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The kid who almost missed the boat has grown up fast, physically and mentally

Daniel Brigham27-Jun-2009Stuart Broad does not just enter a room, he fills it. He is unfathomably tall, somehow appearing even greater than his 6ft 6in, and with shoulders to match. Yet on top of this mammoth frame sits a youthful face with plenty of wavy blond locks and blue eyes. He is not quite Nordic God, more baby-faced Viking warrior.It is these striking looks that have him fast becoming the poster boy of English cricket. Girls who do not usually follow men in whites show an interest normally reserved for Mark Ramprakash. Broad is the glamorous face of the Twenty20 generation, already accustomed to being interviewed by glossy lifestyle magazines like and .Yet, like his physical appearance, things are not quite as they might first seem. His path into cricket has been a very conventional one – an England cricketer for a father and a private boarding school in love with cricket. He turns 23 in June and the youthful arrogance often associated with a new kid on the block has already disappeared. He gives the sort of considered, thoughtful answers expected of someone at least eight years older.”A lot of people who meet me say ‘I can’t believe you’re 22, you act much older,'” Broad says. “But then a lot of people also think I look about 12. I still get asked for ID whenever I go out.”Like his cricket, Broad is multi-dimensional. He was very nearly not a sportsman at all. A now famous (and painful) growth spurt when he was 17, which turned him into a bowler who bats rather than a batsman who occasionally bowled, coincided with a life-changing phone call.”There were times when I started thinking about what I had to do because cricket wasn’t really working out for me up until the age of about 17,” he says. “I got left out of a Leicestershire Under-17 squad, then someone got injured and I came in and scored around 195. The next day I was in the academy and then within a year I got a professional contract. I was literally sitting at home and got a phone call asking if I could play and it changed my life.”Seventeen Tests and nearly 200 first-class wickets later that phone call has been well and truly vindicated. Broad was probably always destined to play cricket to a high standard. Dad Chris played 25 Tests and slayed the Australians. Mum Carole spent Broad’s teenage years happily paying for new tennis balls and replacing broken windows. He also went to a school that took cricket seriously: Oakham in Rutland.

“A lot of people who meet me say, ‘I can’t believe you’re 22, you act much older.’ But then a lot of people also think I look about 12. I still get asked for ID whenever I go out”

“I owe a lot to the school I went to,” Broad says. “Oakham was one of the best batting wickets in the country and we had the likes of [former England cricketers] Frank Hayes and David Steele as coaches there. We had a real love for cricket at school. I remember we had free periods when most people would be studying, but some of the teachers would let us sneak off and have a bowl and a bat in the nets. They would turn a blind eye to it because they knew we loved it so much.”Broad knows he was lucky, well aware that cricket struggles to attract children who have not been to a cricket-playing school or do not have parents who follow the game – the kind of children that the ECB hopes will be inspired by Broad to pick up a bat or ball. He would like to see cricket back on terrestrial TV to attract more children to the game, while acknowledging the reasons why the ECB sold it to Sky.”It’s a difficult question,” he says. “But from when I was a young lad and we didn’t have Sky, there was nothing better at school on the first morning of a Test. We would get out during our 10.30 break and quickly put on BBC or Channel 4 and everyone would gather around to find out who was in the team or who’d won the toss. That was fantastic.”Despite this, Broad was not such a keen watcher of cricket when he was growing up – he much preferred playing it with friends from around the village during his summer holidays. “I had a routine,” he says. “I’d play all morning and come in and try and watch the highlights. Then I’d go out again and play some more, then come in again for the highlights after play. I was lucky because our back garden was basically a cricket pitch with nets up to stop the ball.”His love of cricket is palpable. He is an enthusiastic talker about the game, admitting to still getting excited about hearing England squad announcements being discussed on the radio. One of his biggest joys is the coaching days with kids that the ECB arranges with England players.He does not mind the label of cricket nerd. “Cricket has always been a hobby,” he says. “I’ve always read every cricket magazine and subscribed to them since I was about eight. I like to see what’s going on around the world and who’s doing well. I think it’s important to stay in touch with what’s going on.” This may seem rather obvious for an international cricketer, but it is not always the case. When we interviewed Kevin Pietersen last July, two weeks before he became England captain, he was unable to answer a question about the new Sri Lankan bowler Ajantha Mendis because he had not heard of him.Broad has just moved into a new house (“I had my mum sorting everything out”). He is not a big fan of sitting around, preferring to keep himself busy. He still sees many of the friends he played backyard cricket with. While most of them are finishing university, living in house-shares and playing computer games, Broad’s career path could hardly be more different.”I had to grow up quickly,” he says. “But that comes from international sport, I think. Because I’m in the England dressing room there are a lot of mature characters around and most people I hang out with are that little bit older than me, so it probably rubs off. But I still have time to enjoy myself, and I love going on a night out and catching up with mates and sitting in front of the TV getting thrashed at Fifa Soccer.”It’s not like I have to dedicate every minute of my life to cricket, but it certainly is pretty hectic. There are a lot of times when your mates are just nipping to the pub. but you can’t because you’re training in the morning. But I wouldn’t change it for anything.”When Broad made his ODI debut in 2006 it was clear he was a man with inherent talent. But his natural, wicket-taking bowling action seemed to change. His father was not best pleased, and last October, Hayes, his cricket master at Oakham, said that England told him to bowl more chest-on to avoid injury. It resulted in a loss of swing and fewer wicket-taking deliveries.With the appointment of Ottis Gibson as England bowling coach, Broad’s action reverted to its old, natural style and the wickets started coming. James Anderson’s action has also gone back to its unconventional beginnings, bringing him more wickets and greater confidence.Does Broad think Hayes’ assessment was accurate? “Yes,” he says, after initially hesitating. “I mean, everything always develops. When I came into the international set-up my action got tweaked a little bit, but I’ve gone back to how it felt good for me. I think working with Ottis has helped me tremendously. He’s a very simple character with very simple drills. I think for any young person you need to keep it as simple as you possibly can. You know when it feels right and when you’re bowling well.”I think injury prevention is huge, but I think it’s important to keep your natural flair. If you’ve bowled well in the past and taken wickets, there’s a reason why you did that and I think it’s crucial that you don’t let people change you too much.”Kevin Shine was the England bowling coach who was criticised by Hayes and others for his handling of Broad. He is now the ECB’s lead fast-bowling coach and runs its fast-bowling development programme. He says: “Stuart was very happy with the work that we did with him at an early age, when we thought there were issues, relating to his lower back, that could affect him. We had to get him to understand how his body worked.”Stuart’s a very strong-minded individual. We explained it all to him and he wanted to know all the information. He had to give it a yes or a no. At no point did he say he was upset. The programme had his best interests at heart.”Glamour boys: with friend and new-ball partner James Anderson•Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty ImagesBroad is strong-minded indeed. He went very much against the grain by opting out of the IPL while other England players filled their boots (or bank accounts). Although a difficult decision, he does not regret it, happy with his choice to hone his skills in Test matches rather than Twenty20 cricket. When we speak, it is four weeks into the tournament and he has not watched a game.As the bright, young thing of English cricket, Broad should represent the Twenty20 generation – quick, exciting bowler who does not hang around with the bat. Yet that is not quite true. Broad will have gone through his formative years without Twenty20 as an early influence – anyone a year or two younger than him will no longer be able to do that. In some ways he is the last of a breed of cricketer whose loyalties were not tested by the big bucks of Twenty20 from the moment they first picked up a bat.He was 16 when the Twenty20 circus hit county cricket and was at the first Finals day at Trent Bridge as a fan of the semi-finalists Leicestershire. “Twenty20 cricket is hugely exciting for youngsters to watch and play and it does create a lot of new skill in the game and that can only be good for Test cricket.”But I don’t think there’s a better buzz in the game than a first morning at Lord’s or the first Test of a summer. I hope that buzz will always be the same in Test cricket throughout my career.”With Twenty20 has come an increased celebrity around cricketers – they suddenly seem more accessible to the public, led by the poster boys Broad and his new-ball partner and good friend Anderson. So, does Broad mind the little celebrity perks that come with being a hyped young international sportsman? “I suppose when you put yourself up for naked photo shoots you put yourself out there a bit,” Broad says. “But everything that can take you away from cricket on the odd occasion is refreshing and good for your mind and it’s good life experience.”The naked photoshoot he talks of was for in April 2008 (for charity, of course), with Anderson and Alastair Cook for company – plus one bat apiece to maintain their modesty. Broad says he was nervous – especially when eight women appeared to be hanging around the shoot for no other reason than to pretend to make tea. Broad drops eye contact for the first and only time during the interview when asked whether he and Anderson are the glamorous face of English cricket, mumbling “No, not at all.”Is there a rivalry between him and Anderson? “No. Although he’s the sharper dresser, but then that’s because his wife’s always on his case. It’s safe to say he’s dressed by his wife. He definitely holds the advantage in the fashion stakes. It’s hard for me to get clothes that are long enough, so I have to use a tailor, one up in Manchester that a lot of Manchester United players use. I’m pretty much a typical sportsman, wearing hoodies and trainers.”Broad fulfilled a long-held ambition to appear on the BBC’s and does not rule out following Ramprakash and Darren Gough into TV. “Well, hopefully not on with my dancing ability. Being in the spotlight isn’t something that fazes me. TV is something that I’d enjoy doing when my cricket career slows down.”That should be a long way off. For the moment he is happy learning, improving and hitting 93mph at Lord’s against West Indies – something the Australian batsmen, battered and bruised on their last trip to England, will not have ignored. In 2005, Broad was caught up in the hysteria around the Ashes as a cricket fan, watching glimpses of it on TV during his first season in Leicestershire’s first team. Just four years later and despite still getting asked for ID in pubs, all 6ft 6in of him will be spearheading England’s campaign to reclaim the Ashes.

