What can we serve you with a side of cricket today? Charming cheerleaders? Groundbreaking tech? Sexy Shastri?

Alan Gardner15-Apr-2024Hello, friend. You’re here for the ? Of course, of course. Come on in, let me lift that velvet rope. Don’t be shy. We have all the cricketainment pleasures here that you could possibly desire.What will be your poison? You look like the cultivated type, perhaps we can interest you in one of our newest concoctions, the Smart Replay System. Will the wonders of technology ever cease? No, no, it doesn’t mean we get through the games any quicker. But we do have a few more seconds in which to cram adverts in front of eyeballs – our commercial VP says we should call it “Genius Replay System”, haha.Maybe it’s the hard stuff you’re into. Some top-shelf number-crunching to keep you up all night? Certainly, certainly, we can get you a private booth. Our stats whizzes will divulge all the game’s secrets: Virat Kohli, good at batting; Jasprit Bumrah, difficult to get away; Hardik Pandya, not the most popular man in Mumbai. We’re hoping to be able to calculate exactly how much each of Mitchell Starc’s wickets has cost KKR, but currently the numbers are too high even for our supercomputers.Related

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Whatever your tastes, we’ve got something to satisfy. Superstar batters, mystery spinners, interminable post-match presentations. Chummy commentators and charming cheerleaders ( ones, obviously). SRH panning it all over the shop on a flat one. LSG defending for their lives on a turner. Just lay back and let us pour it all over you.But wait, I see that glint in your eye. Seems that sir has something particular in mind. Don’t worry, we cater for those needs, too. What’ll it be today? The little-known left-arm spinner releasing a Punjabi banger? David Warner hamming it up Bollywood style while trying to flog a credit card app? Maybe you’re into Ravi Shastri thirst traps, or that enduring kink: MS Dhoni’s hair.It’s okay, feel free to indulge in all the stuff that they won’t let you do in whites. No one is checking on your line and length here. As it says on the sign above the door, “What do they know of the IPL who only cricket know?” Just one thing: whatever you do, don’t forget to take your strategic time-out.

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Talking of, ahem, bad habits… Ed Sheeran has interviewed Rohit Sharma. Or vice versa, the Light Roller isn’t quite sure. There was a chuckling man with a beard involved, too. It’s an obvious crossover, two global superstars, entertainment icons. One who likes cricket, one who has a daughter who forces him to listen to the other guy’s music. One of whom has a lot more time on his hands now that he doesn’t have to flip the coin for Mumbai Indians anymore. Sadly, Sheeran didn’t ask Rohit any questions about his hair, which looks like it arrived fully formed on his head straight from an ’80s pop video, but he did have some sage advice about success and failure. “You can’t win the World Cup every year,” he said. “But you have to know when to celebrate winning a World Cup and know when to rebuild after losing a World Cup.” To which we can only add:

Ed Sheeran singing a song for Rohit Sharma 's daughter Samiara. (BWC, Link in Description) pic.twitter.com/JWSSVTJDQi

— Selfless⁴⁵ (@SelflessCricket) April 12, 2024

Fans and sponsors aren’t coming in and team owners aren’t staying put. The tournament is floundering

Andrew Fidel Fernando21-Jul-2024On Thursday at the Lanka Premier League (LPL), Colombo Strikers played a knockout match in what is ostensibly their home venue.Strikers had beaten their Eliminator opponents Kandy Falcons twice in the league stage and had in their ranks the likes of Rahmanullah Gurbaz (one of the T20 World Cup’s star batters), New Zealand livewire Glenn Phillips, and three-time LPL-winning captain Thisara Perera.The cheapest seats at the Khettarama cost SLR 200 (a little more than the cost of a loaf of bread), slightly better seats cost SLR 600 (about what a posh coffee might set you back), and very good seats cost around SLR 2000 (a fast-food burger meal). Pay these amounts, and you would not only get access to the evening game, in which Strikers featured, you’d also have been able to roll up to Galle Marvels vs Jaffna Kings, the top-two sides from the league stage, playing the afternoon Qualifier that would launch one of those sides to the final.In a tournament in great health, the Khettarama would be brimming with 35,000 fans. Sri Lankan social media would be wriggling with debates, commentary and analysis. Potential sponsors would be clambering over each other to be associated.Kusal Mendis brought up a century off 51 balls, but there weren’t many people in the stands to watch it•SLCIn reality, no more than a smattering of spectators were in attendance, Falcons would continue to play without a sponsor, and though the most faithful devotees of Sri Lankan cricket were tuning in, there was little evidence that these matches were breaking through into the mainstream consciousness. On Saturday, when Kings played Falcons in a second Qualifier, which turned out to be a nail-biter, crowds and interest were only marginally better.Although the LPL had been launched in the depths of a Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, there had been brightness to that first season. Perhaps the strictures imposed by the pandemic worked in its favour. The LPL had a captive audience, for one – Lankans stuck at home with little else to do. There wasn’t much cricket going on elsewhere on the planet at the time, so fans overseas were also drawn in. Having to play at a single bio-secure venue was a bonus too – just one broadcast crew was required, even if costs to maintain the tournament bubble were substantial.When the Jaffna franchise, called Stallions under the original ownership, won, it felt like a tournament that could grow. Jaffna fans are the toughest crowd in the country, for reasons that stretch far beyond sport. And yet many in the northern city, and some in the diaspora, had felt a connection.By the next edition, the winning Stallions team had been terminated by Sri Lanka Cricket to the chagrin of those owners. No serious effort at building a fanbase in their home cities has been attempted since.

