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With Rangana Herath on his last legs as a Test cricketer, national spin-bowling coach Piyal Wijetunge weighs in on potential replacements

Andrew Fidel Fernando10-Aug-2017With Sri Lanka now desperately seeking a long-term replacement for Rangana Herath as the team’s lead spinner, ESPNcricinfo weighs up their options, with inputs from national spin-bowling coach Piyal Wijetunge.Lakshan Sandakan
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Having been among Sri Lanka’s most successful domestic spinners for several seasons, Sandakan made vital contributions on debut in Sri
Lanka’s backs-to-the-wall victory over Australia at Pallekele. Showcasing a big-turning stock ball and a deceptive googly, he claimed career-best figures of 4 for 58, and helped keep Australia’s first-innings lead in the double figures – Sri Lanka having been earlier skittled for 117.He would claim three further wickets in the second innings, but in the four Tests since, Sandakan has averaged 46.5, and has often proved expensive. He has had at least two catches dropped off his bowling, however, and remains one of the few spinners capable of gleaning significant turn and bounce from unhelpful surfaces.Sandakan’s control is his primary shortcoming, Wijetunge said. “Lakshan is very good, and he turns it a lot. But his maturity is not there. He needs a little time to mature, because a spinner anyway needs that time to develop – only at around 30 years of age do they generally get there. He’s quite young. I think he’ll enter his best years only in about a year or year-and-a-half.”Jeffrey Vandersay
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Following his impressive turn at the 2016 World T20, Vandersay might have debuted in that Australia series in place of Sandakan, had he not picked up an injury in the weeks approaching the tour. Though the selectors have largely considered him for limited-overs cricket, Vandersay has occasionally impressed in the longer formats, most notably when he took 5 for 73 and 3 for 94 against Pakistan in a tour match in Colombo.Vandersay was also only selected for one of the two four-day matches England Lions played in Sri Lanka earlier this year, and has largely been omitted from Sri Lanka’s limited-overs teams as well. Wijetunge, however, believed he is a strong contender across formats.”Even now, I think he can be brought into the Sri Lanka team. He’s ready. He’s a wristspinner, so he can turn the ball on any surface, and he’s also got a few variations. Mentally, he’s very tough, and he’s also quite mature for his age, when you compare with other bowlers. His control is good. Anyway a wrist spinner takes three or four overs to settle, and Jeffrey has that issue. But once he gets into his rhythm, his consistency is very good.”Tharindu Kaushal
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The youngest and most unusual bowler among these contenders, Kaushal is a wrist-spinning offbreak bowler, which probably puts him in a club of two, alongside his hero Muttiah Muralitharan. But where Murali’s extremely flexible wrist and shoulder saw him deliver a clean , Kaushal lost the use of that ball after he was found to have flexed his elbow more than the permitted 15 degrees during the delivery of roughly half his . The results of that test have been quite a blow to his confidence.Despite losing the due to an illegal action, Tharindu Kaushal has remained effective in domestic cricket•AFPKaushal has since gone back to domestic cricket, where he remains effective, thanks to a vicious offbreak. But he has not been considered for internationals, nor did he play in any of the unofficial ODIs or Tests against England Lions. Though Wijetunge believed Kaushal could eventually be a penetrative Test bowler, he feels Kaushal is a little raw at present.”He’s not ready for Tests straightaway. Kaushal’s got a few issues with the consistency of his offbreak. But the bowlers that are there, he’s the guy who turns it the most. He can turn it on any surface. We talk about the pace that is required at Tests being around 85kph, and that is the pace he naturally bowls at.”He’s got all the things he needs except consistency, and that’s got to do with his action. I decided four or five months ago that we should change his action a little. But then there was the domestic season here, and then he went to play league cricket in England, so we didn’t get the chance to do those changes. But we’ve got him down now, and as soon as the India series finishes, we will start making those adjustments to his action. We need to look at his balance and if there are variations in his release point. If we can get all that done, Tharindu Kaushal is a very good bowler.”Dilruwan Perera
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The oldest and most experienced of the spinners, Perera is the likeliest to become Sri Lanka’s primary spin option both home and away. His increasing ability with the bat has recently coincided with a dip in wicket-taking form, however. Though a modest turner of the ball, Perera has, in the past, depended on his keen bowling wit to take wickets – often working batsmen out over the course of a spell. He claimed his 50th Test wicket in his 11th match, making him the fastest Sri Lankan to that milestone, even if it was achieved on helpful Asian surfaces (he had not played a Test outside the continent until then).What has been somewhat worrying, however, is Perera’s record since getting to 50 wickets. In eight Tests since his most-recent five-wicket haul, he has taken 26 wickets at 46 apiece. Despite this apparent slump, Wijetunge believed Perera can take Herath’s place.”Rangana might not play more than two or three more series maybe, so when he goes, Dilruwan will have to take up that role. He can do it also, because now he’s experienced. There’s no major reason why Dilruwan hasn’t taken so many wickets in the last year – he’s not doing anything different in his bowling. The one thing I will say is that if he does well in a series, he sometimes doesn’t play for five or six months. It’s a bit tough for him to maintain that rhythm and stay at his peak.”Malinda Pushpakumara
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One of the most highly-rated domestic spinners, Pushpakumara has finished among Sri Lanka’s top five wicket-takers for many seasons on end, and this year, was as many as 20 wickets clear of the next highest wicket-taker. Like Herath and Perera, Pushpakumara is no big turner of the ball, and instead relies on guile for his wickets. He is aided at that level by Sri Lanka’s often diabolically spin-friendly first-class surfaces, but he has had success with the Sri Lanka A team as well. When England Lions toured this year, he took 21 wickets at an average of 18.04 – more than double that of the next highest wicket-taker.Malinda Pushpakumara made his much-awaited Test debut at the SSC, after bagging more than 550 first-class wickets•AFPPushpakumara was less successful in his Test debut at the SSC, however, conceding 156 runs at a rate of 4.06 an over. Wijetunge believed Pushpakumara did not give a good account of his skill in that outing.”I think any debutant plays with a bit of pressure, and I think that’s what happened to Malinda also. He’s a mature and experienced spinner. His best bowling is very different from what we saw in that match. Usually, when he gets the ball in hand, he dominates any batsman.”As far as I can tell, he didn’t pick the correct pace to bowl on that pitch. He uses his pace variations a lot. But then, it’s his first match, so you can’t blame him also.”Prabath Jayasuriya
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By a distance the least experienced of the spinners in this list, it is Jayasuriya’s potential, rather than his record, that has excited the SLC coaches. For now, he appears a better prospect in ODI cricket – his 28 List A wickets coming at 16.57. Wijetunge said he could be a force in the longer formats as well, however.”Prabath is six feet tall, and he has 95% consistency, so he’s very good in that regard. He turns the ball a little, but what he mostly relies on is bounce, which he gets a lot of. He doesn’t flight it so much, and his pace is a bit faster.”

