Chennai Super Kings allrounder picked up the injury while fielding against Royal Challengers Bangalore

Nagraj Gollapudi11-May-2022Ravindra Jadeja’s IPL has come to an abrupt end because of a rib injury. Jadeja picked up the injury while attempting a catch after running in from the deep against Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 4. While he continued playing that game, Jadeja sat out Chennai Super Kings’ last match, against Delhi Capitals.Kasi Viswanathan, Super Kings’ chief executive officer, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that both franchise and Jadeja agreed it was best for him to recover outside of the IPL. “He has a bruised rib,” Viswanathan said. “The medical advice is he should not strain it, so we have decided that he should leave the IPL.”Super Kings are currently ninth on the points table with eight points from 11 games. To qualify for the playoffs, they need to win all their remaining games and hope other results go their way.Incidentally, the Capitals game was only the second time Jadeja had missed a match for Super Kings since the franchise bought him in 2012. The only other instance was in the 2019 season, when he missed a match against Mumbai Indians because of illness, a game that even MS Dhoni missed in another rare occurrence.Among the fittest players in cricket, Jadeja is going through one of the most challenging phases of his career. He was handed the captaincy two days before IPL 2022 began. At that time, Jadeja said he had “big boots” to fill, but he was confident as Dhoni was still around and would continue to be his “go-to man”. However, eight matches into Super Kings’ season, he stepped down, saying he wanted to focus more on his game. Super Kings had won two of those eight matches under Jadeja, before Dhoni took the reins back.Jadeja, 33, had never led a senior team full-time prior to being handed the Super Kings gig; his only prior experience as captain in top-level cricket was a tournament for India Under-19s in 2007. But Dhoni and Super Kings’ team management, as well as owner N Srinivasan, felt Jadeja’s immense experience along with his rich pedigree as a match-winner made him the best choice to succeed Dhoni. A couple of weeks before the IPL bagan, Jadeja had summited the ICC’s Test-allrounder rankings, and over the previous two IPLs, he had taken over the finisher’s mantle from Dhoni, scoring 459 runs at an average of 57.37 with a strike rate of 157.73.That form fell away with the added demands of captaincy: so far this season, he has 116 runs in ten innings, including two ducks, at an average of 19.33 and a strike rate of 118.36. With the ball, he has five wickets from 33 overs at an average of nearly 50. Also Jadeja, one of the best fielders in cricket, has dropped four catches.After his first match back as captain, against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 1, Dhoni had said that he looked to help Jadeja with his captaincy in the first two games this season as part of a “gradual transition” plan. “At the end of the fifth-sixth-seventh [game] or the full season you don’t want him to feel as if the captaincy was done by somebody else,” Dhoni told host broadcaster Star Sports. “So it was a gradual transition where I said, ‘Okay, this is what I will do. I will take care of the fielding angles and everything for the first game, second game. After that, you will have to decide on your own because that’s the only way you will learn what captaincy is.’ Spoon-feeding doesn’t really help the captain. On the field, you have to take those crucial decisions and you have to take responsibility for those decisions.”Asked whether Jadeja agreed with his reasoning, Dhoni said he tried to help him out as Super Kings wanted the allounder at his best across all three skillsets even while taking on the many other duties that come with captaining. “What is important is once you become the captain, you have to take care of many things. And that also includes taking care of your own game. And with him, his mind was working a lot.”It’s not easy to control your mind, it’s the strongest feature… body, physiques, all of those things are fine, but once your mind starts working and it wants to contribute more: okay, what’s the combination I can play with; okay, who can bowl at what point of time. It doesn’t really stop. So, what really happens is the individual is not able to relax – even when he closes his eyes and wants to sleep, the mind is still working.”So what I felt was, it was having an effect on his game also. When he was going in to bat, or when it comes to his preparation, is putting this [extra] burden affecting his game? Because I would love to have Jadeja as a bowler and batter and fielder. Captaincy, fair enough. Even if you relieve [him of] captaincy, and if he is at his best [as a player], that’s what we really want because we were also losing a great fielder. We were struggling [to find] a deep-midwicket fielder.”

