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West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo was left fuming after Brighton's controversial late equaliser cost the Hammers crucial two points in the Premier League on Sunday. Georginio Rutter restored parity late in the match after Jarrod Bowen had handed West Ham the lead in the 73rd minute. Rutter had accidentally handled the ball before finding the back of the net.

Rutter cancelled out Bowen's second half goal

West Ham had collected eight points from their last five Premier League matches, which included just one defeat at the hands of Liverpool. The three points on Sunday would have helped them climb up in the league and exit the relegation zone, as Nottingham Forest had earlier lost 3-0 to Everton. 

The Hammers were on track to claim all three points from their fixture against Brighton as Jarrod Bowen had handed them the lead in the 73rd minute after receiving a pass from Callum Wilson. However, a controversial last-gasp goal from Rutter helped the Seagulls snatch a point away from West Ham. 

In the build-up to Rutter's goal, Charalampos Kostoulas received a long ball in the West Ham box before attempting an audacious overhead-kick, which popped up off Rutter's thigh and on to his arm before he fired past Alphonse Areola in goal. 

AdvertisementGetty Images SportWest Ham boss left fuming

Hammers boss Nuno was furious after the match as he felt that Brighton's goal should not have stood, as he told Sky Sports post-match: "It was a handball, wasn't it, and a high foot. No need to speak with the referee. I think it was the main factor. It's clear. I saw it, everybody saw it. VAR saw it, everybody saw it. I think both situations should be checked. It's hard to take, man, it's really hard to take, especially after the hard work of the boys, the support of our fans that makes us feel like we were in London. Then comes one situation, so many people see it, it's hard to take." 

Explained: Why Rutter's goal stood against West Ham

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) had announced changes to the handball law in July 2021. That new law worked in favour of Brighton's Rutter, as accidental handball leading to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goalscoring opportunity was no longer considered an offence.  

The lawmakers have stated clearly that not every contact between a player's hand or arm and the ball is an offence. Regarding the issue of a hand or arm making a player's body "unnaturally bigger", it was confirmed that referees should continue to use their judgment to determine the validity of the hand or arm's position relative to the player's movement in that specific situation. 

The Premier League Match Centre also confirmed why the goal stood: "The referee's call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that Rutter's arm was in a natural position and he did not deliberately handle the ball, and the contact with the arm was not immediately prior to him scoring."

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Getty Images SportWas Kostoulas' over-head kick a foul?

Nuno further argued that if not for the handball, at least Kostoulas' foul, while taking the overhead-kick, should have been deemed a foul, as he added: "If Dinos [Mavropanos] was stood on the ground, maybe. But there's contact on his head, isn't there?" 

At first, on Television, it seemed that Kostoulas's kick had caught Konstantinos Mavropanos on his head; however, the VAR check confirmed there was no proper connection and the referee felt that it was not dangerous enough for a foul to be awarded. 

West Ham next face an in-form Aston Villa side in a difficult Premier League fixture at home on December 14. 

Former Chicago Cub and seven-time All-Star Sammy Sosa returned to Wrigley Field for the first time in over 20 years on Friday, and it was clear he had been missed.

As the camera found the baseball legend during the team's game vs. the Seattle Mariners, fans in the stands went wild with cheers and shouts, some even rising to their feet to greet their former franchise star. Meanwhile, Sosa looked equally touched, as he waved toward the rapturous crowd and mimed his old home run celebration.

Watch that moment below:

Sosa's homecoming arrives as he prepares to be inducted into the team Hall of Fame later this year, and after he attended Cubs' spring training in February as a guest instructor. But more importantly, it follows the release of an open letter in which Sosa apologized for some of the "mistakes" he made in the past. Though the slugger did not specify those errors, the comments are thought to refer to his reported link to performance-enhancing drugs.

"There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games," Sosa said in the letter released at the end of last year. "I never broke any laws. But in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologize."

The now-56-year-old Sosa played a total of 1,811 games with the Cubs before he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in February 2005. He also spent time with the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox during his long career, which he finished with a total of 609 home runs and 1,667 RBIs.

The Automatic Ball and Strike System (ABS) will be in use for the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday, and could potentially serve as a preview for the new technology to make its way to MLB as soon as next season.