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Although Wijetunge believed each of the bowlers featured here had the ability to become good Test players, he suggested that their development has been complicated by a poor domestic system. Spinners often encounter friendly surfaces at the first-class level, where it is not unusual for two slow bowlers to take the new ball in the second innings. Fourteen of this year’s top 15 wicket-takers in the Premier League tournament were spinners.”The problem we have is that there is a huge gap between domestic cricket and international team,” Wijetunge said. “In terms of Sri Lanka A tours, we only have one or two a year. We have issues testing the spinners we train. Our only option is to put them in the national team, which isn’t ideal. That’s not a place to test bowlers. Sometimes, their weaknesses are exposed at that level, and often they are not ready. They have to play a lot of A team cricket, or good quality cricket at a lower level.”There’s no shortage of skill – but the maturity is missing.”

Almost 30,000 fans turned up at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium to watch India take on Australia. They didn’t see any rain, but also didn’t see a single ball being bowled

Arun Venugopal in Hyderabad13-Oct-2017The loudest cheers of the night came when Virat Kohli took shots at the goal with MS Dhoni guarding it. At the other end of the ground, there was Nathan Coulter-Nile mock-wrestling one of his team-mates. That these were the only glimpses of sporting action on a night when India and Australia were supposed to be playing the deciding match of a T20I series was as disappointing as it was shambolic.Even as it rained in other parts of Hyderabad on Friday, there wasn’t a single drop in the vicinity of the stadium all day. The heaviest of the showers came on Thursday night, which ultimately put paid to any chances of a game taking place. Despite that, ESPNcricinfo understands that the pitch and the square were in good condition. The outfield, however, remained damp and patchy and was ultimately unfit to play on. No amount of sawdust could have masked those ungainly-looking craters.This is 2017. It isn’t as if cricket enjoys a monopoly as a source of entertainment, given the sheer number of alternatives. And, with a series that doesn’t really have a contextual peg, the battle to grab eyeballs is harder to win. To then have a washout, when there was no rain on match day, is to spite the game’s value as a commercial product.Now, if the square was dry and the outfield unplayable, then the ground either didn’t have the covers or didn’t cover the whole ground – a common practice now across stadiums in India. An official of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), however, maintained that the ground was covered in entirety in the lead up to the game. Instead, he pointed out how the ground slopes down, and away from the pitch, suggesting the moisture would naturally slide off the square and settle on the outfield.The groundstaff felt that they were hard done by the unprecedented rainfall the city had received over the last three weeks. While the mornings and afternoons have been hot and humid, there has invariably been heavy downpour after sundown. More than two hours before the scheduled start of play, the HCA groundstaff had begun to labour hard. Heaps of sawdust were sprinkled on some of the soggier patches in the outfield. On the eve of the match, it is understood that they had even used pedestal fans to dry the outfield. Ultimately, all of it was an exercise in futility.”We are all very upset,” a member of the groundstaff said. “There is no way we can fight nature. What can we possibly do if it has rained on each of the last 21 days? We worked hard to prepare a good pitch and were confident that the game would start, but we couldn’t overcome nature.” If the BCCI decides to investigate this game, the officials and groundstaff might be forced to offer less cagey and more concrete response.The other controversy of the evening came when the nearly 30,000-strong crowd was kept in the dark about the game being called off. The announcement eventually came only after the players had left for their hotels. There was neither a prize distribution ceremony nor press conferences. Eventually, a photograph showed up on the India team’s social media pages, with Kohli and David Warner posing together with the trophy.While India and Australia finished the series as joint winners, the fans in Hyderabad must have felt shortchanged. First, they endured a long commute to reach the stadium and were pleasantly surprised that there was no rain. But, then their hopes of watching India win a decider and keep alive their hopes of being No. 1 in all three formats were dashed right from the start, even if they didn’t know it. They roared and cheered every time Kohli hit a football into the stands, in the hope that they would ultimately see at least a truncated game, but their enthusiasm flatlined soon enough. If there is any consolation from a match that was abandoned without a ball being bowled, it is that they will receive a reasonable chunk of their ticket money as a refund.

How did Bill Lawry go about his commentary and what was it like to work with Richie Benaud and Tony Greig? An interview from 2012 has the details

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2018Where do his catch phrases come from?They just come out. Just pick up the mic. Nothing is pre-planned. I don’t sit down and do any homework, apart from studying who the players are.I have been very lucky. I have seen some wonderful moments. Once [Shahid] Afridi hit two sixes off the first two balls down in Hobart. Those are great moments to be on air. Also, it helps to be on first, which I do a lot of the time. In Test matches you might get two wickets in the first two overs, and you only get three wickets on some other days. You have got to make sure when you get those wickets, that everybody at home – if he is outside in the garden – comes in to see what is going on. You want him to say, “What was that noise?” and go in and see a wicket has fallen.His commentary – science or instinct?Mine’s all instinct. I just try and call it each ball as I see it. I love to get a wicket, I love to get a great catch or a run-out. I just try and be involved without going over the top.I don’t try and analyse it too much. I just try and bring in my experiences as a player. I realise that probably 70% of the people at home are not cricket experts. The people that come here probably understand the game 80%. The people at home don’t understand that much. I try and explain it to them. When we first started, David Hill actually had a chart up on the wall with field positions, because when we were saying to somebody who has migrated to Australia, “He has got a man at leg gully”, what does leg gully mean to a 14-year-old girl or a young boy who is not brought up in a cricketing family? What is silly point? A traffic stop or something?On being quoted earlier he enjoyed commentary more than playingIt was more about the times. When I first played for Australia I was a tradesman of tools. I’d work till five o’clock, I’d rush to practice, get there at 6 o’clock, and bat for 20 minutes in the dark. I’d love to have been a professional because you can train your skill all day.On Twelfth Man, Billy Birmingham, who did insanely popular parody skits mimicking Channel 9 commentatorsBilly Birmingham is very interesting because when he made those tapes, I was cricket manager of Victoria, and I’d go out to schools, and obviously a six-year-old kid had no idea who I was because I wasn’t playing then. They’d say, “Are you Billy Birmingham?” I’d say, “I wish I was.”On what he read more? Cricket or pigeons?Is Ian Chappell around? [Looks around] I’m not a cricket vegetable. By that I mean, Ian Chappell can sit here and talk, and would talk, cricket to you all day. When we played, after stumps they’d be in the dressing room still in their gear, talking cricket till 10 o’clock. Half-past six, I am gone. If we are on tour, I’ll go out to the theatre or somewhere. Between 11 and 6, I was fanatical. Once six o’clock comes, it was a new world out there.On Wendy the pigeonWhat happened was, Greigy used to know about my pigeon love because he had a few South African fancier friends. We are sitting one day and a pigeon landed in the grandstand of the Sydney Cricket Ground, and the cameramen are fantastic and they go, “There’s a pigeon.” And Greigy said, “There’s a pigeon.” And I said, “There’s Wendy, Greigy.” And it went on. And we come back next day and Greigy says, “I have given Wendy the kraaahhhh [the cut-throat].” And I go, “What?” This is going on air and people are loving it. That’s Greigy. He could make something out of nothing.On whether Richie Benaud ever tried to restrain him on airNever. Never ever said that. No. Richie is not like that. If you are going to hang yourself, Richie will let you hang yourself.

