Ex-Spain boss Vicente del Bosque warns Xabi Alonso not to overwork Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr defensively, saying it could backfire at Real Madrid.

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• Del Bosque urges Alonso to “accept” Mbappe and Vinicius’ flaws
• Warns that focusing on their defending may “mess things up”
• Both players prefer similar attacking zones

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• WHAT HAPPENED?

  As Alonso prepares for a new era with both Mbappe and Vinicius in his squad, concerns have emerged over whether the two left-sided attackers can coexist effectively on the pitch. Their overlapping styles and lack of defensive work rate could pose problems.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The French striker's arrival sparked excitement but also tactical puzzles for the Spanish giants throughout his debut season under Carlo Ancelotti. With Vinicius already thriving on the left, questions have surfaced over positional adjustments and team balance, presenting a problem for new boss Alonso to solve. The issue became more pressing after their recent 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup, prompting wider discussions about how Madrid can make the partnership work without disrupting the team dynamic.

• WHAT DEL BOSQUE SAID

  While speaking with , Spain’s 2010 World Cup-winning manager Del Bosque gave his take, warning Alonso not to over-correct the situation: "A coach's obligation is to accept a little of who they are and, from there, try to get the best possible performance from them. And if you like Mbappe, then he has to play. And if you like Vinicius, then he has to play too."

  He reminded Alonso that the players reached an elite level because of who they are, saying: "If not, then they wouldn't be Vinicius and they wouldn't be Mbappe. In the end, we often have to accept who they are, although that shouldn't jeopardize what should be teamwork. It's a fundamental lesson in football. First, we have to be all one. We have to do all the jobs we have to do, both defensive and offensive.

  "Many times you have to look the other way and take advantage of who they are and accept them as they are with their flaws. If you're trying to get the most out of these players defensively, you might be messing things up because you lose what Mbappe and Vinicius are in front of goal. In the end, all opinions count."

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  WHAT NEXT FOR ALONSO AND REAL MADRID?

  Alonso’s task is clear: build a system that maximises both stars without compromising the team. Pre-season matches will be a testing ground for finding the right formula. Fans and pundits will watch closely to see if the new Los Blancos coach can strike a balance between tactical discipline and creative freedom.

da bwin： Aston Villa have booked a medical for a transfer target after agreeing terms over a four-year deal at Villa Park, and he could be the club’s next Jhon Duran.

How Jhon Duran is doing in Saudi Arabia after Aston Villa sale

da realbet： It looked as if the 2024/25 season would be Duran’s big breakthrough campaign under Unai Emery, especially after he scored a famous winner against Bayern Munich in the Champions League league phase.

Duran’s stats for Aston Villa

Games

78

Goals

20

Assists

1

Minutes played

2,275

However, despite being a regular in the first half of the season, Duran was sold by Villa to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr in the January transfer window. Talking after moving to Saudi Arabia, Duran said: “I’m really happy about the move. People in general and the media speculate about a lot of things. I think of only my family, my agent and me. I know why we make the decisions that we make. My family are especially important in these decisions. I don’t think it’s a backwards step for me. I’m moving to a competitive league and there are many stars here.”

Villa could go on to receive more than £70m after only signing Duran for £18m from Chicago Fire in January 2023, and the Colombia international has gone on to score on a regular basis for his new employers. In 18 appearances for Al-Nassr, Duran has scored 12 goals, partnering Cristiano Ronaldo in attack.

Villa are now on the search for their next attacking gem, and they feel they may have found it in likely first summer signing Zepiqueno Redmond following talks last month.

Aston Villa book medical to sign Zepiqueno Redmond

According to Football Insider and reporter Pete O’Rourke, Aston Villa have planned for Feyenoord forward Redmond to have his Midlands medical early next week.

The teenager has agreed a four-year deal with Villa and a move will be made official when his Feyenoord contract expires at the end of June.

Aged just 18, Redmond can play on either wing or as an attacking midfielder alongside his centre-forward role, and according to O’Rourke, ‘Emery and Monchi believe the Netherlands youth international can become as successful as Duran, the last teenage striker they signed.’

It is a big claim, and if Redmond can have the success Duran did in the Midlands, then Aston Villa will definitely be onto a winner and could go on to make big money further down the line.

