Punjab execute plans to perfection in resounding win

Yuvraj Singh led from the front as Punjab secured their first win of the season © Cricaction

By this time last week, Punjab were left wondering where they went wrong in their opening encounter of the new season. Despite a star-studded line-up, they failed to not only defeat Railways but also conceded the first innings lead as they stuttered to a draw. With a tight schedule though, they had little time to recover before their next match began in Lahli against Madhya Pradesh. By the end of the second session on the final day, the mood in the camp changed.

Madhya Pradesh had a chance! A chance to win the game at the start of the day's play even though they were on the back foot for the majority of the contest. They also a chance to force a draw in the second session, which again they squandered. The plans Punjab had put in place worked to perfection. It all began from the timing of their declaration on the third day. The team management decided to give their seamers somewhere around ten overs to pick up a wicket or two by the end of the day's play, which they gladly obliged as Shubek Singh Gill got rid of Mukul Raghav in the final session on the penultimate day.

Prior to the declaration, Punjab could have played it safe. They could have taken their time to post a big score in order to give MP a huge target and ensure they take defeat completely out of the equation. But Punjab didn't want another draw. Their approach was fantastic. Victories are not handed out on a platter, especially against a gritty side like MP, who began the campaign with a bang against Uttar Pradesh. Their inspirational skipper Devendra Bundela refuses to brand them as underdogs despite lacking star power in their line-up. Against a side that had its moments in the game, Punjab had to force the issue in order to have a crack at victory.

They knew that the ball would be only eight to ten overs new at the start of the final day's play, something which their fast bowlers could exploit in these conditions where the water level is higher, as admitted by first-innings centurion Gurkeerat Singh.

"300 runs on the board in this wicket is quite tough to chase," Gurkeerat had said following the third day's play. "In the morning session, the wicket is damp, the water level over here is quite up, so maybe we get some assistance and get them out as early as possible." And indeed they did. MP began well in the first 45 minutes and even scored some boundaries to create panic in the Punjab dressing room but the seamers remained patient. Four pacers including a debutant were picked in the XI considering the nature of the track and the senior most struck first.

Manpreet Singh Gony, who picked up six in the first innings, found a touch of luck to dismiss Rajat Patidar as the ball slowly went on to disturb the stumps after he inside-edged it onto his pads. That was the opening they needed as the tall seamer struck again exactly four overs later by trapping opener Aditya Shrivastava for 27. With the top order back in the pavilion, skipper Bundela and Harpreet Singh Bhatia, who had scored a double century in the first game had a huge task in their hands. This partnership was crucial to MP's plans and the opposition knew it too. Fifteen balls later, Gony landed the crucial blow by trapping Harpreet plumb in front to nullify MP's chances of going for a win.

Three big wickets in the first session and that was job well done for the bowling side. With 199 more runs needed in the final two sessions and six wickets in hand, MP had to make a decision during the break. Either you play out and be content with a draw or go for the win and risk a loss. Bundela and Shubham Sharma, who looked assured in the first innings, added fifty patient runs but their tactics still weren't clear.

Punjab, on the other hand, were clear with what they had to do. Even with the bat, Punjab's plans in the first innings paid off. They had clear intentions to be positive and look for runs in the final session after tiring out the MP bowlers in the first two, as revealed by Gurkeerat. Jiwanjot Singh did the hard part initially by blunting the attack and then 158 runs came in that final session on the first day.

Their seamers refused to bowl very full on the surface and kept resorting to bowling back of a length in order to get movement off the track. Probably that was the reason why Sandeep Sharma wasn't effective as the other three. Sandeep generally relies on swing and isn't 'hit the deck hard' kind of bowler like Gony. But he was the one who provided Punjab with the first breakthrough post lunch. An element of luck was present in it though as a straight ball from the 23-year-old kept a bit low to shatter Bundela's stumps. But there was no such luck in the next dismissal though as the short leg fielder was perfectly stationed a couple of steps back than his usual position for Ankit Dane. He fell for the trap as the ball looped up in the air after taking the inside edge to land on the same fielder's palms.

With six wickets down, the cat and mouse game began as Ankit Sharma decided to play his shots with Shubham dropping anchor at the other end. The plan was probably to take it as close to the target as possible with a quickfire cameo. It didn't work though as Ankit played one shot too many as he edged one behind to give Gony his tenth wicket of the match. The Punjab selector who was present at the venue had a smile on his face. The move to persist with Gony, who had fallen off the radar in recent years after a strong start to his career, paid off. The 32-year-old badly needed this performance with young pacers knocking on the doors. Barindar Sran is recovering and is expected to be picked once he regains fitness, the debutant Shubek had a decent game and so did Siddarth Kaul, who bowled without luck for the major part of the game.

