أعلن الألماني هانز فليك، المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي برشلونة قائمة فريقه لمواجهة سيلتا فيجيو ضمن منافسات الدوري الإسباني.
ومن المقرر أن يواجه برشلونة نظيره سيلتا فيجو مساء اليوم، الأحد، في إطار منافسات الجولة الثانية عشر من بطولة الدوري الإسباني “لا ليجا”.
ويستضيف ملعب “بالايدوس” مباراة برشلونة وسيلتا فيجو، والتي من المقرر إذاعتها في تمام الساعة العاشرة مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة الحادية عشر بتوقيت مكة المكرمة.
اقرأ أيضًا | تشكيل برشلونة المتوقع أمام سيلتا فيجو اليوم في الدوري الإسباني
ويمتلك برشلونة 25 نقطة في المركز الثالث بشكل مؤقت خلف فياريال الذي لعب مباراة أكثر، في حين أن سيلتا فيجو لديه 13 نقطة في المركز الثالث عشر في الوقت الحالي، في جدول ترتيب الدوري الإسباني.
ويأمل برشلونة في تحقيق الفوز على سيلتا فيجو من أجل صُنع دفعة إيجابية قبل الدخول في فترة التوقف الدولي المقبل.
وشهدت القائمة عودة المدافع الدنماركي أندرياس كريستنسن، من الإصابة لأول مرة منذ فترة طويلة، لكن لا تزال مشاركته محل شك.
ويستمر غياب كل من بيدري وجافي وخوان جارسيا ومارك أندريه تير شتيجن ورافينها عن التواجد ضمن قائمة برشلونة. قائمة برشلونة لمباراة سيلتا فيجو في الدوري الإسباني
في حراسة المرمى: فوتشيك تشيزني – كوشين – إدير ألير.
Former USMNT star Herculez Gomez sparked debate by saying Carlos Vela's record-setting 2019 campaign was more impressive than Lionel Messi's current Golden Boot-winning season, despite the Argentine's contributing to 48 goals in just 28 appearances. Vela scored 34 goals and contributed to 49 goals in 31 games in 2019.
Getty Images SportCompetitive rivalry with Zlatan
Despite acknowledging Messi's statistical brilliance in 2025, the ESPN FC analyst gave the nod to Vela's 2019 season when comparing the two campaigns. The 2019 season featured a compelling race between Vela and Zlatan Ibrahimović. The Mexican international finished with 34 goals while the Swedish star had 30.
"I’m going to lean Carlos Vela,” Gomez said on the Futbol Americas podcast. “And only for one reason and one reason only – Carlos Vela had a nemesis that year. He had an actual rivalry and the league was better for it… And the games they had against each other? It made Carlos Vela better. There is nobody making Messi better. There is nobody to rival Lionel Messi, to even be the nemesis of Lionel Messi.
"And because of that, I think the narrative here is that it’s kind of boring. Messi is doing what he does and there’s no drama. The only drama is well, will he finally do what we all think they’re going to do – win MLS Cup?”
AdvertisementGomez acknowledges Messi's dominance
The former USMNT striker praised Messi after his Decision Day hat-trick, which sealed the Golden Boot race. He contrasted the Argentine with former MVP Hany Mukhtar and 2025 Golden Boot contender Sam Surridge, saying neither could truly compete with Messi.
"Surridge was in the fight for the Golden Boot and Hany Mukhtar is a former Golden Boot and former MLS MVP of this league – and they’re still not at the level of a Messi," he said. "He’s beyond any player in this league. Despite his age he just takes over. This is a player who is fighting for the Golden Boot, is fighting to break records, scores his first penalty in this game… And he’s also giving penalties away to his teammates, to players trying to make a name for themselves on the team.
"So he’s giving up goal contributions. And for us, it's like we’re looking at him making history here – but he’s looking at it as another day in the office."
Messi reshapes MLS record books
While Gomez favored Vela's season for its narrative appeal, Messi's 2025 regular-season campaign was historically dominant by nearly every statistical measure. His 1.03 goals-per-game average ranks second only to Vela's 2019 campaign (1.10) among Golden Boot winners since 2005. Twenty-eight of Messi's 29 goals came from open play – the most in a season in league history by three goals.
The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner also became the first player in MLS history to record 10 multi-goal games in a season, breaking the previous mark of eight.