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Fabrizio Romano has called Redmond “a talent” and “a striker with important potential”, with clubs in Italy also keen on the forward before Villa made their move.

The youngster will arrive at Villa after scoring two senior goals for Feyenoord in just nine appearances, so we may see him in Emery’s match day squads from the off in 25/26.

Liverpool have put paid to any notion of second-season syndrome under Arne Slot’s wing by attacking the transfer market with vicious intent.

The Reds surpassed expectations by winning the Premier League last term, and they did without a proper focal frontman. Sure, Luis Diaz filled in nicely as a false nine, but Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota both flattered to deceive, and the former is at risk of being sold.

If and when that happens, Liverpool will need to sign a new centre-forward, and though Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak appears to be off the market after securing a route back into the Champions League.

A whole host of names have been linked with a move to Anfield, and one of the most recent belongs to Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres, having reportedly made contact with the Swedish goalscorer in May.

Manchester United currently lead the race, and maybe that hints the 27-year-old might not be the best option on the market for the Merseysiders.

Still, Liverpool desperately need a new number nine.

Why Liverpool need a striker

Last season, Mohamed Salah led Liverpool to the Premier League title. Football is a team sport, and the sum of a brilliant team is greater than its individual parts, but the Egyptian King proved an exception to that rule.

Across 52 matches in all competitions, Salah scored 34 goals and supplied his teammates with 23 assists. He leapt his way into the upper level of the all-time Premier League scoring charts, now fifth with 186 goals, one strike behind Andy Cole and two ahead of the retired Sergio Aguero.

His talismanic campaign, making good on a promise, has crowned him a two-time English league winner, picking up the sweeping gamut of individual accolades too.

Why does this matter? We were going to discuss Liverpool’s interest in a new striker, after all. Well, Liverpool’s main man turns 33 in just a few days, and though he’s extended his record-breaking contract by two years, he cannot be expected to heave the bulk of his attacking peers in the same way.

Liverpool need someone more reliable than Nunez, who only scored seven goals last term. The likes of Gyokeres have been touted, sure, but Liverpool might have found an even better option.

Liverpool hold talks for new striker

According to Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, Liverpool are still interested in Eintracht Frankfurt centre-forward Hugo Ekitike, despite Chelsea making all the noise in recent weeks.

In fact, the reporter claims Liverpool have “held concrete talks with the player’s camp”, perhaps just awaiting clarity on the futures of their expendable forwards.

The major sticking point is that Frankfurt want €100m (£84m) for their rising star, but given that he’s yet to fully grow into his skin, this perhaps skates beyond the line of plausibility.

Why Liverpool should sign Hugo Ekitike

Ekitike only scored four goals across 33 senior outings for Paris Saint-Germain, thus choosing to make his name away from the bloated Parisian superpower.

He hasn’t looked back. After finishing the 2023/24 campaign in good form, Ekitike stepped into his first full term on strong footing, wrapping things up with 22 goals and 12 assists across 48 fixtures.

Once hailed as “the next Mbappe” by journalist Graeme Bailey, it’s easy to see why he’s held in such high regard, fostering a keen-edged offensive style and marrying it with his rounded underlying qualities.

Sporting’s Gyokeres might be among the hottest commodities on the market, but Liverpool’s data-driven system would be sure to reveal Ekitike as the more desirable pick.

Matches (starts)

33 (31)

Goals

15

Assists

7

Shots (on target)*

3.5 (1.5)

Big chances missed

16

Pass completion

76%

Big chances created

12

Key passes*

1.3

Dribbles*

1.6

Duels won*

4.2

The key thing is he’s finding his feet in front of goal and boasts a combative and creative underlying skill set. For sure, Gyokeres has proven to be a more clinical goalscorer in Portugal, but Ekitike’s multi-faceted game suggests his ceiling his higher, having already been hailed by analyst Ben Mattinson as “one of the best centre-forwards out there.”

Further to that point, Nunez was as prolific as they come for Benfica before Liverpool paid the big bucks to bring him over to England, scoring 34 goals across 41 games in 2021/22.

Ekitike, however, bespeaks completeness through his data. As per FBref, he ranked among the top 10% of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues last year for assists, the top 6% for shot-creating actions, the top 4% for progressive carries and successful take-ons and the top 19% for ball recoveries per 90.