Where organisers may point to some markers of growth, this, right now, is a league that is being out-competed by many others. The concurrent MLC in the USA has pulled the likes of Cummins, Rashid, Pooran, Pollard, Head, Maxwell and Boult – the kind of star list the LPL has never assembled across its five seasons

Since then, the LPL has lurched from season to season, picking up new owners every time it rounds a corner on a new edition, each one stranger than the last. Take the Dambulla franchise, for example. In the inaugural tournament, the team was Dambulla Viiking, owned by Sachiin Joshi, who has since become more familiar to India’s law enforcement agencies. Next year, it was Dambulla Giants, after Joshi divested. In 2022 and 2023, it was Dambulla Aura, owned by Aura Lanka, whose website claims the company is in everything from herbals to helicopters, but which has no products available for wide consumption by the Sri Lankan or any other market. In the approach to this year’s tournament, they were Dambulla Thunders, until one of their owners was arrested just weeks before the tournament. Now it is Dambulla Sixers, owned by a whole different entity.When you see company after company buying up these franchises, then ditching them just as fast while stadiums remain largely empty in a country in which cricket is indisputably the most popular sport, you start to wonder who this tournament is actually for.Organisers have touted broadcast numbers, year after year. But then why is there such horrendous turnover in franchise ownership? B-Love Kandy won last year’s tournament, and yet those owners are not around now. The organisers have had to run the franchise.We say “organisers” rather than Sri Lanka Cricket, because unusually for SLC, they have allowed another entity to come in and run the LPL on their behalf. This is the Innovative Production Group (IPG), which mostly specialises in cricket broadcast.While the organisers had been prepared for the challenges of the Covid era, they could not have foreseen the tanking of Sri Lanka’s economy in late 2021 and 2022•SLCSLC and IPG face substantial economic headwinds, of course. They are operating in a market that is tiny by South Asian standards – Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, roughly the same as the city of Mumbai. And while the organisers had been prepared for the challenges of the Covid era, they could not have foreseen the tanking of Sri Lanka’s economy in late 2021 and 2022. Significantly less wealth in the country means fans are loathe to part with what little disposable income remains month-to-month, and corporates are cautious with marketing budgets.But even with these allowances and caveats, the LPL is floundering. Mainly this is down to one of SLC’s greatest sins – the board has never sought to meaningfully spread cricket into the provinces it claims to represent. If you grow up playing in Jaffna, Dambulla, or even Kandy, you have no serious local team to represent. You have to come to Colombo to play senior cricket. For most, this would involve leaving their family, finding a job, and a new support network, which in turn means that fans in these cities never really have the opportunity to rally behind local players, as they might at the Big Bash League, or the Caribbean Premier League, or the Pakistan Super League.Where organisers may point to some markers of growth, this, right now, is a league that is being out-competed by many others. The concurrent Major League Cricket in the USA has pulled the likes of Pat Cummins, Rashid Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell and Trent Boult – the kind of star list the LPL has never assembled across its five seasons.This is a decent approximation of men’s cricket in Sri Lanka at the moment. SLC officials have been at pains to suggest it is moving forward. In reality, Sri Lanka is being left behind by everyone else.