By this time, a small group of people were present in the ground hoping to catch a glimpse of Yuvraj Singh. At one point, the cheers were clearly audible when he brought himself on to bowl for one over. Kaul on the other end though finally picked up a wicket. He let out a huge roar after getting Shubham caught behind. Prior to that, at one stage he got frustrated when he kept missing the outside edge of the bat and had to be egged on by his teammates. He got rewarded for his patience in the end as he added the last two wickets as well to his tally to complete the formalities.

Punjab will be boosted soon by the return of Harbhajan Singh, who missed the first two games. Mandeep Singh will be back as well following the conclusion of the One-Day International series, but on the flip side, tougher challenges lie ahead with the likes of Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Uttar Pradesh present in the same group. But expect this unit to be a step ahead of their opposition and put their plans in place yet again.

Younis Khan included in Pakistan squad for second Test against West Indies

It will be interesting to see if Babar Azam makes way for the 38-year-old veteran © Cricaction

Younis Khan, Pakistan's veteran batsman, has been included in the squad for the second Test against West Indies, to be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi from Friday (October 21). The 38-year-old had missed the first game, also Pakistan's first Day-Night Test, after being advised for his recovery from a dengue fever.

The illness had previously forced the batsman from playing in the opening round matches in the domestic tournament - Quaid-e-Azam trophy. It remains to be seen if his return is made way for by Babar Azam's exclusion, who made his debut in the first Test, wherein he scored a half-century in the first innings. 

Younis played a key role in Pakistan's drawn Test series in England that catapulted them to the top ranking in Tests, albeit temporarily. After slow starts in the first three Tests, Younis enthralled the crowd at The Oval with a scintillating double century in the first innings of the fourth Test, that laid the foundation for Pakistan's 10-wicket victory.

SC reserves order as BCCI seeks more time to implement Lodha reforms

Anurag Thakur filed a personal affidavit to explain the request he made to ICC and denied that he tried coerce Shashank Manohar to state that the Lodha reforms would be seen as government interference. © Cricaction

The Supreme Court of India, on Monday (October 17), reserved its order regarding Board of Control for Cricket in India's implementation of the Lodha reforms in toto, after the Indian cricket board sought more time for the same. The suggestion, put forth by Amicus Curiae Gopal Subramaniam that the the top brass of the board should be removed owing to non-compliance of an order from the supreme court, but the apex court deemed that step to be an "extreme measure".

While making room for BCCI's request, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) has asked for a written undertaking from the board on the dates by which the cricket board will implement the Lodha reforms completely. On its part, BCCI has maintained that it put all the proposals to vote amongst its members and those that received the mandatory 2/3rd majority would be implemented.

During the course of Monday's hearing, BCCI president Anurag Thakur filed a personal affidavit in the Supreme Court, one that was asked of him on a previous hearing on October 7. He explained his conversations with ICC President Shashank Manohar in the affidavit and denied trying to coerce him to state that the Lodha reforms would be seen as government interference.

"I am filing this affidavit pursuant to the order dated 7 October, passed by this court, on whether I had asked the ICC CEO to state that the appointment of Justice Lodha Committee was tantamount to government interference in the working of the BCCI," Thakur said in his affidavit. "At the outset, it is denied that any such request was put forth by me to the CEO of the ICC."

"Pointed out to chairman Shashank Manohar that when he was BCCI president he had taken a view that the recommendations of Justice Lodha committee appointing the nominee of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on apex council would amount to governmental interference and might invoke an action of suspension from ICC; therefore requested him that being the ICC Chairman can a letter be issued clarifying the position which he had taken as BCCI President, " the affidavit further explained.

During its previous hearing on October 6 , the apex court had given BCCI one day to adhere, in writing, to the administrative and functional reforms proposed by the Justice Lodha committee. The three-member judge had dismissed BCCI's response to the status report filed by the Lodha committee following the board's failure to meet an important deadline with respect to the implementation of a Memorandum of Associations (MoA). On October 7, the court adjourned the hearing till after their 10-day break, on October 17.

Earlier that week, the Lodha committee moved the supreme court over what they termed as the BCCI taking a defiant stance towards reforms. The sport's governing body in India had adopted a rather selective approach during its September 30 Special General Meeting towards implementing the July 18 recommendations of the Lodha panel - having down-voted key proposals including the one-state-one-vote and the age and tenure caps for board administrators.

