В Ubisoft Store стартовала бесплатная раздача высокооцененного шутера с открытым миром Far Cry 3. Акция продлится до 11 сентября.

В Far Cry 3 игроки возьмут на себя роль Джейсона Броди, оказавшегося на таинственном тропическом острове Рук, где царит жестокость и беззаконие. Игра вышла в ноябре 2012 года и получила высокие оценки от критиков и обычных геймеров. Кроме того, проект получил более 50 наград «Игра года».

Сейчас в Steam игра стоит 829 рублей и имеет 90% положительных отзывов.

Ранее в сети появились официальные системные требования Far Cry 6.

❌ РКН заблокировал SnapChat в России из-за угроз распространения терроризма

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В сервисе GOG началась бесплатная раздача Deep Sky Derelicts. Чтобы забрать игру в России и Беларуси, нужно зайти в свою учетную запись на официальном сайте, а потом перейти по этой ссылке.

Deep Sky Derelicts — это смесь ролевой игры с карточными элементами и пошаговой стратегии. Игроки побывают в шкуре космического изгоя, который пытается стать полноправным гражданином. Для этого герой должен найти некий звездолет-реликт, который обеспечит ему путевку в райскую жизнь.

В основном игроки будут исследовать старые корабли и участвовать в тактических битвах. Весь хабар отправляется на базу, где можно подлечиться и прокачать снаряжение.

Напомним, что сейчас в EGS можно забрать The Silent Age и Tunche.

Следить за халявой и скидками на игры можно в нашем Telegram-канале.

😮 Хидэо Кодзима появился в «Зверополисе 2»

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В сети узнали, какая игра попадёт в новую бесплатную раздачу в сервисе Epic Games Store, которая стартует 24 июля и продлится до 31 числа. Геймеры смогут получить Legion TD 2.

Legion TD 2 — игра в жанре Tower Defense, где нужно расставлять на арене юнитов, отбиваться от волн врагов, зарабатывать очки и улучшать свою армию. По словам авторов, проект предлагает одиночный и многопользовательский режимы, 8 фракций, более 100 уникальных юнитов, еженедельные испытания, систему рейтинга, продуманный игровой баланс и высокую реиграбельность. Игра получила 86% положительных отзывов в сервисе Steam. Заявлен перевод на русский язык.

Следить за халявой и скидками на игры можно в нашем Telegram-канале.

💥 В Hitman теперь можно убить Эминема Слима Шейди

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Как и обещала компания Bethesda, в Steam появились классические ролевые игры The Elder Scrolls: Arena (страница) и The Elder Scolls 2: Daggerfall (страница), а также мультиплеерный шутер Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (страница).

Все три игры доступны совершенно бесплатно. Забрать их в свою библиотеку дают в любое время, причём сделать это можно в России и Беларуси.

The Elder Scrolls: Arena и The Elder Scolls 2: Daggerfall вышли в 1994 и 1996 годах соответственно и получили высокие оценки. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory выпустили в 2003 году. Все игры доступны только на английском языке. Скорее всего, в ближайшее время энтузиасты выпустят для них русификаторы.

Также в продаже в Steam появились An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire и The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, однако в России и Беларуси купить их невозможно.

Следить за халявой и скидками на игры можно в нашем Telegram-канале.

👋 NVIDIA прекратила поддержку видеокарт линеек GTX 9xx и GTX 10xx

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At a time when Afghanistan is in the world’s political focus again, the first pan-subcontinental star offers a respite from all that heavy context

