Bad weather has marred the build-up in Dallas while ticketing issues threaten to cast an even longer shadow

Cameron Ponsonby01-Jun-2024Well, at least the officer at immigration knew the T20 World Cup 2024 was on.The streets of Dallas are not awash with cricket fans giddy at the arrival of the big show. Uber drivers don’t know it’s happening, billboards are advertising FC Dallas vs LA Galaxy rather than Nepal vs Netherlands, and the opening match between USA and Canada is not a sellout. The stadium holds 7000 people.As these things go, it walks straight into the zone of “what are we doing here?” Why is the premier cricket event of 2024 going to kick off in Dallas – in front of an as-yet-unknown number of people – rather than, well, somewhere else?Related

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It’s a good question. And looking out at the soaking outfield at Grand Prairie Stadium as yet another thunderstorm passes through, it doesn’t immediately bring about a good answer.A concerning set of circumstances is building ahead of launch day – that things outside of the organisers’ control are not going to land their way, and neither are the things that were in their control. Flash-flood warnings and thunderstorms have been present throughout the week. A few days ago, the big screen fell down because the winds were so strong. Out the back where the media tents have been built, it’s almost entirely mud.You can’t control that. If Saturday arrives and so does a thunderstorm, that’s sad. But that’s life.The ticketing, however, has been a mess. As of two months ago, the opening fixture between USA and Canada did not have any public tickets available. One would assume that meant it had been sold out. Wrong.Hopes of sellouts have given way to announcements that availability is “limited”, before the reality was revealed in a USA Cricket press statement on Wednesday. In what was billed as an “exclusive ticketing offer”, members of USA Cricket could now purchase up to six tickets to the must-see event of the year at a 25% discount. Get your hot cakes here. They’ll give you 20 for free if you agree to go to USA vs Canada.

“Cricket cannot bemoan the concentration of finances within the ‘Big Three’ and worry about the health of the sport outside those countries while giggling at the notion of the USA giving the sport a go”

The ICC does not publish a running tally of tickets sold, but did say on Saturday it has “seen strong sales and expect a good crowd”. Officials also said that it had always been the plan to hold back tickets until four days out for US cricket members to purchase at a discount.There is reason to doubt this. The ODI World Cup in India last year ago faced similar problems of sparsely populated “sold out” stadiums early in the tournament. This is not new and how these events are marketed and tickets sold deserves scrutiny.Furthermore, the release of more tickets for this World Cup sits at odds with previous statements that came from the ICC, including from tournament director Fawwaz Baksh, who told in February that the matches in America had been “oversubscribed”.”It’s an unfortunate reality that not everyone who applied for tickets will get tickets,” Baksh said at the time. “I wish everyone could get a ticket but that’s just not possible.”The wriggle room the ICC gives itself here, and as Baksh himself said later in the same interview, is that more tickets could become available if sponsors return some of their tickets to the pool.This is what the ICC has claimed is the case following an announcement on Saturday, which released additional tickets for seven matches that had previously been given the “sold out” treatment. All the matches were in America and for fixtures where “general admission allocations were previously exhausted”. Oversubscribed, but now readily available all at once. If you wanted to attend the World Cup months ago, missed out on tickets, and now have plans next week so can’t go, well, that’s just tough luck.A crane removes a structure damaged by storms in Dallas•Getty ImagesIt is mind-numbingly frustrating. Because at the heart of all this is a fundamental truth. That trying to grow the game in America is a good thing. The game cannot, on the one hand, bemoan the concentration of finances within the “Big Three” and worry about the health of the sport outside those countries and, on the other, giggle at the notion of a nation like the USA giving the sport a go.If people turn on the TV and see empty seats, for many their reaction might well be “of course no one’s there, people don’t like cricket in America”. Which is not true. There is genuine passion and interest in the game here. And especially in Dallas.For cricket websites and broadcasters, the USA ranks high in terms of eyeballs because of the 4.5-million-strong South Asian diaspora that lives here. The difficulty US administrators face is turning that interest into bums on seats because of how diluted the fanbase is across the country: 4.5 million people is a lot, but not when you spread them over a nation the size of a continent.That is a reasonable excuse for why you shouldn’t expect the World Cup to have cut through to Joe Average of America, but it isn’t if they fail to fill Grand Prairie for the opening game of an ICC tournament.Every week, over 200 club matches are played in the Dallas area. That’s over 2000 people who enjoy playing the sport who are within driving distance of the stadium. And if there are over 2000 people in the area who want to play the sport, there must be 7000 people who want to watch it.And if they did, they’d come to a great stadium fit for the occasion of a tournament opener.”It’s an amazing facility,” Canada captain Saad Bin Zafar said. “We played our first warm-up game here and it was top class. For all of our players, it’s been our dream to represent Canada at the World Cup.”A spotless outfield, a proper pitch and a newly added outdoor training block out the back. The facility is unanimously popular with players. And if you’re a fan you get good viewing points the entire way round, food and beverages readily available, easy access by car and heaps of parking. It’s a great place to come and watch cricket.But as the saying doesn’t quite go, build it and they still might not come.

