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Nottinghamshire 188 for 9 (Barnard 4-66) v Worcestershire
ScorecardTwo limited-overs trophies safely gathered in, it was time for Nottinghamshire to return to the gentler rhythms of the County Championship. Ah yes, the dutiful seeing-off of the new ball, the careful perusal of each bowler until every variation had been logged, the chance for spectators to chew upon the clue for seven across and contemplate the latest news from North Korea.Except Championship cricket at Trent Bridge is rarely like that. At one point Notts were for 127 for 6 in the 28th over, the ball as excitable as a week-old puppy, the top six batsmen all suffering the batting equivalent of wee up the trouser leg. Last week, Notts traded runs for wickets with Northants, who were third until they were well beaten. This week it is the turn of Worcestershire, who lie second. There has barely been time to read the news at all. No bad thing.No English ground looks more beautiful in the rain, with the floodlights blazing, than Trent Bridge, but by the time the weather worsened for the final time at 5pm, with Notts 188 for 9, it was time to accept the inevitable with honours about even. To steal 47.5 overs from a day like this was a fair effort.Such is county life on a bedraggled day like this that Ed Barnard, an archetypal English seamer, making strides at 21, had four wickets – removing Jake Libby, Cheteshwar Pujara, Samit Patel and Riki Wessels in the space of 25 balls – while Ravi Ashwin, the Indian spinner brought over to England with considerable fanfare, did not even get a bowl.Ashwin took 8 for 162 to guide Worcestershire to victory against Gloucestershire on his debut last week, but his most valuable experience here, ahead of India’s tour next summer, might well be to bat twice on a seaming deck.Barnard maintained an attacking length and was rewarded for it. His first four overs disappeared for 24, Notts well placed at 79 for 1 in the 19th over, but then the wickets came thick and fast. Jake Libby fell to a combo catch – wicketkeeper Ben Cox knocking the ball on to second slip – Cox held on to dismiss Pujara then took a beauty, low to his right, to silence Samit Patel. Riki Wessels made nought, sitting back to one that kept a little low. Barnard also threw out Brett Hutton late in the day, Hutton had got off the mark the previous ball – his 26th – as he was almost solely responsible for slowing the rate to four an over.The first session was so high-risk, so full of threat and counter-threat that the story should properly have been told in front of a TV camera by Ri Chun-hee, the patriotic North Korean newsreader. She began her career, incidentally, back in 1971 when Mike Smedley and Brian Bolus were mastering the art of the scurried leg-bye at Trent Bridge and North Korea was actually talking about unification with the South. More sober, safer times.Nottinghamshire are marking the retirement of their own supreme leader here, an altogether more popular figure. This is their last home Championship match of the season, the last time that Chris Read will be seen at Trent Bridge. For 20 years, he has graced the game as one of the most quicksilver glovemen around, including 15 Tests – a figure that would have been far higher if the batting qualities that ultimately brought him more than 16,000 first-class runs at 37.18 had been apparent a little earlier.Read’s elan has brought joy to so many Trent Bridge days. He has been nimble behind the stumps and a counter-attacker with the bat around No 7 in the great wicketkeeping tradition. As was observed by Michael Henderson, from , who was on hand to pen a leisurely valediction, while Read has played for Nottinghamshire, the entire ground, bar the chimney-potted old pavilion, has changed around him. The pavilion is also due for a revamp, although Read will not be around to see it. The game has changed too.Read surpassed Thomas Oates for most victims by a Notts wicketkeeper last month. After the last of his Tests, against Australia in Sydney 10 years ago, England preferred to treat him like Captain Lawrence Oates, presuming that he may be gone some time. In England terms, so he has been, but quite properly he walked out to a standing ovation. England should have made better use of him, but in the pubs of Worksop and Newark people will talk fondly of his skills well into their dotage.