ABS has been in use in the minor leagues for several seasons and was recently brought to spring training. It will now be used in the All-Star Game as MLB continues to test the technology before bringing it to the majors. Ahead of Tuesday's game, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred even indicated that the All-Star Game will serve as a major test for whether the ABS system is officially implemented next season.

There are varying opinions across MLB on the ABS technology getting implemented to the majors. Star New York Yankees outfielder and two-time American League MVP Aaron Judge is one player that appreciates the human element an umpire brings.

"I think it's just new," Judge said on . "Anything that's new, people are gonna have their opinions, gonna hate on a little bit. I still love the human element of the game. That's kind of been my thing growing up. I don't know if it's old school or not, but I just love having the umpire back there, the human feel. I know it's coming in the next couple years, so we just gotta get used to it."

Though Judge seems to prefer umpires, he is cognizant that he and other players will simply have to get used to the new system.

Manfred did say that even with the ABS, the role of umpires will be "preserved" in the game. Regardless, their roles won't be the same with the new technology in use, and the shift will be a major change for the league's players over the coming seasons.

The Mets have agreed to a blockbuster trade with the Rangers that will send second baseman Marcus Semien to New York in exchange for outfielder Brandon Nimmo, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

It’s a big trade involving a pair of standout players. Semien had a .669 OPS in 2025, along with a 3.3 bWAR. He launched 15 home runs and 62 RBIs while stealing 11 bases. A Gold Glove winner in 2025, Semien is one of the best defensive middle infielders in baseball, and he can provide tremendous value in that regard for the Mets.

As for Nimmo, 32, he slashed .262/.324/.436 with 25 home runs, 92 RBIs, 13 steals and a 2.9 bWAR. He signed a long-term extension with the Mets in 2022––an eight-year deal worth $162 million. Nimmo was one of the longest-tenured players in franchise history and had become a fan-favorite throughout his decade with the organization. He was also one of just 11 players ever to appear in more than 1,000 games for the team.

Semien is under contract for three more years, collecting $26 million in 2026 and ‘27, and $20 million in ‘28, after which he’s due to hit unrestricted free agency. Nimmo, on the other hand, is locked down through the 2030 season and will make an average of $20.5 million per season.

Both the Mets and Rangers were among the biggest spenders in terms of payroll in 2025, each ranking inside the top seven. Despite that, they both underperformed and missed the postseason. They’ll both be hoping the offseason trade can improve their chances of reaching the playoffs in ‘26.

The weekend of baseball is here, and two streaking teams look to continue its form in a measuring stick matchup for each club.

The Houston Astros and New York Mets have erased slow starts to the year to get back to .500 and in the Wild Card picture in its respective leagues, but who will have the edge in the series opener on Friday?

I have bets for EVERY game on the loaded Friday night card, catch it all below.

Marlins vs. Phillies Prediction and Pick

Pick: Phillies (-235)

No team struggles more against left handed pitching than the Marlins, who are last in OPS against southpaws. 

Philadelphia should build on its NL East lead. 

Nationals vs. Rays Prediction and Pick

Pick: Nationals (+135)

The Nats are a strong underdog pick in a battle of two teams flirting with getting above .500 as we hit the halfway point of the season. 

Washington will start lefty Mitchell Parker, who can showcase his fine control and elite breaking ball pitches, against a Rays team that is about league average against lefty pitching. 

Rangers vs. Orioles Prediction and Pick

Pick: Orioles (-135)

While Max Scherezer may give the Rangers some upside in this matchup, the team isn’t hitting well enough in the month of June to trust as underdogs against an elite Orioles team. 

Texas is 28th in OPS in the month of June and has a below average bullpen as Scherezer still may be eased into his role in just his second start of the season. 

Yankees vs. Blue Jays Prediction and Pick

Pick: Blue Jays (+100)

New York has dropped nine of 10 games and it may not get easier against the Blue Jays left hander Yusei Kikuchi.

The Yankees lineup has been shallow around MVP front runner Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, and the team is below average in OPS this season against left handed pitching, which Kikuchi is. 

With that in mind, I’ll keep fading the Yankees. 

Rockies vs. White Sox Prediction and Pick

Pick: Rockies (+105)

It’s tough to decipher the difference between these teams, each team is more than 25 games under .500, and with that in mind I’ll grab the underdog Rockies in a game that features two futile clubs. 

