Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel, right, and coach Hemang Badani during the IPL T20 match against Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley cricket stadium in New Delhi on May 05, 2026.
| Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY

CSK’s Anshul Kamboj bowling against DC during the TATA IPL 2026 cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk in Chennai on Saturday, April 11, 2026.
| Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav, head coach Gautam Gambhir and Ramesh Mhamunkar, chief curator of Wankhede Stadium, near the playing surface on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Karnataka’s Smaran in action during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy cricket match against Uttarakhand at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, Gujarat on Wednesday, November 26, 2025.
| Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

Let’s cut to the chase. Has T20 cricket deskilled Test cricket?

Wasim Jaffer: It surely has, and it’s quite exciting too. In our time, we had to play three-day or four-day cricket. We had to score big hundreds and double hundreds to get noticed. But ever since T20 came in, at the start of a season, players’ main focus is T20 cricket. This is very unlike our time where we used to look forward to the Ranji Trophy or even the Duleep Trophy because that was the pathway. Now, IPL (Indian Premier League) provides the platform to get noticed. To be honest, if I was playing in this day and age, I would probably be doing the same. My only concern is that you should fit in all three formats (ODIs, Test cricket, and T20) and today’s youngsters don’t do that. They want to play white-ball cricket. They want to play T20 cricket. But four-day cricket takes a back seat. Those small pretty knocks of 30-40 in quick time look very good in T20 cricket, but they don’t win you games in even one-day cricket, let alone four-day cricket or Test matches. We need to instill the mentality in them that even if they want to play in the T20 way, they will still need to score hundreds to make a statement. Up until players are 32-33, when their body is still fit and strong, they need to fit into all three formats. But prioritising T20 cricket… I’ve got no problem [with it].

Jaydev Unadkat: I agree. You can’t really blame youngsters coming into the game because they look at financial security. T20 cricket has helped a lot of players and families that way. On the field, I won’t say T20 has helped or has made the job easier. When we started playing, it was always red-ball cricket, which was looked up to in terms of starting a season. No one really noticed a lot of performances in white-ball cricket. The IPL has changed the game for youngsters. I was talking to Cheteshwar (Pujara) recently about how we are seeing players who have started their cricket just watching IPL. Even until 2015-16, it was a mix of T20 and red-ball cricket. Red-ball cricket is hard work. For a bowler to bowl 18-20 overs a day, sometimes without reward, is hard work. Even batters have got to grind through phases, play out sessions, play some good spells. Those were the skills that used to be seen in extraordinary players, not just hitting boundaries. It is changing, but I don’t want players to forget that sometimes bowling an eight- or a nine-over spell — despite what your physio or strength and conditioning team has told you for managing workload — is the need of the hour. You have got to do that for your team and for playing at the highest level.

With IPL having become the epicentre of world cricket and not just Indian cricket, is it too much for old-timers to expect good-old batting to be on display in the coming years?

Wasim Jaffer: Yes, it will be non-existent. You probably won’t see a player getting a hundred in 200-250 balls. Or a player leaving a ball outside off stump over after over. You’ll see a counter-attack. Pujara is the last lot of that old batsmanship, but that (old batsmanship) is the need of the hour.

A coach will now encourage a child to attack first and then teach him to defend later. It was the other way around when I was growing up. If you teach a young kid to defend first, he will lose interest because he wants to play all those fancy shots because that’s what he has seen on TV. If you try and stop him from doing it right from the word go, he will stop playing cricket.

Today’s batters give up easily mentally. They have got fantastic shots. Australia’s Sam Konstas, for example. Playing like that in one’s first Test match… we would have not even dreamt of playing like that. But today’s generation is like that. They can go out and play outrageous shots and get 20-30. They just need to understand how to dig deep. Once they understand that, the sky is the limit because they can change a game within a session or two. To make them understand this is a big challenge for the captain, coach, or mentor.

Jaydev Unadkat: The counter-attacking game has produced a lot more results and generated greater crowds, even for Test cricket, which is important. Sometimes, as players, we don’t understand the importance of the game needing crowds because that’s where you generate revenue.

As a captain, if I see the shift from T20 cricket to Ranji Trophy, the first couple of net sessions, the batters just put the bat to everything. They have got to leave some balls outside off stump as well. They have the ability but maybe not the hunger to fight it out.