Stumps Dinesh Chandimal drives on the up•Tom Dulat/Stringer

Sri Lanka rode Dinesh Chandimal’s slow-burn 155 not out to 419 – their best total in six Tests – before Pakistan’s openers moved to 64 unbeaten by stumps. Though the match is more or less in the balance, thanks to Pakistan’s resurgence in the third session, Sri Lanka will also be pleased with their day’s work. Their fans had hoped their team would suck less in this series than they had against India; only the very optimistic would have thought them capable of failing to suck for quite this length of time.Had their tail scrapped together 50 further runs after going to tea at 403 for 7, Sri Lanka could even have claimed to be in control of the contest. As it happened, Mohammad Abbas wiped out the lower order with reverse swing, before Shan Masood and Sami Aslam progressed steadily in the final 80 minutes of play. The left-arm wristspin of Lakshan Sandakan posed them occasional problems, but the remaining bowlers were comfortably negotiated.But although Chandimal would have slept much easier if Sri Lanka had had a breakthrough, this was nevertheless his day. He was somewhat inert in the morning session, hitting two runs off his first 20 balls, but warmed to his work eventually, moving from 60 to 109 inside the extended first session. Where at other times, Chandimal has celebrated a triple-figure score by completing a lap of the field, more or less, this was a more restrained celebration, to go with the mature ethos of the innings. At times, he was barely watchable, deadbatting ball after ball, and poking unambitiously to fielders, but the innings was invaluable to his team. The slow rate of his progress also means Yasir Shah – Sri Lanka’s tormentor in the 2015 series between these sides – has been made to deliver a mammoth 57 overs. Sri Lanka have had moderate success after tiring Yasir out, in the past.After lunch, when Sri Lanka sought to gain a tighter grip on the match, Chandimal briefly showcased his old adventurous avatar. Dusting off his rapid reverse-sweep, he slapped Yasir behind point for four. Next ball, he socked him over mid off for another four.In the morning, Chandimal had left the lion’s share of run-scoring to Niroshan Dickwella. Having begun the day on 42, Dickwella needed only four balls to progress to his fifty. He was not, on this occasion, reckless, as he sometimes tends to be. Merely positive: constantly searching for scoring opportunities – particularly the singles and twos. Balls skidded past the cordon after taking a thick outside edge, other deliveries were scythed to the backward-point rope, and when Yasir came into the attack, Dickwella even ventured the reverse-sweep against the turn, and collected a boundary with that shot. Generally, though, he seemed the more comfortable of the two men at the crease. That is, until he got to 83 – his highest Test score – and Hasan Ali got one to jag in off the seam. The ball would take the inside edge and clatter into the stumps. The stand between himself and his captain had been worth 134, and would remain the best of the innings.For Pakistan, the first two sessions contained several significant frustrations. Twice they thought they had Dilruwan Perera, having kept him scoreless for 32 balls. Both times, the umpire had ruled him out lbw, only for reviews to show Perera had edged the ball both times – incredibly faintly on the second occasion. In fact, Perera had himself seemed unaware that the bat made contact, and only reviewed because he thought the ball was missing the stumps. Umpire Richard Kettleborough even showed obvious displeasure at his colleague’s over-turning of his on-field decision.Eventually, Perera would be out lbw off Haris Sohail, but not before he had contributed 33 runs to a sixth-wicket stand of 92. Beyond that stand though, there was little of note for Sri Lanka. Yasir had Rangana Herath caught reverse-sweeping, before Abbas provided a dramatic finish to the innings. Having bowled Chandimal off a no-ball early in his 27th over, he would go on to dismiss Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep off successive deliveries. That means when Abbas bowls in the second innings, he will be on a hat-trick.

Sri Lanka will host India and Bangladesh for a T20 tri-series in March 2018 to celebrate their 70th year of independence. A Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) release confirmed seven T20Is to be played from March 8 to 20 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Each team will play each other twice before the final on March 20.Called the Nidahas Trophy, the tri-series will also mark the 70th year for SLC. Board president Thilanga Sumathipala was the visionary behind the Nidahas Trophy in 1998 too, which marked the 50th year of the country’s independence and involved India and New Zealand as the visiting teams. India had won the trophy then which was played as an ODI tri-series.”We are privileged to be a part of Sri Lanka’s 70th year celebrations, there is no closer friend to the BCCI than Sri Lanka [and Bangladesh] and when Mr. Sumathipala first floated this invitation, there was almost instant agreement that the Indian Team would participate for this reason,” BCCI CEO Rahul Johri said.Sumathipala, too, expressed his optimism on the relevance of the series: “70 years is a long journey, and one that needs to be commemorated and celebrated. We are happy that our closest neighbours, who share more or less the same journey of independence, are joining us in this celebration, which we believe will be a milestone and an augur of the great things to come in the annals of cricket.”

