Ahead of the England series, Rathour talks about getting the most out of a player’s natural game, and looks back at the Australia series

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi04-Feb-20215:25

Vikram Rathour: ‘Pant doesn’t think that he’s done something special’

When 36 all out happened, Vikram Rathour, India’s batting coach, did not go into hiding. If anything, the former India opener and national selector, saw it as freeing. In this interview, conducted during India’s six-day quarantine ahead of the England Test series, he goes into detail about his philosophy, particularly the importance of imbuing a better sense of match situations in his senior batsmen while not hampering their natural styles of play.You took over from Sanjay Bangar in September 2019. Back then what were the challenges you thought you would need to work on?
At that point the middle order was not really settled in the shorter format, especially. We were still looking for somebody to establish themselves. When I came in, Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey were the guys who had just gotten into the team and were still looking to establish themselves.[Back then] touring abroad, travelling to the SENA [South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia] countries, traditionally we hadn’t done that well as a batting unit, so that was one area of concern.Also, openers when we are travelling. And even the tail, the late-order batting, was a concern, and still is an area we can work on and improve in.You have had two overseas tours since then – New Zealand and Australia – with contrasting results. From the batting unit’s perspective, what was the key difference between the two?
New Zealand was challenging conditions again. The ball seams a lot, a lot of grass on the wicket. That being my first [overseas] tour, my analysis [in hindsight] was that there was a lot of talk – this is what to expect, this is where the ball is going to be, this is what the New Zealand bowling attack will be looking to bowl at. But I don’t think we really prepared that well – there was hardly any time to actually practise those things. So that is where this Australian tour was a little different.

“Data is something that gives you some information, but how you read it, what you want to share with the batsmen, that is a completely different question”

The lockdown [in 2020] gave me time to prepare really well. We had a lot of discussions during the lockdown period, where we went through the areas we expected the Australian bowling unit to be bowling at us, how we have done in the past few series, what to expect this series, so we wanted to start practising for that [right away] rather than in Australia. We did really prepare better for this tour.How big are you on data?

This is something I’m getting used to. In our time, there was hardly any data provided. I did a bit of coaching, [then] became a selector, and there again, there were numbers we were dealing with, but not looking at real data.I’ve bought into it. I am spending quite a lot of time with my analyst, looking at various things. But data is something that gives you some information. How you read it, what you want to share with the batsmen, that is a completely different question. So you really need to learn what to take out of it, the information it is providing you.Related

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So where has data helped you? Let’s take the example of the batsmen on one of the tours.
When we looked at the numbers, or the way we have batted in the past couple of series in Australia, how Virat [Kohli] or Ajinkya [Rahane] or [Cheteshwar] Pujara have scored their runs, I was pretty certain that if this is what the [Australian] bowling unit is also looking at, they would not give us too much room outside off stump because most of our runs were scored square of the wicket.So that was the question put to the batsmen: if this is what a bowler is looking at, what are the areas they’ll be looking to bowl? They’ll be coming straighter, they’ll be coming with tighter lines, with straighter fields. And if that is what they’re doing, how are you going to deal with it? That is where data was pretty useful. Because that is exactly what happened this series – we hardly got anything outside off stump.And we were better prepared for that. Somebody like Pujara, he knew after our discussions that they were going to come in to him, bowl the short ball maybe into his body. And that is what he was preparing for.Rathour (right) took over as India batting coach in 2019•PTI Do you now feel after the Australia series that you have this familiarity with the batting unit, that they understand where you’re coming from and your approach?