Osman Samiuddin14-Jun-2021There’s been something slightly disorienting about watching Rashid Khan, Afghan superstar, in the Pakistan Super League, although that feeling is also entirely appropriate. Though this is a debut in the league for him in body, in spirit it feels like a homecoming. This is a league run by the country he grew up in, possibly spent his formative cricket years in; where his cricket hero is from; where a large segment of the population are kindred to him in soul, mind and spirit – a tie that can never be erased or confined by material irrelevances like passports or borders.Said league, as it happens, is being played in a country Khan now resides in for convenience, because it allows him to travel easily. Said country is also the birthplace of said league, so Rashid Khan, a 24×7 on-the-road athlete, is, in many roundabout ways, home.He has been a life-affirming figure at this PSL, not least because it plays out at a time when that dreaded, wholly inadequate, hyphenated term “Af-Pak” is (with capital I) Important again. The TL;DR is that the US is pulling the last of its troops out of Afghanistan, 20 years after 9/11 and that has (capital I again) Implications for neighbouring Pakistan because there have been implications forever since the British drew a line in the sand in 1893 and divided one people into two.In a tiny but undeniable way Khan’s participation is significant in this connection – to say that yes, there is some very real life to sort out, but in the meantime here’s a slice of life that is also real and infinitely less exhausting. What is being played out here, an Afghan icon starring in Pakistan’s biggest event, is both a refuge from all that geopolitical context but also a reminder that the context need not be something to always take refuge from.Related

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And at some level, to Pakistanis specifically, it should be challenging. Millions of Afghans fled Afghanistan to seek refuge in Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of their country in 1979. But in a metropolis like Karachi, far from being seen as fellow sufferers – let alone citizens, because a majority have not been allowed to become citizens – they are seen by Pakistanis as troublesome, and worse, deleterious to society at large.More directly, hopefully, by dint of Khan’s participation in the PSL, through simple familiarity it can work away at the complications of cricket ties between the two countries, tied up within the broader complications of that hyphen. Khan’s celebration of the dismissal of Asif Ali in the 2018 Asia Cup is part of the friction, the clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan fans in Leeds in the 2019 World Cup a result of it.Imagine, though, the power of him bowling as he did last Thursday against Peshawar Zalmi but doing it in front of a full house at Gaddafi Stadium, the home of his team? Better yet, at some point, imagine him playing in Peshawar, once – maybe forever – a home, in front of thousands of his people? There’s not enough wattage in the world to measure the electricity of such an occasion.In a way, prolonged participation in the PSL should also complete the uniqueness of his stature. Here is a player whose home is Afghanistan, who has grown up in Pakistan, who is not only a star in India but plays his “home” internationals there. He plays those for a country that is central to a geo-strategic proxy war – bragging rights, in plainer words – between the other two.He is at home right across these three countries. He is freely able to play in front of their crowds. He is freely able to play alongside their best players and against them. To varying degrees, each of the three can claim a bit of him, and Pakistan more once he has played more of the PSL. To that end, speaking publicly in Urdu post-match has been a nice touch. It may appear a small touch but, given that until as recently as the 2019 World Cup, Afghanistan’s team was reportedly under instructions by its board to not speak Urdu publicly, it is not that small.

Imagine him playing in Peshawar, once – maybe forever – a home, in front of thousands of his people? There’s not enough wattage in the world to measure the electricity of such an occasion

That could make him potentially the first true pan-subcontinent star. Nobody, not Hanif, not Mankad, not Gavaskar, not Kapil, not Imran, not Javed, not Wasim, not Sachin, not Kohli, not Babar – none can claim to have cut through the jingoism and blind hatred that blights cricket fandom in these countries. In the adulation and respect he inspires in these countries Khan might have quietly accrued a status that sets him apart from nationalities. He’s a country of one, and equally one of all countries. It seems unnecessary to state that how big he is in Australia too.There’s so much going on here, and after it all there is still his cricket. Of which, it’s safe to say that he has equalled his hero in some respects. “He is one player who has fans all over the world,” Khan told the a couple of years ago. “You don’t get such players every day. Check his record, he doesn’t have many centuries, but whenever he arrived, he would hit four-five-six sixes, entertain and leave. That is why he had fans. You to become his fan.”Aside from the detail of the batting, this could be about Khan himself. He, of course, was talking about Shahid Afridi, whose gravitational force he himself now comfortably channels, and which demands you’re pinned down for every single ball he’s involved in. Plus, he creates these moments, it seems, far more consistently. The other night, against Islamabad United, he stole a win with the bat in all of five balls, which in totality was a very Afridi thing to do but in its execution was far more ruthless. Although, just as Afridi would tell himself walking to the crease, Khan told himself to not play big shots. But when it came to the crunch, like Afridi again, he couldn’t hold himself back.By now everyone knows everything about the genius in his bowling, not that this knowledge helps batsmen any. Each ball is delivered as an expression of the same superiority and certainty as has been done by the true masters – the Marshalls or McGraths or Akrams.A special word for the googly, though. Fittingly for the nature of the delivery, Khan’s googly works in the opposite way to most others. The more he bowls it the it is understood, like the best magic, or undoubtedly for some people, maths.This is a great league for showing off googlies in. For a long while, it was a Pakistani delivery and in Imran Tahir at the Multan Sultans, there is a direct descendent of the Abdul Qadir lineage. At the same franchise there is also Qadir’s blood, and perhaps the beginnings of a theory that the googly can be inherited genetically. Khan’s googly though stands apart from all of them. And in doing so, it still feels right at home.