Batsman Chamari Atapattu’s record-breaking year assumed greater significance as she became the first Sri Lanka player to be roped in by a Women’s Big Bash League franchise. She has been signed by Melbourne Renegades for the third edition of the WBBL, starting December 9, and will join the New Zealand pair of allrounder Amy Satterthwaite and medium-pacer Lea Tahuhu as the side’s overseas recruits.”I am excited to come to Melbourne this season and play with the Renegades. The WBBL is a big competition and the club has lots of fan, so it will be great to have that support,” Atapattu told Melbourne Renegades.Atapattu, who put in an emphatic display of her big-hitting prowess at this year’s World Cup with an unbeaten 178 against Australia in Bristol, became the first Sri Lankan woman to sign a contract with a franchise-based T20 league in July. She represented Yorkshire Diamonds in the second edition of the Kia Super League in England.On November 1, she was named women’s cricketer of the year by Sri Lanka Cricket, and also took home the award for best batsman in both ODIs and T20Is.

Chandika Hathurusingha’s disenchantment with the Bangladesh team led to his resignation midway through the South Africa tour in October. BCB president Nazmul Hassan made this statement after meeting the now former Bangladesh head coach in Dhaka, where he arrived on Saturday to tie up loose ends in his workplace of three years.Hathurusingha, Hassan said, was particularly frustrated with the board allowing Shakib Al Hasan to rest during the Test series against South Africa. Hassan said that there were several other issues, apart from what transpired in South Africa, which added up to the coach’s decision to quit.”He is very disappointed with the South Africa tour,” Hassan said. “The type of cricket, the mentality, everything. He said he couldn’t believe the cricket Bangladesh played during the tour. He had problem with the cricketers’ mentality. For example, he didn’t agree with the fact that Shakib didn’t go to play the Test series. What he said was, ‘Why won’t he play such an important series for the team?'”There were several other issues which we didn’t address at the time. There was a communication gap. So putting it all together, he felt that he didn’t have much more to give to this team. He gave what he could, [but felt now] that he should leave this team. He felt that Bangladesh won’t be going forward the way it was moving.”News of Hathurusingha’s resignation broke ten days after the team had returned home from South Africa. Later in the day, Hassan confirmed, the BCB had accepted his decision. A month later, Sri Lanka appointed him their new head coach.Several hours after arriving in Dhaka, Hathurusingha met with the BCB top brass that included president Hassan, CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury and directors Ismail Haider Mallick, Khaled Mahmud and Akram Khan.Hassan said that Hathurusingha is in the process of submitting a report on the South Africa tour, but that he had already told the BCB of his views on the future of the Bangladesh team.”He spoke particularly about issues that will help take Bangladesh cricket forward. He told us about the things we need to do, avoid, and look into in order to take the next step in our progress.”He even said, when talking about a cricketer, that ‘you supported him for 10 years and he also gave you a lot. Now if you take action against him, it will not solve anything. You have to get the best out of him’. He said that if we can climb over mental barriers, Bangladesh can do a lot better.”

The Wanderers pitch has by no means given an all-clear even though the Test is set to continue after the umpires took the teams off 19 minutes before stumps on day three. The umpires will remain on alert for any other behaviour they might consider dangerous to the safety of the players.The pitch has had extravagant bounce and seam movement throughout, but on day three the umpires were worried about players’ safety. After meetings between the match officials and the captains, and possibly consultation with the ICC, the match referee decided to continue play on day four. ESPNcricinfo understands this was more deferring the decision to the next morning so they could sleep over the decision, understand the ramifications of it, including other sanctions and the fact that India had already courageously fought their way with the bat on this pitch, and hope the pitch settles down on day four. Despite all these considerations, the match referee will not compromise the safety of the players. If it continues to behave dangerously, the match could still be called off.The officials could afford to buy the overnight time because they were losing only 19 minutes. There’s no telling how it might have panned out if a batsman had been hit on the head at, say half past three and not 11 minutes before 5pm. The delivery that led to the suspension of play was a short-pitched delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, which hit Dean Elgar on the helmet, but the umpires had been concerned all day with balls rearing off a length and hitting the batsmen in the ribs, gloves, and thighs.The first time the match officials spoke to the teams about the state of the pitch was during the tea break on day three. According to India’s manager Sunil Subramaniam, the umpires’ concern was that the new ball could behave dangerously. While India’s second innings lasted only one ball with the second new ball, Elgar was hit four times in 8.3 overs of bowling with the new ball in South Africa’s innings.In the captain’s meeting with the match referee, India – in a great position to win the Test and after having braved this difficult pitch – made it clear there was no way they wanted the match to stop. The South Africa manager said they told the match referee they were not going to comment whether the pitch was safe or not, but they were happy to play if the officials deemed the pitch to be safe. The eventual decision still rests with the match referee. There is provision in the law that they could attempt to repair the pitch, if possible, to see if the match can continue, but it can’t be done if it disadvantages one of the teams, which in this case will be India’s fate. So that route is unlikely to be taken.The pitch has come in for harsh criticism from experts and former cricketers covering this series, with Michael Holding calling it a “s**t pitch”, one he would rate 2 on 100.