Viv Richards, the only captain under whom West Indies never lost a series, speaks about the sense of confrontation he brought to his cricket, his first Test in Antigua and his success against England

Interview by Benj Moorehead22-Feb-2010What was it like having all those great West Indian fast bowlers to face in practice?
You may say it was good enough practice. But I’ve never enjoyed being in the nets, because I felt enclosed. My batting practice would be a guy throwing balls in the way in which I liked it. It was all about getting ball on bat, rather than something whizzing past your ear. Each bowler has his own pride when bowling in the nets but it’s vital that you get ball on bat and then you are ready to use the opportunity when you are out in the middle.In 1969 you refused to walk when given out in a match for Antigua, sparking crowd trouble. How do you look back on that now?
It was a difficult start to my career, but if you are confident enough about the decisions that you make and about how you can correct them, then it becomes history. It’s all about pushing on and learning from mistakes. You are going to have some hiccups, especially as a young man. I felt I wasn’t out at the time and I stamped my feet – I’ve seen people not be banned for worse. Obviously this sent a message to the crowd that all wasn’t well. The crowd reacted and I was responsible. I paid my dues – I was banned from first-class cricket for two years. If you do a crime, you must do the time.What was it like arriving at Somerset in 1974?
There seemed to be a lack of self-esteem with certain individuals at the club. You heard about Somerset not winning anything in over 100 years. I’ve always been a competitive guy. I want to win. I want to make an impact. At the time I was on the fringes of the West Indies team and I was going to a club that knew nothing about me. I felt I could bat. I looked around the county circuit and saw the professional cricketers and I’m saying, “Wow, I could do a little bit better than that.” I tried to pump that motivation into my team.What was Brian Close like as a captain?
Closey is someone I have an enormous amount of respect for. I was fortunate to have him around at that time. He was instrumental. I felt he saw something in me. He took me under his wing and I would travel with him on most occasions. In those days county cricketers travelled their own way. I was Closey’s co-pilot. During the long journeys around the country we would talk about the game, about what I could do to move forward. He taught me about being tough with your decisions and fighting hard. Closey did not reap the success of the team and the characters he built. In came Brian Rose and by that time the players were ripe. They were battle-hardened by playing under one of the hardest skippers I’ll ever know. It was the perfect platform. And in the end it came good for Somerset. We became a fancied county. The Garners and the Bothams came on board and we had a good connection.You were more successful against England than against any other Test side. Was there added motivation?
When I first came to this country there were folks who felt I was coming from a hotter climate so I wouldn’t adapt to English conditions. They thought I wasn’t going to do well because of my style of play – of hitting across the line. I didn’t call it hitting across the line. I felt it was inventive. If you stay to the basics – hitting the ball in the V – it would be a rather boring game. I felt I was an artist. If I hit a fielder I wasn’t doing my job well enough. It was all about avoiding fieldsmen and scoring runs. No one was going to put me off my plan.I could have hit the ball through the off side as well as any. I know that. It was my choice when to and when not to. So I wanted to prove these guys wrong, prove that I am a soldier where the bat is concerned. Wherever the fight is, I’m going to be fighting. I didn’t want to be rude to anyone, but anyone who is rude to me, then I was going to be rude in the right way: my bat was going to tell the story. You had guys who didn’t believe in the black man. If you feel you are superior to me, then you should be knocking me over every goddamn time. There were a few ass***** out there. All these factors were a motivation for how my innings would go.Perhaps Tony Greig’s promise in 1976 that the West Indies would “grovel” helped too?
I’m not into the talk stuff. You have guys who talk a lot but cannot deliver. Tony was talking himself and England into believing what they could do. Maybe he took the wrong route. I’d played against Tony a few times and didn’t see anything that was extra special, apart from the lip he had at the time. I felt he was a guy who knew he didn’t have any trump cards and was bluffing.Did anyone dislike your famous leisurely walk to the crease?
There were crowds who wanted to test me, especially in a hostile environment like Yorkshire. “Hurry up!” they’d say. That’s why, when you look at the records and see Vivian Richards’ record against Yorkshire, I think I could be high up where averages and runs are concerned. Sometimes you get crowds who give you that opportunity to hate everyone. My beef was with them. And it was the guys who were representing them on the field who were going to suffer. That was a simple, plain fact.