You touched upon generating support from the fans, but will it last? If Test cricket played merely as an extension to T20 cricket, why will anyone follow it over five days?

Wasim Jaffer: T20 will always be the most viewed format. Obviously older people won’t enjoy it, but for the guys who are growing up now, that will always take a front seat. Test cricket has its own beauty. It’s like a game of chess or a marathon, so people enjoy it. It’s never a straight route in Test cricket. It gives you a different high and the spectators also understand that. We saw that when India won in Gabba (2021).

Jaydev Unadkat: At Gabba, you needed a Pujara and you needed a Rishabh Pant. It’s the balance and it starts from the top. If you have the mindset of rewarding those who can grind it out and those who can play those shots, that’s where we can find the balance. I can give you an example about bowlers. We (Saurashtra) have a couple of young fast bowlers who have come in, but all they think about when they want to take a wicket is whether to bowl a bouncer or a slower ball or a yorker. When I ask them about their wicket-taking plan, they never say sticking to the off-stump line or playing with a batter’s patience.

One of the challenges young batters face is managing an array of scoring strokes. How do you make them understand to manage the shots?

Wasim Jaffer: You need to make them understand that they don’t need 12 shots in every match. Probably three-four shots and they can easily get a hundred. They need to understand that they have got all the armoury but they don’t need to use all of it. On a flat wicket, they don’t need to play a sweep shot because they can score runs by just playing straight. After they hit a boundary or a six, the best way is to take a single and go to the other end and let the other guy play the next ball. That’s the challenge for the coaches — how to get them to play 100 balls? Stopping them from playing shots is not the right way. In Test cricket, you don’t need to score at a strike rate of 150; a 60-70 strike rate is good enough.

Jaydev Unadkat: Everything comes down to balancing it out. They have to figure out the strongest four on a particular day and stick to it. The captain’s and coaches’ role has also changed in that way.

Wasim Jaffer: Today’s batters are not scared to get out. I find that very strange. If they see a ball which is above their eyeline and even if the fielders are at long off, long on, deep cover, and deep midwicket, they will still play the high-risk shot. It is difficult for them to realise that if they play such a high-risk game, they could lose the wicket and if they keep doing that for two-three innings, they are playing for their spot. They need to play that ‘low risk, high reward’ game to be successful.

What’s the way forward?

Jaydev Unadkat: There is no comparison in terms of the incentives that you get in IPL and a domestic tournament. That is not going to match. Individually, if you look at domestic cricket, they could keep incentivising how much a player gets in Ranji Trophy. But that is just the financial part; it is not the solution. I feel some players just don’t want to go through the grind. You can give them financial incentives, but you have to find ways of keeping that hunger going, of providing that motivation. [They should know] how much it means for a State to win the Ranji Trophy or to win a four-day contest.

Wasim Jaffer: I am against under-19 boys getting huge (IPL) contracts. The BCCI needs to put a cap of probably ₹50 lakh or something. A youngster getting crores of rupees if he doesn’t have a good mentor… it’s going to do more harm than good for him. And players getting selected for their potential rather than performance nowadays… [That needs to change too].

Listen to the conversation in The Hindu Parley podcast

Indian Assistant Coach Ryan ten Doeschate, speaking during the press conference ahead of the third T20 match between India and Bangladesh, at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Uppal, in Hyderabad on Friday, October 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K.R Deepak

With the series in the bag, India could experiment with the playing eleven in the third and final T20I against Bangladesh here on Saturday (October 12, 2024).

Thus far in the series, fast bowler Harshit Rana, batter Tilak Verma, spinner Ravi Bishnoi and wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma have yet to get a game.

India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate stated that these new faces could get a look in. “There is nice depth in the squad. A lot of our guys have IPL experience. We try to expose as many guys as we can to international cricket. So someone like Harshit Raina – we are keen to give him a game. Tilak came into the squad a bit later (to replace the injured Shivam Dube). Jitish is there as well. There are options. The plan was to win the series and then try a few new faces for the last game,” ten Doeschate said at the pre-match press conference here on Friday (October 11, 2024).

The match also serves as a chance for misfiring openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma to come good.

Ryan ten Doeschate underlined the all-out attacking style of cricket that the team management is keen to follow.