Athletic and dynamic, the archetype for greatness is right there, especially when considering he’s five years Gyokeres’ junior too.

Journalist Bence Bocsak recently discussed Anfield’s interest in the “unique talent”, going on to say, “For the right price, Ekitike would be the perfect forward at Liverpool under Arne Slot.”

Finances will, of course, hold sway in the decision-making, and Liverpool (like Chelsea) aren’t likely to fork out something in the ballpark of £84m for a raw centre-forward, his potential untapped.

Ekitike truly is the perfect profile to unify Liverpool’s frontline over the coming years. Would Gyokeres bring a consistent supply of goals? Yes, he would. But is he the perfect man for the job?

In Ekitike, Slot can fashion a superstar, and that’s the Liverpool way.

Worst sale since Mane: "World-class" Liverpool star now in talks to leave

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ByAngus Sinclair Jun 9, 2025

Both teams still seeking first win after final-ball drama

ECB Media30-Jul-2024Northern Superchargers 100 for 7 (Davidson-Richard’s 27, Bell 4-11) tied with Southern Brave 100 for 8 (Tryon 25, Smith 2-24)Kate Cross scrambled two runs off the final ball to level the scores and secure a tie between Northern Superchargers and Southern Brave in the Hundred.On a slow and used wicket, boundary-hitting never looked easy and Superchargers’ chase of 100 was a nervous and fraught affair throughout, off the back of a first-innings batting effort from Southern Brave that was equally scrappy.Brave – well marshalled by captain Georgia Adams – used the conditions and kept the stumps in play to maintain the pressure in the chase, and were thankful to England seamer Lauren Bell whose 4 for 11 was the standout performance of the game.Both Phoebe Litchfield and Alice Davidson-Richards looked to have the chase in hand for Hollie Armitage’s side, but on a nip-and-tuck day that saw momentum swing this way and that, both players were dismissed just as they seemed to be putting their team’s nose in front.Only Maia Bouchier and Chloe Tryon passed 20 for Southern Brave, but Rhianna Southby and Bell played a hugely important role with bat in hand to inch their team up to the psychologically important three-figure total.As it was, Southern Brave’s total was just enough to not be surpassed by Superchargers, but both sides will feel they missed the opportunity to get their first win of the Hundred on the board.Meerkat Match Hero Lauren Bell said: “The emotions were up and down! In that last set of five I had a lot of adrenaline. It was cool, that’s what we play cricket for.”You just go ball by ball at the death, and see what player you’re bowling at. Pace-off was working on this pitch, and pace-on was a good variation, so it was ball by ball.”The ideal final ball was a straight yorker and I don’t think I was too far away from executing. Maybe we should have just looked at the field a bit but what can you do, hindsight is lovely.”

حسم منتخب قطر، تأهله إلى نهائيات كأس العالم القادم 2026 المقرر إقامته في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية وكندا والمكسيك، بعدما تصدر مجموعته في المرحلة النهائية من تصفيات آسيا.

منتخب قطر، انتصر على الإمارات بهدفين مقابل هدف، في الجولة الأخيرة من عمر المرحلة النهائية لـ تصفيات آسيا المؤهلة إلى كأس العالم.

منتخب قطر، تواجد في المرحلة الرابعة والنهائية، مع مجموعة تضم كل من الإمارات وعمان، من أجل التأهل إلى كأس العالم.

وتصدر منتخب قطر، ترتيب المجموعة الثانية من المرحلة النهائية لـ تصفيات كأس العالم، برصيد 4 نقاط، من فوز اليوم على الإمارات وتعادل في الجولة الأولى مع عمان.

بينما منتخب الإمارات سيخوض ملحق قاري آسيوي ضد صاحب المركز الثاني في المجموعة الثانية التي تضم السعودية والعراق وإندونيسيا ثم يلعب ملحق عالمي مع القارات الأخرى.

طالع | المنتخبات المتأهلة إلى كأس العالم 2026 (محدث باستمرار)

ومن خلال المرحلة الرابعة النهائية، كان تم تقسيم المنتخبات التي احتلت المركزين الثالث والرابع في المرحلة الثالثة، إلى مجموعتين من 6 منتخبات، كل مجموعة تضم 3 منتخبات، يتأهل المتصدر من كل المجموعة لاكتمال عدد المنتخبات من قارة آسيا.

