Pep Guardiola has emphatically claimed that it is "over" for him at Barcelona, with a professional return to Catalonia being ruled out.
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“Faf has lent on him quite a lot and we’re pretty sure that Rajat will be leaning on him too,” RCB’s director of cricket says
Ashish Pant13-Feb-20252:25
Why did RCB overlook Kohli as captain?
Virat Kohli might not be the new Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain, with the franchise opting for Rajat Patidar, but for Mo Bobat, RCB’s director of cricket, Kohli does not need a “captaincy title” to be a leader in the team.”Of course, Virat was an option and that goes without saying and I know that the fans would’ve probably lent towards Virat in the first instance, but we’ve seen a lot of love for Rajat too,” Bobat said in an event in Bengaluru where Patidar was unveiled as the captain for IPL 2025. “Look, my point on Virat would be that Virat doesn’t need a captaincy title to lead. I think leadership, as we’ve all seen, is one of his strongest instincts. I think it just comes naturally to him. He leads regardless.”Kohli led the RCB franchise from 2013 to 2021 before he stepped down from the role. He led the team for three matches in 2023 when regular captain Faf du Plessis was injured and played as an Impact Player.Related
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Bobat was confident that despite Kohli not being the designated captain, Patidar would lean on him like his predecessor du Plessis did.”Everybody in the country and everyone in the world knows that Virat’s a leader in every sense of the word,” Bobat said. “Andy [Flower, head coach] and I lean on him quite a lot. Faf has lent on him quite a lot and we’re pretty sure that Rajat will be leaning on him too.”Even last year with Faf as captain, we saw every bit of that. He leads as an example with the bat, the volume of runs and the strike rate that he scored at last year was so impressive and so important for us. He set the tone, he leads in the field. I can think of two or three specific instances where he’s actually created run-out chances and wickets from nothing. Everyone in the field knows that they’ve got to be up to their standards because of him. He sets the tone with his energy. Everyone has seen how much he likes a fight and a scrap and how much he wants to be the person getting us over the line.””His experience and ideas will definitely help me in my leadership role,” Patidar said of Kohli•BCCI
Bobat also said that Kohli was actively involved in discussions surrounding Patidar being named captain.”Andy and I spent some time with Virat earlier this week actually in Ahmedabad and it was really nice getting some time with him and talking things through with him [about captaincy],” Bobat said. “And what was so obvious was he had so much energy and excitement for this decision and this appointment. He’s so pleased for Rajat, like us. He knows how deserving Rajat is of this opportunity and is right behind him.”Kohli was front and centre of RCB turning their season around in IPL 2024. Having won just one out of their first eight games, RCB won six on the bounce to make a miraculous entry into the playoffs. While they went down in the eliminator, Kohli, with 741 runs in 15 innings, won the purple cap.
“I think Virat’s energy and motivation and drive is really something special to behold in a 36-year-old cricketer that’s done everything in the game,” Flower said. “I really respect him for it and it’s great role modelling for the younger players and younger overseas players to come and work with him as well. It was nice to watch it from within the same dressing room last year.”My experience with him, particularly in the first half of the last season when we were struggling and he was a huge part of turning that season around for us, in the way that he carried himself in his role modelling of how he works at the day and thinks about the day, that experience with him only made my respect for him grow. And I would say the same thing about our discussions over the captaincy of RCB coming season.”Patidar also said that having had plenty of good partnerships with Kohli over the years, he does not mind leaning on him for suggestions and that it would help him in his leadership role.”It’s a great opportunity for me to learn from one of the best,” Patidar said. “I have had a lot of partnerships with him, so I think I know him very well. So yeah, his experience and his ideas will definitely help me in my leadership role.”
The Dutch playmaker looks destined for the elite stage after a stunning breakout campaign at the AFAS Stadion
The Netherlands has often been described as 'the world's biggest football talent factory', having produced legends such as Marco van Basten, Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp and Arjen Robben. These players were the embodiment of the 'total football' model designed to optimise creativity, skill and versatility that the Dutch national team still aims to uphold to this day, though it's fair to say they have been starved of game-changing performers of the same ilk in recent years.