Since winning the Asia Cup title in 2018, Bangladesh have stagnated while the likes of India and Sri Lanka have zoomed ahead

Madushka Balasuriya26-Jul-2024

Nigar Sultana waged a lone battle for Bangladesh•Getty Images

If there’s one thing this Women’s Asia Cup 2024 has highlighted more than anything else, is a definitive tier list within women’s cricket – but also, simultaneously, the solutions to bridging these ever more apparent chasms.Just days after Bangladesh had routed Malaysia to secure their place in the semi-finals, the stompers swiftly became the stomped as the mighty Indian juggernaut rolled over them like an elephant might an anthill on its way to a watering hole.While such one-sided contests are not uncommon within sports, it was the routine, almost expected nature of it that might have felt a little disheartening for those watching on. This didn’t feel like a semi-final, this didn’t even feel like a contest.Related

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On to the actual matter of the game itself, it might have been a mistake by Bangladesh, in hindsight, to win the toss and bat first. India, as well rounded an outfit as they are, it is still their batting that makes the headlines – and the overwhelming feeling is that they, aided by this batting-friendly Dambulla track, would have chased much more than the 81 they were eventually tasked with running down. Though the speed and efficiency with which they took down the target suggests that perhaps giving this Indian line-up all of 20 overs to bat might have been equally unwise.So yeah, of the two options, maybe the less fanciful one was indeed to put up a borderline competitive score and hope for some Indian jitters. But this tenuous effort to work out win scenarios for Bangladesh probably speaks towards why the broadcast commentators were striving to scavenge any and all threads to manufacture the prospect of an upset – or even a contest. The closest they got was bringing up Bangladesh’s unlikely Asia Cup final win against India in 2018, a tournament in which they had actually beaten India twice.But, alas, that was six years ago, and this India team – favourites even back then – have come a long way since. Bangladesh in the meantime have stagnated.2:01

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And the reasons for this are quite simple. One is of course investment in players from the grassroots up, but more importantly it’s regular experience against the best sides. For all of Bangladesh’s efforts, they rarely face this calibre of opposition outside of a major tournament, and that just isn’t good enough.Of Bangladesh’s 12 bilateral T20I series since that 2018 final, they’ve had just one series against Australia – earlier this year – one against New Zealand, and two against India. India, by contrast, have squared off in eight bilateral series against one of England, Australia or New Zealand, while also having more bilateral series in total (17), in that same period.”Going forward it’s a good experience for the girls to play against a good side,” Bangladesh head coach Hashan Tillakaratne told ESPNcricinfo after the game. “It’s very important [to play more frequently against the better sides]. When you play against the best you develop yourself.”It’s all about knowledge – knowledge wins games – not skills. The skill is there, but they need to understand the game. [The best way to do that] is with higher-level competition. We must play constant matches against the best sides.”And one only needs to look at Sri Lanka to see the benefits that more frequent contests against high-calibre opposition can bring about. It wasn’t long ago that Sri Lanka were essentially the Chamari Athapaththu team, and between a worldwide pandemic and a largely insipid cricket board they weren’t really playing all that many games between major tournaments either.But since 2022 they’ve managed to fit in bilateral series against India, England and New Zealand, among others – beating the latter two as well. The crucial aspect of this for Sri Lanka has also been that this period has coincided with the blooding in of young talent, all of whom are now gaining high-quality experience at a much younger age than those that came before them.But even so, should Sri Lanka make it to the final, despite their recent form they will be considerable underdogs against this well-drilled Indian outfit – such is the advantage derived from proper investment and a head start. They, however, are on the right path and are steadily closing the gap, which means for sides like Bangladesh and those below the blueprint is there. It just needs to be followed.