Astros vs. Mets Prediction and Pick

Pick: Astros (-115)

Two of the hottest teams in baseball in the month of June meet in Flushing, New York on Friday. 

I’ll side with the road favorite Astros, who have finally gotten on track this season and will start one of its more consistent starters in Ronel Blanco. 

Blanco has been pitching above expectations this season, but not more than Jose Quintana of the Mets, who has posted an xERA of 5.14 with a 15th percentile hard-hit percentage. 

Both teams are playing its best, but I’ll give the nod to Houston. 

Padres vs. Red Sox Prediction and Pick

Pick: Red Sox (-155)

Nick Pivetta is an underrated arm in the American League postseason picture. A savvy veteran who does a good job at forcing soft contact, Pivetta has continued to strike out batters at a high clip (81st percentile). The righty has an ERA of 4.06, but his xERA is slightly lower at 3.95. 

Boston is rightfully a considerable favorite, but its the only side I can back. 

Pirates vs. Braves Prediction and Pick

Pick: Braves (-180)

Atlanta is just outside the top 10 in OPS against left handed pitching, and should have little issue knocking around Martin Perez, who is in the fourth percentile in terms of xBA and has an xERA of 5.70. 

Cubs vs. Brewers Prediction and Pick

Pick: Cubs (+115)

I can’t trust Colin Rea of the Brewers, one of the most regression bound pitchers in baseball. 

Rea is in the bottom 10 percentile in xERA, xBA and strikeout rate, a futile trio to be included in. 

Meanwhile, the Cubs lineup is far below the quality of the Brewers, but the team has the edge on the mound with Jameson Taillon, who has a 2.90 ERA with an elite hard-hit percentage (80th percentile), which can limit the ability for Milwaukee to have a big outing at the plate. 

Guardians vs. Royals Prediction and Pick

Pick: Royals (+100)

The Royals maintain a strong home record at Kauffman Field, 28-15 at home, and I like the team’s chances of winning a second straight against the Guardians. 

Cleveland will start Triston McKenzie, who has struggled all season, and it can get worse. McKenzie has no control of his pitches this season, his 14% walk rate is in the fourth percentile, and has an xERA of 5.24. 

The Royals lineup is struggling, but at home I like the team to handle McKenzie. 

Reds vs. Cardinals Prediction and Pick

Pick: Reds (+110)

I view this game as a coin flip, so I’m inclined to go with the underdog Reds who have a slight pitching edge on Friday. 

Frankie Montas isn’t striking out batters at the same clip as he has in the past, but has done an excellent job of limiting hard contact with an increased blend of off-speed pitches. 

The Reds have been the better team at the plate of late, 11th in OPS this month compared to the Cardinals at 16th, and I’ll take them as road underdogs. 

Tigers vs. Angels Prediction and Pick

Pick: Angels (+100)

The Tigers aren’t the upstart contender we envisioned in the preseason, and shouldn’t be favored against many teams on the road when starting Kenta Maeda. 

Maeda has seen his strikeout rate dwindle to 17%, about 10% lower than last season, and its shown in his spike in ERA to 6.00. 

Twins vs. Mariners Prediction and Pick

Pick: Mariners (-130)

Logan Gilbert should be able to navigate a surging Twins lineup and get the Mariners an impressive win. 

Gilbert has an ERA of 2.71 while showcasing pinpoint command (86th percentile) with the most devastating breaking ball pitches in the bigs this season (100th percentile in terms of run value). 

He’s a must bet at a small price tag. 

Athletics vs. Diamondbacks Prediction and Pick

Pick: Diamondbacks (-155)

Arizona is the third best hitting team against left handed pitching in terms of batting average (.272), which sets up nicely against J.P. Sears of the Athletics. 

Dodgers vs. Giants Prediction and Pick

Pick: Giants (-110)

The Giants will hope Logan Webb can continue to string together consistent efforts with a 94th percentile groundball rate, and limit the power of the Dodgers with his command, 86th percentile walk rate, to get the Giants a win against its high priced division foe. 

Meanwhile, the Dodgers will turn to rookie Landon Knack, who has shown some promise, but his 2.10 ERA is supported by a 3.28 xERA.

