Plays of the day from the second T20I between South Africa and New Zealand in Centurion

Firdose Moonda16-Aug-2015Going to ground
After South Africa spilt a few under the lights in Durban, AB de Villiers said he would always be able to forgive his team-mates a dropped catch, as long as they continue to create chances. So David Miller would not have had too much to worry about when he got under a Martin Guptill lofted shot to long-on and even put it the dive to take the catch but, on an unstable outfield, could not hold on. Miller tumbled forward, the ball bobbled out of his hand and the indentation of disappointment was etched onto the brown grass.Going to hand
Guptill was on 38 when Miller messed up and had added 22 more runs to his score before Miller had the chance to make up for it. He was at long-on again when Guptill tried to dispatch part-timer Farhaan Behardien over the boundary but mis-hit the ball Miller’s way. Again, Miller got under it and put it in the dive but this time he was prepared for the inevitable tumble on a turf that had begun to look like the back of moon and fell, ball in hand. He created another mini crater, this time in celebration, and Behardien had claimed his first T20 wicket.Going to hand II
If Miller had any lingering concerns about whether he had something to prove after the drop, he wiped them away with his next catch. Luke Ronchi flat-batted a David Wiese slower-ball bouncer to deep midwicket, where Miller would barely have had time to see it coming his way, much less think about how he was going to catch it. He ran in on instinct, reached out his hands and the ball stuck.Going for broke
Hashim Amla abandoned his usual subtlety when Adam Milne presented him with a short, wide delivery that was asking for ugliness. Amla cut viciously as he rocked back, but then saw he had sent the ball straight to point. Colin Munro did not have to pull off any heroics, just stand and collect while Amla dropped to his knee in his irritation at his own haste.Going high
AB de Villiers was playing with the freedom of a released prisoner and seemed to be in total control. He went over the covers and then found the gap through them, slog swept over square leg and then tried to do it again but his own eagerness caught up with him. Instead of distance, de Villiers got height and Jimmy Neesham at long-on had the time to take the catch. He was squinting into the sun as the ball swirled above him, and he had to shield his eyes with one hand while judging the catch with the other. He got into a good position though and ended up getting both hands around the ball to end de Villiers’ sprightly innings.

India need fresh ideas to rejuvenate an ODI team that has failed to adapt to new regulations that call for greater batting depth and hitting power

Sidharth Monga27-Oct-20151:48

‘Indian cricket has to look long-term’ – Dhoni

MS Dhoni’s view on India’s ODI issues

On batting order: “You want to have strength in the middle and lower middle order and at the same time have bowlers who can get you wickets at any point of time in the game… We have made changes in the batting order to see what gives more strength to our batting order, what looks like a good composition when we are chasing. You have to study these things.”
On fast bowlers: “If you see any other Test- or ODI-playing nation, the fast bowlers come and in one or two years they graduate to the next level – they become the strike bowlers or they learn what their strength is and bowl according to that. To some extent, we have not been able to do [that].”
On No. 7: “We have tried Stuart Binny, people have criticised that also but if you talk of allrounders in India, your best seaming allrounder is Stuart Binny, your two best spinning allrounders are Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Whether you like it or don’t like it, these are the best we have so we have to make the most out of them.”