Fortunately, I was a [national] selector before this. So I knew all of the guys, I had spent time with them. Once you become a batting coach, again you still have to understand the batsman – everybody reacts differently, everybody wants similar information, you have to give it to them differently. Everybody is expected to deal with that information differently. So that is what you need to learn. But, yeah, I’m more settled now.When you become a coach, the aspect you start focusing on is more tactical and technical: where their head is, where their feet are, how they are moving, how they are responding to different situations.Asking a lot of questions – if a certain shot was played, why they played that shot, what were they thinking when they played that shot, and trying to understand their mindset while they were doing that, whether they have done well or done poorly. So just trying to understand their mindset and their game plans.Let’s talk about Rohit Sharma’s stroke in the Sydney Test, which generated debate. He did not regret that pull shot; that is one of his signature shots, which comes naturally to him. When you sat down with him, talking about the stroke, can you tell us what you two discussed?
He played two shots, actually, which were discussed: one was the pull shot and the other one was against Nathan Lyon, where he got caught at long-on. You are right, that these are the shots he plays, and he plays them pretty well, so as a coach you want him to back his strengths. The only discussion I had with him was that having a strength is a great thing, but knowing when to use it [is equally important]: what the situation of the team is, what the bowlers are trying at that moment. So your game plan is different from your strength. I was okay with his pull shot, to be very specific, because that’s a shot he plays with instinct and plays really well.The other shot he played against Lyon, the discussion we had was that he picked maybe the wrong ball. So he wanted to go over the top – I’m okay with that because he plays that shot really well again, but Lyon, the moment [Rohit] stepped out, he bowled the ball into his body. He didn’t give him room to free his arms. So that is the time as a batsman you need to be more specific.

“If your mindset is clear, if you keep making the right decisions, picking the right balls, you can still score runs. And those things are more important at this level than only technique”

Cricket is a premeditating sport, where you plan “this is what I’m going to do if a certain bowler bowls there.” But then be specific with that: that I’ll go over the top only if the ball is in this area. In case he pulls it into you or into your body, you should still be ready as a batsman to just block it or play it along the ground. So that’s the only discussion I had with him.So like the pull shot, if it’s below your shoulder, I’m okay with you going for that pull shot and trying to keep it down. But the moment it goes higher, you need to be able to get out of it. On certain days the shot will be on, but you’ll execute it poorly and still get out, which you should be okay with.Can you talk about this with an example?
I’ll give you an example: like Rishabh Pant in the first innings of the Brisbane Test. He got out playing a cut shot, which he was trying to keep down and got caught at gully. So there could be criticism for that shot, but I thought it was on because [Australia] didn’t have a deep third man at that point. And Rishabh is somebody who plays his shots. That’s his game. We want him to play shots.He is somebody who is looking for runs all the time. At that time, I thought the execution was poor. He should have looked to play it over the slips and slash it hard so that it would have gone to the third man. Otherwise, I thought the idea of playing that shot was correct. That was a ball that was wide and short, but he tried to keep it down and that’s the reason it went to the gully fielder. So the discussion [with him] was that the shot was on, but maybe you could have gone over the slips, rather than trying to keep it down.What about Ajinkya Rahane in the second innings?

I have always believed that batting is about scoring runs. So you should be looking to score runs at all times. But again, what shots are on? Is there a need to play that shot? And I think he himself realised that maybe he picked the wrong ball to play that shot – it was too close to him. So these are the things that you need to learn as a batsman and you need to keep working on.”Your game plan is different from your strength. I was okay with Rohit’s pull shot, because that’s a shot he plays with instinct and plays really well”•Getty ImagesIs temperament more important than technique in Test cricket?
Any day. Temperament combined with game plans. Technique is an important aspect, but a lot of people give it too much importance. They put everything on technique, which I don’t believe in. Cricket is about handling pressure, making the right decisions, picking the right balls to play your shots, which are the bowlers you can score against, what are the areas, where are your singles, where are your boundaries… All of this comes under game plans and tactics.Technique is important, yes. But again, if you can keep the other aspects of your batting very clear, if your mindset is clear, if you keep making the right decisions, keep picking the right balls, you can still score runs. And those are the things that are more important at this level than only technique.It feels like India changed in terms of temperament in this series in Australia, where they came close in Sydney and then successfully chased 300-plus in Brisbane. Whereas in 2018, virtually the same batting unit failed to chase 194 at Edgbaston and 245 in Southampton.
Keeping it simple, that’s what we’ve tried in this series: playing sessions not looking to win, not looking at the results. I mean, all the coaches keep talking about focusing on process and not on results. All the talk throughout, after being 36 all out [in Adelaide], or after winning the Test [in Melbourne] was only on building up partnerships, playing the sessions well, looking to score runs without taking too many risks. The message going out all the time was, let’s not worry about results, results will take care of themselves if we keep batting and doing things correctly.Did you have to go into hiding after 36 all out?
Not really. It was disappointing. I really believe that we prepared well for the series. And then that came as a shocker, actually. You couldn’t really explain what happened. And it happened so quickly, there was hardly any time to reflect on what was happening. Even after looking at it, how the wickets fell, you couldn’t really find any faults – there were hardly any bad shots, there was no loose cricket, there was hardly any tentativeness. You just kept getting out. So again, the discussion was don’t worry, don’t let the doubts creep in at this stage. We’ve done well, we prepared well. So keep backing that preparation and better your methods, your techniques and your game plans. And hopefully, things will improve. And they did.

