur Panwar got Padikkal for 66 to break the stand, and Karnataka lost their way again. Vyshak and Shreyas Gopal took it all the way during their tenth-wicket partnership, but couldn’t take their side past the finish line.Earlier, Vyshak broke a 55-run opening stand for Saurashtra. Contributions from Siddhant Rana (42), Vishvaraj Jadeja (40), Harvik Desai (28) and Jay Gohil (27) helped Saurashtra to 178. They were 76 for 1 after seven overs and looked set for a bigger total, slowing down later even though Rana and Gohil added 66 for the fourth wicket. In the end, the total turned out to be just enough.File photo: Shardul Thakur got 3 for 19•BCCI

Shardul, Mhatre and Rahane shine for Mumbai

Shardul Thakur took three of the four wickets to fall in the powerplay as Mumbai eased their way past Chhattisgarh in Lucknow. Mumbai captain’s 3 for 19, alongside two wickets each for Suryansh Shedge, Atharva Ankolekar and Tushar Deshpande, bowled Chhattisgarh out for 121 after Mumbai opted to bowl first.Chhattisgarh were 59 for 7 at the start of the tenth over, having also lost Shashank Singh for 10. Shubham Agarwal and Mayank Yadav added 38 for the eighth wicket, but Shedge struck in back-to-back overs to halt Chhattisgarh’s brief recovery.Ayush Mhatre and Ajinkya Rahane then lay the foundation for the 122 chase by adding 82 for the first wicket. Agarwal got Rahane for 40 in 28 deliveries to break the stand, but by then, Mumbai were well on track for their fifth win in the group stages. Agarwal also dismissed Siddhesh Lad for 5, but Mhatre remained unbeaten on 69 off 49 balls, which included five sixes. Mumbai eventually won with eight wickets and 25 balls remaining.

Jayant trumps Shami as Puducherry thrash Bengal

Bengal suffered a collapse of 9 for 38 to be bowled out for 96 in pursuit of 178 against Puducherry in Hyderabad. Offspinner Jayant Yadav bagged 4 for 28, which included the wicket Karan Lal, who top-scored with 40. The collapse started when Abhimanyu Easwaran was run out for 12, with no Bengal batter from Nos. 4-11 getting into double-figures.The win was set up by Puducherry’s captain Aman Khan, who smashed five fours and seven sixes in his 74 off 40 balls. Aman added 68 for the third wicket with Jashwanth Shreeram, who scored 45 off 34. Their stand was broken by Mohammed Shami, who, after getting Shreeram in the 15th over, also dismissed Aman in the 19th. Shami finished with 3 for 34, following up 4 for 13 in the previous game against Services.

Dale Steyn will work with some of England’s most promising young fast bowlers in South Africa next month, ESPNcricinfo can reveal. Steyn will be part of Andrew Flintoff’s coaching staff in his first tour as England Lions head coach, along with his former international team-mate Neil McKenzie.Steyn, who took 439 wickets in his stellar Test career for South Africa, will work with the Lions on a short-term basis. The ECB named a 19-man training squad at the start of the month, with the tour due to run from November 20 until December 14. It will largely consist of a training camp but will conclude with a four-day match against South Africa A in Western Province.The squad is packed with ten seamers, including two players with full international caps in Pat Brown and Josh Hull, and two others who were unused squad members this summer in Dillon Pennington and John Turner. The other six fast bowlers are Zaman Akhtar, Kasey Aldridge, Henry Crocombe, Tom Lawes, Harry Moore and Mitchell Stanley.Related

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Ed Barney, who replaced Mo Bobat as the ECB’s performance director earlier this year, said the seam-dominated squad reflected “England’s short and long-term needs” across formats. “Over half the squad consists of seamers, reflecting our continued focus on supporting these players to achieve their potential,” Barney said.McKenzie, the former South Africa batter, will oversee a group of batters which three recent members of the England Under-19s set-up in Freddie McCann, Ben McKinney and Hamza Sheikh. Dan Mousley will join the Lions tour after travelling to the Caribbean for England’s white-ball series, while James Coles, Matty Hurst and James Rew also feature.McKenzie was part of Flintoff’s coaching staff in his first role as head coach earlier this year, when he took charge of Northern Superchargers in the Hundred. He has also worked with South Africa’s national team and Desert Vipers, and was recently replaced as Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s batting coach by Dinesh Karthik.Karthik was another coach briefly brought into the Lions set-up on a short-term basis in India earlier this year, with the ECB seeking to harness local knowledge on development tours. It is understood that Jacques Kallis was also scoped out as an option for the South Africa camp, though is not expected to feature when a full list of coaching staff is announced later this week.