However, according to , that may be about to change. The Spanish newspaper has claimed that the next 'total footballer' to come out of the Netherlands is Kees Smit: the 19-year-old who has become an overnight sensation at AZ Alkmaar.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Bayern Munich have all been linked with Smit in recent weeks, and AZ face a real fight to keep hold of the teenager beyond the 2025 summer transfer window. has even claimed that Ronald Koeman is considering drafting Smit into the Netherlands' senior squad later this year, which is a testament to how far he has come in such a short space of time.
Smit could soon get the chance to test himself on the biggest stage, and all the early signs suggest he will thrive under the pressure of expectation. The question is: what exactly is it that makes the AZ playmaker such a unique talent? GOAL brings you everything you need to know about the Oranje's potential new superstar…
Fabrizio Romano has shared an update on Arsenal and their plans to sign a new striker, amid their widely reported talks for RB Leipzig starlet Benjamin Sesko.
Near the end of May, it became evident through reliable media sources that Sesko had emerged as Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta’s prime striker target.
David Ornstein: Arsenal consider deal for player as "done and signed"
Gunners chiefs are extremely confident.
By
Emilio Galantini
Jun 11, 2025
Arsenal entered “concrete” negotiations with Leipzig over a deal for the Slovenia international, who’s fresh off the back of a productive campaign where he scored 21 goals and six assists in all competitions.
Since then, talks have been ongoing and advancing cautiously (Fabrizio Romano), with reliable journalist Ben Jacobs sharing that the major sticking point in this potential transfer is Leipzig’s financial demands.
According to his information, Arsenal want to strike a deal for Sesko at around ÂŁ60 million, whereas Leipzig want to sell for nearer ÂŁ70 million.
“They have discussed whether or not there is flexibility beneath the variable release clause, set at the moment around €80 million,” said Jacobs on The Football Terrace last week.
“That’s why that one’s taking time, because Arsenal want to do Sesko for €70 million, or within that ballpark.”
Sesko is also attracting interest from Saudi Arabia, even if his priority is to stay in Europe (The Telegraph), but so far, no middle ground appears to have been found on the final price, despite some reports that the 22-year-old has already agreed personal terms.
If they cannot reach an agreement with Leipzig over Sesko, Sporting CP star Viktor Gyokeres apparently remains on their radar as an alternative.
That is according to Romano, who reports in his GiveMeSport newsletter that Gyokeres is on Arsenal’s target list in case talks for Sesko fall through.
“It’s an open race for Gyokeres,” said Romano.
“He remains on Arsenal list in case Sesko deal doesn’t happen, Man United have called his agents again over the weekend.”
The “underrated” and “exciting” 26-year-old bagged an incredible 54 goals and 13 assists last season, spearheading Sporting to their first domestic double win in 20 years, but it is worth noting that he might not be much cheaper than Sesko.
Sporting president Frederico Varandas poured cold water over reports that Gyokeres and the club have an agreement that he can leave for ÂŁ59 million this summer, telling the Portuguese press that he will indeed cost more.
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for 60m euros plus 10m euros because I never promised that,” Varandas said.
“To this day Sporting has not had an offer for Gyokeres – neither today nor last season.”
While this comes as a statement which Arsenal need to be aware of, Varandas does guarantee that Gyokeres will leave for less than his ÂŁ84 million release clause.
“One of the agent’s biggest concerns was whether we would demand the termination clause,” said Varandas.
“He wanted to guarantee certain things. And what was agreed? That Sporting would not demand a release clause now. For one reason: he was going to be 27 years old, and no player leaves Portugal at 27 for 100m euros or 90m euros.”