وكانت 6 منتخبات حسمت التأهل بشكل مباشر من المرحلة الثالثة إلى نهائيات كأس العالم، وهي إيران وأوزبكستان وكوريا الجنوبية والأردن واليابان وأستراليا، تم تأهل قطر من المرحلة الرابعة في انتظار المتأهل الأخير بين السعودية والعراق من المجموعة الثانية. ترتيب مجموعة قطر في تصفيات كأس العالم

1- قطر، 4 نقاط.

2- الإمارات، 3 نقاط.

3- عمان، نقطة.

Sporting CP star and top Arsenal transfer target, Viktor Gyokeres, has made an intriguing admission to teammates, amid reports that the clubs are advancing in talks over his move to north London.

Portuguese media claim Arsenal have agreed fee to sign Viktor Gyokeres

Over the last seven days, reports in the Portuguese media have boldly claimed that Arsenal are making serious progress in their bid to tempt the 26-year-old back to England.

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Following his quite ridiculous haul of 53 goals across 51 appearances in all competitions this season, Gyokeres has emerged as a prime striker target for Arsenal, with sporting director Andrea Berta said to be personally pushing for him.

“Andrea Berta is pushing to sign Viktor Gyökeres for Arsenal,” said Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg a fortnight ago.

Sporting CP

101

96

28

Coventry City

116

43

17

Brommapojkarna

67

25

9

FC St. Pauli

28

7

4

Swansea City

12

1

0

Brighton

8

1

1

via Transfermarkt

“Several talks have already taken place. Alexander Isak remains high on the Gunners’ list, as previously revealed — but he’s very expensive. Manchester United, Chelsea, and Real Madrid are all in the race. No commitments yet. Everything is still open. Bayern are currently out — too expensive. As exclusively revealed in October, Gyökeres can leave Sporting this summer for €60–70 million, due to a verbal agreement between the player and the club.”

Since then, the likes of newspaper O Jogo, sharing information in the last few days, have reported that Gyokeres is “on his way to Arsenal”, with the Gunners and Sporting shaking hands on a £59 million fee.

Last week, fellow Portuguese source A Bola made claims of an Arsenal offer to Gyokeres over personal terms worth £135,000-per-week as well, though reports closer to home have since stated that Berta is actually prepared to hand out a £10 million-per-year salary package (CaughtOffside).

£59 million would be considered one of the bargains of the summer for one of Europe’s most lethal goalscorers in his prime, so it will be intriguing to see if this does in fact come to fruition.

Viktor Gyokeres makes admission amid Arsenal agreement claims

However, according to Sporting midfielder and teammate Pedro Goncalves, the Swede is remaining coy over his future.

Confirming what the striker has told him, Goncalves states that Gyokeres said he’s ‘not a fortune-teller’ when asked if he could stay at Sporting – appearing to commit his future.

“I asked [Gyokeres], and we all asked him. He says he’s not a fortune-teller,” said Goncalves.

“We still have the Portuguese Cup against Benfica to play. I have a very good relationship with him, but I don’t talk about it with him. What I know is because of Fabrizio Romano… I’m sticking with him. I don’t know if he’s going to leave.

“I feel like he’s evolved a lot since he arrived. There are training sessions where it seems like he’s holding back.”

The Scandinavian superstar is making waves abroad, and it appears inevitable that he’s set to leave Sporting. The only question is, who can win the race for him?

Judging by recent reports, Arsenal appear to be firmly in pole position as things stand.

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It is typical of cricket to vilify a bowler’s actions despite having behaved within the laws of the game