Maiden ODI century proves an apt retort after criticism of his previous comments in defeat

Vithushan Ehantharajah24-Sep-2024A look to the heavens before a puff of the cheeks. A “fookin’ ‘ellll” exhaled out the side of his mouth. Harry Brook’s reaction in the 34th over of England’s chase said it all. Who cares? He does.The relief flowed after his maiden ODI century, a feeling you could apply more broadly to the last week, his central part in it and the situation his team faced at the Seat Unique Riverside. After two humbling defeats, England were well on their way to winning this third ODI in Durham. And a cricketer who perhaps did not realise how sapping ODI captaincy could be – “I was actually knackered when I got out there after 50 overs in the field,” he said at the end – finally got to experience being the lesser stressed of the two leaders.There are caveats of course, though nothing to do with rain taking the players off in the 38th over of England’s pursuit of 305. Brook and Liam Livingstone had begun munching through what was left, and the 51 left on the table was set to be devoured in about half of the 74 balls left. They were 46 ahead on DLS at the break in play.Australia rested Travis Head, which lent itself to a subdued start – they struck just nine boundaries in the first 25 overs – before a late flurry shifted their total to 304 for 7. Adam Zampa’s illness robbed them of an X-factor, with the full-time ‘part-time’ offspin of Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Short combining for three forgettable overs. A healthy amount of legspin would have broken up the monotony of seam that England managed easily through the middle overs as Brook and Will Jacks flourished having come together at 11 for 2. “It’s always a different team when Adam Zampa is not there,” Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald said after the match.Brook also won his third consecutive toss, and though that hadn’t helped at Trent Bridge or Headingley, conditions at Chester-le-Street were conducive to bowling up top. But it turned out to be the first of several correct calls in what turned out to be an accomplished day out for the 25-year-old.Brook admitted he’d found his early experience of the captaincy a bit ‘frantic’•Getty ImagesBefore he starred with the bat, Brook showed a decent amount of cunning in the field. Perhaps the best of it was using an unusually narrow and close mid-on to remove Cameron Green, breaking a stand of 84 with Steven Smith, who was essentially shielding the fielder – Matthew Potts – at the non-striker’s end as Jacob Bethell twirled his left-arm orthodox from around the wicket.”There wasn’t much turn and Beth was kind of just sliding it on,” Brook explained of the unusual placing. Granted, Green did not need to charge down and slap the ball straight to Potts – which Brook acknowledged in his own way. “It was a little bit of luck, to be honest, I’m not going to take the credit too much. But that’s nice to see, when you do make a change and it works straight away.”Another tweak saw the back of Marnus Labuschagne for a duck. The Australian No.5, keen to get off the mark while being denied options down the ground, attempted to find relief with a scoop off Jacks. A ricochet off his grille gave Jamie Smith a simple catch behind the stumps.Despite some sound marshalling of the attack – particularly Brydon Carse, who bowled better than figures of 1 for 55 suggest – things did unravel for Brook at the end of Australia’s innings. Alex Carey’s acceleration and Aaron Hardie’s introduction saw 104 scored off the last 10 overs, with a startling 55 coming from the last four. England looked a seamer light – specifically, an allrounder, and it was some comfort when their most exalted of that breed spent the interval telling Sky he would be more than willing to return when he is inevitably asked.Winning helps of course, but Brook regarded this as an altogether more comfortable outing as captain. “Progressively it’s got more enjoyable. The first game I felt a little bit frantic, at times. But as the series has gone on, I’ve felt a lot more chilled.”It certainly looked that way as far as his batting was concerned. A devastating unbeaten 110 – three figures brought up in just 87 deliveries – breaks a 16-innings streak without a century across all formats, domestic and international. There have been just two half-centuries – for Northern Superchargers against Manchester Originals and in the first innings of the first Sri Lanka Test – since his fifth Test hundred against West Indies at Trent Bridge in the middle of July, among eight other double-figure scores.Related