The first real signs of professionalism are starting to seep into the women’s cricket structure in the country

S Sudarshanan02-Mar-2023It was unusually usual.England’s Alice Capsey, Australia’s Laura Harris and USA’s Tara Norris were swarmed by journalists on the sidelines of a Delhi Capitals event in Mumbai ahead of the inaugural Women’s Premier League. A large number of media people gathering around players is not unusual in Indian cricket. But it is for women’s cricket.This could be the ‘new normal’ for most of the 87 players that are part of five teams in the WPL for a large part of March. That the nuts and bolts of the tournament have been put together inside the best part of one and a half months is atypical for one with the magnitude of the WPL. The auction for media rights was held in mid-January which was then followed by bidding for teams at the end of the month. The player auction was then held in mid-February, barely a fortnight after the five franchises were confirmed.Related

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WPL – How the five teams stack up after the auction

Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians were among the first teams to already have a scouting network in place. RCB zeroed in on Ben Sawyer as head coach, who in director of cricket Mike Hesson’s words, has been “bandied around by a number of people, a number of different countries as an expert in the field of women’s cricket.” Sawyer was assistant coach of Australia when they won the Women’s World Cup last year and was head coach when he guided New Zealand to a bronze-medal finish at the Commonwealth Games. Former England captain Charlotte Edwards, another successful coach in women’s game, was locked in by Mumbai.The inaugural WPL will start just six days after the end of the T20 World Cup. That isn’t give a whole lot of time for the players to settle into brand new teams and figure out how they work together. Heck, some of them have only just arrived into the country.Australia’s title-winning captain Meg Lanning landed in Mumbai on Thursday morning, only hours before the start of the event in which she was named Capitals’ captain. Their key allrounder, South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp, touched down only later in the day.”That’s the biggest challenge,” Lanning said. “We have got players from all over India and all around the world coming together in a very short space of time. I think the key is getting to know each other away from cricket – we spend a bit of time at training but also the time at the hotel and events like this – what they like doing what they don’t like doing. Once you get that right, the on-field stuff takes care of itself.”Delhi Capitals players Aparna Mondal, Alice Capsey, Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues and Arundhati Reddy•AFP via Getty ImagesUnderstandably team-bonding activities have been at the forefront of most sides. Mumbai shared how their players indulged in playing UNO while Gujarat Giants created reels using popular songs.”This is the beauty – you have very less time and you have to be on the spot,” Mumbai captain Harmanpreet said. “Everyone has been playing cricket for so many years. The only thing [different] is that we are going to play with different players. Sport is something which gives you so much confidence when you are friendly with your team-mates. Knowing each other gives you a lot of confidence on the field. Team activity is helping us a lot to know each other.”The WPL teams began their training camps with largely the Indian domestic players and the overseas ones that were not part of the T20 World Cup. While Mumbai, Capitals, Giants and UP Warriorz used various grounds around Mumbai, Royal Challengers worked out on their home turf at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru before landing in Mumbai on Wednesday. Mumbai even held a couple of intra-squad matches over the week, giving them a better idea about the abilities of the players at their disposal.Edwards leans on batting coach Devika Palshikar and mentor and bowling coach Jhulan Goswami for their inputs on local players as well as helping her communicate better with the Indian players. Jonathan Batty, Capitals’ head coach, has assistant coach Hemalata Kala and fielding coach Biju George who know the Indians in the set-up well.”I have embraced the challenge of coming over here and not knowing a lot of people but getting to know the players has been truly wonderful,” Edwards said. “Jhulan and Devika have been instrumental in helping me with India domestic players and they have a lot of knowledge of those players. I’ve been very impressed by the young talent we have got in Mumbai. If I can get the best of the young players in this squad, it’ll make Harman’s job a lot easier.”Familiarity between players and coaches can make things a tad easier. In the Women’s Big Bash League last year, Batty coached Melbourne Stars for whom both Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey played. All three are part of the Capitals now. Batty also led the Oval Invincibles that had Kapp in it to back-to-back titles in the women’s Hundred.Mumbai Indians Women’s head coach Charlotte Edwards interacts with players during a practice session•Mumbai IndiansSawyer has coached Sydney Sixers, for whom Ellyse Perry and Erin Burns play. All of them are part of Royal Challengers now. Sawyer is also the head coach of New Zealand, who are led by Sophie Devine, also of RCB. It is the first time Rachael Haynes is coaching a side, but she has her former Australia team-mates Beth Mooney (as captain), Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham and Annabel Sutherland in the Giants squad to work with. Jon Lewis at Warriorz will have a couple of familiar faces in Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone.”I think it’s just about owning your area of expertise,” Sawyer said about coming together as a group in a time crunch. “They’re all experts in their area. As a head coach, it’s my responsibility to bring all that together, but I really want them to stand up and enter and own their own area.”I was a teacher before I was a coach. And it’s really that learning aspect, that’s really important. Whatever happens within the competition, these girls [should] get something out of working with us. And if they can do that at every franchise they go to or every competition they’re ever involved in, then they’re going to come back to RCB next season as even better cricketers and that’s what we always want.”These are perhaps the first real signs of professionalism starting to seep into the women’s cricket structure in India. Without such a robust competition, India have been able to be among top contenders in global tournaments. The WPL could probably empower them to finally win that elusive World Cup.