Wherever the fight is, I’m going to be fighting. I didn’t want to be rude to anyone but anyone who is rude to me, then I was going to be rude in the right way: my bat was going to tell the story. You had guys who didn’t believe in the black man

What about bowlers who confronted you?
I love a guy who is up in my face. I didn’t like it when a guy would beat my bat and just smile. I wanted him to say something, to give me something to fuel my emotions. Guys used to tell me to eff off when I was out. I enjoyed that. I wanted to come back every time. I thought, “Have your day. You knock me over, it takes only a couple of seconds to walk off, but I tell you, I back myself enough to know that so long as I’m batting you are going to see my face for a long time and it’s going to hurt. Big time.”What are your memories of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket?
It was the hardest cricket I played in my life and I loved it. There were no prizes for coming second. That period had the best fast bowlers in the world. Everyone had somebody. I got a few centuries and I think it’s unfair that they are not officially recognised. There was no cricket like that. I hope that the establishment look back and provide some sort of clemency.What was it like scoring a hundred in 1981 in the first Test to be played in Antigua, where you were born?
My game was all about emotion. There must be something on the line – then Viv Richards is at his very best. Some people are weak in situations like that; they need a second chance. But sometimes there is no second chance. This was a great opportunity to prove myself. A Test in Antigua – wow! We in the Caribbean are pretty hard to convince. The people had listened to John Arlott and heard I was okay, but they wanted to see for themselves. The whole persona of that innings was about how I felt and what I wanted to achieve. You dream of these things: scoring a Test hundred in front of the folks you grew up with.How did captaincy suit you?
I didn’t quite have the numbers as captain. In those days we didn’t have all these coaches; the captain and manager were responsible for keeping everyone fit and arranging practice. With captaincy you tend to ignore yourself a little. I didn’t do enough work on my batting because I had to channel my energies into the team. Captaincy slowed me down and put my thinking cap on, but it also took away what I contributed as a player – like being in the field, running around and picking the ball up. I loved my fielding. As captain I had to be a bit closer to the activity and I missed being in the outfield. I was pretty handy out there as well.What is your greatest achievement as a cricketer?
I don’t look solely at what I achieved. I look at what the Caribbean and the other guys achieved in showing what teamwork can do. We all think so differently in the various parts of the Caribbean. We each have our different spices, we boast about them and other things because we are from another country and we represent that country. Being able to be in the same team as all these guys, to know the differences between us but still fulfill your goals – that to me was the greatest achievement. On a personal note, I didn’t wrap myself up in cotton wool – with a helmet, a chest guard, an elbow guard – I did it the way men should and I’m proud of that. When the helmet came into play it helped a lot of careers. Batsmen felt they had this suit of armour on. Guys who could never hook a ball in their lives suddenly felt they could do it. That’s when you started getting more injuries.Do you have any regrets about your career?
I may have regrets but I hate to lament them because it could have been much worse. Today I walk in the streets and people remember me for my style of play. I’d like to be playing today. That’s the only thing I’d love to change. If I was playing today, I would have been seriously rewarded for what I feel I would have given to the game.