Mumbai lost their last eight wickets for 44 runs and suffered their ninth loss in 11 games

Andrew Miller09-May-20222:06

Should KKR have played with this bowling combination earlier?

It’s a rare old funk that Mumbai Indians find themselves in this season. Not even a performance for the ages from Jasprit Bumrah could extend their dead-cat bounce of a return to form, as Kolkata Knight Riders responded with a ferocious bowling display of their own – backed up by excellent fielding including two game-sealing run-outs in as many balls – to keep alive their own fading play-off hopes with an improbably comprehensive 52-run win.Related

• As it happened: KKR vs Mumbai, DY Patil Stadium

• Forearm injury puts Suryakumar out of remainder of IPL 2022

• Stats – Bumrah's 5-10 the second-best returns in a losing cause in IPL history

Such is the runaway nature of this year’s top four that KKR still need favours from the teams around them to get back into full title contention. But at least, with 10 points now from 12 games, they haven’t been condemned permanently to also-ran status just yet, thanks to a brace of hard-hitting 43s from Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana that proved sufficient to post a passable total of 165 for 9.
That score, however, was roughly 30 runs less than might have been anticipated once Bumrah had finished his rampage. In the space of nine balls, he dynamited five wickets for four runs – doubling his tally for the season in the process, having managed just five all told in his first ten outings of Mumbai’s non-starter of a season.However, that effort was later matched in tag-team fashion by KKR’s own heavyweights, Andre Russell and Pat Cummins. The former was used like a bite of reality with a wicket apiece in each of his first two overs, before he presided over a chaotic denouement in his uncompleted third; the latter purred into the endgame with a burst to rival Bumrah’s intervention – three in his third over as an uncomfortable chase became an impossible one. It’s been that sort of a season for the IPL’s most storied champions.Jasprit Bumrah cut a swathe through the Knight Riders middle order in a sensational spell•BCCI

Bumrah blitzes KKR’s lower orderThere are match-ups, and then there are match-ups. Bumrah to Russell, in the 15th over of a well-established first innings, is very much of the latter variety.Bumrah had bowled a solitary over up until his re-introduction, conceding five runs in the process including a sweetly timed boundary first-ball. He returned with KKR ominously placed on 136 for 3, and with Russell already swinging from the hip with a monstrous second-ball six to his name. What came next was simply dynamite viewing.Bumrah’s opening gambit was a howling yorker, as pinpoint accurate as such things are possible to be. Russell did exceptionally to dig it out from under his toes with the straightest blade of his career. But it was just a one-ball reprieve. Bumrah went hard into the pitch next ball, luring a wild swipe across the line as Kieron Pollard steadied himself to swallow a vital chance at long-on.Three balls later, and a well-set Rana drifted into Bumrah’s sights – he’d picked up his own tempo with four sixes in eight balls, driving Pollard to distraction in the process to reach 43 from 25. But Bumrah had the answer for Rana’s skittish footwork – a grille-seeking bouncer, gloved uneasily through to Kishan, whose conviction in the appeal was upheld by UltraEdge. It was game-changing stuff from Mumbai’s mightiest weapon, and he was only just getting started.After a break to switch ends, the first ball of Bumrah’s third over was fast and fierce, skidding yet still rising into Sheldon Jackson’s flighty pull to deep midwicket, where Daniel Sams made a tricky chance look simple with a well-timed swoop to his left. He then greeted Pat Cummins – remember him? – with a fizzing bouncer that the new man did well to duck, but then sent him on his way one ball later with another rock-hard length – even a man with a 15-ball 56 to his name couldn’t manage more than a cramped scuff to square leg.Bumrah’s coup de grace was an utter snorter. Round the wicket, as completely at Sunil Narine as it could possibly have been, as Narine reared back into his crease to ride the bounce but managed only to splice a looping chance through to the bowler as he charged by in his followthrough. As performances go, it deserved distinctly better than a 5/10. But, to judge by Mumbai’s run-chase, it needed to have been 10/10 to give his team a chance.Cummins takes his cue Hard lengths you say? Cummins may not have enjoyed his own evening in the firing line, but KKR’s most thoroughbred fast bowler was clearly taking notes while Bumrah was busy scalping him. In a reintroduction that had uncanny parallels to that of his opposite number, Cummins returned in the 15th over with a match-up of his own in mind.Ishan Kishan had eased along to a 41-ball half-century, showing unflustered accumulation after the controversial first-over demise of his captain and opening partner Rohit Sharma, who was adamant he hadn’t nicked the nipbacker from Tim Southee that offered up a range of white noise on UltraEdge.Pat Cummins and Sheldon Jackson celebrate after combining to remove Daniel Sams•BCCI