And what should the team wining the toss do? Here’s where the match could be won or lost

Sidharth Monga23-May-20235:49

Moody: CSK might turn to Jadeja in the powerplay

How to play Mohammed Shami?In three matches for Titans against CSK, Mohammed Shami has bowled 12 overs for 68 runs and six wickets. In each of these matches, Shami has taken out one CSK opener in his second overs. Devon Conway has especially struggled against Shami’s around-the-wicket angle. Shami to Conway in T20s: eight balls, three runs, out twice. Ruturaj Gaikwad has not got out to Shami, but he is well short of a run a ball against him.ESPNcricinfo LtdCSK aren’t a team to make a drastic move to change their openers but should they lose a wicket early, Ajinkya Rahane has had the better of Shami in the past. CSK will want to go after the opening bowlers at some point in order to force the spinners to bowl inside the powerplay. Just playing Shami out might have worked against Shami’s older teams, but Titans have two wristspinners to follow on what has lately been a slow surface. There is no respite in sight.Related

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All three matches that Titans have played against CSK have been on quick pitches with some early movement. Chepauk this year has been slow and bereft of seam. Therein lies CSK’s opportunity.The Rashid Khan threatWhisper it, but Rashid Khan has had his most expensive IPL season at 7.82 an over, but it has come at a cost to the opposition: 24 wickets, level with Shami at the top of the wickets chart. Looking at the number of left-hand batters in their line-up, you’d think CSK have an opportunity there, but Rashid has got Moeen Ali out four times in 56 balls in all T20s, and Ravindra Jadeja has gone well under a run a ball against him.ESPNcricinfo LtdIf Titans have their way, Rashid will bowl three in the middle overs and one at the death. If their hand is forced, he might have to do 1-2-1. Either way, he will be a big factor in the middle overs, and his most prolific wicket-taking IPL season tells you, you can’t target him.That leaves Noor Ahmad and former CSK quick Mohit Sharma. The latter has almost exclusively been used in the back 10. Ahmad is not the most consistent. CSK will have no choice but to force the issue against them.Will Josh Little play?Unless he is not fit – and we haven’t heard anything on that front – the one reason Josh Little has not been playing is possibly that Hardik Pandya has not been a 100% to bowl. For otherwise, Little and Abhinav Manohar/Sai Sudharsan is a better combination than Yash Dayal and Dasun Shanaka. It’s possible Shanaka gives Hardik that option should one of the bowlers have a bad day. Hardik has gone three matches without bowling. It’s possible he has been saving himself for the playoffs.The two CSK Sri Lankans – Pathirana and TheekshanaTitans have played Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana once each, and never together. In the first match of this IPL, neither of the two played. Theekshana has figures of 4-0-24-2, and Pathirana 3.1-0-24-2 against Titans.You can train only so much to face bowling of this kind, and they have faced precious little of it in actual match situation. Their eight overs could decide the match.Do Titans unsettle Jadeja?If there is some grip or slowness in the surface, Jadeja can be lethal in the middle overs. The one issue with Jadeja, though, has been bowling to left-hand batters. He has gone at 8.26 an over against left-hand batters as opposed to 6.24 against the right-hand ones. At times Dhoni has refrained from bowling him because of left-hand batters. Titans, though, have only two such batters: David Miller and Rahul Tewatia, unless they play Sudharsan. Tewatia is a last-overs specialist; do they promote Miller to upset CSK’s middle-overs plans? Miller’s record against Jadeja in the IPL might tempt them: 62 balls, 108 runs, one dismissal.ESPNcricinfo LtdWin the toss and?There is no better barometer of the Chennai pitch than what Dhoni does there. He has preferred to bat first because the square is slowing down, but on the one night that there was dew, Dhoni said there was no way they could have competed having decided to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders. Just on Saturday, they had decided to bat first, scored 223 and won comfortably against Delhi Capitals. Of the five night matches in Chennai this IPL, three have been won by the side batting first and scores of 160 or more have been defended successfully on each occasion, but will a team be willing to take a chance with the dew?

All three have proven to be more than competent openers, but with only two slots available, who will make way for the T20 World Cup?