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Getty Images SportDebate highlights evolution of MLS
As Inter Miami prepares for a playoff matchup against the same Nashville SC side that Messi dominated on Decision Day, the Argentine's continued excellence at age 38 has redefined expectations for what's possible in MLS.
The USMNT boss largely stacked his lineup against Ecuador, and got a glimpse into what a successful World Cup run could look like
In 2013, then-Manchester United manager David Moyes was asked in a news conference where his Red Devils needed to improve. It was simple, he admitted.
"We'd like to pass it better. We'd like to create more chances, we'd like to defend better when those moments arise. I don't think it's any one area, we're just trying to improve all around," Moyes said.
That clip went viral. The easy summary: Man United were rubbish, and their out-of-depth manager needed his team to improve in every possible footballing capacity. They were underperforming. Everything, yes, needed to be better.
And over much of the past year, it's been hard not to feel that way about Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT, too. There were countless individual ideas at play – especially in the Gold Cup and September's friendly with South Korea – but nothing really cohensive to be found. He had a sort of system, with a sort of full strength squad, playing sort of soccer.
It was all seemingly verging on a vanity project. Here was Pochettino, "changing the culture" doing things his way, and, well, losing nearly as often as winning. And no, Pochettino didn't win against Ecuador on Friday. But he certainly came a lot closer.
It was about as close to a complete performance as the U.S. have turned in during his tenure. Some of it, to be sure, is tactical. There is a formation now, a clear set of ideas to work with. Some of it is man-management. But perhaps most importantly, Pochettino has loosened his grip – albeit slightly.
"We are here talking about actions, concepts, formations, things like this now," Pochettino said. "After one year, I am so happy that we don't talk about other things like commitment, attitude or things that, in the past, we've had to talk about. I think that is a massive step up."
The U.S. has a lot of good players to work with, and Pochettino, finally, has elected to use them. And even if the result wasn't quite there, the soccer was. And that might mean more than any individual win.
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The starting XI
What about that starting XI? In soccer is, everyone seems to have an opinion. One person's 3-4-2-1 is another's 4-2-3-1. Give us attacking midfielders, double pivots, inverting fullbacks, Mauricio. We crave it. It is the manager's prerogative to set up the USMNT as he sees fit – regardless of the general furor around the team.
And Friday night, the soccer world all got to feel like Pochettino listened.
The roster had been promising from early on. The Christian Pulisic drama of the summer was gone. Folarin Balogun is here. Weston McKennie and his last-chance-saloon vibes was selected. Tim Weah, in excellent form at Marseille, was brought into the fold.
With Tyler Adams out, Pochettino avoided the MLS temptation and instead brought in Tanner Tessmann, who has enjoyed a solid spell at Lyon. Even Antonee Robinson, clearly not fully fit, was brought into the group. There is every chance that he's there to keep the culture together.
It is, at this point, time to think more about getting your best players in a training facility and hoping that they start to get on. Whether they do or not isn't available to the public. Their relationships exist in 15-minute previews of training, curated social media clips, and body language experts during games.
But one thing is for sure: there is some chemistry building here. Pochettino's starting XI was pretty low fuss. Pulisic wasn't available from the start, after picking a slight ankle injury. Elsewhere, though, things looked good: McKennie, Malik Tillman and Weah all started. Miles Robinson, arguably the U.S.'s weakest performer, lasted an hour before being hooked.
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The players that didn't make it
Perhaps more importantly – and more indicative of Pochettino's head space – were the players that failed to make the starting lineup. Pochettino had made it clear from early on that he valued MLS talent. Alex Freeman and Diego Luna were some of his early favorites. He also handed chances to Patrick Agyemang early in his tenure.
All three were benched to begin with against Ecuador. And while Luna and Freeman both came off the bench with 30 minutes to play, it seemed more like an half an hour to try-out for the big boy team than a statement of intent from the manager.
When the U.S. needed a late goal, Pochettino, crucially, relied to EFL Championship talent rather than former MLS stalwarts. Sure, there was a domestic presence on the bench, but just three of the six subs to appear made it .
Some of this is down to rotation. Pochettino knows what Agyemang is. James Sands is there to round out the numbers. But in the 87th minute, in a 1-1 game, when you're chasing a winner, you call on the player that you trust the most. Pochettino went with the big name, not the MLS guy who had made an impact for him before.