Sidharth Monga28-Mar-20191:12

Ashwin’s brush with mankading over the years

It says a lot about cricket that more noise has been made around the spirit of cricket than the actual legality of R Ashwin’s run-out of Jos Buttler, despite this being a rare instance where such a run-out could be questioned under the laws of the game.The decision after deliberation should still be out, but this was a case where the law provides a bigger defence for the batsman than the spirit. Yet again, though, a bowler is being vilified for merely asking for the law to be enforced.That is not to say the spirit of cricket is absolutely bogus. If a pair of batsmen, for example, starts to manipulate scoring to allow one of them to get to a century in a small chase, you can see why some might see it as a disrespect to the opposition: “We are not only beating you, we can also afford to turn down runs while we do so.”There could be a case made for not running out a batsman who has stumbled and fallen in the middle of the pitch.In a way it is good that it is left as a matter of personal preference. It reveals human nature: a player known for following the spirit might not do so in the final over of a tight match. Either way, it should not be for us to vilify those who don’t follow what our perception of the spirit of cricket is.Never forget this is a sport that celebrates practices that are much more unethical. Bullying, by way of verbal abuse, of players identified as mentally weak is but one. Appealing when you clearly know the batsman is not out is an attempt to capitalise on an umpire’s weakness and fallibility. There is a way to justify it to yourself: even if we don’t do it, the opposition won’t stop, and our team will be at a disadvantage.But this run-out is the rarest of rare, not just as a dismissal but as a case study. The problem on this occasion is that the spirit is in direct conflict with the laws. Ever since the run-out, it is Ashwin who has been rebuked and asked to explain himself, whereas Buttler’s contravention of the law is taken for granted.People have two categories of problems with this dismissal. First is pure sanctimony – and it comes from past, present and future greats too – wherein it is unethical to ever run out a batsman stealing ground. Some of this bunch prescribe one or two warnings before any bowler can even consider attempting a run-out in such a fashion.Jos Buttler and R Ashwin have an exchange after the mankading incident•AFPPeople are bound to be confused. Why is it okay to appeal when you know the batsman is not out but such a grave crime to punish the batsman for straying from his crease before the ball has been delivered? There is another argument that this dismissal doesn’t involve skill, and is thus not earned. How about sharpness and game awareness? How about making the batsman earn the whole run and not steal a part of it?Cricket is not too unlike human society. It is played by highly skilled, disciplined and driven individuals, but within it, just like the larger society, there exist opportunists and also those who strive to snub this opportunism with further opportunism. Why expect more of a player than what is required by law? And why ask only the bowlers to uphold the spirit of cricket?Just because batsmen have been wandering out of their crease all this while, that doesn’t negate the fact that they have been gaining crucial feet or yards, and are thus themselves acting against this beast called the spirit of cricket. This is a great opportunity for cricket to become less elite, and rid the bowler of this burden.The other problem lies exclusively with this particular run-out. It is said – even by MCC now – that Ashwin is in contravention of spirit of cricket because he waited too long. It was a complex enough decision under the law anyway. In 2017, MCC issued an amendment to law 41, which deals with unfair play (a subtitle which clearly implies it is the batsman who is indulging in unfair activity). The law now allows the bowler to attempt to run the non-striker out from “the moment the ball comes into play to the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball”.A chain of events here is important. Six years before MCC formalised this as a law, the ICC had taken the lead and overwritten this rule in its own playing conditions by allowing a bowler to attempt the run-out “before releasing the ball, and provided he has not completed his usual delivery swing”. In 2017, the MCC update changed the law to align it with the ICC Playing Regulations, and so the ambiguity was codified.Had Ashwin done this before 2017, there would be no debate over the legality of this run-out. As it happened, in this case, the third umpire found himself making a call on whether Buttler would still have been inside the crease when Ashwin would normally have been expected to release the ball. How do you go about estimating the expected normal release of the ball when Ashwin’s arm didn’t even begin to go up?This is where Fraser Stewart, the laws manager of MCC, has told ESPNcricinfo that Ashwin paused for too long, thus indulging in entrapment. Stewart is a much-respected voice when it comes to laws of cricket. The MCC’s laws might seem verbose to some, but they are an elegant piece of work. In this case, both might be muddled.Stewart says the law was changed – from any time before the release to the new “expected” release – to allow the non-strikers to focus on the strikers who are smashing back balls harder than ever. What about the umpires then? They don’t have helmets, they are not even as agile as non-strikers, and they are looking at the bowler’s foot and then looking up at the batsman.And why can’t the non-striker look at the striker from the crease? And, most importantly, why leave at a disadvantage those batsmen who actually follow the law and watch the bowler releasing the ball before leaving the crease?It is an extremely slippery slope to chastise Ashwin for his intent here. It would be extremely harsh to surmise that Ashwin cynically waited for the batsman to leave the crease. It literally happened within a second. There is just one second between his back foot landing and the bail coming off. Don’t forget that a lot of clips you are seeing are slow-motion replays, slowed down to expand this action to five seconds. Buttler is out of his crease for three of those expanded seconds. Even DRS doesn’t have the predictive path to tell you if Ashwin would have “normally released” the ball in that 40 percent of a second.