Danyal Rasool02-Feb-2022October 24, 2021. (For many, that date already needs no further context to be instantly recognisable.) India had set Pakistan 152 for victory in the sides’ first game of the T20 World Cup. It was a strong recovery from the middle order after Shaheen Shah Afridi had blown the openers away, but nonetheless, a below-par target. Out strode Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, two immoveable forces of nature who have cemented themselves as the first truly undisputed Pakistani opening partnership since Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail broke up.In 17.5 unforgettable overs, they picked apart the Indian bowlers, keeping up the scoring rate without appearing to take any risks. In a performance for the ages, Pakistan cantered to the target, without losing a single wicket. Who in their right mind would ever question these openers? Where were all those baying for Fakhar Zaman to open now?Two weeks and four days later, Pakistan are in the semi-finals, unbeaten and vying against Australia for a spot in the final. Pakistan are batting first this time, and Babar and Rizwan strike up another significant partnership. They produce 71, but this time, the fluency of the India game appears to be missing. The 71 comes in 9.5 overs, and Babar himself holes out to long-on after a scratchy 39 off 34 balls at a strike rate of 114.70. Rizwan, as everyone knows, had found himself in hospital the night before, but soldiers through on a muggy evening to 67 off 52 at a strike rate of 128.84. Fakhar ends up facing just 32 deliveries, finishing unbeaten on 55 to power Pakistan to 176. Strike rate? 171.87.It seems par, perhaps even slightly above, but there’s only so much damage that can be undone in just half a T20 innings. Pakistan appear to be sealing Australia’s fate with regular wickets, but unlike Pakistan, they keep attacking. By the halfway mark, they’ve managed 89 and the platform is set for one famous lower-order partnership to knock Pakistan out. What were Pakistan thinking, coasting along at just over seven in the first ten?The question of how to fit three into two at the top of the T20I order is a thorny one for Pakistan. But as Fakhar’s form with the Lahore Qalandars this season – and Babar’s own struggles with Karachi Kings – attest, it’s one that may acquire greater urgency as they head into this year’s T20 World Cup. For all the records that Babar and Rizwan have broken over the last year, the concerns about the way those partnerships are paced have never really gone away. And while worrying about ironing over what appears a mild crease seems like a luxurious problem, the profligacy of not utilising a bludgeoner like Fakhar doesn’t always appear sustainable.Irresistible as Babar looks creaming drives through tightly packed fields in the powerplay, he lags behind Fakhar in that phase. In all T20s since January 2020, Fakhar scored 7.64 runs per six powerplay balls, nearly a full run per over ahead of Babar’s 6.68. (Rizwan, incidentally, is well ahead of both at 8.44). Limit that to T20Is, and the difference between Fakhar and Babar is starker: Fakhar hits 7.80 runs per powerplay over, with Babar straggling well behind at 6.55. Rizwan is bang in the middle of both at 7.15.