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There were some welcome hallmarks of the Brook that England fans have come to expect. He explained his success as a case of keeping his head “as still as possible”, watching the ball and playing it late – traits which, to be fair, were abundantly clear today. But there were also the characteristic impulsive streaks.The first time he used his feet was to carve Josh Hazlewood over backward point in the ninth over. He greeted the first deliveries of Maxwell and Short with lofted drives over extra cover, for four and six respectively.In Jacks, he had an ally willing to keep pace, and even sprint ahead. The pair tag-teamed Mitchell Starc in the 23rd over, handing the left-arm quick his third most expensive over in ODIs (19). By the time their stand was broken for 156 – Jacks slicing to point for 84 – the ask was a manageable 138 from 135 deliveries. Brook seemed intent to drive, cut and scoop his way through that figure, eventually having to make do with 40 of the 87 England hacked off before the rains came.”He’s an impressive player,” McDonald said. “He’s going to have a long career for England, and he’s going to give us some headaches along the journey.”You could call this a statement knock of sorts. Two-fold, perhaps. The first being that it gave Brook the chance to clarify comments made after the first ODI. “If you get caught somewhere on the boundary or in the field, then who cares?” was the utterance in question, leading to widespread derision from fans and pundits alike.”I think people took that a little bit the wrong way,” he said. “You’ve got to go out there and play fearlessly and almost have that ‘who cares’ attitude. That’s not a ‘who cares if we lose attitude’ – we still want to win. But you don’t want to go out there and have that fear of getting out.”You could see what he meant at the time, but Tuesday’s knock – studded with 13 fours and two sixes – acts as a handy guide to make it crystal clear. This was Brook leading from the front, in a familiar sweet spot of showing just how much he cares through not caring the right way.

There is also the intriguing question of what would have happened if the selectors had said no from the start

Alex Malcolm16-Oct-20241:36

What’s the logic of moving Smith back down the order?

George Bailey was very careful with his words when he revealed that Steven Smith would no longer be opening the batting in Australia’s Test team.”Steve had expressed a desire to move back down from that opening position,” Australia’s chair of selectors said on Monday before stating that captain Pat Cummins and coach Andrew McDonald had confirmed that Smith would be moving. Bailey was explicit too in noting that he, despite being the chair, did not decide the order.Smith’s dalliance with opening in Test cricket has been mostly criticised and there are a lot of people who believe it never should have happened.Related

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And that is a thread worth pulling on. What if it never did happen?The intriguing part is not the question of who would have opened instead of Smith, which is fascinating but now a moot point. The intriguing part is what would have happened to Smith if the selectors had said no to his request to open the batting.This is where Bailey’s words are instructive. It has been lost somewhat that Smith drove the move. He requested to open the batting initially. He put it on the public agenda. The captain and coach both expressed their preference that Smith stay in No. 4 in the immediate days after Smith flagged his interest. Only after he confirmed his seriousness in undertaking the challenge did the team hierarchy conclude that it was worth doing to accommodate the selection of Cameron Green at No. 4 without forcing someone else to open against their wishes.There will be plenty of people who will say the decision-makers abdicated their responsibilities in that moment and that they should have told Smith it was a bad idea that wasn’t going to be entertained.That criticism is not unreasonable. Selectors, coaches and captains must make tough decisions and have tough conversations. But every decision has consequences and opportunity cost.Steven Smith wasn’t alone in find things tricky at the top•Getty ImagesSmith was hinting he was growing weary of the monotony of batting at No. 4. He has conquered every challenge there is in that role. His returns had been diminishing, albeit receding from a ridiculously high watermark. He had averaged 42.22 in the calendar year of 2023, and just 38.80 with a highest score of 50 in six innings against Pakistan prior to his move to the top of the order.It would take a brave and stubborn leader to hear one of Australia’s greatest ever Test batters request a fresh challenge and then flat out reject it when it was going to solve a selection headache.How would Smith have felt about that? There will be plenty who will argue that players should play the role they’re given rather than dictate terms. But if anyone has earned the right to at least request such a move, it is Smith.And given that he has been less than enthusiastic about shifting from No. 3 to No. 4 in Australia’s ODI team in recent times against his preference, the consequences of denying him the chance to open the batting in the Test team are worth considering. It is also worth noting his returns at No. 4 in the ODI side since the shift have been below his career record, coincidentally or otherwise.Had he remained at No. 4 in the Test side against West Indies and New Zealand there aren’t any guarantees he would have performed any differently than he did opening the batting. Would Australia have won in Brisbane had he been batting at No. 4, given he made an exceptional 91 not out in the chase as an opener? Would he have made a match-winning 174 not out at the Basin Reserve, as Green did? Could he have averaged more than 28.50? Those questions will never be answered. The added strands to Smith staying at No. 4, like how a different opener would have gone and what would have happened to Green, are also unanswerable.At least with Smith opening, he got a taste of what the alternate universe looks like and can potentially return to No. 4 with renewed vigour against India. Had he remained there, he may instead be feeling like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day heading into this summer.That said, was the move as much of a failure as it has been made out to be?Smith’s average of 28.50 at the top across eight innings in those two Test series was not as bad as it appears on paper. His 91 not out was the highest score by any opener in the four Tests, with only three half-century scores registered by all the openers who played. Usman Khawaja averaged 32.42 in the same four games. Tom Latham averaged 31 in the two Tests in New Zealand but had two single figure scores in Wellington. Will Young, Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul all averaged single figures.There will be plenty of focus on whether Steven Smith can rekindle his best form against India•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesMarnus Labuschagne averaged 16.85 at No. 3 in those same four Tests, with a score of 90, while Kane Williamson averaged 19.25 at No. 3 in New Zealand with a half-century. The conditions were difficult.Smith’s returns were also on par with the career averages of the three main contenders to now take the role in Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Matt Renshaw, while David Warner averaged 30.12 across the final two years of his career.Beyond the numbers though, Smith’s initial move to open followed by his request to move back will have unintended consequences despite Green’s injury paving the way for an easy transition.The first of those falls on the team leadership when or if one of Harris, Bancroft or Renshaw gets the nod. All will feel pressure to prove themselves on Test match return in any case, but a nagging sense that they weren’t the first-choice option could be an added burden.A bolt from the blue like Sam Konstas would provide another twist. That would provide a clean, uncomplicated end to a slightly messy 11 months and signal a fresh start although depending on when Green is available again for Test cricket, another debate is on the cards.It will probably end up as a footnote on a storied career, but Smith’s time as a Test opener was a fascinating chapter.