India’s win at the Wanderers might have seemed like a matter of breaking one partnership in the final innings and running through the rest, but the ​”​surprising​”​ dampness on the pitch on the fourth morning left them fuming and made them work much harder for wickets than what they felt was par for the course.A team source told ESPNcricinfo that the pitch on day four was the flattest out of all the days of the Test, which didn’t make sense to them because the surface had got progressively difficult to bat on, to the extent that the umpires, worried about the players’ safety, suspended play on the third evening. The team believes the dampness helped bind the pitch.There had been heavy rain on the third night, which left the outfield wet and unfit for the usual 10am start, forcing play to begin at 11am. “The other thing they are worried about, which is interesting, is that the pitch is a little bit… just a slight bit of dampness on the top of the surface,” Mike Haysman said in his report on , announcing a delay in the start of play. “That’s all. With a bit of sun, I guess there is no breeze… So just a slight bit of dampness on the top of the grass.”A Gauteng Cricket Board source told ESPNcricinfo: “The ground staff normally remove the covers by 7am but because of the rain they removed it later with the result that the normal sweating under the covers had not completely dried by 10am.”India feel this was more than normal sweating. “When we looked at the pitch first thing in the morning, it was wet,” an India team source told ESPNcricinfo. “It was very wet to the ​touch.”India believe the dampness delayed the return of the pitch to its natural self. “The way the ball misbehaved after tea, it should have started that after the first half hour,” the source said. TV experts also felt the pitch had become less unfriendly to bat on, with Sunil Gavaskar lying down on the pitch during the lunch break, suggesting it had gone to sleep.On the first day, 25 balls beat the bat in the opening session of 27 overs according to ESPNcricinfo logs, 40 times in 25 overs on day two, 18 times in 23.5 overs on day three, and 12 times in 19.2 overs on day four. The first session of day four – truncated to 90 minutes – was the only one of the match without a wicket; the first sessions on the first three days consumed two, two and three wickets.​​In the face of a “”, a flat pitch, India say sealing victory came down to “our patience and our skill”​, especially with the sun coming out late on day four​. To the extent that, in the middle session, they rested it all on the second new ball. They wanted to have as many to defend when the second new ball became available. For the first time in the match, India used Hardik Pandya for a longer spell, and Pandya mostly bowled wide outside off, conceding 15 runs in six overs. When Pandya was done with his spell, South Africa needed 127, and the new ball was 31 overs away.India were prepared to go all out with the new ball, but eventually things began to happen sooner. Ishant Sharma dismissed Hashim Amla to a catch to short midwicket, ending the only century-run stand of the match, worth 119 runs. About 15-20 minutes before tea, the uneven bounce became more pronounced, claiming AB de Villiers with a rising delivery before the break and Faf du Plessis with one that stayed low after it. Mohammed Shami then ran through South Africa’s resistance.It was a sticky situation for Cricket South Africa and GCB. After the suspension of play on day three, they were left hoping the pitch would not misbehave further because if play had been abandoned – although it might have saved the home team from a defeat – it would have resulted in heavy sanctions from the ICC, including no international cricket at their premier venue for a year. That also may have affected the sold-out Pink-Day ODI, scheduled on February 10. In the end, Wanderers got away with just a poor rating and three demerit points, keeping the rest of the cricket for the season.