“The Test match in Kanpur was a great example. We’re trying to push the limits of what we can do as a team. If you look at the T20Is, Sanju got a quick start in the first game in Gwalior. It would have been easy for him to knock it around and get a fifty. But he was trying to push for the boundaries. The messaging has been pretty consistent,” ten Doeschate said.

The 44-year-old, a belligerent hitter in his playing days, added, “We want to build a strong core of players. With the 50-over Champions Trophy (early 2025), T20 Asia Cup (late 2025) and the 2026 T20 World Cup coming up, we want to know where everyone stands in Indian cricket.”

For Bangladesh, a disastrous tour nears the end. India has dominated proceedings in the two T20Is and the preceding Test series. A consolation win at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium may be beyond reach.

: Harry Brook of England hits a six as he bats during the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup West Indies & USA 2024 match between Namibia and England at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on June 15, 2024 in Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

England’s defense of the Twenty20 World Cup title lived on for a few more hours after a must-win over Namibia in a rain-affected match on June 15.

To reach the Super Eight, England first had to beat Namibia in their maiden T20 matchup. Persistent showers almost ruined the chance, but the match started three hours late and was reduced to 11 overs, then 10 overs after another heavy shower.

England was made to bat first and rallied to 122-5.

Namibia, given a rain-adjusted target of 126, managed only 84-3 and lost by 41 runs.

England did what it had to, then had to wait a few more hours and hope Scotland lost to Australia in Saint Lucia to be sure of advancing from Group B.

England was anxious for most of the day, thanks to the weather. It had already suffered one washout — its opener against Scotland — and a second washout in four group games would have sent it home.

Because of what was at stake, the umpires waited as long as possible at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium to get play underway.

England lost the plot early. Only one run was taken from the opening over bowled by 39-year-old David Wiese, captain Jos Buttler was bowled for a duck by fast bowler Ruben Trumpelmann, and Wiese returned to nick out the other opener, Phil Salt.

England was 13-2 after 13 balls.

Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook counterattacked. Bairstow made 31 off 18 balls just before the last rain delay. Brook finished with an unbeaten 47 off 20, and had late support from Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone, who both contributed to taking 21 runs off the last over.

Namibia’s chase was relatively fast but not fast enough. Opener Michael van Lingen, after 33 off 29, was pulled out under the pretense of retiring hurt, and Wiese inserted to up the run rate. He duly delivered 27 off 12 but it was too late.

India washout

The India-Canada game in Florida was abandoned without a ball bowled.

The outfield in Broward County Stadium was too wet for play, and the match was called off only an hour after its scheduled morning start.

While there was light rain on Saturday morning, the outfield was damp from Friday showers which led to a second straight abandoned game at the venue. The United States-Ireland game on Friday never started. Pakistan and Ireland are scheduled to play at the ground on Sunday.

While the teams waited for a decision, India’s Rishabh Pant and coach Rahul Dravid went to the boundary to sign autographs, and Virat Kohli posed with some of the Canada players.

Unbeaten India had already qualified for the Super Eight as the Group A winner. Canada finished group play with only a precious win over Ireland.

India starts the Super Eight against Afghanistan on Thursday in Barbados.

It is possible that even as you read this, the first score of 300-plus in an IPL innings might have been made already. Nepal’s 314 for three against Mongolia is the record in a T20International, but franchise cricket is of a higher standard.

Already the 100-mark in the first PowerPlay has been crossed. Six-hitting, the basis of all tall scores, might still be exciting but only just. Repetition is beginning to suck the thrill out of it. As the poet W.H. Auden said, the eye is bored by repetition. In fact, repetition doesn’t create memories.

The IPL is being played for the 17th time, which means there are enough batters who first took to the game when they were in the first grade or so, and have grown with it.

Inevitable

We no longer gasp at 20-plus runs in an over, 24 sixes in an innings or 42 in a match. When Will Jacks takes just 10 deliveries to move from 50 to 100, it is merely interesting, not astounding. Someone, we tell ourselves, was bound to do it sooner or later. The more often such records are broken, the more inevitable it looks; unexpectedness, the essence of competition, is being replaced by inevitability. You can have too much of a good thing.

There aren’t too many angles left unexplored by either batter or bowler. Fielders on the boundary don’t worry the hitter who aims to strike into the crowd. Even the great Jasprit Bumrah has been taken for 18 in a single over. What might cause a sharp intake of breath might actually be a forward defence or a batter letting a ball go through to the wicket keeper unharmed. That might suggest a cosmic disturbance.