If England pull this off, they will owe a huge amount to their captain
George Dobell07-Aug-2021There were a couple of moments, ahead of this Test, when you sensed the burden of carrying this England batting line-up was starting to get to Joe Root.For one thing, he requested that the pre-match captain’s press conference – which has, for many years, taken place the day before the game – be moved to two days ahead of the match to allow him time to focus before the game. And then, while talking about Ben Stokes, his voice caught for just a moment as he discussed the phone call in which his friend had told him he needed a break.Root was, no doubt, aware of how much Stokes would be missed as a player. But the sense was much more of someone who simply felt for a colleague who was going through a tough time. You wondered whether Root might not be experiencing some of the same emotions. We really do ask quite a lot of our cricketers.But whatever the pressure he was feeling ahead of the match, Root has shouldered his burden magnificently. Here he produced one of his finest Test centuries – there are now 21 from which to select; none of them have, to date, come in a losing cause – to keep his side in with a fighting chance in this match. Without him, England would have been blown away.Related
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There was a period, not so long ago, when there were a few whispers about Root’s batting. It wasn’t that the runs had dried up exactly; it was more that the bigger scores had tended to come in relatively low intensity situations. In 2019, for example, there was a century in St Lucia, by which time the series had already been lost, and there was a double-hundred in Hamilton on a pitch so horrendously flat that only 22 wickets fell across five days.There are no such caveats about this innings. It came against an outstanding attack, on a surface upon which other batters have struggled and when his side – still 49 behind and two wickets down when he strode out to bat – were in some trouble. Not only that, but it came at the start of a series with everything still to be defined. It was his first Test century in England since 2018 but his best at home since at least 2017 when he made 190 in the first Test of a series against South Africa.To put his predominance in perspective, while he has made 109 and 64 in this game, the next highest score of his teammates across both innings has been Sam Curran’s 32. It is, according to BBC statistician Andy Zaltzman, only the fourth time in Test history that a player has made a century and half-century in a match where nobody else in the team has made even 35. Increasingly, Root is looking a giant among them. Take him out of this side and you wonder where they would drop in the rankings. Outside the top six, you suspect.His skills were put into greatest context during his partnership (worth 89 in 28.5 overs) with Dom Sibley. While Sibley’s crease occupation was valuable, you couldn’t help but admire how much easier the business of batting looked for Root. So vast is his range of stroke, so adaptable his feet and the angle of his bat, that he is rarely kept scoreless. He faced only two maidens in his entire innings – one of them during a nervous passage of play when he had 97 – and has a late cut which allows him to score from deliveries other players would look to leave well alone. Sibley made just 12 of their partnership.But it was surely the drives, played off both front and back foot, that will linger longest in the memory. Certainly they had a packed Trent Bridge purring in delight. The on-drive that brought the century was just a little reminiscent of the shot with which Sir Geoffrey Boycott reached his 100th first-class hundred. The celebration – by Root’s standards sustained and expressive – showed how important this innings was. He knew his team needed this.Joe Root has stood tall for his team•AFP/Getty ImagesMore than that, though, he had made a conscious effort to try and enjoy these pressures. This is what he had dreamed of as a kid, after all. So instead of focusing on those negative thoughts – the sense that his side would collapse if he failed – instead of allowing himself to become careworn, he tried to remember he was playing the game he loves, for a team he loves and on the grandest of stages. Put simply, he tried to remember it was meant to be “fun”.”There’s been a lot to handle,” he admitted afterwards. “But it’s important you find ways to handle that. You can let it weigh you down but you have to find solutions. It’s about trying to deal with what’s in front of you and not letting anything overwhelm you.”This morning I said to myself and to the group: just remember what is fun about cricket. It might be tough sometimes, it might be hard, but it’s fun. And it’s really important we all embrace that. Whatever the situation, whatever the conditions and wherever you are in your own game, it’s important you go out there, enjoy the moment and make the most of it.”It felt pretty good to get a big score and get us into position to give us a chance of winning this Test.”He reckoned that batting in the ODI series against Sri Lanka had helped him regain his batting rhythm. He made 68 and 79 – both innings unbeaten – in that series and reasoned that the required tempo – positive, but without the urgency of T20 – was helpful to his game.”I’ve actually felt a real benefit from playing some white-ball cricket,” he said. “I know it would be nice to have some red-ball cricket coming into this game but, from my point of view, playing 50-over cricket gave me some rhythm back in my batting.”I felt I got forward and back better. I was standing a lot taller a lot earlier, picking my bat up a lot earlier, I feel like I’ve got rhythm back in my hands. I find 50-over cricket can be a massive help to my red-ball game.”Maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised. Root has risen in stature in recent months, producing a string of huge scores in Sri Lanka and India (228 and 186 in Galle and 218 in Chennai) that led his side to memorable victories. And while Root at times made those surfaces look pretty flat, it’s worth remembering that no-one else in his side made centuries. Indeed, the next-highest score when he made that 186 was just 55.He’s already made 1,064 Test runs this year. So, with up to seven further Tests available to him this year (there are only three Ashes Tests scheduled before the end of the year this time and it’s entirely possible none of them will take place), he has given himself a chance of breaking Mohammad Yousuf’s record of 1,788 runs in a calendar year. More revealingly, however, the next-highest contributor for England in 2021 is Dan Lawrence with 354. In all, Root has scored 29.19 percent of England’s Test runs in 2021.Whether all this is sustainable in the long-term is debatable. At some stage, there is a danger the burden will break even Root. It is really is imperative England find a way to coax more runs out of the rest of their batting line-up. Right now, though, Root has given his side a chance to win a game they could easily have lost already without his intervention. If they pull this off, they will owe a huge amount to their captain.