Cardinals designated hitter Willson Contreras didn't like a called third strike while he was at the plate against the Pirates on Monday night.

As he faced an 0-2 count in the bottom of the seventh inning in a tight game, he was called out on strikes following a pitch that landed down in the zone. From the replay, the pitch appeared to be a strike, clipping the bottom of the zone, but Contreras still took exception.

He looked back at home plate umpire Derek Thomas and was ejected from the game, which caused him to get incredibly heated as the Cardinals coaching staff tried to hold him back. As he was pushed back toward the dugout, Contreras tossed his bat toward the field as he continued to yell at Thomas, and the lumber hit one of his own coaches.

When he eventually got into the dugout, an entire bucket of Hi-Chew was thrown onto the field, creating a messy scene the team's batboys had to clean up. It's unclear if Contreras tossed the bucket of candy or not. You can watch the wild sequence below:

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was also ejected per MLB.com's John Denton. Also, according to Denton, the coach that was hit with Contreras's bat was Brant Brown—St. Louis' hitting coach.

A lot of fallout for what appeared to be a correctly called strike. Despite the situation, the Cardinals held onto their lead and defeated the Pirates 7-6 Monday. We'll see if there's any further punishment following Contreras's outburst.

Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger is expected to opt out of his contract in New York and test free agency this offseason, according to a report from ESPN's Jorge Castillo.

The Yankees lost their ALDS tilt with the Blue Jays earlier this week, ending their season. The news regarding Bellinger's future is the first to trickle out of the Bronx since the franchise's postseason elimination.

Bellinger posted the second-highest wins above replacement (WAR) of his nine-year career in 2025, as he hit .272 with 29 home runs and 98 RBI. He also stole 13 bases and posted an .813 OPS.

The 30-year-old Bellinger spent the first six seasons of his career with the Dodgers, before two seasons with the Cubs and this season with the Yankees.

Frank Chester lost an arm and a playing career but found fame as an official

Paul Edwards19-May-2020In the pre-avian era (that is before Dickie Bird) sales of far outnumbered those of autobiographies that actually described what it was like to stand in Test matches. To an extent this was a tribute to the success of the famous instructional book that was first published in 1957 without Smith’s name in its title, yet quickly grew in both length and popularity. But the absence of umpires’ personal tales also reflected the status of officials in first-class cricket. Of course they were essential but the game was not about them; rather like children in well-ordered nurseries they were better seen than heard.This was perfectly understandable; but as subsequent histories have shown it also risked neglecting an important strand of the game’s social history. And had not Frank Chester written in 1956 we would not now have the reflections in retirement of the man who, in the words of cricket historian RL Arrowsmith, “set new standards and raised the whole conception of what an umpire should be.”ALSO READ: Odd Men in – Stan McCabeImmediately after the Second World War the majority of those professionally involved in English cricket shared Arrowsmith’s view. Tourists, too, had benefitted from Chester’s acute discernment. In the 1938 Trent Bridge Test, he judged that Donald Bradman was caught at the wicket by Les Ames off Gloucestershire’s Reg Sinfield. As it happened, it was one of only two wickets offspinner Sinfield took in his single England appearance. But Chester’s decision also had an impact on Bradman, who described it as the cleverest ever made against him. And there was no sly criticism lurking within that complement. Rather, it was a salute from the best batsman in the world to the official he regarded as the finest umpire he ever encountered. Nearly 12 years later Bradman recalled the incident with characteristic precision:”The ball turned from the off, very faintly touched the inside edge of the bat, then hit my pad, went over the stumps and was caught by Ames. Whilst all this was happening amidst a jumble of feet, pads and bat, I slightly overbalanced and Ames whipped the bails off for a possible stumping. There was an instant appeal to the square-leg umpire, who gave me not out, whereupon Ames appealed to Chester at the bowler’s end, and very calmly, as though it was obvious to all, Chester simply said, ‘Out, caught,’ and turned his back on the scene.”Chester was only 43 years old when he sent Bradman on his way quite late on the second evening of that game. Had things turned out differently it is not absurd to think he might have been playing, albeit enjoying a swansong, in that Ashes series. A quarter of a century earlier Chester’s three Championship centuries and 44 wickets for Worcestershire had brought him praise from WG Grace and a tribute in . “Having begun so well, Chester should continue to improve, and it seems only reasonable to expect that when he has filled out and gained more strength he will be an England cricketer,” said the Almanack. Chester was 18 years old and everyone at New Road called him “Nipper”; 12 months earlier he had been awarded his Worcestershire cap. He had wanted to be a cricketer since his childhood in Bushey. “My future seemed stocked with happiness,” he reflected.In 1914 Chester made his career-best 178 not out against Essex at New Road but a few months later he joined the 22nd Division of the Royal Field Artillery and was soon packed off to join the general madness in France. Having survived the second battle of Loos, he was sent to Salonika, where he was wounded in the right arm by a piece of shrapnel. Gangrene set in and the arm was amputated. Had penicillin been available, Chester’s career as a professional cricketer might have been saved.”When the bitter truth had penetrated my numb brain in the hospital ward in Salonika, I wondered whether life was worth living,” he wrote. “My case was psychological as well as physical, for nothing could restore my ability to follow the only trade I knew and loved.”The initial shock was as much as I could bear… My young heart was bursting with the desire to resume where I had left off but on the bitter battlegrounds overseas I met disaster… To adjust myself physically to new employment was not the only necessity; somehow I had to submerge the mental anguish of not being able to play the game which had been my life.”