Riding high on the confidence gained in a successful season for Worcestershire, Moeen put in a performance that will reignite debate about who is England’s best spinner

George Dobell at the Ageas Bowl31-Aug-20181:18

It’s about believing one bad winter doesn’t make you a bad player – Moeen

Moeen Ali may feel this was a performance he owed England but it was, perhaps, a performance he was owed, too.Moeen had a horrible winter in Test cricket. With the bat he averaged just 18.81 and with the ball he claimed just five wickets in six Tests at a cost of 126.80 apiece. On the surface, those figures suggest he could have no complaints when he was dropped.But scratch at the surface of them and you find another example of Moeen’s personal record being compromised in an attempt to plug holes in other areas of the team. To some extent that is quite right, too. Just as Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes are all batting out of position in this match, so the overall good of the team has to take precedence over the good of the individual. But it really is remarkable how often Moeen has been asked to accommodate the limitations of others.Take that grim Ashes tour. On pretty much the first day of training, he sustained a side strain. Then, when he was finally able to bowl, he ripped his spinning finger on the unfamiliar seam of the kookaburra ball. As a result, he went into the Test series both lacking in rhythm and unable to spin the ball as he would have liked. On those pitches, against Steve Smith and co, it was a fatal combination.He probably shouldn’t have played in that first Test. But England’s captain and coach had decided to overrule the other selectors and take only one other spinner in the tour party. And while the other selectors were tempted to pick Jack Leach, the Somerset left-armer, the more aggressive-minded team management went for 20-year-old leg-spinner Mason Crane. But then, when the first Test came round, they were understandably reluctant to thrust him in as the only frontline spinner.Moeen was, as so often, the man asked to cover for England’s failings. He played before he was ready, Australia’s batsmen milked him like a Friesian and his confidence dropped sharply. The fact that he also struggled with the bat didn’t help.It was far from the first time his mild manner and versatile game had counted again him. He has batted everywhere from No. 1 to No. 9 in this side, with England reacting to his two centuries in India (made from No. 5 and No. 4) by moving him back to No. 7 as soon as they returned to England. He was told he was second choice spinner ahead of the 2017 domestic summer and, within weeks, promoted to first choice and expected to show no loss of confidence or form as a result.Moeen was hardly the first offspinner to endure a tough time in Australia, either. And it did seem to be forgotten a little too quickly that, in England’s summer of 2017, he claimed 30 Test wickets at an average of 21.30 including two five-wicket hauls and a hat-trick. Equally, it seemed to be forgotten quite quickly that Moeen reached the milestone of 2000 Test runs and 100 Test wickets quicker than Garry Sobers, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan or Ian Botham. Only five England offspinners have taken more than his 138 Test wickets and, despite having played 13 Tests fewer than John Emburey, he is just nine wickets shy of his record. He could well become the second English offspinner (Graeme Swann is the other) to claim 200 Test wickets.So he probably deserved a few factors in his favour here. For a start, he had some footholes to bowl into as a result, on the whole, of India’s seamers bowling round the wicket to discomfort England’s left-handers. That meant some balls turned quite sharply and forced batsmen into playing more deliveries than they might have liked.And Sanjay Bangar, the India batting coach, was probably right when he described a couple of the dismissals against Moeen – notably R Ashwin’s reverse sweep and Hardik Pandya’s clip to midwicket – as “soft”. But they were also the shots of batsmen unsure of their defence against the dipping, turning ball; batsmen trying to hit Moeen off his length as they knew its danger. They weren’t, perhaps, quite as soft as they looked.Besides, with just a bit of luck, he might have claimed the key wicket of Virat Kohli. He did find the edge of Kohli’s bat but, with Stokes a little wide at first slip, the chance flew between him and the keeper.Moeen Ali has been fantastic against India at home with the ball•ESPNcricinfo LtdIt was a moment that demonstrated Moeen’s weapons, though. He has the wonderful ability to bowl with flight and pace and, with the drift he gains, he does challenge both edges of the bat. With confidence regained after a stint back at Worcestershire, he may well be bowling better than ever before. This was the third five-wicket haul he has claimed in his last three first-class matches. He only has 12 in his career. It also saw his Test bowling average dip below 40 once more.It didn’t do any harm that he came into this game in some form, either. As well as those wickets, he made a double hundred in his last Championship match and his maiden T20 century against Warwickshire a couple of days before that. Nor had he forgotten his previous Test here when he claimed 6 for 67 against India in what can probably be seen as a breakthrough performance with the ball.”After my first over, I thought I was going to be in the game throughout this Test,” he said. “It’s always nice for an offspinner when there’s a bit of rough. And I was bowling at the same end as last time. That gave me some confidence.”It’s all about mindset with me. I didn’t need to change too much technically. I just needed a fresh start. It’s nice to get a call-up when you’re in decent nick with bat and ball. You come into the game with confidence: it’s exactly what county cricket should be doing. I’ve loved being back at Worcester.”It was about believing I’m not a bad player after one bad winter. Many players have gone through that. It was about clearing my mind and moving on.”Quite who this leaves as England’s first choice spinner at The Oval is anyone’s guess. It may prove their preponderance of allrounders allows England to persist with the two spinner formula but, with one of them having bowled only 55 overs in the series to date, it is something of a luxury. With Chris Woakes likely to be fit for the final Test, the selectors may have some tricky decisions to make.Moeen Ali appeals successfully for the wicket of Rishabh Pant•AFPBut Moeen insisted he does prefer to be thought of as a batsman who fulfils the role of second spinner. It relieves him of the burden of expectation.”The role in the side now is my best role,” he said. “I’m mainly selected as a batter, but then I come on as a second spinner. It gives me a lot more confidence and freedom. I actually end up playing better.”Whether England can regularly afford such a policy remains to be seen, but it may work in Sri Lanka. Besides, the issue with Adil Rashid was summed up by his first delivery. He had the skill to take Kohli’s inside edge with a googly that ballooned into the air off the pad. But there was no body at silly point to take the chance as Root had felt the need – the understandable need – to post a deep extra cover, a deep midwicket and a deep backward square. It’s fine to say Root should have been more aggressive, but he is aware that Rashid may well bowl a four-ball or two most overs and, when you’re defending a first-innings total of 246, these things matter.Either way, after five months out of the side, Moeen has returned to show his value once more. He’s never pretended he was the best spinner England have ever had and he’s never threatened to be the most reliable batsman. But that self-deprecating demeanour sometimes deflects attention from a record – one that now includes five Test centuries and five five-wicket hauls – that sometimes doesn’t gain the respect it deserves.