TORONTO — Remember, Shohei Ohtani wanted to remain an Angel. Freddie Freeman all but begged to stay in Atlanta. Mookie Betts thought he would spend his entire career in Boston.Â
Max Muncy was released by the A’s. Tommy Edman was traded while on the injured list. Blake Snell was available to anyone on the open market—twice.Â
And it’s the who are ruining baseball?
Sure, the money helps. The team that is headed to its second straight World Series, and fifth in the last nine years, with a chance to win three in that span, boasts, at $329 million, the highest payroll in the sport. After winning the World Series last season, they added $450 million worth of new players. Their local TV deal pays them $334 million a year, and this year they launched a paid fan club in Japan, with membership tiers ranging up to $500 per person.Â
But the No. 2 Mets ($323 million) didn’t make the playoffs. The No. 3 Yankees ($288 million) were bounced in the American League Division Series. And 48% of that TV money and 97% of that fan club money goes into revenue sharing, so everyone else is benefiting from it, too.Â
Meanwhile, the Dodgers have given out only three of the top 30 most lucrative deals, and so far all three look worth it: $700 million over 10 years for Ohtani (and that is an unusual case, because 97% of the money is deferred, so the contract functions as a credit card), $365 million over 12 years for Betts and $325 million over 10 years for Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ohtani is the biggest star in sports. Betts is a three-time World Series champion, twice for the Dodgers, an eight-time All-Star and a finalist for this year’s National League Gold Glove at shortstop—a position he never played professionally before last season. Yamamoto is their ace and just threw a shutout in the National League Championship Series.Â
Mostly the Dodgers excel at evaluating players, and then they excel at developing them. And then, once they’ve done all that, they excel at keeping them.Â
Angels owner Arte Moreno, incredibly, reportedly balked at the deal structure Ohtani offered. Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos didn’t want to give Freeman the sixth year he sought. Red Sox owner John Henry—estimated net worth: $5.7 billion—wasn’t interested in coughing up the $350 million or so it would take to lock up the franchise’s best homegrown young player since Ted Williams. Those were all mistakes of evaluation.Â
Muncy had a good eye in Oakland but no power and no defensive home. The Dodgers adjusted his swing and played him everywhere. Now he’s perhaps their fourth most important hitter. Anthony Banda had a 5.69 ERA in parts of seven seasons all across the league. The Dodgers fixed his slider and told him to ditch his changeup. Now he’s a key left-handed fireman. Roki Sasaki came to L.A. in part because he had lost fastball velocity in Japan and wasn’t sure why. After a dreadful start to the season, the Dodgers told him to flex his back leg. Now he throws 100 mph again and gets nearly every crucial late-game out. That’s development.Â
And as for keeping players, they’re turning them away. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman says he gets so many calls every winter that he could fill more than one roster—and that number only increases as the team continues its success.Â
“In 2015, our goal was to create a destination,” he says. “Somewhere our players don’t want to leave and other players are looking longingly that they want to be. It’s fragile, and it’s something that you have to continue to get better at every year, but that is the thing I’m most proud of—the inroads we’ve made on that front.”