I realised it was essential for an umpire to concentrate as much as any batsman, that his job was specialised and required the maximum efficiency of all faculties… I would set myself only the highest standardsFrank Chester

Chester first umpired a match at The Oval on August 5, 1918. It had taken some persuasion to get him to Kennington and he was wearing a white coat over his hospital blues. The game was nothing more than a one-day single-innings match between an England XI and the Dominions, but Jack Hobbs, Frank Woolley and Charlie Macartney were all playing. The young umpire found his duties fairly congenial and he was moved to be back among cricketers again. It was the only world he knew. “Take it up seriously, Chester,” Pelham Warner said. “One day you’ll make a fine umpire.”It would be nearly four years before Warner was proved right. In 1919 Chester just about survived on his small pension. His marriage and the birth of a son then made the need for proper employment all the more pressing. In he revealed without explanation that but for the death of his father he would have become a poultry farmer. Instead he was accepted on to the first-class umpires’ list for 1922.Chester was 27 when he made his first-class debut as an umpire in the match between Essex and Somerset at Leyton. Almost all his colleagues on the list were over 50 and had begun wearing white coats when their services in cream flannels were no longer required. “He regarded it not as a retirement job, but as his life’s work and applied to it a shrewd brain and a forceful character,” Arrowsmith wrote. But Chester’s character was to be tested. His account of life as a rookie umpire surrounded by time-served former professionals reveals yet again the extent to which inter-war cricket was saturated by status and deference.Although complemented on his umpiring by JWHT Douglas and John Daniell, the captains in that game at Leyton, he gave out two other skippers on the first day of a game later that season. (Chester is not specific about the match in question but research suggests it may well have been the Roses match at Old Trafford.) The reaction of his partner made it clear that for some umpires unwritten rules had more power than printed laws:”As we walked off the field my colleague said to me, ‘Boy, you won’t last long as an umpire.’
“‘Why not?’ I demanded in great concern.
“‘Because,’ came the amazing reply, ‘if you give skippers out, you sign your own death-warrant.’
“Now this was a slant on the game which was entirely new to me and I urged my fellow umpire to tell me what happened when he had to deal with a sound appeal against a captain. He disappeared into the pavilion without answering, so I came to my own conclusion.”There were other tough lessons. For example any sense of solidarity that existed between umpires in that era plainly did not extend to a young novice who was rapidly proving himself fitter, more alert and sharper than almost all his colleagues:”Whereas at the start of my playing career I received nothing but the wisest counsel and kindest consideration from the old professionals, I was favoured with little, if any, advice from the old umpires. They criticised my concentration and complained that I was taking the game too seriously. What rot! Even as a player I realised it was essential for an umpire to concentrate as much as any batsman, that his job was specialised and required the maximum efficiency of all faculties. I made it plain that I would set myself only the highest standards.”Umpire Frank Chester looks on as Fred Trueman bowls•Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesCounty cricketers, on the other hand, warmed to Chester. This was partly, perhaps, because he was a former colleague, but more likely because he plainly knew what he was doing. Just over two years after his first-class debut he was standing in the first of what were to be 48 Tests. All these games were played in England, of course, but