Stick with Rayudu? Throw Rahul into the mix? Drop Dhoni? Our writers, including Aakash Chopra, weigh in

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2018Associated PressAakash Chopra: No ready-made answers availableAmbati Rayudu has just got back into the side; he has looked promising, but how he is going to perform overseas? We will find out in good time. However, you cannot look at an alternative for Rayudu assuming that he won’t do well. And if he doesn’t do well overseas, there will be no time left anyway. The second guy in line for the No. 4 spot is Manish Pandey, who has hardly been tested over the last 12-18 months. He has not got enough opportunities to go one way or the other.Dhoni is Dhoni. He is going to be there. India have left it way too late for anyone to earn their place in Dhoni’s stead. Kedar Jadhav will be your No. 6 even though he is not your ideal finisher. He has been effective, but No. 6 is one place too low for him; yet I don’t see that changing either. Rishabh Pant wasn’t given enough opportunities, so we still don’t know whether he can be an alternative for someone.My XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Jasprit BumrahRavindra Jadeja steers one through the off side•Associated PressKarthik Krishnaswamy: Drop ChahalEngland are the pace-setters in ODI batting right now, and it isn’t just because they have a lot of hitting talent. They have that, but also incredible depth – all the way to No. 10 or 11 – which frees up their batsmen to go and hit. My solution for India’s middle-order issues would be to lengthen the batting by playing Ravindra Jadeja at the expense of one of the two wristspinners, probably Yuzvendra Chahal. I know the wristspinners are seen as a key weapon in the middle overs, but I’m not convinced Chahal brings that much more to the bowling table than Jadeja. I would also drop Dhoni.My XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul at 3/Ambati Rayudu at 4, Virat Kohli, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Jasprit BumrahAmbati Rayudu enjoys a six over long-on•AFPSidharth Monga: It’s too lateIt might be too late to look for a solution. Dhoni has long been an issue, but the selectors have not tried anyone else, and now all the eggs seem to be in that basket. They can only hope Rayudu, Jadhav and Hardik Pandya stay fit, and that Dhoni’s experience and presence help him pull through. Rayudu is the first man in the last 22 months to score a century from outside the top three, and Jadhav and Pandya provide India depth in both bowling and batting.It is a delicate equilibrium: if Jadhav goes out, India don’t have the bowling cushion; if Pandya is not there, the middle order is more circumspect in pressure situations because not much batting follows them. The only solution right now is for Rayudu to keep appearing for and clearing his yo-yo tests, for the physios to keep lengthening Jadhav’s compromised hamstrings, and for Pandya’s workload to be managed carefully.My XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni/Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Jasprit BumrahAssociated PressVarun Shetty: India already have the answerIndia have got to start backing the batsmen who have performed best at No. 4 over the last year. As things stand, those would be Ambati Rayudu as first choice and Dinesh Karthik as the back up. They are two experienced players who, more or less, play similar roles. With that base covered, I would pick Pant as the wicketkeeper at No. 5. With Jadhav as a legitimate third-spinning option these days, India can play both Pandya and Jadeja in the lower middle order, which gives them formidable power in the slog overs, but they will have to leave a frontline spinner out. This is the solution in a world where Dhoni can be dropped from the ODI side too. More realistically, I would have Pant come in for Pandey to have variety in the reserves. India can still keep the aforementioned depth with Dhoni in the XI.My XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Jasprit BumrahBCCINagraj Gollapudi: Why not Kohli at No. 4?Post victories in the Asia Cup and at home against West Indies, Kohli has said Rayudu is “designed” to play the No. 4 role, is “intelligent” to play according to the situation and provides “balance” to the batting order. But what if Rayudu fails? He has experience, but he has not played overseas much. What if he were to struggle in Australia and New Zealand, two big series outside India, leading to the World Cup?To counter such a scenario, one way India can be ready is by keeping Kohli’s position flexible. Being the best batsman, he ought to get maximum play time. But if both Rohit, the other key batsman, and Kohli were to fall in quick succession, who plays the anchor role? Based on the overs left Dhoni will bat No. 5 onwards, but even he understands his bat is no more the power blade that scythed through bowling attacks earlier.If Kohli bats at No. 4, with Rayudu at 3, the India captain can not only provide intensity middle overs onwards, but also give Dhoni the cushion to play aggressively. India ought to test some combinations in the remaining games, especially overseas. And stay less rigid about the batting positions.My XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 MS Dhoni, 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Yuzvendra Chahal, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

A day after the IPL auction, where all eight franchises claimed their money was well spent, ESPNcricinfo staffers pitch a few knuckle balls

19-Dec-20186:57

IPL 2019 auction: Rating the squads

Is Sam Curran worth a million dollars?