Isn’t the central point of this sport that bowlers have to outwit batsmen within the laws of the game?

It is even more unfair to blame a bowler for premeditation, even though Ashwin has asserted twice that he did this instinctively. This makes the dismissal even more rare. For such run-outs are usually not carried out without a degree of premeditation. This was, for example, the 23rd ball Ashwin had bowled on the night. Minutes after the match, ESPNcricinfo saw the highlights and saw Buttler had been out of his crease before Ashwin had delivered the ball that bowled Ajinkya Rahane, the seventh ball of his spell. A tweet next morning showed at least three other instances of Buttler straying out of his ground before Ashwin had released the ball.Ashwin bowled 11 balls with Buttler at the non-striker’s end, and on at least four occasions Buttler was seen stealing ground. There’s no point in vilifying the batsmen for doing this. They are, after all, trying to take every last advantage to help their side win, but with their decisions come risks and consequences, and they should be prepared to face them – as in fact Buttler himself had done once already, in an ODI against Sri Lanka in 2014.However, by questioning Ashwin’s spirit in this case, Stewart has undermined MCC’s own stated goal to “further confirm the principle” that “it is the non-striker’s duty to remain in his/her ground until the bowler has released the ball”. Ashwin did not release the ball. The ball was still in play. If the law continues to be ambiguous, the ICC should perhaps consider going reverting to its own playing condition.The other problem with this spirit handwringing here is that cricket outside the international fixtures is played with no replays; umpires make instant decisions on the maidans and village greens. Those umpires are in no position to judge if the pause is too long.For the sake of argument, let’s take the leap and agree that Ashwin used it as a tactic. He has long been a proponent of showing the batsman his limits. He is playing at a time when pitches and bats and playing conditions have threatened his very existence in limited-overs cricket. Possibly he has had enough of batsmen getting off strike even after a good ball because the non-striker has been stealing ground. So what if he decided to counter an unfair practice with a practice that is legit but just not used often? Isn’t the central point of this sport that bowlers have to outwit batsmen within the laws of the game?Fears that a deterrent could end up becoming a tactical tool to entrap batsmen are not entirely unjustified. It could lead to bowlers farcically pausing in their delivery strides to wait for the non-striker to slide over so they can run him out. Well, boo hoo. Just watch the bowler release the ball before backing up. Watch it for yourself, don’t rely on a projection of the normal release of the ball. It’s not that hard. What’s more, it might give you a tip or two on picking the ball from the hand. If Ashwin’s action brings about this revolutionary change in our attitudes, it will be one of the big turning points in our sport. It will not be a moment too soon.

The Test has had three almost full days of play despite forecasts before the game suggesting rain would have a much bigger say in it

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2024The promised rain has stayed away from Bengaluru long enough for the first India vs New Zealand Test to get into a position from where all results are possible – with New Zealand certainly better placed – but the weather could have the final say after all.The Indian met department’s forecast, not long after a downpour ended play early on the fourth day, said Bengaluru will have “generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers” on Sunday, while Accuweather’s forecast promised “thunderstorms in the area late Saturday night through Sunday evening”.That, looking at the match situation, where New Zealand will start the day in search of the 107 runs they need with all ten second-innings wickets in hand, will be useful for India, who can hope there isn’t enough time for those runs to be scored. New Zealand, fresh off a 2-0 Test series loss in Sri Lanka and widely considered underdogs for this Test series, will want the opposite: a clear spell of cricket, maybe for a session, where they can go for the target.The first day of the Bengaluru Test had no play at all, with persistent rain forcing the covers to stay in place right through the day. Play did begin the following morning, still overcast, and the New Zealand fast bowler ran amok after India opted to bat first, skittling the hosts for 46 in 31.2 overs. They then put up 402, and India responded with 462, setting New Zealand a seemingly modest target.As has been mentioned before, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium does have a world-class drainage facility and has in place a subsurface aeration system, which is designed to allow play to begin within minutes of the rain ceasing.