As batsman, Taylor was safe as houses; as captain, he was an adventurer

Sharda Ugra17-Oct-2010Grace, flourish and a love of fireworks were the reasons Kim Hughes was my chosen one. He batted beautifully and behaved impeccably – even when beaten, which used to happen rather a lot with Australia then. So what if he was the subject of public meltdown when he quit the captaincy mid-series? Clearly this was also a very sensitive guy – even better. But then Hughes blew it, agreeing to lead a rebel tour to South Africa. Nelson Mandela was still in jail then and we Indians took rebel tours very personally.With Hughes gone, you couldn’t turn to the Indian team and pick a favourite from among them because it was always all of them – together in the breach. As long as they just , anyone could play hero. You would gladly line up and worship.Exactly when Mark Taylor broke into this personal citadel of flamboyance and nationalism is tough to tell. But he’s there – entrenched, like at the crease, probably chewing gum, like at slip. He wasn’t stylish nor was he Indian. So how did he slip past the guards?One season at a time, the unobtrusive way. Clearly more than the sum of his runs or the manner of his run-making, Taylor was a cricketer who could be both old-fashioned and new-fangled, belong to yesterday as much as tomorrow. A Test opener from an ancient mould, his vision and instinct came from a sharp, shiny toolbox. Taylor the batsman was a creature of unrelenting reliability, a frontman who did the dirty work so that the sons of Errol Flynn who followed had something to showboat on. Taylor the captain was an adventurous frontiersman who would have given Flynn a headache from keeping up with the twists and turns he engineered in the plot of a day’s play. It was an intriguing combination, like discovering that the insurance agent next door is also world limbo-dancing champion.Today’s Aussies, skilled in the art of Waugh, and even Sun Tzu, preach to us the modern gospel of victory built on their pursuit of 300 runs a day, but it was an idea patented in the Taylor era. If Border stopped Australia from losing, Taylor taught them how to win. There was none of the trendy rubbish about mental disintegration either – Taylor never had a problem reining in his team, which included some who went on to become the Inflammables. Yet no one mistook his civility for weakness. Taylor’s toughness was not a string of profanities but a state of mind. Off a cricket field, it’s not a bad way to be either.Before India was nominated the Final Frontier, there was only one forbidden kingdom – the West Indies. It was Taylor who led the first raiding party in 1995. He was minus his two opening bowlers, Craig McDermott and Damien Fleming, but orchestrated West Indies’ first home series defeat in 22 years through the wicket-taking of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, (until then only a raw first-change), Paul Reiffel and Brendon Julian. The sheer daring of it.In a business dominated by large, fragile egos and feet of clay, Taylor was Everyman. He didn’t preen, gloat or, praise the Lord, sermonise, and even responded to the nickname Tubby. He was a very square left-hander with a huge appetite for runs and, evidently, good dinners. A decent, ordinary fellow but, and that was the magic, someone who made the extraordinary happen. Not so common after all.In the 18 months and 21 innings between 1995 and 1997 that he didn’t score a Test fifty, Taylor didn’t miss a trick on the field. He won every series in that time, other than the one-off Test in New Delhi. Arriving in England for the 1997 Ashes tour, he was greeted by Heathrow immigration: “Mark Taylor, the captain… ah, but for how long?” An English tabloid wanted him to pose with a bat that was a metre wide. He refused. Yet he turned up match after match, to answer the inevitable questions about his form. Of course he was only being polite (an entry in his captain’s diary of the time went, “Have to face the press now. Time to put on my smiley face again.”) but did such a good job of it that after his final press conference of the tour, one reporter stood up and made a formal speech in appreciation of Taylor’s conduct.The trademark Taylor move of that series – a favourite piece of quiet heroism – came in the third Test. Down 0-1, still rusty despite a first-Test hundred, Taylor won the toss and had to choose: should he go with conventional wisdom, put England in on a damp Old Trafford wicket, and as opener give himself the chance to bat when conditions were better? Or should he face the unfriendly and unpleasant in order to give Shane Warne a chance to hustle England in the fourth innings? Taylor picked the tougher option and scored 2 and 1. But Australia won that Test and the next two and retained the Ashes. The captain struggled on, making only one fifty in the series after that.So when he declared on 334 in Peshawar, eager to pursue any chance of his team’s victory, and content to sit alongside Don Bradman rather than chase Brian Lara, it wasn’t a moment of revelation or the great big exclamation point. It was reaffirmation, QED, full stop. Taylor, cricketer and captain, was always an honourable man. He wasn’t named Mark Anthony for nothing.

The story of Railways’ journey from the bottom of Group A to the quarter-finals

Abhishek Purohit20-Dec-2010Railways are the New Zealand of the Ranji Trophy. Hamstrung by a lack of resources, working with a wafer-thin player base, they continue to give the bigger teams a scare or two, year after year, before their lack of depth prevents them from closing out games. And as is so often the case with sides sitting on the margins, luck seems to desert them at crucial junctures.Midway through this year’s tournament, it appeared that they would have to once again remain satisfied with punching above their weight. Three points from the first four games did not reveal how close Railways had come to winning two of those matches. They were 21 without loss chasing 176 against Assam when bad light intervened midway through the first session on the final day, and the match had to be called off. It was also the day when veteran Railways offspinner Kulamani Parida retired after being called for a suspect action again. The sadness was compounded in the Railways’ camp.They then had defending champions Mumbai tottering at 237 for 8 chasing 252, but let Rohit Sharma get away with it, dropping numerous chances. “The Mumbai loss hurt the most, we were so close,” Abhay Sharma, the Railways coach, told ESPNcricinfo. Languishing at the bottom of a tough group with three matches to go, thoughts of the Plate League must have certainly cropped up. “We were not thinking about relegation at all, we had worked so hard that we knew we would bounce back,” Abhay said, revealing the confidence in a side that was forced to, and took, some tough decisions.Yere Goud and TP Singh, bulwarks of the Railways batting for so long, made way for younger players. “We wanted to avoid a situation where people took their positions for granted,” said Sanjay Bangar, who took over the captaincy after Murali Kartik opted to concentrate on his bowling. Anureet Singh, the 22-year old Kolkata Knight Riders seamer, was forming a productive new-ball partnership with JP Yadav, the former India allrounder back after his ICL stint. It reduced Bangar’s workload, who usually opens the bowling. The evolving core of the side had balance, with the experience of Kartik, Bangar and Yadav, along with the youth of Anureet, wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat and opener Faiz Fazal. “It was a calculated move to bring in young blood, I really appreciate what the selectors have done,” Abhay said. “We had too much experience before, somewhere we had to think about the future. The youngsters are motivated with the chances they are getting; it is a very happy dressing room.”The happiness showed in the performances. Rawat and debutant left-arm spinner Nileshkumar Chauhan added a priceless 90 for the last wicket against Saurashtra to boost the total to 415. Yadav’s six wickets restricted Saurashtra to 338. Railways had doubled their tally to six points. Only the base camp had been reached, though, and the climb was yet to begin.Next up were Delhi, who had shifted base from the Feroz Shah Kotla to the more responsive surface at the Roshanara Club, a move that gave both teams a chance. However, when Sumit Narwal’s seven wickets in the second innings gave Delhi a target of 136, Railways’ season almost seemed over. “We knew Delhi would give us a sporting track. We had the ammunition that could put them under pressure,” Abhay said. And they did, Yadav and Anureet picking up seven wickets between them as Delhi slid to an ignominious 22-run defeat. That an injured Kartik bowled only over in the game shows how this Railways side is now no longer dependent on one or two players.

“As a side, we never give up. Many of our players are those who could not make it to state teams. They value what they have and look to give back to the organisation. In fact, many of our senior players have offers from state teams to play as professionals, especially from the lesser teams like Andhra and Assam, but for us, Railways comes first.”