Right fielder Teoscar Hernández, who signed a one-year prove-it deal with the Dodgers before 2024, all but begged to come back. Yamamoto essentially told other teams to stop offering him more money; he wanted to be in L.A. Relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates took less money for a better shot at a ring. Across the league, players perk up when they hear the Dodgers are asking about them; they know they’re about to get a lot better, and, as outfielder Alex Call put it shortly after he was dealt from the Nationals at the deadline: “I’m going to the World Series!”
The Phillies’ Bryce Harper had it right. “Only losers complain about what they’re doing,” he said this spring.
And that’s because they’re doing it the proper way. Betts turned himself into a Gold Glove–caliber shortstop by sheer force of will—and thousands of ground balls. Freeman, a 36-year-old father of three who has made almost $300 million, plays every day and scolds anyone who doesn’t. Clayton Kershaw treats February bullpens like World Series games.Â
“You can come early at Dodger Stadium or when we’re on the road, and watch our star players out here early, taking ground balls out in the field, doing everything to try to help them gain some edge for that night,” says Friedman. “And you can look across the field, and the team we’re playing—their players are not out.”
They’re not ruining baseball. This is what baseball is supposed to look like.
Luca Toni has outlined why Juventus signing two players from the Premier League could be decisive in catching up with Napoli and Inter this season.
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Leeds United have now identified a “world-class” goalkeeper as a prime target to replace Illan Meslier, with Daniel Farke now open to sanctioning the Frenchman’s departure, according to a report.
Speaking back in February, former Leeds man Paul Robinson praised Farke for the way in which he had dealt with Meslier, saying: “He’s a confidence goalkeeper and the manager has been excellent with him. That’s one thing you can ask for as a goalkeeper.”
However, the 48-year-old ultimately lost faith in his goalkeeper, with Karl Darlow being given the nod between the sticks during the promotion run-in, and the manager’s lack of trust in the shot-stopper may have damaged his confidence.
With Meslier’s blunders costing Farke’s side 10 points last season, it would be a huge risk for the manager to persist with the 25-year-old as his number one, and a report from TEAMtalk has revealed the German is now open to a sale this summer.
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The Whites have stepped up their pursuit of a midfielder, with discussions ongoing.
2
By
Dominic Lund
Jun 11, 2025
It is also detailed that Leeds have now identified Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic as a prime target to replace Meslier, with the Blues making the decision to place the Serbian on their transfer list, and they are open to offers of around ÂŁ25m.
The Whites have registered their interest in Petrovic, but there is widespread interest in the goalkeeper’s signature, with the likes of Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brenford also keen, alongside some top clubs from across Europe.
The Championship title-winners are seemingly very keen to get a deal done, despite potentially having to do battle with Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen, with the report stating they are now ready to step up their pursuit of the goalkeeper.
It is no surprise that Farke is willing to cash-in on Meslier this summer, and there are plenty of indications the Chelsea shot-stopper could be an ideal replacement, with his performances on loan at Strasbourg last season deemed to be at a very high level.
Indeed, manager Liam Rosenior was left enamoured by the Serbia international’s development, saying: “We have seen huge progress from Petro.
“He is a world-class goalkeeper. We see it every day and it is still paying off today.”
It is a bold claim to put the former New England Revolution man in the world-class category, but to a certain extent Rosenior’s assessment is backed up by the underlying data, as his save percentage over the past year has been very impressive.
|
Statistic |
Average per 90 |
|
Save % |
78.9% (98th percentile) |
|
Clean sheet % |
32.3% (76th percentile) |
|
Crosses stopped % |
8.4% (82nd percentile) |
As such, it could perhaps be considered a little unusual that Chelsea are willing to part ways with Petrovic this summer, but their loss could be Leeds’ gain.