Does performing against India matter so much? We saw the likes of Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran perform well and garnered strong bids. But that was in the limited-overs format. What about Sam Curran? He will no doubt win the Test debutant of the year going on the back of his Man-of-the-Series performance in the home summer against India. But, it is not common for IPL franchises to pick players based on their red-ball performances. Has that trend changed now?A left-arm fast bowler is always attractive in T20, but Curran bowls at lower speeds, is not part of England’s limited-overs teams and has no creditable performances in the T20 Blast. Age, potential and temperament seem to have gone in Curran’s favour. But will he do justice to his price tag at INR 7.2 crore?
Gaurav SundararamanSam Curran wipes the sweat off during a practice session•Associated PressWhere’s your middle order, Kings XI?
Kings XI Punjab had the biggest purse going into the auction. They spent all but 3.7 of the 35-plus crore purse to stack up the squad and despite that they seem a featherweight batting team.David Miller isn’t the Miller he was back in the day. Karun Nair and Mayank Agarwal struggled in the last IPL and are likely to wrestle for the same spot again. KL Rahul was their talisman last season but his current form hasn’t been great. So getting a back-up batsman, an experienced hand, would have been useful.But Kings XI splurged on on mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy when they already had another mystery spinner in Mujeeb ur Rahman, who bowls in the Powerplay and the death. Not to mention their captain R Ashwin.
Deivarayan MuthuDavid Miller attempts to play the pull shot•BCCIWhy did Delhi spend INR 3.1 cr on Test specialists Vihari and Ishant?
Delhi Daredevils – now Delhi Capitals – have been known to try all kinds of strategies to add to their trophy-less cabinet. Under a different owner, with a new name, they bought the hard-hitting Colin Ingram, handy allrounder Axar Patel and the Caribbean duo of Sherfane Rutherford and Keemo Paul.They also bought Ishant Sharma and Hanuma Vihari, who are seen more as Test specialists.Parth Jindal, Delhi’s co-owner, said one big reason Ishant was bought (at INR 1.1 crore) was because of his familiarity with Ferozshah Kotla, the home venue. Ishant remained unsold last auction till Kings XI got him as a replacement player. But he did not play a single match. Despite his experience, which has helped him lead the Indian Test bowling attack admirably, Ishant struggled to adapt to the demands of the IPL. He is not express, and, importantly does not have the variations to bowl at death.As for Vihari, who made his Test debut in England this year, his strike-rate in T20s is a mere 111.12. He is a good batsman, as far as technique goes, but is not an aggressive one. Still officials at the Delhi table exchanged high fives after getting him for INR 2 crore. What does Vihari offer and where will he fit in Delhi’s famed top order comprising Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant?
Vishal DikshitIshant Sharma eats a banana between overs•Associated PressWhy did no one pick Dale Steyn?
Some of the most expensive buys at the IPL auction were fast bowlers. Even before the auction franchise officials had indicated that fast bowlers, especially good ones, would command attention and money. Yet, one of the fastest bowlers, a modern-day great, went unsold?Extreme pace, lethal swing and solid bowling IQ have made Dale Steyn a household name. But the South African failed to earn a single bid despite his name coming up three times. Why? Is it because Steyn has been hampered by various injuries over the past few years? Is it because the South African players are only available till April 25 and investing in Steyn for just one season is not worth it?
Jayaditya GuptaDale Steyn is pumped after delivering Australia another blow•Getty ImagesWhy was Manoj Tiwary ignored?
India and Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary not fetching even a single bid (base price of INR 50 lakhs) was baffling. Playing for now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant in the 2017 IPL, he had scored 324 runs in 13 innings at an average of 32.40 and a strike rate of 137.28.That performance should have fetched him a bigger role in the 2018 edition, but he was not picked in the XI for the first six games by his new franchise Kings XI Punjab, and didn’t get to play more than two games at a stretch.He got to bat four times in the five games he played, twice coming in at No. 6 and once at No. 7. In the only other innings, he scored a 30-ball 35 from No. 4 to end the tournament with 47 runs at a strike rate of 106.81.However, he bounced back from that, scoring 438 runs at 43.80 with a strike rate of 79.63 in the domestic 50-overs cricket. Yet, Tiwary remained unsold despite his name coming up three times.
Hemant Brar

Wondering wat went wrong on my part after getting Man of a match award wen I scored a hundred 4 my country and got dropped for the next 14 games on a trot ?? Looking at d awards which I received during 2017 IPL season, wondering wat went wrong ??? pic.twitter.com/GNInUe0K3l

— MANOJ TIWARY (@tiwarymanoj) December 18, 2018

Where are the young Indian fast bowlers?
It’s been 12 years of auctions. Have franchises still not figured out how to measure T20 metrics right? What possible reason could they have for splurging on Mohit Sharma (INR 5 crore), Varun Aaron (INR 2.4 crore), Barinder Sran (INR 3.4 crore), Ishant and not going for a young fast bowler instead? This was the perfect auction to do it for several teams, especially those who had most of the squad largely in place.One reason could be that the scouts look outside – at the Big Bash, the CPL, the PSL and the Mzansi league – for fast bowling talent. No Indians there. Looking at performances in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy had some value, but even that is no longer the case since the auctions are held before the domestic T20 tournament. The regional Indian leagues — TNPL and KPL, for example — are not of the same standard so one can’t really form concrete opinions based on performances there.
Saurabh Somani

A look at games that turned the tide for the champion at every tournament

Anantha Narayanan16-Jun-2019Let me first clarify what this article is not: it is not about the most exciting or greatest matches in World Cups. The covered those very admirably a couple of months ago. It is also not a list of matches containing the greatest individual performances. My last article covered outstanding individual performances in ODIs in depth.This article looks at matches that turned the tide for the winners in each World Cup; the most important games for those teams in those specific tournaments. Not every impact was direct. It might have been that perhaps the champion’s most dangerous opponent was knocked out. Or maybe the match jolted the team into pulling up their collective socks. Some of these matches were early in the tournament and some in the knockout stages. I have spent a lot of time analysing the course of each World Cup to make these picks. I’m sure readers will find as much pleasure in reading about them as in finding out the reasons for their inclusion.1975
West Indies v Pakistan, Edgbaston

West Indies won by one wicket
This was a crucial match for both teams. With a win here, Pakistan would have been in the race to qualify for the semi-finals, because they went on to make 330 against Sri Lanka in their next game, which boosted scoring rate. If there had been a three-way tie for points, West Indies might have lost out. And even if they made it to the semis, West Indies might have faced the stronger England there instead of New Zealand. Since this match was right in the middle of the tournament, the whole inaugural World Cup might have taken a different turn.Three contrasting fifties helped Pakistan reach 266, a competitive total. Andy Roberts was the only star bowler in the West Indies attack. In the chase, Sarfraz Nawaz sent back the top three batsmen with 36 on the board, and despite Clive Lloyd’s quick-fire fifty, West Indies slipped to 203 for 9. Then Roberts and keeper Deryck Murray came together to build one of the greatest partnerships in World Cup history and, in the course of 15 momentous overs, steered them home.1979
England v Pakistan, Headingley