Teetering on the brink of relegation barely two games ago, Railways had given themselves an outside chance of qualifying for the knockouts. An outright win was needed against Bengal though. The charge was led by the younger brigade. Prashant Awasthi and Dhiran Salvi, both of whom had made their debuts this season, made half-centuries as Railways surged to a 144-run lead. Yadav finished off Bengal to go top of the wicket-taking list with 30 victims. “He is one player who always does something if the ball is in his hands. He moves it really well, and never lets you down. Frankly, he performed even better than we expected,” Abhay said. “They talk about horses for courses, we’ve got two horses, Yadav and Bangar, who are for courses.”Bangar credits the turnaround to the hard way a Railways player comes up. “As a side, we never give up. Many of our players are those who could not make it to state teams. They value what they have and look to give back to the organisation. In fact, many of our senior players have offers from state teams to play as professionals, especially from the lesser teams like Andhra and Assam, but for us, Railways comes first.”After the rollercoaster ride the season has been, Railways are not looking ahead of the quarter-final against Baroda. “We are full of confidence now, but the most important part will be implementation,” Abhay said.Bangar has both feet firmly on the ground. “Baroda are a very strong team. They have Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, experienced players in Connor Williams and Rakesh Solanki, Ambati Rayudu is also there. They’ll be playing at home, but the conditions will suit our type of bowling as well, especially mine and JP’s. We don’t want to be showered with applause just for making the knockouts. We want to go further.”

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium

Nitin Sundar22-Apr-2011The reunion
It was biggest talking point after the auctions. Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds in one team. Both of them tried hard to diffuse the build-up, but no one looked away. The first moment came in the fourth ball of Chennai’s chase, when Symonds leapt in the covers to stop a Michael Hussey cover drive. Harbhajan ran across and patted his mate on the back. In the fifth over, Harbhajan foxed Suresh Raina with a lovely piece of flight and pouched the return catch. It was now Symonds’ turn to show his appreciation and he did so with a hug. Later in the evening, they were seen sharing ideas on the field, and this time Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t required to pull them apart. The hatchet had truly been buried in Sydney.The bluff
It was the moment that turned the match, and it came about through a clever piece of bowling. Chennai were coasting along when Lasith Malinga returned for his second spell. Everyone expected a barrage of yorkers, and the first ball was duly destined for the toes. S Badrinath somehow played it away for a single and handed over to Michael Hussey. Clearly, he was expecting another yorker next ball and chose to crouch low and back in the crease in anticipation. Malinga, however, hoodwinked Hussey by sending down a bouncer that took off from a length. Hussey was caught off-guard, and ended up going down on a knee and taking his eyes off it as he played an ungainly pull. Kieron Pollard scooped it inches from the ground, and Mumbai found a way back into the game.The slip and the lap
Doug Bollinger’s second spell was a series of incisive short balls and wide yorkers that Mumbai struggled to lay bat on. One ball, however, slipped out of Bollinger’s fingers, possibly because of the dewy atmosphere. Rohit Sharma was already shuffling across in anticipation of a wide yorker and must have been shocked to see a waist-high beamer hurtling straight at him. Rohit did not panic, though, and calmly lapped it straight back over MS Dhoni’s head and all the way for the most interesting six of the day.The elbow
You might watch the whole IPL and not see an innings more orthodox than Badrinath’s unbeaten 71. There wasn’t a single ugly shot on display, and he got his runs through precise footwork and an array of textbook strokes. The charm of his innings was epitomised by the six he hit off Rohit in the ninth over of the chase. It was a classically flighted offbreak on off stump. Badrinath shot out of the crease at the exact moment when the bowler was past the point of no return, got to the pitch and swung it in one sublime arc, all the way over long-off. The backlift was not extravagant, and the follow-through ended with the leading elbow held high for an extra moment. It was the 210th six of IPL 2011, and among the most beautiful.The clunk
Suresh Raina turned the third ball of Harbhajan’s spell off the pads and took off for a typically cheeky single. Harbhajan, not known for his fleet-footedness in the field, sped away after it and Raina realised he had to scramble. Harbhajan picked up, swivelled and fired a throw at the non-striker’s end even as Raina dived in. The throw missed the stumps, but clunked Raina hard on the helmet. Don’t expect Raina to exchange the helmet for a cap when the spinners come on.The triple-jumper
Mumbai were electric on the field from start to finish, barring one moment of comedy from Munaf Patel. Badrinath got one on the pads in the eighth over, and glanced it along towards fine leg. The ball was travelling much faster than Munaf at fine leg initially anticipated, and he realised he had to move fast to his right to cut it off. Instead of sprinting and diving, Munaf loped across languidly before trying to reach the ball with a series of laboured long steps. He lurched over like someone trying the triple-jump for the first time, and tried to stop the ball with the boot. The ball, however, easily slipped through for four.

In the last two-and-a-half years the India captain has played almost non-stop, and the sure weight of work is finally showing in his performances

Nagraj Gollapudi at Edgbaston09-Aug-2011There are management gurus and researchers waiting to map MS Dhoni’s brain so they can understand how India’s most successful captain’s mind works – how he manages to synchronise his thoughts into ideas and then into deeds. One of India’s leading business schools wants to use the research as part of a neuromanagement course they plan to introduce. They might also try and find out, for research purposes, just how tired that brain is after the rigours and grind it has gone through since Dhoni became the leader of the Indian cricket team in all forms.From 2009 till date Dhoni has played more top-level cricket (see sidebar) than any other cricketer, if you put the IPL and Champions League Twenty20 in that bracket. He has played 24 Tests, 61 ODIs, 16 Twenty20 internationals and 49 matches for Chennai Super Kings over three IPLs and a Champions League Twenty20. His closest contender in terms of workload is Kumar Sangakkara, who stepped down as Sri Lanka captain after the World Cup, and has logged 20 Tests, 61 ODIs, 24 Twenty20 internationals and 40 IPL games since 2009. Matt Prior might have played more international cricket than those two players – 33 Tests, 35 ODIs and five T20 internationals – but does not have the rigours of marquee Twenty20 tournaments to worry about.If you further dissect Dhoni’s schedule you wonder how the man has been able to continue walking, let alone squat, heave bats, keep a smile on his face while leading India to the No.1 position in Tests, lift gongs like the World Cup, the IPL title (twice) and the Champions League Twenty20.