they included some of the greatest encounters in Anglo-Australian sporting history: Percy Chapman’s team winning the Ashes in 1926; Bradman’s 254 at Lord’s in ’30; Hedley Verity’s 15 wickets at Lord’s in ’34; Stan McCabe’s 232 at Trent Bridge and Len Hutton’s 364 at The Oval, both in ’38; Australia chasing down 404 at Leeds in ’48; Trevor Bailey batting 262 minutes for 38 and then bowling down the leg side to secure the draw at Leeds in ’53.Cricket matches as vintages…and Chester tasted them all. Only that last encounter had little bouquet but by then the pain from a stomach ulcer was impairing his judgement and making him far less tolerant of what he saw as histrionic appealing. “Nor were the Australians satisfied with the umpiring of Frank Chester, for so long the greatest of his kind but now in such poor health that he should not have been allowed to stand,” wrote EW Swanton of the umpire’s single appearance in his last Ashes series.Yet Chester was only 58 in 1953; in other words he was at the age when some of his contemporaries in the 1920s were just getting used to their white coats. For most of the previous three decades he had established new measures of excellence by which umpiring was to be judged. He did so partly because he saw the job as a profession rather than a means of making a few bob when the main business of one’s life was done. One wonders whether anyone before Chester had watched a game of cricket with greater intensity.”Sometimes you might say he was over-zealous and rhetorical,” wrote Neville Cardus, who was not averse to a drop of zeal and rhetoric himself. “He would give an lbw decision with his finger pointing vehemently down the pitch, as though detecting the batsman in some really criminal practice, and denouncing and exposing him on the spot.”It was, Chester might have argued, the best way he knew of doing his work. But he also knew it didn’t make up for Salonika.”There were often times when umpiring was anything but true enjoyment,” he wrote. “This was for a variety of reasons, among them the irritating conduct of the players, the poor remuneration between the wars for such long, intense hours, and the fact that it was always to me a poor substitute for the joys of playing.”When the Second World War broke out, Chester grew vegetables to make a little cash and umpired for the London Counties team. His fee for each of those games was £1. Only when his 1948 testimonial raised £3171 (plus nine shillings and five pence) did he know any measure of financial security. Before long, though, the game was to lose a little of its attraction for him. He saw no reason for the gesticulations of the 1948 Australians and sometimes gave his opinion on what he saw as ignorant appeals. By the mid-1950s it was time to go.Some might wonder what Chester would make of modern umpiring. It is little like asking whether Neville Chamberlain would have gone on Twitter. Even in the late 20th century the job of officials was changing. “I couldn’t see why I should stand there and have players looking at me as if I were a leper,” Tom Brooks said when he retired in the middle of the 1978-79 Ashes series. A few months later Cec Pepper also saw what was coming and stepped down. “Umpiring at the top now is full of comedians and gimmicks,” said Pepper, a notoriously flatulent official who was wont to ask non-striking batsmen if they wouldn’t mind kicking his farts to the boundary.Yet all umpires today owe something to the bloke from Bushey who used to put on a white coat over his civvies and umpire with his trilby at the slightly rakish angle favoured by National Hunt trainers. Occasionally his false arm might remind him of Salonika and the life he had been denied. But then he would crouch down again and watch Verity bowling to Bradman. Odd Men In

Also, have CSK found their best combination? And why Jordan over Mujeeb for Kings XI?

Karthik Krishnaswamy04-Oct-20202:11

Could Rahul have paced his innings better?