This, of course, raises some questions about fairness. Every manager likes to push the play-on-merit agenda. And that's a valid point. Could Luna have not earned more minutes here, for example? Perhaps.
But Tillman is a bona fide European talent, signed to replace Florian Wirtz at Bayer Leverkusen. That he has never quite made it happen for the U.S. is largely irrelevant. Pochettino didn't necessarily bring in guys. He looked for talent.
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What it all meant
The result of all of this was a far more compelling performance than Pochettino's U.S. have provided in quite some time. Balogun was excellent, stretching the defense with clever runs and a wonderful turn of pace.
"His work ethic is amazing in the way that he always is available in every single aspect of the game, with and without the ball," Pochettino said of Balogun after the match. "I'm so pleased with his performance."
McKennie picked a few lovely passes. Tillman was another standout, all tight turns and cute flicks – a style of play that runs in such contrast with his 6-3 frame. He created six chances, by far the most on the pitch. In the middle of the park, Tessmann went about his duty efficiently. The stats were fine: a few tackles won, 91% of his passes completed.
But he also just looked like a big guy doing big guy things: tackling, cutting passing lanes. There will be a real competition for this side to see who gets into the lineup to play alongside Adams. Tessmann made a fairly compelling case. At the back, the void in class was clear. Richards is probably now a bit too good for Crystal Palace, and showed why with another impervious performance. Tim Ream was as reliable as ever.
The three weakest links? Miles Robinson at left center back, who picked up a yellow card early and never recovered; Aidan Morris in central midfield, who looked a step slow; and Max Arfsten at left wing back, who lacked the attacking guile for the role.
By the end of it all, the U.S. outpassed, outshot and pretty much outplayed their visitors. A couple of immense saves from Ecuador's 28-year-old keeper Hernan Galindez prevented what might of been a 4-1 win.
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Pulisic and his potential impact
There is also the wider reality here: the U.S. did all of this (mostly) without Pulisic. The full extent of his injury situation isn't clear. Pochettino mentioned that he had picked up a knock. He missed a day of training. You could have guessed that he wouldn't start. It was really a question of would he be seen, and, if so, when?
It's tough to speculate here. If the U.S. had been up, Pochettino likely would not have risked him. But with a goal needed, he threw his man on. And as soon as he entered the fray, the energy of everything changed. Pulisic is playing his best soccer in some time, and has a real presence about him that he lacked in previous years.
Here, he wanted to ball. He drove when he had it. He pointed and shouted and let the pieces form around him when he had the ball. Spanish football often references the concept of "pausa" – effectively slowing the game down when you have the ball, Matrix style. It's an ineffible thing that can't really be taught. Pulisic has it.
A full 90 of the American in this match, and the scoreline might have been radically different.
He also agreed that Pakistan cricket has been on a decline but is confident of bouncing back
ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2025Haris Rauf has thrown his weight behind the young Pakistan top order suggesting that they should not be judged based on one or two matches and be given a longer rope.Pakistan once more shuffled the deck in their bid to find the right combination as they left out Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand. In came Mohammad Haris and Hasan Nawaz at the top of the order alongside Irfan Khan at No. 4. However, they’ve failed to get going in the first two T20Is, with Pakistan also going down both times.”You talk about criticism, I think it has become common in Pakistan,” Rauf said after Pakistan lost their second game in three days by five wickets in Dunedin. “These are young players. You go to any place, any team in the world, they give the youngsters full freedom. If they give the youngsters a chance, they make sure to give them 10 to 15 matches at a stretch. That is how they become players.Related