Nepal’s close defeat to South Africa means there’s only one Super Eight spot left in group D

S Rajesh & Sampath Bandarupalli11-Jun-2024 • Updated on 15-Jun-2024How can Netherlands go past Bangladesh?In group D, one Super Eight spot is still open after Nepal’s heartbreaking loss to South Africa. With Nepal and Sri Lanka out of the reckoning, the battle is between Bangladesh and Netherlands. Bangladesh will seal their slot with a win, but if they lose to Nepal in Kingstown, and if Netherlands beat Sri Lanka (both are Sunday night games), then it will come down to net run rates. Bangladesh have the NRR advantage too – they are on 0.478, compared to -0.408 for Netherlands.For Netherlands to qualify, the combined margins of those results will have to be at least 53 runs, if the teams batting first score 140. That means, if Bangladesh lose to Nepal by 38 runs – that’s the first game of the night – Netherlands will have to beat Sri Lanka by at least 15 runs. A smaller margin in either game will allow Bangladesh to qualify.

The 24-year-old New Zealander played shots that most overseas batters rarely attempt in India during his maiden Test hundred in Asia

Ashish Pant18-Oct-20242:29

Ravindra: ‘Context of the game made the hundred special’

Rachin Ravindra is a man of few emotions. Whether he’s reached a batting milestone or taken a wicket, he rarely has vivid expressions. But a Test century in India, one of the toughest places for a visiting batter, is no ordinary feat and Ravindra marked the occasion in Bengaluru with a first pump and a shriek of delight.”Yeah, very, very uncharacteristic,” Ravindra said of his celebrations at the end of the third day’s play, after his 134 off 157 balls helped New Zealand take a first-innings lead of 356. “I don’t know, a little fist pump doesn’t happen often for me, but I guess scoring an overseas 100 in India is always nice, but also the context of it when we had lost a few wickets, and we built a pretty cool partnership. And for me, that’s special.”I guess more than just the milestone, I think being able to do it with team-mates and do it with our backs… well no, I wouldn’t say backs against the wall because we had a sizeable lead, but when the game’s in the balance, it probably meant a lot and it felt really good to share it with my mate Timmy [Tim Southee].”The stand-out feature of Ravindra’s innings was his approach against India’s formidable spin trio. Ravindra faced 95 balls of spin, off which he scored 101 runs. He took R Ashwin for 30 off 35, Kuldeep Yadav for 30 off 21, and Ravindra Jadeja for 41 off 39. That almost never happens in India.Rarely does an overseas batter play the kind of strokes that the 24-year-old Ravindra did. He didn’t use the conventional sweep like most other visiting batters. Instead, he unfurled wristy flicks, like subcontinent batters tend to do, playing the ball late and also using his feet to get to the pitch of the delivery and send it downtown. When Ravindra brought out the cross-bat, he slog swept over the boundary – four times.Related