Hundreds by Will Jacks (41 balls) and Travis Head (in 39) merely seem to be preparation for a 25-ball century. Traditional statistics have become meaningless. When Delhi Capitals’ Jake Fraser-McGurk made a 27-ball 84 against Mumbai Indians, the significant statistic was not the strike rate of 311, but the fact that of the 104 deliveries he faced, he attempted boundaries off 77. So here’s a new metric: aggressive shot percentage.

Is the end of T20 near?

But does all this lead up to one conclusion: that the end of T20 is approaching faster than predicted? Theoretically, a team could hit each of the 120 deliveries it receives for six, and that would be that.

At the start of the previous century, physicists spoke about the end of physics, as if there was nothing remaining to be discovered. That was just before the quantum revolution and the opening of new pathways. The political philosophers who emphasised the end of history are discovering that they spoke too soon.

Perhaps the approaching death of the T20 is an exaggeration. The future of the format is in the hands of the bowlers. It is likely that batting will peak, reaching a stage beyond which it cannot progress (at least for a while) as the bowlers reassert themselves.

There is too the question of human limit, a question that pops up every Olympic year. If the rule-makers are enlightened, there will be an attempt to create a level playing field even if it means giving the bowler the greater advantage.

Perhaps a batter might be declared leg before even if the ball pitches outside the line of the leg stump. Perhaps the benefit of the doubt will always go in favour of the bowler. Perhaps the two best bowlers might be allowed to bowl six overs each in an innings. All this just for the shortest format of the game, of course. Once it is accepted in theory that bowlers need help, there are always possibilities.

A recent cartoon doing the rounds on social media summed up the bowlers’ plight well. It shows a bunch of bowlers led by Mitchell Starc carrying banners saying things like ‘Stop the Batriarchy’, ‘Bowlers Matter’ and ‘Abolish the Impact Substitute’. Like the best jokes, these reveal important truths.

Bowlers are not supporting acts. As the great Erapalli Prasanna said recently, “You can say all you want about batting, but a match does not begin till someone bowls.”

IPL cricket may be ‘progressing’ too quickly for its own good.

Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya and Punjab Kings’ stand-in captain Sam Curran during the toss ceremony before an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 cricket match between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, in Mohali, on April 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Punjab Kings’ cricketer Ashutosh Sharma’s exploits with the willow drew enormous praise from Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya as well as his team’s stand-in captain Sam Curran, with the former terming it an “unbelievable” display.

Ashutosh and Shashank Singh have emerged as the unlikely heroes for Punjab Kings this IPL season but the failure of the top-order has seen the team slump to ninth spot in the IPL table despite the some breathtaking performances from the duo.

On Thursday, Ashutosh virtually took the game away from Mumbai Indians with his 28-ball 61 before PBKS lost by nine runs chasing 193.

Ashutosh also executed a stunning sweep shot against pacer Jasprit Bumrah, something which has not been done quite often against India’s pace spearhead.

“Unbelievable, playing the way he (Ashutosh) did and hitting the ball off the middle. (It is) great for his future. We did speak in the timeout about it, not about how we look, we will keep fighting and make sure (that) we don’t bowl the soft balls. Batsmen played good shots but we were soft in certain overs,” Mr.Pandya said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The MI skipper heaved a huge sigh of relief with a close win, stating that every player’s nerves got tested in the game.

“(It was a) very good game. Everyone’s nerves got tested. We spoke that the characters will be checked in this game. But (it is) natural (that) you (would) think you are ahead but IPL has a tendency to show that oppositions can come back and how,” Pandya added.

Punjab Kings’ stand-in captain Sam Curran said it was heartening to see youngsters like Ashutosh and Shashank rising to the occasion, despite losing some close matches in the recent past.

“Another close one, I think this team likes a close one, but unfortunately another loss. Another incredible knock from the young guy (Ashutosh), but another close loss,” he said.

“It’s very tough. We have lost a lot of wickets at the start, the way the younger guys have taken the team so close is heartening.” “They have incredible confidence, you see a guy like Ashutosh having the confidence to play the sweeps and the big hits against pacers, it’s so great to watch them in action,” Curran said.