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“Everyone who comes into international cricket struggles initially. You talk about criticism, it’s become a norm. Everyone just sits and waits for the Pakistan team to lose so that they can talk about it. They have their opinions, but we are trying to build our team. We are trying to draft the youngsters in, the seniors are also there. As seniors, we motivate our juniors, and advise them about what’s required to succeed in international cricket. The quicker they learn, the better it will be for them.”It’s been a rough few weeks for Pakistan cricket. After being knocked out in the league stages of their home Champions Trophy, they’ve gone down heavily in the first two T20Is against New Zealand under new captain Salman Agha. While they were skittled for 91 in the first T20I in Christchurch, they put up a marginally better show in the second, managing 135 for 9 in the rain-shortened 15-overs-a-side affair.New Zealand, however, hardly broke a sweat in the chase. While Rauf credited the way the hosts went about their batting, he also felt that the Pakistan bowlers were unlucky to not pick a few more wickets.”All players have put in the effort. The kind of grounds we have here, we generally get high-scoring games,” he said. “It’s not like we didn’t bowl well, we were unlucky as well. There were a few top edges that went for six, some went over the ropes due to the wind and small ground. We were putting in the effort as a bowling unit, but we didn’t get the desired result. We were a bit unlucky in the beginning.”We tried using the conditions to our advantage, but we were unlucky. The kind of cricket they played, they hit good shots, so we should credit them.”While Rauf had a decent day with the ball, picking 2 for 20 in his three overs, the rest of his fast-bowling counterparts have struggled. Shaheen Shah Afridi went for 31 off his three overs despite bowling a maiden, while Mohammad Ali conceded 34 runs off his two overs. Rauf agreed that there has been a decline in Pakistan cricket, but is confident that they are trying to build a team which will challenge top sides in future.”There is no doubt that our cricket has declined. But we are building as a team and trying to forge a combination and play cricket that’s required at the top level,” Rauf said. “We are trying different things, and when we try things, there will be failures, but we will learn. And there will come a day in future when you will get to see good cricket from the Pakistan team.”
Newcastle United will have to wait for Yoane Wissa to send St. James’ Park into a loud cheer with the first of surely many goals in black and white.
The DR Congo international signed for the Magpies in a £55m deal this summer, leaving Brentford after prolific returns across a number of seasons. He is the Bees’ all-time top scorer in the Premier League, and against some stern competition at that. He is sidelined for several weeks, having picked up a knee injury on international duty earlier this month.
Brentford – All-time Prem Top Scorers
#
Player
Goals
1
Yoane Wissa
45
2
Bryan Mbeumo
42
3
Ivan Toney
36
4
Kevin Schade
13
5
Christian Norgaard
11
Data via Transfermarkt
It’s not ideal, but Nick Woltemade took to the Premier League like a duck to water at the weekend, and his arrival and performance suggest the bitter sale of Alexander Isak to Liverpool may well be overcome.
Why Newcastle signed Woltemade
Newcastle paid a club-record £69m fee to bring Woltemade over from Stuttgart in Germany. The 23-year-old boasts a unique attacking profile and scored 12 goals in the Bundesliga last season, starting only 17 times.
Whether he will match Isak’s prolificness in the years to come is anyone’s guess, but he started off strongly with a headed goal against Wolves on Saturday, sealing Newcastle’s first win of the year.
Hailed as an “entertainer” by Bundesliga reporter Archie Rhind-Tutt, the 6 foot 6 striker showed more than his command of the skies, with Sofascore recording that he won five ground duels, made three tackles and completed eight of nine passes against the Old Gold.
Now, it’s all about consistency, and Howe will know that internal pressure, applied carefully, will help him rise to the fore. The German has shown he can lead the line, but he needs competition.
But with Wissa out for the foreseeable, there’s an interesting chance for a new star to step up and challenge Woltemade for a starting berth.
Newcastle talent is ready to challenge Woltemade
Up until Newcastle met Liverpool in the Premier League last month, William Osula had done very little on the senior stage to suggest he had the minerals to star as the club’s number nine.
But the 22-year-old impressed when introduced on that highly-charged evening, darting through the Reds line and bundling in, leading Howe to remark on his “outstanding” progress on Tyneside.
Rangy, powerful and instinctive, he was once described by former teammate Curtis Davies as being like “a poor man’s Haaland”, and there is certainly some form of similarity to the Manchester City machine, easily the most clinical footballer competing today.
He’s certainly got the personality and charisma to match a superstar like Haaland, and if Howe can unlock a degree of consistency, it might not only be Wissa knocking on Woltemade’s door this season.
Clearly having come on leaps and bounds since leaving Sheffield United and signing for the Toon in August 2024, Osula is the real deal, with a skillset that demands regular Premier League football, should he continue to make the same progress of recent months.
Having only made 23 senior appearances for Newcastle, the Frenchman has scored three goals and supplied two assists. He’s off the mark in the Premier League.
The signs are promising, and Howe seems to think there is a player in there who might come knocking at Woltemade’s door sooner rather than later.