But there was no controversy about the ball that blasted Kishan from the crease – a body-cramping bouncer that Rinku Singh at square leg did wonderfully to claw in as it swirled out of the floodlights. It was the fourth time in 21 balls that Cummins had got his quarry, and at a cost of 22 runs all told, and at 100 for 5, it was a destabilising blow to KKR’s hopes.Five balls and two more wickets later, the chase had been diverted off a cliff. An exchange of singles was all Sams could muster in his time at the crease, as Cummins targeted his helmet and picked off the feathered top-edge. And though Murugan Ashwin had the right idea as he shaped inside the line for an uppercut, third man had merely to hop on the edge of the rope to drag down the third wicket of the over, and leave Pollard with too much to do.Iyer fires to give KKR their chanceVenkatesh has had an underwhelming IPL to date – and his absence from the side for the last two matches had been symptomatic of a side that has churned through 20 players in 11 games, more than any other outfit, and with even now no real sense of what their best XI looks like. Mind you, his only previous score of note, an unbeaten 50 from 41, had also come against Mumbai in their first meeting of the campaign. And perhaps emboldened by what he witnessed from the non-striker’s end on that occasion – namely, Cummins’ aforementioned match-swiping – Iyer resolved to be more forthright on his return to the top of the order at the expense of Baba Indrajith.It may not have seemed likely at the time, but it was the powerplay that won it for KKR – and with each of his 43 runs from 24 balls coming while the field was up, Iyer’s onslaught was pivotal. His opening gambit was a flat-batted pull for six off the legspinner Ashwin, whom he also drove through the covers in his first over, before he turned his attentions to the pace of Riley Meredith, including with a stunning ramp – more of a full-blooded uppercut to be fair – high over fine leg for another six.Sams and Kartikeya Singh were launched for Iyer’s third and fourth six to keep his innings galloping along, before the two men combined to curtail his onslaught with a top-edge to cover. But Rana got the memo with a second-ball drive for four to set up his own key performance, and put the seal on a six-over total of 64 for 1 – KKR’s best start of the competition. As it transpired, Mumbai barely managed twice that total in the whole of another faltering display.

South Africa will be without Shabnim Ismail, Chloe Tryon and Ayabonga Khaka for their first Test since 2014

Valkerie Baynes27-Jun-2022Nat Sciver admits that it’s going to feel strange playing a Test match without Katherine Brunt in the England attack.Brunt remains a key presence in the England Women’s camp ahead of their encounter with South Africa starting on Monday. Having announced her retirement from Tests last week, Brunt travelled to Taunton to continue her preparation for the white-ball portion of the multi-format series and impart her knowledge on a clutch of relatively inexperienced seamers vying to fill the void left by her and Anya Shrubsole, who called time on her international career after the World Cup in April.Barely a month since celebrating her wedding to Brunt in an “amazing” ceremony, Sciver, England’s vice-captain, reflected on how her wife would be missed on the cricket field.”It’s going to be different, very strange really,” Sciver said. “When we go out onto the pitch, it’ll be weird not to see her at the top of her mark or on the pitch. She obviously has provided so much energy and passion to the team and has been a big driver in the field when we need wickets.Related