Both England and Pakistan had already qualified for the semis, so this match only had significance with regard to group placings – the winner would face New Zealand instead of West Indies in the semi-final.It was a difficult pitch and the game was played at Test-match pace, with Geoff Boycott scoring 18 runs in 54 balls and Graham Gooch 33 in 90. Somehow England lasted 60 overs to reach 165 for 9. In reply, Pakistan collapsed dramatically from 27 without loss to 34 for 6. Seamers Mike Hendrick and Ian Botham were unplayable. The target was low and Asif Iqbal, batting at No. 7, started a recovery, helped by Imran Khan and Wasim Raja, but they eventually were bowled out for 151, the last two wickets going to Boycott.1983
India v Zimbabwe, Tunbridge Wells

This is, arguably, the most significant ODI match ever played by India. They slumped to 9 for 4, 17 for 5 and 78 for 7 before recovering to 266 for 8 thanks to the second-greatest ODI innings of all time, a magnificent 175 not out by Kapil Dev. This win started India’s march towards their magnificent title triumph a week later. If India had lost to Zimbabwe, they might not have qualified for the knockouts, or they might have met West Indies in the semi-finals.Rain played a big role in Pakistan winning the 1992 World Cup•PA Photos1987
India v Australia, Chennai

The fact that Australia ultimately went on to win this World Cup makes their narrow victory over India in their opening game significant, especially since they lost the next encounter between the two teams in the tournament. Geoff Marsh’s pedestrian but invaluable hundred helped Australia post a very good total of 270. India were sitting comfortably at 207 for 2 around the 35th over and an easy win seemed likely when Craig McDermott induced a panic with his four wickets.1992
England v Pakistan, Adelaide

Pakistan arrived in Adelaide needing a win, having won a match and lost one. That looked unlikely when they were bowled out for 74, their lowest World Cup total to date, and they were lucky that rain washed out the game and gave them a valuable one point. It is difficult to conjecture what would have happened if Pakistan had lost in Adelaide. Since they lost their next two matches, they would have been sitting with one win out of five and might not have qualified for the knockouts.1996
Sri Lanka v India, semi-final, Calcutta

After India beat Pakistan in the quarter-final in Bangalore, they were favourites to win the title. In the semi-final at Eden Gardens, Sri Lanka batted first and fell to 35 for 3 – their top three batsmen collectively scoring only two runs in the innings. The No. 4, Aravinda de Silva, attacked Anil Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad and eventually Sri Lanka reached 251, which was hardly a demanding target for the star-studded Indian line-up. Sachin Tendulkar played magnificently and India were comfortable at 98 for 1 when Jayasuriya, who had failed with the bat, struck with the ball. He triggered a collapse by dismissing Tendulkar and Sanjay Manjrekar. India lost seven wickets for 22 runs and needed another 132 to win with two wickets in hand. At that point the Calcutta spectators decided to show their displeasure by throwing bottles on the field and setting fire to the seating in the stands. The match was called off amid mayhem and Sri Lanka were declared deserving winners. They went on to win the World Cup four days later.1999
Australia v South Africa, Headingley

If Australia hadn’t won this Super Six game against South Africa, then, following the tied semi-final at Edgbaston, it would have been South Africa going into the final. A beautifully paced hundred from Herschelle Gibbs and supporting acts by Daryll Cullinan, Jonty Rhodes and Lance Klusener took South Africa to a potentially match-winning 271. Australia lost three quick wickets after which Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting added a match-winning 126 together. Waugh played one of the greatest World Cup innings, remaining unbeaten on 120 to take Australia into the semis with two balls to spare.2003
Australia v Sri Lanka, semi-final, Port Elizabeth

Australia were unbeaten in the 2003 World Cup, and in the group stage, except for a close match against England, they won each game quite comfortably. However, this was not a high-scoring World Cup and the bowlers had their days under the African sun. In the semi-final, despite a composed 91 from Andrew Symonds, Australia only managed a sub-par 212 for 7. But Sri Lanka struggled against Australia’s top-quality pace attack and were reduced to 76 for 7. Kumar Sangakkara and Chaminda Vaas’ 47-run stand only delayed the inevitable. Rain came down in torrents to end the one-sided contest and give Australia an easy D-L win.Would South Africa have made it to the 2007 World Cup final if they hadn’t lost to Bangladesh in the Super Eights?•Getty Images2007
Bangladesh v South Africa, Providence

After their heartbreaks in 1999 and 2003, South Africa came into the 2007 World Cup as strong contenders for the title. They had lost only one match – to Australia – when they met Bangladesh, still considered “minnows”, in the Super Eights. Mohammad Ashraful’s magnificent 87 off 83 balls took Bangladesh to 251 for 8, which should have been easy enough for South Africa’s strong batting line-up. However, the Bangladesh spinners restricted the free-scoring South African batsmen and earned a 67-run win. The result changed the dynamic of the tournament significantly – South Africa now had to meet a rampaging Australia in the semi-final instead of in the final as had been expected.2011
India v Pakistan, semi-final, Mohali
India won by 29 runs
I have selected this match as a tide-turning one for India because, in many ways, it was a more difficult match than the final for them. Tendulkar played, arguably, the worst innings of his career but also perhaps his most valuable one. He scratched around for nearly three hours and was dropped no fewer than four times during his 115-ball 85, which took India to a competitive 260 for 9. There was no big innings from Pakistan, and though nearly all the top-order batsmen got starts, their highest score was 56 (by Misbah-ul-Haq) and their biggest partnership was 44 (between openers Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez). They fell 29 runs short. The five Indian bowlers took two wickets each. It was a scrappy match but a big win for India.2015
New Zealand v Australia, Auckland

In a World Cup Australia dominated and won, I have picked a match they lost. The reason is simple: this defeat stung them hard. After this game, Australia did not put a foot wrong and won six successive matches in commanding fashion to seal their fifth title.This was a low-scoring match punctuated by two terrific fast-bowling performances – by Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc. Brad Haddin dragged Australia up from 106 for 9 to 151. In reply, Brendon McCullum kicked off the chase with a 24-ball 50 and New Zealand’s score was 78 for 1 in less than eight overs. Then Starc got into the act and reduced New Zealand to 99 for 4. From there, they slipped to 146 for 9 before Kane WIlliamson kept his cool and finished the game with a stunning straight six off Pat Cummins.