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When Australia toured India the last time, in 2012, Meg Lanning’s 128 had hoisted them to their highest total against India of 300 for 7. On Sunday, Alyssa Healy’s 133 – her maiden international century in her 112th innings across formats – bettered that record to 332 for 7 and consigned the hosts to a 97-run defeat.In becoming the first Australia women wicketkeeper to notch up an ODI hundred, Healy’s 115-ball innings helped her side to their third-highest total in the format, the highest ever by a visiting team against India, and contributed to a 3-0 clean sweep. The win also propelled Australia to the top of the ICC rankings in ODIs, superseding England.That Healy and Australia could pummel India after having elected to bat was down to a slew of gaffes from the Indian fielders, including seven dropped chances – six of which were fairly straightforward ones – and a missed stumping. Australia were on 29 for 1 in the eighth over, thanks to Ekta Bisht already having sent back Nicole Bolton, the highest run-scorer of the series, with a plucky return catch, when the sloppiness in the field began.Until then, Shikha Pandey’s figures were 3-0-7-0, and Healy’s score read 13 off 22. But it proved to be the most expensive over of the match, as Lanning caressed a cover drive for four off the first ball, followed by a four and a six from Healy. Pandey’s shot at redemption came off the last ball, with Healy flicking her nonchalantly to deep square leg only to be given a life by Mona Meshram, who was playing her first game of the series, having come in Veda Krishnamurthy. Not only did Meshram let the ball through her hands, but it trickled over the rope for a four.When an encore of the almighty mess occurred in the 20th over, with Meshram parrying a pull off Pooja Vastrakar over the deep-square leg boundary for a six, Healy was on 56 off 53 balls, having brought up her half-century off the 47th ball of her innings.That was India’s third miss, the second being that of Ellyse Perry off Deepti Sharma. Deepti drew Perry out of the crease with a ripping offbreak that took an inside edge before feathering her back pad. The wicketkeeper, Sushma Verma, could neither pouch it nor could catch Perry short of her ground.Amid the multiple let-offs by the hosts, Lanning drove uppishly to Mithali Raj at cover to be dismissed for 19, bringing the 45-run second-wicket stand with Healy to a close, while Perry was caught behind off Pandey for 32. Vice-captain Rachael Haynes then brought up her 1000th ODI run en route to her 39-ball 43, while Beth Mooney chipped in with a 19-ball 34 and Ashleigh Gardner with a 20-ball 35, having been dropped twice – on 11 by Vastrakar and 15 by Sushma – in three balls off Kaur’s third over.Healy upped her scoring rate to capitalise on the reprieves. She notched up her maiden international century off the 94th ball of her innings. In Pandey’s eighth over, she was dropped for a third time by Deepti at extra cover. Her 133 featured 17 fours and two sixes.Even though India had never successfully chased anything beyond 245, their opening stand of 101 in 13.4 overs gave them every bit a chance to improve on the stat. Smriti Mandhana, followed up her fifty from the previous game with a 42-ball 52, partnering teenager Jemimah Rodrigues who made 42 off 41 having got a chance in place of Punam Raut.For all their fluency in strokeplay, it was a thick outside edge from Rodrigues that brought India’s century opening stand. The momentum tilted in favour of Australia for the first time in the chase within the following two balls. Rodrigues was caught off a loopy length delivery, a stunning run-and-dive catch from Haynes at mid-on. Next ball, Mandhana misread the trajectory of a full ball on middle-and-off that pinged her on the front pad.Harmanpreet’s underwhelming run of form this series did not snap; she fell for 25. Haynes then pulled off a second terrific catch, snaffling Raj low at midwicket off Jonassen. The next over, Meshram’s horrid day came to an agonising end as she picked out Nicola Carey for a five-ball one, reducing India to 182 for 5.Deepti Sharma knocked off 36, Sushma Verma smacked three fours and a six, but the pair fell five balls apart as a diving Lanning at extra cover caught Sushma, while Deepti conceded her middle stump to a Perry inswinger. In the same over, the 40th, Perry had Pandey caught behind for a first-ball duck.Bisht, who had wounded her left hand while attempting a return catch off Haynes, retired out and India had folded in 44.4 overs.