ODI cricket, more than other formats, has been India’s pride. Before this year’s World Cup, they were the holders of the World Cup and Champions Trophy. At home they have been near invincible. Before this defeat to South Africa, they had lost only two series out of their last 16 at home. On both occasions – after defeats to Australia in 2009-10 and Pakistan in 2012-13 – they recovered quickly and went on to win the World Cup of 2011 and the Champions Trophy of 2013.After the defeat to Australia, India didn’t change their personnel or plans too much. Zaheer Khan was the main addition to the team that lost to Australia. After Pakistan, India changed their ODI cricket’s grammar. Out went Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh to herald a clean break from the previous era; in came younger legs, naturalised openers, and everything suddenly fell in place. New matchwinners appeared in R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami, in Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.After this series defeat, those making decisions have to decide what kind of debacle this is: one where you keep calm and carry on or one where new match-winners and new ideas are needed. The utter helplessness during this series might suggest the latter. The return of Ashwin and Shami from injury, for example, won’t address the problems that have existed for a while now.The biggest of these has been the failure to adjust to constant rule changes. Just when India found out that being forced to attack with five bowlers was the best thing to happen for them, the ICC changed the rules. New regulations that have made hitting in the end more difficult call for more batting depth. More than four years after he ceased being a match-winner, India are still looking for a replacement for Yuvraj Singh. In ODIs, Yuvraj was not just a big hitter, he could play long innings too, unlike Suresh Raina, the closest India have got to replicating Yuvraj. Yuvraj could also be counted upon as a bowler, which for some reason MS Dhoni is not doing as regularly with Raina as he used to.That South Africa’s JP Duminy bowled 21 overs in three matches to Raina’s 14 in five was a huge difference between the sides. In five ODIs in England last year, Raina bowled 25. India kept craving that batsman at No. 7 who would free up the minds and muscles of those batting higher up, but they didn’t ask more of their batsmen. Duminy is not that much better a bowler than Raina. Nor is Farhaan Behardien more deceptive than Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma. Sneaking in overs from part-timers used to be MS Dhoni’s forte; with rule changes he seems to lost that touch.It doesn’t help Dhoni that he is not sure of his main bowlers completing their quota. The disturbing trend of their being really good for just one season continues. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has not come back the same bowler after being bowled into the ground in England last year. Who knows what we will get of Shami after he played through pain and injury in the World Cup in Australia? Umesh Yadav has the fitness, but he has not shown he has evolved as a bowler. What Dhoni said of the pace bowlers in Bangladesh might have sounded harsh but is ringing painfully true.The treatment of Ajinkya Rahane, though, is a bit harsh. Rahane would have seen Rohit and Raina get plenty of opportunities before him to cement their places. He, though, is already typecast in a rare case of the captain talking about a player’s limitations in press conferences. This has also brought about a rare instance of the selectors acknowledging the issue. Dhoni is more edgy than ever, criticising pitches and umpires, which he hardly ever did in public. He has never been in such little control of his team or the cricket it plays. And he likes control when he is on the field. During this series his fast bowlers were wayward, Harbhajan Singh and Axar Patel were nothing like Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja at their best, and the batting match-winners didn’t quite complete their jobs.When you walk into a dressing room, you want to look at match-winners. This team only really had two, Rohit and Kohli. Dhawan was out of form, although form hardly applies to him: he just starts scoring runs out of the blue. Bowlers know how to bowl to Dhoni now. They are not scared of him in the one-on-one scenarios of the final overs, where Dhoni has broken down the best of them. He did play what proved to be a match-winning innings, but when he batted India had nothing to lose and with the bat South Africa contributed generously to India’s cause.Rahane still has some way to go before he can be looked at as a reliable match-winner, but he deserves those chances. With current regulations Raina has to be asked to do more with the ball to accommodate someone such as Gurkeerat Singh, a hitter and a bowler of a few overs. ODI cricket might be leaving India behind, in that they don’t have either a jack-in-the-box who can play around with fields or a big hitter they can call upon to hit from ball one. The one man who might be suited for the role wasn’t given a single game in a bumbling line-up.It is rare that an Indian Test team looks more modern than the ODI one, but that is the case now, and it is not all about the captain or the captaincy. It is clear Indian ODI cricket needs regeneration. Their batsmen are too similar, their slow seamers are not fast enough, and their quick seamers are not smart enough. The captain is usually on a hiding to nothing in such scenarios, but this is also when the really good ones pull the side through. Dhoni has done that previously, and he keeps saying whatever he is doing now is with the next World Cup and Champions Trophy in mind, but the regeneration has to start with a question on Dhoni himself: will he be fit and good enough come the next World Cup? It’s a question India didn’t ask with Sachin Tendulkar.