A look at the records India broke during their 115-run win over West Indies in the second ODI in Vadodara

Deep Gadhia24-Dec-2024358 for 5 – The joint-highest total for India in women’s ODIs, matching their 358 for 2 against Ireland in Potchefstroom in 2017. It is also the highest total against West Indies in women’s ODIs.3 – Instances of India posting a total of 300 or more in 2024, the most for them in a calendar year. It is also the first instance of India posting 300-plus totals in consecutive matches, having amassed 314 for 9 in the first ODI of the current series.47 – Boundaries (43 fours and four sixes) hit by India in their innings, the most by them in an ODI.2 – Only the second time four India batters scored over a fifty in an ODI. It was also the third instance of their top three registering 50-plus scores.2021 – Harleen Deol’s 115 was the first instance of an India No. 3 scoring a century since Punam Raut’s 104 not out against South Africa in Lucknow in 2021.2 – Deol became only the second Indian woman after Harmanpreet Kaur to reach a hundred in fewer than 100 balls. She reached the milestone in 98 balls.3 – Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal became the third Indian pair to have consecutive century partnerships in ODIs. Anju Jain and Jaya Sharma, three in a row across 2003 and 2004, and Karuna Jain and Jaya, two in 2005, are the others.743 – Mandhana overtook South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt as the highest run-scorer in women’s ODIs in 2024. Mandhana’s current tally of 743 is her best in a calendar year, with India set to play one more ODI before the year ends.

Mayank Agarawal led from the front, seasoned pros were discarded, and a bunch of new faces made their presence felt in the winning run

Shashank Kishore20-Jan-2025Mayank Agarawal leads from the frontOver the past two seasons, the selectors had moved on from a number of seasoned players, who have had to find new teams or wait for answers on their future – R Samarth and Karun Nair have shifted to Uttarakhand and Vidarbha, respectively, while Manish Pandey and K Gowtham are out.Related