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe case for Fakhar opening isn’t just made through the comparison with Babar, but also around the most efficient way to use the left-hander. Fakhar’s strike rate drops to just 123.02 when he bats at number three in T20Is, well below the 136.24 as opener. And while it’s fair to say Fakhar the Lahore Qalandars opener is much more consistent than Fakhar the Pakistan opener (his average with Lahore is nearly 12 runs higher than his T20I average), the strike rates are fairly similar – 139.04 and 136.24 respectively. In all T20s since Jan 2017, for all openers who’ve scored at least 1000 runs, Fakhar has the second highest SR [139.55] for a Pakistani opener – behind only Kamran Akmal.In that case, you’d expect the solution to be fairly straightforward: ditch Babar as opener, and link Rizwan with Fakhar for Pakistan. But you’d be forgiven if bits of your brain feel these numbers don’t quite tell the full story. For one, it’s because some numbers suggest there isn’t a huge difference between Babar and Fakhar as opener at all. Babar’s career strike rate as T20I opener, after all, is 132.61, which is not a world off Fakhar’s 136.24, and he averages almost twice as much.The reliability that Babar’s partnership with Rizwan has provided Pakistan means they can guarantee a solid platform pretty much every game. The costs of breaking that up, and effectively overhauling the innings construction method, should not be taken lightly because, plainly put, Fakhar cannot hope to match the pair’s consistency.Run that India game in your head again. As a Pakistan supporter, would you really want anyone besides Babar and Rizwan opening in that particular chase? Had Pakistan rolled the dice with Fakhar and he’d fallen for under 25 – as he has in 28 of his last 36 T20I knocks – the swing of momentum, coupled with the weight of history, could well have made that a much cagier chase.And it isn’t just below-par totals they’re prolific at chasing. Hark back to the 3rd T20I in Centurion, where South Africa amassed 203. The scoring rate required of Babar and Rizwan was well above their average T20I strike rates, but set a target, both rose to the challenge. Babar smashed 122 off 59, and Rizwan an unbeaten 73 off 47 as Pakistan ran the runs down with two overs to spare. It didn’t seem to matter then that Fakhar needed to face only two balls that innings.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut again, that’s not an excuse to stick with the status quo. Think of the T20I just two days before that Centurion epic, when in Johannesburg, an off-colour Babar limped his way to a run-a-ball 50 as Pakistan crawled to 140, which South Africa chased in 14 overs. Indeed, across the three T20Is that series either side of that hundred, Babar managed just 88 in 87 balls. Cast your mind back to that semi-final against Australia again, where Babar’s strike rate was the lowest for any batter who faced more than ten balls. Reflect on his three innings for Karachi Kings this season, when, batting first, he’s managed a collective 96 runs at a strike rate of just 105.49 with his side failing to put enough runs on the board each time.The common theme across most of those Babar innings is that Pakistan batted first. And while Babar has proved the master of the chase, it’s not at all clear he’s the best judge of a good first-innings total. Since January 2020 in all games for Pakistan or Karachi Kings, Babar’s strike rate batting first is 122.32. In a chase, that jumps to 134.49. The average, too, swells from 36.65 to 63.75.For all the extremities to which sides have gone to wring out every little advantage in a T20 game, none has yet adopted specialist openers depending on whether a total is being set or chased. But the key dynamics of the way Babar and Fakhar’s games work would appear to suggest one obvious solution: move Fakhar up to open when Pakistan bat first while sticking with the present combination in pursuit of a score.