From de Kock through du Plessis to de Villiers, South Africa’s batting order ran a relentless relay race to 438 and a first ever bilateral ODI series win in India

Rachna Shetty in Mumbai 26-Oct-2015The perfect relay race is a finely tuned combination of speed, skill and strategy – swift changeovers, sustained pace, the right runners at the right leg and ruthlessness in heaps. In the series decider against India at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, South Africa ran something of an equivalent to it.They weren’t without help – India’s short-length strategy, their errors in the field, a belter of a track, a quick outfield and short boundaries – but no matter how perfect the conditions, the race still needs to be run and South Africa did that after opting to bat first on Sunday.Finding the right men for the job, specially in a batting line-up with their quality was never an issue. They’ve shuffled their batting around in this series, once to coax David Miller back to form, and another forced by JP Duminy’s injury – but the batsmen who scored the centuries today have all been in form in this series.Their problems, in Indore, Rajkot and Chennai, lay with their struggles on a slow pitch and a tendency to lose wickets in clumps. None of that was on display in Mumbai – the aggression kept building up with Quinton de Kock, then Faf du Plessis before that final, characteristic burst from AB de Villiers that left an already struggling Indian bowling line-up’s plans in rubble.For a while, at the start, it seemed like Hashim Amla would finally get among the runs that he has been aiming for in this series. He took a liking to Mohit Sharma’s troubles at finding a good length straightaway, taking five boundaries off Mohit, before edging one behind. Almost effortlessly, de Kock took charge, much like he and du Plessis had done in Rajkot when they added 118 runs.India brought on spin, in the form of Harbhajan Singh, in the seventh over. By the 10th over, there was spin at both ends. It didn’t work. This wasn’t a turning track, and the spinners had little assistance.Harbhajan did manage to catch de Kock off balance a couple of times early on, but the other spinners weren’t as tight. As his spell wore on, de Kock had the measure of the bowler – the manner in which he adjusted at the last minute while playing a cut to third-man off Harbhajan in the 19th over was evidence of that. Sixty-four of his 109 came against India’s lead spinners, each at better than a run-a-ball.A lot of talk in this series has revolved around the kind of impact new ODI rules have had on slow, turning tracks and in conditions where the ball gets old quickly. The unspoken assumption, of course, is that your bowlers can actually produce the lines and lengths you need in the conditions you face. India did not do that today and Dhoni didn’t hold back on the admission of the side’s shortcomings.Dhoni stated that on a track like the one at Wankhede, India’s seamers and the short-ball strategy broke down because the pacers couldn’t hit the deck hard enough. As South Africa accelerated, it got that much harder to control them.With de Kock humming at one end, du Plessis was happy to keep turning the strike around, acknowledging the risk of two batsmen simultaneously going ballistic. Before this game, du Plessis had crossed the 50-run mark in three out of four matches, but that consistency didn’t quite match the high expectations he had of himself. Before the Rajkot ODI, he had stressed how he wanted to bat longer, to bat better, to build a more substantial innings. He picked an opportune time for it.The heat affected du Plessis, and he struggled more and more as the innings progressed, but it was his stability and control over India’s frontline spinners and the part-timers that allowed de Kock and de Villiers the luxury of their big shots. He pushed himself almost to breaking point – to a situation where every six that he hit was followed by the sight of him crumbling awkwardly to the ground with cramps.And then there was de Villiers, who raced to his third hundred in the series. He’s hardly the kind of batsman to walk away from a platform like 187 for 2 in the 27th over. His tally of sixes – some of them mistimed, and top-edged – may not have shot up to 11 at another ground, but this innings wasn’t just about the hitting.De Villiers later said that when he came to the crease, and as his stand with du Plessis grew, he often had to hold himself back from playing aggressive shots. The reason, he said, was that he didn’t want to leave a tiring du Plessis with the task of shepherding the finish. That was his job, and he switched gears seamlessly once Du Plessis had walked off due to the cramp.The captain was batting on 79, and South Africa on 351 for 2, when David Miller joined him at the crease and India’s bowlers could do nothing but watch. When he fell three overs later, South Africa were 399 for 3 and on their way to securing their first ever bilateral ODI series win in India.

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2015James Anderson, however, struck early having the returning Azhar Ali for a seven-ball duck•Getty ImagesMohammad Hafeez did not build on a start, holing out to Stuart Broad in the deep…•Getty Images…but Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan steadied their side on a pitch that offered turn right away•Getty ImagesBroad delivered five consecutive maidens after lunch, during which he had Younis caught behind•Getty ImagesMisbah-ul-Haq and Sarfraz Ahmed, however, kept the scorecard ticking with an 80-run partnership•Getty ImagesThat was ended by Moeen Ali and Pakistan lost their last five wickets for 38 runs, after which England played out two overs before stumps•Getty ImagesAnderson and Broad were the standout performers of the day, claiming combined figures of 6 for 30•Getty Images