Did KL Rahul score too slowly?The scorecard tells the story clearly enough. KL Rahul made 63 off 52 balls, scoring at 7.26 runs per over, while the other Kings XI Punjab batsmen made a combined 111 off 68, at 9.79. The Chennai Super Kings chased down their target of 179 with all ten wickets in hand and 14 balls to spare. Rahul’s innings clearly had a significant impact on the result.There is quite a debate around the anchor role in T20 cricket, and while most teams play at least one such batsman, there were times during Rahul’s innings when he seemed to be scoring far too slowly even for someone playing that role. At the end of the 14th over, for instance, he was batting on 46 off 44 balls.This has been a consistent approach from Rahul through this season. While his overall strike rate is a healthy 141.78, his strike rate over the first 30 balls of his innings is only 116.41. He’s capable of destroying attacks if he stays in long enough – he smashed 42 off the last nine balls of his innings against the Royal Challengers Bangalore to finish with an unbeaten 132 off 69 – but there’s always the risk that he could be dismissed before the final flourish.Getty ImagesThis is what happened against the Rajasthan Royals, against whom he made 69 off 54, and it happened again today, when he was caught behind off Shardul Thakur in the 18th over of the Kings XI’s innings. And the late assault against the Royal Challengers wouldn’t have happened if Virat Kohli hadn’t dropped two catches off him.As such, it seems a risky strategy – if it’s indeed what the team wants – if the Kings XI want Rahul to bat through their innings at a lower tempo than he’s capable of achieving, just to ensure there are wickets in hand later on. In T20, wickets in hand can simply mean wasted resources: you don’t want that with the likes of Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell in your side.Why did Kings XI go back to Chris Jordan, and not pick Mujeeb Ur Rahman?The Kings XI’s death-bowling issues have been widely documented and debated, and there’s no readymade solution in their squad. Chris Jordan hadn’t featured since going for 56 – including 30 in his final over – against the Delhi Capitals, but the other options Kings XI had tried since then – fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Sheldon Cottrell, the medium-pace of James Neesham, the offspin of K Gowtham – hadn’t worked either.Jordan has more experience at the death than all the other Kings XI bowlers, and has made some crucial interventions in that phase for England in particular. Going back to him was simply an admission from Kings XI that they were best off trusting the most tried-and-tested of the limited options at their disposal.One option Kings XI haven’t tried so far, however, is the Afghanistan mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Mujeeb can bowl at the death, but he’s best known for his tight spells in the powerplay, a phase in which Shami and Cottrell had performed excellently for Kings XI before this match. Bringing him in would have been an uneasy fit, and Mujeeb wouldn’t have brought Kings XI the lower-order hitting ability that Jordan possesses.Have the Super Kings found their ideal combination?It’s too early to say, and there will be some grumbles that the Super Kings haven’t found room for Imran Tahir, one of the best white-ball spinners in world cricket, but their line-up now looks to have more bases covered than it did at the start of the season, when a number of players were unavailable for various reasons.The return to form of Shane Watson is a huge plus, of course, but with Ambati Rayudu and Dwayne Bravo back in the side after recovering from injury, the middle order wears a healthier look too. And the Super Kings possibly bat deeper than any other side in the tournament, with allrounders Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran followed by three very capable lower-order contributors at 9, 10 and 11, in Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Piyush Chawla.What has Watson done to regain his touch?Watson has proven his doubters wrong multiple times in the past – most memorably with a century in the 2018 IPL final following a lean run through the tournament – but he’s 39 now and there are more doubters than ever.Like always, the Super Kings management trusted him to come good again, and he did just that. What changed between the first four matches of the season and this one?For one, he’s spent some time in the middle and shaken off the rustiness that nearly every player in this tournament has had to deal with, thanks to the prolonged Covid-19-induced pause in world cricket. But at the presentation ceremony, Watson revealed that he’d also made a technical adjustment leading up to this game, which allowed him to get his head over his front leg and achieve better weight-transfer through his shots.Watch the two boundaries he hit off Cottrell in the third over of the Super Kings chase, over wide mid-on and back over the bowler’s head. Both are perfect illustrations of Watson’s head position helping him hit through the line with power and precision.