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“I guess on a wicket like this, you’re able to pick and choose at times because it wasn’t doing too much,” Ravindra said. “[There were] not too many demons in it, but I think it’s looking like, okay, especially in Test cricket these days, it feels like you always have to drive the team forward and always score runs.”You see teams around the world, the way they’re scoring, the run rates are up, and that just feels natural. So, I think for us, it was just trying to push that on and take those options as we could, but I think we know, batting in India, once you’ve faced 20, 30, 40 balls it starts to get easier.”And obviously it’s a ground where you can score quite quickly, right? Shortish boundaries, fast outfield here, pretty good wicket to bat on. So luckily enough, the stars aligned today.”A rare display of emotion from Rachin Ravindra on reaching his Test hundred in Bengaluru•BCCIRavindra’s 134 was his second Test century, and his first in Asia. It just so happens that Bengaluru is where his parents were born and brought up. His father Ravi Krishnamurthy, who played cricket at a decent level in the city before migrating to New Zealand in 1997, was watching his son from the stands. Ravindra still has plenty of family in Bengaluru and used to visit them during his holidays.”Yeah, it’s obviously special,” he said. “A lot of my family are watching the game probably at the stadium and then at home on TV. I know they’re very, very proud and it makes me happy that they’re able to watch a relative play in their hometown, which is very cool.”And dad and mum would be very, very proud of that, me being able to play in their hometown where they grew up is pretty special. But like I always say I’m fully Kiwi, 100% Kiwi, but it’s nice to have that Indian heritage base here in Bengaluru.”Ravindra also showed composure and skill in marshalling New Zealand’s lower order. They had slipped from 193 for 3 to 233 for 7 on the third morning but he took the lead in a 137-run stand with Tim Southee off just 132 balls. He was eventually the last batter dismissed.In the lead up to New Zealand’s trip to the subcontinent, Ravindra had spent time training at the CSK academy in Chennai before the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Greater Noida in September that was eventually washed out. He had played for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2024 and hence was able to use their facilities.”Yeah, extremely invaluable experience,” Ravindra said of his pre-tour practice. “I guess I thought before the six subcontinent Tests that we had, I thought maybe it’d be the best thing for me to go and have a few days training there, bit more realistic conditions than what we’d have, in the used wickets in New Zealand, which, you know, wouldn’t serve the same purpose.”And lucky enough, the CSK guys really sorted me out and I was able to have four or five days of really good training on, you know, red soil and black soil wickets. So I think that was very invaluable and helped me, sort of, shore up some game plans and work on a few positions that I wanted to.”This is Ravindra’s second Test series in India. He made his debut here in 2021 but batted at No. 7 and 8, and bowled a few overs of left-arm spin, without much impact. He’s a transformed player now, and has given New Zealand a shot at achieving their first Test win in India since 1988. And if that happens in Bengaluru, he might be moved to display more than a little emotion.

We will be keeping tabs on how these five young women go at the latest edition of the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia

Shashank Kishore17-Jan-2025

Caoimhe Bray (Australia)

A seam-bowling allrounder like her role model Ellyse Perry, Bray became the youngest to feature in the WBBL late last year when she was just 15. She marked the occasion by dismissing Deandra Dottin and then hitting the winning runs for Sydney Sixers.She had come into the spotlight after amassing nearly 1000 runs in the New South Wales Under-18s competition in 2024, which included a double-century in the final. Last September, she made her Australia Under-19s debut in a tri-series, where she hit 84 and picked up 4 for 20 against New Zealand.Bray has also represented Australia’s junior football team as a 14-year-old at the AFC Women’s Under-17 championships in Indonesia.Tilly Corteen-Coleman has come through the ranks following an impressive initiation in domestic cricket•Getty Images

Tilly Corteen-Coleman (England)

A left-arm spinner who dismissed Meg Lanning on her Hundred debut as a 16-year-old, England’s Corteen-Coleman has come through the ranks following an impressive initiation in domestic cricket, where she picked up four wickets in four deliveries for South East Stars in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.She followed that up with an impressive outing at the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in 2024, where she picked up nine wickets in eight games as South East Stars finished runners-up.Corteen-Coleman has already gained valuable experience in Asia, having represented England Under-19s in Sri Lanka last year.Niki Prasad recently led India to the Under-19 Asia Cup title•ICC via Getty Images