There are no two ways about it, the shot that Moeen Ali played at the beginning of the second innings – as England set out on the task of batting 144 overs to save a Test – was horrid

Andrew McGlashan in Dubai25-Oct-2015There is much to admire about this England team. They are a vibrant side who have played wonderfully engaging cricket over the last six months and also have an inner steel. However, they are also like a jigsaw puzzle that is proving infuriatingly difficult to complete.It was always going to be a challenge for England to fiddle an XI to fit the conditions in the UAE, without a standout specialist spinner and with on-going doubts over who should open with Alastair Cook. Regardless of how strongly they finished in Abu Dhabi, there was always a chance cracks would emerge. It was never a watertight plan.Three-down at the close of day four, there is still a glimmer of hope that they can escape with a draw, although if they do it will surpass Auckland in 2013, Cardiff 2009 and even Cape Town 2010. None of those matches featured a top-class legspinner. And still, in defeat or draw, the debates will follow.The question of when patience should run out with a side like this will never have an answer that keeps everyone happy. As was the case on the third day, when the middle-order collapse ensured England would not win this match, there are reasons to temper criticism. At the same time, however, the big issues cannot be shied away from.There are no two ways about it, the shot that Moeen Ali played at the beginning of the second innings – as England set out on the task of batting 144 overs to save a Test – was horrid, regardless of the fact that he is a new opener who had never even performed the role in first-class cricket before this tour. A full delivery, angled across him and outside off stump, which could have been left to pass through to the keeper, was instead attacked with a flamboyant drive and edged waist-high to second slip.If Moeen’s first-innings dismissal, popping a catch to short leg off the face of the bat, had a distinct slice of bad luck about it, this time it was entirely self-inflicted. Before the match Moeen had spoken of how he had enjoyed the opening experience in Abu Dhabi instead of the No. 8 role he occupied in the Ashes because it allowed him to leave the ball. His second-innings drive was all lower-order dasher. And this, too, with a hobbling captain at the other end.”Against the new ball you perhaps have to be a little watchful,” Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, said. “This is not a pitch for big shots and big drives, but we know that’s how Mo looks to play and he’s got to make sure he adapts his game to give himself the chance to bat for long periods of time. If he gets in he can obviously play his natural game.”He is not the first and won’t be the last opener to be out driving at a full delivery – Adam Lyth, a specialist, made a habit of it during the Ashes. Promotion has also been tough on him. He was getting settled at No. 8, playing crucial match-seizing innings, and all of a sudden he is moved.Moeen Ali rues the loose drive that cost him his wicket•Getty ImagesThis is his 18th Test and he has already batted in six positions. Some of those shifts have been caused by nightwatchmen, but he has still been shuffled like a deck of cards. He could become this generation’s Alec Stewart – always moved for the needs of team balance, regardless of whether it is the best thing for his own game. Never mind the fact he is also the senior spinner.England seemingly came into the tour all but wedded to the plan of using Moeen. His rise from what, effectively, was the tail to walking out alongside Cook helped balance the side and allow Adil Rashid to play as the second spinner. It also allowed a six-man attack, which has helped combat the heat but, you suspect, was as much about providing cover for Rashid in case his introduction went awry.”We are still wanting to see Mo bat for that [long] length of time. We think he’s capable of doing it, we wouldn’t have put him in just for the sake of getting a second spinner,” Farbrace said. “We genuinely think he is capable of doing it, we’ve seen how much he’s learned over the last 18 months of international cricket. He’s improving all the time as a bowler and we want that same improvement with the bat.”Yes, he hasn’t scored the runs we want to him score so I’m not going to sit here and say we are really pleased. We want him to score more runs, so does he, and for it to be a long-term thing he has to score runs but that’s the same with anybody in any position.”There were those, such as ESPNcricinfo pundit and former England opener, Mark Butcher, who were stridently against the move from the outset. Speaking on the Switch Hit podcast ahead of the series he raised concerns about the strain on Moeen being expected to do his role as a bowler and also cited the maxim that opening is a specialist job.The first international sighting of Moeen in the role in Abu Dhabi had been cautiously positive, albeit on a deathly slow pitch at the time. He walked out after more than five sessions in the field but calmly negotiated the second evening with Cook and would go on to make 35 in an opening stand of 116. The second innings in that match should be ignored as England tried to chase against the light so he has had only three regulation innings. A lot is expected quickly of cricketers (not just England players) but few slot into a new position effortlessly.”That’s the thing with international cricket, every game you are being judged,” Farbrace said. “I’d like to think we’ve been very much about giving people a period of time and haven’t been chopping and changing, that’s something Trevor [Bayliss] is very keen on. I’d like to think that Cooky and Trevor wouldn’t have given Mo the chance if they didn’t think he was capable and two games in we know he needs runs.”While it would be a surprise if Moeen was moved down the order for Sharjah, England do have a specialist opener in the squad. Alex Hales had one brief innings into the second warm-up match, but he has largely been restricted to nets and countless interval sessions of sprinting in the heat of the day, alongside the other reserve players.However, in the longer – or even medium – term, the middle order should be Moeen’s home. If Jonny Bairstow was given the gloves in place of the struggling Buttler then Moeen could bat at No. 5 and Hales could open. When England revert to five bowlers again, probably in South Africa, James Taylor could also find a middle-order berth.It would seem Moeen’s natural home, a halfway house, if you like, between the helter-skelter world of the lower reaches and a promotion that has proven too unfamiliar for him to learn on the job. In the meantime he should remember the value of the leave-alone. Cricket’s most under-rated stroke. No doubt he was pondering that as he walked off the Dubai pitch.

