All posts tagged: Bat

From floater to finisher, numbers tell Axar Patel’s struggles with the bat

From floater to finisher, numbers tell Axar Patel’s struggles with the bat

When India were reduced to 34/3 in the 2024 T20 World Cup final at Barbados, staring at the prospect of a below-par total, an unlikely firefighter walked into the blaze. Axar Patel, promoted to No. 5, produced one of the defining knocks of the final. His 47 off 31 balls helped wrest back control with a priceless partnership with Virat Kohli and laid the platform for India’s eventual triumph. The innings was no accident. Speaking to The Indian Express after the win, Axar recalled the clarity of Rahul Dravid’s message before he walked out. “Whenever I went out to bat at 4 or 5 in the final, Rahul bhai has given me clear instructions that I don’t need to slog. I must play my game and stick around. I had the belief that if the ball was in my area, I would go for my shots,” he said. With batting stretching till No. 8, India’s think tank wanted him to absorb the pressure and take calculated risks rather than chase quick runs or force the …

‘The reason I picked up the bat…’: Sooryavanshi shares first reaction after donning India jersey | Cricket News

‘The reason I picked up the bat…’: Sooryavanshi shares first reaction after donning India jersey | Cricket News

3 min readJun 23, 2026 11:38 AM IST Few have had an ascent to the national team as rapidly as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi over the past decade in Indian cricket. Just a little over two years since he made his senior cricket debut at the jaw-dropping age of 13, Sooryavanshi has butchered attacks, left and right, home and away, domestic cricket and age-group national colours, before becoming a raging storm in the final of his first India A tour to Sri Lanka on Sunday. Two days later, the 15-year-old wonderkid has arrived in a dream that he and all of Samastipur, his hometown, have chased ever since he picked up a bat: the India blues. As India gear up for their seven T20I tour to Ireland and England, starting Friday in Belfast, Sooryavanshi was unveiled in the Indian jersey for the first time in a video shared by BCCI on Tuesday. The caption captured the relentless attention that Sooryavanshi has already observed from the masses: “Ladies & Gentlemen, the moment the nation has been waiting for …

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma can break out of jail if they can shine with bat and guide India to wins in England ODIs

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma can break out of jail if they can shine with bat and guide India to wins in England ODIs

India are touring England for three ODIs next month, and the rubber is particularly very important for two players in the team, both very seasoned and great servants of Indian cricket. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. These ODIs will be India’s first away from home since October last year in Australia, where the team under Shubman Gill lost 2-1. Kohli got two ducks before scoring 74 in a pride-salvaging win. Sharma, on the other hand, yielded scores of 8, 73 and 121 not out. Being one-format players now, veteran stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are always under pressure to deliver. (Star Sports India) Pitches in England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand are in stark contrast to the ones in India. While there has been an attempt in those four countries to make white-ball pitches batsmen-friendly in recent years, they have still not been able to produce pitches like the ones in India. Pitches over there are bouncy and more often than not help lateral movement. Plus, the boundaries are invariably bigger, which means …

Women’s T20 World Cup: Why Richa Ghosh should bat higher than No.7 | Cricket News

Women’s T20 World Cup: Why Richa Ghosh should bat higher than No.7 | Cricket News

At 110/4 in the 15th over, India had steadied themselves after an early stumble in their T20 World Cup opener against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Sunday. The innings was moving, but not at the pace they would have wanted. Harmanpreet Kaur had struggled to find fluency, and India still needed someone to convert a rebuilding phase into something more decisive. Bharti Fulmali’s promotion to number five had not yielded the desired impact, leaving a familiar gap in the middle order just as the innings entered its final phase. It meant the responsibility of turning a competitive score after 20 overs into a match-winning one fell once again on Richa Ghosh’s shoulders. The 22-year-old responded in a manner that has increasingly come to define her value to this side. In a brief 17-ball stay, she struck 34 runs and ensured India finished strong and carried momentum into the innings break. The crucial impact came in Tasmia Rubab’s 19th over, where she made 18 of the 23 runs scored and offered a glimpse of her full range …

The boy from Gwalior who holds a bat the right way

The boy from Gwalior who holds a bat the right way

3 min readJun 11, 2026 09:25 PM IST When Yashbardhan Singh Chauhan picked up a cricket bat for the first time at the age of six, his father Anami knew from the grip alone. The hands were in the right place. That was enough. He enrolled his son at Lavkesh Chaudhary’s cricket academy in Gwalior the same week. On Thursday, his son was named captain of India’s under-19 side for the tour of Sri Lanka next month — three one-day matches and two multi-day games. “My father was also a club-level cricketer. The way I held the bat for the first time — jaise meine bat pakda — it was the right way. So he decided to enroll me in one of the academies in Gwalior,” Yashbardhan said. The word spread fast once he started scoring. In the A W Kanmadikar Trophy, the MPCA’s under-13 inter-divisional tournament, he scored 425, 235 and 391 in successive innings — around 1,300 runs in five matches. He was thirteen. Since then he has led the MP side at …

‘Sooryavanshi’s clean, uninhibited bat swing possesses organic symmetry’: Greg Chappell in awe of the 15-year-old star

‘Sooryavanshi’s clean, uninhibited bat swing possesses organic symmetry’: Greg Chappell in awe of the 15-year-old star