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Karnataka hadn’t come close to winning the title in any of the formats last season, and in this one, 2024-25, they exited in the quarter-finals of the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and have had a tough time during the first half of the Ranji Trophy season. Against this backdrop, Mayank Agarawal’s four centuries and 651 runs at an average of 93 in a title-winning campaign came at a time when there was a growing sense that the selectors were looking towards youngsters.”I thought I had a great tournament,” Agarawal told ESPNcricinfo. “To be overshadowed by somebody who had a record-breaking run like Karun – it was absolutely stunning for him to achieve what he did and I’m delighted for him – but, at a personal level, those four hundreds made a massive difference personally and for the team.”A slight shift in technique was the starting point. “I made subtle changes in my setup and backlift,” Agarawal explained. “It was also more about breaking down different phases in the game and making plans for those phases and executing those. When you execute it once, you get the confidence and a rhythm and hunger to keep going it again and again.”Agarawal’s upturn in form came after not finding any takers at the IPL mega auction ahead of the 2025 season.”To be honest, I gave myself six-eight hours to soak in what had happened and then said to myself, ‘listen, this is what has happened, this is where I’m at – what do I do next?’ I didn’t want to sit and brood over why it didn’t happen.”It was a knock on the chin and instead of getting upset, I tried to figure out what I need to do, what my immediate focus should be and how I get back on track. So the hundreds and runs was the coming together of all these processes I set for myself in rediscovering myself.”[File photo] Krishnan Shrijith is one of the bright new finds in the batting department•KSCARevamped middle order: KV Aneesh, R Smaran and K ShrijithAgarawal picked out Karnataka’s ability to win key moments regularly as a major reason for their success. It started from the go, with Karnataka chasing 381 against Mumbai in their tournament opener. “That instilled a lot of belief, because this is after all a team in transition,” Agarawal said.K Shrijith scored 150, and Praveen Dubey bounced back from an expensive spell with the ball (2 for 89) with an unbeaten 65. “You suddenly saw fearlessness that the younger group carried forward from there – it was as if that chase unlocked something within the youngsters.”In the second game against Puducherry, R Smaran got his first List A hundred in his maiden season. Smaran had been a standout player in the Under-23s last season for Karnataka. His temperament and ability to soak in pressure was evident again in the final. With Karnataka in choppy waters at 67 for 3, he put together a remarkable partnership with Shrijith to set up the finish for Abhinav Manohar.Smaran finished as Karnataka’s second-highest run-getter, hitting 433 runs in seven innings at an average of 72.16 with two hundreds and two half-centuries. Shrijith made 303 runs, 228 of those in two innings alone – against Mumbai and in the final against Vidarbha – which points to some thought in team selection, since they persisted with him despite a dip in the middle of the tournament.Like Smaran, KV Aneesh is a product of the Under-23s, and he flourished to play a crucial role in the middle order in Pandey’s absence. Aneesh, who grew up in the UAE but returned home to be able to give his cricket career the best shot possible, broke through into the state side on the back of 922 runs, including a double-century in the final, in the CK Nayudu Trophy last season. At the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Aneesh hit a crucial 83 against Saurashtra and 52 in the quarter-final against Baroda.It also helped that Devdutt Padikkal, who was available for the knockouts after the Australia Test series, hit 102 and 86 in their quarter-final and semi-final wins over Baroda and Haryana.”I thought I had a great tournament”•Mayank Agarawal Abhilash Shetty, the new left-arm pacer on the blockIt’s a dimension to Karnataka’s bowling attack that has been missing since S Aravind exited in 2017-18. While there have been a few left-armers, like Prateek Jain, who have played sporadically, they hadn’t found that one seamer capable of playing across formats. Until the Vijay Hazare Trophy.Abhilash Shetty arrived in style, taking a five-for against Punjab on his List A debut, and carrying on that form to finish with 17 wickets in seven games, the joint-third-highest in the tournament. Seven of those wickets came in the semi-final and final.”In the game against Punjab, Abhilash picked up two wickets in an over [Anmol Malhotra and Ramandeep Singh] as he came back for his second spell – which was the turning point I’d say between us having to chase 290 and chasing 248,” Agarawal said. “He’s a very talented bowler, who understood what he needed to do whenever he was brought on to bowl.”Shetty’s arrival coincided with Karnataka’s bowling stocks having been depleted. Vidwath Kaverappa and Vyshak Vijaykumar were both out injured, while Prasidh Krishna was away with the Test squad in Australia, though he rejoined the team on his return.This made Shetty the partner to the consistent V Koushik, who not only contributed 18 wickets (just two short of Arshdeep Singh’s chart-topping 20) but also made a crucial 7 not out at No. 11 in an unbroken 47-run stand with Agarawal to seal a tense win against Punjab, which was massive in the overall context of their qualification to the knockouts.Shreyas Gopal delivers on his returnThere had been a debate within the state circles over the decision to go back to legspinning allrounder Shreyas Gopal, who returned after a season with Kerala. But Shreyas showed that his rich experience counted for a lot, finishing as the joint-second-highest wicket-taker, his 18 wickets coming at an economy of 4.98. This included two thrifty spells of 2 for 36 and 2 for 38 in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. He also contributed a useful 29 with the bat in the low-scoring one-wicket win over Punjab.