With English cricket heading down a new path, it leaves Australia as the outlier in terms of private investment in their domestic league
Matt Roller31-Jan-2025Australian cricket is watching the ECB’s introduction of private investment into the Hundred with interest as the Big Bash League looks to “stay ahead of the game” following a successful 2024/25 season.Hobart Hurricanes’ maiden title, on the back of Mitchell Owen’s 39-ball century, put the seal on a campaign that demonstrated the BBL’s “strong momentum and growth”, the league’s general manager Alistair Dobson told ESPNcricinfo. It has given both him and Cricket Australia the chance to think to the future after spending multiple seasons in “reset mode”.After four seasons of the Hundred, the ECB is selling 49% stakes in each of its eight teams to private investors in a process that got underway on Thursday, leaving the BBL – which is owned and run entirely by CA and its states – as an outlier. Dobson declined to comment on whether the BBL will follow suit imminently, but remains open-minded about the league’s future.Related
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“The BBL has been successful almost from the very beginning,” Dobson said. “It has been able to deliver a really strong product and return to Australian cricket, which has meant that the model we have has been really successful – hence why there has been limited momentum in changing that model historically, because it’s been so strong.”The world’s shifting, and we’re always looking at other leagues and other models around the world to make sure we still have the right one for us… Every part of the global game is evolving really quickly and we learn bits from everyone. The process that the ECB is going through with the Hundred looks like an interesting one – it’ll be fascinating to see how that unfolds.”Dobson travelled to the UK to watch several games of the Hundred’s 2023 season and has kept close tabs on the competition’s first four seasons. “We can and do learn from the Hundred around continuing to innovate, in the way that the Hundred was prepared to try something different,” he said. “We have plenty to learn from each other.”Both leagues have that philosophy of continuing to be fan-first. From the outside looking in, it appears that they’ve taken a lot of the BBL’s DNA – the colour, fun, new audiences, new brands – and have created a product that seems to have connected quite strongly with the fanbase, and is bringing new fans into the game.”The Hundred has changed the landscape of English cricket•ECB via Getty Images
CA’s decision to expand the BBL from 43 games to 59 (and later 61) from 2018/19 until 2022/23 brought several challenges, with attendances and TV viewership suffering. But since returning to a shorter window last season – squeezing into the school holidays – it has managed to hold its own through a “quality over quantity” approach, despite clashes with the ILT20 and SA20.”For the past three or four years, we’ve been building the competition back after some challenging years through Covid and otherwise,” Dobson said. “It’s not until the last 12 months where we’ve had the momentum to be able to look at the future… I wouldn’t comment on any specific opportunities, but the world’s moving pretty fast and it’s important that we stay ahead of the game.”The availability of the world’s best players – both from Australia and elsewhere – remains a sticking point for the BBL, with only three out of six overseas spots filled in Monday’s final and Test series against India and Sri Lanka at either end of the season. But Dobson believes that the player pool remains healthy, with competitive top-end salaries of AUD$420,000.”The global landscape is moving really fast,” he said. “We hear a lot from players that playing in front of big crowds in iconic stadiums with great wickets and facilities is still really important, so we feel like we’re in a good position on that front… The other leagues around our window have created some interesting challenges, we feel like we are in pretty good shape.”Guys like Chris Jordan for the Hurricanes and Sam Billings for the [Sydney] Thunder have become really engaged in their clubs. Combining that with the iconic players in our competition – whether that’s Glenn Maxwell, or increasingly Mitch Owen – and then when we get a glimpse of Steve Smith, or David Warner… our strength is the mix of all those player groups.”Owen earned worldwide attention in his breakthrough season – not only for his brutal hitting, but for his obvious affinity for the Hurricanes. He grew up supporting the club from the grass bank at Bellerive Oval in Hobart and described his starring role in their first trophy win, aged 23, as a “childhood dream”, underlining the BBL’s longevity compared to many T20 leagues.’You start to get kids coming through who grew up barracking for and supporting their BBL team, evolving from young fans into opening batters’•Getty Images
“It’s a great story for us,” Dobson said. “I mean that not just individually for Mitch and the Hurricanes, but also, it’s a really strong signpost for us on the maturity and evolution of our competition, where we now have kids that have grown up supporting their BBL team, and we’re old enough for those kids to see their way through to play – and win – for that team.”We see it in other codes around the world – whether that’s football or other sports – where you want to play for the team you grew up supporting… Once you get through 14 seasons, you start to get kids coming through who grew up barracking for and supporting their BBL team, evolving from young fans into opening batters. That’s a really cool place for us to be.”The BBL will again overlap with a major series next summer, with Australia’s Test players unlikely to be available until the second half of the season following the Ashes. And while the majority of boards now reserve a space for their short-form leagues in their international calendar, Dobson insisted that the BBL works best when it operates “in harmony” with headline Test series, allowing cricket to capitalise on its window in the Australian sporting calendar.”Test cricket is still the pinnacle for our fans and our players,” he said. “For the BBL to run alongside that with its own offering and its own strengths is still the right model for us… There’s always talk about whether the BBL and the Test season should be separated to allow more player availability, but there’s also an element where those two things can work in harmony to create a really strong offering.”