Not just Ekitike: Newcastle lost one of the best teens in Europe to Liverpool
Newcastle have lifted their season from the floorboard after the closure of the summer transfer window.
Borussia Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck praised manager Niko Kovac’s decision switch to a back three, calling it a key factor behind the team’s recent good run of results. Making his return from injury, the German defender said he feels something positive is building and suggested Dortmund can mount a serious title challenge against Bayern Munich.
Kovac’s appointment and his tactical change
Kovac initially stuck with the 4-2-3-1 system used by his predecessor when he took charge of the first-team in January, but a poor run of four defeats in six games, including a heavy 4-0 loss to Barcelona, forced him to rethink. He then switched to a 3-4-2-1 formation later in the season, a change that became a turning point for his side. Since then, Dortmund have climbed into the top four for the 2024-25 season and have remained unbeaten in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League across last season and this season.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportSchlotterbeck’s comments on the win
Schlotterbeck feels Kovac's change has laid the groundwork for something special at Dortmund, telling : "Yes, something good! I think since we, funnily enough, switched to a back three, we haven't lost a game."
He then spoke about the challenging Bayern for the title "In my three years at Borussia Dortmund, it was important to stay close in the first half of the season. We were often behind, and now it's important to stay close to Bayern, to march ahead, because then maybe something will develop, and at Borussia Dortmund, you're there to win something.Bayern took the lead yesterday. We're trying to stay close, and if we hadn't had those ten minutes in Pauli, we would have four out of four. But that's the way it is. And now it's a matter of continuing to perform in Mainz, and then it's always going step by step."
Dortmund’s win over Wolfsburg
Dortmund kept things tight at the back and secured a clean sheet in their 1-0 win over Wolfsburg. The decisive moment came from a brilliantly executed counter-press, as Dortmund won the ball back and Karim Adeyemi latched onto the loose ball before unleashing a precise 25-yard strike into the net.
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AFPSchlotterbeck and Dortmund’s upcoming challenge
Schlotterbeck will hope that with his full return from injury he can make a valuable contribution to Dortmund’s title push, strengthened by Kovac’s tactical change, as they look to mount a serious challenge against Bayern. Dortmund face Mainz this weekend in their next test
The defending champions lead by just 72 runs with three wickets in hand and an injury concern over Ashton Agar
AAP17-Nov-2024
Joel Curtis made a maiden first-class half-century•Getty Images
Victoria were in sight of victory over Western Australia and the outright lead in the Sheffield Shield standings, despite resolute innings by Hilton Cartwright and Joel Curtis.Seamers Fergus O’Neill and Sam Elliott made regular inroads at Junction Oval on Sunday to have the visitors 278 for 7 at stumps, a lead of just 72 runs with a day to play.Related
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Western Australia wicketkeeper Curtis played a defiant knock to keep his side’s faint hopes alive. But WA spinner Ashton Agar has a shoulder injury and there is a question mark over whether he will bat.O’Neill ended Cartwright’s 166-ball vigil on 78 with a perfect cutter that tickled the outside edge. The 23-year-old, who also snared three wickets in the first innings, has proven to be a revelation for Victoria, and also starred for Australia A against India A.Cartwright held the three-time reigning Sheffield Shield champions’ innings together with support from skipper Ashton Turner and Curtis.The visitors resumed on day three at 34 for 1 and were made to battle before and after rain took the players off the field either side of lunch.Strapping allrounder Elliott hit the pitch hard and snared Sam Fanning and Jayden Goodwin in the morning session, both edging into the bucket hands of first slip Peter Handscomb.Victoria, with vital bonus points from the match, will go top of the ladder if they can secure victory.In four Shield matches this year Cartwright has scored 420 runs at an average of 70 in a reminder of why he played two Tests for Australia in 2017.His defiance may not be enough to salvage anything for his side from this match, but along with Curtis he has made the Victorians fight hard.