• England challenge Emma Lamb to make her mark as an opener

• An ICC for women? It might be the only way to save women's Test cricket

• South Africa look to take lessons from Mysore into Taunton Test

• Childhood memories fuel Kate Cross' Test hunger

“Just being able to throw her the ball when we need a wicket or we need something to happen. She’s been that person for a really long time. It takes a lot of skill, courage and energy to be able to do that for us, so it will be exciting to see hopefully some of the youngsters try and be that person for us.”One of those who had been hoping to be that person, seamer Emily Arlott, was ruled out of the match on Saturday after failing to shake the after effects of a recent bout of Covid. That elevated Issy Wong, the 20-year-old express quick from travelling reserve to part of the squad.Sciver did not want to reveal the playing XI before match-day morning but Lisa Keightley, England’s head coach, said last week that Wong’s workloads would be carefully managed this summer with a view to potentially handing her an international debut in the white-ball formats.Nat Sciver’s experience will be even more vital to England•Getty Images

That puts Lauren Bell, a tall right-arm swing bowler, in the frame to make her international debut, with right-arm quick Freya Davies set to play her first Test having played seven ODIs and 17 T20Is. The experienced Kate Cross is poised to lead the seam attack while Sciver, too, will play a key part, although she said there were plans to reduce her workload slightly given a busy home international season ahead.”There’s been chatter about hopefully me bowling slightly less,” she said. “That’s where the youngsters can come in, with their energy or to be able to put some overs in for us.”Obviously, they’re inexperienced, but they are very skilful and I think in terms of bowling, shorter spells is probably the way to go. I think what we’ve seen in practice with the Dukes ball, the condition of the ball changes quite quickly, so I think shorter spells can work for us.”Sciver said the match would be played on a fresh pitch, which had been covered and uncovered during rain showers throughout Sunday. More rain was expected to clear shortly before the toss but showers are forecast throughout the four days of the match.”It looks a pretty good wicket,” Sciver said. “If we get in at Taunton you can really cash in because the outfield is fast and the wicket is pretty true. I think there’s a little bit of grass on it so we’ll have to take that into consideration at the toss.”South Africa will be without pace bowler Shabnim Ismail and left-arm spinner Chloe Tryon, who have both played one Test and are nursing calf and hip complaints respectively, with another first-choice seamer, Ayabonga Khaka, focusing instead on the shorter formats.Shabnim Ismail’s absence is a big blow for South Africa•ICC via Getty Images

That leaves the visitors set to field eight Test debutants, with only Trisha Chetty, Lizelle Lee and Marizanne Kapp having played any red-ball cricket.Sune Luus, their captain, said that while South Africa had not played a Test since 2014, she had been encouraged by their three-day tour match against England Women A, where Laura Wolvaardt scored a century and Lara Goodall and Andrie Steyn fifties while Anneke Bosch and Tumi Sekhukhune took five economical wickets between them.”Obviously we would have loved to have the likes of Aya, Shabnim and Chloe in our Test squad with the experience they bring in and the skills set they have, but we still have an amazing team,” Luus said.”We come off a great warm up match where some of the younger players really performed and put up their hands so I’m still very excited for the Test match and to see what the new players can do, but I guess we’re all new players in a Test match so it’s going to be something different for all of us.”England (possible): Tammy Beaumont, Emma Lamb, Heather Knight (capt), Nat Sciver, Sophia Dunkley, Amy Jones (wk), Charlie Dean, Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone, Freya Davies, Lauren BellSouth Africa (possible): Laura Wolvaardt, Andrie Steyn, Lara Goodall, Lizelle Lee, Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus (capt), Anneke Bosch, Trisha Chetty (wk), Nadine De Klerk, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nonkululeko Mlaba