Plays of the day from the third ODI between Australia and India in Melbourne

Melinda Farrell at the MCG17-Jan-2016The double act
For Ajinkya Rahane, it was a case of #MCGsobig, although it took two fielders to do the job for Australia. Rahane met a short delivery from John Hastings on the front foot, pummeling a pull shot that seemed destined to land over the rope. Steven Smith sprinted from long-on and latched onto the ball right on the edge of the boundary. Just before momentum carried him over the rope, Smith calmly lobbed the ball to Glenn Maxwell, running in from deep midwicket. Maxwell claimed the simplest of catches after his captain did the hard work. Catch assist, anyone?The encore
Three balls later, the two fielders combined once more but this time without the heady result. It was Virat Kohli’s turn to come down the wicket and pull Hastings to the same part of the ground where Rahane was caught. Maxwell dived to his left, Smith sprawled to his right, but the ball refused to cooperate.The debutant blues
Five players have made their debuts so far in this series but, apart from receiving his cap from Ravi Shastri, it wasn’t a stellar first day at the office for Gurkeerat Singh. Gurkeerat made a brief appearance with the bat before being bowled by James Faulkner for 8. Fast forward to the Australian innings and Aaron Finch, on 20, powerfully drove Barinder Sran just to the right of Gurkeerat, who botched the grab at mid-off. It wasn’t quite as awful as Ishant Sharma’s spill at the Gabba, and Finch only made one more run before his dismissal, but it highlighted India’s worrying lapses in the field.The veteran blues
Speaking of Ishant… the fast bowler looked as though he wanted to sink through the MCG turf and disappear after another fielding blunder. The lanky quick is all arms and legs but his four limbs combined couldn’t stop the ball when Mitchell Marsh drove straight to mid-on. Kneeling to field what should have been a dot ball, Ishant somehow let the ball roll through his hands and in between his legs, conceding two runs. The thunderous look on Virat Kohli’s face spoke even louder than the jeering crowd.

After posting no century partnership in Tests in 2015, South Africa had three in an innings in Cape Town, Stats highlights from another batsman-dominated day at Newlands