The allrounder has evolved into a consistent scorer of Test runs, a run-out specialist, and is possibly the second-best spinner in the format
Jarrod Kimber07-Aug-2021People made fun of Ravindra Jadeja for making three first-class triple hundreds. It’s not easy to make one and he got a few; that only intensified the jokes. They called him Sir Ravi J, mockingly. It’s easy to dismiss those triples (Kerry O’Keefing is the technical term) as the teams he played against weren’t always strong. Still, there are some interesting bits to those innings.Before the triples there was a double. In that match, only one other batter scored over 80 runs, and that guy turned out pretty handy.His second triple century was almost 60% of his team’s total, and no one else made a hundred, even though it was a two-innings game.The 331 against Railways was out of a total of 576 runs and, in Murali Kartik and Sanjay Bangar, it came against a pair with nearly 1000 first-class wickets between them. Railways made just four more runs than he did in their first innings.In his first 36 matches for Saurashtra, he made six centuries, which is an okay conversion rate for a player with a second skill, but four of those were 232 or higher.After those seasons, as you would expect given that he could bowl, he didn’t stay with Saurashtra and ended up with India. And while he never became the triple-century Goliath, he was a top-quality international bat for the position he played from 2013 to 2017.
Jadeja is the second-best spinner called Ravi (incorrectly in R Ashwin’s case) in his team. Jadeja is playing like a build-your-own computer character, but Ashwin is a supervillain
It’s just that if you have built up this narrative of huge scores, averaging 29 in Tests (until the end of 2017) didn’t quite cut it. But it’s quality for a guy who batted eight or below more times than he didn’t. And 34 in ODIs with a strike rate of 92 batting at seven.These may not sound like inspiring numbers, but those are outstanding records for where he batted. No. 8s in Tests averaged 23 with the bat for this era, so he was well above normal. In ODIs, No. 7s score at the same rate as Jadeja, but he was averaging eight runs more.But, he was being compared to himself, and in India, where the only averages that are respected are the over-50 kind, he wasn’t popping.This, the IPL suspension, the moustache, the celebrations, the underserved (to some) arrogance, and the fact it seemed like MS Dhoni was operating him by remote control all meant that Jadeja was seen as a comedic figure, instead of the incredible player he is. He had a few runs, but more memes.Ravindra Jadeja’s first-innings half-century at Trent Bridge was the difference between India having a lead and not•Getty ImagesBut things have changed. Many like to look back at the Sanjay Manjrekar bits-and-pieces remarks as the point his career turned. Before it he averaged 31 across all forms of cricket with the bat, and after it has been 54. In truth, though, his form with the bat in Tests had already turned, so that theory doesn’t hold up.In fact, just as the global batting averages were about to drop, Jadeja took an enormous leap.Let me put it this way, when the global batting mark was a normal 31.76 from 2013 to 2017, Jadeja averaged 29.40. Since then a global pace-bowling pandemic has dropped the averages down to 28.08, and he has upped his average to 50.88.No one around the world can make a run right now, and a No. 7 everyone used to laugh at is averaging 50.It’s such a good record some fans want him batting up the order. Yet as good as he has been, he feels more like a No. 7 doing well rather than a top-order player. A bit like Daniel Vettori; his batting had a homespun nature to it, a by-any-means necessary style. And if you throw them up the order, with newer balls, and more pressure to build long innings, you can’t guarantee success.Related