Dhoni’s packed schedule

• 2009: Five ODIs + one T20 in Sri Lanka; full New Zealand tour (two T20s, five ODIs and three Tests, of which Dhoni played two); IPL in South Africa. World Twenty20 in England; Five ODIs in the West Indies. After a two-month break, three-match Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka; Champions Trophy in South Africa; seven ODIs at home against Australia; home series against Sri Lanka (three Tests, two T20s and five ODIs)

• 2010: Tri-series + one Test in Bangladesh; home series against South Africa (two Tests, three ODIs); IPL, with Chennai winning; World Twenty20 in the Caribbean; Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup, back in Sri Lanka for three Tests followed by a tri-series including New Zealand; Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa (which Chennai won); two home Tests against Australia; three-Test home series against New Zealand; full tour of South Africa (three Tests, a Twenty20 and five ODIs)

• 2011: World Cup (nine matches); IPL (16 matches); three-Test series in the Caribbean; two Tests and counting in England

Dhoni has the onerous task of leading four teams, which include so many players from different places, in three different formats, in addition to carrying out his wicketkeeping duties. A captain, a man-manager, a strategist, a wicketkeeper, a brand ambassador, a husband, a friend, an idol; Dhoni has to play all those roles convincingly, and at times, all at one go. Now you know the reason behind his increasing grey-hair count.The trend is set to continue. India’s schedule for the 12 months from May 2011 contains 125 days of work: 17 Tests, 36 ODIs and four Twenty20 internationals. In contrast, England play 12 Tests, 20 ODIs and eight Twenty20 internationals. With the BCCI reluctant to bench their most-marketable brand, Dhoni could either hope for a miracle or will be forced to call it quits in one of the formats.It does not take an analyst to tell you that quantity can impact quality. This year, Dhoni has played in 21 international matches across all formats, and scored 472 runs with a top score of 91 not out, achieved in the World Cup final. In England so far his scores in the Tests read 28, 16, 5 and 0. In the tour match in Northampton he made just two runs before walking back in the face of taunts such as “Dhoni, what was that”, having edged a half-hearted stroke to the wicketkeeper. Those figures seem ridiculous for someone who was once an impact player.But India need Dhoni to stand strong and govern the lower order, which has been pathetic in comparison to England’s. Dhoni feels the problem is more mental than technical. Men like Paddy Upton, India’s mental conditioning coach during the years Gary Kirsten was coach, are confident about Dhoni’s ability to bounce back.”His workload is unbelievable and the level of performance he has delivered despite that is unbelievable” Upton says. “Dhoni is a warrior. Warriors don’t complain. I certainly know there were times where he was fatigued but he soldiered on. He accepted what his responsibility was and also he probably realised the impact on other people. Dhoni would drop dead before he said he couldn’t go on anymore.”It is easy to see that Dhoni is a bit distracted by the pressures of the ever-increasing-never-ending-workload. You can see him fluffing easy picks behind the wicket, which has also had an impact on the slip fielders. “I would imagine it is,” Upton said about Dhoni being affected by the multiple roles he needs to perform efficiently. “But by the same token he will deliver. If anybody else had gone through what he has gone through their slump would have started a long time earlier and lasted a lot longer.”As for the mind-mapping gurus, they can only guess the vastness of the project they aim to undertake.

No single encounter highlights the extent of Mumbai’s psychological stranglehold over Tamil Nadu better than the Ranji semi-final of the 1999-2000 season

Nitin Sundar09-Jan-2012When Tamil Nadu walk into Wankhede Stadium for their Ranji Trophy semi-final match against Mumbai, they will be weighed low by the burden of history. If there is one side Tamil Nadu would rather not face in the Ranji Trophy – especially in a knockout fixture – it would have to be Mumbai. Twenty-two times, these two sides have clashed in India’s premier first-class tournament. Tamil Nadu have come out on top just twice, whereas Mumbai have won on 13 occasions. Additionally, Mumbai have taken the first-innings lead in five of the seven games that ended in draws. Counting those leads as wins, the head-to-head record stands at a whopping 18-4 in Mumbai’s favour. To say that Tamil Nadu are the underdogs in this particular battle is to grossly understate a fact.Such an overwhelmingly one-sided record cannot be explained by ability, since Tamil Nadu are otherwise among the more consistent first-class sides. Their troubles against Mumbai are clearly mental in nature, as evidenced by the recent knock-out history between the two. After their previous title win in 1987-88, Tamil Nadu have fallen at the final hurdle four times. On two of those occasions, Mumbai were their bugbears. Take away the pressure of a knockout game, and Tamil Nadu’s record begins to look better; for instance, the last two head-to-heads between these sides were in the group stage and Tamil Nadu got the decisive first-innings lead both times.No single encounter highlights the extent of Mumbai’s psychological stranglehold over Tamil Nadu better than the semi-final of the 1999-2000 season, also played at Wankhede. After being asked to bat, Tamil Nadu bossed Mumbai’s bowlers thanks to big centuries from Hemang Badani and Robin Singh. The pair’s free-scoring helped Tamil Nadu race past 400 in only 91 overs – the sort of situation that forces bowling units to throw in the towel. Not Mumbai, though. Ajit Agarkar sliced through the lower order to push Tamil Nadu from 403 for 4 to 485, still a strong position in a knockout game.Once Tamil Nadu removed Wasim Jaffer and Jatin Paranjpe cheaply, Mumbai needed to summon every ounce of their [defiant] mindset to get the first-innings lead. It helped that they had one Sachin Tendulkar, who went on to play the Ranji innings of his life. Mumbai were still 36 shy of Tamil Nadu’s score when they lost their eighth wicket. Nos. 10 and 11 did not add a single run, but hung around to assist Tendulkar who made a masterly, unbeaten 233 to push Mumbai ahead. Their first-innings lead was worth only five runs, but it was enough to break Tamil Nadu’s spirit. The visitors crumbled to 171 in the second innings and Mumbai marched past the target for the loss of just two wickets. Tendulkar would go on to rate the win as the finest moment of his Ranji career.Tamil Nadu have one survivor from that heartbreak – Jayaraman Gokulakrishnan, who was their first-change fast bowler in that match, is now the team’s bowling coach. He remembers the game quite vividly, especially Tendulkar’s masterclass, but he also rues Tendulkar’s early drop that cost Tamil Nadu the game, in hindsight.”Very clearly, Sachin’s knock was the difference in that game,” Gokulakrishnan told ESPNcricinfo. “He has himself gone on to say it was one of his best innings. But that missed opportunity [the fielder was J Madanagopal] cost us dearly.”It was disheartening to fall behind after the fantastic knocks from Badani and Robin. After reaching 400-odd for four, at one point we thought that’s it – we have qualified. But we completely lost momentum to lose the last six wickets cheaply, and that worked in Mumbai’s favour.”One thing different about Mumbai is the self-belief they have. Having won the Ranji Trophy so many times, they don’t give up in any situation. I remember the entire TN team thought the game was over once Tendulkar got them the lead.”Prod Gokulakrishnan further and he recalls another nugget. “I distinctly remember that the match was originally supposed to be played a few days earlier. But Tendulkar was in London where he was playing an ICC game, and requested that it be shifted so that he could play. It was a great experience for us to play against him, but it was equally striking that he was so keen to participate in that match.”Gokulakrishnan will be cautioning his wards against repeating the errors from 12 years back, if Tamil Nadu are to overcome their hoodoo against their most feared opponents. It isn’t over until the last ball is bowled, especially in a Ranji knockout game against Mumbai.