Stephen Parry let go after two seasons as head coach of Originals women
Matt Roller15-Oct-2024
Manchester Originals coach Simon Katich during a training session•Getty Images
Manchester Originals have handed Simon Katich a one-year contract extension after a season in which his men’s team won only once, but Stephen Parry has been let go after two years in charge of their women’s side.The decisions over the two coaches’ futures were made by the Originals board, which has been restructured to reflect their closer ties with Lancashire from 2025. The county will become majority shareholders in Originals next season, when they are handed a 51% stake by the ECB, with the other 49% set to be sold to a private investor.Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket, has been given responsibility to lead the recruitment process for Parry’s successor as women’s head coach as a result. James Sheridan, who is on the Lancashire board, has also taken over from the broadcaster Mark Chapman as Originals’ chair, though Chapman will remain on the board.Related
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Katich, the former Australia batter, has coached Originals men since the Hundred’s inaugural season in 2021, and said he had “unfinished business” after agreeing to return in 2025. “I have absolutely loved my time leading the Manchester Originals over the last three years and I’m already looking forward to next year,” Katich said.Originals were runners-up in the 2022 and 2023 seasons of the men’s Hundred, losing tight finals against Trent Rockets and Oval Invincibles. But they failed to overcome the absence of the injured Jos Buttler this year, finishing seventh after winning only one of their eight matches with Phil Salt deputising as captain.”We were all disappointed with how this season went, particularly after coming as close as we did in 2022 and 2023,” Katich said. “I feel we have unfinished business given the events of the last three editions of the Hundred and all of us at the Originals will ensure that we get back on track next year… We are determined to win it for Manchester.”Parry, meanwhile, has been replaced after his side finished sixth in the women’s Hundred this season. Originals are the only women’s team who have not reached the knockout stages in any of the tournament’s first four editions, and are hoping to appoint “a world-leading women’s short-format head coach” for 2025 and beyond.”Stephen leaves us with our thanks and best wishes,” Sheridan said. “He joined us with our women’s team under-strength and still finding its feet at this level of cricket… We are in a much better place following two years with Stephen at the helm.”The recruitment process for Parry’s successor, which Chilton will oversee, will start immediately. “Our aim now is to recruit a world-leading women’s short-format head coach, and we are very excited where this group of players can take Manchester Originals next year and beyond,” Chilton said.The announcements come shortly before Friday’s deadline for first-round bids in the ECB’s sale process of the Hundred, with Lancashire actively seeking a “sporting partner” to become co-owners of Originals. Daniel Gidney, the county’s chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo in August: “We’d love to work with an IPL team.”The ongoing introduction of private investment is expected to make 2025 a season of transition in the Hundred, with the timeframe likely too tight for new owners to make sweeping changes to playing or coaching staff. The ECB has told prospective owners to expect significant wage hikes, though these could be delayed until 2026.
Their unbroken 195-run stand lifted India from 144 for 6 on an unusual day of Test cricket in India
Sidharth Monga19-Sep-20241:39
Why did India’s top order struggle in the first session?
On a day that many rhythms of Test cricket in India were meddled with, one incontrovertible truth of India’s recent dominant era remained steadfast: teams can compete with the India batters but don’t have the depth to outdo their lower-middle order. Who knows if Chennai boy R Ashwin, who turned 38 two days before the Test, will play another Test in Chennai? Or indeed the Chennai Super King Ravindra Jadeja? If it is their last, they started the first day in style, rescuing India from 144 for 6 with an unbroken 195-run partnership.Among the two nearly inseparable spin twins, Ashwin was the better batter on the day as he scored his sixth Test hundred, leaving his fellow Chennai people in awe at the rasping shots whose sound reverberated in the stands. Jadeja wasn’t much behind, though, ending the day unbeaten on 86.The pain of watching an Indian seventh wicket breaking their hearts might not be something new for Bangladesh but the way they got to the seventh wicket was unlike any other Test day in recent memory. For the first time in seven years, a side chose to bowl in a Test in India involving India. Even India said they would have done the same. And not because the preparation of the pitch had been hampered by rain: this slightly green, damp pitch was created by design during a week in which temperature records have been broken in Chennai.The overcast sky only reassured the sides it was worth risking batting last in India. Then a Vernon Philander-like, wobble-seam line-and-length bowler, Hasan Mahmud, wrecked the top order with gentle seam movement. India recovered briefly from 34 for 3, thanks to some ordinary bowling around Mahmud, but Bangladesh came back in the second session to take three more quick wickets.Then Ashwin started driving, and punching and pulling and slogging. Jadeja joined. And a whole new game unfolded. Until then Mahmud controlled India. Even when Taskin Ahmed and tearaway Nahid Rana wasted the new ball by bowling too short or too full, Mahmud was unerring. Rohit Sharma was tested thoroughly with seam movement either way before he edged one to second slip. Shubman Gill feathered one down the leg side, but he never looked at ease in his eight-ball stay. Virat Kohli came out full of intent, but that carries a big risk, which ended in an edge away from the body.2:12
What’s special Mahmud’s opening spell in Chennai?