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Vettori averaged 39 with the bat at No. 8, and when he went up the order to No. 6 and 7, he was just under 30. So far Jadeja averages 31 at No. 7. Most of his runs come at No. 8 (a bit low) or No. 9 (that’s some batting order). But from eight innings at No. 6, he’s managed three fifties.Vettori struggled up the order because while he was good at making runs, he had never learned how to build an innings like a batter. He just hung around incredibly well. Jadeja certainly had the construction skills as a young man, even if he’s only managed one hundred (exactly 100, in fact) in Tests.But batting up the order is different to what he’s been doing. And there’s no reason for him to be promoted. While Rishabh Pant is batting at No. 6, Jadeja at seven unlocks what allrounders should; the ability to have seven batters and five bowlers. That’s the dream.And this has got the feel of a wonderful dream.ESPNcricinfo LtdIf you look at Jadeja’s figures since the start of 2018 in Tests, he looks like the most valuable player on paper. India loses nothing with the bat. In fact, he’s miles ahead of most top-order players in terms of average. He’s going at 26 with the ball; not quite the silly numbers of some seamers going around, though he could have surely lowered that had he bowled against England at home this year.Put it this way: if you were drafting players to put in your Test team right now, and you could pick anyone, who would you take before him? Because he bowls spin, you can use him far more with the ball than Ben Stokes, and while he’s not in that class as a batter, he’s making more consistent runs. Jason Holder has been incredible with the ball and played some strong innings at home. Still, Jadeja probably has him beat and can bat higher right now. What of the specialists? Well, Jadeja has the fifth-best batting average (for a minimum 750 runs scored) and the 20th-best bowling average (with a minimum of 50 wickets) in this time. And he’s a run-out specialist with his arm.You may not still draft Jadeja at No. 1, but as far as allrounders go, the only one better in the world than him right now is Shohei Ohtani.It’s hard to get your head around all this because it is possible Jadeja is the second-best spinner in Tests, and also the second-best spinner called Ravi (incorrectly in R Ashwin’s case) in his team. Jadeja is playing like a build-your-own computer character, but Ashwin is a supervillain.Go to YouTube any day ending with ‘Y’ and some cricket nerd has made a new video about how Ashwin moved his pinky finger a millimetre and has thus changed reality as we know it. And there is a more prosaic wind-up toy nature to how Jadeja bowls. According to Cricviz, he doesn’t vary his pace much at all compared to high-class spinners. That means that Ashwin is the thinking cricketer we all wish we could be, and Jadeja is the bowling automaton who delivers through physical gifts.Actually, as much as anything, Jadeja has worked out how not to be dismissed•Getty ImagesBut, then, what of his batting? Where he went from a handy lower-order player who chips in, into a constant scorer of Test runs? Right now he looks like a player who can bat for any situation that’s thrown at him lower down the order. He’s worked on his game, tightened what was more of a wild-axe swing, taken batting up the order more seriously, and is now making regular runs.Actually, as much as anything, Jadeja has worked out how not to be dismissed. Batting at seven is a pretty simple job if you can bat. There are more not outs, and the new ball is a long distance from you. Jadeja has five not outs in 23 innings at No. 7. But he’s had four not outs batting at six as well. No matter where he enters, he’s got a huge amount of red ink. This isn’t just outlasting a shambolic tail. This is him being harder to dig out than an Alabama tick. This is Imran Khan of the 80s or late-career Vettori.It is only 23 innings, but almost a third of his career knocks. And that is one of the weirdest things, that he’s clearly close to the most complete cricketer in the world, and perhaps the most valuable. But he’s 32, and because of circumstances, he’s only played 53 Tests.On Friday, his dismissal was the only surprising thing. He negated England’s swinging ball, built a partnership with KL Rahul, and then squeezed runs out of the tail with the sort of exciting batting he showed when he was younger.It will go down as another fifty, a handy knock but it was more than that. His innings was the difference between India having a lead and not. Sometimes a fifty is worth more than 300.If you’re still making jokes about Ravi Jadeja’s batting, then you’re just not paying attention. Arise, Sir Ravi J, the quality No. 7.