A look at the current World Cup

I will now look at the strengths of the teams playing in the 2019 World Cup.It will be very difficult for a team to qualify for the semis with four wins but it will also take extraordinarily bad luck not to qualify with six wins. This is not a 9-8-7-6 wins type of tournament, where one team goes through unbeaten, the next team loses one match, and so on. Even the fancied teams are likely to lose matches. Therefore, five wins will be needed to have any chance of qualification. At five wins, it is almost certain that the net run rate will also come into play.With over 20% of the matches washed out and more rain to come, it is clear that the preliminary phase has become a lottery. For these “points shared” matches, whether the point was “gained” or “lost” will only be known later. Still, it’s difficult to see India, England and Australia, despite their initial hiccups, not qualifying for the knockout stages. Only a string of upsets could prevent one of these three teams from making it. The contenders for the fourth place in the semis are, in order of their chances, New Zealand, West Indies and Pakistan. With regret, I have to take South Africa off this list. They have left themselves too much to do, and not all of it in their own hands. From the semis onwards, it’s just a matter of the team having two great days winning the World Cup.I have created a table of team strengths based on the actual XIs fielded by teams in the World Cup so far. (This is updated till the England-West Indies match on June 14.)First, a brief note on the Team Strength indices for batting and bowling. The batting index is a composite of batting average and strike rates for the top seven batsmen. The bowling index is a composite of bowling strike rate and bowling accuracy for the top five bowlers. Both are calibrated in such a way that a value of 50.0 represents the pinnacle. The very few values above 50 are capped at 50.0. The table below lists the strongest XIs fielded by each team in the tournament so far, in terms of team index (overall strength), batting index and bowling index.

India fielded one of the strongest teams ever, in their first match, against South Africa, and their team against Australia was even stronger than that, because these are career-to-date values. They have no weakness and only the slight issue with the middle order pegs their batting down a little.Australia also have a very strong team and this is reflected in their comfortable second position.England’s batting is legendary by now. They are clocking more than 50 but are levelled off at that point for the purposes of this exercise. However, their bowling is nowhere near the level of the other teams. Jofra Archer is still an unknown entity.On paper, South Africa are quite strong With Dale Steyn and a full complement of bowlers, their bowling could have touched an all-time high mark. New Zealand have no weaknesses and are quite close to South Africa.Surprisingly Pakistan’s batting is very strong and they bat deep. However, their bowling is not that great.Now we come to the lower half. Bangladesh’s numbers support the assertion that their team is strong and balanced.Surprisingly, even after introducing a tweak to the ratings parameters for the quality of batting that their bowlers have bowled against, Afghanistan have a very good bowling line-up. Rashid Khan (bowling average of 15.63 – adjusted to around 20), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (20.50 – adjusted to around 25) and Hamid Hassan (21.09 – adjusted to around 26) lead the way. This top-drawer bowling line-up makes up for the weaknesses in their batting.It is a real surprise to see West Indies so far down the table. Their batting is above average – they clock in at well above 40, however, their bowling is ordinary – very high averages, barring Oshane Thomas, who has taken very few wickets. But these numbers do not tell the true story. West Indies could destroy any team on their day, which is the day their bowling works.Sri Lanka are below par in this tournament. The absence of attacking batsmen and quality spinners is hurting them. It is no surprise that they are at the bottom of the list.And finally, shall we all agree that Mohammad Nabi’s over against Sri Lanka was, arguably, the greatest over in the World Cup history?

The cricket world pays tribute to Lasith Malinga after his second four-in-four in internationals

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Sep-2019

#Unbelievable performance by boys..hats off to the Champion mali aiyya..so proud of you guys

— Kusal Mendis (@KusalMendis1) September 6, 2019

History maker #Malinga. Simply amazing

— Jasprit Bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) September 6, 2019

What a performance by @OfficialSLC

— Angelo Mathews (@Angelo69Mathews) September 6, 2019

Just keeps getting better and better! Well done champ #slingamalinga #SLvNZ pic.twitter.com/lS8ZaGNgqW

— Farveez Maharoof (@farveezmaharoof) September 6, 2019

Wow ! Malinga . 4 wickets in 4 balls for the second time in International cricket. Unbelievable #SLvNZ

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) September 6, 2019

Lasith Malinga is still doing his thing….thing that only he’s capable of. 4 wickets in 4 balls. Has done it twice. 5 international hat-tricks in total. Age just a number??

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 6, 2019

Damn right @afidelf https://t.co/Ng5DnAUk0H

— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69) September 6, 2019

What a legend! Unbelievable! #Malinga pic.twitter.com/EhG21H4Rkc

— Krunal Pandya (@krunalpandya24) September 6, 2019

Mumbai posted a huge total but their 22-run victory against Punjab in the end was little more than a scant consolation