Brett Lee provided cricket fans with plenty of highlights during his 13-year international career. ESPNcricinfo presents a selection of five of Lee’s most memorable moments

Brydon Coverdale13-Jul-20121999: Rattling Ramesh
There is no bigger stage for an Australia cricketer to make his Test debut than Boxing Day at the MCG. That’s where Lee wore the baggy green for the first time, at the age of 23, and was already being spoken of as a bowler with serious pace and menace. When he was given the ball for the first time by captain Steve Waugh, it took him only four deliveries to have an impact. Lee rattled the stumps of S Ramesh, the India opener, with a delivery that angled across him and straightened back to take the inside edge. Ramesh didn’t quite know what had struck him. Lee finished the innings with five wickets, and a fine international career was under way.2002: The fall of Tudor, et al
This was not the first, and certainly not the last, time that Lee struck a batsman on the helmet. But it was arguably the most memorable. Alex Tudor, the England fast bowler, was a more than capable batsman whose best Test score was an unbeaten 99. He wasn’t capable, though, of handling a Lee bouncer at the WACA. Tudor misjudged the length of the ball and ducked into it, copping such a blow to the head that he was stretchered from the ground. Plenty of better batsmen also struggled against Lee’s short ball. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was knocked out by a Lee bouncer during a 2008 Test and lay flat on the pitch for a period, before he staggered to his feet and went on to score a century. Jacques Kallis was done by the old one-two during the 2005 Boxing Day Test, when he was hit on the helmet trying to hook Lee and was bowled next delivery by an inswinging yorker. And Adam Parore suffered the indignity of being out hit wicket during an ODI in Dunedin in 2000 when a Lee bouncer hit his helmet, which fell off his head and hit the stumps.Alex Tudor had to leave the field on a stretcher after a tangle with Brett Lee’s bouncer•Hamish Blair/Getty Images2003: An ODI hat-trick
Yes, it was against Kenya, but a hat-trick is a hat-trick. In the fourth over of a World Cup match in Durban, Lee reduced Kenya to 3 for 3 with a display of fast bowling that was simply too good for his opposition. He was fortunate to take the first of the three wickets, when Kennedy Otieno tried to leave a rising delivery outside off stump, only for the ball to ricochet off his elbow onto the stumps. Otieno went down writhing in pain, and as was always the case in such situations, Lee was the first man on the scene to check if the batsman was okay. The next ball was edged to slip by Brijal Patel, and the third was a fast yorker that whizzed under the bat of David Obuya and broke the stumps.2005: A batsman vanquished
Not all of Lee’s most defining moments came as a bowler. Arguably the most famous image of Lee is that of him squatting on his haunches being consoled by Andrew Flintoff at the end of the 2005 Edgbaston Test, one of the most famous matches in modern Ashes history. Australia began the fourth morning at 175 for 8, needing another 107 for victory. It appeared to be a hopeless situation. But Lee and Shane Warne, and then Lee and Michael Kasprowicz batted, and batted, and batted, and pushed Australia to within sight of what would have been an incredible win. Except that it wasn’t. Only three runs remained for victory when Steve Harmison caught the glove of Kasprowicz and the ball looped to the wicketkeeper Geraint Jones. Lee remained unbeaten on 43. In his retirement speech, Lee reserved special mention for this Test.Brett Lee celebrates taking a hat-trick in the World Cup against Kenya•Getty Images”That’s still one of my favourite Test matches to play in because of the way it was played, [in] the spirit of the game,” Lee said. “You don’t always have to get a five-for or a hundred for it to be a wonderful match.”2005: A ball that vanished
A happier batting memory came later that year, when Lee struck what can only be described as one of the biggest sixes in Australian cricket history. It came in a Gabba Test against West Indies, when Daren Powell put a ball right in the slot for a monstrous pull from Lee. The connection of bat on willow echoed around the ground and players, spectators and commentators seemed uncertain of exactly where the ball had ended up. The answer was over the grandstand and, as Wisden reported, the ball “landed near the feet of Carl Rackemann, the former Test fast bowler, shortly after he had passed through the turnstiles with his wife and young daughter”. There were no half measures with Lee, whether bowling or batting.

He found overwhelming success in his first seven Tests but is now struggling in England. It’s all to do with the nuts and bolts of how he bowls