All the action and talking points around England’s IPL contingent after week six

Andrew Miller04-Nov-2020Week six of the IPL, the struggle for play-off places is over, and so is the involvement of most of England’s representatives. Click here for week five’s update. Archer goes grossly under-rewarded after stunning displaysIt’s the World XI at one end, and Ilford 2nds at the other. Graham Gooch’s famous appraisal of Sir Richard Hadlee’s New Zealand has found a modern-day echo in the exploits of Jofra Archer, who has absolutely no right to be propping up the IPL table in the company of his under-performing Rajasthan Royals team-mates. True to this season’s irresistible form, Archer signed off a stellar personal tournament with another incredible week, and in such a tight table, you have to wonder what a modicum of back-up could have done for Rajasthan’s title hopes.ESPNcricinfo LtdInstead, his 20 wickets at 18.25 were exactly half of the 40 claimed by his team’s full stable of quick bowlers, with only the erratic rookie Kartik Tyagi providing any meaningful support with nine at 40.77. As for his economy rate of 6.55 – the best among any of the tournament’s front-line quicks – that figure could have been exponentially lower had Rajasthan bitten the bullet (as they were often tempted) and trusted Archer with a third over in his favoured Powerplay (a phase of the game in which he produced a remarkable 10 wickets and an all-time low economy rate of 4.34). Instead, they chose to hold him back to paper over his team-mates’ shortcomings at the death. In that role, Archer did take a few licks throughout the tournament, but he had his moments too – not least against Kings XI in perhaps his most symbolic moment of the tournament. One ball after being tonked over midwicket by the mighty Chris Gayle, Archer fired in the yorker to bowl the Universe Boss for 99, and received a hand-slap of mutual admiration for his efforts.Morgan thwarted at the last after hitting top formWhen KKR made their captaincy switch midway through the tournament, with Eoin Morgan taking over from Dinesh Karthik, the management might have thought they were signing up for ice-cool tactics in the clutch moments, as befits a man whose leadership credentials have gone through the roof since the World Cup. But as things turned out, Morgan barely got the chance to play any match-up poker, with KKR’s fragile batting conspiring time and again to leave their own bowlers with no place to hide.Instead, he was obliged to lead from the front – or middle, to be more accurate – with a range of cannily paced cameos keeping his team competitive to the bitter end, until Sunrisers’ scalping of the table-topping Mumbai Indians denied them a play-off berth in the final group-stage game. Morgan’s pièce de résistance was his final innings of the campaign, an outstanding 68 not out from 35 balls against Rajasthan, including five fours and six sixes, which dragged his side from a flaky 99 for 5 to a formidable 191 for 7. He saved his most savage blows for his England team-mate Ben Stokes, but showcased that icy temperament in the final over of the innings, as he twice turned down singles off Kartik Tyagi before thumping his final ball clean down the ground for six.Eoin Morgan was at his explosive best•BCCIStokes builds into opener’s role but bowling remains erraticAfter a low-key start to his truncated tournament, Ben Stokes found his range with the bat in the final rounds of Rajasthan’s campaign, with two more feisty onslaughts following his breakthrough century against Mumbai Indians. His 25-ball 50 against Kings XI was a fierce injection of impetus that set up a comprehensive win, but his 18 from 11 against KKR proved to be the alpha and omega of his team’s qualification hopes – while he was in situ, taking the attack to a rampant Pat Cummins, the prospect of a top-four slot was firmly on the cards. As soon as he was gone, those cards collapsed with a familiar flutter, as the team’s inherent instability flooded to the fore once again.3:22