Niki Prasad (India)

As a 15-year-old in 2021, Prasad hit Deepti Sharma for towering sixes at a club tournament in Bengaluru, and there was a buzz around her in the cricket circles in the city. But a departure from her aggressive game to try and bat longer pushed her down the pecking order after she was initially in the running to play in the inaugural edition of this World Cup in 2023.Over the past 18 months, Prasad has rediscovered her big-hitting abilities through dedicated power-hitting sessions as well as a transformation in her fitness routine. In 2025, she will lead India as they hope to defend their crown. She is one of five players from the current India squad to have been picked up in the latest WPL auction; Prasad will play for the Meg Lanning-led Delhi Capitals.Karabo Meso has already featured in two T20Is as a wicketkeeper-batter•Cricket South Africa

Karabo Meso (South Africa)

Set to play in her second Under-19 World Cup, Meso is seen in South Africa as the natural successor to incumbent wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta.Meso comes from a family with a sporting background. Her mother played netball and her father played softball. Meso herself started off as a prodigious track-and-field athlete before shifting to cricket and choosing the big gloves. She earned a maiden national call-up for the home series against Sri Lanka last April, and has subsequently featured in two T20Is.Related

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Her eight dismissals and superb glovework at the previous edition of the tournament was noticed when she was picked in ICC’s team of the tournament despite South Africa not making it past the Super Six stage.

Limansa Thilakarathna (Sri Lanka)

Daughter of former Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Melbourne-raised Limansa, an Australian national, wants to be a legspinner like another famous Victorian, the late Shane Warne. In 2021, she became the youngest female cricketer – at 12 – to play at the premier level, when she was chosen for Cricket Victoria’s Under-16 squad. She currently represents Melbourne Cricket Club.Limansa’s Australian nationality has caused debate within Sri Lankan cricketing circles, but the selectors have stuck to their decision of picking her citing her all-round abilities – she bats left-handed and in the top four, apart from being a legspinner.

After a decade spent enduring questions from a vocal band of doubters, South Africa’s captain stepped up and let his bat speak for him

Firdose Moonda09-Dec-2024It’s taken 10 years but finally, Temba Bavuma can just talk about his cricket. Or rather, let his cricket do the talking about him.As Player of the Series against Sri Lanka, with 327 runs at an average of 81.75, and as captain of a team that is now one win away from the World Test Championship (WTC) final, Bavuma, for the first time in a long while, does not have to defend either himself or his team in a post-match engagement. Instead, he can soak in the admiration that four back-to-back fifty-plus scores have earned him and the awe of a third successive series win, which has set South Africa up to have their most successful WTC cycle.Related