Innings of 39 from 34 from captain and anchor proves overcautious in the final analysis

Matt Roller11-Nov-20211:59

Babar Azam: If Hasan Ali hadn’t dropped the catch, the ‘scenario would have been different’

Pakistan have only failed to defend a score of 176 or higher in T20 internationals three times. The first was a World Cup semi-final against Australia. The second was a game in which Babar Azam faced more than 30 balls and finished with a strike rate below 130. The third was a World Cup semi-final against Australia, in which Babar Azam faced more than 30 balls and finished with a strike rate below 130.Perhaps the crucial moment of Babar’s Thursday night came at half past five, when Aaron Finch correctly called “heads” as he flicked the coin at the toss. Chasing teams had won 10 games out of 11 in Dubai in this tournament – and eight out of eight under lights – and batting first in the knowledge that dew would affect the run chase meant that Pakistan needed to score comfortably above par in order to defend their score.They started like a team that knew a middling total would not be enough, taking 47 runs from the powerplay – their highest six-over score in the tournament. Mohammad Rizwan, who had spent the previous two nights in an intensive care unit following a chest infection, was attacking as much as he could, but struggling for timing and running with reluctance, rather than his usual enthusiasm. He was dropped twice inside the powerplay, and his uncharacteristic lack of control reflected his physical condition.Babar Azam struck 39 off 34 balls•AFP/Getty ImagesBabar, by contrast, looked in command as ever. He attacked Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh’s first overs, targeting the weak links, flicked Pat Cummins off his pads and drove Josh Hazlewood crisply through the covers. Fans chanted his name, purring at his class and poise – then watched him hole out to long-on for 39 off 34 balls. His strike rate, 114.70, was comfortably the lowest among the seven batters to reach double figures.No role in T20 batting line-ups splits opinion like the anchor, especially when their side bats first. Analysis of their performances is almost invariably : if the anchor’s team won, they were the glue giving more expansive players licence to tee off; if they lost, their slow-scoring forced others to take the wrong option and left them short of a defendable score. The truth generally lies somewhere in between.Even by his own standards, Babar’s innings was cautious. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, he played six attacking shots in 34 balls, the joint-fewest he had ever played in a T20I innings of more than 20 balls when batting first. On a true pitch, needing to score comfortably above par given the likely change in conditions later in the evening, it was felt like Babar was driving a Ferrari with the hand brake on.

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Australia stifled him well in the middle overs. After pulling Marsh for four through midwicket, Babar had 32 off 23 balls. He managed only 7 off his next 10: Marsh bowled full and straight to his field, Maxwell speared in fast offbreaks from round the wicket and Zampa cleverly varied his trajectory. That was enough to induce an attacking shot, a miscued slog-sweep straight down David Warner’s throat.”We always want to start well to set the tone for the guys coming after us,” Babar told ESPNcricinfo about his and Rizwan’s approach before the World Cup. “We communicate well, and if he’s struggling to tee off, I go after the bowlers, and if I’m struggling, he does.”Related

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This had been Pakistan’s blueprint throughout the tournament, and had worked to perfection: Babar and Rizwan laying a platform and keeping wickets in hand to allow the middle order freedom to tee off. On Thursday night, Pakistan added 105 runs in the second half of the innings after Babar’s dismissal the ball before drinks, with Fakhar Zaman teeing off as Australia went full at the death.Their total of 176 was the highest score in Dubai of the World Cup, and should have been enough. But, just as with England’s competitive first-innings total in Abu Dhabi 24 hours before, it was not. Pakistan had one foot in the final when the reverse-sweeping Maxwell was caught on the cover boundary but their seamers had a collective off-night, leaking 62 runs in four overs at the death.Five-and-a-half years ago in Mumbai, the spotlight fell on Ajinkya Rahane. His innings of 40 off 35 fulfilled the role his side had asked of him as India racked up 192 for 2 batting first in their semi-final, but when West Indies hauled it in with two balls to spare, it looked indefensible. In both instances, they were let down by poor bowling performances and dropped catches, but their innings were needlessly conservative.Babar’s innings did not cost Pakistan this game, but it reinforced a fundamental truth of this format: in T20, a refusal to take risks is the riskiest approach of all.