Father died soon after the Indian team landed in Australia, couldn’t see his son play in Tests

Sidharth Monga18-Jan-2021There is a lovely Instagram video posted by Mohammed Siraj from Virat Kohli’s birthday during this IPL. On a yacht party, he has got the DJ to play “”, a Hyderabadi song, and he is doing the most joyful uninhibited Marfa that nobody in the side can keep up with. There are team-mates leaving literally exhausted but Siraj keeps going.The Marfa dance is popular among the Hyderabadi Muslims, and has roots in Afro-Arab music. is an eponymous song performed by the then 18-year-old Ruhaan Arshad, also known as Miya Bhai. It glorifies the already celebrated lifestyle of the Hyderabadi Muslims while also having a laugh at himself and his community.Among his team-mates Siraj is known as Miya Bhai. It is a term of respect and endearment put together. is sir, is brother. The song just talks of the qualities – or, a “flex” in today’s language – of the Hyderabadi Muslims, one of which is “”. Which is, to smoke away the family wealth as a flex.Siraj wasn’t born into any family wealth. Not in the conventional sense. The wealth he inherited from his family was the strength and athleticism that he has honed tirelessly to become a fast bowler at the top level. That is not wealth you blow away.The wealth Siraj has to blow away is the raw emotion he feels when playing the cricket. It is for everyone to bask in: the joy at doing the improvised dab upon taking a wicket, the energy of his dance, the pain at being abused racially, the tears at taking a five-for. Life is too short to keep it bottled in. Or to not use the conventional wealth generated from this game to give his parents a better life, to end his father’s life as a rickshaw-driver, to buy them a house, get them to Haj, the biggest wish for a practising Muslim.It is just as well that this Miya Bhai did all that because his father didn’t live long enough to see his other dream come true: to watch his son play Test cricket for India. Life is too short. That’s what drove him to tears during the national anthem in Sydney. The kind of “good Muslim” comments that it attracted, or some of the vitriol his Instagram post generated, tells you Miya Bhai is not an identity to wear lightly in today’s India, but Siraj does it so effortlessly, as he does most other things on a cricket field.Marnus Labuschange was one of Siraj’s five wickets•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaIn just his third Test, Siraj is the leader of the attack and now has a five-for on his first tour to Australia. It was a fraught debut because apart from Jasprit Bumrah, Indian bowlers’ recent debuts away from home haven’t led to long careers. Before Bumrah these came out of desperation either before time – Jaydev Unadkat, for example – or too late – Pankaj Singh perhaps.Bumrah was a freak who found himself at home in Test cricket despite having not played any first-class cricket in the year leading into that debut. Siraj’s case was different: he is a more conventional bowler who doesn’t have the gifts of Bumrah, which frankly very few have. He was good enough, though, to be identified as the next fast bowler, given enough A matches as experience, including in Australia. He was coming back to the coach under whom he excelled when he started playing for Hyderabad, Bharat Arun, who is actually more an angel, a , to Siraj than coach.Siraj was a nets bowler when Royal Challengers Bangalore were playing in Hyderabad. Arun was with RCB at the time. He was so impressed he pushed for Siraj where he could, and as fate would have it, he was the Hyderabad coach in the Ranji Trophy next year. Siraj was the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament that year. Whenever he is tense about something, Arun calms him down by just telling him good he is.Siraj played the whole IPL worried about his father’s health, who had a lungs condition and was in and out of the hospital. Siraj told RCB’s YouTube channel that he would break down every time he called home. If his father was out of the hospital, he would feel lighter that day and enjoy his cricket more. It was in this state that he chose to tour Australia. Then he missed his father’s funeral because going back would mean another hard quarantine upon coming back. And that would delay what his father wanted him to do: play Test cricket.1:41

Moody: Siraj has responded to adversity in the most mature way

In Test cricket, as early as his first two wickets, Siraj showed he understood what it was mostly about. And when someone so skilled and fit talks about it, it sounds ridiculously simple. Keep bowling to your field at your best pace – that got him Marnus Labuschagne caught at leg gully – and change up after you have got the batsman used to one kind of delivery – which brought him Cameron Green with an inswinger after a series of outswingers.And now some of the Miya Bhai flex comes in. “Arun sir told me, ‘.'” Basically Arun told him he just needs to repeat what he has done in domestic cricket and A cricket, and that experience is nothing.In three Tests, Siraj has lived up to all of Arun’s expectations and the reward is in the five-for and the eyes that welled up as he walked back holding the ball aloft and likely thought of his father and their struggles. Only two men have had had a better series when making their debut in Australia, and both played more Tests than Siraj’s three. Not too unlike in his Instagram comments section, there were some in the crowd who called him names, but Siraj had introduced himself to everyone, “.”Do yourself a favour, and take the ride along with him: this Miya Bhai has the skill and the endurance, and also the willingness to take you along.