Australia’s wicketkeeper Tim Paine has vehemently rebutted South African claims that the tourists instigated the personal sledging that led to the confrontation in the stairwell in Durban, declaring it was “blatantly untrue” that Quinton de Kock’s family was mentioned in verbal exchanges and confirming that he heard David Warner’s wife Candice being targeted.Alongside Usman Khawaja and the captain Steven Smith, Paine was one of three Australian players who restrained Warner in the stairwell, and said he had heard the remark from de Kock that set the vice-captain off. Paine conceded the Australians had been trying to make de Kock “uncomfortable” in the lead-up to tea, but stated that verbals had only pertained to “cricket stuff and a few little things about his fitness”. A tweet linking to the CCTV footage of the exchange, meanwhile, led de Kock’s sister to tweet: “Wtf! I will hurt you @davidwarner31”.Paine also rejected the South African contention that Warner had indulged in a lengthy tirade of personal attacks on de Kock, noting that at no stage did the on-field umpires Kumar Dharmasena and S Ravi offer so much as a single word of warning to the Australians that their comments were skating close to the edge of what was appropriate. The rebuttals have further underlined the distance between the two teams over events at Kingsmead, for which the ICC has charged both Warner and de Kock with “conduct bringing the game into disrepute”.”That’s completely false. At no stage was Quinton’s family mentioned, that’s 100% false,” Paine said in Port Elizabeth. “I don’t know how their team manager [Mohammed Moosajee] can hear from where he’s sitting, but from where I was, which was right nearby the whole time, there was nothing we said that was inappropriate. We were trying to make it an uncomfortable place for Quinton to bat, no doubt, but we didn’t cross the line. We spoke about cricket stuff and a few little things with his fitness.”Our stuff is the way we’ve always played our cricket. Certainly it’s hard, and we like to make them feel uncomfortable out there. But we don’t cross the line and bring people’s wives and family into the cricket game. And we’ll continue to do that for as long as we play. Obviously the situation wasn’t ideal for both sides and it was regrettable what happened up the stairs, but it’s disappointing that they’ve come out now and said a few things that are just blatantly untrue.”In the moment he came face to face with a raging Warner, Pained admitted he did not know what the opening batsman might have done if he had been allowed to get any closer to de Kock than shouting distance. “I don’t know what would have happened to be honest, but he was certainly extremely fired up and he had every right to be,” Paine said. “I think at the time when it was actually said, I think I was probably the only person that heard it.Getty Images

“Usman had gone a bit further ahead and I was about to walk around them both, I just thought they were still going on just from the general chatter that was on the ground. As I went past de Kock he said what he said, and luckily I suppose I was there in between.”Once he [Warner] got off his chest what he wanted to say, once he sat down, there was no issue. He is not the sort of bloke who will whinge about being sledged, I’ve hear blokes say a lot of things on the cricket field that don’t bother him, I have never seen him react like he reacted when we were coming off the field. People have said if he gives it he is going to have to take it, all that sort of rubbish, which is fine on the field, but when you are bringing people’s families or wives into it it’s unacceptable.”As for whether the episode would change the way the Australians conducted themselves on the field, Paine reckoned that it was most likely to have the opposite effect, while also making it clear that Warner knew the risks of “blowback” he took by going after members of the opposition.”He understands that is unfortunately how it is at times, a character like Dave who likes to get under the skin of opposition players will get a bit of blowback at times,” Paine said. “Our team is certainly behind him, we know as a group what we said on the field and what we didn’t say on the field, everyone is totally comfortable with that and we also know what was said by the opposition.”I don’t think it will change [us] a lot, a lot of people like to pretend that they like being in the fight and having verbal stoushes on the cricket field but Davey is genuinely someone who loves that and thrives on it. I can’t wait to see him prepare for this game, when he gets the bit between the teeth he is one of the best cricketers in the world.”There’s a line that we don’t cross and at times we probably went pretty close to it in this Test with some wicket celebrations and what happened with Nathan [Lyon], but Dave is at his best as a cricketer when he is in the face of oppositions. He is very good at getting under their skin and its been clear in the first Test that he has been able to do that.”Asked whether the issues with the way the Australians used verbal tactics to unsettle opponents were based on cultural disconnects between countries, Paine pointed out that South Africa’s style had long been considered the most similar to his own side’s. “They’ve stated as well that we play a pretty similar style of cricket,” he said. “I’ve only ever heard one thing that has ever crossed the line and that was when we were coming up that stairwell.”On the field they have been niggling away at us and we have been niggling away at them and that is where it is going to stay. The umpires didn’t object to anything that was said. We didn’t have any of our players mention anyone’s family members or wives. Even on the ground. I’ve heard some comments from their team manager or former captain [Graeme Smith] in commentary that we were crossing the line. If you’re crossing the line, the umpires will intervene, and they didn’t.”