Aakash Chopra19-Aug-2012Fifty one wickets at 14.15 runs per wicket in seven Test matches, against three different opponents. Ten wickets in a match twice, five wickets in an innings six times, and four-fors twice. Vernon Philander has been a phenomenon that has taken Test cricket by storm.Philander is the second-fastest in Test history to 50 wickets, and those 50 came at the speed at which Usain Bolt runs. It was as if every time Philander bowled an away-going delivery, it found the outside edge of the batsman’s bat and then the safe hands of the wicketkeeper or slips. And every time the ball nipped back after pitching, it eluded the bat and either trapped the batsman in front or disturbed the stumps behind him.So it is surprising that there is nothing really extraordinary about Philander’s bowling. He has simply relied on the basics of maintaining a disciplined line and length – a strategy he believes “works anywhere in the world”. Surely, though, there must be something that made him so much more successful than most have managed to be at the start of a career? And why isn’t the magic working in England at the moment?This is an attempt to decode the Philander puzzle.Movement off the surface without any visible hints
Philander looks quite innocuous when compared to his fast bowling colleagues, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn. He doesn’t have the disconcerting bounce that Morkel can achieve, nor does he get the ball to swing prodigiously in the air at high speeds like Steyn does. He’s not as tall as Morkel nor does he run in as fast as Steyn.But Philander compensates for the lack of these natural gifts by getting the ball to dart around after pitching, without giving clues about where it will go.Thousands of hours of practice hardwire a batsman to look for certain clues in a bowler’s action – like the wrist position at the time of release, the position of the seam, and which way the shiny side faces in the air – to predict the ball’s behaviour in the air and off the surface. If the ball starts swinging in one direction the moment it leaves the bowler’s hand, you can assume with a reasonable degree of confidence that it is unlikely to dart the other way after pitching.For example, if a bowler bowls a good outswinger, the chances of the delivery coming in to the right-hander after pitching are minimal. Batsmen comfortable against the moving ball have mastered the art of playing in that imaginary second line.Unfortunately, this theory isn’t going to help batsmen facing Philander, because his deliveries rarely move in the air before pitching, especially when the ball is a few overs old. He delivers it with a completely upright seam, and nothing in his wrist position or action betrays his intentions with regard to movement off the surface.As a batsman, you can only prepare for what you can see, and if the ball hasn’t moved an inch before it lands, it’s fair to assume it won’t do so after pitching. But that isn’t always the case with Philander’s deliveries, most of which change direction after hitting the surface. This forces the batsman to read him off the pitch. Most batsmen struggle even when reading a spinner off the surface because there is so little time to adjust, so you can imagine their plight against a quicker bowler like Philander.

Would you rather face Steyn, Morkel or Philander? Ten out of ten batsmen will choose Philander over the other two, seven days a week

Teasing and testing line and length
For all the movement he gets off the surface, Philander would be only half the bowler he is if he bowled a few inches left or right of the line he bowls currently. He bowls from fairly close to the stumps and maintains a line consistently on the fourth or fifth stump – a few inches outside off. His length is also a bit fuller than Steyn’s and Morkel’s, so it not only forces the batsman to get on the front foot, it also ensures that the ball can’t be left on bounce – since it is always around knee high. Since the batsman is forced to get on the front foot, there isn’t enough time to adjust for lateral movement off the surface.Lowering the guard
Would you rather face Steyn, Morkel or Philander? Ten out of ten batsmen will choose Philander over the other two, seven days a week. The fact that he has been taking wickets with alarming regularity is unlikely to influence their decision – an irrational one – because batsmen are conditioned to believe that a lot of swing, disconcerting bounce and genuinely fast bowling are more difficult to tackle than subtle movement off the pitch. However, the level of difficulty a bowler poses isn’t always directly proportional to the number of wickets he takes. There are lots of bowlers who look very dangerous but don’t bowl enough wicket-taking deliveries. It doesn’t come as a surprise that most batsmen automatically concentrate harder when facing the likes of Steyn and Morkel, and are happy to switch ends to face Philander instead. If you are happy to face a certain bowler, the odds of lowering your guard against him increase. While Philander’s line and length force a batsman to play at almost everything, his pace – or the lack of it, when compared to his bowling partners – makes him the more desirable bowler to face.For these reasons, he could be a very potent partnership breaker in slightly seamer-friendly conditions. But the first two Test matches in England have exposed him to the thorny side of international cricket. Philander is at his best when the ball zips off the surface, because it reduces the time the batsman has to adjust to the lateral movement. The moist and soft English pitches may have offered him movement, but because they are also slow, England’s batsmen have had the much-needed extra time to make the right adjustments.Unless he makes some adjustments of his own, Philander is likely to struggle in dry subcontinental conditions as well, because those placid tracks won’t provide the substantial sideways movement he relies on, and the lack of pace will give the batsman a fraction extra time.Philander has impressed us with his speed in the 100-metre dash. Now he needs to brace himself for the marathon that is international cricket.

A timeline of the Deccan Chargers saga, from its stirrings to the franchise’ termination

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Oct-2012June 15, 2012
News emerges that Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DHCL), the owners of the Deccan Chargers side, are exploring the possibility of selling the franchise.July 16, 2012
Former Chargers chief executive Tim Wright wins a case of wrongful dismissal against the franchise and is awarded £10.5 million ($16 million approx), plus legal costs, by the High Court in London. He was dismissed by the Chargers in January 2009; he began legal proceedings against them the following month. In September 2012, Wright registers a ‘foreign decree’ in an Indian court to enforce the judgement passed by the London court.August 15, 2012
The franchise is given until the end of the month by the BCCI to pay its players their dues, as it had defaulted on the scheduled date. The board also seeks an explanation for the owners mortgaging the team ownership rights to two leading Indian banks.September 6, 2012
DHCL, under pressure from lenders to service its debt obligations, puts the franchise up for sale, officially, after approaching the BCCI for help.September 13, 2012
DHCL refuses the sole bid it receives at the auction. The “price and terms” of the bid from PVP Ventures, a company that finances film projects in India, are deemed “not suitable” by the owners. Reports say the offer was for Rs.900 crore (then US$164 million).September 14, 2012
The BCCI terminates the Deccan Chargers franchise, claiming defaults of payments to players, foreign boards and its possible “deleterious” effects on the IPL prompted the decision. DHCL challenges the decision in court the next day.October 9, 2012
DHCL asks a three-day extension to raise Rs.100 crore (US$19 million) as a bank guarantee, one of the conditions set by the Bombay High Court ruling of October 1, to avoid termination from the IPL.October 12, 2012
The Chargers are terminated from the IPL, as their owners fail to produce the bank guarantee. It leaves the BCCI free to invite bidders for a new franchise, with the status of Chargers’ players and staff currently unclear.October 13, 2012
In a countermove, the Chargers approach CK Thakkar, the court-appointed arbitrator, who puts a stay on the termination order passed by the High Court. In turn, the BCCI files for an “urgent” hearing in the High Court, challenging Thakkar’s ruling. The court overrules the arbitrator’s ruling, and the Chargers’ termination stands.October 14, 2012
The BCCI floats a tender, inviting bidders for a new IPL team.October 18, 2012
Bombay High Court overrules the arbitrator’s decision to impose a status quo on their expulsion from the IPL.October 25, 2012
Sun TV Networks Limited, one of India’s biggest television networks headquartered in Chennai, wins the Hyderabad franchise, bidding around $15.9 m for a five-year deal.