The Englishman said there were a lot of positives to take from such close defeats.

“It’s disheartening to lose close games, but there are a lot of positives in this team. We still have the belief in us, we believe we can turn this around, the sun will come up tomorrow and we will hopefully get on a winning run,” Curran said.

The player of the match Jasprit Bumrah, who bowled a brilliant spell of 3/21 said it was a much closer game than he anticipated.

“(It was a) much closer game than what we thought. (I) want to make an impact early on. In this format, ball swings for two overs, and you want to make use of that,” he said.

Bumrah said the T20 format is cruel for bowlers and is tilted in favour of batters. “This format is a little difficult for the bowlers because the batsmanship is going over, plus the time restrictions and the Impact Player rule. What you can do is prepare your best and back yourself,” he said.

“Go out there and give your best. I try to relay messages from wherever I am on the field. You don’t want to give too many messages,” Bumrah added.

D. Hemalatha is among the few to have been retained by Gujarat Giants. Here she is seen in action during WPL Match between UP Warriors and Gujarat Giants held at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on 20/03/23.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Gujarat Giants looks keen to make some significant changes for the second edition of the Women’s Premier League, with the franchise heading the list for releasing the highest number of players.

Giants, which finished at the bottom of the five-team league last year, has released 11 players, while the runner-up Delhi Capitals has let go just three. The champion Mumbai Indians has released four.

Also read | Women’s cricket has finally arrived in India in its full glory!

In all, 29 players have been released by the franchises, while 60, including 21 from abroad, have been retained. The biggest names released are Megan Schutt (Royals Challengers Bangalore) and Shabnim Ismail (UP Warriorz).

In the mini auction, likely to be held in December, Giants will have the largest purse of Rs. 5.95 crore, followed by Warriorz (Rs. 4 crore), RCB (Rs. 3.35 crore), Capitals (Rs. 2.25 crore) and MI (Rs. 2.1 crore).

Also read | Data | Women’s Premier League is no stroke of luck but a hard-fought win

The teams have been talent-scouting at the various domestic tournaments, including ones for juniors. The WPL is likely to start in mid-February.

The list: Delhi Capitals: Retained: Alice Capsey*, Arundhati Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Jess Jonassen*, Laura Harris*, Marizanne Kapp*, Meg Lanning*, Minnu Mani, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Shafali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Sneha Deepthi, Taniya Bhatia and Titas Sadhu.

Released: Aparna Mondal, Jasia Akhter and Tara Norris*.

Gujarat Giants: Retained: Ashleigh Gardner*, Beth Mooney*, D. Hemalatha, Harleen Deol, Laura Wolvaardt*, Shabnam Shakil, Sneh Rana and Tanuja Kanwar.

Released: Annabel Sutherland*, Ashwani Kumari, Georgia Wareham*, Hurley Gala, Kim Garth*, Mansi Joshi, Monica Patel, Parunika Sisodia, Sabbineni Meghana, Sophia Dunkley* and Sushma Verma.

Mumbai Indians: Retained: Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr*, Chloe Tryon*, Harmanpreet Kaur, Hayley Matthews*, Humairaa Kaazi, Isabelle Wong*, Jintimani Kalita, Natalie Sciver*, Pooja Vastrakar, Priyanka Bala, Saika Ishaque and Yastika Bhatia

Released: Dhara Gujjar, Heather Graham*, Neelam Bisht and Sonam Yadav.

Also read | Winning crucial moments key to Mumbai Indians’ success in WPL, says captain Harmanpreet Kaur

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Retained: Asha Shobana, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry*, Heather Knight*, Indrani Roy, Kanika Ahuja, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine*.

Released: Dane Van Niekerk*, Erin Burns*, Komal Zanzad, Megan Schutt*, Poonam Khemnar, Preeti Bose, Sahana Pawar.

UP Warriorz: Retained: Alyssa Healy*, Anjali Sarvani, Deepti Sharma, Grace Harris*, Kiran Navgire, Lauren Bell*, Laxmi Yadav, Parshavi Chopra, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, S. Yashasri, Shweta Sehrawat, Sophie Ecclestone* and Tahlia Mcgrath*.

Released: Devika Vaidya, Shabnim Ismail*, Shivali Shinde and Simran Shaikh.

(* overseas players)