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That’s a remarkable feat considering that South Africa effectively conceded a series earlier in the year when they sent a makeshift side to New Zealand because their front-liners were contractually bound to the SA20. And that’s not the only reason it’s extraordinary. Of all the underdogs at the start of this WTC cycle, South Africa were the runts. Their reputation had diminished from the glory days of the early 2010s, and they were perceived to have lost interest in the longest format because they only had two-Test series scheduled. Bavuma was questioned as a leader because of his persistent run-ins with injuries. Of their eight Tests before this Sri Lanka series, he had only played in three and batted in two. Of the five matches he missed, three were because of injury, and he came into this contest relatively cold, having not played competitive cricket for two months.Against that backdrop, Bavuma reeled off an innings-saving 70 and match-winning 113 at Kingsmead and an energetic 78 and 66 at St George’s Park. What does he say to those who doubted him?”I’m not a vocal person,” he said afterwards. “I believe in letting your bat do the talking, or if you’re a bowler, letting the ball do your talking. I don’t think that will ever change.”When he was out of action with his elbow injury, Bavuma sought out AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan for advice•AFP/Getty ImagesBavuma’s personal victories in this series were the result of a kind of preparation which was “a lot different to what I’ve been accustomed to”, he explained. After hurting his elbow when completing a run in an ODI against Ireland on October 4, Bavuma’s first focus was “rehab, proper rehab”, which he described as “quite painful” when he got back to South Africa. He also reached out to “guys like AB [de Villiers] who I know later part of his career had injuries that he had to deal with”, as well as “Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan to just understand how they do things differently.” De Villiers also had an elbow injury in the last year of his international career while Gayle and Sarwan are players Bavuma knows from touring West Indies, and he wanted their perspective.Then, because he continued to feel discomfort from the impact of ball on bat, he couldn’t immediately get into the best rhythm but had to find other ways to get ready for a must-win series. “From a mental point of view, I tried to find time in between the day, sitting, visualising myself when I’m playing well, how things feel, and then finding a way to live in that feeling and in that energy. And then trusting that when you’re able to hit balls, things will come as they should.”Initially, they didn’t. When Bavuma first picked up his bat, he was still unsure. “My first couple of nets weren’t that great, to be honest,” Bavuma said. “I was quite doubtful of myself, not just physically but also from a pure form point of view. And I think then you’ve just got to trust yourself, you’ve got to trust what you’ve done.”The problem, perhaps, is that when people think about what Bavuma has done (before this series), they look at things like a 10-year career with an average that has never reached 40, and an 8.7% conversion rate of fifties to hundreds. They don’t consider how many of those half-centuries were scored under extreme pressure, with a brittle batting line-up around him. So when Bavuma needed reminding of what he is capable of, he had to look inwards, to the small group of people who know him best.”For support, I lean on my family. They are my source of strength. They are people who see me as Temba the person, not Temba the cricketer or Temba the captain,” he said. “It also about having good guys around you within the team from a coaching and a playing perspective; guys who give you that belief in what you want to do.”Against Sri Lanka, Bavuma batted with an assertiveness that he hadn’t always shown earlier in his Test career•Gallo Images/Getty ImagesTest coach Shukri Conrad has repeatedly called this “Temba’s team”, and kept him in the touring party in Bangladesh even when he was ruled out of the second Test and could have returned home early. Keshav Maharaj, who took his 11th Test five-for in Sri Lanka’s innings in Gqueberha, repeatedly pointed to Bavuma in celebrating his wickets and explained that as an acknowledgement of their shared strategies working. Among his peers, who call him Malume (the isiXhosa word for uncle), there is no doubt that Bavuma is highly regarded. What this series did was also enhanced that regard for him within himself and outside of the change room as he lived up to his batting potential in particular.”It probably just strengthened the belief that I have in myself as a player,” he said. “What helped me is that there was a lot of hunger and desire from my side to put in winning performances for the team. Fortunately, the opportunity was there throughout the series and I was able to make use of it.”After a hard grind in stabilising South Africa in the first innings in Gqeberha, the rest of Bavuma’s innings took place in what felt like pockets of sunshine. He was more assertive in his strokeplay and drove, swept and hooked with confidence. As a result, his scoring rates were higher than usual and he never got into the kind of rut that had previously caused so many of his innings grind to a halt. In Durban, he said he felt he had worked out a formula to push on past fifty and all his innings seemed to show that.The next question (perhaps an unfair one in the immediate aftermath) is how does he keep that going into the festive season when South Africa take on Pakistan and beyond? “It’s also respecting the space that you’re in,” Bavuma said. “Don’t take it for granted, but also kind of enjoy it. Something that I’m also trying to learn is that even when things are not going well, to still find ways to keep enjoying your bad performances. Then, the good performances don’t shoot your emotions through the roof. Easier said than done, but that’s something that I’m trying to do.”But no one will begrudge Bavuma if he allows himself this time to feel the high as South Africa summit the WTC rankings (albeit perhaps temporarily) and soak in their success. They’ve already made sure they enjoyed the first win of the summer for as long as possible. Five hours after the Gqeberha Test ended, the team bus was still parked at the ground and the happy sounds of spontaneous whooping could be heard. It will likely go on long into the night, with the Test players off for two weeks before their next assignment, when they can start to think of how much more they can achieve.