Rohit Sharma clobbers one off the middle of the bat•BCCI

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma promoted himself to No. 3 to guide his team to an eight-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings, after walking in with a required rate at ten per over on a two-paced pitch. Rohit’s well-paced, and unbeaten, half-century first took the pressure off a struggling Evin Lewis and then sealed a chase of 170 in comfortable fashion.Earlier in the game, Mumbai had fought back after the tournament-leader for runs, Ambati Rayudu, and Suresh Raina, had set Super Kings up for a massive total at 91 for 1 in ten overs. The innings then spiralled downwards and even a late flourish from Raina, who was unbeaten on 75, couldn’t get them enough on the evening.Mumbai’s changesMumbai had persisted with more or less the same team for each of their six games before Saturday. When they did decide to make changes, it didn’t seem like too much would change. There was a good chance that the replacements – JP Duminy for Kieron Pollard and Ben Cutting for Mustafizur Rahman – wouldn’t have prominent roles to play if a successful top order remained true to form.This was doubly true for Cutting, who, despite replacing a specialist bowler, bowled only one over. Super Kings batsmen Rayudu and Raina took him for 14 and brought up a fifty-run stand for the second wicket.Super Kings lose momentumShane Watson had fallen to Pawan Negi in the first over against Royal Challengers on Wednesday. Mumbai waited till the fifth over to bring on their left-arm spinner, but Krunal Pandya’s introduction worked immediately as he induced a slice from Watson that was caught at square leg.Before that, there was bounce early on that Jasprit Bumrah used to subdue Rayudu and was taken out of the attack, perhaps in a bid to preserve him for MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo later in the innings. So Hardik Pandya was given the ball in the Powerplay, despite an economy rate of 10.4 at this stage of an innings in the IPL. He was actually doing well, compensating for the absence of Mustafizur, until Rayudu took 10 runs off his last two deliveries and suddenly Super Kings were 51 for 1 in six overs.Raina looked more fluent than he has ever been this season, kickstarting his innings with a slog over deep midwicket off the second ball he faced. Mumbai went after him with short ball. At one point, they had short third man, gully and backward point in place but the lines weren’t right. Raina struck two boundaries past short fine, and made a comfortable six runs off three balls square on the off side. The rest of the time, he monopolised his favoured areas on the leg side, making 38 of his 75 at long-on and deep midwicket.However, he seemed to lose his way. His scoring rate through the middle-overs fell to 138 after the high of 182 at the end of the 10th over. The team began to falter as well and when McClenaghan took out Dhoni and Bravo in the space of three balls, all hopes of a big finish were lost. Having been 91 for 1 at the end of 10 overs, Super Kings could manage only 169 for 5. Bumrah and McClenaghan conceded just 51 runs in their eight overs.Rohit shows upLewis was dismissed for a duck by Deepak Chahar when these teams last played, but the head-to-head tonight lasted only one ball with the seamer walking off the field in the fifth over. At the post-match press conference, CSK coach Stephen Fleming confirmed that Chahar had suffered a hamstring injury and would be out for at least two weeks.Lewis’ struggle continued even as partner Suryakumar Yadav put his rich form to good use. When their lopsided opening stand of 69 ended through a brilliant take from Ravindra Jadeja at deep midwicket, Lewis was 21 off 26. Although a couple of swats against Imran Tahir got his scoring rate up, the opener’s stay was a troubled one.That it didn’t hurt Mumbai was down to Rohit’s performance. His one-handed six at long-off, off Watson’s first ball in the 14th over, was the beginning of the phase where the required rate fell below nine. A couple of balls later, he showed that he would control the rest of the chase, getting down to scoop a full ball over fine leg for another six.All of his boundaries from that point onwards showed a tremendous awareness of the field. A pull over square leg off Bravo, a lofted drive against Watson in the 18th set up for the big 19th over, with Mumbai needing 22 off 12.At this juncture, Dhoni chose to change Bravo, whose 17th had gone for five, and handed the ball to Shardul Thakur. The bowler nailed only one yorker, the one that got Rohit back on strike. His attempted yorkers then flew over point, two went over square leg and the change-up length ball was expertly dabbed between short third man and point.With that 17-run over, during which he brought up his fifty, Rohit made sure Mumbai didn’t finish the weekend at the bottom of the table.