Ponting compared David’s match-winning power-hitting ability with former teammate Andrew Symonds

Alex Malcolm24-Jul-2022Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes Tim David is the type of player that could win Australia the T20 World Cup, comparing his match-winning ability to that of 2003 50-over World Cup star Andrew Symonds.Ponting, who has recently taken a role as Hobart Hurricanes head of strategy where David plays in the BBL, suggested that if he was an Australia selector he would find a place for the powerful right-hander in Australia’s side despite the fact the 2022 T20 World Cup hosts are defending a title they won without David in the squad last year.He compared David’s power-hitting to that of his late friend Symonds, who was a last-minute inclusion in Australia’s 2003 World Cup squad and dominated scoring a brilliant 143 not out in the opening game against Pakistan and another match-winning 91 not out in the semi-final against Sri Lanka.”If I was a selector, I would love to have someone like that in my team,” Ponting said. “If he’s playing or not, just to have that sort of striking power ability around, he’s an out and out match-winner.Related

• Australia challenged to 'find a way' to fit Tim David into the T20I side

• Tim David looms large in Australia's plans despite Sri Lanka absence

• Langer looks at 'other opportunities' despite Ponting's pursuit for Hurricanes job

“He’s the sort of player that could actually win you a World Cup. He’s not just the average run-of-the-mill guy that might just sneak into a squad. I mean, he actually reminds me a bit of someone like an Andrew Symonds back in the 2003 World Cup. You know if you get them in and you give him an opportunity they’re a chance of winning a tournament for you. That’s how I’d be looking at him right now. I know there are some other great world-quality players in the middle order for Australia. But probably none of them boasts the resume as good as Tim’s over the last two years.”Australia’s selection panel, which features George Bailey (chairman), Andrew McDonald (coach) and Tony Dodemaide, have a challenge on their hands trying to fit David into the 15-man squad. They did not pick him for the T20I tour of Sri Lanka as the squad was selected just prior to his outstanding run of form in the IPL. Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade have established themselves as Australia’s finishers at No.6 and No.7 following their World Cup heroics last year. The top four is also settled. The only vulnerable player in that line-up appears to be Steven Smith who has been backed in at No.5 in Australia’s T20I team with the selectors holding faith that the veteran will stand up when required in the T20 World Cup.Skipper Aaron Finch suggested recently that David’s opportunity with Australia will come. Australia’s next T20I assignment is a three-game series against India in India in September. It is possible David could be part of that squad if a couple of Australia’s multi-format batters are rested given the matches will be in vastly different conditions to those that will be seen in the World Cup. But those games are likely to be played after the 15-man World Cup squad has already been named.Tim David hits one straight during his 11-ball 34•BCCI

Ponting saw David in the IPL at close quarters when he smacked 34 off 11 balls for Mumbai Indians against the Ponting-coached Delhi Capitals to knock Delhi out of the playoffs.Ponting felt David was underutilised by Mumbai and is already planning to use him more prominently for Hobart Hurricanes following discussions with new coach Jeff Vaughan.”He’s been incredible in almost every tournament that he’s played around the world, the last 12 or 18 months,” Ponting said. “He was probably a little bit unlucky not to play more in the IPL this year to be honest, with the way that he started with Mumbai and then didn’t come back until right near the end and played some match-winning knocks then.”He’s obviously one player that we’re extremely excited about. I think there’s a chance for him to probably take on a bit more responsibility in the batting line-up with the Hurricanes this season as well because of his consistency and his match-winning ability. We don’t want to waste that and we don’t have him sitting on the sidelines too long. So I know that’s one of the strategic things that we’ve already spoken about with him, is how we actually get the most out of him and how we maximize his ability.”He’s a very, very good, very dangerous T20 player that I’m sure the Australian selectors are thinking long and hard about for the World Cup in a couple of months time.”