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant, playing his first Test in nearly 700 days, then added 62 for the fourth wicket against some indifferent bowling. Jaiswal made this his sixth straight home Test in which he has gone past 50. Pant began to look dangerous and by lunch India had wrested the initiative. After lunch, though, Pant fell to an afterthought of a cut shot, a stroke of luck for the persistent Mahmud.Taskin and Rana then chipped in with a much better session. The ball still seamed around, although not as much as the first session, and they presented a sterner test by bowling the good length. Rana eventually did Jaiswal in with extra pace, nicking him off, and the serene-looking KL Rahul fell to a stunning catch by Zakir Hasan at short leg.While Mehidy Hasan Miraz might have got that big wicket of Rahul, the spinners generally failed to provide any control to the Bangladesh captain Najmul Hasan. In effect, he never had a complete attack to operate with. Mahmud kept them in single-handedly in the first session, and when the other quicks got their act together, they didn’t have spinners keeping them fresh.Related
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It is easy to say all that, but at 144 for 6, it takes some doing to expose this lack of depth. Ashwin began that as soon as he walked to huge cheers; in fact the cheers started as soon as Rahul fell, a treatment reserved only for batters preceding Tendulkar and Kohli. He got a single first ball, and then punched the pace of Rana for a four second ball.There have been many rescue acts carried out by Ashwin and Jadeja, but none so emphatic. There was some flair to how Ashwin batted, staying on the back foot, meeting balls at the top of the bounce, and crashing them through covers and square leg. Jadeja played more of an old-fashioned knock, opening up only after getting himself in, but never missing out on a scoring opportunity. Ashwin, though, batted like he had never been out of Chepauk.As the ball got softer, as the runs began to flow, the field had to spread, and the spinners kept providing easy boundaries. At various points, the two had looking at each other in awe. When Ashwin ramped the pace of Rana over slips for four, Jadeja looked like he was fortunate to have the best seat in the house. Ashwin returned the compliment at one flat slog-sweep from Jadeja. If the edge did arrive, Bangladesh had lost any rights to have enough catchers in place.Six minutes before stumps, Ashwin got to his hundred in just 108 balls to send the home crowd into raptures. Jadeja celebrated it with a drilled boundary back over the bowler in the same over to enter the 80s. Just a gentle reminder that it wasn’t all over, and Bangladesh will have to face them again on day two.
For SA, this series will precede their five white-ball games against Ireland, also in the UAE
ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jul-2024South Africa and Afghanistan are set to play their first-ever bilateral series, with three ODIs scheduled in Sharjah between September 18 and 22. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) will host the series, Cricket South Africa (CSA) said in a statement.This series was not part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) originally and CSA chairman Lawson Naidoo said it was a “significant milestone” in the partnership between the two boards. The series will end five days before South Africa’s scheduled matches – two T20Is and three ODIs – against Ireland in Abu Dhabi start on September 27.South Africa’s tour of the UAE
ODI series v Afghanistan: September 18, 20 and 22. T20I series vs Ireland: September 27 and 29. ODI series vs Ireland: October 2, 4, and 7.
“We are excited to embark on this historic ODI series with Afghanistan, who have become a very competitive all-round team as evidenced by their recent performances in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and most recently at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024,” Naidoo said. “This is a significant milestone in our cricketing relations, and we look forward to a competitive and entertaining series.”These fixtures were not initially part of our FTP. Still, based on our productive negotiations with our counterparts at Cricket South Africa, we concluded that we will host the Proteas for an ODI series in September,” ACB Chairman Mirwais Ashraf said. “They are an excellent team, and we are eagerly looking forward to hosting them and playing them regularly in the future.”Before heading to the UAE, though, South Africa have two Tests and three T20Is lined up in the Caribbean against West Indies, starts August 7. For Afghanistan, the South Africa games will provide another chance to impress against a Test-playing nation and will be played less than a week after their maiden Test against New Zealand in Greater Noida, India, which will be contested from September 9 to 13.