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has found a new admirer in former Australia batsman Greg Chappell. Chappell, who also coached India in the noughties, is a well-respected batting expert, and his praising Sooryavanshi is no ordinary thing. It lends a lot of weight to what former Indian players like Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar have already said about the teenage star. Greg Chappell is an expert in batting matters. (Getty Images) Describing Sooryavanshi’s extraordinary talent, Chappell, in his column for ESPNcricinfo, wrote: “When studying Sooryavanshi in full flight, one is immediately struck by a technical purity that elevates his work above the crude, muscle-bound power-hitting of the modern era. His clean, uninhibited bat swing possesses an organic symmetry that evokes cricket’s finest aestheticians. “In his elegant downswing and flawless balance, there are distinct echoes of the great Graeme Pollock and the incomparable Sir Garfield Sobers. When he slashes across the line or lofts over extra cover, one glimpses the ferocious, instinctive genius of Brian Lara, combined with the devastating, ball-one intent of Adam Gilchrist. It is …

Tamil Nadu CM Vijay flaunts cricket bat signed by Virat Kohli. See pics  | Tamil News

Tamil Nadu CM Vijay flaunts cricket bat signed by Virat Kohli. See pics  | Tamil News

3 min readNew DelhiMay 22, 2026 08:10 PM IST Actor-politician C. Joseph Vijay has been making headlines ever since he took oath as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Just days after filmmaker Venkat Prabhu gifted him the number plate that seemingly predicted his political victory, Vijay has now received another special gift. On Friday, the MRF team gifted him a cricket bat signed by star cricketer Virat Kohli. Photos of ‘Thalapathy’ proudly posing with the bat have since gone viral on social media. Several photos of Vijay meeting the MRF team at the state secretariat surfaced online. MRF Chairman and Managing Director KM Mammen, Vice Chairman and Managing Director Arun Mammen, and Managing Director Rahul Mammen were seen meeting the actor-politician to discuss the company’s operations in Tamil Nadu. In the photos, Vijay proudly showed off the cricket bat signed by Virat Kohli. ‘Thalapathy’ is seen wearing a sharply tailored black suit paired with a crisp white open-collar shirt. Adding a traditional touch, he has draped a veshti with gold zari borders over one …

Tamil Nadu CM Vijay shows off gifted cricket bat signed by Virat Kohli. See pics

Tamil Nadu CM Vijay shows off gifted cricket bat signed by Virat Kohli. See pics

Tamil superstar C Joseph Vijay has been showered with gifts ever since he took charge as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. After receiving the number plate that predicted his win from Venkat Prabhu, the actor-politician received another special gift on Friday. The team of MRF handed him a bat signed by Indian cricketer Virat Kohli that he couldn’t help but show off. Vijay received a cricket bat signed by Virat Kohli as a gift. (Reuters/RM Clicks) Vijay shows off cricket bat signed by Virat Kohli On Friday, fans began posting pictures of CM-actor Vijay meeting team MRF at the secretariat. CMD KM Mammen, VC and MD Arun Mammen and MD Rahul Mammen met him on Friday to discuss the company’s operations in TN. The actor-politician was gifted a cricket bat signed by Virat by the team, which he couldn’t help but show off. Pictures show him wearing an angavastram (a folded cloth on the shoulder) while dressed in a monochrome suit. He posed for pictures while holding the signed bat. This comes days after …

Axar Patel finally comes good with the bat and David Miller provides momentum as Delhi stay alive by beating Punjab Kings

Axar Patel finally comes good with the bat and David Miller provides momentum as Delhi stay alive by beating Punjab Kings

4 min readMay 12, 2026 12:23 AM IST Delhi Capitals wouldn’t have had good memories of facing Punjab Kings in IPL 2026, having failed to defend 264 runs earlier in the season. But in a must-win match on Monday, they extracted revenge, chasing down 210 to inflict a fourth straight loss on the 2025 runners-up and keep their season alive. Madhav’s day out Less than a year after his last IPL appearance, Madhav Tiwari found himself back on the big stage on Monday, drafted into the DC playing XI for a must-win clash against PBKS. By the end of the night, the youngster had made an impact with both bat and ball. Tiwari first made his mark with the ball when PBKS were flying through Priyansh Arya. The opener had raced to 56 off 33 balls and looked set for a bigger score before Tiwari broke through in the ninth over, forcing the left-hander into a mistimed loft to deep point, earning his maiden IPL wicket. Madhav Tiwari of Delhi Capitals celebrates the wicket of …

Krunal Pandya on why he decided to bat on despite cramps in RCB’s run chase against MI: ‘Always cherish tough situations’

Krunal Pandya on why he decided to bat on despite cramps in RCB’s run chase against MI: ‘Always cherish tough situations’

With both legs cramping, every run becoming a struggle, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) looking to end a two-game losing run, Krunal Pandya refused to walk off. The all-rounder scored 73 off 46 balls, rescuing RCB from 39/3 and taking them to the doorstep of victory against Mumbai Indians before falling late in the 167-run chase in Raipur on Sunday. But after the match, Krunal revealed the physical toll the innings had taken as RCB edged closer to the IPL 2026 playoffs with a tense two-wicket win. “Obviously, later on, cramps were very, very painful. I mean, it started from calf, hamstring, glutes and both legs. I was cramping,” Krunal said after the game. “But again, I was very clear that I’m not going to go out. I’ll fight through that pain, and I’ll make sure that whatever I can contribute for the team, I’ll do it.” ALSO READ | RCB on top after Bhuvneshwar’s masterclass and Krunal’s rearguard Krunal said the importance of the fixture at the business end of the season pushed him …