“Ultimately it boils down to you handling pressure, making the right decisions in the middle. And that has nothing to do with what you see on the screen. That’s all inside you”

Virat Kohli said in his post-match comments that possibly the only thing he thought could have changed would be intent. How do you define intent in that context and in general?
This is the discussion I had with Virat as well, where he felt the intent could have been better, but the point was that everybody got out playing five, seven, nine balls, so there was hardly time to show any intent actually (). You were just looking to get set, which is the way it should be, but people just kept getting out. We were not really tentative. We just got out.For me, intent is what you are looking to do on that specific day. Intent for batting should always be looking to score runs. But while scoring those runs, if somebody is bowling a good spell, if the ball is swinging, you should be able to defend, you should be able to leave those balls. Looking to score runs is the intent, but then defending is also intent.Like what Puji [Pujara] did in Brisbane – there was a lot of intent behind that. He was letting the ball hit him and not looking to poke at it, so that he doesn’t edge, it doesn’t hit the gloves and go up.Tell us a bit about Prithvi Shaw. An opener who is as talented as his former Under-19 partner Shubman Gill.
Without a doubt he [Shaw] is one of the more talented guys that we have in our team. There was a lot of talk about his technique and all that stuff. But my discussions with him were to bat more, train harder. Keep backing that and keep enjoying cricket, don’t overthink. You have to understand, at that age – he is what, 21 or 22? – he just had one poor game actually, and after that he hasn’t played.Keep backing your ability, keep backing your strengths. He’s a strokeplayer, so never to have any doubts or second thoughts about that. That is how he plays. There are a few things he needs to work on in a technical aspect as well, so he has been suggested those changes and he has been working on them. Hopefully when he comes back, he’ll come back a better player.Everyone from Ricky Ponting to Sunil Gavaskar dissected his technique, from his trigger movement to his bat coming across. Are those part of the technical elements you are working on with Shaw?
There was a lot of talk of him playing the ball away from the body. With him, the feet were not coming along. So he was stationary and the bat was going away towards the ball. The thing he needs to do is to move his feet as well: they need to be next to the ball, closer to the ball. That’s the only suggestion I’ve given him. For me, his initial [trigger movement] was a little late, so he was still halfway through it when the ball was delivered. And that was the reason he was getting late on the ball. He needs to do his initial movement a little early, so that his final movement is done in time. And he was doing that in nets and he was looking much better.”Even after looking at how the wickets fell, you couldn’t really find any faults – there were hardly any bad shots, no loose cricket. You just kept getting out”•Getty ImagesAfter India lost the series in England in 2018, Sanjay Manjrekar wrote that Indian selectors can look at playing batsmen at home whom they feel have the talent to perform overseas. Do you agree?
It is a tough one, because I’ve been part of the selection panel. How do you know what will work and what won’t? It is not that easy to assess. The way Prithvi Shaw was batting, at one point he looked like scoring runs everywhere. The way Mayank [Agarwal] has batted – how do you know that [his game] won’t work on overseas tours? Because people with different kinds of techniques or unorthodox [players] have still gone on and scored runs everywhere. Ultimately it boils down to you handling pressure, making the right decisions in the middle. And that has nothing to do with what you see on the screen. That’s all inside you – how you’re dealing with pressure or what decisions you are making, what balls to pick. What we see on television, or in front of us, is basically just the technical part. So to base your decision on that, that this guy will score runs abroad, is a little tough.Let us talk about Gill. Would you say clarity of thought is his biggest asset?
Yes, I believe that. He is extremely, extremely clear with what he wants, how he wants to do it. And that’s very unique for somebody at his age [21]. I saw him the first time when I was coaching Himachal Pradesh. We played a game against Punjab in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Alur [Bengaluru], and he scored a hundred in that game. You could see and know that this guy is special.In the nets also he looks different, he looks extremely assured. Very comfortable against pace, against short balls.Talking to him, you know he has a very calm head, is very clear with what he wants, how he prepares, that he has the game. So it was just about when we could give him an opportunity to get into the team. He might have played in Dharamsala against South Africa [in 2020], to be honest, but it was rained off. And after that this Covid thing happened. We were a little worried about him actually, that this was the opportunity where he might have played. And once we come back and if, say, Rohit and Shikhar [Dhawan] and KL [Rahul] are there and Mayank is doing well, there was a chance he might not get an opportunity to play, but fortunately for him, he did get that opportunity and he has grabbed it.