There is no clarity on the timeframe of the seam bowler’s recovery, and whether he will be considered for the Asia Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Aug-2022Harshal Patel has been ruled out of the remainder of the T20I series in the West Indies – there’s one game to go after Saturday’s fixture – after failing to recover from a rib injury, the BCCI confirmed around the time of the toss ahead of the fourth T20I.The BCCI didn’t make it clear whether Harshal, who hasn’t played a single game on the ongoing white-ball tour, picked up the injury after reaching the Caribbean or if he was carrying the injury from the earlier tour of England. He did play all three T20Is in England, with middling returns – four wickets at an average of 23.25 and an economy rate of 8.45 – even as India won 2-1.

The India batter is expected to join the squad after the Women’s Asia Cup in October

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Sep-2022India batter Jemimah Rodrigues has signed with Melbourne Stars for her second stint at the WBBL, after having played for Melbourne Renegades last year. She will be the first Indian to represent Stars in the eighth edition of the competition, beginning October 13.Rodrigues, who was part of the silver-medal winning Indian team at the Commonwealth Games, was the second highest run-getter for her side – and fifth highest overall – with 146 runs from five matches.Related

• Rodrigues: The low moments 'prepare you for something greater'

• India reap the rewards of Mandhana and Rodrigues' personal growth

• Rodrigues: 'My game is not flashy, but I don't have to be someone else'

• Rodrigues out of Hundred with injury; Lewis replaces her

“I am super excited to be a part of the Stars family,” Rodrigues said. “I’ve been told that I’m the first ever Indian to sign for the Stars and it is my honour to do so. Melbourne has always been my favourite city in Australia and I can’t wait to get back there!”In the 13 matches that she played in the last WBBL season, Rodrigues scored a total of 333 runs at a strike rate of 116.43, including two fifties. Overall, in 58 T20Is, she has scored 1273 runs, at a strike rate of 111.56.After missing the ODI World Cup earlier this year, Rodrigues had returned to Indian squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in June after strong performances in domestic competitions. She made 243 runs in six matches during the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy at an average of 60.75 and a strike rate of 167.58 and carried her excellent form into the Women’s T20 Challenge. After the Commonwealth Games ended in August, Rodrigues signed up for the second season of the Hundred this year, but her stint at Northern Superchargers was cut short due to a wrist injury. In this season’s Hundred opener, she smashed 51 off just 32 balls as an opener against defending champions Oval Invincibles, before being dismissed for 2 against London Spirit.”We have a huge following in India and to add a player of Jemimah’s quality to our squad is huge coup for the club,” Stars’ general manager Blair Crouch said. “I’m sure Jemimah will quickly become a fan favourite and we look forward to seeing her as part of the Stars Family in WBBL 08.”Rodrigues is expected to join the Stars squad after the Women’s Asia Cup, slated to be held from October 1 to 16 in Bangladesh.Last year a total of eight Indians – Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Poonam Yadav, and Rodrigues – took part in the WBBL, representing five teams. It was India’s largest contingent in the competition.Melbourne Stars squad: Meg Lanning, Lucy Cripps, Sophie Day, Nicole Faltum, Tess Flintoff, Kim Garth, Rhys McKenna, Sasha Moloney, Sophie Reid, Jemimah Rodrigues, Annabel Sutherland.

The New Zealand opener returns to the WBBL for her third club

AAP15-Sep-2022Sydney Sixers are set to team new signing Suzie Bates with Alyssa Healy in one of world cricket’s most imposing opening partnerships for this summer’s WBBL.Just days after announcing world No.1-ranked bowler Sophie Ecclestone’s signing, the Sixers confirmed the impending arrival of New Zealand star Bates on Thursday.It means that after three seasons out of the finals and after collecting last year’s wooden spoon, the Sixers now have the squad to be genuine contenders again.Bates and Ecclestone join Healy, Ellyse Perry and Ash Gardner as the squad’s five marquee players, while the likes of Nicole Bolton, Lauren Cheatle and Erin Burns also figure.Related