With three of the four playoffs spots decided, the season is set for an explosive final leg

Deivarayan Muthu03-Jul-20234:50

TNPL highlights – Kovai vs Madurai

Shahrukh puts Kovai in the first qualifier
Fastest fifty in TNPL 2023: check. Wickets with the ball: check. Plucking a catch out of thin air with one hand: check. M Shahrukh Khan contributed handsomely in all three departments to help Lyca Kovai Kings thump Madurai Panthers by 44 runs in Tirunelveli on Sunday and seal their spot in the first qualifier.Related

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With B Sai Sudharsan leaving Kovai and linking up with the South Zone side for the Duleep Trophy, captain Shahrukh promoted himself to No.5 and flayed a 20-ball half-century. It included a sequence of 4,4,4,6 against legspinner M Ashwin. Shahrukh isn’t usually comfortable starting against wristspin, but on Sunday he started in fifth gear and stayed there.Shahrukh is also the joint-highest wicket-taker this season, with 13 strikes in seven innings at an average of 10.46 and economy rate of 6.80. Plus, his strike rate of 200 is also the best among batters who have faced at least 25 balls this TNPL.No Ashwin? No problem for Dindigul
R Ashwin has left Dindigul Dragons for India’s tour of the Caribbean, but under B Indrajith, Dindigul continue to challenge Kovai for the title. Since Ashwin’s departure, Dindigul have notched up back-to-back victories, set up by back-to-back half-centuries from opening batter Shivam Singh.All told, Shivam, who was part of the Punjab Kings side in IPL 2023, has struck fifties in his last three innings in the TNPL. Shivam is particularly prolific on the off side and can even play the reverse-sweep. Suboth Bhati, the former Delhi allrounder, has fronted up to bowl the tough overs in the powerplay and death. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has shared the load with Bhati, returning to his best after taking some tap from Sai Sudharsan last week. Left-arm fingerspinner Aushik Srinivas has belatedly joined the side as Ashwin’s replacement.Washington Sundar nails a slog-sweep against Chepauk Super Gillies•TNPLWashington hits form before Duleep Trophy
Washington Sundar had managed just three wickets in seven matches in IPL 2023 before being sidelined from the tournament with a hamstring injury. Washington has had a fairly rusty start to TNPL 2023 and has picked up just one wicket in six games, but he has found some form with the bat ahead of joining South Zone for the Duleep Trophy.Against Chepauk, Washington came in when Madurai were 46 for 5. He watched his team slump further to 50 for 6 and then 79 for 7, but he walloped an unbeaten 56 off 30 balls to drag Madurai to 141 for 7, which proved enough to keep them in the hunt for the playoffs. Fast bowler Ajay Krishna, who has had a stint with Chennai Super Kings as a net bowler, claimed 4 for 18 in three overs to back up Washington’s punchy batting effort.Chepauk’s captain N Jagadeesan has also been released from the TNPL to turn out for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy as a potential replacement for KS Bharat, who has joined the India side for the Caribbean tour. Chepauk’s Pradosh Ranjan Paul will also miss the final leg of the TNPL for the Duleep Trophy.Gurjapneet Singh has had a stint with CSK as a net bowler•TNPL/TNCAEmerging Player: Gurjapneet Singh
Gurjapneet Singh is a bit of a rare package in Tamil Nadu. He’s a tall left-arm seamer, who can pound the deck and bowl in the high 130s [kph]. He also has a deceptive back-of-the-hand slower variation and the yorker in his repertoire. After impressing R Ashwin at Dindigul during his first TNPL season in 2021, Gurjapneet was picked as a net bowler by CSK, but a back injury then ruled him out of TNPL 2022.Madurai snapped up Gurjapneet at the TNPL 2023 auction, and he has repaid their faith with 11 wickets in six games at an average of 11.72. His economy rate of 5.95 is the best among seamers who have bowled at least 15 overs this season.In his most recent game on a placid pitch in Tirunelveli, where Kovai piled up 208 for 5, Gurjapneet came away with 2 for 30 in his four overs, limiting the damage at the death.