“Mentally, the batsmen are ready now [for England]. They have started visualising, they have started planning their game, how to stand if the ball is going to reverse, which are the areas to score”

What have you spoken about with Pant?
It has just been on his game plans. That’s the only area he needs to work on or get better at. He is an extremely intelligent guy, who knows everything, who is street smart, who understands his game, what the bowlers are trying to do. The only discussions I have been having with him, and the area I still believe he can get even better at, is shot selection – the right balls that he needs to pick to play those shots.He’s a strokeplayer, we all know that. We want him to play shots. We want him to do what he does. What I was talking about earlier, about Rohit also, having a strength or having a method of playing, doesn’t mean that you have to play it every time. You still need to pick the right shot for that moment, looking at the opposition, looking at the conditions, looking at the situation the team is in. And in this series, Pant did that well.I’m just reminding him all the time that the previous two good innings that he played, he played 30, 35 balls with six, seven runs on the board: you got set first and then you went on to play your shots. So he just needs to remember this method. We want him to play shots.We saw you hug Pant tight after the Gabba win. Can you talk about what you told him then?
It was just, “Well played, boss.” He really, really played well and won the game for the team. So it was a job well done.And that’s the kind of batsman we want Rishabh Pant to be: somebody who takes the bowling on and puts pressure on the bowling side. And while doing that, of course, there’ll be some mistakes made, but as long as he is trying to learn from them, we are all happy.What did he tell you? What does he want to improve on?

At the time, nothing, but otherwise he is a very [carefree] kind of a character. I had a chat with him today and I was asking him how it has been since he has come back after winning the series for the team. And he is saying, “Has anything changed? Not really.” He doesn’t believe that he has done anything special. This is how he plays and this is what he should be doing. As far as improvements are concerned as a batsman, he wants to become a finisher for India in all formats.”That’s the kind of batsman we want Rishabh Pant to be: somebody who takes the bowling on and puts pressure on the bowling side”•Associated PressOne thing you have noted elsewhere is how you want the Indian tail to become consistent and stronger. The partnership between Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur, where they played time and scored runs in the first innings at the Gabba is a good example. Ravi Shastri said it broke Australia’s back and put India in command. What have you been focusing on with the lower order?
I felt that in the past couple of series the tailenders had done pretty poorly against Australia in Australia. It is not easy, to be honest, the kind of bowling they faced is not easy: three bowlers bowling 140-plus and short at you. The only thing I discussed with them is to try and spend more time, don’t look to throw your wicket, don’t look to play crazy shots and get out. After that discussion I could see the change in the attitude. The more practice you give them, the more comfortable they feel in the middle. That again is one area we still need to keep working on. The focus will then be on handling short balls.How important is that Hardik Pandya start bowling?

If he starts bowling, he will get into the team. The team requires him to bowl, especially when we are touring. I am talking about even in Test cricket – if he starts bowling, that will be extremely useful. In the past few months he has shown how much he is improving as a batsman. He has done really well as a batsman in ODIs and T20s. He is somebody, again, who is capable of winning you a Test match, in any situation, against any bowling attack. You need those kind of match-winners in your team.What is your aim during the England series?
This is an important series. We are playing against a really good team, which has done well in Sri Lanka, they have already shown that. As the batting unit, the change [for India] will be playing spin bowling a lot more and maybe dealing with reverse swing a lot more. These will be two areas of focus in whatever practice [time] we have. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough time and will be only getting three days of practice before the first Test.Preparation remains the key. I have already had this discussion [with the batsmen] so mentally they are ready now, they have started visualising, they have started planning their game, how to stand if the ball is going to reverse, which are the areas to score. That is important. If they start thinking now, it still gives you time to be ready before the game starts.Was it good for you that 36 all out came early in your career as batting coach?