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As for Stokes’ bowling, it remains curiously impotent in this format, given what a game-changing influence he tends to be in Test and 50-over cricket. His one telling outing came against Kings, as he scalped the dangermen KL Rahul and Nicholas Pooran for his only wickets of the campaign. Two days later, he was left wondering once again why Kolkata’s got it in for him – and why he ever consents to bowl at the death anymore – as Morgan and Pat Cummins combined to pump 24 runs from his third, and Rajasthan’s 19th, over of their campaign-crippling loss.Sam Curran coasts to the end of eye-catching campaignAn unremarkable week by his elevated standards, but a quietly impressive one all the same. Having gone from being a lone spark in a misfiring engine, Sam Curran reverted to being a useful cog in a belatedly revved-up machine, as CSK finished their tournament on a relative high with three wins in a row once their elimination had been confirmed. This week, he didn’t take a wicket or bowl his full allocation of overs in either match, but Curran served up his total of five overs at a meagre cost of 36, and was also at the crease to help settle a tense chase against KKR – even though it was his not-out partner, Ravi Jadeja, who did the heavy lifting with three sixes and a four in the final eight balls of the game. But either way, after being pigeon-holed as a Test cricketer in his early England outings, Curran will travel to South Africa later this month with his white-ball credentials higher than they’ve ever been. And if CSK have any sense, he’ll be at the heart of their rebuilding efforts when the next IPL rolls around in barely six months’ time.Bairstow benched after flat-lining form Jonny B Gone. After his barnstorming 97 against Kings in week 3, it seemed that Jonny Bairstow was primed for mid-tournament lift-off. Instead, he’s paid the price for mustering barely that many again in his next five games, culminating in a 20-ball 19 against the same opponents two weeks later, when his ill-timed sweep in a well-set run-chase exposed a flaky middle-order and precipitated an appalling collapse. It was all the evidence that Sunrisers needed to hurry Kane Williamson back off the bench, and Bairstow’s fate was more permanently sealed when Wriddhiman Saha latched onto his opportunity at the top of the order, first with a blistering 85 from 47 against the previously high-flying Delhi Capitals, and then as David Warner’s foil against Mumbai, as Sunrisers’ brand-new bromance was sealed in an unbeaten 151-run opening stand, and a ten-wicket play-off-securing victory.Jordan proves his value after sticky start to campaignIt wasn’t to be in the end for Chris Jordan, or for Kings XI, whose remarkable late-season revival came so close to propelling them into the play-offs. After losing six of their first seven contests (including one Super Over and a two-run defeat), Kings were briefly installed as the tournament’s form team with a run of five wins in a row, only for that illusion to be shattered in consecutive thumpings by Rajasthan and CSK. Nevertheless, from his somewhat abject beginnings, Jordan finished his own campaign very much in credit, nailing his yorkers and trusting his variations even as other seamers of his ilk were reverting to the basics. His two economical wickets against KKR set up the last of Kings’ victories, while his third-ball removal of a hitherto rampant Stokes gave them a flicker of belief before the wheels came off. All told, Jordan claimed nine wickets at 33.77 in as many matches, but given that he went wicketless in his first three games while leaking his runs at nearly two a ball, his back-end record (average 18.77, economy 8.24) was far more to write home about.Chris Jordan in his delivery stride•BCCIButtler runs out of rope with qualification on the line Jos Buttler’s final week of IPL action epitomised the frailties at the heart of Rajasthan’s faltering campaign. His form was as good as it’s been all tournament long, but his role – reappraised from opener to finisher after a succession of middle-order mishaps in the early rounds – was very much after the Lord Mayor’s Show, for better and for worse. Against Kings, there could be no complaints about his impact as he rocked up in the 15th over and duly sealed a vital win with an unbeaten 22 from 11 balls; but against KKR, Rajasthan were 32 for 4 before he’d faced his first delivery, and 37 for 5 only moments after he’d laced the lethal Cummins for a first-ball drive through the covers. Even with his back to the wall, Buttler managed to rack up 35 from 22 before being forced into one boundary swipe too many. But then again, had he converted more of those sorts of scores from the top of the order, with contests begging to be seized in the early rounds, Buttler and his Rajasthan team-mates wouldn’t have been left eating the scraps at the bottom of the table.Banton, Curran, Moeen sit on the fringesTom Banton is set to swap six weeks on the fringes at KKR to a further three weeks as an England reserve in South Africa – which isn’t quite the career progression he signed up for this winter. But Tom Curran, included in both ODI and T20I squads, will be hoping to show that his hard yakka on the UAE’s variation-killing surfaces can reap better rewards on the more seam-friendly decks of Cape Town and Paarl. As for Moeen Ali, he – like Bairstow – is set to remain at the IPL for a few days longer than the rest of the England squad, but his chances of being involved in the play-offs are considerably skinnier.