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2019Jharkhand v Tamil NaduWashington Sundar and M Siddharth helped Tamil Nadu book a semi-final berth by setting up an easy win against Jharkhand. The spin duo shared seven wickets between them, flattening Jharkhand’s batting line-up and helping bowl them out for 85, which Tamil Nadu’s top-order then mowed down in 13.5 overs. Washington also top-scored with a 22-ball 38.Jharkhand captain Saurabh Tiwary was the only batsman to reach 20, after he had opted to bat. Washington accounted for the first three wickets to fall, following which Tiwary and Sumit Kumar batted it out for 4.1 overs to put up a 17-run stand – the highest in Jharkhand’s innings – before M Ashwin dismissed the former. Left-arm spinner Siddharth then ran riot, picking up three wickets in the space of 12 balls, including a double-strike in the 12th over. R Sai Kishore, the tournament’s top wicket-taker, then made Sonu Singh his 19th victim of the season. Siddharth had Sumit pinned in front in the next over to bag his second four-for this season, to move to 11 wickets in just three games. Vivekanand Tiwari’s run-out in the 19th over ended Jharkhand’s innings, with Washington finishing with figures of 3 for 10 and Siddharth with 4 for 18.Tamil Nadu lost openers C Hari Nishant for 7 and M Shahrukh Khan for 24, before a steady 51-run stand between Washington and Dinesh Karthik ensured a comfortable victory. Tamil Nadu will face Rajasthan in their semi-final in Surat on Friday. R Ashwin will join the squad ahead of the semi-final.Mumbai v PunjabFifties from Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav fired Mumbai to a big total and had the team briefly dreaming of a semi-final spot, but their bowlers were unable to follow through and complete the job. This meant their 22-run victory over Punjab was little more than a consolation.Mumbai began their Group B game in third place, four points behind Karnataka and needing a massive victory to boost their net run rate (NRR) and stand any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.Their batsmen gave them that chance, as Mumbai compiled 243 for 3 from their 20 overs, thanks to Shaw’s rapid start (53 off 27 balls) and later a 140-run third-wicket stand between Iyer (80*) and the captain Yadav (80).Mumbai would have leapfrogged Karnataka had they kept Punjab to 150 or fewer, but those hopes quickly faded as Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma began the chase by racing to 84 inside eight overs. By the time Gill was dismissed for a 38-ball 78, in the 16th over, Punjab had motored to 175, mathematically ending Mumbai’s pursuit of a semi-final spot.Shreyas Iyer bunts one away off the back foot•BCCIPunjab, however, failed to regain momentum after Gill’s wicket, as a double-strike from Tushar Deshpande hampered their chase. They were left needing 47 off the last two overs, and Anmolpreet Singh’s late cameo (20 off 8 balls) was not enough to stave off defeat.Rajasthan v DelhiRajasthan prevailed in a close finish against Delhi to gain the net run-rate advantage over Maharashtra and qualify for the semi-final. Rajasthan, Baroda and Maharashtra all finished with eight points in Super League Group B, but Rajasthan’s superior net run-rate of -0.254 was enough to send them through.Rajasthan rode on Deepak Chahar’s half-century, after being reduced to 50 for 5, to get to a competitive total. Chahar made 53 off 42 balls, slamming seven sixes to help his team post 133 for 7. In reply, Delhi collapsed around Rishabh Pant’s 27-ball 50, with Rahul Chahar and Arjit Gupta polishing off the middle order and reducing them to 61 for 6.A brief resistance between Lalit Singh and Varun Sood kept Delhi’s hopes alive but Khaleel Ahmed and Aniket Choudhary struck to dent them further, as Rajasthan held their nerve to win by two runs.Maharashtra v HaryanaMaharashtra held on for a two-run win against Haryana, but the small margin of victory wasn’t enough to book their passage into the semi-finals. Haryana will meet Karnataka in the 2nd semi-final on Friday.Batting first, Maharashtra made a bright start as their opener Ruturaj Gaikwad razed 27 off 15 balls. Haryana fought back with two quick wickets, but a 77-run stand between Vijay Zol and Rahul Tripathi rebuilt the Maharashtra innings. Tripathi top-scored with a 37-ball 61, as Maharashtra eventually made 167 from their 20 overs.Haryana were dealt an early blow in their chase as Chaitanya Bishnoi was bowled by Samad Fallah off the very first ball. Harshal Patel (22) and Shivam Rishipal Chauhan (33) then steadied the innings, before a 13-ball 28 from Rahul Tewatia left Haryana needing just 43 from the last 37 balls.However, Tewatia’s run-out in the 14th over swung the advantage Maharashtra’s way, as Haryana started to lose wickets at quick intervals. It left the eighth-wicket pair of Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav requiring 11 from the final over, but they could muster just eight runs.

This summer could be an exciting one for Everton and their supporters, having the opportunity to strengthen the first-team squad with investment from The Friedkin Group.

It will be the first full transfer window David Moyes has to make his own mark on the side after taking the reins from Sean Dyche back in January – largely having to work with the players already at Goodison Park.

A move to Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium ahead of the 2025/26 Premier League season could play on the mind of any player linked with a move to join the Toffees, possibly being a star in a new chapter for the club and taking them to the next level.

It’s no secret that the side have been underperforming for numerous years, being involved in countless relegation battles, with the summer a huge opportunity to push the side closer to the top half of the table.

Rumours have been swirling over the last couple of weeks ahead of the opening of the transfer window, with a shock move potentially on the cards for one player already on Merseyside.

Everton planning shock move for £30m star

According to Football Insider, Everton are ready to target a surprise summer move for Liverpool’s young forward Ben Doak.

The 19-year-old, who’s spending the season on loan at Championship side Middlesbrough, could be available for £30m with the teenager unlikely to break into the first-team picture at Anfield.

He’s had an impressive debut season in England’s second tier, notching three goals and seven assists in his 24 outings, playing a key role in Michael Carrick’s play-off push.

The report claims that the Toffees have a growing interest in the Scottish international, with Arne Slot’s side having no issue with selling him to their rivals should an acceptable offer present itself.

It would be a huge investment from the board, but one that could set them up for future success – potentially being their own version of a leading Premier League star.

Why Doak could become Everton’s own Salah

Mohamed Salah has been a leading talent in England’s top flight over the last few years, undoubtedly to the annoyance of Everton supporters.

The Liverpool winger has notched 184 goals in the Premier League after his move to Anfield back in the summer of 2017, with eight of his efforts coming against the Toffees.

There’s no denying that he’s an elite-level talent, but Moyes’ side could land their own version of the Egyptian this summer should Doak move across Merseyside.

The similarities between the Scotsman and Salah are there for all to see, with the pair both having blistering pace and their desire to cut inside onto their favoured foot – with the obvious factor being that both currently are on the books of Slot’s side.

Joining from the Reds would undoubtedly be a controversial move, but one that could excite supporters, with Doak producing some similar stats to the Liverpool star – albeit in a lower-quality division.

The Scotsman, who’s been labelled a “generational” talent by one analyst, may have registered fewer combined goals and assists, but has managed to achieve a higher shot-on-target accuracy rate – showcasing the attacking threat he carries.

He’s also completed more take-ons per 90, whilst also achieving more progressive carries per 90, highlighting his superb talent with the ball at his feet.

Doak is still only 19, having the ability to develop further down the line, subsequently taking his career to the next level with more minutes in the top-flight, something which he won’t receive with the Reds.

Whilst £30m would be a huge sum to splash out on a young prospect, he’s already demonstrated that he has the tools to make it at the top level, potentially being a bargain should he continue on his upward trajectory.

Should he get anywhere near the levels produced by Salah over the last few years, it would be a sensational piece of business, taking the side to new heights upon their move to the new stadium.

He plays like Moise Kean: Everton join race to sign £40m "wrecking ball"

Everton are gearing up to sign a striker in the transfer market this summer.

By
Angus Sinclair

Apr 9, 2025