Yeah, I know. I was joking with Ashwin also, that that was done deliberately to build the series up. After that everything felt better. Because you keep worrying what if this happens, what if that happens. So failures, at times, teach you that nothing stops. Even after getting 36 all out, life did not stop, we did not stop laughing. The next night we had a team dinner, a lot of laughter, a lot of fun. That liberates you a little actually. You know that you can’t get worse and you have handled it pretty well. Whatever happens, you can deal with it.

Also: what was the first Test series that didn’t involve either England or Australia?

Steven Lynch24-Nov-2020Of people who achieved the highest score and best bowling in the same Test, who played the most matches? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan from England
That’s an interesting one, and it turns out the answer is an England captain: Michael Vaughan played in 82 Tests, but recorded his highest score (197) and his best bowling figures (two for 71) in the same one, against India at Trent Bridge in 2002. Those wickets included a much-replayed classic offbreak to bowl Sachin Tendulkar between bat and pad for 92.Two others, both from Pakistan, won more than 50 caps yet achieved their personal bests in the same match: Majid Khan (63 Tests) made 167 and took 4 for 45 against West Indies in Georgetown in 1976-77, while his frequent team-mate Wasim Raja (57 Tests) had 125 and 4 for 50 against India in Jalandhar in 1983-84.Another Pakistani from that same era leads the way in one-day internationals. Offspinner Tauseef Ahmed played 70 ODIs, yet recorded his highest score (27 not out) and best bowling figures (4 for 38) in the same one, against New Zealand in Sialkot in 1984-85. Once again there are two others who played more than 50 matches yet saved their bests for the same game: India’s Yusuf Pathan (57 ODIs), who scored 123 not out and took 3 for 49 against New Zealand in Bangalore in 2010-11, and the current South African seamer Andile Phehlukwayo, who has so far played 58 matches but scored 69 not out and took 4 for 22 against Pakistan in Durban in 2018-19.Worth a mention is England’s John Lever, who occupies 12th place on both lists: his best performances in 22 Tests were 53 and 7 for 46 against India in Delhi in 1976-77, on his debut – while his personal bests in 21 ODIs, 27 not out and 4 for 29, both came against Australia at Edgbaston in 1977. Thanks to Shiva Jayaraman from the ESPNcricinfo stats team for help with this one.Aaron Finch played for his eighth IPL team in 2020. Is this a record? asked Jared Harrison from Australia
Australia’s white-ball captain Aaron Finch moved to the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2020, and made 12 appearances for them. This followed one match for the Rajasthan Royals in 2010, eight for the Delhi Daredevils (2011-12), 14 for the Pune Warriors (2013), 13 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (2014), three for the Mumbai Indians (2015), 26 for the Gujarat Lions (2016-17), and ten for the Kings XI Punjab in 2018.In fact Finch already held this record, as no one else has played for more than six IPL teams, a feat shared by overseas players Moises Henriques and Thisara Perera, and the Indians Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma and Yuvraj Singh.There were 1262 runs in the Ashes Test at Nottingham in 1997, but the highest individual score was Alec Stewart’s 87. Is this the highest aggregate without an individual century? asked Allan Draycott from England
That Test at Trent Bridge in 1997, which featured ten half-centuries but no individual hundred, turns out to be second on this particular list. On top is another England Test, against South Africa in Durban in 1927-28, which had a total of 1272 runs – and 13 half-centuries – but a highest individual score of 90, by Wally Hammond.Two other Tests had more than 1200 runs but no centuries: Australia vs West Indies in Melbourne in 1960-61 (1227 runs, highest score 92 by Bob Simpson), and England vs Australia at The Oval in 1993 (1225, highest 83 not out by Ian Healy).Ishan Kishan, who is yet to play an international match, made 516 runs this IPL for the Mumbai Indians•BCCIIshan Kishan scored more than 500 runs in the 2020 IPL. Is he the only player to reach this milestone without having played international cricket? asked Steve Rafferty from New Zealand
Ishan Kishan’s 516 runs for champions Mumbai Indians is a new record for an never-capped player in an IPL season. He also topped the 2020 six-hitters’ list, with 30. But there is one other man who managed more than 500: Kishan’s team-mate Suryakumar Yadav hit 512 runs for Mumbai in 2018, and he hasn’t been capped yet either.What was the first Test series that didn’t involve either England or Australia? asked Martin Chapman from England
Test cricket was over half a century old before there was a match that didn’t involve England or Australia. It came in 1931-32, when South Africa travelled to New Zealand after being hammered 5-0 in Australia. The 217th Test match of all started on February 27, 1932, in Christchurch: the South Africans cheered themselves up by winning it by an innings, and won the second Test in Wellington as well, to take the series 2-0. The next Tests not involving England or Australia were not until after the Second World War – in 1948-49, when West Indies toured India.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