The 20-year-old KKR batter had an impactful first season last year, but he’s got his eye on even more silverware

Abhimanyu Bose26-Mar-2025In 2022, he was India’s highest run-scorer when they won the Under-19 World Cup. In 2024, he showcased an array of ramps, scoops and reverse-sweeps to help Kolkata Knight Riders lift the IPL trophy in his first season. Then, he was part of the Mumbai squad that won the 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. For a young player with a single-minded focus on piling up silverware for his teams, Angkrish Raghuvanshi could barely have asked for a better start to his career.”I’m in love with the game. So I will do whatever it takes to improve, to work hard and try to win games for my team,” Raghuvanshi told ESPNcricinfo before the start of the 2025 IPL. “Because that’s what I love doing. That’s what I go to sleep wanting to do. That’s what I wake up wanting to do.”I’ve learned that what works for me is not setting personal goals in terms of runs and stuff,” he said. “It’s about how many games I want to win for my team during the season in every tournament that I play, and hopefully I can win the tournament for my team.”Those are my goals at the start of the season. And I feel that when I think [that way], it brings out the best in my performance as well.”Related

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After being picked up by KKR at the auction for the 2024 IPL, Raghuvanshi played his maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy season, but had a middling outing. His highest score was 32, and he struck at 116.But in the IPL he made an immediate impact. In the first match he batted in, at the age of 19, he hammered 54 off 27 balls from No. 3 against Delhi Capitals to help KKR get to a mammoth score of 272, in the process becoming the second-youngest player to score a half-century in his maiden IPL innings.He started the knock with back-to-back boundaries off Anrich Nortje, and then reverse-swept medium-pacer Rasikh Salam for a six – the kind of innovation that became his mainstay as the season wore on. He made the No. 3 position his own, despite the presence of bigger stars like Venkatesh Iyer and KKR’s then-captain Shreyas Iyer in the side, and finished the season with 163 runs at a strike rate of 155.23.Unfazed by the prospect of facing the high pace of bowlers like Nortje, or taking on world-class spinners like Axar Patel, Raghuvanshi says he came prepared, not just in terms of technique, but also mentality.”I have asked this question a lot to my coach and with all the big players I have played with: that when a fast bowler or a very good spinner is running in, and he has done a lot in cricket, what goes through your mind? And they all just say the same thing. At the end of the day, he is just going to bowl and you have to watch the ball and play according to where it is.1:35

Raghuvanshi: ‘I watch athletes from other sports to learn what I can do to be better’

“So, [when] there was pressure and thoughts that Nortje is bowling to me, I just calmed myself down by saying that everyone just says: watch the ball and play according to the ball. When I told my mind that, it helped a lot and I could just focus on the ball.”And how does he get the confidence to walk out at the highest level and start ramping and reverse-sweeping fast bowlers?”We practised in a way that those shots were just normal run-scoring shots instead of audacious ones,” he said. “And leading up to the tournament, I practised it a lot, so it became natural. So, when I was there in the middle and there was pressure on me, I felt that I could rely on it to score runs.”The man chiefly responsible for Raghuvanshi’s preparation was his childhood coach Abhishek Nayar, who was also KKR’s assistant coach when they signed the young batter on.Raghuvanshi first met Nayar at the age of 11. Soon after, the youngster made the move from Delhi to Mumbai, even staying with Nayar – a mentor on and off the field – for a week.”He saw me play and worked with me and I felt a connection there. I got to learn so much from him in that one-week period when I was in Mumbai for the first time,” Raghuvanshi recalled. “It opened my mind to new things in the game. And ever since, I’ve just tried to learn as much as I can from him and he’s really been helpful in my entire journey.”He’s a great coach on the field and in life too. I think he’s helped me grow as a person as well,” Raghuvanshi said. “He taught me to be a really good person, to be a mature and respectful person off the field, and a smart and hardworking cricketer on the field.”Even before his batting exploits, Raghuvanshi caught the eye of KKR co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

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