S Rajesh05-Jan-20160 Instances, before this game, of both teams getting 600-plus totals in the first innings of a Test in South Africa. In fact, there has been only one other instance of both teams getting 500-plus: ten years ago at the same venue, New Zealand declared at 583 for 8, and South Africa replied with 512. Had South Africa scored three more runs before declaring, this would have been only the fourth instance of a team taking the first-innings lead when chasing a 600-plus total: it has happened in the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test in 2009, Sri Lanka-India in 2010, and West Indies-England in 2009.627/7 South Africa’s total, their fifth highest in any Test innings, their third best against England, and their best against England at home. The 211 overs they played is also the fifth highest for them in any Test innings.97.84 The average runs per wicket in this Test so far, the fifth highest in Test history, and the highest by far in South Africa.477 Balls faced by Hashim Amla for his 201, the third highest in any Test innings in South Africa. The only higher ones are 642, by Gary Kirsten against England in Durban in 1999, and Michael Atherton’s 492-ball unbeaten 185 in Johannesburg in 1995. Both those knocks came in the team’s second innings, and helped save the game from tough positions.0 Instances of South African captains playing a longer innings – in terms of balls faced – than Amla’s Cape Town effort. His 477 balls is comfortably higher than the previous record of 388, by Graeme Smith against Pakistan in Dubai in 2013. The top 11 instances of most deliveries played by a South African captain are all by either Smith (8) or Amla (3). Amla’s 201 is also the seventh double-century by a South African captain in Tests.3 Number of times Amla has faced 450-plus deliveries in a Test innings. It has only been done nine times by all South African batsmen, with Gary Kirsten being the other player to achieve this three times.50 The difference between Amla’s aggregate in 12 Test innings in 2015, and his score in his first innings of 2016. He totaled 251 at an average of 22.81 last year, an aggregate he threatened to surpass in just one innings in Cape Town.4 Double-centuries for Amla in Tests; among South Africans, only Smith, with five, has more.14 Instances of three century partnerships in an innings for South Africa in Tests. They didn’t have a single such partnership in all of 2015, but in their first innings of the new year they’ve had three, with Amla-AB de Villiers, Amla-Faf du Plessis, and Temba Bavuma-Chris Morris all putting together century stands. The last such instance was in the Boxing Day Test of 2013 against India in Durban.167 The partnership between Bavuma and Morris, South Africa’s third highest for the seventh wicket in all Tests, and their best against England.7 Bowlers who have conceded 100 or more runs in the first two innings of this Test – this has never happened before in a Test in South Africa. The previous highest was five. In fact, there have only been 14 instances ever of seven or more bowlers conceding 100-plus runs in the first two innings of a Test match; the previous such instance was the Perth Test last year between Australia and New Zealand.18 Instances of five or more 50-plus scores for South Africa in a Test innings. Excluding the openers, though, there have been only three such instances: the previous one was in 1966, against Australia.9 Instances of England bowling 200-plus overs without a single no-ball in a Test innings. The last such instance was in 1987 at The Oval against Pakistan, which is also the last time they bowled more overs than the 211 they did in South Africa’s first innings at Newlands.

Plays of the day from the third T20I between Australia and India at the SCG

Daniel Brettig31-Jan-2016The human after allWalking onto the SCG to face India, Usman Khawaja’s previous nine innings had been as follows: 174, 9*, 121, 109*, 144, 56, 62, 104* and 70. He was understandably confident, getting off the mark first ball, and swiftly gliding to 14 from five. But Ashish Nehra was getting a modicum of movement with the new ball, and a perfectly pitched delivery drew and edge well caught by MS Dhoni. It proved that even the best can get a good one early, and perhaps also that Trent Boult may provide Khawaja with a challenge or two in New Zealand.The free hitsThe prospect of a free hit appears to be a strong deterrent against no balls for most, but in the fourth over Jaspreet Bumrah was unable to stop himself from transgressing twice in a row. The two free hits were summarily dispatched by Shane Watson, power drives skating either side of the cover fielder. Bumrah did not help himself by missing his yorker each time, delivering low full tosses that Watson was well balanced to crack through the off side.The new faceCameron Bancroft had first been picked for Australia in the Test squad for a tour of Bangladesh that was to be postponed indefinitely due to security concerns in October. He finally made his first appearance for Australia in the last international match of the home season, picked speculatively as a wicketkeeper in the absence of Matthew Wade. Bancroft took the gloves without the Perth Scorchers for the first time this season, and other stumpers such as Chris Hartley, Tim Ludeman and Tim Paine had cause to query the choice. They had further ammunition when Bancroft, who had caught Shikhar Dhawan, fumbled a stumping chance from Cameron Boyce when Suresh Raina danced down the wicket.The knock onThere seemed to be no stopping Virat Kohli as he surged to another half century. However Boyce had delivered a fine spell, defeating Rohit Sharma before the missed Raina stumping. He offered air once more from his second last ball and drew Kohli down, causing a miscued jumble of bat, ground, feet that had the ball corkscrewing back towards the stumps. Kohli dived back to try to avoid a stumping, only to watch as the stumps were broken.