His 10th Test ton took him past Tamim Iqbal for most centuries by a Bangladesh batsman

Mohammad Isam06-Feb-2021By reaching his 10th Test century, Mominul Haque now holds a significant record in Bangladesh cricket.Related

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Haque will be tussling with Tamim Iqbal for the top position for most Test tons for a few more years, just like Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim are neck-and-neck for Bangladesh’s most Test runs. Bangladesh’s highest individual Test score has also exchanged hands quite a few times between Rahim, Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.Iqbal is currently in top position among Bangladesh’s ODI run-makers and centurions, with Shakib and Rahim not too far behind. These three names feature in nearly every Bangladeshi batting chart, but Haque is closing in. He has valuable milestones to his name, and two in particular that were unheard of before Haque got them.With his ton at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Haque is now tied with Michael Clarke (Adelaide Oval), Mahela Jayawardene (Galle) and Kumar Sangakkara (Galle) for scoring seven centuries a single ground. Among current players, he is best placed to challenge the world record. Haque also got near the top of another record with his eleven fifties in consecutive Tests from 2013 to 2015. In addition, he is Bangladesh’s highest scorer in Tests since his debut, and holds the Bangladesh record for most runs in a two-match Test series. He is Bangladesh’s highest run-getter at No. 4 and second highest at No. 3, also having the most hundreds in both positions.No Bangladesh player has scored more Test runs than Mominul Haque since his debut•BCBFor most Test teams, these are highly valued records. But most teams play far more Tests than Bangladesh where one-day cricket is favoured. Still, Haque’s contribution in red-ball cricket cannot be overstated enough; all of his previous Test hundreds have come in Bangladesh wins or draws .On the third afternoon in Chattogram, Haque walked in with his team having lost two wickets for just one run. They had a handsome first-innings lead but another batting collapse would have handed West Indies the advantage. Going by how both batting line-ups looked to be heading towards a freefall, Haque’s innings was priceless.He saw off the two major threats to his batting: fast short-pitched deliveries and orthodox offspin. He tackled both Shannon Gabriel and Rakheem Cornwall in tandem. Notwithstanding the Shadman Islam dismissal to a peach of a bouncer, Haque’s own survival till stumps on the third evening itself was a huge boost to the team.Bangladesh were actually thinking of a 250-plus lead as West Indies’ fourth-innings target, but by the time Haque added 133 for the fifth wicket with Liton Das, the lead had swelled to more than 375.Mominul Haque acknowledges the applause on getting to a landmark•AFP via Getty ImagesCornwall, who couldn’t dislodge Haque having bowled 90 deliveries to him in a long tussle, said that the left-hander forced him to bowl to his strengths.”I think he played spin well. I think he hangs back a lot, forcing me to bowl a bit fuller and bowl to his strength. We just have to keep working. There’s another Test coming up so we know how to bowl to him,” Cornwall said.Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo said that Haque gave them the sound platform needed to win a Test match.”He has been fantastic. He has back-to-back hundreds. In the last Test in February last year, he got a hundred against Zimbabwe in Dhaka,” he said. “He has backed it up with another good hundred today. He has set the game really well for us, so we are very pleased with the way he is playing at the moment.”Haque’s pragmatic approach, in which he often sacrifices style over substance, is one of the major ways he has distinguished himself from other flashier Bangladesh batsmen of his generation. He has worked out ways to tackle the short ball, as well as a perceived weakness against offspin, and yet has kept his shape as a largely positive batsman. His average strike-rate in Test hundreds is 65.By moving into the higher stratums of Bangladesh’s batting, he has also left daylight between himself and those who, like him, made their Test debuts since 2011. Forget about 10 hundreds, only Shamsur Rahman and Soumya Sarkar have made a Test century each batting in the top six from that list.Among the batsmen other than Iqbal, Rahim and Shakib in the current Bangladesh line-up, Das, who made his debut in 2015 with a huge billing as the next big thing in Bangladesh cricket, has so far made six fifties in his 21 Tests. Najmul Hossain Shanto, who now has supplanted Haque as the Test No. 3 just because he showed promise in domestic cricket, has hit a single half-century in five Tests over four years. Shadman Islam is in the revolving door of Iqbal’s opening partner, having returned to the team in this game with a second half-century.Haque has showed that through sheer will and mindfulness that a young Bangladeshi player can rise through the ranks to not just to be an international cricketer, but to give the seniors in the side a run for their money. This, despite being tagged as a Test-only cricketer who is yet to make a real mark away from home. When he had scored his sixth hundred at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, the running joke was that a stadium should be named after him. Maybe now a serious thought that can be given to the matter.