The Lodha committee, also comprising retired supreme court judges Ashok Bhan and R Raveendran, was setup by the apex court of India in January 2015 to pronounce the quantum of punishment for those found guilty by the Mudgal report pertaining to the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal. In addition to pronouncing the punitive measures for perpetrators, the top court of law empowered the trio to recommend changes in the administration of BCCI. Over the course of the year, the trio met various stakeholders of the game, including former cricketers and BCCI office bearers before putting forth their reforms.

Darren Bravo's majestic hundred keeps West Indies in the hunt

Numerous great tales in the history of cricket have that moment where defeat is in the air, with little hope left of charting a comeback. However, just in the nick of time, the talisman emerges to end the barren run of doom and gloom. Darren Bravo, the mainstay of the West Indies batting line-up, galvanised the visitors in times of need with a majestic hundred to give them genuine hope of pulling a heist on Day 5 of the Day-night Test at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday (October 17). The tourists ended the second session at 232 for 6, chasing 346.

As nerves were frayed and fingernails chomped, Roston Chase (35) and Bravo played with poise and equanimity. If Chase's innings consisted of wristy flicks, then Bravo crunched languid drives, cuts and punches. In the 67th over of the innings, the way he expertly cut Yasir Shah off the rough exemplifies the point. As the sound of Bravo's willow on the leather filled the air, the worried look on Misbah-ul-Haq's face indicated that the self belief which took Pakistan briefly to the No. 1 Test spot was slowly ebbing away. There were some shrill appeals made by the close-in fielders too as the situation got desperate.

It was Yasir who lifted the spirits of the home side by castling Chase. The all-rounder tried to whip the legspinner from round the wicket and his stumps took a beating. Incidentally, Chase had played a wristy flick off the previous delivery, too. The credit has to go to the ace spinner for holding his nerve to entice the right-hander to again attempt the shot.

It took almost 24 overs for Yasir to snare his first wicket of the innings and not surprisingly, he celebrated the dismissal by pumping his fist. Wahab Riaz, the gutsy fast bowler then bowled a peach of a delivery to dislodge Shane Dowrich. From slightly wide of the crease, he used the inswinger and then it straightened on the angle to clean up the wicketkeeper-batsman. Dowrich had a bemused look on his face as he walked back to the pavilion perhaps wondering how could he have kept out that delivery.

Even after Riaz and Yasir made inroads into the line-up, Bravo continued to collect boundaries at will. Misbah had a packed off-side field, but just couldn't prevent the left-hander from spanking free-flowing drives and the left-hander reached his hundred in style with a cover-drive. At the Dinner break, with Bravo at the crease, West Indies would still believe they have a chance to register a famous win. However, he needs support from the other end and will be hoping that skipper Jason Holder can play the ideal second fiddle.

Earlier, In what turned out a dour and attritional first session, Bravo's steady hand guided the tourists to Tea. On a track offering enough assistance for the spinners, Bravo didn't alter his game-plan and grounded out a useful knock. He showed the required batting expertise to use the crease and defend off the back foot with his stout blade. Only at the fag end of the session, he played a shot of class and quality with a sublime punch off Wahab Riaz to collect a boundary.

However, Pakistan chipped away at the batting order by picking up a couple of scalps. Marlon Samuels, who was earmarked as one of the key batsmen for West Indies to chase down the target, came a cropper as Mohammad Amir dismissed him off the first ball of the day. From round the wicket, Amir bowled that teasing off-stump line and got the ball to straighten on the angle to induce the outside edge.

For a while, Bravo and Jermaine Blackwood (15) resisted as runs came in a trickle. Eventually, Mohammad Nawaz snuffed out Blackwood leg-before. Initially, it was adjudged not-out, but Misbah took the punt by asking for the review and the decision was overturned. The angle seemed to be taking it down leg, but the HawkEye projected that the ball would knock over the leg-stump.

Pakistan stuck to their task quite well and were rewarded with a couple of scalps. Amir and Yasir Shah shackled the opposition by bowling tidy lines. The rest of the bowlers, too, hardly gave away any freebies. The hosts also looked to dry up the runs by having more fielders in front of the wicket but Bravo was unfazed as he came up with a defiant knock to keep West Indies' hopes alive.

Brief scores: Pakistan 579/3 (Azhar Ali 302*, Sami Aslam 90; Devendra Bishoo 2-125) and 123 (Sami Aslam 44; Devendra Bishoo 8-49) lead West Indies 357 (Darren Bravo 87, Marlon Samuels 76; Yasir Shah 5-121) and 232/6 (Leon Johnson 47, Darren Bravo 102* Leon Johnson 47; Mohammad Amir 3-52) by 114 runs