• Ellyse Perry extends Sydney Sixers career, remains captain

• Smriti Mandhana: 'I'll be thinking about pulling out of WBBL'

• World No. 1 Ecclestone signs with Sydney Sixers

An Olympian in basketball in her early days, Bates remains the world’s leading run-scorer in international T20 cricket with 3531 at 29.92 for New Zealand. She has also struck at above 100 in 71 WBBL matches for Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers, averaging close to 30.”I’m looking forward to her forging a strong opening partnership with Alyssa Healy,” new coach Charlotte Edwards said. “She’s in the form of her life, coming off winning the Hundred [in England] where she played a pivotal role as a leader and opening bat.”I’m looking forward to sitting back and enjoying the sight of two of the best openers in the world doing their thing.”Bates’ signing will again allow allrounder Perry to bat down in the middle order, a role she started last summer before Indian Shafali Verma’s struggles prompted a rethink.”It will be nice to play alongside Healy and Perry because I’m a bit sick of playing against them,” Bates said. “Healy scored a lot of runs – and a few hundreds – against the Strikers in the past, so it will be nice to be down the other end and watch those two go about their business.”

Stand-in captain, Keshav Maharaj, was happy with team’s sustained intensity in the warm-up game

Firdose Moonda17-Oct-2022South Africa are clearing the mental fog from their back-to-back series defeats in India and have begun their final preparations for the Men’s T20 World Cup with a nine-wicket win over New Zealand in the first of two warm-up matches. The team arrived in Australia last week, directly from India where they played six white-ball games and lost four.”India was a severely long tour for us from a mental point of view and coming back from two series losses, it was important that we try and create some momentum in these warm-up games,” Keshav Maharaj, South Africa’s stand-in captain, said. “Warm-up games can be monotonous and lose their intensity but the guys were very professional on the field.”Related

• Bavuma unfazed by pressure as South Africa look to avoid mistakes from 2021 edition

• Bowling riches leave SA with good headache ahead of T20 WC

• South Africa's embarrassment of glitches

Though South Africa were only in India for just over two weeks, they lost both the T20I and ODI series, leaving their World Cup hopes in both formats in disarray. The T20I series defeat was South Africa’s first in six series while their ODI trouncing has left them in a precarious position on the World Cup Super League points table – 11th – with only five matches left to play. And that wasn’t all that went wrong in India, where Mark Boucher oversaw his last bilateral tour as South Africa’s coach.Dwaine Pretorius broke his thumb and was ruled out of the T20 World Cup, regular white-ball captain Temba Bavuma scored 11 runs in four innings on his comeback from an elbow injury and then took ill and has not played since; and left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi suffered an alarming loss of form before also finding himself on the sick bed. At least one of those seems closer to being solved.Shamsi took 2 for 6 in three overs in the warm-up match and bowled “exceptionally well” according to Maharaj, who finished with 3 for 17. “We know he is a world-class performer and everyone goes through various transitions throughout their career. It’s good to see Shammo back to his best,” Maharaj said. “He will have a big hand (to play) in this World Cup.”Bavuma, meanwhile, should be back for South Africa’s second warm-up match against Bangladesh on Wednesday, which will be his last opportunity to find form before the tournament starts. “Temba is easing back into it. In the next game we will probably see him,” Maharaj said. “He is building up nicely towards the World Cup.”Bavuma continues to have the backing of his team despite the rut he finds himself in and concerns over his T20 strike rate in a squad where there is stiff competition for spots in the top three. If Bavuma plays, one of Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock or Rilee Rossouw will have to sit out. De Kock was rested for the warm-up match, Hendricks scored a 24-ball 27 and Rossouw broke the back of the chase with 54 off 32 balls. “Rilee has been in spectacular form and he makes things look easier than they are,” Maharaj said. “All round it was a very disciplined performance from the boys.”