Stats highlights from a special performance by R Ashwin on the third day of the Chennai Test

S Rajesh15-Feb-20213 – Instances of R Ashwin scoring a century and taking a five-for in a Test. Before the ongoing Chennai Test, he had achieved this twice against West Indies, in Mumbai in 2011, and in North Sound in 2016. India won the Test in 2016 by an innings and 92 runs, while the Mumbai game ended in a memorable draw with the scores level – India finished on 242 for 9, chasing 243 for victory.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – Player who have achieved this double of a century and a five-for in a Test more often than Ashwin: Ian Botham did it five times in his 102-Test career – twice each in England and New Zealand, and once in India. Four allrounders have achieved this feat two times – Garry Sobers, Mushtaq Mohammad, Jacques Kallis, and Shakib Al Hasan.Related

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3 – Indians who have achieved this double in a Test. Vinoo Mankad scored 184 and 72, and took 5 for 196 in England’s first innings at Lord’s in 1952, while Polly Umrigar made 172 not out and 56, and took 5 for 107 against West Indies in Port-of-Spain in 1962. Both those efforts came in defeats. Among the 33 instances of players achieving this feat, the batting aggregates for Mankad (256) and Umrigar (228) are first and third in the list.2016 – The last time a player achieved the feat, before Ashwin in the ongoing Chennai Test: Roston Chase took 5 for 147, and scored an unbeaten 137 in the second innings, against India in Kingston in 2016. In the previous Test, Ashwin had achieved this double in North Sound, scoring 113 and taking 7 for 83.33 – Total instances of an allrounder achieving this double in a Test. England lead the way with six such contributions – thanks mainly to Botham – while India and West Indies are next with five instances each. South Africa, Australia and Pakistan follow with four such occurrences for each team. Bangladesh feature three times, while New Zealand and Zimbabwe feature once each.3 – Instances of players scoring a century and taking 10 wickets in a Test match: only Botham, Imran Khan and Shakib have achieved this feat. Ashwin will join the trio if he takes five wickets in England’s second innings.3 – Test centuries for Ashwin when batting at No. 8. Only one batsman – Daniel Vettori – has scored more hundreds when batting at No. 8 or lower: he has four at No. 8, and one at No. 9.39.16 – Ashwin’s batting average in Tests against England. The only team against whom he has a better average is West Indies (average of 50.18 from 11 Tests). These are the only teams against whom his batting average exceeds 25.

Rishabh Pant came up with yet another innings that left everyone awestruck

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Mar-2021

Huge compliment coming from you, Gilly! Learned a lot watching you over the years. https://t.co/H5XIQl3XMe

— Rishabh Pant (@RishabhPant17) March 5, 2021